by M. C. Cerny
Jacob, Nick, Lulu, and the others got into the elevator with Hauk, riding it down to the garage. Selecting several black SUVs, they made their way through the city streets to the old warehouse headquarters to meet up with the rest of their team. The empty warehouse, covertly owned by a company that didn’t technically exist as a Reed Software & Securities subsidiary, stood about a mile from the shipyard and docks that they were planning to infiltrate. Jacob and Nick drove his black suburban down the gated driveway and into the skeletal building structure. Lulu drove a second vehicle, the other men behind them. Large, thick bay doors closed and locked into place. Jacob and Nick got out of the SUV, Hauk jumping down to join them.
It was decided that Jacob, Hauk, and two others would descend into the building from the roof access, while Nick and Lulu maintained ground communication nearby. Mason and Rush would remain on the ground to go in and provide support. Eli and Julian would remain at their location to monitor the situation further. As soon as the plan was finalized, it was a go. They piled back into the vehicles, off to the dock location.
“HEY, TULLY, WHAT’S SHAKING BEFORE dinner tonight?” Katie found Tully editing feed in one of the video production offices. Her old buddy seemed to be hanging out at the offices and putting in a lot of overtime since his divorce.
“Not much. Why? Did you have something in mind? I was thinking a few drinks before the stuffy event myself. Give us a chance to unwind before we have to sit through boring presentations and speakers.” He was half-dressed in formal wear to represent the station at the dinner. Tully continued to fiddle with a small video camera that he had planned to bring to the event.
“Well, I think I might have a lead on that designer drug story I started working on last year.” Katie leaned into the doorway of the office, biting her lip over the slight lie she was telling. Katie wasn’t sure of anything, except a bogus letter and an email from the mail room.
“You mean the one Jeff told you to drop because you couldn’t find anything out about the supplier or buyers?” Tully kept his mouth shut to see what Katie had discovered so far.
“Well, he certainly wasn’t approving of my idea to dress up as a prostitute and question a few ladies on the corner.” Katie seemed put-out by being turned down, but Tully was glad she never did that. She was a sweet girl who likely didn’t see much of the seedier side of things, despite her persistence to investigate dangerous stories.
“Thank God you saw the light on that one, Katie girl.” Tully looked up at her and did a double take. His coworker was attractive but, in her shiny black dress that sparkled with the super high platform heels like the ones he made his girlfriend wear to bed because they were so hot, she looked like a different person. Katie Wilson might be the new 6 o’clock anchor and off limits, but it didn’t mean Tully couldn’t appreciate her from a safe distance.
“Yes, but he also said that about the puppy mills and looked how that story turned out.” Katie smiled and tilted her head towards Tully. “Besides, this is just a quick stop before dinner to appease my curiosity. You know, just in case it leads somewhere else. Come on, Tully. Just a quick detour before the dinner, please? I trust you the most.”
“You mean besides Trevor?” Tully laughed. “You know Katie, one of these days your curiosity is going to get you in trouble. Let me grab another small camera and recorder to bring with us. You know, just in case we see anything that might pan out, of course.”
They finished getting ready in the office bathrooms, then made their way to the parking garage. They drove down the FDR to the shipyard where Katie had the address. They parked Tully’s small compact car, which was the one thing he got from the divorce with his wife, on the side of the road. His car was so old, slightly rusted out in spots and duct tape covering the back window; it seemed to fit in with the old warehouse buildings near the docks. Most of the lights in the warehouse area seemed to be out or broken, a fence blocked their way from driving closer to the building. In the distance, Katie could smell the East River, and see the outline of boats and shipping containers lined up near the dock.
“Is this the place?” Feeling guilty, Tully looked around and wondered what the hell he’d been thinking to send Katie the letter. What if she hadn’t asked him to come with her like he’d gambled on? The neighborhood looked like feral dog packs and badasses would start crawling from the alleys at any moment.
“Yes, so far. It looks like our building is on the other side of this fencing.” Katie got out of the car, holding Tully’s small camera bag. She looked up at the fence, trying to gauge its height. Yeah, she was totally not climbing that in her current outfit.
“Okay, let’s hope the car is still here when we come back.” Tully locked it and grabbed his camera from Katie.
“You mean carjackers would want this old thing?” Smiling, she leaned up against the door, waiting for Tully.
“I think they would prize such a fine, American made automobile.” He pulled out a gun and put it in the back of his waistband.
Katie saw the shiny metal and stopped short. “A gun? Are you sure, Tully?” Katie shook a little, thinking what that might mean.
“Yeah, just in case there’s some shit that goes down. Come on, let’s go.” Tully ignored Katie’s shock and walked up to the chain link fence. “I think we can reach the dock through this gate here.” Tully was focused on finding information that would lead him to Petra. Hopefully, things would go according to plan and they could get out of there with no one the wiser.
Katie wore a long-sleeved, short black jersey dress that had tiny sequins on it. Luckily, the moon was not out tonight or she would have lit up like crazy. She had on black stockings and high-heeled pumps. She hadn’t put on her jewelry yet and was hoping the sparkles in her dress wouldn’t flash in the dark, just in case the email information was bogus.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this and you’re wearing those ridiculous shoes. Didn’t you have anything else to wear?” Tully shook his head at Katie’s outrageous mile-high black pumps.
“I know. Trevor would kill me if he saw me doing this in these shoes, but I don’t plan on running anywhere. We are only taking a look.”
“Right, just a look. You women and your damn shoes. Where did he get them?” Tully kept thinking that maybe Trevor could hook him up for his own girlfriend once he got her back.
“He got them from one of his PR friends who lives in the meat packing district and works with all the famous designers. They were an extra pair at a photo shoot, I think. Let’s go!”
Katie got through the fence and held it back for Tully’s much larger frame. They slowly tiptoed to the corner of one of the warehouses, and Katie motioned to a door they could slip into. Tully was right behind her, motioning for her to be quiet. He pointed to the men standing around a bunch of crates, deep in discussion. A few of them were holding guns, and speaking in a rapid language that Katie didn’t understand. Urging her forward, Tully pointed to a stairwell that seemed to lead to an upper floor. In for a penny, in for a pound, she thought, nodding. Together they snuck up the stairwell to the next level, finding a position to watch the men, Tully pulling out his camera to record them. This had to be the dumbest thing she had done in her life, Katie thought.
She looked around her and tried to examine the warehouse as best she could. Just the thought of being in a place that they shouldn’t be and watching what could be some bad dudes doing some bad shit gave her the creeps. Now she wished she’d changed her shoes at least, or put a call into Trevor or the police. She was really going look like an idiot if they got caught or, worse, she had to run for her life. Her shoes made faint clicking sounds as she ascended the staircase. They kept their backs to the wall, and Katie felt like she was in a bad B-rated spy movie. She wondered if they had classes for sneaking into buildings called something like “Don’t Get Caught 101”.
Large wooden crates were lined up inside the warehouse, creating twisting hallways. Different codes appeared to be burned into the wood, an
d a strange design accompanied it. Katie tried to take a photo of it with her phone, which flashed and clicked in the darkness. Annoyed, Tully pulled her down one of the crate-lined hallways and vigorously shook his head at her. They passed by another crate and Katie traced the burned pattern with her fingers. They were numbers, but she didn’t know for what. She repeated them to herself to commit them to memory, “89015”.
Above them on the third level, Jacob and his team entered the building through the roof skylight, dropping down silently. They had entered from the other side, completely missing their trespassing friends on the floor below them. Jacob unclipped his own harness and had Hauk lowered down to him. The dog was wearing a Kevlar suit, doggie backpack, and infra-red cameras to record the mission specs.
“Okay, we’re going to wait until we have visual confirmation. No shots are to be fired until confirmation is made. We’re looking for either Cosovo or his top two guys. There will possibly be women held here against their will, but we won’t know for sure.” Jacob gave the signal to move ahead and wait.
“Tully, what are they saying?” Katie whispered, while Tully tried to use the camera to focus in on the group of men below them.
“I’m not sure. It sounds Russian, maybe mixed with something else.”
“How can you tell it’s Russian?”
“Just a guess. Umm, what did your email say was happening exactly?” Tully was sweating bullets at his fuck up. He was just better off not saying anything.
“That a ‘situation’ was going down involving the transfer of thousands of pounds of asters and some pharmaceutical chemicals. I think it’s all related to my latest research that I was working on. The email looked to be a general Gmail account, but the letter came to me through a courier. I usually get a lot of leads that way so I sent a copy of it to my home email address, just in case.”
Fuck, thought Tully. Now her home computer might have some trail to it if this ends badly.
“Here, let’s check my phone.” Katie tried to pull up the email. “Crap, no service in this damn building. No email and no bars to call out or text Trevor,” she whispered.
“Shit, Katie, this could be anything and we’re supposed to be at the awards ceremony in, like, a half-hour. Look, more guys are coming in. What the f…”
Katie began to feel anxious. She was tapping Tully in the chest to be quiet. This wasn’t supposed to be happening; something was way off here. The men below began arguing and one pulled out a gun, pointing it. Another slapped one on the back of the head, then shots rang out. Katie muffled a scream, but not before one of the thugs looked in their direction. Katie and Tully were hidden from plain view, but that didn’t mean that the men wouldn’t investigate the sound further.
“Tully, turn the camera off. They might see the light,” Katie whispered and tugged his shoulder. Tully fumbled with the camera, but accidentally dropped it to the ground. The loud clunk it made really drew their attention this time. Some of the men were running out of the building as a few others were making their way up the stairs.
“Hey, Jacob, what’s going on in there? Infrared is sensing a ton of movement from all levels,” Nick said into Jacob’s telecom after viewing several of the thugs rapidly exiting the warehouse.
“I’m not sure. It looks like we have some other unidentified people in the building on the level below us. Could be civilians, but it looks like our bad guys are headed out towards you so be careful. Whatever their deal was it looks like it just went bad. Keep on them; I want Cosovo. If he’s here, he could be anywhere.”
“I see them, we’re on it. It just looks like a bunch of low level thugs. I don’t even see his higher level guys. This could be a setup.” Nick and Lulu followed their guys, and Jacob took his team further into the building.
“Easy, Hauk. These guys have guns.” The dog stayed behind Jacob, ready to go.
Jacob made his way down another flight of stairs to the second level that overlooked the warehouse. “Mason and Ty, keep a lookout for stragglers. This situation is hostile.”
As he edged down the walkway, he saw two people huddled together, obviously not with the guys that they were after. “Nick, we appear to have two suspected civilians here. This situation is about to go south real quick.” He could see one male and one definite female. He could tell that by her shapely silhouette.
“Alright, Jacob. We have trackers on the vehicles out here. We’ll come back in and assist.” As Jacob and Nick were signing off the coms, three guys made it up the stairs, guns drawn. Jacob waited, but none of them were in his direct view. Obviously, these scumbags were expendable.
“Katie, I’m going to distract these guys. I want you to run to the stairs we came up on, get out of here, and call the police. Take the keys.” He pulled out his gun and was pushing her behind him, handing her his second small camera. Katie was struggling and Tully grasped her upper arm. “Just do what I say.”
“No, Tully. I can’t leave you here. I brought this trouble to us by following up on the email lead and this crazy story. I was such an idiot to think I could handle this. These guys have guns.” Katie tried to argue her point, but Tully shook his head. He felt riddled with guilt. She had no idea that he set her up for this and through it all, he hadn’t even seen Petra anywhere in the building.
“Don’t argue, Katie. Just do what I say. I have a gun, too.” He kept pushing her behind him, hoping to get her out of there alive and in once piece.
“But…” Katie held onto Tully’s back as he herded her away from the guys coming closer. The thugs didn’t seem to be very quiet in their methodical search of the crated hallways. They were yelling curses, pushing crates and boxes over in their search.
“These guys look like the type that would do more to you than just put a bullet in you. You gotta get out of here, Katie. Run to the car and call the police.” More mutterings in another language sounded closer now. “Go, Katie!” Tully barreled out towards the men and took a shot at them. Katie was shocked. She was frozen for a second before running the opposite way like he instructed. She heard yelling and ran, weaving between rows of crates. She heard more shots. She turned around, looking for Tully. The darkness was confusing her sense of direction and she didn’t want to leave her friend alone in there.
“No. Oh, Tully, no!” Katie sprinted back to where he was supposed to be. Dim ceiling lights that illuminated the floor were now partially swinging back and forth from a stray bullet. It created an eerie disorientation of light. Her heart pounded in her chest.
“Nick, cut the power. We’ll track them with infrared.”
He could hear the woman yelling, and Jacob pulled his goggles down and drew his gun. Holding it down and low in front of him, he made his way silently, crossing one leg in front of the other. From outside, Nick shut off the internal building lights.
“Tully! Tully?” Katie’s worst fears were happening. Her good friend was possibly shot, and the thugs could hear her now. The lights suddenly went off inside the warehouse and she couldn’t see anything now. Her nerves were shaky and her legs trembled in her ridiculous shoes. She cursed at herself for being an idiot, backing against the wall. She turned her head in the direction of the gun shots. Men were yelling and running throughout the warehouse, both above and below her location. She knew she had to make her move to find Tully and get out of there.
“Shit, Nick, it’s a mess in here. I want the team to spread out, try to get the civilians, and grab the other three scumbags,” Jacob said over the general telecom channel and ran down the rest of the stairs. He saw a woman heading his way. Before he could react, she ran into him and he caught her. Katie felt the warmth before she realized she’d run into something, and that it was solid and hot to the touch. “Easy, I got you. Just keep quiet,” he harshly whispered to her.
Jacob went to put his arms around the woman. Immediately, she struggled free of his grasp, kicking out and kneeing upwards in any direction that she could make contact. Hearing his grunt, she ducked out of his gra
sp and whirled blindly around, back in the direction that she had come. Everything was happing too fast and the darkness disorientated her sense of direction. The man was built like a rock and kicking him only hurt. She had to find a way out.
“DAMN IT, WOMAN! DON’T MOVE, Hauk!” Jacob’s dog ran to the woman, who screamed and tried to back away, knocking herself into several wooden crates stacked precariously down another makeshift hallway.
More shots rang out, a stray shot hitting the crate next to Katie. Wood splintered, a piece hitting Katie in the fleshy part of her arm. She cried out. Gripping the wound, warm, sticky fluid slowly seeped down her arm and between her fingers. Katie’s stomach clenched and she willed herself not to get sick. Just a stupid flesh wound, she told herself as she backed away deeper into the corner.
Shots rang out a second time, more splinters flew as the sound echoed. Jacob turned his head to see the second civilian fall. Jacob took aim and shot one of the bad guys. His team got the other two by succinct pops to their foreheads.
Jacob went to the man first. He had two gunshot wounds and was bleeding profusely. Judging by his gurgled wheeze, blood was already filling his lungs and mouth. Almost inaudible, he choked out words, blood leaking from his open mouth. “Please, take care of her. She didn’t know anything. They’ll find her and Petra’s baby, my baby, too. Please.”
The death was quick and Jacob stepped backwards instinctively when the man grabbed his arm and let go just as quickly. He warbled, choking on blood before turning his head in finality, eyes open and glassy, blood dripping from his open mouth. Several wounds in his chest and gut were visible and bleeding, a large splinter had pierced his leg, as well. Jacob turned around to find the woman. Hauk was following her and cornered her between two large crates with no exit, herding her into a corner.
