“I don’t like the idea of making the hit while all the guards are still inside,” Romeo said.
“Me neither, but Klaus said that Begley and that other guard Serge went off to find Begley’s wife and the girl. That leaves only eight guards left. We can handle eight guards.”
“True, but I was hoping to avoid a bloodbath. I wanted to make the hit and get away without anyone being the wiser.”
“That’s still the plan,” Cody said. “Let’s go out and see what things look like. With Begley away, maybe the guards are slacking off and staying in their quarters.”
* * *
The boys came across no one in the corridors at first, but as they neared the conference room, they saw three guards entering.
“It looks like they’re having a meeting,” Romeo said. “I wonder if Begley came back already.”
Cody and Romeo walked past the room while looking through the door’s small glass insert. There was wire mesh running through the glass to strengthen it, but it was still easy enough to see through. After walking by the conference room, Cody asked Romeo a question.
“How many guards did you spot in there?”
“Eight, dude, I counted eight. That’s all of them.”
“I don’t know why they’re all having a meeting, but there will never be a better time for us to kill Kabell.”
“Damn right. Let’s head back to our suite and get into those uniforms we stole. If Kabell thinks we’re guards he might let us in without a struggle.”
“It will be the last thing he ever does,” Cody said.
* * *
Inside his suite, Kabell was in the master bathroom and peeling away the layers of bandages Dr. Calavechi had wrapped around his head. He had been warned to keep the bandages on for another few days, but curiosity had gotten the better of him. He wanted to see what his new face looked like.
Kabell had unwrapped the gauze from the top down. As he removed the last segment from his chin, he stared into the mirror above the sink with a look of astonishment in his eyes.
“No, no!”
* * *
In Portland, Clark Hawthorne was set to pull the trigger on his gun, which was aimed at Begley’s chest. Ann, who was partially hidden from view by her husband and Serge, grabbed a bottle of hairspray from the open bin, then used it to spritz Hawthorne in the eyes.
Hawthorne let out a yelp of surprise that was mixed with discomfort, and fired a shot at Ann. Her scream was loud as the bullet pierced her flesh and she stumbled backward over the large carton she had been using as a chair.
Begley charged Hawthorne and tried to wrench the gun from his hand. Hawthorne kept possession of the weapon, but he was having trouble seeing clearly because of the hairspray in his eyes. The two men struggled, then banged against the waist-high wooden safety railing. They hit it with enough force and momentum to break the top slat away from the post.
When Begley realized that Hawthorne was going to win the battle for possession of the gun, he changed tactics. After releasing his grip on Hawthorne’s wrist, Begley shoved the man backwards toward the railing again. The wood splintered, causing the remaining two slats to break free, and Hawthorne slipped through the gap. As he was tumbling backwards, Hawthorne used his free hand to grab the tie of Begley’s uniform and bring him over the side with him.
Begley grabbed onto a post as his legs went out into empty space. He felt himself being choked by the tie as it tightened around his throat. Hawthorne managed to hold on to the piece of cloth for only a moment, then his hand slipped free and he rushed toward the concrete floor below. Hawthorne’s left foot struck the railing on the second tier on his way down, the contact caused him to flip and he landed on his head. The cracking of his skull made an audible sound that echoed off the walls.
Begley never registered it. He had been too busy trying to climb to safety, as his hands gripped one of the wooden posts of the broken safety railing. He was losing his grasp on the post when Serge lay on the floor and reached out to take hold under his arms. It was a struggle, however, Serge managed to get Begley onto solid ground again.
That solved the immediate problem, while Begley’s tie was another. Hawthorne’s weight had pulled the piece of cloth so tight that it was still choking Begley. After fumbling at the knot for a moment, he took out a gravity knife, flicked it open, then slipped the tip beneath his collar, which cut the tie loose. That allowed him to take a deep breath from a face tinged with blue, then speak in a raspy voice.
“Ann?”
Ann was on the floor of the storage unit. She was sitting up and blood ran down her left arm, where the bullet had struck her. Begley kicked aside cartons to reach her.
“Are you all right?”
“What happened to that man?”
“I pushed him over the side. He must be dead.”
“Oh, Lord.”
Serge laid a hand on Begley’s shoulder. “People are headed this way to investigate the sounds. We can’t be here when the cops show.”
Begley nodded his understanding, then gestured at Ann.
“I can’t leave her.”
“Go,” Ann told him. “My arm hurts like hell but it’s not life-threatening. I’ll be okay, and I’ll say that man tried to rob me.”
Begley stood and gazed down at his wife.
“We’re over… the two of us? There’s no hope?”
“No, Jack, and I’ll be leaving the state as soon as I can, or Abadandi might send someone else after me.”
“That won’t happen,” Begley said. “I’m going back to the Citadel to take over. I’m going to kill Abadandi for all the shit he’s done.”
“We need to go, Jack,” Serge said, as outside the cubicle, furtive footfalls could be heard.
Begley leaned over and kissed Ann on the mouth.
“I’ll always love you.”
After turning, Begley rushed from the storage unit with Serge, while startling an inquisitive couple who’d come to see what all the noise was about. As Begley and Serge rushed away, the male member of the couple noticed the broken railing. After looking over the side, he issued a cry of shock.
“Hey, there’s a guy down there. Ooh, and look at the blood around him.”
Ann, on a day she had already wept so much, cried once more, while knowing she would never again see her husband.
63
Shocking Developments
MANHATTAN, OCTOBER 2018
Tang put away his phone after talking with Sara and returned to Tanner’s home office where the chess board was set up. The sound of laughter greeted him as he walked through the door, and he saw that his daughter Cinda was hanging on every word James said.
Tang had tried more than once over the years to get his daughter interested in chess, a game he loved. Cinda hadn’t shown the slightest interest. When she overheard her father tell her mother that he was going to teach James how to play, Cinda said she wanted to come along.
“Why?” Tang had asked her.
“I want to learn how to play chess too.”
“Really?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
Tang had been pleased, but he soon realized that Cinda’s main interest was James, and not chess. James had also lost his desire to learn the game and had trouble concentrating.
Tanner had told Tang that James was smart and had a good future ahead of him. He was certainly levels above the last boy Cinda had been interested in. That young man had dressed like a biker and been a high school dropout who smoked and swore too much.
After Cinda asked for the third time what the horsey pieces on the board were called, Tang told them that he wasn’t really in the mood for chess.
“Why don’t you two go in the living room and watch TV?”
The two teens jumped up from their seats and rushed out of the room. A short time later, Debra appeared and leaned in the office doorway.
“I see our children are getting along.”
“I noticed that as well.”
Debra
sat across from Tang. “You know, I always wanted to learn how to play this game. Will you teach me?”
Tang smiled as he set up the board. He was pleased that someone wanted to learn the game. “It will be my pleasure.”
* * *
Inside a clothing shop being renovated in upper Manhattan, Sara stayed silent as she watched three of Maurice Biggs’ gang members stalk toward her position. Each man had a shotgun, and they were swiveling them from right to left as they searched for a target.
Nicholas spoke; his voice was a booming baritone. “You’re gonna die, ho. And that man of yours, Tanner, his ass is dead too.”
A muffled scream came from the office, as inside, Susan clamped a hand over her mouth. She was terrified and had fumbled her phone while trying to dial the police. After Sara disconnected the lights from the generator outside, the office had gone dark, and Susan couldn’t find her phone again. She sat huddled beneath her desk, as tears ran down her cheeks.
Nicholas had heard Susan’s whimper, interpreted it as coming from Sara, and responded by laughing.
“You scared, ho? You should be, we’re going to shoot you so many times that your mama won’t recognize you.”
The three gangbangers reached the scaffolding that Sara had moved. It blocked the path toward the office. Nicholas waved a hand, indicating to his men that he wanted them to push it out of the way. The two began the task as Sara, who was by the new panel box, activated the main circuit breaker.
The lights of the shop blazed on, causing Nicholas to blink rapidly as his eyes adjusted. When he looked over at his companions, he saw that they appeared frozen in place and wore odd expressions. When the clothing on the man closest to him began to give off smoke, he understood what had happened. A look up confirmed it, as Nicholas saw that the top of the metal scaffolding was in contact with exposed wiring. His two friends were being electrocuted.
The undiagnosed problem with the electrical system shorted out the lights and the shop went dark again. The two men at the scaffolding collapsed to the floor with a thump. That sound was followed by the rustle of fabric coming from Nicholas’s left. When he looked up from the bodies, he saw Sara advancing toward him with her gun extended and held in both hands.
“Who’s the ho now?” Sara said. She shot Nicholas in the face and followed it with two rounds to his chest.
* * *
In Brooklyn, the first of the shotgun blasts shattered the back window of Tanner’s car and damaged the driver’s side headrest.
A fusillade of shots followed as the four gangbangers with the shotguns took turns firing. While two of them emptied their weapons, the other two reloaded.
In seconds, Tanner’s vehicle was resting on four flattened tires and had no glass remaining intact.
Melon Head had parked the Escalade about fifty feet away. As Biggs turned in his seat to stare out the back window, he was laughing.
“Dead! That muthafucka Tanner is dead. So much for all those stories about how he’s unbeatable.”
The four shooters finally ran out of ammo for the shotguns. They had fired so many rounds that the empty shell casings at their feet numbered in the dozens.
One of the men moved toward the car after taking out his gun. If the impossible had happened and Tanner was still alive, he wouldn’t be around for long.
The banger stared through the space where the side window had been and couldn’t believe his eyes. The car was destroyed with every seat having taken damage from the shotgun blasts. There was not a cubic foot of space left undamaged by the barrage of pellets, and no one could have avoided being hit multiple times. And yet, Tanner had done so, more amazingly, he had somehow escaped.
“The car is empty!” the banger said, as he yelled the words to Biggs.
Inside the Escalade, Biggs’s face screwed up in confusion.
“Empty?” he lowered the side window and shouted to the man. “Check the trunk. Maybe Tanner crawled in there through the back seat.”
The man did so, although the trunk had taken as many strikes as the rest of the car. As a last resort he popped the hood and peered down inside. There was nothing in the engine compartment, as the car was just a shell.
The gangbanger was about to report that fact to Biggs when someone whistled from behind him. When he spun to look at the whistler, who was Tanner, he took a trio of rounds to his side from an AR-15. The other three men who had fired at the car dropped their empty shotguns and scrambled to pull out their handguns. Only one of them managed to free his weapon before being stitched across the midsection by rounds. He never got off a shot.
Nine rounds remained in the AR’s magazine and Tanner sent them toward the open side window of the Escalade. Eight of the rounds embedded themselves in the vehicle’s interior surfaces, but one round ricocheted off the windshield and careened backwards, where it traced a red line across the left side of Biggs’ head.
“Son of a bitch!” Biggs cried. As he checked his wound he shouted to Melon Head. “Get us the fuck out of here.”
Tanner had reloaded and was targeting the rear tires on Biggs’ ride. It had no effect as they were self-sealing and made from bullet-resistant materials.
After checking to make certain that the other gangbangers were dead and no longer a threat, Tanner looked back at the ruined car and wondered what the cops would make of it.
The floor on the passenger side of the vehicle was made from thick cardboard separated into four sections and covered by carpet. Before the shooting began, Tanner had slid through it and into the open manhole that led to the sewer beneath the street. Once he’d gone through, springs pushed the cardboard back into place. Tanner then moved beneath the street to climb up a second open manhole that was a hundred feet away.
Duke had someone put the car together and deliver it within twenty-four hours. Tanner decided he would send him a bonus for the work. Duke often got bonuses, and he always came through.
Tanner began walking while taking out his phone to call Sara. If anything had happened to her, Tanner knew he would give the word vengeance a whole new meaning.
64
Trapped
OUTSIDE PORTLAND, OREGON, JANUARY 2003
Abadandi and Dr. Calavechi smiled amused grins at the looks of consternation and confusion on the guards’ faces. They had trapped the men inside the conference room by disabling the power source that controlled the keypads.
Abadandi had told them that he was holding a special meeting and that they were all to be in the conference room by the time he arrived there. The same story had been given to the kitchen staff and the maintenance workers, who were locked away in their respective work spaces.
The few other employees, such as Irina or the Citadel’s engineer, were trapped in their quarters or areas of responsibility. That was also true of the guests.
“They’ll be able to break out in time, won’t they?” Dr. Calavechi asked.
“By then we’ll be long gone.”
“I guess they’ll all starve eventually.”
“If they don’t kill each other first, and they’ll never make it outside. Once we leave, I’ll destroy the controls for the gates.”
Calavechi made a face. “I pity them, but no one forced them to work here.”
“That’s the way I look at it,” Abadandi said.
* * *
“Something’s not right,” Romeo said as he pulled on the door to his suite. “Why would they lock us in? Do you think they figured out that I’m not really Denny Haydon?”
“Maybe, if so, we’ll have visitors soon. We need to prepare.”
“I’d like to try getting past this lock first. If I take the face plate off, I might be able to trip the mechanism.”
“Do it. I’d rather be free to fight out there in the corridors than have my back up against these walls.”
Romeo went to work on the lock. The boys were both dressed as guards. They had been preparing to head to Kabell’s suite to kill him.
“Got it,” Romeo sa
id, as the door opened a sliver. A quick look into the hallway revealed that it was empty.
They moved out of the room and headed toward Kabell’s suite. They were still without weapons but deadly nonetheless. Because of their training, Cody and Romeo were confident that they could overpower the guards if they attempted to apprehend them, which was likely. Although they might just be shot on sight, Begley would be after answers. No one had ever breached the Citadel before, and the Captain of the Guard would be looking to interrogate them.
They reached Kabell’s suite and received another surprise when they found that his keypad was dark as well. There should have been a red light visible, but no, the cult leader was locked in too.
“Wait here for a moment,” Cody said. “I want to check something out.” He moved out of the corridor only to return a short time later. “It looks like power has been cut to all of the living quarters, not just the guests’ suites.”
“What the hell is going on?” Romeo said.
“Who knows, but I do know that we’re about to make a hit inside the Citadel. Let’s get to work on this lock and get inside.”
* * *
Kabell had just reentered the living room area after grabbing a fresh bottle of Scotch from the kitchen. He had tried to leave the suite earlier and found that he was locked in and that no one was answering the phone.
Young Guns Box Set Page 30
