The Phoenix Blade: Project Justice

by Andrew Hess

  “And?”

  “And I am. But there’s a lot more to the story; one I’m willing to give exclusively to your network.”

  “And why would we want to run your story?”

  “Because of our group’s mission. We have been chosen to rid the world of those that are truly evil.”

  “Every serial killer thinks they’re doing good by eliminating those they consider evil. How are you any different?”

  “Simple, because we were hired by the U.S. government to carry out these assassinations.”

  Arcana stumbled forward in his chair; wondering how much of what I said was true.

  “Oh really; who contacted you and your group?”

  I began pacing the room. “We don’t know his real name. We only know him as the Benefactor.”

  “The Benefactor?” Arcana’s jaw dropped at the name. His eyes darted around the room as he began tapping his foot.

  “You know him?”

  “I knew someone who hid behind that name, but that was a long time ago. He was my brother Mica’s business partner. They were investors that put their money in startup companies and businesses that were in need of a makeover.”

  “What happened to them?”

  “The Benefactor set up a shady business deal that sent my brother and several employees to jail.” Arcana turned towards the window; staring into the beautiful sunny California sky. “Tell me, did he send you here or did you find me on your own?”

  “He sent us; even found a way to pay off a member of your security guards to bring me up here.”

  “Us; so you’re all in town?” Arcana waited for my response but accepted my nod as his answer. “Take my advice. Do not trust the Benefactor. If it’s the man I think it is, he’ll betray you the minute you’re of no use to him.”

  “At this point, we don’t have any other choices.”

  Arcana spun away from the window; smiling as if he was struck with a brilliant idea. “What if I can give you one?”

  “What can you do?”

  “I have an idea, but I need everything he sent you.”

  “I’m sorry; I can’t run that kind of risk; not for anything less than a guaranteed way out without jail time.”

  “Then tell me; why are you here telling me all of this?”

  I stopped to think about my actions from the moment I walked through that office door. I wanted a way out and Arcana was trying to offer us one. But how trustworthy was he?

  “We just need you to play this when I call the station.” I slid the disc across his disc and started towards the door.

  “You need to listen to me. You can’t trust him.”

  “And I can trust you?”

  “You obviously trusted me enough to tell me your story. You trust me not to call the police the minute you leave my office. So trust me to find a way to get your group out of this mess. I just need a few days to figure out how.”

  “How?”

  “We can go to the police or the Feds with everything the Benefactor gave you. It’ll be proof you were coerced into doing this.”

  “You don’t understand. He has Federal Agents working for him. We can’t trust any of them.” I walked back to the desk and picked up a picture frame. “You and your family seem nice and happy.”

  “Have you been following us?”

  “He made me. He’s made us do a lot that we didn’t want to do. I don’t want to think about what he’ll make us do if that video doesn’t play on time.” I put the picture frame back and picked up the disc from the desk; handing it to Arcana. “I’ll be in touch.”

  He watched me walk back to the office door. “What about my offer?”

  “I’ll consider it.”

  Chapter 61

  The old clunker of a truck sped away from the NBC building; not knowing if we could trust Arcana. For all we knew, he fed me a bunch of lies so I would stick around as he called the police.

  “How’d it go,” Mike asked.

  I wanted to shield Mike from the truth, but my gut told me to tell him the truth. “I told him everything.”

  Mike shot upright in his chair with a look of bewilderment on his face. “You did what?”

  “I had no choice,” I lied. Tino Arcana seemed like a man that could tell if someone was bull shitting him. I knew if we tried that tactic, he would never have agreed to help us. I explained to Mike that coming clean with him was the only chance of getting it played on air.

  Mike shook his head disapprovingly. “You should have consulted me; should have talked it over with both of us.”

  “I know, but it might be what we needed.”

  Mike scrunched up his face; wondering what tricks I had up my sleeve. “What did he say when you told him?”

  And so I began telling Mike everything Tino Arcana revealed to me in his office; from knowing the Benefactor to how he was responsible for Arcana’s brother going to jail right down to his offer to help us.

  “What are you gonna do?”

  “I haven’t decided. I need more time to figure this out.”

  As we pulled back into the back of the hotel, my cell rang from the center console. I knew who it was before his cold calculating voice could utter a word.

  “Hello Mr. Lancaster. Were you able to convince Mr. Arcana to play the video?

  It felt like there was a ball lodged in my throat; choking out my response to the Benefactor. “He knows to wait for my call.”

  “Excellent. How did you convince him?”

  “I mentioned his family; saying if he didn’t cooperate they could be in serious danger.”

  There was a slight chuckle from the Benefactor; a sound I had yet to hear from him. “A very nice strategy; there’s hope for you yet.”

  “But there’s one thing still bothering me. How do you know Tino Arcana? I mean you had to have known him or you wouldn’t have sent us there in the first place; right?”

  The Benefactor let out a deep sigh over the phone. “Tino Arcana and I have a very complicated past; one that I don’t particularly want to discuss at the moment.”

  “Tell me,” I shouted into the phone. “I need to know who I’m dealing with.”

  I could tell I crossed the line as his voice grew with anger while trying to restrain himself to a whisper. “You seem to have your role confused. My past is not one you get to question.”

  This was it; the line in the sand. If I backed down, he would continue to walk all over us; using us like little puppets. But if I stood up to him, we might get some answers we were looking for.

  “I beg to differ,” I snapped back. “We’re sticking our necks on the line; completing missions for you; trusting you blindly without ever knowing your real name. The least you can do is tell me why you chose Tino Arcana and what your connection is to him.”

  I sat back; listening to the silence on the phone; wondering if the Benefactor was about to send his men to arrest us or worse.

  “Fine,” he said as if he were a child forced to do what his parents commanded him to do. “His brother was a former business partner and colleague of mine. Our business had a lucrative business proposal sitting before us; one that stood to make us a lot of money, but something was off about it. I tried to look into it and vetoed the idea to invest, but the other partners out voted me. I decided to let them buy me out of the company and went my separate way. They invested in the company which turned out to be a scam and were caught in the middle of a money laundering business. They were thrown in prison for years; including Tino’s brother Mica.”

  The Benefactor’s story was compelling; even gave me more information than Arcana did. “So he’s just bitter that you got out while his brother went to jail?”

  “Yes, and now you need to listen to me. If he contacts you, do not believe anything he says. If he knows my involvement in this, he will find a way to hurt us any way he can.”

  I entered the rear stairwell not knowing who to believe. Part of me regretted telling Arcana who I was and who we were working fo
r, but some part of me wanted to believe him.

  “What do you want us to do now,” I asked.

  “Your next mission will be in Vegas for a little demolition work. In the meantime, my men will take the hostages into their custody.”

  “We can’t do demolition. None of us have any experience with that.”

  “This next part is crucial to the missions. There are two casinos that we need eliminated along with their owners.”

  “Why can’t your men do it? I’m sure they have more experience with explosives and that sort of thing.”

  “You are my men,” the Benefactor said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. “Our agents can only do so much without causing suspicion.”

  “Then I want an out.”

  “You should know by now I cannot allow that.”

  “Not for me; for Lilly. I don’t want her to be part of this.”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “Yes it is. She hasn’t killed anyone and can just say she was on vacation all this time.”

  The Benefactor cleared his voice; lessening the bass in his tone; sounding more worried than argumentative. “No, I mean it’s impossible; there’s too much at stake and you need as many people possible for the next few missions.”

  I knew he was right. Our next mission was to take down two casinos. There was no way we could do that with only two people, but I couldn’t let Lilly risk her life any more than she already had.

  “What if we recruited more people for the group?”

  “I’m listening.”

  I knew of a few friends that lived in Reno for a while and moved closer to Las Vegas a few years ago.

  “I know a couple of guys that specialize in security and hired guards; they might be able to help.”

  There was a long pause as the Benefactor thought over my idea. “Okay, give me the names of your friends so I can check into them. If they pass, you can recruit them and I’ll let Lilly go free,”

  I had to contain my excitement as we reached the fourth floor. I wanted to jump up and down; shout out loud how happy I was to know Lilly would be safe.

  “But if she goes free, Lilly will have to leave the country and you will most likely never see each other again.”

  And just like that, my happiness was cast aside. It felt like the wind was knocked out of me; knowing if Lilly left I would never see her again.

  “Why not,” were the only words I could say as Mike threw the stairwell door open.

  “If she goes home, she would be under scrutiny and would be a target for officers and other Federal Agents as a way of drawing you out. Once she’s out of the country, she will be safe as long as no one knows her ties to you and your buddy Mr. Santangelo.”

  We entered the hallway and found Agent Fields and the red headed man standing outside the hotel room doors.

  “Why are your men here?”

  “They’re here to help you out of town. I suggest you get a move on; just in case Arcana decided to call the cops.”

  He hung up the phone as Agent Fields noticed us coming down the hall. Mike started laughing.

  “What’s so funny,” I asked.

  “Lilly’s gonna kill you,” Mike joked.

  “Maybe, but I have a backup plan just in case.”

  Mike yanked my arm; pulling me back to face him. “What are you planning?”

  I shook him off, pulled out my cell and snapped two pictures of the agents moving our bags into the hall.

  Agent Fields handed Mike a duffle bag. “Hurry up; we’re leaving in ten with or without you.” He threw a new set of keys to Mike as they dragged the bags into the hall.

  I leaned in to Mike. “Go on with Lilly, I’ll meet you downstairs in a couple of minutes.”

  I waited until I was clear before putting in a call to one of my friends. “Hey Joe, it’s Andrew. I’m going to be in town tomorrow and have a business proposition for you and Erik.”

  The phone was silent; letting me wonder what he would say if I told him about the missions. I knew it was dangerous for us, but it was something right up his alley.

  “Meet me at Roxy’s Diner at two.”

  “Where’s that,” I asked while texting the Benefactor both names for his approval.

  “Do I look like a personal GPS? Figure it out yourself.”

  Lilly appeared with her hands full of bags. “What was that about?”

  “We’re recruiting more members.”

  “You sure that’s a good idea?”

  “We’ll soon see.”

  Chapter 62

  Tino Arcana sat in his office staring at the newspaper. The front page showed a large two floor ranch house with the headline 10 Dead, 6 Missing in Texas. The article briefly talked about the neighbor stumbling across the gruesome scene during his morning run and how all ten victims were related to the President of the United States. It continued by saying there were five children unaccounted for along with the maid and are believed to be held hostage by the group known as the Revolution.

  Arcana slammed the paper on the glass desk and retrieved the disc from a drawer; opening the case and watched the video on his computer. There were three people dressed in black along with six others with black hoods thrown over their heads. Arcana was repulsed at the sight and turned the video off within seconds. He grabbed the case; finding a small piece of paper on his desk.

  “Did the Phoenix leave this,” Arcana asked himself as he opened the folded up paper and saw a phone number written on it. He wondered if it was a test from the Benefactor or Andrew reaching out for help. After all, it could have been a way for Arcana to contact Andrew and his group.

  Arcana looked at the paper again; finding a number listed at the bottom of the article for anyone to call with information in regards to the Phoenix or the Revolution.

  “Is there anyone not on his payroll,” Arcana asked himself as he searched the article for the agent in charge of the investigation. He found Agent Peterson’s name embedded in the article and searched for him on the internet.

  After several minutes, Arcana grabbed the phone and dialed the number at the bottom of the newspaper.

  A woman with a thick southern accent answered. “Thank yall for calling the tips hotline. How can I help you?”

  “I need to speak with the agent in charge of the Revolution investigation. I believe his name is Agent Peterson.”

  “I’m sorry sir. Agent Peterson is unavailable right now. I can take a message though.”

  Arcana couldn’t trust anyone else to handle the info; especially a woman worked a phone line. “Tell Peterson it’s important and will only talk to him.”

  “Like I said, he’s just not available.”

  “Then tell him he’s about to lose his chance to talk to someone who was just visited by the Phoenix.”

  There was an uncomfortable silence on the other end. “Just hold on one moment please.”

  There was a click followed by moments of static before another loud click. A man’s voice replaced the phone line operator.

  “This is Agent Peterson. Who am I talking to?”

  “My name is Tino Arcana. I’m a producer and station manager here at the NBC studios in California.”

  “Okay Mr. Arcana, I was told you have important information regarding the Revolution.”

  “Yes, but I need you to come to my office immediately.

  “Why?”

  “The information I have is confidential. We can’t trust anyone with it; not even anyone on your team.”

  “You have my attention.”

  “The man known as the Phoenix stopped by my office and happened to tell me his story.”

  “How do you know it was him?”

  “For starters, he told me his name was Andrew Lancaster. Apparently there’s a lot more going on here than you know.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like who’s really pulling their strings.”

  Peterson was itching to hear more; wondering what Lancaster told Arcana ab
out who was behind it all. “When did he leave?”

  “Yesterday.”

  “And you waited till now to call?” Peterson’s voice grew impatient and frantic; knowing the chance to catch up to the Revolution was slipping through his fingers again.

  “I needed to find someone I could trust. According to him, there’s been a few Federal Agents helping them escape. I didn’t even know if he was telling me the truth until I saw the video he left me.”

  “What video? What was on it?”

  “They were on camera with the missing woman and kids from Texas. They started talking about their mission, but I turned it off and called you.”

  “I’ll be there in a couple of hours. Did they leave anything else behind?”

  “A phone number; it was left in the case.”

  “Give it to me. I’ll have my people run it.”

  “Watch who you trust.” Arcana hung up the phone; knowing he betrayed the Phoenix, but knew this was the first step in taking down the Benefactor.

  Chapter 63

  I could feel Lilly burning a hole through my headrest. She knew there was more to the story than needing a few new recruits. I had already kept vital information from her.

  “Where are we,” she finally asked; breaking the uncomfortable silence.

  “Just outside of Vegas,” Mike replied while keeping his eyes focused on the road. He knew why I wanted to meet with Erik and Joe, but knew to keep his feelings quiet; realizing it would cause Lilly to ask more questions that I wasn’t ready to answer.

  “How far away are we?”

  “Check the laptop,” Mike replied.

  Lilly turned on the screen; keeping an eye on me as I exchanged worried glances with Mike. Her eyes darted between us; knowing we were hiding something. Before she could search for Roxy’s Diner, an email popped up on the screen.

  “Hey guys, there’s something you should see. It’s a message from the Benefactor.”

  Team, Las Vegas is known for many things but mostly known for gambling. Thanks to the Intel you uncovered in Texas, we have found two casinos that have ties to the Mason family and Reaper. According to the info we obtained, the Masons used the Reece and the Roosevelt Casinos to launder money and funded the Reaper’s heinous crimes. These casinos have ruined their patrons’ lives by costing them their life savings, homes, marriages, and in some case their lives.

  Your mission will be to demolish those casinos and eliminate their owners. I have ordered your video to air in two hours. I suggest you notify our friend Mr. Arcana to play it at that time. Good luck; call me when the deal is done.