Hammer's War - Forging The Hammer

by James McEwan

  “You’re in luck Miss. I have him here in the back, in the cells. If you let me go I will let you into the cell block,” he said pointing to his key card on the desk.

  “Thank you, you have been most kind. I think I will let myself in.” She pulled him in so close he could feel her breath on his lips. “A good boy should be rewarded,” she pressed her lips to his and kissed him ever so lightly.

  She released her grip and left the deputy to flop onto the floor. He was turning blue and his eyes were clouding over. Picking up the keycard, she turned to the dying man and said, “Thank you so much. Oh, and don’t worry the paralytic in my lipstick should kill you in two minutes or so.”

  She smiled at her work and slid the card through the reader. The door clicked and then swung open. She walked down the line of cells to find an ugly, fat man sitting on a cot covered in dried blood.

  Leonard looked up at the mystery woman standing in front of his cell, “Who are you?” he asked.

  She came close to the bars, “I’m looking for this man,” she held the disk again and projected a 3-D hologram of Marcus, the man Thad had once been.

  “I know him, so what? Why should I help you?” He asked.

  “It looks like you are in a whole lot of trouble. I can help you get out of here and off this world if you help me,” she said.

  “Okay if you can get me away from here,” he stood up, gripping the bars.

  “I can and I will if your information is good.”

  “Well, he doesn’t look like that anymore. He had some surgery to fix up his broken face,” he said.

  She changed the hologram face to the one that had been used for the ID for Thad, “Is this him?”

  “Yeah, that is him. Calls himself Thaddeus, but everyone around here just calls him Thad,” Leonard said.

  “Great, where can I find this Thad?” She folded the holo projector and made it disappear in the dark folds of her coat.

  “I suppose you can find him at the Nymphia. It’s his wedding day and he should be at the reception by now I would think.” A dribble of spittle ran from the corner of his mouth.

  She gave him a quizzical look, “The Nymphia?”

  “The hotel. The only hotel on this rock, the one he got me fired from,” he said. She had what she needed. She turned to leave when he called after her, “Wait! What about me? When do I get out of here?”

  She stopped then turned around. She walked back to his cell slowly, “When I have confirmed your information.” He jumped up and grabbed the bars in anticipation. Curiosity got the better of her, “By the way what are you in here for anyway?”

  Leonard didn’t miss a beat, “I killed a stupid whore.”

  Sasha had one pet peeve and it was with men who liked to hurt women. When Leonard opened his mouth, he sealed his fate. She stood in front of him, slipped one hand through the bars, and grabbed the back of his head. She pulled him against the bars while her other hand slipped up to his throat. “Like to hurt women do you? How do you like this?” She asked as a soft clicking sound proceed a long needle-like blade that slipped out of its hiding place in her wrist and pushed through Leonard’s throat and up into his brain. He made a gurgling sound as blood rushed from his nose and mouth. The blade withdrew back into its hiding place. She let go and he fell backward.

  “I’m sure you got a cleaner death than that poor girl did.” She wheeled around and stormed out of the building while Leonard lay on the floor of his cell bleeding out.

  Back in the van, the driver smiled at her, “Get the target’s location?”

  “Yes he is at the hotel,” she said.

  The driver started the van and headed down the street, “All we need is DNA confirmation, and then we take him.”

  She smiled, “Leave that to me.” She pulled off a thin plastic barrier on her lips and tossed it in a small metal bin. There was a small flash of light from the bin followed by a wisp of smoke. She lifted the lid on a black and silver case next to her and took out a fresh barrier. She gently applied it to her lips. Next, she chose a different color lipstick from the wide array of colors in the case. She put the new color on her lips ever so carefully so as not to damage the barrier.

  The wedding went as planned. Everything came together in a grand harmony of color, music, and atmosphere. If every detail was an instrument in an orchestra then Eve was most definitely the conductor. The ceremony was great and dinner went off without a hitch. It wasn’t until the reception got under way that things took a turn for the worse. Held in the Grand Ballroom of the newly renovated Nymphia, the reception rivaled anything found on the inner planets.

  Thad was on the dance floor dancing with Fiona. Freya had gone to the restroom, and Eve was dancing with Carl, while Rhonda had started hanging on one of the young and handsome Sheriff’s deputies. As she passed Thad, she whispered to him, “I’m just a sucker for a man in uniform.” On the next pass she said, “If it’s okay with you, I think I’m going to have to test the full functionality of this unit.” She said it more as a statement than a question. Thad could only wonder if that poor boy knew he had bitten off more than he could chew! However, he was happy she had finally turned her attentions elsewhere.

  Archie was working at the coat check. He had become interested in the new female service bot that Xandra had recently acquired. She was checking in and out coats while Archie was trying to impress her with tales of his advanced operating system. Sasha approached them, “Excuse me, but can you tell me where I might find Mr. Hammer?”

  Archie pointed to the ballroom, “he is on the dance floor at the moment Miss.”

  “Thank you,” she said. She started to walk off, but then she stopped and addressed Archie, “You know your head kind of reminds me of…”

  Before she could finish her statement, Archie made a screaming sound. He reached up and pulled his head off, “That’s it!” The service bot and Sasha were stunned at his response. “If anyone should need me I will be in the basement with a hammer beating my head into a shape that doesn’t look like a female’s best friend.” He stormed off leaving them to only guess at what made the robot go crazy.

  Sasha shrugged her shoulders, “What was that all about?”

  The service bot mimicked her movement, “I lack the programming to understand.”

  Sasha laughed, “Me too honey, me too.”

  Sasha slipped into the ballroom. She walked around the edges of the room looking for her target. She spotted him in the middle of the floor dancing with his new wife. Sasha pointed to the DJ and made the sign to cut the music.

  As soon as the music cut off, she stepped onto the dance floor, “Marcus where are you, where is my Marcus?” She spoke with a slight Russian accent. The heels of her shoes clicked metallically on the polished wood dance floor. She had traded in her black body armor for a sleek black dress. It was backless and low cut. A long slit up both sides made it easy for her to walk. She moved with the grace and skill of a predator, stalking its prey.

  One older man made the mistake of trying to hit on her. The poor fool ended up on the floor with a fantastically sore set of testes for his trouble. The people on the dance floor parted until there was a clear line, straight to Thad and Fiona. She was drop dead gorgeous, built like a supermodel, but dressed like death, all in black.

  Sasha strode up to the happy couple, pushed Fiona aside as if she was nothing. She slapped him across the face. Thad was stunned, not from the blow, but because he had no idea who this woman was. He was about to say something when she grabbed him by the head and kissed him deeply.

  Fiona was pissed, standing with her hands on her hips. She started to tap her foot and grunted hard. The woman backed off the kiss, “Oh Marcus how could you, and how could you leave me and run away to marry this tramp.” She turned away from him and kept her back to Fiona whose face was as red as her hair. Unobserved, the mystery woman pulled a thin film from her lips and slid it into a scanner device hidden in her handbag.

  In a van outside the church
, her team was sitting around a bank of screens watching and listening to everything going on inside. The driver spoke, “Okay, here we go. She is uploading the DNA sample now.”

  Another of the men monitoring one of the screens pushed the button on his mike, “Sasha, we got it. Hang on. This will take a few minutes to process.”

  Using her communication implant Sasha was able to reply just by thinking, “Understood, we must have a hundred percent match or no go.”

  The operator in the van nodded his head, “Got it, stand by.”

  Thad needed to act fast so he stepped between Fiona and the mystery woman, “I’m sorry, but you must have me confused with someone else. My name is Thaddeus Hammer.”

  She looked hurt, “Oh Marcus your words wound me, it’s me, Sasha. You can change your face, but you can’t fool me. I know it is you.”

  Not appreciating being body blocked, Fiona stepped around Thad, “Thad who is this trollop?”

  Her tone made him feel as if he had done something wrong, but he had been honest about his past and the fact that he could not remember much earlier than three years ago. He couldn’t understand why she would even think he would know who this woman was. “Fiona dear, I swear I have no idea. I mean she could be someone from my past, but I don’t have a clue, honest.”

  Sasha looked at Fiona, “Trollop, you should be careful who you are calling names, you hussy. After all, you are stealing my husband!”

  That got everyone’s attention. All eyes were on them now. Thad, feeling the pressure, tried to pull them aside. However, Fiona was having none of it. She shook off his grip and got in Sasha’s face. “Look, bitch, the man you married is gone, dead, got it! Thad is my husband, so get lost!”

  Inside Sasha’s mind, she heard the voice of the operator in the van, “Okay boss it’s him, hundred percent match. Do you want us to move in now?”

  “Negative I will extract him on my own. Stand by for the grab,” she replied by thought.

  “Roger, out,” the voice was gone.

  Sasha took a hold of Thad’s arm, “Come on baby let’s go outside and talk.”

  Something about this woman was familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Her smell was particularly strong in his memory. He must have known her at some point. Maybe she was who she said she was, but that would not matter now. He didn’t know her and he loved the twins. Something deep in his gut was telling him not to go with her, something about her was not right.

  He did not have to do anything, Fiona did it for him, she grabbed Sasha by the forearm, “Hey, get your filthy hands off him.”

  Sasha moved with cat-like speed. She reversed the grip and tried to put Fiona into a wristlock. However, Fiona’s training kicked in, she countered the move and broke free. Sasha looked surprised, “Okay bitch, let’s see what you’ve got!” Thad racked his broken brain and some flashes of memory shook lose. He knew she was someone from his past and he knew she was someone very dangerous.

  Fiona took up a fighting stance even though she was in her wedding dress, “I’ll show you what I got, bitch!” She launched into an attack, which Sasha blocked. The two of them traded swings for a few seconds before Sasha landed one on Fiona’s mouth splitting her lip. Thad thought this had gone on long enough. After all, Fiona was at a great disadvantage. She had opted for a traditional wedding dress with the large bustle and train. He moved forward to stop the fight, but Fiona put up her hand, “Don’t you dare, she is mine!”

  She needs to learn that sometimes it’s better to pick your battles, he thought. He figured that if it looked like she was in any real danger, he would stop the fight. Sasha smiled and threw another punch at Fiona, who blocked it. The punch was a faint, and blocking her left Fiona open for the other hand to land a blow to her midsection. This only increased the fight in Fiona. She sunk her claws into Sasha’s hair, spun her around smashing her into the table, and jamming her head into the punch bowl, which flipped up, drenching Sasha in red punch. Fiona let go and let Sasha fall to the floor.

  Fiona made the mistake of stopping while she had the upper hand. As she stopped to look at her handy work, Sasha rolled back to her feet in an instant. Dripping hair flying, Sasha took advantage of the mistake, lashing out with a kick that sent Fiona flying into the wedding cake. The guests nearest the table got a cake shower.

  Freya returned from the restroom just in time to see her sister go flying into the cake and thought this can’t be good. She ran to Thad’s side, “Thad!” she said as she pointed to the fight indicating that he was to stop it.

  Thad shrugged his shoulders, “She told me not to.”

  She gave him a disgusted look, “Men!” She grabbed the bottom of her dress, tore one side up to her hip, and then the other, so she could fight better. Freya had chosen a more modern form-fitting wedding dress, so there was no problem modifying it for combat. She kicked off her high-heeled shoes and jumped into the fray catching Sasha off guard. Sasha had been concentrating on Fiona and did not see Freya coming.

  Freya’s stocking foot caught Sasha right in the small of her back, knocking her flat on her face. Sasha rolled over and jumped to her feet to see Freya standing there ready to fight. The assassin looked over her shoulder to see Fiona had regained her footing, bleeding from her lip and covered in cake. “Twins! I have to admit I didn’t see that one coming, but no matter I wipe the floor with the both of you.” Overconfidence would be her downfall. She thought because she could beat Fiona, that Freya would be as easy. She was, as they say in the mortician’s trade, dead wrong.

  Freya charged into the fight like a female cyclone, landing hit after hit. She jumped and kicked like nothing Thad had seen before. In fact, all of the men seemed to be mesmerized by the sight of three beautiful women fighting. All the while Fiona got in the occasional hit here and there. It took only minutes before the twins had beaten Sasha down.

  The two sisters dragged Sasha by her arms, out of the hotel and tossed her down the stairs where she rolled to the bottom. Fiona stood there trying to straighten her dress, and wiping the cake from her hair, while Freya yelled after Sasha, “And stay out, bitch!”

  Freya turned to Fiona, “You okay?”

  Fiona looked down as Sasha tried to stagger to her feet. “Yeah, thanks,” Fiona grinned, making wiping motions with her hands.

  Looking at each other, all messy, covered with cake crumbs and smeared icing, they burst into mad laughter. Arm in arm Fiona said, “Let’s go find that silly husband of ours.”

  Inside, the guests and staff were helping clean up the mess. Thad was standing talking to the DJ, asking him to continue playing music so the guests could get back to dancing. The twin brides strode up to Thad. Fiona wiped the blood away from her sore lip and said, “Thad honey, next time I tell you not to get involved in a fight, ignore me.”

  He took one look at her rapidly swelling eye, “Here, let me get you some ice.” He ran to the kitchen to find some.

  Outside, the team pulled up, slid the door of the van open, and pulled Sasha off the ground and into the van. Sasha took several minutes before she was able to compose herself enough to address the team. “Not a word!” She stared at them. “That didn’t go as planned.”

  “I’d say. You got your ass kicked,” one of grab team said with a laugh.

  He did not laugh for long. Sasha pinned his head to the side of the van with the barrel of a laser pistol, “Shut the fuck up, asshole or I will blow your brains out!” She was a little bit pissed, “Any of you other swinging dicks have anything to say?” No one spoke. “Good, now the mission still stays the same and if any word of this gets out, I will cut out all of your tongues. Got it?”

  The man with the gun to his head spoke, “Do you want us to go in and grab him now, boss?”

  She put the gun down, “No, too many people. We can’t kill them all. Way too much to clean up, at least right now. No, we will grab him at his compound tonight when he is asleep.”

  “Ah boss, how do you know he will be there tonigh
t?”

  She looked more annoyed than pissed now, “Because I was able to grab this.” she held up the wedding itinerary, “Says here, that they go back home tonight and leave the following day, off world, for the honeymoon. We move tonight and I want you to grab those little bitches too, no one makes a fool of me, no one!”

  The operator monitoring communications broke in, “Sasha, I got a call from the boss.”

  “Patch it through to the front,” she moved to the front of the van to be alone. The Holoimage of Thorne popped into view.

  “What the Hell happened to you?” Thorne asked, surprised to see Sasha in her current condition.

  “It’s nothing, Sir. It was a slight hiccup, nothing more.”

  He raised an eyebrow, “Is that cake?”

  She blushed and wiped the cake from her face, “Ah, what can I do for you, Sir?”

  Thorne shook his head, “Look I need you to get your sweet little ass back here now. We had a stroke of luck. The primary target’s personal secretary died a few hours ago in a skiing accident, saving us the trouble of terminating her. Therefore, we are speeding up the operation and your insertion. As soon as you are back here, you will get a full brief.”

  “Sir, what about Marcus? It’s him, the DNA matches.”

  “Leave it up to your team. They should be able to handle a simple snatch and grab.”

  “Yes Sir,” she looked down at the floor in disappointment.

  “Oh, and one more thing,” Thorne said.

  She looked up, “Yes Sir?”

  “Clean yourself up before you get back here. You’re a mess. Oh, and a sanitation team should be there within an hour or so.”

  “Sir?” she asked puzzled.

  “I want anyone who has any knowledge of him to be sanitized. Your team will do the grab while the other will take care of the cleanup,” Thorne grinned nastily.

  “But Sir, he has become somewhat of a local hero. The whole damn town knows him,” she protested.

  “I don’t care if it is the whole damn planet. They have their orders and so do you,” the hologram blinked and was gone.