Lilith Cohen Retribution

by William Manning

  Tiffany relaxes in her recliner by the window and opens up her book. She seems so relaxed and tranquil.

  God, I really don’t want to do this to her, but Black Reign must be stopped at all costs. Either way, there is a chance she’s in danger, so this was a good call to bring her in.

  I zoom in with my sunglasses and see she’s reading a vampire novel. Nothing has changed with her she still enjoys her vamp books. Each time we visited the bookstore, she would go right to the aisle with vampires.

  I take a deep breath as I exit the car and force my legs to carry me across the cobblestone street. Switching to thermals, I scan the area for signs of an ambush. The only heat signatures are the Guardsmen in the van. I change view modes to Xray and the only one in Tiffany’s house is her. The area is secure. After ringing the doorbell, the door opens, she leans on the doorframe crossing her arms and tilts her head with tightened lips. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t slam the door in your goddamn face?” she says with a growl.

  I barge past her. “We need to talk, now.” She scoffs and slams the door. “Yeah, come in make yourself at home. Can I get you some tea? Some

  psychological help perhaps?”

  I can tellI’m about as welcome as an IDF soldier in Palestine.

  “Sure that’d be nice,” I say.

  She seems to be taking care of herself. No sign of alcohol abuse or drug abuse maybe she’s doing better, for now anyway.

  She returns to the living room and glares at me. “Out of my chair, Lilith.”

  “Right, I didn’t realize your name was on it.” I sit in the chair on the other side of the coffee table and pick up her book. “New bloodsucker book, huh? I heard this one got great reviews.”

  “Cut the shit! I know you’re not here to chat about books. So tell me what you want so I can kick your ass out?” She shuts her eyes and takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry that was mean. How’ve you been?”

  “I’m fine. How are you holding up?”

  She sips her dark tea and forces a smile. “I’m doing better. I’ve been seeing a counselor three times a week. And before you say anything, no I didn’t bring up who you are. We just talked a lot about my brother’s death and its effect on me and you. The shrink put me on Xanax to help keep me calm so I can sleep.”

  I guess I can take back what I said about her doing better. She’s been mentally screwed up by me.

  The tension between us is so thick the air is suffocating. “So why did you come here?” Her voice has an undercurrent of resentment trying to rise to the surface. I need to choose my words carefully here.

  “Tiffany, I know I’ve put you through hell, and I really have no right to ask you for help, but I need it.”

  Her mouth falls open, and her eyes widen. “No, No, no. Lilith, please don’t make me go through this again. I’m just starting to feel like my old self again.” She lowers hear head, shaking.

  “Tiffany, I need your help. A lot of people will die if you don’t help me.”

  Her eyes narrow with disgust. “Let me get this straight, you got my brother killed, I was nearly raped and killed, and my career is ruined my sanity is FUBAR. And now you want me to just jump back into your world? Well, you know what, you and your band of psychopaths can go fuck yourselves. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass.” I can’t argue with her. I have ruined her life.

  “We need to locate your uncle. He’s working for Black Reign, the same people who killed Karl and tried to kill you.”

  She shoves her finger in my face and grits her teeth. “Oh, so now you want to kill my uncle,” she yells

  “Tiffany, your uncle, has killed a multitude of people with his research and he will kill more if you do not help me.”

  I left out the part about her brother being a Black Reign spy. I want her help not send her over the edge.

  “Get out! I will not listen to this. My uncle is a good man, a man of science. He uses his knowledge to better the world. And you and your band of fucking killers want me to help you find him so you can kill him? She leans forward. “Fuck you, Lilith!” She snarls

  If Tiffany only knew what her uncle was actually doing, she wouldn’t be sitting here defending him so hard. “Tiffany, do you expect me to believe that you, who took a career in preserving marine life is just going to sit here and let innocent people die?”

  “Oh yeah, by the way, that career is no longer a part of my life. Yeah, that’s right, they fired me after your little protective custody shit. So here I am with a head full of nightmares and no career.” She spreads her arms and beams a sarcastic smile. “Four years of hard work down the drain and I owe it all to you, my best fucking friend.”

  My eyes narrow as I lean forward in the chair. “Damn it, Tiff. That was for your protection. People were trying to kill you or did you forget that?”

  She shakes her head chuckling. “You realize all this is your fault, right? You went after Black Reign and pissed them off my brother, and I paid for it! Don’t you take any responsibility for the lives you ruin?” she barks.

  I glance down at the floor briefly. “Every day. I wish every day that I could’ve prevented all this from happening to you, but I failed, and I will take the blame for that.”

  She leans back in the chair. “I don’t think you do. If you did, you wouldn’t be back here trying to drag me back into the shitstorm you call a life.”

  I exhale. “This isn’t about you or me it’s about saving lives. People are tortured and killed every day by Black Reign and your uncle’s experiments.”

  “Yes while screwing up the lives of the ones you care about.”

  This is going to be harder than I thought, but I don’t want to use the tactical teams. They will scare the living hell out of her and possibly drive her into catatonia.

  “Tiff, I didn’t want to be this blunt, but you’re leaving me no other option. Tiffany… your Uncle Conrad is doing human experiments. Black Reign mercenaries have been going into Syria and kidnapping refugees to be his test subjects. The kind of shit he’s doing is what Nazi scientists did to my people in the Holocaust.”

  “No! You’re lying get out! He’s a good person.” She hugs herself and trembles.

  “I’m sure he was, but even good people do monstrous things with the best intentions.” I lean forward in the chair. “Humanity is a lab rat to him. Come back with me, and read the information we have on him and you’ll see what I am telling you is one-hundredpercent legit.”

  “You know, Lilith. I lied to you. I did tell my therapist about you, and you know what she said? She said I should get as far away from you as possible because you’re death incarnate. You destroy every life you touch, and she didn’t have to meet you to know you’re a psychopath.”

  “You what!”

  “Yeah, that’s right. I told her exactly what you are.”

  “You stupid fucking bitch. Why did you do that?” “Because I needed it off my chest. I watched you slaughter those men like you was ordering a pizza. So I would appreciate if“Shh,” I say, sensing an ill vibe. I glance out the window just in time to see the van on the curb erupt into a fireball.

  “What the hell was that?” her voice tight with panic.

  I draw my Glock. “Describe your therapist to me?”

  “R-red hair pale skin a bad burn on her neck. Beautiful Irish accent. She’s not my original therapist my other transferred to Munich.”

  “Goddamn it. Your therapist is a Black Reign spy and a terrorist kingpin I been trying to kill for years. Her name is Venora O’Brien. She killed your original therapist.” She sinks to the floor sobbing. “Oh my god, Andrea. Her nostrils flare. “You see, death incarnate and a shit magnet.” She grits her teeth with tears streaming down her cheeks.

  A black Chevy Suburban stops out front. “They’re here.”

  “Who?” her voice trembles.

  “Black Reign. We’ve got to move now,” I say, marking the same blonde I saw back at the underground base. Lauren is marching toward the apart
ment with a cadre of mercs armed with automatic rifles.

  I dive to the floor taking Tiffany with me. They unleash a storm of automatic fire into the house. Glass showers us along with chunks of furniture and drywall. “Stay low and head toward the back door.” I shove her.

  Upon reaching the back door, a merc bursts through the door armed with a Vector SMG. I raise my 45 and fire off a single round splattering brain on the door. The body tumbles backward down the steps. I snatch the weapon from his body along with some mags. Tiffany is not moving she's curled into a ball covering her ears screaming. “Get your ass to moving,” I shout. She snaps out of it when a bullet whizzes by her head missing it by an inch.

  So much for the gentle approach.

  I raise up into a crouch aiming the SMG at the men advancing through the front door. My gun lets off a burst of several rounds. Red mist spews from their chest cavities. The others leap over the railing out of my line of fire. We retreat to the back alley. “Where’s your car, Tiff?”

  “In the garage right there.” I raise the garage door, and we hop into her 1969 black Ford Mustang Mach 1. “Wait you’re not driving my car, Lilith.”

  I think about arguing, but then again she knows Berlin better than me.

  “Fine, you drive. I shoot,” I say climbing in the backseat.

  Seemed like a fair deal to me.

  She revs up the engine and leaves rubber on the pavement as she guns it down the alley. Bullets pelt the back of the car Tiffany cringes, but hell a car this nice I would too. I slap in a fresh mag and return fire nailing two in the chest and kneecapping the other.

  “You are so fucking paying for that, Lilith!”

  My next volley hits one in the leg and the other in the neck. “Bill me later! Just get us to the airport. We’ll worry about repairs later.”

  “Are they gone? I mean, they have to be it’d be stupid to try and kill us in public.”

  I slap in a fresh mag into the Vector. “They had no problem blowing Karl away in public.”

  The tires screech as we swing on to the main road. Six police cars speed by us toward the way we just left. Boys

  in blue should buy us some time.

  “How the hell did they find me?”

  “I told you your therapist was a spy.”

  “Yeah why are they just now trying to kill me?”

  “Because they know that I know you’re the key to finding their Nanoscientist. So they came to kill you to keep you from helping me.”

  “Goddamn it, Lilith! You’re like a fucking rash; you know that? You infect everything.”

  As long as she is screaming at me and cussing me, I’m not worried. It’s when she gets quiet is when I am concerned about her going catatonic.

  “Shit! I left my medicine.”

  “What Mother's Little Helpers? You don’t need them. They’re just BandAids.”

  “Oh, now you want to be my shrink?”

  “No! I’m just stating a fact. Those pills are Band- Aids to keep you from facing your problems.”

  “Fuck you, Lilith! You’re the reason I’m on the damn things.” Something slams into the rear jarring us forward. I turn around, and it’s a Black SUV. I aim my Vector 45 at the Suburban. “Don’t you dare, shoot through my back window.”

  “Bad news your back window is already fucked.” My weapon belts off rounds shattering what’s left of her window. Bullets strafe the windshield causing the driver to duck down and swerve to the other lane. The driver pulls up next to us, and Lauren rolls down her window and aims a shorty 12 gauge at me. I fire another volley of lead in hopes of killing Lauren, but the rounds get lodged in the glass. Lauren cocks the shotgun and aims it at Tiffany. She sideswipes the Chevy throwing Lauren against the driver. The merc slams on his breaks and merges behind us.

  Nice to see Tiff getting her head in the game.

  Lauren leans out the window and sends buckshot peppering the inside of the car narrowly missing both of us. It’s time to shut this bitch down.

  I fire a salvo forcing her back in the car. I train the gun on her tires and fire off a few shots none of them hit their mark. She tries to lean out the window again, but I crack off a few more shots forcing her to return to cover. I turn my gun back to the tire and let off a burst. The bullets rip a hole in the rear tire spinning the SUV out of control. The Chevy flips and rolls several times until it smashes into a light pole.

  “Thanks for firing that damn cannon next to my head. I hear goddamn bells now.”

  I smirk at her. “You’re welcome.”

  We reach the airbase, and I escort Tiff to the jet while scanning for threats. She runs up the ramp. I do one last check before turning and heading up the access ramp. I can relax now she’s safe.

  I know this place is supposed to be secure, but I wouldn’t put it past Black Reign to buy off a few soldiers to snipe Tiffany and try to take me alive.

  I lay the SMG on the bench and sit down across from her. She turns her head away refusing to look at me or speak. Well, this is going to be a long awkward flight.

  “I wish I didn’t have to drag you back into this shit, but there was no other way. I know nothing I say, is going to make you forgive me, but I need you to cooperate with us.” Her eyes widen, and her jaw pulsates with anger. “I don’t need to do anything, but stay away from you! You’re a certified shit magnet. So just let me off at the next airport.”

  I tilt my head to the side. “Did you sleep through what happened back there? I can’t let you go. You’re marked which means, they will hunt you to the ends of the earth till you're dead or we stop them together.”

  She laughs. “You’ll say anything.”

  “I was captured by them and experimented on. A fellow agent helped me escape, and Black Reign knew that I knew you were the key to finding Dr. Conrad. So, they scrambled their people to come and kill you, to shut you up.” She shoves her face into her palms. “No, no! You’ll say anything to destroy my life further.”

  “Hey! Those assholes weren’t there for me. Think about it, they need me alive so why would they blindly unload their weapons in your living room? You know the location of your uncle, and they know the Hunters are after him. Hell they replaced your therapist with someone to keep tabs on you.”

  Her body trembles as she starts sobbing. “Just let me go home. Let me leave. I want to go home.” She curls into a ball on the bench.

  I place my hand on her shoulder. “Believe me. I would love nothing more than to send you home; away from all this shit. But you have vital Intel we need, and Black Reign sees you a leak that needs to be plugged. You’re in danger and you need to be protected. If you still need convincing, just look at how easily they infiltrated the most private aspect of your life.”

  She grits her teeth. “Be that as it may, I am not helping you or your little gang of serial killers. I won’t lose another family member because of you.”

  Thejets thrusters kick in, lurching us forward. “I won’t lie to you.”

  She simpers. “Pfft! That’ll be a first.”

  “Your uncle is going be killed. He has harmed way too many people. I’m sorry he’s been marked.”

  “Yes well, you and your agency can kiss my ass.” She slams her fist into the arm of the chair. “I’m not selling my uncle out to a band of murderer’s. End of discussion!”

  “Will you open your goddamn eyes? The people who tried to kill you tonight, those are the people your uncle works for. Black Reign has been kidnapping Syrian refugees for your uncle to experiment on. Black Reign and your uncle doesn't care about humanity. They only want to feed off it like parasites.” I sit down next to her. “Now, you can help us and save some lives. That would be the most therapeutic thing you can do for yourself.” I slip a cigarette between my lips, exhaling smoke. “Or you can refuse to help us, and when more refugees end up dead from his experiments; you’ll have their blood on your hands because you refused to give us the Intel we needed to stop him.”

  I got a feeling when she gets
a reality check from the evidence. She’ll be more cooperative.

  “Tiffany, I’ve known you a long time, and nothing would ever convince me you would let innocents die when you could’ve prevented it. I mean you took a career in helping lives for god sakes, lives of animals, but still lives none the less.”

  She curls her lip. “Lilith, you may as well shut up and lock me in some deep dark hole. I'm not selling my uncle out to your people.”

  I cross my legs, taking a drag from my Marlborough. “Why don’t you look at the data before you start the blood is thicker than water routine.” I dial up Director Kimura. “I got Tiffany, but I left a shit ton of bodies trying to protect her and I got bad news about your Guardsmen. Colvin’s people ambushed them. Also, Venora was posing as her shrink to keep tabs onher for Colvin.”

  “Well, I am not surprised. Tiffany is a danger to Colvin’s goals. She is more of a danger to him now that we learned she is related to his prized Nanoscientist. Nevertheless, Good work retrieving her, Agent Cohen.”

  “Tiffany has no idea how lucky she is surviving being just a few feet away from Venora. I never should’ve let her leave. I played Russian roulette with her life.” My voice quickens.

  “Agent Cohen, it’s a waste of time to worry about what could’ve been. Just be thankful we got there first.”

  “I guess you gotta point. I’m sorry about your people by the way.”

  “Just another day at the office, right,” she casually states.

  After a while, you start to become indifferent to the loss of agents, like a doctor becomes indifferent to losing patients.

  “Is Tiffany going to cooperate with us?”

  “I think she will once she sees the evidence laid out before her,” I reply.

  “I hope your right.”

  “Once she’s presented with the facts, she’ll help us. She won’t like it, but she’ll help us all the same.”

  “Good to know. See you when you arrive,” she says just before hanging up.

  Tiffany glares at me with suspicion. “Who was that?”