“They had already eaten. How’s your meal, Lilith?” She watches me with anticipation as she sips her Corona.
I slice off a piece of fish and shovel it into my mouth. “This beats anything I’ve eaten in the past couple of weeks.” Her face lights up with relief. “Well, MRE’s are not much of competition, but I will take the compliment all the same.” She laughs.
“Mom, is Lilith Special Forces too or she another girl you’re dating?”
Inquisitive little shit.
She cranes her neck to the ceiling and exhales. “No, and yes, Lilith is Special Forces she is from another unit.” “What unit?”
Toni sighs. “She is Delta Force like me, baby. Just in a different unit.”
“Lilith, I couldn’t help, but notice you’re accent. You’re Middle Eastern, right?”
And this is why I am glad Athena stopped me from having kids.
“Yes, I’m from Israel, but I live in Florida.”
Her eyes light up. “So is it true Israel doesn’t have the Blight Districts?”
“Yes. Israel is one of the few countries who refuse to have the Blight Districts along with England, Japan, and Turkey.”
She frowns. “Wish they would get rid of all the Blight Districts so people can be equal again.” I
smile at her. “Me too.”
Wishing the Blight Districts gone seems to be just that, a drop of a coin in the wishing well.
She takes the last bite of her fish and wipes her lips on the top of her hand. “So do you go missions with my mom?”
I spear a piece of the fish with my fork. “Sometimes, but not often.”
“Amy, Mi Amor. Could you go play your video games? Lilith and I have some work to discuss.”
“Okay, Mom.”
She leaves the table and disappears into her room at the end of the hall.
I pick up my beer and stroll over to the large window, gazing at the smoggy glow of the city. Antonia stands next to me, swigging her beer.
“I’m sorry my girl is such a pry bar.”
I glance at her and chuckle. “It’s okay. I like her she’s a cute kid.”
She giggles and looks for her daughter. “Okay now that we’re alone, tell me, my cooking sucked ass, right?”
I tilt my head to the side. “Are you kidding me? It was great. I haven’t eaten anything that high quality in a while. Thanks for all of this. I needed this peaceful setting with a home-cooked meal. It gave me time to catch my breath.”
But this peace feels unnatural like a vegetarian shark, uneasy like in the eye of a hurricane.
Her mouth curves into a grin. “I’m happy you enjoyed it. So how are you… you know, holding up since we last met?”
“About the same. Grieving, not sleeping well, and emotionally exhausted.”
“I’m not going to lie to you, Lilith. You look like you been raked over the coals.” I turn to her, and we peer into each other’s eyes. Her eyes offer serenity, an escape from the world. Her hand caresses my cheek. “You need a vacation. Stay with me tonight and relax. Let me help you forget the world for a night.” Her voice alluring.
I glance down at her plunging neckline, imagining our naked bodies tangled in a passionate embrace. “I can’t. I’m too deep into this war with Black Reign.”
She lowers her hand. “I know. I just thought you could afford at least a night with me, but I understand when a mission is on the line.”
“Well see each other again.”
I begin walking to the front door when she calls out. “Wait. I brought you an old friend to help you take out that sick fuck Conrad.” She leaves the room and returns with the GM6 Lynx 50 caliber.
My old best friend.
“This has an X-ray scope and night vision. Trust me. You don’t want to enter that house it’s a kill box. I also got you some armor piercing rounds because an HVT like that will be behind bulletproof glass. Also, while you were eating, I found a good vantage point that overlooks the house.” She punches the coordinates into my GPS on my phone.
I pick up the rifle off the sofa. “Thanks. I’ll return the rifle when I’m done.”
“Good luck, Lilith.”
The spot she picked out puts me on a mountain face roughly one thousand meters away from Conrad’s condo. It has ideal light level conditions. I drop to a prone position and peer through the scope. I range the rifle to one thousand and adjust the optics for wind speed and direction along with elevation. Antonia wasn’t kidding, Conrad’s place is a kill box. It has heavily armed mercs and automated sentry guns attached to the surveillance cameras and knowing Black Reign; they probably have FLIR enabled on them.
I switch my scope to night vision and scan the balcony. After thirty minutes of observing the house, an old man steps out on to the terrace and leans on the rails reading a touchscreen. I load up his photo on my phone, and he matches the description. I steady my breathing as I train the sights on his head, I breathe in and slowly exhale. A bright muzzle flash explodes from the barrel as the rifle bucks against my shoulder. The shot echoes throughout the valley after his head explodes into a chunky red paste. Conrad’s headless corpse slumps against the railing nearly falling over into the ravine.
His guards duck behind cover shouldering their G36’s. One guard yanks out his cell phone.
Probably breaking the bad news to Colvin.
I pack the 50 and clean up the spent shell casing. I climb back into my car. On my way back to Antonia’s, I dial up Dom. “Colvin’s hopes and dreams are vaporized.”
“Excellent work. Connie wants us to relocate to Manhattan after you return. I’ll text you the address.” “Got it. I’ll be there soon.” I pull my truck into Antonia’s garage, and she shuts the garage door. I pop the trunk, and she takes her rifle. She leans the weapon against the wall and crosses her arms sauntering over to me.
“Well, the LAPD didn’t chase you back to my house, so I assume the Op went smoothly.”
I smile. “Indeed it did and not a scratch on US Army property.”
She chuckles and steps closer, caressing my arms. “You sure you can’t stay for a bit?” Her hands slip down to my waist. “I can’t make your pain go away, but I can make you forget about it for a bit.” Her fingers inch toward my belt buckle, my nether regions tingle with anticipation, but then I snap out of it. Business now, fun later.
I grab her hand and smile. “I would love to do this, but I have to get back to my people. Anyway, thanks again for the homecooked meal and the beers.”
She turns her head, and gives me a half smile. “No need to thank me. It was nice to see you again.”
I get in my SUV and close the door. She opens the garage door. “Look, Toni. This was nice and all but I am not looking for another relationship. You understand why?”
She rests her arms on the window sill of my car door. “Oh, wow you misjudged my intentions. I am not looking for a woman to settle down with and get a Golden Retriever and all that romance novel bullshit. I’m looking for a companion to have fun with during our downtimes. Like you I don’t have the time or patience for all that romance shit.” A smirk slides across my lips. “That’s a relief. We will definitely have to discuss this arrangement further next time.”
She steps back from the car. “Speaking of which, you gotta go. I’m sure your team is expecting you back. I only wish I could help you, but command has us running ops in Syria. Shit’s getting serious over there. We’re fighting Black Reign and Islamic extremists. This cluster fuck may force The President to declare war.”
“She should’ve declared war a long time ago. What units does she have operating over there besides yours?”
“75thRangers, Devgru, Green Berets and MARSOC.”
“High-end hitters. You watch your ass over there. Colvin has leveled the playing field.”
She leans in and kisses me on the cheek. “Don’t worry about me, amiga. But hey, please be good to yourself don’t let your grief turn inward. Instead, focus it. Use it to send those motherfuck
ers to hell where they belong.”
The corner of my mouth curves up. “You can count on that, amiga.” I put the SUV in reverse and head to LAX.
Chapter 8
The cabin’s exterior walls riddled with bullet holes the windows shot out, and a massive hole in the wall from what looks like some kind of explosion. I leap out of the truck with my 45 at the ready. Racing up the steps, I kick in the door. Clare is lying in a pool of blood with her gun trained on the door. She tied a tourniquet around her wound just above her knee to try and slow the bleeding.
“Oh my god, Clare,” I say, rushing over to her. “What the hell happened?” She lowers her gun and lets out a raspy cough and bits of blood erupts from her throat, her teeth were red from blood building up in her mouth. “Lilith… they took them, about twenty minutes ago it was Lauren and her gaggle of assholes.” She hacks up goops up blood. “They hit us hard, but we held our ground. Hell, Tiffany even killed a few of them. It’s funny I expected her to curl into a ball in the corner and cry for her mommy, but that chick went full beast mode.” She winces in pain as she lets out a raspy breath. “I took a round to the knee and the lungs. She gasps as she tries to breathe. “Then came the shock grenades. The wires exploded from the grenades, and then Dominic and Tiffany went down. They stormed in after blowing the wall out with a damn rocket launcher. They swiped all our drives with all the Intel. That bitch Lauren dropped a round in my chest in hopes of finishing me off.” She flashes a blood stained smile. “But I am still alive, bitch!”
Shit, this is definitely a setback in the operation and no sense trying to catch up to them. Twenty minutes is plenty of time for them to be long gone.
“Come on. We’ll sort this out after we get you some medical attention.”
I holster my gun, and she lets out a scream as I lift her. “Fuck! I’m leaking all over the place. I think this may be the end of the line for me, killer.”
“Clare, shut that shit up no one else is dying. Besides, being a cynical bitch is my job,” I say, laying her in the back seat, closing the door. I hope I didn’t just lie to another person I care about. Tearing down the dirt road, I type in the GPS to find the closest hospital and the nearest one is Orange Regional Medical Center. After locking in the coordinates, the NAV system gives me turn by turn directions.
I slam my breaks at the ER’s entrance. I leap out of the truck and pick her up. She cries out. “Oh, god. Just fucking kill me already!”
I rush into the emergency room. “I got a gunshot wound to the lung and knee!”
Doctors and nurses rush over with a stretcher. I place her on the gurney, and they wheel her to the O.R with haste. I look down and realize her blood is all over my hands and the sleeves of my black leather coat.Please don’t let her die.
I head to the restroom and wash Clare’s blood from my hands and sleeves of my jacket.
Colvin won’t kill them. He still needs me for Athena. They’re his leverage. They’re the only thing keeping me from ripping his throat out at the moment.
I head back out into the waiting room to find the Nurse searching for someone. Something tells me she is looking for me. I walk up to her.
“Looking for me?” I ask.
“Are you, Lilith?” She asks in an unsure tone. “Yes. How is she doing?”
“She is stabilized. But we have to get her into surgery
and get the nanites in her ASAP. So we are moving her into surgery right now. She lost a lot of blood. She’s lucky you were there.” The nurse stuffs her hands in her pockets. “Listen, anytime there is a gun related injury its hospital policy I notify the authorities.”
I knew this would likely happen, but what choice did I have, she was dying.
“That’s fine. Send the cops directly to me, okay? I will inform them of what happened.”
She replies with a nod and heads behind the desk and picks up the phone.
I walk back out to the waiting room and dial up Connie. “Ma’am.”
“Agent Cohen. How can I help you?”
“The safe house has been compromised, and Clare’s been critically wounded. Dominic and Tiffany have been captured, and Black Reign swiped all our Intel we had on the drives. I’m at the hospital in Middletown with Clare, and I’m about to have local cops poking and prodding me for answers.”
“Tell them whatever you have to, but whatever you do, do not tell them this was Black Reign or that you’re a Hunter Agent. Have the police call me, and whatever cover story you spin, I will corroborate it.”
“Ma’am this is not my first interrogation by cops. I know the drill.”
“Good. I will get to Manhattan as soon as I can in the meantime look after Clare.”
“Will do.”
I hate babysitting while my friend is once again in the arms of those psychos, but something tells me they will keep her and Dominic alive as a bargaining chip. They tried that before, and it didn’t work out, but if at first, you don’t succeed try, try again is their philosophy here, it seems. Hanging up the phone, I clock two Deputies approaching me, wearing all black with a silver badge.
“Ma’am, my name is Deputy Hade. I’d like you to take a ride to the station with me so we can discuss the shooting you and your friend was involved in.”
“I can’t leave. I have to watch my friend.”
“I already posted a Deputy with your friend. He’ll watch over her till you get back.”
I reluctantly go with the Sheriff while wondering if I could trust these guys because nowadays, cops can easily be bought and used as personal thugs or killers. However, my gut tells me this Deputy is a boy scout who is just trying to figure out what happened.
We arrive at a small Sheriff station which has six cop cars out front and three unmarked cars.
I step out of the car and chuckle. “I’m Impressed. This station is rather large for Mayberry.”
“Well, what can I say, Mayberry has built up since the 30s.”
The station is packed with people some of them uniform cops; others are detectives and people filling police reports. We stop at a small interview room. The officer opens the door.
“After you, Ms. Cohen.” I sit down in a metal chair, and the officer sits on the opposite side of the table. “So that you know, you’re not under arrest; this is just questioning. That being said, if you still feel you need an attorney, we’ll put this conversation on hold till your attorney arrives. Now, do you still wish to continue?”
“Let’s get on with it.”
“Okay. Please state your full name.”
“Lilith Maya Cohen.”
“Okay good. And how did your friend end up shot?” “We were camping up at our cabin in the woods, and we were attacked by people that wanted to rob us. Clare ended up shot twice when she attempted to defend herself. They zapped me with a shock grenade. In the end, they still got our valuables.”
“What did they get, exactly?”
“Laptops, thumb drives, 1000 bucks in cash and jewelry.”
“Okay. For the record, what is Clare to you, a daughter? Niece?”
“She’s my friend. We met in college a few years ago.”
Fucking douche bag, I can’t believe he thinks I’m that old.
“And what did you two study in college?” He asks.
“We studied web design.”
“You know, Ms. Cohen. My officers and I were up at that cabin and found the ground littered with bullet casings and the side of the cabin blown out and no bodies were found. However, if it hadn’t been for that hunter stumbling across the cabin, we would have never known about the shooting. Which tells me the shooters attacked your place with silenced weapons, which also leads me to believe this was a professional hit on you and your friend. Not a robbery. Now, all that lead flying and no one was shot but your friend. Another thing that has me puzzled was the large arsenal you two had in that cabin.” He leans forward clearing his throat. “Now, it’s normal for people to bring guns on camping trips, but not military grade weaponry
and enough ammo to take on an army. You better come clean with me young lady, or I am going to graduate you to suspect status.”
I lean back crossing my arms. “Well, we wouldn’t wantthat.”
“Look, Ms. Cohen. You have to admit it’s a bit strange for campers to be packing that kind of firepower and ammo in mass quantities, and robbers typically don’t leave that much destruction in their wake.”
I clap my hands. “Bravo, Sherlock. Now, you mind telling where the hell you’re going with this?”
“I’m gonna be blunt here, Ms. Cohen. So far your story is bullshit. First of all, you don’t come off as a web design student, and secondly, you expect me to believe all that was just a robbery? Let’s stop jerking each other around, alright? Why’d you need that much firepower and why did someone recreate the damn Normandy Invasion in my damn town?”
Shit if I don’t break protocol, I’m going to be here all day. Leaving Clare with only Barney Fife for protection. “Look, deputy. I am going to come clean with you, and what I am about to tell you is classified.”
“Finally,” he says in a frustrated tone.
“I’m an FBI agent running an undercover operation in New York. We’re tracking a drug cartel run by a woman named Catalina Cortez. Her thugs are the ones who attacked us. If you don’t believe me, you can dial this number, and my Director will confirm it.”
Skepticism forms in his eyes, but he leaves the room anyway to confirm.
Sometimes half-truths work just as well as denial.
Moments later, the Deputy of Mayberry returns.
“My mistake, Special Agent Cohen. You’re free to go, but next time the FBI wants to set up an operation in my town how about a littleprofessional courtesy, eh?”
“Sorry for the cloak and dagger routine, but Catalina has a history of infiltrating local Law Enforcement.”
He raises both his hands and bows his head. “No harm done. I’ll give you a ride back to the hospital it’s a long walk.”
“Appreciate it.”
Lilith Cohen Retribution Page 8