The Nurse informs me she is still in surgery so I sit down in the ER waiting room. I pick up a newspaper read a headline on the front page.
War declared. US military mobilizes to Syria.
This war is going to turn into a big mess real soon. I hope President Kimura knows what she’s got herself into, past wars in the Middle East have always turned into a shit show.
I turn over the newspaper.
Crime has skyrocketed around America and more cops killed in the line of duty
People are getting fed up, and I can’t blame them, to be honest, but at the same time it’s stupid to shoot cops.
“Excuse me, Lilith?”
Peering over the newspaper, I see it’s a nurse, the same one from earlier. “Yes?”
“Ms. Dahan is out of surgery if you would like to go see her.”
It feels like I’ve been here all day, but that’s typical in American hospitals. I follow the nurse to Clare’s room. She is lying in bed with a bandage on her chest, and an IV has been inserted into her arm.
“How is she?”
“Your friend is going to be fine. Technically, she can leave today, but hospital policy prefers patients to stay overnight. That said, we can’t force her to stay. However, her knee and chest are going to be sore till the nanites fully heal her. So we prescribed her painkillers to cope with the pain.”
I walk over to her, smiling. “How are you breathing, Clare?”
She takes a deep breath and winces in pain. “Like I’m still being shot by that bitch, but I will live.” “I will leave you two be.” The Nurse leaves the room.
I sit on the side of the bed and worry stirs in her eyes. “What about Tiffany and Dom? We have to get them back, Lilith.”
“We will. Connie is on her way to Manhattan to head the operation to rescue them.”
She places her hand on my wrist. “How are you holding up, Lilith? I know you and Tiffany are close friends, so this has to really be marshing your mellow.”
“It is, but I have to keep it together because if I lose it, I’m no use to them.”
She swings the covers off her.“What are you doing?” “You heard her. If I can technically leave now, then that’s good enough for me. We’ve got work to do.”
She hobbles to the door, groaning in pain. I jerk my head away when I catch a glimpse of her bony ass. “Um… I don’t know if you noticed or not, but your ass is showing out the back of your gown.”
She glances over her shoulder and laughs. “Dude, are you perving out on me?”
I lower my head, raising my eyebrow. “Don’t flatter yourself. I was just pointing out your ass was showing.”
She looks over her shoulder and throws her head up toward the ceiling. “Ugh! Goddamn hospitals. Dude, I swear the way they make gowns they must have an ass fetish or something.”
“You know, it’s hard to believe you landed a Syrian Lesbian. I mean, wow that that’s like finding a glowing white unicorn. Congrats.”
She giggles. “Yes it is, and I love that chick like mad.”
My mouth twitched into a half smile. “You two going to get married?”
“It would be an empty wedding ceremony. See, her family kicked her out the house for being gay and the fact I am Jewish, and she’s Muslim. So she doesn’t have a family except me.”
“Yeah, Islam is not fond of gays or us Jewish girls. However, you’re all the family she needs, Clare.”
The corner of her mouth curves up. “Aww, that’s sweet, man.”
“Anyway, here take my leather coat it should be long enough to cover up that bony ass of yours.”
She slips on my coat and turns her head to the side. “I’ll have you know; my ass is toned, not bony.”
My jacket becomes a trench coat on her as she slips her arms into it. “Damn, girl, your clothes are big.”
“Nice. I saved your life, and you call me fat. Maybe I should’ve left ya to bleed out?”
“No, I was just saying your clothes are big on me.”
“Uh huh. Let’s go.”
After she signs herself out, we exit the hospital. “Holy shit! She yells while limping to the truck on her cane. “I feel a draft on my undercarriage. Damn, my nips could cut glass right now.”
Two seniors glance at her like she escaped the nut ward.
“Ugh Come on you whack a doodle before they lock you in the Psyche Ward.”
We climb into the SUV and head back to the cabin.
Parking the truck at the cabin, I glance over at her. “Go change clothes and don’t leave my jacket.” A few minutes later Clare emerges out of the cabin donning a green field jacket and a red scarf around her neck and blue jeans to go with her brown mid-calf combat boots. She slaps a fresh mag in her CZ 9mm and slips it inside her coat.
After climbing into the GMC, she sticks a joint between her lips and lights it breathing a dense plume of smoke from her mouth. The alluring burnt wire smell of the weed fills my truck.
She takes another drag and passes it to me. “You want a hit?” “Sure, why the hell not.” I take a heavy toke from it and bust into coughing. The effects of the joint inches me into a tranquil state of mind. I pass the joint back to Clare. “That’s good shit.”
“Fucking A! This is that primo Cali shit right here. I got it when I was out at a street racing tournament in L.A.”
I open the truck door. “What are you doing?”
I take another hit from her joint. “I need to get my sword and wrist blades.” We head into the house and grab our gear and load up the truck.
“Damn, I almost forgot my laptop.” She turns on her heel and jogs back in the house. “My mind must still be foggy from the pain meds they gave me.” She returns to the truck and holds up her laptop up in triumph. “Yes! Persephone lives. The rest of my stuff got trashed, and they took all our Intel on Black Reign.”
I always thought it was silly when people would give inanimate objects a name. I crank the engine and peel out of the driveway.
Bleak clouds hang above the skyline of New York City. It’s an appropriate look considering New York is home to one of the largest Blight Districts in the nation.
My phone sounds off and vibrates in my coat pocket. “Go ahead, ma’am.”
“Agent Cohen, I wanted you to know I have Josef and Nina heading the rescue operation to save our people.”
“Where do I meet them at?”
“Nowhere. They will handle the rescue. What I need you to do is meet up with me here so we can plan our next attack on Black Reign.”
My phone lets out a ding. “Okay, I got the address. Clare and I will be there soon I’d say our ETA is 45 minutes, hour at the most.” “How is Clare?”
I glance over at her toking a joint and coughing. “Well, Clare is Clare, so she’s doing great.”
“That’s great news. See you when you arrive.”
I hang up the phone and wonder what horrors Tiffany is going through right now. Are they torturing her? Have they killed her? I don’t want to think about it. I have to trust Nina, and in the past, she hasn’t let me down, but the situation is complicated. Based on what I saw, Josef is very capable of rescuing someone, but even with the most skilled agent, a rescue operation can turn to shit in a blink of an eye.
“What’s on your mind, Lilith?” “Just
worriedabout Tiffany is all.”
“Me too. That chick has a good heart.”
“Too good to be caught up into this mess I dragged her into. Since she’s met me, she has been kidnapped, tortured, almost raped, lost her career and was nearly gunned down in her home and let's not forget, she's a killer now. I wonder if I'm toxic to the people I care about.”
“Bullshit, man. That chick is lucky to have you as a friend, okay? All this shit that’s happening to her is no one’s fault but Karl’s and Black Reign’s.” She douses her joint in the ashtray. “You two didn’t meet by chance. There’s a reason you two became friends and I think the reason is right in front of you.”
“Are you implying me coming into her life was divine intervention?”
“Well, let’s see, you save her from an abusive husband. You rescued her from being tortured to death. And you saved her ass from being gunned down in Germany. Oh, and you saved her from her own family.”
“That’s a nice sentiment, but I am not some guardian angel sent to watch over Tiffany. You think too highly of me, friend.”
She beams a bright smile. “That’s exactly what a guardian angel would say.”
Driving down the damp, icy streets of Jersey, we enter the Holland Tunnel. “Ugh, I always hated this tunnel,” she says.
“Why?” I ask. Out the corner of my eye, brake lights pierce the wintery mist.
“That’s why. It always gets backed up.”
“Damn it! I exclaim. I look at the clock on the radio, and it’s exactly 5 pm. I prop my arm on the side of the car door. “Looks like we’re just in time for the fun of rush hour.” I slip a smoke between my lips and light it as I crack the window for Clare.
“This is why Samira hates coming to New York.” She groans.
After a full hour of sitting in dead standstill traffic, the cars begin moving again. Snow is falling heavily as we exit the tunnel. I merge into the lane that leads to Lower Manhattan.
My cell rings with an unknown number. “Hello?”
“By now you’ve done figured out it was us who took Mr. Adler and Ms. Conrad.”
“Let them go, Colvin.”
“You know, all this could have been avoided, but you chose to be an unreasonable bitch. Now I swear to god, you don’t turn yourself into me within twenty-four hours I will put a bullet in their goddamn heads. Oh, and in case you don’t believe me.” he switches on his cell camera. Tiffany and Dom are zip-tied to a chair and gagged. Tiffany's eyes are vacant of emotion as she glares at Colvin like prey. He walks over to Tiffany and puts the phone in her face.
“Is there anything you want to say to Lilith, Ms. Conrad?” he removes the gag off her.
“You better kill me. Because if I get loose, I’m gonna cave your head in.” She growls.
Colvin smacks her in the head with his handgun. “No! That is not what I told you to say.” He shoves the gun under her chin. “Now let’s try this again.”
Her lip curls and she grits her teeth. “Pull the trigger, bitch boy. Or do you need your wet nurse Lauren to do it for you.”
Clare wasn’t kidding Tiffany has gone beast mode, and it seems she's stuck in beast mode.
“Let me loose, and I will kill every fucking one of you in this room!”
“Lilith, we better have a deal because this bitch is pissing me off.”
“We have a deal. But they walk out of the building first, or the deal is off.”
“Fair enough. Remember no later than twenty-four hours.”
I hang up the phone. “Lilith, tell me you did not just seriously hand yourself over to that prick.”
I glance over at her. “Of course not. I’m just buying Nina and Josef time to plan a rescue.”
“Smart play.”
We arrive at our address, and it’s a high rise apartment building, but this can’t be right. I would’ve thought Connie would’ve picked a spot more subtle. My cell rings again; it's Connie. “My people have informed me you’ve arrived. Come to the 25th floor. Do not worry about your things my people will bring them up.”
I hang up the cell, and we exit the SUV. Pretty ritzy looking area last-place Black Reign would expect me to be stupid enough to set up a TOC.
The lobby is laden with white marble floors and walls, men in black suits and earpieces strategically positioned around the hall. Connie’s Secret Service Agents probably. One of the agents gestures to the elevator. The lift is massive it looks as if you could almost fit a Volkswagen in it.
I push the button for the 25th floor, and notice Clare’s eyes glued to a painting fidgeting with a strand of her blue dreads.
“It’s an abstract painting, not a Where’s Waldo book.”
A brief chuckle slipsout of her mouth. “Actually, Dali is not abstract. He is a surrealist.” I
shrug. “If you say so.”
The doors open up into a spacious room with desks organized in two rows in front of a giant and computer screen mounted on the wall. The place looks like a copy of Hunter’s HQ back in Colorado only difference is this seems like a condo converted into a Command Center.
“Welcome Agent Cohen and Agent Dahan to our Tactical Operations Command.” She strolls down the steps. I know that suit she is wearing anywhere, it’s an Armani pinstripe black pants suit. I know because I own one just like it or I did. The boots she’s wearing I have no idea, probably some kind of dress boot brand. “Welcome back, Agent Dahan. I’m glad you made a full recovery.” Her attention shifts to me. “Agent Cohen, don’t worry we will get our people back.
“Good. Because we got twenty-four hours before Colvin kills Dom and Tiffany.”
“Colvin contacted you, then?”
“Yes. I agreed to his prisoner exchange which was to turn myself in within twenty-four hours, and he will let both of them go.”
“I dare assume this was a bluff on your part?”
“Yes. It was a con.” “Do
you think he bought it?”
“I’m pretty sure he bought it.”
“Let us pray you’re right.” She turns to Clare. “Agent Dahan, I am sure you know how to get set up. Agent Cohen, in my office.”
Connie is confident the rescueop won’t go wrong. If only I could be so sure, but knowing what I know about rescue ops they can go wrong in a blink of an eye.
My only other option here is to turn myself into Colvin, and that’s not a smart play. Because once he has me, Dominic and Tiffany are of no use to him anymore.
I follow her upstairs to her office, and she closes the door behind me. She sits down behind her desk with royalty like posture. I sit opposite of her. “Normally, I would have put you on that rescue mission, but I have a more pressing matter here. Colvin has a biological weapons installation hidden in Death Valley. We need you to go there and destroy it. Also, there is an H.V.T currently there, but we don’t expect her to be there long.” She opens her laptop and sends an image to the wall monitor, revealing a picture of Lauren Moretti in US Army fatigues. “I’m sure you remember her. Based on the Intel we gathered from Josef, Lauren went to work for Colvin after her time in the 75th Ranger Regiment, she went to work for Colvin to keep her and her daughter from ending up in the Blight Districts. She is only with Colvin to protect her daughter if we offer her a way out that would assure the safety of her daughter and wife from retribution and keep them out of the Blights, we may have us a defector.”
“I thought if people served in the military, they would never have to set foot in the Blight Districts again?”
“Normally yes. But if you're dishonorably discharged, you’re sent back to the Blights."
“How did she get a dishonorable discharge?” “On 2003 Operation Crescent Rain, she was tasked with acting as a blocking force to prevent desertion from the base and her secondary objective was to move in and secure the base. Here is where the operation went south. When her unit was repelling the deserters, the Iranian border guards open fired on Lauren’s unit and out reflex they returned fire. Now, whether the soldiers attack on American GI’s was intentional or just a result of confusion and panic we will never know because her unit left none alive.”
“That. Or Knowing the Iranian government, they probably killed the survivors to cover up what actually happened.”
“Regardless, America basically declared war on Iran by her actions.” She sips a bottle of water. “So, as a result, we had to dishonorably discharge her to smooth things over with the Iranian Government to avoid America being dragged into another war.”
“Bullshit like this is why I thank god every day I’m no longer a soldier. You’re damned if you do your job, and you’re damned if you don’t.”
“I don’
t blame you.” She nods in agreement. “Sergeant First Class Moretti was a fine soldier according to her comrades in arms, and this is how we repay her for her service. By letting her get knifed in the back by backroom politics.”
Politicians and their backroom deals often ruin good soldiers. They do this to advance their careers, line their pockets with more greenbacks, or to look like a savior to gain voters.
“Well, she’s not going to come willingly. After all, she tried to kill Tiffany, so she is going to assume I am out for revenge despite what I tell her.”
“I’m not saying you have to be gentle with her, but if capturing her is not an option then, by all means, put her down. However, if you can, she will provide us with vital Intel that would put our fingers on the pulse of Black Reign.” “Back to this Bioweapon facility what kind of stuff are we talking here?”
“Weaponized Thanatos virus.”
My eyes widen. “Are you fucking serious?” “Yes. It’s the same stuff that was set off in Iran. And now Black Reign is conveniently marketing the vaccines to the Iranian Government.”
“Classic viral profiteering. You set off a virus but make sure you also have the vaccines so you can make a profit by selling the vaccines to the country that’s been exposed.”
She ambles across the room and gazes out the large window overlooking the Hudson River. “God, I miss the old days when our only worry was Communism infecting free thinking societies.”
I tilt my head narrowing my eyes. “Except now, society is neither free nor does anyone think.”
She glances over her shoulder with a lifted eyebrow. “I hope you’re not suggesting Communism was a better solution?”
“Of course not. I’m simply stating we’re no better. Hello, the Blight Districts, segregation of the classes?”
“Ah. You’re right in that context we are no better. Alas, there is nothing we can do, but put up with it. Congress won’t budge on the issue and my executive orders to remove the Blight districts has been overruled by the US Supreme Court.” She sits down in her chair. “Anyway, I’d love to talk politics with you, but I need you to get out to Death Valley and destroy that weapons facility and capture or kill Lauren.”
“I assume you’re going to provide me with an airstrike because something tells me explosive charges isn’t going to be enough.”
Lilith Cohen Retribution Page 9