Lilith Cohen Retribution

by William Manning

  “You will be supplied with an airstrike with a payload of incendiary bombs designed to be hot enough to burn up any chemical or biological weaponsin that base.”

  “Will we be able to come up with plan to recue Dom and Tiffany before our time window closes?”

  She exhales. “I believe so, yes. However, I must admit I am less than thrilled about having Nina and Josef blow their cover this early in the game. That being said, I will not leave our people to the wolves.”

  “Thanks, Connie.”

  She nods. “You’re welcome. Now you have a job to so jump to it.” I stand and leave her office and head downstairs.

  Clare already has Persephone booted up and logging in. “Hey, you hooked into the net yet?

  She snaps her fingers and points at the monitor. “Way ahead of ya.”

  “I need you to do some thermal scans and cell phone scans in the Death Valley area.” I look at the rest of the CyberAgents. “We’re looking for a Bioweapons facility in Death Valley. So I want you to yell up when you find any suspicious signatures on the SAT or any suspicious cell phone chatter.” I light a smoke and head to the kitchen where there is nothing but beer and bottled water in the fridge. Hmm. I’d rather have whiskey, but beer will have to do. I pop the cap off the bottle while heading back over to Clare. Breathing smoke from my mouth. “Anything? I take a gulp.

  “No. Nothing yet.”

  My eyes remain fixed on the big screen while puffing on my cigarette, one of the computer geeks chime in. “Agent Cohen. We found a strong heat signature about 20 miles east of the California border along with cell phone chatter. It’s Lauren talking to Colvin.”

  I am not getting my hopes up on nabbing her. She’ll likely be gone by the time I arrive, but at least I can destroy those weapons.

  “Good work. I will inform Director Kimura.”

  I march up the stairs. “Connie, we pinpointed the locations of the base and Lauren.”

  She glances up from her handheld. “Death Valley National Park lost its funding a year ago good place to hide a biological weapons stockpile. Get out to Death Valley and take Clare with you along with whatever weapons and gear you need. It’s imperative these weapons be erased off the earth. Take a tranq pistol with you in case you get the opportunity to take Lauren alive.”

  “That place will be reduced to ash. However, I can’t promise anything with Lauren.”

  She nods “You’ll take mercury jet directly to the L.Z which is five miles away from the base. The jet is waiting for you on the roof.”

  I’m glad to hear that. I have no desire to sit through New York traffic again. That shit sucked sweaty donkey balls.

  After changing into my Desert camo and TAC vest, I sheath my Katana and slip on my wrist blades. I slap a mag in my suppressed HK416 with an integral suppressor, and lastly, I gather a few frag grenades, Claymore mines, and a tranq pistol. Clare shuts her laptop and follows me to the helipad on the roof.

  Dread plagues my mind about Tiff. Will she come back in one piece? Will she come back alive?”

  I take a deep breath, to try and relax my mind. Racing thoughts won’t change whatever fate is in store for her. I pull out my flask and take a swig of Vodka to relax a bit, a tear streams down my cheek and my muscles tense with rage when Karl’s smile enters my mind.

  “Lilith, you okay?”

  I tuck my knee to my chest. “Yeah, just thinking how stupid I am for falling to Karl’s charms.”

  She frowns, bending forward. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

  I take a swig of Vodka and rest my head against the wall. “Talking won’t change a damn thing.”

  She sits Indian style and opens up her laptop. “It’s cool. You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to.” I want to focus on making Black Reign pay for what they've done to me. It's one thing to try and kill me I'm used to people doing that, but to send a man into my bed to pretend to love me and even go as far as marrying me, just puts this shit on a whole new level of personal.

  Chapter 9

  Death Valley isn’t the friendliest terrain so I may be in for a bit of a walk and a climb. The base is an above ground installation from what I saw on the SAT feed. The jet drops me off on the Salt Flats and takes off. Usually, this place would feel like the surface of the sun, but its late November, and it gets cold here in the winter months, so long sleeves were the right call.

  “Can you hear me, Clare?” I say, slipping on my sunglasses.

  “I hear ya. You are on the air with Clare.”

  Great, I’m on a radio show with the whack a doodle. “Good. How far away am I?”

  “You got a good long walk ahead of you, ETA 3 hours. By the way, Cara has come to play this sexy girl is loaded with recon systems and a combat platform with 20mm Gatling gun and six Hellfire missiles. Yes, ma’am, this girl is as sexy as she is deadly. Just like another girl I know.” Her voice flirty.

  I snicker. “Save it for Samira. Focus on the Mission.” “You know I got this; I’m your eagle. Your eagle eye. Your falcon eye in the sky. Your angel on your shoulder your“Okay, Ms. Metaphor, I got it you’re my eye in the sky.”

  I don’t mind metaphors, but holy shit.

  I push my sunglasses off my nose. “Anything in my vicinity, Clare?”

  “Nope. Nothing. All activity seems to be in and around the base.”

  “Copy that. Keep me updated,” I say.

  “Speaking of updates, there is something you should know.”

  “Go.”

  “As you know Death Valley lost its funding from the Federal Government. So this put Death Valley up for sale and your never gonna believe who made the purchase.”

  “Colvin?”

  “Yup, a shell company runs the park on behalf of Black Reign.”

  “Figures. Black Reign poisons everything they touch. Any snipers in the mountains I should concern myself with?”

  “Unless they found out a way to mask their heat signatures on my drone, no.”

  “Copy that.”

  Advancing toward the compound, staying low to avoid detection. I crawl into some nearby desert shrubs and watch two mercs near a parked Humvee. One is scanning the darkening horizon, and the other is leaning against the Humvee sipping a bottle of water. The one peering through his binoculars is yammering on and on about his big win at the Poker table in Vegas. The merc finishes his water and tosses the bottle on the ground. He ducks his head and reaches in his truck.

  Litterbug dies first.

  I leap from the thicket and plunge my wrist blade into his lung. His friend whips around with his rifle. I draw my 45 while using his partner as a meat shield and put two in his chest and one in his head. I take one of the mercenary’s grenades and pull the pin on it, but I hold the spoon down. Holding the spoon keeps it from exploding. It’s how we cooked off frags in the army. I lay the mercs head on the grenade. Now I have a nice little human trap for when his buddies come running to inspect the commotion.

  I pull a few Claymores from my pack and hide them on opposite sides of the dirt trail. I pick up one of their G36’s and start popping rounds into the air. Tossing the rifle, I take cover behind a boulder that gives me some elevation.

  Clouds of dust trail behind two Humvees speeding toward me with gun mounts. This could get nasty if I don’t hit those fifties first. The marks arrive at the aftermath of my two slayings. Four men dart from the Humvee. Flipping the safety off, I line up the Red Dot sight with the gunner’s head on the twin 50 Cal. The other half of the hired guns investigate the bodies.

  When they find my little gift, I will set off the Claymores and open up on those gunners and then finish off the rest my traps didn’t get.

  A woman in desert camo kneels near the body and turns it over. An explosion rips through the two mercs reducing them to fleshy chunks. I trigger the Claymores. Dust explodes from the trail. Steel ball bearings and razorsharp bone fragments of their comrades fly into their ranks eviscerating the rest of the poor bastards. The gunners consumed b
y panic and confusion, they fire blindly into the dust cloud created by explosions. I switch my specs to thermals and fire a threeround burst ventilating the gunner’s skull. His head jerks back and slumps in the gunner’s seat. The second one screams in rage and trains his machine gun on my position and just before that beast opens up my rifle bucks. Spraying brain matter across the Humvee.

  I keep low using the rock formations for cover as I approach the facility. I switch my sunglasses to night vision as the day succumbs to night. It’s now pitch black out here, without night vision my only source of light would be the massive floodlights on the compound. There’s a threeperson patrol moving toward the fiery wreck peering down their sights scanning the horizon with their night vision scopes. Drawing my Katana, I creep up on their left flank. The blade slices merc one across the neck. My sword finds a home in merc two’s gut. I slam a round kick into the sternum of merc three’s chest knocking him on the ground stealing the air from his lungs. After ripping the sword from merc two’s belly, I plunge it into merc three’s thorax killing him instantly. After wrenching my sword from his chest, I advance to the base.

  Nothing is going to stop me from destroying this place you pieces of shit.

  I come to a guardhouse with a woman armed with an AA12. She is frantically yelling for reinforcements on her earpiece. I charge into the house. She screams as I spin her around and deliver a fist to the throat, abruptly silencing her. She struggles for air as I snatch a wad of her hair. Gritting my teeth, I bash her head into the concrete wall of the guard house till I hear the sound of her skull cracking like an egg. I throw her lifeless body on the ground, leaving a bloody smear on the wall.

  Pushing the button, the front gate opens alarms scream as I step out of the guard house. I take off the sunglasses when the place lights up brighter than Times Square. I dart through the cluster of metal crates and slide behind a Humvee. “Clare?”

  “What’s up?”

  “I think it’s time we invited Cara to the party.”

  “Hell yeah. My girl is gonna make it rain.”

  “Good. I have a shit load of assholes coming down on my position.”

  “Hold on to your tits.”

  All the Mercs open fire on the Humvee. Dirt kicks up as the bullets pelt the ground glass rains down on me as rounds blow out the windows.

  Damn! Armor piercing rounds.

  She laughs maniacally over the Coms. “Time to make it rain, bitches!” She roars. Explosions rock the area turning night into day. The Gatling gun unleashes a hurricane of lead tearing through the mercs like tissue paper.

  “That was fucking awesome! I love this sexy beast. You’re good. The area is clear, enemy reduced to bloody kibblesand bits.”

  “Nice work, Clare.”

  Leaving the protection of the Humvee, I shoulder my HK and push toward the entrance.

  A squad of assholes storms from the door. My suppressor flashes while running for cover. Ducking behind a pair of thick metal containers, bullets plink off the boxes. I pull the pin on the frag and lob it at the entrance. The grenade explodes throwing body parts across the courtyard. Glass crunches beneath my boots as I enter the front door. A wounded merc missing a leg, crawls through the entrails of his comrades, trying to go for a rifle. I let off single round painting the floor with his brains and continue upstairs to the weapons hold. “Okay, heading to the weapons storage to mark them for the bomber.”

  “Copy. Watch yourself, Lilith.”

  Heading down the long hallway, it dead ends at two massive steel doors sealed with an electronic lock. Damn it!

  “I don’t suppose you got the key code to the weapons storage?”

  “No, but there’s a weapons scientist there who definitely has it.”

  “You got a name?”

  “His name is Dr. Mathew Banning. According to Nina’s reports, he was a British weapons scientist for Ministry of Defense in the UK.”

  “I guess “For queen and country” doesn’t mean shit to him anymore.”

  “Yup.”

  “Alright, I’ll get back you. In the meantime, I want Cara flying close air support.”

  “Don’t worry we gotcha.”

  I sneak down the hall watching every door. I come to an intersection in the hallway and take a left. I arrive at adirectory of the scientists on duty. I skim down the list, and it shows Doctor Banning’s office is on the far end of the building.

  Edging the door open, there is an older man in a white lab coat with glasses hunched over his desk reading a tablet. I storm into his office with my rifle trained on his head. His eyes snap to me glistening with fear.

  “Make a sound, and you die.” I close the door behind me and take a few steps closer.

  He leans back in the chair and sighs with a hint of relief. “There is no need for the gun, lass. I will cooperate fully.”

  Lowering my rifle, I glare at him. “I want the access codes to the weapons storage.”

  “Forty-one sixtyone.”

  Damn, I was expecting to have to beat it out of him.

  “I also need to know where Lauren Moretti is.”

  “My dear, I’m afraid you’ve arrived too late. She has already returned to New York.”

  Figures. I didn’t think she would hang around.

  “Why are you willingly helping me?”

  “Because my soul is charged with too much sin already.”

  “Oh really? You think because you recognize what you were doing is wrong, I won’t kill you?”

  He leans forward and sobs. “If you want to kill me, go right ahead god; knows I deserve it after what I’ve done for these blackhearted bastards.”

  “What did you do?”

  He yanks off his glasses and rubs his eyes trying to conceal his tears. “I helped Colvin weaponize the Thanatos virus.” He sobs. “He fired one of the missiles into Iran and later marketed the vaccine to their government.”

  I draw my 45 and jam it against his temple. I want to pull this trigger so bad. His work has killed thousands of innocent people.

  He clutches his cross like a lifeline. “Lord forgive me for what I’ve done.” His voice breaks. “Please forgive me! He looks up at me with tears streaming down his cheeks. “Go on, do it. Be the wrathful right hand of God. Lord knows the world needs fewer people like me. I just wanted to protect my wife and two sons. Colvin uses them as leverage to keep me working for him.”

  If I shoot him, I may as well kill Samira too. He is as much a slave as she was.

  I lower my gun. “The past is done. The future, however, is up to you. You can continue being Colvin’s bitch, or you can help me, and my people will protect your family.”

  Shock mixed with relief washes over his face. “Thank you, Lilith. Thank you for giving me a second chance.”

  I holster my weapon and ready my rifle. “Don’t waste it. Follow me.”

  Banning punches in the code, the cold air escapes from the storage, chilling me to the bone. “Get behind me and stay there.” I enter the warehouse, scanning my left and right flank. The temperature gauge shows 28 degrees. Several shots whizz by my head from the catwalks. I shove the scientist to the floor. I spin around sending three rounds into her chest. The guard topples over the railing and her spine snaps as she lands on the forklift.

  The missiles are secured in long metal crates that require a key code and a slide card to open. There is thirty of them lined down the middle of the room in rows of ten. The scientist rubs his arms trying to warm himself. “I have become death, destroyer of worlds.” He vomits on the floor.

  “Hey, pull your shit together.” “I never thought I would be uttering those words. Jesus, what have I done? All those people in Iran are dead because of me. I’m just as bad as Colvin and Catalina.”

  “Colvin and Catalina are too far gone for redemption. You, on the other hand, there is still hope for. See, you’re nothing like Colvin and Catalina because all these weapons were built with a gun to your family’s head. You’re not evil you were jus
t protecting your family. However, if you’d done this voluntarily, you would be among the corpses in my wake.”

  I pull out the beacon from my pack and place it under one of the weapons and hail Clare. “The weapons are tagged for the bomber.”

  “Copy that. Bomber is coming to rip that place a new asshole. ETA eight minutes.”

  “Get that jet over here.” I turn to the Doctor. “Come on we've got eight minutes before this place is consumed in plasma.”

  We race out of the storage, and out of the building where the Mercury jet is just landing. The ramp lowers, and I shove the scientist on board. We rush to our seats and strap ourselves in. The Mercury lifts off, and eight minutes later, the sky lights up with blue and white fire forcing me to avert my eyes.

  After the jets is stabilized at its current speed, I unstrap myself and sit down next to him. “Who is this guy, Lilith?”

  “This was Colvin’s weapon scientist Doctor Banning.” I give him a bottle of water.

  His hands tremble with cortisol as his fingers grip the bottle. “Thank you, Lilith,” his voice laden with anxiety.

  I cross my arms. “It’s time to get you on record for my superiors.”

  Clare sits down and activates the recording on her handheld. “State your name for the record and your job before your run in with Black Reign. Also, tell us what you did.”

  “My name is Doctor Matthew Banning. I was a Weapons Scientist for her Majesty’s Ministry of Defense in the UK.”

  “How did Colvin get you to cooperate with him?”

  “Colvin’s men kidnapped me from a coffee shop in London. He forced me to build those sickening weapons by threatening to kill my family in their sleep.”

  “Tell us about the missiles,” Clare says.

  “They’re equipped with a stealth skin that renders present day missile defense systems useless. They show up cold on thermal scanners when in flight. Colvin used to joke and call them Quiet Death.”

  Sick fucking bastard.

  Clare crosses her legs. “Is there any way you can verify your story?”