Ava's Crucible- The Complete series Box Set

by Mark Goodwin

  The lights of the truck behind her turned on and off.

  “Dad, tell Foley if you can hear me okay, and have him blink the lights again when you are in position.”

  Foley’s lights flashed once more.

  “Okay. Jesus, help us all.” Ava pulled up to the blue, dilapidated brick warehouse. It had an entrance door as well as a roll-up garage door. She guessed it had been an auto-repair shop at one point in its life. The neighborhood had been an up-and-coming section of town, popular with young people and artists prior to the turmoil surrounding the election. A high percentage of the population was either directly involved with Antifa and the former SJWL, or at least sympathetic to their cause. Undoubtedly, the new government-sanctioned Social Justice Legion would have multiple outposts in the neighborhood. As such, residents would likely be unmolested by police or National Guard patrols; not that Austin had seen much evidence of either one since Ross had been removed from office and detained.

  Ava surveyed the area before getting out of the Jeep. None of the buildings or cars looked like they had been torched in the riots. She suspected this and the surrounding blocks were a sort of Antifa sanctuary. The warehouse across the train tracks from her was in poor repair. It was heavily decorated with graffiti. The bare December trees gave the place more of a desolate feeling than it already possessed. Ava cautiously got out and closed her door. She walked up to the building. The windows were boarded up, so she couldn’t see what was going on inside. Paint flaked off the dingy white door, revealing that it had been dark green in a previous life. She knocked.

  The sound of the deadbolt clicked through the exterior of the door. It opened and she waited apprehensively. Inside stood a slightly overweight man in his mid-twenties. He had an unkept beard, shoulder-length dark brown hair, and wore a black hoodie, just like Ava’s. “Hey, come in.”

  “Chewy?”

  “Yeah, well, Fred.” He turned to another man about his age, clean shaven with thick glasses and tight curly hair. “This is Darren.”

  She made a visual sweep of the premises before walking in. “Nice to meet you.”

  “And you are?” Darren asked.

  “Harley, aren’t you expecting me?”

  “Yeah, I just thought if we were giving you our real names . . .”

  “My friends call me Harley.” She nodded to affirm her response. “So, what have you got?”

  Fred looked her over and smiled nervously, as if after so many years of playing video games and chatting online in his mother’s basement, he wasn’t prepared to be talking to a pretty girl in person. He glanced at Darren who looked slightly less intimidated by a real girl. “Um, if we can just settle the matter of the payment, we’ll have the goods here in a few minutes.”

  Ava crossed her arms. “Oh, no! Don’t try to pull one on me. You said you had the stuff here.”

  Fred pecked his fingers from one hand against the other. “It’s close. Our supplier doesn’t want us having the materials sitting around where we could be robbed. I vouched for you because we’ve chatted online so many times, but you have to understand, I’d never met you in person.”

  Ava grunted her displeasure. “Well, I’m not transferring funds until I’ve seen it.”

  “How about you transfer half, we’ll bring it in, then you transfer the rest?” Darren suggested.

  “How about I show you my crypto coin wallet, so you can verify I actually have all the Monero in my wallet, then I’ll transfer a quarter of it.”

  Fred and Darren looked at each other. Fred looked back at Ava and nodded. “I suppose that will be okay.”

  Ava took out her phone, drew the letters A and F which was her secret code to turn off the Void Lock app and allow her to open her cryptocurrency wallet. “There’s my account.”

  Fred looked on. “That’s what we discussed. Here’s where to send it.” Fred held out his phone for her to see.

  Ava made the transaction and reset the Void Lock so Fred and Darren wouldn’t see that the phone was on, in case they looked. “You should have it.”

  Fred checked his screen. “Yep. All set. Let me make a call.”

  Ava protested. “You know, I didn’t want to meet a lot of people.”

  “Sorry.” Fred looked at her sheepishly as he dialed the number. He spoke to the person on the other end. “Yep. It’s all good. Come on by.”

  CHAPTER 15

  My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me. But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.

  Psalm 63:8-10

  Ava waited restlessly, leaning up against an old table and shifting her weight from time to time. “So, you guys live here?”

  “Sort of.” Fred pointed at the stairs. “We’ve got a loft over top. But we use the garage for the cause. Meetings, organizing protests, that kind of thing.”

  “I guess those days are over. We’re all legit now.” Ava smiled.

  Darren laughed. “I know! Sometimes I feel like we’re the dog who chases cars. Now we’ve finally caught one and I’m not sure any of us know what to do with it.”

  Ava said, “Szabos knows. He’ll give us the direction we need.”

  Fred nodded resolutely. “Yeah, I wasn’t too sure how I felt about Markovich, but when I heard he was bringing in Szabos, that put me at ease. In fact, the guy that’s coming works directly with the Just Society Foundation.”

  “Really? Does he know George?” Ava acted impressed.

  “He knows the guy directly under him.” Darren asserted his knowledge.

  A series of three knocks, a pause, then two more knocks came to the door.

  “That’s them.” Fred unlatched the deadbolt.

  A thin girl walked in first pushing a dolly with two wooden crates, marked M112, stacked one on top of the other.

  Ava looked first at the crates, then at the girl.

  “Ava? What are you doing here?”

  “Raquel?” Ava’s heart began to pound.

  The second dolly of explosives wheeled through the door. The man pushing them said, “Oh no! She’s not with Antifa!”

  Ava looked up to see Chip standing in the doorway. “No! I am. It took me a while to come around, but I’m on board.”

  “Nope, not buying it.” Chip quickly pulled out a thin automatic pistol. “Raquel, lock the door and get your gun out.”

  Ava shook her head. “I really regret this, the misunderstanding, I mean.”

  Chip pointed the pistol at her head. “You know, I owe you one from the last time I saw you. Fred, get some tape. Restrain her hands and get her upstairs while I figure out what I’m going to do. Darren, get your gun ready. I’m betting she has people in the area.”

  Ava’s mind raced. They hadn’t frisked her and she still had her pistol. But if she drew on them, Chip would gun her down before she got off a single shot.

  “Come on, give me your hands.” Fred picked up a roll of duct tape and quickly spiraled it around her hands. “Let’s go upstairs. You lead.”

  Ava’s pulse pumped like a steam engine. Fear and terror clouded her ability to think. She’d always been able to come up with a solution and be quick on her feet, but this time she felt panic taking over. Ava forced her head to clear enough to make a move. “You and I are going upstairs, and they’re staying down there?” She knew it was a stupid question, but it was critical information to Foley, James, and most importantly, her father who were all listening in. With her out of the line of fire, they’d be free to shoot up the lower level.

  “Yeah, just keep walking,” Fred replied.

  Once upstairs, Ava feigned a look of remorse. “Fred, Chip is wrong about me, I don’t know why he thinks I’m not with you guys. I don’t even care about these stupid explosives. We’ve gotten to know each other for so long online. I really just wanted to meet you, and you’re everything I thought you would be. I guess I’m an idiot for thinking this, but I had in my mind
that maybe we’d sort of hit it off.”

  Fred looked into her eyes as she fed him the line. His mouth gaped open, his eyes were mesmerized, he nodded slowly. Fred whispered, “I feel the same way, but let’s just get this sorted out with Chip.”

  “No, Fred! If we’re going to be together, we need to get out of here—you and me. Is there a way out?”

  Fred looked at the window. “The fire escape.”

  “Good, get this tape off my hands.”

  Fred quickly removed the tape and turned to the window to open it.

  POW, POW, POW. Gunfire rang out from below. POP, POP, POP.

  Fred turned to look at Ava with a curious expression.

  BANG! Ava lowered her Glock while Fred’s lifeless body slumped to the floor. She crawled over his corpse and out the window.

  Ava looked at the alleyway below before pushing down the fire-escape ladder. Seeing no one, she began her descent. Ava hurried down the escape as bullets were flying everywhere on the lower level.

  The rear door of the building flew open and Chip ran out, fleeing a hail of gunfire. Ava took aim at him and fired. BANG, BANG, BANG! Chip still held his large pistol as he sprinted past. Ulysses was next out the door.

  He paused his pursuit of Chip to check on Ava. “Are you alright?”

  “I’m fine. Go! Don’t let him get away!” Ava jogged behind Ulysses. They were soon joined by Foley and James.

  Chip had a twenty-yard lead and ducked behind the building.

  Ulysses put his hand up for the team to slow down. “He could be set up behind that corner to ambush us. Proceed with caution.” Ulysses tucked low, took aim at the corner and began to come around.

  The sound of wheels of a car screeching to a halt echoed from Chip’s direction.

  Chip’s voice could be heard yelling. “Get out!”

  A girl screamed. “Please! Don’t kill me! Just take the car!”

  Ava followed her father up the street, clearing the corner just in time to catch the tail end of Chip’s impromptu car-jacking, and to see him speed off in the stolen silver Kia Soul.

  Ava lowered her pistol. The young girl who’d just lost her vehicle looked Ava and the others over and backed away from them. Her pace quickened. She turned and scampered away.

  Ulysses looked at Foley and James who were both winded. “You two, go secure the building.”

  “Got it.” Foley nodded and patted James on the shoulder. “Come on.”

  Ulysses examined Ava’s face then her body. “Where’s the guy who took you upstairs?”

  “By the window.” She changed magazines in her pistol. “Dead.”

  “Lucky him.” Ulysses put his left arm around her, keeping his right on his rifle. “I was looking forward to having a conversation with him.”

  Once Ava and Ulysses reached the inside of the warehouse, Foley called out, “Both males are dead. The girl is bleeding heavily from her right shoulder and left thigh.”

  “Is she squirting?” Ulysses walked up to Raquel who was lying on the dirty concrete floor.

  Foley frisked her before taking out his knife and beginning to cut away the clothing from her shoulder.

  Ava stooped beside her. “It doesn’t seem to be coming out in spurts, but it’s a heavy flow.”

  Ulysses stood over Raquel. “Best put a tourniquet above the injury anyway.”

  Raquel moaned in pain. “Ava, don’t let me die. Please don’t let me die.”

  “I’m not going to let you die.” Ava grabbed the duct tape which Fred had used to secure her hands. She lifted Raquel’s bleeding thigh and wrapped the tape over three times. Next, she ran a screwdriver between the tape and Raquel’s jeans and turned it to tighten the tape. Finally, she pulled the tape around three more times to secure the screwdriver.

  In the meantime, Foley cut the sleeve from Darren’s hoodie and used it to make a temporary bandage for Raquel’s shoulder.

  “My phone is in my right pocket.” Raquel seemed to be using all of her strength to lift her head and reach for her phone with her uninjured hand. “Get it and call an ambulance.”

  Ava pulled the phone out of Raquel’s pocket and stowed it away in her own back pocket. “We’ll get you some help.” She looked up at Ulysses. “We need to take her to Sam. He can get her cleaned up.”

  Ulysses shook his head and pointed to the back door. “Come outside.”

  Perturbed, Ava followed him. “She’s in bad shape. We need to get her help fast.”

  Once outside in the alley, Ulysses said, “We can’t take her back with us. If we did that, she’d be our prisoner. That means she’s sucking up resources that we can’t spare. It also means someone has to watch her all hours of the day. We’re stretched too thin just trying to keep someone on watch around the clock. We’ll call 911 with her phone when we leave. With all the gunshots, police are probably coming already.”

  “High-priority 911 response times were over an hour before the country melted into chaos. Leaving her and calling 911 is a death sentence.”

  “She should have thought of that before her and her accomplices lit the fire that melted the country into chaos.” Ulysses turned to walk back in. He called out to Foley and James, “We need to get the explosives loaded up. Gather all of their weapons as well. And get all the phones. I want to try to get that Monero back in my account before the screen locks on the phone of the one Ava transferred the funds to. He won’t be needing it.”

  Ava stomped behind her father. “She’s my friend, dad. I can’t leave her here and hope an ambulance shows up before she bleeds out.”

  Ulysses stopped short and glared at Ava with harsh eyes. “She’s not your friend anymore. You chose to get involved in this war, and now you have to fight the people who are trying to kill you.

  “I offered . . . no; I begged you to sit this one out—to help out; support the Alliance from the sidelines. You refused. You wanted to jump in head first. Now you’re neck-deep in a civil conflict and you don’t get to make up the rules as you go along. The rules of this game were established long before you were born. The rules in this field are kill or be killed. The fact that we are even calling an ambulance, patching her up, giving her any chance of survival whatsoever, goes against every instinct in my body.

  “So, we're going to wrap up this operation, and you are going to get on board with the program. If you decided this is too tough for you; good. Tap out and we’ll go to Oklahoma. That has always been my first choice.”

  Ava hated to see Raquel on the ground in such a horrible condition. “Then at least let me put the call in now.” She took her phone out of her pocket.

  Ulysses snatched it from her hand. “No!” He forcibly retrieved Raquel’s phone from Ava’s back pocket. “And when it’s time to roll out, I’ll make the call from her phone. Everyone else on this team understands the chain of command. I’ve given you way more leeway than I should have because of my guilt. But that ends right here and right now! Fall in line, or you’re off the team!”

  Ava was instantly perplexed. After all, wasn’t it her team? Didn’t she get to say who was in and who was out?

  Ulysses barked orders at Ava. “Look around and try to locate the detonators. These crates are just the M112 bricks of plastic explosives. All this is for nothing if we can’t get detonators.”

  “Yes, sir.” If she ever had been, Ava was no longer in charge. “I never saw them bring in any other boxes. They may still be in their vehicle.”

  Ulysses softened his face. “Any idea what they may have been driving?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Good, check it out. Foley, watch her back. I’ll help James get this other crate loaded into the truck.”

  Ava led the way out the front door. She saw the familiar blue Maserati parked behind her Jeep. “That’s it.” She checked the door. “Locked. Maybe Raquel has the keys. I’ll be right back.”

  “Hurry!” Foley kept watch.

  She ran inside and rifled through Raquel’s pockets. Once she had the k
eys, she dashed back out to the Maserati and unlocked the door. Ava hit the trunk release and hurried to the boot of the car. “I think we’ve got ‘em.”

  Foley quickly helped her transfer the crates from the trunk to the bed of the truck then jumped into the cab with James.

  Ulysses approached Ava. “Do you want me to drive?”

  “I’m fine.” She looked at the Maserati. “Foley said you’re pretty good at permanently incapacitating a vehicle. Do you think we have time for a quick lesson?”

  Ulysses drew his knife with haste, lay down under the car, then popped back up. “Poke the fuel tank on the very bottom. You don’t want to hit air and create a spark. That’s bad for obvious reasons.” He quickly walked around to all four tires and jabbed the side walls. “Start the Jeep and pick me up.” He came back around the first tire and cut a strip out.

  Ava got into her vehicle, started the engine, and backed up to Ulysses.

  He got in, lit the strip of tire and tossed it into the puddle of gas. “Go!”

  Ava sped off while Ulysses dialed 911 on Raquel’s phone.

  “White female with multiple gunshot wounds at the warehouse on the northeast corner of Navasota and 5th.” He removed the back of the phone, pulled the battery and tossed it out the window of the Jeep. Ulysses cracked the phone into two pieces, flinging each fragment in different directions.

  “You were right about the plan going wrong. Thanks for getting me out of there.” Ava sped south on I-35 with Foley and James close behind.

  “You got yourself out. You did good. You’re quick on your feet when it comes to solving problems under stress. You did what you had to do with your captor. Anytime you get a chance to get away, take it. And always eliminate anyone who might interfere with your escape.”

  “Still, if you hadn’t been there, I don’t think I could have gotten out.” She glanced over at Ulysses. “What are you doing?”

  “Transferring the Monero back to my crypto-coin wallet.”

  “So we got all those explosives for free?”

  “That was a pretty heavy operation. Back in the day, I called that work. If you think that counts as free, well, I guess we’re all entitled to our own opinion.” Ulysses closed Fred’s phone and pulled the battery out.