The Mason Walker Bundle 3

by Alex Howell

  The General glowered at her in such a contemptuous fashion that Tessa almost wondered if this bloodthirsty and tyrannical turncoat was ready to turn on her as well. Seeking to ameliorate the monster’s homicidal rage, she played down the problem, “Besides… I know he would never go far…”

  The General grunted, “Why?”

  Tessa nodded, “Because I have something that he wants—something that he would never leave behind.”

  The General scoffed, “What? Some piece of vital intelligence? A rare artifact? A two for one coupon from Burger King? Just what do you have that Mason so desperately wants? Tell me?”

  Tessa knowing that the bargaining chips were indeed at her table, smirked, “I have his bitchy little girlfriend.”

  The General calmed down a bit, “Okay… so you think you can lure him to us with her? I suppose that might work…”

  The General paused before adding, “Alright, we need to use every resource at our disposal to trap this guy—dead or alive, we need to get him.”

  The General darkly chuckled, “Actually better off dead…” before repeating, “I really… really hate that guy…”

  Something stirred in Tessa’s breast at the mention of killing Mason, even after everything she had done the very thought sent chills up and down her spine. Seeking to dismiss such a drastic measure she then came up with another idea for the General. She suggested, “Rather than killing him, wouldn’t it be much better to use him for our own ends?”

  The General still picturing Mason murdered, was obviously not very much sold on the idea as he grunted, “What do you mean?”

  Tessa informed him, “I don’t know if you have been watching the news lately, but this guy is now a fugitive on the wrong side of the law.”

  Thinking of the cult member that sacrificed his own life to frame Mason for murder, The General laughed, “Yes—one of our brave morons took one for the team to make Mason a murderous monster.”

  The General grinned, “That was pretty incredible.”

  Tessa smiled, “He’s already damaged… So why don’t we drag his name through the mud even further?”

  The General’s smile turned to a frown, “So just what do you have in mind?”

  Tessa smiled, “Why don’t we pin the virus on him?”

  The General shook his head, “Uh—no. That would defeat the purpose of The Blood Tessa. You should know that.”

  ‘The Blood?’ Tessa thought to herself. For as long as she had been in league with the terrorists, she couldn’t figure the General out. Sometimes he seemed as if he were a diehard ideologue, but at other times it seems like he was merely an egomaniac seeking to exert control over others. At the moment however, he seemed to be putting on the full armor of a fanatic.

  The General paused thoughtfully before elaborated, “The whole point is to let the world know that our flock is responsible for the mayhem to put the world on notice. If they thought it was just some random guy with some unknown beef with society it would defeat the whole purpose.”

  Tessa trying to seem understanding, countered with, “I know—I know—don’t get me wrong. I know”.

  The General muttered, “Okay…”

  Tessa sighed, “What I’m saying is… We are going to make it look like Mason is working for The Blood.”

  The General chuckled, “Ahh—we are going to make him an accidental martyr for our cause.”

  The General laughed, “We still get credit as a group, but Mason takes the blame and is lambasted as one of us.”

  The General looked down at the table as if his warped mind was considering the possibilities. Tessa waited on pins and needles for his response. After a moment he finally looked up, and exclaimed, “I like it!”

  Tessa thinking that she had gotten her way began to have the beginnings of a smile cross her face. But the upturned corners of her mouth froze in place when the changeable General, with a wave of his hand suddenly dismissed the notion entirely.

  “No way! That’s never going to work. That’s a terrible idea” The General shouted.

  Tessa really beginning to think that she was working for a man with a split personality, weakly asked, “It is?”

  Fanelli told her, “It would be too much work on our end to even be worth it.”

  The General then thought about it and shook his head, “And even if we were to get it to work—everyone would be dead. Making Mason a scapegoat would have no real benefit at all.”

  The General’s face then darkened once again as he renewed his call of homicide, growling, “I want Mason dead. That’s my final order on this matter. He needs to die. Okay?”

  As much pain as Tessa had inflicted on Mason, the idea of having to actually sanction his murder, deeply disturbed her. And she wished she could somehow advocate against it. But at the moment she had no chips at her disposal in which to bargain.

  Her attempts at advocating for Mason’s life seemingly at an end, Tessa caved in to the General’s demands. Not knowing what else to do, she demonstrated her complicity to murder her old friend and teammate Mason Walker, as she agreed, “Okay then… Mason will just have to serve as the ultimate sacrifice. Consider him as good as gone.”

  An evil grin played across General Fanelli’s face as he purred, “Wonderful.”

  17

  The Discovery

  In Mathew Benton’s condo Mason felt like a monk hiding out in a monastery. He was fortunate that Benton was able to give him such cover, but he knew he couldn’t carry on like this indefinitely. And besides, he had someone on the outside depending on him for help.

  As he stood up from Benton’s couch, he raised his arms toward the ceiling in frustration as he shouted out loud, “Raina! Raina! I don’t know where you are—but I’m going to find you!”

  Mason couldn’t remember a time that he had felt so utterly helpless. Even back when he himself had been held hostage by terrorists, he didn’t feel this pathetic. During his captivity, he may have been confined to a chair in a makeshift prison cell, but even then, his mind was alive with all kinds of possible means of escape.

  But it was the nightmare that Mason was currently in—from which he saw no end in sight. At least when he was a prisoner, he had an idea of what it was he could possibly do to get out of it. But with Raina he didn’t know where she was, and he didn’t even know where to start in his search to find her.

  The only thing he had going for him were the other members of Onyx—at least he had some friends that he could count on. Sitting back down on the couch and trying to collect his emotions, he rang up Kyle on his comm link.

  After a moment, Kyle Garrison came on the line with his familiar greeting, “Mason buddy I’m glad you called. I have some good news!” Mason already appreciative of this lifeline that Kyle had thrown him in his darkness, brightened up considerably as he asked, “Really? What is it?”

  Kyle who was staring at his computer screen at Onyx HQ, confirmed, “It’s about Raina… I finally got a ping from her GPS.”

  Mason was elated to hear the news, but deep down he was also cautious. He knew that a sudden ping from a cellphone that had been taken from her and turned off could mean anything.

  It could mean that whoever absconded with it had simply decided to turn it on. It didn’t necessarily mean that Raina was even anywhere near the phone. She could be being held somewhere else entirely. An even darker thought that he desperately tried to suppress, but was there nonetheless—was that perhaps she had already perished and the phone was being picked off of her corpse by some vagrant simply happening upon the crime scene.

  And finally, there was one other possibility that flitted across Mason’s worried and conflicted mind. The sudden turning on of the cellphone which had been so purposefully been switched off in the past, could have been just as intentionally powered back up again. Perhaps Tessa was playing with him.

  She knew that he would be looking for the phone’s telltale GPS. Maybe she was wanting send him running to find it. ‘This could be a trap!’
The thought did enter Mason’s mind, but it didn’t matter. Perhaps she was luring him into a trap. Trap or no trap, Mason knew that he had to look into this lead. It was all that he had. So, after Kyle delivered the news, he readily informed him, “Great work Kyle! Send me the coordinates over right away!”

  AN HOUR LATER AT AN OLD ABANDONED WAREHOUSE IN DOWNTOWN DC.

  Mason pulls Bree’s old car up to the back of the warehouse, parking it behind several stacks of old and weather worn pallets. When he is sure that no one has followed him, Mason stepped out of the car and headed for the backdoor of the facility. He somehow wasn’t surprised when he found that it was unlocked.

  He stepped right into the back of the warehouse and looking around found the place to be completely deserted. There hadn’t been anyone working in this building for quite some time. He knew by the look of the building that it was probably one of those old Nile Delta fulfillment centers that had been so profitable all throughout the 2000’s and 2010’s. Successful that is until their founder Seth Ezos lost his mind, shut down his entire company, boarded one of his “New Origins” rocket ships and went on a one way trip to Mars.

  Since the privately funded space colony was founded in 2025, no one was really quite sure what Seth and company was up to—was he creating new fulfillment centers on the Red planet? Ensuring one day shipment for Martians? Or founding his very own breakaway civilization from the Earth for which he would be the permanent CEO?

  Remarkably enough, since it was officially listed as a private scientific endeavor, the U.S. government had mostly left Seth Ezos and crew to their own machinations. But after they abandoned the Earth for their lofty new horizons, many of their former Nile Delta warehouses lay in empty ruin for us downtrodden earthlings, with vagrants, squatters, and even terrorists ready to move in.

  And as Mason passed through this empty ruin of the former commerce giant, the desolation was almost palpable. He began to wonder if Tessa had purposefully sent him a false lead just to throw him off. But as he passed through the maze of empty, barren shelves, he kept hearing a strange creaking sound.

  It didn’t sound like footsteps, just a constant, creak of metal. He looked everywhere for the source of the sound, but couldn’t quite pinpoint it. It wasn’t until he looked up toward the second floor of the fulfillment center that he saw a sight that he wasn’t soon to forget—a giant cage suspended from the rafters by a chain, with what appeared to be Raina’s sleeping form inside of it.

  If Mason was in a clearer state of mind, the fact that someone had literally hoisted Raina up in the air as bait, would have registered as an obvious trap. But whoever arranged this, knew that upon seeing such a troubling sight, Mason wouldn’t be able to resist simply running right in to rescue her.

  And that it exactly what happened. Without giving it another thought, Mason ran right over to the release mechanism on the far wall, which he assumed would control the cable that held the cage in place. He immediately began working the lever to lower the cage, but soon after touching the controls he began to fill dizzy. Seconds later the whole room was spinning, and Mason was losing his balance, passing out in a crumpled heap on the warehouse floor.

  Just as he felt his extremities going completely numb, he looked up to see Tessa standing right over him. She squatted down in front of him, and with her face just inches from his, simply stared at him for a moment. Mason couldn’t read her expression very well, but he knew he was in trouble.

  She scolded him, “I can’t believe it—you’ve really blown it this time Mason.” She laughed, “This trap was so obvious I really didn’t think that you would fall for it.”

  She then looked over to the control panel Mason had passed out next to and remarked, “I mean the fact that you even rushed over and touched the controls with your bare hands. Couldn’t you have at least worn some gloves? I mean come on Mason that’s like the first rule of Espionage.”

  She then informed him, “The controls were coated with a strong neurotoxin. It’s only temporary but for the moment you will find any attempt at motor control absolutely useless.”

  Even though he was now paralyzed from the neck down, Tessa could tell that Mason was still struggling with every fiber of his being to move. Deep down she actually felt sorry for him, but she didn’t let it show. Instead she grinned in triumph, “You are beaten Mason. You’ve just made too many bone head moves Mason. You are beaten.”

  She then grinned, “But don’t worry I still love you.” Before she gave Mason a quick kiss on the lips.

  Everything in Mason was revolted at what she was doing, but unable to move a muscle, he could only scream on the inside. Mason wasn’t sure what was going to happen next, but aware of everything around him, he had been rendered e a silent witness. He watched in horror as Tessa took a strange looking piece of rope and used it to bind his hands behind his back and lash his feet together.

  She then yanked the commlink out of his ear, as she brusquely informed him, “You won’t be needing this anymore”

  Paralyzed, tied, and with no communication, Mason felt like a moribund fly being dragged deeper and deeper into Tessa’s twisted web. The only thing he couldn’t quite figure out, was ‘Where was Tessa’s henchmen? Why was she acting alone?’

  These obvious thoughts flashed through his mind as he saw Tessa visibly struggle to drag his hulking form outside of the warehouse. Surely, she had some hired muscle that could make such a task easier. So, where were they? Was she going rogue? Or did she just wish to keep her games with Mason to herself?

  At any rate, Tessa was a lot stronger than he realized, as he saw to his amazement, this petite, 5-foot woman drag him all the way out of the warehouse, before pulling his body into the van she had parked and waiting outside. Although unable to feel at the moment, Mason was almost certain that if he ever regained the feeling of his limbs, they would have quite a few scrapes and sores from being pulled across the pavement.

  Slamming the door shut on her captive audience, Tessa hopped into the driver’s seat as she informed Mason, “Your lucky Mason. I’m going to give you ring side seats to the next virus release—bigger and better than ever before.”

  18

  A Sad Realization

  ABOUT 30 MINUTES LATER IN DC’S CENTRAL PARK. Tessa parked her car in a deserted section of the park near a nature trail. Since it was already after hours, there wasn’t a park goer anywhere in sight.

  In the darkness she looked over to Mason’s prone form stretched out on the backseat and asked him in a strangely sedate voice, “Hey Mason—can we talk?”

  Mason thought to himself, ‘What the hell is this? She sounds like we just came back from dinner and a movie and need a heart to heart discussion! She knocks me out, ties me up and shoves me in the back of her car and she wants to talk?’

  As much as Mason’s mind screamed out its disgust, he kept his mouth shut. And when Mason didn’t immediately respond, Tessa Rogers again repeated, “I think that we need to talk.”

  Besides not really wanting to talk to his abductor, Mason had for the past several minutes been completely paralyzed by a neuro toxin, so the fact that she was suddenly demanding for him to speak with her seemed completely absurd to say the least.

  But after her second prodding to speak, Mason was surprised to find his own voice as he hissed between numb lips, “About what?”

  Tessa laughed, “Yeah—you see, the effects of the agent are already wearing off enough for you to speak, so don’t be shy honey.”

  ‘Honey?’ Mason thought to himself. The situation seemed so surreal that it was downright bizarre. Mason found that he could indeed speak, and his arms were feeling renewed strength as well, but it didn’t matter since his arms and feet were securely restrained. Mason struggling briefly against them anyway, sighed, “Why are you doing this?”

  Tessa laughed, “Isn’t that what they always say—why are you doing this?”

  She laughed, “Why ask why Mason?”

  Mason groaned, “I will ask
why—why did you turn your back on the SEALs and everything they stood for Tessa? Why did you turn on your country?”

  He then quietly added, “Why did you turn on me?”

  Tessa hissed, “Turn on you?” Before she flipped everything around by demanding, “Why did you turn on me?”

  Mason protested, “What are you talking about?”

  What she said next left him totally surprised, “I loved you Mason… why couldn’t you ever see that?”

  Mason gasped, “What?”

  Of all the things that Tessa could have said in that moment, this was certainly not what Mason expected to hear. She loved him? Mason had known Tessa for many years, but she had never expressed anything other than a deep sense of comradery. Why was she saying this now? Was this some kind of trick?

  Tessa cleared up any doubt he had however, when with surprising sincerity muttered, “You were just always too dense to see it…”

  Mason was shocked, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, as he thought to himself, ‘Was this really what this was all about?’

  Tessa then turned to glance at Mason as she told him, “Do you remember when I helped you get Clara back from the hostage takers and we had to pretend that we were involved with each other?”

  Mason quietly intoned, “Yes…”

  Tessa turned away from him to stare out into the darkness that enveloped her windshield as she admitted, “I don’t know about you—but I wasn’t pretending Mason. I always had a thing for you, and just I couldn’t help but express it…”

  Mason actually beginning to feel a little sorry for Tessa responded, “Tessa I… I don’t know what to say….”

  Tessa paused thoughtfully as she stared out the window. She then revealed, “You just don’t know how hard it was for me to find someone to relate to after leaving the SEALs….”

  She sighed, “I mean I tried… I really did….”

  She continued, “But I just couldn’t ever find anyone that I could really relate too. Every time I tried to find someone… I just ended up disappointed… disappointed and….”