Bane's Shadow

by KJ Dahlen

  Bane sighed and leaned back in the booth. “I gave up the hit game a little over two years ago.”

  “Yet, here you are tracking someone to kill them,” Cane observed logically.

  Bane now felt rage again. “This is not for gain or pleasure, brother. This is for the safety of me and mine. There is a huge difference.”

  Cane looked confused. “You being who I think you are. You didn’t kill Dexter Evans back then, why?”

  Bane shrugged. “I did deal with this man differently. For once, I took the higher path. And now, you can see where the hell that got me. He is now after you, me, and anyone close to us.” Bane crossed his arms over his chest. “He’ll come after you and Roslyn to get to me and I’ll be damned if I’m going to lose you to him.”

  “What can you do?” Cane was curious.

  “I can get you and your sister to a safe place. Then hunt this little bastard down and take him out.”

  “I should stay and help you.” Cane said.

  Bane shook his head. “No, you really shouldn’t. I grew up not caring if I followed the laws of man or not. You did. You would want to take him in and hope the courts would stop him but men like Evans don’t respect the law, all they respect is the law of the jungle, where only the strongest survive. But I know more about dispensing death than he will ever know.” He shook his head. “This is my battle to fight, not yours.”

  Bastian and James came up behind him.

  Bastian looked down at Cane. “And you have to let him fight this fight. He’s a better predator than anyone else I know.”

  Cane ran his hand over the back of his head. Just then, he noted Roslyn coming out of the bathroom and was headed to the booth. She still looked pale but when she reached him, he put an arm around her to console her.

  James kept looking back and forth at the identical men. “Man, this is some spooky shit.” He nodded at Cane. “All you need to do is narrow your eyes a bit more and grimace a lot. Then you would be a perfect replica.” He looked over at an unamused Bane. “And all you would need to do is...well, put on a badge and a smile, lighten up a bit in the expressions and you would...” At Bane’s low growl, James shut his mouth.

  Roslyn laughed as her face gained back some of its color. “I thought I was the only one to think that.”

  James smirked and gave her a nod. “Spooky shit.”

  Cane shook his head as he did the same as Bane, he ignored James’ comments. “I don’t like this at all. You coming here to my town while hunting a man who is wanted by the very law I serve. I’m a cop and this goes against everything I believe in.”

  “Let me ask you a question,” Bastian finally spoke in that low quiet voice of his. “Do you want to die? Do you want to see this man stick a knife into your sister and gut her like a fish? Do you want him to rape her while you watch, unable to move or protect her? Because he will. He will take the both of you hostage then use and abuse her while you look on. Then he’ll still murder you and her. He’ll have you both begging for him to kill you in order to stop the pain he puts you in. That’s just the type of man he is. And right now, he wants Bane really bad. He will put you both through hell, just to use that against Bane.”

  Roslyn had paled two shades again, as she hid her face into her brother’s shoulder.

  “What is it with you three?” Cane asked in disgust. “Do you even have a stopgap? And do you always go around looking for men like this?”

  The three VIM men gave him a blank stare.

  Cane blinked at their blank expressions. “So, you are used to it. I can see that now.” He swung his curious gaze to Bastian. “And how is it that you even know my brother? In fact, who the hell are you, really?”

  James again chuckled. “Take it easy, man. We could tell you but I think you have had enough shocks for today.”

  Bastian shook his head. “It isn’t important right now. You can’t stand in Bane’s way. There is no way after he’s finally found you that he would ever allow this killer to get a shot at you. Law or no law.”

  Cane narrowed his eyes and looked at Bane. “You can stop him?”

  Bane nodded. “I can.”

  “What do you want us to do?” Cane finally asked, again in that same logical tone.

  “I need you to go to a safe place and let me do what I do best,” Bane explained. “Can you do that?”

  Cane looked down at his sister and nodded. “I can and I will protect Roz as well.”

  Roslyn smiled slightly. “He has always been there for me. You see, my parents had been told they couldn’t ever have a child. But when Cane was 15, they did have me. A miracle they said. But the real miracle was Cane. No one could have a better brother. I refuse to leave him now when this is happening.”

  Bane looked over at James. “Can you take them to the house in Geneva? I need to know they’re safe.”

  James nodded.

  “We’ll be there as soon as possible and we can talk more there,” Bane told his brother. “But I want you there today.”

  Cane looked down at Roslyn. “Are you okay with this?”

  Roslyn nodded. “Let’s go where he wants us to be. We can figure this out later.”

  Cane nodded. “I have to let our dad know where we are going.”

  “Don’t tell him where. Do not tell anyone that. Maybe tell him why. Just don’t mention my name,” Bane insisted. “I don’t want to have to avoid the police while I hunt down this little bastard.”

  “Just don’t kill any cops,” Cane stated as his eyes narrowed and he did look a lot more like Bane.

  Bane shook his head. “I’m not bloodthirsty for anyone except this one man... for right now anyway, I’m only after Dexter Evans.” He narrowed his eyes. “But if the authorities decide to come after me, I will defend myself. I’ll try not to kill them but I will defend myself.”

  Cane nodded. “I’ll speak to my dad. Try to explain this to him and maybe he can help.”

  Bane’s steel like gaze remained on his brother. “Just ask him not to get in my way.” Then he hesitated and finally asked, “Did you know our biological father is here in the city somewhere?”

  Cane stiffened. “You’re just full of good news aren’t you? No, I fucking didn’t know he was here. Why the hell didn’t he take me back if he was here for all these years?”

  “Long story and I’m not sure of the details but when I see him, I’ll make sure to ask,” Bane stated.

  “And our mother? Is she still alive?” Cane wanted to know.

  “Yes, she is,” Bane finally admitted after a long moment. He looked over at James. “James can fill you in on what he found out as you drive to the house.”

  “Just get there safely,” Bastian warned them. “But go now and watch your back. We’ll hunt down Evans.”

  Cane nodded then said, “Let me call Joshau and let him know what’s going on then.”

  “And I’ll get my things and tell my boss I won’t be here for the next few days,” Roslyn added as she took off to the backroom of the diner.

  Cane stood and went to make his call.

  Chapter Eleven

  When Bane was left alone with James and Bastian, his eyes remained on the sidewalk and the front where his brother stood. Without looking at anything but this sight, he told James, “Tell him what he asks and nothing more. If you don’t feel comfortable telling him bout VIM, then don’t. None of us know him all that well yet and we may never know him at all. We take one step at a time, as always.”

  “You realize something here, don’t you?” Bastian stated.

  Bane said nothing, he waited for Bastian to say what was on his mind.

  “If your dad brought you to your grandfather when you were two and half and Cane was adopted when he was three, she didn’t keep either of you very long.”

  Bane nodded. “I know. Why then six years later did my dad bring Orrin to my grandfather? When this mess with Evans is over, I’m going to hunt my father down and get him to tell me the truth. I may not like what he ha
s to say but I will find out what went down all those years ago.”

  “Good luck with that,” James added.” Your family is like the damned Vatican or something. Secrets locked away. Pieces of the past scattered everywhere but not in plain sight.”

  Bane as usual, ignored James’ musings as his steel like gaze remained on his brother during the entire conversation. “You just watch your back while heading to Geneva. Evans might decide to follow you, thinking Cane is me. Call us if you see him on the road. We can always find you.”

  James nodded. “I will.”

  Cane and Roslyn joined them again, at the table.

  “For all intents and purposes, my dad doesn’t know what happened to me and he told me that if you need him to run interference, just call him.” Cane handed him a piece of paper with the phone number on it.

  Bane took it. He didn’t expect to use the number but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to have it anyway.

  Bane and Bastian watched as James left the diner with his passengers. Cane offered to let him drive them north in his vehicle, leaving the VIM vehicle to Bane and Bastian.

  “Are you ready?” Bastian asked him.

  Bane nodded. “Way past ready. Let’s hunt this fucker down and put him out of our misery.”

  They left the diner while remaining alert to anyone watching or following them. After driving for about ten miles up and around the freeway, they finally deduced that no one was surveilling them.

  Bane drove to the nearest motel and Bastian got them a room.

  Once inside, they found that James had forwarded all the information they had on Evans to their laptops. Part of the job they did was get everyone on the same page as far as information went.

  Bane studied the data they had now . Then he went to look at his brother’s life. Maybe there was something in his life that would help them find Evans. He did note the recommendations the man had from all sorts of levels in law enforcement. He had been recruited by more than one agency. Bane wondered why he chose to remain in Hanover as a sheriff. He shook away the useless musings. They wouldn’t help him in his current pursuit. After a half hour of looking into his brother’s life, he didn’t find anything that would help with this hunt.

  The man was clean...so clean that Bane had to wonder. Awards of Valor in the line of duty. Taking a bullet to save a hostage. Taking down at least 6 serial killers almost on his own. The list of magnificent achievements went on and on. How odd. Most people had secrets, a past they did not want to look at. Yet, his brother seemed to be the opposite of that. No one could be this immaculate. Humans were never this perfect. Bane paused. A saint. If he could laugh at the irony, he certainly would. With himself being nearly the devil incarnate while his twin should have a set of the purest white wings in existence. Bane set the disturbing thought aside and tapped the enter key to go to the next data file.

  Bastian had been looking into the records for Evans’ prison stay. “Maybe he met someone inside that was helping him out here.”

  Bane agreed, so he also looked into all the data that James had found on the prison and Evans’ records of his stay. There were notes made by the head guards and the warden.

  It took another hour before he and Bastian found a common link.

  Evans did make one contact behind bars who had been released before he was. A man by the name of Hans Paulie. Hans was his cell mate in the joint and the two men bonded. Hans got out a year before Evans but the two men maintained their friendship. It was Hans that came to visit him once he was out and according to an inside source at the prison, it had been Hans that told Evans about the planned riot that got him out when he reported it to the guards.

  They happened to find Hans Paulie living not too far away from Hanover and Bane found that much too curious. “I think we need to look up this Paulie and see what he knows about Evans,” he told Bastian.

  Bastian agreed, “From reading the records, it seems this Paulie had been behind bars for most of his life but he wasn’t the type to become hard behind bars. He was more of a follower, not a leader.”

  “You think he was looking for someone to become a surrogate sugar daddy?” Bane suggested.

  Bastian shrugged. “Its possible. Some men can’t handle it without someone else telling them what to do, when to breathe and when to keep their mouth shut.”

  Bane nodded. “And that’s Evans to a T. He liked being in charge and being a bully is something he did rather well. To have a bitch behind bars would suit him very well indeed.”

  Bastian looked out the window and noted the night was just settling down and the shadows were growing long. “Let’s go on a dark recon, see what we can find.”

  “My favorite kind of recon.” Bane nodded.

  They drove to the small town of Gettysburg and found the house that had been listed as Paulie’s address. They parked in the shadows and moved quietly up to the house. Peeking in the windows they saw the two men inside and from what they could see, it seemed Evans was indeed bullying Paulie. The windows were open letting in the fresh evening air and the words spoken... out. They used that to their advantage.

  They watched as Evans paced the floor yelling and growling at Paulie. “Why were there two of them? Bane Jessin didn’t have any other family, I know that much about the man. I checked his background before I got in touch with him.”

  “I don’t know.” Paulie groveled as he checked online for any information about Bane Jessin. “I can’t find anything about either man on the net? At least not the Jessin name anyways. I wonder why all the sudden, he had a brother somewhere?”

  Evans was pacing but at Paulie’s question, he stopped and growled. “Damnit, Hans. The man was a contract killer for fuck’s sake. You think they advertise that shit?”

  Paulie looked over at his partner and in a moment of clarity, he grumbled, “No, you just tried to cheat the one man in the world that would kill you as soon as look at you.” He snorted. “You were lucky he only sent you to prison. He could just as easily killed you and been done with it.”

  “Ha, he could have tried.” Evans sneered.

  Bastian took a quick glance over at Bane and saw his fingers curled into fists. He shook his head and looked back into the window.

  “Well, I can’t find anything on the name Cane Sayler either,” Paulie told him. “Other than he was adopted and later joined his adopted father on the force. No arrests, no bad record of any kind, just loads of bullshit like he was superman or some shit.”

  “He’s got to be a Jessin. The two men look enough alike that he’s just got to be a brother.” Evans snarled. “Did you find anything about Jessin’s parents?”

  Paulie shook his head. “Not a damn thing. Its possible they’re both dead already.”

  “Damn, I have to find something I can use to distract Bane,” Evan complained. “I can’t afford for him to be hunting me down. That doesn’t work for me at all. And Bane Jessin isn’t the type to care about anyone but his family, if he cares about them at all.” Shaking his head he continued, “That man is cold as ice if I remember him correctly.”

  “Yeah well, by what the rumors are, the man is a legend,” Paulie told him. “And no one ever finds his marks. Poof! They are just gone. Leaving no clues behind. And here you are stalking his damn brother? I have a feeling you won’t fare so well a second time with this Bane. And our plan won’t work out if you’re dead. I need you to make this work.”

  “I haven’t forgotten,” Evans snapped at him. “It was my plan to begin with remember that?”

  Paulie nodded. “Yeah, I remember. But you need me too. You can’t get to the money without my skills. Old man Wylder knows who you are and what you almost got away with. He’ll never expect you to come after a second bite of that apple.”

  Evans fisted his hands and growled, “I ruined my partner and set him up for the fall and I was going to walk away with millions but his brother got wise and tipped him off to what I was doing. Then they discovered my fraud and called in the FBI. If Jessin
hadn’t given them the rest of the plot, I would have gotten away with it. Now I have to go in the back door but I will get what I started out to get. And this time, I’ll take down both Wylder brothers and set them both up.”

  “We’re almost there, another day and the money is ours,” Paulie crowed.

  Evans turned his gaze to where Paulie sat hunched over his computer and nothing but evil glimmered in his narrowed eyes.

  Evans was going to pull a triple double cross. Bane could read it in his eyes. He glanced at Bastian and motioned him away from the house with a tip of his head. When they were far enough away, Bane turned to his friend. “He’s planning to kill Paulie.”

  “But only after the other man gets him what he wants.” Bastian had read him too. “What was it he wanted you to do for him the first time?”

  Bane shrugged. “He wanted his partner killed in a fake robbery. He’d already taken everything out of the safe and just wanted me to kill the other man and then make him disappear.”

  “Why wouldn’t you do it?” Bastian asked. “That sounds like it was right up your alley as far as jobs go. Very little risk and high rewards.”

  Bane just shrugged. “There was just something off about the whole deal. Then while I was researching him, I came across a couple of names that I remember well. They were old partners that Evans cheated along the way with various bad deals. What he did was to get them involved in his plans and he made them think they were in the clear and then he would rip them off. He left them with nothing and when I called one of them, he told me that Evans wouldn’t make good on his end of the deal. Evans thought instead of paying my full fee, he could give me three quarters of it and then when the check bounced what could I do about it? I couldn’t go to the authorities, as it was a contract for a murder. I would go to jail and he would skate free as all he had to say was no such deal existed. I would have killed his partner for nothing. I chose to take what I had, well most of what I had to the cops and they used it against him.”

  “And yet, he got out early.” Bastain shook his head. “This is one man we have to stop.”