Laura 02 The God Code

by Anton Swanepoel

  Suddenly bullets ricochet off the ground next to them, and they run to take cover behind a luggage trolley. Bullets rip into the trolley, and they huddle behind it until the machine gunner turns his attention to the two remaining men on the ground. Leaning around the corner of the trolley, Victor steals a glance at the jeeps. The two jeeps are now only 200 yards away. Aiming for the driver of the jeep that still has a machine gunner, Victor shoots. Several rounds break through the jeep’s windscreen, killing the driver. The dead driver falls forward onto the steering wheel, and the jeep loses speed but stays stable.

  The machine gunner keeps on firing, killing the two guards on the ground just as Victor fires a short burst at him, causing him to topple from the jeep, dead. The second jeep is now only 150 yards away, and carefully Victor takes aim on the driver. Slowly he squeezes the trigger.

  Victor mentally curses as a click sound fills the air as the firing pin falls onto a dud bullet. Victor grabs the lever on the side of the machine gun to eject the dud, then jerks from surprise as someone shoots right behind him. Quickly he spins around just in time to see Laura leaning around the opposite corner to him, firing at the jeep. With speed Victor chambers a fresh round and leans around the corner again to take aim at the driver. He is just in time to see the jeep at full speed charging directly at the trolley, its driver killed by Laura. Jumping back behind the trolley, he grabs Laura by the waist and pulls her away from the trolley just as the jeep slams into it, pushing it forward until it crashes into the terminal building’s wall.

  “Nice shooting Laura.”

  Laura does not respond, but just stands looking at the dead man. Suddenly shooting comes from inside the building and Victor immediately runs towards the door the security personnel came from, machine gun ready. Slowly he opens the door a foot, making sure he is not in line with the door, and then takes a peek inside. Three armed men in nonmilitary uniforms are shooting at passengers. Victor carefully takes aim at the one closest to him, and shoots him in the head. His buddies spin around, receiving a single bullet to the chest each.

  Victor quickly takes aim and shoots each in the head as they lay on the ground, making sure they are dead.

  As soon as Victor has killed the third man, he slowly opens the door further to enter the building. Suddenly bullets rip through the door, passing inches from him. Victor jumps back and the door closes automatically. Quickly Victor runs towards one of the dead security personnel, where he picks up the body and drops it just outside the door, before quickly running back towards the trolley, dragging Laura with him as he goes. They are just in time, taking cover behind the smashed trolley and jeep, when the terminal building’s door opens and five armed men storm out, guns ready. Peeking over the trolley, Victor watches the men. Four men take support positions, two against the wall of the building, and two a few feet forward, scanning the runway. The fifth man bends down and inspects the dead guard, then shakes his head. Victor scans the inside of the jeep. A rocket propelled grenade launcher is lying in the back of the jeep. Slowly Victor lifts the launcher from the back while hiding behind the jeep. As soon as he lifts the launcher from the jeep, he disables the safety and gets the device ready to fire. Still hiding behind the jeep, he takes a deep breath, then quickly stands up and aims at the group of men just as the fifth man looks in the jeep’s direction.

  “RPG, take cover!” the man screams at the same time as Victor fires. All five men try to run back into the building at the same time, creating a bottleneck. The rocket slams into one of the men and explodes, sending body parts in all directions. Four of the men are ripped to pieces, only the man who yelled the warning is half shielded by the other men. The shockwave blasts him into the building, knocking him unconscious.

  Victor grabs his machine gun and runs towards the door, but stops dead in his tracks five feet from the door when two men suddenly exit, guns drawn. Victor is caught by surprise, but reacts quickly, bringing his gun up and fires from the hip at the first man just as both men aim at him. To Victor’s surprise, both men fall to the ground, dead. Turning around, Victor is surprised to see Laura behind him, smoke coming from her pistol’s barrel.

  “That was quick shooting Laura.”

  Laura does not react; she just stares at the two dead men on the ground, lying between the mangled remains of the four other men.

  “Laura, you did what needed to be done.” Victor touches her shoulder gently as he speaks. She just slowly nods. Although she mentally readied herself for the day she needed to kill someone, it is still shocking for her to take a life, even if it was to save Victor’s.

  “Stay here Laura.”

  Victor reloads and then enters the building. Victor holds the machine gun against his shoulder, at the ready to shoot as he carefully searches the building. Dead passengers lay around the hallway as Victor makes his way from the departures area to the arrivals area. Friends and family still alive, are crying over their dead. Victor scans inside the shops that line both sides of the hallway for hostiles.

  At the end of the hallway is a corner, with another short hallway leading to the arrivals area. Victor is two shops away from the corner, and stops dead in his tracks, listening intently. He heard something above the cries of the people in the hallway.

  Yes, there it is, and it is getting louder. With a shock Victor realizes what it is, men running down the hallway, directly towards him. Ducking into a snack shop next to him, he takes cover behind the counter, ready to shoot. Victor’s breathing is steady and deep as he takes aim at the corner. He will be able to surprise the first few men, before losing the element of surprise. If there are more than four men, he will be pinned down. The sounds of boots on the floor are almost at the corner, and Victor changes his grip on the machine gun.

  Five men round the corner, guns ready. However, they are too focused on the people in the hallway crying over their lost ones, that they do not see Victor, slowly taking aim at them, his weapon set to automatic fire. Carefully he pulls the trigger, just as Jose and twenty more men come rushing around the corner. As soon as Victor sees Jose he puts the machine gun down and puts his hands up in the air, while calling out, “Jose, it’s me, Victor.”

  One of the men raises his machine gun and fires just as Jose slams the barrel of the gun down. Bullets rip into the counter that Victor is standing behind, causing snacks to fly in all directions. Victor drops down behind the counter for cover.

  “Idiot, that’s my friend!” Jose screams at the man, who is so nervous that he is shaking.

  “Victor, are you ok?” Seeing Victor slowly standing up from behind the counter he continues, “Where is Laura?”

  “She is outside, she is okay. What happened here, who are these men?”

  “We are not sure. We know that someone has taken over control of the drug trade after you killed Hernandez. We think they are building an army with the intention of taking over the country.”

  “Do you have any prisoners Jose?”

  “No, they fight to the death, none of them were willing to give up.”

  “I may have one, follow me.” Victor turns around and walks in the direction of the door where the unconscious man is lying.

  “Did you find what you were looking for in Peru?”

  “Yes, and more.”

  “Good,” Jose says smiling.

  As they near the door, Victor smiles. Laura is standing with her back against the wall, pointing her gun at the man on the ground. Smart girl, not standing in the doorway with her back to the outside. Victor walks to the door as Jose walks to Laura.

  “Hi Laura, nice to see you.” Jose walks forward to shake Laura’s hand as he speaks, smiling from ear to ear.

  “Hi Jose, good to see you too.” Laura lowers the gun and surprises Jose by not taking his hand, but hugging him while giving him a kiss on the cheek.

  Suddenly the man on the ground jumps up, using the distraction of Laura and Jose’s greeting to make for the open door. A grin forms on his face as he clears the door, fre
edom in sight. Suddenly a fist hits him squarely on the jaw, causing his head to jerk back. The punch stops him dead in his tracks and he comes down hard on his back inside the blown out doorway, between pieces of his comrades.

  “Jup, was expecting that,” Victor says as he appears from outside and bends down, grabbing the man by the throat before dragging him back into the building.

  “I know him, his name is Patrick. He is a hard man. We used to go to school together. You are not going to make him talk Victor.” Jose steps forward as he speaks, touching Victor on the shoulder.

  “We will see.”

  “I tell you, you can do anything you want to him, he will never give in, all he cares about is his wife, Ana and his daughter.”

  “Ana, interesting, and do you know where she is?”

  “Yes, actually she started working at the airport as a cleaner; said she left Patrick because he did not want to leave the drug business after you killed Hernandez and General Peppy. I saw her helping tend to the injured people in the arrivals area as soon as we managed to secure the area.”

  “Good, do you have a secure room for me to interrogate him?”

  Jose nods yes, then signals to two men to step forward before speaking. “Escort Victor and show him the customs interrogation office, help him in any way he needs, I will join later when I have the place totally secured.” The men grab Patrick and pull him up, one soldier at each arm, then get ready to walk him down the hallway towards the interrogation office.

  “Jose, can you please bring Ana to me as soon as possible?” Victor asks.

  “Okay, will do, see you a bit later.” Jose turns and motions for his men to follow him as he makes to go through the door to the outside.

  “Laura, I need you to find me a few things, follow me to the interrogation office so you know where it is, and then please find these items for me.” Leaning closer to Laura after speaking he whispers into her ear. Laura frowns, and then shrugs her shoulders at the request as she replies, “Okay, I’m sure you know what you’re doing.” Victor just smiles in reply.

  Victor follows the two men as they escort Patrick through the departures area and into the customs area. They stop at a door close to the security scanners and one of the men opens the door, before pushing Patrick inside. Both men remain outside, and wait for Victor to enter first. Patrick remains standing in the middle of the room, anger on his face. If they give him just one inch of slack, he will kill them all.

  Victor looks inside the room. A small table with two chairs, one on each side of the table, is placed in the middle of the room. The chairs are made of wood and have armrests, clearly more meant for questioning and not for interrogation, however they will do.

  “I’ll go get the stuff, see you later.” Laura quickly plants a kiss on Victor’s left cheek before turning around and walking away. As she walks away, she looks over her shoulder smiling and sways her tight bum at Victor. He gives her a wink and then turns to speak to the two men, catching them staring at Laura’s bum. Both men go red from embarrassment at being caught out and quickly look at the ground. Victor just smiles, knowing he would have looked as well if he was in their shoes.

  “Do any of you have cable ties or rope to tie him up with?”

  “No sir.”

  “Please go get me something.”

  The man who spoke nods and quickly runs off towards the baggage area where he knows there will be security tape. If a suitcase or bag is opened, the security personnel reseal it with tape to show that it has been inspected.

  Victor comes to stand in the doorway, then points to the chair furthest from the door while speaking. “Take a seat Patrick.”

  “Go to hell.”

  “Do you want me to make you sit down?”

  Patrick thinks for a moment, and then reluctantly makes for the chair while replying, “It does not matter if I sit or not, I will give you nothing.”

  Victor waits until the man who went to find something to tie Patrick up with returns, before entering the room. He motions for both men to enter the room, and then to close and lock the door.

  “Tie him up securely, starting with his hands. Put his arms on the armrests of the chair, palms facing up.” The man that brought the security tape nods then proceeds to tie Patrick’s arms to the chair’s armrests.

  “Now secure his legs, then use the back of the chair to secure his head. Tape around his forehead, and then down behind to the back of the chair. The man does as asked, making Patrick totally immobile, not able to turn his head in any direction. Just then someone knocks on the door, and Victor asks to have it opened.

  The guard at the door nods and unlocks the door, in awe at seeing a professional preparing for an interrogation.

  “I got all the stuff you asked for.” Laura stands outside the door, holding a bag.

  “Thank you Laura, hold on to it, I will get it in a moment.”

  Victor looks past Laura. Jose is walking towards them with four guards and a woman.

  “This is Ana, Patrick’s wife.” Jose says as they reach Victor.

  “Thank you Jose, I would like to have a word with her alone, is there another room I can use?”

  “Yes, you can use the room next door; it is the head of security’s office.”

  “Thank you.” Victor walks to the door and tries to open the door, it is locked.

  “Do you have the key to the office?”

  “No, I think it is on the officer’s belt. He unfortunately got shot and killed. I will have one of my men go find his body and retrieve the keys.”

  “No need.” Victor steps back and kicks the door, breaking the lock, causing the door to fly open.

  “Ana, will you please step inside, I want to have a word with you.”

  Ana looks around from one man to the other, looking for help.

  “It will be okay Ana, Victor just wants to ask you a few questions about your husband.” Laura puts her right arm on Ana’s left shoulder as she speaks. Reluctantly, Ana steps into the office, with Victor following, closing the door behind him.

  Twenty minutes later Victor finally opens the door and comes out, and closes the door behind him again, leaving Ana inside. Jose had sent all the men away, except the two that escorted Patrick to the room. He and Laura are sitting at a table on plastic chairs that he had his men bring for them. They are enjoying a game of poker while eating sandwiches.

  “Time to get some answers.” Victor picks up the bag that Laura brought and takes some items from it, placing some in his pocket. Looking at Jose, he places a kitchen knife in the back of his pants and wraps a sarong around his right fist, before opening the door. As he enters the room, he motions for one of the guards to follow him inside.

  “I want to see this.” Jose gets up as he speaks.

  “I do too.” Laura gives one last bite of her sandwich before putting it on the table, following Jose. Neither have any idea of Victor’s interrogation methods. Jose, the guard and Laura take positions against the wall, opposite Paul. Victor slowly walks towards Paul and sits down on the edge of the table near Patrick.

  “Who sent you, and why did you attack the airport?”

  “Fuck you.” Patrick waits for the punch, having noted the sarong on Victor’s fist to protect his knuckles.

  “I think you will rather die before speaking, right?”

  Patrick is taken aback by Victor’s comment and Victor not punching him, yet he decides not to reply.

  “Well, if you do not care what happens to you, maybe you care what happens to Ana.”

  “Ana, you leave her alone!” There is shock on Patrick’s face.

  “Jose, can you please bring Ana in?”

  Jose turns and walks to the door, opening it slightly and then asks the guard outside to bring Ana in.

  “You are bluffing. You will not harm her,” Patrick says hesitantly.

  “I am an assassin. I do what is needed to be done to get the job done.” Just then the door opens, and Ana enters. Upon seeing Patrick, she r
ushes towards him and hugs him, tears running down her cheeks as she takes his face in her hands and kisses him.

  “Okay, that is enough.” Victor takes Ana by the left arm and drags her towards the other chair as he speaks.

  “You harm her and I will kill you!” Patrick spits the words out.

  “I will not harm her if you give me what I want.” Victor slowly ties Ana up in the second chair, her hands behind her back, then her legs to the chair’s legs.

  “Okay Patrick, last chance.”

  “You are bluffing. You do not have it in you,” Patrick spits out.

  “Have it your way, if you do not want to listen, then maybe she will.” Victor takes the knife from behind his back. Slowly he pulls Ana’s long black hair away and taps on her left ear with the tip of the knife blade.

  “Fuck you!” Patrick struggles against the security tape as he screams.

  “Please do not hurt me, Patrick please tell him what he wants to know, please save me!” Ana is crying freely now.

  “You know what? I do not think you deserve to even see your wife dying.” Victor unwraps the sarong from his right fist as he speaks and walks over to Patrick. He then wraps the sarong around Patrick’s head, covering his eyes. Victor on purpose makes only one wrapping around Patrick’s eyes, enabling him to faintly still make out what is happening in the room, but not able to see the exact details.

  “You like to take long walks with Ana?” Victor walks over to Ana as he speaks, holding his hand out to Laura who hands him her pistol.

  “What are you ta..” Patrick jerks in his chair from the sound of the gunshot. Ana screams in pain and Victor bends down slowly before touching her knee. As he removes his hand from her knee, he inspects the blood on his hand as he comments, “Mmm, I do not think you are going to use that knee again.”

  Victor turns and walks towards Patrick, who clenches his jaw from anger as he looks at the blood on Victor’s hand and Ana’s knee. Stopping only a few inches from Patrick, Victor reaches down and cleans his hand on Patrick’s shirt before addressing Patrick.