Laura 02 The God Code

by Anton Swanepoel

  Turning the old wooden knob as gently as he can, he opens the door and sneaks inside. Victor finds himself in the living room. There is no furniture in the house and cobwebs are in almost every corner. The floor is dusty, and Victor can make out several footprints and drag marks on the floor where presumably the President was dragged in. They most probably already left, as there are no guards to be seen anywhere and only one vehicle in the driveway. The question is, whose car is it? Victor suddenly stops; he heard a shuffle in the next room. Listening for a few seconds and hearing no more sounds, he quickly tiptoes to the wall then presses himself against it, while at the same time Ernest is making his way in the back door, coming into the kitchen. A hallway leads from the kitchen with four doors opening into the hallway on the sides, all closed. The hallway ends in another door that is also closed. Carefully Ernest moves into the hallway, stopping at the first two doors. A sound down the hallway makes him turn, facing the door at the end. The doorknob is slowly being turned, and then the door opens just a fraction. Aiming for where someone’s chest will be, Ernest stands ready to fire, yet no one emerges.

  20 seconds go by without a sound. Ernest is about to move forward, when he hears a cough in the room to his right. Great, an attacker from the front and someone to his right. Slowly the door at the end of the hallway starts to open more. If Ernest had not seen the knob being turned earlier, he would have thought it was the wind. The door is now a foot open, but still no one emerges. Suddenly he sees someone peaking around the bottom of the door.

  Ernest’s heart skips a beat and he quickly changes his aim and squeezes the trigger gently, then relaxes as he recognizes Victor looking right at him. Ernest points to the door to his right as Victor slowly enters the hallway. Victor responds by pointing to the door near him. They signal to each other that each will storm their rooms on the count of three; Ernest holds up his hand, showing one finger, two fingers, then both men kick their doors in.

  Ernest enters the room, taking in the surroundings in a split second. A door to the left, an old dresser, foot end of a bed to the right, feet moving. Quickly Ernest turns into the room to the right and sees a man jump out of bed, going for a gun on a night stand next to the bed. Ernest shoots him in the shoulder and then in the leg. As the man falls back onto the bed, Ernest is immediately next to him and hits him with the back of his pistol on the head, knocking him out. Just as Ernest moves forward to search the man, someone speaks behind him.

  “I am glad to see you kept him alive.”

  Victor is standing in the doorway.

  “What did you find?”

  “A cat, and an empty chair where they must have tortured the President. The floor is wet all over, presumably water torture,” Victor answers as he picks up the pistol from the night stand.

  “Well, we will have to ask this guy where the President is. Give me a hand here.” Ernest starts to pick the man up, and Victor steps forward to help. Together they drag him to the first room where Victor found the chair and sits the man down, tying him up. Ernest looks at the doors to the other rooms, all kicked in.

  “How did you clear all the rooms so fast?” Ernest asks.

  “Easy, I just kicked in all the doors and waited in the hallway to see who came out.”

  “You didn’t go in?”

  “Why go in and possibly walk into a trap? When no one came out to investigate your shooting, I had a peek inside every door.”

  “Thanks for letting me do all the work.”

  “Well, you are the one with the gun, remember.”

  “Never mind.”

  Ernest picks up a bottle of water standing in the corner of the room and opens it, then pours some water over the man tied up in the chair while giving him a few slaps. As the man comes to, Ernest steps back.

  “Want to do the honors?” he asks Victor.

  “Nah, you go ahead with this one, I did the one in the Vatican.”

  “Suit yourself. So, where is the President?”

  “Go to hell,” the man replies and spits in Ernest’s face, who in turn immediately punches the man in the face.

  “No no no, that is not how you ask a question, you have to be polite,” Victor responds, walking up to Ernest and pulling out the pistol he took from the night stand. Victor shoots the man in the right foot, and then waits until the man stops screaming before continuing.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Go to hell!”

  Victor puts the gun barrel against the man’s right knee and asks again, “What’s your name?”

  The man hesitates for a second then responds, “Alan.”

  “Now Alan, please tell us where the President is, because I only have 15 rounds in this magazine and I really do not want to use them all on you, for I still have to save the President.”

  Alan looks confused at Victor, but does not say a word. Victor shoots him in the other foot and says, “Okay, have it your way.”

  “How is your way polite?” Ernest asks, holding his hands up.

  “I said please and I asked him his name,” is Victor’s only response, as he puts the gun’s barrel against Alan’s testicles, who starts to squirm, trying to get his testicles away from the gun barrel.

  Looking at Ernest, Victor continues. “And, if you keep hitting him, then he will think you will eventually kill him, so he has nothing to lose. But if I shoot him in the feet and balls, he knows I will let him live, as we both know his life will be a misery until he kills himself. Now that is far crueler as he honors himself for not taking his own life,” Victor adds.

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because he is Catholic, if he kills himself he cannot go to heaven. See the necklace? It is Saint Thomas More, the patron of statesmen and politicians, a Catholic saint, am I right Alan?”

  “Yes,” is all Alan can manage in reply.

  “Quite a fitting Saint, given that you are helping to overthrow the government. Now tell me where the President is, and I will let you go to heaven.”

  Alan thinks awhile, and then decides that he has nothing to lose by informing the men where the President is.

  They will never be able to catch up to him, and even if they miraculously manage to, they will not be able to overcome the guards with him. It will also keep the two men busy while the real mission is going ahead as planned. Brilliant he thinks, letting these fools run after the President will cost them precious time, and guarantee that they are one step behind. The real mission is already in action, and they will not be able to stop it, he will gladly give his life to give his teammates more time.

  “Okay, I will tell you everything, but promise me you will let me go to heaven.”

  “I promise.”

  “The President is being taken to a secure location in Timberville Virginia. They are in an old white Ford delivery van, license plate 555-6849. They are going to hold him there until the mission is successful, and then kill him.”

  “Where exactly are they taking him? I want the house address.” Ernest steps closer as he speaks.

  “I don’t know. However, if you find the van, you find the President. Just set up roadblocks,” Alan lies, knowing exactly where they are taking the President and that setting up roadblocks to look for a white van will buy his teammates, who are busy on a different mission, even more time.

  “How long ago did they leave?” Victor asks.

  “About half an hour before you stormed in.”

  “That is about 45 minutes ago. They have to go through a number of streets from here to get to the highway, but once they are on the highway, it is an almost straight road to there with about a two hour drive.

  “The problem is that there are two highways going basically straight to there from here. The I81 that is a large highway, and Lee’s Highway that is a smaller one going through some small towns. How do we know which one they took, plus they are half way there, how will we catch up to them?” Ernest comments.

  “They took the large one,” Victor answers back.
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br />   “How do you know that?”

  “Small towns have too many possibilities of speed traps and cops wanting to make money by pulling over cars, especially an old van.”

  “Makes sense,” Ernest replies. Looking at Alan, for a second he detects a faint smile on Alan’s face, before Alan quickly looks away. The main highway is a logical choice, why then does he have the feeling the kidnappers did not take it? Is Alan trying to mislead us by making us think that we have chosen wrong, or is he not aware that I saw his response? Ernest thinks for a moment, then counters, “No, they took Lee’s Highway.” The shocked response from Alan tells Ernest that he is correct.

  “Why do you think they would risk taking the smaller highway?” asks Victor while looking at Alan.

  “Sentimental reasons, they believe themselves to be patriots. The highway is named after General Robert Edward Lee, who was the son of a revolutionary war hero and governor of Virginia. They will take the highway to honor General Lee, by taking the President they believe sold out their country to where they are going to execute him, on the general’s highway.”

  “Interesting history and reasoning,” Victor responds as he walks back to the room they found Alan in. Ernest stands at the doorway, watching Victor enter the bedroom. What is Victor up to now? And how are we going to catch up to the men when we are almost an hour behind? I am sure Victor has some crazy plan that I am going to regret following.

  “We can catch up to them, let’s go,” Victor says as he exits the bedroom, having grabbed Alan’s car keys from the dresser. Ernest just shrugs his shoulders as Victor turns and walks to the front door of the house.

  “What about me?” Alan screams from the front room, shocked to hear that Victor is under the impression that he can catch up to the President in traffic, even though they are so far behind. Victor walks back into the room where Alan is and comments, “Oh, sorry, forgot about you,” and then kicks Alan in the face, breaking his nose and knocking him out.

  “For a moment I thought you were going to shoot him.” Ernest is standing in the doorway.

  “Nope, I said he can go to heaven, I did not say he is going for free, he will have to work for it. The police can pick him up later.” Victor walks out towards the car in the road as he answers. Ernest follows and waits for Victor to unlock the car, then climbs in.

  “You did hear me when I said it is about a two hour drive, and they are almost an hour ahead of us in traffic, how are we going to catch up to them?” Ernest is already buckling up, anticipating a wild ride.

  “Can you ride a motorcycle?” Victor asks as he starts the car and pulls away with tires smoking.

  “Yes,” Ernest responds, while holding onto the grab handles as Victor slides the car around the corner. Five minutes later they stop at a motorcycle dealer that they had passed when the taxi driver brought them. Ernest is impressed that Victor had noticed the shop. Victor leaves the car in the road and goes into the shop, where he quickly scans the available motorcycles before selecting a new metallic red Yamaha R1.

  “Pick a bike,” Victor says as Ernest enters the shop. Victor goes to the dealer who is busy dealing with another customer, while Ernest selects a Kawasaki ZXR 1000.

  “Excuse me sir, but we would like two motorcycles immediately, gas tanks filled please,” Victor asks the salesman nicely, who is so big that he looks like he swallowed a rhinoceros. The man’s arms are almost as thick as Victor’s middle and are covered in tattoos. Victor judges him at least 6 foot 7, and cannot see the man on anything other than a Harley motorcycle.

  “Got cash?” comes the man’s harsh reply, his voice damaged from years of drinking and smoking.

  “Yes,” Victor lies.

  “Okay, gas cans are in the corner there, fill your bikes while I help this customer. I’ll be with you shortly to sort out the paperwork.” Victor nods and walks to the corner, then picks up two gas cans and walks back to his bike and Ernest.

  “Fill your bike up quickly,” Victor says as he hands Ernest a can. The keys for the bikes are in each bike’s ignitions, making Victor think that due to the size of the owner, no one would ever think of stealing from him.

  As soon as they filled their bikes, they climb on and switch the ignitions on. Just as they are about to start the bikes and ride out through the front door, they notice the owner standing in the doorway.

  “Now you boys are not thinking of riding away without paying are you?”

  Ernest slowly climbs off his bike, having noticed another guy coming from the back, almost as big as the first guy. Victor however ignores both and starts his bike, revving the engine and then letting it idle while he kicks in the side stand.

  “Ernest, what are you doing? Get on the bike, it is not going to ride itself,” Victor says as he sees Ernest standing next to his bike. Shaking his head, Ernest gets back onto his bike, while the mechanic and shop owner are slowly walking towards them.

  “I said, you two are not thinking of stealing those bikes?” The guy freezes as Victor pulls out his pistol and shoots past the man’s head, putting four rounds into the shop’s display window. As the man ducks down and to the side, Victor puts the gun in the back of his pants and quickly pulls away, driving through the broken display window. Ernest quickly starts his bike and follows Victor. The shop owner and mechanic shout at Victor and Ernest and run into the street while throwing signs at the two men riding away, before running back into the shop to get bikes themselves to give chase. Ernest and Victor open up the bikes, and Victor indicates to Ernest to lead as he does not know the way. The two men race through the city, being boys with toys trying to prove who is faster and better, giving the bike owners a hard time trying to keep up.

  They cross over a number of roads, going through red traffic lights and between cars, pushing the bikes hard, and at times reach 180 miles an hour while passing between cars.

  Suddenly Ernest slows down, seeing a police cruiser at the traffic light ahead with his indicator on, showing he wants to turn. Ernest and Victor have to go straight, and Ernest thinks it wise to stop at the traffic light and pull away normally, than go over a red light with police present. Victor passes Ernest and rides right up to the police cruiser, where he proceeds to kick the police cruiser’s right mirror off with his left foot and then shows the policemen inside a zap sign, before smoking the back tire as he pulls away hard. To top it off, he lifts the front wheel off the ground as he pops a wheelie across the red traffic light, causing cars to swerve to avoid hitting him. The police car’s lights immediately activate and the police pull away with tires smoking and sirens on, giving chase.

  Ernest shakes his head. Great pissing off cops in a Ford Mustang V8 of all cars. Ernest opens up his bike and catches up, then passes the cruiser before catching up to Victor who is holding back to allow Ernest to join him. As soon as Ernest pulls alongside Victor, he looks back to find to his horror the police cruiser and the two motorcycle dealer men chasing them. Looking back at Victor, he gasps in surprise. Victor is indicating that he must lead. If Victor wanted to get him to go faster, he could have just said so, no need to make a scene! They make good time, having to keep ahead of the police and shop owner. After a few minutes ride, they pull onto Lee’s Highway and gun it down the straight.

  The police car struggles to keep up in the traffic, as the men at times pass traffic with oncoming traffic, passing between the cars down the middle. The shop owner and mechanic do the same, but they have slower motorcycles and are starting to fall behind.

  Up ahead, Ernest notices another police cruiser and is relieved that he is stuck between two cars, but then looks on in horror as Victor slows down and weaves his way between oncoming traffic just to pull up next to the police cruiser, where he proceeds to kick the second police car’s mirror off, in addition to also showing them the finger.

  Ernest’s mouth hangs open at Victor’s actions. Oh great, now we’ll have the whole police force after us! Victor guns his bike and catches up with Ernest, who slaps his helmet w
ith his palm, indicating that Victor is stupid. Victor responds by pulling his gun out and shooting two rounds at the second police car, directly behind them. Ernest cannot believe his eyes. Shit, now we will never get away! Is Victor insane?

  Suddenly the shop owner pulls up between them and grabs Ernest by the right arm with his left. Before Ernest can react, Victor quickly leans over and hits the kill switch on the man’s bike, causing the bike to lose power and him to lose his grip on Ernest. As the shop owner’s bike falls behind, Ernest pulls his gun and turns in his seat, then waves No to the man, with his gun.

  The highway clears up after a few minutes with little traffic in their way and they keep the bikes at top speed, reaching 200 miles an hour on the speedos at times. Ernest suddenly slows down.

  A truck with a semitrailer is up ahead, and two trucks are approaching in the oncoming lane. A strange noise right next to Ernest makes him look slightly up and to the side of him. His heart sinks as he is greeted by a police helicopter following them. Victor maintains his speed and pulls past Ernest, who ducks down behind the bike’s wind deflector while pushing the bike hard to get away from the helicopter.

  Up ahead, Victor is approaching the truck in his lane fast, and notices the two oncoming trucks, yet still does not slow down. Looking at the speedo, the digital indicator is at 199mph, but the rev counter keeps climbing. Victor moves to the white line in the center of the road, and passes the truck at the same time as the first oncoming truck also passes by him. The space between the trucks is so narrow that the bike just fits as Victor holds on, passing between the two semi trailer trucks at over 200 miles an hour. The wind created from the trucks hits his bike as he passes through between them, and causes the bike to swerve slightly to the left, but he corrects and makes it through without incident. Behind him, Ernest is now also at top speed and passes the truck just as the second oncoming truck goes by.