Body Count

by mike Evans

  Mikey shook his head and said, “I don’t miss her, or dad, because dad goes away for work all the time doing big important things for his job. He always tells me that if I'm missing him than I must have given up hope that he is going to come back. I guarantee you I haven’t given up hope in my mom and dad. I’m like their favorite thing. They won’t let me go no where without one of them usually”

  He patted the boy on the shoulder. “Yeah, I guess if you were mine I wouldn’t want you out of my sight either. Why don’t you sit down now, you probably need to have your seatbelt on I think, right? I can’t imagine that you are big enough to ride without a car seat when one is available for you to use. If we do much more travelling by car you and I might have to go get one for you.”

  The car service pulled up to the hotel. The driver slid a piece of paper for Forsyth to give him a credit card but he wasn’t stupid and he knew how easily things could be direct. Forsyth pulled out his cash, knowing at this rate he was still going to have a stupidly large amount of money. He peeled one off the stack of hundreds and handed it back with the paper and held up his hands indicating that no change was necessary when the man looked at it. As the two exited the car, the driver pulled a card quickly out of his suit coat and presented it to Forsyth with one of the warmest smiles he had received from a native of the country. Forsyth looked at it and nodded, sliding it into his new suit’s pocket.

  “You ready to go live like kings Mikey?” Forsyth asked.

  Mikey pulled at Forsyth’s hands walking backwards and trying to drag the much larger man with all his might. Mikey said, “I gotta see this pool, it’s going to be awesome. I need you to take me somewhere for swim trunks, because I know that my mom and dad would yell at you if you tried letting me just have underwear on. Mom won’t tell me who it is I look like when I do it, but she told me that I looked like a redneck when I did it. I don’t understand what batman underwear and my neck have to do with each other but it’s hard to understand what my mom means sometimes. My dad just laughs when he says it but I still don’t understand.”

  Forsyth stared at the kid while playfully messing his hair and thinking that the kid getting hurt was going to be absolutely out of the question. He knew at this point it had nothing to do with fear of Gabriel and what he would do when the time came and he had to tell him the news. He simply was falling in love with the boy and he hated Allah’s Hand and the CIA even more now. After going through the hotel check in process, they went into the adjoining rooms that he had rented. Mikey lost his mind when he saw the king size bed which was all for him. He looked like an ant crawling around on it after he finally wiggled his way up to the top of. Forsyth made a call, growing more thankful for the people who spoke English each time he was able to speak to someone in his native language.

  He ordered the French version of what he hoped would pass for pizza and caffeine free root beer. He would in no way push a drip of caffeine into the boy and his diet. Forsyth knew that he himself was ready to sleep and would not be able to do so until the boy was out for the count. When he had settled Mikey on a pay per view Pixar movie, he went and walked the room seeing the exits and making sure that he had a get out plan. The only thing that he did not like was how far up they were, but he had counted four different elevators and three flights of stairs. Unless a small army was sent for them, the odds of that army picking the right way and crossing paths with Forsyth and the kid would be fifty percent probably at best, depending on who all came for them. When the room service was delivered, Forsyth tipped the hotel employee well enough to ensure that they’d get extra quick and great room service for future orders. Forsyth’s new money talked, regardless of where you were in the world. Mikey saw the pizzas on the table and asked, “How many of these pizzas are for us Mr. Forsyth?”

  “Lucky for us it’s our own personal buffet buddy. You can eat as much as you want. You want to know a secret Mikey?”

  Mikey shook his head affirmatively, “Oh do I!”

  “If we eat all the food, we get to order more. They’ll never run out Mikey, and guess what, if you eat all the pizza and we want dessert after, this hotel has a menu of sweets that is longer than your leg.”

  Mikey held up his leg trying to think of one of his books written on it and could not contain the giggles from spilling out of him. Forsyth said, “We better be careful or your dad is going to have himself a sugar addict on his hands.”

  “A what?”

  “Don’t worry Mikey, you have some serious time before it’s going to be an issue, you could eat a chocolate bar the size of your bed and not have anything to worry about except for maybe the crash.”

  Mikey scrambled off of the bed then grabbing one of the plates and taking enough pizza that Forsyth was worried he was going to make himself sick if he ate all of it. He knew nothing about kids and what to do with them if they got sick. This was something that he didn’t want to have to worry about. He figured he’d let it become a problem once it happened, though as of now, was not concerned about it. The two of them ate like kings and before he had finished his first plate, Mikey laid down in his giant bed and was asleep before his head hit the pillow. Forsyth double checked that the doors were locked and put chairs beneath each of the knobs, pushing it tight so that there was absolutely no wiggle room. He showered in the luxury bath and got as clean as he could until he felt like a million dollars. He felt as if he could sleep through a war at this point. He dressed in a pair of slacks and one of his new polo shirts. He gathered all of his papers, the notebooks from Gabriel and had Mikey’s bag sitting next to him. His pistol was set to safe and tucked into the small of his back, making sure that he would only be so comfortable.

  Chapter

  Thirteen

  Paris Hospital

  The police stood looking at the men and not believing anything that the two were saying. The police detective said, “So the two of you were ordering coffee, coffee that the waitress and the servers had not heard you order yet. You say that the American, the one who had a young boy with him, was the one that instigated the fight with you. You said that there was no reason at all why he threw a scalding hot coffee into your face and then continued to break your knee, and then your jaw and knock out most of the teeth on your left side. He must have been a real asshole. It sounds like you two are just perfectly innocent in all of this.

  Vlad, the man who had not needed his mouth wired shut when the pistol had broken his jaw, shrugged and said, “My friend, Anton, cannot say too much right now detective. You see his jaw is a mess, to put it nicely. That insane man beat him with the butt of a pistol until he had knocked him out. There is little we can do but let him heal.”

  The detective pulled out a pair of cards placing each one on their bedside table and said, “You call me if anything comes to mind that you think would be useful to know. I’d love to have a conversation with this man. I am quite sure this was not the only bit of trouble he got into today. If you aren’t aware, it has been quite an eventful day in Paris.”

  Vlad said, “Yes anything important and you are the first man that we call. You have a nice afternoon Detective.”

  The police detective turned and left the small room. Anton looked to Vlad, knowing that they needed to make a phone call, though it sure as hell was not going to be to a Paris detective, for the love of God. “We need to check in. We are going to get stiffed on our bill, you know that right? He is going to scream at us, then tell us we are useless, and finish the day off by telling us that we get nothing…..absolutely nothing for our time, besides concussions and a fucking limp,” Vlad said angrily.

  Anton attempted to speak, not yet having mastered anything with the jaw work that had been done. He wrote furiously and threw a paper to Vlad. Vlad read it quickly and yelled back, “I understand that we don’t have a choice but to call, you idiot! I was just saying that it isn’t going to go well. No one ever wants to hear news when it is bad, regardless of if they told us to call in the first place. I have my cell, I
'm going to call and check in. He’s going to want to know a hell of a lot more than I know.”

  Vlad dialed the number from memory on his cell phone. He had not let it out of his sight since they were taken to the hospital. He let the phone ring and when it answered the man said no pleasantries, only barking, “Is this line secure?”

  Vlad said, “Yes, is this Director Lincoln?”

  “You were supposed to have checked in hours ago, where the hell have you been? This isn’t Russia, if you are going to work black for us, you are going to have to be able to follow orders. Now I want debriefed, did you find the man and the child? Were you able to question the two of them as to where we might be able to find Gabriel?”

  Vlad started to laugh and when pain erupted through his body and especially through his broken nose he grunted in reply, “No, we weren’t able to get anything. He actually was quite a bit more ready for us than we had assumed.”

  “You underestimated him even after I told you he was associated with one of the deadliest men that we have ever had the displeasure of dealing with? Jesus, you must have been dropped on your head as a baby.”

  Vlad, who’s English wasn’t exactly fluent, asked with confusion, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand?”

  “Let me put it a bit easier. You and your coworker Anton are both fucking idiots. I don’t know who hired you but they were probably fucking idiots too. You let them get away and you both failed me. Where are you now? Did you at least figure out where he was staying?”

  Vlad went to pinch the bridge of his nose but was smart enough to stop himself. “We are currently at a hospital in Paris, this is where the ambulance brought us.”

  “You are in the hospital, well when the hell are you going to get out of there?”

  “They said that I would be out in the next two or three days but that Anton unfortunately

  is going to be here for at least a week. He had his jaw broken you see and-”

  “Oh for God sakes, I was doing my best not to have to call the embassy; the more off the books I was able to keep this job the better. Do you have anyone that is less ignorant than you that I can reach out to? If you are the cream of the crop, then don’t bother.”

  “If you just want the two of them grabbed, I know a few men that we could call,” Vlad offered.

  Lincoln was watching the footage of Gabriel in the office over and over again. “Call them but listen to my warning, if they kill the boy you will all be dead. There will be nothing that you can do about it. I just want him brought in and treated like a small prince until we find the man we are looking for.”

  Vlad said, “You do not have to threaten us, we will not kill the child.”

  “It isn’t a threat from me. I saw what happened to the men that killed his wife and I would not want that to be my ending. The child’s father is quite dangerous and there is nowhere short of leaving the earth that you can run that would be far enough to hide.”

  “What of the old man, do we need to keep him alive, or is he someone that is able to be removed from the equation? The less people we need to try and take the better sir.”

  “You can kill him, and you can do it the first chance you get. He is of no importance to anyone. He is a business associate and no more. It will be easier to take the boy without him anyway. Is that going to be a problem for you?”

  Vlad said, “I can’t bend my leg nor can Anton, no it won’t be an issue to take care of him. We would almost do that for free.”

  Lincoln asked, “You will do it for free?”

  “I said almost, Director Lincoln. After all, we need to eat. We will make a call to have them find where they went. We have some tech people who can do magical things with computers.”

  “See that they do, because his father has gone off the grid and we do not know where he is. I am posting a message in Interpol and all the news, both local and foreign, that we can with the boy’s picture saying that he has been kidnapped by terrorists. I have a feeling we will very quickly get word from him as to what we need to do so that we can get his son back.”

  “I think we can do this for you, but you are smart enough to know that taking a man’s only son can be a very bad idea if things go wrong for you correct?”

  “I hired you to do things, not for advice. If you aren’t asked for advice, please don’t contribute it.”

  Vlad stayed quiet for a moment then asked, “Is there anything else?”

  Lincoln thought for a second and replied, “Make sure and send me pictures. Make sure that you do not harm the boy, there is no going back if you do.”

  “We will do our best.” Vlad hit the end button then looked at a fidgeting Anton. “So he wants us to get the boy. He doesn’t care what happens to the old man.”

  Anton scribbled furiously throwing the entire notepad at Vlad this time. Vlad read it slowly aloud, “Make sure that the old man does not have any teeth when they are done.”

  Vlad then called Tomas and gave him directions. Within the hour, they had tracked the old man and the boy down to the hotel that they were currently resting in.

  Chapter

  Fourteen

  Hunting cabin

  Gabriel awoke then slowly looked around the small cabin. The dim light coming in the window looked to be that of the moon instead of sun. He tried to swallow but had nothing in his mouth. He lay in the bed listening to the noises around him and making sure that he heard no breathing coming from inside of the room. He knew he had previously waited patiently many times for someone to awake on a job. Gabriel decided that he was alone, and pulled out his phone to try and get some light in the small space. Gabriel hit the power button and saw that the screen and phone looked as if it had been cracked in half. He pocketed it again and stumbled to the stove, thankful to see the light red glow coming from it. He used a towel to open the door and let the red embers give some temporarily light to the room. Gabriel found a lantern and lit it, adjusting the flame until the entire room was visible. He moved the lid off of the food and saw that whatever it was originally was now nothing but mush as it had cooked past the point of being recognizable. Gabriel pulled the giant cast iron pot off of the heat and carried it over to the small table. He found a case of beer sitting on the floor next to it. He wasn’t stupid and knew that it wasn’t the best thing to drink if he was dehydrated, but something was going to be better than absolutely nothing. He figured the calories alone would harm nothing for him. Gabriel spooned the food into his mouth until it made his stomach hurt and then forced himself to eat some more. He was glad to see that whatever had happened had not been as bad as he thought it was. The room was not spinning anything like it had been before he had passed out.

  Gabriel felt his ribs and face and they were still extremely tender to the touch. He sighed, thinking he had not taken a beating like this since one of his and Forsyth’s last jobs together and even that dulled in comparison to this. He rubbed at his face and the hair growth made him think that there was a hell of a good chance that he had lost a day or two. He couldn’t have been more thankful that whoever was coming to this hunting lodge was already here. Gabriel would have been shit out of luck had he been found sleeping dressed as he is or at least wearing the amount of weapons on him. Anyone who was smart would have called the police and just stayed outdoors until they arrived to take him in. He thought he wouldn’t have been much of a threat if that was the case, given the fact that the last day or so was a complete mystery to him. He barely remembered making it back to the small cabin in the first place.

  Gabriel went outside and took the time to carefully listen. Only the animals’ movements and noises were there to greet him. He pulled the keys that he’d stripped from the men’s pockets and looked at them in the moonlit sky. He found the one that said Chevy on it and went over to the truck, finding it unlocked. He started the engine, the headlights shone their light on the cabin illuminating what he was hoping to find. He left the light on, and grabbing the bucket that was upside down next to the outdoo
r pump. He filled the bucket to the brim and took it inside to boil the water. There was no way that he was about to trust a water pump in the middle of nowhere. An infection from drinking dirty water wasn’t something he thought his body could handle right now. When it had boiled for enough minutes, he removed it and took up a cup of the much needed water waiting impatiently for it to cool enough to drink. He walked around taking inventory of the supplies the men had and realized they had planned on eating mostly what they killed because the only meat he’d been able to find was what was left of the makeshift stew he’d had. It looked like there was no shortage of beans, onion, potatoes and salt and pepper for the gourmet seasoning. Gabriel did not complain, of course, as the men owed him nothing, and would still be alive had they aided the man instead of deciding it would be easier to bury him in the woods and take his weapons.

  Gabriel emptied the trucks, looking for clothes and found one bag that appeared to be for each man. He found a set of clothes that would pass and which did not smell like they should have been washed prior to being packed. Gabriel stripped down near the lantern light. His body was not in good form, he looked at the purple which covered the majority of his torso, legs, and arms. He knew that it was purely his reserves that had saved his life and his failed attackers’ lack of training and being in the absolute wrong place at the wrong time.

  When Gabriel was done assessing the damage he drank the rest of the water and started boiling another bucket’s worth. When it was done he lay back again knowing sleep, food, and drink were going to be what would help him most. He wanted to call and check on Forsyth but if they had already landed and was safe, there would be no reason to which they needed to contact him other than the want of hearing his son’s voice.