Body Count

by mike Evans

  Edd was falling into pure survival mode. He threw a sloppy punch and Gabriel gripped his right arm with his left, punching him in the face once. Gabriel stepped to the side, not letting go of the arm, and threw Edd off balance and down to the floor. When he tried to get up, Gabriel stomped him twice in the gut and then punched him twice more in the face.

  Edd tried to get up but fell back down to the ground. He wasn’t used to being the one that took the punishment and Gabriel knew this. Gabriel kicked him in the gut until the man lost what breakfast he had on the floor then trying to find a way to hold himself that did not feel like hot daggers tearing into his stomach. Kindra said, “I thought you were going to kill him, is this the part where you make a comeback honey?”

  Gabriel looked at her and said, “I’m sorry I just thought that he deserved this part of it.”

  She nodded thinking about it and rubbing at places now healed but still emotionally bruised. She said, “Oh we could do this all day because he does.”

  Edd rolled to his back while gripping Gabriel’s pant leg. Gabriel bent down and taking the man’s wrist, turning and twisting until it snapped from the pressure. Edd screamed again in pain and again got another punch to the throat. He punched at Gabriel with his last hand but had no power behind it and nothing effective being done because of it. Gabriel punched him in the face until blood started to come from his eyes and Gabriel couldn’t feel his hand.

  Kindra smiled a bit as his lip quivered, remembering being on that end of the torture. She did not feel bad for the man whatsoever. Gabriel dragged him near the end of the bed. When the man made a feeble grasp at his hands at a last ditch effort to save himself, Gabriel gripped his head by the hair tightly, lifting his head and slamming it down into the wood floor. By the time that he was done the man was just barely still able to keep awake. The smell of urine had filled the room and when Gabriel looked it was obvious that the man had lost control of his bladder.

  Gabriel knelt down next to his ear and said, “You know it’s too bad you don’t know a good thing when you’ve got it. I would give anything including my own life to have my wife back and alive and healthy. You wasted the greatest gift that God could give you. You had better hope that he shows mercy on you or I have a feeling the two of us will be seeing each other again.”

  Edd said, “Go to hell.”

  Gabriel laughed a bit and said, “That’s actually where I was thinking we’d meet up. Good luck Edd.”

  Gabriel lifted the end of the bed up as high as he could. The heavy old oak bed had no rubber stoppers but metal legs that it sat on. He brought it down as hard as he could using all of his weight and pressure with it and Edd screamed as the bed leg made its way in through his eye. He screamed clawing and kicking trying to push it off of him with his last good hand. Gabriel patted his face, then standing and bringing his foot down three times on the bed rail until it finally was not held back by the ligaments and bone within Edd’s head. Gabriel bent down next to his ear and said, “Sorry about that Edd, I just kinda thought you need to truly suffer as much as was possible.”

  Kindra just watched in shock. She said, “Oh my God, oh my fucking God, you really did it.”

  Gabriel wiped Edd’s blood on the dirty coveralls he’d worn to work that morning. Gabriel nodded. He said, “It’s what I used to do. I can't stand men who don’t appreciate their women. It’s everyone's choice to be with someone and if you aren’t going to treat them like they deserve to be, it’s pretty fucking easy to just stay alone.”

  Kindra stared at Edd she didn’t know what to say. Gabriel said, “I am sorry to do this and leave but if he really did call the number on that paper then I need to go. They won’t waste any time making their way here.”

  “Where are you going to go?”

  “Don’t worry about me. I've got things figured out already. You need to go get Molly, she still thinks that you are being beaten by him. Look in the cupboard, I got about five grand in there. Hopefully that is enough for you to keep things running here until you can hire someone to take his place or if you are lucky he has some insurance tucked away that you don't know about.”

  She went to say something else but the distant sounds of a helicopter were just barely able to be heard. Gabriel said nothing else and sprinted out the door and to the apartment giving Molly a hug and kiss on the head. He found his bag and sprinted back down the stairs past Kindra and up the driveway only to see the town sheriff coming his way.

  Gabriel turned back around and ran out of sight and into the barn slamming the heavy wood doors behind him and locking them with the heavy chain Edd secured the building with at night. Gabriel dumped the items in the bag on the workbench and sliding on the hip holsters and his tactical holsters. Gabriel had only wanted to leave but that option had passed. He was looking down at Edd’s newspaper as he was sliding in his gear without having to think about it the words dead or alive which stuck with him. He could handle that if they could. A bull horn erupted, barely able to be heard as the helicopter landed on the property.

  Gabriel walked near the window and looked out for only a moment. The black copter sat in place with its blades still running. The white letters of the CIA were not hard to miss. The man that had previously knocked Gabriel out walked across the yard with a machine gun in hand and followed by nine men all dressed in tactical gear. He was spouting off directions to his men and letting the sheriff know who was in charge. The sheriff got in his squad car, nodded and backed it up to the end of the driveway. Gabriel knew that this was going to be the last day that he was in America. He thought that taking Mikey somewhere that he wouldn’t be sent back to America would be his first objective, once he met up with the two in Paris.

  Gabriel ran his hands down one last time making sure that everything was where he wanted it to be on his rig. When he was sure, he pulled two grenades off of his belt then pulled both pins. Gabriel went up the steps to the second floor, the top door of the barn was already open. When the men huddled to speak, Gabriel moved stealthily across to the open door then heaving one then the second grenade towards the helicopter, both landing directly beneath it. One of them would have been enough but more was better. He sprinted back down the stairs, counting in his head how long he had and dove behind a tractor that he knew could stop anything coming at it. He ducked down covering his ears and the first then second grenade went off. They were deafening. A millisecond later an even larger explosion followed by the helicopter launching up in the air, flipping upside down and landing on its rotors. The men outside had dropped to the ground then crawling away from the blast. One man did not need to move, a broken blade from the helicopter had made a line straight for him, slicing him head to toe in two equal bloody parts that fell to opposite sides.

  The captain of the group looked at him, and then at the barn, screaming something for the first three men to go in for him. The other five men broke into two groups and disappeared around the side of the building. Gabriel knew the men had night vision attached to their SWAT helmets the second he had seen them.

  Gabriel started shooting the lights out immersing the barn into darkness. He knew that the front door would hold strong and went to the small single person entrance door. Gabriel jumped up, crawling into the rafters and locking his legs in between them. He took a deep breath, listening to the men counting it down and when they tried to open the side door he heard one of the men say questioningly that it wasn’t locked. He opened it, walking in cautiously, keeping down and moving in slowly. They weren’t telling Gabriel to put his guns down or anything, they were simply here to kill him, which made any ethical standards for Gabriel quickly melt away, not caring if these men went home.

  The first man passed beneath Gabriel and he let the rest of them enter the barn fully. Gabriel did not want any noise that would alert the other men that he was more than ready for them and swung down from the rafters stabbing the first man in the neck pulling up and twisting the blade. When the second man aimed his rifle, Gabriel f
lipped to the ground while pushing his gun to the side and shoving him off balance back into the third man who had no shot.

  Gabriel could feel the Kevlar vest the man had for protection and placed his silenced pistol under his chin, pulling the trigger twice, blood splattering on his face and painting the man behind him. The third man screamed when blood saturated his face. He brought his rifle back around and Gabriel shot him in the arm making him drop it. When he did, Gabriel punched the man once in the face. The man, knowing that his time on earth was short if he didn’t do something, quickly rushed Gabriel pushing his gun arm to the side and trying to tackle him. He took Gabriel backwards gripping him around the waist, but Gabriel kept his balance kneeing the man in the chest and stopping his forward momentum. Gabriel shoved backwards letting the man continue forward and pulled him back up straight by his vest. Gripping both his chin and back of the head, Gabriel spun it, snapping his neck. The man let out a small sound and fell dead to the ground, his body twitching where it lay.

  Gabriel saw the side door open and the captain watching in awe. As he began to raise his rifle Gabriel shut the door knowing that they would come in with the night vision. Gabriel ran away from the door and tossed a stun grenade towards it. The men who were entering quickly screamed when the deafening sound filled the barn and invaded their senses. Their retinas were going to be almost useless for the immediate future.

  They screamed for help, help which Gabriel would guarantee them was not coming. Gabriel wanted to shoot them but the thoughts running through his head of the things these men were capable of when given the green light was more than he could handle. He put his pistol in its holster then grabbing a hammer from Edd’s work bench. He sprinted towards the first of three men jumping and sliding across the roof of a car that was waiting to be worked on. Gabriel kicked the man backwards as he slid across, sending him towards the other two men. When he reached out trying to find Gabriel, he was rewarded with a vicious hammer swing that broke his hand. When the man screamed, Gabriel swung the hammer again with so much force that the claw end broke through the protective shield before stopping itself inside of his helmet and lodging in his eye socket.

  Gabriel grabbed hold of the man before his legs could give out and swung him into the other two men, disorientating them. He gripped a screw driver yanking the second man and sliding it in through the ear hole until it stopped, then he used the palm of his hand to ram it in further until blood ran down the screwdriver and the man fell to the ground. The third man was starting to get his senses back and Gabriel was getting a taste for blood that he hadn't had in awhile. The man leapt towards Gabriel, pushing him backwards leaving him with no way to stop the pure force coming at him.

  Gabriel took a few steps back then righted himself and swung him in a circle, running the man into a wood support beam. The man hit hard then pushed right back off, kicking at Gabriel who caught the foot, lifting it high above his head until the man fell to the ground. Gabriel stepped forward, wrapped his leg in front of and around the captive guy’s leg and applied pressure until the knee snapped and the leg was pointing ninety degrees in the wrong way. The man screamed at the top of his lungs for help. Gabriel let him scream. Gabriel wanted the last three men to make their way in here quickly so that he could be on his way out of this town. The disabled man gripped his pistol, trying to pull it even through the pain that he was going through. Gabriel let go of his leg, letting it fall to the ground limply. He restrained the man’s arm, bending the wrist back until it too snapped. Gabriel took his knife, slitting his throat, staring the man in the eyes until the small glint of light faded away.

  Gabriel ran into the safety of shadows. The men would circle the barn and by that time, the fear running through them would be doing half of his job for him. Gabriel clenched his knife in one hand. He could hear the men cursing silently and both of them being told to shut up by the captain who was wishing that he’d have brought additional teams. The man that they had dealt with who was unarmed was not the man in the barn he thought. He knew that leaving was not an option and that having the time to call in more men was even less of an option. Gabriel waited for the captain and the second man behind him to pass by. Gabriel reached out cupping the third man’s mouth and pulling him into the shadows. He ran the blade of his knife deep, cutting through the many layers on the man’s neck, blood spraying as he did so. The second man said, “Pete, you keep your fucking eyes open.”

  When no one answered he turned around quickly, Pete seemingly had vanished quietly into the dark. He said, “Captain, Pete’s gone.”

  The captain said, “That’s just stupid, he….”

  When he saw that Pete wasn’t there he scooted closer to the only other man. He hit his radio whispering, “Pete, Pete, where the fuck are you?”

  Gabriel walked through the shadows of the barn. He hit the throat mic and said, “Pete’s dead, you would be wise to leave now, but I kinda hope that you don't. I like to keep my promises.”

  The captain said, “You think you are a big, bad man now or something? You realize that you are the one that is wanted now right? You aren't the hero here.”

  “No one here are heroes, if you actually knew or cared what was going on behind the scenes you’d probably have a whole new outlook. But you know what, when you’re standing behind a gun, does it matter who is good or bad?”

  The captain began to say something but stopped when realizing there wasn’t really anything that he could say or do as the statement he just heard made sense. He said, “You are still going to die, you realize that? Even if you take the two of us down you are not going to escape. You’ll never get off the continent.”

  Gabriel replied, “You realize that I've already won right?”

  “I don’t understand. There are two of us.”

  “You speak like you are already dead. There’s only two because I've not yet taken out the man with you. You’ll be last, that I can promise you. You started with nine, seven are down, think about that. If you knew anything about who I am, you would have brought a fucking army and you know what it still wouldn’t have been enough. I’ve worked on my own for so long in places that you’d only have nightmares about and came home every time. There isn’t going to be anything to keep from me making my way back to those I care about.”

  The captain said, “Well I can’t promise you that-”

  Gabriel didn’t let the captain finish his speech. He aimed one shot for the man that was with him and squeezed the silenced pistol, hitting the man in the neck, the only unprotected spot on his body upper body. The blood hit the captain’s neck making him shudder and think that his life was over. The second man gripped his shoulder while sliding down and collapsing on the floor. Gabriel said, “You don’t need to promise me anything, I make my own future. See you soon.” Gabriel threw the throat mic at the captain letting him know their conversation was over. If he’d have kept it he would have heard the captain call in help to the local sheriff that was stationed at the end of the driveway.

  The captain screamed, “It doesn’t matter if you kill me you know, there are a hundred people that can do what I can. They’ll replace me and send new and refreshed soldiers after you with nothing in their mindset but wanting to kill you.”

  Gabriel moved silently behind him, reached down and cut the captain’s Achilles tendon, instantly dropping him to one knee. Gabriel then disappearing again. The captain screamed while trying to get up off of the ground again yet fell directly back down and doing so hard. He fired off an entire magazine with his rifle on full auto. Gabriel came in a second time, never losing his target, slicing off the end of his ear with one sharp swipe with his blade. Gabriel came up closely behind him gripping him by the back of his hair and smashing his face into the car slamming into the drum brake busting the man’s teeth lose. Gabriel got next to his ear and said, “The difference between you and me is if something happens to me there isn’t going to be anyone that can take my place. They only made one like me and haven’
t done so since.”

  “Why don’t you go to hell you piece of shit and quite fucking with me!”

  Gabriel pushed the knife in, taking his time and turning the man so he could see Gabriel staring at him in the side mirror as he slowly slid the blade into the side of his neck going steady with the blade. There was no look of worry or remorse on his face whatsoever. Gabriel pulled the blade back out, letting the man gurgle on his own blood until he finally bled out.

  He saw the captain’s phone in his shirt pocket and pulled it out seeing that it was ringing from the director. When he looked back at the man, dying in his last moments left on earth, he saw that the captain smiled for only a moment. Gabriel looked down at his hand seeing a small ring dangling from his finger and knew what it was and wasted no time sitting there thinking about it. He pushed the man so that he would by lying on top of his grenade. He sprinted through the garage jumping into the bucket of the old John Deere tractor that Edd probably used to move dead cars. He heard the whoosh of air in the room, further diving in and covering his face and head and letting all the air out of his lungs. The building rattled and the walls started to sway. The rafters fell, covering him in the bucket of the tractor.

  Gabriel pushed the beams off of him once the falling building settled and moved to the back of the garage. When he walked outside a pistol was pushed up from behind and into the back of his skull. It was a feeling which he had not felt too many times. A voice full of authority said, “You move, and I’ll blow your fucking head off. You understand me?”

  Gabriel saw the shined shoes and tan uniform and knew that it was the police officer that had done nothing wrong but been the unlucky man that had answered the call that was put out. Gabriel slid his head to the side like lightening then gripped the sheriff’s hand and twisted it, not breaking the wrist but rotating it until the pistol fell to the ground. Gabriel spun the man around, pushing him up against what was left of the side of the building and pulling the man’s handcuffs from his belt. He said, “You didn’t do anything wrong, you don’t deserve to die.”