Body Count

by mike Evans

  Gabriel zipped his coat up nodding. He said, “I used to be, now I'm just trying to be retired. I swear on that. After today all I want to do is find a nice Italian village and raise my son. I don’t want any trouble from anyone. There are old issues that people cannot just let lie that they think are going to come back and bite them in the ass.”

  Nick looked at the money again, then at the plane, and realizing he probably had a high end dangerous man standing before him like none he’d ever encountered before. He said, “Well I can give you a day Gabriel, you just need to tell me that no good people are going to be dying?”

  “They never are supposed to Nick, but sometimes bad things happen to good people. The only reason I hadn’t finished my work a week ago was because of the men who hired me to take care of a mutual issue and threat. When I was done they rewarded me with a sniper on the roof.”

  Nick having been ex-military knew there were good reasons to avoid snipers. He asked, “Can I ask how you walked away from that without a part of your head missing?”

  Gabriel said, “Someone else took the hit for me, they didn’t know that they were sacrificing what they were at the time.”

  Nick said, “I lost a lot of good men in my unit.”

  Gabriel walked towards the exit looking back with eyes that had the tease of a tear in them. He said, “It was my wife. I will be back as soon as I can.”

  Nick didn’t know what to say to those words and numbly nodded his head. He simply said, “I’ll be here. You just make sure you come back. Here’s my card, you let me know if you need me to have the plane ready to go in a hurry. You get caught you burn that card. I got a feeling anyone that is going to be taking care of you or attempting to is going to clean up anything that has your name tied to it.”

  Gabriel gave him a thumbs up then disappeared into the early morning air and headed straight for the rental agency picking up a SUV that they could use to bring back the three. He would have preferred a motorcycle but knew it was impossible to get the three of them back on one and the cover of a roof was going to obviously be safer for the three of them.

  Chapter

  Twenty

  Gabriel drove past the building three times before parking down at the end of the block. He walked up slowly looking around at the block and seeing two men who looked like they had no reason to be where they were. It was early morning and the rest of the street was dead to the world still. Gabriel continued walking while keeping his head down. When he got close to one man he could see the bulge in his coat. His questions about the two had been answered. He walked up saying, “Hey you guys got a light?”

  The man said, “Fuck off, we don’t have time for this.”

  Gabriel looked up saying, “You sure, it will just take a second?

  “Did you not hear me you stupid Amer-”

  Gabriel grabbed the man, quickly pulling him forward and firing off three shots into his midsection hitting his belly, lungs, and heart. The shot man tried to scream but Gabriel clutched his mouth. The man next to him tried to scream and with blinding speed Gabriel brought up a foot out of nowhere, delivering a side kick to the man’s face, snapping it backwards and sending him flying up against the brick wall. When the man came back towards him, Gabriel pulled a knife off of his chest and plunged it into the middle of the man’s neck while snatching his head with his opposite hand and pulling with everything he had, leaving only half of his neck connected. Blood spilled down Gabriel’s hands. The man’s eyes filled with tears Gabriel stared him in the eyes, lowering him to the ground slowly, keeping eye contact until the soul in his eyes was gone.

  Gabriel wiped his hands then re-sheathed the knife and sliding in a fresh magazine to the pistol, making sure there was no reason to give himself any disadvantage that he could prevent. He climbed the building’s fire escape ladder quickly and quietly until he made it to the top having ignored the blackened out windows on the way up for the easy entry, one that he was sure that would end with a bullet in his head. Once on top he checked over the side, looking for anyone. A single man was walking away from him, smoking a cigarette, and drinking a cup of coffee. Gabriel rested the pistol on the ledge of the building aiming at the man and fired twice, each shot going through his calf muscle and crippling him instantly. He fell backwards trying to grip at both of his legs at the same time. The blood was making the gravel roofed top red. The man hit his radio screaming, “Pomogite Pomogite Pomogite.”

  Gabriel said, “net pomoshch there is no help.” The third shot went into his head. Gabriel

  climbed over the top of the roof and waited a few minutes for the others to come up to the roof. When the roof hatch door pushed open, Gabriel was ready firing off two shots into a man’s head and caught the door before it slammed shut just as the target fell down the ladder, smashing into the others. Gabriel pulled the pin off of two flash grenades then dropped them and running to the side of the building. A shot of smoke escaped as the lid to the roof shot up and open.

  ****

  Nikolai was screaming into his handset, “What in the fuck is going on, what the hell are you doing God damn it! What is going on up there? Are you alright?”

  Forsyth spit some blood laughing. He said, “No they aren’t alright.”

  Nikolai wasn’t thinking rationally and slapped Forsyth across the face. “What, do you know what is going on?”

  “Just that the devil is coming for you and he’s going to make you regret everything that you’ve ever done bad. Don't worry, I’ll let him know you’ve been good to piss on. I hope that, that will do something for the amount of pain he puts you through.”

  Nikolai said, “If that door opens the first bullet goes into you and the second into him.”

  Forsyth said, “A hostage might not be the stupidest thing for you to have at your disposal.”

  Nikolai brought the pistol across knocking him out. He said, “Your talking gives me a fucking headache, and you are right, you are the wrong hostage to have, the boy is gold if he is all that he has left to care about in this world.”

  Forsyth slumped forward in the seat, his head hanging down and the back of it turning red from the blood pooling around in his hair trying to find the path to escape and go down to the floor below. Nikolai entered the next room, four men were standing close with pistols drawn and all looking and waiting for commands to come their way. Nikolai saw Mikey and walked straight for him and picked him up. “I will keep an eye on him. It will not take four of us to watch him.”

  One of the men reached out and tightly grabbed on to Mikey and said, “We aren’t stupid Nikolai, we know why you want to watch him.”

  Nikolai said, “There is but one reason why I want to watch him and it is because he is going to end up being the only bargaining chip. You have the option of leaving and hoping that we don’t find you later or you can go and try and kill the man and we will all be safe and we will be able to collect our wages from the men at the CIA.”

  When the man did not let go of Mikey’s arm, Nikolai leveled a pistol at him and pulled the trigger without hesitation. He sent a shell directly through his skull, splattering the wall behind him with bits of curly hair and brain matter. Mikey screamed at the top of his lungs, his echoes making their way up to where Gabriel was making his way down the ladder and shooting a magazine of eighteen bullets into the unfortunate souls trying to make their way up to him on the roof.

  Nikolai looked at the rest of the men in the room while still holding the gun up and aiming it in the men’s direction. He said, “Do any of you have any problems with following my leadership or do I need to squeeze the trigger again?”

  When one of the men opened his mouth to say something, Nikolai fired another shot. He said, “You are having me do this man who is a killer for hire’s job for him. You need to leave now! Every single second we waste is going to be one less which we have to be able to deal with him. The choice is yours but each of you are getting a much bigger share in our payday once we come to the end of this
job.” The rest of the men rushed out of the room with guns up and ready, not wanting the same fate as their fallen brothers.

  Gabriel looked around the top floor of the building, hearing nothing and seeing nobody. He ran to the end of the hallway hearing footsteps and screaming coming up the stairwell. He knew that is was men that were motivated and on their way as quickly as they could to get there. Gabriel rigged a grenade to go off when they opened the door at the end of the hallway. He waited for them to enter, letting the explosion go off while hiding in the corner of the dark room letting the shadows keep him a secret. When the grenade went off, it made all the surviving men retreat back into the hallway. Gabriel heard murmurs of exasperation that it was a trick and that he was already on the way back towards the boy on the second floor. Gabriel made his way back out of the shadows following the men and squeezing his guns as quickly as he could, one in each hand sending hell down the long hallway. The four men never saw it coming. Gabriel walked past them and one man just barely still breathing reached out and touched his leg whispering, “You shot us in the back.”

  Gabriel aimed true at his skull this time. He said, “Your back was facing me.” He hit the man once with a round, sending it through his skull and snapping the man’s head back as he was opening up his mouth to retort. Gabriel knelt beside him and unclipping his radio from his shoulder. Gabriel quickly made his way down the hallway and towards the door that led to the stairwell. As he was walking down he could hear Nikolai on the radio screaming for an update. Gabriel hit the button to transmit. He said calmly and smoothly, “I hope for your sake that this wasn’t all of your men because I’m coming for my son.”

  Nikolai was silent for a moment then said, “If you open that door I'm going to blow your head off, and if I can’t then I will make sure that I take his life. I don’t care what you do to me. I will not lose everything today.”

  Gabriel thought of his son and of Addy, the idea to lose both of them in a matter of two weeks would simply be a heartbreak that would not be possible to repair. He said, “There are no negotiations, there is no one behind me, it is just me coming for you…...but I promise you it will be enough and if anything happens to that boy I am going to skin you one inch square at a time until there is nothing left. I won’t let you die, I promise I will keep you alive and you will feel absolutely everything.”

  Nikolai said, “You make quite large threats don’t you?”

  “No, no I don’t make threats. These are absolutely promises. I would say you have about fifteen seconds to figure out what it is that you would like to do. If you haven’t made up your mind I'm going to do so for you. It can be quick, it can just not happen, or it can be something that will last for a very….very, long time.”

  “If I put him outside you will leave? You will not hold anything against me?”

  “There is no promise that if I see you in a market somewhere that I will not be trying to put two in your head. But I won’t be hunting you and that is something that you should be very, very thankful for.”

  Nikolai looked down at the boy and could feel his own heartbeat pounding in his chest and it was a feeling he did not enjoy, but wanted to continue to have the ability to have the feeling.

  Nikolai said, “He’ll be outside of the door, just as good as before.”

  Gabriel said nothing. Picking up speed and taking the stairs as quickly as he could, when he entered the door that was on the outside, he pushed through it with the pistol raised. He only saw Forsyth in the chair leaning forward with blood soaking the back of his head and dripping into a bloody pool in his lap. He approached his friend then put two fingers beneath his neck, assuming that with the way his luck has been going, that Forsyth was already dead and that he would be going in to murder the Russian within seconds. But a light beat pushed back against his index and middle finger. Forsyth jumped when the fingers stayed there, him thinking that he was drowning or being strangled then waking up with a start. Gabriel gripped his face with both hands and looked at him. He said, “It’s me, it’s me, it’s Gabriel.”

  Forsyth shook his head after seeing a few Gabriels staring back at him, which was something that also scared the shit out of him thinking of there being more than one of his deadly friend. Gabriel took a knife, ran it up Forsyth’s side cutting away his restraints and then helping him up to his feet. He shook for a minute and Gabriel thought that he was going to very soon lose his balance but he did not and kept it steady. Gabriel made sure that he had his balance and slid a pistol into his hand and put two magazines in the back pocket of his slacks. “You think you can be my back up today Forsyth?”

  “Since when have you ever needed backup?”

  “Not until people began including my family in their revenge to get at me. For years I've lived two lives and I always hoped that if they had to interconnect that it was going to go better than this, but so far…...well things haven’t been nearly going as well.”

  Forsyth took the gun racking it back making sure it was ready to go. He held it tight holding it straight out in front of him. They waited ready and the door opened for what seemed like only a moment. Nikolai screamed from the opposite side of the door. “You remember what you said, that you would not be coming for me, that you would not hunt me!”

  Gabriel motioned for Mikey to come to him and the boy most certainly did not need to be told. He sprinted for his dad with arms outstretched and looking a bit strangely at him over the pistol and small arsenal on his chest. He leapt into the air and Gabriel gripped him then backed out of the room quietly and pointing to Forsyth to follow. Forsyth said, “You really aren’t going to do anything? You are going to let this go unanswered for?”

  “Come on let's go. I got what I came for. I got what I need.”

  They walked down the stairs slowly. Not because they were not in a hurry but because that was the quickest that they could go. Forsyth was making noises letting Gabriel know that they would not be able to speed up the pace any. Mikey said, “Dad I'm so happy to see you, when is mommy gonna make it over this place? It is so weird, we are always running we are always going somewhere in the middle of night and people will not stay out of the room Dad.”

  He kissed Mikey’s cheek and said, “We aren’t going to have any issues going forward buddy. From here on out we are going to just take it a day at a time. But we are going to find a room where we don't have to worry about anyone coming in. We are going to be safe, all of us.”

  Mikey said, “Are we going to have Forsyth with us then? I mean we can’t go anywhere without him.”

  Gabriel patted Forsyth on the shoulder. “Yeah he kind of grows on you doesn’t he?”

  Mikey said, “Man, does he know how to eat.”

  When the three made it to the bottom floor and to freedom, Gabriel held out a set of keys

  and said, “You two start making your way down to the black SUV and get it started. If you think that you can make it that far.”

  “I am going to do my best, if not, you are going to find us sitting on the sidewalk and waiting patiently for you.”

  Gabriel kissed Mikey on the head and set him down. The child took Forsyth’s hand and the two disappeared. Gabriel pulled out the captain's phone. He hit the redial for Director Lincoln and when he answered Gabriel said, “I found their building, I am going to take out every one of your Russians and it’s going to hurt. I’m just making my way up. Have a good day Director, I have a feeling you and I are going to run into each other very….very soon.”

  Lincoln leaned back in his chair, rubbing the bridge of his nose and feeling a five day growth on his face. He said, “You know even if you make it out of there you still aren’t going to get rid of us. You have done enough that we need to end this. I can’t worry about you making threats that I then have to worry about you living up to.”

  Gabriel said, “I don’t have threats, they are all promises Director Lincoln and I hope that you truly understand what I am saying here.”

  Lincoln said, “Well
give my regards to the Russians, it would seem that they have failed me yet again. It seems you are taking care of something which I need to have done anyways so let me thank you for that.”

  “You won’t thank me when we meet each other face to face…..that much I can promise you.”

  “Well I have confidence in those working for me, not the Russians at this point of course, but definitely for the rest. Your luck will run out, and that child you aren’t able to help without the old man’s help is going to be an orphan very soon.”

  Gabriel left the phone on, setting it down and pushing out the front door. He was quite confident in this theories and he jogged to catch up to the two. Forsyth was having a much harder time that he had thought he would but they were moving.

  Forsyth said, “Did you do whatever you needed to?”

  Gabriel helped Forsyth into the backseat letting him lie down and basically pass out. He got Mikey secured in the seat and the two sat there waiting patiently. Mikey said, “Dad you know mom isn’t going to like the guns. I mean she’s going to get you in so much trouble. She doesn’t even let me watch those shows on television. You know what she is going to say to you when she finds out?”

  “Buddy she could yell at me all day if she wanted to and I’d just keep on smiling if it meant hearing her sweet voice. You remember your mother always, she loved you more than life itself, I hope that you know that Michael. I really do buddy, it is too often overlooked when and how much someone really truly loves you.”

  Mikey hit the seatbelt release and jumped out of his seat. He gripped his dad in the tightest hug he’d ever given him. He said, “I know you guys love me Daddy. I love you too!”