by Michael Todd
Holly moved on to Adisa, who very politely wouldn’t let her even attempt to shoot the machine gun. He told her how to work it and provided a demonstration, but Holly was sure that if she tried to fire it, she would end up on her ass. Instead, he made her work with a short sword, allowed her to swing it into dummies, and showed her where the best kill zone was. It was far easier than shooting at targets, but at the same time, she knew how close she would need to get to the animal to actually do any damage. She wasn’t quite ready for that.
Working with Aki was much the same and she decided swords were definitely a little too close for comfort. So, instead, he went through some martial arts moves with her for defense. He showed her ways she could combat different animals if she was caught without a weapon and had to face a beast. It was actually really good information.
When she reached Alvin, she didn’t expect much, considering he was all about another gun. “I’ll give it a shot but none of the others have caught on, really.”
The man smiled. “Put this baby on your shoulder. You might change your mind. Now, hold it tight. It has a kick and you don’t want to knock yourself out.”
Holly held the weapon and pressed the butt into her shoulder. She looked through the scope at the target and exhaled a deep breath as she pulled the trigger. The first shot spun out of the barrel and rocketed into the bullseye of the target. Holly looked up in shock and Alvin gave her a thumbs-up. She continued to practice with it and discovered she was actually fairly accurate and really comfortable with the thing.
Trigger and the rest of the team stood and watched as she finished the magazine. When she was done, she set the weapon down and removed her ear protection before she turned to them. “So? What do you guys think?”
They exchanged glances, nodded, and finally all looked at Trigger. He frowned for a moment and shrugged, then gave her a huge smile. “As far as I’m concerned, I think we can roll out into the Zoo for a small and simple exercise. That will give you some real-world experience so that you know whether or not you actually want to be out there in that mess.”
Holly clapped her hands. “Awesome. Thank you so much. When do we leave?”
The team chuckled, and Alvin raised his hand. “Hold on there, She-Ra. We will take you out but there is a little more training we want to put you through first. I say we call it a day today and pick it up tomorrow. We’ll come up with some exercises we think you will benefit from. But remember, the Zoo will be a completely different hell than anything we can train you for.”
Hickok made her way to the second point, where she found another duffel with normal street clothes. She actually liked the home-base missions. There, she was well taken care of and not left to fend for herself. She shoved the helmet and suit inside the bag and dressed in her normal gear, although she added a few more layers to protect herself against the cold. Once she’d dragged a stocking cap down over her head, she threw the duffel on her back and headed out into London.
The extraction point—the place where a black SUV would be waiting for her—was only three blocks away. It was snowing hard at that point, but the adrenaline still pumped through her veins. She had obtained the material and completed the mission, which meant she should be able to get back to the Zoo reasonably quickly. She knew that JB didn’t have that much time left—and none at all if she couldn’t get there to get Holly what she needed.
Billie’s boots shuffled down the snow-covered sidewalks as she walked along. People were still out. They milled around and weaved drunkenly back to their destinations while they took pictures of the snow and lights along the way. It was really the first time she had paid attention to life outside her dark bubble, but ever since she’d returned from the Zoo, she had caught herself doing that. She wasn’t quite sure why, but life seemed to show her the other side of things, even if it was only a glance.
The black SUV was exactly where it was supposed to be. Billie opened the back door and threw her duffel in before she clambered in the front passenger side. The driver was a young guy, probably in his early twenties, with a black suit and black sunglasses. She chuckled quietly as they pulled off. It had been a lifetime since she had donned the suit and walked the walk and she didn’t plan to revert to that anytime soon.
Chapter Three
The SUV pulled through the gates of the main base that Hickok worked out of. The place was a normal-looking base with uniform gray buildings and people in uniform who wandered around. Her section of the base, however, was in a restricted area beneath one of the admin buildings. They had their own floor deep underground. It was definitely something out of a movie, but she had been in and out of there for so many years it no longer fazed her.
This was also where Marcus was stationed. He essentially had the entire section of the R&D area to himself. In his fortress, he tinkered with new inventions, perfected the old, and updated everything he could lay his hands on. This was the area everyone loved to come to but no one was allowed to touch anything. Marcus was obsessively strict with this rule. This was his area, and he wouldn’t allow anyone to screw it up or blow it up by messing with weapons as if they were toys.
Billie stepped into the elevator and shut the doors. She pressed her hand against a scanner on the wall and a box opened, and she looked directly into the screen as it scanned her eyes. “Name.”
“Wild Bill Hickok,” she replied.
The elevator began to move downward and took her into the bowels of the building. When the doors slid open, Marcus stood there, leaning against the wall, and reached for her duffel.
Billie handed it to him as she rolled her eyes. “Good to see you are safe too. I’m glad that everything went okay.”
He walked to his table and pulled out the gear. “Yeah, you’re alive so I know it went fine. You would die before you allowed yourself to fail on a mission.”
She looked at a table of weapons to the right. “You may be correct.”
Marcus released a deep breath and looked at her main suit and helmet which hung on the right. “So…your suit looks good.”
Billie glanced at it and then back at the table. “Yeah, I knew you would want me to be safe with it since I was off the clock.”
He continued to stare at her. “Right, probably a good idea.”
There was silence for several moments and finally, Marcus exploded. “I can’t believe you are going to sit there and not even attempt to tell me that someone else worked on your suit. I am not the boss. I am your handler, your tech, the guy you have had in your ear for years now.”
Billie’s shoulders hunched. “Fine. I’m sorry. It got really banged up twice and I needed it back asap. I knew I couldn’t bring it here without raising suspicions.”
Marcus shook his head. “I know, because I can tell that it wasn’t rebuilt by me and the results are better than I could have done. Whoever helped you with it is a better armorer than I am. That’s for damn sure.”
She didn’t quite know how to respond to that so she let the subject lie. He wasn’t livid like she thought he would be or if he was, he certainly didn’t show it. Besides, the less he knew the better. She wanted him to have as little to do with it as possible in case things went bad. Happy to have avoided a confrontation, she walked through the lab and took a seat at one of the empty desks.
He used his screwdriver to finish whatever he had fixed on the suit. Billie tapped her hand on the desk in an awkward silence—something entirely new to them. “Do you ever wonder who we work for? You know, is our team the good guys or the bad ones?”
Marcus glanced at her but didn’t say anything. He replaced the screwdriver in his tool case and slid it into the workspace compartment where he kept it. Still silent, he placed her helmet in her duffel and lifted the suit off the rack, folded it as best he could, and placed it carefully inside the bag with the helmet.
With a heavy sigh, he turned and put his hands on his hips as he regarded her speculatively. “Okay, I’ll go on that date with you. You never know, maybe yo
u can get lucky.”
Billie blinked and frowned in confusion. She was about to open her mouth to voice it when his eyes widened, and he nodded toward the door. Finally realizing what he meant, she chuckled. It wasn’t the right place or time to have this conversation. They never knew exactly who might be listening and had already said enough to land them both in hot water. It was against the rules to have anyone else work on your armor and that would definitely raise red flags considering she hadn’t been assigned to a mission while she had been gone.
She took a deep breath and cleared her throat. “I’ll be sure to wear nothing underneath.”
Marcus paused and blinked at her before he moved to one of his other projects and shook his head with a smirk. Billie smiled and looked at her hands as thoughts of JB and Holly rushed to her mind. She had to get back there but she couldn’t simply sprint out the next day. Her departure had to be kept inconspicuous. She hated that she couldn’t simply do what she wanted, but that was part of the job. Being a ghost was the most important part of the work she had signed up for. She couldn’t have witnesses—or friends—and couldn’t do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted to. That was the deal. But it didn’t mean she would let JB die.
The man wandered past her and a small piece of paper fluttered to the desk in front of her. It read, The Lecture Room and Library, 8 pm sharp.
Trigger approached Holly, who stood with the other members of the team, talking and having her very important second cup of coffee for the day. He handed her a long wooden stick without a word. She raised an eyebrow and took it. “Am I beating them into submission now?”
Trigger smiled. “Only Aki.”
The man mentioned smirked and made a bow. “Whatever helps the team.”
Everyone chuckled and Trigger shook his head. “No, that will be your pretend weapon for the day. I tried to get paint balls, but they didn’t have any in town. We will all take a turn as a different type of Zoo animal. For each one, the stick will represent a different type of weapon. We want to see how quick your reflexes are.”
Holly grinned and hefted the stick. “Strange, but I like it. I’ll try not to hit anyone too hard.”
Alvin showed his teeth. “Don’t be scared. It’s really us underneath.”
She chuckled as she took the last gulp of her coffee and put the cup on the table. They all stood in a large open area meant for hand-to-hand combat practice. Alvin stepped forward first and stalked in with his shoulders slightly hunched and his arms out to the sides. He roared loudly but awkwardly.
Holly twisted her face in query. “Are you some sort of morphed penguin?”
Everyone laughed and he rolled his eyes. “No. I am a two-headed bear.”
Holly nodded. “I heard about those. Okay. I’m on it. Got my M-16 and I’m going in.”
The two danced in a circle. Every time she lifted her gun, he would dart to the right. She rolled her eyes with a sigh and strode up to him to lob him hard in the shoulder. He stopped, stunned. “You can’t hit me with the M-16.”
She pointed at his chest and yelled, “Bang! It worked, didn’t it?”
Alvin narrowed his eyes. “It wouldn’t work on a real duo. The thing would have swiped your heart right out of your chest.”
Holly nodded. “And he wouldn’t look like a bodybuilder experimenting with acid for the first time.”
Misha laughed. “I thought he looked like King Kong.”
Aki nodded. “Not a good representation.”
Alvin narrowed his eyes and waved. “Okay, Aki, your turn. Let’s see you do better.”
The Japanese smiled and trotted into the circle, pulled out a second stick, and tossed it to her. “You will fight a large mantis with two swords.”
She nodded. He took a deep breath, lifted one foot onto to his other calf, and pressed his hands together. He took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly out before he lifted his arms high with his hands bent at the wrists. Her opponent moved swiftly and without sound, but she followed him closely with her eyes. As he swiped his “mandible” for the first time, she blocked it with her sword. They went back and forth, and Holly managed a few good shots before Aki brought her down.
He looked at her and punched his fist into the ground beside her head. “Now I pick your brains out while you are still alive and eat you.”
Holly gritted her teeth and shoved him off, stood, and tossed the sticks to the ground. “I am fighting with sticks. Had even one of those shots hit him, he would have lost the advantage. Or I could simply grab the M-16 and blow its head off.”
Alvin scoffed. “If you had that kind of aim which you do not.”
Trigger stepped forward with his arms folded. “This was all fun and games until every last one of you realized that Holly here would have been Zoo meat and fast.”
She sighed. “Look, I know you mean well but I can handle this. Shit, if I can’t get the weapons down, I’ll roll through the fucking jungle and mace the bastards in the face.”
The guys all chuckled. Holly gritted her teeth. “What? Have you seen that done before? Who knows, maybe it’s their kryptonite.”
Alvin looked at Adisa and shrugged. “Ain’t none of us ever seen that used in there before. Who knows what would happen?”
Trigger drew his pistol and aimed it slightly to the side of her but close enough to make a point. “It may very well work. It may destroy the whole damn jungle, but me, I won’t take the chance. I’d prefer to shoot a wall of lead against the creatures and make sure they are down and don’t get the fuck back up.”
Billie walked into the lobby of the restaurant. Her hair was down around her shoulders and she had actually used makeup. She stepped carefully through the doorway, grateful for her flats because she knew she would break her neck if she tried to wear heels. Her dress was long and reached the floor with a low-cut bodice. The deep blue fabric sparkled as she moved—not quite her usual style, she thought with amusement—and she wore a simple silver chain around her neck with a blue teardrop diamond. The gem was one of the few things she had ever splurged on in her life.
Marcus stood and pulled at his tie when his eyes met hers. “Wow. I didn’t even realize it was you who walked in. Besides that op in Paris when you had to go to the black-tie affair, I don’t think I’ve seen you out of your Wild Bill gear.”
She shrugged and eased the fur wrap off her shoulders. “If you forgot, I am a girl beneath it all.”
He chuckled. “I remember the pole dance, trust me.”
Her companion approached the hostess and whispered in her ear. She nodded and turned. “Right this way, Mr. Richards.”
Billie raised an eyebrow. “So, this is what the other side does while I am out in the thick of it. You pick up other personas and live in the lap of luxury while you eat in Michelin Star restaurants and own tuxedos.”
They sat in a small private room. It was vibrantly painted with abstract shapes and colors on the floor and deep orange furniture. The hostess walked away quickly, and Marcus pulled out Billie’s chair. She smirked and sat, making sure not to catch the edge of her dress on the table. He took his own seat and held his hand up when Billie went to say something.
She shut up and pouted at him instead. He chuckled and retrieved a small black box from his jacket. It had no markings on it at all except for a small, blinking red light on the top. He typed something into his phone and waited a moment until the light flashed green.
Marcus smiled and slid his phone into the breast pocket of his jacket. “There. No one can listen in now.”
Billie raised an eyebrow. Marcus cleared his throat and looked at the menu. “Probably, that is.”
She chuckled. “I’ll take probably. No one should suspect anything since we have never gone out before. Anyway, given that, who would have expected you to ask me?”
They perused the menu in silence until the waitress arrived. She looked smart with her hair pulled back tightly in a bun, a perfectly pressed black button-up, and black pants. Looking every inch
the professional, she stood with her hands behind her back and smiled at them. “Have you made a selection or would you prefer a taster choice this evening?”
Billie closed her menu. “We will both have the tasting selection. Thank you.”
She took the menus from them and smiled at Marcus. “Will you have your normal champagne or is this a wine kind of night?”
Her cheeks flushed as she spoke to him and all Billie could do was smirk. Marcus nodded kindly. “Let’s go with the wine. The usual.”
She smiled. “Very good, sir.”
The waitress left the room and Billie leaned forward to slap his hand. “You know, I thought it was only me, but you really are blind to women hitting on you, aren’t you?”
Marcus looked up, confused, and then at the waitress who walked into the back. He shook his head and fixed his gaze on his silverware. “She’s nice, that’s all. It’s her job, and she gets a bigger tip.”
“Oh, she definitely wants the tip.”
He kept a straight face and stared at her. “I referred to money, actually.”
She shrugged and draped her napkin over her lap. “I’m simply saying that I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if you spent some of your money on her.”
Billie glanced at the waitress who prepared the wine with the sommelier. “Personally, I’d suggest you ask her. I think she wants a piece of that juicy Marcus so much, you could negotiate a better deal.”
Marcus smiled, put his napkin down, and looked in her eyes. “Your jealousy is showing.”