"No, so I can get my flash drive back." Prescott said. 'I am going to enjoy watching them die!' He thought to himself, and smiled wider at the thought.
"He's probably at the Wolfe estate right now." Tam shrugged.
"Wait. ANTHONY Wolfe?" Prescott laughed heartily at that. "He's going to tear that boy to shreds!"
Tam suppressed a smile.
* * *
Royce pulled into the parking lot of the complex and noticed something was off immediately. The door was hanging open by a fraction of an inch.
He looked around, but didn't spot anything else out of place. He walked to the door and pushed it open slowly, stepping inside. Nothing seemed to be taken, but he noticed the scuff marks on the floor where multiple people had rushed in. They just hadn't shut the door all the way.
Royce's blood ran cold as he knew immediately what had happened. He pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket and opened it. Two missed calls, both from Tam!
He called her, and it rang a few times before it was picked up. "Ah, the Steel Cat, I presume?" Royce closed his eyes when he recognized Prescott's voice. "Are you at Mr. Wolfe's residence still?"
"No. I'm at my parents' house." Royce said, looking out the window of the apartment.
"Oh, parents, eh? Well, I suggest you make your excuses and leave, because you have something of mine that I need back. Also, I have something of yours that you will want back as well." Prescott was enjoying this.
"Fine, but it's going to be in a public place." Royce said.
"Hmmmm. No, I don't think so. You're hardly in a position to bargain. If you don't do exactly what I say, your little girlfriend is going to suffer very VERY badly before I finally allow her to die." Royce's teeth grated together as Prescott made his announcement of intent.
"I'm listening." Royce replied, out of options. He would do anything to get Tam out alive.
"Good. Very good in fact. I will need you to come down to the docks. The BioGen warehouse here, to be precise." Prescott oozed. "If you do exactly as I say, I give you my word that you will both leave here alive. Do I make myself clear?"
"Fine." Royce closed his eyes. "But if I get there and she's hurt in any way, I will kill you, all your men, then your entire fuckin' family. Do I make MYSELF clear, asshole?!" 'Make him think I'm coming in angry and stupid. I might be angry, but I'm not stupid, asshole.' He thought to himself, directing it at Prescott.
"Very clear, Mr. Cat. There is no need for threats, though. Once our business is concluded, you both will be free to leave." Royce could hear Prescott's smile through the phone, and knew the man was lying.
"Ok. I'll see you in an hour." Royce agreed, then hung up the phone.
He made sure the door was closed and locked behind him, jumped on his bike, and tore back to the Wolfe estate at top speed.
When he arrived, he ran up to the door as fast as possible. "I need to see Mr. Wolfe immediately!" Royce yelled at the goons guarding the door.
"Why?" One asked.
"Tell him I accept his job offer, and I already have a target to attack." Royce said seriously.
The goon's eyebrow went up. "Wait here." He said, then walked inside the mansion.
Royce looked around impatiently. He had 43 minutes to get a strike team together. The next man he saw was Justin Wolfe, accompanied by Cammie.
"Royce? What's going on?" Cammie asked.
Royce froze as he looked at her. 'Shit, how the hell am I going to tell her this?!' He settled for the truth. "Cammie, Tam's been kidnapped, and I know where she is. I need some help to rescue her, though." He stood stoically, giving it to her straight.
"What?! Oh my God!" Cammie's eyes went wide as her hands flew to cover her mouth.
"Where is she?" Justin asked quickly.
"The BioGen warehouse at the docks." Royce told him.
"Wait here a minute." Justin said, then sprinted inside, shouting for his father.
Royce hugged Cammie, who was starting to cry. "Don't worry, Cammie. I'm not going to let anything happen to her. I promise." He said, praying it was true.
"What the hell did you two get yourselves into?!" Cammie shot back through her sobs.
"I swear, we'll tell you everything after I get Tam back." He promised, knowing their lives were going to change forever.
Justin appeared a moment later with several of his father's soldiers, guys who were obviously former military. Each one was armed for war. "We're ready." Justin said. "You're with us, Royce."
Royce nodded. "Yes, sir. I wasn't military, but I know how to fight."
Justin nodded, then pulled a pistol from his belt and went to hand it to Royce, grip first.
Royce shook his head. "I hate guns, sir. I'll stick with my knives." He said.
"Ok. Let's go get Tam back." Justin nodded, and they piled into the van while Royce remounted his motorcycle.
"Royce!" Cammie shouted. Royce looked at her with his steel gray eyes. "Bring my sister back, or I'll kill you myself!"
Royce just nodded once. He placed his helmet over his head, kick started the powerful Ducati, and led the Wolfe strike team toward the docks.
* * *
Royce was leading the way on his Ducati, and had to slow down so the van could keep up. Just around the corner of the street from the docks, he slowed to a stop and waited for the van to catch up. When it did, he popped his visor and looked at Justin in the driver's seat.
"When I go in, give me five minutes, then come in guns blazing." He said.
"We have suppressed weapons, man. We can take down the sentries without raising the alarm." Justin nodded.
Royce smiled beneath his helmet. "Good. I'm not usually one for killing, but these guys deserve it."
"Amen, brother." Justin nodded his agreement and smiled. "Tam is family, and we're going to get her back."
Royce just nodded back, lowered his visor, and accelerated toward the dock. When he parked, he removed his helmet and walked into the loading area by the BioGen warehouse.
Two guards saw him and said something into their earbuds before starting toward him, automatic weapons at the ready.
"You must be Royce. The CEO would like a word with you." Green said. "I saw you at the apartment earlier."
"Yeah, the asshole questioning Tam." Royce smiled at him. "If you've hurt her in any way, there is no force in Heaven or Earth that will save you."
"Heh. I'm shaking in my boots, kid." Green laughed.
'You should be, asshole. If you only knew.' Royce smiled grimly to himself as he led the way where they pointed, the goons behind him. Once inside, he was prodded toward a staircase that led up to a concrete balcony with a chair and Mr. Prescott. As they ascended the stairs, Royce noticed that Tam was the one in the chair with a blindfold on her.
"Ah, Mr. Royce. I'm afraid I'm going to have to cancel the tour of our facilities on Monday. I hope you understand." Prescott said with a conciliatory smile.
"Of course, Mr. Prescott. I hope you'll understand that if you don't release Tam right now, I'm going to kill you very quickly." Royce gave him the same conciliatory smile.
"Mr. Royce, you really aren't in any position to be making demands." Prescott chuckled. "Now. Give me my flash drive, and we can all be on our way."
"Actually, I'm in the perfect position to make demands, Mr. Prescott. Release Tam now. She gets outside and away from here, and gets to live the rest of her life free of your interference, and you can do whatever you want to me. Refuse, and you never see that flash drive again, except at your federal trial. I've made arrangements for that drive to be delivered to the FBI in exactly..." He checked his watch... "half an hour from right now."
Prescott got a look of slight uncertainty on his face for a moment. It passed quickly, but Royce noted it. "Mr. Prescott. Your men can search me, but I don't have the flash drive on me. It's my insurance policy."
"Where is it?" Prescott demanded, all pretense of civility gone. "Tell me now!"
"It's in a very safe place, Mr. Prescott." R
oyce said with a smile. He glanced at Tam, but she kept silent as she let Royce handle it. "A place guarded by wolves, if you must know."
Prescott's face paled, and Tam couldn't restrain her laughter. "You bit off more than you can chew, Prescott."
"Now, you have one last chance. We walk out there, and you don't die. We don't walk out in another..." He checked his watch again... "Minute and a half, you don't leave here except in a body bag."
"Oh, yeah? And what happens in a minute and a half?" Prescott was calling his bluff.
"Well..." Royce checked his watch again... "In just over a minute, a Wolfe strike team comes in and rips you and your goons to shreds. Then the evidence goes directly to the FBI. Whether you're dead or alive, your company falls."
"You're bluffing!" Prescott snarled at him.
"I don't need to bluff when I'm holding the winning hand." Royce replied evenly.
The first rounds took out four security goons on the first floor. The suppressed weapons made short work of the guards, and didn't even make much noise. The masked men moved into the open area, scanning each section of warehouse to make sure all enemies were down. Justin pointed at two of his men, then gestured at the stairs to follow him up. He and his men started silently up the steps, pointing their SMGs up and to the left where the space would open up once they cleared the platform.
Royce smiled as he heard the bodies hit the floor downstairs. "You had your chance, Mr. Prescott."
"Green!" Prescott shouted, and Green aimed his pistol at Tam's head. She felt it against her temple, then all of a sudden it wasn't there anymore, and she heard it clatter to the floor.
Royce saw the weapon pressed to Tam's head, and reacted out of instinct. He threw two shuriken in quick succession, the throwing blades hitting Green in his wrist and neck successively. The gun fell from his nerveless fingers and he raised the hand to his neck to try and staunch the flow of blood from his punctured jugular.
Royce turned with his last throwing knife as Prescott tried to draw a pistol from his shoulder holster. Royce's last shuriken hit him in the hand going for the gun, severing nerves and tendons.
Prescott shouted in pain, and looked over at Green, who was now reaching for his gun with his good hand.
Royce saw it too, and drew the dagger from under the back of his belt, racing forward just as Green raised the weapon and fired.
To Royce, it felt as if a burning fist had punched him in the shoulder, and he spun as he fell heavily. He cried out involuntarily at the searing pain radiating from his wound, and he dropped the dagger from his right hand as his left hand came over to press against the hole in his upper right chest/shoulder area. He turned and looked up at the man with a look of defiance on his face.
Green took careful aim, but never had the chance to finish him off, as two bullet holes appeared in his chest. Green looked down in surprise, then his eyes glazed over as he fell backwards, his heart punctured by the two precision rounds fired from Justin's MP5.
"On the ground, Prescott!" Justin ordered, and Prescott knelt as ordered, his hands behind his head.
Royce rose to his feet and walked slowly to where Tam was. He freed her, removing her blindfold as two more men came up the steps to help them.
"Dammit, Royce! Now Cammie won't let me hear the end of this." Justin said with a smirk under his mask and a shake of his head.
"Hey, my Man took a bullet for me. That says a lot right there." Tam interjected as one of Justin's team came forward and set to bandaging the through and through wound on both sides. The 9mm slug had gone straight through with very little internal damage.
"I got sloppy, Sweetheart." Royce grimaced as the medic cleaned and dressed the wounds. "I'm sorry that I wasn't there to protect you before."
"Hey, better late than never, Baby." Tam smiled and kissed him. Once the medic pronounced him able to move, his hands went to her face and he kissed her like a man possessed.
"I'll never let that happen again, Baby Girl." He promised. "I love you."
"I love you too, Royce." Tam replied in a whisper, then kissed him again until they were interrupted by Justin clearing his throat.
"Listen up, kids. We need to move out. The cops will probably be investigating this. I've got your blades here, Royce." Justin smiled and handed him the throwing blades and dagger.
"Thanks, man." Royce replied with a smile as he took his weapons and replaced them in their sheaths. He winced as his shoulder moved, but was otherwise ok after a numbing shot and some aspirin.
"No problem. Now, let's go. Pete will ride your bike back for you, but you two are in the van with us." Justin laid down the plan, and they moved out quickly before the cops could get there. Royce handed Pete the keys to the Ducati, and promised that if Pete wrecked it, he would break the man's neck.
Pete smiled. "Don't worry about it, son. I've got one of these bad boys, myself."
Royce was reassured, and they all piled into the van for the ride back to the Wolfe estate.
* * *
Detective Natalie Raines wasn't happy as she looked at the carnage in the warehouse. She shook her head and saw the precision used on the dead bodies. The only one still alive was Mr. Liam Prescott, and a flash drive had been taped to his lapel. If she hadn't known better, she would swear that the Steel Cat was behind this. Except the Cat didn't kill or use guns.
As soon as the EMTs cleared him, she hauled in Prescott for questioning, and was sitting across from him as he spun his tale. He admitted to kidnapping Tamara Jenkins in order to lure the Steel Cat out of hiding. He said that the information on the flash drive had been altered to make BioGen appear guilty. He said that Royce was the Steel Cat, and Tam was his accomplice.
"Mr. Prescott, do you actually expect me to believe all that? It doesn't sound very plausible, you know." Natalie was smirking at him. "No, what I think happened was that you were having some kind of meeting, but things went sideways for you, and your men ended up dead. Who did you piss off?"
"The Wolfes! They were behind it!" Prescott was desperate now to have her believe him. "They were backing up the Steel Cat!"
"So, you think this Royce person is the Steel Cat? Why would you think that?" She asked with an arched eyebrow. She didn't want him to know she'd met Royce twice already.
"It all fits! The Jenkins girl's car was parked in an alley beside BioGen when we were broken into!" He shouted.
"Oh? And you didn't report the physical break in to the police? Just the cyber attack?" Natalie had him. No matter what he tried now, no matter what excuse he gave, he was going to prison. "Why was that, Mr. Prescott?"
"That doesn't matter! That Royce person and Ms. Jenkins stole some sensitive information from our servers, then altered it to make it look like we were guilty!" Prescott shouted, clearly agitated.
"Well, Mr. Prescott. Our Cybercrimes division has just gone through the flash drive, and those files haven't been altered in over a year. They were sitting on your server in their current form before the break in." Natalie smiled sweetly at the sweating CEO. "As soon as they get here, you are going to be turned over to the FBI. That makes you not my problem in about an hour or so."
Prescott realized then that he was not getting out of this one. That flash drive had the most damning evidence of all, and would probably spark a new class action lawsuit. He would need to run when he made bail, but that wasn't going to be an option either. His corporate accounts had been seized and his running money that he'd had in the safe was gone, stolen by the Steel Cat already. He also regretted destroying the evidence of Tam's car being parked in that alleyway.
He wondered what else could go wrong.
* * *
Royce grimaced in pain as Mr. Wolfe's personal physician stitched the second wound in his shoulder as he sat on the exam/operating table. He had opted for a local anesthetic instead of being put under. The bullet had gone clean through, for which he was grateful. His shoulder would be sore for a few weeks, but he could deal with that. Tam stood by the table,
holding his hand and looking at him with grateful tears in her eyes.
"Don't worry, Baby. Doctor Martinez is one of the best around." She reassured him.
"That he is, son." Anthony Wolfe nodded his agreement. "So, Justinian tells me that you are accepting my job offer?"
"And you got some explaining to do, Royce!" Cammie interjected. "You too, sis!" She glared at Tam.
"All done." Doctor Martinez said as he snipped the last stitch on Royce's back, then bandaged both entry and exit wounds. "Take it easy, then come back in two weeks and I'll remove the stitches. You got lucky, kid."
"Thanks, Doc." Royce said, and shook the man's hand after he'd removed the latex gloves.
"Just be more careful and try to avoid getting shot!" Doc Martinez said with raised eyebrows. He'd treated more than his share of gunshot wounds already, working as Wolfe's physician, which meant he also treated all of Wolfe's employees. He was just glad he made more here than as a plastic surgeon.
"I will, sir." Royce promised, then turned to Mr. Wolfe. "Ok." Royce sighed. "Mr. Wolfe, I wanted to thank you first. So thank you for everything. Whether you still want me for that job should wait until after I confess some stuff."
Tam winced. She knew that he was about to spill everything, but he squeezed her hand reassuringly. He pulled her close and whispered in her ear. "If you don't want to tell them who you are, that's fine. I am only going to confess about what I've done."
"Ok, Baby. I think it's time I confessed too, but I'll let you go first." She whispered back.
Royce smiled, kissed her sweetly, then pulled back and looked at the assembled friends and family. He cleared his throat.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am the Steel Cat, as the News people call me." He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then proceeded to give detailed information about his break ins of the two city councilmen and finally of BioGen. He left out his theft from Senator Keen, and also left out the fact that Tam had hacked the security at BioGen.
"So that's my story." He shrugged his good shoulder as he wrapped it up.
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