by Mike Ryan
“Stop right there.” Werther had one hand on the door, as she hadn’t quite closed it yet, and the other hand on a bag. “Put your hands up, then lay down on the ground. Face first.”
“You followed me here, didn’t you?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“And I thought I was being so careful. I was so sure I wasn’t followed.”
“Guess you were wrong,” Bridge said. “Now, on the ground. Who else is in there?”
Werther acted like she was going to comply with his wishes and tossed her bag down on the ground. As she did, though, she took her hand off the door and put it on her side, where she removed a pistol and fired at Bridge. Bridge leaned to his right just as she got a shot off, hitting him in the vest and knocking him to the ground. She then retreated back inside. Though he was hit, the vest caught the bullet, and Bridge rolled around for a moment. It stung a little, but he would be OK.
Nicole heard the gunfire from the back of the house. “Luke, you OK back there?” Bridge just groaned into the mic. Nicole was getting worried. “Luke?”
Bridge took a couple breaths. His voice didn’t sound the same. “I’m OK. Took one to the vest, but it didn’t go through.”
“You’re sure you’re OK?”
“Yeah. Just knocked the wind out of me, that’s all.”
“If we have to let them go, then we’ll let them go.”
“No. I’m good. How you making out?”
“I’m still busy.”
“You were right,” Bridge said, getting to his knees and then finding a nearby bush, not that it was great cover. “They’re getting ready to leave.”
“I don’t know if we can hold them off, especially split up like we are.”
Bridge looked at the door, thinking about making a run for it. Suddenly, all the gunfire had stopped.
“Luke, I don’t like how quiet it suddenly got.”
“Me neither. I get the feeling they’re planning something.”
“They might all bolt out the same door and take their chances.”
“Could be.”
“We still got a while before Eric gets here.”
Bridge made a run for the back of the house, standing by the corner of it, out of sight if they came buzzing out the back door. Then, the door opened up, with Werther and Kenny slowly coming out, their guns raised and ready to shoot, looking for Bridge. As soon as they had their backs fully turned to Bridge, he appeared.
“Put ‘em down,” Bridge said. Kenny made a swift motion to turn around and start firing, but Bridge quickly put a stop to that. “Ah ah, I wouldn’t do it. You’ll never make it.”
The two of them dropped their guns. Kenny turned around slowly, with Werther also doing the same. As Kenny looked at his adversary, there was something familiar about him.
“I know you from somewhere.”
“We crossed paths once or twice before,” Bridge said.
Kenny squinted his eyes as he tried to remember the face. Then he got it. “You were with the agency.”
“I think it was the Ukraine when we last saw each other.”
Kenny nodded. “Yeah. That was it. You got out soon after that as I recall.”
“Yeah. Now I freelance. Work for myself.”
“It was a good move.”
It was almost like the two of them forgot the situation. They were talking like old friends that hadn’t seen each other in a while. Like they didn’t even realize there were guns being pointed, or that they had just been shooting at each other.
“Were you the mole? Is that why Gary Abbott died?”
“You shouldn’t have gotten involved in this,” Kenny answered. “Doesn’t concern you.”
“You the one who shot at me outside Bevell’s place?”
A slight grin came over Kenny’s face. “I wasn’t trying to kill you. I just wanted to give you a warning to back off.”
“It didn’t work.”
“Clearly.”
“What are you doing here?”
Kenny shrugged. “House-sitting.”
Bridge smiled, then heard something alarming. It was a high-pitched kind of voice, coming from the house. He’d heard it before. It was that unmistakable voice he could never assume was anyone other than Chris Abbott. The sounds were faint, but he eventually made them out.
“Mr. Bridge!” The next one was still faint, but Bridge could hear it fine. “Luke!”
“Where is he?” Bridge asked.
Kenny shrugged. “Search me.”
Bridge pointed to the house with his gun. “Show me. One false move and I’ll shoot either one of you, clear?”
“Got it.”
“Move.”
Kenny and Werther slowly walked into the house, with Bridge right behind them. As soon as they walked into a room, Bridge stopped them.
“Where’s Abbott and where’s the other guy?”
“I’m right here,” the other guy said, jumping out from the shadows and leveling Bridge with a right hand to the cheekbone.
Bridge stumbled back as Kenny jumped on top of him. They started wrestling on the ground, each trying to get the upper hand. Nicole then broke through the front door, figuring something was going on since there was no gunfire. She ran into the room and immediately saw what was going on. She ran right into Werther, who was standing flatfooted, and not expecting what was coming. Nicole rammed her shoulder right into Werther’s midsection, the force of the blow putting them both onto the floor, though Nicole wound up on top.
As Nicole straddled her opponent, she started throwing right and left hands alternatively, until the third man of the group rescued his partner. He grabbed Nicole by the arms and pulled her off. Nicole held her own against the man, surprising him with a few kicks. Werther got up and kicked at the back of Nicole’s legs, bringing her to her knees. The man gave Nicole a back kick of his own, landing square on her jaw and knocking her over.
At this point, Bridge was getting the upper hand on Kenny. They were having a knockdown, drag out fight, with both getting in a ton of shots that would have put down a lesser man. By now, Bridge had Kenny on the ground and was delivering blow after blow. Kenny was just about out. Bridge’s actions were interrupted, though, by the sound of Nicole’s voice. It was a mix of a groan and a scream. But it was clear enough that she was in trouble. Bridge looked over at Nicole, seeing her get hoisted over the other man’s head. Like he was a wrestler delivering a press slam, the man threw Nicole down. She landed hard on top of a coffee table, which stood up from the thump at first, then suddenly broke apart. Nicole lay there in a considerable amount of pain.
Bridge got up and charged at the man, ramming him in the stomach with his shoulder. Their momentum was stopped when the man’s back hit the wall behind him. Bridge immediately started working the man over, and was clearly getting the upper hand, and not by a little. Seeing Nicole get thrown around like that flipped a switch inside him, making him look like an MMA fighter who was going in for the kill. There was nothing that was going to stop him from taking the man down and out. Except someone coming up behind him.
A few seconds later, Werther grabbed a weapon, which turned out to be Bridge’s gun, and hit its owner in the back of the head with all of her might. Bridge went down. With Bridge laying there, seemingly out of commission, Werther ran over to Kenny to help him get back to his feet. The man that Bridge was just battling took a few seconds to get his breath back, but then came over to them as well.
“C’mon, we’ve gotta get out of here,” Werther said.
“Let’s finish them off first,” the other man said.
“No,” Kenny replied. “She’s right. We don’t have time for that. They’ve probably got help on the way already. We can’t get stuck here and worry about anything else.”
“Our bags are outside,” Werther said.
Kenny pointed to the other man. “You get our bags from out back, then head out of here.”
“Right.”
The man left, and Kenny lo
oked at Werther. “You’re coming with me.”
“What about my car?”
“It’s compromised. Leave it.”
They started to go out the front door when Werther suddenly stopped. “Wait, what about Abbott? We need him.”
“Oh. Almost forgot about him. Get the car started. I’ll bring him out.”
Werther went to the car and waited, getting nervous about any help showing up. She kept looking at the rearview and side mirrors. She watched as the other man got in the car and took off. She then looked at the door and saw Kenny bringing Abbott out. As soon as he put their prisoner in the car, Werther thought she detected an unmarked SUV approaching.
“We gotta go! Now!”
Kenny jumped in the front seat, and Werther floored it, passing the unmarked FBI vehicle a few seconds later. She kept her eyes peeled on the mirrors for the next few minutes to make sure no one was following them. It appeared they just made it.
“Whew. That was close.”
“Too close,” Kenny said. “We got sloppy. We can’t let that happen again.”
“We won’t.”
“I hope not. Because if we get surprised by those two again… well, I would hate to have to kill them.”
12
“Luke. Luke.” Happ stood over Bridge’s lifeless body. He turned his friend over and Bridge started twitching his arms. Happ then looked over at Nicole, who was holding the back of her head, which slammed into the table on her way down.
“I think she’ll be OK,” another agent said.
By now, Bridge had started moving his head around. His eyes were fluttering. Almost simultaneously, Bridge and Nicole began sitting up at the same time, each holding the back of their heads.
“Hold it now,” Happ said. “Take it easy. Looks like you took one pretty good.” Happ helped position Bridge so his back was up against the wall. “Just relax.”
“Luke, you OK?” Nicole asked, crawling over to her boyfriend. Bridge put his arm around her.
Happ smiled and shook his head. “Now that’s true love. The couple that gets beaten up together, stays together.”
“If I felt better, you know I’d have a comment for that,” Bridge said.
“I know. I figure I should get my licks in now while you can’t think of anything.”
“Smart strategy.”
“So what happened here? Other than you two getting your asses beat.”
Bridge rolled his head around and grimaced. “They started leaving. So we had to try to keep them busy until you got here.”
“Looks like you did that. Partially. Would’ve preferred if you didn’t use yourself as human battering rams, though. Who was here? Other than Werther.”
“Kenny. And another guy. Don’t know his name.”
“Just the three of them? That all?”
“Isn’t that enough?”
“Turned out those three were plenty,” Nicole said.
“So it seems,” Happ replied. Bridge attempted to get up, but Happ used his muscle to keep his friend seated. “Just sit tight. We got paramedics on the way to check you guys out first.”
“I’m fine,” Bridge said.
“OK, well, as soon as the paramedics say that and clear you, then you can get out.”
“It’s not the first time I’ve had my bell rung.”
“Don’t I know it? Even still, you’re gonna sit and wait.”
Bridge looked over at his girlfriend. “How you feeling?”
“Now I know how you felt. Getting thrown through a table is no fun.”
“You guys can now compare injuries later,” Happ said. “War stories of getting thrown around and rag-dolled and tossed into objects and breaking them.” Bridge was going to reply, but the pain in his head prevented him from speaking. “So can you tell me what happened exactly?”
“Which part?”
“Well, I guess you can skip the part where you guys get the crap beaten out of you.” Happ faked a smile. “I already saw that part.”
“Well, like I said, we were just trying to keep them busy until you got here. They started putting bags in a car, so we figured they were about to rabbit.”
“We started to approach the house,” Nicole said. “Then they started shooting.”
“So I made my way to the back of it, and finally two of them, Kenny and Werther, came out the back. I got the jump on them. Then I heard a voice.” Bridge turned his head sharply toward Nicole. “Did you hear Chris’ voice?”
“Abbott?”
“Yeah.”
Nicole shook her head, though slowly. “No, I didn’t hear it. It was him?”
“Definitely. That’s a voice I wouldn’t mistake anywhere.”
“You’re sure it was Chris Abbott?” Happ asked.
“No question. Like I said, he’s got an unmistakable voice. I’d know it anywhere.”
“Haven’t had the pleasure of hearing it.”
“It’s a higher-pitched voice. You’d never mistake it for someone else.”
Nicole put her hand on Bridge’s arm. “Wait, if they have him…”
Happ turned to another of the agents there. “Hey, try to run down Chris Abbott. Might have a kidnapping.”
A few minutes later, the paramedics arrived, and they started working on Nicole and Bridge. After they were done, Happ asked for the damage report.
“What’s the verdict?”
The female paramedic spoke up. “They both took a good shot. It’s possible they have concussions, but I can’t be sure. They’d have to get checked out at the hospital to know for sure.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Bridge said.
“He probably has one. She might not. They both got walloped pretty good. They’re actually lucky it’s not worse. He’s got a slight cut on the back of his head, but it’s not too bad. Won’t need stitches or anything.”
Bridge opened his eyes wide. “I’m fine. I don’t have a concussion.”
“How do you know?” Happ asked.
Bridge flicked his eyes and looked at the light. “See? Light doesn’t bother me at all.” He put two fingers in front of his face. “Look, two fingers. No blurry vision, light doesn’t bother me, everything’s good.”
“You’re not gonna go, are you?”
“Nope.” Bridge slowly got back to his feet.
“Luke…”
“Eric…”
“Nicole…”
“Luke…”
Happ just looked at the two of them and shook his head. “It’s like a Three Stooges routine.”
“Well, there are three of us here,” Bridge said.
“Uh, yeah. Anyway…”
“Ain’t got time for the hospital. Abbott’s out there and who knows what they want him for. If we don’t find him soon, alive, we’ll be finding him dead.”
“Well, one thing’s for sure, they’re gonna be in the city somewhere.”
“What makes you so sure?” Nicole asked.
“Where else could they go? We’ll put alerts out on all the planes, trains, subways, buses, and boats. They’ll have to hole up somewhere again.”
“Don’t be so sure,” Bridge said.
“Why?”
“Because you’re dealing with Greg Kenny. He’s a master at disguising himself. He can blend into anything he wants to. That’s the life he’s used to. He doesn’t have to put himself out there in the open. He can become whatever he wants to be.”
“Still, we’ll have alerts out. He’s not going anywhere. Plus, he’s got the other two with him, right?”
“If I had to guess, I’d say they’re probably equally as capable of doing the same. Kenny wouldn’t associate himself with a bunch of idiots.”
As they stood there talking, Bridge started zoning out. But it wasn’t from the effects of his head getting crushed. He was already contemplating his next steps.
“You all right?” Nicole asked.
“Yeah. I was just thinking…”
“You’re not supposed to do that,” H
app quipped.
“Yeah, yeah. I have a feeling that Werther isn’t who she appears to be.”
“We kind of already know that,” Nicole said.
“No, I mean, I have a feeling that Werther is an alias. I bet she has a different name elsewhere.”
“Possible.”
“And I’m willing to bet that if we were to look at some pictures of people that Kenny’s associated with, we might find out who that other guy is too.”
“It’s gonna take me a while to come up with that.”
“I wasn’t talking about you. There’s someone else who’s already got all that on file.”
Nicole raised her eyebrows. “You’re talking about…”
“I am. Things will go a lot faster. And we don’t have time to waste here.”
As the FBI covered the scene, Bridge and Nicole gingerly got back to their feet, taking a few more minutes for the pain to lessen. They each took a few steps, while staying in the same general location, making sure they were good enough to continue.
“You all right?” Happ asked.
Bridge nodded and felt the back of his head. “Yeah. It’ll take more than that to take me out of commission.”
“You’re lucky they didn’t kill you. Both of you. They had the chance to.”
“They were probably in too much of a hurry to get out of here to wanna worry about us.”
“They had to assume we were coming soon. Lucky for you.”
“Yeah. This might be one of the few times you can get the crap kicked out of you and feel like you’re the lucky one.”
“It was my fault,” Nicole said. “Luke was winning his fight.”
“We were outnumbered. We did what we could. One on one, I’d take our chances all day long. Both of us.”
As Nicole kept talking to Happ, Bridge stepped outside, not wanting anyone else to hear his conversation. He dialed a familiar number.
“Yes?”
“This is Alpha One-Two-Seven-Six-Five.”
“OK?”
“I need to speak to Pinnacle One. Now.”
“I’m not sure that is feasible at the moment.”
“Tell him it’s urgent. I need him… now.”