“Safehouse, my ass!” she shouted mentally.
It had only taken a short while for the former Black Dog operatives to track them down.
Kim knew the dark, weird woman by sight, but not name.
She was the one who had led the attack on the Sands, in Singapore.
The woman was lethal, and when she looked at R.B., Kim’s heart almost exploded in her chest.
“Leave him alone, you bitch!” she shrieked.
Kim started to attack the woman but suddenly found herself gasping for breath.
So fast that she literally did not see it coming, the woman had kicked her in the side, knocking her to the ground.
Trying to catch her breath, her hands instinctively went to cover her womb.
“You cunt! I’ll kick your ass!” Brian shouted as he tried to tackle her.
She spun and caught him across the side of the head, and Brian collapsed in a heap, unconscious.
“Ophelia, you really should be more careful!” said Bruce.
“Don’t call me that, you fool!” she hissed at him.
“What difference does it make? They will be gone, soon enough!” said the man, frowning, as he toed Brian with the tip of his shoe.
“Did you kill this one, already?” he asked.
Kim’s heart sank!
Terror seized her by the throat!
Did she kill Brian?
They were going to kill her and R.B. next!
“Please, God! Help me! Save my babies!” she prayed.
Then, she heard a wolf, howling in the distance.
At first, she thought she’d imagined it.
But, the others looked around, as if they had heard it as well.
“What the fuck was that?” asked Bart.
“Coyote,” said Ophelia.
“In the middle of a suburb?” he said.
“They get around,” she shrugged.
But, Kim’s heart soared!
Inwardly, she now held on to some small sliver of hope.
—————
David Spalding opened his briefcase and took out his suppressed Glock.
It was 9mm, and select fire.
He’d always wanted a Glock 18, ever since seeing the movie with Jason Statham where the one girl had two of them.
He put on a tac vest and put the magazine pouches on his belt.
Slinging the shoulder holster over his head, he secured it to the belt, next to his knife.
He’d always favored a Bali-song knife, loving the elegant feel of the butterfly handles.
It was something he’d picked up on one of his tours before his legs had been blown off by an IED.
He reached down to the artificial legs and made sure the other two Bali-songs were secure as well.
Can’t ever be too careful, he said to himself.
—————
As he approached the blind side of the safe house, Spalding tried to be nonchalant, and to will himself to be calm.
He knew that, when hunting people, it was important to not look directly at them.
The target somehow could sense when they were being watched, so military doctrine taught soldiers to focus on a point beyond the target while keeping them in peripheral vision.
He sauntered by the house, looking a bit lost and confused, and then walked away from the window.
He saw no one on his first pass.
Waiting two minutes, he walked by again, and when he still saw no one, he went up to the brick wall.
Hugging it tightly, he went to the rear door, which opened into a basement.
Spalding carefully removed his Glock and checked the suppressor was tight.
He’d get maybe two shots if he were lucky.
—————
“Did you hear that?” said Bruce.
Another wolf howl had come along.
“Just the wind, dude, calm the fuck down,” said Ophelia.
“What are we waiting for?” Bart asked.
Brian groaned.
Kim walked over to where he was on the ground.
“Get away from him, bitch,” said Bruce.
“Fuck you!” Kim spat back.
“Oh, you will, cunt,” said Bart, “only you’ll be dead and probably won’t enjoy me sticking my cock in your dead ass as much as I will!”
Kim gave him the finger.
“Yeah, and then, just before I blow my load, I’m going to cut off your head and jam my dick into your throat!” he laughed.
“Hey, Bart!” said Bruce.
“Don’t worry, big guy, we’ll share,” said Bart.
“Just like always…” he said.
“Shut up you two dickwads,” said Ophelia.
“I heard something,” she said.
“Probably my dick getting hard, thinking about fucking Miss Priss in her dead ass,” laughed Bart.
Bruce was laughing, and then suddenly a red hole appeared in his forehead.
His eyes showed white, and he flopped to the floor, covering Brian.
“What the fuck!” said Bart.
There was a small pop, and Bart fell down.
Grabbing R.B, Ophelia ran to the bay window.
“Come out, now, or I’ll blast this brat!” she yelled.
Kim, standing four feet from Ophelia, lost it.
“Give me my baby, you fucking cunt!” she screamed.
“Kim, no!” shouted Brian, and he rolled out from under Bruce, and slammed into Ophelia’s legs.
Ophelia’s gun went off, and Brian grunted.
Kim grabbed R.B., who was crying and flailing around, and he knocked her off balance.
She hit the ground with a thud and saw stars.
Looking at Brian, she saw him gritting his teeth and holding his knee.
Blood poured out from behind his clenched hands.
“So, we meet again, eh, Sylvia?” said Captain David Spalding.
“Or, is it Adelaide? Or Myong? Who are you today, bitch?” he said, his white teeth shining brightly from his dark face.
“It’s too bad my bomb didn’t kill you, but then again, I am happy to know that you have had to live in pain and shame, asshole!” said Ophelia, sweetly.
Kim shook her head to clear it and grabbed R.B. and then crawled next to Brian.
He was in a lot of pain.
She tried to rest his head in her lap, and hug R.B. at the same time, so he wouldn’t run off.
“So, you piece of shit, are you just going to shoot me? Or try to shoot me, I should say,” said Ophelia.
“You know, bitch, I think that would deprive me of some pleasure, don’t you?” he said.
Ophelia looked at him.
“Good. Blades are much more intimate, don’t you think?” she said, putting her gun back into its small of the back holster.
As she pushed her pistol into her leather, she yanked out a push-dagger.
Slicing the air, she feinted at Spalding.
He put the Glock 18 down on the counter, and with a fluid motion, unsheathed his Bali-song from its belt holster.
He flipped off the safety catch, and expertly swung the knife in an intricate pattern, faster than Kim’s eye could follow.
The whickering blades flashed and spun, and Ophelia concentrated on Spalding’s hands, observing the pattern.
Then, she leaped at him, whirling as she passed his left side.
“Nice one, cunt,” he said.
“A bit too low, though,” Spalding said, indicating a slashed groove on the metal of his left leg.
“You might get that looked at,” he said, pointing his Bali-song at her left cheek.
A small trail of blood ran down her neck, from a slice high up near her eye on the left side of her face.
“You fucking asshole!” she yelled.
Spalding backed away from her attack, as she slashed and dove at him, stabbing and parrying his ripostes.
Ophelia hit Spalding with a roundhouse kick and stabbed down towards his face as he swung low.
&nb
sp; He kicked up, her push dagger embedding itself in between the Kevlar tendons of his right leg, and it snapped them in two.
He rolled, trying to dislodge the dagger from her clenched fist, and managed to drag it across her right cheek.
Now, she wore matching scars, the blood dripping down her neck, and making her infuriated.
“No one stabs me, with my own knife!” she screamed.
Spalding caught her with a punch to the solar plexus, knocking the air out of her.
As she fell backward, away from him, her push dagger fell near R.B.
Kim, terrified, grabbed it, trying not to cut herself.
Ophelia, enraged, began to attack Spalding relentlessly, kicking and striking out with her elbows and hands.
She managed to connect and knocked him over a coffee table, and he landed heavily.
Taking advantage of his position, she jumped on him and tore at his damaged prosthetic leg.
Wrenching at it with all her strength, she tore it off its support.
Then, she tried beating Spalding to death with it.
As she wailed on him, Spalding knew he had made a fatal error.
His only hope was one of the other Bali-songs.
He reached down to get the one on his good leg when Ophelia spied the one on the leg she had.
Screaming with victory, she pulled the knife out of its sheath, and, with a smooth, skillful motion, unlocked the clasp.
Whirring it around expertly, she plunged it straight towards Spalding’s wide eye.
The knife missed him by a hairs’ breadth, slamming into the floor next to him and slipping away from his head.
Ophelia straddled him, a puzzled look on her face.
She looked down at Spalding as if to be about to speak to him.
Blood oozed from her mouth, bubbling redly as her eyes looked far off, at something only she could see.
Ophelia collapsed, her eyes rolling to show the white’s, and collapsed next to him.
The push dagger was deep in her skull, just above her shoulders, buried to the hilt in her brain.
Kim stood above them both, shaking with the adrenaline coursing through her.
“We’ve got to get Brian to a hospital,” she said.
Then, Kim fainted.
—————
CHAPTER TWENTY
We are inbound to “Ocaba Bien”.
Brett and Kady had gone with Sarah, to confront Jonathon Reighland.
Moms spoke with Sarah only hours before and heard the fierce resolve in her voice, the iron-willed intent.
Sarah was out for revenge, for all the harm Reighland had dealt her family.
She was going there to finish it, one way or another.
And God help anyone who stood in her path to righteous vengeance.
Reighland had taken her man.
Her love.
Her life.
And, now, he was going to pay, dearly.
I only hoped we could get there before the Mandarin agents killed our friends in retaliation.
—————
We manage to find our way to “Ocaba Bien”, the helicopter’s blades kicking up the beach sand.
Leaping from the chopper, we all run to the dock.
Reighland is there, and has a pistol aimed at Kady, holding Sarah and Brett at bay.
I see him hit Kady and knock her to the ground, shooting at Sarah and Brett, daring them to try to take Kady from him.
Sarah starts toward him, but Brett grabs her by the arm, yanking her away and in our direction.
We all run towards them, Om and Moms and my stepbrothers pounding their way across the sand towards the wooden dock.
Reighland has a boat moored there, a speedboat.
It looks like a Riva.
He’s shooting at us, and also at Sarah and Brett.
“Barbara!” yells Sarah.
“Sarah! Hurry up and run to us!” Moms yells back.
We meet on the dunes, and the men form a circle around us, doffing their clothes.
As he kicks off his Docksiders, Karl points out over the ocean.
There are at least ten Mandarin helicopter gunships inbound!
“Move!” shouts Stephan.
He, Karl and Bone clasp hands, arms locked around each other.
I yank off my top and shorts, kicking my shoes one at a time to the sand.
“Mom! Get in the middle of us,” Stephan commands.
Barbara disrobes, stepping into the center of the circle, Bone and Karl making a hole for her to enter.
Sarah follows her but hasn’t taken off her clothes.
I duck beneath the men’s arms and stand next to Moms, naked.
—————
Om is the last one out of our chopper.
As he exits, the pilot throttles up and is just clearing the beach, when a volley of machine gun fire from the lead gunship hits his tail rotor.
Spinning violently, our chopper veers out over the ocean.
The pilot fights for control, but it crashes just offshore.
It explodes, showering Om with water and sand.
Om falls down, and crawls away from the smoking wreckage, heading towards us.
“Dad!” Bone yells.
He tries to break the circle, but Karl and Stephan grab his arms tight.
“Stay here, Bone!” orders Stephan.
“Now!” he tells Karl and Bone, and they begin a Melding.
—————
Moms eyes are glowing, and her hair is beginning to float.
My own tattoo is glowing, as the power from the men circles us.
We three in the center hug each other, Sarah and Moms and I, and suddenly there is an increase in the force of the Melding.
Sarah grabs my hand, and I know that she’s feeling the raw power that courses through us, feels the immense strength behind the Melding.
Sarah is not Melded, but now we can see through her eyes.
We all see with one pair of eyes as Reighland, holding Kady, pulls her along the ground, dragging her behind him down the dock.
He is so intent on getting her into the speedboat that he drops his pistol.
Brett is moving now, running back towards Kady, but it’s as if an invisible hand shoves him back, and away.
“No, Brett, my darling son,” says Sarah.
At least, I think she says something.
Her lips are not moving, but she’s got an almost orgasmic look of joy on her face.
—————
Om strides across to us, joining in by grabbing Stephan’s hand and then by grasping Bone’s hand in his.
Our tattoos are blazing, and there is a strong wind whirling around us.
There are two circles, now.
The men surround us.
Moms' hair stands straight up, and she gestures to Sarah.
“It is up to you!” says Moms to Sarah.
We can see what she is planning to do.
It’s an immense act of love, from her to her family.
It’s sad, and sweet, and fitting.
We all look at Sarah, loving her, and knowing that she is doing the thing she needs to do.
Moms kisses Sarah, then I kiss her, and there is a huge sound and a flash of light.
My stepbrothers, Om, and Moms all fall down onto the ground.
—————
I am floating, like a mist.
My mind is everywhere, and nowhere.
I am Kady, barely conscious, and I see Sarah, looking like a demon from Hell, walking towards me and Reighland.
Boned 3 (Mandarin Connection Book 6) Page 17