The Falau Files Box Set 1

by Mike Gomes

  He crossed the road acting as if he had seen something and made his way into the woods to the fence. He kept up the charade seeing that cameras were perched at several locations on the ten foot fence. He also was looking directly into a sign that said “No Trespassing... violators will be prosecuted”. Now there was no way he could say he just wandered onto the property. They had him on camera with the sign just feet from him. The fence was well maintained and had a walking path on each side. Falau looked closer at the ground. On his side of the fence the tracks ran from right to left but on the other side they ran left to right. The security was high. So high that there were patrols that walked the fence line. The tracks were fresh but there was no way to tell what direction the guard was walking.

  Falau moved off instinct knowing that time was of the essence and scaled the fence and dropped down the other side landing as gently as possible. Holding still he assessed the situation and could hear the crackle of a walkie talkie and keys jingling. He had been spotted and the guard was on his way. Falau committed himself to the run and dashed at an angle away from the Duke house. He wanted to give the impression that he was heading to the house next door.

  Quickly the ground had changed to a soupy marsh perfect for slowing any person trying to get in or out of the property. His boots sunk down a foot with each step halting any running he attempted. He had to slog his way. Falau knew that this marsh was intentional; it didn’t show up on the satellite due to the overhang of trees. The guard following would be faced with the same thing.

  “Hold it!” barked out a guard from behind. “Stop now or we are going to contact the police.”

  Falau stopped in his place. He still had another hundred yards or more to traverse before getting to solid ground. If this man called for police or back up that was the end of the mission. He felt he could still possibly con the man into believing he was hunting.

  “I saw a deer run this way. I have been tracing him.”

  “Bullshit!” said the man “No deer get in here. You're here to rob one of the houses but not today punk.”

  Falau felt some anger bubble up inside him as he turned to see the guard. He was young, probably just twenty one. He spun a nightstick in his hand and held a strong look of arrogance across his face. This was not going to go away.

  “No man, it was a deer.”

  “You’re going to be charged, tough guy.” said the smug guard.

  Falau watched as he continued to move closer. He was fifty yards away and pushing off the trees as he passed them. “There is no need for that.”

  “Why don’t you just shut up and let me tell you what will happen and maybe I will not tell them I found you in a house. I could send your ass away for ten years so shut the fuck up!”

  The boisterous guard smacked his night stick hard against a tree trying to intimidate Falau.

  Falau inspected the young man. He immediately saw him as young and stupid. He had no idea who he was following and what could happen to him. If Falau were to follow through with his mission having this man around who could identify him was a hazard. Rule one of any mission like this was no loose ends. This man was a loose end and needed to be taken care of to ensure the mission was completed to its fullest.

  “Don’t eyeball me boy. I see you looking at me. At least you’re not so dumb as to run away.” snapped the obstinate young man who was now just thirty yards away.

  Falau reached up and scratched his cheek with his right hand thinking about what needed to be done. He reached back with the same hand and drew an arrow from the quiver that rested on his back. He looked at it. Long and sturdy. The tip was fixed with multiple razor edges designed for hunting not like the single point arrows for target shooting. These arrows were designed to rip through the hard skin and muscle of a large animal finding their way in deep to the lungs or heart.

  The guard stumbled and attempted to yank his stuck foot from the mud. Falau raised the compound bow that was equipped with seventy pounds of pressure that would send the arrow hurtling at the man faster than he could ever hope to react to in the marsh. He was a sitting duck. Helpless in every way.

  Falau loaded the arrow placing the notch on the back of it onto the string. He drew back on the string letting the arrow fall on the arrow rest that slightly stuck from the bow’s body for exactly this purpose. He lined up the sight seeing the man or was he just a boy who knew not what he was doing. He was making foolish choices that could change things for him forever. Wrong place at the wrong time. Collateral damage.

  The young guard looked up to see Falau with the compound bow drawn and aimed straight at him. He froze placing both hands into the air and they started to shake.

  The string on the bow caressed Falau’s cheek as he held one eye open sighting the string to the scope. The equipment made a novice into a skilled archer and someone with Falau’s skills a virtual expert able to kill any living thing he chose.

  “I said I saw a deer.”

  “I believe you. Don’t shoot.”

  “You had a lot to say before. Kinda stupid to be taunting a person with a weapon when all you have is that stick.

  “I apologize.”

  “That’s not good enough. You insulted me.”

  “I didn’t mean to do anything like that. Please, God, just let me go. I swear I will never act like this again. I hate this job; never wanted it in the first place. My dad said I had to take it or go back to college.”

  The young man started to shake and cry.

  “So what are we going to do about this. Not like I can just leave, I can’t let you leave.”

  “Please don’t kill me.”

  “Too late friend.”

  Falau’s index finger and thumb had grasped the drawstring tight. His left arm was steady holding the bow. His fingers separated and in a flash the arrow was launched hurtling toward the young man sounding its familiar swishing sound cutting through the air.

  The man froze and attempted to move but he was stuck all he could do was bring his hands to his head and hope to take on the impact of the arrow into his arms.

  THWACK the arrow embedded itself into the tree not two feet to the side of the guard. He lowered his arms and cast a sideways look to where the sound came from. Seeing the arrow in the tree he looked back to Falau and shook where he stood. It was clear the man in black intended to hit the tree.

  Falau looked hard at the young man seeing a stain start to develop on the front of his khaki pants. He had lost control of his bladder and urinated all over himself. Falau felt a twinge of humiliation for the young man but knew that was far better than the arrow going through him.

  “I could have killed you.”

  “I... I know.”

  “But I didn’t. Here is what we are going to do. You’re going to throw me your walkie talkie and then start walking back to the fence. When one of your guard friends comes out to help, you say I was chasing a deer and I live in one of the houses. One of these guys must be single with friends over.” Falau knew full well that Tristan Duke fit the description of the lie he wanted the guard to tell and they were just one house down from him.

  “I will find another way out and we can be on our way. But if you send anyone after me they will all know about you pissing yourself. News will travel fast in a town like this. Besides, you don’t want me and my bow coming back and looking for you. Do you?”

  “No sir.”

  “Get going.”

  The young man turned as fast as he could and slogged his way back into the cover of the woods filling in around him.

  Falau turned back to the north and covered the marsh quickly. Hitting dry land the sky was more dark than light. He turned himself and headed straight for Tristan Duke’s home.

  Chapter 14

  Falau reached the back of the Duke home and it was similar to most of the wealthy homes he had seen before. It was a common theme that the ultra rich played follow the leader in the things they bought. A high stakes game of keeping up with the Joneses.


  As he pulled himself close to the wall he could see that cameras had easily picked up his approach to the house. He dropped the bow seeing no need for it in the close quarters of the house. His best bet was to keep on the move. How many security members Duke had was an unknown and Falau had never set foot in the house. At this point he didn’t care if they saw him or not. His mission within the mission was to render them ineffective by any means necessary.

  Getting to the back door that let out to a stone patio he could see beautiful hand carved furniture that sat beside an infinity pool. The pool lost much of its effect without the ocean or the horizon behind it but a man like Duke was just flexing his financial muscles with this type of purchase. Much like the paintings in the front hall the fact they were out of place showed he had money to waste.

  Falau jiggled the handle to the door and surprisingly it opened. He pushed the door open keeping himself on the outside. No movement from inside the door. The room was dark and looked to be a small mud room with another doorway approximately ten feet ahead. That doorway held no door and lead into a lit room that had a stylish mexican tile on the floor. In Falau’s mind it had to be a kitchen. He slid in the door turning the knob to create as little sound as possible when he closed it.

  Taking a few steps he was at the next opening. Mud and grime stuck to his feet, legs, and boots making it hard for him to not slip. He poked his head around the corner and saw a man sitting at the kitchen table staring right at him.

  “Come in.” said the man as Falau pulled himself back from the door. Did he think that it was Duke or did he make out it was someone else.

  “I saw you on the cameras so you might as well come in.”

  Falau took another look and could see the man was in his late thirties getting just a dusting of gray around his sideburns. He wore the coat that most home security men wore. It was a blue sport coat with a crest on it. The man held a cup of coffee and took a sip.

  “Come on in.” called the man again taking a sip before speaking again. “Don’t worry I don’t bite and I don’t like trouble. I find it is always much easier to talk things out.”

  Falau held his tongue and entered the kitchen. He had approximately 20 feet between him and the man who sat at the far side of the table. Both his hands were on top of the table and he had no gun that could be seen. Falau felt the reassuring dig of the Ruger 9mm in his back as he squared himself to the man.

  “What’s your name?” asked the man.

  Falau stood in silence making eye contact.

  “No talking. Ok. My guess is you're here to rob the place. Maybe you do drugs and need your fix. Maybe you have a starving kid at home or maybe you just get off on this kind of thing. Personally, I don’t care.” the man drew another sip from his coffee. “What I do care about is you’re making my job hard. I had plans to come in tonight, watch the Knicks game in the control room and go home. This happy horse shit is screwing that all up for me.”

  “Sorry.” muttered Falau looking to see the reaction to him speaking.

  “Oh, you can talk. Good. This is how I would like to handle the situation. You turn around and walk back out that door. Go back the way you came and stay out of the trouble that is here. If you do that then I can just look the other way and we will all go on with our nights.”

  “I can’t do that.” said Falau.

  “Of course you can.” said the man standing up from the table but not advancing on Falau. “The alternative is just awful. See, if you stay I have to come over there and beat the hell out of you. Then I have to tie you up and call the police. Then I get stuck doing a shit load of paperwork. That’s no good for anyone.”

  “I am not leaving. But I am not here to steal anything. If you leave now I will not harm you. Same deal you said just in reverse. But if you do not take it you're fair game.”

  “Son I might be ten or fifteen years older than you.” said the man as he started to walk to Falau with a slight limp from stiffness in his legs. “I have had my back broken, ribs broken, jaw dislocated, and collar bone broken four times and I could still beat the hell out of you on my worst day.”

  The older man fired out a hard punch that caught Falau squarely on the nose. Instantly blood started to flow from it. Falau’s eyes filled with tears and his ears felt like they were about to pop like ascending in an airplane.

  The man’s hand grabbed the back of Falau’s shirt and the other the back of his pants and threw him across the room crashing him into the table head first. Falau was shocked by the man’s speed and strength.

  Closing the gap the man reached back down to Falau who intercepted his hand and bent the fingers back hearing them snap one by one. The man let out a scream and went up on the tips of his toes and Falau stood up bending the fingers back further and higher. Instantly Falau released the man’s hand and grabbed the back of his head with the opposite hand. He pulled hard driving the man’s head down and he kicked his feet out from under him. Without legs to hold back some of the impact the man’s head crashed hard into the table causing blood to splatter across it. His body fell limp and he instantly slid off the table and onto his back on the floor.

  Falau looked down at the man. He was still breathing. He frisked him and found nothing.

  Unarmed? thought Falau wondering why Duke would not provide his security with weapons. The guard came to confront him without any weapons. He was either arrogant or had nothing to come with.

  Falau wiped the blood from his nose and started to walk through the house. No other guards came and it was obvious that the man in the kitchen was the only one working.

  Entering the dining room the sound of a door opening clearly cut through the air. From the layout of the house that Tyler had shown them earlier it was coming from the front of the house. The dining room adjoined the front entry way and from the sounds of the echoes off the walls that is where the noise originated.

  Pulling himself up to the opening he crouched down low and looked around the corner expecting to see Duke fumbling with his keys drunk from a night with Gabriela but the man in the entryway was not him. This man was much bigger and wearing a cowboy hat. Who the hell was this man and how could he just let himself into Duke’s home? He was either a friend or an enemy. Either way he was going to disrupt the plan and make it impossible to remove Duke.

  Falau rounded the corner and flicked on the light to the entryway. The man jumped and reached to the inside of his jacket.

  “Hold on! I am just security. I think you have the wrong house.” said Falau.

  The man withdrew his hand from his coat and adjusted himself. “No, I have the right place. This is Tristan Duke’s house. I am an old friend of his.”

  An old friend who can pop the lock on the front door of a friend’s house. Not likely thought Falau.

  “I am sorry sir but I have no record of any visitors tonight.”

  “Well, Mr. Duke and I have some business to take care of.”

  “Seems like an odd time of night for business.” remarked Falau trying to get a make on the man. He talked about business but he seemed far too hard for a conventional office job.

  “Well as the movie says money never sleeps.”

  “I am going to have to ask you to leave now. I just can’t have you in the house. If Mr. Duke comes home to someone in the house he will fire me.”

  “Mr. Duke isn’t home?”

  “No sir, he went out several hours ago.”

  The cowboy slightly shook his head up and down. He looked down as if trying to gather his thoughts.

  “I tell you what. Let’s you and me stop all the bullshit and come clean. I don’t think Duke hires security that also does gardening. If you had done your homework you would have known that the marsh was in the woods. I think we are in the same kind of work.”

  The cowboy saw right through Falau’s half hearted disguise and was ready to lay his cards on the table.

  “And what kind of work is that?”

  “I am a debt collector of sort
s. I just do it for private people. On the street there are guys that do what I do and break thumbs and knees for hundreds of dollars. The debts I collect are significantly larger and often need more pressure applied. Sound familiar.”

  “No.”

  “So what do you do then?”

  “Some people need to talk with Duke. I am supposed to bring him to the meeting.”

  “Well, friend, that is not going to happen. Me and the rich boy have to do some work together so I can bring the money back to my employer. It would be best if you just come back later.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Maybe you didn’t hear me right. I said to come back later.”

  “And I said no.”

  Falau knew he was testing the man. He wondered how far he could push him. How confident was he in his combat skills. He was an unknown and that was a risk that could turn out to be fatal. Falau reached down to his shirt and unbuttoned the top button like he was preparing for the fight but instead he turned on his earpiece letting Tim know what was going on.

  “Falau is that you. Are you in trouble?” asked Tim with concern in his voice.

  Falau did not answer as he started to turn with the cowboy and size each other up.

  “What’s your name?” asked Falau.

  “Wyatt Houston. And yours?”

  “Michael Falau.”

  “Guess it is okay we know the other’s name considering that one of us will be dead soon.”

  Wyatt charged Falau and bent himself over driving his left shoulder into the stomach of Falau. The man’s power was incredible. The contact with his shoulder pushed the air from Falau’s lungs at impact. Taking five steps Wyatt then put his hands into Falau’s chest and shoved him back into the wall cracking a hole in the sheet rock. Falau gasped for air and stepped to the side as Wyatt kicked hard at him just missing and cracking the wall again.

  Now, just to the side, Falau fired two straight right hands to the bridge of the nose on the man. He had the chance to reach for his gun but knew that a gunshot would compromise the mission.

  “Falau are you ok. What the hell is happening.”