Blood Season

by MacShayne

  ‘Any last words?’

  She began to laugh. ‘Almost defeated by me. I’m honoured.’

  ‘You lose darling. Reddington loses. I get what I want.’

  ‘You just don’t know. Reddington always finds a way to win’, she stammered.

  ‘He won’t stop me.’

  ‘He knows about.. rendezvous.. yours..’

  Mitch, surprised. ‘What?’

  ‘Sibranski...’, She managed to say before she died.

  Potomac Marine, Neabasco Creek, 12 February 2010

  Mitch did not recall any involvement of a third player. Eveline was going to take Home and his family away alone. But where did Sibranski came into this all. How did he cross paths with Reddington? The fact that Sibranski could be the same Sibranski he spent some of his childhood with, was simply confusing Mitch. He was able to flee the Marina by boat. Twenty minutes after the grenade detonated, reinforcements arrived. Their response time would be much sooner if they weren’t all used to close down the inner circles of Washington. Mitch arrived in another Marina in Neabasco Creek where he entered land again. By now, the feds would also take into account that he may have fled by boat. And further down the river was Quantico. Mitch broke into a bigger boat to find himself something to threat his wounds with once again. It was already past seven in the morning when he left the boat. There after he stole a black crown vic and drove away, fast! He knew that it was going to be the end if he used the main roads. But, he also had to get to the rendezvous as fast he could.

  Fredericksburg, The happy Clam, 13 February 2010

  Mitch arrived a little too late at Fredericksburg. The rendezvous was near the Happy Clam. Mitch drove nearly 140 km/h when he hit the brakes on the bridge. Shots were already fired from the rooftop opposite the street. Mitch made a turn and drove straight towards Turner and the others. He hit the brakes once again and stopped his car with its side against the car driven by Turner. Now both Turner, Sibranski and Meredith could take cover. Eveline was able to take out the shooter closest to them. Mitch left his car via the window. He heard immediately what Eveline now also heard. A helicopter.

  Mitch looked at Sibranski while shots were fired farther away. ‘You’re with Reddington!’

  ‘You’re not?’, Sibranski asked while Mitch aimed his gun at him.

  ‘They followed you!’, Mitch yelled.

  ‘I don’t understand you Mitch. Which is quite ironic since we now do speak the same language.’

  ‘You led them to us.’

  ‘If so, you’re now gonna kill me?’

  ‘Mitch!’, Eveline said.

  ‘Are you with him or not?’ Mitch asked more calmly.

  ‘What do you need me to do?’, He asked.

  The helicopter stopped near the car Turner and Sibranski arrived. The second shooter was killed by Turner also while Mitch’s crown vic was parked somewhere out of sight.. It appeared like Crowne and Turner got away in Crowne’s stolen crown vic. Baz and two henchman walked towards Sibranski.

  ‘I need to speak with him’, the wounded Sibranski said.

  Baz gave him a phone while Sibranski walked towards the river.

  ‘Your reunion did not go as planned Sibranski?’

  ‘You almost got me killed Reddington.’

  ‘They got away?’

  ‘Crowne, Turner are both on the loose with Home. He shot me!’

  ‘That’s very much his style.’

  ‘Now what.’

  ‘Let them go. We find them sooner or later.’

  ‘Or he will find you.’

  ‘Our business has concluded Sibranski. You’re free to go.’

  Baz and the other henchmen left, leaving Sibranski behind with Meredith and Crystal.

  ‘Where did they take my father?’, Crystal asked.

  ‘I don’t know Crystal. I’m done with this.’

  ‘If they kill him, you are also responsible!’, Meredith yelled.

  ‘He deserves to die. You don’t know what he’s done’, he responded before he walked away to a car parked across the street. He left Meredith that sank on the ground while Crystal, less in shock, tried to comfort her.

  Chapter 6:

  The Settlement

  Hatteras, North Carolina, 13 February 2010

  Mitch and Eveline left Fredericksburg eleven minutes after the helicopter left. Mitch and Eveline used their crown vic to get near a local car salesman. Eveline bought a cheap old ford 1.6 station wagon in a black colour. Richard Home was not conscious when he was put in the back of the car with tinted windows. Sibranski had given him another shot of his drugs before Mitch and Eveline took him into hiding. They drove the next eight hours and 38 eight minutes to get to a little town on the outer banks islands that was also called Hatteras in North Carolina.

  They didn’t pause since they left Fredericksburg around a quarter to eleven in the morning. They took an alternative route towards Hatteras in order to keep a distance from huge cities such as Richmond, Norfolk and Virginia Beach. Eventually they arrived in Hatteras eight minutes after seven during sunset.

  In the small marina was only one sailboat and three speedboats. Eveline parked the car near Villas of Hatteras Landing. Mitch was in this place exactly ten years and ten months and three days for the last time. He had befriended a local named Harry during in-between-time of two missions. Mitch had bought his boat but allowed Harry to keep it and to continue living on it if Harry did the necessary maintenance. This was one of Mitch’s escape plans if by some particular circumstances he had to flee. Mitch was almost made inhuman, but he was also far above average intelligent and knew that he was expandable. Harry never knew Mitch and was a blind man. He only lived on a boat since he couldn’t afford a house. Mitch also knew that Harry died eight months ago shortly after he had arranged that locals kept the boat getting maintenance for three years after his dead.

  Mitch left the car while Eveline stayed with Richard. She also texted a message about a place and a date to an unknown contact with her phone. Home wasn’t entirely unconscious, he was dizzy though.

  Mitch walked towards the three boats in this marina. It was the small marina located near the harbour of a ferry to Ocracoke. It was long ago when he arrived here for the first time. He stayed in a beach hotel in Rodanthe while he scouted the area for a possible escape plan. During the two weeks of his stay, he "befriended" Harry’s daughter Marlene who worked at the beach hotel. He bought Harry’s boat for more money than it was worth. Harry was a former Marine and a decorated Vietnam hero. He kept his word. Mitch never thought that he would be using this escape plan. Not since he was put into a prison called Kiruna (Perfect Enemy) and later was in Russian imprisonment. The boat was in perfect shape, ready to go. Food for six days and twelve bottles of Corona. ‘Good taste Harry’, Mitch said as he closed the refrigerator.

  Mitch walked towards the back of the sailboat that was called St. Vitus Dance. He watched at the open sky for a moment. It was all darkness now. The sun’s light wasn’t visible anymore. Just a glimpse of it via the moon. Mitch sighed deeply, like he was trying to reach a cold zero. Not knowing that he was being watched by someone else...

  She was the owner of the Hatteras Landing nowadays. But when a car stopped near the hotel, she never went out for a look. This time, was just coincidence. Like it was meant to be almost. While she was outside her building, the very building she bought of her own investment profits, she almost did not believe that he was here. She was nowadays forty one years old, successful and happily married with a son. But she remembered his face like the day was yesterday. Not because he was such a romance, more because he was not. And.. Because his face was all over the news. She didn’t know that the owner of her father’s boat was FBI’s most wanted number four. She did try to persuade her father to get to life with her but he declined. Her father was stubborn and wanted to die on the water. He died peacefully. Torn between doubt and anger, she decided to follow the man towards the marina. She made a picture with her Iphone as soon as h
e stood on deck watching around him. Feeling scared, being so close to a rogue assassin, she turned around and went back to her hotel.

  Marlene entered the hotel building and waited in the hall for several minutes. She witnessed how Mitch Crowne with another man who needed assistance to walk. Then she saw how Mitch took a lifeless body of a woman out of the car. Bloodstains near her head and throat Without hesitation, she dialled 9-1-1...

  ‘Where is your dignity.. Crowne...?’, Home was able to ask. But was given no answer. Reddington’s patchy, it is not your style’, he continued taking deep breaths.

  ‘Why don’t you kill him right now and be done with it?’, Eveline asked.

  ‘I’m not working with Reddington’, was all that Crowne said. Then he punched Home unconscious again.

  ‘What will happen next?’

  ‘You know.’

  ‘I mean, with you.’

  ‘Reddington probably makes a deal with the Cabal. He has power now.’

  ‘And you?’

  ‘I am his debt. He one way or the other must deal with me. The Cabal know about my existence.’

  ‘How is this going to play out?’

  ‘You and Robert get out after this little journey. Me myself have made arrangements for Mia, George and Emily.’

  North Key Largo, Florida keys, 12 February 2010

  They were now driving on the Card Sound road, somewhere remote in the Keys. McEachran was sitting cuffed next to Luli. One of Reddington’s closest and dearest personnel. Luli was a trained associate of Reddington and would be able to kill McEachran in many ways possible. So, he had to come up with a plan and fast. McEachran did not know what Reddington’s plans were, he almost even believed that he was not being killed. But, as long as Reddington had him in his back pocket, he could be used as leverage against his brother. But then, suddenly out of nowhere, she pulled over near Jew Point at a bridge. While she asked Robert to leave the vehicle, he thought about running into the bushes. Would that be helpful? Robert was wearing khaki pants and a white blouse when he stepped in the car earlier. He hadn’t shaven for days and he was sweating a little. Wearing Ray Ban sunglasses he was facing what might be the end of him.

  ‘This is it?’, He asked in his British accent with a dry voice.

  ‘Reddington has no intentions of killing you. But you must know, some others will.’

  ‘What happened in Washington?’

  ‘I brought you a gun, its empty. You know how to use one?’

  ‘I may have practised some.’

  ‘Be careful McEachran. And don’t try to do anything stupid with that.’

  Luli walked back towards the car and stepped in. She left Robert McEachran behind and drove away. Then it occurred to Robert that he still had his phone with him. But the battery was empty. He then walked for one and a half hours towards Key Largo. The Ocean reef Club Inn to be precisely.

  Robert entered a diner opposite the Ocean Reef, he seated himself at the second seat from the entrance and ordered a diet coke immediately. he had rented a room for two nights, and didn’t quit know what his next move would be. Robert was thirsty, so he ordered a second diet coke after finishing the first one. Then he picked up a newspaper. He read it carefully. Front page news was an assassination attempt in Washington. Shooter was known as Mitch Crowne... An older picture of Crowne was shown on the front page. He was believed to be death, now he was within the top ten of FBI’s most wanted. Next to Raymond Reddington.

  ‘Crazy isn’t it?’, The waitress asked. ‘One day you think America is the land of freedom, the country where everybody feels safe. And then.. Some gets killed from such a distance.’

  ‘I think the media doesn’t cover the whole story’, Robert said in his strict and British accent.

  ‘You’re from out of town?’

  ‘I would like the receipt’, Robert asked politely as he looked away from the waitress.

  The waitress was in her fifties but didn’t wear glasses. Robert looked much alike his brother. And the last thing he needed was commotion about his striking resemblance. Robert paid for the two diet cokes and left the diner.

  Four days later, Robert received a message. Very clear. It were figures. Coordinates. Robert didn’t need lots of time to figure out what they meant. Robert demolished his phone and booked tickets for two towards Bermuda.

  Hatteras, North Carolina, 13 February 2010

  Marlene was visited by the police forty-eight minutes later. She lost her sight on Mitch Crowne and the other two after her phone call. She didn’t know that Mitch would leave in such a hurry. So, when the police arrived on her doorstep, the boat was gone. It were two officers. An elder woman in her fifties called Agent Simmons and a younger African American male called Cooper. The female was not the leading officer. Cooper did all the talking.

  ‘Good morning ma’am’, Cooper began.

  ‘Morning officer.’

  ‘You called in about fifty minutes ago. Can you confirm...’, he was interrupted.

  ‘Yes, yes, it was me. I called. We need to go to the marina now.’

  ‘Please madam, slow down’, Cooper said as they followed Marlene.

  ‘You don’t know what it’s like when suddenly a dangerous man is in your backyard’, Marlene said. ‘I recognized him immediately.’

  ‘One, Mitch Crowne you mentioned?’, Cooper asked sarcastically.

  ‘You don’t believe me?’

  ‘I’m not implying you lied miss. We get a lot of prank calls. That’s about it.’

  ‘Think I might be thankful that I’m still alive’, Marlene said in a more shaky voice.

  ‘Calm down Madam. You don’t need to be nervous.’

  And then they arrived in the marina. Only two speedboats left. The sailboat owned by her father was gone. They were too late...

  ‘You see that, the sailboat, it’s gone. He must have left already. You need to do something. He’s going to disappear.’

  ‘Ma’am, please. There is nothing to see here.. That makes our visit worthwhile.’

  ‘You have to believe me. They parked right outside my hotel. Their car.. We need to get back.’

  Marlene already ran back towards the entrance of her hotel. The two cops walked back talking about if she may be right or not. They both concluded she probably mistaken someone else to look like Mitch Crowne. ‘Can you proof that Mitch Crowne arrived in this car. Did you make pictures?’

  Suddenly a look of relief appeared on her face. She did. But then she couldn’t find her Iphone. Where was it. ‘I made a picture. Do you have a minute?’

  Cooper sighed. ‘One minute and then we leave.’

  It took her seven minutes and twenty eight seconds. But she couldn’t find her phone...

  ‘Well, our business has concluded. If you find proof of his presence, you could call former Deputy Marshall. She lives around the corner. The officers returned to their cars while a frozen Marlene stayed behind.

  Atlantic Ocean, Between Hatteras and Bermuda, 16 February 2010

  It usually took five to six days to sail with a 30ft boat towards Bermuda from Hatteras. Mitch was an experienced sailor. His father Harvey was brought up on a sailboat and he taught Mitch the fine art sailing is when he was a teen. Mitch had sailed during missions, in spare time and now for lots of days. They were passed the middle of their trip when Mitch cut Home loose. He forced him to walk towards the front of the boat.

  Home was now standing in front of Eveline Turner and Mitch Crowne. Both Mitch and Eveline carried a gun. Mitch his all time favourite Magnum while Eveline carried her a comfortable Berretta. Mitch seated himself at the left side on the front roof of his boat while Eveline decided to stay on her feet. Richard Bennard Home knew that this were his final moments. Mitch Crowne and Eveline Turner were two of his best field agents. While he was sure that Crowne was a beast with no heart, he knew that Eveline was still humane. But then again, he had betrayed both.

  ‘This is where it ends Mitch?’, He asked. ‘Eveline?’, looking at her
. Eveline took her phone from her bra and it appeared like she was texting a message. Eveline wore shorts and one of Mitch’s blouses over her black panties and bra. She also wore sunglasses and a straw hat.

  ‘You have no idea why I did what I did. Why it had to be done. This is far beyond you and me Mitch, this about national, heck, international security.’

  ‘Innocent people died because of you’, Mitch said.

  ‘Innocent people die during war.’

  ‘You used innocent people in order to get to me. That’s not war, its cowardish. It’s low. And national security, should not be helmed by cowards!’, Mitch said in an angry voice.

  ‘You were a pain in the ass. You should have done your job. Like you were taught!’, Home yelled. ‘But no, he grew a conscience. A little one. And goddamnit Crowne, why had it be you that killed the f*cking vice president.’

  ‘I was not an agent. I was a killer.. Am... I stopped doing what you wanted me to do, because it was all fake! So, from that moment on, I did what had to be done.’

  ‘I did what I did what needed to be done. Mia and her parents got killed because of you. You shouldn’t have interfered yourself with innocents. I have no regrets of ordering them to be held captive nor to be killed. It was all for the greater good.’

  ‘The cabal. Section Y all of those conspiracies. You were in the middle of it’, Turner said. ‘You used the system for a shadow operation that grew so big, you don’t even know who’s part of it anymore. How you think that played out?’

  ‘I am part of an organization that helped making the world a better, a safer place.’

  ‘Look around Home, the world is still a crooked place. Only the rich and powerful feel safe. Because they almost no longer need poor and powerless men to hold a gun and protect their asses. What happens ones drones can be turned into weapons? The world got a lot scarier these days and you let it slide away like it is the best thing that can happen for us. Your wrong. Nothings changes for 99 percent of the people in this world. So, I’m wondering, how could you be stupid enough, that a few could have this much and too many got so less?’