Secret Ops: Ty's Revenge

by Kim Vanderpool

  Vancard his gasping and coughing to catch his breath dropping to his knees. I pull my gun ready to shoot him when Lazarus stills me with a hand on my shoulder. “I agree with you on this, but this might not be the best idea. We still need William and he can deliver him to us.”

  Lazarus always the rational one. Vancard is one lucky son of a bitch. Instead of shooting him like I had intended. I punch him, knocking him out cold. Lazarus and I tie his hands behind his back securely. Now how the hell are we going to get him out of here like this?

  “You know this is a trap right?” I ask Lazarus.

  “I knew it was when I entered. It was too damn easy to get close to Vancard.”

  “I still don’t know where Vegas is.” I admit.

  “Knowing him, he is strangling William as we speak.”

  “I have a bad feeling that’s not the case.”

  “Vegas will alert us if he needs our help.”

  “Any idea how we are going to get out of here with him?” I roll Vancard over with my booted foot.

  “Through the front door of course.” Lazarus laughs.

  “We need to free the girls he has hidden away.”

  Before we can make a plan we hear guns shots. I run to the door taking a quick glance. Williams’s men are running in every direction weapons pulled. “Looks like Vegas needs our help.”

  “He always has to make a show.” Lazarus complains.

  Laughing I look back at Lazarus. He has a smirk on his face. I have been around this guy for way too long. I’m starting to act just like him. “Which one of us are going to go?”

  “Well I’m not leaving you here with this,” He points at Vancard, “I don’t want an accident to happen while I’m gone.” Meaning he doesn’t want me to kill him.

  “Fine.” I step out in the hallway amongst the chaos.

  Bullets flying in every direction. This is going to be one hell of a battle. Pulling my gun I fire a few shots to get attention off of Vegas. The guy couldn’t have many bullets left. One of William’s guys turns to look at me. I don’t know why I do, but I smile at him. Surprise asshole. I shoot him in the chest. He falls hard to the floor. I take cover at the corner. Shouts ring out. “We have him.” That’s what they think. I roll down on one knee shooting two men in the legs taking them down.

  Walking up to them I put them out of their misery. I move on to the next guy doing the same. They have Vegas dragging him to the elevators. Shooting every man as I come to them. Somehow they got the drop on Vegas. Shit has gone so wrong damn quickly. I point, aim, shoot. The man on the left dragging Vegas drops hard. The other whips around pulling his gun. The guy doesn’t have a chance. My gun is empty. I rush at him knocking him off balance. I repeatedly punch him in the face. Bone cracks the guy lies limp on the floor. Rushing over to Vegas I find him out cold. I check him for bullet holes, thank god there isn’t any. Just a nasty lump on his head.

  Lifting him over my shoulder I carry him back to the room where Lazarus is lifting Vancard over his shoulder. We make our way in the elevator. Once the doors close I prop Vegas in the corner. Pulling out another magazine I reload my gun. I can’t believe I ran out of bullets. I can’t ever remember that happening before. Lazarus does the same. I shield Vegas with my body as the doors open. Guards and police are everywhere. Shit. I rapidly push the damn button on the elevator before they know who is stepping out.

  We are surrounded. Going all the way to the top floor is the only option we have. We will have to contact Tango. “I’m going to assume that William has gone. And he has taken his chopper with him.” Lazarus says dryly.

  “It won’t be long before they shut every floor down.” I say watching the numbers slowly run as we make our way up.

  “Okay, so we now know what the options are.”

  “Yeah and I don’t like them.” I’ve never been in a situation I couldn’t get out of.

  “Ready?” Lazarus looks over to me as we make it to the top floor.

  I nod to him. We both step to the side so we aren’t directly in view as the doors open. It’s quiet on this floor. No one rushes in or shoots. Taking a deep breath I step out quickly. Once I know for sure no one is going to make a surprise attack; I motion for Lazarus to step out. Quickly lifting Vegas over my shoulder we run to the stairs that takes us to the roof. The same door I came in earlier is standing wide open.

  This is damn tricky. There are no hiding places here. It could be a trap. Easing Vegas down in the small space at the top of the stairs. I crouch low crawling on my belly. Lazarus throws Vancard to the floor with no remorse to the guy at all. Easing to my feet once I’m sure no one is going to shoot me in the head; I notice the roof top is empty. William has come through here in a hurry. I see a small leather book lying on the ground.

  I flip through the pages and feel a surge of happiness run through me. This has everything from appointments to sales. Holy shit. This is big, really big. Making my way back to Lazarus I had the book over to him. Vegas is starting to come around. His eyes open slowly.

  “What the fuck happened?” He asks rubbing the back of his head.

  “You got hit over the head.” I inform him.

  Lazarus pulls out his mini flash lite. Checking to make sure Vegas doesn’t have a concussion. He flashes in Vegas’s eyes. “You’ll be fine. Here take these. Just aspirin for the headache.”

  Vegas swallows them down. He goes to stand but doesn’t quite make it to his feet. “Shit.”

  “The dizziness will pass soon. Don’t move.” Lazarus gives Vegas a pointed look.

  “I’m contacting Tango.” I pull out my phone. Tango answers on the first ring. I don’t want to pull him away for Sara or Sylvia, but we have no choice here. “We need you to come get us.” I inform him.

  “Be there in two.”

  I hang up going back to the others. I help Vegas to his feet. He leans on me for support. “Damn man I thought I had them.” Vegas sounds defeated.

  “It happens man. You were surrounded.”

  “William is a twisted fuck. He knew we were coming the whole damn time. It was a fucking trap.” Vegas says angrily.

  “I figured that much out.” I help Vegas sit down on the ground beside the wall. Looking over the edge, I notice the building is surrounded. Tango had better figure out a damn plan and fast. “How’s your head?”

  “No so bad now.” Vegas has his head bent down.

  Lazarus dumps a very scared looking Vancard down on the other side of me. He is awake now. I still have the urge to shoot him. His mouth is tapped which is good because if he spoke I wouldn’t be responsible for what I might do.

  “How long until pick up?” Lazarus asks.

  “One minute and a half.” I say specifically.

  “Okay, so we just need to hold them off for a few more minutes. Should be fun.” Lazarus laughs.

  “I’m going to go block the door. Might buy us a few minutes.” I run over to the unlocked door and wedge a long metal bar that is lying on the ground, in front of the door. Looking back over the wall I see that there are men grappling the walk as I had earlier. “Fuck. We need to move now.”

  Lazarus looks over the wall. “Shit.”

  “Police or William’s men?” Vegas asks.

  “Police I think. Not sure.” And I’m not. I don’t want to have to shoot innocent people. We avoid it as much as possible. I don’t see no reason to start now.

  “Ty.” Vegas mumbles.

  I look down at Vegas right before he falls face first to the ground. “Lazarus!” I yell.

  “I got him. Get that piece of shit out of sight.” Lazarus pulls out smelling salts from his backpack waving it under Vegas’s nose.

  Pulling Vancard to his feet. I drag him to the other side of the roof. I have a moment where I want to throw him off the ledge. It would be so easy. “Your one lucky son of a bitch. If it were up to me I would throw you off here and I wouldn’t have a second thought.” Vancard’s eyes grow wide. He knows I’m serious. Never been more ser
ious in my life. “When we get done with you, you’ll be begging for me to end you.” I say through gritted teeth.

  Chapter 9

  Vancard has tears leaking down his face. I have scared him senseless. Good because I didn’t lie about anything I told him. Suddenly I hear a chopper coming. Relief washes over me. If we have to wait any longer we will be cornered. Bad things happen when I’m corned. The chopper lands and Ash jumps out quickly helping Lazarus with Vegas. I don’t have time to drag Vancard behind me, so I throw him over my shoulder carrying him. The men scaling the wall pops over the ledge shouting orders. We board the helicopter and Tango lifts off. They start shooting at us. None of us have time to strap in. Tango makes a sharp right turn making me fall out. I catch myself on the landing gear. Just fucking great.

  “Shit, Ty!” Ash shouts.

  “Hang on man.” Lazarus says calmly.

  Easy for him to say. He isn’t the one hanging on for dear life. Tango looks over his shoulder shouting something. Lazarus ties himself off jumping out. My gloves hands start slipping. I reach up to get a better grip and lose my hand hold. I start falling and falling. I know this is the end. I never thought I would have went out this way. Suddenly I feel hands snatch onto my jacket. Lazarus catches me. I feel my heart beating out of my chest. Closing my eyes and thanking my lucky stars. I climb up Lazarus’s legs until I have a good grip on the rope.

  “Shit man. I thought you were a goner.” I can see relief in his eyes.

  “So did I.” I feel the sweat sliding down my temple. Ash reals us up. I have never been so damn happy to be alive. Once inside the chopper I sit back on the seat after I belt myself in and start laughing. My heart is beating fast and my adrenaline is on high. Wiping my face I try to calm myself down.

  “That was some intense shit.” Ash looks pale.

  “No, shit man.” I laugh.

  “You okay Ty?” Tango yells.

  “I’m good boss.”

  “Next time you want to jump out of copper make sure you have a parachute.” Lazarus laughs.

  “Yeah, I’ll do that.”

  Vancard looks as if he may pass out. I rip the tap off his mouth. “You okay there?” I laugh.

  “You’re fucking crazy.” He swallows several times.

  “Nah. He’s the crazy one.” I point to Lazarus.

  Vancard opens his mouth then closes it. “All of you are crazy. He is going to kill you.” He is referring to William.

  “I may just kill you yet.” I lock my jaw ignoring his statement. I’m so damn close to losing it. Now that the adrenaline is wearing off from almost falling to my death, my anger comes rushing back.

  “You’re not going to let him kill me are you?” He looks from Ash to Lazarus.

  Lazarus looks to me then to Vancard shrugs not answering him. Ash doesn’t show any emotion at all. Vancard closes his eyes and begins to pray. “Did you take mercy on those girls when they begged you?” I demand.

  “It wasn’t my c…choice.” He stutters.

  “We all have a choice.” Ash fires back.

  I re-tape his mouth just for the fact that I will do something crazy like throw him out. I’m in no mood for his lies. Ash is right we all have a choice. Whether we do the right thing or not is up to us. Vancard had a choice he could have went against William. The money was too good and he knew he had a gold mine. Now the girls are lost and so is William, again. Right back to the beginning for the second time. Only difference is we have Vancard.

  Finally making it to base in the states. I don’t ask about Braxton or Marco. Not yet. Tango takes me in his office while Ash and Lazarus sees to Vancard.

  “I want to do the interrogation this time.” I demand.

  “Sorry, Ty. I don’t want you to kill him.”

  Lazarus has updated Tango on what went down at the casino. Tango wasn’t too damn happy about it, but knew it was out of our hands. He’s right I will kill Vancard if I get my hands on him again. So I let it go for now.

  “At least let me sit in on it?”

  “I’m giving you a few days off. Go get Sara. She and Sylvia has bonded quite well. She still isn’t talking to either one of us, but Sylvia thinks she will open up to you.” When I put the call in for Tango’s help he left Sylvia and Sara at Lazarus’s place. Even though I didn’t want him to leave them we had no choice. “Ash has Braxton and Marco locked away safety. They aren’t going anywhere. William is gone for now. I’ll call you when I find out where he is next.”

  I look at the floor. I know I can’t go chasing William until I find out where he is. Nodding my head I say. “Okay. Lazarus has a leather book you might be interested in. William dropped it.” I want to take a vacation and I want to make sure Sara is okay.

  “Good work Ty. Now go get Sara.”

  “Thanks.”

  Tango nods at me as I walk out. Making my way to where Lazarus is sitting up to interrogate Vancard I step inside the dark room. “Hey man. I just wanted to say thanks for catching my ass.” I rub the back of my neck. I owe this man my life.

  “Hey. You would have done the same thing for me.”

  “Damn straight.”

  “Want to watch Vancard squirm?”

  I laugh. “I’m going to go get Sara. Mind giving me a lift?” It will be a hell of a lot faster to fly to the top of the mountain.

  “Sure. Ash is telling Vancard how scary I am. The guy has probably already shit his pant by now. Won’t hurt to let him sweat it a while.”

  “He’s already scared shitless.” We laugh.

  “So Tango is giving you some time off?” Lazarus says as we walk to the chopper.

  “Yeah I guess he needed my head on straight.”

  “I suppose so.”

  I’m feeling more relaxed now that I’m getting Sara and heading home for a few days. Tango is right. I do need some time off. Get myself together before I kill Vancard. He knows Williams next move and he can’t talk if he’s dead. It’s best if I stay away while Lazarus works his magic. After we are in the air for a while I see the mountain coming up. I can almost feel the freedom. No wonder Lazarus like this place. His house is nestled right in the middle of a forest of trees. There’s only one road in and one road out. It twists around the mountain to the bottom. One simple dirt road.

  Once we land Lazarus and I jump out. The blades of the chopper slowly turning until they come to a stop. Looking around if feels as if I’m in a different world. This place is really isolated. Two huge dogs come barreling toward us. “Damn man when did you get dogs?”

  “They are only puppies. I’ve had them for a couple of months.”

  “Who feeds them while you’re gone?”

  “I have a guy.”

  “That explains a lot.” I laugh.

  Lazarus opens the front door then turns to me. “You know you’re welcome to say here. There’s plenty of food in the fridge. Besides you’ll be close just in case we need you.”

  “You sure man?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Let me know what you find out. The longer we wait the harder it’s going to be to get those girls back.”

  “No problem.”

  We walk inside and the first thing Sara comes running. “Daddy! You came back!” she hugs my neck excitedly.

  “I told you I would.”

  Sylvia comes out of the kitchen looking surprised. “Those are the first words she has spoken since you left.”

  Sylvia looks Lazarus up and down. He drops his head to the floor. I see a tint of a blush cross his cheeks. I smile to myself. Who would have though this huge guy would blush? Sylvia doesn’t even try to hide her appraisal of him. “Lazarus.” She acknowledges him.

  “Sylvia.” He mumbles.

  “Azarus your lions didn’t eat me.” Sara looks up to Lazarus smiling. She has gotten more comfortable with him.

  “Of course not sweetheart.”

  She smiles again. “Come daddy I want to show you something.” Sara grabs my hand pulling me to a bedroom.

&
nbsp; We leave Sylvia and Lazarus in the living room. From the looks of it there’s something there. I just don’t know what. Sylvia wasn’t none too shy of her appraisal of him. Which is confusing because I thought Tango and Sylvia had a thing going. Shaking my head and smiling to myself I leave those thought quickly.

  “What is it you want to show me?”

  “This.” She comes to a small room that I assume is her makeshift bedroom. She holds up a giant teddy bear. It’s bigger than she is.

  “Wow. That’s one big bear.” I kneel down to her level.

  “The mean lady bought it for me.” She whispers.

  “Mean lady?” I ask.

  “She yelled at Mango.”

  “She yelled at Tango?”

  Sara nods her head. I try not to show my anger in front of Sara. I don’t want her to mistake it for her. “Sweetie how about I go make you a snack? I’ll be right back.”

  “Okay. Will you play tea party with me? Mango wouldn’t he was too sad.”

  “Of course honey. Set it up and I make us some sandwiches.”

  She smiles wide going to her brand new tea set. Walking back to the living room I face Sylvia. “Don’t ever yell or scream in front of Sara again.”

  Sylvia’s mouth drops open then closes again. “What are you talking about?”

  “If you are going to argue with Tango don’t do it in front of her.” My anger spikes to a new level.

  “Ty.” Lazarus warns.

  Whipping around I point my finger at him. “No man. Sara has been through too much. No arguing.”

  “I’m sorry. I thought she was asleep. I didn’t know she overheard. Your right she has been through a great ordeal. I apologize.” When Sylvia looks at me I know she really means it.

  Nodding my head I go into Lazarus’s kitchen. Snooping in the fridge I find yogurt. Nasty. Celery. No way. Finally settling on turkey sandwiches I make two. Grabbing two glasses of orange juice I quickly make my way to Sara’s room. Upon entering I find that she has the tea set already to go. She looks up to me and smiles wide.