by BSmith
§
Dominic and Nicholas had taken cover out on the beach behind a line of black SUVs that had transported the PLFs. Kayla stood with them for a time, coordinating where she wanted the organic robots, and then stepped away from them once sufficient reinforcements had arrived.
“How long have you been a part of this?” Nicholas asked his father.
Dominic spared his son a brief glance. “Thirty-eight years.”
Nicholas felt a slow fury crawling over him. His father would have been deeply entrenched in the Brotherhood when his family was killed. It was unlikely that the Brotherhood would forget to warn both of them. “Did you know about my family? Did they warn you?”
Dominic thought that his son’s family was dysfunctional. If Nicholas had a wife and a mistress, that would have been fine properly handled. Instead, Nicholas had a wife and a lover—a male lover; one who was allowed in Nicholas’s home and allowed to taint Dominic’s grandchildren with his disgusting lifestyle. “It doesn’t matter. Stay focused on the matter at hand,” Dominic snapped.
“You knew,” Nicholas said lowly, but louder the second time. “You knew?!”
Dominic looked back at his son, sneering in revulsion. “Of course I knew. I didn’t tell you to teach you a lesson. I hope you’ve learned it. Now, get ready to move.”
For seconds, Nicholas saw red. He had known his father was a hateful, spiteful, selfish man, but Nicholas had never thought him truly evil. Until then. Nicholas raised his gun and pointed it in his father’s face. “I’m not on your side. I never have been.”
Dominic stared at his son with furious incredulity. “How dare you. Get that gun out of my face. Of course you’re on this side.”
Nicholas laughed bitterly. “Oh, no. After my family, I turned. I’ve been ratting you all out to Marcello for years. And I’m going to make sure that you rot in hell.”
Dominic’s eyes widened, his face turning red; a combination of anger and sudden fear. “Nicholas—”
It was the last word he spoke.
Nicholas pulled the trigger, blowing a hole in his father’s face. Stepping over the dead body, Nicholas shot him again, just because his rage bled that thickly. The sound of the chaos around him finally roared back into his ears and spurred him into action. He shot out the tires on three out of the four vehicles, ran to the fourth, opened the driver’s door, and killed the man at the wheel. Yanking out the dead body, Nicholas climbed into the drivers’ seat, peeling out and pulling out his cell phone. He needed to get to his sister. Then, they needed to leave.
§
“Roger that, we’ll meet the helicopter on the roof,” Caleb said quietly, poking his head out of the door to the suite. On this floor, the hallway was quiet. “C’mon.” Gun in hand, he slipped from the room and took Simone’s hand in his other, moving quickly towards the stairwell.
“Just what the hell is going on down there, Caleb?” Worry clouded Simone's features.
“I don’t know how bad, but the island is under attack. We’re in evac mode.” Caleb halted her by the door to the stairwell, listening. He pushed the door open a crack, his gun raised as he stepped in. He looked over the railing, just as Kayla looked up from three floors below. “Shit. Move fast and stay low, babe. They’re on our ass.”
Heart pounding, Simone took off her heels and ran past Caleb as he instructed, darting up the staircase and keeping herself bent over. She could hear shouts below her, immediately followed by the sound of gunfire. Bullets ricocheted off the metal, sending off small sparks and pulling a startled cry from Simone’s lips.
“Keep moving. Eyes straight ahead,” Caleb urged from behind her. He didn’t bother trying to shoot back yet. He needed the rounds for when they got to the roof. He touched his ear piece and said, “That helicopter better be waiting.”
“It’s a fucking shit storm out here, sir,” came the static-filled reply, “but we’re almost there. AF is cleaning house.”
“That guy better be as good of a pilot as you used to be!” Simone shouted, slightly out of breath.
“Few pilots are as good as I used to be, but so long as he can dodge bullets and not crash, we don’t have that far to go.” Caleb managed a quick grin, hoping Simone could hear it in his voice.
They reached the door to the roof, and Caleb used his security code to get the door open, pausing to quickly check outside and make sure they were alone. When he didn’t see anyone he motioned Simone through and shut the door, just as a hail of bullets ripped into it. Caleb stepped back and shot the control panel, buying them some time.
They ducked behind an air vent and he trained his gun on the door. “This would be a lot more fun if you had that cute little revolver you used to carry on your thigh,” Caleb said, double checking his clip.
Simone smirked. “I’m really pissed off right now that I don’t.”
“It’s okay. Now, I don’t have to worry about accidentally shooting myself in my haste to get you unclothed.” Caleb winked at Simone, and she smiled at him, just as the door to the roof blew open and their helicopter appeared. An Omega Cadre sat in the open helicopter door, letting loose a round of cover fire.
“That’s your ride, babe. Go, I’ll cover you.”
“Tell me you’re coming with me,” Simone demanded.
“Right behind you. Playing hero applies this lifetime, too. Go on.” Caleb poked his head around the vent and fired two shots that landed in one PLFs’ head as he tried to get out the door. Simone hesitated, but relented, and ran over to the helicopter. The Cadre reached down to help her up and was pulling her inside when he got shot in the neck.
Simone fell in and looked over at the soldier, startled. The pilot looked back, confirmed that she was on board, and began pulling them up into the air.
“Wait!” Simone grabbed the machine gun out of the dying soldier’s hands and leaned out the side of the helicopter. In her current incarnation, she had never used a machine gun, but she had a few of Liliana’s memories to rely on.
“Ma’am, I have orders to get you to the airfield!”
“If you move this helicopter without my husband, I will shoot you myself!” Simone snapped, and then jerked her eyes back to the ground. She didn’t even notice what she had called Caleb. What she did notice was that he was pinned behind the vent as the PLFs began creeping out onto the rooftop.
“Caleb, get over here!” Saying a little prayer, Simone hoisted up the machine gun and squeezed the trigger. The first few rounds went haywire, and she cursed like a sailor. Memory, sharp and vivid, flashed behind her eyes. She adjusted her grip on the gun, and the next time she pulled the trigger, a heavy tide of bullets sent two of the soldiers that looked human, but didn’t, right to the ground.
Caleb jerked a glance over his shoulder and saw Simone with a machine gun in her hands, eyes blazing determinedly. Suppressing a grin, he pushed off from behind the vent and sprinted over to the helicopter. “Take her up, take her up,” Caleb shouted to the pilot as he jumped in. Simone fired another round at the soldiers below, just because she was pissed, as the helicopter flew away.
Kayla pushed past the PLFs and came out onto the roof as the helicopter gained altitude then whizzed off towards the airfield. “Are you all this useless?” she snapped her eyes over the PLFs and brought her radio up to her mouth, “Simone got away. All forces to the airfield. The triplets don’t leave this island alive.”
§
Agata was in her office in the Dion Corp building when the world went insane. Three men in all black fatigues with a strange symbol painted on their faces had rushed into the building, nearly deserted at this hour, and pulled her from her office. Her demands to know what was going on were only met with the response that her father had sent them.
Now, she was sitting in the back of an SUV in front of the building, with those same soldiers guarding the car. Agata didn’t like whatever the hell was going on—it sounded like a war zone around her—but it seemed like answers weren’t coming any time soon.
Nicholas pulled his SUV to a halt behind the similar model double parked in front of the Dion Corp building. He slapped a fresh clip into his gun before he climbed out of the car. “Is my sister secure?”
The solider in charge nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Thank you.” Nicholas shot that man in the head. As the other two soldiers turned to respond, Nicholas shot them, too. He stepped over to the car and pulled open the back seat door. “Get out. You’re coming with me.”
“Nicholas? Nicholas, what the hell is going on?” Agata demanded, staring at him in shock. She couldn’t believe her brother was carrying a gun. When she saw the dead soldiers on the ground, she thought she might faint.
“Agata, I can’t explain right now. We’ve got to go.” Nicholas grabbed her arm and began dragging her over to the car.
“I’m not going anywhere with you unless you give me some answers!” She dug her heels into the ground, pulling against his grip. “Where’s Dad?”
“Dad’s dead!” Nicholas tightened his grip, still trying to move her. “Aggie, please. I double crossed them. The triplets’ plane is going to leave any second, and we need to be on it.”
“Dad’s dead?” Shock registered on Agata’s face. “What do you mean, you double crossed them? Nicky, what did you do?”
Nicholas opened his mouth to answer, but a Hummer screeched to a halt behind his car. Nicholas whirled around, raising his gun, but not in time. A bullet landed in his shoulder. Agata screamed, and Nicholas shouted in pain, his gun clattering from his fingers as he stumbled back into the car.
The door to the Hummer opened, and Olivia stepped out, walking briskly over to them. “How long have you been a traitor, Nicholas?” She glared at him.
Breathing heavily, Nicholas sneered. “Everybody plays the game better than you, Livy.”
“What are you two talking about? Olivia, put the gun down!” Agata moved to her brothers’ side, staring wide eyed at Olivia.
Olivia shoved the gun into Nicholas’s forehead and pulled the trigger. Agata screamed again, and Olivia shot her in the head, too. They fell on top of each other as they hit the concrete. “Apparently not.”
“Let’s go, Olivia!” Amadeo shouted from the car.
“Such a waste.” Shaking her head, Olivia turned around, marching back over to the Hummer, and got inside. “Get us to the airport. Hurry.”
§
The majority of Alcyone Island’s small but effective military force was stationed at the Loyalty Airlines airfield. Under Christopher’s direction, they had been secretly training for this kind of scenario for the last five months. Holding the perimeter until the triplets’ plane got off the ground was the primary objective.
The triplets’ Hummer zoomed through the gates, skidding to a stop on the tarmac in front of the plane. Vasco was the first to climb out, and Lieutenant General Richie Archer was waiting for him.
“Our air force kicked their ass, so the skies are clear. The ground is a mess. They took the hotel. We lost contact with the governor and Chief Vaughn,” Lieutenant Archer explained. Sadly, Vasco had expected as much. Lucien frowned darkly.
“Where is Simone?” Vasco asked.
“She’ll be here in five minutes. Both she and Mr. Kincade,” Lieutenant Archer said.
“Thank you. Have the Omega Cadre put on their plane. The remainder of the Dion Corp Security team is to come with us.”
“What are your odds of holding them back after we’re gone, Archer?” Lucien looked over at the men guarding the airport, then back at the L.G.
“Sir, General Christopher Zhane made it very clear that if this day came they would be fighting for something greater than themselves. Not false patriotism, or an orchestrated terrorist attack, but something a lot simpler and a whole hell of a lot more valuable. He said they’d be fighting to give people like them a choice. It was a very inspiring speech, sir. So, to answer your question it doesn’t matter. They’ll fight until they can’t, because they choose to.”
That sounded like Uncle Christopher, Lucien thought. His eyes teared up. Jaw working back and forth, he nodded, unable to say anything because of the knot in his throat.
“Rest assured, Archer, General Zhane was right.” Vasco clasped his brothers’ shoulder and led him over to the waiting plane.
“I believe you, sirs.”
“Lieutenant General,” A solider lowered his binoculars and pointed, “We’ve got incoming! A whole fuckin’ lot of them!”
Chapter 16
“You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
- Winston Churchill
December 2, 2012 - 1:12 AM
International Airspace
SVT One
The Boeing 787 was its own version of Air Force One. The triplets could have run things from their plane for the next twenty days if they chose to. They sat in the conference room, trying to come to terms with what had just happened. They had all been a lot harder in their past lives. While those memories were helpful in some ways, they didn’t take away the pain, or the reality of the current moment. Lucien’s eyes were as raw as he felt. Watching someone die in front of him, someone he loved and respected, simply hurt. He slouched into his chair, with his fist pressed against his mouth, and stared down at the polished wood of the table.
Simone felt numb. While her family was being attacked and murdered, she had been giving into something that wasn’t hers to claim this lifetime. She knew better. She fucking knew better, but the selfish, undisciplined part of her had wanted something that she’d had before, instead of focusing on what she needed to do now. She was here to play the game, and win it. She might die trying to accomplish it, but so long as she and her brothers called checkmate, who cared?
Vasco walked into the tensely silent conference room and took his seat. Briefly, he traded glances between his siblings, locked in their internal struggles. As a family, they had prepared for the worst; expected that, at some point, the members of the Brotherhood would decide that it was in their best interest to get rid of the force that was working so hard against them.
Plans and reality were always so very different.
It was with an odd sort of detachment that Vasco observed his own feelings. The loss of family was a blow, but they had a very important task to accomplish, and he just wanted to get it done. “All the SVT offices have been vacated and moved to the ghost locations that Marcello set up for them, twenty miles away from each concentration camp we’re going to hit. Derek’s team is already at the compound. We’ll get the status of our weapons when we get there.”
“What about Alcyone Island? Leone and Isabella? Do we know what’s going on there?” Lucien asked.
Vasco shook his head. “Caleb is in the control room and has just informed me we’ve lost all contact. The boys on Phoenix Isle knew that when code red hit, they were to destroy everything so the enemy couldn’t use it.”
Anger was a much more familiar, much easier emotion than pain. Simone latched onto it, instead of her grief. It helped her think. “I know we’ve got an escort, but how far away are we from the landing? I don’t understand why the Brotherhood wouldn’t just scramble a few of their own fighter jets and come after us. They’re pretty much in do whatever the fuck they want mode.”
“We’re an hour away from Casablanca. And they still mi—”
Caleb threw open the door to the conference room. “Hang on, everyone. We’ve got bogeys coming in.”
Simone frowned darkly. “I spoke too soon.”
“How many?” Lucien asked, sitting up.
“Five.” Caleb answered. “That’s not good.”
Vasco stood up. “What are the odds—” His words died mid-sentence because of an explosion just outside one of the windows. The plane shook “That was one of ours, wasn’t it?”
Caleb braced himself on the doorframe. His headset exploded with noise, and he nodded grimly. “Yes, sir.”
“It’s going to be a real
fucking bummer if we get blown out of the sky,” Lucien growled, and then gripped the arms of his chair as the plane suddenly broke a hard right, sending coffee mugs sliding off the table, and shattering on the floor.
“Why the fuck do we have people on the inside if, at pivotal moments, they’re useless?” Simone hissed, then jumped, startled, when two more explosions thundered in the sky.
Caleb looked over at Vasco. “Sir, is there anyone you can call—”
Suddenly, one of the uniformed soldiers from the control room crashed into Caleb from behind. There was an excited, relieved expression on his face. “Sirs. Ma'am. We’ve gotten assistance from an—an—”