by Brent Towns
Her face brightened. “Tell me how.”
He nodded towards the back room. “How about in there?”
She seemed to hesitate before saying, “Sure.”
“Reaper One, inbound tangos one minute out.”
They walked through to the back room, which was an office of sorts. Kane looked around and saw a row of ledgers on a wall shelf. He hurried across to them and began to pull them down and started flipping through the pages.
“What are you doing?” the girl asked in disbelief.
“I’m trying to find a friend.”
“You can’t do this.”
He glanced at her and saw that she was about to scream. “Wait! Don’t scream. Please.”
She screamed.
It was a high-pitched, piercing shriek that seemed to echo throughout the building.
“Fuck it,” Kane cursed and flicked through the books faster. He found nothing.
Out in the foyer, Axe ducked back behind a pillar when the guard on the landing appeared. The man lumbered down the stairs, and, as soon as he hit the bottom, the big ex-recon marine stepped out and chopped him across the throat, stunning him. The man dropped to his knees, and Axe kicked him in the face. Axe then picked up the Steyr and waited for the other man to appear.
“Reaper, you need to get your fucking ass out of there now.”
“Give me a minute,” Kane said as he tossed the last book aside. He looked over at the frozen girl and said, “Where is the ledger?”
“Wh – what?”
“The book Elettra uses for the girls. Where is it?”
Her eyes flicked towards the desk, and she said, “I don’t know.”
“Thanks,” Kane said and walked over to it. He slid open the top drawer and found what he was looking for.
“Reaper One, the tangos are pulling up now.”
“Copy.”
A loud burst of automatic fire ripped through the brothel, and Axe shouted, “Reaper, we gotta go!”
Kane looked at the girl. “Is there a back way out?”
“There,” she said, pointing to another door.
“Axe, come this way.”
More gunfire erupted, and Axe said, “Be right there, Reaper.”
Another burst of fire was followed by an anguished cry and the sound of someone falling down the stairs. Axe appeared in the doorway and smiled. “I’m right to go now.”
Kane held up the ledger. “Got it. We’re going out the back.”
Axe gave the redhead his most endearing smile, and they hurried out through the door and into a wide alley. It was dark outside, but the light from the open door spilled onto the street enough to show the way. “We’ll circle back to the car. Bravo Three, how are we looking?”
“The tangos have gone inside. You need to move.”
Axe dumped the Steyr as they jogged along the alley and circled back around the block, walking towards their Audi on the opposite side of the street. Out front of the brothel, four men had emerged and appeared to be looking around for them.
One of the men looked up and eyeballed Kane. He shouted something and pointed across the street. “Get in, Axe. We’ve been rumbled.”
They jumped into the Audi just as the men across the street opened fire with their weapons. The bullets striking the panels sounded like a hail storm, and the side window shattered, spraying the pair with glass just as Axe got the engine to fire.
He wrenched the stick into gear and floored the accelerator. The wheels spun, and the Audi fishtailed out into the traffic, almost collecting an oncoming vehicle.
“Christ!” Kane exclaimed. “That went well.”
Axe was looking in the rearview mirror and said grimly, “We aren’t done yet. They’ve decided they still want the pleasure of our company.”
Kane cast a glance back over his shoulder and saw that an SUV had peeled out and was now following. “Bravo Three, we have company. I need a way out of here.”
“Copy, Reaper One. I’m on it.”
“Axe, turn left here,” Kane snapped.
The ex-recon man hit the brakes and spun the wheel left. The rear end slid around the corner, forcing the driver to correct before it kept going. Axe floored the throttle once more, and the Audi shot forward.
“Reaper One, at the next intersection, you need to turn left.”
“Copy, Bravo Three.” Kane gripped the handle on the door as the vehicle accelerated.
Behind them, headlights bounced into view, their beams reflecting from the rearview mirror. “Axe, you need to turn left at the next intersection.”
There was no response as the Audi lurched over a bump in the cobblestones and almost became airborne. The turn was coming on at a speed which seemed impossible for the Audi to make safely. At the last possible moment, Axe jammed on the brakes, spun the wheel, and turned …
… right!
“Left!” Kane shouted. “Left! Left! You were told to turn fucking left!”
Axe said nothing as he began dodging the oncoming traffic.
“Reaper One, you’ve just turned the wrong way onto a one-way street.”
“No shit, Bravo Three. Axe, turn this bitch around!”
Axe swerved around a car whose horn blared loudly and then pulled on the parking brake while turning hard on the wheel. The car’s rear end whipped around and straightened, now going with the flow of traffic.
Headlights from the pursuing SUV lit them up in its beams, dazzling both men. Suddenly muzzle flashes from the oncoming vehicle winked at them, an indication that the passenger had just opened fire. Kane accessed the glove compartment where he’d left his M17. He pressed the button to lower the window then put his arm out the opening to fire when suddenly Axe slid the Audi into a ninety-degree turn to the right.
“What the hell are you doing?” Kane barked above the squeal of tires.
“Hang on!” he exclaimed, and the vehicle’s nose dropped as it began a sharp descent down a wide set of stairs.
The Audi bucked wildly, and Kane heard Teller in his comms say, “That’ll work.”
When they reached the bottom, a wide piazza opened before them. Axe put his foot down to accelerate across the cobbled expanse. Behind them, Kane saw the SUV finish its careening run down the steps and follow.
“Reaper One, across the other side of the piazza there is a street. Once you reach it, turn right.”
“Copy, Bravo Three.”
“And watch out for the –”
“Oh, fuck!” Axe exclaimed as a large marble fountain loomed up in front of them. He wrenched the wheel to the left, and the Audi responded immediately. The rear end kicked out, just missing the fountain’s raised pond, which could have done serious damage to the vehicle.
“I guess you found the fountain, Reaper One?”
“More like it nearly found us.”
Axe turned the wheel the other way and put them back on track. Behind them, there were now two SUVs in pursuit. The one in front was closer since their near miss had cost them precious time, and the passenger opened fire again.
Bullets peppered the back of the Audi, and the rear window was shattered by a couple of rounds. Axe snapped, “Are you going to shoot back or what?”
“Just drive. When you hit the street on the other side of the piazza, turn left.”
“Why left?”
“Because I’m hoping you’ll turn fucking right.”
“Why didn’t you just say right?”
“Because you don’t listen.”
Axe twisted the wheel suddenly to avoid a couple walking across in front of them. “I listen. I’m a good listener.”
“What way are you going to turn, Axe?”
“Left.”
Kane shook his head. “Fuck me. Stop the car!”
“What?”
“Stop the damned car!”
Axe jammed on the brakes, and the Audi slid to a halt. Kane leaped from the vehicle, walked behind it and raised the M17. He blasted ten rounds from the seventeen-round magaz
ine at the lead SUV which took a violent turn to the right and rolled. Pieces of shattered glass flew in all directions, and behind it, the second SUV had to veer hard left to avoid a collision, roaring past the inert Audi.
Kane nonchalantly continued to the driver’s door and yanked it open. “Get over.”
“Damn it, Reaper …”
“Now, Axe.”
The ex-recon marine climbed into the passenger seat which Kane had just vacated. He looked through the windshield and saw the second SUV turn abruptly and start coming back towards them. “You might want to hurry up, Reaper, before these guys start shooting.”
Kane climbed into the Audi and tossed Axe his M17. “Here, shoot the fuckers back.”
Without another word, Kane put it into gear and planted his foot. The tires squealed, and the Audi shot forward.
Axe leaned out the window and fired four shots at the oncoming SUV, which were returned in spades when the shooter inside it let loose with a Steyr.
“Reaper One, we’re getting traffic over the net telling us that you have police converging on your position. Suggest you turn left instead of right once you leave the piazza.”
“Shit!” Kane cursed.
The SUV slid past them on the right leaving an open run to the street ahead. Luckily there were no more pedestrians, which made navigation easier.
However, another problem soon arose. Dirty great steel bollards had been erected along the edge of the piazza, a sign of the times and designed to stop anyone who might have a notion to use their car as a weapon.
“Damn it!” Kane cursed out loud, putting the vehicle into a sliding turn. “Slick, are you there?”
“Copy, Reaper One.”
“We need some of your magic. We’ve got bollards blocking our exfil. They look electric; can you do something with them?”
“I’ll try.”
The pursuing SUV shifted track when its driver saw the Audi coming back their way, pointing the vehicle’s nose at them and attempting to pin the side panel. Kane’s quick acceleration managed to avoid the potentially-crippling blow.
He circled back around the fountain and pointed the Audi towards the bollards. “Slick, I need those things down now.”
“Just about there, Reaper.”
Axe leaned out the window and fired back at the SUV. One of its headlights went out suddenly, smashed by a lucky shot. The armed passenger lit them up with a long burst, and more holes opened in the Audi.
“Come on, Slick. We’re about to run out of car.”
“Right now, Reaper. Go now.”
Kane floored the accelerator and the vehicle’s rear end kicked out a touch before its tires gained traction as it straightened, shooting forward with an amazing burst of speed. Axe fired more shots out the rear window, and the SUV dropped back.
Kane’s eyes widened with the sudden realization that the bollards, although retracting slowly, were not going to be down by the time they got there. He dropped the Audi back a gear and punched the throttle, swinging on the wheel once more. Axe’s head snapped around. “Damn it, Reaper, what are you … whoa!”
“Hang on, Axe!”
The ex-recon marine gripped the seat beside him as the rear end of the Audi kicked out once more. Kane punched the accelerator again and pointed it back the way they’d come.
“You get the feeling we’re going around in circles, Reaper?”
“You think?”
“What’s wrong, Reaper One?”
“The damned bollards aren’t down. They’re going too slow.”
The shooter from the SUV fired again, and Kane swerved the vehicle to make less of a target. “Do something about him, will you? I thought you were supposed to be some hotshot sniper.”
Axe slapped a fresh magazine home into the SIG. “If you weren’t driving around like a drunken maniac, I’d be right.”
“Here then, try this.”
Kane jammed on the brakes and turned the wheel. The Audi slid sideways, presenting the SUV as a clear target. Axe poked the M17 through the opening, blowing off half of the seventeen-shot magazine.
The rounds impacted the windscreen and hit the driver. The SUV lurched left, and the tires bit, throwing the vehicle over and over. Kane and Axe watched as it tumbled past the front of the Audi and Kane nodded with satisfaction. “About time.”
“Reaper One, you’ve got police converging on your position from multiple directions. I suggest you get out of there.”
“Copy, Bravo Three. See you when we get home.”
Team Reaper Ops Center
Milan, Italy
On the outskirts of Milan, the team was holed up in a warehouse utilized by the CIA during operations into Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia. Externally, it looked disused, seeming to be in a terrible state of disrepair; however, the inside told a much different story.
When Kane and Axe drew up in the Audi, they were met by Traynor who took one look at the car and shook his head. “Mama ain’t going to be happy with her boys tonight.”
“Shut up,” Kane growled. “If Axe could drive, we’d have had no problem.”
“That would be right, blame the subordinate,” Axe protested. “Besides, it ain’t that bad.”
Traynor chuckled. “No, you’re right; it’s worse.”
Then the inevitable happened. Thurston appeared at the door and stopped as though she’d been shot. She glared at the men before her, who pointed at each other and said simultaneously, “He did it.”
“Unbelievable. Eighty-five thousand dollars’ worth of car and you two fuck it up in one evening. I knew I should have got you a damned pickup.”
“In all fairness, Ma’am, it wasn’t exactly us who shot it up.”
“I don’t want to hear it. The general will have heart failure when he gets the bill for this. Inside. Briefing in five minutes.”
They watched her go, and Kane turned to his friend. “All because you couldn’t follow a simple direction.”
“Yes, sir. Mama definitely ain’t happy with her boys tonight,” Traynor chuckled once more.
They both turned to him and said, “Shut up.”
Once inside, Kane handed the ledger over to Swift who took it across to his work station and started going through it. Ferrero turned and saw Kane and opened his mouth to speak.
“Before you say anything, the general has already torn strips off us.”
“I was just going to say that it’s good to see you in one piece.”
“Thanks.”
“Did you find out anything?”
“Apart from the fact that these guys are well armed? Not really.”
“While you were on your way back, we picked up something through other channels.”
“What?”
“Wait for the briefing.”
“OK.”
They gathered around, and Thurston signaled Swift to join them. He grabbed his coffee cup and crossed to them with the ledger under his arm. He took a seat with the others and waited for the general to begin.
With a lengthy sigh, she said, “I wouldn’t exactly call that a successful mission, people. However, Interpol has raided the club and taken the girls there into custody. There was no sign of Bellandi or his wife.”
“What about the ledger? Surely there is something in that?” Kane asked.
“There are a few interesting bits in there,” Swift said, standing up. “I haven’t had time to look at it in depth. There are some new girls, but their names are coded. There are a few notes beside them, one of which stands out. There was a dinner at the Il Magnifico Hotel. There were marks next to the names of certain code names which indicate that some of the girls were going there.”
“That doesn’t tell us much,” Axe said. “Just that there was a dinner at the hotel, and some girls were going there.”
“It tells us more than you know,” Thurston said. “Slick, continue.”
“There was some trouble at the hotel earlier this evening. Apparently, a dignitary from Cameroon was badly beaten,
and his two bodyguards were shot and killed. By a woman.”
Kane nodded. “That sounds like our woman. So, the police will have her?”
“That’s what we thought, but they don’t. She was taken away by a woman and a man. All accounts say that it was Elettra and her bodyguard.”
“So, we’re back to square one,” Kane pointed out. “We have no idea what has happened to her or even if she is still alive.”
“That’s about it.”
Kane shook his head. “What a fuck up.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
Chapter 13
Turin, Italy
Kane and Arenas made their way through the cheering crowd as two women in a cage virtually beat the shit out of each other. After two weeks, the search for information had finally borne fruit, even if it was only half-grown.
According to several sources, Amando Bellandi had a fight setup in Turin. It was exclusively women’s MMA (mixed martial arts). Apparently, Bellandi had a new fighter who was taking all who came before her. Upon hearing the news, Thurston had dispatched Kane and Arenas to investigate, in the hope that it would draw a satisfactory conclusion.
“Zero, we’re in.”
“Copy, Reaper One.”
Inside the cage, a well-muscled woman with red hair let loose with a roundhouse kick that caught her brunette opponent under the jaw. The dark-haired woman’s head snapped back, and she buckled at the knees before falling to the canvas. The red-head danced around the cage with her hands raised, cheering.
Two men entered the ring and dragged the unconscious fighter out while the remaining woman played up to the boisterous crowd.
Arenas nudged Kane and indicated a man seated ringside with a familiar woman. “Zero, I have eyes on Amando and Elettra Bellandi.”
“Copy. Watch your backs.”
The pair began to circle the ring, trying to locate the change rooms. Before they got too far, things began to happen. Firstly, a new fighter appeared, emerging from an unseen place, likely the change rooms they sought. A tall, raven-haired woman with thick arms and a muscular physique. The second thing was more personal. Cara materialized from the cheering crowd, dressed in a white crop top and tight-fitting Spandex shorts. Her fists were taped, and she looked to be in peak physical condition.