After they left, I emptied my pockets to prepare for bed and felt an odd object with my right hand. I withdrew the object and held it closer to my face to study it.
It was a small white business card with, “AGENT WELLS 555-505-2772,” printed at the top. Under the phone number was a message scribbled in jagged handwriting:
“When you change your mind.”
I thought about ripping it up and throwing it away for a moment, but I decided to hang on to it… just in case.
34. FEAR OR FOCUS
I TOOK IT EASY FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS IN ORDER to build my strength. I still wasn’t quite at 100 percent when the night of the operation came around, but I was good enough. After all, my 80 percent meant that I could still toss a few thousand pounds around like it was nobody’s business.
We rented a large, black SUV using a fake ID that Howie had created in order to drive to Atlanta. I decided to ride with them instead of running in order to conserve my strength.
I’m not sure if it was out of fear or focus, but we drove mostly in silence. We all knew the plan. We had met at 3D every day to rehash the details to make sure that our execution was nothing short of perfect.
I could tell Howie was nervous. He was doing a decent job of hiding it, but the way he kept biting his bottom lip and constantly adjusting the high-tech glasses that he wore let me know that something was troubling him. It was hard not to let his nervous demeanor affect my confidence in the mission, so I kept reminding myself that between the light body armor that he was wearing and my close proximity, he should have nothing to worry about.
As Jason drove us closer to Atlanta, I wondered if Agent Wells knew about the operation that we were about to undertake. If they were able to find 3D, they no doubt had a way of keeping tight surveillance on us. He had warned me to abandon my pursuit of The Strangers, yet there we were, about to do the exact opposite. I felt somewhat guilty about keeping Howie and Jason in the dark about that, but I was prepared to do whatever it took to avenge my brother.
Maybe Agent Wells was right about The Righteous being the bigger threat, but this was personal. Taking out The Suspect was something that I needed to do before I could focus on anything else.
As I stared out of the window, I thought about Monica for a split second before forcing the memory of her from my mind. She and I had not spent any quality time together over the past three days because I was purposely keeping my distance in order to mentally prepare myself for battle. Whenever I was around her, I couldn’t think about anything else and I couldn’t risk my infatuation for her distracting me from the mission. As far as she knew, Jason, Howie and I had been working on renovating 3D, which was taking up most of my free time. She was a lot more understanding than I probably deserved. I felt terrible about misleading her, but I knew that I was doing the right thing.
My heart skipped a beat as we sped past the “Welcome to Atlanta” sign. It was almost go-time. I knew we had prepared well, and I trusted Howie’s plan, but something in my gut didn’t feel right.
HOWIE DROPPED JASON AND I OFF A BLOCK AWAY FROM the gas station where he was supposed to meet Bravo. We disappeared into the shadows and made our way around the block headed toward the rendezvous point.
This phase of the plan went smoothly. Howie arrived before Bravo, which gave Jason and me plenty of time to find a suitable vantage point. As Bravo arrived in a large, black SUV, he was completely unaware of Jason, who waited patiently with the shadows near his vehicle.
Jason pulled his mask over his face and tied a long headband around his head as Howie crossed the street. As Howie neared the SUV, Jason sank deeper into the shadows and stealthily crept up to the passenger side of Bravo’s vehicle. Jason’s jet-black armor blended so perfectly against the black SUV that the only way I could track his position was by the white spade painted over the right side of his mask. I kept my eyes on Bravo, who remained in the driver’s seat of the vehicle as Howie reached the passenger door. I was nervous because I couldn’t see Bravo’s eyes due to his black Stranger mask, but if he even flinched the wrong way, I was prepared to zoom over and ram the entire SUV across the street.
The moment Howie opened the passenger door, Jason sprang into the vehicle and incapacitated Bravo in less than a second. Jason and I quickly bound and gagged him and tossed him into the back of the rental.
In no time, I was sitting in the driver’s seat of Bravo’s SUV wearing his jet-black Stranger uniform. An interesting thing about The Strangers is that most of the members preferred to remain anonymous, even amongst themselves. We were counting on that in order for me to successfully pose as Bravo. Atop of the ski mask that I had worn the night I saved that lady from the mugger, I pulled on Bravo’s black Stranger mask. I had brought the skull-faced ski mask just in case things got hairy. If the crap hit the fan, I wanted them to know exactly whom they were dealing with.
After a few minutes, we were in route to The Stranger compound with me fully disguised as Bravo. Ace followed us in the rental car down the long, dark road that led to the facility.
We stopped a mile outside of the compound so that Jason could stage the rental and approach the facility on foot. Howie and I waited fifteen minutes before approaching the building so as to give Jason enough time to make his approach. My heart thumped heavily as we finally drove onto the main compound. The entire site looked abandoned from the outside, though we all knew better.
“Dude, where’s your mask?” I whispered to Howie as I pulled the car into a parking spot twenty yards from the main building.
“I’m not wearing one,” Howie replied without looking at me.
“Are you kidding me?” I asked, while trying to restrain my anger. Even though I was suddenly furious, I wanted to remain calm just in case we were being watched.
“No, I’m not kidding. Revealing my identity was a condition of my rejoining. It was the only way. We don’t have time for this. We have to keep moving,” Howie mumbled.
My gut told me to run. It told me to start the SUV and drive away as fast as possible, but my need for revenge wouldn’t let me. We had gotten so close that even though I could sense that Howie was walking into unimaginable danger, I couldn’t turn back.
I exited the SUV and followed Howie to the back of it and waited as he removed a black duffle bag that was full of the equipment that he was supposed to install for The Strangers. Howie quickly pressed a button on the right side of his high-tech glass. “Ace this is Echo. Are you in position?”
“I’m twenty seconds out,” I heard Jason say in my earpiece.
“10-4. Reaper and I are going in. We’ll maintain radio silence until we’ve reached the control room,” Howie said. I expected him to be a bit nervous, but instead, he looked absolutely terrified.
“First sign of trouble and I’m getting you the heck out of there, Echo. Just relax, okay? We’ve got this,” I reassured.
Howie forced a nod.
“Piece of cake, right?” he said.
“Red velvet,” I replied.
Red velvet cake was both of our favorites. He chuckled at my joke, which made me feel a bit better about the situation.
A row of lights flickered on as we approached the building. I was surprised when the double doors of the main building snapped open and two Strangers emerged with assault rifles aimed at us.
“Stop right there!” one of them shouted. I couldn’t tell which of them said it due to the expressionless white masks they were wearing. Howie and I both froze. I balled my fists and prepared for action as my heartbeat quickened.
“It’s okay!” Howie responded, “I’m one of you. My name is Echo and I’m here under orders from Charlie.”
“Echo has been out of the game for a while. How do I know this isn’t a trick?” the Stranger on the left asked with his head cocked to the side.
“Well, I’m back now! You can confirm that with Charlie! And if you know what’s good for you, I’d put those weapons away. That’s Bravo that you’re pointing those
things at. Don't you recognize the mask?” Howie said firmly, as he gestured at me.
The Strangers became visibly nervous when Howie identified me as Bravo. I allowed myself to relax as I realized that Howie had the situation under control.
“Charlie sent him to escort me in just in case we ran into any trigger happy dorks like yourselves,” Howie quipped. “So, I figure we can do this one of two ways. You two can keep standing there with your guns on us, continue pissing this guy off and, in turn, piss off Charlie if we’re late. Or you can stand aside and let me do my job.”
The two Strangers glanced at each other, then back to me. After I cleared my throat and crossed my arms in front of my chest, they finally lowered their weapons.
“Thank you,” Howie sarcastically added as we pushed past them.
I guess my pep talk worked, I thought as we entered the building. Howie’s quick thinking and slick talking impressed me, but I still had the feeling that we weren’t out of the woods just yet. At the time, there was no way for me to know just how right I was.
HOWIE HAD USED HIS ARIAL DRONE TO MAP THE SCHEMATICS of the building a few days in advance, so finding the main control room was fairly simple. Once inside the dimly lit room, Howie went to work on a huge terminal in the center of the floor.
I stood guard over him as he worked. For the most part, the other Strangers occupying the building seemed completely disinterested in us. Every so often, one of them would enter the room and observe us but never for more than a minute.
As I watched Howie type away on the countless keyboards before him, I couldn’t help but wonder about Jason. It had been nearly twenty minutes since we last spoke with him. Radio silence was always uncomfortable for me, but this was especially nerve racking because Jason was alone. If something happened to him, there was no way that I could be there to save him.
“Ace, this is Echo. Come in,” Howie whispered as he pressed a small button on the side of his glasses.
I instinctively positioned myself near the door to listen for any incoming Strangers, while Howie contacted Jason.
“Echo, go ahead,” Jason replied over the radio.
“I’m sending you the coordinates of the package. Make it quick,” Howie said as he tapped several buttons on the right side of his high-tech glasses.
“10-4,” Jason replied.
I knew the next phase of the plan. As Ace extracted the girl, Howie would download sensitive data from The Strangers’ network in hopes of finding information that could help us track down The Suspect. The plan was seemingly working like a charm, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was working too well.
My heart jumped out of my chest when Howie’s eyes suddenly widened with fear as he stared at one of the computer monitors before him.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as I quickly approached him.
He ignored me and frantically tapped a button on his glasses. “Ace this is Echo, come in,” he whispered anxiously.
“Echo, what’s going on?” I demanded. I could barely hear anything over the sound of my heartbeat echoing in my head.
“It’s the girl. She-”
“I’m going in, Echo. I’ll hit you back when I’m out,” Jason quickly said over the radio.
“No, Ace, don’t! It’s not-” Howie’s words were interrupted by a scream that we both heard over the radio.
“What was that?” I demanded.
“Ace, come in! Ace?!” Howie shouted.
Something had gone wrong with the extraction, and Howie knew it. He must have noticed something in The Stranger’s files that let him know it would happen.
I grabbed Howie by the shoulders and forced him to look at me.
“What just happened?” I growled.
“She wasn’t abducted by The Strangers. She joined them!” Howie replied in disbelief.
“That must have been her screaming to alert the others. I’m going after him,” I said firmly.
“I’m coming with you,” Howie replied.
We turned to exit and stopped dead in our tracks when we noticed the five Strangers blocking the doors.
35. PARDON THE INTERUPTION
FOUR OF THE STRANGERS THAT STOOD BEFORE US WERE carrying assault rifles, but none of them were aiming at us. I could tell that the fifth Stranger that stood the closest to us was probably the one calling the shots. Instead of the typical black body armor and plain white mask, he wore a dark brown, full-length duster coat over jet-black body armor along with a red Greek Comedy Mask and a black cowboy hat that was slightly tipped forward. Instead of an assault rifle, he had a gigantic magnum revolver holstered on his right hip.
None of them were aiming their guns, so I tried to soften my posture as the Stranger wearing the red mask tipped his hat and nodded at Howie.
“Evenin’, gentlemen,” he said with a thick southern accent.
“Hello, Charlie. I didn’t realize you were stopping by tonight,” Howie replied.
“Well, I happened to be in the neighborhood, and I figured it wouldn’t hurt much if I dropped in. So how’s everything comin' along, Hoss? You take care of that pesky virus yet?” Charlie asked.
“Yeah, we're actually almost done. I just need to install the hardware, and it should be smooth sailing from there.”
“Is that a fact?” Charlie asked, mockingly. “Well, I'm afraid that equipment's gonna have to wait, Hoss. You see, the big wigs just arrived upstairs, and there's one in particular who wants to make your acquaintance. Now I don't want to go and spoil the surprise, but I suspect he doesn't want to be waitin' all night.”
It smelled like a trap. For all we knew, they had captured and killed Jason and were luring us to our deaths as well. But I didn't know that for sure. He was obviously implying that The Suspect was on the premises and, if he was, then I would gladly go quietly to him if it meant that I would get the chance to wrap my hands around his neck.
I gave Howie a subtle nod as he glanced at me for guidance.
“Certainly. We wouldn't dream of keeping him waiting,” Howie finally replied.
“Alright then. After you fine gentlemen,” Charlie said gesturing toward the exit. As I headed toward the exit I could tell he was smiling beneath the sinister smirk of the Greek Comedy mask that he wore upon his face.
THE BAD FEELING I HAD BECAME A LOT WORSE AS WE exited the elevator on the roof and I noticed that The Suspect was nowhere in sight. The moon had risen high in the cloudless night sky as Howie and I proceeded forward with Charlie and his fellow Strangers just a few feet behind us. They still had not yet aimed their weapons at us, but it still felt like we were being led away at gunpoint.
“That's far enough,” Charlie said as we reached the center of the roof.
I stiffened as I anticipated an imminent attack. I wondered if they would shoot us in the backs like cowards or line us up execution style.
“What’s going on here, Charlie?” Howie demanded without facing him.
“You tell me, Hoss,” Charlie replied from behind us. The hints of humor and sarcasm that I detected in his voice earlier had vanished. Playtime was apparently over.
“I'm not sure what you mean,” Howie replied, convincingly.
“Where's Bravo?” Charlie demanded.
Howie and I stood in silence as The Strangers walked in front of us and finally aimed their rifles at us. A tremor shot down my spine as I thought of Howie. I suddenly wished that I had his mind in order to calculate my odds of taking them all out before they got a shot off.
“Bravo is standing right beside me. What’s the meaning of this, Charlie?” Howie asked. He was hiding his fear well, but I could tell that he was still afraid. I kept telling myself that he didn’t need to be scared. Whatever they were planning probably didn’t account for the fact that I was strong enough to hoist a 6000-pound truck above my head.
“You think you're pretty smart, don't ya, Hoss?” Charlie mocked.
“No, I’m just having trouble understanding what’s going on here. I was brought i
n to do a specific job and whatever this is, isn't helping,” Howie retorted.
“Well I reckon I should clear thangs up for ya, Hoss. You see, you're not the only wiz kid on the block now, partner. Some of your former comrades were excited to have a valued asset like yourself decide to come out of retirement, but The Suspect figured the timin’ of it was a little too odd for his likin’. Now, Bravo was supposed to bring you back here, that much is true. But you weren't supposed to actually to be alive when you got here, Hoss.”
“Enough talk,” I snapped. “I'm only gonna give you one chance to walk away from this! If you leave now-”
With almost unnatural speed, Charlie had drawn his pistol and aimed it at my head before I finished my sentence. My heart rate tripled as I stared down the barrel of the silver Magnum revolver.
“I'm sorry, Hoss, did I break your concentration?” Charlie asked, smugly.
“Hardly,” I growled.
“That mouthful of sass is fixin’ to get you a mouthful of lead, boy. This ain't no peashooter, Hoss. If I squeeze this trigger once, you can kiss that melon goodbye. Now, I expect the next thing outta that mouth of yours to be the whereabouts of Bravo.”
The sight of Charlie’s enormous pistol was making me nervous, but I was relieved that he was aiming at me instead of Howie. I wasn’t sure how my dense molecular composition would deal with a gunshot, but I hoped it would hold up similar to when that mugger tried to stab me and his knife broke on my skin.
“What's it gonna be, Princess?” Charlie asked.
I suddenly grabbed Howie by the back of his collar before any of them could react. I figured he would be pretty sore in the morning, but getting him out of the way was the only way that I could really cut loose.
I hurled Howie’s body over the group of Strangers and leapt into action just as they turned to see where he had landed.
Charlie slithered away as I caught the closest Stranger with a devastating right hook to the back of his head. I flattened the next two Strangers with vicious right and left hooks before the first one had even hit the floor. I heard a thundering gunshot just as I pummeled the last one to the floor. Before I could dive away, something slammed hard against my left shoulder with so much force that I was instantly knocked off my feet. Charlie stood fifteen feet away from the battle, brandishing his smoking gun when the dust settled.
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