by Mike Ryan
The floor creaked slightly as the men tried to quietly walk through the room. Quickly surveying their surroundings, the leader of the group motioned for one man to check the kitchen, and the other two to check the bedroom and bathroom. He was heading for the open door on the balcony. The intruders stopped at each of their respective doors, listening for any kind of sound that would indicate Raines was on the other side of it. The man at the bedroom door went first, quickly rushing in and waving his gun around in a circle. The man at the bathroom door watched his partner go into the bedroom and assumed Raines wasn’t there since there were no shots fired. He heard the water running in the bathroom and slowly opened the door. The man in the bedroom saw the lump on the bed and focused his gun on it. He gradually pulled the covers off, revealing the stacked pillows. Feeling at ease, he put his gun in his holster. Raines turned to his side and put his gun within an inch of the man’s leg and pulled the trigger. The man instantly fell to the ground, holding his shin in agony as pieces of the bone flew off. As soon as he hit the ground, Raines put two more bullets in his chest. It happened so fast the man didn’t even have time to scream.
Raines rolled out from under the bed and scurried to the door. He had a clear line of sight to the bathroom as it was right across from the bedroom. The man had just checked the shower and let the curtain fall back into his position. Raines held his weapon out in front of him and aimed at the man’s chest. As soon as the guy turned around Raines fired a shot, hitting him in the chest. He fell back into the tub as the water dribbled over his lifeless body.
“You all right in there?” a voice shouted from the main room.
“In the bathroom,” Raines replied putting his hand over his mouth to disguise his voice, hoping he sounded like one of them.
Raines waited to the side of the bedroom opening. As soon as he saw the outline of a man rounding the corner he fired two rounds into the man’s back. He let out a grunt just before he passed away, hitting the ground face first. The last surviving member of the group heard the commotion and came rushing over just as Raines peeked his head out the door. The two men exchanged fire, neither one hitting their intended target. A piece of wood splintering off the door frame hit Raines in the side of the forehead but he brushed it off. He entered the hallway towards the main room, ready to fire again.
“You got nowhere to go,” Raines yelled.
“You don’t either,” the man shouted back.
“Perhaps. But there’s no way you can get to the door without running past me. And there’s no other way out of this room.”
“I could say the same for you.”
“Let’s make a deal then.”
“I’m listening.”
“Instead of either of us taking the chance of getting killed, let’s agree to call it a stalemate and we’ll both go our separate ways,” Raines offered.
“If I leave this room without you dead I might as well be dead myself.”
“I’m only after Booth. If I get him you’re in the clear. I’m not after you. Don’t even know who you are.”
“You’d let me walk?” the man asked.
“All I want is Booth.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
Raines thought for a few seconds to determine how to handle the situation. “Tell you what. Let’s both slide our guns out at the same time. Sound good?”
“I guess so.”
“On three. One…two…three,” Raines said, sliding his gun into the open spot of the floor. The gun of the other man slid at the same time, hitting his as they spun around.
“Now let’s both come out with our hands up to show there’s no funny business,” Raines said.
Raines raised his hands and walked to the end of the hallway and peeked around the corner. He saw the other man walking closer, his hands in the air also. They both lowered their arms as they only stood a few feet from each other.
“So we just both go our separate ways now?” the man asked.
“Unless you’d like to change the terms of our agreement.”
“As a matter of fact, I would. You should always carry a backup weapon,” he said, reaching for a gun tucked inside his jacket.
Raines quickly removed his gun from the back of his pants and shot the man three times in the chest. He wasn’t even able to remove his own gun from his jacket before he hit the ground and perished. Raines walked over to him and stood over his body.
“I agree,” he stated, reloading his gun.
Raines reached down into the man’s pockets to see if he was carrying anything of value with him that would help get Booth. He noticed his phone and pulled it out. Raines scrolled through his list of contacts and saw a listing for Booth. He tried to think of a way to draw him up to the room.
“It’s done. Raines is dead,” he texted. “There’s another guy here. His ID says his name is Cain. He’s hurt but still breathing. What do we do with him?”
He figured that by including Cain’s name he raised the stakes a little bit. He didn’t think Booth would be able to resist coming up knowing Matthew Cain was there and in their custody. A few seconds later the room phone started ringing. Raines went over to the table and answered it.
“Hey. Just wanted to let you know the other guy down here’s on his way up,” the desk employee told him.
“You just earned yourself a raise,” Raines replied.
Raines wanted to make sure he’d get the jump on Booth, not quite sure he’d just walk into the room. Raines left his room and went down the hall to stand next to the elevator. He’d surprise Booth as he walked off. A minute later he heard the sound of the elevator stopping. He turned his back, put his head down and pretended to start walking away. A few people stepped off the elevator first before Booth. Once he did, he did a quick look around then turned left to head to Raines’ room. Raines propped his head back up and turned around once he heard the elevator doors closing. He quickly saw where Booth was and quickly walked toward him, making sure he was quiet enough to surprise him. Just as Booth got to the door, he turned around, only to get the butt end of a gun hitting him in the face. His back hit the wall as he stumbled. Once he regained his footing he clearly saw Raines standing in front of him, a gun staring him right in the face.
“Should’ve known,” Booth stated. “Stupid mistake on my part coming up here.”
“Yes, it was. But then again, desperate people who are on the run sometimes do stupid things, don’t they? Drop your gun on the ground.”
Booth did as he was instructed and reached for his gun. He gently removed it and tossed it on the floor. Raines motioned with his gun for Booth to go inside the room. Raines reached down to pick up Booth’s gun as he followed him inside. Booth immediately saw the first man laying on the ground, then turned his head and saw another lying in the hallway.
“Looks like you didn’t send enough,” Raines told him.
“Harder to find good help now than it used to be.”
“Sit,” Raines said, pointing to a chair.
Booth complied and sat down, fairly certain in knowing what his fate would be.
“So what now?” Booth wondered.
“This is the part where you talk and give me the information I want.”
Booth just laughed. “We both know you’re gonna kill me regardless. So why do you think I’m gonna tell you anything?”
“Don’t they say something about dying with a clear conscience or something like that?”
“Yeah. Something like that.”
“Do you want a drink or something before you start?”
“There’s nothing you can do or say that’ll get me to say anything. I know you’re gonna kill me so just get it over with.”
Raines didn’t say anything. He moved closer to his adversary and simply shot him in the left kneecap. Booth grabbed his knee, screaming in pain.
“Now, I can do this all day, putting you in just enough pain and agony as to keep you alive for days in a severe amount of pain. Or, I can end it q
uickly so you won’t have to go through all that,” Raines said.
“Go to Hell.”
Raines fired his gun again, this time hitting Booth in his right shoulder.
“Now, I have enough bullets to shoot you another sixteen or seventeen times if you prefer. I can drag this out for days until you’re in so much pain that you eventually succumb to it. Or you can just tell me what I want to know,” Raines said. “You already know how this ends. So why not save yourself the pain? You can’t save it for another chance somewhere down the line.”
“All right,” Booth sighed.
“Where are the others?”
“Proulx’ in France.”
“We already know that.”
“He’s living with his girlfriend. Near Paris. Not sure the exact address.”
“How do I find him?”
“Find her. She’ll lead you to him,” he told him.
“What does she do?”
“Some kind of artist. Photography I think.”
“Have a name?” Raines asked.
“Maxime something. Never did get her last name.”
“Does she know he’s on the run?”
“Yes.”
“What about the others?”
“Collins is in Germany,” Booth answered.
“Where?”
“Don’t know. Last I heard was he was trying to start up his own operation there.”
“What kind of operation?”
“The usual stuff. You know, drugs, money laundering, guns.”
“Anything else?”
“That’s all I got.”
“What about Sanders?” Raines asked.
“No idea. Haven’t talked to him in months.”
“You don’t have any idea where he might be?”
“Could be anywhere,” Booth replied.
“Would the others know where he’s at?”
“Collins might. He was like his right hand man. If he was still talking to anyone it’d probably be him.”
“That it?” Raines wondered.
“Told you all I know.”
“I’ll give you the courtesy of choosing where you want the fatal blow to be. Head, chest, back?”
“Just make it quick.”
“Want to see it coming?”
Collins just shook his head no. Raines walked around behind him to give him the fatal shot.
“I’ll count to five if you want to say any prayers,” Raines said.
“Thanks.”
“One…two…,” Raines said, pulling the trigger early and firing into the back of his skull. The blast knocked Booth out of the chair and onto the floor, blood and brain matter flying everywhere.
Raines didn’t see the need to prolong Booth’s suffering any longer than it needed to be. He thought it’d be better for him to get it over with quicker. He stepped over Booth’s body and grabbed his bag, putting two of his guns in it. He took one last look at the carnage he’d left before walking out the door. Once Raines got down to the main floor, he saw the employee who’d helped him. He walked over to him and handed him six one hundred dollar bills.
“Appreciate the help,” Raines told him. “I wouldn’t let anyone go in that room until tomorrow.”
“Are you checking out, Mr. Ferguson?”
“I am. My business here is finished.”
Chapter 4
Lawson tried calling Raines again. Still no answer. It was the fifth time in the last thirty minutes that she tried to reach him. Seven texts also went unanswered. She tried using the computer to get a fix on his location using the gps coordinates but that also turned up nothing. She ran her hand over her face in frustration as she feverishly worked to find him. A tear started forming in the corner of her eye but quickly wiped it away, determined to not get emotional. She called a few contacts she had in France but nobody had any information for her.
It’d been over a week since Raines flew out of Italy after killing Booth. He touched down in France a day later and immediately started looking for Proulx via his girlfriend Maxime. He expected to be able to find her without much of a problem but it proved to be more difficult than he thought. Either Maxime wasn’t her real name or she wasn’t a photographer because he wasn’t able to find one that matched her description. After five days of searching, Raines finally thought he’d found someone that could lead him to either Maxime or Proulx. He’d told Lawson that he was meeting with a contact and would follow up with her after he was finished. That was over nine hours ago. Lawson knew his lack of communication was for only one reason. He ran into trouble. Hopefully it wasn’t the deadly kind.
After Lawson exhausted every option that she had at her disposal she finally called Conlin to fill him in. Conlin dropped what he was doing and came into The Center. He met Lawson in her office.
“How long’s it been?” the director asked.
“Over nine hours.”
“Nine hours? Jesus. Why the hell did you wait so long to tell me?”
“I was using all my resources to find him first,” Lawson answered.
“You should’ve let me know two hours after he didn’t check in. Then I could’ve directed all resources on this immediately,” he told her, fuming.
“I bungled it,” she admitted.
“This has never happened before with you. Why now? Is it the personal thing you had with him?” Conlin wondered.
“No. I don’t know why it took so long. I guess I was just giving him the benefit of the doubt and was just trying to find him on my own.”
Conlin paced around the room as he thought of their next move. Lawson stood there at her desk like a kid in school waiting to be reprimanded by their teacher. She knew she blew it and wouldn’t have been surprised if she was sent home and taken off the assignment.
“All right, let’s get everyone in The Room and start working on finding him. Right now everyone’s top priority is finding Eric Raines,” Conlin told her.
“Right away.”
Lawson rounded up all the analysts that were there and coordinated their efforts into finding Raines. They spent the next several hours retracing his steps and looking into the information that he had previously relayed to try and locate him. They’d gotten no closer to finding him than Lawson had. Everyone in the room was getting frustrated by their lack of progress.
“What now?” Lawson asked.
Conlin put his hand over his mouth and blew into it as he tried to formulate a plan. “We need to send someone in.”
“Who? The last time we sent agents into these places three of them ended up dead.”
“I know,” Conlin replied. “We need an edge.”
“What kind of an edge?”
“We need Cain,” the director plainly stated.
“We don’t have anyone else like Cain,” she rebutted.
“I don’t mean someone like him. I mean…him.”
“Sir, with all due respect, you can’t ask Cain to go back out in the field already. He won’t survive,” Lawson animated.
“He’ll survive. Because he has the will to do so.”
“The doctor said he’ll need at least six weeks of recovery. He’s only through week one,” she said, continuing her argument.
“Well then I guess we’ll just present our case and see which side of the coin he falls on.”
“And if he feels he’s not ready?”
“Then I guess we’ll have to send someone else,” Conlin said. “But I don’t think it’ll come to that. Tomorrow morning, go to his apartment and see what his willingness is.”
The following morning, Lawson begrudgingly went to Cain’s apartment. It was a visit she didn’t want to make. A question that she didn’t want to ask. She could always say that she asked and he said no, but she knew somehow the truth would come out and put her in a bigger jam than she was already in. She almost hoped that when she knocked on the door nobody would answer. Not that it would change anything, it’d just delay the inevitable. Heather quickly answered the door. She g
ave Lawson a hug as soon as she saw her. Lawson faked a smile to try and hide the way she was really feeling though she wasn’t very good at it. Heather picked up on it right away.
“What’s wrong?” Heather asked.
“I, uhh, just need to talk to Matt for a minute,” she replied.
“He’s over on the couch,” Heather pointed.
“Listening to doctor orders?”
“Yeah right. You know him as well as I do.”