by Mike Ryan
Cain tucked his gun into the back of his pants and started walking towards the remaining guard. Cain walked slowly and put his head down and his arms by his side, not wanting to give off an aggressive posture. As soon as the guard saw him, he tried to wave him on.
“Keep walking buddy. Can’t be back here,” the guard told him.
Cain lifted his head up and pretended he didn’t hear the guy. “Oh. What’s that you said?” he asked.
“C’mon, can’t be back here,” the guard repeated, grabbing Cain’s arm and pushing him forward.
Cain stopped and turned back toward the guard. “Oh…umm…you got a light or a cigarette or something?”
“Nah man. Don’t smoke. Beat it.”
“Oh. OK. Sorry to bother you,” Cain said as he kept walking closer.
Cain wriggled his nose like he was about to sneeze. He went through all the gyrations of a huge sneeze coming on. He put his head down and his arm out as if he was about to hold onto the guard for assistance in keeping his balance. Just as he was about to let a fake sneeze out, he reached his right hand behind him and removed his gun and bumped up against the guard, pressing his gun against the man’s midsection and firing into his stomach three times. The guard never even saw it coming and was caught by complete surprise as he slid down to the ground, dying in an upright position. Cain snapped his head to his left as he heard a noise that sounded like it was close. The other guard had returned with a stool for each of them to sit on. He was holding a stool in each hand as he saw his partner sitting there on the ground, blood pouring out of his shirt. He looked at Cain and dropped the stools to draw his gun but it was no use. Cain already had his weapon out and fired two more times, hitting the guard in the chest and killing him before the stools had even hit the ground. The guard didn’t even have time to remove his gun from the holster.
Cain wasn’t sure how much commotion was being made or how much they heard or if they assumed what might be going on outside the door. He knew he had to work quickly though and not give them any more time to be ready for him if they already were. He quickly reloaded his gun and took a step back. He then launched his leg up and gave a good healthy kick against the door, busting it wide open. As soon as he stood in the doorway he ducked, just as a shot came whizzing past his head, splintering the door. Cain quickly found what he hoped was the last guard and fired two shots, both entering the front of the man’s head. The first shot went through his forehead and burst out the back of his head, the second shot completely shattering and dismantling his nose, lodging somewhere in the middle of his skull.
Bisset was nearby and rushed over to Cain and tried to attack him with a knife that he easily knocked away. Cain saw Proulx rush over to a desk drawer that he could only assume had a gun tucked in it. Cain put his arm around Bisset and held her in front of him, using her as cover. He wasn’t sure how much resistance she’d provide but it was better than nothing. Proulx pulled out a gun and pointed it at Cain, who had effectively shielded himself with Bisset’s body. Only the corner of his head and right eye was visible. Cain assumed, and hoped, that Proulx wasn’t a good enough shot to make it count. Cain wasn’t even sure he’d be able to make the shot if he was in the other position.
“How’d you get on board?” Proulx wondered. “I was expecting someone at some point. We had all the entrances watched.”
“Oh, I just hopped on,” Cain remarked.
“I had a feeling you were gonna show up soon. How’s your memory these days?”
“Never better.”
“I don’t suppose there’s a way we can work this out?”
“Nope.”
“Not even if I told you where the others were?”
“We already know Collins is in Germany,” Cain answered.
“What about Sanders?”
“We’ll find him.”
“I can tell you where both of them are precisely. You could have them both captured in less than half an hour,” Proulx told him.
“And what would you want for your good deed?”
“My freedom. Tell them you killed me and I’ll disappear from public forever.”
“What makes you think I would do that?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’m hoping the others are more important than me. Sanders is the one who put everything together.”
“I don’t need you for that,” Cain said. “I’ll find them on my own.”
“I guess it was foolish of me to think you could be persuaded,” Proulx said, suddenly firing his gun.
Proulx wasn’t even trying to hit Cain. He was aiming directly at Bisset. He was hoping that the bullets would travel through her and hit Cain too or that she’d just drop out of the way and give him a clear line of sight. The bullet his Bisset in her side. She suddenly bent over and Cain lost his grip of her as she dropped to the floor in pain. As soon as she flew from his arms, Cain returned fire, the first shot missing Proulx. Cain quickly fired again before Proulx had a chance to and hit him in the shoulder causing Proulx’ gun to fly out of his hand. Cain quickly looked down at Bisset and saw her eyes were still open and she was moving a little. He turned his attention back to Proulx and walked over to him.
“Where’s Raines?” Cain asked his injured counterpart.
“Dead.”
“Where’s his body?”
“I dunno. In a river. In a ditch. Burning along the side of a road for all I know,” Proulx told him.
Two shots suddenly rung out from behind Cain as he jumped and turned around. Bisset was sitting against the wall and breathing heavily as smoke rose in the air from the gun she just fired. Cain noticed the gun was pointing at Proulx and he turned his head to look at him. Proulx was now dead, thanks to two fresh bullet holes that appeared in his chest. Bisset began crying and looked at Cain, slowly raising the gun in his direction. Cain knew he could kill her if he wanted to before she ever got a shot off.
“Put the gun down,” Cain calmly told her.
Bisset shook her head. “No. You’ll kill me if I do that. I don’t wanna die.”
“If I wanted to kill you you’d be dead already.”
“I can’t believe that bastard shot me,” she said, still holding her side. “I thought he really cared about me.”
“Not likely. He was just using you for his own personal gain.”
“You’re gonna need to get that looked at,” Cain said, looking and nodding at her wound.
“How do I know you won’t kill me?”
“Because I didn’t come here for you.”
“What about the rest of them?” she asked, nodding at the others.
“I came here for one man. He was my target,” he replied. “The others were a necessity based on the situation. And they would’ve killed me first. Besides, how could I kill someone who takes as good pictures as you do?”
“You know about me? What I do?”
“Yes,” Cain said, moving closer to her. “Just give me the gun and I can help you.”
Bisset, though still holding the gun in front of her, had lowered it slightly so it wasn’t pointed directly at Cain’s chest. He knew she had no intention of pulling the trigger and knelt down beside her, gently taking the gun out of her hand. He tossed it across the room moved her hand from her side so he could take a look at her wound.
“Doesn’t look too bad,” he told her.
“Easy for you to say.”
Cain smiled. “Take it from me. I’ve been shot in the head before. This is nothing.”
“Really? I guess I’m pretty weak then cause it feels like I’m dying.”
“You’ll be fine. Doesn’t look life threatening.”
“He’s not dead you know,” Bisset stated.
Cain turned and looked at Proulx, though he wasn’t who she was referring to. “Not him. Your friend. The one you were asking about.”
“Eric Raines? He’s still alive? You’re sure?”
“Yes. They’re holding him at some house or apartment I think. I’m not sure where
.”
“How do you know?” Cain asked.
“Proulx called them earlier today to check on them. I can’t believe I let him use me,” she lamented.
“You wouldn’t be the first girl to get fooled by a smooth talker.”
“I’m gonna get blamed for all this aren’t I?” she said, looking around at the carnage. “It’s always the one who’s left that gets blamed for everything.”
“I doubt anyone would believe you could do all this,” Cain told her. “Just tell them what happened and you’ll be fine.”
“Tell them the truth?”
“Yes. A long haired man with a beard, who’s in his late forties, broke in and started blasting away. You heard someone mention the name of Stern,” Cain smiled.
“The truth, huh?”
“Yeah. That is the truth, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. I suppose it is.”
“I’ll keep an eye on you the next few days to make sure you’re OK.”
“You would do that for me?” Bisset asked, surprised that he’d take an interest in her.
“Yeah. I’ve got to make sure you tell the truth don’t I?”
Bisset smiled and tried to laugh but coughed instead.
“So what would you do if I didn’t tell the truth?” she wondered.
“Why would you wanna tell a lie?”
“Just curious.”
“Someone like me would be sent to pay you a visit,” Cain said.
“I thought so. Don’t worry. I’ll tell the truth.”
“I know you will…and I never worry.”
Cain tore a piece of fabric off of one of the dead men’s shirts and placed it on Bisset’s wound. He found a tape dispenser on the desk and tore off a piece to keep it secure on the wound. Once he did that, he went back to Proulx’ lifeless body and went through his pockets until he found his phone. Cain slipped it into one of his own pockets and went back to Bisset.
“I’m gonna have to go now,” Cain told her.
Bisset nodded and smiled at her. “Thank you.”
“No thanks necessary. I’ll see you around.”
“Will you?”
“Never know.”
Cain exited the cabin and quickly ran to the next car.
“Shelly! Need to get out of here fast,” Cain yelled.
Lawson looked at the pilot to make sure he heard Cain’s plea. He needed no spurring on though and brought the chopper down in an instant.
“Comin’ in hot,” the pilot told everyone. “Drop the ladder down,” he said to Lawson.
Cain hastily made his way through the train car until he reached the back. He rushed up the ladder and kneeled on top of the train until the chopper got close enough. He slowly stood up as he gained his balance. The pilot hovered the helicopter overtop of the train as the ladder got into the position Cain needed. Cain grasped one of the rungs and jumped on it as the pilot veered off.
“You all right?” Lawson asked.
“Yep,” Cain replied.
“Proulx dead?”
“Yep. I didn’t kill him though.”
“What? What happened?”
“I’ll explain everything when we land.”
“Everyone else taken care of?”
“All dead except one,” Cain answered.
“Who’s left?”
“Bisset.”
“Why didn’t you take care of her?”
“Wasn’t necessary.”
“What if she puts the finger on you?”
“She won’t.”
“Hope you know what you’re doing,” Lawson stated.
“She’ll be fine. She’s the one who actually killed him.”
“Oh. Guess that relationship went down in flames.”
“Just keep tabs on her to see what happens to her,” Cain told her.
“Will do.”
Cain turned his head to look back at the train, still perched on the ladder as they flew further away. After a few minutes of being in the air, Cain climbed the ladder and got in the helicopter, taking a seat in back.
“You get anything about Eric?” Lawson wondered.
“Yeah. He’s alive.”
“What? Are you sure?”
“Well, no, I’m not sure. That’s what Bisset told me though so I’m kind of taking her word for it.”
“Think she was telling you the truth?”
“Yeah. I do,” Cain answered. “She didn’t have to tell me anything so I don’t think she was leading me on. Plus, she was shot and pissed off at Proulx so I’m pretty sure she was being truthful.”
“Shot? She gonna make it?” Lawson asked.
“Yeah. Nothing too serious. Day or two in the hospital and she should be as good as new.”
Cain took the phone out of his pocket and nudged Lawson in the shoulder with it.
“What’s this?” she turned around and asked.
“Proulx’ phone. Bisset said he called whoever was holding Raines earlier today,” Cain explained. “If we can trace all the calls maybe we can figure out where he’s being held.”
“I’ll start working on it as soon as we land.”
They eventually landed on an airfield near the city of Reims. As the chopper was powering off, Cain and Lawson started unbuckling themselves.
“You’re lucky my French is so good,” the pilot stated.
“Why’s that?” Lawson asked.
“Pilot’s that don’t speak French…man, that can be lethal,” he replied. “A lot of these places don’t speak a good second language.”
“Good to know.”
The three of them got out of the helicopter and started going their separate ways. Cain and Lawson stopped and turned around to look at the pilot walking away.
“Hey!” Lawson shouted. “Thanks for the ride.”
“Anytime.”
“Maybe we’ll bump into you again someday.”
“I could dig that,” he smiled. “I’ll fly with you two anytime. By the way, my name’s Chris.”
“Chris what?”
“Just Chris.”
“If we could ever use you again, how would we find you?”
“Just look me up. I’m in the book,” Chris replied. He then turned away to continue walking.
Cain and Lawson looked at each other. “What book? There’s a book?” Lawson asked. “How come no one ever told me there’s a book? Don’t you think that’s something I should know?”
“Yeah. It’s probably big and black too,” Cain sarcastically said. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 8
With the help of the analysts back in New York, Lawson was able to trace the call Proulx made the previous day to an abandoned building just outside the city of Nancy. The building was a few minutes outside of town. It was close enough to the city in case they needed anything but in a remote enough area to provide enough privacy that nobody would notice a hostage being there. Cain and Lawson had driven to the area, parking on the edge of the city before walking the rest of the way. Cain had stolen the car during the night to avoid having to use a rental. In situations where they knew something bad was going to happen, such as a shooting, or any type of violence where the police were likely to come in afterwards, they tried to avoid using anything that would leave a trail leading to them. Even if they used false names and identifications there was still a chance of an investigation leading toward them, even the slightest chance. But with the stolen car that they’d only need for a few hours, there was a high probability it’d never get linked to them. There were a few other buildings of various sizes surrounding the one Cain and Lawson were interested in, giving them enough cover to move without the fear of being spotted.
“What time you got?” Cain asked.
Lawson looked at her watch. “Ten.”
“You’re sure he’ll be here?”
“Talked to him an hour ago. Said he’d touch down ten minutes after,” Lawson told him.
“You’re sure we can trust him to be on time? I mean, we’ve only flown
with him one time.”
“I guess we’ll find out, huh?”
“That’s not very reassuring.”
“Only answer I got for ya. He said he’d be here.”
“If we go in there guns blazing and come back out and he’s not here we could be in a world of trouble,” Cain mentioned.
“I know. He’ll be here.”
Lawson had contacted Director Conlin with their plan of attack and wanted to use Chris again as their method of escape. They figured if they had to leave in a hurry, it was their best chance of success with not knowing how many men they were going up against. Before proceeding, Cain turned to Lawson to go over the final plan.
“We all leave together,” he said. “Or none of us do.”
Lawson nodded. “Agreed.”
“You stay behind me until we find Eric. Then you get him and I’ll provide cover for you.”
“Got it,” she replied, looking at her watch again. “Two minutes after. We need to get moving.”
“Roger that.”
Cain checked the suppression device on his gun to make sure it was on tight and made his way to the empty looking building with Lawson right on his tail. They clung to the outer wall of the building and followed it around to the back. Cain peeked around the corner and saw a man standing there reading a newspaper. He had a gun in a shoulder holster. Cain sprung around the corner and fired two times, hitting the man point blank, killing him before he knew Cain was even there. Cain quickly moved to the brown wooden door that was slightly ajar and peered inside. He could make out a few voices in the background though he couldn’t quite hear what they were saying. He motioned to Lawson that he was going in and to stay on top of him. They were moving down a very narrow hallway that had a door on both sides of them plus one straight ahead. Cain motioned they were going left first. Cain turned the handle and pushed the door open, ready to come up firing, Lawson scurrying to his left to make sure she was out of the frame of the doorway. Cain had told her to avoid having her back to an open door in case anyone came up behind them so she wouldn’t get shot in the back. He quickly scanned the room but it was empty. They went to the door across from them. Cain slowly pushed it open, revealing two men playing cards on old looking wood table that had a few holes in it. As soon as the men saw the intruders they immediately rose up from the table but were instantly met with a couple of bullets from Cain’s gun. He fired one shot to each of them initially to put them down. Cain checked on both men’s status. One was dead but the other was still moving. Cain put the gun to the man’s head and pulled the trigger. They couldn’t afford to have any survivors.