The Road to Round Mountain II - The Alliance: By C.G Roberts

by C. G. Roberts

  “Hopefully soon, when we’re together we can you know”……. “Oh yeah, I do know, but I might be a little nervous, because I’ve never, well, you know actually gone that far and, I want it to be, you know, right and all”. “That was the longest definition of “virgin”, I’ve ever heard, but don’t worry my sweet; I am too”. Thank god, I don’t want to be the only one showing up for this thing with a learners

  permit. “But we’ll need to be careful, you know protection and all”. I did, but for some reason when she said protection all that came to mind was a football helmet and pads. Perhaps I need counseling.

  I heard the guys hollering in the background, “Billy come here, you might want to see this”, Brad bellowed. “Looks like I have to go, they seem to have found something. Make sure to call this number if you need to get in touch with

  me; I’m not sure how long I’ll be here. I miss you and I can’t wait to see you”. “I miss you too and promise me you’ll be careful and make sure that these guys are

  on the level. Try and text if you get a chance so I can plug in your location, U ncle Ron is actually trying to help me keep tabs on you so I’ll know you’re safe” . Uncle Ron, A detective with Astoria PD, who I made crap his pants when he tried to

  strangle me in the hospital and received a large dose of electricity which loosened

  up his bowels a little too much.

  “Okay I promise”, I replied. “Good, have restful night and I’ll see you soon. I love you”. “I love you too, good night”, I followed. “Good night Billy”. Before I had the chance to hang up the receiver it hit me, I just told her that I love her, and she said she loved me. I haven’t had many good days since I got hit by lightning, but this just turned out to be the best one I’ve ever had. Wow, what a feeling.

  14

  Mr. Ranker and his crew of four had just finished their meal along with instructions for their mission at hand; to tranquilize Billy with one of the Acepromazine Maleate loaded darts. This type of drug is normally used when a bear might take refuge in a local neighborhood; though Billy is no bear, the dosage will make for an extremely docile passenger when delivered at The Compound in Round Mountain. This was his play, his call and his crew of four will dispose of all others who just might happen to get in the way. It will work; it will make him wealthy; he was confident of that.

  His crew consisted of four ex-CIA operatives that still enjoy their work, but not the bureaucracy that accompanies being part of The CIA. Unl ike Plato’s book, “Ring of Gyges”, this crew did not require a ring to become invisible; just the same

  thei r actions went without consequence.

  Ranker gave each of them the coordinates from the tracking device he lifted from the late Mr. Banks jeep. “We’ll meet at midnight, at the last point the vehicle was giving off a ping. The vehicle hasn’t moved i n three hours. Make sure your vehicles are staged far enough apart just in case”. “Just in case what”, one of his team inquired? “In case we need to fall back. This kid is loaded dynamite, so when I give the command to fall back, head to your vehicles and get the fuck

  out of here. No more questions, everyone has their instructions, and on my command, open fire, until my target is acquired”. One of the members started to raise their hand with a question, but Ranker waved him off. It was show time,

  and Billy was the Main attraction.

  15

  I stared at the document Vargas brought up from the flash drive. “This is what my brother was good at, man have you ever seen so many zero’s”, Vargas exclaimed with the giddiness of a school girl. I was staring at an open bounty in the amount of five million dollars, paid on delivery, for one Billy Speer. Crap, this surviving your teen years did not look like this in the brochure. “You’ve now been tagged by every ex CIA operative, any ex-military black ops, pissed off navy seal

  and whatever other inbreed happened upon this bit of info”, Vargas said. “And mother was worried that I wouldn’t be popular”, I replied sarcastically. I didn’t quite know how else to respond to that. It’s not every day you find out there’s a price on your head.

  Vargas was cruising through some of the other fol ders on the drive when he heard Miles cursing, “What’s the problem now stick boy”, Vargas asked? Miles hated it when he was referred to as stick boy, but when you’re six foot nine and maybe one hundred and fifty pounds, it was hard to argue the point. “Computers froze up again, sorry son of a bitch”, Miles mumbled. Vargas got up from his chair and was making his way around to the other set of tables directly across from where he was. Brad anxiously followed Vargas with a sinister smirk on his face.

  “Fuck me sideways, Porn again, really Miles, I thought we had this discussion”. As Vargas pushed Miles chair a few feet away from the computer using his mind. Miles was lucky that he didn’t send him flyi ng across the room, which he has done

  on more than one occasion. Brad started laughing at the screen Miles was stuck

  on.

  Brad continued with his cackling, “Really Miles, what’s the movie title; Romancing the Bone, or Shaving Ryan’s Privates”. This caused a serious outburst of laughter, not only from me, but from all. Miles even smirked and then started laughing. The laughter subsided some as Vargas killed the virus in a matter of seconds, when my nostrils woke up to the smell of pizza. Gary was coming out of the mini kitchen with a large frozen pizza and set it on one of the empty tables by the kitchen. “Two more coming out in five minutes, eat hearty, we got a lot of planning to do”, Gary added.

  Vargas was making his way towards the fridge and turned towards me asking,

  “Dr. Pepper, right”? I nodded as he pulled out a couple of cans from the fridge

  and handed me one. “So what’s the planning Gary was talking about”, I asked? Vargas took a quick peek at the other two pizzas, seemingly pleased with their progress, “For our trip to destroy the compound at Round Mountain”.

  I started to take a sip of Dr. Pepper when his words finally sunk in. I looked up with a confused look, “I was hoping to get to Round Mountain, but wasn’t sure what I would do once I got there”. Vargas nodded and added, “Having you as part of our arsenal, we have decided to move quickly and take them out before they can destroy any more people”. Vargas sensed my confusion as I asked, “When were you going to let me in on this”? “We figured that you would be down with any action taken on these shitheads considering what happened in Astoria”. He

  had a point but the oven timer diverted my attention towards some great

  smelling pizza.

  We ate, we talked, Brad got out a pack of playing cards and had me guessing what the cards were, using my see through powers, which really seemed annoy Miles, who was planning on playing poker later; I was not invited (oh well).

  I wondered about the sleeping arrangements, s ince the upstairs seemed to have been unoccupied for years. Brad showed me a hallway just past the mini

  kitchen which has six small rooms and a bathroom with a shower at the end of

  the hall; mystery solved. “So, how did you guys manage to get a set up like this”, I asked while motioning my arms towards the tables filled with computers, monitors and one table filled with monitors which had numerous camera angles on them aimed at the cabin.

  “We mainly take a trip or two a week to various small towns, focusing on small

  stores which have an ATM outside. Two of us will go in the store and make a token purchase while the other two will use their powers to disable the camera, if they have one, and the other will step up to buffet and fill the all you spend plate with a pile of twenties”. That sounded familiar as I recalled Gordon needing an ATM so he could get money out for smokes, and as I put my hand on the ATM for leaning purposes, the machine went nuts and started spitting out twenties until it

  ran out.

  “It really doesn’t cost that much to run this place, just electricity really and we bring in around four grand a week, so we’re not hurting”, Brad concluded, as we made ou
r way back to the tables where Miles was setting up one of them with cards and a large canister filled with poker chips. I could be the dealer I guess, but that sounded less inviting the more I thought about it.

  16

  It was ten minutes to midnight as Ranker and his crew had parked their cars

  in various spots spread over a half a mile for a quick getaway if the situation

  called for it. They met up at a double garage which was maybe two hundred feet

  from the house just off to the right. This is where Ranker focused his attention as

  the tracking device he was holding was concentrating on the garage.

  Ranker motioned for two of them to open the garage as the other two kept a look out for any activity coming from the old house. The night was cloudy which

  aided Ranker and his team as there was no reflection from the moon to deal with

  making it easier to maneuver through the dark unnoticed. Ranker took a peek in the garage and saw the old rusted out Impala with the tracking device still hiding on the backside of the bumper. He motioned for the other two by the house and they gave the sign that house was not occupied.

  One of Rankers crew tapped him on the shoulder and pointed his flashlight at the ground. Ranker immediately saw the tire tracks that were freshly made going up the side of the mountain. Ranker and his crew started heading uphill.

  17

  They had been playing poker for about an hour with Gary taking the early lead in winnings. I sat at the next table down from them exchanging a couple of final texts from Jenny before she goes to bed. I gave her a q uick rundown of the plans to go to Round Mountain and of course she insisted that I be careful, and to keep her updated. I just sent my final good nights when Vargas exclaimed that it was time to plan out our strategy for Round Mountain when I noticed a red light flashing by one of the cameras.

  “Hey Vargas, what’s this red light mean”, I inquired. Vargas popped out of his

  chair and ran over to me and the cameras. His eyes were bugged out and his jaw

  hanging wide open, “Holy Fuck, our position has been compromised guys. Everyone grab your gear and head for the escape hatch”. I must have looked like a deer in the headlights as they all made a mad dash for their rooms and grabbed backpacks and weapons. I tried to fit into this organized chaos by grabbing my backpack and slinging it over my shoulder.

  Vargas came back to the table and grabbed a laptop from the table and slid it into his pack. That’s when I remembered the flash drive was still in the computer. I ran over and grabbed it and put it in my jacket pocket. I remembered what Vargas’s brother Don told me right before he died. As I kneeled beside Don

  Marrick as he uttered his last breath with blood pouring out of his head like an

  open faucet, “These…..will keep……you…..safe”, as he handed me two flash drives just as he died. Vargas was hollering at me to catch up and we didn’t have time to

  for me to gather things, but Agent Marrick gave these to me for a reason so I

  made sure not to leave them behind.

  I never envisioned myself to be in a situation to be a part of using an escape hatch, but here I was following the guys towards the last table just to the left of the old wall phone. Gary shoved the table out of the way using his mind as

  Vargas followed suit by flinging the throw rug aside in the same manner, revealing

  a hatch door built into the floor. Miles joined in by lifting the hatch door up with

  his mind. A cloud of dust followed Miles actions as Vargas was the first to head

  down the ladder, brushing aside bits of du st as he descended.

  I was the last one down the ladder wishing that I would have gone to the bathroom before texting Jenny; Too many Dr. Peppers, not enough time to….well you know.

  18

  It was just after midnight as Sheriff Pasco had been filling in Captain Ackers about Billy’s ability and had plugged in the second flash drive that was given to Billy by a dying Agent Marrick, but now it is in his possession. The Captain was not thrilled over anyone messing with his computer, but the Sheriff was an old friend and he knew that he wanted to help.

  The Sheriff typed in an address and a video popped up from the Camera that was mounted at the entrance at Burger King in Lincoln City. Ackers was shocked, “Walt, how in the hell did you get that footage, it hasn’t been released yet”? The Sheriff smiled and replied, “I’ve got a contact, but that’s all I can say about him”. The Sheriff clicked the play button while they both watched some guy talking to a group of kids, one of which was Billy, in front of an old rusted out Chevy.

  “Watch closely”, the Sheriff advised. Ackers leaned closer to the monitor and saw the guy suddenly clutch his chest as blood was pouring out. “See, they didn’t kill that guy, but someone sure wanted him out of the picture”, the Sheriff

  concluded. “Looks that way, but why would someone want him out of the way”,

  the Captain asked?

  “I believe I can answer that part Bill”. The Captain gave the Sheriff a concerned

  scowl. Sheriff Pasco opened up another file and showed the Captain. “Holy shit Walt, you mean that kid, Billy has a contract out on his head”. The Sheriff nodded and added, “More like a bounty; five million dollars paid upon delivery, so my guess is that our shooter wants all of the five million”. Ackers was pacing nervously in his small office, “So this is what you wanted to show me Walt”?

  “Yes, but there’s more”, the Sheriff added. Ackers shook his head, “Walt, I

  haven’t had to deal with a homicide since we were beat cops in Portland, you

  think there might be more”? Walt shook his head, “Yes but not here”.

  Ackers pulled his chair closer to the monitor on his desk, “Okay, let me see what else you got”, he replied. The Sheriff brought up a satellite picture, “This is where the take those with special talents or powers if you like, and they are trying to turn them into indestructible killing machines”. “Have they succeeded yet”,

  Ackers asked? “One, but he escaped and this is where it gets bizarre”, the Sheriff

  added. The Captain scratched his head and brought out an old bottle of Wild turkey from his bottom desk drawer, “I’ve got a feeling I’m going to need this”. “You and me both”, said the Sheriff, as he was the first to uncap the bottle and take a swig.

  The Captain looked with interest as Sheriff Pasco brought up a photo on the

  screen. “So, who’s that”, Ackers asked as he took a swig from the bottle. “This is, or was Frank Marrick, a retired CIA big shot, who died eight years ago”. “Why am I looking at a dead man”, Ackers inquired? The Sheriff held up a finger to signify to give him a second and produced another photo on the screen. “This was taken less than a month ago at the post office in Round Mountain”, as the Sheriff backed up from the screen so the Captain could get a closer look.

  Ackers studied the photo for a second and exclaimed, “Are you shitting me, is that the dead guy in the other photo”, as he greedily took another swig from the bottle? “It is, although he goes by the name of Armand Baily and apparently is in charge of the compound in Round Mountain”. Ackers shook his head, “Okay, I’m really confused now”. “More so than normal, Bill”? “Fuck off Sasquatch”, the Captain replied before they both broke out laughing.

  They passed the bottle back and forth a couple of times as the laughter died

  off. “Here’s the scary part. You remember that one success they had”? Ackers nodded, “Yeah, but you said he escaped”. “True, but the guy’s name was Daniel

  Marrick”. That comment made the Captains eyes bug out in disbelief.

  “Don’t even tell me this guy did that to his own son”, as he took a larger swig

  this time. “Yes, his own son, although I don’t know if Daniel was aware that his

  dad was there, or had anything to do with this. That brings me to the two FBI

  agents that were professionally k
illed in the parking lot of one of our local

  convenience stores. The younger ones names was, Don Marrick”, the Sheriff

  concluded. This brought Ackers to his feet as he started pacing again, “Did Frank, Armand, or whatever the fuck his name is, have anything to do with it”? The Sheriff lowered his head and muttered, “He put a hit out on his own son”.

  This comment brought an uncomfortable silence to the room, as the Sheriff brought up the video from Burger King again, “Bill , you see the chubby one standing next to Billy”? Bill was reluctant to look at anything else at this point.

  He came over by the desk and looked at the monitor, “Yeah, who am I looking at”, he asked in an annoying manner? The Sheriff looked up at him and replied, “That would be, Daniel Marrick”.

  Ackers went back to pacing before asking, “Do you think it’s possible that Daniel might be planning on collecting the bounty himself”? “I’m not sure, but I’m not ruling it out since it seems that the nut probably didn’t fall far from the tree”, the Sheriff added.

  This news was making Ackers nervous, “So what are we supposed to do”, The Captain asked sheepishly? The Sheriff brought up another program on the flash drive, “You see this blip on the screen; that’s Billy”. Ackers shook his head again, “How do you know that’s him”? “My contact made a suggestion to Agent Marrick and had him place a tiny tracking device in the flash drives; both of them actually”, as the Sheriff pointed to the one currently plugged into the Captain’s