The Phoenix Blade: Project Justice

by Andrew Hess

  Lilly crawled out from Andrew’s arms and picked up her clothes from the floor; quickly dressing in the dark. She found the small piece of paper Arcana left the night before and wrote a letter to Andrew in an attempt to say how she truly felt.

  Drew, I couldn’t bear to wake you and go through a long tearful goodbye. I wouldn’t be strong enough to walk away if we did. Tell the group I hope to see them again one day. Leaving is the hardest thing I could do but you were right; it’s too dangerous for me. I’ll find a way to let you know where I’m staying. Until then, we’ll let last night speak the words I can’t bring myself to say. I love you baby; come back to me soon.

  Lilly

  She placed the note on her pillow before exiting the bedroom. Lilly entered the living room; finding the team passed out in a pile of blankets and pillows; surrounded by food wrappers and napkins. The smell of old burgers and fries made the room smell like they worked at a fast food restaurant and hadn’t showered in weeks.

  Lilly glanced at the kitchen; seeing a shadow of a man standing at the back door. She bit down on her bottom lip and took small steps as she walked into the kitchen. She reached for the handle of the door; shaking nervously as her fingers touched the cold painted metal doorknob.

  “Morning Miss Henderson,” Agent Fields greeted with a smile. “His blond hair was tossed aside and was sticking up in random spots. “Grab your bags; it’s time to go.”

  “Where am I going?”

  “You have a flight leaving for Dublin in two hours.”

  “I’m going to Ireland.” Lilly’s eyes lit up at the thought of going to one of her dream vacations, but quickly saddened knowing she couldn’t share it with Andrew. “Will I ever see my friends again?”

  Mike raised his head from a pillow in the living room as he reached for his cell phone.

  “That’s not my place to say.” Agent Fields reached for Lilly’s duffle bag and sword. “I can take those. I need to collect all of your weapons before we arrive at the airport.”

  Chapter 86

  It took them nearly an hour to get to the airport. Agent Fields used his badge to push Lilly to the front of the line at the check-in counter and at the security check point. As soon as the plane was ready to board, they were the first ones seated.

  Lilly stared out the window; wishing things were different. She thought of Andrew waking up; finding the note and being crushed by her words. There wasn’t an easy way to say goodbye, but it was the best way she could do it. Lilly stared out the window of the plane; imagining the life she wanted with Andrew.

  She pictured them waking up in a beachfront house; holding each other as their kids busted into their room for breakfast. They would walk downstairs together and make pancakes, waffles, bacon and eggs, or whatever the kids wanted. They would spend the day playing with the kids at the beach; showing them how to build a sand castle or burry each other in the sand. But unfortunately Lilly knew this wasn’t going to happen. Not now, and most likely not ever. Within minutes the plane was in the air. The seatbelt sign dimmed as they leveled off.

  “Excuse me,” Lilly said with tears in her eyes. “I need to go to the bathroom.”

  Agent Fields stood up in the aisle; allowing Lilly to pass. The sign above the door said occupied in red. She waited outside the door; trying to contain the river running from her eyes. As she stood there, a hand reached around the curtain; covering Lilly’s mouth and pulled her into the back.

  “If you stay quiet, you might have a shot at making it off the plane alive,” a man whispered. He slapped a pair of handcuffs around her wrist and placed a gag in her mouth. “Sit here and don’t move.”

  It had been several minutes since Lilly went to the bathroom which caused Agent Fields to become highly suspicious. As he raced towards the stalls, a short red headed woman stood up; blocking him from reaching the bathrooms.

  “Out of the way,” Fields barked.

  “Excuse me,” the woman shouted; making sure everyone could hear her. “How dare you talk to me like that?”

  “Watch your tone lady. I’m a Federal Agent.”

  “Yeah right, and I’m the Queen of England.”

  Fields pulled out his badge and showed it to her. “Now, out of my way; I need to check on something.” He stormed to the back of the plane and found the bathrooms empty. He pulled back the curtain and found a woman lying on several bags.

  “Lilly,” he gasped as he rushed over to her seemingly unconscious body. He found her bound and gagged. Before Fields could remove the gag or call for help, he felt something slam into the back of his head. He tumbled to the floor; looking up at a blurry image of a man and the woman he met in the aisle.

  “What are we going to do,” the woman asked.

  The man held a gun over Agent Fields. “Take your seat and let them know it’s done. I’ll take care of him when we land.”

  Chapter 87

  It was a sick stabbing pain in my stomach that woke me. It felt like a knife digging into my sides. I sat upright; checking my body for any wounds; realizing it was just a dream. My eyes drifted back to the empty bed; finding only a note resting on Lilly’s pillows.

  Despite her reasoning, a big part of me wanted her to wake before she left. I wanted to tell her how much I loved her; to tell her I was a fool for following the Benefactor and that I should have listened to her. But she was right; it would be too hard to say goodbye. A tear trickled down my face as I folded the note, placed it in my pocket and brought my bags into the living room.

  The group gathered around; collecting their bags and dropping them in the kitchen.

  “What’s going on,” I asked.

  “We’re getting ready to leave,” Erik replied.

  “Some guy in a suit woke us up a few minutes ago. He said he worked for the Benefactor and was about to move us to another location.”

  “What? Why didn’t anyone wake me?” Everyone avoided direct eye contact. “I’m not going to fall apart without her. We have one mission left and we’re done.”

  “Come on,” Joe shouted. “Do you really think he’s going to just let us go? Wake up; he’s stringing you along. We’re stuck working for him until he’s done with us.”

  “He’s right,” Erik continued. “Even if we stop with the missions, there are too many deaths on our hands. He’ll make someone take the fall for all of it.”

  A part of me knew they were right. I didn’t know if I could trust the Benefactor to hold up his end of the deal. But in all fairness I didn’t know if I could trust Arcana and Peterson to pull us out without all of us going to jail either.

  I heard a loud noise causing us to conclude our conversation. The kitchen door slammed shut. Standing in the doorway was a blond man in a suit. I expected it to be Agent Fields, but was shocked when he stared at me with his large dark eyes.

  “You must be the Phoenix,” the man said. “You can call me Agent Lucasio. I’ll be your escort to New York City and to the final mission.”

  “Our mission is in New York City,” Mike asked.

  “No, just the safe house. We’ll be going over the mission there and transporting you to the mission when the time is right. I suggest you finish packing and load the truck. We leave in ten.”

  Chapter 88

  The sun peaked through the morning clouds as we pulled up to a hotel. It’s massive structure towered over us as we exited a black van onto the cold wintery streets of Manhattan while we waited for Agent Lucasio to open the emergency exit.

  “I gotta bad feeling about this,” Mike whispered as the side door popped open.

  “Hurry up, before someone catches you,” Lucasio said.

  We followed Agent Lucasio up three flights of stairs and down the hall to an unlocked room; finding a pair of perfectly made full sized beds sitting opposite a forty five inch TV. The old wooden desk had a small stack of folders on it; guarded by a man dressed in all black with sunglasses and black sports jacket.

  “Come in and have a seat. We have a l
ot to go over in a short period of time,” Lucasio commanded.

  Erik and Natalya sat on the bed closest to the desk, Mike and Joe took the second bed; leaving me to stand with my arms folded.

  “You need to look over each of these files very carefully. They contain everything you need for the final mission.”

  The whole team crowded around Erik and looked at the top folder. Our eyes nearly popped out of our heads as we saw the first picture.

  “You gotta be joking,” Mike shouted.

  “It’s a suicide mission,” Erik continued.

  “Nevertheless, it’s your mission. Your team uncovered Intel at the Mason estate about a month ago connecting them to a terrorist overseas. The information we uncovered also incriminates the President of the United States.”

  “So you expect us to assassinate the President,” Joe asked.

  “Not quite. The Benefactor wants to build a case against him and get all the information we can get from the President. The problem is if he catches wind of what’s going on, he will bury all of us and the accusation. It will give him a chance to think of a credible way to explain his actions and he will be free to carry on without being brought to justice.”

  “So what do you expect us to do,” Natalya asked.

  “You will invade the White House and take the President hostage. Once we have him in custody, you and your team will be brought to the airport and sent out of the country.”

  I threw the file on the bed and stood nose to nose with Agent Lucasio. “Like Erik said, it’s a suicide mission. There’s no way to get in and out undetected.”

  “The Benefactor has several men working Secret Service detail. They will help get you in and out of the building. I suggest you spend the day reading the files. I’ll have food sent up in a bit.”

  “What if we want to walk around,” Joe asked.

  “Keep a low profile and stay out of trouble.”

  Chapter 89

  We sat in the hotel for nearly fourteen hours before I snapped. Our living conditions were not ideal. Five people stuck inside a single room with nothing to do other than watch TV, order room service, or reading the files for the fiftieth time were not our idea of passing the time. It was an inconvenience for the others; not for me. I was too busy focusing on what we were missing; what I was missing

  Every time I thought about Lilly, I felt a searing pain and tightness in my chest. “I need to get out of here!” My body shot up from the bed and stormed towards the door.

  Mike threw his body in the way; blocking my exit. “You’re not going anywhere. We need to stick together.”

  “Yeah, you heard them before,” Natalya said. “We just need to stay in for the night. Besides, it’s not that bad being stuck here all day.”

  I threw my hands up in defense; knowing they couldn’t understand what I was going through. “I can’t; I need to go. I just need to be alone to clear my head for a bit.”

  “Then one of us is going too.” Erik nodded to Mike; knowing he was the best choice.

  “No, I’m going alone.”

  Mike hesitated before stepping aside; letting me escape the hotel as if it were a prison that kept me confined with the rest of my cell mates.

  I hurried downstairs; keeping myself hidden from the cameras as I exited the hotel onto the cold windy New York City streets. My thoughts carried me away from the hotel; wondering if we would still be in New York if I didn’t make the deal for Lilly to leave. Maybe if she stayed, we could have had a romantic date night under the stars in Central Park or just walk around aimlessly under the bright lights.

  All the happy possibilities were erased the moment I let her get on that plane. I knew the chances of me seeing her again were slim to none and the chance for us to share a romantic night in New York would never happen.

  “I shouldn’t have let you go,” I muttered as I leaned against a brick wall. I turned around to see a dim lit bar called O’Malley’s behind me. I couldn’t think of a better way to numb the pain.

  It was nice; crowded yet strangely peaceful. There were plenty of tables and chairs for people to hang out if they wanted to grab a bite to eat and booths for large crowds to have drinks with their friends. The bar had several men standing at it; hoping for a chance to grab the attention of the young beautiful red head behind the bar. I could tell they wanted nothing more than to get in her pants for one night.

  “What’ll it be,” the young red head asked in a thick Irish accent. I could see why the guys were drooling over her. After all, it’s not every day you meet a woman from Ireland in New York City.

  “Tequila.”

  “Sounds like someone had a bad day.” She reached for the shaker and filled it with ice. “How many ya want?”

  “I’m not in the mood to chat; just keep them coming till I say stop.” I watched her pour a large amount of tequila into the shaker and pour some into a shot glass.

  “Suit yerself, but I’ve been told I’m a good listener if ya change yer mind.”

  I waived her off and took the first shot; feeling it sting as the liquor slid down my throat. It had been a while since the last time I had tequila. I slammed the shot glass on the counter; letting the bar tender fill it up immediately.

  As I reached for my second shot, I noticed a small group of women dressed in short skirts, low cut tops, and pant suits. They caught the attention of several men huddled together; no doubt discussing who was the hottest girl at that table and how easy it would be to nail her.

  I took the second shot; feeling it go down a little easier.

  “Yer ready for more,” the bartender asked. I shrugged off her question; pushing the glass towards her. She took another two shot glasses next to mine and filled all three up. “That should last ya a bit.”

  I downed all three in a row; drowning myself even more. Each one felt smoother as it slid down my throat.

  “Wow, you look like you could use someone to talk to,” a soft woman’s voice said. I turned around to see one of the girls from the table standing next to me. She had curly black hair, a black button down blouse and grey dress pants.

  “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

  “No, but you do look familiar.” Her eyes searched my face; hoping to remember where she knew me from.

  “Sorry, I’ve never seen you before.” I turned back to my empty glasses; wondering if she saw my face on the news. I held two fingers in the air to the bartender.

  The woman drew closer putting her hand on my arm as she gave me an infectious smile. “Really, because I swear you were checking me out a few minutes ago.”

  “You’re definitely mistaken,” I chuckled.

  The bartender slid into view with the shaker and poured its contents into two shot glasses. I grabbed the first, but found the second missing.

  The woman kissed me on the cheek. “Thanks for the drink. I’m Amber by the way.”

  I couldn’t believe how rude this woman was. Amber was pushy and full of herself. She interrupted me and stole my drink. But at the same time, she took my attention away from Lilly’s departure.

  “You know what?” I wanted to lash out at Amber, but decided not to make a scene. “You’re welcome. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to cash out.”

  The bartender placed a piece of paper in front of me. I whipped out a wad of cash from my pocket.

  “I wouldn’t flash that kind of money around here,” the bartender said. “Walking around with that’s a sure way to find yerself some trouble.”

  “I’m counting on it.” I placed a hundred dollars on the counter and stumbled out of O’Malley’s.

  Chapter 90

  The cold night air hit me instantly. Every breath felt like a shard of ice slid down my insides. I wanted nothing more than to be with Lilly at her house; locked in a tight embrace with the covers pulled over our heads. I was angry. I’ve wanted to be with her since we first met and it was because of the Benefactor’s agenda that I lost my one and only chance to be with her.

 
; I reached into my pocket to pull out my phone and dialed Arcana only to get his voicemail.

  “I don’t know why you’re not answering. Where are you? I need to know Lilly’s somewhere safe.” I took a deep breath. “Anyway, we’re hitting our target tomorrow. We’re attacking the White House and taking the President into custody.”

  “I knew it,” a soft voice shouted behind me. “I do know you.” Amber followed me out of the bar. Her grey dress pants and frilly black blouse did nothing to keep her warm as she rubbed her hands up and down on her arms; trying to gain some warmth.

  “Go back inside to your friends,” I replied. “It’s cold out and you don’t want to know me.”

  She frowned and reached for my hand. “Come on; one drink won’t hurt. Besides, I owe you one.”

  I didn’t know what she wanted from me, but I wasn’t in the mood to find out. I ripped my hand away from her. “Sorry, maybe next time.”

  I heard the door to O’Malley’s open; thinking Amber finally got the hint, but turned my head when I heard a man’s voice.

  “Finally, I was hoping I’d find you out here.” It was one of the men staring at Amber’s table. His devilish grin told me he thought this was his chance to get some.

  “Can I help you with something,” Amber replied with a look of confusion and repulsion.

  “I’ve been watching you all night; hoping I would get a chance to steal you away from your friends for a bit. How about we go back inside and I get us some drinks?”

  “No thanks; I’m about to go home for the night.”

  “Then let me offer you a ride home.”

  I knew this guy wasn’t going to let up. He was persistent; reeking of desperation as he pursued Amber. I laughed to myself; thinking this was karma for harassing me just moments earlier, but something bothered me about this guy.

  “Come on baby; it’s cold out here. Let me get you in my nice warm car and I’ll take you home.”

  “No, I’m fine.” Amber turned to walk away but the man grabbed her hand. “Ow, let go; you’re hurting me.”

  I hurried back down the block; finding the man with his hand wrapped tightly around Amber’s wrist.

  “There a problem here,” I asked.

  “Nope, no problem at all,” the man sneered. “Just a misunderstanding between me and my girlfriend.”