Second Solace

by Robert Clark

A Second Date

  The guard was in a bad way. The cut on his head was deep, and he had already lost a lot of blood. Not only that, but in the ensuing chaos, he had taken a bullet to the upper torso, and fresh blood had already begun to congeal with that which stained the ruined carpet. Noble was first to him.

  ‘I’m with the FBI,’ she said. ‘Just stay still. You’re going to get through this.’

  Even she didn’t believe it.

  She pressed a cloth against the cut on his forehead. He pushed her away.

  ‘There’s no time,’ he gasped. ‘You need to get to Parker before the others find him and his family.’

  ‘Where are they?’ she asked.

  ‘Protocol for an attack was to get them to an evac zone. The closest was on the roof. There’s a helipad. We sent him up there when the lights went out. We-’ he stopped to cough. Fresh blood trickled down his lips, ‘-we didn’t realise they were coming for him.’

  ‘You did a great job. What’s your name?’ asked Noble.

  ‘Jim Robinson.’

  ‘Jim. You saved Parker’s life,’ said Noble. Her tone full of reassurance. The same tone you give a terminal patient on the brink. ‘You served your country well.’

  A weak smile broke out over his face.

  ‘Nah we didn’t. We fucked up. Should have got him out of here sooner. That’s on us.’

  ‘Don’t do that to yourself,’ Noble insisted, he’s alive because of you.’

  ‘We hope,’ Jim coughed. ‘Get out of here and go save his ass before they find him.’

  Noble looked at him, then at me. The guy was about to die. She didn’t want to leave him. Neither did she want to leave Parker and his family to Gail’s mercy.

  I took the choice away from her.

  ‘I’ll save some for you,’ I said, ‘but Gail’s not walking away from here alive.’

  ‘Parker and his family first, Stone. That’s the job.’

  ‘Job shmob,’ I said, bending down to take Cece’s weapon off her corpse. ‘The perks of being a criminal mean I don’t need to do as I’m told. You should try it some time, you’d like it.’

  I smiled at them both, and headed for the bar. I took a bottle of champagne from the fridge then headed for the door.

  I had a date with Gail.

  And I wanted to go with a present.

  The stairs up to the roof were narrower than those leading up the first sixty-six floors. The door at the end was closed. A service door with a metal bar that pushed down to open. The hinges squealed in protestation as I pushed it aside. Champagne bottle in my left hand, lowered assault rifle in my right.

  The cold night air felt like a bucket of ice to the face. It freed up the tingles in the back of my head and gave me some clarity. Just as in the penthouse suite below, Second Solace had snuck its way into this situation as well. Except that this time, the threat was much greater.

  There was Parker. His short blonde hair glistened in the moonlight. The steady breeze was nothing for the product he had keeping it all in place. His wife and daughter clutched to his side. The former was maybe a foot shorter, and wore a thick red coat that ran down to just below her knees, while the latter had her father’s suit jacket wrapped around her, with only the cascading blonde hair dancing in the wind exposed.

  Standing between me and the threatened family was Gail. All alone. She had her father’s revolver pointed at the presidential candidate. She was about as tall as Parker’s wife, but held much more power in her stance than the terrified woman she held hostage.

  Parker oozed wealth like lesser men did sweat. Cut him open, and he’d bleed green. Even with a revolver pointed in his face, he maintained the same steely expression that would maybe one day win him the presidency. He made no attempt to loosen his grip on his family, despite Gail’s demands. Command came easy for him. She was a dozen steps behind from the get go. Whether that would ultimately work in his favour was still to be seen.

  From the look of it, she hadn’t been there long. No reason to outstay her welcome by fannying around with the act of murder.

  But barging through a closed door had come at the cost of subtlety. I had not gone unnoticed.

  Gail turned her head a fraction. Saw me out of the corner of her eye.

  ‘Cecilia is dead,’ she said. Not a question. Just a statement. Almost sounded like she was impressed.

  ‘Well, either that or I just blew apart the world’s largest stick insect. That could be awkward.’

  With her head turned slightly, I thought I saw the makings of a smile creep across her stoney face. Before I had a chance to confirm, she spun her gun arm around in my direction and fired.

  I ducked and darted right, towards one of the hotel’s large ventilation extractors protruding from the roof. The bullet missed me by a mile.

  ‘Gail, I’ve got to say, you look lonely,’ I called out, cradling the gun and bottle. ‘What, all out of goons for the grand finale?’

  ‘My team are busy finishing up around the city.’

  ‘Fat lot of help they are for you now.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter. Once you and Parker are dead, my objective is complete. I knew you were tenacious. I knew you wouldn’t die with the bomb. Ever since I sent you off to find the bunker, I knew you’d put the pieces together soon enough. All it took was one suggestion and you ran away with the idea. You were so gullible, James.’

  ‘You think?’ I called, thinking about her weapon. She’d fired one bullet back in Second Solace, the bullet that killed Agent Miles. Had she thought to reload the weapon? The revolver was a six-shooter. Six rounds in total. One wasted right here on the roof. Maybe another down in Second Solace. And an untold number expended on her way up the hotel to this very spot. Anywhere between five and zero rounds left. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

  Five bullets.

  ‘I know,’ she hissed. ‘You. Maddox. Cecilia. You all did exactly what I wanted. I knew Maddox would recognise your talent. I fed him exactly what I wanted to get him to order you under my roof, and planted the seed of doubt that you were not to be trusted. I thought for certain that if either of you survived the ambush, you would rip one another apart with mistrust. But I suppose my ambush was too strong, so you didn’t have the chance to squabble. And even I must admit I didn’t foresee exactly his demise. I knew Cecilia loved him. I knew she would do anything for him. But over all these years there was only one thing they didn’t see eye to eye on.’

  I peered out behind cover. Gail had the gun pointed at Parker, then his wife, and finally his daughter. Each for no longer than a second or so.

  ‘I thought it would divide them, but I never thought she would kill my father. Not until you came along. You, James, were the perfect tool to tear them apart. Her hatred for you was stronger than anything I’ve seen in her before. You killed Maddox, purely by refusing to die.’

  ‘Just so you know,’ I shouted, ‘a brief separation from you hasn’t made me yearn to hear your bullshit. Justify your insanity however you want. It’s not going to save you now.’

  ‘It doesn’t have to save me,’ she said, ‘I’ve already won. Once Parker is dead, whether you survive, the world will blame this all on you. Vile, treacherous James Stone. His poison spreads wherever he goes, taints whatever he touches.’

  ‘That sounds like fun and all, but I’ve been blamed enough for shit other people did. And besides, you haven’t factored in Agent Noble.’

  Her silence was all the answer I needed.

  ‘You know Agent Noble?’ I continued, ‘the woman you had locked up for ages. She’s alive and kicking downstairs. In fact, she’ll be on her way up here any moment.’

  ‘Then she will die with you and Parker.’

  ‘I doubt that. She’s quite the arse-kicker. She’ll run circles around you.’

  She fired another shot at me. Another miss. It smashed into the extractor unit with a loud ping. The way she was going, she would run out of bullets before she hit any of her targets. Four rounds left
. Still enough to go around

  ‘Come out now, or I’ll kill Parker,’ Gail screamed.

  ‘You said you’d do that either way, so go ahead. I don’t care if he lives. You said it yourself, he deserves to die. Why not act on it while you have the chance?’

  A short, agitated snarl was all the response I got. Good. Get angry, Gail. Make all the irrational mistakes you want. I’m going to beat you.

  ‘I’m serious,’ I continued. ‘Kill him. He doesn’t mean shit to me. I just want to watch the life drain out of you, Gail. I want to see you die with my own eyes.’

  A third shot. A game changer. Not because it hit me or Parker or his family, but because it meant she was short on ammunition, unless she had spares, which I hadn’t considered. But reloading would take time.

  I placed the rifle down beside me. Took the champagne bottle in both hands.

  ‘So, indulge me, Gail,’ I called out as I peeled off the wrapping from the top of the bottle. ‘Why Parker? Now that it’s just us, why do you want that guy dead? There’s got to be hundreds of guys worse than him out there. What’s he done to boil your piss?’

  I twisted the cork. Not enough to make it pop, but getting it on the way.

  ‘He is willingly part of the problem,’ said Gail. ‘He knows that his actions will be the undoing of this country, and he doesn’t care. So long as he gets his slice of the pie, he couldn’t give a damn what happened to the working people.’

  As she spoke, I shook the bottle. The champagne fizzed up. Put pressure on the cork. Carefully, I placed it down at the corner of the extractor unit, then I slid silently in the other direction. Pressed myself up against the other side.

  ‘Sounds like you and Papa Cage had a lot in common,’ I shouted, ‘maybe you shouldn’t have been a maniac and had him killed.’

  ‘This world has a problem, a sickness, and it is masculinity,’ Gail shouted. ‘Only once it is eradicated, the world will-’

  The champagne bottle popped. The cork skyrocketed. The noise was far from that of a gunshot, but to a paranoid mind, it was enough.

  Gail spun and fired at the point the noise had come from, and the bullet sailed through dead air. Her weapon pointed in the opposite direction to Parker or his family, just like I wanted.

  I emerged, rifle raised, pointed at a true target. I didn’t rush. Didn’t waste the opportunity. I let the target realise her mistake. Let her turn marginally, and line herself up with what was coming. Then I squeezed.

  Just one bullet, but it was all I needed. The bullet smashed into the centre of her chest, and Gail Cage went down like a boxer in the ring. There one moment, gone the next.

  I threw the weapon aside before she’d hit the ground and sprinted forwards. Kicked the revolver out of the still moving hand. She wasn’t dead, but not far off.

  ‘So much for all the big talk,’ I said. ‘You died like a punk.’

  All she could manage was a weak gargle. I left her to die alone.

  Parker and his family hadn’t moved. Even though both husband and wife had to have at least another ten years on me, I was the one in charge. I got close, hands empty and raised in gentle surrender.

  ‘Are you okay?’ I asked.

  Parker’s daughter didn’t turn around. Her head was burrowed into her mother’s stomach. His wife looked up at me. Her eyes were a deep hazel.

  ‘Who are you?’ she asked, but Parker interrupted before she got an answer.

  ‘What’s the protocol here?’ he barked. ‘We need to get out of here ASAP.’

  No thanks. No gratitude. Oh, he was a politician alright.

  ‘I tend not to get bogged down in protocol,’ I said with a shrug. ‘Spontaneity is the spice of life.’

  There was a mixed look of discontent and irritation in his chiselled face.

  ‘Before you ask, I’m not on your payroll,’ I said, ‘so don’t think about playing the big cheese. I don’t care enough to listen.’

  I was about to flash him one of my patented cheeky smiles when something happened. It was the wife that started it. Her big hazel eyes opened even wider, and the noise that came out of her mouth was like that made of someone recoiling from a venomous snake. It drew my attention, which in hindsight was the worst thing that could have happened. Because it opened me up to an attack.

  I saw her move a second before it happened. The streak of golden hair caught my peripheral, and just like she had with my attack, I unwittingly turned around to take it head on.

  Moonlight glistened off the hilt of the blade as it plunged into my stomach. The pain was unbelievable. Totally incomprehensible. Like stepping directly into the sun, or feeling the full force of a planet’s gravity. It was total, unavoidable, excruciating agony. I felt every single millimetre of sharpened steel drive through my stomach, through tissue and muscle and organs. Felt every nerve bursting and burning and screaming and dying. Felt the pain receptors sending white hot agony up to my brain.

  And then it all got a million times worse.

  Gail’s eyes met mine. She held the blade steady, and she pierced me with her smile.

  ‘You talk too much,’ she snarled.

  Then she pulled out the blade.

  Blood gushed out of the wound. Pooled in my hands. Drained everything from me. Frightened fingers dabbed at the skin. Felt the warmth of fresh blood. Smelt the stench of impending death. It had happened. Finally. It was about to come. Death. I had dodged it long enough, but now it was here.

  I dropped to my knees, unable to compute what had happened. The screams of Parker’s wife and child felt like they were coming from a nearby galaxy. Not a couple of feet away. Nothing felt real. Except for the pain. That was all too concrete.

  Gail moved away, retrieved the revolver, and raised it again.

  ‘Now, where was I?’ she said, jubilation in her voice.

  She raised it once more, but not towards me. Aimed at Parker.

  ‘No one to save you now,’ she said.

  Everything slowed down. I watched the finger inching closer to the trigger as I heard a voice in my ear. That distant manifestation of inner torment.

  ‘This. This is what I warned you about.’

  I tried to speak, but I couldn’t. Didn’t have the energy.

  ‘No light at the end of the tunnel for you.’

  The muscles in Gail’s torso tensed. Her eye closed slowly as she aimed up the shot.

  ‘You might as well make it count.’

  I pushed off my knees and lunged towards her. As I connected, her finger squeezed, and a bullet ejected from the weapon. The force knocked it off course, and it disappeared into the night. I swung my arms around her and kept moving. Kept moving. Pushing her away. Away from Parker. Away from his family. Away from victory. And towards something that worked a damn sight better for me.

  The lip of the building was right there. Right within my reach. Her feet dug into the ground, but I lifted her up. Kept her from struggling. Another bullet exploded out of the revolver. Went nowhere useful. I kept going. Closer and closer. The edge was right there.

  I launched over the side, gripping Gail tight to my chest. Listened to her screams like mother fucking birdsong.

  I closed my eyes.

  Not winning today, you bitch.

  Wind rushed through my fingers. I let go. Let gravity do it for me. My role was over. The cool breeze kept me going. Kept me alive right to the end. Gail’s screams flecked my face with warm spittle. You’ve lost. Deal with it.

  I opened my eyes. Saw the look of genuine terror in her face. Saw something behind her. Much closer than I’d expected. Not the street below. Not the right direction for that. The roof of the neighbouring building. Still nice and solid and deadly.

  I let the smile spread across my face.

  And then it was all over.

  Epilogue

  The Asset

  They called it an accident. An overload of the system. Too much power running through an archaic system. Bound to happen eventually, they said. Just
a matter of time. And just like that, a terror plot was forgotten, and years of plotting was wasted. There would be some that remembered. Those choice few who knew what had really gone down. But they knew the score. They knew they couldn’t speak of it. Because New York had already suffered one day of darkness. It wouldn’t have another.

  And less than forty-eight hours later, it was as though nothing had ever happened. Times Square was back to normal. Broken windows were replaced. Insurance companies already had fat documents sat in their in-trays detailing the true extent of the damage and loss those storefronts had faced. Replacements had been ordered, ready to be snatched up in the New Year sales. The Westmorland Plaza’s entrance had had a facelift. The sign stood proud, and a newly hired doorman dressed tip to toe in a freshly pressed uniform. All was well.

  The figure moved through the darkness like a shadow. Fast, purposeful steps through dull, snow-swept streets. The tail of his long, charcoal coat whipped playfully at his ankles as he strode along, head bowed, hands in pockets. Not a care in the whole damn world.

  Clutched in his left hand was a roll of notes. Two thousand dollars in total, give or take a few bucks. In his right was a Glock 19. The figure had chosen the weapon and the coat with care so that the former was completely concealed within the latter, and anything shy of a full body pat down or a metal detector would reveal his secret. But he knew neither was a possibility. Not here. Not today.

  He twisted through the streets, taking care to act casual. He was a man with a plan, just like any of the countless men and women that hustled along with similar urgency. The new year beget billions of newfound plans and hopes and inspirations. The figure was like them, yet completely different.

  Unless they too were hiding a secret.

  It took a little over half an hour to find the place he was looking for. The sign hanging over the front door read “Ironside Veterinary Clinic” in faded black paint, with a chipped paw print directly beneath it. The figure pushed open the door, kicked the snow off his boots, and stepped inside. The building smelt of damp. Pressed between the Chinese restaurant on the left, and a butchers on the right - the irony of which was not lost on the man in the charcoal coat - a narrow staircase led up to the main reception area above the door.