"Reynolds."
"Still not used to that name, man." To Anubis, he would always be Bengal.
"Takes a hot minute, that's for sure." Bengal's voice sounded distracted. "Give me a minute to secure the connection and get Alpha on the line."
"Roger that." Anubis put the phone on mute. He could hear cutlery rattling in the kitchen and the refrigerator opening and closing. Asp strode into the office with five inches of meat and cheese stacked between two half inch slices of bread.
"How the fuck are you going to eat that?"
"One bite at a time, my man. One bite at a time." Asp put the plate on his lap, hunched over, and smashed the sandwich between his fingers before his mouth took massive chunks out of the whole. Anubis chuckled to himself at the sight. The man was the exact opposite of what Anubis thought of when he thought of an assassin. He stuck out in a crowd, like a flashing neon night light in a pitch-black cave.
"Alright, Alpha's on the call, and I've pulled up the files on Haghen and Faas."
Anubis unmuted the speaker. "Affirmative. I have another with me."
"Six-six-eight." Asp managed to confirm his identity around the pile of food in his mouth.
"Six-four-nine, I pass you, Cobalt." Alpha's voice rang out in the room.
"Azure, sir."
"Six-Six-eight, I pass you, tackle."
Asp moved the food in his mouth to the side and barely managed. "Bait, sir."
"What the fuck are you eating this time?" Alpha laughed the question out.
"A sandwich the size of my head," Anubis answered for Asp because he'd just taken another massive bite.
"Figures. Alright, let's run this down. CCS, the floor is yours."
"Haghen's nephew Faas has flown under the radar because his transgressions haven't affected us or our allies. It seems Faas has a penchant for killing his compatriots and raining terror down on the good citizens of Suriname, but he's very careful to only target those who can't fight back. Until he went after you and your family."
The information about Faas was superfluous to Anubis's objective. He really didn't give a flying fuck what Faas had done in the past. "Where is he now?"
"San Francisco. At the Apogee, he's-"
"And there is where we have the problem." Alpha's voice interrupted Bengal. "He's in the United States. As of this time, he is not coded. The evidence we have tying him to this situation is circumstantial. We have no live witnesses, and for obvious reasons, six-four-nine will not be making any witness statements."Yeah, there was no way an assassin would make a good witness. Alpha continued, "Faas is a bastard of the highest order, but as of this time, Guardian is not authorizing you to go after him."
Asp looked up from his sandwich, his questioning gaze met Anubis's stare. Anubis lowered his eyes and waited. He had infinite patience and right now he needed to amass as much information about Faas as possible. "I copy."
"I understand your family is enroute to the complex. Perhaps you should take some time to tie up some loose ends and figure out what your future looks like. When you're ready to talk, I have an option I'd like you to consider. Until then, check in with CCS as required. I'll deactivate you until you've finished what you need to do. Take all the time you need, six-four-nine."
Anubis read between the lines. His automatic "Yes, sir" acknowledged the non-command. Alpha couldn't authorize the hit, but he was giving Anubis the time to take the matter into his own hands.
"CCS, make sure six-four-nine gets the documentation he needs to complete his leave of absence. We want to make sure the HR people don't have a cow."
Anubis shot his eyes to Asp who wore stupid ass grin. As far as humanity knew, the Shadows didn't exist so HR was a smokescreen. Alpha was instructing CCS to give Anubis the information he needed to take care of Faas.
"Roger that, sir. I've already dropped it." Bengal confirmed the order.
"How did I guess that? Alpha out."
They waited for Bengal to confirm Alpha was off the line. "Take note of those HR forms I sent you. That department is in a state of flux right now. There is a telephone number you'll need to call if you have any issues while you're on vacation.
"Got it." Anubis lifted the receiver and set it back down. He leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers together staring out the window at the few cars driving down the boulevard.
"They didn't sanction the hit, and the man is in the US." Asp leaned back after putting his empty plate on the desk.
"Correct." Anubis continued to stare out the window. The Apogee, if he recalled correctly, was a grand old hotel in the heart of San Francisco. He needed a blueprint of the facility. Hopefully, Bengal had included one in the documentation he dropped into Anubis's Shadow World email account. If not, well, he'd had missions where he'd flown by the seat of his pants. He could do it again.
"What are you going to do?" "Nothing." Anubis turned his head toward his friend. He wasn't sanctioned on this operation. His company wouldn't extend themselves further, he knew they couldn't without crossing lines they would never cross. The Shadows were different. They operated in a transient state, not quite of the world, and yet in the world and answerable to the rules and regulations Guardian put in place to police their profession. If they went rogue, they would be no better than the people they put down. The cold, calculating way he was plotting the death of a man who had paid to have Sky killed and planned on using his daughter to lure him to his death proved he was already rogue on this case. If anything went wrong… Anubis shook his head. If his actions brought any inquiry into the death of Faas, if he missed a camera and his picture revealed his past identity, if his method of assassination led the international community to Guardian's door, he'd be cut off from the tether of sanity that was Guardian.
"Bullshit. I can read your intent from here." Asp dropped his head back onto the high backed chair and raised his eyebrow. The expression mocked his statement as much as his words.
"No. I'm going to do exactly what Alpha said. If I want my family to be safe, I need to decide a few things. I can't remain a Shadow, but I don't know how to walk in the light anymore. I'm fucked up and I'm the worst of all possible situations for them. I need to figure out a way forward."
"Right, and the yellow brick road is actually made of twenty-four carat gold, and it starts right outside this door. I heard the same thing you did. Don't lie to me." Asp kept his gaze locked on Anubis.
"Then stop asking me stupid questions." Anubis pulled the secure phone Guardian had sent him out of his pocket and hit up the email account where Bengal had dropped the information he needed. He stood and looked at Asp. "I'm doing this one alone, brother. I can't ask you to step into my destiny."
"I don't recall you asking." Asp stood and looked at Anubis.
"You're right. I'm telling. I'm not letting you, or anyone else, buy into this hand. The cards that have been dealt are mine to play." Anubis held out his hand.
Asp stared at his hand and then, slowly, reached out to grasp it. "I'll lay it on the line for you, brother… I'd have a problem being involved anyway, but… you need to take a breath and think about what you're going to lose if you take action." Asp swallowed hard and continued, "You take care of you. I'm a phone call away when this becomes a sanctioned dossier."
"I know it, and I appreciate it." Anubis shook the big man's hand and released it. After what Asp had confided not thirty minutes ago, he understood how an off the books operation would be damn near impossible for him to support. That the man was still willing to be called in for backup spoke volumes. He watched as Asp spun on his heel and left the apartment without another word. Anubis glanced down at his phone and hit the draft folder where the documentation was waiting. He had one evil mother to put down. He needed facts, and he needed them now.
Chapter Fourteen
Finally, that mother fucker, Faas, had returned. The bastard and his guards had ghosted fr
om the Apogee. Anubis worked what information he had and leveraged a few favors from Bengal using the HR number he'd supplied. Faas had taken a whirl-wind trip to three different cities in the United States. Baltimore, Chicago, and Dallas. Unofficially, Guardian was tracking his movements because he'd been placed on Shadow's scope of vision. Officially, Bengal's woman along with all the other assets Guardian could muster were working to build a case against the bastard and bring him down. There was no chatter on the contract out on him, Sky and Kadey. It seemed the word had spread taking Faas's business would be a mistake a person wouldn't live through. He'd used the time Faas was out of town to visit Arnie, old buddy, old pal. A smile tugged at his lips. The memory of the man pissing his bed when Anubis woke him up in the middle of the night was something neither of them would soon forget. Good ole Trey. What a joke. The bastard was walking the straight and narrow now, and Anubis planned to make sure he didn't stray an inch. Sky would never have to worry about that fucker coming back into her life.
Anubis looked up at the old limestone façade. He'd cased the hotel five times with five different disguises, and spent countless hours over the last two days watching, waiting and learning. It took perseverance, but Anubis finally tracked down the limo company that Faas had contracted. Hacking the company's database to ascertain Faas's schedule was child's play for someone like Bengal's woman, but Anubis wasn't a computer expert, so he went after the information the old fashioned way.
He waited outside the limo company in his very ordinary later model Nissan. Parked across the street, he watched the expensive cars come and go. The car he waited for pulled into the fenced lot as the sun was setting. A telephoto lens aimed at the driver identified his mark. Anubis positioned an audio enhancer and turned on the device. He'd bought it online and had delivered overnight. The power of the American consumer who wanted access to everything, right now, and oh, by the way, screw the fact that what you were buying was made for only one thing-to breach a person's privacy. The small warning on the manufactures website that cautioned a person to use the listening devices, trackers, and other equipment on sale within the confines of the law really worked. Placing the cheap earbud into his ear, he zeroed in on his target-Faas's limo driver.
Another driver came up beside his target. "Hey man. Good day?"
"No, the fucker I pulled is a total ass." That was Faas's driver. Well, good to know the man was a decent judge of character. There was static every time a car idled by in front of his vehicle, and he lost the conversation for a hot second when a semi pulled past.
"Hector's for a cold one?" Anubis sat up and pushed the ear bud in trying to hear more.
"I don't know man. I'm beat." Faas's driver said.
"…only one…forget the asshole…"
Anubis lost the comms but saw his man nod and pulled the small parabolic dish down. He palmed his phone and did what anyone else in the world would do. GTS baby. He Googled That Shit. Finding the most likely establishment in the local area with Hector's in the name, Anubis headed out.
The bar wasn't a dive, but it wasn't a high class joint either. Anubis reached into the back seat and grabbed a ratty old San Francisco 49er's hat, a beaten up leather coat and his cash stash. He filled his wallet and locked the car after grabbing the equipment he needed.
He opened the thick wooden door and ambled into the dark interior. He straddled a stool and waited for the bartender. She made her way down to him and smiled. "Hiya. You're new. What can I get you?"
One glance behind the bar, and a real smile lit his face. "I'd like a bottle of your best IPA and give me a can of pistachios and a can of trail mix." The little display held a prominent position behind the bartender.
"You know you can have our bar mix, no charge?" She reached into the cooler and grabbed a local IPA. Anubis watched carefully as she opened the bottle and sat it in front of him.
"Yeah, but I'm kinda addicted to that brand." Anubis tipped his head toward the display again.
"Hey, it's your dime." She turned around, and Anubis wiped the mouth of the bottle with a napkin he pulled from the middle of one of the small stacks that sat at intervals down the dark wood of the bar.
She dropped down the two cans. "That will be seven dollars each for the nuts. The beer is six. So twenty."
Anubis pulled his wallet out and fished out a fifty. "Start a tab for me?"
"You got it, sweets." The bartender took his money folded it lengthwise and laid it on a ticket where she annotated his order. Talk about old school. No computer inventory or point of sale system. Anubis studied the cans, and satisfied they hadn't been tampered with, he opened them and popped a handful into his mouth washing it down with the surprisingly strong and slightly bitter IPA. It was damn near perfect.
He'd almost finished his snack when Faas's driver and another man walked into the establishment.
"Hey, Karen." Faas's driver called out as they sat down a couple stools over from Anubis.
"The usual, guys?" The bartender called from the far end of the bar.
Regulars. That would mean they would know he wasn't.
"Yeah and a bowl of bar mix."
"Like I don't keep you two fed." Karen quipped from the far end of the bar.
"I'm telling you, Massey was a dick to stick me with this guy, man. He knows I can't handle cigarette smoke." Faas's driver sat with his elbows on the bar and ran his fingers through his hair. "I picked him up this morning and did what we always do, ya know? I trot around to the door to open it and introduce myself. I'll give you ten bucks if you can guess what the fucker said."
Karen placed a large bowl of bar mix down in front of the men along with two domestic brews. She popped the top and grabbed their credit cards.
"Tab?"
"No."
"Yes."
They spoke at the same time and then looked at each other and laughed. "Okay, yes. I need to forget today." Faas's driver was a young kid. Maybe mid twenties and Karen winked at him making him blush.
"That's my man, Jamie."
Karen shook her head and placed the cards, number side down on two tickets jotting down what they'd purchased. Anubis filed the driver's name away. Jamie.
"Seriously, guess what the fucker said?" Jamie downed half his bottle in a single draw.
"Ummm… Good morning?"
"No. Try, 'I don't give a fuck who you are. You are being paid to drive this car. My bodyguards will open my doors. Now get the fuck out of my face.'"
"You're shitting me?"
"Nah man, I'm not. And like I told you on the way over, the fucker's smoking in the car even after I told him it was against company policy."
"Did you tell Massey?"
"Yeah, he's giving me the Lincoln tomorrow."
"The one with the separate rear ventilation system?"
"Yeah, I can at least breathe. I had to shower at work because I smelled like a fucking ashtray. I guess this guy is somebody with enough scratch that the company won't mind the cleaning charges."
"Do you have him again tomorrow?"
"Yep."
"You need another beer, or twenty."
Anubis turned in his seat. "Sorry, couldn't help but overhear. Let me buy the next round. Call it a sympathetic gesture. I'm in sales and dicks like the guy you describe make my life miserable."
"Fuckin'-A, man. We're just trying to make a living." That came from the other driver. Jamie nodded his head in agreement.
"Karen, a round for all of us, on my tab." Anubis gestured toward Jamie and…
"Name's Rick." Anubis held out his hand as Jamie introduced them.
"Jamie and this here is Don."
"Pleased to meet you."
"You from around here?" Jamie glanced at the Niner's hat.
"Nah, love the team, though. Grew up watching Montana and Young."
"The glory days." Dan held up the beer Karen had placed in f
ront of him.
"Amen." Anubis echoed and handed Karen another fifty as she placed his beer in front of him. She raised her eyebrow at him and dropped the money on top of the fifty he'd already ponied up.
Anubis had most of the information he needed, except what time Jamie was picking up Faas tomorrow. They discussed football, politics and made their way through three more rounds before Jamie pushed his empty away. "Guys, it's been real, but I have to pick up the douche bag at two sharp," He cleared his throat and mimicked Faas's accent, albeit poorly, as he spoke, "I will be at the west side entrance at exactly two p.m. If you are not there, I will have your job." Jamie groaned as Don and Anubis laughed at his mimicry. "Fuck, and I have to detail the Mercedes for Jenkins because I lost a bet… so as much as I would like to have another one, I'm tapping out."
Don threw in the towel, too, leaving with his friend. Anubis said goodnight and watched as they left. He leaned on the bar and took a drink of his beer. Jamie was a good kid. He hoped that rear ventilation system worked well.
Anubis walked down the busy San Francisco sidewalk. The normal hum of the city ebbed and flowed around him. He kept his eyes forward as he shuffled past the entrance to the hotel. His hair was now auburn, and he'd fashioned a disheveled Mohawk with some cheap gel. His ripped jeans displayed the stains he'd engineered. The chains that hung from his belt slapped his thighs and made a distinct counter sound to the stumbling step of his unlaced combat boots. The old, tattered leather bomber jacket he wore kept the cold, wet San Francisco weather from reaching him. The lead lining of the right pocket also kept his own weapon from killing him. Anubis shrugged the filthy backpack he carried by one strap back up onto his shoulder.
He turned the corner and walked down to the middle of the block. A side entrance to the hotel was located about five feet from where he took up residency. Anubis leaned against the building pulling one leg up and resting it against the wall. A half smoked cigarette from his left pocket made its way to his lips. His eyes roamed up and down the block, casually taking in every scrap of information revealed to him. Housed in an old building, Apogee appeared to be an easy mark, but the security installed by the new owners was impressive
Anubis (Guardian Security Shadow World Book 1) Page 14