The Voss Coin

by A B Alexander

  “No way, babe, we just going to cruise around.”

  A long ping pong of “yes, no” ensued, and just before he’d given up hope, she surprisingly agreed. They strapped on the orange life vests in shallow waters. She hugged him tightly from behind and he flicked on the ignition switch. The Jet Ski instantly roared between their legs like an angry beast, pleading to be unleashed. He instinctively twisted the throttle all the way down. The nose tilted slightly upwards, and they zipped through the water like a torpedo. Even now, he could feel the adrenaline and joy that rippled through his body. That was, until Lucy stuck all ten of her sharply manicured nails in his upper shoulders and dragged them down his back. He yelped in pain, his hand flicking off the throttle like a ripped elastic. The Jet Ski’s engine cut out with a growl.

  “Kevin, take me back to the fucking beach now!” She was fuming. Reluctantly, he turned toward the beach and returned the Jet Ski. She immediately charged off toward the sun lounger, her hips and shapely ass swaying seductively while she trudged through the sand. He watched admiringly for a few seconds and then figured that it would be better to let her cool off a bit before he joined her. He strode down to the beach water and dove in. The turquoise blue was so refreshing, like it contained healing elements. He swam until he was about chest high and then stood up in the soft sandy bottom. In front of him swam three middle-aged ladies who were unmistakably gesturing at his body and giggling naughtily.

  The redhead from the group piped up, “Looks like she had a good time.”

  She winked at him cheekily, hinting at rough sex. He scanned his upper chest, shoulders and the sides of his back; they had massive scratch marks like Wolverine had paid him a personal revenge visit. He chuckled, “Oh the scratches, that’s from the Jet Ski. Took my girl for a wild ride.”

  The redhead didn’t relent so easily.

  “I’m sure you took her for a hell of a ride, honey.”

  Their entire group laughed hysterically. He blushed and headed over to Lucy to face more humiliation. Until this day the memory made him laugh. She scratched him so hard that it seemed like he was raped by a grizzly bear.

  Still grinning from the flashback, they arrived at the luxurious St. Regis Hotel in the upscale suburb of Bal Harbour. It was Lucy’s preferred spot because it was close to her favorite mall, situated among lush tropical gardens on the most preserved stretch of beach. He booked the impressive presidential suite, with sweeping views of the ocean. It literally felt like sleeping on a luxurious yacht surrounded by the shimmering blue water. He only planned to be there for one night. For the rest of the trip, he booked a private 180-foot yacht, at two hundred grand a week, for a three-month period. He ordered a complete set of new wardrobes for the entire family. They would cruise tomorrow through the Caribbean, not docking in a single place for more than a few hours. He assumed that it would be enough to make them untraceable. He would lay low until he figured out a plan. For the moment, the safety of his family was his main priority.

  He switched on Cartoon Network for the boys and joined them on the sofa.

  “I’m going to have a shower, baby, you can join me if you want,” Lucy purred.

  He was pleased to see that she was finally loosening up and getting into vacation mode.

  “Lus, we’ll have some time to ourselves tonight. I’m going to order food in the meantime, what do you want to eat?”

  “Sushi,” she said over her shoulder, skipping to the bathroom. He picked up his mobile and ordered a large sushi platter.

  He dropped down on the sofa, finally managing to relax. Tomorrow his family would be on the yacht and far away from any danger. He planned to spend at least four days with them before flying back alone to New York. He had to verify that Dorothy was alive and kicking. Well, she’s pretty old, so alive is good enough, he joked to himself. He gently laid his head on the sofa’s throw pillow. He was so tired that his eyes felt like a nickel had been perched on top of his eyelids. Before he could drift off, the doorbell rang. He looked at his watch; it had been less than fifteen minutes since he ordered the sushi.

  Great, that was surprisingly fast.

  He strode casually to the front door and called out to Lucy in the shower.

  “Babe, the food’s here, we’ll wait for you to eat so hurry up.”

  He swung the front door open and froze in terror. His first natural instinct was to run, but there was nowhere to go. He was fucked. The leader and the henchman stood calmly at the door dressed in three-piece butler outfits with white cotton gloves. The leader outstretched his right hand and pointed it at Kevin. It was covered with a white linen napkin. He gently pulled aside the napkin, revealing the shiny black coating of a Glock barrel.

  “We don’t want to make this traumatic for your children. So, we going to quietly step inside the suite and talk. I’m going to ask you a few questions. Don’t make me uncover my weapon again. Do you understand?”

  Kevin nodded meekly, his face turning a ghostly pale.

  They swiftly entered the suite and stood by the dining room table.

  “Boys, let’s go to the bedroom to watch some TV. These gentlemen are here to set the table and clean up, so we don’t want to disturb them.”

  He grabbed each of their little arms and walked hurriedly to the main bedroom. The leader followed behind in close proximity.

  “Lus, the food is not here yet, it was just the butler. So, you can take your time in the shower,” he called out to her as he sat the boys down on the king-sized bed and switched on the TV. He flicked through the channels until he reached the Cartoon Network and adjusted the volume to maximum. He froze up as the realization dawned on him that this was possibly the last time he would see them.

  “Let’s go,” the leader ordered, nudging him in the back.

  Kevin bent down and kissed the boys on the cheek.

  “I’ll love you boys forever. I’ll call you when it’s time to eat.”

  Suppressing tears, he turned around and followed the leader to the dining room.

  “Mr. Voss, today I finish my mission. You’re going to come with us for a little trip, and you won’t be coming back. First, we need to know who else holds the failsafe for the mining software.”

  The leader appeared completely calm, indicating that he was a well-trained cold-blooded killer.

  “There is no one else, it’s just me. Let’s get the hell out of here and get this over with,” Kevin said tensely. He was desperate to leave the apartment before Lucy got out of the shower. If she saw their faces, her life would be over. The twins needed at least one living parent.

  The leader and henchman removed the napkins, throwing them on the table. With weapons exposed, their facial expressions naturally evolved, barren eyes turned intensely focused. The leader spoke in a low tone. “You have two options. You tell me who else has the fail safe and we leave here together right now. If you lie to us, we’ll come back for your family. There’ll be no survivors. The second option is that you don’t say anything and we start punching holes in your wife and children. You’ll be the last to die. So, what’s it going to be?”

  Kevin’s chest tensed like he’d been hit by a sledgehammer in the diaphragm. The threat knocked the wind out of him. The worst-case scenario was unfolding, and it was no nightmare. It seemed that the Et Decem had thoroughly tested the mining software with larger volumes and they were satisfied. They no longer required his services. All that remained was to eliminate him, his designated failsafe person, and his family if necessary. Then there would be no one to stop them.

  Fuck it, it’s either Dorothy or my family. There is no choice.

  He opened his mouth to speak, but the words wouldn’t come out, horrified that he would be responsible for the death of another innocent person.

  Come on, man, you have to do this.

  “It’s fucking Dorothy, the late Bill Parsons’s secretary. Please don’t kill her, I can instruct her not do to anything and she won’t.” Saying her name made it more real, more p
ainful.

  “It’s too late for that,” said the leader, pulling out his mobile.

  “The threat is Dorothy from Intelias, make sure that she is neutralized,” he said into the phone. Kevin’s heart sank. If there was an afterworld, he would be meeting Dorothy shortly.

  Ding dong, the doorbell rang. Kevin shuddered, “Guys, please relax, it’s the sushi delivery that I ordered.”

  With a pointed gun, the leader instructed him, “Open the door and take the food. If you say any word, we’ll open fire on both of you.”

  Kevin nodded, there was no chance he was going to let another innocent person get hurt. He ambled toward the door and turned the handle.

  “Hello Sir, you ordered sushi?” asked Walker, dressed in matching black jeans and T-shirt with a sushi shop delivery cap. Kevin struggled to maintain composure, shocked by the lifeline standing in front him.

  “Yes, I did, thank you for the fast delivery,” he said in a shaky voice, hands trembling like a bad case of Parkinson’s. This was going to play out badly. In seconds, people were going to die.

  27

  Survival Instincts

  Walker slightly lifted the round metallic platter, giving Kevin a peak of the gun that he hid below. With his free arm, he lifted his T-shirt showing the bulletproof vest. He signaled with his eyes for him to step aside and hit the floor. Kevin twisted his head to the other side of the door, both men had their guns raised. Walker didn’t stand a chance unless he got him through the entrance.

  “Oh, I see it’s a huge platter. Please come inside and put it on the table,” he said in a wavering voice and motioned for the leader and the henchman to lower their guns. The henchman lowered his gun to waist height, but the leader didn’t take the bait. Walker reacted quickly, stepping through the entrance, platter in hand. Kevin dived toward the corridor and the door slammed shut behind him.

  “It’s the FBI. Drop your weapons,” he heard Walker scream from the inside, followed simultaneously by a loud cascade of BANG BANG BANG BANG.

  The volley of gunfire stopped. Kevin lurched to his feet and kicked the door open. He charged into the suite, engulfed by the stifling smell of gunpowder. He saw Walker first, a few meters in front of the entrance, sprawled on the stone floor, wounded and bleeding profusely. The henchman lay beneath the dining room table; he wasn’t moving. He couldn’t see the leader. He approached Walker cautiously and bent down beside him, trying to assess where he’d been shot. Walker was gasping desperately for air. He looked Kevin in the eyes with deathly grit and determination.

  “He is behind the sofa, I got the fucker in the shoulder and the lower waist. He’s still alive. Here, take my gun, you need to take him out.”

  Kevin grabbed the gun without hesitation, there was no time to think. He strode past the dining room table, heading toward the sofa. He saw the henchman had gotten nailed with a clean head shot, his face unrecognizable. A disgusting hole gaped from his forehead, oozing blood and brain tissue. He heard faint movement behind the sofa. He lifted his arm, holding the gun steady in front of him, placing each foot in front of the other, taking slow, deliberate steps. He had fired weapons only once in his life, at a shooting range in Las Vegas during his brother’s bachelor party weekend five years ago. Fear and adrenaline blitzed through his body, it felt like every single one of his organs was pulsating. Sweat dripped into his eyes, and he struggled to contain his rapid breath.

  Fuck this, my family is in the other room.

  He tightened his grip on the gun and opened fire. He charged behind the sofa with the gun blazing. The leader’s body twisted and shuddered on the floor from the volley of bullets, arms flailing in the air at his sides. Blood sprayed like volcanic eruptions from his torso with each hit. Kevin kept squeezing the trigger, not realizing he’d emptied the cartridge, eyes fixed on the smoking barrel.

  “VOSSS!!”

  Walker’s sudden scream jarred him out of shock. He dashed back to the entrance. Walker was holding a portable radio to his mouth, “Officer down, need urgent medical assistance at St. Regis.”

  He dropped the radio and laid his head back in the growing pool of blood.

  “You need to get your family out of here now, there’ll be more coming. Give me the gun.”

  Kevin bent down and fitted the gun in Walker’s shaky palm.

  “I don’t know how to thank you, man. Are you going to be OK?”

  Walker reached for a new cartridge and slammed it into the gun with a loud click.

  “You can thank me by staying alive. Hurry up and get the fuck out of here before they show up. I’m going to go down blazing.”

  Kevin saluted him, acknowledging his courage. By the blood of countless men like Walker, corruption didn’t stand a chance.

  He sprinted for the main bedroom, the only audible sounds the blaring TV and Walker’s loud death rattle from behind. He swung the door open wildly, the kids weren’t on the bed. He heard Lucy blow drying her hair in the bathroom, it sounded like a vacuum cleaner on turbo mode. She also had music on at high volume.

  Between the TV, the blow dryer, and her music, she wouldn’t have heard an explosion.

  “Boys, it’s Daddy, where’re you?” he shouted in panic. Suddenly, he heard very faint murmurings coming from under the bed. He dropped on all fours and found them cuddled in the fetal position, shaking with fear. He reached for their fragile arms and dragged them from under the bed. He hugged them tightly, on the verge of tears, steadying his voice. “Hey, shhhhh, relax guys. It’s OK. I wanted to organize a fireworks surprise for you, and there was a little accident. Sorry for frightening you with the loud bangs and the screaming.”

  He felt their rapid breathing and pounding hearts gradually ease.

  “Hey, what’s that weird smell?” Lucy asked, concerned, stepping out of the bathroom, oblivious.

  “Fireworks, Mommy!” the boys exclaimed.

  She glanced at Kevin wide-eyed, “What’re they talking about?”

  “Right, I’ve got a massive surprise for you guys. Everyone is putting on a blindfold and following me.”

  He grabbed a few hand towels from the bathroom and tied them around the boys’ eyes.

  “What the hell are you doing?” she protested. He approached her quickly and placed the towel over her eyes, giving her a soft kiss on the lips.

  “Please, baby, just trust me, don’t ruin the surprise.”

  She let out a deep sigh of frustration while he tightened the towel around her head.

  “Well, it’s kind of sexy, I must say.”

  He laughed at the absurdity of her remark; it couldn’t have been more out of place.

  “Great, now everybody hold hands and follow me like a train,” he instructed. He quickly ushered them toward the front door and grabbed his briefcase. He carefully navigated them around Walker, who lay unconscious in a thick red bloody pond. He hauled them quickly through the corridor and into the elevator.

  “Babe, I’m in a bathrobe and I can hear we’re in the elevator. Where’re you taking us?” she said, tightening the robe so it would be less revealing.

  “It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, just wait and see,” he said trying to sound as eager as possible.

  Moments later the doors to the elevator slid open and they were instantly greeted by the hubbub of the lobby. He yanked their arms, shifting to running pace. He didn’t want to give them a chance to fully process what was going on. While he raced them to the exit, the hubbub gradually died down; all eyes in the lobby were on them. He ignored the stares, preoccupied with identifying any potential assailants. Once they reached the exit, he guided them to the side of the valet parking and instructed them to wait on the spot. He ordered the concierge to get the hotel car.

  “Where would you like to go, sir? the concierge asked politely.

  “Not sure yet, just get the driver,” he commanded. He knew exactly where he was going, but sure as hell he wasn’t going to trust anybody with that information that didn’t absolutely need
to know.

  A grey Bentley glided toward the entrance. He hurriedly ushered Lucy and the boys into the back and jumped into the front passenger seat.

  “To the Fort Lauderdale marina,” he breathlessly instructed the driver. The Bentley shifted into gear and slowly pulled away from the hotel. A deafening stream of sirens headed in their direction. At least five police patrol cars and an ambulance passed them in the opposite lane. He held his breath and exhaled sharply. Shortly he was going to be hunted by everybody; the hotel suite was soaked in more blood than a Parisian guillotine.

  “Where’re we going?” Lucy asked, stripping the towel from her face.

  “You’ve exaggerated with the surprises, I’m in a bloody bathrobe!” she added angrily and quickly untied the towels from the boys’ heads. He was relieved that the boys hadn’t seen the horrific scene in the hotel; it would’ve left an everlasting impact.

  “That was fun, wasn’t it, guys?”

  He said it in a spirited voice, doing his best to keep the high energy excitement flowing. The boys nodded drearily, it was too much for them, their senses over-stimulated, exhausted by the sudden pendulum of fear and excitement.

  “Stop it, Kevin! You’ve scared the boys with this nonsense. I want to know where we’re going right now,” she shouted. The driver shifted uneasily in his seat, sensing the developing conflict.

  “We’re going to spend the best quality time we’ve ever had, Lus, so relax. In less than an hour, you’ll see. Don’t worry about the bathrobe, it’ll be coming off soon anyway,” he said teasingly, shooting her a bold grin. She bit her lower lip, tensing her jaw. He held his palms up in the air, realizing he’d pushed her too far.

  “No more surprises, I swear.”

  She shook her head and huffed in audible displeasure. “Fine. Any more surprises, and I’m taking the boys home.” He didn’t like her comment, but it was no time to argue. The tension in the car was palpable. The kids remained motionless, in a sort of semi shell-shocked state. She stared out the window impatiently, fiddling with her bathrobe. He was tense, preoccupied with how they were going to stay alive. He kept looking in the review mirror every few seconds, checking for a possible tail. Nothing, the road was clear. Eventually the long stream of luxury cruise liners and cargo ships came into view. He checked his email for the location of the private yacht.