“Sorry, I don't do married men,” she laughed, and I turned back to Blaster. “This is a problem,” I said, waving at the room behind me. “I have no idea how to work in a group, and it almost got us all killed.”
Blaster raised an eyebrow. “You're telling me.”
I shook a gloved finger at him. “Hey, be nice.” Looking around a last time, I had an idea. “Blaster, round these ones up, keep them here. I didn't hear any alarms, so I'm guessing we still have the element of surprise. I'm gonna find this Malcolm and bleed him a bit, then come back to you, hopefully with my family, and we'll book it out of here.”
“No!” he barked, moving in front of me. “We're a team, and you're going to learn to work with us, or we're all dead.”
I seethed, especially when Prince came through my earpiece, telling me I did not have clearance to search the complex alone. I forgot Blaster and brought a finger to my ear, blocking out the other sounds. “Clearance? Don't you dare talk to me about clearance! They have my family, Prince. The moment the thought entered their mind to take them I was granted all the clearance I need. Try to stop me and I'll give myself clearance to remove your head from your shoulders.”
Dexide crackled in next, telling me he'd have me court-martialed. I laughed. “You forget Dexide, I don't work for you. I'm attached to no branch of government. The most you can do is ship me off to Gitmo, and we both know I'll be back in Florida within the week. Don't contact me again. Watch all you want, but the next time I hear your voice, I'll make sure you can never speak to me again.”
Stacey was next, and my anger at the two idiots in Langley disappeared. “Please, Christian,” she said softly. “Don't do this alone. You're angry, and everyone, even you, makes mistakes when they're angry. Your family needs you, and so do we.”
I sighed. “Fine. I'll make a compromise. Blaster, pick your quietest Marine to come with me. The others will stay here and hold the fort while we go find Malcolm. Is that okay with all the voices in my head?”
Stacey and Prince said yes, and Dexide didn't speak. I gave Blaster a nod and he motioned to the Marine that was busy placing zip-ties around the wrists and ankles of the Spectres. “Adder, you're with Ghost. Keep him safe, watch his six, and make sure the idiot doesn't get you killed.”
Adder nodded, pulling a silenced pistol from a webbing holster on his hip. He dropped the magazine and checked the ammo, which I saw to be .22 caliber. He looked to Hammer, who rolled his eyes and pulled two extra clips free from his own belt. Adder took them with a frown, stowing them before pulling the mag from his silenced MP5 and doing the same with Blackjack.
While he got himself ready I tapped my foot impatiently, until Blaster pulled me to the side and spoke in hushed tones. “He doesn't speak much, if at all. We know he can, he just chooses not to. Don't sweat it though, the man is a machine, and the quietest one I've got.”
“Fine, I'll take him. Do me a favor while I'm gone though? Interrogate one them for me, find out where Malcolm is, and relay the info to Katrina. I'll take it from there.”
“I'll do it, but I'm really not comfortable with this."
Adder looked up and nodded, and I went over a few hand signals with him before heading toward the door on the far side of the room, kicking one of the Spectres in the stomach on the way. “Don't stay up kiddies,” I said over my shoulder. “Blaster, they're not allowed to have sweets, and they're to be in bed before ten.”
Someone cursed at my back and I smiled beneath my mask, hand on the doorknob. “Ready?” I whispered and Adder nodded, so I cracked the door open and peered through to see an empty hallway, devoid of life. “Let's do this then,” I said, moving through the door, with Adder at my back.
The door closed softly behind us and we were immersed in darkness. I blinked my night vision back on and the hall lit up with a green glow, showing rough stone walls with unlit light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. Wires ran between them, much of the insulation gone from the close to bare wiring. Adder made no noise when he took a step, and I was grateful for that at least. The tunnel curved, and we followed it to see another four way intersection, with the cross section illuminated with a soft flickering glow from the ceiling lights. Shadows of two people fell into the cross section of the hallways and voices wound their way toward us, the words in what sounded like Russian. I looked for a way around but there wasn't one to be found.
Looking back at the Marine behind me, he nodded that he saw and heard them too. I held up two fingers, and he shook his head, holding up three. “Stacey,” I whispered. “I'm gonna need some help here. If I get you a flash of a face, can you freeze the feed and tell me if I can kill them?”
“I can,” she confirmed. “But it will need to be a clear shot, no blur.”
I nodded and moved forward, coming to the corner and getting ready to peek around as quickly as possible when Adder tapped my shoulder. He shook his head and handed me a small metal cylinder with a mirror attached. I smiled beneath my mask and pulled on the mirror, extending the cylinder to over a foot long. I crouched and slowly pushed the mirror around the corner, and it took me a minute to realize what I was seeing in the tiny round mirror. Three men, one of their faces covered with a balaclava, all of them holding automatic weapons. I panned to each face slowly, and waited for Stacey to give me the all clear before retracting the tool.
Thirty seconds passed before she returned. “Christian, the one on the right, with the beard, he is higher up in the ranks. You can remove him if you want to, but there is a good possibility he will be able to tell you where this Malcolm person is.”
I nodded and looked to Adder, lifting my mask and whispering my plan in his ear. He nodded, checked his MP5, and moved back two steps, ensconcing himself in the shadows. I chuckled under my breath, thinking to myself how much I liked this quiet guy. I pulled a ninjato from its sheath, and made my footsteps loud, adding a shuffling motion just for kicks. Into the light I walked, limping, and leaning to the left. “Intruders,” I gasped, holding my right side. “In the mess.”
I collapsed, feigning a black out, and all three men rushed to my side, kneeling next to me, with their weapons in their slings. “Are you okay, comrade?” one asked me. I lifted my mask and smiled, “I'm splendid. Can't say the same for you though.”
Three 'pops' sounded in quick succession, and two heads exploded with the introduction of subsonic 9mm rounds to the skull. Beard-boy opened his mouth to scream when a round slammed into his knee, and I reached up to hold the scream in. He collapsed on top of me, writhing in pain, holding his knee, and I flipped us over and drew a knife, placing it against his larynx. “You can either shut up of your own accord, or I can shut you up. Which one will it be?”
YOU ARE READING
The Edge Of Justice
ActionIt has been eleven years since Christian Winters brought the plans of his old Sensai, Michael Neal, to an abrupt and bloody halt. His daughter Haley, named after the woman he loved and lost, is training with both her father and mother, becoming a fo...
