The Edge Of Justice

The Edge Of Justice Chapter 27

“And you need to learn when someone else is carrying another weapon,” Adder retorted, twisting his MP5 to the side, the Frenchman following with his blade. With the speed of a western movie, Adder pulled the suppressed .22 from its holster, double-tapped him in the chest, and the Spectre went down like a ton of bricks. Another shot to the head silenced his groans, and Adder holstered the weapon once more, and shouldered his MP5. “Back to the mess?” he asked, and all I could do was nod.

We limped through the halls as fast as we could, Adder leading the way. I quickly became lost, my vision still slightly blurry and my ears ringing loudly, but as long as I kept the Marine in front of me I knew I'd make it back to the mess. Adder finally leaned on a large wooden door, and ushered me in to the large hall, the same one we had left, but it looked radically different. All the tables had been shoved up against the walls, and the chairs were haphazardly thrown on top of them. A pile of swords, knives, and other weapons sat on the floor, and I looked for their owners.

The Spectre's were corralled into a tight circle on the floor, their hands and ankles zip-tied. Four Marines stood guard, guns trained on the immobilized assassins, while Blaster was off in the corner with his back to us, speaking softly into a hand-held radio. He saw us and signed off, pushing the radio back into a pocket. “Did you find what you were looking for?” he asked, and I shook my head.

“We're two weeks late,” I said, removing my mask and sheathing my ninjato. “They were here, but he moved them.”

“And I'm not gonna be told who “he” is or what he's done, am I?”

“Not my place to say,” I shrugged.

“I'm used to it by now,” he replied, and turned to the Marines guarding the prisoners. “Alright, boys, you have your orders. We move out in five.”

Viking raised his rifle to the head of the nearest bound Spectre and pulled the trigger. At that range all I could see was a heavy pink mist that exploded out a new orange sized hole in her temple, and she went limp, falling over, her head coming to rest on one of her comrades shoulder. I was furious, and I looked to Adder, whose eyes widened as well. In a rage, I sprinted over to the other three Marines, who were raising their own weapons. I skidded to a stop, placing myself in between the prisoners and the soldiers, arms spread wide. “Just what the fuck do you think you're doing?” I screamed, desperately wanting to cut Viking's stomach open and show him his entrails.

Blaster shrugged. “Orders. We can't bring all of them back with us, and we can't leave them this base so they can continue operating here.”

“Who ordered that?” I growled, and didn't even wait for an answer, bringing a finger to my ear to block out the noise of the protesting Spectre's. “Dexide, I know you can hear me. Get your ass on this line right now.”

He complied. “How can I help you, Mr. Winters?”

“You gave an order for Blaster's team to execute the prisoners? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“I did what? Mr. Winters, your contacts aren't working, we're blind in there. We are not in contact with Blaster, only you and Katrina. Our orders were to bring the prisoners with you to the airfield and then we would send a transport for them. Who relayed that order?”

“I did,” Katrina's panicked voice chimed in. “I received the order ten minutes ago from Prince.”

“I said no such thing,” Prince argued. “I haven't been on the comm since Christian entered the mountain.”

Everyone else began talking at the same time, and I closed my eyes to the assault of sound. Someone was to blame, and I planned on finding out who. Just before I was able to shout that everyone needed to shut the hell up, Stacey's voice broke into the line as well, doing exactly what I had planned to do. Everyone quieted, and the woman spoke. “I've picked up and anomaly in our carrier wave. Something is piggybacking on the signal.”

Laughter echoed then, and I knew the voice. My eyes popped open, and I whirled toward Blaster, making the signals to tell him our comms had been compromised, and that we needed to run. He understood, speaking in hushed tones to the Marines, who shouldered their weapons and got ready to move.

I pulled a folding knife and crouched by the Spectres, slicing through the restraints on their feet. I then pushed that same knife into my ear and sliced into the scab that had formed, and used the tip to dig out the communicator, then crushed it with the heel of my boot. The Spectres were standing by then, and I looked out at the people that wouldn't hesitate to kill me, and decided that I would give them the chance to save their own lives.

“You have one of two choices, and I hope you make the right one. This mountain is going to blow by itself, or my team is gonna send a missile. You can stay here, or you can run. Take your pick. With hat I signaled to Adder, and we turned tail and sprinted for the door. “Why did you dig out your comm?” he asked, his arms pumping furiously.

I looked back to see the other Marines, and two of the Spectres following. “Neal hacked our signal somehow, and gave fake Katrina orders from Prince.”