CHAPTER 12
President Garrison walked confidently out to Marine One, the deep green painted helicopter waiting patiently for its very important passenger. At the front steps an attendant Marine saluted as the commander in chief approached, the president responding with a salute of her own before ascending the steps.
For the press it was the usual scene, seeing the President talk a moment with the two pilots before disappearing into the back to be whisked off to whatever meetings lay ahead.The clicking of cameras from the press was slowly overcome by the blades of the helicopter and slowly it ascended and headed off towards the horizon.
Soon Marine One was intercepted by its two sister craft, the decoys that bore the same tail numbers as their more important third twin and the trio pushed on eastwards and low towards their nearby secret meeting.
At the eastern edge of the city the two pilots made their radio call and one of them flicked a switch which lit a small smoke flare and with their two other escorts close by the helicopter dipped down out of sight into the D.C United's RFK stadium.
Gently the trio of helicopters set themselves down onto the turf and the occupants of the decoys calmly set off to secure a perimeter around the President's aircraft, preparing for their special guest. Soon there were suited agents in the stands and a few on the turf and the scene was set.
Garrison looked at her watch anxiously. The procedure for dealing with a mechanical failure on Marine One was well established, the smoke flare a ruse to feign the need to land, but she didn't want to make this little excursion too long or it might look suspicious.
Garrison was alone with her thoughts while she waited. She had not met the superheroine in person before, though it was unusual for a U.S President not to meet her at least once during their term in office. The heroine was not one for politics, she was more about good will and peace and she was most certainly not at anyone's beck and call. It was merely good fortune that the President had a trusted ambassador who could get a message to Supergirl as soon as they did. However, getting a message to her was one thing, having her respond was another.
Then the radio of a nearby secret service agent crackled into life in their ear causing Garrison to flinch as she was drawn back into the moment. Something was happening.
“Madame President, Guardian is reported to be approaching,” the agent declared.
“Thank you,” Garrison replied confidently though inside her heart fluttered a moment.
Supergirl floated down to the ground at the center of the football stadium, her all seeing eyes assessing the scene. Agents were everywhere though they seemed to be relatively at ease with the situation and the three helicopters were parked in an orderly row.
Supergirl settled in front of the row of helicopters and an agent walked confidently forward towards her, one finger to his ear while speaking seemingly to no one.
“Guardian is here – checking now” the agent said.
Supergirl nodded subtly as the agent produced his hand held metal detector and ran his drill of passing the device around Supergirls body. The search of course revealed nothing but procedure was procedure and despite the absurd mismatch between her hosts and herself the agent still tried to evoke a sense of security for his charge waiting in the helicopter.
“Come this way please,” the secret service agent said and led Supergirl to the steps of Marine One.
Supergirl elegantly ascended the steps of the helicopter and turned into the main cabin area noting the cockpit had been vacated by its pilots.
“Madam President,” Supergirl said, acknowledging the woman sat in a chair facing another across a table.
Garrison rose to her feet and offered her hand which Supergirl accepted, the handshake lingering just long enough to be considered polite.
“Please, let us sit, my time is short and if I am too long they will start swearing in the V.P.” quipped Garrison.
Supergirl, managing her cape, took her place opposite where the President had sat back down.
“You no doubt are wondering why I have requested this meeting,” President Garrison said.
“Yes, your ambassador's note was short, but I imagine it was all he could write on such a small piece of paper to hide in the palm of his hand, ” Supergirl said.
“Getting in touch with you is not an easy undertaking, and doing so without telling the world more so, but I am grateful you have come,” Garrison replied.
“It is only because the note assured me of your discretion that I am here. You know I need to be seen as being impartial,” Supergirl said.
“When presidents first take office they get a special briefing from all the agency heads. The CIA, the FBI, the NSA and so on, they tell us the rules when it comes to you. We aren't to try and show boat with you, we are not to get cheap photo opportunities, we aren't to ask your permission for anything and we are advised we certainly should never count on you for anything.”
“And so here we are meeting in secret President Garrison, but why?” Supergirl politely responded.
“A few days ago the country was attacked. Not in the conventional sense however, but, electronically. It was a cyber attack,” Garrison explained.
“But cyber attacks are not entirely new, are they?” Supergirl asked with a shake of the head.
“This attack was so incisive, so effective and so damaging our experts are only just getting an understanding of what happened. They tell me that such was the attack's sophistication that to them it seemed, and this was their words, alien,” Garrison affirmed.
“Vel,” Supergirl said, her face suddenly looking very serious.
“Yes, Vel, or something like him. Now we are confident that the Sanderson's have nothing to do with this but as you can imagine we are very concerned that we are seeing the prelude to something potentially very dangerous,” Garrison said.
“Thank you for advising me of this, I will remain vigilant,” Supergirl said as she began to rise.
“Supergirl, please, wait. I have a proposal for you,” Garrison said, her tone anxious as she sensed her opportunity to talk evaporating.
Supergirl could hear the anxiety in Garrison's voice, something she was not accustomed to having seen her various speeches, stage managed as they were. Supergirl reluctantly stopped herself and remained in her seat.
“What is it?” Supergirl asked.
“When we began to formulate a response to the attack we explored a range of options but we came to the conclusion that if we are to prevail, and in that sense I mean, the human race, we have to be able to fight fire with fire, we need you,” Garrison explained, reaching for a folder which she placed onto the table between them.
“Any help you receive from me should be considered a bonus, I cannot be everywhere at once, and if it were thought that I was anything other than neutral then that would become a problem,” Supergirl explained.
“Oh I can imagine The Red Phone ringing non-stop if the Russians thought you were in my pocket and I sure as hell would not let them sleep if it were the other away around. We all understand we need to keep you at arms length,” Garrison said ruefully.
“So, what do you want?” Supergirl asked, the President seemingly already aware of the limitations she placed on her relationships with governments and their politics.
“Currently we have no interface between us, no government has a hotline with you, as far as we are aware. If this alien threat is as serious as we think we need to find some way to work together,” Garrison explained.
“And how do you propose that will work, given what we already know?”
“The proposal is that you get a hotline into us rather than we have a hotline to you,” Garrison said, a slight smile forming on her face hinting at the pride she had in their solution.
“If you have me reporting in to some such agency how is it any different?” Supergirl answered with a frown.
“Because what we are proposing is that you choose who you want to deal with, not us,” Garrison began.
“But still,” Supergirl began to protest mildly.
“Supergirl, you don't understand. We wanted to give you a team of people you could interface with but we know that wont work. But contrary to belief, we aren't blind. We know that there must be people out there you trust. They could be anyone, a cop, a lawyer, a fireman or a teacher. Hell, they could be a priest or a thief for all I care, but we need a bridge, it is people who you trust that we want you to reach out to,” Garrison continued.
Supergirl listened as the President seemed to pick closely at the truth, unravelling the threads of the veil that shielded her friends. Supergirl's eyes began to betray how close the President was getting to the truth which prompted her host to continue.
“And now you know, we are not blind but I need to prove we are not stupid either. Your people are a solution to a problem, a solution evidently YOU have faith in. In order to keep it functioning and viable we are going to do the only thing we can do to make it work, we will LOOK THE OTHER WAY,” Garrison said, ending on a dramatic note.
“And how would that work? How would you look the other way?” Supergirl said sounding incredulous.
“We have to keep our institutions of law enforcement and justice pure. None of them must be corrupted. If you have any dubious friends who are then caught, they face justice. If you have more noble friends and they are found to have abused their badge or their office they too face justice. And so, by virtue of executive order I have created a way to try and keep those people safe,” Garrison said confidently.
“And how does it work, what does this executive order do?” Supergirl probed.
“Between the federal databases and the population at large is a sort of buffer zone, we call it INFINITY. When you need someone on team Supergirl, so to speak, their identity gets pulled out from the federal and statewide databases and put inside INFINITY. Then we switch it for a sanctioned INFINITY identity instead. Now, if anyone checks on your people the database will come back with a clean identity with credentials of you choice. Your asset could be made to be just a regular honest to goodness tax paying citizen, or they could become a law enforcement officer of some kind, whatever you need them to be to get their job done,” Garrison explained.
“If I take this on it would be just the same as being your agent, you know I cannot run this,” Supergirl said, shaking her head.
“That's why you need to pick someone, someone you trust, there must be someone. They will be your bridge to the system so you can stay hands off,” Garrison insisted.
“How do I know you won't just peer into the INFINITY system to see who is being protected?” Supergirl reasoned aloud.
“We are becoming acutely aware that our real problems are waiting for us out there,” Garrison said waving her index finger skyward before continuing. “If we looked inside INFINITY would you trust us again? Is the trade of losing you just to catch some morally ambiguous crook really worth it? The whole idea is to keep you in the loop, not drive you away. If INFINITY means we can continue to avoid disasters like Bobby Sanderson and his sister then I think we can afford to create a special haven for a chosen few so that you can continue to do what you do,” Garrison explained, glancing at her watch, aware of the elapsed time.
“So, what is the downside?” Supergirl asked, her voice highlighting her scepticism.
“No matter what new identities your people take on they have to stay legal. INFINITY only protects people from their pasts while they are inside the system. They won't have immunity, breaking a law while using their new identity will stick. And remember, once back outside INFINITY if their past catches up with them then there is nothing we can do to interfere, it is all part of the natural order of justice. It would be just as it has always been,” Garrison said.
“I need to think on this,” Supergirl said quietly.
“Your friends need to think on it too. This outlines how the system will work, read it and show it to them, the order will go into effect soon and then perhaps we can meet again,” the President said, handing Supergirl a manilla envelope.
“Where will you be?” Supergirl asked.
“I shall be in Camp David for the next few days, meet me there,” Garrison said.
“We shall see, I cannot promise you anything,” Supergirl replied, rising to her feet.
“I understand,” Garrison nodded as she rose to her feet also, escorting the heroine from the helicopter.
Selena continued to work in her lair on the cyber attack. She had began to unravel some of the steps the attacker had made during their breach into the government databases but was having to tread lightly and not too deep, the networks now more secure than ever.
The tell tale log file corruptions appeared everywhere, from simple low end databases like the unified social security number database to higher level systems like those held by the F.B.I. It was unnerving for Selena to think that the attackers could get into so many systems and do what they wanted and so quickly.
What Selena was able to discern so far was that this hunt for personal information seemed contained to a very narrow range of the databases. Only certain portions of the databases had been studied and even then in quite a discerning and sophisticated way. Certain combinations of keywords had been tested and on some sort of logical basis.
“Search for names starting with this letter if you find links to people with names starting with another letter,” thought Selena as she tried to unravel what the search logic had been.
Selena had to be careful as she searched but she could see that first names that began with C,K,L and S were of interest to whoever was responsible for the attack. Drilling into the next layer of information would have to be done very carefully indeed. Trying to determine what surnames were being sought would need more time too but for now she had her hands full dealing with just the letter C.
Neomi was pacing her hotel room waiting for the knock that was due any moment. On the writing table beneath the TV on its stand Ernst Van Der Walt's cell phone sat, smashed and broken inside the signal blocking pouch. Next to it sat Lisa Kozny's pistol, clip out, chamber empty.
There was a firm tap on the door and Neomi checked the spyhole before opening the heavy hotel room door. Eyes averted, Neomi stood aside as Africa stepped in, waiting for the door to close behind him before he spoke.
“What the HELL happened?” Mr Africa bellowed.
“What does it look like happened?” Neomi bit back.
“You are meant to keep a low profile and so far you have been in a fight which was non-job related, screwed up a contract and now you've gone and shot a cop!” Mr Africa ranted.
“It was YOU that wanted the damned phone back, it was YOU that exposed me to this, and besides, the contract was fine, the target is dead, remember,” Neomi said snappily.
“Well at least they can't get anything off that phone now, better to know than to be in doubt,” Mr Africa said, a little more calmly as he glanced at the cell phone.
“All I have done is exchange one problem for another, the cop, she saw my face,” Neomi growled.
“Fuck! That's why you shot her?!” Africa exclaimed.
“Of course that's why! You don't mess with cops unless you have to, they have a lot of brothers and sisters and they look after their own,” Neomi said, her tone a little conciliatory.
“Is she dead?” Africa asked coldly.
“I was only feet away, put one round into her back, a kevlar vest would struggle at that distance. At the angle I hit her it probably went through a lung, perhaps a kidney too, stupid bitch. She had some moves, maybe she had time in special forces, not that any of that can stop a bullet,” Neomi said matter of factly.
Mr Africa sat himself at the writing desk but with his back to it while he considered what the next best move was.
“Provided she doesn't talk soon that will work for us, but if your face starts appearing in the press we will have to make arrangements. We can't have your presence interfering with our other contracts, we still have contracts to complete,” Mr Africa said as he scooped up Kozny's gun.
“Fine, but I trust this Van Der Walt job is considered complete?” Neomi said as she sat on the corner of her bed as she watched Mr Africa work the action of the empty pistol.
“We will alert the escrow people that we are happy at our end and have them check in with the client, there shouldn't be a problem from there,” Mr Africa nodded as he squinted down the sights of the pistol for a moment.
“Good, I didn't join The Resolution for the company, I am here to do jobs and get paid,” Neomi said.
“Just keep your head down and DO NOT make a fuss. Wait until we call you and in the meantime, strip, clean and then dispose of this gun and that damned cell phone. No more leaving evidence around, understand?” Africa said as he rose to his feet.
“Understood,” Neomi said as she lead Africa back to the door.
“Good, until we call you again,” Africa said firmly, drawing a nod from Neomi in response before she opened the door for the tall strong African man.
Detective Gomez walked up the hallway from the elevators to the nurses station at the entrance to the ward.
“Hi, I'm detective Gomez, N.Y.P.D, I am here to see Detective Kozny, umm, Lisa Kozny,” Gomez said humbly.
A nurse behind the desk glanced Gomez over, comparing the man to the photograph on his identity card.
“OK, detective, you do understand there is a list of approved visitors? The officers assigned to her door control who can go in,” the nurse said.
“Sure, I wrote the list,” quipped Gomez.
“Oh, I see, well, just down there and on the left,” the nurse said with a smile.
“Thank you,” Gomez said as he turned to look at the direction he had been directed to. Walking on down the corridor and past the open common rooms with some six beds to a room Gomez arrived to an area with private rooms. Stood by a door was a uniformed officer, a cup of coffee in one hand, his other resting on his night stick that sat in its loop on his belt.
As Gomez approached the officer's posture seemed to change a little as if he was preparing to challenge him as he got nearer. Gomez was relieved to see that at least the officer was at least paying attention to the comings and goings at Kozny's door.
Gomez produced his badge which seemed to pacify the officer immediately.
“Oh hi detective,” the officer said calmly.
“Hi, how has it been?” Gomez asked.
“Fairly quiet, your captain has been already. There was someone from internal affairs too. I tried to give them the brush off, said they weren't on the list but they had my Sargent on my ass quick time, sorry I couldn't keep them out,” the officer explained.
“Well, as long you keep the bad guys out, that's the main thing,” Gomez said, a hint of annoyance in his tone. Internal affairs, always getting in the way.
“So, you going to go in? She could probably do with a friendly face by now,” the officer continued.
“Yeah, best had,” Gomez nodded, his hand settling on the door knob before he swung open the door and entered quietly.
Reclined but sat upright in bed Lisa had a bandage wrapped around her forehead, a gown covering her torso. Around her upper arm was some kind of armband connected by tubes to a device on a shelf with some kind of data cable plugged into a panel by Kozny's bed. Lisa's eyes were closed as Gomez approached her bedside and quietly drew up a seat and sat down.
“Hey, Kozny, just thought I would drop by, see how you are doing, you know?” Gomez began sounding despondent with a low voice.
Lisa's eyes sprang open immediately with a grin forming on her face.
“Jeez you'd think I was dying!” Kozny joked.
“Jeezus fucking christ, don't do that to me!” Gomez said angrily but with a smile.
“You should see your face!” Kozny followed on for a moment until her deadly encounter made itself known, her aching body protesting.
“Don't make me shoot you too,” Gomez replied, “What the fuck happened?”
“Someone came for the cell phone, a woman. When I got to the location she was fishing it out of the bin. We can't be sure she was the one who killed Van Der Walt but she was dangerous. Oh shit, the armband, did anyone get it?” Kozny said in sudden realisation.
“Yeah sure, we retraced your steps back to the trash can and found it. We interviewed people at the car wreck too, then there was a woman in the park with a kid who got knocked over,” Gomez said as he remembered events after the shooting.
Gomez could read that Kozny was struggling to recall the things that had happened during the chase.
“It was a little girl, wasn't it?” Kozny said.
“That's right, she's ok, the mother too,” Gomez added on.
“And a Toyota and a Ford at the accident?” Kozny said, her face visibly strained as she remembered the accident.
“Nothing wrong with that memory,” Gomez grinned.
“But, the shooter, I don't remember her face and I saw it, I'm sure of it,” Kozny's face frowned again as she closed her eyes in attempt to resurrect the memory.
“Hey, it'll come, the thing you better remember though is you owe the guys over at the twenty second precinct a beer,” Gomez said.
“The Park precinct? Oh shit, that's right, that officer found us, and just in time, oh man I owe him big,” groaned Lisa.
“Don't worry, he knows but he says thanks for the work out,” Gomez joked.
“Seriously though that armband, you should compare it to that clean ring on the vic's sleeve. It should prove that it was on him when he hit the mud. At least then we know for sure it actually was his cell phone too,” Kozny explained.
“Sure, I'll get the techies onto it tomorrow,” Gomez said, pulling his notepad out and making a note.
“I can't believe she got away, we needed that damned phone and I was so close!” Kozny said angrily.
“Don't give up on the phone just yet just be happy you are alive. How the fuck are you alive anyway? They said it was point blank range,” Gomez wondered aloud.
“They don't get it, the round might have been defective or something, it should have done more damage than it did,” Kozny said with a shake of her head.
“And what is the damage?” Gomez asked.
“Apart from my pride, losing my gun to that bitch? Just some bruising they think, the blow at that range should have at least broken some ribs but nothing. They are monitoring my blood pressure to make sure I don't haemorrhage from somewhere overnight. If not they will kick me out tomorrow morning, ” Kozy said with a shrug gesturing at the blood pressure monitoring machine connected to her arm.
“What's with your head?” Gomez asked, his finger pointing at her bandage.
“Banged it when I dropped to the floor they think. My memory is a little sketchy at the moment. Hence I get to wear this bandage and put a billion dollar invoice for an M.R.I. scan on the N.Y.P.D. medical bill,” Kozny scoffed.
“No that bill was for just the bandage, the M.R.I. is extra,” Gomez joked, eliciting a painful chuckle from Kozny.
“So, you hinted there was more to the phone?” Kozny said, her voice turning a little more serious.
“The phone, it might have uploaded a copy of the video recording to the vic's online storage, the phone might not have the only copy of what was captured. I've got warrants issued to the account provider, they are organising a data dump for us,” Gomez said.
“Hey, good work,” Kozny said as she shuffled more upright in her bed.
“Well, if they do let you out tomorrow I've got this amazing desk job lined up for you. You get to use all your highlighters, post-it notes and colouring pens too, ” Gomez beamed.
“Oh?” Kozny replied, cocking her head.
“Sure, I got all the movements for all the runners that tracked their runs. If the Captain puts you on the desk tomorrow you can map them all out all pretty like while I go out to play detective for a change,” Gomez grinned.
“Great, going to let me play with the crayons too?” Kozny protested.
“Wise ass, you're fine, this is all bullshit,” Gomez said sarcastically as he gestured to the bedside table covered in bunches of grapes and flowers causing Kozny to laugh painfully again.
“Owww oww oww owww,” Lisa groaned.
“That'll teach you!” Gomez said with a hint of sympathy.
“Still worth it!”
“Oh dearest brother, do you hear me?” asked the mist in the empty nothingness.
There was a pause in the darkness as nothing stirred in reply to the voice of the black mist.
“Brother! I implore you, hear me!”
The black infinite plain remained silent, defiant.
“Our time runs short! If you do not hear my call soon I must move on without you. It would be a pity to have set up my trap without you there to take our revenge.”
The black void didn't make a sound.
“Fine, if you wont do it I will find another way, I don't need you, see if I care!” scowled the voice from the mist.
“Sis? Please don't be mad at me!” whimpered a voice in reply.
“There you are! I have a task for you, dear brother! ” hissed the nebulous mist.
“Please, I will do whatever you want, just get out of my head!” pleaded the voice from beyond the emptiness.
“Then listen, brother, I have plans for you,” the mist said as it seemed to begin to bubble and boil.
CHAPTER 13
Supergirl returned to Selena's lair, the President's proposal in hand. After the meeting the heroine had gone to some solitary place to read the documents in detail before deciding what to do next. There was a lot there and it seemed to be veiled in language which someone like Selena would best understand.
“I seeeee yooooouuuuu!” called out Selena's voice through the cavernous interior of her base.
Supergirl walked on to find Selena as ever at the centre, her eyes locked onto her screens as she worked.
“You never let up, do you?” Supergirl said as she realised Selena was still focused on the same problem as before, the cyber attack.
“This attack was very sophisticated, whoever is responsible was....,” began Selena, her head not even turning to set eyes on her guest.
“Vel, Selena. It was Vel,” Supergirl said solemnly.
Selena's typing hands stopped their work, her head turning to face Supergirl suddenly.
“But I thought,” Selena said with surprise.
“I hoped so too, but we had our suspicions that maybe there were more instances of Vel's mind in other people” Supergirl said as she approached the red head who remained in her seat.
“But you are sure it is him, or is it 'them', at work?” Selena asked, a little anxiety in her voice.
“The government thinks so, they are worried, the President told me that they,” Supergirl began to explain.
“The President? Of the United States!?” Selena exclaimed, her eyebrows rising in surprise.
“None other, I have to show you this,” Supergirl said as she stood before Selena, envelope in hand.
Selena eyed the envelope with suspicion, the blue and gold seal on the front alluding to where it had come.
“What is it, Kara?” Selena asked slightly apprehensively.
Supergirl offered out the envelope and Selena accepted it, extracting the contents and placing the pages of the document over her desk.
“They know how dangerous this situation can be and they don't want to be passengers any more, they want to help,” Supergirl explained.
Selena's eyes scanned over the document as Supergirl spoke, looking for the tricks, the loopholes, the big booby trap that would explode in their faces.
“They want you to take responsibility for this?” Selena asked incredulously.
“No, I think they hope I know someone like you who will. They know I can't join them directly. If I did then every government from Australia to Zimbabwe would want me too,” Supergirl said.
“Kara, you know I am still technically a fugitive, don't you? If I appear on their radar for what I am I could lose everything. I am not going back,” Selena said, her tone anxious.
“That is what their INFINITY plan is meant to prevent, don't you see, they aren't scared of you, they don't care about you. They have bigger problems to worry about than Selena Walsh” Supergirl answered, disappointed that Selena was not enthusiastic about the plan.
“Right now, yes, you are probably right, but what if this attack turns out not to be Vel, or god forbid, it is and we stop him or that monster that seems to plague him? What will happen then? Do you think they will count to ten to give me a head start?” Selena replied firmly.
Selena had seen the worst side of the government with their interventions and their schemes. She had seen how the government armed would-be friends only to turn those very friends into enemies. Then she witnessed the failed battle to win back hearts and minds after bombing those new enemies to the edge of existence. Selena herself was a product of deals and promises made by a government to only then be broken. If anyone was positioned to condemn the President's plan it was Selena.
“I won't beg you Selena but I think you could be making a mistake by turning this opportunity away,” Supergirl said, her voice appealing to Selena to open her mind to the idea.
“Kara, NO, I will not put myself in harms way again for these people,” Selena said as she gathered up the papers and slid them back in the envelope.
“Then, who do I ask, Selena?” Kara asked sadly as she took back the envelope.
“I don't care, Kara, evidently you can ask anyone to do it, no doubt you will have someone else just as trustworthy as me,” Selena said a little harshly.
“Just as trustworthy? You …..!”, Supergirl said, cutting herself off as soon as her brain led into a list of adjectives a heroine just shouldn't say.
“Yes?” Selena asked, challenging Supergirl to vent. Selena's mindset had put herself into the position of dominant as always, her tone giving her an air of superiority over her submissive superheroine.
“Since the day you broke me and took me in your arms I have done nothing but trust you and it has been a valid trust. And every time you've de-powered me I have been at your mercy and yours alone! How dare you say I trust anyone else just as much as I do you!” Kara said angrily.
Selena's expression said it all, she had spoken without thinking for once.
“Kara, I ….,” Selena began to respond.
“I am going to see McGee, perhaps he will see this opportunity differently,” Kara said firmly as she spun away.
“Kara, please,” Selena pleaded as she went to stop Kara.
“Not now,” Supergirl said and then ….
BWHOOOOOOOOOOOSH
Creating a powerful wake Supergirl sped out of sight leaving Selena to feel the force of rejection in the turbulent air of the room, security alarms flashing red on Selena's screens as they detected the movement of the Superheroine leaving at speed. As scattered paper fell to the ground Selena suddenly felt an unsettling feeling, the feeling not of being alone, but of being lonely.
“You fucking IDIOT, ” Selena exclaimed as she side swiped a glass of water on her desk across the room against a wall, shattering it into a hundred pieces.
Lucy was sat on the edge of her bed inside her luxury apartment, one leg stretched out in its black knee length boot the other in an ankle boot with high a high heel.
“Hmmmm – knee length!” Lucy decided.
With a few deft tugs Lucy removed the ankle boot and put on the knee boot's twin and rose to her feet studying herself in the mirror. Her distressed skintight jeans went well with the boots and her black silk Chinese style top with its silver-stitched dragon somehow pulled off the fusion of fashion giving the message of east meets west.
Glancing back at the exercise machines in the corner Lucy felt a moment of guilt that perhaps she could have trained some more. Even though she had dashed out the door to come home and get training the moment Lisa had left her that morning the hunger to do more ate at her.
Running her hands down her thighs Lucy closed her eyes and imagined Lisa was with her and just for a moment she imagined that ..
“Hmmm”, Lucy said as her own hands came to rest on her behind, a light touch onto the jewelled butt plug reminding her of her time with the candles and ice from the night before.
Lucy hadn't worn the butt plug the entire day because of the practicalities of it all but she had tried to keep to the spirit of her instructions where she could.
“Screw training, I need the strict hand of the law,” Lucy said to herself with a grin.
Picking up the keys to her Porsche Lucy walked out of her apartment and made her way to the parking garage below.
McGee entered his modest apartment and kicked closed the door behind him. Draped over his shoulder was his suit jacket while in his other hand was his briefcase. Placing his case down the bulky-framed man kicked off the shoes torturing his aching feet which caused him to groan pleasurably.
“Thank god for that” McGee said as he walked to his bedroom, hanging his jacket up in his wardrobe and drawing out the tie from the collar of his smart white shirt.
“What a day,” McGee said aloud as he walked to his kitchen to get the process of making a coffee underway while he removed his holster and pistol.
With the water getting hotter McGee stowed his weapon in his small wall safe and then returned to his kitchen and prepared a cup to receive his well-deserved drink. He paused, eyes closed as he tried to let the stresses of the day fade away, listening to the water beginning to simmer.
BING BONG - rang the door bell.
McGee's head dropped. “What now?” McGee said wearily. With his feet still protesting McGee returned down the corridor and then cautiously looked through the spyhole of his front door to see who his visitor was.
In a deep red dyed leather jacket and blue jeans the blond heroine looked ordinary and yet the height of cool all at once. McGee gasped when he realised who it was and quickly went to open the door.
The door swung open and there she was, Supergirl in disguise.
“Hey, Kara, what brings you here? Come in, come in,” McGee said as he stepped aside beckoning her to enter.
Kara entered a few steps then unexpectedly moved in for a hug. McGee was taken a back and for a moment he didn't know how to respond until eventually his arms enveloped the young woman.
“Hey, is everything ok?” McGee began, having to try and suppress whatever thought might leak out of Kara's head.
“It will be, I'm sure” Kara replied, giving one last squeeze around McGee's shoulders.
The pair broke from their embrace and McGee stepped back to take in the sight of the heroine once again. Her expression looked a little despondent to the FBI man and he suspected the source of her woe was probably the envelope in her hand.
“Do you want something to drink?” McGee began, gesturing towards the living room.
“No, I'm fine,” Kara said quietly.
The pair moved to the living room and Kara sat down on the sofa in front of a coffee table, McGee joining her, cup in hand as he sat to face her.
“What is this all about, Kara?” McGee asked.
“This,” Kara said sliding the envelope to McGee.
With a look of curiosity on his face McGee pulled the papers from the envelope and his eyes began to devour the words they contained. Kara watched on patiently as he read, the friendly giant occasionally flipping from one page to another as he read the details of the President's plan.
“Oh boy,” groaned McGee as he sank back into his seat.
“Would you do it?” Kara asked hopefully.
“Have you shown Selena this?” McGee countered.
The question had barely been registered by the heroine when McGee was bathed in the memories of the scene Kara had with Selena not long previously. Supergirl saw McGee's expression change before she had even said a word setting off another chain reaction of expressions, realisations and counter-reactions.
“Hey, Kara, I'm sorry OK, I didn't mean to look,” McGee said wearily. It had been a long day and he was tired.
“It's ok,” Kara said weakly, she could see McGee's fatigue.
“Kara, I understand why she is reluctant. I know about this system they are talking about, taking people out the system, messing with their identities and spitting them back out into the world. I've heard about the spooks at the CIA pulling this kind of crap before. And it does work, trust me, but all it takes is for them to pull the plug and, well you can guess,” McGee explained.
“I can understand why Selena won't run it, but why not you?” Kara pressed.
“Me? I know they are saying I would have the Supergirl seal of approval if I took this on, but, if it all goes south I am going to have to justify all the choices I make putting people into the system. Imagine if I had to explain my association with Selena if this INFINITY plan got terminated. 'Oh sure, I promise I know she is innocent anyway, what with my magic powers, oh didn't I mention that?', yes, that will fly I am sure,” McGee continued.
“I can't believe what the President has offered me is so bad,” Kara said, shaking her head.
“Kara, it's NOT if they keep their word, but if they betray you, they will destroy all that we have. Selena is able to live, she is free and I am not a slave to some horrible spy program. I have a life, a real, honest-to-god life. Once I am found out all that will be over. If I won't work for them do you think they will risk me working for someone else?” McGee asked.
Kara shook her head slowly, McGee had a point.
McGee could see he had given the heroine some things to think about but a new question entered his head.
“Why has this come up anyway?” McGee asked. Setting up this system for Supergirl's use must have been done for a reason.
“It's Vel, we think Vel is back,” Kara said, her expression serious as her eyes locked onto McGee's.
“Oh, who has he possessed now?” McGee asked as he set down his coffee.
“We don't know, but he or the monster, maybe both, has infected someone, they have a body and they are using it,” Kara said as she rose to her feet, gathering up the papers and putting them in the envelope.
“I know you think we are letting you down, but we have so much to lose. I have my secret and Selena has her freedom. But, perhaps Lisa will do it? She has a good reputation and has no skeletons in her closet,” McGee said getting to his feet.
“Well, let's hope so, I would rather not go back to the President empty handed. Even if I were able to say I had someone who could oversee this without the promise of ever using it that would be better than having to say I had no one at all,” Kara replied as she and McGee returned to his front door.
“Kara, whatever you choose to do the President will, I am sure, abide by your decision. You are not hers to command,” McGee said as he opened the door for his guest.
“Perhaps, but Vel's mind is out there and it is possible we may need each other. The resources this plan has to offer in order to capture him or his twisted alter ego might make all the difference,” Kara said, part way out the entrance.
“Good luck, Kara, and keep in touch,” McGee said, offering out his hand.
“Thank you, McGee, my friend,” Kara said, her hand meeting his.
She was determined that despite her disappointment she would not leave on the same bad terms as she did with Selena. Without knowing it though, McGee could see and feel from the superheroine's mind all he needed to know.
Lucy had watch the sun set, the sky darken and the city lights come to the fore against the black sky and yet Lisa had not returned home. Picking up her cell phone again Lucy checked for messages to see nothing and so she finally relented and dialled out.
Lucy listened as the ring tone sounded a few times and she hoped that any moment Lisa would pick up. Then, the ring tone stopped.
“Hey this is....,” began Lisa.
“Hey Lisa, it's...,” Lucy jumped in.
“.... the voice mail for Detective Kozny, I am sorry I can't take your call.....,” the voice of Lisa continued.
BEEP
Lucy disconnected the call with a frown. She didn't like the situation at all. Normally Lisa would respond with a message or pick up but to do neither was different. Lucy considered that perhaps Lisa had gone on a stakeout or something but even then she would get a warning beforehand.
Lucy knew she had to be patient, besides, there was no need to panic, at least not yet. There were plenty of reasonable explanations in line ahead of anything sinister being at play. Plenty.
“Dammit,” Lucy cursed as she opened up a new message and began to type.
“Selena, have you heard from Lisa today, concerned, cannot reach her.”
Lucy watched the screen a moment and was relieved to see that the message had been seen by Selena.
“Selena is typing a message” indicated the chat window.
“No” came the flat reply.
“Well, don't show too much concern, we might start thinking you give a shit,” Lucy growled under her breath.
Lucy's brain started composing an acidic reply to send back, some well crafted combination of words that would stab the arrogant bitch in the eyes from her screen when she read it.
“Selena is typing a message” indicated the chat window again.
Lucy's fingers paused just as she was about to start typing out her message.
“Sorry, had argument with K. No, not heard from Lisa today, will make enquiries, promise to get back to you”
Lucy blinked as she read the message and began to feel bad.
“Promise? Wow, I rarely get something like that from her,” Lucy said to herself then she suddenly wasn't sure if she should feel even more concerned for Lisa or not.
Lucy put her phone down not wanting to see any more messages, they had started to stress her out. Walking out of the living room to the hall Lucy caught sight of the rolled up paper targets in the hallway by the coat stand but passed into the kitchen and got a glass of water with a shot of lemon juice then went to return to the living room.
Then, out of curiosity she picked up the roll of paper mid journey and continued back to the living room and splayed out the first target.
In the corner were Lisa's initials, the number one, and a distance of fifty yards marked below that. Lucy studied the grouping of rounds, admiring Lisa's accuracy.
“Not bad, not as good as mine, but not bad” Lucy thought as she began to roll up the target and look at the next.
“LK 2 50YDS” was marked on the second sheet, similar to the first.
Lucy glanced over the target and noted how the grouping was now tighter than the first, Lisa's aim improving over time it seemed.
“Better!” grinned Lucy as she began to unfurl the third sheet.
“LK 3 50YDS” showed the third sheet.
Holding up target number three Lucy cocked her head with a frown looking at the mess that Lisa had made of the paper victim.
“What did you do, go full auto?” the mercenary thought to herself as she put a finger through one of the holes. They were all inside what the police call the centre mass of the target but the grouping had gone to hell.
“Wait a minute, it wasn't being on full auto that did this,” Lucy thought as she held one of the first targets next to the third.
With her expert eyes Lucy studied the bullet holes in the paper.
“Oh Lisa! How do you expect to shoot consistently if you change ty….,” Lucy thought just as she was interrupted.
TAP TAP TAP sounded the door.
Lucy's head turned instinctively to the door, her heart skipping a beat. Who was it? Should she answer it?
Lucy tip toed elegantly to the door and checked the spyhole.
“Oh, it's you!” Lucy said as she quickly unbolted the door revealing Kara in civilian clothes on the other side.
“Lucy?” frowned Kara.
“Uh huh, are you coming in?” Lucy said looking beyond the heroine, checking the corridor.
“Sure, I hope I am not disturbing anything, I didn't think to check before coming over,” Kara said realising she had been a bit socially clumsy. Then she cursed herself for having just walked in on McGee.
Lucy noticed Kara's mind drifting a momentarily and rolled her eyes with a grin. Despite all the superpowers Kara seemed to have very human traits.
“Lisa isn't here yet, I thought she would be home now and it's getting late,” Lucy said with concern as she closed the door behind the visiting heroine.
“There was something I needed to discuss with her but,” Kara said, pausing mid sentence like she was lost in her thoughts.
“Anything you want to share with me?” Lucy asked as she led the pair to the living room again.
Kara glanced at Lucy, her mind imagining the conversation she would be having with Lisa right now if she were there. Lisa being modest would think herself incapable of being put in charge of something of this importance. Then she would wonder why Selena wasn't at the top of Supergirl's list, or McGee. Then Supergirl would confess that both of them were concerned about the government abusing their own system to entrap them. That would make Lisa then worry about what might happen if they were able to get to Lucy through her. And then the conversation would be over, the plan rejected.
“No, it's ok, it's not important,” Kara said keeping a firm grasp on the envelope she had been given that very afternoon.
“You sure? Well, you know if you want to talk to me I'm here for you, you know that right?” Lucy asked sincerely.
“Lucy, I know if anyone has my back it's you,” Kara began.
The memory of hearing Lucy take blow after blow from the augmented Kimberly played out in the heroine's ears in sickening detail. Lucy had been the sacrificial lamb to plant false information to get the alien-infected villainess away just long enough so the heroine could be freed.
VWURRR-VWURRR-VWURRR
Both Kara and Lucy turned their heads to see Lucy's cell phone dance on vibrate and Lucy walked up to it with urgency.
“Is it Lisa?” Kara asked hopefully.
“No, Selena,” Lucy replied anxiously as she opened up the message.
“Have located Lisa, am concerned, news sources say she is in hospital after shooting incident, info sketchy. Hospital address in link to follow”
“Oh no no no no no,” Lucy began as she began to gather her things, her hand rising to her head.
“Lucy, what is it? What has happened?” Kara asked anxiously.
“It's Lisa, I think she's been shot!” Lucy said with disbelief.
“Shot?! Where is she?” Kara said, her current problems evaporating from her mind.
“Come with me?” Lucy asked hopefully.
It was late evening and the hospital ward lights had been turned down to a more subdued level. Visiting hours were long over and the evening dispensing rounds had been concluded.
At the nurses station a pair of nurses spoke quietly as they updated a large whiteboard, amending the names of patients on the schematic layout of their ward.
“OK, the next B.P. and T's are in an hour, that gives us time to do I.V. feed checks” said one of the senior nurses.
“OK, I will do common room A,” replied the junior nurse.
Over in the stairwell Lucy and Supergirl in full costume planned their next move.
“I know you want to see her but I doubt they will let you,” Supergirl whispered.
“I know, so why don't you don't just fly up to her window and look?” Lucy said with a whisper.
“Lucy, WHICH window?! Besides, this place is full of sick and vulnerable people, I'm not going to go scanning through the entire hospital just to find her, it's not right, I won't do it,” Supergirl quipped as she looked in each direction through the doorway that she held slightly ajar.
“Go be the heroine then, nothing can stop you from taking a peek once you are at her door,” Lucy insisted.
“Let me see what I can do,” Supergirl said before setting off.
Supergirl pushed through the doorway and turned the corner, taking a breath.
THUD! Landed her footfall.
THUD!
THUD!
THUD!
The two nurses felt the vibration through the floor and turned to see Supergirl walk purposefully by.
“Errr, ma'am...” one of the nurses said as a feeble challenge.
“That's Supergirl!” the second nurse said with a loud stage whisper.
“Errr, ma'am, stop,” the first nurse said again, walking hurriedly out from behind the desk.
“Please, stop, you can't go in there,” said the second nurse, now a little frantic.
“Hey, STOP!” the first nurse tried again, trying to get ahead of Supergirl.
THUD!
THUD!
THUD!
Supergirl continued, her pace having gravitas, her height, her grace, her presence all conveying the power that laid within her.
Just up the corridor a police officer had been making small talk with an orderly while guarding Kozny's doorway. Seeing Supergirl approach his smile evaporated as he faced a situation he never imagined possible.
Supergirl looked on, face serious, as she saw the officer chatter into the mic of his radio clipped to his shoulder, his ear turning to his receiver listening to the response. Now Supergirl was certain that she was in the right place. Closer Supergirl got to Kozny's room and the officer's hand moved to rest on his holster, one hand out stretched.
“I'm sorry ma'am but you cannot enter, no unauthorised visitors,” the officer said a little shakily.
“Please, she is resting,” one of the nurses pleaded with a loud whisper.
Supergirl stopped at just over an arms length from the officer and turned her head, her vision permitting her to see beyond the wall and into Kozny's room.
Inside her room Lisa Kozny slept soundly on her side, her expression peaceful. There were no drips, and no monitors save for the automatic blood pressure machine strapped to her upper arm. Supergirl looked for injuries or signs of surgery but apart from the warm mass of bruising on her back and forehead Lisa looked fine.
“Ma'am, I am going to have to ask you to step back,” the officer said, his confidence rising slightly as he saw Supergirl's expression soften while seemingly staring at the wall.
“I have seen all I need to see,” Supergirl said as she glanced between the nurses and the police officer guarding his charge, her gaze at the wall now broken.
“Hey is everything..... oh,” began to ask another officer who had arrived at his colleague's request. His breathing was a little heavy but he had dashed back as fast as he could. Now he could see the motive for his partner's radio call.
Supergirl and the nurses glanced back to see the new arrival before all eyes then settled on the heroine once more.
“OK? Yeah,I think so, right?” replied the officer at the door, his eyes glancing questioningly at the heroine in front of him.
“I am glad to see Detective Kozny is well and under your protection,” Supergirl said firmly.
“She is safe in our hands, I promise,” said the second officer.
“Then I shall go,” Supergirl said, looking over the small gathering that had formed around her before she returned the way she had entered.
The gathering of nurses watched on in silence as the heroine moved away. Then with Supergirl out of sight the gathering broke up and the officer who had been guarding the door exhaled the lungful of air his body had held tensly inside of him.
“Jeezus, Tyler, you okay?!” asked the second officer patting his colleague on the back as he watched the heroine go out of sight.
“I thought we were going to have a real problem there for a moment, Glen. Thanks for having my back,” Tyler answered.
“And what the hell do you think I was going to be able to do? Besides, she's on our side, she wouldn't have hurt you,” Glen joked.
“I know, I guess, but when she's right there in front of you, you can really feel it, you know, the energy?” Tyler replied his voice getting excited.
“Well she's gone now, that'll make a good story for the kids; how you protected sleeping beauty in there from Supergirl!” quipped Glen.
Back in the stairwell Kara and Lucy shared an embrace as the good news sunk in.
“Oh god, thank you,” Lucy said with relief.
“Now remember, she took a bump to the head but physically she looks fine. I can't say for sure if she's going to have a memory issue or not, but she is safe and well,” Kara added as the embrace broke.
“I'll take that over anything else, any day.” Lucy smiled with a nod.
“Good, come on, let's go. There is nothing more we can do now except wait,” Supergirl said with a smile.
Mr Africa, Mr Nordic and Mr Hispania were sat in Nordic's hotel room. He had bagged himself a junior executive suite and the three made use of the additional space they had over and above their own more modest accommodation.
Beyond the hotel room balcony the beautiful city lights shone with vibrant neon colours and a crescent moon above the city helped decorate the night sky.
In the corner of the room the LED flatscreen TV played a movie which they weren't watching, more intent in dealing with the business at hand. If anything the movie was merely meant to make noise so they weren't overheard.
“We are running out of time, so many 'accidents' in such a short space of time is not so easy to complete,” Nordic said.
“Relax. We are going to get a two for one,” Africa said glancing at Hispania with a grin.
“How so?” Nordic asked noticing he must have been missing something.
“Tell him,” Africa said looking to Mr Hispania.
“Our two marks, they have a liddle problem,” Hispania said.
“Oh?” Nordic said, leaning in towards Hispania in interest.
“I have been doing my research, they both have a coke habit,” Hispania said, grinning wickedly.
“Hah, that's too easy! Do you have what you need to make it happen?” Nordic asked leaning back in his seat.
Hispania leaned forward, placing a small vial of white powder onto the table in front of them, looking the others in the eye.
“I have been a throwing the dinero around to get into their scene, the marks like the hard partying, picking up the same bad habits in the same bad places. They will be there at their favourite club tomorrow night,” Hispania explained.
“What do I need to do?” Nordic said, eyeing the vial.
“Nada, amigo! I have got thees. I will spike them up and thees wheel do the job, nice anda slow. By the end of tomorrow night they wheel be dying and by the morning next they wheel be dead,” Hispania said proudly.
“That stuff is like super refined coke, the cops will think it was just a bad cut they got, it's lethal” Africa said, his eyebrows raising as he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket.
“Who's that?” Nordic asked seeing Africa's expression.
Africa glanced down at his phone and opened up his messages folder.
“It's from the top,” Africa said as he clicked the message to see the contents.
“URGENT! CONTRACT 20160372 IS NOW A GO – YOU ARE STILL NEAREST TEAM – CLIENT ADVISES DOMKE 711-12B MEDIUM IS ADEQUATE STORAGE – IMPERITIVE USE NEXT DAY DELIVERY – ADVISE TRACKING NUMBER”
“Fuck,” Africa grunted.
“What is it, amigo?” Hispania asked, noting Mr Africa's annoyance.
“There is this B and E contract in the area. I was hoping we would be out of here before it became activated. Guess what just happened,” Africa groaned.
“B and E? Have you cased it already?” Nordic wondered aloud.
“It is a piece of cake, standard alarms, nothing fancy, regular key locks, it's a typical house. It's not like I am stealing the Mona Lisa,” Africa said with disdain.
“So, what is it that you will be stealing?”
“Apparently a glass cube with a green dot in the middle if I remember the details correctly,” Africa scoffed.
“How much?” Nordic wondered.
“It's the same client as it is for that, so,” Africa said, gesturing at the vial.
“So, peanuts then?” Nordic replied.
“We've murdered our way across Europe killing bankers all the way and been paid handsomely for each and every one. I think we can afford to throw in a bulk discount on a simple breaking and entering,” Africa grinned.
CHAPTER 14
DWER-DWER-DWER-DWER-DWER – the motor of the running machine whined, straining with every footfall that Lucy made as she pounded the infinite road ahead of her.
Oxygen mask over her face, connected to her equipment, Lucy breathed hard as her thoughts wandered. The sun was just rising, the city-scape through her window bathed in the orange light of the new day's sun from the east, the east where she had been born.
She was the fifth child of her family, her royal family, and she was the gift her real parents had to give to the lowest orders of their society. The social pact between the people and the monarchy of her homeland depended on the concept of mixing and sharing the bloodlines.
DWER-DWER-DWER-DWER-DWER
Her foster family, the family of the criminal underworld, was large in number. She had uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers and sisters, too numerous to count. From a young age Lucy had become accustomed to losing them to the perils of their criminal existence. Lucy had endured several lessons in how not to love and not to get attached, for one day's friend could easily be another day's sad memory.
DWER-DWER-DWER-DWER-DWER
When Lucy out grew her new family, when they discovered her talents were beyond their power to control she fled before they sought to end her. Finding a new life with those who seemed like her she thought she at had least found a new family who would look out for her, but she was wrong. Loyalty was not based on merit, it was based on survival, it was based on who had money, and she was no more happy there than she was as a child with her foster family.
DWER-DWER-DWER-DWER-DWER
Lucy's hand rose to the necklace dangling under her running top feeling for the hard metal disc beneath. The compressed sniper round had been meant for her before Supergirl had caught it mid flight, but in a way it did kill her. The girl who had been delivered into the crime family's hands was dead, as was the young woman who had escaped to work with The Resolution. To everyone the princess had been killed and this new woman, Lucy had taken her place.
DWER-DWER-DWER-DWER-DWER
In Lucy's world getting attached was becoming a thing. Loyalty was earned through deeds, not bought with money, and as for one's survival at the expense of someone elses? Unacceptable. But while she found strength in all these things she knew now she had also been exposed to a weakness. When the ones she cared about were hurt, it hurt her too.
Then, Lucy saw it, her cell phone clipped to the running machine sprang to life.
INCOMING CALL – LISA
Lucy ripped off her mask feeling the rich fresh air on her face and reached for the phone.
“LISA!”
Doctor Matthews stood inside the large assembly hangar entrance by the loading dock, arms folded in her pure white tunic top, her legs slightly parted in her close fitting white pants. This morning had so far been quite productive. Waiting for her on her computer screen finally was the results of the secret data analysis she had been running on the mainframe overnight.
SELENA WALSH - LUCY WUAN - LISA KOZNY
“Now I have them,” Molly thought wickedly as she patiently waited on the loading dock.
The alien memory replayed itself inside Molly's head again only with more of the missing blanks filled in, aided by her finally seeing the names in her mind.
“Kara is the name of the heroine, so surely she has a life when she does not wear the cape. I so look forward to finding out where she goes, and what she does,” Molly thought as she heard a truck approaching.
“Then there was Lucy, she is the one who tricked me, so pretty, so brave, but she has a weakness, the shield, Detective Kozny. I could tell from Lucy's voice how enchanted she is with her even if my foolish fellow Kryptonian could not,” Molly thought to herself, her eyes burning as she locked on to the sight of the truck as it stopped adjacent to the loading dock.
“And then there is The Broker, Selena. Oh how I was going to break you until that Super-bitch showed up. But then your friends made a mistake, blabbing while they thought I was entirely gone, drugged on the floor of the helicopter. I wonder, do you know how Lucy was plotting against you with your treacherous super friend?” Molly continued to wonder as the beeps of the truck began to echo inside the hangar as it reversed into position to unload.
PSSSSSHHHT hissed the pneumatic brakes of the modest sized truck before the engine rattled to a halt and the driver stepped out.
“Doctor Matthews?” the driver asked, data pad in hand.
“Yes,” Molly replied.
“Ah good, do you have it?” the driver inquired.
Molly thrust out with her hand a pen drive which the driver inserted into his data pad.
“One moment,” the driver said as he observed the upload progress bar begin to climb.
Molly looked on confidently as the data was sent, reading the driver's expression when he got the green light. The data upload was the non-redacted version of what she had given to Donovan only a few days before. Now, Donovan had the identity of the test subject who had been revealed by all the experiments conducted by Doctor Lawrence, the girl who could predict the future.
“ONE – ZERO – ONE – TS, the one called Jen,” recalled Molly as the driver of the truck released the rear roller door of his vehicle.
The door clattered as the driver pulled it upwards with some force revealing the two modest sized boxes and a much larger one all sat together on a pallet.
“Good, very good. Have the pallet with the large box left by the support trailer and put the smaller boxes in the area by the Spider,” Molly said as she spun around clicking her fingers at a man sat onboard an electric forklift vehicle.
“Yes, Doctor Matthews,” replied the forklift operator as Molly turned away and left the dock.
As the electric forklift whined and whirred to extract its load from the back of the truck Molly walked towards the main hangar. There one of the robotic mechs stood nearer the centre, a team of clipboard wielding technicians stood around it watching proceedings carefully.
“Gentlemen,” Molly said as she approached the group.
“Good morning Doctor Matthews” was the positive sounding group reply. To be armed with good news for the stern doctor was always a good thing.
“Captain McAllister,” Molly said, acknowledging the pilot of the mech, his harness being adjusted by two technicians stood on step points on what could be considered the thighs of the mechanical beast.
“Doctor Matthews,” the captain said with a nod.
“How is it?” Molly asked.
“The simulator has prepared me well, but this is more fun,” the captain joked.
“I am glad you find it amusing. As you know, all the mechs control systems are essentially the same except for their specialized features which are modular add-ons. Just make sure you can emulate your display routine from the simulator in the real world, you want to impress your commander in chief during the demonstration, don't you?”
“Don't worry ma'am, this is a display that she will never forget!” the captain said with a grin.
“Oh I certainly hope so,” Molly said under her breath.
Selena leant back in her seat and stared at the screens, the images burning their truth into her brain. The letters that were included in the sequence of the cyber attacker's search into all the various databases;
C,K,L and S
“She must have heard my name, but she did not know for sure if it was S or C, Selena or Celine or some other variation. K is for Kozny or Kara or both. L is for either Lisa or Lucy.”
Selena had given up her search the evening before after her spat with Kara but tossing and turning in a bid to find sleep she found the only way to forget Kara was to resume her work. And then she realised the truth. If Kara was right, if the monster that had been inside Kimberly really was back on the loose then 'it' would seek revenge. Selena knew it because she had been a monster once too and the allure of revenge had been strong.
“If this is revenge after what happened on the rig then they can't know about Spydra or Neyra, we didn't even know them then, they are safe and McGee appears to be safe too” Selena thought to herself.
Mr Africa walked into the local office of ExpressUSA and waited in the short queue. Ahead were a couple of people with varying sized boxes, all taped up and ready to begin their journey across the country.
Mr Africa was keen to get his package away, the contents, stolen just a few hours previously had to get to its destination by the next day. It had been simple to steal really, almost done in the blink of an eye. The client who had placed the contract had specified what and where the item of interest was, and it seemed curious that perhaps even the owner of the house did not know it was there.
Mr Africa had walked brazenly up to the house at 3am and placing his special lock ripping tool into the barrel of the lock securing the door wrenched it apart. The door did not resist much beyond that but the alarm system bleeped as it waited for the PIN code to be typed into the keypad.
Mr Africa poured his small bottle of liquid nitrogen over the keypad and heard the frequency of bleeps become elongated, the time limit for entering the correct PIN code getting longer and longer.
With a grin MrAfrica walked into the small office just off the hallway and found what he was looking for straight away. In front of a computer desk adorned with mouse, keyboard, super-wide screen monitor, and a joystick that looked fit for the space shuttle was a good quality office style chair. Flipping the chair upside down Mr Africa found the glass cube he had been paid to retrieve.
Just as MrAfrica was leaving he caught sight of light shining around the edges of a closed door upstairs, someone had begun to wake up. Stepping out into the cool morning air Mr Africa walked briskly away and soon he was out of sight, job done.
“Next please,” said the man behind the counter of the ExpressUSA desk.
Mr Africa snapped out of his moment of thought and stepped forward confidently.
“I need your 'Next Day-9' service for this,” Mr Africa said firmly.
Lisa stood with her palms to the wall of the shower, a pleasurable moan coming from her mouth as the warm water ran down the back of her head and over her shoulders from the shower head. Cascading down her body the refreshing water seemed to massage her body, soothing the deep purple bruise developing on her back.
Behind Lisa stood a naked Lucy, one hand lightly sitting on Lisa's hip, the other with the soapy sponge which she worked into one of Lisa's shoulders and then the other. Down she worked the sponge, gently working the bruised area before radiating outwards, smothering Lisa in suds.
Lisa's head dropped with pleasure as she felt Lucy work lower the sponge working around and around on her behi...
“Aaahhh,” Lisa gasped with surprise as the sponge unexpectedly reached up in front through her legs.
Lucy had taken a knee as she worked on one of Lisa's thighs, the cop standing legs parted. Lucy let her cheek rest against Lisa's behind in loving worship of her friend. Working the sponge in circles Lucy began to lather up Lisa's other leg, pecking kisses on her as she did so.
Lisa's eyes stayed firmly closed as she let Lucy do what she wanted, the gentle dance of water on her bruises somehow pleasurable to her.
“Oh, ooooooh” moaned Lisa as she realised Lucy had taken a spot between her legs, and her tongue was …
Lucy looked upwards to see Lisa in heaven from her efforts.
“I'm going to make you wish you hadn't got shot!” Lucy thought wickedly to herself before she plunged back into Lisa with her tongue.
Lisa wanted to get started back to work, to find the woman who had shot her but she would permit herself another five ….ohhhh! Ohhh my!….. Ok, ten more minutes!
Supergirl looked at the pale blue disc on the horizon in stark silence. How peaceful it looked as it sat there in her field of view, the swirls of white cloud awash over the blue and green surface. Peeking through the cloud the land mass of North America was visible to the heroine's powerful eyes, the frontier of the morning light creeping westward into the huge pacific ocean.
Supergirl wanted to imagine that by being away everything was frozen, paused, so she could just take time out and then return to find things exactly as they were. But time, she could see, marched on. More people were born, more people were killed. War was made before the inevitable peace was found. Supergirl could choose to be there or not, humans would continue to do what they wanted, regardless.
“What am I going to do about Vel?” Supergirl wondered, “every second I am here his sick alter ego is out there controlling some innocent victim, preparing to do who knows what!”
Supergirl pondered the President's plan. Having the ability to empower people she trusted in an hour of need seemed really useful. It was a pity then that the person she trusted most to take advantage of the idea was stricken with trust issues of her own. Poor Selena, betrayed or let down at every turn had every right to be be sceptical.
As for McGee, he had every right to be concerned too. Supergirl had always sought to avoid becoming enslaved to some government and she had the power to prevent it. McGee was not so lucky, he was special enough to be at risk of losing his normal life and control of his own destiny, yet not special enough to be able to escape.
Supergirl shook her head trying to imagine Lucy or Lisa taking on the job, knowing neither would risk entangling the other with danger. No, those two were in a special place, Supergirl thought, she wasn't going to push this problem onto them.
Supergirl needed someone smart, wise, someone who's past was not going to bite them if anything were to go wrong. The candidate would have to have a good moral compass too, a sense of right, wrong and be good judge of character, no matter the …..
“Wait, I already know the person I need,” Supergirl said shaking her head in disbelief at her own blindness to the solution.
CHAPTER 15
After an invigorating shower at Lucy's apartment Detective Kozny was back at work. She had been given a very fond welcome back by the people in her squad but now behind closed doors inside the captain's office it was time to let him take his pound of flesh.
“I know we cleared up about how you lost your gun over at the hospital but we need to discuss this,” the captain said as he reached to the side of his chair and picked up a large sized evidence bag, placing it down onto the desk between them.
Inside the bag was the kevlar vest she had been wearing under her top when she had been shot. The side face up was the back part of her vest, a streak of damage, like a slash, had traced the path of the round that struck her.
“My vest?” Kozny checked.
“Yes,” the captain said as he slapped down another smaller bag on top, a small deformed bullet inside.
“This is the round that my vest caught?”, Kozny asked as she picked up the bag, studying the contents.
“Care to talk me through it?” the captain said as he rocked back in his chair, finger pyramid forming with his two hands.
“Well, it should be a nine millimetre standard issue round,” Lisa said with a frown.
“Except the other day you went out to the range and booked out range ammunition,” began the captain, “then, because you left your brain at home or at your desk you for some reason killed a paper target or two with your standard rounds, presumably by mistake, then took a clip full of pissy weak range ammo back out with you into the field!”
As soon as the captain had mentioned the range she knew it. She just knew that as her brain had spiralled out of control after what had happened with Lucy she had made a dreadful mistake. The cheap range ammo has a much lower muzzle velocity than her standard issue rounds. Range ammo only needed to be accurate for about fifty yards and it only had to breach paper once it got there.
“Oh jeez, sir, I, I don't know what to say, I,” Lisa began.
“Kozny, I for one am glad because it probably saved your life, but it could have ended so much worse. Imagine if you had needed some stopping power but were armed with this!?” the captain said patting the bag with the spent round in it.
Lisa stood, head bowed, subtly nodding.
“The good news is that this incident has provoked a lot of confessions throughout the department. Apparently many of our officers have inadvertently discharged their standard rounds by mistake on the range. Only, you are the first to have not realised and kept a clip of the wrong ammo on the way out,” the captain explained.
“Sir, I am so sorry that I let you down,” Kozny said sincerely.
“Look Kozny, I know you're a good cop, your clear up rate is amongst the best here. Hell, when that stolen union funds bullshit kicked off I knew you hadn't taken it else I wouldn't have put you up for that TSA job when they kicked you out. And when they found out who had really done it I was first onto the commissioner's office to get you back here. So don't let this beef get you down, ok, buck up,” the captain said.
“It was you who pulled those strings with the TSA over at Century21?” Kozny said, not realising the part he had played in keeping her life on track.
It was when Lisa thought she was stuck in a dead-end TSA career forever that a woman she would only know as The Broker came to her. The deal they made was simple, ensure a smooth passage for one special passenger onto a plane and in return Lisa would get the evidence that would prove her innocence and reinstate her back into the N.Y.P.D.
“For someone like you that was the least I could do. But what matters more is you're back and I am glad, but, please, I don't need any more of this crap,” the captain said, gesturing at the rogue spent bullet before tossing it into his drawer. “Now where are you on the park murder case?” the captain asked.
“Gomez has been getting a lot of potential witness statements together from the uni's and we have GPS data from various runners who were tracking their workouts. They may turn into more leads. I am about to timeline it all and see what may be there,” Kozny explained, her mood lifting.
“Talking to Gomez it doesn't sound impossible that your shooter and the suspect in your park murder case maybe one and the same,” the captain said.
“It's too early to know that yet, but it is possible that they are the same person, but look sir, if they are then we could be dealing with a professional killer.” Kozny replied, her tone cautious.
“OK, well keep me up to date, I want to know the moment you are sure either way, understand?” the captain urged her.
“Of course, captain,” Kozny said.
“Good, now get out there and catch me some bad guys,” the captain said, his hand gesturing for her to leave.
Selena worked at her terminal composing the scripts she would need to get her self-imposed mission done. Out there somewhere in cyberspace was some poor host infected by Vel's his sick mind and Selena was going to hunt them down.
Selena's plan was to electronically sniff out Vel's trail, hopefully leading back to him and tagging where his actual physical presence was, or at least where his host's body was when he launched the attack.
Chasing backwards through the hundreds, maybe thousands of log files would take time, but fortunately the log files represented an easy target, especially as she didn't need to gain access to their contents. Just as you don't need to open a coffee sodden envelope to know the letter within is smudged Selena could tell a file's corrupt data header meant the contents were compromised too.
Selena was going to map out the web of corrupted logs of systems that Vel had routed through to help her trace the origin and then once she had a target to attack she would strike back. Hopefully then she would be able to learn what the big plan was and prevent it.
BEEP – BEEP – BEEP – Mr Africa listened patiently as the ringing tone sounded out.
“Nineteenth Precinct, how can I help you,” answered a female voice.
“Hi, I am trying to reach a Detective Kozny, it's about a case she is working on,” Africa said quietly into the handset.
“May I ask who is calling,” asked the voice at the other end of the line.
“A concerned citizen,” Mr Africa said sternly.
“One moment please,” replied the voice.
BEEP – BEEP – BEEP - BEEP – BEEP – BEEP - BEEP – BEEP – BEEP sounded out a ringing tone.
“Detective Kozny,” Lisa began at the other end.
Mr Africa didn't speak, standing silent in the telephone booth as he listened to the voice at the other end.
“Hello?” Lisa's faint voice could be asking from the handset as Mr Africa set the phone back on the cradle.
“Dammit,” Mr Africa said as he stepped away from the phone booth, news paper in hand and returned to his car that was parked around the corner of the block.
Entering into the car he looked at the small newspaper article which was tucked in on the third page.
“LUCKY ESCAPE FOR SHOT DETECTIVE” was the the title in small font and followed by about fifty words. Included was Kozny's name, the place, what happened more or less and that she was in hospital for observation. There was no concern for her health it seemed and now there she was, back at work the very next day.
Opening up his cell phone Mr Africa made a call.
“Neomi, it's me, yes, listen, that cop, she's out already, uh huh, you've got to keep a low profile until we know what the risk is,” Mr Africa said firmly.
“Hello? Hello?” Lisa said with annoyance before hanging up. If it was important the caller would call back but right now whoever it was at the other end had developed a case of cold feet.
Lisa rose from her desk, her sore back reminding her of her near miss and she opened a folder containing a copy of an interview one of the uniformed officers had conducted with a runner who had been logged jogging at the park when Van Der Walt was killed.
Lisa had already used coloured drawing pins and coloured thread to track this one runner's route and now she was using notes to annotate what they had seen and where. There was already a spider's web of thread on the board and Lisa noted how some runners identified one another from what clothes they wore, their gender, which way they were going and so on.
But despite all this work it seemed that that the killer was a ghost. Plenty of people had noted the blue and grey clothed victim, the one who proudly wore his employers livery colours like he was one of their very own planes, but the murderer was nowhere to be seen.
“How can it be I can't see them, everyone cross checks with each other, they don't see anyone else and their GPS data doesn't put them in the same place as our vic at the murder scene. Was the killer laying in wait? But even if they were they still had to get out unseen, and dump his cellphone,” Lisa frowned.
“Hey Kozny,” Gomez piped up, returning from some trip out doing interviews.
“Back so soon?” Lisa quipped, “I thought you were looking forward to going out to play!”
“I got a message, the data dump from the vic's backups have been mailed into me,” Gomez said, as he slid off his jacket and sat at his desk.
“Great,” Lisa said as she walked over to her colleague's side of the desk leaning towards the screen.
Gomez logged into his computer and opened up his email and found the data dump.
“Fingers crossed,” Gomez said as he began to extract the files to his machine.
With a few clicks the detective began to navigate the file structure of the backups, drilling through them trying to find any video recordings.
“Please please please please,” Gomez whispered as he hovered over a folder marked as 'media'.
CLICK-CLICK
In front of the two detective's was a list of subfolders, the names formatted as year, date, day and time in twenty-four hour format.
“That's it!” Gomez exclaimed as he double clicked into the folder and saw a file.
“Play it once here and if there is anything useful we will take it for a proper analysis, ok?” Lisa said.
“Sure, ready?” Gomez asked.
“Do it,” nodded Kozny.
CLICK-CLICK
The sound of a man panting hard could be heard as the camera shake captured every movement of his arm, the phone having been on his armband. Behind the sound of the man's exertions was the whistle of the attack alarm.
“No, nghhhhhhh,” groaned the man's voice.
The struggle sounded violent, the tell tale noises of exertion could be heard at close range to the mic in the phone that captured the struggle.
“People wighll hearghhh,” the voice, presumably of Van Der Walt, said.
“Nghhhhh,” another voice grunted. The tone was lighter and was accompanied by a swift swing of camera position.
Kozny and Gomez both noted what happened but wanted the video to just play out before analyzing every frame later.
“Pghls, mon, money, in pock, hsssss, hsssss,” Van Der Walt managed, his hissing voice now signalling the end game of his life, the life being strangled from him.
“Listen to you, begging! How PATHETIC! I thought you pilots would be made of stronger stuff,” said a female voice.
Gomez's eyes widened as he heard the voice identify the victim as a pilot, they knew exactly who they were killing.
“Hssss, plghss, plghss,” Van Der Walt's last vocalisation wheezed before violently and abruptly there was a sharp.....
CRACK
Gomez flinched at the sound of the poor man's neck being broken.
“Get off of me you miserable excuse of a man,” said the woman's voice as the camera position moved again with a blur before coming to rest looking over at a tree, the angle tilted.
No doubt the killer had been under the victim as she had choked him out before breaking his neck and now she had rolled him off of her.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH! No doubt the sound of the phone being smashed and yet....
The camera kept recording although only it was just scrambled random coloured pixels and the audio ran on with just a hiss. The scrambled images ran on for another few seconds and then stopped, the file was finished.
“Wow, well, we have her voice!” Gomez said as he glanced up to see Kozny white as a sheet.
“Hey, Kozny, you ok?” Gomez asked.
“It was her! She's the one who, oh god” Lisa began before she seemed to go even paler.
For Lisa, to hear her assailant do to Van Der Walt what had almost been done to herself was chilling to the extreme. Lisa had been rolled onto her back, her life being choked from her while she was powerless to resist, that distinctive voice calling her pathetic just the same as with Van Der Walt. How close had she been to losing her life? It must have been mere seconds.
“You sure?That was the shooter? You have to tell the captain,” Gomez said as he placed his hand on Lisa's upperarm, trying to console her.
“First, I think I am going to throw up!” Lisa said, a hint of seriousness in her voice.
CHAPTER 16
“PULL!”
PADOOOOOOOOOOOOSH – The day-glo orange skeets let loose from the two grey concrete towers, arcing through the air like frisbees towards one another.
BOOM – Tisshhhhhh – the first target exploded into a cloud of orange dust.
BOOM ….. but the second landed safely on the pristine green grass with its other unharmed cousins.
“Dammit, missed it again!” Garrison chuckled.
“Unlucky, try taking the low skeet a little sooner, the high one was starting to to decelerate when you fired. Once that happens it drops fast and it becomes harder to lead the target,” explained a man in a padded shooting jacket who was stood close by.
“OK, low one sooner,” Garrison said as she broke open the breach of her Remington shotgun, ejecting the spent cartridges over her shoulder.
Slotting in a pair of fresh cartridges Garrison slammed the chamber closed, gyrated her shoulders in their sockets and prepared to shoot again.
“PULL!”
PADOOOOOOOOOOOOSH – The day-glo orange targets sped out once more heading towards the centre of the skeet range and,
BOOM – Tisshhhhhh
BOOM – Tisshhhhhh
“Very good!” exclaimed the man as the orange powder cloud slowly drifted by in the cool air.
“Thank's Jim, thought I was never going to get that second one!” Garrison scoffed as she broke open her shotgun once more sending another pair of spent cartridges onto the pile at her feet.
“Well, I wouldn't be any good in the secret service if I didn't know how to shoot, now would I?” Jim said boastfully as he held open a box of cartridges for the president.
“You learn fast, madame president,” piped up a voice from behind the pair at their shooting position.
The pair spun around, Jim instinctively putting himself in front of the President, one hand guiding her behind himself while the other sought his pistol.
“Woah, it's me!” Supergirl said, raising a calming hand.
The trio took in the sight of each other, a stand off existing for a few brief moments.
“Jim, it's okay, I was expecting her,” president Garrison said, placing a hand on Jim's shoulder reassuringly.
Jim's hand had already drawn his weapon but had not raised it yet, its muzzle angled more towards the ground. Converging on their position were more secret service men and quickly they surrounded Supergirl, pistols drawn ready, waiting for orders.
Supergirl represented the secret service's number one nightmare. There was absolutely nothing to stop her flying up to their charge and snapping her like a twig. Of course all agents selected to the protect the president were prepared to use themselves as a human shield but what could they do against the indestructible superheroine? Now they found themselves in the absurd position of trying to do their duty while being powerless to do anything.
“Jim, call off the dogs,” Garrison said, gently patting the secret service man on the shoulder.
“One day this is not going to end well,” Jim muttered, returning his pistol to its holster. “Stand down, return to your perimeter positions,” Jim called out to the other men in his team.
The agents backed away, slipping their weapons back into their holsters, some not taking their eyes off the heroine until they were clear.
“Please, Supergirl, walk with me, Jim doesn't bite, I promise,” Garrison said, glancing with a grin at her protector, her arm beckoning the heroine in red and blue.
Supergirl nodded and approached the pair onto the skeet range.
“Here, take this and keep a discreet distance, understand?” Garrison said quietly as she handed Jim the shotgun cradled in her arms.
“Of course,” Jim replied.
“I'm sorry I am disturbing your sport,” Supergirl said as she closed the gap.
“Well if not this it would be something else, and you are saving these poor clay target's lives,” joked Garrison.
The pair began to walk onwards, the Camp David hangar building ahead of them and Jim looking on nervously at them from the skeet range behind.
“Well, half of them at least,” quipped Supergirl as they passed the cluster of missed clays in amongst the exploded remnants of Garrisons successes.
“Quite, so, tell me, did you choose someone?” Garrison asked.
“I chose several, but only one accepted,” Supergirl replied, her tone serious.
“I see, am I to take it then that perhaps the best candidates were the ones to refuse?” Garrison probed.
Supergirl analysed the question. Garrison was no doubt concerned that her last choice was therefore not her most favoured choice.
“I wont veil answers with the sophistication of a politician, so yes, the people I thought were the best choices said no. They said no because the very experiences they have that make them good candidates have also made them jaded and wary of doing more for their government,” Supergirl explained.
Garrison nodded. She suspected that elements within Supergirl's inner circle might be reluctant to risking their anonymity for varying reasons.
“I know this arrangement will take time to cement itself but it is a genuine gesture, I assure you,” Garrison continued.
“And it is that hope that has led someone to agree to oversee your plan. I cannot promise you they will be as active as you would like, they may even remain dormant for a time, but they exist. And remember, I don't control them, they must find their own way,” Supergirl said, her tone a little more upbeat.
“It's reassuring that at least that we can establish some sort of link, albeit indirectly,” Garrison said.
“So, what now? Is this it?” Supergirl wondered.
“Oh no, now comes the exciting part. Tell me, does your friend like D.I.Y?” Garrison quipped, prompting a frown from her guest. “Come on, you'll see,” the president said as the pair walked onwards together.
Kozny and Gomez followed their Captain as he led them to a conference room, folders in their hands. Standing by their seats there were glances between each other as the group waited for the Deputy Commissioner for Public Information to arrive.
In the corridor footsteps could be heard as a group approached, the marching feet getting closer and closer.
“Gentlemen, oh and lady, forgive me. Welcome,” said the commissioner as he entered followed by two other uniformed officers in their smart blue jackets.
There the group of six shook hands one after another and then took their places at the table.
“OK, so, I understand we have a problem here in New York,” began the comissioner.
“Yes, early morning yesterday my detective's, Kozny and Gomez had what appeared to be a typical homicide case on their books. By late afternoon the same day it appears our chief suspect realised they may have left a key piece of evidence behind and went to retrieve it. Thanks to fast work by Detective Gomez he was able to direct Detective Kozny to this piece of evidence too. Unfortunately the suspect was able to escape with it, but not before first shooting Kozny during her attempt to detain them,” the captain explained.
“Yes, and how lucky you were too. So you think this is some kind of professional killer?” the commissioner asked.
“Kozny?” the captain said, prompting Lisa to make her case.
“We were lucky to obtain our main piece of evidence without needing the stolen cell phone itself. A backup of the data indicates that our killer knew who our victim was. Our victim has little or no social footprint in the united states due to his work, robbery was not a motive and his relationship to work seems solid. The method of the killing itself suggests there has been a direct effort by the killer to conceal themselves or hide in place as an ambush. Everything suggests this was a premeditated killing. And lastly, while I have not received the highest level of training it strikes me that our suspect is familiar with hand to hand fighting. I wasn't engaged with a regular person, the suspect has some specialist background, I am sure of it,” Kozny explained.
“OK, but you are only into day two of your investigation. Do you really want to rush bringing in the press so early on? You might drive this killer underground or get flooded with bad leads,” the commissioner asked.
“Sir, because of the nature of our suspect we believe that they may well be mobile anyway. I don't think we have anything to lose by trying to get the public's eyes and ears on this suspect and as quickly as possible,” the captain explained.
“The nature being they appear to be a killer for hire? OK, so what do we have to give to the press?” the commissioner asked.
“We have her voice, and an outline description,” the captain said sliding a folder and a pen drive to the commissioner.
“Is this edited already?” asked one of the commissioner's assistants.
“Yes, we had video and audio but, sparing you the details, we felt it best to edit it down to her main sound bites, nothing more,” Gomez explained.
“Kozny, you said you had engaged in a fight with this woman, an outline description is all you have?” the commissioner queried the detective.
Lisa shrugged, pointing to the bruise that she uncovered hidden at the front of her hairline.
“I'm still a little hazy on her face, but I am sure I saw it, the doctors are confident it will come back to me,” Lisa said.
“Ah, I see, OK, we will set up a briefing with the local TV channels as soon as we can and see what they can do for us,” the commissioner said as he scooped up the folder and the pen drive.
“Thank you, sir,” the captain said, “I think I can say on behalf of my team that we feel this will be of real help to our investigation.”
“I can only hope so, using the public is a double edged sword sometimes, but if you are right about your suspect this may be exactly the right course,” the commissioner said as he began to rise from his seat at the table.
THUD-VWER- THUD-VWER-THUD-VWER-THUD-VWER was the rhythmical beat of servos and metal feet.
Captain Martin 'McFly' McAllister walked his mechanical behemoth around the hangar, getting a feel of his and his machine's limits.
“Very good, Captain, now a jog please,” said one of the technicians.
“OK, transitioning in three, two, one, and jog,” said the captain.
The powerful mix of hydraulics, armour plate and steel broke out into a slow, rhythmic run, the pace a sort of exaggerated bouncy walk. The machine looked a little ungainly but it remained on its feet convincingly.
“OK, some lateral work please,” the technician prompted the captain.
The jogging pace seemed to slow to a stop and then the mech began to walk side to side, rapid changes in direction not unsettling the machine's balance.
“Good, how about some star jumps,” said a technician as he ticked off more tasks from the test sheet.
“Only if you promise there are no hoops of fire next,” McAllister quipped as he composed himself inside the cockpit.
The cockpit was pneumatically stabilised to help shield the operator from their own machine's movements but trying to mimic star jumps strapped to the seat of the moving machine was a challenge.
The first movement was a little awkward, the mechanical beast stumbling a moment before finding a rhythm. McAllister repeated the star jumps about a dozen times before the technicians finally gave the thumbs up.
McAllister resumed a normal standing pose and in a moment of good humour the robot was almost patting itself atop the cockpit while the other robotic hand circled in front of the torso prompting some laughter from the team of white coat wearing technicians.
“OK, I think you are ready for the hoops of fire now,” one of the technicians said lightheartedly in response.
CHAPTER 17
Lisa Kozny rode the elevator up to the floor of Lucy's apartment, her mind wandering a little as she did so. Those kisses in the shower that morning, the orgasm delivered by Lucy's tongue, the..
PING
A shy grin broke over Lisa's face as a young couple stood waiting at the elevator doorway as it opened, the pair catching Lisa's expression as she recalled events from the start of the day.
“Hey,” was the shared greeting between the trio as Lisa exited and they entered.
Lisa turned the corner and found herself at the door of Lucy's apartment, knocking politely. There was a pause and then Lisa heard the door unlock, before it swung open.
“Hey, you're just in time, I was about to start some food, Thai curry sound good?” Lucy said as she backed away from the door. Dressed in a white bathrobe, her hair restrained in a pure white towel it was evident she had just had a shower.
“That sounds awesome,” Lisa said as she entered into the apartment. Taking off her jacket which she hung up on a coat hook Lisa was left standing in her smart shirt and close fitting black pants, her pistol still in its holster and her badge on her belt.
“What's that? Homework?” Lucy asked gesturing to a folder in Lisa's hand.
“Kind of, I thought I would ask someone who might see what it is I am missing,” Lisa said as she walked behind Lucy who made her way to the kitchen area of her open plan apartment space.
“Oh?” Lucy replied.
“That case I am working on, it's starting to look like a professional job but I thought I would run it by you,” Lisa explained as she watched Lucy pull some onions from her pantry.
“Chop those, let me look,” Lucy said as she drew a knife from the wooden storage block, the blade singing as she did so before she placed it onto her chopping board.
“Sure,” Lisa said as she rolled up her sleeves and washed her hands before wielding the knife.
Lucy stood leaning against the side of her epic sized refrigerator, folder opened as she started to try and make sense of what was in front of her. Sellotaped together were many sheets of legal sized paper and Lucy let it unfurl to reveal a map of the area around the crime scene.
“Oh, this is like a timeline slash map type of thing? Neat,” Lucy said, her eyes scanning the map, the annotations, the key locations and the tracks of the various people that had been in the area.
“Yes, some of it is based on GPS data from running-tracker apps and gadgets and some is based on eyewitness testimony. My problem is that while everyone is corroborating each other no one has seen the murderer come or go,” Lisa explained as she diced the onions.
“OK, the green peppers next, they are in there, do them in strips,” Lucy said as she began to decipher the map.
“So, what do you think?” Lisa asked as she set the diced onion aside in a bowl, and began to decapitate the big green peppers that had been sat waiting on the counter top.
“Curious,” Lucy said as she glanced across the map. She looked at lines of sight, the timings, the positions, the descriptions of people that had been seen, the descriptions of people that were there to be seen, the …..
“Oh!” Lucy said in surprise.
“What?” Lisa said, glancing up from her work.
“Your victim, was in blue and grey, correct?” Lucy said, tilting the map.
“Uh huh,” Lisa replied as she cut a pepper into strips.
“Well, I suspect that quite possibly, some of these sightings of him were actually of the killer, they were wearing the same clothes,” Lisa said, her tongue appearing from her mouth as she descended back into deep thought.
“What, really, but....,” Lisa said, placing her knife down intending to look at the map again.
“Ah-ah, broccoli next, its still in the grocery bag,” Lucy said, pointing to the bag on the floor with her outstretched big toe of her bare foot.
Lisa pulled a slight face as she recovered the fresh green broccoli from the bag and peeled the tight clear wrapper from off of it.
“Often a good way to confuse witnesses and police alike is to look just like the victim. During your interviews you ask about the victim and witnesses say they saw them when in actual fact it was someone just dressed like them. Then you start asking about other people which puts the victim out of their mind. In reality you have made your witness forget all about the person who was your killer. The people I used to work with called the technique 'Ghosting',” Lucy explained.
“Crap, that's clever, assuming that is what happened,” Lisa said as she placed a heap of tidily-cut broccoli in another bowl.
“Well, you have a few indications here which I guess were just dismissed. The grey and blue clothed figure was at times thought female or male, I guess you just thought the witness had made a mistake. Oh and the chicken breast is in the fridge,” Lucy said.
“Well, their relative times and positions suggested they were the same person and the dead body at the end of it was that of a man so,” Lisa explained, letting her point hang without the need to finish as she placed the raw chicken breast onto the chopping board, starting to cube it up.
“Well, I think you got played,” Lucy said, looking over the map again.
“Twice, by the looks of it,” Lisa quipped as she glanced down at the prepared ingredients for the meal to come.
Lucy smirked knowing that Lisa had suddenly realised she had been duped into becoming the chef.
“Come on – hurry up, all this consulting work is making me hungry,” Lucy said with a grin.
“Remind me not to accept meal invitations in the future!” Lisa said, eyeing Lucy who raised the paper map in front of her eyes to escape Lisa's glare.
Mr Hispania walked into the club, the music was good and loud, the central floor teeming with people who were dancing. At the bar people crowded round to get themselves drinks while in the shadows couples, predatory men and discerning women watched on at the spectacle from their tables at the edge.
Hispania looked around and saw his marks, Giancarlo and Gerhard. Working for different banks and living different parts of town, the only thing that had united them had been their taste in clubs and their more elite level drug dealer who knew how to move within the circles of the one percent without drawing attention.
Now, the carefree, or perhaps careless bankers were living it up on the mezzanine floor which looked down to the dance floor. Sat around their usual table the young men had their customary bottles of champagne chilling in an ice bucket while the six young women draped over their shoulders or sat near their sides laughed at their jokes.
Hispania thumbed two small bags of coke in his trouser pocket that had been laced with the product in the glass vial. Taking a position by the bar bar he ordered a drink and surveyed the scene. Looking up at his targets he saw the marks begin to partake with the drink, the ladies too. The pattern, he had been told, was always the same; champagne, then something harder, and once that began to flow the white lines of powdery addiction would be quick to follow.
“It will be a shame if there is collateral damage,” Hispania thought to himself as his drink arrived, a glass of bourbon.
Neomi had been going stir crazy sitting things out while waiting for the team to finish their contracts, she needed some relief. Spending her day cooped up in a hotel room had not been working for her and finally she had snapped. The power of life and death was a beautiful drug in her mind and she needed her fix, being forced to stay in her room meant she could do only one thing....
TAP TAP TAP
Neomi heard the knock at her hotel room door, her heart skipping a beat. She rose from the bed where she had been watching the TV and strode over to her door, peering through the spyhole to see who was there.
Beyond the door stood a tall young woman, hair neatly plaited in a white shirt with three quarter length sleeves and tight black pants. Around her neck was a laminated badge with “P.D.N.Y” in blue letters on a white background with something akin to a sheriffs star beneath. Over her shoulder was a modest sized drawstring bag.
Neomi opened her door to the woman, her eyes lapping up the sight in front of her.
“Close enough!” Neomi thought to herself. While the badge was a parody, intended not to get the wearer into any trouble for impersonating a real cop, it certainly looked the part. And as for the rest of 'the look', Neomi certainly approved.
“Hey,” the young woman said with a soft smile.
“Jasmine, yes?” Neomi asked.
“Yes, you must be Neomi” the young woman asked quietly as she subtly glanced over Neomi's shoulder to the room beyond.
Neomi nodded as she opened the doorway wider to prove she was alone.
“Come in, Jasmine,” Neomi said seductively.
“Sure, I have to phone in, you have to say that I am how you requested,” Jasmine said as she entered, setting her bag down by the doorway.
“Sure, you have your rules, and so will I,” Neomi said as she glanced Jasmine up and down.
Jasmine opened her phone up and dialled, waiting for whoever it was at the other end to pick up.
“Hi, it's Jasmine, yes I am happy, yes, one moment,” Jasmine began then handed the phone to Neomi.
Neomi planted the phone to her ear, “Hello? Yes, yes, she's perfect. Oh no, I understand, uh-huh- good, ok, thank you.”
Neomi handed the phone back to Neomi who said a brief goodbye before setting the phone down on the table.
“Do you know what I want?” Neomi began as she looked Jasmine up and down again. She was attractive, well dressed and sounded educated.
“Yes,” Jasmine said, almost without emotion.
“Then, what are you waiting for?” Neomi said with a wicked grin.
Jasmine, with a sudden look of determination in her eye snatched at Neomi's wrist with one hand while pulling a pair of handcuffs from her back pocket with another.
“Neomi, I am Detective Kozny and you're under arrest!” Jasmine said assertively.
“Good girl,” Neomi thought to herself as she prepared to turn the tables on the very specialised call-girl.
Sat crossed legged at a low table, chopsticks in hand, Lisa and Lucy ate their meal. The Thai curry which sat on a bed of noodles was delicious and the pair realised they were eating without saying a word, usually a good sign for the chef.
“Well, you can come again!” Lucy said, finally breaking the silence as she devoured the last piece of chicken in her bowl.
Lisa grinned knowing that indeed the meal hadn't turned out that bad after all. Lisa was not normally good in the kitchen, the cop lifestyle often lending itself more to take-out cuisine but with pointers from her friend she had made something half decent.
“I can do anything as long as I have my gun for hire with me,” Lisa joked as she picked up her glass of fruit juice.
“I'm good but I'm not that good,” Lucy said.
“Oh I don't know, you figured out how the killer did it and showed me how to make this curry in one go,” Lisa said, taking a sip of her drink.
“Well, I still have my limits but you know I'd do anything for a girl with a gun and a badge,” Lucy said without thinking.
Lisa nearly choked on her drink, the danger of it being ejected from her nose or mouth narrowly averted.
“You nearly choked me,” Lisa managed, finally containing herself.
“Anyway, you need to stop being modest, you're good. I've seen you picking up stuff from me when I have been teaching Laura,” Lucy said.
“That's true, my shooter had some of your tricky handcuff evasion moves, spotted that just in time,” Lisa said.
Lucy looked Lisa in the eye, a hint of anxiety in her expression, “If you meet her again you promise to bring your A-Game with you?”
“I never make the same mistake twice, she gets the full on anti-mercenary treatment from now on,” Lisa said.
“Good, now then, ready for some ice-cream?” Lucy asked quickly changing subject and rising to her feet from the floor.
“Sure, what flavour do you have?” Lisa responded, offering her spent food bowl up to her host.
Lucy's eyes flashed mischievously down at Lisa for a split second as she spun away, “You'll see!” she said.
Mr Hispania made his way up to the mezzanine floor, VIP pass at the ready for the oversized doorman who stood guard at the top of the steps that led from the main floor below.
On Hispania's arm was a young lady in a white mini dress. Well-spoken and attractive she could pick and choose from the best of the bunch and tonight she seemed to be enamoured with the enigmatic well-dressed man with the accent that made him even more intriguing.
Mr Hispania was a man for all occasions, a chameleon. He could pose as a lowly street labourer, his rugged looks giving him a working class look, or he could don a suit and mix with the elites, no problem. Now though he needed an excuse to be up on the mezzanine floor and nothing less than a classy woman on his arm would do to help his illusion of fitting in.
“So, Susanna, do you veseet here with much frequency?” Mr Hispania asked.
“From time to time, when I am bored,” Susanna said like it was a confession.
“Well, I am hoping I can take that boredom from you, Susanna,” Hispania replied as the pair moved to a table nearby to his targets.
“Oh, with your tales of your escapades in Monaco at the casino I will never be bored,” Susanna said as she settled in next to Hispania who felt her hand settle on his thigh.
Hispania smiled at her request. It was much easier to blend in a little fiction with fact than make something up entirely and his times when he was much younger working as security at a casino did make for some interesting stories.
“Deed I mention thee time with thee card counter at the black jack table, oh he was thee worst!” Hispania began, his hand rising up to draw attention to the staff to get drinks.
“Oh?” Susanna queried.
“Kept on with thee moving of the leeps. You could see eet, doing the maths in hees head, his leeps moving. Even I knew when to tweest and when to stand just watching him talking, eet was a joke!” Mr Hispania explained, drawing a laugh from the lady at his side.
“Is cheating a common problem in a casino?” Susanna asked.
“The problems go away eef you have better cheaters working for the casino who know what to look for!” Hispania grinned, his eyes occasionally settling on his marks as they commiserated the death of their last champagne bottle whilst summonsing a server to get something more potent.
“Oh, I hope that doesn't include you, a lady doesn't like a man who cheats,” Susanna said.
“I may be many theengs Susanna, but a cheater I am not,” Hispania said truthfully.
“I won't ask what the many things are then,” Susanna said as he hand drifted up Hispania's thigh, finding the tip of his hardening member laying over to one side.
There was a knowing glance between them but for now Hispania had a job to do. Walking out the club with Susanna would come eventually but for now he had to keep his eye on the other prize, his contract money.
Neomi cruelly held Jasmine's hair in her one hand while pulling taught the slave collar with another, pinning the call girl's mouth to her pussy.
“That's it, stupid cop cunt, lick it!” Neomi said in a mix of anger and pleasure.
Jasmine had fought only lightly before relenting and becoming cuffed by her client. Neomi who had been quick to raid Jasmine's drawstring bag made use of the bondage collar inside and had been in control from the start.
The fantasy of Neomi's making had been ordered and paid for in full in advance. With her latex gloved hands she could slap and spank Jasmine to her heart's content, never to draw blood, but it was Jasmine's many other talents that had drawn Neomi to choose her.
Jasmine looked up, her eyes seeking approval for her pleasureable acts. For a few fleeting moments it looked like Neomi was fully immersed in her fantasy. Jasmine could only wonder if this Kozny person she was asked to pretend to be was someone who wronged her, was some character from TV, or perhaps an unattainable lover. All Jasmine knew for sure was Neomi wanted to be in control.
“Up, BITCH”, growled Neomi, coiling the leash connected to Jasmine's collar around her fist and pushing Jasmine to the wall.
Neomi used her free hand to undo Jasmine's pants, the mercenary kicking the make-believe cop's feet apart as she did so.
“Ohhhh,” Jasmine moaned as Neomi tugged her panties to one side before offering her fingers to Jasmine's mouth.
“Tongue, bitch!” Neomi demanded, causing Jasmine to thrust out her tongue hesitantly.
Wetting the tips of her gloved fingers on the tip of Jasmine's tongue Neomi presented them to her captive's pussy and began to work her wicked magic on her plaything.
“Oh, fuck,” Jasmine said, her eyes rolling into the back of her head a moment.
“Who are you?!” Neomi demanded.
“Det … oooh … detective ….... Kozny!” Jasmine struggled to say.
“And?” prompted Neomi, her fingers discovering just how turned on Jasmine really was.
“You won't ….nghh!” Jasmine began, her head flopping forward a moment as Neomi explored her below.
“I wont what?!” Neomi snarled hungrily as she could feel herself getting deeper into Jasmine, her index finger feeling the rough little pad of her g-spot, stroking it relentlessly.
“..get away .. with ….oh god … with this !” Jasmine whimpered.
“Watch me!” Neomi said as she pulled Jasmine away from the wall and pushed her to the bed.
Jasmine, handcuffed and with her trousers around her thighs fell inelegantly but unharmed to the bed as Neomi went to the drawstring bag and pulled out the red ballgag and the strap-on that she knew was contained within.
Lisa was naked laying face down on Lucy's bed, legs parted with Lucy curled up between. Lucy used a spoon and gently carved out a small curl of icecream from her pot of belgian chocolate icecream and placed it into the small of Lisa's back.
“Ah-oh-god that's cold,” giggled Lisa.
Lucy watched the blob of icecream slowly slide over Lisa's bruised skin before settling into the curve of Lisa's back. The tender bruised skin was warm and it began to melt the blob. Lucy placed her tongue onto the base of Lisa's spine and began to lick up the chocolatey goodness, her tongue massaging Lisa's tense bruised muscles.
Lisa, who had lifted her head when the ice cream had first made contact now flopped back down onto the bed.
“Awwww that's so …. goooood” Lisa said with a sexy growl.
Lucy smirked to herself as she finished lapping up the first blob of ice cream and promptly placed another blob onto Lisa's bruised flesh.
“Awwww fuck, that feels awesome” Lisa said happily, the ache of her bruise fading away.
“Taste's great too!” Lucy managed to say between licks.
Mr Hispania downed the tiny remnants of his drink and patted Susanna's hand on his thigh, encouraging her to let him rise. Whispering something into Susanna's ear prompted her to smile and he left her and went towards the men's room.
The large mercenary swung open the door and entered, the subtle lighting and the dark blue tiles gave the place a classy look, but Mr Hispania wasn't interested in the décor he was looking for...
“Woah, sorry gentlemen,” Mr Hispania said, raising his hands.
The room had echoed with the laughter of Giancarlo and Gerhard as they snorted a line of cocaine but they rose upright defensively seeing the third man enter.
“Hah, your face,” chuckled Giancarlo, his eyes betraying his state as he tapped Gerhard on the chest. “He's not the police!”
“Hey man, what are you looking at,” Gerhard said, looking serious.
“Nothing, guys. Help me out, do you know if there is a condom machine in here?” Hispania asked, peering around the room.
“Just through there,” Giancarlo said, watching Hispania cautiously.
Hispania walked beyond a tiled partition and Gerhard and Giancarlo heard the man feed some coins into the machine before it dispensed packets of condoms. Hispania returned with a grin, patting his pocket with the condom packets inside.
“I hope you are not looking to have too much fun with your lady friends, the machine is running low,” Hispania joked.
“We'll be fine,” Gerhard said.
“Hey, help me out, I need to get rid of this, my lady friend is not fan of the white pleasure, if you know what I mean,” Hispania said tossing his two little bags of powdered death onto the dark marble countertop where Gerhard and Giancarlo had been snorting their lines.
“Hey, we don't do just any shit,” Gerhard said rubbing his nose.
“Me neither, I'm no pobre, amigo, this is premium product, my man Cain sources eet for me. If you don't want eet I can flush eet instead. ” Hispania said calmly as he elegantly adjusted his attire in the large mirror revealing his gold cufflinks as he did so.
“Your guy is Cain?” Gerhard asked as he realised that the man in front of them was certainly in or above their league.
“Sure, you know of him?” Hispania said watching Giancarlo look eagerly at one of the little bags.
“Yeah, sure, we get from him” Gerhard responded defensively. Cain's name was linked to good quality, nobody had a bad trip on his product, but you had to pay.
“On bonus day!” Giancarlo giggled, his drug fuelled humour in full flow.
“Don't listen to him, yeah, we take from Cain, but usually we take from Jared, know him?” Gerhard said.
“Jared, I know his name, yes, if Cain is not available I know people who can get from Jared for me,” Hispania said. Jared, the man who Hispania had also researched was a little down the order from Cain but his product was still good, just not so much as what Hispania was seemingly offering his targets.
“You sure you don't want these, this is good stuff?” Gerhard asked with a grin as he looked at the little bags.
“I want it but my lady wants a Mr Clean this evening even more. Besides it is not often I meet someone so interesting as her so I think, which liddle packets do I really want tonight, these ones, or those?” Mr Hispania said, patting his pocket before gesturing at the little packets he had given his targets.
“I get you, dude” said Gerhard.
“Yeah, sure, thanks man,” Giancarlo said, breaking open one of the bags ready to form into a line.
“Well, enjoy, I wish I could join you but that little princess out there cannot wait any longer,” Mr Hispania said.
“Hey let me get a hit of that,” Gerhard began to say, patting Hispania on the back in thanks as he began to leave.
“Hey you've got a bag right there” joked Giancarlo as he prepared for the drug fuelled ride of his life.
Hispania stepped out of the men's room and walked back to Susanna and offered out his hand. His job was done, the deadly cargo delivered. He didn't have to stand over his marks and watch them snort themselves to oblivion, he knew it was guaranteed to happen.
He knew from his time all those years ago as a young rookie security man at the casino that once a client was at that phase of the evening their judgement was gone and they would snort abrasive kitchen products if they thought it would it make them feel even higher.
“Come then, Susanna, show me more of the city,” Hispania said, glancing at the young ladies at the other table laughing and joking amongst themselves while their gallant princes killed themselves in the men's room.
At least he was sure that he was not taking any more lives than necessary this evening, that would be a waste.
Neomi was on top of Jasmine pounding at her from behind and being turned on hearing her plaything beg into her gag.
“That's right, take it, pig!” Neomi snarled, one hand gripping the links between the two handcuffs restraining Jasmine's wrists behind her back and the other holding the leash tightly.
Back and forth, back and forth, Neomi pounded deep, hard and fast, her excitement rising as she could hear and feel Jasmine's unintended resistance waning. Jasmine was approaching exhaustion having been fucked orally before having her pussy reamed by the strap-on.
Neomi grinned with glee as she revived the flagging Jasmine with a few good firm spanks on her behind, reinforcing the already glowing hand prints that were there.
“Stay with me bitch, you're not done at the Police-fuckademy yet!” Neomi taunted as she withdrew the black silicon shaft from Jasmine's body and presented the tip to her ass.
“Nghhhh!” Jasmine protested momentarily before Neomi forced her way in little by little. Wiggling slowly, back and forth, back and forth, Neomi worked before she could really get her thrusts going without resistance.
“I've always ….” grunted Neomi as she pushed herself deep into Jasmine.
“Wanted to fuck,” Neomi continued as she began to withdraw.
“a cop in the ass!” Neomi said, pushing herself back in.
“Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh,” grunted Neomi with each thrust. “That's it!” she added encouragingly to Jasmine as she continued to pound away, feeling the young call girl slowly sliding off of her shaft, her strength failing with every penetrating stroke.
Neomi's eyes flashed wickedly at her spent plaything and unbuckled the strapon, tossing it to one side before releasing the ball gag. Neomi reached into the drawstring bag ready for the last set of toys, preparing to unleash her coup de grace.
Rolling Jasmine onto her back, her restrained wrists still behind her Neomi loomed in over above.
“It has been fun detective Kozny but now, I regret it is time,” Neomi said wickedly.
“Time?” panted Jasmine, her ruffled sweat covered hair clinging to her face.
Neomi's eyes widened, her wicked intent written on her face when suddenly she dragged a plastic bag over Jasmine's head gripping it to her throat with her hand. Jasmine weakly kicked and groaned under the weight of Neomi above her as she felt the restriction of her air take hold.
With her free hand Neomi flicked the the small battery powered wand into life and placed it between their pussy's, the ecstasy immediately appearing on her victim's face.
“Oh what a sweet kill you have been, detective. Accept this one last gift, it is the least I can do for you,” Neomi struggled to say, her eyes betraying her own ascent to the beautiful orgasm she was about to have.
Jasmine squirmed and wiggled, her eyes rolling back, the colour of her face betraying her battle for life as she began to shudder beneath Neomi. Neomi could see the bag dance as Jasmine hunted for air, the warm humid air fogging with every dying gulp. Neomi knew the moment was approaching, she was going to orgasm the make-believe cop to death.
Jasmine began to break, her muscles convulsing down below with her moment of blissful release, the killer orgasm was firing off on all cylinders.
“Oh god!” Neomi's eyes fluttered as her wires in her head linked the realisation of what she was doing to Jasmine to that magical spot between her legs, the resulting spark...
“Oh god oh god oh god,” Neomi said shutting off the vibrator before yanking the bag from Jasmine's head.
Neomi's body twitched as every muscle in her core began to implode, the orgasm detonating deep within her. Doubling over, Neomi's head ended up to the side of Jasmine's and the mercenary panted in the call girl's ear as the shockwave subsided.
Neomi's breathing slowly returned and planting her hands down either side of Jasmine's head she pushed herself back up, her body still enjoying the aftershocks of her special moment. Placing a hand on Jasmine's cheek she gently brushed the wisps of hair stuck to her still, lifeless face, taking in what she had done. She had fucked detective Kozny to death.
There was a pause and Neomi knew her fantasy was over.
“Well, I think I certainly have had more than my money's worth! How was it for you?!” Neomi said calmly, looking down at Jasmine.
Jasmine's eyes flashed open as she gulped in a big deep breath, her role play now over.
“I am glad you pleased with my services,” gulped Jasmine humbly.
“Stop with the script, how was it?” Neomi asked.
“They tell us we have to tell our clients how good they were, no matter what, but that was the best orgasm I've had in a long time,” Jasmine said, her eyes blinking as she gulped for air between each couple of words.
Neomi found herself almost smiling at Jasmine. “Oh what broken creatures we both are,” Neomi thought to herself, taking in the sight of what some people might think as her perfect opposite.
CHAPTER 18
The TV mounted to the wall behind the counter of the diner flicked from one map to another as the local news NYCCN showed the weather forecast.
“And now on New York's City Central News, the morning news with Kaylee Lewis,” announced the dramatic voice-over before the cameras switched to the anchorwoman.
“Good morning New York, these are your morning headlines. Police are appealing for help finding a woman suspected of murdering airline pilot Ernst Van Der Walt and later attempting to kill a police officer involved with the investigation. The killer's voice has been caught on tape, more after these other headlines. Metro services are expected to be interrupted by unplanned maintenance issues after cracks were discovered in several rail connections during routine inspections. Today the Mayor will perform the ground breaking ceremony for a new arts centre to be constructed in Harlem. The mayor is …....” the anchor woman continued.
Sat in a booth at the diner a man and his colleagues were eating breakfast, the quartet joking between themselves as the news droned on in the background. But one of the men seemed distracted as the anchor woman ran through the main headlines of the morning before returning to deal with each story in more detail.
“Police are asking New Yorkers if they can help them identify the woman who is believed to have murdered airline pilot Ernst Van Der Walt and later attempted to kill a police officer involved with the investigation. Captain Van Der Walt who worked for Blue Globe Airlines and routinely flew to and from Amsterdam was seemingly killed in a motiveless attack on Tuesday in Central Park,” the anchorwoman explained before the video flipped to an interview with one of the deputy commissioners.
“The recording, made by Mr Van Der Walt in the moments leading to his death reveals an attacker who is disturbingly cold and without emotion. Her voice is quite distinctive and the officer who this individual went on to shoot during the course of the murder investigation is confident her attacker is the same person. We ask you to listen carefully to her voice and if you recognise it to please come forward. We strongly urge the public not to confront this individual if known to them,” the commissioner said.
“Listen to you, begging! How PATHETIC! I thought you pilots would be made of stronger stuff,........Get off of me you miserable excuse of a man,” Neomi's voice played on, while subtitles ran at the bottom of the screen.
“Hey Oscar, you okay, you don't look so good?” asked one of the men in the booth as they noticed one of their number going white.
Molly Matthews stood in front of the mech that had become nicknamed The Spider. Its more conventional-looking brothers had been loaded onto a specially adapted transporter ready for the trip to the test range; now only The Spider remained. Stood lonely in a secure holding pen the Mech waited, impassive and silent.
Molly looked the war-machine over. The powerful hydraulically-operated legs and main arms were impressively well engineered; the power-to-weight ratio of the machine making most high end construction equipment look inadequate. The armour of the machine was thick and heavy, capable of taking multiple hits from missiles and tank rounds without problem. The electronic systems were shielded from radiation. Even EMP effects were not an issue if it were to ever face such a threat.
“And for all that, when it comes to it, you would be nothing more than scrap metal once she got her hands on you, if it wasn't for...” Molly's thoughts paused as she pulled from her pocket a camera film bag and then a glass cube from inside that. The bag, designed to prevent x-rays damaging camera film, also did a good job of disguising the contents inside if checked.
Humming slowly and deliberately, each note somehow seeming sinister, 'Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star' echoed inside the holding pen.
Raising the cube to her eye she could see the little green speck housed inside. It had arrived that morning having been stolen by Mr Africa the morning before. It was the one last green speck that had been saved from the many that she had cleaned off the solar panel from the Hawkeye One satellite all that time before. That time when Kimberly and Bobby had squandered their opportunity. But now the time of the Sandersons was over, now the Matthews' were in ascendency.
Molly walked forward towards the Spider and placed a foot on the 'STEP' marker on one of the sturdy metallic legs and rose up, reaching towards the center of the torso of the machine. Now, newly installed, there was something akin to a camera's aperture inserted into the body of the machine and reaching in Molly inserted the glass cube. A firm click confirmed the cube was in place and Molly continued her climb to the cockpit, the door to which was already open.
Molly began throwing switches bringing the machine to life. The heads-up display and the readouts showed her what she wanted to see: the board was green save for one expected message;
OFFLINE – REM DECODE MODULE / USER NOT FOUND
Molly smiled and then glanced down at a control panel. Newly installed it belonged with the aperture module and with a click she threw a switch, closing the iris like opening. Beneath her the metal aperture module slid closed, encapsulating the glass cube and the ominous green speck within behind a layer of steel and a coating impregnated with lead.
On the control panel was a key inserted into a multi-position switch, and with a twist Molly set it to a position marked REMOTE before removing the key.
“It is done,” Molly said quietly to herself then began to power down The Spider.
Gomez stood in front of the big pinboard map on the wall, hand on chin in deep thought. Lisa with a grin watched his expression as he tried to figure out what it was Lisa was so gleeful about.
“So? Do you see it?” Lisa pressed, bursting at the seams.
“OK, go on, it's killing me, what have you seen?” Gomez said, finally relenting.
“Well, not me, my friend did. Anyway, see that sighting there , and there, look at the times. Look at what the witness said,” Lisa said, pointing at her annotations stuck next to coloured drawing pins representing people.
“Yeah, they see the vic,” Gomez said dismissively.
“No, they saw the killer!” Lisa said enthusiastically.
“What? But...” Gomez paused, squinting at the map, “Naaaah! Shit! Really!?” Gomez exclaimed as he suddenly started to understand.
“She knew, Gomez! She knew what he was going to wear. She dressed up just like him,” Lisa said.
“Oh fuck, man, we are going to have to interview all these witnesses again?!” Gomez groaned.
“Yeah, that was her plan all along, to fuck with their heads, and ours too,” Lisa said.
“Dammit, I'll get on it,” Gomez began as he went to retrieve a list of the eyewitnesses.
“Wait, there's always a chance we will hit lucky with the news, a few channels carried the story. Put a few uni's on it that you trust, we have a bigger problem,” Lisa said as she spun around to return to her chair, her movement confirming she still felt the injury from the shooting incident.
“Oh?” Gomez said as he returned to his desk and opened a drawer.
“Well, we have some high quality hitman,” Lisa began.
“Hit-WOMAN,” Gomez corrected her.
“Whatever, they wanted Van Der Walt out the way for a reason. His main social life, his marital life, his family life is all based oversees. The Dutch police haven't found anything wrong over there, so, we come back empty-handed on motive. Why was he taken out of the picture? The only thing significant over this side is his work and I don't like having question marks over people who are flying planes around New York,” Lisa said, seriously. “We need to look at his co-workers starting with people on his own flight,” she said as she gathered her things.
“Well, how many people is that, is it a big plane?” Gomez quipped.
“What did he say it was, an A380?” Lisa said with a frown as she went back to her notebook.
“Uh huh,” Gomez said, closing his eyes as he tried to recall what he had read in her visit report.
“Holy crap, the crew count can be anything up to thirty!” Lisa exclaimed as she did a quick google search from her desk.
“Thirty? It's going to be a long day,” Gomez groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Africa stood arms folded at the door of Neomi's hotel room, the 'Do Not Disturb' card hanging from the door. With a clunk the door opened after Neomi had seen him through spyhole.
Neomi looked annoyed that once again her overseer had come to visit her. She had not anticipated the amount of scrutiny she would be placed under after joining the mercenary group known as The Resolution.
Neomi held the door barely wide enough for the big African to enter before pushing it firmly closed behind him.
“Did you see the news?” Africa asked sternly.
“Yes, I have been monitoring the situation,” Neomi said as she gestured at the TV which she had put on mute when Africa came to the door.
“They have a recording of you in the act,” Africa continued, stating the obvious.
“Yes, so it would seem. Recovering the cell phone was a wasted effort,” Neomi said, equally annoyed.
If the phone had been the only recording then Africa's insistence on getting it back would have been worth something. Now, though, knowing she had risked giving away her identity for nothing seemed to somehow give her back some of the moral high ground.
“Are there any other information leaks we need to worry about?” Africa asked angrily.
“I am not going to worry about every Tom, Dick and Harry who I have interacted with since I got to New York. Besides, they didn't seem to have my face, and my voice I can fix, I am solid in accents from Australia to South Africa and those are just the English speaking countries,” Neomi said curtly.
“Well, you may be blessed with many voices but you only have one face. You are only one memory away from having that pretty face on the news. The choice is yours: contain this before it gets out of hand or deal with the consequences afterwards. That could mean more difficult travel arrangements for you and we don't need someone who is not mobile,” Africa said, lecturing his new team member.
“You are saying kill the cop before she remembers,” Neomi replied, making sure she was clear on Africa's statement.
“No, I am telling you what the situation is,” Africa corrected her, “What you choose to do is up to you,” he said.
“Fine, are we done?” Neomi said coldly a hand gesturing back to the door.
Mr Africa looked Neomi in the eye, gauging her, judging her. “Yes, we are done. Keep in touch. We will probably get new instructions over the next day or two for our next set of contracts and where they will be. I doubt we will be staying in the area for much longer so deal with any outstanding issues while you can.”
“Is that code for 'get on with it' ?” Neomi quipped.
“I'm leaving, Neomi. Get your shit together or fuck off. It's your call,” Africa said as he turned away and stormed out of the room.
The door slammed and there was a pause before the female mercenary scoffed in disbelief at her treatment.
“Fine, the cop dies,” Neomi said nonchalantly.
CHAPTER 19
Selena was sat in her lair staring at her screens. It was done, she had unleashed her mapping bots into the internet and they found the tell tale traces of Vel's cyber-attack. Over time a spider web like trail had begun to form, the minute time differences in the arrival of the intrusions alluding to where the source was.
Selena rocked backwards in her seat as it began to sink in. She was about to unleash a pre-emptive cyber-attack against the alien mind, Vel. Vel had struck first, not directly against her but she knew that Vel, or at least the sick part of him was seeking her out. Quite how this new reincarnation seemed to remember or inherit memories of her and the others she didn't know but surely some form of retribution was coming.
Selena rose from her desk and walked to her server room which was contained behind a metal barred door. Unlocking the door she walked and marvelled at the powerful server equipment she had accrued over time. Now she had to focus it and tune it ready for the virtual battle to come. It was time to sacrifice some service longevity for brute force and so Selena began to adjust processor speeds upwards, which meant slight voltage tweaks were required. Memory configurations were set from a passive reliable state to a more aggressive pace. Being able to fetch, work on and output data might mean the difference between defeating a defence or being blocked by it.
The gentle hum of the cooling equipment could be heard to change in pitch as, little by little the reconfigured computing power began to run just that little bit warmer, even just idling. Selena mentally calculated what her new setup would demand in power and in cooling and glancing at the control panel for her cooling plant she knew she was approaching the limits of what her equipment could handle.
Selena stood back a moment and glanced at the LED lights as they danced, each one signifying that everything was ready for her to enter the fight. Looking at her data storage racks she decided what to do next. She was about to attack but if she fell to a counter attack there were things she didn't want her enemy to know. Things that NOBODY could EVER know.
Selena powered down a bank of data storage and then pulled out each drive, one after the other, pulling the data cables one at a time. Air gapped and without power no one was going to access those drives and even if they did the encryption she had used meant it would take far too long for anyone to see the contents within any meaningful time frame.
Her secrets safe Selena left the room, securing the barred gate behind her.
“Selena?”, Supergirl's voice asked.
Selena froze as she took in the sight of Supergirl who had entered unseen. Selena's mind processed her feelings for the young alien in front of her. Was she upset or mad, hurt or relieved? As ever, Selena slipped into her default posturing.
“If you are here to ask me again to go through with Operation Suicide I regret to inform you I have not changed my mind,” Selena said flatly as she began to move again having been frozen to the spot for a fleeting moment.
“Selena, no, I …. I know now you were the wrong person to ask,” Supergirl said humbly.
“Oh, and you seemed so sure before? And what of McGee, did he want to drink from the poisoned chalice in my place?” Selena continued, her tone still abrasive.
“Do you think I came here to gloat that I found someone to take that role on? Selena, I trust you with my life in so many different ways, whether it be that I can live and breathe or that I can be seen in public knowing that none of your videos or photographs from your little collection is destroying my reputation. It hurt to hear you say what you said, more than any cane, or whip. I paid with my body when you thought I had been disloyal to you and this is what I get in return?” Kara said imploringly.
Selena studied the heroine with her eyes, her mental shield dropping for a moment as she tried to separate the symbology of the red, blue and the shield from the young woman underneath it all.
“Kara, I don't know why I said what I did, if I could take it back I would. It's the price you pay for being trapped with a bitch like me. If the data worries you so much, destroy it,” Selena said.
“What?” Kara said, shaking her head.
“They are right in there, the drives are disconnected and powered down, if they worry you so much, destroy them,” Selena said calmly.
“But?” Kara said with a frown.
Kara processed what it meant. The photos and videos from all the games Selena had played with her, the bondage, the humiliation, the punishments and blackmail all leading towards what now included lovemaking, could be gone forever. With them destroyed their relationship would change, it wouldn't have be as it was any more, she could really be free...
“Do you seriously think I would fall for that, Selena,” Kara said nervously.
“It's not a trick, if you want them gone, do it,” Selena began to say, frowning at Kara's change of heart. She could tell the heroine was floundering at the idea. Why would she not want to destroy the data? Unless?
“I, I have to go,” Kara said trying to evade Selena's words. The heroine turned away anxiously and went to leave.
“Kara?” Selena said humbly having decoded Kara's signals.
The heroine paused and looked over her shoulder a moment, pausing mid step, “Yes?”
“I love you too, I promise,” Selena said, not knowing where to look.
Supergirl let out the weakest of smiles, and nodded, “I know.”
Mr Nordic stood in front of the mirror and turned himself side to side, admiring himself in the long Armani coat that he wore over his smart jacket and shirt.
“What do you think?” Nordic grinned at Neomi who wore sunglasses to hide her distinctive piercing blue eyes and make up enough to hide her bruised cheek.
“I prefer the cut of the other one,” Neomi said honestly.
“Which one is more expensive?” Nordic pressed with a mischievous glance in the mirror at his companion.
“That one of course, it's cashmere, you heathen” Neomi replied, rolling her eyes at her partner in crime.
“Then I will take it and then I think that will be all,” Nordic said with an approving nod to the assistant who grinned gratefully.
“Very good, sir. Will you require any of your choices to be gift wrapped?” the assistant asked as he stepped forward.
“No that won't be necessary, I will be packing to fly soon,” Mr Nordic said as he dropped his shoulders, letting the coat slide back for the assistant to remove it.
“As you wish,” said the assistant as he gathered the coat and placed it back on its hanger.
Neomi eyed the assistant as he returned to the counter, reverently hanging the coat next to a small collection of clothes that Nordic had slowly been choosing.
“Have you had your fun now, DARLING?” Neomi said a little caustically.
“Yes, I think I have,” scoffed Nordic quietly
“Good! When you said you would assist me with my problem at a price I didn't realise I would have to spend the afternoon clothes shopping with you,” Neomi said with faux bitterness.
“It is nice to know that only spending time with your colleagues upsets you and not spending your own money on them,” Nordic said as he turned around to face Neomi directly instead of conversing with her reflection.
“I can earn more money but I will never get this afternoon back,” Neomi said curtly as she delved into her handbag and pulled out her purse.
Nordic chuckled at Neomi's sense of humour which continued to grow on him and he and his companion walked to the counter where the assistant had neatly folded and bagged up the purchases.
“How will one be paying?” the assistant asked, glancing up at the tall Mr Nordic.
“With my rich partner,” joked Nordic, drawing a critical glare from Neomi who was already retrieving her credit card.
“Ah!” the assistant said dryly.
Lisa Kozny sat on a sofa opposite Ted Faulkner, a first officer with Blue Globe Airlines. He had been Ernst Van Der Walt's second in command for a few years now. Ted sipped from a glass of water as he watched Lisa flip through her notebook a moment.
“I take it you heard the recording of our suspect Mr Faulkner?” Lisa asked forlornly.
“Yes, that voice, it sounded so, so callous, so calculating,” Ted said, shaking his head.
“But you don't recognise it?” Lisa said, her eyes reading Ted's face.
“No, no, I am pretty sure I would remember someone like that. What the hell is she, a girlfriend or what? Was it a robbery gone wrong? I can't believe this has happened, he's such...” Ted paused, taking a breath before correcting himself, “WAS a great person!”
Lisa nodded as she made notes, Ted was more or less agreeing with everything that the people at the personnel office had said.
“Ted, we have reason to think that this wasn't about anything like that, we think he was killed for a very specific reason. Did he ever mention any sort of problems, did he mention debts or such like?” Lisa asked, balancing sympathy with trying to gain insight.
“No, nothing like that at all. Normally he would talk about his plans for holidays, or what he last did on holiday. He had a few hobbies like his sail boat and he also flew gliders at his local club in Holland. He had no problems in life as far as I can tell, if anything it looks like life had a problem with him,” Ted explained.
Lisa looked troubled, there was something really not right with this case. Ted's words seemed to hit her though, and it left the detective wondering. Maybe this wasn't about taking Van Der Walt out of the picture, perhaps it was about putting someone else in?
“Is there anything remarkable about your work schedule Mr Faulkner? I mean, is there anything special about the route that you and Mr Van Der Walt shared?” Lisa pressed.
“Not that I am aware of, it's not like we are flying royalty around on our journeys or anything,” Ted shrugged.
“That you are aware of?” Lisa asked with a frown.
“Well, it's not like we personally review the passenger list name by name or anything.” Ted said, almost smirking at the notion.
“So, what do you tend to know of the flights in advance?” Lisa wondered, taking an interest in what the aircrew might be aware of ahead of their departure.
“Typically we first report to the the operations centre. There we get our weather reports, any special advisories, our estimated flying weights, passenger numbers, and information on cargo. The flight engineer will do the fuel calculations while I double check on routings based on weather and then the commander signs it off. After that we conduct the flight,” Ted said matter of factly.
“You mentioned cargo, do you ever notice anything special there?” Lisa asked, wondering if there was something like a theft being planned.
“Not really and nothing routine to be honest. Besides, we only know on the day of the flights. Surely if you are going to steal the cargo you would need to steal the plane first and what kind of operation would you need in place to do that?” Ted said with a shrug.
“It was just a thought Mr Faulkner. Incidentally, who will take over from Van Der Walt now? Would it be you or what? How does it work?” Lisa asked.
“Me? Oh no, I haven't logged anywhere near the hours to be the officer in command. Personnel will probably add in one of the standby pilots from the pool and place them in command,” Ted explained.
“So as far as you know, no one has been allocated yet?” Lisa probed.
“I haven't heard anything yet, they will probably hold off until after the funeral out of respect. BGA are flying us back to Amsterdam for that and then we will return to duty afterwards,” Ted went on.
“Oh, so, you are all staying together as a unit,” Lisa said, her pen busily writing in her notebook.
“Yes, the F.A.A. prefer that we remain as a team, it promotes effectiveness.” Ted said with a frown, like the notion of anything other than that would be sacrilege.
“So, that means that you have been replaced by an entirely new crew?” Lisa asked realising that this meant a whole new group of people could be in the mix.
“Well, yes of course, but you don't think they have anything to do with this?” Ted asked.
“We always explore all lines of enquiry, it's probably nothing but we have to check. As ever if you recall anything please get in touch, you have my card,” Lisa said as she rose to her feet.
“Yes of course. You said you were going to speak to Wouter next?” Ted said as he rose to his feet.
“Yes, he is the flight engineer, correct?” Lisa said flicking through her list of names.
“Yes, he told me he was expecting you, but he seems as confused as I am,” Ted confessed.
“Yes, I am returning to the precinct house first and then I will arrange to meet him next,” Lisa said as she made her way to the front door.
Faulkner opened the door for his visitor and then she left, the first officer admiring her behind in her tight black trousers as she left. With a shake of the head he closed the door and she was gone.
CHAPTER 20
Gomez scanned through his pocket notebook one more time and then with a nod of the head flipped it close.
“I think that's the last of my questions for now at least,” the detective said as he stood up from his chair.
“OK, the people at the operations centre will be able to keep you up to date where I will be if you need to speak to me, or any of my team,” the chief purser from Van Der Walt's crew said as she rose to escort Gomez from the apartment style hotel room.
“And you have my card if you need to contact me before then,” Gomez reminded her as he made his way to the door.
“Yes, though I can't honestly say I am likely to think of anything more,” she replied as she swung open the door.
“OK, well goodbye for now,” Gomez said as he stepped out the threshold of the door then turned away to head to the stairwell and out.
Once the door closed Gomez sighed. He knew that as he progressed down the list of people by seniority he was getting further and further from the people who knew the dead captain best. The senior flight attendant and the chief purser knew nothing and it was likely everyone after that would also be unable to shed any light on the matter.
Glancing at his watch Gomez knew he should return to the precinct house to regroup. Did Kozny really think it was necessary to interview every crew member on the list? If the chief purser had said she thought the captain was having affair with a pretty flight attendant then that would have been something but this chain of enquiry looked dead.
Gomez went down the stairs to the front exit and out into the parking area to return to his car. Hitting the remote of his car the doors unlocked and he hopped inside just as his phone began to ring.
“Detective Gomez, oh hey Kozny listen I've just done with the first two, it's looking like a comple ….. what? Frikkin-A ! When? OK, I'm coming, don't start without me!”
Selena looked solemnly at her screen, the cursor blinking, her faithful servant ready to carry out her every whim.
“Courage, 'Buttons', you have tiptoed through some of the toughest security in the world, you can do this,” Selena said to herself nervously.
Flexing her fingers like a virtuoso at the keys of a grand piano preparing to unleash a great composer's concerto Selena took a breath and began. TAP-TAP-TAP went the keyboard as Selena wrote out her first set of commands.
“execute openport_finder / sys_route / global_ip / server_host / target_system”
With a strike of the return key the battle began. Like in war the first step was to get intelligence about the area to be attacked. The communication ports functioned like roads of information that crossed into and out of enemy territory. Some might be guarded by the electronic equivalent of minefields and barbed wire. Others may have a simple barrier and a wooden guard hut with a doughnut munching rent-a-cop inside. 'Openport_finder' was like having a spy with a pair of binoculars stood at the edge of the frontier looking out for which way was open and which way was not.
“Openport_finder – progress 1%..”
Selena leaned back in her chair, finger pyramid forming as she watched the scan's slow progress.
From her office Molly Matthews watched the GPS trace of her special convoy as it drove to the air freight terminal ready for it's flight to the test range in Texas. There she would finally taste the fruits of her labour, she was on the cusp of getting her revenge.
“Enough of that, Supergirl's time will come, how is my other pet project coming on, I wonder,” Molly thought to herself as she switched applications to view her network security status.
“Ah, still eating the trail of breadcrumbs? Well, you don't want to rush into your starter just yet. And don't worry, I have a fine first course and a delicious dessert waiting for you,” Molly grinned.
Molly watched with interest as the subtle electronic cold war played out. She admired Selena's the little spy program, hiding beyond her electronic walls peering in from afar. It was good, on a human scale at least, but against Molly with the backing of an alien genius like Vel? Success was doubtful.
“Poor Broker, you really have no idea, do you?” Molly said as she leaned back into her chair not realising she appeared almost like a mirror opposite of her adversary.
“Please, Mr Arnaud, come this way to our conference room,” Lisa said as she led Oscar from the reception area.
Oscar looked nervous and pale and he certainly didn't seem comfortable making eye contact with anyone at all. Moving down a corridor Lisa reached a room and pushed the door, letting it swing open. The small room had a table and chairs for about half a dozen people, stood on one side of the table Gomez waited.
“This is my partner, detective Gomez. This is Oscar Arnaud, he believes he can help us with our case,” Lisa said.
“Thank you for coming forward Mr Arnaud,” Gomez said, offering his hand across the table which Oscar accepted, a brief but firm handshake completing the introduction.
“Please, take a seat. Can I get you anything, coffee, water?” Lisa asked.
“No, no I'm good, thank you,” Oscar said nervously as he looked up at Lisa a moment.
“Okay then, let's get started, hopefully we won't need to take too much of your time,” Gomez said.
Lisa edged around the table and took a position opposite Oscar and sat next to Gomez who had already placed the case files on the table.
Gomez glanced at his watch and made a note of the time and the date at the top of an interview sheet as Lisa tugged some paper from her case files.
“So, Mr Arnaud, you saw the news coverage of the incident,” Lisa began.
“Yes, I mean, bad things happen in the city all the time but when I heard that voice and,” Oscar began before faltering.
“Take your time Mr Arnaud. You heard the voice and,” Lisa said gently. She could see the man was visibly shaken just thinking of the subject.
“You won't understand, it wasn't entirely what she said, but how she said it,” Oscar said glancing at the police officers across the table.
“Let's back up a little, how do you know of the person, how are you so confident that you know the owner of the voice?” Lisa asked with a frown.
“I, I mean we, we were on the same flight, from Paris a few days ago, we arrived in New York early Monday. During the flight we spoke a lot, we were in the same row in business. She was by the window, I was in the aisle seat. Her name was Neomi,” Oscar explained.
“I see,” Lisa said, observing Gomez write the witness statement out.
“I, I won't have to go to court, will I?” Oscar asked nervously, “I mean, will she know that I have been here?”
Lisa frowned a moment at Oscar's defensive demeanour.
“Well I can't promise anything but depending on the strength of any additional identifying evidence you may be requested to appear by either side,” Lisa explained.
Oscar nodded, head down like he was guilty of something which caused Gomez and Kozny to glance at each other to confirm what they were both thinking.
“Mr Arnaud, did something happen between you while you were on that flight? You seem a little distressed about the whole episode,” Lisa probed gently.
“No, no, nothing we, we just talked, I swear, ask the flight attendants!” Oscar exclaimed.
Gomez continued to scrawl the notes but let out a subtle sigh, the thought of having to interview another load of flight attendants sapping his morale.
“Well, hopefully we won't need to do that Mr Arnaud,” Gomez managed having felt Lisa's critical eye fall on him a moment.
“A little earlier you explained that you recognised the voice by how she said things, isn't that right?” Lisa asked, dropping her head, trying to get back into Oscar's eyeline again.
“Yes, the recording, it, it made me cold,” Oscar confessed.
“Then, Oscar, what could you have possibly spoke about on that flight that made her sound anything like that?” Lisa asked carefully. Oscar was there to help them, he wasn't in trouble for anything and he could walk out any time he wanted.
Oscar looked like a deer in the headlights. His naïve intention had been to just tell the Police that he and Neomi had chatted on the plane. It should have been simple yet even that was found out to far from the entire truth.
“I, look, can I,” began Oscar. To Lisa the man opposite looked like he was facing murder charges to the moon with incontrovertible evidence of his guilt on the table. The floundering body language usually belonged to someone who had made a terrible mistake and had been caught.
“Oscar, what happened?” Lisa probed.
“Can Detective Gomez and I talk, alone, I, I don't feel comfortable talking to a lady, you know?” Oscar begged.
Kozny looked at Gomez inquisitively who tossed his pen to the desk and sat up, his streetwise eye studying Oscar just that little bit more closely. Oscar was a big guy and by all accounts their suspect was fit and athletic, like his partner. Had Oscar tried to be a little too friendly with their assassin?
“Hey I've got this, boss, I think I have a rough idea what is going on,” Gomez quipped, his assessment of Oscar complete.
“Okay, sure Mr Arnaud, but you have to understand we appreciate your co-operation, this woman that you spoke to is dangerous, she is our priority right now,” Lisa said as she rose from the table, a twinge in her back making her motion a little awkward.
“Yes, I understand, just, it's difficult. I will tell Detective Gomez everything, I swear,” Oscar said, head down.
“I'll be outside if you need anything,” Lisa said to Gomez as she went to leave.
“Sure,” Gomez nodded and then Lisa was gone, the door closing behind her.
“Okay, champ, what's the deal? Did you have a little mile-high club adventure or what?” Gomez said, leaning back in his seat with a grin.
“No, it was at the terminal building when we arrived, that's when it happened. We had both been flirting the whole flight, and then, when we got off the ramp from the plane she, you know, gave me the look, the 'come-on', you understand?” Oscar said.
“She's hot right? My partner there, she doesn't remember her face, but she knows that this Neomi woman is certainly in good shape,” Gomez said, looking enthusiastically at Oscar.
“I should have known it was all wrong, she's well above my league,” Oscar groaned.
“So, come on, you can't leave me hanging, she gave you 'the-look' and then what? You make out on the baggage carousel, or what?” joked Gomez.
Oscar shook his head, ashamed, “No, the gate we arrived at, it was at a dead end. Everyone headed off in one direction to the baggage claim while she headed off in the other, to a rest room. It was when she headed off that she looked back for me, I swear she wanted me to follow her,” Oscar explained guiltily.
At her desk Lisa had begun to make some calls while Gomez continued the interview.
“Hey, this is Detective Kozny at the 19th, yeah, listen, I need you to get some information together for me please. Yep, you had a flight in from Paris, arrived early Monday just gone. Yes, a French national, Oscar Arnaud, A-R-N-A-U-D, yep that's it. I want to get the name of the passenger sat in the aisle seat by him, please,” Lisa said, her pen at the ready.
Lisa spun in her seat as the hold music cut in. It seemed to be the habitual dance of every detective, to twist and spin in their seat the moment they were put on hold. Then once the music stopped the dance was over, celebrated by the lunge back to the desk.
“Oh hey, uh huh, okay, okay, yes. Sure, L dot Kozny, yep, a Z, thats right, at, N-Y-P-D dot ORG, yes not DOT COM. Awesome, ok thanks, bye,” Lisa said, hanging up.
“YES!” said Kozny, quietly jubilant. The investigation was getting somewhere. Soon Homeland Security would be sending her a passport scan and they would finally have a photo of the woman, no sketch artist required.
Lucy looked up at the small mountain. Three hundred and ninety one meters above sea level it was a fair climb, though ropes weren't required, there was a trail. Lucy tightened the laces on her boots making sure her ankles were well braced and then put her light pack on her back. In it she had water and light waterproofs though looking at the clear sky she guessed she probably wouldn't need them.
Then she made a check on her running tracking app and then boldly set out on her trek to the summit. The first paces she took easy as she hit the hard dirt, getting a feel for her balance now that she carried a small load and then little by little she stretched out her pace until she fell into a light jog.
Lucy's mind wandered as her feet rhythmically pounded the ground. Lisa came to mind quickly as ever and the Asian mercenary permitted a smile at the recent good memories she had, oh and the icecream. Lucy found her stride lengthen as she relaxed only to have the darker thoughts of Lisa being shot come to her. How close had Lisa been to being killed? If it really was a professional killer Lucy would have no qualms in using her own talents in settling the score, or would she?
Lucy could imagine it ….
“Hey Lu,” Lisa said, entering Lucy's apartment, taking the mercenary by surprise.
“Oh, hi!” Lucy replied, quickly hiding something behind her back.
“Err, why is there all this plastic sheeting on the floor?” Lisa asked, cocking her head.
“Oh, nothing,” Lucy answered innocently.
“Hhmmpppffff hmmmeee !!” yelped Lisa's suspect, bunny hopping with legs bound together, arms behind her back from the direction of the bathroom while gagged with tape.
“Come here, bitch!” Lucy growled, wrapping the fibre-wire garrote around the escaping woman's throat.
“Lucy, I really am going to have to bring you in if you keep this up!” Lisa said, hands falling onto her hips with disapproval.
“You never let me have any fun!” Lucy protested, slowly choking to death the woman who had shot Lisa.
Lucy dismissed the almost cartoonish imagery in her mind with a shake of her head and a broad grin and began to run harder. She was going to kill this mountain, she knew it.
“Ok, thank you Mr Arnaud, we will be in touch but I wouldn't worry, okay, she isn't likely to use you in her defence, understand?” Gomez said as he offered his hand to the obviously distressed Oscar.
“Thank you detective Gomez,” Oscar said as he left the reception area, his mood slightly lifting now his burden had been lifted from him.
Gomez, statement in hand returned to the office with the good news to find Lisa also in an upbeat mood.
“Oh someone looks happy,” Gomez quipped as he sat opposite his partner at his desk.
“Homeland Security, they are going to send us a scan of our suspect's passport,” Lisa said.
“Do you have a full name?” Gomez asked.
“Yes, Neomi Delacroix, no middle name, and don't make me spell it out – AGAIN! I've been talking to every hire car company, every hotel comparison site, every cell phone provider and every credit card company I can think of and I have to spell it out every damn time,” grumbled Lisa.
“Well at least you have a name now, so, what they say?” Gomez asked.
“Nothing, she landed, cleared through immigration and promptly vanished, what about you? What did you get?”
“Well, she got up to at least a little more than that before she disappeared. She and Mr Arnaud, well, they had a sort of altercation in the ladies room at the airport,” grinned Gomez.
“Jeezus, he screwed her?” Lisa exclaimed, wide eyed.
“Hell no, he got to about second base and then got fouled, poor bastard. There was a bit of consensual spanking going on, with her on the receiving end but before he knew it, BAM, she had him pinned to the floor jerking him off. Once he shot his load she filled her panties with his cum and threatened him with rape charges if he blabbed,” Gomez continued.
“And you believe that's what happened?” Lisa asked. She trusted Gomez, if he thought Oscar was on the level she was satisfied too.
“What started to convince me was that Oscar told me he had been telling tall tales on the plane, you know James Bond type tales. Once they hit that restroom though she was quick to point out she knew he was talking bullshit. She knew, Kozny, because, SHE is Jane Bond! That big guy, she turned him into putty in seconds. What closed the deal was he told me how she gloated and called him pathetic,” Gomez explained.
“And he didn't fight back, at all?” Lisa frowned.
“I asked that too. He reasoned having the spectre of rape hanging over him he couldn't do much complaining. He was in the ladies room after all, though he said initially he slapped her face when she began to turn on him...” Gomez said, glancing over the interview statement.
“The bruise...” Lisa said to herself quietly. For a split second she remembered something about her attacker but then it was gone.
“What?” Gomez said,
“No, it's nothing. We should try and get the tapes from the airport, they might be able to tell us where our suspect went next,” Lisa said rising from her desk.
“Great, more airports,” Gomez grumbled.
“Oh shut up, you love seeing all those flight attendants in their uniforms,” Lisa chuckled.
CHAPTER 21
Neomi Delacroix hid inside the multi-story car park waiting for a very unlucky contestant to play her deadly game.
BING!
From beyond the double doors the elevator chime heralded the arrival of someone in the elevator causing Neomi's eyes to widen in anticipation as to who was behind the soon-to-open doors.
The elevator door drew open and the casually-dressed young man stepped out and went to the machine to pay his parking ticket. Neomi observed as the man put in his ticket and then, with care fed the machine the required cash.
There was a pause and then, ticket between the tips of his lips, he put his wallet back in his pocket while he fished for his keys with his free hand. Neomi eyed the prize, judging what sort of car he owned based on what she could see.
“Such a nice young man, it'll be a Nissan,” she wagered to herself.
Staying in the shadows Neomi tailed her target as he walked obliviously towards his car, his keys jangling in his hand. Totally at ease, Neomi's target approached his vehicle and his glance confirmed he was checking which button his thumb was resting on.
KERKLUNK sounded a small red Totyota as its locks released, the area getting bathed by the flash of the turn lights.
“Hi,” Neomi said from out of the blue.
The young man was spooked by her proximity but naively felt safe, casually glancing back to see the source of the sultry voice.
“Oh hi,” replied the young man, his eyes revealing his attraction to the woman in front of him. In tight leather pants and black leather jacket, her dark short hair framing her stunning blue eyes she looked to die for.
“Sorry!” Neomi grinned, swiftly raising a pistol with a long silencer screwed onto the muzzle.
“Wai..” the young man's eyes widened as he raised his hand in self defence.
TICKZssssssss
The action of the pistol seemed to make most of the noise, the hissing sound that chased the round out the gun giving the impression it was propelled with air. The low velocity round hit the young man in the chest and he crumpled to the floor clutching himself. Lying on his back, his legs folded beneath him, blood pulsed rhythmically from the bullet wound.
Neomi stood over the body and with gloved hands scooped up the keys to the car and the parking ticket he had held and then heard the familiar footsteps of Nordic as he closed in. He had been in hiding while Neomi had done her stealthy work.
The young man oozed blood from the corner of his mouth as he cried out silently, each attempt to speak causing more blood to gush up. Neomi rolled her eyes and stepped back and aimed again.
TICKZssssssss
Neomi had put a merciful shot into the young man's head finally ending his life. Nordic opened the trunk and then the pair quickly bundled the corpse inside being careful not to get covered in blood.
“Are we good?” Nordic said.
“Yes,” Neomi said flatly as she eyed their transport.
“Let's get this over with, and next time get a bigger car,” Nordic grumbled.
The security officer at the review booth pressed a few keys on his keyboard and was done, the pen drive he had been given by the detectives now contained the video they needed.
“There you go detective's, I think those are all the best angles,” the officer said.
“Yes, looks that way,” Gomez nodded.
“Thank you for your time, now we should get back,” Kozny said looking at her watch.
“We are going to need the techies to try and pull more off the license plate of that taxi our suspect got into,” Gomez said.
“Yes, but no way are they going to get that soon, lets drop it off now, perhaps the night crew will get to it,” Lisa said as she walked with Gomez out the office and back towards the exit of the terminal building.
“Great, is there anything else you want me to do now?” Gomez quipped.
“Well, until we get the plate and the passport scan there isn't much more to do for the moment, unless you want to talk to more flight attendants,” Lisa said with a smirk.
Gomez looked back at Kozny to check if she was serious and realised she wasn't.
“I think I am done with the aviation industry for one day. Drop me off at the station house and I will get the video into the geek squad, you can get off straight home,” Gomez said.
“You sure?” Kozny asked. Every piece of evidence meant paperwork and Gomez was inflicting another half-hour session of form filling on himself.
“Sure, besides, you know Rochelle works the evidence locker during the evenings,” grinned Gomez.
“Oh boy,” Kozny said shaking her head. Rochelle, the stunning dark beauty from Harlem turned every man's head without effort. Why she was in admin for the police and not on the face of a magazine Lisa did not know.
“What?!” Gomez protested.
“She is going to break your heart, Gomez,” Kozny said as the pair made their way out the terminal building towards the official parking area.
“Haven't you heard, I haven't got one!” Gomez said.
“Well, like I said, if you actually paid attention to everything your ex-girlfriend said...” Lisa began as she produced a bundle of keys, clicking the remote to her car.
“Yeah, yeah, she wouldn't be my ex!” Gomez laughed, “I heard you the first time and the second and the, what is it, the hundredth time?”
Selena had watched the port scan progress and assessed her chances. Vel's defences were good, but not perfect, after all, legitimate traffic still had to get through somehow. It was just about trying to figure out which form of traffic was best to impersonate.
Option one, her go-to option was to experiment with the typical information that most communications carried with them. Separate from actual useful information each packet of data carried details of what resided inside. This extra piece of information that subtly added to the overall size of the piece of data was called 'overhead'. The system functioned like putting a glossy, colourful cover on a book, the title and synopsis on the back alluding to what resided within. Every system had to read the cover of each book to know how to deal with it when it arrived, was it an email, was it a video stream, was it a download, was it a web page?
“execute traff_overheadspoof / sys_route / global_ip / server_host / target_system”
Gently, teasingly, Selena's system began to test a few of the more open ports. Sending the equivalent of books with blank pages inside Selena hoped that the attractively illustrated glossy covers she had wrapped them in would allow them through. Would the target system be interested in those sexy crime novels, or was it more open to self-help guides?
Finding out what the target system's acceptance criteria was the next step. Little by little the various types of data started to either bounce back, firewalled out, or wiggled through to the next layer of defences. Once Selena gained confidence about what got through she could then start trying to figure out what she could start filling the blank pages with inside her analogous books.
Lucy Wuan cruised down the highway from the state park towards home. She felt a sense of accomplishment having run up the small mountain then back down it. She didn't know what had driven her to do it but the hunger to work out, to push herself seemed satiated, at least for the moment. She felt like she was ready to take on anything, that she was unstoppable and very much alive.
Hitting her car's hands free system for her cell phone the mercenary dialled out.
BEEEP-BEEEP-BEEEP
“Hey, Lu?” Lisa answered.
“Hey, can you talk?” Lucy replied.
“I have just dropped off my partner at the station, was going to head home, why? What's going on?” Lisa asked.
“I'm out at the moment but heading home, see you at my place?” Lucy asked hopefully, she was in the mood for some serious law enforcement. But maybe without the law, or the en, or the ment.
“Oh, sure. Is everything okay?” Lisa asked. Lucy could hear the slight confusion in her voice.
“Yeah, everything is awesome I guess. I just wanted ….” Lucy faltered leaving some dead air in the conversation.
“Lu, you ok?” Lisa asked again.
Lucy paused, she didn't know why but she had this feeling this was building up to goodbye, but....
“Yes, I'll be home in an hour, get pizza will you? I can't face cooking tonight and I cheated you last time,” Lucy managed.
“Sure ok, I will head over to yours now. See you in about an hour,” Lisa said sounding a little upbeat.
Molly Matthews watched as the subtle intrusions began, gently probing her network's defences. Molly had left one port slightly less guarded and she knew The Broker had seen it, the predictable second step of testing what could get by to the next level of security coming soon after.
“Oh, very good. Little do you know I left that door open for you, but, I can't let you in too quickly now, can I? You need to sing for your supper but, you will find it a most enjoyable meal, I assure you,” Molly said to herself.
Switching applications Molly glanced at the tracking information of her convoy. It had made it to the airfreight terminal and had been loaded onto a cargo plane. From there it was only a short journey to the the test range. Molly smiled knowing everything was going to plan but she had to rely on The Broker being as efficient as she predicted she would be. Everything hinged on The Broker alerting her annoying friend in red and blue in time.
Mike Loughlan clicked through his presentation making sure everything was in the best order to make his case. Next Monday the oversight board would assemble to ensure that the Sanderson corporation was operating how they wanted. After the big melt down while Bobby was in charge, the corporation, while not bankrupt, required several lines of credit while it restructured. The Sanderson corporation itself had several revenue streams that were strong and under Mike's stewardship the corporation was digging itself out from it's hole, he just needed time to turn things around.
Monday was when those creditors would come, view the figures, view the plans, talk long term and then go away for a month while Mike led his team on the path to putting things right. Right now Mike had a good rapport with the oversight committee and they felt that in his hands their banks would get a good reward out of supporting the corporation's return to health. If Mike could continue to convince them to hold on he could avoid having to dismember the corporation even further than he had done so far. So long as there were no more pressures he was confident he could avoid any more sell off's.
The main threat though was the rumblings of a takeover. Sanderson corporation stock had been subtly ticking up in price like someone was nibbling at the shares in circulation. If someone was going to make a play then Mike's support with the banks might evaporate and the corporation could end up being taken over, sold for a price good enough to entice his backers to sell while not really representing the corporation's best value. No, Mike wasn't going to cave when he knew he could return to profitability with just a little help. He wasn't known as one of the best 'firemen' in the corporate world for nothing.
Selena grinned as she realised she could get in. It had been difficult but by slipping in some very low level instructions she had been able to change how the other system was behaving. With her book analogy in her head Selena imagined it almost like a young child reading syllable by syllable. By locking the opposing system up with the computer version of a tongue twister she was able to slip ever more ambitious tasks into Vel's network before it would notice what she had done.
CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK went the keyboard as Selena ran new commands.
“Oh my, this .. this is Sanderson corporation archives,” Selena muttered as she was able to see the file structure of the target system. “What are you doing? Why did you ….” Selena thought to herself. She was shocked to think that Sanderson Corporation had been responsible for the breach into the U.S. Government systems but all the trails led back to them.
“I've got to find out what they are doing!” Selena thought.
Lisa drove over to Lucy's place, her mind actually at ease. She had been focused on the case but with a natural pause in the investigation she found she had turned off her mind. And what a relief, she hadn't realised how tightly-wound she had become until now.
Lisa drove up to the parking lot entrance ramp and descended into the underground carpark. The shared parking lot was not overly-crowded and Lucy had two bays allocated to her anyway, though as was expected her Porsche was absent. Following close behind the little red Toyota came to halt in the street, the two mercenaries inside looking up at the luxury apartment building with surprise.
“Surely she has to be on the take,” Neomi said with disgust.
“It might not be her place,” Nordic said calmly.
“Well I should hope not, no detective should be able to live like that!” Neomi said almost a little angrily.
“Don't let it get to you, she won't be around much longer to enjoy it,” Nordic said calmly.
“First we need to find out which one is hers,” Neomi said, eyes peering upwards.
“Do we?” Nordic scoffed. Just as Noemi had commented the lights on one of the floors illuminated revealing the silhouette of Lisa entering an apartment.
“No one was home? She's alone! Perfect!” Neomi said coldly.
While Nordic had doubts that they were at Detective Kozny's own apartment he was confident she was alone. Afterall the lights had been off before the detective walked in. Anyway even if she had company he and Neomi were perfectly capable of eliminating any loose ends.
“Park here and let's get this done, the sooner we can abandon this car the better, the corpse in the trunk is already starting to stink,” Nordic said, gesturing to an empty space in the street.
CHAPTER 22
Lisa raided Lucy's fridge and poured a glass of milk for herself before taking a refreshing gulp. Unclipping her holster, cuff pouch and her badge from her belt she went to Lucy's bedroom and placed them in a drawer of a dresser and returned, cell phone in hand to the kitchen.
With her cell phone laying flat on the counter top of the kitchen she opened her app for the local pizza franchise and browsed what was available. She didn't know how hungry Lucy would be and so erred on the side of caution, deciding to choose two pizzas for the evening.
Clicking thoughtfully through her options Lisa wanted to be sure to choose something appealing for Lucy. As for herself, she was easy, any pizza was good, she loved the stuff. Lisa slid her credit card from her small wallet and put in her details, waiting for the order to process.
“Better a little too much than too little,” Lisa thought as a little message acknowledged that the dough was in the oven.
Now all she had to do was wait for Lucy, food and then fun!
Neomi and Mr Nordic cautiously navigated the stairs upwards to the level with the apartment and their target, Lisa Kozny. The stairwell was quiet and their didn't appear to be any cameras present though on one landing their was evident activity in the elevator.
“Relax, it's not from the floor we want,” Neomi hissed as she led the tall fair haired Mr Nordic onwards.
Eventually the pair made it to the door of Lucy's apartment, Lisa inside with some music on low. The gentle hum of the bass permeated through the door as it ran with the beat of the indistinguishable music, not that the mercenaries cared to know what it was.
“Are you ready to earn your pay,” Neomi whispered.
“Of course, but you put the bitch down, understand?” Nordic said quietly in reply.
“I wouldn't want it any other way,” Neomi said wickedly, her eyes studying the door, wishing it were open.
“OK, ready?” Nordic asked as he rose up from his stooped position on the landing, long coat open.
“Do it,” urged Neomi as she took a position crouched at the hinge side of the door.
TAP-TAP-TAP went the door.
Lisa looked up at the door with a frown, if it was Lucy she would let herself in and she had barely ordered that pizza so it wouldn't be them. Had she played the music too loud? The apartment complex was a remodelled textile mill or something, the floors were thick wood and several feet divided the different levels so it would be a surprise if she had disturbed someone.
TAP-TAP-TAP the knock sounded again, enticing Lisa to go to the door.
Lisa tossed the fashion magazine that she had been reading on the coffee table where she had found it and made her way to the door. Putting her eye to the spyhole she saw a well dressed, tall and fair haired man an open identity wallet splayed in one hand at chest height.
“Who the hell?” Lisa wondered. Was that a cop, FBI, or what?
Lisa slid the door chain into the latch and cautiously opened the door, the guide clattering over the chain as the door inched wider.
“Hello?” Lisa said with curiosity at the tall man as he fell into view through the inch gap in the doorway.
“Detective Kozny?” asked the tall man.
“Who's asking?” Lisa asked in reply.
“Agent Samson, FBI, I understand we may have a suspect in common, a professional assassin,” said the tall man as he fumbled with his I.D, failing to show it clearly to Lisa who continued to eye him with suspicion.
“How did you get my address?” Lisa tested.
“Oh, it was given to me by my boss. I guess your people at the precinct must have told him,” the fair haired man explained, seeing Lisa's expression soften, falling for his lies perhaps.
“Oh, okay Samson, want some coffee? Let me just get this chain off,” Lisa began, as she began to edge the door back closed.
Lisa had suspected something was wrong midway through the conversation but she was confident none of her colleague's knew of Lucy's address. The only way someone knew she was there was if she was followed. She had to get the door closed before ….
KTINKsssssss
From her stooped position at the base of the door Neomi managed to get a narrow line of sight of the chain with her silenced pistol and fired. The chain was shattered in two, the round shooting up through the plasterboard of the ceiling and ending up lodged in the dense timbers of the structure above.
BAM!
Lisa was flung backwards as Nordic kicked the door in, the cop inside already recoiling from the bullet that had flown inches from her face. Lisa landed on her behind and looked up to see the tall fair haired stranger storm in quickly followed by..
Lisa instantly recalled Neomi the moment she saw her, the tell tale bruise on her face making all the difference.
“Oh fuck!” Lisa said out loud though she wished she hadn't let her adversary have the pleasure of hearing her fear.
Neomi stormed in and motioned at Nordic with her other hand to close the door behind them.
“Oh I'm going to enjoy this,” Neomi said wickedly as she tucked her pistol into the belt of her leather pants, looming in over Lisa.
“Neomi, what are you doing? - Finish her now!” Nordic demanded as he pushed the door closed, taking a cautionary glance through the spyhole to see if anyone heard the commotion.
“Ah-ah, a little fun first,” Neomi said as she reached down at Lisa grabbing her hair with one hand and …
“WAH!” growled Neomi.
Neomi drove a fist across Lisa's jawline, busting her lip open in the process, a fine spray of blood splashing to the floor. Lisa looked back up angrily to see the sneering Neomi over her and decided to fight back with everything she had.
With a lightning fast punch in reply Lisa delivered a blow up into Neomi's crotch causing her to double up. Stepping backwards from her prey in pain, Neomi gave Lisa an opportunity to rise unchallenged to her feet.
Nordic rolled his eyes in annoyance as he watched on, drawing his silenced pistol from his holster and letting the weapon hang passively by his side. Lisa, emboldened by her successful punch sought to follow up and swung with a right hook that Neomi blocked with one arm.
“Hah,” Neomi taunted as she retaliated with a jab back only to see the cop duck the punch and ..
WHUMP!
With a step forward and a sudden feint Lisa got in under Neomi's blow and delivered a solid punch into the assassin's stomach before shoving her backwards.
“Oh, someone boxed at the academy!” Neomi said with sarcasm as she settled on her feet, one hand touching the spot where she had been struck.
“Fuck you, you're finished Neomi, no matter what you do to me,” Lisa growled, her mind racing to find a way out of her predicament.
“Oh, how so?” Neomi grinned, as she heard Nordic ramp up the volume on the music system, covering their voices.
“We know who you are, DELACROIX, your passport photo will be on the news at any time,” Lisa goaded.
A sensation like a gut shot went through Neomi. Her face on the news was a big inconvenience, she would have draw on an alternate identity to get out of the country and no doubt her team would be unhappy with having a sought-after person in their group. Nordic's eyes confirmed what she knew, Neomi was becoming a liability to the others, although a salvageable one.
“Oscar!” growled Neomi realising how the detective in front of her had traced her current identity.
Lisa could see Neomi was enraged knowing that her identity had been uncovered, something that managed to give the cop a sense of satisfaction.
“Finish this, we can do without this trouble,” grunted Nordic.
“Uh-uh, she's going to bleed first, ” Neomi said, drawing her gun from her belt.
Lisa froze a second then considered an attack with nothing to lose but with Neomi now pointing a gun right at her it would have been a hollow gesture. Lisa was determined to come away with more than just that.
Neomi motioned with the muzzle of her gun, edging Lisa back towards the bedroom. Hands raised, the police woman walked slowly backwards, her heart racing, palms sweaty. As Neomi followed her, Lisa sensed a chance when Mr. Nordic groaned at yet another delay, distracting the smirking hitwoman. Lisa turned and bolted, heading straight for where she had stowed her gun. Neomi pursued, a mere second behind.
Lisa wrenched open the drawer holding her holster, badge and cuffs and sought out her weapon. Laying her hand on the pistol grip she pulled firmly and …
WHAM!
“No you don't!” Neomi said as she kicked the draw firmly closed, jamming Lisa's right hand in the drawer.
The wooden edge of the drawer cut a line in the detective's wrist drawing a squeal from Lisa who still desperately tried to extract her gun. Neomi wasn't having that and delivered a hard blow to the blonde's face with her left fist sending the cop reeling face-down onto the bed.
Neomi placed a booted foot firmly on Lisa's back, planting the heel into the deep bruise left from the shooting incident.
“Arghhhh” screamed Lisa as she squirmed under Neomi's foot.
“What do we have here?” Neomi said as she flung open the drawer and saw Lisa's gun, badge and cuffs, “Well that was naughty!”
Neomi prodded the muzzle of her pistol's suppressor into Lisa's back while with her other hand she tugged Lisa's cuffs from her pouch.
Just then Nordic entered from behind, his pistol still at his side as he watched on without emotion. If anything he just wanted the whole event over with but Neomi was determined to have her fun.
“Hold this!” Neomi said offering her pistol to Nordic as she changed pose, her knee dropping onto Lisa's back while her hands sought Lisa's wrist.
“No!” growled Lisa as she fought. Lisa was strong and she knew how to prevent Neomi from cuffing her.
With great effort Lisa curled her arms up into her chest, using all her strength to prevent Neomi from restraining her wrists.
“A little help?” Neomi said angrily to Nordic who didn't seem enthusiastic to play games.
Neomi battled with the squirming Lisa trying to roll her onto her back before grabbing her forearm tightly. With a twist Neomi began to get the upper hand, slowly getting Lisa's right arm to turn, her wrist being drawn back behind herself. Nordic holstered his own pistol while wielding Neomi's and then with his free hand grabbed Lisa cruelly by the hair, pulling her upright as ….
CRICK!
Neomi got one cuff on Lisa who lunged at Neomi with her free hand, punching her in the face, drawing blood from her lip.
“Bitch!”
“For fucks sake, Neomi, just do her,” Nordic said angrily. Now Neomi was leaving blood at a scene; it was just going from bad to worse.
“I'll fucking TORCH it,” Neomi said, losing her cool as she spat some of her blood back at Lisa who scoffed.
Nordic decided enough was enough and placed the muzzle of his pistol to Lisa's temple, suddenly freezing the wide-eyed cop. Neomi seized the moment of Lisa's paralysis to grab the detective's other wrist. Finally the cop was restrained, in her own cuffs, kneeling upright on the bed, her wrists behind her.
“You know what they do with cop killers, don't you?” Lisa growled as she tossed her head, getting Nordic's gun out of her face.
“They have to catch you first,” Neomi said coldly as she rose to her feet.
“You're not going to get awa...” Lisa began.
SMACK
“Shut the fuck up, pig!” Neomi said calmly.
Neomi had delivered a slap with her open hand across Lisa's face, silencing her. Lisa grinned as she recomposed herself, looking coolly back up at Neomi.
“Is that all you have, Neomi?” Lisa goaded.
Neomi pushed Lisa firmly back to the bed but she resisted, staying upright as best she could, causing Neomi to get on the bed by her side and tackling her down. Neomi glanced about the room and assessed what she had to work with and then set her wickedness in motion.
Reaching for a pillow at the head of the bed Neomi pulled off its white cotton cover and set about hooding Lisa with it. Lisa fought back, managing to get her teeth latched onto Neomi's hand for a moment, leaving a painful bite that cut into the back of her hand and her palm. Only with a firm smack could Neomi drive her off.
“Neomi, this is taking too long,” Nordic said, still annoyed.
“Oh shut the fuck up, give me a couple of fucking minutes?!” demanded Neomi as she looked over her shoulder.
“Fine, but no more!” Nordic answered sternly.
Neomi looked down at her prone victim, hooded and cuffed. There was no way this cop was going to survive again.
“We will test if you can continue to survive bullets shortly but first,” Neomi said as she callously landed a punch into Lisa's ribs causing the cop to groan under her pillow case hood.
“Come on Boxer cop, protect the body,” Neomi goaded, knowing Lisa was restrained behind her back.
Neomi delivered another blow with her other hand into Lisa's other side causing her to clench up before growling in protest.
“Well, if you can't manage to guard your guts how well can you guard your head, BOXER,” Neomi said wickedly as one hand clamped her lower jaw and upper throat while with the other hand she delivered a flat-palmed strike into the side of Lisa's head through the pillowcase.
Lisa growled with anger, unable to fight back, unable to spit, unable to bite, unable to see.
“Ooops, let one through!” Neomi said before slapping Lisa again with the back of her hand.
Nordic watched on impassively, nonchalantly glancing at his watch. This was Neomi's thing, not his. He had no interest in watching the cruel cat play with the defenceless mouse but he was well aware of the excessive time they were spending there.
“Oh and another! You're not as good as I thought,” Neomi continued evilly.
“Fuck! You!” Lisa shouted from under the pillowcase hood.
Neomi scrunched up the pillow case with one hand holding it taught to Lisa's face, the blood from her broken lip staining through to the outside.
“Ooops, made a mess of your pretty face, let's wash that up,” Neomi said as she reached for a pitcher of water on the bedside table.
The shock of the water that hit Lisa's face took her breath away, the white material drawing to her face to the extent you could probably recognise the woman beneath. With every shocked breath the material pulled into Lisa's face before being expelled outwards, the cruel water torture sending her into a panic. Lisa's head and chest were soaked, as was the bed and Neomi's knees which were astride Lisa's waist.
There was a pause as Lisa began to recompose herself, a fine spray of pink droplets emanating from around her mouth area as she fought to breath through the soaking wet pillowcase.
“More?” teased Neomi as she slowly dripped more water on Lisa's face, the cop twisting and turning her head to escape her hell.
“Ugh....yuh ...you're gonna burn, Neomi,” Lisa managed, water spraying from her mouth.
“Your time is up, Neomi! Finish her! We must torch this place and leave,” Nordic insisted.
Neomi glanced over her shoulder at Nordic and relented, a gentle nod backed by her victorious expression confirming her game was over to her satisfaction. With her hand outstretched she wanted her pistol back so she could finish her work.
DING DONG!!
The doorbell chimed distinctly over the music that continued on. Nordic could only groan as now a new inconvenience prevented them from escaping.
“Go see,” Neomi ordered Nordic.
“Fine,” Nordic groaned as he turned and left the room.
“Hmmm, you get another minute to live, don't squander it,” Neomi said as she let her hand settle behind herself onto Lisa's crotch while her other clamped over Lisa's mouth gagging any attempt to cry out. Although Nordic had already turned up the volume of the music Neomi didn't want to risk being overheard.
“Hmmpffff” Lisa growled, her thighs trying to grip Neomi's wrist and prevent her from rubbing her pussy.
“Oh come now, don't be shy, I know a dyke when I see one,” Neomi continued, intent on maximising her play time with her prisoner. Neomi was used to enjoying the company of woman from time to time and worked to try and enforce some unwanted pleasure on her prisoner.
Lisa snarled in protest into the hand that gagged her as Neomi forced an unwanted rhythm against her soft flesh.
Nordic returned quietly and calmly, gun at his side.
“Who was it?” Neomi asked, biting her bottom lip as she abused her prisoner.
“Pizza guy, he will get bored in a moment and go,” Nordic said as he placed the pistol on the bed at Neomi's side.
“Hear that? We get to have another minute or two of quality time,” Neomi said, as she put her head closer to Lisa's ear.
Neomi roughly rubbed her hand into Lisa's groin through her tight pants while keeping her prisoner quiet with her other hand.
“Pull this bitch's legs apart,” Neomi said as she found Lisa's resistance frustrating.
Nordic rolled his eyes with a subtle shake of the head.
“We've got to wait for pizza boy to leave and this pig has been a thorn in my side!” Neomi said as her hand clawed into Lisa's crotch.
“Fine,” Nordic said as he grabbed one of Lisa's ankles, dragging it away from the other.
Lisa could only manage a muffled growl though Neomi hoped she had detected some sobbing mixed in with all the protests.
“Shut up and enjoy the ride, bitch!” Neomi retorted as she found she could now freely abuse Lisa's pussy.
The seam of Lisa's pants had ridden up into her crotch, her labia bulging at the fabric either side and Neomi knew just how and where to stroke, rub and press. She didn't expect the cop to get pleasure from what she did but she was going to sure as hell make sure her corpse would betray her unwanted excitement once she ended up on the coroner's slab, ensuring humiliation even in death.
Lucy had arrived, her car parked next to Lisa's in the underground lot. With a holdall that carried some of her running gear inside Lucy entered the elevator and punched in the desired floor.
It only took a moment to ascend and with a PING the doors opened and there in front of her was the young pizza delivery man.
“Oh hi,” gushed the young man in his red and blue company sweater, empty red delivery bag folded up under one arm, scooter helmet on his head.
“Hey!” Lucy replied. She knew the young man was into her but while flattered was never going to reciprocate.
“Hey listen, I had an order for you. I did wait a minute but no one has come to the door so I have left them on the doorstep. I mean, you've paid and everything by card so....” the young man explained.
“Oh sure, there is someone in but I guess she hasn't heard you. Is that music really from my place?!” Lucy asked with surprise.
“It sounds like it, good taste” smiled the delivery man, blushing as he tried to flirt.
“Thanks! Ok, well, I will take it in, and sorry about that,” Lucy apologised.
“Sure it's only been there a moment. It's still hot,” he continued as the pair traded places.
“Ok, thanks!” Lucy said as she watched the doors close.
Lucy carried her holdall confidently towards the front door of her apartment, but with every beat of the music, with every passing moment, she grew gradually ill at ease. Stopping at the threshold of the door she could see it, the subtle imprint of the boot in the hard wood door.
Suddenly Lucy could see the situation in a whole new light, like she could see through the doorway. What would she have done if she was invading someone's home like this with murder in mind.
Lucy took her front door key and placed it against the lock and gently eased it home, millimetre by millimetre. The subtle crunching sound of the key impacting the tumblers was drowned by the very music that whatever wrong doers inside were using to hide their own activities.
With a final push the key was all the way in. Lucy took a breath and then slowly began to rotate the key in the barrel. It was a smooth action, the lock modern and clean and now the door was hanging closed, unsecured.
Should Lucy storm in, taking the element of surprise, or should she use stealth? She was unarmed and whoever was inside might have access to guns of their own or Lisa's or even Lucy's own hidden stash: she didn't know. Balanced on what she suspected Lucy opted for stealth. She might at least make it to a a weapon before she was seen.
Lucy pushed at the door, opening it a tiny fraction. She heard no voices and there seemed to be no reaction to her presence. She went a little further, and further and then, with a deep breath peered in to see the open plan area of her apartment empty. Closing the door quietly behind her Lucy stoop-walked towards her kitchen area and found her wooden knife block, taking a good sized weapon.
Above her mantelpiece hung a set of Japanese swords, Lucy's eyes widening in realisation they would be useful to her. Tiptoeing onwards to the corner with her sofa and her large TV Lucy could hear voices from her bedroom but wanted to be well-armed before entering a confrontation.
The mid-sized sword from her collection suited Lucy best. In the confined space of a corridor she wanted to be able to swing her blade. Japanese swords were for slicing, not thrusting, and she wanted to be able to strike effectively. Unsheathed sword now in her right hand Lucy edged around the perimeter of her room, trying to avoid the lines of sight to the area where she could hear the voices.
Nordic tired of Neomi's sick game, the restrained cop beneath her refusing to be broken.
“I will check if that kid is gone. If he is we can finally get this over with. The stove is gas so we can probably destroy everything with that,” Nordic said, releasing Lisa's legs. Instantly the cop renewed her vigorous resistance to the busy hand between her thighs.
“Oh, we're in the home stretch, bitch. Better pray pizza boy's still there,” Neomi taunted. She finally relented abusing Lisa's crotch and focused on her breasts instead.
Lucy was at the mouth of the corridor that led to her own bedroom. Just as she was about to enter, the door at the end swung open causing her to retreat back towards the livingroom and to hide just around the corner. Nordic strode confidently down the short corridor towards the open area of the apartment intending to check on the front door. As he emerged from the mouth of the corridor the two mercenaries finally caught sight of one another.
As their eyes locked onto one another a whole chain of events flashed past their eyes. How they met came first, then their first jobs, their first successes quickly after that. Then came that fateful job that went so wrong, the interrogation of Supergirl which led to disaster.
From that moment it all went to hell for the mercenaries. The princess fled before she could be made an example of, and then their boss, Cornell, was killed by the cops. But Nordic remembered something more. He had been told that the stunning woman in front of his very eyes had been killed by a bullet, Cornell's last act before an underwhelming end.
“Fuck!” exclaimed Nordic as in the blink of an eye he began to raise his pistol.
Lucy took in the sight of Nordic, her last memory of him one where he had his gun aimed at her while she held Mr Africa like a human shield. Nordic and Hispania had been about to end her on a whim, no questions asked when, with her wits, skill and determination, she escaped. Now she faced Nordic again but she wasn't prepared to look down his barrel a second time.
With a deft flick of her wrists the short Katana sword arced horizontally, the blade cutting across Nordic's body. The blade barely slowed as the fast moving edge tore into Nordic's torso, slicing deep, its passage uninterrupted by his ribs. Continuing across, from Nordic's left to his right, the sword did its damage. Nordic's only reply was to try and get his pistol on target. As his his right arm rose the blade drew nearer and ….
KTINKsssssss
Nordic fired, the round aimed below the horizontal after the pistol failed to rise in time to aim well. The blade, an extension of Lucy's arm swung on through, cleaving Nordic's right arm off from partway up his upper arm. The pistol and lifeless limb dropped to the floor like an afterthought.
Nordic gasped and collapsed to the wooden flooring, a sea of red oozing from his torso, his shallow breaths signalling his desperate grasp on his life.
“Ah ..fuuuuuuu” Lucy growled as she fell to one knee, the round that passed by her leaving a shallow slice in her thigh.
Glancing at the severed limb Lucy reached for it, pulling the gun from the lifeless hand that had held it.
“Stay there, piggy!” Neomi commanded. She suspected something was wrong. Dismounting Lisa, pistol in hand she opened the bedroom door and headed out.
Lisa's mind was already in a whirl, but she thought she heard the pistol shot, just as Neomi did. That pizza order had been timed to coincide with Lucy coming home, if anything could be responsible for someone to fire their gun then only Lucy's presence could be it.
Remembering everything that had been taught to her Lisa began the first steps to releasing herself. Getting the cuffs under her behind then down her legs she stepped herself out. Now with the cuffs in front of her she managed to pull the soaking wet, pink stained pillowcase off her head and began to get her gun.
Neomi cautiously entered into the main area of the apartment and saw the gravely wounded Nordic first before taking in the sight of Lucy on one knee, the sword keeping her upright.
“What the hell...... who the devil are you?!” Neomi demanded, her pistol aiming at the wounded Asian.
Lucy laughed, “You come into MY apartment and demand to know who I am?”
“Well, sorry I'm not up for a threesome.” Neomi said as she raised her pistol before being cut off.
“Freeze, Neomi, it's OVER!” Lisa growled from down the corridor, unseen by Lucy.
“Fu..” Neomi looked back over her shoulder as she realised her prisoner was somehow loose and began to turn with her pistol raised.
KTINKsssssss KTINKsssssss KTINKsssssss KTINKsssssss
Lucy fired Nordic's dropped pistol that she had kept hidden, the silenced rounds riddling Neomi's torso with holes. Tumbling to the floor, the assassin still seemed to have wild eyes of defiance as her life force ebbed.
“CLEAR?” shouted Lisa as she approached from around the corner.
“Yes, clear ….” groaned Lucy as she used the sword to help her rise to her feet.
“Oh my god, Lucy, are you okay?” Lisa asked, seeing Lucy's wound to her leg.
“Jeezus Lisa, what did the fuckers do to you?” Lucy replied, seeing Lisa's battered face.
“Hah ….. look at you both …. fuckin...path..etic..” Neomi grinned, blood erupting from her mouth as she spoke.
Lisa and Lucy looked down at the mortally-wounded mercenaries, both of whom were clinging onto the last threads of life. Both Lucy and Lisa had questions on their minds and had little time to lose.
“Why did you kill Van Der Walt?” Lisa demanded of Neomi while Lucy rolled Nordic onto his back.
“Why did you come here?” Lucy demanded of the fair-haired man.
“You … you ….. dead......” Nordic mouthed weakly, his eyes glazing over.
“Why did you kill Van Der Walt?” Lisa demanded of Neomi again.
“Do the others know I am alive?” Lucy asked of Nordic.
Nordic in a last moment of clarity understood Lucy's concern. Their meeting was coincidence but she didn't know that. This then, could be his final victory in death. With his last dying effort Nordic managed a weak laugh and nodded and then he was gone.
Neomi, her eyes gazing blankly summonsed her last breath and used it to squeeze out her final words. “For...for the mon..ey!”
Lucy crouched down then rested herself on the floor, her eyes looking blankly at the deceased Nordic. Lisa dropped down too, her bruised and battered body too tired to do any more.
There was silence for almost a minute and then their minds began to restart.
“I . I've got to call this in ...” Lisa said, stuttering with dread. The scene was a mess of blood, bullet holes and corpses.
“What? If I have cops come here.... and if they search the place?!” Lucy said as she considered the implications.
Lucy's identity was pretty well established but under a bright spotlamp it might not hold up. Selena had done a great job creating Lucy's backstory but surviving all this might not be possible. Apart from that, Lucy might not come off too well if they did a thorough search of the apartment. Could she remove everything of concern in a reasonable time-frame? Probably not.
“If I don't call it in, what about the bodies? Christ, what about Van Der Walt? His family deserves justice. How can I keep going on the case knowing the person who did it is dead!?” Lisa muttered.
“Lisa, if you bring the cops down on me I ...” Lucy looked around herself in despair.
DING DONG
“Fuck, who's that?!” Lisa went into a low whisper, her voice covered by the loud music.
Lucy glared back at Lisa with her pointless question and groaned as she rose to her feet.
DING DONG DING DONG DING DONG
Hobbling, gun in one hand, sword in the other acting almost like a crutch, the wounded avenging angel made her way to the door and, standing to one side, cautiously leaned over to the spyhole and looked out.
“Oh fuck,” whispered Lucy to herself as she recoiled from the door, her head falling back to the wall.
“Who is it?!” hissed Lisa with a stage whisper as she gathered her gun ready to defend herself.
Lucy looked back at Lisa and apologetically shook her head before her trembling hand released the door latch and swung the door open.
“Oh no!” Lisa muttered to herself as she saw who it was.