Cole's Haunting Melody (The Gods' Executioner Series) (12 page)

“Natasha is unconscious. Listen, the mission was a setup; you most likely have an agent that has turned.” I tell her.

“I know. We just discovered him planting false intelligence in the system. I was calling to ask Natasha if she wanted to sit in on the interrogation.” Carla says.

“Where?” I ask.

“Seattle’s office.”
Carla replies.

“I’ll be there in
a few.” I inform her.

“Cole, you will only be observing, do you understand?” Carla asks.

“Yeah… see you in a few.” I reply and hang up.

“Cheza, can you watch after Natasha for me?” I ask
as I set the phone on the bedside table.

“Of course; go.” Cheza softly
replies.

“Thanks.” I say, give her a kiss goodbye,
and run back to Jason’s room.

I pull an inch and a half of metal out of my right shoulder before taking off my jacket
; there’s nothing that can be done about the bullet in my stomach at the moment anyway. I quickly change my shirt and pants so that I have some fresh, non-bullet-hole-ridden clothes on before touching my Haglaz.

“Hey Cole, long time no see.” Carla greets when I appear in her office
in Seattle.

“Yeah, it has been a while. How are things working out with the enhancements
?” I ask as I follow her out of her office.

“With the compound that we now have access to, our operators can meet the criminal suspects on equal grounds so the fatality rates have dropped drastically. Incidents involving the enhancements have also dropped significantly and are still continuing to drop; I believe that you have really taken out the source this time.” Carla
reports as we step in the elevator and she presses the button marked -4.

“How are the operators handling the toll from the compound?” I
inquire.

“We have them on rotational shifts so that no operator uses the compound more than once every three days.
Did Natasha take some of the compound? Is that why she was unconscious?” Carla asks.

“Yeah, something
like that.” I reply.

It appears that Carla might not know about the special compound so I’m not going to say anything. The elevator doors ding open to a sterile white hallway, much like the
armory. I follow Carla down the hallway and we enter a small room that is similar to the ones seen in nearly every police drama: the small room on the other side of the two-way mirror. We take a seat, causing pain to flash through my stomach as a reminder of the bullet that needs to be removed, and I look at the man that nearly helped assassinate Natasha. He is sitting at a steel table, but he is probably in the ballpark of six feet tall with light brown hair. If this were following the script for a cop drama, then I’d say that he’s black or Hispanic, but he’s not; he’s pasty white, muscular, and is so full of shit that his eyes are brown.

“S
o how did you catch him?” I ask as I feel my left thigh knitting back together more quickly now that I’m resting and have stopped using my blood to reinforce my leg.

“When I was looking over the intelligence report from the bug, I felt that something was odd. I pushed it to the back of my mind and sent Natasha on the assignment, but it kept eating at me. When we got reports of a Predator drone in the area,
I tried calling to warn you guys, but the call wouldn’t connect so I went back through those reports and noticed what was wrong; the conversation about the plot was dated for the day before President Putin had even made plans to come to the states. I was able to trace the error back through a blackmailed analyst to our culprit.” Carla explains as the interrogator enters the room.

“How did the Templars get clearance for a Predator drone in a major metropolitan area?” I inquire.

“It seems like the Templars have some serious pull with the certain areas of the government…” Carla answers as the interrogation starts.

The interrogation goes on for about an hour with the culprit not giving anything up. It’s not like t
he interrogator does a shit job; it’s just that the culprit is savvy to his tricks.

“Look, stow the threats; it’s just getting old. I know that you can’t touch me and I’m not saying shit!” The culprit says with a smug smile
that makes me shake with anger. The interrogator stands up and exits the cell.

“Perhaps I should go talk to him
.” I suggest.

“Not
a chance, Cole.” Carla replies.

I glare at her for a few moments
, but she doesn’t budge so I formulate a really stupid plan.

“I need to use the bathroom.” I
announce.

“I’ll show you where it is.” Carla says and
escorts me down the hall.

“Will this work
, Airi?”

(I should be able to repair the damage more quickly this time, provided that you don’t port
again before I finish)

I enter the bathroom and touch my triskele. I already know that Carla is familiar with the time limitation and can feel it when I port, but she doesn’t know that I can port within a one hundred meter distance. I appear in the interrogation cell
with blood squirting from my mouth, startling the culprit. I think about jamming the door with a chair, but I don’t think Carla knows I’m still in the building so she most likely won’t sprint here, giving me about a minute.

“Not even the mighty Feros will get me to talk.” The culprit
confidently tells me.

“
Hehe, that’s cute.” I chuckle.

“What?” the culprit nervously
asks.

“The fact that you think I want or even need you to talk when my method is so much more fun!”
I exclaim.

I launch myself at him, grabbing him by the face wi
th my left hand as I continue towards the wall behind him and proceed to slam him into it. I feed my blood down his throat as I look into his horror stricken eyes. His eyes roll into the back of his head as he’s rendered unconscious.

I throw up more blood as I lie down on the floor next to him. I have the forethought to roll onto my side before passing out; don’t want to go out like a bloody version of Hendrix, now do I?

****

I land in the culprit’s subconscious and fly through his memories for information. Judging by the correspondence, I see that his Templar contact is named Michael
Alejo, but there doesn’t appear to be any face time. Oh well, this should be enough to work with.

****

Chapter 12
: And so the Hunt begins

[November 4th]

I awaken in a completely unfamiliar bed that has sheets with a high thread count, probably around twelve hundred.

“Good morning
, Cole. Come down to the kitchen when you’re ready for breakfast.” I hear Carla say.

I swing my legs over the edge of the bed
, sending a stab of pain through my stomach as the bullet reminds me of its presence. I stand up unsteadily as the knowledge of the culprits memories come rushing back to me. Exiting the room, I walk down a dark hallway until I emerge on a balcony level. There’s a white railing bordering the balcony, over which lies a living room with a flat screen TV and a tan leather couch. The windows that line the back wall reveal a nice view of downtown Seattle. I head down the stairs on my right, pass through the living room, and walk down a hall, following my nose to the kitchen.

“Good morning
, Carla!” I cheerfully say.

“Good morning!” Carla
replies with a homicidal looking smile.

“
Would you mind explaining how you got back into the building without me sensing it, why you killed our culprit before we could get any answers, and why there was blood everywhere?” Carla sternly asks.

So it looks like my hypothesis was correct; when porting within a hundred meters, my incoming port can’t be sensed. Well, that explains why Perun and Veles were so surprised.

“Well, I wanted to kill him because I didn’t like his smug attitude, but I did kill him because he was guilty. I search his mind before ending him and found that he was indeed working for the Templars. I’m planning on paying his contact in the Templars a visit, extracting information from said contact, and then moving my way up the chain of command until I have the identities of every Templar that wants me dead. Then, I will go about systematically executing them.” I explain as I sit down at the table.

“Did you learn if there were any others working for The Agency?” Carla
inquires as she sits across from me and slides a glass of orange juice over.

“As far as our man knew, he was the only one working for The Agency. I made sure to extract all his secrets before killing him; this isn’t amateur hour after all.” I reply
and drink my juice.

“Still, you shouldn’t have executed him. There are protocols that have to be followed.” Carla states.

“Just blame it on Feros and I’m sure everything will work out fine. I need The Agency’s resources to find an address on one Michael Alejo; I don’t believe he’s in the city.” I tell her.

“Fine…
I’ll assign Ryuji to help you.” Carla concedes.

“Alright, just have him call me. I have to go get some things before I pay Mr.
Alejo a visit. Thanks for the OJ.” I reply and touch my Haglaz.

I port to
Niflheim and go in to check on Natasha.

“Cole! I’m glad you’re okay!” Cheza
exclaims as she hugs me.

“Has Natasha still not woken up yet?” I ask as I return the hug.

“No, she hasn’t…” Cheza quietly replies. I walk over to Natasha’s sleeping form and brush a strand of blonde hair out of her face.

“I’m going to get the guys responsible for this
, Natasha; you just focus on waking up.” I whisper to her.

“I have an assignment so I’m going to be gone for a little while; can you keep watch over Natasha?” I ask.

“Yeah, sure, but what do I do about food and water? I can set up a saline drip, but I don’t believe that the necessary materials are here and that won’t solve the issue with nutrients.” Cheza says and I think things over for a few moments.

“I’ll bring Sara here with some supplies. I’
ll be back soon.” I tell her.

I
run back to Jason’s room to grab my jacket and armored jeans before porting to the house.

“Sara, I’m taking you to
Niflheim; grab any medical supplies you need for a saline drip and possibly a feeding tube. Also, do you still have my old jacket lying around? It may be missing a sleeve, but at least it doesn’t have any breaches in the armor.” I say as I barge into Sara’s room.

“I take it that Natasha hasn’t woken up yet…
yeah, I fixed your old jacket’s sleeve and made it more like the new one with the same zipper system.” Sara says while rummaging through her closet.

“Here; I also have a spare pair of armored jeans as well.” Sara says, coming out of the closet with both.

“Thanks; here’s the bullet-hole ridden clothing. You can reuse most of the plates at the very least.” I tell her.

“Alright.
Give me a couple of minutes to get my stuff ready.” Sara requests; I nod and head to my room.

I grab a pair of rather tight fitting black jeans that I own; these should work with my black leather jacket and at least I won’t be wearing
sweatpants… sweatpants being the only other black pants that I own. After I’m finished changing I head into the living room and plop down on the couch.

“So you’re taking Sara to
Niflheim?” Tia asks.

“Yeah.
I figured you’d be safe here even if a Predator drone blew up the house.” I tell her.

“Yeah, unless the missile hit me directly, I would be fine. I guess that some time apart would be good for us…” Tia says with her eyes glued on the TV. I’m about to ask what she means when Sara walks into the room holding a large plastic case with a red cross on it.

“Ready to go?” Sara asks while avoiding Tia.

“Sure…
see you later, Tia.” I say while eyeing the both of them suspiciously.

“Bye Cole.”
Tia waves, not taking her eyes off of the TV.

“Hmm…
alright, spill it; what’s going on between you two?” I ask, turning my gaze towards Tia; did they get into a fight or something?

“What are you talking about, Cole?” Sara replies.

“Tia.” I ignore Sara and press forward.

“
Cole, there is nothing going on with us; we’re fine.” Sara insists.

“Tia.” I pressure, really leaning into my glare.

“Tia, we promised we wouldn’t say anything.” Sara reminds her.

“Tia.” I pressure further and Tia looks like she’s about to crack.

“Not a word, Tia!” Sara exclaims and Tia starts holding her breath.

“Tia!” I exclaim.

“Tia!” Sara says, trying to stop the crumbling dam of Tia’s whore mouth.

“I’M GOOD! I’m good…” Tia shouts and
takes a deep, calming breath.

“TIA!” I scream.

“WE ONLY HAD SEX ONCE, OKAY!?” Tia cracks.

“
Dammit Tia!” Sara exclaims.

“W-What…?” I
respond.

“W-Wait…
you two had s-s-sex?” I ask, my mind being unable to wrap around the idea of both of my sisters sleeping together. I look from Tia to Sara and neither can meet my eyes.

“I-I don’t have time for this right now so I’ll just pretend I don’t know anything about it…
yeah, that’s what I’ll do. Come on, Sara.” I robotically reply.

I grab Sara’s free hand
and touch my Haglaz rune.

“This way.”
I announce as I walk out of Jason’s room.

“Cole…
do you want to talk about what just happened?” Sara asks as she follows me down the hall.

“What are you talking about
, Sara? Haha ha…” I laugh awkwardly as I lead her into Natasha’s room.

“Here you go; now
, I have an assignment to take care of, so I’ll see you later.” I say.

“Cole, are you alright? You feel kind of…
distressed.” Cheza thinks.

“Yeah, I’m alright
, Cheza. I’ll see you later.” I reply with a smile in her direction and exit the room.

I go to find Jason, who is most likely in Reyna’s room
, so I head back down the hall. I knock on the door when I get there and Jason answers.

“Hey CT, what’s up?” Jason asks whilst shirtless.
I’m starting to think that he just doesn’t wear a shirt whenever he’s in Reyna’s room.

“I’m going to see Jericho; want to come?” I inquire.

“Jerry? Sure, let me grab a shirt.” Jason replies.

Jason snaps
a shirt on, and we port to the street in front of the
Cas
bar.

“Hey boss! Sorry I’m late for work by…
three months, but things have been kind of busy!” I announce as I walk into the empty sports bar.

“Cole!
How have you been!?” Jericho asks.

“I’ve bee
n alright, how about you?” I reply.

“
Good! Business has been good! Jason! It’s good to see you again! Congrats on the engagement, or so I heard.” Jericho exclaims.

“Jerry! Thanks man!
You coming to the bachelor party?” Jason asks.

“I’ll be there; just send me the invite!” Jericho replies.

“Uh, Jericho, you should probably know that the party is being thrown by King Byron, the King of the Vampires…” I inform him, remembering Jericho’s dislike of vampires due to the manner in which he was killed. Jericho’s face falls at the new information, but lightens back up.

“I suppose I can overlook that for one night in celebration of
Niflheim’s only prince!” Jericho exclaims.

“Well, alright! Anyway, I need some assistance. Do you have a reloading bench and .460
S&W rounds? I need to make some custom bullets using silicon carbide.” I explain.

“That I do; follow me.” Jericho says as he reaches under the bar and presses the button that reveals the secret passage to his armory. Jason and I follow him down the steps and into the armory.

“Here’s the bench and here’s a box of ammunition. Do you know how to use the reloading bench?” Jericho asks.

“Not really.” I admit.

“Alright, I’ll give you some assistance then. First you should make the bullets.” Jericho suggests.

“Airi, can you make a .460 caliber
bullet that has a message on it?”

(Yes, Master. What would you like it to say?)

“Continued on next bullet. Love, Feros.”

The red silicon carbide bullet forms in the palm of my left hand and I
’m about to hand it to Jericho when I recall what I’m using this bullet for.

“I’m planning on murdering someone with this bullet, so we should probably wear gloves.” I mention.

“But I’m dead so my fingerprints will show up as being from a deceased man, if they show up at all.” Jericho points out.

“I know, but I don’t want fingerprints showing up at all; I want the bullets to be enigmatic enough to be heard of by people in power so that I know the right people will hear of them.” I explain.

Jericho nods, kneels down, and pulls out a box of latex gloves. After pulling a pair on, he removes a .460 S&W round from the box and dismantles it. Jericho shows me how to load the casing with primer, powder, and how to place the bullet itself. I slide a glove onto my right hand, not worrying about my left because of the lack of fingerprints, and slide the bullet into my pocket.

“Thanks
, Jericho! I’ll probably be back in the near future to make a few more. I’m just going to take a few more of these, just in case.” I say as I grab a few pairs of gloves and slip them into my pocket.

“
By the way, do you have any anti-material rifles lying around?” I ask.

“I have the Barrett XM500 as wel
l as plenty of .50 BMG rounds of various types.” Jericho replies with a smile.

“Yeah, that should work if I end up needing it. Well
, we have to get going; I should be getting a call about my assignment any minute now.” I respond.

“Alright, see you around
, Cole; and I’ll see you at your last night as a free man, Jason.” Jericho chuckles as Jason and I port back to the palace.

My phone jingles once, indicating that I’ve received a text message. I take out my phone and open the message, seeing that it’s from Ryuji. The message has an address that Ryuji says i
s Michael Alejo’s residence, a picture of a half Filipino man in his late thirties, and a short message saying that this Michael Alejo has the right connections to be a Templar so it must be him. I’m impressed that Ryuji was able to find the exact guy so easily. According to the address, Michael Alejo lives in San Francisco, California.

“
Well, I’m off!” I announce.

“Good luck, CT!” Jason replies
.

I touch my
Haglaz and port to the armory at The Agency’s Seattle office. I requisition a spotter’s scope and then I port to the rooftop of a building across from Mr. Alejo’s apartment, courtesy of Google Maps. Using the spotter’s scope, I look into the apartment and see that no one is home at the moment.