Laura 02 The God Code (2 page)

The sound of Victor urinating gives him courage, and with lightning speed Noel jumps forward. Noel grabs Victor in a choke hold around his neck with his left arm, and brings his right arm around and up, directly in-line with Victor’s heart. This is it Victor, your death is certain. Fear grips Noel as his knife hand gets blocked by Victor. It is impossible, how did he know about the attack? Searing pain shoots through his eyes, forcing a yell from his lips, while the smell of vinegar fills his nose.

Strong hands grab his left forearm. Suddenly his feet lift off the ground as Victor bends down and throws him forward. Pain fills Noel’s head as he lands head-first into the toilet. He tries to take a breath; toilet water is all he gets. The pressure on his neck is immense as his body gets pressed against the toilet’s back wall. Desperately, he tries to push himself up by grabbing the side of the toilet. Twice he loses his grip, and then manages to get a good hold. Pushing up as hard as he can, he lifts his head out of the water. Air, fresh air, never has he been so glad to breathe.

Searing pain fills his lungs as Victor drives his knee mercilessly into his ribs, driving the air from his lungs. Noel’s head sinks back into the water. Desperately he tries to push up again, and manages to get his head half out of the water. There is a snapping sound as Victor brings his foot down sideways onto Noel’s right arm. A thousand fire ants biting him will be less painful than what he experiences as his arm snaps at the elbow, the bone coming through his flesh, rendering it useless. This is it Noel, death is certain. You challenge your teacher, and he accepted. Noel’s diaphragm bounces as his body screams for air, and involuntarily he breathes, water filling his lungs.

Victor holds Noel until the shaking stops, and then slowly lowers him to the floor. A quick search reveals a wallet, 9mm pistol with silencer fitted, a knife and a cell phone. Victor puts the cell phone and wallet in his pocket and then removes the gun holster and knife holder. The knife easily clips to the back of his pants, next to the gun holster, hidden under his shirt. Victor positions the body upright on the toilet, and then locks the door by using the knife to turn the simple door lock, changing the indicator from “free” to “occupied”.

Exiting the restroom, Victor walks directly to Laura, who has a puzzled expression on her face as he approaches her. The shocked expression of Noel’s companion, caught in the corner of his eye, interests him more.

“Laura, we need to go now.” His touch is gentle but firm on her shoulder.

“I’m still waiting for our change.”

“Leave it as a tip.”

Laura shrugs her shoulders and gets up, following Victor to the door. Sally looks on as the couple starts to leave the restaurant. Should she check on Noel or follow Victor? If she follows Victor and Noel needs her, he might die, yet if she checks on Noel, she will lose Victor. Sorry Noel, you are on your own now, the mission comes first.

Victor and Laura are at the exit when Sally slowly stands up and drops money on the bar counter for her drink. Did Victor kill Noel or just knock him out? It does not matter, her cover is blown. She will have to be careful in following Victor. He will surely set an ambush for her. Will she be able to kill him before he kills her? A cold chill runs down Sally’s back, and a lump forms in her throat. Victor’s reputation is legendary.

Sally opens the door, and looks at her hands, shaking. The restaurant door opens onto a busy street, and Sally is just in time to see Victor and Laura disappear around a corner into a side road. Where are they going? Sally rushes past the people on the sidewalk and reaches the corner, again just in time to see the two disappear into the crowd at the end of the side road. Damn, I have to move faster, is he leading me into a trap? Sally runs down the road, bumping people out of the way, her hand in her right jacket pocket. She tightens the grip on her pistol, finding some comfort from it.

The road ends in the main plaza where a market is set up, packed with stalls. People wander lazily from one seller to the next, haggling over prices. Victor and Laura make their way through the maze of people until they reach an eating area.

“Laura, please sit down here and order tea or something, and keep this backpack with you.”

“But we just ate.”

“Please, it is important.”

“We’re being followed, right?”

“Yes, now hide. I will be back later.”

“And if you do not return?” Laura asks, fear in her voice.

“The money and scrolls are in the bag. Use the money to get to Jose, give the scrolls to Manco to protect,” Victor replies before walking away. As he passes a stall selling clothing, he quickly slips a scarf off the rack and drops some money next to the cash register without the owner noticing. I need to hide and set up an ambush, but where? Victor scans the market. A few stalls from him is a row of five stalls selling rugs, all hanging on railings at head height.

Sally carefully makes her way through the crowd. Nervously, she scans each stall, each person, ready to draw her gun. She was a fool to accept this mission. How could she ever think of going head to head with the legend? Suddenly Sally freezes. A lump forms in her throat, cold sweat forms on her face. Victor is standing a few stalls down away from her, looking directly at her. Sally cannot move, she wants to, wants to take the shot, but her body doesn’t respond. She locks eyes with Victor’s piercing blue eyes, she knows that look. She saw it before when she trained under him, unemotional, he is ready to kill.

Suddenly Victor jumps forward and quickly disappears between some rugs. Stupid, she had him. She could have gotten him, why did she not take the shot? Cautiously Sally follows, pushing rugs out of her way with her left hand. This is an ambush, no doubt about it. Sally draws her pistol, ready to act.

The lama hair rug is soft in her hand as she pushes it out of the way. Sally jumps from shock. The right shoulder of a jacket like Victor’s disappears behind a rug. This is your shot, take it, what are you waiting for? The pistol in her hand rocks as it spews out hot lead at Victor, five times, a perfect grouping where she judges his body to be behind the rug. Did she get him? Is he dead? The gun shakes in her hand, her knees unwilling to move forward. You have to go look Sally. You have to make sure he is dead.

Carefully she moves forward until she is at the rug she shot through. She swallows, or tries to, her mouth dry from fear. The rug is long, hanging down to the ground. A pair of legs is visible behind the rug, lying on the ground. You got him Sally, you got him, well done. Now, a bullet in the back of the head for security, you taught me well Victor. First time in the field and she got the master.

Shakingly her left hand reaches out and grabs the soft rug, pulling it slowly away. Victor is lying face down on the ground, five holes in the back of the jacket. A rug covers his lower body, and his head is covered with a baseball cap. Victor must have grabbed onto the rug as he fell down, pulling it from its railing. Sally looks around as she steps over Victor’s body. No one has seen anything, or heard the soft whisper of the silenced pistol, she is alone.

Slowly she bends down, pistol ready, and lifts the cap from Victor’s head. No! It cannot be. Sally’s throat closes up from fear as she stares at the back of a mannequin’s head. You have been fooled, the master caught you out. A strong arm encircles her from the left, and covers her mouth, smothering her scream. It burns as the knife bites into her flesh, slicing through her throat from left to right. Sally chokes on the blood running down her throat, and fear grips her as death patiently waits for her. No, it cannot be. Desperately she tries to free herself, it is futile. Blood spurts from her cut neck arteries on every heartbeat, staining her clothes. Three heartbeats, then a sharp pain as a knife pierces her heart, ending her life.

Even as her heart stops, her brain still functions. Gently Sally slides to the ground as Victor lets her go. She tries to breathe, but cannot. She is drowning, on her own blood. Victor bends down and looks directly into her fading eyes. His touch is soft and compassionate, how strange.

“I am sorry, but you should have left me alone.”

Darkness takes Sally. Victor wraps the scarf around Sally’s neck to stop her from bleeding all over the road as she lets out her last breath, which comes out as a gargle. He closes her eyes and puts her in a sitting position against one of the poles holding up a rug. Quickly he searches her body and finds her wallet, pistol with two spare magazines and a cell phone. Taking his jacket off the mannequin, Victor wraps the items in it, and then walks to a nearby stall where he buys a small backpack and places the jacket inside. Now to Find Laura and get out of this place before the bodies are found.

Victor has a concerned expression on his face as he approaches Laura. She puts her drink down and stares at him for a second before asking. “You okay?”

“They have found us. The agency had two operatives waiting in town.”

“The couple in the restaurant?”

“Yes.”

“You killed them?”

“Yes, come we have to go.”

Laura’s heart sinks from sadness. They looked like such a nice couple. All the people Victor had killed since she met him were men, bad men, until now.

“Why?”

“Why what Laura?”

“Why did you kill her?” Laura’s voice is filled with sadness.

“If I did not, she would have killed me, and then you.”

“How do you know that, you don’t know her. Maybe she would have given up if you scared her.”

“No, she would not. I trained her. I trained all of the people that are after us.” Victor’s voice is soft. Pain fills his heart. He is killing his family, the people he trusted, who he would have died for, all of them, one by one. Has he become the monster himself now?

Laura’s touch is soft as she takes his hand. Slowly he turns to look at her. Her face is full of sympathy.

“I am sorry. It must be hard for you, your friends. I know you did what you needed to do.”

Victor only nods, and then starts to walk towards a small office labeled
Inca Railway
.

“Hi, two tickets to Machu Picchu please.”

“From Cusco?” The clerk asks with a friendly smile.

“No, from Ollantaytambo.”

“Passports please.”

Victor takes his passport out of his pocket and turns to Laura, who has hers already in her hand. He hands both to the clerk, who enters their information into the system without even checking if the pictures in the passports match them.

“One way or return?” The clerk asks without looking up.

“Return, tomorrow evening, last train please.”

“That will be US$220 please.”

Victor hands over the money and waits for her to print the receipt. She enters some more information into the system, and the printer next to her computer comes alive. With a smile she hands the passports and tickets to Victor then comments. “Have a nice trip.”

“Thank you, have a nice day.”

Walking away from the office, Victor leads Laura to a row of taxies waiting in the main road.

“?Habla Ingles?” Victor asks the first driver he reaches, who shakes his head.

“I speak English, where do you want to go?”

Victor turns to his right and eyes the man up and down. Average build, mid-50’s, with informal but clean clothes and dark black hair. The man strokes a short beard that fails to hide a deep cut on his chin.

“Ollantaytambo”, Victor replies.

“Two people?”

“Yes, how much?”

“US$100.” It is far more than the normal price, but haggling over a few pennies may cost them their lives. They need to get out of Cusco as soon as possible. Where there is one assassin team, there may be two.

“Deal, name’s John, this is Sue.”

“Name’s Amado, good to meet you. Any luggage?”

“Just the backpacks, a day visit only.”

Amado looks them up and down. Who goes to Machu Picchu with only two small backpacks? Tourists, never fail to amaze me. Shrugging his shoulders, he walks towards his car while commenting, “Follow me please.”

Amado’s car is a white Toyota Yaris. He opens the back doors for them, then waits for Victor and Laura to climb in. Politely, he closes the doors for them, and gets into the driver’s seat. Amado pulls away, while reaching over and switching the radio on. A pleasant local instrumental music fills the car. Victor lies back into his seat and closes his eyes. It will take them one and a half hours to reach their destination. Laura elects to watch the scenery, peppering Amado with questions about Peru, Machu Picchu and local customs. She is delighted to find that Amado is extremely wise and loves to talk, and she thoroughly enjoys the ride.

Chapter 2

“Everyone with security clearance five and lower, out of the room now!”

Norman waits impatiently as most of the 20 staff clear the room. He is the owner of Special Operations Incorporated, a privately owned company that runs covert and black operations for anyone with the right money, but mostly for the US, French, UK and South African governments. The same company Victor used to work for until he left them the previous year to work for himself.

“We have a level three threat, on screen.”

The six people left in the room turn their attention to the 100-inch plasma monitor on the wall, where a picture of Victor is brought up.

“Victor was spotted 30 minutes ago in Cusco, Peru at a restaurant. Two agents on the scene, Noel and Sally were to intercept Victor. However, we lost contact with both. We are assuming they are no longer operational until proven otherwise.

“Victor was one of us, but went solo. He took a mission from one of our oldest clients, having worked for them when he was with us. The client also hired us as backup in case Victor fails.”

“Who was the client?” Ida looks at Norman as she speaks. Other than Norman, she is the most senior person in the room.

“You do not need to know that.” Norman responds, giving her an annoyed look for interrupting him.

“What you do need to know, is that he turned, took an item he was supposed to retrieve for the client and disappeared for a month. This is the first time contact has been made, and already two agents are missing.” Norman decides not to inform them that Victor offered to return the scrolls, as he wants Victor dead for personal reasons.