The Price of Disrespect (Gray Spear Society Book 6) (34 page)

"How do you think the mission will go tonight?" Tawni said.

"Poorly," Aaron replied around a mouthful of steak.

She raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"I've gone through a lot of scenarios in my head. Most do not end well."

She looked over at Norbert. If he was afraid, he wasn't showing it. He simply ate his meal quietly.

"Then why are we doing this?" she said.

"The enemy is before us," Aaron said. "We must fight. If my people run into trouble, they'll just have to deal with it. I've given them all the advantages I can."

He was very hard to read, but she detected anxiety in his voice. He was afraid of what might happen tonight. He cared.

"You want to go with them."

"More than anything," he said, "but if the operation fails, somebody has to be here to clean up the mess. The cell must carry on its work. If necessary, replacement
legionnaires
must be recruited. That's my job."

Tawni glanced at Norbert again. He didn't react.

She looked around. "Where is Wesley? I haven't seen the twerp in a while."

"Probably sulking," Aaron said. "Finish your meal. It could be your last, so try to enjoy it."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Wesley checked his watch.
Time to go,
he thought.

He walked up the stairs to the roof. It was a chilly night but his body armor kept him warm. Clothes over the armor gave him a normal appearance. A clear night sky and bright stars made him look up. The heavens were beautiful tonight.

He knew where the surveillance cameras were located and sat on a piece of ductwork in full view of one. Kamal was still in the security booth. Wesley stayed in one spot long enough to cause Kamal to lose interest if he were watching. Casually, Wesley stood and walked into one of the areas where the cameras were off.

He placed his phone on the roof. The built-in tracking system would make everybody think he had never left.

He sprinted over to the emergency rappel system. Buckling and tightening the straps took just a short time. Without hesitation, he leapt off the building.

The electric winch whined and the rope vibrated during his rapid decent. Excitement made him grin all the way down. This part was more fun than he had expected.

He touched the ground. He quickly unbuckled himself and stepped into the darkness at the base of the hotel. He crept around the building, sliding from shadow to shadow. He contorted his body to blend into his environment every step of the way, just as he had been taught.

He reached the front where a line of taxicabs waited. He worked his way along the line, keeping his head down. He opened the door of the cab at the head of the line and slipped inside.

The driver was a Hispanic man with a thick mustache. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw Wesley.

"Take me to Crestwood," Wesley said.

"That's a long ride for a kid. Where are your parents?"

"Dead."

The cabby stiffened.

"Here." Wesley gave him a hundred dollar bill. "Can we go? I'm in a hurry."

The driver hesitated. Clearly, he was nervous about taking an unattended child across the city at night.

Wesley gave him more money. "Please. It's really important. I can't be late."

The driver shrugged and drove away.

Forty-five minutes later, the cab finally arrived at a particular intersection in the Crestwood industrial park. The streets were dark except for an occasional street lamp. Wesley didn't see any other traffic. Huge, widely spaced buildings were the only landmarks, and the parking lots were almost empty.

"Thanks. How much do I owe you?"

"I can't let you out," the driver said.

"Why not?"

"There is nobody here."

"Don't worry," Wesley said. "My friends are on their way."

"What kind of friends would send a kid to this place in the middle of the night?"

"This is exactly where I need to be." He threw five hundred dollars onto the front seat, opened the door, and got out.

"Hey!" the driver yelled out his window. "Get back in. I'll take you someplace safe."

"I just left a safe place. You can go now."

"You can have your money back if you get in the cab."

Wesley started walking along a sidewalk. "I don't want the money."

"Come on. Please." The cab followed him down the street.

"No. I'm warning you. I don't have time for this. If you don't leave me alone, I'll ask you a question you don't want to answer."

"What kind of threat is that? You don't even know me."

Wesley stopped. The cab pulled up next to him.

Wesley faced the driver. "Last chance to go away."

The driver shook his head. "I have a baby at home. What kind of father would I be if I left you here?"

Wesley turned his gift up to full blast. "Why are you a cab driver?"

The man gasped and his face contorted. Wesley could sense the truth inside him struggling to escape. It had been bottled up for too long. Mental walls stood in the way, but they crumbled before the light. The driver twitched as if he were having a severe seizure, but Wesley didn't have time to be gentle. He was already a few minutes behind schedule. The trip across the city had taken a bit longer than expected.

The driver struggled to get the words out. "I raped a woman in Texas. I'm hiding from the law. My taxi license is fake."

"Turn yourself in. Your baby needs a father who doesn't live in fear."

"I'll go to jail."

"For a while," Wesley said. "Your family will be waiting for you when you get out."

Shaking and pale, the driver rolled up his window. The cab made a U-turn and drove off.

Wesley continued walking down the road. He checked his watch and picked up the pace. He
really
needed to hurry now.

* * *

Tawni drove through the dark, quiet streets of the Crestwood industrial park. There were no cars on the road at this time of night, no civilians to get in the way. Street lamps created isolated pools of light.

She glanced at Norbert in the passenger seat. He wore black and gray armor over his entire body, leaving only his face partly exposed. Assorted weapons hung from a utility belt, and they were covered with cloth bags to prevent reflections. Straps held a serrated knife to his wrist. Night vision goggles were attached to a black combat helmet.

Smythe and Odelia were dressed and equipped similarly. They sat in the middle seat of the dark van. Black ribbons were wrapped around Odelia's long, white hair.

Tawni inhaled deeply and the scent of death made her grin. It was going to be a good night.

"You seem happy," Norbert said.

"This will be fun."

"Spoken like a true Spear. It's only been a few days, but you already seem like a different person than the one I met in the alley. I like the new you a lot more."

Tawni looked at him. "In case we don't survive, it was nice knowing you. I really mean that."

"Thanks. Same here."

"I'm sorry I was such a bitch at first."

"Don't worry about it," he said. "Do you know what the good thing about dying young is?"

"What?"

"You leave a pretty corpse behind."

Tawni smiled.

She checked the rear-view mirror. Smythe and Odelia were trying to cuddle despite their bulky equipment. She wanted a relationship like theirs. Tawni had had opportunities, but she had ruined every one. She wondered if she would ever get another chance at true love. She didn't want to spend the rest of her life as a lonely creature of death, but that was the direction she was headed.

The Quick Hammer Truck and Tractor factory was coming up on her left. It was a lot bigger in real life than in the satellite photo. There was enough room inside for every kind of hell imaginable.

Tawni saw surveillance cameras all over and more were probably hidden. The long wall facing the street had no doors at all. She didn't see an entrance for visitors or even a sign. Bright flood lights illuminated the wide grassy lawn.

She spotted some bushes on her right. "Ten seconds."

Norbert, Smythe, and Odelia shifted their position.

As Tawni approached the bushes, she slowed gradually. The instant she came to a stop, the team slipped out of the van and under cover. They vanished into the foliage. Tawni gently accelerated away.

"Good luck," she whispered.

She turned left at the next intersection. The stop lights were flashing yellow, and she didn't bother to slow down. She continued one more block until she came to a huge empty lot. She drove straight onto the dirt and weeds. The van was full of munitions so she went very gently over the holes. She parked with the back doors facing the truck factory.

She got out. The sky was beautiful tonight, and she was far enough from the city lights to see constellations. She wondered if God were looking down on her now. She hoped so.

She went around to the back of the van and opened the doors. The cargo area was packed with dangerous toys.

She started by grabbing a crate full of smoke grenades. She pulled off the top and found it packed full of green canisters. Moving as quickly as possible, she lit the fuses and threw the grenades towards the factory. Each one produced billowing clouds of smoke. There were a lot of them, and it took her several minutes to empty out the crate. Her arms were already getting tired when she was done.

She reached for concussion grenades next. There were twenty-four in the box. She hurled these as far as possible and used the van as cover. The bright flashes of flame and booming noises were very satisfying.

When the case was empty, she looked around and listened. She didn't see any sign of trouble yet. She still had another couple of minutes to play.

She went for a RPG-7 next. The weapon felt big and clumsy in her hands. A tube made of metal and wood held a rocket propelled grenade designed to kill tanks. It would work just as well on brick walls. She aimed at the factory and pulled the trigger. Rocket flames dazzled her eyes.

She grinned so much her cheeks hurt. This was more fun than sex.

She quickly dropped another rocket into the tube and fired again. A second hole was blasted in the side of the factory.

She aimed the next rocket at a massive transformer on the ground. The RPG-7 wasn't very accurate, and it took three tries to score a hit. A secondary explosion included an impressive shower of sparks and a spray of burning transformer oil. The lights on the factory flickered and died.

Mission accomplished,
she thought. She saw flashing yellow in the distance which didn't look like police lights. It seemed the enemy was trying to capture her with ordinary security guards.

She closed up the van, got in, and drove off. She had never been in a high speed chase before. She was looking forward to another new and exciting experience.

Chapter Fourteen

Smythe watched a hazy cloud of smoke drift around the truck factory. Distant explosions sounded like grenades.

When the moment seemed right, he sprinted across the street. Odelia and Norbert followed close behind. Everybody crouched as Smythe went to work on the iron fence.

He took a sprayer from his utility belt. He squirted a thin stream of liquid onto the bars, causing a strong chemical reaction. White smoke stung his eyes and forced him back. After half a minute, he kicked the weakened bars, breaking them off. The resulting gap in the fence was just big enough for the team to crawl through.

They ran across the lawn at full speed. The smoke wasn't thick enough to completely hide them from surveillance cameras, but Smythe hoped the continued explosions would be enough of a distraction to make up the difference. Either way, they were committed.

The team reached the wall of the factory. All three of them grabbed shaped charges from bags on their belts. The charges were placed to punch a hole in the brick wall about two feet square. Smythe wired the detonator and started the countdown. They moved to the side.

When the charges exploded, they were noisy but it wasn't bad. The racket Tawni was making was a lot worse.

Smythe examined the hole. It went all the way through to a room inside the building. Odelia and Norbert were right behind him.

"Wait," Smythe whispered.

He huddled against the wall. After a moment, he heard the most powerful explosion so far. All the lights went out.

"Now," he said.

Everybody lowered their night vision goggles and drew their guns. They streamed into the dark building.

Smythe looked around for danger. The goggles made everything look green and sparkly.

He seemed to be in a garbage dump. Piles of broken equipment surrounded him, mostly electronics, but some heavy machinery was mixed in. A rancid odor indicated some of the garbage was food.

"Ugh," Odelia said. "I already hate this place."

Smythe heard a big engine starting up somewhere in the factory. The lights flickered a few times before turning on.

"A backup generator," he said. "So much for darkness."

The team flipped up their goggles.

The dump was even worse when seen in the light. A lot of it was video equipment. He spotted a set of broken shackles. Flies were crawling over something wrapped in a bloody towel.

Smythe's phone started beeping oddly. He opened the cover and saw the words "lost signal." Norbert and Odelia's phones were beeping also.

"A jammer?" Odelia said.

"I'd better let Aaron know," Smythe said.

He went back outside. His phone service was restored as soon as he was clear of the building. His phone rang before he even had a chance to dial.

He answered the call. "Hello?"

"This is Aaron. We lost all three of you for a few seconds."

"I know, sir. There is some kind of jammer inside the building. We'll be out of contact for a while."

"Damn," Aaron growled. "Proceed with the operation anyway. Move fast and stay out of sight. Don't spend too much time in there.

"Yes, sir. I'd better get back inside." Smythe checked left and right. "I'm exposed out here."

He ducked back through the hole.