Double Whammy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Although stunned by what he has been told, he doesn’t even bother trying to deny it, now realizing that Samantha Bliss is the daughter that he left behind so many years ago.
“Look.. Miss Bliss.. We don’t have time. Scorpion just doused our best lead. We need to find her before she gets too big of a jump on us.”
She turns away from him without a word all of the while lifeguard is feeding her information on Scorpions whereabouts.
“She’s headed out of the city Sam.” he tells her. “You can’t let her get too big of a lead on you, you’ll never catch up with her.”
She moves back towards the rest of the team.
“Team Alpha assemble.”
Priss appears at her side.
“I called up the van Samantha it will be here shortly.”

Samantha Bliss nods, stopping in front of the reds van where Sil is kneeling over the body of Guido Garfoni. She casts a puzzled look in the direction of the team leader. Samantha bends down next to her.
“Problem there Sil?”
“Yes.. This isn’t Guido Samantha. They wanted someone to think that it was. But it most certainly is not.”
“And your certain of this how exactly?”
“It is a long story.”
“Is there a short version Sil? We don’t have much time.”
“Guido was injured in a fight when I was at the palace. He had his shirt off and I remember a large dragon tattoo on his chest. And he had a long scar along the length of his ribs. And the face is different. Higher cheekbones. deeper eye sockets. This one has no scar, no dragon. Not Guido.”

Samantha slowly stands looking up and down the length of pier 36. Tombstone appears at her side, looking as puzzled by Sil’s revelation as Samantha is.
“So what was their game?.. Daddy?”
“Please don’t call me that.”
She turns back towards the reds van, and then towards the black Hummer.
“Maybe Guido is smart like Sil said. Maybe he smelled a double cross, so he decided to double cross them too.”
Klinger approaches them looking Tombstone up and down unimpressed while lighting a fresh cigar .
“Transports here Sammy, we rolled over on the dead mercs and them reds. They didn’t have anything on them.”
Samantha Bliss is not a woman that is easily convinced.
“Something isn’t right here. The mercs bring sand instead of explosives. The fake Guido brings what I’m guessing is a bag of what really isn’t money but something else.”
“What are you thinking Samantha?” Sil enquires.

She walks through the bodies of the dead mercs and reds alike. And carefully studies the entire scene. Stopping to kneel down beside of the body of a dead red.
“Tombstone. Were either of your boys hit?” she asks.
He slowly shakes his head no.
“From what I saw these dipshits couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn if they were standing next to it. Why?”
She slowly stands.
“Because I’m starting to think that they didn’t hit anyone because they weren’t suppose to. This whole thing is starting to feel staged. Guido Garfoni- or someone. Has gone to a lot of trouble here to make someone think that he is dead. And now I would like to know why.”
Tombstone now tries to follow her logic.
“Staged? For who’s benefit?”
She doesn’t answer.
“Load up the team Kling.. Where are we headed Lifeguard?”
“West.”

Scorpion's Eye's
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



She stands almost defiantly leaning against the stone structure overlooking a thick grove of trees. She has chosen this as the meeting place with Tito because it afforded her a view of every possible angle to and from the location. This time there wouldn’t be any surprises. She watches as the limousine slowly rolls to a stop. The drug dealer known as Tito emerges from the automobile, wrapping himself up in a long coat, as he casts a suspicious glance in the direction of Scorpion.
“You come alone?” he asks in thick Spanish accent.
She gives him an icy stare but says nothing, holding the satchel out where he can see it. Tito’s eyes brighten. And now is giving her a big smile.
“You got my money back!”
“I wouldn’t get too excited Toto.” She tells him sarcastically. “Your buddy Guido has been a bad boy.”

She throws the satchel at Tito, it lands by his feet.
“Shredded newspaper. He was going to double cross those mercs. He sent in a body double too. The red that I hit wasn’t him.”
“So what are you going to do now? About getting my money back I mean.”
He tries to take notice of her appearance as she begins to walk towards the limo, but her back is to the sun and it is blinding to him.
“I’ll tell you what I am going to do Titty. I’m going to hunt down that red bastard and I’m going to kill him.”
For the first time he detects a slight accent in her voice that he presumes to be Russian. She still makes him uneasy.
“Oh Titty. And by the way. Guido’s boys weren’t alone with those mercs on pier 36 neither. There were 3 other independents that I counted. And another larger group. Separate from them.”
Tito’s eyes narrow.
“Who were they? ”
“I think that the independents were Tombstones crew. The others smelled like military to me. Probably Threshold. I’d watch myself if I were you.”

He fidgets nervously pulling his coat collar up around his neck.
“Should I be worried?”
She stops and turns back to face him.
“I would be. If Threshold even slightly suspects that you could be in any way involved in any dealings with the reds. Well lets just say Guido Garfoni will be the least of your problems. If they come knocking at your door, the next time that I see you will be in the obituaries. Lay low Tata. Let me handle Guido.”
She climbs aboard the motorcycle and the engine roars to life, she places the sunglasses on the bridge of her nose while looking back over her shoulder at Tito. He hears the click of engaging gears and she throttles the bike and disappears into the sunset.

He returns to the limousine and slowly closes the door as if waiting for something or someone to interrupt. a deep voice reverberates from the shadows of the corner of the limo.
“Do you think that she bought it?”
Tito contemplates the question.
“She’s hard to read Guido. At this point I’m not sure. So when are you going to tell me what this is all about?”
The large male red leans forward and looks Tito in the eye.
“You just set up the real deal, with the real mercs. Tell them that I still want those explosives. I need certain people to think I’m dead. And Ambala is one of them.”
Tito scratches his chin thoughtfully.
“All of this so you can get your hands on a stone to open the gates of hell for this Ambala chick?”

Guido reclines in his seat and lights another cigar.
“You think that I want to open the gate for that bitch? Lemme tell you Tito. This deal that you and me got in New York? So sweet. Drugs.. Money.. Whores.. Hell everything that I ever wanted. But Ambala? She wants me back in the Jericho straits, she needs another general, and she thinks its going to be me. And when I get them pieces of the stone from Threshold? I’m gonna destroy them. Fuck Ambala. I got my own agenda.”
He slowly inhales the cigar smoke while staring out the window of the limousine.
“Just give that Scorpion bitch and threshold something else to chase for awhile. And set up that deal.”

~Scratch A.B.T. Copyright © 2008~

Into The Dark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



He sits quietly perched on a rooftop approximately one half a mile away from the dock, it is cold outside and still dark, a slight misty rain has been falling steadily for the past two hours. His full name is Winston Churchill Downey, affectionately known to his team mates as “Church.” he has been silently watching the movements on and around the dock for the past two hours Patiently feeding information to Samantha Bliss and the other members of Team Alpha. She has put him, Klinger and Milo Tripper on three different elevations to cover every possible angle on the docks below them. On the ground she has the rest of the team all spread out along a slope that overlooks the reds position. Now they must play the waiting game,the reds are present, but so far the rest of the party are no shows.Each member of Team Alpha waits for the word to engage the enemy, but no order will be given just yet.
“Church?”

The earpiece fills with a slight hum of static briefly before it crackles to life.
“Yeah boss lady.”
“Anyone out there yet except for the reds?”
“I don’t see anything moving from up here just yet, except for the reds.”
“Klinger?”
A slight pause.
“No. I’ve got nothing up here Sammy.”
“Nobody but the reds?”
“Nobody yet.”
She peers through the black misty morning with her field glasses. If Tombstone knew about this exchange he would more than likely be there, and as for this Scorpion person it was more of a feeling that Samantha Bliss has had, that Team Alpha wasn’t the only ones watching the reds at this moment.Sil moves up next to Samantha Bliss, who turns to face her.
“Sil?” She hands her the field glasses.
“Look down there and tell me if you see that Guido person that you spoke of.”

Sil raises the field glasses to her eyes.
“ No Samantha.. He’s probably hiding in the van right now. He doesn’t like water too much. And right now it IS raining.”
She hands the glasses back to Samantha Bliss.
“Well, obviously this Scorpion person isn’t going to tip her hand until Guido shows himself. If that is who she’s after.”
Finally, Milo Tripper’s voice floods her earpiece.
“Sammy? Heads up. We’ve got company.”
“Milo?”
“There’s three of them.. All human males, big bastards too. Probably your buddy Tombstone and his crew.”
“Any sign of Scorpion?”
“Not yet. But she’s here somewhere, I can just feel it Sammy.”
The voice of Ethan John Klinger interjects into the conversation.
“Sammy.. Three o’clock. Black Hummer is approaching. Probably the mercs.”
Suddenly the docks have come to life, as it would seem that all parties relevant have shown themselves to Team Alpha. Six men emerge from the Hummer, all armed to the teeth with standard automatic weapons. The leader motions for his men to fan out and check for snipers. One wanders around the dock with a hand held device checking for any radio transmissions. He nods to the leader giving the all clear.

Scorpion Rising.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



They surmise that they are alone here with these reds on this cold misty morning. And nothing could be further from the truth.
They watch as Tombstone, Loki and Cavanaugh all settle into their positions. Everything suddenly appears to be moving in slow motion, the leader of the mercs moves towards the van, while two of the others begin to unload the black case from the Hummer. From out of the side of the van the form of the large male red known as “Guido Garfoni” appears and cautiously begins walking towards them. Samantha Bliss can feel her stomach tighten knowing that Scorpion is somewhere watching. But it is only when one of Guido’s guards notice’s the small red dot climbing up the body and coming to rest on the forehead of the Merc leader that Samantha knows that all hell is about to break loose.

The first shot strikes him right between the eyes, blowing out the back of his skull, everyone on the dock all at once begin to exchange panic fire. Tombstone’s crew now appear at the sight and have begun an all out engagement with the remaining mercs, while Guido’s bodyguard has dropped the satchel of money in order to usher him safely back into the protection of the van.
“Team Alpha! Cover the escape routes. This is going to get out of hand quick. Take out that van NOW! We have to take Guido alive!”
The first body guard takes a head shot and is dead before his body hit’s the pavement. Two more to the left of the van fall immediately afterwards.
“Damnit! She’s not taking any prisoners! Church? Do you see her?”
“No Sammy! I’ve got nothing!”

Another red takes a direct hit straight into the back of its skull, and panic stricken now Guido is forced to fend for himself, as he jumps into the driver’s seat of the van and slams it into gear. The tires spin against the wet pavement as he tries in vain to get out of the line of fire. From above him and to his right, Church has shot out the left front tire. Guido has once again emerged from the vehicle, this time with his weapon drawn. They all watch curiously as the distant sound of what Samantha presumes to be a motorcycle of some type, echo’s throughout the dock. They are all quite shocked when it appears, the rider swoops in and scoops up the satchel of money and begins to fire its weapon into the chest of Guido Garfoni, hitting him numerous times. He falls back against the van and slides down it’s side, dead. Both rider and cycle disappear into the rainy morning.“Lifeguard!! Track that rider! We’ll catch up with them later, we’ll clean up this mess first.”
Meanwhile, the remaining members of Team Alpha have pinned in Tombstone and his crew. Who finally disengage,the now dead mercs.

The members of Team alpha have formed a circle around Tombstone, Loki and Cavanaugh, who are walking towards the black case. Samantha Bliss arrives. They all stand in front of the case as he bends down to examine the latch for possible booby traps, he motions to Loki, who bends down to check it. He nods, flipping open the latches. Tombstone cautiously opens the case to reveal several carefully wrapped bags of sand. He stands slowly, turning to face Samantha Bliss.
“I should have figured Threshold would send in a field team to investigate. I didn’t figure it would be you though.”
She doesn’t smile, nor introduce herself, as he slowly approaches her. He looks the Threshold unit up and down.
“The famous Team Alpha, I take it. And that must make you Samantha Bliss. They call me-”
“Tombstone.” She says flatly.
“So you know me then?”
“Your Dylan Poe Rand.”
His smile slowly fades.
“My Father.”

~Scratch. A.B.T. copyright © 2008~

I found some really Layouts at Doobix.com

Too Loose.



Friday. June 6th 2070.
It is in the early morning hours that the inhabitants of mobile unit one find themselves perusing the deserted warehouse district in search of the street contact that will give them the lowdown on what has been happening here in the past week or so. Long standing Team Alpha member Ethan John Klinger, knows the street contact all too well and he trusts his information to be accurate. Samantha bliss however is waiting to be convinced, Lifeguards voice crackles to life in her earpiece. Through the dark, damp cold night he has picked up a human heat signature one half of a mile ahead.
“Tell your driver to slow down Sam, the signature is moving side to side and back and forth. It kind of tells me that your boy is a little nervous. You might want to approach him on foot.”
She quickly relates the message to Klinger and he instructs the driver to pull over mobile unit one. Ajax and J’Mac stay in the van to offer protection to the driver and the rest of the team deploy to rendezvous with their street contact. They find him, one half of a mile up in a darkened abandoned warehouse. He is a thin frail looking young man who appears to be in his mid to late twenties. He has jet black hair and deep voice and carries a nervous twitch with him. Klinger approaches him alone at first to reassure him that he could trust the members of Team Alpha. Klinger approaches Samantha Bliss.
“Too Loose.”
“What?”
“They call him Too Loose. Its his street name Sammy. He’s a might nervous but he’ll talk to us. Just take it slow with him ok?”
She smiles and puts her hand on Klinger’s shoulder.
Don’t worry Kling, We’ll be gentle.”
He sits in front of them on a plastic paint bucket smoking a cigarette. His eyes nervously scanning the members of Team Alpha that are present, stopping to take in the forms of Priss and Sil, before moving on to Samantha Bliss and the other members of the team. His nervous glances finally stopping on the form of the only person present that he knows, which would be Klinger.
He is a street urchin named Too Loose, and he has been an information source of Klinger’s for number of years, nothing happens here in the warehouse district without him knowing about it. He tells them that there has been a significant amount of Reds activity down near the waterfront and the word is that they have been courting some mercenaries trying to buy a large quantity of military grade explosives, he also tells them that there is another small group that have been waiting for the attempted transaction to be made, another group of Mercs led by a man he knows only as “Tombstone.”
He draws in another deep cold breath through the cigarette and casts a shaky glance in the direction of Sil.
“What’s with them?” he asks, nodding in the direction of Sil and Priss. “I ain’t never seen no female Red before.”
Samantha Bliss steps forward.
“They are members of this team.” she tells him. “Look. Too Loose is it?”
He nods.
“We just need to know that we aren’t walking into something like this unprepared, now can you tell us exactly where this is going to go down?”
“Pier 36.” he nods again “Four miles. That way, tomorrow night is what I hear.”
He draws the cigarette to his lips eying Samantha Bliss.
“But there is one more thing, that you may need to be aware of.” He tells her.

Target Revealed.



Samantha Bliss and Klinger are both leaning forward now.
“There’s a bounty hunter, she’s been snooping around here too, there’s a price been put on the head of one of the Reds, she’s a real nasty bitch too.
Got some serious hardware that she carries with her, you might want to keep an eye out for her.”
Samantha Bliss studies him.
“Well.. We do need to know everything. So what’s the story there?” she asks.
He stubs the cigarette butt into the dirt at his feet.
“Well see. Them Reds. They ain’t got no money, or they didn’t anyway. Least not until they came across a drug deal going down up in the central district, they took out both parties and ended up with the money and the drugs both. Sold the drugs to get even more money to finance the deal with the mercs. A pretty major drug deal to say the least. Well the word got out that it was the Reds that was hitting the drug dealers, so the dealers in turn got together and hired Scorpion-”
Samantha Bliss holds up her palm stopping him in mid sentence.
“Scorpion? There’s a bounty hunter named Scorpion after them?”
Too Loose nods.
“Yeah. Tito and his mates hired her to find out who has been organizing the attacks on the street dealers, and to take them out . Turns out it was a Red named Gordo or something like that.”
“Do you mean Guido Garfoni?” Sil asks slowly standing.
“Yeah that’s it .”
Sil looks at Samantha.
“ He was one of General Krotas’s body guards at the palace in Mordes Keep. He got the name from a gangster movie that he used to watch on human television. He even tries to dress like a gangster. He is very strange, Strange but smart. He would be capable of organizing something like this Samantha.”
Samantha Bliss returns her attention to Too Loose.
“So do you have any ideas as to what this Guido character plans on doing with the explosives once he gets them?”
The young man they know as Too loose, thinks about the question asked by Samantha Bliss.
“See that’s where it gets fuzzy, some people on the street are hearing that they’ve been snooping around a couple of places, checking out security. There’s talk that they plan to blow something up. Some talk has them targeting the old Empire state building. Myself, I think they are after something bigger.”
Samantha rises.
“Bigger?.. Bigger like what?”
He lights another cigarette.
“The Statue Of Liberty.”
Now it is Klinger’s turn to stand.
“Oh this we gotta stop for sure boss lady.”
She nods her head in agreement, all while addressing Lifeguard in her earpiece. They will need him to scan any comings and goings at the isle of Lady Liberty.
“Oh, and Lifeguard?”
“Yes Samantha?”
“See what you can dig up on this Scorpion character. The last thing we need is some loose cannon running around shooting up our leads.”
They are walking back to mobile unit one with Too Loose in tow. Klinger talks to Samantha Bliss as they walk.
“Ok Sammy. Its not like I don’t believe my ol buddy Too loose or anything, but what do they hope to accomplish by blowin up Lady Liberty?”
She stops to face Klinger and the rest of the team.
“Because Kling, Too Loose is right, but they’re not going to blow her up. They are going to try to take over the island to use her as a bargaining chip, we give them the stones or they blow up The Statue Of Liberty. But there is one small thing that they haven’t figured into the equation.”
“And that would Beeee?”
She turns to face Too Loose.
“Team Alpha.”

~Scratch A.B.T. Copyright © 2008.~

Back From The Dead.



She finds her self in much the same posture as she has on many occasions before, her legs crossed at the knee’s patiently waiting in the corridor outside of William Strong’s office. When she hears the voice softly speak her name she slowly rises and moves towards the glass paned door pausing slightly she runs her fingers across the name plate and fights back a slight smile. When she enters William Strong rises from his chair and offers Samantha Bliss a smile of his own and the two share a brief hug. He motions to the vacant seat in front of his desk.
“So.” the smile returns to her lips. “ its official then?”
William Strong nods to the affirmative.
“So you are the new director of field operations?”
“It’s a small step up for me Samantha, Arnold Winthrop has taken his leave from Threshold, effective immediately, I have been put in his place by the administration to pick right up where his work left off.”
She studies him.
“So why do I get the feeling that there is a catch to all of this William?”
He sighs softly.
“Because.. There are always conditions to be met. This promotion is contingent upon my finding a suitable replacement to fill the position of Deputy Director of field operations in a reasonable amount of time. And well my first choice I would think would be an obvious one.”
She pauses.. Slowly folding her arms under her chest. He removes his glasses slowly wiping away small beads of sweat that had been forming across his eyebrows.
“Samantha.. I was going to wait until after you and Alpha return from your next deployment. The last thing that I wanted was this to be a distraction for you. But if anyone could handle this I know it would be you.”
She stands.
“Mr. Director I am extremely Flattered that you would bestow such an offer on me. But sir-.. No.. William.. There are flaws to this idea. The most blaring would be that I am no politician. I am a field operative, I belong in the field, it is where I thrive, where I am at my best I-”
He touches her hand.
“Samantha.. You have instincts that I have seen in no other.. Not man.. Not woman.. No Samantha.. No other. Please Sammy.. Let Klinger lead them-”
She looks him in the eye and stands abruptly.
“You don’t want me to go back in the field.. Why?”
He motions again towards the chair and she obliges him by sitting back down. He tosses a folder onto the table in front of her and gives her a slight nod. To which she opens it to see the picture of the long silver haired older gentleman with the scar that travels along the length of his face. William Strong leans back in his chair.
“Recognize him Sammy?”
She slowly shakes her head no. he pauses.
“Does the name Dylan Rand mean anything to you?”
“You know it does.”
“Sam . The man in the picture.”
“No. that’s impossible.”
“Sam he calls himself Tombstone now.”
“Dylan Rand died when I was six.”
“He isn’t dead Samantha. He’s in New York City.”
She reflects on the picture in front of her. The eyes staring back at her.. The eyes of a stranger.. The man she’d never met.. Dylan Poe Rand.

Facing Ghosts.



She’d heard stories about how he’d met his end as a police detective on the streets of the Canns Landing Corridor, shot down during a armored car heist. She’d lived her entire life trying to earn the approval of a ghost.. And now she was being told that he was no ghost at all. She rise’s from her chair.
“ Mr. director- William.. Are you telling me that my biological father is alive?”
He returns the glasses to the bridge of his nose and adjusts his posture. He reaches over to the dispatch phone and instructs the desk officer that he isn’t to be disturbed. He rises from his own chair and walks over to lock the door.
“I’ve been piecing together his story Sammy. I owed this to you.. No.. Threshold owes this to you.. Much of what happened to your father has been deemed classified so as you could probably guess we couldn’t dig too deep without raising suspicions as to why we were initiating formal inquiries into Dylan Rand’s dossier. So we had to piece together parts of it.”
She doesn’t answer. When he hands her another folder.
“We don’t have much information on what happened to him immediately following his disappearance from the Harrisburg police department, but we have managed to piece together a paper trail of sorts that places him in New York 19 years ago where he was recruited by the government into something called ‘Project Genesis’ we believe that it was a small group of men who were trained as anti terrorist hit squads. Though we can’t be absolutely certain that that was their purpose. Project Genesis lasted for 8 years before the lack of funding forced the government to pull the plug. After that we have no trace of him until three years ago. He turned up again in the Jericho straits calling himself Tombstone. We believe he is working as an independent now.”
She stares at the folder silently.
“So what’s he doing in back in New York?”
“ The word we’re getting is that the reds are trying to get their hands on some military grade explosives to launch a new attack. Tombstone has picked up their trail, after they attempted to contact and purchase the explosives from a group of independent contractors that he was tailing.”
“Mercs?”
He nods.
“ And you didn’t want me to go to New York because why exactly? Did you think that I would jeopardize the mission or the safety of my team because I might have discovered that Tombstone was really my father?”
“Samantha I-”
“William.. We are the very best field team that you have.. No one is more qualified to go than us. If the reds are up to something. Well then you have to let us go in there and find out what it is BEFORE they can do whatever it is they’re trying to do.”
“And Tombstone?”
“Regardless of Tombstone.. Sir.. You have to let us go in and do our job, Lifeguard can feed us intel as he sees fit. And we’ll do the rest. But regardless of the possibilities that we may cross paths with Tombstone and his crew, you have to let us go in and do our job.”
He ponders the thought for a moment trying to clarify the possibilities all at once in his mind. And then he stands almost hesitantly to face Samantha Bliss.
“Of course you are right.. I was trying to protect you of all people. I shouldn’t have. You will brief the team?”
“Completely Mr. Director.”
“Alright then. You will board a transport at 0300. Prepare your team Agent Bliss. You’re going to New York.”

~Scratch A.B.T. copyright ©2008.~

Tribal Dealings.



They cautiously eye the empty snow covered sidewalk behind them as they turn down Blunt street towards the dilapidated building known as the Allen Hotel. Rom slowly pulls the army green coat up around his shoulders to fight off the brisk early morning chill. He eyes his partner Grenzel and then looks back for the seconds. The detachment that was sent to be their safeguard. His fellow reds have been getting their asses handed to them on a daily basis for the last seven years they could never seem to get the upper hand in their war with Threshold. This was to be their one good shot and they didn’t want to take chances with it. The three Humans that had been following them through the city for the past twenty four hours did not appear to be Threshold agents. This made Rom nervous, Not knowing who they were or what their interests were, didn’t make them any less dangerous as any ten Threshold agents. Grenzel pulls on Rom’s shoulder and takes him into the alley just below the Allen Hotel. He pauses to light a cigarette and looks around nervously. He watches as his warm breath carries through the cold morning air.
“Tell me again Rom.. Who are these people that we are buying the explosives from?”
Rom gives pause to light his own.
“Mercenaries.” he tells him.
Grenzel rolls his eyes skyward.
“Human mercenaries? You would have us do business with human mercenaries?’
“Do you know of any other kind Grenzel? Do YOU know how to obtain enough of the C-4 explosives that we require for our mission? We need them, their trust can be bought with this money we carry.. They will get us what we require.. Yes Grenzel.. This is necessary.”
As they make their way deeper into the alley a pair of headlights softly blink off and on in the distance. Rom nods to Grenzel who is nervously looking around behind them.
“I don’t like this Rom! We have nothing but solid brick walls on either side of us with no way to escape.. And where is our back up?”
The car in front of them turns its lights off and slowly begins to roll forward. Rom checks his partner.
“This is it here we go.”
Two men emerge from the vehicle and begins to approach the two suspicious reds.
“Did you bring the first payment?”
The two reds nod.
“Half of the money now, and the other half when the merchandise is delivered.”
They think it is almost funny as the first human stumbles and then falls into the snow, but the humor begins to fade as he lay motionless six feet from them. And when the second bullet strikes the second human in the forehead. The reds know.. They are not alone.

In The Mix.



Rom is out in front of him on a dead run through the snow Grenzel eyes the small red dot on the back of his coat as it slowly moves up towards his head. Grenzel blinks and Rom’s head all but disappears. Stunned, he stumbles and falls into the snow bank behind him at his feet, the large shadow that towers above him is now almost twenty feet to his right. Now it moves closer and Grenzel can see the massive figure of a human being staring down at him, but it is mostly shadow. All but the eyes and the faint outline of silver hair catches his attention and then the deep throaty voice that talks to him,
as the large human kneels down to look at the red closer.
“A bit far from the roost aren’t we redman?”
Grenzel doesn’t however appear to be fearful. He rolls on his back and looks up at the stranger, but says nothing.
“Relax boy.” He tells Grenzel. “It’s barely past midnight, save your strength, your morning is just beginning.”
He feels a sharp pain in his lower thigh, and it begins to burn into him as hot as hellfire. And then he blacks out. The large silver haired man stands to meet the first of his two allies.
“Where’s Cavanaugh?”
He nods to the mouth of the alley.
“Were there any others?”
“We took care of their back up, there isn’t anyone else except this one here. Cav should be along in a minute.”
He looks slowly in the direction of the two human bodies.
“Pretty sloppy for Merc’s wouldn’t you think?”
The other man leans forward.
“You think they were working a con on the Reds?”
He studies the dead bodies silently.
“Hmmmph.. It just doesn’t seem likely that these dipshits could get their hands on firecrackers, let alone military grade explosives.”
“Hey Tomb?”
His eyes roll up to meet the voice.
“What do you think the red’s are gonna do with them explosives anyway?”
He lights a cigarette and motions towards the unconscious red.
“That my friend, is what HE’S going to tell us.
The large man slowly stands while looking into the dark early morning sky.
“Load him into the van and get rid of the other three bodies.. And Loki?”
He looks over his shoulder at him.
“Don’t forget the satchel of money.”
A black van slowly rolls to a stop and Loki and Cavanaugh open the doors to load the red.
“Anything else?” Cavanaugh asks.
Loki grins raising the satchel of money.
“Nope.. This about covers it.”

Outside of The Bay.



When he awakens there is straw everywhere as though he were in a barn or shed of some kind. He is bound at the wrist and is hanging from chains extending from the ceiling. “This is not looking good” he thinks to himself.
He can see the large human male more clearly now. He is huge, larger than any red soldier Grenzel has ever seen, close to 6 ft 8 he guesses. Long silverfish colored hair falls to his shoulder s and his face seems weathered and scarred. With one scar in particular that gives him a frightening appearance. It starts at his right eyebrow and travels downward across his eye and down his cheek stopping at the side of his lips.
“Well, I see that you are awake. Sleep well did you?”
Grenzel does not answer.
“You see boy.. I’m not going to waste a lot of time on you. I’m not going to try to scare you into telling me what I want to know. No posturing. No threats. No games. I’m just going to tell you who we are and what we know. And if you can add anything to the conversation so be it, if not, I won’t waste any more time on you, I’ll just kill you and move on until we figure out this little scheme of yours.”
Grenzel doesn’t answer.
“My name is Tombstone. Because I am quite good at sending people to their graves. That fellow there is ‘Loki’ and that is ‘Cavanaugh’. see we’re just three average American guys who do some very bad things to people that we don’t like, and sometimes we even get paid for it. Now.. Let me tell you what we know. We know that you came into Camaroon Bay to buy explosives from those so called mercenaries. And we know that you only brought half of the payment with you and they were going to get the other half after they delivered the explosives. And we know that they were supposedly going to deliver them to NYC to a detachment of you reds sometime next week.”
He stops to light another cigarette.
“See boy I don’t know how smart you dumb red bastards really are, but I have a theory. I think that you were being conned. But see, that’s just a theory. See, we’re being realistic here, and we know that there’s a chance that you weren’t being conned. and those jackasses that you hired to steal military grade explosives really are Merc‘s, and if the explosive are indeed real, well then, this suddenly become a viable threat.. well that thought concerns me a little.. Lets recap.. We know that you only brought half of the money with you.. We know that the two guys that were going to meet with you are dead.. Your partner is dead.. Your back up is dead.. And all because WE killed them. Pay attention boy here is where you come in.”
Grenzel draws a deep breath and silently listens to the man called Tombstone.
“ Here’s what we don’t know.. We don’t know what you reds are going to do with all of those explosives.. Hmmm. So what is it about redman?.. Going to kill a couple thousand innocent civilians because you couldn’t kick Thresholds ass? Pissed off are you? See? we need to know what it is that you intend to blow up.. And more importantly who’s helping you and why your doing it. And if you don’t tell us anything useful, this will end for you quicker than it began.”
The red does not answer. Tombstone stands.
“Well this is a complete waste of time, you obviously aren’t in a talkative mood.”
He removes the weapon from underneath his coat and fires it from point blank range into the skull of the red without so much as a afterthought.
He turns to Loki.
“We’re going to have to do this the hard way. Load the van and get it ready for the drive east.”
“Where we goin Tomb?”
“New York City.”

Scratch.. A.B.T Copyright © 2007

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