Day One (Book 2): Choices (18 page)

A few seconds of visible pain caressed Smith’s face, and then slowly it began to fade. He looked up at me, as if he were beginning to relax from a hard day’s work. “I’m dead any way it goes… there’s no saving me now.”

“Okay, I’ll play” I said to Smith. “Where did they go?”

“Don’t listen to this guy, Brandon. He’s trying to confuse you and get you to kill him so he doesn’t have to suffer the painful death he knows is coming. Let him wither in pain!”

I looked back at my friend. “It’s my son. I will follow any lead, no matter how stupid it may sound, until I know without a shadow of a doubt that he is either alive somewhere… or else,” I replied.

Johnny could see that I would not back down from my mission. It might end up killing me and he was certain that I knew that, yet still I was willing to risk that to know the truth.

“Where did they go from here?” I asked Smith once more.

“South,” he replied. “They said they were heading south and that if we wanted to follow, there would be markers set up to show us the right way.”

I spun and instantly began devising a plan to get us all out of here alive as I untied Johnny. “Take her and get to the roof. Start that bird up and get ready to leave,” I told him.

“What about you?” Johnny asked, rubbing his sore wrists.

“You’re going to need a diversion to get out of here without all of these guard dogs chewing on your ass,” I stated. “I’ll be that diversion.”

“I’m not leaving you here, so don’t even ask,” Johnny told me.

“You just get that bird ready. Don’t worry about me,” I said, as I reloaded the SBR and pulled the sling over my head.

“They won’t let you leave,” Smith said referring to his guards. “They kill you and your daughter before they let that happen.”

“Good,” I said. “That’ll give me a reason to fucking kill every one of them!” I grabbed him and got him to his feet. “Let’s take a walk,” I said with a humorless smile.

“You’re insane!” Smith rendered.

“No,” I stated. “I’m a father. And a father will protect his children against any odds. I’ll become the fucking devil himself if I have too in order to do what is right. Move!” I pushed him forward and he about fell, but was able to keep himself erect and held fast at the door.

“Just know that I can inflict levels of pain you have never experienced in your life before if you even think about trying to get away!” There was a coldness in my eyes he believed and didn’t want to cross.

Chapter Eight.

I could feel my anxiety running out of control. I could feel my thought process weighing in on the choice I had made, wondering if I had done the right thing or if I was being manipulated by my ongoing emotions and the fact that I had been told in not so many words that my son was dead, only to be told a different story moments later. I don’t guess it really mattered weather I had done right or wrong, as I stood in a long hallway perpetuating the rush of my fast approaching destiny.

I was in no way, shape, form, or fashion a hero. I was a coward that had hid when danger was near and ran from what should have been priority. You can judge for yourself, but only I know the real truth… and that truth is filled with the decaying stench of fear. So whatever transpired in the next few minutes, I’d never be able to replace the inner coward with any type of a hero. I’d do what I thought was right and live with the consequences as they arose.

We traversed the hallways until I had found the perfect spot to make my final stand against the guard dogs. I had ample cover and they had only one way to get at me. I had the tactical advantage and would exploit it to the fullest.

“Here I am!” I screamed. “Come and get me you motherfuckers!” The long hallway amplified my voice and carried it far out of sight. The remaining guards in the school complex were sure to hear me and come running. At least, that’s what I hoped for anyway.

From somewhere out of my field of vision, I could hear the sudden stomp of boots on the tiled floor. I wasn’t sure if they were approaching me from the sides or straight ahead, as the hallway masked their true direction perfectly.

“They’re going to kill you, ya know,” Smith said. “You should have left with your friend.”

“And leave your dogs to carry on your sick fucking work. No thank you,” I replied. “I’d rather die than let that happen.”

“That’s exactly what you’re about to do when they show up, only minus one person to help you,” Smith added. “You do better to just give up now.”

“How’s that medicine in your veins, doc?” I asked him, reminding him of the slowly approaching death that was ravaging him from within, in case he had somehow forgotten. Before he could reply, with an actual answer or something smartassed, four Guards appeared at the far end of the hallway.

“Put your hands up and let the Professor go!” One of them commanded. They had handguns pointed at me, but stood in the middle of the hallway.

“Too late now,” Smith said to me.

A brick wall was behind us, a door to either side, which was chained shut, so there was no way any of them could get behind me and catch me off guard. I had the element of cover if they advanced upon me, plus I had the Professor in front of me. I leaned forward and whispered into his ear. “Here is where we find out if they value your life or not.”

More boots hitting the tiled floor echoed out and more Guards came into view. They were coming out of the wood-work and I was beginning to wonder if my short thought plan was really going to pay off, or had I been too hasty and reckless again.

“Let Professor Smith go!” More demands were shouted toward me. “You are backed into a corner and have nowhere to go. It’s pointless to resist us!”

“Then come and get him!” I responded.

One of the Guards, the leader I presumed, ordered two others to advance and take me down. They were unaware that I was armed, as Smith was directly in front of me and I had my left hand on his shoulder to keep him from going anywhere.

“Here they come. For your sake I hope they still want you alive,” I stated softly. “If not, then you’ll be the first one to go down.”

The two Guards, on either sides of the hallway, advanced quickly with weapons drawn. I swung the barrel of the SBR up onto Smith’s right shoulder and both of them stopped cold in their tracks. They knew that if I pulled the trigger, one if not both of them, was going down.

“You want, Smith alive? Then I suggest you all
back off
, right now!”

The two Guards that had advanced on us, still stood where they had stopped, frightened to move forward or retreat, as if I would gun them down in cold blood if they moved a single muscle or in either direction. A fight was eminent and I was eager for it to start.

“Okay, okay. Just calm down and let’s talk about out,” the Morris said holding up a hand to show me that he was serious about talking and working toward a solution instead of killing each other here in the hallway. “Everyone just relax and breath.” He holstered his Glock, although he never told the others to do so, so I knew what would soon follow.

“He’s outnumbered, I say we rush him.” A voice shouted. I saw who it was and quickly offered two silenced rounds into the floor in front of him. The rounds skipped after hitting the tiled floor and zipped past with a distinctive whiz. The loudmouth Guard instantly fell silent.

“Anybody else thank I’m fucking playing around here?” I asked. “I have perfect cover, a better weapon, and a hostage. You have a lot of distance to cross just to reach me, distance which I can use to my advantage, and I’ll kill every single one of you that try!”

Morris held up his hand to the other guards. “Everyone, hush!” He insisted and focused primarily upon me. “No one is going to do anything without my permission, I promise you. Now what do you want?”

“What I came her for in the first place… my son,” I told him. “All of this could have been avoided if you would have just listened to me and given me what I wanted. But now, that’s not even an option anymore.”

There was a certain silence that I knew all to well. Morris was listening to what I had to say, but was already working on a way of taking me out quickly without harming Smith in the process. Apparently he made a good hostage after all, so as long as he continued to draw air into his lungs I had a chance of getting out alive. Although I had injected him with his death serum and it was only a matter of time before it kicked in fully and he dropped dead. My future would remain clear until that point, so I had to work fast. And when the shooting started, which wasn’t an
if
, but a
when
, I would have to kill anything that moved, and there were a lot of anything’s in front of me before I could start my search for the stairs leading to the roof.

“Are you sure he was even here to begin with?” Morris asked me.

Of course I wasn’t sure. I was working on the progress of elimination, and after looking in all of the places that I knew he had frequented and not finding him, this was my last hope. “Yes, I’m sure he was here,” I responded. “Why else would I have come here if there was no reason for me too?”

“Then we’ll find him,” Morris said. “I’ll send some men out to look for him while we wait here.”

This was the facts that I knew. My son had either been murdered by the asshole I had in front of me, or he had been lucky enough to get transported away with the Military. I wasn’t going to give up hope, ever, of finding him until I saw a body that was lifeless or full of life. Morris was unaware that Smith had told me about the Military showing up, so I knew he was doing nothing but trying to stall me while he got some of his dogs in position to take me out and save Smith.

“No!” I exclaimed. “You send one person only!” I watched the other guards react to my words and even though I’m not an expert about everything, I was positive that more than three quarters, maybe even more, of the guards were not used to handling firearms, which meant they would be worthless shots if something happened and a gunfight ensued. I pointed to the only female Guard. “You send her and her alone… or we can start shooting right now and see how you and your dog’s fair against my military grade weapons and tactics!”

Morris nodded to me. “Okay, I’ll send her. You just keep cool and watch that trigger finger,” he stated. “The last thing we need is someone accidently getting shot here.”

“You tell that to the clowns around you, I know what I’m doing,” I shot back.

“Tawny, go and see if you can locate his son, please and hurry back,” Morris instructed her. She dashed away and I could hear her boots pounding the tiled floor as she went. There was no accomplishment to grow within me, as I knew she wouldn’t find him. I’d accepted the knowledge that my son was dead and was simply toying with them, giving Johnny the time he needed to get to the chopper and start it. From there I would have to play it by ear and make things happen in my favor. Under any other circumstances I would have spent more than a few minutes working through the plan, which contained more holes than an afghan blanket. Time wasn’t a luxury, not in the sense that one might think anyway.

“Everybody just remain calm,” Morris announced.

I quickly checked the doors to my left and right, found them still clear and refocused my attention upon the dozen or so Guard’s in front of me.

“They aren’t buying what you’re trying to sell,” Smith said softly.

“Then I guess you’ll die first, along with several of your guard dog’s,” I replied and pushed the barrel of the SBR harder into his back. The pain wasn’t as much as I would have liked it to be, but then again he had several bullet holes in him, so I was confident enough to know he wasn’t feeling very well.

“Let me talk to them. Maybe I can work something out that benefits us all.”

“You mean something that helps you out?” I responded, although before he could utter a single word, a series of loud bangs coursed through the complex.

Morris pulled a walkie talkie and began shouting into it. “Who’s shooting?”

For this man to ask such a question alerted me to one simple fact, and that was this. He hadn’t been very honest with me. I hadn’t asked him if he had brought all of his men, as I just assumed he would have when I began yelling for them to come and get me, yet there he stood screaming into a walkie talkie asking who was shooting.

I really should have put more thought into the plan of mine.

Johnny was either shooting at the remaining guards that were lurking through the hallways, or they were shooting at him and my Daughter. I didn’t like either scenario and had to do something about it swiftly.

“Both of these chained doors down here lead outside, don’t they?” I asked Smith.

Morris looked up from his walkie talkie at me.

“I mean, that’s why they are chained shut, right?” I added.

The look on his face gave me an answer, although from where I was standing I could see through the narrow slit to the outside. It was obviously a stupid question, yet still he looked at me as though I wasn’t supposed to know that and he was worried that I had now figured that out.

“What is it you really want?” Morris asked me. “And no more bullshit!”

“I told you,” Smith said softly.

“Why Officer Morris, what ever could you mean?” I asked him. “Are you referring to the fact that I already know this sick fucker murdered my son, probably days ago, or the fact that you already knew that but continue to play games with me, sending one of your dogs to look for someone that obviously is no longer here, thinking I’m stupid enough to fall for it?” The series of comments were to let him know I was all the wiser to what had gone on, and trying to buy Johnny a few extra minutes to get to the chopper.