Epilogue
THE RIVAL
I followed the group of men out of the bar. It was clear the party was coming to an end and I had nothing more to gain from being there. As I made my way to my car, I watched as they sat on the curb like a bunch of common thugs, blocking the way.
I suppose since that bitch owned the bar, she thought she could do as she pleased.
The whole lot of them looked like an ensemble cast of a badly written long-running TV show.
The happy couple. Actually, there was that cop and pop star as well.
Then all their supportive friends. Like the world revolved around them.
And Theo Snow looked happier than I had ever seen him.
Weak ass man. He couldn’t hack being in the business world.
He sold his father’s company. Chose love and happiness over the money and power he could’ve gained from me.
But he was never interested in that so I had never made any attempts to negotiate with him.
I had silently watched him. And he was never going to be the man his father was.
And when I discovered he was actually a confidential informant for Salinger Security, I knew one day I would need to get rid of him.
That was a fluke discovery years ago. The wrong document in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Law enforcement really were careless. Still, he hadn’t caused a problem.
Even getting rid of the Rippers had been to my advantage.
It left the field open for my men to take over.
Especially after the older Ripper was killed.
Of course, he owned the biggest weapons distribution company in the country. Our paths were bound to cross. That was when I knew I needed to get rid of him.
Ideally, I wanted Fred Ripper to kill him. But that asshole couldn’t find his ass with both hands. Still, Snow and his clean conscience were out of the picture. And even better. If needed, I could plant someone at Snow Enterprises.
A tickle started at the back of my throat.
I swallowed it down. The last thing I needed was to attract the attention of those brats.
It clawed its way back up, turning into a wet rattling cough that seized my chest. I slumped into the back rest of my car seat, my body racking with spasms until the fire in my lungs subsided to a dull throbbing burn.
Time. It was the one asset I couldn’t steal, or even buy or manipulate. I had less than a year left, and I still had so much I needed to accomplish.
I looked back at the group one last time. They thought they had won. They thought because Fred Ripper was in a bodybag, the threat was over. They didn’t understand the bigger picture. That Fred was a pawn. An easy sacrifice for the ultimate goal.
I put my car in gear and pulled away. After that coughing spasm, I knew I needed a few moments to get my head right. Reminders of my disease always brought out my temper and I needed to remain calm if I was to pull everything off.
I waved at the security guards on duty and drove off. If only they knew how much their safety and security was compromised.
The drive home was automatic. My garage door opened and I could drive straight in. I didn’t even get a glimpse of my nosy neighbor, though I did see some of her friends at the bar. Fucking nosy bunch of assholes. I killed the engine and waited a few more more moments to compose myself.
Inside, my house was quiet. I disarmed the alarm, the one installed by Salinger Security, then threw back the deadbolt. I entered the secondary code that secured only the perimeter and allowed me to move freely within the house.
I bypassed the kitchen. My appetite had all but disappeared.
Another delightful symptom of cancer. Instead, I walked toward the heavy door at the end of the hall.
I punched in the code that only I knew. Of course, the system was also installed by Salinger Security, but I had changed the code as soon as those men were out of the driveway.
The hiss of the hydraulic seal breaking was the only sound in my house. Turning the dial on the wall, I held onto the banister. The big fluorescent lights flickered on, and the air conditioner hummed. I waited a few seconds as the lights stabilized, and cold air blasted.
Slowly, I descended the stairs, my legs not as stable as I would like. My chair creaked as I sat down. I moved my mouse and the monitors all woke. I pushed my chair to the correct position so I could see the screens even without my glasses.
The folder labelled Snow Enterprises was still open. That sale had been finalized earlier today. And while it would take some work, I was sure I could get a man inside there. I had considered buying the company myself but that would’ve attracted way more attention than I needed.
The most important thing was that, while I didn’t have an asset in Snow Enterprises, they would no longer be an adversary. There were plenty of other weapons distributors, and more than a few of them were willing to do my bidding. I closed the folder on Snow Enterprises. That chapter was done.
I found the folder of the man I wanted. A Salinger Security employee who was someone else’s target.
That made him perfect for my plan. His career in the army may have been over, but at least he still had a life.
And while he was losing a crucial part himself, it was still more compared to what I others had.
I looked at the folder a moment longer when something else occurred to me.
Knowing that everyone at Salinger Security was still at the party, I took a moment to hack into their system to see if they had any new information.
I knew they had heard the chatter about me.
And Fred Ripper had made no bones about the fact that he knew The Rival.
In the end he was always going to die, I was just glad that Mason Salinger did the dirty work for me.
A notification had come through while they were at the party. A Ballistics report. That was interesting. I looked over the details, and considered deleting the file. Fred had used the same gun as the one that shot Marshall Felix last year. Of course, I knew that.
I considered whether or not to delete the file for a moment longer. Then smiled at the chaos that would surround the Salingers when they found out that Marshall was not the only person killed with that weapon. I closed out of their system. It wouldn’t do well to dwell in there too long.
Nick Salinger thought he and his shareholders were kings.
They believed their fortress was impenetrable.
That their teams of elite warriors could stop anything.
But they didn't know they were fighting a ghost. And they didn’t know that this ghost had nothing left to lose.
They were the reason I had lost nearly everything.
I scrolled back to the folder I wanted.
Hunter Spense. His designation still said he was the head of security for Snow Enterprises but we all knew that was just a farce.
He would be in the Salinger Security fold within days.
It would be almost impossible to get to him.
But damn, it would be satisfying. I remember when he first came to town.
Something about the way he was employed so easily always struck me as odd.
Of course now it all made sense. I knew his secret and I suspected, the man looking for him also knew his secret.
I would need to bring those two together.
But I would be smarter. Give him the tools he needs, as much as I can.
As for my identity? I wasn’t sure if I wanted that to be hidden.
Part of me liked the idea of those overgrown GI Joes hunting a ghost. Especially one who knew their enemies before they did.
Breaking any one of them would be almost impossible, and as a unit they were damn near invincible.
I would take great pleasure in being the one to do that.
They would realize that they were never as stable as they thought.
Nor as strong. And as Theo Snow had proven, the best way to weaken a man was to go after the thing he loved most.
And as much as he tried to hide it. The whole town could see Hunter Spence was in love with Tiffany Snow.