Chapter Three
Two weeks
Badass Club Idaho
Light has Shadow with me today. I like the line-ups and send it to him through the link. Shadow puts his paw on my arm. “Fairy is good with the boys?”
He sends me pictures of her with them. I shake my head at him realizing the pictures are from today. “You got the Alpha-Bits sending feeds?”
He shows me a black German shepherd, I shake my head at him. “You know how many black German shepherds there are here?”
Donny laughs. “I know of at least ten, Boss. Some have blue eyes, we could narrow it down by eye color.”
I nod, then shrug for Donny. “He sent me a girl. I think there were only a few females but I wouldn’t know them. It’s an Op K-9.” I turn to my partner. “Once we set down, focus.”
His chuff relieves me. I know he’s worried about the two boys but have never seen him so connected to kids before. We didn’t have kids on any bases we were on. Mostly we were underground so we didn’t see more than other program soldiers.
“Izzy and Max are ready, Boss. Do they need the plan again?” Donny is a trainer, not their handler and he’s new to the chip connection.
“They’re ready and no. Use the Lead glasses to keep up with them. They have the objective and will pick up our responses. IT will keep everything flowing through your glasses. You shoot for them, distract or whatever. They’ll let you know or send it to me and I’ll tell you or get IT to. You’re just following them to open doors quicker, hold packages or whatever.
He smiles looking more relaxed. “Mil said they don’t need us for the jobs. I thought he was kidding. My K-9s are Ops but not chipped like Izzy and Max.”
“Your K-9s are the same, but their job was different. They’re just not trained tactical Leads. If they get training they’d do the job.” Feeling us lower, I stand and focus on the K-9 partners. “No updates from control. Our objective hasn’t changed. Cort indicated ‘ secret’ assassin protocol with the ‘ no breather ’ comment so we stick with that.”
Donny looks surprised but the Flight Crew just keep moving without reaction. They know us now since we’ve done two jobs a day for the last two weeks. We do seem to be moving further away from the Maestro Club but I did expect it.
Mase was right, the jobs are small and full teams are overkill. The K-9s tend to be overlooked and are fuckin’ good at the job so we pop in and out unnoticed. Feed static and glitches are ignored when there aren’t two legged threats in battle gear caught roaming the streets from independent security or traffic monitoring systems. Two K-9s are in gear today but they’re both stealthy Brothers that are meeting me in the office building.
Before we jump down, my eyes find Donny. “Don’t follow too close, don’t keep eyes on the partners and for fuck’s sake, act like you have a destination.”
He smiles at me. “Roger, Pres. Mailman showed me O’Rourke’s ride along.”
I shake my head. “He’s a trainer that never worked as an operator. He was never off base here in the US.”
He laughs. “Kandahar was as close as I got. I was K-9 logistics and didn’t see as much action as the K-9s did.”
I nod. “You saw the O’Rourke feed, don’t do that.” I jump down and signal Shadow to move. Every handler has personal signals they’ve trained with their partners on that are only used in dangerous or dire circumstances. That’s the signal I use today because Shadow is a Lead here and I need his head in the game. He sends me a thumbs up and runs with Ranger keeping pace on the other side of the fence line. Ranger has been a good partner on jobs with Light and Max. He’s from the Beta group and knows the job but doesn’t have a handler listed. This tells me his partner or handler didn’t make it. We don’t have much on the groups but the K-9s fill in what they can. If I lost my partners, it wouldn't be up for discussion, but I have to wonder if they had one partner like us or they had a string of handlers that didn’t really know what they were trained for. Ranger always seems relieved to get objectives then a ‘good job’ when the mission is done.
I climb in the first car and wait at the gate. We’re in a lot by a supposedly abandoned factory, but there’s a lot of activity in the huge building flagged red because of the massive power draw, that has two vehicles as far away from it as possible along the back fence.
Donny, Izzy and Max are in the car behind us. I pull out when Shadow’s approach to a main road shows through the chip. Donny turns the opposite way causing my head to nod. He’s following the map his Lead glasses show. This is already better than O’Rourke but I should have known when he said he didn’t know any Irish songs or people. He’s Irish and doesn’t know more than they have ale and corned beef and cabbage sometime in March. The man has no Irish pride at all.
I hit the blinker and pull into a spot on the road five blocks from where the chopper set down. I’ve got two blocks to walk, but there’s a store Shadow stopped at. I’ll take a walk through since he thought it was notable.
I smile coming up to the store with colorful shit in the windows. Bobble heads are on display covering a whole window. Walking in, I stifle a laugh, finding a Rottweiler bobble head just inside the door. I pass it by with my eyes on the wall of tin signs in every color, touting every brand, from the 50’s and 60’s, that gives me a chance to see more without drawing attention to the Rottweiler bobblehead. My partner is good and stealth is a specialty for him but he is a K-9 that could be memorable because of his odd mix.
“What are you doing?”
The voice in my head surprises the hell out of me. I send plausible deniability through the chip and get Shadow’s laughing emoji back. Walking out, I send a hammer and jammer so the feeds will work again for the urban deco store.
The next block takes no time and I’m walking in as Max and Izzy send me they’re approaching. I go right to the elevator and stop a floor below the one I need. I send the hammer and jammer getting a laugh. No one has ever made a sound before so I’m not sure who this is but I’ll find out when we’re done. The Lead glasses are programmed to view our chip when Light opens it but no one said the option comes with comments.
Making a beeline for the bathroom, I pull my hoodie off and the oversized flannel that’s hidden under it. Reversing the layers, I leave the flannel untucked so it looks more like a coat. With a ball cap from my back pocket, I gather my hair in it and I’m ready to go, then do.
“You look totally different.”
My feet stall, then go again. Who the hell is this? I send a red flag to Ops. Shadow chuffs telling me he isn't into the chatter either.
“Roger, Brother.” The voice, again has me sending ‘unprofessional’ to IT.
I breathe deep and move to the stairwell to meet Shadow and Ranger. Thankfully, that's without commentary. Max shows at the door I’m heading in. I take the bag from him and keep walking while he heads into the stairwell. He’s on point every time. I send it through the link getting a chuff back. I’m smiling when I walk through the office door. The reception area is empty so I keep going. Izzy has the woman cleaning a spill in the kitchen area they use for lunch.
Walking through the hallway, I avoid the bigger corridor and take the small one that leads to the big boss. He’s our target and the only one to use the side hall to escape or return without an audience. He’s sitting in his expensive looking executive chair with pure horrified fear on his face. I smile at my partner holding his throat and Ranger with a hold he actually got under the doughboy belly.
Holding up the bag, I tell him, “I brought lunch. You’re looking a little doughy lately. Salad will do you good. Let’s eat outside, it’s a nice day.” The guy looks even worse now. Maybe he thought I’d save him from my partners.
We get the bastard out to the oversized fire escape that has a sleek, black, pipe butt ashtray and chair. “Nice.” I smile as Shadow growls and the guy sits. “You listen well. Time to pay the piper. Release.” Both partners sit while my hand renders our doughboy useless. I open the bag and squeeze Italian dressing for three seconds on our target making sure to hit the metal grated floor. Checking for marks that my partners took pains to avoid, I give them props for effectively holding the guy without any evident force. The guy is a big pussy. I don’t know what he did but he deserves an undignified death.
Shadow pulls his foot through oil making sure I’m covered. I nod and stand him up, then let him go. Ranger gives me the bag with the salad and I open the lid and drop it just over the stairs. The doughboy fell over the side but the salad stopped a tier down. Looking at the grate, I see the swipe Shadow made fits with falling back so it works. Stepping over oil, I check my gloves before opening the door for my partners. Ranger follows me out the side while Shadow goes out the bigger main hallway door. I don’t look back and make my way to the stairs. Walking out the building at the back, I never look at the dick on the ground. Max is sniffing around him but moves down the alley going in the opposite direction.
“Unbelieva…”
“Stand down. This isn’t a fuckin’ game. Shut the fuck up.” That sounds like Kristos.
I make it back to the weird abandoned building that isn’t abandoned and board the chopper. Donny comes in with Izzy and sits, handing me a big manilla envelope. “This is what Max brought.”
I take it and slide it into my hoodie under the flannel. Max and Ranger jump in together and a minute later Shadow is in.
The Lead closes the doors. “All present and accounted for, Pres.”
Everyone is quiet on the way back. “Pres, Ops on for you.”
I stand and take the engineer’s seat. Cort and Kristos are on but split screened. “Bosses,” I say and lean forward.
“The IT was replaced. Are the partners okay?” Cort has me smiling using the partner’s word. I noticed last week he says partners all the time now.
“Yeah, Boss. We’re not used to a control on with us but no one had a problem.”
His eyes narrow. “You froze.”
I nod. “I did for a second but sent the alert to shut them up before it became a problem. Shadow was Lead so he’d have said if it was a problem for the rest.”
Cort nods but doesn’t look happy with that. “Did he get the safe contents?”
The feeds were jammed from the office stopping them from seeing that. Shadow isn’t in gear so he didn’t have a bodycam on. I unbutton the flannel and pull the envelope from the hoodie. “Right here. He sent reports to IT but I didn’t read what it was. I was moving up to them then.”
Cort looks to the side. “Does it have the water collection activity Alder said we need?”
I open the envelope and scan through the pile. “Yeah, it’s page twelve.”
He looks back at me. “Thanks. They’re dumping toxic shit in the water. That dicktwat is the lawyer that took out the owner then bought the company from the widow for a song. She’s who turned him in.”
Holy shit. “Toxic in the water?”
Kristos answers me while Cort is talking to someone off his camera. “Alder has something that will neutralize the toxin. You’d have to ask him but it will be cleaned up. He needed the locations from that activity sheet. All the woman had was two dump sites at reservoirs.”
Oh, my fuckin’ God. I turn the sheet so he can see it. There’s a list and a half on it.Fuck. He nods.
Greed. Killing water instead of safely neutralizing the chemical shows how far from decent we’ve veered. How did making a buck replace caring for our neighbors, our community? They sign off and I run a shaky hand through my hair. I don’t know if it’s because I grew up in a smaller place, but there was a time when our neighbors were like family. They showed for me and celebrated my good grades, my milestones and my birthdays. They showed on the hard days too, death anniversaries were tough but they were there with food and stories of my dad.
Shadow leans his head against my shoulder sending help and hope. “Thanks, I feel it, Brother.”
Tiredly, I move back to my seat feeling old. Toxin in water. “Myers, get a flight plan to ABSZ at IT. We need to drop this off for Alder.”
“Roger, Boss.” He moves but I tune them all out and watch the activity with the partners on the chip. They’re pissed about the water too and have the Ops K-9 boards up. Someone is testing BSC water but it goes by too fast for me to see who. I’m just glad it’s getting done. This is a community that isn’t worried about making a buck. Ranger has my eyes open when he leans against my leg. I give him a cranial scratch. “You all did good today, Brother. Alder will clean the water because you got the intel for him.” I should have said it sooner.
He chuffs and lays his head on my leg. I keep my hand scratching his head. It’s a good day, we got what Alder needs and water will be clean before anyone dies…I hope. It’s better than never having known and millions getting sick or dead. That’s the difference in military and here. We live here, it’s not just a job but our home, our people.
The chuff gets me scratching faster. “Good job, Brothers.” I say again.
***