Aurae #2
“Da. I give you and Simo favor now. Two men. One a lawyer in LA. Next is former American military officer. They have two jet on location ready to fly. Riverside and Gray Butte Airfield both in hangar. I text you tail number when I get them. I call contact in Oregon… he said something big happen soon.”
“Joel?”
“Ask Simo if his nose itch. If yes, is little bitch.”
“How many weapons?”
“Enough for American platoon… big payday. Ok, I say too much now. You watch back, da?”
“I will, thank you.”
Jessie drummed her fingers on the desk as Johnny stared at her swallowing hard.
“What?” Johnny said quietly.
“I’m thinking…” She nodded, picked up her phone and called Simo. She looked at Johnny and shook her head. She called Eleni and that too went to voicemail. “Fuck.” She grumbled as she dialed Chen who answered on the second ring. “We have a Joel Miller problem.”
Chen replied, “Go ahead.”
“Johnny uncovered some peculiar happenings. I verified them with Demetri… and—and Simo and Eleni aren’t answering. Demetri said to watch my back.”
“Checking… Simo and Eleni were at the firing range earlier with Gunnar. Tracking him leaving and heading to Ari’s. Simo and Eleni are offline… wait. Damn.” Chen’s voice tightened. “Eleni’s car is… parked in an alley. Simo’s car is… oh hell.”
“WHAT? Where is Simo?”
“His car is at the bottom a ravine. Jessie… Xander is in San Francisco, Halo is home… you are compromised! JESSIE! Drop all coms and trackers NOW! You have incoming! I’m contacting Theo…”
“Where’s Simo!”
Chen dropped the call without answering.
Jessie pointed at Johnny. “Call Halo now! Get her into her safe room or out!”
Jessie dialed up another number. “Xander! Drop all electronics and trackers! We are compromised! Get out…”
A loud crash erupted against the door and Jessie pointed hard to the bathroom. Johnny sprinted in and closed the door.
Just as Jessie pulled out her gun the door exploded inward launching her against the glass window cracking it. Darkness met her as she slid down the wall into a heap.
Johnny desperately rolled through his contacts, found Halo’s number and the bathroom door was suddenly kicked in.
Harding pointed at Simo. “Flesh wound him in the leg. I don’t want this fucker running.
” A pistol shot rang out and Simo grunted a ‘fuck’ and hobbled on one leg as two men held their guns on him.
Harding pointed to the driver of lead SUV.
“Push that fucker’s car into the ravine.
Now.” Harding turned to Simo glaring at him.
Foster Lee finished frisking Simo. “He’s clear, no weapons. What about his vest, boss?”
Harding slowly pulled out his pistol and fired a shot into Simo’s chest who grunted at the impact and doubled over.
“Doesn’t look like level four armor under that ridiculous leather blazer!” Harding laughed.
Simo grunted coming up. “Costed more than level four…” Simo coughed.
Harding let out a laugh. “We’ll see if it was worth it… later.” Harding turned to his men, “If he talks, start by shooting him in the back. That’ll shut the fucker up. Now secure him in the van.” Harding turned to see the lead SUV slowly push the Challenger Hellcat off the edge of the ravine.
Harding answered his phone. “Situation? Who did we lose? Fuck. Fine, patch the Greek bitch up then and get her to the location. If she dies, on the way there, she dies.”
He stuck his finger in the air and spun it. “Now let’s go get that red-headed Russian bitch of his.” Harding limped over to the passenger side of the van and winced as he got himself settled in. Foster Lee handed over a phone, “It’s on speaker.”
“Report.” Harding ordered.
“Kostinos was not in his room. Jacked his stuff. We are searching the hotel’s interior and exterior.”
“It’s a million a head for these fuckers.
Get second team to find him and fast. You get your asses to Joel’s compound and secure it before he arrives.
” Harding handed the phone back to Lee and he took out his own phone and dialed up someone else.
“Harding here. Status? Don’t wait for confirmation.
Hit it and hit it hard. Then proceed to secondary target and hit that.
Burn it all down, understood? On mission completion, land at Riverside Municipal and await EVAC instructions. Harding out.”
Harding slipped his phone under his plate carrier and turned to Simo watching him. “Joel will be visiting you tomorrow morning. We are going to kill all your friends one by one then Joel is going to chop you into pieces.”
Simo let out a dry chuckle, “Sucks to be me.”
Harding let out a laugh, “You are gonna wish you died first.” He gestured ahead as they pulled up to Club Aurae’s side entrance. “So will your bitch.” Harding gestured to Lee who turned his rifle and slammed the butt of his gun into Simo’s head knocking him unconscious.
It was a bright and sunny morning when Halo awoke. She extended her hand out and felt nothing but empty bed. She missed Xander already. She laughed at herself missing him so much as he was only in San Francisco for only the night.
She pulled his pillow over and buried her face into it, breathing deep his lingering scent.
She stayed that way for several minutes then picked up her phone off the nightstand.
She checked for any texts from Xander, but the only one was from last night.
She figured he was probably still sleeping or showering and set the phone back down.
After she was ready for the day she checked her phone and saw that Xander had neither called nor texted. She was tempted to call him but passed, in case he was still asleep.
She headed downstairs and found that Athena had made them a pot of coffee.
She heard water running and figured she was in the shower.
Sitting down, she pulled out her iPad and began scrolling through the news.
Finding nothing interesting she headed off to the refrigerator and began to make one of her omelets for Athena and herself.
After a while, Athena came in with her hair in a towel and smiled at Halo. “Good morning!”
“And a good morning to you!” Halo beamed her smile at her. “Hungry?”
“Sure!” Athena took a seat next to Halo. “What did the church bigwigs say?”
“It’s a go! The archbishop will be coming from San Francisco to preside over our wedding!”
“Oh wow!” Athena gasped.
“Want to help me and JJ look for a wedding dress?”
“Awesome! Yes, thank you!”
“JJ should be over in an hour or so… hey have you heard from your dad yet this morning?”
“No. Want me to text him?”
“It’s OK. I’ll text him in a little while in case he is still sleeping.”
Athena nodded and they began eating their breakfast.
After an hour JJ rang the bell and came inside to find Athena and Halo looking over baby furniture on Halo’s laptop.
“Hey, JJ!” Halo turned to her friend. “Oh my, you look a little tired…”
JJ’s hand shot up to her face and she blushed. “Oh… uh yeah. Didn’t get a whole lot of sleep.”
Halo smiled and gave her a surreptitious wink.
“Well let me get some coffee and let’s find you a dress you and Lewis will like.” JJ replied.
“One sec, I’m gonna text Xander.” She did and waited and didn’t get a text back. “Hmm, wonder if he is in the shower… check out time is noon, he said.”
JJ sat down with her coffee. “Want me to call Theo and see where he is?”
“No… it’s OK. I’m sure he is probably getting ready.”
“Yeah, sometimes he takes a while,” Athena snickered.
They had all turned toward the laptop when Theo came sprinting into the kitchen.
“EVERYONE! Upstairs now, safe room, now, NOW!” He commanded and grabbed Athena and Halo’s arm’s.
“WHAT? What is it?” Halo yelled.
“No time! JJ run! Now!” He bellowed.
They raced into the closet and Theo pulled the door open and pushed them in. Then he jumped inside and closed the door and locked it.
“What’s going on Theo? Have you heard from Xander?” Halo yelled.
He stood in front of them shaking his head. He turned the screen on the wall to a news station. “Watch,” he commanded.
The three women sat transfixed as they saw a news clip of a large helicopter landing in what looked like a prison yard.
The picture zoomed in on two figures inside the helicopter; a gun was being pointed at the head of the pilot.
Then there was shooting from the side door of the helicopter and prison guards were diving into the dirt as two figures ran to the helicopter.
The next scene showed the helicopter lifting off while rapidly firing on the yard, flying out of range of the camera.
The newscaster’s voice came over the small speaker.