Revenge

I awoke confused to the worst the headache of my life. I sat up slowly, it felt like my entire body had been beaten repeatedly with a very large stick. I had flashbacks of the mission, of seeing myself in flames on the computer screen. I picked at the bandage that covered a large burn on my leg. Brian came damn close to making my death a reality. It had to be him, whoever had been shadowing me had ample opportunities to attack and didn’t. Where was my rescuer and was he also my shadow? Whoever had brought me here had taken care with my wounds. The table by the bed was covered in medical supplies, an enemy or a bounty hunter wouldn’t have bothered. They would get paid whether I was alive or dead, taking me alive usually meant a bonus. I dug around and found a bottle of pain killers. I took three and prayed for relief. I appeared to be in your typical safe house, well worn furniture and bare necessities. I grabbed a scalpel just to be safe and headed to the kitchen.

The pot of coffee was still warm so I poured a big cup. I found sandwiches in the fridge and searched while I ate, weapons, info, where the hell was I? How was I going to get my hands around Brian’s throat? I was going to squeeze until his eyes popped out of his skull.

The pain medication kicked in and I formulated my plan for revenge. I didn’t care the cost. I was done with this business, this life. I found a pile of cash and took what I needed, leaving the rest. I had a long drive ahead of me with plenty of time to figure out which painful way I was going to kill Brian. The sun was going down, I found keys and hoped there was something drivable in the garage. It was in decent condition with almost a full tank and current tabs. It would get me where I was going. I pulled out of the garage and headed into an uncertain future.

Brian was predictable, always the first to arrive at work. I parked the car and staked out the building. The sun was just beginning to rise. I drank in what would more than likely be my last sunrise. The odds of me getting in and out weren’t in my favor, but I was known for beating the odds. All I wanted now was revenge at any cost.

The light came on in Brian’s office and I knew it was time to make my move. I hadn’t bothered to look at myself at the safe house but it must have been bad. “Man, are you alright?” A homeless man asked me. “I’ve seen dead people who look better than you.” No doubt, I thought to myself. I threw him a ten spot and kept moving towards my target. “Thanks and God bless.” He shouted after me. God wanted no part of what I was going to do to Brian.

This early there might only be one at the desk. I can’t imagine my ID would still work but it was worth a try. The guard had stepped away which was good I didn’t want to hurt any innocent bystanders. I scanned my card but it kept coming up declined. In the process the guard had returned. “Can I help you?” he asked.

“Hey, Pat. My badge doesn’t seem to working.” I said.

He looked terrified. “You’re supposed to be dead. I deactivated your badge.”

“Pat, do I look dead to you?”

“No, but you look like someone stomped the piss out of you and set you on fire.”

I shrugged. “It was a rough assignment.” 

“Why don’t I call up to Brian and let you two figure it out?”

“That’s not going to work for me, Pat.” Sadly, for Pat he was within reach and I grabbed his taser and stunned him. I let myself in with his ID then dragged his ass to the elevator for his palm print to let me upstairs. I handcuffed him and stuffed him in a maintenance closet. I kept his taser and took his gun as well. I chewed a few more pain killers and readied myself to kill Brian.

I made it to the top floor, the doors opened and I was ready for a fight. It was quiet unfortunately for Brian, no one was there to save him from me.

He must have heard the elevator doors. “Jenny, honey is that you?” he said in a sickeningly sweet tone. I wasn’t even cold in my grave and he was two timing me.

“Such a beautiful sunrise, let’s spend it together.” He was staring out the window when I walked into the door way. He caught my reflection in the window. The look on his face was priceless.

“Did you miss me, honey?” I could see the wheels turning. How to approach this mess he had created, violence or lies. Eventually, it would lead to violence, it always does. He opted for violence, big mistake. He opened the drawer for his gun and I was on him like a lion on a gazelle. I punched him three times in the face so fast he dropped his gun. “Fight me like a man you chicken shit, bastard.” I was so filled with rage I grabbed him and threw him over the desk. He scrambled to his feet and ran for the elevator. In my line of work if I let something like this slide I would paint an even bigger target on my back

“You tried to kill me you little prick.” He managed to trip an alarm along the way. It didn’t matter anymore. We squared off and he gave a few pathetic shots. I could smell the fear on him. I hit him with a spinning back kick and he went down like a sack of rags. “Why, Brian? You could have just dumped me.”

“I can’t move.” He pleaded.  “I think you broke my back.”

I hauled him over to the elevator and put him in the door way to keep the elevator shut off. The door smacked him over and over as it tried to close.

“Kind of sounded like it.” I said, casually. “Chances are we’re both going to die today.”  I had a hard time accepting I had ever let this weak toad touch me. He wasn’t dead, but it was close enough. I walked over to him. “Goodbye, Brian. You knew who I was when you tried to kill me. I always win.” I dropped my gun and headed to the back stairwell. I didn’t come here to rampage and kill innocent people, I was here for revenge and I had gotten it.

The back elevator had been locked down. I could hear them coming up the stairwell like a herd of elephants. None of these desk jockey clowns would have made it a minute in my world. I was trapped unless I wanted to go to the roof and get picked off or take a swan dive out a window. I did what I always do, I kicked the stair well door open and walked in with my hands up. I do love to make an entrance.

My least favorite person was waiting behind that door. “Did you know he was going to kill me, Jason?” I yelled. Jason deemed himself to be a superior white male and tried to take me in the ring, he didn’t and he’s had it out for me ever since.

“Too bad it didn’t work.” He yelled back. I was then hit with several tasers, while I was on my knees enjoying the jolt, Jason stepped in and punched me in the face.

The Wolf

The Wolf

The night was clear, cloudless, the sky riddled with millions of shinning points of light. The quarter moon was just enough light to be a help and not a hindrance. A silver sliver hung in the sky, a brighter speck among the shimmering sea of light.

Phoenix was a summer storm that appeared out of nowhere, unpredictable, violent and yet breathtakingly beautiful all at the same time. She came and left just as quickly leaving devastation in her wake. Her hair was bright like the sunset, after a wildfire had consumed everything in its path without mercy. The red mass was neatly stuck under a stocking cap and her face was seared with camouflage makeup.

Lucas Kincaid watched her over the years become the best he had ever seen. At one time he had been the best but he had lost the desire to live in that world and eased his way out or that’s what he told himself. He stayed just involved enough to keep an eye on her. She was always a step or two ahead of whatever was coming at her. In a league all her own, maybe that was part of the problem, even he was in awe, but mostly he was afraid of her rejection. She was an unwitting pawn in this chess game and under no obligation to follow the script that was written for her before she was born but the time had come that she was aware that it existed. She had become an unhealthy addiction and he needed to end it.

Something rustled in the branches above him, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. It was a raccoon. He should have checked more carefully, their comings and goings could bring unwanted attention to him. Their nightly search for food, consisted of garbage or anything else that was unfortunate enough to get caught in those tiny, creepy hands of theirs. They sensed he was there and begrudgingly remained in the nest, unsure what type of predator he was.

Lucas didn’t know what would happen if he came face to face with Phoenix under these conditions. He doubted she would give him time enough to explain the situation. She was tenacious and even when she lost she still found a way to win by changing the rules. He couldn’t say with certainty that  he could take her either.

She chose the best place for entry and Lucas chose the best place to watch her work. Lucas picked the second bet vantage point and waited. He had slipped in earlier when the rest of the facility had been emptied and killed the guards, leaving only the two walking the perimeter. He had assumed this was going to be an ambush but instead the facility had been cleared and no sign of their return. Something felt off, definitely wrong, that’s why he was here. He had swept the building for bombs with a dog. It was actually a wolf hybrid he had found. Like him, the breed didn’t belong in man’s world and no pack would have him; but he had a nose for explosives and a love of Lucas. He wasn’t a house dog so Lucas kept him fed as he roamed the woods of his property always seeming to search for a pack of his own.

He watched as she made an amazing dive off the tree. He wanted to close his eyes as she jumped; but the grace and skill of her landing made it worth it. He could only imagine her surprise when she found them all dead inside. Anxiety gnawed at the back of his gut like a buzz saw; as far as he knew the threat was neutralized and yet he still felt anxious like there as something more coming.

Lucas heard it long before it arrived. He wouldn’t have imagined a drone strike that would be overkill for anyone but her. Brian was talking no chances on her surviving this mission. She was a cat with nine lives, but he wasn’t sure how many she had left at this point. He closed his eyes and listened trying to pick up a direction and speed. This was going to be more challenging than he thought.

He spotted the drone in his scope and fired off several shots. It spun off course and the rocket launched into the woods. To his dismay there was a second drone, Lucas emptied the magazine. The second drone didn’t fire, instead it flew straight into the building and exploded. The tree shook and both he and the raccoons were pelted with debris from the building. He had no idea if Phoenix had managed to get out before the explosion.

Lucas ran to the wall, the field of wreckage was large and his time, short. He started digging through the rubble; but it was far too big a task. He closed his eyes and concentrated on her. He always knew where she was, there was a connection he didn’t understand and it was one she knew nothing about. The last two missions like tonight, she had known he was there in the darkness watching. He moved ten feet to the east and started digging. He found her under one of the doors, unconscious. He brushed of the dirt and checked for a pulse, there was none. He cleared away enough debris to lay her flat to do CPR, after a few minutes she started to respond. Unsure what type of injury she had, he had no choice but to move her to a safe house and hoped she survived. Phoenix was 130 pounds of dead weight and tightly packed muscles.

Arriving at the safe house just as the morning sky was coming to life and the nights stars were dying. Lucas closed the garage door behind him and carried her into the house. Phoenix was breathing, but unconscious. Lucas ran his hand over her body searching for breaks, but found nothing obvious. Afraid it was head trauma and a ruptured spleen and she was bleeding out internally. There was no way of knowing how her body would cope with something as severe as these injuries. Phoenix healed much faster than he did and there was no longer a magic serum to extend his life. He guessed he was a failed experiment. As much as he hated to, he had to call Petr and tell him what happened, Petr had connections and maybe there was a chance Petr could get her serum before it was too late. He picked up the phone and prepared to beg if necessary.

“Did you hear what happened?”

“Now what?”

“Brian tried to kill her in an explosion. He succeeded. Do you have anything for her?”

“No, I have been cut off.”

“She’s in bad shape.”

“I know Lucas but there’s nothing I can do for you or her right now.”

 “Petr, if she dies I’m coming for you and I’m not going to stop until one or both of us is dead.”

“I expect nothing less from you, Lucas. At some point you have to stop blaing me for your inaction all those years ago”

“She was a child, Petr. You took advantage.”

“Take care of our girl, Lucas.”

Phoenix had never been his girl, Petr had seen to that. He went to work on cleaning her up and treating any obvious wounds, like the burn to her leg. In all these years this was as close as he had ever been to her. She brought out the fear in him, fear of love, fear of loss, fear of rejection. Fear was an unknown aspect of his personality and it caused him to shy away from her instead of taking chances. His fear had caused this and he’d have to spend the rest of his life living with that thought. He carefully cut at the cloth of her pants. The burn was deep and it looked red and angry like a 3^rd degree burn, there wasn’t much he could do but to clean it and hope for the best.

Lucas took a long shot and decided to give her a transfusion with his blood. Her pulse was erratic and she was obviously bleeding out internally. Their blood was compatible and there was nothing left to lose at this point except, Phoenix, and he wasn’t ready to let her go. Not now that he had come this far.

Her eyes fluttered opened. He took her hand and brushed back her hair. “You’re not alone.” He said. This wasn’t the first person he sat with while they died but this wasn’t how her or his life was supposed to play out. She looked confused, frightened and then the light left her beautiful eyes and he knew she was gone. He kissed her hand and blinked back tears. He had never cried, he had come so close to finally reaching out to her. That was the difference between the two of them. She was fearless in all things.

The Phoenix was part myth and part reality. He probably knew more about her than anyone other than Petr and even he wasn’t certain of her full potential. There was no pulse or respiration and from what he knew that wasn’t how resurrection worked with her, but then he had never witnessed it. There was so much damage to repair this time he wasn’t certain she could come back and Petr gave him the run around. He didn’t plan on giving up just yet.

Phoenix Rising

                                    

Cold and dark, the ants had found me in the tree where I was hiding. My life depended on my stillness; it was hard not to react to the bites as they attempted to crawl up my pants legs. The compound was oddly quiet for such an important site. If anyone other than Brian had sent me on this mission, I might have been a little suspicious. I usually didn’t retrieve things like this. Though, I was Jill of all trades; they pointed me in a direction and let me do my thing unimpeded. I retrieved and or extracted information, or made certain someone else did not. Being hot with a nice rack gave me advantages that my male counter parts did not have, but it also forced me into situations that were beneath me. I can’t count how many targets I had to drug and then tell a target they were great in the sack the next day. Brian had changed all that. I was getting tired of it all. Brian was hot and he made me laugh and I had been alone for a very long time. Part of me wanted roots and to wake up in the same bed in the same city every day. To feel like somebody to cared if I lived or died. Brian could get me out of this business and into a different life.

The hair on the back of my neck prickled. For months I had felt like I was being followed, the shadow always just out of reach. I turned and looked behind me into the blackness of the night. Who or whatever it was had made no move against me. Was it a bounty hunter watching my moves to learn my weaknesses? Not that I had any weakness, other than unusual love of bacon. When I’m done here I’m going hunting for my shadow.

I checked the time and scanned the area once more…showtime. I felt the familiar buzz of adrenaline race through me like a wild fire.  Two guards out, four guards in, from the intel we had discovered. I launched myself from the tree and hoped for a good landing inside the perimeter. If I hit the electrified top of the fence, my landing would be the least of my worries.  No cameras, no motion detectors. A cold wave of fear washed over me; that was unusual and tended not to end well when I didn’t listen. Fear didn’t seem to be a part of my D.N.A.

The two exterior guards went down quickly and quietly and the code opened the door. Why was I so scared? That primal part of my brain where fear lived sparked alive, electric. I slipped inside quietly, the building was dark with just the soft glow of the emergency lighting to show me the way. Odd that there was still no sign of life. Against everything I know and was taught I decided to plow ahead instead of clearing each room, each possible point of ambush. Something was telling e to move my ass and I was all for listening.

I slipped in a puddle of blood right before I hit my destination. I pushed open the bathroom door and found four bodies who from my estimationhad been killed by various methods. What in God’s name was going on? I blew through the door to my destinatin like a hurricane, not stopping,  gun up and ready. I again was disturbingly met with no resistance. I ran to the desk and searched for the info. I bumped the mouse and the computer screen activated. There was a picture of me in flames with the words RIP Phoenix. Fuck this, time to go. I ran and wished I had my running shoes on instead of boots. I was running and just as I got to the door, I was flying and then…