HiT 149: Anna Brookes First Chapter (21 page)

“I’m making pancakes with maple syrup. Not that shit pretend crappy maple syrup but real maple syrup. And I’ve just put the coffee on and it should be ready soon
.” Yep he’s perfect for me. Damn it.

“Sounds delicious Baby”

I take my seat at the island stool and wait until the coffee machine clicks off. Once it’s done I pour a coffee for myself and one for Ben. Mine milk with 2 and Ben’s black. I have enough bitterness in my life which is why I like my coffee sweet. I hand Ben his coffee and give him a quick kiss on his lips as he hovers over a hotplate tossing our pancakes and I take my seat at the island again.

“I suppose I should fill you in with everything else so you know where you stand in this situation Ben.”

“I suppose you should.” He doesn’t even turn around to say that, he continues making our breakfast.

“You know all the basics Ben, you know that you stood in the way of the drug manufacturing and are too clean of a cop which is why the hit is on you. What you don’t know is the manufacturing of the cocaine is being transported out of St Cloud by milk trucks and that the actual production is done at the old cattle farm down in the woods.”

“How long did you know Ethan wasn’t who he said he was?” He always manages to throw me with his totally off subject questions.

“Ben, I’ve just given you possibly the biggest drug bust of your career and you ask me how long I’ve known about Ethan. That’s a bit strange don’t you think?” Ben brings over 2 plates that have a huge stack of pancakes on them and places one in front of me and one opposite him. He walks over to his cupboard and grabs the maple syrup and then goes to his fridge and gets a punnet of delicious plump looking strawberries. On his way back he gets his coffee. He comes to sit in front of me and pours the maple syrup on his pancakes.

“I have been thinking for a few days that you have been hiding something and I think I actually told you that it’s like you wear a mask. I want to know how long you have known Ethan is not who he said he was”

“There’s this thing with me Ben. When I touch someone, if they aren’t good or are lying I get this feeling, it’s a bit difficult to describe, but the best way I CAN describe it, is it’s like a serpent bite. I feel a cold sensation travel up my arm and it goes straight to my stomach. I knew the moment I shook Ethan’s hand at Mammas and I also knew that Simon the Cable guy was not who he said he was. The day of the shoot-out at Mammas I wasn’t ducking for cover Ben, I was grabbing my Glock but you took him out before I got a chance.”

“How many people Anna?”
Again let’s ask Anna another question to shake it up a bit.

“You don’t want to know Ben,” he is now asking me how many I’ve killed.

“Yes I do”

‘Ben, you do not want to know,” I stop eating and look him in the eyes.

“YES. I. DO” He stops eating too.

“What difference does it make Ben? My ‘Agent’ knows I have certain criteria and a certain pay rate. He disregards anything other than my stipulations.” I’m trying to throw him off his ridiculous question.

“You haven’t answered my question Anna,” he starts eating again
– damn he won’t quit asking.

“I’m not going to tell you Ben, it’s not important”

“You are a legend in Police world and in the underground world. I watched you take out 5 men yesterday and you didn’t bat an eye lid. I was looking at you and you go into your own head zone. You don’t show anything at all when you are so focussed on the job at hand. I have never met anyone who has that much control over not only their body but their emotions and their mind. As much as I should arrest you, watching you work was nothing short of awe inspiring. Your precision is infallible and perfect. I was just amazed with you.” A weird compliment from an officer of the law, but yep I’ll take it.

“You saw what I do best Ben. You saw why I am the top assassin in the world. My training has been..... extensive” my memory flashes back to 3 years after I killed Damon and Nox “and I have worked hard to be the best assassin in the world. There is no doubt you have heard stories of me. As you saw yesterday, I really am
that
good”

“Will you tell me about your training?”

“No.” I keep eating and hope that Ben doesn’t continue in that line of questioning.

“I want to know.”

“No. You don’t want to know.” “Then tell me how many people you have killed;
” back to this again, will he just let it go?

“No.” My answer more forceful.

“TELL ME” his response has the same tone as mine.

“NO. I WON’T FUCKING TELL YOU.” I have raised my voice and I’m getting seriously pissed off.

“Why the hell not Anna?”

“Once that number is out of my mouth then you will undoubtedly see me for the monster I am and you will want to kill me yourself once all this mess is over with”.

“Anna...” he starts saying as he gets up and takes his dish to the sink.

Suddenly the kitchen window shatters and I see Ben fly back half a meter and slump with a huge thud in a heap on the floor.

I fly up over the island bench and see Ben’s been shot.

There’s blood oozing out of his body.

His eyes are closed and his body is motionless.

Ben is dead.

Chapter 30

I fall to the ground where Ben is and I’m frozen. I’m like this for the longest 10 seconds of my life before I snap into 15 my professional persona, I pull my phone out and call Agent.

“15”

“Get Doctor here in 10 minutes.”

“Doctor is 30 minutes away that’s imposs.....”

“IF DOCTOR IS NOT HERE IN 10 MINUTES I WILL KILL YOU AND YOUR FAMILY AND DOCTOR AND HIS FAMILY. You have 9.5 minutes” This is the first time I’ve ever talked or threatened Agent like this. He knows not to underestimate me because he knows EXACTLY what I am capable of. I roll Ben and see that the bullet has not gone through and is lodged on the left side of his chest, I grab a tea towel from the bench and press it over the wound applying pressure to stop the bleeding. I don’t see his chest rising and falling and he is completely limp. My phone rings and its Agent. “You better tell me Doctor is 8 minutes away?” My voice dripping with malice and venom.

“Doctor will be there in 5 minutes.” Our call disconnected.

I feel for a pulse and find nothing. I need to perform CPR on Ben, so I take my hands away from the pressure I’m applying on the wound and start CPR. I’m still at it when my phone rings again. “WHAT?” I answer the phone knowing its Agent.

“Doctor should be in your driveway now” I throw the phone to the side and jump up and run to the door. I let Doctor in and run towards Ben.

“Situation?” Doctor is as vocal as Agent and I am – straight to the point.

“Bullet wound to the chest. No heartbeat, no pulse. I’m trying to resuscitate and stop the bleeding.” As I’m speaking Doctor is kneeling next to Ben and I’m on Ben’s other side.

“I’ll resuscitate you apply pressure to stop the bleeding. If we get him breathing I need to operate immediately. Do you have an area?”

I think of the safe room “Yes”

The Doctor and I work in perfect synchronisation to revive Ben. We’ve been at it for what feels like hours, but I check the clock and notice it’s only been 3 minutes, when the Doctor stops after his last round of CPR. I’m holding my breath, my body is exploding with anticipation, my heart beat climbing to new heights. The Doctor checks Ben’s pulse and gives me a small smile.

“It’s very weak, but he has a pulse” The Doctor says that and my body automatically responds by relaxing next to Ben. My heart rate lowers and the only thought going through my head is ‘thank god,’ he’s not dead.

“Ok, move him into his safe room. You can operate on him in there.” I run ahead and open the safe room with the code I saw Ben enter, I strip back the bed and get Doctor to place him on there. Doctor disappears upstairs for a moment and I stay next to Ben still applying pressure to his wound. Doctor comes back with two black doctors bags, from one he pulls out an IV extendable stand and everything needed to get a cannula into Ben’s arm with whatever fluids are necessary for him. Doctor looks around the room and sees the small kitchen area. He goes over and washes his hands and lower arms thoroughly before coming back to the bed and putting on his gloves. He immediately finds a vein and puts the cannula in Ben’s arm. I watch on with interest doing nothing more than applying the pressure on his gunshot wound.

“15, I no longer require your assistance. Leave me to work.” Doctor is very direct with me and that’s just how I like to communicate with the people I hire.

Doctor has been working for me for 12 years and he has been of assistance a few times over that period. He is a distinguished man of age 58. He works solely for me, as does Cleaner and Agent. They are all rewarded handsomely with the understanding that if they cross me I will kill them and their entire family. I don’t often require Doctor and Cleaner to assist me however they are always available and on call in case I do. There are no such things as holidays or sick days, they work for me and are on call 24/7 365 days a year. No exceptions.

I stand back and watch for a few moments whilst the Doctor sets up his operation equipment. What happens next surprises me, I stand there and get angry. Murderous, ferocious, irate and livid emotions are clawing their way through my veins. My skin goosebumps and burns from uncontrollable savage determination to find the person who pulled that fucking trigger and rip them apart and have them suffer. I notice my anger when I start grinding my teeth together and my hands are in such tight fists that my forearms are protesting in pain.

“I’m locking you in for your own protection. Keep him alive and you will be substantially rewarded” I say to the Doctor.

Doctor doesn’t even bother acknowledging my statement he just keeps his head down and keeps working.

I grab my laptop and my Glocks, I check them and the magazine for them and find they are perfect to kill someone today. I turn and leave the safe room closing the door essentially locking them in. I stop off in the kitchen to grab my phone that is on the kitchen floor, totally ignoring the bloodshed that has taken place in that room less than an hour ago. I go into the lounge room to set up my laptop and start looking at the surveillance. I look at all the footage right from the start, there is nothing happening. As tedious as this task is, I have an assassin to find and kill so I NEED to search and watch.

I get to the 5.45am mark of this morning’s footage and I see something that doesn’t belong. There’s a car that has driven up and down Ben’s street 8 times in 10 minutes with no tags and dark windows. I see that the car goes back up the street at 5.56am and doesn’t return. At 6.03am one figure walks past carrying what looks like a guitar case.
A guitar case at 6.03am, I don’t think so!
The figure is in dark clothes and turns quickly to look at Ben’s house. Then the figure disappears. I flip my phone open and call Agent.

“15,” his standard greeting.

“Gain control of my laptop and enhance the image on the screen”

“Accessing your laptop now, what am I looking to enhance?”

“There’s a figure on the screen Agent, I need you to enhance it, clarify it and enlarge it.”

I take my fingers off the keyboard and wait as I watch from my end at what Agent is doing. Nothing short of a miracle, he really is the best technician I have ever met. His IQ tested at over 180, he graduated top of his year at Stanford University in Law that he was pushed into by his father. But Agent’s real love is computers and technology which is where I found him, hacking into systems and about to be in a lot of trouble if he continued down that path. Now I pay him A LOT to look after me and my needs. I needed the best and he can hack, create and destroy just about anything that is electronic. I’m still watching when I see the image totally clear and enhance in size.

My mouth goes dry and falls open, my eyes widen and I lean right into the screen. “This can’t be true
” did I say that out loud?

Natalia.......

Chapter 31

Natalia dropped off the grid, I never went searching for her because frankly I thought that drugs had taken her life and also I really didn’t care about her.

Natalia.....

Natalia.....

Shit. How does she fit into Hunter INC?

There are dozens of muddled thoughts that won’t expel themselves from my mind. I need to ascertain relevant information and only Agent is capable of that.

Agent is still on the phone.

“Get me name and number of who is running Hunter Inc.” I have a thought that Lincoln is now running it but I need confirmation. “Eta?”

“Accessing information now. Current owner of Hunter Inc is Lincoln Murphy”
Shit it is him.

“Number sent through to your phone in 10 seconds”

The moment I hang up from Agent I check my phone and see his number and call it.

“Murphy” second ring and he answers it.

“Do you know who I am?”

“I’ve been waiting for your call 15.” He addresses me by my professional name and not my full name even though I’m pretty sure that Roman would have filled him in about everything concerning me.

“We need a meeting”

“I’m going to give you a meeting 15. And you know why? Because you did me a favour by taking my father out, I was going to do it myself but as it turned out you got to him first.” In my world this happened every day, someone thought they were better than the person at the top and in this case it was a son that wanted to take his father out. “You are currently in St Cloud and I am doing some business in Minneapolis. How does dinner tonight at 6pm sound? Let’s say at Bella Luna, and please don’t come prepared for battle because I will be sure to kill you before you kill me. I’m sure you have plenty of questions about your.... Ah.... Mother and I am oh so sorry about your friend he did seem like he had such a promising career,” his tone undeniably trying to sound like he is in control and superior to me.