| Justin uses the chain he is padlocked to rope to climb up to the rafter it is chained to. He is able to move himself over to the hay loft. There he is able to look through a rotted board. In the moonlight, Justin can see Ted, Zach, and Gary coming out of the woods headed for the house. Then he spies a bailing hook hanging on the wall near the open second story hay door. He is barely able to grab the bailing hook before noticing that Gary is heading towards the barn. Justin rushes back to the edge of the loft, throws the bailing hook into the smelly stall, and moves himself out onto the rafter. he falls onto the ground with a thud just as Gary enters the barn. �What you try to do, boy? Crawl up there like a monkey?� Gary circles Justin shinning his flashlight into his face. �You like monkeys, boy? I can be a monkey for you.� Gary begins to make monkey sounds. �We could play monkey together.� �I�d rather watch you swing from rafters!� With a deliberate motion, Justin wraps the chain that he is locked to around Gary�s neck and pulls it as tight as he possible can. Surprised, Gary grabs at the chain about his neck and fights for his life. Finally when it appears that Justin might indeed strangle him, he lets go as a gun is shoved into the base of Justin�s neck. �My, my, Justin, maybe our little Brian did see something in you that I missed!� Zach says. Gary gasps for his breath and moves to punch Justin. Zach flips Gary onto the floor. �No!� �Fuck, Zach, the brat almost killed me! I saw him fall off that beam.� �Get out of here before I report what happened to Jack, you worthless shit!� There is a staring contest between the two men that Zach wins. �Fuck!� Gary hurries out of the barn. �You�re Zach? I know who you are. Your code named Popeye.� �Aye, the mighty sailor man.� �You�re wanted by Inter Pole, Jordan and even by the Cubans!� �With a puss like mine, it�s rather difficult to go incognito, but I�ve always managed. What�s that commercial? Takes a lick�en but keeps on tick�en. God, that was years ago.� �You�re an American. Why in hell did you...?� �I�m just a gun for hire, little brother. You had better pray Brian loves you as much as I think he does. It�s the only thing keeping you alive right now.� �Who is Brian?� �They�ve pretty much keep you under lock and key all these years, haven�t they. But they never bothered to tell you why. Didn�t your CIA or NSA friends tell you who the Hugh really is? Your precious Hugh is Brian McKinney. El hijo diablo varion.� �The son of the devil man? Devil man was the code name of a famous East German assassin that was active before the Berlin wall came down.� �You know the history then?� �I know my terrorists.� �Jack is now a businessman.� Zach eyes Justin and the hayloft before putting his gun away. As he continues to speak, he wraps Justin�s chain about hie wrist before unlocking it and drags Justin over to the stall and chains him its� post. �We can�t have you crawling up into the loft and spying on us even though you have made it your career.� He shakes his head. Little Justin Taylor from Custer, Kansas... such a sweet boy, who went from track star to convert mission specialist for CIA in the flash of a single explosion. I underestimated you once, but I promise you, I will not do it again!� Zach begins to exit the barn. �Yes, you better hope that Brian is clever enough to get you out of this mess. Or when we are done with you, I will let Gary have you, and I assure you that you will die a very slow painful death.� *** Brian enters his motel room. All the Kyle Peterson clutter has been removed, the room is extremely bare. He walks over to a picture on the wall and takes it down. The wall behind it seems perfectly normal. With his left hand to gage the length to a spot in the wall, he sticks a knife into the wall. Brian cuts out a hole and from inside the hole he is able to grab out a small plastic bag. Inside the bag is the NATO disc and a letter. He places it inside his jacket. Then he covers the hole by put back the picture. *** Blake is sitting in front of the computer that displays a security program, but he is working on what looks likes a claymore mine. Jack enters fresh from a shower and dressed in a bathrobe. �What do you have for me?� �Gary is an ass. yes, the sensors were in place. Yes, they were turned on, but their transmissions frequency was never feed into the computer system to trigger the alarm. Brian could have been here, and we wouldn�t have know it. But the heat sensors are up now. See these two bleeps here are Ben and Ted. This is Gary, the ass, and these are fussy tiny beeps are a family of squirrels.� Blake points out a window towards a huge tree. �Mel didn�t run a diagnostic on the program?� �A basic diagnostic didn�t reveal the problem.� �Clever... too clever.� Jack focuses on the tree of Spuirrels. Then he looks at the computer screen. �At least, we are on full alert now. We rely to heavily on these gadgets. We should rely on our strengths. Go and set up your explosives. Make certain not to repeat anything that Brian would be familiar with.� �Then you do not expect to take him alive?� �Brian sealed his fate when he stole the disc from me. I believe he made a deal with it. The Americans will only release his precious Justin if the disc is returned to them. It is a pity the disc could not be copied even if I have made millions,� Jack sigh. �I want Brian to suffer. I want him to live just long enough to see me kill this boy he betrayed me for!� He says angrily, �No one ever deceived me as he did and no enemy has ever been as dangerous. It is time the rest of us live up to our reputation.� �Which one?� Jack smiles. �As one of the most successful, cunning, and ruthless international espionage teams ever assembled. Brian has declared war on us, but he will learn as a child learns too late what is to play with fire.� �The child gets burned, yes?� �Incinerated,� he chuckles. � It�s a good Michael is already dead. It is time to clean house, Blake.� �What?� �It is time we eliminated our new partners and ready our departure.� *** Exiting from the Sheriff�s office is a woman and a man. They look like cross country bicyclists and pretending to discuss points of interest on a local map. There are several plain clothes detectives and FBI agents sitting on the front steps of the office smoking cigarettes. Leda also exits the Sheirff's office and walks up to the bicyclists. She chats with for a couple minutes before walking away. Melanie, dressed like a small town house wife leaves her position and follows after Leda. From his hidden position on top of an adjacent building, Zach takes aim at bicyclists with his sniper rifle. With cold deliberation, Zach shots them in the head. Then he takes his eye away from his rifle sight and looks down at his victims. He pauses then begins to fire rapidly at the other people who are scrambling for cover. No longer shooting to kill, Zach wounds serval of the agents, officers, and Daphne who walks out from the drug store right into a flying bullet. She falls to ground, and Zach wastes no time pulling apart his weapon as he escapes. *** A car pulls in the dairy farm�s driveway and Jack and Gary both in military fatigues head to the car. Parking the car, Melanie and Zach exit the vehicle. Melanie unlocks the trunk and Zach lifts the lid. There is Leda bound and gaged. �I believe you like to call her Betty Boob.� �Ah, Leda. What a distinct pleasure. How are things in Israel these these days?� Leda stares coldly at Jack. Jack tells Gary, �Get her out of there, and take her inside the house.� Minutes later, Leda is tied to a heavy over stuffed chair. Gary is fonding her, but she refuses to respond. �Such courage in the face of danger. Gary.� Gary clasps his right index finger and thumb against Leda�s nose and holds the palm of his hand firmly over her mouth preventing her from breathing. Leda tries to pull he head away, but cannot. Just before she passes out, Gary lets go of her. �Oh! She�s the ripest bitch I�ve ever seen,� says Gary as winks at Jack. �Now, Leda, we can either proceed with conversation as mature adults fully aware of our value to each other, or I give you to Gary here.� Gary grabs one of Leda�s breasts and she flinches. �Damn, you! Get him off me!� �Very well. Down, Gary. Go fix me a cup of hot tea.� Gary strokes Leda�s face before exiting. �Alright, what do you want?� �It was very clever of you to use the Americans to place in my organization. How ever did you manage it?� �I don�t know what you are taking about.� Jack slaps Leda hard across the mouth. �Then how is it that you of all people got here before us?� he asks as he slaps her again. �You really should learn that no one gets into my organization unless I see an advantage. I know you were at villa when we stole the disc. Did you know that your snatching our phoney disc lead to the deaths of dozens of your associates, and quite a huge pay day for me. I think the expression is killing two birds with one stone. No one expected it with one stone. No one expected it, and I walked away with the real disc.� �I heard it was more like the disc walk away from you.� �You hear too much. I�ve been offered double the money just to video tape your torture to death.� �So, what�s stopping you?� Zach, who is standing inside the adjoining room, is listening to every word. |