Some more characters; an organization of agents who specialize in black-ops work like assassinations and espionage. Two of them I’ve actually shown here already in their own character sheets.
The burly woman on the left of the first image with the stoneskin powers is Brynn Witticker, and on the right is January, both of whom I’ve posted and written about before. In the middle, though, is Magnolia Sinclaire, the leader of their company, Love & War. Regardless of who the current leader is, they are always named Sinclaire, and they always wear that creepy half smile mask, so sometimes even Love & War’s own staff won’t know the real identity of their leader. Currently, the leader is Magnolia, a woman who values collecting knowledge and believes in recruiting from any origin and all walks of life to find those with the highest potential. As a result, her closest agents all originate pretty far from Love & War, sometimes being former associates of rival companies, and Sinclaire for one welcomes their perspectives.
In her own picture is Raelyn Summers, or Agent August, a master technician who fell victim to an explosive raid that took most of her limbs. She was formerly an engineer for another company, Violet Industries, until she was rescued and recruited by Love & War after nearly dying. She now employs advanced cybernetics consisting of stolen and modified Violet tech, serving as one of Sinclaire’s top agents.
A/N: So… I’m not a big fan of this ending but hey I’m still figuring out how to write these things. But it’s the end so that’s good I guess. Also I’m a bit of a dumb-dumb and completely forgot some important characteristics writing this thing.
Parts: X, X, X, X, X
Summary: November and her boys are tasked with protecting a Navy SEAL. But in the world of espionage you never know who you can trust. Especially when the person you’re supposed to save won’t trust you. Click that read more if you want.
XXXXX
Quebec reached down and wrapped an arm around Romeo’s upper body. Romeo winced in pain but nodded that he was ready. Pulling him up from the floor slowly Q guided his friend to a standing position. Once he was back on his own two feet Romeo nudged out of Quebec’s grasp. Despite needing his friend’s help Romeo wanted to show that he was indeed capable. Even if he was only capable of standing and walking at the moment.
Don’t be a baby, he said to himself, you can do this.
Romeo teetered for a second and Quebec shot him a worried look. But he righted himself quickly enough and smiled. He could do this. He needed to do this. Q smiled back and went to work gathering all of Romeo’s bloody clothes, and bloody towels, from the floor. Once he had them in his hands he left Romeo to watch Minkowski. He carried the clothes to the bathroom and emptied them into the sink. They piled inside the small sink and made a small mound. Patting his pockets he searched for the lighter he knew he had somewhere. After a minute or two he found it.
Flicking the wheel ignited a flame and he threw the lighter onto the pile.
It had to be enough since he did not have his kit with him so he didn’t have any lighter fluid or gasoline. Nothing to fuel the fire and completely destroy the evidence. If Quebec was being honest with himself he felt naked without his gear. He felt helpless with only the pocket knife even though he could turn anything into a weapon if the need arose. None of those facts changed how he felt.
“Q, he’s waking up!”
He shook his head and watched the flames for a minute. Then he left the bathroom and stared at Douglas Minkowski. He stirred and began to come around. Quebec really wanted to shoot this man where he sat and he just needed the right reason. What Minkowski did to the two of them was reason enough in his book but other people would disagree. And besides there was the fact that the man wanted to kill everyone involved in H.E.R.A.C.L.E.S. This man had to die for that and that alone.
The blood on his face had dried and turned a dark red; crusting over his lips and his broken nose. His left eye was swollen shut and bruises had already formed around it; staining the skin with color. He looked ghastly.
And yet he still laughed; “Heh. Heh. You think you’ve won this fight? I may be down but I’m not out. I’m still alive so that means something. And you two are still alone in here with me. We’ll just have to see who leaves here alive tonight.”
“Oh sod off you bleeding tosser.”
“You seem angry little man. I wonder why that is? Oh right. My boys got you pretty good.”
“Knock him out again, mate, I’m tired of listening to this sod. I’m going to try the comm. link he’s definitely lying about that.”
Quebec ignored Romeo and crossed over to Minkowski. The petty officer tried to back away when he saw the look of death in Quebec’s eyes. Kneeling down in front of the man Quebec’s face was not five inches from the other man’s face. Too close for comfort. He grabbed Minkowski’s left hand, the one he had stepped on earlier, and squeezed. His face scrunched up in anger as he squeezed harder. Minkowski’s face twisted in pain but he refused to let a single sound leave his lips.
Then he laughed; “You can’t do anything to me. You don’t even exist to the rest of the world. You don’t have any badges or id to show that you have any authority. So what’s stopping me from calling the police and arresting the both of you?”
He scoffed and turned his shoulder so that it faced Minkowski. Quebec pointed at the U.S. flag patch on his uniform. Tapped it twice for emphasis. Then he turned the opposite direction and tapped the H.E.R.A.C.L.E.S. logo patch. He turned back to face Minkowski with a serious look.
“Badges? We ain’t got no badges! We don’t need no badges! I don’t need to show you no stinking badges!”
“I’ll get you for this,” Minkowski said through grit teeth, “I’ll get all of you.”
Now it was Quebec’s turn to laugh. The sound of it sent a chill down Minkowski’s spine. Quebec dug a finger into the knife wound in Minkowski’s thigh. The man winced in pain and Q stared him straight in the eye and said; “I will look for you, I will find you. And I will kill you.”
“You’re a funny guy.”
“You mean I’m funny like I’m a clown? I amuse you?”
Minkowski nodded.
“Leave him alone, Q,” Romeo interrupted. “He likes pushing your buttons, mate. You leave him alone and he won’t bother you.”
Quebec nodded and started to get up from the floor. But just before he did he spit on Minkowski’s face. The man grimaced in disgust and wiped the spit off with his hand. Quebec smiled and rose to his feet. Romeo nudged him slightly and pointed to his ear but said nothing. Quebec understood immediately and tapped his comm. to life.
“We’re too far away from them to actually call them. Send the distress signal.”
He tapped his comm. three times in a row and whispered; “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.”
XXXXX
November told the others her plan. Those in charge of H.E.R.A.C.L.E.S. had created two separate solutions to problems such as this one. The triple tap was one. And the trackers that each and every operative had embedded into the muscle of their inner thigh was the other. Whether these were created so that the handlers could keep better tabs on the ops or for moments like this one November didn’t know. She was just grateful that she remembered these things existed.
They decided to try the triple tap first.
“Good idea, Em,” Lima said. “If they’re still alive they definitely would’ve used the triple tap.”
“And sent out a distress signal,” she added with a nod.
But there still was the problem of distance. If they were too far away from the boys then none of their comms would catch the signal from the other ones. And the same went for the trackers. So they piled into the car and went back the way they came. November had an idea and just hoped that her hunch was right. They were always told to never assume things. It was one of the rules after all.
However there was nothing else they could do.
As Mike drove through the streets of Los Angeles, back to the safe house they were at the day before, the others tried the comm. link. So far nothing had came through. The group drove in silence for the most part. Only interrupting the monotony of it with short questions or comments. But the group had reached a consensus about what to do with Minkowski when they found him.
He was going to die.
It didn’t matter that they were supposed to protect this man with their lives. He changed the mission objective the moment he took their men. He hit them where he knew it would hurt. Minkowski had upset the balance and now he was going to pay.
“Smith is going to kill us,” Lima muttered nervously.
“No she won’t Bubba,” Mike said looking over at Lima. “She won’t do a thing. Want to know why?”
“Why?”
“’Cause we’re doin’ the right thing. We’re protectin’ our own.”
“No. We’re not,” Lima shot back. “We’re doing the complete opposite of the right thing, Mike! We’re going against orders and she’s going to kill us for it.”
“Don’t worry, Li,” Oscar said from the back of the car.
“Smith is probably not telling us everything that’s going on here. And who knows? She might want us to kill him.”
An hour or so later they made it back to Minkowsi’s safe house. There they tried the triple tap again. And sure enough their comms began emitting a light beeping. Faint and faraway it meant that they were close enough to get a signal but not close enough to be near where the signal was coming from.
But they had hope.
XXXXX
Romeo and Quebec both watched Minkowski. The man had recovered enough to stand on his feet. He wasn’t fully recovered of course but he was still dangerous in his condition. And with the added disadvantage of being without the proper weaponry they had nothing to threaten him with.
But Minkowski didn’t have any weapons either.
Stumbling on his feet the Navy SEAL tried to walk towards them.
Quebec took up a fighting stance. He wasn’t going to let this man hurt Romeo again. He didn’t care if he got hurt in the process but Romeo was already down and out once this mission. There was the possibility that he wouldn’t survive another. And so Quebec was more than ready to attack. He was about a foot or even less away from Minkowski; in range for a couple attacks.
Suddenly Minkowski swung a harsh left hook.
Ducking underneath the blow Quebec dodged it. But he came back up quickly enough to send a right hook into Minkowski’s gut. The man doubled over slightly and held the spot Q hit. His face scrunched up in pain.
“I told you I was down but not out,” he said between breaths. “But you didn’t listen. And now I’m going to kill you all.”
Quebec shrugged; “Mama says, ‘Stupid is as stupid does.’”
Minkowski rushed at him but Quebec moved out of the way just in time. Romeo snuck up behind the petty officer and kicked him in the back of the knee. His left leg gave out from underneath him and he kneeled on one foot. Breathing heavily he sat in that position for a minute or two.
The door to the apartment opened slowly and with a slight creak. The three men turned to look. Minkowski had a confused expression on his face but Romeo and Quebec knew exactly what was happening. The Navy SEAL turned to them with an angry look.
“But I ruined your comms! How could you call for back up?”
Romeo smiled; “That’s our little secret, Minkowski.”
The group entered the apartment with death in their eyes. But once they saw the other guys their expressions brightened into smiles. Mike threw Quebec a gun. He caught it with a sick and twisted smile. Cocking back the hammer he pointed it directly at Minowski’s forehead. As he did so he saw the Navy SEAL shake in fear. And that made him smile wider.
“You expect me to come quietly do you?”
“No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.”
With that Quebec shot him in the head. Then he shot Minkowski once more. Double tapping a target was always something they were told to do. Even after years and years of doing this job that never changed. Minkowski’s body fell forward and then fell to the floor with a thud.
The others had searched the apartment in the meantime. The bedroom held more than enough evidence to justify the man’s execution. There were many notebooks with countless information on the operatives Minkowski worked with all those years ago. And a map of what he suspected the HERACLES base to look like hung on the wall. Opposite that, on the other wall was a world map and photos of operatives were taped up on the edges. Each photo had names written on them in red marker and were connected by a red string. The red strings all lead back to Afghanistan which was circled over and over again.
The words Never Forget were scrawled above the circle.
November tapped her comm. and called their handler for an extraction.
What about the SEAL?
“He’s dead. We killed him for what he did to Ro and Q. And because he had detailed plans to take out every operative.” Silence rang through the comm. and November waited for her handler to start berating her.
We suspected Minkowski had ulterior motives and needed to be disposed of but we weren’t sure. I’ll send Cleaners to gather the evidence. Make your way to the extraction point.
Good work.
They all breathed sighs of relief when their handler signed off. November was thankful that everyone was relatively okay; except for Romeo. But he would be properly patched up once they got back to base. And they were all safe from both Minkowski. It was good day.
Mike turned to Lima with a smile; “What did I tell you, Bubba, there was nothin’ to worry ‘bout. We’re fine.”
“Well, you did almost kill us all earlier,” Oscar said with a laugh.
“Okay, someone needs to fill us in on what we missed,” Romeo said as they left the apartment.
Remote / 4 – 10 Personen / Preis: 16 EURO pro Person
Sprache: Englisch
Software: Zoom
Zeitzone: London
Gespielt: 09.01.2021
Anzahl Spieler: 3
Der Londoner Escape Room Anbieter Agent November hat es mit seinem Remote Escape Room VIRTUAL X-CAPER auf Platz 10 des Top Escape Room Projects 2020 der Video Escape Rooms geschafft. Grund genug für uns einem eher speziellen Agenten aus der Miesere…
Characters: November, Mike, Lima, Oscar, Romeo, and Quebec
Word Count: 1,520
A/N: So I know that five parts, going on more, is pretty long. But this just didn’t feel like the place to end this adventure. To be completely honest I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here and I’m not liking how this has turned out.
Parts: X, X, X, X
Summary: November and her boys are tasked with protecting a Navy SEAL. But in the world of espionage you never who you can trust. Especially when the person you’re supposed to save won’t trust you. Click that read more if you want.
XXXXX
Quebec was hard at work giving Romeo first aid. He cleaned the blood from Romeo’s face and was thinking about cutting away his friend’s shirt. It was clear that some of the shirt was stuck to both Romeo’s abdomen and shoulder wounds. And exposing those wounds could cause a lot of trouble. Minkowski tried to distract him but Quebec took care of that quickly. He did what the Navy SEAL tried and failed to do; executing a proper rear chokehold. And now Q was free to work without distractions. Taking out the pocket knife he began to carefully cut the cloth.
He stuck his tongue out as he concentrated.
“I wouldn’t have made it this far without you, mate. I… You…” Romeo struggled to talk. He had already lost a good amount of blood which made things very difficult for him. To make matters worse he really believed he was going to die. But he needed to tell Quebec what was on his mind the best he could. Romeo needed Quebec to know how grateful he was to have him in his life.
“It’s true. You’ve saved my arse more than enough times. And I… I love you.”
“Shut up. Just shut up.”
“Jerry Maguire? Right?”
Quebec nodded slightly. He slowly moved the pocket knife against the material of Romeo’s suit jacket. That had to be removed first even though it was adding a small amount of extra pressure to the wound in Romeo’s shoulder. The sleeve fell down with ease and Quebec helped get it the rest of the way. Then he slowly removed the rest of the suit jacket; peeling it off Romeo’s upper body.
What was underneath was worse than he thought.
“What… What is it, Q?”
“I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everyone knows things are bad.”
Romeo sighed and leaned his head against the bed behind him; “It’s that bad huh?”
He nodded again and decided to cut away the cloth. With the amount of blood that already stained the shirt, and glued the cloth to the wound, he had to be very careful. One wrong move and the wound could reopen. Quebec was more than grateful that he didn’t have to worry about shrapnel being embedded somewhere inside Ro. Once the shirt was cut off he quickly cleaned off the excess blood before reaching into the side pocket of his pants and pulling out two Israeli Bandage packets.
Motioning for Romeo to sit up further Quebec opened one packet.
Ripping open the plastic wrapping on the gauze pad Quebec placed the pad on the wound. With a hand holding the pad in place he opened the packaging for the elastic bandage with his teeth. Carefully and slowly he began to wrap a section of Romeo’s upper arm. He stopped for a split second to slide the bandage into the pressure bar. Then he pulled the bandage over the pressure bar; carefully wrapped the bandage upwards towards the shoulder wound. Quebec bit his tongue and tried to go as slow as possible while wrapping the bandage around Romeo’s chest.
Romeo’s skin was the palest Quebec had ever seen it and that worried him deeply. A bit of color remained in his lips and eyes. But that didn’t mean much.
Quebec wrapped the end of the elastic bandage back around Romeo’s upper arm and secured it with the closing bar. Romeo leaned back against the bed with a relived sigh. He closed his eyes and let Quebec care for his abdomen wound. Q admired his handiwork for a minute before opening the second packet. He secured the gauze pad with a hand. Then he repeated the process of wrapping the wound.
When he was done he gave Romeo a reassuring pat on his knee and got up from the floor.
Something had to be done with Romeo’s bloody clothes. And the same went for the blood stains all over the carpet. Quebec thought about it. The Cleaners were supposed to deal with this part of missions. The aftermath. The clean up. But they were always told to never leave a trace.
Romeo interrupted his thought process; “Did you try the comms?”
“But why would I want to do a thing like that?”
“Because that wanker is definitely lying about short circuiting them. Think about it, Q. How could he even know we had a comm link? And that it’s been working?”
“Just trust me and try it, mate.”
Quebec shook his head; “I think we should be leaving now.”
“Give us one bloody second will you, Q? You just patched me for crying out loud.”
XXXXX
They had stayed in that small circle ever since Oscar returned from the bedroom with the tracking device. He had given it to November after the big reveal but she just stared at it. The four of them had to have been immobile for ten minutes at the most. A lot of things could happen in even less than that amount of time. And in their line of work ten minutes was almost as long as a year.
But no one knew what to do.
It was true that petty officer Douglas Minkowski had lead them on a wild goose chase. They still didn’t know where he was or where he was holding Romeo and Quebec. Nothing happened to change those facts. The team was back to where they started the day before.
“Completely in the dark,” Mike said bitterly.
“Don’t lose hope, okay?” November said.
“In case you didn’t hear me we’re completely in the dark here. So how do we do that exactly?”
She didn’t have an answer for him. Being the team leader she was supposed to have all the answers. Have a backup plan for the original back up. And to make sure everyone kept a cool head and kept their wits about them. But she needed time to fully assess the situation. To look at things as they were instead of running in head first with guns blazing.
“Deep breaths. Inhale and exhale,” Oscar said replying to Mike’s question.
“I don’t get it,” Lima yelled with exasperation. “How can the two of you remain so calm?”
“Calm? You think I’m calm?” November asked.
Lima nodded.
“I’m far from it actually. But. But I’m trying to focus it. The anxiety and nerves. Focus it into finding a way to save our asses which I can’t do very well if you’re looking at me like that thank you very much!”
With that November crossed over to the bedroom, slammed the door, and locked it shut behind her.
What if Smith was right? she thought as she sat down on the bed.
Everyone has flaws and doubts they hide. But Ro has always doubted so much about himself. Minkowski could’ve seen right through his facade. If that happened then he’s definitely turned.
You were defending them to Smith not too long ago and know you’re agreeing with her? There’s no way they would’ve turned, the voice in her head argued with her.
Is it even possible with all the fucked up shit they’ve done to us?
Is there?
“This isn’t accomplishing anything!” she whispered aloud to herself.
Letting out an exasperated sigh she stared at the tracker in her hand. Then it hit her. There was a way to find out where Romeo and Quebec were being held. Which in turn would lead them to Minkowski. She pocketed the tracker and mentally thanked whoever the hell was there for the messed up life she lived. It was one of the few times she did so.
Reaching for the doorknob she stopped suddenly.
She heard Lima’s angry and thick Scottish lilt scream; “What abit ye? How can ye always stay calm nae matter what’s happenin’? The warld cood literally be fallin’ apart an’ yoo’d be sittin’ thaur loch everythin’ was fine.”
Oscar laughed hysterically; verging on psychotic.
“You remember yesterday? When I wanted to kill Minkowski?”
“This isn’t the time to…” November said as she reentered the living room but she was quickly cut off by Mike.
“Oh no. He’s completely right, we shoulda killed ‘im, and you know it. That’s why you don’t wanna talk ‘bout it.”
Oscar broke out in that insane hysterical laughter again; shocking the others.
“Don’t you get it?! We’re playing right into his hand! He wants us to fight with each other instead of doing our job. Instead of finding him and putting two bullets in his head.”
“Listen,” Oscar said after a deep breath.
“There’s no point in us fighting with each other. We already have enough problems as it is.”
November nodded; he was right. Oscar was always the peacemaker of the group. Stopping arguments before they happened and all. But the team did have far too many problems to even entertain the idea of arguing. And now that Oscar said it; the idea of Minkowski wanting them to fight made perfect sense.
“I know how we can find the guys.”
“Christ alive, why didn’t you say anythin’ before?!” Mike asked.
Characters: November, Mike, Lima, Oscar, Romeo, and Quebec
Word Count: 3,114
Trigger Warning: Blood, Description of Injuries, Swearing, Fight Scene, Violence
A/N: Part four of this thing... To be completely honest I didn’t want to write another rescue mission story but it turned out to be exactly that.
Parts: X, X, X
Summary: November and her boys are tasked with protecting a Navy SEAL. But in the world of espionage you never know who you can trust. Especially when the person you’re supposed to save won’t trust you. Click that read more if you want.
XXXXX
Lima worked on remotely turning the bug inside Romeo’s burner phone into a larger scale recording device. At the moment it would only record and send whatever someone said while making a call. The original plan was to monitor Minkowski through his phone conversations with the Raven. They knew that the SEAL was paranoid and suspicious enough not to trust them. But no one expected the man to take over their entire operation.
And abduct their teammates.
It took him a couple more minutes but he soon began to receive transmission from the hidden bug.
I worked with your kind before.
“You can’t be serious,” November half-screamed and half-sighed.
She had decided to call their handler again. Smith wanted to know as soon as possible if they had made any progress. November obliged but they had not made any in the last half hour. The only change in matters was that Mike was now with them. He had calmed Lima down significantly and now the team was working as hard as they could. But she told Smith the truth anyway.
And the things Smith suggested were ludicrous.
It’s the only plausible explanation, Smith said matter of factly.
“No, it’s not! There’s no way that Romeo and Quebec would desert. They aren’t the type of people to just up and abandon the mission.”
“I have somethin’ to say, ma’am, if I may,” Mike interrupted.
Go ahead. Say your piece.
“You have no idea who we’re dealin’ with here, ma’am. This man just said that he worked with H.E.R.A.C.L.E.S. before. He knows how we do everythin’. You know what that means, right?”
He’s taken the Raven and the W.E. He’s possibly disposed of them by now. And if that’s true then there’s no way to get the upper hand.
“Exactly. Which also means that there’s nothin’ you can do to help us.”
November came back into the conversation; “Actually, Mike’s wrong. There is something you can do.”
What do you need?
“One thing. Who of us worked with Douglas Minkowski?”
“We might not even need to find that out, Em,” Oscar called from where he sat. It took him some time. There was some interference with the signal from the tracker. But he was able to pinpoint which one of the many dots was the real one. And he finally got it. He finally found Minkowski.
“He’s on South Robertson Blvd. Going nowhere by the looks of it.”
XXXXX
Quebec twisted his hand inside the sleeve of his jacket. Minkowski had stripped of the few weapons he had on his person earlier but he still had a few tricks. He was never completely weaponless. Reaching deeper into his sleeve he tried to grasp onto something. At this moment he was grateful for being tied up the way he was even though he couldn’t feel his legs anymore. If Minkowski had tied him up differently there might’ve been no way for him to do this.
Meanwhile Minkowski just kept talking.
“Don’t you get it? Can’t you see? You’re not even human! I mean, look at yourself! You’re a robot programmed to obey whatever they say. You and your little friend over there are just pawns in their game. You’re supposed to help those who need it. That’s what they told us when your men came into Afghanistan. Those guys were there to help us with a hostage situation in Laghman province.”
Quebec looked at him with a confused expression; “What the fuck has anything got to do with Vietnam? What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You’re not going to distract me with that movie quoting bullshit. Year was 2012; my team and I were called in to rescue a hostage. But, as you probably know, a rescue mission needs three things to be successful; aggressive action, speed and surprise. We went in thinking we had all three. We only had two. The element of surprise was gone.”
“Someone knew we were coming.”
He had the object in his grasp. Flicking his wrist the smallest amount let it fall softly into his palm. Wrapping his fingers around the handle of the pocketknife Quebec turned the knife upwards and began cutting at the rope. Douglas Minkowski was none the wiser. He was far too enwrapped in his little speech to notice anything.
“My men and I were captured. That’s when H.E.R.A.C.L.E.S. came to our “rescue” a few hours later. But they didn’t save any of us. Just came in guns blazing and killing everyone there. The terrorists, my men, along with a few of the women and children.”
“I had never seen such bloodshed,” Minkowski said with a shake of his head.
“I head the orders they were given. I heard everything. They were told to kill everyone. And I only lived by hiding underneath the dead bodies of my men. Ever since then I vowed to get my revenge on H.E.R.A.C.L.E.S. If you tell me where the headquarters are I might just let you live.”
“It’s not your fault after all. You’re just following orders.”
By this time Romeo had fully come to and was trying his best to sit up. His left hand covered the gash in his stomach. But blood still flowed and he winced in pain as he moved. The blood that had fallen from his mouth had dried and darkened on his chin. His skin was still rather pale and his lips were almost white. He tried to steady himself with his right arm but it was no use. Romeo’s arms shook very badly from the blood loss and he gave up quickly. He sighed deeply and slumped against the bed behind him.
Minkowski heard Romeo’s struggle and turned to him with a smile.
“You’re tougher than you look aren’t you? All of you are, really. I guess your masters were onto something with that one. Really makes people underestimate you guys. Well, that won’t matter much longer.”
He crossed over to where Romeo laid slumped against one the beds.
Crouching down to the Raven’s level he stared into Romeo’s dark brown eyes for a few minutes. Quickening his pace Quebec watched on completely helpless. All he could see was Romeo’s legs and Minkowski’s back. That wasn’t much to go on but he could still hear what was being said. And he had almost cut enough of the rope to break free.
“I don’t care,” Romeo said as strongly as he could. “We’re not telling you shit.”
“You weren’t the ones who did it, I know, I memorized their faces. That tends to happen when people plague your nightmares. But if I can’t get to them then you’ll have to do.”
Pulling hard against the rope Quebec snapped the uncut section.
Quebec snuck up behind Minkowski and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around with a shocked expression. Having the element of surprise still on his side Quebec punched Minkowski in the abdomen. He staggered on his feet but didn’t fall over. He stood his ground and put his fists up.
“What? How did you escape?”
Quebec waved the knife back and forth with a smile; “Say hello to my little friend.”
Minkowski swung a harsh left hook. But Quebec saw it coming from a mile away, stepped back, expertly dodged the blow and returned it with a right hook of his own. Minkowski grabbed Quebec’s shoulders, pushed him back, and swept his leg out from under him. Quebec fell on his back, dropped the knife, and hit the floor. Rushing behind him Minkowski put him in a choke hold. However Quebec was just as well trained as his opponent and Minkowski wasn’t on his back. He was sitting on the floor up against Quebec’s back but his legs weren’t wrapped around Q’s body. And besides Quebec had a lot of practice and knew how to get out of the hold.
Shoulders up and chin down was the most important part.
Quickly blocking off the choke that way Quebec worked on the rest. Clamping his elbow down onto Minkowski’s arm Quebec was almost out of the hold. Then he grabbed hold of his opponent’s wrist with his opposite hand. With the upper hand on Minkowski he drove the two of them to the floor. Wriggling out a bit Quebec got his head and shoulders on the carpet. He let go of Minkowski’s wrist and the SEAL moved to being on top of Quebec. But Minkowski’s right leg was still between Quebec’s thighs. So Quebec turned his body and pushed Minkowski to a sitting position. But both men quickly rose to a standing position.
Punching Minkowski in the solar plexus, the hollow spot in a person’s chest right underneath the sternum, had knocked the wind out of the man.
But before Minkowski could recover and do anything Quebec sent a quick karate chop to the man’s throat. The Navy SEAL started choking and stumbled back. Taking the opportunity that presented itself Quebec kicked hard at Minkowski’s ankle. Minkowski fell onto the floor against the wall near the bathroom. Picking the knife up from the carpet Quebec smiled. He had the upper hand this time.
He stabbed the knife deep into Douglas Minkowski’s thigh.
Minkowski screamed in pain. But Quebec wasn’t done with him. He stepped on Minkowski’s left hand; pushing down harder and harder. Then he began punching the man in the face. Aiming straight for the nose he punched a few times. By the fifth punch his nose broke with a loud crunch. Blood poured down Minkowski’s face and into his mouth. Pulling the knife out of the man’s thigh Quebec wiped the blood off on his uniform.
“How did you...?” Romeo asked, his voice barely a whisper, looking at Minkowski’s slumped body in confusion.
“He starts monologuing! He starts like this prepared speech about how...”
“Are you bloody serious?”
Quebec nods; “The guy has me on a platter and he won’t shut up!”
“I’m dying, Q... That... That cocksucker killed me. He...”
Quebec said nothing as he rushed over to the bathroom. He grabbed a couple hand towels off the rack and wet one under the tap. Rushing back out to the other room he knelt down in front of Romeo. Pressing the dry towel against the deep gash on Ro’s abdomen Quebec put Romeo’s hand on it. Then he began wiping away the blood on his friend’s face.
“Just cancel that shit right now. You ain’t dying. You’re hurt. You’re hurt real fucking bad but you ain’t dying.”
“Reservoir Dogs? You bloody idiot,” Romeo said with a smile and a shake of his head. He was just happy that Q was relatively fine. A bit beaten up but at least he was alive. That despite his predicament Quebec had saved him. He saw that Romeo desperately needed to be rescued. That he needed him. It was all that Romeo could have asked for.
“Don’t even try calling for reinforcements,” Minkowski said with a laugh; interrupting their moment.
“I short-circuited your comms. There’s no way you’ll get through to them. You’re all alone. Just like I was.”
XXXXX
The four of them had all left the safe house. Packed up all their equipment and wiped everything down. Even though they almost always wore gloves on missions they had to be careful. There still was a chance of someone finding their prints if something happened in that apartment. And now they were heading towards Minkowski’s little hideout.
Oscar sat shotgun this time, in Lima’s usual spot, and fed Mike directions.
“Sharp left up here.”
“You got it.”
Ram Jam’s Black Betty blasted through the car’s speakers. Mike tapped in time with the music against the steering wheel. He was nervous but tried his best not to show it. Lima was nervous enough for all six of them. There was no point in anyone else losing their cool. Not that Oscar ever would. Even though Mike was going 30 mph above the speed limit it looked like they weren’t going to make it. Their destination was still an hour or so away.
“Find me a shortcut, Oscar. We really need to cut this time down.”
“I’m looking, Mike. Trust me, man, if I knew one I’d tell you.”
Mike took a second to look over at Oscar. Then he looked at Lima through his rearview mirror. The two men were so vastly different it was a wonder that they worked so well together. That had to be the secret. Mike was a lot different than Lima after all, and he could always keep the guy calm. Lima just needed somebody to make the demons in his head shut the hell up.
And I’m mighty good at doin’ that.
“It’s gon’ be alright y’all, we’re gon’ make it.”
“Who are you trying to convince Mike? Us or yourself?” Lima said bitterly.
Mike shook his head and said nothing in return. Damnit Mike you’re so full of shit your eyes are brown, he thought to himself. Lima could always see through his bullshit. But he had to keep Li calm somehow. And Oscar wasn’t up to the task since he was running the tracker. Which was pretty important even if their target wasn’t moving.
“Fine then, Bubba, we’ll just ride in silence,” Mike said after awhile.
He reached over to the radio and turned the volume up. Flirtin’ with Disaster by Molly Hatchet now blasted through the speakers; much to the annoyance of the others in the car. But Mike didn’t care. Slamming his foot on the gas he began pushing 60 mph. The others began shouting for him to slow down. But he didn’t listen.
Turning the volume up even louder he pressed down on the gas.
“Mike! Slow down,” November yelled.
Lima also began shouting; “Yoo’re gonnae kill us ye crazy bastard! Och mah God we’re all gonnae die today! Great!”
“Damn man. Slow down, there’s a train track coming up,” Oscar said. The car was about ten feet from the tracks. And a train was making its way towards them. If Mike didn’t stop the car soon it looked like they were going to hit the train. But luckily Oscar spotted a side street on the right hand side.
“Mike, you’re going want to turn right up here.”
He kept silent and said nothing to any of them. But he kept on course for the train track. The train was even closer now. It really looked like they were going to collide. Everyone screamed louder and louder for him to stop. Biting his bottom lip and closing his eyes Mike slammed on the gas even further. The pedal was now touching the floor of the car.
The car jolted up as it drove over the tracks.
Mike opened his eyes.
Looking back they saw the train drive over the tracks peacefully. They made it. Everyone let out relieved sighs. Mike calmed himself down and slowed to a more reasonable speed. He was always one to do risky things but that was a close one. Too close for comfort. He could have killed everyone.
“Now that our near-death experience is out of the way how’s ‘bout we get the guys?” he asked the others with a smile.
“I’m sae mad at ye I’m gonnae kill ye when we’re dain wi’ this job, Mike. I’m gonnae kill ye.” Lima said; his accent thickening in his anger.
Mike laughed; “No you won’t Li. You love me too much.”
They weren’t planning on letting Minkowski get away this time. He most likely couldn’t anyway; they had everything going for them. They had the element of surprise, aggressive action, as well as the benefit of numbers. Speed was key as always but sadly they were running a bit behind schedule. They drove calmly for another twenty minutes, at the fastest speed Mike could manage, before arriving at the apartment building.
“Looks like he’s on the fourth floor,” Oscar said as Mike stopped the car.
A doorman started to approach them as they entered but stopped short when he saw the group. Clad in all black, guns in holsters, they looked rather intimidating. His eyes made contact with November who had a murderous look in her eye. Then his eyes fell to the backwards U.S. flag patch on her right shoulder. Even though the patch was black and gray in color it was quite clearly the flag.
Which clearly identified the group before him as some section of police or the military. He quickly looked away and directed them towards the elevator. But they opted for the stairs instead. They didn’t have the time to wait for an elevator. They rushed up the stairs to the fourth floor. It took them a couple of minutes to find the right apartment.
Once there November picked the lock and slowly pushed the door open.
Looking into the apartment she saw that the coast was clear. Motioning to the others to remain quiet and follow her November removed her gun from the holster on her thigh. Slowly walking into the apartment she looked around. Again the coast was clear. She signaled Mike to look in the kitchen; he confirmed the order and left. November told Lima to check the bathroom and for Oscar to search the bedroom. They confirmed and went their separate ways.
November searched the living room.
The living room was rather bare; housing only a couch and a TV. The wood floor wasn’t even carpeted. Suspicious of the lack of furniture she looked around. Nothing was hiding under the couch. The space behind the TV was also clean. Nothing was on the TV stand either. A couple minutes later the guys’ voices came through on the comm. link.
Kitchen’s clear. Nothin’ here.
Bathroom’s clear. Coming back.
The bedroom’s cle... Wait.
“What is it Oscar? What did you find?”
Well, well, well. What do we have here?
“What is it?” November asked; clearly getting impatient.
Silence followed and November waited. Mike and Lima came into the living room and looked to their leader for an answer. But she had none to give. After a few minutes Oscar came back out into the living room. In his hand he held the small tracker that Romeo had put on Minkowski days earlier. An audible shocked gasp left all three of the others.
“Christ on a bike cyclin’ to mass on a Friday!” Mike shouted in surprise. “How’d he even know?”
“He isn’t here,” November said with sad realization.
Oscar nodded; “This was hidden on a lamp in the bedroom. He’s been leading us on a wild goose chase.”
“Where the hell are they?” Lima whispered; obviously worried.
Characters: November, Mike, Lima, Oscar, Romeo, and Quebec
Word Count: 1,308
Trigger Warning: Description of Wounds, Slight Panic Attack
A/N: Here’s the third part and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this section… but hopefully whoever reads this likes it. Also I didn’t intend for the story to go the way it did but there’s nothing I can do about it now.
Parts: X, X
Summary: November and her boys are tasked with protecting a Navy SEAL. But in the world of espionage you never know who you can trust. Especially when the person you’re supposed to save won’t trust you. Click that read more if you want.
XXXXX
Romeo barely came to with the taste of cloth and blood in his mouth. It took him a few minutes to adjust to his surroundings. To adjust as well as he could in his condition. His head hurt so much it felt like he head-butted a semi truck. When he tried to move a sharp, shooting, pain went through his shoulder and erupted in his gut. That’s when he remembered the previous events of the night. He didn’t have to strain his head to know that the wound in his abdomen was still bleeding.
His body told him that. He could feel the blood leaving his body and hear his pulse loudly in his ears. It was the only thing he could hear. Except for the faraway sound of Quebec’s voice as he quoted a movie line with all the sass he could muster. A faint smacking sound followed. Romeo wasn’t conscious enough to tell how faraway Quebec was. Or who had smacked him. But he had enough consciousness to know that was lying face down on a carpeted surface.
That explained the nasty taste in his mouth at least.
Quebec…
I’m…
I…
Blackness filled Romeo’s vision as he lost consciousness for the second time.
XXXXX
Lima paced the room worried out of his mind. This kind of thing had never happened to them before. He couldn’t take it. The uncertainty of the whole situation. To make matters worse every time he thought about it a million unanswerable questioned popped into his head. He couldn’t get himself to stop. He felt his heart beating faster with each breath. His legs shook and felt like jelly.
Where are they?
Dead.
They’re probably dead.
Why hasn’t Mike gotten back to us?
Minkowski? What happened to him?
Oscar still has that tracker on him right?
What if something happened to him too?
“Aaaaahhhh!” Lima screamed; grabbed fistfuls of hair and pulled.
“Whoa, man,” Oscar said getting up from his seat.
Someone had to keep Lima calm in case anything important came across the comm. link. Or if the others got a bug on Minkowski. Mike was still checking the club for any sign of Romeo and Quebec. Not to mention the fact that when Lima was nervous so was everyone else. And that was not a position they could work well in.
“Li, hey, look at me.”
He did.
“What’s the one thing Mike always says?”
“Huh? What does that have to do with anything! Mike isn’t…”
“It doesn’t amount to a hill of beans, Bubba. Not a hill of beans.” Oscar said doing an impression of Mike.
Even though he wasn’t Mike, and didn’t say it exactly the same way he would have, it worked just the same. Lima stopped pacing and started to calm down. Sitting down he forced himself to breath slower. Meanwhile November re-entered the shabby apartment. She had ducked out into the hallway a few minutes ago to make an urgent call to their handler. They needed the help but she didn’t want to make Lima worry any more than he already was.
“What did she say?” Oscar asked calmly.
November shrugged; “Not much, really. Just to do what we would normally do if we were only dealing with the target. Continue the surveillance we have on Minkowski. Find out what Mike knows. Go from there.”
“If he’s even alive!” shouted Lima.
“Li, please.”
Listen up, all y’all, I…
“Mike!” Lima shouted relieved and excited. “I thought you were dead!”
‘Course you did, Bubba, Mike said with a light laugh. But listen here now, okay? I didn’t find either of ‘em. No signs of Ro, Q, or Minkowski.
Before Lima could interject with something that didn’t help matter at all November got down to business; “Any leads on where they could have gone?”
Not one.
“That’s okay Mike. Just get back here as quick as you can, okay?”
You got it, little lady.
November tapped her ear comm. and sighed deeply. What were they going to do now? What could they do? Romeo did his job and did his best. Same went for Quebec. And when things went south Mike tried his best. They were at the mercy of Minkowski’s madness now. There was nothing they could do except wait it out. And hope for the best.
Or maybe not.
“We still have us.”
“What did you say?” Oscar asked.
“Us! We have us!”
“English, please,” Lima whined.
November let out an annoyed huff. “What are the three of us the best at?”
“I’m not following you… Li?”
Lima’s faced scrunched up in confusion. “I don’t get it either.”
“Oscar’s the best at hacking. Lima’s amazing at surveillance. And I’m the leader so that self explanatory don’t you think? Oscar I need you to work on the tracker again. Find the signal. Li you need to reconfigure the bug that’s inside Romeo’s burner. Minkowski gave him that but he doesn’t know about the bug. Get it to send us what’s being said right now.”
Both men went to work.
“What are you going to do?” Lima asked.
“I just did it;” November said with a smile.
“Now, let’s get our boys back.”
XXXXX
They were inside a small hotel room. Awash in beige and a deep mustardy yellow the entire room wasn’t easy on the eyes. Two twin-sized beds sat against one wall and a small nightstand sat in between them. Quebec was tied to a chair; arms and legs tightly wrapped with rope. Douglas Minkowski stood in front of him with his hands on his knees and a serious look on his face. Minkowski’s face was so close to his own that Quebec could smell the man’s toothpaste.
Minkowski was still a bit bruised from the fight but Quebec was starting to believe that the whole thing was staged. Minkowski wanted to get the team separated. The only question he was faced with was why. Why would this man want to do this? Especially when they were saving his life?
“Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn’t have f’ed with? That’s me.”
“Gran Torino? Great movie.”
Minkowski sent a backhand across Quebec’s face. But, despite the force and anger behind the smack, Quebec didn’t flinch. A dark and angry expression came over his face. He wasn’t messing around anymore. He was done. Done playing. Done playing Minkowski’s game. Done playing it by his rules. Done seeing the smug look on his face.
He needed to kill this man.
“Are you going to give me what I want or do I have to finish killing your friend over there?”
Quebec wouldn’t even give this man the satisfaction of seeing him worried and scared. No. There was no way that this scum was going to get the upper hand. He tricked them once and that was enough. More than enough. Taking a short glance over to where Romeo lay on the floor Quebec took a minute to look at the blood that pooled underneath his body. Then he turned back to his captor with a smirk.
“It all depends. When do you want to die? Tomorrow? The day after tomorrow?”
Minkowski laughed; “No Country For Old Men? You’re an odd one aren’t you? That’s funny, I’ll give you that at least. But you’re not going to kill me.”
Quebec shot him a look that screamed try me.
“Oh I know that you won’t,” he continued beginning to pace the small room.
“You won’t because they won’t let you. Your mission is to protect me from those who want me dead. And you can’t do anything unless they tell you to do it. Orders from on high and all that bullshit. Yeah, I know exactly how your little operation works.”
Quebec’s eyes went wide with the realization.
“That’s exactly right. I worked with your kind before.”
Local talentless loser doesn’t know what she’s doing…
No. Seriously.
I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing anymore…
Instead of writing anything, including part 2 of HTD, I tried to doodle November and her boys. Didn’t draw Charlie cos I hated how everything looked and got tired of it all. (I guess y'all can see why this whole thing is taking so long to create.)
But here’s hoping that I’ll get better at this with more practice but it seems like it gets harder and harder to use ArtRage each time I try… and I hate it and so much doesn’t work right…
