Finally....

I figure that it's been long enough so I'll go ahead and update this thing. Things have been pretty busy around here lately to be honest. I'm working down at the City in the downtown district. Most days I'm pretty much a glorified garbage man for much of the day, but there's stuff like for festivals and such that we maintain downtown before it gets completely trashed. It's pretty fun to be honest. I get paid less than I would doing air conditioning, but i think it's been a fair trade off for that much less stress. I'm going to try and get down there full time after I get my CDL before this summer is over and done with. I've got a funky work schedule so if you haven't been able to get a hold of me then you know why. I work sunday through thursday 6am to 230pm. It seems like it would suck, but it gives me a weekday off and pretty much half a day everyday so it's not too bad really.

Also I just got back from Memphis for a meet and greet with the Eternals. The whole event was a blast. Was nice to put faces behind the avatars and everybody was cool as hell.

Been playing City of Heroes and World of Warcraft back and forth so i've been pretty entertained in my off hours. that's about all for now really

Mahalo

Open Thread

Discuss what you'd like. And as Atrios says "Try not to shoot anyone in the face"

Like the Prodigal Son I've Returned...

Sorry it's been so long, but I've been writing my ass off everywhere else but here. Nothing much new to report. I've been playing CoH and writing more in the continuing saga of IB and the SG i'm running around with, the Eternals. My fledgling little Kheldian is now lvl 29 and I've spent most of my time on her. I've been in something of a creative mood lately so I've been writing like there's no tomorrow. Nothing else much new to report on. I know, there hasn't been any snark or humor in a while, but the truth is that there isn't much going on.

My uncle brought his 'computer' over for me to 'fix' earlier today. He's got this P2 266 that he, for some reason, wishes to salvage. He's got one of those buddies that is a self-proclaimed computer god and he fixed it before it fell into my hands. Unfortunately most of my family is computer illiterate and so the bulk of the tech stuff falls on my shoulders. I don't mind because it keeps me sharp, but this thing unless you just want to play Free Cell is about useless. He's still running Windows 95 for god's sake. So I'm gonna upgrade him to Windows 98 at least, since he only has 64 megs of memory. I'm not sure if i even want to put it on my network for fear of contaminating it :)

Anywho that's my monthly report. I can guarantee that the next month will be pretty much more of the same. Perhaps I might even post up one of these stories that I'm writing. Who knows.

Mahalo

Blah

Blah blah blah blah. "Blah! blah bla blah?", blah blah. Blah, blah blah blab blah blah blah blah; blah blah blah. Blah blah. "blah blah blah blah blah blah blah...blah blah...blah blah blah.", blah blah. blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. " blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.", blah blah.

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. " blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. blah!", blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.


That is all.

Not to Fret

That mood from the last post has very much passed and I'm in a stupendous mood at the moment. That is all

Mahalo

Emotional Low Ahead...Watch Your Head

As I sit in front of my computer, Whitesnake and Queensryche plays in the background. The clicking of keys and the rock voices of Ian Astbury and others drift over the sound of Starcraft and The Little Einsteins in the background. The glass in front of me contains 1 part Cruzan rum and 1 part coke. The pack of cigarettes stare me in the face, begging me for just one smoke. Just one and the world will be a better place. I don't want a cigarette. I don't even want to smoke. I barely do now, only under two circumstances: Instances of incredible stress, and instances of depression. My mood darkened and finally fell to black approximately 30 minutes ago. The sound of ice preceding the sound of the rum falling from the bottle. Ice cracked and rose as the glass slowly filled. I went from flying so high today. But like Icarus my wings have melted and I have crashed to earth. To earth with a realisation of some sort. My mind tries to find what conclusion it has come to. It's as clueless as I am. I haven't been really and truly depressed in a long time. Especially in light of the happiness I've felt recently this strikes me as odd. Am I manic/depressant? Am I just simply caught in a funk? Is there no communication in this car? We can't stop here, it's bat country.

I long for new words from Hunter S. Thompson. I crave to hear the Gonzo report from the frontlines of the American way. I'm pulling the plug on my RPG playtest. I had only one person that responded and he is now in Great Lakes making possibly the second biggest mistake of his life. The first was not taking my advice 3 years ago. I've decided that this RPG is not going anywhere. I've been writing and pushing for this thing for close to 3 years now. I'm tired. I'm spent and paper thin as far as my dreams for this thing go. I want to sleep. I haven't slept for 3 nights now. No one knows this. When you're in the middle of sleep deprivation everything is a copy of a copy of a copy. I want to feel the warmth of the sun and feel the rumble of thunder. We can swim out to the ocean. Leave them far behind. Swim out past the breakers. Watch the world die.

The glass is empty, only melted ice and the diluted mixture of dark estate rum and coke intermingled with the water shed from the disintegrating ice cubes. The son winds up his plastic puppy and watched it lurch across the floor. The sounds of Protoss Carriers releasing their payload of Interceptors all performing an aerial ballet to a soundtrack of Lords of Acid and Tool. Ian Astbury still sings sings of his Fire Woman and tells us that She Sells Sanctuary. All will be right with the world tomorrow I am sure of it.

City of Heroes update.

Just throwing up a quick post because after close to 18 months i've finally gotten IB to Security Level 50. He is now 'Hero of the City' It's kinda hard at the same time too. It's not that I can't play him anymore, but that there's no real need to aside from helping people out if they need it. But there's no more advancement for him. That's it. Now he just gets to sit around and look pretty. Though with getting him to Level 50 it opens up the epic archetypes to play. Though IB's been something of a favorite of mine in that game. He exists on several servers and now thanks to the RP section of our forums now has an incredibly complicated backstory and future. Here's the screenshot I took of the last time IB's gonna ding



Also here is a pic of the Kheldian who is taking his place. It's his daughter from another time and dimension. As I said he's got quite the complicated story surrounding him now and it's kind of coming to fruition now.



I think that's about all of the updating that I can handle for one day on the subject. Just nice to say that i've finally gotten a character, a Controller even, to lvl 50.

Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition...

So i had an interview with the City of Portland today. Now what really amazed me is that it probably could have been. I applied for a job as a plant engineer, which is essentially a glorified title for a service tech. I was expecting a one on one interview like with any other job...no I got to sit with a virtual jury of supervisors to answer vague questions about whatever they might have been thinking. There were no questions like 'Tell us about your experience working on boilers.' there was stuff like 'tell us about maintenances.' hell if i knew i was gonna be giving speeches i would have prepared something.

So I dunno if I got that job but I felt there wasn't a need to be interrogated by five people. Hell I've seen some of the people that work for the city, you'd think they'd just have a drop box and whatever name they picked out they hire. Don't get me wrong there's some good guys working for the city but a lot of them don't have licenses for DUI and such and some come in looking like they just woke up in the dumpster behind the building. oh well i'm sure there'll be something pop up sometime...

mahalo

strange vibes

I've been caught in something of a strange mood all day for some reason. I've been thinking back on a lot of stuff for odd reasons and I've realised that i've done a lot of bad things to a lot of people over the years. Yes, we all do bad things at one time or another, but there's people out there that had done nothing wrong short of loving me in one form or another that I've ultimately done wrong in some way. Again I know that we hurt the ones we love and all that but I really can't help but feel bad about them. Why this presses on me now I'll never know but if I've done something to you in the past then I apologize. There are just some things that I can't explain so that others will understand and I really can't help the way that my heart and mind travel.

At times I've been called a prick, at others I've most likely been called far worse. I am all of these things. I'm sure that we all have skeletons in our collective closets; some worse than others. But the point is that everything weighs on you whether you believe it does or not, or whether you meant to do something or not. The choices you didn't make, the selfish choices that you did make. All of them leave some sort of mark on you. Some of these people ultimately learn from and correct so as not to hurt somebody else like that again. Some people shut others out so entirely that no one can understand what goes on behind those eyes. And this will be some people's downfall. I'm just as guilty as anybody else. I don't like people to read me because I don't like lending out more of myself than I really have to. Some people just make me open up just by being there. Strangely enough most of these people live in other states.

I couldn't really tell you why any of this weighs on me now like it does but perhaps I can feel a little better about things knowing that this is out here and that if you are in a similar situation then know that you're not alone and that some things you can't make amends for. All you can do is move on with your life and hope that things work out for the best for everybody else involved. I have a strong belief in Karma. This is not why I say all of this now, however if you feel like your life is turning to shit and you don't know why...apologize to someone you've wronged. It may not change your life, but you'll at least feel a little better about yourself.

updating and such...

I've done absolutely nothing for the last couple of days. It's been kinda nice but kind of depressing at the same time. There's a sick little one at the moment that is absolutely miserable, and so everybody is miserable. I've been playing CoH and kinda being a little depressed. The state of Maine has been kind enough to remind me that I've been unemployed for three months now. It's one of those things where you know you're doing what you can to fix the situation and yet no good is coming of it. I had to go to a career workshop two weeks ago and aside from being a complete waste of my time aside from satisfying the state's requirements for me to stay on Unemployment, the lady said something about not being depressed about being unemployed. And they all have the canned speech about how they've all been there before and such and they know what we're going through, like it's some sort of AA intervention. Well I am depressed about it and the kind people at the state can't seem to figure out why. Here's the skinny. I've now worked for two different AC companies in the last 2 years since I've moved up from florida. When I moved up I needed to get my gas and oil licenses in Maine. Both companies hired me, for essentially nothing, under the pretense that they'd get me these licenses. Two years and two companies later I still don't have either. As soon as things get tight I get laid off for either lack of work or not having my licenses (!) So my prospects of working in anything that doesn't involve taking orders for fries seems to be pretty slim. This is especially considering that the state won't help me go back to school. So which part of this am I not supposed to be depressed about? That is all

Mahalo

Updates and Dev Digest Week 2

I tacked the second week dev digest because there was nothing that went on in the group. A couple of characters trickled their way in but no other activity. Hopefully there will be more activity soon or I'm just gonna have to run the story myself. No planned revisions in the works. There's some stuff I plan on implementing but I want to wait to see how the current systems work together

Other than that it's been pretty quiet around here. Been playing some CoH and talking on Trillian with a friend, sometimes two. I've been writing a lot lately and really can't turn the valve off for some reason. I took a couple of weeks off of writing so I could address some issues here at the casa and such and once again, once I start i can't turn the frikkin thing off. Damn I need a vacation from being unemployed...

Mahalo

Dev Digest - Week 1

Well as I've mentioned before I've got a yahoo group set up to playtest my RPG. There are things that I should have been very aware of before I set about this thing. The first thing is how badly I organised the book itself. I sat through and just like any regular player attempted to create a character by the book. It was nigh impossible. I've got information scattered all around the manual and if i didn't have an intricate knowledge of where things were located then I would have just thrown my hands up in frustration. So I've added a character creation Quick Ref sheet to put the numbers and steps that you need to create a character in one spot. So that issue was resolved but I'm still gonna need to go back and reorganise the book, almost in its entirety.

Second I've realised a small error in judgment on my part. I've looked over the system and actually played through some mock combat with some random creatures. There was no really chance. either i killed something with no real effort, or it killed me with the same ease. So I've written up, but not yet introduced a simple dice system and even created a tiny dice rolling script for it. The system is very simple and just creates a modifier to either add or subtract to your ability numbers to introduce some chaos to things. I didn't really want to use dice with this system because I had originally created the systems around PBEM games where i didn't want to trust someone else's integrity on their dice rolls. But it didn't really lend to an interesting system, so I felt a very simple dice system using just 2 6 sided dice would work best.

On the coat tails of that I felt that I'd screwed up with my initiative system as well. It would have been a pretty dynamic system but I felt that it didn't take advantage of the streamlined, fast action type narrative game that I envisioned. So there were a couple of changes to that and the reflexes attribute. For those in the group who may be reading this, I'll be posting the revision sheet wednesday.

The Code Monkey Returns...

Well once again when I put my mind to something it gets done. I was talking to Chad the other day about writing a dice rolling script for my RPG. Well after weighing the options, I went with a simple VBscript and came up with one that does exactly what I want it to do. I know you serious code monkeys out there are saying "So What?!" well, i wrote the friggin thing. it weighs in currently at a whopping 8 lines and it not only rolls a positive and a negative die, but it does the math and comes up with a final result. Again I can hear you guys saying so what. Well for someone who's never coded VB and I pumped out the script in a little over an hour, I think I did pretty damn well. anyway it's written and I'll more than likely be adding more stuff to it graphically, but the mechanical part of it is written. the graphics are just gonna be a matter of a couple of if/then commands and a couple of graphics to be made. But then again that's why there's never just a 1.0 version of anything. So again you H4Xx0rs can kiss my 4$$ if you feel the need to belittle my accomplishments.

Chapter 23

Chapter 23: The Viper No More

As had been suspected Detective Skinner had many questions to answer. He was given much leniency due to his extensive injuries and he covered the truth well. Officer Warren was given an honorable burial despite what Skinner knew. Internal Affairs came down on nearly two hundred police officers in the city, including the chief and Lieutenant Minter. The District Attorney was going to have his hands full for quite some time. Skinner sat back at his desk before another round of questions from IA. The package that the Viper had left in apparently the right hands had exposed the whole deal and the press was having a field day with it. He put in for his vacation and was granted it easily along with some medical leave to recuperate. This suited him just fine. He had twelve years to catch up for and he honestly needed the rest.

He opened his desk drawer and pulled out the bottle of Irish whiskey and looked at it for several minutes. The glass made a resounding thud as it hit the bottom of his empty metal trash can. He wouldn’t be needing it any more. His badge and gun sat on the desk in front of him in an evidence bag and he opened it, taking out the badge and giving it a quick polish against his sleeve. He put on his long overcoat stiffly and walked out of his office, locking the door behind him. No one said anything to him as he walked through the long room to the elevator. The few straight cops that were left were sitting at their desks wrapping up the paperwork for their shift and they simply looked at him and nodded as he walked by. If they only knew the truth of things.

He wasn’t surprised to see the black Aston Martin parked next to his own car. He walked to the driver’s side and leaned on the open window. “Ride home detective?” Skinner smiled and winced quickly. “Sure” was all Skinner said as he crossed over to the passenger side. The Viper was dressed in a fine white T-shirt and jeans, the first time Skinner had ever seen him in any sort of casual clothes. They drove in silence for the several blocks to Skinner’s apartment. The Viper parked the car easily and got out, Skinner following stiffly afterwards. They walked the stairs side by side and stopped in front of Skinner’s door. “We’re leaving today detective.” The Viper said casually. Skinner simply nodded. He knew that the man would leave soon. Skinner unlocked the door and stepped in to the smell of something wonderful cooking.

Shin Lao and Leona Skinner were sitting at the small battered table that he often ate what few meals he cooked off of. Shin Lao smiled at them, the bandage around her head tinted a little red from the wide wound. “We have a small present for you detective. Just a small bit of thanks really.” Shin Lao stood up and hugged Skinner before crossing over to stand next to the Viper. “Open it Leonard.” The Viper rarely had ever called him by his first name. There was a large box standing beside his table and he picked it up carefully. It was heavier than it looked. Taking the top off he peered inside and there sat two metal boxes. Skinner picked up the smaller of the two and set it on the cracked vinyl top of the table. Peering inside he found two pistols displayed beautifully in a red crushed velvet backing. The image of a snake scrawling across the barrels nearly brought a tear to his eye. He knew that this cemented everything and he turned to the once professional killer. So you’re really giving it all up, eh Viper?” “You can call me Elias detective. I’m the Viper no more. By the way, I don’t think we’ve been properly introduce. Elias Burke. Nice to meet you detective.” Skinner took his extended hand and shook it. “Nice to meet you Elias. I knew a guy that looked just like you once. He was a real prick though.” They both smiled and Elias’ eyes ventured to the box again. “Take good care of them. They’ve been through a lot but they still shoot true. Now open the other box.”

Skinner suddenly remembering the larger of the two boxes turned and pulled it out of the box. He opened the long box and peered inside greeted by the sight of a stack of bonds. “There’s four million dollars in bonds there Leonard. You have to hold onto them for six months before you can cash any of them in. Consider it your share of the ‘Bounty’ on Boss Tanaka’s head.” Skinner was speechless and leaned against the flimsy table; his mouth agape with shock. “We’ve got to get going Leonard. We just wanted to drop those by and to say thanks.” Finding his voice again Skinner stepped forward. “So what about the house and the cars and all of those guns?” “It’s all sold. We closed on the property this morning and I sold the cars except for the Aston Martin to Skeet who will probably get much more for them than he paid me for. I’d like you to make this deposit tomorrow morning though. I set something up at the bank. Deposit this in the account for the Edgar Oswald Community Center. He was a good man put in a bad spot but he made the best of it.” Skinner nodded. He’d heard that the old man had passed away, but he was shocked that the Viper had done so much for the man. “I sure will. So where are you heading next?” “California probably. Good luck Leonard. You’re going to have a full month to get to know your daughter. Make the most of it.” Skinner smiled and stepped forward to shake the man’s hand. Elias took it firmly and they stood there looking at each other for what felt like minutes. “You sure look like shit detective.” “You try surviving a bomb and see how you come out looking. Good luck you two. Drop me a postcard sometime.” “I wouldn’t count on it detective, but we’ll see what we can work out.” Elias smiled and withdrew his hand.

The two of them turned and walked out of Detective Skinner’s apartment for the last time. Shin Lao turned her head as they left and smiled at the detective and his daughter. “Take care of him Leona. God knows he can’t take care of himself.” Leona laughed at the remark and smiled at her. “I will, don’t worry about that.” Shin Lao closed the door behind her with the resounding sound of finality. Skinner watched out the window as the Black Aston Martin drove off into traffic and felt a small tear sting its way down his cut face. He turned to look at his daughter sitting at his table after all of these years. He sat down in front of her and simply looked at the beautiful woman that she’d turned into. “So, tell me daddy. What’s been going on for the last twelve years?” Skinner smiled and closed the metal case bearing the large amount of bonds. “Get comfortable. It’s a long story.”

WOW...that's all I can say

News Story Goes Here

Just One More Chapter...

There's only one more chapter to post until this story is done. I hope everybody's enjoyed it. I know it was pretty fun to write. And for those not already in it, and would be interested in doing so, the Playtest group for my RPG is poised to start soon. If you're interested post a comment or send me an email.

Mahalo

Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Reborn Vengeance

The Viper had made his way to the mechanical room in the basement and pulled the large fuses out of the sub panel that supplied power to the house. He reached into his large interior pocket and pulled out the pair of low light goggles that he’d brought from the store room. Everything took on a sickly green glow as he made his way back into the house proper. It wasn’t nearly pitch black up in the house. The light of the nearly full moon came in through the large picture windows in the main hall and he decided that the goggle would be unnecessary up here. His eyes caught sight of moving shadows in every corner and he swung his guns to bear on every on of them while he quietly made his way to the stairs.

The sound of feet running down from up above made him dive into a dark spot on the side of the stairs. Nearly a dozen men came running down, all equipped with goggles similar to his. They fanned out searching for him. They were all armed with submachine guns. “Now or never” the Viper decided and stood, both pistols blazing in the darkened room. Three men went down before they even knew what hit them but he had drawn the attention of the others. Submachine gun fired started flying around the room as the Viper dashed from the stairs towards another corner of the room. He leapt towards a corner, turning around in mid air to bring his pistols in line with his attackers. He pulled the triggers until he felt the sickening click of both guns empty of bullets. He’d managed to hit several more of the guards before he hit the ground, both pistols empty with five heavily armed people bearing down on him. “So much for subtlety” He said under his breath as he swung the M9 grenade launcher from around his shoulder and launched a grenade towards the guards.

The explosion rocked the house and made people both in and outside to glance briefly in its direction. Men flew in all directions as the grenade left a small crater in the wooden floor sending shrapnel through both men and walls alike. The interior walls, like from some action movie shredded under the explosion like the rice paper that they were. The Viper stood and brushed splinters of wood and metal from his jacket and surveyed the area again. Sliding two fresh clips into his pistols he made his way towards the stairs again.

He jumped over the hole into the basement that the explosion had made and climbed several stairs towards the second floor. He was greeted by the sound of automatic gun fire and ducked instinctively. He felt bullets hit him in the chest and he nearly cried from the pain. His Kevlar shirt stopped the bullets but the impact still hurt like hell. He slumped against the wall trying to catch his breath. His pistols hung in his limp arms as the men advanced towards him. He could barely open his eyes from the pain as the group stood in front of him with their weapons pointing towards him. “You’re good, but you’re not that good Viper.” He recognized the voice coming from in front of him. The man knelt in front of him and quickly kicked his pistols out of his hands. The man’s fist, who the Viper knew to be Rupert Silver, the only other Caucasian that Tanaka employed, slammed into the Viper’s face hard, sending bloody spittle flying from his mouth. The Viper’s head lolled slightly as the man stood up and he motioned for a couple of the guards to pick him up. “Boss Tanaka would like to have a few words with you before he executes both you and your friend.

He was roughly picked up under his arms and dragged of the short flight of stairs. He picked his head up slightly and spoke. “Just one more thing Rupert before you die. Where’s the girl?” Rupert laughed at the man’s bravado. “A pain in the ass till the end I see. You’ll see her soon enough. Don’t worry about that.” The sound of an explosion from the basement jarred everyone. “I see you brought a friend with you Viper. That was a very bad choice. You don’t have to worry about them anymore though.” The momentary surprise gave the Viper a split second to act and he dropped all of his weight to the ground and reached up behind him into the men’s waste, grabbing their pistols. He sent several rounds into each man before anyone recovered from the second surprise of the last thirty seconds. He rolled painfully to the side as Rupert rounded the top flight of stairs with his pistol barking. Rolling over onto his back he emptied the gun into the fellow hitman sending backwards across the landing.

The Viper staggered to his feet, shaking the burning and trickling feeling from his chest as he tossed the empty pistols away from him and walked down the stairs to pick up his guns. He turned quickly when he heard a cry of rage descending on him from the upper landing. Rupert Silver was flying down the stairs at him, a large flat knife in each hand. The Viper spun around in a round kick before the man landed, connecting with a loud meaty crack with the man’s head. The killer’s body crumpled on the landing and didn’t move more after that. The Viper knelt down beside the man and felt for a pulse and couldn’t find one. Satisfied that the man wouldn’t be any more trouble he walked up the stairs and continued down the hallway to where he knew the Boss would be hiding. His chest was on fire but he tried to disregard it and resume his normally cool persona.

He felt bad about Skinner. He couldn’t have known that they’d be expecting him to rescue anybody down there, but Tanaka had apparently been just a thorough as he himself was. The Viper felt a little ahead of the game however as Rupert had told him what he really needed to know; that Shin Lao was still alive for the moment at least. There were several rooms before the large wooden door that marked the entrance to Matsuo Tanaka’s inner sanctum. He quietly slid open the doors on the way to ensure that there wouldn’t be any more surprises along the way. He knew this house well after the many years that he had spent working for Tanaka. The rooms were empty which worried the Viper because it meant that they were elsewhere, perhaps waiting for him in Tanaka’s office.

He stood before the large doors. He knew they were reinforced with steel plating. He himself had suggested it years ago when he was still looking out for his employers interests. Before the man had become so paranoid about everybody and he had quickly had them installed. The Viper cursed himself and knew there was only one way to make a dramatic entrance. He backed up several yards and slung the grenade launcher from around his shoulder and fired into the door. The steel plating kept the doors from exploding like he had wanted but they at least had fallen limply, stripped down to the bare metal, off of the hinged and slammed inward to the office. He tossed the M9 and had his pistols in his hands, triggers blurring in the rapid fire of bullets and bodies as the guards had been foolishly waiting for him.

He ejected the spent clips and popped in two fresh ones as he strode over the threshold, his shoes making a metallic sound as he walked over the fallen door. “One more step and I’ll kill the traitor.” Came the man’s voice from off to his left. Boss Tanaka stood with his back to the large bay door holding Shin Lao, arms and legs bound in front of him as a human shield. The Viper lowered his guns and turned to the man, an expression of cold anger across his face. “You’ll kill her anyway so what’s the point.” “The point is young man that I hold all the cards. There’s someone that I’d like you to meet.” The sound of the door opening behind him caused the Viper to spin around and saw a young black girl walk in, twenty three inches of sharp katana in her hand. “You see Elias, you’ve been replaced. It was quite easy I might add.” Shin Lao struggled against her captor but she was bound quite tightly and so only succeeded in angering the man.

“Kill him would you dear.” Boss Tanaka said flatly and calmly as the young woman raised her sword. She rushed in unexpectedly, her sword flashing through the scattered light of the moon streaming in through broken glass and bullet holes. He raised his guns and deflected the sword slashes. The clang of metal on metal persisted as they danced around each other. She rushed in sword poised for a downward strike but the Viper caught the blade in his crossed guns as her weight pushed downward. He felt a poke in his stomach and they both looked down to she the six inch blade pushing into his stomach. But that’s all it did, the Kevlar keeping the blade from slicing into his stomach. “Kevlar’s a great thing isn’t it? Stops bullets and knives.” Her shocked look was only replaced by one of pain as the Viper brought a gun across the side of her face, stunning her long enough for him to bring up the other gun, knocking her unconscious.

The Viper turned back to Boss Tanaka who brought his hostage further in front of him to give the Viper even less of a shot. “I pay you; I feed you, I even you walk off with this little bitch. And now you come to my house and try to kill me?!” “I would have gone off in peace if you hadn’t have sent that cop out to kill me Tanaka, but now there’s only one of us who is walking out of this room alive.” “You’re right about that Elias. But how much is going to be weighing on the survivor’s conscience. Let’s tally it up now. You’ve sent your friend in the basement and a nine year old girl to their deaths.” Tanaka took a breath for that information to sink in before he continued. “Yes there was a little girl in the cell. I can tell you that it won’t weigh on my mind one bit. How about yours?” The Viper’s expression didn’t change a bit though internally he could feel the bile rise in his throat from just being in the same room with this monster.

“And now you’re going to be responsible for the death of this pretty little bitch. Say one last goodbye to your Ghost.” The series of events that happened after those words were spoken were nearly simultaneous. Shin Lao’s head flew back into Boss Tanaka’s face, stunning the man. Out of reflex the aged Syndicate boss pulled the trigger of the .45 he held tight to her head, sending a spray of blood into the air. Her body hit the ground with a loud thud. Boss Tanaka was left without a shield and the Viper raised his guns, spraying the contents of two full clips into the mob boss. The shotgun blast was nearly drowned out by the sound of heavy rain on the tin roof and the shattering glass of the two large bay windows behind Boss Tanaka. The large bore slugs tore into the man’s back as the bullets from the Viper’s pistols tore into his chest.

Despite the wounds, the man lay on the floor gurgling through the last moments of his life. He was covered in shattered glass and blood. His eyes we wild as he felt himself grow colder and colder. The crunching sound of glass underfoot sounded like a tinny echo from far away as the Viper walked over to stand above him, his face barely discernable as his vision began to blur. The man didn’t say a word as the large barrel of a pistol encompassed his vision. The loud crack of a bullet being propelled through the barrel was the last thing he heard before the world went black for the last time.

The Viper looked up into the empty frames of the bay windows and saw Skinner standing there limply. The man looked bloody, beaten and bruised. The jacket he wore was in tatters and blood had crusted where it had run in tiny rivers down his face and arms. “You’re a hell of a man Detective. How’d you survive that blast?” Skinner opened his jacket and revealed the flak vest he wore, the vest stripped down to shining metal. The blast had torn the Kevlar from the rest of it. Skinner walked into the room, his legs seeming to want to give out on him at any second. He still hadn’t said a word as he walked in but merely slumped against the wall and slid down into a sitting position.

The Viper walked over to the limp body of Shin Lao and buried his face in her hair. Skinner vaguely heard the sound of sobbing and decided not to make it known. He had other things to concern himself with such as his bleeding and painful body. The Viper hadn’t asked how he had managed to get in on the balcony out there and he wasn’t up for talking about it either. He reached into the shredded jacket and pulled out the battered pack of cigarettes he had kept secret for a couple of days and tried to pull one out but they were all shredded and burned from the explosion and he simply tossed the pack into to room and lay his head back against the wall.

The Viper pulled his head away from Shin Lao’s neck and looked at the bullet wound. A smile came to his face and he pulled her to a sitting position. The bullet had grazed her temple, tearing a swath of skin along its path. It hadn’t actually entered her skull and a dry laugh escaped his mouth. “Now you know how I felt Elias.” She croaked as her eyes opened slowly. “Though I do have a hell of a headache. Can you untie me now? I think my leg is starting to go to sleep.” “You sly little bitch.” The Viper said as he tried to loosen the expert knots that had been tied in the rope.

The groan from behind them made only detective Skinner turn his head. He hadn’t noticed the other person laying there, his mind presuming that they were dead already. “Oh yeah, Detective Skinner there’s someone I’d like you to meet. There were no introductions needed as soon as her large dark eyes met his. He knew exactly who it was and smiled as best he could through the cuts on his face. “Leona?!” He rasped through his burned throat. He saw her face soften as she stood, two large bruises forming on the sides of her face. “Daddy? I thought you were dead.” “Well almost, but not quite.” He used the shotgun like a crutch as he painfully rose from his sitting position and made a couple of stiff steps over to his daughter who more than met him halfway. She wrapped her arms around him and they both cried, the tears washing some of the blood from his face. He wrapped one arm around her, hugging her loosely and turned his head to look at the Viper. “You’ve known all along haven’t you?” It wasn’t a question. The man had known where his daughter was for a while. Skinner was sure of it. “Yes I did, but Tanaka wasn’t so keen on me buying away two of his assassins. The original plan was to kill you and take your daughter but you and your wife were out at the time and so they only took your daughter and the babysitter. You know they found her body in the east river three weeks later. Tanaka kept her though. He trained her for one purpose though….to kill me.

The girl was apparently not listening to a word of it and was simply absorbing the warmth of the man she thought had died all those years ago. “So congratulations Skinner, you’ve got yourself an eighteen year old daughter.” Skinner smiled again through cracked and cut lips and dropped the shotgun to the floor. The sounds of sirens were starting to blare from the neighboring blocks. “We’d better get out of here. I don’t think those sirens are going to be friendly.” Skinner straightened up and the four of them walked down through the broken and battered house into the basement. The bulkhead door had been left open and a small pool of water was starting to form. They all walked into the pouring rain and stopped to look at the full moon. The rain washed the blood from their faces, and in some cases from their souls.

Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Alone in the Dark

Skinner walked cautiously through the dim hallway that the Viper had indicated led to the dungeon. He could hear the sound of footsteps and gunfire above his head. He was directly below what he supposed was the main entrance judging by the amount of traffic across it. Skinner stopped short and held his breath when the power suddenly went out. Perhaps it was the Viper’s doing. The thought reassured Skinner as he felt his way along the cinder block walls and met a thick wooden door after an incredibly long time. Time seemed to pass more slowly when you’re deprived of sight so he had no real way to know exactly how far he had traveled. He felt along the rough and grimy door until he felt the handle and gave it a hard turn. The door opened hard and Skinner ducked as he opened it in case there was anybody on the other side.

He wasn’t disappointed as the sound of bullets made hollow noises as they slammed into the heavy door. Skinner rolled into the room but the dark and open space left him disoriented. He wasn’t sure where the people were or even if he were facing in the right direction. He shook his head from side to side trying to get a feel for where the quiet footsteps were coming from and more importantly where they were going to be. Skinner tried to hold his breath so as not to give his location away and rose quietly from his hiding spot behind what felt like a desk. He stood, blind except for the hushed sweeping footsteps of he didn’t know how many people. He felt quietly along the surface of the desk trying to find anything to throw. His hand brushed against something metallic and thin and upon further inspection determined it to be a desk lamp.

He could hear hushed footsteps getting closer to him and decided to abandon the lamp for the moment and listened carefully as they seemed to be coming from around the other side of the desk. Creeping around to the side with his knees hurting badly from the squatting position they’d been in for so long he raised his shotgun up at an angle. Seconds later he felt something bump into the end of the barrel and without waiting he pulled the trigger on the Ithaca, the sound muffled a bit by the man’s body. He felt something warm and wet splash across his face and realized that it was the man’s blood.

He ducked back behind the desk as other people started firing. The muzzle flashes giving Skinner a brief indicator on where the other assailants were. Skinner wished that he had packed buckshot instead of the slugs at this point but you had to work with what you have. The other men were firing wildly around the room trying to find where the other man was. Skinner stood up and fired at the brief flash of the closest criminal. The howl of pain told him that he had at least hit the man. He didn’t know if it was a fatal wound or not but he wasn’t about to investigate too closely either.

The fire from the shotgun gave away his location though and the other man swung his gunfire over towards where he was laying. The bullets punched through the desk easily. A chunk of cement from a ricochet caught Skinner in the face and made him gasp as he felt a small trickle of blood flow down his cheek just below his eye. He heard the other man closing in on the spot and Skinner grabbed the lamp from its spot on the desk and jerked the cord out of the wall. He judged somewhere over to his left and threw the lamp making a crashing sound as it rebounded off of the wall. The man opened fire and Skinner took his chance and fired in the direction. He didn’t hear any sound come from the other man, nor did he hear the slug bury itself into any other surface and was pleased when he heard the slumping sound of a body hitting the hard cement floor.

Skinner heard some whimpering coming from somewhere in front of him and he felt his way forward along the wall. He stumbled over the body of one of his attacked and fell to the floor, his shotgun skidding somewhere in front of him in the darkness. Crawling along the floor with his hands splayed in front of him he came in contact with something metal and wrapped his hand around the dead man’s pistol. He pocketed it and crawled on along the wall, his hand finally sweeping into contact with his shotgun. He slung it over his shoulder and kept crawling towards the source of the sound. His hand came into contact with another heavy wooden door and heard the whimpering coming from the other side. “Hello?” He ventured into the darkness. “I’m here to help. Are you all right?” The voice became frantic and shrill but spoke in another language; presumably either Chinese or Japanese and Skinner didn’t understand a word of it. He tried the large handle of the door with a hard pull but the door was securely locked. The girl’s voice became more urgent and frantic but still Skinner didn’t understand a word of it.

He stood and felt back along the wall. The Viper had said that there would be a key hanging on the wall just inside the door. But this was of course before the power had gone out and the gunfight so all Skinner could do was hope that it was still there. His heart sunk when he felt an empty hook on the wall but felt around and found several other empty hooks. He realized that one of the dead men had to have the key on him and went out in search of the bodies. The man closest to the desk had nothing on him but his pistol and several clips in his pocket. He relieved the dead man of his weapons and felt around until he stumbled across the body of another. He had several more clips and a pistol. Skinner felt around his neck and felt a chain. Reaching down into the man’s collar he felt something small and metallic and found a key on the other end. He snatched the necklace off of the man’s neck and felt his way back to the door. The girl’s voice was a pleading scream now and Skinner tried to hush her with no success. They became louder as the sound of the key engaging the tumblers in the lock made a loud clicking noise in the total blackness.

Skinner stopped for a moment as he tried to make out what the girl was saying. She was incredibly upset about something and Skinner had no way of knowing what. He turned the handle as the girl screamed something at him. Cracking the door his mind suddenly pieced together the girl’s urgency. She wasn’t speaking Chinese but very poor English. He heard her scream something that sounded very close to the word ‘bomb’ just before the blinding flash and shockwave detonated the door outwards, sending both the detective and thousands of splinters flying hard into the wall behind them. Skinner laid there under the weight of the wooden shrapnel and the force of the blast and lost consciousness. The last thing he felt was a small wet pair of hands roaming over his face and body before everything went numb.

A Friendly Reminder...

just wanted to say Happy Holidays to everybody who's actually reading this thing. I won't be putting up the next chapter tomorrow, but rest assured it'll be up on monday.

Mahalo

Chapter 20

Chapter 20: One Hour from Destiny

The Viper drove in silence through the lamp lit interstate, his mind miles from where he was on the layout and contents of one house in the heart of New York City. He was rushing into an ambush, he was sure of it and his mind did the math as the highway miles flew by. His chances for survival didn’t look good. He had lost the element of surprise and now his enemy had intentionally drawn him into the light before he was ready. He knew that this was no movie. The bad guy wouldn’t wait for him to show up and spout off a witty one liner before trying to kill the girl. Boss Tanaka knew that he had no bargaining chip in Shin Lao. He saw her as bait and was prepare to lose his bait as soon as the fish took it. This was the real world and things didn’t always go in the heroes favor. The hero quite often lost in this world. Losing almost always coincided with the hero dying.

Fortunately for the Viper he wasn’t exactly the hero. He was just another one of the bad guys who were just a little better than the rest of em. He decided to swing by Edgar’s on the way and parked the BMW a block from the old man’s apartment. He walked quietly up the stairs alert for any signs of an ambush. If Tanaka had known about Skeet then he may well know about Edgar as well. The stair wells were narrow and the walls limited his visibility, both a boon and a hindrance in a situation like this. He pulled his pistols; the weight both cool and reassuring. He popped up from the stairs to find an empty landing. He sighed and walked up the stairs and knocked on Edgar’s door. There was no answer and so knocked again, louder this time. There was still no answer and so the Viper tried the door knob. It was locked and he knew that Edgar had several bolts and chains that secured the door from the other side. Still he had to be quiet if there was something going on so he pulled his large flat blade from his waist and began prying the doorframe. He’d left the small bottle of refrigerant in the BMW so he’d have to do this old school.

With the wooden crowning pulled away from the door frame he could find the pine that held the hinges onto the rest of the door frame. He pried with his knife for what seemed to be an eternity until they became loose; the wood pushed out from around the screws enough to be of some use. He kicked hard at the left edge of the door making it rock slightly but not come off of its hinges. Another couple of kicks however brought the screws out of the wood and he pushed the door in enough for him to squeeze through. Everything appeared in its place as the Viper remembered it. There was no sign of a struggle or a fight. Though he doubted that the old man could put up much of a fight. There would more than likely be bullet holes all around the place. The Viper made his way carefully around the apartment and walked back to the closed door that separated Edgar’s office from the rest of the apartment. He opened the door slowly and found Edgar. He was face down on his desk; antacids sprawled over the top around him. A cigar had burned a deep hole in the green vinyl top. The Viper picked the man’s head up and felt along his neck. There was no pulse and no breathing. The old man had finally bit it and gone like he’d wanted. It must have been a heart attack the professional killer decided judging from the scattered contents of his desk. He said a quiet prayer for the old man and fished the key to his back room out of his sweater pocket.

The lock up for much of Edgar’s product lay in boxes and crates in what would have been the next door apartment. Edgar had bought it long ago and used it to store what he needed to keep on hand. A couple of crates with German markings on it caught the Viper’s attention. Rocket Propelled Grenades as well as the devices needed to fire them. He grabbed a duffle bag from the corner and loaded up with rockets and slung a grenade launcher over his shoulder. He would come back and clean this place out, hopefully, when everything was said and done. This had been a good man; there was no need for the police to besmirch his name when they found millions in illegally obtained weapons.

He marched down the stairs with his prizes and couldn’t help but feel a little melancholy for the old man. He had had no family or friends and would likely be buried unknown to anybody. He didn’t have time for tears or philosophy at the moment and marched back to the Beamer. The engine roared to life, the dash board giving the interior an orange and green glow as he moved closer to his destination. This was the night that it all culminated in. All of the years of killing and searching. Boss Tanaka had dangled the information he had about his family over his head like a carrot for years and he had killed for the man to get it. Damn had he killed. He had cut a red swath through many of the city’s organizations for this man and he was repaid in the end with a couple of bullets in the chest. He would make one more stop tonight before Boss Tanaka looked down the barrels of his pistols for the first and last time.

The Pit had a sign on it that said closed but the Viper knew better. He’d heard about the shoot out from the other night and knew that they were simply trying to put the bar back together. They heavy door was unlocked and he simply strolled in. The click of guns cocking greeted him as he strolled in. He sat at the bar in front of Bobby who had his hand on the shotgun. “No need for that Bobby.” The man let out a sigh and nodded to the rest of the boys milling around the bar. “I’m here to see Tommy. There’s a war about to happen and I thought he should be kept aware.” Bobby nodded to the back door where the Viper knew Tommy was sitting without the confirmation from the big bartender. The men stood aside as the Viper walked amongst them. They knew that he was dead. The people from the other night had said as much and they’d beaten it out of Quint before he was disposed of. The Viper flung the door open and saw Tommy jump out of his seat. The Irishman laughed as he recognized the face of the Viper. “Good te be seein ye there Button man. To what do I owe the pleasure of your resurrection?” “There’s about to be a war Tommy and I thought you might like a piece of it.” “Tanaka?” The Viper nodded grimly and leaned back in the swivel chair Tommy kept in the corner. “Yup. He’s got a hostage. It’s not going to be pretty. He’s pretty pissed off at the both of us. No one’s gonna be able to stay safe in this city as long as he’s in charge.”

Tommy looked down at something on his desk apparently weighing the odds. “Ye know we don’t have a chance in Blarney of coming out of this in one piece.” “Yeah, I’d kind of figured that much. But to be honest there’s more than one reason that I need to do this Tommy, and if I go, well you know what happened the other night. They’ll come for you and one of these days they’ll get you. This isn’t a negotiation Tommy. You know it’s true and I need the help. He’s got probably sixty people in there easy. I’m good, but I’m not that good. And I need to keep as low key as I can until I can find the hostage.” “What do ye need us to do?” “I need a distraction. He’ll kill the hostage undoubtedly if He knows I’m just strolling in there. But if your boys rock the place a bit it’ll buy me some time.” “I do owe ye so I’ll give you the boys out in the bar. Understand that I need most of the rest for the neighborhood protection.” “Understood Tommy. I appreciate it. We’re all spades after this Tommy.” The ganger smiled at the Viper’s reference. “Guess I’ve been rubbing off on ye eh kid?” The Viper smiled. “Yeah a little. I’m going to Tanaka’s now so I’ll wait for your boys to raise a bit of a ruckus before I start.” Tommy nodded and stood with his arm extended. “God be with ye son.” The Viper stood and shook the man’s hand. “That’s not the kind of help I’ll be needing.” He turned and walked out of the office. He nodded at several of the thugs as he walked through the door of the bar.

Skinner was still angry as he paced the office of the Viper’s compound. His gut was still very tender and seeping from the wound earlier in the evening. He felt helpless as far out as he was away from the action. The Viper had promised him that he would help him find his daughter and he damn well planned on making sure that he came through on his end of the deal. Grabbing one of the flak vests from the store room and a couple of shotguns he threw on one of the Viper’s overcoats and filled the pockets with ammunition and walked down to the garage. The black Mercedes SLK and the Aston Martin were the only cars still left in the garage that were roadworthy. He decided on the Mercedes. If he were going to be of any help he didn’t need to tip their hand any further by being seen in the Aston Martin. Everybody worth a damn knew who it belonged to.

The Mercedes handled like a dream. He had hoped so for the amount of money that the thing probably cost. It hugged the turns like it was glued to the road as he hit one hundred and twenty miles per hour on the interstate back into the city. He often wondered why there were no cops or state troopers that patrolled this area. Had the Viper paid them to keep away or was it just an area of little concern? He’d have to ponder these things later. There was much to do tonight, and none of it he much liked. He didn’t like being this far on the other side of the law, but there were lives at stake tonight and if nothing else he might manage to arrest someone and make it look legitimate. He parked the car a couple of blocks away from Tanaka’s compound and walked the short distance, unseen except for the occasional spot of sickly light cast off from the old street lights. A fine mist started to fall from the sky as he walked the streets as if God had decided that the whole event had needed a proper backdrop. It quickly turned into a light rain.

The rain seemed to give the city a grainy look as he stood at the corner across from Tanaka’s house. The sounds of gunfire erupted suddenly casting up ghostly flashes from all sides. He saw men start to run out from the gate. There was a group of thugs advancing on the compound with pistols and bottles. Molotov cocktails to be sure. His thoughts were proven correct when one of them smashed into the terracotta wall sending up a spray of flaming liquid that covered many of the guards leaving the gate. The screams and gunfire spilled out into the neighborhood as the two sides clashed. Skinner could barely make out the outline of a darkly dressed man walking casually through the mass, raising his pistol only to take out a guard who had tried to rush him. Even at a distance Skinner recognized the report of that gun. The Viper was making his move. Skinner loaded his shotguns and walked casually across the street. The fire made everything appear ghostly and surreal.

The Viper strolled through the men as if he were going to pick up a newspaper. Tommy’s boys had certainly performed much above his expectations and the Molotov cocktails we certainly a nice touch. With the outside guards’ attention concentrated on the Irish gangsters out front the path around Tanaka’s house was clear for the most part. His senses were on fire as he felt like a piano string. The adrenaline pumping through his body seemed to make everything seem crisper and louder and so dropped to a crouch and turned his guns on the man approaching him from behind. “Skinner!” He hissed through clenched teeth. “What the hell are you doing here? I distinctly remember telling you to stay at the house.” “I’m here to help. The old man can still hit a target when he needs to. “Good to see you but this really isn’t the place for you at the moment.” “What, you think an old cop can’t shoot with the best of them?” His point was made a second later as one of the guards came rushing around the corner at them. Skinner pointed his shotgun right over the Viper’s shoulder and squeezed the trigger. The slug took the man clear off at the neck and the body fell to the wet ground with a sickening wet sound. The rain was starting to pick up now turning into a steady downpour. The earth around them was starting to turn muddy and the edges of their coats drug lightly in the mud. “So what’s the plan?” Skinner asked as the Viper poked his head around the rear corner of the house. Skinner noticed the large duffle bag in the man’s other hand. Why hadn’t he noticed it before? Maybe he was slipping in his old age. “Can you fire one of these?” The Viper had produced a metal case from the bad roughly three feet square. “A rifle? Hell yes I can.” “Then get to it. There are two guards around the back at twelve and ten to you now. Make your shots count as we may not get many more if they manage to make too much of a commotion.”

It took Skinner only a couple of minutes to assemble the rifle. He didn’t have time to zero the sights. Time was becoming a huge factor in this game and he had to play his part quickly. He poked his head around the corner to get an idea of where the two guards were. He took careful aim when the other’s back was turned and fired the high powered round through the man’s head. It seemed to erupt like the paper volcanoes in some school science fair. The other one took notice of the brief rifle report and spun around only to be greeted by another round to the chest. “Leave the rifle and let’s go” The Viper whispered as he hugged the corner of the building. He slung the grenade launcher across his shoulder and loaded a few grenades into it and left the duffle bag on the dark side of a bulkhead. “We’re gonna have to be as light as possible. Those will be there if we need em.” Skinner remained quiet. He was used to stake outs and raids, but this was far more intense than any of the raids he’d ever been on. He felt almost like a spy in some movie as they silently opened the bulkhead.

Predictably there were guards stationed at the bottom of the stairs. The blurs from the Viper’s hands as he grabbed his guns was astounding. Skinner had never seen the man work and he was seriously impressed. The man had the guns pulled pointed and discharged all in the fraction of a second. The guards squeezed a shot off and then were spun around by the force of the .50 bullets. Their round slammed into the bulkhead doors with a ringing like a bell. They scanned the area looking for any more lackies but found none. The Viper unscrewed the light bulb that hung from the ceiling, throwing the room into darkness. Skinner’s eyes took a moment to adjust before he was fully able to see again, and to notice that the Viper wasn’t standing next to him anymore. “Dammit” He thought to himself and tried to search around the room, only backlit by the moon.

He heard gunfire erupt from somewhere off to his right and rushed towards the sound. The Viper had found the main choke point for the guards. He was unfamiliar with this part of the house. Perhaps this had been what Tanaka had pulled the permit for. He’d have to ask later, but for now he had more pressing things to tend to. “Just surrender Viper. We might even let you live after your talk with the boss.” “Sorry guys. No deal” His pistols were up in a flash and he pummeled the triggers of his guns, spraying the area with gunfire. The guards reacted too quickly for simple hired guns. These guys were professionals. He dove to the side as the return fire lit up the hallway, their bullets slamming into the thick cement of the foundation on the other side. Peeking his head around he fired several more rounds into the room. He caught one in the shoulder but the thick trauma plate on the man’s flak vest kept the bullet from piercing.

The shotgun blast from behind him startled him. He hadn’t heard Skinner enter the room. The detective pumped slug after slug into the adjoining corridor catching several of them above and below their vests. The slugs punched through easily sending several of the guards sprawling against the walls or into other guards. He counted the rounds until the shotgun made the haunting sound of an empty chamber. He tossed it down and swung the other one from across his shoulder. The Viper came from around the corner with both guns drawn in front of him and squeezed the triggers quickly. He caught one more guard in the head, spinning his lifeless body around and falling on a man lying prone beside him. The man jumped and struggled to get the body off of him and left to much of himself exposed, getting picked off by one of the powerful .50 rounds. Skinner picked up the shotgun and pumped eight more rounds into it, pumping it with a satisfying Ka-Chink sound. The Viper had an idea of where Tanaka would be holding his prisoners however getting there quickly would be a problem.

He pulled the blueprint out of his pocket and unfolded it against a wall for both him and Skinner to look at. “OK here’s the plan He keeps most of his prisoners down to the left.” The Viper sent his finger along the route showing a large empty space on the blueprint. “I need you to go down there and search. I doubt she’d be there but we need to be certain. If she’s not there it’ll be lightly guarded but still be careful. There’s a key hanging on the wall around the backside of the entrance that will fit the locks in there. Might as well spring people if there are any. There won’t be anyone left in this place after tonight one way or the other.” “And what about you?” “I’m heading here.” The Viper pointed to a large room on the second floor of the print. “This is where Tanaka will be hiding and that’s where I’ve got to be.” “Good luck man” Skinner held his hand out and the Viper took it in a firm shake. “Be careful. They have the home field advantage here.” Skinner walked carefully down the left corridor and looked back briefly but the Viper had vanished. He had his mission and he was going to see if through to the end.