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.

And an interesting milestone

This last post marked the 200th post in this Blog. That is all

Mahalo and merry christmas, or whatever it is that you celebrate around the winter solstice

Chapter 19

Chapter 19: High Stakes

Skinner wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he slowly became conscious again. He looked up into the face of a wiry black man and began to frantically struggle. “Calm down man. You’re all right. I pulled you outta that car back there when the coast was clear.” “Wha-what do you mean clear? What happened? All I know is we were driving and then the world exploded and everything went dark.” Skeet had a grim look on his face as he helped the detective up into a sitting position. “Well some guys came around the car and pulled the driver out. I guess they thought you were dead. To be honest you almost were if they had waited around another couple of minutes you more than likely would have burned to death. Not one of my favorite ways of going I might add.” “Shit, I’ve gotta call Elias.” “Whoa, calm down there sparky. You’re confused, Elias is dead.” “Shit. No. No he isn’t, it was an act. Fuck. Why didn’t I notice them? Dammit!!”

Skinner hadn’t noticed the pain in his abdomen until then and winced loudly as he clutched his stomach. “Yeah, I forgot about that. I pulled a hunk of metal out of your stomach. Don’t worry though, it didn’t go deep. But if you keep getting excited like that it’s never going to close up right. So, tell me again what you said about Elias. I just don’t seem to believe you on that one. Must have been the knock to the head.” “I’ve got to get to a phone. Can I use yours?” “Yeah, but I think you’re going to be disappointed.” “Just trust me on this one. The person they pulled out of the car was the Ghost. If that doesn’t tell you a little something about who I know then I don’t know what to tell you.” “That doesn’t really prove anything though, everybody knows that name and who she tended to work with.” “Whatever just get me the phone. This throws a new wrinkle in everything.”

Skeet brought the greasy phone over to where Skinner was laying. “Sorry it’s not cordless, but these metal buildings don’t exactly give you good reception.” Skinner nodded and dialed the Viper’s cell number. “Hey it’s Skinner. I’m at whom I presume to be Skeet’s shop. No she’s not with me. That’s why I, oww fuck, called. They got her. The Honda’s totaled.” Skinner sat silently as the raised voice from the other end blared through the old receiver. He looked at Skeet and shrugged. “Listen, just calm down and pick me up if you could. No I don’t know if she called Edgar. We were doing a little recon and I guess they tailed us from there. OK just get here.” Skinner hung up the phone and handed it back to Skeet. “Well, whether you believe me or not he’ll be here in about thirty minutes. Is the Beamer done yet?” “Nope, but it will be shortly. Just have to finish putting in the windshield and it’s gotta set for a little bit but other than that it’s golden.

The Viper roared through the streets of New York screaming and pounding on the steering wheel of the Aston Martin the entire way. This new turn completely screwed up the job as he’d set it out. He tried to steel himself again but found himself simply getting angrier and angrier. He calmed himself down enough to obey most of the traffic laws. The last thing that he needed was to get pulled over tonight, especially with the weapons that he had in the car that he obviously wasn’t licensed to carry. He came up on the warehouses quickly and roared expertly between them. He had traveled this path many times to Skeet’s shop and came upon the still smoking wreckage of his Honda. He felt his fury rise again as he fishtailed around the corner and down a few more rows, screeching to a halt in front of Skeet’s warehouse. Skeet recognized the sound of the Aston Martin’s engine like it was the voice of his child. In essence it was. He had taken that piece of machinery apart last year and rebuilt it for performance from the ground up. If what the man had said was true, Skeet was afraid. Not necessarily for himself, but for whomever crossed the man’s path. If that was the Viper coming through the door, hell was about to be unleashed on earth.

Despite these feelings Skeet felt a twinge of awe as the man came marching through the open door of his shop. He was walking so briskly that his overcoat was billowing wide in the self created breeze. His holsters clearly visible and heavy with the two hand cannons that he particularly liked. His immaculately styled hair was the only thing that didn’t move dramatically as he came around to face Skinner. “OK, tell me what happened. I need to know down to the letter.” The man was normally all business, but this last occurrence was strictly a personal strike against him and he was ready to go on the warpath. The grim look on the man’s face frightened Skinner as he struggled into a sitting position which only resulted in grabbing his stomach and cursing the blood he felt trickle down his stomach through the bandage. “I don’t know, we were driving here, there was an explosion and then the next thing I knew I was lying here with, who I presume is Skeet telling me that he pulled me out of the car.”

The Viper’s face softened for a second as he turned to face Skeet, who was personally floating between scared for his life and awestruck. “Thank you Skeet. I owe you one.” “No way man, we’re just a little closer to even is all.” The Viper extended his hand and the mechanic gladly shook it. “It’s good to see you among the living again man. You had us all worried for a minute there.” The Viper didn’t say anything but glanced around the shop. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but he knew he’d recognize it when he saw it. There was nothing that caught his attention however. Everything appeared to be exactly as he remembered it. “Did you see anything Skeet?” The assassins steely face turned towards Skeet and the man shivered. She swore he could see the anger glowing in the man’s eyes. “I just saw a couple of guys pull someone from the driver’s side and throw them into a van. Then they just took off. Me and a couple of guys ran over after they’d left and pulled him outta the passenger side.” “Thanks again Skeet. You’re a lifesaver.” “Anything I can do for a friend man. Oh, the Beamer’s almost done. Just gotta let the glass set for a bit.”

“Unfortunately Skeet, we don’t have time for that. Skinner can you walk?” Skinner groaned a little bit but struggled to a sitting, and then to a standing, position. “I’ll damn well be able to walk outta here.” The Viper smiled at the man’s tenacity. “Good, you’ll be driving the BMW back to the house. You’ll follow me and I’ll pick up some artillery and I’ll be on my way. Thanks again Skeet.” “Don’t mention it. You gonna go get the bad guys now?” The Viper looked at him with a determined expression on his face. “Yeah…all of them” The Viper turned to Skinner and led him back to the BMW. “I’ll stay under the speed limit for this, so don’t get too excited while we’re on the trip. We don’t need any more attention tonight.” Skinner nodded and climbed painfully into the driver’s seat of the BMW. “Now easy with that thing man. It’s got a couple more horses under the hood than your average truck.” Skeet instructed him as he shut the door. “Don’t worry, I’m used to big engines” Skinner backed out of the warehouse as Skeet raised the door and turned to follow the Viper back through the back alleys of New York to the Interstate where, much against what he’d said, stomped on the gas and rocketed the Aston Martin upstate.

They arrived at the house in what felt to Skinner like no time at all. To be honest his gut was killing him and he’d almost blacked out on several occasions, only the lights from passing cars keeping his eyes open and his mind aware. Unusual for the Viper he had parked the Aston Martin in front of the garage and walked around to the driver’s side of the BMW and opened the door. “Let’s get inside. I’ve got to pick up a few things and I’ll be off. Skinner looked at him as he hopped down out of the SUV. “You make it sound like I’m not needed anymore. You’ve said ‘I’ this whole time. I’ve got something of a stake in this myself.” The Viper looked thoughtful for a moment and turned to the door. “You’ll be staying here. You don’t need to be mixed up in this in your condition.” Skinner didn’t have time to retort before the Viper hit the access code to the alarm quickly and opened the door, holding it for Skinner.

The Viper quickly jogged up the stairs and went through the hall to his office where he flipped the switch on the wall, opening the door to his workshop. Skinner lay back on the couch in the office while he listened to the hit man mill about in his hidden sanctuary. He emerged with a large black duffle bag and started tossing as many large caliber pistols, shotguns and rifles as he could fit. He stuffed another one with armfuls of clips and shells and zipped them both up. “You need to calm down man. Your heads not in this right to be going in with both barrels blazing.” Skinner was the recipient of the Viper’s icy glare as the man turned quickly. “I’ve got to do what I can tonight. This has turned quickly from a search and destroy to a rescue mission all because you two couldn’t stick to the simple plan.” “HEY! She was only doing what she thought needed to be done. Yes your plan was simple and we didn’t stick to it, but you know…we were trying to get a better idea so don’t blame us. We were sloppy yes, but we got some better idea of what we were going to be facing. I have something of a vested interest in making sure you stay alive or have you forgotten the deal we made back in the day?”

There, Skinner finally came out with it. It had been bugging him since the man’s miraculous resurrection and he finally came out and said it. “I’m still working on that.” “Yes I know, but that work doesn’t do me any good if you’re dead again, no does it? By the way in case you’re interested, there’s no less than twenty five people guarding the outside of the building and Shin said there were probably at least twice that many on the inside. So happy hunting prick and I hope you get what you’re looking for.” Skinner went silent and looked at the Viper defiantly if not a little daringly. The man had cut him a little deeper than he’d known with his comment and he simply grabbed his duffle bags and stormed out of the office. He threw the bags into the back of the BMW. Skinner looked from the open office door as the Viper roared backwards out of the gravel driveway and off into the night.

Chapter 18

Chapter 18: One Last Trip

Shin Lao had gone directly to Skeet’s shop after her sparring match with Elias. The BMW handled the interstate much better than she had supposed it would and she found herself actually enjoying the drive. It gave her time to think about her future. All she had known from the moment that Tanaka’s men had gotten her off of the ratty cargo ship from China was death. After he had gone back on the deal with her parents he quickly tried to indoctrinate her into his own mindset. She was smart for her age and she quickly let him have the impression that he had broken her will.

The Boss wasn’t entirely an unkind ‘father’ but was concerned with nothing beyond gaining control of his areas and the money he was raking in, in ‘protection’ money. He had many of his elevated thugs teach her how to fight and shoot. Some of them were honest teachers, but there were some of the more lewd variety and she grew to hate her mentors. But Boss Tanaka turned a blind eye to the improprieties of some of his employees and only concerned himself with the final product. But she had withdrawn herself from everybody and so kept to remaining silent for weeks at a time. She would only leave her room when she was forced to and grew up becoming more and more brooding and calculating. She would never know whether this was intentional or merely an accidental boon for Tanaka. Then along came the Viper. He was the only person in her ‘fathers’ organization that didn’t see her as a piece of meat, just another nice ass to leer at to wile the time away. He had been kind to her and patient despite her persistent insecurities. She had grown to love him despite her best efforts to keep things professional.

And now he was determined to get himself killed by going after Tanaka personally. She didn’t want this to happen but knew also that it would despite her pleas and cries to the contrary. And what happens if he walks out of that house alive? He swore that it was his last job and she was worried that she wouldn’t fit into the picture after it was all said and done. She had already had to live a brief period of her adult life without him and she had found that it was a very lonely and empty experience. She hoped that he felt the same way that she did, but all she had ever done was throw hints and flirt. There had been several dates a couple of years ago but they had all ended tragically ruined by some sort of fight with some unhappy gangers.

She tried to empty her mind for the rest of the trip and pulled into the wiry black man’s auto garage. Skeet had been one of the happy side benefits of the way that Elias did business. Elias somehow managed to be in the right place at the right time on many occasions and happened to be on his way to a job when he saw Skeet waving his arms wildly. Skeet’s wife had been hit by a car escaping the police, but no help had arrived and his wife was lying on the sidewalk dying. The Viper then did something unheard of in his line of work. He stopped and brought them both to the hospital where he handed the man a wad of cash and said for him to help his wife. He then pulled away to kill a man. Karma had a way of playing with people.

Since then Skeet had been all too happy to do whatever mods the Viper needed to his new vehicles. He had used what was left of the sizable amount of money to buy a dilapidated old warehouse by the waterfront and fixed and rebuilt all sorts of vehicles. But he reserved the military grade outfits for the Viper alone. So as Shin Lao pulled the black BMW SUV into the rear doors at Skeet’s place he smiled and shook his head. “another new toy for our friend, eh?” “Yup, this one needs the works. Got a big one going down tomorrow and we need to fit all the guns and ammunition we can get into this thing. Also need the glass replaced. You know what to do with everything else.” “Sure do sweetie. I’ll have it for you tonight.” “Excellent Skeet. Always a pleasure doing business with you.” Skeet nodded and whistled for one of his guys to pull the BMW around. He had a lot of work to do to it before tonight and he didn’t like to keep one of his most frequent customers waiting.

She took a cab to one of her safehouses and tipped the man an adequate amount of money. She’d learned long ago from Elias two very important rules to taking cabs to your safehouses. One was to never tip the driver handsomely, especially to forget where he took you. That would only ensure that he would remember you. The other rule was to never give the driver simply a dollar or two as that would make you stand out in his mind just as easily as if you’d given him a sizeable tip. So she took this rule to heart and found out that it seemed to ring pretty true.

She unlocked the numerous locks on her front door and walked in without turning on any lights. She had spent weeks walking around the house in complete darkness to get her bearings so that she could find anything that she needed whenever she needed it. She sat down in front of the laptop computer in her bedroom and hit the power button. The bright flare of the screen as the computer booted up left her with spots on her eyes momentarily. She entered her complicated password and she was up and running. She liquidated the assets in several of her bank accounts and compiled them quickly into one that she kept nearly empty for times like this. The amount came to nearly 1.8 million dollars, which would be enough for her to purchase some equipment that she was going to need. She then called Edgar who seemed to be incredibly chipper for some reason. “Good afternoon dear. What can I do for you today?” “I need some big stuff Edgar, and a large amount of ammunition.” Now when you say big stuff, what are you wanting?”

Shin Lao went through the list that she had made which included several hand held grenade launchers, a couple of MP5’s, several automatic pistols and about two dozen grenades. “Damn, it sounds like you’re going to war. You’re not going after, well, you know.” Shin Lao’s silence only cemented Edgar’s theory and he sighed heavily on the other end of the line. “Well, don’t go getting yourself killed now.” “I don’t plan to Edgar. How long before we can get this stuff?” “When do you need it?” “As soon as possible Edgar.” “Well I can have it for you tomorrow night, but the price will be a bit steeper for the rush. Is that all right?” “That would be perfect Edgar. Also I need a few bits of electronics. You wouldn’t happen to be able to get some gear as well would you?” “That all depends on what you want to pick up.” “I need a couple of pairs of low light goggles, some motion detectors, so low light scopes and some maglock scramblers.” “I can get all of those for you by tomorrow as well. Normal account and all for payment?” “Yes sir, the money will be available tomorrow after noon.” “You’re always a professional Ghost. You and that detective be careful now. He’s not going to take lightly to having the fight brought to his doorstep.” “We know and we’re going to be ready to handle what comes up.”

She hung the phone up and stared at her computer screen. The weight of what they were planning suddenly fell on her as he completed the deal for the weapons. They were going to take down Boss Tanaka. He had a veritable army behind those high terracotta walls. She silently made a decision and walked to the locked and reinforced closet door behind her. She walked in and turned on the light revealing several shelves of clothes, wigs, and at the very rear, a small arsenal containing various weapons and gadgets. She picked out her normal stealth outfit, which much to her chagrin, made her look like the stereotypical ninja that they portrayed in all of the video games they liked to make recently. She picked out her set of night vision goggles and her climbing gear and walked out to the garage where her non-descript Honda sat in its half of the garage. While the car itself may have been non-descript, what was under the hood was anything but. The engine had been bored out, modified, various chips replaced, upgraded or bypassed altogether. The result was a powerful and nearly whisper quiet engine. She had the nitrous system put in for those emergencies when the horsepower of the little foreign car just wasn’t enough. She hit the garage door opener and backed out quickly as it rose. Another push sent it lowering back down to it’s closed and alarmed state. She then stomped on the gas and was speeding through the neighborhood towards her normal stomping grounds.

She wanted to do some reconnaissance before the big job. The Viper had his blueprints that was true, but nothing beat good old fashioned recon to give you a decent idea of where you stood. Unfortunately she had to get quite a distance away as the paranoid Boss had the building across the street torn down to keep people from doing exactly what she was here to do. So from a building down the block her zoomed in with her high powered binoculars and surveyed the Syndicate Boss’s compound. From her vantage point she spotted no less than twelve people patrolling the grounds with several more walking the upper balcony that extended around the house. It was incredibly hard to tell exactly how many because the image became so grainy at the distance that she was at. But they were good enough for what she wanted to know. If the man had roughly twenty people on the outside, there were at least twice that many wandering the hallways and various rooms of the interior. Boss Tanaka had become quite paranoid over the years and had beefed up his security to match his declining feeling of safety. Apparently it wasn’t good enough that he had the police and city government on his pay roll but he had gone so far as to try to take out one of his best killers just to feel a bit safer. But just like in the movies, when the villain decides to feel contrary and take out one of his own, the plan simply backfires and he creates his own worst nemesis. Elias was no one to muck around with on a good day, but almost being killed tends to send a person into that other place that people should be afraid of.

She cursed silently under her breath when she heard the crunching of the gravel behind her. While she was lost in thought someone had snuck up onto the roof. She rolled over quickly and grabbed the pistol she had tucked into her waist and brought it to bear on whoever was behind her. She breathed a quick sigh of relief when she recognized the face of detective Skinner and un-cocked the pistol. “What are you doing up here?” She said in a stage whisper. “I thought you might be doing something like this when I called your cell and there was no answer.” “Where’s Elias?” “Oh, he’s off doing something with Officer Jackson. He didn’t say what or where, but he just said he’d be back and took off. So I decided that I was going to grab a little equipment from the lock up at the station and do what you’re doing at the moment.” She sighed and sat up from her perch. “Won’t you get fired for something like that?” “I very well might, but for the next couple of days we’re in the clear at least. As long as I have it back before someone starts to question where it went we should be all right.” He set down the bag beside her. It made the rustling sound of plastic and metal parts rubbing together. “There’s a set of Binocs in there that should be much better than those old things you’re using. As well as a couple of nice little tapping gadgets. If we can plant those on his security cameras we can see what he sees.” “You never cease to amaze me detective.” “I do my best” Skinner replied casually and produced the aforementioned binoculars.

They were indeed much better than the ones she had been using for years. They were apparently military grade and she could almost count the hairs on the guard patrolling the gate. She revised her previous count to include the six people that she couldn’t make out along the balcony and another three lurking on the darkened sides of the house. “We’ve got to get back to the house. We’re not going to be able to plant these bugs tonight, but more than likely while we’re going through tomorrow night.” “So that’s when it’s going down eh?” “Yeah, we’ll have the weapons tomorrow and the van will be ready later tonight.” They walked silently from the roof and down the access stairs to the street level. “Follow me to the safe house and we’ll dump my car there. I’ll have to pick up the BMW in a couple of hours so it’s something of a good thing that you showed up.”

The two black Honda Preludes drove quietly through the neighborhoods and main roads of uptown New York City. Shin Lao parked her car in her garage and rolled under the door before it closed. Skinner slid over into the passenger seat and she shifted the small car into reverse and left towards Skeet’s shop.

The streets around the shop were nearly empty as they circled the block around the warehouses. Skeet ran a reputable shop during daylight hours and made his real money doing these modifications and paperless patch up jobs on many of the less desirable clients after dark. Shin Lao felt a little uneasy as she wove between the warehouses. She always had the feeling that she was driving into an ambush when she had to drive through this area. This was why the explosion didn’t come as so much of a shock to her as something slammed into the rear end of the Honda and brutally tore it to shreds. The car cart-wheeled into several of the old warehouses, sending up sparks and small motes of fire when it made contact. Everything went black as the smoking husk of the car came to settle upside down near the edge of the sea wall that dropped forty feet to the harbor below.

Game Whoring...

So I've decided to get off of my ass and get to playtesting this RPG that I wrote, and blogged about, in depth, whether you wanted me to or not, for a quite some time. I've got a yahoo group set up for the playtesting if any of you are interested please post of a comment in here or shoot me an email. I'd like to get at least 10 people involved to get a good spread on the characters and abilities. First let me give you a little background on it

When I was playing D&D back in my early teens i created something of a new world. It still followed the D&D rules but I didn't want just your run of the mill classes and places as they hadn't really gone in depth then with the many different realms and worlds they have now. So I created Illythia. It was a place where magic was largely uncontrollable and wild. There were geological formations that weren't feasibly possible and the bulk of your character was truly up to you. I had grown tired of the rules on character creation. The min/maxers that took 2 hours to make a character. The skills rules that made you pour through the entire book just to find a skill that you liked. Wizards starting with 4 hit points, having 2 crappy spells and just generally sucking. All of this caused me to streamline things a bit and create something of a different place.

I played this with a great group of players and formed the Illythian Guard. Yes I was running the thing and so I'll be pretty well legally bound to say that our adventures were epic...but they really were. We defeated a god of darkness, held off the Bane Healers, and all around had a heroic time of it. And then I moved and the game stopped. I got involved in the RPG clubs on yahoo and had a generally good time of it. That is until there was a conflict between two players. There was no way to arbitrate these things as pride would stop things from ever ending. There was no definitive winner as the only way to 'win' was to write that you were defeated. And so I set about creating a diceless game system specifically tailored to playing in these groups. It started with a fanboy project and the IES: Spy Hunter game was born. I still love the material and system in that game but it was a little flat. And so I set about writing a fantasy based system. I stripped the Spy Hunter system and expanded on the good points and decided to use Illythia as the basis for it. Obviously I aged the world a bit. The old players are retired, but in a tribute they're now akin to epic heroes. The system is streamlined so that you can make a character, by your own concepts, in under 10 minutes. You're not pigeonholed into a particular role. If you're a spell caster you don't have to hang back like a wallflower and hope someone doesn't notice you. You can wear whatever armor or swing whatever weapon. You're not stuck with a specific group of spells, only hoping for that next level so you can get a slightly more useful version of a spell you already have. It's built around keeping a story going and not having to rules lawyer everything.

So with this said, again I extend the invite to any of my readers, or if you know someone who might be interested, send em my way and I'll get them set up. It'll be a learning experience all around.

Mahalo

Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Q&A

They ate dinner late that night and everybody retired to their respective areas. Skinner was still slightly apprehensive about ‘interrogating’ a fellow police officer but the Viper had assured him that he wouldn’t have to be bothered with it. He’d noticed a transformation in the man over the last several days. He was certainly less jovial about things, if that was what you could call his demeanor before. Perhaps he was always like this when it came time for a job but Skinner had no way of knowing. He had noticed that the man smiled less and tended to pore over various files most hours that he wasn’t doing legwork for the job. Perhaps this kind of dedication and attention to detail was why he was so good at his job and even more likely why he was still alive today.

Skinner awoke in the morning to the muted sounds of someone screaming and knew that their captive was awake and slightly aware of his situation. The gunfire in the mornings didn’t bother him anymore as he’d become accustomed to it. He walked into the range with a cup of coffee as the Viper was reloading. He stood quietly as he watched the man score killing shots on all three targets in all three stalls. The man seemed to prepare for all circumstances which was a good thing in his line of work. The Viper holstered his pistols and turned around, not really seeming to be surprised that Skinner had snuck in behind him. “Morning detective.” He said flatly. “Morning. Your patient is awake.” “Yeah I heard. I was gonna let him stew for a bit before I turned on the lights for him.” The Viper walked past him into the main part of the house and grabbed himself another cup of coffee. “I’m going down to talk with him. You can come if you like.” “I’ll pass thanks. I should probably squeeze a few rounds off before we have to shoot for real.” The Viper nodded and grabbed his overcoat and sunglasses as he headed for the door.

The yells from Officer Jackson in the pit grew louder as the Viper crossed the yard. As he removed the thick steel bars that secured the bulkhead the man’s screams turned more frantic and rose in both volume and pitch. These were the screams of a desperate man much as the hit man had hoped. He would be much easier to squeeze information out of if he was under the impression he was going to be tortured. What the man didn’t realize was that the hardest part of his interrogation was already over with. The Viper left the light off as he stepped into the stairway and closed the bulkhead behind him. He knew the layout by heart and walked silently through the long black hallway, his footsteps muffled by the man’s frantic screams.

He sat quietly in a chair across from where he knew the cell was and simply listened. The man continued to scream for several more minutes alternating between pleading and profanities. The Viper simply continued to sit and listen silently until the man began to quiet down. He then lit a cigarette, the light from his lighter casting the room in a dim light momentarily, blinding his prisoner briefly until the flare died. All that remained was the bright yellow end of his cigarette in the total blackness of the pit.

“I have some questions for you Officer Jackson. If you cooperate I’ll let you live. If not…well let’s just say that there are some very hungry rats down here.” Fuck you, you bastard killer. Fuck you and your offers. You’re a piece of shit!” The Viper took a drag off of his cigarette causing the end to glow brightly for a moment, casting his face into a brief light. “I’d have hoped that you would have been more forthcoming officer. “Piss off you fucker. I’m not saying shit!” “Well that is certainly your prerogative officer, but you see there’s a small problem that I have with you at this point in our lives. The problem simply put is this. You tried to kill me. Not only that but you took money to try to kill me. Now, you see I already know who sent you. I’ve got all of the paperwork I need to prove anything I want to. But your cooperation will dictate who I actually hand this information to.”

“Fuck off. There’s nothing you can do to me.” “Well that’s where you’re wrong officer. There’s plenty that I can do to you, all of which at varying levels of pain but I think being eaten alive by rats would be by far the worst of them. I also don’t like people who don’t keep their promises officer. Now when I walked down here you were saying something about giving me whatever I wanted if I’d just let you go. You’ve apparently not kept your end of this promise so I think that I’m gonna have to leave. We’ll see if you’re more forthcoming with the information in a couple of hours. Look out for those rats. You’ve got a couple of open wounds and as I said, I imagine they’re pretty hungry at the moment.” The Viper noisily stood up and turned to walk down the hall, his hard soled shoes making loud clicking noises as he walked towards the stairs. “I’ll tell you anything, just get me out of this friggin pit!” The man sounded frantic again as he opened the bulkhead and shut it noisily. He slid the steel bars back through the slots and walked to the house. He laid his overcoat across his desk and walked into his small sparring area.

He practiced several forms of martial arts in here. You couldn’t always rely on your pistols. Sometimes they jammed, or worse ran out of ammo. In these cases he didn’t want to be left defenseless and studied here just as hard as he did with his pistols. He walked up to one of the training dummies and assumed the defensive stance he’d learned years ago. He delivered a flurry of straight punches, crouched into a low sweep then suddenly rose into a spinning back kick. The dummy flew to the side with the power of his strikes and he seemed satisfied. He circled the dummy as he’d been taught, delivering furious jabs to the head and torso areas and finished with a round kick, sending the dummy flying again.

The clapping from behind him broke his concentration and he turned around quickly and found Shin Lao standing in the doorway watching him. He’d shied away from her over the last day or so but it was something that she was accustomed to as a job grew closer. He tended to go into a business mode as he steeled himself up for a job, but this one was going to be the biggest of his life, and perhaps his last for more than one possible reason. She knew this but it didn’t mean that she had to like the possibility. “You know that dummies don’t fight back. Perhaps you should train against something that’ll hit you back.” Shin Lao smiled and took several steps onto the large matt that occupied the majority of the room. “You know you’ll kick my ass all day long. I think you enjoy these little sparring matches.” The Viper said with a smile. He may be proficient in several forms of combat, but Shin Lao had him beat in hand to hand combat even on her worst day. “It’s true. I do.” She said with a grin. It was true, the man could hit the sharp end of a needle from two blocks away but he wasn’t nearly the melee fighter that she was.

She took an offensive stance, her arms spread slightly, he hands flattened and hard as steel. The Viper slipped his shoes off and took his defensive stance and began to circle around her. His teacher long ago had taught him that more fights were fought along the same axis in a back and forth manner. He learned that by circling he could often get the upper hand. But this only seemed to work with someone who wasn’t incredibly proficient in such arts. Shin Lao was one who was incredibly skilled so these matches often came down to his reflexes and speed trying to fend her off.

They circled each other like some sort of mating dance seen in the animal kingdom. The comparison wasn’t altogether untrue as their forms of combat were created using motions taken from animals. The Viper had learned several forms of Kung Fu in his travels, all of which he was proficient with, but he had taken many motions from each and turned them into a style that he could use in most of his situations. Shin Lao however had learned one form and had mastered it well. Enough of this dance he thought to himself as he quickly closed the distance between them and thrust out his hand in a tiger claw strike. He arm swiftly rose up to block the strike while her other swung smoothly through the air and almost caught him in the stomach had he not blocked. He crouched down and twisted his body to bring around a quick sweep but she quickly rose to one foot leaving his foot hitting nothing but empty air. She straightened her leg out into a quick snap kick but he brought his arms up across his face to block her foot. He caught he foot and twisted with his body pulling her off balance, but she simply brought her body around with it landing on her remaining foot with ease. She kicked her foot out from under her and extended her body, sending her pointed toe into the Viper’s chest. He released her foot and rolled backwards, on his feet in a second.

Shin Lao was already pressing her advantage and launched herself into the air with both feet extended towards her target. The Viper saw her mistake and rolled to the side just as her feet pushed deep into the matt, he swung his leg around again to sweep but her feet had barely touched the ground before she was in the air again, avoiding his sweep again. He hopped to his feet and took his defensive stance again as she came down, her arm swinging around to strike. He blocked her strike and she launched into a flurry of quick strikes. He blocked all of these and retaliated with a barrage of jabs of his own. She quickly caught his arms and cut him short. He struggled for a moment and she simply smiled. Though she was worried momentarily when he simply grinned and twisted his body upwards. He brought his feet up into her chest and pushed backwards launching himself back as well as her. He rolled out of the landing and pushed his attack as she was just getting up off of the matt. He leapt into the air while she was still rising and brought his fist back to land the blow. She caught his arm inches from her face and rolled backwards, sending him flying behind her. She rolled with him and pinned him to the ground.

She smiled down at him as he struggled briefly to get loose but realized he was trapped underneath her, her hands like iron on his forearms and her weight bearing down on his thighs making it impossible to move. “You’ve gotten better Elias, but you’d better keep practicing.” He smiled at her and sighed “I know. But I’ve just got to be good enough to finish one last job.” Her face had gotten closer to his as he spoke and he could feel her breath on her face. “Just so long as it’s your last job for the wrong reason. If you get yourself killed I’ll never forgive you.” Her voice had gotten low and Elias looked up into her eyes. “I won’t. They’ve already tried and failed.” Her body flattened against his and she was more laying on him now than pinning him. “You’d better not. I hate to wound your ego, but there are people out there that are better than you.” She lowered her head and kissed him, removing her hands from his arms and touching his face. He kissed her back hard wrapping his arms around her shoulders pulling her harder to him. With a move that elicited a slight groan from the Viper she sat up and looked down at him. She smiled coyly and tucked her hair back into a bun. “Just keep that in mind when you ask yourself whether you feel like getting killed or not. There are other things to concern yourself with than vengeance.” She stood up and walked to the edge of the mat and slipped her shoes back on.

“Dammit” the Viper cursed under his breath and rose from the mat to retrieve his shoes. He slipped them on and left the dojo, turning the light off as he walked to his office and grabbed his coat and glasses. He looked at Skinner who was sitting at the security monitors with a sly smile on his face. “Not a word.” Was all the Viper said as he walked out to the garage. It was time for round two with his prisoner.

He turned the light on in the pit this time when he entered; the loud grunt from his prisoner brought a smile to his face. He liked to keep his guests guessing and walked the hallway into the small area. “Okay officer, time to come clean. Who were you working for, how much did he pay you and what am I walking into.” “Fuck off bastard.” The Viper turned his attention to the shelves causing the man to follow his eyes. The shelves held perhaps twenty Plexiglas cages. “The brown rat is one of the few species of rats which are omnivorous. They’re also the largest of the true rat species. They’re the ones that were responsible for carrying the plague and typhoid fever in the dark ages. These particular rats are also very hungry as I haven’t fed them since we went to retrieve you.” The Viper pulled one of the cages off of the shelf and opened one end of it. Five rats quickly spilled out with one rat being much larger than the others. He saw his prisoner eyeing them fearfully. “That one there is named Tanaka and is the alpha in this particular plague. Aptly named don’t you think?” The Viper pulled another cage off of the shelf and opened it, releasing five more rats into the area. The officer started trying to scoot back to the farther end of his cell but didn’t have far that he could go. “I’ll let you guys get acquainted. Just ring the bell if you need anything.”

The Viper turned the light off and walked back towards the bulkhead. The horrified yips and snorts of his prisoner filled the dark hallway as the rats began to investigate the man. He didn’t leave the pit however and closed the bulkhead noisily from the inside. He then sat on the stairs and listened, lighting another cigarette as he waited. It didn’t take long before the man started gibbering for someone to help him and the Viper took that as his cue to return. He walked quietly down the hall listening to the man scream once again for someone to help him. He turned the light on when he reached the other end of the hallway and sat again in the chair noting the man huddling in the corner trying futilely to get the rats off of himself. “So again I ask. Who were you working for, how much did he pay you, and what is he planning?” “All right I’ll tell you. Just get these fucking rats off of me.” “I will, but afterwards. You seem to be more forthcoming when you’re under the gun, so to speak.” “Tanaka. Tanaka paid me to take you out. He said that you were trying to kill him and wanted to take you out first. He paid me five hundred grand to take you down.”

The Viper smiled at this new information. He’d never been paid that much for a single hit. Apparently Tanaka was very worried about him. “Wow, that’s quite a bit of money officer. How were you planning to explain that to the powers that be, along with the money you received from the online auction?” The police officer looked shocked at the revelation of this information. “Yes we know it was you that sold them. How do I know this?” The Viper pulled the two guns from their holsters hidden under his jacket. “Because a friend of mine returned them to me. So, you earned twice from my supposed death. However you tried to sell something that belonged to someone else. Stolen goods if you will. Now I have one more question for you. What is Tanaka up to? Why did he suddenly have so much interest in seeing me dead?” “I don’t know. I was just someone to pay to get rid of a problem. He never told me anything I swear!” “I don’t believe you Luke but I’ll have to take your word for it now won’t I.” The Viper stood and turned to leave “What about these fucking rats. I told you everything I know.” “You’re right, you did. No need to torture you any longer I guess.” The Viper reached into his pocket and withdrew a small whistle. He blew into it and the rats scurried away from the man. He reached down and scooped the rats up and into their cages.

“Because you told me that much I’ll leave the light on for you while I’m away. I’ll decide what to do with you later.” The man started screaming profanities again as the Viper walked down the hallway and out through the bulkhead. The steel bars back in place he entered the house and sat down in his office now with more questions than he had answers.

Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Breakfast at Jackson’s

Shin Lao was the first of the pair back to the house. She parked their new vehicle in the garage, squeezing it in beside her bullet ridden Escalade. Skinner could hear her muttering quite loudly as he switched the camera to cover the garage momentarily. She looked irritated and he couldn’t imagine what patience it had taken to deal with such things as the New York State Vehicle Registration office.

She walked through the door into the office a well dressed little ball of frustration and foul language. “Damn I hate dealing with sleazy car dealers. But they tend to bend over backwards to make a sale so they don’t pay attention to things like the fact that the place I supposedly work doesn’t exist.” She flopped down into the high backed desk chair next to Skinner and peered in at the monitor. “Anything interesting happen while we were gone?” Skinner turned to her slowly, like he had seen something that had scared the hell out of him. It was, in all reality, a look of shock and disgust. “Interesting, no, disturbing and vile…in great quantity. This guy is worse than most of the guys I deal with on a daily basis. That’s saying something when you work in homicide. You get the remorseless killers and the people who did it in the moment and regret it later. But this guy is sick. I’ve got it all on tape, but this man is pure damn scum. I’ve watched him make no less than three drug purchases, ordered and subsequently beat the hell out of a prostitute, and he’s been visited by some of what I assume are Tanaka’s men twice. I don’t know how all of this slipped past everybody on a daily basis.” Skinner rewound the tape and played it on another monitor to show the three men who had visited the former police officer earlier in the day.

“I recognize two of them; they’re definitely Tanaka’s men. But that third guy is new, or at the very least recent. I’ve been out of things on Tanaka’s side for a while now, so he may be a replacement.” They pored over the video for a while before the Viper walked through the door as well. They related the events of the day to each other and Elias flopped down two overstuffed file folders on his desk. “This is all of the information on Boss Tanaka and Officer Jackson. We’ve got a bit of a problem though Skinner.” Skinner turned his head, he was certain that he didn’t want to hear what a professional killer considered to be a ‘problem’. The Viper pulled out the sheets that contained Matsuo Tanaka’s expense reports and handed them to Skinner. “All of the highlighted entries…they correspond to police officers.”

Skinner’s head reeled. He knew a lot of these officers, and much like with Jackson, he had no idea that these guys were on the take. But the sheer number of them was what completely unnerved detective Skinner. “ALL of these are police officers? There’s gotta be over two hundred people on this list.” “Two hundred and seventy four to be exact. That’s how Tanaka’s stayed in business for so long. If you own the police you own the city and so he’s operated with impunity these many years. All of that is going to end soon however. But first we’ve got to get some information out of Jackson. I can’t say that it’s not entirely personal, but he seems to be the main man around there if he was given the job to take me out.” Shin Lao looked at the Viper again with a disapproving face. Skinner caught on to the gist of what he was saying a little late in the game but was the only one who said anything. “You’re going to kill Tanaka aren’t you? So you’re trying to get yourself killed now?” The Viper said nothing as he flopped the file on Jackson down on the desk in front of Skinner. “Take a look through that. This is going to be part two of the job. We’re going to be bringing down all of the cops on that list I showed you, but this is the information the police chief is about to receive on officer Jackson, so we’ve got roughly two hours to pick him up so that we can chat. Shin, I’m going to need you to stay here and watch the cameras. Call me if he receives any visitors before we get there. I’ll need to take Skinner with me. He knows Skinner’s a cop so he’ll probably let him in. He definitely won’t open the door for either of us.” Shin Lao nodded grimly as she knew that this was the only way that it would work, but she would have much rather been there.

“Time to suit up. You’ve got to remember that you’re there to see him to talk, to see how he’s doing with his newfound funds, anything to get him to open the door. I’ll handle the rough stuff after that.” He turned to look at Shin Lao with a reassuring grin. He wasn’t sure if it had the desired effect or not but at least he gave it a try. “Nice choice in trucks by the way. When does it go in?” “Tomorrow morning. Skeet said it’ll be done by no later than midnight tomorrow night. He thinks it’s for me so there’s no issue with it.” “Wonderful. Let’s go pay your buddy a visit.”

It only took Skinner a couple of minutes to get dressed in his suit. The Viper gave him a service .38 revolver out of the weapons locker. “The .45 isn’t exactly standard issue. Our boy’s probably a little nervous right now so might be looking for anything out of the ordinary.” Skinner holstered it and patted his back pocket for his badge, which wasn’t there he remembered, feeling a little stupid. “Let’s do this.” Skinner said as he came out of the bedroom. The Viper was dressed for work himself. The expensive black suit and overcoat seemed to give him a larger than life look that was somehow reassuring. It was like everything was right with the world again, knowing that the ‘bad guys’ hadn’t won that small battle…yet.

The ride from the Viper’s secluded base to downtown New York City took slightly less than forty five minutes and the streets were unusually clear of traffic and law enforcement. They parked up the street from Officer Jackson’s apartment and walked the block back. The usual scum littered the alleyways and street corners of the grimy neighborhood. They walked the stairs to the outside door and gave the buzzer a ring, but no sound came. Giving a push on the crusty door it swung open easily giving sight to the graffiti and who knew what that covered the walls floor to ceiling of the first several flights of stairs. A man lay sprawled in a corned of one floor landing with the smell of cheap rum and even cheaper cologne rising up in a putrid mixture that made Skinner wish for a bath. “Time to shine Skinner” The Viper said quietly as they got to Jackson’s door.

Skinner nodded and turned to look at the aged door. The numbers had fallen off long ago, leaving only the imprints of their previous location. The clean patch said 7B and Skinner stretched his face a bit, trying to get a serious, yet friendly, look to it. He knocked loudly on it with the policeman’s knock that everybody who’s ever been in trouble with the law recognized. “Ya who is it?” Came the yell from the other side of the door. “Hey Luke, it’s Skinner. Was just dropping by for a visit. Wanted to see how you were getting on.” There was some hesitation from the other side of the door and then the sounds of rapid cleaning that one often heard following the loud knock of the police, often followed by a drug bust. Skinner continued to look straight ahead at the door as the sounds died down on the other side and the peephole went dark. The sounds of bolts and locks sliding out of place followed quickly and the door opened a crack revealing the round face of Luke Jackson. He peered around the hallway but thankfully the Viper was out of the angle of view so escaped attention for the moment. “Oh, phew. Come on in Skinny. So how’s things on the lifer side of the desk?” His act was convincing but Skinner knew better and he played his part the best he could. “Oh they’re going. I’ve had a couple of days off after the incident so it’s been pretty quiet. I brought by a case of beer to celebrate. It’s the good German stuff. Real classy stuff.” Skinner held his breath to see if the former cop bought the story. They’d both worked stake outs and stings and knew when a cover story was just as it sounded. He didn’t seem to quite buy it and eyed Skinner suspiciously. If Skinner was really here for what he said he was, he would have been pretty suspicious of the officer’s behavior, and had to remind himself of that. “Is something the matter Luke? You’re acting a little dodgy. Been having problems with family begging for money?” He chuckled a little bit to give the joke a little weight and it seemed to soften Jackson up a small bit. “Ya, you could say that Skinny. Come on in.”

The apartment was a complete departure from what Skinner had seen on the monitor. Where hours ago there were bags of coke and heroine, now there was only furniture and a couple of cardboard boxes. “So when do you move into your mansion?” Skinner threw out there as a jest. His act had to be convincing. He knew how this man operated now and he was certain the man wouldn’t hesitate to scatter his skull all over the blank wall behind him. “Next week after I buy my Porsche and the Mercedes.” He gave a brief smile, strained and fake as it was. He was trying to size Skinner up and both of them knew it. Skinner reached into the rectangular shaped bag and the man tensed up. He relaxed slightly when Skinner pulled a thick brown bottle out of the bag and handed it to him. “Some of Germany’s finest. It’s good stuff.” Skinner pulled out a bottle for himself and pulled a bottle opener from the bag and handed it to Jackson. “Hell soon you’ll have someone to open your beer for you Luke. How’s that shit.” Jackson was fumbling with the bottle. It didn’t seem to want to open and he was getting a little frustrated. “How the hell do you open this thing?” He continued to fumble with it until a second later when his door exploded inwards and the Viper stood there in the broken remains. The look of shock on the officer’s face was one of sheer terror and he dropped his bottle, cringing as the Viper pulled his guns out of his holsters and fired two rounds into the man’s chest. Skinner was used to the sound of those guns, but the shots the Viper had taken sounds very different. “Nighty night Jackson. Sweet dreams” The Viper said. Skinner looked down at the officer lying on the floor and noted the two darts sticking out of the man’s neck. He breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the Viper. “A tool for every job. Now let’s pick him up and carry him downstairs. He needs to look like he’s drunk and we’re carrying him to a cab. Sling one of his arms over your should and we’ll drag him between us.”

Skinner had never seen the man operate in person. He’d only heard the tales from the occasional thug and those were no doubt exaggerated tales. But Skinner was impressed with the way the man operated. He seemed to take everything into account and things just seemed to fall his way. They picked up the officer the way that the Viper had described and drug him down the stairs, saying things that you would say to your drunk buddy after one too many at a party. “Almost there man. Don’t puke now; we’ll get you home in a couple of minutes.” It seemed to work as they stepped out onto the darkened New York City streets. They drug him back to the BMW with only a few glances from the street rats that were flitting about looking for their next hit or possibly even some company for the evening. They stowed him on the floor of the back row of seats, his hands and feet handcuffed behind him. “He’ll be out until we get back to the house, but I don’t want to take any chances.” The Viper had explained as they pulled out onto the street heading towards the interstate.

They didn’t seem to draw much attention as they roared up the flat open roads upstate. They pulled Jackson out of the truck and drug him around back. “We’re not bringing him inside?” Skinner asked. He hadn’t been filled in on this part of the plan so was genuinely curious. “No, never bring a hostage into your house. Things tend to go badly when you do. I’ve got a place I take them. It’s underground out back here.” As they rounded the back corner of the house Skinner saw nothing out there by empty fields. But as they got further out into the field the Viper dropped the arm of the unconscious officer and grabbed at a couple of rusted rings that lay a few inches below some sun baked grass. The bulkhead opened into a dark staircase and the Viper flipped the light on as they drug Officer Jackson underground. The tunnel went on for twenty feet or so before opening up into a concrete room roughly fifteen feet by fifteen feet. “I assume it was some sort of bomb shelter back when such things were deemed necessary, but I’ve got more interesting uses for it now.”

Indeed he did by the things that Skinner saw laying down there. One corner was occupied by a five foot by five foot cage. Thick iron bars made up the bulk of it and they seemed to have been set straight into the thick concrete that made up the ceiling. They were reinforced every twelve inches or so with a cross piece. The door looked very similar, but had several locks and slide bars on it to lock it into place. “Put him in there for now. I’ll interrogate him later.” That being said they flopped him down in the cell and slide the bars across and locked them into place. “Let’s see if anything has happened while we were gone.” They walked the short hall to the bulkhead and flipped the light off, plunging the place into complete darkness. Skinner looked at the Viper and he simply gave Skinner a blank face. “It’s all psychological. All he’ll know is that he’s in a cage in pitch darkness. He’ll crack by tomorrow morning I’m sure. If not there’ll be other ways that I can get him to talk.” Skinner just nodded and shut his side of the bulkhead. They slid several bolts across the doors and walked back to the house. Skinner didn’t like the way this was turning out. So far tonight he had been an accomplice to kidnapping a police officer, albeit an incredibly twisted one and had helped to imprison said officer. Things certainly had taken an interesting turn in the last week.

“You just missed the officers guys.” Shin Lao piped up as they walked into the office. “Three of them. Upper management by the look of them. I was surprised when it wasn’t a uniformed officer that came to the door, but then again I wasn’t. Who’d you send that file to Elias?” “I sent it to the chief. I didn’t see his name on Tanaka’s list so I assumed that he was clean. Apparently I was mistaken.” Skinner felt sick as the gravity of the situation hit him full in the face. If the chief was in on it there was no way he could go back to his job. There wouldn’t be anywhere safe for him now and he knew it. “We’ve got company down in the playpen. We’ll talk to him later. But for now I could really use something to eat. What do you feel like Shin?” She seemed thoughtful for a second, it amazed Skinner how easily they seemed to blow off another person’s life while concerning themselves with something as trivial as dinner. “Let’s eat in tonight. I noticed some steaks in the freezer; we could throw them on the grill out back.”

Skinner was shocked by the statement. “How can you cook out there while there’s someone being held ten feet below you? “You’re right Skinner. Let’s just throw them on the broiler.” The Viper picked up on Skinner’s tension and tried to lighten the mood a bit. “You still think this is all black and white don’t you detective. Well let me tell you that in your world it may be. Right and wrong. Good and evil. Those really are luxuries that we don’t have. We don’t, and can’t, have things that easily. It’s got to be all shades of grey for us. No offense but that’s the way it is for the rest of us.” Skinner simply leaned silently against the table holding the several surveillance monitors on it. He knew that the man was right, but was reluctant to admit it. Black and white indeed was the only way that he could make it through the week. But he was quickly learning that he was quite possibly the only one that lived that way. “I understand Elias, but I’m just a little apprehensive. I’m just concerned about the turn my life is taking lately is all. I just found out that just about every other cop I know is taking money from a crime syndicate. And they’re all right with it. It’s just a bit of a shock to the system.”

The Viper nodded and took a deep breath. “Things will work out for the best for you Skinner, don’t worry about that. You may not be able to go back to being a cop, but you won’t go to jail, I can assure you of that. Hell you might even come out of this looking like a hero. God knows this city could use one.” Skinner nodded simply. He knew things were changing, but he didn’t know whether for the best or the worst yet.