Chapter Thirteen

When I had our house built, I made sure there was a hidden room built into the basement, a room that only I knew about and could access. The room contained a cache of my favourite weapons and some gear used by Marines for special operations.

I got dressed in a camouflage outfit, complete with a black bulletproof vest. I grabbed a pair of Uzis, a few extra clips, a standard army knife and a night vision goggles. I pulled out of our driveway at 12:20am on my sleek red Ducati, determined to save my wife. I parked and hid my bike in some bushes about half a mile from the warehouse and went the rest of the way on foot.

I hid in some bushes across from the warehouse and scouted it. Lo and behold, there in the compound was the van that grabbed Sarah. There were a few cars parked in front; perfect for providing cover as I approached, and a lone guard in a hut out front. Abandoned must have a new meaning. I took a deep breath and began what would be a merciless assault.

Chapter Fourteen

I crept stealthily through the front gate and peered into the hut, through an open window. The guard had his back to me, and was too busy scoffing down a doughnut to notice that there was a handsome guy right behind him. I decided to give him time to swallow his last morsel of food before I seized him by the neck and pressed my knife against his ribs.

“Don’t!” I warned him as he tried to sound an alarm, “You’ll tell me all I need to know. Quietly!”

“Over my dead body.” He mumbled in a shaky voice.

“Okay,” I said as I put one of my guns to his head and turned the safety off, “We’ll play it your way.”

“Okay! Okay! I’ll talk, what do you want?”

“You can start by telling me what im up against and how to get to my wife. By the way, where’s Crusher?”

“There are two guys around the back guarding the only entrance. Your bitc..”

“Excuse me?”

“Sorry, when you enter the building, your wife is in a room at the far end. There are two guys in the room with her and six in the hall. Crusher’s not here.”

“Are you kidding me, only 11 guys? Did Crusher run out of goons?” I couldn’t believe it.

“No, he didn’t think anyone would be brave or dumb enough to pull a stunt like this. Besides, all the guys there are Special Forces material, trained by Crusher himself.” The guard smiled smugly as he said that last part.

“Okay. Thanks for all your help, I’ll be going now.” I whispered in his ear as I spun his head a full 360 degrees.

I crept around the back and soon spotted the two guys, armed with Ak47s. I attached the silencers to my guns and removed my knife. I aimed and threw it at the closer guard’s heart, but I was rusty and out of practice so the poor guy lost an eye instead. The other guard heard him fall and spun around, but before he could react, four metal slugs invaded the sanctity of his chest; decommissioning him. 3 down 8 to go.

I advanced to the door only to find it locked. A quick search of the dead guards revealed some keys, one of which worked. I slipped quietly into the large room and slipped behind some crates. As I surveyed the room, I noticed some crates to my right, the guards were all sitting around a table in the center of the room playing cards and guzzling beer, and to my left there was a switch that controlled the lights. I hit the switch and pulled on my night vision goggles as the room plunged into darkness. With them blind and disoriented, I began my onslaught.

Chapter Fifteen

I wasted no time shooting three of them fatally and gun-butting another senseless before slashing his throat. Unfortunately, before I could finish the remaining two, someone hit another switch and some lights I hadn’t noticed before came on. The surprise part of my attack was over.

I dove behind a crate just as bullets from their machine guns whizzed by. I reloaded and returned fire, hitting one of the two guards who were now emerging from the room where my wife was held. They had obviously heard the commotion and wanted to join the party. They continued their relentless 3 on 1 assault and I was barely able to hit another with my return fire. Their seemingly endless supply of ammunition overwhelmed me and soon I was down to my last clip.

Bullets flew for another 10 minutes or so until it stopped. The thugs were too busy to notice that I had stopped firing a long time ago. We were all out of bullets, so much for the guns. The thugs must’ve finally figured it out because not they were advancing, armed with steel pipes. I noticed my knife a few feet in front of them and dove for it, just as both men loomed over me, pipes held high, ready to come crashing down onto my spine.

I turned over just in time to stab one in the leg. He screamed in pain and dropped his pipe as his colleague narrowly missed me. I kicked them both off their feet and wasted no time plunging my knife into the uninjured one’s chest, as far into his heart as it would go. The one I had stabbed managed to regain his composure and he was back to feet ready to attack again. He swung and missed, he swung again and missed again. The next time he swung I caught the pipe and punched him in the nose. He fell to the ground and as soon as I was about to kick his teeth in he yelled, “When Crusher’s done with your bitch and you, you’ll wish you were never born. He won’t stop with you, everyone you ever cared about will die, even you dead momma.”

That was it, this guy was really going to regret that! I withdrew my foot, that was too gentle for what I wanted to do to him. I instead opted to beat his brains out with his own steel pipe. It was heavier than it looked, weighing about 20 pounds. As I stood over him, I couldn’t help smiling at the fear in his eyes. I hoisted the pipe high above my head and brought it crashing down beside him, laughing as he cringed in fear with tears streaming from his eyes. I teased him like this for 2 minutes straight before I unleashed a barrage of blows to his head and body. I could hear his bones crack as blood splattered onto my clothes.

Satisfied, I opened the door to my wife’s room, taking time to strike a sexy pose at the door. I had won. She started to smile, but her smile soon faded and I saw her eyes widen. Before I could react I realized why. I felt a searing pain course through my body, followed by warm blood that soaked my shirt as everything went dark. The last thing I heard was Sarah screaming as I collapsed in a heap. This was officially the worst Saturday in my life.

Chapter Sixteen

I regained consciousness a few hours later when a bucket of ice-cold water was thrown into my face. I had a splitting headache and my shoulders hurt really badly. I soon realized that my hands were tied and I was suspended by my wrists from roof. I dangled about two feet from the floor. I slowly opened my eyes when I heard a familiar voice quip:

“Well Well! If it isn’t Mr.GI John all tied up.!”

“Bryan?” I cried weakly, “What are you doing here?”

“What do you think? I’m enjoying the party.”

At this point Crusher entered the room with the cause of all my current worries in his hand; a steel pipe.

“You were working with Crusher this whole time?”

“No! No! No!, Crusher is working with me.” Bryan must’ve noticed my confusion because he continued, “Let me enlighten you Musclebrain”, Crusher apparently thought this was funny as he had started snickering. This pissed me off even further.

“Why don’t you let me out of these chains Crusher? I have a really good joke I’d like to share with you.” I yelled angrily.

This got rid of his smile and I regretted it right away, Crusher punched me so hard in the stomach I wish he had shot me instead. I decided to keep my big mouth shut as I remembered his profile, no good could come from pissing him off. Especially when I was completely at his mercy.

“Oh come on Crusher, where are your manners? That’s no way to treat a guest,” Bryan chided, “Besides, if you kill him now he won’t get to hear my story. He’ll die wondering why this happened. I want him to know why before he dies so he can regret it.” Crusher nodded and Bryan continued, “ Where were we GI John? Oh I remember, does the name Byron Harris mean anything to you?”

At the mention of the name I went back to my days in the Marines. It was the first mission I was assigned as a captain. I had to track down and apprehend a notorious drug dealer and rapist named Byron Harris. After days of interrogating his thugs and raiding his clubs, I finally cornered him. As my team and I entered, a gunfight ensued and his goons were slaughtered. When we finally met him face to face, he was seated behind a table, obviously high. No doubt he had been using alcohol and cocaine. He got up and wobbled towards me, mumbling something about cutting out my spleen when he tripped on a stool and fell on his own knife, ending his life.

Chapter Seventeen

“Answer me!” Bryan’s voice brought me back to reality, “What does that name mean to you?”

“He was a lowlife who killed himself!” I yelled.

This angered Bryan and he walked up to me, punched me in the groin and yelled, ”This is for calling me a whale back at the office,” another punch and he yelled.”This is for me not liking you!” Another few punched and panting for breath he said, “Those were for Byron.”

I was about to open my mouth when he answered the question I was about to ask, “This isn’t about that stupid flash drive, or that list, it’s not even about your wife. This is about me getting revenge on the man who killed my son. Yes! Byron Harris was my son!” he yelled, “My only child and you took him from me!”

I was startled but I replied, “Byron Harris was a menace to society and he deserved to die, but I didn’t kill him.”

“You’re lying,” Bryan shouted as he socked me again, “ And I’m going to get my revenge if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Go ahead then,” I said smugly,”Kill my non-existent son and let’s get this over with.”

He smiled a sick smile,” Oh no, I have a better idea. Crusher, go fetch pretty little Sarah will you?”

“My pleasure” Crusher replied with a chuckle as he left the room.

“Bryan don’t do this,” I pleaded, “It’s me you have a problem with, leave her out of this.”

“But you just told me to kill your son and get this over with, didn’t you? Well she’s important and necessary because she has your son inside her.”

At this point, Crusher re-entered the room and set Sarah, still tied to a chair, down in a corner.

Bryan smiled at her,” Sarah dear, you didn’t tell GI John about his little son did you?”

“Sarah what is he talking about?” I asked her.

She burst into tears, “John I’m sorry, these past few days have been so crazy I completely forgot to tell you. I’m pregnant.”

‘Honey that’s great and I’m happy. I really don’t appreciate finding out under these circumstances though. Besides, how did this idiot find out before I did?”

Bryan intervened and told me that he had overheard her telling some of her friends at work that she was planning to surprise me. He then gleefully told me that he had been waiting for years to get his revenge by killing my child.

“This little shindig was fun,” Bryan said with a laugh, “But it is now time for the grand finale.”

I pleaded with Bryan to let my wife go and to take me instead, but he was adamant about taking my unborn child by killing my wife, or as he put it, ‘taking two of my loved ones with one bullet’. After mockingly telling us to say our goodbyes, he instructed Crusher to shoot Sarah. I watched helplessly and in horror as Crusher turned his safety off and aimed at my beautiful wife’s stomach. Sarah was in tears. Bryan and Crusher were laughing. I closed my eyes trying to hold back tears. I heard two gunshots then a body dropped.

Chapter Eighteen

I screamed in horror, as blood sprayed across my face. I kept my eyes closed, afraid of the sight that awaited me, then I realized something. Sarah was tied to a chair, so if she was shot, her body wouldn’t drop. Besides, the gunshot I heard came from a Desert Eagle while Crusher had a pistol. I slowly opened my eyes to see Crusher sprawled on the floor. I looked around frantically trying to figure out what had happened. I didn’t have to wonder long, as Akeem entered with a smile on his face saying, “Sorry I’m late, traffic is terrible at 8am on Sundays.”

A few seconds later, before Bryan could regain his composure, more agents barged in. Some handcuffed Bryan while others freed Sarah and I. Sensing my confusion, Akeem started to explain.

After I had left his office, he tried calling me but couldn’t get through. He was calling to tell me that Bryan, who the CIA had been investigating, had managed to lose the agents assigned to keep watch over him. The agents later spotted him and Crusher in a van heading in this direction. He then told me that he had headed over to my house by seeing that I was gone, he realized that I would come here and mobilized a squad to back me up. He then headed over to Bryan.

“Mr. Laurence Bryan Harris, good to finally meet you. You’re under arrest for kidnapping, aiding and abetting a wanted criminal, money laundering, racketeering and attempted murder. You’re going to be gone for a long time. It’s over.”

However, Bryan didn’t think it was, he grabbed a knife from Crusher’s waist and charged at Sarah. ‘This is it’ I thought,’ I’ve had enough of this guy’. In one swift motion, I disarmed him then wrung his neck.

I smiled at Sarah who was still trembling, “You’re gonna need a new boss babe.”

Chapter Nineteen

Ten Minutes later, we were out of that nightmare. I received some stitches from the paramedics that showed up while Sarah lodged a report, after which, we were given a ride home. We slept all day that Sunday, waking up until around 7 that night. We were snuggled up on the couch watching some TV when the doorbell rang.

It was my in-laws with Shelly leading the charge. They had seen the story on the news and had to make sure we were okay. We were all settled in and Shells was preparing dinner when the doorbell rang again. This time it was Akeem. He had agreed to collect my bike from where I had hidden it and he was returning it now. After a little persuasion, he relented and joined us for dinner. As he sat down, Cassie pulled me aside and I had to tell her all I knew about him. She was beside herself with joy when she found out that he was single, after which, she gave him her full attention.

A month passed and we were over at Shelly’s home, celebrating her birthday. We had decided that now would be an opportune time to share Sarah’s pregnancy and the news was well received.

While the women gathered inside I sat at the pool and Akeem joined me.

“You know what this means right?” I looked over to see a serious expression on his face.

“Yea, unfortunately I do. When I went off the grid years ago I had no idea that one event like this could put me back in the spotlight. I needed to stay hidden, the enemies I made could do terrible things to Sarah just to get to me. To make matters worse, I’m going to be a father soon.”

“You have my help in anything you need Mr. Plague.”

“That guy is dead.”

“Nonsense, I saw that warehouse. There was no one alive in there after you passed through, just like a plague.”

“You may be right. I guess we cant always run from our past, that leaves us with one option.”

Akeem raised an eyebrow,”Oh Yeah? What’s that?”

“You destroy it so it can’t harm your future.”