The Baxter Files 2: The Organisation

The Baxter Files
2

‘Harry pointed a gun at the suddenly defenceless Will who raised his hands. Suddenly, he threw something at them that flashed white, Harry stumbled back blinded momentarily, his vision returned to see Will swing an iron bar onto his face knocking him off his feet. He fell down the stairs and got up to see Will set one of his henchmen on Swife. He looked down and saw Harry, Marx ran swiftly down the stairs while Will followed behind.
Marx came at Harry and tried to punch him in the stomach which Harry intercepted and drove his fist into Marx’s face in his own turn, Will came from behind and hit him with the bar. Harry spun round and Marx kicked his feet away, Harry fell to the ground and in an instant Will was on him, cracking the bar on his back again and again. Harry kicked out and Will stumbled back as Harry got up to see Swife kick his henchman in the face and fall down the stairs. He looked over and shouted a warning at Harry as Marx aimed a gun at him, Harry got out his own gun but too late, Marx’s finger was already pressing on the trigger.’

The Organisation

Part 1
Civilised men

Black was a detective; he had been so since he was twenty-three when he accidently stumbled across MI7 headquarters. First he was interrogated, and then kept prisoner, but when he figured out the location of Professor Anga’s base (an old MI7 enemy), he was welcomed on the team, and it was three years later that Harry Baxter came in as a 009 agent (standard agent) he quickly moved up the ranks eventually becoming a 001 agent. After two years he became MI7’s top agent, Black was named top detective, much to the disgust of the other detectives, Flint and Ross. Amy was fifteen when she pushed Black out the way from the incoming car that a thug had tried to kill him with, she then stalked him back to the base. Little is known about his second name as he was never told...
Now he was trying to wedge lose the rock that barred the rolling cart’s wheel to the track. After a fight with Nefrine and lighting every dynamite stick in the mines he and Amy were trying to save the life of Veda and Nefrine and themselves.
Black finally broke the rock free and put the unconscious Veda in the cart, and then Black himself got in, Amy stared at him and Black stared back and said, “There’s only enough room for two in here.”
“You have got to be kidding.”
“I’m not.”
Silence. Black suddenly grinned.
“That is why you’re pushing us.”
“You expect me to push that??!”
“Yes, with the help from that.” Black said pointing at a leaver that pushed the cart. Cursing his name, Amy positioned herself by the leaver grabbing the handle. Black turned round just as Nefrine grabbed a bundle of dynamite and positioned himself to throw it, Black’s gun came out quick as a flash and tore a hole through Nefrine’s arm. He screamed and dropped the bundle that fell to the ground and exploded, the rolling cart shot down the slope with rocks falling behind it, Black shouted through the noise, “OK, so this wasn’t my best idea!” They both closed their eyes when they saw the massive, steep, vertical drop of tracks.
Amy looked at Black. “I hate you.”
“I know.”
*
Charlie pushed the passport in front of the man at the desk; the man looked up, “where to?”
“Glasgow.”
“Do you have your international check book?”
Charlie frowned. “What?”
“Do you have your”-
“I heard what you said, what is an international check book?”
“A check book that you can precise free gifts from.” Charlie sighed irritably. “Look, we don’t want any free gifts.”
“Ah, but have you seen our goodies list?”
“I do not want any free gifts damn it!”
“Are you sure?”
Harry rolled his eyes and walked down an isle full of shops, after his girlfriend Miriam was kidnapped by the criminal gang of Will Thimble, Harry and Charlie set out to Glasgow to rescue her. That is, if they ever got passed the ‘salesman,’ something caught his eye, a man shifting in and out of his view; he couldn’t see. There were too many people in the way. When at last a space cleared between them Harry saw for a moment a man with a scar across his eye and a leather jacket.
“Harry!”
Harry blinked as Charlie gave him a ticket, “Went through hell to get them.” Charlie remarked, he started to push his way through the crowd, Harry turned back towards the man, he was gone.
“You coming or not?”
Harry turned and followed Charlie. They walked over to the flight of stairs that led into the aeroplane; people were rushing around trying to get on the plane before it took off. Charlie looked down at his ticket.
“According to this we are getting on the flight to Scotland on plane 854.” A loud speaker suddenly boomed round the airport.
“Plane 854 is now leaving the station to Scotland.”
Charlie cursed under his breath and he and Harry started to run to the lift that went up to the plane pick up point. The doors slid open and he and Harry stepped inside, as the lift went up a man in the corner gazed across at them with distant eyes.
Harry shifted awkwardly as the man started to hum to himself. Charlie broke the silence. “Nice weather we’re having.” The man turned to Charlie very slowly, and as the door slid open his eyes bulged and he shouted: “Bingo!” Then he ran back down the stairs and got in the lift again. Charlie and Harry just stood motionless, then.
“What the hell was that!?”
“I’m not sure.”
They ran on to the boarding platform where a tall woman smiled, it was an icy smile. “Can I help?”
“Here’s our ticket.”
“Would you like any free gifts?” Charlie’s nose twitched.
“No!! I do not want any FREE GIFTS!!!” Charlie snatched up his ticket and boarded the plane. They sat down at a double set of seats. A man in an apron carrying a tray walked past their place, bent down and asked if they wanted any meals, Charlie said ‘no’. “OK”, said the man “how about just for you sir you can get with it...” He bent down and whispered in Charlie’s ear,
“A free gift?”
Charlie suddenly shouted at the top of his voice! “I DO NOT WANT ANY FREE GIFTS!!” Harry realised that everyone was now watching them. Except the man in front, in a leather jacket. Harry nudged Charlie and he saw the man, now Harry recognised him, they had got on the same plane as the Biker!

Part 2
Spies on a plane

“I want a report of the location of Will Thimble and of the disappearance of Harry, Charlie and Miriam!”
Zach Willow paced around his office in MI7 giving orders to his head agents. Ever since Harry and Charlie had disappeared on the mission to kill Silver, things had been going bad. A head agent came through the door, without knocking. Zach turned sharply. “What!!?”
“Sir, Black and Amy came in two minutes ago, they say-”
“Send them in!” The agent nodded and went out the door. Black and Amy walked in, they were covered in dirt and Amy had a nasty cut on her forehead, Black had a muddy bandage wrapped around his hand.
“What on earth happened to you?” asked Zach.
“We took a ride,” said Black.
“Are you aware of the disappearance of Harry and Charlie?”
“I am.”
“And do you know where they went, detective?”
“I don’t.”
“Well that’s just dandy.”
“But I believe you do.”
“Explain yourself Black.” Black walked over to the door and closed it. He turned and continued, “You said when you raided that cinema, Silver and Huntley, were dead?”
“Yes.”
“And that there were three other people there that you encountered in conflict, claiming to be part of an organisation?”
“Stop telling me things I do know!!” yelled Zach. “And start telling me things I don’t know!”
“When the battle was over, the detectives Flint and Ross made an inspection of the cinema, Ross found nothing, but Flint did find something.”
“So what?”
“May I see it?” puzzled, Zach opened a draw and took out a piece of card. He handed it to Black, who took it and started to study it.
“It’s a plane ticket.” Amy realised.
“And that means.”
“...That the bad guys are taking a vacation?”
“It means that John Callow,” Black pointed at a name on the ticket, “is taking Miriam abroad to Glasgow.”
“Who is John Callow?” asked Zach.
“I expect it’s a fake name for...” Black looked up.
“The Biker.”
*
Harry quickly looked away when the Biker got up from his seat and started towards to loo. “Hold it there sir.” Harry saw a female security guard walk toward the Biker who started back toward his seat. The security guard continued.
“Mr John Callow?”
“Yes?” responded the Biker.
“We have reason to believe that you did not give in your ticket.” The Biker paused and started franticly to search for his ticket.
“I had it...I don’t understand...somewhere.”
“Could we ask you very politely to get off at the platform in Manchester? Or we will have to use force.”
The Biker smiled, and took out of his coat a slender gun, polished to a gleam.
“I’ll make this easy for you,” smiled the Biker.
“And so will I.”
The Biker turned to see who had spoken, and came face to face with Harry’s gun.
“What’s say we call it a day and you get off at the next stop,” said Harry.
The Biker dropped the gun and was wrestled to the ground by two buff looking men. The woman came over to them. “How can I ever thank you?”
“It was nothing,” said Charlie.
“I know! How about a free gift?”
Charlie started twitching.
Black, Amy, Flint and Ross were all lined up in Zach’s office. Zach had decided that the rescue mission was a job for detectives rather than agents. Zach came into the room and addressed them.
“Alright! You have all been called here to embark on a rescue mission for Miriam. Harry and Charlie have also gone missing. Your mission is to rescue them and find the link between the three disappearances.”
Of course, I cannot do much, as soon as you get into Scotland communication will be cut altogether. We do not know of the criminals that are responsible, only they refer to themselves as The Organisation.”
Amy thought she saw a flicker of recognition on Flint’s face, but she wasn’t sure. Like Black, his face was impossible to read.
“We will not be providing transport so you will have to find your own way to Glasgow, as we need to make this as classified as possible. Whoever comes back with the answer first will be named top detective.”
Black looked up sharply, but Zach silenced him with a gesture.
“You have four days, go!”
*
“So your entire reputation could be on stake?” asked Amy when they were out of the office.
“And yours.”
“I didn’t think I had a reputation.”
“And you certainly won’t if we don’t get there first.” Amy had never seen Black so serious.
“So do we have transport?” Amy asked.
“Yes! I have a jet plane my old college left.” This was bit too much for Amy to take in one go, so she let it sink in before replying.
“So, what is an ‘old college’?” Black thought for a moment as if trying to find the best was to explain it. Then he said.
“A college that’s old.”
“Oh.”
“Well, he isn’t physically old, but he was a partner of mine for a good two years, actually he couldn’t be old because he’s dead.”
“Who killed him?”
“Nefrine.” Amy gasped and asked, “is that why you-”
“Yes that is why I killed him.”
There was a brief silence.
“So where is this jet?” Asked Amy.
“Ah ha.” Said Black tapping his nose. “You just wait and see.”
As they walked Amy asked quite a few questions that Black answered causally until Amy got on to the subject of Flint. She asked the question Black did not want to have to answer.
“Does Flint know the Organisation?
“Yes he, he used be in it.”
“What?!”
“Yep.”
“Do you think he might be with them?”
“Maybe.”
They got to an old garage and Black went inside to open it. Flint was in the Organisation, she couldn’t believe it. The garage opened and revealed a very dirty jet. Amy put he hands on her hips.
“That’s repulsive!”
“And so are you! This baby can go for miles without breaking down or failing. This isn’t really my thing but it’s the only way to get to Scotland first.” There was a pause.
“Can I dri-”
“No.”
“Thought not.”
*
“Your name isn’t really John Callow, is it?” said Harry to the Biker. “Yes, actually it is!” The Biker yelled.
The plane suddenly sloped down and after a while landed in Manchester. The Biker was pushed off and his luggage thrown at him.
“I will find you!” he shouted to Harry.
“Good luck with that,” Harry responded, as the plane flew away. No one saw the man in the huge overcoat slink on board...
*
Zach was seated in his chair, with his head in his hands. He had been in his office for five hours, thinking. After Harry and Charlie were lost things got bad. He flicked on the TV and looked through the channels, something caught his eye and he turned it up, it was that Zorgien Tech Company, advertising their house robots, but the man on TV looked familiar.
There was a knock on the door.
“Go!” shouted Zach.
“I don’t think you understand,” said a man’s voice. The door slid open and Will Thimble stepped in at the same time spraying the area with gas. Zach slumped to the floor unconscious, Will put on the green-eyed gas mask as he stepped inside. The detectors went off and all the security guards burst through the door way, Will smiled and the windows behind him burst open as his men came through on ropes. Will jumped through the window and onto the helicopter ladder outside.
“Make it quick,” he told his men and all the security guards were shot, silently, leaving no witnesses.

Part 3
The Organisation

“So, this is Glasgow,” said Charlie leaning over his balcony that stretched over the hotel viewing the pool and bar.
“I guess so; wonder if Black’s figured out where we went yet.”
“He’s Black; he probably figured it out before we went.” There was a pause while Harry pondered this, then.
“I’m going to have a look around,” stated Harry. “OK!” responded Charlie, his mouth full of biscuits.
Harry went down to the pool and looked around; no sign of any dodgy characters, in fact there wasn’t sign of anyone. Then he saw the man in the massive overcoat. He was walking toward the gate, then he quickened as he saw Harry, who went after him. The man slipped into the woods and Harry followed him. Soon he disappeared from view and Harry stopped to catch him breath, then he saw the man with another person.
Harry crept closer; the man was giving the other man in the coat a green crystal, the Quantaniam. Suddenly the coated man turned and saw Harry, and the instant their eyes met Harry saw the face of Bigsey!
He shouted and the other man turned just as Harry fired his gun. The bullet missed the man by inches and he turned to run after Bigsey. Harry ran after them, he chased them to a beach and saw them getting in a motor boat, he ran to stop them but was too late, and then he saw the motor boat lying on the beach, unguarded. He pushed it in the water and got in, surely it couldn’t be too difficult to drive, now just the problem of finding the ‘on’ button.
Black’s jet landed with a bump! And then a bang! And then another bump. Amy got out and immediately fell over the side, Black got out telling her to ‘man up’ before he too fell over the side.
“I thought you said you could fly this thing!” protested Amy.
“I never said anything of the sort,” responded Black.
“Either way, we’re here now, so let’s get on to our next task.”
“Right, we need to find Harry and Charlie but they could be anywhere.” He thought hard and snapped his fingers, “I’ve got it, were do you go if you trying to stay out of attention?”
“Erm...”
“Somewhere with no attention.” Black ran off leaving a bewildered Amy standing on her own.
*
Harry dodged another rock and carried on zooming through the water; he took out his gun and fired it at the driver of the boat. He screamed and fell out of the boat in the water, the bullet in his shoulder.
Bigsey steered the boat around and took out two heavy machine guns and began to fire them rapidly at Harry who had to duck down, his boat hit a rock and Harry was flung overboard, he landed on the Bigsey’s boat and got up, punching him in the face. Bigsey stumbled back, hands on his face, he went for his gun but Harry chopped his hand and the gun flew overboard. Harry picked him up and drove his knee into his chest winding him. He dropped to his knees and Harry gave him a kick that knocked him out.
*
Charlie woke up from an uneasy sleep, did he imagine that noise? Getting out his gun he opened the door and crept into the hallway, there were two people in the living room. Loading his gun, he kicked open the door and stormed inside, to find Black and Amy having a cup of tea. “About time,” said Black, “we’ve been waiting hours for you to get up.”
“...OK...” said Charlie, unsure of how to react.
“Where’s Harry?” asked Amy, at that moment the door opened and Harry came in with a man over his shoulders. “It was a trap!” he exclaimed. “The Biker meant to get chucked off, so he could get on, their all in it together, the Organisation and Criminal INC are working together.” Then he noticed Black and Amy, “what are you guys doing here?” he asked.
“Saving you butt,” responded Black, as he hauled the Bigsey onto a chair and started tying him to it with some rope he found on the table. He looked up, his eyes shining. “Time to do the good cop bad cop routine”
*
“Why do I have to be the good cop?” moaned Black. “Because I said so,” said Harry. He turned back to Bigsey and said. “What is the Organisation?” Bigsey looked nervously at the gun in Harry’s hand and gave up.
“The Organisation are a group of criminals that act as hit men to anyone who pays most, we kill people and deliver drugs, that sort of thing. We’ve been hired by a person called Carter; he wanted some sort of crystal.”
“Carter is dead, two agents killed him along with professor Anga,” said Black. “Is this crystal green?”
“Yes, we paid V.I.R.U.S to get us one, and they did, we lost our weapons specialist, Nefrine. The crystal you saw was fake, to draw you away; the real one has been delivered.”
“Are you in league with Criminal INC?” asked Black.
“No, their goal is to get their hands on V.I.R.U.S technology; we merely arranged to kill Silver Arrow with Will Thimble, in return he gave us the girl, when the plane stopped at Manchester, I crept on board. John had nothing to do with it; he didn’t even know I got on the plane.”
“John?”
“I believe you know him as the Biker.”
“List all the members of the Organisation.”
“Me, Khelb, Lucy, Nefrine, Walf and Huntley, but Huntley was not a member and knew too much, we were going to kill him but Jack killed him instead for a reason best known to himself.”
“So we only need to hunt down Khelb, Walf and Lucy,” concluded Amy, “who is Walf anyway?”
“Our suicide bomber, he was sent to blow up the airport so you couldn’t get here, he would send a code word to us via earphone, but for some reason the bomb malfunctioned with a 10 minute delay.”
“What was the code word?” asked Harry.
Bigsey looked up. “Bingo.” Harry’s vision went white as he had the flashback.
The man turned to Charlie very slowly, and as the door slid open his eyes bulged and he shouted: “Bingo!” Then he ran back down the stairs and got in the lift again. Charlie and Harry just stood motionless, then.
“What the hell was that!?”
“I’m not sure.”
Walf made sure no one was in the lift then got out the bomb in his jacket, he turned the knobs to go off in 2 minutes, Harry and Charlie got on the plane, the bomb reached the last 10 seconds, they checked in their tickets, the bomb suddenly sparked and went back to 10 minutes, the plane flew out of the air port.
...10 minutes later...
The many desks in the port were laying smoking on the ground; the charred remains of the front desk-man were being identified. And the many civilians that were on their way to another country for a holiday lay dead on the smoking remains of the airport.
Bigsey smiled as Harry realised the reality of the situation, he had let those people die. “Black, take him back to MI7 and take him in custody,” said Harry, “Charlie and I will rescue Miriam.”
Black handcuffed Bigsey and took him out of the room leaving only Harry and Charlie. “How do we find her?” asked Charlie. “We won’t find her, she’ll find us...”
*
A security guard walked round, whistling. He was a local policeman patrolling the area for any sign of trouble; he was also guarding the ballroom for tomorrow night’s dance, it was going to be big. Suddenly he saw a flicker of movement and then something flashed and he fell to the ground. Lucy stooped and took her knife out of the policeman’s back; two other policemen came round the corner with guns out. Lucy dropped her knife and slowly put her hands up, but she was still smiling. One of the policemen realised she was looking beyond them and turned to be plummeted by Khelb’s fist, the other turned round to shoot but Khelb just drove his elbow into his face. Lucy quickly took their passes.
The two ran on until they got to the glass doors of the great ballroom, there were policemen everywhere inside, properly to make sure nobody ransacked the place. Lucy picked the lock with her knife and the two walked in holding up the passes. The policemen tensed up and pointed their guns at the two. “Oh well, worth a try I guess,” said Lucy, as she threw her knife at a gun holder catching him on the shoulder before getting out two more and sending them flying toward two other men. Khelb ran at one and flipped him over his hip before knocking the gun out of another’s hand and sending it reeling across the floor to Lucy who picked it up and shot down three men. She turned to see Khelb throw down the last one.
She ran toward him, “do you have it?”
“Course I do,” responded Khelb taking something out of his back pack.
It was a bomb.
He set it to remote control and gave it to Lucy, who quickly cut a hole in the wall and started pulling bricks away, she placed the bomb inside the wall and put some of the bricks back, then she closed the hole with some small daggers that she thread through the wallpaper like needles. The two ran out of the building leaving the policemen to regain consciousness. They ran to some bushes out of sight and took out a radio; Khelb turned it on and spoke through the microphone. “The bomb has been planted, what’s the next move?”
“The next move is to capture those two crummy little agents that have been on us so long,” came a voice down the other end.
“What of the detective?” asked Lucy.
“Black is a very predictable man, he will not take Bigsey back to base, he’ll come looking for us. Leave him to me.” The radio clicked off.
*
Black took Bigsey to his plane and took off his cuffs, and then suddenly he brought them down on Bigsey’s face with tremendous force. “My turn to be the bad cop,” he said. “I have reason to believe that Flint is with the Organisation.”
“With it? He leads it,” said Bigsey, Black was silent before admitting, “OK; I didn’t see that one coming.”
“He plans to blow up the ballroom at tomorrow’s dance, killing everyone,” said Bigsey, eyeing the cuffs nervously. “In that case...” said Black, taking out his mobile.
“Hi, Ross it’s me, Black, no I’m not giving you hate mail. I have a member of the Organisation for you to take back with you, yeah he’s here now. Of course you get the credit, and you can become top detective. Er... I... er love you too, bye,” he put away the phone. “He was very grateful, very grateful,” he cuffed Bigsey to the plane and started down the road. “Where are we going?” asked Amy.
“We are going, dancing.”
*
Black knocked on Harry’s door, no answer. He tried the handle and to his surprise it opened, they went inside to find the whole room ransacked, there were tables and chairs turned over and all the lights had been smashed. Amy skimmed the area as she had been taught, then she saw a letter nailed to the floor. She tore it off and gave it to Black who read it out.
“Dear Black, if you want to see Harry, Charlie and Miriam alive, I suggest you go down to the ball tomorrow. There will be a group of party-crashers that will reveal them each tied to a chair strapped with dynamite. If you do not come, we will kill them.
Flint.”
Black looked at the letter for a while before springing into action, talking so fast Amy could just make out the words.
“Flint must have got his goons to capture them while we were gone, he’ll be planning to kill them at the party so we need to get down there and figure out what they’re going to do. First we need some consumes to get in.”
*
People were dancing and singing at the top of their voices, the ball was in full swing and Black and Amy were leaning against the bar with a fancy robin-mask, complete with beak and feathers. “I told you we should have gotten the fairy costumes, we look stupid in these,” wined Amy.
“If we were wearing fairly costumes, they properly would have turned us down out of sheer freakiness,” whispered Black. A bar tender came round and offered them some drinks. “Er, we don’t drink,” said Black. “Of course,” the bar tender said, smiling, “will you be joining in the couples dance later.”
“Oh, we...er...we aren’t a couple,” said Black quickly. “Sure we are,” said Amy hooking her arm in Black’s. “Always the joker aren’t you Albert?” Black mumbled something under his breath and the two started dancing round the hall, Amy steered them to the side and then the announcer came up on the stage.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the ballroom couple dances will now commence.” Most of the audience moved away leaving some couples that began to dance to a slow song, Amy and Black waltzed their way around the couples to see if there were any suspicions characters in the audience. Just then Black spotted a couple dancing near to them; they both had masks on completely covering their faces. Black smiled and the dance went on.
“We have the results in!” said the announcer, “the winner for the couple dances are... Marco and Jess!” A man and the woman went up on the stage and the announcer gave them the microphone. “Any words towards your win tonight?” he said.
“Just one,” said Jess, “and the word is, panic.” Suddenly Marco (Khelb) tore off his mask and got out two hand-guns and fired a couple of shots in the air. The audience screamed and everyone started running to the door, which of course was locked.
The woman (Lucy) also took off her mask and swiped a knife from her pocket which she held to the announcer’s throat. Black suddenly leaped up on the stage and fired a gun, Lucy screamed as the bullet tore through her hand and she dropped the knife. Khelb fired a shot at Black which just missed; in return Amy threw a beer glass she found on the table at Khelb’s head. He fell to the floor, clutching the back of his head. Lucy went to intercept Black but he blocked the attack and launched a punch that snapped Lucy’s head back.
Suddenly a man burst into the room shouting: “Whoa, whoa, whoa, time out!” Black stopped as he saw he was holding a detonator. Lucy came up behind him and hit him on the head with the hilt of her knife. Black fell to the floor, he saw Amy getting punched in the face by Khelb, and he saw the man pocket the detonator. And then he was fading.
...Fading...

Part 4
Encounter

Black woke up. He was just outside the ballroom, he tried to get up but was pushed back down by Khelb, Flint came over to Black and knelt down beside him, he pressed a radio in his hand and turned it on, Black’s world darkened around him as he heard four very familiar voices. “Harry, Charlie, Miriam and Amy are all trapped inside a warehouse ready to blow.” He placed the detonator in Black’s hand.
“You have two choices, you can either blow your friends to kingdom come and we will let the civilians go.” He gestured to the people banging on the doors of the ballroom.
“Or, you can blow up that ballroom, killing about 400 people and us in the process, if you do not flick any in 3 minutes, I shoot them all one by one.”
Flint gave Black another detonator, and then he, Khelb and Lucy all went to the double doors of the ballroom and Flint opened it, pointing a gun to make sure nobody ran out. He locked the door behind them. Black for once was lost. He either blew up all of his friends and their only hope of finding Carter. Or he blew up the 400 people of Glasgow, people that would never help him in the slightest, also killing the entire Organisation as well. It was obvious that Flint expected him to kill Harry, Charlie, Miriam and Amy. 4 people for the price of 400. “Black,” came Harry’s voice on the radio, “kill us, it makes no sense to kill 400 people rather than 4.”
“What are you waiting for? Do it!” hissed Amy, scared to die. Black looked at the two detonators, Flint was grinning, it gave him great pleasure to see him kill his friends. Black took up one remote and stared hard at it, and then he turned to the radio.
“Guys, I am going to kill, Flint, Lucy and Khelb. When I have done this terrible thing, I know that I will no longer be welcome in MI7, so make your way back there and tell Zach I was killed. And I just want to say, the good times we had together, they were good indeed.”
He focused his stare at Flint and in that instant he knew what he was going to do, with a cry Flint leapt for the doors just as Black flicked the switch. There was a rumbling noise and then coming from the back of the ballroom a column of fire segued through the huge hall and engulfed everyone at the back, Lucy was engulfed and sent spinning on fire. Khelb was flung through a window, the glass shards shattering all around his dead body. And Flint had just opened the doors and was half way through when the fire overtook him and he fell to the ground, smoking, charred, bloodied and dead. Black was already gone.
...2 days later...
The plane landed safely and Harry, Charlie, Miriam and Amy got off. They walked through the busy airport, not a word was said. They got a taxi back to London and Harry rounded on everyone. “Black is now an enemy of MI7 and us, if any of you see him, you are to kill him, that also means you Amy. He is dangerous.” Harry went off leaving everyone else standing still. Miriam put a hand on Amy’s shoulder and followed Harry, and then Charlie took off. Amy stood there. She would find him, and then they could go to another country and live their detective life in peace, but she knew it was never going to happen.
*
Harry approached the gates of MI7, he slipped a card in and the doors opened revealing a dead security guard slumped against the wall. Harry took out his gun and ran in followed closely by Charlie, Miriam and Amy. There were agents running everywhere, some looking in draws and other calling for reports. A blond called Holly came up to them, she was a 003 agent and was the next best under Charlie. “Zach’s been taken!” she cried.
“What!?” shouted Harry.
“We think it might have been Will Thimble-”
“Then tell everyone to calm down and gather me a group of assassins.” Holly nodded and ran in search of assassins.
“OK, we are going to raid Will’s warehouse and eliminate this threat once and for all. I want three assassins with me, also Dan.” A man a few meters away, Dan, came scuttling over to Harry’s side. Charlie went into Zach’s room to try and find traces of DNA while Miriam ran off to find the control room. Amy just looked around alarmingly and tried to help one of the agents clear up the glass in Zach’s office. Holly came back with three people all dressed in black and with some knives and silenced weapons. The lead assassin, Swife came up to Harry and said. “I have two trained assassins with me, James and Robert; they can rescue Zach if we distract Will.”
“You should go on foot to avoid any commotion,” suggested Holly.
“Right, and Dan we need you to tell us the location of Will’s warehouse using satellite view, in the control room there is a switch that activates the satellite, flick it” with that Harry, Swife, James and Robert all ran out the base and went in search of Will’s warehouse.
*
“OK, Will is south-east from where you are.” Came the voice of Dan through the earphone to Harry. He headed south-east and then asked Dan where to go next. “On your right there should be a back alley.” Harry and the assassin’s headed for the alley and came out on a deserted street. “OK, where now?” asked Harry. “On your left there should be a warehouse, Will’s warehouse.” The four headed for the warehouse and stopped outside.
“OK, me and Harry will go in, while you two come in from the roof and rescue Zach, go!” Swife said to Robert and James. He and Harry took a breath and pushed open the door. It was completely empty, apart from some books on the floor and a massive hole in the wall. There came voices from above and Harry looked up to see there was a second floor; there were also some stairs that he and Swife climbed slowly. The voices got louder until they saw that Will and two henchmen with gasmasks, one of them he recognised as Marx were around a chair giving the seated person punch after punch. It was Zach!
Harry and Swife climbed the last of the stairs and stood in full view of Will and his henchman. For a moment nothing happened, and then Will broke into a smile. “Harry, how good of you to come, you can witness Zach’s death, and then me and my boys here will be off to raid V.I.R.U.S and claim their technology. But first...” He singled to one of his men to kill Zach but, he was gone. The assassins had done their job.
Harry pointed a gun at the suddenly defenceless Will who raised his hands. Suddenly, he threw something at them that flashed white, Harry stumbled back blinded momentarily, his vision returned to see Will swing an iron bar onto his face knocking him off his feet. He fell down the stairs and got up to see Will set one of his henchmen on Swife. He looked down and saw Harry, Marx ran swiftly down the stairs while Will followed behind.
Marx came at Harry and tried to punch him in the stomach which Harry intercepted and drove his fist into Marx’s face in his own turn, Will came from behind and hit him with the bar. Harry spun round and Marx kicked his feet away, Harry fell to the ground and in an instant Will was on him, cracking the bar on his back again and again. Harry kicked out and Will stumbled back as Harry got up to see Swife kick his henchman in the face and fall down the stairs. He looked over and shouted a warning at Harry as Marx aimed a gun at him, Harry got out his own gun but too late, Marx’s finger was already pressing on the trigger.
Suddenly he screamed and fell to the floor, Swife reloaded his gun and aimed for Will, but he quickly grabbed the wounded Harry and pressed a knife to his throat. Harry swallowed as Swife lowered his gun. “Now, agents,” said Will, his lip bleeding, “it’s been nice fighting you but I really need to get out of this excuse for a base and be on my way.” He steered Harry to the door and pushed him away, Swife fired the moment Harry was clear but the shot hit the door Will slammed. Swife helped Harry up and ran to Marx. “Where is Will going?” he breathed.
“I ain’t gonna tell you nothing,” wheezed Marx, clutching his thigh. Harry hit him with his gun and grabbed his collar.
“Where is he?!” he thundered giving him another whack with the gun.
“He’s gone to a new base that was prepared for him yesterday.”
“Where is it?” shouted Harry kicking him.
“In France, but he’ll need to stop at a building site to collect his passport, it was too risky to leave here.” Harry threw him down and he and Swife ran out of the warehouse. “Do you know where that it?” panted Swife as they ran.
“No, but it should be close and Dan can tell us where it is. Robert and James will have taken Zach back by now, our task is to secure Will, if not we kill him.” He took out the ear piece and contacted Dan, “Dan, we need to find a construction site at a building, can you see it?”
“Yeah, it’s just round the corner, you can’t miss it, oh wait, that’s us. Ah, it’s south, go south.”
“We can’t afford to miss him, let’s highjack a car there.”
“Even better,” said Swife, “let’s highjack a van.” He pointed to a white van parked outside the warehouse. Harry put the crutch in gear and the two zoomed down the road with Dan giving them directions. Soon they reached the building; it has lots of metal frames holding it up and the usual plastic flaps covering the exposed bits. Harry and Swife ran in and started to climb the stairs, they ran up two flights until they were on the third and final floor, very high up. “He must be here,” said Harry as they climbed up. Suddenly as they turned a corner an iron bar came flying from the side and struck Swife on the head, he fell down the hard steps to the halfway point.
With a cry Harry hurled himself at Will and the two fell back through a huge glass window. The two men separated and Will pulled a glass shard from his hand and tried to limp back to the building. Harry grabbed him and threw him outside the metal frames so he was near the edge of the building, Harry jumped at him and kicked his head, Will cursed and tried to punch back, but Harry blocked it and went in to deliver a punch square on Will’s nose, his head snapped back and he fell over his nose broken. “Not much of a fighter are you?” said Harry as he took out his gun and tried to shoot Will, but he kicked the gun out of Harry’s hand.
Harry grabbed his arms and the two men wrestled on the top of the construction site. Suddenly Will flicked a knife out and tried to stab Harry, who instinctively jerked out of the way. Will toppled over and fell over the side of the building just hanging on the edge. Harry brought his foot smashing down in Will’s face and the crime lord fell down screaming, to his death.
Harry ran to Swife who was on the ground, his neck in an unnatural position. He opened his eyes and saw Harry. “Harry...you are the best agent...that MI7 has ever seen and...and you always will be.” He closed his eyes and a trickle of blood came out of his mouth. Harry stayed by his side for a while longer and then he stood up and picked up his gun. Then he made his way to the van turning on his earphone at the same time.
“Dan, mission accomplished. I’m coming home.”
He walked down the stairs and got into the van; he started it and drove back to HQ.
All the while being watched buy a masked man from a window of Will’s warehouse. He walked down the steps passing the unconscious henchman on the floor. Marx also raised his head and watched the newcomer walked to the door.
“Just another criminal trying to infiltrate the MI7 secrets are you? What chance do you think you have?” The masked man turned to see who was talking and came towards him.
“What chance do you think you have!?” shouted Marx.
The man knelt down and pulled off his mask to reveal a face that was half normal and half mutated by scars. His mouth started normal and ended exposing muscle and back teeth, and his hair was black and smooth on one side and frazzled and singed on the other.
“I believe I have a chance to prove that criminals are not all they seem to be,” said the man bringing up his right hand, a robotic hand that was wired up to a tube of green liquid, the fingers were covered up by metal and the tips came off in sharp points that looked to be made out of needles. He brought the hand over Marx’s face and suddenly a green gas sprayed out of the needle fingers into his face. Suddenly everything was not as it seemed.
The man put his mask back on, the small eye holes burning with fire, “witness the true meaning of fear.” The man said in a voice of a thousand voices. Marx turned over and saw the walls of the warehouse weaving in and out, he turned over again and saw a small rat scurrying across the floor, its teeth were the size of needles and its eyes were bright red. The last thing he saw was the man walk out the door and leave him to the horrible fear that was claiming him.