that thought.
Throw the Dice
The house stood ahead of them, glowing in the mid-morning sun.
“See that woodshed over there,” Andrea pointed. “If we get behind that, or maybe into it, nobody can see anything. They won’t know we’re here and we can observe easily. What do you think?”
“What if they have surveillance? Could they see us running around?”
“Shit yes. I thought this was a small band?” Andrea looked uncertain.
“Let me find out.” Dorian pulled out his cell phone. “I’ve got a channel sniffing program on here. If they’re communicating, we’ll know it.” He fiddled with the device, scanning for signals across the spectrum. “Ok, we have a jamming signal, but nothing else. Well, some phones that appear to be scanning, but they look like they are inside the house. We’ll have to circle the house a little bit to triangulate for sure. But that could be risky.” He looked up but no one was there. “Andrea?”
His eyes snapped, scanning the small forest. God, what had happened to her? And she had the gun. Fuck. Every instinct in him wanted to shout her name. He scanned the woods and the house frantically, for what felt like forever.
There she was, waving to him, from the back side of the woodshed, one hundred meters ahead. What the fuck? Had she just gone? Andrea signaled at Dorian to run over to her, simultaneously pointing at a small open window through which they could climb into the shed.
Fuck it, ragazzo, he told himself. He ran, arriving at the shed flat out, his heart beating a frantic rat-a-tat.
“I figured quick was better than slow and steady,” Andrea whispered in his ear. “The longer we waited, the harder it would be to go. Fear,” she said. “It’s not like we had much choice.”
“You’re crazy,” he squeaked. “These guys are not jokers. You’ve seen what they can do.”
“I know, I know. I’m sorry honey.” She stroked his hair. A small part of his fear stricken mind reminded him how incredibly beautiful she was. Her smile, the way she tossed her hair. Her skinny gangliness.
“Now climb through this window,” she ordered, yanking him back to the present.
“Yes sir.”
They went up to the second floor of the little shed, after propping up a small ladder. On the second floor, they positioned themselves on their stomachs looking out a tiny window under the low-slung roof. Andrea tried pointing her gun at the one door they could see. “I can get a shot off. It’s only twenty feet or so. Hopefully I’m good enough to shoot to kill ‘cause there probably won’t be a second chance.”
Dorian felt a chill down his spine.
“Go see if you can get a view of the front door from that other window,” Andrea pointed. “Also stay back from the windows, so if they’re looking, they don’t see us.”
“Of course.” Dorian crawled to the window, the dust on the floor scratching at his eyes. “Assuming they don’t see us already.” He sneezed. “I see just outside the front door. One car out there.”
“Model?”
“Can’t tell. American? I haven’t been in this country long enough to know brands. It’s big. Like a taxi in New York.”
“Ok.”
“For sure not Italian.”
Dorian heard squealing tires. Twenty minutes had passed quietly before that. After a moment, he could see a second car driving up to the house. A tall kid with glasses tumbled out of the side rear door. A large man with a ridiculous looking handlebar moustache stepped from the driver’s seat.
He watched as the kid--which Deep Noder was he?--was ushered or possibly even pushed into the house by the big man with the moustache.
Dorian looked over and gave Andrea a thumbs up. Reno was out. Definitely based on the way the big man was treating the kid. Something was clearly wrong here, even if he couldn’t definitively recognize either of them.
Colonel and Lieut stared down at the cell phone lying on the table in front of them. Their faces showed a mixture of concern and disbelief.
“But look,” Colonel said. “Operationally, we’ve got everyone where we need them.”
“Not even close. Are you crazy?” the voice erupted from the cell phone cum speakerphone.
“No, trust me, this is the exact place you want them.”
“Could you hang on? I’m in a bad spot right now. Let me find a quiet location. I’m yelling in the middle of a restaurant. People are fucking looking at me. You guys are too fucking much.”
Sounds of motion followed by the sound of the outdoors.
“So let me explain,” Colonel said.
“Shut up, you moron. You don’t do any more explaining. I’m at terrible risk here with you shitheads showing yourselves to these punks. How easy will it be for them to trace you to me. Don’t they know some of them have died? Aren’t they pretty clear on who has done what?”
“Hang on. Nobody knows anything.”
“Oh yeah. They don’t notice their buddies missing, or families disappeared. You some kind of nuthead?”
“First of all, we keep them here until the targets are met. You get paid. Everyone is happy. No problems. It will happen quick. We’re also getting the info on all the servers so we can shut them down ASAP.”
“You don’t understand a thing. This can never, not ever, not even in a million years get out. I can’t afford it, and worse, the industry can’t afford it. Don’t you get it? The fact that we’re even having this conversation in the first place is a serious fucking breach of the security of this whole operation, don’t you understand? You’re literally trying to compromise me right now.”
“Calm down now. I fully understand,” Colonel said, exchanging a glance with Lieut. “We will eliminate the evidence. You’ve made it clear, and we’re ready to do what has to be done. In any case, you can count on the targets being met, guaranteed.”
“Good. I don’t want to hear anything more.”
Exit Stage Left
“What should we do?” Dorian asked in a whisper, looking over at Andrea.
“Good question. We’re pretty comfortable here now,” she whispered back, hoping Dorian would get the joke. Her arms had started to ache even though they’d only been there a short while. “We’ve got no idea of the layout inside. Anything new up front?”
“Nope. Don’t you think we better act before it’s to late?” Even in the dim light, Andrea could see Dorian blanch, and she felt a stab of fear in her own gut.
“How about this?” she said, gathering up her courage. “I walk up to the door over there and test if I can open it. You cover me. At least we’ll know a bit more. I’ll try to look inside while I’m there.”
“I guess it’s relatively safe. But maybe I should do it, since you’re the one with the gun experience. Why don’t you cover me?”
Dorian began to slide towards the ladder.
“Shh,” Andrea whispered urgently.
“What?”
“Someone’s coming out.”
In front of her the side door opened, revealing a boy. Or was it a short man? He was followed by a much larger man gripping him tightly on the shoulder.
“Do you recognize those guys?” Andrea asked Dorian who had now crept over to her window.
“I don’t, though the big guy might be one of the guys that was chasing and shooting at me at the hotel.”
“You think?”
“Maybe. Not sure. And the little guy is definitely not the guy they brought in earlier. The one in the car. The big man also is different than the one earlier. So they have at least two people.”
Andrea slid the window slowly wider, to hear what the pair were saying.
“What’s your name, son?” the big man asked.
“70mm. I told you already.”
Dorian’s eyes widened. “Shit.”
Andrea raised her gun and aimed it at the big man.
“You have three seconds to tell me the truth. Your actual name. Got it?”
“70mm is all there is.”
“Look over there, son,”
the big man pointed. “See that hill over there in the distance.” He turned 70mm around to look where he was pointing.
The big man pulled out a gun. It appeared too fast for Andrea to react. Where had the gun come from, his pants? Inside a jacket? Where? Andrea saw the silencer attached to the front, recognized from many movies. “Duck,” she wanted to shout, tried to shout, but Dorian had stuffed a hand over her mouth. Her finger reflexively pulled the trigger of her gun
Nothing happened.
The big man’s finger pulled the trigger of his gun, as she frantically pulled her trigger again.
The front of the boy’s face exploded in a burst of red that drifted about his head for a few moments before it rained on to the ground. A moment later, his body dropped to the ground where it lay twitching.
Tears streamed from Andrea’s eyes. She could feel vomit retching in her throat. “That fucking bastard,” she whispered. “You should have let me distract him. What did he just do? How could he?” She put her hands around Dorian, and dug her head down into his chest. “I couldn’t shoot the gun. I couldn’t. It just wouldn’t do anything. I could have saved him. Oh god.” Her insides felt like a knot.
“It’s ok. You tried.” Dorian didn’t look so sure.
“I must have forgotten the fucking safety lock,” she realized.
“He would have killed us instantly,” Dorian said, holding Andrea tight. His face looked as shocked as hers.
“How could he? How could he?” she whispered.
Outside, the big man picked up 70mm’s body by the arms and dragged it around the corner, out of sight of the door he and the boy had come out of. He returned, leaned over and grabbed a few handfuls of dirt which he