CHAPTER 7 – Family Reunion
Beppe and Simon woke early. After showers, new clothes, and a hot breakfast, they made their way to the garage via the underground tunnel. Once there, Beppe decided that they would take his car to the airport.
“So, who are we protecting?”
“Stefano Reed. A self made billionaire” replied Beppe
“Why does he need protection?”
“He used to be in a partnership with two friends. After a while the two friends pulled out of the business. That was a terrible mistake, as a few months later Stefano made a successful bid for a multimillion dollar government contract.”
“So his partners now want their share?”
“No. After Stefano got wealthy he went back to his friends and gave them a sizeable gift. One of his friends, Stuart, used the money to finance a drug deal. Unfortunately, the ship carrying the drugs sank in the Pacific Ocean, but that didn’t stop the drug supplier still wanting his money. Stuart then disappeared in order to avoid paying and of course protect his life.”
“Ok. So how is Stefano involved in this?”
“The drug warlord, unable to find Stuart, decided that he would visit Stefano. Stefano, having been pre-warned that the warlord was coming to see him, withdrew the required amount from the bank in order to settle his friend’s debt. Unfortunately, the warlord learned who Stefano was and, upon his arrival at the office, attempted to extort more money. When Stefano refused to pay above the already agreed amount, the warlord pulled out a knife. I’m not sure if the warlord’s plan was to simply scare him a little, but Stefano drew a pistol from one of the draws in his desk and shot him in the head. Now, the warlord’s father placed a price on Stefano’s head.”
“How much?”
“Last I heard it was $20 million US dollars.”
“Has anyone got close to getting it?”
“No. But on average there are 5-6 attempts a year on Stefano’s life”
“How many years has this been going on?”
“The first attempt on his life was 15 years ago.”
“Wow! Some people can really hold a grudge!” joked Simon
“They certainly can!”
“Other than us two, I assume there will be other body guards.”
“Yes. He is protected better than some of the world leaders.”
“So why would he want us to go along?”
“He is simply doing it as a favour to me. He doesn’t really need us.”
“Tell me about his head of security.”
For the rest of the drive to Rome, Beppe brought Simon up to speed on the security measures in place, their travel arrangements, the body guards currently employed by Stefano, and the type of assassination attempts carried out during the last 15 years.
Once they arrived at the airport in Rome, they made their way to a private hangar where, once cleared by the security team, were greeted by Stefano.
Stefano was approximately the same age as Beppe and looked a lot like him. He was wearing an Armani suit and, from a barely visible bulge in his jacket, carried a pistol.
Stefano greeted Beppe like a long lost brother. The two of them made several jokes about each other’s age and the amount of grey hair they had acquired over the years. Once introductions were over, everyone boarded the private jet and immediately set off for Malaysia.
Simon got to know everyone very quickly. The bodyguards were all professionals in their 40s. The security lead, Boris, was a Russian who was reputed as having had seen many years of active service in the KGB. He did not like Simon being there and was happy to voice this opinion.
After a quick scheduled refuelling stop in Mumbai, most passengers took the chance to get some rest.
“Can’t you sleep young man?”
Simon looked up surprised to see Stefano standing there.
“I tried but I seem to be unable to keep my eyes closed.”
“I guess you do have a lot on your mind.”
Simon correctly assumed that Beppe must have told Stefano about the recent few days.
“I thought finding my dad was going to be easier” whispered Simon whilst looking down at his hands.
“You know, your father has never placed himself first. I bet he had a perfectly good reason to avoid being found by you.”
“Maybe.”
“So, 15 years!” added Simon in an attempt to change the topic.
“15 years indeed” responded Stefano whilst a melancholic tinge flooded his pupils.”
“Did they ever come close?”
“I lost my wife and my daughter. My only son had to go into hiding and I have not seen him for 10 years. The last time we caught up, a bomb was set off in the restaurant where we were eating and severely wounded us. So, I would say ‘yes!’ they have come close.”
“Have you ever considered ending it by retaliating?”
“I have often wanted to hire an assassin. Once I even paid someone. But then I changed my mind a day later. I don’t believe in cold killing.”
“But this isn’t a case of cold killing. It’s simply self-defence.”
“Maybe, I always figured that he would be killed by someone else. I now hope that whoever he is, he is close to dying of old age.”
“I’m sad to say that I don’t think I have the morals you have. I honestly would have placed a bounty on his head equating to the amount placed on yours.”
“Young man, after all these years I am questioning many decisions that I have made.”
And with that Stefano stood up and moved back to his seat. Simon fell asleep thinking on how he would tell his mum that he had failed.
“What do you think?” asked Beppe as Stefano sat next to him.
“He is a great kid. Definitely a chip off the old block!”
“I worry a lot about him. It seems that he too has had a difficult life.”
“Beppe, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to have allowed me to meet him. But you should not have placed yourselves at such risk. I was more than happy for you to use one of my other jets.”
“I realise that, but I need to quickly train him to be able to cope with what lies ahead. I thought this was a great opportunity.”
“Beppe, after all these years, I have given up trying to understand you. I never understood why you and Stuart quit our business partnership. And now I don’t understand why you place Simon at risk. I guess you always were the mysterious one in the family.”
“It’s good to see you brother!”
“I agree. I was looking forward to seeing you too.”
After some further discussion on what lay ahead, both brothers fell asleep.
“Wake up!” yelled Boris mainly in Simon’s direction.
“We are about to land and you are wasting oxygen by having a sleep in” he followed on.
Simon, startled by the loud awakening, jumped in his seat.
“We have a security brief at the back of the plane in 1 minute. Be there!’ called out Boris as he walked away.
A minute later Simon found himself attentively listening to the plan. He would travel in the rear vehicle whilst Beppe would travel in the middle vehicle with Stefano. The vehicle convoy was comprised of three Land Rovers with bodyguards in each. In order to keep the route secret, only Boris, who would travel in the front vehicle, knew the way.
Upon landing, the jet taxied across the busy airport into a private hangar. There, prior to exiting the jet, each bodyguard was given a Steyr rifle, a bulletproof vest, and a radio transmitter, which allowed communication amongst themselves. The issued Steyr rifle was invented by an Austrian company and built in Australia. This version of the Steyr came with magazines able to hold 50 5.56 millimetre rounds and had an improved telescopic site. It was able to fire up to 90 rounds per minute when used in a fully automatic mode. Due to the usage of the short barrel, which was initially developed for close quarter combat, this weapon was ideal to be used in vehicles.
“Boris, I hate to change your plan, but Beppe and Si
mon will be the drivers for their allocated vehicles” ordered Stefano in a very thick northern Italian accent.
“Yes sir!” replied Boris without displaying a hint of emotions.
“Kid, I assume you know how to drive a car in a convoy” called out Boris almost as a criticism.
“He will be fine” interjected Beppe
“I’ll be fine” replied Simon whilst reminding himself that he didn’t even have a car licence.
“If you get lost or it gets too much, hand over the keys to Gerry” directed Boris whilst pointing to one of the other bodyguards also travelling in the last vehicle.
Gerry was a very quiet and tall man who regularly glanced into the distance searching for any threats. His lack of expression made it difficult for anyone to assess his emotions: something that assisted him when playing poker at various Casinos in his spare time. Gerry was in his mid 40s and, added by a scar across his left eye eyebrow, had an intimidating demeanour.
A few minutes later, the three vehicles left the airport.
Driving the last vehicle proved to be more difficult than expected. Unlike standard convoys where drivers had to ensure that the vehicle behind was always within visual distance, in this scenario it was up to the vehicle behind to be able to keep up. In order to achieve this, Simon had to drive through several intersections where the traffic lights had changed to red as the second vehicle went through. On two occasions he also had to drive on the opposite side of the road to overtake vehicles that had managed to force themselves in front of him.
Despite the ongoing challenges experienced by Simon as a driver, all in all, he was enjoying the experience.
“We should be almost there!” screamed Gerry over the local traffic noise.
“How long have you been working for Stefano?” asked Simon
“Only a year. With the exception of Boris, we are all fairly new” Gerry smiled back.
“Are the security team regularly changed?” asked Simon unsure why this would be the case.
“No. A year ago the team was caught in an ambush. Most of the guards died. Mr. Stefano, Boris and Alex here, were the only survivors.”
“What happened?” Simon asked looking at Alex in the rear-view mirror.
Alex was a 6-foot Dutchman who looked like a guy who had got beaten up in high school but trained to make sure it wasn’t ever going to happen again. Despite a fixed smile, he had an intimidating air about him that was most likely created by his stature and the scars across his face.
“We were in Spain and whilst driving down a small lane, we were blocked in by two bombs that collapsed buildings at each end of the lane. Once trapped, we came under fire by snipers on the roof. I was the driver of the second vehicle and only had enough time to drag Mr. Stefano out of the car and into a building.”
“They went to all that effort but left a way out?” asked Simon surprised at Alex’s comment.
“No! I used this baby to drill a door into the closest wall,” replied Alex with a smile as he lifted an automatic grenade launcher.
“How did Boris get out of there?”
“He said he fought his way back to our vehicle and then found my escape route. Although, it took him a day before he knew what had happened to us.”
“Really? Didn’t you have communication devices?”
“It was hit by a bullet. And once I got Mr. Stefano out of the ambush, I hijacked a taxi and drove him to the French border. There we chartered a helicopter that took us to Verona in Italy. Once there, Mr. Beppe hid us for a few weeks. Boris was called from the helicopter and told to go and hire a new team. He caught up with us two weeks later.”
“How long has Boris been with Mr. Stefano?”
“Don’t know. I think for quite a while. He too has scars from the near misses.”
“I’ve heard he took a bullet for Mr. Stefano whilst they were on a trip in Greece” added Gerry.
Suddenly, before Gerry could continue with his story, a garbage truck appeared from nowhere giving Simon no time to avoid it. The truck rammed itself into the driver side of the Land Rover, and would have killed the passenger, if Simon had not instinctively managed to initiate a handbrake turn; this reduced the impact angle and avoided the Land Rover receiving the full force of a direct hit. Instead it was simply thrown into a spin.
“Kid are you ok?” Simon heard a distant muffled voice in the darkness.
“I’m ok!” replied Simon, even though his ears were ringing and everything around him was fuzzy.
“THEN FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SHOOT BACK!!” the distant voice shouted out in distress.
Simon’s disorientation started to fade away. He realized he had been thrown out of the vehicle and was lying on the ground beside it. A rainstorm of bullets was falling around him. As he looked up he could see Alex firing through the shattered window, the right side of his face was glittering with embedded glass shrapnel. Gerry was sitting on the ground close by, his back leaned against the car and was firing in the opposite direction, and Simon noticed that Gerry’s leg was completely covered in blood
“KID, WE NEED YOUR HELP!” yelled Gerry.
Simon, still somewhat dazed, reached for the Steyr lying by his side and sat up against the tyre and focussed on the same direction as Gerry. What he saw was of over 30 men running towards them firing their weapons. Simon felt the adrenalin build up and in a flash he pulled the trigger to the second pressure point, which spewed a shower of rounds at his assailants, cutting one down at the knees.
“Preserve your rounds! Take well-aimed shots! Only use automatic as a last resort!” called out Alex
“MAGAZINE CHANGE!” yelled Gerry
Simon, unsure as to the reason followed suit by also calling out “MAGAZINE CHANGE!”
Alex, hearing both of the calls, immediately turned and commenced firing in the same direction as Gerry and Simon.
“ON!” yelled Gerry.
Instantly Alex returned firing back in the opposite direction.
“Kid, if we want to get through this we cannot afford to have the both of us changing an empty magazine at the same time. Keep a count of the rounds fired by all three of us, so that you can control your rate and be able to plan a magazine change!” yelled Alex
“Ok!” called Simon as he recommenced firing at the assassins.
Bullets kept on ricocheting all around them with several embedding themselves into the panels of the car. All three of them were at some point either grazed by bullets or hit in the chest. Although, they all wore bulletproof vests, the impact of a round incapacitated them for a few seconds whilst they managed to regain their breath.
“Alex, we won’t last much longer unless you can gain access to the grenade launcher!” Gerry called out seconds before another round hit his chest and winded him again.
“Ok! Kid get up and provide me some cover whilst I try to get into the vehicle!”
Simon immediately stood up and started firing. Alex quickly moved to the back of the vehicle and opened the back door. He promptly grabbed the sniper rifle and threw it onto the ground next to Gerry. He then picked up the automatic grenade launcher and fired a few rounds at the spot where he had attempted to eliminate two assailants earlier.
Simon instinctively turned, lowered one knee and opened fired a split second before Gerry called out “Magazine change!!!” Gerry was impressed with how quickly Simon had learned to keep count of everyone’s rounds. Three seconds later Gerry recommenced firing. Simon continued with his barrage of bullets.
“That’s ok kid, they are no longer a problem!” called out Alex
The hammer struck the firing pin and the immediate propulsion imbedded the pin into the igniting cap. A loud explosion of the gunpowder compressed in the bullet casing rang out. The subsequent energy instantly drove the bullet forward biting into several grooves edged along the length of the rifle barrel. The bullet exited the barrel breaking the sound barrier whilst spiralling towards its target. Beppe, in the middle of a magazine change, he
ard the sound of a loud clap made by a bullet speeding passed him at close range. Having missed its intended target, the bullet continued on in the direction of the last vehicle. 100 metres later, the bullet found its flight environment change from air to soft tissue and began to tumble. Within a split second, the bullet is again flying through air but this time tumbling instead of spiralling. However, the freedom of air flight is short lived as the bullet imbeds itself into the inside panel of the Land Rover’s rear door.
“Ah! Crap! Just my luck!” Alex instinctively calls out
“What! Are you hit?” Gerry immediately responds
“I’m ok. My lucky shirt has just been ruined. Knowing my luck I will not only be unable to sew up the hole, but I will also struggle to remove the blood stain!” Alex joked whilst holding back the pain.
“You’ve been hit!” yelled Simon in shock from seeing the shoulder wound just sustained by Alex
“Kid, nothing passes you by!” joked Alex as he threw the grenade launcher to Gerry.
Gerry wasted no time and offloaded all of the grenades left in the launcher in the direction of their attackers. The effect was instant. The grenades detonations killed, injured and stunned the attackers within their proximity. Those who were not immediately killed by the shrapnel, either lay on the floor unable to fire because of injury, or were afraid of further grenades.
“Ok, they are all taking cover. We need to take this opportunity to go to the aid of the second vehicle!” called out Gerry.
Simon, concerned about their immediate threat, had forgotten about the other vehicles. He could not see the lead vehicle, but the sight only 100 metres in front of him, left him horrified. The second vehicle had also been hit by a truck and was on its side completely engulfed in flames.
“Gerry, I am leaving behind some proximity grenades. If anyone comes within metres of their sensors they will be in for a big surprise!” called out Alex.
“GO! I’VE GOT YOUR BACK!” shouted Gerry above the deafening noise, as he picked up the 30 calibre sniper rifle.
Alex and Simon zigzagged hiding behind the cars that were parked on both sides of the road, as the bullets whistled past them. They staggered their movements - as one was running to the next firing position, the other provided covering fire.
Gerry, now lying on his stomach covered his comrades with his sniper rifle.
“GERRY, ON THE ROOF!” shouted Simon into his communication microphone as he noticed a few armed men appearing to his right.
Gerry wasted no time eliminating the threat.
On the other side of the world, agents in the MI6 Control Centre were watching the ambush on multiple projector screens. The first view was a live feed from a satellite travelling within visual range for the last 15 minutes. Although the image was being captured hundreds of kilometres above the street level, they could clearly see the round cartridges being ejected from Gerry’s rifle. The second screen showed a closer view, taken by an agent currently hiding in an apartment near the location where the third vehicle had been hit. The agent was following the convoy when the ambush was sprung. On direct orders, he immediately found a location where he could film the events that followed.
“Situation report!” 'Beta' ordered as he entered the room.
“Sir, the convoy has been ambushed. Numerous hostile deaths. Subject has received minor wounds but nothing of concern” replied one of the analysts.
“How is he responding to the threat?” 'Beta' asked whilst closely staring at Simon fighting his way up the street.
“His instincts as a driver probably saved them. He has not hesitated shooting at the attackers. So far he has most likely taken out seven targets without hesitation. He seems to be learning very quickly from the other two bodyguards covering his ‘six’. He has been hit three times but fortunately all from a distance and stopped by his bullet proof vest.”
“That is great! But self defence is not what we are looking for” 'Beta' added as he now moved to the third screen where the agency database details were appearing on every subject identified by the facial recognition software.
“Interesting reading about the two bodyguards in the vehicle with Simon. He seems to work well with them” 'Beta' observed whilst casting his eyes across the second screen and admiring.
“Did any of them work for us in the past?”
“Sir, with the exception of Mr. Beppe, and some financial assistance by Mr. Stefano, nobody else has been on our books” answered another analyst.
“So, why do these two characters look familiar?”
“Sir, Alex was employed for many years as a body guard for the Dutch royal family. You most likely saw him five years ago when they visited the Queen. As for ‘Gerry’ there are no records of him.”
“No records!? I pay millions of pounds to have the database up to date, and yet we have no records of him! Ok, make a new entry in the database.”
“Sir, we have a situation here!” called out the agent recording the battle in Malaysia.
“I see it!” 'Beta' replied as he stared at a group of men on a roof setting up a mini-gun onto a tripod.
“Ok Agent 3A, let’s keep the odds even!” 'Beta' ordered
The agent did not reply. A split second later the staff in the Control Centre witnessed the men with the mini-gun simply collapsing to the ground.
“Even!” reported Agent 3A
Alex, from the corner of his eye, noticed the presence of some men directly to his top right on the rooftop of a building. He immediately repositioned himself to take them out at their next appearance. After 30 seconds, Alex switched the sight to thermal imagery. To his surprise, behind the cornice wall he saw two bodies lying down and losing body heat. Although their unexplained deaths were of concern, he switched back to provide cover to his two comrades. During a magazine switch, he also noticed the high definition camera mounted in an apartment window to his top left but he decided to focus on the mission at hand.
“I have been compromised!” called out Agent 3A
“Yes you have! Provide me a close-up of the second vehicle. Then leave the camera switched on and move to the collection point!” 'Beta' ordered, having read Alex’s expression as he looked up in the direction of Agent 3C.
“That’s a tough break!” observed one of the analysts.
“Hardly! Mr. Alex taking out our agent with his rifle would have been a tough break!” 'Beta' observed.
“Simon look out!!” Gerry yelled as he fired at an attacker directly in front of his young comrade. The attacker, who had been pretending to be dead, suddenly stood up and raised his weapon toward the teenager. Although the trick had worked, Gerry fired just in time to prevent the attacker from pulling the trigger.
Even though in the last few minutes Gerry, Alex and Simon had managed to eliminate most of the attackers, the bullets kept on flying by in waves. It appeared that men equipped with automatic weapons were firing most of the rounds from two points. The street sounded like a gun battle in Iraq.
The locals, who had been in hiding for 10 minutes before the ambush was sprung, could hear the gun battle taking place. There were explosions from the numerous bullets being fired, wounded men calling out for help in Malay, thuds from the bullets hitting building walls, the explosion of several burning cars, orders being yelled in Italian, and vibrations from the explosion of grenades.
“Go!” called out Simon in Italian as he laid several rounds down the road.
“Move!” replied Gerry as he took cover behind a vehicle whilst providing covering fire to Alex.
“Magazine change!’ Simon alerted Gerry.
“Alex can you hear me?” Gerry called out in the mouthpiece.
“Go ahead!” Alex replied.
“I’m not sure we can go much further before one of us gets permanently hit. Can you reposition to a better firing location.”
“Sorry man! I have now been hit in both legs and it would take me a long time to crawl to a better position!” Alex replied disappointed
.
“Some hand grenades would be great right now!” Gerry contemplated aloud whilst firing a few more rounds at the attackers now located only 20 metres ahead.
“I can help with that!” Simon called out over the airways.
Gerry, from across the street, looked at Simon removing his backpack and pulling out what appeared to be three Yoyos. He then noticed the young man pressing three different locations on one of the Yoyos prior to throwing it at waist height in the direction of one of the strongholds. Immediately after the Yoyo device was thrown, two small plastic blades unfolded outwards giving greater stability during its flight. The Yoyo travelled evenly towards one of the targets barely losing any height. At first Gerry thought that Simon had overshot the target area as it looked like the Yoyo device passed the attackers several meters to their side. However, as the Yoyo device came in line with the attackers, it tilted to the left and exploded with its complete force blowing shrapnel at its victims. The explosion was so deafening that everyone in the street stopped firing momentarily as they instinctively used their hands to block their ears.
“Wow kid! What on earth was that?” Gerry called out over the radio despite his ears being in pain.
“A little toy that supposedly has infrared sensors able to detect humans within five metres. I was told that it travels up to 30 metres at a fairly constant height and once it detects people it tilts to face the target and explodes. The label on top of the device states that it uses microscopic lead particles in order to have a higher concentration of shrapnel in its beaten zone (area where majority of shrapnel lands)” Simon replied whilst reading the top of one of the other Yoyo devices.
“I have to get me some of those! Ok, let’s see if you can do it again with the second strong hold!”
The attackers on the right hand side of the road, although not aware of the technology used to eliminate their comrades, did realise that their end would quickly come if the teenager threw another one of those devices at them. The leader, an experienced fighter, immediately gave the order for all four of them to fire all their rounds at the boy.
“Now!” Simon called out in order to prompt Gerry to provide covering fire.
As Simon stood up, a wave of bullets showered the surrounding area. As his arm commenced the throwing action, a bullet found the soft tissue of his bicep. To Simon, the initial sensation was that of a teacher hitting his arm with a wooden ruler. This was instantly forgotten as he realised that he had dropped the Yoyo device at his feet. He reacted by diving to the left side of the vehicle which he had been standing behind. After ten eternal seconds with no explosion, Simon crawled behind the vehicle and noticed that the “Armed” indicator light was off.
“Are you ok kid?” Alex called out who witnessed the event through his sniper rifle scope.
“Yeah! There must be a giro that only arms the device when it has been thrown!” Simon replied, feeling relieved.
Once again Simon attempted to stand up and throw the device. However, due to the bullet wound to his right arm, he found himself unable to throw the Yoyo. So Simon opted to use his left arm instead to throw the Yoyo. Unfortunately Simon only manage to lob the device about 10 metres in front of them where it came to a standstill after a few bounces. Both Simon and Gerry quickly realised that it must need a certain amount of acceleration before it would arm.
“Kid, throw me one!” Gerry called out.
A few seconds later, Gerry caught the device and pressed the required sequence of buttons for it to work.
“Boy, am I glad this Yoyo doesn’t come with a string to make it come back!” joked Gerry.
The attackers, now fully aware that their survival depended on keeping the teenager’s head down, completely focussed on Simon’s position. To their peril, they failed to see the Yoyo device having been thrown across to the second shooter. Moments later, they helplessly watched the Yoyo tilt in mid air and explode. None of them survived.
“Ok. Let’s go!” Gerry called out.
Although they provided covering fire whilst leapfrogging from one vehicle to the next, they were pleased to see that nobody was returning any fire. As they reached the two positions neutralised by the Yoyo devices, both bodyguards felt nauseous from the sight.
Simon was the first to arrive at the second vehicle. On the other side he was relieved to find his master and Stefano still alive.
“Are you ok?” Simon asked, quickly realising that they were both injured.
“Yeah kid! We’re too tough to die!’ Stefano joked with a smile.
“Simon, don’t drop your guard now. Secure this site!” Gerry lectured.
Simon looked around unsure as to the meaning of the latest instruction.
“Kid, he means get on your guts and face out in case anyone else comes at us” calmly explained Beppe who, like Stefano, was lying on his side whilst applying pressure to a bullet wound.
Simon did as instructed.
“Gerry, what was the evacuation plan in the event that we were attacked?” asked Simon wanting desperately to get his master to a hospital.
“I’ve already called the secondary team. Their choppers will be here in 2 minutes” Stefano replied.
“How is everyone doing for ammo?” a radio call came from Alex.
“We’re both empty” replied Beppe.
“Sorry buddy! We had forgotten about you! We’ll come and get you shortly!” Gerry replied.
“No don’t! I am fine here. You need to keep your area secure until the second team arrives.”
For a few minutes everyone stood in silence listening to the moaning and crying of several wounded attackers.
Suddenly, from the location of the first vehicle, they spotted Boris walking calmly in their direction. Although he walked with a limp, he didn’t take long to reach their position.
“Are you ok?” Stefano asked with concern whilst pointing at Boris’ injured leg.
“Yes, thanks boss! I got pinned under the vehicle” Boris replied who was now standing in between Stefano and Beppe.
“Signor Beppe, would you mind passing me your pistol as right now you don’t seem in any condition to use it and I’m all out of ammo!” Boris asked whilst looking in the direction of the third vehicle.
“It seems you got the brunt of the attack. You two have done well” observed Boris.
“So, how did they know we were going to use this road?” Simon whispered in anger.
“That’s a good question Simon. Boris?” Stefano asked.
“You have five seconds to answer!” Boris called out as he raised Beppe’s pistol towards Gerry’s head.
“You got it wrong man!” replied Gerry as he stood up holding his hands in the air and leaving his weapon on the ground.
Simon followed suit and stood up also leaving his rifle on the ground. Once on his feet, he unholstered the pistol from under his jacket.
“Young man, please step away from Gerry” Boris ordered.
Simon turned to look Gerry in the eyes whilst attempting to make sense of the accusation.
“I was once told that as humans we mostly tend to ask questions for which we already know the answers” Simon observed as he raised his pistol at Boris.
“What do you think you are doing? Don’t be a fool!” Boris called out.
Simon, appearing to not have a care in the world pulled the trigger.
Boris, having been hit in the left knee let out a scream as he placed his weight on the other leg in order not to fall to the ground.
“You are a fool! I have been protecting Mr. Stefano for a long time. And if I wanted to betray him I could have simply killed him in his sleep. Gerry and Mr. Stefano were the only other two who knew of the route!” Boris lectured Simon whilst still pointing the pistol at Gerry.
Simon took a few steps placing himself between Boris and Gerry.
“He was only told at the airport. He never had the opportunity to inform the attackers as I stayed with him the whole time. I sincerely doubt Mr. Stefano has
any interest in placing his own life at risk. Of the three who knew of the route, you seem to be the only one who has no bullet wounds” Simon calmly explained whilst stepping closer to Boris.
“You might be right! We might have been tailed and once we got close to the destination point, the attackers might have quickly setup the ambush. I might be over reacting! Never the less, you are a loose cannon kid!” Boris lectured.
Simon pulled the trigger once more and took out the remaining healthy knee.
Although Boris instantly fell to the ground, this time he did not show the pain that he felt from the second bullet hitting him.
“Simon stop!” Stefano called out.
“There were no people on the street. Nobody has yet peeked from the offices and apartments despite being in the middle of the day. I have never seen Malaysian streets so empty. I bet that this street was closed off to the public and the locals have evacuated before our arrival. Stefano, how many people are you going to let die just so that you can have a clean conscious about ordering the elimination of your threat?” Simon stated feeling the anger build within him.
As Simon finished speaking, Boris rolled on his side, pointing his pistol at Simon and pulled the trigger. The second that the hammer struck the pistol firing pin, Boris realised that the weapon had no ammunition left.
Simon turned to look at the man lying on the ground and shot another round. This time hitting his right arm.
“Stop!” Boris pleaded.
“Boris, can you hear the helicopters? They are about to come to our rescue and take us to the hospital. The way I see it you either come clean, or I will leave you here to slowly bleed to death” threatened Simon as he shot Boris’ other arm.
“Please stop! Ok! I’ll come clean!” confessed Boris, now struggling with the pain.
“Gerry, please go and get Alex!” ordered Simon.
“So, did you give away our route?” asked Simon.
“Yes! I have been happy to protect you for all these years Stefano. But I can no longer stand working for a gutless man. You should have retaliated many years ago. When I was offered more money to work with your enemy, someone with real guts, it was an easy decision to make!” yelled Boris feeling himself close to passing out.
“I cared for you! I paid you a fortune. I considered you as one of my closest friends” replied Stefano feeling completely devastated by the betrayal.
“So Stefano, how many more lives are you going to sacrifice?” questioned Simon again.
Stefano forced himself to his feet and looked across the street at all of the men who had died because of a personal vendetta. He then looked down at his brother and whilst focussing on his wounds stated: “I am sorry Beppe. I should have listened to you when all of this started. I have been a fool! You are right Simon, I need to bring this to an end and it seems that I have no choice but to fight fire with fire” Stefano replied apologetically, as he looked into Simon’s bloodshot eyes.
Simon, without breaking the stare back into Stefano’s eyes, fired one more round ending the pain experienced by Boris.
“No!” yelled Stefano in shock for the cold murder just witnessed.
Although Beppe was contemplating taking Simon’s pistol and doing the same, he was completely stunned by his pupil’s actions.
“I haven’t killed him. The last round was a special bullet that sedated its target. According to the instructions Boris will be asleep for 2 to 3 hours.
Simon, was about to suggest a plan for Boris when the two helicopters suppressed all other noises.
The helicopters landed either side of the second vehicle. The downward pressure of the rotors lifted the dirt from the ground and drove it at great speed towards the survivors who had to use their spare hands to cover their eyes. From the helicopters, numerous men in black uniforms came running to their rescue. Among them, the leader immediately approached Stefano concerned about his well being.
Simon stepped in the way before the leader could speak to Stefano.
“I want you to use your helicopter to take all of the wounded to a nearby hospital. That includes those who are still alive amongst our attackers. We also have two of our own back at the third vehicle. I will stay behind with the second helicopter to make sure that the dead bodies are taken to a nearby morgue!” ordered Simon.
“Kid, that’s a nice gesture but our concern is only for our men!” replied the leader of the rescue team.
“I am in no mood for arguments!” Simon highlighted as he raised his arm and pointed his pistol to the leader’s head.
The leader, surprised by the aggressive action, looked past Simon into Stefano eyes. Stefano supported Simon’s order with a nodding of his head.
The leader instantly turned around and commenced barking orders to his troops.
Shortly after, Alex and Gerry, helped by two of the uniformed men, arrived at the first helicopter. Alex, once seated next to Beppe, whispered something into his ear.
Beppe, registering what he had just been told, forced himself back to his feet onto the ground and hopped a few feet forward.
“What is he doing?’ asked 'Beta' as he watched the old man struggling to stay on his feet.
“He seems to be looking back towards our way. Has he spotted the camera?”
As 'Beta' considered the comment made by one of his staff, he looked attentively at the old man now reaching for something in his pocket. After a few seconds he watched the Italian gentleman extending his arm in the direction of the camera whilst holding something small and rectangular in his hand.
“Zoom in!” ordered 'Beta'
“It’s a mobile phone and its display has an open SMS with the letter ‘’B” called out one of the analysts whilst staring at a close-up of the object in the hand.
“Commander, patch me through!” ordered 'Beta'
The naval commander took a few seconds to register the order.
Beppe held the phone in the air for a minute before it began ringing.
“Enjoying the show?” Beppe spoke into his mobile phone before giving the other party a chance to speak.
“Busy morning!” a robotic voice replied to Beppe.
“I still think that if you changed to a female encrypted voice, you would have less enemies in the world!” observed Beppe.
“I can see that ageing is finally doing justice to your humour!” joked back 'Beta'
“I guess I should thank you for taking care of the guys on the roof.”
“I just like keeping the odds balanced” stated 'Beta' not surprised that Beppe had found this out.
“Then again, you never did me any favours. I can only assume that there is something in it for you.”
“Gee, your gratefulness was certainly short lived!” 'Beta' stated into the handset.
“As you can see I have to take off or else I’ll be running late for my appointment with a pretty nurse. Once I’m finished I’ll expect some explanations!”
“Sure. Let’s say in one hour!”
“You and I both know that you’ll be informed the instant the last bandage is fastened. Just call me! One more thing, send a team in to clean this mess up. We’ll take the dead bodies in the street to the morgue; you’ll have to take care of those on the roof.”
Beppe terminated the call before he gave 'Beta' a chance to answer. He then hopped back into the helicopter that was ready to depart. As the Blackhawk lifted vertically he gave a quick wave to Simon who was looking up from the ground whilst directing the collection of the dead bodies.
“Thanks Alex! You were right on the money!”
“You are welcome! By the way, hell of a kid you have there!”
“I know! His father would be proud of him!”
“Ok Commander you know what to do!”
“Yes Sir!” replied the naval officer.
“How is our boy in Italy going?” asked 'Beta' expecting that the screen would switch to the live footage from Verona.
“Sir! He has passed with flying colours.
He is currently recovering in hospital resulting from a few minor injuries incurred during the gun battle” replied another naval officer.
“Psych profile?”
“Here it is sir.”
Simon arrived at the hospital 20 minutes after the first helicopter landed. He was immediately met by a nurse with a wheelchair: to which he cordially declined.
Within minutes he was having his wounds attended to. After some scans and medical inspections of the wounds, it was decided that he needed a minor operation to his injured arm. The whole procedure took 45 minutes.
“Are you ok kid?” Beppe asked, concerned about his pupil’s wellbeing.
Simon was standing at the entrance to one of the operating theatres talking in Malay to the surgeon.
After he thanked the doctor for the update on his two older comrades, Simon turned his full attention to his master.
“Yeah, I’m fine. You?”
“The advantage of getting old is that the skin gets tougher” joked Beppe
“Seriously!”
“I’m ok. I had to have several stitches and a tetanus shot. Other than that, just filled with guilt.”
“Don’t be. You have been nothing but kind to me. I don’t blame you for today’s events.”
After a few minutes of silence, Simon spoke.
“I’ll have to go and buy some clothes. Mum will freak if she sees me like this” joked Simon with a smile on his face.
“I think we’ll all need a new wardrobe” winked Signor Beppe
“How is Signor Stefano?”
“He’s in theatre as well. He’ll pull through!’
“Were you ever going to tell me?” asked Simon whilst avoiding his master’s eyes.
“Probably not! In this industry publicising about one’s family will eventually make them a target.”
“I understand. I guess that’s why dad has disappeared out of our life and now he is avoiding me.”
“Maybe.”
A few more minutes of silence passed by. This time the master spoke first.
“You did the right thing.”
“In regards to Boris?”
“Yes! I’m sure that once he wakes up, he’ll be ready to tell all.”
“I looked into his eyes and I felt pure evil.”
“I would like to tell you that it’ll all be ok and over time you’ll forget today’s event. Unfortunately, the reality is that the nightmares will eventually catch up to you and stay with you for the rest of your life.”
“I always believed that people were mostly good and only resorted to being bad because life had dealt them an unfair destiny. But when I looked into Boris’ eyes, I knew he was evil because he enjoyed it.”
“Simon, I spent my life fighting such men. Sadly there are more of them than the world is willing to accept.”
“Did you make a difference?”
“I’d like to think so. At first I did it because of pride, then I was distracted by the wealth it brought me for being good at it, and finally I did it because if nobody stood up to them it would quickly turn our world into chaos. I did not want this for my family and friends.”
“Were you ever worried that you’d get addicted to it? Or that you would without realising become just as evil as those you hunted?”
“No! Never! Don’t get me wrong, at one point I loved the adrenalin rush and looked forward to the next mission. That is until the night would come and with it the nightmares. For years I tried hard to lose them, … but as time went on I realised they were my saviour from insanity and evil.”
“Your name is not really Beppe?”
“No.”
“What is it?”
“I honestly don’t remember!”
“Really?”
“It has been a lifetime since I used it or heard it! I honestly do not remember it.”
“What about your brother, he would remember!”
“I was adopted into his family at the age of 14. When I was initially found by the agency I lied about my name. So, as you can gather, even Stefano has never known my birth name.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too. Although in this industry I have changed my name more times than I have changed my underwear.”
“Well, that’s a great way to force me to change conversation.”
They both burst into a belly laugh.
“What did MI6 say?” asked Simon almost making his master choke on his saliva
“How did you know?”
“Basically intuition and bluffing.”
“I see, you just bluffed me into confirming it for you. I am getting too old and you are too quick” laughed Beppe
“They gave me the answer to our question.”
“Do I want to know?”
“Do you?”
“Not yet. I need to take care of mum first” replied Simon after thinking about it for a while.
“Speaking of which, Stefano is lending you one of the helicopters to get to your mamma. I also got a message through to the Inspector Lau who you had told me about.”
“Do they know about today?”
“No!”
“Any news about mum?”
“She is doing ok, considering. She is out of hospital and staying as a guest at the Inspector’s home. His daughter has apparently taken some leave to look after her.”
“I need to go and get some clothes now!” Simon decided as he promptly stood up.
“Let’s go!”
An hour later both master and student returned to the hospital with a new set of clothes. They then proceeded to use the staff’s change room to shower and get into their new clothes. When completed, Beppe come out wearing a fitted suit whilst Simon decided to wear t-shirt and shorts.
“I know! But wearing a suit would make me a target to petty thieves!”
“Good luck Simon. The helicopter is outside waiting. I’ll be up there in a day or so.”
“Thanks Signor Beppe. Please give my apologies to the other three.”
“No problem. They’ll understand.”
The flight up to Penang seemed to take forever. Upon arrival at the Butterworth base, Simon found Inspector Lau waiting for him. After a quick hello, they both headed to see his mum.
Simon found his mum sitting on the porch reading a book. Although she had regained some colour since he last saw her, Simon felt alarmed by the amount of weight she had lost.
“Simon!” Candice called out with excitement as she jumped up and hugged her son.
“I’m so sorry mum! I failed! I did not find him!” confessed Simon unable to hold back his tears.
“Simon! You have not failed. Your dad was here! He only left this morning.”