Cold Blooded III: Sins and Sanctions (Nick McCarty Assassin Series Book 3) (43 page)

“What’s a backdoor?”

“It’s a Trojan Horse type virus used to allow access into a computer mainframe,” Nick answered. “Depending on the sophistication in its creation, it may take weeks to find. Pettinger will be careful who she sells to, but she can sell an endless number of tipoffs on operations that will cost agents their lives. She’s no dummy. Our traitorous Nancy slips in for an important piece of information requested for, and slips back out undetected. I’m sure the sale is for a large amount of money.”

Dan slowed as they reached Carol’s beach, only a block from Otter’s Point. “What could I do to help? I’m an old man as you’ve pointed out.”

“Let’s find a place in the sand. I’ll explain my idea to you.” Nick led the way. Unlike Otter’s Point, Carol’s favorite beach had a vehicle turnout, horseshoeing from the coastal road entrance, and then back to the road again for exiting.

When they reached the beach, Nick let Dan show them where he wanted to sit. He led them to a rounded rock with a rocky tide pool in front of it, Nick recognized from the night with Dan and his kids.

“Anywhere here guys.”

Nick and Gus prepared the beach chairs. They left Dan alone as he stood next to the rock and tide pool. Deke chased the Frisbee for half an hour in the sand. As if sensing a change, Deke returned to stand next to Dan. As Nick and Gus moved to the chairs, Dan sat down with Deke at his feet, both watching the tide pool flowing in, and round again to the ocean. Nick opened his thermos while Gus readied the cups. He passed a charged coffee over to Dan.

“It’s loaded, Dan,” Gus warned, “and not with mocha berry almond fudge supreme either.”

“Understood.” Dan accepted the cup, wiping his face with a handkerchief before sipping the coffee. “Very good. It’s 5 pm somewhere.”

“That’s our motto.” Nick also gave Deke water in his dish, and spread a small towel with a rawhide chew on it. Nick also opened his laptop. In moments, he accessed a site used as a drop, Grace could contact him without a call or a trace. After a few moments reading, Nick took a long swallow from his spiked coffee. “Uh oh. Nancy got wind of the dragnet possibly descending on her head. She’s driving into Oakland Monday night, and hopping an Alaska Airline flight from Oakland International to Montreal. She’ll be staying at the Hilton Hotel at the airport. Grace and Tim have agreed to be our chauffeurs on this trip to the East Bay. They’ll be arriving today. We have a small window of opportunity tonight. Nancy’s traveling with two guard goons.”

“Did Paul get them on board?”

“Yep. Apparently Paul shared our adventures the other night where Nancy nearly cost us a whole team. They have not found her Trojan backdoor into the system yet either. They figure she’s on her way to Montreal to sell access into the system from out of the country.” Nick leaned back, sipping his coffee, and chuckling.

In an opposite reaction, Gus sat straight in his chair, pointing at Nick. “I see that look, Muerto, and I don’t like it. This is not a fun time.”

“It is to me, Payaso. I have a job for you, Dan. It will clear up your entire debt to me you think you owe, and take care of a traitor. Would you like to work with Gus and I on this mission?”

“Listening to you two has made the damn pain recede for a few moments from my head. If I can barter my way into a day and night thinking about something else that doesn’t rip my heart out, I’d do anything for it.”

“That’s plain enough,” Nick said solemnly. “Your part will be very important. You’ll need a walker, and a geezer attitude without fear.”

Dan drained his drink, and held the cup out for more. Nick filled it. “I fear nothing, Nick. Without Carol, death, prison, or even torture don’t mean a damn thing to me. The night before Carol lost all conscious thought, my daughter thought it would be good to watch a movie with her… one of her favorites. Carol smiled when Sally showed her The Wizard of Oz movie case, so I put it in. When Judy Garland sang ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ Carol’s eyes widened, and she smiled. It nearly killed the rest of us… good Lord… we muffled our cries and tears so Carol didn’t notice. She was so absorbed in the song we pulled it off. Now though, every day that song rings in my head out of nowhere… and I…”

Dan lost control for a few moments, turning away as his shoulders shook. Nick and Gus remained silent, resisting the urge to interrupt the old man’s pain with comforting words they knew would bring no comfort. Seemingly in tune with his pain, the crescendo of waves against the rocks increased their tempo. When he turned again to face them, Dan wiped his face once more, and drained his drink.

“I’m in, boys. Tell me what I’ll have to do. I won’t screw up.”

“We know you won’t, old man,” Nick replied.

* * *

Nick answered the door, hurrying in from the all-day knife throwing activity in the back. He had talked Dan into staying with them to meet John, Grace, and Tim. Built around Jean’s knife throwing obsession, Dan enjoyed the banter mixed in with knife practice Jean could not get enough of. Rachel had participated, with some success, while Gus, John, Tina, and Dan watched appreciatively. Deke at first wanted to chase the throws. A couple of beer bowls, and Dan feeding him beef jerky treats had calmed Deke down noticeably.

“Hello minions of the darkness,” Nick greeted his US Marshal friends.

Tim laughed, but Grace barged right past Nick. “Damn right! I want that bitch in the worst way imaginable, Nick! It was a crappy trip. I need a drink and a plan. I don’t give a shit who knows what we’re doing. I pray to God you have something for us.”

Nick retreated a bit, surprised for a change at Grace’s initial greeting. “Well okay then. Has she been like this all the way here, Tim?”

“She’s calmed down somewhat. We did not drink on the way here.”

“You definitely need a drink then. Come outside with us. Our knife throwing exhibition is almost over due to temperature and darkness. I have a couple of new team members, and a hell of a plan. We need transportation, the proper room next to Pettinger and her bodyguards, and a place to bide our time afterward, until one of my team members can play out his part.”

“Let me see the knife throwing contest, meet your people, and then get my cranky ass up on that great drinking deck you have,” Grace replied.

“Done… and done,” Nick agreed.

* * *

Dan approached the bodyguard’s hotel door, the walker he used banging into the doorjam and door noisily while Nick, Gus, and John fanned out to both sides of the old man. Dan tried the wrong room-card repeatedly, cursing and ramming into the door. It soon opened, with a tall, dark, and very annoyed man of Middle Eastern descent glowering at Dan.

“What is it you want, Sir,” the man asked.

“I want into my damn room!” Dan peered at him in confusion. “What the hell are you doing in my room?”

“This is not your room! Go away!”

Dan stumbled forward, his walker catching in the doorway. Nick surged around him, using a stun-gun to knock the door greeter to the floor. Gus grabbed Dan and the walker, lifting both clear of the door as Nick and John rushed in with Tasers. They caught the second bodyguard completely unaware, the dual sets of needles hitting him as he sat on the bed. In seconds he was unconscious. Gus dragged the other bodyguard further into the room while Dan closed the door.

“Excellent,” Nick whispered. “We’ll wait a few minutes, and Dan can pull the same thing at Nancy’s door. She’ll call over to her bodyguards. John will answer, and tell her he’ll be right over and will knock once. Nancy opens the door, and we Tase the shit out of the bitch.”

“No, Muerto, we won’t,” Gus countered. “Stick to the plan. We don’t want to leave marks to upset your psychopath scene setup.”

“Fine, nitpicker. Great job, Dan. Are you ready for another taste?”

“I’m good to go, Nick. You guys are frighteningly good.”

“You don’t want to be in the room when Muerto really becomes creative after we get Nancy,” Gus said, with avid agreement from John, who was restraining the bodyguards with plastic ties and duct tape.

“Yeah… I do,” Dan answered with conviction. “Let’s do this.”

“That’s the spirit, Dan,” Nick said.

* * *

Nancy Pettinger gulped down a large portion of Johnnie Walker Red on ice, wondering what the hell all the commotion was next door at her bodyguards’ room. When it quieted again, she poured another drink, smiling at the money offerings she was getting every moment on-line for her auction taking place in Montreal. Then someone was cursing, banging into her hotel room door, and sounding like a mental patient. She called immediately over to her bodyguards.

“Yes?”

“Get your ass over to my room and find out who the fuck’s ramming my door!”

“On our way. One knock.”

Nancy disconnected, cringing each time the banging persisted. Then she heard voices followed by silence. A single knock on her door, and Nancy drained her refill and walked unsteadily to the door. She opened it, and men grabbed her while physically dragging her deeper into the room. A hand clamped over Pettinger’s mouth as her arms were restrained by her wrists behind the back. A piece of duct tape was spread across her mouth as the clamping hand released her. The man who had clamped her mouth shut smiled and waved.

“Hi Nanc. I’m Nick. I’ll be your escort to hell. Don’t worry though. I can’t do all the things I wish I could do to you. I need to make a tragic scene of death here, where your bodyguards became embroiled in a sexual scene with you. One will be the participant while the other will be the jealous lout who ruins everything. I’ll give you a little something to help you into the mood, you traitorous bitch!”

* * *

Dan watched, mesmerized as Nick stripped Pettinger, placing her on the bed. Then with Gus’s help, he stripped one of the bodyguards naked. They spread the clothing around in haphazard seduction form. Nick had injected the supposedly amorous bodyguard with something, and the man now lay near Pettinger with a drug induced erection. With gloved hands at all times, Nick lubricated and created an undeniable sexual scene. John held Nancy in place during the final setting with Gus controlling the bodyguard.

Nick then produced a silenced Ruger 9mm automatic. He put it in the second bodyguard’s hand, whom he had sitting on a chair, while aiming it carefully. The vocals surprised Dan; but drew clucking noises of discontent from Gus, and suppressed amusement from John.

“You bitch! How dare you betray our love,” Nick said with actual angst as he fired a round through Nancy’s forehead. He then shot the sexually coupled bodyguard in the back, assuredly near his heart.

Rushing over to the bed, Nick placed a silenced Glock 9mm in the sexually coupled bodyguard’s left hand, aiming back at the bodyguard in the chair. “You dirty rat! You’ve killed me, you prick! Take that!”

Nick shot the bodyguard in the chair through the head. Dan watched as the Ruger the unconscious bodyguard in the chair held, clattered to the floor with the body. Gus took the chair, placing it in its original position at the room table. Nick allowed the Glock to fall away from the dying bodyguard's hand, standing while scanning over his scene. He waited while the bodyguard died, the final death in his macabre play. Nick checked the bodyguard’s vitals, while Gus and John scoured both rooms, making sure no hint of what had actually transpired would be left behind.

“Holy God in heaven,” Dan said.

“My advice,” Gus said, while guiding Dan to the door, “leave the Lord out of this.”

“Amen,” Dan replied.

* * *

At their new beach, with Gus, Dan, John and Nick sitting comfortably on folding chairs, they sipped their spiked coffee with appreciation. Nick’s phone vibrated. He threw a Frisbee toss for Deke and answered, noticing the caller ID.

“The fabulous and deadly El Muerto here, with his equally dangerous sidekicks: Payaso the bold, El Kabong the silent death, and OG the herald of doom.”

It took many seconds for Paul Gilbrech to recover from Nick’s greeting. “That… was too much.”

“Says you, El Kablooey. How has our tragic scene panned out?”

“Exactly as you had envisioned, you prick. May I say without a doubt, you scare the shit out of me, Nick. With Dan playing the role of a senior citizen making a 911 call, complaining about a violent argument in the room next to him, the scene was incredibly good. How the hell did you recruit someone to work that angle so perfectly?”

Nick looked over at the old man staring into a tide pool. “I recruited him from hell.”

The End

An Added Bonus Short Story

Cold Blooded Future

She saw him walk out of the gym with bag in hand. His nondescript nature and looks made her doubt everything. Approaching him seemed a bad joke. Although around six feet tall with a solid look about him, he could have been a hundred other men. His close cropped graying hair gave him a frustrated gym-rat look rather than a sinister one. The woman sobbed. Fear clutched her insides into a ball of misery. Remembering what her US Marshal Aunt had told her, she stood in plain sight, trembling with her hands empty. Only a moment passed before the man who until that second gave no indication she lived or mattered, approached her with an unhurried gait. When the man reached her, he smiled and held out his hand.

“Cindy Brighton?”