Mega 6: No Man’s Island Read online

  “Don’t worry,” Wire said. “They won’t kill her.”

  “They…?” Ballantine whispered.

  Once Darby was strapped to the chair, four very large, muscular men entered the room. The guards that had brought Darby left.

  “This is going to get cringe-worthy,” Wire said and faux shivered. “Don’t close your eyes now. You have to watch it all.”

  She left as the fists started flying. Then the blood started flying. On and on it went and not once did Darby’s gaze falter nor did she cry out.

  Ballantine watched it all.

  ***

  “How does the radar look?” Wire asked as she stepped onto the Resurrection’s bridge. “Talk to me, Jones.”

  Mordecai quickly got out of the captain’s chair and let Wire sit down.

  “Radar is clear,” Mordecai said. “No followers.”

  “You sure? Have you checked all spectrums? If it is someone coming for Ballantine, then it stands to reason they will have excellent tech. We may not see them,” Wire said.

  “I am aware of that and I have instructed the techs to check any and all spectrums,” Mordecai replied. “Even if they have some type of cloaking tech engaged, we will see them. Nothing is invisible.”

  “Except our beautiful island,” Wire said. “What’s our ETA?”

  “Three hours,” Mordecai answered. “Give or take thirty minutes. We’re skirting a storm system, so if it shifts, we might lose some time.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Wire said. “We’ll be home soon. That’s all that matters.”

  “Wire?” Sterling asked as he stepped onto the bridge. “Why are we keeping them alive? One of the Reynolds disarmed a guard and had a rifle in his hands. It would be safer for all of us if we killed the entire crew, especially the less than mighty Team Grendel, and dumped their bodies overboard right here.”

  “Yes, it would be safer,” Wire said. “But I want them alive. When I am done with Ballantine, I plan on making him watch the deaths of each of those people down in the hold. He will watch and he will know that they died because of him.”

  “Yes, I know that part. You’ve said it a few times,” Sterling said. “But why? Kill them all, even Ballantine, and let’s get back to business.”

  “Ballantine is my business!” Wire shouted.

  She jumped from the chair and pulled the pistol on her hip. Marching to Sterling, she backed him up until he was forced against the closest wall. He stared at the pistol as it inched closer to his face until the tip of the muzzle was touching his nose. Then it slid to the side and was pressed against his left eye.

  “Wire. Come on,” Sterling said. “I’m only looking out for you. For all of us. That’s my job. I’m in charge of security, and right now, having all those people on this ship is not secure.”

  “Might have mentioned that before we brought them on board,” Mordecai said.

  “Fuck off, Mordecai,” Sterling snapped.

  “I have spent most of my adult life waiting for this moment,” Wire said. “And until I get everything I want, they stay alive. You do not kill an asset until it is completely exploited. I do not feel that Grendel has been exploited to its full potential. When I do, then they die. I may even let you kill them, Sterling. Would you like that?”

  “I wouldn’t dislike it,” Sterling replied.

  “Good. Good,” Wire said. She removed the pistol from his face and holstered it. “Good. Very good.”

  “Yeah,” Sterling said as he took a deep breath. “Really goddamn good.”

  “Relax,” Wire said. “In fact, go relax with Ballantine. And stop by the mess first. Take him some tea and cookies.”

  “Are you joking?” Sterling asked.

  “Not at all,” Wire said. “It’s an inside joke. He’ll love it.”

  Sterling shook his head and left.

  Wire turned to face Mordecai.

  “We need to be united,” Wire said. “Every time you two get into a spat, I rethink my hiring choices.”

  “He is not easy to work with,” Mordecai responded.

  “Oh, and you are such a peach,” Wire said and laughed. “It takes two to bicker like that. Stop antagonizing him. I will hold you to as much blame as him if your little feud gets in the way of any part of my plan.”

  Mordecai looked like he was about to argue then thought better of it. He smiled, nodded, and focused on the bridge crew.

  “Alert the island that we will be arriving in the next few hours,” Mordecai said. “I want them prepped and ready for the transfer of our…guests.”

  “Guests. Perfect,” Wire said. “Let’s hope they enjoy their stay. However short it may be.”

  “Yes. Let’s,” Mordecai said.

  ***

  Darren lay gasping at the bottom of his cage. He could hear the words, but couldn’t quite make them out. Not only was one of his eyes swollen shut, but both ears had been boxed repeatedly until the world was simply a hum and buzz of noise. It was impossible for Darren to separate background from conversation directed at him.

  After a few minutes, he rolled over and tried to focus on the cage closest to him. He could make out the shape of a person curled into a ball in the center of the cage, but had no idea who it was.

  “Hey,” Darren grunted. “Hey. You okay?”

  The shape didn’t move. Darren struggled to sit upright.

  “Hey! You okay?” Darren asked again.

  The shape remained still.

  Darren shook his head and winced at the pain the movement caused. From far off, he thought he heard his name being called. Darren swiveled his head on his neck, careful not to turn too fast. The damage to his ears had caused a wave of vertigo even though he was sitting down. A simple glance to the right made him want to vomit.

  “Ditcher. Dude, lie down and rest.”

  Darren blinked his open eye a few times and saw a Reynolds. He had no idea which one it was, the details of the man’s face alluded him.

  “Max?” Darren asked.

  “It’s Shane,” Shane replied, his voice sounding like it was a mile off and filtered through ten feet of gauze. “You need to relax and stay still. That eye ain’t looking so hot, man. The more you move, the more you risk losing it. Trust me, you want to keep both eyes. Depth perception is important.”

  “Yeah, right, sure,” Darren said as he struggled to get comfortable on the cage floor. “Who is that over there?”

  “I… I don’t know his name,” Shane said. “That deckhand that was always whistling Tom Petty songs.”

  “Doesn’t narrow it down,” Darren replied. He rested his head on the floor and closed his eye. That made the vertigo worse. He opened his eye and took several deep breaths. “He isn’t moving.”

  “He’s dead, man,” Shane said. “They brought him back a while ago. He was breathing then, but that didn’t last long. Man, you shoot people for a living and it never bothers you. But you watch a man’s breathing slow, slow, then completely stop and that sticks.”

  “It’s personal,” Max said from his cage. “You’re invested in the death, dude.”

  “Invested in the death,” Darren echoed. “Aren’t we all.”

  “You’re gonna be alright, Ditcher.”

  Darren couldn’t tell if it was Shane or Max that had said those words. He didn’t care.

  “Don’t call me Ditcher,” Darren gasped before his strength finally gave out and despite the nausea, his eye closed and he drifted off into unconsciousness.

  Chapter Ten: An Army Of One

  The Fallback’s main hold had been converted into a barracks. It was that simple.

  Kinsey shook her head over and over, a movement she’d been repeating since Aubrey had brought her down to see what the Fallback had in store for Wire’s people and the island they intended to take.

  “How many?” Kinsey asked. “A hundred?”

  “Give or take, yes,” Aubrey replied. “I believe the last count was ninety-seven.”

  Aubrey tapped her ear.
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  “Nick? What’s the operator count?”

  Aubrey stared off into the distance then nodded.

  “Thanks, Nick. I’ll bring Ms. Thorne up to see you shortly, if you have time.”

  A pause.

  “Yes, I think it’s a good idea. She’s as much a part of this as any of us. She’s been with Ballantine for a couple years now. I don’t have a problem trusting her.”

  Another pause.

  “Noted. You two can hash that out when you meet. I’m staying out of it.”

  She pressed her ear and sighed.

  “Nicholas Bergen,” she explained to Kinsey. “He’s our strategist. The guy can put together a plan in five minutes that is nearly foolproof. Personally, I think Ballantine should have had him out in the field with you, but Ballantine has his reasons.”

  “Is he supposed to be dead too?” Kinsey asked.

  “There’s that, yeah,” Aubrey said. “But that wouldn’t matter too much being on the Beowulf III out in the middle of nowhere.”

  “We weren’t always in the middle of nowhere,” Kinsey said. “We were legit for a brief time. Then we started getting hunted.”

  “Oh, you were always hunted, Ms. Thorne,” Aubrey said. “It was only Ballantine’s charisma and natural BS that kept you from knowing it. The second he hired you all, and put you on that ill-fated Beowulf II, you were on the run from the company.”

  “That can’t quite be right,” Kinsey said. “We had those men and that woman show up. What’s their names…? Perry and Longbottom were the guys. And…”

  “Horace,” Aubrey said. “Diane Horace. Evil piece of work, that bitch. She signed the order to have me terminated. She also was the one that put Ballantine up to killing all of us in order for him to secure his place at the table. You have no idea how happy I was when I found out she was shark bait.”

  Kinsey shivered.

  “Don’t miss those days,” Kinsey said. “Running from nightmare island to nightmare island has sucked, but being pursued by a genetically engineered mega shark is just something no one should fucking deal with. That shit is off the charts.”

  “How close did you get?” Aubrey asked.

  “How close did I get to what?”

  “How close did you ever get to one of the sharks? I have to admit, I’m a slightly fascinated by them.”

  “The fascination wears off when you stare one dead in the eye,” Kinsey said. “That answers your question right there. Close enough to stare one of them in the eye.”

  She shivered again.

  “I have a feeling you don’t admit to fear too often,” Aubrey said.

  “No,” Kinsey replied curtly.

  “Noted,” Aubrey said and pointed towards a set of stairs. “Care to head up and have a chat with Nick? Then I’ll introduce you to Gene, Tom, and Delana.”

  “Can I check on Gunnar?” Kinsey asked. “I want to make sure he’s holding up.”

  “Dr. Peterson is busy in our infirmary,” Aubrey said. “It is state of the art and I hear he’s getting along fine with Tom.”

  “Tom?”

  “Dr. Tom Thomas,” Aubrey said and chuckled. “I know. It’s like naming your kid Jack Jackson or something. Anyway, Tom is our resident expert on combat-boosting chemical enhancements. Wire is all about bioalternative cybernetic replacements or improvements. Ballantine loves his chemical cocktails.”

  “He does? On the B3, we had Dr. Morganton,” Kinsey said. “Bioalternatives had to be used on a couple of our folks.”

  “Morganton, right. No, yeah, she’s great,” Aubrey said. “But what Ballantine really likes are Tom’s serums. They enhance everything from physical performance to intellectual ability. Then they wear off and leave zero trace. Makes it easy for enhanced operators to get through metal detectors and scanners. No tech to set off alarms.”

  “Ballantine never mentioned that.”

  “He wouldn’t. If he did, then it could set off red flags since the company shifted focus to bioalternatives after Tom’s disappearance. Then once he was killed by Ballantine, the same way I was, the company never even looked back. If serums had started showing up, or were even hinted at, then Ballantine’s plan could unravel quickly.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Kinsey muttered. “Ballantine’s brain needs to be studied by science someday. I have no idea how that asshole keeps it all together up there.”

  “Who says he does?”

  “True.”

  “Come on,” Aubrey said when they reached the stairs. “You’ll get a kick out of Nick. He cracks me up.”

  ***

  “A fucking junkie,” Nick said as he leaned on a table set up with a flat screen monitor embedded under what looked like an inch of protective glass. His lack of ears was on open display since he sported a nearly shaved bald head. “That’s what we need. A junkie burnout that didn’t know what a gift she had. You gonna crap out on us too, junkie?”

  “Nick, come on…” Aubrey frowned and gave Kinsey an apologetic look.

  “No, it’s cool,” Kinsey said. “A couple years ago, I would have handed him his ass for saying that. But now? I’m good. I was a junkie, or still am since that doesn’t really ever go away, but I haven’t used shit in a couple years. Not since Team Grendel was formed.”

  “Yes, Team Grendel,” Nick snorted. “There’s a band of misfit losers that has a knack for screwing everything up. You know what? All you had to do was kill some sharks. That’s all. Instead, you brought half the covert community down on your asses. I don’t know why Ballantine didn’t ditch you and start from scratch.”

  “Like he did with his first team?” Kinsey asked. “Yeah, I met those assholes. Helped kill those assholes. Ballantine didn’t start over because he found the best fucking team that you can put together outside the US military.”

  “Fuck me,” Nick laughed. “You believe your own horse shit? I have thirty operators down in the hold that could replace any one of you. Ballantine didn’t choose you because of your exceptional skills; he chose you because your father was pliable and could put together a team that could be manipulated emotionally. A father and daughter. Two cousins. Your ex-husband. Come on! That’s a recipe for disaster, not for success! Ballantine wanted the emotional upheaval to hide behind. That’s what the man does.”

  “This is fun,” Kinsey said to Aubrey. “Thanks for the introduction. When you said I’d get a kick out of this motherfucker, I didn’t think you meant a kick to the gut.” Her focus shifted back to Nick. “Fuck and you, asshole.”

  “That so?” Nick snapped. He pushed away from the table, his fists clenching and unclenching. “Call me an asshole again.”

  “No problem,” Kinsey said, stepping up to the man.

  “Hold on,” Aubrey said.

  “I guess you need me to call you asshole again because you had a hard time hearing me last time,” Kinsey said. “No ears can make that a problem.”

  Nick took a hard swing with his right hand. Kinsey dodged the attack and managed to block the left jab that was coming for her almost simultaneously. She dropped to a knee and put her fist directly into Nick’s crotch. The man grunted, squawked, and dropped, his hands going to his nuts. He tried to stay on his knees, but he couldn’t and fell onto his side as he moaned.

  “I hope his strategy skills are better than his hand-to-hand skills,” Kinsey said as she stood up and glared down at the wheezing Nick. “And a lot better than his interpersonal skills. Shit, asshole, I knew crack whores with better dispositions.”

  “I bet…you…did,” Nick moaned. “…bitch…”

  Kinsey tensed then relaxed and started laughing.

  “Okay, he’s not bad,” she said to Aubrey. “The guy doesn’t quit, does he?”

  “No,” Aubrey said as she crouched and helped Nick get slowly to his feet.

  He swatted her away after a couple seconds and hobbled over to a chair at the table. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply then opened his eyes and nodded at Kinsey.

  “You want
to…hear the plan?” he asked.

  “You gonna be able to string enough words together to explain it to me?” Kinsey responded.

  “Shut the fuck up and sit down,” Nick said.

  Kinsey smirked and took a seat. After a minute of silence, Nick stood back up and pointed at the image on the table’s screen.

  “That is Wire’s island,” Nick said. “We were able to get a couple of sat photos. It wasn’t easy. She has bribed almost everyone she could to keep her island off satellite surveillance. From what we’ve heard, the guy that managed to get these pics ended up as ground meat and fed to a freelancer’s French bulldogs.”

  “Freelancer? You mean hitman?” Kinsey asked.

  “Sort of,” Aubrey said. “Freelancers are different. Hitmen are more street level. Freelancers you never know were there.”

  “Assassins,” Kinsey said. “Black ops killers. Whatever you want to call them. They murder for money.”

  “Don’t we all?” Nick asked and waved off the look Kinsey gave him. “Never mind. That’s a conversation over bourbon. Let’s focus on this. Take a look here.”

  Nick pointed at a harbor and zoomed in on the image.

  “What we have here is a mined harbor like no other mined harbor on the planet,” Nick said. “Quantum detonators. Have the correct code and you could tap dance with golf cleats on those mines and they wouldn’t think of exploding. Don’t have the codes and you fart at one and it’ll send you and your ship to Valhalla instantly.”

  “Valhalla? You aren’t an Anglo-Saxon nut like Ballantine, are you?” Kinsey asked.

  “Norse mythology,” Nick said. “By Odin’s beard and all that crap. But it’s only a passing hobby. Not like that weird obsession Ballantine has with all that ancient literature shit.”

  “Tell me about it,” Kinsey said. “Hey, sorry for the nut punch.”

  “I was starting to like you, but if you’re gonna puss out then fuck you, Thorne,” Nick said. “Never take back a good attack.”

  “Fine. I hope it fucking hurt,” Kinsey said.