Deadly Intent: An Action Thriller (Adrian Hell Series Book 4) (27 page)

He heads out of the room, closing the door behind him. Raynor looks at me.

“Do you trust him?” he asks.

“Right now, yeah, I do,” I reply. “He had my back once before, and I see no reason why he wouldn’t again.”

Raynor nods and stands, pacing slowly around the room. I recognize the look on his face. It’s the one that says you’re trying to wrap your head around something and can’t, and you’re frustrated by it. I’m sure I’ve looked like that many a time over the years.

“Josh, that’s good work,” I say, turning to him. “How quickly can you get me on the road to Atlanta?”

Tori stands and grabs my arm; her eyes are full of concern.

“Ady, you can’t go there alone,” she says. “Let the FBI handle it now. What more can you possibly do?”

I sigh and massage my temples. I’m running on empty, and my mind won’t switch off long enough for my eyes to close for five minutes. But I can’t stop. Not now. Not so close to the end of this thing.

“Babe, I have to. I have to see this through to the end. We’ve all been through so much, and they’ve attacked me too many times for me to just walk away now.”

She punches my arm in frustration, raising her voice to me. “Adrian! I know I wanted you to fix this, but everything you just said is beyond any one man—even you! You’ve just given all the information to the FBI. They’re going to have teams of men equipped to handle this. Why can’t you just walk away from it? You’re not the comic book character you used to be! I don’t want to lose you!”

Her eyes fill with tears and, behind me, I can hear everyone holding their breath, unsure whether I’m going to respect the pleas of my girlfriend.

“Tori, you can make all the jokes you want about me, my name, or the fact I don’t look like a killer to you. But the bottom line is this: I’m probably the deadliest man alive. I say that with no ego, I’m simply stating a fact. I was a very successful and highly coveted hitman for a long time. Gangsters, terrorists, drug lords… they would crap themselves at the very mention of my name. Everybody wanted to hire me, and nobody wanted me coming after them.”

I pause, debating whether to continue, but I figure there’s no point in stopping now.

“I used to lie to my wife and daughter about what I did for a living. I thought it would protect them. One day, I took a contract that incurred the wrath of someone too big for me to handle at the time. They came after me, and when I wasn’t there, they slaughtered my family. I found them, I panicked, and I ran. I ran for nine years with Josh at my side. Over the years, I went through some dark times. You hear people talk about their demons… I used my demons to help me kill better. They made me who I was. If anyone tried to push open my door, what was waiting behind it would annihilate them. That was my life until I decided I couldn’t live with the guilt anymore. With Josh’s help, I went back and destroyed the person who took my family away from me. I took everything he had and killed him with my bare hands.”

Tori’s shaking, staring at me transfixed, as if I’m a stranger standing in her home. But I continue anyway.

“These bastards have spent the last week trying to kill me. They kidnapped you, they destroyed my bar, and they’ve managed to turn every government agency in the country against me and my friends—all because we tried to help. I can’t let that stand, Tori. I don’t know how to just forget about this and walk away, to let someone else finish
my
fight. I’m gonna find Hamaad El-Zurak, and I’m gonna look him in the eye before I put a bullet in his head. That’s what’s gonna happen next, okay?”

She takes a moment, but seems to unfreeze, nodding before sitting down silently. I take a breath, realizing I might’ve overstepped the mark a little. But I’m tired… no, I’m
exhausted
… and more than a little on edge because of what comes next.

I turn back to Josh, who is looking at the laptop again. He’s been around me long enough to know that if I have an outburst like that, it’s best to not say anything until I do.

“Josh, how quickly can we get to Atlanta?” I ask him, calmer now.

“It’s an eleven-and-a-half hour drive east, along the I-20,” he says. “If we set off now, we’ll make it by morning.”

“Borrow two vehicles from here if you can. We need to leave in the next fifteen minutes. You’ll come with me and Tori. Bob, you’ll go with the good sheriff and Wallis.”

“What’s the plan when we get there?” asks Clark.

I shrug. “Tell you when we get there,” I say.

Josh smiles and packs up his laptop. Everyone stands, and we file out of the room. I wait for Tori, who walks out without looking at me, and follow her out, turning the light off in the room and closing the door.

One way or the other, Atlanta will be where all this ends. I just hope we can get to El-Zurak before he takes control of Cerberus.

33.

APRIL 16
TH
, 2017

10:50 EDT

The eleven hours flew by for me—mostly because I slept for a good portion of them. We’d managed to borrow two military-issue sedans. Josh was happy driving, so I sat in the back with Tori and we talked about her concerns, and the things she didn’t understand. I told her the full story about my family and Wilson Trent, and we fell silent; soon after, we fell asleep.

I slept like the dead.

I’ve just woken up and Tori is lying on me, still snoring. I smile at her and look up, catching Josh’s eye in the rearview mirror.

“It’s alive!” he says. “Feel better?”

“Much—thanks,” I reply. “Sorry I left you to do all the driving.”

“You’ve been leaving me to do the driving for fourteen years, why should today be any different?”

He smiles, and I give him the finger before smiling back.

“Where are we up to?” I ask.

“We’re maybe fifteen minutes away from the ComForce site. I’ve just spoken to Bob—they’re about a mile behind us.”

“Okay. Has Wallis heard anything back from the FBI?”

“He said we’ve got a counter-terrorism squad en route to rendezvous with us here. That will help dramatically. He did say he had to take point once we’re there though. It’ll be the FBI’s show—we’re just concerned citizens.”

“Whatever. As long as they get the job done, I don’t care who thinks they’re in charge.”

I look out the window as we reach the outskirts of Atlanta. A cold morning sun lights up the gray skyline. The flow of traffic slows as we reach the city itself, which I guess is expected. Being the state capital, there’s almost half a million people living here, so mid-morning will be busy.

ComForce Securities have offices in many large cities across the country. They specialize in working security for companies worth lots of money, who have large or expensive things they wish to keep safe and are happy to pay to outsource the job.

They have a good reputation in the industry, and handle many large contracts—like the Cerberus gig they have with NASA. The servers for the satellite are in one of ComForce’s main offices, which are located on John Portman Boulevard, not far from the Georgia Dome. Josh seems to think this is a good security measure—less chance of people looking for the servers if they’re not even in a NASA building. The employees who work there are likely NASA, but ComForce own the building itself, and it’ll be protected by their own security personnel.

I see the Georgia Dome on the left, looming across the sky as we head east along Mitchell Street. Next to me, Tori stirs and sits up straight, rubbing her eyes.

“Are we there yet?” she asks, groggily.

“Yeah, just a few minutes out,” I say. “When we get there, I want you and Josh to wait in the car, okay?”

Before she can say anything, Josh shouts from the front.

“I don’t think so!” he says.

“Not up for debate, Josh. You’re staying here for two reasons. One, you’re going to protect Tori at all costs. Two, I want you on your laptop doing whatever you can to stop other people hacking into the building. I’m sure there’s something you can do along those lines?”

He goes to argue, but quickly stops himself, realizing there’s little point. He lets out a heavy sigh and nods.

“Yeah, I can do a few things that might delay anyone trying to hack the servers. I can remotely block the Wi-Fi signal for a start, which will make life difficult.”

“Good, then you can do that from here. I’ll leave you one of my Berettas. Anyone you don’t know that comes within twenty feet of the car, put a bullet in them.”

He sighs again. “Got it.”

I turn to Tori, who looks upset. “Listen, I know you don’t want me going in there, but I have to finish this. I need you to understand that.”

“What if… I don’t want anything to happen to you,” she says, her voice cracking as her emotions take over. Thankfully, Josh shouts over from the front.

“Tori, listen sweetheart, I’ve seen this guy break into a house full of armed mafia goons, and he’s taken them all out, on his own. We’re talking thirty-plus guys, easy. Just a couple of days ago, he took out twenty NSA agents sent to kill us. Like it or not, he’s a dangerous bastard when he wants to be. And when his little Inner Satan gets pissed enough, he will literally raise hell. How do you think he got his name?”

He smiles and she looks at me with bemusement. “So, you really
are
this big, scary badass?” she asks. “Not just a soldier with a comic book fetish?”

The car swerves as Josh laughs so hard he loses control temporarily. I throw him a look, which he sees in the mirror, and he holds his hands up in silent apology.

“Tori, it’s things like this that make me love you more,” I say. “But yes, I am
that
scary and badass. And if El-Zurak shows his face here tonight, I’m gonna make sure he knows exactly who I am before he dies.”

We pull up across the street from the offices and Josh kills the engine.

“Then what are you waiting for?” she says with some initial reluctance. “Go be a badass.”

She leans over and kisses me, which I return before getting out of the car. I stand on the sidewalk and stretch my entire body. Then, I walk around the car, open the trunk, and take out one of my Berettas, which I tuck into the back of my waistband. I take the other by the barrel and discreetly pass it to Josh through his open window.

“Be good to it…” I say.

“I know, I know,” he replies as he takes it. “…and it’ll be good to me.”

I smile and walk back around the car to stand on the sidewalk, looking across at the building. It’s massive, taking up most of the block, and towering a good twenty stories high over the city. A fluorescent glow bathes the lobby, where a front desk takes up half the floor space. There are three guards behind it and a gateway metal detector to the left of it.

I look up and down the street, trying to figure out how many people are going to storm this building, where they’re going to come from, and when… I have to assume that since El-Zurak managed to fake being in Afghanistan, he knew about this place before we did. But it can’t be easy planning an assault in the middle of a large American city without attracting too much attention too soon—even if the CIA is helping you.

It’s got to be imminent and, based on the timeframe we’ve been working to in relation to what we know they’ve been doing, it’ll be any time in the next twelve hours, I expect. It looks like we’ve got here first, which gives us chance to do this right, and warn people beforehand. Once the FBI arrive, if the Armageddon Initiative
do
attack the building, not even the CIA would risk a public confrontation where they could be seen fighting against the people trying to stop the terrorists. The more public this thing gets, the better it is for us. We can prove we’ve done nothing wrong—if you don’t count the multiple NSA agents I’ve killed… Any publicity will only serve to highlight the wrongdoings of the people involved who are fighting on the wrong side, and that works for me.

I look left and see the other sedan approaching. It pulls up behind us, and everyone climbs out. Josh and Tori join us on the sidewalk, and we stand huddled in silence for a moment.

“Wallis, what’s the latest?” I ask as they approach.

“The Special Agent-In-Charge of my Counter-Terrorism Task Force has all the information and theories we have,” he explains. “A team is on its way—they’re about ten minutes out. He said to sit tight, wait for them, and then we’ll approach the building. They’ll set up the perimeter, and you guys can come in with me. I’ll speak with whoever’s in charge in there and get them to tighten their security presence on site, and we’ll see what happens.”

I nod to show I’m satisfied with his report. Then I turn to Josh and gesture with my head for us to step away from the group. He follows me, and we sit on the hood of our car, just out of earshot. I keep my voice low anyway.

“I don’t like it,” I say.

“Which part?” he asks.

“The
waiting for the FBI to arrive
part. Doesn’t feel right.”

“You think it’s a set-up?”

“Maybe,” I shrug. “But it might just be paranoia.”

“Always go with your gut,” says Josh, reassuringly. “You taught me that.”

I smile.

“You think Wallis is in on this?” he asks.

I shake my head. “Nah, my gut says Wallis is with us. I’m just not convinced his boss is.”

I stand and Josh follows.

“It’s not paranoia if the bastards are really after you…” he mutters.

We walk back to the group.

“I think we should go in now,” I announce. “We’ll wait for the back-up from inside.”

“Negative, Adrian,” says Wallis. “We wait for FBI support.”

I shake my head. “We don’t need support right now. We’ll need it once the bad guys turn up. Right now, we’re just wasting time when we could be establishing ourselves inside and preparing for an attack. We need to give these ComForce guys all the notice we can, not stand outside for ten minutes jerking off.”

I study his body language. He’s frustrated with me—or maybe just frustrated in general, which would be understandable. His shoulders are slumped slightly forward, which signifies defeat—I’m assuming he knows I have a valid point and, part of him at least, agrees with it. His jaw muscles are clenching, so he’s likely thinking of the various consequences of action versus patience.

Now to sway his decision.

“Tom, I’m going in anyway, right now,” I say. “It’ll go a lot smoother if you flash your credentials for me, but they’re not essential.”

“Ah... shit,” he mutters, and then he lets out a heavy sigh.

I smile. “Good man! Right, Bob, establish a comms link with Josh. He’s going to run point on the tech side of things from out here. Tori will be with him. You’ll be my tech on the inside. Sheriff, any law enforcement muscle you can lend the situation will be gratefully appreciated. Tom, you can take lead on it. Flash your badge, say whatever you’ve got to say to get them to believe us.”

Everyone mutters their understanding.

Wallis nods. “And why are you there again?” he asks.

I shrug. “In case things go wrong and some people need shooting.”

“Figured…”

I turn to Josh and we bump fists. “Good luck,” he says.

“You too,” I reply. “Keep her safe.”

He nods and I turn to Tori, wrapping one arm around her waist and holding her close. I kiss her forehead. “Do whatever Josh says, okay?”

She squeezes me tightly with both arms and buries her heard in my chest, nodding against it.

We part, and I look up and down the street one last time. I see nothing that raises a red flag, so I cross over, with Raynor, Wallis, and Clark behind me. I walk up to the main doors and pull them open. We step inside, and one of the guards walks over to greet us. Wallis flashes his badge straight away, to minimize any resistance or delays. Seeing the badge, the other two guards come from around the desk and join their colleague, looking curious and excited.

“Fellas, I’m Special Agent Tom Wallis with the FBI Counter-Terrorism Task Force. We have reason to believe there’s an imminent threat to this facility, and we need your assistance.”

The guard on the left, a tall man with a short, unkempt beard and ginger hair, shakes his head. “There must be some mistake,” he says. “We’re just a security firm. What kind of threat is it?”

“Are you aware of what’s stored in this building?” asks Wallis.

The first guard shrugs. “Nothing,” he says. “It’s just an office. We’ve got our Accounting Department on the twelfth floor, and the directors have been in this week for their bi-monthly board meetings, but that’s it really. It’s mostly a Service Center.”

Wallis glances at me questioningly, and I discreetly nod in response, to say I believe him. He’s just a security guard—no reason to entrust him with confidential information about their clients.

“Sir, we happen to know there is extremely sensitive… material… on site belonging to one of your largest clients, and some really bad people intend stealing it. This is a threat to national security, and I’m going to need your help in securing this building. I’ve got a team on the way to set up a perimeter and—”

The guard on the right holds up his hand, interrupting Wallis mid-FBI speech. He’s a smaller, more rotund individual. A career doorman, who I doubt has seen his belt buckle in twenty years.

“Wait a minute,” he says. “You can’t just waltz in here and tell us how to do our jobs. We’re a goddamn security firm! You’re gonna need to speak to our supervisor before you take one more step inside this building. Do you understand?”

Wallis goes to respond but stops himself, perhaps sensing the level of resistance, and realizing that further discussions with this guy will only delay matters even more. He steps to one side and turns to me, with a somewhat begrudging look on his face. I graciously nod and step forward.

“What’s your name?” I ask the guard.