Revenant (The Midnight Society #3) (11 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Aria

I hated to think of my friends as chess pieces, but tonight, that’s what they were. They were each chess pieces that I wasn’t willing to sacrifice, which made planning tonight’s escape all the more difficult.

“Isadora and Cairo have reached location A,” Reiko said to me, as she readjusted the Bluetooth headpiece in her ear.

“Good,” I replied. I addressed the two out in the field. “Team A, how’s it looking?”

It was Cairo who responded first. “The entire place is heavily patrolled. Shit, just to get into the second zone, I’m thinking we need to take out at least four guards.”

I frowned. There were three zones in the airport. I assumed the other zones were heavier guarded.

“Stay there and don’t do anything. I’m going to try and get some direct eyes on you,” I said, turning to Reiko. “How are we looking with the satellite hack?”

She checked one of the monitors, which was flooded with scrolling numbers and symbols. “Another two minutes and we’re in. Let’s just hope we can pull this entire thing off before the pentagon realizes we hacked one of their satellites.”

“How much time do you think that’ll be?”

Reiko shook her head. “No idea. I’m hoping the subroutine I created will be able to simulate enough raw data for them for at least ten minutes before they notice something’s amiss.”

Ten minutes wasn’t a lot of time.

“Shit, things are looking worse,” Cairo grunted. “An entire army just touched down. It’s the Chinese.”

“Yuen Xi,” Reiko whispered. From the hard lines across her brow, I could tell she was worried.

“You two be careful out there,” Reiko said. “Please.” She was addressing Cairo specifically.

However, it was Isadora who responded. “We will.”

Not a peep from Cairo.

Reiko leaned back in her chair, took the Bluetooth headpiece out of her ear, and then turned to me. “Please tell me this plan you have will bring them all back home alive.”

For a moment, I was stuck for words. I certainly couldn’t give her that guarantee truthfully. I was sending four people into a warzone and my only experience in tactical strategy was limited to the video games I played.

I was damn good at them though.

Giving Reiko the truth wasn’t going to be very reassuring. I lied instead.

“They’ll all make it out of this alive,” I said, doing my best to imitate confidence.

It seemed to work. Reiko exhaled and turned her attention back to the console, shoving her headpiece back into her ear. “One minute left before we have access to a satellite view.”

It was time to check in on Team B.

“Beau, Braydon, how are you guys doing?” I asked.

There was static on their end at first, but eventually I heard Beau’s voice pop into my earpiece.

“I’m crotch-deep in an unsanitary collection of people’s shits. Aria, I hate your plan and I’m starting to hate you for sticking me in here.”

I had to admit, when I realized I’d have to send someone down into the sewers, Beau was the first name that popped in my head.

That hooligan deserved it for all his past offenses and all future ones which were bound to occur.

Before I could respond, Braydon spoke up. “Shut up. That’s life. You drew the short end of the straw and now you’re stuck here.”

“What straw? We didn’t draw any straws,” Beau stated. “I swear if I catch any kind of disease while I’m down here, I’ll be sure to spread it to the rest of you. If you haven’t noticed, I’m a vengeful and spiteful man.”

“Don’t forget a whiny bitch as well,” Braydon added.

“We gave the two of you full body thermal suits,” I said. “Shit shouldn’t come into contact with your skin, unless you decide to dunk your head in the sewage.”

“I’m talking about inhalation,” Beau said. “Fecal matter can go air born, you know. That’s why I don’t put my toothbrush anywhere near a toilet: fecal matter dispersion.”

What was he talking about?

“Look, one more word out of you and I’m pushing your head into the drink,” Braydon said. “Just let the woman do her job.”

Reiko turned to me. “Satellites are up.”

I locked into the location of the airport and surrounding area, providing me much needed eyes.

“What about any security cameras in the airbase,” I asked. “Can we get visuals inside?”

Reiko nodded. “Just finished. Check out screen one. Meanwhile I flooded their systems with recycled images. To them, everything will seem normal.”

A grid popped up onto my screen, each square displaying a section of the airbase. Now we were talking.

I found Cairo and Isadora, though they were difficult to spot at first. Their sleek black outfits camouflaged them with their dark surroundings.

“I see you both Cairo and Isadora. You guys are looking good,” I said.

“Forget us, what about them? What are we up against?” Cairo whispered.

Reiko had already begun mapping the video cameras onto the satellite image on the screen. I was in awe of how fast and efficient she worked.

“Cairo, you have six guards you’re looking at within your zone,” she said.

There was a moment of silence on their side. Finally, Cairo replied to her.

“Thanks, Reiko.”

A slight smile drew across her face. For weeks, Cairo had been ignoring her. I knew how grateful she felt to have the love of her life acknowledge her again. After all, I experienced this first hand. “Be careful,” she said.

“I will.”

Suddenly, something on one of the video displays caught my eye. Despite the grainy texture of the video, I could make out both Lincoln and Calisto. They were standing a few yards away from the runway, where a plane was waiting for them.

Thank God he was still alive, and from the looks of it, still in one piece. I could only imagine what he had gone through over the past couple of weeks while in captivity.

“Guys, I have eyes on our package,” I said.

“Is that what we’re calling Lincoln now?” Beau asked. “The package?”

I ignored Beau. “We don’t have much time. From the looks of it, they’re about to load him onto the plane.”

“We’re almost in position,” Braydon said. “Cairo, Isadora, how fast can you get to zone two?”

“I don’t know. We’re going to have to figure a way around—or through—six armed men,” Cairo replied.

“Kill the lights,” Isadora instructed.

“You don’t even have your night vision on,” Cairo said.

I wasn’t down with Isadora’s suggestion either. “We’ll also lose complete visibility of you two,” I added.

“Kill the damn lights,” she repeated.

It was Braydon who responded. “You heard the woman. Command control, let’s comply with that request.”

Reiko took control of the grid screen, and one by one, she began shutting down elements of the grid.

In a matter of seconds, the entire zone was blacked out.

Over the headphones, I heard shuffling, followed by Cairo cursing.

“Crazy woman, get back here, I’m not ready yet.”

And then suddenly there was the sound of gurgling. It was followed by a scream that was quickly muffled, and then the gruesome sound of cartilage snapping.

“Cairo, what’s going on?” Reiko asked.

“Holy shit,” he replied. “Isadora has gone loco.”

I recalled how single handedly, she had taken out an entire hit squad back the night of the wedding massacre.

“Best stay out of her way then,” I said.

A few minutes later, the sounds of men dying finally stopped and Isadora spoke. “Zone one is clear,” she said which was quickly followed by, “Delilah said she’d take a look at zone two for us.”

“Who the fuck is Delilah?” Braydon asked.

“Her dead wife,” Beau replied.

“Okay then…”

Cairo was quick to defend her. “The woman’s a ninja. I don’t care if she’s chatting with her dead wife or Dom Delouise; as long as she’s possessed by the fists of Bruce Lee I’m fine with it all.”

“Agreed,” Beau said. “She’s the most dangerous woman alive. I’m glad I haven’t pissed her off yet.”

“You’ve pissed me off plenty,” Isadora said, “Just not enough for me to kill you…yet. Walk in on me showering one more time however…”

Braydon chuckled. “My brother, the pervert.”

“This is coming from the guy who decided to meet us at a brothel while getting his cock sucked by a lady of the night.”

“You came earlier than I expected,” Braydon  replied.

“From what your ex-girlfriend told me, so did you.”

I could tell this conversation was going off the rails. I needed the two of them to stay focused, and more importantly, not to tear each other apart before we extracted Lincoln.

“Team B, what’s your position?” I asked, quickly changing the subject.

“Asshole,” I heard Braydon mutter to his brother.

I raised my voice “Team B, what is your position?” I ordered, enunciating each and every word.

“From the facility’s blueprints, I’d say we’re right underneath the command center,” Beau said.

“You’re not even looking at the blueprints,” Braydon said. “I have them.”

“I had a look a couple of hours ago,” Beau replied. “Got them all stored in my brain.”

Beau had a photographic memory? It seemed like the man was an endless bag of surprises.

Braydon seemed skeptical. “You’re kidding me?”

“It seems like I inherited the best parts of my daddy.”

“Donald never told me he had a photo memory,” Braydon said.

“There’s a lot you don’t know my butt-headed brother. Or perhaps you simply forgot. I, on the other hand, remember it all.”

“You certainly remembered how to stay an asshole,” Braydon said. Thankfully he left it at that and directed his attention back to the mission. “Does this hatch up here open up to the command center, Beau?”

“It should take us to the storage room in the basement, right next to the generators.”

“Let’s get to her then,” Braydon said. “Give us five minutes station command. We should be inside by then. We’ll disable the backup power.”

Phase one was almost complete. We were making good time. I took a deep breath and switched off the mic to my headset and leaned back in my chair.

My hands were shaking.

I was operating on pure adrenaline.

“You’re doing good,” Reiko said as she removed her own headset. “I can see why Shadow trusted you to run this mission.”

“I’ll be honest, I’m scared as shit. I can’t help but think that I’m in way over my head. All of you within the Midnight Society were trained to be intellectually superior to a civilian like me.
You
should have been running this mission, Reiko.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m not a leader,” she said. “I may be able to process hundreds of pieces of information in a matter of minutes but when it comes to making decisions on the fly, I’m weighed down by too many variables. Sometimes, a solution requires us to walk in a straight line. I often fail to see this line.”

“Information overload, huh?”

She nodded. “There’s also one other aspect of decision making that I have little to no understanding.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Human emotions,” she replied. “I’m a failure on trying to understand the basics of human need. Just look at my relationship with Cairo. I allowed it to fall apart, all because I thought it’d be easier not to tell him that I had sex with Lincoln.”

“You’re not a failure,” I said. “You never cheated on the guy and you love him with all your heart. Yes, you made a mistake by not telling him upfront but we’re all human. We can’t be perfect.”

Reiko laughed. “It’s funny, but growing up, I was always told a different story,” she said. “My father practically drilled it in my head that a single mistake was considered a weakness. In the world I grew up in, I had to be perfect, and even if I wasn’t, I needed to make people think differently. It was this ideology that spawned a single white lie which has now ruined the only perfect thing I ever had in my life: Cairo.”

Suddenly, there was chatter once again on the comm link. “We’re in,” Braydon said. I switched my mic back on and took a deep breath.

It was time to move onto phase two of the plan—the one where shit was going to hit the fan one way or another. I had the dreaded feeling that someone wasn’t going to make it out of this mission in one piece, and that thought alone killed me.

#

Chapter Seventeen

Lincoln

“This is the man who killed Elena Zhang?” the pencil thin Chinese man with ink black glasses asked. His face was smooth, almost polished looking. He reminded me of a vinyl toy.

“Yes,” Calisto said. “This man is Lincoln Richards, the mastermind behind Elena’s assassination.” She paused. “She was my closest friend. Promise me that this man will pay for taking her away from me.”

Oh she was good, the lying bitch.

Vinyl Face smirked. “The tales you’ve heard about Yuen Xi’s cruelty are all true. I assure you, Mr. Richards will leave this world screaming for whatever god he believes in.”

“I assume the words: ‘I didn’t do it’ means nothing?”

“You assumed correctly,” Vinyl Face replied. “There is evidence of your crime.”

“All fabricated,” I replied.

Vinyl Face shook his head. “If these documents were forged, then its creator’s done an impeccable job. It still doesn’t bode well for you.”

I turned to Calisto. “If I get out of this alive, you’ll have to tell me the name of this forger so I can get him on my payroll,” I said.

“You won’t get out,” Vinyl Face assured me.

I sighed.

You’d think for a dead man walking, I’d be scared.

I wasn’t. Anything I’d ever loved had left me feeling alone and broken. There was no place for me in this world, my subconscious told me—unapologetic and brutally honest; though the baby certainly changed things.

“Yuen Xi remembers his end of the deal?” Calisto asked.

Vinyl Face nodded. “You’ll have exclusive trades and services agreement between Yuen Xi and the Revenants.” He frowned. “It’s a deal I’m surprised he made. Yuen Xi is leaving billions on the table by doing business with a…lesser entity.”

“You’re not a loving father then,” Calisto said, “A father who’d see justice done for the death of his only daughter.” Was that a hint of annoyance I heard in her voice? It complimented the disdain which stained Vinyl Face’s face. Perhaps I could use this to my advantage.

“There’s a high price to pay for revenge. I’m just glad I was the one that could supply it for him,” Calisto continued.

Buchanan, whose attention had been focused on his Bluetooth headpiece this entire time, suddenly spoke. “Calisto, something’s wrong. The lights in the outer perimeter all died out. My men are in the god damned dark.”

Calisto grinned. “This is a shock to you?” she asked Buchanan. “My brother was going to come with a pathetic rescue attempt. Luckily, Shadow is boring and predictable. Let him come. I’ll be ready for him.”

I smiled, more out of irony than happiness. The truth was I wasn’t expecting a rescue. Shadow was a man who knew how to hold a grudge. Performing sexual acts with the love of his life surely put me on his shit list.

But the man has never failed me before, unlike how I had failed him.

I didn’t know what was worse: being sacrificed to the madman that was Yuen Xi, or facing Shadow with a guilty heart.

“Fuck, we’ve got a black out in the second perimeter too now,” Buchanan hissed.

“The generators should have kicked in,” Calisto said.

“They
should
have,” Buchanan agreed. “But they haven’t. I’ve sent men to go and investigate.”

Meanwhile Vinyl Face, who had remained quiet this entire time, decided to pipe up. “What’s the problem?”

“Nothing,” Calisto replied.

“Your man over there seems on edge. It certainly looks like there’s something bothering him,” Vinyl Face replied.

I couldn’t resist. “He’s got an asshole where his brain should be,” I said. “That’ll put anyone on edge.”

Suddenly the lights around us died out along with the busy sounds of machinery. Added to the fact that it was a cloudy night, we were blanketed in complete darkness.

“Hit the car lights,” Buchanan shouted.

A few seconds later, the high beams of the limo were blinding us all. I turned to Vinyl Face, who didn’t look pleased. His men guarded him closely, guns in hands and eyes focused on the pitch black that surrounded them.

“We won’t be able to take off until we restore power,” Vinyl Face said. He turned to Calisto. “Get your generators back up and running.”

As long as I knew Calisto, she was never one to take orders. In fact, she looked as if she had just been slapped by Vinyl Face’s request.

If she wanted to stay on his good side she needed to swallow her pride. If there was one thing I learned about Calisto, she was terrible at swallowing.

It was time to pour some accelerant over the flames.

“You know, this is the first time I’ve ever seen Calisto eat someone else’s shit,” I said, turning to Vinyl Face.

“Dead men don’t have a right to speak,” he replied.

I nodded. “You’re right. It looks like you’re the one in charge here. Best I don’t overstep my bounds. If Calisto is taking orders from you, then clearly you’re someone I should be scared of.”

Calisto looked at me with hateful eyes. “I do not take orders from anyone,” she replied. “We are involved in a mutual exchange, one that benefits both our parties.”

“Seriously?” I said. “Back in the glory days of the Midnight Society, before you went and whored everything up, we always knew who was in charge. Though we’d never admit it, Yuen Xi was a powerhouse that we dared not mess with. It’s fucking China after all—the nexus of all things money.”

“You were all a bunch of pussies,” Calisto said.

I was almost there. “What? You think the Revenants are better than the Midnight Society was?”

“No doubt about it,” Calisto said.

“Good enough to compete with Yuen Xi and his army?”

“No one can compete with the Revenants,” she hissed. “No one.”

I smiled.

And now, for the final play. I turned to Vinyl Face. “It looks like Yuen Xi has some competition.”

“No one can compete with Yuen Xi,” he said, joining in on the pissing match. “The Midnight Society never dared to cross paths with us,” he turned and faced Calisto, “And neither will the Revenants, despite all the noise spilling from your ignorant mouth.”

Uh-oh, Calisto didn’t like insults either. I’d seen her crush men who had insinuated she was having a bad hair day.

“You forget who you’re talking to,” Calisto said as she leaned in close enough to be up in Vinyl Face’s grill. “I’m the queen of everything you touch, see, and breathe—chink.”

Ah, the final insult.

I took pleasure watching Vinyl Face raise his hand and deliver a resonating slap across her delicate face. Hell, I wish I wasn’t in chains so I could slap her other cheek.

I took a step back and braced myself for the storm of shit that was now inevitable.

Calisto looked stunned. I couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“You little shit,” she seethed.

“Unworthy whore.”

Yikes buddy, now you were in for it.

And “it” came as a complete blur. Calisto was quicker on the draw than I thought and within the blink of an eye, gunfire erupted from the gun she was holding.

Four solid shots to Vinyl Face’s chest; shots that basically cemented Calisto into Yuen Xi’s most wanted list.

I ducked for cover, just before the bullets from both sides started flying.

Buchanan was quick to shield Calisto and open up the limo, shoving her into it.

I had become an afterthought to both parties.

All around me chaos erupted with screams from both Calisto’s men and the Chinese.

I rose to my feet and made a break towards a bunch of steel containers concealed in the shadows, beyond the reach of the high beam lights from the limo.

I was at the mercy to the chaotic shower of bullets, my survival now relying on pure dumb chance. My only hope was to reach the containers and get myself behind some cover.

I felt a bullet graze the hair on top of my head. I exhaled, thankful I wasn’t an inch taller. 

Just as I rounded the corner of one of the containers, I ran into something—or someone—thick.

I fell hard to the floor.

It was hard to make out who or what I ran into because of the darkness.

“Why is it that wherever you go, you manage to create scenes of absolute chaos?”

I knew who the deep voice belonged to.

“Cairo?” I asked.

He didn’t seem pleased to see me. “What did you do this time?”

“Provided us a distraction,” I replied. “I take it you’re here to rescue me?”

“Something like that.”

I suddenly felt a heavy fist smash me right in the gut. I crashed to the ground and sucked in heavy breaths as a wave of electrified pain coursed through my body.

Was this another betrayal? Did Calisto have this meathead on her payroll also?

“Was that necessary?” said a second familiar voice. It was female this time

Damn, I wish I could see.

“Probably not, but it did feel good,” Cairo said.

“You alright, Lincoln?” she asked.

Isadora.

“I think Cairo’s working for the enemy,” I gasped.

“I’m not working for the enemy you idiot,” he replied.

“Then why did you hit me?”

“Cause you’re an unscrupulous man whore who slept with my girl, Reiko.”

Was he being serious?

“That was ages ago,” I muttered as I staggered to my feet.

“Well, the news is still fresh to me.”

I grabbed my knees and sucked in a deep breath. “Well fuck…you need to get out more.”

“You okay?” Isadora asked.

“I’ll check for internal bleeding tonight, and let you guys know.”

I felt something cold and metallic thrust into my hands.

“Night vision goggles so you can see,” she whispered.

I placed them over my head and the darkness illuminated into a bright, fluorescent green.

Cairo looked larger than I remembered.

“Aria, we got the package,” he said. “Or more accurately, the package raised a typhoon of shit and then found us.”

Rarely did I get butterflies in my stomach, but at the mention of her name, I had a whole colony of them knocking around in my belly.

She was the one orchestrating my escape? Where was Shadow?

There was chatter on the other end of Cairo’s Bluetooth set, just before he nodded. “Gotcha,” he said before turning to me. “We’re gone.”

“No,” Isadora said. “Not yet.”

Cairo raised a brow. “Are you outta your mind? Bullets are flying faster than sparrows in a storm. We’ve got Lincoln. It’s time to bail.”

Isadora shook her head again. “She’s out there, isn’t she?”

“Calisto you mean?” I asked. “Yeah, she’s in the limo.”

“See you two later then,” Isadora said as she bolted in the direction of the chaos.

“Fucking hell…” Cairo muttered. “Aria, Isadora’s on a rampage again and is going after Calisto. Meanwhile I’ll bring Lincoln back to check point in the first zone.” He turned to me. “Well then, you ready to get rescued?”

“After we get out of here, you plan on hitting me again?” I asked.

“Probably,” Cairo replied.

I sighed. “Let’s not keep your fists waiting then.”

#