Chapter Eleven

They made their way from the safe house back to Saber’s condo. The hacker had contacted Keiji through an encrypted message app almost embarrassingly fast. Tate commandeered a van that was about as roomy as the APC Rick remembered from his times in the Middle East. The exterior scenery, however, was more picturesque than the expanse of brown tones. Rick hadn’t experienced the adrenaline rush of an impending mission in several years, but his body remembered the merged scents of multiple men and women with the heaviness of adrenaline clouding the air in the confined space. At least this time the ever-present smell of gun oil held an overtone of fresh seaside air.

Rick looked across and eyed Keiji clicking away on a laptop, no doubt ferreting out more information from Saber’s hard drive with his special sauce software. Having the team look to Keiji for IT answers was both refreshing and a bit of a jolt. Since his shift into IO Command, Rick’s responsibilities had gradually transitioned to primarily an administrative role. His days now filled with a different stress. It had taken him a fair bit of time to follow the new tracks laid out for his career. He loved what he did now, but his blood was rushing with memories of combat. As a geospatial engineer he’d never been able to capture the moniker of the “first one in” military operators loved to claim. But he was critical to mission success, and having operators rely on his up-to-the-second information to make decisions in the field certainly fed his inner action addict.

This brief field trip to Saber’s was on some level parallel to capturing a high value target. The team had prepared to the best of their ability. They had plans A through D committed to memory, but there was always the chance of an unknown variable. And it was the unknown that got people killed. He checked his weapon again. Fortunately, King had allowed Rick to bring his personal firearm so the pattern of the grip was familiar in his palm. He’d fired thousands of rounds from the chamber and the recoil barely registered anymore when he pulled the trigger.

One glaringly different aspect to this mission from any he’d experienced in the past was Keiji’s presence. His lover had no military training. He’d informed the team that he’d never even held a gun before. Rick’s heart rate kicked up a notch as he imagined all the ways his lover could sustain injury… or worse. He was realistic enough to know that Keiji played a critical element to their objectives, and Rick couldn’t wrap him in Bubble Wrap and stuff him in a closet back in the safe house. But he’d never been on a mission before when the tendrils of his heart sought a team member’s.

“You good, Rebooter?” King asked.

“Affirmative.”

“It’s been a while.”

“Yes, sir. But I’m RedCon. I won’t let you down.”

“Oh, I know.”

“Yeah, Rebooter. I’ve seen your list of chest candy. I know there are some serious predator skills under that banal exoskeleton.” Tate added.

“Are you sure you were looking at my jacket and not Phantom’s? ’Cause I’m pretty sure he’s the one with the Legion of Honor beside his name.”

“Yes, you are all documented badass motherfuckers,” Keiji said. “Hey Electra, what degree black belt are you again?”

Linder’s laughter rang out from the front seat. “Which one?”

The whole van let out some exclamation or another. With the team sufficiently hyped up, Rick caught Keiji’s gaze and winked. Keiji air kissed him back with a smile and Rick felt his anxiety settle.

“Target in sight. I’m going to circle and double back just to make sure we haven’t picked up any companions,” Linder announced.

It was almost time. Rick walked through the plan in his head one more time. The van came to a stop and he, Tate, King, and BB all exited in a choreographed dance. Keiji would remain in the van with Linder until the initial strike team signaled Saber was in custody and ready for interrogation.

It was daylight, and locals and tourists filled the streets. The last thing they wanted to do was come off like… well exactly what they were, a group of highly trained individuals with a singular focus of infiltrating the lair of one of the world’s most wanted. Casual clothes, concealed weapons, and communication devices discreetly out of sight made up their current uniforms. Tate and BB walked side by side at a leisurely pace as if they didn’t have a care. Rick could see the synchronicity in their movements. Their shared history was clear to anyone who bothered to really look. The two of them were going to walk in the front door. The team assumed Saber was watching in some capacity, even if he didn’t have access to his computers at the moment. Then again, it wasn’t improbable he had a backup system. Rick would. To the best of their knowledge Saber wasn’t already in possession of their images or identities, but it was one of the unknown variables that Rick hated. Facial recognition was so readily available these days that intelligence agencies and the military were constantly scrubbing images of operatives obtained around the world. For today’s mission, Keiji was going to arrange for any security footage for the building to disappear before they left.

The other reason they wanted to split up was because King didn’t want Saber to know exactly how many were on the team or about to infiltrate his condo. Rick and King headed for the other side of Saber’s building. Their target was a reportedly unsecured entrance that was used for deliveries to the storefront on the street level.

“In position,” King said into the comm unit.

“Roger,” Linder acknowledged.

“I’m so glad the ?evapi wasn’t as spicy as they had warned us, otherwise we’d be in danger of having very different plans tonight.”

That was the signal that Tate and BB were in position. Rick nodded to King, and they entered the back storage room. Within seconds, the two of them were into the main display area of the clothing store, then exiting into the lobby. A quick jog up the stairwell and the two of them were on Saber’s floor. Tate stood on one side of Saber’s door and BB on the other. BB had his weapon in his hand and down low. There was no record that Saber was involved with the world’s weapons trade, but clearly the former French officer wasn’t taking any chances.

“Phantom and Negan ready to take Lucille out to lunch.”

“Rebooter and Goat are in the paddock.”

“Electra and Pikachu are on the observation deck.”

This was it. Once they knocked on Saber’s door and crossed the threshold, their mission took on the next level. They were past the point of recon and planning. Without actionable intelligence they had no hope of achieving mission success, and Rick wasn’t ready to contemplate what that would mean for the world.

“Execute,” King ordered.

Tate knocked on Saber’s door, and within seconds the door swung open. “I have your order of humble pie.”

Saber lifted a gun that seemed to appear out of nowhere and aimed it right at Tate’s forehead. “You motherfucker. I better get some goddamn answers fast. If you’ve fucked up any of my shit, I have friends you do not want to meet.”

BB countered by placing the muzzle of his weapon against the side of Saber’s skull. “So does he.”

Even from several feet away Rick saw Saber swallow hard. Maybe his bravado was only skin deep? Although idiots unfamiliar with guns still killed people every day. In fact, it was that exact person who made him more nervous.

King stepped out of the stairwell and walked right up to Saber, forcing him several steps back. He took possession of the gun that dangled from Saber’s hand. Rick instantly breathed a little easier. The four of them filed into the condo. BB and King had Saber in the center of the ubiquitous open-concept kitchen/dining/living space.

“Sweep it,” King ordered.

Rick saw King check the weapon’s magazine and chamber. Saber hadn’t even loaded the gun. He walked off, shaking his head. He and Tate moved from room to room, making sure they were alone. He’d half expected to find piles of clothes and dirty towels tossed over the edge of the bathtub, but apparently anal-retentive neat freak could be added to Saber’s list of qualities.

He met Tate in the hallway leading from the bedroom. “Clear.”

“Same.”

“Pikachu and Elektra, the party bus is ready to depart,” Rick said. He turned to Tate and said, “Should only take them”—there was a knock on the door—“a few minutes.”

He made his way through the living area and saw that BB still held his weapon to Saber’s head. King stood with his arms crossed and feet braced apart in front of the man, just staring at him. Rick grinned once he was out of Saber’s line of sight. The condo was more spacious than they’d thought when looking through the windows of their perch in the construction site the other day. It apparently took him more time than Keiji and Linder thought was reasonable as one of them knocked again.

“What’s the password?” he said through the door.

“If you ever want to get laid again, you’ll open this door right now.”

Rick opened the door and came face-to-face with Keiji and Linder. “I don’t respond well to threats.”

Linder glided past Rick and leaned up to whisper in his ear, “I believe it was a promise.” She slid her hands down Rick’s back and slapped his ass. She peered around Rick. “You were right. That is the definition of high and tight.”

“Who the fuck are you people,” Saber yelled.

Keiji moved past Rick with his tablet in hand. He crossed the room acting as though he was oblivious to the fact that BB still held his gun to Saber’s head. He unlocked the screen and held it up to Saber’s face for a few seconds, then looked back down.

“Confirmed.”

“Vladimir Rybicki, aka Saber. Who we are is of no consequence. What we want to know is of the utmost importance, and your ability to provide that information is the only thing that is keeping your existence valuable at this exact moment.”

Saber looked back and forth between Keiji and King. He squinted at Keiji, “You’re the one I was talking to on the app.” Pointing to King he said, “He’s the desk jockey with a big ego.”

“Son, it’s your ego that’s writing checks your body can’t cash. Especially as I am in complete control of… well, everything,” Keiji said, holding up the tablet.

Tate got up in Saber’s personal space. “If you play nice, I’ll ask my friend to be more hospitable. You won’t give us any trouble, right?”

Saber glanced at BB out of the corner of his eye. “I really don’t like those things. Can you please… I won’t make any trouble, but I can’t play nice if I don’t know what you want.”

Tate nodded at BB and he lowered the gun but didn’t put it away. “That’s fair enough. As my colleague said, what we want is information. You are a man who’s practically BFFs with information of all kinds. Especially the kind that deals with lots of ones and zeros.”

Saber looked at Keiji. “How?”

Keiji tilted his head and Rick saw in his expression that he was debating about giving a little tit for tat. Maybe if they dangled a carrot Saber would be a little more willing to open his attic, so to speak.

“Odini.”

Saber’s expression revealed none of his thoughts, but Rick suspected there was a glint of admiration in his eyes. If nothing else the man knew the team wasn’t fucking around and had skills to back up their game.

“Can we make ourselves a little more comfortable? I own some rather nice furniture.”

“International crime pays well I see,” Tate said.

Linder was the first to head over to the ultra-plush sofa. She was playing up the sex kitten persona, but it didn’t appear that Saber was taking the bait.

“Hey, wait a second! You two are those idiot tourists from the other day.”

“Did you hear that, dearest? He thinks we’re idiots.” Linder pouted.

“He also called you tourists,” Tate added.

King shrugged. “Well, I suppose he’s got us there. However, may I remind you that these tourists not only identified you but also took control of your entire network. So, idiots?”

Saber sat down on one of the sofa cushions. “Fine, you came with an agenda and have the advantage. What do you want?”

Keiji sat on the ottoman in front of Saber. Rick didn’t like his man being that close or vulnerable; they still didn’t have a great idea of Vlad’s offensive or defensive skills. He adjusted his position slightly so he was behind the hacker and could reach him should he think of attacking Keiji.

His lover’s gaze caught his, and Rick caught his breath. The dark pools that normally embraced him with warmth had transformed into inky pools devoid of emotion. It was as if he was staring into nothingness and a chill shivered throughout his heart. True, he and Keiji hadn’t known each other long, but Rick thought he had a good idea of Keiji’s nature. Clearly this was another one of Keiji’s many faces, and it was daunting.

Rick suddenly felt a wave of tension wash over the room. Did the others feel the energy emanating from Keiji? He tried to capture Keiji’s glance, but the man refused to acknowledge him. Military and weapons training Keiji may not have, but lethal? Rick suspected he absolutely was.

“You were hired by a certain individual to write a polymorphic malware virus to infiltrate the three levels of a 128-bit encryption for a military contractor.”

“Is there a question in there?”

“Who hired you?”

“Is this a joke? Some kind of audit, commando style? If this is my tax dollars at work, I want a refund.”

Rick glanced around the room to see if anyone else was reading the same chapter that Vlad was.

“I will not ask you again. Remember, I hold your entire operation at my fingertips. I could erase everything that was housed not only on your local server but the cloud.” Keiji nodded over to King. “My friend there has the power to arrest you right this second for countless acts of cybercrime you’ve committed over the years. So unless you want this very comfortable lifestyle of yours to be reduced to a six-by-six cell without internet privileges, you will cut out the smart-assery and give us what we want.”

Vlad clenched his fists, and his entire body stiffened. Rick took half a step closer.

“You know… I always thought that when it came to government that the pinky didn’t know what, or maybe I should say who, the thumb was fucking. I guess I was more right than I ever suspected.” He leaned in closer to Keiji, who remained where he was and continued to meet his gaze without flinching. “I’m working for you assholes.”

King stepped forward. “Bullshit.”

Vlad shrugged. “I guess my arrangement with the NSA was need-to-know and you don’t.”

BB stepped up right behind Vlad and spoke directly into his ear. “I am the NSA and my clearance levels would make the president’s tits shrivel. My access to intelligence from around the world makes me a very dangerous man. All my sources, as well as official and unofficial NSA chatter, say you are an independent contractor who sells their wares to the highest bidder regardless of allegiance or affiliation.”

“Seriously? Is this, like, the first day on the job for you all?”

Nobody responded, and Rick stared at Vlad. He imagined he had freaking laser beams on his head as he waited for the fucker to elaborate. According to every crime drama he’d watched, suspects hated silence and felt compelled to open their big mouths. He looked over at King and could practically see the pitch clock ticking away in his brain.

“Confidential informants? Ever heard of them? How else do you expect my handlers to do whatever the fuck it is they do? The world has to believe that I’m a slut who will spread my legs for the baddest of the bad.”

Keiji was furiously typing on his screen. “What’s the name of your handler?”

“Adrian Knox,” Vlad said with a smirk as he crossed his arms.

Keiji messed with his tablet for a minute. Rick knew before Keiji opened his mouth.

“There is nobody with that name employed by the NSA.”

BB scoffed. “That’s because it’s fake. We use Mr. Knox as a decoy for training.”

King smiled. “Guess you’re just SOL comrade. No record of you, no record of a handler. So if A plus B equals—”

“I have records!”

“Talk,” King ordered.

“I’m not stupid okay. Look, when my handler identified me almost two years ago he conscripted me into doing his bidding. I still don’t know how the fuck he figured out who I was, but he showed me all these documents as evidence. He said if I didn’t work for them then he would release my true identity and location to the FSB and I’d be imprisoned in the Black Dolphin. The proof is in a hidden file on the X drive. The password is: oll!oxenfr33. Inside the folder is an image. You need to unlock the text file using the command prompt—”

“I got it. Jesus, how big is this?”

“They ordered me to develop certain viruses for special operations as a security specialist. He said they wanted to test out their systems against potential people like… well, me.”

The room was silent while Keiji worked. Rick glanced over at Tate and Linder to see how they were receiving the information. On a scale of one to absolute bullshit he found himself halfway believing Vlad.

“We will need to get this authenticated, obviously.”

“Knock yourselves out. That’s just the most recent stuff and not even all that incriminating. If you want the superb stuff, you’ll have to—”

The windows of Vlad’s living space imploded as a million shards of glass sliced through the air. Rick hit the ground, his eyes closed against tiny missiles of corneal destruction. A gulf-stream of heat seared his skin, and it launched him back to the crucible of combat. It was Keiji’s scream that catapulted him back to the present. Rick leaped to his feet, a blur of muscle and rage as he sought to protect his heart from death. He imagined he looked a bit deranged as he snarled and leaped across the furniture, throwing his body over Keiji’s.

They hit the floor as fire and screams filled the air. Rick had no situational awareness of the team or Vlad; his sole focus was on keeping Keiji alive. A cacophony of destruction and chaos reverberated around them. His initial surge of adrenaline receded and Rick realized Keiji was shoving up against him. He looked down to see his lover’s mouth open, but all Rick heard was a high-pitched ringing. Rick assessed the immediate area for imminent danger and lifted his body just enough to let Keiji get a good breath of air. He found himself flipped on his back and lifted to his feet, a move that might under other circumstances feel emasculating. Within seconds, he and Keiji were running for where the front door of the condo was once located. The smoke-blacked air filled their lungs and obscured their sight, making their steps hesitant. A coughing fit seized his chest and Rick fell to his knees as he tried to find cleaner air closer to the floor, however there was no relief, and he became disorientated. His brain lost all sense of orientation to space and the individuals in the room. The rhythmic sound of bullets slamming their way into any surface that dared get in their path replaced the ringing sound. The familiar staccato beat told Rick their assailants could be anything from state-sanctioned military to mercenaries for hire. Somebody grabbed the back of his pants and bodily lifted him up, frog marching him forward.

“Move it!”

His feet obeyed the command, and where once a wall had stood there was now a gaping hole.

“Keiji!”

“Run! Get to the extraction zone!”

“Keiji!”

He had to find his man. Had to make sure he was still alive. God, what of the others?

“Fifteen hundred! Come toward my voice.”

Thank you, God. Rick turned to his right and took off down what had been a hallway. Since the smoke was not nearly so dense, he could see now. Coughs racked his body as his lungs tried to clear themselves of polluted air. They’d made plans for what to do if everything went to shit. Rick and Keiji were to exit the building and head for the Budva and Becici tunnel. He knew authorities had to be only minutes away and they could not find their team on site.

“Check in,” King ordered through the comm unit that had miraculously stayed in Rick’s ear.

“Rebooter and Pikachu headed for Park Place.”

“Saber down,” Electra reported. “Headed for Boardwalk.”

“Fuck,” Rick said. He reached Keiji and pulled the man into his arms. “You okay?” He tried to ask quietly but given the way Keiji tensed, Rick guessed his hearing may still not be quite right.

“I’m whole. That’s the best outcome I think at this point.”

“Phantom and Negan are down but not out.”

“Status?” King ordered.

“I’ve got a bit of an oil leak but the motor is still running.” Tate reported. “Phantom got his egg scrambled but we can probably put Humpty Dumpty back together again. What’s your status, Goat?”

“It’s a good thing I’m not the fainting kind. You all know what to do. We have confirmation that Saber is down for the count?”

“Affirmative,” Linder reported. “Unless he’s got Wolverine-like powers.”

“Understood. We’ll regroup and figure out next steps.”

Rick grabbed Keiji’s hand and led him forward to the exit. He didn’t look back to see if the rest of the team were also making their way out of the now-burning building. They had their marching orders. How the stairway had filled with smoke so quickly he couldn’t understand. The blackness was only disrupted by occasional flashes from strobes creating a lightning effect in a tornado-like funnel and shrieking sounds of the building’s fire alarm. Keiji’s hand in his grip centered Rick, slowing his heart rate enough that he could focus on their immediate task and not get sucked into the past. Sweat ran down the side of his head and his back as the stairwell became an oven with the acceleration of the fire now raging on multiple floors. Other residents joined him and Keiji in the race for freedom. Keiji’s hand suddenly left his about halfway down the ten flights. Rick spun, and out of the corner of his eye he felt, more than saw, a body go flying past him.

“Keiji!”

Rick heard a rapid succession of Japanese come from somewhere behind him. He reached out with his hands but felt nothing immediately in front of him, so he bent down and came in contact with warm flesh. His hands served as his eyes and he felt his way up Keiji’s body, searching for injuries. “What hurts, baby?”

“I’m okay. Just got tossed against the concrete wall. We need to get the fuck out of here.”

He leaned down and captured Keiji’s lips in a firm quick kiss. “Let’s blow this popsicle stand.”

They made their way down the rest of the stairs as quickly as possible. When Rick pushed through the exit door, he was momentarily sun blinded but they dared not loiter near the scene of the crime. He did not know who had attacked their position, but he had no intention of giving them another target.

Rick followed Keiji as they wove their way on foot through the city. He appreciated Keiji’s forethought to keep them on the back streets, seeing as how their experience was evident based on their appearance.

They made it to the tunnel and Rick grabbed Keiji’s hand, pulling him to a stop.

“What’s—”

He pulled Keiji into his arms. All Rick’s life he’d served the needs of others. His family, his country, everywhere he’d traveled he’d never once really thought about honoring the needs that screamed deep inside him, waiting for when he’d finally scream them out into the world. Today that stopped. He’d thought if he kept his desires and needs trapped inside a box deep in his psyche he could continue living peacefully in service to others. What a fucking fool he’d been. The need had festered, carving away at his soul, and as he tried to pull life-sustaining air into his lungs, his arms shook and his chest burned knowing that he’d nearly lost everything tonight.

He cupped Keiji’s cheeks and stared into his lover’s confused gaze. “That was too close. I… I can’t….”

He couldn’t find the words, simple as they may seem, to convey just what Keiji had come to mean to him in such a short period. Rick smoothed back Keiji’s hair, pressing kisses to his forehead and cheeks. He rubbed their noses together and shared his lover’s breath, giving his in return and hoping Keiji understood. Their gazes locked on one another. From one heartbeat to the next Rick saw Keiji’s wall crumble as emotions flew through his eyes: Terror. Anger. Relief. Anxiety.

Keiji dragged Rick into his arms, holding him as Rick’s knees threatened to buckle. They clung to each other. Rick’s compartmentalized mental boxes were shattered. He breathed as he tried to control the eruption of emotions before the pyroclastic flows overwhelmed him.

“I wish we were anywhere else. Not covered in soot with our muscles still quivering as though someone strapped us to an electric stimulator.”

He wanted to say the words. He wanted to with all his heart, but how could an emotion born amid turmoil thrive beyond the borders of the catastrophe they were nearly killing themselves to avoid?

“Listen to me, Rick Davis. We are powerless to when and where the invisible thread of the Fates brings two souls together, but I am humbled by the honor bestowed upon me they saw fit to tether us together.”

Rick’s breath hitched, he closed his eyes and tried to envision a future where Keiji could sleep within the circle of his arms every night. Try as he might, a dense fog shrouded his fantasy to where a trail of tears slid down his cheeks. Keiji’s scorching lips kissed away the heartache of disappointment. He desperately wanted Keiji to see all the way to his heart, see where Rick hung in suspension with his hand extended, reaching out to Keiji’s soul, hoping they could share his dream. Only then could they work together to make it a reality.

Communication would never occur in a vacuum and so he sighed, exhaling, and in doing so he released the caged animal that had lived inside him. Tentatively, one step at a time, the animal explored, not yet ready to trust the freedom suddenly laid out before him. With each breath he gathered courage as Keiji’s touch stroked down his neck and over his shoulders, his quaking body calmed and he opened his eyes.

“We work in a business where with one push of a button we have the power to destroy the world. And I have spent my life bleeding for a world that often contained only darkness. I can’t count the number of times I wanted to give up, but then I met you. And you are a million rays of light. I love you. I want to build a life with you. I—”

“Shut up,” Keiji choked. “Just shut up. You had me at ‘If you fuck me over, I will kill you faster than you can blink.’”

Rick found himself doubled over with laughter before he realized what was happening. Keiji reached for Rick and pulled him up. He grabbed his face in both hands and Rick’s brain short-circuited at the power a kiss could generate. Keiji’s tongue slid against his and Rick groaned with the need to take the kiss deeper. He pushed Keiji against the wall of the tunnel. Any moment another pedestrian could discover them and the West Village this was not. Keiji’s moan as Rick separated their bodies echoed through him and he couldn’t wait until they had the chance to explore new depths to their feelings in a more private setting.