Balance (35 page)

The
hostile
,
unaware of
the threat,
makes a run
for
the
town car, only to be shot
down
by Michael’s 9mm,
four
steps out
of his hiding spot
.

Only the s
nipers
remain
.
Michael knows, i
f they stayed
in their posts
,
stationed
in
each
of the
next
two
buildings,
the far sniper
has
a shot
if he ran out
this
doorway. 
Scanning the warehouse, searching for alternate avenues to the next building,
he
i
dentif
ies
a
small wind
ow
at the end of the pole barn.  Diving
headfirst
through the glass
,
covering his face with his arms
,
Michael
hit
s the ground on the other side
,
rolling, righting himself
leaning
against the exterior wall
of the adjacent warehouse
.
 
Running
along th
e
outside of the building,
he
plunges
through
the fi
r
st open
door
, moving to a protected spot
behind a crate.  Taking a moment,
Michael
quickly gets his bearing
s
.
T
h
e
building
,
a pole barn
similar to
the
one
he had stationed
with rows of crates, mezzanine, and dark interior
.
 
The sniper
s
likely
positioned
as he was,
in
the mezzanine using
a
similar
window
facing the yard
.

Moving
to the end of the
building
,
Michael
locat
es
the
main
vertical support rising to the crest of the roof.
After c
hecking for any indication
the sniper left his
post
,
h
e scales the
support
to the rafters, knowing that if discovered, especially by a trained
marksman
,
he’s an easy target
.

Hidden among the beams, he p
ull
s
a sma
ll spotting scope from his
jumper
and
surveys the second floor, locating the sniper exactly where he had expected, too far for
his
9mm
. 
L
ike a
cat
, Michael navigates the joists along the rafter
s
to
the
second floor
, climbing
deep
over
the mezzanine
,
behind
the gunman
.
G
azing
out
the window
,
he’s
preoccupied with identifying the source of the chaos
to notice anything
.

Dropping
silently
to the floor, Michael
stalks the
unsuspecting quarry
.
A
hundred feet
away
,
h
is peripheral vision catches
movement to his left. 
R
eact
ing
instinctively
,
he dives
to his right
as
a
shot rings out.  R
oll
ing
across the floor
then
back to his feet
,
the bullet goes
fa
r
to his left
.
 
Michael
immediately understands his mistake;
not
a sniper,
the second gunman
was to provide
cover
for the
lone sniper.  Cover
just
in case a
n
uninvited guest
, like him,
showed up. 
Armed with a
handgun,
the new combatant’s
range
is
limited
.

F
ighting to disengage his rifle from the window
frame,
the sniper
tr
ies
to
re
adjust
to the
threat
materializing
inside
the
warehouse
.
Clearing
his rifle of the window,
the sniper
turn
s
into the building.

At
a full sprint,
Michael r
ac
es
at the threat with the greater range.  R
each
ing
behind his back
,
dis
engaging the glaive and
releasing
the spring action
simultaneously, he jumps and pirouettes.
Leading with his backhand,
his head
snaps
around re-engag
ing
the
target in his sight
as
h
is arm
sweeps
out from behind his back
,
accelerat
ing
so fast
the glaive barely has time
to
fully
extend
in the fifty feet it covers in the blink of an eye.  It hits the
gunman in the throat, severing
the man’s head from his body, sending both careening out the open window.

N
ever losing a step,
Michael
continues
running
toward the wall.
U
sing his momentum
,
he leaps up the
vertical surface
in an arching path for several steps,
seizing
two knives from his thigh.
H
e launches
himself from
the wall
back
o
nto the
balcony
, spinning to
present
a more difficult target,
hurling
both knives
toward the last gunman
closing on his location.  Michael knows from this distance, he has no chance of
finding their mark
, close proximity was all he needed, just enough to distract
.

Fortunately, one of the blades does catch flesh, slowing the
gun
man
’s
advance
.

Michael turns
and sprints
toward the
edge of the
balcony.
H
e leaps
up
off the railing,
cran
ing
his head back
ward
and
kicking
his legs up
;
his body
performs
a reverse
summersault
.
Everything slows
down;
his eyes re-engage his pursuer as his hands reach
for
the twin Glock-
9mm handguns
holstered at his sides
.
P
ulling the firearms
free
,
they swing forward
,
both firing
.  T
wo black spots appear on the man’s forehead,
his head
snap
s
backward.  T
he gunman’s feet climb
forward
into the air, as his head and body
continue up and back
, reproducing
a
s
imilar
reverse flip
,
land
ing
face first in jumbled mass
.

Arching
his head backward,
Michael
identifies
his landing spot
among
the approaching stack of crates.
C
ont
r
acting
his abdomen,
tucking
his
body
,
his
leg
s
rotate
around
faster.  Keeping his eyes
on the target, he lands
using his legs to decelerate and his hands, still holding the handguns
,
to maintain balance.
 
Crouched on top of the crate,
he
takes a moment to clear his head. 
Tapping
the bud
in his
ear, Michael
notifies his handler,
“Hostiles neutralized.  Send someone for the secondary, commencing withdrawal.”

“See you when you get home.” T
he sound of his anchor rea
ching out to him in the silence
.

Michael
quickly
leaves the shipyard, delayed only to retrieve his rifle and glaive, noticing the
young
girl watch hi
m pick up the
odd-looking
disk. 
Jumping
the fe
nce
where he left his coat, he c
over
s
himself,
then
heads
to the pickup point four blocks
west
of the yards.

In flight,
he
receives a call from Takada.

“Well done Michael.  The girl was extracted by associates twenty minute
s
ago.”

“Good, thank you sir.” 
He answer
s
, then
hesitates
.

“You want to know why we
ordered the
terminat
ion
.”
Takada offers.

“Yes sir.”

“
T
he primary was privy to very sensitive information.  He had allowed himself to be placed in a compromising situation, leveraged by people intent on using that information to exact terrorism against Chango.  We could not allow that to happen, now … or in the future.”

Michael
understands
.  This ‘exercise’
,
intended for
not only he and Rena,
was
a message
. 
The
young
girl
will provide
witness.  She
’
ll
tell others
what she saw
;
h
ow
a single man dispatch
ed
an
entire team of
trained
hostiles single-
handedly
, in bloody fashion
.
  The media will do the rest.
 
This exercise was a message
to not only Chango’s enemies
,
but to those loyal. 
This was a message and he was the mes
senger … the messenger of death.

J
ust after midnight
, Michael returns
to
the
Bunker
.
Disappointed
Rena
isn’
t
there to meet him
, he returns to his quarters.
 
After
considering going
to
her residence
first,
he
deci
des a shower and some sleep
the
prudent
course
.
 
Expecting she’
d
had
a long day, and being here during the operation has probably frayed her nerves
, s
he deserves her sleep.  Standing
in the hallway
, h
e stares
longingly
at her door,
sighs and turns
to his
.

Walking into his sitting room
,
he finds Rena
sound
asleep on his couch.  Obviously exhausted from the ordeal, she must have fallen asleep waiting for
his
return.
He stands over he
r, gazing at the sleeping
angel
,
her
dark red hair falling
in
coils
a
bout
her
beautiful
face
.

Gently,
h
e picks her up
and
carr
ies
her into his bedroom.  Most
in
the
Bunker
,
awa
re
of their
relationship
,
are
accustomed to
either
spending
long nights in
the
other’s
room
. 
Although they’
ve never been intimate, Rena believes the pretense is probably in their best interest, considering the bond
Takada wishes to exploit.
  Neither complains about spending
private
time with the other
.

Opening
her eyes
,
Rena
reaches up
and
wrap
s
her arms around
his
neck,
bur
ying
her face in his shoulder.  She holds him in her tight
embrac
e, unwilling to let him go
.  When she finally
relaxes
, her eyes are
tear-filled
and red.  “Please tell me…”

He lays her down on the bed, his face inches from hers,
his piercing eyes holding hers,
“It
’s
fine
.
I’m
fine
.
” Whispering his assurances, he gently kisses her forehead.
 
“
I’ll tell you everything, but
I
need
to take a shower first
, o
kay?
”
 

She
smiles warmly, then
taps her temple with her finger, once.

When he retu
rns,
Rena
’
s disrobed down to
her under
garments and climbed in
under the sheets, e
yes
closed
the
tension
still
visible
on her face
.  He knows
s
he’s not sleeping
,
as he knows
it
normally
disappears when
she falls asleep with him
.

H
er eyes
open
as
he slides into bed
.
Michael
notes
their
striking turquois
color
appear
s
tired,
troubled
.
“Are you okay?  I got the message.  I was worried.
” He
asks, concern in his voice
.

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t know what to do.
” She takes a deep breath,
“
Takada made the order change.  I think I knew all along
something
was going to happen
.
”  Pausing to collect herself before continuing, “
It was the first time I had to give a
n
order
to
kill
.
I
suspect,
if I
hadn’
t
relayed
the
directive
,
he’
d
have
order
ed
you to kill the girl
as well
.  It was the
test
we expected
, I knew it
immediately
.
”

He nods his understanding.

“
Michael,
Takada
already had countermeasures in place.”
Rena
warns
.

“It’s okay
,
you did the right thing.
” He consoles, touching her cheek,
“
I think it was more than just a test
for us
”

“
What do you mean?”

Michael proceeds to tell Rena about the dispatch, the call from
Takada,
and his theory.

“So
,
it was
a
w
ay of announcing
their
new weapon to the world
.
” Rena
ponders
.

“
I think
so.
At the least, Chango’s organization.  I suspect w
e’ll
learn
more in the co
ming days.
”  Michael considers the young woman
gazing back, her eyes tired, but thoughtful
, “
The puzzling part,
this operation
showcased
my abilities
,
publically
.
  I don’t understand why Takada would want that visibility.
H
e’s been building us as a pair.
  How will this affect us as a team?
”

“I’
ve been thinking about that too.  There has to be something big planned. 
Alt
hough
,
I can’t figure out what it could be.”
Rena
proposes
.

“
We’ll have to
just keep our eyes and ears open.
” He suggests
.

“I’m just glad you
’
r
e
back …
with me.  We’ll figure the rest out tomorrow.”
 
Rena slides
over and
wrap
s
herself around
his body
, kissing him on the chest before closing her eyes,
the
tension
melting
from her face.

The next morning at breakfast
Rena and Michael
relax
, the activity of the Bunker welcome white noise, drowning out the concerns of the previous night
.  They ha
ve
n’t received their training orders for the week, so they
assumed
Waters and Rodriguez would be down to see them after everyone leaves the dining hall.

Mr
.
Black
vacates
his customar
y table with the other Seers, en
route to Micha
e
l and Rena
, an
eager
gleam in his eyes
.

Any one of the
Seers often join them
in the morning after breakfast,
u
sually to tell them about the exploits of other Infiltration
Teams
or to talk about some amazing feat Michael or Rena had perform
ed the previous day.  Mr. Black,
the Seer most often joining
the pair
,
even mo
re so in the last month.
Rena
guessed
the interaction
s
w
ere
a
way for Takada to determine the best Seer to guide
h
is new
team
.  The relationship between Michael and
her
so important to the team
’
s functionality, Takada can
not
risk upsetting the dynamic. 
According to Mr. Black
,
young assets
would
not
perform as
Seers
,
on
real missions.
Rena’s exposure to the responsibilities
during Michael’s operation
was
unique.

This morning, Mr. Black is
visibly
excited as he approaches the table. 
“Well
,
the ‘Harbinger of Death’
, how does it feel to be notorious?
” He
petitions
.

“
What are you talking about?
”
Rena
inquires
, flippant.

Mr. Black regards them with curiosity.  “
Really, y
ou don’
t know?
 
T
his is fantastic …
My dear,
Michael
is all over the
news
.  His operation
yesterday
is the talk of all the media waves.
”

“How would the media know about yesterday?” Michael asks.

“
The girl
.
S
he’s
been on several news
programs
.
  Of course, many of the experts are saying the massacre
was the work of a special-forces
team.  Stating that … n
o
,
single
person
could have dispatched so many trained
agents
with the
precision exacted
at
the scene.  E
specially
in
the
manner the girl describes
.”

Michael looks at Rena before commenting, “I thought
we
tried to keep these ops suppressed from the general public?”

“It looks like an independent
reached the girl first, took video
and
uploaded it before a cleaner team could get on site.” Mr. Black explain
s
as he sits down.

“What about the girl?” Rena inquires.

“Looks like the child’s
grandparents are marketing her for their 15-minutes.”

“Takada
must be pissed
?
” Michael
questions
,
knowing the answer will confirm his theory.

“Oddly enough, not really
.
”

Michael and Rena look at each other.

Black continues,
“
It
would’ve
been difficult to get the cleaners in.  I think he’s more excited by the mystery
and notoriety
being generated around his newest toy.
”

“Newest toy?” Michael feigns surprise, knowing this is exactly what he expected to happen.

“
As I said, they’ve already dubbed you the ‘Harbinger of Death’.  The girl spins a pretty good
yarn
.  You know how children are with exaggeration.
” Black turns to address Rena,
“
I also hear you
were
very
effective
running
the op.
  I hope they don’t jump you to Seer before I get a chance to run an
infiltration
with the two of you.”