Hitman's Creed - 34

 

"Where the hell is he? What's taking so long?" Joey growled as he checked the time again.

"He wasn't exactly running to the store for milk," his mother said in a futile attempt to ease his tension.

He glared at her, resisting the very strong urge to flip her off even though she was his mother.

Mary, who had been awake for the past twenty minutes, said softly, "He has to be alright because if he isn't…"

"Then we're all dead." Joey glared at her as well.

"He… my father… he doesn't know where we are."

"We can damned well hope so but if… if something happened to Glenn. He must have ID on him and your, our, that bastard isn't stupid."

"Both of you stop!" Joey's mother said firmly. "You're scaring each other even more and that does not help the situation in the least."

Joey nodded. "Sorry."

"I know." She got up from the sofa. "Maybe you need…"

"If you say hot chocolate."

"Now would I do that?"

Joey actually chuckled. "It's what you always used to give me when I was sad or upset, so yeah, you would."

"Well this time I was going to offer coffee. So there, smarty." She headed to the kitchen to make some.

"She's very nice," Mary said.

"Yes she is. That's why I keep her around." Mary looked at him in shock and pulled back further into the corner of the sofa. He immediately told her, "That was a joke."

"Oh." She smiled weakly.

Joey sat down on the sofa beside her. "You don't have to be afraid of us. We're not going to hurt you."

"I know, I think. It's just… I'm not used to someone treating me good."

"Your mother didn't, and your foster parents?"

"I guess my foster parents did. I mean they tried but I was older. They were used to little kids. My mother," she shrugged, "She never was mean but I think somehow she blamed me for what happened. When she got angry or upset with me she'd say 'If you'd have behaved he wouldn't have hit you and I wouldn't have lipped off to him'."

"Damn."

"It's okay. I got used to it after a while and most of the time we got along and she treated me fine. I guess."

"Well now you're here and safe and I know mom will make sure you have a home with good people."

"Can't I stay with her, with you?"

"Umm, well, I suppose that's up to her, you know. We'll figure something out. Honest."

She looked at him and nodded, and in the silence that followed he thought he heard a noise on the front porch. In an instant he was at the front door. He pulled it open just a crack; ready to slam it shut again, peered out and said, "Oh hell."

Hitman's Creed - 33

 

First and foremost Glenn needed to pin down exactly where on the property Fairburn was. When he reached the side of the barn he worked his way to the back. There, a low shed abutted the barn with two padlocked doors. Above the shed, he could see a pair of windows in the barn's back wall. Glenn retreated far enough to take a good look at the roof of the shed and smiled to himself. Thanks to the dim moonlight he was able to see footprints in the snow on the roof. They led to one of the windows.

'What's good for the goose…' he thought as he looked for a way to get onto the shed roof. 'A stupid goose,' he added to himself when he saw the tail end of a rope dangling in the corner between the side of the shed and the back wall of the barn. He reached up and tugged it to be certain it was well secured then used it to scale the wall. When he was on the shed's slanted roof he moved cautiously so as not to slip or make any noise that might alert whoever had been on the roof before him. He presumed it had been Fairburn. When he got to the window he hunkered down beside it to peer cautiously inside. The faint moonlight showed him that there was a loft that appeared to run the length of the back wall.

With extreme care he leaned in just enough to try to open the window. It slid up easily until there was approximately a two-foot opening then stopped with a small squeal of protest. Glenn froze, waiting for any indication that the noise had been heard. When there was no sign that it had he inched his way through the opening into the dark interior of the barn. He took his infrared binoculars from one pocket of his jacket, moved to the edge of the loft and looked down onto the barn floor.

'Got you.'

Fairburn, if it was him, stood out in stark relief, his back to Glenn. Glenn fully intended to take him out but wanted to be certain that the man was indeed his prey. He marked the man's position, pocketed the binoculars and moved silently to the stairs which led down from the loft. When he reached the bottom he un-holstered his pistol, lifted it and took aim. The night scope on the gun showed him that the man was still where he had been moments before.

"Fairburn," Glenn called out.

The man spun around and dropped to one knee, a rifle pointed in Glenn's direction. "Wondered if that phone call was a trap," he shouted back at the same instant that he fired.

'I'm fucking out of practice,' Glenn dropped to the ground and fired back. 'At least he's working on sound, not sight.'

Fairburn fired two more shots then sprinted to the front of the barn, ducking behind a low wall that ran half the length of it. "You a cop?" he asked seconds later.

"Friend of the family," Glenn replied. He regretted it seconds later when a bullet grazed his arm. 'Lucky shot but keep your yap shut,' he admonished himself. Knowing Fairburn couldn't see him, he moved rapidly forward. He felt dampness on his sleeve and ignored it and the accompanying pain. When he was a yard away from the low wall he stopped to listen intently for any sign of Fairburn's position. There was total silence.

Long minutes passed while each man waited for the other to make a move. Then Glenn heard it, the slightest brushing of something against the wall. He immediately fired. The bullet hit the thin paneling and went through. Fairburn gave a shout then there was silence. Glenn fired again, then twice more, to either side of his first shot. He knew he'd hit his target when Fairburn cried out in pain. Without hesitation Glenn stood and raced around the end of the wall.

Glenn could see Fairburn through the scope. He was lying on the ground ahead of him, one hand held tightly to his abdomen. As Glenn moved slowly closer Fairburn raised his other hand and fired one last shot.

Hitman's Creed - 32

 

"She's asleep," Joey's mother said softly. Then she eased Mary's feet off her lap and stood up, pointing to the kitchen. Joey nodded and followed her. Once the door to the living room was closed she went to the refrigerator to see what she could use to make them something to eat. When Joey frowned she said, "We're stuck here so I doubt Glenn will mind."

She found the makings for sandwiches and put together three, one for herself, two for Joey, then sat down at the table. Joey took one of the sandwiches and after the first bite he realized he was definitely hungry. He finished it and was halfway through the second when his mother said, "So?"

"Umm, what?"

"What were you and Glenn doing when you went upstairs?"

Joey smiled ruefully. "Not what you might be thinking. He was showing me the, umm… well…" He blew out a breath and took another bite of his sandwich.

"Yes?" she said, not willing to let it drop.

"He's got a whole damned arsenal up there."

"For hunting? He doesn't seem the type, or at least not the way we think of hunting, although maybe he does in his own way. He is going to try and capture your father."

"Mom, I think… Damn it, I don't think he's planning on capturing him." Joey told her how Glenn had armed himself.

"Really?" she replied with apparent unconcern

"Mom, he's going off to kill him!"

"In case it escaped your notice the bastard has murdered at least one person, held his own daughter captive and repeatedly molested her, and he abused me before he decided to move on to someone else. Whatever happens to him he's earned fair and square."

"But what Glenn plans to do is against the law. If he gets caught…" Joey scrubbed a hand over his forehead.

"I doubt that will happen. Glenn seems to know what he's doing."

"But why? I mean why does he know and why does he have enough firepower to take out a small army?"

"He says he used to work security," Joey's mother pointed out. "Perhaps it was more than just being a door shaker."

Joey smiled slightly. "That's what he said; only he called it rattling door handles. I suppose he could have been something Federal, or military."

"That would be my guess. So when it comes down to it, he's not much different than what you're planning on being, only maybe, probably, much deadlier."

"It will still be considered murder if he kills him. He doesn't have any legal authority to do that." He pounded a fist down on the tabletop angrily. "I should have, he should have let me go with him. I'm not completely helpless no matter what he thinks."

She took his hand with a shake of her head. "I doubt he really thinks you're helpless. My guess would be he feels very protective of you, well of all of us from what he's doing, but especially of you."

"Yeah right. He thinks I'm a kid who needs looking after. I'm not, damn it! I'm an adult. Why doesn't he see that?"

"Give him time. If he's at all interested in you then eventually he will. You have to realize that he really is a good deal older than you. And, if we're right, he's spent his life doing things most people can't even imagine outside of whatever thrillers they happen to read."

"Yeah, I suppose," he replied with a sigh. "I don't …" he sighed again.

"You don't what?"

"I don't get why I care about him, but I do."

She patted his hand. "If anyone could really explain why one person falls for another they could make a small fortune. Just don't let your heart get broken if he doesn't reciprocate your feelings."

"Bit late for that but…" He stared off into space for a long moment before he said, "If he doesn't, I'll survive."

"You will. We all do in the end. Now finish your sandwich while I go check on Mary."

When she left the kitchen, Joey did as she'd asked even though he didn't really feel like eating the rest of it. "Caring for someone sucks," he muttered dispiritedly. "At least, damn it; come back here in one piece, Glenn. Please."

 

Hitman's Creed - 31

 

As soon as Joey left the room Glenn went back to the computer. He put what he was carrying down on the edge of the desk then logged into a website. While he waited for Mary to make the call he stripped and redressed in his working clothes. One of the knives he strapped to his calf, the other to his forearm. The holstered gun went onto the waistband of his sweatpants. He finished just as the site let him know that it had located Fairburn.

"Now if you just stay there," Glenn muttered. He shut down the computer, put on his jacket, grabbed the bag and headed back to the living room. When he got there he was faced with three sets of eyes that looked at him with varying degrees of concern.

"Will you… can you find him?" Mary asked.

"Should be able to now. You stay here with them. I'll let you know how things pan out," he replied tersely as he walked toward the kitchen. Before he got through it to the back door, Joey came up beside him.

"Be careful," he said quietly.

"Plan on it. You make sure Mary doesn't get her hands on a phone, just in case. Okay?"

Joey nodded. He looked as if he wanted to say or do something more. Then with a swift shake of his head he turned away. Glenn put a hand on his arm to stop him.

"I'll be back, I promise."

"I… yeah." Joey stared at him for a long moment then turned on his heel and left the room.

"I will," Glenn said softly.

Once he was at the car Glenn became the man he had been, not the one he was now, cold killer instincts overriding everything else. He had no intention of trying to negotiate with Fairburn.

The man had chosen to hide a few miles outside of town. The location, according to the tracking system, turned out to be farm property. Glenn checked a satellite map via his phone and found that there was a house, a barn and some outbuildings. He presumed they were abandoned. He hoped they were and that Fairburn hadn't holed up in a barn or shed somewhere on the property without the owner's knowledge.

By the time he got onto the road that would bring him close to the farm it was dusk and a three-quarter moon hung low in the sky ahead of him. There was still enough snow on the ground to work to Glenn's advantage. Twenty minutes had passed since Mary had called Fairburn.

Four minutes later he was at the access road that led to the farm. He turned and pulled off beside a small tract of trees that would keep the car from being noticed by anyone coming down the main road.

Before getting out of the car he took off his jacket, reversed it so that the white would be on the outside and donned it again. Then he opened the bag and put the gear that he'd need into the jacket's deep pockets. He left the car, closing the door silently, put the bag into the trunk, locked up, and turned to face the farm half a mile ahead of him. The side facing him had a thick row of trees that would serve him well once he got there.

He walked quickly but cautiously along the side of the road, looking for any signs that Fairburn might have already left the farm. He saw nothing to indicate that the man had. From the splash back of snow caused by the only tire tracks he saw he could tell they lead toward the farm, not away from it, and Glenn knew this was the only way a vehicle could get to the main road. That didn't mean the man hadn't walked out but Glenn seriously doubted he'd leave until he got the second phone call from Mary.

When he reached the trees he inched through them. The farmhouse was in front of him to his right. From what he could see of it through trees that lined its driveway, it appeared abandoned since there were no lights on and the snow on the driveway was unbroken by either tire tracks or footprints. A few hundred yards to his left was the large barn. The access road curved around to the front which was out of his sight at the moment. Very carefully he inched his way toward the side closest to him.

Hitman's Creed - 30

 

"Forget it, you're too damned young," Glenn growled, heaving a sigh of relief when the computer dinged to tell him he had mail. He read the message, made notes, took Miriam's cell from his pocket then opened one of the desk drawers. He took out a sim card reader/writer, took the sim card out of the cell phone, put it into the reader/writer, and plugged that into one of the USB ports.

When that was done he read from the notes he'd made, typing out the information he needed then sent it to the reader/writer. After he'd finished, he replaced the sim card in the phone. "That will keep your father from finding our location."

"Why not just have her do it from somewhere else?" Joey asked, understanding that Glenn planned on having Mary use his mother's phone for her call.

"Because we don't know where he is, yet, but we will once she calls him." Glenn explained. "And I need to be here and on the computer when she does."

"Whoever's helping you will triangulate where he is when he answers?"

"Yep, unless he's smart enough to have done what I just did, which we can hope he isn't." Glenn got up and went to the wall across from the bookshelves. He turned to look at Joey. "You can go back downstairs now if you want or," he cracked a small smile that didn't reach his eyes, "you can stay here and see what's behind the secret panel—the lady or the tiger—to speak metaphorically."

Joey bit his lip as he glanced from Glenn to the door and back again. "Am I going to wish I'd left?"

"Possibly. Just know that, god only knows why, I trust you enough to have offered to let you stay." He meant that quite literally, he had no clue why he wanted Joey to see what amounted to a part of his life which to all intents and purposes he'd left behind him. Perhaps he hoped to scare the kid away, perhaps he wanted him to know exactly what he'd be getting into if… and it was a huge if… the connection that seemed to be developing between them happened.

"I'll stay."

With a nod, Glenn touched a spot on the wall and a panel slid to one side to reveal a door with a touchpad mounted on it. He tapped the buttons then pushed and the door swung open. He stepped through, beckoning for Joey to join him.

When he was inside, Joey looked around then up at Glenn. "So what's so special in here? You use it for storage from the look of it."

He was correct. It did look like a storage room lined with shelves. Some held a variety of camping gear; others had neatly stacked pants and shirts that ran the gamut from primarily black to a couple of sets of white. On the shelves on the short wall opposite the door there were several metal cases with security locks.

"Yes, it's for storage." Glenn went to one of the cases, spun the dial on the front to unlock it then handed a pistol to Joey.

"All right," Joey said hesitantly. "What is this? I mean it's a gun, but...?"

"Ruger MK III." Glenn opened a second case and handed Joey another pistol. "Ruger 22/45 with a picatinny rail instead of a fixed sight."

Joey weighed them in his hands and commented, "The 22/45 is lighter and you can add a scope." He looked at Glenn, one eyebrow cocked. "Which one is more accurate?"

"I prefer the 22/45 because of the threaded barrel and it is lighter, but the MK III is a bit more accurate if you're new to them both."

"The other cases are for guns as well?" When Glenn nodded, Joey asked, "Why? Why all the firepower?"

"I like guns." Glenn replied with a slight smile. "And they were part of what I did before I retired."

Joey handed the guns back, chewing on his lip. "Guns, probably knives somewhere here, survival gear," he nodded to what he'd at first thought was just camping gear. "What the hell kind of security did you do?"

"Let's just say it was more than going around rattling shop doorknobs and leave it at that for now." As he talked, Glenn put the MK III back in its case. From the other case he took out a custom made side holster for the 22/45 and a scope. Once he'd attached the scope he put the pistol into the holster and clipped it to his belt. Then he reached for another case, unlocked it, took out two sheathed knives and closed it again. Finally he chose pants and a shirt, picked up a bag from another shelf and said, "That should do it for now. Take the phone down to Mary, wait five minutes, then have her make the call. She's to tell Fairburn that you picked her up at the gas station and now you've stopped at a fast food place to get something to eat before you take her to meet your mother."

"He won't like that."

"No, but he will wait for her to call again."