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."

Hitman's Creed - 29

 

Joey stared stonily at Glenn. "Are you sure you want some novice helping you?"

"Get over it, kid. You know what I said was the truth." Glenn pocketed Miriam's phone when she handed it to him, wrote down the number Mary gave him and said to Joey, "Now move it. The sooner we get this done the sooner Fairburn will be out of our hair."

Joey followed Glenn upstairs, still pissed as hell but at the same time very interested in what Glenn was planning. The wood-paneled room they entered was obviously used as Glenn's office, with shelves along one wall and catty-corner from them a large desk with a computer and all the necessary peripherals.

"Nice," Joey said almost enviously with a nod toward the computer.

Glenn shrugged as he sat down and booted it up. He logged in, hit the internet, worked through several screens until he got to the email account he needed. He sent a message to his hacker, and then while he waited for a reply he turned to look at Joey.

"I know you're angry with me and I'm sorry but this isn't a game or a textbook exercise. Your father needs to be stopped and I intend to do just that."

"I understand, but you're talking like a gunslinger going off to a shootout on Main Street or something," Joey replied, leaning against the wall by the desk as he stared at Glenn.

"Exactly." Glenn cracked a small grin for a second. "Maybe not on Main Street, but your father is a bastard and killer who seems to have no boundaries. I plan to find out where he's gone to ground and deal with him."

"Kill him?"

"If necessary, yes."

"There are laws against that, you know," Joey told him somewhat snarkily.

Glenn nodded. "I'm well aware of that. I'll try avoid it but if it comes down to him or me then I'm not going to wait for some lawyer to tell me if I'm in the right or not."

"I can help."

"How? Could you shoot a man if you had to?"

Joey's mouth tightened. "To save a life, I think so."

"Have you ever fired a gun?"

"I've gone hunting a few times with friends."

"Kill anything?"

Joey shook his head.

"Why not?"

"We didn’t come across any deer, which is what we were hunting," Joey admitted. "But I could have, if we had," he added somewhat defiantly.

Glenn rubbed his forehead between his fingers. "You've held a hunting rifle, probably practice shot it at a few trees, never even killed a rabbit or a bird to say the least of anything bigger. Like I said earlier, right now you're all book-learning with nothing practical to back it up. No way in hell do I want you to have my back in a situation like this. You'd probably end up either as a hostage or dead."

"You don't know that," Joey spat out angrily.

"You're right, I don't, but now's not the time to test your mettle. I don't want to be worrying about you when all my concentration should be on him."

"As if you would," Joey muttered, then said quietly seconds later, "Sorry, that was uncalled for."

"Yeah it was because I would. Even if you were just, well, any old someone I would, but you're not." He sighed to himself when Joey's eyes lit up. "And don't take that as some kind of romantic declaration, kid. I'm fond of you; I don't want to see something happen to you."

"Fond?" Joey scowled. "Mothers are fond of their kids; kids are fond of their pets."

"Bad analogies. Mothers love their kids and kids love their pets and… fuck…"

"And?" Joey said, pushing for what he wished Glenn would say and knew he wouldn't.

Hitman's Creed - 28

 

"Why did you want me back here?" Mary asked. "I thought you wanted me somewhere safe." She looked both puzzled and afraid as she huddled in the corner of Glenn's sofa.

"We do, and after thinking more about it I decided that your father probably does know about Harv. It would explain why he decided Miriam and Joey are here."

"It was 'cause of the coffee place," Mary said.

"Oh?" Glenn cocked an eyebrow.

She chewed her lip as her eyes flicked from person to person. "He said that their stupidity in calling it 'M and J's' was their undoing. He said it took him some time to figure that out but when he did he knew this was where they were."

Joey grimaced. "And that's how you knew where to call to find me?"

"Umm hmm. I looked in the phone book at the pay phone at the gas station."

Joey stared at her. "Then you already knew you were close when you called because it wouldn't have been listed in a phone book in any other city."

"I… I was…" Her eyes dropped down to her lap as she twisted her hands together.

Joey's mother, who was seated at the other end of the sofa, slid over beside Mary. She took hold of her hands, gripping them when the girl tried to pull away. "He let you go, didn't he?"

"No!" Mary shook her head wildly. "I escaped when he… he…"

"Mary," Glenn said grimly, "you won't be free of him if you don't tell us the truth."

"I am telling the truth. I got away and found that gas station and… and found the coffee place in the phone book and called."

"Glenn's right, Mary, without our help he'll take you again when he's finished with us," Joey told her. "Do you really think he'll let you go if you're a witness to his killing us?"

"He promised…" Mary clamped her mouth tightly shut when she realized what she'd just said.

"Mary," Joey's mother said softly, "we understand that you believe he'll let you go, Steven can be very manipulative. I should know, I lived with him in spite of how he treated me. But he's lying; he has no intention of letting you go. He thinks he owns you. Is that what you want, to spend the rest of your life being his personal punching bag and plaything?"

"No," Mary whispered.

"I didn't think so. So please, please, tell us how he's going to use you to find us. If you do then we can stop him."

"What if you can't?" Hope and doubt played across Mary's face.

"We can," Glenn told her adamantly. "I know what I'm doing. I just have to know how to find him."

"He'll come here if she tells him we're here," Joey pointed out.

"I want to get to him before that happens." When Joey frowned and seemed ready to protest, Glenn glared at him. "Don't argue with me. I'm the expert here, not you."

Joey glared back. "Now just a second here, I have some training. It is what I'm studying."

"Schoolbook knowledge means shit right now. I'm not going to let him get within miles of this place if I can help it." Glenn turned his attention to Mary. "How are you supposed to get in contact with him?"

She ran her hands through her already tangled hair. "I'm supposed to sneak one of their phones and call him."

"I don't suppose you know where he's gone to ground around here."

"No. He said that was none of my business when I… when I asked him."

Glenn nodded. "All right. I need a few minutes to get some equipment. Joey, if you'll come with me. Miriam, your phone please. Mary, what's the number you're calling?"