Crusade For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 2) (5 page)

“That’s not up to me.”  Valerie said calmly, shaking her head and turned to Hanna.  “This is your op.  You started it.  Do you want to finish it?”  The question was clear in her eyes.  Somehow Valerie knew Hanna had the chance earlier, but hadn’t been able to do it.

Standing up, Hanna aimed her pistol at his chest and swallowed.  All the thoughts that stopped her from shooting him earlier came back.  Once again Cest was defenceless and at her mercy.  The gun shook and Hanna did not want to look at any of the others, in case they saw her as a coward.

She couldn’t do it.  She was about to lower her gun when he smirked.  He knew.  He knew she wasn’t a killer.  He knew she couldn’t go through with it.  All those things he said, blaming her for killing her mother.  Then it was easy.  Later, she would like to think it was the anger taking over, but it wasn’t.  Hanna made a cold and calculated decision to pull the trigger.

The surprise on Cest’s face was one Hanna would cherish for the rest of her life, when the three spinning Mag rounds entered his chest.  Valerie let go of his arm and he stumbled backwards.  The look of confusion was still there when he fell out the door.

Standing there with the gun in hand, Hanna stared at the open door.  Not moving even after Valerie slid it shut.  The older woman stepped forward and gently took the pistol from her hand.  Hanna looked into her hazel eyes and saw sympathy there.

“It’s alright, Hanna.  It was the right thing to do.”

Hanna could only nod in response.  She felt numb inside.  Ever so gently, Valerie pulled her into a hug and Hanna actually felt tears in her eyes.  It was a strangely uncomfortable hug, but it felt so right and she didn’t care.

“Erm.  What if he lands on someone?”  Deni asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Troll explained.  “While you two were still smarting from Carter’s bollocking she got Rush to take us to somewhere that would be empty on the ground at this time of night.  In a couple of hours, someone’s going to have the nice job of clearing him up, but no one would have got hurt.”

Pulling away reluctantly, Hanna wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Thank you, Valerie.”

“Anytime, now go and thank Deni.  She’s the one who went into hades with you.”  There was a sad smile on Valerie’s face as she said this.  She was probably thinking about her own family and how her crusade would not be so easily finished.

Sitting next to her friend, Hanna enveloped her into her hug.  “What would you have done if she hadn’t pulled the trigger?” she heard Troll ask Valerie quietly.

“Thrown him out myself,” the woman replied nonchalantly.  “I just wouldn’t have shot him first.”

The sunlight reflecting off the water was almost blinding, until it was broken apart by Tom rising up from under the surface.  Daphne was on his shoulders and shrieked merrily when he threw her through the air.  With blonde hair flying in all directions, she went crashing back under.  A strong swimmer, she was soon back up, coughing and spluttering.

“Me next!  Me next!” called Bobby as he splashed his way towards his father.  His floatation vest keeping him from sinking.

Tom turned and scooped his son up.

“Come on then, boy.  Let’s see how far you can fly!”  With a gentler motion than he used for Bobbie’s sister, Tom cast the boy into the water.

Daphne recovered and grabbed hold of Tom from behind.  Her hands slipped off his wet shoulders and she shifted her grip to his neck.

“Careful, Daphne.  Don’t strangle your Father.”  Valerie called from the side of the pool.  She knew the chances of Daphne actually hurting Tom were slight at best, but it wasn’t really a habit you wanted children to adopt.

Grabbing his daughter’s hands, Tom spun and threw her back away from him, in the opposite direction from Bobbie.  Free of kids, he turned to his wife.

“Come on in, Ell!  The water’s gorgeous!”

“Yes, Mummy,” Bobbie joined in.  “Come in.  Come in!”

“I can’t,” Valerie explained.  “I don’t have my swimming costume on.”  Looking down, she realised she was wearing her uniform.  It wasn’t the Lieutenant’s uniform for her cover identity of Eleanor Doherty.  It was the full black Devil’s uniform belonging to Major Valerie Carter.

“I’ll race you, Mummy!” Daphne called.  “I bet I can beat you.  One of my laps for two of yours.”

Horrified at accidently putting on the wrong uniform, Valerie looked to her family.

“I’m sorry.  I must have picked up the wrong uniform at base.  This is a friend of mine’s.”  None of them were listening.  All three were calling for her to join them, but something was wrong with the water.

“Race you.  Race you!”  Daphne called

“Splash you.  Splash you!” Bobbie shouted.

“It’s lovely in here,” Tom laughed.  “Join us.  Join us!”

The water was turning red and her family hadn’t noticed.

“Come on kids.  You need to get out now.”  Valerie tried to entice them.

“Race you.  Race you!”

“Splash you.  Splash you!”

“Join us.  Join us.”

“Come to the side, all of you!”  Valerie shouted and still they didn’t hear her. The water turned the deep dark red of blood and rose around her family.

“Race you.  Race you!”

“Splash you.  Splash you!”

“Join us.  Join us.”

“Tom!  You have to get them out!”  Up rose the water until only their heads were visible.  Suddenly, in a single motion, they were all pulled under.

“Noooooooo!”  The cry was torn from her throat and Valerie shot upright.

The light was dim.  It filtered through the curtains of her small flat’s window.  Morning was just arriving.  Sweat ran down her face and intermingled with the tears.  Valerie pushed her lank, tangled hair out of her eyes and fell back onto the pillow.

Her heart was racing, as though she just completed her marathon run.   Gradually, with each breath, it slowed back towards its normal rhythm.  She lay staring up at the ceiling. Still the nightmares came.  Every night since the day her family were murdered, without fail.  She didn’t know when they would end or even if they ever would.  She wasn’t even sure she wanted them to.

With a deep sigh and a slight grunt of effort, she threw the covers back and swung her feet out of the bed.  It was a new day and she needed a shower.

***

“What have you got the girls doing now?”  Sneaker asked after Valerie relaxed into the chair opposite his desk.  The sounds of people enjoying themselves in the casino, floated through his open door.  It was four in the afternoon and the tables were already busy.

“Right now?  Sprint runs on the roof,” Valerie told him.  “Shade’s keeping an eye on them to make sure they’re giving it their all.”

“How are they doing?”  Sneaker asked with concern.

“They’re doing OK, not grumbling too much.  I’ve certainly heard worse from seasoned Commando’s on one of my punishment drills.”  Valerie said with a smile before turning serious.  “Cest’s was a wakeup call for them.  They’re shaken, but I think they’ll get through it.  In a way we spoiled them.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone calling someone from the Ghetto spoiled before.”

“Not materially.  I’m talking about operationally.  We’ve never failed.”

“That’s an odd way of describing our success,” Sneaker said a bit bemused.

“Yes it is, but it doesn’t make it untrue.  I saw it all the time in the elite units, particularly with new recruits.  The team has enjoyed success and the confidence they all feel spills onto the newbies.  They then inherit all the confidence without all the trials and losses creating it, they don’t have the same respect of the risks.  The girls have seen our Crew go through mission after mission without a hitch.  They thought they could do the same.”

“But much of it, is down to you personally.  How could they think they could attack Cest in his home and get away with it?  They’re smarter than that.”

“Yes, they are and mentally, I’m sure they would agree with you, but emotionally we’ve given them the belief they can’t lose.” 

“So what can we do about it?”  Sneaker asked.  “It won’t be just them.”

“In my experience, you have a top notch NCO, to knock the stuffing out of anyone who has those notions, and a CO who will do the same to the officers.  You need to run drills, exercises and sims that are harder than what you expect to face in the field.  If the Crew completes them successfully, you dial it up a notch and keep going.  It’s better to fail in a sim rather than when live ammo’s involved.”

Sneaker sat back and pondered what she said for a moment.

“Well, it brings me nicely to why I’ve asked you here.  We need to re-organise the Crew in your absence.  Particularly as you’re taking two of our up-and-comings with you.”

“Absolutely, and I’ve had some thoughts on that,” Valerie said nodding.  “I’d recommend Judge stepping in to run the Enforcers.  He’s got a clear head on him and doesn’t come apart under fire.  You’ll need to step back into the operations and planning role.  No one else has the experience and know-how.  Judge will be able to follow a well thought through plan easily enough, but he’s not up to setting up a Job.”

Sneaker rubbed his jaw and shook his head.  “I’m pulling back on the Jobs.  We’ve got a good enough income coming in from Protection, the casino and other revenue streams and I just won’t have the time.  On top of that, we don’t have a Hacker to step into Hanna’s shoes.  There’s only so much I can do on my own.”

“You’re thinking of holding what we’ve got?”

“Pretty much, and there are some neighbouring gangs who are struggling.  With our reputation, we could fold them into our own slowly and with them, we wouldn’t need the Heists.”

“OK.  I can see how that would make sense,” Valerie nodded.  “Make Troll Judge’s number two then.  Give her some sort of title like Sergeant and put her in charge of discipline.”

“Troll?  Really?”  Sneaker laughed.  “She’s the biggest pain in the ass we have and the only one, other than Hannah, who would dare to interrupt your briefings.”

“And that’s exactly why she would be perfect.  Everyone is afraid of me, including Troll.  I know it and I make no excuse for the reasons, but she still dared to challenge me.  She has a good reputation, an Enforcer who gets the job done.  She’ll always have Barney there to back her up and if necessary cool her down.  The two of them have actually taken very well to my training.  They were good before and realised I could offer them more.  Troll would be perfect to keep it going.”

Holding up his hands, Sneaker smiled.  “Alright, you’ve convinced me.  I presume you think this all should come from me?”

“You need to make the chain of command clear.  If I set it up, their authority will always be derived from me, and it needs to come from you.  You’re the Boss after all.  Once you’ve spoken to them, I’ll help them get settled into their new roles with whatever time I have left.”

Rolling his eyes, he shook his head.  “Why do I get the feeling I’ve just been railroaded?”

“Not at all,” She shook her head and smiled.  “You’ve just done what every good leader has done since the beginning of time.”

“And what’s that?”

“Listened carefully to a subordinate, who is vastly more experienced in certain areas than yourself, and acted on those recommendations.”

“Ah.  That’ll be it.  I’ll call Judge and Troll later.  They’ll know what’s going on by end of play tomorrow.”

“Good.  I’ve got some more drills for the girls so I’ll be off.”  She stood and turned to leave before pausing.  “Sneaker?”

“Yes?”

“I just wanted to say thank you.”

He frowned in confusion.  “What for?”

“For getting me out of the bar last year.”

“It was Hanna,” Sneaker said shaking his head.  “She brought you into the Crew, not me.  I just didn’t say no.”

“Not then.  If you didn’t come to me and convince me to help you save Hanna, I’d still be there.”

Neither said anything for a moment, there was an elephant in the room, if Sneaker hadn’t been able to convince Valerie, Hanna would be dead.  That would have in all probability meant Sneaker himself, along with the rest of the Crew, would have died in the rescue attempt.

“You’re welcome, Valerie, and know you will always have a place here.”

She nodded and left.  The admission was a difficult one, but something she needed to say.  She owed it to Sneaker and more.

Satisfied she had paid at least some of her dues, Valerie made her way through the casino and over to the lifts.  Unlike just about every other building within Inferno’s Ghetto, these were actually working.  Sneaker was in the process of refurbishing the entire building from the basement up.  One of the first things he did was fix the lifts.

“Afternoon, Guv.”  The Enforcer on duty at the bank of lifts greeted her.

“All quiet, Twitch?”  Valerie asked the short dark-haired woman.

“Yes, Ma’am.  Everyone has been enjoying themselves and not even a hint of trouble, but it’s still early.”

“Glad to hear.  Good work.  I’ll be on the roof and then in the Sun if you need me.”

“Rather them than me,” it was common knowledge the girls were on Valerie’s shit list.  “I’m still sore from yesterday’s time on the mat.  When you want a lesson to take, you don’t mess about.”

“What would the point be otherwise?”  Valerie said with a smile as she got into the lift.

The only security on the lifts was an Enforcer for the time being.  Plans were in place to upgrade them all heavily, but there was only so much Sneaker could afford, even with everything the Crew stole over the past year.  A simple command on the panel sent the car heading up on its anti-grav to the roof.

Stepping out when the doors opened, Valerie walked down the short corridor and stood next to Shade.  He was leaning against the frame of the entrance.  Out on the flat roof, Deni and Hanna sat huddled in the shade provided by the low wall running all the way around.  The hot sun beat down.  The sweat on their exhausted bodies showed how hard they ran before she arrived.

“How’d they do?”  Valerie asked the old Enforcer.

“They did alright.  Three reps up to level twelve.”

Nodding, Valerie was pleased.  She asked him to make sure they got to at least level ten.  The girls had pushed themselves as far as they were capable of and not held back.   The sprint runs were not easy, a twenty-five metre back and forth, increasing in speed each time.

Stepping forward, Valerie unbuckled the thigh holsters holding her Mag pistols.

“Alright, girls.  On your feet.  Time for some unarmed combat practise.”  Placing the guns out of the way, Valerie moved to the centre of the roof.

“Here we go.”  Deni said as she staggered to her feet and helped up a groaning Hanna.

“Promise me, next time I have an idea, you’ll just slap me?”  Hanna said with a sigh.

“Gladly.  No way I want to do this again.”

They came over to Valerie warily and she smiled at them.  “Usual drill.  Your aim is to hit me.  That’s all you need to do.  One clean hit and you earn tomorrow off.”

“As if that’s going to happen.”  Hanna muttered, circling to Valerie’s right and Deni to her left.

Deciding to give them the advantage, Valerie turned to face Deni.  “It’s been done before.  I’m not unbeatable.”

“Yeah.  I’ll believe that when I see it.”  Deni brought her hands up and moved into a front stance.  Body sideways on to Valerie, feet shoulder length apart and facing forward.

Valerie was more casual and stood in a relaxed posture, hands by her sides.  Deni came forward slowly and Valerie could feel Hanna doing the same behind her.  That was where the attack would come from.  She didn’t turn to meet it and only waited.  Deni struck first, coming in with a combination of punches.