“Gentleman, thank you for making such excellent time in arriving. I’ve called you here due to some unfortunate developments that I regrettably must inform you of.”
Holloway went on to explain the circumstances surrounding Jeremy’s death, as well as the news about Victoria’s presence and the threat she presented. Eventually, he’d filled Chaos Squad in on all of the recent developments.
“This brings us to our course of action,” Holloway began, taking a seat and gazing at his mercenaries. “As I’ve already explained to Mr. Kinney, a brute force assault will be exactly what they’re expecting. We must fight their cunning with an equal amount of guile.
“It is not my intention to offend, but I feel as if you’ve all been with me long enough to know that I do not insult. I merely deal in pure facts. The fact of the matter is that Victoria is more intelligent and resourceful than any man in this room, save myself. Detective Walker—even more so. The threat that these two present is very real.”
One of the men on Brody’s team, Purefoy, spoke up during this pause. “What’s the big deal? We’re in good shape. We have Walker’s wife and kids. We own him.”
“Is that what you think? Do you have children, Mr. Purefoy? A wife? Anything?” Holloway goaded.
“No, sir.”
“Then you do not understand what it is to have your family taken from you. I admit that I also do not fully understand the emotional attachment that a man has to his family, but I have studied the human condition long enough to know that a protective father is as dangerous as any cornered animal. We cannot wait him out—Detective Walker will not simply give up and go home. He will pursue us until his family is safe or until he is dead. All of you know that Walker killed my son, but do any of you know why?”
Heads shook all around.
“Walker put himself between my son and the woman that he was about to murder. The detective took a bullet in his throat and nearly died to protect a perfect stranger. Can you fathom, now, what he would be willing to do to protect his wife and children? Gentlemen, our bargaining chips have now become our greatest threat.”
“Why don’t we just let the wife and kids go?” asked another merc.
“A reasonable idea, but they
are
still our bargaining chips—the Company team would assault our location the moment they confirmed the Walker women were safe. His family is both the reason we have yet to be attacked
and
the reason that we are certain to be—if that makes any sense. Victoria and Walker
will
come for them, have no doubt in your minds, but the detective is clever, and he will surely have a strong plan. This is the reason why we must think, and
then
act.”
Brody spoke up, losing his patience for his boss’s theatrics. He was ready to finally confront the detective.
“So, what
is
our
plan?” he asked.
Finally, Holloway laid out his plan.
The old man had really thought of everything.
Meghan was sitting at the dining table with Violet and Katie, drawing pictures on hotel stationery, when the three large men rapidly entered the room and began shouting. Instinctively, she leapt from her seat and put herself between the men and her daughters.
“Step aside, Mrs. Walker. We don’t want to have to hurt you,” commanded a large man in a brightly colored polo shirt and cargo khakis. He looked tough, sunburned and frustrated, yet Meghan refused to budge.
“No,” she stated, crossing her arms. “Why are you here?”
“Those girls are coming with us,” said the big man, gesturing toward Violet and Katie, but offering no further explanation.
“Over my dead body,” Meghan snarled, staring daggers into the giant’s eyes.
The big man gritted his teeth then suddenly lashed out at Meghan with a vicious backhand, catching her square on the cheek and sending her stumbling away. Stars danced in her vision and she tasted blood in her mouth.
“Brody! Come on, man!” shouted one of the other men. “You weren’t supposed to touch her.”
“You’ll keep your mouth shut if you don’t want to be next, Addams,” threatened Brody, pointing a finger at him before stepping toward Violet and Katie.
The girls shrank away from him, but they did not run—Meghan was proud of their courage in the face of danger. Brody grabbed Violet by her shirt and lifted the girl to her feet, roughly shoving her toward Addams, who grabbed hold of her wrist. Meghan lunged toward her daughter in an attempt to prevent these men from taking her away. She’d almost made it to Violet when a hand knotted itself into her hair and violently pulled her back. Brody spun her around and struck her again, this time with a closed fist. Meghan felt the skin on her cheek split as she screamed from the pain. Even though the force of the punch was crushing, she could tell that the man had held back, careful not to cause any permanent damage.
Dazed and off balance from the savage attacks, Meghan fell to her knees as the other men dragged Violet and Katie, kicking and screaming, from the room. The door closed behind them and she was left alone in the villa with Brody. Meghan’s tears mixed with the blood from her cheek before dribbling to the floor. Still, she refused to let this man gain any satisfaction from these attacks. She dried her eyes with the back of her hand and stood once more.
“What are you going to do with my daughters?” she asked, her voice shaky yet firm.
“The boss wants them. It seems your beloved Charlie is attempting to rescue you,” he said with a sarcastic laugh. “But we have a plan of our own. Divide and conquer.”
Meghan’s spirits lifted at the sound of her husband’s name. He was still alive! She’d heard no news on Charlie’s condition since the night before, when Holloway had told her what had been in store for him. She’d known that Holloway could never stop her husband, for Charlie was the truest of heroes—one of the few truly selfless individuals left in the world. Even though the situation was grim, she smiled. Brody noticed.
“What the fuck are you smiling about?” he asked, glaring at her.
“Charlie,” she replied, her smile growing wider. “He’s coming.”
Brody stepped so close that she could smell the pungent aroma of sweat mixed with sunscreen. He looked directly into her eyes before speaking.
“Do I look worried to you?” he asked, in a near whisper. “Does it look like your runt of a husband has me running scared? No. Do you want to know why?”
Meghan crossed her arms once more and held his stare, but remained silent. Brody continued his display of masculinity.
“Because I’ve killed men like him before—lots of them. He’s just another notch on the stock of my rifle. Let me tell you about men like your husband. They think that just because they’re well educated and can solve a few Sudoku puzzles that they’re invincible. Well, before the day is through, I’ll show you just how wrong you both are.”
“You have no chance,” Meghan laughed. “You think you’re so tough. Let me
tell
you
about my husband, you fucking Neanderthal. Charlie is the finest man you will ever come into contact with. He’s smarter, he’s stronger and he’s
better
than you. He will come for us, and he will kill you for what you’ve done.” She stared defiantly into Brody’s eyes, but the big man simply smiled.
“Just for that, I’m going to beat your husband to death with my bare fucking hands, and I’m going to make you watch. Oh—and as a consolation prize—you and I are going to have some fun before your hero
gets here.” Brody’s hand found its way to the small of Meghan’s back and his fingers began to slide beneath the waistband of her shorts.
Shocked and disgusted, Meghan threw her fist into Brody’s unguarded nose as hard as she could—pivoting at the waist and following through, twisting her hips to add extra force to the punch. She felt the cartilage in his nose crush beneath her knuckles, even as something gave way in her right wrist with a sharp
crack
. Brody recoiled from her, clutching his broken nose and trying to staunch the flow of blood. She ignored the pain in her wrist—surely broken or sprained—and stared at the big man, waiting. He began striding toward her, blood already coating the front of his shirt. He stopped just outside of her reach, clearly wary of another attack.
“You fucking bitch! Try that again and I’ll—”
Meghan gave him no chance to finish; she lunged forward and attempted to throw another haymaker with her uninjured hand. Unfortunately, Brody was prepared for this second assault and he batted away her swing even as his other fist came rocketing toward her face. For the third time in as many minutes, Brody struck the same part of Meghan’s cheek with devastating force, knocking the slender woman from her feet.
Meghan lost consciousness during her fall, but her last thoughts were of her beautiful daughters and loving husband, hoping they were happy and safe.
She hoped she would survive to see them again.
Charlie and Kalani were seated next to each other on a bus bound for Hollywood Studios. According to Mason’s facial recognition software—which had so far only located four members of Chaos Squad—as of ninety-six minutes ago, two mercenaries were near the Tower of Terror, and records showed that they’d been in the same place all day near the entrance to the queue. Charlie and Kalani had no plan of attack once they acquired a visual of the enemy, but Kalani assured him that improvising was ‘kind of his thing.’ All Charlie could do was shrug, grin and offer up his mind as a resource to his gigantic new Hawaiian friend.
•••
Earlier, before leaving the Liberty Tree, Charlie had handed over Jeremy’s weapon to Mason for disposal. After leaving the Magic Kingdom, Kalani had thought it would be a good idea for Charlie to remain armed, so they’d returned to the Caribbean Beach to pick up his Walther. Kalani had remained at the bus stop while Charlie headed for the room, just in case Holloway was running surveillance on the place.
Entering the room, he found it much the way he’d left it, although housekeeping had clearly made their daily visit. A rabbit-shaped towel animal sat on the bed nearest the door. The pirate-themed gift basket still lay on the table, although it had been neatly repacked. Ignoring the tidy room, Charlie quickly made his way to the safe and unlocked it.
Over the years since he’d purchased the black Epcot T-shirt he was wearing, he’d filled out with muscle, so the shirt fit him more snugly. Still, it adequately covered his holster and spare magazine—so he didn’t bother to change. Looking at himself in the mirror, he noticed how terrible he looked. His eyes were ringed with the dark circles that come as a result of a lack of sleep, his five o’clock shadow had made an appearance and his shoulders slumped with the heavy burden and stress of the crisis at hand.
He placed his hands on the counter and leaned in, staring his reflection straight in the eyes and having a silent conversation. As he looked into his own bloodshot eyes, he steeled his nerves for what was certainly to come: violence—and lots of it. As an officer of the law, Charlie had never been a proponent of violence, having seen firsthand the results of such passionate releases. He’d seen the bodies of countless victims of violent crimes and they’d affected him deeply. He’d become a detective to put an end to these things, not to add to the number of casualties.
All of his training told him to search for a peaceful resolution to this crisis, but his brain and his instincts told him that peace was no longer an option. The primeval man that lived within his mind—that lives within the minds of
all
men—was taking charge, telling him that peace was an illusion, and that this had escalated into an all-out war.
Wars were fought and won at the hands of the most powerful and violent combatants. To emerge victorious and save his family, he must become that which he worked every day to defeat: a killer. To be the savior that his family needed, Charlie knew that he must adopt the mindset of X-ray Team. Meghan, Violet and Katie were good people—pure, innocent people—who weren’t able to help themselves out of their situation. They needed someone who was willing to match the evil that held them, stride for stride. One last glimpse in the mirror revealed a changed man. A ferocity that he’d never before seen had washed over him. He looked hardened. More determined. Stronger.
He looked
ready
.
Sighing, Charlie loaded the Walther and chambered a round before holstering it. He looked around the room one final time, praying that it would be the last time he would ever see the place without his arm around his wife and his giggling daughters jumping across the beds.
He grabbed one of the Blackberry batteries Holloway had left and installed it in the phone.
Finally, he left the once-cheerful room and headed straight for the frontlines.
•••
As a testament to Disney’s security forces, Charlie and Kalani walked straight past the bag search with their firearms concealed beneath their shirts while elderly security guards picked through the diaper bags of mothers and the fanny-packs of toddlers. Charlie shook his head in bewilderment as he and Kalani passed by unhindered, never glanced at twice, while innocent senior citizens were having their oxygen tank carriers searched.
Thankfully, we’re the good guys,
Charlie thought.
Kalani already had a Park Hopper ticket so they made it inside without delay. Wasting no time stopping to see the sights, Charlie led Kalani directly toward the Tower of Terror. The huge faux-hotel lived up to its namesake, towering over the masses, visible from almost any place in the park. The crowds seemed strangely light for the time of day, but Charlie was just thankful that Kalani was able to keep up with him in his haste to reach the attraction.
Stopping halfway along Sunset Boulevard, Charlie and Kalani bought turkey legs from a nearby stand and sat at a table near Fairfax Fare affording them a clear view of the entire area. Charlie wasn’t hungry, and he’d only bought the slab of meat to keep up his cover, but Kalani eagerly set to work, ravenously devouring his. Charlie laughed while watching the big Hawaiian and shook his head lightly.
“What?” Kalani asked, powering through another mouthful of turkey.
“Nothing, man,” Charlie said. “Pull out your phone. What do these guys look like? Mason sent you pictures, right?”
“Oh, yeah,” Kalani replied, setting the turkey leg on its foil wrapper and fishing around for his phone. He pulled up the pictures and handed the phone to Charlie.
Before Charlie could get a good look at the Chaos Squad boys, Kalani’s phone began to ring. Victoria’s name flashed on the screen, along with a picture of her wearing a black bikini and holding an assault rifle—clearly taken while on what would seem to be a very interesting vacation. Charlie pointed to the screen and showed it to Kalani.
“What’s
that
all about?” he joked.
“Inside joke, braddah. Answer it, will you? I’m sure it’s for you anyway.”
Charlie did as he was told while Kalani fought a losing battle with some flimsy napkins.
“Victoria, it’s Charlie,” he said.
“Good, Charlie, I was hoping you’d be nearby. An opportunity has come up, and I’ve made a decision,” she informed him.
“Talk to me.”
“Ten minutes ago, a kid threw up on Space Mountain. And I’m literally talking about
on
Space Mountain. Splashed the people behind him. Huge mess.”
“There’s our opening,” Charlie said, seeing where she was heading with this.
“You’re damn right it is. I’ve already moved on it. I’ve got Jen-Jen and McCoy heading down to City Hall to get Space Mountain evacuated
before
they get that mess cleaned up.”
“Wait—you’re calling in an evac order on the ride?” Charlie asked.
“Yes. It’s the only way to be completely sure. They’re not telling them why, they’re just telling them who we are and that the attraction needs to be empty and offline ASAP. But Charlie?”
“Yeah?”
“All hell is possibly about to break loose. My Dad will know as soon as the place is evacuated. That means that he and his boys will be on high alert from this point on,” Victoria warned.
“This is our only chance to take the bomb out of the picture. It’s the only way. Do it.”
“I’m glad you agree. Have you and Kalani had any luck finding the Chaos guys at the Tower?” she asked.
“Not yet, but we just got here. The area is not that crowded, though. I’ve scanned it, but I haven’t seen anybody who looks like they could be a merc. You called before I could look at the pictures.”
“Okay,” she acknowledged. “Keep up the search and call me if you find anything.”
“Likewise,” Charlie said before terminating the call and looking at the photos.
“So, Vee’s evacuating the Mountain, eh?” Kalani observed. “Good call. Might make some trouble for us back at the Company, but she’s saving a lot of lives—it’s worth the extra paperwork.”
“Agreed,” Charlie said, absently, his focus still on the two men in the photographs. He didn’t recognize either of them, but he was absolutely certain that they were not here. He’d scanned the area several times in the ten minutes they’d been there and he hadn’t seen anyone who came close to resembling the two mercenaries. It was discouraging and frustrating.
“So, you find our guys yet, Sherlock?” Kalani asked, finishing his turkey leg and stealthily reaching for Charlie’s, which he’d abandoned after getting his hands on Kalani’s phone.
Noticing Kalani’s slowly encroaching hand, Charlie slid the turkey leg toward him before replying. “No, Kalani. That’s the thing—I don’t see these guys anywhere. The facial recognition software had shots of them every five minutes since right around nine this morning. Where the hell did they disappear to?”
“Are you sure they’re not here?” he asked, shrugging and picking up Charlie’s turkey leg. “Maybe they just went to take a piss or something.”
“A ten minute piss?” Charlie shot back. “No, something isn’t right. Let’s check the area by Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster, just to be sure, but I have a feeling that these guys bugged out.”
They stood and quickly hurried to the adjacent area, standing on the knee-high brick wall in front of the giant red guitar to get a better view. Still, the area wasn’t very crowded and it didn’t take more than a couple of minutes for Charlie to realize that the Chaos Squad mercs were nowhere to be found.
“Damn it, Kalani. Those guys are gone,” Charlie breathed, frustrated.
“You sure, braddah?” Kalani asked, even though he knew the answer. He took a bite of the turkey leg.
“I’m positive. Where the hell did they go? Get a hold of Mason for me. We need to track these idiots down.”
Kalani pulled out his phone and, once again, Victoria’s name and picture popped up on the screen before he could do anything. He answered the call and Charlie listened to his side of the conversation. He watched the big Hawaiian’s joviality slowly disappear from his face and be replaced by steely determination as the call went on.
“Hey, Vee…Yeah…What? When?…Do you know where they went?…Okay. Here, tell Charlie.” Kalani handed the phone to Charlie, his expression grim.
“What’s going on, Victoria?” Charlie asked, worried that something had happened to his family in retaliation for Victoria evacuating Space Mountain.
“My Dad’s cooking up something new. We just received facial recognition hits on all twelve members of Chaos Squad.”
“What?” Charlie exclaimed, incredulous. “Where?”
“They were all captured in less than a half-hour by a camera in the lobby of Bay Lake Tower.”
“Jesus,” Charlie breathed.
“Charlie, they’ve turned that tower into a goddamned fortress.”