Hammer's War 1: Forging the Hammer (18 page)

In a van outs
ide the church, her team was sitting around a bank of screens watching and listening to everything going on inside.  The driver spoke, “Okay, here we go.  She is uploading the DNA sample now.”

Another of the men monitoring one of the screens pushed the button on his mike, “Sasha, we got it
.  Hang on.  This will take a few minutes to process.”

Using her communication implant Sasha was able to reply just by thinking, “Understood, we must have a hundred percent match or no go.”

The operator in the van nodded his head, “Got it, stand by.”

Thad needed to act fast so he stepped between F
iona and the mystery woman, “I’m sorry, but you must have me confused with someone else.  My name is Thaddeus Hammer.”

She looked hurt, “Oh
Marcus your words wound me, it’s me Sasha. You can change your face, but you can’t fool me.  I know it is you.”

Not
appreciating being body blocked, Fiona stepped around Thad, “Thad who is this trollop?”

Her tone made him feel as if he had done something wrong, but he had been honest about his past and the fact that he could not remember much
earlier than three years ago.  He couldn’t understand why she would even think he would know who this woman was.  “Fiona dear, I swear I have no idea.  I mean she could be someone from my past, but I don’t have a clue, honest.”

Sasha looked at Fiona, “Trollop, you should be careful who you are calling names
, you hussy. After all, you are stealing my husband!”

That got everyone’s attention.  All eyes were on them now
.  Thad, feeling the pressure, tried to pull them aside. However, Fiona was having none of it.  She shook off his grip and got in Sasha’s face. “Look, bitch, the man you married is gone, dead, got it!  Thad is my husband, so get lost!”

Inside Sasha’s mind she heard the voice of the operator in the van, “Okay boss it’s him
, hundred percent match.  Do you want us to move in now?”

“Negativ
e I will extract him on my own.  Stand by for the grab,” she replied by thought.

“Roger, out
,” the voice was gone.

Sasha took a hold of Thad’s arm, “Come on baby let’s go outside and talk.”

Something about this woman was familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.  Her smell was particularly strong in his memory.  He must have known her at some point.  Maybe she was who she said she was, but that would not matter now.  He didn’t know her and he loved the twins.  Something deep in his gut was telling him not to go with her, something about her was not right. 

He did not have to do anything, Fiona did it for him
, she grabbed Sasha by the forearm, “Hey, get your filthy hands off him.”

Sasha moved with cat
-like speed.  She reversed the grip and tried to put Fiona into a wristlock.  However, Fiona’s training kicked in, she countered the move and broke free.  Sasha looked surprised, “Okay bitch, let’s see what you’ve got!”  Thad racked his broken brain and some flashes of memory shook lose.  He knew she was someone from his past and he knew she was someone very dangerous. 

Fiona took up a fighting stance even though she was in her wedding dress, “I
’ll show you what I got, bitch!”  She launched into an attack, which Sasha blocked.  The two of them traded swings for a few seconds before Sasha landed one on Fiona’s mouth splitting her lip.  Thad thought this had gone on long enough.  After all, Fiona was at a great disadvantage.  She had opted for a traditional wedding dress with the large bustle and train.  He moved forward to stop the fight, but Fiona put up her hand, “Don’t you dare, she is mine!”

S
he needs to learn that sometimes it’s better to pick your battles,
he thought.  He figured that if it looked like she was in any real danger, he would stop the fight.  Sasha smiled and threw another punch at Fiona, who blocked it.  The punch was a faint and blocking her left Fiona open for the other hand to land a blow to her midsection.  This only increased the fight in Fiona.  She sunk her claws into Sasha’s hair, spun her around smashing her into the table, and jamming her head into the punch bowl, which flipped up, drenching Sasha in red punch.  Fiona let go and let Sasha fall to the floor.

Fiona made the mistake of stopping while she had the upper hand
. As she stopped to look at her handy work, Sasha rolled back to her feet in an instant.  Dripping hair flying, Sasha took advantage of the mistake, lashing out with a kick that sent Fiona flying into the wedding cake.  The guests nearest the table got a cake shower. 

Freya returned from the restroom
just in time to see her sister go flying into the cake, and thought
this can’t be good
.  She ran to Thad’s side, “Thad!” she said as she pointed to the fight indicating that he was to stop it. 

Thad shrugged his shoulders, “She told me not to
.”

She gave him a disgusted look, “Men!”  She grabbed the bottom of her dress, tore one side up to her
hip, and then the other, so she could fight better.  Freya had chosen a more modern form fitting wedding dress, so there was no problem modifying it for combat.  She kicked off her high heeled shoes, and jumped into the fray catching Sasha off guard.  Sasha had been concentrating on Fiona and did not see Freya coming. 

Freya’s
stocking foot caught Sasha right in the small of her back, knocking her flat on her face.  Sasha rolled over and jumped to her feet to see Freya standing there ready to fight.  The assassin looked over her shoulder to see Fiona had regained her footing, bleeding from her lip and covered in cake.  “Twins! I have to admit I didn’t see that one coming, but no matter I wipe the floor with the both of you.”  Overconfidence would be her downfall.  She thought, because she could beat Fiona, that Freya would be as easy.  She was, as they say in the mortician’s trade, dead wrong.

Freya charged into the fight like a female cyclone, landing hit after hit
.  She jumped and kicked like nothing Thad had seen before.  In fact, all of the men seemed to be mesmerized by the sight of three beautiful women fighting.  All the while Fiona got in the occasional hit here and there.  It took only minutes before the twins had beaten Sasha down.

The two sisters dragged
Sasha by her arms, out of the hotel and tossed her down the stairs where she rolled to the bottom.  Fiona stood there trying to straighten her dress, and wiping the cake from her hair, while Freya yelled after Sasha, “And stay out, bitch!”

Freya turned to Fiona, “You okay?”

Fiona looked down as Sasha tried to stagger to her feet.  “Yeah, thanks,” Fiona grinned, making wiping motions with her hands.   

Looking at each other
, all messy, covered with cake crumbs and smeared icing, they burst into mad laugher.  Arm in arm Fiona said, “Let’s go find that silly husband of ours.”

Inside, the guests and staff
were helping clean up the mess.  Thad was standing talking to the DJ, asking him to continue playing music so the guests could get back to dancing.  The twin brides strode up to Thad.  Fiona wiped the blood away from her sore lip and said, “Thad honey, next time I tell you not to get involved in a fight, ignore me.”

He took one look at her rapidly swelling eye, “Here
, let me get you some ice.”  He ran to the kitchen to find some.

Outside
, the team pulled up, slid the door of the van open, and pulled Sasha off the ground and into the van.  She was so beaten up it took several minutes before she was able to compose herself enough to address the team.  “Not a word!”  She stared at them.  “That didn’t go as planned.”

“I
’d say.  You got your ass kicked,” one of grab team said with a laugh.

He did not laugh for long. 
Sasha pinned his head to the side of the van with the barrel of a laser pistol, “Shut the fuck up, asshole or I will blow your brains out!”  She was a little bit pissed, “Any of you other swinging dicks have anything to say?”  No one spoke.  “Good, now the mission still stays the same and if any word of this gets out, I will cut out all of your tongues.  Got it?”

The man with the gun to his head spoke, “Do you want us to go in and grab him now,
boss?” 

She put the gun down, “No, too many people.  We can’t kill them all
.  Way too much to clean up, at least right now.  No, we will grab him at his compound tonight when he is asleep.”

“
Ah boss, how do you know he will be there tonight?”

She looked more annoyed than pissed now, “Because I was able to grab this.” she held up the wedding itinerary, “Says here, that they go back home tonight and leave the following day
, off world, for the honey moon.  We move tonight and I want you to grab those little bitches too, no one makes a fool of me, no one!”

The operator monitoring communications broke in, “Sasha, I got a call from
the boss.”

“Patch it
through to the front,” she went into the front of the van to be alone.  The Holo image of Thorne popped into view.

“What the
Hell happened to you?”  Thorne asked, surprised to see Sasha in her current condition.

“It’s nothing
Sir.  It was a slight hiccup, nothing more.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Is that cake?”

She blushed and wiped the cake from her face, “Ah, what can I do for you Sir?”

Thorne
shook his head, “Look I need you to get your sweet little ass back here now.  We had a stroke of luck.  The primary target’s personal secretary died a few hours ago in a skiing accident, saving us the trouble of terminating her.  Therefore, we are speeding up the operation and your insertion.  As soon as you are back here, you will get a full brief.”

“
Sir, what about Marcus?  It’s him, the DNA matches.”

“Leave it up to your team.  They should be able to handle a simple
snatch and grab.”

“Yes
Sir,” she looked down at the floor in disappointment.

“Oh and one more thing,”
Thorne said.

She looked
up, “Yes Sir?”

“Clean yourself up before you get back here.  You’re a mess.  Oh,
and a sanitation team should be there within an hour or so.”

“
Sir?” she asked puzzled.

“I want anyone who has any knowledge of him to be sanitized
.  Your team will do the grab while the other will take care of the cleanup,” Thorne grinned nastily.

“But
Sir, he has become somewhat of a local hero.  The whole damn town knows him,” she protested.

“I don’t care if it is the whole damn planet
.  They have their orders and so do you,” the hologram blinked and was gone.

She spoke to the empty
space, “Yes, Sir”.  For the first time ever Sasha began to question if she was on the right side.

After the reception was over
,
Thad and the twins
piled into the back of the new hover limo.  Thad noticed
the
Archie’s
misshapen head and was going to ask, but Archie caught his glance, “Don’t ask,” he said as he closed the door behind Thad.

Archie drove while Eve rode next to
him up front, leaving the newlyweds alone in the back.  Fiona was nursing her swollen eye and lip.  Freya snuggled up next to Thad and fell asleep.  All the while Thad was racking, his brain trying desperately trying to remember who Sasha was.  Rhonda made good on her threat, and went home with the young deputy.   

Sasha left for Nova Texas
right away, leaving the team on the ground with instructions to grab the newlyweds and call for extraction.  Because they did not know how much sensory equipment Thad might have, Sasha dropped them off far from the compound so they would have to walk in.  She instructed them to go by foot since vehicles would have a power signature, which could be detected. She wanted them to have the element of surprise.

It was not long into the trek before the team
discovered the choice to walk was not the best of ideas.  Tonight they were on the dark side of the planet so there was no light to illuminate their way.  With no GPS satellites to guide them, they got lost several times.  It was daybreak before they made it to the mouth of the box canyon, which held the Hammer Compound.

Shortly after the wedding party left for the Hammer
Compound, another black ship landed and the sanitation team disembarked.  They started their cleansing operation at the Nymphia.  A lot of the guests were still making good use of the open bar.  Four heavily armed men entered the ballroom and opened fire, people screamed, chaos ensued. Some tried to flee out the back only to find more men in black with guns.  When they were done in the ballroom, they started going room to room killing anyone they found.  Xandra heard the shots from her room.  She grabbed up her own gun and when the door burst open, she got the two that kicked in her door.  The first one died with a shot to the head.  Her second shot hit the other intruder in the chest.  His body armor would have stopped the shot, but unfortunately for him the laser blast hit a grenade strapped to his chest.  The explosion killed him, but the shrapnel from the grenade hit Xandra in the neck.  She tried to crawl to the first aid kit that she kept in the bathroom, but she never made it. Her wounds were too great and she bled out on the floor.

The team made short work of the hotel
. After they were done, they popped a few thermal grenades leaving the building to burn to the ground.  They left the dead where they fell.  The sanitation team then started going building to building killing anyone they could find. 

The Sherriff had left the party early
, too old and tired to carry on with the young folk.  His head had just hit the pillow when there was pounding on his door.  “Sherriff come quick there are men with guns killing everyone!”

He jumped up and ran to the door
, yanking it open to see one of his deputies, “What?”  He didn’t need to wait for an answer. He could see flames bellowing from the hotel.  “My God,” he paused taking it all in.  Then something in his brain kicked in gear, “Get in here, and grab some guns.  We have people to protect!”

Morning had come early at the Hammer Compound
and Freya was still asleep.  Fiona had spent the night in the healing tank and was looking her normal gorgeous self.  She was wearing a short white silk robe and drying her hair with a fluffy white towel, “Where’s Thad?”  She asked.  Eve told her he was in the holo-room.  She went to the kitchen, got a mug, and filled it with hot coffee. Wondering what Thad was doing in there, she walked to the holo-room.  There she found him walking around a scale model of the compound.  She walked up and kissed him on the check, “I thought my handsome husband might like some coffee.”

He took the cup, “Thank you.  You
’re looking better. How are you feeling?”

“Much better, no thanks to you,” she was
still giving him crap about last night.

Thad
took a sip of coffee then set it down on top of the model, then wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.  He bent down and kissed her on her soft lips, “Trust me that will be the last time I do as I’m told.”

She pulled away
and her robe slipped open revealing her bare breasts.  She pulled the robe open farther showing off her body, “And to think, you were going to get all of this,” she waved her hand if she was a sales model, “this morning, but fat chance of that happing now.”  She quickly pulled her robe closed trying to make a dramatic point.

“Oh my love, I wish I could play in your wonderland
, but right now we have other things to do,” he said looking at the 3-D model.

She tried to see what he was looking at, “What is all this?”

“I have been thinking about that woman, Sasha, and the way she fought,” Thad said, then took a sip of his coffee.

“You mean
the way she fought just like you?”  She asked.

“Yeah
, she did. I have only a few images and parts of memories coming back, but I do remember a mission were she was there posing as my wife,” Thad said, taking another sip.  

“So why would she show up now,
and of all days, why on our wedding day?”  She pondered out loud.

“That is what got me thinking
. The only thing I can come up with is that my past has finally caught up with me.  I think she showed up to grab me.  I’m pretty sure they want me back,” he said.

“Okay, so she tries to get you out of the
hotel where she sticks you with a syringe full of night-night juice, then what?”  She hugged his free arm.

“Something
like that.  She most likely had a team waiting to grab me, and that worries me.”  He took another drink of coffee.  “So I have been up all night trying to figure out their plan and where and how they will strike at us.”

“Okay so the bad guys are coming
. I think we can handle them, can’t we?”  She looked up at him with her deep green eyes. 

He smiled at her naivety, “Th
ey are the best at what they do in the whole universe.  It will not be easy, but I do have a plan.  You see, when you are outnumbered and out gunned, the only way to win is to prepare the battleground.  Because they didn’t come last night, tells me they are on foot.  They don’t want us to be able to detect them coming.”

Fiona
knew he was faced with a choice to break his promise, or risk all of their lives, “Are you okay with having to kill again?”

Thad slipped his arm out of hers then took her hands in his, “These people shoot and never ask questions.  I have no intention of letting them do anything to hurt you.  I know I promised to do no ha
rm, but I’m not Doctor Hammer.  I’m a killer, and I think that I’m going to have to come to terms with that. If I’m forced to kill only those who would do me or my family harm, I think I can live with that, and I think he could too.”

Happy to see that he was okay with his decision,
“Okay so what do we do?” She asked.

“Well
, I had Archie working all night and we are just about ready.  First thing they will do is send a two man sniper team to scout the target.  He pointed to a small bluff overlooking the poolside of the house.

The door opened again to the holo
-suite and Freya walked in.  She was wearing short shorts and a sports bra, “Eve said I would find you two in here,” she looked disappointed when she saw the model of the compound.

Fiona picked up on this right away, “What’s wrong sweetie?”

“Oh I was just hoping to find you two doing something fun, like taking a mud bath, but instead it looks like Thad is giving a briefing.  What have I missed?”

Thad was always a little surprised by the twins open sexuality, but he appreciated the
Hell out of it, “Nothing, I just started.”  He went on to explain everything again for her benefit then he launched into the details of his plan.  After he finished, he had to admit the plan lacked finesse, which Thad blamed on a lack of information.  However, it would do.  “Eve, are you around?”  He asked.

H
er voice came from nowhere, “I’m always around.”

“I want you to crank up the sensors, push them to max
. If a mouse farts out there, I want to know about it, got it?”  Thad said.

Eve being Eve said, “Okay Thaddeus, but do I have to remind you that Nome has no rodent population, so the chances of a mouse farting are astronomical.”

The twins laughed and Thad just shook his head.  Freya spoke, “Eve honey it was just an expression.”

Eve was
quiet for a second or two, “I see.  Okay I will alert you if anything out there is abnormal.”

Fiona spoke this time, “Thank you Eve.  You’re a doll.”

The twins looked at each other and laughed again.  Thad did not get what they were laughing at and thought
women
!

With nothing to do
, but wait, they returned to the kitchen and had breakfast. Then they waited.  It was not long before Eve alerted them to a very faint power signature coming from the buff, which Thad had pointed out as the most likely place for the sniper team to be.  He took one look at the monitor, “Yep that’s them.  Eve put a camera on that buff please.”  A picture of the bluff appeared on screen, but there was nothing, “See right there,” he pointed to a spot on the screen.

Freya said, “Nope
, don’t see it.”

“Look really close, you will see a slight distortion in the image
, right here.” He put his finger on the screen just below where he wanted them to look. 

Fiona spotted it, “I see it
!  It looks like the outline of a person lying down, but how?”

“Active camouflage, normally
the power signature is masked and the effect is undetectable, but when you get two suits too close together, like a sniper team, the fields interfere with each other. The effect of two units that close disrupts the effect just enough for you to detect it, if you know to look for it.” 

Freya was
still trying to see what they were talking about, “Okay so what now?”

Thad smiled, “Now it begins
. Freya how do you feel about a little nude sun bathing?”

“I’
m game, what’s the plan?”  She said.

On the bluff the sniper team was in place
. The shooter was watching the house through his scope while the spotter was watching though his spotting scope.  He was marking ranges and prepping for action if they had to shoot.  The spotter saw his first, “Target, one o’clock low, five hundred meters.  Wow, you should take a look at that ass!”

“All I can say is lucky bastard.  Twins, I would give my left
testicle to bed down twins,” the sniper said.

“I
’ll remember to cut it off you after you have your turn with them,” replied the spotter.

The sniper laughed, “Oh
how kind of you to wait until after.” 

The voice of the team commander came over their
comms, “You two will have to wait your turn.  I get first crack at them, so don’t go messing up the merchandise.”

The sniper
snickered, “I wouldn’t dream of it, it would be like damaging a Rembrandt.”

Freya had the whole grab t
eam right where she wanted them, looking at her and nothing else.  The rest of the team was watching everything the sniper team was sending back on helmet-mounted monitors.  She stripped off her top showing off her perky breasts.

“Oh damn, she is going native,” the spotter said. 

She slowly took down her shorts showing off her prefect ass when Thad’s voice came over her comm link, “Careful sweetie, don’t make it too obvious.”

“Oh Thad baby, you are no fun,” Freya replied.

Thad groaned, “This is a life and death situation and she is worried about fun, women!  Archie have you calculated the sun reflection angle?”

“Yes
Mr. Thaddeus Sir. It was not hard to do,” Archie replied with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

“Okay give us a
few seconds to get ready,” Thad nodded to Fiona who was lying next to him on a table in the upstairs bedroom, which they had converted into a snipers nest.  Both of them were behind reproductions of the old .50 cal Barrett sniper rifle.

Outside, near
the pool, Freya was completely naked and sitting on a chair, while Archie rubbed sun tan lotion on her back.  “Now” Thad said over the com. Archie turned so the sun light reflected off his shinny head and directly onto the sniper team.  Their active camouflage flared in the sun light and for few seconds they were visible.  Upstairs in the sniper hide Thad took aim at the sniper, let his breath out, and gently squeezed the trigger.  Inside the room, there was a deafening roar.  Seconds later Fiona followed suit.

On the hill, the spotter heard the sound of shattering glass and felt a warm spray hit his left check
.  He did not have to look over to know the man next to him was dead.  “Oh shit!” was the second to last thing that went through his mind. Before he could do anything, his own head exploded into a pink mist of blood, bone, and brain.