Reason For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 1) (35 page)

The lift doors stood next to the two new corpses.  Valerie moved swiftly to take up position at the corner to watch for any others.

“All clear,” she called back to the team.  Sneaker came out first, followed by Rush, Hobbs came last.

Sneaker, with his rifle slung and his pistol in his left hand, used the right to manipulate the datapad.  His fingers danced as he swiftly switched from one camera to the next.  “This floor is clear I think.  Bad guys on the stairs both above and below us.  They look confused and are shouting at each other.”  He looked up at Valerie where she had her back to him.  “They look scared.”

“Good.”  Valerie simply said.  “Find me a floor where we can get to the stairs unopposed.  Preferably with a few targets nearby we can take out.  I want to thin the herd a bit before we go for Tumbler.  Rush and Hobbs.  Get the doors open.”

“Lightning, at this point if, I was them I’d be terrified,” Valerie heard Hobbs mutter.

“Hey, I’m just happy to be alive.”  Rush replied.  He broke the control panel off with the butt of his rifle and ripped most of the electronics out.  The buildings cheap and simply construction helped, there were no complicated or wireless systems, just wires running from the control box directly to the doors.  Rush quickly sorted through the various wires, found the ones he was looking for and connected them together.  The doors slid silently open.

Hobbs switched on the light at the end of his rifle, panning the beam up and down the dark shaft.  Light, heat and smoke was coming up from the still burning wreckage of the lift cars, Hobbs and Valerie destroyed earlier.  The light was dim and the heat would be uncomfortable rather than dangerous, it was the smoke that would cause the problem.  It was thick and heavy with chemicals from the lifts various systems.

“Climbing up here isn’t going to be easy,” Hobbs told the others.  “There’s a service ladder, but the smoke is going to be a bitch.  Anyone think to bring re-breathers?”

“Nope,” Rush said.  “But we won’t need them.”  He ducked back through the hole they’d used to get into the corridor and was gone only a couple of minutes.  When he climbed out he was holding a bundle of rags and a saucepan of water.  “I noticed a kitchen unit back there with running water.  I doubt we’ll like the smell, but if we soak these rags and tie them round our nose and mouths, it should keep the worst out.  Our goggles will be able to protect our eyes.”

Valerie strode over.  “Good work, Rush.  Can you shut the doors after we’re in?”

He looked up from where he was busily stuffing the rags into the pan and stared at the lift door frowning.  “Yeah, should be OK.  There’ll be a manual lever just inside for the maintenance guys.  Sneaker, catch.”  Rush threw one of the wet rags over to him as he continued to study the cameras.

He caught it easily and turned to Valerie as he tied it on.  “Fourth floor up will do the trick.  I can’t see any movement in the corridors and there’s a small group hunkered down at the stairs.  If we go in quietly, we should be able to take them cleanly.”

“I like it,” Valerie said.  “We go up then.  I’ll take point.”  She turned to Rush who handed her a rag.  “You take the rear and shut us in.  I take it the same lever will open the door above?”

“That’s what it’s designed to do anyway.”  Rush replied while he tied his own rag on.  “Whether it’s been kept in working order is another matter, same as the one down here.”

Valerie thought for a moment.  “We’ll have to risk it, I should be able to get the doors open if I have to.  Where do I need to look for it?”

“Left hand side,” Rush said.  “It will be a small grey lever about halfway up next to the door.  It’s pretty much the same colour as the shaft, it won’t be easy to see.”

“Don’t worry I’ll check the one here so I’ll recognise it before I go up.”  Holstering her pistols she activated the lights on her goggles and swung through the door onto the ladder.  After a quick glance to familiarise the shaft and check the location of the switch, she headed up.  Her lights didn’t show much through the smoke.  She couldn’t see a lot more than a metre ahead of her, but that was all she needed.

Valerie concentrated on the sounds around her, filtering out the crackle from down below and the sounds of the others following her.  She concentrated on the doors above, trying to pick out any sounds of movement, to compensate for her limited visibility.  Anyone looking down on them would be able to see the glow of the lights.  It would be down to pure luck, if they assumed it came from the fire below rather than someone trying to ascend the shaft.

The rag stank as bad as Rush said it would.  It reeked of stale sweat and stuff Valerie tried her best not to think about.  In the back of her mind, she cursed her enhanced senses while relying on them to keep them all safe.  The smoke was bad though and it took considerable concentration to prevent herself from coughing.  The others couldn’t help themselves.  She heard them from below her as she climbed steadily up the ladder.  They were doing their best to muffle themselves as much as possible, so she didn’t blame them.

She was pleasantly surprised by the ladder.  It was in better condition than she originally feared, based on the state of the rest of the building.  It felt smooth and clean, without any feel of decomposition.  Tumbler must have the lift cars and shaft regularly maintained, probably due to the adverse effect it would have on her business, if either of the shafts were out of order.  It almost made her smile, as she thought about the head of a criminal gang having to worry about such mundane things.

Valerie counted the doors as she passed them until the fourth one appeared.  It didn’t take long to find the lever, just as Rush described and in the same place as the one several floors below.  Now came the tricky bit, she was too far away from Sneaker to check if the way was clear.  Valerie switched off her head lights.  With her left hand holding on to the ladder, she pulled the lever before swiftly drawing her right pistol.  When the doors eased open, she was aiming through them, ready for any surprises. 

None were readily apparent, with no one trying to kill her or even in sight.  She stepped from the ladder into a corridor almost identical to the one below.  Only this one didn’t have the hole in the wall or the bodies on the floor.  The corridor ended at an apartment door in both directions, with another leading towards the stairs about half way along it, not far from Valerie.  She moved over to the corner and peeked round carefully.

Again, no one was in sight.  It looked like nothing changed since Sneaker told her what he’d seen.  She glanced back to see Hobbs was out of the shaft, his rifle pointing in the opposite direction to her as he took up rear guard.  Sneaker came out and joined Valerie, already checking his datapad.

“All the same here,” he told her.  “That group is still by the stairs.  I think they’re holdup and hoping they can stay out of the way.”

“Too bad,” Valerie replied.  “We can’t afford to leave them.  They might decide they need to get into this fight later or Gaunt’s going to rip them a new one.  We take them as planned.  What about the floors above and below?  Any other groups we can aim for?”

Sneaker frowned and licked his lips.  “You’re in luck.  They seem to have no idea where we are and have split up into several groups, working in a search pattern.  Mostly concentrated below us, but with some above and on the stairs themselves.”

“OK, we take these four out quietly and head up.”  Valerie looked back as Rush joined them and waved Hobbs over.  When he got there, she handed out her orders.  “Hobbs, you’re back to Slackman.  Rush, rear guard.  Sneaker, stay between them and keep an eye on that datapad.  You see anything I need to know, shout.  I’m point.”  The three of them nodded in acknowledgement.

Valerie pointed to Sneakers datapad.  “Show me our targets.”

He tapped a couple of commands in and turned his arm round to show her.  “Here they are, about five metres back from the stairs.  Holdup behind this barricade.”  Valerie could see three men and a woman, all clustered behind a pile of furniture.

“They’re watching the stairs.  Expecting us to come at them that way.”  Valerie mused.  “No one is watching their backs.”  She pointed to a corridor junction not far behind them.  “This is our route, we can get right there without them having a clue.  Can you get us there, Sneaker?”

He pulled his arm back to him and tapped away on the datapad.  “Shouldn’t be a problem.  Yep, here we go.  I got us a route.”

“Direct me at each intersection.  Let’s go.”  Valerie moved out with Hobbs not far behind.  It didn’t take long to find themselves sneaking up on the corner they wanted.

Valerie could hear two of Tumbler’s four people talking quietly to each other.  She signalled to Hobbs with her hands, not wanting to give their position away by talking.  With a palm facing towards them, followed by pointing to herself and Tumbler’s people, she ordered him and the others to wait there, while she took care of the targets.

Valerie holstered her pistols.  She drew the Dragon fang in her right and Thermal blade in her left.  Prepared, she stepped quickly round the corner.  Her enhanced physique allowed her to move much faster than an average human being, coupled with her years of combat training and experience they didn’t stand a chance.

The first died with a slashed throat from the fang and the second as she thrust her Thermal deep into his chest.  The third turned towards Valerie, her mouth opening in surprise as Valerie let go of the Thermal, leaving it smoking in the still falling body and slammed the palm of her hand into the woman’s nose.  Driving the bones deep up into the woman’s brain and killing her instantly. 

The last remaining man was standing almost directly in front of Valerie, his rifle now swinging in her direction.  She dropped the fang, stepped into him and swept the rifle barrel aside from her.  She continued the movement, getting very close and inside the firing arc of his rifle.  Her left hand clasped his head almost in a lovers embrace, swiftly followed by her right on the other side, with the crack of breaking wood, she wrenched his head round and snapped his neck.  His now limp body falling to the floor as his life left him expeditiously.

She stepped back from the now deceased three men and one woman, waving for the others to come out.  Hobbs moved quickly, obviously afraid something had gone wrong, only to find the dead lying there unmoving.

“What.  How did you?  You were gone seconds.”  He said in clear disbelief with a look of awe and fear on his face.

Valerie looked at him for a moment and drew her pistols.

“There are more out there.  Up we go.”

Someone was shrieking again.  A woman’s voice.  It was high pitched and frantic.  There was terror underlining every word.

“Where the fuck are they?  Have you seen them?  Hello?  Hello?”

“I think she got them,” a stuttering fearful man’s voice said.

“Shit.  Of course she got them,” the woman replied.  “How the fuck is she doing this?  One minute she’s in one place and another the next.  Always killing more people.”  There was a pause, as though everyone in the room was taking a deep breath.  The woman carried on a slightly more normal and calmer tone of voice.  “What about the blast doors?  Can we unseal them and get the fuck out of here at least?”

“We’re working on it, but as I told you, the system was designed so only the security room could do it.”  That was the same man as before.  “When they destroyed it, they not only took away our access to the cameras, but completely totalled the computers and the control codes for the doors with them.  We’ve got the backups, but we need to pull all the cables together to send the signals simultaneously, if we don’t, it will completely shut down and we won’t be able to budge them.  The only way out will be to dig through the walls.”

“That would take weeks, all the walls are reinforced with carbonide down there.”  A third voice joined the conversation, another woman.

“I fucking paid for them,” the first woman said.  Tumbler.  That was her name.  The thought pushed its way sluggishly into Hanna’s brain.  “So don’t you think I know what they’re fucking made of?  What about the damn hanger doors, have you found out why the override won’t work?”

The stuttering man answered that one as well.  “We think when they blew the security room it sent a surge through the control lines to the hanger.  It’s shorted the system there and until we can find the source of the surge, the doors aren’t going to budge.

It all came rushing back to Hanna and she forced her eyes open.  There was no longer a guard over her and much fewer people in the room.  Gaunt still stood by Tumbler and the only other people in the room were a short, dirty blonde, European woman and an even shorter dark haired, African man.  Tumbler turned from the other two to Gaunt.

“They’re too close for comfort.  Take who’s left outside, find her and kill her.”  The big man replied with merely a nod and strode out of the room.

Tumbler pointed to the other two.  “Secure those doors and drag the desk over.  If Gaunt can’t stop her, she’s going to fucking roll in here and kill us all.”  The two of them scrambled to obey, swinging the double doors shut and locking them.  The doors weren’t anything special and made out of the same Polycarb, Carbon-Fibre and Biofibre as the rest.  It wouldn’t keep out a rampaging rabbit, let alone a trained and deadly killer.  Aside from the desk, there was little furniture in the office.  From what Hanna could see, Tumbler preferred a more minimalist approach.  All they had to work with was a large settee and a drinks cabinet.  Everything else was built into the walls.

The two of them dragged the settee over to the doors.  Tumbler stood to one side, hands on her hips, watching them.  They pushed it hard against the doors before running over to the other end of the office, to grab the drinks cabinet. 

Hanna blinked hard, trying to clear the fog out of her head and she remembered the pick in her boot.  She tried to move her boots closer to her hands, but she had now lost all feeling in her fingers.  She could no longer tell if they were responding to her commands and the pain from her shoulder was building again.  All she could do was lay there helpless, hoping whoever was coming for Tumbler wouldn’t kill her out of hand.

The drinks cabinet was now on top of the settee and they were pushing the desk over.  It was a big, heavy, handmade wooden piece of furniture and, in Hanna’s professional thief’s opinion, probably cost more money than she had seen in her life. They were struggling to shift it across the thick rug.  It was evidently too heavy to lift and the legs were digging in.  The man cast several hateful expressions at Tumbler, but she just ignored him, staring at the doors.  Hanna heard the man mumble something to the woman as they heaved the desk over onto its side.  She was too far away to catch what he said.  She guessed, from the looks on their faces, it wasn’t complimentary to Tumbler. 

Seemingly oblivious to this, Tumbler shook herself and strode over to the communications console.  Several guns were propped up there.  She selected a rifle of some type.  Hanna thought from Trolls little lecture the other day that it was a Pulse rifle.

“Grab a weapon,” Tumbler commanded the other two.  “They could be here any minute.” 

As if to punctuate her very words, the sound of gunfire erupted from outside the door.  The man and blonde woman practically ran to get their guns, fear openly apparent on their faces.  Tumbler calmly crouched behind the desk, aiming her rifle directly at the door.  The woman set up next to her, brow slick with sweat, eyes darting everywhere.  Looking for a way out and the man stood just behind Tumbler, seemingly on the point of flight, but with nowhere to go.

There were several screams and shouts from beyond the door along with the gun fire, then silence.  No one moved or said anything until suddenly the door above the settee was ripped apart.  The settee itself absorbing numerous rounds.  Tumbler rose up slightly, about to fire, when the man slammed the butt of his rifle into the back of her head.  She collapsed instantly, banging her head hard on the desk as she went down

The blonde woman jerked back in shock, looking at the man in disbelief.  “What are you doing?”

“Shut up,” he said.  “I’m fucking getting out of here alive.”  He threw his gun down and started shouting as loud as he could.  “Stop shooting.  Stop shooting.  We surrender.”  The blonde woman came to a quick decision and followed suit.  Her gun followed his to the ground and she added her calls of their submission.  Both of them stood there with their hands high above their heads.

The firing stopped and a boot smashed through what was left of the lock, pushing the settee back.  Hanna was on the floor and off to one side.  She couldn’t see who lifted the settee as it rose up on one side, it’s bulk hiding whoever was responsible, until it was carelessly pushed right over and out of the way.  The drinks cabinet slammed to the floor, bottles scattering everywhere.  Hanna really couldn’t believe it.  There stood Valerie, looking straight at her with the same expression as she had in the alley.  Her eyes held shock and sympathy for just a moment, before they hardened. She stepped further into the room.

“Back away,” she ordered and the man and woman retreated back, almost stumbling over the rug.

Sneaker followed Valerie into the room and immediately dashed over to Hanna.  “Sneaker!” she exclaimed.  “I didn’t dream you’d come for me.”

“Hey, kiddo,” he said kindly.  “You’re only here because of me.”  He kneeled down next to her, tapping quickly on his datapad and inserted a small sensor into its side.  Converting it to a medical examiner.

Rush appeared next to him.  “Hades, Hanna, you don’t look good.  Can we get those cuffs off her?” he asked Sneaker worriedly.

“Hang on, Rush.  I need to see how bad things are first and check we won’t do any more damage.”  Sneaker was studying the readings when Hanna caught movement from behind him.

A dark haired man flew backwards through the door as though thrown.  Valerie was still standing not far from the door and already reacting, spinning towards the new threat.  Her hands were going for her holstered pistols, but they diverted as the flying man headed straight for her.  She moved so quickly, Hanna could barely follow her as she caught the flying man.  Spinning round in a full circle, he slid away behind her.  She came round the full three hundred and sixty degrees to face the door, as the Juggernaut that was Gaunt, came charging at her.

***

The last two of Tumblers people were standing there terrified behind an upturned desk.  Their guns were on the floor, hands above their heads and a dark haired woman sprawled on the desk in front of them.  Valerie guessed that was Tumbler from Sneaker’s description.  She couldn’t tell if the female Boss was alive or dead and didn’t really care.  Keeping her eye on the surrendered criminals, she bent over and heaved the settee out of the way.

As she threw it over on its side, she saw Hanna lying on the floor, curled up, bloody and battered, obviously in pain.  Those blue eyes met her hazel ones and it felt as though her heart broke all over again.  The image of Daphne, Bobbie and Tom’s bodies flashed in her mind.  It threatened to overwhelm her and all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry.  She couldn’t afford that, not here.  She had no idea if she would ever get up again.  She pushed it all down deep, into a Carbon Steel box in her heart and slammed the lid shut.

Valerie looked over to the two behind the desk.  “Back away.”  She ordered and they stumbled back, fear evident on their faces.  Sneaker came in behind her and she saw out of the corner of her eye, he went straight to Hanna, followed shortly by Rush.  She wasn’t now sure what to do.  She was contemplating just shooting the last two, to finish this day off, when she heard a sound from behind.  It set off her internal warning instincts and she spun towards it.  She was reaching for her guns and surprised to see Hobbs flying backwards through the air towards her.  Not having time to dodge out of the way, she half caught him, using his weight and momentum to turn her around, while bringing him down to the floor more gently.

His body was a limp weight.  Some far off part of her hoped he was unconscious rather than dead, as she let go of him close to the floor and he rolled away from her.  She didn’t have time to check.  She continued her turn to find a massively muscled, wild haired man charged towards her.  He was already too close for her guns.  His arms were spread wide to grab her in a bear hug.  She dropped her right shoulder and launched herself straight at him.  Matching him charge for charge.

The impact was jarring, his much heavier and larger body threatened to engulf her.  She felt his arms start to come round her, to counter it she rolled her shoulder, brought her right arm up and used his momentum against him, changing the charge into a throw.  He went over her cleanly, landed on his shoulder and rolled to his feet as she turned to meet him.  She could have attacked while he was still on the floor, but decided to stay where she was.  This was the man who kidnapped Hanna, and in all probability, gave her the beating that was the cause of her injuries. 

Valerie wanted to see what Gaunt was made of, the others talked about his brawls in bars, how he beat people to death on the slightest provocation.  Gaunt didn’t disappoint and was back on his feet quickly, coming at Valerie with a swinging right hook.  She stepped in to meet it, her left forearm blocking the blow between his shoulder and elbow, her right fist hammered into his solar plexus.  They both stepped back, Valerie in a ready stance, Gaunt in surprise and pain.  She could see in his face, he hadn’t expected a blow of that much power from her.  Even his deadened nerves felt it.

His face screwed up in rage, turning a powerful red, then tightened as he got his emotions under control.  He moved in on Valerie again.  His fists were up and he stalked forward on the balls of his feet.  An experienced fighter, he now treated her with the respect of a worthy opponent few ever saw from him.  He jabbed with his left, feinted with his right and followed with a left handed powerhouse.  Valerie dodged the jab, ignored the right and ducked under the powerhouse.  She responded with a left jab of her own to his gut and a hard right that connected fully with his jaw.

Gaunt staggered for a moment, he’d never been hit that hard before, but shook it off instantly and kept attacking.  He was big, fast and experienced, trying to take advantage with his longer reach.  Valerie had trained against the best in Legion, men and occasionally women with an even longer reach than Gaunt, though none as muscular.  The Legion frowned upon such over indulgence of enhancement and the side effects it caused.

As they bobbed and weaved against one another she blocked, ducked, parried and dodged his blows.  For every blow he missed, she landed one on him.  For years he relied on his size, strength and capacity for punishment.  He let his opponents hit him, just to watch their spirits wither in despair, when their best and strongest blows had little effect on him.  Now this slight, fast and incredibly strong woman, was landing punch after punch and they were taking their toll.

Valerie could see he was slowing, he was feeling what she was doing to him and lost the mental battle.  He knew he was going to lose, just as she knew she was going to win.  Hanna’s blue eyes suddenly appeared in her mind’s eye and that carbon steel box inside of her snapped open.  All she could see was Gaunt’s face.  Everything else went out of focus.  She started hitting it again and again.  Every blow landed with all the power she had at her disposal.  Rarely in her long life had she let loose like this.  She never she lost control.  Even when she slaughtered those who murdered her family, she did so with a clear and cold precision.

He collapsed under her beating, losing his balance and falling towards her.  She would not let him fall and struck with a powerful left upper cut.  Followed by grabbing his arm with her right, pulling it forward and slamming her left elbow into it.  A crack resounded through the room and Gaunt screamed a high pitched wail, falling to his knees.  Valerie stepped back for a moment and looked at this broken man, his face a ruined mess.  He had a sunken left cheek where she smashed it with her fist, jaw dislocated, one eye swollen shut and the other splattered across his face from bursting on impact. Gaunt kneeled in front of her, clutching at his broken arm, a spur of bone sticking out at a right angle and sobbing in excruciating pain.