The Desert Lion's True Colours (17 page)

T
wo hours later, Jay and Leon were no closer to New-York than when they started.

After going to their respective homes to pick up some clothes and supplies for their journey, they pulled up to the gate of an unused warehouse in Allapattah around 2:00 am Saturday morning. The gate itself was about 10ft high. It was made from metal wire, plat tightly together. It did not look particularly special
-
bar the sign on the left that read, ‘WARNING electrified gate’. Leon noticed the area did not seem to have any lights. Aside from the high-beams coming from Leon’s car the majority of the area was in total darkness. Leon took a deep breath, turned off the headlights and tried to visualise his plan working out from beginning to end. Jay looked at his partner going through his little ritual and then looked at the time on the dashboard, ‘Damn!’ he said, ‘It’s passed two in the morning dawg. You sure he’ll be here?’

‘He’ll be here.’ Leon replied.

‘I don’t know dude. I got a bad feeling about this one. I think we should just get outta here. Go to New-York, make the drop, find your pops and get ghost.’

Leon smiled. He couldn’t fault Jay for what he said. By all accounts they both should have been dead a couple times over but the truth was his gut was telling him the person they were about to meet would need them more than they needed him.

Leon looked at Jay and said, ‘Don’t worry dawg.’

‘Worry?!? Who’s worrying?’ replied Jay with a half a smile. ‘You know how I do. I’m just saying maybe we should find out the truth before we make this move. I mean, what if you’re wrong about this guy?’

Leon genuinely thought about Jay’s question for a couple seconds.

‘Well if I’m wrong we’re both going to be dead within the hour I guess.’ He said.

Jay did not like Leon’s answer but he reasoned Leon was not about to commit suicide so he must be pretty sure. Jay was about to speak when Leon cut in by raising his hand and turning Jay’s attention to the two men brandishing machine guns and dressed in full army assault gear coming towards the gate from out of the shadows.

‘What the… !’ Jay exclaimed.

The two men were walking with a quick step but they had a very calm look about them.
“Mercenaries.”
Leon thought.

As they got within five feet of the gate, the guy on the right spoke into the radio attached to his bullet-proof vest and waited. Within seconds the gate clicked, jerked a little then started slide open. Leon turned the headlights back on and immediately the men raised their weapons to eye level and approached the car with a little more caution. Jay looked over at Leon and said, ‘You sure you ready for this?’

‘What… ? I was born ready.’ replied Leon.

Jay smiled, ‘Well, let’s do this.’ He said.

Leon held his foot on the brake, put the car in drive and wound both passenger and drivers side windows down. The two army men were within a few feet of the Mercedes and the guy on Leon’s side shouted, ‘Get out the car!’

Leon didn’t move, just kept his eyes on the futuristic shape of the ‘P90’ Machine-Gun being pointed at him. Seeing no movement the guy ordered, ‘I said, get out the Car
-
NOW!’

Quietly Jay whispered to Leon, ‘Dude, do you see the weapons these guys are carrying? These ain’t no ordinary street thugs.’

Jay watched the guy on his right get closer to his window. P-90 held rigid and straight.

‘You two must have a death wish.’ He grunted, staring at Jay.

Both men were no more than a foot away from either side of the car. The guy closest to Leon’s window said, ‘Show us your hands!’

Leon did not respond. The order was repeated by the second guy but just like Leon, Jay kept still. The armed man on Leon’s side lowered his gun slightly to say something to his partner,
-
over the top of the Mercedes, but before the words could be said Leon slowly raised both hands out the window. The soldier looked down at Leon curiously. His partner on the other side tilted his head to look down at Jay. A little confused as to why he had not done the same thing.

‘And what about you?’ He said.

Jay nodded his head once in reply and like Leon raised his hands out the window.

‘Now that wasn’t so…’ The soldier to Jay’s right was not able to finish his sentence. In the time it took for him to refocus his aim, Jay had reached out, grabbed the barrel of the machine gun, jammed a finger into the trigger guard and yanked the gun
-
and the guy along with it, into the car. In the driver’s seat next to him, Leon expertly mirrored Jay’s actions. Their movements was so unexpected, by the time the two
–
could be mercenaries realised what had happened; they found themselves inside Leon’s Mercedes face-to-face over the arm rest with their legs hanging out each window and their weapons trapped underneath them facing one another. Using all his strength to hold the machine gun in place, Leon took his foot off the break causing the car to roll forward. Both soldiers were vigorously trying to free themselves but due to their horizontal position and the inability to plant their feet Leon and Jay always had the upper-hand.

‘Let go of me you son of a bitch!’ the soldier hanging through Leon’s window shouted.

Holding him down Leon started to count out loud. ‘One, Two…’ and on three, both Leon and Jay removed their index fingers from the respective trigger guards they were holding and pressed back into their seats. The next four seconds inside the Mercedes were filled with bursts of light, smoke and twelve flying bullets. Once the gun fire had subsided Leon and Jay released their hold of the weapons and the men, allowing them to slump through each window back to the ground.

Pointing through the windshield ahead of them Jay said, ‘The gates closing.’

Leon did not respond. In fact he did not even realise Jay had spoken. He was too busy sticking his fingers in his ears, trying his best to cope with the ringing caused by the two P90 Machine guns going off no more than 30 centimetres from his face.

‘Leon! The gate’s closing!’ Jay repeated.
-
Much louder than before.

Hearing Jay’s warning Leon tried his best to ignore the ringing (which was causing his head to feel heavy) and stepped on the gas hard. The immediate acceleration caused the Mercedes to skip forward over the tarmac, leaving two identical skid marks about a meter and a half long. They just about made it, with the gate clipping the rear bumper on the way through. Once they were on the other side Leon stopped the car, got out and immediately took off the Navy blue polo jumper he was wearing. He could feel something on his face and expectantly wiped a finger across his cheek. Just as he thought, the deep crimson colour of blood rested on his finger tip.

‘Now that’s just nasty.’ Jay said.
-
Face scrunched up with both disgust and curiosity at the same time.

He was standing on the other side of the car looking at the specs of blood and other human matter covering Leon’s face, neck and hair.

‘Well you would know.’ Replied Leon with a nod and expression that told Jay he looked much the same. Turning his jumper inside out Leon used it to wipe his face, arms and any other area of skin that was exposed. Seeing Leon turn his shirt into a makeshift wet wipe Jay decided to do the same, but unlike his partner Jay was being very vocal about the plight he and Leon had found themselves in.

Leon was about to call out to him when out of no-where they were both awash with a bright beam of light coming from their left. By the time they could turn towards its direction, two other flood-lights suddenly came on, from behind and from their right. It was so bright it caused the headlights of Leon’s car to look dim. Leon and Jay were fully exposed however the adjustment of light now made it easier for them to see their surroundings. Leon quickly realised the entrance they drove through served as the exit as well. The driveway that led passed the gate turned into a wide empty space with five loading-bays, each attached to separate warehouses. Two 50 meter long warehouses on the right, two identical ones to the left and one directly in front of the car about 200ft away.

Jay let out a chuckle, ‘Dude, you think they know we here?’

Leon did not answer; just reached round the back of his jeans and took his trusted P-266 from his waist.

‘What you doing?’ Jay called.

With his back turned Leon replied, ‘Just take out your piece and throw it on the floor.’

‘Why?’

With a sigh Leon replied ‘Jay. Just do it. Please.’

Seeing Leon hurl his gun away, Jay reluctantly threw his to the ground too and like his partner started to raise his hands above his head. No sooner did his hands pass his ears the doors of the larger warehouse started to open. Jay took in a deep breath, let it out slowly through his nose and said, ‘Round two.’

‘Round two.’ Leon repeated.

Taking a step forward they heard a woman call out ‘Keep your hands in the air!’

Leon and Jay both recognised the voice to belong to one of the sisters they had met the day before.

‘You move, and I’ll empty this clip on your ass.’

Jay snorted and in a low voice said ‘Who does this chick think she is… ?’

‘Jay
-
Not now.’ Leon ordered with his hands stretched high above his head.

The glare coming from the lights above the main warehouse made it hard for Leon and Jay to look into the direction of the voice but through squinted eyes Leon could just about make out ten different people coming towards them. Eight men
-
dressed in the same army get up as the first two guys,
-
flanking two women
-
Chocolate and Cinnamon.

Jay tried his best to stifle a laugh.

‘Shh, stop laughing.’ Leon retorted. ‘You want these chicks to blow our heads off?’

Taking two small steps forward,
-
so he was now almost shoulder to shoulder, Jay replied ‘Nahh, of course not, but look. They cripple and still trying to be gangster. I need to find me a chick like that foreal. Damn!’

Any other time Leon would have found Jay’s statement funny but taking into account the situation they were in, Leon was not in the mood to smile. The two sisters along with the eight men had increased their speed to a quick walk and covered the 200ft within seconds. When they got to about 10ft away Jay smiled at Cinnamon and said ‘How you doing mah’ . . . ? How’s the leg?’

For a split second the corners of Cinnamon’s lips gave way to a smile but realising Jay was actually flirting with her she caught herself from giving him anything positive and with a glare said, ‘Shut Up! I’m limping because of you.’

Still smiling Jay replied ‘Whoa! Calm down mah. My bad, I was only…’

‘You were only what… ?’ Chocolate interjected. ‘My sister told you to shut up right. Well I suggest you listen and bring your ass on.’

She made a motion with her hand and two men left the line of eight and walked over to Jay and Leon with their guns held high,
-
aimed at their heads. Motioning the two of them to walk towards the main warehouse Leon first looked over at Jay and then nodded his head in obedience. The twins walked in front of Leon and Jay, followed by the eight men with automatic weapons. Jay took in Chocolate and Cinnamons near to identical shapes and smiled. Despite the limp,
-
that seemed to put both of them in pain every time their foot hit the ground,
-
Jay was adamant they still looked good. They were wearing matching black leggings
-
that accentuated their curves and on top a simple black sports-bra. The left leg of Chocolate and the right leg of her sisters were bandaged up tight. They were not wearing their gun holsters either, this time they were carrying guns much bigger
-
UMP-45 machine-guns, with silencers. Leon looked over at Jay who, with his hands still held high was shaking his head with a sly smirk on his face. Leon followed Jay’s line of sight and his eyes ended up on the behind of Cinnamons bottom. ‘Get your head in the game!’ Leon grunted under his breath.

He tried to get Jay’s attention but it was too late. Both sisters turned around as if they could feel Jay staring at them. Looking at one of the men standing behind Leon, Chocolate said ‘Wait here and watch them. We’ll be right back.’

With that Cinnamon followed her sister into the warehouse. Leon tried to turn around to see how the men were lined up behind him but his head did not make it any more than 30 degrees, before an almighty blow from the butt of a gun connected with the back of his head. Leon was out cold before his body hit the floor. Jay lowered his hands but was not quick enough to do anything else, as he too was given a blow to the back of the head. Before everything went dark, Jay heard one of the men say ‘Good Ni…’

While the two undercover agents lie unconscious on the floor, 1300 miles away in a corner office of a bank building, Leon’s father was in a heated conversation with a finely dressed young Arabian man, watched over by three heavily armed body guards. Seeing the conversation had reached a stalemate Leon’s father looked at all three of the guards individually, turned his attention back to the young man sitting opposite him and explained why it was too late to back out of their deal by describing the unfortunate events that would effect not just him but his family’s legacy. The young man sat patiently and waited his turn to speak but before he could plead his case a mobile phone started to vibrate on the desk that sat between them. Leon’s father picked up the phone on the third ring.

‘It’s about time.’ He said.

The person on the other end of the phone didn’t reply to that statement, but they knew what it meant so they started to talk very fast, reeling off the information they had. When they were finished they waited patiently for a reply.

Leon’s father removed the phone from his ear, covered the mouth piece, looked at the guy in front of him and said ‘See what I’m saying?’

The guy had no idea what his associate was talking about, so he just shrugged his shoulders in response. To this Leon’s father said ‘Don’t you get it… ? It’s too late to back out now. I’ll be damned if I allow my son to go through all of this for nothing. I’m pretty sure if your father was in my shoes he would feel the same way.’