The Desert Lion's True Colours (19 page)

‘That’s not bad ole’man.’ Jay said smiling.

A little stunned at Jay’s cavalier attitude, Pyro took a step back and tilted his head to the side;
-
as if to get a better look at Jay and in a low voice said ‘What did you say?’

With a broad bloody smile on his face Jay returned Pyro’s stare and replied ‘I SAID. That’s not bad, for an
old
man.’

For the first time Pyro visibly looked shocked. Realising he was not going to get anywhere by inflicting pain, (Leon and Jay had been trained well) He started to feel desperate.

‘That’s it!’ He shouted. ‘I tried to be nice, I tried to give you both a chance to tell the truth, but Oh No, that’s too much for you two. I guess you are what you are.’

Pyro paused, turned to Chocolate and held out his hand which she immediately filled with a High-Power ‘Mach 3’ hand gun. The lb. self-reloading pistol’s chrome casing reflected the warehouse’s lighting like a mirror does in the sun. Jay squinted slightly as Pyro pointed it towards his head.

‘My friend, it is time to say good bye.’ He said smiling.

Jay turned his head slightly to the left and in a low voice said, ‘Nate, Are we still in round 2, or is this round 3?’

‘My bad…’ Leon replied ‘the plan looks kinda fucked up, but don’t worry. We still got this.’

‘ENOUGH… !’ Pyro interrupted, hearing Leon’s low murmuring. ‘You two piece of shits don’t know who you messed with.’

With that Jay lowered his head once again, closed his eyes and waited for the sound of the first bullet; however what he heard was profanity. ‘SHIT!’ one of the soldiers exclaimed.

Followed by another say ‘What the fuck is going on… ?’

Then three to four other men repeat the first phrase over and over again.

As Jay opened his eyes he saw Pyro, Chocolate, Cinnamon and all the army men swarmed in tiny red dots. They were all scurrying around Pyro with their heads and weapons trained up at the windows that went all the way around the top of the warehouse. Leon was still carrying a smile, somewhat relieved that the dark figures he had seen form behind the high windows finally made themselves out to be on his side. The soldiers that were standing around Pyro looked worried. Despite having already been paid nearly two hundred and fifty thousand dollars each for their full security services, they were starting to question if the money was worth it. Nowhere in the contract did it mention suicide however going up against an enemy that had a distinct height advantage would be just that. For the gun men outside it would be like shooting fish in a barrel.

Pyro was about to give the order to fire their weapons but his speech was muted by the high pitch ringing of his mobile. Breathing in deeply, Pyro removed the phone from his inside pocket and answered.

‘Who is this… ?’ he urged.

After a short pause he frowned and repeated ‘Who… ?’

Jay noticed whatever the person had said on the other end caused the colour to drain away from Pyro’s face. Tan still intact but a much lighter version. His eyes were bulging out of their sockets and his mouth had fallen open. He was scarred, really scared however the feeling did not last. Within seconds Pyro regained his composure and started smiling again.

‘I don’t believe it. Is it really you… ?’ He said. ‘I thought you were dead?’

Pyro listened to the persons reply then said, ‘So I’m guessing it’s you outside… ?’

After another short pause Pyro let out a laugh that seemed to come from way deep down in his gut.

‘Shit. Who would have guessed?’ He said. ‘So what are you now, Detective? Special Agent? I knew it! I knew Aaron was still working with you guys all along.’ Pyro paused for moment then with a shrug of the shoulders said ‘Aaron almost had me. You Chameleons never change. Well my old friend, you’re too late. You might have me surrounded but I surround Aaron’s son. You can tell him he brought this all on himself.’

Hearing Pyro’s words caused Leon to wish he was the one tied up in Jay’s chair, so he could at least see Pyro’s face. Leon was trying to come up with the answers to the questions that were flying through his mind however his thoughts were cut short by the words

‘You think I won’t do it. Try me!’

Jay watched Pyro shout his challenge down the phone then point his Mach 3 pistol in his direction. Pyro’s finger started to pull back on the trigger when without warning the warehouse was filled with the sound of broken glass, two bullets hitting flesh, two cries of pain, glass hitting the floor, followed by two bodies falling to the ground
–
Chocolate and Cinnamon. Seeing both his bodyguard’s lying on the floor motionless, Pyro retracted his initial intention of killing Leon and Jay and quickly raised the phone back to his ear and said ‘What is it do you want?’

Jay watched Pyro as he stood 10 ft. away with his mobile pressed up against his ear. After a few moments Pyro ended the call and said, ‘Today must be your lucky day young cub.’

‘Huh? What you talking about.’ Jay replied.

‘Not you.’ Pyro retorted.

Still looking up at the windows high above their heads, Pyro raised his hands, slowly walked around Jay and came to a stop in front of Leon.

‘I was talking to you.’ He said coarsely. ‘Today is YOUR lucky day.’

With that the main door of the warehouse burst open followed by the words ‘Pyro, tell your men to stand down.’

Pyro’s face was one of indignation but he knew any form of retaliation would be futile. Before he could give a response the voice came through the warehouse door again.

‘Tell your men to stand down Pyro, or say your prayers.’

All the men in army gear waited for their boss to give the order however Pyro just stood there in silence looking into Leon’s eyes.

‘Pyro you’re not going to get another warning… !’ The voice ordered. ‘One, two…’

‘Ok, Ok.’ Pyro relented, motioning his men to lower their weapons.

‘Go, Go, Go…’ Another voice called out.

Within five seconds three men wearing black tactical army fatigues stormed the warehouse, with their UMP45 machine guns with infrared scopes expertly pointed at individual targets. A couple seconds went by and another five men entered followed by another five, all wearing the same black fatigues with their weapons cocked, aimed and ready.

Jay gave way to a chuckle. ‘You jammy son-of-a-bitch! How did you manage this?’ he said smiling.

‘I didn’t!’

‘So how the Chief know we were here?’ Replied Jay confused.

No sooner did the words leave his lips, Chief Edwards’ casually walked into the warehouse. Unlike the previous thirteen men who had entered before him, the chief was wearing the same blue pants
-
that went with the suit he was in nearly 24hrs earlier and the same white shirt and blue tie,
-
all covered by a level 2 bullet proof vest.

Still with his hands in the air Pyro called out ‘My friend. You don’t look too bad for a dead guy.’

‘Neither do you.’ Chief Edwards replied.

Pyro chuckled, ‘You were always the funny one.’ He said.

‘And you were the one who always had something to smile about.’ replied the Chief sarcastically;

As if on cue Pyro flashed the Chief a broad smile, turned his attention back to Leon and said ‘Tell your father that even though I may be going down, my boss will still want his money.’

‘Shut up Pyro.’ Chief Edwards interrupted,
-
who by now was standing only 5ft away from him.

Leon called out, ‘Chief let him talk… !’ Then turning his attention to Pyro, said ‘What are you talking about? You know my father? What money?’

Clearing his throat Pyro slowly lowered his hands to his side and was about to answer Leon’s questions but Chief Edwards cut him off.

‘Pyro, you talk again and I’ll end your life right now?’

Pyro doubted very much that the Chief would actually shoot him in cold blood, so without any hesitation took one step forward and said ‘End my Life. Stop talking shit DL-65. You know god damn well my life ended when they took my daughter away from me.’

Hearing those words caused Leon to think about Kerry, which in turn made him heave a sigh. The Chief looked down at Leon for a moment and then motioned to one of his men in black tactical gear to loosen him and Jay from their restraints. He then walked over to Pyro and clamped his wrists together with a pair of handcuffs.

‘You do realise you brought this on yourself?’

Pyro scoffed. With his hands behind his back he looked over at Leon and said ‘what’s wrong with you young cub? Didn’t you know that’s what they do? Take your family away from you, if you say no.’ He paused, cocked his head over his right shoulder and said ‘isn’t that right DL-65?’

‘Shut up. The names Chief Edwards to you and the only reason you’re not dead is because I need to bring you in alive.’

Pyro chuckled. ‘You know you won’t get anything for me. You could have brought me in a long time ago. I was counting the days.’

‘Chief, what is he talking about?’ Leon interjected.

Chief Edwards moved Pyro to the right so that he was no longer standing in his line of sight and looked at Leon who by now was out of his restraints, gently tending to the bruise on the side of his head. The Chief was unsure what to say so he just shook his head instead, adjusted his grip on Pyro’s arm and started to walk towards the entrance of the warehouse.

By this point Jay was also on his feet and had moved around the chair he was just tied to and over to Leon. Placing a hand on his friends shoulder he said ‘you gonna be ok man?’

Leon nodded his head but after seeing Jay’s face up close he realised he was in a much better physical condition.

‘Dang… !’ Leon exclaimed. ‘Am I gonna be ok… ? Look at your face.’

While he was steady on his feet Jay looked like he had gone twelve rounds with Mike Tyson. The right side of his bottom lip was bleeding; he had a cut on the right side of his chin and another across his right cheek which was sitting on top of a large swelling.

‘You gonna be aight?’ Leon questioned, looking at the scares on Jay’s face.

‘Yeah, I’m straight. My head hurts like hell though.’ Jay paused for a moment and noticed the chief was just about to exit the warehouse. Motioning Leon out of the way Jay shouted, ‘So chief, Is that it? Your just gonna lead Pyro away without saying a word? You gonna answer Leon’s question or what? What’s the deal? What have you got us into?’

The chief stopped a couple steps short of the warehouse door and was about to reply to Jay’s questions however Pyro shrugged off the Chiefs handle on him, turned around and shouted ‘You’re a Desert Lion young Cub. A Chameleon, just like we were
-
just like your father was.’

‘Don’t you mean is?’ Leon retorted. ‘I know he’s still alive.’

Pyro gave Leon a large smile and was about to verify Leon’s last statement but the Chief cut him short by grabbing hold of his wrist and twisting his right arm until it buckled against the restraint of his handcuffs, releasing pressure up through his elbow and dislocating his shoulder. Pyro made no sound of pain, just gritted his teeth and took long deep breaths. The Chief leaned in behind Pyro’s ear and grunted. ‘I said Shut
-
Up’!

The chief made a motion with his free hand and the 13 men that had stormed into the warehouse started to gather up Pyro’s security guards and lead them outside into the early morning air. Leon quickly ran up behind the Chief and pulled on the back of his vest, ‘Chief! You can’t expect to do all of this and still keep us in the dark.’

‘Exactly… !’ Jay shouted out. ‘What do you expect us to do now? We pretty much know everything.’

Letting go of Pyro the Chief immediately turned around to face Jay.

‘You don’t know everything.’ he said coldly.

Lowering is head a little the Chief let out a sigh, and then said ‘I am sorry kid. You didn’t deserve any of this. You were just born at the wrong time and to the wrong parents.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Leon retorted.

Shaking his head Chief Edwards said ‘Look, even if I wanted to tell you everything, what good would it do you?

‘Try me.’ replied Leon.

After a short pause Chief Edwards gave Leon a nod of the head and then after exhaling heavily through his nose he said, ‘Ok. Try this. In 1776 the US government quite literally transformed into what we know it to be today
-
taken over by a world-wide conglomerate named Camistock.’

‘Whoa, whoa, whoa! You can hold it right there Chief…’ Jay interjected. ‘. . . You’re talking about some New-World order shit aren’t you? I’m a grown ass man and if you didn’t know already, we work for the F.B.I. We all know that’s just some crazy conspiracy theory.’

Pyro laughed mockingly at Jay’s statement however Chief Edwards refused to acknowledge it altogether. He just shook his head and continued, ‘If you check the Chapter 8 files you’ll find that a Dr Jonathan Rhys Bawlings was the founder of the whole Camistock idea. He was a Freudian follower who believed in the Psychiatry shaped by war or Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis’

‘Sorry. What was that?’ asked Leon slightly confused. ‘You’re going to have to speak English on this one.’

Chief Edwards let out another sigh. Not out of frustration but more to do with the fact that time had now grown a pair of legs and was running away from them; Usain Bolt style.

The Chief made a clicking sound with his tongue, looked down at his watch, released another sigh then said, ‘Basically, Bawlings believed not in creating solutions to problems but instead, create the problem for the solution and then synthesis. After world war one, Camistock set up a school in the US, based on an early version of the ‘Listen Institute of Human Relations’ in London. They specialised in HNTO, Hostile Neurological Take-Over or brainwashing. Now we’re not just talking about your everyday run of the mill brainwashing,’ he said adamantly. ‘We’re talking about full scale global shit. Using Dr Bawlings ideas constructed by German scientists and then perfected by the English after the first world war, our Government realised its significance and realised it could be used to influence not just the US but the whole world to act and think in a certain way, which in turn would make it easier for them to pass certain laws. The project was code named ‘Aqua’ but now if you do hear anyone talk about it, they would no doubt laugh and call it the Aqua conspiracy.’