The Kasparov Agenda (Omega Ops Legion Book 1) (26 page)

Oswalt’s eyes narrowed. “What would I have to gain from betraying you?”

“What indeed...”

“Maybe it was Brody—things went sour with Scorcher’s men, and that’s why he’s roadkill.”

“Well, we can’t exactly ask him, now can we?”

Oswalt glanced at where the Solly brothers were positioned in the room. If it came down to it, he wouldn’t make it out of this office alive. “I didn’t turn on you, Jack.”

He didn’t respond or react. Jack simply stared down Oswalt. A silence fell in the room that was briefly punctured by the wind batting on the office door. Oswalt swallowed but kept his demeanor firm. “So, what happens now?”

Jack rubbed his creased forehead with two fingers. “Until we locate Wells, we can’t get a complete story. And if it so happens that we find out he’s been deceased as well… I have yet to determine if that bodes well for you or not, Oswalt. I sincerely hope you haven’t betrayed us…
for your sake
. Until we get to the bottom of this, we’ll be keeping very close eyes on you.”

Oswalt nodded in acknowledgement. “I have nothing to hide.”

Jack put the gun back in the drawer. “That’s good to hear.”

***

11:15 p.m.

Attica Supermax Prison: Since its construction in the 1930s, it has been home to a slew of dangerous criminals and was the site of one of the worst prison riots in history. Tonight, it is the first stop for the stragglers that were rounded up during the First Bank incident.

The rain was still coming down hard. A brilliant flash of lightning lit up the night sky—a crack like a whip, followed by slow rumbling thunder. “How soon can we get a translator here?”

“They put in the call. Within the hour, they told me,” Captain Morring replied. “I think that’s pretty good; I’m not exactly sure how common Thai translators are.”

Carter cracked his knuckles. “Good. I want to know everything—no stone unturned. Those three sword-wielding psychos came with Hachiuma, there isn’t a doubt in my mind. And they’re going to give us something useful, or so help me...”

“You mean knife-wielding psychos,” one of the officers told Carter.

“What?”

“The machete is a knife.”

Carter stared at the officer as if he were a pile of goose droppings he had just stepped in. “Gee, thanks. I never realized that, you
fuckin
’
fool.”

Captain Morring and several police officers from New York City were here in Attica. Bruce had
volunteered to come along for the ride as well.
Just in case.
 

“Why Attica?” a resident guard asked. “Why come all the way here to hold these men?”

“Because these men were part of a large-scale and very public scene,” Morring replied. “And they’re in Scorcher’s criminal network. It wouldn’t be prudent holding people like that at the local jail. We’re talking about people that have the resources to organize breakouts, and they’ve done so in the past. The prisoner transport here was no picnic, let me tell you. It was nerve-racking not knowing if we were going to make it here in one piece or not.” The blaring sound of an alarm suddenly began to echo off the prison walls. Morring’s eyes darted wildly. “What’s going on?” Guards rushed down the halls. Morring and the others followed after them. It was the cells holding Hachiuma’s mercenaries... All three were lying motionless on the floor.

“I didn’t know what to do, Warden. One by one, they just started gagging uncontrollably,” the prison guard informed. “I think they poisoned themselves or something.”

The warden bared his teeth. He was a hulking man in height and muscles and sported a flat-top crew cut. He opened the nearest cell door.

“You didn’t search them?” Carter demanded.

“Of course we searched them!” the warden spat. He bent down on one knee to inspect the body. He moved the lower jaw slightly. A white string was dangling from inside his mouth.

“They must’ve had it inside them,” said the warden. “Regurgitated some sort of lethal poison to keep silent.”

“Doesn’t matter, they wouldn’t have talked even if they were alive,” Bruce stated bluntly. “And the other goons we managed to roundup are too stupid to know anything.
All low rungs
.”

Carter was pissed. But a
t the same time, he couldn’t help but feel intrigued and slightly uneasy. They would rather die than betray this man Hachiuma...
Just what type of person were they dealing
with here?
 

***

Chital Co. Tower, Manhattan

Scorcher and his men that escaped capture had returned to headquarters. On the top floor, the soldiers were in the lounge, taking in some well-needed R&R. The generals of the operation, so to speak, were engaged in a private meeting inside the office: Scorcher, Hachiuma, Samuel Turly, Gregory Pike, Ulysses Frost, and Tony Calzone. “Well, it wasn’t a total success, but we did manage to get our hands on the bearer bonds,” Tony said proudly. Scorcher and Hachiuma stared down Tony until he shrank into a corner.

“But we didn’t kill Kasparov...” Frost said, finishing Hachiuma and Scorcher’s thoughts.

“It appears that head injury has made you delusional, Calzone,” Hachiuma stated sharply. Tony’s head had been wrapped up by one of their doctors.

Pike opened and closed a fist. “I should’ve had a crack at him.”

“We should’ve fought to the death. Our failure is inexcusable,” Hachiuma muttered.

“I’m not surprised you failed,” Scorcher added with grim satisfaction. “I told you not to underestimate Kasparov.” Hachiuma raised his hand in a fit of rage and fired an energy projectile at Scorcher. With one hand, Scorcher stopped the attack and safely dissipated the energy particles. He smiled. “Aren’t
we
touchy. I’ve given you free rein since you got here, and I think it’s safe to say you’ve run your course.” Hachiuma’s eyes began to glow like red coals.

“That’s enough,” Turly said, stepping in-between the pair. He pointed to the desk intercom that had started beeping. “That would be the Master.”

Scorcher lowered his hand. “Frost, take Calzone and Pike and join the others in the lounge. You three, make sure the grunts don’t steal anything.” Frost nodded, and the three exited the office. Turly waited for the door to close, then hit the switch. “Greetings, Master, this is Turly. I’m here with Scorcher and Hachiuma.” The intercom lightly buzzed with static.

“We couldn’t kill him,” Hachiuma muttered.

“Yes, I know.” He had a deep gravelly voice that still managed to pierce like a blade. “And you engaged Bruce as well, Scorcher?”

“Yeah…”

“And he defeated both of you... I
nteresting
.” Hachiuma and Scorcher exchanged glances as the intercom buzzed. “This is what I want done. I want to know…where he resides.”

Scorcher scratched his head. “Where he lives?”

“No excuses. No progress updates. When you have acquired this information, you will contact me.” There was a pause. “Until then.” The intercom went dead.

With his fingers interlocked, Scorcher stretched out his arms and generated loud cracks in his knuckles. “Well, that wasn’t so bad...”

***

Wednesday, November 3rd, 1999

“How’s it going out there New York; Jerry Stiltson coming at you from Shocktalk Radio with another action-packed show. Today, I came across some rather disturbing news—information that I would like to share and discuss with all of you today. Of course, this is continuing our ongoing segments on a topic that has recently come into the public eye: U.S. government involvement with the secret society—that some may go as far as saying is a radical cult group—known as the Omega Ops Legion. Ever since U.S. Army Captain Bruce Kasparov let slip he was in fact a member of the Legion, it begs the question: Does the government have our best interests in mind?”

It had been two days since the incident at First Bank. Awareness of Legion involvement in the hostage crisis had set off a media firestorm, and none were more vocal on the subject than the seedy radio personality Jerry Stiltson. He had a head start on the competition by having made the Legion his centerpiece for a month now.
Shocktalk thrived on sensationalism
.
 

“I have with me today, a man who some may call an Omega Ops Legion ‘historian’, a Mr. Uecker Clemens. A venture capitalist back in his prime, now retired. And, much like L.B. Jefferies, he has formed an obsessive hobby of keeping an all-seeing eye on his subject. In this case, the Legion.”

“Clever comparison coming from a high school dropout.”

“College dropout actually, but I’m sure that won’t be the first factual error you’ll be making on this show. Either way, I’m sure you’ll be able to help in lifting some of the mist that surrounds this organization with your, err,
expertise
.”
 

Uecker sneered at Stiltson from across the studio. “Just so we’re clear, I think your show is smut, some of the worst kind of media garbage out there. I’m only here to clear up as much of it as I can, before you further warp the minds of your pea-brained listeners.”

Jerry grinned. “Like I said, New York:
action-packed show
.” He cleared his throat. “Well, let’s get right to it. The First Bank incident. Legion involvement.
Disaster
. Give us a play-by-play, Mr. Jefferies.”

Uecker was still wearing a sneer. “Don’t get cute.”

Jerry waited for Uecker to continue, but he simply stared back at him angrily. Jerry smiled. “Alright—
Uecker.
Walk
us through it.”
 

“Love to. First off, it
wasn’t
a disaster. It was making the best of a bad situation.”

Stiltson raised an eyebrow. “Really? One hostage—a single mother—
dead
. Three police officers dead. Injuries across the board. You consider that making the best of it?”

“Frankly, yes. If Bruce and his Legion boys didn’t get involved when they did, the body-count would’ve been far higher.”

“You don’t know that!” Stiltson challenged, smacking his desk. “You
can’t
know that. It was entirely a police matter that should have been handled by the police. They had no stake in it.”
 

“When one of these lunatics calls out a Legion member by name and uses him as a bargaining chip, I’d say that gives them a
big
stake in it.”

Jerry let out a loud laugh. “A good point. The entire situation was brought about by the Legion to begin with!”

“Yeah, and I guess Martin Luther King and JFK stood out in public with ‘kick me’ signs on their backs. You know you’re doing the right thing when people come gunning for you. For every person trying to do some good, there’ll be another ten trying to unravel it.”

“In the case of First Bank, the police were the ones responsible to do that ‘good’ you’re referring to,” Jerry countered. “Not these wannabe superheroes that think they’re above the law. And if they’re going to play the role of superheroes, at least do it right. Dead hostages, dead law enforcement agents. And to top it all off, they let the main targets escape: Tony Calzone and Scorcher. Reports suggest they had another crime boss from their overseas network present at the scene as well—
also eluded capture
. When the NYPD associate themselves with people like those in the Legion, their credibility goes down.” Jerry picked up the latest newspaper and ruffled through the pages. “A little piece of info for everyone tuning in. My understanding is that Police Captain James Morring, the man that was spearheading the operation at First Bank, is coming under heavy fire from the higher-ups for allowing Legion interference—and rightly so. Just outrageous.”

“They can try to crucify him, but he’s a competent man and it was the right decision. Despite what you say, Stiltson, I’m sure the citizens of New York will see it that way as well.”

“Don’t be so sure. What happened under Morring’s command will not be remembered in any sort of good light.
Three fallen police officers
. Now, don’t get me wrong, my sympathies go out to those officers and their families. But they knew the risks, and they were willing to put it all on the line to save lives. They died heroes. Now, what we have with the single mother is something entirely different. She was a hostage, and she became a casualty. She died a victim. What can the Legion do to repair that damage? What can Captain Morring say for allowing their interference which lead to this outcome?”

Uecker sighed. “I’m certain they did all they could. And in doing so, they minimized the damage.”

“Try feeding that to the mother’s six-year-old daughter she left behind. She was in the bank with her mother at the time of the incident.”

Uecker was beginning to lose his patience. “You don’t think I know that? Unfortunately, these are the consequences when dealing with scumbags. The Legion and the police are waging war with these people, and there’s going to be casualties. For that one hostage that died, the rest were able to be saved. We should be thankful that it wasn’t more than one.”

Stiltson knew he hit pay dirt—
he had him now
. He smirked. “Luckily for us, I think the majority of us don’t think of human life as such an expendable commodity. For the six-year-old girl that lost her mother, that was
everything
to her. How can you measure the value of a human life like some sort of statistic?”

“I’m doing nothing of the sort! I’m just coming to terms with the harsh reality of the situation and that this was the best possible outcome.” What was further aggravating Uecker was the revolting smile Stiltson was wearing. Over the air, Stiltson was sounding empathic, but only Uecker could see his complete and utter indifference.

“You heard it here first: the Omega Ops Legion is ready to chalk up the losses to ‘making the best of the situation’.”

“Now you listen here, you
smart-ass
—”

“I’m sorry, we still have a lot to discuss, but we’ll leave the issue on this note: If you’re going to break away from procedure, you’d better be damn well sure you know what you’re doing and leave no room for criticism. Because there will always be a lingering doubt of what could have happened if things were done the right way.”