Body Count Read online

  Body Count

  Gabriel Book 3

  By Mike Evans

  Dedicated to my wife and children, who are always ready to put up with one of my crazy ideas. Always supportive of my writing. I love you all.

  ****

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  Edited by Christina Hargis Smith Owner and editor at Optimus Maximus Publishing

  Proof read by my good friend Karen Dziegiel

  © 2016 Mike Evans, All Rights Reserved

  ChapterOne

  ChapterTwo

  ChapterThree

  ChapterFour

  ChapterFive

  ChapterSix

  ChapterSeven

  ChapterEight

  ChapterNine

  ChapterTen

  ChapterEleven

  ChapterTwelve

  ChapterThirteen

  ChapterFourteen

  ChapterFifteen

  ChapterSixteen

  ChapterSeventeen

  ChapterEighteen

  ChapterNineteen

  ChapterTwenty

  ChapterTwenty One

  C

  hapter One

  Federal CIA Building

  Veronica was in the outer office to Fox's. She was busy trying to keep up with making sense of Frank’s reports. She was listening for the tenth time to his voice recorder, and for the life of her couldn’t figure out what in the hell he was saying. She pushed up away from her desk, holding out her hands as if strangling his neck, if God would only grant her the one wish she thought to herself. Veronica walked to his door, paused while staring at it for a moment and debated if she should or shouldn't head in to ask him about what he was talking about.

  She reached forward and twisted the handle. The side of the door exploded sending shrapnel pieces of wood everywhere. Veronica screamed, letting go and backing up, tripping over her heels. When she hit the floor she felt trickles of blood running down her face and realized that there were hundreds of splinters stuck in her. A warm, constant stream picked up and she knew that it wasn’t good. She rolled to her tummy, got up on her hands and knees, and crawled towards the door. When she opened the door a pile of papers which had once been stacked neatly, flew at her and clung to the blood on her face blocking her view. When they finally came to a rest she saw Frank lying on his back with his head twisted towards her. He was staring at her with dead eyes and blood covering his face.

  She screamed when she saw his expression. Veronica hadn’t figured it was him that had made the hit, but the look on his face was more than enough to assure her he was innocent. Christian was moving as quickly as he could, which in his current disabled state was not very fast. She watched him, wishing she could do something for him, but when his chest exploded and his massive frame fell forward, she was soaked with his blood that covered her white blouse and skirt. She screamed, “Oh my fucking God!”

  Veronica wiped the blood from her eyes and slammed the door shut behind her, then dove across her desk. She tried to stop herself but went head first, feet up in the air to the other side and hitting hard. Veronica scrambled for the phone and picked it up, pulling it down beside herself. It took her three times to try and get the security office on the line. Her hands were shaking so bad that she couldn’t keep her fingers still long enough to hit the correct number. When she finally did, a security officer on the other end calmly said, “Good evening Mrs. Smith, this is Security Officer Watson, what can I assist you with this evening?”

  She screamed into the phone, “Get someone up here right fucking now! He’s dead, fuck they are both dead!”

  “Dead, what are you talking about? Who is dead Mrs. Smith?”

  “My boss and a guy that works for him. Oh my God, you need to send someone up here now! Why are we still talking? Send someone now, now, now, now!”

  The guard signaled for someone in the room. When no one was looking at his frantic hand motions, he grabbed a bottle of water and threw it. The bottle slammed into the back of the head of Officer Ling. When Ling turned around, ready to kill, he was pissed but Watson now had his full attention. Watson cupped the mouth of the receiver. He yelled, “Ling, Thornbrugh, get the fuck off your asses and get up to the eighth floor, there’s two dead, I need confirmation. This lady is hysterical. Get up there now!”

  Ling went to say something and this time Watson threw another water bottle at him, striking him in the gut. He said, “Do I look like I'm kidding? Get moving now!” he moved his hand from the phone and said as calmly as possible, “Mrs. Smith, we have two officers coming up there right now. They are going to protect you, they are armed ma’am.”

  She stared at the phone for a second trying to see what rational thinking that he thought he was using. She said, “What do I care if they are armed? Are they going to take the bullets for me that keep coming through the window?”

  Watson yelled, “Wait, there’s someone shooting from the outside?”

  “Well why in the hell would I still be here if the shooter was in Fox’s office, wouldn’t that seem just a little bit stupid?”

  Watson went to slam the phone receiver down and destroy it, but instead he used all of his strength to refrain from doing so. “Do you know where the shooter is, can you give me any information?”

  She knew that the only answer was useless because she’d already told the man that the bullets were coming from the outside. Veronica was ready to get out of the office that she was in and to somewhere that was safe and that had thicker walls. She said, “Do you need anything at all from me? Or can I get back to leaving? I can assure you, I do not make enough money to worry about getting killed on the job.”

  He was shaking his head in pure agreement, knowing that he was not making anything close to the amount he needed to take a bullet. He switched all camera views to the west side of the building; there was no shortage of security on the west bank. He’d protested for a long while to deaf ears about how more people were better than additional cameras. He was ignored by upper management though. There were plenty of SWAT reinforcements but it wasn’t the same as being able to scour the roofs of nearby buildings for snipers. He zoomed in on the cameras, checking different angles until he saw something.

  Chapter

  Two

  Rooftop across the street

  Gabriel watched through the scope, after seeing Christian hit the ground hard, there was no further movement in the room. The woman who had entered momentarily, quickly backed out and closed the door long before he had a shot. Gabriel had wanted to make sure that the bastard who had taken out the love of his life was not going to get up. When he confirmed both men were down, Gabriel worked the bolt action. The cool air of his breath and the smoke from the rifle twisted, disappearing into the air. He sat thinking about what he had done, wondering if he had finally done something that would be the end of him.

  Gabriel had no question about his talents. He was aware that he was quite gifted but he knew that his personal resources versus that of the government were quite minute. When Gabriel pushed up from the roof he saw a convoy worth of black Chevy Tahoe’s racing across the street from an underground garage. There was what looked like sold
iers standing on the sides of the SUV’s. He watched them through the scope, seeing there was no shortage of men inside of the vehicles.

  Gabriel knew that he had minutes at best. He hit his phone calling Forsyth. When it rang, Gabriel had already started walking across the rooftop towards the stairwell. When the ringing stopped he started talking, not giving the chance for useless conversation. “Forsyth, I need you to take care of Mikey for a while. You have all the money you would ever need so that he and his children don’t have to work. Mikey gets the best. I want you two to stay in Europe and I will make contact as soon as I can. Do you understand me? Things could have gone better than they did.”

  Forsyth looked at Mikey who was sitting in the co-pilot seat, and wondered if he could handle taking care of someone besides himself. It would be the first time that he had in his entire life. He said, “Look Gabriel, this was supposed to be a short term deal? I mean-”

  “Have I ever asked you for a favor that you were not compensated ten times its worth?” When Forsyth was quiet he continued, “Good I'm glad that over payment wasn’t something you forgot easily. I need you to take care of him. I’m going to destroy this phone, so the next time I call, you won’t know the number. I want you to get him in some type of boarding school. You hold up in a hotel somewhere and try your best not to be shit faced in case the school needs you for something. Do you think that you can handle doing nothing?”

  Forsyth said, “I’ve always wanted to see what retirement was like. I think I could do that. Do you have a school that you know you want him in?”

  “No, of course not. The chances of finding one where kids can stay at his age is going to be horribly hard to find. It needs to be the best though, and if you can find something you’ll be able to pretend you are retired during the day while he is at school. I know you are aware, I wouldn’t ask you to do something like this if I had any other choice. Forsyth, I trust you with him, and that list is God damned short.”

  Forsyth was quiet for a few seconds, staring at the kid sleeping soundly in the seat and seeing nothing but blue ocean ahead of him. He looked up at the ceiling for a second, thinking one more moment about it, knowing that if he was to commit to taking care of the child that there would be a definite change of lifestyle coming his way. He didn’t need to be reminded by Gabriel that if anything happened to the boy while under his watch that he might as well slit his own throat. He said, “I’ll do it Gabriel, but how long do you think that you are going to be?”

  “I haven’t the slightest clue. I’m watching an army worth of CIA SWAT getting ready to bum rush this building. My best guess is that they probably have bad intentions in what they would like to do to me.”

  “Christ kid, I know why you did it, but it could have been done later, it could have not been today.”

  “Yeah it could have waited but I wouldn’t have slept until it was taken care of. Those fuckers both deserved to die, I was doing them a favor and for free. What did they do to repay me; they blew the top of my wife’s fucking head off. I know they were trying to take me out but I can’t quite say that did a lot for making me pleased either. Take care of Mikey, and if he asks where his dad is, you tell him he’s doing his very best to get back.”

  “And if you don’t make it back?”

  “Then you wait until he is old enough to go to a boarding school. You put him in the very best one, in the country of your choice that can offer him the best education possible. A education so strong that he can handle the responsibilities of having that much money.…...the number two goal, you take care of him and for a short time, you make that kid feel loved. Questions?”

  “No, I just temporarily inherited a kid of the scariest goddamn man I've ever fucking met. Sounds like a dream.”

  “Just be thankful he doesn’t know anything yet. Remember, the goal of all of this is so that he can live a normal life, he is not to know that anything is wrong. This is simply a vacation, yes?”

  “You got it kid, and Gabriel, promise me that you won’t don’t do anything else stupid. This kid is going to want his father over money, do you understand me? Gabriel, please make it back to him, he loves you and that is apparent just from the short time I had to watch the two of you together.”

  “Don’t worry, I'm coming back. I just hope that it isn’t after a few decades where I've been hidden away without a key.”

  “If that’s the case he will be in good hands Gabriel. Is there anything, anything at all that you are going to need from me? Is there anything else that I need to do?”

  “Just get on the phone and make arrangements. See if you can get someone to pick up my wife. I want to make sure that they don’t dispose of her. Get her a plot somewhere, and make sure it’s a double. I pray that it won’t be today, but I want to lay by her side.”

  Forsyth was nodding his head thinking about how the hell he could do it and who to even call. He said, “I won’t waste your time with questions. I’ll get it all taken care of. I will do my best. Addison seemed like a great woman Gabriel. I’ll make sure the proper arrangements get made and she gets what she deserves.”

  Gabriel was quiet for a moment, thinking that if she got what she deserved, she’d be on a plane with Forsyth headed for Europe and he’d have been the one to take the bullet. Gabriel said, “Addy….she liked to be called Addy. Take care of my boy Forsyth, that’s the only other request I have. If you were working before all this then you can consider yourself retired, regardless of how today ends up going. Don’t make me regret picking you, ok?”

  “You didn’t have a choice but to pick anyone but me, what in the hell would you have done if I wasn’t with you?”

  “I would have waited, secured Mikey with a school, and came back and had a blood bath at their expense. It would not have been as quick and I wouldn’t be sitting on a rooftop in the middle of nowhere, wishing I would have taken the time that I should have, to try and take each one of them out professionally.”

  “Spilt milk Gabriel. If you need anything you call me, I still know enough people out there. I am sure that someone can get me something if you require anything. Don’t hesitate to call, and try to keep your head on straight kid. We can drink to her loss for a month straight once you get yourself out of this fucking mess. But remember, you need to make it across the pond first, before you lose your shit. I don’t like goodbyes so….”

  Gabriel, who was not big on them either, went to hit the end button but saw it was disconnected already. He tried to rationalize what he was going to do in his head, but hadn’t come up with much yet. He dropped the cell phone on the ground, the power button still on. He brought his rifle up and smashed it four times in a row until the light slowly went black. Gabriel flipped it on its side and brought the gun down again, leaving nothing for the tech geeks to put back together, this much he was sure. He picked up pieces, debated throwing them off the giant building, but didn’t want to waste time walking back to the side. Gabriel walked over to the giant pipes that were coming out of the roof top and slid the pieces down them. Hearing them rattle on their way down made him feel content with his choice.

  Gabriel knew that there was limited time left. He decided that it was going to be close if he would be able to escape this place or not. He went down the service exit of the stairs and when he heard voices screaming to one another and the distinct sounds of military boots running up the steps, he decided to slide out onto one of the floors. Gabriel saw quickly that he was going to drown in a mess of cubicles if he stayed there too long. He did his best to walk while keeping a mind open to which way he came from and what side of the building he was going to come out on. Gabriel heard the doors slam open on his six, followed by a man screaming, “Johnson, Rogers, go check out that floor! You call for backup if you need anything; otherwise you work one floor up for me at a time. Do not try to take this man on your own. We want him alive for questioning.”

  Gabriel was tilting his head side to side thinking about it. He said to himself, “Well the p
ositive thing is that they are worried about me being alive,” He ducked down and the two men went past him. Gabriel tried to stay out of sight but the first unlucky man, Johnson, saw Gabriel’s feet trying their best not to stick out. He swung his compact machine gun in Gabriel’s direction. Gabriel reached up, staying to the side of the man’s line of fire. Johnson screamed for Gabriel to get down, which was exactly what he was not going to do.

  Gabriel leapt up off of one foot, bringing the other foot up, which made the man take a step backwards. When Gabriel brought it back down, he then brought up his right foot with blinding, mastered speed, connecting it to the man’s chin. Johnson made a grunt when striked, and went stumbling backwards.

  Gabriel landed gracefully, never stopping his forward momentum. He held the man by the rifle barrel. Johnson was doing as he’d been trained to with the gun sling around his back and shoulder. Gabriel twisted the barrel and used the gun butt to strike him in the neck, smashing his windpipe. Johnson was gasping for air and Gabriel steered him directly into the second man, Rogers, behind him who was trying to get a clear shot on Gabriel.

  Gabriel shoved Johnson, who just wanted to fall at this point, into Rogers and when he tried to move, Gabriel sent a punch directly at the second man's face, connecting hard. When the two men fell to the ground, both seeing stars, Gabriel punched the second man three more times until Rogers no longer attempted to stand. He stripped the men’s radios and zip tied them together by their necks, removing their knives and checking their boots to ensure that they did not have another on them.

  Gabriel checked the door, clicked off the men’s radios, and stole a helmet and a vest from them. He hoped with all the commotion that the chances of anyone recognizing that he didn’t have boots or a SWAT team uniform on would hopefully be overlooked. He unclicked a helmet and vest and slid them both on, sliding on goggles to cover the rest of his face and hooked the radio onto his own vest. Gabriel looked up knowing that he needed to find a different exit. He knew damn well that if he ran into these two's head in charge that there’d be no answer as to where the second man was.