Something Attacked

            Gunfire filled the air as the Others fired on Ed’s car. He was a few hundred meters ahead of Ian when they rammed him and nearly drove him off the highway.

            There were three black vans and a Humvee with a mounted gun raining heavy suppressing fire down on Ed. Ian got within a few meters before he turned his car sideways, got out and retrieved a Scar L assault rifle from the trunk with an attached grenade launcher. He lauded a grenade, took aim and fired at the Humvee.

            The grenade found its target and the Humvee exploded, sending the body a few meters into the air before it came crashing down on a group of Others. Ian started shooting at the few he could outflank while Ed managed to fire at the other agents that had broken cover after the explosion.

            Ian fired a single shot at a time, picking his targets carefully and making sure his shots counted. There were only thirty rounds in the magazine and he had no intention of trying to retrieve more.

            Within a few minutes, Ed and Ian had dealt with the Others agents. Those they did not kill managed to get way just as the police sirens came within earshot.

  “Let’s go,” said Ian.

  “My car’s totaled,”

  “Mine’s still good to drive, now come on. We’ll get you a new one later,”

            An hour later, after they had made sure neither the police nor the Others were following them, Ed and Ian entered the house.

  “So I guess our protection has worn off, curtsy of the Council,” said Ed as he threw his useless car keys on the kitchen island.

  “Shit,” said Ian as he checked the message on his phone.

  “What?”

  “Jacks is in danger,” said Ian and he made his way back out of the house with Ed following closely behind.

            Devon looked out of the hundredth story room at the bustling tourist city. As the years went on, it became more and more of a tourist attraction to the point where only tourists and those working for the hotels, spa’s, restaurants and shops lived there.

            He and Evelyn were sharing a room, under the guise of being married, with the two other agents sharing a room, under the guise of being a married same-sex couple.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it,” she asked as she looked around.

  “It’s sandier than I remember,”

            A flashback came to Devon. He was taking cover behind an overturned truck as a sandstorm engulfed him, Ed and Ian with bullets flying everywhere. Somewhere there was a helicopter firing at them but the sand was tearing at the blades and it would come crashing down soon.

  “Global warming,” said Evelyn, her voice brining Dev back to reality.

  “I’ll take the bed, you can sleep on the couch,” said Dev.

  “Well that’s not very gentleman like,” she objected.

  “I’m no gentleman, besides, I’ve got back problems,”

  “For the ruse to work, both of us will sleep in the bed. But I warn you, I wear very revealing underwear,” she said and ran a finger down his arm, before she made it more than two centimetres he caught her by the writs.

  “I’ve hit a girl as pretty as you before, I’m not afraid to do it again,” he said coldly.

  “You’ll sleep on the couch,” she said, pulling herself free and storming off to the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

            Dev decided to do some exploring but his exploring ended when he found the bar. He wasn’t a big drinker, not since a few years after they had finished high school, but he did have the occasional drink. And now was one such occasion.

            He sat drinking his beer and surveying the surroundings. He recognised one of the men on the other side of the room. He had been there when they had arrived in Dubai the first time, eleven years ago, and had sold them weapons. Devon wondered if that was still his trade.

            Again Devon had a flashback, this time of a man with grey eyes and a dark smile throwing him a handgun before rushing out the door. Gunshots and screaming followed, and a hand touched Devon on the shoulder causing him to start and nearly throw his beer.

  “Relax, Drotsky,” said one of the other agents that were providing backup for him and Evelyn.

  “Sorry. You’re really okay with acting…you know?”

  “Quire? I am Gay, Devon. I think Stone isn’t too happy about it, though,” said the agent and ordered a beer. “So, heard you and your rag tag band of agents caused quite a stir eleven years ago. Apparently, it was the three of you against an entire mechanised marine regiment. Tanks, Apaches, some say even a nuclear sub,”

  “Just three tanks and one Apache, it was an off day,” said Dev and finished his beer. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get back to my ‘wife’,”

  “As I hear it, you’re in the dog box and you’ll have better luck paying someone to fuck you,” said the agent and Devon just gave him the finger as he walked away.

  “What the hell is going on here?” asked De Beer as he arrived. They were all parked in the centre of the park taking cover behind their cars.

  “Some of your friends are holding your family and my agent hostage,” said Ian.

  “I told you this would happen,” said De Beer, furious.

  “No, I told you they would come for your family. The only reason they’re still alive is because Jacks is in there with them,”

  “We tried getting closer,” started Connor, “but they shot at my car as we drove towards them. I hope you’ve got insurance,”

  “How many men?” asked De Beer.

  “A hand full, six or seven,” said Ed.

  “Good, I’ll go in, see if I can’t talk them into releasing my family,”

  “And Jacks?” asked Safu.

  “He’s an agent, he’s expendable,” said De Beer and he stalked off to the house with his hands in the air.

  “Like hell,” said Ian, “How think do you recon those walls are?”

  “Standard double brick walls,” said Ed, “so what, twenty odd centimetres thick,”

  “Thumpers will do fine then,” he said and opened the trunk of his car. From the hidden compartment he retrieved two large silver gun cases, one of which he handed to Ed and the two of them stalked off in the opposite direction as De Beer.

            They entered the yard of a house directly opposite De Beer’s, climbed onto the roof and started setting up the massive sniper rifles.

  “Reaver,” came De Beer’s voice over their headsets. He was wearing his wire, Ian realised. “What is the meaning of this?”

  “Your family was harbouring this Agency whore,” said a gruff voice, “Our orders were to kill him, but I think I might make him my bitch first,”

  “Fuck you,” said Jacks.

  “Oh, you say such nice things,” said Reaver.

  “Why take my family hostage?” asked De Beer.

            Ian took two rounds from his case and threw Ed one. They were huge for weapon rounds and looked more like small tank shells. The bolt action rifle could only take one and could only fire one every two minutes as it needed time to cool down. Ian loaded the round and looked through the X-Ray scope.

  “Two tangos,” said Ian, “I’ll take the one on the left,”

  “Well, you’d gone dark for some time,” said Reaver, “we weren’t really sure who you were playing for. I guess now we know,”

  “Look, let my family go, your scaring my children,”

  “I was planning on doing more than that,”

  “On my count,” said Ed.

  “Why don’t you put the guns down, before someone gets hurt,” said De Beer.

  “One,”

  “We’re the ones holding the guns, so the likelihood of us getting hurt is minimal,”

  “Two,”

  “Just, lower your weapons,” pleaded De Beer.

  “Three,”

            As one, Ian and Ed pulled the triggers. There was a thunderous clap that could be heard for kilometres and the bipods under the barrels moved back with such force that roof tiles shattered.

            De Beer had no time to do anything. Directly in front of his stood Reaver, a huge muscled man holding Jacks with one arm and a gun pointed at De Beer. To his left was a man holding a gun to his wife’s head and to his right a man standing over his two daughters.

            Everything happened in slow motion as the bullets came through the wall behind him and found their targets, causing the two men’s heads to explode in a rain of blood, bone and brains.

            Reaver let go of Jacks and pointed his gun at De Beer, but as he pulled the trigger, Jacks moved in between them and took the bullet in the shoulder. This bought De Beer time to reach for his axe and burry the blade in Reaver’s skull.

            There was gunfire from below, but De Beer ignored it, he rushed over to his wife and untied her while his eldest daughter rushed to Jacks. Ian and Ed came rushing up the stairs and De Beer nearly shot at them.

  “You two couldn’t find any fucking bigger bullets?” asked De Beer, furious.

  “Your family is alive, so be grateful,” said Ed.

  “We need to get him to a hospital,” said De Beer’s eldest.

  “No, Bridget,” said Jacks, “I’ll be fine, it’s just a flesh wound,”

  “Kid,” said Ian, “you’re officially off the case,”

            Jacks nodded, the leaned in to kiss Bridget. It was a long kiss, or at least it seemed that way with De Beer staring at them. Ian was sure that he wished the bullet had hit Jacks somewhere else.

  “I’ve been meaning to do that for a while,” Jacks said when their lips parted.

  “Who the hell were these men!” demanded De Beer’s wife as she slapped him.

  “Honey, I can explain,”

  “Then explain!”

  “On second thought,” said Jacks, “a doctor sound like a good idea,”

  “Remind you of someone?” asked Ian as he leaned on the wall opposite Ed, who was staring at Jacks and Bridget staring at each other.

  “Hugo and Annarie,” said Ed solemnly. “He still dreams of her, you know,”

  “She asked us to do it,”

  “Doesn’t mean I liked it, or thought it was right,” said Ed and walked down the hallway leaving Ian alone to watch the two lovebirds.

  “Those we love always hurt us the most,” Ian said to himself as he thought about the day they staged Annarie’s death. And how Hugo had reacted.