Alex Morton

"I didn't ask you why, I asked you where," Alex said.

"The Two women are at your lodge in Maine with a team of former Spetsnaz operatives. She said it would really humiliate you when you found out." The middle aged man looked at his wife who was terrified. "Do you have to kill her?"

Alex said, "Not if you can arrange for me to talk to Lucy. If you can't then yes." The man recognized the eyes of a slightly psychopathic killer."

"And the kids?" he asked.

"Not the kids unless you force me to do so." Alex said. The man picked up his cell phone and called the team holding Lucy and Jessie.

"I need to talk to the one called Lucy," he said. There followed a five minute wait while they had a discussion in Russian. Finally they got her on the phone.

"Hello," Lucy said.

"Do not react to this. It's Alex. I know where you are and I'm coming for you. If you are at the lodge and understand just say, yes sir and hang up."

"Yes sir," Lucy said and handed the phone back to her captors.

The man in the bed knew what was going to happen next, but he wanted to save his wife and kids so he told Lucy's guards that the boss was close to negotiating the return of the women.

If only they maintained the communications black out for one more day, the rescue might be possible, Alex thought.

Explain to your wife that we are going to let her and the kids live for now. If we have to come back, we will kill them all. Then kiss her goodbye.

The man rattled off some Russian, then Alex led him into the hall and put two rounds into the back of his head from the silenced Ruger .22 magnum.

They had a long drive ahead.

Alex made a call to Win in the middle of the night and of course she didn't answer, so his next call was to Luther.

"Luther get your ass out of bed and get me a fucking airplane. I need to fly to Maine. Arrange it as close as we can get to the lodge. Have a rental car waiting for me or at least make a reservation for one." Alex said it then broke the connection. He didn't want a phone discussion and Luther knew it.

"Doyle what time do you think it will be when we get back to town?" Alex asked next." He was suffering from sleep deprivation.

"Looks like about 4am or so," Doyle answered. He didn't look so good either.

"Are you up to the trip north. It's going to be a mother?" Alex asked.

"I hate to let you down Alex, but I'm afraid I feel the swing coming," Doyle said. "Sometimes there is no drug in the world, short of putting me in a coma, that will help."

"Don't do that, I will see you when Lucy, Jessie, and I come back," Alex said.

"If you do," he suggested.

"Yeah that too," Alex admitted. "Do you feel up to sending one more message."

"Oh I would love that," he said.

"I just happen to have the grenade launcher in the trunk. Let's swing by the Black Russian on the way home. It will be the middle of the night. Anyone there will just have to take their chances."

"I'm surprised the bad guys haven't at least tried to retaliated," Doyle said.

"I have a small army of vets guarding the house. I no longer own anything except Blue skies and the courier business. They want the couriers to haul their shit around, so they ain't fucking with it. They already have Lucy and Jessie there is not much more they can do. I wasn't kidding when I said I would spend the whole damn million to get them all. It's like a mission."

Sarah was asleep in the back seat as they rode a couple of more hours in silence. Then out of nowhere Doyle said, "You know you can't kill them all, but you can kill some of them in ways that make the others fear you."

"We are trying to do just that," Alex informed him.

When they stopped by the Black Russian, there were ten cars in the parking lot and at least one of them was running. The exhaust was easy to spot on the cold night. "That back door is a bottle neck. We take the people in the car, then we lob a couple of Willie Pete grenades through those windows. Any man who comes out that back door, young or old, for the following two minutes dies," Alex said.

"I don't know where you are getting all this shit, but I'm glad I'm on your side." Doyle said holding the Grenade launcher.

Alex slipped up on the two men sitting in the car. They weren't jerking off and they weren't looking for him. So he had no idea what they were doing. No matter how good you think you are, you can't hear shit with the motor running and the windows rolled up tight. The Ruger revolver made short work of them. He put one round in of of their heads, then went back and did another each.

After that it was just get a matter of getting close enough to the back wall so as not to miss with the M40. The White phosphorus made a hell of a fire inside the building. Alex was pretty sure that he should have fired it into the front of the building as well. Two round through the rear window and it was just a matter of time before it spread there as well." Alex quickly went to the car where he and Doyle waited to see who would try to get out the rear. Either there was no one inside or they were all in the room where the shit happened. Either way they left ahead of the fireman's arrival.

Alex dropped Doyle before he went to the airport. At 6am he handed the car keys to Sarah and boarded the plane to wait until it could take to the air. While he waited, Alex called Jack Armstrong, surely that was an AKA, Alex thought. Once the call went to voice mail Alex realized he had nothing to say, so he hung up.

Luther arrived with his carry on luggage as the sun was rising. "You going alone?" Luther asked.

"I'm going alone, but I won't be alone," Alex said.

"How about I fly up with you?" Luther asked.

"No offense Luther, but I need the sleep more than I need the company," Alex said and he meant it.

Once the plane raised it self from the ground, Alex removed his pirate leg. It was easy to find room to sleep, since he didn't mind sleeping on the floor. He was also the only passenger in a six passenger airplane.

The drone of the engines sang Alex a lullaby. He slept like a baby, well and exhausted baby. The point was he needed that sleep badly.

Once inside the general aviation terminal he was met by a young man. "Mister Morton, I have the keys to your rental car. Will you be returning it to the airport?" the kids asked.

"Sure why not?" Alex replied taking the keys. He rolled a cart with the rifles and his small backpack to the car. He also ignored the looks of the people around him.

Once the trunk was packed he added the Ruger to the pile of gear in the car. However, he did not remove his mother's colt revolver from his waist band.

There was a fire road which ran within a hundred yards of his cabin. It was already snowed in, so he would be forced to hike into the wilderness. He didn't mind that so much.

He pulled the rental car as far up the fire road as it would go before becoming stuck. Then he stated to walk till he came to a path which led from the fire road to Leonard's cabin.

"Leonard, my friend, how are you," Alex said to the man he found a few yard from the cabin.

"I be good my friend," Leonard replied.

"I understand there are strangers in the lodge," Alex said.

"I have seen signs, so I steered clear of them. From the signs there are a half dozen or more."

"It's a long story Leonard but they are holding my sister and a friend against their will in there," Alex said.

"Well, I'm sure you aren't here to chat with me. Let's go see what they are up to. Alex stopped inside Leonard's cabin long enough to drop his gear. He loaded The big bore black power rifle, then put the cover over the barrel to keep out the damp. He filled his pocket with percussion caps, envelopes fill with measured powder loads, and a few lead bullets. He also loaded his pockets with shell for both pistols.

"You finally tooled up," Leonard asked.

"I am, so lets go see what is happening." Alex replied.

While they sat on the hill with Binoculars watching the men, who were obviously city dwellers. They went about there business trying to stay alive in the very inhospitable North woods.

Alex and Leonard saw them going in and out of the out house. They didn't stay long. Alex imagined that they waited until the last minute to make the trip.

"The lodge has only that one fireplace how the hell are they keeping warm?" Alex asked.

"They got a Kerosene heater I think," Leonard observed. "Somebody goes out every day to bring back supplies and one of those blue fuel cans.

A Man moved carefully to the SUV in the driveway a couple of hours later. After he left the two men saw nothing for over an hour when the first man returned with food and the blue fuel can.

"So have you ever seen them at night?" Alex asked.

"Seen lights on it the lodge is all. They weren't the lodge lights. I think they are burning lanterns." Leonard said.

"You know getting a lantern lit when you are half asleep and under fire is just about impossible," Alex commented.

"I need to go buy us some strong flashlights," Alex said. He had the seed of a plan running around his mind.

"What's it's going to take to get you back in the game," Alex asked.

"A dozen donuts and that fancy pistol," Leonard said.

"Do we need any of the others," Alex asked. "There are at least four of them."

"Alex, if there are only four we have them out numbered, but it is up to you."

"It sounds good to me," he said. "The few people know the better.

The two men sat in Leonard's cabin lit only by the fire in the stove and ate donuts. "I'm gonna have the shits," Leonard said as he went outside. Since Alex had spent almost a year eating rich food, he wasn't effected by the donuts. At least not so soon.

"Well it been dark a long time, I guess it's time to go," Alex said. "I love you for this Leonard."

They went back to their hill top to watch. They waited until one of the men emerged from the house, the two men left their lookout spot on the hill to make their way to the lodge.

The plan was simple to reduce the number of men by one without them knowing. The sound of the silenced pistol firing twice into the outhouse was almost lost in the howl of the wind.

Alex expected to have a gun battle with the others but it proved to be not to be the case. It was almost a walk through exercise. He slipped the lock on the back door and waited ten minute for the night sentry come looking for his partner. Alex heard only the slight rush of air as the skinning knife pierced his lungs. There was also the unmistakable smell of feces. He had been holding it in for a quick dash to the outhouse probably. When he died his muscles relaxed.

Obviously they had become complacent, because the other two men were sleeping on the floor one with Jesse and one with Lucy.

Lucy awoke to the feel of a warm liquid covering her face. She expected that the man guarding her had done something sexually perverted while she slept. She had been raped twice a day during her short captivity at the lodge. She had endured it all because she knew without a doubt that Alex would be coming. She knew that even before his call.

Then she heard a gurgling noise from the pallet on the floor occupied by Jessie. She could only guess what evil things her captor was doing to her.

"Are there any more?" Alex whispered to her. Lucy thought she was dreaming but managed to say there were four men and a woman," she said.

Alex heard the shot that killed him, as well as the blast of Leonard's heavier 1903 Springfield .303 rifle. Alex heard Lucy trying to comfort him. The pain had left him as he drifted off into the blackness.

It was a hell of a last mission, Leonard said standing over Alex while his sister made a call to the cops.

"I was never here," Leonard said then left carrying the Ruger to go check his traps.

The End.