10:30 pm

Truck Stop, undisclosed location

Dante and Simon had been at the truck stop for about 2 hours now, watching Adam and his crew. The other 4 had arrived about an hour ago and they were sharing a table inside the restaurant, waiting. Several trucks came and went and the group paid no attention until a truck pulled in wearing the logo of a large cellular distributor. Dante watched the 3 men move out of the restaurant and the girl waited, watching the driver of the truck closely. Simon had followed the men out of the restaurant so Dante waited patiently until the driver made his way inside and had just sat down with his food when Eve arrived at his table and started chatting him up.

She was, without a doubt, one of the most spectacular women Dante had ever seen. She was perfect in every physical way possible, but it was the way she carried herself that had Dante’s attention. Having experienced the childhood Dante had, he was able to spot someone who was coerced in some way into the life. There was all the swagger and confidence sure, but also a weariness about her that had him thinking she was not doing this voluntarily. Or was he telling himself that because he was feeling things for this girl that he had felt for no other. He had his share of girlfriends, but no one he let anywhere close to who he really was. Before he let himself wander any further down that path, he got back on task.

The driver was obviously taken with her and was inviting her to join him when Dante walked up and said,

“Excuse me ma’am, is your name Eve?” They already had names for each crew member so when she replied that she was, Dante said,

“A man named Adam asked me to come in here to find you. He described what you look like and what you are wearing and asked if I would find you for him. A car hit him out in the parking lot when he was walking next to his truck and it looks like he might need to go to a hospital.” Dante finished with an exasperated look on his face, pointing toward the back of the lot. Eve quickly got up and Dante turned and walked out toward the truck. Dante was stealing glances at her out of the corner of his eye and he was convinced his instincts about her are correct. They walked around the back of Adam’s truck and when she turned to look questioningly at Dante, he hit her with the cell phone stun gun Simon had given him. He wrapped an arm around her limp body and Simon came and helped him load her into the back of Adam’s truck. Dante saw that Simon had the others all restrained in the back already. They locked the trailer and as Simon turned to go drive the truck while Dante followed in the transport, Dante said,

“Simon, I think Eve is being coerced into doing this and….” He paused and looked down for a couple of seconds and then back up into Simon’s eyes, “There’s, I don’t know, there’s something about her and I want to find out why she’s doing this.” He finished and looked expectantly at Simon who studied the young man for a moment and then a slight smile crept up the side of his mouth and he nodded to Dante and said,

“Alright, follow me to their warehouse and we’ll find out.” He turned and opened the cab to the truck as Dante turned to get the transport, a smile overtaking his face and his step a little lighter.

2:35 pm

When we first met, it was just the Rage and I and our mission to help make the world a better place, using our own unique set of skills, and some might say, unique morals, to do so. I promised you that I would share the experience with you and I have done just that. I met the woman I love and shared it with you, I met a young man that I love like a son, and we were just blessed with the birth of our daughter.  My lady finally awoke from her coma, but, unfortunately, it wasn’t time to pop the cork yet.

Retrograde amnesia, that’s what they call it. She suffered a pretty severe head wound and when she finally came out of her coma, she had no memory of the events leading up to the injury, including the people in her life. While it feels like someone took a dull butter knife, opened my chest, and stirred up my guts with that very well used red hot poker, I understand. I read all of the information that the doctors gave me about the condition, but I don’t have to like it. The Rage is not regarded for his mastery of patience. D, on the other hand, was devastated. His family abandoned him when he was very young and he lived on the streets until he was tricked into joining the gang where we found him. Since that time, he finally allowed himself to live and eventually, to love. He opened his heart to my lady and I and we did the same with him. We are a family and we always will be. When we saw that she didn’t recognize us, it was like D was kicked all the way back to his childhood. It was time for drastic measures so I called my man and he and Special K brought me a secret weapon.

D walked into her hospital room in front of us and when he moved out of the way and she saw the little bundle of Rage wiggling around in my arms, something clicked. I leaned down and laid the baby into her outstretched arms and said,

“Sweetie, this is our daughter.”  The only dry eyes in the room were the 2 little one’s that were staring at her mother. With tears still streaming down her cheeks she looked up at D and I, then back at the baby and said in a horse voice,

“She’s so beautiful, she’s really ours?” I grabbed ahold of D and nodded back down to her and said,

“Yes, she is. She’s all of ours and she needs her momma to get better.” I said, unable to wipe the silly grin off my face.

We spent the rest of the afternoon together. My lady still unable to recall anything from before the accident, including us, but she could tell that we were part of her life and she ours. After speaking with the doctor and Special K, who is a healthcare professional herself, we agreed that she and Kevin would stay here and help where they could while D and I attended to some urgent business that we couldn’t put off any longer. There is still a viable threat out there against our family and that is just plain so not happening. It is going to be a whirlwind tour and Adam and the elusive Benjamin will feel the brunt of the storm that is heading their way. Batten down the hatches boys, hurricane Rage is coming to town.

8:15 am

Undisclosed Healthcare Facility outside Charlottesville

It had been a long night driving but they had just pulled into the parking lot and were heading inside the facility. It had been a few days since either had been able to come and see Nikki and both were barely able to contain their excitement. They went to the reception desk and were given directions to the 4th floor where they would be met by Nikki’s doctor.

When the elevator door opened, Nikki’s doctor was waiting for them. When Dante saw the look on the doctor’s face, his heart dropped, something was wrong. Simon shook his hand and the doctor led them over to the vacant waiting area where he asked them to take a seat. Both men regarded each other and tentatively took a seat. The doctor then explained to them that Nikki has regained consciousness and was now able to breath on her own, but she hasn’t responded to anyone. She seems to understand when someone is speaking but hasn’t said anything yet. The doctor tried to reassure them that this was not uncommon with a severe head injury, which Nikki’s would certainly qualify. He added that it might take some time and that it can’t be forced. They agreed that it would be too much for both Simon and Dante to go see her at the same time, at least today, so Dante told Simon to go see her first.

Dante paced the waiting room for what felt like 10 hours, when it was more like 20 minutes that Simon returned. Dante could tell immediately that she didn’t recognize him. The pain and anger were visible in his stormy eyes. Simon came to Dante and looked him in the eyes,

“Go see her, but don’t be upset if she doesn’t recognize you. Just let her know you care about her and are here for her if she needs us.” Dante swallowed past the lump in his throat and followed his unsteady feet to her doorway. Taking several breaths to calm his racing heart, Dante gently opened the door and took a few tentative steps into the room.

Nikki was sitting up in her bed, staring out the window that overlooked some woods and mountains off in the distance. When she heard Dante approach, she turned and stared into his eyes for several seconds. It wasn’t Nikki looking back at him, but there was something, some kind of recognition there. He took a step closer and she cocked her head to the side, studying him. Dante swallowed several times and finally said,

“Hi Nikki, I’m Dante. I’m so sorry you got hurt, I was with you when it happened..” He stopped, the lump closing his throat. He took several breaths trying to calm down and saw tears rolling down Nikki’s cheeks. Dante fought with everything he had not to fling himself into her arms, but he could tell that she still didn’t recognize him, only that she thought that she should. Dante stepped up next to her bed and asked,

“Is it ok if I just sit here with you for a little bit?” Nikki nodded her head slightly and Dante pulled a chair up next to the bed. Her hand was laying next to her and Dante looked at it and then up at her eyes. Nikki turned her hand over and Dante gently took it and held it in his own, instantly slowing his heart rate. Nikki seemed to calm with the contact as well and the two sat like that for several minutes until Dante noticed that Nikki had drifted off to sleep. He was about to stand up when he heard a faint noise behind him and turned to see Simon standing inside the door smiling at him. He motioned for Dante and he reluctantly laid Nikki’s hand gently back beside her and followed Simon out the door.

“I have an idea.” Simon said, excitement in his eyes. Dante listened and had to agree that it was worth a shot.

6:55 pm

The Farm

Dante was gathering up his tools for the upcoming night Op and making sure the transport vehicle was ready for Adam. His team wouldn’t be accompanying Adam because they weren’t the one’s driving when they attracted the Rage’s attention. They have a different fate awaiting them.  Dante had just walked into the Ops center to let Simon know everything was ready when a phone rang. Both men instantly froze, there is only 1 person who has a direct line of communication with Simon and they were both afraid what he would tell them. Simon tentatively answered the phone, listened for several seconds and hung up the phone.

“Change of plans Dante, Nikki is awake.” Simon turned toward him and gave him a smile. Dante felt like a 1000 pound weight was just lifted off his shoulders, and his heart. Both men quickly changed out of their night gear and were in the chase vehicle a few minutes later heading towards the hospital. With any luck, and no new volunteers, they would be at the hospital by morning. The night Op can wait…

4:55 pm

Happy New Year! Let’s make sure and keep it happy by staying out of the left lane shall we… Speaking of being happy, the Rage is absolutely giddy. We finally have an ID on our mystery man, Benjamin. The Rage is going to make his New Year’s resolution to bring as much pain and anguish to Benjamin’s doorstep as he possibly can and I am sure you know by now, the dude has some resources. While we are sure Benjamin knows the game is afoot, he did lose 20 of his highly skilled operatives, we want to make sure. That and we had 11 stooges to deal with. Do you know what covert agencies hate the most? Publicity, transparency, the public knowing exactly what their own government is doing, purportedly, for our benefit. I sent a nice package to every major news outlet with dossiers on each stooge, complete with full military record, records showing their deaths, and photos with each man with today’s newspaper. I let the agencies know that the men would be delivered into FBI custody and loaded them into a van, drove to the FBI and parked it out front and called them to let them know they had a gift out front. Now we plan our introduction to Benjamin.

But first, we need to attend to Adam, Eve, and their gang of thieves. The Rage remembered, quite unfondly, Adam being a dick on the road and he would like to go meet him in person. Who am I to say no to him, he’s been on his best behavior, considering. The only reason I was able to keep him from ripping the stooges limb from limb was because we finally got to hold our daughter the other day. It was the most incredible feeling I have ever experienced. I thought the love I felt for my lady was overwhelming, one look into my daughter’s eyes and I knew right then and there that there is no force in the universe that could stop us from protecting her and I pity, I mean genuinely pity, any fool that would attempt to bring harm to her….

This brings us full circle in our project. We started because we were trying to make the world a better place. Well, that mission just got expanded exponentially. Do you think I am going to take the chance that someone out there is going to hurt my daughter because they are driving like a dickhole? All indications point to Fuck No! Please, I’m begging you, heed the rules. I’ve said it before and it bears repeating, if you are traveling in the left lane and the road in front of you is empty and your rearview mirror is full, you are running the very real risk of having a red hot poker shoved up your ass.

It’s time for a night Op, it’s been awhile and the Rage is ready to get cracking.

2:45 pm

The Farm

It had taken 2 days, a high tech parabolic microphone, telephoto lens, 3 states, and hundreds of miles of travel but Dante had gotten what he was after. He and Simon were pretty sure it was only going to take one of their guests, but just in case, they had 3 separate packages ready to go and it was time to see if all of his hard work was going to yield the results they both anticipated.

The 11 men were all still in the main room in restraints and gags, as they had been for the last several days. Simon had brought out the projector and had been displaying Snatchchat video for the men to watch and it was definitely having an effect. When Simon and Dante walked into the room, the tension level ratched up about 10 notches. Dante hung back while Simon went around and stared down each man without saying a word. Finally, he addressed the group,

“Men, I’m going to ask one more time, who do you work for?” Seconds ticked by with only the heavy breathing of those struggling to breath around a gag. Simon slowly walked around the room and stopped in front of the soldier who has a son named Jeremy that Simon had targeted earlier.

“D, is young Jeremy ready for us?” Turning to look at Dante. Dante took a few seconds, feigning hesitancy to do what they were about to do and finally answered,

“He’s ready. He’s been prepped and is on the table now…..” Dante lowered his voice but not enough that the men couldn’t still hear him and leaned toward Simon,

“Are you sure we need to do this…” Simon released a long breath and replied,

“Yeah, these men obviously don’t care about anyone else so let’s show them what it’s like to watch your loved ones in extreme pain”. He turned back toward the soldier with fire and ice in his stare and said with as much menace as he could muster,

“It’s time, bring him.” He turned and went to the door leading to the next room. Dante removed the chain restraining the man from the eye bolt on the wall and pushed him behind Simon out of the room. It wasn’t lost on Dante, the frantic looks the rest of the men had on their faces as they marched the soldier out of the room. When they walked into the next room, it looked like an electrocution chamber. There was a big chair with restraints and several wires running down the sides of it bolted to the floor in the middle of the room. There wasn’t anything else in the room except a large mirror on the wall in front of the chair. They strapped the soldier down to the chair and when they had him secure, Simon walked in front of him and regarded him once again.

“There’s no reason Jeremy needs to suffer for what you have done, but make no mistake, he will suffer like it’s his job. Who Do You Work For?” He waited a couple of seconds and then removed the gag. The man just stared up at Simon. A small smile crossed Simon’s face and he looked over at Dante and nodded. Dante poked a couple of buttons on the device he was holding and suddenly you could hear a voice over the speakers they had installed in the room,

“You..you don’t have to do this, I didn’t do anything wrong.” Dante hit a button and the voice cut off. Simon turned his attention back to the man in the chair who’s entire body was tensed up like he was ready to pop and tears were falling freely down his cheeks. Simon waited,

“Tell me or I am going to let my associate go meet your son.” The man looked over at Dante for several seconds and then his eyes went to the floor at Simon’s feet. Simon stood and turned toward Dante,

“Start with his finger nails.” Then he turned and stared at the man while Dante slowly went to the door next to the mirrored wall. Once he got to the next room, the mirror suddenly became clear and was looking into the room on the other side where a small man was strapped down to a table and a black hood covered his face. Dante slowly donned a gown, gloves, and eye protection. He turned and looked through the mirror at the man in the chair and then turned around and picked up the pliers on the stainless steel table that was next to the table. He walked to the top of the table and pulled the hood off the man to reveal the soldier’s son, Jeremy. Simon hit a button on the device Dante had given him when he left the room and Jeremy’s voice could be heard begging and sobbing. The man in the chair was pulling against his restraints as hard as he could. Dante bent down and whispered something in the young man’s ear and he started begging and crying more. Dante picked up the young man’s right hand and moved the pliers toward his finger.

7 seconds later, they had their answer.

It’s amazing the results the right amount of CGI will yield. Once D put the mask and gown on, the video from there forward was actually old Snatchchat video with Jeremy’s face superimposed over the body on the table and his voice was what D had captured with the parabolic microphone, remixed into the dialogue we needed. Jeremy wasn’t the one who tried to kill us…

11:45 am

I guess I need to get back to the Q&A because the questions are flying at me at light speed, predominantly about the baby. No, we haven’t named her yet because the other half of we is not conscious to take part in that process and until she is, the baby shall remain anonymous. Thank you for your concern, she is doing better every day.

You know who is not doing better every day, Adam and the Benjamin stooges. I have spent most of my time working with the remaining stooges and darn if they aren’t stubborn. I had to get more creative. I thought my usual regime of taking out the Rage’s aggressions on someone else for the stooges’ failure to cooperate would work, but these boys are well trained. We will be putting that stoicism to the test though. I have D doing some field work now and once he returns, we will be putting together a nice audio visual presentation for our guests. I’m pretty sure they will love it, who doesn’t love watching family movies…. Unless they show your loved ones in extreme pain and duress. Hey, “you can’t always get what you want”, can you Mick?  

You know who does think they can get what they want, Adam. The problem is that what Adam wants, doesn’t belong to him. Nor does it belong to the other 3 people in Adam’s team of misfits. They are creative though, I will give them that. So here’s their MO:

They have a very fetching young lady, let’s call her Eve…. If you don’t get the reference, please find a hammer and begin banging it against your head until I tell you to stop. Eve is the diversion. When a driver of one of their target trucks stops at a truck stop, Eve steps in and does her thing. I watched her with 2 different targets and she had them both wrapped around her finger for as long as she wanted them.

While the driver is occupied, the other 3 get to work. Adam brings his truck up close to the target and in very short order they compromise the locks and start offloading. I am sure they are doing some research on their targets because they are extremely efficient. Neither theft took longer than 8 minutes. The goods were small enough they could move them from truck to truck manually. Both were done at night when activity was the least in the lot. They replaced the lock and I am sure no one’s the wiser until the truck gets to its final destination and they find out their key doesn’t fit the lock on the trailer.

Adam continues out of the lot on his normal route and along the way, he stops at the predetermined location to offload the goods. Since I was already in the area and had nothing to do, I took a minute to go check out their warehouse and see what it is they are stealing. High end electronics and phones, smartwatches, wireless speakers, all kinds of gadgets that can be quickly converted to cash domestically and if they take the time to export them out of the country, about 10 times the value. Not a bad little enterprise for about an hour’s worth of work for each theft. It was a nice little plan until we came along. It just wouldn’t be right to break up the family so I will have to get D and we will have some family therapy for this group. I’m pretty sure the FBI might want to rap a little with them as well considering this enterprise is crossing state lines. I’m not sure the group will dig their new popularity. I just checked with the Rage and he said “fuck them in the ear hole.” There you have it, he doesn’t sound concerned.

First things first, we need the space in the guest suite so we need to get some results out of the stooges and deal with them. On one hand, I understand their dedication and it’s very easy to understand the “follow orders no matter what” mentality. They quite literally beat the concept into you during your training in the military. What I don’t get is when these highly functioning soldiers fail to exercise even the smallest amount of free thought and think, “Hey, maybe trying to murder Americans in their own home might be something not entirely on the up and up.” Just skip right over due process and the Bill of Rights. Every decision has consequences and they should have seen the eventual consequences of their actions. Can you imagine what the Rage has in store for the person(s) who sent these men to our doorstep? I can!!!!

1:30 pm

The Farm

Dante had spent the morning with Simon interviewing the soldiers. One of the buildings is set up to house guests and is completely soundproof. The building is equipped with state of the art monitoring systems and has a self destruct feature that would make the warehouse look like kids playing with matches. Within 4 minutes of activation, there will be nothing but a huge hole in the ground and a pile of ashes no bigger than a milk jug. It also has remote activation built into it so there is no need to worry when they are on the road.

Dante had only seen Simon interview one person before so to watch him interact with the 11 remaining guests was something to behold. Simon was casually strolling through the room singing Breaking Benjamin’s “Blow Me Away” to all of the men. He made special emphasis when singing the line, “only the strongest will survive”, right before he showed them what that meant. “Your cover’s blown, nowhere to go, only your fate. Lonely I walk alone.”

Simon had quickly determined who the leader of the group was by watching the men interact on the monitoring equipment. When he first went into the room, he took the leader and placed him in the middle of the room, the other 10 men all able to see him from their restraints, and he bound and gagged him without asking a single question. He slowly walked around the room, stopping to stare into the eyes of each man. Every single one of them looked away before Simon did. When he got back to the first guy he paused for several seconds and said,

“I need to know who you work for. I have a pretty good idea, but I need to be certain. I am also sure that most of you feel like you are just doing your job, following orders, being a good soldier… by coming to my home and trying to kill me and my young friend over there. I already know who each of you are… or were, before you were KIA. I also know every single family member you abandoned when you took on this role. Can you imagine what thoughts will be going through their minds while they are being tortured, all the while knowing you lied and faked your own death and brought this fury to their doorstep?” He stopped and paused. At least 3 of the men showed a reaction to his words, barely, but it was there. As a shark senses blood in the water, Simon zero’d in on the first and most obviously distressed of the 3. He stared the man in the eye for several seconds and asked,

“Who do you work for?” The man paused, doubt in his eyes. A small smile broke Simon’s mask and he turned, grabbed the whip from the table next to the leader and crack! The skin on the leader’s chest lay open from the wound, blood running down his bare torso. Muffled screams were the only sound in the room. Simon waited until it died down a little bit and then leaned close to the soldier and said in a very menacing tone,

“Can you imagine what your son, Jeremy, will think when he faces the end of his life in the most painful way I can imagine and all the while, knowing it was you who brought the devil to his doorstep. You won’t have to imagine, you will be there to watch so there is no doubt who is responsible.” The man’s eyes widened even further and before he could say anything, Simon gagged him and continued singing,

“Your cover’s blown, nowhere to go, only your fate, Lonely I will walk alone.” He walked up to the next man who had shown a reaction and stopped in front of him for several seconds until a smirk appeared on his face. Simon leaned in and said,

“The first one who tells me what I want to know wins.” His smirk morphed into a full on smile and on his way out the door, he adjusted the temperature in the room to 90 and walked out the door, still whistling the tune.

3:15 pm

I enjoy a good surprise party, but if you are going to throw me one, you may want to let the Rage in on the plan. We had several guests decide to drop by the house and throw old Simon a party. You know I like to party so we made sure all our guests had a really good time and got a nice gift basket for attending. I guess blowing up half my family wasn’t good enough so they sent these gentlemen to try and finish the job they fucked up in the first place. This time, it didn’t go so well for them. They sent 20 trained killers to come and finish what they couldn’t do the first time. News flash, you missed again!!! This reminds me of a line I heard watching Swamp People when Troy Landry said “If you’re gonna take a shot at the devil, make sure you don’t miss.” Choot Em! I love that guy!

I am sure you want to know the gory details so let me break it down for you.

5 of the stooges were blown up before they even got close to the house. D took out 8 of them on his own, 4 before they even had feet on the ground. The boy has skills, I couldn’t be more proud. I didn’t see D take them down so I can’t comment on how he did it, I can only share my own experience with you. I like to get up close and personal with my party guests so I grabbed my Katana, that’s my really sharp ninja sword that the Rage saw on an episode of The Walking Dead and made me buy him one on Amazon, and I patiently waited. The first group had 3 men in it and they crept past my position where I remained unobserved. Once the last man passed in front of me, I thrust my sword into the back of his dominant shoulder and before his weapon hit the ground, or a sound came from him, I hit him in the back of the neck with the handle of the sword and out he went. I continued forward toward the other 2, who were too busy looking in front of them to realize that it wasn’t their buddy creeping up behind them. I showed them the error in their ways. I came up between them and slashed the guy on the right first and before he could grunt, I was already cutting into his buddy on the left. A few key strikes with my dagger as a finishing touch and they eagerly agreed to wait out the rest of the party right where they were.

One of their buddies must have heard the fun going on and wanted to participate because as soon as I had the first group restrained, bullets started peppering the area all around us. I was already secure in one of our hides and had the drone up over the top of the foursome before the bullets stopped flying. I was able to take out 2 of the remaining men with the darts that deployed from the drone and used the attack as cover to move into position for my last 2 party guests. It was time to go old school, the Rage has been begging for some string time so I let him go. Now these guys were professionals, military trained I later found out, so I guess it took them by surprise when one of the guys looks over at his buddy after hearing a thump and sees an arrow protruding from his neck, blood spraying all over the place. It’s just not something the brain is trained to process because it isn’t used in battle anymore, at least conventional battle. The couple of seconds of hesitation on his part were all the Rage needed to bring an end to this party. Before he could train his weapon in the area the first arrow came from, the second arrow was already in flight and found its purchase in the shoulder of the last remaining man. The arrow went right through his shoulder and stuck in the tree behind him, holding him up off the ground. The fun was all over and only the clean up remained. Actually, the Rage likes this part better than the party itself, but that will come later. Do you want to know the crazy part of all of this? All 20 men are dead. Not by my hand mind you. After taking prints and running facial recognition on all of the men, we found out that each was listed as Killed In Action from one branch of the military or the other. All highly trained, mostly special forces. Deceased. Do you know who uses dead soldiers to do their bidding…..our own government’s shadow agencies. It just might be time to register the Rage to vote because he doesn’t much like the current administration.

We have those still left alive on ice, literally, and have disposed of the bodies of those who didn’t make it. I found a bear den up in the hills back behind the house, but Kevin said that it wouldn’t do the bears any good to eat humans and they might get a taste for it. Too bad, I remember going to the bear dump with my dad as a kid and it was always fun to watch. Anyway, we had thought about body disposal when we bought our new place and we have an incinerator that does really nice work.

It’s likely going to take more time than usual to get some dialogue going, but don’t you worry. Sooner or later, they all talk….

I’ll have some time to work on Adam while my guests are resting not so comfortably. Later this afternoon, I will introduce them to the Rage’s version of hot yoga.

11:35 pm

The Farm

Dante had just finished with his latest sketch and laid the book on the table next to his  bed, getting ready to turn in and get some sleep. Suddenly, the alarm on the smart watch Simon gave him went off. Knowing the signal meant there was a security breach at the farm, Dante sprung into action and was dressed and out the door, duffle bag slung over his shoulder, in less than a minute. He quickly met up with Simon in the Ops center where all of the monitors were streaming live footage all around the farm. Simon had used the same style of perimeter monitoring system he had used to monitor the stations that were working on the missile defense system where Simon first came across Tango. He had added some new features, including radar which now showed 8 figures parachuting toward the farm. At the same time, 3 vehicles were approaching the lone road leading to the farm. Simon quickly activated the countermeasures they had placed along the road and watched at the first vehicle disintegrated into a cloud of black smoke. The 2 remaining vehicles swerved to either side of the explosion and were quickly rendered useless when the small charges they had placed along the side of the  roadway went off disabling both remaining vehicles. Several men exited the vehicles and Simon looked over at Dante.

“You take the west side and I’ll head east and we’ll meet in the middle. Non-lethal, we need to find out who is pulling their strings.” He clicked a few more keys and as they were heading to the exit, Simon put his hand on Dante’s arm and both men stopped and looked into each other’s eyes. Simon squeezed his arm and said,

“This is it Dante, they fucked with our family and it’s time. You are the most capable person I have ever worked with and I love you. Go do what you were born to do.” Both men nodded at each other and exited the Ops center. Dante quickly headed to the west side of the property and saw several dark shapes above him and he also saw movement on the ground ahead.

When they had first started setting up security at the farm, they had anticipated a possible attack and had created several defensive hides. Dante made his way up the large tree with his tranq rifle. In the next several seconds, he fired off several quick shots at the incoming paratroopers and 4 of them didn’t move after hitting the ground and crumpling into a pile. The other 4 quickly dispersed and began firing on Dante’s position. Quickly, Dante rolled backward and dropped to the ground, silently, using the climbing harness that was rigged to the tree. Sounds of automatic rifle fire could be heard towards the east as Dante quickly grabbed his blow gun and silently crept through the woods, night vision goggles in place. Up ahead he saw 3 figures moving in standard cover formation towards his position and he noticed that they were wearing night vision goggles as well. Waiting until they were within 20 yards, Dante removed his goggles and threw a flash bang grenade right in front of the group. Once he heard the charge go off, he quickly put his goggles back on and dropped all 3 where they stood with one of his special darts while they were disoriented from the flash.

Dante was scanning beyond the 3 men for the 4th he knew was out there when he felt a white hot pain rip across his left arm. He spun around with the impact and dove to the ground, rolling in the direction the shot came from. He quickly found cover under some brush and waited silently. Several seconds later, he heard a slight noise coming toward him. Dante watched as the figure passed right in front of him and he sprung from the ground, slicing the man’s femoral artery on the way up and embedding his knife in the man’s right shoulder. The gun dropped instantly to the ground and Dante had him cuffed in the heavy wire ties he carried with him less than 7 seconds later. After quickly trussing up the rest of the paratroopers, who were all incapacitated from the tranq gun or the special darts, Dante transmitted the all clear to Simon and started making his way toward his position.

Before he could see him, Dante received the all clear back from Simon. When he approached the eastern side of the property, Simon was just finishing up securing what Dante counted as 7 other soldiers. It was obvious that Simon had used more aggressive methods to take out the soldiers as several were bloodied and at least a couple were lying in the grass unconscious, maybe permanently from the look of at least one of them. Simon smiled up at him as he approached and when he got close enough for him to see the blood on his arm, his expression changed immediately,

“You’re hit!” He said as he approached and took stock of the wound. Dante tried to play it off, but the truth was that his arm felt like someone lit it on fire and then tightened it down in a vice.

“It’s nothing, only a flesh wound” Trying to sound tough for Simon. A small smile crept up the corner of Simon’s mouth and he put his arm around Dante and led him back toward the house to take care of the wound.

“I know it is, but if it gets infected we’ll both have to answer to Nikki”. Dante caught the quick look Simon gave him out of the corner of his eye when he realized what he just said and that Nikki wasn’t inside waiting on them.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. We have a lot of work to do so let’s get this taken care of and then deal with all of them” Dante replied as he cast his gaze across the bodies laying on the ground.