Guilty Until Proven Innocent

[BlueEyedLady]

Tanya

Tanya almost missed her turn as she looked up startled at the key ring. Now things began to fall into place.

"I know a way we can find out," She said grimly as she turned into the parking lot of Krispy Kreeme. "I have a buddy who is a computer wiz and has the latest high tech stuff. We will go over there after the meeting with Liz-Boy and see what he thinks of it. We won't go to Taylor's until tonight. Doing something this big in broad daylight wouldn't be smart or healthy."

Stopping the car and turning off the ignition, she turned to Brandon. "Jill said you would know what to do with it. If it's what we all think it is, I trust you have contacts that will be able to use it? I'm with Jill. I think that Taylor probably has some people in the police and, if he doesn't, his mob connections will. We need to get it to a high enough profile so that something can be done on a big level."

Before she opened the door and got out, she gave them both a warning look. "And not a word of this to the slimeball. I don't want him knowning anymore than he has to. You can bet your ass he isn't telling us anymore than we need to and I don't trust what he would do if he got his hands on the info. This part of it we do alone."

Getting out of the van, Tanya stretched and yawned. The little sleep she had had was not doing her any good and she really needed to get this job done, get the girl home safe and then sleep for about a week.

Walking into the shop, she didn't even look at the customers. She knew he was there. She could almost smell the fetid air about him. Her senses were working overtime, though and she was ready and willing to pull her weapon if anyone approached her in a manner that was not to her liking.

Going up to the counter, she ordered two donuts and the largest cup of coffee they had. To go. Taking a drink from the coffee and sighing as the hot caffinated drink warmed her and sent false energy into her. Now, after her sugar and nicotine that she was going to get after eating the donuts and smoking a cigarette, she might just be about human.

Paying the cashier, she turned and looked around, her eyes falling on the only person who could be Lizard. He had people with him and she could tell by their body language that they were as ready to get into a fight as she was. Well, this was either going to be a fruitful meeting or they would all end up in bloody messes. Tanya shrugged. Only time would tell.

Walking over to the table, she did not even make a move to sit down. And she ignored the others there. Turning to the guy with the 'I own the world' attitude, the one that dripped from him even when he hadn't said a word to her or made a move towards her, she raised her eyebrows in a question.

"Okay, so we meet. Can't say it's the greatest pleasure in my life but I think that we can come to an agreement that will suit both of us. But I don't want to do this inside where characters that are more unsavory than you are, and sadly, thats a possibility, can overhear us. I just wanted some coffee and donuts. What say we meet in the parking lot and discuss our business?"

Turning on her heels, still ignoring the lackeys, she strode to the door and out of it. Going to the side door of the van and opening it, she sat down on the carpeted floorboard, took out a donut and bit into it with a sigh. Heaven.

 

[Evil Attorney]

Lizard noticed she ordered a chocolate doughnut.

He looked at Francis and she handed him $20. He grinned at her and said " I told you she was having her time o' the month."

Francis looked back and said "Boss...I let you win."

His smile faded. She did...eh...never bet with a CIA analyst. Either they know the answer or fucking in league with the devil for the info...

He rose in a fluid motion with Al and Francis staying seated. Tara and Mary were in the parking lot somewere close by with MP-5's, and the fact that he didn't see or recgonise them didn't consern him. They were ghosts, able to change appearances at will.

Hell, if they could learn to piss standing up and get range, it wouldn't supprise him. They were well worth the $140,000 he paid each of them (plus health care, 2 weeks off, company car and performanc bonuses every quarter.)

He looked at Tanya sitting and sighed. He remained standing, perfectly balanced and not swaying at all. He pulled a small buzzing box from his briefcase and Tanya looked at him with cobra's eyes.

"Its a white noise generator, Miss King. Anyone with a long distance mic will not be able to get through.

I'm sure you aren't all that happy to see me, and likewise the same about you. I didn't hear your reputation, I have it all on file and I know its good."

Lizard then proceeded to recite from memory Tanya's activities over the last 3 years without missing a single case up to the present, and detailed her actions for the past week.

He did this to cover Hanks ass. If Tanya knew that Hank mentioned his name to the first asshole (needle man) that they interrogated, she would freak.

That he didn't need. Having Tanya unreasonable was the last thing he wanted, but better directed at him than Hank. Afterall, he surmised, she already hates me, why put hank in a bad spot.

He hoped Hank thought of his sacrifice as when he fucked Tanya's ass. Oh well...

"Don't feel bad about missing my people watching you. I hire Ex-CIA and NSA people to do my inteligence gathering.

Your good, but are you good enough to duck survalence you don't know about done by people with 20 years in the inteligence buisness?

I heard your little interrogation with the man who tried to take Hank right in the parking lot over their.

When you left him in the no-tell-hotel my little pair of hounds asked him some more questions. He was much more forthcoming when my name was mentioned.

You should try cultivating a more...terrifying rep. I find it helpful."

He shrugged, but didn't smile. Too much smiling would piss her off.

"Now, onto inteligence that I've obtained and what my investigations turned up..." with that he handed her a thick document bound like a book, of aproximately 300 pages.

This was a more detailed than the one he gave Tanya earlier, and this one was more specific.

The one she recieved this morning was about 80 pages and good as it was, it was more general and sparse compared to this.

This doucment contained sources and methods, the 2 holy of holies of the information game.

Names, dates, account numbers, FBI memos shared with Falcon Eye's ligitimate opperations reguarding this case. Those were real but cost a hell of a lot of money to agents.

The weren't classified all that highly, but not for public consumption, but Falcon Eye wasn't the public.

Lizard was going to make sure that the accounts of this taylor asshole and all his people were emptied to the dime to offset the costs of this opp.

Fucking blood debts...

Lizard launched into a detailed, methodical and professional outlay of Taylor's buisness, his known holdings, investigations on him, his connections to organised crime and how they dealt with the flesh trade localy, state wide, interstate and internationaly, all the while doing this he refered her to page numbers in the document.

The only parts which weren't true were the details refering to Candice and the 'investigation' looking for her which lead into Taylor's empire of missery.

The monologue was delivered over the course of 30 minutes in which he anticipated and answered her questions.

Although they were nothing alike personaly, each was a top notch profesional.

Shady Lizard was. (ok...dirty...) Stupid he was not. He kept involved in his buisness and good as he was before starting Falcon Eye, he continued to grow as he learned from his analysts.

Knoledge and information is the ultimate weapon in this buisness, and he meant to have a fusion device on hand whenever possible.

"You want Jill back. I want everyone associated with this with a buchwheat up their ass."

He was refering to the execution in which a .38 special was shoved up the ass of the mark and the trigger was pulled. A BAD way to die.

"I'm willing to compromise on my intrests in killing the assholes involved in this for now, while with you, but I want those girls out of this hell.

I owe it to Candice's mother for saving my life.

If the price of that is taking my time and doing the fuckers later...I'll wait"

He looked her in the eye and said "In this, thats my goal. It dovetails with yours, I think....

So putting aside the fact that you loathe me and don't trust me, and my feelings of unease in working with you...do you want to get this done sooner and more efficiently rather than later?"

He asked this last in a reasonable tone.


Francis said she would be upset after their conversation. Francis shaid she would not attempt to harm him, although after hearing about the tail, she would be close to doing it, then grow cold and plan his death in many many ways, but then be reasonable and accept his help.

$50 was riding on this...and he waited for her responce.

 

[Evil Attorney]

The 2 teenage girls in the parking lot about 40 feet away didn't see Tanya and Lizard qo to the van and talk.

They were in oversized t-shirts, gold chains, talked too loud, had overdone makeup and bookbags.

They were maybe 19 yrs old.

Neither so much as looked over in that direction as they talked about sports, school boys and dicks of the latest boy bands.

In short, they ignored everything that was going on around them and put on headphones and rocked along with Ricky Martin....

In reality, the headphones and walkmen were feeding them information from Al who was talking softly into a sleeve mic and he sat with a board look on his face and his head on his hand.

They didn't have to look at what was going on. They were out of view of the boss, and although a long distance mic wasn't going to hear them...the boss's wire which was programed to get around the white noise and was right their was feeding Francis the dialogue.

If anything went bad, Tara and Mary would fall on the threat with the vengance of...well...highly paid former cops with few rules of engagement.

Such was the life of the Lizard's hounds...

 

[BlueEyedLady]

Tanya

All the while Lizard was talking, Tanya said nothing, just sat and ate her breakfast and drank her coffee. Oh, she wanted to put a bullet in him. Would love to take out her weapon and put one right between his eyes. Not for anything he had ever done, not for the fact that she had been tailed...like that hadn't happened before...no, not for any of those reasons. She would have loved to put a bullet in his brains just to shut the man the fuck up!

God! What a freakin ego. If ego's went on sale no one would be able to afford his. She sighed in disappointment when the donuts were gone and then drained her coffee and took out a cigarette, lighting it and inhaling deeply, not giving any indication she heard what the hell he was saying but smiling at the rush of nicotine that was added to the sugar and caffeene. It was the only way she survived the gust of hot air coming out of the scum's mouth.

Taking the folder he handed to her, she tossed it, unopened, into the front passenger seat. Later she would have Hank read it and give her a run down of the facts. When he was done, she drew the last drag off her cigarette, held it and then exhaled slowly, tossing her butt away from the van and into the parking lot.

"Thank God!" She said as she lit another one,"I never thought you were going to shut the fuck up! Shit! Do you love anything more than the sound of your own freakin voice?"

"Okay, here's how I see it and now you can be quiet while I talk. It's easy. You just shut your lips and don't open them until I say I'm done. I guarantee it will be alot sooner than when you had the floor."

"First of all. I don't give a fuck that you had me followed. My God, if I counted the number of times that that happened I wouldn't have time for my freakin job. Two, the right people are scared of me. I just don't believe in frightening everyone including the baby in the bassenet with the lollypop. Of course, I don't go around with that face you have so maybe I have a better chance of not scaring the shadows from underneath the dogs."

"Third, if you expect me to be impressed you just wasted a half hour for the both of us. Nice job on the report on me but you aren't the only one who can hide things. I let out what I want to get out and nothing more. That, we have in common. It's part of being able to survive. Fourth, Yeah, I do think I could evade you if I wanted to. I'm not scared of you and your puppets. Respect the power and resources you have, yeah, scared. I have faced death too many times before and in too many forms. If it comes, it comes. But, I have my own expansive resources and I use them when I have to. I just don't use them as a crutch or a scare tactic. I prefer to handle things on my own when I can and I confront those that I deal with on my own. If that puts me in danger...well, danger and I are old squash mates. Sometimes he wins, sometimes I do."

"My last point, but not finishing statement, is that I am aware of what Taylor is into and who he's into it with. In fact, and don't let this stun you into swooning, I find him almost more repulsive than you. It's a close race though. And one that isn't finished yet."

"I also know that there is no legal way of getting these guys. They have too much power and too much strings to pull. So, here's the deal."

"My job...my only job was to bring in Smythe. I now have him in my custody. That I haven't made it to the station to turn him in yet," She shrugged and smiled slowly,"Shit happens. Things got in my way. I'll do it when I have the time. I'm on my schedule."

"So, my job is done. But now I have made a promise and I take my promises very seriously and I hope to hell you do too. Because I am going to exact one out of you after this and I had better be able to count on it. I don't like being stabbed in the back. It's too fucking hard to pull the damn knife out."

"I think I can count on your word, though. So far you have been good for it and I do believe that you want to stop this and not let other girls suffer. That we also have in common. Oh, but I have to tell you....the reason you said you got into this stinks to high heaven. I'm not stupid. A man like you doesn't do things unless there is a bottom line. But I am resourceful. You are now a resource."

"The three of us want two things. Jill alive and Taylor. We get those things and you can go after these guys with whatever warped imagination you and yours have and more power to you. After we find Jill I am out of here and back into my old life. Smythe is happy, Meyers is happy, the parents are happy and I get some much needed sleep. Oh, yeah, and you get to kill alot of people."

"Taylor's residence is going to be heavily guarded. I need those guards out of commission. I don't care what you do or how you do it. Cut off their heads and piss in them for all I care. We just need to get to Taylor and have a little convo with him and get Jill the hell out of there. After that, well, what are a few mob guys more or less...hopefully less. The only stipulation there is, we do it at night. I think we are both intelligent enough to know that a night hit gives us the advantage."

"You take care of the outside operation, clear the way and let us into Taylor. The deal is that we speak with him alone. Once we have our chat, I am going to leave for a cigarette and will invite you guys for one as well. I suggest you accept because Smythe and Meyers are going to speak their mind to the little worm. After that is done, we leave with Jill, you can do what you like to what is left of Taylor and go about your merry way taking apart anyone else associated with him. Like I said, none of my business. I'm not getting paid for it and I don't want to know."

Finishing off her most recent smoke, she tosses it beside the first one. "You have complete control of your crew as long as I know the guidlines will be followed. We get to Taylor first and walk out with the girl."

 

[Evil Attorney]

Lizard thought for a moment, then responded.

"Yes...my earning statements from my accountants. I love those...Ohh do I love those..."

Shadows from under dogs? He hoped Hank shoved an icecube up her ass before he fucked her their.
It may save him from getting his dick consumed by the fire that was in her.

"As to the rest, that sounds reasonable."

He wasn't going to ask anymore for her to be a civil person. She was obviously incapible of it.

In professions of arms politeness was proportional to skill.
Thats because the more skilled you were, the less gutter you had to be.

Lizard was very polite in his manners when dealing with others in situations like this. He didn't have to insult people or browbeat them. His reputation did that for him, and as a result, people were usualy polite back to him.

Tanya, however, obviously wasn't all that cultured, but it wasn't her fault.

She remained a small time skip tracer by choice, and that was that. Someone would kill her, or not.
It wasn't any skin off his nose. It wasn't as if she wasn't a dead chick when he wanted her head to explode like a mellon.

"Well, my boys and I are going to do some sneaking and peaking, and get around the town shaking down some people. If I can shake Jill loose from simply asking for her, I'll get ahold of you.

If not, then when and were do we stage and prep for the raid?"

...


Hank wasn't eating, even though KKD was his favorite place.
He was doing a good impression of being sleepy and unobservant, but he was relaxed and waiting for a threat to appear.

Al and Francis were bullshitting calmly in their seats, but hand noticed the briefcases they each had.

The ones made by H&K with the MP-5 in it. He noted it for future reference.

Lizard really came through for him...fuck.

For the first time in a while he though they may actualy pull this off.

He would share his feelings with brandon later. It was time to observe, wait and when they left, order takeout.

 

[BlueEyedLady]

Tanya

Tanya nodded and stood, closing the van door and signalling Hank and Brandon back to the van.

"We'll set it up for just after it gets dark. Meet us there. If you want to, do a stake out on the place to make sure Taylor is there before we do this. If not we follow him wherever he is and hit there. You can come back and have fun at his place later. Like I said, I don't care."

She turned and eyed him carefully. "Okay, we keep in contact with each other via cell phone. Text messages only. I don't want Taylor alerted to anything we are about to do. If you hear about Jill and are able to shake her loose, remember this, we want her alive. And she will be scared shitless. I don't know that approaching her would do you any good. She is about ready to run from her own shadow. If she sees anyone coming for her that she doesn't know, she will probably run or fight. She's been hurt, bad. And, even if you don't mean to, you may end up hurting her more by trying to rescue her."

"If her life isn't in immediate danger, I would appreciate it if you would call us first so I can get Hank and Brandon to her. If she sees them, she will know that she is safe and we can get her out of there unharmed. I wouldn't even try to get to her on my own if I found her. Not unless she is in danger of being fatally harmed."

She paused and sighed. "Look, I don't like you. I really, really don't like you and I have never been one to act like I like someone if I don't. Sorry, what you see is what you get. And I really hate the fact that, after this, I will owe you. Cause I do not want to owe you a thing. So...because I hate the position I'm in you get to meet the bitch. Don't think it gets better. I have to minimally like you for it to get better and very few people are on that list. Even less are on the list of people I trust."

"I don't like being forced into things. I learned young that not being in control is a bad thing." Her jaw tightened as memories of that day her family died and she almost joined them flashed across her mind's eye. "And I am not going to lie and say in different circumstances we could be friends. Ain't gonna happen and I don't imagine either of us feel any loss about that."

"What I am saying is, you caught me at the worst possible time to be on the list of people that makes my skin crawl. And that's the nicest way I can put it. But, if we pull this off...well, I will owe you and I always pay my debts. But don't ever ask me to do something that goes beyond my moral codes. It won't happen. If and when I pay you back it will be on my terms. I have to feel comfortable with a job in order to do it. It's that control thing again."

Shrugging, she said,"Okay, I have stuff to do before we meet. Do me a big favor and call off your tail. I really don't feel like dealing with it today. Time is short and I promise you that I will share any information that I find out, just like you have shared information with me. Just let me do my job and I will let you do yours. I think we will both feel easier that way."

 

[PhoenixPrime01]

Brandon:

Back in the van again, "Computer guy is next, right?"

 

[BlueEyedLady]

Tanya nodded and pulled out of the parking lot, turned left and headed to Mark's house. Best computer wiz in the buisness. In fact he spent so much time in front of a computer, he was the palest guy she knew. A ghost couldn't match his pallor.

"Yup, Mark will know what that dohickey is and how to access it. Even if Jill put a code on it somehow he will break it. Although you might even know the code. If she entrusted it to you, she would put a code on it that you could guess."

On the way to Mark's house she spelled out everything that had been said between her and Lizard and then asked Hank to look over the new report and give her a rundown.

While he was doing that, she sighed and said to no one in particular. "You know, it's times like these when I wonder about my profession. Sometimes I wonder what it's turning me into. I smoke too much, I drink too much, I don't get enough sleep and I am constantly dodging bullets and assholes. Maybe after this case I'll get out and go into something simpler. Like being a private dick. A few calm cases of infidelity and some real sleep might be just the ticket."

 

[PhoenixPrime01]

Brandon:

"And you could always run down a bad guy or woman now and then just to keep your hand in and for the adreline rush Tanya," he says smiling into the mirror.

"As for a key, I don't know what it could be, but we'll see if one's needed when he takes a look at it."

 

[poohlive]

It was a good day at the office. Taylor had some early meetings, and he hated early meetings, but they didn't go so bad. Business couldn't be better, according to the latest accountant information.
Taylor, although not one hundred percent into the meeting, was indeed happy with this information.
He did as a C.E.O. was supposed to do, signed over articles, made sure a few slackers got fired, went over some ideas with the heads of different departments. They were thinking of getting Jennifer Love Hewitt on the front cover for October. Taylor thought that'd be a good idea, ask her how much she wanted.
Then Sergio emailed him everything that had been going on over the passed night.
Sergio had been busy, finding out information on a lot of different people, and searching into leads. A couple of girls went missing, which happens, no girl ever stays forever, some are just too scared. A bodyguard didn't make it back, but he was known to go out for drinks afterwards.
Sergio was talking to a mexican friend though, someone who knew a colombian cartel... a cold hearted killer with a couple of dozen armed merc's on his side. He went by the name of Juan. Someone that might be able to add some power if this Lizard man ever showed up.
Taylor nodded, better to have back up you didn't need, than get caught with your pants down.
He also had information on Lizard, and the company he was working in. A lot of it was covered up, and facts doctored for the benefits of searchings just like these, but Sergio was able to dig a little deeper, pay the right kind of people, and look at the right kind of facts.
So, now they had some more leverage on their side. Taylor was happy about that.
He also got a copy of the 911 call, something he read a few times. Jill was coming after him? Hmmm, Taylor was surprised, but not exactly shocked. Maybe it was time to confront her after all, and get to the bottom of this. He had a feeling with her, maybe he could tell all of these other people to back off.
Taylor went out to lunch, a date he'd planned awhile ago with some friends. Marketing people in New Orleans, who'd come up to meet him and possibly let him invest. He took them to a nice restaurant at the good part of town, always the best for his customers

 

[Evil Attorney]

Lizard walked away from Tanya with his stomach having indigestion. It wasn't her threats, or her cold looks.

It was the thought that this moralistic, naive, arrogant bitch might actualy work with him in the future...

OH NO SHE WOULD NOT!

Heh...the tail...yeah, the nonexistant one...he didn't need that lie anymore....screwfucking her mind...ohh...

If he had to kill her to make sure of that. ... humm...Idea...he would chew on it...

She would look great dead...but right now, it was sticky.

Maybe for his birthday he would do a little hunting. He was looking forward to using his Remington PSS in .270.

At any rate, the plan was taticaly sound, but he was going to play things a little different.

Lizard wanted to force things toward endgame.

Once his crew left Krispy Kreme and he got a quick status report, Fran decided their next move would be to shake Taylor and his friends up something fierce.

One of the clubs was nearby, and as it was after closing time, the only people their would be the girls, who, lets be honest, Lizard didn't really have much care about killing, but kids like this...nah, they needed their heads straightened out.

With any of the girl he got out, he was planing on keeping them on hand for a little debriefing. He wanted things kept quiet and a bunch of 18 to 25 chicks suddenly turned loose telling tails...no...that can't happen. They would be turned loose later when this was finished. Al would see to their care and feeding for a week or so as they were shipped back home.

Loose ends and the feds. Not that he had any fear of the feds with all the work he does for them off the books, but publicity is a BAD THING.

At any rate, their would be the women at the clubs and their would be the goons keeping them their...

He told Al to take him to a club, he didn't care which.

...

20 minutes later, the Crew arrived at the Pleasure Dome.

Francis drove the SUV off into a holding pattern.

Lizard, Al, Tara and Mary were standing in front of the club. Lizard and Al were wearing tasteful, if not understated suits which covered the vests they wore, the handguns and under the jackets, web gear. Tara and Mary looked like teenagers, albit teenage girls with level IIIA interceptor body armor and suppressed CAR-15's.

The suppressors wouldn't silence the weapons, but make the indoor report managable.

(Yes, hearing was in their health plan, but Lizard liked costs kept low...stingy fuck...)

Al looked at Lizard and Lizard nodded.

Al took his Benelli M1 Super 90 and fired 3 times, once into the hinges on the door, then once into the lock. He then kicked the door and steped back and left.

Tara threw in a FlashBang and once it went off, Lizard stepped in, his MP-5 at low ready.

Their was a bouncer 14 feet away with a handgun on the floor and his hands over his ears, and 3 more guys looking stunned 30 feet from the door at the bar.

Lizard stepped through the frame and moved left allowing Mary to come in and move right, thus dominating the room in a corssfire.

Tara stepped through and moving forward towards, never missing a beat put a 3 round burst into the bouncers head, then proceeded to hold position to cover the far door into the derssing room.

Lizard put a burst into all three men's heads from 30 feet away, easy shooting with the MP-5.

Al then stepped in, as he was guarding the enterance.

They moved like wraiths, never missing a step, flowing around the bar stools as they approached the managers office. Another flashbang into the office and Tara and Mary burst in, catching the manager, a bouncer and a very frightened 18 yrold girl in the process of getting a brand in the inside of her thigh with a red hot fork.

Needless to say, the manager and the bouncer were shot in the little heads, then in the big one. The girl was Flexi-cuffed, hand and foot. She would be picked up later and tossed into a hotel room to be dealt with at a later time.

Lizard and Al quickly cleared the rest rooms and the dressing room, finding 9 women, all very frightened, and 2 men who were manhandling the women into handcuffs, the kind used for convict trasnport.

Al put a tripple tap into thug #1, thus rendering him useful only for hamburger, wereas Lizard put two 3 round bursts into his chest, then on in his head for insurance.

Up till now, the total time this opperation had taken was about 3 minutes from entry to the time all four team mates called "all clear" over the raido.

Tara and Mary quickly and sternly got the women into the cuffs and onto the van. If Jill was here, she would be found and Lizard could finish this without that unrequited, stuckup bitch Tanya.

If not, well, 10 girls out, taylor's manpower cut some, and most important, he would be pissed off about this little raid.

With Tara driving, they should be at the alternate hotel room in about 45 minutes, were Tara would turn them over to more legit, and local Falcon Eye personel. They were only support, not shooters in this unless shit really hit the fan.

He wrote on the managers pad :

"Jill Meyers had better be safe and in very good condition, Mr. Taylor...or I'm going to get unpleasant.

Tell Sergio that his wife's pregnancy is going just fine, and his daughter is doing well in school.

If Jill isn't doing well, all that and more will change. "

He then got out his machette.

He really hated this part. Lizard was more of a shooter than a butcher, but shit had to be done.

He started cutting the heads off the bodies and placed then in a circle on the floor of the manager's office. In the center of the circle, he placed a card.

It was the card from GEICO insurance.

If they weren't too dense, they would get the message.

Geico. Gecko

Gecko...Lizard.

From breaching the door to the time Francis pulled around back with the SUV, 13 minutes had elapsed.

The SUV pulled away carefuly.

Fran had covered the seats and floor with plastic covers to avoid blood spatter.

She thought of everything.

"Ok, we don't have the assets here for a stakeout of taylor's place. Lets go visit his magazine and get an appointment after we change" Lizard said. "Mary, take your sister and get the gear ready for tonight. Fran, start doing your voodoo and get me intel and his reaction. "


To Tanya he texed:

Pleasure Dome just raided. No joy on Jill. I'm going to shake Taylor's tree some more. He won't harm Jill. His associates won't let him now.

Will update further as situation changes.
...

Ok, so he wasn't subtle in this. Eh...Tanya will live with it or not.

 

[Evil Attorney]

Hank suddenly spoke up after Brandon offered his advice on Tanya's future.

He leaned over to her and said quietly "Or you could settle down with me..."

He had been saving that for a while. Oh, he wanted her. He wanted to know what she was like when she wasn't hunting.

He wanted to know what she was like to wake up to. It may kill him, but he wanted to find out.

Louder, and to everyone, he said "That guy gives me the creeps. His crew were talking to someone on a raido. High frenquency stuff. It was effecting my cellphone's internet connection.

KK is a hot spot for the wireless, If it was effecting me their, thats some powerful gear.

Maybe your friend can tell us more about what they are using after we figure out what this is?" pointing to the keyring.

 

[BlueEyedLady]

Tanya

Tanya looked over at Hank, about ready to laugh when he suggested settling down with him, thinking he was joking. One look at his face assured her he was not and she jerked her eyes back to the road an instant before she rearended another vehicle. With a quick move of her hands, the van swerved into the next lane and she steadied it.

Settle down? Hank had not even given her a hint that he wanted anything romantic to do with her. Maybe it wasn't so much romance as the fact that Tanya was appealing in a bad girl way and she was now aware of his past and the fact that he was getting deeper and deeper into that past in order to go through this ordeal.

With a sigh she shook her head as he talked to Brandon. After this was all over He and Brandon and Jill would all go on with their lives together as relatives if Bradon's comments were any clue. Tanya did not have any part in that. She knew that and she knew that, deep down, Hank knew that. It was the excitement talking. As soon as Jill was safe it would wear off.

To cover her own silence, she called out rather a bit too loudly, "We're here," When they pulled into Mark's driveway.

Sliding out of the van, she went over and knocked once on the door and opened it. It was never locked and, anyone who wanted to get ahold of the computer genius would know to go in and find him at his computer.

Guiding her way through pizza boxes, beer cans and other paraphenelia that spoke not only of a bachelor but one that spent his time on other things besides house keeping, Tanya finally found him in his study, the one clean room in the house.

"Lose your cleaning maid in this pile of crap, did you?" She said to him as she walked in.

He barely glanced up at her before looking back down at his screen. "Hello Man Hunter," He said as the lights from the computer screen danced along his face. "Nice to see you too."

"Yeah, save all the mushy stuff, Love," She said leaning up against his desk. "Meet Brandon Smythe and Hank Meyers. They have a little puzzle for you to figure out."

At her words, his head did swivel from his screen and he stared at Brandon, mouth open.

"Brandon Smythe? The Brandon Smythe who killed his girlfriend and set her body on fire? Who escaped from the police and went underground so well that no one could find a trace of him? Wow! How the hell did you do it? I'd love to put that story up on my website."

"Later, Mark, later," She said as he reached for a tape recorder and microphone to record an 'interview' with Brandon. "Right now we have something for you to see. We want to know what it is, how to work it and what kind of information may be on it...if it is an information device at all."

Reaching over, Mark put out a hand and nodded,"Yeah, no prob. If you say it's alright Tanya, it's alright. Let me see it."

Once Brandon gives the small piece they had found on his keyring to Mark, he looks it over for less than a minute, snorts and shakes his head. "Tanya, you love your electronics but don't know shit about how they run." Taking the small device and plugging it into his computer, he began going though the data that was there, gibberish is what it looked like to Tanya.

"Just give me a minute," Mark said, his hands flying over the keyboard. Within that minute the gibberish straightened out and became words, words became pictures and pictures became....the reason for Tanya to lose her lunch.

Blanching, she turned away after only a few moments, steadying herself on the wall of the study. She had seen some shit in her time but what Taylor was doing to these girls was something that would burn into her brain. There was gore and then there was true horror. She coudl sit through several episodes of the bloodiest, goriest horror series imaginable and it didn't turn her stomach like this did.

A low whistle from Mark caught her attention. "This is hard core, MH,' He said, his own eyes glued onto the screen. "This is some really hard core shit."

 

[Evil Attorney]

Hank's jaw dropped and his eyes went wide.

All thoughts of Tanya and romance were gone.

If this is what Taylor was into, Lizard didn't give him the creeps anymore. Lizard was Jesus Christ, come to earth to die for our sins, pure as the lamb...

"Fuck me...." he said as his voice trailed off.

He had once been in on a raid on a Snuf Flick place, pretty standard bedroom, viedo camera and a woman who didn't know it was to be her last photo shoot...Rogger and company executed the guys doing it by duct-taping their mouths and noses shut and letting them die slowly...

Oh no...If this is what happened to Jill or was going to, Taylor would never make it into hell because Hank would see to it he didn't die for a long time.

To Tanya he asked, deadpan, "I think this changes our game plan on killing?"

He slipped his hand into his pocket and took out Rogger's patch and began playing with it in his hands as they trembled.

It was a snarling skull, with two sabers dripping blood below it. It was faded with age, but all the details were clearly visible. It was the insignia for Bravo One-One, the Bloody Sabers. It had seen a 20 year army carrer, and another decade and a half of pillage and murder.

To some it would have stank with blood, but Hank just drew strength from it.

In one photo, he asked Mike to stop. Candice Morehouse...

She died badly...but compared to what he last days were, fire was a blessing.

He asked Mike, "Can you get me face shots on the guys?"

Hank said to Tanya "I think Lizard may want these..."

He turned and stepped outside and he said "I'm going to go have a smoke. Be back in a few."

As he stepped into the sun, he decided. Everyone associated with that was dead. After Jill was safe, he was going to killing the fuckers.

He looked at the patch's skull. Its fibers shined brightly in the sun, the skull gleaming and the swords seeming to be covered in the fluids of life.

He replaced the patch and smoked a puff of his ciggarette. It wouldn't be long now.

He tossed the smoke away. Shit was going to happen, and they needed some food to perform. Food and about 2 hours of good shut-eye.

He would mention it to Tanya in a few minutes.

 

[BlueEyedLady]

Tanya

Tanya watched Hank leave the house with a feeling of her heart dropping into the pit of her stomach. What could have been was replaced by the knowledge that involving yourself in someone who is related to a case is a very, very bad thing. She had overstepped the bounds there, been tempted a little too much by what she had seen in Hank before everything went so very sour.

She should remember that because one of her other rules was no killing unless it was absolutely necessary. And she was not going to overstep that one.

Clapping Mark on the shoulder, she said,"I think I need a smoke too. Mark, can you give Brandon a hand doing whatever he needs to with the information? I am sure that whatever contacts he has to handle this will be reachable by phone or computer."

Making her way outside, she lit a cigarette with trembling hands. That rarely happened and she didn't like it when it did. Moving over by Hank, she let a companionable silence fill the void for a moment before speaking. However, before she could say anything, she got a beep on her cell phone. Reaching in her pocket, she read the text message and sent back:

Don't care what you do with the fucker just don't let him take the goods into hiding. And if you find that he is carrying said goods, let me know so I can get the two people there to pick it up. Don't be a hero!

Sending it, she put it away and looked at Hank. "Listen, I know that what we saw was hard. Harder because Jill is involved in this. But I won't back down on my rules. I won't kill unless I have to. If one of the party is in danger or Jill or even Liz-Boy's scum, then I would gladly pull the trigger. But I don't kill just to kill, Hank. I can't. Or else I become just like him, just like that fucker we are after. And I would rather put a bullet into my own brain than become like that."

"I'll do what I have to to get Jill out of there in safety. When we are done we'll clear Brandon's name and you will have both your sister and a new brother-in-law. After that...well, after that I have some things I have to attend to. I have to decide if I want to continue on with how I am or not. This case has brought me the closest to becoming someone I could truly hate and I think it's about time to step away and take a better look at myself."

"Right now I just want to get Jill and get everyone involved happy. Than I can start to think sraight again."

 

[Evil Attorney]

Lizard read Tanya's message.

Don't be a hero...ugh...ok, maybe he was reading too much into her statements...

He and Al were changed now, dressed in clean suits. They had quicly showered, and the smell of cordite and smoke was gone.

They pulled up to Taylor's office building. As they entered, 3 Uniformed sercurity officers stopped them.

Lizard said "I'm here to see Taylor."

Officer one said "Are you expected"

Lizard smiled politely and said "Oh, yes. We are here about some of the contracts that Mr. Taylor wanted executed"

The officer asked for a name, at which time Lizard got tired of this shit and simply kneed the man in the balls, and as his head came down hit it with a palmstrike uppercut.

The man's neck snapped back and he was unconcioud. Lizard was surprised, as that usualy killed people, but this guy was beefy, so it probably wasn't his technique. More pumping iron though...

Al just reached out and grabbed #2 and #3, picked them up and threw then into a wall.

The guards got a concussion, and were knocked stupid.

Lizard and Al duct taped them, put them in the security booth and

They pair walked up the stairs and into the publishing company's lobby.

Lizard smiled at the receptionist and asked for Taylor.
She smiled back, flirted a little, and revealed that Taylor was out to lunch. Lizard sweetalked the girl into taking an early lunch with him and his friend. He promised to take her to the same place if she wanted to.

Linda, the secratary, wasn't part of all the going's on in the office. Likely next on Taylor's list, she was a 5'10" redhead with green eyes and a beautiful smile. Not a real brain though...

He esorted her down stairs, past the unconcious guards and into her car, all the while letting her talk about what it was like working in a magazine.

As Lizard left with her, Al lagged behind for a moment and planted 2 bugs. One, a viedo camera the size of a stamp above the door frame to get pictures of people who came in and out. It was good for 3 days, as it took photos only every 3 seconds, or when someone moved in front of it. Behind the receptionist's desk was a mirror, so he figured they would get front and rear shots of people.

The other was a audio bug which looked like a phone extention cord connector. That he placed on a jack near a desk close to the secratary's desk. It would let them hear what went through the phones in the office.
...

Lizard walked with her and thought "yeah...this one is a Ph.D...but the legs..." After this was all over, he was going to see if she wanted to be a kept woman...

Well, ok, maybe not. He had a girlfriend. Several, in fact, but none like this one. Stupid as a pet rock, but ohhh, the ass and the lips and the legs and the tits...

He hailed a cab in front of the building and let Linda tell the driver were to go.

Once they had a track on Taylor, they could track him like stink on shit.

....
Linda insisted on sitting on both Al's and Lizard's laps in the cab.

At 20, the girl was out on her own for the first time at college and exploring sex. It wasn't often that 2 rich guys offered to take you out for lunch, and these guys were loaded by the look of their suits.

She didn't know exactly what was going on in the office, but it was only a magazine, so it wasn't like it was classified.

She was hoping to have a 3some one day, and these guys may just be the thing to do it with, just like in the magazine!!!

....

Al just looked at the chick and thought "Sometimes this job has perks...I'm going to have to explain this all to her after lunch...I'll use the PI bullshit on her and stash her with the other women. By the time she figures it all out, she will be grateful for out taking Taylor down, and then she will be all over me and the boss. Spicy."

And they entered the establishment were Taylor was eating with his investors...

 

[Evil Attorney]

Hank looked at Tanya and said "In the Bible, G0D told Moses in the commandments 'Thou shall not kill with the evil intent', not 'thou shall not kill'.

Every day those guys live is another day they can do this to another girl.

I'm not just going to do this for myself, although thats part of it.

I'm going to end those fucks so that another girl doesn't have to smell her flesh burning and think of that as relief.

If thats not a good reason to kill, I don't know what is."

With that he walked back inside to get Brandon's take on this all.

 

[PhoenixPrime01]

Brandon Smythe:

"Mark will you save all of those to a CD for me please, in fact several of them and one with enhanced faces so that they can be recognized.
"Then I need to be able to attatch them as a file to an encrypted email I plan on sending to several people."

Mark grunts and mutters something under his breath about being able to enhance and save to CD's being done with one hand and half asleep. At the same time his fingers are flying over the keyboard and a CD is put into a burner.

He opens another screen and uses a photo program to enhance the faces in each picture and sends them to the CD also.

As the burner's working away he opens an anonymous email and stands up.

"You write your email and when you've finished give me the chair back and I'll attatched a file to it for you."

Brandon sits and types in email addresses from memory to two news magazine photo editors, then to a UPI, a Reuters, and an AP photo editor, finally he adds an address to his reporter friends in German, France and England. He knows the pictures and story will get a bigger splash overseas than here in the US with it's photo censorship and the pictures add so much dramatic impact to the story they have to be seen so the girls can rest.

Then his fingers move across the keyboard as he spells out Taylor's envolvment in white slavery, and torture and murder as part of his sick pleasure. He makes sure to ID Taylor in several pictures as the one torturing the girl in it as proof and evidence.

Finally he adds a line to the photo editors that reads, "Any income generated by the pictures and/or story are to be distributed among the families of the victims who can be identified. If it's refused then send it to Amnesty International in the victim's names, posthumously.

"Okay Mark, it's all yours again," he says as he gets up.

He takes the CD's Mark hands him and the computer thing they'd been saved on and goes to find Hank and Tanya.

On the porch he gives each of them a copy of the CD and keeps one for himself explaining what he's done and letting them know and the story will most likely break in the first edition tomorrow in Europe and when the papers hit the streets here in the U.S. Also what he's done should any payment for the pictures and/or story come his way.

 

[BlueEyedLady]

Tanya

Tanya sighed and let Hank go back inside. She had meant what she said. She would not kill unneccesarily. She had seen too many deaths come about that way and she would not be the cause of it. The people they were dealing with were scum but she did not intend to become slimed in that kind of thing. She would not...not become like Lizard. She shivered at the thought of having so little regard for life.

She would not stop Hank though. She had tried to stop him in the beginning because she thought him an innocent. She had seen him go from that to being someone she hardly recognized. She would not stop him but she would not encourage him either. He would have to make the decision on his own. And take the consequences as well. She was not his keeper.

She sighed again, finished her cigarette and tossed it away just as Brandon came out. She took the CD and placed it in one of her coat pockets.

Nodding to the van, she said,"Let's go. We need a few hours of sleep before tonight. We are going to have to be as alert as possible."

 

[PhoenixPrime01]

Brandon Smythe:

"Okay, but you know Tanya, I've been thinking. Don't all attacks happen at night? Won't they be expecting us more at night than during broad daylight?
"If we could get silencers or suppressors, which ever you wanna call 'em, it could be a better idea to get Taylor during the day.
"That way if she's been found again and taken he can be made to tell us where she is a lot quicker. And I promise you that he'll tell us everything we want to know, every damned thing," his tone of voice at the end as cold and hard as his eyes.

 

[BlueEyedLady]

Tanya

Tanya thought it over and nodde. "Actually, Liz-Boy has gone to greet Taylor at someplace. If we can get to Taylor's mansion before Jill, we might be able to intercept her. I have silencers in the bag. Help yourselves. Binoculars are in there as well. Let's stake out Taylor's place and see what we can see."

Getting into the van, she waited only until the men had closed their doors and then peeled out of the driveway, making her way to Taylor's address.

 

[poohlive]

There was a disserning look on Taylor's face as he looked at the dessacrated nightclub. He'd almost wanted to strangle Sergio, wanting him to leave his lunch date early to come out here and look, but Sergio had been right. This was more important.
This was a lot fucking more important.
"They know about my baby," Sergio said. Taylor saw something slip inside him, something that had been so rock solid before. Sergio shook his head, looking up at the note.
"No way, I can't do this anymore. We were supposed to have protection. We were supposed to have people that made sure this didn't happen."
Taylor understood. Those headless goons were the ones in charge of making sure this kind of shit didn't get off the ground. They had been plugged one by one though, without even a second shot.
"I'm leaving. I'm getting out of here."
Taylor grabbed his arm, "Sergio, no."
"Fuck you. I can't do this. If this is where it's going. If this is what it leads to? No way. I'm out of here. I'll find a nice deserted beach somewhere, take my family... if you were smart, you would too."
Sergio left, without so much as a second look back.
Taylor had thought about it, leaving. He didn't have much for connections, not enough to take care of this mess. If they were dealing with real professionals like this, all he had were a bunch of goons, who apparently couldn't get off a single shot during a raid.
They had all the professionals, and he had all of the idiots.
They would dig up all the information, the files. He had no doubt of that Jill had probably gone to the authorities, or someone, and looked at the files. They would be out there. No use for her coming back to him, she had no leverage. He would put a bullet in her head if he ever saw her. She was the start of all this, and he would love if she were the end of it too.
He didn't have any options left to him. What did he have? He was looking for options, searching for something that could help him, but it seemed to be coming from all sides. The authorities, private investigators, mercenaries, all taking him on at once, what was he supposed to do?
This was getting too out of hand.
Juan couldn't help him, not anymore. The lizard and Juan would go to war, but he'd be caught in the middle. His business, his shit would be destroyed before everything was over. He'd go down fighting... or go down watching everything crumble. One way or the other, there was no upside. He was getting fucked too many ways.
He took out his cell phone, "I need my entire account transferred.... yes, all of it... no, I'll be there in an hour, I'll take it out myself."
He'd have to go back home, get a few things, but then he'd be on his way. Get some money, and just leave. It would be better than nothing.
He'd be on the run from everyone.... even the Italians, but at this point, he had nothing left. At least he would be alive after all this. Alive was better than nothing.

 

[Evil Attorney]

Lizard was listening to Taylor on a cell-phone signal scanner.

He was writing down account numbers and amounts. Oh this was good. This was going to budget shit for the next decade.

Rich as he was, a publishing house's accounts were massive. he was almost hard, except he didn't let himself get hard on the job regarding money.

Linda was at the alternate hotel room. It hadn't taken more than 10 minutes to explain to her why lunch was cut short. Al was too good at this shit. He would have to throw more money at Al after this. The man had a future as a talk show host or raido jocky, but he true tallent lay with a shotgun and club.

The best part, he had a track on Taylor.

Tara was now with him, Al was in another car close by. Mary in a 3rd car. They were tailing Taylor with a 3 car revolving tail and electronic monitoring from his car's Lo-jack.

If Jill came around, he was going to grab her. Fuck Tanya's orders, he was going to bag her (litteraly, with a sack) and then ship her to Tanya and company.

He had a buisness to run. He didn't care if Tanya liked his results. He didn't care if Hank liked his results, as long as Jill was in good condition and delivered.

He wanted this overwith, done, finished and ended.

He had shit to do, and this was taking his time and more importantly, his money.

If Jill wasn't found in the next 24 hours, he was going to grab Sergio's kid and wife, then demand Jill in a few hours. If that didn't work...well...he hoped the funeral would be nice.

This was going to be done and soon.


Ah, good, Taylor was on the move. He clicked his raido, signaling that he was on the tail. 2 clicks then 3 more responded. No words were necessary. His team knew the job.

....

Hank smiled at the thought of interrogating Taylor.

He began a quick check of his gear and saw it was all in good shape.

Sig and his .38 were ok, the sig accepting the suppresor just fine. It would fuck with long distance shooting, but over standard CQC distances, it was fine.

His knife, OC and sap were in the places he put them and aside from wanting a workout and a run, he was ok.

Tanya looked disapointed with him, and somewhat sad, but that was the way things were.

Jill was on his list as #1, and he was willing to sacrifice his happiness to insure that no other girls went through this.

If Tanya had to be sacrificed...then she did.

Brandon seemed to have similar ideas to his own. If they found Taylor, then he would sing. If Brandon couldn't do it, then he would add his not inconsiderable skill to the task.

Tourture or Drugs, either way. If he had to sell his soul to the devil, he would pry the answers from Taylor if he had them.

As they drove, his stomach got butterflies and his breathing slowed. No, they weren't going into combat, but definatley into hostile territory.

People were going to get killed. Probably by him.

It had only been a few days ago when he didn't know if he could pull the trigger, and then he was trying to kill Brandon.

Now he was sure he could do it. Not as well as 10 yrs ago, but enough to do the job right.

Turning to Brandon, he said "My background in this comes from US CQB manuals. Did you ever serve in the British Army or Marines? I didn't serve, but I was trained by a former ranger a while ago.

I just want to know if we are going to step on each other's toes in this? I heard that European room clearing was a bit untidy as compared to US drills..."

US drills involve flashbangs through the door, then dynamic entry of the room and aimed fire at the threats. European forces sometimes used the "frag and spray method" were a few hand grenades were tossed into the room which was then sprayed with gunfire to kill what remained.

Effective, if not exacting...

Hank needed to know which Brandon was more acustomed to doing. He was capible of doing it messy, but he prefered neat.

A frag may get Jill, and besides, Tanya didn't have any frags that he knew of.
Lizard might, but he was probably not going to share toys.

 

[BlueEyedLady]

Tana/Jill (wrapping things up)

OOC: About time to wind things down, guys. It's been a great thread but time for Jill to be found.

IC: Tanya pulled into a spot by Taylor's house a few blocks down and stopped the car, listening to the motor die. Digging in her bag, she brought out her binoculars and looked out over the estate while the guys talked.

It was well guarded for sure. Patrols, dogs and probably wired so that it would go off if a bird shit in the yard. This was going to be difficult. Not impossible, but difficult.

She scanned the perimiter and then zoomed in on the bushes surrounding the estate. They were probably wired too. Hell, the whole damn fence was probably set up so that if one rock fell it would be recorded in the house. Paranoia. Sometimes it could work to her advantage and sometimes it could work against her. This time it just might make things a bit tougher.

As she was focused on the bushes, her attention was caught by a flash of color and movement. It was furtive, unlike a guard's who would want to be seen.

Handing the binoculars back to Brandon, she said in a low voice,"Look into the East bushes, the one's closest to us and tell me what you think."

______________


Jill had reached Taylor's home and now stood within the bushes. She was unaware that the two people she would welcome more than anything in the world were sitting in a van so very close. All she would have to do is go over to it and it would be over with. It would all be over with and she would be safe.

She had been able to get her bearings and had walked for hours to get here. She had listened to the guards and knew that Taylor was not at his residence. One of them had gotten a call about preparing for him coming home. That was what she was waiting for. She was going to wait until his car drove up and then approach him. She shivered at the notion of doing it, fear struck her like a knife. But she had to. She was convinced she had to waylay Taylor to let Brandon find the information and do what he had to do. She only hoped that that damn 911 dispatcher had gotten the message to him.

 

[PhoenixPrime01]

Bradon Smythe:

He took the field glasses from Tanya as he answered Hank's question, "What I've learned I learned from the SAS Hank in several foreign countries and under fire. It was how I stayed alive there.
"Then I was asked to to a photo shoot for them in England following a candidate through the course as he tried to qualify. I was able to use their ranges and shoot them.
"I've got to tell you, there's nothing like being in a low light room and having an instructor body block you and having to shoot a silouette before you hit the floor for a realistic setting."


"Fuck! That's my Jill.
"Cover me in case it's needed," he says as he pulls the .45 and bails out the passenger's door with the pistol beside his leg and runs toward her.

"Hey honey," he yells not using her name just in case, "we're here to pick you up. Sorry we're took so long. Let's go and take a look at your car. You won't have to bother these folks for help now."

He sees Jill's head swivel toward him and her eyes get very wide as she recognizes him.

She steps from the shrubbery and apparently his words sink in because she calls back, "Glad you found me. I was just resting and cooling off before asking at the gate if I could use there telephone since my cell phone died."

Their hug said all they could in the short time it lasted then he walked her to the van that Tanya'd turned around and was now partially the gate to give them cover.

In moments they were both inside, Jill on his lap and hugging him and crying against his shoulder as she laughed in relief at the same time, and Tanya left about 5,000 miles of rubber on the driveway as they sped away.

Once things had calmed down a bit, "Tanya would you take us to either Police HQ or the FBI office. I have contacts in both places and want them to see the CD so Taylor, that scumbag, can't get away."

Turning to look at Hank, who's between the seats hugging Jill, "Guess you can call off that other guy now. We've got Jill and the authorites will sort out the all of the rest with what we have to show them."