Part 1 – Kidnapped!
Venice, Italy: the Gondolier could be described as ruggedly handsome, with light hair and eyes, a more-rounded jaw, and muscles that were formed from his daily exertion from handling that giant oar.
He wore what most tourists expected him to wear: a tight-fitting white and cobalt-blue prison-striped shirt that exposed his six-packed tightly-drawn abs, a pair of long black pants with a metallic-red sash around his waist, black-leather shoes, and on his head was a white hat that was the same hue as the white stripes on his shirt with a single metallic-red piece of fabric was glued to the rim, above the brim, and a metallic-red scarf made of the same material as the sash around his waist and the bond above the brim of his hat. You had to keep up appearances.
The man sitting in the Gondola seat in front of him was British, and was dressed in black tuxedo with shinning black leather shoes, all which he must have gotten on his recent trip to Savile Row in downtown London.
The Gondolier could tell his client was from London and had shopped at Savile Row because of the way he spoke, and because he could smell the essence of fine Gyokuro tea leaves, a leave that is used to make Sencha, a very sweet Japanese green tea that has a particularly sweet, herby smell.
The Gondolier steadied his paddle, and began to sing, "Una sera a Roma," he sang, "Potrai ascoltare gli uccelli nel cielo, auguriamo che non si potrebbe mai dire addio, una sera a Roma…"
"Please don't sing," The Brit said in a heavy British Accent, "I'm paying you to row and keep quiet, not be Giuseppe Palmieri."
"It's part of the job sir," the Gondolier said in a heavy Italian Accent as he continued to row the boat, "And I thought it sounded Lovely."
"Here's another hundred to keep quiet," the Brit said as he held up a one hundred Euro note.
"Got you sir," The Gondolier said as he took the note, and tucked it into his hat.
After moving down the canal, they were suddenly hit by a pair of floodlights from above, luckily the Gondolier had a hat on which shielded his eyes, but the Brit had to cover his eyes so the Gondolier handed him a pair of sunglasses.
After the Brit looked up, a bald man dressed in all black carrying an AK-12 waved at the man, and motioned him toward the door.
"In here," the Brit said as he pointed at the iron-gate doors to a small house on the canal which was opening.
As the Gondolier rowed the boat into the house, and the man carrying the AK-12 was waiting for them in the dock.
After tying off the Gondola, the Gondolier got back into the boat as the Brit was escorted upstairs by the bald man with the AK-12 and another man with a Browning Hi-Power pistol holstered at his belt.
After they were out of sight, the guard left behind in the house to watch the Gondolier turned around to grab a cigarette, and as he did, he had no idea that the giant paddle the Gondolier used to steer the boat had left the water, let alone was tracking at a high-speed toward the guard's head until it was a few inches from his right-ear, and by then it was too late, the steel in the oar made a slight 'clang' as the paddle struck the guard in the back of the head, and the guard's body made a 'thud' as he fell completely limp against the stone floor.
The Gondolier moved up the stairs after twist-tying the guard's wrist together, and as he did, he stopped because one of the guards was walking down the stairs to investigate the sounds with his own AK-12 at the ready.
As he turned the corner, there was no one there, and as he started down the stairs there was a small clack of leather shoes hitting stone as the Gondolier dropped down from the ceiling, smashed the guard's head into the wall, and knocked him out cold with a sharp blow to the back of the head.
The guard on the second floor had no idea his buddy was lying unconscious on the staircase a few feet away from him with his arms twist-tied behind his back and his gun disabled, and he still had no idea even when someone had grabbed him by the back of the head, and slammed it through the TV-screen he was watching, knocking him unconscious.
There was another guard on the staircase, and as he turned to look, he saw a man dressed in Gondolier attire standing next to him, and as he raised his weapon, he was struck in the front of the face by the grip of that same rifle, kicked between the legs, his head was slammed into the wall once, and that was that, he was down.
On the third floor, the Brit and the bald man were concluding their business over the names of the deep-cover MI-5 operatives operating inside the man's smuggling and extortion ring until they heard the sound of the guard with the Browning shouting in Italian, there was a gunshot, a scream, and then the sound of bones snapping.
The bald man looked at the Brit, and as he reached for his pistol, the door flew open, and the Gondolier burst through the door.
The bald man had his M9 out of his holster, but before he could fire, the Gondolier planted his boot into the man's chest, and he was thrown out the window and into the canal below but not before breaking his neck by hitting his head on a balcony-rail.
The Gondolier didn't have time to react as the Brit had jumped over the table, and grabbed him around the waist.
The Gondolier brought his elbow against the Brit's back, kneed him once, and then threw him against a bunch of planks of wood, knocking them over.
The Gondolier walked toward the Brit who had a plank of wood in his hand, and swung it like a club at the Gondolier's head.
The Gondolier grabbed the plank, tore it from the Brit's hands with one pull, and delivered two strikes to the man's face and a swift kick to the chest, knocking him backwards.
The Brit charged once more, but before he could, the Gondolier kicked one of the planks up, and the Brit charged right into it, hitting him right above the groin.
As the Brit bent over the plank, holding his groin, the Gondolier walked up to him, grabbed him by the head, and kneed him twice in the face, knocking him unconscious.
After twist-tying the Brit's arms behind his back, the Gondolier walked over to the Brit's brief-case computer which was lying on the ground, closed it, and pressed the button on his 40mm, yellow gold Cosmograph Daytona Rolex watch with a white and black dial.
"Waste management, this is Vito," the Gondolier said in an American-ish accent, "The garbage-men are clear."
"Roger that Vito," Waste Management said as the Gondolier moved down the stairs toward the Gondola, "What's the payload."
"Five in the trashcan one in the street," the Gondolier said, "One in the street was attacked by dogs."
"Nice job," Waste Management said, "You've done well, Nick Greymane."
Meanwhile in Hollywood, California…
Tina Armstrong, the beautiful daughter of Bass Armstrong was in Los Angeles shooting for a swimsuit calendar when she was kidnapped.
She was sitting in her apartment in downtown LA when three armed men with suppressed handguns burst through the door, Tina barely had time to react before she was hit in the face with a blast of medical-aesthesia, and fell asleep into one of the Merc's arms.
Poor Tina was then carried over the shoulder of the third Merc out the hotel room, out the back door, and into a Ford Airliner.
When the police arrived the next day there was no evidence left behind, no videos, and no witnesses because the cameras were disabled before the kidnapping took place, everyone was asleep, and the Mercs were very careful during the kidnapping.
OC character information…
Nick Greymane, codenamed 'Wolf' was a handsome six-foot-three male that was one half Caucasian, one forth Japanese, and one forth Arabian.
Nick's father, Jacob Greymane was a Japanese/Caucasian oil tycoon that set up his oil business in Dubai.
His mother, Alice Greymane was an American/Arabian Dubai police officer that saved Jacob's life once, they fell in love, had Nick's older brother David, got married, and had Nick.
Nick was so fascinated by the history of the three ethnicities he was a part of, he knew he was not fully Arabic because he looked so much different than the rest of his classmates at his school in Dubai.
This led to him living with his grandparents residing in Japan for high school and learning Japanese and Japanese culture.
When he was eighteen he was accepted into West Point for College, by twenty one he graduated with a degree in criminal justice, and enrolled in the US Army as a commissioned officer.
By twenty four when he was a First Lieutenant he applied for Ranger School and graduated at the head of his class, several deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Arctic Circle, the Persian Gulf, and various other areas before being discharged because of an injury he sustained at twenty seven while serving as a Captain which left his hair bleached white.
His actions attracted the attention of the UAE Secret Police, and he was recruited as soon as he returned.
He then spent the next two years running covert operations for the UAE while working alongside the CIA, MI-6, and GRU.
Dubai, United Arab Emeriants…
After returning from his mission in Venice, Nick took some time off in his city to cruise around but was contacted by his boss to meet him in the UAE Secret Police offices.
Nick walked into the office of his boss, Mathias Al-Cortina dressed in a Khaki suit with a baby-blue shirt and took a seat in front of his desk, "I have to say, your mission in Venice was a great success," Mathias said, "Even to this day you impress me."
"Thank you sir," Nick said, "What's the new mission?"
"What do you know about Tina Armstrong?" Mathis asked.
"What man doesn't know about Tina Armstrong," Nick asked, "Blonde bombshell American actress, model, and rock star. Daughter and only-child of world-famous Pro-wrestling champion Bass Armstrong, mother died when young, raised by her father to be a Pro-wrestler herself."
"She's been kidnapped," Mathis said, "Twelve hours ago at her apartment in Los Angeles, the police, the FBI, CIA, MI6 they have no leads."
"But we do," Nick said.
"We do," Mathis said as he pulled out a picture of a muscular, bald African-American male in sunglasses with a goatee and sideburns that went into the goatee, and handed it to Nick, "This man, his name is Zack, he's a martial artist, a mercenary, a showboat, and the biggest bucket of shit you'll ever meet."
"I know this asshole," Nick said, "I've kicked his ass several times during my time with the Rangers, and he's the one that caused my hair to be bleached white."
"What you might also know is that he's had a crush on Tina for many years," Mathis said, "And not two days ago he turned up in Monte Carlo at the Casino Monte Carlo, very rich, and started taking money from high-rollers left and right."
"Why come to me?" Nick asked.
"Because of this," Mathis said as he held out another picture, this time of Greco Moussa, a Russian Businessman with several ties to American, British, French, and UAE Embassy bombings and shootings, although no one could prove it, there are still talks having a meal with Zack, "Flight records have shown he paid for three of his men to get on a plane to Los Angeles, they went into LAX in a public jet, but they left in a private jet bound for Vienna, and they arrived at Zack's personal estate with a very unusual package. And they left with another unusual package, but not the same one they went in with."
"Tina?" Nick asked.
"We believe," Mathis said, "Your mission should you choose to accept it would be to go to Monte Carlo, plant a tracking-chip on Zack's person, and determine if he has the girl."
"I'll do it," Nick said, "I'll be on the next plane to Monaco."
"You might want to go down to the toy-chest," Mathis said, "David has some new toys for you to take to Monaco. Good luck Agent Greymane."
Nick walked out of his boss's office, and took the elevator to the toy-chest which was his agency's codename for the gadget lab.
"Good Morning David," Nick said as he walked up to the Secret Police's resident toy-maker.
"Ah good morning Wolf," David said as he looked up from the thing he was making, and then got out of his chair, "Follow me please."
David walked over to a small table that had several things on it, "This is what you'll be taking with you on the mission," David said as he held up a pair of Ray-Ban Aviator sunglasses with gold frames and mirrored lenses, "Ray-Ban Aviators, facial-recognition software in the lenses can identify anyone in the world."
"Stylish and functional," Nick said as he took the glasses, and tucked them into the pocket of his suit.
David then held up a simple gold ring, "This little gold ring is what you'll be using to track your target," David said, "Along the inside edges here," David pointed to the edge inside the ring which was slightly worn, "Are small needles with Micro-tracking chips inside, shake hands with him or her, and the chips will be implanted into their skin, and cannot be removed."
"Very nice," Nick said as he slid the ring on his ring-finger.
"You'll be allowed to take your Rolex of course," David said before picking up a Droid Smartphone, "You'll be taking this phone instead of your own on the mission," he pointed at the camera-lens, "The lens is actually a micro-150,000 watt strobe-bulb that is able to stun anyone you point it at, the same as getting hit with a flash-bang."
"I did say I needed a new phone," Nick said as he took the Droid, and handed David his I-phone Six.
"And finally, your car," David said as he walked over to a brand-new Equus Bass 770 with a gloss-black mask, Titanium turn signals, window trims, gloss black door handles, design edition two on the interior with royal blue leather for the inside of the seats, and gloss-black wheels, "The Equus Bass 770, Titanium armor, bullet-proof windows, night, x-ray, thermal, and inferred-vision camera mounted inside the right turn-signal, and controlled by the touch-pad mounted on top of the gear-stick. Behind the head-lights are Stinger-Missiles," David walked around to the back, pointed to the Equus symbol on the Trunk, "Do not open the trunk with the usual trunk-button mounted underneath the symbol," David pushed on the Equus symbol first, "First push the Equus symbol, and lift normally," the trunk opened revealing a vinyl trunk, "Underneath this vinyl is everything you need," David lifted the trunk to reveal that the back contained three tubs containing Caltrops, fast-drying oil, and a smoke-machine.
"I love her already," Nick said as he walked around to the driver-side door.
"Before I forget," David said as he held out a small card that had nothing written on it, "This card has a highly positively-charged magnetic-block inside, and can gain access to anything with a key-card slot."
Nick took the card, and slid it into the pocket of his suit, "That all?" Nick asked.
"Your guns will be delivered upon arrival in Monte Carlo," David said, "Good luck Wolf."
"Thanks," Nick said as he shook David's hand.
Don't worry Tina, your knight in shining armor is coming…