Chapter 25
The sun had dipped closer and closer to the horizon as the hours had worn on. Dave would've been entertained by the scenery, but he was too on edge about the mission to bother noticing the high snowcapped peaks and rolling green valleys. The morning had flown by. Dave and John had eaten breakfast alone together in silence. Dave hadn't wanted to think of the possibility of either of them dying, but if it did happen he wanted to have some good last memories. They laid together on the hotel bed and kissed and told each other how much they loved the other. Too soon, however, they had to rejoin the group before sliding into different vehicles, John with his father and Roxy and Dave with his brother.
As they barreled towards their fate, Dave tried to distract himself, "Dirk?"
"Hm?"
"So what's the plan? I mean, after all this is over?"
"Well we'll probably go back to Texas," Dirk smiled, a welcomed relief from the tension that was building, "You have a year of school to finish."
"Oh fuck that," Dave scoffed, "I want to be an agent!"
"Sorry sport, gotta wait till you're 18," the older blond laughed, "But I'm sure I can pull a few strings and get you on the books for evaluation."
"Pretty sure killing a top ranking official is going to put a damper on that."
"You'd be surprised," Dirk mused, "The hierarchy comes and goes, surprisingly it's the pawns that are the most valuable."
"What about me and John? And you? And Jake?"
"Well the agency doesn't discriminate against gays if that's what you mean," Dirk sighed, "However fraternization is sort of frowned upon so you'll have to keep it low key."
"And you?"
"Well technically I'm your guardian, so they can't keep us apart. Surprising legal ramifications they actually pay attention to."
Dave was quiet for a minute before adding once more, "And Jake?"
Dirk took a long breath in before huffing it out, "I dunno, Little Man. Can't say I'm fond of the son of a bitch, but he is rather pitiful when it comes right down to it."
"You still love him?"
"Of course I do," the older blond laughed, "Doesn't mean I'm going to take him back. He'll have to work and show he really wants to before I'll fully let him back in my life."
"And last night?" Dave smirked.
"Well we might just die today so having on good last fuck with three fucking hot guys isn't a bad endcap to my life."
The small caravan turned off the road just past sunset onto a dirt path. About a mile off the road they stopped in a little clearing. This would be their basecamp. Roxy, Jane, and Rose set up laptops and maps for real time strategy and communications while the boys and Jade unloaded the artillery. Dave helped Dirk and Jake unpack the boxes Jake had brought in on a skid the day before. The young blond couldn't believe his eyes. He had tried on his brother's exo-skeleton arm and had felt the power behind it, but now there were two full exo suits loaded with weapons and ready to go.
"Impressive," Dirk turned to Jake and smiled, "Just gotta recalibrate them. That won't take much time."
Once the preparations were in place, the small band gathered around a printout map spread across the table as Roxy detailed the plan, "Alright, First we'll need to break through the perimeter. He doesn't have many agents here, but they're good. After that, all hell is gonna break loose. We'll need suppression snipers to cover the entry team so Rose, Jade, and I will be stationed around here."
The woman indicated little marks on the map, effectively covering two sides of the compound shown, "Now once inside you'll have to sweep through and find him."
"I can hack any security systems," Jane offered, "That should make any preliminary internal defenses obsolete."
"We're gonna need eyes back here for real time feed and coordination," Jake looked at Josh.
"Oh no, I'm not sitting out again," the older man shook his head.
"Josh, you'll get killed in there," Dirk tried to reason.
"My boy is not going in there without me!"
"Dad," John spoke up, "Stay here. You'll be better help here."
Josh took a deep breath but didn't argue anymore and allowed Roxy to finish, "So the entry team are you five then."
"Is there a back-up plan?" Jane chuckled darkly.
"Get the kids out if we can," Jake nodded, "We can cover their escape."
"Not on your life," Rose snarked, "He's going down or we're all dead anyway."
No one argued with her. Signs of affection were exchanged all around as the teams loaded up their arms and headed out. Dave clipped a small communications device onto his ear as he watched Rose, Roxy, and John disappear one direction and Jake, Jane, and Jade the other, all of them melting into the darkness. Dirk helped Dave up into his exo suit as he explained.
"Eject is here, weapons triggers are self-explanatory," the older man smiled up at his brother, "Just move naturally, it'll feel like an extension of your body, not an encumbrance."
Once they were both suited up, the two men set off into the night themselves. Dirk was right, the suit felt like it wasn't even there and it was silent so they're approach went unnoticed. As they came to the edge of the tree line, Dirk motioned for Dave to stay back and stay quiet. There was a crack and across their field of vision and figure moved across the break, a rifle clearly visible in its profile. Dirk was out of his exo suit and across the short distance like lightning, quickly toppling the figure and putting it out of commission with a quick twist of its neck. Dave each clicked to life with his brother's voice.
"Downed a guard at the south east edge of the clearing. All clear."
"Took out two on the north east slope," Roxy replied, "All clear here."
"Got one on the south side," Jake buzzed in, "Is that all of them?"
"Two more on the north," Josh replied, "But they're out of range. Looks like you're free to cause chaos. Good luck guys."
Dave let his brother get back into his suit before the pair approached the edge of the clearing. The ground sloped gently away for a few hundred years where a large cabin stood, armed men stationed on the roof and military grade vehicles in the drive taking away from the quaintness of it. Dave steadied his breathing and waited. Soon a voice came over his com device. It was Roxy.
"Target acquired. Engaging."
A shot rang out and a man on the roof tumbled down with a thud. The cabin began to move like a kicked ant hill as guards ran to investigate the body and a few headed off in the direction the shot came from. BANG! Another shot took out one of the men running to investigate. The rest knelt and trained their guns on the trees. When a third shot came from a different direction, the men began firing wildly into the woods.
"That's our cue," Dirk smirked, "Let's go, Little Man."
The brothers burst from the trees and laid waste to the forces caught off guard. Panic and chaos reigned amongst the soldiers as sniper fire continued to hail from the surrounding trees and the two exo suit clad brothers mowed down all resistance. Making a clearing to the visible door, Dave smiled as Jake, Jane, and John bolted for them. A sudden tang and a loud hiss brought cursing from Dirk who swung his machine around, firing wildly at the roof before ejecting himself and pulling out his pistol.
"Take out my pneumatics, eh?" Dirk accentuated his frustration with a well-aimed pistol shot, "Fuck you!"
Jane raced to the door and quickly pulled apart the keypad next to the lock, quickly crossing wires before shouting, "We're in!"
"Go," Jake shouted signaling Dave out of his suit, "I'll take it. John? Guard the door."
Dave passed a fleeting kiss to his boyfriend who framed himself against the interior of the door, pistol trained out. Upon entering the cabin, Dave found two bodies lying face down already, Jane reaching around a door frame and pulling another guard around it and unceremoniously shooting him. Mr. Egbert's voice called over the radio.
"He's there. Second floor. He just tried to send out a call. I'm still jamming the signals."
The three slowly inched down the corridor, pistols down, searching every doorway. Suddenly a shot rang out as Jane rounded a corner and she fell grabbing her arm. As a figure rounded the corner, she swept at its feet. Dave raised his weapon but the figure had Jane and stood, his arm pressed tightly around her throat and a pistol to her head.
"Drop the weapon, boy," Dave sneered at the voice, he knew this man.
"Droog!" Dave spat at the agent who had first held him at gunpoint the same way he now held Jane, "What, didn't like the panties Roxy put you in?"
"Drop it you son of a bitch!" the man seethed and Dave slowly lowered his weapon, "Good. Now you two are coming with me."
Dave only had a second to register what he'd said before he saw his brother appear behind Droog. Dirk must have slid into a room when Jane got shot. It was all Dave could do not to smile broadly as Dirk slowly approached from behind.
"Hey Droog," Dirk called and disarmed the man as he turned, surprised.
A short scuffle ensued before Dirk placed both arms around the struggling agent's neck, "Never threaten anyone I love."
A sickening snap and Droog's body fell to the ground in a heap. Dave rushed to Jane who waved him off.
"Go on, I'll be fine."
Nodding to his brother, Dave picked his weapon backup and followed the older blond up the stairs. The hallway was dark except for a light that poured from an open doorway towards the end of the hall. Gun fire still rang out occasionally from outside. A voice cut the air from inside the lit room, full of unabated rage.
"Go fucking check, you fat lummox! You're as dumb as a fucking boxcar sometimes."
"Droog will be fine, boss."
"Hearts, if you don't go out there I'll fucking kill you myself."
A huge shadow filled the doorway and Dave lifted his pistol but Dirk steadied him. An absolute giant of a man came in to view. He looked right at the two men. Hell he almost smiled as he called back into the room.
"All clear here boss."
"DOWN STAIRS!" the voice screamed.
The man sighed heavily and approached the two men. Dirk stood tall and nodded as the man past between them and disappeared downstairs. When Dave pulled a questioning look, Dirk simply smirked with a wink before raising his gun and continuing down the hall. As they came to the door, Dave felt his heart race and suddenly stop as Dirk gave the signal and they rounded the door into the room.
The room was warmly lit and decent sized, the walls pushing back quite a ways from the door opening onto a a large screen displaying security screens. On several, soldiers were hunkered down as shots rang out occasionally outside. Dave made a mental note of one showing Jake still in the exo-suit guarding the door, and another showing John tending to Jane just inside. In the middle of the room stood a large cheery wood desk, a small statue of a Scotty dog and a lamp framing it, a large black revolver in the center on top of a stack of papers and a letter opener. Behind the desk sat a lanky, greasy figure, one eye covered in a patch, his hair swept back like it had been pushed there out of frustration. The man wore a sneer as he steepled his hands and glared at the two men who had just walked in guns drawn.
"Strider," even his voice was oily, it reminded Dave of a viper's hiss, "So good of you to come. I'm guessing from the lack of gunshots that I'm going to have to kill Hearts once I'm done with you."
"Always a pleasure, Slick," Dirk nodded, his gun staying trained on the man.
"I suppose there's not much to say, then?" Slick just smiled, "Other than good bye."
"It'll be a pleasure to kill you," Dirk purred.
"Oh, I think the pleasure will be all mine."
Slick moved so quick Dave didn't have time to react. The man stood, grabbing his gun with a well-trained hand and turned it towards Dave. Dirk instantly dove in front of his brother as a shot rang out. As Dirk collapsed to the floor, Dave fired haphazardly at Slick who flipped his desk, sending its contents flying towards Dave who naturally defended himself against the onslaught. As he looked up, Dave had to drop his pistol and block as Slick appeared from around the toppled desk and began with a series of blows. Dave managed to hold his own, but Slick fought with ferocity that Dave had never experienced before. Struggling to gain ground, Dave took the one opening he could find and rolled out of the way to nab the first thing he could lay his hands on, the letter opener. When he stood, it was almost comical that he had such a weapon, but it was a blade, something he felt much more comfortable with. However, Slick had made his own move. Held tight in his grip was the weakly struggling figure of Dirk, blood oozing from the man's side, Slick's revolver pressed hard against his temple.
"Drop it, kid," Slick laughed.
"Why," Dave scoffed, "You'll just kill us both anyways."
"True," Slick shrugged, "But I'll let you say good bye before you die."
"I'm sorry Dirk," Dave began to lower the letter opener as his brother struggled with a little more effort.
"Dave," Dirk choked.
"I guess I'll just have to die another day," and with the Dave tossed the blade up and jumped.
Slick turned his gun out as Dave spun in the air but never guessed at what was happening. Dave had seen this move in a movie once, he knew the mechanics of how it worked. With a mid-air round house kick with the heel of his foot, Dave sent the letter opener flying through the air straight and true. With a liquid squelch, it pieced through Slick's good eye and deep into his head. The man wore a stunned look for a brief second before his corpse fell backwards, releasing Dirk into a heap on the floor.
Dave ran to his brother and tried to staunch the blood, "Shit!"
"Ow dude!" Dirk cursed, "Watch it little man."
"Don't die on me," Dave felt his throat tighten slightly until Dirk snorted at him.
"Hardly," the older blond took a shuddering breath, "Didn't hit anything vital. Just hurts like a bitch."
"We'll get you to a hospital," Dave tried to calm himself.
"Little man? Look at me, Dave," Dirk put his hand to his brother's face, "I'm going to be fine. Calm down. You did good."
Tears welled up in Dave's eyes, "Can this be over now?"
"Well, I think you killed him," Dirk turned his head towards Slick's corpse, "So, to use your words, I guess we'll live to die another day."
Dave laughed as tears poured down his face, "Oh my god that was so fucking cheesy, I know."
The two brothers laughed together until a large shadow filled the doorframe. Dave felt his skin go cold as he saw the gun trained in their direction. It was the man they had let past them only moments before. But his gun wasn't on them, in fact he nodded to the two men as he entered the room and pulled a radio from Slick's corpse before putting a bullet into the body for good measure.
"Cease hostility immediately," He called over the radio, "Order an emergency medical evac and clean up team. Code 413. I am now in charge of this operation."
"Who are you?" Dave looked up at the hulking man.
"Director Heart," the man smiled, "Your new boss."