CHAPTER 5: WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW CAN KILL YOU
Immediately after seeing the expose of Marcus Bolan, Tony Gravani called a video teleconference with the other surviving members of The Commission. The impact of Bolan's rampage was felt right away. Present were Tony Gravani, George Milazzo of Seattle and Louis Vitale of the Bronx. Missing and thanks to Bolan's efforts never to be present again were Felix Caparone, Sal Damino and partially the fault of Tony Gravani was Tony Devenolla.
"Gravani, you know I hate these video things. You know I think the government listens into each and every conversation we have on these, so we can't talk freely. If we do, it is a long visit to our respective state's prisons or a nice federal pen. I also really hate being pulled out of a nice cozy warm bed." Vitale started the conversation.
"I don't think we have the luxury of worrying about this." Gravani retorted. "Have any of you heard the breaking news?"
A sleepy murmur of no's came from Milazzo and Vitale confirming Gravani's suspicion that he had indeed pulled them out of bed, but this was an important matter and couldn't wait until official channels to arrange a face to face parlay count be established.
"Well, first thing is first. We need to establish the order of our new commission. We find ourselves in a dire situation right now where each of us is hunted men." Gravani began taking charge of the new The Commission. "I say until this emergency is past, each of us has equal vote. Two to one wins. Agreed everyone?
A sleepy and agitated agreement came from the other two surviving Commission members.
"Now that this is done, we can move onto our more pressing business. This Marcus Bolan guy." Gravani began.
"Who?" Milazzo interrupted snapping to a condition of more awareness.
"That is why I called this meeting right after I found out. Vitale's informant left out some important deals to us. The main one being that Mack Bolan had a son in the Navy SEALs. Had we known this, we would have been there to take him out as soon as he showed up for the funeral of his parents."
"So there really is a Bolan out there hunting us again?" Milazzo asked.
"Yes, and a very ticked off one as well. He knows what he is doing, he is elite, and has had a great deal more training then most of the boys we have to throw at him. If left to his devices, we will all be opening the first meeting of The Commission in the sky."
"So you got our permission and took out Devenolla for no cause. He wasn't making a power play on the rest of us?" Vitale said.
"Well, at the time I thought that yes. But as it turned out I judged Devenolla wrong. This Bolan guy got him before we did." Gravani defended himself.
Milazzo chimed in, "Lets stay on point here. We can get around to blaming for Devenolla's demise later if we choose to. What do we know about this new Bolan?"
"Not much. Just that he is a SEAL, which means he is dangerous. He is the son of Bolan, which means he isn't happy. He is after us which means we need to do something and do it fast to eliminate him."
"Form another hit team of our boys. Our veterans of the original Bolan hit plus a few more each to make up for the losses taken by the other families. Or we could demand men from the non-Commission families since baby Bolan poses a threat to them as well as us." Vitale suggested.
"What do you mean by that?" Milazzo asked.
"Its easy. Us three plus Caparone, Devenolla, and Damino gave the order for Bolan's hit. So his boy is after us first. But his old man didn't stop after he avenged the death of his family now did he. No, he took out families that had nothing to do with their deaths. Now, what makes you think Bolan 2 won't do the same. Everyone in our organization is under threat from him." Vitale answered.
"Well, you're on the right track Vitale, but like I said. I really don't think the three of us combined or any of the other families have anyone who can hold a torch to Bolan." Gravani began.
"Save us the speeches Gravani and tell us what you think we should do." Milazzo interrupted.
"I say we send the hunters to deal with Baby Bolan. They are military, so is he. So they know how he thinks, how he acts, and how he works. None of our boys do." Gravani finished.
There was a moment of silence as Vitale and Milazzo pondered Gravani's idea.
Gravani broke the silence by saying, "Lets vote on it."
When the vote was completed, the final outcome was three to zero in favor of bringing in the hunters.
"Well," Gravani said. "See, we are off to a good start already. Our first vote. Sorry to bother you gentlemen this late. Sleep tight and sweet dreams. I'll contact the hunters."
**
Blissfully unaware that a hired hit team had just been placed on him, Bolan drove the dark stretch of highway. For the first time since his war began, Bolan's mind was not on the mafia, the best way to take them out, or what order he would hit them in. His mind was on how much he was looking forward to seeing Alexis again and how much he misses her when he is engaged in a new campaign. His inner emotions warred over his feelings for her and his desire to actually enter a normal relationship and not the protector and protectee. Tempering his romantic feelings towards her was his knowledge that he lived a dangerous life and odds are wouldn't live much longer anyway. He knew deep down that a relationship could prove disastrous for him and her. Although he didn't know at this point which side of the argument would win.
However, blissful unawareness creates a dangerous situation when you allow your mind to drift away from things that it should be attentive to, such as vehicles that look suspicious or that have been following you. A prime example of this was the two pitch black Hummers that pulled up one on each side of Bolan's van. The Hunters move quick when The Commission is paying the tab.
On some stretch of highway between Los Angeles, California and Portage Michigan the harsh sound of automatic gunfire and the shattered glass landing all around him brought Marcus back to reality from his mental utopia that he was in.
Reacting purely out of instinct he pressed his breaks all the way to the floorboard. The two Hummers drove past Bolan's van, however the Volvo behind him narrowly avoided rear-ending him by changing lanes and getting rear-ended itself by another car.
Marcus moved his foot over to the gas pedal and pulled the 357 Magnum out of the console armrest next to him. He put his left arm out where is driver's side window use to be and began sending rounds flying into the hummer that fired on the driver's side of his vehicle.
The cars not involved in this fight all quickly pulled as far off the highway as they could; others crossed the grassy median and began going the other direction to avoid the gunfire and collisions. The Hummers however pulled U-turns and began coming back at Bolan's van. Bullets from the Hummers entered Bolan's van and he traded bullets of his own.
The vehicles sped towards each other and the Hummer on Bolan's driver's side swerved to hit the van on the front driver's side corner. At the last possible second, Marcus once again slammed on his breaks and the Hummer passed in front of the van barely missing him. The hummer flew down the slope on the side of the highway flipping over four times on its way down.
The second hummer paused as if it was considering the unfortunate luck of its counterpart. Capitalizing on this momentary cease in attack, Bolan went on the offensive pulling his van to the side of the highway and parking it. He then ran to the back of his vehicle on the inside and prepared a M-60 for action. He then exited the rear of the van and opened fired on the remaining hummer. It only took a matter of seconds for the hummer's occupants to evacuate the vehicle, which burst into flames just a matter of seconds later.
With the immediate threat to him being gone, Bolan put his foot on the gas pedal and put miles between himself and his unknown attackers as fast as he could. He noticed a car stop and pick up the occupants of both hummers, however it showed no sign of following him so he paid it little attention.
**
Twenty-five miles from his most recent battleground, Marcus's van putted to a loud and smoky stop. Try as he might, Bolan quickly understood that the van was too badly damaged to ever move again unless it was assisted by a tow truck.
He moved to the rear of his recently deceased vehicle and packed up as much of his arsenal as he could in the various and many bags that he had with him for just such an occasion.
Bolan slung the various bags over his shoulders, attached a few to his back, carried one in each hand and started walking down the highway abandoning the van and the rest of the weaponry he was unable to carry to whatever fate that law enforcement had for it.
**
Less then a mile from where he started walking, a car off the highway. Marcus rested his hand on the small pistol he had in a concealed hip holster under his jeans for the reassuring feeling of knowing it was there in case this turned encounter turned as ugly as his last one had.
He approached the car on the driver's side. Before he had a chance to say anything it's owner said, "Need a ride somewhere bud?"
Marcus quickly ran a visual examination of the car and all around them. Once he was positive that there was no one else with the stranger and no chase vehicles around he answered, "Sure. You don't happen to know where the nearest bus station or train depot is do you?"
"Sure don't. But we will stop off at the truck stop about ten miles from here and we will find out." The man said and Bolan climbed in.
As they drove, Marcus's driver showed no sign of recognizing him. There was a lot of conversation, but it was all general superficial stuff. Nothing that hinted that the stranger knew him and he didn't make any attempt to pry into Bolan's personal life anymore then most people who are just making conversation would. They visited the truck stop where Marcus bought the stranger dinner to thank him for his kindness. They located a bus stop and the kind stranger drove Marcus there and saw him off.
**
After stepping off the bus, the very first thing Bolan did was pick up a Kalamazoo Gazette. He had been gone from his hometown a long time and wanted to know what was new in the area he grew up in. While he knew that he couldn't contact anyone that knew him other then Alexis, it is still nice to come home.
The front page took his breath away. The Headline staring straight at him was, "Bolan Rampage Extends Beyond The Mafia." He threw himself into the article forgetting about everything else entirely. As he read he learned that the kind stranger who had dropped him off at the bus station had been found dead the same night. Local law enforcement believed they saw Marcus step out of the stranger's car on surveillance tapes. Local law enforcement then called the FBI who confirmed it. At this point they still hadn't been able to confirm the name he used or his destination, but it article did say that all airports, seaports, bus stations, train terminals and every other way to get in or out of the country has been advised to keep an eye out for him.
Discreetly, Marcus made his way out of the bus station and hailed a taxi. From there he went directly to the house he rented. Once at the house he blew past Alexis entirely ignoring her and went to the "Strategy Room" which was originally meant to be a small bedroom, but he used it as a study/archive for the mass of information he had been able to accumulate thus far in this career as the Mafioso Grim Reaper. This small room contained; confidential FBI briefings which had been secretly appropriated by Hal Brognola, transcripts of classified interviews of made men and connected men who the government plans on turning state's evidence against their families, published books on the current status of the mafia, a computer with internet access, ect. Marcus began rapidly searched through indexes, tables of contents, briefing notes and the like searching desperately for a clue as to who might have attacked him.
Alexis peeked sheepishly into the room, unsure of his behavior. Every other time he had returned to Portage in between his sorties, he had been a little distant but friendly and sociable unlike his behavior today. "What's wrong?" She asked.
In frustration Marcus cleared the antique writing desk that had belonged to his grandparents on his mother's side with a sweep of his hand saying as if he didn't hear her, "I can't find anything."
Probing for the cause of this abnormal behavior Alexis responded, "All is not quite on the Western Front?"
Marcus ran his hand over the weeks worth of stubble that had grown on his face as he spun in his chair to face her. "Huh?" He asked.
Alexis chuckled and asked, "You didn't know I was here?"
"Well, I knew you were there, but I was off in my own little world and nothing registered."
"Ah, well, I just asked what was wrong?"
"Nothing really." Was all he said.
"Nothing really? You usually don't plow right past me like a tornado is pushing you and storm into this room right after you come back. Usually you take at least twenty-four hours before you begin planning anything or even go near this room. And you always treat the stuff in this room like it is the most valuable and fragile item in a museum. Pushing it all off your desk is not normal. Bad day at the office?"
Marcus told her of the past few days' events starting with the unexpected exchange of shots on the freeway. After telling her everything and hearing the expected, "You need to be careful," speech he stepped outside in the fresh brisk October air and smoked the day's last cigarette, went to his room, took a sleeping pill and laid down. Thoughts continued to roll around in his mind giving the sleeping pill about as much effect as the punch of a five year old would have on the world heavyweight boxing champion.
**
A for the most part sleepless night passed. Marcus arose with the same thoughts wondering his mind that have been there since the freeway fracas came to its end. He knew that these well-traveled thoughts wouldn't cease until he found answers on who made the surprise attack. Since his brief ransacking of his intelligence didn't turn up any answers he could only thing of one person who might be able to.
Still only wearing his boxers he lit his morning cigarette and dialed the telephone and went through the familiar routine of getting past the field operative contact line's operator.
"Junior? This is an unexpected call. You never call in this early." Hal said.
"Well, that's because usually I don't get ambushed on my way out of enemy territory." Marcus responded.
"Why don't we start with you telling me what happened."
"Well, I was on my way back. Comfortable with all the enemy being dead or scattered. Out of nowhere, two Humvee loads of unknowns open fire and try to run me off the road. I won, but my van is toast. I start walking and this nice stranger picks me up and gives me a ride to the bus station that would have taken me hours to walk to. I get off the train here and discover that he has been killed and that I am being blamed for it. I don't like this?"
"Yeah, well I can see why you would say that. I saw the news break on you killing that guy. What name did you use?"
"Thad Meet." Marcus answered.
"What destination did Thad have?"
"Not here. I got off the bus early."
"Good. I thought you'd have been too smart to stay on until Thad's final destination. What I'll do is discreetly lead them to your Thad alias. They will discover his time of departure, check the tapes and realize that you couldn't have killed the guy that gave you a ride."
"Sounds good to me. Do you have any idea on who these guys are though? I'm getting use to being shot at, but I would like to at least know who is doing it." Marcus inquired.
"Right now negative. I know as much as you do, maybe even a little less. I'll beat the tree though and find out what I can and then let you know."
"Great Firecracker. And thanks. Junior out."
"Firecracker out."
With that, both men broke the connections on their ends.
**
With his nerves somewhat calmed for the moment, Marcus realized that he hadn't treated Alexis well last night and began pondering ways to make it up to her. After all, he did have feelings for her that seem to refuse to be denied.
He glanced over at his alarm clock and saw that it was only 6 AM and thought, "Hmmm Alexis never wakes up until 8:30 at the earliest." With this thought he gathered the cloths he wanted to wear that day and walked to the bathroom to take his shower.
After the shower he felt more human and made his way to the kitchen where he very un-expertly and after a few attempts prepared a breakfast of pancakes, eggs over easy, and sausage patties with a glass of apple juice. Once this was completed he went to her bedroom, opened the door and walked in.
"Wakie Wakie eggs and bakie." He repeated the words his mother had woke him to so many times while he was growing up.
Startled she jumped and her blankets fell off her. Marcus learned the rough way that Alexis sleeps in the nude. Both of them embarrassed, Marcus diverted his eyes to the ground and Alexis quickly covered herself up.
"I I I'm sorry," Marcus stammered, "I ahhhhhh realized how much of a jerk I was last night and ummmm thought I'd make you breakfast in bed."
With his eyes still diverted Marcus didn't realize that she had covered herself back up. He lowered the tray to the ground and said, "I'll um leave it right here and go." After saying this he thought to himself, "Man, I hope she doesn't see how red my face is right now."
Alexis giggled and said, "It's ok. I'm covered now."
"I'm sorry. I should have knocked first. I just wanted to surprise you." He apologized.
She giggled again and said, "It's ok. You were very sweet making breakfast for me, and just so you know, there was no apology needed for your behavior last night. You live with stresses that I can only imagine from some of the Stallone and Schwarzenegger movies I've seen.
"Well um, I'm gonna get going so that you can eat in peace."
"You're kidding me right? You made enough for an army. I can't eat all of this. What your going to do is come over here and sit on the bed next to me and help me eat all of this."
"But, you're all naked and stuff." He said and then was embarrassed with himself over the way it sounded.
Alexis giggled again and said, "Oh it's ok Mr. Big Bad Mafia Killer. I think I can keep myself covered and eat at the same time."
Realizing that he wasn't going to get out of this, he went over and sat down next to her. They shared the same silverware, Marcus doubting she would allow him to leave the room even if he suggested that he go and get his own.
**
After breakfast was finished, Marcus left the bedroom with the dirty dishes to wash them while Alexis climbed out of bed and prepared to face the day.
Once both were refreshed and ready for the day ahead they decided that they did not want to stay in the house and opted for a day on the town. First, a movie, then they went window-shopping picking up a few things along the way, after this they played a few holes of miniature golf, and finally, unknown to Marcus, they found their way to the same park where the mafia had found his parents.
Here, just like with is parents, trouble found Marcus "Smith" Bolan. Marcus was pushing Alexis on a swing when the first bullet rang out. The shot was good but just a little too short. He saw the sand erupt about three inches from his foot and years of training told him what was happening.
He pulled Alexis off the swing by the back of her shirt. She landed on her back with a look of shock on her face. He pulled a modified Magnum 357 out of a boot holster and covered her with his body.
Alexis gave him a seductive look and said, "Well now, this is forward isn't it."
"Shhhhh. We have just been shot at." He said examining each inch of the wood line.
"This is no good. We are too out in the open here. We have to get back to the car." He said after a second.
He fired two shots to where he believed the one aimed at him had come from and then got himself and Alexis to their feet in one swift flow of movement.
At that time several men dressed in black or military camouflage appeared like ghostly beings from the woods with all sorts of firearms.
Marcus fired several shots randomly at the invaders and they intern either kept walking while firing or took up a crouching stance and fired.
Marcus and Alexis fled. First they came to the public restroom that had been constructed for the park patrons' use. However they did not make it before a bullet found it's way into the back of Marcus's right shoulder and another grazing wound to his left oblique.
They sought cover behind the restroom and Marcus returned fire, only this time with a more steady and purposeful aim. One of his bullets found an aggressor in the throat. The man crumpled to the ground, holding his throat with blood spurting out between his fingers. His mouth making motions like the dying man was trying to scream but not sound escaped.
The unknown assault force continued their advance. Marcus eliminated another one from being an immediate threat by landing a bullet into the front of his knee. The man collapsed holding his knee and screaming all sort of profane things to Bolan, but he would live.
Bullets from the strangers continued to pour in at Marcus and Alexis faster then Bolan could aim and take drop the bad guys. Chips to chunks of brick from the restroom wall assaulted the two just as badly as the bullets from the unknown men.
"If we stay here we are just as dead as if we stayed out in the open." Marcus thought.
He looked around and took stock of his surroundings, then he looked at Alexis and said, "We have to get moving. Stay ahead of me, don't look back and keep going no matter what."
Alexis responded, "But your hurt. Why don't you give me the gun and you stay ahead of me since I'm not."
"We don't have time for this. I'm trained; I've been wounded before but kept moving. You don't have any of those experiences so don't argue with me. If you get to the car and for some reason I'm not right there. Don't wait for me. Just run. Now GO!" He said pushing her forward and thus effectively ending the discussion.
Bullets continued to tear the ground up around them, no more however found their mark on either Marcus or Alexis. They made their way to the car that Alexis had bought and made their escape leaving the aggressors in a lurch and without any dead prey.
**
The drive back to the house passed in an uncomfortable and stunned silence. For Marcus, the familiar brooding of the train ride back to Michigan along with the haunting confusion about who these guys were and for Alexis it was her first gun battle she had ever been caught in.
Once at the house Marcus and Alexis said nothing to each other. She collapsed on the couch, almost comatose with shock. Marcus on the other hand had his battle senses in gear and immediately beat a hasty track to the phone.
Once he was past the red tape of speaking with the CIA operative operators he was patched through to Hal. "Firecracker, it happened again."
"What did?" Came the reply on the other end of the line.
" I was out today and a group of guys tried to take my out. I can only assume that it is the same group that tried to take me out on the highway coming back."
"I see." Hal replied.
" Any luck finding out who they are?"
A frustrated sigh came from the other end followed by, "Not yet. Trust me, as soon as I know something you'll know."
"Thanks Firecracker. Is there anything else I should know about?"
"Not right now Junior. You check in regularly enough, plus I know how to contact you. Don't worry, I won't leave you in the dark."
"Thanks Firecracker. I'll talk to you later. Out." Marcus said and then hung up the cordless telephone.
After he was off the phone Alexis came up to him with the battlefield first aid kit that Bolan had assembled, "I'm no corpsman but let me see what I can do with your shoulder and side."
"Are you sure you have the stomach for it? The side isn't bad but the shoulder is kind of ugly."
"Oh, I'm a big girl. I'm sure I can handle it."
With that, Marcus removed his shirt, talked her though extracting the bullet the way he was trained to in a life or death emergency in the field and after that she carefully applied bandages to both the shoulder and side.
"Marcus, I can't hold it in any longer. I have to say it even though you don't want me to."
"What's that?" He inquired
Her face turned red and in a low, almost no voice she said, "I love you"
He looked deep into her eyes and said, "While I know I shouldn't. I know that it is dangerous for the both of us. I love you to."
Alexis attempted to kiss him, but Marcus backed up.
With a dejected look she asked, "What's the matter honey?"
"Look. No offense but I fell in love with you against my will. Physical intimacy will only complicate matters when I don't need them to be complicated."
"Oh come on. You can enjoy the pure animal comforts of life. Predators in the animal kingdom do it all the time and it doesn't affect them making their next kill."
"Yeah, but with the lion, the gazelle isn't trying to kill him in return."
"Ok, let me try it this way. You saw me naked, now it's my turn." She said with a seductive smile.
Marcus chuckled in return and said, "I'm sorry but no."
Alexis grabbed a hold of his belt loops and pulling him towards her said, "Look sir. I'm having my way with you with or without your approval."
Marcus laughed at this and this time when she kissed him, he returned it. It wasn't long until they knew each other in the biblical sense.
**
Early the next morning while Marcus was still asleep the phone rang. Still not awake he answered it but quickly jerked awake when he heard the words, "Junior. It's Firecracker and I have news for you."
"Well spit it out huh." Is how Bolan greeted his help from on high.
"Ok, they are a team of hired guns known as The Hunters. None of them are made men, they are all purely contract killers and are called upon by The Commission when someone becomes particularly troublesome. Shoot from what I've been able to tell none of them are even of Italian decent. The team is made up mostly of former military special op commandos like yourself and hitmen that use to work for us in the CIA until they decided that contract work pays better. They are some real Billy Bad Boys."
"Do you know how many of them there are?"
" Twelve."
"Ok, so that would mean that after yesterday there are ten left for me to deal with."
"Huh?"
"Yesterday when they tried to hit me, I closed out one for good and another took a shot in the knee cap so he is out of the game for awhile."
"Good. But keep in mind that the ten who remain are no joke. They are every bit as professional as you are."
"Yeah, I know. What else do you know about them?"
"Only that their leader is a guy named Eric "Viking" Thurgood." Hal answered.
"The Viking?"
"That's because he looks like one. Beard, size, personality the whole nine yards. Imagine a Norseman in a dress suit or a hit outfit and you have Thurgood. That is all the hard information I have, but I do have surveillance photos of all of them. I'll email them to you. " Hal informed.
"Ok thanks. You've been a big help again." Marcus said.
"Just like the one who came before you, you're providing a valued service to your nation. I'll do all I can for you like I did for him." Hal said in a cryptic way not trusting his own secure connections.
"Take care Firecracker."
"With boys like these to deal with. You're the one who had better be taking care my friend."
With that the connection went dead.
**
That night, dressed in full battle regalia and boasting a pretty impressive range of armament Bolan went hunting.
He wasn't sure where to begin, but on an off chance he lucked into seeing a matching set of two pitch black Humvees in the hospital parking lot. Not only did these two match each other, but they also matched the two that had attacked him on the highway, minus the Bolan inflicted damage.
Marcus pulled off to the side of the road and watched the group of five men who were all wearing suits standing outside the visitors' entrance. He compared them to the photos Hal and sent him and sure enough, it was his good buddies.
He left the car and explored his surroundings. Bolan found a spot he liked between two cars.
Marcus then returned to his car, retrieved his sniper rifle and returned to the perch he had picked out.
With slow and steady aim from Bolan, one of The Hunters quickly found himself without the top of his head. The body flopped to the ground and the other four proved they were not amateurs by seeking cover and began seeking where the incoming fire was coming from.
One made a quick mistake and attempted to move to a different section of brick wall by passing an area where there was a gap in the wall. That was all Marcus needed and the hitman did not make it to this destination, but instead just appeared to lie down and nap on the grass.
That second shot gave his position away to the surviving three members of the hit team that was present. They brought their arms to bear on Bolan's location and open fired.
Marcus rolled away from the incoming fire and scurried keeping himself low to the ground to his fallback observation position in a clump of trees near his car. Unknown to the bad guys, he had no intention of taking them all out here. All he wanted to do was get their attention right now and from the way the area he was just at was getting tore up it appears that he did.
Upon hearing the gunfire, the other five hired killers came running out of the hospital with sidearms drawn. After a brief conversation the remaining eight hurried back into their vehicles and sped off, leaving the bodies of their comrades to whatever fate became of them.
Marcus, maintaining his stealth quickly resumed his driver's seat and followed the Hummers at a discreet distance.
**
The pursuit ended at the hotel that The Hunters were staying in. Marcus watched them park and walk into the hotel's main entrance. He was no more then a shadow as he moved through the poorly lit parking lot to a side entrance.
The next time he acquired sight of his adversaries was in a wide hallway. Bolan announced his presence by firing his silenced Glock 9 millimeter. Two of the paid killers fell silent for the rest of time.
With nowhere else to go immediately the eight hitmen still in action broke open doors to three different rooms and took cover, returning fire from edge.
Under heavy fire, Bolan ducked into a housekeeping storage room. With the deck stacked against him and the element of surprise long gone, Marcus rolled a flash bang grenade down the hallway and ducked back into the closet sized room so that the desired effect of the grenade didn't bother him to. The grenade went off with an amazing and almost deafening bang and a brief but brilliant flash of light in the hallway.
When no more fire came from the contract killers, Marcus cautiously moved down the grenade-damaged hallway to the closest open door. He entered and saw that the flash bang had the desired effect. Two of the hitmen were on the floor in a state of all of their senses being off track and confused. With two whispers coming from his handgun both men became dearly departed loved ones of their friends and family.
Knowing that only a matter of seconds remained before the disorientation of his opponents caused by the flash bang grenade wore off he dashed to the next room. The four hitmen and two parents and three children were at various stages of stumbling back to their feet and regaining their equilibriums.
Marcus open fired and quickly dispatched three of the four contract killers. However, the last standing hitman charged Bolan, and before he could react Marcus found himself in his first hand-to-hand situation of his personal war.
The killer for hire was a surprisingly good grappler and it wouldn't surprise Marcus to discover that he had been at least an all-state high school wrestler, but more likely some sort of special ops commando himself and was giving Bolan's Navy SEAL
The murder caught Bolan in a side headlock and started bringing his fist into Bolan's face causing a stead red river to develop and pool on the ground.
Marcus broke the headlock by sliding his arm between his attacker's arm and his neck. He then forced the attacker's arm away from him and brought himself nose to nose with his adversary.
The paid killer pulled a knife from his shirtsleeve and stabbed it into Marcus's shoulder. At that point an unsilenced bullet entered the room and saved Bolan the remaining effort it would have taken to send his opponent to the great beyond.
He allowed the body to fall to the ground, pulled the knife from the back of his shoulder and let it fly. It found it's mark in the gunman's right eye and he fell backwards into the hallway.
Marcus turned to the family and said, "I'm sorry you and your children witnessed this. Don't worry, stay in this room and you will be in no danger. It will be obvious when I leave because of the silence."
"Sorry boys. But I got better things to do today then die." Marcus said as he stepped over the gunman's body and into the hallway.
The experience of finding unexpected civilians in the last room changed Bolan's game plan. Originally he had planned on just lobbing a standard hand grenade into the last room and calling it good, but now he couldn't risk killing an innocent.
Marcus stood outside the room attempting to formulate a new game plan in his head when he heard Eric the Viking say, "Bolan. You out there Bolan?"
"Yeah." Marcus answered.
"What do you say we make a deal?"
"What kind of deal?" Marcus answered the question with a question.
" A live live deal which works out to be win win for the both of us huh."
"What do you have in mind?" Marcus inquired.
"It's easy. We go our own ways. Live and let live. You don't come gunning for me in this little war of yours and I won't come after you with a new crew."
"And why should I believe this?"
"Because you've taken out my entire team. Even the bounty on your head isn't worth this. You've cost me too much already. A bad investment on my part. I'm willing to cut my losses and run." The Viking answered.
"Well, I don't deal with men I can't see. Come to the door, then I'll stand in the door and we can discuss this face to face." Bolan offered.
"Now why should I trust you?"
"Because you don't have much of a choice. I've taken ten of your twelve men. One more is injured bad enough that he is not likely to ever be able to rejoin you. Even if you can raise a new crew, The Commission isn't likely to ever hirer you again. You're finished. If you do as I say, you can be finished a live man. If you don't you're finished a dead man."
A moment of silence ringed through the hotel as Eric considered what Marcus had just said.
"Ok, ok Bolan. I'm coming to the door."
Bolan peeked around the doorway and saw a man true to his name coming to the door. He guessed The Viking to be six feet two or three inches tall and weighing around 240 pounds. The man had a decent amount of body fat on him but it was evident just how much muscle mass this behemoth of a man coming had. The monster also had a well-kept beard that came down about midway past his chest.
As always, true to his word Marcus rounded the corner and faced Eric face to face. Both men had side arms trained on each other.
"Drop the piece." Marcus ordered.
"Yeah right." Was the answer he received.
" I don't discuss deals with a gun pointing at me. So drop it or I drop you."
The Viking laughed fairly loudly at this. "Man, we are both professional killers. Although I think you have more kills to your name then I do now. You don't trust me to put down my gun because the old geezers hired me to kill you. I don't trust you because you have killed my entire team. We talk business just as we are."
"So you say no?" Bolan asked with a chill in his voice that makes a blizzard on a winter morning seem nice.
"Yeah. No." Eric said calmly but trying to keep up his tough man, stone cold killer persona.
Nothing else was said. Bolan's nine millimeter whispered again and Eric fell against the wall and slid to the ground with a look of pure shock on his face. Once he hit the ground he just sat there, with is eyes wide open looking at nothing. The Viking had fallen.
Knowing that the police would arrive way too soon, Marcus dropped a marksman medal and ran to the car awaiting his arrival and sped off.
**
It took Bolan's shoulder a week to feel strong enough to know what he had to do next. As soon as he felt he was able to, he and Alexis packed up everything in the house that had nothing to do with Bolan's war, in a U- Haul Marcus had rented under one of the names that Brognola had given him. Towed along behind it was Alexis's car.
She drove the U-Haul and he drove the new van he bought under another assumed identity, which the dealership would never be paid for since Mike Plat doesn't exist and neither did the address he provided. The van was a mobile arsenal are Marcus was toying with the idea of leaving all or at least most of his armament in it. He could redesign the interior later, but at least the thoughts of it's future design allowed him to think of something besides how much he loved Alexis and how much he wished the two of them could live a normal life together.
Portage, the city of Marcus's birth, where he was raised, and where his parents are buried is no longer safe. The police know he was there recently and may still believe him to be in the area. If The Hunters found him there, it is too likely for comfort that the mob knows he was there. If he stayed there any longer, he would die in he city he was born and he had no desire for that to happen.
He had picked a city at random for them to move to. A randomly picked city that neither he nor Alexis had ties to would be safe. There are just too many cities for the mob to randomly find him in a randomly selected city. The chosen city was Bowling Green, Ohio.
Immediately after seeing the expose of Marcus Bolan, Tony Gravani called a video teleconference with the other surviving members of The Commission. The impact of Bolan's rampage was felt right away. Present were Tony Gravani, George Milazzo of Seattle and Louis Vitale of the Bronx. Missing and thanks to Bolan's efforts never to be present again were Felix Caparone, Sal Damino and partially the fault of Tony Gravani was Tony Devenolla.
"Gravani, you know I hate these video things. You know I think the government listens into each and every conversation we have on these, so we can't talk freely. If we do, it is a long visit to our respective state's prisons or a nice federal pen. I also really hate being pulled out of a nice cozy warm bed." Vitale started the conversation.
"I don't think we have the luxury of worrying about this." Gravani retorted. "Have any of you heard the breaking news?"
A sleepy murmur of no's came from Milazzo and Vitale confirming Gravani's suspicion that he had indeed pulled them out of bed, but this was an important matter and couldn't wait until official channels to arrange a face to face parlay count be established.
"Well, first thing is first. We need to establish the order of our new commission. We find ourselves in a dire situation right now where each of us is hunted men." Gravani began taking charge of the new The Commission. "I say until this emergency is past, each of us has equal vote. Two to one wins. Agreed everyone?
A sleepy and agitated agreement came from the other two surviving Commission members.
"Now that this is done, we can move onto our more pressing business. This Marcus Bolan guy." Gravani began.
"Who?" Milazzo interrupted snapping to a condition of more awareness.
"That is why I called this meeting right after I found out. Vitale's informant left out some important deals to us. The main one being that Mack Bolan had a son in the Navy SEALs. Had we known this, we would have been there to take him out as soon as he showed up for the funeral of his parents."
"So there really is a Bolan out there hunting us again?" Milazzo asked.
"Yes, and a very ticked off one as well. He knows what he is doing, he is elite, and has had a great deal more training then most of the boys we have to throw at him. If left to his devices, we will all be opening the first meeting of The Commission in the sky."
"So you got our permission and took out Devenolla for no cause. He wasn't making a power play on the rest of us?" Vitale said.
"Well, at the time I thought that yes. But as it turned out I judged Devenolla wrong. This Bolan guy got him before we did." Gravani defended himself.
Milazzo chimed in, "Lets stay on point here. We can get around to blaming for Devenolla's demise later if we choose to. What do we know about this new Bolan?"
"Not much. Just that he is a SEAL, which means he is dangerous. He is the son of Bolan, which means he isn't happy. He is after us which means we need to do something and do it fast to eliminate him."
"Form another hit team of our boys. Our veterans of the original Bolan hit plus a few more each to make up for the losses taken by the other families. Or we could demand men from the non-Commission families since baby Bolan poses a threat to them as well as us." Vitale suggested.
"What do you mean by that?" Milazzo asked.
"Its easy. Us three plus Caparone, Devenolla, and Damino gave the order for Bolan's hit. So his boy is after us first. But his old man didn't stop after he avenged the death of his family now did he. No, he took out families that had nothing to do with their deaths. Now, what makes you think Bolan 2 won't do the same. Everyone in our organization is under threat from him." Vitale answered.
"Well, you're on the right track Vitale, but like I said. I really don't think the three of us combined or any of the other families have anyone who can hold a torch to Bolan." Gravani began.
"Save us the speeches Gravani and tell us what you think we should do." Milazzo interrupted.
"I say we send the hunters to deal with Baby Bolan. They are military, so is he. So they know how he thinks, how he acts, and how he works. None of our boys do." Gravani finished.
There was a moment of silence as Vitale and Milazzo pondered Gravani's idea.
Gravani broke the silence by saying, "Lets vote on it."
When the vote was completed, the final outcome was three to zero in favor of bringing in the hunters.
"Well," Gravani said. "See, we are off to a good start already. Our first vote. Sorry to bother you gentlemen this late. Sleep tight and sweet dreams. I'll contact the hunters."
**
Blissfully unaware that a hired hit team had just been placed on him, Bolan drove the dark stretch of highway. For the first time since his war began, Bolan's mind was not on the mafia, the best way to take them out, or what order he would hit them in. His mind was on how much he was looking forward to seeing Alexis again and how much he misses her when he is engaged in a new campaign. His inner emotions warred over his feelings for her and his desire to actually enter a normal relationship and not the protector and protectee. Tempering his romantic feelings towards her was his knowledge that he lived a dangerous life and odds are wouldn't live much longer anyway. He knew deep down that a relationship could prove disastrous for him and her. Although he didn't know at this point which side of the argument would win.
However, blissful unawareness creates a dangerous situation when you allow your mind to drift away from things that it should be attentive to, such as vehicles that look suspicious or that have been following you. A prime example of this was the two pitch black Hummers that pulled up one on each side of Bolan's van. The Hunters move quick when The Commission is paying the tab.
On some stretch of highway between Los Angeles, California and Portage Michigan the harsh sound of automatic gunfire and the shattered glass landing all around him brought Marcus back to reality from his mental utopia that he was in.
Reacting purely out of instinct he pressed his breaks all the way to the floorboard. The two Hummers drove past Bolan's van, however the Volvo behind him narrowly avoided rear-ending him by changing lanes and getting rear-ended itself by another car.
Marcus moved his foot over to the gas pedal and pulled the 357 Magnum out of the console armrest next to him. He put his left arm out where is driver's side window use to be and began sending rounds flying into the hummer that fired on the driver's side of his vehicle.
The cars not involved in this fight all quickly pulled as far off the highway as they could; others crossed the grassy median and began going the other direction to avoid the gunfire and collisions. The Hummers however pulled U-turns and began coming back at Bolan's van. Bullets from the Hummers entered Bolan's van and he traded bullets of his own.
The vehicles sped towards each other and the Hummer on Bolan's driver's side swerved to hit the van on the front driver's side corner. At the last possible second, Marcus once again slammed on his breaks and the Hummer passed in front of the van barely missing him. The hummer flew down the slope on the side of the highway flipping over four times on its way down.
The second hummer paused as if it was considering the unfortunate luck of its counterpart. Capitalizing on this momentary cease in attack, Bolan went on the offensive pulling his van to the side of the highway and parking it. He then ran to the back of his vehicle on the inside and prepared a M-60 for action. He then exited the rear of the van and opened fired on the remaining hummer. It only took a matter of seconds for the hummer's occupants to evacuate the vehicle, which burst into flames just a matter of seconds later.
With the immediate threat to him being gone, Bolan put his foot on the gas pedal and put miles between himself and his unknown attackers as fast as he could. He noticed a car stop and pick up the occupants of both hummers, however it showed no sign of following him so he paid it little attention.
**
Twenty-five miles from his most recent battleground, Marcus's van putted to a loud and smoky stop. Try as he might, Bolan quickly understood that the van was too badly damaged to ever move again unless it was assisted by a tow truck.
He moved to the rear of his recently deceased vehicle and packed up as much of his arsenal as he could in the various and many bags that he had with him for just such an occasion.
Bolan slung the various bags over his shoulders, attached a few to his back, carried one in each hand and started walking down the highway abandoning the van and the rest of the weaponry he was unable to carry to whatever fate that law enforcement had for it.
**
Less then a mile from where he started walking, a car off the highway. Marcus rested his hand on the small pistol he had in a concealed hip holster under his jeans for the reassuring feeling of knowing it was there in case this turned encounter turned as ugly as his last one had.
He approached the car on the driver's side. Before he had a chance to say anything it's owner said, "Need a ride somewhere bud?"
Marcus quickly ran a visual examination of the car and all around them. Once he was positive that there was no one else with the stranger and no chase vehicles around he answered, "Sure. You don't happen to know where the nearest bus station or train depot is do you?"
"Sure don't. But we will stop off at the truck stop about ten miles from here and we will find out." The man said and Bolan climbed in.
As they drove, Marcus's driver showed no sign of recognizing him. There was a lot of conversation, but it was all general superficial stuff. Nothing that hinted that the stranger knew him and he didn't make any attempt to pry into Bolan's personal life anymore then most people who are just making conversation would. They visited the truck stop where Marcus bought the stranger dinner to thank him for his kindness. They located a bus stop and the kind stranger drove Marcus there and saw him off.
**
After stepping off the bus, the very first thing Bolan did was pick up a Kalamazoo Gazette. He had been gone from his hometown a long time and wanted to know what was new in the area he grew up in. While he knew that he couldn't contact anyone that knew him other then Alexis, it is still nice to come home.
The front page took his breath away. The Headline staring straight at him was, "Bolan Rampage Extends Beyond The Mafia." He threw himself into the article forgetting about everything else entirely. As he read he learned that the kind stranger who had dropped him off at the bus station had been found dead the same night. Local law enforcement believed they saw Marcus step out of the stranger's car on surveillance tapes. Local law enforcement then called the FBI who confirmed it. At this point they still hadn't been able to confirm the name he used or his destination, but it article did say that all airports, seaports, bus stations, train terminals and every other way to get in or out of the country has been advised to keep an eye out for him.
Discreetly, Marcus made his way out of the bus station and hailed a taxi. From there he went directly to the house he rented. Once at the house he blew past Alexis entirely ignoring her and went to the "Strategy Room" which was originally meant to be a small bedroom, but he used it as a study/archive for the mass of information he had been able to accumulate thus far in this career as the Mafioso Grim Reaper. This small room contained; confidential FBI briefings which had been secretly appropriated by Hal Brognola, transcripts of classified interviews of made men and connected men who the government plans on turning state's evidence against their families, published books on the current status of the mafia, a computer with internet access, ect. Marcus began rapidly searched through indexes, tables of contents, briefing notes and the like searching desperately for a clue as to who might have attacked him.
Alexis peeked sheepishly into the room, unsure of his behavior. Every other time he had returned to Portage in between his sorties, he had been a little distant but friendly and sociable unlike his behavior today. "What's wrong?" She asked.
In frustration Marcus cleared the antique writing desk that had belonged to his grandparents on his mother's side with a sweep of his hand saying as if he didn't hear her, "I can't find anything."
Probing for the cause of this abnormal behavior Alexis responded, "All is not quite on the Western Front?"
Marcus ran his hand over the weeks worth of stubble that had grown on his face as he spun in his chair to face her. "Huh?" He asked.
Alexis chuckled and asked, "You didn't know I was here?"
"Well, I knew you were there, but I was off in my own little world and nothing registered."
"Ah, well, I just asked what was wrong?"
"Nothing really." Was all he said.
"Nothing really? You usually don't plow right past me like a tornado is pushing you and storm into this room right after you come back. Usually you take at least twenty-four hours before you begin planning anything or even go near this room. And you always treat the stuff in this room like it is the most valuable and fragile item in a museum. Pushing it all off your desk is not normal. Bad day at the office?"
Marcus told her of the past few days' events starting with the unexpected exchange of shots on the freeway. After telling her everything and hearing the expected, "You need to be careful," speech he stepped outside in the fresh brisk October air and smoked the day's last cigarette, went to his room, took a sleeping pill and laid down. Thoughts continued to roll around in his mind giving the sleeping pill about as much effect as the punch of a five year old would have on the world heavyweight boxing champion.
**
A for the most part sleepless night passed. Marcus arose with the same thoughts wondering his mind that have been there since the freeway fracas came to its end. He knew that these well-traveled thoughts wouldn't cease until he found answers on who made the surprise attack. Since his brief ransacking of his intelligence didn't turn up any answers he could only thing of one person who might be able to.
Still only wearing his boxers he lit his morning cigarette and dialed the telephone and went through the familiar routine of getting past the field operative contact line's operator.
"Junior? This is an unexpected call. You never call in this early." Hal said.
"Well, that's because usually I don't get ambushed on my way out of enemy territory." Marcus responded.
"Why don't we start with you telling me what happened."
"Well, I was on my way back. Comfortable with all the enemy being dead or scattered. Out of nowhere, two Humvee loads of unknowns open fire and try to run me off the road. I won, but my van is toast. I start walking and this nice stranger picks me up and gives me a ride to the bus station that would have taken me hours to walk to. I get off the train here and discover that he has been killed and that I am being blamed for it. I don't like this?"
"Yeah, well I can see why you would say that. I saw the news break on you killing that guy. What name did you use?"
"Thad Meet." Marcus answered.
"What destination did Thad have?"
"Not here. I got off the bus early."
"Good. I thought you'd have been too smart to stay on until Thad's final destination. What I'll do is discreetly lead them to your Thad alias. They will discover his time of departure, check the tapes and realize that you couldn't have killed the guy that gave you a ride."
"Sounds good to me. Do you have any idea on who these guys are though? I'm getting use to being shot at, but I would like to at least know who is doing it." Marcus inquired.
"Right now negative. I know as much as you do, maybe even a little less. I'll beat the tree though and find out what I can and then let you know."
"Great Firecracker. And thanks. Junior out."
"Firecracker out."
With that, both men broke the connections on their ends.
**
With his nerves somewhat calmed for the moment, Marcus realized that he hadn't treated Alexis well last night and began pondering ways to make it up to her. After all, he did have feelings for her that seem to refuse to be denied.
He glanced over at his alarm clock and saw that it was only 6 AM and thought, "Hmmm Alexis never wakes up until 8:30 at the earliest." With this thought he gathered the cloths he wanted to wear that day and walked to the bathroom to take his shower.
After the shower he felt more human and made his way to the kitchen where he very un-expertly and after a few attempts prepared a breakfast of pancakes, eggs over easy, and sausage patties with a glass of apple juice. Once this was completed he went to her bedroom, opened the door and walked in.
"Wakie Wakie eggs and bakie." He repeated the words his mother had woke him to so many times while he was growing up.
Startled she jumped and her blankets fell off her. Marcus learned the rough way that Alexis sleeps in the nude. Both of them embarrassed, Marcus diverted his eyes to the ground and Alexis quickly covered herself up.
"I I I'm sorry," Marcus stammered, "I ahhhhhh realized how much of a jerk I was last night and ummmm thought I'd make you breakfast in bed."
With his eyes still diverted Marcus didn't realize that she had covered herself back up. He lowered the tray to the ground and said, "I'll um leave it right here and go." After saying this he thought to himself, "Man, I hope she doesn't see how red my face is right now."
Alexis giggled and said, "It's ok. I'm covered now."
"I'm sorry. I should have knocked first. I just wanted to surprise you." He apologized.
She giggled again and said, "It's ok. You were very sweet making breakfast for me, and just so you know, there was no apology needed for your behavior last night. You live with stresses that I can only imagine from some of the Stallone and Schwarzenegger movies I've seen.
"Well um, I'm gonna get going so that you can eat in peace."
"You're kidding me right? You made enough for an army. I can't eat all of this. What your going to do is come over here and sit on the bed next to me and help me eat all of this."
"But, you're all naked and stuff." He said and then was embarrassed with himself over the way it sounded.
Alexis giggled again and said, "Oh it's ok Mr. Big Bad Mafia Killer. I think I can keep myself covered and eat at the same time."
Realizing that he wasn't going to get out of this, he went over and sat down next to her. They shared the same silverware, Marcus doubting she would allow him to leave the room even if he suggested that he go and get his own.
**
After breakfast was finished, Marcus left the bedroom with the dirty dishes to wash them while Alexis climbed out of bed and prepared to face the day.
Once both were refreshed and ready for the day ahead they decided that they did not want to stay in the house and opted for a day on the town. First, a movie, then they went window-shopping picking up a few things along the way, after this they played a few holes of miniature golf, and finally, unknown to Marcus, they found their way to the same park where the mafia had found his parents.
Here, just like with is parents, trouble found Marcus "Smith" Bolan. Marcus was pushing Alexis on a swing when the first bullet rang out. The shot was good but just a little too short. He saw the sand erupt about three inches from his foot and years of training told him what was happening.
He pulled Alexis off the swing by the back of her shirt. She landed on her back with a look of shock on her face. He pulled a modified Magnum 357 out of a boot holster and covered her with his body.
Alexis gave him a seductive look and said, "Well now, this is forward isn't it."
"Shhhhh. We have just been shot at." He said examining each inch of the wood line.
"This is no good. We are too out in the open here. We have to get back to the car." He said after a second.
He fired two shots to where he believed the one aimed at him had come from and then got himself and Alexis to their feet in one swift flow of movement.
At that time several men dressed in black or military camouflage appeared like ghostly beings from the woods with all sorts of firearms.
Marcus fired several shots randomly at the invaders and they intern either kept walking while firing or took up a crouching stance and fired.
Marcus and Alexis fled. First they came to the public restroom that had been constructed for the park patrons' use. However they did not make it before a bullet found it's way into the back of Marcus's right shoulder and another grazing wound to his left oblique.
They sought cover behind the restroom and Marcus returned fire, only this time with a more steady and purposeful aim. One of his bullets found an aggressor in the throat. The man crumpled to the ground, holding his throat with blood spurting out between his fingers. His mouth making motions like the dying man was trying to scream but not sound escaped.
The unknown assault force continued their advance. Marcus eliminated another one from being an immediate threat by landing a bullet into the front of his knee. The man collapsed holding his knee and screaming all sort of profane things to Bolan, but he would live.
Bullets from the strangers continued to pour in at Marcus and Alexis faster then Bolan could aim and take drop the bad guys. Chips to chunks of brick from the restroom wall assaulted the two just as badly as the bullets from the unknown men.
"If we stay here we are just as dead as if we stayed out in the open." Marcus thought.
He looked around and took stock of his surroundings, then he looked at Alexis and said, "We have to get moving. Stay ahead of me, don't look back and keep going no matter what."
Alexis responded, "But your hurt. Why don't you give me the gun and you stay ahead of me since I'm not."
"We don't have time for this. I'm trained; I've been wounded before but kept moving. You don't have any of those experiences so don't argue with me. If you get to the car and for some reason I'm not right there. Don't wait for me. Just run. Now GO!" He said pushing her forward and thus effectively ending the discussion.
Bullets continued to tear the ground up around them, no more however found their mark on either Marcus or Alexis. They made their way to the car that Alexis had bought and made their escape leaving the aggressors in a lurch and without any dead prey.
**
The drive back to the house passed in an uncomfortable and stunned silence. For Marcus, the familiar brooding of the train ride back to Michigan along with the haunting confusion about who these guys were and for Alexis it was her first gun battle she had ever been caught in.
Once at the house Marcus and Alexis said nothing to each other. She collapsed on the couch, almost comatose with shock. Marcus on the other hand had his battle senses in gear and immediately beat a hasty track to the phone.
Once he was past the red tape of speaking with the CIA operative operators he was patched through to Hal. "Firecracker, it happened again."
"What did?" Came the reply on the other end of the line.
" I was out today and a group of guys tried to take my out. I can only assume that it is the same group that tried to take me out on the highway coming back."
"I see." Hal replied.
" Any luck finding out who they are?"
A frustrated sigh came from the other end followed by, "Not yet. Trust me, as soon as I know something you'll know."
"Thanks Firecracker. Is there anything else I should know about?"
"Not right now Junior. You check in regularly enough, plus I know how to contact you. Don't worry, I won't leave you in the dark."
"Thanks Firecracker. I'll talk to you later. Out." Marcus said and then hung up the cordless telephone.
After he was off the phone Alexis came up to him with the battlefield first aid kit that Bolan had assembled, "I'm no corpsman but let me see what I can do with your shoulder and side."
"Are you sure you have the stomach for it? The side isn't bad but the shoulder is kind of ugly."
"Oh, I'm a big girl. I'm sure I can handle it."
With that, Marcus removed his shirt, talked her though extracting the bullet the way he was trained to in a life or death emergency in the field and after that she carefully applied bandages to both the shoulder and side.
"Marcus, I can't hold it in any longer. I have to say it even though you don't want me to."
"What's that?" He inquired
Her face turned red and in a low, almost no voice she said, "I love you"
He looked deep into her eyes and said, "While I know I shouldn't. I know that it is dangerous for the both of us. I love you to."
Alexis attempted to kiss him, but Marcus backed up.
With a dejected look she asked, "What's the matter honey?"
"Look. No offense but I fell in love with you against my will. Physical intimacy will only complicate matters when I don't need them to be complicated."
"Oh come on. You can enjoy the pure animal comforts of life. Predators in the animal kingdom do it all the time and it doesn't affect them making their next kill."
"Yeah, but with the lion, the gazelle isn't trying to kill him in return."
"Ok, let me try it this way. You saw me naked, now it's my turn." She said with a seductive smile.
Marcus chuckled in return and said, "I'm sorry but no."
Alexis grabbed a hold of his belt loops and pulling him towards her said, "Look sir. I'm having my way with you with or without your approval."
Marcus laughed at this and this time when she kissed him, he returned it. It wasn't long until they knew each other in the biblical sense.
**
Early the next morning while Marcus was still asleep the phone rang. Still not awake he answered it but quickly jerked awake when he heard the words, "Junior. It's Firecracker and I have news for you."
"Well spit it out huh." Is how Bolan greeted his help from on high.
"Ok, they are a team of hired guns known as The Hunters. None of them are made men, they are all purely contract killers and are called upon by The Commission when someone becomes particularly troublesome. Shoot from what I've been able to tell none of them are even of Italian decent. The team is made up mostly of former military special op commandos like yourself and hitmen that use to work for us in the CIA until they decided that contract work pays better. They are some real Billy Bad Boys."
"Do you know how many of them there are?"
" Twelve."
"Ok, so that would mean that after yesterday there are ten left for me to deal with."
"Huh?"
"Yesterday when they tried to hit me, I closed out one for good and another took a shot in the knee cap so he is out of the game for awhile."
"Good. But keep in mind that the ten who remain are no joke. They are every bit as professional as you are."
"Yeah, I know. What else do you know about them?"
"Only that their leader is a guy named Eric "Viking" Thurgood." Hal answered.
"The Viking?"
"That's because he looks like one. Beard, size, personality the whole nine yards. Imagine a Norseman in a dress suit or a hit outfit and you have Thurgood. That is all the hard information I have, but I do have surveillance photos of all of them. I'll email them to you. " Hal informed.
"Ok thanks. You've been a big help again." Marcus said.
"Just like the one who came before you, you're providing a valued service to your nation. I'll do all I can for you like I did for him." Hal said in a cryptic way not trusting his own secure connections.
"Take care Firecracker."
"With boys like these to deal with. You're the one who had better be taking care my friend."
With that the connection went dead.
**
That night, dressed in full battle regalia and boasting a pretty impressive range of armament Bolan went hunting.
He wasn't sure where to begin, but on an off chance he lucked into seeing a matching set of two pitch black Humvees in the hospital parking lot. Not only did these two match each other, but they also matched the two that had attacked him on the highway, minus the Bolan inflicted damage.
Marcus pulled off to the side of the road and watched the group of five men who were all wearing suits standing outside the visitors' entrance. He compared them to the photos Hal and sent him and sure enough, it was his good buddies.
He left the car and explored his surroundings. Bolan found a spot he liked between two cars.
Marcus then returned to his car, retrieved his sniper rifle and returned to the perch he had picked out.
With slow and steady aim from Bolan, one of The Hunters quickly found himself without the top of his head. The body flopped to the ground and the other four proved they were not amateurs by seeking cover and began seeking where the incoming fire was coming from.
One made a quick mistake and attempted to move to a different section of brick wall by passing an area where there was a gap in the wall. That was all Marcus needed and the hitman did not make it to this destination, but instead just appeared to lie down and nap on the grass.
That second shot gave his position away to the surviving three members of the hit team that was present. They brought their arms to bear on Bolan's location and open fired.
Marcus rolled away from the incoming fire and scurried keeping himself low to the ground to his fallback observation position in a clump of trees near his car. Unknown to the bad guys, he had no intention of taking them all out here. All he wanted to do was get their attention right now and from the way the area he was just at was getting tore up it appears that he did.
Upon hearing the gunfire, the other five hired killers came running out of the hospital with sidearms drawn. After a brief conversation the remaining eight hurried back into their vehicles and sped off, leaving the bodies of their comrades to whatever fate became of them.
Marcus, maintaining his stealth quickly resumed his driver's seat and followed the Hummers at a discreet distance.
**
The pursuit ended at the hotel that The Hunters were staying in. Marcus watched them park and walk into the hotel's main entrance. He was no more then a shadow as he moved through the poorly lit parking lot to a side entrance.
The next time he acquired sight of his adversaries was in a wide hallway. Bolan announced his presence by firing his silenced Glock 9 millimeter. Two of the paid killers fell silent for the rest of time.
With nowhere else to go immediately the eight hitmen still in action broke open doors to three different rooms and took cover, returning fire from edge.
Under heavy fire, Bolan ducked into a housekeeping storage room. With the deck stacked against him and the element of surprise long gone, Marcus rolled a flash bang grenade down the hallway and ducked back into the closet sized room so that the desired effect of the grenade didn't bother him to. The grenade went off with an amazing and almost deafening bang and a brief but brilliant flash of light in the hallway.
When no more fire came from the contract killers, Marcus cautiously moved down the grenade-damaged hallway to the closest open door. He entered and saw that the flash bang had the desired effect. Two of the hitmen were on the floor in a state of all of their senses being off track and confused. With two whispers coming from his handgun both men became dearly departed loved ones of their friends and family.
Knowing that only a matter of seconds remained before the disorientation of his opponents caused by the flash bang grenade wore off he dashed to the next room. The four hitmen and two parents and three children were at various stages of stumbling back to their feet and regaining their equilibriums.
Marcus open fired and quickly dispatched three of the four contract killers. However, the last standing hitman charged Bolan, and before he could react Marcus found himself in his first hand-to-hand situation of his personal war.
The killer for hire was a surprisingly good grappler and it wouldn't surprise Marcus to discover that he had been at least an all-state high school wrestler, but more likely some sort of special ops commando himself and was giving Bolan's Navy SEAL
The murder caught Bolan in a side headlock and started bringing his fist into Bolan's face causing a stead red river to develop and pool on the ground.
Marcus broke the headlock by sliding his arm between his attacker's arm and his neck. He then forced the attacker's arm away from him and brought himself nose to nose with his adversary.
The paid killer pulled a knife from his shirtsleeve and stabbed it into Marcus's shoulder. At that point an unsilenced bullet entered the room and saved Bolan the remaining effort it would have taken to send his opponent to the great beyond.
He allowed the body to fall to the ground, pulled the knife from the back of his shoulder and let it fly. It found it's mark in the gunman's right eye and he fell backwards into the hallway.
Marcus turned to the family and said, "I'm sorry you and your children witnessed this. Don't worry, stay in this room and you will be in no danger. It will be obvious when I leave because of the silence."
"Sorry boys. But I got better things to do today then die." Marcus said as he stepped over the gunman's body and into the hallway.
The experience of finding unexpected civilians in the last room changed Bolan's game plan. Originally he had planned on just lobbing a standard hand grenade into the last room and calling it good, but now he couldn't risk killing an innocent.
Marcus stood outside the room attempting to formulate a new game plan in his head when he heard Eric the Viking say, "Bolan. You out there Bolan?"
"Yeah." Marcus answered.
"What do you say we make a deal?"
"What kind of deal?" Marcus answered the question with a question.
" A live live deal which works out to be win win for the both of us huh."
"What do you have in mind?" Marcus inquired.
"It's easy. We go our own ways. Live and let live. You don't come gunning for me in this little war of yours and I won't come after you with a new crew."
"And why should I believe this?"
"Because you've taken out my entire team. Even the bounty on your head isn't worth this. You've cost me too much already. A bad investment on my part. I'm willing to cut my losses and run." The Viking answered.
"Well, I don't deal with men I can't see. Come to the door, then I'll stand in the door and we can discuss this face to face." Bolan offered.
"Now why should I trust you?"
"Because you don't have much of a choice. I've taken ten of your twelve men. One more is injured bad enough that he is not likely to ever be able to rejoin you. Even if you can raise a new crew, The Commission isn't likely to ever hirer you again. You're finished. If you do as I say, you can be finished a live man. If you don't you're finished a dead man."
A moment of silence ringed through the hotel as Eric considered what Marcus had just said.
"Ok, ok Bolan. I'm coming to the door."
Bolan peeked around the doorway and saw a man true to his name coming to the door. He guessed The Viking to be six feet two or three inches tall and weighing around 240 pounds. The man had a decent amount of body fat on him but it was evident just how much muscle mass this behemoth of a man coming had. The monster also had a well-kept beard that came down about midway past his chest.
As always, true to his word Marcus rounded the corner and faced Eric face to face. Both men had side arms trained on each other.
"Drop the piece." Marcus ordered.
"Yeah right." Was the answer he received.
" I don't discuss deals with a gun pointing at me. So drop it or I drop you."
The Viking laughed fairly loudly at this. "Man, we are both professional killers. Although I think you have more kills to your name then I do now. You don't trust me to put down my gun because the old geezers hired me to kill you. I don't trust you because you have killed my entire team. We talk business just as we are."
"So you say no?" Bolan asked with a chill in his voice that makes a blizzard on a winter morning seem nice.
"Yeah. No." Eric said calmly but trying to keep up his tough man, stone cold killer persona.
Nothing else was said. Bolan's nine millimeter whispered again and Eric fell against the wall and slid to the ground with a look of pure shock on his face. Once he hit the ground he just sat there, with is eyes wide open looking at nothing. The Viking had fallen.
Knowing that the police would arrive way too soon, Marcus dropped a marksman medal and ran to the car awaiting his arrival and sped off.
**
It took Bolan's shoulder a week to feel strong enough to know what he had to do next. As soon as he felt he was able to, he and Alexis packed up everything in the house that had nothing to do with Bolan's war, in a U- Haul Marcus had rented under one of the names that Brognola had given him. Towed along behind it was Alexis's car.
She drove the U-Haul and he drove the new van he bought under another assumed identity, which the dealership would never be paid for since Mike Plat doesn't exist and neither did the address he provided. The van was a mobile arsenal are Marcus was toying with the idea of leaving all or at least most of his armament in it. He could redesign the interior later, but at least the thoughts of it's future design allowed him to think of something besides how much he loved Alexis and how much he wished the two of them could live a normal life together.
Portage, the city of Marcus's birth, where he was raised, and where his parents are buried is no longer safe. The police know he was there recently and may still believe him to be in the area. If The Hunters found him there, it is too likely for comfort that the mob knows he was there. If he stayed there any longer, he would die in he city he was born and he had no desire for that to happen.
He had picked a city at random for them to move to. A randomly picked city that neither he nor Alexis had ties to would be safe. There are just too many cities for the mob to randomly find him in a randomly selected city. The chosen city was Bowling Green, Ohio.