Chapter 17: Old Hunting Grounds

The area that Wolf found himself in was one he recognised for all the wrong reasons. He was currently leaning against his motorcycle, arms folded, as he awaited the arrival of the others. As soon as he came out into the open, the memories of the destruction that had taken place here came rushing back. The grassy plain stretched on for maybe two hundred feet or so before meeting a treeline and merging with the jungle. To the left of the plain was a river. And, in front of Wolf, was a mound of earth underneath which Sif's body had been buried by him some time ago. This was where she died, where Wolf Pack crumbled into nothing as their leader was gunned down in front of them. Wolf looked around the area, spotting a few wreckages of cars and jeeps that had remained here since the battle. A lot had happened since then, but the call of the Pack was still as strong as ever.

The assassin returned his eyes to the mound of earth. It was two years since Sif had been killed, two years since Wolf executed her and decided to leave his bond to the charismatic criminal leader to rot away with her. But Sif's hold on him was strong indeed. Even from beyond the grave, the ideas she had indoctrinated her followers with, the teachings she used to brainwash the Pack, were still in Wolf's head. He had never been able to shake them and truly move on from his old life. That was why he had gone after Ashur in the first place. When he learned what Ashur was, something inside him snapped and he went after the dangerous killer to uphold the ideal taught to him by Sif, the notion that the past would always control you unless you destroyed it. Ashur was a link to that past and a constant reminder of Sif and how powerful her control of her subjects could be. Wolf thought Ashur's death would allow him to be free. Now, he wasn't so sure. It felt like he was giving in to Sif's influence more than anything. Hunting Ashur with the hope of killing him felt like playing into Sif's hands and doing exactly what she would have wanted. That in and of itself revealed that Wolf was not free of her, nor would he be if he went through with this. But he saw no other end to this. Once the Task Force was dealt with, Ashur would come for him and only one of them would survive.

Wolf closed his eyes. He remembered the day Sif arrived in Roanapur, outside of Ulysses's compound with her underlings in tow. Wolf saw himself in her place, the leader of the Pack hunting runaways. Just as she had usurped the Pack from Ulysses and taken control for herself, Wolf imagined a world where he had done the same with Sif and taken her place as Wolf Pack's leader. The idea agitated him and he tried not to dwell on it. He heard movement in the underbrush several metres back, followed by footsteps coming towards him. It was one of the two people he was here to meet. Otherwise, the stranger would have either run at him or attempted to sneak up on him. Ashur came to a stop behind the motorbike.

"I only see you," he said observationally. "If I find out this was a trick to lure me out here, I'll be very disappointed."

"It's no trick. She'll be here. I told her where to find me, same as you. Give her time."

"I hope so. Can't say I ever had the pleasure before of making Andromeda's acquaintance. If she's as ferocious as you say she is, taking care of the 216 is going to easier than we thought."

"Oh, she's a real beast, alright," Wolf said reassuringly. "I managed to distract her before, shot her in the leg. If that hadn't worked, I might not be standing here."

"None of what you just said fills me with confidence. I've fought you, and I can't say I was too impressed. If Andromeda couldn't even get the better of you, I'm going to end up handholding you two through this whole thing." Wolf ignored his attempt at wordplay. It was then that Ashur began looking around him, noticing the wanton destruction that had clearly taken place here at one point or another.

"Why'd you choose this shithole to meet, anyway?"

"You'll see," Wolf told him, offering no more information until all three of Sif's Trinity were present.

Ashur fell in beside the Wolf, leaning against the bike as well and cleaning underneath his fingernails with a small pocket knife. Wolf employed the use of an underground tracking service to pinpoint Andromeda. He already knew she was based in Eastport, Maine but he did not have an exact location. Plus, she may well have been away from home on a job. The tracking service offered to contact her for a fee and arrange a phone call on a secure line. Wolf told them to request her presence at this spot, to which he later learned she had agreed. He hadn't spoken to her himself, but the man who had arranged to find and contact her had been very efficient. He wasn't sure how she would react to his proposition. In fact, he was almost certain she would more than likely prefer to put Roanapur behind her for good and forget what had happened with the Dead Men. But that was why they were meeting here. If anything could convince her, it was the revelation of Ashur's existence coupled with the grave of their former mentor.

"Was watching the 216 before I came to meet you," Ashur said, breaking the silence that Wolf hoped would never end, as though it brought him some peace. "They split up somewhere near Rachiada Street. I managed to track two of them to the Pot-O-Gold."

"The others?" Wolf asked.

"No idea. But it was only two of them at the bar. A big woman with scars across her face, and some pretty boy who looked like he couldn't hold his own against a wild hog. If we squeeze them, we should find the rest." Wolf suddenly became more attentive when he heard the description of the woman, but he gave nothing away for now.

"Could be an idea," he agreed nonchalantly. "Catch them alone and use them to lead us to the others."

"Exactly. We'd have them right where we want them."

"But what then? You said it yourself, this is more complicated than just wiping them off the face of the earth. If killing them outright was the solution, Balalaika or Chang would have seen to that much already."

"They'll be at our mercy," Ashur reminded his confederate. "Once we have them scared, we could use them any way we want. Or, we could ransom them off to the ruling factions as hostages. Either way, we put a swift end to whatever they had planned here. That takes them out of the equation." Wolf wasn't so sure. Ashur had no concrete strategy for dealing with the 216, no definite plan for what happened when the Trinity found them, only conjecture. The solution here needed to be more solid. This situation required a great deal more care than was being suggested. Otherwise, the entire operation would backfire and they would be back at square one.

During the silence after Ashur spoke, the two men heard a rustling like before and someone stepped out from the underbrush and foliage that was now overtaking what had been a dirt road into the clearing. As they both turned on the spot, they saw Andromeda walk out and come to a stop when she spotted them. She knew Wolf, but Ashur was a stranger to her and she had not been informed of his part in this. Wolf also must have looked quite different. On that point, so did she. Her hair was blonde like before but now much straighter and a tad longer than before. She had also abandoned her usual military fatigues, revealing the simple grey crop top that must have been there before. Now, it was accompanied by a brown leather biker crop jacket that was open at the front. Its grey woollen sleeves were also rolled up to the elbow. She sported a dark green mini flare skirt with brown knee-high boots that matched her jacket. Beneath the jacket itself, the two men spotted an underarm holster that held a weathered Remington R51, modified to be gold in colour and with a symbol carved into the handle that resembled the constellation Cetus.

Andromeda eyed the two killers suspiciously, sensing there was a reason they were both awaiting her.

"Wolf," she said aloud. "Long time no see."

"Likewise," Wolf answered her.

"You going to introduce your friend? Can't say I've met him before."

"Hello to you, too," Ashur said, a sinister smile on his face as he strode out from the motorbike with flirtatious swagger. "But boy am I glad to meet you, now. You never mentioned how gorgeous she was, Wolf."

"Keep on dreaming, grandpa," Andromeda slighted him. Though Ashur's facial hair and dreadlocks were greying, he was still only pushing forty. "You ain't to my taste. Unless you're as much of a pussy as you look." Wolf exploded with laughter over by the motorcycle while Ashur accepted his fate as the laughing stock of the group for today.

"Feisty, I see," the black man said. "I expected nothing less."

"I still have no idea who you are." The Wolf grew serious, then, striding out from the motorbike and squatting down by the mound of earth. As he remained there, his eyes noticed something half buried in the earth, a small rectangular piece of metal on the end of a chain. It was a necklace he had been given a long time ago, once he had completed his training as Sif's 'prototype', her most accomplished and deadly killer. But that had been a lie. He reached one hand down and slipped his fingers under the chain, lifting it out of the dirt and into the air in front of him. It was completely plain to look at, dark brushed steel with an almost brownish colour to it. But Wolf remembered when he had been given it, what it truly represented.

"What do you remember, Ashur?" he asked. "About the end of your training. The last task was a favourite of hers, wasn't it? One final challenge to see if you were worthy of calling yourself a real wolf." Andromeda was understandably confused initially, but she came to understand as the conversation went on. She walked forward and stood beside the mound of earth, to Wolf's right, while Ashur stood behind him by the motorcycle.

"I don't know where she found that place," Ashur began. "A square mile of forest and open grassland fenced off from the outside world. I woke up there, alone and confused. Had nothing except the clothes on my back. Was like her own personal wildlife preserve, but there was only one thing in there with me."

"A wolf," Andromeda chimed in. She was beginning to understand, now, who Ashur really was. She was finally beginning to realise that he was a kindred spirit. "It hunted me while I tried to find a way out. In the end, it was me or the wolf. So I killed it with my bare hands." Ashur nodded. It was unclear if that gesture was born from approval or simple understanding. He reached beneath the white vest that he wore under the sleeveless grey biker jacket, taking the piece of metal in his hand. It was identical to the one Wolf held, the one the Irish assassin had left on Sif's grave some time ago.

"She told me there was a drop of that wolf's blood inside this trinket," Ashur explained. "A symbol of what I'd been through for the Pack. I was a real wolf, not one of the pitiful grunts that did the wet work. I was one of a kind…or so I thought." Andromeda reached in beneath her crop top and produced a third of these pieces of metal, the one she had been given. The three killers that stood feet apart at this moment had all been through the same ordeal and been gifted the same trinket as a reward. They were Omegas to the Alpha that was Sif, but she never intended for them to find out about one another. How ironic that they now all stood by her graveside.

"You were one of us," Andromeda said deductively, her words aimed at Ashur. "Wolf and I…we've met before, hashed it all out about the old days. But I had no idea there was a third." Ashur smirked.

"A Trinity," he told her. "She kept us secret from one another so we could carry out her will from the shadows. Maybe we would have discovered one another eventually. But the fucking leprechaun, here, put an end to her empire. Too afraid to get his hands dirty. I take it you were the same." Andromeda's expression turned to one of derision as her opinion of Ashur quickly dropped.

"You can't seriously tell me you went along with her shit?" she asked. "I don't care what way you look at it, she was fucking nuts."

"None of that shit matters now," Wolf interrupted them. He rose to his feet, the necklace still in his hand. "She's dead. And this is where I buried her body after I killed her." The tension immediately began to rise, but none of them moved from their spots.

Ashur was the first to speak and break the silence.

"Goddammit, you must really like playing with fire. Why the fuck would you bring me here? Is this some kind of sick joke?!"

"Get over yourself," Wolf told him flippantly. "We agreed to a truce, didn't we? I have no reason to try and get to you now."

"Cut the bullshit, Wolf," Ashur retorted. "We've been trying to kill each other for a while, now. You must have known what it would be like to bring me here, show me where my master died. Trying to weaken my resolve…that's cheap, especially for you."

"Grow up, Ashur," Wolf spat, turning to face him. "I couldn't give less of a shit about that right now. We've got bigger problems to deal with."

"So, what's the point of all this? Why show me where she died? Why bury her, for that matter?" As Andromeda looked on with equal parts confusion and disturbance at the pre-existing relationship between the other two, Wolf considered his rival's words and thought on what had been said before answering.

"I buried her for my own reasons," he finally responded. "Guess I tried to bury the past along with her. As for why I brought you here, well…I thought you deserved to see it. I know how much she meant to you, even if I didn't feel the same way. She was a part of us all…you, me, Andromeda…we were the only ones she ever sunk her claws into so deeply. You both deserved to see where I buried her." The other two did not respond. Andromeda had never been outwardly affectionate or endearing about Sif in the past, having much the same experience as Wolf. She wanted out after realising the extent of what was being asked of her, only to be hunted down in return. But it was safe to say that she had not escaped the same connection that plagued Wolf. Sif's influence must have been prevalent within her even now and to see her grave was surely a jarring experience. Ashur, on the other hand, had never been at odds with Wolf Pack's leader and was always devoted to her cause, loyal right up until the end. This was an important moment to him for a very different reason.

"She never meant for us to find out about each other," Ashur muttered quietly, almost to himself. "And now, here we all are, standing on the spot where she was killed."

"I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to bond and shit some other time," Andromeda hissed abrasively. This moment was affecting her too, but she was hiding it. "But I still don't know what I'm doing here. Your contact, Wolf, he arranged for us to meet. But he never told me why." Wolf kept his eyes on the necklace as he spoke, but he knew she deserved an explanation.

"Something is going down in Roanapur," he began. "Task Force 216, they're called. Word is they're going to be cracking down on the city any day, now. Whatever they're planning…well, it's going to get in our way. They need to be taken out of the picture." Andromeda narrowed her eyes and folded her arms as she read between the lines of what was being said to her.

"You want me to help clear the playing field so you two can kill each other," she said to them judgementally.

"It's bigger than that," Ashur added, much to the Irishman's surprise. "They've had eyes on all of us, now. As soon as they crack down, our names will be on Interpol's most wanted list. We can't let the 216 report back to their superiors or we'll all be living with eyes in the back of our heads for the rest of our days." Andromeda considered that, but she did not seem convinced enough to assist them just yet.

"You're too late, anyway," she said. "I had to sneak myself in and out of the city. Every road into Roanapur has been locked down. Police roadblocks. Never thought there was such a thing here." Ashur and the Wolf locked eyes.

"Then we have to move," Ashur said urgently. "We can start at the Pot-O-Gold. After that, finding the rest should be a piece of cake." Wolf continued to eye the necklace as he spoke.

"What do you say, Andromeda?" he asked. "You in?"

"What's in it for me?" the blonde woman asked.

"Whatever you want," Wolf told her confidently. "You name it, I'll get it for you. But we need you for this. Something for wolves to do…not every day we get the chance to run together." Andromeda clearly had little to gain from this in reality, but there was something inside her that urged her to agree to their proposition, some deep excitement that fuelled her as she nodded at the two men and concurred that they should join together as a true pack. While she and Ashur went to exit the clearing and return to the vehicles they had used to get here, the Wolf looked at the piece of metal hanging from the chain in his hand. After a moment, he hung it around his neck again and joined the others. For the first time in history, the Trinity would hunt together, and may God have mercy on the souls of all who found themselves in their path.