The building look abandoned as always, and John was shocked to think of the amount of times he had passed it before and not realised what horrors lay inside, plotting vengeance and downfall against STARS. The Gooch Building was derelict as John slowly pushed open the door, M9 at the ready, with Marshall and Ghost behind him, their own weapons ready to shoot down anyone who took them on.
"What's the plan?" Marshall asked, his accent becoming less harsh to John's ears and more bearable. Ghost looked at John and shrugged, indicating that the plan was purely down to John's thoughts. "How many stories would you say this building is?" John asked Marshall, hoping he was quick with maths. Looking up, Marshall took about 3 seconds before commenting, "I'd say around 2 floors"
John smiled and nodded, the guy was good at noting sarcasm and throwing it back, "Ok, we'll stick together for the both of the floors, but we'll split up and take different rooms, you all tuned in to the correct frequency?" Both men checked their radios and nodded. "Wait up!" A voice shouted and John looked over to find an old familiar face running up to them. Blackzilla hadn't left STARS in favourable circumstances, but things had changed since then.
"I want in" He said as soon as he got next to them. "You sure you want to do this?" John asked, looking at him with nothing but neutrality. "Yeah, Steyr was always a pain in the ass, and I dunno, I guess I sorter owe it to you for some revenge" Zilla shrugged then looked at the building, "He's in this shithole? Figures". John smiled, "Yep, let's go"
Slipping the door open quietly, John poked his M9 through and took a quick survey of the surroundings before motioning the others to join him. "Ghost, follow me, Marshall and Zilla, take down here, move out" John ordered, before locating the stairs and climbing them. The upstairs was tidier then the downstairs, and this surprised John … Steyr wasn't exactly tidy, so someone else must be here.
Keeping their guards up, they took opposite sides of the building – John took the West, Ghost took the East. The first room John entered was empty, aside from crates that had been moved as they weren't as dusty as the rest of the room. The next three rooms were like this, until he came across one room with a locked door. "Shit, wish Jill had taught me lock picking before I'd left" John commented out aloud, before barging the door in.
The room was floral design, with a double ornate bed in one corner, a dressing side table beside it. On one of the walls, was a dressing table with several drawers and a large mirror. The only other thing in the room was a wardrobe. Looking on the table, he found lipstick and other makeup items, and upon inspecting the drawers, found them full of women's underwear. Likewise, when he checked the wardrobe, there were women's clothes inside. "Either Steyr's become the cross dresser from my nightmare, or he's got some sort of woman living here with bad taste" John thought, mentally adding the last bit noting down the floral dresses.
Crossing over to the small bedside table, he opened the drawer and found a small black leather bound book. Flipping open the outer page, he found a small writing, obviously a woman's as John knew Steyr's was pretty much chicken scratch from the reports that were handed to John by him. The words read – Dear Jane, I hope you find this diary a perfect reminder of our last few years. I hope you find solace in it and continue to write such beautiful things in it. Love S".
Didn't make much sense, so he carried on reading, but one date grabbed John's attention – September 18th 2009: It's about time he stood up for himself, I was beginning to think he didn't have a backbone anymore, especially since joining THAT group. I told him he shouldn't of, I told him it was a bad idea, but he waved off my concern, simply saying that he'll be fine and they were good at what they did. Yeah, they were good at treating him like shit and not making him realise his true potential in there as a leader. I blame that 2nd in line … what was his name, oh who cares.
Thinking carefully, John remembered it was about the time he started getting letters of threats. He dismissed them as usual because they weren't the first, nor would they be the last, but this woman, Jane, knew the sender. He carried on reading – September 25th 2009: He did it! I can't believe he finally did what I've been telling him all these years … Turn on them, make them pay … and he did! He killed that whore who used to lead him … Milley I think he said. I don't think he liked it too much, maybe she wasn't that bad to him and he liked her, who knows. But the best bit was when he told me that he did it in full view of their new commander … that 2nd in command, as Steyr explained, who always kept him down … John Killah. I laughed when he told me that, my how that ignorant person must of felt being so helpless. The best is yet to come no doubt.
John was shocked … The woman knew about him and obviously hated his guts for some reason. As hard as he racked his brains, he couldn't think of anyone. So with that, he read on – October 1st: I had a visitor today, didn't specify where he'd come from, but he assured me that he was on my side with our battle against John and that STARS group. He told me he'd be able to get rid of him, make him vulnerable … make him ours! I quickly accepted, but I wonder if there are strings to these words of promise he made. Who cares I suppose, John will soon fall.
With that, a gun cocked in front of him, "Put my diary down you little piece of filth" the voice commanded in a very authoritarian voice … a mature woman's voice. John was confused when she spoke again, "And get up, drop the gun as well, you won't be needing it". Doing as he was told, he put the diary down, as well as his own gun before standing up and looking at the woman. She must have been about 50, so Steyr might have developed a taste for older women.