Thursday evening
Chicago
I skidded to a halt and jumped off the Multistrada.
I feared the worst and felt immense emotions charging through me, as the worst possible outcomes swept through my mind. I could hear gunfire and then my headset came to life.
"Stay in cover Hit Girl!" Kick-Ass called.
"Thank God! Are you okay?"
"Still in one piece. I have heavy incoming fire..."
I could hear a siren approaching and span around. A Chicago Police car was coming down the street perpendicular to mine and just as it got to the junction, I saw an orange streak appear from the direction of Kick-Ass and the Police Car exploded in front of me.
"Holy fuck! A damn Cop Car just got zapped by a fucking rocket!" I announced. "Kick-Ass report!"
"I'm fine, Hit Girl! Just a little busy!"
I grabbed a G36C from my Ducati and edged to the corner of the block where I peered around the corner and I could see Kick-Ass about thirty yards down the street on one knee and shooting with a Glock pistol in each hand. I could see incoming bullets hitting his torso, but Kick-Ass barely moved. I took aim and started sending short bursts down the street.
"Beast is ninety seconds out!" Hal announced in my ear.
I continued firing.
"Sixty seconds!"
"Hit Girl, I have you in sight, coming in on your six!" Battle Guy called.
I still had my helmet on, so I had been able to follow Beast's progress as it closed on my position. Hawk jumped out and provided additional support while Battle Guy kept Beast ready for a quick departure.
"Kick-Ass move it! Move now!" I called and watched as Kick-Ass moved backwards seeking cover, as Hawk and I kept sending bursts down the street.
..._...
"Oh God! Are you injured?" Hit Girl demanded, once Battle Guy had floored the accelerator.
"It was like sex with you!" I replied.
"What!?"
"Sex with you gives me the same feeling – like I've just been in an explosion!"
Hit Girl just looked at me and then she hit me!
"You fucking bastard! I was fucking worried about you and you just want to joke about me fucking you!" Hit Girl exploded.
"Just defusing the situation, beautiful!" I tried.
"That was not fucking funny! But... I loved your description of me when we do fuck! Don't scare me like that again, green asshole!"
"Ah guys! You're both on VOX!" Hal announced. "Ewww!"
Safehouse F
"What the fuck happened out there?" I demanded.
It had taken us forty minutes to get back. I had insisted on various anti-surveillance manoeuvres before we reached the Safehouse.
"There are some serious people at work here!" Marty said.
"I almost fucking lost Dave tonight! This needs to fucking end and soon! Who is this fucking Richard Montfort?"
"We're still looking into that. He's a big shot, that's all we know so far!" Marty said.
"We also need to investigate Milwaukee, of all places!" I said. "Thanks Marty – I need to see how Dave is."
I left the command centre, dumping my mask on a table and headed up to the briefing room where I found Dave, Cathy and Curtis. Dave's combat suit had absorbed a lot of the impact, when he had jumped from his motorcycle, but there were some major bruises and he had a bang on the head and a bruised shoulder.
"He'll live!" Cathy announced, as she checked the last of Dave's bruises.
"Thanks, Doc!" Dave said, grimacing with the pain.
I knew that if Dave was grimacing, it must have been bad – considering he only felt about twenty percent of the pain!
The following evening
Friday
South Cottage Grove
"Hey! Stop changing the damn channel, brat!"
"It's my turn tonight, Nats!"
"I want..."
A phone started ringing.
"Cool! It's the Hit Phone!"
"She'll kill you if she hears you call it that, Cam!"
"Nah! Hello..." Cam said, as he answered the phone.
"Time to earn your keep, arseholes!"
Forty minutes later
36th Place and Albany
It was very dark and the whole place looked dodgy!
She had told us to 'catch a cab' to this location and await further instructions. The mobile rang again – it was Mindy.
"Turn around and go to the door behind you..."
Was she watching us? As we approached the door, it clicked and Natasha pushed it open. We went inside and the door closed and locked behind us. The room was dark and smelt of damp and neglect.
"You know, Cam, this is exactly where she would bring us to kill us!" Natasha commented.
"I can still hear you, you know!" Mindy said.
"She heard you!" I advised Natasha.
"Big ears!" Natasha breathed.
"Go to the elevator at the back of the building room and get in," Mindy said.
I was starting to feel really worried and a little bit scared! Natasha too seemed worried too. We stepped into the lift and the doors closed behind us, then I felt myself rise as the lift dropped, fast! Then it stopped smoothly and the door in front of us slide open with barely a sound.
"Follow the passageway. See you in a minute!" The call was dropped.
I shoved the mobile into my pocket and we followed the corridor, which turned ninety-degrees to the left and ended at a door, which clicked open and we passed through a glass enclosure and into...
..._...
"Fuck me! It's the Hit Cave!"
"Told you!" A voice said and I was surprised to recognise another British accent.
"It is not called that, Joshua!" Mindy said as she approached us with a grimace. "Sorry about the cloak and dagger and him! I don't have big ears, either, Natasha!"
Natasha smiled a shy apology.
"Welcome to Fort Fusion, fellow Brits! I'm Josh!"
"Cameron; although I think you already know that!"
"Yes, we know who you are Cameron and you Natasha – I'm Dave!"
"I recognise a certain stunning, beautiful girl!" Cameron said, looking at Chloe who blushed and giggled!
"Hey – she's taken!" Josh growled.
"Come on upstairs," Mindy said, laughing.
..._...
I was amazed at what I saw – I couldn't take it all in, it was cool, just cool! Natasha and I followed Mindy up some steel stairs and then left towards a large sitting area and we all sat down. There were some more people here. Mindy began the introductions...
"Natasha, Cameron. Please meet: Cathy, Paige, Marcus, Curtis and little Megan..."
"Less of the goddamn 'little', Hit Pussy!" Megan growled.
"Err – right! Downstairs in the Command Centre are Marty and Abby. Making repairs to Beast is Tony and his son Tommy," Mindy finished.
"We've called you here because we need your help..."
Dave went on to explain all that had been happening over the past week, from the shooting of the Police Officers and Josh's injury to the activity the other night – we had heard all about the Police Car blowing up! When Dave had finished we both just sat there, in shock.
"Josh is out of action – he pretends he's fine, but he's full of crap – like most Brits!" Mindy said with a grin. "Dave is injured and the rest of us are tiring fast. We need to perform some intensive reconnaissance in Milwaukee and you two are new faces that nobody has seen, plus you will easily pass as tourists thanks to your accents!"
"We owe you – we'll help as best we can, Mindy."
"Thanks guys and I really mean that."
The next morning
Saturday
Safehouse F
Things were coming together.
The twins had gone back to their apartment and were ready and waiting for our call – on the Hit Phone, damn stupid name!
"Mindy, you got a moment?" It was Paige and Cathy.
"Should I be worried, guys?" I asked jokingly.
"Oh yeah!" Cathy replied with a smirk.
"Take Curtis and Megan with you to Milwaukee – you need feet on the ground and they could help," Paige said.
"They're too young and I won't risk them."
"They would be useful, besides they have armour – we trust you Mindy. Besides they want to go and both Cathy and I agree."
"Do I have a choice?" I asked, knowing the answer.
"No, you don't!"
"Does Hit Girl get no respect anymore?" I asked.
"We do respect you Mindy and that is why we trust you with our kids," Cathy said, with a friendly smile.
A week later
Friday
Safehouse T, Milwaukee
This would be our temporary Safehouse, while we operated in Milwaukee.
Marty had been able to rent a house on the outskirts of the City. Having two young kids with us did give us an anonymous and innocent outlook to anybody observing our activities. The team in Milwaukee consisted of myself, Marty, Chloe, Cameron, Natasha, Curtis and little Megan. The others remained in Chicago, in case anything happened there. Marty had driven up with Lucille, while I had driven up in our SUV. The drive had taken almost two hours for the eighty-five mile journey.
The Safehouse that Marty had obtained had four bedrooms. Marty and Cameron would share a bedroom, while Chloe, Natasha and I would share another and Curtis and Megan would share the third. The fourth bedroom would be used for equipment and planning. We had rented two vehicles for the stay – both Jeep SUVs, so our own SUV could remain hidden, in the garage. Lucille would be our mobile Command Post, operated by Marty.
Chloe, Marty and I had our combat suits with us, while Curtis and Megan had their protective suits and armour. I had provided SWAT type gear for Natasha and Cameron with masks. Talking of the Brits, they now had codenames: Cameron was Drift and Natasha was Crimson. We all had concealed comms, while Chloe, Marty and I would be armed at all times.
The following day
Milwaukee
Saturday
"Remember, last time I let you and Chloe go away she came back with holes in her shoulder and a weird boyfriend!" Dave said over the phone.
"I learnt a lot that time and many mistakes will not be repeated. This trip is purely for reconnaissance – what could happen?"
"Yeah, exactly!"
"We'll be fine, Dave – you just get yourself back to your normal, indestructible self. I love you!"
"Look after yourself, gorgeous!"
Marty had located the penthouse that Richard Montfort used as his home in Milwaukee.
It was a thirty minute drive from the Safehouse and was not far from the water. The building was on a leafy street and our target lived on the fifth floor. Marty had also identified a suitable observation position approximately six-hundred yards away that could also double as a sniper position – just in case!
Natasha and Cameron took Megan and wandered around the penthouse neighbourhood for a few hours taking photos, with each of them talking with a British accent, which it turned out Megan could pull off quite accurately – she had a tendency to mimic Josh and wind him up, especially at D-JAK! The three of them looked quite innocent wandering around and pretending to be tourists.
Marty and Curtis drove around the streets in Lucille recording high-definition video images of routes and anything else that might be useful. We also managed to get our first view of the target – Richard Montfort. It would have been nice to kill him now, but we needed him to lead us to his partner in crime first!
That evening
Safehouse T
"My feet are fucking killing me!" Megan announced at dinner that evening.
"Oh, Marcus insisted that I bring this!" I said and placed a certain pink jar on the table.
"A goddamn interstate swear jar!" Megan moaned, giving everybody a laugh.
We all enjoyed sharing a few buckets from KFC, as none of us were much good at cooking! We discussed what we had seen today. Apparently the penthouse was secure, as most were and we hadn't been able to get anybody anywhere near it, which was a pain, but Marty had been able to obtain the original plans, so we had a floor layout, which would be useful. We knew exactly what the target looked like and also what is security arrangements were.
These security arrangements were, as expected, quite impressive. We never saw the man with less than six armed men and he always travelled with a lead and a chase car and favoured armoured SUVs. The first day had been successful – we had acquired some important information and nobody had been hurt!
It wasn't easy getting Curtis and Megan to bed, they had got hyper during the day with all the excitement, but they were both very tired.
"Thanks guys!" I said, once they were both in bed. "Megan, Curtis, you did really well on your first Fusion operation and I'm very proud of both of you. Get some sleep, so you're ready for tomorrow. Night guys!"
I was really proud of them and I had made sure that Curtis had called Cathy and Megan had called Paige, once we were back at the Safehouse for the night to let them know that their kids were safe.