Monsters - Chapter 40 – Insanity

 

Monsters

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 40 – Insanity

 

“This is insane!” Brandy yelled.

“Don’t worry, you’ll love it.”

“You’ve got to be crazy!”

“Crazy enough,” Carol laughed. 

Before Brandy could reply, Carol jumped and they both were enveloped by the hurricane force winds. 

“Aaaaahhh!” Brandy screamed.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

“Status check!” Colonel Houghton said into his radio.  He listened as one by one, his team leaders reported in that all was quiet.  As much as Houghton would like got get the business over with, everything quiet was the better option.  His men had every stairway and elevator in the building covered.   He had men hidden all over the building.  Nothing could get through any of the doors without him knowing it.

He had heard rumors of the woman called Death and of some of the things she had done in the past.  He knew he had to be concerned.  And evidently, she was now partnered with someone else that was just as bad.  Two of them.  And between them, they had already managed to capture some of his men.  He made sure all his men were well trained, so capturing them couldn’t have been an easy task.  But then, Death did have a reputation.  Evidently so did the woman they were calling Retribution.

Every man he had was now inside Geovelli’s building, hidden throughout it, most of them either on the bottom floor where all the entrances were, or on the top floor where Geovelli’s office and private apartment were.  Some of Geovelli’s men were here too.  Between the two forces, there were over sixty well-armed men watching everything.  He and his men had gone through every inch of the building.  There was no way that those women could get in.  He even had men on the roof making sure they couldn’t somehow get down from a helicopter and then repel down to the windows to get in.

Everything was covered and secure, and all was quiet.  Another perfect night.  But Geovelli, the man who hired him, was still scared, so they were staying and protecting him.  Geovelli had moved into his personal apartment off of his office on the top floor, so getting to him would be nearly impossible.  The sun would be coming up soon.  It would be time to start sending his men off in shifts to get some sleep.  There was no way those women could get in.  There was no way a mouse could get in without them knowing it.  Another quiet night.

Perfect!  Especially since he and his men were being well paid.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

The black tandem parachute descended, through the night sky.  Carol was controlling the parachute, Brandy was strapped to her front side.  They were both armed to the teeth.  Both women were wearing the new special black riding suits.  Both women were wearing the black motorcycle helmets.  The parachute, their riding suits, and their helmets were all black, making them nearly invisible against the night sky.  The sun was just reaching the horizon, beginning to lend a glow to the night air around them.  The bright lights of the city made noticing the beginning sunrise almost impossible, just as being able to see the two women would be equally difficult.

“Two on the roof,” Carol said, her helmet transmitting her voice into Brandy’s helmet.

“I see them,” Brandy replied as she pulled one of her already silenced guns from her riding suit.

“Can you get them both before we land?” Carol asked as she pulled slightly on one of the ropes to control their descending direction.

“I think so,” Brandy replied.  “As long as this rollercoaster ride stays smooth enough.”

“It’ll be smooth,” Carol assured her.

“It wasn’t when we jumped.”

“That was a lot higher.  There’s a lot more wind up there.”

The silent parachute descended.  Carol lined their approach up perfectly to make it as easy as possible for Brandy.  Neither of the men on the roof were looking anywhere near their direction, and most of the time they appeared to be staring down at the lights of the city below them.  As they got near one of them, Brandy’s silenced pistol spat, and a bullet hit the back the first man’s head.  Three seconds later, her gun spat again as the parachute cleared the edge of the building and the second guard died.

“Great shooting,” Carol praised her.

“No problem,” Brandy replied nervously as the top of the building seemed to rush at her.  She felt her body suddenly being pulled back upwards as the parachute slowed abruptly and Carol set them down on the rooftop as gently as she could.  Even fastened together, Brandy didn’t fall.  “Thank God!” Brandy muttered.

“You loved it,” Carol joked.

“Like hell!  Get me out of this thing.”

Carol unfastened Brandy from where they were tied together, then she balled up the parachute.  Both women removed their helmets.

“Masks or not?” Carol asked.

“Revenge is riding again,” Brandy told her as she pulled up the gasmask feature on the suit.  “Just like we practiced.”

Carol smiled.  “You got it.  Did I mention that this is the way I did Alfonso’s breaking house?”

“You might have mentioned it a time…or two…or three.”

Carol took the time to check the two dead guards.  “Heavy bulletproof vests,” she noted.  “We need to go for headshots whenever possible.”

“I was already planning on it.”

Carol looked at Brandy as she finished fastening her gasmask hood.  In the faint morning light, she looked like a shadow.  She pulled her own gasmask hood on.  They had practiced this way in these suits a number of times.  They were used to it.  “We look like two shadows,” Carol said.

“Deadly shadows, I hope.”

Carol smiled.  “Of course.”

The door to the roof was unlocked, as they expected it to be.  “Soundlessly, they descended the steps down to the door at the bottom.  When they got there, Brandy looked back at Carol and Carol nodded.  Brandy opened the door as Carol held her gun up and ready to fire through the opening.  And she did.  Two quick shots at two men who happened to be standing further back in the hallway.  That fast, they were down, and the two women moved in.  But a moment later, they heard shouting.  Where the men had been standing was an intersection where another larger hallway joined it.  Evidently someone in that hallway had seen the men go down.

Carol and Brandy hurried forward along the side of the wall, then they stopped, their guns at the ready.  In moments, they saw the barrel of a gun stick out from around the corner, the gun was soon followed by a head as a man tried to peer around to see something, but that head sticking out was just what Carol was waiting for.  Her silenced gun spat once, and the man was dead.  Carol and Brandy hurried to the very corner of the intersection.  Before they could jump out, a canister landed in the hallway near them and thick smoke erupted from it, quickly filling the hallway.

“Really?” Carol complained.  “Tear gas?  They’ve got to be kidding!”  Completely unaffected in their suits, the two women used the cover of the smoky gas to move into the intersection, together, they rushed out of it, both of them firing their guns at every target they could see.  The men they shot at weren’t prepared for that kind of response.  Four more men died quickly.  Carol and Brandy moved on.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

Colonel Houghton rushed through the hallways of the ground floor.  The women were in the building.  Evidently, they had come down from the roof – one of the last places he seriously expected them to come from, but even that eventuality had been covered.  “Status report!  Status report!” he yelled into his radio trying to contact his men on the top floor.  But where he was getting answers before from some of them, now he was getting none.  The squad leaders that did answer were still trying to get where they needed to go to find out what was going on.

He stopped right where he was, so did the two men with him.  As quickly as he could, he started giving orders to reposition his men, sending most of them upstairs to where they were needed the most.  Only then did he rush toward the elevator to head up to the top floor.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

Like a machine, Carol and Brandy moved down the hallway, one on each side of it.  Everything that moved didn’t move very long as their guns found the targets.  They never stopped moving until they reached another intersection where they would have to turn again to get to Romo’s office.

Brandy moved to Carol’s side of the hallway, and dropped to the floor, her head briefly peeked around the corner then came back again.  “They’re down there.  A bunch,” she said as she got to her feet.  “They’re all stretched out in the doorways along the sides of the hall between here and his office.  There’s more in front of the office door too.”

“According to the building plans, it’s supposed to be about a hundred feet to the office.”

“Sounds about right.” Brandy agreed.

‘Okay,” Carol replied.  “I’ll start on the other side.  Give me a moment, then wait for my signal.”

“Ready,” Brandy assured her.

“I’m switching guns,” Carol said as she put her silenced handgun away and grabbed two of the three small automatic weapons hung from her neck.

“Yeah,” Brandy agreed as she did the same.  “No use trying to be quiet now.  Let’s kick some ass.”

“That was my intention,” Carol agreed. 

With one automatic gun in each hand, Carol suddenly jumped across the hallway intersection, both guns already spitting deadly fire down the sides of the hallway.  But the time she reached the other side, four more of Houghton’s men were dead.  But there was no pause at all as the moment Carol reached that side where she was out of their deadly fire, Brandy began shooting from her side of the hallway, and her brief bursts if deadly fire didn’t stop. 

Houghton’s men were all shooting at where Carol had gone, none of them had their guns aimed at where Brandy came out from behind the corner of the intersection.  Worse, as the men tried to shoot at Carol, they had moved further out from behind the cover of the recessed doorways, giving both women better shots at them.  As they adjusted their fire to shoot at Brandy, Carol came from around the corner firing as fast as she could.  As good a shot as Brandy was, and the men were falling to her gunfire, Carol was far better, and her shooting decimated Houghton’s men as both Brandy and Carol moved quickly along the wall.  But once they reached the first available cover of doorways, the women didn’t just go straight ahead along the sides of the walls.  Instead, one at a time, they crisscrossed their way down the hallway, still going from doorway to doorway.  By doing that, they each had better angles of fire at the men trying to kill them.

As fast as they were moving, Houghton’s men couldn’t adjust to the new tactic fast enough.  As many men as Houghton had upstairs, and as good as those men were, Carol was simply better and faster.  With her uncanny shooting ability, every bullet that left Carol’s gun found a target.  Carol coupled with Brandy, meant that the firefight didn’t last long more than a few moments.  By the time they reached the door to Romo’s office, all of Houghton’s men were down.  Carol and Brandy had to drag three of them out of the way to get at the door.

“I count eighteen,” Brandy noted as Carol reached for the door handle.

“I wasn’t counting,” Carol replied.  “But that means that Houghton still has half his men somewhere.  Probably on their way up here now.  Like we thought, he must have posted the rest downstairs.”

“How about Romo’s men?”

Carol tried to turn the door handle, but it was locked.  “I’m guessing some of them are in there,” she replied.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

Romo Geovelli was going crazy.  “What’s going on?” he yelled time and time again.

“I don’t know,” Billy replied.  “Houghton is still trying to get the rest of his guys upstairs here.”

“How did they get in?”

“I don’t know,” Billy said.  “Probably the roof.”

“I thought Houghton had that covered.”

“He did!”

Romo looked around his sumptuous apartment.  He had been sound asleep when the loud gunfire had started, and once it started, it sounded like it never stopped…until just a few moments ago.  Now, everything was quiet.  Too quiet!”

“What’s happening?” he yelled again.

Billy once again called Houghton.  “What’s going on?” he yelled into the phone.  “Did you get them?”

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

Houghton was perturbed.  Damn Billy, Geovelli’s main man, wouldn’t stop calling.  He was in the elevator for heaven’s sake.  He had no idea what was going on.  “I don’t have a clue.  We’re still on our way up,” he told Billy.  “Are they still shooting?”

“We don’t hear anything,” Billy replied.  “Not a sound.”

“Good!” Houghton said.  He hung up on Billy and tried to radio some of his men.  “Status report!” he ordered.  But this time, nobody he had posted on the top floor answered.  He got nothing but silence for his demands.  The elevator finally reached the top floor.  He and the few men with him rushed out.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

Carol and Brandy stood well back from the door.  Brandy pressed a trigger in her hand and the door exploded inward.  Carol rushed in fast with Brandy right behind her.  The explosion had stunned all six of Romo’s men inside.  None of them were wearing bulletproof vests.  Five seconds after the explosion, none of them would ever have to worry about needing one again.  Every one of Romo’s six men were dead.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

“What the hell was that?” Romo yelled.

Billy didn’t bother replying.  He positioned himself with his gun out and aimed at the door.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

Houghton heard the explosion only seconds after he got off the elevator.  A sound like that wasn’t a good one to hear.  He stopped at the hallway corner and peered around it.  He saw nothing but dead men.  His men.  And it looked like the door and part of the wall around Romo’s office was now gone.  The explosion.  He fanned his men out with their weapons ready as they slowly approached the office.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

The building plans had showed them where the door to Romo’s apartment would be.  Brandy wasted no time heading for it as Carol watched behind them.  Brandy tried the door, but it was locked.  This time, they needed that door intact.  She quickly pulled out her lockpicks and went to work.  She had become an expert at picking locks while she was still in high school.  In moments, the lock opened.  “Got it,” Brandy said.

Inside the room, Romo and Billy both heard the faint sounds of someone working on the lock.  Billy nervously waited for the door to open, Romo did too, only with far more fear.

Carol stood to the side of the door while Brandy grabbed the door handle.  At a nod from Carol, she turned it and yanked the door open.

Billy saw the door opening and began firing right away.  He pulled the trigger, as fast as he could, but he had no living target to shoot at.  As he paused, he saw a black covered head poke up from closer to the floor.  It was the last thing he ever saw as a bullet quickly found his head. 

Romo nearly had a heart attack as he saw Billy’s head snap back and he fell to the floor dead.  He nearly had another one as he saw the two black figures rush into the room.  One of them closed and locked the door behind them.

Carol was surprised that Romo didn’t have a gun in his hand, and as far as she could see, he was the only living person in the small apartment.  While Brandy took a few seconds to lock the door behind them, she did a quick search of the apartment.  “Clear!” she told Brandy as she saw Brandy heading for Romo.

“No!  No!” Romo shouted as Brandy headed for him, but Brandy never paused.  Her foot lashed out and caught him squarely in his stomach.  As he bent forward in pain, her fist lashed out and caught him right under his jaw.  That fast, she had knocked him out.  Brandy reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a length of thin rope.

While Carol was busy tying up Romo.  Carol pulled a chair over to the middle of the room.  Standing on the chair, she could just reach the ceiling, close enough to plant a large explosive device.  By the time she got down, Brandy had Romo trussed up securely.  With that explosive device now planted, Carol planted one more in a far easier place to get to.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

Houghton’s men pointed their guns around the opening where the door had been.  Inside, they saw nothing but dead men.  Six of them.  They didn’t see anyone else alive in there.  Houghton’s eyes were drawn to the last place the women could have gone, also the last place he wanted those women to be – Romo’s apartment.  Death’s reputation seemed to be well deserved.  He had never really believed that one person could do the things he had heard she had done.  Now it looked like maybe she really might have done them.  But of course, this time, Death wasn’t alone.  Still, after seeing all his men dead, and no sign of the women, things looked worse than ever.  How had they done it?

He took a moment to fan his men out, positioning them where they could shoot at the doorway, from places where there was no chance they could all get hit at the same time.

“You’ve got no way out of there!” he yelled toward the closed door.  “You’re trapped.  Surrender and you won’t be hurt.”

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

“Time to hurry,” Brandy said as she picked Romo’s comatose body up.

“All set,” Carol told her as she followed Brandy into the small bedroom where Brandy set Romo’s comatose body down on the floor.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

Getting no answer from inside, Houghton gave the order.  “Take the door out!”

One of his men rushed toward the door with a small explosive device.  He never got there.  From inside the bedroom, Carol pressed the trigger and the first explosive device that she had planted on the ceiling of the living room exploded.  It was a big explosion, one that not only blew a large hole in the roof, it also knocked every one of Houghton’s men in the outer room off their feet.

“What the hell was that?” one of Houghton’s men yelled.

Carol peeked out of the living room long enough to look at the living room.  With the sun up now, she could see lots of daylight coming through the ceiling.  “Good hole,” she told Brandy.  “Ready for number two?”

“Let’s get out of here,” Brandy told her as she held an automatic gun in both hands.

Carol pressed another explosive trigger and the bomb she had planted on the wall between the apartment and Romo’s office exploded, taking much of the wall out with it. 

Houghton’s men were still picking themselves up when the second bomb exploded, this one taking out most of the entire wall between the apartment and the office they were in.  The bomb itself killed four of the men, the rest were injured or too stunned to do anything.  By the time the few remaining men knew what was going on, all they saw were two women dressed from head to toe in black.  Outfits that made them look identical.  Outfits that completely hid their identities.  But it wasn’t their hidden identities that caught their attention.  It was the guns each of them held.

Carol and Brandy moved like wraiths through the room.  The few men who were conscious got bullets through their head.  All except for one.  Carol recognized the uniform Houghton was wearing.  Houghton was meekly holding his hands over his head, surrendering.

“Sorry,” Carol told him.  “We don’t have time for prisoner’s today.  But this time I’ll let you live.  Just don’t get in my way again.  Each of the two guns she held shot Houghton in each arm, then they shot him in each leg, rendering him incapable of stopping them.

“They’re here!” Brandy called from the living room.

By the time Carol got back into the living room of the apartment, a steel cable was dropping down from a helicopter just above the opening.  Brandy pulled Romo’s bound up body over to the cable and hooked him up.  Carol and Brandy both stood on his body and grabbed the cable, letting it pull them up and out of the apartment.  A minute later, they were set down gently on the roof.  Brandy picked Romo’s body up and threw him into the helicopter, then she and Brandy got in, a moment later, the helicopter was heading for the desert.

Back in the apartment, Houghton was in major pain.  The rest of his men were only then rushing into the devastated office.  He had been visited by Death, but this time, Death didn’t want him.  The next time he heard that Death might be in the area, he had no doubt that he’d steer clear of her.  In fact, in light of his injuries, maybe it was time to retire.  That sounded like the better plan.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

“You okay?” Carol asked Brandy over the noise of the helicopter as the two of them pulled their hoods off.

Brandy smiled.  “Better than okay.”

“You were great!” Carol told her.

“I was okay,” Brandy agreed, but you were amazing!”

Carol smiled, then she felt Brandy grabbing her arm.  Brandy leaned close so Carol could hear her better.  “I lost something in there,” she told Carol.

Concerned, Carol asked, “What?”

“My fear!”

Carol could only smile.

Amid the noise of the helicopter, Romo finally regained consciousness.  He looked up at the two black clad women, recognizing one of them.  The one that was Janice Stokley’s daughter.  The one that was known as Death.  “You!” he yelled in fear over top of the noisy engines.

Carol looked down at him and smiled.  “Tell me something Romo,” she said to him.  “How much do you know about chickens?”