Elite 2 Part 6

Monday

Morning

0600 hrs

The word on the street is that Mano of Prized is dead in his own home with five other guards. The paper was splattered with the official story of ‘unknown person(s) killed the man and his friends, but the family is spared.

The unofficial one was the fifty over gang members who was in the city morgue to claimed their leader’s body. The next in line leader; Pedri Griz was with Morgue officer to get the autopsy results; he came out looking grim. And one word showed his emotions; ‘Kingfisher’.

‘Official has no comments on the death of Mano who is believed to be the leader of the Prized. Mr Mano died of a gunshot wound to his head but there were bruises found on his body indicating he had a fight. The bruises were indicative of kicks and punches which many believed to be the works of an underground assassin named Kingfisher.... I can see the Captain now.... but he just shook us off and walked away. This is Stephanie, Island News.’

Peter was closing his console terminals when Peters’ walked in from the armory warehouse under their shop. He just dispensed off twenty five MP5A3, fifteen AK74M and twenty four M16A1 plus box loads of ammo. Peters smiled at his brother and is glad they cleared the stocks in the warehouse. They both went upstairs and collect their travelling bags and called the taxi company for the taxi to the jetty. They are going for a vacation somewhere when they decide at the airport later.

0615hrs

I stepped into my office and was surprised to see Melanie sitting there. She is dressed in her two piece business suit with matching skirt complete with flats. I guess she learned they run better than stilleto’s. She is also drinking from my coffee mug and eating some sandwich probably from the cafeteria next door which is open 24 hours. It used to be Ben’s competitor but now its the only standing kiosk with food at this hour. I dropped my jacket and carryon knapsack on the chair next to her, and took my rightful place on my high back chair behind my desk.

‘Tell me what is your issue now, Melanie?’

‘I am sorry about last night. And I need your help. I can’t sleep since last night. Can we work together?’

‘The answers are huh, no, and I am not a doctor plus I work alone.’

‘Marius, damned your attitude. You were not like this five years ago. You cared then, and ....’

‘You left me with Alicia for the new post. And no calls or mails. Marcel went missing since then, heard of but not seen at all. Now the shooting starts, you come back and try to tell me to saved his arse off some contract. So tell me how is Alicia now?’

We then sat down to talk and finally reconcile to old times. It was somewhere in between the ‘where can I find Marcel’ and ‘why me?’ when the shot came in through my window to get stuck into the chair where I left the jacket.

I jumped off my chair and dived to the desk front. I saw Melanie still sitting at her chair, and I got up to drag her down with me.

But there was no more shots.

But there was two more other policemen in my office by then, with handguns drawn. They asked of us and I said I am okay. They told me the sniper team is on the upper levels to check where is the shooter.

‘Welcome back, Melanie. You brought in the storm again.’

The bullet was a .308 and it could had been fired from across the street from a car as my office is on the ground level. It was a warning shot and not a dead shot.

Now this has become personal to me.

0745hrs

The park at this hour looks busy with the morning joggers and office crowd getting to work at the nearby City Hall and adjacent office blocks. There is the usual kiosks which serves the hotmeals on the wheels for the ‘I can’t wait’ crowd. I was there that morning at the morning coffee kiosk named ‘Kingfisher’ as its one of my drop box station. I told Martin, my regualr guy to take a short break for his morning, while I manned the kiosks. Rookie is somewhere out there doing what he does best; watching my back.

I had served two dozen coffee since I opened half an hour ago when he walked up with his cane.

‘One coffee with no sugar and milk please please.’

‘Sorry, ma;am. The coffee machine broke down.” I apologies to the lady coming to my kiosk. I hung up the ‘closed’ sign on the wall and offered my special chocolate drink to him.

‘Morning, General Milton. I can see the years has been kind to you.’ He still looked sleek and fit for his age of say seventy.

‘Do you know there are 90 over species of the Kingfisher in the world and they even dated back to 40 million years ago. Kinda makes me young to be named Kingfisher.’ The old man hung his can holder onto my table top and sat himself down to enjoy the hot chocolate. ‘ I actually select the name out of curiousity and for the word King but now I am not sure why anymore. Or maybe like crocodiles, they will be here after we all died.’

‘General, you dissapear over ten years ago and I heard you were in the Indochina with some new setup also named Kingfisher. So why come back here now? And all those killings in the name?’

‘Eight years, Marcel. And for two years you went missing from the scene. It was a contract for the Kingfisher and you were not around, so I took it. But they added in a variation clause; you are one of the target now.’

‘So its a contract now? You could had called me or tell me first. We had rules and regulations; you taught me them.’

‘And you broke it when you sided with the policeman.’

‘But he is my brother, Marius ‘

‘We have no family and friends, Marcel. Please don’t over react, I got two sights on you.’

‘I know you would which is why I have one on you too. The ‘closed’ sign was the signal’.

The old man got up and said; ‘I am not too sure.’

That was when the shot ran off.

0759hrs

The sniper was hidden in the boot of the car with his Steyr-Mannlicher SSG P IV sniper rifle ( short police version with detachable silencer ) and a five magazine clip. The gun barrel is a seen through a small bored hole in the boot cover where the gun sight can make out the target too.

He had the other shooter lined up at 300m metres at the top of the small theatre stage. He did not shoot to kill but to scared him off.

Whoosh!

The bullet graced Rookie’s left shoulder ever so close causing him to roll over and moved back from the edge.

Damned!

He had the old man sighted and was ready to shoot.

0802hrs

The shot came to the side of the kiosk as I tried to leave to catch the General, The next moment I rushed out he was boarding the SUV and was been driven away.

Just as I thought my problem was over, I see five Prized members coming towards me. I rushed back to the kiosk as they opened fire with their M1911. The bullets hit the front of the cafe hitting the reinforced side. I did that for emergencies like this. I moved the small fridge and away from the opposite side to reveal a small latch door in the other side of the van. It swung open on unlocking the latch and I am out of the kiosk on the blind side from the gunmen.

It was then Rookie got into action with his Remington 870 pinning down the five gang members. I crawled off the kiosks and ran to the SUV parked at the road side. I opened the door and got in. I had the SUV started and tires screaming down the road before I turned the SUV towards the pickup point for Rookie near the theatre,

‘How did they know where I am?’ Rookie was still troubled by him being shot at. But he did good to provide me with the covering fire. ‘Huh? Me? I did not shoot at anyone.’

So the master has helped his apprentice leaved the scene. General Mitchell did set up two assassin as he said.

I had enough.

I been shot at too many times and now I am fighting back. If nobody respects the Kingfisher in his own island, he will make them regret their actions.

0915hrs

The mail arrived on my desk, and I was curious at the large envelope compared to the smaller mails envelope. I opened it and looked at the contents. I called in Melanie and we both re-looked at the contents.

‘I know this face, Marius. His name is General Milton Bridge; ex-army general who came over her to retired. He was associated with the last President as Security Chief before the current President took over,. The General went into retirement but he was mixed in some security issues; suspected of terrorism and treason before he dissapeared. He appeared some years back in Indochina, recruiting and training killers.

‘Well, his nickname is Kingfisher. And I think we know where he is hiding.’

The photographs said it all.

0921hrs

The morning papers was all about Mano’s death and how the island is bracing for another gang war. But Mr Chiang is listening to the Major’s presentation this morning on his findings at the Mano’s personal files.The have the real Kingfisher’s name and his hideout cage. All this was in Mano’s notebook which they took back to looked for details they can use.

‘Mr Chiang, do we have your go ahead?’

Mr Chiang took a sip of the tea and smiled.

The ten man mercenaries team with their leader left on the three SUV from the carpark. Mr Chiang looked at the departing vehicles and sigh at their impatience.

‘Mr Yen, please instruct the kitchen to bring me more tea to my library.’

Mr Yen left the library and walked to the kitchen. He placed the request and walked to the pool. There he took out his portable and made the call. .

At 1001hrs three SUV from the Sebastian compound also left with eleven specialists.