Chapter XXIV

illiam lay in complete safety of a place he had been twice before.  The first time he had been there, he had been under the hypnotic trance of the Death Vengeance program as The Reaper.  The second time he had been there was of his own choosing, but now he was here again, this time under hypnosis again, but potentially more dangerous.

His captors believed they could help, so he was kept restrained and in an induced coma.  He would have been unable to see what was being provided for him, even were he awake and in his right mind.  Only at a later time was he able to appreciate the actions.

But the Team were frantic.  There was no doubt in their minds that he was somewhere possibly in training again, or waiting his chance to complete the mission of taking out the final troublemaker originally set forth in the computer program Death Vengeance.

But, in their scramble to learn all the details of the entire setup, they were piecing together quite a tale of intrigue in and of itself.  The Kingpin was no longer untouchable.  He was no longer invincible.  He was no longer invisible.  His identity had been confirmed, and, several things came together that day after William disappeared.  Jason Perry had been killed by Ryan Norkin.  And Ryan Norkin had been iced by one of the Bannister Bros.

Ryan had grabbed some groceries out of the car from the shopping trip on which he and his friend had been.  He had set the groceries on the kitchen counter and started for a second trip for the final load.  His girlfriend came in and found him twitching on the floor in front of the sofa, dropped the groceries and ran to him.  He was already blue in the face.  It had only been about four minutes.

The Bannister Bros. always worked as a team.  They were extremely good, they were extremely efficient, and extremely expensive.  So one can appreciate their surprise when they received their newest assignment.  They were to take out one of their best customers: the Kingpin!

How sweet it was to be able to work for several people all at once, and be paid within hours of a hit.  But to work for both sides of a competing faction was something they'd never had the pleasure of.  But this time, it meant taking out four extra people in order to take out the Kingpin.  He was very heavily guarded, and his home was a fortress.

But because of his own subtlety, he had given them the very access by which to render himself to the category of the eliminated.  He was to meet with Garrett Bannister to square up the payment for the Norkin job and he was wanting to order another hit.  The problem was, the hit on himself, the Kingpin, had already been ordered and the charge for their service had already been paid.  He just didn't know it yet.

The Kingpin was wanting seven law Officers eliminated: Lane Wardlow, Victor Bension, William and Sharon Travis, Melinda and Len Mathers and one more, Chief Amanda Williams.  That was a tall order, and it would pay very handsomely.  Garrett easily sidestepped the request by saying it would have to wait until another and prior elimination had been taken care of, especially, since the fee had already been transferred to his account in Switzerland.

"That will be eight million bucks" Garret told Kingpin.  Two million right now, and the other when the deal is done.  But it would have to wait one week.  In the meantime, he would get the monies sent.  So, the deal was set.

It was a troubled man that returned home that day after lunch.  He simply had to have these people taken out of his life as soon as possibly if he were to be able to continue as Kingpin.  He had no way of knowing the balance of his life consisted of only another two and a half hours or so.

Garrett Bannister looked at the note he had with him again, and read it again.

"YOUR SINS HAVE FOUND YOU OUT.  YOU HAVE BEEN WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE AND FOUND WANTING.  AN EYE FOR AN EYE, A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.  SET YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER, FOR THIS NIGHT THE GRIM REAPER COMETH."

The hit was to go down at precisely four thirty three p.m., and it had to be at his home, and Garrett was to give him the note to read before taking him out.  One more thing.  He was to 'harvest him' with a special hand held weapon simply called The Laser.  It was to go through the heart, and the note was to be placed on his body.

Garrett Bannister looked at the note given him to read to the Kingpin.  Even though he had released the souls of a great number of people, the note sent a shiver up his spine.  He had heard that line as a passage of scripture in his childhood days, and knew eventually, he himself would wind up on the receiving end of the death sentence.

It shook him.  It grated on his nerves.  And even though he had already taken the million and a half bucks to do the deed, he regretted making the deal.  This one bothered him.  This one brought back to him his own mortality.

But, he knew he would go through with it, even though it would take both he and his brother.  They began preparing for the biggest hit of their career.  James had not been affected by the note as was Garrett, yet it was decided that Garrett would make the hit on the mark, and James would use their old trademark weapon on the others who stepped in to prevent the hit.  When it all happened, it didn't work out the way they planned, but they certainly got the job accomplished.

Across town, the Team was in deep confab as they assembled the pieces of the puzzle.  It was already known the Kingpin was the target, yet they did not know who had ordered his hit, or when it would take place, where or, even a confirmed identification of who it was.  Lane had a suspicion, but, he argued with himself over it, and kept it in the background as much as he could.

Then, one of plans picked up by Len offered a clue.  In the legend at the bottom right was the Contractors name who drew the plans and applied for the permit to build.  It was the number that clued them in to the owner of the property, and it was none other than Roger Strickland.  Nothing strange about that.

But leading off the basement was a doorway.  Why would there be a door way in the basement that would open up to dirt?  The answer was, a tunnel.  "Wait a second" he thought.  "In which direction would that tunnel go?  And, if the Mayors mansion was a flip of the house plan, where did that tunnel terminate?"  He voiced his opinion and someone answered him.

"Melinda said that the other night but it was laid aside.  I think she was on to something" Len said.  Chief, is there any way we can extend that warrant to cover another visit?"

Victor had come in and was just getting caught up on the latest updates.  Chief Williams looked at Victor and said "Victor, I can't see any reason we need a warrant since the place is still empty.  What do you think?"

Victor said "I think you're right on again.  Think we need some back up?"

Chief Williams phone was ringing and she stood up saying "excuse me.  She then snapped an order, get some back up there immediately, take the driver into custody, and don't let anybody near that truck."

Now it was her that held the attention of everybody.  She turned back to the group and said "there's been an accident.  A delivery truck was struck in the side by another truck which ran a red light.  The delivery truck, being much lighter, was knocked over on its side.  As it spun around, the rear door flew open and a casket flew out and slid across the highway.  Sliding sideways, it hit the curb and turned over spilling its contents.  It was the body of Nancy Wilhelm."

There were five sets of blank staring eyes looking at her.  Then Melinda spoke up and said "the Stillwell Lady is supposed to sail today at four pm.  I bet that delivery van was supposed to be there.  What else would the body of Nancy Wilhelm be doing up here after disappearing in San Diego?"

"I gotta go.  I'll arrange some backup and meet you at the Mayors mansion in one hour."  She grabbed her coat and cover, and stepped quickly out the door.  They heard the big engine of her car come alive and it was raising up a rooster tail of asphalt as she screamed by, siren wailing and lights flashing.

Lane looked at his watch.  It was three thirty.  Still no sign of William, and the girls had not made an entrance into Death Vengeance.  It just seemed there was no way the passwords would work.  Little did they know the passwords had been changed by the same people holding William at this moment.

Lanes face suddenly went white.  "Sharon, I just thought of something.  Did William ever have that microchip implant removed?"

The horror of the idea that William had been activated by something that was merely an oversight was excruciating to Sharon.  They both had forgotten about it, and it was still embedded in his neck.  There is no doubt that Mason Ludlow had learned of Dr. Kny-pel and his work.  If so, between that and the code sent over the phone, it had plunged William instantly under the hypnotic trance once again.

With them being unable to access the Death Vengeance program, it was possible that William would never be brought out, or stable again.  It was too much to consider.  Within seconds, Sharon was sobbing again.

Melinda was at her side just sitting and holding her.  Len was on his knees in front of her, with arms around them both.  Lane and Victor both obviously had dust in their eyes as they was trying to keep the tears from running down their faces.  Only then had it occurred to them how precious the group was, how close they all were.  And when one of them was in trouble, they were all in trouble.

Within a few moments, Sharon had regained her composure and stood up as Len and Melinda released her.  "Excuse me" she said as she headed for the ladies room.  Melinda followed her.  It was quite unusual for Sharon to behave in this way, no matter how severe the consequences.  Was something else wrong?

She began to look at Sharon in a different light.  The light with which only another woman could relate.  Sharon was pregnant.  And this was not a good time to be in a motherly way.

When Melinda thought Sharon was her old self again, she ventured to ask the question.  "How long have you known you were pregnant?"  Sharon didn't even glance at Melinda and said "about three weeks."  Suddenly she was in tears again.  Between sobs she asked "how can I ever do this without William?"

Melinda was holding her again and they were rocking back in forth in unison.  "William is very strong, and I can guarantee you, he is fighting with everything he has to get back to you, and away from danger of doing something wrong.  Does he know?"

Sharon shook her head no.  I was going to tell him after I'd confirmed it with Dr. Trestle.  I haven't even read his report yet.  We've all been so busy since William was taken again.  She was nearly through with her sobbing when the door opened and Len stepped into the restroom.  "Everything ok?  Melinda shook her head no, and Sharon shook her head yes.

"Wow, that's clear as mud" Len thought.  Then "it's time to go to the Mayors mansion.  You'ns going or staying here.  "Here said Melinda.  "Going" said Sharon.  "Wow!" thought Len.  "What is going on?"

Len was in the car with Lane and the girls were in Melindas car following.  Victor had gone by to check on the stiff that came out of the casket with the Chief, but would be along shortly.  Lane was wearing his shoulder harness, something he very seldom did.  He was carrying two XD 45's.  When Lane was heeled like that, he was expecting a huge battle.  Little did he know how bad he would need those two firearms in just minutes.

The Chief and Victor were walking to the door of the Mayors mansion as Sharon and Melinda pulled up.  Chief Williams had directed a cruiser to take up a position at the back of the house.  One of the officers had entered the back gate, the other was checking out a vehicle across the street that had Florida plates.

The front door to the mansion had been boarded up so the Chief radioed the Officer at the rear who told her the back door was unlocked.  "Strange thought the Chief.  She had figured on having one of the girls pick the lock.  She then got a report over the radio of the vehicle being checked out, and it belonged to a Regal Real Estate in San Diego.  Then why did it have Florida plates?

Lane and Len had driven to Roger Strickland's and were speaking to Scott and the maid again.  They weren't having any luck at all.  Scott was even more belligerent this time and stepped up to Lane.  Scott was the bigger of the two, and was telling him "I'm only giving you one chance to vamoose!"

"Man, what is he so mad about" thought Len.  Then Scott made a huge mistake.  He took a swing at Lane.

But Scott was slow and he had telegraphed his intentions against a very capable adversary.  Lane read the intentions, instantly stepped back and set himself into a fighters position, blocked the punch, and come up with a stiff upper cut to Scotts chin.  It knocked the big man into a sitting position where he pulled a 357 and quickly snapped off a shot.  It hit Lane in the side and Lane went down.

It was the last thing Scott ever did except look down at his shirt and see the blood beginning to trickle down his shirt from two holes, the pattern of which could be covered by a quarter.  Within two seconds he simply laid over and expelled his last breath.  The maid surprised Len when she pulled a 38 from behind her apron.  But she was too slow, and Len slapped it from her hands, coldcocked her up beside the head knocking her out.  He then cuffed her in a sitting position to the heavy Wrought Iron stanchion by the door.

The Chief had sent a cruiser over to back up Lane and Len, and they were just skidding to a stop when they saw Scotts gun blossom and Lane go down.  Both doors flew open and two officers were running full out with their weapons drawn.  "What's going on over there Trayborn?" the radio at his side crackled.  "Chief, we need an ambulance, the meat wagon and the Train" Trayborn responded.  Lane's down.

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