The help snapped off the lock to the garden gate with bolt cutters. Congo stood back, watching as the heavy padlock sheared off and bounced onto the floor with a hard metallic noise. Congo scowled. The help stood back, both of them looking apologetic, the guy with the bolt cutters mouthing a silent apology. The laughter from the garden continued, followed by the rumble of a man's voice, his words running together into some unintelligible quip that had the woman laughing ever louder. Congo turned towards the black Mercedes sedan parked under the trees and held up four fingers. This wouldn't take long, not long at all, and there would be no more broken fingernails, not tonight.

Congo moved quickly and silently through the gate. A gently curving stone stairway lined with luxuriant sub-tropical shrubs folded in around him. Congo headed up the stairs three at a time, then paused near the top. He ran his penny loafers up against the back of his slacks, a final polish before the off. He peered through the shrubs and there they were, on the other side of the pool area, both of them sitting in the hot tub together, having a little poolside party of their very own. Congo smirked. This was going to be fun. He headed out onto the patio. The pool lights cast an eerie blue light up across the garden shrubs and into the night, where a hundred million stars stretched out in a vast auditorium, looking down forever silent, the only witnesses the unfolding scene.

Congo walked up to the edge of the hot tub, with slow, careful footsteps. As he reached the edge he looked down and said, "Well isn't this romantic? Widow Geryon and her legal eagle, snuggling up under the stars, on the balmiest of nights you ever saw. I am pleased you two kids are having such a good time-under the circ.u.mstances, I mean, most folks would wait until the corpse was cold in the ground before they started in on the hootchie- coochying, but not you two, no sireee. There you are, naked as jaybirds, skinny-dipping and snorting cocaine, like you ain't got a care in the world."

Priscilla Geryon let out an involuntary sob and sank down in the foaming waters of the hot tub, until only her head was visible.

Thurston Petrelli, the Lawyer placed his champagne flute beside the hot tub and snapped, "How the h.e.l.l did you get in here Congo, you are trespa.s.sing on private property."

Ted Congo gave Petrelli a quizzical look and said, "Oh, I am sorry councilman, I just happened to be walking by and I saw the gate was open, so I came right on in. Is this a private party you two lovebirds are having, or can any one join in?"

"This is hara.s.sment Congo, and you are not going to get away with it, so you better turn around right now and head out the way you came, because soon as I have finished enjoying my evening, I will be submitting a very strongly worded letter of complaint to Judge Hanneman and your superiors too. You cannot intimidate me, or my client."

Congo pursed his lips contemptuously raised his shoulders up and pantomimed a cold shudder, then relaxing back, he said, "You see that Petrelli, you got me shaking with fear." Congo raised a foot up, placing it on the very edge of the hot tub and gazed lovingly at the fresh-polished gleam of his penny loafer. He pursed his lips again and said quietly I don't much care for you Petrelli, or your smart mouth opinions either, which is part of the reason I thought I would drop in on you this evening." The bubbles in the hot tub rumbled louder, masking the footsteps of the help as they lumbered out of the darkness, standing ready by the swimming pool as their master made his play. It took a long moment for their presence to register on the faces of Priscilla Geryon and her lawyer lover, but when it did the implications. .h.i.t home fast.

The girl was the first to act. She broke out of the hot tub, like a dolphin, water breaking off her sleek, naked body in a million broken rivulets. She slipped, skated forwards and fell heavily onto the hard stone surround. Winded, she choked out a sob of fear, her desperate fingers clutching for the protection of a towel that lay just out of her reach.

The help lumbered out of the shadows. They helped the naked girl to her feet and held her by the elbows. She tried to twist free of her captors, but they held her tight, their hard muscular fingers making deep pits in her warm suntanned flesh.

Congo looked at the girl's naked body and raised his eyebrows. "Would you look at that. I have to congratulate you Councilman that is quite some piece of a.s.s. Rest of it a seven, maybe even an eight on a good day, but the a.s.s is a pure nine." Congo raised his knee on the side of the hot tub and leaned in against it. He wagged his finger with admonishment. "But dollars to donuts you weren't thinking about that hot little a.s.s when you decided to tap widow Geryon, were you Councilman? You were thinking about that fat little inheritance she is sitting on, am I right?"

Thurston Petrelli opened his mouth as though he were about to issue a denial, but Ted Congo frowned and wagged his finger once again and said, "No, don't you say a thing Petrelli. If you told me anything other than the way things are, I would lose respect for you, and you wouldn't want that to happen, would you?"

"What the h.e.l.l do you want Congo? If it is money, just name you price. If there is something else you want, just tell me. You have got my attention d.a.m.n you."

Ted Congo gave a heavy sigh, raised his eyes to the star filled heavens and said, "There you go. I told you if you said anything I would lose respect for you, but would you listen? Don't answer that Petrelli, that is one of those rhetorical questions-you do know what a rhetorical question is don't you?"

Thurston Petrelli opened his mouth to respond but Ted Congo struck lightening fast, with a heavyweight snap kick that caught the lawyer hard in the centre of his forehead. A horrible strangled noise issued from the lawyers gaping mouth as his eyes fluttered white and he slowly toppled backwards into the foaming water." The girl started shrieking then, the screams so loud it seemed like she would bust a lung. As the screams came, she renewed her struggles and the help, despite their superior weight and strength struggled to contain her hysterical contortions. Ted Congo strolled over almost casually, pausing for the briefest of moments to pick up a towel. He wound it tight around one fist and approached the struggling woman. Hyperventilating now, sucking air in a series of desperate hollow sobs, her eyes bulged wide with fear.

Ted Congo moved close, gave her a rea.s.suring smile then hit her hard and fast in the stomach. The impact sucked every last gasp of tortured breath from Priscilla Geryon's body. She sagged onto her knees, fighting in vain to draw

breath.

"That's right baby, you suck up the pain, there is plenty more where that came from." Ted Congo grabbed her roughly by the hair, tugging her head backwards. He crammed the towel in her mouth, forcing it ever deeper, as the help held the girl tight, She spluttered, she choked, she gagged, her head flipping wildly from side to side as she tried to evade the ordeal that would surely kill her. The sound of the spluttering torment masked the slow deliberate approach of metal heels, click-clacking very carefully towards the scene of carnage.

Cheena Tao moved beside Ted Congo and looked down into the face of Priscilla Geryon. "Oh, you poor thing, just look at your pretty little face, make-up all smeared and such an expression- almost tawdry wouldn't you say Ted?"

Ted Congo pulled Priscilla Geryon's hair ever harder and jammed the thick towel into her mouth with the heel of his hand.

Reaching out Cheena Tao caressed Priscilla Geryon's matted hair with the back of her hand, her black manicured nails, drifting thoughtfully against the blond rat-tails. "I heard all about your little conversation at the funeral with the Kane woman,"

said Cheena Tao lightly. "Not a very smart move on your part, was it my dear?"

Her eyes bulging with fear and indignation Priscilla Geryon made strangled noises and shook her head wildly.

Cheena Tao nodded sympathetically, "I would imagine that you are trying to tell me that your friend Karyn Kane is not a stooge from the Department of Justice as she would have us all believe, but an a.s.sa.s.sin, an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency no less."

Priscilla Geryon gave a strangled scream from somewhere deep in her throat.

"What's that? You knew all along but neglected to tell us?" Cheena Tao twisted her heavy rouged lips thoughtfully. She turned, looked towards the hot tub then back at Ted Congo. "Is the lawyer dead?"

Congo shrugged, an ambivalent look twisting across his face.

"Well go and get him then, fish him out so he can see the show."

Ted Congo gave a sigh, "I lift that slab of ham out the tub I am liable to bust me another fingernail, and put my back out too. Why's everything got to be a scenario with you Cheena?"

"Please don't question me Ted," said Cheena Tao tartly, "You know I don't like being

questioned."

Ted Congo frowned. The crazy b.i.t.c.h- killing got her juicer than a clingstone peach. That look she had-all ecstatic like some degenerate s.e.x fiend. She was a weird one all right. There was no accounting for rich-folks, they took their pleasure where they saw fit and d.a.m.n what anyone else thought.

Congo paused, licked his lips, and threw a sidelong glance towards the bosses wife-ogling Cheena Tao in her tight little outfit. That kind of temptation was plenty powerful and boy did she know it, flaunting that top of the line a.s.s-teasing every jock she saw with her empty come-ons. A woman like that needed taking in hand. She needed excitement, not just some meal-ticket husband.

Congo stared at her now oozing defiance. He shot a look at the help. "So what are you waiting for? You heard the lady, pull the doofus out the hot tub and slap some life into him while you are about it."

The help exchanged nervous glances and set about their task. Congo tightened his grip on Priscilla Geryon's hair and dragged her close to the edge of the swimming pool. As the Geryon woman bleated and sobbed Congo turned to Cheena Tao and said, "I know what you are thinking before you even say it."

Cheena Tao gave a dry laugh. You are very sure of yourself today Ted, perhaps you find my company boring. Is that it Ted-I bore you?"

Congo twisted the girls hair as tight as it would go, until Priscilla Geryon's face contorted with pain, "It's not me who's bored lady-but the fact you even bring that up, that tells me more about your line of thinking than you know yourself. "Congo gave Cheena Tao a contemptuous sneer, "But I can't say I blame you. A woman like you needs stimulation and lots of it, and that husband of yours-well baby, I can't see you getting a whole lot of satisfaction in that department, if you know what I mean."

Cheena Tao regarded Ted Congo carefully, with cold inscrutable eyes, "That is what I like about you Ted, your tenuous grasp of psycho- a.n.a.lytical princ.i.p.als and your abundant personal psychosis make you a quite unique case study. Perhaps I should have you stuffed and mounted under gla.s.s?"

Ted Congo released Priscilla Geryon very suddenly and she toppled sideways into the swimming pool. Out of her depth in the deep water, she began splashing wildly, in an attempt to reach the side. Congo watched her thoughtfully as she floundered. "Horrible accidents happen every day. For example, drowning in swimming pools is the fifth most common cause of unintentional death in America."

Cheena Tao picked up the long-handled pool net and examined it with interest, "What if you factor in intentional deaths?"

"Ten people a day die of regular drowning, more if you factor in boating accidents. But in answer to your question, I would say that there is a 10% margin if you are going to factor in more deliberate causes."

"How interesting." Cheena Tao raised an elegant eyebrow and reached the pool net out over the turbulent waters of the swimming pool. Very carefully she netted Priscilla Geryon's head and gave the net an abrupt tug downwards.

Ted Congo turned to see where the help were at, "What the h.e.l.l is the matter with you guys? Stop d.i.c.king around and drag the boyfriend over here, now."

Congo's goons dragged Thurston Petrelli to the side of the swimming pool. Half drowned half dazed from the savage blow to the head, he collapsed face first at the side of the pool. He lay there for a long minute unable to move until the horrible commotion in the swimming pool suddenly drew his attention. As the hapless lawyer raised his head upwards, Congo clamped a heavy foot down on the back of his neck.

"You see that you punk? That loudmouthed little s.k.a.n.k you've been shtupping is getting her comeuppance-you see that?"

Thurston Petrelli uttered a feeble whimpering noise and clutched weakly at Congo's ankle.

"Get your G.o.dd.a.m.n hands of me," yelled Congo, his spittle flecking through the air. He leaned forward now, the hard leather sole of his penny loafer eating into the soft flesh at the back of the lawyer's neck. Thurston Petrelli made a horrible gurgling noise as the weight pressed in on his throat, closing off his airway by slow degrees.

Unable to remove the towel from her mouth and stay afloat, Priscilla Geryon was floundering wildly in the deep water. Every time she fought her way to the surface, Cheena Tao leaned hard on the pool net forcing her victims head underneath the water once again.

Watching every second of the unfolding nightmare Thurston Petrelli struggled desperately. He flapped and clawed and wriggled and issued horrible strangulated noises, but it was no use, slowly inexorably his struggles subsided as he succ.u.mbed to the unbearable weight pressing in from above. Then, finally, as the lawyer's flailings subsided, overtaken by the long, slow sounds of death, Ted Congo eased back, then tilted his head, inspecting his handy work. Satisfied, he turned and threw the help a nod. They moved in, and tossed the lawyer's lifeless corpse into the eerie, rippling waters of the swimming pool. The splash resounded. The p.r.o.ne corpse drifted downwards.

With the pool net clamped down tight over her head, Priscilla Geryon saw everything. Her fingernails tore wildly at the fabric of the net, shredding ragged holes but it wasn't enough to save her. The metal rim of the net remained fixed around her neck. Cheena Tao twisted the pole, driving it down towards the bottom of the pool. She held it there, leaning hard until the pool water filled her victim's lungs. Then, the surface of the pool became slowly calm, as two dark shapes hung eerily beneath the water, drifting together in eternity.

46.

With the sound of breaking gla.s.s ringing in her ears, Karyn Kane barreled through the emergency exit door of the coffee shop, straight into the guy with the blue windbreaker. She didn't pause to think, she hit him hard and fast in the neck, with a scything forearm chop, and he went down like his legs had been cut away. The sound of running feet in the corridor behind her now-then, two quick shots fizzing past her head. She spun left, moving flush to the wall. She pulled her Sig and held it ready at head height. The first man out the door had good form, leading with his weapon, so he could double-tap her on sight. He never saw her. Karyn caught him by the wrist, and took control. She hit him hard on the bridge of the nose with the edge of her pistol. His face exploded in a mess of blood. As he toppled forwards, she smashed a knee into his groin and caught him hard on the back of the skull with a powerful elbow strike. As he toppled forwards, Karyn moved fast and low. There were two men in the corridor, both of them sporting black clothes and HK MP5s. She shot the first guy twice, before he had time to even squeeze off. He went down on his a.s.s. Guy number two overcompensated, unloading a panic burst that cut into the ceiling and carved a foot wide hole in the door. He paused and corrected, but he didn't get a second chance. Karyn doubled two shots, one inside the other and caught him twice in the head. He impacted the wall, and slid heavily to the floor.

There were screams coming from the front of the coffee shop now, terrified citizens reacting to the sight of men with guns. Outside, Karyn scoped the territory, weighing her options. Long shadows sliced into the alley. There were parked cars and dumpsters on both sides of the street; plenty of places to hide, but that wasn't an option. She was dealing with professionals. They would set up a field of fire and comb her out in five minutes tops.

She had to move forward. Even one second of delay would be fatal. She slammed the fire exit door and wedged it closed. The obstacle would buy her time, but the strike team would be noosing off the area, making ready for a draw in. Unless she broke the perimeter and fast, her time was short, they would pull their trap tight, then game over. There was no way these boys were looking to take her alive-they wanted to make things clean and final.

Bullets popped through the exit door. They were shooting out the hinges; any second they would be through. The situation was desperate. She was outnumbered and out-gunned, caught short in a rat-pipe alleyway with only one-way out.

Karyn didn't pause, not even for a second. She moved forwards, skirting past the dumpsters, heading out of the darkness towards the glittering boulevard. Her enemies would be there, very many of them moving in unison, with their radio-mic headsets and heavy artillery.

Cars flashed past on the boulevard, the real world of bustling city crowds getting tantalizingly close-so close she might almost make it through the darkness, out into the fast moving and anonymous streets, where she could disappear without trace.

The sound of an engine gunning wildly, and hot tires screeching through traffic. They were coming. Karyn raised her weapon and stood ready.

Headlights burned into the alley on full beam. The car came fast, tortured metal rending against asphalt, as it bottomed out on the lip of the sidewalk and came roaring towards her. Karyn moved through the headlights, her Sig held high. Without pausing, she hammered off four quick shots, two for the driver two for the pa.s.senger. It was an ambitious play, based purely on instinct. But Karyn's instincts were good, the car kept coming, but it began to veer, barreling wildly against first one side of the alley, then the other. The offside front wing peeled off dramatically and flew into the air. The car hit a dumpster and rebounded hard. A headlamp popped out, steam roared in a torrent from the radiator, but the car kept coming.

Karyn moved forwards, her weapon high and ready. The car veered towards her with building speed. It seemed as though the damaged hulk was homing in on her heat signature, like some kind of Chinese made surface to air missile. Karyn stayed calm and kept moving, holding ready for the moment she would unleash again. The car was moving crazily now, sparks raining through the air as it accelerated towards her. She stood in the middle of the alley and let rip. She unleashed the remnants of her first magazine, and ejected it one handed. She popped a second mag' home in a seamless, fluid motion and let go with that one too.

Only yards away now, the car made a last violent swerve and cut into the wall. The horrible grinding impact was dramatic and final. The hood of the car crumpled inwards, buckling into a mess of steaming metal. Covering the cabin, Karyn moved past the wreckage. The hot smell of oil and gasoline caught on the soft night wind. She looked inside the cab. The driver was dead. Folded over the steering wheel, his face covered by the remnants of a b.l.o.o.d.y air bag. The dude in the pa.s.senger seat was still moving. He stared at Karyn, like he had just seen the grim reaper moving in to pluck his soul. She reached in quick, and gave him a fast moving right hook that caught him in the sweet spot of his bottom jaw. There hadn't been any need to pop him, but it sure felt good anyway. This ugly little takedown was no coincidence. Deng Tao was stretching out his insidious tentacles to silence anyone he perceived to be a threat to his new world Empire.

Karyn moved out onto the Boulevard with confidence, but the vagrant was waiting, the very same guy she had seen around the front of the cafe just a few short minutes before. Except he wasn't a vagrant, he was a point man for the takedown team, ratting out her position into his headset mic. The second he saw her he fumbled inside his tatty looking vagrant coat, to pull his weapon, but he was way too slow. Karyn popped him two quick shots in the center ma.s.s at close range. She could see the rounds as they caught him hard in the tactical body armor he was wearing under the ratty vagrant coat. The impact of the bullets lifted him off his feet and he tumbled to the floor, skating across the sidewalk on his back. Karyn kicked his weapon into the gutter and scoped the street. The boulevard was plenty busy, lined with up-market shops and parked cars. From across the street people had clearly heard the snap of gunshots and they were looking her way, unsure as to exactly what was going on. Karyn moved her weapon down to her side, and scoped the street. The black van that had been following her was parked up in a red zone, thirty yards away.

The vagrant point man scrabbled on the floor beneath her, gasping for breath, his desperate fingers clawing for the communications headset that had gotten torn from his head. As he grasped it, Karyn trod on his hand, crushing both the microphone and his quivering fingers. He made an agonized cry. Karyn showed him her gun-let him stare into the barrel. "You want to live?" she asked.

The point man nodded weakly. Karyn smiled. "Good choice." Behind her the sound of running feet, pounding up the alley towards her. Karyn looked down at the guy on the floor. "How many in the van?" she asked, angling her Sig towards his head. The point man gurgled an expletive, his face twisting in agony. Karyn gave him a hard look, raised her gun another inch. The point man held up two fingers with difficulty. Karyn nodded quickly, almost imperceptibly and melted away. She had reached the perimeter. The opposition had finally made a play, shown them selves for what they were and now it was her turn to engage. Karyn strode down the sidewalk, heading towards the black van. Whoever was inside was going to feel the full force of her displeasure-and then some.

47.

The Pacific Captain Kim and his thugs marched Kellerman above decks to the bridge. Every step she took, Kellerman felt her muscles cry out with the effort. If they had let her fall, she would have lain there on the hard floor, allowing the tides of inevitability to carry her down to the watery grave that she knew coming. As soon as these animals got what they needed they would murder her for sure. She had caused them so much trouble, it was inconceivable that there could be any other outcome.

As she paused to draw breath before climbing the forward ladder leading to the bridge, Kellerman felt the hard jab of a gun barrel poking into her back. If she made a break now, and they shot her, she might just be able to cheat them out of whatever crazy plan they had in mind for the Nautilus. Sure, they would kill her. But it was a miracle she wasn't dead already, what difference would a few selfish minutes of life make?

All she needed to do was summon up the energy and the courage to make a break from her captors, force their hand so they would finish her quick at close range. But as Kellerman trudged forwards with heavy steps, the realization that she was beaten began to close in on her, like a slow tightening noose.

Captain Kim climbed the forward ladder first, then turned and looked down on Kellerman. As she struggled up after him, hand over hand her feet skated against the cold wet rungs of the ladder.

She slid back a rung and then another, the hard metal tearing at her knees. She let out an anguished cry, frustrated that her battered body was no longer responding to commands. She jammed her foot through the rungs, arresting her fall, but the impact twisted her ankle badly, the men below her twittered with annoyance in some alien tongue. Captain Kim scowled down at her, like she had lost her footing deliberately. "Hurry Officer Kellerman, time is short and your crew mates are depending on you."

But the ladder was slippery with the filth of battle and the going was treacherous. As she climbed higher, Kellerman realized that if she lost her footing now, she would fall back into the darkness below, probably break her neck in the process. Her pulse amped higher, if she died now she would cheat her captors in their moment of victory. It was a crazy fleeting idea that she dismissed just as soon as it came-but she had to do something-she couldn't just go along with these sc.u.mbags and do their bidding. She had to fight back and soon.

As the harsh light of the open hatchway drew up to greet her, another crazy plan flashed through her mind-she could dive through the hatch and tie it down, trapping the men with guns below. It was a long shot idea, but it would narrow the odds-their leader was only a little guy and he didn't have much weight behind him, maybe, if she timed her move just right, she could tackle him to the floor and wra.s.sle away that peashooter pistol he was holding-see how his smart little mouth worked then.

But as she reached the lip of the hatchway, with adrenaline pounding her heart almost through her chest, Kellerman felt nauseous with the exertion. She clawed at the edge of the hatch, with her filthy, blackened fingers. She slipped backwards once again, her feet skating away from the ladder, floating free for several stomach- churning seconds. She twisted her body hard against the top of the ladder and slowly and with great effort managed to drag herself away from the edge of a black and uncertain fate. She caught her breath and looked up into the eyes of Captain Kim. "You could have helped me, I nearly lost it there. Then what would you have done?" she said.

Kim stood back, the black deadly eye of his gun staring down at her, "Perhaps you expect my sympathy Officer Kellerman? Well, you will be disappointed. You have shown yourself to be a treacherous adversary. If you obey my instructions you will be rewarded with the gift of life. If you try to break free, or attempt any kind of trickery you will be killed without mercy. Now, on your feet and raise your hands."

Sprawling forwards on the floor, Kellerman looked up, saw that she was surrounded by men with guns and raised her hands very slightly. What would Buchanan do under such circ.u.mstances? He would probably spit on the floor, offer up some gruff, expletive ridden witticism then charge the enemy, like a rampaging gorilla. That guy was a force of nature, at least he had been. But who was going to take over the baton now? There was no one else. She was the only one left. Everything was down to her. Everything.

Kellerman rose slowly to her feet, keeping her eyes on Kim the whole time. When at last she had risen to her full height, she turned slightly and spat on the floor. "I want to see the crew. I want to see they are alive and well, and they better be, or you and your buddies will be sailing this tub to h.e.l.l on your own."

A thin, derisive sneer edged across Kim's face, "Your friends put up quite a fight. They killed my engineer. You will take his place. If you complete the tasks I set for you, you will join your friends, if not, I will kill them one by one, until your obedience is unquestioning."

"You wont kill anyone Kim," said Kellerman flatly. She looked around at Kim's men, half a dozen thin little guys, all of them nervous all of them holding Chinese style AK a.s.sault rifles. "So where is the crew, what have you done with them?"

"They are contained. Gathered together in the mess hall."

"So you say. For all I know you killed everyone, dumped them in the ocean."

Kim's eyes grew wide with irritation. "You doubt my word?"

"h.e.l.l, yes, I doubt your word. Take me to see my people, or you can kiss your big ideas goodbye Kim, I won't raise a d.a.m.n finger to help you. You understand me?"

Kim scowled, threw her a sick recalcitrant look then made eye contact with one of the gun- wielding guards. He gestured with his head in the direction of the mess hall. The guard took a step back and made a jerking motion with the barrel of his gun that seemed to indicate that he wanted Kellerman to move towards the door.

"Any tricks and I will not hesitate to shoot you Officer Kellerman," snapped Kim brusquely. Kellerman gave him a look of displeasure.