Sunday, February 10, 2013

Serpent's Fire


Serpent's Fire (a Suspense/Romance)
By Azure Boone and Gavril Mikhailovich Pryedveshatin
Azure Boone is a writer of Paranormal/Romance and Romance/Erotica
Gavril Mikhailovich well you all know me as a writer of Suspense/Mystery.
Excerpts to come in March 1st edition of Muse E-Magazine
 
Assignment

Drying himself off, Alex took care not to look at his own haunting image in the mirror. Grabbing his tags hanging from the towel rack, he held them in a clinched fist for his routine silent prayer to the unknown before putting them around his neck. Throwing on his t-shirt and grabbing a fresh pair of starched Dickies from his duffle, he suited up and laced his boots.

Alex took a deep breath through the ever-present weight that had settled upon his life as he strapped on his watch. Already thirty-five and not a damn thing. My how time seems to pass when you’re living in a hell.

Lighting up a cigarette, he left his apartment to meet Tran at the nearby pub. Damn leg was
starting to hurt again. A block away from the joint, Alex stopped to watch a couple of kids race by on their bikes. Memories of his brother and him riding that way gave him a moment of relief from the daily living drudgery.

Entering the pub, Alex's nerves and bearing tensed from all the human interaction and years of training. Without looking around, he walked over to their usual table in the corner where two full beer glasses sit. The bartender waved at him and bowed, Alex did the same in return. Moments later, Tran joined him at the table.

Alex lifted his glass for his first sip. “Tran.”

“Damn bro you look like crap.” His friend’s voice was far too deep for his small body and quipped
with a slight Vietnamese accent.

“Yeah I feel it.” Alex lifted his glass up. “Cheers to this day finally being over and I haven't maimed or killed anyone, yet.”

They both chuckled and took a celebrated swig and lit up. Besides the noise of laughter,
electronic dart board, and the blaring TV, Alex and his friend were unnoticed in their own little world.

“Looks like company.” Alex nodded in the direction of a man with military stature scanning the bar.

“Maybe we toasted too soon.”

The medium sized man’s eyes stopped on them and with quick steady steps, he made his way to them. “Excuse me, which one of you is Captain Faulkner?”

“That would be me, and I’m retired so you don't need to call me Captain,” Alex said.

“Yes Sir,” he said.

“Don't need to say sir either.”

“Yes... I mean okay.” The stammered response told of this young man's rank, a Petty Officer. For them, there was no structure or order without yes sir. “I have an urgent message for you Mr. Faulkner.”

Tran grinned. “Looks like the Agency lost another one of their tit suckers.”

The young man handed a sealed file to Alex. Alex eyed the red stamp that said 'Eyes Only'. Shit not this again. He opened it and read it over a couple of times then put the document back into the envelope and handed it to the Petty Officer. “Dismissed.”

“Yes... Mr. Faulkner.” The man turned and left.

“What is it Alex?”

“You know the rumors we heard about that Canadian agent getting whacked in Tokyo?”

“Yeah. What about it?”

“He had a partner who squirreled and went into hiding. They want me to get her out.”

“Scotch?”

“Looks like I’ll need it if I’m going to be babysitting some girl.” Alex raised his hand to signal the
bartender. “You know Tran, I really hate this life sometimes.”

“I hear you Alex. I hear you. So did the file say where she might be, or have a photo? Was she good
looking?”

“No, just a four line description and maybe in Kansai. The description was so great that it could be
a thousand women just in Osaka alone.”

“So in other words you’re screwed.”

“Basically.”

They got their scotch and sat there, lost in their own thoughts. Alex mentally reviewed what he had
memorized from the document. Four lines. Four feakin lines. A slight commotion started on the other side of the bar. A man forcefully took a hold of one of the female customer's arms, yelling at the dude next to him. The two bartenders tried to calm the aggressor but it seemed to only fuel his drunken anger.

“Yours or mine?” Alex gave a half-cocked grin.

“Have at it Alex.”

Alex stood and lit another cigarette. All eyes locked on the loud mouth, Alex moved freely and without notice until he was within one step of the aggressor. In one flawless move, Alex wrapped the prick up like a constrictor until the man went limp. “Good Night knot-head,” Alex snarled, dropping the unconscious man to the floor and returning to his friend and drink. It was going to be a long night.

Back at the apartment complex around midnight, Tran paused before heading up the stairs to his
own rat hole above Alex’s. “Forgot to tell you, you have a new neighbor.”

“Yeah I know, seen her this morning pass by my window. Not too bad.”

“Night bro.”

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