September 28th, 2262. 09:20 St. Mary’s Habitation Ring
John was frowning, Alice hadn’t picked up his call as he walked back to their condo. That was generally out of character for her. She wasn’t supposed to work today, and they both turned in early so sleeping in would’ve been wildly out of character for her.
He then winced as he turned a corner. His workout had come back to haunt him as he stopped and rubbed his back. The idiotic workout resulted in a tender back and left thigh. John smiled despite the pain, he did set a pair of personal bests in the squat and power cleans.
John continued to walk down the hallway. He could see it brighten up as the hallway connects to the main shopping district. When he crossed that very distinctive line John walked over to a terminal.
“Why the hell isn’t she answering?” John asked himself as he failed yet again to get into contact with Alice.
John keyed a few things into the terminal, but Alice’s tablet was still showing as it was in their condo. He shook his head as she never left it at home. It always went with her.
“Computer, scan the station for Ensign Alice Robertson-Lief’s location. Use the Naval implant. Authorization Lief Two-Two-Tango-Alpha-Zero-Zero-One.”
The terminal’s CPU worked for a moment, then a map displayed her current location. She was currently heading towards one of the warehouses that are connected to the space elevators. John’s sense of danger flared up. Doubly so because he saw two curious individuals in the reflection of the terminal.
He pulled off his backpack and squatted down as he discretely pulled out his holstered sidearm. It’d have to hang out in the pouch of his hoody. He wasn’t wearing pants that he could just slide around the waist. And trying to put the belt on in public was going to alert far too many people.
John then deleted the search history and began quickly walking through the commercial district. He needed answers, but more than anything he needed to get to where his wife was. It wouldn’t take a genius to presume who was behind this. But he desperately hoped it was something else.
As he was walking through the shops, he got an idea. John activated his VI on his tablet. He smirked as he ordered her to make several false bomb threats on the space elevators. If nothing else that would drastically slow things down for Alice’s would-be captors.
The next ten minutes were among the slowest in his life. They lasted for an eternity to John. He was very worried that the royals weren’t actually a part of this, and it was someone from his past trying to get back at him. That was more than enough to make him sick to his stomach.
The two individuals, one was wearing a black coat and the other was wearing a red robe that covered the individual from head to foot. He presumed the red clothing to be tied to some religion they followed but wasn’t exactly sure. In either case, they were still following John and were being much more blatant about it.
Thankfully John turned to his right for a military checkpoint. This was a shortcut to the warehouses and the space elevator. One the pair of followers weren’t going to be able to follow him.
“Morning,” John said as he flashed his identification to the guards, “Don’t look at them, but there’s a man in a black leather outfit next to someone in a redhead to town robe thing. They’ve been tailing me for a while.”
One of the men nodded as he looked down at his screen. He maneuvered the security came to zoom in on them. The guard gestured to the other guard as he handed back John’s ID to him.
“We’ll watch them, if they try and cross, we will have the MP detain them.”
“Thank you,” John saluted the two men and walked by them.
He broke out into a run and headed towards the warehouse. John didn’t need to worry about anyone following him at this point. But he was filled with worry, he had long ago accepted that his bad acts may come back to haunt him. He desperately didn’t want those bad acts played out on someone else.
09:48 Warehouse 4B – Level 2
Alice’s eyes were burning a hole of hatred at her goalers. She had been taken unawares in the hallway. If her hands weren’t bound behind her, she’d be able to attack. But presently her fighting capability was rendered impotent.
“Elevators are delayed. They are running at least fifteen to twenty minutes slow,” one of the men said.
“Cameras are all recording devices are shut down until 11:30. We’ll be gone long before they kick back on,” another said.
“The other team said John went through a military checkpoint. The same one he uses to get to work or head to his ship,” a woman said as she took off the Naval fatigues revealing a combat sheath with an armor plate over her chest.
“How would he know we’re doing this?” the fourth individual said also removing their fatigues.
The leader of the group sat on some boxes and looked back at them, “Stay on guard. His highness wanted her delivered to the palace and we’re going to do just that.”
“I hate to be that guy, but if the rumors are true…” the first man gently got Alice sitting on some crates before walking away to change, “He’s probably going to be incensed at this. The military too.”
“The military ignored an assault on the crown princess. Justice will be met. She will be delivered to local authorities and tried for the assault.”
“Sir, the station is not technically the jurisdiction of Manchester. I came because I was ordered, but I want it known, again, that this is a horrible idea. I saw what he did a couple of years ago at the palace, he’s not the kind of person we can stop.”
Their leader shook his head, “We have the leverage. He won’t do anything while we have her. Lief isn’t that stupid.”
Alice was able to get her gag spit out, “You don’t have leverage, you’re giving him motivation. You’ll be lucky if only you end up dead.”
“You, fix that gag,” the leader walked over to Alice and looked down at her, “We are not as merciful as you think. You’ll be lucky if you get less than twenty years for that punch.”
Alice laughed and grinned, “You’ll be lucky to live another day.”
The lone voice of dissent walked over to their leader and spoke quietly, “Look, I agree that she needs to face a jury for her crime. But we’re actively kidnapping someone. A bad lawyer will be able to get the initial criminal act tossed because of bad acts by law enforcement. Which we are by the way as palace security.”
Their leader set a hand on the younger man’s shoulder, “I don’t disagree with what you’ve said. But that’s presuming she gets a trial filled with a jury of her peers. We’ve already got that covered.”
“Sir, I think this is…”
The young man’s comment was cut fatally short. Two rounds struck the man, one a through and through, that pierced his neck. The other round shredded his heart but embedded itself in a rib.
The palace security agents were slow to react. They had no clue where the shots came from and only one of them had a firearm close by. It wasn’t until the next batch of shots that they saw John. Unfortunately, the next four shots he fired killed two more agents. The one agent with a gun drawn was quickly targeted and became the fourth one to be shot at and killed.
“STOP RIGHT THERE,” their leader shouted as he used Alice as a shield and held a knife to her neck.
John slid to a stop on the floor, but he never brought the gun down. He stared at the man down the sites of his gun. He could see the gun wasn’t held tight to her neck. Just before the man looked like he was going to speak John pulled the trigger.
The round flew true and struck the man at his wrist. The knife was jerked down and then dropped. Alice’s sweatshirt was cut but she was unharmed. The man stepped back and clutched his wrist.
Alice almost instantly leveled the injured man with a spinning side kick. She planted her foot in his ribcage. John ran over and grabbed Alice before she could stomp the man. He aimed and shot the man’s shoulders.
John cut the restraints and spun her around and hugged her, “I love you, but you don’t want to do that.”
Alice squeezed John’s face hard before she kissed him quickly, “Damn you I want him to pay.”
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“Go home. I will clean things up here.”
Alice stood there and protested.
“Go… Home…” John was neither in the mood nor willing to listen to any of her protests, “One way or another this ends today.”
Alice shot John an angry look and then flicked him off before acquiescing. She turned and ran out of the warehouse, her emotions ran the gamut from rage to anger to sadness. John shook his head as he walked over to the terminal.
John cleared the elevator that was scheduled for arrival. It’d be here in five minutes. He turned and walked over to the wounded leader of the now-dead security team.
“Good job getting your group killed,” John dropped the magazine and checked how man rounds were left, “Who’s in the elevator?”
“Go fuck yourself,” the man spat out.
John sighed, aimed the gun, and casually shot the man’s left kneecap. He howled in pain. He wanted to clutch his knee but couldn’t make his arms move correctly.
“Look, you don’t have to be a dick about this. Who’s in the elevator?”
“Fuck you.”
John stood up and shot the other knee and dropped the magazine onto the man’s head, “Alright. I’ll play your game then. When those doors open, I’m killing everyone inside.”
The crippled leader’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets, “No, you can’t do that.”
“Fuck me? You aren’t the boss of me,” John said casually as he walked over to a tall stack of boxes, “Tick tock. Sixty seconds and counting.”
“You CAN’T murder those people!”
“Bullshit I can’t. The cameras and sensors are shut off in this section. My wife was kidnapped. You think the station or the Navy is going to give two fucks what I do to protect my wife and one of their own?” John shook his head, “Christ, you fuckwits are dumb as hell. But at least this attack plan was half decent. Step one should’ve been to sideline me, not watch me for fucks sake.”
“They won’t forgive you if you do anything to her.”
John turned and smiled, “Ahhhh. So, the bitch is coming. Too bad for her, they knew what the consequences were.”
“NOOOOOOO. You don’t want to do that.”
John laughed, “Ten seconds. Don’t worry though. I’ll end you after they are dead.”
The agent was screaming bloody murder when the doors opened, which confused the occupants inside the elevator. John just tucked himself in behind those boxes, almost as if he had predicted this precise scenario to occur. Three people ran out of the elevator and towards their stricken comrade.
Three bangs were heard. In less than two seconds they fell over dead near the security leader. All of them suffered headshots. John crouched down and snuck around the boxes to get a better look at the elevator.
“NOOOOO, PROTECT HER!!!!” the agent screamed out in pain.
John couldn’t hear any more steps in the warehouse, but there was motion inside the elevator. Two people were left it appeared from the shadows he could see in the side window. He picked up a pry bar from a box and walked toward the elevator.
He stopped just outside the door and chucked the pry bar inside. Two shots rang out in reaction. John quickly rounded the corner. The lone security guard was two steps in front of him. He grabbed the man’s right hand and put his left shoulder into his chest and drove the man back and over the prone form of the princess.
The man dropped the gun he was holding as his breath was knocked out of him. John casually aimed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger twice. Brain matter splattered against the back of the elevator, some of it got on his hoody.
“Fuck. Not wearing this thing again,” John said as he took the hoody off, “Dumbass get up. Call pops. We’re going to have a conversation with him before I decide what to do with you.”
John nudged the princess with his shoe. She got up slowly but didn’t seem to want to comply with his actions. Her response sped up when she saw the cold look in his eyes as he cocked the hammer of his gun and pointed it at her.
“Not in here, over at that terminal. Double time it. I don’t want to be in this room any more than I have to,” John snarled, “Oh, and before you think about trying any funny business. Understand that you have no chances anymore. Your life is literally in my hands, and you need me to be magnanimous for your continued survival.”
The princess walked over to the terminal and carefully contacted the royal palace on the surface below. She was very slow with all her actions to ensure John wouldn’t react negatively. The reality of her situation may have finally sunk in.
John walked over and dragged the leader of the agents that abducted his wife. The man was clinging to consciousness as he leaned against a group of boxes. When the princess’s call connected to the royal family John picked the man up, put the gun to the back of the man’s skull, and pulled the trigger. He dropped the man and stepped over him.
“Alright,” John depressed the magazine release button and scanned the magazine before slamming it back into the gun, “Give me a good reason to not put fourteen eleven-millimeter hollow points in the waste of space you call your offspring.”
The queen had vomited and was cleaning herself up. The king looked sick himself. Both were clearly appalled at the barbarity John had shown. Neither seemed to grasp the seriousness of the situation. When he looked at the princess, he shook his head. None of them thought she was in danger.
“How fucking stupid are all of you?” John said in an exasperated tone, “I’m not joking here. If you don’t give me a good reason to spare this bitch, I AM going to kill her.”
“You are a fucking peasant,” the king lashed out in rage, “You are beneath us.”
“By birthright sure. Except I’m the one standing on the corpses of your capture team here and I’m the one pointing a deadly weapon at your kid,” John grinned, “I’m actually getting a semi just thinking about how I’m going to make her suffer before I put the fourteenth round behind her stupid fucking eyes.”
“If you harm her…”
“You’ll what? Honestly, you’ll do what?” John ignored the impotent rage from the king, “You won’t be able to do anything. Right now, only five people know what’s going on. Now obviously the next of kin are going to find out that a bunch of their loved ones are dead. Whether she lives or dies makes no difference to me.”
John turned and shook his head. His arms flew out from his sides in exasperation. How were these people so dumb he thought.
“You sent people onboard a station that is overseen by the Confederate Navy. You abducted a member of the military. Do you think the Navy would allow that to happen? Christ, your whole justice plan would be useless because that trial would never happen. If you are still on the throne tomorrow, it’s going to be because of a combination of sheer dumb luck and you gave me a good reason not to kill your daughter.”
John pulled the princess up by the hair and pointed the gun at her head, “Ten seconds. Why should she still live?”
The queen was aghast at the situation, “Because she is our daughter. She will foreswear any plans to marry you and we will not attempt any further contact with you.”
“No, that is not…” the king was interrupted.
“You shut up. I do not want our heir to be murdered or farther harmed by this animal.”
John then pointed the gun at some boxes and rapidly fired off the remaining rounds. The slide was locked to the rear and exposed the barrel. He shoved the burning hot barrel onto the cheek of the princess before dropping her to the ground. The magazine was dropped and a new one was put in the gun.
“Acceptable,” John looked down at the screaming princess, “You, shut up and begin dragging all the dead into the elevator. You two,” John then looked at the screen, “You had best recall all your agents on the station. I catch wind of them coming anywhere near us and none of y’all are going to be alive for long. One last thing, make damn sure we never run into one another ever again. I’m done dealing with this bullshit, violence is the only response you’ll get from me in the future.”
John slammed the terminal, cracking the screen. The princess looked clueless. She looked at the body behind John, then up at John, and then back at the body.
He spied some gloves on a crate and tossed them to her, “Put those on. Make it quick. Pull the bodies onto the elevator. Then you’re going down with them,” John looked down at his watch, “You have thirty minutes before I add your body to this pile.”
John walked over to each security individual and looked for any firearms. Each gun had its magazine removed from it and cleared. The magazines and spare rounds were dropped in a box that John casually threw into the elevator. All of the hostile’s guns were thrown randomly into the elevator. His next steps were to get changed back into his workout gear. His bloodied clothing was tossed in an incinerator bin.
With five minutes to spare the princess finished dragging the last dead body into the elevator. John pushed her back into the elevator. She tripped over one of the dead bodies and landed in a pool of congealing blood. She looked up at him and began to panic. John turned and brought up the controls to the elevator at the terminal to his left. Before he pressed the green button, he looked at the idiot princess one last time.
“Good riddance. I should never have saved your dumb ass in the first place.”
John pressed the green button which shut the doors. After the atmospheric system was activated and confirmed to be working the locks let the elevator go and it began its controlled descent back to the surface. John shook his head and began walking out of the warehouse, hoping at long last that the final chapter of this part of his life had been written.
10:45 Unit 3-B12 – Patio
John walked into the condo. He set his backpack on the chair nearest the door. That resting place for his backpack annoyed Alice to no end. Despite knowing this would piss his wife off he continued as if it was any other morning.
He opened the backpack and pulled out the gun and holster. He walked over to a terminal directly across from the main television and placed his left hand on the terminal. A panel then opened to reveal the hidden gun safe. The gun and holster were placed on a shelf.
As he walked towards the kitchen the panel closed behind him. He saw a pair of legs sticking out from the corner of the sliding glass door to the patio. He walked out and saw Alice nursing a cup of coffee.
“Well, that was something,” John said sarcastically as he sat down on one of the new chairs that he bought the previous day.
Alice sighed and stared at him, “Why the hell did you stop me?”
“You don’t need to be a murderer,” John said plainly.
“But I’ve already killed people before.”
“Killing someone under orders or during the course of duty is a hell of a lot different than snuffing someone’s life out because you were seeing red,” John leaned back and forth on the chair admiring the comfortable seat, “We don’t need two murderers in this family. It’s better that we keep my hands dirty and yours clean.”
“John, they kidnapped me. They deserve…”
“You avoided justice when you decked her. Don’t get me wrong, she deserved it, but you pushed back a bit much according to the law. They then escalated things, and it blew up in their face.”
“How do we know they won’t try anything again?”
John grinned, “The princess got a burned cheek thanks to a hot barrel. And she’s got another two or three hours of sitting in an elevator with nine dead bodies. Her mother was insistent on getting her child back and ending this nonsense. The king is a fucking idiot but will be kept in line by his wife. They are aware that if they look my way again it’ll end in blood.”
Alice sighed, “We’re not going to say a thing about this are we?”
John tossed a data slate to Alice, “Well, that can enable us to avoid bloodshed next time.”
Alice looked puzzled by the action but unlocked it and watched the video. She shook her head and locked it. John swore he saw her brain buffering a response.
“They were good at locking down the cameras and stuff in the warehouse. But this was an inch away from a professional job. They try anything and that video can be leaked. It will end the royal family for good,” John said as he continued to test the comfort level of the chair, “It’ll be interesting to see how they handle the nine families that just lost those members.”
Alice smirked, “So all’s well that ends well, is it?”
The couple laughed together. The nonsense that started over two years ago was seemingly now over. True things could come up down the road, but the gloves were off. No longer would there be any more pulling of punches when dealing with the royal family. Things were looking up for the happy couple, almost as if events were finally going in their favor.