Contract Killer

Once he entered in the code and the gates opened, he drove down the unpaved driveway and into the underground garage.

He got out of his car and made his way inside, striding swiftly through the compound. There was also a training facility that was attached to the main tech house, one that allowed the men to work out and train with a number of weapons.

He headed into the room he’d been using for the last few weeks, grabbed a large duffle, and started stuffing his supplies in it. Black thermals, fatigues, boots, and of course a few handguns he kept in his bunk were among the gear he’d bring. He didn’t know how long he’d be on the road, tracking Neeka and following leads, but he wouldn’t stop until he knew where she was.

Gage slung the duffle over his shoulder and left the room, moving down the hall and into the weapons supply room. He grabbed several handguns, a rifle, night vision goggles, knives, a few semiautomatics, a Beretta, and several other miscellaneous weapons.

He walked back to the garage, passing Terrick, Ruick, and Caleb on his way out. The three men were SEALs, who were no longer on active duty, but needing that adrenaline rush, the same as Gage.

He set his duffle on the passenger seat and made his way around to the driver’s side, getting in and starting the car. He grabbed the file he had on Neeka, the background check he’d done, the information he’d collected thus far from people that knew her … everything.

Even though he’d just been hired by Edward McCarthy, as soon as he’d been given the job he’d started the check on her to find out what he could.

The last people to see Neeka were the employees at her job two weeks ago. He scanned the police report, reading how her coworkers said she stayed late, as usual, and that she’d been the last one to leave. The police had nothing to go on, no motive, nothing. It was a missing person case with no leads.

There was mention of Edward McCarthy having an enemy, or someone that wanted to get back at him, maybe even ransom Neeka off, but there hadn’t been any calls demanding money for her safe return.

Neeka worked in the city, and he was willing to bet there was someone who had seen something. It was the twenty-first century, and no one in America vanished without a trace. Maybe someone wasn’t talking, scared of what might happen to them? Well, Gage would find answers.

He tossed the folder onto the passenger seat and pulled out of the garage. Once he was down the mountain and on the main road, he headed to the last known place Neeka had been seen.

It took an hour, but he finally arrived at the Franklin Beldon Tower. After parking and cutting the engine, he scanned the lot, trying to see that night she’d gone missing.

The sun had already set, and the parking lot and building were deserted. Gage got out of the car and moved toward the side of the building. He wore all black, so he blended into the shadows.

Gage checked for any security cameras, and noticed a small one rotating from left to right. If he kept to the darkness and the side of the building, the camera wouldn’t pick him up.

When Gage got to the side door, he pulled out a small bag, got on his haunches, and started on the lock. It wasn’t a difficult one to pick. He pulled out a small leather case that held various devices that would aid in disarming it.

He kept a watchful eye on the camera, the shadows still concealing him as the machine scanned the perimeter. He worked the tool inside the lock until he heard a click and it finally gave way.

Once the door was open he slipped inside and shut it silently behind him. A set of stairs led to the upper floors and another led toward the bottom levels. When he’d studied the layout of the building earlier, he knew the security room was in the basement of the building. He needed to get a look at the camera’s hard drive, see if anything had been caught, maybe even overlooked.

The tapes were still in police custody, and it would have taken too much time to either retrieve them through their channels or break in and take them. No, the computers should still have a hard drive, one that might be difficult to retrieve, but a task he could still do.

He descended the stairs and stopped at the landing, listening for any movement. Satisfied when silence greeted him, he reached in his bag and pulled out a set of earbuds and an otoamplisizer. The otoamplisizer was one of many devices the company he worked for had created. They had their own engineers, ones that worked on new weapons, devices that could immobilize someone without so much as breaking a sweat.