SquidgeWorld Archive

Target
by Brad

Mac thought her assignment would be simple. Go to London, retrieve the stone and come home. Seemed simple enough the more she went over it in her mind, but the assignment was now anything but simple.

As she ran down a series of alleys, she finally came to a stop behind a dumpster so that she could catch her breath. She could hear the men approaching and looked around for a way out. But there wasn't one.

"Dammit," she swore under her breath as her mind raced.

She listened closely to the men's footsteps and whispers as they got closer and closer. Then with all her might, she pushed the dumpster and rolled it towards them, taking them by surprise. Bullets began to fly in her direction, some hitting the dumpster and ricocheting.

She managed to turn the dumpster and get it wedged between the two buildings that made up the very narrow alley. Then she turned and ran, running as fast as she possibly could, without looking back.

She ran across the street and through the park. Her lungs burned from exhaustion but she kept running, weaving in and out of the trees and shrubs that made up the park. But she finally got to the point where she couldn't run any further.

Taking cover inside a row of shrubbery, she scooted herself as far back from view as possible. She closed her eyes as she tried to keep herself silent as she steadied her breathing.

A few snaps of twigs made her quickly open her eyes and hold her breath as she could feel the men drawing nearer. She stayed as still as she possibly could as the men stood directly in front of her, not knowing that she was hiding in the shrubs, or at least she hoped they didn't know.

The men whispered to each other and she prayed they wouldn't think to look inside the shrubs.

After a few short moments, the men ran off.

Mac remained where she was for a little while to make sure the men were gone.

Satisfied that they were indeed gone, Mac started to move from her position and that's when the pain presented itself. The rush of adrenaline coursing through her veins had masked the pain from the two bullet wounds she'd sustained, one to the shoulder and one to the side, just above her hip bone.

Biting her bottom lip, she grunted as she got herself out of her hiding spot, clutching her wounds.

With a quick glance at her surroundings, she didn't see anyone around and began heading in the opposite direction that the men had gone in.

The dampness of the night made her journey throughout the city feel like an eternity, but the cold air did help keep her alert.

She made her way back to her hotel, trying to not let anyone see her in her bloody condition so they wouldn't be prompted to call the authorities.

She rode the elevator to the third floor and felt a sense of relief when the doors opened.

Slowly, she walked down the hall towards her room. Each step was extremely painful. The bullet was still in her shoulder, but the one that hit her in the side had gone all the way through.

Reaching out towards the lock with her hotel key, she stopped when she heard voices inside the room. They didn't sound familiar so she ran down the hall to the stairwell door. Peeking around the corner, she saw two men exiting her room, different men than the ones that had been chasing her. One of them was on a cell phone.

"It's not there. She either doesn't have it or she has it on her," the man said into the phone.

Mac watched as the two men got into the elevator, the doors shutting behind them.

She made her way back to her room, holding onto the wall for support as she walked.

Once inside the room, she found it trashed. All of her paperwork was ripped and thrown onto the floor. The mattress was slashed open and it's stuffing pulled out.

She went into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind her. She sat down on the toilet seat cover and pulled out her cell phone, quickly dialing Judson's number.

As the phone rang she took a glance down at her wounds and could see that she was bleeding heavily. Her rain and blood-soaked clothes made chills run up and down her spine and she began shivering.

"Cross," Judson said into the phone.

"Judson, it's me," she said weakly.

"Mac? Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not. A bunch of guys are after me. They think I have the stone, but I don't even have it yet." Mac paused and hissed as a wave of pain ran through her.

"Mac? What happened?"

"I'm in big trouble, Judson. I've been shot." She grunted in pain as she tried to move her arm. "I need a doctor right now."

"Listen to me, stay put. I'm sending someone over to get you. He's a doctor. He'll take you to a safehouse until Gabe and I can get to London." Judson didn't hear a response and felt panic rise up in him. "Mac?!?"

"Okay," she whispered, "just hurry."

"Hang in there, kiddo."

Mac hung up the phone and tucked it into her jacket pocket. She unzipped the jacket and grimaced as she struggled to get it off.

Her left side was covered in blood, just looking at it made her feel sick. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she cursed to herself. She inspected her wounds, both were bleeding at a good clip from the dime-sized holes.

She got to her feet and walked into the bedroom. Sinking to the floor, she propped herself up against the torn mattress as she waited for Judson's friend to arrive, but it wasn't long before she passed out.

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Mac awoke to find Judson staring down at her, smiling. "Hey," he said.

"Hi," she replied in a barely audible response.

"How are you?"

"Sore," she said with a slight grimace of pain.

"You're one lucky lady," a man said as he entered the room with a bowl full of soup.

"Mac, this is Spencer."

"So you're the mystery man, huh?"

Spencer smiled at her as he set the bowl down on a table next to her bed. "When I find you in the room, you not looking so good. You bleed all over the place. At first I wasn't sure I could help you. Da bullet in your shoulder missed your heart by an inch."

Mac swallowed hard as she realized how close she came to dying. Then she felt Judson hold her hand and squeeze it.

"I'm sorry, Mac," Judson said.

"Sorry? For what?"

"For sending you out here alone. We're a team. There shouldn't be any solo missions. If I'd been here with you..."

"Stop it," Mac said, interrupting him. "It could have easily have happened even if you were with me. Things like this happen. Don't blame yourself."

"Eat, you need strength," Spencer said as he helped her sit up. He held up a spoonful of soup towards her lips but she frowned.

"I can feed myself, I'm not a complete invalid."

"I'll keep an eye on her," Judson said to Spencer.

Spencer smiled, "No getting up, young lady. You stay put."

"I promise," she said with a smile.

Judson took a seat beside her and helped her eat, taking in her beauty all the while.

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While Mac rested and began recovering, Judson and Gabe went out in search of the stone that Mac had attempted to acquire. But after two days of searching, all of their leads soon became dead ends.

"It's like this thing doesn't exist," Gabe said in frustration.

"I don't understand it. My sources are always 99.9 percent on the money." Judson ran his hands through his hair as he tried to make sense of the situation.

"Still no luck, huh?" Mac said as she crept into the room.

Judson bolted out of his chair and flew to her side, "What the hell are you doing? You're not supposed to be up."

"Oh please, I can't lay there another minute. I'm bored out of my skull," she said as she gingerly sat down on the couch next to Gabe, resting her head on his shoulder.

Judson sighed as he put his hands on his hips, "This stone is becoming impossible to find." He returned to his seat and leaned on his knees. "When you came out here where was the first place you went?"

"I went to the dock yard and checked the ship that you told me to. That stone was no where on that ship. After that, I tried the second location in town. There was nothing there either. From there, that's when those guys started chasing me."

"I don't get it. There shouldn't have been anyone else looking for this stone, at least not this badly."

"So what do we do?" Gabe asked.

"At this point I guess we head back home. We can make another attempt when we have more to go on."

"Sounds good to me. Let's just swing by the hotel first so I can get my stuff. I'm tired of wearing your clothes." Mac smiled at Judson and he smirked back.

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They arrived at the hotel and went up to the room. As Mac walked down the hall towards the room she stopped suddenly as a flashback of that night zipped through her mind.

"Mac? You okay?" Judson asked as he took her arm.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just a flashback is all."

They continued walking and got to the room. The sight of the dried blood all over the carpeting made Mac swallow hard.

"Oh geez," Gabe said as he took in the sight before him.

"I guess Spencer was right, I did lose a lot of blood, huh?" Mac tried to make light of the situation and did her best not to let it bother her.

She grabbed her backpack from the floor and helped her throw her clothes in it.

Judson went into the bathroom and nearly threw up at the sight of all of the blood. He picked up her jacket from the floor and noticed a small envelope sticking out from the inside pocket. He opened it and found a small map and combination code.

"Mac? What's this?" he asked as he stepped into the other room and held up the map.

Mac squinted and looked at the map, "I dunno, where'd you get it?"

"It was tucked inside the inside pocket of your jacket."

Mac shook her head, "It's not mine. How did it get there?"

"How much you want to make a bet this is what those guys are after, not the stone," Judson said as he put the map in his back pocket.

"But where did it come from?" Mac said, confused.

"We'll figure that out later, let's get out of here."

They all exited the hotel and got into the car. As they began driving towards the airport, two motorcycles drove up behind them and then split up so one was on each side of the car.

"I think we've got company," Gabe said.

The men on the motorcycles began shooting at the car, shattering the windows.

"Get down!" Judson yelled as he stomped on the gas pedal.

The men continued firing, hitting the sides of the car.

Judson swerved the car back and forth across the road in an attempt to run the men off the road. After a few attempts he managed to swing the back end of the car into one of the bike, sending him crashing to the pavement. The other one kept firing, even taking time to reload.

"Mac! You okay back there?" Judson yelled towards the backseat.

"Yeah, just peachy. Give me a gun or something." Gabe tossed a gun to her and she aimed it out the window, firing back at the man on the bike.

The man returned fire, hitting more of the glass on the window. Mac winced as pieces of glass flew at her, hitting her in the face and embedding themselves in her skin.

She continued firing and managed to hit the front tire of his bike. The man lost control and flipped over the handlebars, skidding across the pavement.

Judson skidded to a stop on the side of the road and got out of the car. The man was attempting to get up but Judson kept a gun trained on him.

"Don't move!" Judson yelled as he walked towards him. "Toss the gun away!"

The man obeyed and threw his gun away from reach.

"Who are you?" Judson asked as he stood in front of him and pulled off the man's helmet.

"Peter!" Mac exclaimed as she recognized the man.

"You know this guy?" Judson asked.

"Peter, why?" she asked as she stood over him.

"I had to use you. It was the only way," he gasped as he clutched his midsection. Blood seeped from his mouth in a fine stream.

"I can't believe you'd do that to me!"

"Sorry, Mac," Peter said in one last gasp before taking his last breath.

"Okay, am I the only one that's totally confused here?" Gabe said.

Mac turned and walked back to the car, leaning her back against the front end. "Peter and I had a relationship a few years ago. I met him for dinner the other night, the night I was shot. He must have slipped that into my jacket when I wasn't looking. Damn him!" Mac began to cry and Judson held her.

"I'm sorry, Mac."

"He must have told those guys that I stole that map, taking the blame off himself."

"I think we're about to find out," Judson said as he noticed a black limo racing down the street towards them and coming to a stop.

Four men emerged from the limo with guns drawn.

Judson put up his hands, "Whoa, easy guys. I think we have what you're looking for so let's do this peacefully."

The men stood where they were as an elderly man came out of the limo and walked towards Judson. "You have the map?"

"Yes, in my back pocket."

"You mind telling me why you stole it from me?" the man asked as his brow creased.

"We didn't. That man over there planted it on her and told your men that she stole it."

The man looked over his shoulder at Peter's body lying on the ground. "You son of a bitch," he swore aloud.

Judson reached into his pocket and got the map. "Here," he said, giving it to the man.

The man took it from him and looked it over, smiling, "Thank you."

"Well, if you don't mind, we've got a plane to catch," Judson said as he started putting his hands down.

The man looked back at his men and motioned for them to put away their weapons. Then he walked over towards Mac, "I apologize greatly that my men hurt you. I thought Peter was an honest man, but I guess I was a fool for believing in him."

"That makes two of us," Mac said.

The man kissed the back of Mac's hand. "Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you the next time you visit this fine city. I am Xavier Patton. Please give me a call the next time you are here and I will make sure you have whatever you want or need."

"Thank you," Mac said with a smile.

Patton smiled at Judson and Gabe before returning to his car.

"Okay, let's get the hell out of here before something else weird happens," Gabe said as they all got into the car and drove away.


THE END