38(S3E12)-The Villain

38

(Season 3, Episode 12)

The Villain

The villain had arrived in Ohio the day before to case the target.  That had been when he received the intel that Senator Roman had picked up Rockwell as a bodyguard.  It was then that he decided to get some help on this one, picking up six other contractors willing to take orders for a cut.

Now, sitting in the driveway to the dark Roman mansion staring at the words, ‘Welcome Fuckers! Come on in!’ written in sloppy bright red spray paint scrolled above the front door, the villain knew he had made the right choice.

“This is your friend?  This Rockwell?”  Reno was a Columbian national that the villain had done a few jobs with.

“Friend… no, I think not.” The villain responded as he stepped out of one of the two cars they had used to come here.

Reno was a short, stocky, tan man who seemed to sweat all the time.  He took a final drag off of his cigarette and tossed it to the asphalt driveway before stamping it out.  “I am surprised the senator let him do this to his house.”

The villain shook his head, he knew the truth.  “The senator, and most likely everyone inside, is already dead.”

Reno raised his eyebrow and gave the villain a hard stare.  “Then may I ask why we are here?”

The villain knew Reno’s concern came from a place of complete greed.  “You’ll get paid, I promise.”

Reno concerns faded away.  “So this man, this Rockwell, is he dangerous?”

The villain considered this, then shook his head.  “He’s a lunatic, but only really skilled with a gun.  If he had a rifle, we would be dead already.”

Reno narrowed his eyes at him.  “I do not think you would call so many of us if you thought he was truly harmless.”

The villain grinned but chose not to answer.  Instead, he sized up the situation.  The Roman estate was a big, three-story house that sat with its back overlooking a large river.  The villain couldn’t remember its name off-hand.  The house was dark and quiet, but ebbed with a dark energy that promised death and violence inside.  Like a monsters cave.

None of this mattered.  Rockwell was cornered, out-numbered and out-gunned.  They would flush him out and kill him.

The villain would finish what had started all those years ago in Afghanistan.

****

Afghanistan… Before.

“They have to be in there, Sir,” Napalm said as he hunkered down behind Shaky.

Shaky stared out over a small valley to the other side, where a small hut was built on the opposite incline.  The middle ground was farm land for the revered poppy plants, which accounted for eighty percent of the country’s economy.

The hut sat silent and foreboding.  Shaky and ten other members of Rattlesnake had tracked Stone and Rockwell across the country side to this hut.  They had been chasing them for a couple of days now.  The two rogues had to know they were coming.

“It’s a good place to make a stand.” Shaky said, agreeing with his second.

“So what’s the-” There was a sudden whipping noise, followed by a metal on metal noise and then a report of a fifty caliber sniper rifle.  Napalm lurched and fell forward, rolling down the hill into the poppy fields.

Rockwell.

Shaky’s mind raced in that second.  Sniper attack in the field causes an overwhelming confusion when you don’t know that it’s coming.  The common responses are to desperately look for the attacker or to drive to the ground and make yourself small.

Both reactions are death sentences.  The best reaction to sniper fire is movement.  People don’t realize how hard it is to hit a moving target.  Shaky also knew the gun that Rockwell was using was big and heavy and a bolt action.

“Down the hill! Get into the poppies!” Shaky screamed.  “Now! Now! Now!”

The remaining nine men seemed to hesitate.

The report of the rifle sounded again and a soldier called ‘Bulldog’ fell forward, his head having basically disappeared.

The men responded now and broke into a chaotic run down the hill.  Shaky followed as they went.  He knew it would take them three, maybe four seconds to clear the fifty or sixty yards of downhill distance to the cover of the fields.  He also knew it took Rockwell at least a second to rack the slide on the bolt in the large gun.  Rockwell would also be shooting from the hut, which was five to six hundred yards away, an easy shot for a sniper of his caliber if they did not move.

 

The rifle sounded and Shaky scanned his men.  Sure enough, one of his boys had fallen forward into a roll down the hill.  Rockwell’s aim had been off, the man’s ankle and foot came loose as he rolled and flipped way from him, the large round having hit him above the knee and severed the bone, muscle, and skin.

The remaining men hit the poppies and dove to their bellies.  The poppies grew only to an average man’s waist at its tallest.  There was silence, with the exception of the screaming of the soldier who had lost his legs.  Shaky kept trying to remember his name but couldn’t.  He cursed his lack of memory, as it was why he had forced them to have code names in the first place.

The man’s screaming got louder and louder and Shaky became angry.  At least Naplam had died silently. Shaky pulled his side arm and scanned the brush for the screamer.  He found him, took aim and put two rounds into his head.

Silence followed.  “From now on, new rule, if you are hit, die silently so that the rest of us don’t have to waste ammo to keep our positions hidden.”

No one answered and Shaky took the silence as understanding.  Now he had to think.  Something was bothering him about those shots.  The placing and the angle at which they came in.  Suddenly, it came to him.

“Turbine,” He called for one of his men and Turbine answered.  “I want you and the rest of the men to low crawl to the hut through the fields.”

Turbine hesitated then called back.  “What about you, sir?”

Shaky frowned.  “Don’t you worry about me!  Follow your damned orders, killer!”

“Yes sir!” He yelled back and Shaky heard the remaining seven soldiers began to crawl through the fields toward the hut.

Shaky had a sniper to hunt…

****

Roman Estate… Now

The villain finally decided how he wanted to proceed, given who he was up against.  “You guys head in the front but be careful, he’s going to be ready.  Me and Reno are going to shimmy around the back and try and get on the deck and come at him from his flank.”

Reno looked at his belly then back to the villain.  “I don’t know that I am the shimmying type, my friend.”

The villain smiled.  “You are today, let’s do this.”

The villain and Reno went around toward the back.  The other four headed to the front, two of them were armed with MP-5 submachine guns and the other two had Mac-10 Oozies.  The villain was armed with a standard Kimber and Reno also opted for the precision of a Glock 9mm.

As they approached a small chunk of land which is was possible to get across to the deck the shooting around front started.

Reno looked in the direction as if he could hear through walls.  “Why did you bring me this way, my friend?”

The villain began to inch across the ledge.  “Because I like you, Reno.”

Reno looked at the small ledge then the twenty foot rocky drop into the river then back to Napalm, “Sure you do.”

****

Afghanistan… Before.

Shaky heard the gunfire from the hut as his remaining men charged the front.  He had crawled south while his men moved forward, coming out of the poppy fields and circling around behind the hut and up the incline.

He had realized after the last volley that Rockwell was not in the hut.  He was firing from the top of the hill behind it.  Stone would be in the hut and taking shots from the windows to distract while Rockwell dropped them from a safe distance.  It was a good plan.

Shaky’s sixth sense had been right again and now he just waited for Rockwell to begin his support fire. Shaky would then know exactly where Rockwell was.

Sure enough, the rifle sounded, dropping another one of his boys from a distance.  Shaky then heard Rockwell rack the bolt and with that, it only took him a second to find him ten feet away crouched on the hill, lying flat on his belly, his gun held up on a tie pod looking for another shot.

Shaky crept up behind him, reveling in how easy it was to get the drop on the man without Stone to cover his back.  Rockwell seemed to hone in on another target and Shaky stepped up behind him and placed his side arm to the back of Rockwell’s head.

“Tag.” Shaky said.

“Spaghetti,” Rockwell spoke one word and Shaky realized instantly he had a mic on and was coordinating with his partner in the hut.

“Mother fucker!” Shaky said as he pistol whipped Rockwell’s temple and pulled the mic off his ear.

Shaky switched it off and new he was too late.  Rockwell had already signaled Stone.  Stone would now know that Rockwell was down and he was on his own.  Shaky shrugged.  It didn’t matter whether Stone knew or not, he was outnumber and outgunned.

It was about to end.

****

Roman Estate… Now.

The villain and Reno pulled themselves onto the oversized deck, which stretched out over the water. The shots from inside had come and gone intermittently.  Reno and the villain drew their guns in order to prepare for what they found inside.  The villain then broke a hole in the glass slide, then unlocked it and pushed open the door.

They entered cautiously into the kitchen, both had their guns up.  They suddenly heard footsteps above them on the second floor, followed by a quick spray of machine gun fire.  The villain signaled that they were going to head upstairs.  They found a staircase from the kitchen up and then climbed the stairs to get to the second floor.

The villain moved through a hallway and came to a corner.  He peeked around it and saw a glimpse of Rockwell, moving into a weird large show room.  He could no longer see Rockwell but he heard him talking to a woman.

“Damn fine job, Sexy.”  He said.

“Are any of these guys Shaky?”  She asked back in a soft voice that seemed to mask a madness.  She would have to be mad to be with Rockwell.

The villain almost laughed at the mention of Shaky.  It had been so long since he had heard that name.

There was silence for a second and the villain considered jumping them right then, but before he could Rockwell spoke again.  “No, that mother fucker is still lurking somewhere.”

“What do we do next?” The girl asked.

“You stay here and hide.” Rockwell said.

“The fuck I will!” She yelled back in anger and Rockwell shushed her.

“This one’s out of your league, hot stuff.  You hide and let big poppa take care of this one.”  The words were followed by a groaning and lip smacking noises and then Rockwell passed out of the doorway and headed down a different hall in the opposite direction.

The villain turned toward Reno.  “Deal with the girl.”

Reno nodded and moved out to stalk his prey.  The villain also faded into the shadows.  He was hurting Rockwell for the last time.