Chapter 389: A failed operation.
"Did you get the target?" A voice demanded as soon as the escaped fake guard answered the phone. Bonzo Regius, who was still feeling pain from being hit, grimaced. He clenched his jaw momentarily, before replying, "No. That pan wielding maniac is strong for a human woman, surprisingly. And as we expected, Elias Veythar is not an easy opponent. I didn’t even get near his wife."
On the other end of the phone was Itai Stormfeather. The man sighed, rubbing his face. "Get out of the city. Now!" he growled.
Bonzo opened the door of a hover car and activated it. "Why would I do that? The targets are in our city, we have the home advantage. I am going to seek treatment, find another disguise and try again with another team."
"This is an order, not a suggestion. Get out, because there are cameras all over the hotel and city. Your face is now known to them. Enforcers are already looking for you."
Bonzo’s hand clenched around the phone. "You said that you had the enforcer issue under control. What’s changed in the last one hour?"
Itai growled first. "Elias Veythar is what has fucking changed!" His voice, that was loaded with frustration rose, because he didn’t like being questioned. He gave an order and it was followed. "His people have been positioned in every enforcer station in the city. I am sure he is doing this with the blessings of that idiot king. You have no idea what it took for this information to be relayed to me."
As he explained this, Itai watched footage of Bonzo that being sent by two of his men that were trailing him. He didn’t trust anyone anymore. When he sent anyone out on a job, another group followed to watch.
Itai was certain that the enforcers were also watching Bonzo already. Elias was not the kind to let an enemy escape so easily. It was likely that they were hoping Bonzo would lead them straight to his door. He also suspected that Bonzo’s phone might have been hacked in the struggle, before he escaped. And that was why the man needed to head for the nearest exit out of the city.
Maybe he would send them on a pointless chase that would buy their group some time to achieve what they wanted. Or make them waste time and money. Either way, it was a win, for Itai. "Bonzo, head for the O’Shea dock, someone will be waiting for you."
A second later, a hover car with an enforcer logo showed up behind Bozo. And then, two more followed quickly, their sirens screaming through the air.
The commander of the group leaned forward, voice sharp over comms: "Target is making a run for the eastern exit out of town. Cut him off before he hits the docks."
Bonzo swerved hard, skimming dangerously close to the edge of the skyway. Sparks flew as his undercarriage scraped the guard rail. He punched the accelerator, engines howling in protest as he weaved between small spaces, before landing the car on the ground.
The enforcers matched his moves and the commander alerted the ground troops.
The car chase became louder as Bonzo crushed into cargo haulers and other commuters.
"Box him in." The commander bellowed.
Bonzo snarled, jerking his vehicle jerking his car sideways. He clipped one of the enforcer vehicles, sending it spinning. Then, he shot forward like a rocket, which was easy because the car was modified for such quick getaways.
Just as he entered the industrial district, a team of enforcers laying in wait deployed spike drones on the ground, and in the air, in case he sought to escape through the sky again. Bonzo almost did, but the spike drones disrupted the stabilizers of the car. It bucked wildly, alarms shrieking so loudly that everyone covered their ears in irritation.
Still, Bonzo fought, slamming his fist against the control panel of the car. He engaged manual control, and skidding protocols.
But the commander of the enforcers anticipated the move. His heavily enforced armored, hover car dropped from above, slamming across Bonzo’s path like a steel wall. Bonzo’s car spun twice, and crashed into a loading bay with a thunderous explosion of sparks.
The enforcers quickly surrounded the wreck, weapons drawn. Bonzo crawled out, coughing, eyes blazing with defiance. He tried to move his jaw, but it was broken.
Suddenly, a burst of mental strength held him prisoner. His body could not move. A female enforcer walked over, opened his mouth and pried out the tooth which was hiding the poison capsule. She put it in a clear vial and took a step back.
The power holding him in one place went away, but Bonzo did not dare to move. Over a dozen weapons were pointed at him.
The commander stepped forward, voice cold: "Trying to run from me is never a wise choice. I have never lost a criminal before, in this city, and you are not going to be the first."
Bonzo collapsed to his knees, shackled in seconds. The road quieted, neon lights reflecting off the enforcers’ visors. In those lights, Bonzo could see the darkness that would be his future.
***
Back at the hotel, Sienna jumped up and down, waving her hands in the air. "That was exciting Elias. Did you see the way he swerved? And when he drifted like a professional racer!! With such skills, he should have gone into the car racing profession, not rebel foolery."
Elias rose, checking his watch with a frown. "I am heading out to meet Lenard for the interrogation."
Sienna nodded. "I will wait for you in our room with the children. Make sure Lenard doesn’t kill this one before we get the answers we need."
He kissed her on the forehead and whispered, "Don’t go anywhere. We still don’t know how many of them are in the hotel with us, or who is on Ittai’s payroll. If the kids are bored, take them to the VIP playground, everyone there has been verified."
Elias turned to leave, but he looked back and gave her one last kiss on the mouth. As he rushed out, Gene-Haven and other guards waited in the hall with the kids. Mrs. Miller and Chase were also there, feeding each other sausages on sticks! They were giggling and blushing. The air of romance around them was very thick.
When Sienna saw them, she rolled her eyes, and took the hands of her children. "After swimming, everyone naps."
The twins groaned in disappointment.
"I could nap." Her mother said chirpily.
Chase swept her off her feet. "Me too." He took off running down the hall, leaving giggles in their path.
****
In his private office, inside his house, Itai was clutching his phone, listening to the men he sent to follow Bonzo tell him that they had failed to follow him all the way to the docks. Enforcers had sealed off the skyway for a while, inspecting every car or flying ship going to the docks. They had been forced to turn back, to avoid drawing attention to themselves.
Nonetheless, Itai still had a few moles in the enforcer agency. One had just sent him a message about Bonzo’s arrest. He had been taken in alive, and the poison capsule had been retrieved.
How much information Bonzo revealed now would depend on who did the interrogation. If it was Elias Veythar, they were all doomed.
The door to his office opened, and his wife Maris walked inside. She carried a medium sized tray with a single cup of tea. "I am guessing things have not gone so well with Bonzo."
Itai hang up on the men that were making excuses, and glared at his wife. "Your brother has been captured by the enforcers. The rest of the men he took with him are dead." He slapped away the cup of tea Maris had just set down, spilling the hot contents on the table, floor, and Maris’s dress. "I am very disappointed in you, Maris. You picked the team which you said was the best. You always know which people should do what job. What was different about this one? Why did you pick the wrong people?"
His unnervingly pale gray eyes were hard as looked at her. He always had that look when he was preparing to execute the person he thought was to blame for bad results. And this was not just bad....it was the worst. Bonzo knew everything about their operations. He knew all the names, all the businesses and where all the bodies were buried. It was thanks to Maris, that he had a high position in their rebel movement.
She was not shocked that all the blame was falling on her. Itai always blamed everyone but himself when things went sideways.
"I picked the team the same way I always do, Itai." She replied. "If I were incompetent, you would not have elevated me to my position. We went over the plan and did the drills. We followed the same pattern as always. Instead of blaming me, activate the next plan. Send in Pip and Bib, to bring their daughter and granddaughter here. I don’t believe Elias and Sienna will do anything to the old couple."