Agent Stihl sits anxiously in the suburban as she and her fellow agents follow a Black Suburban filled with S.W.A.T officers. Armed with tactically sound machine guns and shotguns.
Pushing through the doors of a house. The six men burst through each door tossing flash-bang grenades before charging through each hallway every room. Until the entire house was cleared. Allowing Agent Stihl and her men to enter. Sheathing their standard-issue sidearms they enter.
Agent Stihl was growing annoyed. They had been given various locations to find a Mercenary by the name of Black. Mr. Black was his only name. He had given them information on crime boss’ across the world. Evidence against traffickers and worst.
Yet he was a man of complete and utter mystery across the dark side of things. Those who spoke of him did not know much of him. And those who did not fear the name. No matter what offers she made. Diana Stihl could not make a single person talk.
Annoyed with her investigation and how it is coming along. She was grasping for straws. Going to her contacts she had run completely dry. There were no further incidents reported related to Mr. Black anywhere in the world.
She had gotten in contact with agents from Russia, France along with Italy and Mexico. Each country had a different name for him, in Italy, he was Buio Fantasma (dark ghost) in Russia he was T’ma ten’ (dark shadow) different names but the same pattern the victims left victims of their own, each one reported a handsome man in dark suit eyes shaded by sunglasses even at night.
Standing five foot six. A hundred twelve pounds she is dressed in a blue and white pinstripe shirt underneath a bulletproof vest. Yet over a bulletproof bra. Pushing her chest to was being pushed down by the armor. Her neck long blond hair was tied in a ponytail.
Agent Stihl would be considered a modest beauty. As only her all work no play demeanor keeps men from squeezing in too close. And allows her to keep up with the two men at her side. Working with her team.
Retiring for the night in her hotel room she looks over her files hoping for a last-minute breakthrough like all the movie heroines do. She rubs her upper lip before her eyebrows raise. Her head was so inclined with the files she had been reading she nearly heard the sound of the closet door rolling open behind her.
Grabbing her cell phone she sends a message to her two field agents who had come with her to meet at her room. Drawing her sidearm she quickly turns to be confronted by a man in black rushing forward smashing to pistol from her hand. Gripping her wrist hard turning tightly making her call out with pain.
A cloth was swiftly brought to her mouth and nose wrapping his arm clutching her wrist around her backside he pins her against the wall. Kicking and screaming. All she did was breathe in the taste was sweet but the smelt mostly of either.
“Lephf mephf gophf”
Her eyes were wide as she looks to the man holding her. He was tall half a head taller than her. Taught muscles flexed and firm in holding her like a serpent around its first meal.
She tries to look at the man's face but his hand had tilted her head back. The last sounds she heard was a pounding on the door. Oh, thank god!
Waking up her vision hazy and her mouth held an awful taste to it. Her stomach began to lurch and she felt herself heaving before she could do anything the remnants of her fast-food dinner came up. And a large plastic pale was thrust over her lap and she hurls into it. Coughing and gargling her eyes look up to the man dressed in a black masquerade mask a black business suit holding it with a pair of surgery gloved over leather.
“Effects of the Chloroform, after a few moments, it will settle, you will feel dizziness and drowsiness I would not suggest fighting your bonds until after you fully recover”
“Whyugh?” Agent Stihl glares up her mouth still tasting vomit looking down to her wrists were bound by a thin rope connecting her to the arms of the chair. Wiggling her feet they were bound together and her heels were given a mere half-inch of wiggle room before backing against the chairs center swivel.
“You can wiggle and worm all you want I just ask you wait another few hours”
“Where... am... I, what... what happened to my men?” She asks looking into Mr. Black's eyes and calm. The cut of his chin was strong and determined he had dealt with the hardest criminals of this world killed the worst drug lords fought the meanest thugs hell scared most assassins from what the stories told her. Why would he oblige her a thing?
“Agent Cole the short dark fellow is recovering from a sleeper hold, while Agent Helgason of Iceland the large fella he took a little extra dose, do not worry they will both live, both men will have massive headaches when they rise”
“You bloody ba...” her words were silenced quickly from another vat of puke came past her lips. Catching it swiftly the man studies her quietly. As she coughs one last time. Setting the pale down he grabs a handkerchief.
“No get away from me” Agent Stihl glares at him raising the cloth without ceremony wiping her mouth. Surprising her.
“What is your plan here Mr. Black?”
“What do you mean?”
“You intend to intimidate me to tell you what I know, maybe threaten my colleagues to stop their search and you’ll release me?”
“Nothing so dramatic or predictable” lowering the cloth the man glances from her to the bucket. Picking it up again he dumps the contents into a nearby toilet looking up to him. Agent Stihl struggled to hold her resolve. The legendary Mr. Black.
The man was lean and relatively handsome his black hair cut short and stood forward over his forehead. The man had high cheekbones and strong chin. His face was concealed by a gala half mask.
“Can I get you anything water, ginger ale?”
“I want to call my guys to see if they are alright?” Agent Stihl bit out through baring teeth. A feisty little woman this agent is. Mr. Black decided to pull his phone out he turns to Agent Stihl dialing a number before turning the phone on speaker and parking it in her lap. The number was unfamiliar until the phone connected with the other end a shaky women’s voice calls.
“Hel-hello!” recognizing the voice of Taima Agent Cole's wife. And the mother of their two kids. Was trembling on the other end.
“Hello Taima, this is Helen... Helen Stihl are you at the hospital?”
“No I am at the office, with your team's surveillance officer, where are you?” Helen glances up to Mr. Black who holds himself away from her Helen knew she should tell them what he looks like, what the building is like. But all she could manage was.
“How is Rhys?”
“Fine medics are checked him out a mild concussion but he will be fine in a few hours, Helgason Bjorn he took a harder strike to the head medics are taking him to the hospital for a concussion”
“Okay, they will be alright” Helen smiles to herself relieved that her teammate was going to be fine. Jason steps forward taking the phone any last-minute code phrases you wanna give her speak it now” Mr. Black stood to hold the phone his gloved thumb inches from the red button.
“Take care Taima” hanging up he puts the phone in his pocket before walking back around to Helen’s backside.
“If you are going to kill me, kill me now”
“If I aimed to kill you, I would have stuffed something thick into the tailpipe of your car and let you get a massive dose of Carbon monoxide likely daze from the gas and crash”
Mr. Black spoke coldly but why did that surprise her, she had heard stories of him doing much worst. Like one Jocelyn Ryder a Trapper for the slave trade, rumor mill spread that he had parked her car there and had taped her to the steering wheel.
“So what happens next?”
“Now you ask questions” Helen’s eyebrows crease as she turns to view Mr. Black his back was to her the man had begun to unbutton his black coat and was now bringing a bottle of water with a straw from the top forward.
“So this is an interrogation?” she asks and Mr. Black shrugs “I see it more like an interview, that is why you are after me, as far as the high up of the Interpol and the big wigs at the Hag are not half as interested in me as you are. So ask what you want” grabbing a small device from his breast pocket Jason reveals an old fashioned tape recorder. Setting it on her lap he leans down and places the straw into Helen’s mouth.
The water was a welcome relief after the bile and vomit that stung her throat and back of her mouth. Looking directly to Mr. Black the man pulled away slowly allowing her to swallow before saying.
“Swirl this mouthful around before swallowing your tongue will no doubt be parched” Helen was surprised the concern in his eyes was not that of a cunning murderer or a cold stone killer.
Swirling the water around her mouth she let it settle on the base of her tongue before swallowing turning to face Mr. Black who draws a fold-out chair to sit mere inches from her chair. Reaching forward he presses the record button of the recorder and says.
“Begin!” Hundreds of questions came to her mind Helen began to think long and hard trying to concentrate on what she wanted to know. Finalizing an inquiry she sits forward
“Who are you?”
“An assassin or a problem solver” Jason remarks sharply looking straight at Helen who struggled to get the next word out.
“How many targets have you taken out?”
“I have about ten confirmed”
“Unconfirmed”
“Quite a few more” Mr. Black admits a lilt of a laugh in his voice as he sat watching her.
“Are the stories true?”
“Depends” Jason's reply came quickly but confidently as he leans back and crossed a right ankle over his left watching her intently smiling.
“On what?”
“Who is telling you and what they are saying?” she nods licking her lips she nods and takes a deep breath. If he wanted to hurt her he would have done it by now she reassured herself.
“Did you ever command sexual favors from the victims you have saved?” Mr. Black's expression darkened rising to his feet the man glances down at his tie unfolding the garment he walks around behind her. Tying the garment over her eyes.
“I never lay an unwanted hand on a woman unless it is to secure her from harm, I am going to leave you now” clicking the stop button before turning around leaving. Helen could hear the stride of his gait walking away from her. She wanted to call out to him angrily.
Instead, she decided to test her bonds. Now was the chance she had to escape. Shifting her left arm it was bound tight. Then trying the other wrist she could wiggle it and feel the rope beginning to rub painfully against her wrist.
Biting back a curse she tries her ankles she was able to forge more length from her ankles. However, with every millimeter, she formed the knot slips tighter. Growing frustrated Helen Stihl began to call out in anger.
“Hey Get Me the Hell Out of Here!”
A gloved hand and a cloth were wrapped over her mouth and nose. Her eyebrows rose in anger calling out to speak to Mr. Black. But the air was breathing deeply the chemical was strong and Helen was aggravated beyond all reason. Squirming in the chair she wiggles backward into him trying to clutch and grab at him. But the chemical was working fast.
“Plephf nuphf plephf” begging into the cloth her eyes on him but she could not see him. Blackening her vision Helen began to roll back her eyes drowsing. Please god, don’t let this be the end.
Helen Stihl's eyes blink open. Her arms bound in front with her handcuffs. Looking around she was no longer in the warehouse. Now she was in a small office cubicle. A computer in front of her. Spinning the chair back around her it was a cubicle farm. Full of empty cubicles.
“Helphf heluphf!” calling out but no one calls back. Rolling her eyes she turns around a binder on the desk looking down. She inches the chair forward hands cuffed still she began to open by reading the sticky note on the binder.
You want to know why. Here is the reason.
Happy Ever After File.
Looking through the binder. There were names of those who had escaped from sex trafficking rings. Pictures of their lives now. Many of them were embraced by a loved one's father and mother figures. Including locations of their lives now.
Like Sofia Hernandez, a Spanish girl abducted from Chicago. Lost in the vast unknowns of the underground. Until three years ago she was relocated and returned to her family practically on a silver platter. Showing a photo of the Hispanic woman duct-taped to a chair her features rough and haggard her mouth taped and her hazel eyes wide with fear. The next shows Helen a picture of Sofia standing with a woman who looks identical to her.
There were at least thirty pages of girls who were taken from their bondage and reintroduced to their families. They were living better lives than the ones they lived as they lived in chains. The joy on their faces told Helen. Everything she needed to read. After viewing the last page a note.
I hope now you can understand why I do what I do. I am a bad man I know that and I cannot change. So I do the best I can while still being the Badman.
Adieu Agent Stihl. I hope our paths do not cross again.
A few minutes later a door opens and a man yells “Interpol freeze” armed soldiers march in machine guns at the ready as Agent Cole rushes forward breathing a sigh of relief kneeling next to her he quickly began to uncuff her.
Removing the tape from her mouth Helen began to breathe heavily wrapping her arms around Cole who held her tight. Agent Bjorn Helgason rushes forward wrapping his arms around the pair the two look down on her “did he hurt you?”
“No, he was just strict” Helen breathed tears in her eyes seeing her two agents healthy. She wraps her arms around them and sobs a moment. Helgason with a deep voice asks
“what did he want?” looking his superior in the eye Helen looks to Bjorn and glances to the binder
“Tell me what I need to know” a crease forms between her brows stepping back.
“How did you know to find me here?” Agent Cole fills her in on the details. Mr. Black had given them two tips. Tip one a well-known gun smuggler was delivering contraband firearms in a Northern Carolina bay. And the second Agent Stihl was located in Harbour &Sons law firm. Second-floor Cubicle Four C.
Taking the binder with them as they leave. Agent Helen Stihl had decided Agent Black may not be a ‘law-abiding-man but if he held an ounce of malice he would have killed all three of them.
“So where to now?” Agent Cole asks before turning to Helgason who stares at their boss expecting her to give them some great lead to follow.
“Home, its time for us to go home gentlemen” patting Cole on the arm. Helen Stihl steps forward hugging the binder to her chest.
Jason Black sits in his truck in his parking spot holding a computer on the center console. Examining a target as his phone rings.
“Agent Stihl and her associates have taken the data given and the arms have been confiscated”
“Good, good the last thing anyone needs right now is Ukrainians armed with contraband automatic rifles” he smiles sipping his coffee before Miss Satin proceeds.
“We have an urgent message from Mr. Solomon he says his best operative is in trouble and is paying for us to intercede” Jason cocks his head.
“What is this operatives name?”
“His name is Xavier Clinton. His codename Mr. White”
