Chapter Twenty-One: Part Two
Colour and movement filled the interior of the lab, contrasting sharply with its intentionally bland and box-like exterior. The spaces were open, bright and positive. Large screens hung on every wall, displaying images that changed every thirty seconds.
After exchanging excited greetings, Kate assured Dee that their staff had the gig well under control. Rick and Kate gave the girls a tour, explaining that the changing images shown on each screen were intended to stimulate engineering minds towards creativity and offer new directions of inspiration. Spider webs, fish scales, mangrove swamps, clouds and even psychedelic art; each image showed subjects with patterns and interest. Rick pointed out other pieces of art, explaining that none of the pieces were chosen just for their aesthetic value; each was intended to drive thoughts in new directions, even the complex water feature in the reception foyer. Dee and Carrie were not surprised to find out that Natalie had been involved in the design of the space.
The clock was nearing five as their new staff arrived. Like the majority of engineering types everywhere, they were all between ten and five minutes early. Kate and Rick met each in turn. Seeing many of the loved faces from her past in the room, Kate felt a wonderful déjà vu, as if she had lived the whole experience already.
Right on five o’clock, Dom arrived, accompanied by Natalie, Edison, Nita and the Myers. After greeting them, Kate called the room to silence. ‘We have only a few moments before our guests start arriving. I want to tell you all how much we are looking forward to working with the new Ironwood Engineering Solutions team. Some of you are new to Rick, but go way back with me; some of you are new to me, but go a way back with Rick. As of this moment, we are one firm and one team. Our goal is great engineering. Credit goes to the team as a whole, so sharing ideas, discussing possibilities and helping each other out as much as we can is the most effective way we can deliver great engineering. Rick and I have some more good news. Who here remembers Douglas McDonough’s development?’ Almost half of those there raised their hands. ‘As of today, that project is back on, and it's ours.’
Cheers sounded out from around the room. Every person who had been a part of that project remembered the thoughtful design and environmental briefs. It was one of the good ones; the sort of development that any engineer would proudly put their name to.
Rick took over and asked those who knew about McDonough’s project to share as much as they could with everyone new to it. Then he explained that there was a small level of threat from Silvio, and that there would be some extra layers of security in place until he was either apprehended or proven to have moved on.
‘I hope he comes!’ called one voice, to the affirmations from a number of the others there.
‘I’d like a chance to discuss certain things with that arsehole,’ yelled another.
Seeing the looks flashing around and feeling their mood darken at the mention of Silvio’s name, Rick said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, please be as judicious and smart as I know you to be. If it does come to that, please remember that you can’t work effectively from inside a prison cell.’ That did it. Appealing to their sense of intelligence neutralised the mob mentality that was stirring in the room. ‘Remember, our goal is to do brilliant work. Today is about celebrating this team. We look forward to working with all of you, and tonight, we have two major projects to celebrate, projects we can be proud of, so let’s have fun.’ Cheers broke out spontaneously. Kate didn’t think she could love him any more than she did at that moment, seeing how readily every one of these people chose to follow him. It didn’t occur to her that Rick felt exactly the same about her, for exactly the same reasons.
A few minutes later, Mason, Madison, Kate and Rick formed a receiving line of sorts, meeting each guest as they arrived. The party got underway as generous platters of finger food and drinks began to circulate through the room. Just after six o’clock, Harold delivered Douglas McDonough to the event as a guest of honour. Many of those there shook his hand in friendly recognition and chatted excitedly to him about his project.
~~~~~
As soon as he could, JC slipped outside after donning overalls, gloves, boot covers and a matching balaclava, all printed in the same irregular geometric shapes of deep greys, browns and dark reds. In low light, the odd patterning became instantly invisible, giving nothing to the human eye with which to form a discernable shape. Slipping into the deepening twilight, he had already decided to cover the one area beyond direct observation of the rest of the team. He nestled into the base of a large tangle of weeds and bushes and waited, loving the self-discipline of staying still in situations like this. His earpiece sounded off nearly an hour after nightfall. ‘Car, pax one, north end of TT Transport yard.’
‘Hold and observe,’ said the voice on the radio. Each man on duty affirmed the instructions, tapping his transmit key for a brief moment.
JC was thinking that it might have been a false alarm when he spied a figure creeping along a fence line with something large in his hand. He tapped an alert code on his radio and watched. The radio crackled briefly to life a few moments later as others saw the movement. ‘Michael?’
JC tapped out the letter ‘m’ twice on his transmitter.
Watching the figure moving along, it was clear that he was moving with the intent of remaining covert. ‘Medium sized container, left hand. What looks like a hammer, right hand, negative night vision,’ the radio said in JC’s ear. He smiled, knowing that this was not an armed escalation but another nuisance call. He tapped his radio again, four times and then twice, letting the others know what he had planned. ‘Received’ was the terse reply.
All they could do now was try Natalie’s idea to try to get the message through to him, and hope that The Prick had a little sense. JC computed his probable course and worked himself into an intercept position, knowing that his companions would be doing the same.
~~~~~
Silvio had no idea of what had happened. He had been creeping along some bushes, unseen, following a hidden fence line. The next moment he was on the ground with pain coming from his shoulder and knee, and with boots all around him. A hand was holding his face hard against the ground by his hair, and knees were on his shoulder and hip. ‘Fucking let me go you arseholes!’ he blustered.
‘Silvio Schivello,’ JC said, capturing his attention completely, ‘I can’t tell you how lucky this night is for you. There are at least twenty people in that building who have good reasons to want to see you hanging from different parts of the city, all at the same time. Are you going to be quiet or do you want us to make you quiet? The choice is yours Schivello. This is your one chance. Choose now.’ Silvio shook his head quietly.
‘Mama Bear outbound,’ JC’s earpiece whispered.
He knew they had to overwhelm him completely; straight intimidation would not work on Silvio’s personality type. JC just kept him on the ground until he felt the tension pass from Silvio’s body. ‘Are you going to behave yourself, or do we get to do this the easy way?’ Silvio grunted but did not struggle. JC let him stand up, his two men watching Silvio closely. Seeing his fully camouflaged captors for the first time, his eyes went wide.
‘Schivello, you need to hear me loud and clear. Kate is gone to you. You only have one course of action that will see your life stay anywhere near as rosy as it was today; that is to walk away and never, ever, think about coming within a country of her again. If you end up in Fiji and she goes there for a holiday, you’re on the next plane out, get it?’
Silvio was still trying to figure a way out of his predicament. He started to throw a fast punch at an unmoving, unflinching JC.
Silvio’s blow had made it less than half way before his howl of pain triggered a visceral cringe in all who heard it, their bowels knotting in empathetic reflex at his plaintive, trailing scream. From behind, Juanita had fired her booted foot between his legs with enough force to lift him entirely from the ground just as his punch had started moving. He landed heavily on his shoulder, already balled up in a foetal position, mouthing to scream, but only managing a hoarse squeak instead. She knelt hard on his shoulder and grabbed his hair, yanking hard to lift his eyes around to hers, her strong arms twisting his neck to within a few painful degrees of snapping. ‘That’s my son you were about to fail to hit. You owe me a heart-felt thank you because I just saved your life, you worthless piece of shit.’ She watched his surprise as he realised that under her balaclava, she was female, yet causing him such pain. She kept glaring silently into his eyes until his fear took hold and he started shaking.
‘You’re not worth the effort it would take to spit on you, Schivello. You disgust me.’ she said, letting his hair go and pushing into his shoulder as she stood up. Juanita looked to JC, nodded and turned to walk back inside.
The radio hissed. ‘Mama Bear inbound.’
The two men lifted Silvio’s whimpering form upright, this time holding him firmly by his twisted and locked arms. Juan-Carlos stood there, looking at him silently for two minutes. For the first time in his life, Silvio realised that he shared his planet with other cold, efficient predators; seeing in his captor’s eyes what pitiless looked like. JC’s earpiece crackled softly and he acknowledged the signal before speaking to him. ‘It’s your lucky day, laddie. Our orders stand and we’ve been ordered to set you free. Personally, I would get a real kick out of taking you for the first hour-and-a-half of a three-hour over-water flight to see if you can learn to fly, but higher powers and all that. You know how it is, don’t you, Schivello?’
With his legs barely able to support him, still whimpering from the deep throbbing pain filling his whole belly and with his eyes running freely, he was smart enough to remain quiet.
‘I know you think you are the king of the hill and all that, laddie.’ One of JC’s companions lifted Silvio’s head by his hair to meet JC’s disdainful glare as he leaned in close to examine him before speaking with a voice devoid of any humanity. ‘Silvio Schivello, you need to listen carefully to me now. You need to listen to me like you’ve never listened to anyone in your sorry pathetic excuse for a life. The Kate you knew is gone. You killed her that day you fucked her over and destroyed the lives of many good men. You won. They all died that day as well. Do you understand what I am telling you Schivello? No, you really still don’t get it, do you?’
Silvio’s eyes went wider. For the first time in his life, he felt abjectly terrified as JC studied him for a long time, just as coldly as he might regard a mosquito on his arm. ‘I will explain it to you, so listen very carefully. Silvio Schivello, you have just discovered within yourself, tonight, a desperate and immediate desire to move countries. Not cities, not states, but countries. An immediate… urgent… desire. Schivello, if we ever see you again, nothing will save you, do you understand? We will not even bother to say hello, you will just cease being a burden to this world. Schivello, you’re an arsehole; and as of midday tomorrow, arsehole season is open and we already have our hunting licences. You get until then to be in the air and gone for good, and not one second more. Remember, Schivello, your Kate is dead and gone. Your life depends on your total dedication to not being anywhere within four or five time zones of the Catherine in there. The Catherine in there is my sister now. She is family to all of us, and she has a very…’ JC lifted Silvio’s jeans up sharply, dragging hard into his damaged groin, ‘…very protective family. Disappear, tonight. The day, or night, that any of us see you again is your last. Understand?’ JC wiped his gloved hand on Silvio’s shirt with clear disgust at having touched him. ‘Your Kate is dead. You won. You killed her. At one second past midday tomorrow, arsehole season opens, and we are hunting you.’
Silvio nodded, tears still streaming down his face. For the first time in his life, Silvio felt complete helplessness and abject fear. It was not pleasant, and it confused him. They showed no emotions and he was helpless. It was supposed to be the other way around, and made no sense to him.
‘Put him in his car and watch him drive away.’ Looking back at Silvio, JC said, ‘You have no idea how lucky it was for you that I was the one that found you, Schivello. Now be smart, take your victory, and go away, yes?’
CRACK! Silvio’s head spun, his face on fire from JC’s heavy, open-handed slap.
‘Schivello! You have been handed a golden one-time opportunity to promise me, right now, on your life, that this is over. You do that, and you get to have a tomorrow. Understand me very clearly now. It is on your life that you are swearing, make no mistake.’
‘Okay, fuck you! All right! Fuck you, fuck her, fuck the lot of you.’
JC smiled a hangman’s smile under his balaclava. Slapping Silvio on his throbbing shoulder in a friendly gesture, he said in a disproportionately cheerful voice, ‘Good enough for me, Silvio. You have promised, on your life, that you are taking advantage of our extremely generous offer to not only be able to wake up tomorrow, but to see your next sunset from a different continent. That is what you just promised me, on your life, isn’t it Silvio?’
‘Yes, you heard me fucking say it.’
Juan-Carlos motioned with his head to the two men to take him away, and watched them go.
‘Three good signals, Michael’ his earpiece said. Michael was JC’s call sign. Rick’s was Gabriel. Whilst JC had held The Prick, a team had quickly gone through his car. Silvio’s wallet now had a transponder stick inserted between its leather and lining. His smart-phone had a new application installed that would report its whereabouts in three dimensions whenever it moved more than two metres. There was a GPS beacon on his car and another in the lining of what looked like a favourite briefcase on the rear seat. They had a good chance of knowing exactly where he was for the next few days at least.
~~~~~