#agent lima

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Quebec reached down and wrapped an arm around Romeo’s upper body. Romeo winced in pain but nodded that he was ready. Pulling him up from the floor slowly Q guided his friend to a standing position. Once he was back on his own two feet Romeo nudged out of Quebec’s grasp. Despite needing his friend’s help Romeo wanted to show that he was indeed capable. Even if he was only capable of standing and walking at the moment.

Don’t be a baby, he said to himself, you can do this.

Romeo teetered for a second and Quebec shot him a worried look. But he righted himself quickly enough and smiled. He could do this. He needed to do this. Q smiled back and went to work gathering all of Romeo’s bloody clothes, and bloody towels, from the floor. Once he had them in his hands he left Romeo to watch Minkowski. He carried the clothes to the bathroom and emptied them into the sink. They piled inside the small sink and made a small mound. Patting his pockets he searched for the lighter he knew he had somewhere. After a minute or two he found it.

Flicking the wheel ignited a flame and he threw the lighter onto the pile.

It had to be enough since he did not have his kit with him so he didn’t have any lighter fluid or gasoline. Nothing to fuel the fire and completely destroy the evidence. If Quebec was being honest with himself he felt naked without his gear. He felt helpless with only the pocket knife even though he could turn anything into a weapon if the need arose. None of those facts changed how he felt.

“Q, he’s waking up!”

He shook his head and watched the flames for a minute. Then he left the bathroom and stared at Douglas Minkowski. He stirred and began to come around. Quebec really wanted to shoot this man where he sat and he just needed the right reason. What Minkowski did to the two of them was reason enough in his book but other people would disagree. And besides there was the fact that the man wanted to kill everyone involved in H.E.R.A.C.L.E.S. This man had to die for that and that alone.

The blood on his face had dried and turned a dark red; crusting over his lips and his broken nose. His left eye was swollen shut and bruises had already formed around it; staining the skin with color. He looked ghastly.

And yet he still laughed; “Heh. Heh. You think you’ve won this fight? I may be down but I’m not out. I’m still alive so that means something. And you two are still alone in here with me. We’ll just have to see who leaves here alive tonight.”

“Oh sod off you bleeding tosser.”

“You seem angry little man. I wonder why that is? Oh right. My boys got you pretty good.”

“Knock him out again, mate, I’m tired of listening to this sod. I’m going to try the comm. link he’s definitely lying about that.”

Quebec ignored Romeo and crossed over to Minkowski. The petty officer tried to back away when he saw the look of death in Quebec’s eyes. Kneeling down in front of the man Quebec’s face was not five inches from the other man’s face. Too close for comfort. He grabbed Minkowski’s left hand, the one he had stepped on earlier, and squeezed. His face scrunched up in anger as he squeezed harder. Minkowski’s face twisted in pain but he refused to let a single sound leave his lips.

Then he laughed; “You can’t do anything to me. You don’t even exist to the rest of the world. You don’t have any badges or id to show that you have any authority. So what’s stopping me from calling the police and arresting the both of you?”

He scoffed and turned his shoulder so that it faced Minkowski. Quebec pointed at the U.S. flag patch on his uniform. Tapped it twice for emphasis. Then he turned the opposite direction and tapped the H.E.R.A.C.L.E.S. logo patch. He turned back to face Minkowski with a serious look.

“Badges? We ain’t got no badges! We don’t need no badges! I don’t need to show you no stinking badges!”

“I’ll get you for this,” Minkowski said through grit teeth, “I’ll get all of you.”

Now it was Quebec’s turn to laugh. The sound of it sent a chill down Minkowski’s spine. Quebec dug a finger into the knife wound in Minkowski’s thigh. The man winced in pain and Q stared him straight in the eye and said; “I will look for you, I will find you. And I will kill you.”

“You’re a funny guy.”

“You mean I’m funny like I’m a clown? I amuse you?”

Minkowski nodded.

“Leave him alone, Q,” Romeo interrupted. “He likes pushing your buttons, mate. You leave him alone and he won’t bother you.”

Quebec nodded and started to get up from the floor. But just before he did he spit on Minkowski’s face. The man grimaced in disgust and wiped the spit off with his hand. Quebec smiled and rose to his feet. Romeo nudged him slightly and pointed to his ear but said nothing. Quebec understood immediately and tapped his comm. to life.

“We’re too far away from them to actually call them. Send the distress signal.”

He tapped his comm. three times in a row and whispered; “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.”

XXXXX

November told the others her plan. Those in charge of H.E.R.A.C.L.E.S. had created two separate solutions to problems such as this one. The triple tap was one. And the trackers that each and every operative had embedded into the muscle of their inner thigh was the other. Whether these were created so that the handlers could keep better tabs on the ops or for moments like this one November didn’t know. She was just grateful that she remembered these things existed.

They decided to try the triple tap first.

“Good idea, Em,” Lima said. “If they’re still alive they definitely would’ve used the triple tap.”

“And sent out a distress signal,” she added with a nod.

But there still was the problem of distance. If they were too far away from the boys then none of their comms would catch the signal from the other ones. And the same went for the trackers. So they piled into the car and went back the way they came. November had an idea and just hoped that her hunch was right. They were always told to never assume things. It was one of the rules after all.

However there was nothing else they could do.

As Mike drove through the streets of Los Angeles, back to the safe house they were at the day before, the others tried the comm. link. So far nothing had came through. The group drove in silence for the most part. Only interrupting the monotony of it with short questions or comments. But the group had reached a consensus about what to do with Minkowski when they found him.

He was going to die.

It didn’t matter that they were supposed to protect this man with their lives. He changed the mission objective the moment he took their men. He hit them where he knew it would hurt. Minkowski had upset the balance and now he was going to pay.

“Smith is going to kill us,” Lima muttered nervously.

“No she won’t Bubba,” Mike said looking over at Lima. “She won’t do a thing. Want to know why?”

“Why?”

“’Cause we’re doin’ the right thing. We’re protectin’ our own.”

“No. We’re not,” Lima shot back. “We’re doing the complete opposite of the right thing, Mike! We’re going against orders and she’s going to kill us for it.”

“Don’t worry, Li,” Oscar said from the back of the car.

“Smith is probably not telling us everything that’s going on here. And who knows? She might want us to kill him.”

An hour or so later they made it back to Minkowsi’s safe house. There they tried the triple tap again. And sure enough their comms began emitting a light beeping. Faint and faraway it meant that they were close enough to get a signal but not close enough to be near where the signal was coming from.

But they had hope.

XXXXX

Romeo and Quebec both watched Minkowski. The man had recovered enough to stand on his feet. He wasn’t fully recovered of course but he was still dangerous in his condition. And with the added disadvantage of being without the proper weaponry they had nothing to threaten him with.

But Minkowski didn’t have any weapons either.

Stumbling on his feet the Navy SEAL tried to walk towards them.

Quebec took up a fighting stance. He wasn’t going to let this man hurt Romeo again. He didn’t care if he got hurt in the process but Romeo was already down and out once this mission. There was the possibility that he wouldn’t survive another. And so Quebec was more than ready to attack. He was about a foot or even less away from Minkowski; in range for a couple attacks.

Suddenly Minkowski swung a harsh left hook.

Ducking underneath the blow Quebec dodged it. But he came back up quickly enough to send a right hook into Minkowski’s gut. The man doubled over slightly and held the spot Q hit. His face scrunched up in pain.

“I told you I was down but not out,” he said between breaths. “But you didn’t listen. And now I’m going to kill you all.”

Quebec shrugged; “Mama says, ‘Stupid is as stupid does.’”

Minkowski rushed at him but Quebec moved out of the way just in time. Romeo snuck up behind the petty officer and kicked him in the back of the knee. His left leg gave out from underneath him and he kneeled on one foot. Breathing heavily he sat in that position for a minute or two.

The door to the apartment opened slowly and with a slight creak. The three men turned to look. Minkowski had a confused expression on his face but Romeo and Quebec knew exactly what was happening. The Navy SEAL turned to them with an angry look.

“But I ruined your comms! How could you call for back up?”

Romeo smiled; “That’s our little secret, Minkowski.”

The group entered the apartment with death in their eyes. But once they saw the other guys their expressions brightened into smiles. Mike threw Quebec a gun. He caught it with a sick and twisted smile. Cocking back the hammer he pointed it directly at Minowski’s forehead. As he did so he saw the Navy SEAL shake in fear. And that made him smile wider.

“You expect me to come quietly do you?”

“No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.”

With that Quebec shot him in the head. Then he shot Minkowski once more. Double tapping a target was always something they were told to do. Even after years and years of doing this job that never changed. Minkowski’s body fell forward and then fell to the floor with a thud.

The others had searched the apartment in the meantime. The bedroom held more than enough evidence to justify the man’s execution. There were many notebooks with countless information on the operatives Minkowski worked with all those years ago. And a map of what he suspected the HERACLES base to look like hung on the wall. Opposite that, on the other wall was a world map and photos of operatives were taped up on the edges. Each photo had names written on them in red marker and were connected by a red string. The red strings all lead back to Afghanistan which was circled over and over again.

The words Never Forget were scrawled above the circle.

November tapped her comm. and called their handler for an extraction.

What about the SEAL?

“He’s dead. We killed him for what he did to Ro and Q. And because he had detailed plans to take out every operative.” Silence rang through the comm. and November waited for her handler to start berating her.

We suspected Minkowski had ulterior motives and needed to be disposed of but we weren’t sure. I’ll send Cleaners to gather the evidence. Make your way to the extraction point.

Good work.

They all breathed sighs of relief when their handler signed off. November was thankful that everyone was relatively okay; except for Romeo. But he would be properly patched up once they got back to base. And they were all safe from both Minkowski. It was good day.

Mike turned to Lima with a smile; “What did I tell you, Bubba, there was nothin’ to worry ‘bout. We’re fine.”

“Well, you did almost kill us all earlier,” Oscar said with a laugh.