Chapter 10: Bloodlines

“What is taking so long?” Alexa growled leaning against the car door. They were tracking Malcolm Foster’s movements but the computer screen in front of her indicated he hadn’t left his office. Three hours had passed since Kasper made the call to inform the final WET CEO of their demands but, he didn’t seem in too big of a rush to meet the ransom.

“Relax, A. Foster will do as he’s told or else.”

“Or else what? What did you do, K?”

“Whatever was necessary to ensure we got what we wanted. I added a little incentive for Malcolm Foster so he knew we meant business.”

“What does that mean, Kasper?”

“Jerome,” Alexa’s eyes widened and she took a threatening step forward.

“Jerome who?”

Chapter 09: At What Price?

“Hey, hey, good, you’re back!” Kasper said as Alexa stepped in the front door. She dropped a couple of grocery bags to the counter and started over towards him, smiling at the way he was eagerly waving her over. “Come here I wanna show you something.”

“What is it?”

“Well, I think I may have found a way to get the cash we need right here and now.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. We use blackmail.”

“Blackmail?”

“Exactly. It’s perfect.  We can get the money we need to get our asses to Dubai or wherever you want to go.”

Chapter 08: Snow Job

Kasper admitted he had passed over the name a handful of times in his tireless research on WET. Alexa as well remembered seeing it but, neither could have guessed he was who they had been looking for. If it had been a snake, it would have bit them. Chris Cyrus was a man of many talents. Listed as Director of Asset Retention, he was described as the kind of employee any company would be lucky to have. However, it was his other background that piqued their interest.

“He’s Special Forces, A,” Kasper started as he reviewed the information on his screen. “And by that I mean Delta. He is listed as still being in the reserves but, his file was transferred to the DOJ in 2001. It was around this time he became an employee of WET and from what I can see of his passport, he gets around…a lot.”

Chapter 07: Closing In

Renee Szymanski was easy. Had Alexa not been in such a rush the first time she crossed his path, she’d have finished him off then. But, there were children’s lives at stake and she didn’t want to waste time on the torture these WET executives deserved.

And now with nothing but time on her hands, Alexa had finished the job. He’d begged, he’d bargained, he’d cried and in the end, he’d soiled himself like so many of them do. Had she the capacity for sympathy she might have stopped to think about her victims but, that would be affording them a kindness they never considered for their own victims; numbers that towered into the thousands. Innocent women, children, and men who were casualties in their war for money and power.

Chapter 06: No Time for Games

“Night, night, sweetheart,” the man growled. Alexa heard the slide lock into place behind her and counted down from three as she prepared to strike.

Just then, Kasper popped up from his cart and fired down at the gunman. The man jumped, aiming up towards the wild shooter and Alexa took the opportunity to attack. Tackling into the man, she knocked him back and away. He fell against the wall of the Thunder Coaster and she quickly scrambled for his gun, firing once into his head.

Racing back to the controls, Alexa flipped the switch on the ride and it grinded to a start, lowering Kasper to the ground. “Thank you,” she said, retrieving her weapon from him.

“Don’t mention it. Now perhaps we should…?”

Chapter 05: A Cornered Snake

Alexa swiftly ducked behind a large plant sitting in the corner of the hall. “MELISSA!” Gavin cried in shock as he looked down at the unconscious body of his baby sister. Lifting her from the floor, he hurried her inside his apartment and shut the door.

Alexa let out a sigh of relief. As she turned for the stairs, she could hear two voices inside; one distinctly feminine. Alexa waited a moment longer before quietly exiting to the alley and Kasper’s awaiting car. “You get her squared away?” he asked with a hint of disdain.

“Yeah, all good. Let’s go.”

Chapter 04: Toxic Dealings

“Executives for the Weapons, Enforcement and Transportation Division are in a scramble to save their clients and keep themselves out of prison as word of a scandal hit the news.”

“That’s right, Brenda, emails detailing the agency’s involvement in over a dozen assassinations were released to the public by unknown hackers.”

Alexa turned up the volume as Channel 7 News Anchors Brenda Cosgrove and Lance Winters detailed the last 48 hours of Kasper’s activities. WET’s logo appeared on the screen above the anchor’s head as they continued reporting suspicious emails and accounts he brought to light. Thanks to Jennifer, they were able to sift through the larger portion of her blackmail box and find the records that would harm the company the most.

Chapter 03: Helpless

“A, I just got a report that SWAT is on the way. Apparently, the police are getting calls about a possible hostage situation.”

“Great. Anything else I should know? Like, how the hell do I get out of this room?”

“Where are you?”

“Laundry; lots of machines in here.”

“I can work with that,” he said and she could hear his fingers slamming across his keyboard as he pulled up the hotel’s blueprints. “Ok, head to the west wall and tell me if you can hear fans on the other side.”

Chapter 02: Caught in the Act

“Here’s the rundown: President Thompson will be in town for two days. He is making an appearance on Wake the Nation with Martin Stein. Prior to that he will begin his procession downtown then he is scheduled for a small luncheon at the Hyperion Hotel with visiting dignitaries and local politicians before hopping back on his plane and heading for Maryland. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is…”

“To figure out WET’s angle and stop them before they assassinate the United States President,” Alexa interrupted.

“Precisely!” Kasper said with an evil laugh as he drummed the tips of his fingers together. “Sorry. I had a late night—and probably a little too much Mission Impossible.”

“I thought it was good.”

“Yeah? I felt like I went a little heavy on the laugh.”

“Nope! It was perfectly maniacal.”

Chapter 01: Person of Interest

Three weeks had passed and Alexa and Kasper had finally found some semblance of normalcy in their daily routine. While they were no longer being hunted down like dogs, they knew better than to think any of it was actually over. Frank Delacroix’s death left a gap in the hierarchy of WET that needed to be filled, and today was the day she and Kasper learned his—or her identity.

Before he died, Frank alluded to the fact that there was more than one head on the snake; a fact Alexa had already suspected. And while the conversation with him provided few leads, she and Kasper had a good idea where to start: WET’s Board of Directors. They had already successful put one in the ground but, there was still work to be done. The board held more than forty members. They needed to somehow thin the herd, starting with…