G Hopf - Driver 8 - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel

“Deal, like I said, I’ll go in, grab him and bring him back,” Tommy said.

“Anything else you’d like to tell me?” Kyle snarled.

“There’s one more thing.”

Kyle rolled his eyes.

“A team from The Underground will accompany us,” Tommy said.

“No, they’ll just get in the way.”

“Here’s the situation, they…”

A door opening sounded from the front of the house.

Tommy grabbed his Kimber 1911 and stood against the wall near the bedroom door.

Kyle picked up the rifle leaning against the bed and shouldered it.

Three distinct voices were talking and laughing from the front room.

Tommy recognized one of the voices and called out, “Cal, is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s us,” Cal replied.

Tommy opened the door to the bedroom and a flood of light poured in from lanterns the three were holding. “You’re early.”

Cal, a tall slender man with light brown hair, walked in first, followed by another man named Eric and a woman named Dana. Eric was of average build, and Dana was short by any standard, standing no taller than five foot but incredibly attractive with long black hair.

Dana came in and spotted Kyle right away. “He’s alive, look guys, it’s Driver Eight.”

Kyle held the rifle, muzzle down and nodded at the three.

Cal walked over to Kyle and put out his hand, “Nice to meet the now infamous Driver Eight.”

Eric and Dana walked over and stood staring like groupies at a rock concert.

Kyle took Cal’s hand and bluntly said, “I don’t think it’s a good idea you come with us.”

“Huh?” Cal shrugged and looked at Tommy. “What’s this?”

“I’ve known him a long time, he’s particular,” Tommy replied.

“No deal, we go with you, plus we have critical information you need,” Cal informed.

“Tell us what you know and then maybe we can consider it,” Kyle replied his face stoic.

“Tommy, he’s not even part of this operation, we signed Leviathan, and last I checked Driver Eight wasn’t with your syndicate.”

“He’s been made an honorary member,” Tommy answered firmly.

“We’re going, and that’s final,” Cal insisted. The other two stood behind him wide eyed and confused by what was occurring.

“We’ve got this, we don’t need amateurs holding us up,” Kyle snarled.

“I’ll have you know I’ve been with The Underground for five years,” Cal barked.

“And you’ve accomplished nothing but alienating many residents with your tactics,” Kyle snapped back.

“If we don’t go this operation is off,” Cal fired back.

“Fine,” Kyle said.

“And we know where he is, you don’t!” Cal barked.

Tommy stepped forward, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, everyone chill out. Come here,” he said taking Kyle by the arm and walking him away. He leaned in and whispered, “I need this to go forward.”

“Why?” Kyle asked, a bit shocked to hear that.

“The payment is a truck load of food. Some of my Leviathan brothers need it for a trip they’re going on,” Tommy said.

“Leviathan people?” Kyle asked.

“Yeah, it’s a long story but some of my brothers are tapping out, heading somewhere, far away from here. They’re counting on me to bring the food back.”

“Fine, they can come, but they keep out of my way.”

“Brother, we’ll find your wife…together,” Tommy said putting his hand on Kyle’s shoulder.

“Thanks,” Kyle said.

Tommy walked around Kyle and over to Cal. “We’re a go.”

Cal nodded and faced Kyle. “I don’t care what you think about me or my people. We’re good people with noble intentions. Once we have removed Number Two, we can begin the process of creating a new society built on freedom and expression.”

“Once I’ve gotten what I want out of Barry, I’m gone, I don’t give two shits what new society you’ll form. History is replete with examples of one tyrant overthrowing another,” Kyle said.

“We’re not tyrants.”

“Spare me the sermon,” Kyle said.

“You’re rude!” Dana snapped, the glow and excitement on her face when she met Kyle was replaced with contempt.

Tommy laid out a map, pointed to the culvert and said, “We think this could be a good access point.”

The three Underground members looked at each other and began to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Tommy asked.

“First, there’s a better way to sneak into Prime if you need to without getting covered in shit and secondly, Number Two’s not even there, he’s up at the Lair.”

“What’s the Lair?” Tommy asked.

“The old Ritz hotel,” Kyle said. “Good, it’ll be easier to get him. I need you three to know that we do this according to my plan and the first item is, you can’t kill him until after I’ve gotten what information I need out of him.”

They each looked at each other and nodded.

“I suppose you’re looking for you wife?” Dana asked.

“Yeah, what do you know about it?” Kyle asked.

“I don’t know for sure but I’ve heard they have several trading partners for slaves. One in the RMR, one in the Sinaloa Cartel territory and one in New Texas, Amarillo station,” Dana said with confidence.

“Do you know where?” Kyle asked hoping he could just bypass going after Barry and leave directly to go find Portia.

“I only know Amarillo Station as a specific locale, I’m not sure about the other two and I should be honest that I only got this second hand. Who knows what’s accurate?” Dana said.

“In the event Number Two is incapacitated, his right hand person, Cisco probably knows,” Cal said.

“Who the hell is Cisco?” Kyle asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” Cal said.

“I want Barry, period. He knows for sure, so again, he’s mine until I get what I want out of him.”

Cal gave the other two a look and faced Kyle, “You have our word, but if you want this to go smoothly you’ll need to follow our plan.”

“No way,” Kyle insisted.

“Then tell me how you plan on getting in there? He must have fifty guards posted on the outside and inside,” Cal said.

“If I remember right…”

Cal stopped him and said, “Dana here is Cook-Twenty-two and guess where she’s assigned?”

“The Lair," Kyle answered.

“Yes. Are you ready to listen to our plan?”

Tommy couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Kyle cut him a look and said, “Go ahead, I’m all ears.”

“Dana has a shift starting in two hours, but she normally goes in early to do prep work. Actually, Dana why don’t you explain what we’re going to do.”

“Before you do that, if you have this nailed down, why did you call Leviathan?” Tommy asked.

The three looked at each other with Cal explaining, “Because we need to make sure it gets done.”

“That means you don’t have a plan once we get inside?” Kyle asked.

“There are so many guards inside, we figured we needed a highly trained assassin versus, you know, us,” Cal said pointing at himself and the other two.

“Dana gets us in and from there you’re clueless?” Tommy asked.

“Not clueless, just outgunned,” Cal confessed.

“Here’s what I need to know, where is he in the building and what is the most direct route to him without taking the main elevators or the stairs which I presume will be guarded,” Tommy said.

“There’s a service elevator near the back. I’ll be driving a produce truck on site, you’ll hide underneath some boxes in the back. Once we’re in the loading dock area I’ll take you to a service elevator. Number Two is on the fifth floor,” Dana replied.

“And where’s his room from this service elevator?” Tommy asked.

“You’ll exit the elevator and turn right, you won’t miss where the room is because it’s heavily guarded,” Dana replied.