First Chapter

Steve’s eyes darted behind him, his pulse was rushing.  Damn it, they were supposed to be here already he thought.  Off in the distant the wail of sirens drowned out his thoughts.  “We have to get moving, they must have got caught” he said to his brother Andre.  his brother barked back “just give them five more fucking minutes, I swear they will be here.”  Andres heart was racing too, but now was not the time to panic.  They already had the map, scratching the mission now wouldn’t make sense.  We would never make it on foot Andre thought, that was why it was imperative the van picked them up.  They slipped down a dark alley and waited the five minutes Andre promised they would be there.  “I told you, they must have been caught or something” Steve said.  Andre knew his brother was right he just didn’t want to admit it.  Finally he said “well do you have  a better plan other then waiting around for them??”  Of course Steve didn’t have a better plan, hell he didn’t even have a plan.  But that didn’t matter now, now they just needed to get out of there and quick. 





         Ten blocks away at a police barricade a van was over turned and four heavily armed men were trying to hold off the cops as long as they could.  A young man wearing all black moved quickly along side the overturned van where a man in a officer’s uniform was hunched over a box of ammunition arguing something with another man whom he had never met until only a few hours ago.  “Listen John I know you have your pride and all but as far as we know they are probably dead and we will be too if we don’t just turn our selves in now” the man in the officer’s uniform protested.  “No maybe your not hearing me Fred” John countered “they paid us a lot of fucking money to do this damn job and if we don’t do it they will kill us, and I promise you it will be slow and painful” Fred disliked when people talked back to him especially in that tone, but it was neither the time nor the place to argue that point.  They main objective is to acquire a vehicle, pick up the brothers, lose the cops and make it back to the warehouse.  It seemed overwhelming to him but it was something that needed to be done.  If not, well they all knew the consequences if they failed the mission. 





         Sitting at his desk, an FBI agent was working late on another case when his phone rang.  It was late and he thought about not answering because he shouldn’t have been working that late anyways.  His hand hovered over the phone then he finally picked it up and quickly said  “Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Sean James speaking.”  A women with a raspy voice began talking “Yes I’d like to report seeing two men out in the alley way near my apartment complex, and one of them looks like that guy off Americas Most Wanted you know that Andre Von Houser  guy.”  At any given time the FBI usually gets about 5,000 tips a day about things ranging from terrorist attacks to the sighting of Big Foot.  Sean instantly dismissed this as another one of those cases, but something inside him told him to at least write it down and he could have a black and white from the local police department check it out.  He thanked her and hung up the phone and decided that it was time to leave before anyone called about seeing Big Foot. 





         Andre and Steve were now moving fast down the alley way to the open street on the other end.  It had already been  fifteen minutes and the van still hadn’t shown up. Although luckily for them neither had the cops.  But now they were on the move, because they had spotted some lady watching them from her apartment window and decided it would be best to leave before the cops actually did show up.  Now they were out in the street and they had to act fast because Andre knew he was wanted by the FBI and knew it would be only a matter of time before someone recognized him and tipped of the FBI.  They moved gracefully down the street to the intersection when he spotted, out of the corner of his eye, a police car. Andre cursed “Shit the cops! Hide!” Steve and him slid into a nook between two apartments.  They waited till the cop passed then as casually as they could took off running back to the warehouse. 





         Back at the overturned van now only three men stood against the cops and the SWAT team had just arrived.  “Are you fucking kidding me?” one of the men said “this guys are going to slaughter us if we don’t give up now.”  “No we aren’t giving up. I just called for help, they will be here soon to get us out of here” Fred barked back.  Truth was nobody was coming to get them, and this was where they were going to die, because if they didn’t die there and they got captured, Fred could hardly think of what they would do to them.  “Hey Fred come over here” John bellowed from the front of the van.  Fred ran to the front of the van trying to avoid getting shot along the way.  “Got any bright ideas, because I could sure use one right now.” Fred tried joking.  It seemed to have worked because John smirked a minute before saying “Actually, I do Fred, do you still have that crowbar inside the van?”  “Yea sure, what the hell you need that for?” Fred asked curiously.  John looked at him with a smile then looked down at the middle of the van. There, right next to the van, was a manhole.  “I’ll be damned” Fred said laughing to himself.  John broke the moment and said “if we get down there then lose the cops we might have a chance at completing this mission.” “You sure are hell bent on finishing this mission aren’t you John?” Fred said seriously this time.  “I told you what they would do to us if we don’t complete this mission, didn’t I” John said coldly.  This time Fred didn’t say anything, he went and got the crowbar and they all made their way into the sewer in hopes of losing the cops.



         Sean had told the cops to call his cell phone that way he could write his report on what happened.  It was something he was required to do even though he hated it with a passion.  He was glad he was home, his small studio overlooked the outskirts of L.A.  He was happy with it, he had gotten it cheap from a couple who were looking to buy a home and didn’t have much time to sell it.  He sat down on his couch and turned on the TV, the news was on.  The field reporter had just come on and was showing a overturned van in the middle of the road with about a million cop cars on the scene. It didn‘t make sense to him over an accident but then the reporter came on and said “Well Bill, down here on Jefferson Hill, a police chase with the van behind me came to an abrupt stop when it hit the median and turned over on its side. But that’s not the interesting part, Bill,” the reporter continued “after which, four heavily armed men emerged and had an intense firefight with the police before escaping in the manhole shown here”  The cameraman zoomed in on the manhole just as a police officer waved the reporter and the cameraman away from the scene.  Sean wondered if the report on Andre Von Houser and the overturned van was linked in anyway, he figured he would look more into it tomorrow.  It was late and he had a rough day at the office.  He had already gotten up from the couch as he moved to the bedroom. Tomorrow was another day and he had a feeling it would be long day.



         

         The sun was just over the horizon as it made its way lazily into the sky.  Andre and Steve had been running all night but they had finally made it to the warehouse down on the pier.  As they entered the main gate two guards approached them with semi-automatic assault rifles.  “Your late.” One guard said.  “Fuck you.” Steve retorted. “No reason to get your panties in a bunch.” The guard replied jokingly “The boss has been up all night waiting for you guys. I hope you got a good explanation.” Luckily, the brothers did have a good reason why they didn’t make the deadline they were given.  It was that damn van, it should have been there, no mistakes, no excuses or at least that was what they were told.  They entered the run down warehouse through the side entrance as a man in his mid-forties made his way down the stairwell that led to an office.  “Glad you guys could make it” said the man coldly.  “Listen, boss that van you sent, remember it?” Andre said “It never got there.  We had to walk the whole fucking way back here.”  Andre knew he didn’t care that they were late or at least he hoped so.  He had hoped that he was just concerned about this damn map they had been carrying around.  “Do you have it?” the man asked.  Andre spoke up “Yea we got it, you got our money?”  “Of course, what kind of man do you think I am?” The man said as he continued towards them both.  They exchanged handshakes, next they exchanged the maps and the money.  “Pleasure doing business with you gentlemen.” The man said.  “Yea, it was a real blast.” Steve said sarcastically.  The man spoke smoothly but with an edge that made Steve uneasy. “But remember our agreement keep your mouth shut about this whole thing remember?”  “Not a word.” Andre said then as they were walking out the door he turned to the man and asked “If you don’t mind me asking what ever happened to the van?”  The man stopped and looked over his shoulder and said “Don’t you worry about them I will take care of that.”  Neither of them knew what he meant by that, but they both used there imaginations and shuddered at the thought.  They calmly turned back towards the door and walked out. Neither of them spoke to each other.  Andre flipped open his phone and called a taxi. After ten minutes of waiting the taxi arrived outside the warehouse and they got in and drove away with their new found wealth. 





         “Yea real good idea John” Fred said sarcastically as he slipped in a puddle of sludge.  “We lost the cops didn’t we?” John snapped back.  Fred couldn’t argue he was just glad they weren’t getting shot at anymore.  Now all they had to do was find a manhole near the museum and pray to god the brothers were still waiting for them.  John stared upward at the covered manhole. “This should be the one.”  “I hope your right, John. I really don’t want to go to jail.” Fred said flatly.  “Trust me. Besides, if their not up here the cops are the least of our worries.” John said still looking at the manhole.  John was the first one through the manhole, as he climbed into the open air he looked around and couldn’t believe his eyes.  Fred followed suit climbing out behind him, he had the same expression John had.  The man from the warehouse and ten heavily armed bodyguards were waiting for them when they emerged.  Still shocked at what they were seeing the man spoke first.  “I guess you guys didn’t get a chance to watch the news?”  Fred stuttered as he spoke at first “B-B-Boss I can explain everything. I swear on my life.”  The man stared them down coldly then softly told them to get in the car. 



         In the car Fred looked at John with a face of overwhelming fear.  John knew what was going to happen, first they would torture them then they would let them think that was it.  Then boom.  He knew how it worked, he had done it enough himself to know he would never see his wife or kids again.  He let out a deep sigh as the warehouse slowly appeared in the horizon. The car pulled into the warehouse when suddenly Fred grew more erratic, he too knew what was coming, but it didn‘t matter now, it was over for them.  As the warehouse door closed, the faint yelling of a dying man could be heard.

         

         At the FBI building on the corner of Drovewood and Washington, Sean sat at his corner office and contemplated how to ask Jesse out on a date.  Although Sean was a top notch FBI agent, he did not posses the finesse to woo Jessie in anyway.  Sean was convinced though, that today was the day.  He felt confident and his day so far was going well, as he watched Jessie move from her desk to the fax machine he made his move.  “So what’s up Jessie?” Sean asked nervously.  Jesse had always know Sean liked her, she thought he was cute, but his lack of ability to talk to her in any way somewhat annoyed her.  Focusing back on Sean, she said “Just trying to finish the Goodly file.”  Sean thought for a minute. The Goodly file was about some husband in San Diego who hacked up his family then fled to Mexico.  The FBI was still working with the Mexican officials on trying to locate him.  The problem wasn’t finding him more than it was cutting through the red tape.  Sean’s brain had gone off on a tangent and he realized Jesse was still standing there staring at him.  “Oh I am so sorry Jesse, I just lost my train of thought” Sean said now more nervous then ever.  Jessie hoped he just didn’t black out like last time.  After what seemed like an entirety of standing there Sean decided it was now or never.  Just as Jessie was about to speak when he blurted “Do you want to go get some coffee sometime?”  Jessie was a little shocked, but she finally said warily “Sure why not, how about tomorrow at noon?”  “That sounds great.” Sean said proudly.  He had finally done it and she accepted. Already his mind was whirling with thoughts of them together.  His day just had gotten better. 



         Sean wasn’t able to put Andre Von Houser and the police shootout together.  Nobody had known anything about any crimes in the area where he had been seen.  Sean assumed it must have been a drug deal, only because the lady who had called had said that he was with someone in the alleyway.  Sean dismissed the whole thing as anything more elaborate than a drug deal.  He turned his chair back around facing his cubicle and got back to work on his paperwork.



         The air was hot and thick, and Juan was tired of running.  He thought how he and his brethren had got them self in this situation.  The pervious night, they had been sitting behind the safe walls of Porto Bello, but that had all changed.  What had happened was the infamous Henry Morgan had laid his eyes upon the city and decided it would fall at his hand.  Juan thought of how foolish of a man to attack such a well fortified city.  He and many others were hugely mistaken.  The small but determined force of Henry laid siege to the city and before the sunset set into the sky, they had the city, and Juan and others were on the run.  Juan would have gladly stayed and fought to the death, but the padre Olmeda insisted that they flee the city and take a small yet very heavy wooden box.  He had told him to take the box to the city of  San German.  Juan knew it would take them forever to get there but the padre had very precise instructions that they must not fail.  Juan sighed deeply, then trudged on through the thick forest.



         Eddy, Robert’s personal bodyguard stood watch outside the small office inside the warehouse.  “Hey boss what is so important about this damn map you had us kill those men for?” Eddy asked curiously.  Robert glanced him a evil look then shifted his attention back to the map.  “Because, Eddy, this map shows me the way to what is rightfully mine”.  Eddy had prodded him early about they map and had gotten the same look and answer.  He told himself it was none of his business and that he should just keep to himself.  Robert chuckled to himself and let a slight smile show through is cold lips.  He was relieved that he finally had possession of the map.  To long had he craved what was his all along, and for too long people told him he was crazy.  But now he had it all, power, wealth, and most importantly, the map.  He didn’t care about anything else anymore.  He looked up and met eyes with Eddy, who was of course intently watching him.  “Eddy,” Robert spoke tiredly, “you and the men go home and get some rest, you guys deserve it.”  Eddy was relieved to hear that, and as he nodded and began to walk out the door Robert added “You, especially, Eddy, because me and you are going to be busy tomorrow”.  Eddy nodded again and walked out the door, he didn’t want to know about it now, he was tired and just wanted to see his family.  As he got into his car he thought for a moment about what the boss had said.  After a moment, he dismissed it as nothing and started his car and started the long drive home. 



         It was five o‘clock in the morning as Eddy swore, staring at his watch.  He saw Robert standing at the end of the private runway and wondered why he called him so early.  Robert slowly walked over to him with a smile on his face, “Are you tired, Eddy?”  Eddy resented the question, of course he was tired it was five in the fucking morning, but he calmly responded, “Not at all boss, but what are we doing out here?”  Robert didn’t have time to explain, he was too excited over the whole ordeal of yesterday to sleep and all he wanted to do was get to New England.  He dismissed the question and told Eddy to get into the private jet waiting at he end of the runway.  As Eddy stumbled onboard the jet Robert looked at the map one last time, and with a weary smile folded the map, placed it back into his bag and made his way onto the plane.



         “Andre, where the fuck are we headed?” Steve asked with a hint of anger in his voice.  Andre glared back. He wasn’t mad at Steve, he just needed to get this map translated.  Finally, Andre spoke. “Look bro, we just need to get this map translated, I just want to find out what this guy is up too and the only person I know who can read this is Tiffany”.  “Tiffany! You got to be shitting me, there has to be someone else” Steve exclaimed.  Tiffany was Andre’s ex-fiancé and she absolutely hated Steve’s guts, although the feeling was likewise.  As they entered the three story apartment complex Steve stopped at the first step.  “I think I am going to wait here, you go ahead and talk to her” Steve said.  Andre met his gaze and after a moment of contemplating his decision he decided it would be best.  As Andre started up the stairs Steve sat on a nearby bench and waited for Andre’s return. 



         Andre knocked lightly on Tiffany’s door, it was early and he didn’t want to wake anyone else.  After a moment of waiting, a tall, slim woman in her late 20’s answered the door.  Andre’s gaze broke with hers, he couldn’t stand looking her in the eyes.  He still loved her, everything about her.  After a moment of silence Tiffany finally spoke, “What do you want Andre?”  He could sense the high level of intensity in her voice.  Instead of snapping back he spoke softly to her, “I need you to translate something for me Tiff.  I know it is-”.  She cut him off “You mean to tell me you woke me up at seven thirty on a Saturday to translate something?”  He could tell she was upset but he didn’t want any problems with her. He had caused so much pain between them when they were together and this is the last thing he wanted.  “I am sorry Tiff, but I really need this done.” Andre said “it means a lot to me if you could do it for me”.  He didn’t want any bad blood between them, all he wanted to be was her friend now.  Seeing the sincerity in his eyes she could tell he was a changed man.  She invited him in her apartment and told him to sit while she got dressed.  After a few moment’s she came back out of her bedroom in a sweat suit.  “Okay Andre, what do you need me to translate?”  He gave her the map and told her anything she could translate on it would be helpful.  She studied the map intently, she wasn’t a history buff but she could tell that the map pre-dated at least the eighteen hundreds.  She knew most of it, although she was quite curious why he wanted this translated ,she told him what he knew.  With a quick smile and a somewhat awkward hug, Andre left the apartment complex with Steve by his side.   



         Sean paced feverously in the bathroom at the FBI building.  He had put his best suit on for coffee with Jesse today.  His nerves were shot, he had gone to the bathroom an hour ago and it was soon lunch.  Sean walked over to the sink and began splashing his face with water as he thought him self,  get a hold of yourself Sean, it is just coffee not a date or anything.  But it didn’t matter, he had tried ever since he had entered the bureau.  Him and Jesse had gone back to the first day of class.  He remembered how beautiful she looked when she walked into class.  He had felt such strong feelings for her then, and even still now, but she had eluded him until now.  Another man had entered the bathroom while he was daydreaming.  Now back into reality he realized that the sink was overflowing and the man was glaring at him.  Quickly realizing his mistake, he turned off the water and quickly left the bathroom.  Sean looked at his watch, only twenty minutes left and he would be on lunch.  Sean paused as he came to the window at his boss’s office.  He didn’t like his boss, he was a overly fat man who was always breathing heavy as if he just had ran a marathon.  Sean wasn’t into making fun of over weight people, but in his case he made an exception.  Before Sean could hide, Tony, his boss, stepped outside his office.  “Sean!” Tony exclaimed “Have you made any head way on the Goodly file?”  Sean always tried to avoid confrontation with Tony. He admitted he had made little progress over the past week.  Frowning Tony said disappointed, “Well, I hate to tell you but I am going to need you to put in a little overtime on this case Sean.”  Sean knew that was coming but he didn’t expect the next few words out of his mouth.  “that means today, Sean, we are having a meeting with some Mexican officials for lunch today, and I want you to head up the meeting for us.”  Sean’s mouth hung slightly ajar. He couldn’t believe that he had said that.  He had worked so hard to go out with Jesse and he wasn’t going to give in now.  “Bu-t-t-t-t boss I got plans” Sean stammered.  Before he could finish Tony cut him off and told him to be there at twelve thirty sharp.  With his day ruined Sean slumped away to his desk to find a way to tell Jessie he couldn’t go.



         Back at the deserted runway Robert swore silently to himself.  Sorry sir but I can’t fly in this weather.  Robert glared at him sharply and sent him away, he knew it wasn’t his fault but he was to eager to be delayed but such as silly thing like weather.  He glanced over at Eddy who stood alone in the snow next to the airplane.  He liked Eddy, he reminded him of the son he never had.  He was muscular but very lean, he also had dashing good looks, which went well with his kind but very determined attitude.  He never figured out why Eddy had joined the life of crime.  His family had no correlation with any criminal organizations present or past generations.  He just assumed Eddy wanted something different in life and let it go.  Robert looked back at the airport terminal, they would wait to see if this blew over.  He didn’t want to miss the first flight out of this godforsaken place.  He knew that his destiny lay in New England. He glanced back and Eddy and told him to meet him in the terminal when he was ready.  Confirming what he had said, Robert walked with a slight limp into the terminal.  His damn leg was acting up again. He laughed softly remembering how he had gotten the limp.  It was when he was younger, dumber.  He was in the life of crime back then too, and he had been running drugs across the border for several years.  He had never had any problems running the drugs, never any cop problems, nothing.  Until one day he was sailing a yacht packed with five hundred kilos of cocaine into the Florida coast when he was approached by several police officers in a heavily armed rhib boat.  He never forgot the lieutenants name; Peter James. He smirked thinking of his old nemesis’s name.  He had gotten away the first time barely, but him and Peter had repeated encounters but he had always escaped his grasp.  Finally, Robert had killed Peter in a police drug raid several years after his first encounter with him.  Focusing back on the deserted terminal he notice Eddy had entered from the opposite side.  Robert waved him over and told him to make himself comfortable knowing they would be there for a while. 



         Sitting in the terminal Robert swore again this time aloud.  “What’s a matter boss?” Eddy asked.  “Nothing Eddy, I am just tired of waiting for this weather to clear,” Robert responded.  Eddy was tired of waiting, too. It was growing late in the day and they were still waiting for the weather to clear.  He wasn’t bothered by the wait, he was used to it.  Wait here, wait there, it didn’t matter to him just as long as he got to see his family at the end of the day.  He knew that plan was shot, so he sighed slightly and made a make shift bed out of his luggage.  Covering his eyes with his hat he closed his eyes and dreamt of home and better things then waiting in a airport terminal with one of Americas most dangerous men. 



         Eddy always knew Robert was curious in his up bringing.  He had never spoken of it with him for the most part.  He mentioned insignificant details about his life to deter Robert from probing farther into his life.  Eddy was as always very sensitive about his life beyond the confines of his work.  He didn’t like talking about it, and nobody ever seemed to bother him about it, other than Robert.  He didn’t care that Robert probed him about his life, he was more curious why he wanted information about his life.  He had done a preliminary background check before entering his servitude to Robert.  But it was obvious that wasn’t good enough for Robert.  He figured that Robert was more or less just being cautious, he always has been.  Especially when it came to people who get close to him. 



         Coming back to reality, he looked at Robert, only to find him sleeping soundly in one of the armchairs.  Eddy was surprised, Robert had been all too excited over the map he had received only forty eight hours ago.  After a moment Eddy concluded that maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal he had fallen asleep. After all, he had been awake for almost three days now, and Eddy was certain the lack of sleep had slowly brought Robert to the brink of exhaustion.  Laughing quietly to him self, Eddy remembered how Robert reacted when he received the map.  Robert’s eyes had swelled with excitement when Andre had given him the map.  Almost immediately after the thought of Robert’s excitement, Eddy thought of the brothers Andre and Steve.  He wondered where they were, they had known too much and despite what Eddy thought, he knew they must join the ranks of the dead.  It was such a terrible thing to do, to kill someone, but he knew it was for the good. He had called when he was unable to convince Robert to kill them and then reported their last location.  He was certain that they had already been killed, but he had always been cautious especially when it came to this.   



         They had left Tiffany’s apartment complex almost an hour ago, and they were nearly at the safe house when Andre stopped.  “What’s the matter?” Steve asked curiously.  Maybe I am just paranoid, Andre thought, he had notice the men on the other side of the street in polo shirts and khaki pants following them for 3 blocks now.  Andre would have thought nothing of it, that is, if he hadn’t just stolen a map from one of the worlds most prestigious museums.  Now, he was on the run again, after finally getting the cops off his back the heat was on again.  But something unfamiliar threw Andre off about these men.  He could always tell who was a cop and who wasn’t, and these men were definitely not cops.  Steve asked Andre again this time with anger in his voice.  Andre whipped around grabbed Steve by the throat and met Steve‘s glare, “I said are you okay?” Steve said this time sputtering through Andre‘s grasp.  Andre broke eye contact with him, he didn’t mean to be aggressive it was just his nature.  He let go of Steve and apologized quickly “I’m sorry Steve, we just need to hurry up I will explain when we go to the house.”  Steve didn’t argue, he just nodded slightly and the both of them, as inconspicuously as possible made there way to the safe house. 



         “Hurry up” Andre rasped, Steve was fumbling with the keys in the door.  Steve swung the door open with one great push, he was tired of running.  First the police, now a group of men were waiting outside for them.  Andre hadn’t told him but he finally picked up what was going on.  Andre turned to Steve and spoke “Listen, sorry bro but those men following us aren’t cops.”  Steve gave Andre a curious look before asking, “If they weren’t cops, who were they?”  “I’m not sure, but I am sure they aren’t here to help us” Andre responded.  Andre made a quick assessment of the apartment.  It was perfect, except for the fact that four men were waiting outside for them, probably armed.  He wasn’t going to take any chances, he pulled out his glock forty-five and checked the magazine.  He was full, just as he left it.  He knew coming here was a bad idea, especially since they were being followed, but he had a piece of leverage which he planned on using.  Walking towards the closet, leaving Steve in the living room, Andre opened the door and pulled out an M4 assault rifle with extended magazine, reflex scope and silencer. He looked the weapon over; he had missed shooting it.  It was his uncle’s, who was obsessed with collecting weapons fearing the commies were still coming.  He loaded the weapon, walked back into the living room.  Steve was still standing there, this time, the trepidation apparent on his face.  “What are you going to do with that?” Steve stuttered.  Andre smiled grimly and retorted “You’ll see little bro, you’ll see”. 



         Andre caressed the smooth stock system, the weapon was flat black.  He loved the way the gun felt in his hands.  He enjoyed killing, he didn’t do it unless he had too, and this was a time he had too.  Outside he heard the shuffle of feet moving up the door way.  The men sounded professional, no voices were heard they must have been using sign language.  Andre loaded the weapon, he motioned for Steve to ready his weapon.  Steve hesitated then reluctantly unsheathed his weapon beneath his knee.  Andre could tell Steve was nervous. He couldn’t blame him though, so was he.  He motioned again for Steve to take up position inside the kitchen which provided ample coverage for him to watch the door.  Andre himself took up refuge behind the couch on the opposite side of the room.  He hoped to draw the men in and confuse them in a reign of cross fire.  A bead of sweat rolled down Steve’s face onto the floor.  He was afraid, it was something he couldn’t stop.  He glanced over at Andre who was intently watching the door for movement.  He thought for a moment on how sleek and powerful Andre really was.  He was proud of his brother, proud how he had served his country all those years.  But a streak of anger overwhelmed Steve, his brother served his country, but was framed and stuck with falsified allegations of mass murder.  After hearing of this, Andre had fled and went into hiding.  Steve had given him refuge until the government had started probing him.  Now it seemed that someone wanted both of them erased.  He had assumed they were government agents here to finish a job that had been a nuisance to some political official, he was gravely mistaken. 



         The door knob slowly turned and the door revealing a sliver of light from the hallway.  Behind the couch, Andre watched as the barrel of an AR-15 slipped slowly into the living room.  Andre laughed silently to himself, he should have known that they would of brought heavy firepower.  The one man had been carrying a bag.  It didn’t matter now though, all that mattered was killing these pawns and escaping before anymore arrived.  The first man slipped into the room, sweeping left to right.  The man stopped and knelt in his current position then motioned for the others to follow.  The second man slowly fell in behind the first, then the third, then finally, the fourth.  Andre was glad, Steve hadn’t opened fire immediately, the first man was a decoy to lure them into a gun fight leaving the men in the hallway with better protection than in the open air of the living room.  Andre’s spine tingled slightly, he knew this was the time.  He aimed down the scope of his gun and squeezed off the first few rounds.  The bullets hit the second man in the head, killing him instantly.  The next barrage hit the third man in the left leg grounding him.  Steve had commenced fire immediately after Andre’s first rounds were let loose.  In a state of confusion the men made their way back towards the hallway firing blindly at the unseen enemy.  On the ground, two men now laid dead. The two others were now in the hallway reloading and reorganizing.  He knew the second attempt would not be as foolish and they may wait for reinforcements to arrive.  But it seemed unlikely, now that screams could be heard from nearby tenants. Everyone there knew it was only a matter of time before the police arrived.  Andre waited patiently for the men to commence the second assault.  Outside he could hear heavy breathing from the men, Andre laughed, this time out loud, the men were getting nervous now that their numbers were reduced to half.  Steve glanced warily over at Andre then refocused on the door.  He had hit the third man as he fell from the wound to the leg.  Steve and shot him in the chest. He was ashamed of killing someone, but he knew it was necessary. 



         Before Steve could react a hockey puck shaped object slid across the room and exploded into a cloud of bright lights and sharp sudden noises.  Luckily Andre had reacted in time, partially due to the fact he knew what it was.  The object was a flash grenade.  It wasn’t lethal, it was just used to stun and confuse the enemy.  Although Andre evaded it’s effects, Steve was not so lucky, he fell to the ground behind the counters in the kitchen and cupped his eyes.  Before Steve could recover the two men entered the room.  Andre automatically opened fire on the two men.  He had gotten luckily and killed the first man and wounded the second man.  After a moment of silence Andre slowly peered around the couch at the men who laid motionless on the ground.  He got to his feet and moved slowly towards the men.  The last man to be hit was still breathing, although very shallow and rapid, but the man was still alive.  Steve had gotten up after the sound of gunfire was silenced.  He had saw Andre kneeling down next to one of the men, he was asking him something, he just couldn’t tell what.  His ears still rung from the sound of the flash grenade.  He moved towards Andre stumbling partly along the way.  He could finally hear what he was saying, “Who sent you?” Andre demanded.  The man laid there silently staring at both of them.  He would never give them any information and he was glad to die for his cause, even though he had failed.  The man’s face drew a slight smile. With that Andre had had enough, raising the rifle to his shoulder, he knew the man would never talk and the police would be here shortly.  With a squeeze of the trigger he put a carefully placed bullet into the mans head, killing him instantly.  Looking up at Steve, Andre dropped the gun knowing he couldn’t take it with him.  He turned towards the door with Steve behind him they both made their way outside into the afternoon heat and trekked hastily through the winding streets for the next destination Boston, Massachusetts. 



         Sean sat in his office chair, staring blankly into his computer screen.  He had just finished his meeting with the Mexican officials, which went smoother than what he expected.  The officials had reported they actually had made progress in the Goodly file.  Generally, Sean would have been more excited over the progression but having to cancel his lunch with Jessie was devastating to him.  He blinked lightly before realizing that Jessie was staring at him.  “You okay, Sean?” Jessie asked.  He smiled at her, although he didn’t make eye contact with her.  He felt angry with himself over lunch.  Finally after a moment of silence Sean finally spoke softly, “Listen, Jessie about lunch-”.  She placed her fingers against his lips cutting him off mid sentence.  Returning the smile, she responded ,“Don’t worry about it, Sean. We will have lunch another day”.  She was starting to like him more and more, she asked herself why.  She had assumed it was his sudden spark in self confidence.  She liked confident men and finally Sean had somehow realized that.  She gazed into his eyes which now matched hers before asking, “How about Saturday night, dinner my place, eight o’clock.”  She thought Sean was going to die, for a moment she thought she could see his heart trying to escape his chest.  She giggled lightly to herself at the notion of his heart leaping out of his chest.  Finally after what seemed like an eternity Sean nodded his head rapidly and responded with as much composure as he could muster, “Yeah sure, that sounds great, I will be there.”  After a moment Jessie broke eye contact and decided it was best to get back to work, Sean agreed he had a lot of work ahead of him and he wanted to get done early so he could get ready for Saturday night.  After Jessie disappeared out of sight Sean melted into his chair.  He almost passed out when she had asked him that, using everything he had to stay conscious he had succeeded at scoring a second date with her.  This time nothing would stand in his way, or so he thought. 



         Sean typed rapidly on his keyboard, he was almost done for the day and he was still excited over the day’s early event.  Knocking over his cup full of pen’s and pencils Sean was startled by the ring of his phone.  He ignored the pencils rolling about on the floor and answered the phone.  Before he could identify himself on the phone as he was trained to, Tony commenced yelling at him over the phone.  Sean could hardly understand what he was saying and he was still trying to obtain a grasp on the situation.  Finally after Tony ceased yelling, he spoke at a less elevated level.  “Sean, listen to me.” Tony said, “If you don’t get your fucking ass down to the apartment complex down on Ellwood and Baxter, I am going to shove my foot up your ass.” Tony immediately hung up the phone before Sean had a chance to respond.  He had gotten the majority of what Tony had said, other than what he had said last.  Apparently he had been mistaken in his accusation of  the man in the alleyway as not being Andre Von Houser.  The man had actually been Andre Von Houser and his bother Steve Von Houser.  Not only was he wrong about that, but to make matters worse they had been involved in a shoot out with four men in an apartment complex which left all four men dead and dozens of innocent bystanders afraid to return to their homes.  Sean let his head fall back in his seat, he had wondered how his day had gone from fantastic to the worst day of his life in less than an hour.   



         Sean slowed down as he approached the police barricade which was blocking off the apartment complex.  Coming to a halt, the police officer approached the suburban as Sean rolled down the window.  Before the cop could proceed with his standard bombardment of questions Sean flashed his FBI badge.  The officer saluted smartly and motioned for the barricade to be moved out of the way.  After a moment the barricade was removed from Sean’s path and he proceeded cautiously into the crime scene.  He parked the standard FBI suburban next to the other government vehicles inside a café across from the complex.  Sean slid his sunglasses on as he made his way across the street to the scene.  At the front of the building stood two other agents who seemed to be interrogating a local tenet of the apartments.  He couldn’t tell who they worked for at a distant, smirking to himself he stared at the two men for a moment examining them head to toe he thought the two men looked like they were stuck in the 80’s with there brown suits and dark wavy hair. He assumed they worked for either the FBI, homeland security or some other government agency, which there seemed to be thousands of anymore.  As Sean approached the two men one of the turned and greeted him with a smile and an extended arm. He said, “Hello, my name is Bill Turner and this is my partner Kevin Williams.”  Sean introduced himself to the two men and asked for an update on the current situation.  The two men looked at each other before Kevin finally spoke, “Well it seems that according to eye witnesses two men entered the apartment complex approximately two hours ago.  After which, four men had followed them likewise into the complex.  According to the landlord who we just spoke with, gun fire had erupted about fifteen to twenty minutes after the men entered the building.  After which the two original men were spotted leaving the scene on foot heading north.”  Pausing momentarily, Sean took the opportunity to ask for a description of two men.  This time Bill took over with a detailed description of what Andre Von Houser and his brother Steve looked like.  Swallowing a lump of excitement and dread, Sean thanked the two men before flipping open his phone as he walked back to the suburban.  Although his day was long from over, at least he had a lead on one of America’s most wanted criminals.  Sean’s thoughts drifted off on a tangent as he thought of apprehending Andre Von Houser and his brother.  He thought of how well renowned he would be for capturing them.  Shaking off his dreams he focused back on reality realizing that time was of the essence. 



         With the storm finally subsiding Eddy compulsively made sure everything was onboard and accounted for before they took off.  He always liked to be very meticulous when it came to most things.  He was organized man and very proud of it.  As he strayed his attention from the luggage to the plane he realized Robert was staring at him.  He smiled lightly at Robert and brushed lightly past Robert as he boarded the new sleek S-70 private jet plane.  Although he didn’t enjoy leaving his family for travel he didn’t mind the way he got there.  The plane was brand new; still had the new jet smell.  Eddy looked around the small plane only to see a stewardess politely smiling his way and Roberts long island iced tea sitting in a cup holder in the seat nearest to him. After deciding which seat to sit in, he ordered a ginger ale.  He didn’t like to drink while flying it always made his stomach upset.  After settling in two seats to the right of Roberts seat, he sipped lightly at his ginger ale which the stewardess had delivered with lightning speed to his seat.  Robert eventually came on board after sucking up some last fresh air.  He didn’t like flying either but it was the quickest way to travel now a days.  Besides, he would do anything to get to Boston; that’s were his glory had long eluded him. 



         Finally reaching the coast Juan laid the box on the sandy beach and slumped beside a palm tree.  He was exhausted from making his way through the jungle; it had been a long a perilous journey to the coast.  They had lost two of the six men who had escaped. One was bitten by a venomous snake and the other fell into a spike pit set by the local natives for animals.  After taking in everything that had happened Juan sighed heavily and finally stood up and gathered the men.  They had no time to waste, they must build a makeshift ship and pray by the grace of god that they would make it to San German.  After discussing it with his compadre’s they decided that it would be the best plan, considering Henry Morgan himself was at this minute tracking them through this forest. 



         Andre speed cautiously on interstate 95 heading into Boston with Steve riding shotgun.  They hijacked a low grade car out of the slums back in San Francisco.  Which was exactly what Andre wanted that way there was no low jack which meant there was no way of tracking it.  Besides he figured they wouldn’t report it considering there were three pounds of Columbia’s finest underneath a blanket in the back.  Deciding it was best Andre had ditched the drugs back in a rest stop in Oklahoma.  But none of that mattered now because they were about to reach there destination.  Slowing down to five under the speed limit just to be precautious, they cruised through the different neighborhoods in the city.  Finally arriving on at their destination they looked up at the Old North Church. “195 Salem St, that’s our place” Steve announced.  Letting out a long sigh Andre looked for a quiet place to park their car.  Even though he figured no one would ever report the vehicle he took no chances.  Parking the car in a near by alley way he and Steve exited the vehicle and made their way across the busy street to the church entrance.