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Registered User
Currently Offline
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Posts: 225
Join Date: Jan 2008
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John tapped the side of his mask with his left index finger activating the communicator “Mark you reading me?”
“Of course, what do you need?”
“I hate to ask you to do anything illegal but…” he trailed for a moment.
“I’m always up for a challenge John.”
“Good because I need you to hack into the police database and do a search for a criminal who goes by the name Frank the Tank and an organization called the East Coast Mafia.”
“You’re kidding right? You’ve never heard of the East Coast Mafia” Mark said incredulously.
“Should I have?”
“Well if you watched the news it is a name whispered almost nightly by the news anchors in conjunction with some crime or other. I’ll see what the cops have. Hang on a second.”
Mark tapped away on his keyboard watching the information scroll across the screen on his computer terminal. In moments he shouted with joy and began downloading a file.
“Alright John here goes. Frank the Tank is the nickname of a businessman named Franklin Harrier who has been questioned during several investigations but the police never any evidence of his involvement so he has never been charged with any crime. However it is suspected that he is a high-ranking member of the East Coast Mafia, a crime syndicate with a foothold in several major U.S. cities” here Mark took a breath.
The Midnight Avenger waited patiently as he gazed out across the city trying to put his thoughts together when Mark finally finished “I have an address on our Mr. Harrier. 1515 Maplewood Lane. Do you want me to use the GPS uplink to map it out from your current position?”
“No need” John answered “I know the place. The address was in some files my father had. I found it when I went to clean out his office at the precinct. It was there along with some surveillance photos of a house and several people entering and exiting the place. I mapped it out after that just so I knew where it was. This is too much to be a coincidence right?”
“I don’t know. Just because your father was investigating him doesn’t mean he was killed for that.”
“I know but if this organization is as big as it seems then they are either involved or know who is.”
With that information John grappled across the city, making it to the address in record time. The place was surrounded with a fifteen foot concrete wall with Constantine wire running across the top.
“This place looks like a military compound” he whispered for Marks benefit.
He spied through the front gate with his night vision lenses and spotted several guards in black military fatigues carrying AK-47 assault rifles patrolling the yard confirming his assessment. There were also a few guards in suits with ear pieces, shoulder holsters bulging beneath their jackets. They resemble the video he had seen of the Secret Service on TV.
“Man this place is pretty well protected” John whispered angrily “this is going to be tough.”
“Hold on John. Let me get some satellite footage of the place and see if there is an easier way in than going through the front.”
Mere moments later Mark had found the feed he needed “it doesn’t look good John. The wall runs all the way around the place. There are no other gates. And the guards patrol all the way around the perimeter in any case.”
“Damn-it” John muttered.
With that he shot the grappling hook up to the top of the gate and pulled himself up and over. Landing silently on the other side in a crouch he peered around ensuring no one saw him. He was good but had landed right in the path of a patrolling guard. The man hadn’t seen him yet.
The Midnight Avenger moved to the right and behind the guard activating his blade while he did so. Then he stepped up and stabbed the guy in the back dropping him silently to the ground. Dragging him to the shadows so he wouldn’t easily be seen John then moved in a zigzag pattern toward the house. Well it was more of a manor or mansion than a house.
He found his way to the side of the house without any incident. As he crouched staring at a large window he saw someone he recognized. One of the men from his father’s photographs! Maybe this was Franklin Harrier himself? John was about to simply crash through the window when he saw the alarm wire running around the frame.
Before he could look for another way in however a guard was upon him, slamming the butt of his rifle into Midnight’s back, dropping him to the ground. John rolled to his knees and activated his blade again. But before he had a chance to use it, one of the suited guards had a semiautomatic pistol to the back of his head.
“Hands up” the guard said with a slightly Russian accent.
John rose to his feet, with his hands held high, deciphering his options. It didn’t look good. He couldn’t afford for them to unmask him. The guard with the rifle motioned for him to head around to the front door. John did as he was told.
“Awe the Avenger! So glad to finally meet you, my associate told me you were looking to clean up the streets of my city.”
“It’s not your city” John spat underneath his mask “and it was your so called associate that gave me your name Frank!”
“Do not talk to the boss in the tone” the Russian guard said harshly.
Franklin Harrier waved the guy off “yes it is unfortunate that you have come looking for me. My associate has been…since punished for his loose tongue” he concluded.
“John” Mark’s voice came from inside his mask “the police will be there any second I suggest you disappear as soon as you can.”
Sirens blared to life right outside of the gate. The guards turned in shock and looked to their boss for orders. He motioned for them to disappear and they all vanished into the shadows, including the one who had aiming at John.
“Looks like your lucky day Avenger. You better hope we do not meet again!”
John simply stared at him “no you are the one who is lucky. Next time your thugs won’t catch me before I’ve had a chance to interrogate you.”
With that he fired his grappler launching himself over the fence line and into the night. He took the quickest route possible back to the house.
“Man the cops were a lucky break” he said to Mark “I just wished I could have gotten answers.”
“It wasn’t luck my friend. I placed an anonymous phone call when I realized you were caught.”
“I sure am glad I have you watching my back Mark.”
The Midnight Avenger thought long and hard about what had happened and realized he had been careless. He also took a life, it was a first for him and he regretted it. His decision had been a rash one. The more he thought about that the more he hated how much he had become like them. His anger controlled his emotions and for that he was sorry. Sure the man had been one of the bad guys. A gun toting mercenary but that didn’t excuse his own actions.
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