Chapter 15

<Gavin Forrester>

The door is slumped against the wall inside like it was kicked off of its hinges. The wood of the door is splintered in some places and the lock has a makeshift picking device in it.

I walk cautiously down the hallway and find the place completely trashed. The pillows are torn open and papers that were once neatly stacked are now littering the floors and countertops. My mind tries to process everything and then I realize something which causes me to race towards my bedroom.

This door is also flung off its hinges. The covers on the bed have been thrown carelessly onto the floor and the mattress is half off the bed frame. Mine and Victoria's duffle bags have been opened and the stuff is all over the floor. I walk towards my duffle bag and get down on my knees to search through everything. All my clothes are here but the files are long gone. I search around the room some more and discover that all my files I'd kept in my apartment as leverage against Talon are gone as well.

Carter was only sent there as a distraction. He was never going to kill us, only keep us away from the house long enough for Talon to get back what he needed.

My hands shake with anger as I shove the mattress back onto its frame and pile up all of my clothes in the corner. I sit down on the bed in shame, frantically thinking of a way to find who did this and get my stuff back.

I stand up after a few minutes of feeling sorry for myself and that's when a new wave of anger rushes over me. I go to the closet where I'd stashed my laptop before leaving and as I'd suspected, it's no longer where I left it. I punch the wall in frustration which doesn't help me calm down at all and only proceeds to hurt my hand. I stalk out of the room and march down to the hall closet where I stashed all my guns.

I hope he took them so I can have the pleasure of killing him with my bare hands.

I unlock the closet and feel a spark of hope inside of me as I discover that my guns are still where they should be. I guess Talon's minions found what they were looking for and left. I reload my handgun and lock a bullet into place just in case I run into Talon or anyone connected to him. With a heavy heart and a guilty conscience, I walk back down the steep steps towards Ainsley's car.

"Where's my file, Gavin?" Ainsley asks sharply.

"Carter was sent there to distract us. He was never going to kill us." I sigh with defeat.

"Talon would never send that piece of crap out on a mission as important as killing you guys." Ainsley mutters bluntly.

"He had people break into Jeffrey's house. They stole all of my files and my laptop. We can never take him down now because he has everything we need to incriminate him. He'll wipe my laptop memory clean and then all will be for naught." I stare down at my lap, my anger subsiding and turning into sadness.

"Gavin, we still have my laptop which has enough information to incriminate him and taking him down only involves shooting him. It's if we want to let the government use the firing squad on him that we need some incriminating information." Ainsley puts the car in drive and speeds away from Jeffrey's house.

"It's all my fault. I knew we never should've left the house but I let my illusion of hope cloud my brain and now look where I've gotten us." I lean my head back on the head rest and exhale deeply.

"It's not all your fault. We were all hoping we had the upper hand but Talon is always one step ahead and we'll have to accept that. Besides this isn't the worst thing that could happen. You're not in prison and we still have a chance. We can't change what's already happened so we just need to move forward." Ainsley sighs as she pulls up in front of her house and lets us all out of the car.

Luckily, her door is still on its hinges which means her computer is most likely still inside. She unlocks the front door and immediately goes to her room to check for everything. She comes back with a computer in her arms and a few pads of legal paper.

"You guys are not leaving until we have a full-proof plan." She sits down at the dining room table and logs into her computer.

The rest of us fill the seats around her and grab pens from a cup in the middle of the table so we can write down ideas.

"Let's begin with those people whom Talon fired." Ainsley pulls up a document on her computer and begins reading names off to us.

~~~~~

Ainsley's living room is filled with ex-employees of Talon's. Apparently Barbados is a popular dumping ground for ex-cons. They are all conversing and drinking the beer that Ainsley made me run to town to get. I cross my arms and glare at her with a 'what do you want to do now' expression. Blaze wolf-whistles to get the attention of the burly, tattooed criminals standing in Ainsley's living room. She silently thanks him and then turns to face all of them.

Ainsley looks like a porcelain doll in comparison to the rough, broad frames of all the men in front of her. She even has to stand up on one of her dining room chairs just to be seen by all of them. I grab Victoria's hand and pull her in close to me, my protective instincts kicking in. I refuse to let her anywhere near these people.

"You all are here because Tenebris Industries screwed you over in one way or another." Ainsley begins but is interrupted by some rowdy guy in the crowd of people.

"Nah, we're all here for you, baby girl." The guy whistles and accepts a round of high-fives from his friends.

"Charming, that's a great way to get laid." Ainsley glares and crosses her arms.

"Really?" His eyebrows raise in surprise.

"Not it's a great way to get your ass shot and served to you on a plate. Don't test me." She smiles sweetly and then continues on with her speech. "We're here to give you a proposition. We want to take down Talon Tenebris and we need some reinforcements."

All of the criminals turn towards her with a look a complete shock as if they never expected to hear the name 'Talon Tenebris' ever again.

"Listen here, we were all backstabbed by that bastard but it doesn't mean we want to get involved in a plot against him. We all got settlements and money to keep our mouths shut. We're done with him and to be honest, we're all better off for it." An older looking man with a gray head of hair crosses his arms and stares at Ainsley.

"How is it that you expect to take down the Talon Tenebris? He may be an asshole but he's a damn smart business person and he knows how to cover his tracks." The guy who flirted with Ainsley smirks at her and waits for her to answer.

"I've hacked into his system and gathered some vital information that could send him to prison for life." Ainsley looks out on the crowd whose ears perk up at the idea of Talon going to prison. "I also know where his headquarters are and how to get in. I, like you, used to work for him but it was a mistake and the only way for me to avenge the deaths of the people I killed is to take out Talon. We have to kill him, for all those people he made us kill."

Ainsley looks smug as she finishes her speech and for the first time tonight the ex-cons seem like they're considering her offer. Victoria clutches onto my arm and gives me an excited look.

"You people can't seriously be considering this plan. Talon Tenebris is a mastermind criminal. Underdogs like us can't take him out. Hell, most of us haven't touched a gun since Talon fired us." The old man from earlier speaks up yet again to poke holes in our plan.

Victoria lets go of me and stands up on a chair next to Ainsley. The guys turn their attention towards her and then she begins to make a speech.

"Talon Tenebris has screwed you guys over but you will never understand the hell that he put me through. He's my biological father but he never loved me or wanted me. I didn't even know he was my father until I found out he wanted me dead a few months ago. He looked me right in the eye and all I saw was hatred. He wanted me dead and he almost succeeded but I was saved by someone who'd been screwed by him even more times than me. Someone who was in the same position as you guys. Talon is a heartless, cruel bastard and he deserves this; you all know he deserves what's coming to him. I'm not saying that this plan is full-proof. No, maybe it's not ideal and maybe it won't work but letting Talon go free makes us all just as bad as him. If we let him go then we are giving him permission to do all this; we make him think this is all okay in a way. We can't let him think that he can walk all over us like this; we can't let him continue. I know this is scary and it's a demon none of us want to face but there are things I'd rather be scared of than Talon Tenebris. Believe me, we'd all be doing the world a favor if we got rid of him." With that Victoria steps down from the chair to a slow, rumbling applause from the sea of ex-cons.

"I think we're in business guys." Ainsley smirks as she grabs a legal pad to begin having people sign up for groups.

Earlier, we'd decided to have groups of various people doing different jobs on the night we take out Talon Tenebris. One group would be look-outs, another would work the computer and gather Intel to leak to the FBI. A different group would stake-out the place a couple of weeks before to make sure we have a pattern established and then there'd be waves of attackers who would infiltrate the building on the actual night of attack. Blaze, Slick and I are the leaders of the three waves of attackers. Ainsley runs the computer group and Jeffrey is in charge of the stake-out.

Ainsley continues to go through the crowd and sign the criminals up for the various groups. Things continue this way for an hour and then people begin to trickle out with promises of coming back in a couple of days to receive their first assignments.

"Gavin, what if they don't come back?" Victoria whispers as the last guy leaves the house.

"Ainsley will hunt them down and make them sorry they ever crossed her." I smirk and begin to collect empty beer bottles from the floor and side tables in the living room.

"You have a lot of faith in her." Victoria observes as she helps me.

"Victoria, I only have faith in her because I know she can do this. I trust her abilities and I know that she's going to make sure we come out on top. She hates Talon just as much as we do." I rub Victoria's cheek and pick up the last beer bottle.

"It was just an observation. I didn't need a reason." Victoria smiles softly and walks off to find a trash bag.

~~~~~

"Gavin, are you sure you guys want to go back to that house? You guys can stay here for tonight; it doesn't bother me." Ainsley is sitting in the front seat of her car as we wait for the rest of my friends to pile up into the back.

"It's fine. We need to go clean up and find new hiding places for the important things Talon left behind. If we don't go back than we let him win because he's scared us into leaving yet again." I stare dead ahead, my frustrated eyes not meeting Ainsley's sympathetic gaze.

"I'll make sure you guys get through this or I'll die trying." Ainsley buckles her seatbelt as Victoria slams the car door behind her.

"Talon isn't worth dying for." I whisper and then bite my lip.

"Let me decide what I'm willing to die for. I got you into this mess and I sure as hell am going to get you out of it." Ainsley gives me a serious look and narrows her eyes.

"Thanks." I say sincerely as she begins to drive towards Jeffrey's house.

We pull up in front of it a few minutes later and we all, including Ainsley, get out.

"What are you doing?" I ask politely and begin to walk up the steep staircase leading to the busted door.

"I'm going to get rid of the cameras and bugs in your house. I brought equipment." Ainsley states like it's completely obvious to the rest of us.

"Okay," I raise an eyebrow and continue my trek towards the door.

We all walk through and Jeffrey shakes his head as if he knew something like this would happen. He picks up some broken statuettes and vases off of the floor and then walks towards the living room.

"Damn, they left no stones unturned apparently." Jeffrey lets out a deep breath and begins to pick up the papers littering the floor.

I rub the back of my neck and feel guilt settle in my stomach. I hate putting people through crap like this for me. I bend down and help to gather the torn pillows from the ground.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ainsley setting up some equipment on the dining room table. She concentrates on putting the wires in the proper places and making sure everything works correctly. I stand up and walk over to the table, taking the seat directly next to her.

"Make yourself useful. Hand me that blue wire." Ainsley points to the wire right in front of me and I pass it to her slowly.

She connects it to her device and it turns on. She picks up the device and types a few codes into her computer before scanning the device over the wall in front of her. It begins beeping and she motions for me to bring her the computer. I do as she wants and then she types in a few more computer codes with her free hand.

"I need my bag." Ainsley points to the messenger bag that's lying on the ground.

I pick it up and the minute it's within her reach, she grabs it. Ainsley searches frantically for something and then she finally finds whatever it is. I watch as she uncaps the pen and makes a mark on the wall right where the machine beeped.

"Hold my laptop while I continue to search for cameras." Ainsley moves on with her search and I follow close behind with a biting curiosity.

~~~~~

It's close to 3 o'clock in the morning by the time Ainsley has located all of the cameras in the house. There's a surprising amount for such a small space and that explains why Talon knew everything that was going on. Victoria is asleep on the couch with Blaze next to her. He's working on his second cup of coffee but I don't think it's doing much to keep him awake.

"Ainsley, we know where all of the cameras are but that doesn't do jack unless we can get rid of them." I cross my arms as she sets her computer and equipment down.

"Don't get all pissy. I know how to get rid of them." She smirks and pulls out a drill along with some pliers.

"How the hell did he actually get them in the wall?" I ask incredulously.

"This is what you get for letting your guard down and leaving the house." Ainsley shrugs and turns her drill on.

"But he knew everything since we arrived. How'd he know this is where we were going to stay?" I direct my gaze towards her as I pick up the device she was using to locate the cameras and bugs. I hold it near my forearm and it begins beeping uncontrollably causing me to drop it.

"Gavin?" Ainsley tilts her head in confusion.

She walks towards me and holds up the device near my arm again. It beeps loudly and this time Victoria wakes up. She looks towards me, still disoriented from disrupted sleep. Ainsley continues to move the device around my forearm until the beep is loud, fast and unbearable.

"I think the asshole chipped you." She mutters in disbelief.

Ainsley takes her pen out and marks where the unbearable beeping occurred.

"We need to remove that." She shakes her head and goes searching through her bag for some other tools.

"You've got to be kidding me. No offense but I refuse to let you anywhere near me with a knife." I back up a little and end up running into the counter.

"I was a pre-med student; I promise I'll be careful." Ainsley takes out some other weird looking device and begins to type away on her computer.

"Is there anything you haven't done?" Victoria shouts irritably as she rises up from the couch.

"Let me put it to you this way," Ainsley mutters, completely ignoring Victoria. "If I don't remove it then Talon will always know where you are, even with the bugs and cameras gone. You'll never be able to escape him."

"I already can't. He knows where I am and even if we do remove it then he'll just find another way to get my whereabouts." I rub the back of my neck, suddenly feeling nauseous that there's a piece of Talon inside of me and it's been there for God only knows how long.

"I think you should let her remove it. We don't need anything else just sitting around waiting to mess our plan up." Victoria pipes in and I give her a look of utter surprise. "I'm sure she'll be careful and if she isn't, she knows I'll make her pay."

I lock my jaw and glare at both of them. Victoria sits me down at one of the dining room chairs and thrusts my arm towards Ainsley who runs the weird device over it. Much to my surprise, an image of the inside of my arm appears on her computer. She bites her lip while typing a few things into her computer and then the contrast of the colors shifts dramatically, making every part of my arm clearly distinguished.

"I may be an awful person but I do have some pretty cool gadgets. See this little blob right there? That's the chip." Ainsley explains in a somber tone. "It's near the surface so the incision should be small..."

"What do you plan on using to operate on me?" I ask through gritted teeth.

"Victoria, get me a first aid kit, some rubbing alcohol and a few cotton balls." Ainsley sends her away and then traces her finger over the vein in my arm. "I promise I won't hurt you. You sacrificed too much for too many people and I won't repay you like that. You need to be here to take out Talon and to pick up the pieces afterwards for everyone but especially Victoria. She needs you more than anything else in the world."

"Are we still talking about my impending surgery or have we moved onto the mission we need to complete?" I smirk and lay my hand on top of hers so she'll stop running her fingers over the vein.

"I just wanted you to know that I'll do my best to keep you around for the people who need you most." Ainsley whispers and takes her hand back.

Victoria walks into the room with a first aid kit and the other supplies Ainsley requested. Blaze, Slick and Jeffrey have realized something is going on and they're now crowding the table.

"Get back." Victoria makes them all sit at the breakfast counter and then she comes back to Ainsley's side.

"Are you sure you want to do something like this at almost 4 in the morning?" I ask, hoping she'll say we can wait until later in the day.

"I'm fine." She snaps and opens up the first aid kit. "Get me a desk lamp."

Victoria complies and grabs a desk lamp that Jeffrey left on the side table in the living room. She turns it on full brightness and adjusts it until Ainsley motions for her to stop.

"We need something to cut with." Ainsley announces as she walks towards the knife block.

"You've got to be kidding me." I shudder at the thought of being operated on by a kitchen knife.

"Sorry to say, I'm not." Ainsley grabs the bottle of rubbing alcohol and then walks back towards the stove. "Get me the tweezers and the needle from the kit."

I grab Victoria's arm as she reaches for the instruments. My eyes plead and beg for her to stop Ainsley but she just turns away and walks back to the stove with the tools. After a few minutes there's water boiling and Ainsley begins the process of sterilizing the surgery tools. She pours the boiling water into a bowl and soaks the instruments in it before rubbing them down with rubbing alcohol.

"Gavin, do you want any pain medicine or are you going to try to be a man and tough it out?" Blaze chuckles and I give him a heated glare.

"He could take a couple shots of whiskey; that's what they did during the civil war, you know the times before pain medicines..." Slick offers up with a small smile.

"Jeffrey, where's your liquor?" Blaze turns towards his brother with a smirk.

"Third cabinet left of the stove." Jeffrey mumbles and looks like he's about to fall asleep in his chair.

Blaze gets up and opens the cabinet. He grabs the bottle and a few shot glasses. He sets a shot next to me and I down it almost instantly.

"Easy there, tiger." He smirks and refills the glass.

I take it slow but the shot still doesn't last as long as I'd like it to. Ainsley comes towards me with a paper towel full of freshly washed tools. She sets them down and grabs 2 pairs of rubber gloves, one for her and the other for Victoria. She preps her station and grabs a stack of gauze pads to mop up all of my blood.

"I'm going to duct tape your wrist down so you won't move during the surgery." Ainsley says in a gentle voice to which I just nod.

The sound of duct tape makes me shudder and soon enough my arm is restrained more than I'd like it to be. She does one final check of where the chip is located before she finally looks ready to begin.

Ainsley puts on a surgical mask and dabs some rubbing alcohol onto a cotton ball. She rubs the cold substance over the upper part of my forearm and my heart begins to race. Blaze pours me another shot and I use my free hand to tip the glass back towards my lips. I hope and pray this dulls the pain.

"Are you ready?" Ainsley asks cautiously.

I nod solemnly and then she holds out her hand where Victoria places the knife.