The Name is Bond, Ezra Bond By Nadine

*Crossover with 007 Universe* Page 1 \| Page 2 \| Page 3 \| Page 4 Earnst Stavro Blowfeld sat stroking the long haired Persian that sat purring in his lap. Dwight Hamit stood off to one side talking on his cell-phone. Hamit closed the connection. "You have the names of the two individuals spying on us." Blowfeld made it a statement not a question. "Yes, they’re staying at the Mountain High Hotel in town. Our operative there gave us the names James Bond and Felix Leiter. They’re the only ones who asked about the trails and they matched the descriptions." "Do you know who those two gentlemen are Mr. Hamit?" Getting no reply from him, Blowfeld went on. "Leiter is CIA and Bond is with British intelligence. We need to know what they’re up to. Take them alive, I want to question them." "I’ll send men to the hotel to take them now." Hamit reopened his cell-phone. Blowfeld stopped him. "Not at the hotel, wait till they leave and follow them. Find out if they have help in the area and if so who. We don’t want the locals asking questions and getting under foot. When the Chosen sat up operations here they should have made taking control of the local law it’s first priority. Now you have to work around them." "What if Bond and Leiter don’t go out?" asked Hamit. "They will, Bond doesn’t play it safe. Take as many men as you’ll need but get me Bond," Blowfeld told him. ++++++++++++++++++++ Ezra and Vin made their way back to the hotel. Their landing in the middle of the Town Square had been taken as a publicity stunt. The brightly colored paragliders had folded up into surprisingly small packets. The agents had carried them tucked up under their jackets leaving the town square quickly before the sheriff arrived. Once back in their own rooms they checked them over with one of Q’s toys for any listening devices or surveillance cameras. Finding none, they relaxed and ordered a late lunch from room service. "What do we do now?" Asked Vin when he had finished eating. He was eyeing Ezra’s desert, the one that Ez hadn’t touched. "We’ve gotten their attention, they now know James Bond is here even if they don’t know it’s you and they know we suspect that Spectre is here working with the Chosen." "Since our function in this operation is to guide as many of our adversaries away from their headquarters as possible for our colleagues to penetrate said institution, we will carry on with our activities of distracting our opponents." Vin tilted his head and stared at his co-worker. "It just sounds weird to hear an English accent coming out of that southern mouth of yours. I keep wanting to check on who I’m working with, it’s confusing." Ezra threw his napkin at Vin as he pushed his dessert over to the sugar addicted Texan. "It doesn’t take much to get you in that condition." Vin smiled as he accepted the dessert. Ezra continued talking "We shall kept the Chosen and Spectre’s people busy with us." "Sounds good, how are we going to do that?" questioned the Texan. "Feel up to seeing some of the local sights? There is that little pub where the Chosen people were arrested." "Showing up at one of their hangouts might not be a bad idea. There’s got to be at least one hothead in the group that will start a fight over something, especially after a few drinks." Vin said with a grin, "I ain’t been in a good bar-room brawl in a long time." "I’ll be sure to tell our illustrious leader that if he has to bail us out." "Heck, we can start the fight and them take off. The Aston-Martin can out run anything around here." Ezra raised an eyebrow at that statement and asked in a shocked voice. "Are you sir, a member of good standing in the law enforcement community, planning to start a bar-room brawl?" Vin answered with a look of pure innocence on his face. "Who me? I plan to let the limey start it" ++++++++++++++++++++ It was still daylight when Felix Leiter entered the house the local sheriff had found for the team in the small town. Felix had approached her after making sure of her loyalties. Sheriff Scott had been the one to arrest the Chosen members after a brawl in a local bar. She wanted the group out of her town and was willing to help in anyway she could. Apparently the Chosen had been making itself known around town and the tourist trade was down because of it. Few travel agents wanted to expose their customers to that kind of trouble. The town was hurting from the lack of business; many of the rental properties in the area were empty, so the group was able to have this four-bedroom two-story house for their use. He heard voices coming from the kitchen; he wasn’t surprised to find the team gathered there. The usual space given to the family room had been added to the kitchen instead. Whoever had designed the room must of have had a large family in mind when they build the place. Felix counted heads, there was one missing. "Where’s Chris?" Buck pointed to a roll of monitors behind him on a counter top. JD had set up cameras to show the outside of the house from all four sides. The AFT team leader was on the back porch standing beside a grill cooking. "Kind of cold outside for that isn’t it?" asked Felix who still hadn’t gotten warm from his short walk from his car to the house. Josiah handed him a cup of coffee as he took a seat at the long table. "Brother Chris needed some time to himself to work through some homicidal urges." At that the CIA agent looked over at his British counterpart for answers. "Apparently our young friends didn’t bother to inform their leader of some of Q’s little extras added to their ski wear. Watching two of his men leap off a cliff unsettled him somewhat." "They didn’t really?" Nathan asked Buck again; Nathan had heard the story earlier but couldn’t bring himself to believe it. "Yep, they sure did, shot off the cliff like a rocket and the fools behind them followed, only they didn’t have paragliders. Fell like a ton of bricks, thought Chris was going to have a heart attack." The man in question came in with a platter of steaks. As Felix and James sat there the other four men got dinner on the table. Within minutes there was a salad, dinner rolls and baked potatoes with all the fixings to go with the meal. This was a well-oiled team used to long stakeouts and dealing with the problem of keeping themselves fed. Josiah, aware of what Felix was thinking, explained. "Since there’s a kitchen we decided to make use of it. You can get mighty tired of take out after a while." JD added to the discussion. "We all got things we can cook well, so we take turns with the cooking and cleanup. Except for Nathan that is he can’t boil water without burning it so he gets clean up more often or buys take-out when it’s his turn to cook." The food was good; Chris’ specialty must be the grill decided Felix. Over dessert Felix asked how the day’s re-com of the area around the lodge went. Buck brought Felix up to date on what they had found. "The place doesn’t seen to be to heavily guarded unless they’re all inside. They probably don’t think they need it. The lodge sits on the top of that gorge and it’s a shear drop off to the ground below. The only road up there is long and winding coming up from the other side of the mountains. Steep too, they would see us coming long before we got there. The mountains on each side are a little taller but the ground cover is sparse between them and the lodge: like they cleared it out so no one could sneak up on them. We also found the usual infra-red warning devices guarding the adjacent grounds round the building." James added to Buck’s information. "The only delivery we saw taking place when we were out there was a truck bringing in tanks of propane. That may come in handy if we have to destroy the place. The sooner we find a way in the sooner we can put a end to the threat of the virus." Chris asked James. "What do you think Blowfeld will do now?" "He knows we’re here somewhere in the area. He wouldn’t expect his dealing with the Chosen to go unnoticed by your government or mine. Or that we would let what he’s doing go unchallenged. I’m sure the stunt the boys pulled today got his attention. The names Bond and Leiter will make him curious about how much we do know. Nor would I put it past him to had have this all planned out as some sort of a test to see how the governments of the world would react to his threat of a worldwide plague." "We have to stop this madman, brothers, at whatever the cost." Josiah said as he and Buck cleaned a place on the table to lay out the maps of the lodge. They studied them shaking their heads, this wasn’t going to be easy. There were too many of them to hike in unnoticed and the back road would leave them too exposed. JD kept returning to the picture showing the lift going up from the bottom of the gorge to the top of the mountain. Getting up he went to his computer placed on a small desk next to the phone. He had insisted on bringing his own unit from home as well as his laptop. Turning them both on, his fingers flew across the keyboard as he searched for what he was looking for. "Where there’s a will there’s a way." He whispered to himself as he kept digging. "Yes there it is." All talking stopped when the men realized what JD was doing. Buck walked over and softly asked. "JD what did you find?" "The back door." He answered pointing to the screen. All Buck saw was a lot of numbers and symbols, he said as much. As he watched, JD touched a few more keys and suddenly the screen showed the interior of the gatehouse that sheltered the lift at the bottom of the gorge. "Why don’t we take the lift’s cable car up?" How did you do that and can you control the security system as well?" asked the man from the CIA. "I found that the Lodge has a satellite connection to the Internet. There are ways to tap into signals broadcasting off of any open source if you know how. The signals are flying around out in the air anyway, I just make a point of picking them up and using that to gain entrance to the rest. Who ever designed their firewalls isn’t in my league. I can control their systems, run the lift or turn off any alarms." JD patted his desktop. "I made this computer myself and programmed it to do a lot of things that would be illegal if I weren’t working for the government. While I was putting up the cameras outside I also put up a few high grade antennas, just in case I needed them." Buck looked at the man he thought of as his little brother with pride as he explained what he had done to the others. Buck didn’t understand half of it but if JD said it worked that was good enough for him. Felix was impressed by what the young man had done as well. "In that case gentlemen, I say tomorrow night we pay a visit to Spectre, " said Felix Leiter. "Why not tonight?" Asked Chris as he sat back in his chair. Turning to JD he asked. "Do you have everything you need to take over their security system?" "Yeah, I can feed the program into my laptop and override their system from it. Once we get inside it’s only a matter of logging on to their PC and downloading from there." Chris smiled, "Good work JD, let’s get this planned out. I’m getting a feeling we don’t have much time left." Chris addressed James and Felix, "You two got any objection to that?" "None, Blowfeld will only take advantage of any time we give him." James told the team. "Than we go tonight." ++++++++++++++++++++ Ezra and Vin took turns sleeping, wanting to get as much rest as possible knowing that the night was going to be a long one, not knowing when they’d get a chance to rest again. The same reason made them eat dinner even though neither was hungry. As they dressed there was a knock at the door. Vin came to the doorway that joined their two rooms with his gun in hand. Ezra walked to his door, standing to one side he called out. "Who is it?" An English voice called back. "I have a delivery for Mr. Bond from his tailor." Ezra and Vin exchanged glances; that sounded like Q. Ezra slowly opened the door and sure enough there stood Q with a suit bag in his hands. Ezra stepped back and allowed Q to enter. He strolled to the center of the room. Tossing the suit bag on the bed he held up his hand to forestall their questions. Pulling out a square device from his pocket he checked the room much the same as they had earlier. "All clear," Q finally said. Vin came into Ezra’s room putting his gun back in its holster. "We did that when we first got back." "You can never be too paranoid out in the field," said Q as he took in the room, he seemed to be looking for something. "I was told you found my ski jackets useful today. The replacements are in the bag." Pointing to the bed. "I don’t suppose you managed to bring any part of the equipment back? Left them on the mountain side most likely." "No we didn’t, they’re in the closet, give me a minute I’ll get them for ya." Vin walked over to the closet and picked the jackets up off the floor. The used paragliders were still bundled inside. "They need to be repacked, but everything’s all here." Q’s eyebrows went up his forehead in surprise. "You brought back my equipment and it’s in one piece as well." He checked them as he started to pack the paragliders inside of the now empty suit bag. "I don’t supposed you could talk to 007 about his habit of losing equipment could you?" Q asked hopefully. Ezra had a troubling thought, "How did you find out about us using the paragliders today?" "You were observed by 007 while he, Mr. Larabee and Mr. Wilmington were doing a re-con of the lodge. Your Mr. Larabee was quite upset I am told." "Aw hell, Ez he’s going to kill us." Ezra could only shake his head in agreement. Q picked up the suit bag and headed for the door. Stopping he addressed the pair. "I was asked to pass on a request from your brothers." Making sure he had their attention. "Tonight would be a good time for an all night party away from home. Be sure to invite the neighbors. I assume you gentlemen know what that means." "Yes, we already have plans for a big blow out tonight." Vin told Q, "Please asked our brothers to be careful." ++++++++++++++++++++ The Moosetail saloon was a large one story square building that seemed to be squatting in a field just outside of town. A gravel drive lead to the parking lot that was already starting to fill up as the Aston Martin pulled in. Acting as if they were looking for a safe parking space for their fancy car, Vin circled the building checking it out. The front of the tavern was covered in bright neon lights proclaiming all the wonders to be found inside, as well as every brand of beer that could be bought this side of the Mississippi. The sides were windowless, the far side of the building had its widows painted over. There was a small yard behind back door that was fenced in by a tall chain link fence. Numerous cardboard boxes and wooden crates filled that space. "Looks like any other redneck bar I’ve been in," said Vin. "Please I’d rather not think about that. You and the others have dragged me into enough cowboy establishments to last me a lifetime. We’re here to be a distraction. There should be a few of the Chosen’s rank and file here who can alert their brethren to our presence." Vin parked the Aston Martin on the outer edge of the lot so as not to be boxed in. "What about the locals? Think we’ll find any of the town folks here?" posed Vin as they walked to front of the saloon. "Of course, they’ll probably enjoy the up coming brawl as much as you will." Ezra held the door open as they entered. The saloon was well lit for a bar. The cavern-like room was half full of patrons either sitting at the bar or at tables stationed around an open dance floor. A band was playing country and western songs up on a stage in the back. "Look the stage is not fenced in. That’s a sign of a classy bar." Vin pointed out to Ezra. Ezra only gave him a dirty look at the information as he tried to judge the crowd. Everyone was drinking, it wouldn’t take much to get hostility initiated. A hostess dressed in cowgirl chic walked up to the pair and asked if they wanted a table or the bar. Ezra turned on the charm as he asked for a table. ++++++++++++++++++++ A battered old van pulled into the parking lot from off the main road, slowing down to a stop as it came up to the building that housed one end of the lift. A man with a shotgun in his hands came out; Josiah stuck his head out the driver’s window and asked in his loud voice. "Brother, can you give some help to a lost soul? I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way." The guard relaxed as he realized it was just another lost tourist looking for directions. Easing the shotgun so it was cradled over his arm, he walked towards the driver’s side of the car, unaware that Bond was coming up behind him to knock him out. Buck and Chris checked for other guards in the area before giving the all clear. Josiah drove the van behind the gatehouse out of sight. The rest of the team exited the van. JD headed straight for the control panel inside. Hooking up his laptop to the computer he quickly ran his program, overriding the alarms and bringing up the logbook for the last eight hours. JD read off what he had found. "It shows there’s been a lot of activity in the last two hours. Teams going out, think they’ve gone out looking for Vin and Ez?" "That’s what we were hoping for, the less for us to deal with topside. Can you get the lift operational without alerting anyone up there?" Chris asked him. "Yeah, it won’t show up anywhere on any screen but mine." "Lets go." The team rode the lift up the side of the cliff holding their breath. They were trapped inside a small metal box with nowhere to go if they were found out. ++++++++++++++++++++ Vin was having a good time at the Moosetail tavern, even if the reason for being there was a life or death one. For Ezra was a sight to behold, the man was playing the European tourist to the hilt. Gone was the sophisticated British agent and in his place was a tourist on his first trip out west. He had started the evening with charming the hostess and obtaining a table up front by the dance floor. "Ya taking a page out of Buck’s book on how to handle the ladies?" asked Vin as they sat down. "If it works then why not? Here comes our waitress." The waitress was a motherly woman well past middle age. The kind of no nonsense woman who didn’t take any lip from the young’uns. No wonder the stage wasn’t fenced in, Ms Mable (as her name badge identified her) wouldn’t had put up with that kind of foolishness. In a small town like this Ezra would bet even money that she knew the mothers of most of the people in the room. "What can I get for you boys this evening?" she asked politely, they were the first tourists that had been in the place for a while. The sandy haired one gave her his ordered and as she turned to get the other one’s order she caught him chewing on his bottom lip. "Ya need more time to decide, honey? The young man looked up at her with two of the prettiest green eyes she had ever seen and asked in a Masterpiece Theater voice. "Ms. Mable would you be so kind as to help me in this choice? This is my first trip to the Americas and I find I need help in selecting my first real American drink. My friend here," indicating Vin, "Is somewhat of a prankster. And therefore cannot be trusted not to play a joke on me and order something awful. Wouldn’t you please save me from that appalling fate?" Ezra made it sound as if his future was in her hands. His half-playful, half-serious attitude won the waitress over as her maternal instincts kicked in. "Sure will honey, you just stick with Mable and I’ll take care of you." With a wink she was off but soon returned. Not only did she bring them their beers and chips, she did it in record time; a feat not missed by their neighbors who were still waiting for their orders. These actions had made them the center of attention for a few minutes, long enough for everyone in the immediate area to get an ear-full of Ezra’s English accent as he thanked her. There must have been a few members of the supremacist in the saloon to place a call to the others. For shortly after receiving their drinks a group of supremacists walked into the bar as if they owned it. The locals gave them plenty of room, it was apparent that the two groups didn’t care for each other. A few of Spectre’s people came in a few moments later. They weren’t hard to spot, as they tended to set together in military formation. Both groups were slowly coming in, two or three at a time making themselves obvious by watching everything the pair did. Ezra and Vin sat sipping their drinks and listening to the music for a while. Each had paid a visit to the restroom to check out the back and to find all possible exits they might need depending on how the evening went when Ezra addressed Vin. "I believe the moment has arrived for us to get the show on the road so to speak and here comes our lovely assistant now." As Ms. Mable walked up to their table she saw Vin nudge Ezra on the shoulder as he said. "Go on ask her." "It wouldn’t be proper to impose on the lady, Felix. Ms. Mable may be offended if I asked her." Ms Maybul knew the pair were up to something but she didn’t know what. Raising four sons had given her all the insight she needed to know when mischief was afoot. But she didn’t think this pair of young men meant any harm. Too much like her youngest boy Ron, they didn’t have a mean bone in them. "You two have something you want to ask me." Before Ezra could say a word Vin answered for him. "James wants to try line dancing." Waving toward the floor where people were dancing to an Alan Jackson song, "He can’t think of a proper way to ask one of the ladies here. They all seen to be with someone and he’s too much the English gentleman to ask to you to fix him up." "What about you?" Ms. Mable asked Vin wanting to get it all out in the open. "Shi…" stopping himself before the wrong word could slip out, he just knew Ms. Mable wasn’t the kind to put up with that kind of language. Wouldn’t put it past her to have a bar of soap in her pocket; bet she’d use it too. "Shucks, he ain’t my type ain’t even the right gender, though I wouldn’t mind a dance." Turning pink as he realized what he’d just said, he picked up his drink and downed it before anything else could come out of his mouth to embarrass him. Laughing, Ms. Mable patted both of them on the shoulder; "I’ll see what I can do for you boys." Ezra stared at Vin in amazement, "I didn’t know it was possible to get both of your feet in your mouth at the same time." "Shut up Ez." He hissed back. Ms. Mable came back with two lovely young ladies in tow. They were the first of many to take the two good-looking men out on the dance floor. At the end of each dance Ezra would escort his partner back to her table, kiss her hand and then buy a round of drinks for the table in thanks for allowing him to spent time with his lovely companion. By the end of the first hour, there were few in the saloon that hadn’t been bought at least one drink by the generous Englishman. Ezra was now dancing with a lady that Mable introduced as Emily Lynn. The dance was a slow one and Emily Lynn was a skilled dancer, she fitted nicely in Ezra arms as they moved to the music. Smiling Ezra started the small talk that would get them through the dance. Ezra had given Vin the signal to get ready; as soon as the dance was finished he would initiate the chain of events that would lead to the brawl. But the woman in his arms surprised him though he didn’t let it show when she answered his question on her occupation. "I’m the town sheriff, James, Sheriff Scott." Still smiling she added, "We have a mutual friend that has the same name as the young man talking with my Aunt Mable." Ezra didn’t need to look over at Vin to known to whom she referred. The sheriff didn’t seen to mind that he hadn’t answered her, for she kept talking. "Felix told me to say that your brothers will try to be careful and that you should keep the party going for as long as you can. Oh and Chris has cooled off somewhat but not completely." Looking the southerner in the eyes she added. "The Chosen are forcing a lot of good people in this town out of business. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of them." The last was said with a bit of anger to it. Ezra studied the woman in his arms. He prided himself on being able to read people and his instincts told him he could trust her. He decided to take a chance. "Sheriff Scott the best way to help us would be to turn a blind eye to what’s about to happen and don’t try to stop it. Please assure your Aunt Mable that the damages will be paid for by our friend Felix and if possible keep the locals in the building. The Chosen have brought in a group that has no regard for human life. I doubt they’ll try anything inside, but the parking lot may be a different matter. They are after us and should follow when we leave. If any of the fallen happen not to be residents of the town feel free to lock them up for Felix to collect later." Laughing as if Ezra and said something amusing, the sheriff made a good show of being an empty headed blond as she appeared to be flirting with the man who held her in his arms. Anyone looking on would see a couple having a good time. "When do you want to start?" "How about right now?" As he swung her around, Ezra over stepped and bumped into a pair of cowboys walking to the bar, making them lose their footing. They in turn fell against a table full of the Chosen who were more than a little drunk. When the drinks on the table landed in their laps they were up and swinging before Spectre’s men could stop them. The rest of the saloon soon joined in, glasses flying, tables breaking; everyone was letting off a little steam. The Chosen and Spectre were getting the worst of it as they fought to go after Ezra and Vin. In the free for all the pair were separated but had planned to meet up at the car if that happened. Vin headed toward the rear of the building, to the back doors in the kitchen, coming up short when he got there, for someone had placed a new chain and padlock around the exit doors since he had checked them on his last run to the bathroom. Knowing he didn’t have much time before the fight found him he decided to try one of Q’s gadgets. Taking off his wristwatch he turned it to the side and hoped he remembered how to work the darn thing. A bright light shot out. Surprised that he got it working, Vin almost dropped the watch. Holding the beam steady he kept it on one link of the chain, cutting it neatly in two, but it had taken time. He was to meet Ezra in ten minutes by the car. Closing the exit doors behind him, Vin made his way out into the small yard fenced in by a tall chain link fence, putting the watch back on as he went. Here too was a new chain and padlock hanging around the gate. Vin glared at yet another obstruction in his way and cursed to himself. What was up with these guys, they go to a two for one sale? I ain’t got time to cut off another lock. Vin decided to climb the chain link fence. Taking a good hold on the fencing he pulled himself up. Half way he heard a low rumbling sound behind him that made him pause. One look over his shoulders and he only had time for one word, "SHIT", before scurrying to get to the top and over. For leaping straight toward him was the biggest, meanest, ugliest dog he had ever set eyes on. He didn’t quite make it. A vice clamped hard over his left buttocks and part of his inner thigh pushing him into the fence. Vin held on as if his life depended on it. The dog’s teeth couldn’t get a grip and the fabric making up his pants tore under the weight of the beast. Falling back to the ground the dog shook his head shaking the torn material to bits. Looking for more he went back to the gate, looking for the stupid human who had interrupted his sleep. By this time Vin was on the other side of the fence, his butt intact but badly bruised. Vin gingerly checked his backside for damage, the dog’s teeth had not been able to penetrate the fabric of the fancy boxers that Q had given him. But the area throbbed from being squeezed by the massive jaws of the beast. The big animal had not barked; he just stood watching from his side of the fence. He looked hungrily at Vin, as if he would have liked nothing better than to have his chew toy back. "Nice dog," mumbled Vin as he slowly walked away. His leg was sore and he didn’t even want to think about sitting down. The lot was beginning to fill with bodies, it was time to get moving. Vin headed to where they left the car, ducking down beside a jeep he started to swear, his night had just gotten worse. Placing his wrist communicator up to his mouth he whispered in to it. "Ez, where the hell are you?" "Under a horse trailer on the far side of the lot from the car. And yourself?" answered Ezra. "I’m where the car is supposed to be… it’s gone." "Can’t be, you must be in the wrong location." "Nope, same side of the building, same trees and cars we parked by, it’s gone." "You lost the Aston Martin?" "No I didn’t lose the damn Aston Martin. It must have been stolen." "Vin that car can’t be stolen," their conversation was interrupted by a drunk going by. Vin ducked farther down till the man passed, he couldn’t help moaning as he did. Ezra heard him and asked in concern. "Vin are you hurt?" "Only my dignity, ran into a little trouble. Ain’t going to be sitting good for a few days." "Can you drive?" "If I have too." "You won’t have to, I’ve got the remote control. "How did you get that? James and Q wouldn’t let us play with it." "I borrowed it from James before we parted company. I also believe I’ve figured out what happened to the car. Be ready to get in on the passenger side." Vin didn’t have time to ask what he meant when the sound of an engine starting close by had him looking up. A pair of headlights appeared in mid air and a door swung open showing the insides of the car. Vin did as he had been told and got in, sitting carefully on the seat and belted himself in. The night was beginning to look better. He hadn’t lost the Aston Martin even if he couldn’t see it from the outside. He’d talk to Ez about that later. The Aston Martin made its way around the building and stopped beside a large horse trailer. Ezra climbed in and laid the remote on the dash. Vin picked it up and asked him. "Does James know he lent this to you?" Ezra just smirked. "Not yet." Vin stated the obvious. "The car’s invisible Ez, that stealth technology." Vin suddenly smiled as an idea came to him. "Think we can get Q to install it on the jag?" "We can try," looking over at his friend Ezra asked. "Vin are you up for the rest?" "Hell yes, I may be bruised but I’m not bleeding, lets go." Ezra turned off the chameleon device that had made the car invisible. Now they needed to be seen, he headed for the crowd of men who were searching the lot. Wanting to make sure they had the mob’s attention and that they would be followed, Ezra gunned the engine, driving through the group, scattering them between and over the parked cars. Circling the building he drove thorough them again just for the hell of it, giving them the incentive to follow and the time to get in to their vehicles. The gravel drive that would take them back to the main road appeared clear as Ezra and Vin headed out. They were almost to the main road when the path before them was blocked by a pair of large SUV’s parked across the drive. Ezra slowed the car down to a near stop letting it roll forward slowly. The men in the SUVs got out and started toward them, guns in hand. Ezra waited till they were almost level with the car before stepping hard on the gas, making a sharp turn into the open field beside the blockade. Vin activated the snow tires; metal spikes came out of the tires, gripping the ground through the snow and ice. The car plowed through the barbed-wire fence and around the blockade. ++++++++++++++++++++ The cable car had finished its climb to the top of the gorge. The men disembarked and checked the place for guards. Finding none they waited for JD to give the all clear as he checked into the security systems from his laptop. With a nod to show he was done and the alarms were turned off the team broke up into two groups. Buck would take Nathan and JD to where they believed the laboratory was located. There was a large basement under the wing where the kitchen and staff were housed. It could have easily have been transformed into a laboratory. The sheriff had been keeping a watch on the lodge and informed them of construction work that been done on the building before their arrival. This was decided to be the best bet for the laboratory. James, Chris and Josiah would check the ground and remove any one who had been left behind to guard the place. Felix had stayed behind to set his people in motion, just in case the operation went badly. If that happened Felix and his people would come in and level the place. They’d come up with answers for the press later. ++++++++++++++++++++ Buck led his friends into the building, checking every room on the ground floor, making sure they wouldn’t run in to any surprises. There seemed to be no one in the immediate area. Buck would check the rest of the building later if time allowed. For now he had to get JD and Nathan downstairs to the laboratory and let them get started. He would stand guard till they were done. When the others got here he would set up his explosives. They planed to destroy everything down there and the building above it as well. Nathan entered the laboratory and slowly made his way to the worktables. Not touching anything till JD and Buck gave the all clear, they had come too far to set off any alarms now. Apparently satisfied, Buck shut the door and turned on the lights. "You sure that’s safe Buck?" asked Nathan. "Yeah, I shut the door at the top of the stairs and this one. No light should escape. JD says the laboratory has it’s own power source, so no one should notice." Nathan heard what Buck wasn’t saying as well as what he was. They had a long ways to go before going home and the overhead lights would make the work go faster. They could be discovered at any moment and faster was better. He looked to see what JD was doing and the youngster was already hard at work going through the computer’s files. Nathan needed to get started, he didn’t want them to be here any longer than they needed to be. ++++++++++++++++++++ Old habits come back effortlessly to Josiah as found himself able to silently sneak up behind the men guarding the lodge. Too easy, that was one of the reasons he had got out of the business in the first place. Even after so many years he was still too good at doing this. Taking a human life should bother him more and it did most of the time; but not when it was Spectre or one of the numerous madmen bent on world domination. Josiah mentally shook himself, tomorrow philosophy, tonight survival. Chris and James had finished taking out the guards in their vicinity. They met up outside the wing that housed the staff and waited for Josiah. Jumping a little when the big man seemed to materialize next to them. Josiah smiled at the younger men’s startled looks. The old wolf still had a few tricks to teach the younger members in his pack. CONTINUE Comments to: Nsscbs1978@aol.com

The Name is Bond, Ezra Bond

By Nadine

Crossover with 007 Universe
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4

Earnst Stavro Blowfeld sat stroking the long haired Persian that sat purring in his lap. Dwight Hamit stood off to one side talking on his cell-phone. Hamit closed the connection.
"You have the names of the two individuals spying on us." Blowfeld made it a statement not a question.
"Yes, they’re staying at the Mountain High Hotel in town. Our operative there gave us the names James Bond and Felix Leiter. They’re the only ones who asked about the trails and they matched the descriptions."
"Do you know who those two gentlemen are Mr. Hamit?" Getting no reply from him, Blowfeld went on. "Leiter is CIA and Bond is with British intelligence. We need to know what they’re up to. Take them alive, I want to question them."
"I’ll send men to the hotel to take them now." Hamit reopened his cell-phone. Blowfeld stopped him.
"Not at the hotel, wait till they leave and follow them. Find out if they have help in the area and if so who. We don’t want the locals asking questions and getting under foot. When the Chosen sat up operations here they should have made taking control of the local law it’s first priority. Now you have to work around them."
"What if Bond and Leiter don’t go out?" asked Hamit.
"They will, Bond doesn’t play it safe. Take as many men as you’ll need but get me Bond," Blowfeld told him.
++++++++++++++++++++
Ezra and Vin made their way back to the hotel. Their landing in the middle of the Town Square had been taken as a publicity stunt. The brightly colored paragliders had folded up into surprisingly small packets. The agents had carried them tucked up under their jackets leaving the town square quickly before the sheriff arrived.
Once back in their own rooms they checked them over with one of Q’s toys for any listening devices or surveillance cameras. Finding none, they relaxed and ordered a late lunch from room service.
"What do we do now?" Asked Vin when he had finished eating. He was eyeing Ezra’s desert, the one that Ez hadn’t touched. "We’ve gotten their attention, they now know James Bond is here even if they don’t know it’s you and they know we suspect that Spectre is here working with the Chosen."
"Since our function in this operation is to guide as many of our adversaries away from their headquarters as possible for our colleagues to penetrate said institution, we will carry on with our activities of distracting our opponents."
Vin tilted his head and stared at his co-worker. "It just sounds weird to hear an English accent coming out of that southern mouth of yours. I keep wanting to check on who I’m working with, it’s confusing."
Ezra threw his napkin at Vin as he pushed his dessert over to the sugar addicted Texan. "It doesn’t take much to get you in that condition."
Vin smiled as he accepted the dessert. Ezra continued talking "We shall kept the Chosen and Spectre’s people busy with us."
"Sounds good, how are we going to do that?" questioned the Texan.
"Feel up to seeing some of the local sights? There is that little pub where the Chosen people were arrested."
"Showing up at one of their hangouts might not be a bad idea. There’s got to be at least one hothead in the group that will start a fight over something, especially after a few drinks." Vin said with a grin, "I ain’t been in a good bar-room brawl in a long time."
"I’ll be sure to tell our illustrious leader that if he has to bail us out."
"Heck, we can start the fight and them take off. The Aston-Martin can out run anything around here."
Ezra raised an eyebrow at that statement and asked in a shocked voice. "Are you sir, a member of good standing in the law enforcement community, planning to start a bar-room brawl?"
Vin answered with a look of pure innocence on his face.
"Who me? I plan to let the limey start it"
++++++++++++++++++++
It was still daylight when Felix Leiter entered the house the local sheriff had found for the team in the small town. Felix had approached her after making sure of her loyalties. Sheriff Scott had been the one to arrest the Chosen members after a brawl in a local bar. She wanted the group out of her town and was willing to help in anyway she could. Apparently the Chosen had been making itself known around town and the tourist trade was down because of it. Few travel agents wanted to expose their customers to that kind of trouble. The town was hurting from the lack of business; many of the rental properties in the area were empty, so the group was able to have this four-bedroom two-story house for their use.
He heard voices coming from the kitchen; he wasn’t surprised to find the team gathered there. The usual space given to the family room had been added to the kitchen instead. Whoever had designed the room must of have had a large family in mind when they build the place.
Felix counted heads, there was one missing.
"Where’s Chris?"
Buck pointed to a roll of monitors behind him on a counter top. JD had set up cameras to show the outside of the house from all four sides. The AFT team leader was on the back porch standing beside a grill cooking.
"Kind of cold outside for that isn’t it?" asked Felix who still hadn’t gotten warm from his short walk from his car to the house.
Josiah handed him a cup of coffee as he took a seat at the long table. "Brother Chris needed some time to himself to work through some homicidal urges."
At that the CIA agent looked over at his British counterpart for answers.
"Apparently our young friends didn’t bother to inform their leader of some of Q’s little extras added to their ski wear. Watching two of his men leap off a cliff unsettled him somewhat."
"They didn’t really?" Nathan asked Buck again; Nathan had heard the story earlier but couldn’t bring himself to believe it.
"Yep, they sure did, shot off the cliff like a rocket and the fools behind them followed, only they didn’t have paragliders. Fell like a ton of bricks, thought Chris was going to have a heart attack."
The man in question came in with a platter of steaks. As Felix and James sat there the other four men got dinner on the table. Within minutes there was a salad, dinner rolls and baked potatoes with all the fixings to go with the meal. This was a well-oiled team used to long stakeouts and dealing with the problem of keeping themselves fed. Josiah, aware of what Felix was thinking, explained.
"Since there’s a kitchen we decided to make use of it. You can get mighty tired of take out after a while."
JD added to the discussion. "We all got things we can cook well, so we take turns with the cooking and cleanup. Except for Nathan that is he can’t boil water without burning it so he gets clean up more often or buys take-out when it’s his turn to cook."
The food was good; Chris’ specialty must be the grill decided Felix. Over dessert Felix asked how the day’s re-com of the area around the lodge went.
Buck brought Felix up to date on what they had found. "The place doesn’t seen to be to heavily guarded unless they’re all inside. They probably don’t think they need it. The lodge sits on the top of that gorge and it’s a shear drop off to the ground below. The only road up there is long and winding coming up from the other side of the mountains. Steep too, they would see us coming long before we got there. The mountains on each side are a little taller but the ground cover is sparse between them and the lodge: like they cleared it out so no one could sneak up on them. We also found the usual infra-red warning devices guarding the adjacent grounds round the building."
James added to Buck’s information. "The only delivery we saw taking place when we were out there was a truck bringing in tanks of propane. That may come in handy if we have to destroy the place. The sooner we find a way in the sooner we can put a end to the threat of the virus."
Chris asked James. "What do you think Blowfeld will do now?"
"He knows we’re here somewhere in the area. He wouldn’t expect his dealing with the Chosen to go unnoticed by your government or mine. Or that we would let what he’s doing go unchallenged. I’m sure the stunt the boys pulled today got his attention. The names Bond and Leiter will make him curious about how much we do know. Nor would I put it past him to had have this all planned out as some sort of a test to see how the governments of the world would react to his threat of a worldwide plague."
"We have to stop this madman, brothers, at whatever the cost." Josiah said as he and Buck cleaned a place on the table to lay out the maps of the lodge. They studied them shaking their heads, this wasn’t going to be easy. There were too many of them to hike in unnoticed and the back road would leave them too exposed. JD kept returning to the picture showing the lift going up from the bottom of the gorge to the top of the mountain. Getting up he went to his computer placed on a small desk next to the phone. He had insisted on bringing his own unit from home as well as his laptop. Turning them both on, his fingers flew across the keyboard as he searched for what he was looking for.
"Where there’s a will there’s a way." He whispered to himself as he kept digging. "Yes there it is."
All talking stopped when the men realized what JD was doing. Buck walked over and softly asked. "JD what did you find?"
"The back door." He answered pointing to the screen. All Buck saw was a lot of numbers and symbols, he said as much. As he watched, JD touched a few more keys and suddenly the screen showed the interior of the gatehouse that sheltered the lift at the bottom of the gorge. "Why don’t we take the lift’s cable car up?"
How did you do that and can you control the security system as well?" asked the man from the CIA.
"I found that the Lodge has a satellite connection to the Internet. There are ways to tap into signals broadcasting off of any open source if you know how. The signals are flying around out in the air anyway, I just make a point of picking them up and using that to gain entrance to the rest. Who ever designed their firewalls isn’t in my league. I can control their systems, run the lift or turn off any alarms." JD patted his desktop. "I made this computer myself and programmed it to do a lot of things that would be illegal if I weren’t working for the government. While I was putting up the cameras outside I also put up a few high grade antennas, just in case I needed them."
Buck looked at the man he thought of as his little brother with pride as he explained what he had done to the others. Buck didn’t understand half of it but if JD said it worked that was good enough for him. Felix was impressed by what the young man had done as well.
"In that case gentlemen, I say tomorrow night we pay a visit to Spectre, " said Felix Leiter.
"Why not tonight?" Asked Chris as he sat back in his chair. Turning to JD he asked. "Do you have everything you need to take over their security system?"
"Yeah, I can feed the program into my laptop and override their system from it. Once we get inside it’s only a matter of logging on to their PC and downloading from there."
Chris smiled, "Good work JD, let’s get this planned out. I’m getting a feeling we don’t have much time left." Chris addressed James and Felix, "You two got any objection to that?"
"None, Blowfeld will only take advantage of any time we give him." James told the team.
"Than we go tonight."
++++++++++++++++++++
Ezra and Vin took turns sleeping, wanting to get as much rest as possible knowing that the night was going to be a long one, not knowing when they’d get a chance to rest again. The same reason made them eat dinner even though neither was hungry. As they dressed there was a knock at the door. Vin came to the doorway that joined their two rooms with his gun in hand. Ezra walked to his door, standing to one side he called out.
"Who is it?"
An English voice called back. "I have a delivery for Mr. Bond from his tailor."
Ezra and Vin exchanged glances; that sounded like Q. Ezra slowly opened the door and sure enough there stood Q with a suit bag in his hands. Ezra stepped back and allowed Q to enter. He strolled to the center of the room. Tossing the suit bag on the bed he held up his hand to forestall their questions. Pulling out a square device from his pocket he checked the room much the same as they had earlier.
"All clear," Q finally said.
Vin came into Ezra’s room putting his gun back in its holster. "We did that when we first got back."
"You can never be too paranoid out in the field," said Q as he took in the room, he seemed to be looking for something. "I was told you found my ski jackets useful today. The replacements are in the bag." Pointing to the bed. "I don’t suppose you managed to bring any part of the equipment back? Left them on the mountain side most likely."
"No we didn’t, they’re in the closet, give me a minute I’ll get them for ya." Vin walked over to the closet and picked the jackets up off the floor. The used paragliders were still bundled inside. "They need to be repacked, but everything’s all here."
Q’s eyebrows went up his forehead in surprise. "You brought back my equipment and it’s in one piece as well." He checked them as he started to pack the paragliders inside of the now empty suit bag. "I don’t supposed you could talk to 007 about his habit of losing equipment could you?" Q asked hopefully.
Ezra had a troubling thought, "How did you find out about us using the paragliders today?"
"You were observed by 007 while he, Mr. Larabee and Mr. Wilmington were doing a re-con of the lodge. Your Mr. Larabee was quite upset I am told."
"Aw hell, Ez he’s going to kill us." Ezra could only shake his head in agreement.
Q picked up the suit bag and headed for the door. Stopping he addressed the pair. "I was asked to pass on a request from your brothers." Making sure he had their attention. "Tonight would be a good time for an all night party away from home. Be sure to invite the neighbors. I assume you gentlemen know what that means."
"Yes, we already have plans for a big blow out tonight." Vin told Q, "Please asked our brothers to be careful."
++++++++++++++++++++
The Moosetail saloon was a large one story square building that seemed to be squatting in a field just outside of town. A gravel drive lead to the parking lot that was already starting to fill up as the Aston Martin pulled in. Acting as if they were looking for a safe parking space for their fancy car, Vin circled the building checking it out. The front of the tavern was covered in bright neon lights proclaiming all the wonders to be found inside, as well as every brand of beer that could be bought this side of the Mississippi. The sides were windowless, the far side of the building had its widows painted over. There was a small yard behind back door that was fenced in by a tall chain link fence. Numerous cardboard boxes and wooden crates filled that space.
"Looks like any other redneck bar I’ve been in," said Vin.
"Please I’d rather not think about that. You and the others have dragged me into enough cowboy establishments to last me a lifetime. We’re here to be a distraction. There should be a few of the Chosen’s rank and file here who can alert their brethren to our presence."
Vin parked the Aston Martin on the outer edge of the lot so as not to be boxed in.
"What about the locals? Think we’ll find any of the town folks here?" posed Vin as they walked to front of the saloon.
"Of course, they’ll probably enjoy the up coming brawl as much as you will." Ezra held the door open as they entered.
The saloon was well lit for a bar. The cavern-like room was half full of patrons either sitting at the bar or at tables stationed around an open dance floor. A band was playing country and western songs up on a stage in the back.
"Look the stage is not fenced in. That’s a sign of a classy bar." Vin pointed out to Ezra.
Ezra only gave him a dirty look at the information as he tried to judge the crowd. Everyone was drinking, it wouldn’t take much to get hostility initiated. A hostess dressed in cowgirl chic walked up to the pair and asked if they wanted a table or the bar. Ezra turned on the charm as he asked for a table.
++++++++++++++++++++
A battered old van pulled into the parking lot from off the main road, slowing down to a stop as it came up to the building that housed one end of the lift. A man with a shotgun in his hands came out; Josiah stuck his head out the driver’s window and asked in his loud voice.
"Brother, can you give some help to a lost soul? I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way."
The guard relaxed as he realized it was just another lost tourist looking for directions. Easing the shotgun so it was cradled over his arm, he walked towards the driver’s side of the car, unaware that Bond was coming up behind him to knock him out. Buck and Chris checked for other guards in the area before giving the all clear. Josiah drove the van behind the gatehouse out of sight.
The rest of the team exited the van. JD headed straight for the control panel inside. Hooking up his laptop to the computer he quickly ran his program, overriding the alarms and bringing up the logbook for the last eight hours. JD read off what he had found.
"It shows there’s been a lot of activity in the last two hours. Teams going out, think they’ve gone out looking for Vin and Ez?"
"That’s what we were hoping for, the less for us to deal with topside. Can you get the lift operational without alerting anyone up there?" Chris asked him.
"Yeah, it won’t show up anywhere on any screen but mine."
"Lets go."
The team rode the lift up the side of the cliff holding their breath. They were trapped inside a small metal box with nowhere to go if they were found out.
++++++++++++++++++++
Vin was having a good time at the Moosetail tavern, even if the reason for being there was a life or death one. For Ezra was a sight to behold, the man was playing the European tourist to the hilt. Gone was the sophisticated British agent and in his place was a tourist on his first trip out west. He had started the evening with charming the hostess and obtaining a table up front by the dance floor.
"Ya taking a page out of Buck’s book on how to handle the ladies?" asked Vin as they sat down.
"If it works then why not? Here comes our waitress."
The waitress was a motherly woman well past middle age. The kind of no nonsense woman who didn’t take any lip from the young’uns. No wonder the stage wasn’t fenced in, Ms Mable (as her name badge identified her) wouldn’t had put up with that kind of foolishness. In a small town like this Ezra would bet even money that she knew the mothers of most of the people in the room.
"What can I get for you boys this evening?" she asked politely, they were the first tourists that had been in the place for a while.
The sandy haired one gave her his ordered and as she turned to get the other one’s order she caught him chewing on his bottom lip.
"Ya need more time to decide, honey? The young man looked up at her with two of the prettiest green eyes she had ever seen and asked in a Masterpiece Theater voice.
"Ms. Mable would you be so kind as to help me in this choice? This is my first trip to the Americas and I find I need help in selecting my first real American drink. My friend here," indicating Vin, "Is somewhat of a prankster. And therefore cannot be trusted not to play a joke on me and order something awful. Wouldn’t you please save me from that appalling fate?" Ezra made it sound as if his future was in her hands. His half-playful, half-serious attitude won the waitress over as her maternal instincts kicked in.
"Sure will honey, you just stick with Mable and I’ll take care of you." With a wink she was off but soon returned. Not only did she bring them their beers and chips, she did it in record time; a feat not missed by their neighbors who were still waiting for their orders. These actions had made them the center of attention for a few minutes, long enough for everyone in the immediate area to get an ear-full of Ezra’s English accent as he thanked her.
There must have been a few members of the supremacist in the saloon to place a call to the others. For shortly after receiving their drinks a group of supremacists walked into the bar as if they owned it. The locals gave them plenty of room, it was apparent that the two groups didn’t care for each other. A few of Spectre’s people came in a few moments later. They weren’t hard to spot, as they tended to set together in military formation. Both groups were slowly coming in, two or three at a time making themselves obvious by watching everything the pair did.
Ezra and Vin sat sipping their drinks and listening to the music for a while. Each had paid a visit to the restroom to check out the back and to find all possible exits they might need depending on how the evening went when Ezra addressed Vin.
"I believe the moment has arrived for us to get the show on the road so to speak and here comes our lovely assistant now." As Ms. Mable walked up to their table she saw Vin nudge Ezra on the shoulder as he said.
"Go on ask her."
"It wouldn’t be proper to impose on the lady, Felix. Ms. Mable may be offended if I asked her."
Ms Maybul knew the pair were up to something but she didn’t know what. Raising four sons had given her all the insight she needed to know when mischief was afoot. But she didn’t think this pair of young men meant any harm. Too much like her youngest boy Ron, they didn’t have a mean bone in them.
"You two have something you want to ask me."
Before Ezra could say a word Vin answered for him. "James wants to try line dancing." Waving toward the floor where people were dancing to an Alan Jackson song, "He can’t think of a proper way to ask one of the ladies here. They all seen to be with someone and he’s too much the English gentleman to ask to you to fix him up."
"What about you?" Ms. Mable asked Vin wanting to get it all out in the open.
"Shi…" stopping himself before the wrong word could slip out, he just knew Ms. Mable wasn’t the kind to put up with that kind of language. Wouldn’t put it past her to have a bar of soap in her pocket; bet she’d use it too. "Shucks, he ain’t my type ain’t even the right gender, though I wouldn’t mind a dance." Turning pink as he realized what he’d just said, he picked up his drink and downed it before anything else could come out of his mouth to embarrass him.
Laughing, Ms. Mable patted both of them on the shoulder; "I’ll see what I can do for you boys."
Ezra stared at Vin in amazement, "I didn’t know it was possible to get both of your feet in your mouth at the same time."
"Shut up Ez." He hissed back.
Ms. Mable came back with two lovely young ladies in tow. They were the first of many to take the two good-looking men out on the dance floor. At the end of each dance Ezra would escort his partner back to her table, kiss her hand and then buy a round of drinks for the table in thanks for allowing him to spent time with his lovely companion. By the end of the first hour, there were few in the saloon that hadn’t been bought at least one drink by the generous Englishman.
Ezra was now dancing with a lady that Mable introduced as Emily Lynn. The dance was a slow one and Emily Lynn was a skilled dancer, she fitted nicely in Ezra arms as they moved to the music. Smiling Ezra started the small talk that would get them through the dance. Ezra had given Vin the signal to get ready; as soon as the dance was finished he would initiate the chain of events that would lead to the brawl. But the woman in his arms surprised him though he didn’t let it show when she answered his question on her occupation.
"I’m the town sheriff, James, Sheriff Scott." Still smiling she added, "We have a mutual friend that has the same name as the young man talking with my Aunt Mable."
Ezra didn’t need to look over at Vin to known to whom she referred.
The sheriff didn’t seen to mind that he hadn’t answered her, for she kept talking. "Felix told me to say that your brothers will try to be careful and that you should keep the party going for as long as you can. Oh and Chris has cooled off somewhat but not completely." Looking the southerner in the eyes she added. "The Chosen are forcing a lot of good people in this town out of business. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of them." The last was said with a bit of anger to it.
Ezra studied the woman in his arms. He prided himself on being able to read people and his instincts told him he could trust her. He decided to take a chance. "Sheriff Scott the best way to help us would be to turn a blind eye to what’s about to happen and don’t try to stop it. Please assure your Aunt Mable that the damages will be paid for by our friend Felix and if possible keep the locals in the building. The Chosen have brought in a group that has no regard for human life. I doubt they’ll try anything inside, but the parking lot may be a different matter. They are after us and should follow when we leave. If any of the fallen happen not to be residents of the town feel free to lock them up for Felix to collect later."
Laughing as if Ezra and said something amusing, the sheriff made a good show of being an empty headed blond as she appeared to be flirting with the man who held her in his arms. Anyone looking on would see a couple having a good time. "When do you want to start?"
"How about right now?" As he swung her around, Ezra over stepped and bumped into a pair of cowboys walking to the bar, making them lose their footing. They in turn fell against a table full of the Chosen who were more than a little drunk. When the drinks on the table landed in their laps they were up and swinging before Spectre’s men could stop them. The rest of the saloon soon joined in, glasses flying, tables breaking; everyone was letting off a little steam. The Chosen and Spectre were getting the worst of it as they fought to go after Ezra and Vin. In the free for all the pair were separated but had planned to meet up at the car if that happened.
Vin headed toward the rear of the building, to the back doors in the kitchen, coming up short when he got there, for someone had placed a new chain and padlock around the exit doors since he had checked them on his last run to the bathroom. Knowing he didn’t have much time before the fight found him he decided to try one of Q’s gadgets. Taking off his wristwatch he turned it to the side and hoped he remembered how to work the darn thing. A bright light shot out. Surprised that he got it working, Vin almost dropped the watch. Holding the beam steady he kept it on one link of the chain, cutting it neatly in two, but it had taken time. He was to meet Ezra in ten minutes by the car. Closing the exit doors behind him, Vin made his way out into the small yard fenced in by a tall chain link fence, putting the watch back on as he went.
Here too was a new chain and padlock hanging around the gate. Vin glared at yet another obstruction in his way and cursed to himself. What was up with these guys, they go to a two for one sale? I ain’t got time to cut off another lock. Vin decided to climb the chain link fence. Taking a good hold on the fencing he pulled himself up. Half way he heard a low rumbling sound behind him that made him pause. One look over his shoulders and he only had time for one word, "SHIT", before scurrying to get to the top and over. For leaping straight toward him was the biggest, meanest, ugliest dog he had ever set eyes on. He didn’t quite make it.
A vice clamped hard over his left buttocks and part of his inner thigh pushing him into the fence. Vin held on as if his life depended on it. The dog’s teeth couldn’t get a grip and the fabric making up his pants tore under the weight of the beast. Falling back to the ground the dog shook his head shaking the torn material to bits. Looking for more he went back to the gate, looking for the stupid human who had interrupted his sleep. By this time Vin was on the other side of the fence, his butt intact but badly bruised.
Vin gingerly checked his backside for damage, the dog’s teeth had not been able to penetrate the fabric of the fancy boxers that Q had given him. But the area throbbed from being squeezed by the massive jaws of the beast. The big animal had not barked; he just stood watching from his side of the fence. He looked hungrily at Vin, as if he would have liked nothing better than to have his chew toy back.
"Nice dog," mumbled Vin as he slowly walked away. His leg was sore and he didn’t even want to think about sitting down. The lot was beginning to fill with bodies, it was time to get moving. Vin headed to where they left the car, ducking down beside a jeep he started to swear, his night had just gotten worse. Placing his wrist communicator up to his mouth he whispered in to it.
"Ez, where the hell are you?"
"Under a horse trailer on the far side of the lot from the car. And yourself?" answered Ezra.
"I’m where the car is supposed to be… it’s gone."
"Can’t be, you must be in the wrong location."
"Nope, same side of the building, same trees and cars we parked by, it’s gone."
"You lost the Aston Martin?"
"No I didn’t lose the damn Aston Martin. It must have been stolen."
"Vin that car can’t be stolen," their conversation was interrupted by a drunk going by. Vin ducked farther down till the man passed, he couldn’t help moaning as he did. Ezra heard him and asked in concern.
"Vin are you hurt?"
"Only my dignity, ran into a little trouble. Ain’t going to be sitting good for a few days."
"Can you drive?"
"If I have too."
"You won’t have to, I’ve got the remote control.
"How did you get that? James and Q wouldn’t let us play with it."
"I borrowed it from James before we parted company. I also believe I’ve figured out what happened to the car. Be ready to get in on the passenger side."
Vin didn’t have time to ask what he meant when the sound of an engine starting close by had him looking up. A pair of headlights appeared in mid air and a door swung open showing the insides of the car. Vin did as he had been told and got in, sitting carefully on the seat and belted himself in. The night was beginning to look better. He hadn’t lost the Aston Martin even if he couldn’t see it from the outside. He’d talk to Ez about that later.
The Aston Martin made its way around the building and stopped beside a large horse trailer. Ezra climbed in and laid the remote on the dash. Vin picked it up and asked him. "Does James know he lent this to you?"
Ezra just smirked. "Not yet."
Vin stated the obvious. "The car’s invisible Ez, that stealth technology." Vin suddenly smiled as an idea came to him. "Think we can get Q to install it on the jag?"
"We can try," looking over at his friend Ezra asked. "Vin are you up for the rest?"
"Hell yes, I may be bruised but I’m not bleeding, lets go."
Ezra turned off the chameleon device that had made the car invisible. Now they needed to be seen, he headed for the crowd of men who were searching the lot. Wanting to make sure they had the mob’s attention and that they would be followed, Ezra gunned the engine, driving through the group, scattering them between and over the parked cars. Circling the building he drove thorough them again just for the hell of it, giving them the incentive to follow and the time to get in to their vehicles.
The gravel drive that would take them back to the main road appeared clear as Ezra and Vin headed out. They were almost to the main road when the path before them was blocked by a pair of large SUV’s parked across the drive. Ezra slowed the car down to a near stop letting it roll forward slowly. The men in the SUVs got out and started toward them, guns in hand. Ezra waited till they were almost level with the car before stepping hard on the gas, making a sharp turn into the open field beside the blockade. Vin activated the snow tires; metal spikes came out of the tires, gripping the ground through the snow and ice. The car plowed through the barbed-wire fence and around the blockade.
++++++++++++++++++++
The cable car had finished its climb to the top of the gorge. The men disembarked and checked the place for guards. Finding none they waited for JD to give the all clear as he checked into the security systems from his laptop. With a nod to show he was done and the alarms were turned off the team broke up into two groups.
Buck would take Nathan and JD to where they believed the laboratory was located. There was a large basement under the wing where the kitchen and staff were housed. It could have easily have been transformed into a laboratory. The sheriff had been keeping a watch on the lodge and informed them of construction work that been done on the building before their arrival. This was decided to be the best bet for the laboratory.
James, Chris and Josiah would check the ground and remove any one who had been left behind to guard the place. Felix had stayed behind to set his people in motion, just in case the operation went badly. If that happened Felix and his people would come in and level the place. They’d come up with answers for the press later.
++++++++++++++++++++
Buck led his friends into the building, checking every room on the ground floor, making sure they wouldn’t run in to any surprises. There seemed to be no one in the immediate area. Buck would check the rest of the building later if time allowed. For now he had to get JD and Nathan downstairs to the laboratory and let them get started. He would stand guard till they were done. When the others got here he would set up his explosives. They planed to destroy everything down there and the building above it as well.
Nathan entered the laboratory and slowly made his way to the worktables. Not touching anything till JD and Buck gave the all clear, they had come too far to set off any alarms now. Apparently satisfied, Buck shut the door and turned on the lights.
"You sure that’s safe Buck?" asked Nathan.
"Yeah, I shut the door at the top of the stairs and this one. No light should escape. JD says the laboratory has it’s own power source, so no one should notice."
Nathan heard what Buck wasn’t saying as well as what he was. They had a long ways to go before going home and the overhead lights would make the work go faster. They could be discovered at any moment and faster was better. He looked to see what JD was doing and the youngster was already hard at work going through the computer’s files. Nathan needed to get started, he didn’t want them to be here any longer than they needed to be.
++++++++++++++++++++
Old habits come back effortlessly to Josiah as found himself able to silently sneak up behind the men guarding the lodge. Too easy, that was one of the reasons he had got out of the business in the first place. Even after so many years he was still too good at doing this. Taking a human life should bother him more and it did most of the time; but not when it was Spectre or one of the numerous madmen bent on world domination. Josiah mentally shook himself, tomorrow philosophy, tonight survival.
Chris and James had finished taking out the guards in their vicinity. They met up outside the wing that housed the staff and waited for Josiah. Jumping a little when the big man seemed to materialize next to them. Josiah smiled at the younger men’s startled looks. The old wolf still had a few tricks to teach the younger members in his pack.
CONTINUE
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