Infinity (part 7/10)

Our hero is at breaking point. Will he stick to the plan and gather the evidence Dax wants to brings
the scumbags down, or give in to his conscience and go back to the warehouse and rescue Jamie?

Missed the beginning? No worries, read Part One here! Read Part Six here.

I worked flat out for two days straight and slept for another. But it wasn’t good sleep. When the cops left that place without doing anything, we knew it was bad. Dax and Sadie came back. I got them in on the computer work, trawling through an extensive email history. Emails that contained coded language about the horrors they were carrying out. One name led to another, and I knew that the road we were on would soon lead to the big fish. The wheels were in motion now, and the Man Upstairs himself couldn’t stop them, not that he’d want to.

My sleep after that first day was haunted. Haunted by the ideas that I’d found in the emails. I knew that soon, working back through time, we’d have the information we needed to take these sick fucks out. But in my dreams my subconscious filled in the gaps in my knowledge with nightmarish imagery. I heard the agonised screams and implacable fear, and one thing, over and over on a loop.

Whatever horrors were in my head all I heard was a young mother – lost, harried, and unravelling – screaming the name of her son, over and over and I knew that the moment I awoke, I had to do something about it. I had to save Jamie.

I sat bolt upright in bed, sweat lathered my t-shirt clinging to my heaving chest. Dax was working at the computer and span around. I guess I’d screamed myself awake. Apparently not loud enough to wake Iggy or Sadie. It had been a tough few days.

“Nightmares?”

I nodded.

Dax nodded too, signalling that he understood. I guess it was par for the course.

“I need a break,” I said, swinging my feet to the cold concrete floor.

Dax was already back at the screen. “Sure. I got more while you were asleep, Sadie too. It’ll keep though. Get out of here for a while, clear your head.”

I’d already dressed, pulling my black hoodie over my white t-shirt and stepping into my black sweat pants. While Dax’s eyes were glued to the screen, I’d slipped my Glock into the band of my sweatpants.

“You should take a break too. We’ll get them, but we need to stay sane while we do it.”

Dax nodded. “I hear that. I’ll turn in soon. See you later.”

I scooped up the keys to the 1977 Ford Mustang II Cobra II and marched out into the night.

Pure white moonlight gleamed from the cool black metal of the Cobra, and off in the distance, a freight train rattled to wherever, unaware of the secrets this city hid in its darkest corners. I unlocked the car and for a moment, I sat checking and re-checking the Glock, making sure that when I did get to the warehouse, there were no nasty surprises. Dax leaves nothing to chance; something I picked up from him I guess. I fired the engine into life and took off; not in a screech of tires and trail of smoke and burning rubber. Slowly and deliberately. Like a man running a simple errand. In the end, that’s all it was.

It took me twenty minutes to get to the waterfront, smell of algae floating in through the windows as I approached. I flicked off the lights and rolled slowly along to the warehouse, the gentle grind of the tyres the only sound in the predawn stillness.

I pulled to a stop a hundred yards away. I’d expected armed guards to be manning the gate, but there were none. It would only draw attention to the inconspicuous. To the nondescript. Like a flashing pink neon sign that says “Don’t look here.” But I knew there would be something. Armed sentries surely walked the perimeter inside. As long as they hadn’t upped sticks and fucked off in the last three days. And as sure as they were there, they almost certainly had more firepower than me and my Glock with one solitary clip. If I’d planned ahead instead of acting on impulse, I could have brought an Uzi. Or an M4.

My stomach fluttered at the thought of what lay ahead. Had it been a mistake not to tell the others what I was planning? From the point of view of the mission, I thought not. We were in. We could go back through an almost infinite number of emails and find out exactly who was involved. Even if my stupid impulse did draw attention to the fact that we were coming, they couldn’t escape. Even if I got dumb ass killed here, the others would not stop. It just wasn’t in their nature. Dax and Iggy were too focussed on the mission to deviate from the plans. They would never have agreed to come here. But if I did get killed they would carry on. They were as dogged as they come, but it was Sadie who would have scared these sick bastards the most. The fire in her eyes when she told me they were after revenge said more than any words ever could.

I never asked her what she meant about that. I didn’t have to. Just because her birthmark showed infinity, didn’t mean her kids would have. And I’ve seen enough loss in the eyes of those around me to recognise that when I see it.

There were no guards on the gate, but this wasn’t a mission where you ring the doorbell. I would have to find another way into the high-fenced walls of the compound, and that way would be guarded. I pulled up my hood and stepped out of the car.

This was it. Hang in there, Jamie. I’m on my way.

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