Maxwell Cain 2: With a Side of Vengeance Read online

  Max released his shotgun to dangle from its strap and blocked the guard’s thrust, then twisted. He pulled the guard around and slammed him head-first into a shipping container, ringing the metal box like a gong and sending the guard reeling. Max plucked the knife from his hands, but before he could stab the disoriented guard, another Blood Sparrow popped up and fired off a burst with an SMG. The bullets rang against the shipping container beside Max’s head and almost deafened him.

  Max spun and hurled the knife. The blade stabbed into the other guard’s forehead and plunged in halfway to the hilt. The dead sailor keeled over backward, his convulsing fingers squeezing the trigger and emptying his SMG into the air as he collapsed on his back. Max turned back to the dazed guard, seized his shotgun, and blew the man in half with a thunderous shot.

  Max caught a flicker of black and silver from the corner of his eye. More gunfire rang out from around a nearby shipping container, and Max hustled around the corner to find Nick standing over two dead guards. He snapped his SMG up at Max’s approach but quickly diverted the barrel. “You taking point again, Captain Cain?”

  “Try and stop me, Warrant Officer Sharpe.” Max pressed forward down the meandering aisle of shipping containers toward the bridge, sweeping his shotgun back and forth. Nick fell in at his back.

  Two more guards jumped out with SMGs aimed at Max. He blew one away, and a burst of fire from behind him shredded the second just a moment later. Nick had anticipated which enemy Max would take.

  “Looks like our training is paying off,” Max called out as he pressed forward. “We’re in better shape than we ever were on the police force.”

  “That’s likely due to the improved training facilities our new employers provide.” Nick fired down a side passage that had been empty when Max passed. “They’re attempting to flank us and fill in behind. I suggest we pick up the pace.”

  “Any idea which containers the girls are in?”

  “Probably closer to the bridge. The captain will want to keep a close eye to make sure his men don’t avail themselves of the merchandise and damage the goods.”

  “That’s both disgusting and perfect at the same time.” Max reached into a narrow belt pouch at his hip and drew out a black disk the side of his palm. He pressed a sequence of hidden buttons and slapped it against a nearby shipping container, where the disk adhered with sudden magnetic force. “Nothing like a smart proximity claymore to keep your backtrail pest-free.”

  They marched on. Three more guards leaped out, and Max dropped one, but the other two were better disciplined than previous guards and opened fire immediately, filling the air with burning lead. Nick and Max were forced to separate down different aisles to take cover.

  Max raised his hand and jabbed one finger at Nick, then swirled the finger in the air. Nick nodded at him and slipped away down his side alley, disappearing around the corner toward the front of the ship.

  Overhead, the whirring chopper blades cut the air as the helicopter pilot wove back and forth to dodge AA fire. Kate’s sniper rifle cracked again and again as she cut down enemies ahead of Max, clearing his path to the bridge.

  Max popped back into the main aisle and fired off a shotgun blast. He pulped one guard’s face, but the second guard had been joined by three more men who opened fire with SMGs. Max ducked back as a hail of bullets rang against his shipping container.

  More gunfire and agonized screams punctured the air down the aisle, and the ringing against Max’s container ceased. He charged around the corner, catching two guards with one shot as they aimed down a side passage at Nick. His blast turned them to swiss cheese, and they collapsed dead in a pile.

  The remaining guard tried to aim at Max, but his charge was too swift. Max raised the butt of his shotgun and smashed the man in the mouth. Bloody teeth flew, and the man collapsed on his butt. Max fired point-blank into his chest, sending his dead body bouncing across the metal deck.

  A booming clap of thunder rang out from the aisle behind Max. He smirked at his second-in-command as Nick trotted closer. “Our trap caught some rats.”

  “Some Sparrows, I should think.”

  “Rats with wings.” Max looked ahead, where the bridge was visible rising above a couple more stacks of shipping containers. “Just about there. What’s this guy’s name again?”

  “Blake Aimes. Been with the Blood Sparrows about nine years. He runs this cargo ship back and forth across the sea to China and offloads missing girls to the local crime groups.”

  “My favorite kind of dirtbag.” Max grinned viciously and stomped down the aisle. “Let’s shuffle him off this mortal coil.”

  The shipping containers gave way to an open space around a two-story tower. The top story was all glass, while the bottom story bore a single white door. Max kicked in the door with his heavy boot and let it rebound off the wall inside, then leaped aside. Heavy gunfire shredded the air where he’d been standing.

  Max reached into his pouch again, but froze. “You said the girls are around here?”

  “Most likely.”

  Max growled and pulled his hand out. “No explosives, then. You got a flashbang?”

  “Always.” Nick pulled the oblong device from his pouch, held a red button for three seconds, and tossed the flashbang grenade inside the tower. Two seconds later, a deafening thump and a flash of light spilled out of the doorway, and a chorus of agonized screams filled the air. Max bolted inside with his shotgun at the ready.

  He found four men in red jumpsuits crawling around on the ground, still clutching their SMGs but too blind to fight back. Rows of computer terminals filled the room along with a rising staircase on the righthand wall. The whole room stank like fireworks. He and Nick kicked the disoriented men in their heads to knock them unconscious, then stormed up the stairwell.

  At the top, he found a sunlit bridge filled with more computer terminals, ringed in windows, and smelling like disinfectant. A hulking brute of a man stuffed into a red captain’s uniform with a white hat perched upon his blond head turned his pockmarked face toward Max and Nick as they entered with guns drawn, but the man made no move to draw a weapon.

  Max aimed his shotgun straight at the man’s face from five feet away. “Captain Blake Aimes, I presume?”

  The pockmarked captain gazed dispassionately at Max. “You killed my men?”

  “Most of them. Left the four in the room beneath us unconscious, since they didn’t see us. You have seen us, so I’ll have to kill you to preserve our secret. You ready to answer for your crimes?”

  “I am,” Captain Aimes said, “but I’ve got one request. You’ve come into my home. Face me on my terms. Fight me like a man and let’s see which of us truly has the will to live.”

  Max smirked. “You want me to fight you when I’ve got you dead to rights?”

  Captain Aimes shrugged. “If you are a man, yes. No guns, just killing each other like civilized men of old. Do you have the guts, I wonder? Or are you just a soulless attack dog?”

  “I’ve got cojones into next week, pal.” Max unslung his shotgun from his shoulder and passed it to Nick, who sighed.

  “Max, this is idiotic. The cops are bound to be on their way with all that AA fire filling the sky.”

  Max cracked his knuckles. “Then I’ll kill him quick. A man’s gotta go what a man’s gotta do, Nick. I didn’t trade in my sack when I got my commission.”

  The two captains raised their fists and circled each other. Aimes had a good six inches on Max’s height and at least forty more pounds, but Max leered at the bigger man. “I’ve pounded gorillas bigger than you into hamburger. Show me what you’ve got.”

  Aimes advanced quickly, throwing a jab. Max ducked it and waited for the follow-up, but was surprised when Aimes lashed out with his foot instead. The kick glanced off Max’s knee but he pulled back in time to avoid serious injury. He stepped forward to jab, but Aim
es beat him to it and threw a punch that pounded the side of Max’s head and left his ears ringing.

  Nick raised Max’s shotgun toward Aimes, but the gesture enraged Max. “Stay out of this, Nick!” He threw a fast jab at Aimes, then a second. When the two jabs opened a gap, Max stepped in and pounded Aimes straight in the face. The blow shoved the big man back but didn’t break his guard.

  Max exploited the extra space to leap up against the side of a computer terminal and push off, leaping toward Aimes from an elevated height. He used the momentum to deliver a powerful haymaker that slipped past Aimes’ guard and hurled the burly captain face-first against a window. The glass shattered, and Aimes staggered about with blood pouring down his face.

  Max rushed into the gap, pounding Aimes’ solar plexus with a flurry of blows. The air whooshed out of the big man, and he folded forward straight into Max’s raised knee. The blow knocked him off his feet, and Aimes collapsed on the ground in a broken heap.

  Breathing hard, Max stepped back and took the shotgun Nick offered him. He nodded approvingly at Aimes, who stared up at him through bleary eyes. “Well fought, you depraved vagabond. Now, here’s justice for all the women you’ve sold into slavery. Enjoy your glorious death in Hell.” He fired point-blank into Aimes’ head, splattering his brains across the floor.

  “Another one down,” Max sighed as he rested the shotgun across the back of his shoulders. “How many does this make now?”

  “Since you became a loose-cannon cop, or since starting the Reapers three months ago?”

  “Keep a running tally on both. I’d like to track my personal best.” The sound of chopper blades grew suddenly distant, and Max peered out the windows. “That ain’t good. Something scare them off?”

  “Attention, crew of the Sparrowhawk,” an authoritative voice blared through speakers on the docks below the side of the ship. “This is the police. We have you surrounded and will begin boarding procedures. Lay down your weapons and surrender. This is your only warning.”

  “Cavalry’s here.” Max gestured around the bridge. “Okay, Nick. I cleared everyone out for you. You’re second-in-command here, find us an exfil route.”

  Nick glanced around. Max saw his eyes go wide, and the black-haired ex-cop pointed into one corner. “Let’s use that.”

  Max turned and saw a glass case with In case of emergency stamped across it in red letters. Inside was a single jetpack with two thin straps and a massive rocket mounted to the back.

  “Solid plan, except for one thing.” Max strode to the case and broke the glass with the butt of his shotgun, then yanked the jetpack free. “Awfully tight quarters in one backpack, buddy.”

  Nick pulled the jetpack from his hands. “I’ll fly, you shoot.”

  “A little too friendly for me.” Nick strapped the jetpack on, but Max turned to the windows as he heard the rising drone of a helicopter. “They coming back?”

  An armored gunship painted garish red gleamed in the sunlight. Two mounted gunners in machinegun turrets, one on each side, wound up and spit burning death into the ship’s deck. The fire tracked toward the bridge with alarming speed.

  “On second thought, Nick, I’d love to go to the prom with you!” Max leaped at his friend and wrapped his arms around Nick’s thin neck. The lanky warrant officer activated the jetpack with a handheld controller and the rocket flared to life, lifting them off the ground. They rocketed forward through the shattered window as heavy fire shredded the bridge to kindling.

  The two Reapers blasted away from the collapsing bridge and out into the bright daylight. The two mounted gunners swiveled to track them, and bullets ripped through the air just inches behind their dangling boots.

  “Go faster, damn you!” Max howled over the shrieking wind and gunfire.

  “This thing doesn’t go any faster! It’s not made for two heavy idiots!”

  “Then steer us toward that gunboat!”

  “This is not the time for one of your insane stunts, Max,” Nick shouted as he zigzagged. He nearly lost his grip on Max, but recovered at the last second and dodged another storm of bullets.

  “This is the perfect time for an insane stunt,” Max bellowed. “Just fly us through their open doors and let me do the rest!”

  Cursing, Nick spun them around and darted straight at the gunship. The gunners looked startled and struggled to orient their fire, spattering the air around the two approaching Reapers with close calls. One bullet tore a groove in Nick’s jetpack and hissing fluid bubbled out, scalding Max’s flesh where it touched him.

  They reached the gunboat’s side and spun to dart through the open doorway. They passed the first gunner so close Max could have kicked him, if he wasn’t busy digging in his belt pouch. He lifted the grenade free as they reached the center of the gunboat, an open square with jump seats and a narrow doorway to the cockpit. The pilot and copilot glanced back to see the intruders, and Max saw his reflection in their mirrored aviator glasses as he punched the grenade’s trigger and hurled it inside the cockpit. It bounced off the forward glass before Max and Nick rocketed out the other open hatch and into blue sky.

  The two Reapers were lined up perfectly for the second gunner to take a shot and kill them both, but he was too busy frantically unstrapping himself from his seat. He wasn’t fast enough, and three seconds after Max punched the trigger, the gunboat behind them erupted in a concussive explosion which tore through the sky like a clap of thunder. The fuel tank detonated next, sending a second explosion ripping through the sky as the flaming wreckage plummeted into the cargo ship’s bridge, reducing the tower to a crater as the gunship punched through into the lower decks.

  “That shouldn’t have hurt the imprisoned girls, right?” Max bellowed as Nick turned to blast away over the sea.

  “Almost assuredly not,” Nick answered. “Their cargo containers should keep them well protected until the cops rescue them. I’ll send an anonymous tip about the captives in a minute when we get free.” He was squeezing the controller with white-knuckled hands and maxing out the speed, but the damaged jetpack coughed in protest and dropped them toward the choppy waters.

  Five-hundred yards from the cargo ship, they splashed down in the ocean. Max and Nick spluttered and kicked, and Max helped Nick free himself from the heavy contraption. The jetpack sank into the ocean as the two Reapers treaded water, their SMG and shotgun slung over their shoulders on straps.

  The thumping of another approaching chopper filled the air. Max looked out across the ocean with trepidation, but his heart rose at seeing the friendly gray transport drawing near. Kate leaned out the open door, her long blonde hair snapping in the wind like a golden banner. When they got closer, she kicked the coiled rope over the side for Max and Nick to grab hold.

  Max and Nick latched onto the rope, and the two of them clung tight as the helicopter lifted them free from the ocean and headed for a nearby beach a safe distance from the shipping yard and the swarming police.

  As they swung from the rope, Max grinned at his second-in-command. “Killing dirtbags, rescuing damsels, and no paperwork in sight. I love our new job.”

  Chapter 3

  White Picket Fence

  The elevator chimed and the sleek glass doors opened, freeing Max and Kate to step from the brass-plated elevator car and into the carpeted hallway leading to Kate’s apartment. They’d changed out of their combat fatigues and into casual civilian wear, which meant jeans and a white t-shirt for Max. Kate wore a modest blue sundress with brown suede boots.

  Max whistled as he scanned the framed oil paintings lining the paneled walls to her heavy oak door. “Swanky place, Kate. The Citizen Defense Force must be paying you pretty well.”

  Kate laughed as she inserted her key into the door handle. “Stop it. You make more than I do. I can’t help it if you choose to live in the same rundown flea trap you did before.”

  “Old habits. Grow up
poor, you don’t know no better. Saves on heating bills when you don’t have a heater.”

  “Forgive me for living like a human.” Kate next unlocked the deadbolt, then two more deadbolts. Then she keyed her six-digit PIN into a pad below the door handle. As she turned the knob and let them inside, Max nodded approvingly.

  “Paranoid. I like that in a woman.”

  “I know.” Kate favored him with another warm smile as he slipped by her into the entryway and she shut the heavy door behind them. A chorus of locks clicking into place filled Max’s ears as he glanced around the tiled entryway.

  Sandstone tiles underfoot continued up the walls, stopping only at the vaulted white stucco ceiling high overhead. To the left lay an archway into the wide kitchen, a baker’s dream full of every appliance with double the normal counter space. Down the hall lay the sumptuous living room full of white couches, oak tables, and the biggest widescreen television Max had ever seen. Every video game console imaginable plus a glowing monstrosity of a PC tower lined an industrial shelf mounted on the wall under the television. Massive bay windows covered by lacy white curtains filled the far wall. Four bedrooms and a couple bathrooms lay down another hallway to the right.

  “Lot of space for just one woman,” Max commented, striding into the living room and glancing around with his hands in his pockets.

  “We’re getting married next week,” Kate scolded him with a smile as she tossed her purse down on a chair and followed him. “After that, it’d better not be just one woman living here. And once we have five or six kids—”

  “Slow down there! What are you, part rabbit?”

  Kate batted her eyelashes at him coquettishly and clasped her hands in front of her, swishing her hips back and forth. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  Max growled approvingly. He stepped toward her, sliding his hands around her waist to the small of her back and drawing her close. They rested their foreheads together, drinking in each other’s scent.