Guns for Hire - Script Eight
Pacifica Central 9.07am 03/03/2015
Having called Striker & advised their ETA Mariusz settled himself into the back seat of Vrasten's aging saloon, occasionally opening the drop down seat allowing water to be passed through to Joshua in the trunk,
"Look Mr Ambassador Sir, your still alive aren't you, so just shut the fuck up & maybe you'll stay like that"
In the front passenger seat Vrasten tried to ignore Skinpin's ramblings as well as Joshua's constant whining whilst trying not to watch as Gonzales did his best to destroy the stick shift gear box of of Vrasten's pride & joy,
"Vrasten, promise me one thing" said Gonzales "If we come out of this alive, you'll dump this piece of crap & buy something new & shiny"
Highway - 5 9.58am 03/03/2015
"Hey fella's, you might want to watch this" announced Skinpin
Craning around from the front seat Vrasten joined Mariusz in waiting as Skinpin flipped open the expanding screen of his hand held dataterm, on the screen a channel 13 KSPY reporter was talking to the camera whilst half hanging out of the open door of a hovering chopper, the shot then spun to a close up of a large sedan, one very familiar to the group, slowing to a halt on the inner ring road of Pacifica High. As the vehicle stopped all four doors as well as the trunk clicked open only for it to swarmed upon by a heavily armed SWAT team. As the doors were kicked aside the reporter continued to give a running commentary concerning the kidnapping of the Central Government of the Afrikan Free States ambassador & the subsequent murder of several suspected witnesses.
As the three continued to watch the screen, the officer in charge was interviewed by several reporters, he was most definitely pissed that the vehicle was empty & refused emphatically despite being repeatedly pushed that he didn't want to speculate as to when the ambassador's assailants would be identified.
Highway - 5 11.17am 03/03/2015
Making
reasonable time the four were contemplating what they could expect to go down
at the handover when Gonzales drew their attention to the slowing traffic ahead,
to their left beyond the concrete central reservation little, if any, traffic
was heading in the opposite direction, ahead brake lights were coming on as
the traffic ground to a halt.
An hour & forty minutes later, with the queue to their rear ever growing, the temperature in the car, sans air-conditioning, was beginning to become distinctly uncomfortable. Vrasten, like many of the other drivers, was stood on the tarmac doing his best to rubberneck the cause of the delay. In the distance the flash of emergency lights could be seen however their portent was unknown. Suddenly Vrasten noticed a couple of police motorcycle's inching along the hard shoulder past the stationary traffic, they were stopping at each vehicle as they came ever closer.
Getting back into the front passenger seat Vrasten warned the others of motorcycle cops approach, Mariusz opened the up the trunk access panel & warned Joshua that if he so much as farted he was history.
As one of the traffic cops drew level with the drivers window Gonzales wound it down about half way & did his best to look innocent, in the back Mariusz casually slipped the safety catch of his SK19 & tried to move it out of view, wishing he had the fucking room to use it.
"How can we help you officer" inquired Vrasten leaning across Gonzales
"Just asking people to be patient with us sir" drawled the scooter cop "We got a bit of an incident ahead that we're trying to defuse, hope to have you moving pretty soon now, you people have a nice day now & thank you for your time"
As the patrol officer moved on, all four relaxed,
"What a charming man" offered Skinpin
"Can I have some more water please" whispered Joshua from the trunk
Highway - 5 1.36pm 03/03/2015
As their remaining patience began to wear thin the general silence was shattered as heavy gunfire & a series of explosions ripped through the enforced tranquility of the stationary cars, many of drivers clambering on the roofs of their vehicles or the central reservation to try & catch a glimpse of what was going down Moments later several heavily nomads came screaming along the opposite carriage way with a half dozen or so police pursuit vehicles on their tails, as the nomads fled ahead of the police the exchange of gunfire continued, the driver of a truck in the queue ahead who had climbed on his load to watch the fun suddenly fell to the road clutching his gut having caught a hot ricochet from the rolling fire fight.
A few minutes later a patrol car crawled along the hard shoulder advising people to be ready to roll, Vrasten, knowing that the injured truck driver needed urgent attention, hailed the patrol officer adding, as he held up his bandaged hand, that he too had caught a bullet, the officers quickly called in the incident & a few minutes later a ambulance came hurtling along the opposite carriage to whisk the driver away leaving the two officers to deal with the driverless truck.
As promised the traffic soon began to move towards the smoke spiraling into the blue sky,
"I'll let Striker know were going to be late" mumbled Mariusz
Highway - 99 3.41pm 03/03/2015
Having
followed Striker's directions the four found themselves on the hard shoulder
of Highway 99 looking at a collapsed hoarding alongside long a debris strewn
run off through the high concrete banking alongside the highway, barely legible
on the hoarding was a faded poster for flight lessons. Striker's instructions
had been to turn off & follow the side road for a couple of miles which
would bring them directly to the perimeter fence of the long disused Burbank
airfield.
With itchy trigger fingers Vrasten nodded to the others,
"OK Gonzo, nice an' easy does it, an' whatever happens keep the engine running"
Burbank Airfield 3.56pm 03/03/2015
After forcing the mangled airfield gates Gonzales edged forward into the airfield itself, all four cast wary eyes across the dereliction ahead of them,
"If ever there was a place to get burned then this was it" muttered Mariusz
Tentatively
Gonzales negotiated the wreckage which lay at random across the weed strewn
concrete, under Vrasten's direction they crawled onto the crumbling runway &
headed towards the V-22 Osprey idling on the apron at the far end of the runway,
stood beside the aircraft three figures were in conversation.
Drawing closer Mariusz spoke up,
"That's close enough for now, remember, keep it hot just in case, well, just be ready that's all"
As Vrasten watched warily from beside the car Mariusz hauled Joshua out of the trunk, Skinpin, quiet for once, watched Mariusz's back.
"It's about fucking time" blurted Striker "I thought you'd gone all shitty on me"
As Vrasten conversed with Striker Mariusz gave the other spooks the once over, the first dude, probably the Osprey jockey, was a short fella, bit thin on top, kicking his heels out of boredom, the second accomplice was all together different, tall, slim, black suit, black tie, black shoes & shades, & yeah,you guessed it, black attaché' case.
"Mr
Striker" called out Mr Black, "Mr Striker, we have a transaction to
complete I believe, may we proceed ?, its rather hot out here & I'm sure
your friends would like to conclude this matter as quickly as is possible"
Still not quite at ease Vrasten nodded to Mariusz who pushed Joshua into full view, before however offering the lap top he, respectfully, asked to see the colour of the money. Eyes hidden behind his shades, Mr Black confidently spun his attaché' case around & flicked open the locks, inside, as promised, was the money, a great deal of money, satisfied Vrasten took the pillow case from the front seat of the car, fished out the lap top & handed it over.
Blinking in the sunlight Joshua was suddenly aware that Mr Black was addressing him directly,
"Mr Motobasmi, would you be gracious enough to tell me your password"
Looking nervously at his abductors, Joshua shrugged his shoulders, & responded,"Myleena, my eldest daughters name, its Myleena"
Mr Black thanked Joshua & then spent several minutes intently watching the screen of the laptop before snapping it shut,
"I think our business is concluded gentlemen, I suggest you take a holiday, somewhere warm, they say Alaska's pleasant at this time of year"
As Mr Black turned towards the plane, the jockey moved ahead of him & rapidly climbed into the open hatch,
"Er, any chance of a lift" said Striker turning to face Mariusz, "Looks like I need one"
As Mr Black walked towards the aircraft Vrasten began to stuff the remaining papers from the embassy safe back into the pillar case, he couldn't be definite in the time he'd spent looking at it, but, & it was a big but, if he was right, there was hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of government bonds & share certificates as well as a couple of hefty bankrolls of cash.
Burbank Airfield 4.13pm 03/03/2015
Mariusz looked at across at Joshua, half knowing what the answer would be he shouted after Mr Black,
"So what about Joshua then ?"
Mid stride Black glanced over his shoulder,
"Kill him"
As the others cursed at the trouble they'd gone to getting Joshua out of the embassy, Mariusz calmly drew his pistol & put 24g of hollow point into the back of Joshua's head.
It was at that point that everything really went tits up . . . . . . . . . .