FINAL EPISODE - Destined

Novella Thursdays

Donna had to wipe away a few tears from her eyes as Aaron recounted the events of the last five days. They were parked facing the hospital’s entrance, having eaten dinner and talking the hours away during their all-night stakeout. Dennis would arrive with back-up by zero six hundred hours, and if all remained quiet a plan of action would take place the following night. But if a Plan B proved necessary before his arrival, if that “man-in-black” Aaron had spoken of were to show up and take Gloria, they would have to follow them. Inconspicuously of course.

They hoped all would indeed be quiet for the rest of the night, with Dennis being able to swing in and save the day come morning, but such wishful thoughts dissipated at 2:42 a.m. when an unmarked black tinted SUV pulled up to the hospital’s entrance, followed by a Cadillac blacked out in the same fashion of secrecy.

The man Moran had been talking with up in his office exited the Cadillac, with whoever was behind the wheel of the SUV staying put as both vehicles hazard lights continuously blinked in standby.

Two minutes later and Donna’s cellphone received a message.

Gloria strapped in gurney.

Being taken away by MIB.

Minutes later, and to the surprise of both Aaron and Donna, the agent reappeared with not only one gurney, but two, a pair of orderlies pushing along each, with Gloria being taken to the SUV and John to the Caddy. Both had been released from their straitjackets, neither one coherent enough to know what was going on due to the amount of drugs in their system.

As the two government vehicles drove off Aaron turned the ignition to his own car and began to follow, making sure to keep his distance of two to three car lengths as instructed by Dennis. He was now glad that Donna had suggested that last coffee run some thirty minutes ago, as the caffeine helped a little in keeping his nerves in check as they followed these powerful men to who knows where?

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They were entering the abandoned industrial part of town. The outskirts that were like a wasteland of ghost factories and warehouses. Once bustling with productivity and now rotting away, while the rest of New Orleans, most of it ironically older, thrived in its revered historical dressings.

Traffic was dwindling down to just a few cars, and by the time the agents turned off the main road there wasn’t enough cover to keep following them, and so Aaron pulled over to the side of the road, he and Donna straining to make out their tail lights for as long as they could until the little red eyes were no more.

With the sunrise came the text Aaron and Donna had eagerly been waiting for. Dennis had landed, had been picked up by “his guys”, and needed to know their twenty.

Twenty?

Locale.

Dennis’ guys were local and knew the area as the HC District. Including Dennis there would be four of them, all of about retirement age but the manner in which they carried themselves indicative of the license plate frame attached to their van.

ONCE A MARINE

ALWAYS A MARINE

And boy did they have the firepower to back it up.

After a short briefing on what little Aaron and Donna knew of the agents, including the vital intel that it appeared there were only two of them, Dennis and one of his guys got in with Aaron and Donna, Aaron following the van into the area known as the Hoodlum Cemetery District.

It didn’t take long to spot the two government vehicles, and after surveying the perimeter of the warehouse they were parked at, the two veteran marines gave the ok for Aaron to close the fifty yard distance and pull up beside them.

Both the SUV and the Cadillac were empty, but as the squad of four locked and loaded Aaron couldn’t help but be drawn to that Caddy. With the same type of feeling he had had amongst the chaos of last night, instinct was telling him they needed to check that trunk.

With two barrels aimed at it, (the third pointed to the warehouse serving as lookout) Dennis popped the lock and lifted the hood…

Revealing a groggy John, hands and feet secured with duct tape.

They cut him loose, rehydrated him, and then Donna stepped forward with a prepared syringe. Anxiety suddenly appeared across John’s face.

‘No, it’s alright,’ Aaron reassured. ‘It’s just to counter that crap they filled you up with.’

‘That’s right, buddy,’ Dennis added. ‘we’re gonna need you clearheaded, just in case you guys have to skedaddle if something goes awry in there.’

The effects were almost instantaneous, the shot of adrenaline bringing such a surge of energy no coffee had ever done for John, no amount of caffeine pills providing this level of awareness Jimmy now felt.

Once the plan had been mapped out and went over again, with the recon marines all suited up and all seven linked up by small state-of-the-art gadgets of communication, Dennis and his guys turned to head out.

‘Wait,’ John said, stopping them all in their tracks. They turned back around. ‘I need a gun. Just in case “something goes awry”. If something happens to her, if she departs, I need to be right there behind her. And you’ve got to promise me you’ll let me know. Immediately.’

Dennis stepped forward, unstrapped the backup M1911 pistol from his thigh, and placed it in Jimmy’s awaiting hand. ‘Now, this here’s a M1911. First issued to our boys-’

‘In 1911,’ John said, already knowing the history of it. ‘And a standard sidearm during World War I.’ John handled the weapon with smooth familiarity, not needing to say he bad come very close to shipping out to France, going so far as to complete his basic training following that draft notice he had received not one year after returning home with his beloved. But thankfully, World War I had come to an end right in time, allowing him and Glory to raise their newborn together.

These veterans that were now in front of him weren’t even born when he had went through his training. They had been clued in on what this mission supposedly involved, but actual confirmation for them had come now, in the form of this young man, who couldn’t have worked that weapon the way he did without some up-close and in-your-face training with it.

‘You know, Sarah’s like a daughter to me,’ Dennis said, ‘and for the past few years I’ve watched her mature and perfect her craft. But it always seemed there was a missing piece. A part of her, that despite doing what she loved for a living, felt empty.

‘I’m glad she found her completion.’

‘Thank you. I’ll need to know if something happens. Immediately,’ John reiterated.

‘I promise. I’ll let you know.’

And with that the four-man reconnaissance team headed in to carry out their mission.