The Mantis Read online

  Siting motionless, Gabriella felt herself being pulled into the story. Letting her hand drift over the cellphone in her pocket she felt the screen facing out ward.

  “We got double crossed. A few men in the chain of command didn’t like that I had beaten them to a job a few years before. They called the police and we were over run,” he explained, looking down to the floor. “There was nothing she could have done. They took us for interrogation for days out in the country. As they pushed me harder and harder, they finally said they would shoot her if I did not talk. They knew I knew people all over the world that could help them. This one guard put a bag over her head as she sat in the chair. He emptied his revolver and put one bullet back in then he spun it around, so we had no idea where the bullet was. He then said in the most casual of voices that he would ask me what I knew, and every time I did not answer he would pull the trigger with the gun pointed to her head.”

  A furrow crossed Gabriella’s forehead as she pushed the phone to the top of her pocket.

  “They asked me what I knew. I just begged them not to harm her. He pulled the trigger and the gun fired, killing her instantly. They pulled the bag from her head, showing me the entrance and then the exit wound the gun had made. The guard then walked away, leaving me for two days to stare at her body and what he had done to her. When I refused to talk again, they sent me to the gulag. The bastards!” snapped Mari Moto. “If that’s not a good reason to blow them up, then I don’t know is.”

  “I am sorry for your loss,” Gabriella said, feeling the man’s pain overcome her in a wave that she beat back, keeping her mind on the task at hand.

  Bing.

  A small sound jumped from Gabriella’s pants, causing her to reach down and pull her phone from her pocket. Slipping the phone out quickly she fiddled with it as the man with the bomb asked her to turn it off.

  “I thought we agreed no phones for secrecy,” snapped Mari Moto, looking between Gabriella and Otto.

  “I am sorry, that’s my fault,” she said timidly. “But I knew that if I had to do anything technical, my phone holds a lot of what is needed to make that suitcase work.”

  Gabriella pressed the sides of the phone simultaneously causing the screen to go black, and starting the process of the small cameras on each side looking for faces and locking on them. Within an instant the information would go to the mini guns, activating them and having them wait for her command.

  Placing the phone on the table in front of her, she dropped her hands back into her lap seeming flustered.

  “Is it off now?” questioned the mad man.

  “Completely.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Mari Moto raised his glass in toast repeatedly, with the smile on his face getting wider by the sip. Spinning the liquid in her own glass, Gabriella let the wine hit her lips but only took small amounts of it in. It was hard to believe that a man that was ready to die and take a major metropolitan city with him, would pick such a cheap wine. The after taste gave her heartburn.

  “Gabriella, in your wildest dreams did you ever think you would be part of something like this?” the mad man asked.

  “No. Until I connected with Otto, I thought life would be one mission after another, just effecting a small group of people.”

  “Are you put off by the mission?” questioned Mari Moto. “I can assure you that the people who die will deserve it. Even me. I will be a mass murderer, and I should die.”

  “Gabriella is a team player,” Otto spoke, interjecting himself into the conversation.

  “I think that I know her problem,” Mari Moto said as he looked over the top of his glass, shaking the wine side to side. “It’s the money. If she is to kill all these people, she needs to be compensated.”

  Gabriella shifted in her chair, knowing that the mini guns had time to lock onto their targets. The question was when to make the move. With Mari Moto getting himself drunk, there could be more intelligence information for her to gather and sell to the English.

  “Do not fear, young lady,” laughed the mad man. “You will walk out of here tonight with everything you deserve. Even the Mantis needs something to live on.”

  “I am not the—”

  A clear and distinguished voice made its way from around the corner that lead to the exit. “No need to argue with him, dear.”

  Pulling her head around, Gabriella felt the words of the woman drop down into her mind, kicking it into action to bring a face that went with the voice.

  “You didn’t think that I would just let you have all the fun,” came the voice, as the older woman turned the corner and walked to the table.

  “Claudia?” Gabriella asked, stunned and analyzing the situation, hoping the mini guns would lock onto her face as well. “What are you doing here?”

  “Come now, young lady. You know perfectly well what I am doing here.” The older woman cast a smile down on her like she was praising her granddaughter. “Didn’t everything just seem a bit too easy?”

  “You work for Mari Moto?” questioned Otto.

  “Yes, I do,” Claudia confirmed.

  “So, what’s the problem?” Mari Moto grunted, straightening himself out in the chair. “We are all a team.”

  “No, we are not,” Gabriella said with a snap in her voice. “We are not here to help with the bomb.”

  “What?” Mari Moto growled. “Otto, what is going on here?”

  “We can’t let you blow up the city,” Otto explained.

  “I am sorry, old friend. I never wanted you to be mixed up in this in any way. You’re collateral damage,” laughed the mad man. “I still respect and love you for your friendship in the gulag.”

  “What?” Otto snapped, raising his voice. “You were planning on double crossing me all along?”

  “Settle down, young man,” demanded Claudia in a motherly tone. “She is the one of value.”

  “Me?” Gabriella asked. “Why do I have such value?”

  “Because you are the Mantis,” Claudia declared.

  “I told you before—” Gabriella started to explain, before she was interrupted.

  “Cut the shit, Gabriella. We know who you are, and there are a lot of people who would be happy to have you, dead or alive.” Claudia let her rage flow though her voice and mouth, causing the creases of her face to harden. “You have enemies, and a lot of them.”

  “It is all quite simple,” Mari Moto spoke softly, taking another sip of his wine. “You see, Claudia reached out to me when she learned the Mantis was coming under the direction of MI6. The mission was to get me.”

  “The only problem with London, is they forget too much,” Claudia continued. “They forgot my husband was killed by the KGB, and for me to see the whole stinking lot of them get blown up was music to my ears.”

  “Claudia was able to assure me that she could stop your attack on me,” Mari Moto said with a sly smile. “All she wanted in return was the Mantis. She could hold you for the highest bidder and sell you to them. And then she could watch the destruction of Moscow from half a world away.”

  “There is no use in you trying to get away. We have everything covered.” Claudia leaned into Gabriella. “And you, my little bitch, belong to me now. Time may have taken my looks, but it has not taken my mind.”

  Staring back at the woman, Gabriella let her mind work over the room again. There was Claudia and Mari Moto at the table. Two other guards at the far end of the room, with two more at the doorway leading out. No windows, and a high ceiling. If the guards had done a good job, the mini guns were gone, and Otto and she were left with nothing other than the bar that sat on the other side of the room.

  “I will enjoy watching you be sold,” Claudia said with a new anger in her voice. “You are a cheap version of me in my younger days, but you lack the brains.”

  “Ladies, let’s not fight,” Mari Moto interjected. “The only one in this room who has the right to be mad is Otto. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now he has to die
.”

  “I have to?” Otto questioned with sarcasm in his voice. “I don’t have to. You could let me walk out the door and still finish your mission.”

  “Hmmm. No,” Mari Moto mused. “You will be with me when I set it off. You have earned that respect.”

  “Fuck you, Akio,” Otto spat, raising a bold laugh from the mad man.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Taking inventory of herself, Gabriella pulled her toes in and felt the hard, plastic knife hidden inside her shoe. The plastic was rigid and strong, doing every bit the job that a metal knife could do, but it was more stealth, unable to be picked up by metal detectors. Other than the knife, she had nothing as she looked across the table at Claudia and the man with a mission to blow up Moscow.

  Otto shifted in his seat, giving no sign that he had kept any weapon on himself in case of emergency. As far has he had known, Mari Moto saw him as an ally.

  “Otto, I wish you had not been her contact,” the crazed man said as he drummed his fingers on the table. “You may see that what I am doing is a betrayal to you, but you are the one who made this situation happen. You were ready to turn me over to her and to the English. Not that it would get that far. I am sure the Mantis had orders to kill me, not to bring me back alive.”

  “I don’t know what—” Gabriella spoke before being cut off again.

  “Don’t take us for fools, young lady!” snapped Claudia. “All the pieces have been put together. You are the Mantis. You know it, and we know it.”

  Looking down into her lap measuring the distance from the table to her body, Gabriella took a deep breath and sighed. “So what happens next? I doubt Claudia will be staying here to die with the bomb.”

  “You have that right, dear,” the older woman smiled. “I will be far away when the bomb goes off, and a week from now when I turn you or your body over to the highest bidder, I will be spending my golden days in the Caribbean taking drinks from cabana boys.”

  “Nobody will want my body,” Gabriella snapped.

  “That’s where you are wrong,” Mari Moto challenged. “You are kind of a legend. Whoever takes you down can make it known to their enemies and put some fear into them.”

  “I expect that I will first go to the Russians. They will need to say they caught a high-level terrorist after the bombing. You will be perfect, and it will buy them some time,” Claudia explained. “You can go about this any way you choose. If I need to kill you, I will. I have no problem killing a killer. If you want to stay alive, I could work with that as well. It’s up to you, Mantis.”

  “Stop calling me Mantis!” Gabriella screamed as she pushed herself up hard, coming out of her seat. Grabbing the table as her body rose, the momentum snatched the closer legs of the table pulling them off the floor. In one fluid and smooth motion the table was up on its side, leaving Claudia backing away from the glasses coming at her, and Mari Moto still sitting. With a firm step, Gabriella pushed the table before reversing course across the room. Looking at Otto, she saw the man had read her mind and knew the destination was the far side of the bar, gaining the little cover that the room had to offer.

  The two crossed the floor quickly with the sound of gunfire and impact from bullets snapping around them. Jumping up and over the top of the bar, Gabriella managed to get cover, but Otto was unable to control his motion. The powerful man slid on the top of the bar causing him to stay higher than he wanted. His body skipping like a stone on a lake, but rather than going straight under like a stone, Otto’s right leg crashed into the mirror behind the bar, causing the mirror to shatter into thousands of pieces and rain down on Gabriella. The carefully arranged bottles fell from their shelves and hit the floor shattering, some hitting the rubber mat behind the bar that kept them from breaking. Otto finally managed to get to cover with Gabriella.

  “Shit!” Otto gasped, turning to his side exposing a sharp piece of the mirror that had imbedded itself in his right calf.

  “Do you have a gun?” asked a breathless Gabriella, pulling the knife from her shoe.

  “No, I didn’t think we would need it this soon,” Otto said, trying to catch his breath. “He was right, I was going to betray him.”

  “I don’t care. Go tell a shrink later. We need to get out of here,” Gabriella snapped as she pulled the cellphone from her pocket and brought it to life. Connecting to the mini guns, she was thankful they hadn’t been discovered, she punched in the four-digit pin, 4619.

  The nose of the mini guns jumped up just a few millimeters, showing they had come to life as they hid behind the plants high on the wall. Moving slowly across the room in a sweeping motion, the mini gun on the far side of the room detected the face of the guard at the door and let the .22 caliber round fire without hesitation.

  BANG!

  The sunglasses that the guard wore shattered as the bullet penetrated them, making its way into the man’s eye. Dropping the gun from his hand, the guard reached to his eye meeting the blood as it started to pour from him like water from a tap. The bullet had made its way to the brain, but not all the way through, just enough to render the man useless as he fell to the ground disoriented and afraid.

  The other guards started to follow suit, getting hit with shots that targeted their faces, particularly their eyes. Each one, after a series of shots that left the mini guns empty, were now on the floor in shock and pain. The .22 caliber rounds left them alive but incapable of doing anything.

  “Well done,” called the voice of Claudia. “Too bad your toys are out of bullets.”

  Kicking at the shards of mirror on the floor, Gabriella got one to shift on its side, showing her that Claudia and Mari Moto were still behind the table that now was lowered back to its normal height. Mari Moto had not removed himself from the chair and sat with his legs crossed as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Claudia on the other hand, had a semi-automatic handgun drawn, holding it with two hands at waist level. She was ready to bring it up in an instant if needing to do so.

  “Give me the knife,” Otto said, looking down at the plastic knife in Gabriella’s hand, that had grown white from gripping the handle tightly. “I am an expert. I can open up either one of them from here. I just need a little distraction to buy me a half a second.”

  Making eye contact with Otto, Gabriella read him the best she could. Would he stab her with the knife? Could he be trusted? Was he a hero?

  Lifting her hand, moving it slowly, Gabriella opened up her fist until the knife lay in the palm of her hand available for him to take.

  “Don’t miss,” Gabriella said firmly, still maintaining eye contact.

  “We know you are still alive. We can hear your voices and movement,” laughed the mad man. “Let’s not make this anymore unpleasant than it has been.”

  Ripping a strip of fabric from her shirt and exposing her firm, hard stomach, Gabriella pulled a bottle of Vodka that had not been broken close to her. Taking off the cap she stuffed the fabric into the spout and turned it upside down, letting the vodka penetrate the fabric. Turning to her side, she rummaged through the shelf below the bar knowing that they had to have something to light the flame drinks that were popular during sporting events.

  Finding a lighter, Gabriella lit the fabric and watched as it made its way closer to the entrance of the bottle.

  “Come on, kids, what is the hold up?” Mari Moto called over. “Time to live or die.”

  Locking eyes again with Otto, Gabriella nodded. “On three... One. Two. Three.”

  Leaning out from the side of the bar, Gabriella threw the Molotov cocktail as hard as she could. The flame stayed lit as the bottle flew, before it crashed down in a thud and created a ball of fire that sprayed onto Mari Moto. The liquid that held the fire smoked into his shirt, causing the flames to burn into his body on impact. Within seconds, his clothing was ablaze causing him to fall to the floor trying to put it out, but he was incapacitated by his hand chained to the suitcase.

  As the first screams of Mari Moto filled the air
, Otto sprung up from behind the bar holding the knife in his right hand, drawn back and ready to throw.

  With her eyes focused on the burning man to her side, Claudia caught the motion of Otto’s arm as it moved forward and released the knife. With little more than instinct, the older woman fired her weapon as the knife sunk into the left side of her chest penetrating her heart.

  Falling from her hands the gun hit the ground, and she reached for the knife, trying to pull it out. Now stuck in deep, the knife would not move, and it bent with her efforts until she dropped to her knees and then fell to her back.

  “Are you okay?” Gabriella asked as Otto slid down behind the bar.

  “Yeah, she just clipped the outside of my arm. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Jumping up from behind the bar, Gabriella moved over to Mari Moto as he still writhed in pain. Lacking any emotion to her actions, the Mantis picked up a long shard of glass from the floor. It was longer than her hand, and just as thick. She moved in on the mad man, pulling his head up by the hair as she ran the razor-sharp glass across his neck, adding a new layer of pain and a sure death to his struggles.

  “What are you doing?” Otto questioned. “Let’s move!”

  “I need the bomb,” Gabriella said, as she lifted her foot and kicked down on the dying man’s hand, breaking his thumb.

  Pulling the handcuffs over the broken hand proved to be easy with the thumb no longer in its original place. In an instant, the suitcase bomb was in her hands, and she was on her feet.

  “Otto, around the back,” Gabriella ordered as they exited the restaurant.

  Moving at a quick walk, the couple rounded the corner to the back of the building.

  Bang!

  Reaching to his chest, Otto grasped for his shirt pulling it open, and revealed the gunshot wound that had just struck him. Dropping to his knees, the big man gasped for air looking back to Gabriella who had fallen into a crouch.