Page 22 of Justified (Ruthless Vigilante #1)

“This neighborhood is so beautiful. These houses are amazing.”

“Jordan, stay focused.”

“Sorry. Where are you coming from?”

“From the east.”

“Okay, yeah… that’s close to his guest house. There are lot of trees and bushes over that way, too.”

“Perfect.”

“I see you on the sky view.”

“Do I look sexy?”

“Always.”

I laughed, then leaped over the high gate, landing softly near some bushes, which I promptly ducked behind.

I peeked to check out the camera situation.

I had my EMP device with me again, but I wasn’t going to use it until I was inside the mansion, so I had to be mindful of those bastards until I could do my thing.

“Heads up, guard coming your way,” Jordan said.

I could hear the sound of grass crunching under the man’s foot getting louder as he drew closer to where I was hiding.

I made sure to stay real low because I didn’t want to give away my position until I was ready.

A few seconds later, he walked past my hiding spot, and I caught the whiff of his cologne, which told me just how close he was to me.

That was when I popped out, taking him from behind.

I covered his mouth as I put him in a sleeper hold.

He struggled as best as he could before the lack of oxygen rendered him unconscious.

I drug his body back behind the bushes with their excellent cover.

The guy was just an inch shorter than me, so this transformation wasn’t going to hurt too much.

I started the process once I had stripped the man of his clothes.

It hurt like hell to shrink my bones and reform my body to look like his.

Even my vocal cords underwent the transformation so I’d sound exactly like him.

I moaned low as my organs shifted to accommodate my new form. It was an agonizing experience.

In all honesty, transformation was actually a very interesting ability I had.

I should probably use it more often. Maybe I would if it didn’t hurt like hell.

The whole time, I had to be as quiet as I could so I wouldn’t draw any unwanted attention.

It took me a minute to get my bearings, but after I had, I took off my clothes and put on his security outfit and strapped myself with his weapons and ID.

I did replace one of his guns with my tranquilizer gun.

Of course, I removed the bullets out of the other gun I didn’t need, not that he would be awake by the time I was done doing what I needed to do, but so he couldn’t use it on me just in case.

Searching the pocket of my sweats, I pulled out a syringe with the tranquilizer in it, then stuck it in the guard’s arm.

I wanted to make sure he’d stay asleep for a while.

Now, I was one of them. Next, I needed to get to Walter.

I stepped out from the bushes and walked around to the front of the house, where I ran into another guard.

“How’s everything looking?” he asked me.

“I think I found something and need you to check it out,” I said.

“Show me,” the guard said in a no nonsense tone.

I gestured for him to follow me. “It may not be anything, but I just want you to look to make sure.” I led him away from the camera’s point of view and, once we were clear, I turned on him, punching him hard enough to knock him out with one blow.

I pulled out my tranq gun, shooting him with a dart, then dragged his body over to the other guard behind the bushes.

From what I could tell, there were other guards roaming the grounds, but they were further out. I’d deal with them if I had to.

I did another perimeter walk around the mansion to make sure there were no more guards.

I also took this opportunity to locate the fucking generator.

I had every intention of using my EMP again, but this time, I didn’t need that motherfucker getting in my way.

I found it on the grounds and there was a camera nearby.

I waited until the camera panned away from me, then I ran over there, leaped up, and snatched the camera off its mount.

I crushed it in my hands with ease, then went over to the generator, breaking the lock on the door.

I knew I had to hurry because a call went out over the radio for someone to check out the camera that just went down.

Okay, this was where my superhuman strength really came in handy.

I reached behind the huge generator and disconnected the wiring.

I also busted the LCD display once the generator powered off.

I reached into one of the many pockets on my uniform, I kind of missed wearing these.

Anyway, I pulled out my EMP device and activated it.

This time, there would be no panic room he could run into or any alarm he could sound for help.

I closed the door and stepped out in time to meet two guards.

“Jones, what the fuck is going on?” one of them said, aiming his gun at me.

Jones was the name of the man whose face I was wearing. Since I’d shut down the electricity, there were no cameras to see me take them out. No need to play nice.

“Taking out your fucking scum bag boss,” I said, then I drew my tranq gun quickly, shooting one of the guards, but not before the other shot me in the chest. The bullet proof vest helped shield me from the impact, which was a small blessing.

I shot him in his neck with a dart, knocking him out completely.

This was the kind of playing grounds I wanted.

They couldn’t radio to each other and no one knew what was coming.

I ran around to the front as another guard was coming out of the house. “Did you see anything?” he asked me.

“No, but I can’t find Thomas or Watts,” I said, having read the names on the uniforms of the guards I’d just taken down.

“Shit, right before all of the electricity went out, one of the cameras went black. They were sent to investigate,” the guard explained.

“Yeah, I know, I heard it on the radio,” I replied. “I can’t find Blackburn, either.” He was the second guard I’d knocked out. Loved that these guards had their names on their uniforms, really helped me infiltrate.

“Get in here, we need to double up our efforts,” the guard said, which was exactly what I wanted. I came in, locking the door behind me. “We can’t stay here, we’re too vulnerable.”

“I agree,” I said, then shot him in his leg.

“Motherf—” he said before passing out.

I sighed. The only disadvantage I had attacking at this time of day was the lack of darkness to cover me. I thought I would have had an easier time infiltrating then, but who knows? He might have had even more security at night, so it was now or never.

“Don’t move!” another guard yelled. He was joined by two more.

Damn, how many guards did this motherfucker hire?! I went full out, taking their bullets as I fired back, rendering each one unconscious. One of the guards managed to get a direct hit to my skull and I fell back, crashing hard to the floor as blinding pain shot across my face.

“Ahhh shit!” I griped from the searing pain pulsing through my brain at the moment.

Thankfully, my super-healing came into play and the pain didn’t linger more than a few seconds.

It was enough time for more guards to approach.

I rolled out of the way as they fired their weapons at me, then braced myself for the pain as I stood up, taking aim.

I shot my darts at the guards as I took their bullets to my chest, shoulders, and legs.

With those guards down, I took to the stairs, making my way through the mansion.

I heard the floor creaking and knew someone was coming my way from around the corner.

I pressed myself against the wall and waited until he came into view.

I grabbed his weapon with one hand and wrapped my arm around his neck with the other.

“Where’s Walter?” I demanded.

“Fuck you, Jones,” he spat back. “You’re never going to get out of here alive.”

“I don’t want to kill you, but I will if you won’t tell me.” To prove my point, I kicked his leg hard enough to break his tibia bone.

“Ahhhhh fuuck!” he cried out.

I could actually see a white shard of bone poking out of his pant leg and knew that shit had to hurt. He screamed again as he thrashed about from the pain, but my grip on him didn’t budge. “Want your other leg broken? How about total blindness? I have no problem removing your eyes.”

“Fuck you!”

“Trust me, the man isn’t worth it,” I said, then I slammed him down on the floor and he landed hard with a loud groan. I grabbed his arm, bending it back, then chopped his elbow at the joint, shattering the bone.

“Ahhh, Jesus Fuck! Ahhhhh!” the guard screamed.

“Tell me what I want to know or end up in worse shape. Where is he?” I demanded.

“Shit, fuck… he’s upstairs,” the man said through spit and tears.

“Where at upstairs?”

“I don’t know,” he said.

“Fucking useless,” I said as I shot him in his shoulder with a tranq.

As I made my way upstairs, I reloaded my gun with another tranquilizer round.

I kicked down every closed door I came to in the hallway, then cleared the room.

It wasn’t until I got to the fifth door that I heard whispers.

I stood back, then kicked it open to a barrage of gun fire.

I ducked back behind the wall after the first round, then braced myself before leap-rolling into the room.

The remaining guards continued firing at me, which would no doubt draw attention to any other guards who may be nearby.

I had to end this now. I stood up, taking the bullets, which sent me back a few paces, but then I steadied myself and powered through, ramming one of the guards, which sent him crashing through the closet door.

I rolled over into a prone position, shooting two of the guards who were shooting at me, knocking them unconscious.

The guard I rammed was done for as he lay in a broken heap on the floor.

I stood up, and there was one guard left who was protecting Walter.

“You’re one of those Enhanced Humanoid freaks,” the guard yelled.

EHS, Enhanced Humanoid Species, was the actual term. Something the government had come up with since the discovery of people with exceptional abilities.

I nodded. “Yeah, I am,” I answered, aiming my gun.

He shot at me but I ducked and took my shot, hitting in him the leg and, a few seconds later, he was out of the fight too, which left me alone with my target.

Finally. I stood up and looked at Mr. Darring trembling in his shoes like the coward he was.

He was staring at all of the bullet holes in my uniform, which did resemble swiss cheese.

I was glad it wasn’t my normal costume, those things were expensive to replace.

I stepped closer to my target and he held his shaking hands out as if to stop me from moving forward.

“I—I can pay you money,” he said as his first line of defense.

“Fuck you,” I spat, then shot him in his neck with my last tranq dart.

That meant if anyone else attacked me, they were getting the real thing.

I walked over to Walter’s body, lifting him up, and tossed him over my shoulder.

So far, so good, as I made my way through his house, passing by all of his unconscious security detail.

I made it to the garage. The keys to the cars were in a locked locker, which I broke with ease.

Time was of the essence now, because I had less than three minutes before the power cut back on.

I took the keys to a Ford SUV, tossed Walter in the back, and climbed in behind the wheel.

By the time I got to the gate, only one guard stopped me. “Hey, what’s going on at the house, Jones? Is everything okay?”

I didn’t bother to play the game anymore.

Instead, I punched the shit out of him, sending him crashing into the security booth.

The guard slumped to the ground with blood pouring from his lip and nose, which definitely looked broken.

I stepped out, walked to the booth, and pushed the button to open the gates, then climbed back into the SUV.

This was probably one of the most difficult extractions I’d ever performed, but at least it was successful this time, if not still a little sloppy.

I was off with my target, driving back to my car, where I dumped Walter in the trunk, stripped him of his clothes, and left them in the SUV.

If he had any tracking devices in his clothing, which he probably did…

they’d do him no good. I climbed into my car and drove off to the special place I had set up for the perfect interrogation in between my failed missions.