Triggerpoint Episode Number Six... Menacing!

By Sidney Cris

TRIGGERPOINT! ––– A huge, masterfully crafted thriller in Eight EPISODES.

Hawkshead Perry and Southpaw Nash, The Weapon Hunters, work for the Department of Energy. So when legendary nuclear physicist, Trinidad Rostov, uses a crack team of mercenaries to steal a Russian missile train right out from under the Kremlin's red nose, the hunt is on. The CIA thinks Rostov is out for revenge or worse –– a private war! The Russians want Rostov stopped ––– dead in their railroad tracks! In a breathless race over three continents, with time ticking-away, and a world famous assassin out to gun them down, Hawk and Southpaw must stay alive long enough to find Rostov and stop him from turning world-class science into world-wide devastation that reaches ––– TRIGGERPOINT!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9781623095505

Book preview

Chapter Forty-Seven

It was now just after eleven on a cold clear Texas night with a sapphire sky full of stars the size of pizzas and a moon that was bigger and far more romantic then a ten-gallon cowboy hat.

Kaspar Gried eased his rented car to the side of the narrow dirt road and stopped. For a second all he could hear was the sound of his own wheezing breath. He opened the driver’s door and stepped out. Jesus…the moon was huge and beautiful. But the air was freezing.

He hoped this wouldn’t take long.

He pulled the collar of his suit coat up around his neck and stuffed his hands deeply into his pants pockets. He glanced quickly over his shoulder at the woman who had just gotten out of the back seat and was coming around the opposite side of the car to stand next to Drexler.

She was Chinese, but younger and much prettier than he had expected. Her shiny black hair reflected the moonlight. It was cut in a stylish pageboy fashion that framed her face with small whips and long gentle strands of jet black that flipped softly above her collar. She was wearing a western style security guard’s uniform with tan, striped pants, epaulets on her shoulders and sculpted breast pockets. Her golden badge also picked up highlights from the moonlight. Overall…she was a perfectly outfitted teenage Texas Ranger.

She wore no gun.

Little nippy, huh? Drexler said to Gried with a quick laugh. Get it? Little nippy.

Kaspar looked at his feet and shook his head. Yeah…I get it. He couldn’t believe the asshole was making racial jokes. Not that he gave a shit but…it just…it didn’t seem appropriate for a murder. They were at a wide pullout along the side of a steep craggy ridge that overlooked the valley below.

It was a grand, romantic spot.

When you looked out over the ridgeline, you could see most of DrexTex and the glittering lights of the long, low valley beyond. In another time and place Kaspar Gried imagined that this could have been a lover’s leap, or whatever the Texas version of that might have been. In any event, it was a perfect place to have a few beers and neck in the backseat of a car.

You see those lights, Drexler said. He waved his hand across the necklace of lights dotting the corners and marking the entry gates to DrexTex. The hell kind of lights are those…Sherry? He said without looking at Sherry-Ann Woo. You know what kind of lights we have down there? Do you know?

She shrugged with a puzzled expression on her face. We come up here for that? Mr. Drex? She said sternly. Late night now… She pointed a small finger at her wristwatch. I go off shift seven-thirty, hey? Now you want to know about lights? That why we come up here? Entry lights? She stopped at arms length from Drexler and sniffed and wiped her nose with a hanky. Cold, hey? Cold tonight. She said and stuffed the hanky in her back pocket and pointed down at the entry gate. What you mean now? Big gate down there? Those lights? She waved her hand up and down. I don’t know what kind lights those are, Mr. Drex. Maybe…maybe tungsten-halogen, I think. But highest quality, hey? Always-highest quality, Mr. Drex. Made in China, hey? She said it proudly but didn’t laugh or smile. She pointed at the view with her small hand. Beautiful. I never was up here so late. See DrexTex like this. She rippled her fingers like a piano player over the dotted lights. But too cold tonight. She took the hanky out of her pocket and looked up at the sky. Big moon…many, many bright stars. She sniffed and dobbed at her nose again. You want other kind lights down there, Mr. Drex? I can see…that’s what you want.

No…no, Drexler said without looking at her. He was wearing a tan windbreaker and both his hands were now tucked inside his jacket pockets.

Gried wondered which hand held the gun?

I was just wondering if they were bright enough for you?

It took her a moment, but then she said. For me? What you mean…for me?

Drexler turned and looked straight at her. Yeah, for you, Sherry-Ann. I wanted to know if you had enough light to see all the parts that you’ve been stealing from me?

She took a step backward. Like she’d walked into a wall. I what? I don’t steal.

Drexler kept his eyes on her. You’ve been stealing parts haven’t you, Sherry? Rotors, baffles, changers. He pulled a gloved hand from his jacket and for an instant Kaspar thought ‘this is it’…but Drexler’s hand was empty. He pointed a finger at her and shouted, Tell me the truth, Sherry-Ann. He yelled at her. Tell me! You’ve been stealing parts haven’t you? What’s it for…drugs? Is that it? You selling my parts for drugs?

She backed away quickly; her eyes dropped to the ground and she put a hand to her mouth… obviously surprised, definitely caught off balance. Who says that? She looked up at him, grabbed hold of both her cheeks with her tiny hands and shook her head. No…no, Mister Drex, no not me… she pleaded. Not true…not true…not me.

The guilty always plead innocence.

Drexler took a quick step forward…his skeletal fisted finger inches from her face, punctuating the freezing night air with accusations he knew to be true. Don’t lie to me, Sherry-Ann! Don’t tell me you’re innocent, goddamnit! He directed his bony finger at the entry gates. You’re taking parts right out the front fucking gate in the trunk of your car. I’ve seen them…so don’t tell me it’s not you.

He took another step forward backing her up and shouted, Tell me the truth…tell me! I’ve looked inside the trunk of your car. I’ve seen the parts you’ve been stealing. He waved his hand above her head, his voice rising with every word. Now tell me the truth, Sherry-Ann. You’ve been stealing from me haven’t you? Haven’t you? Admit it! He almost screamed. Tell me! Tell me now!

Her shoulders began to shake and she bent forward as if she was meeting a ruling monarch. Her head wagged from side to side and she stared down at her feet trying to find some kind of safe avoidance from her employers’ glare. Unwilling to meet his eyes she fixed her gaze out across the starlit valley… and then down at her feet again…anywhere but into Drexler’s burning, hateful eyes.

And then she bent deeper, far more than a bow and said, choking on her words, I’m…I’m…oh, I’m so sorry, Mister Drex. I…I have drug addiction. She was sobbing openly now, freely admitting her problem with narcotics. I need money, please. I not get enough to…it was…I not think…hey? I need money…parts were there.

So you stole them from me?

I’m so…I’m so sorry…I not think I was…oh… she took a long deep sigh. "I not think I was hurting anyone. It was for money…and…I’m so sorry, Mr. Drex.