Now the plot thickens. Hope you're still liking this story when you get to the end of this chapter. It leaves a bitter taste. Thanks for the kind notes.
Dan skyecatone@hotmail.com
Steel Tigers part 3:
Tyler stood up and swiped the blood out of his eye from the cut over his right eyebrow and pulled open a drawer in the desk. There was a large pistol in the drawer, and he took it and stepped over the unconscious man that had attacked him and headed for the foyer.
He slid up against the wall and carefully looked around the corner. He watched as Kyler threw himself over the couch. A huge hulking man fired two shots into the couch and moved to see if he'd gotten the kid on the floor. He never saw Tyler.
Tyler raised the pistol and fired once. The man toppled forward and Tyler sprang forward. "Kyler?" He grabbed the man's collar and hauled him off.
"Jesus Christ!" Kyler scrambled out from under the body and climbed to his feet. "Oh my god." He looked from the body to Tyler and back.
"Are you okay?" Tyler asked. He went to the windows and looked out at the area behind the house.
"I don't know." Kyler ran his hands over his head and looked into the dead eyes of the man that had attacked him. Without warning he threw up in the small garbage can by the desk. He felt Tyler's hand on his shoulder and wiped the sweat of his forehead. "What happened?" He rested against the wall.
Tyler got the man's gun from the floor and handed it to Kyler. "There's two dead guards in the kitchen. I don't know if it's over yet. Hang onto that in case you need it."
Kyler took the gun and felt a wave of dislocated reality wash through him. "I don't think I can do this, Tyler."
Tyler knelt down and put his hand on Kyler's cheek. "If someone else comes in here you might have to." He stood up and pulled Kyler to his feet. "We need to get out of here."
They both jumped as the front door banged open and Lance stormed in with his gun drawn. "Okay?" He asked, sweeping the room with his eyes.
Tyler nodded and pointed towards the kitchen. "Two down in there and the cook and butler." He took Kyler's arm and led him towards the hall to the garage. "Where'd they come from?"
"They came in from the neighbor's. There's three more dead over there." Lance opened the door to the garage and checked vast open space. "I called the pilot. The plane will be ready in fifteen minutes."
Tyler stopped and turned to Kyler. "Run up and grab your laptop. Don't worry about anything else." Kyler nodded and ran up the back stairs towards his room. "Lance, nobody knew we were here."
"I know. We have a fucking traitor." Lance pushed the button that would raise the garage door. "Take your time getting to California. We need time to look things over."
Kyler came back down the stairs with a backpack on and put on his sunglasses. Tyler put his arms around Lance's neck and hugged him hard. "Get your ass out of here. I don't need the hassle of bailing you out."
"I will. Go!" Lance shoved him and pulled the door closed.
There were several vehicles available and Kyler went towards one of the cars and then stopped. He caught sight of a 2002 BMW street bike. "This is faster and more maneuverable." He said, grabbing two helmets from hooks on the wall.
Tyler hesitated. "Some of these cars are armored."
"You'll have to trust me to out run the bad guys, then, right?" Kyler threw his leg over the bike and started it. He pulled on the helmet and opened the visor and waited for Tyler to get on. Tyler put on his helmet and got on, putting his feet on the rear pegs. "Hold on to your ass." Kyler called out and put the whip to it, leaving smoke and black streaks all over the garage.
They shot out of the door and across the lawn. Several of the guards looked up as they flew past. Kyler was in his element and barely slowed down to turn out of the gate onto the main road. "Keep Low!" He shouted and felt Tyler burrow down behind him.
They were already seven blocks away when they passed the first cop car, and Kyler had already slowed down enough to look unimportant to the passing officers. He dutifully pulled over as they went by and then pulled back out and headed for the small airport.
"Take the delivery road." Tyler called out and pointed. Kyler nodded and swerved to turn down the almost hidden street. They encountered almost no traffic and came to a gate with only one security guard. The guard stepped out and held up his hand.
"Sorry, guys, you have to have a commercial pass to come in this way." The guard said.
Tyler raised his visor and took out his wallet. He pulled out two one hundred dollar bills and held them out. "Can't we buy a day pass?"
The guard looked around and took the money. "When you leave use the main security gate. They won't let you out here."
"Shouldn't be a problem." Kyler mumbled and drove through the gate. He recalled the layout of the private hangars and pulled up in front of the plane they'd flown in on. He recognized the pilot's face as the climbed off the bike.
"Did you get a flight plan in?" Tyler asked as he walked up. The pilot nodded and waved his arm towards the cabin door.
"Whenever you're ready." He smiled and shook his head. "You fucked up a tee time, Tyler, you owe me."
Kyler got on board and buckled in, stashing his pack in the bin by the wall. His mind replayed the events he'd just been in and witnessed and he chewed on his thumbnail. Tyler sat down and the pilot closed the door. In a few minutes they began to move and he glanced over at the other.
"So what happened, Tyler? I've never been in a shoot out before." He asked, surprised at how calm he felt.
"We were ratted out. Someone that knew where we were told Dominique Solieri." Tyler Leaned the chair back and rubbed the bump on his forehead. "How're you doing?"
Kyler looked out the window as they moved onto the runway. "I don't know. I think I'm kind of fucked up, actually." He glanced at Tyler and smiled weakly. "I need to think about it. I don't really want to talk."
Tyler sighed and nodded. The plane accelerated and lifted off, and they went on in silence for the next hour. Tyler watched Kyler's face from time to time but respected his need for privacy. He let his mind wander back through memories of his own harsh introduction to life with Rocky and Carlos, and he thought of Ron Mc Auliffe for the first time in over three years.
"So am I a officially a criminal now?" Kyler asked quietly. He didn't look away from the window.
"If you want out I can arrange it." Tyler's voice carried his disappointment, but he would do what he said if Kyler wanted his normal life back.
"That wasn't what I asked." Kyler's face was like granite as he turned to face Tyler. "I asked if I was a criminal now."
"No one knew you were there and you didn't actually do anything." Tyler responded seriously. "You could walk away."
Kyler sighed through his nose and leaned his head back. "I don't want to walk, okay? I do want to know what the fuck is going on, though. Why do these people want to kill you?"
"That's a long story, but what the hell, we have a few hours, right?" Tyler went to the small galley and got them each a soda. "In a nut shell my wife's father was a cheap thug, okay? Anyway, he got whacked about the same time that Carlos' dad died. This was about two days before Angelique had little Rocky."
"Isn't Rocky like two or three?" Kyler asked.
"Almost three." Tyler answered. He got a faraway look in his eyes and shook his head slightly. "Jesus. Anyway, Angelique wanted zip to do with her old man's dealings, and she signed control over to me with instructions to sell everything off and get rid of it. Carlos bought a lot of the businesses."
"She turned all of it over to you?" Kyler asked incredulously. "So you're like a millionaire?"
Tyler laughed and nodded his head. "Yeah, but not because of Angel's money. Her entire family thinks I stole 'em blind, but I haven't touched her money. That's for her and little Rocky." He sat in the middle of the floor and folded his legs under him. "See, when Rocky died he left me everything he had including his job."
"All this happened at once?" Kyler stretched out and put his leg over the armrest. "I mean all of these people dying?" His mind and eyes wandered over Tyler's form, and he had to put a little more effort in paying attention. God Tyler was beautiful.
"Yeah, loosing Rocky and Manny at the same time was harsh." Tyler looked down at his hands as he spoke. "See, Manny was Carlos' dad, and I got real close to him. We swam laps together every morning. He was kind of like my dad."
Kyler felt his anger melting away as Tyler described the events to him. Some how it made Tyler more real to find out he might actually be a little vulnerable, especially after seeing him as such a hard ass for the last week and a half. "So why is this Salieri guy trying to kill you?"
"He blames me for taking away their family fortune, but the truth is that Angel's dad was screwing them out of everything they had. He left everything to her when he died. She even tried to give them part of it but they accused her of taking most of it for herself. She actually didn't want any of it." Tyler leaned back on his elbows and smiled. "Messed up, huh?"
"So what does the computer in San Francisco have to do with all this?"
Tyler lit a cigarette and rested all the way onto his back. "Whoever is funneling money away from the accounts knows enough about where we have assets to be a threat to Carlos, too." He lifted his head and chuckled. "We're talking about almost two hundred million dollars, man, not chump change."
"And you need everything off the computer so you can hopefully figure out who the bad guy is that's giving the money to Salerari." Kyler nodded. "Now it makes sense. You don't need to copy all of the files, you need a search module that looks for a bunch of similar files. Tyler, this makes it a lot easier!"
"So what do you need from me? And it's Salieri, by the way." Tyler put his cigarette in the pop can and propped up on his elbows.
Kyler laughed and undid his seat belt. "I need a day or so to write it." He slid out of the chair and crawled over to Tyler. "I have a question, though. If I were the bad guy and I found you in Boca Raton when you said you were going to Key West, couldn't I be waiting for you in San Francisco?"
He stopped with his nose only a couple of inches from Tyler's.
"So what do you suggest?" Tyler looked from one of Kyler's ice blue-gray eyes to the other.
Kyler touched his nose to Tyler's and then his forehead. "I would land in a totally unrelated airport and drive in." He slowly twisted his head and kissed Tyler, slowly and deliberately. "I'd make sure they had no idea where I was or when I was coming." He met Tyler's eyes again and smiled almost shyly, and then kissed him again.
Tyler pulled Kyler down on top of him. "So land in like Fresno or Sacramento? Take a couple of days and drive there? Good idea." He put his hand on the back of Kyler's head and gently pulled him down into another kiss.
After several minutes Kyler got up on his elbows. He grinned, realizing that he probably looked like and idiot. "So shouldn't you let the pilot know you want to land somewhere else?"
Tyler laughed and ran his hand over Kyler's cheek. "We land in Boise, Idaho in about two hours." He kissed Kyler again and pushed him onto his back. "Real good thinking, though."
"You're always one step ahead, aren't you?" Kyler laughed. "I think it's luck as much as it's skill."
"Ever had sex at thirty thousand feet?" Tyler put several small kisses along Kyler's jaw line.
Kyler shuddered and grinned. "Um, except for this," he held up his right hand, "I've never had sex." His face went red in embarrassment.
"See that handle?" Tyler looked up at the sliding partition that would separate the cabin from the cockpit and bathroom. "Pull it to the right." Kyler did, and Tyler helped him snap it shut. "We usually keep that closed if we're going to sleep or something."
Kyler's hands shook as he reached up to caress Tyler's shoulder and cheek. "I'm scared to death." He almost whispered.
Tyler sat up and moved back from the cramped area by he door. He held out his hand, and Kyler reached out for it and allowed him self to be pulled closer. "Nothing has to happen except for what you want." Tyler smiled and leaned in to kiss him again.
For Kyler it was almost like a religious experience. As Tyler's tongue entered his mouth a shiver ran up his spine and he wrapped his arms around Tyler's shoulders. Finally he had to lean back and gasp for breath. "Holy shit."
"Like that?" Tyler kissed his neck and slid his hands up under Kyler's skin-tight shirt. He ran his thumb over Kyler's nipple and smiled when Kyler shivered. He leaned back and pulled Kyler's shirt off and tossed it into one of the chairs.
Kyler was a quick study and had Tyler's shirt off in a flash. He gently pushed Tyler onto his back and began to kiss him all over his chest. He met Tyler's eyes for just a second and then ran the tip of his tongue around each nipple and then down the center of his body to his belly button.
"Oh, God, don't do that!" Tyler laughed and crunched up to protect himself. "You have no idea how ticklish I am."
"Oh, yeah?" Kyler giggled and pushed him back down. He licked all around Tyler's stomach and then boldly pulled out the strings to his board shorts and untied them. Tyler decided to let him move at whatever pace he wanted to and lifted his hips for Kyler to slide his shorts off, revealing his electric blue bikini underwear.
"Wow." Kyler said quietly, running his eyes from Tyler's knees to his face. "You're beautiful."
Tyler sat up and put his hands on Kyler's chest. "You obviously don't look in the mirror very often." He pulled Kyler down and rolled him on his back.
"You're ripped, Ky. Look at you. You're like perfectly cut." He leaned down and kissed the other long and hard, touching the back of his front teeth with his tongue.
"Oh." Kyler said in surprise as he felt Tyler's hand on his zipper. To this point he'd been getting harder be the minute. He looked between them and noticed that Tyler was visibly stiff in his underwear, and suddenly he was ramrod hard. He leaned up and nipped at one of Tyler's nipples.
Tyler fumbled open the front of Kyler's pants, freeing his hard on. He met Kyler's eyes and wrapped his hand around his gorgeous equipment. Kyler groaned and closed his eyes, and Tyler realized that it would take almost nothing to make him cum. He decided to drag it out a little, and to maybe give him the experience of a lifetime.
Kyler barely had a chance to raise his ass off the floor when Tyler had his pants off. "Did I tell you how cool it is that you don't wear underwear?" Tyler grinned and then leaned down to take Kyler in his mouth.
"Oh, Christ." Kyler hissed. He felt a strong warmth spread up from his balls up through his stomach and he knew he couldn't go very long. Then he felt Tyler's finger push gently on the sensitive area right behind his balls and his impending feelings subsided slightly. Still, after only a few strokes, he had to pull Tyler off. "Please not yet."
Tyler nodded and kissed him, and then allowed him self to be eased onto his back. "I want to try that." Kyler said enthusiastically. He pulled Tyler's underwear off and tossed it over his shoulder.
"First I need you to get something, okay?" Kyler nodded. "In the bathroom there is a little brown bottle about this big." He held up his finger and thumb a couple of inches apart. "Bring it to me, would you?"
Kyler was back in a few seconds and climbed astride Tyler's hips. He kissed him hard and took a hold of Tyler's cock, giving it a couple of experimental pulls. "What's in the bottle?"
"You'll find out." Tyler closed his eyes and sighed as Kyler's mouth closed around him. It had been so long, and Kyler was so god awful perfect.
In a few minutes he realized that he was also in danger of cuming to fast.
He sat up and lifted Kyler's head up. "Let's see how fast a learner you are." He handed the small jar to Kyler.
Kyler opened it and smelled the oily slick contents. "Use it like this." Tyler got some on his fingers and began to gently apply it to Kyler's cock. "Now, oh Greek God, where do you think you need to put some?" He took Kyler's hand and dipped his first to fingers in the jar.
Kyler caught on and grinned. "No way!" He met Tyler's eyes and kissed him. "You have to tell me what to do."
Tyler laid back and spread his legs wide. "You know what to do. Just be careful, okay?" Kyler nodded and put his mouth over Tyler's hard on again, using the fingers of his left hand to help with the motions while he slowly inserted one finger into Tyler's ass and began to rub in the lube.
"Okay." Tyler said and held his arms up for Kyler. Kyler maneuvered into position and carefully leaned forward. Tyler's hands came up around his shoulders as he penetrated and slid in about half way. Tyler winced but smiled and nodded. Kyler intended to slide in the rest of the way gently, but the plane vibrated and bucked in a pocket of turbulence and he fell forward, slamming in hard.
"Aaahh!" Tyler cried out. Kyler immediately tried to pull out but Tyler stopped him. "No, it's okay." He opened his eyes and stroked Kyler's cheek. "Easy now stud. You want to enjoy this because you never get another first time."
Time seemed suspended as Kyler looked into Tyler's green eyes. Intense feelings bloomed inside him, feelings he'd always wanted but never had before. Tyler gently pulled on his ass, and he began to move back and forth slowly, savoring the incredible sensations coming from his cock.
He was surprised to feel Tyler getting hard between them, and he reached down and gave him a couple of strokes in time with his movements. The feeling in his stomach suddenly intensified, and he knew it was almost over.
He tried again to pull out but Tyler wrapped his legs around his waist and began to pull on him in time, driving him deeper.
"Ty," He whispered harshly, "I can't stop!" He tried to keep his mind on moving his hand up and down Tyler's shaft. Little flashes of light went off in his eyes and he groaned loudly.
"Do it." Tyler closed his eyes and arched his back, inadvertently putting just the right amount of pressure on Kyler. Kyler's hand and hips were almost a blur. Tyler felt his stomach tighten almost painfully, and he gritted his teeth, trying to wait for Kyler.
"Oh shit, oh God!" Kyler lost control and fell on top of Tyler, his hips still moving involuntarily. He erupted, pulsing and shooting his fluids into Tyler. Tears streamed down his face and he felt warm fluid spreading over their stomachs as Tyler came too. He even lost control of his feelings and was over come with an ultra joy he'd never felt before. He was nearly sobbing as he finally stopped moving, burying his face in the crook of Tyler's neck.
"Easy." Tyler soothed, feeling the calmness that always settled over him after particularly good sex. "Don't cry, baby. Just relax."
"I'm sorry." Kyler sniffed loudly and hugged Tyler hard. "I had no fucking clue it was like this." He laughed a little and shook his head. "If you tell anybody I cried I'll beat your ass."
"I ain't tellin' anybody shit." Tyler turned on his side and lifted Kyler's face to his. "You're my secret."
Kyler laughed and nodded his head. "I can live with that."
They dozed together for the next half an hour, and when Tyler felt the plane angling down he woke Kyler up to get dressed. Kyler blinked into the afternoon sun as he pulled his shirt on and tucked it into his pants. He watched with regret as Tyler slid into his clothes but laughed when he saw Tyler toss his underwear in the garbage.
They found a car waiting at the airport, compliments of Carlos, and checked in to a hotel mainly to shower. They hit the mall to replace their clothes and found a place to eat. That night, for the first time in his life, Kyler literally slept with another man. He slept like a rock.
The next three days went by like a school kid road trip, and Kyler was in heaven. Although he wouldn't yet admit it, he was falling in love hard, and he wouldn't trade it for the world. During the day Tyler drove and he worked on the laptop, weaving together a program to find the paper trail Tyler needed. The nights were spent in world class wrestling matches and sex.
When they finally made it to San Francisco Tyler drove to a hotel in an area called Pacifica. It was a smaller out of the way hotel, with only two stories and a tiny kidney shaped pool. Kyler had to laugh at himself as he compared it to the hotels in Las Vegas and chided himself for being a snob.
Their room had a view of the ocean and a long white beach, and Kyler stopped at the window and stared in amazement. The ocean was beautiful, and touched him on a level he really couldn't identify, and seemed to fill up some part of him that was empty. He wished they were still on the beach in Florida.
Tyler came in carrying his suitcase and a large black duffle bag and set them on the bed near the door. Kyler dragged his eyes away from the ocean and walked over to the bed. "What's this?" He lifted the handles on the duffle.
"It was delivered for us. It's from Carlos." Tyler closed the door and locked it. "I called him when we left Boise and had him send it here. I stayed here once with him and Rocky a couple of years ago." He opened the bag and began setting items on the bed. "We're going in tonight and then getting the hell out of here. Lance said he'd meet us in L.A. tomorrow to go home."
"What's this?" Kyler lifted up what looked like an athlete's body suit except it was made out of a sort of shiny pearlesent black fabric. It had an attached hood.
Tyler set a couple of black equipment belts on the bed and took the suit from Kyler. "The fabric is designed to fool motion sensors and heat sensors. We're going to wear them tonight."
"We're going to look a little strange getting there." Kyler laughed and sat on the other bed. "Like something from Star Trek."
"You wear you're regular closed over these. See, you can slide the arms and legs up and no one knows you have it on." He slid his arm into one of the sleeves and demonstrated. "I had Carlos send you a pistol. If you're not comfortable carrying it, that's fine, but you never know if you'll need it." He took a small plastic case out of the bag and handed it to Kyler.
Kyler sighed and opened it. There was a Colt .45 and a short wide silencer. He picked up the gun and held it, twisting it to look it over. IT gave him the creeps, but he set it on the bed wit the silencer and handed the empty box back to Tyler.
"These are mine but they'll fit you." Tyler handed him a pair of black cargo shorts. "The right pocket has a holster sewn into it." He picked up Kyler's gun and slid it in, then put the silencer in next to it. "When you have these on it's almost impossible to tell you're armed."
"Cool." Kyler took the shorts and smiled weakly. "So do we wear the shorts over the body suits?" He leaned back on his elbows and pulled his feet up on the bed.
"No, we'll put our street clothes in these." Kyler tossed a black backpack to Kyler. "That one has a pocket the right size for your laptop."
Kyler worked the zipper and examined the pack. "So when do we go do this?"
"Around two am." Tyler chuckled and sat opposite Kyler on the other bed. "We need to try and get some sleep."
"Can we go eat first? Something good like a real steak or something. I'm fucking tanked on diners." Kyler sat up and climbed on to Tyler's bed, pushing him onto his back. "Then maybe we could come back and wear each other out." He grinned and kissed Tyler.
"Jesus, don't you ever get enough?" Tyler brought his arms up under Kyler's arms and pulled him down on top of him.
"No, I don't." Kyler licked Tyler's ear lobe and nibbled on it.
"Let's go eat." Tyler rolled over and pinned Kyler. "Then we can talk about the rest of the evening."
They found a steak and seafood place nearby, and made it back a little after ten. After a short but intense session of love making, Kyler fell asleep wrapped around Tyler. Tyler dozed but really couldn't sleep, his mind going over and over every possible detail. The alarm went off and he carefully slid out from under Kyler's arms and went to shower.
"Is it really three in the morning?" Kyler asked, blinking up at him as he came out of the bathroom. Tyler nodded and tossed his towel on the bed. He picked up one of the black suits and started pulling it on. Kyler got out of bed and went towards the bathroom. "Ya know, in real jobs they get to sleep all night."
"Bitch, bitch, bitch." Tyler slid the legs of the stretchy suit up to his thighs and pulled on a pair of the black cargo shorts. He heard the shower start as he packed their backpacks. A few minutes later Kyler came out scrubbing his hair with a towel.
"So how exactly do you break in to a corporate headquarters? Seems like they'd have an alarm on the doors and guards inside." Kyler finished drying and picked up the remaining suit to put on. "You guys have a little info on the place?"
"More than a little." Tyler slid his sleeves up above his elbows and put on a baggy t-shirt, completely concealing the black suit. "There are three guards and one roving guard. There is a maintenance door outside on the south west corner, and we have this." He picked up what looked like a credit card. "It opens the maintenance door without tripping an alarm."
"Then what?" Kyler zipped up his suit and began pulling the legs up. "How do we get to the office this computer's in?"
"The building has four floors. The office is on the top in the northwest corner. The name on the door is Craig Dern." Tyler sat down to put on his shoes. "There's a thing in your pack that looks like a pistol grip with a little file sticking out. You can jam that in a door lock and pull the trigger and it'll pop the lock."
Kyler finished dressing as Tyler took their packs to the car. When he came back he picked up the pistol he'd given to Kyler and snapped a clip in it. Kyler's face was unreadable as he accepted the gun and put it in the cargo pocket on his shorts. "When you put that in the holster on the belt in your pack put the silencer on it. You just twist it on like a bolt."
Kyler nodded and looked up At Tyler. "So there's nothing to this, right? In and out."
"In and out. One thing, Ky. I mean it. If something happens to me get that fucking computer to Carlos, okay?" Kyler's jaw clenched and he nodded.
Tyler smiled and leaned forward to kiss him. "Let's get this done so we can go home."
They parked almost a block away and had to walk up a steep road towards their target. The building was constructed against the hillside, and the parking lot was in the rear. A tall concrete retaining wall had been built that raised the parking area up to the second floor level. Scrub brush and decorative bushes lined the road, partially obstructing the parking area from the road.
Tyler touched Kyler's arm and pointed into the brush. They melted into the foliage. There was a tiny clearing in the trees and greenery, and Tyler stopped and put his pack on the ground. Kyler followed his lead as they stripped off their street clothes and put them in the packs.
Kyler finished sliding the sleeves and legs down and pulled his hood up. He put the belt around his waist and took the pistol out, screwing the silencer on. He slipped it in the holster and started chuckling.
"What?" Tyler asked, settling his own belt into place.
"Batman and Robin." Kyler said and cracked up. Tyler shook his head and pinched Kyler's ass through the skintight fabric. "Ow!"
"Let's go, Robin." Tyler handed the pack with the computer in it to Kyler and headed up through the brush towards the building. Kyler slipped the pack on and crouched down to follow.
They came out of the brush near the door and Tyler moved quickly to it and slid the card through the locking mechanism. A small light turned green and with a quiet click the door opened. Kyler broke into the open and ran inside and Tyler pushed the door shut.
He moved past Kyler to a panel that had a numerical keypad on it. He took a slip of paper out of a pocket on his belt and entered a number on the pad.
The panel beeped and several green lights turned yellow and then red. "Berto said it would go into a self check. Tyler whispered. "We have twenty minutes."
They entered the building through a door in the corner and ended up in a stairwell. Tyler pointed up, and they headed up the stairs almost silently.
Kyler was slightly winded by the time they got to the top floor. He reached over his shoulder and slid the computer case out of his pack as Tyler opened the door.
The hallway was elegantly decorated with expensive artworks and furniture. Kyler looked around at the lavishness and shook his head in wonder. Tyler pointed at a door and Kyler nodded. He waited for Tyler to use the tool on the lock, but it wasn't working very well. On the third try Tyler pulled the tool out and tried to straighten it. Kyler tilted his head to the side and tried the doorknob. It was open.
Tyler looked at the door and then up at Kyler and pursed his lips. "Showoff." He mouthed silently. He followed Kyler into the office and closed the door. Kyler went to the computer and checked it over. It was turned off which made things easier.
"I'm going to the file room." Tyler whispered quietly. "I'll be back in a few minutes." Kyler nodded and he left, pulling the door shut.
It only took a minute or so to unplug the computer from the network. Kyler took the laptop out and turned it on and fired up the program Steve and Berto had given him. If the computer was part of any one of a hundred network systems, the laptop would mimic that system. He plugged in the other computer and checked the connection, and gritting his teeth, he turned it on.
A lucky break. The system was a Novel network. He clicked on a new setting and watched as the two machines synchronized. He was easily able to locate the files and folders he wanted and started the copying process.
He glanced at the door, wishing that Tyler would get his ass in gear. The transfer was nearly half done, and he wanted to get the hell out. He stood up and went to the door, opening it just a crack. The hallway was deserted.
Frustrated he went back to the desk.
A couple of minutes later the laptop indicated that it was done, and he carefully shut down both computers. He reconnected the network and packed his laptop, making sure not to disturb anything on the desk.
There was still no sign of Tyler as he slipped the pack onto his shoulders.
He went to the door and decided that he'd go look for him. As he opened the door he caught movement out of the corner of his eye and crouched. There was loud bang and a chunk of the door jam blew off.
He pulled out his pistol and stole a glance around the wall. The guard was moving closer, and he leaned out and squeezed off two shots. The guard crumpled and he jumped up and jogged down the hall.
There was another dead guard near an open door, and Kyler looked carefully inside the room. There were several huge file cabinets open and files scattered on the floor. He spotted Tyler's pack and picked it up. There were some files inside, and he pulled them out and put them in his pack and tossed the other one away. His heart began to hammer as he went out to find Tyler. He slipped his pistol back in his holster.
"Freeze!" A guard stepped out of a doorway and aimed a gun at him. Kyler went ice cold as he looked into the muzzle. He slowly raised his hands and the guard motioned towards the door to the stairs. "I have the other one." He said into his radio.
"Bring him to the van."
"Got it." The guard pointed down the stairs. "Second floor." Kyler preceded him down the stairs. Another guard was waiting for them, and Kyler was led out into the parking lot. There were a dozen men in the parking lot, and Kyler noticed Tyler standing in front of them with his hands behind his head. His lip was split and he had the startings of a black eye.
Then Kyler felt reality slip away as he noticed who was standing behind Tyler holding a gun to his head. Kyler stumbled and ended up getting a shove. He fell on his knees and looked up again, his guts filling with fear and anger. "You're the fucking traitor?"
Lance waved his hand dismissively. "Shut up, Kyler. Have the courtesy to die peacefully okay?" He looked up at the guards behind Kyler irritably. "Kill him."