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WARNING: As stated in Chapters 1 through 5 Warnings, this story is...
by Phair
Kendall watched as Beckworth entered their enclosure. He was dirty and bloody and dragging his gear. With the first sight of Kendall, he dropped his burden and raced across the camp to her.
Kendall, initially, smirked at his unkempt appearance. She believed Beckworth to be a weakling. His current physical state and frantic dart toward her seemed to all but confirm her previous convictions about him. However, the fierceness of his embrace and the passion of his kiss shocked her. Kendall realized quickly that the man she held in her arms was really the man holding her in his grasp and he was not afraid but was simmering with anger on the brink of ferociousness.
“What’s wrong?” She questioned as she pulled back from his kiss.
Beckworth shook his head and swallowed, “No time. We got to go. Leave everything. We got to run. I only came back for you, Kendall. No time to spare.”
Kendall, looking over Beckworth’s shoulder, saw Smith and Jones enter the camp from under the shady side of the hill. Neither man disarmed. They moved with a disciplined silence. At the same instant, she heard Beckworth call to her team leader.
“Quon, leave everything. We got to go. Now. Back to the drop off point. Run.”
“They’re here,” Kendall managed to whisper in her man’s ear.
“Ughn?” Beckworth groaned.
“What’s the hurry?” Smith cracked with a sickening grin as he broke cover. “Looks like a cozy little camp they have here. Maybe we should stay a while? You know what I’m saying, kick our shoes off, sit a spell…,” Smith chuckled as he approached.
Kendall felt the strong arms around her squeeze tightly for a moment then relax with a sigh. She was quite unprepared for the Beckworth releasing her completely from his grip. The loss left her feeling chilled in spite of the natural island heat and the nearby camp fire.
“Look, I’ll go with you. I’ll do whatever you want. You can have all the equipment here. Please, just let her go. Send Kendall back to the ship. She’s nothing to you anyway. She can’t help your cause. You don’t need her,” Beckworth all but begged.
“Who’s that there?” Smith asked and pointed his hand gun at Brady huddling near a large rock.
Beckworth’s shoulders slumped when he looked over and saw the woman. “She means even less to you. She studies dirt. We were trying to waste money for tax purposes. She’s got nothing to help you. She’s nothing. You don’t need her or Kendall. Let them go. I won’t fight you anymore. Please,” his despair was evident in his tone.
“What won’t you fight?” Quon questioned with his own hand near his holster.
Jones snorted a laugh. “That gook thinks he can take us both, Smith. He thinks he’s better than the whites. He’s looking for trouble.”
“Naw, Mr. Jones, you’ve misread the situation. Mr. Quon and I go back a long ways, don’t we, Kam?”
“We do,” Kam Quon straightened and eased his shoulders but kept his hand near his weapon.
“The pair of us did ‘destroy/annoy’ missions in North Korea for years. We must have blown up more than twenty temples, don’t you think?” Smith asked Quon with a grin.
“More like thirty. But then, we never counted the losses. We only counted the money deposited in our Swiss accounts. So, tell me what the count is here, Franklin.”
Franklin Smith grinned before answering. “There’s no real count here either, friend.” Smith sauntered closer to Quon and continued, “I’m working on the same ideology; good versus bad, us versus them. Only this time,” Smith shrugged and looked at his feet, “I’m good and you’re…,”
The bang of his gun sent a shock wave of panic around the camp. Woody tried to surge forward only to be caught in a tackle. Beckworth grabbed Kendall by the shoulders and pulled her to the dirt under his body while screaming for Brady to take cover. Artillery shots from the valley below volleyed in the air at the commotion.
“…evil, Mr. Quon.” There was silence before he spoke again. “Relax everybody, the man is dead,” Smith chuckled as he kicked Quon in the face with a pointed toed boot. “The man is dead. Long live Kam Quon.”
