An Inside Job, Aaron Solomon [best books to read for self development txt] 📗

Rail Warriors

An Inside Job

Chapter One

“Philly, my man!” I said to my fellow officer, Phillip Cheng as my partner, Gevo Thompson and I gingerly strolled in the entrance of the Norfolk and Atlantic Railway police barracks at DC’s bold and grand Union Station. “How’s that shoulder of yours doing?” “Still hurts like a bitch from time to time.” The red fox admitted with a wry smile. “But the doc says I’m definitely cleared for duty and I certainly can’t argue with that.” I smiled and nodded in understanding. “How bout you, Bradley?” He asked in return. “You and Gevo been getting through okay after that thing I heard that happened about a week or so ago? Damn shame. His brother was such a good guy. I just wish I could’ve at least gotten just one chance to see his always smiling face just one last time.” “Me too.” Gevo sighed heavily in reply. “Me too.” At around 9:30, in the still early hours of the morning, we began our daily routine of patrols and I hopped right in the driver’s seat of our cruiser, flipping the XM radio over to both Gevo and I’s favorite rap station of XL Hip Hop nation where one of our all-time favorite songs “Started From the Bottom” by Drake began blasting its way heavily through the speakers. When the song was finished, the radio hostess’s smooth, suave voice broadcasted over the speakers as I gradually began heading south through the Ivy City area and onto the main road toward the Pike way headed for the Jessup area and Baltimore. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen and thanks for tuning into XL Hip Hop Nation where we continue our twenty sixth anniversary celebration of Drake, known by most fans as one of the greatest rappers of the past, present, and all time.” “Fuck yeah!” Gevo agreed loudly in the passenger seat beside me. I grinned and shot him an approving glance as I continued steadily cruising through the moderate heap of traffic on the expressway as we vastly made our way through Laurel and headed up the exit ramp toward Jessup where we soon approached the yard and the female prison adjacent to it near Patuxent. “Best to stay awake and alert if you’re traveling the morning commute these days.” The hostess continued, a bit of suspicion and curiosity rising in the both of us as she spoke these next select group of words. “Heard word from the local news that nasty Pernicious-D group is at it again and some reports have just been discovered they may have a keen interest in some targets here on the U.S. eastern border. For more information on this and other news stories, check out CNN channel 118 where they deliver the best and most top news up to date on the hour. I’m Tanya Dix. You’ve been listening to the best of Drake top ten list and now here’s ‘Fancy’.” I was a little surprised and stunned, simultaneously. Pernicious-D? Here? In America and not China or somewhere else over in that general area and region of Asia? This was most certainly a rude awakening that neither one of us had ever been expecting nor even prepared for by that matter. Suddenly, as if it had just read both of our minds, the radio crackled and the dreaded reports of a shootout at the Baltimore Penn Station flooded out through the speakers as we made our way quickly down the turnpike. I hit the lights and wailer and increased our speed down the freeway as we rolled down the exit ramp and arrived at the station in almost no time flat, nearly two or three minutes later. We quickly ditched our cruiser in the densely packed lot and hurriedly made our way in through the main entrance, guns drawn where we found what I assumed to be one of our off duty train crews which consisted of a middle aged black Tibetan she-wolf around forty two and a much younger female hyena around my same age of twenty two or below with their backs pressed firmly against the columns, weapons already drawn and ready to go headlong into battle with the group of nearly thirteen or so of the various canines up ahead who were heavily armed and just now beginning to advance their way further into the large station hall and we both ducked and quickly broke for cover as a hell storm of bullets soon came, careening into all surrounding objects around us and a few hitting two of the columns that Gevo and I and the hyena were clung ever so tightly behind. “Damn, you guys sure got here fast.” The hyena said, blind firing her nickel plated M9 berretta pistol at the incoming canines. “No wonder they say you’re the best in the rail business. Lena Stilson, assistant engineer” She then motioned with a paw to the she-wolf on her left. “This is my engineer, Nala Thompson.” “Officers Carter and Gevo.” I replied. “What’ve we got?” “The hell if I have the slightest idea.” Lena answered. “We had just finished up our late to early morning shift nearly minutes ago when these fuckers stormed the place like something out of some top notch payday heist film. We don’t know all the details yet but I think they may have taken hostages somewhere else around the station.” I nodded. “Okay.” I said. “Stick close to us. If we hurry and work together, we can get the jump on the rest of these fools and find the hostages before they even have a chance to see Christmas coming.” “Affirmative.” Lena and Nala both replied and we quickly got to work downing the canines taking potshots at us one by one until the last one standing threw his paws up silently in surrender and I rushed over and cuffed him before advancing with the rest of our little group down the main hall and steadily making our way to the Acela lounge before bursting in rapidly through the door. Inside, I hurriedly disposed of the three remaining canines posted guard in the room with my R8 revolver and then focused my attention to the three rabbits, bound and gagged in various places scattered throughout the area. Splitting up for a brief moment, we each slowly moved toward the nearest one and began working carefully on the bindings until finally they each were soon free and giving us our many and hurried thanks as they scampered their way out to safety. We deemed the room and soon the rest of the station clear and headed out through the doors of the main entrance just as backup began to show up steadily on scene. A small portion of the railroad was now out of the hotseat but we sure as hell weren’t out of the woods yet. All of us still had a long, rough and tough road ahead.

Chapter Two

“Brad, my boy! Come on in.” Captain Leonard Raimes said gleefully as I reported for work with Gevo the next morning, motioning me into his office. I turned and slowly walked in as he held open the door and took a rather comfortable seat on the soft leather upholstery sofa. He slowly creaked the door closed and then almost immediately began getting down to the nitty gritty. “We’ve gathered some information from the local police on the leader of the Pernicious gang yesterday.” He said, passing over a mugshot photo of a stocky Akita with sandy brown and black fur and the most malicious pair of charcoal black eyes that I had ever seen on a dog of his breed. “This is Gnash Payne.” He stated. “He’s been locked up for nearly every crime from petty thievery to grand theft. It’s just a wonder that the system keeps spitting him back out. Now’s he’s suddenly become the most dangerous canine of the organization and that this whole railroad and city has ever even come on terms to know.” I stared long and hard at the psychopathic grin on Payne’s muzzle for a moment as he continued on with the rest of the briefing. “This is going to be a highly perilous assignment but I’m pretty sure it’s nothing you obviously can’t handle.” “I’m listening, sir.” I responded eagerly. He leaned forward slightly. “I need you and you alone to somehow make your way in to that group and find out whatever information you can about destroying them before they can even dream about getting another inch and destroying us and our system.” “Me and me alone?” I asked, a little confused. “Shouldn’t Gevo also be accompanying me on this mission, you know, with us being partners and all?” “The organization we’re dealing with here is consisted of mostly canines of the Asian or Middle Eastern breed.” Raimes answered. “He’ll stick out like a sore thumb and plus I don’t think he’s quite cut out for undercover work just yet. It’s an inside and dirty job but someone’s definitely gotta do it and I do believe that you’re the right one. Think you can prove it?” “I’ll certainly try my best, sir.” I saluted, earning an affirmative nod from the proud wolf. “Great. Now get out there and show them what a real canine is capable of.”

Chapter Three

I cautiously danced forward toward the short and stubby Kunming dog as his beady teal eyes stared coldly at me over a black colored snout and razor sharp bared teeth. That’s when I walked right into it, a cinderblock that slammed into the side of my muzzle with such force that I staggered back on my heels and fought to keep from tripping backwards over my own feet as I wiped a trickle of blood from my mouth and countered with a strong left hook then a right and finally a forceful uppercut to his chin that rocked him and sent him flying hard onto his back on the pavement as Payne stepped up and yelled, “Time!” “Good fight, new blood.” He said. “You just may be shaping up to be a pretty particularly skilled hunter yet. Well done. But you still have one final test. And I believe each and every one of us here knows what that is.” “Yeah! Time to close in for the kill!” A jackal blurted out from behind me. “Precisely.” Payne replied with a maleficent smirk. “Come rookie. Let us prepare ourselves.” He took us around the back to a storage shed which held the absolute biggest and most high-tech stockpile of military grade weaponry I had ever laid eyes on. “Pick one.” He said simply, edging me over to the pile on the right. I pondered for a moment and then slowly picked up an MP5SD6 sub machine gun and soon rallied up with the others where we boarded a black SUV parked in front of the estate and headed out onto the busy and well crowded streets of DC until we stopped directly outside a coffee shop on Delaware Avenue and Payne gave us the orders. “Okay. Here’s the plan.” He said. “This place is crawling with animals just about each and every week on a given day. What we’re gonna do is as soon as the first head pops out of that door, all of us are gonna take it clean off.” A wave of nervousness slowly began to work its way into the pit of my stomach and my heart nearly skipped a beat. Of all the many lives taken over the course of my job, almost every one of them were cold hearted bastards who deserved nothing but death but never once could I even think about doing the same to just an innocent bystander who’s objective of