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immortalstories2020-05-24 11:58 am
guest_starring) wrote in immortalstories2020-05-24 11:58 am
Entry tags:
Horton's Revenge: Plans
Part One
Part Two
PART THREE
Author's Notes: I hadn't realized just how long it's been since I updated this story. Links to all stories can be found here. Disclaimer: Lynn Horton belongs to Davis Panzer Productions, all other characters are original.
Much to Lizzie’s chagrin, over the next several days, Nigel’s attention had wandered from her to his laptop. He was always on it now and would close it quickly if she walked in on him looking at it. This niece of his and her sudden appearance must be the reason for his distraction – if she indeed was really his niece. To learn more about this woman and potential rival, she asked Nigel to invite his niece for dinner, but he had made a vague excuse as to why she couldn’t.
What she realized was that this Lynn must be having an affair with her Nigel. The next day, she followed him into the city to confirm her suspicions. She wasn’t disappointed. There in the window of a cozy little local café they sat almost head-to-head, clearly having an intimate conversation. Lizzie felt like storming in there to confront both of them, when Lynn – if that was even her name – touched her hand to Nigel’s jacket. Then she got a proper look at her, A younger woman, of course! She stopped herself. That was too easy. She wasn’t a vindictive woman but cheating was something she had never any tolerance for. Nigel would be sorry for this. Turning around she headed back home.
Two hours later, Nigel walked up the path to her house. He had prepared everything and all he had to do now was get rid of the old biddy. It wasn’t the usual way he liked to con these old ladies. Usually, he would spend plenty of time keeping them on the hook until he could get them to hand over all their money and other assets of their own free will. Lynn’s revelations about Joe, the Watchers, and Hsu Danmei forced his normal timetable to speed up. In order to finance their plan, he needed Lizzie’s money. All he had to do now was collect his things and -.
One of his favourite shirts was lying on a bush and then further around, where the path led to the rear of the house, was his suitcase. Either the zip was never closed, or it had busted open on impact with the paving slab, but the contents, his clothes and toiletries were spread all over. Nigel paused a moment, mentally digesting and preparing to face whatever situation was inside. At least there was no sign of his smashed laptop laying amongst the rosebushes. But this would make things easier in the long run if she was already throwing him out.
He opened the front door, at least the locks hadn’t been changed yet. It was quiet, and as they said in the movies, too quiet. He looked in the living room. Empty. He went through the room and to the kitchen. There she was at the table and…ahhh…with his laptop. Why hadn’t he remembered to log out? Oh well, the damage was done and all there was to do now was close this chapter of his life. He stepped back into the living room, tugging his tie until he could pull it from his neck and wrap the silk around his hands. Softly, he crept back into the kitchen and behind her. She must have heard him, or sensed him perhaps, but she spoke without turning around, disappointment heavy in her voice. “Why, Nigel? I would have given you some money…why did you have to take everything? Is it all for her?” Lizzie started to turn to face him.
Nigel moved quickly, wrapping the silk tie about her neck. She cried out, fingers grabbing at the material as he pulled tighter. He looked away, gaze focused on the small garden through the kitchen window, distancing himself from what he was doing as much as he could. At long last, he felt her fall limp, her hands, fingernails broken, no longer scrabbling at her neck. He held on for a few more minutes, just to make sure he told himself before loosening the tie and setting her back on the chair, propping her against the wall. He had never thought of himself as a killer, although he’d been trained to defend himself as a Watcher and had fought, even shot someone once, but never killed someone. The tie fell from his hands as he just stared at Lizzie’s body. There was no question that he would be the prime suspect. The money he’d stolen from her would soon be traced back to him and as her only companion of recent times, he would have no defence.
He hadn’t meant to burn his bridges quite so thoroughly, but if that was needed, he was okay with it. At first, Nigel hadn’t been totally convinced by Lynn’s fire and zeal for vengeance. It reminded him of his brother’s obsession, but the more he read of the files she had taken from Joe Dawson’s apartment, the way his life had systematically been ruined by Hsu Danmei just because his brother was James Horton, and he was supposed to feel fortunate because Joe had done a deal with him that no more Watchers would be killed? Well, now that Dawson was dead, that deal would be null and void and what would stop Hsu from hunting down the surviving Watchers and killing them all…and their families now? He agreed with Lynn. They had to strike against him before he resumed his war against them, and the money he stole from Lizzie’s accounts and the sale of her house would help fund that strike.
Part Two
PART THREE
Author's Notes: I hadn't realized just how long it's been since I updated this story. Links to all stories can be found here. Disclaimer: Lynn Horton belongs to Davis Panzer Productions, all other characters are original.
Much to Lizzie’s chagrin, over the next several days, Nigel’s attention had wandered from her to his laptop. He was always on it now and would close it quickly if she walked in on him looking at it. This niece of his and her sudden appearance must be the reason for his distraction – if she indeed was really his niece. To learn more about this woman and potential rival, she asked Nigel to invite his niece for dinner, but he had made a vague excuse as to why she couldn’t.
What she realized was that this Lynn must be having an affair with her Nigel. The next day, she followed him into the city to confirm her suspicions. She wasn’t disappointed. There in the window of a cozy little local café they sat almost head-to-head, clearly having an intimate conversation. Lizzie felt like storming in there to confront both of them, when Lynn – if that was even her name – touched her hand to Nigel’s jacket. Then she got a proper look at her, A younger woman, of course! She stopped herself. That was too easy. She wasn’t a vindictive woman but cheating was something she had never any tolerance for. Nigel would be sorry for this. Turning around she headed back home.
Two hours later, Nigel walked up the path to her house. He had prepared everything and all he had to do now was get rid of the old biddy. It wasn’t the usual way he liked to con these old ladies. Usually, he would spend plenty of time keeping them on the hook until he could get them to hand over all their money and other assets of their own free will. Lynn’s revelations about Joe, the Watchers, and Hsu Danmei forced his normal timetable to speed up. In order to finance their plan, he needed Lizzie’s money. All he had to do now was collect his things and -.
One of his favourite shirts was lying on a bush and then further around, where the path led to the rear of the house, was his suitcase. Either the zip was never closed, or it had busted open on impact with the paving slab, but the contents, his clothes and toiletries were spread all over. Nigel paused a moment, mentally digesting and preparing to face whatever situation was inside. At least there was no sign of his smashed laptop laying amongst the rosebushes. But this would make things easier in the long run if she was already throwing him out.
He opened the front door, at least the locks hadn’t been changed yet. It was quiet, and as they said in the movies, too quiet. He looked in the living room. Empty. He went through the room and to the kitchen. There she was at the table and…ahhh…with his laptop. Why hadn’t he remembered to log out? Oh well, the damage was done and all there was to do now was close this chapter of his life. He stepped back into the living room, tugging his tie until he could pull it from his neck and wrap the silk around his hands. Softly, he crept back into the kitchen and behind her. She must have heard him, or sensed him perhaps, but she spoke without turning around, disappointment heavy in her voice. “Why, Nigel? I would have given you some money…why did you have to take everything? Is it all for her?” Lizzie started to turn to face him.
Nigel moved quickly, wrapping the silk tie about her neck. She cried out, fingers grabbing at the material as he pulled tighter. He looked away, gaze focused on the small garden through the kitchen window, distancing himself from what he was doing as much as he could. At long last, he felt her fall limp, her hands, fingernails broken, no longer scrabbling at her neck. He held on for a few more minutes, just to make sure he told himself before loosening the tie and setting her back on the chair, propping her against the wall. He had never thought of himself as a killer, although he’d been trained to defend himself as a Watcher and had fought, even shot someone once, but never killed someone. The tie fell from his hands as he just stared at Lizzie’s body. There was no question that he would be the prime suspect. The money he’d stolen from her would soon be traced back to him and as her only companion of recent times, he would have no defence.
He hadn’t meant to burn his bridges quite so thoroughly, but if that was needed, he was okay with it. At first, Nigel hadn’t been totally convinced by Lynn’s fire and zeal for vengeance. It reminded him of his brother’s obsession, but the more he read of the files she had taken from Joe Dawson’s apartment, the way his life had systematically been ruined by Hsu Danmei just because his brother was James Horton, and he was supposed to feel fortunate because Joe had done a deal with him that no more Watchers would be killed? Well, now that Dawson was dead, that deal would be null and void and what would stop Hsu from hunting down the surviving Watchers and killing them all…and their families now? He agreed with Lynn. They had to strike against him before he resumed his war against them, and the money he stole from Lizzie’s accounts and the sale of her house would help fund that strike.
no subject
In the two weeks since Lizzie’s unfortunate demise, both Nigel and Lynn Horton had been busy. Because of fears that the British police would be after him for Lizzie’s murder, Nigel had travelled straight to Switzerland and spent most of his time working on reconnaissance on both the HSU bank building in the financial district of the city and out to Hsu Danmei’s compound to try and get a look at the security as well as the set up. He also poured over Google Earth images, determining which of the buildings would be the most valuable targets and easiest. It was more difficult to estimate how many men Hsu had, so Nigel studied admittedly out-of-date Watcher reports, hoping that it would at least give him a rough number. He also contacted a few former Watchers or family members of those Hsu had killed during the war that were in the area. Most turned him down, having no interest or knowledge in going against an Immortal, but some agreed and a handful of them even had some military experience. It was not enough, though, and Nigel hoped that Lynn was having better luck.
They met up at a nice little café just across from the HSU bank where they could look up at the imposing building. It was a warm, spring day and they sat outside. Nigel sipped his beer. “He has penthouse, but it hasn’t appeared to be in use since I’ve been here. And that’s only one part of the problem. I haven’t seen any clue that he’s even here or at his compound. For all we know, he could be on the other side of the world.”
“What about security?” Lynn stabbed at a cherry tomato rolling around her salad.
“State of the art at both locations. As I mentioned, there’s no real way of knowing how many men he has, but just from what I’ve seen both places are well guarded. So, the question still remains, which location do we target?”
Lynn slowly chewed her food as she thought about it. “His compound. Hit him at his home, his sanctuary. The bank is important to him, but there’s a lot of people who work there whose jobs are also important and an attack there could also hurt innocent people, and I want this to attack him and his family as he attacked ours. Also, Uncle Nigel, the authorities would probably think any attack on his bank as one on the banking industry, a terrorist attack, which again goes against the message we do want to send.”
“Okay, so it’s his compound. I do think we should create a small incident at the bank, something just enough to hopefully bring some of his mercenaries from the compound into the city to deal with it. It’ll make the chance of successfully attacking there easier.” Nigel pulled out a couple of printouts of the compound and pointed to various buildings. “It’s pretty extensive, but this appears to be Hsu’s house. These three buildings appear to be more living areas, probably for his men. There’s the gatehouse, and they check each and every vehicle coming in. There’s stables, and these buildings, I’m not sure…just outbuildings or garages I’m guessing.” He shrugged. “So, of the people I contacted, one Ernst Ziegler is really keen to help, so much that he got himself a job on the cleaning crew at the bank. He’s Brigitte’s brother.” There was no need to say any more. They both knew Brigitte had been Hsu Danmei’s Watcher until she had voluntarily blown her cover to provide him information on James Horton. In return for her help, he killed her. “If he can get access to the penthouse with a small explosive or start a fire?” Lynn nodded as Nigel continued. “And how did your recruiting go?”
“Not as well as I’d hoped, but better than I feared? Most are either happy to get on with their lives as they are now -- Hell, some are quite successful, Hsu obviously didn’t set out to ruin them as they did you -- or they’re afraid of repercussions against their families despite assuring them that this will put us in a position of strength when we do deal with him. But we have enough, and that money you managed to get your hands on?”
Nigel stayed silent. He hadn’t told Lynn just how he’d come by that money. “Yes, go on.”
“Well, I got the guns you listed and grenades, but I also managed to get drones that are weapons grade. Some can carry a small explosive device to drop, and others can turn into a bomb, so if they malfunction or get shot down they’ll ignite on contact with something solid. His whole place will hopefully be an inferno! I also got some rocket launchers and even a couple of mercenaries willing, for a price to lead the attack as they’re more trained in this than we are.”
“My money bought all that?” It had been a lot, but the black-market weapons market and mercenaries were not exactly cheap.
Lynn shrugged. “Nearly. Everything I had to pay up front for, except the mercs, who just took half now and half after to ensure their loyalty. We just have to find the rest before they want it.” She tried to smile nonchalantly, but she did not want the two mercs to turn on them when they couldn’t pay the balance. “Maybe you can find a bit more, Uncle?”