Who’s Afraid of The Big Bad Wolf

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Gina stretches as she gets out of bed and grabs her house robe. Today, she and her father had another meeting with the company he just acquired. Gina knew her dad was going to do a major overhaul of the company executive structure and mid-management as well. He and the team he put together were going to meet today and hand out severance packages and pink slips.

She walks out of the bedroom and into the suite where her father was having breakfast. She notices that he ordered for her as well.

“Morning Daddy.” Gina walks over and kisses his cheek.

“Morning sweetheart. I went ahead and ordered breakfast for you.” Jack knew what Gina liked first thing in the morning.

“Thank you.” She sits down at the table and pours herself a fresh cup of coffee.

“So, how are Arabella and Arnold doing?” Jack knew Gina called her husband and daughter last night.

“They are doing fine. How are mom and the rest of the family doing?” Gina knew from past experiences that her father always called home to check on them.

Jack just smiles “your mother, sisters, and the twins are doing alright.”

“Good, so have you decided who is getting cut and who is staying at Suddenlink Communications?” Gina couldn’t believe her father bought a cable and internet company.

“Yes, I and the team I hired went over everyone’s personnel files to determine who is worth keeping and who is worth getting rid of based on their performance.” Jack knew Gina hated when people lost their jobs.

Gina doesn’t say much afterward and enjoy her breakfast. Once she and her father are done with breakfast. Gina goes and gets ready for the meeting she was attending with her father. She tucks her weapon into her back-waist holster and adjusts the blouse she had on. She slips her suit jacket on and checks to make sure her gun wasn’t showing.

“Gina, are you ready?” Jack was in the living room of the suite waiting for Gina to join him.

“Coming daddy.” Gina steps out of her bedroom fully dress and carrying her laptop case and purse.

Gina was wearing a skirt, instead of pants and a pair of nice expensive heels. They matched the dress suit she was wearing. She put her hair in a ponytail that came halfway down her back. She had on her necklace. It was the necklace her father gave her that was shaped liked Cadmus’s head hanging beneath her blouse.

She also had a locket that Arnold gave her that had a picture of himself and Arabella inside. She never thought she would be a mother at 21 years old. The thing was, she wanted to protect and care for Arabella. The poor girl had been mistreated by her father.

When she walks into the living room, she spots her father dressed in his tailor-made black business suit. The suit fitted him like a glove and showed off his muscular frame. He was wearing the wolf head tie bar that looked like Chao’s head on it. His shoes were highly polished.

If she didn’t know who the man was standing in front of her. She would be afraid of him. Her father might be dressed like any normal businessman, but there was an air about him that screamed deadly.

“Wow, dad. You're handsome.” Gina walks up to her father.

“Thank you. Are you ready to go?” Jack picks his briefcase/laptop case up.

“Yep, let’s go.” Gina follows her father as they head down to the lobby

Jack leads the way down to the limo waiting for him and Gina. Once they are in. Jack gives the driver the address they needed to go to. Gina sits back and watches as they head towards the address.

“Dad, we could go and visit aunt Anika and Hatter after the meeting.” Gina would like to visit them.

“Maybe some other time, Gina. I want to give your aunt some time to catch up on things. As for Hatter, she’s still adjusting to being out of a mental hospital.” Jack couldn’t believe what he read in Hatter’s file.

How any father could put their six-year-old child in a mental hospital and then declare her death a few years later. He was a very sick person. Hatter had been experimented on and locked away since she was six years old. The file also contained the police report of her killing her father in front of her half-brother and stepmother. According to the reports Anika has been giving him about her. She is slowly adjusting to being free and socializing with her teammates more.

It takes them about forty minutes to arrive at the headquarters of Suddenlink Communications. The driver pulls the Limo up in front and parks. He gets out and walks around to open the doors for Mr. Bounty and Mrs. Bounty.

“Thanks, Charlie.” Gina looks at Charlie and smile.

He was a big African American guy like her father. He was shorter than her father but had her father’s build. He’s been their chauffer before, and she knew her father always requested him when they came to New York.

Charlie notices the wedding ring on Gina’s hand “did you get married, Mrs. Bounty?”

“Yes, I finally married my high school sweetheart.” Gina had a huge smile on her face.

“Congratulations, Mrs. Bounty.” Charlie knew Gina would make a wonderful wife to someone.

“Thank you, Charlie. Maybe, one day I’ll bring my husband and daughter to New York and we can get together and go out together.” Gina thinks Arabella might like coming to New York.

“I would like that, Mrs. Bounty.” Charlie liked hanging with Gina and her father.

He wasn’t just an employee to them. He was their friend as well. He watches as they head into the building. Once they were inside, he takes off to handle another important person.

Gina follows her father inside the building. They are stopped just as they entered.

“I need for you and your daughter to sign in, Mr. Bounty.” Security Officer Bronze and his partner security officer Richland were informed that Mr. Bounty and his daughter would be coming in this morning.

“No problem, Mr. Bronze.” Jack takes out his favorite pen and signs his name and Gina’s name in the registry.

“Here you go, Mr. Bounty.” Bronze hands a security pass to Jack and one to Gina.

Jack walks through the metal detector and as he does, it goes off. Jack stops so, security officer Bronze could inspect him.

“I need to search you, Mr. Bounty.” Bronze approaches Jack.

“I’m armed Mr. Bronze and I have a permit.” Jack reaches into his back pocket and pulls his concealed weapon permit out.
Bronze looks at it and notices that Jack was a retired law enforcement officer. He hands the permit back to Jack.

“Sorry, sir.”

“No problem, you’re only doing your job. My daughter has a permit as well.” Jack wanted security officer Bronze to know before he asked Gina.
Gina had her permit out and showed him. It was a Special Law Enforcement Officer permit that she had been issued. She also showed him her carry and conceal permit as well.

Bronze notes in the daily log that Mr. Bounty and Mrs. Bounty were armed. He watches as they take the escalator up to the second floor.

“I wonder why they are carrying.?” Richland was curious about them.

“I looked Mr. Bounty up yesterday after he left. He’s a billionaire according to Forbes and puts Trump and a few others to shame. He owns several telecommunication companies and a horse ranch out in Montana. His daughter is the head of Chaos Armor and the head of Cerberus Private Security Contractor. According to the same article, he has another daughter that is a K-9 police officer with the Montana police.” Bronze also learned he had several halfway homes set-up to give people second chances.

“If my father was as rich as he is, I would be living off his money or the trust fund most rich people set up for their children.” Richland hated working security.

He never got any holidays off and got paid barely enough to live. He had to take a second job, just to be able to support his car payment and bills.

“I don’t think he’s that type of person to let his kids live off the money he made.” Bronze figures Mr. Bounty installed a sense of being self-sufficient.

Jack and Gina enter the conference room. They saw that everyone that had been present yesterday, including his team, were there today.

“Good morning everyone. I’ll try not to keep you long, as I did yesterday. Now, I have here twelve people that I am offering severance packages to. You can either accept the deal or walk away empty-handed, I frankly don’t care.” Gina grabs the twelve brown envelopes out of her father’s briefcase.

She takes each envelope and places them in front of the people that they were fore. She observed the expression on several of their faces as she laid them out on the table. One was for the old vice president, the marketing head, the program director, the head of human resources and a few others.

Most of the people sitting at the table couldn’t believe they were being given severance packages. Who did this Bounty fellow think he was?

“Now for the pink slips.” Gina grabs a handful of pink slips and puts a few in front of the people at the table.

The rest were for certain people that Bounty and his team had gone through. They would be given out later.

Jack stands up and looks at the ones who were given pink slips. He looks at them with that same cold expression he has when he is about to kill someone.

“The reason those of you who were given pink slips. It’s because you have already taken a lot from this company. You have either stolen equipment used funds illegally or done things that have cost this company lots of money. Don’t try to justify yourself to me. I have evidence to back my claims against you. Now, gather your stuff and leave this building. Anything that belongs to you in your office will be sent to you.” Jack watches as the people get up and start walking out of the conference room.

Gina follows behind them to make sure they leave. She stops at the security desk “I have a bunch of pink slips here that I need to be delivered. Richland, you’re with me.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Richland follows Gina as she starts going to different departments.

Harry Fiennes heard that the new owner was firing people today. He was in his office gathering everything he had managed to set aside for himself. He felt that he earned everything after giving this company ten years of his life.

Just as he was about to walk out of his office with everything. He is stopped by security officer Richland and an Asian looking woman.

“Ah, Mr. Fiennes, just the man I was coming to see. Here is your pink slip and everything you have there, you will leave in your office. Anything that is yours will be shipped to you.” Gina could already see that there were things in his stuff that she didn’t think belong to him.

Henry looks at the Asian woman “and who are you?”

A smile appears on Gina’s face “the new owner’s daughter, Gina Bounty.”

Henry looks towards Richland “is this true?”

“Yes, Mr. Fiennes, it's true. I’ll need for you to leave everything where it is.” Richland hated to have to do this to Mr. Fiennes.

Henry leaves everything and accepts the pink slip that Gina hands him. He crushes it in his hand as he leaves the building. He will get revenge for them firing him. Maye, he’ll take out his revenge on that pretty Asian woman, since she is the new owner’s daughter.

“You’re going to have to keep your eyes out that one.” Richland looks towards Gina as they walk away from the office.

Gina had locked it, till Roy from her father’s transitioning team could go through everything in the office. She looks at Richland “I’ve faced worse over in Afghanistan.”

Richland looks at Gina “you were in the military?”

“No, I served over there with the company I own. How can I ask people to do a job, that I haven’t done myself?” Gina understood why her father did what he did.

They head to the next person and the next. By the time they were done delivering the pink slips. Jack called an hour lunch. Gina joins up with her father. Jack and Gina take one of the company vehicles to a nearby diner for lunch. The place had an old 1950’s theme to it. The name of the place was called Patsy’s Diner.

A waitress by the name of Tiffany comes over to the table and hands them a menu. She takes her order pad out.

“What would you like to drink?” She looks at Jack first.

“A cup of coffee, please.” Jack looks over the menu.

“I’ll have a sweet iced tea, please.” Gina was still looking over the menu.

Tiffany walks off to get their drinks. She grabs a cup of coffee and a sweet iced tea.

“Dad, why do you like diners so much?” Gina knew her father always chooses a diner to eat at.

“Because, as much as I enjoy eating at high-end restaurants. Sometimes I just want a simple plain meal. Plus, one of your grandaunt’s use to own one and I helped out at it.” Jack remembered his Aunt Clarissa operating the diner. The family bought the diner after she died of cancer.

Tiffany comes back with their drinks. She places Jack’s coffee near him and Gina’s Iced Tea near her.

“Are you ready to order?” Tiffany had her pen out.

“I’ll have your steak and egg. I would like the steak medium well done. As for the egg, sunny side up.”

“Would you like toast or muffins?”

“Toast please.” Jack hands his menu back to Tiffany.

Tiffany looks towards Gina.

“I’ll have your steak stir fry, please.” Gina hands the menu back to the waitress.

Tiffany leaves to place their order. It wasn’t often she got office people like them in the diner.

“So, does the business you bought part of a chain?”

“Yes and no. They have offices over in Europe your Aunt Brianna and her husband bought. The one I just acquired is their first attempt here in America. I’m making it a subsidiary of Eruption Communications.” Jack has been thinking about it and with the communication satellites Eruption has in orbit. They could expand their services.

However, he needs to have some of the staff at the company retrained and hire people he can trust. That’s is why he is handing that over to Anika and her assistants. He trusts Anika to select the right people.

After ten minutes, their food arrives. When Tiffany put Gina’s plate down. Gina could smell the spices and herbs the cook used, and it smelled heavenly.

“Mmm, this taste so good, dad.” Gina had taken a bite of her food and loved it.

“This steak isn’t too bad either.” Jack loved a good steak.

As Jack is eating, his cellphone starts growling. It sounded like Chaos growling. Jack taps his earpiece.

“Hello?”

Gina knew that the cellphone that her dad just answered was his private one, not the one he normally used. His other one was just for family. Both phones were encrypted so no one could eavesdrop on them.

“Jack, its Amelia. Thank god I managed to get in touch with you. Can you go down to the 25th district police station and bail out a young man for me, please?” Amelia was worried about a teenage boy she had been looking after.

He was a good kid, but the gangs around where he lived were slowly corrupting him. She didn’t want to see anything bad happen to him. She knew if Jack went to get him. He might straighten his act up and the gang might stop trying to recruit him.

“Alright, Amelia. What is the boy’s name?” Jack takes a note pad out of his inner jacket pocket to write the name down.

“His name is Edward Allan Smith. He’s a good kid, Jack.”

“What was he arrested for?” Jack needed to know this.

“I don’t know, Jack. His mother called me and asked if I could help him.” Amelia knew Kelly tried her best to raise Edward.

It was hard on her, because of the long hours she worked at the hospital. The guy that got her pregnant was in jail for the armed robbery of a liquor store. The poor kid hasn’t had a stable guy in his life.

“Alright, I’ll go and see what I can do, Amelia.” Jack ends the call.

Gina looks towards her father “who’s Amelia?”

“She runs one of the halfway homes I have here in New York to help those who get out of jail. She tries to find jobs for them and get them back on their feet.” Jack takes a fifty out of his wallet to pay for their lunch.

When Tiffany comes back with the change.

“Keep the change and thank you.” Jack smiles at Tiffany. He knew the big tip he was leaving would make her day.

Tiffany just looks at the tip the gentleman left her. She couldn’t believe how much it was.

“Thank you.” She watches as Jack walks and the young lady with him, walk to a cable van.

Gina just smirks as she follows her father. Her father always manages to surprise her. She sits in the passenger seat while her father drives to the 25th police precinct.

“Are we rescuing a troubled soul or seeing an old friend?” Gina was curious about why they were heading to the police station.

“Rescuing. Amelia has a soft spot for this person.” Jack trust Amelia and could understand why she was worried about this boy.

They arrive at the police precinct. Jack and Gina walk inside and up to the desk.

“We’re here to bail out Edward Allan Smith.” Jack looks at the police officer in front of him.

Officer LaCava looks at the gentleman in front of him and the Asian girl standing next to him. Both were dressed business-like and could tell their suits were custom tailor to them. He brings the name up and saw that bail had been set at $30,000 dollars.

“His bail is $30,000.” LaCava wonders if this person had it.

Jack pulls out his card and pays the bail. He wonders why the bail was so much. Before he hands the card over “why is the bail set so high?”

“Possession of an illegal firearm that had been used in a crime.” Officer LaCava was surprised the kid had been caught.

Jack hands over his card. He was going to have to call Georgia Brown to handle the kids’ case. He fills out the paperwork and waits for the kid to be brought to him.

Edward Smith couldn’t believe he had been caught with a firearm that had been used in a crime. Stick didn’t tell him that it had been used. All he was asked to do, was get rid of it. Just as he was walking away from their hangout. The police swarm in on them and arrested all of them.
The officer that arrested him, was trying to pin the murder that had occurred at the liquor store on him.

A police officer comes to him “Edward Smith, your bail has been paid.” The officer unlocks the jail cell.

Edward gets up and walks out. He was surprised that Amelia had the money to pay his bail. When he is let out, he sees a tall muscular man with salt and pepper hair man dressed in a dark business suit. He had a young Asian looking woman standing next to him.

“Who are you?” Edward Smith has never seen these two people before.

“Friends of Amelia Calzoni. She called me to come down and bail you out. Now, why don’t you explain to me what happened, Mr. Smith?” As Jack and Edward walk out of the police station with Gina following behind them.

Gina looks at the boy. He was shorter than her father and skinny. If he worked out, he could be as fit as Bart or her old partner Ewan. Ewan was working at their training camp as an instructor now.

As Jack is driving Edward to Amelia’s place “how did you get involve with the gang?”

“Some of my friends are members and they want me to join.” Edward really didn’t want to join, but the gang wouldn’t leave him alone.

“Who or where did you get the gun you had on you from?” Gina turns around in her seat to speak to Edward?

“I don’t snitch on my friends.” Edward knew what would happen if he did.

“Friends don’t let friends take the fall for them. That isn’t how true friends act. Also, you’ll be saving their lives by telling us who they are.” Gina was thinking about sending Hatter after them.

“Who would I be saving them from?” Edward looks at Gina for an answer?

“Me!” The words came out of Jack’s mouth with a tinge of a threat behind it.

Edward looks at Mr. Bounty and wonders who he was. Why would he be so concern about what went on in his neighborhood?

“I would tell us what you know. If you don’t, well I would hate to tell you what my father might do.” Gina knew her father had ways of extracting information.

He might not do it to Edward, but she knew he’ll search for someone who did and practice his craft on them. It was easier having one of their wolves here, but her father could do it. He trained her to extract information without using their wolves.

“Is that why you bail me out of jail? To snitch on my friends?” Edward getting upset at them.

“No, I bailed you because Amelia sees something decent in you and wants to protect you from what is going on around you. Because, when you cross certain lines, someone bigger and deadlier will put you in your grave.” Jack wanted to scare this kid.

“And you think you are capable of that?” Edward doubts this good dress guy or his daughter was like that.

When they stop at a stoplight. Jack turns around and looks at Edward. All the emotions he had in his eyes were gone and replace with that coolness he gets when he is about to kill someone.

Edward stares into Jack’s eyes and saw nothing. No emotions, no nothing but a look of a predator who was ready to kill. It sends a cold chill down his spine as he kept staring into the blackness.

Jack turns his attention back to his driving. He allows the darkness inside him to slowly fade back where it belonged.

“As my father said, there’s always some one bigger and deadlier around.” She wasn’t as cold-hearted as her father, but she was just as deadly. That was what she showed Edward.

Edward saw the same look in Gina’s eyes. It wasn’t as bad as the man’s he just looked at, but it was there, just below the surface.

“What are you guys? Are you assassins?” Edward was nervous now.

“He’s a CEO and a cattle manager. I’m the president of a security and armor firm.” Gina had a pleasant smile on her face.

Jack pulls up where Amelia lives and as they were getting out of the van. A car was driving by with their windows down. Gina spotted the shooter before her father did. She pulls her gun and opens fire at them.

Her bullets hit the shooter and the passenger. Jack had his gun out and fired. His shots hit the tires and the driver. He was going to fire at the gas tank, but he decided that they didn’t need a big explosion.

“Gina, stay here and protect Edward.” Jack moves quickly and surely over to the car to check on the occupants.

The ones Gina had shot were dead, but the driver was just wounded. Jack checks him over and notices that the shooter had a mac 10. The shooter was going to spray the area with bullets.

Gina looks down at Edward, who was crouching down near the open side door of the van. He looked scared and frightened.

“You wanted to protect them? They look like they were ready to kill you to keep you from telling the police the truth.” Gina still had her gun out and was ready to back her father up.

It was by pure luck, that she had spotted the shooter. She was thankful she did. Her suit and her father’s suit are bulletproof, but it still hurt getting hit.

The police and the paramedics show up later. Gina told them what happened and showed her badge. She knew her father showed his badge as well.

It is later at night, that a certain figure makes an appearance. The figure kills the leader of the gang, his next in line and the guards protecting them. The figure makes sure that the message was loud and clear that the gang members stay away from the area. The message also included a warning should they not heed the one he left. The heads were placed on pikes and the bodies left hanging upside down.

As for Stick himself, well he was beaten up in jail. However, he did confess to the killing and getting Edward off the hook.

When Gina gets up the next morning, she sits down with her father. She pours her coffee and picks a blueberry muffin from the assortment her father ordered.

“Good hunting last night?” As Gina takes a bite of the muffin.

“Yes.” Jack takes a sip of his coffee.

Gina had a smirk on her face as she ate her muffin.

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Comments

The Devil's

Samantha Heart's picture

Bounty hunter strikes again! The street gangs in NYC better listen to the warning that was sent or they are NEXT!

Love Samantha Renée Heart.

I guess that's what happens

I guess that's what happens when you try to kill a bounty, you become his bounty

nice

nice, short and sweet. no cliff hangers. keep up the good work.
robert

001.JPG

Interesting

Miyata's picture

Now I know who to contact about my shoddy cable, phone, and internet service.

Miyata312

'Do or Do Not, There is no Try' - Yoda

The big bad wolf

made a visit to them. Now, the rest of the gang knows, there's a bigger and deadlier predator out hunting.

Scarlett.jpg“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”
― Toni Morrison

SuddenLink

Still sucks. Whatever Jack did, it wasn't enough or didn't stick.


"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin