Ten: Grave Mistakes

The funeral for the two Murderous gang members that Hiccup had killed was two days later in the main cemetery for Berserk. As expected, Madguts had been determined to flaunt his supposed new status as the man in charge of Berserk by holding a magnificent ceremony for his men. He had brought in more men from his main base and the funeral directors had been instructed to provide large ebony caskets with gold accoutrements, honouring his fallen men. Privately, he was planning his revenge on Dagur, who he blamed for the deaths but publicly, he was determined to rub the Berserker's nose in it at the oratory.

Hiccup had returned to the Berserker Compound and explained his plans to Heather and through her, Dagur, though he railed at the fact they hadn't trusted him enough to allow him to speak to Dagur in person. In fact, he was being treated as a prisoner almost and he wondered vaguely if his cover had been blown...but this was his only chance to get close to Dagur and if there was even the slightest chance, he had to take it...especially since he had made his promise while holding his father's cold hand.

He was shocked when Heather demanded he have dinner with her and he had shyly agreed, playing the persona he had adopted with skill. During the meal, he had been attentive, witty and had flattered her, stroking her ego but maintaining just enough distance so that she was frustrated by his response to her obvious overtones. He had to make sure she remained on his side because she was his key to the whole puzzle-so when she came on to him and kissed her, he had fought a brief battle-and then returned the kiss in spades, one hand in her raven hair, the other gently cupping her breast as their tongues battled. Leaving her breathless and wanting more had achieved the desired result and Dagur's men backed off...a little.

But early on the morning of the burial, 'Olaf's Express Funerals' had received an early morning visit from six figures who had broken in and kidnapped all the staff, taking their black garments-not all of which had fitted especially well-and making some small but very critical adjustments to one of the caskets. Fortunately, both were already loaded onto the hearses so the pall-bearers would only have one short trip to make with each man. And then Hiccup had looked at his team.

It was obvious the twins would be a pair but it was just as obvious that Fishlegs and Snotlout couldn't be the second pair of pall bearers-for their significant differences in height made that impossible. The answer was Toothless, who had reluctantly come out into the field to partner the husky agent as a pall bearer while Snotlout had been assigned the job of walking bare-headed ahead of the coffin, bearing his top hat as a mark of respect. He had grumbled at the role until he realised he was exempted any heavy lifting-at which point he gratefully accepted the job and went and sat in the hearse and took a nap. Shaking his head, Hiccup looked over at Fishlegs.

"You know he'll mess this up, right?" he commented and the husky agent shrugged.

"Won't be the first time," he admitted. Despite his reservations and dislike of field work, the agent was getting much more opportunity to take part in the mission and though it was not his preferred area, he had to admit, it did make him feel a much more important part of the team than just sitting behind his computer...though there were times when he would rather be safely riding his laptop. At a funeral where everyone would be heavily armed was probably one of those moments. "Are you sure you'll be okay?" The auburn-haired hitman gave a wry smile that came nowhere near his eyes.

"Been in tight places before," he admitted. "Tends to come with the territory when you're setting up surveillance for a hit. I'll be fine." Toothless and the twins cast him a worried look: he had largely shut down since his father's death, keeping to himself and restricting conversation to terse exchanges, though he was professional where the mission was concerned. None of them thought he was fine and what he was proposing had been opposed by all of them-but Hiccup had ignored their concerns.

"You sure you can get everything you need in there?" Fishlegs asked as the hitman professionally checked his weapons, the sharp snap of firing bolts and clunk of magazines sounding as he made his final checks.

"I'm good," Hiccup insisted, his eyes fixed on his guns.

"Hope you're ready to go," Astrid said over the com from the car park, where she was waiting. "Olaf and the main car of mourners just pulled up. Is it Herodotus?" Hiccup shook his head and headed into the first hearse.

"I'm not even dignifying that one. And you two-just remember-no jokes or puns or anything stupid," he warned the twins. "Very serious!" They headed into the front of the vehicle and both looked offended.

"Thor, does he doubt our Gods-given talent for the funereal arts?" Tuff grumbled.

"We can be serious when required," Ruff added in a hurt voice.

"And that time is now," Toothless added from the other hearse, where he was squashed in with Fishlegs and Snotlout. The doors opened and a small man with bright brown eyes and spiky hair, smoothed down haphazardly under his brushed black top hat, walked in. He peered at the men in the suits.

"You're not my normal crew," he protested. His amiable face was confused.

"Outbreak of food poisoning," Toothless told him. "Everyone else is pretty much camped in the outhouse. I mean, they guessed you didn't want your pall bearers all dropping the deceased and running for the bathroom every five minutes so they drafted us in. We're from Mulch's Organic Funerals from Berk..."

"I don't know that provider," Olaf said suspiciously.

"We're niche," Tuff piped up. "We usually use wicker caskets and biodegradable materials. Our specialities are 'natural' burials for atheists and humanists and Zoroastrian ceremonies..." Olaf stared at him.

"And how many Zoroastrians live in Berk?" he asked, interested despite himself.

"Um...none...but we're an equal opportunities provider," Ruff added. "So if any wanted to come to die in Berk, we're ready!" Shaking his head, Olaf sighed.

"Okay-just do as I tell you and don't drop anyone!" he hissed before turning back to his limousine and driving slowly away to collect the mourners, with the two hearses in convoy. Quietly, at the back, Astrid followed in a hire car, keeping her eyes open for surveillance or interception...but nothing was forthcoming and they collected Madguts and his entourage as well as the widowed girlfriends of the men and headed for Berserk Cemetery.

The Cemetery was large and well-appointed, immaculately manicured lawns cut by arrow-straight white gravel paths with large willows and yews interspersed in between. Black-painted railings surrounded the entire site and several mausolea were dotted close to the small temple sited at the near end of the site. As they drove slowly past, Astrid pulled in by one and got out, pretending to be paying her respects while pulling out high-power binoculars and following the cortege to the two open graves, dug close to the path by a huge manicured yew. A sea of chairs were placed round the grave, many already occupied by members of the Murderous Syndicate. As Astrid looked, she saw a flash of light off another pair of binoculars and she muttered a curse.

But the funeral cars had already pulled up and as Madguts, dressed in a long black coat slung from his shoulders over a black suit, black shirt and tie and black boots, his cruel eyes concealed by shades, made his way to his seat, the hearses pulled up and the 'pall bearers' began to manhandle the coffins into their places. One was considerably heavier than the other and the men staggered and could barely manage to get it into place, before standing before the coffins, whipping off their hats and bowing their heads for a long moment. Then they stepped away and retreated to the cars, all getting into the nearest one and quietly starting the engine.

The sun was fully out, casting deep shadows under the trees but Astrid was sure of what she had seen-and where. Running swiftly, she circled round the huge space, wishing it wasn't such a hot day and that she had worn more sensible shoes for running than her boots. But every eye was on the funeral service as the Priest of Odin stood forward and began a generic blessing and entreaty for forgiveness/mercy/happiness in the afterlife. The widowed girlfriends were weeping noisily and Madguts looked bored but for a gang Boss, image was everything. So he stared at the caskets, tuning out the service and planning his next manoeuvres to take over Berserk.

The man under the tree was almost invisible but Astrid controlled her breathing and paused, then dived and rolled, shooting the man with three stunner darts. He slapped the points of impact and stared at the tiny dots of blood from the darts before folding, landing behind the huge willow and concealed in a pall of shadow. Astrid panted up, pink and sweaty and grabbed him by the collar, making sure she hauled him well out of sight and checked his pulse. After confirming he was alive but deeply unconscious, she patted him down, removing his shades to check his face and photographing it, using the Bureau app to put him through facial recognition software while she checked his pockets. He had a standard issue Glock and a wallet that named him 'Bjorn Larson', a name she knew was usually used as commonly as 'John Smith' elsewhere. His credit cards were inspected and then she found the card.

DRAGON EXPORTS.

She blinked and frowned, staring closer at his face. Dragon Exports was a company that didn't exist, a cover for people who also technically didn't exist to use when travelling all over the world in pursuit of their enemies. Her phone beeped and she peered at the results, her breathing accelerating as she saw the words flashing on the screen.

CLASSIFIED IDENTITY.

Since she was using Archipelago Intelligence systems, there was only one group of people who could cause that message to flash up to an AIS or ABI agent. She looked across at the funeral which was drawing to a close.

"Why are the Secret Service interested in two dead Murderous thugs?" she murmured.

The widowed girlfriends stood and rested roses on the caskets of their dearly departed as the Priest droned on about being reunited in Valhalla and finally, Madguts walked forward, casting a handful of dirt on each casket. He rested a meaty paw on each casket lid, his eyes blazing with anger.

"These men gave their lives in my service," he announced. "They were loyal, brave and and dedicated. They were family men and all they were asked to do was to follow my orders. MINE! As the new boss of Berserk, they should have been safe! But that damned coward, Dagur, sent an assassin and shot them down in cold blood."

Not what I remembered, the listening Fury though. They were kidnaping Astrid to your base so you could 'play' with her...

"So I say-I will not tolerate it! Once these men have their decent burial, we will declare war on Oswaldson! They will be avenged and we will bury every man of Dagur's here! Every Berserker will be killed and I will save Dagur for last!" He bowed his head. "Don't worry, boys-I'll find out who did you and make him pay," he promised.

"And so let us commit their bodies to the embracing earth..." the Priest announced as the lid of one of the caskets slammed open and Hiccup jerked upright, his guns trained on the Gang Boss.

"Night Fury!" Madguts gasped.

"Goodbye," Hiccup muttered as he pulled the trigger, the man falling backwards with the impact of three bullets in the chest. Before anyone could react, the submachine gun in his other hand sprayed bullets at Madguts' men, taking care to miss the grieving girlfriends and the Priest. There were screams and people diving for cover-or trying to find somewhere safe to enable them to pull their own guns. Anyone sticking his head up found it shot at as Hiccup scrambled from the casket and after one long burst that emptied the magazine, he tossed the submachine gun and sprinted towards the nearest hearse, diving in through the open door.

"GO!" Toothless snapped as Tuff floored the gas pedal, slewing the hearse away and side-swiping the funeral car and the other hearse. There was a yell from Olaf, who wasn't sure whether to be outraged at the damage to his vehicles or delighted at the prospects of so much new business. As Astrid watched, a black car with Hysteria plates pulled out from behind a mausoleum and sped after the hearse, the occupants invisible through the heavily-tinted glass.

"You got trouble," she murmured through the com.

"No shit!" Hiccup snapped back as the pursuers fired at them. "See you back at our hotel. We'll lose these guys..."

"Maybe not," she said urgently. "They're Secret Service..."

"Sorry...you're breaking up..."

"Guys-they're Secret Service!" she snapped.

"..."

"Shit!" Tying the downed man firmly, she sprinted back to her car, ignoring the chaotic funeral and the first wailing sirens of ambulances approaching as she found her car and headed out after her friends. "Fishlegs, Snot...anyone! Can you hear me?"

"..."

Dodging the first ambulances, she roared through the cemetery and skidded out onto the street, seeing a debris trail from where Tuff had hit everything with the hearse. Growling that just for once, she would love a plan to work as intended, she sped after them.

oOo

Bouncing in the back of the runaway hearse, Hiccup was holding on for grim death. He had long since promised that he would never allow the male twin to drive him again but there was no option to stop and change driver to someone who actually believed roads were the best place for a motor vehicle. So far, they had bounced across a traffic island, up a small alley and across the pavement and through a donut stall. He was still unsure how both the twins had managed to snag donuts but they were munching them loudly and complaining they weren't the best quality. That and the oil smeared over the windshield seemed to be the main problem-until the car behind them started firing.

He had honestly not realised how difficult it would be when he volunteered to clamber into the casket and wait, had not appreciated the memories the cramped dark would evoke-especially since he was jammed again the body of one of the men he had killed. But as soon as the lid had closed, he had suddenly experienced the most intense flashback he could imagine, seeing the images he fought to suppress crawl across his eyeballs.

"You made a big mistake." The words were flat, cold and calculated as Dagur circled him. They were out in the forest, the grey skies and damp making the smell of pine and freshly dug earth stronger. On his knees, his body hurting from the wounds he had earned in trying to fight them off, to protect his little family, Hiccup looked up into the soulless pallid green eyes, the man's scrappy red beard moving as he taunted his prisoner. "You killed my father! And that means...blood feud!"

Breathing heavily, his head spinning and despair enveloping him because he couldn't see any way out, surrounded as he was by enemies, tied and with his wife and young son by him, he shook his head.

"I was just a soldier, following orders to kill a criminal who resisted all attempts to bring him to justice," he said quietly.

"You pulled the trigger. You took his life. So I take yours...every precious part of it..." There was an uneven edge to Dagur's voice, a sick triumph. "I've already disposed of your parents, Haddock. I am a very rich man. You shot my father in the head-so I did the same to yours..."

"No..." Hiccup moaned, his eyes flicking over to the battered shape of Cami, her long blonde hair loose over her naked shoulders, the crying of their terrified son a dissonant noise in the muffled quiet. "Please...they're innocents! She works with abused woman and my son...he's completely innocent. He's just a baby! Gods...do what you want to me. I did the deed-but they're innocent! Please!"

Dagur stared at him, his lip curl in a sneer.

"And when I kill them, no one will ever want to come after me and mine," the Berserker said cruelly. "They will know that I annihilated you and everyone you loved or were related to. I wiped your family off the face of Midgard." And he lifted his gun.

"Please...don't hurt them...I beg you..." Hiccup couldn't help the words tumbling from his mouth, utter desperation unlocking his resolution to remain silent. "Please...

The report of a shot echoed around the trees and the crying stopped.

"SAM!" Hiccup felt as if his heart had been ripped from his chest, seeing the small shape slumped, eyes closed and strawberry blond hair tousled as if in sleep. But the red stain seeping into his sleep-suit was unmissable and he knew that he would never again hear the little voice, saying 'Dada'. Cami was weeping, her beautiful face streaked with tears as their son was roughly pitched into the pit and Dagur walked behind her. She turned her watery eyes on him, her face filled with a sudden calm.

"It's okay, lover," she said softly. "It's not your fault. I love you."

The sound of the shot was mingled with her soft cry as she collapsed forward into the pit and his incoherent howl of grief was ripped from his throat.

"CAMI!"

He was fighting, struggling against the men holding him, his eyes blurred with tears as he stared down at the body of his wife. Then he raised his emerald eyes to peer back at Dagur.

"I'm going to kill you," he promised. "Somehow...I will kill you..."

Dagur laughed.

"Not if I kill you first," he said and pulled the trigger.

Agony exploded in Hiccup's back and he felt the world start to fade around him. Sounds grew echoey as he pitched into the grave and he was still conscious as they started to shovel the heavy, muddy earth onto his body. Using the last of his strength, he reached out to touch her hand, feeling her skin already cooling.

I'm sorry, my love, was his last though before everything went black.

Enclosed in the casket had brought back the memory of waking in a shallow grave, not dead but close to it, buried with the corpses of his family. Of clawing his way out and being found by his friends. Of the painful recovery and realisation that his mother had died but his father was in a coma...until he had died a couple of days earlier. And in the fetid dark with the corpse of a man he had killed, he fixated his memory of Cami and Sam and clung to them as the nightmarish vision played over and over...until he had heard the words and had swung into action. There was no guilt in killing Madguts, a man who had clawed his way to the top over the corpses of innocent and guilty men, who saw human life as a simple commodity and who had wanted to kidnap and rape Astrid just for amusement.

But now they were being pursued by professionals with only the male twin to keep them safe. And they had weaved their way to the town limits, dodging bullets and impacts from the car ramming them but Hiccup had reloaded his pistol and was crawling his unsteady way to the nearest window. He snapped off a few shots, one of which cracked the windshield and saw the car swerve and drop back.

"Well done!" Fishlegs enthused, hanging on for dear life but Hiccup's eyes widened as they swerved.

"Don't be so sure," he said urgently as a long cylinder appeared through the window. "Rocket launcher!"

"You are kidding me!" Snotlout protested, looking out. "ARGH! Drive faster!" The twins stared ahead.

"That could be a problem..." Ruff noted, seeing the huge tractor bouncing slowly along, blocking the whole narrow lane. Tuff weaved but there was no way past, with high hedges on each side. Hiccup looked round-and then back at the pursuing car.

"Okay...remain straight until I tell you," he ordered.

"Who put you in charge?" Snotlout snarked.

"Astrid did!" Fishlegs retorted.

"Hang on!" Toothless snapped, closing his eyes. As a handler, he preferred to be with his computer and had no desire to go into the field-especially not if Tuff was anywhere near the wheel.

"Go left...NOW! Hiccup yelled as the man fired the rocket launcher. The hearse slewed sideways and the missile shot past them. Everyone watched as it slammed straight into the tractor, blasting the vehicle apart and sending the huge wheels spiralling away. Screaming curses, Tuff barrelled the hearse through the wreckage-and as they roared forward, Hiccup leaned out of the window and shot the man with the rocket launcher-then pounded four bullets into the same spot on the windshield, shattering it and allowing him the opportunity to shoot the driver. The car swerved and then hit the verge, shooting up into the air and rolling, before slamming down and landing on its roof and bursting into flame.

"Nice shot!" Fishlegs enthused, clapping Hiccup so hard on the back that he almost fell out of the window. Mumbling apologies, the husky agent hauled him back into the car. Exhausted, Hiccup closed his eyes.

"Get us out of here, Tuff," he said. "I need to speak to Heather and collect my prize-a face to face interview with Dagur."

And finally-my chance to avenge you both...

oOo

Heather had been effusive when he had called, smug that her choice of champion had fulfilled his mission and she promised that when he returned to the compound, her brother would be waiting. Silently, he had nodded and then forced himself to smile and had graciously accepted the offer, persuading the group-with Snotlout protesting all the way-to nurse the limping hearse back to the city and drop him off close to the compound. Carefully, he left his weapons in the hearse, knowing that Dagur's guards wouldn't allow him to bring a weapon into the compound again and walked up through the fortifications, past the guards to the front door.

The huge guard-Alvin-let him in with a sneer, the man's full beard moving as he escorted the man into the atrium and through towards the back of the residence. Every sense on edge, he swept his emerald gaze over the men walking at his side-until he was met by Heather, who flung herself towards him and hugged him.

"I knew you could do it," she said with satisfaction. "I know my brother believed you couldn't deal with his intruder problem...but it sounds like you have eliminated it completely." Forcing a satisfied smile on his face, he looked into her eyes.

"I try not to disappoint," he told her as she winked.

"And maybe we can have dinner afterwards," she asked him playfully and he nodded.

"I am a little peckish," he admitted with a wry smile. "That would be nice..."

Though I will be dead once we've faced off...

But he didn't say anything else and they headed past guards through the high, marble-floored hall to the elaborate double doors at the back. Heather glanced back at him and then at Alvin.

"Ready?" she asked and he nodded. And then the doors opened...