Threaded Mode | Linear Mode

Thaddeus Duke · (08-29-2020)

Illuminatus Compound || Old Saybrook, Connecticut

Business goes forth and the work goes on here at the compound like any other day, except now that I’m back in the mainstream, the perpetual thorns in my side, the militia group calling themselves the Ares Project, are back as well. We discovered their El Paso, Texas ‘hideout’, for lack of a better term, recently and we’ve discovered evidence that they’ve moved on and abandoned that location.

That’s the problem though, they remain one step ahead of us and really, they have been since day one. It’s unnerving and frustrating to say the very least. There’s a lot of smart men and women in my employ and for this reason or that, we can’t ever seem to catch up to them.

We will one day.

And it will be a bloodbath.

”So, El Paso has been abandoned,” Jim, my chief of staff says after a cough as he gives a rather quick synopsis of the long conversation thus far.

”I know what you’re thinking,” says Lincoln Tritter, my intelligence chief as he tosses a file folder on the oblong circular table before leaning back in his chair with exasperation.

”I doubt that,” I say, unable to hid my displeasure.

”You think… I’m not doing my job.” He speaks in a very distinct way, with his casual pauses every few words. He’s gray haired in his early 50’s and built like a mountain. I respect his talents to be certain, but as good as he is and as good as he’s been in the past, his failures when it comes to the Ares Project are really wearing on me.

”I need you to be better, Linc,” I say to him with authority. ”A lot of good men have died because they’re one step ahead of you. If they’re ahead of you, they’re ahead of me. Ahead of all of us.

“How the fuck am I going to kill them...”

”Thad,” interrupts Frankie as he enters the meeting room. He has free reign over the house, the land, everything. It’s new to all of us, but I will never deny that boy. The more serious Ministers find it annoying and unprofessional for him to be allowed to enter whatever room he wants, but that’s the perks of being the head mother fucker in charge of those mother fuckers. Others, like Tritter, enjoy the distractions as they come. Lincoln Tritter is a hard man, but even he takes a liking to Frankie.

”Can we go ride go carts or something? I’m bored.”

”Buddy I can’t right now, I have to do some work first.”

”Maaaan!” he says with disappointment.

”Play on your iPad,” I suggest.

”It’s dead.”

”Play Spider Man.”

”Beat it.”

”Take Mufasa and Simba for a walk outside.”

”They’re gassy today,” he says as he plugs his nose. When they’re gaseous, shit, it’s nauseating.

”Honey, it’s almost lunch time,” Liz says from her position beside me at the head of the table. ”Go clean up your room and then go see Berta.”

Berta is my chef. She’s not actually a chef, just a mom and grandmother with good home-style cooking. I met her at the Italian restaurant she used to work at and offered her a job working for me as my personal housekeeper and cook in the residence. Best. Decision. Ever. Well, best decision unrelated to Elizabeth or Frankie.

”I just cleaned it yesterday,” he says, with a bit of a whine.

”Yes and you destroyed it already baby, go clean it up.”

”FIIIINE!” he finally relents.

”We’ll hang out this afternoon Bub, I promise.” Buddy gets overused. I still call him ‘Buddy’ at times, but then it was shortened to ‘Bud.’ Accidentally called him ‘Bub’ a few weeks ago and it kinda stuck.

”Okayyyyy,” he mumbles under his breath as he makes his exit.

”Sorry everyone,” I say it, but I’m not really. Life doesn’t stop for 9 year olds and it doesn’t stop for their legal guardians.

”He needs some friends, baby,” she says with a sad undertone. Being ripped away from not one, but two lives, with two different groups of friends along with the terrible tragedy that caused it is earth shattering.

”I know but there’s not much I can do about that. School starts soon, that should help.”

”His birthday is coming up, what do you think a ten year old boy wants most right now?”

”His parents,” I answer honestly. She hangs her head and sighs.

”Maybe a surprise party with friends from his old neighborhoods.”

”I can do that,” I answer back with a smile. ”And that dirt bike he wants.”

”You’ll be a hero all over again to him.”

”Instead of the disappointing big person that lives in his house? I’d take it,” I joke.

”Oh stop your shit! He’s going through a lot...”

”I know, I know.”

”Thad,” Tritter interrupts. ”The leader of the Ares Project… A General William McGovern wants to meet with you... one on one in a public location.”

Jim stands from his seat. Pacing a little, he holds his head down in thought and coughs before he speaks. ”That’s too dangerous,” he says. ”It could be a trap.”

”I’m not afraid to meet with him,” I fire back.

”No, I know you’re not, mate,” he replies without hesitation. ”Their goal is to kill you, Thad. They don’t care who they have to harm in the process. What’s stopping this McGovern bloke from blowing himself up while seated across from you?”

It’s actually a valid question, or at least the thought process is valid.

”They’re not suicide bombers, Jim. At least not by design.”

”No way,” Lizzy interjects. ”Frankie just lost his mother and his father is never getting out of prison. Do you really think that putting yourself in immediate danger is doing right by him?”

Fuck.

”She’s right… so is he,” Lincoln agrees. ”I’ll take the meeting.”

A few hours later, and yes, I went outside and raced go carts with Frankie after lunch. Little fucker beat me, too. Anyway, I’m set up in our surveillance room. I can see what Tritter sees, hear what Tritter hears. He has a piece in his ear that lets me talk directly to him. The meeting in question is set up at a mall outside Boston in the food court. As Lincoln enters the court he stops and slowly looks around, despite an ongoing pandemic, the mall is crawling with people.

”There,” I say to him. ”About ten feet from the Chik-Fil-A. Tan fatigues and tan shirt. Muscled up roid case.”

”I see him,” Tritter replies. Tritter approaches cautiously for good reason. There could be men out of sight, there probably is. I mean, we do. There’s no way I’d let any of my people walk into a possible trap without some kind of backup. We have six inside. Dozens more outside and several on the roof. Just in case.

”William McGovern,” says the General as he extends his hand.

Tritter grits his teeth causing his jaw to flex, but says nothing and doesn’t accept the handshake.

”I was expecting the boy,” says McGovern as they both take a seat.

”This boy is gonna fuck his world up.” I hear Tritter snicker under his breath.

”Our apologies… Thaddeus has been detained, General,” Tritter says, holding his cards close to his vest.

”He can hear me, I’m sure,” McGovern offers. ”Mine too.”

”What is it you want?”

”I wanted to meet my enemy is all,” McGovern responds. ”To get the measure of him.”

”Why exactly… did you decide that Thaddeus Duke… or his father are your enemies?”

McGovern smirks, but doesn’t offer an answer.

”He has more brains than balls, I’ll give him that.”

No one ever accuses me of that. I got balls, but sometimes I’m kind of an idiot and do stupid things but here we are.

”If the situation were reversed, I’d have probably walked right into a trap, right?

“That’s how you people operate isn’t it? You use trickery and bad faith tactics to get what you want. Me? I man up and I come right at you.”

”Keep letting him talk,” I tell Tritter. ”I don’t have high hopes, but maybe he’ll slip up.”

”In order to steal the Vatican right? You used the German chancellor’s son to murder the German leader and stage a coup in the dark of night. The Vatican sent assassins after Sebastian Duke… they didn’t get him, but they got someone and the Illuminatus Regime blamed Poland for the attack.

“Another trick.”

”It worked.”

”The boy doesn’t have the balls to fight like a real man.”

”Hey Linc, tell him this boy is gonna skull fuck his eye sockets after I kill him,” I say as I dry hump Liz’s chair. Tritter laughs ever so slightly, Liz however, slaps my shoulder.

”You’re so violent!” I say to her, feigning injury to my shoulder and plopping down in the chair beside her.

”You mean tricks like… attacking his house… and he beat you.” And Tritter with the right jab! ”Tricks like… sending in a man built like a brick house to kill him… and he beat him.” Left jab! ”Tricks like blowing him out of the sky… yet he lives and breathes.” Uppercut to the neanderthal jaw!

”He’s been lucky so far,” McGovern replies. ”His lucky streak is over.”

”We’re not strangers to… clandestine warfare, General… you don’t have the money to operate on your own… not against a powerhouse military like his.

“So the question is… on whose orders… does this Ares Project exist?”

”From the top,” McGovern answers. ”To answer your question earlier, when that man decides you’re an enemy, then you will be dealt with.”

”And when he loses in November?”

”No one even knows we exist.”

”Be that as it may… if he goes... so does your funding.”

”That might be true. But it just so happens that we’ve found an alternative source of funding that’ll keep us going for years.”

Tritter says nothing.

”Teach that boy that there are men in this world that you just don’t cross.”

Again, Tritter says nothing.

”Go on back to Connecticut, Mr. Tritter,” he suggests. ”Tell that kid that I’m going to kill his friends. Tell him I’m going to kill his father. Tell him I’m going to kill him.

“Tell him, Mr. Tritter, that I don’t care if I kill innocents as long as I accomplish the goals set forth by the man that writes my checks.”

”Do you really think… that if he decides to use… and I mean, really use… that lethal air force that he has… that there would be enough of you left alive… to fulfill your goals?”

”Let me ask you something, Mr. Tritter,” McGovern prefaces his question. ”Did you think I care about close innocents? Did he think that? We know about the girl.”

Liz and I both look at each other.

”We know about the boy too.”

And now he has my undivided attention.

”I don’t make a habit out of threatening little kids, but just like the rest of you, I don’t care about him either.

“He does though. Your leader.”

I stand up, full of rage I kick the chair out from under me in the process. I can feel the heat in my face.

”I swear to every fucking god, Linc, I will bury them all!”

”Baby calm down,” Liz says as she grabs my arm. ”He knows you’re listening, he’s just trying to get under your skin.”

”Yeah well, it’s fuckin’ working.”

”Then you’re just like the rest,” Tritter says as he stands and prepares to leave.

”Meaning what exactly?”

”You mistake his kindness… for weakness… others have done that too.”

”None of them were me, none of them were the Ares Project,” retorts the General smugly.

”None of them… are left alive… You make your threats all you want, General… You threaten his woman… you threaten that boy again…

“Let’s just say… that you’ll get to see… just how dark… and cold he can be. He’s still his fathers son, after all.”

”Tell him I look forward to it.”

”You say that now… but what in a month?

“Or two months?

“Six months when we’re matching you step for step... and we’re hot on your trail?

“I don’t want you to answer… I’ve grown bored of your… cockiness that’s so unbecoming of a General. I just want you to think about that.”

I toss my headset across the room and pace behind Liz. I’m so incensed with anger that I can taste the bile from within me.

”Baby,” Liz says quietly. I stop and stare at her, my face beet red. ”They’re just idle threats.”

”And if they’re not? Liz, they’ve attacked the house before! How do you propose I keep you two safe if they do it again?”

”...I think I have a solution.”

Ohhhhhh Chris Chaos.

Are you suffering some Post Traumatic Stress from the last several times we’ve faced each other? I mean, clearly facing me is not what you had in mind when you were saying my uncle mattered but didn’t and how the Universal title mattered, but didn’t. You talk in circles so fuckin’ much to make yourself sound smart that you reveal yourself to be an even bigger idiot than any of us could have imagined.

That’s… that’s saying a lot, man. Do you have any idea how big of an idiot we all thought you were? Then you managed to prove yourself even dumber than that and we all are just… in awe of your sheer stupidity.

Where you at Chris?

Are you still kicking and screaming at the screen knowing you have to face the guy that fractured the false facade of Chris Chaos when he was dominating the Xtreme Wrestling Federation? Have you beaten the shit out of Jenny Myst yet out of fear and regret that once again, all these years later when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, I’m gonna prove that I’m still fuckin’ better than you in every conceivable way?

I’m still a shark, Chris. You were a small fish in an even smaller pond, Chris. You remember me telling you that? You remember me telling you that I was a shark and I was gonna show you what it was like to face a god damn shark?

Of course you do.

You’ve always remembered.

It was true then and its still true now. The pond is much bigger than it was then and Chris Chaos? He stopped growing the minute the real sharks came and gobbled up all his plankton, and all his bottom feeders that he made himself famous for beating. Clearly, I use the word ‘famous’ loosely because Chris Chaos’s biggest claim to fame was being the champion of a bunch of misfit losers that never belonged in this company to begin with.

Chris was riding high again. Being a thorn in my uncles side which, quite honestly, is amusing to me but nevertheless, him thinking he has what it takes to put this company on his back like the Theo Pryce’s, the John Madison’s, the Sebastian Duke’s and the Robert Main’s of this industry makes me simultaneously laugh and alsi throw up in my mouth a little.

If facing me scares you enough to shut the fuck up, then what happens when you face Sarah Lacklan who is far meaner than I am? If you face her at all. You heard me right, peeps. Nice guy Thaddeus Duke scares Chris Chaos into shutting up and shutting down.

For proof of that statement, one need only look in two places: on the XWF website where my uncle made fun of him. He had the balls to go back and forth with him but as soon as I tell him I’mma kick him in the face, he clams up and goes quiet. And here we are, less than a week out from Warfare and our grand showdown and ole Chris Chaos is M.I.A. Didn’t even drop a single promo.

Why?

Because no matter what you or I or anyone thinks of Chris Chaos, he does actually believe in himself. And I am Chris Chaos Kryptonite. I always have been and I always will be. Tell ‘em why, Chris.

Thad holds up a Chris Chaos action figure. Seriously, no one buys Chris Chaos. He found it on ebay for like fifty cents.

Because you’re better than me, Thad!

You’re god damn right I am, and that's never gonna change... just like Chris Chaos.

Threaded Mode \| Linear Mode The Ares Project: The General - RP #2
Author	Message