Prologue

~Prologue~

~5 Years Ago- Regency Inc. Building, NY

Regent Taske sat in his office, looking over his large desk at the man across from him. Regent was below average height, with fading brown hair and dull gray eyes, but he was an imposing figure nonetheless. Perhaps it was just because he was one of the most powerful men in the world. Perhaps he was the most powerful man in the world.
“The Board has reviewed your proposal, and has decided to back you for half the profits.”
James Hughes, a smalltime businessman from California, nodded thoughtfully from where he sat across the desk from Regent. James was taller than Regent and had a bit thicker build. His sand-colored hair and blue eyes gave him the appearance of a man of twenty, not thirty-four. But, even with his deceptively youthful appearance, James had a mind like a steel trap. A very quick steel trap.
“I believe that that is acceptable.”
Regent sat back in his large armchair and smiled at him.
“Good. Now, when will the Plan be ready to put into action?”
James looked through the manila envelope on his lap, doing a quick review of the things he needed to acquire and the things that needed to be done before the plan he had submitted was able to be put into effect.
He could barely believe that, only three weeks ago, he was presenting his plan to the Board. The Board was a group of the United States hundred biggest and most powerful crime bosses. They had, unbelievingly, approved of his plan, and the Chairman of the Board, Regent Taske, had called him a few days ago to schedule a meeting to finalize the agreement.
“Sir, I think that, after I acquire the computer equipment I have asked for and hired a capable computer programmer, we should be ready to initiate the Plan in about four to five years.”
Regent looked surprised, “Four to five years? Isn’t that a long time?”
“To drain the US of its cash? No.”
Regent nodded and rising, handed James a small stack of files.
“It is a deal then. Here are the six most capable programmers and hackers, all loyal to the Board. I would pay special attention the hacker called Cipher.”
James nodded and accepted the files. He reached out to shake the other man’s hand, eager to get under way with his plan.
“Thank you, Mr. Taske, for all your help.”
“No, thank you, Mr. Hughes, for bringing us the most promising strategy for monopolizing the US’ economy we have ever seen.”

~June 6th, 2019- Present Day
James Hughes looked out of the giant glass window at the city of New York spread out before him. It was remarkable what you could see when your fifty stories above the ground in the Regency Inc. skyscraper.
Regency Inc.’s headquarters wasn’t the tallest building in New York, but since its construction six years ago it was one of the most impressive. From the outside it was the pinnacle of American ingenuity and design, but if you spent enough time inside you might see it for what it really was; the heart of all that was evil in the United States.
The building was home to the Taske Empire, an empire that had dominated the United State’s crime world since just after Al Capone’s empire collapsed decades ago. Led by the hundred men and women called simply “The Board”, the Taske Empire had been managed and led by the infamous Taske family until Regent Taske’s tragic capture, trial, and execution in 2014.
James Hughes had only recently been elected as Chairman of the Board near the end of last year. Since Regent’s death, many of the Board’s members either had left, died, were arrested, or killed. Over half the members that had held positions on the Board when Regent was Chairman were replace by new faces, and there were at least five seats that still remained empty. But ever since his election, James had been hard at work to make allies of as many members he could, knowing he was going to ask them to do something no one, especially the veteran members, would want to do.
Jeff Mirky, secretary to the Chairman and possibly the only man in the room who could claim to have an honest job, came up to speak to James at the window.
“Mr. Hughes, the members of the Board have all arrived.”
“Has Miss Lector arrived as well?”
“Yes, Sir.”
James turned and approached the head of the table where his place was located.
To the right of his seat was another, once occupied by Janelle Taske, who was also known as the assassin and arms dealer Athena. Now, however, the place was held by James’ current girlfriend, Emma Lector.
Emma Lector had once been secretary at the White House, before James had seduced her into leaving and joining him. Now, petite with raven hair and dark-blue eyes, Emma was second to the most powerful crime boss in the US.
James stood a moment and looked out over the group of men and women who represented organized crime in the United States. These were the men and women who were in charge of the Underworld as it was called by criminal and lawman alike. These were people who knew how to get things done, no matter what it was or who had to die to do it.
Seated at the corner of the table next to Emma was a man in glasses with tacky yellow-lenses, a black “No Rules” sweatshirt, and with dark brown hair with blonde highlights. He was Jake Williamson, known to the underworld as Cipher, hacker-extraordinaire. He was the man Regent had suggested James hire to carry out his Plan five years ago. The Plan that was almost ready to be put into play.
James looked down the long table and cleared his throat.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have two matters on our agenda today. The second thing we must discuss is, of course, the Plan that was initiated by Regent Taske five years ago. But first, we must discuss a threat to the Plan that must be eliminated.”
James nodded to Cipher, who tapped a few things on the MacBook Extreme laptop that sat in front of him. In the center of the table an image shimmered into view, projected by the Shadow-Tech hologram projectors placed in the table top and in the ceiling above.
The image was a man with an air of lethalness around him. He wore jeans and a black T-shirt that accented the man’s muscular build. He had brown hair and carried a .357 Desert Eagle Magnum handgun. His eyes were a piercing gray, and possessed an intelligence and cunning that rivaled some of the very people sitting at the table.
“This is Josh Taske, known in the Underworld as “The Sharktooth”, nephew to the late Regent Taske, and brother to Janelle Taske. He is currently thirty-six years old and lives in Eugene, Oregon with his wife and four children. Josh was supposed to take over leadership of the Board after his Uncle, but in 2001 Josh rebelled and went off and joined the Marine Corps. He was accompanied by this man…”
A quick strike of a key by Cipher, and a new image appeared. This man was rough-looking; he wore torn jeans and a dirty white T-shirt under a black leather jacket. He had a nasty-looking scar running down the left side of his face and ragged black hair and goatee.
“…Nathan Wolv, thirty four years old, also called “The Wolf” in the Underworld. His current location is unknown, but he has popped in and out of our radar for years and we are confident we can find him again.”
Chris Tucker, a gun dealer from Florida, raised a hand and James acknowledged him with a nod.
“How do these two men pose a threat to the Plan?”
“I am getting to that, but so you do not underestimate them it is important you have background on them.”
Chris nodded and remained silent while James continued.
“In 2003, Josh Taske married a woman named Mariah DeTrello, also against his family’s wishes. In 2006 they had a daughter, Mara Taske.
To punish him for his disobedience, and perhaps in an attempt to scare him into returning to the family business, Regent Taske got approval from the Board to assassinate Josh’s wife and daughter the same day he arrived home after leaving the Marines.
The plan worked out flawlessly, with one exception. Instead of submitting to the family’s wishes, Josh Taske got together with Nathan Wolv, and a few other Underworld agents that were loyal to him. For the next year or so, Josh and his small team hunted down and killed over two-hundred agents working for the Board and the Taske family, including seven active Board members.”
The room seemed to freeze, James knew each member was thinking about the considerable security measures they possessed, and then thinking over what it would take to get through that security to get to them. It was not an encouraging thought.
“In 2013, Josh Taske ceased his extermination of our people and shortly after was hired by current President Matt Gold to act as Head of Security on his personal security detail. In 2014, Regent Taske submitted another request to try and kill Josh, which the Board approved. It was this move that got Regent caught and executed.”
Jay Marcos, a drug lord from Chicago who had been on the Board in 2014, nodded in agreement at the information given, but raised his hand with a grave look on his face.
“Mr. Marcos, you have a question?”
“More like a warning, Mr. Chairman. Josh Taske was never a threat until we made him one. He was willing to leave the Board and its dealings alone until we decided to hurt his family. It was then that he decided to retaliate, and his retaliation hurt us so bad we have only just recovered financially. Then Regent tried to kill him again, and not only did Regent loose his life, but so did Regent’s bodyguard, a professional assassin from Europe called Carl Mash, a number of other highly trained assassins, and even Josh’s own sister, Janelle.”
James looked evenly at Marcos, who traded glances with a Mexican gun runner named Hosea De Carlos. De Carlos had also been on the Board during Regent’s second attempt on his nephew’s life.
James took a calming breath, “So you are saying that we should abandon the Plan and guard the rest of our dealings in fear of this man?”
Hosea spoke up, “Senior Hughes, I think what Senior Marcos is saying is that, if his previous pattern is to be believed, we shouldn’t have to worry about Senior Taske bothering us at all.”
James looked over the other members.
“But it is better safe than sorry, isn’t it?”
Marcos spoke again, “What makes you think you can defeat this man when Regent, Janelle, and many others have died trying and never succeeded?”
James smiled, “I believe Regent had two flaws in his previous plans. First, in his second attempt Regent sent too many people, and the two he chose to lead the mission were in a constant state of disagreement. Second, he didn’t wait long enough between attempts. Regent waited less than a year after Josh stopped killing our agents before sending more people after him. It has been five years now, and Josh has the distractions of a wife and four kids. He shouldn’t suspect anything until it’s too late.”
Marcos and De Carlos exchanged worried expressions.
“Fine,” Marcos’s said, “But we have warned you, and it would be wise to heed our warning.”
James looked around the room at the men and women seated there.
“So, is it agreed then? Shall we put this rebel into his grave once and for all, or live with him threatening our every action the rest of our lives?”
The vote was unanimous, Josh Taske must die.

Summary

Summary: Taske Force 2- The Lector Affair:
Five years ago Josh Taske was the target of his family’s criminal organization. Now, after defeating his evil uncle and his cadre of assassins, and marrying the Lexy Gold, the ex-President’s daughter, Josh is living in quiet retirement with his wife and four children. But his peaceful life is about to be shot to pieces with the appearance of James Hughes, the new Board Chairman of the Taske family’s empire. Now, with the help of Emma Lector, one-time friend of Josh’s, they have to take out James and stop his plot to conquer the United States. But to do that they will have to infiltrate James’ private villa, along with its military-grade defenses. Can Josh pull it off? And who is not coming back?