by Robert Cuma
I said, “Tina, you are certainly a secret weapon. I’m glad you’re on our team. Please, don’t change.”
While the girls went back to their playtime, I called Aldo.
He answered his phone, “This is Aldo. How can I help you?”
“Have you been checking your new accounts?”
“You certainly kept your part of the bargain. Now it’s time for me to deliver. Call me in two days and I’ll set one or both of them up for you.”
“That sounds good to me.” We broke our connection.
After dinner, I assembled the girls in the den. I wanted to bring them up to speed on the entire deal I made with Aldo.
I said, “Guys, I guess you already know that nothing comes easy.”
Hannah jumped right in, “I told you guys we’ve been sold to Aldo and we will have to marry his sons!”
Tina followed, “Well, one of the sons is cute but I don’t want to marry him. Don’t make me, Steven, please.” They all began to giggle again.
I continued, “No one is getting married. We have a tough assignment coming up. When I call Aldo in two days, he’s going to try to set up Azure or Bono for a hit. If it happens, we’ll all have to move fast. So until then, we can relax. Gina can we fire guns on your property without raising any suspicions?”
“Oh sure, we can, no problem. Over the years, my father taught me how to shoot all kinds of guns in the back of our property.”
“Good, I want you and Tina to learn how to use the latest high-powered rifle. I think your father has one in his arsenal. We all have to be excellent shots if we go on this next assignment. Tina, would you rather stay here?”
“No way, I want to come with you guys wherever you go. Didn’t I do a good job on the last trip?”
“You sure did. I still get concerned for your safety but if you want to come, you can.”
“Alright, I’m going to be an experienced assassin before I turn eighteen!”
As bedtime came around, everyone went to their rooms. I followed Gina into our room, as always. But then, she said, “Steven, Hannah is not mentally recovered since her terrifying ordeal.”
“I know, I have noticed the changes.”
“I think she needs you to reach out to her. Right now, I know that you are the only man she trusts. You should spend some time with her.”
“I don’t know what it will take to bring her out of this depression she feels.”
“Just go spend some time with her. Do whatever it takes, she’s a great girl.”
“You want me to do this now?”
“Oh, yes, the girl doesn’t sleep at night. Now go.” I picked myself out of our bed and went to Hannah’s room. I quietly walked into the dimly lit bedroom and sat on the edge of her bed.
I whispered, “Hannah, are you awake?”
“Yes why?” as she turned around to look at me. I saw tears in her eyes.
“I came here to see how you are doing.”
“I’m fine thanks, Steven.”
“Well, I don’t think so. Physically you look great but emotionally I would have to guess not so great.” I sat her up in bed and put my arms around her beautiful unclothed body. She began to cry softly. I picked up her lovely face with my hand and kissed her tenderly. I said, “You are one of the most beautiful women I know.”
“I don’t feel that way anymore. I know that it shouldn’t bother me but it does hurt me deep inside.” I kissed her several more times.
I asked, “Does that help?”
“Listen, Steven, I know what you are trying to do and I love you for it. But it all has to work itself out. In time it will.”
“I love you, know it.” I lay down and held her in my arms until she fell asleep. Then I quietly left the room. I crawled in bed with Gina and held her tightly until sleep came.
The morning arrived rather quickly. Tina was making coffee and some breakfast treats in the kitchen. When I arrived, Gina was sitting having her coffee and Tina greeted me with a hug. I asked, “Where is Hannah?”
Tina responded, “I think she’s still sleeping.” I went upstairs to check on her. She was getting out of bed.
I asked, “How are you this morning?”
“I feel much better. This was the best nights’ sleep I’ve had in a while.”
“Let me see if you feel better!” She ran and jumped on me wrapping her arms around my neck. She kissed me several times and said, “Thanks for showing me how much you care. I do love you, Steven!”
“Great, I feel the same way. Right now let’s start the girls’ rifle training.”
“Okay, Boss, I’ll be right down.”
While they all went to firing practice, I called Dean Grimes. He answered his phone, “Grimes here, can I help you?”
“Dean, this is Steven. How are things?”
“Steven, I have an army of people protecting me. Is this a good thing or am I under arrest?”
“If they gave you the proper code word, then I would say you’re fine.”
“Another thing, Senator Dreyfus called me this morning to tell me he was dropping his investigation. He also told me he would be calling the President to recommend my immediate reinstatement as Director. Steven, what have you been up to?”
“Dean, continue to do your job and don’t worry. Keep most of the people who are protecting you in place.”
“Steven, you never cease to amaze me.”
“Good, I like it that way. We’ll talk soon.” We both hung up.
A little while later, the girls returned from their shooting practice. Tina was very excited and as she talked a mile, a minute trying to tell me how well she had done. Hannah told me she was ready for any assignment. I said, “I’m glad you’re doing well because we may have to use everybody on this next mission.”
Tina exclaimed, “Are we going to do it now? Kill some of those creeps!”
“Not yet, let’s see what information Aldo can give us.” With all the mounting anticipation, I had to call Aldo prematurely. I took my cell phone and went outside to make the call.
Aldo answered, “Who is calling, please?”
“This is Steven, can you tell me anything yet?”
“I’m glad you called early. I received word on a horse race that will be taking place in Marrakech, Morocco. All of the rich Arabs take their stallions out to the desert to race them for money.”
“Where is this place exactly?”
“Take N-8 southwest of Marrakech to Mzouda. They take over the entire town and party hard for several days. The festivities begin three days from now. I know of this because I just got my annual invitation. I usually go but this year I declined. My sources say our mutual acquaintance will attend. Good luck, my friend.”
“We’ll talk again.”
When I returned inside, Gina hung up her phone with a pensive look on her face.
I asked, “What’s going on, Gina?”
“I have to appear in court tomorrow. The state is presenting its’ case on one of Bono’s lieutenants. Since I was the key witness for the prosecution, I must testify over the next week.”
“But we may have to go on this mission soon.”
“Steven, the chief prosecutor knows I’m in country, I have no choice.”
“When do you have to leave?”
“I have to leave tonight at the latest. You guys can stay here until it’s time for you to head out.”
“I don’t like this. Take Tina with you. No one will suspect her as a formidable force. You need protection. You’ve been too exposed in this Bono operation.” I grabbed her by the arm, told Hannah and Tina to stay put while I took Gina up to our bedroom. I’m sure the girls thought we were going to make love, which was partly true. Once upstairs, we fell onto the bed. It’s as if I always say ‘love before war.’ After some fierce love making, we sat up in bed to talk. I said, “I received the call from Aldo. Azure will be in the desert outside of Marrakech. I don’t want Tina on this mission. The area is extremely dangerous. I need you to take h
er with you.”
“I want to come with you!”
“All of Bono’s major people must be taken down one way or the other. I think you must attend the trial.”
“Steven, you must be careful and keep Hannah safe also.”
“I will. You should also be careful. Star witnesses are always targets.”
I gave Gina all the particulars of the Azure mission. She understood why Tina couldn’t come. We went downstairs and Gina told Tina to get ready to go. She convinced Tina that she needed her to come along. An hour later, they both were off to Rome. Once they were gone, I told Hannah of the Azure mission. Like the good soldier that she was, there was no hesitation on her part to get ready. The two of us left that same night. We drove to Milan and caught a plane to Rabat, Morocco. After arriving, we kept a low profile. We grabbed a room in some sleazy hotel near the train station. Hannah found us some native attire to keep us disguised as we traveled through Morocco. That night we stayed in the hotel room to collect our thoughts on the mission.
I asked, “You do know the extreme dangers associated with this particular mission?”
“Steven, I’ve been in much worse situations before.”
“I’m sure you have but this one will be difficult to escape from.”
“Not to worry, we’ll get out okay after the hit.”
“I’m glad to see you so confident.”
“Good, then we can get some sleep. With only one bed in this room we’ll spend the night sleeping together.”
“Hannah, that’s fine with me.” We could not sleep without clothes in this roach motel but we still lay next to each other. I asked, “Are you feeling better?”
“Now that I am in your arms, I feel much better.” We kissed and soon fell asleep.
The next morning we showered and dressed in our native clothes. We took an early train to Marrakech. It took most of the day to arrive at our destination. The trains moved slowly. We hardly spoke. Hannah did all the talking when it came to interacting with other people. This was necessary since my Arabic was bad. When we arrived, it was close to sunset and this town was like a dust bowl when the wind was blowing. It used to be considered the end of civilization. Now with all the modern improvements it still feels like the end of civilization! It reminded me of the untamed old Wild West back in the U.S. Every time I’ve been here, it’s been crowded and wide open. The place is loaded with vendors selling anything and everything, terrorists, tourists, corrupt police, women for every occasion, cheap hotels along with a few more expensive ones. There are some nicer neighborhoods around the town. They are for rich Arabs and people who wanted to disappear from their lives. We rented a decent hotel room with a view of the main highway leaving the city. The room was paid in cash with no questions asked. Hannah told the desk clerk that we were on our honeymoon.
It didn’t take us long to find a jeep to rent. This would be the only way around this crude region of the world. I knew of an arms dealer in the area from years ago. It was dark when we arrived at his establishment in the back of a trinket stand. Hannah bargained with the Moroccan chap until we agreed on a price for the weapons we needed. We paid him a handsome sum of money for his goods and his silence. After picking up some supplies, we headed out to Mzouda to look around. This was another award-winning town with hard sand roads and no sidewalks. We went into a food place of sorts to eat. It wasn’t too bad. Hannah seemed to know what to order. Some of the money people were already arriving in town for the festivities.
Hannah told me to stay put while she searched for some information. She was covered from head to toe with the typical black Arab attire women wear. The only things visible were those enchanting brown eyes of hers. I continued to eat slowly with my head down as not to encourage conversation. From the corner of my eye, I saw Hannah go out the back door with some fancy dressed Arab man. As time went by, I began to worry. Just as I was about to go look for my beauty, she came back in and gave me the high sign to follow her out the front door. We jumped in our jeep and headed out of town. Hannah drove us to a place where we could have a bird’s eye view of the entire Mzouda area. There we sat in our covered jeep behind a large mound of sand.
Hannah said, “The guy from the food place told me the festivities would begin tomorrow at noon and last for two days. But interestingly enough, the man took me to the stables where all the horses were housed. He bragged about this one and only white stallion that belonged to Abdullah Azure. He told me that Azure is the only one to ride his mount. I told him I didn’t know who Azure was. He offered to introduce me to him tomorrow when he arrives.”
“And what did it cost you for this information?”
“Steven, relax. The information was based on a promise for tomorrow night. Don’t worry so much. Your true feelings for me have helped me through my bad time. I’m fine now. But I can’t lie to you. The dog insisted on a little preview of things to come.”
“What did you have to do?”
“Nothing serious, believe me.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine!”
We had purchased two long-range rifles for the hit. One of them had a night vision scope. We also bought an AK-47, several pistols, a few grenades and three radio-activated explosives. We were ready to start a small war, if necessary. Hannah got out of the jeep and moved to the top of the mound. She started viewing the town through the night vision scope.
She said, “I think we are in range behind this mound.”
“I’ll wrap the muzzle with some of the blankets we have so you can take a shot at something to see if it dies.”
Hannah moved her rifle around looking for a target. Then she saw a chicken walking around away from the crowds. She took a shot and the chicken went down. I stood back to listen. Perfect, the wrapped muzzle muted the noise of the rifle. We jumped in the jeep and drove back to town. Carefully, we set our explosives strategically atop of a few houses around the area. Setting off these charges would create a diversion from the direction we’d be shooting from, hopefully! Afterwards, we returned to Marrakech since it was early in the evening. After a quick dinner, we went to our room. Hannah immediately got out of her Arab attire, took another shower, soon after, I did the same. We set our alarms to wake us with enough time to drive out to the target area under the cover of darkness. I was in bed when Hannah said, “You know, Steven, I told the innkeeper that we were on our honeymoon. It was just for laughs,” as she stood naked before me. I pulled the covers off and motioned her to lay with me. She cuddled under my arms and we made sweet adoring love. It was beautiful and it consummated our strong affections for each other. About a year ago, we made love but it was extremely fired up with passionate desires. We never did it again until tonight. This time it was far more emotional.
Very early the next morning before sunrise, our alarms woke us both from a peaceful sleep. We quietly left the hotel through a back door. After leaving a do not disturb notice on the honeymoon suite, we headed across the desert to our target area. We had plenty of water to wash up and drink in case our escape route had to be the desert. Once we arrived, Hannah jumped out of the jeep and walked over to the mound to view the area with her riflescope. The sun was beginning to rise across the far off sandy hills of Morocco. Hannah told me there wasn’t much activity yet. Since we still had to wait several hours before the hit, we both set up a little tent using one side of the jeep. We held each other for a while. Occasionally, we would kiss but for the most part nothing was said.
Soon enough, the time came. Horses were exercising around the track but there was no sign of the white stallion. We set up our rifles ready for when Abdullah appeared. We decided to wait until the race began. This would cause more confusion when we blew the charges. There was much whooping and hollering in the area. My guess was that the time was near. Sure enough, the horses lined up to start the race. Someone fired a gun and the horses began running. Abdullah, riding his white stallion, jumped right out in front and through our scopes
, we could see him laughing. He was about eight lengths in front of the rest of the other horses. Our plan was for Hannah to take the first shot since she was a better marksman than I was. The herd rounded the first turn, we prepared ourselves. As they passed closest to us, I detonated the first charge, Kaboom! The top of one house flew sky high. At the same time, Abdullah’s horse reared from the noise. All the horses seemed to be out of control. As Abdullah’s horse kept rearing up, Hannah took her shot. It blew the top of his head right off. I fired the second shot and hit him in the side of his neck. He finally fell from his horse. Hannah took her next shot while Abdullah was on the ground, perfect hit. It removed what was left of his head from his body.
People were running around in a panic. Several of Abdullah’s men ran out to aid him. That’s when I blew the second charge. This explosion started a fire as all the houses in that row began to burn quickly. Hannah and I loaded up the jeep and began to make our escape. I detonated the third and final charge. It must have hit a gasoline tank or something like that because it caused a tremendous explosion. Black smoke was rising all over the town. We were headed for Marrakech but we stopped in our tracks as we saw the rising dust from fast moving vehicles coming across the desert headed toward the town on fire. Hannah said, “I don’t think it would be wise to go back just yet, unless we could find a back route into Marrakech.”
“Okay, we’ll give it a try.” We headed away from the road into town and circled back from another direction. Then we pulled into a side street that led us to the back of our hotel. We quickly disassembled our rifles, threw them into our bags and quietly went up the back staircase we used earlier this morning. With the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign still on the door, we arrived back in our room unnoticed. We quickly tossed the bags with the guns in them under the bed. Both of us jumped into the shower and cleaned up. As I lay in the bed, there was a knock at the door. Hannah went to answer it with a shower robe on. It was the manager. He asked us if we heard the explosions.