by Bill Brewer
In his office, Panzer folded his hands, contemplating the value of Denise and David. The newfound son, who was an excellent assassin, could not be let go. The mother was of little value except to manipulate the son. It worked so well in Detroit, the erudite tyrant felt he had to hold on to her as well. No one was going back to Minnesota. Besides Panzer already had travel plans for David.
At 4:00 p.m. Diegert was escorted to the motor pool, where he met Panzer and Tiberius Duprie.
“Excellent David,” said an ebullient Panzer. “You, me and Tiberius will be traveling together to complete a mission.”
Doubtfully Diegert said, “I’m a bit surprised you’re going on a mission.”
Poorly feigning surprise Panzer replied, “It’s good to keep you guessing. I don’t want to be predictable.”
Tiberius spoke up addressing David, “I’m surprised you’re on this mission.”
Catching the sense that he was the least informed, Diegert asked, “What don’t I know?”
Panzer interjected, “Let’s get in the vehicle, we’ll brief you on the way.” Extending his hand toward the Mercedes van’s open sliding door, the tall, gray-haired Alpha directed the two younger men to enter the luxurious interior.
As they sped down the highway, each seated in overstuffed leather chairs, which swiveled so they could turn and face each other, Panzer began, “David, we’re on our way to Africa. Our mission takes us to a compound not far from Lagos, Nigeria.”
“What are we doing there and don’t give me any of that Need to Know bullshit, and what about my mother? Are you going to let her go?”
Panzer’s smile was faint.
“For now your mother will remain in London. You will get to see her upon our return and the two of you can decide what’s best for her. Is that satisfactory?”
Diegert’s steely glare never flinched. He slowly nodded as he said, “Ok, but she better be just fine when we return.”
“You have my full assurance; she will be in the best of health. Now, the purpose of the mission is to fulfill an objective for Tiberius.”
Both sets of eyes focused on the man sitting quietly between them. Diegert hadn’t seen him since their meeting in the cafeteria, Tiberius sported a trim beard, and he had shaved his head. His ear was unbandaged and looked totally fine. There was a slight line of scar tissue about an inch below the top curve, but if you didn’t know to look, the damage would go unnoticed.
Tiberius’s words were calm and measured, as well as absolutely clear. “We are going so I can kill Chibueze Ozinwa,” he said nothing more, letting the statement sink in.
Diegert held an inquisitive gaze, as he slowly raised his chin. Panzer glanced from man to man.
Uncharacteristically Diegert broke the silence. “I remember you telling me about him. He was cruel to your family.”
Tiberius nodded his head. “That cruelty’s coming back to him, and he’s going to die.”
Diegert observed the faint smile on Panzer and thought about the older man’s fascination with killers, assassins, men capable of extreme violence. He wondered if Panzer considered himself a collector of deadly men. Assembling and rearranging his pieces according to the mission, or to see how different acquisitions looked or worked together. A shiver ran through Diegert as he considered that, in spite of being offspring, he was just another component of the set, who would be included or excluded according to his father’s imperceptible preferences.
“Is there anything more to this mission other than revenge?” asked Diegert.
Tiberius sat stone-faced, Panzer shook his head as they pulled into the airport, parking on the tarmac. Tiberius exited the van first. Panzer delayed, allowing Tiberius to put some distance between them. Turning to David, he said, “You and I will continue this trip after we conclude our business in Lagos.” The resolute German strode away, his long strides quickly relocating him to the boarding stairs of the Gulfstream G650.
Once airborne, seated again in wide leather chairs whose anchorage allowed for swiveling movement, the three men rotated to face one another. The flight attendant was Amber, the same young woman who had served Diegert during his trans-Atlantic trip last year. Her striking beauty beguiled Diegert, plus she was the first woman with whom he had cried. Seeing her again, Diegert recalled making love to her in the sleeping cabin. To look at her now, he couldn’t believe it had really happened. Such a gorgeous woman, who was also kind, gentle and so very thoughtful, he felt lucky to have had such an opportunity. Embarrassment and delight bubbled up in him when she gave him a devious smile. He also felt foolish about his habit of venting all the emotional pain, guilt and anguish he held inside following a series of killings by crying uncontrollably in the arms of a loving woman. What a fucking baby he was. How pathetic that a woman who chose to sleep with him, attracted perhaps by his outward masculinity, would then be subjected to the hunk of a man turning into a blubbering baby full of guilt, pain, regret, and recrimination. She was looking for love and hopefully some good sex, and he had provided her a man in need of therapy through a torturous expulsion of tears.
The realization of this dependent process of emotional balancing had begun with Amber and was re-experienced with different women including Carolyn Fuller. It was a burden Diegert thrust upon these unsuspecting women, yet it surprised him how accepting and understanding they were. They seemed to understand it better than he did. Women he’d been with welcomed his release of emotions buried under layers of toughness. They wanted to help him find peace within his soul. Crying out your emotions was more revealing than stripping naked and having sex.
Diegert was jolted from his reverie by Amber’s soft voice. “Would you like something to drink?”
Looking at her, he sought some further acknowledgment of their past, while at the same time clamping down on any expression of his feelings. “Just water, thanks.”
Glancing past Amber, Diegert saw Tiberius’s eyes widen as a lascivious smile crossed his lips while he ogled her ass. No fucking way, thought Diegert, was he going let this guy do anything to Amber.
She turned to face the man, who now wore his biggest brightest smile full of gleaming white teeth.
“What can I get you to drink?”
“First, let me say that you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”
“Well thank you, but it must have been very uncomfortable living under that rock all your life.”
Tiberius burst into a big infectious laugh. Amber couldn’t contain herself as she giggled at his reaction.
“Beautiful and also funny. You are a rare prize.”
“Thank you. I am here to serve you, what would you like?”
“How much for a lap dance?”
“More than you could possibly afford, but for you, I am only serving drinks.”
Laughing again Tiberius said, “Very well, we will start with a drink. Do you have rum and pineapple juice?”
“Yes.”
“One third and two thirds please.”
Amber nodded as she turned her attention to Klaus Panzer. With a smolderingly sensual look upon her exotic Asioeuropean, face Amber asked Panzer, “Anything other than the usual?”
“No,” came the curt response, sending Amber retreating to the galley.
After letting his eyes linger on her departure, Tiberius turned to Diegert like a junior high schooler, “Did you see her ass? Doesn’t she have the hottest body you’ve ever seen? There’s a bed in the back of this plane isn’t there?”
Diegert did not mince words. “Don’t you even think about touching her.”
The surprise on Tiberius’s face drew an even more sinister warning.
“Don’t you fucking touch her.”
“What are you, her big brother? She is not your woman.”
Locking his dark eyes on the furrowed and bewildered face of the bearded man Diegert said, “I’m only saying this one more time. Don’t mess with her.”
“PFFT” spat from between Tiberius’s lips as his face
went from bewildered to annoyed. He turned to look at Panzer who had been quietly observing the confrontation. When their eyes met, Panzer lingered for a moment before looking down at his phone’s screen.
Returning with the drinks, Amber found the mood had changed. Each man quietly thanked her, but Tiberius's happy smile was gone. His jovial nature having grown sullen. Holding her tray flat against her chest, she returned forward to the service quarters of the plane.
Breaking the petulant silence, Diegert asked, “Can we discuss the mission?”
Panzer began, “Tiberius has a personal vendetta against Chibueze Ozinwa, the radical leader of a branch of Boku Haram. He is seeking revenge for the rape and murder of his sisters and mother as well as the ruination of his father who was murdered along with his brothers. Furthermore, Ozinwa has been re-selling arms, which he purchased on credit from us while ignoring several requests for payment. Such disregard for his debts cannot go unaddressed. We too have a dog in this fight so we will be assisting Tiberius in his assault on Ozinwa.”
“This guy sounds like someone who has his own Army. What’s the plan, since there are only two of us,” said Diegert, gesturing to himself and Tiberius with a dismissive wave of his hand.
“We are three,” clarified Panzer.
“You’re going active?”
“It seems to have surprised you, but I am a veteran of many missions.”
With a perturbed look, Diegert said, “This sounds like a very physical altercation with lots of weapons and men who are not easily going to die. Are you up for that kind of fight?”
Tiberius snickered at the question. Diegert shot him a glare.
Panzer replied, “Let me assure you I am fully prepared. My advanced age has allowed me to amass valuable experience. Healthy living and the assistance of Creation Labs has sustained my body’s capabilities such that I will lead the fight.”
“What has Creation Labs done to you?”
“Metabolic functional enhancement. Biosynthesized endocrine mimetics that stave off the degradation of aging, so my systems continue to operate at the rate of a man in his early thirties.”
Tiberius said, “The OG is one tough dude. I’ve seen him sparring in the gym, I’ve got no reservations about going in hot with him in my crew. It’s you I’m not so sure about.”
Diegert re-directed, “I want to hear more about Ozinwa’s compound.”
“We’ve got aerial surveillance,” said Panzer reassuringly. “As well as schematics of the interior of his buildings from people who’ve delivered shipments of weapons. If you lift the armrest of your chair, you can pull up a tablet, and the data is in the file marked BH Nigeria.”
The armchair’s cushion was hinged laterally. Lifting the cover, Diegert reached into the compartment to extract a tablet computer. Touching the file marked BH Nigeria, an aerial image appeared of a multi-building compound surrounded by dense forest and serviced by red dirt roads. Tapping on the largest building brought a schematic of the building’s interior. A large storage facility occupied the majority of the space, but along the west wall were four distinct rooms.
Panzer shared, “The first room is an office, which houses all that’s necessary to keep the business of Ozinwa’s Boku Haram running.”
“And the next two look like they’re connected,” observed Diegert.
“Very good,” said Panzer. “They are Ozinwa’s residences, which are connected by that inner door.”
“What about the last room?” asked Diegert. “It looks like it has extra thick walls.”
Panzer hesitated, seemingly looking for the right words. “That room is used for interrogations. It is a room in which acts of human cruelty are committed. Boko Haram enforces compliance with its beliefs with brutal beatings and the torture of local leaders to intimidate the people they have subjugated.”
“So how do we get in the compound?”
“I have already arranged for a meeting with Mr. Ozinwa to discuss re-negotiation of his debts to Strategic Solutions Inc. He does not know that it is I who is coming, nor do we believe he will recognize the bald and bearded prince. You are just another white guy who happens to be a member of our party. When the true nature of our visit becomes apparent, we will need assistance. The help will come in the form of armed aerial drones, equipped with DOTS, Dark Operation Technology System. These devices will create diversions, attack the guards and eliminate the defenses, creating distraction and confusion.”
Tiberius spoke up, “I’ll be the one to kill Ozinwa with all the violence he deserves. He will suffer as much as all my family members combined.”
“And how do we get out?”
Panzer smiled as he swiped his fingers across his screen, transferring a file to the screens of Diegert and Tiberius. Opening the file revealed a computer-generated image of a drone quad with a rotor in each corner surrounding an open center circle.
“Gentlemen, you are looking at the PAT, Personal Aerial Transport, they’re the drones I mentioned a moment ago. It’s a remotely operated drone with ground and obstacle sensing capacity very similar to the technology used in self-driving cars. The controls allow remote operators to direct the drones into desired areas, while the drones themselves react to the specifics of the area avoiding obstacles and remaining aloft. They are powerful machines that can be fitted with,” Panzer tapped his screen, and the screens of the other two men revealed, “munitions, high-grade video recording equipment and in the center of the device, a passenger.” Diegert watched as the computer-generated image of a man positioned in the center of the drone morphed into a live action video. The image displayed a drone, loaded with equipment and a man, lift off the ground, fly a pattern in which it avoided collision with tree branches while releasing a fuselage of missiles at a junk car. The old Ford Taurus was reduced to scrap metal before the PAT successfully landed on the spot from which it had taken off, allowing the man to exit the vehicle completely unharmed.
With both sets of astonished eyes upon him, Panzer smiled. “That’s how we’re going to get out.”
“Have you flown this thing before?” asked Diegert suspiciously.
Panzer nodded. “I have.”
“In a combat situation?”
No longer nodding, Panzer said, “I have full faith that these devices will work.”
“But you haven’t used them under fire?”
The older man leaned forward. “You will be very happy when we need them.”
“Extraction from an extremely violent encounter is always a great relief. But escaping on a flying machine upon which I have no experience sounds as dangerous as staying and fighting to the last bullet.”
“The plan is set, and your flight will be assisted by experienced drone pilots, so it will definitely be better than last man standing in a failing fight.”
Diegert held his gaze on Panzer as the elder statesman reclined into the cushioned leather back of his chair.
Tiberius said, “I think flying the drones will be fun.”
Panzer looked out the window. “Down below, we’re flying over Paris.”
Diegert, seated on the opposite side of the plane, glanced out the window. Tiberius unsnapped his seatbelt and went to the window next to Panzer. With his nose practically against the glass, he said, “I love Paris. The women are the most beautiful and the city is Europe’s most exciting.”
As Tiberius returned to his seat, Panzer asked, “Did you fulfill a sanction in Paris?”
“Yes. I killed the whore who murdered my Uncle Gunther.”
“Gunther Mibuku was quite a wily man,” stated Panzer.
“He sure was. He played it fast and loose, but he did not deserve to be shot in the head by a whore.” With an agitated grimace Tiberius said, “Right up to the end, she denied it, saying a man came in the room and shot him. What horseshit.”
“You were close to your uncle weren’t you?”
“He saved my life. Thanks to him I am the only survivor from my family. He was a hero to me.”
<
br /> Panzer directed his questioning across the aisle. “David, did you ever operate in Paris?”
Diegert couldn’t fucking believe it. This asshole, his father, was setting up a collision between him and Tiberius. Panzer knew full well it was Diegert who shot Gunther Mibuku. Shei Leu Wong was an accomplice and a prostitute, but she did not deserve to be executed for Mibuku’s death. Tiberius’s revenge was misplaced but resolved. Now Panzer was tearing the skin off a scar. Diegert thought quickly before speaking. “No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Perhaps you are confusing the operation in Frankfurt.”
“When you arrived in Europe, did you not land in Paris?”
“I did, but the next day I flew to Athens and then to Mogadishu.”
“You’ve been to Africa?” asked Tiberius excitedly.
“Yes, I have.”
“You performed an operation there, didn’t you?” questioned Panzer.
Uncomfortable with discussing his missions Diegert said, “I was taught that talking about missions after the fact with people who were uninvolved is a bad habit that can get you killed.”
Chuckling, Panzer replied, “That may be true elsewhere, but up here just the three of us at 35,000 feet. I think your secrets are safe.”
Defiantly Diegert replied, “Well I think not. How about we have an after action discussion when we’ve all been drone flown out of the cluster fuck you’re taking us into?”
Tiberius tried to deflect the tension. “How did you like the Great Continent?”
Diegert shifted his gaze to the bearded man, “The small part of the continent where I was is poor, dirty, broken and violent. Of course, when you’re inserted to kill someone, tourism is not part of the plan. The bad guy I was assigned to take out deserved his death. But I’ll tell ya, getting out of Mogadishu was way worse than getting in. I have no plans for a return visit.”
“Africa is the most beautiful place on earth,” said a dreamy-eyed Tiberius.
“I’m sure parts of it are,” said Diegert sarcastically.
“Africa is the birthplace of the human species,” said Panzer thoughtfully. “We can all trace our ancestry to the magic of the dark continent, the cradle of life.”