The Mason Walker Bundle 3

by Alex Howell

  Kareem interrupted Mason as he shouted, “Maybe what?! I call bullshit Mr. Walker! You and I both know that the ranking of the family makes no difference! You guys went in with orders to shoot to kill and murder on sight!”

  Mason having enough, shouted back, “Alright—then let me call bullshit to your own bullshit. Because no matter how much any of the SEALs, including myself may have goofed up and botched the mission… At the end of the day none of us would have been there if it wasn’t for the choices that you made!”

  Mason pointed his finger in the man’s face as he shouted, “As much as you like to blame others for your actions, no one forced you to kidnap people! Just give me a little bit of a break here alright?”

  Kareem snarled, “Are you saying its my fault that my wife and children were killed?”

  As much as Mason felt sorry for the man and bad for his own careless actions, he couldn’t help but give him a dose of the truth, as he spelled it out for him, “In a roundabout way—yes, of course.”

  Kareem absolutely seething with anger howled, “What!? You think I’m responsible for their deaths?! How am I responsible! Answer me!!”

  Mason was tired of the man’s denials however as he continued to lay the truth on him, “Look—you were the one that put your wife and kids in that basement, and in harm’s way…”

  Kareem cut him off, “Harm’s way? We’re talking about a freaking basement! That was the safest part of the house until some jackass SEAL decided to throw a stun grenade into it!”

  It’s hard to reason with someone who is unable to take any personal responsibility for their actions, but Mason continued nonetheless. He again reminded the man, “But the bottom line is, you are the one that made the choice to become a terrorist and brought your family into the life of danger and violence that comes with it. So, stop making excuses and start telling the truth a little bit, will you?”

  Kareem grew quiet and remarkably calm making Mason think that he had actually somehow gotten through to him. But mere moments later, he erupted into a bout of pure, hysterical laughter.

  Once his laughing fit had subsided enough so that he could speak, Kareem exclaimed, “Mason! Mason! Mason! You really are something Mason. You seem to think that people like me choose to be a terrorist as much as a five-year-old chooses to be an astronaut, fireman, or cowboy!”

  Noting the crazed look in his beady eyes, Mason knew he was in for a lecture now. The man’s face then shifted from maniacal laughter to all out rage once more as he seethed, “But resorting to what you refer to as “terrorism” was not a choice Mason Walker it was what you and your American government forced me into.”

  The man then began a tirade with a long historical bent, “If it wasn’t for American intervention in the Middle East, for the seizure of oil, the befuddling of our leaders and the disenfranchisement of our people, there would be no acts of terrorism! This is what you have pushed us to! Can’t you see that? If you were fair—you would be able to see that!!”

  Kareem then took a breath before adding, “And even in the past ten years the American CIA has been pushing to take away the one thing that Mideastern people have been able to hold dear—their very religion of Islam!”

  This next anti-American accusation took Mason by surprise as he asked, “What? America is taking away Islam? How do you figure that?”

  “Isn’t it obvious!” Kareem hissed. “Through a little something called the ‘Arab Atheist Movement’—nothing more than a special ops project spearheaded by the American CIA! Another way to ruin the Mideast by robbing us of our next generation!”

  Mason had heard this spiel before however, and he wasn’t buying it. The Arab Atheist Movement which had kicked off in 2025, led primarily by young college students in Saudi Arabia was a spontaneous intellectual uprising against fundamentalist religion. Young people that had been previously afraid to voice their disbelief in Islam had suddenly become outspoken with their desire to cast down the beliefs of their fathers in favor of a bold new atheistic future.

  The movement began in the Arabian Peninsula and quickly spread throughout the Arabic speaking world, and then ultimately into non-Arab, previously Muslim dominated countries such as Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the like. Despite all of Kareem’s posturing, Mason knew that there was no CIA involvement in this spontaneous uprising any more than the CIA could have been involved in the Renaissance of Western Europe in the Middle Ages.

  No matter how much an individual like Kareem wished to blame the United States for everything and anything under the sun, in reality the U.S. had done more to help the Mideast than any other nation—he had seen it first-hand himself while deployed in the field. The one’s who hurt the Mideast the most were not driven by an American or Western agenda, they were driven by greedy Imam’s, selfish War Lords, or just plain insane ideologues running amuck.

  The U.S. had primarily been an asset to the Mideast, while all of this fear mongering, blaming, and talk of conspiracy wasn’t going to help anyone. And as much as Mason felt sorry for what had happened to Kareem’s family, when it came to his incessant blaming, Mason had quite honestly heard quite enough.

  But he tried to humor the man all the same, telling him, “Oh you are right, America is to indeed to blame.”

  This got the man’s attention as he quietly asked, “What?”

  Mason then continued in full-on mock sarcasm, “Oh yes, and along with all the problems in the Middle East, it is also the American government that is directly responsible for male pattern baldness, burnt pizza, and your bad breath.”

  Whether he saw how ridiculous he was being or not, the frank sarcasm was enough to make Kareem pause as his previously haughty face dropped and he muttered, “What? My… My bad breath?”

  As if he were catching onto the punchline of a joke too late, it finally sunk in however, and Kareem screamed, “Damn you!”

  For a moment he struggled against his restraints as if he were going to break them apart with his bare hands as he screamed, “I will kill you Mason Walker! I will kill you and your whole entire family! Just you wait!”

  At this point Mason could see that there was really no point in trying to reason with this guy. It was obvious that he was way too deluded to ever take any of his share of the blame for much of anything, let alone something as serious as the death of his family. In reality, it was most likely his own righteous indignation and sense for revenge against this perceived wrong that kept him going.

  It was indeed a sad thing to think, that a convoluted hatred and a warped sense of justice could become the only driving force in someone’s life. But when it came to Kareem, Mason knew that this was precisely the case. As it stood, the only real hope for him and the rest of humanity was for he and his like-minded brethren to be locked up indefinitely.

  Mason knew full well that no matter how many rehabilitation programs were created, it would do nothing to fix the dark and twisted heart that beat inside Kareem’s chest. And until the sickness of his heart was addressed, he would remain a real and present danger to society.

  And in his very next breath Kareem said as much as he belligerently bellowed, “Well how about when I get out of jail, I send a team of my guys to storm into your home like you did mine.”

  Mason didn’t even want to think about the possibility, and instead he signaled the guard, “Hey! Come get your detainee! I’m done with him!”

  As soon as he gave the command a SWAT guy leapt out of the van, came over and jerked Kareem to his feet.

  Kareem was then roughly shoved into the back of the van. Mason began to turn away, but not before hearing Kareem deliver one final threat, “Don’t worry Mason I’ll get out… And mark my words! When I do. Your family is next!”

  MEANWHILE BACK AT MASON’S HOUSE IN BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

  To alleviate her boredom, Clara had agreed to sort through some of the old files in the Onyx database for the team’s resident IT guru Kyle Garrison. It has been a somewhat strange 24 hours for the pair
. And for a guy that Clara previously avoided like the plague, Clara had grown somewhat fund of the nerdy mischief maker.

  Make no mistake she felt absolutely no inclination for romantic involvement—she viewed the guy more like a brother than anything else—but she had grown to enjoy his company all the same. Kyle who had joked that she had become his secretary, was beginning to take things a little bit too far however as he joked, “Clara I’ve got a call on line three, and when you are done with that, alphabetize the old case files, and put on a fresh cup of coffee for me.”

  Owing to the fact that a click of a computer mouse was all it took to alphabetize files; Kyle was obviously being facetious. He was jokingly referencing what an old school boss of some 100 years prior might say to a lowly clerk, ordering them to laboriously sort through the ABC’s of a mountain of paper files.

  Considering the absurdity, Clara laughed, “Funny Kyle. Really funny.”

  Swiveling around in his chair, Kyle looked at her and laughed, “Well Clara you did say that you wanted to join the CIA after college. Consider this your introduction to the wonderful world of intelligence gathering.”

  Clara looking at the old files in front of her on the computer screen, quipped, “All I see are a bunch of old files gathering dust.”

  Kyle then stepped over to where she was seated and looking down at the list of files, found on that piqued his interest Pointing at it he said, “Oh—geez I forgot about that one.”

  Clara following his finger with the cursor of the mouse, asked, “Oh… what is it?”

  Kyle nodded, “Shit yeah…. This is a report on Mason’s first mission of the SEALS.”

  The mention of which caused Clara to gasp, “What? What are you doing with that? That’s a sealed government record!”

  At which Kyle laughed, “I have my ways—believe me.” Before instructing, “Open it!”

  Not sure what else to do, Clara hovered over the file and opening it up sighed, “Alright, let’s see what’s in there.”

  A digital circle spun for a split second before the old file opened up on the screen. Sure enough, it was a debriefing of the first mission Mason attempted. As they read the mission specs, they were inundated with details about how the diplomat James Kerry’s family had been kidnapped by a group of terrorists demanding money for their safe return.

  As Secretary of State, James Kerry had always drawn a line when it came to negotiating with terrorists. He had always rightly believed that the more you give money or deal in any other concessions to terrorist demands, it is only going to encourage more to come. Kerry was a strong man, and strong in his convictions, so strong that when push came to shove and his own family had turned up as captives of terrorists, he was unwilling to seek special care or treatment for their return.

  Refusing to pay the ransom he had instead sought to stall the group while a plan was hatched out by the Navy SEALS to rescue them. The mission involved young men sneaking up on the terrorist safehouse, breaking down the door and storming right in. It was a simple enough mission but it would turn out to be the most difficult of Mason’s career.

  Clara read further on the report and noted a reference to her father. The report sated that “Walker heard movement” in the basement of the home and proceeded to “toss a stun grenade” down the basement steps. As Clara continued to read, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, it described how the blast of the stun grenade that was thrown was enough to ignite a water heater causing a big explosion followed by a brief but volatile fire.

  Clara was reading the end of the report out loud as she narrated, “Sergeant Walker was uninjured and managed to detain a lone survivor from the basement. But an unnamed woman and her children were incinerated in the blaze.” Taking in the data Kyle gasped, “Shit…”

  Clara knew that her father had been through some major ordeals, but in all of her conversations with her father she had never heard this story in all of her life. This was obviously something that he had long kept under lock and key—if he ever clearly remembered it himself.

  Clara shook her head, “Why didn’t he ever tell me about this?”

  Kyle replied, “Well, it isn’t exactly the stuff of dinnertime conversation.”

  Clara shook her head, as she sadly intoned, “But it wasn’t his fault… I know he must feel really bad about all this.”

  19

  Questioning the Past

  Mason looked on as the double doors of the SWAT van were slammed shut by the driver and attending guard. As the door to the vehicle closed, he found himself wishing he could slam shut the pandora’s box of memory that had just been opened. An event that Mason tried to push down, one that only occasionally surfaced in vague nightmare had managed to come to the forefront of his life nearly two decades later.

  It’s incredible how knowledge of one isolated event could have such impact on someone’s entire career. During his time Mason had been through a lot and he had accomplished a lot of good. He had rescued countless people out of harm’s way, prevented terrorist attacks, brought criminals to justice and reunited family members who had given up all hope of ever seeing each other again.

  But at this moment in time, an unfortunate chain of events had revealed itself to him in crystal clarity. Just a few mere seconds of his life had proven pivotal in so many ways. As a result of his split-second decision to toss a stun grenade down the steps of a basement during a raid all those years ago, he had unleashed a terrible slaughter of innocents. But as bad as he felt, deep down Mason knew that he wasn’t a killer. He knew that what had occurred was just a really bad freak accident.

  It was just an unfortunate set of circumstances, but nevertheless he couldn’t get over the idea that it was his hand that had led to such a horrific chain reaction. If he had just thought a little clearer about what he was doing, perhaps he could have avoided snuffing out an entire family’s worth of people. And now that he knew the truth about what had happened, it really bore down on him.

  He suddenly felt a tremendous wave of weariness overtake him, and felt extremely tired. It’s true that he hadn’t slept much in recent days, but this was much more than a mere physical fatigue. Along with any weariness of body, Mason was weary of mind—psychologically and spiritually tired. And he was tired of just about every aspect of his life. Tired of all the fighting. Tired of all the killing and most especially he was tired of all the bloodshed he’s seen for so many years.

  As these feelings threatened to overwhelm him—he saw his rock, his anchor, and his newly christened bride, Raina Walker, step out the front door of the house and walk toward him. She sat down on the steps where he was sitting. Seeing his sullen state, she knew the look, and she knew what it meant. She knew that this was the face that Mason made when he found himself knee deep in the process of questioning every single thing he had ever done.

  She knew that he was deeply disturbed by the things that they had been party to in the past few days, and she wanted to break him out of his funk. So, she tried to be positive as she sat down next to him and greeted him, “Hey Mason.”

  Mason grunted, “Hey…”

  Seeing the icy coating of frost that had frozen Mason’s disposition, Raina knew it wasn’t going to be easy thawing out her new husband, but she was going to try all the same.

  For a moment the two just sat in silence on the front steps of the house watching the world go by.

  Breaking the silence Raina remarked, “You know what?”

  Mason replied, “What?”

  Raina answered, “It’s been a good day.”

  This positive spin was not what Mason was expecting. For him it had been the worst day of his life. How could she say it was a good day? He thought to himself.

  Mason sighed, “A good day? Has it been?”

  Raina answered without hesitation, “Yes it has. Just think about it. A family was held hostage in fear of their lives and thanks to us, they’re on the road back to normalcy. We have triumphed over evil.”

  Raina paus
ed before adding, “In my book, that’s enough to make any day a good one.”

  Mason knit his brow as he thought about what she was saying and all the other things that he had witnessed and gone through over the past couple of days. Finally, he came to the conclusion, “Isn’t it all just a matter of perspective?”

  Raina, a bit surprised at the tact that Mason was taking, inquired, “What? Just what do you mean by perspective?”

  Mason nodded, “I mean—we think we did a good thing putting these terrorists away… but in the end doesn’t it really all just depend on your point of view?”

  Raina disagreed to his relativism on this point however, as she reminded him, “Mason… I call evil when I see it. And there is no ideology or point of view that puts an innocent family—we’re talking little children here—at risk, that I could ever identify any good or redeemable quality with.”

  Looking Mason right in the eyes, she affirmed, “I’m not going to fall for that bullshit of ‘one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter’. These scumbags were operating outside of morality and common decency by putting innocents at risk. End of story. End of discussion.”

  Mason stared at Raina in amazement, he always admired her firm resolve, and her conviction that what they were doing was right, actually did help him feel better. His worried mind soaked in her clear and powerful words like a much-needed ointment to soothe his soul.

  Mason put his arm around her, and giving her a kiss on the cheek conceded, “Maybe you’re right Raina… Maybe you’re right.”

  Holding her close, he then asked, “Now… about that raincheck for our honeymoon…?”

  20

  What it All Comes Down To

  THE NEXT DAY, BALTIMORE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

  Mason was seated in between his daughter Clara and his new wife Raina as he waited to hear the announcement to board their flight. Seated across from them was Mathew Benton who agreed to bring Clara to the airport to say goodbye to her father for the few weeks he and Raina would spend on their honeymoon, take her back home and generally keep an eye on her.