“Spooky returning to base, you are on your own now.”
Spooky, a good name for a killing machine that circles unseen in the air, waiting to rain death.
The girls must be very important for the President to have authorized such support. Ernest looks over the pilot’s shoulder at the instruments. The altimeter reads 200 ft, safe zone, for it is difficult to hit a helicopter with a handheld weapon at this altitude. Ernest turns his gaze to the sports field below, suddenly his muscles tense up. A man has come out of the darkness at the edge of the sports field and is running across the field towards one of the rocket launchers.
Ernest points to the man running and screams at the door gunner, “Hostile!” The door gunner quickly brings his mounted machine gun to bear on the man running and fires. The machine gun spews four rounds of deadly lead out before jamming. As the gunner tries to clear the jammed machine gun, Ernest brings his rifle up and shoots from the hip. A few rounds go wild, so Ernest brings his rifle to his shoulder and takes careful aim.
Ernest’s breathing is steady and deep, carefully he keeps the gun’s sights on the man until he stops to pick up the rocket launcher. As the man picks up the launcher, Ernest fires.
There is a sigh of relief from everyone as the man drops to the ground, a direct hit.
“That was one heck of a shot,” the door gunner says.
“Was my last round,” Ernest replies, as he pulls the empty magazine from his rifle.
“Senor!” one of the women yells and points to the field. Ernest’s eyes widen and he holds his breath as he looks down. The man he shot has gotten up and is picking up the rocket launcher.
“Shoot him!” Ernest yells to his men, who react immediately to his command and get ready to shoot, but it is too late. Everyone in the helicopter looks on in shock and horror. A flame shoots out the back of the launcher as a rocket blasts out the front, directly at them.
“RPG!” Ernest yells.
The pilot reacts swiftly and swerves the helicopter sharply by banking at the last second. The rocket passes only inches by the fuselage, almost hitting the rear rotor blades. The maneuver causes one of the girls to lose her grip and slide out the door. Ernest jumps forward and grabs her one arm just as she falls out, but the weight of her body drags him out the door too. Two of his men grab his legs just in time, holding on to him. Ernest tries to calm the girl as she screams, hanging by one arm onto Ernest who is himself hanging outside the helicopter. Slowly his grip is slipping, and he yells to the woman, “Stop moving and give me your other hand!”
Ernest’s team is busy pulling him up slowly. With tears flowing freely, the girl reaches up with her other hand and Ernest takes it with his free hand.
“You are going to be okay!” Ernest reassures her.
“Commander, hostile below!”
Ernest’s stomach and heart sink as he looks down. The man on the ground is busy picking up another rocket launcher. This is it. If the pilot tries to evade the rocket, Ernest and the girl are toast, and if he does not everyone onboard dies, a no brainer on guessing what the pilot is going to do.
The girl follows Ernest’s gaze and gasps as she sees the man shouldering the second launcher, taking aim again, this time more carefully. Two seconds slowly tick by with the men trying to get Ernest and the woman into the helicopter. Just as they manage to pull Ernest in, there is a flash of light coming from the back of the launcher and then a loud bang as the launcher explodes. Dust soars up from where the man was standing and body parts fly through the air. Quickly Ernest and the two men pull the girl into the helicopter, she is still staring at where the man was. The dust settles enough for them to see, but all that is left is a hole in the ground.
The girl grabs Ernest and hugs him, tears running freely as she thanks him for saving her life. Ernest holds her until she stops crying and pulls back. Wiping the tears from her face she asks, “What happened?”
“I think a bullet must have damaged the launcher, he didn’t notice it and in his hurry blew himself up.”
Relieved she sits back and looks at all the women around her. “Thank you, thank you so much for coming for us, you are our heroes.”
Ernest smiles and nods. The miles fly by as they return to base, and Ernest thinks of his wife. He smiles at the thought of her snuggling up peacefully in her bed, lovingly holding his pillow.
***
Vice President William Wilburn paces angrily in front of his desk.
Ernest is more of a problem than he thought. Ernest has the Sat phone which can be traced back to the Secretary of Defense. If the Secretary of Defense is questioned, he may divulge the entire plan and finger Wilburn himself. Ernest has also killed the men who were going to perform the attacks on America and the President. However, what infuriates William more is the President intervening, sending air support, effectively wiping out an entire five year program and training camp. To top it off, he has to deal with Victor running loose. Victor and Ernest are big thorns in his side. Damn, I will need to get rid of Ernest before he is debriefed about his mission and findings, before anyone learns of the Sat phone.
William jumps from shock as his cell phone suddenly starts vibrating in his hand. The phone was set to silent, and for a moment he decides whether he should answer, then slowly he opens the lid of the phone. The incoming number is blocked; annoyed he answers, “Vice President William Wilburn, who is this?”
“William, it’s Phil. I have a problem, I need your help.”
“Phil, what the hell do you think you’re doing calling me on my cell phone?”
“I have no choice. I’ve been informed that Victor wiped out all the forces in Columbia.”
“I already know that, I have problems of my own.”
“Yes, but Victor is on his way here, he is coming to the Vatican.” William can hear Phil’s voice tremble with fear.
“Why? What does he know?” A cold chill runs up William’s spine. Just how much does Victor know? Is it not enough that he has to stop Ernest from being debriefed? Now he has to stop Victor from talking to the Pope. Is it possible that Victor found out his plans and is on his way to warn the Pope? I have to get rid of Victor and Ernest, and soon, but how?
Suddenly a smile breaks on William’s face. “Phil, I have it under control, I’ll take care of this, just work with me. I will send you the details later.”
“Thanks William.”
William is already walking out of his office towards the President’s office while hanging up on Phil. Stopping outside the President’s office, he corrects his tie before entering. President Abraham looks up as William enters and slowly puts down the documents he is reading while bringing his coffee cup to his lips.
“Mr. President, we have a situation. Victor is on his way to assassinate the Pope.”
“What?” Abraham jumps up from his chair and drops his coffee cup, which lands on the soft carpet. Black coffee stains the carpet as the President asks, “Are you sure?”
“Yes, Mr. President. I’ve been contacted by the Pope’s personal assistant Phil. The Vatican is asking for our help, and I have offered him our assistance.”
“Assistance, how, Will?” William fumes inside, but does not give any indication to the President that he hates being called Will.
“Sir, the Pope’s guards will not be able to deal with Victor. I offered for us to send over a two man Seal team to protect the Pope.”
“Why a Seal team Will? Why not the Secret Service?”
“Mr. President, you yourself know Victor and how ruthless he is. We do not need secrecy and men trained to blend in, we need combat men. We want to take him out from a distance with snipers, but the men need to be able to handle hand to hand combat should it come to it. This is also the reason I am also sending only two men, for they are not to be with the Pope but to cover him from a distance. We are afraid that if Victor sees anything out of place he will disappear and launch more nukes,” William lies, as he is afraid that sending more than two Seal team members
could jeopardize his other plans, and sending only Ernest would look suspicious.
“What about the Italian Special Forces?”
“We have reason to believe that Victor has tight connections with the sniper community there, too high a risk of a leak.” Another lie.
Abraham thinks for a moment. With sadness on his face he replies, “I never would have thought it would go this far. Do you have a team ready?”
“Yes, Mr. President, I will send the same team leader and his second in command that handled the incident with the women Victor tasked us to find. They will stop Victor and protect the Pope.”
“Will your team be there in time?”
“Yes, Victor took the General’s personal jet from Columbia, but he is making a detour so as not to make it obvious where he is going. If it was not for our informants there, we would not have known about his plans.”
“Can we not stop him when he lands?”
“They disabled the transponder on the airplane, and we have no information on where he will land to refuel. When he does land, it will be too short notice for us to react, plus we cannot risk the chance of a failed attempt and him launching another nuke.”
“Okay Will, send them.”
William nods and walks out of the room towards his office. As soon as he enters his office, he closes and locks the door. William then uses the phone on his desk to make arrangements to have Ernest and his partner emergency flown to Rome. When he is done, he unlocks a drawer in his desk and takes out a disposable cell phone and dials a number.
“Hello.” The female voice is sweet having recognized his number, but he knows better than to cross swords with her.
“Andrea, Victor is on his way to Rome. We think Phil has been compromised.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Take a team and kill Victor.”
“What about our other plans?”
“That is still a go. Kill the Pope and make it look like Victor did it. We will later tie him to some radical group.”
“Consider it done.”
“Andrea, one last thing, I am sending a two man Seal team to Rome.”
“I do not need any help.”
“I know that. They have orders to protect the Pope and are a problem for me. Kill them and make it look like Victor did it.”
“It is going to cost you.”
“Just get it done.” William hangs up on Andrea. Thinking for a moment, William uses the cell phone again and makes another call.
“Yes?” Comes an annoyed answer.
“Primary plan compromised, execute secondary plan.”
“Understood.”
William smiles as he puts down the phone, soon he will be in control of the United States of America, and then the whole world.
Chapter 6
“Is that what I think it is?” Sam drops his gear bag next to him and whistles.
“Yep, a modified Boeing JB-52E with eight General Electric TF-39 turbofan engines, each pumping out 40,000 lbs of thrust,” replies Ernest.
“Wow, how fast can she go?”
“Around 640 mph, we will be in Rome in less than seven hours. She is one of the fastest long range airplanes in use. Come, let’s get going.”
“Hi, I’m Colonel Douglas Howell, welcome aboard.” Douglas is a man of quick decisions and never hesitates to act. In his 25 years of service in the Air Force, he has flown many secret missions and test aircraft, this mission is no different to him. Fly somewhere he is not supposed to fly, and ask no questions. As soon as Ernest and Sam take their seats, Douglas goes to the cockpit and prepares the airplane for takeoff. Both Sam and Ernest decide to get some rest. The past 48 hours have been long and intense for them.
Six hours later the copilot comes to wake them up. They are preparing to land at Abruzzo International Airport, near Pescara, Italy. An Italian military helicopter is already waiting to take them to Vatican City. The landing goes smoothly and the pilot taxies the aircraft to a separate hanger where Ernest and Sam quickly transfer to the helicopter. The helicopter pilot greets them, but Ernest detects some resentment.
According to Ernest’s briefing, none of the local military is supposed to know why he and Sam are there. Given that they are in civilian clothing, Ernest starts to wonder how secret the mission is. He is glad that the flight is short, and they soon land in the San Demasus courtyard, Vatican City.
The moment Ernest and Sam are out of the helicopter, the pilot takes off again, creating as much down force as possible, leaving the two men in a cloud of dust.
“Not a friendly bunch, are they?” Sam comments.
“I have a bad feeling about this mission,” Ernest replies.
“You want to abort?”
“No, the Pope and the President rely on our help, how I am not sure, but we have a mission to complete.”
Ernest looks on as a 5 foot 6 stocky build man, comes out of a nearby building and walks towards them. Following him are two armed men; must be the Swiss Guard Ernest reasons.
“Good evening gentlemen. I am Phil, personal assistant of Pope John Paul II, welcome to Vatican City.”
“Good evening Phil, I am Commander Ernest Young and this is Lieutenant Sam Carter.”
Phil turns and introduces his guards. “This is Filiberto and Marcello, they will escort you to the Monitor Room where you will be briefed. I will see you men there later.” Phil turns and walks away without a further word.
Although he is part of the plan to kill the men, he cannot look them in the eye. As Phil walks away, the men start talking; being all soldiers, they get along very quickly. Ernest and Sam are led through a number of buildings and passages, until they eventually come to a large room filled with monitors. The Vatican City is monitored by 350 CCTV cameras, 24 hours a day. A team of ten people constantly monitors the views of the cameras, looking for things and people that are out of place or suspicious looking.
“Hi. I am Sergio, head of security for the Vatican.”
Ernest and Sam step forward and introduce themselves as they shake Sergio’s hand.
“Sergio, we know we are here to help, but we have not been briefed on the exact details of what you need from us.” Ernest puts his gear down as he speaks.
“That I cannot help you with, only Phil knows the details. I myself am waiting to hear what his plans are. All we can do is wait for him to hear what we are supposed to do.”
“That is strange. I thought you as head of security would be planning everything.”
“That is true, but Phil likes to run things, and has gone over my head on this one. He has been in direct contact with your government, making all the arrangements. The Pope himself gave us an order to follow Phil’s plans in this situation.”
“I hate it when that happens, men not used to combat strategy making the decisions,” Sam comments.
“That makes two of us,” Sergio replies.
“Can I get you men some coffee?” a soft voice asks behind the men. They all turn around to see who it is. A petit girl with brown hair and hazel eyes is standing with her hands behind her back, smiling at them.
“Ernest, Sam, this is Carolina. She brings refreshment for the men working shifts here while they keep a watch on the security monitors,” Sergio says.
“No thanks Carolina. But I will take water if you have some please,” Ernest replies.
“Certainly, flat or sparkling?” Carolina asks cheerfully.
“Like your eyes, sparkling,” says Sam, giving her a wink which causes Carolina to blush. Carolina is unsure how to react and quickly turns on her heels and walks away, but steals a quick glance at Sam over her shoulder just to see him smiling back at her. Phil arrives soon after and starts to brief them on his plans.
“We have confirmation that a world class assassin, known as Victor, is en route to assassinate the Pope.” Phil lets the words sink in before continuing.
“From our sources, he will arrive tonight or early tomorrow morning in Italy. Due to his training and ba
ckground, the US government has sent you two men to help protect the Pope and kill the assassin.”
“Why do we need the US Navy Seals? No disrespect to you two,” Sergio asks.
“Because he is the best there is, and we think he may have contacts in the Vatican. We cannot rely on either the Italian Army or the Swiss Guard, we need outside help. We believe he will first contact the Pope personally before killing him.”
“So what is his training?” Ernest asks. His face reveals his thinking. Why are they really here? Why do they not use the Italian Special Forces to do the same job, surely they are not corrupt?
“He has been an assassin and bodyguard for 15 years. He used to work for Special Operations Incorporated, a secret group specializing in impossible missions,” Phil replies.
“Hey, like mission impossible Tom Cruise,” Sam responds.
“Actually, more like R.E.D. with Bruce Willis on steroids. This guy was the actual head instructor before he decided to leave and go freelance. He worked for the US government and a number of other governments on some very sensitive and risky missions in the past. He has also worked for the Vatican. When a government deems a mission impossible for their Special Forces and no other organization wants it, he goes and does the job.”
“If he is so good, what makes you think we can stop him?” Ernest sits down at a desk, waiting for an answer.
“Two reasons. First, he has gone soft, hooked up with a girl who he now travels with. Second, he does not kill indiscriminately.
“So how exactly are we to help you then?” Ernest asks.
“Victor does not know that he has a traitor amongst his friends, thus he does not suspect that we are waiting for him. We will keep everything as normal.
“He will wait until tomorrow morning when he knows the Pope walks in the garden with only his two trusted guards because security is busy handling the 30,000 people coming for the weekly general service. Sergio and Bill will escort the Pope through the garden on his morning prayer to the Groto before the service, while you Ernest and Sam will protect him from a distance. From what we know, he will not kill the guards or the Pope until he has spoken with the Pope. Thus, when he sneaks up on the Pope praying, you will take him out Ernest.” Phil answers.
Laura 02 The God Code Page 15