The Society of Orion Book Six: The Moroccan Affair: Colton Banyon Mystery

by Gerald J Kubicki

  Heather worked frantically on the wires. Sweat had formed on her forehead. She couldn’t figure out the proper wires to connect to start the car. Suddenly a crack formed on the driver’s side window. It was just a matter of time before it gave in.

  “Oh, my god” Mandy screamed and covered her mouth.

  “Toss a grenade,” Chase weakly suggested.

  “Will the car stand up to a grenade blast?” Mandy quickly asked.

  “It’s better than waiting to be chopped to pieces from those machine guns,” Chase said with great effort. He was bleeding heavily now and the white interior of the car was turning red.

  Suddenly, the engine turned over. Heather threw the gear shift into drive and went to take off.

  “Wait,” Mandy yelled. “Heather, open the sun roof. Let’s leave these assholes a parting gift.”

  As the big car moved from the parking spot and began to pull away, Youssef watched with horror as a dark round metal object pop out of the sunroof. It landed and rolled to his feet. It was too late to run. The four gunmen just stood where they were and cursed as the grenade blew up, killing all of them.

  ***

  As she cruised down the long driveway, Heather saw the front gate blow up giving her an exit. She reached up to her shoulder and pressed the button on the satellite phone.

  “Mission accomplished,” she said when Banyon answered.

  “Good job,” Banyon remarked. “How’s Chase?”

  “We need to get him to a hospital,” she replied. “He’s lost a lot of blood. It’s all over the car.”

  “Previne has pulled up the escape car. She will also use the Health weapon to heal him. But you can’t leave any trace of being there, especially blood.”

  “Understood,” Heather agreed.

  When the big car reached the gate, Heather stopped and the four women gently helped Chase out of the car and onto the ground in front of the open gate area. Previne immediately exposed the weapon and began to chant.

  Meanwhile, Heather instructed Mandy to clean up the mess in the car.

  “How?” Mandy protested.

  “You’ve still got one grenade left,” she replied. “Wait until we can move Chase.”

  As the Kasbah team sped away from the site, an explosion filled the air. The interior of the Rolls Royce was gutted.

  “I guess that the King will not be getting his prized new car,” Pramilla quipped.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Ahmed Fasi suddenly came awake. He had fallen asleep waiting for Colton Banyon to attack. He glanced at his watch and realized that he had slept for nearly twenty minutes. He leaped to his feet and looked around, but couldn’t see anyone, especially Hakim. He should’ve been back by now.

  He was about to call out for his second in command when the Insight weapon in his hand began to glow. He quickly brought up the image. The Insight weapon displayed the last person who used one of the weapons, what weapon it was and the direction where it had been located when it was activated.

  Confusion filled his hawk-like features. The direction was to the northwest and the weapon was the Renew device. He knew it was used to heal wounds and not a real weapon. The real surprise was that the person using the device was one of the accursed Indian women on Banyon’s team. She’s healing someone’s wound, he thought curiously.

  He wondered if the use of the weapon was some sort of trap to get him to unleash some of his weapons, or was someone actually wounded. As he studied the picture for answers he realized with horror that the background was a shot of a wall he thought he knew. Then he notice that the gate was missing.

  They’re at my house, he screamed inside his head as he frantically fumbled with his cellphone, but there was no reception in the desert. Did my men stop them or do they now have the weapons?

  “Damn you Colton Banyon,” he roared at the underside of the canopy. “You tricked me.”

  “Are you feeling alright?” one of the guards sheepishly inquired as he appeared out of the night.

  “Hakim, get over here now,” Fasi ordered loudly with his fists clinched.

  “He never came back from checking on some of the mercenaries,” another of the four remaining security guards explained as he entered the canopy.

  “Allah!” Fasi exclaimed in frustration as he realized that Eric had probably killed Hakim. It got even worse for him when he noticed that the Insight device continued to glow. It meant that another device had been activated recently. It had happened before the Renew device had been used. Fasi had been sleeping at the time.

  He brought up the image and saw Eric using the Talk device to communicate with someone. It set Fasi into a rage which was cut short when he discovered that the device still glowed.

  This time he saw an image of Steve. He was translating words from Hakim for Eric.

  Fasi now understood that there was a whole nest of traitors on his right flank. I’ve been deceived. He decided to activate the Clear weapon and cut them all down.

  He reached for the device just as one of his men yelled, “Look at that.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  A minute earlier, Colton Banyon ended the call from Heather. He quickly checked with Wolf to verify that Fasi’s weapons from the house were safe. When he was satisfied he ended the talk.

  “Maya are you in position?” he asked through his earpiece.

  “I’m ready,” she replied.

  “Loni are you with the men?”

  “I’m standing next to Eric,” she responded. She had arrived a few minutes earlier and had handed out earpieces for everyone. She also brought night-vision goggles. Eric handed her the package they had prepared for Fasi.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Something that will make Fasi scared,” the surfer looking ex-SEAL explained.

  “Oh, that’s good,” she managed to say.

  “Okay,” Banyon said into his earpiece. “Loni, I don’t want you hanging around. Get back here quickly so we can make sure the weapons stay out of the fight.”

  “I understand,” she answered like a naughty schoolgirl. Loni had a penchant for being impulsive and she actually liked to fight. Banyon knew the temptation for her to join in was strong.

  “And don’t go until I tell you,” he added.

  “Damn it Colt. Let’s get started already,” Loni yelled with irritation. She wanted action and she wanted it now.

  “Maya, fire your weapon,” Banyon ordered.

  She said her chant with the Orion weapon in her hand and then took off running as fast as she could back to where Banyon stood, and safety.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  “What is it Mr. Fasi?” one of the guards nervously asked. “It looks like a dust storm only smaller. Is it a dust devil?” He knew that dust devils, which look like small tornados, are very common in desert areas, but are very small and usually don’t cause any damage.

  “I know what it is,” Fasi replied with fascination. “It’s not a dust devil, it’s a real tornado, but we don’t get tornados in this part of the world. Banyon’s using a weapon,” the leader said with alarm and went to grab some of his weapons.

  Fasi quickly looked at the Insight device to find out where to send his weapons. But it didn’t show an image.

  Ahmed Fasi didn’t know that the original Orion weapons couldn’t be tracked by the device because they weren’t made by the Sumi. They came from the Greek Gods.

  Confused, Fasi aimed the Clear device at the place where the tornado started and fired it. A huge buzz saw appeared and sped off into the darkness. He immediately grabbed the Cut weapon and sent a huge knife spinning into the night.

  He didn’t know that Maya was already standing next to Banyon and far away from the lethal weapons. The weapons flew into the open desert. When they reached their maximum range they disappeared.

  ***

  Tornados always travel in a northeast direction. As soon as it reached the area directly in front of Fasi’s canopy, Banyon handed Maya another weap
on. She started her chant and activated the Push weapon which created a strong wind that pushed the sand trapped in the tornado directly at Fasi and his men.

  “Get your heads down,” Banyon said into his earpiece to Eric and his men. “Where’s Loni?”

  Eric responded. “Loni’s in our foxhole under me. She’s safe.”

  “I’ll bet she just hates that,” Banyon uttered.

  But I know that she doesn’t really hate it, Eric thought.

  ***

  “Get down,” Fasi screamed just as gale force winds drove the sand vertically at him and his men. He managed to upend the table and hid behind it for protection. It took the brunt of the abrasive sand, but his men and the mercenaries, who were in the open desert, weren’t as lucky.

  Cries of agony rang out as the sand flew into eyes, ears, noses and any orifice not covered. It shredded their clothes, ripped at their flesh and clogged their throats.

  Suddenly, it was over as fast as it had started. Ahmed Fasi staggered to his feet. He reset the table and found all his items that had been tossed around the carpet. The yellow canopy was now just strips of canvas. He could make out some of his men. They huddled on the ground in fetal positions. An inch of sand covered their bodies. Three were able to get up, but one no longer moved, he was dead.

  Ahmed Fasi was starting to panic. He believed Banyon would sweep in soon and kill him. He knew he needed help. He grabbed the flare gun and shot it into the air expecting the Moroccan soldiers to come to his rescue.

  As soon as Banyon saw the red flare shoot into the sky, he pressed his earpiece.

  “Okay, Loni, it’s your turn,” he said. “Good luck.”

  ***

  Loni took off in a slow jog. She didn’t want Fasi to hear her coming. She wore the device that Banyon had given her. It was around her wrist and she carried the cloth bag that Eric had given her in her left hand. She held a hand gun in her right hand, just in case everything didn’t go right. She also wore night-vision goggles to see in the dark night. Dressed in all black, she looked like a refugee from a Star Wars prison camp.

  While Loni closed in on Fasi’s destroyed canopy, Eric and the five Dewey & Beatem men prepared for their assault. They were told to stay put until Loni gave them an all-clear call. Then their job was to make sure Fasi was chasing virgins.

  When she was about fifty feet from the canopy and still in complete darkness, Loni pressed the button on the talisman on her wrist. She didn’t have to chant. She knew that the radius for the weapon was one hundred feet and some of the mercenaries would be outside the bubble, so she still needed to be stealthy. As soon as she activated the weapon, things became strange.

  There was a complete lack of sound. Dust and particles hung in the air. There was no movement of any kind. Time stood still. Everything was frozen in place like a postcard, except her. She continued towards Fasi.

  The Warp weapon given to Banyon by Edgar, the ferret, could warp and stop time inside the radius. It only lasted for five minutes and could not be used again, but it would last long enough for Loni to do her part.

  She entered the area where the wrecked canopy stood. Ahmed Fasi stood with his arms outstretched and a device in each hand. It was clear that he was attempting to fire the weapons at the area where Eric and the rest of the Dewey & Beatem men were positioned. But, it was her job to make sure he never fired them.

  She placed the cloth bag on the table and noticed the small metal box on the corner. When she opened it she found only rocks inside. Loni shrugged her small shoulders and dumped the rocks on the carpet. She then went about collecting all the Orion weapons and put them in the box.

  She pulled the cartridge from the gun on the table and also from the only guard she saw nearby. She was about to leave, but noticed Fasi’s briefcase on the ground. It contained a pen and paper, so Loni decided to write Fasi a note.

  As soon as it was finished, she placed it under the package on the table, but sticking out so Fasi could see it. She then scampered out the front of the canopy and ran straight to Colton Banyon’s position.

  She was about half way to Banyon and Maya when the device started to beep the countdown to running out of energy. As soon as it hit zero, Loni pressed her earpiece.

  “I’m clear,” she announced. “Fasi is waiting for you. I emptied his gun clip. I also emptied the clip of one of his men.”

  Eric responded. “We’re moving in now.”

  Loni was so busy running and communicating that she failed to notice that two mercenaries who were positioned outside the dome, were following her.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  The time warp dome disintegrated a minute later. Fasi suddenly felt strange, like he had blinked and the whole world had changed. He was disoriented, but didn’t know why. His first shock occurred when he noticed that the weapon he was about to shoot at the traitors was no longer in his hand. He looked at his other hand and also found it empty. He was very confused now.

  What the hell happened to the weapons?

  His eyes went to the table and saw that the box holding the Orion weapons was missing. His other weapons were also gone. Instead there was a cloth bag on the table and a note sticking out from under it.

  Is this some sort of magic?

  He grabbed the note in one hand and opened the bag with the other. He was stunned to see the hand of his second in command inside. The hand had been reshaped to form the ‘finger’ sign. He was so overwhelmed with the shock that he staggered backwards and fell into his canvas chair. Real fear now gripped his heart. He wondered if he had lost his sanity or had someone managed to drug him. He couldn’t understand how so many things could change in the blink of an eye.

  “Guards,” he screamed. “Come and protect me.”

  Only three men entered the glow of the dull lamp. Fasi knew that they were fanatics and would fight to their death, but he was sure that they were outnumbered and out-gunned.

  “Should we run?” one of them asked nervously when he saw the hand of Hakim in the bag. It was a bad sign.

  “No, we fight. They’re coming from that way,” Fasi screamed at his men and pointed. “Mercenaries, the looters have breached the perimeter. Come and help me stop them,” he bellowed.

  Some of the mercenaries decided to stay in the darkness, some stood up and began to move to the canopy, and some took off into the desert deciding to forgo their payday, but live to collect one another day.

  Fasi still sat in the chair, but now reached for his gun on the table. He believed that he had only to hold off the intruders for a few minutes before the Moroccan army would arrive.

  He went to chock his gun and noticed the note in his other hand. He decided to read it and unfolded the stained white paper. He saw a woman’s flowing script. But he couldn’t read it and handed the paper to one of his guards.

  “What does it say?” Fasi asked him. He could read English. The man read it verbatim.

  Dear Ahmed,

  The Moroccan soldiers are not coming to help kill everyone in your camp, but we are coming to get you.

  Sincerely,

  Colton Banyon

  “What does this mean?” the guard gasped. “Kill everyone in your camp.”

  “I…I…don’t know,” Fasi stuttered while he thought up a lie. The truth was that when he learned that the army was not going to save him, he had already begun to search for an escape plan and had no answer for his man.

  Suddenly a loud voice rang out in the desert.

  ***

  Eric and his men had deployed in a straight line just outside the canopy and beyond the small lamps range. They were ten feet apart and prone on the sand. He had wanted to wait for several of the mercenaries to come closer before attacking, but realized that he could utilize the confusion.

  He had no idea that Loni had left a note, but decided to take advantage of the contents when he heard the guard read the note. He whispered into his earpiece and moved away from his men. He then stood up.

  “What the n
ote says is true,” he yelled at the top of his voice so everyone in the desert could hear. “Fasi never intended to pay you mercenaries. He expected the Moroccan army to swoop into camp and kill all of you. Why work for someone who intends to kill you?”

  “Lies,” Fasi screamed. Spittle flew out of his mouth.

  Eric continued. “We have come to dispose of him, but if you want to help, I know of a diamond merchant named Ballard in Johannesburg who will pay top dollar for his head.”

  “I know who he is,” Eric heard in the distance. A few other mercenaries commented in agreement.

  “More lies,” screamed Fasi fanatically. “All lies. Shoot them. Shoot them now.”

  ***

  “Loni, get down,” Loni heard in her earpiece. She instinctively dropped to the ground.

  “What?” she asked.

  “There are two mercenaries tracking you,” Colton Banyon yelled into her ear.

  Banyon and Maya were each down on one knee with their guns pointed ahead. Wolf had told Banyon that two killers were on Loni’s tail, but Banyon couldn’t see them in the dark.

  “I see you Colt,” Loni responded as she looked through the night-vision goggles. “You are only about ten yards straight ahead of me. I also see the mercenaries behind me. They are tracking my footprints.”

  “Circle right and get out of the way,” Banyon ordered. “We’ll try to hit them.”

  “No, too risky,” Loni replied. “You come here. I’ll leave the box and take care of the mercenaries,” she said excitedly.

  “God-damn-it, No!” roared Banyon. But he knew that she had already left the box and was after the mercenaries. He looked at Maya who shrugged. They began to move forward towards the box keeping low to the ground.

  Loni was a very accomplished fighter. She relished the challenge of taking on two musclebound killers by herself. It stimulated her. Fighting was like good sex to her. The juices were already flowing as she decided to attack without using her gun.

  Her first priority was to disarm them. She could see that they each had a handgun, a machine gun and a long knife. She came up from behind and snatched the handguns from their holsters before they realized she was there.