“Deal.”
“And one more thing,” she said.
“You need to take me shooting.”
“What?” he asked in shock. He never imagined those words coming out of her mouth.
“I’ve done a lot of thinking. You’re a good man, I love you, I loved you from our fourth date. If you want to own a gun and go shooting, I need to support you in that as long as you ensure it will be handled safely in our house.”
“Of course.”
“Good, now come here,” she purred pulling him close. “All this talk of shooting has made me miss you even more.”
He wrapped his arms around her and said, “One of the greatest things ever invented was makeup sex.”
“Who said we were having sex?” She laughed.
He pulled away and asked, “We’re not?”
“How about we cuddle first, see where it goes.”
He squeezed her tight and said, “Deal.”
Rancho Bernardo, California
Mo had gone to school. He wasn’t sure why, as he didn’t learn a thing. His mind was clogged with what had happened this morning and what could end up being his ultimate fate. Upon returning home, he decided he was done with school. Why bother going if he’d never see graduation anyway.
In the hours he’d been home, he secluded himself in his bedroom. He had no appetite and all he could do to keep his mind off all the recent events was to play video games.
A tapping on his door pulled him away from his game.
“Yeah.”
“It’s your mother. Can I come in?”
“Yes.”
She opened the door, stepped in and closed it promptly behind her. She walked over to him and sat on the edge of the bed.
He couldn’t look at her, it was too hard; instead he kept his focus on the game.
“Mohammed, I need to talk to you,” she said.
“Okay.”
“I need your attention,” she urged.
“I’m playing. Go ahead and tell me what you need to tell me.”
“Mohammed, look at me.”
He ignored her and kept playing.
Frustrated she stood up and walked in front of him to block his view of the television.
He tried to look around her but she kept moving. “Get out of the way. I’ve never played this level,” he barked.
“Look at me,” she snapped.
“Just get out of my way and just say what you came to say,” he snapped back.
She turned around and turned off the game console.
“What the hell!” he yelled.
She swung around and slapped his face. “Don’t you dare yell at me.”
He put his hand to his cheek; her hit stung his face. “Get out of my room.”
“Not until I talk to you.”
He glared at her and said, “There’s nothing to say. Nothing!”
“There is. Let me talk.”
“I said talk, go ahead. I’m doing what you wish, not because I want to, but because they’ll kill all of us!”
“Keep your voice down. Your father will hear,” she barked.
“So what!”
“Mohammed, I swear,” she said, raising her hand.
He stepped towards her and stuck out his face. “Go ahead, hit me. That’s nothing. Soon I’ll be dead and it won’t matter.”
His remarks struck her hard. She tried to take his hand but he pulled away. “Son, please know that I love you. I know you’re upset, but I need you to fully understand everything.”
“There’s nothing to understand. I made a huge mistake. I was an idiot. I thought it sounded cool, rebellious, but it was all a big mistake. What really hurts is you knew and let me walk into that. You’re okay with letting me die.”
She again stepped towards him, but for each step she took, he backed away.
“I’m just a stupid kid. I didn’t realize just how…how real this was. I never imagined it would actually happen. I thought that Malik and I would just get together and talk shit, maybe meet with others, but I never in my wildest dreams believed it was real or would ever happen.”
“Mohammed, please let me explain.”
“Mother, I was a fool. When I look at this country, it’s not perfect but it’s not evil. I’m not sure why it took what I’ve seen to realize that, but what you’re asking me to do, what those men are asking me to do is not better than what they say Americans have done to them; in fact it might be worse. I don’t know what’s in store for me, but what I do know is soon, I’ll be asked to murder innocent people in cold blood and for a God, a religion, I don’t really care about.”
“Take that back,” she snapped, her tone becoming harsh.
“I won’t take it back. I’m going to die soon and I might as well tell you exactly what I think.”
“Take it back now.”
“No.”
“Allah will forgive you, I know. I will pray for you,” she said, marching past him and out of the room. She closed the door and stood in the darkened hallway. She was sure her God would forgive her son, he had to, especially after he sacrificed himself for him.
Mo stared at the closed door. His temper was only as great as his disappointment in his mother. She was not the woman he grew up knowing. The thought she would support and advocate his supposed martyrdom was shocking but his destiny had been written.
He sat back down and turned his game console back on.
His phone beeped.
He picked it up to find a text from Malik.
“U good?”
“Fine.”
“U sure?”
“Yes. Tired.”
“Ok, just checking on you. Allahu akbar, brother. Soon we will fight.”
Mo stared at the text. At first, he thought about texting back something derogatory. That thought shifted to not replying at all, but then he grew concerned that could signal something negative. To play it safe, he went along and texted, “Allahu Akbar.” He tossed the phone on the bed, picked up the game controller and began playing.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Friday, April 28
Coronado, California
“Sergeant Brennan, psst, Sergeant Brennan, wake up.”
Brennan opened his eyes to find Dietz hovering over him. He rubbed his eyes and asked, “What is it?”
“You’re being summoned, Commander Shenkman has requested all squad leaders to report ASAP.”
Brennan swung his legs out of the bed and stood. He grabbed his trousers and put them on. “What the word?”
“I heard we’re being called up. The mission is back on,” Dietz answered.
“You sure?” Brennan asked as he laced up his boots.
“That’s the scuttlebutt.”
“What time is it?”
“Zero three twenty-three, Sergeant.”
“So you’re on duty the rest of the morning?” Brennan asked.
“Yes, Sergeant.”
“Okay, go back. I’ll call if we are getting called up. Don’t wake the guys yet,” Brennan ordered as he headed out the door.
Brennan walked out into the cool brisk early morning air. The base was dead; the only thing moving was the ocean breeze across the island.
He threw open the door to the headquarters building and walked into a buzz of activity, a contrast to the sleepy base outside.
Owens walked around the corner and spotted Brennan, “Good, there you are. You’re the last squad leader. Hurry, we have some developments.”
Brennan followed Owens into the command briefing room. He took a seat next to another Marine and fixed his attention to the front.
“Sir, everyone is here,” Owens shouted out to Shenkman.
Shenkman was chatting with another officer. He finished and looked up. “Thank you all for rushing over as quickly as possible. Gentlemen, since the op in Mexico was shut down, we have been keeping an eye on that facility. We’ve seen trucks enter, over a dozen, but none leave. At first we were unsure why, but now we believe the
y have a tunnel, probably built by the cartels, that is connected to the United States somewhere. We contacted our good friends at the DIA, who contacted our very dear friends at the NSA to see what they could do to help us figure out where these trucks might be popping up. Well, magic happened, that’s all I can say about their conclusions.” he said and nodded to a young officer.
A screen behind Shenkman turned on.
“I’m not even going to begin to try to explain to you how they figured it out. They were telling me and I was lost, so I’ll skip to the sweet stuff,” he said. He clicked on his laser pointer. The red dot instantly popped onto an aerial photograph. With his arm extended, he leveled the pointer’s dot onto the top of a large building just across the border. “This is where they say the bunker exits, under this building. We pulled the records on this building. It’s owned by a company called…ISRAFILS HORN. They acquired it over two years ago. We know the name is not coincidental.” Shenkman lowered his arm and faced the men. “Fourth platoon, you will go down there and take this building.”
Several men began to mumble and cross talk.
“Everyone, be quiet. I’m not done. The other three platoons, you’re being tasked with another mission. This one took us by surprise after we confirmed it.” He nodded to the young officer running the multimedia. The screen changed from the large tans and browns of south Texas to lush green. “Gentlemen, this is a map of northern Minnesota.” He put the dot of his laser pointer on a large fenced compound. “In several decrypted messages we found in an e-mail account, the location of this compound was mentioned as well as its purpose, a staging and training facility.”
Brennan was stunned, as were others.
The Marine next to Brennan gasped.
Shenkman paused and continued, “Believe me, I was just as shocked as you are. This facility is active too. We have eyes on and there’s a ton happening there. Gentlemen, we are green for taking this facility down.”
Several of the men in the room mumbled their approval by saying, “Yeah,” or, “Good.”
Shenkman paced for a few seconds and continued. “There’s one sticky point. This compound is listed as a children’s camp.” He picked up a piece of paper and read, “It’s officially listed as the Upper Midwest Children’s Islamic Enrichment Center and Camp, and when we pulled title on the property we found something curious, the titled owner is a corporation, called…ISRAFILS HORN. Clearly this property and the warehouse in Texas are connected. We’re currently researching other properties or land owned by that corporation by conducting searches via the secretary of state’s nationwide database for corporate entities.” He tossed the paper on the table and said, “We’ve verified that the site is actually used as a children’s camp. What we have here is a terror training, staging and research center disguised as a children’s camp. If you look, the compound covers over four square miles of land, with the main children’s camp located here and what we believe is the research buildings here and here. Gentlemen, there are kids here. We have confirmed that.” Shenkman paced more and said, “This puts us in a tight spot. The president has personally ordered we take this site down, but with children located on-site, this could become a fucking PR nightmare if this goes south. So, keeping that in mind, third platoon will secure what we believe are the buildings used for the camp. Once secure, they’ll ensure no children exit those buildings, hence keeping them away from the main thrust of our raid, which will be conducted on these buildings.”
Several men grumbled audibly.
“First platoon, we suspect this building here houses any research that might be happening on-site. We believe this because of all the HVAC and power along the side of the building. Also, we have found building permits from the county and submitted architectural plans. This is a subterranean structure, actually, it’s a fucking super-structure when you examine the plans.”
The squad leader for third squad leaned over and said to Brennan under his breath. “All this under our noses and right in the good ole US of A.”
“Yep,” Brennan replied simply.
Shenkman continued, “We’ve contacted local and state law enforcement that we will need their support but we didn’t give them any specifics yet. They told us they’ll be ready to move to assist once we give them the call. We’ll use them to process any children. It’s sad that we can’t have a more active role for them, but we can’t trust anyone with these fucking leaks happening. In fact, only the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Homeland Security, president and we here know about the raid. Once the intel went up, nothing came back down alerting anyone we were going green on this mission. We can’t afford to let those cocksucker reporters at the Post or Times blow this for us.”
“Lock ’em up,” a sailor blurted out, referencing the leaks.
Several others mumbled their agreement.
“Men, our [PN1] objective is twofold. Intel and eradication. First platoon is there to locate, find any mutants we can secure as specimens, scrounge up intel and to capture any scientists that can provide us critical information. Everyone else, our secondary objective is to terminate without prejudice any threat there. You will be weapons free.”
Brennan was happy to hear his squad would take point against the mutants. His only concern was the children being used as human shields.
“First platoon, you will not be babysitting the team from the CDC, as we can’t have you focused on taking care of their safety. Also, Sergeant Brennan, you will oversee first platoon, as Senior Chief Owens will be the OIC for the mission. I’ll be accompanying fourth platoon in Texas. So, fourth, when I finish this briefing, stay seated. I’ll cover some other details and discuss the coordination we’ll be getting from customs agents for our raid in Texas.”
“Owens, you’re wheels up in two hours. You’ll fly to Grand Forks Air Force Base, there you’ll link up with air assets that will take you to the site. When the sun sets later today, you’ll go in,” Shenkman said as he turned off the screen behind him. He faced the men and finished, “I can’t stress enough that these missions are critical. We are facing a new threat with these mutants, like nothing we’ve ever seen before. We believe a massive coordinated attack is coming. We don’t know where or when, but the Pentagon believes these mutants will be part of this attack. We need as much on them as possible.”
Brennan couldn’t resist, he needed to ask a question that had been dogging him. He raised his hand.
“Yes, Sergeant Brennan,” Shenkman said pointing at him.
“Why were the other mutants’ remains destroyed, sir?”
“The captain of the Anchorage cited a dated protocol on shipborne contaminants It’s a shame, we could have been that much further ahead. It also didn’t help that you and Senior Chief Owens tossed the female mutant and her offspring out over the Indian Ocean.”
“To be fair, sir, as you know, in battle things happen. Decisions are made based upon the situation as it’s unfolding,” Brennan blurted out.
Owens tapped his leg and whispered, “Not the time.”
“Sergeant Brennan, you and your Marines were put on this team because you were highly recommended from your brief encounter with these mutants. What happened on that plane gives me pause that you and your men aren’t up to the task. These mutants pose a potentially grave threat. We desperately need a sample.”
“I agree, sir, on the last point; but may I add, sir, that we’d have another sample if some desk jockey wasn’t leaking critical and sensitive classified information to their buddies in the media.”
“You’re right, Sergeant. Now if you’re done, we can move on. We have a couple of missions to prepare for,” Shenkman said, then dismissed the men.
Owens immediately turned to Brennan. “What the fuck was that?”
“I’m curious.”
“That wasn’t curious, that was borderline insubordination.”
“Take it easy. It wasn’t. I just want to know why things aren’t lining up. First the captain of the Anchorage destr
oys all the remains, then a leak.”
“I don’t want to hear crazy conspiracy theories. No one forced us to toss Princess from the plane.”
Brennan thought and replied, “True. I guess we’re just having bad luck.”
“Go get your boys ready. We’re leaving in less than two,” Owens said, getting up, a tinge of irritation in his voice.
“Hey, Owens, here,” Brennan said, handing Owens a folded piece of paper.
“What’s this?” Owens asked.
“The prayer you asked about,” Brennan answered.
Owens unfolded the paper, read it and said, “Good stuff, thanks. And, Brennan, don’t do that shit again. I vouched for you and your guys.”
“I won’t, I swear.”
“I know shit isn’t going as planned, but sometimes that’s life. We just have to roll with it,” Owens said.
“Agreed,” Brennan said.
The two men walked side by side out of the briefing room and exited the building. As the darkness enveloped them, Brennan couldn’t help but ask something that plagued him from the mission brief.
“How the fuck does a terror organization operate a sophisticated training camp and research facility right under our noses?”
Owens thought on it for a minute and replied, “That is the big question. I don’t know. It does make you wonder if they’ve had help, you know, on the inside.”
“Look who’s wearing a tinfoil hat now,” Brennan quipped.
“Not this guy. I just can’t believe that. Large conspiracies like that are too big not to collapse under their own weight. Someone is bound to squeal, but then again, how does that happen?”
“See, me asking those questions and being skeptical isn’t so crazy.”
“Maybe so, but there’s a bigger question. Are there more?”
Paris, France
David opened his eyes and flinched when he saw Joram towering over him.
“You dozed off,” Joram said, a big smile stretched across his face.
“Oh, ah, sorry, I, um, where did we…”
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