Rule of Nightmare

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “You have my word on it. Speak the address into my phone. I will have them brought here when we have order established.”

  Khan stated the address in London where his family was housed.

  “Did you speak with the other men we pointed out to you?”

  “Yes, Muerto. They want a life away from the ‘Death Cult’ as you called it. I recognized your friend. He is Ebi Zarin. I saw him in Syria once before the civil war. I can tell he has found peace.”

  “You are correct. Ebi Zarin is now John Groves.” Nick smiled. “I nearly tortured him to death when we first met. He is like a brother now. Like you, he never wishes to be part of Islam’s plague again. Will the Somalis follow you?”

  “They asked me to approach you with such a pact. It will be dangerous, but I believe we can recruit a small army of like minds to rule this new city. I realize we cannot have weapons, but we will need enough dedicated men to establish order.”

  “How have we been doing in thinning out the worst of the worst?”

  “Very well. Those three who tried now to follow the first attempt were three of the worst ones trying to sabotage everything in the encampment. The people watching tonight, encouraged me to meet with you. After two weeks here, they see this is not a game. They realize they will be shipped back to their country of origin whether they like it or not. Many, like me, are missing our families.”

  “We have identified everyone in the encampment. More will be arriving, including all relatives still in the UK. As we explained at the beginning, we are not here to make friends. We organized this encampment to save the UK. My team and I will meet you and the contingent of people you can trust after my briefing on board the tanker ship.”

  “I will prepare for it,” Khan replied. “Eventually, we will need weapons, or we will be killed before we can establish the city.”

  “I realize your problem. You must realize ours. Right now, we can keep order, because we are the only ones with weapons. Remember how we made examples when those goons tried to sabotage our mobile toilet facilities with recycling station?”

  Khan nodded. “You warned everyone to only go inside and out the same way. Anyone seen moving around the toilet stations, piping, or recycling station would be shot on sight. Everyone noted they are in full sight of your sniper nest, and still nearly ten idiots lost their lives because they tried to destroy the facilities.”

  “We know there are many who would rather war against everyone in the name of Islam and Sharia Law. That you had as many women shipped here because they participated in the London Arab Spring attempt, worried us. While we control this new city, there will be no female genital mutilation, stonings for breaking Sharia Law crap, beating women, or pedophilia. After we leave, I realize we cannot control the brain-dead mutants amongst your population. Any you point out to us will be shipped out immediately. Trouble makers will be killed on the spot, especially any who fight against you and your men. Did you locate the men who threatened your family?”

  “They were killed the night of our Arab Spring attempt,” Khan replied. “One was killed by the woman I have heard called Crue.”

  “Do you have any women tough enough to side with your policing efforts?”

  “I will check. Perhaps that would be a great way to move in a secular direction.”

  “Two men coming up on your left, Nick,” Gus said in his ear.

  “There are two men approaching. If they are friends, all well and good. If they are not, I want to know now,” Nick told Khan.

  Khan spotted them coming over the sand dome. He took a deep breath, stepping back slightly. “They are Syrians, two organizers of the attempted London Arab Spring.”

  “Thanks,” Nick replied. “Halt there.”

  One kept approaching, pointing at Khan. “Why are you here speaking with this man?”

  Nick drew his Colt and shot him in the head. He then shot the other man before he could run, center mass, following both shots with one each in the head, just to make sure. “This is how we will establish you and your team, Khan.”

  “Ten more rushing you,” Gus said.

  “Handle it, Payaso. No survivors. Finish them off when Gus blasts them, Kabong.”

  “Understood.”

  Gus used Ma Deuce to cut down the ten sappers with expertly fired short bursts. Johnny shot each one with the M107 sniper rifle.

  “It appears we have thinned out the bad guys.” Nick handed Khan a satellite phone. “Take this with you so we can stay in contact. Go back to the encampment with the news. Establish communications with your picks for allies. Think about the woman angle. I will speak with you again tomorrow afternoon.”

  “I will explain the new direction. This has been a costly night for the radicals. They must have thought you were alone.”

  “My crew and I will clean this mess and take the bodies to their departure zone. Tell your other bad guys we use bullets dipped in pork grease. When we cremate this bunch, we will shove pork into them before cremation.”

  “I…I will tell them.”

  Nick grinned after turning to walk away. He knew Johnny would have the M107 pointed at their hoped for new friend. The amusement over his promise about disposal and bullets continued almost until he rejoined his friends.

  “Oh, Muerto, you… nailed Khan but good with that edict,” Johnny said.

  “We’re going to do it from now on, Kabong. We need fear. The ruse will work if it’s not a threat, but a fact. All we need do is mix a very small amount in with our cleaning and oiling works. As to the act before cremating, I meant every word of it. The moment John gets here to relieve us, we will collect the bodies in the Humvee.”

  “Hell!” Gus turned to Johnny. “Muerto brought an ice chest along. I thought it was for a cold one after watch. You have pig’s guts in it don’t you, Muerto, you very bad man?”

  Nick shrugged. “It seemed like the right thing to do. I’m sick of this crap. We may as well have some fun. We’ll do a movie with us in our Unholy Trio masks, stuffing pig guts down the throat of the Kabuki dancers before they go into the fire. We’ll show the movies tomorrow on a portable screen, along with video of me coating Ma Deuce .50 caliber slugs and MP5 ammo with a rag dipped in pork grease.”

  “We have full control,” Jian said. “We protect everyone on the ground using our teams. This will break them. Your idea of recruiting women adds to the threat. Any jihadist killed by a woman never reaches paradise. We need to get Samira, Crue, and Cala involved in our meeting. They will be armed with MP5s, loaded with pig coated ammo. I like this idea. I miss Pacific Grove.”

  A shared groan of agreement rippled around the sniper’s nest. Nick shrugged. “It is what it is. We’ll see this through with a vengeance from now on. We take the gloves off from now on. This decree will force Khan’s hand and reveal the fanatics.”

  * * *

  The smiles I saw while walking into the sniper’s post brightened my less than enthused Monsters. We had reached the point already where we were ready to nuke the place from orbit. Lynn came along only because with Clint on the M107, she would go down and gut anyone who approached our facilities.

  “Wow… you Muerto people look happy. Tell us how we can be happy with you.” I drew chuckles from my crew of Lucas, Casey, Clint, and Lynn.

  After Nick described the night’s happenings, he recruited us full bore into the idea, especially Lynn.

  “I’m bringing my knives to the meeting tomorrow, Muerto. I’m dipping them in pig’s blood right in front of the audience. We need to quit pussy-footing around with these assholes. I bet these retards are so stupid, we could make up a mythical place where they are condemned for eternity if knifed by a woman with pig’s bloodstained knife. We’ll call the land ‘Qaf’ land of the Jinns, the Islamic demons.”

  We enjoyed Lynn’s desecration of the mutants’ dead for a few moments, imagining a Cruella Deville demonstration in front of the masses.

  “I have pork to dip your knife in tonight, Crue.” Nick fet
ched his cooler of pork guts. “After our watch, I doubt you’ll have any candidates, but it would be hell on wheels if you did.”

  “Oh, hell yeah!” Lynn dipped her knife in the sealed container of chilled pork guts. “I may need to go into the encampment on a hunt. Are you with me, man from nowhere?”

  “I have your six through eternity, babe,” Clint answered.

  I could see Nick’s expression. He wanted to go on the hunt too. I gripped his shoulder. “Go have fun making movies to show. You bunch killed more than we’ll see tonight. Get some rest when it’s done.”

  “Thanks, brother, I got caught up in the Cruella Deville hunt for sure. I gave Khan a phone to hide and contact us with in an emergency. If you need to do something big inside the encampment, call Khan. It won’t take him long to give you the mostly likely troublemakers’ tent numbers. We’ll discuss more tomorrow… or later in the day as it is now.”

  We watched Muerto lug his ice chest to the Humvee and ride down to gather bodies. Once they were all loaded, Nick waved at us and started toward the crematorium. “That was a great addition to the tool chest. Even if it doesn’t work, I feel better already.”

  “I’m with you, Cheese. I hope to God I see something amiss in the encampment. I’ll leave a real cute message behind for the awakening populace. Muerto always thinks of the grandest ideas.”

  “Muerto needs to charm the populace with more than pig guts though,” Lucas replied. “It’s a damn good start because I’m sick of the Sand already. Please don’t bother with the rah/rah stuff. I know we signed on for the duration. These ass-wipes are sick. We spend our time here protecting their latrines and drinking water because they want to sabotage them for publicity. What’s wrong with that picture?”

  “Everything,” I admitted. “Let’s back Muerto full bore into this new threat to poor old peaceful Islam. We’re hitting the encampment tonight with Lynn. Bring plenty of ammo. We need to soften these bastards up if they try to engulf us.”

  “You do understand we have at least twenty-five thousand mutants in the encampment, right?” Lucas had moved over in my face. “Think this through, Recon! I don’t care how much ammo we bring, if the herd mentality ushers them into an attack, we will be overwhelmed.”

  “Not if we drive down there with the Humvee, Casey on Ma Deuce and you with the XM307. If they start trouble, we’ll end it with massive casualties. Besides, all the firing will bring Muerto and his crew back in a flash. Then the battle gets serious.”

  “I’m in,” Lucas replied, gripping my cheek. “I think you’ve been around Dead Boy too long this time.”

  “Maybe,” I admitted. “I only know when we leave here, if we don’t make an impression, these troglodytes will surely butcher each other. Another ten thousand housing units will be arriving this week, along with dependents from the UK. The English want to dump them in the ocean. That’s how happy they are to be rid of this yoke around their neck. I’m not adverse to the pleas from Norway, Sweden, Australia, and all of Europe with what we’ve done. We may be able to open it up to all if we establish something solid. Hey… what the hell do we have a crematorium for if we don’t use it?”

  My remark drew the intended ease of raw nerves. “I will get the Humvee into place and park it. That will draw attention from our sappers, Clint and Lynn. We won’t do anything until they scope the encampment out. We know there will be groups plotting after the Muerto wakeup call. Nick left me a picture of Khan and his Somali guys’ IDs. They’re on your phones.”

  I turned to Crue. “You have what you want, Sis. We’re allowing you and Clint to forage through an encampment of mostly true believers. We will be close by but not close enough if you are both overran at the beginning.”

  Lynn pinched my cheek. “Awwww… that’s so sweet. Clint and I will move through the zombies until we find a cause. We know the retreat point will depend on you guys on the outskirts where you can protect your flanks. We’ll get to you if we have word of something going down. We’ll be on cam and audio. Kick back and watch how a couple of psychos tear into posers.”

  “We’ll be watching,” Lucas said. “Case will be on Ma Deuce and I’ll be playing the bagpipes with the XM307. If there’s trouble… you better duck, suckers.”

  “Give us twenty minutes on approach,” Clint said. “Don’t move the Humvee before then. We’re all on the network. We won’t say much other than a one-word acknowledgement. We need to hurry things along in these negotiations. The sappers attacking during Muerto’s watch makes it clear that new idiots are replacing the old dead ones.”

  “I don’t think we should wait for Muerto to hear of a battle,” Lucas said. “Call him now. He and his crew are still at the crematorium. Instead of waiting until tomorrow, we can straighten this sapper crap tonight. I’m sure that Khan already spread the word Muerto gave him. Instead of letting them get all fired up about it overnight, we’ll go in with two Humvees ready with M2 machine guns. It will give him a chance to contact the Khan guy before someone kills him. I know he gave you the number, but Khan knows Muerto.”

  “We’re listening,” Clint said on the network. “If the people know we’re seriously backing a group to keep order tonight, we may be able to establish a plan before the big meeting on the Roma.”

  “I like it,” I admitted. “I’ll call Muerto back. We’re going to catch hell no matter what we do anyway. If we can pull this off without mass casualties, we may be able to get some slack from our official sources tomorrow. I hate to say this, but getting involved in the UK’s Moslem crap may be the dumbest move we’ve ever made.”

  Grudging agreement amongst our crew on duty ended with Clint’s reminder. “We either do this here for the UK or we’ll be fighting them off in the USA. Canada keeps importing more and more Moslem hordes. Mexico lets as many as can get over the border flow from the South. At least we’ll know we made a stand. Lynn and I are on the outskirts of the encampment. Something’s going on. Can you see from where you are, John?”

  The rest of us stopped running our mouths and got the rangefinders out. I didn’t like it. “We see it. They’re having a big meeting with a lot of gesturing and shouting. Hold position. I’ll call Muerto.”

  * * *

  Nick and Johnny shoved the last pork grease anointed saboteur into the crematorium. “We sure made a ruckus tonight. I hope we didn’t make it too hard on John and his crew.”

  “Meeting with Khan Eshieh was the right way to go,” Gus replied.

  “Maybe. I…” Nick’s phone beeped. “Hey, John. Miss me already. No, didn’t call me. I’ll call him and we’ll join you shortly. We will key back into the network.”

  Nick called Khan after telling his crew to rejoin the network. His contact answered in whispers amidst what sounded like a riot. “I have heard from our other team something bad is going on in the encampment.”

  “We…we gathered together when I returned. My Somali friends wanted to speak with others about a group capable of keeping order. I told them what you warned your forces will do from now on, and what happened to the ones killed tonight. They are upset. I believe they will kill us soon.”

  “Tell them to watch our demonstration. Explain we will bomb the encampment if they do not move to the portable road at the perimeter of the camp where we may all speak. We will have machine guns and grenade launchers.”

  “I will tell them.”

  “Keep the line open.” Nick pulled his phone away for a moment. “Lucas, please put a few nice explosions in the sand near the encampment. We’ll join you at the portable road perimeter, locked and loaded.”

  “Firing now,” Lucas said. Using the XM307’s electronic targeting from the Humvee turret, Lucas detonated three spaced shots of airburst 25mm grenades outside the perimeter. The expertly targeted shots tore the sand area to the edge of the encampment.

  “Very nice, Pap,” Lynn said. “That shook them up. I guess we’ll wait here for you.”

  “Thank you,” Khan said to Nick as he reengaged his c
ontact. “They have backed away from us. I told them they must move to the perimeter or be blasted with the pork smeared rounds of explosives. They are scared but moving. I have a dozen men who will stand with me. They want nothing to do with Sharia Law. Two very brave women have joined us too. They spoke out against returning to the old ways.”

  “Good, we are on our way now,” Nick said as Gus drove the Humvee with Johnny on the M2 machine gun and Jian at the mounted XM307. “Have your group come out in front of the crowd and tell them to stay back.”

  “We’ll watch for them, Dead Boy,” Clint said. “I have an idea along the lines of street challenges back home. They probably think they have a cutter somewhere in the crowd.”

  “Oh yeah! Damn… I wish Tommy were here,” Lynn added, “but he doesn’t speak Arabic anyhow. Most of these punks know English though.”

  “I like your idea, Clint,” Nick said. “Isis assholes believe if killed by a woman in combat they go to hell. I’ll negotiate for Lynn if that’s okay with John.”

  “Fine by me, Nick. We have your six. If they try to swarm, hit the ground because we will open fire with the M2s at pointblank range.”

  “It’s a good thing we finished with our remote sound system for just this kind of duty,” Nick said.

  The perimeter lighting cast shadows, but Nick could see the huge crowd were staying at a safe distance inside the perimeter. Khan led his chosen enforcement group nearer to the Humvees on the portable road laid in the sand. Nick got out with MP5 at the ready. He looked over each of the dozen men, and the two women, who did not wear the hijab. A mixture of Syrians, Somalis, and three Nick thought might be Libyans, all seemed steady.

  “Listen closely to my words to the encampment. If I say anything you disagree with or will not enforce, rejoin the others. No harm will come to you. Is that clear?”

  The group expressed agreement with Nick’s words, nodding and murmuring in unison.