“The force prided themselves on being elite and did not want us along. Our passports worked in Mauritania, but we may be captured in Dakhla Airport. We can get land transportation over the crossing. The military cares little about who crosses unless they are Westerners.”
Dar nodded in agreement. “At least then we can learn what happened. I hate it here. The Afghan mountains would be preferable.”
“It is not safe for us to go anywhere at this time. We were very nearly detained in Nouakchott. The bribe money is gone. Without sufficient funds, we must abide here. No one suspects us, but it is a small town, and people talk. Once over the border, if we learn the fate of our assault force, we should wire Amir Mohammed Kostler again for money. He knows our value, being so close to this vile city of blasphemers.”
“They should have killed the small force left to guard them by now,” Dar retorted. “You are right. Let us sleep and leave at first light for the border.”
Something arched through the open window and rolled under the table.
“What was-”
The grenade’s explosive force, contained by the solid stone walls, collapsed the roof onto the mangled bodies of Dar Sultan and his companion. Nick, dressed in simple, well-worn robes, moved quickly down the road. The five-kilometer trek to the ocean in the dark drew no one’s attention. It resembled a lunar landscape because of all the sand mining done. Many of the dunes, bulldozed for the sand to make cement, created craters due to natural climate incidents such as storms and droughts. Nick found his camouflaged raft easily enough. He called Gus.
“That was fast.”
“I heard what I needed to hear. I have enough water and food to get through a couple of days. I don’t want you and Johnny to get caught up in some kind of dragnet on the water the military might initially set into place.”
“Oh crap, Muerto… you used a grenade, didn’t you?”
Silence.
“Okay… call us when you’re ready,” Gus said with Johnny, Jian, and Cala enjoying the exchange.
“Will do. El Muerto… away.”
Nick settled in for the night under the camouflaged raft, against the sand crater’s side, MP5 in hand. He smiled, imagining his friends’ conversation after his call. No one runs out of their house to check on anything after an ET-MP grenade explosion. Amir Mohammed Kostler made his list tonight. He needed to call Paul soon. The information concerning the ease an assault force formed in Mauritania would need to be dealt with through other channels.
* * *
Johnny caught the rope thrown to him. He pulled the raft tight against the trawler. Nick threw his equipment bag to Gus and climbed aboard. They secured the raft.
“You smell like a carcass rotting in the desert,” Gus complained. “We should throw you in the ocean for a few moments.”
“They sent patrols out,” Nick explained. “For two-days straight I needed to stay undercover. That’s why I didn’t call you guys until today. I’m damn glad I removed all trace of my footsteps because they were looking. I thought I would need to shoot one patrol. If not for the sand excavation companies are doing, I wouldn’t have had a good enough place to lay low. Anyway, let’s get going. I’ll throw my clothes over the side and get cleaned when we get underway.”
“Good… but until then, go stand on the fantail.”
“That’s hurtful, Gus.”
* * *
“Uh oh.” Johnny watched the fast approaching boat. “We have company. It looks like a patrol boat.”
Nick grabbed his M107, checking in the direction Johnny indicated. “It’s a patrol boat flying the Mauritanian flag. They shouldn’t be this far up the coastline.”
The sirens and lights came on. Gus increased speed. “We can’t outrun them, Muerto. The wind kicks back toward them. Stay on the fantail. When they get a whiff of you, they’ll reverse course.”
“This is no time for insulting jokes. Besides, I’m clean, you prick,” Nick retorted after both he and Johnny enjoyed Gus’s quip. “I have an idea.”
“This is not good, Payaso.”
“Tell me about it. Every time I hear Muerto say ‘I have an idea’, it usually involves ET-MP grenades. That can’t be it so please tell us all about your idea, Muerto. They’re at one mile and closing.”
“Johnny has the sound system going. We have our lucky XM307 on tripod, loaded for bear up top. I say we turn to and go dead in the water, dark and still. They’ll slow their approach. I will blow away the bridge with M107 spent uranium slugs. Then we blast out our ‘Jaws’ theme while edging toward them, alternating a moment later with ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ to herald our assault. Johnny and I will fire the XM307 until nothings left of the patrol boat but a vapor trail, all on video to make Lucas’s head explode in envy.”
“Oh, Lord… hep me… hep me, Lord!”
“Calm down, Payaso. I vote for us to do it,” Johnny said. “It is a vicious surprise move. Do not ruin it with your negativity.”
“Fine! Say when!”
Nick and Johnny had already climbed to the top deck’s camouflaged XM307 nest. Nick readied his M107. “Now! You have the music switch too, Payaso. I’ve already started the video recording. I will call out when it’s time to move.”
“Understood.” Gus slowed immediately, using the boat’s momentum and steering to face the oncoming craft, righting the wheel perfectly to point dead on their pursuer.
“Very nice, Payaso.” Nick shot the gun crew at the bow of the boat, using short bursts to cut through the armor and men. His next bursts tore through the pilot house, ending their sirens, lights, and movement. “Approach with ‘Jaws’, Payaso!”
The trawler creeped forward, the haunting theme from the movie ‘Jaws’ blasting from the speakers with deep base thumping tumult.
Gus pumped a fist as he heard Nick and Johnny celebrating on the upper deck. He increased throttle. “Here we go!”
The ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ turned the night into a horror show for the patrol boat as 25mm airburst grenades rained hell on earth down upon the floating target. Gus slowed, staying well back from the flaming wreck. The patrol boat exploded in spectacular form. Gus maneuvered into a sweeping turn on their original course toward the ‘City of Hope’.
“I sure hope the crew didn’t call out a distress signal to the Mauritanian military authorities,” Gus said when Johnny and Nick joined him in the pilot house.
“I’ll call Paul and request the Navy seal off any approach by formal military from Mauritania. They can keep watch by satellite on the Mauritanian ports. I’m wondering if Morocco requested the patrol boat. Their little claimed piece of land between Mauritania and Western Sahara doesn’t have a Navy. Of that you can be sure. We need to make sure we don’t leave for home without our lucky XM307 as well as the UH-60.”
“I withhold opinion until tied at the City of Hope pier concerning the word lucky,” Gus stated.
“Oh ye of little faith. I’m going down below and write some more. I only have the final chapter to write in ‘Hell Zone’. In the final chapter, Jed will lose his leg in a terrible accident aboard his boat and Diego formally begins calling his old friend ‘Pegleg’.”
“Not funny, Muerto!” Gus called out after Nick, as he descended below decks.
* * *
Khan and Sela danced as Nick continued his Sunday night piano man entertainment. Johnny and Cala swayed next to them with many others. Nick ended his set with the Temptations ‘My Girl’ to thunderous applause. He waved at everyone, signaling a break, which evoked the usual groans. Johnny turned on the jukebox selections. He and Cala brought cold beers back to the table for everyone.
“I wish we could convince you to stay longer, Muerto,” Sela said. “This has been the happiest time of our lives.”
“Our work here is done, Sela. We will keep in touch with friends made for a lifetime. I promise to visit once the hotel opens. My wife, Rachel, will love to meet you all, but she is spoiled. Roughing it to her is a five-star hotel without a ba
lcony.”
“She went through much during the time when they wanted to kill her and your daughter, Jean. After such a time, I am not surprised she takes no chances,” Sela replied.
“Once everything works for the new City of Hope, I will fly your family to California for a visit,” Nick promised. “We will all sit around on my balcony overlooking the foggy sea and I will play piano. We will all sit down on our chosen beach at Otter’s Point and sip Irish coffees.”
“Do you really think that possible, Muerto?”
Nick’s countenance changed to a more solemn state. “I never say things lightly, my friend. You have made this experiment work, freeing tens of thousands from the ‘Death Cult’. I will make your visit happen. I trust your lieutenants and so does the city. The community pressure on the new arrivals makes the transition phase much easier. Compared to what you and your original companions went through, this is like paradise. The thugs get shipped as always. You have an armory to defend this land. I trust you implicitly to never misuse it. The surrounding cities are your barriers to the Islamic curse. They are jealous of the success, but as long as they are treated with special privilege in goods and services, they can be a great protective force around you.”
Khan nodded in agreement. “Our meetings with the outside cities will go on as you have established. I must be political when interacting with them. It is a key to our survival as you have taught me.”
“Know this,” Nick said. “If you have a problem, call me immediately as you see it develop. I do not abandon my friends ever. We have powerful forces now behind us because we conquered a place once thought of as the ‘Isle of Darkness’. It is now the ‘Isle of Hope’. What we gathered there will hold our power in place for many years.”
“I am jealous of how much good your violence has accomplished,” Khan replied with hoped for amusement. “Perhaps someday we will be a beacon of hope for Muslims around the world to understand there is a brighter future without a medieval death cult involved.”
“That, my friend, is what we all pray for.”
“Muerto is right,” Johnny said. “We all pray for your success here. Cala and I will never forget you. We look forward to the day you and Sela may visit us in Pacific Grove. We may leave Gus here with you. He is positively radiant without his wife, Tina, the Tyrannosaurus Rex.”
“Very funny, Kabong.” Gus raised his glass. “To good friends, good times, and a future without Islam.”
The group clinked glasses solemnly in support of his toast.
* * *
“Oh my… this is heaven,” Nick sipped his Irish coffee with everyone around him on chairs at Pacific Grove’s Otter’s Point beach. Deke, flopped across his feet, moved from his human, only if ordered to. The reunion between Deke and Nick surpassed human interaction.
Jean, Sonny, and Jay sat in chairs too, unwilling to leave their trainer for a moment. They missed Gus, Johnny, Cala, and Jian, but the most difficult absence had been that of Nick. The months had seemed like years, because they feared the worst at every moment. They watched Nick holding the sleeping Quinn against him while sipping his coffee as if it were a miracle.
“I am with child,” Cala announced suddenly as Johnny grasped her hand.
Her revelation energized the close-knit group into celebration mode. It evoked tears of joy from her closest friends, Rachel and Tina, who moved to hug her in silent congratulations. Nick, Gus, and Jian gripped Johnny’s hand in solemn comradery.
“The Reaper is with child. Oh, good God in heaven,” Tina straightened to wave her arms to the heavens. “What forces will be called out to balance the cosmos.”
“Sit down, T-Rex.” Cala giggled. “You saw my solo ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ to protect the City of Hope. My son will be apprised he was within me when his mom blasted the crap out of the ‘Death Cult’ of Islam. He will be very proud.”
“That was awesome, Cala!” Jean gripped her hand. “The Monster Squad called the moment dad returned. They’ve been playing the videos of your gunship attack, and the battle with Mauritania’s patrol boat, over and over. They’re making John wear his Muerto t-shirt.”
“John told me Lucas never destroyed the Muerto pajamas I sent him,” Nick added. “On the night they played the videos, Lucas wore the pajamas to Pain Central. By the time Lucas finished modeling, John thought he’d need to give Lynn oxygen.”
“Tell us what John said about the Arab Emirates guy,” Rachel said. “You took the phone in the other room after the pajama talk.”
“I switched to a secure line. John believes the offer to fight Darius the Destroyer in the Emirates was meant to lure the Monster Squad into a trap. This Amir Mohammed Kostler owns Darius’s contract. They wanted to get us shorthanded defending the city and strike in both places. The Facebook webpage for the City of Hope already generated a fatwa by multiple bearded trolls. The happy people without Sharia Law in the City of Hope have generated millions of likes from all over the world. The inhabitants, at Khan’s advisement, refuse to talk religion. Their pictures of progress caused the Arab Middle East to demand they be taken off Facebook because their existence blasphemes Islam. I would not be surprised if the Islam ass-kisser who owns Facebook gives in to the Sharia Law Mutants. Johnny has solved that problem.”
“I created a web page for them,” Johnny said. “We advertise their successes and coming tourist attractions, including a port for cruise ships to dock. No one can block them unless they take away the internet. They have so many millions of hits on their site, thanks to advertising everywhere, that advertisers are lining up to pay for space. The ‘City of Hope’ has its own YouTube channel where they garner more advertising money through their nearly unlimited viral videos highlighting the agricultural, textile, and fishing industries. Khan made sure to show his citizen army reserve training, along with the nearly two hundred secular police who act as the City of Hope’s military.”
“The UK and American governments are so pleased with the result, they agreed to act as the patrol force along the coast to prevent any aggression. Both nations have a naval presence in that part of the Atlantic any way,” Gus explained.
“The surrounding cities in Western Sierra are purchasing foodstuffs and clothing,” Jian added. “We have heard they are talking about easing restrictions on their own people. I think John Harding has the plot against us figured out correctly. It was too much of a coincidence when Alexi Fiialkov received the Darius offer.”
“What’s the plan for Kostler?”
“Nothing for now, Rach,” Nick answered. “He can’t attack the City of Hope, nor can he get at the Monster Squad and us back here. He’s too late to stop what’s happening. He won’t be the only Middle East potentate mad at us. Sharia Law helps them control the populace, just as the leading globalist rats all over the world want to do - keep the citizens prisoners of violent predators in their own nations. Each time a brainwashed mutant watches a City of Hope video, Islam loses some of its grip.”
“Muerto’s right,” Cala agreed. “Those people in the City of Hope were much like the awful thugs still in Europe. When forced to live without Sharia Law fears, the difference was incredible to see. I never imagined it could work. I went along to be with Johnny and wipe them out when they tried to sabotage the city.”
“We did need to do some of that too,” Gus admitted. “It was a thin line until Khan stepped up and became a leader. Muerto trained him the entire time we were there. We knew if they send someone to kill him and he isn’t ready, it would plunge the city into chaos. He now has a woman and man as lieutenants who are leaders in their own right. They would take over if something were to happen to Khan.”
“All this seems more a threat with everything you say,” Rachel pointed out. “The mutants don’t reason. They revenge when your back is turned. I hope this ends the world building tour.”
“I liked being a hero,” Jian stated. “We did what was right.”
“Shut up, Dragon Breath,” Rachel ordered.
&
nbsp; Jian’s eyes widened, but he relaxed when the rest of his friends enjoyed Rachel’s comment with loud hilarity, including Rachel. Jian nodded. “Good one, white eye. Have you been on a diet? You do not look a pound over one-forty.”
“I’m not that easy, Chow Mein.” Rachel chuckled with everyone else. “I have the Daughter of Darkness poking me day in and day out. Your noodles are soft if you think you can top her.”
“We’re not going back to the Sand,” Nick stated. “It’s one thing when you control a situation with deadly force. When the situation controls you, with a cast of players in the tens of thousands, the situation can get ugly real quick. They’re armed and dangerous. We made sure Khan and his people could hold the city. Once that trust is passed on, any visit in the future will be after hotels and resorts are there with everything working right.”
“I am glad we talked John out of going into the Emirates,” Johnny said. “You were right about that situation smelling bad, Muerto. I wonder if his friend, Eugene Cummings, went in his place. It may have been equally dangerous for ‘The Rattler’ to go. I’m sure Kostler knows Alexi handles both fighters.”
“I believe Alexi’s connections can keep Eugene safe,” Nick replied. “Alexi is not someone to take lightly. His container ships help make the world run. The Roma is merely his favorite. Without him as an ally, we would not have been able to bring our UH-60 and lucky XM307 home.”
“I want to go on a ‘salt the earth’ mission,” Jean stated.
“Not me,” Jay said, shaking his head. “Some of us need to be support personnel. That’s me.”
“What about you, Cracker?”
Sonny looked with grim determination at Jean. “I go where you go, Viper… always.”
Nick clasped Rachel’s hand, shaking his head with a smile. “I’m not taking the kids on ‘kill missions’. When Jean’s ready, trained, old enough, and has the passion for it, we won’t be able to stop her no matter what we say. Sonny will make his own way.”
“Yeah, Mom… calm down,” Jean ordered.
Rule of Nightmare Page 6