“Actually, I have no idea where Cummings is. I have heard he broke a rule in Abu Dhabi and was taken into custody because of the offense. My associate Amir Mohammed Kostler believes he may be able to bargain for Cummings release if you would agree to fight me in Abu Dhabi. Such circumstances are unfortunate, but can be approached in a civilized manner.”
“Before we proceed any further, would you please shut the curtains?” The slightly startled look on Darius’s face turned to tightlipped angst at my request.
“I have paid a lot of money for the view. I would rather they remain open. Why is it you want them closed?”
“Superstition. Is there a reason my request cannot be granted?”
“Very well.” Darius nodded at his greeter buddy. The curtains were quickly closed.
“Got him,” Lynn said in our ears. “He perked up when you guys entered the room. I saw the flash of his scope. He’s on the Target building across the channel. I’m taking Alexi with me, so if the network cuts out for a time, you’ll know why.”
“I am searching for the Target building plans as we speak,” Alexi said.
Clint cleared his throat which was our acknowledgement sign.
“Since we have no view now,” Darius said, “we may as well sit at the table in the kitchenette. Would either of you care for something to drink?”
“No thanks,” I replied, as did Clint. The two of us sat at the table. Clint remained standing where he could see all three of the bodyguards.
“Would you consider a fight in Abu Dhabi in the next month?”
“I don’t see that happening. I’m sure you are aware of an action my team of special agents acted on in the UK at the invitation of the government. It means I cannot travel safely into Islamic countries ruled by Sharia Law.”
“I am well aware of your team’s execution of many true believers. Your safety would be guaranteed if you agree to the match. Although transferring refugees to a gulag of death should be rewarded with torturous death, you and your handlers would be granted safe passage into and out of Abu Dhabi. Eugene Cummings’ charges would be dismissed and he would be returned home with you.”
“You should check the actual pictures and videos on Facebook from the new City of Hope we helped the refugees start. They have thrown off Sharia Law. Their businesses, crops, and trade have already attracted investment and resort hotel interest. They no longer rape, pillage and murder on behalf of Islam.”
My words had the desired effect. Darius launched toward me, his hands reaching for my neck. I caught his wrists, even after a couple of the brothers Beam and Bud, forcing him against the kitchenette table top. Before the other three men could blink or react, Clint drew his Colt, gesturing them over against the wall.
“Grab your shirt lapels,” Clint directed in Arabic. “Anyone who releases them will be shot in the head. Grab now, and acknowledge.”
They did as ordered. Darius tried figuring a way to get released from across the broad table with his elbows and upper arms forced against the surface. I kept his wrists bent at an angle toward him. The pain when he tried to move his body or legs became excruciating each time he moved. I kept it up until Darius quit moving.
“I will release you. Please don’t do anything else stupid.” I released him back into his chair. I knew for a fact his arms would be numb for a while. He did too.
Darius rubbed circulation into his arms with movements a person does when in cold temperatures. “You will die slowly for this outrage, Harding!”
“If I do, it won’t be by your hand.”
“Damn…” Lynn said in my ear. “I wish I would have seen that. I’m moving into position now. Clear your throat if you’re still hearing me as I hear you, Clint.”
Clint cleared his throat.
“Good. You’re doing a great job, Alexi,” Lynn said.
“I am using the hotel’s signal to bolster our network. Who says old cannot do some new tricks? Your path through Target to the roof is on your phone, Lynn. They do not guard that passage. The sniper must have used the same route.”
“Excellent. We will give the turd a little surprise.”
I grinned at that remark. Lynn would need a slight distraction for her visit. I turned to Clint. “I don’t care anymore. If Darius the Destroyer moves, shoot him in the head. I need to give Lynn a little cover.”
“Understood. Your arms are okay now, Destroyer. Grab your shirt lapels and don’t let them go. I give only one warning.”
I left Clint to go play with the curtains, knowing not one of the four he watched would live if one of them disobeyed his orders.
* * *
Rahm Sotar cursed under his breath as the curtains in his target room closed. He waited. His orders were clear. Hold position for a shot at Harding. He had glimpsed the big man enter the room with one other. They were to be positioned on the chairs near the window, enjoying the view. The line of sight was perfect for the shot. The curtains began to move. Finally, Rahm thought, I will have my shot at the murderous kafir.
* * *
“Perfect, Cheese. Open the curtain and wave at him,” Lynn whispered.
Lynn straddled the sniper in her bare foot approach without any recognition from him. She slipped the Glock 9mm trained on the sniper’s head into the back holster underneath her top. The next split second, her razor-sharp butterfly knife appeared as if by magic in her hand. She watched the curtains spread. John waved bye-bye to the sniper as Lynn slit his throat.
“I hope he appreciated the wave goodbye, Cheese. I’ll be down in the Toyota with Alexi whenever you finish the visit.” Lynn knelt on the convulsing body while cleaning her knife on his clothing. She patted the top of his head. “Well, Betty… that’s how it’s done. See ya’.”
* * *
I took a deep breath as I admired the waterfront view. This was one fine place to stay. I rejoined Clint and his audience. I spoke Arabic so there would be no mistake made by anyone. “Here is how this meeting will proceed. I will frisk each one of you, confiscate your illegal weapons, then say goodbye. Although you planned to murder me here, and claim not to know about how such a thing could happen, we will leave you four alive to figure out what to do with your sniper’s body.”
I frisked each man, relieving him of his weapon. Darius wasn’t armed. Yeah… I thought about snapping his neck for the hell of it. I knew Clint would need to shoot the other three. Instead of a nice clean operation, we’d have a mess. “You are one lucky man, D. Clint and I do not leave many enemies alive at our backs. Consider this a warning. Await my decision on the fight and stay away from us. We kill on sight from now on. I want Eugene back. I should take you hostage to get him, but now is not the time. I will be in touch.”
“You are afraid to face me in the cage, kafir!”
Okay… that was about it for the posers tonight.
“I don’t have Dev here to bring the rain, John,” Clint warned with a smile.
“I’m good. Stand up, Destroyer. I trained in the Bay today, had a couple of adult beverages, and I still can pick off your best attack, Betty.” I heard Lynn enjoying my stealing of her line. I threw the table aside. “Show me what you got, poser.”
Darius threw what he thought was a lightning fast strike at my head with an overhand right. I blocked it easily and nailed him with a solar plexus punch with my right hook that hit dead on target. He fell to his knees, white-faced and clutching his chest. Unable to get enough air, Darius collapsed to his side. I kicked him in the face.
“Now that’s entertainment,” Clint said. “You three… down on your knees, hands clasped behind your heads. John and I will leave now. You guys take care of your boss, Betty. Anyone following us gets a bullet in the head.”
We left the hotel. Lynn and Alexi awaited us at the curb. Once Clint and I settled in the back, Lynn said, “I guess we answered the question as to what they want to do. The sniper had an M107. They’ll have a wonderful mystery to unravel on that roof.”
“I’m glad Nick gets h
ere tomorrow. We should have everything in preparation for taking Amir’s son. We have no idea what they’ll do to Eugene once Amir finds out what happened with his plan.”
“Tommy will be happy to hear that even after training in the Bay, and having a couple drinks, Darius couldn’t hit you,” Clint said. “I take back calling you a pug.”
“Gee… thanks.”
* * *
Nick moved his hand over the baby grand piano in the huge recreation room of his purchased Bay Area mansion. Rachel, Jean, Sonny, and his Unholy Trio group stood near him as he admired the piano. He glanced at Clint and Lynn, waiting in anticipation for his reaction.
“This is a beauty. You two really did well picking this one.” Nick played a classical piece with soft undertones. “It sounds wonderful. I guess this means I’ll be entertaining after we take care of our Jared business.”
“Plan on it, Muerto,” Lynn said. “Tommy and Dev shadowed Amir’s kid everywhere to be certain he would be home tonight. The only complication happened last night with the Darius surprise. We haven’t heard a word from their camp since.”
“From your description of events, I don’t think the situation could have been handled any better. Darius still believes John considers the fight in Abu Dhabi to still be on the table. If we grab the kid tonight, and he’s as much a fan of the Unholy Trio as we hope, I may be able to turn him to our side. The option of running his own medical center amongst a grateful city’s population, and keeping his father alive, should be enough if he has had any issues with Islam.”
“True enough,” Clint said. “We need to be ready in case he is unwilling to consider our proposal, in which case Jared will need to be dealt with too.”
“Agreed. How do you want to handle transport?”
“We will have our action van fixed as an EMT hospital vehicle. We have our EMP gun to take out his security system. We don’t know how formidable the kid is. If you can get in without waking him, pop him with our joy juice. We’ll sort out the details about his mindset at Pain Central,” Lynn answered. “We’ll be back at midnight if all goes well. Jared is a great student, and now resident. He has intern’s disease. He sleeps nearly every moment away from the hospital or his extra classes. Jafar learned he worked a double shift so he could second on a new heart surgery procedure. If he’s true to form, Jared will be sleeping through from an early hour.”
“I like this even more,” Nick replied. “Think about it. We can throw in all expense paid vacations to conferences all over the world as an incentive to work our City of Hope. Jared sounds as passionate as I’d hoped he would be.”
Lynn smiled. “I have to say I’m liking this kid more and more. Your idea is golden with me now. We need to rework his tool of a father. There’s no use getting too optimistic. We need to play this through until Jared reveals to us what really stirs inside his head.”
“Agreed,” Nick said. “I’m more enthused because of this kid’s dedication to a calling like medicine. We’ll go the extra yard to find out more about him. Depending on what we find, I would be willing to let him see us cartoons as real people. He will find out. More than a few of the residents there know about us. It would be useless to keep the Muerto secret identity when Jared will need to interact with Khan in close negotiations for the medical facilities. I’m all in on the City of Hope. Whatever I need to do in placing him there with Khan, I will do.”
Cala grasped Lynn’s hand. “Johnny and I want this so much. We will not be only about the ‘Death Cult’ we were born into. We escaped, and helped build a city where others can escape while showing the rest of the world it can be done.”
Lynn shook Cala’s hand with both hers. “I pray it be so, little sister. My dealings with Islamic mutants has soured my outlook. I see your vision, but I have enough of the pessimist inside me to wonder if it’s possible for us to pull it off. I promise you this, kid. If it doesn’t work, it won’t be because I sabotaged it.”
Cala hugged Lynn. “We just need to kill the right people, big sis.”
“Amen to that, kid.”
* * *
It went like clockwork. Clint popped the security system and Jafar confirmed all systems down from the electro-magnetic pulse. Jess drove away, leaving the black clad Unholy Trio to enter Jared’s rented house. They had full audio and visual gear so we could watch the entire operation on the big screen inside our action van. We prepared for everything, including an outside security force. Luckily, that was not needed. The entire area remained under observation until we finished the operation.
Muerto burglarized the front door in seconds. We watched as the original Unholy Trio swept through the house with professional expertise. You can bet Lucas watched, ready to critique any movement out of place. Lucas trained me. I didn’t see a single miscue. Nick and company arrived in Jared’s room without a single problem, as we figured. I admit the cartoons were hell of impressive. They scavenged the entire room before awakening the nearly comatose Jared. They positioned themselves at the foot of the bed in complete character, MP5 submachine guns in sight, readily aimed in Jared’s direction.
“Jared Amir Kostler! You are called by the Unholy Trio!”
I admit I’m a killer, but even I felt bad for the kid. Jared’s worst nightmares materialized as if from thin air at his bedside. Nick stepped forward, separating from Payaso, the very evil clown, and El Kabong, in a seemingly seething fit of rage. They acted their parts to the max. The scene entertained with such humor, it was a good thing the action van only observed.
“I am El Muerto. This is Payaso and El Kabong. We have come to either enlist you in our endeavor to save another innocent, or to punish everyone involved.”
“Oh… Lord… please don’t let this happen!” Jared squeezed his eyes shut, hoping when he opened them the three figures would be gone. No such luck. “I…I have seen all your videos in your fight against the Sharia. Please don’t do an intestinal cleaning on me! I am not a terrorist!”
I saw even through the full silk hood from his eyes, Nick took no pleasure from Jared’s reaction. He gambled immediately, knowing he would need to kill the kid if his plans didn’t work out. He removed his hood and went over to grasp Jared’s shoulder.
“I’m Nick McCarty. I am also El Muerto. You have been a fan of my Unholy Trio. Why?”
Jared stared into Nick’s eyes with obvious terror, intelligent enough to know when bad guys in masks identify themselves, the consequences mean death. “Please… no matter what you think… I cannot help you. I know nothing.”
Jared sobbed, tears streaming down his cheeks as he covered his face with his hands. “I know… I must die now… because you removed your mask! Please kill me fast… please!”
Nick made a promise in opposition to our mission. So be it.
“You are not going to die, Jared. Your father, Amir Mohammed Kostler, has done numerous murderous actions. He took hostage a friend of the Unholy Trio. Amir holds our friend to blackmail us into betraying our nation. That will not happen. We see a lot of exceptional things from you. We are here to learn whether you live to help and cure people, or you follow the Islamic ‘Death Cult’ of murderous tyranny. My associate was brain washed from childhood to believe everyone who is not Muslim must convert, be enslaved, or die. We want to know how you feel.”
“My father? He had my oldest sister killed! She raised me! Jana loved me. Her offense was she loved a man she met in Abu Dhabi while working in a hotel. The killers murdered her right in front of me!” Jared turned away on the bed. “I am a coward! I did nothing. They were men from my father’s security guards, named Parsa and Mahad. They stabbed her to death! I am a surgeon. I do good to honor my Jana, who loved me and believed in me! Kill me, if you must!”
“Would you like to escape Islam’s Death Cult, Jared? What does Amir have planned for you?”
“He wants me at his side, in case anything happens to him. My father wants a son to be there if something strikes him down who might save his life, assuming
I would never betray him. I plotted to pretend helping him until he died!”
Nick smiled. “I have a way to change your life. Will you listen to my offer?”
Jared leaped from the bed with fists clenched. “Yes! I will kill my father for you. I will not take money to do it!”
Nick grasped the young man’s shoulders. “We do not want you to kill anyone. We want you to save others like you and run your own medical facility.”
Jared’s mouth tightened. “Please do not play with me. I have already agreed to murder my own father for you.”
“Let me show you something.” Nick opened Johnny’s satellite laptop. He showed Jared the City of Hope’s numerous pictures and videos, explaining his own connection with its leader. “I do not want you to hurt anyone. I want you to be in charge of the new medical facility at the City of Hope. They need you to recruit doctors and nurses for a first-class hospital. We will send you to every state-of-the-art conference on new techniques or anything you feel will help you be the top of your field.”
Jared sat on the edge of the bed in complete shock, imagining everything Nick offered. “What must I do to get such a life, Muerto?”
“Be a hostage against your father, so he will release our friend from his accomplices. Everything will be yours, no matter how this ends. The City of Hope is real. They need you there now. They have thrown off the chains of Islam. It will be a lifetime’s dedication with benefits beyond your imaginings and rewards beyond comprehension.”
Jared gripped Nick’s hand in both his. “I will do all you ask without question. When your friend is safe and I am in the City of Hope, I ask only one thing – I want Parsa and Mahad killed by the hand of the Unholy Trio. They raped her in front of me before cutting her apart, laughing as they did it. My father thought to enlist me in his travesties from then on. I remained silent. You have given me the fulfillment of a dream. Can you do what I ask?”
“Absolutely. Get dressed and pack a bag. Will you have any trouble getting coverage at the hospital for a couple of days?”
“Not at all. I was given a week’s vacation yesterday because I have had no time off at all in the past years. I will miss working at the hospital, but this City of Hope opportunity will free me from my father and Islam. If I may ask, how did you build such a city?”
Rule of Nightmare Page 11