Choosers of the Slain pos-3

by John Ringo

  “I told you I’d be on time,” Mike said as Daria waved two Keldara forward with his gear.

  He stripped right on the cold deck, sitting on a coiled cable to pull on his pants. As he did he mused that this was a long way from his evening with Lydia. Who was, as a matter of fact, already in Lunari at this very moment, much closer to harms’ way than he was. Not a good thought, all things considered.

  “Vanner and the intel group is in place,” Adams continued. “And the recon of the rally point is complete. So far it looks clear.”

  “We getting any take from Katya?” Mike asked.

  “Lots,” Adams grunted. “From what Vanner said her reception was not fun.”

  “As long as she lives long enough to give us a layout and location of the target, that’s all that counts,” Mike said.

  “Things have since gotten better,” Adams said. “She has a sugar daddy that’s keeping her from getting bounced around too much and she’s located the primary. She and the primary are keeping the sugar daddy happy, thereby securing the primary and getting a look at the club. She hasn’t gotten much intel on layout of the club, but Vanner also picked up another source. That source has been a gold mine.”

  “Is he sure about the source?” Mike asked.

  “What Katya has been able to confirm has all played out,” Adams said. “The source looks genuine. Mikhail, the security team leader, has hooked up with one of the same pimp’s hookers. She’s seen more of the club than Katya and has filled in all the little blanks. We even know where the computer room is.”

  “Excellent,” Mike said, standing up. One of the Keldara lifted his ammo harness into place and another handed him his SPR. “I’d say we’re go.”

  “Agreed,” Adams said.

  “Gimme the maps and lets’ get this show on the road.”

  * * *

  Katya listened to the music and tried not to ask what time it was.

  Since the second day with her sugar daddy, they had mostly stayed at the club; the American neurosurgeon seemed to enjoy the atmosphere. Club Aldaris was like most such facilities in the world. There was a ground floor bar where the customers hung out and were propositioned by girls wandering the floor. In the center was the bar itself and on the back wall were three dance stages where the girls showed off their stuff.

  Reception had been spotty all along. The combination of the thick ferroconcrete walls and the background noise had interfered with audio and the video had been bad as well. So she also couldn’t ask Vanner what the time was. It was time and past time to get out of the club and get ready to extract. But “Tom” was in the back with another girl.

  She looked up as a man walked over to the table and looked them both over. He paid particular attention to Natalya, though, who was drawing on the table using condensation from the glasses.

  “Come on, girl,” the man said, reaching down and pulling at Natalya’s arm. “I’m in need of some fun.”

  “Sir,” Katya said, getting up and holding up her hand. “We are with another man. You should ask for someone else.”

  She glanced at Natalya who was frozen in her chair, looking at the man like a mouse looking at a snake.

  “I just want this one little whore,” the man said, dragging the frozen Natalya to her feet.

  “Hey, buddy,” Tom said, walking up behind the man and tapping him on the shoulder. “These are my girls.”

  “What, you own them?” the man scoffed.

  “He’s the bad man,” Natalya said, so quietly it was hard to hear over the music. “He’s come for me.”

  “Yeah, I rented them for the day,” Tom said angrily. He’d been drinking steadily all evening and Katya was pretty sure he had to be drunk. “I bought ’em, they’re mine. So take your hands off of her.”

  “I want this one,” the man holding Natalya said, reaching into his pocket. “I’ll pay you for her.”

  “Wait,” one of the guards in the club said, walking over. “Is no fighting.”

  “I don’t want your damned money!” Tom snapped, slapping the man’s wallet away. “Just get your hands off of my girl!”

  “Katya, what’s going on?” Vanner asked.

  “Problems,” Katya whispered. “Big problems.”

  * * *

  “So, why are we watching this?” Captain O’Keefe asked, watching the real-time video from the Predator drone.

  “Because we care?” Pierson asked, shrugging. “In case there’s anything we can do to help?”

  “Well, we can’t drop JDAMs on the town,” O’Keefe pointed out. “And we can’t send in a SEAL team to help out. And we can’t interdict with Tomahawks. So what exactly are we going to do?”

  “Sweep around the edge of town,” Pierson said into the microphone. “You really think that the President isn’t going to want to know how it went down? And getting an after action report from Jenkins is like pulling teeth. So… we watch.” He paused and leaned forward, keying the communicator again. “Whoa. Head down Highway One. I think I saw…” He paused and blanched. “Zoom in on that group of busses. Get an angle from the side if you can.”

  “That’s not normal,” O’Keefe said, leaning forward, then looking up at another plot. “And they’re already in the air.”

  “No, it’s not,” Pierson agreed. “And, yes, they are. Zoom in more on the windows.”

  “Crap.”

  * * *

  “Kildar, Vanner.”

  “Go,” Mike said, looking around the helicopter. The Keldara were as prepared for the mission as could be arranged, but he still was unhappy. As he watched, one of them reached into his blouse and pulled out a silver “cross”; the device was actually a hammer disguised to look somewhat like a Christian cross. The Keldara kissed the relic and replaced it in his blouse. For what we are about to receive…

  “We have two major issues that have just come up,” Vanner said, calmly. “The girls are still at the club and someone is trying to extract Natalya. Katya believes that it may be the person who was impersonating Grantham.”

  “Shit,” Mike said. “You got a facial visual?”

  “Yes,” Vanner said. “I’ve uploaded it to Colonel Pierson. However, they have a Predator drone up and he has just informed me that there is a convoy of armed personnel headed for the town. ETA is about forty-five minutes.”

  “They’ll hit us in the middle of the op,” Mike said, thinking furiously. “Where?”

  “They’re coming in on Highway One,” Vanner replied.

  “So are we blown?” Adams asked.

  “Any other indicators?” Mike asked.

  “Nothing in the club,” Vanner said. “Nothing in town.”

  “I don’t think it’s coincidence,” Mike replied. “But we’re still locked on the mission. I’ll work on it. Good job. Tell Katya to stay with Natalya if at all possible. Time for her to use her toys.”

  “Roger,” Vanner said. “I’m going to roll part of my security team to follow.”

  “Concur,” Mike said. “Continue the mission. Adams?”

  “Go.”

  “Get me Team Padrek.”

  * * *

  “All I want is this one little bitch,” the man snarled at the guard. “I’ll fucking buy her from you!”

  “She’s bought and paid for, buddy,” Tom snapped. “Get the fuck out!”

  “Gentlemen, gentlemen,” Boris said, walking over. “There is no need to argue about whores; there are plenty of whores.”

  “Then let him have others,” the man said, reaching into his pocket again. “Here,” he said, pulling out a thick wad of hundred euro notes. “Five thousand euros. Now I leave with her?”

  “Now you leave with her,” Boris said, nodding as he riffled through the money. “And you do what you want as long as she comes back alive.”

  “Fine,” the man snapped, pulling her along with towards the door.

  “Hey!” Tom shouted. “I paid for her!”

  “I give you money back,” Boris smirked.


  “I go with you, too,” Katya said, stepping in front of the man. “I give you good time, you give me money!”

  He paused and looked her up and down, then smiled.

  “You want to go with me, too?” the man asked. “Okay, you want to play with the big boys, you can come along, too.”

  “Bitches,” Tom shouted. “Nothing but fucking bitches! All you care about is the money!”

  “Yes?” Katya said, laughing in his face. “So? And I was never fourteen!”

  Tom snarled at her and started to draw his hand back, but then stormed out of the club.

  “Now I go with you,” Katya said, putting her hand on the man’s arm. “And I show you what I can do.”

  * * *

  “Where is she?” Mikhail asked as the Lada screeched to a halt in front of the club.

  “Gone,” Vanner snapped. “Looks like west towards Highway One towards the hills. We’ve picked her up on two vids so far, but in just a minute she’s going to be outside our reception range.”

  “I’m on it,” Mikhail said. “Keep an eye on Tanya for me.”

  * * *

  “Tanya,” Vanner said, as the girl opened the door. “We need a big favor. A very important, and dangerous, favor.”

  * * *

  “Padrek,” Mike said over the radio. “Change of mission. There is what looks like a reaction force headed for the town. Take the half your team that was supposed to secure the Forward Aerial Assembly Point down Highway One about two klicks and block the road. Once the road is blocked I’ll have someone pick you up. Try not to get engaged.”

  “Understood, Kildar,” the team leader said.

  “Your entry portion will shift to Team Oleg,” Mike said. “Good luck. Try not to get your asses shot off.”

  * * *

  “Where is Boris?” Bezhmel asked the guard inside the club as he hurried through the doors.

  “In back,” the guard said, indifferently. “We close.”

  “Let’s hope not permanently,” the security specialist said, hurrying across the almost deserted club. “Boris!”

  “Ah, Yarok Ivanovich!” the Albanian said, smiling unhappily. “What do you want?”

  “You know this girl?” Bezhmel asked, pulling out the picture of Natalya.

  “Natalya,” the pimp said, nodding. “What is so important about one little crazy whore? First two Americans fight over her, then you want her. She is gone.”

  “Gone!” Bezhmel shouted. “Gone where?”

  “With American,” Boris said, frowning. “You shout at me in my own club?”

  “Fuck,” Bezhmel cursed. “Look, there is an attack coming, but I have to find this girl. I have a group of soldiers coming to stop it, my people, former Spetznaz. They will take care of it but you must get your guards up, now! And I need to know where the girl has gone, now! You said she went with American…” Bezhmel said, pulling out the other paper. “Was he one of them?”

  “The one she left with,” Boris said, nodding and trying to catch up. “What attack?”

  “The group that hit Club Dracul and Rozaje,” Bezhmel said, putting the pictures away. “Where did they go? The man with the girl.”

  “I can ask around,” Boris said. “They were in silver Mercedes. But… what attack?”

  “My people will be here in about thirty minutes,” Bezhmel said. “I need to find the others. East or west out of town?”

  “Ask guards on door,” Boris said, shrugging. “I go wake up my guards. I will make phone calls and see if anyone see them.”

  “Right, I’m out of here,” Bezhmel said. “My second in command is Yevgenii. He will bring the soldiers here. The attack may come tonight but it may not. We need to surprise them.”

  “We will,” Boris said, grinning. “We’ll kill them all for Dracul and Rozaje.”

  “I’ve got to go.”

  * * *

  “I’m getting something from her,” Mikhail said. “Is it retransmitting?”

  “Got it,” Vanner said. “I’m trying to boost the gain…”

  Chapter Forty-One

  “Where are we going?” Katya said, placing her hand on the man’s crotch and rubbing it.

  The Mercedes was very comfortable, with leather seats like the ones in the Kildar’s Expedition but wider and softer. Some day, she would have a car like this one. Including the divider so the driver couldn’t listen in.

  “A place I know up in the hills,” the man replied. “A quiet place where we can have some fun. Well, where I can have some fun,” he added, grabbing her wrist and pushing her hand away. He twisted her arm up behind her back and leaned over to her ear. “There is a special kind of fun I like to have.”

  “You want do this, I need much money,” Katya said, internally cursing as he twisted her arms behind her and cuffed them. “Please no hurt. I give you good time! No need hurt.”

  “We’ll talk about that when I’m done,” the man said, reaching into her dress and twisting her nipple, hard. “Well, just before I kill you.”

  “Oh, please don’t do that,” Katya said, sobbing.

  “But it’s what I like,” the man whispered in her ear. “I like to hurt little girls like you. I like to kill them. I’m going to do you just like I did that little bitch in Rozaje. I’m going to hurt you and hurt you more. Then I’m going to take you in the ass and strangle you while I keep pumping your ass till I come, bitch.”

  “Why you do this?” Katya whined. “Why you want Natalya?” As the man spoke she twisted her hands as if to get away. The valve at each joint at the base of the finger had to be pressed four times to open up the poison pouch. It was a laborious process. Fortunately, this jackass wanted to talk.

  “It was so simple,” the man said, laughing. “Just get a voice changer, put on a mask and I was Grantham. The bastard. He blocked my nomination with the last administration. I should have been the undersecretary for International Development but he brought up that shit from Nigeria as if little bitches matter! Well, I fixed him good. And now he’s singing a different tune!” He looked at her and shook his head. “What does a little whore like you understand about anything. You’re only good for one thing.”

  “You not need kill us,” Katya whined.

  “Try to figure out what Traskel has to do with it,” Vanner said, suddenly. “And we’ve got a security team following you. Just hang in there.”

  “Please not kill me,” Katya continued, trying not to snarl at the distant voice. “Who Grantham? I not know Grantham. I not know anything! Please don’t kill!”

  “Grantham’s a senator,” the man said, dragging her down so her head was in his lap as he continued to play with her body. He pulled her dress down and reached into a cigar holder, lighting up and then playing the lighter on her tit. “And you wouldn’t understand anything about that anyway.”

  Katya let out a very real shriek at that and tried to struggle away.

  “Please!” she begged. “Please not hurt me. I be very good to you. I suck good. I suck really good. I get you off good!”

  “That’s right,” the man said, dragging her off the seat and onto her knees on the floor. “You suck me good and I might let you live. But if you bite…”

  “I not bite,” Katya promised. “I not scratch,” she added, lying. “I be good to you, you let me live. Kill her if you want, I don’t care. But let me live.”

  “I already made that mistake,” the man said, looking over at the nearly catatonic Natalya who was huddled in the corner. “Kill the one bitch and let the other one sweat it out, waiting to die. But then my damned supervisor, the bitch who had my job, sent me to fucking Rwanda! And when I got back that little bitch was gone. But now she’s here, and she can watch while you service me and then…”

  “Mmmf,” Katya answered as the man tangled his fingers in her long golden hair and shoved her down on his dick.

  “That’s right, I’ll let you live if you suck me good,” the man said as she began to fellate him expertly. “That’s a good w
hore, you suck good. Fucking Grantham! Thinks he’s so high and mighty… I needed Traskel, though, the fucker. He got Grantham to go on that damned trip. I got another one of you whores to slip a Rufie in his drink. He doesn’t remember what he did that night, which wasn’t much. Then the stupid bastards gave me that damned DVD and that was all I needed. That fucking Grantham is dancing to our tune, now. That’s playing with the big boys! Between Grantham and Traskel, we’ve got Foreign Affairs and Judiciary sewn up.”

  He suddenly yanked her head back and reached down to pull both of her arms up with the shackles so hard she had to scream again.

  “But do you want to know the best part,” he said, leaning forward and whispering in her ear. “The best part is that with those two behind me, I can do this anytime I want. I can buy you little whores and hurt you and rape you and kill you and nobody is going to stop me.”

  “Please don’t kill,” Katya begged as the car pulled to a stop.

  “Depends on how good you are,” the man said, dragging her out of the car and over into the woods. “Get down on your knees and suck me so good I forget about hurting you.”

  “Give me one hand?” Katya begged. “I not hurt but can suck so much better with hand and mouth. Please? I take you all the way down. I swallow your cum. Not to kill me! Please!”

  “Gunther,” the man snapped, stepping back. “Get that other bitch over here so she can see this. I want her to watch every single second.”

  The driver dragged Natalya out of the car by her hair and into the woods, pulling her up so her back was to one of the trees and then wrapping a rope around the tree and her neck, tying her in place with it. The tree was far too thick for her to reach behind and untie it.

  “Take me in your mouth, bitch,” the man said, gutturally, dropping his pants and shoving his dick in Natalya’s mouth. “Suck it!”