Serve and Protect

by Douglas Varnell

  A knock came on the door and in walked Paul’s friend John Graham, probably the best computer systems designer that used to live on Earth. He didn’t see him very often but knew he was always hard at work operating and developing computer systems and monitoring the data received from Earth. He was smiling as he entered the office, and said, “I thought you might want to see this. I showed it to General Zarman; he laughed and told me that it was something completely out of his league and that you should deal with it.” Paul wondered what could be too big for Jim to handle, since he had almost as much authority as he did. His imagination went wild with various problems that could have come up. He shrugged and replied with an exacerbated expression, “Let’s have it.” John reached for the computer console on one end of Paul’s desk and asked, “May I. It’s something you need to actually see. What I am about to show you started out on YouTube and has now gone viral. It’s also made CNN Sports Center and Worlds Most Amazing Videos. Over 80,000,000 people have watched it so far.”

  Paul leaned back in his chair and wondered whether he wanted to see the video or not. Graham played with the controls a moment and the video came on the big screen. Paul couldn’t help but smile at what he saw. John began to explain, “Evidently the Marines assigned to guard the Mississippi complex came up with a creative way to entertain themselves and the others in that area, every Saturday for the past eight weeks they have been holding Crotch Rocket Races around the complex. It started out with just the local construction workers and residents of Success coming to watch. Last weekend the number had grown to 100,000 spectators. There have even been vendors selling food and T-Shirts.” Paul watched as ten crotch rockets lined up to begin a race. The course looked to about 5 miles long and wound through trees, creek beds and even through one of the huge warehouses. There were plenty of narrow twisty turns. When the race began, it looked like roller-derby on crotch rockets. With Verron Body Armor to protect them, they were racing more aggressively than Paul could imagine. It reminded him of the old chariot races in Ben Hur. They were slamming into each other aggressively. Some were actually knocked off their rocket and crashed into the trees, only to remount the tough little machine and take off again after the others. At times it looked as if they were hitting speeds of nearly 300 mph. It was the most exciting racing Paul had ever seen.

  John looked at Paul’s smiling face and asked, “Well, what do you think we should do about it?” Paul laughed and said, “How ‘bout we put up a gate and start charging admission. This looks like it could catch on.” John sat down and pushed his personal laptop across the desk to Paul, and continued, “There have been over 10 million inquiries on how and where to purchase one of the Verron Crotch Rockets. Yesterday Michael was contacted by Dorna Sports, the people who own the rights to world professional motorcycle racing, they have asked for a meeting to discuss the possibility of buying the rights to crotch rocket racing. Honda, BMW, Suzuki, Yamaha and Ducati have already made inquiries about how they can distribute the vehicles. It looks like you have created a real fiasco by sending the Marines to Earth with such toys to play with.” Paul smiled and reached for his com unit. He immediately contacted his brother Kary who had, along with some of his biker friends, set up the manufacturing of the crotch rockets. When he picked up, he asked, “I’m afraid I have some bad news for you bro.” Kary wondered who had been hurt or killed, but before he could respond, Paul continued. “It looks like along with everything else you are now doing, there is going to soon be a demand for, Oh, 5 or 10 million crotch rockets, how soon do you think you can have them ready?” After replying to King Verron as only a brother could get away with, he soon informed him, “I’ll get with Michael and my plant manager to see just what we can do.” Paul nodded to John and said to Kary, “Check your email in a few minutes. John Graham is going to be sending you and Michael something to watch. You’re gonna love it.”

  When he disconnected, he turned to John and said, “I could use a few more problems like that. Tell General Zarman that he was right; this decision was way over his head. Have Michael price out crotch rockets in high quantities of production and both rockets and body armor without the enhancements. People will need the protection but not the weapons systems and exoskeleton. Also ask Jim to send a few more crotch rockets down for interested parties to evaluate. Paul was smiling when John left the room, he had made his day. He watched the video three more times and wished he was there racing with them instead of sitting in his office.

  While Paul was contemplating his next business venture with Earth and working with John Eib on the scheduled completion of the oil pipeline to Mississippi, supposed to open in one week, Chase and Daniel were about to finish the construction of their last defense installation in Israel. They were enjoying this last location much more than most of the others since it was right on the coast and had some of the best diving in the world. Eilat, Israel was at the very bottom tip of Israel, located on the northern tip of the Red Sea. The small town of only 50,000 was one of the most desired tourist locations in the country. The Kings City section was filled with lush hotels, amusement parks, harbors, night life and some of the best beaches the boys had ever seen, but what they enjoyed most was the pristine coral reefs in the Gulf of Aquaba. These two had grown to love the water and were accomplished divers and swimmers. While staying at the Hilton Eilat – Queen of Sheba – they booked a boat several times a week to enjoy one of their favorite pastimes.

  Eilat had been chosen to have a defensive system installed for obvious reasons, it was located in a strategic position, with Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia all bordering Israel at that location it was a critical defensive position. The last system to be installed was a bit more advanced than the others, with capability to defend against not only incoming air assaults but also against anything coming in by way of the Red Sea or across one of the three countries it bordered. Strategically located on top of one of the surrounding mountains, the new facility offered an unobstructed view for miles in every direction. Israel’s borders had already been breached in years past by invasion forces and terrorists, so they had fortified their borders with the Israeli-Egypt Barrier and built strong barriers on the Jordan border as well; both were equipped with motion detectors and cameras to enhance early warning. Chase and Daniel were finishing the computer system that would automatically fire on invasions by land, sea or air. With the weapons acquisition targeting system, the computer sensor array could determine if something was a threat or not. If an individual, boat, automobile or aircraft was unarmed it was perfectly safe, all others – beware.

  It was dark by the time the two divers returned to the main harbor and headed back for their hotel. They stopped off and got a bite to eat and enjoyed the walk back through the busy streets of Kings City, discussing the final steps to be taken the next day to complete their job. Both boys were looking forward to getting back to Verron. They loved to dive, but they loved to fly more and both were tired of these small brown mountains and sand for as far as the eye could see. Chase decided that other than the lower temperature in Israel, it was not much more inhabitable than Molnar.

  It had been a long day and both members of the Dragon Guard checked their messages, took a shower to remove the grime from the sea, and headed for bed, 0430 came all too quickly, but in the heat of southern Israel, morning was the most productive time of day. It was 0145 when Daniel woke for some reason. He wasn’t sure why, but things just felt different. Then he heard someone scream; most likely from the floor below. He raced across the two bedroom suite and banged on Chase’s door, then rushed in. Proclaiming, “Something’s up!” Neither took time to get dressed in anything more than their shorts, but both actually slept in their forcefield. After the Atlanta bombing, Paul had made it clear to take no chances, especially where they were located. Neither of them carried a gun, but both did have a dive knife they wore strapped around their thigh when they went diving. In a moment they shut-off the lights in the room and slipped into the hall. It was then they
heard a sound that Vlad had taught them to recognize, the not so silent sound of a silenced weapon.

  Six vehicles rolled up in front of the Hilton Eilat at 0145. A twenty-five member al-Qaeda/Hezbollah death squad exited the cars and quickly entered the hotel lobby, shooting anyone who was in sight. The bellman and two security guards went down as they exited the cars and three more employees working the front desk died instantly when they raced into the beautiful tiled lobby. Dozens of people were returning from the nightlife of Kings City and dozens more were returning from a late swim in the hotels beautiful pool or finishing a late night drink at one of the bars. The hit squad wasted no time cutting them all down with their silenced H&K MP5s. They split-up after clearing the lobby as two groups raced up the stairs at each end of the building and another group headed for the elevators. They knew exactly where they were headed, to kill the two blond-haired devils installing the Israeli defense system and who had been responsible for the death of thousands of their fellow terrorists. Silenced shots rang out from the stairwell as the men checked each hallway on the floors between them and the suites upstairs. Those traveling by elevator exited the floor below and the floor above their intended targets then jammed the controls so the elevator remained stuck on the top floor.

  Chase and Daniel were outnumbered and out gunned. They slipped on their shoes just before exiting the suite they shared and headed in opposite directions toward the stairways at both ends of the long hall. They decided that since they didn’t have any guns, they would simply borrow a few from the people on their way up to visit. Both boys hid out of sight behind the vending machines located next to the stairwell. The point man of the hit squad cautiously opened the heavy metal fire-door and peeked through the crack. He signaled for those behind to follow after giving him a five second lead. He exited the stairs and hugged the wall as he eased toward the vending machines close to the stairway door. He didn’t even have time to scream when the 7 inch dive knife slammed into his heart. Daniel quickly pulled him behind the coke machine and grabbed his H&K. He wanted to take off down the stairs, but decided to wait. Then he heard the noise at the other end of the hall, evidently Chase was already shooting terrorists or they were shooting at him. There was now no need to be quiet. He slit the throat of the next man out of the stairwell and watched as those following pulled back into the safety of the steel and concrete. He glanced down the hall and saw Chase in a firefight with the men trying the exit the stairwell. He thought how much he would love to have a couple of grenades but had to work with what he had.

  Chase yelled at Daniel, “Ready to find out how these shields work?” Daniel answered, “As good a time as any!” Simultaneously they charged the shocked hit squad that was about to exit the stair and overpower the infidels. With one headshot after another the boys began to litter the stairs with bodies. The, would be, assassins where confident that these men without those demonic gray suites would die just like anyone else. They would never be able to tell anyone just how wrong they were. Soon Chase and Daniel had to grab other weapons as the ones they had where either shot apart by enemy gun-fire or simply ran out of ammo. There were plenty to choose from. Finally in a desperate attempt to end this battle, one of the men exposed an exploding vest he wore under his jacket as he grinned at Daniel. Daniel smiled back and knew that this fool was about to kill himself and his fellow assassination squad. He shook his head and smiled at the confused terrorist, who wanted to see the face of fear. Daniel spoke in Arabic, saying, “Tomorrow I will kill your leaders and your family.” The fool pushed the detonator and cleared the stairwell. Seconds later he heard the same ear shattering sound at the other end of the hall. Chase had one of the fools in his stairwell too. Both Dragon Guard members were glad the bombs went off in a heavily reinforced concrete and rebar stairwell. The only people killed by the bombs were the fools that used them.

  Chase was coming back up the stairs towards his floor and discovered one of the men still alive. The rebellious terrorist spat at Chase and said, “Hezbollah will rule. Praise be to Allah.” Chase shot him right between the eyes. He and Daniel met in the middle of the hallway in front of their room and waited to see if anyone else showed-up for the party. The two then split-up again and agreed to meet downstairs in the lobby. They wanted to make certain that the hit squad was gone. They exited the stairwell carrying their confiscated H&K MP5, to be greeted by over fifty heavily armed members of Duvdevan – Israel’s elite counter-terrorism unit. The two shirtless blonds did not fit the typical terrorist profile, but they were armed with silenced MP5s. Before they had a chance to lay the weapons down, fifty Israeli made TAR-21 Bullpup assault rifles fired at the armed men. After firing a few hundred rounds, Chase said in Hebrew, “You’re doing more damage than the terrorist. Put those things away before you hurt someone.” The commander sitting in the control van parked out front of the building recognized Chase and Daniel from watching them for the past few weeks on surveillance tapes. He radioed a cease fire and soon entered the building behind his men. He approached Chase and Daniel and asked, “The terrorist?” Daniel pointed to the stairwells and answered, “All dead in the stairway. We were just checking for others when you boys showed up.” He looked at the two blood covered young men and saw not one single gunshot wound. Chase read his mind, “Blood of the hit squad, not ours.”

  The commander turned and signaled his men to check the stairs and floors above for any survivors or hidden members of the squad. He smiled and said, “I have no idea how you people do what you do, but Minister Barak told us to keep an eye on you as a courtesy, but added, ‘they can take care of themselves just fine.’” Daniel reached down and picked up the MP5s and handed them to one of the Duvdevan, and told him, “These belong to our visitors, the knives are ours. You’ll find a few with knife wounds upstairs. They didn’t want to let us have their guns.” The commander shook his head and told them, “I’m afraid I’ll need you two to come with me to the station and give me a full report.” Chase and Daniel looked at each other and both said, “Can we shower first.” Chase added, “This blood is starting to dry.”

  Sixty-one people died in the assassination attempt of Chase and Daniel Verron, 36 guests and employees and 25 Hezbollah terrorists. Chase and Daniel spent several hours at the Security police Headquarters giving them a play-by-play of the events that took place. They kept getting some unusual stares from the members of the Counter Terrorism Unit, finally one of them asked, “I know you people have the finest body armor known to man, I read the reports. What I want to know is how you managed to not suffer a scratch when fifty rifles fired at you while wearing nothing but a pair of running shorts?” Chase smiled and told him, “If I told you I’d have to kill you.” Daniel elbowed his cousin and held up his forcefield, then clipped it back onto his belt, saying, “These are like American Express; we never leave home without it. In fact, since the attempt on Princess Renee in Atlanta, we even sleep in them. It’s called a forcefield. It works just as well as body armor. The advantage the body armor has is the vision enhancements, targeting system, environmental capabilities and exoskeleton for added strength. It will also withstand a nuke; I would not want to try that with this.” The officer turned and walked away to discuss his findings with his friends.

  For the next two days, Chase and Daniel had a 20 man escort everywhere they went, so they decided to forgo any diving and work extra hours to complete their project and head home. Three days later they test fired the system and got the overwhelming approval of the Israeli Defense Minister Mr. Barak. He apologized for the incident at the hotel and assured him that it would be dealt with. Chase looked at Daniel and back at Mr. Barak then told him, “Don’t waste your time. By the time you deal with them, they will all be dead. We will take care of this our way, if you don’t mind.” Mr. Barak told them to tell Prince Michael that the first installment on the system would be placed in his bank account next week. The two boys shook his hand and stepped through a gateway back to Verron.

  Anxiou
s to speak with their Uncle Paul, they stepped out of the gateway directly into the office where Inga was working on her computer. She smiled her usual pleasant smile and informed the boys that King Verron was already upstairs eating dinner. They wasted no time in getting to the kitchen. Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes, sweet white corn-on-the-cobb, pole beans, buttermilk cornbread and strawberry cobbler. Israel was the farthest thing from their mind. Ninety-nine had made the sweet tea and was so excited to see his two friends home he almost dropped the pitcher of tea when they arrived. Great-grandmother Alene gave them both a hug and of course told them how much they had grown and immediately set a place at the table. The boys didn’t want to upset the Queen mother by talking about what happened in Israel and decided to wait until after dinner. The conversation was pleasant and both stuffed themselves on the normal fare at the Mansion. Paul could tell that something was up. He sent a silent message to Lucy and asked what’s been happening in Israel. She came back in a few minutes with a full report. Paul couldn’t help but smile at the considerate young men. They truly had grown-up while they were gone.

  After supper, Chase, Daniel and Paul headed for the terrace to make certain Zeus was fed and to see their old friend. As soon as they were alone with King Verron, he asked, “Its safe now. What do you propose we do about your situation? Chase and Daniel looked at each other and wondered how Paul knew already. Daniel answered, “After what happened to Aunt Renee and now what they tried in Israel, I say we go take out the Hezbollah Headquarters. We were going to do it yesterday, but decided to finish our project and let you decide what we should do. Paul thought a moment, and replied, “Hezbollah has locations all over Lebanon and a dozen other countries around the world, even South America and Asia. They like to hide their weapons and missiles in places like schools, hospitals and heavily residential areas. They know that the softhearted politicians don’t like the news when school kids get killed, although I have every intention of taking the war to them wherever they are, for now I say we do a good surgical strike at their main location in the heart of Beirut.