by Rafael Hines
“How do you like it!? You tased me, so I tased you back, fucker!” Maria screamed over the edge.
“You okay, honey?” John said, putting his arm around her.
“Ouch. I think my arm’s broken,” she said, gently touching her elbow.
“Where’d you learn to do that?”
“Felix taught me. Needed to get out my aggression while you were away,” she said with a smile.
“Didn’t realize I’d done such a good job,” Felix said, limping over and staring down at Harbey’s smoking and blackened corpse.
“That is a badass lady you’ve got there, Johnny boy,” Bunny said.
“Speaking of badass women, how’s the little ninja?”
“Put a forty-five slug in her chest, but she got away.”
“Forty-five usually keeps someone down.”
“Usually does.”
“Alright, we can’t worry about her now. Felix, you get Maria upstairs and both of you get outta here.”
“Where you going?”
“Bunny and I are gonna go free the Con Ed people that are pounding on that door over there and then find the bomb.”
“Bomb? What bomb?” Felix asked.
“Amir didn’t care when I told him we didn’t bring the C4. Means he had more explosives all along and they gotta be around here somewhere.”
“Sneaky little fuck.”
“That he was. Now get her out of here.”
“Johnny please come with us!” Maria pleaded.
“I’m right behind you, baby. I can work faster if I know you’re safe. Now go!”
John and Bunny took off running towards the door that was being hammered from the inside while Maria helped Felix up the stairs. The key was broken off in the lock. John put two shots in the cylinder and Bunny kicked open the door.
“Who’s the chief engineer?” John asked as the men streamed out.
“Right here. Name’s Ivan Petroff.”
“I’m John, this is Bunny.”
“I know who you are young man. Is the plant safe?”
“No. We think there’s a bomb here somewhere, but need your help to find it. Where would an explosive charge do the most damage?”
“Most people would think it’s the transformer or the turbines, but they can be replaced pretty quick. It’s the oil tank.”
“Big tank?”
“The building next door is the tank. Holds over a million gallons. If that blows the plant and most of this neighborhood will be gone for good.”
“Okay, Ivan. Show me. The rest of you men get outta here.”
They ran out of the main plant to the long flat one story building next door. Ivan led the way to the main control system and they quickly worked their way around the massive flow pipes. Ivan said, “Sweet Jesus,” and made the sign of the cross when they saw the thick wads of C4. The digital timer on the detonator was placed up high, over seven feet off the ground. It showed forty nine seconds, blinking each time it counted down to blast off.
“We don’t have time to find a ladder. Bunny, hoist me up.”
Bunny grabbed John low around his shins and lifted him up easily to get a clear view of the mechanism. With the clock ticking right in front of him he took his time, carefully examining each wire and checking for booby traps.
“Shit. Whoever designed this was a real asshole. All the wires are the same color,” John said.
“Time?”
“Nineteen seconds.”
“How many wires?”
“Three.”
“One in three and ain’t all that bad. Pick one Johnny.”
John knew that this one was out of his hands. It was too late to run. He picked the middle wire and bent it against his knife.
“Here we go.” He cut the wire cleanly and held his breath in anticipation of what would happen next. The clock counted down from six, to five, to four and then froze on three.
Bunny was still holding him up by the legs, with John’s ass resting on his forehead for support.
“Dude, did you just fart in my face?”
“Think one mighta slipped out.”
“Was it a slip or a push?”
“Slip.”
“Really? I felt your cheeks tighten on the release. That makes it a push.”
“Like you care. I diffused the bomb like an hour ago and you’re still talkin’ into my ass crack.”
“Don’t flatter yourself cowboy.”
“I’ve got another one in the chamber ready to fire.”
“You guys are nuts!” the Con Ed engineer said.
Bunny put John down and they laughed long and hard on the walk back to the main plant. They stopped laughing when they saw the wide, thick pools of blood. Blood that came from Boogie and Minty.
Chapter 30
Goodbyes
After disarming the bomb and leaving the plant, John and Bunny hopped into the van waiting for them at the curb. Benji was driving, Maria and Felix were inside, and they drove off just as the cops arrived on the scene. After giving his soon to be bride a kiss and a clap on the back for his cousin, his first call was to General Palmer to give him an after-action report and to see how things went for Team Razor.
Earlier that night during the meeting at Campos Plaza they had figured out that Amir was going after two of the six Manhattan power plants. There was overlap and built-in redundancies between the 14th Street plant and the one on 39th Street and First Avenue. In order to create a significant disruption of power to the city Amir had to take them both out.
John had called Palmer and given him the 39th Street location on the condition that there would be no interference at 14th Street. Palmer kept his word. The FBI and NYPD had quarantined the area for ten blocks and did not converge on the scene until after the fight was over.
The attack on the second utility plant had not been an inside job. It was a commando raid with a full frontal assault on the gate. The seven terrorists were expecting limited resistance from the two armed guards that were always on duty. Instead they faced the deadly skill and overwhelming firepower of four battled tested Special Forces operatives. They never made it past the gate. Only one of the terrorists had surrendered. Another was in critical condition. The other five were dead.
The van carrying John, Felix, Bunny and Maria away from the scene passed through the police blockade without incident. John told Benji to pull over when he saw Captain Ryan. He stepped out and gave him a quick and private update about Harbey. John figured that they’d probably tout the lieutenant as a hero rather than a terrorist mole to save face. In the end he didn’t really care as long as the man that kidnapped his girl was dead and gone.
Terry Hall was there too. He was a by the book type of guy and had a hard time accepting the order to let a civilian army engage in a gunfight with terrorists while his people were relegated to crowd control. John could see the man was conflicted.
“I tied a ribbon on it for you, Terry. Ten bad guys down, including Amir Khan, a bomb diffused, the power plant saved, and no civilian casualties. We were never here. You and your team get all the credit.”
“I’m happy with the result, but next time you stay out of it, and leave it to the professionals.”
“Next time? I don’t ever expect my fiancé to be captured by terrorists again, so we’re good.” He didn’t add that his team had more operational expertise than anything the FBI could have deployed. “Lighten up man, this is a big win for you. You’re looking at a big bump up for killing Amir and his crew.”
John turned away and got in the van without looking back. Ryan came over and squeezed Terry’s shoulder. They both watched Bishop and his family drive off into the night.
“Quite a guy, huh?” Ryan said.
“Yeah, he sure is.”
“He’s right, you know. You’re going to be a legend after this.”
“But, you and I both know the truth about what really happened here.”
“I’m good with it. How ‘bout you?”
T
erry smiled for the first time. “Yeah, I’m good, and you’re helping me with the press conference pal.”
There was a lot to do after the battle, starting with patching up all the wounded. They didn’t go to the hospital this time in order to avoid the wait and all the questions, especially about the bullet wounds. Two of the connecting apartments in Campos Plaza were setup for surgery and the doctors were already working on Minty when the rest of them arrived to get patched up. The bullet in his shoulder broke his clavicle and the one in his leg had shattered his femur. He was going to be on the Injured Reserve for at least three to six months, depending on how the leg healed.
Felix was next with eight stitches in his cheek and the repairs to the deep stab wound in his leg. He kept both the short sword and the knife that Bunny had pulled out of him as souvenirs. The doctor told him that the blade had missed the artery by a hair. If it had been pierced there would have been no saving him. He would have bled out in minutes.
Maria’s broken arm was X-rayed and re-set and she had a big knot on the back of her head. The wrist to shoulder cast kept her left arm bent at a forty-five degree angle in front of her stomach. She was pissed. The arm encased in plaster was already starting to itch.
John had lots of bumps and bruises and received twenty more stitches from his fight with Omar to add to the thirty-six he got from the bomb blast and building collapse at Still Bar.
They all knew that their collective survival had come down to the skill of everyone involved and a lot of luck. They were all happy to be alive, but their joy was tempered by the knowledge that one of their own, Boogie Washington, had given his life to save theirs.
Gonzalo, Grassiella, Maria’s mom and dad, Silvi, Marci, and all the other uncles were there to congratulate them and welcome Maria home. There were hugs, laughs, tears, cheers, and toasts all around.
John, Felix, and Bunny met with Gonzalo and Antonio to give them their version of the battle, but they had listened to most of the action over their secure radio transmission and had already been briefed by the Pro KEDDS team. There was also the live video. Kevin and Danny removed all the security tapes from the Con Ed command center before leaving so they could be reviewed later, and also to make sure that there were no records left for the police. Gonzalo was most interested in the assassin. There was no clear image of her on the tapes. He had a sketch artist come in and between the three of them they created a detailed picture from memory. Hers was not a face any of them would ever forget. After that the adrenaline started to fade they all crashed hard into a deep, dreamless sleep.
There was no time to relax on Wednesday morning. John and Bunny were up early to meet with Team Razor and General Palmer to go over logistics for the next phase of the multi-tiered operation. They laid out the timelines, reviewed satellite images and close-up photos of the ship, and went over weapons and equipment requirements for each man. They would all meet later in the evening to begin their covert journey to the Middle East after Chris’ funeral.
The funeral was held in the family cemetery on a high bluff overlooking Calixto’s house on Long Island. It was a beautiful bright sunny day without a cloud in the sky and the flowers were in full bloom. No one noticed. Putting such a wonderful and vibrant young man in the ground was a sad and solemn affair.
Each family member took his turn to speak, recounting stories about Chris. His spirit, character, and independent nature all bespoke a life lived to its fullest. Bunny spoke in detail about Chris’ heroics after the bombing and his eternal love for a young man he had just met. No one could hold back their tears and even the ever stoic Gonzalo sobbed openly.
Chris was buried next to his mother and everyone shivered when they stared at the next plot over. The newly placed head stone ominously read:
Macho Valdez
Loving Father and Husband
It’s where his spirit or his body would be laid to rest in a few days. The odds for recovering his remains were about fifty-fifty.
After the service Gonzalo put on an old white straw hat and walked slowly up the hill with his brother Sesa. They stopped at each headstone along the way to say a prayer and pay their respects. When they reached the crest of the hill they stood before two graves that lay above the others. Maria and Juan Valdez were side by side in the places of honor. Gonzalo never forgot the promise he made to his mother all those years ago back in Panama. He kept the family together. Both the living and the dead.
“So much death, hermano,” Gonzalo said softly.
“It is the Valdez way,” Sesa said.
“I failed our family.”
“You don’t say that. You never say that. We chose a bloody business and some of us paid with their lives. We mourn them, and we never forget them, but we move forward. Always we move forward. We live and we fight until our time comes, and we are placed beside them. “
Gonzalo nodded to his older brother, but remained silent. He stared down at all the dead and then lifted his eyes to see all the living family members spread out on the lawn.
“Our four brothers died fighting for our cause. That I accept. But, Christina and Michael and now Chris. That’s different. I can’t forgive myself for not protecting them,” Gonzalo said.
“War is war, Zalo. Look down there,” Sesa said pointing to their family below. “Do you think you can protect them all? You can’t, and you know it. More may die. More probably will, but the family lives on. After you and I are gone the Valdez family will still be strong. That is what you have given us. You’re a great leader, my brother. I wouldn’t say it, and I wouldn’t have followed you all these years if that wasn’t the truth.”
“Gracias, hermano. You have always been here to give me strength and help me see.”
“I got tired of getting beat up by my little brother when we were kids, so I decided way back then it was safer to become your advisor.” Trying to lighten the mood, Sesa smiled, his teeth bright white in contrast to his dark and wrinkled face.
Gonzalo smiled back at his big brother, and then carefully placed the Panama hat back on his head.
“Is that grandfather’s hat?”
“It is,” Gonzalo said.
“I know Poppi is happy that you still have it after all these years.”
Their grandfather had only taken the hat off to sleep until the day he died and then their father had worn it the same way. Gonzalo kept it in a glass case and only wore it on very special or very solemn family occasions.
Gonzalo turned around and tilted the hat at his father’s grave.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Yes Don Valdez. I’m ready, and we have work to do,” Sesa said.
John and Maria walked hand in hand up the hill and passed Gonzalo and Sesa who were on their way down. Like his uncles, John stopped and paid his respects as they moved through the cemetery. Off to the right there were two tall head stones that stood slightly apart from the others. They were surrounded by red and white rose bushes and statues of winged angels.
The names Maria Valdez Bishop and Michael Barrington Bishop were etched deeply into the stones. It had been more than four years since he had come to see them.
“This is such a beautiful place, Johnny. I know they must be happy here.”
“I know mommy’s happy that we’re finally getting married.”
“And finally giving her a grandchild.”
“What!?”
“That first night we were together. It’s too soon to be sure, but I know I’m pregnant.”
“If you didn’t have that broken arm I’d pick you up and spin you around,” he said beaming.
“I’ll settle for a kiss.”
They stood there together, kissing and caressing each other, taking in the moment, pushing away the grim realities of the outside world.
“If it’s a boy we’re naming him Chris,” she said.
“And if it’s a girl?”
“Even better. Christina, for him and your mother.”
John bent down, laid his han
d gently on his father’s grave and then kissed the grass over his mother. He whispered a prayer and made the sign of the cross.
Maria stood behind him looking down upon the man she had loved her whole life. She saw him not as the trained killer that protected her and the world like a comic book hero, but as a simple man of honor whose heart overflowed with love and respect for family and friends. Standing there in the Valdez cemetery reminded her of the violence and tragedy that had surrounded him since childhood. Only three of the eleven dead Valdez family members had died of natural causes.
“I don’t want you to go,” she said.
“Me either, but we both know I have to.”
She placed his hand on her belly. “Come back to us.”
“I will, baby. I will.”
They made their way down to the main house where everyone was gathering for an early dinner. John pulled Felix aside so they could talk alone.
“How you holding up partner?”
“Funny, the leg’s starting to swell, but it don’t hurt as bad as I thought it would. It’s my cheek that’s killin’ me.”
“Believe me, that stab wound is gonna be screaming by morning and you’ll need something a lot stronger than Tylenol to take the edge off.”
“What, Superman feels pain like us mortals?”
“What’re you talking about, Cat?”
“Man, first we were dead, then we were saved, dead again, then saved again, over and over. Too many times for me to count and you breezed through it like we we’re shoppin’ for tee shirts at Old Navy.”