The bloodied Marines finished off the other four enemy with killing strokes up through their chins. A larger attacking force moved toward them from the maze of buildings behind the mosque, firing as they came.
“Get down, Kong and Cutthroat!” Nick’s sharp order was obeyed instantly by the two Marines. M2 Browning machine gun fire cut through the rear assault party with devastating accuracy. Bodies nearly cut in half pitched all around until John Harding landed the UH-60M into the street’s rear, firing the Yak-B Gatling guns in a tight rotating fashion, clearing out everything in their path. “Sorry, Kong. We saw the threat, but couldn’t move into position with the M2 until a moment ago. Thanks, Cheese.”
“Combat… the inexact science, right Muerto? I didn’t see anything move down there when I took out the tower. One more inexact science moment and we back out and let the ‘Ghostrider’ turn this place into dust.”
“Agreed,” Nick said. “Anyone hit down there?”
“Cleaner’s wounded.” Johnny worked to staunch the blood oozing around the wooden stake from the rear debris explosion, knowing better than to extract it.
Quinn and Clint Jr. arrived at her side a moment later. Quinn gathered her into his arms and headed for Harding’s stealth. Issac helped him ease her into an emergency gurney on board the UH-60M. Johnny dived in with her.
“Achmed! Move into support position,” Harding ordered. “I’ll fly Cala to T for transport.”
“On it,” Jafar acknowledged.
Quinn and Clint Jr. joined Jean. Lynn and Clint ran toward them from the front to take Johnny and Cala’s place. Quinn smashed the access door leading down with one kick, slipping to the side in anticipation of weapons’ fire. His three companions fired bursts down into the underground facility for a moment.
“Damn it!” Jean hesitated for a moment. “We can’t throw stuff down that hole without taking a chance of blowing ourselves to kingdom come. Do you think there’s anything worthwhile down there?”
“Only one way to find out,” Lynn said. “We fire a coordinated burst. Then Kong drops down with Cutthroat backing the play.”
Jean reached out to smack Quinn on the back of his head. “You two warts fire the moment you hit the landing. Hear me?”
Quinn grinned. “Wow, I’m glad you came, Sis. Cutthroat and I would never have guessed we should fire when we hit the landing.”
Muffled laughter sounded uneasily in their ears from the networked assault group. Jean nodded. “Good one. Fire in the hole!”
Jean, Clint, and Lynn took turns firing bursts down into the void below. Clint gestured him down and Quinn dropped down the staircase barely touching a step with Clint Jr. right behind him. He hit the landing hard, swinging toward the interior, firing as he turned. Quinn’s burst riddled the unwary man readying to fire upwards again. Clint Jr. joined Quinn to concentrate their bursts at moving and firing targets.
“Landing clear! Bad guys here!”
Quinn’s words brought Clint, Lynn, and Jean individually with cover fire to the landing and outwards to join Quinn and Clint Jr. They held position. Each enemy who popped up to fire absorbed a .45 caliber hollow point slug through his head as Clint switched to the weapon least likely to explode anything hidden in the underground facility. So deadly was Clint’s fire, the last one hiding raised his hands shouting he was surrendering. Lynn clutched her husband’s hand before he could execute the last one.
“Don’t break my toy. He can help.”
Clint smiled and nodded at his wife, the premier interrogator of all time. Quinn and Clint Jr. had already secured the prisoner by then.
Lynn took off her helmet, sniffing distastefully at the cordite in the air. “Okay, porky, let’s get this over with. Take us on a tour of the armory. Miss something and you get one of these.”
Lynn jammed her stun-gun against the man’s groin, his scream echoing while he landed hard on the floor. Lynn bent down to pat his face. “Ah… so sweet… you think that hurt. You ain’t seen nothing yet, sweetie. Do you understand the rules of the game or would you like another demonstration?”
Still clutching his groin in the fetal position, the prisoner nodded his head in violent affirmative acknowledgement until he could speak. “I…I will show you anything… anything you want to see!”
“That’s my good little helper. Get him on his feet, boys. Let’s get the tour over with before we make this town into a crater.”
With Gatling guns blazing, Jafar’s voice sounded over the com unit. “Taking fire. They are regrouping, Crue.”
“Wait one.” Lynn turned with a triggered arc of blue to get her prisoner’s attention. “I’ll only ask this once. Do you have any women and children here? If you lie to me I’ll cut your dick off and choke you with it.”
“No! They are held near here in case of an inspection! Please… it is the truth.”
Lynn smiled. “Thank you, my little helper. Turn up the music, Achmed. Laredo?”
“Here Crue.”
“Once the UH-60’s are clear, lay waste to everything until there’s nothing but smoke and flame left.”
“Understood. You copy, Dark Lord.”
“Understood. Holding position after Cleaner drop off. T speeding for med help.”
“Understood,” Jafar acknowledged. “Clear of area now.”
“Plug your ears, kids. Ghostrider raining death and destruction.”
With ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ blasting, Laredo’s AC-130J Gunship made passes of which nothing survived on the surface. The UH-60M’s killed everything trying to escape the apocalyptic gunship fire. Nick and Rachel retreated with the M2 machine gun and sniper rifle, watching as Laredo and Gus literally erased everything from existence around the mosque. Rachel kept moving toward the extraction point. Nick stopped, setting up again for cover fire.
“Hold on, Trashy. We have work yet to do. I could use wind, heat, and fire readings.”
“What the hell do you think is going to be down there, Muerto?” Rachel began spotting again, letting Nick know the alterations in wind current, temperature flux, and wind direction at varying distance ranges.
“You’ll see, my love.”
It did not take long before Laredo turned the area surrounding the mosque into rubble.
“Movement!” Benny’s voice sounded for the first time. He called out coordinates, zeroing in on an area where a hatch flipped over amidst the chaos. The first combatant rising out of the opening dropped sideways and fell back inside.
“Nice work, Cracker,” Nick said. “Good job spotting, Killer B.”
“Oh man… I like that, Dad… I mean, Muerto.”
The amusement couldn’t be hidden as Nick called out to air support. “We have a hive hole at last called out coordinates.”
“On it.” Laredo flew in the A130, and Gus hit the hole with a Hellfire missile. Nothing but a smoking crater and some debris survived the impact.
“Shit!” Rachel called out coordinates as another hatch opened, this time with four armed figures streaming out of it. Nick and Lucas killed all four instantly. Without being told, Laredo moved in and sanctioned the hole for all time.
* * *
The waiting game continued for the next fifteen minutes before Lynn came on-line again. “My little helper took us on a tour of the facility. We need Denny in on this with Hazmat teams as well as bomb disposal units. They have stuff best not discussed. We’ll have to stay in place to guard the area, Cheese.”
“Issac’s making the call out right now.” I looked over at my copilot. Issac turned his pad my way. Denny’s grizzled face stared back at me. “Hey, Den… how’s it hangin’.”
“So much for the quiet kill, huh Cheese?”
“On the upside, we may have barely stopped a bio attack. I guess the politicians will have to man up. They won’t be able to whitewash this episode. They have a reason for an armed conflict.”
Denny sighed. “Agreed. Issac said Crue has a survivor. Would you please ask her to keep him for me? I will
be on site in two hours with requested teams.”
“Will do. Cheese out.” I switched back to the network. “Denny requested your helper stay alive, Crue.”
“No problem. He was very helpful, including leading us to a jackpot of gold and bearer bonds. These missions cost money. We’re taking payment now. Trashy will need campaign money too.”
“Thanks, Crue,” Rachel said. “I’ll probably get cut off on my way to the Governor’s mansion though. Muerto doesn’t want to expose the cartoons to public life. Have you heard how Cleaner is yet, Dark Lord?”
“T says they arrived at the hospital emergency room only a few minutes ago. They have her on the table now with Johnny by her side. We’ll secure the area until Denny gets here and then go see her. Are you good for a couple hours, Ahab, or do you want me to fly in a gurney?”
“You’re lucky you have a copilot, Recon. Otherwise you’d be in imminent danger of a friendly fire incident.”
“Heh…heh… I’ll bet.”
* * *
Nick sat at a table drinking coffee inside their campaign headquarters at the Monte Café with Rachel next to him. The results trickled in at a turtle’s pace for local elections in a tourist town like Pacific Grove. Johnny, Cala, Gus, and Tina sat with them. All their kids watched the election result program on the screen set in place for the election. Sporadic cheers rang out in relation to the slow numbers coming in a couple hours after the polls closed.
Jean popped out of her chair with all kids, including Little John, turning to salute the adult table. “Councilwoman Trashy. Would you like to make an acceptance speech to the Marine Marauders?”
Rachel took a deep breath as Nick hugged her. Everyone at the adult table applauded. Rachel stood, waving at the now saluting kids. “I would like to say thank you for all your dedication to my small time election. I’m sure your Mom will be calling to congratulate me any moment, right Sonny?”
“Oh yeah, Ma… anytime now… the moment they begin passing out ice cream and cake in hell, pigs fly, and she stops throwing temper tantrums at my Dad.”
“You’d better take Jean over to visit her,” Nick replied. “She’ll probably need an intervention or a suicide watch.”
“You’re right.” Sonny grabbed his coat. “C’mon Viper, we have to save my Mom.”
“I’ll pass. Use your stun-gun.”
The End for now.
Thank you for purchasing and reading Cold Blooded VI: Red Horizon. If you enjoyed the novel, please take a moment and leave a review. Your consideration would be much appreciated. Please visit my Amazon Author’s Page if you would like to preview any of my other novels. Thanks again for your support. Also, my publisher's monthly newsletter to stay up-to-date on new releases and monthly contests can be found here: Newsletter
Bernard Lee DeLeo
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