A Dubious Artifact (A Colton Banyon Mystery Book 6)

by Gerald J Kubicki

  “Agent Gamble will make the decision and he will press the buttons. I’m going to be busy upstairs on the roof,” Joe pointed out.

  “Now let’s talk about deployment of our personal,” Agent Gamble told the group. “We only have a few people here on the ground floor, so we need to make sure everyone knows their jobs.”

  “Can we head to our stations?” Steve the sniper asked. “We need to get situated before they get here.”

  “What about the cars?” Banyon asked. “They could give cover to the bad guys.”

  “Eric, throw Steve your keys,” Agent Gamble said. He then reached into his pocket and tossed his keys to another of the snipers. “Pull the cars down to the front edge of the driveway and block the entrance. I don’t want any vehicles to get close to the cabin.”

  “On it, boss,” the snipers replied.

  With a wave of his hand, Agent Gamble sent them off. “Don’t forget to turn on your earpieces guys,” he yelled after them as they exited the front door. He then looked at Joe. “Great job explaining things Joe, but, you need to get your happy gun ready. Don’t open the roof until you get the signal from me. I want to draw these guys into our trap.”

  “Good luck everybody,” he said and left the room like an entertainer leaving stage — waving and smiling.

  When there was just nine people left in the room, Agent Gamble revealed his battle plan for them. “I’m going to open the slots and the catwalk now. I want one person on these two wall, and two people on each of the side walls. They are the higher risk sides. The remaining three people will stay in reserve in the middle of this room. If one of us thinks that there are too many bad guys near the deck, sing out and we will send the reserves to that wall. Are there any questions?”

  “Who is going to be in reserve?” Maya asked.

  “Let’s have you Maya, Colton and Dr. Behl in reserve. Everyone agreed?”

  “We can run and get more ammunition if needed,” Banyon quickly threw out. “Put Loni on a front wall so that I can watch her,” he added.

  Previne and I will take a side wall, that way we can talk,” Pramilla offered as she pointed to the East wall. “We are both expert marksmen.”

  “I’ll take the back wall,” Eric suggested.

  “Well, ole buddy,” Agent Gamble said to Tom. “That leaves you and me to take the West wall.”

  “It’ll be like old times,” Tom joked.

  “We’ll leave the boxes of ammo right here in the middle of the room. If you run low, call out and someone will get you more. Is that clear?”

  “I think that this will work,” Eric said confidently. “The Chinese will never get within range of those stupid, cheaply built, AK-47s and the Effort guys will mostly have handguns. We just need to keep them away from the cabin.”

  “That is the plan,” Agent Gamble said with a smile. He looked at his watch. “We have ten minutes before the bad guys are due here. I want each of you to get to your stations and get familiar with the fire lines. Colt, maybe you can get us water?”

  “I’ll get two bottles for each of you,” he announced. Everybody started to leave for their stations, but Eric stopped them with his hand.

  “As an ex-marine I can tell you that this type of fighting is going to be tough, but marines have a saying when they are up to their asses in trouble. All marines know it, you do to. Let’s all put our hands in the middle.” They all gathered close.

  “On three,” Eric said. “One, two, three.”

  As loud as they could yell the sound reverberated throughout the log cabin, “Ooh-rah.”

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  “We got movement in the woods on the South side of the cabin,” everyone heard in their earpieces.

  “Large force in the woods on the North side,” Steve the sniper then reported. “Looks like about thirty men walking casually in a group. They don’t appear to be very coordinated. I can’t identify the leader.”

  The third sniper chimed in, “I see a small group on the West side, maybe ten people near the tree line.”

  “Seems like the Chinese have split their forces,” Agent Gamble said to everybody. “It’s a common Chinese tactic, attack from more than one position to dilute the defenses. It only works when they have an overwhelming numerical advantage. They must think that they do.”

  “Too bad for them,” Previne said through gritted teeth.

  “Watch for a scout,” Eric added. “They will try to sneak up on us soon and see what kind of defensive parameter we have set up, if any at all.”

  “No one fires until they fire first, except for the snipers. If any scouts get within forty feet of the cabin take them out,” Agent Gamble ordered the snipers.

  “Roger that,” came three replies.

  “I wonder what will happen when the Chinese and the Effort group notice each other.” Loni asked as she crouched and looked out one of the shooting slots from the catwalk. She was on the North wall.

  “It will be chaos,” she heard in her earpiece, but didn’t know who had said it. She shrugged and bent over to resume she watch.

  Banyon sat on the floor in the middle of the room with Maya and Dr. Behl. She sat on a chair because the floor was too hard, she whined. From his position, he could see most of the defenders, only Eric was out of sight. He watched Loni as she moved gracefully from slot hole to slot hole. She was like a cat on the prowl. She still looked great even in all the SWAT gear. Her little ass stuck out every time she leaned over to look out a hole. I can’t lose her, she means too much to me, he thought. He vowed to himself to make sure she got out of this alive. He was very concerned because Wolf had alluded to some of his friends dying in the gun battle. He prayed that it wouldn’t be Loni.

  He tore his eyes from her and turned to the Patel twins on the East wall. He remembered that they were actually his first protectors. They had lived next door to him for several years before they made contact with him. Contact was incredibly wild sexual adventures, but while always on the make for him, they were also extremely competent, loyal, athletic, and smart. He adored them, and couldn’t think of a life without them as well. They stood like sleek twin towers with long tapped legs spread for balance on the catwalk. Their bodies were stuffed into designer jeans and loose tops. They were bent over from the waist, with their backs arched, and their jet black hair cascading down their backs. If it weren’t for the war they were about to enter, he would have considered their positions as very sexual. Please don’t let something happen to them, he thought. Suddenly, Previne turned around and smiled at him she then wiggled her rear end for him to see. His face started to turn red as he waved back.

  He was pretty sure that Eric would survive. He was well-trained and experienced. He was an ex-navy SEAL. He was also Wolf’s grandson. Wolf and Banyon had risked everything about two years ago to save him from a certain death. Since then he had moved to India and married Pramilla. Eric, with his surfer boy image, took an almost comic view of everything including conflict, but under pressure, he was an accomplished fighter.

  Finally, he considered the men on the West wall. They were both dressed in their customary off-the-rack suits and ties, as per department regulations. They had Kevlar vests over their suits. Banyon originally didn’t like Agent Gamble and tried using Maya to make him forget Banyon and his secret. Banyon was worried that the government, knowing of his power, would never leave him alone and he didn’t want that. However, while Maya was on her mission to cast a spell on Agent Gamble, she fell in love with him. This changed everything and Banyon and Agent Gamble had become closer. Maya also moved from Long Island to Chicago and now lived and worked with the FBI agent. Agent Gamble was on a secret taskforce to eliminate the Effort. They had worked well together and as a result there were a lot less Effort leaders around these days. In addition, Maya and Greg were frequently visitors to the Banyon house, both in Chicago and their condo in Las Vegas. He was too valuable to lose.

  Then there was Tom Cruickskank. Banyon had just met him and reall
y liked him. Banyon’s father and Cruickshank’s father had actually served in World War II together and brought back the artifact that they were protecting. Tom had real warmth and showed great strength of character.

  Banyon also wondered what Wolf meant when he mentioned Banyon would decide. How could I decide who dies? he thought. His nerves were all tense, his anxiety was becoming overwhelming.

  “There is a Chinese scout crawling through the grass towards the house,” one of the snipers reported.

  “Got a bearded man in leather pants running in a crouch towards the front of the house,” reported Steve.

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  As Banyon watched, Loni suddenly froze in place and carefully placed the tip of her rifle through one of the slots.

  “I’ve got the man coming in from the North,” she exclaimed. “He’s about forty, with long hair and several tattoos. He looks ex-military.”

  “Don’t shoot, let the sniper do his work,” Agent Gamble ordered. “Let me know when he gets within about forty feet of the deck.”

  “Roger,” she replied.

  “My guy is still a long way from the house as he is crawling, but you should take him out too,” Eric informed Agent Gamble who didn’t reply.

  “In range,” Loni suddenly called.

  “Fire,” Agent Gamble said.

  Loni saw the man go down before she heard the boom of two rifle shoots. “He’s down,” she said.

  “Mine too,” added Eric.

  “Joe, get ready, I think they will try an all-out charge next,” Gamble spoke into his earpiece.

  ***

  Zao Ping heard the two shots and saw his man twitch in the grass. He knew immediately that his man was dead and raised his hand in a fist. Both groups of Tong dropped quickly to the ground. The echoes were such in the meadow that he could not tell where the shots came from. He wondered if there were snipers. He decided to rethink his attack strategy. He turned to the group on the West side of the house and saw one of the men frantically waving to him. The man wanted him to come to their position. He told the men in the South side group to stay put and charge when he gave the order and began to slither over to the other group. He zigzagged and changed his speed as he traversed the growth, just as he’d been taught. It reduced the ability of a sniper hitting him.

  David Heller heard two shots as well, but didn’t reach the same conclusion as Zao Ping. He thought the two shots were fired by his man, who then quickly dropped to the ground to seek cover. He didn’t realize the man was dead. He now turned to Bob Bloom and gave him specific orders.

  “Go find and kill Albert Spitz, now,” Heller said with a sneer. Bloom nodded and left in a loping jog. He headed into the deep woods which led to the road.

  Meanwhile, Heller deployed all his men in a single line across the Northern end of the woods. The attacking line of gunman covered almost one hundred and fifty feet.

  “Charge,” he roared and the men rushed out of the woods and at the log cabin. Some were whooping and screaming as they drove forward. Some started to fire their guns even though they could do no damage from that great of a distance.

  “Joe, now,” Agent Gamble said.

  “Roger,” Joe replied and started raising the .50 caliber gun.

  “Snipers look for the leader and fire at will.”

  Heller’s men had covered about twenty yards when dirt started spraying up in front of them. Soon they heard the repeating boom of the .50 caliber machine gun as it chewed up the ground. Without warning the two men on either end of the column went down. The noise from the machine gun fire and all the Effort men shooting wildly was deafening and prevented anyone identifying sniper fire. But the men realized that something was not right and came to a skidding halt.

  Heller raised his arm and screamed, “Back to the woods.” The men rushed back to the safety of the tree line. It was ten minutes into the battle. Heller’s watch read twelve-ten.

  “I’ve identified the leader of the North group,” Steve whispered into his earpiece.

  “Take him out,” Agent Gamble ordered.

  “Roger that,” Steve replied and took aim.

  Heller had just turned to try and regroup his men when his head exploded. The men around him stood in shock, especially his bodyguard. David Heller died without realizing that would never fulfill his dream of leading the Effort.

  ***

  By the time that Zao Ping reached the second group of Tong, he knew there were other people in the woods. He had heard several more sniper shots and then there was the .50 caliber pouring lead towards the North side of the log cabin. As the Tong hurriedly described that he saw more than twenty men rush the cabin and were driven back, Zao Ping remained calm. He now could clearly see many men firing from the cover of the woods, but they were not firing at him. They were firing at the cabin. An enemy of my enemy is my friend, he thought. He quickly dropped to the ground and started to think of some way to use the other fighters to his advantage. Without warning the head of the man next to him suddenly sprayed blood on the men around him.

  “Missed the leader,” the sniper said into his earpiece.

  “Keep trying,” Agent Gamble replied.

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  Bob Bloom moved swiftly through the woods. He soon spotted the van where Albert Spitz sat waiting. In the background he could hear the sound of the Effort men firing, the .50 caliber, and several rifle shots that were louder than the rest. He felt that the Effort people were losing, but his first priority was to takeout Spitz.

  He was about ten yards from the van when he heard Spitz’s son say, “Stop right there.” He suddenly appeared from around the side of the van with a shotgun pointed at Bloom. He could not miss at that range.

  The window from the van rolled down and he saw that Spitz had a handgun in his rock steady hand. Bloom knew he had no chance to get them both.

  “You can die right here, or you can listen,” Albert Spitz said.

  Bloom dropped his gun and put up his hands in surrender. “I’m listening,” he quickly replied.

  “Good,” Spitz said. “Heller is a dreamer and doesn’t plan well.” Prophetically Spitz continued. “I doubt that he will survive the battle. There are snipers in the woods.”

  “How do you know this?” Bloom asked.

  “I’ve heard the sound of sniper fire before, my friend. They shoot the leaders as soon as they can be identified. He is in somebodies cross hairs already.”

  “So, is everybody going to die?”

  “Not if you listen to me,” Spitz calmly replied in a determined voice.

  “How?”

  Spitz looked towards his son and nodded his head. “We have brought some additional firepower.”

  The son opened the back of the van and pulled out two RPG rocket launchers. A smile appeared on the face of Bob Bloom. “These babies are brand new, U.S. government issued. You just point, acquire the target and then shoot.” He hefted both weapons and walked towards the Bloom.

  “I want you to lead the men, but don’t appear to be in command,” Albert Spitz said. “You will report to me. Heller’s plan is now over. Is that clear?”

  “Heller is probably dead anyway. But he did promise me a position on the inner circle,” Bloom saw a chance to move up the ladder and decided to take it.

  “When Heller is dead, it will be done.”

  “If he is not already dead, an accident will happen,” Bloom added enthusiastically.

  “Take out the big gun first,” Spitz ordered. “Once it has been silenced, have the men charge. Then blow a side out of the cabin. You’ll be too close for them to set up an effective defense and you will be able to overwhelm them.”

  “I’m on my way,” Bloom said with a smile.

  “Oh, one more thing,” Spitz called after him.

  “What’s that?”

  “Make sure you kill everyone especially Dr. Behl and bring me the artifact. I have a use for it.”

  “It will be done, my leader,” Bloom a
nswered as he disappeared back into the woods.

  Spitz now addressed his son. “Get me out of this place before it’s too late. Take me home.”

  “But I thought that you wanted the artifact?” His son asked.

  “The priority is to get rid of Dr. Behl and Heller. I already have a way to get the formulas,” Spitz gave his son an evil grin.

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  Bullets were flying everywhere when Bob Bloom got back to the frontline. He stayed back several yards deep in the woods and called two of his men over to him. They looked ashen-faced and defeated.

  “Heller is dead,” we don’t know what to do?” one man said.

  “Well, we are about to even the odds,” Bloom replied confidently. “Has either of you even fired an RPG?”

  “I’ve seen them fired before. It’s not too hard,” the other man answered. “I need to be in a kneeling position, right?”

  “Good,” Bloom said with satisfaction. “Take this one and the two of you work your way around to the West side of the building. After I take out the machine gun, wait thirty seconds and then blow a hole in the side of the cabin. We will be charging and break into the cabin before they can set up a new defense. Can you do that?”

  “We’ll do it.”

  Bloom then called to some other men and told them to spread the word that they would rush the cabin as soon as the machine gun was silent.

  The two men grabbed the RPG and disappeared into the woods. Bloom flipped the switch on the second RPG and watched the small monitor as it spooled up to arm itself. He then crawled up to the edge of the woods. Everyone watched him as he took aim.

  ***

  Banyon had just asked Wolf if anything was new. “They are about to shoot a missile at the.50 caliber machine gun,” Wolf replied urgently.

  Banyon leaped to his feet and ran to the wall. He slammed the button to close the shutters. “Joe, someone is about to send a missile your way. Get out now,” he screamed into the earpiece.”