Again making another instant decision he found a drum of the kerosene used for cooking. He tipped that over then picked up the drum and walked it around the rooms, splashing the bodies, the furniture and the walls. When the drum was empty he found a match, set it alight then ran out into the night.
---oOo---
So was created the legend of Raymond. The little boy who killed.
He left the city, he went into the jungle where he didn’t just survive; he prospered. He had money, he had guns, he had the will and the ability to do what he wanted and he was clever. His imagination served him well, when he had an idea of what he wanted he did what he had to to make it reality. Quickly he had a small gang, then that grew.
He grew into an amazing young man who then became an incredible adult.
He built an army, he captured a region, and he made it his own. Unfortunately, as he grew he became corrupted, the power, the responsibility, and worst of all was the legacy of the violence had never left him. He became the kind of person he had first killed, he became the warlord, the gang member, the drug runner and the criminal.
Raymond Garcia had been born, then was reborn to be the regions most feared crime lord.
Mister Alberto, had he been alive would have said that Raymond had been captured by the violence. That he had become like the people he killed. But no one had the bravery to say that to Raymond. In his pain and fear, Raymond could not see it either.
---oOo---
Her second night in Bogota!
The villa was nice, was enclosed with high walls and had a pool she’d had a swim in. After the trip and the unpleasantness of the previous few hours she felt like she needed to relax, but that was impossible.
She was on a mission. It had been planned and agreed. She had people depending on her, people she had manipulated into position to do her bidding when the time was right. This coming night she needed to get on top of a key part of the problem.
Since everything was running to schedule, this felt like celebration time and didn't people let off fireworks on celebration nights? Perhaps she should do the same. She was feeling so tired she was thinking silly thoughts.
With that thought she went to her bedroom where, as requested, she found an ornately carved wooden box maybe two feet long, a foot and a half wide and high. Smiling, she inserted the key she had brought with her then opened it. 'Ahhh' was her first thought, 'a present from home, how thoughtful'.
"Delightful," she said quietly as she took out six small pink grenades from the dozens inside, "I do like pink, these will do just fine." She put them into her bag, put the strap over her shoulder then concentrated hard for nearly a minute.
She let the focus of her mind wander as she tried to feel for what and whom she wanted. She felt the locale around her. She moved her perception outward following the roads and paths into the jungles. She felt for the presences, made herself receptive for the mental tickle of people. She filtered out the simple presences, the people sleeping, the people living and loving in a normal life. She looked for the presence of ‘hard people’, those with guns and violence in their hearts.
It wasn’t hard. The people she looked for were unique. Fearless, strong, giving off the vibration of near-anger and rejection of anything but their own will.
Then she found him. The one person who had all the attributes she looked for. She found him shining like a beacon in the jungle, sitting behind his desk looking over the business records of his empire as he idly had a drink.
With her eyes still closed, she concentrated even more. She let her senses intrude, to feel, to ‘look around’ the area and she knew who this was. It was him.
She finally had 'just the right spot' so she pushed in just the right way then merged with the corner of Raymond's' office.
In the early evening in the shadows she would have been difficult to see particularly as she didn’t make a sound. However a weak sixth sense that most people had, Raymond had in absolute abundance. After just a few seconds his head snapped up then his hand went into the draw kept slightly open for just this reason, then he withdrew a large pistol.
She walked forward, "Good evening Raymond, you may call me Kate," she said smiling slightly, "mind if I sit? I have a deal for you."
Raymond looked at the young woman, not much older than a girl but he was not fooled for an instant. He had killed twenty men before he was her age, his gun hand did not relax for an instant, "Deal? Why?"
She shrugged then sat in a shabby chair in front of the desk, the gun never leaving the center of her chest and only separated by the width of the desk. She was unmissable.
"Because Raymond today I am asking you nicely. Today you should accept because it is a good idea, today because you could look to the future knowing that the past you have lived is quite unacceptable and now it is time you gave back to the people. It is your time Raymond. That's why."
He was feeling disoriented in the strangeness of this, "What are you talking about woman?" he pointed the gun at her head, "make sense or I will kill you right now."
She smiled at the scowling man, "Very well," she said. "I want you to completely stop all drugs manufacture and business, stop all crime, turn your criminal army into a civilian militia to see to the needs of the people and for you to divert all your resources into legitimate business."
His scowl turned into surprise, then into a slight grin, "Since you ask so nicely, NO! Are you insane?" He looked at the small woman just wondering who the hell she thought she was.
"Well," said Kate, "in that case you had better kill me as I now formally declare war on you and your army. When you are ready I may accept your surrender." She was looking him right in the eyes, looking over the top of the semi automatic pistol. She guessed it was one of the pistols he had started his life with, kept and used through all the years.
“Very well, but first we will have a little fun." He was grinning now, this would be interesting. He wondered who she was with, DEA or FBI, but she was so strange she could not be a real agent. No way was she any kind of trained agent. "RAOUL, MIGUEL, GET IN HERE," he screamed out but not letting the pistol move a fraction of an inch, rock steady centered on her chest, hammer back, finger on the trigger.
Seconds later his two most trusted lieutenants slammed into the office then were brought up short by seeing someone who should not be there sitting in a chair with the bosses pistol pointing at her. "Take her, get every piece of information from her then after you are finished, give her to the troops."
As he watched his two most trusted men leaned down to take her by the arms. These would be her last happy moments.
He relaxed the hand holding the pistol then it happened too fast for him to see clearly. He tried to bring the pistol up to shoot, but suddenly both Raoul and Miguel were flying through the air. She had taken their wrists, lifted then thrown the men across the desk at him, in bending their center of mass was off so she so she only had to throw them forward across the desk.
As they crashed into him he saw her hand go into her bag which concerned him as a pistol must be in there. Instead she withdraw something she threw onto the desk. In absolute horror he saw it was a grenade but like no grenade he had ever seen before. It was smaller than usual, and pink, but it was obviously a grenade.
Throwing himself to the side with the other two men also seeing what it was they all collapsed into a heap on the floor.
He looked up to see that the girl had left the office slamming the door shut then the grenade exploded. The concussion in the closed office was huge, his head battered by the bang. Most surprising however was that he was still alive, even though his brain was addled. Seconds later he heard another grenade going off then a third and then three more in quick succession. Seconds later again he heard gunfire from all around the building. Quickly it increased till it sounded like everyone in the whole area was shooting at her.
Collecting his wits he picked up his pistol then ran out of the office, down the staircase then into the groun
d floor. He found the area in disarray with men kneeling, holding their heads, tables and chairs turned over and a strong smell of explosives in the air. She had run this way tossing grenades out as she went, and now she was being chased by his men, that was obvious. Good. They would kill or capture her and he didn’t care which.
What was not obvious was how she survived the hail of gunfire. He expected her limp bleeding body to be dragged back any moment but as time passed this did not happen.
Losing patience completely, grabbing a radio from the table, "FIND HER, KILL HER, BRING HER BODY TO ME!" he screamed into it.
---oOo---
High up in space, this and other transmissions were heard by specially equipped surveillance satellites. Each sent the feed down in real time via other satellites till it was received in the office of the Director of the NSA.
Sitting back he listened to the radio transmissions and in some of them in the background he heard gunfire, screams and the sounds of triumph that quickly turned to torrents of abuse when it didn’t turn out as expected.
As requested, he forwarded the feed to the CIA then made some phone calls.
---oOo---
Raymond was standing by himself listening to the radio, listening to his men charging through the jungle shooting, co-coordinating a capture or kill of the awful woman.
She was sighted, "She is here, by the garage," he heard on the radio, then he heard what sounded like a hundred rounds being fired then the screams of his men, "where is she!" was heard a dozen times, along with swearing and cursing her.
He’d been listening to this running battle for a while when he heard, "Give up yet?" from behind him. The woman. He spun around with his pistol only to find she was gone but at his feet was another grenade. He jumped back as quickly as he could but it exploded barely five feet away stunning him yet again.
Falling to his knees shaking his head he closed his eyes then re-opened them and there she was. "I'm enjoying this," then she tossed another grenade underneath his kneeling body then she ran.
In terror he threw himself to the side and covered his head barely getting his arms around his head when this grenade exploded. As soon as he recovered he brought the pistol up looking for her or anyone to shoot. He grabbed the radio, "SHE WAS IN THE OFFICE. FIND HER. KILL HER," he screamed.
Till midnight the battle raged, running battles raging through the jungle, near, far, all around as his soldiers pursued her. Gunfire was almost constantly heard, she was seen a thousand times and a thousand times she was shot at but unfortunately she was never hit. His soldiers reported aiming carefully, or spraying an area with massed automatic fire yet she was never hit. It was if it was only an image of her, just a picture that they were shooting at and no one could understand it.
Unfortunately that was not the case for so many others. The number of soldiers hit by other soldiers shooting a burst of automatic fire from the hip climbed rapidly past ten, then twenty and was now over fifty plus a half dozen had died. The jungle at night, on a dark night, with many angry spooked men shooting at shadows flitting around had become a dangerous place.
At midnight it became quiet, she was not sighted for a time. Despite searching for an hour she could not be found anywhere, then in the second hour his whole army in the region, thousands of men brought into the area, could not find her so he called off the search, "Get rest. We will find her in the morning," which the men accepted gratefully.
Sentries were setup, the men found a place to lay down and sleep then in the dark quiet night, the only sound was of snoring and the occasional sentry on patrol.
Raymond decided he would put a dozen men on duty in and around his office. Six inside, six outside. Those inside would be split up so they could see each other plus they would stop anyone entering any of the doors or using the staircase. After three o'clock in the morning he lay down on his bed thinking in the morning after a few hours sleep he would feel better. His head was pounding, his eyes hurting and his hearing was not too good right now. When he found that woman he would use a grenade on her in an unusual and painful way, he decided. She would scream for hours before she expired. Thinking of the suffering he would mete out he fell asleep.
Almost as if he had not been asleep at all, but he later found out he had been asleep for only a few minutes he felt something hit the bed by his legs. He had just enough time to wonder what it was when the explosion and the sudden concussion and pain in his legs made him realize she had tossed a grenade through the open window onto the bed by his legs. The pain was severe but also the shock of being woken that way after very little sleep was almost enough to stop his heart.
Staggering out of bed he collected his pistol then realized that none of the men had come rushing in. Then he heard other explosions outside, she was throwing grenades around again! He lumbered out through his door then promptly fell over one of his men, Raoul!
He looked in horror as he lay in the huge pool of blood; Raoul had been beheaded by something, taking his head clean off.
Staggering to his feet he charged down the stairs till he came to others, all his security, they were all dead. Each man had been hit by something very sharp that had killed them instantly, without warning, without them firing a shot.
He ran outside where it was no different. The external guards, one on each corner and two roaming, were all dead. She had killed a dozen of his best armed awake, ready for anything solders. No. This could not be happening.
As he listened he heard the men running through the jungle hunting her. He heard gunfire, shouts, screams and explosions in the distance as men pursued her. As the noise receded into the distance he noticed just how quiet it was. Not a sound anywhere near him then something made him look around. That sixth sense tickled him.
She was only fifty yards away watching him from beside the garage. He snapped his hand up to shoot but she stepped back out of sight. He started to move that way then stopped. She might have laid a trap. He turned and saw she was now quite close beside the corner of his office watching him, "You can't catch me," she said, "others smarter and better have been trying for years," then she jumped back as he lifted his gun and fired two bullets into the side of the office hoping they would pass through the walls to hit her.
He stood with the gun held tight in both hands looking for a target scanning around in the star light when his heart almost stopped again. She was right behind him. He turned quickly then was terrorized completely.
She put a grenade down inside his shirt, he felt it against his stomach. He dropped his gun, wrenched his shirt open then kicked the grenade as it was falling but it exploded less than a foot from him. The concussion was enormous, knocking him over. He lay on the ground for a moment shaking his head then he saw her feet beside him.
"Give up yet? I've got lots of tricks left. I thought you would last at least twenty four hours." He reached for his gun but she dropped another grenade beside him then ran off quickly. He covered his head and rolled away. The blast was again deafening and this time small bits of dirt pelted him as he lay on the ground groaning.
Raymond knew he was just about beaten. She had run rings around him and his men all night and at no time had she been even close to being caught. He wondered how long he could keep this up plus she had obviously killed a dozen men soundlessly and without any hint of being caught. He was under no illusion, if she wanted to she could have killed him a dozen times over.
He stood slowly, collected his gun, checked it, then kept it in his hand ready. If he saw her he was going to kill her instantly. This called for something different he realized.
He went inside then got onto the radio. It had become apparent she had led the men on a chase during the night then doubled back to attack him again. To combat that he told twenty men to return to his office, and five to stay with him at all times with the remaining fifteen to form a security cordon. She would not get close again. The only problem was that most of his men were now nearly two miles away and would take half an hour
to return.
He needed a coffee so he made one, a nice long black coffee. It had a full deep and rich flavor he enjoyed and not having had a coffee for some hours he enjoyed it. After he drank it he felt better, more human, less the victim.
As he was waiting he felt the cramps of a nasty gastric upset. He seldom had them but he knew the feeling, his whole stomach and gut would soon empty themselves so unless he was on a toilet seat it would be extremely disgustingly and embarrassingly awful.
He ran from the kitchen into the toilet. He threw his trousers and underwear down then sat on the toilet seat just as he voided explosively. It felt like the whole of his body was passing though his bowel, the movement was so huge and painful doubling him over, holding his stomach in a painful cramp. He felt nauseated as well as the pain, the spasms wracking his body. It lasted a few minutes leaving him doubled over holding his stomach sitting on the seat. The smell was awful, assaulting his nose making him feel even more nauseous.
Just when he thought he could not suffer any more, when he could not feel worse, when life right now was testing him to the limits, the door was thrown open by the woman.
"SURPRISE!" she said loudly. Her hand went to his head pushing him back so hard his head hit the rear wall stunning him. Vaguely through the pain and disorientation he saw her drop something onto the toilet pan before she retreated pulling the door closed. In terror he looked between his legs into the metal pail that was under the toilet seat. It had not been empty when he came in either, he now realized, as sitting under half a pail full of feces and piss, only half of it his own, was what looked like another pink grenade.
For a full second of terror he looked down to know true fear, his heart beating in his chest painfully, his legs weak, almost unable to move.
The Camper: First Contact and the Planet Tamer (The Stellar Universe Book 0) Page 10