Nightmare in Red

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “Will do.” Clyde drove for a few more minutes toward C Street, stopping along a darkened side street curb.

  Nick and John hurriedly donned Kevlar. They each put on knee length trench coats to hide the silenced MP5’s they extracted from their equipment bag along with the night vision gear. Clyde drove toward the C Street warehouse a couple minutes later. Gus had taken the opportunity to frisk Sidi, confiscating weapons, keys, and personal effects. He then restrained Sidi and also duct taped his mouth. Nick and John exited the car a block away from the warehouse entrance with Nick also carrying a narrow range EMP gun and the warehouse entrance keys. Clyde drove past the warehouse a half mile and parked.

  After using the EMP gun on the entrance from a side position away from any cameras rigged with motion detectors, Nick used the keys to enter the warehouse without any problems. It became clear soon after they entered that Sidi had nothing on the upper levels of the warehouse. Nick led the way into the lower level with night vision goggles in place. In the warehouse basement an entire electronics video station focused on the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal, Nick recognized as the docking site for the Queen Mary II. Sidi had hacked into or established his own eyes and ears on the port facility. The smell of what they planned to use permeated the basement even with the ventilation system working without pause to vent the gases.

  Nick examined the chemical bomb makings as had been used in the Oklahoma City bombing. He could tell the content housed in the basement would be able to decimate the cruise terminal and any ship ported there. Enough ingredients to fill any truck registered for dock entry supply with devastating effect were ready for loading, including electronic triggers.

  “Well… this is a fine mess I’ve gotten us into,” Nick muttered. “You know what this means, right John?”

  John let out his breath slowly. “Yes, it stinks in here. I know our newly found terrorist cell must have a crew ready to operate the trucks to take these ingredients and triggers to the dock. None of this explains what the couples’ part is in all this at the Boston Harbor Hotel. I am glad our soon to be willing helper is alive and well.”

  “Did you get all that, Clyde?”

  “Yeah, Nick, another shit storm to handle, and only one live clue in my backseat. Shall I deliver him and begin my off site surveillance of the front entrance?”

  “Yes. Gus, we’re going to need both equipment bags. John and I will be out front to help.

  “Okay, Nick. This isn’t going well, is it?”

  “I’ll know more once I debrief Sidi. One thing is for sure if we don’t get enough cooperation, I say we kill everyone we know is involved, and wait for the reaction. At least we know the dock won’t be blown to kingdom come.”

  “Do you want me to forward that, Nick,” Clyde asked.

  “I’ll talk to Paul if we run out of options with Sidi. I’m glad we brought our simple gear and costumes for this interrogation. We’re going to need Dabor’s complete cooperation. We’ll show him our special videos. He knows who El Muerto is. We heard that when John was with him. We’ll greet him as The Unholy Trio when we bring him out of his nappy time. Then after he sees the videos, I’ll slice him a little and John can apply the cleanser. Hopefully, he’ll be more than happy to help in every way possible or this operation will get real messy. Like John, I’m wondering what the hell the Harbor Hotel couples have to do with anything.”

  “I’m at the front now.”

  “Be right there.”

  Nick and John jogged to the car, extracted Sidi and headed back to the warehouse with Gus following, equipment bags in hand. Clyde drove off after a final check of communications and video feeds. Inside the warehouse, they positioned Sidi on the bed he used in the lower basement. Nick administered a shot to awaken their interrogation subject after stripping off his clothing down to Sidi’s underwear before restraining him again at ankles and wrists. Sidi awoke with a start, eyes blinking into focus as he recognized where he was. His next look of horror illustrated to his now costumed hosts Sidi also understood his predicament. They stayed quiet, waiting for Dabor to speak rather than rushing the awakening process so important to their interrogation anticipation game.

  “You… I know you!” Sidi addressed Nick in shaking voice. “Why am I here? What have you done? Release me!”

  “Uh… no,” Nick replied in his mask altered voice. “You have come to America with darkness, terror, and destruction in your heart and mind. The Unholy Trio captured you with a mission to bring your ass into the light. We’re not your Mommy, so the introduction will be painful. My associate, El Kabong, has a few choice movies which will illustrate for you what will happen if you don’t cooperate fully. I will then give you a small demonstration to convince you of what is to come if we have to force your cooperation.”

  “You are all devils! This is not allowed in America! I have seen what you do. It cannot be allowed!” Sidi worked himself into a twisting ball, yanking at his wrist restraints and kicking his feet out as the Unholy Trio enjoyed the outrage. “Release me this instant, devils!”

  “If you don’t lie still while Kabong shows you the videos, I’m going to stun-gun your pecker until your eyes pop out.” To get Sidi’s attention, Nick fired off an arc from his stun-gun. Dabor quieted instantly, but closed his eyes and began praying in repetitious form Nick recognized from the Koran.

  Nick signaled John who nodded. They both joined into the prayer recital with vigor until Dabor halted. He opened his eyes and Nick stun-gunned his groin area. After an interminable jackknifed wailing scream Nick crouched next to Sidi. “As you can see and feel, we don’t appreciate murderous ass-wipes like you blaspheming Allah. Now lie still while Kabong shows the videos or I will keep giving you painful lessons in how to stay quiet. Do you understand?”

  Sidi could not speak as yet so he nodded his head with enthusiasm. John showed him the evisceration and bleaching videos until Sidi’s open mouthed terror changed to sobbing pleas for mercy. Dabor added the one ingredient to his pleas Nick took instant umbrage to as Sidi claimed to be an ignorant tool of what was going on and had no knowledge of the port or hotel.

  “Oh my, Dabor,” Nick said. “You are definitely in need of our demonstration illustrating how little we care whether you lie, plead, or give out half-truths. When we get done with you, believe me, you’ll want to help and cooperate completely beyond anything you’ve ever done in your entire shitty life. You had a small window in which to avoid a dose of reality. That window is closed. We’ll transfer you to the chair we’ve picked out. Payaso and Kabong will now move you gently into place for your reeducation process. They will also hold your chair so it doesn’t move while I open you a bit for a small cleaning.”

  Gus and John moved Dabor to a plain chair in the room where Gus duct taped him around the chest and upper arms tightly to the chair while John duct taped his ankles and calves to the chair legs. Gus added a final taping around Sidi’s thighs below his groin, anchoring his lower body into place too. They then held Dabor’s chair in unmovable grips so he could not so much as twitch. Nick showed Dabor his scalpel which led to a screaming episode only the deep eight inch cut from Dabor’s sternum down shut off momentarily. His intestines began to bulge outward with the welling of blood.

  “There we are,” Nick said. “I’ll take Kabong’s place while you get the cleansing action in your head.”

  Nick and John traded positions. John administered the bleach in dripping action which seeped into and around the gory wound. Dabor screamed until even his breath gave out allowing only wheezing open mouthed attempts at sound, so high pitched as to be almost beyond human hearing range. When he passed out, Nick rinsed the chemical away before bringing Sidi back into consciousness. Dabor returned with renewed screams mixed with pleadings he would do anything Nick wanted. The Unholy Trio waited for Sidi to calm down. When the man’s tortured features began to focus once again, he realized the silence around him meant only a lull in his interrogation.

  “What? What is it y
ou want from me?!”

  His captors remained silent waiting to hear if Sidi tried to plead ignorance once again. That miscue would have led to a second bleaching. Such was not the case. Dabor waited for a response, his mouth working, but only in a tightening regimen to keep words conducive to more torture from popping out, and to endure the pain still ripping through him.

  “I think you understand now we know you are no ignorant dupe merely following some imaginary leader’s orders one at a time,” Nick explained. “We know you and those two couples you’re in touch with at the Boston Harbor Hotel have big bad plans for causing pain, anguish, mass destruction, and terror to innocents you murderous bastards don’t give a shit about. Dabor, my new helper, you will now be working to prevent anything of the sort from happening.”

  Nick could tell his knowledge of events and people shocked Dabor. He watched the man closely as he continued his warmup. “We also know you have teams to transport the fertilizer bombs. Those we will have you bring here on any pretext we deem feasible. We know getting the couples to come here would be like sending them a warning. We’ll work on that after we get all the sorrowful story of poor Isis loving Dabor caught in a web of terrorism. Let’s get to your cooperation part.”

  Nick nodded at John who approached Sidi with the bleach container. Sidi screamed.

  “I will cooperate! How do you know so much? We were told you are some kind of maniac… with no resources. How could you know?”

  “I am El Muerto. That is all you need know. I can also find out every lie you tell within an hour of the time the lie leaves your mouth. El Muerto is also himself a talented lie detector who will instruct El Kabong to bleach you the moment I even think you’re telling a lie. El Muerto has made errors before. It is an inexact science so for your own sake be very convincing with the details. We will begin with the couples at the Boston Harbor Hotel. Tell me what their part is now.”

  When Dabor hesitated for a split second, John moved toward him while uncapping the bleach jug.

  “Wait! I needed a second… to get it right!”

  “Do so now or Kabong clears your skin rash.”

  “They…they will be decoys to our real plan at the dock. We have already smuggled into their suites everything imaginable, including rocket launchers, all brought in over time, one case at a time using hotel personnel to transport the weapons inside the rooms. The suites are so large as to be veritable armories. Our people stay in the suites while cleaning is done. They have harbor views from the room balconies.”

  “Oh shit…” Gus muttered. “I’m getting visions of what they have in mind, Muerto.”

  “As am I,” Nick replied. “Go on, Dabor.”

  “One couple will fire indiscriminately into the harbor, ships, and building with the rockets, turning to machine gun fire on everything below. The second couple will guard the passageways with grenades and machine guns. They are to run along, breaking into all nearby rooms, killing the occupants. They will guard the hallway approaches and disable the elevators. It would not have even been suicidal… if you had not found out about them. They were to escape in the confusion.”

  Nick made instant decisions on actions to be taken as Dabor spoke, suppressing the urge to cut the man into pieces. He had no intention of revealing knowledge about the main harbor topic without Dabor mentioning it first. “Describe the plan for your main target. Pretend I don’t know what it is already. If I don’t hear truth, Kabong bleaches you.”

  John moved closer with Dabor trying to cringe backwards out of the chair he was duct taped to. “The Queen Mary II! There are many members of the Royal Family aboard incognito. Once the ship is ported and tied up properly at the dock, it will be a signal for our people in the hotel to begin their assault on the surroundings. Our people will already be in place near the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal. Once the hotel and harbor are in complete panic with all law enforcement entities rushing to the scene, our people near the Black Falcon Terminal will race through any meager security left at the Terminal, parking alongside the Queen Mary. They will have thirty seconds to escape the dock in a third vehicle. I will then trigger the explosives devastating everything including the ship.”

  “No… you won’t. The way I see it, the minions landing the munitions by the Queen Mary can be brought here without causing any glitches in our plan to stop all this. Is that true? Be careful how you answer because you will still be alive until this travesty is stopped. If something happens I will keep you alive for two weeks praying for death.”

  “They will come here!” Sidi wanted no part of any two week time period with El Muerto. The disguise and Nick’s unhesitating intent had frozen the blood within the terrorist’s veins. “I have met them here before! I can order them here tonight!”

  Nick turned to Gus. “See, Payaso? Dabor has already answered our last mystery without being asked.”

  “He’s their leader,” Gus stated. “They came very close to initiating all of this crap before we ever knew it was happening. We want to know if there’s anything at all which could tip off the people you have at the hotel. If even one person dies because you didn’t reveal everything about tipoffs or warning words you will be one unhappy terrorist. Do you need to check in with them and if so at what intervals?”

  “I do not contact them except before a delivery and only once each day at 7 am. They are not to contact me unless their identities cause suspicion or they suspect they are being watched. None of that has happened as yet.”

  “How many men do you have driving the fertilizer bombs into place?” Nick glared at Sidi, suspicious if the man hesitated even a moment that he would lie about the number. He didn’t hesitate at all.

  “Five. There will be two man teams in each truck with one to drive a follow-up van to provide the driving teams with escape from the dock terminal. They are to kill everyone in sight on the way out, firing randomly in the streets too so as to make authorities suspect a widespread armed assault by many soldiers.”

  Nick placed thin skin stitching strips across Sidi’s wound, closing it somewhat. He then spread analgesic antibiotic cream over the wound thickly, followed by a field dressing. The relief from the pain of his wound nearly made Dabor pass out again. Nick forced him to take a few aspirin with water.

  “It’s time for you to make some calls. Pray you do it well, Dabor.”

  * * *

  “Two cars, five men, Nick,” Clyde said from his safe-house vantage point screen. Networked into The Unholy Trio’s communication units for the rest of the operation, Bacall would be their eyes and ears during the entire operation. Video cams had been installed in the hallway across from the hotel perpetrators’ rooms. “The couples went down to the hotel bar and returned a few minutes ago. I have the Director on right now.”

  “I know time is tight, Nick. We want no court cases or prisoners,” Paul Gilbrech said.

  “Understood. We’re doing this in the warehouse. I had Dabor tell his buddies to come inside and go down into the cellar immediately upon arrival. It will be a bit messy.”

  “No problem. I have a tactical team ready to clean the premises of everything stored there, including fertilizer bomb, electronics, and bodies. The same goes for the couples at the Harbor Hotel. No prisoners.”

  “Five entering now, Nick,” Clyde broke in.

  “Talk at you later, gentlemen,” Nick replied. He looked over at Gus and John in position to cover the truck drivers’ arrival with silenced MP5’s.

  “We heard, Muerto,” Gus said. “Say when.”

  “Ready, Muerto,” John added.

  Nick glanced at the unconscious Sidi, propped in a chair under the lights near a computer terminal as if watching the screen. He looked good enough for the five men to walk deep into the ambush. The truck bomb drivers descended the steps in rapid succession. They reached the well-lighted landing and only hesitated for a moment when they saw Sidi at a computer terminal. Deeper inside the room while the front man called out to Sidi, the Unholy Trio poppe
d up from where they were positioned. The executions were over in seconds.

  “Hold fire,” Nick called out. He then approached the bodies and fired a round into each of their heads. “We’ll take Dabor with us to the hotel in one of their cars, Clyde. We’re done here. Give us ten minutes to clear the premises.”

  “Understood.”

  “Are you certain you want to risk using Dabor?”

  “He’ll do fine, Paul. I need him only to gain entrance. If they have their dead bolt in place along with the rooms latch, I’ll have to get noisy going in. We don’t want that. I have no way of knowing how close they are to the weapons or what access they have to hand weapons. Gus and John will follow me in, but frankly, I have to get the job done in the first moment of assault inside the doorway. Entering is too narrow for more than one shooter. Let me handle this. Once we’re done, we’ll leave Sidi inside with his dead pals. I see no reason to keep him after that. I will give you the all clear the moment I have all five dead in the room. Do you want me to inventory the room?”

  “No,” Paul answered. “You three exit and go about your business, book-signings and all. I’ll have the car you drive over in taken care of too. I would only ask that you stay in your rooms until you need to go out tomorrow. By the time that happens I should have everything smoothed over.”

  “Understood. I’ll call when finished.”

  * * *

  Nick kept the group of four together, carrying bags, supporting Dabor, and carrying on a running chatter about the Cheers Bar near the hotel. On the approach to the Presidential Suite where the two couples were staying, Nick slowed for a moment.

  “Turn off their security cams, Clyde. We’re going to work.”

  “Done, Nick.”

  Nick moved Dabor into position where only he could be seen. “Speak to them when they answer as you always do, but be anxious to have them open quickly. Stand straight and get one of those asshole scowls on your face.”

  Dabor did as ordered. Nick knocked on the door for his captive. A voice asked in bored cadence. “Yes… what is it?”