Nick raced out of the room while awakening his crew with a network signal. Johnny answered first. “I need you and Cala at our hangar! We have to fly support, brother. The Monsters are in deep shit and don’t know it.”
“We will leave immediately,” Johnny said. “See you at the airport.”
Gus connected next. “What’s up?”
Nick explained. “I need to find that damn ship and keep it in our vision until we can get through to John. Bring your satellite phone and laptop. You, Johnny, and I will keep trying to contact John while Cala pilots. We may have to go into combat. We still have our lucky XM307, along with our M2 machine gun. We don’t have time for arming the helicopter.”
“You’ve been praying for a chance to use that stupid rocket launcher you insisted on climbing aboard Laredo’s helicopter with after we downed the F-5 Mexican fighter. I’ll see you at the hangar.”
“This will be tight, Gus. If we don’t speed there at the right intersection course, we may arrive in time to battle an attack helicopter after it’s destroyed the Monster Squad.”
“Let’s concentrate on getting in the air. We’ll deal with details then,” Gus replied.
“Yep. The aftermath if we don’t save them may get complicated and messy.”
Gus sighed. “Understood, Muerto.”
* * *
We heard the approach as Laredo kept us out of vision range or audio. Jafar flew the Mi-24 attack helicopter further from our target. We exchanged amusement between Monsters, listening on our network channel as Lucas piloted the ‘Sea Wolf’ toward the tanker. It didn’t matter if our assault was under everyone’s radar or not. We needed only a slight passage of time to rule this operation. It was not meant to be. Heavy flak from the Zing’s direction clattered around and into our Stealth. Laredo fired off chaff as something unseen launched rocket fire. It worked barely in time. The chaff working nearly spiraled us into the ocean.
“We’re hit, Cheese,” Laredo said in calm voice. “We have an intruder on our port side, flying low under the radar. We are going down with another hit like that. I opened our communications to SOS for help if we survive the ocean landing.”
“Understood, brother,” I said, looking back at a cast of grim faced friends I would never look on again. It is what it is. “Can we fire anywhere, even as a pathetic-“
A helicopter gunship exploded two hundred yards to our port side, billowing flames and crashing into the ocean’s surface.
* * *
“I have them, Muerto,” Gus said. “We’re on intercept but barely in time. They launched their attack helicopter. It’s running low and steady out of radar range. If we didn’t know what they’re doing, this would be one hellish rescue mission.”
Nick shifted the XM307 while Johnny held on to him at their makeshift mount, wind, sea air salt, and dregs whipped up by their low approach pelted them. Nick smiled in anticipation. “Get me close, Reaper!”
“On it, Muerto,” Cala stated.
“They fired! Chaff intercept successful for now,” Gus yelled out.
Nick waited for the target to come into his night vision helmet. He fired without pause with Johnny holding on to him while strapped to the bulkhead himself. The attack helicopter exploded into jettisoning debris, a flaming hulk plummeting into the ocean below.
“Oh yeah! You did it, Muerto!” Cala shot their helicopter at an escape angle immediately.
“Excellent piloting, Reaper!” Nick relaxed back into Johnny’s grip. “Damn. That was as close as it comes, my friends. Do we have contact yet, Gus?”
“We do,” Gus confirmed. “They’ve opened communications.”
“We didn’t have a full tank, Muerto. We have to go almost immediately,” Cala warned him.
“I’ll just say hello then, Reaper,” Nick stated. “Muerto here. We learned you were being set up, John. We couldn’t let you Monsters have all the fun. There are twelve hostiles on board, brother. We need to head back. We’re running low on gas, my friends. God Bless America! El Muerto… away.”
* * *
The pricks steamed off back toward home with my Monsters cheering. “Land this son-of-a-bitch, Laredo. We’re taking this fucking ship, old school and fuck collateral damage!”
“We are with you,” Jafar stated. “They had a stealth, John. It was in flight during our acquisition of its position. Johnny texted me. It was covered with the new stealth material we discovered in Tahoe. God… in merciful heaven… Muerto saved our asses. Did you ask him for an intervention?”
“No, I did not. He coerced Johnny, Cala and Gus on a gamble they could reach us. I’m sure he never expected to arrive in time to help. They’re floating down to Pacific Grove, holding us up to ridicule, and enjoying the hell out of it: thank God.”
Laredo landed amidst fire with the Sea Wolf approaching with sound system obliterating all thought. I heard the M2 machine gun working in bursts and figured we were doing what constituted right in combat. The landing was rough due to our taking some hits. Laredo landed it like the combat expert he was. We spilled out of the aircraft, happy to be alive, and ready to kill on sight.
I led the way to the realm of the unknown, firing at anything that had a prisoner, or ran. I captured a man during our combat assault to the main deck. He hoped to avoid us by slinking into the lower deck crew quarters aboard ship. We took proper defensive positions while I dropped my prisoner, face first, onto the deck, while scanning our position. We secured the landing zone with expertise.
I dropped a very rough hand over his shoulders. “You are going to die, my friend, unless you are very helpful. We know your plan. We don’t know all the details, but we do know you have twelve combat assets. We killed four I’m sure belonged to you. That leaves seven more for us to deal with. You would be smart to save your surviving crew. If you can convince them to surrender, we may be able to turn your crew over to the regular federal authorities. Your plot cannot work now. Allow the survivors to live or we will execute you all. We know your network inside and out. Don’t make this more dangerous than it is. I have the most effective torturer in existence. Trust me. You do not want a demonstration. There, lies only torturous death. Let’s make a deal so you can avoid a lesson in pain beyond imagining.”
“Yes! I will tell you everything if I can.” The man projected an aura of lies to be told for his own purpose.
“Of course, my friend,” I encouraged him. If I could get the slime to talk his men out, we could have the ship locked down in port and searched. I needed to find a real crewmember. “You will be the first with my torturer. She will teach you everything about our unit.”
“No! I will cooperate!”
“Call to your men. Get them to surrender now.” I lifted him to his feet, keeping him in front of me while approaching the railing. Another burst from Ma-Deuce shattered the silence.
“Another one down, Cheese,” Lynn reported. “He was sneaking into position with a rocket launcher. We’re still circling.”
“Thanks, Crue.” I smacked my prisoner on the back of the head. “Get calling or I go old school on you.”
To his credit, my prisoner urged his companions in Arabic to surrender, explaining their helicopter was shot down. When he added the fact five more were dead, one of his men jetted to a position where he could throw a grenade. Clint and Casey made his head disappear in MP5 fire. The grenade exploded, blowing the rest of him to bloody mist, damaging the deck and railing too. His three remaining comrades jogged into sight with hands up and waving.
Lynn fired Ma-Deuce and they all died in an instant. One exploded, setting off the other two. The explosions blew them over the side of the container ship, leaving only cosmetic damage to the ship. “They had vests on, Cheese, mounted at their backs.”
“Nice! We still have one live one with us. I’m certain you can extract all relevant information before port. We’ll secure our prisoner and have him show us where the rest of the crew are. Keep circling while we search the ship. Watch the bridge in p
articular. Someone’s driving this damn boat.”
“Understood. I do see movement on the bridge.”
“What’s your name,” I asked of the prisoner.
“Mohammed Mirdad.” Moe remained quiet, stunned at the ending of his hijack plot, and subsequent plan to assassinate my Monsters on the docks.
I knew there would be more to this. I anxiously shoved the captive ahead of me. We cleared the upper decks first with circling cover, followed by a tedious clearing of the outside main deck. Finding no sign of life, we journeyed to the bridge. Outside the bridge hatch, I turned to my captive.
“Whose piloting this boat, Moe. Our informant told us twelve of you hijackers are on board. How many of the ship’s crew were part of the operation? I know that helicopter didn’t fly itself.”
“There were four crewmembers on board the helicopter. We thought to take you by surprise. The Captain of the ship is with us, as is his first officer. The others we have locked in one of the bunking quarters.”
“How did you know we were coming?”
“We had people watching you,” Mirdad stated dejectedly. “I am sure you know the fighter we planned to use as bait. We did not trust the people we were working with, which is why we had our own contacts watching your team. When Comings met with you last night, I thought we had been betrayed. It was decided-”
“Save it. Is the Captain simply on the hook for money, or is he a true believer?”
Moe shrugged. “He takes Saudi money and does as ordered. His name is Cameron Gasmi. He is Algerian. Pound on the hatch. I will tell him and his first officer to come out.”
“You sure are helpful, Moe,” Clint said. “I don’t like it.”
“I am dead. Why should I care what happens now?”
I pounded on the hatch as he said. We could have opened it and rushed in, but I wasn’t fond of what Moe’s comrades tried to do. If Gasmi was a believer and decided to blow the bridge. I didn’t want to be next to him.
“Come out, Cam. We are lost,” Moe shouted. “We are undone. Surrender. They are American Special Forces. We will be taken into custody. Otherwise, I believe they mean to torture and kill us.”
I moved us away from the hatch. “Come out with fingers locked behind your head after you open the hatch. Anything else and we blow your feet off before we torture you.”
The hatch opened. A slender man of medium height, wearing black slacks, black turtleneck sweater, and white captain’s hat, exited the hatch slowly with hands locked. His delicately featured face, with aquiline nose, pinched in a distasteful grimace stepped out. Another larger man, dressed as his Captain, but with stocking hat and blunt features, followed Gasmi out.
“How dare you threaten us with torture. We are non-combatants.”
“You’re just another terrorist to us,” Casey said. “Keep your hands locked while I frisk you. Don’t get romantic. It’s nothing personal. We’ll need you to drive this boat to the dock. I will be with you.”
Casey did an intrusive frisk, no hidden weapon could allude. He did the same with the first officer. “Okay, gentlemen, let’s return you to your duties. What’s your name, big guy?”
“Charles Raho,” the first officer answered.
“Great. I’m Casey. My friend Clint and I are entering the bridge area with you. Once we make sure all is in order, I will stay with you both until we get to port.”
Clint, Moe, and I proceeded down to where the crew was incarcerated. To say they were overjoyed would be an understatement. Apparently, some of Moe’s comrades warned them they would be imprisoned until the ship left dock again and if they tried to alert anyone, they would be killed. A couple of them wanted to kill Moe, but I explained the situation. They backed his story, and the fact he led the terrorists who had hijacked the ship. They returned to their duties aboard the Zing Zoe.
Jafar landed on the other helicopter pad. Laredo shut down our escape vehicle, examining it for damage from the enemy helicopter. Lynn and Samara accompanied Jafar to the deck, their faces shining with an adrenaline rush like no other. Clint embraced his wife.
“You were awesome with Ma-Deuce. Blowing the shit out of those walking bombs lessened the damage done. Did you get some shots in, Sam?”
“Oh yes,” Samira answered with enthusiasm. “I shot along with Lynn on everything. We did not want to take a chance with too little fire power. I almost shot the leader. We saw him, but Lynn knew he must be in charge. He didn’t even carry a weapon.”
“We have enough monsters now to do a thorough search. Sam, I’d like you to help Casey watch our Captain and his First Mate until we get into port. Lynn and Jafar will go with Clint and I. We need to take a look around the ship with Moe. I’m certain he’s ready to show us what other goodies the Zing was taking into port, right Moe?”
“We have two containers, filled with automatic weapons, rocket launchers, and explosives,” Moe replied. “We know of a torturer with your group, called Cruella Deville and Crusader Crue. I have seen the videos of her interrogations. I do not want to die like that.”
“You are so sweet to mention me, Moe.” Lynn gave the man a shoulder hug as recognition flooded over his features.
“Please… John Harding can tell you. I have been very helpful.”
“Moe’s right, Lynn. He’s been as good as can be. I’m giving him to Denny.” Denny, who had been on board the Sea Wolf, trying and failing with logistics or warnings, voiced his enthusiasm for being assigned Moe. “C’mon, my friend. Lead the way to these very dangerous containers.”
Moe looked straight at Lynn. “I am not the one who sent these weapons. This will not lead to my torture, will it, Crusader Crue?”
“Nope,” Lynn answered. “The only way you can upset me is if you have a hideaway man, ready to do my friends and I harm. If that happens, you better pray I die.”
Moe shook his head vehemently. “No…no… there will be no one else.”
“Then you won’t have anything to worry about, Moe. Show me your container surprises.”
Moe led us to the sealed containers. They stunned us. There were even XM25s and XM307s in the load. Lucas, observing the discovery phase on our cams from the Sea Wolf, issued his usual admonition aimed at me.
“You leave Moe alone, Recon. He’s acting in accordance with our orders. Don’t be breaking him in half, throwing him overboard, and saying whoops! It’s not Moe’s fault you led us into a trap. Now, whenever the ‘Army of One’ shares our company, I’ll have to hear how Muerto saved us all from doom. Thanks a lot. I’m busting you down to ‘boot’ for that travesty.”
I listened with a grin of acknowledgement as my Monsters on the network enjoyed Lucas’s excellent dressing down of the humble Cheeseburger. “I deserve it. We’re heading to port, Pappy, with a good chance of ambushing the people who ordered this. It’s possible Muerto is working on our Audrey Lantos’s whereabouts so he can keep us out of trouble.”
“We’ll see you there. I’m guessing no way in hell does Muerto take a knee on this goal line blitz.”
“I will be much in shock if he does. He is the very humble, Muerto, though. He may not even mention his incredible launch to our aid with guns blazing.”
“That Delta hemorrhoid will roast the shit out of us.”
“Hey… don’t be insulting the Muerto God of rescue, Ahab,” Casey retorted from the Zing bridge. “We all know the feeling of riding on a chopper of doom. Once hit properly, no swirly crap can change the outcome, right Laredo?”
“Absolutely. We were fish-food. I didn’t see the Stealth they had until it was firing on us. I barely launched the chaff in time. I didn’t get a look at it so I don’t know if it was one of ours. That would piss me off to no end.”
“I’m not insulting Dead Boy,” Lucas admitted. “That was as close to losing you fuckers as I ever care to get. We were rigging weapons to try bringing their attack craft down with help from Achmed. We probably didn’t have a prayer when they got around to blowing our asses out of the water. If
not for Muerto, we were toast, which means the roast of Recon.”
Of course. I simply enjoyed the roast and being alive, without having to see my Monstrous family killed in front of my eyes. The first order of business after docking occurred with Mirdad’s first direct helping hand. He arranged to meet with the men watching our movements. The three men arrived on time at the dock. FBI/Homeland security agents, Sam Reeves and Janie Labrie arrested the men on the spot, to be held incommunicado until our meeting with Audrey Lantos. They decided to fight it out. Lucas blew the first guy’s head off, convincing the other two their decision to fight would be suicide.
Sam and Janie inspected the munitions containers smuggled in on the Zing Zoe with stunned apprehension.
“Good Lord in heaven,” Janie muttered.
“Ditto,” Sam added. “We’ll await your call.”
We said goodbye, with Lucas reiterating his dread of what we needed to do next – call Nick and learn what he discovered about our Lantos target.
* * *
“Hello. Muerto Cheeseburger Rescue Mission. How may I direct your call?”
Lord have mercy. He hit me right between the eyes. Everyone at Pain Central enjoyed Nick’s call acknowledgement with loud appreciation. “Good one, Muerto. Thank you.”
“Just having some fun, brother. I knew Lucas would be crying himself to sleep, clutching the Marine Corps emblem in his fist, and trying not to wet the bed.”
Oh my God. That launched an out of control moment as Lucas nearly tried to fire himself through the connection. He settled for pumping his fist at the screen. “At hell’s heart I strike at thee, Muerto!”
Nick lost it, howling with Gus, Johnny, and Cala. Many moments passed before we resumed discourse. “We’re onto Lantos. She and her clan are still planning on the ambush. If you can get your main man to promise their assistance, Audrey and her buttheads will be within your target range. Johnny has uploaded everything to Jafar. Hey, Ahab… maybe next time you should play ‘Swan Lake’ on approach to target.”
Hell on Earth Page 23