Chapter Fourteen
Training Camp
“We must have more funding!”
John shrugged without stress. “I am sorry, but I have already provided you with a place to train, live, and recruit. My benefactor cannot at this time offer anything more in the way of money. He must account for expenditures with this country’s IRS under the radar. If he does something stupid, we will all be at risk.”
“I would meet with this supposed supporter of Allah, who wishes to serve under his own conditions,” Faris Nagi stated with angry tone. “Not all moneys can be scripted to individual’s preferences. Are you not dedicated to this cause?”
John reined in his initial knee-jerk reaction as Nick had schooled him to do. “Surely, with all my benefactor has done, he should not be called into question on some trivial gambit you endorse without circumstances and facts which can lead to his death. Think clearly before you go on, Faris. My benefactor protects me, supports the cause with land as well as food and clothing, and asks nothing in return. What have you done in any way other than blaspheming with your arrogant mouth?”
John recognized he would get form over substance in a second while Nagi sputtered, caught without cliché to fall back on. John waved a dismissive hand in front of Nagi’s face. “Do not negate my true words with bluster. You will find you have turned an ally into an enemy.”
John’s strong words enraged Nagi, who poked him in the chest belligerently. “You are but a lowly stepstool in our endeavors! Are you a soldier of Allah, or are you but one more infidel nonbeliever?”
Nagi perceived he had gone too far. John’s face blasted from a contemplative adherence to fists clenched rebellion in a heartbeat, Nagi did not miss in body language. “I mean only to remind you of the true path.”
The true path in Nagi’s vision dissipated into nothingness as John kicked the unsuspecting Nagi in his groin, followed by a kneeing into his facial region which broke everything of a fragile structure: teeth, nose, and the orbital bone on Nagi’s right side. John allowed Nagi’s body to fall away from him to the floor, where Nagi spit blood, and curled into a fetal position. John called Nick, enlightening him on what had transpired. To his surprise, Nick began chuckling.
“You have put up with this long enough, John. You’re stressed out because you drew attention from terrorist bunglers. Then you house them under my roof in Carmel Valley, unsure what the hell to do with them. Insult upon injury, this Nagi guy busts your chops no matter what you do. End him, my friend. Gus and I are on our way. This scenario using my property is finished.”
“Thank you, Nick!” John put the phone on speaker, spun to the helpless Nagi, kicked him full in the face, and then plunged the stiletto knife he drew from his pocket down powerfully through Nagi’s right eye. “Allah be praised! Yet another addle headed miscreant has achieved hell. Let Maalik, the true hell’s angel deal with this annoying piece of camel dung!”
“Bag him out of sight. Stay on the down low until we can help you with the others. Will they miss this Nagi guy right away?”
“No,” John answered. “They are at the Masjid, including Ansar Pasha. There are five of them besides this pig I killed. You have at least one hour before they return. Do you wish to take prisoners?”
“We can’t, John,” Nick answered. “They all know you. I will not lose my El Kabong. We have a lot of work to do. After we question them, we’ll make our first kills as El Muerto, Payaso, and El Kabong. Then we’ll make them disappear. We’ll let the FBI decide about this Masjid, and a continued role for you there. Did anyone else at the Masjid know Nagi and his goons were at my Valley place?”
“No. They met resistance there from the Imam, who was becoming increasingly suspicious of Nagi. Ansar went tonight because he needed to try and smooth relations with the Imam. That is the main reason Nagi stayed here to harass me about more money while Ansar handled public relations. How will you make them disappear? Do you mean to bury them on your land?”
“Payaso and I will take them out to sea far enough if they are found, the location of their deaths will be a mystery still. We’ll see you in fifteen minutes.”
“Yes, Muerto, El Kabong will be ready.”
* * *
When the Taser needles hit into the men as they entered Nick’s Carmel Valley Home, the ensuing pileup of bodies caused some inappropriate hilarity. Their three costumed captors cranked up the juice, Nick and Gus using a two Taser gun attack, while John fired on one, but kept a stun-gun in his other hand in reserve. Once their initial attack incapacitated the men, John and Gus put them into restraints while Nick watched them with his 9mm Berretta.
Nick received a text message from Paul, requesting a talk. He waited until the prisoners were restrained before leaving the room. “Yeah, Paul, what’s up?”
“Egypt is most anxious to have this bunch. I’m thinking we can do a rendition without exposing you superheroes. You’re all in costume, right?”
“Sure, but this is our first operation with El Kabong. I wanted him to make a statement,” Nick said. “What happened with simply making them disappear?”
“I put the pictures John has been taking of the cell members out to security agencies around the world. Three of them are on Egypt’s most wanted list, with Ansar Pasha the star. It would mean a few favors to be named later if we could deliver them. You have final say though, Nick. I’ll send a team to get them immediately, and they would be held incommunicado until sent to Egypt if you let me have them.”
Nick considered the request. His hesitation involved allowing five Isis cell members to be taken alive from his custody after living in his Carmel Valley home. “John’s already killed one of them. The others haven’t seen him yet, so I guess we could stay in costume. You’ll be stressing my directorial role. I’ll let you know whether to send a team or erase their faces off the database.”
“Until then.” Paul disconnected.
Nick took a deep breath. He, Gus, and John all were using their voice altering equipment with full face masks. When he rejoined his companions, Gus and John stood side by side in arms folded character behind the now kneeling, unhappy prisoners. Nick stopped in front of the kneeling men. They had all tested their voice alterations, choosing slight adjustments to suit each of them. Nick chose a more Darth Vader type voice, which he practiced before their encounter with great effect.
“Payaso. Will you record our discourse with the video recorder here in this room? We have much to discuss with these Isis loons.”
“Yes, El Muerto,” Gus agreed with his own reverberating toned voice preference.
John retrieved the tripod while Gus brought over their more professional digital recorder. He attached it to the tripod, making sure his lowlight setting and parameters would record the entire scene. After completing the task, Gus took the remote blue tooth control with him to again stand behind the prisoners.
“El Kabong. Please drag the body of Faris Nagi out here for our guests to see.”
“Right away, El Muerto.” John hurried into the room he had stashed the bagged body of Nagi. It took him only a few moments to carry the corpse and dump it in front of the kneeling men. He then tore away the bag over Nagi’s face, complete with eyeless socket where John had ended his life. That action prompted a chorus of duct tape covered, muffled pleas. “Shall I remove their gags, El Muerto?”
“Yes please. Start recording, Payaso.” When he saw Gus nod, Nick began his act, stepping within camera view. “You five are lucky. Your leader Nagi, and the man Ebi Zarin paid dearly with their lives for this travesty. We cut off many parts of Zarin. We will use him for shark bait. Nagi was kept intact to show you five what will happen if any do not cooperate fully.”
Nick plucked the corpse to a position staring sightlessly at the kneeling men. They cringed away, only to be kneed forward again by John and Gus. He then dragged Nagi’s body to face the camera, with a small addition of a Kabuki dance of the dead Nick had invented – humorous only to him, but coldly creepy
to anyone else seeing it.
“This is what our newest team member, El Kabong, did to the Isis coward in hand to hand combat.” Nick released the body, gesturing for John to join him. He placed an arm around his shoulders. “El Kabong joins us from the believers of Islam who do not cower down to the more vocal women beaters, blaspheming his religion. He does not shout and scream. He kills dogs like Nagi, who are only good for strapping suicide vests on women and children, throat slitting tied up innocents, and causing chaos in the world. What say you, El Kabong?”
John pumped his fist, kicking Nagi’s body, and spitting on it. “Many will die at El Kabong’s hand. El Muerto, Payaso, and I, the deadly El Kabong will hunt these jackals down.”
Nick patted John’s shoulder. El Kabong returned to his place next to Payaso. “Thank you, El Kabong, my brother. These men behind me will be spared so they may betray others from their murderous cult. Whether we will have to skin them partially alive or not will be up to them.”
Nick jutted his gloved finger at the camera. “We will find you murderers wherever you hide. There will not be trials and traitorous ACLU lawyers. There will only be El Muerto, Payaso, and El Kabong. The knives will be sharp, and the cutting violent vengeance on our enemies!”
Gus cut off the video on cue from Nick. Retrieving syringes from his bag, Nick stuck each of the five men, rendering them unconscious. He then called Paul. “I’m uploading the video to you. Send a team. We’ll meet them away from my Carmel Valley home. Let’s do it in the turnoff to Point Lobos State Park tonight. It will be pitch black, and devoid of people. I’ll send you the coordinates.”
“Done deal, Nick. Thanks for this. I will send my team I put on alert in Monterey. They’ll meet you at the turnoff in an hour. Bring whatever corpses you have, and we’ll dispose of them too for you.”
“We spared the five, so there’s only Nagi to get rid of. Talk to you later.” Nick turned to his partners. “Let’s load them in the Caravan. We can drop them at the Point Lobos turnoff in an hour. I’ll bet you’ll be happily rid of these clowns, huh John?”
“It is not a joke, my friends. They were arrogant, condescending assholes the entire time, especially Nagi. I looked forward to killing them. What place are they being sent?”
“Egypt. Paul said we’ll get some favors for delivering them, especially with Ansar in the group,” Nick answered, noticing horror sweeping across John’s face. “Do you have something against the Egyptians?”
“No… I would not want to be questioned by them. Although you are a very bad man, the Egyptians employ many very bad men in their security forces – no offense.”
“None taken. Sucks to be them then.”
“Indeed,” John replied. “We were extremely scary in the movie. You do these videos with natural talent, Nick. You could have been a director.”
“Don’t give his swelled head any more ideas,” Gus said. “Believe me, whatever stuff the Egyptian guys can come up with, Nick can surpass it. He has an imagination unparalleled in nasty ways to extract information, from the simple to the complex. Nick-”
“That’s enough out of you, Payaso,” Nick interrupted Gus’s praise for his torturing expertise, which had John entertained. “How did you like my killing your real life identity off, John?”
“It was most impressive,” John answered with excitement. “I will alter my appearance even more with short hair, and a trimmed beard. The Imam at the Masjid will be pleased not to have these fools in his presence anymore. I believe he knew they were not believers, and only considered them violent thugs. It will probably take some time for him to look at me again without suspicion after my having befriended them. I must continue there no matter what. I will be the first one asked questions when our video is seen.”
“It’s good to be prepared, John. When Muerto posts a YouTube video, it gets a million hits in a very short time, because it usually is removed within a few days. Then we have to place it in other venues.”
“That’s excellent thinking, paying attention to anyone who appears overly interested in where and how our guests disappeared,” Nick added. “I’m more than relieved to have those flakes out of my house.”
“I will spit shine your property to remove all elements of their unfortunate presence, Nick,” John promised. “I know it was a disgrace having them here. I’ll go get the Dodge, and back it in close to the door.”
As Gus and Nick moved the unconscious bodies to the entranceway, Gus put a hand on Nick’s shoulder. “You’re not thinking of turning John over too, are you, Muerto?”
Nick’s mouth tightened. “Brother, I may be very close to the cold blooded robot you think I am in reality, but John is one of us now.”
Gus’s relieved look surprised Nick more than he expected. “I’m glad. I like John, and I believe he is one of us. Sometimes you don’t always let me in on your advanced thinking. I didn’t want to be talking to John one moment, and you drive his nose bone into his brain the next without some warning.”
Nodding his understanding, Nick gripped Nagi’s body bag, and dragged it over to join his live companions. “I get it. No more surprises as lessons, Gus – I promise. You did need one though with old Gil Montrose. Here’s you - ‘Oh Nick, he’s fine. You don’t have to kill him. He won’t try anything on us. We’re golden with him, you unfeeling zombie’.”
Gus laughed, remembering the lesson Nick taught him while saving his life when their Company contact Montrose tried to have them sanctioned after an operation to kill Sheik Abdul Nazari. “Fair enough, brother, I don’t want any of those lessons taught to me the hard way from now on, okay?”
“Understood. We’re not even taking John with us to drop off our cargo. I don’t want anyone to get the feeling we’re having second thoughts like you just did. We need John, especially with the added exposure I’ve received in the media, with much of my past and present life in the headlines. We’re on a course dangerous to our immediate family. Eyes and ears on an element contributing to that danger is a blessing. That’s how I feel about John. We still have the Kader family to keep track of. Who better to infiltrate a threat we suspect from them than John. Let’s get this shit done. Tomorrow, I’m finishing my novel, come hell or high water. In between… I have some drinking to do.”
“Carol?”
“She was the best sounding board I ever had or will have on my writing from a female point of view,” Nick admitted as they began depositing the bodies in the Dodge Caravan. “Special is only a word. Sometimes you have someone who changes every aspect of your future just by interacting with you. Carol was exactly that. When I received orders to kill Rachel, the first people I interacted with after seeing how much Rachel resembled an old acquaintance of mine were Dan and Carol. Their unabashed love for one another, the banter, the way Dan clasped her hand in his planted a seed within my soul. I needed something they had. I then put a .50 caliber bullet through that despicable piece of shit Tanus’s head as he enjoyed the last view from his office he would ever have.”
“Damn… that’s deep, brother. It was something you saw between Dan and Carol that brought us all here to this point?”
“Yeah, it was,” Nick replied, helping Gus with John listening intently. “I saw the two at Monte Café, and walking by Otter’s Point so much with mumbled good mornings I began paying attention to them. We became friends. What they had together… I wanted. I knew I couldn’t kill for it, or steal it. I understood somehow I would have to earn it. I now have Rachel, Jean, and Deke the dog. God bless us, everyone. They were worth every second of the earning, including morphing into an urban soccer somebody with an SUV. It will be a sad and devastating day for anyone trying to take away what I have.”
“Amen, brother,” Gus said, as they moved the bodies. “Thanks for sharing that. We will continue our requiem for Carol tonight.”
“I do not know this Carol, but may I join you? I would very much like to know her.”
“You sure can,” Nick said. “Gus and I will get the
transfer of prisoners done, and then pick you up. We’ll toast a few on my deck again to Carol. You can drink or not drink, but you’re welcome to stay at my house. We have plenty of room.”
“I would like that very much,” John replied. “I hope that my partaking of alcoholic beverages offered will not offend you, or bring shame on me through your eyes.”
“Not at all, brother,” Nick replied. “We’re all sinners. We hope in the end to tally far more blessings than sins. Gus and I plan to do much good. It will often involve the demise of monsters we find. Are you comfortable with that, Brother John?”
John hugged Nick, startling him, and bringing a smile to Gus’s face. “Yes… I am your man as I stated before. We will do much good together.”
Nick patted John’s back. “Yeah… we will.”
* * *
“These guys don’t look too friendly,” Gus said as he and Nick stood in the darkness outside of Point Lobos State Reserve. “You don’t think Paul decided to cancel us out, do you?”
“No, I do not. I don’t rule out one of these guys making a deal on the side. Hold your water until we see what we see. If one of them tries a quick draw on me, they didn’t read my file carefully enough. You have your damn vest on, Payaso. If that’s not enough for you, duck behind me while you’re pulling your weapon.”
“Prick.” Gus had to listen to Nick’s chortling while Paul’s team approached.
“McCarty?” The man leading the three men designated to take Nick’s prisoners paused ten feet away from Nick and Gus.
“Yep, it’s me, Nick McCarty. If I know any of you, please say so now.”
A tall dark, heavily built man stepped forward. “I know you, Nick.”
“Doc?” Nick stepped forward with his hands outstretched.
The man rushed forward into an embrace of Nick, obviously heartfelt and beyond normal human interaction. Nick pushed the man to arms’ length, his joy obvious even in the moonlit scene.
“Good Lord, Doc, it’s great to see you! I thought you died of wounds, brother!”
Cold Blooded III: Sins and Sanctions (Nick McCarty Assassin Series Book 3) Page 30