Hard Case 12: Climate of Chaos (John Harding)

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “Thanks. We’ll get ready,” Nick replied. “Excellent work. I know you’ll be monitoring the demonstration plans no matter what.”

  “I sure will.” Jafar disconnected.

  Nick looked longingly at the Irish coffee he had only taken a few sips from. “So much for the relaxing morning on the beach. I will need the crew tonight. This scene must look like a falling out between morons. We may be able to stop a couple of problems, including a demonstration which Jafar believes will turn into a riot.”

  “I can drive,” Cala offered.

  “Thanks, Cala. I use all the Unholies on this job. We will need to be waiting outside the planned meeting place by 6 pm. I’ll call Jerry and see if he has a van for me to use. I haven’t given him any business for a while. I hope it didn’t hurt his finances. I told him if he ever needed money to let me know.”

  “Lately… you have been burning up everything on four wheels, Muerto.”

  “When I want a comment out of you, Dragon, I’ll extract it with my nightstick.”

  * * *

  They waited across and down the street from the meeting place. Nick glanced through his range finders every few minutes even though they had clear sight of the apartment building. The rest of the Unholies waited in the large, beat-up brown work van’s rear compartment Nick’s friend, Jerry, provided. Jafar monitored the building throughout the day with satellite imaging, providing the number of people leaving and entering. Only two people awaited the arrival of Rooks and Cortez.

  “This plan of yours sucks,” Gus said.

  “Not if I’m awaiting our new arrivals at the right moment. The separation wall between the entrances to the building will be perfect. Once they gain entrance, I rush around to join them and get control of the situation. I call clear and Cala will already be in position at the front. Then, I set the scene, we get the deed done, and hit the road for home. There are no surveillance cams across the street or at our target building’s front.”

  “You may as well be riding Captain Hook,” Johnny added.

  “I will be the new Muerto for sure,” Jian stated.

  “One more new Muerto remark, Dragon, and I feed you alive to the Captain,” Nick retorted. “I better get into position. Get your Nitrile gloves on. The best part of this will be I can wear my Muerto mask the entire time.”

  “Oh yeah… that’s the high point in this exercise in unintended consequences,” Gus replied.

  Cala merely giggled at the interchange and patted Nick’s arm.

  Nick left the van, dressed in jeans and black windbreaker. He walked to the entrance next to the target entrance Rooks and Cortez would be entering. “Checking audio.”

  “Good,” Gus said. “Mission enabled. No chatter.”

  “Loud and clear,” Jafar confirmed from Pain Central.

  Nick stayed close to the privacy wall. Ten minutes late to the meeting, a car parked in the front. Cortez ran around to open the door for Rooks. They walked to the building door.

  * * *

  “You can trust Teddy,” Rooks told her companion. “This will be the most important initial stab at that bitch, Flo Brown. We will own the Boardwalk! Then… we do a huge repeat in Oakland.”

  Cortez rang the buzzer. “We can’t afford to do it in Oakland, Nat. Harding’s crew will stop it and we’ll get fined five-grand apiece. Those Oakland Tactical people are killers.”

  “Damn it! I thought for sure Tomney would get those assholes on the water! How the hell could they have escaped and where are the three boats he sent after them? Our spy at the dock said those fools parked the fucking boat and came ashore like tourists on their next excursion!”

  A man opened the entrance door with a big grin until he saw the black masked figure behind the clueless Rooks and Cortez. “Who-”

  The masked figure encircled Rooks’ neck with silenced automatic pressed to her temple. “Scream and I paint your friend with what little brains you have inside your traitorous skull. Let’s all go inside before I kill the three of you.”

  * * *

  Nick pushed the terrified and squeaking Nat inside, making sure Cortez and Teddy Martin moved inside. “Clear.”

  In seconds Nick’s Unholies arrived, black masked with weapons drawn. Gus shut the door as Johnny and Jian slammed the three into the wall, restraining them along with gags while Nick trained his Colt on them. Once gagged and restrained, Nick motioned to hold. He went inside the apartment, finding the second inhabitant indulging from a water-pipe contraption. Nick jammed his Colt silencer barrel against the man’s head.

  “Listen carefully. Put the water-pipe down slowly and stand with hands behind your back. Do anything else and I put a .45 caliber, hollow point slug through your empty head.”

  The man shakily put the water-pipe down and stood with hands behind his back. Nick holstered his Colt and restrained the man. He drew the Colt again, pinched the back of the man’s neck, and used him as a shield to search the rest of the apartment for people not accounted for. Once Nick cleared the apartment, he returned to the living room and sat his prisoner in the same position as before. He smiled. Nick liked the room setup.

  “Clear guys, bring in our other participants.”

  Once inside, Nick positioned each one where he wanted them sitting. “Okay… here’s the deal. I already have what I came for. I will give each of you a syringe of feel good stuff to send you into a nice moment until your people find you. Here we go.”

  Nick injected each one after taking the gag off and asking whether they were right or left handed. He smiled and joked, promising to hit the vein on the first try, turning the arm to the right angle. The black tar heroin killed within a minute of injection. Gus followed Nick, undoing the restraints and positioning the syringe as he had witnessed Nick do before. Nick saved Nat for last. He grinned as Rooks realized her companions were dead instead of drugged.

  “I already know you’re right handed, Nat,” Nick told her. “You’ve been on a suicidal mission. You and Cortez tampered with John Harding’s training boat, setting him up to be killed, along with kids on board. Is there anything you can tell me that might save your life?”

  Nat nodded her head violently in the affirmative. Nick made a shushing gesture while removing the gag. “Knut Tomney! He arranged everything! We only did what we were told! Let me go and I get the hell out of this fuckin’ country!”

  Nick put the gag back in place and forced Nat’s arm into the proper position while staring into her eyes from a very short distance away from her, so Nat’s last moments were spent looking into the eyes of death. He injected the poison heroin. “You could have been anything, Nat. Instead you chose to betray the greatest nation on the face of the earth. I don’t know where you’ll be going now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I join you there. If there is indeed a hell, make sure to stay away from me. Otherwise… even hell will pale to what I add to your torment.”

  The terrified light faded from Nat Rooks’ eyes along with her life. Nick released her and gently positioned her hand on the syringe in perfect staged death. He moved away, surveyed the scene with Gus’s work, slightly adjusting arms and positions before reassessing the scene. Satisfied, Nick spread his hands out in an appreciative motion.

  “They look so cute and peaceful.”

  “Do your usual once over, Muerto,” Gus said. “We’ll go to the entrance and reenter the van one at a time with space in between.”

  “Agreed,” Nick answered. “I don’t want to disturb a single thing. I should take this guy’s electronics, but I want this scene perfect.”

  Jian pointed at Nick. “You are so lucky, round-eye!”

  Nick pointed back at him. “You are so lucky I do not tie you to the back of the van for a couple miles on the way home, Dragon breath. Jafar… thank you, brother, for monitoring the mission.”

  “It was a pleasure, Muerto. Very well done.”

  On the way back to Pacific Grove, Gus passed a flask with the good stuff. “Time to toast the number one assassi
n of all time. Good Lord! I imagined all kinds of ways this mission would go sideways. Once again… my imaginings crashed into the rocks of Muerto mystique.”

  Nick chuckled, accepting the flask, and taking a satisfying gulp. He passed it to Jian. “Thanks, Gus. You were always right about me from the beginning after we made everything safe for all of us in Pacific Grove. I would have turned feral without this new purpose.”

  “I hate to admit this… but I’m looking forward to taking out Tomney in the Caymans with you.” Gus gestured at his companions. “Deny it. You two want this Tomney mission, boarding Guerro, loaded for anything, with John Harding the shark whisperer, and Muerto, the luckiest fool in existence!”

  “I am in completely,” Johnny said. “Can Cala go with us?”

  “Absolutely,” Nick answered. “We may hit spots where her skills with helicopters and boats will be needed. A pregnant woman on a mission makes for a great cover too. If you and Cala want it, I have no objections. We will again be the Unholy Hand with all five of us on mission.”

  Cala pumped her fist from the driver’s seat. “Yes! Reaper rides again!”

  * * *

  Jafar finished the Monster briefing, ending with Nick’s threat to drag Jian behind the van for a couple miles. “I monitored the news this morning. They haven’t discovered the bodies yet. I bet Muerto doesn’t want them discovered for at least a few days. The smell and neat way Muerto arranged the scene will dissuade detectives from closer investigation, not that the Terminator missed anything.”

  I liked it. “Imagine that – no more Nat Rooks. Whatever will we do? You did a first-class job in support of the Muerto mission, little brother.”

  “Are you going with the Unholies to the Caymans?”

  “I don’t see why not. The dates don’t conflict with anything we have going on. Muerto already arranged a military flight to where we can get a lift to the Isle of Hope. He also talked with Thom McGaffey. Thom says the Guerro will be ready to rock the moment we need to leave from the Isle of Hope. Have you begun surveillance of Tomney’s boat, Stacker Bay?”

  “Yes,” Jafar replied. “He has a skeleton crew of twelve while anchored on the water. They act as his security force. Unless you want to attack and sink the yacht, my advice would be to take him when Tomney visits land. He’s anchored near Georgetown.”

  “Not bad. Nick and I could be in the water or on the boat. If we took him in the water, it would need to be before his launch motors toward land. Tomney probably has one of those speed boats for a launch.”

  “I bet he keeps it in the water, ready to go,” Casey said. “You or Nick could plant a small explosive on it, or a large one.”

  Now, I was confused. “I wonder if Nick thought this through. You’re right, Case. We could blow Tomney’s launch with him on it.”

  “I bet Nick has other ideas about Tomney,” Clint remarked.

  “I’ll call him on the secure line.” It took only moments for Jafar to get Nick on the line.

  “Hello, Monsters.”

  I explained our thinking on the Cayman adventure. “We wondered if you had other ideas besides killing Tomney.”

  “I see. You thought this would be a simple sanction, huh? This will also be a factfinding mission. I have it in mind to take over the yacht. Tomney, I’m certain, has electronics on board we could use to learn more about his ties to the NWO Illuminati. For that to happen, I need to capture the yacht. It could get messy, but I don’t want to pass on a chance like this.”

  “I understand now,” I replied. “Are you planning a scene with that many people on board? He didn’t take his family with him, but there will still be over a dozen others on board.”

  “I’m curious as to why he came after us. I know he believes in the New World Order, but Tomney also knows what happened to the others when they came after us. He doesn’t strike me as the type to order something like that boat attack. Another question bothering me – what ties does Tomney have to the Tijuana Cartel?”

  Interesting questions, but I’m not liking the plan. “The yacht will have a state-of-the-art security system. If we use an EMP gun on it, we’ll lose most of his electronics too. Once we trigger the alarms, we’ll be sitting ducks, even though we do it in the middle of the night.”

  “I guess this would be a bad time to mention I want to make a daylight assault when the security system is off, huh?”

  We Monsters like Nick’s humorous off-the-cuff plots, but I suspected he wasn’t kidding. “Nick… Stacker Bay is a hundred-and-fifty-foot yacht. Even with Jafar and Clint using our network with the Isle of Hope’s signal station nearby, I doubt we can capture Stacker Bay without full on combat.”

  “Hear me out, Monsters,” Nick joked. “Gus pilots Guerro near Stacker Bay with Ride of the Valkyries blasting, after you and I arrive on the fantail. Gus can keep doing sweeps until the people on board investigate. We then throw in flashbangs and tear gas cannisters, while preventing anyone from escaping off the fantail. We let our party-favors do their magic incapacitating and stunning all hands. You and I then board and restrain everyone. Once we clear the smoke and gas, Claude and my Unholies come aboard for the guarding and questioning phase. We will all be masked. That will give us options.”

  “You’ve had some nutty plans before, Delta Dawn,” Lucas said. “I’m even counting your penchant for hand-grenades, but this wild-ass chaotic nonsense you created for the Caymans makes me wonder if you’re channeling Bozo the Clown.”

  Nick went silent except for muffled amusement. We Monsters didn’t bother muffling it. Nick returned. “Good one, Ahab. What do you think, Dark Lord? Want to come along?”

  “I wouldn’t miss it. Oh yeah… I forgot to tell you the good news. It’s official. Kade is my son. The DNA tests came back.”

  “I guess you needed the official results,” Nick replied, “but I doubt the results surprised any of us.”

  “You can say that again,” Lynn added. “Cheese needed the proof; because let’s face it, we’re all targets. The whackos will try and get at us any way they can. Our new lawyer already started adoption proceedings. The little man will be Kade Harding soon.”

  “I like the sound of that,” Nick responded. “Paul found a military flight for us into MacDill Air Force Base, and another jump from there to Homestead Air Reserve Base. Thom will meet us at a point called Midnight Pass with the Guerro.”

  “Thom McGaffey volunteered to go along on the suicide mission?” Lucas asked.

  “He doesn’t know about the suicide mission part of it yet, Ahab,” Nick answered. “We leave day after tomorrow, John, from Travis Air Force Base at 10 am. I’ll pick you up at 8 am at your hangar in our helicopter. Paul cleared us to fly directly into Travis and park my chopper there until we get back.”

  “Sounds good, brother. I’ll be ready.”

  “How’s Captain Hook doing?”

  “We trained today; and I fed him our last guy out of the freezer, Raul. Apparently, Raul was very tasty. Hook circled for pets twice as long as usual.”

  “That is one terrifying creature,” Nick said.

  “That’s just mean, Nick. The Captain asked about you and everything.”

  “Yeah… I’ll bet he did.”

  * * *

  The voyage proved wonderful, weather-wise. Thom copiloted Guerro toward the Caymans without any problems with hull number and name covered. Nick and I inspected everything on board for armaments. We had also brought along our own weapons, tear gas cannisters, and military flashbangs. If we could get all the people on the main enclosed deck watching Gus’s Ride of the Valkyries drive-by attention getter approach, this whacky plan of Nick’s might just work. One thing I was sure of, if they got a taste of the military grade stuff we planned to visit on them, they would not be in any shape to stop our capturing Stacker Bay.

  “Thom’s done a great job keeping your boat ready for use,” Nick said.

  “Guerro is Thom’s only naval defense. He guards it 24/7, using proximity alarms and
our huge super network. He trained a competent security force with weapons to repel any type of small assault, but if any formidable military force arrives, the Isle of Hope would be in trouble until we arrived with a strike force. Guerro patrols every day around the island, fully armed, so she can handle smugglers and drug runners.”

  Claude joined us. “Are you two hashing out a mission impossible scheme?”

  “That hurts, Bad Penny.” Nick hung his head. “I’ve formulated a plan to make certain Bad Penny Chardin returns home to his wife, safe and sound.”

  “I am certain you two will assault Stacker Bay and get killed. You will be avenged. Bad Penny gives his word.”

  “Oh… thanks,” Nick replied. “It’s nice to know someone will be looking out for us once my plan fails and we get massacred.”

  “Think nothing of it, brother. Bad Penny is here to serve.”

  Jian and Johnny enjoyed the interlude, probably wondering what their chances of escaping the Cayman Islands arena would be in reality. Nick and I packed our weapons and party-favors in the waterproof carrier with its own buoyancy controls. We would be wearing what they call skins… black, tight fitting, thin wetsuits. Average water temperature was around 80 degrees. Our full mask breathing gear allowed communication. When we reached the yacht, we would ditch our fins, but keep on our air tanks, opening our equipment pontoon and readying for assault.

  “Some swimmers in the water now,” Johnny said as Gus slowed to a stop within far off sight of Stacker Bay. Johnny, Cala and Jian were charged with line of sight range finders.

  “Good news, Muerto,” Jafar announced. “All Stacker Bay passengers lounge on the main enclosed deck, no heat signatures detected anywhere else.”

  “Excellent! Let’s hit them, John,” Nick said. “We’ll approach now and be ready the moment the swimmers clear the water. They’ll clean up and rejoin the group for drinks. We may not even need Gus’s Ride of the Valkyries approach with Achmed able to let us know when everyone lounges on the main deck.”