Hard Case 12: Climate of Chaos (John Harding)

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “I think Gus should do it anyway just to perk up their attention until we can throw in the cocktails,” I suggested.

  “Agreed.” Nick grinned. “Hurry to meet death, before your place is taken.”

  Damn. Nothing like a 13th Warrior movie line to light the fires. “On your six, boss.”

  With the submersible equipment pontoon under water, Nick and I approached the bow of Stacker Bay, where we would await the swimmers exiting the water and joining their companions. Once in position, we snorkeled, without using our air tanks, close to the hull of Stacker Bay, waiting with calmness we exercised in combat many times.

  “Swimmers exiting the water,” Jafar said.

  “Understood,” I replied.

  Fifteen minutes later, Jafar announced the swimmers’ heat signatures returning to the main deck. “This looks very good, guys. Go for it.”

  “Acknowledged, control. Moving into position now,” Nick responded.

  At the fantail entry shelf, we shed our fins, opened the pontoon, and wedged it between us. Nick and I readied flashbangs.

  “Now Gus,” Nick said.

  Oh my… the Ride of the Valkyries approach gave me goosebumps.

  “They jutted to their feet, watching our approach,” Johnny said. “Engage.”

  We threw in the flashbangs. We didn’t stop at a couple. Next came the military grade tear gas. Those entries would require some deck cleaning.

  “All down and unhappy,” Cala said.

  Nick and I armed ourselves with silenced UMP45s, threw the pontoon up onto the main deck and followed it, ready for action, with full mask breathing apparatus in place. We had no opposition. Sick and writhing in abject misery, we had only to flip and restrain them. A few women amongst them appeared to be locals recruited for the onboard party, which confirmed Jafar’s extra heat signature report. Nick called off Gus’s approach. The Stacker Bay incorporated excellent fans which cleaned the atmosphere well enough for us to shed our breathing gear. Nick and I switched to Muerto masks. Gus arrived to discharge our helpers, also wearing Muerto masks. The Stacker Bay incorporated a hose for cleaning the deck; which Nick employed on both the deck and the people, while Claude, Johnny and Jian blindfolded the prisoners. I located Knut Tomney after the Muerto cleansing, miserable and still gagging. I hauled him off to a quiet place for an introduction.

  “Hello there, Mr. Tomney. I bet you didn’t think your killer plans, sending attack boats to kill me and my son would energize a response… at least not one affecting you. Sorry… but you called and I’m here. We blew your attack boats to pieces, fed the crews to the sharks, and learned who instigated it all.”

  Nick joined me for a moment. “Take your time. I’ll go gather the electronics. Come along with me. Knut can show us his safe and open it.”

  “Good idea. He will be sailing with us anyway. Lead the way to your safe, Knut.”

  “I will not!”

  “That’s so cute! You thought we were asking,” Nick remarked, pinching Tomney’s cheek. “My associate and I brought aboard these stun-guns. Have you ever had your balls zapped?”

  “You wouldn’t dare!”

  I let him go and Nick gave him a five second hummer in the nut-sack. Tomney hit the deck with a squeaky scream. “You’d be surprised at what I would dare.”

  After yanking Tomney to his feet, he danced around unsteadily for a few moments. Being restrained after our assault on the ship, it prevented him from gripping the injured part.

  “Are you ready to help us or would you like another demonstration of what I dare?” Nick asked.

  “This…this way.” Tomney waddled along.

  In another forty-five minutes, our goody bag contained laptops, cell-phones, tablets and a lot of money from the safe. We also found some very interesting papers in the safe to investigate later. Our helpers had seated the prisoners and added more restraints. We were not seen by any of them. When they were discovered by the boat sent to take the locals off tomorrow morning, we would be long gone. The assault would be deemed a suspected kidnapping and theft. No one would ever see Tomney again.

  Gus and Thom piloted us toward the Isle of Hope. The Guerro would be put into hiding there until the search for Tomney and kidnappers was called off. Tomney opened all the electronics for us so Nick could reset passwords and fingerprint access. He gave Jafar the account numbers he found along with the codes for transfer. Jafar confiscated quite a large sum, using our untraceable network with capability to bounce the signal all over the world. Jafar could pick any nation in the world as originating the signal. He usually picked Saudi Arabia or Nigeria.

  We anchored temporarily ten miles from the Isle of Hope. Nick and I sat down with our guest. Nick still had a couple questions. “When you sent the Tijuana Cartel drug boats after us, what reason did you have?”

  “The Committee wants the Port of Oakland back. I knew, as did Nat Rooks, we could never control the port without getting rid of you, Harding. The Cartel wants to extend its drug network offshore in the North as well as the South. It would have elevated me to the top ranks in the Committee and possibly the Presidency in the next decade.”

  “So, you weren’t ordered by the Committee to do this then?” I asked.

  “They’re so frightened of you bunch, no one even speaks any of your names for fear they will mysteriously disappear in the night; or get blown to kingdom come like happened in Boston. I thought they were acting like frightened children. It turns out I’m an overconfident moron… soon to be a dead one.”

  “I fixed Nat Rooks too, along with her helper, Miguel Cortez,” Nick told him.

  That news surprised Knut. “I heard they were found dead of a bad heroin hit.”

  “Heh…heh… yep, that was sweet,” Nick replied. “How did you get Assio-Warez into this?”

  “That fucking idiot! She nagged me for weeks to take a hand in this plot. She knows the elections are as rigged in New York as they are in California. Assio-Warez believes she’s a rising star in politics and the dumber than a bag of rocks bitch is probably right. She colluded with Nat Rooks, Gary Drowne and Neven Lewsome, telling them Cobus was a deadly killer. Instead, he runs for the hills the moment he got a chance.”

  “I ripped his throat out, showed it to him, and then fed Cobus to the sharks,” I told him. “You’re saying Assio-Warez wants entry into the Committee for political capital?”

  “Exactly,” Tomney answered. “They could eventually make the birdbrain into a Senator or Governor.”

  “You’ve been very helpful, Knut.” Nick injected him in the neck.

  The syringe made Tomney smile at the end. Cala and Nick stripped and prepared him for the water. With their thorough preparation, the ocean predators arrived in the chummed water in short order. We made sure nothing remained of him before Gus and Thom sailed for the Isle of Hope. Thom would get rid of the clothing for us. After cleaning and tarping Guerro, we boarded the Isle’s helicopter transport with all our gear. The pilot, with only one stop, flew us to Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida, on CIA Director Paul Gilbrech’s authority. We needed to wait for a day to get a military transport into Travis Air Force Base.

  Nick dropped me and Claude off at our hangar. He and Cala copiloted toward the Grove. “Cala looked worn out. I don’t think she realized how draining this mission was going to be.”

  “Johnny will make her rest. Muerto called it correctly,” Claude said. “We have a bag full of goodies for Jafar. That was a very good payoff too. I know you are donating a nice chunk to both Isle of Hope and our friends running the City of Hope.”

  “Yep. Thom still needs to upgrade their buildings and equipment occasionally. The City of Hope is nearly self-sufficient, but they still need funds to take in other former Muslims, seeking refuge from the Sharia Law Mutants. They expand daily, requiring new dwellings, and a larger security force.”

  “How about a night out at the Warehouse. I believe we should celebrate our good fortune, my friend. Bad Penny needs to sip a few.�
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  “I will join you. I need to get back in the water with Hook for training. The fight will be on soon in Brooklyn. Want to join me and Captain Hook tomorrow morning?”

  “No Captain Hook for me. Watching the videos gives me all the excitement I can stand of that monster.”

  I sighed. “The Captain is a very misunderstood soul with a big heart.”

  “I think you have rammed your head into too many doors.”

  * * *

  I reached home to find Kade vacuuming the house and the little guy did not miss a spot. He shut it down and ran into my arms. “Dad! Mom let me vacuum!”

  “I see that. You were doing an excellent job too. I brought you home something.” I opened my pack and took out the box. “This is a voodoo doll.”

  Kade’s eyes nearly popped as he stared at the figure with mohawk hair cut on a bald head, creepy smiling face, island fashion type clothing and teak stand. “Cool! He’s spooky! I’ll call him Mr. Voodoo.”

  “You got him a what?!”

  Uh oh. Snaggle-puss arrived in a huff with Al next to her. “A voodoo doll from the Caymans.”

  “Are you mental? Kade’s only three! It will scare the crap out of him.”

  Kade held it up, so its leering face peered at Lora and Al through the cellophane front. Then he made it dance. “I’m Mr. Voodoo! I’m coming to get you!”

  Al played along, screaming and running with Kade chasing her, leaving Snaggle-puss and I alone. I took out the red silk robe I bought for Lora. “I brought this home for you. It comes with a matching thong.”

  “Lovely. Why on earth would you buy that child a voodoo doll?”

  “It was the only fun thing I saw when we gassed up the helicopter for the midflight trip to Florida. Kade likes it.” The screaming stopped. I figured the kids were taking a closer look at Mr. Voodoo.

  “We’ll see when nighttime comes. What did you bring Al?”

  “A pearl necklace.” I handed Lora the open case.

  “Oh… this is beautiful.” Lora admired the necklace for a moment before turning on me. “Your daughter gets a necklace and I get the slut costume, huh?”

  “Next time, you’re getting a lump of coal to thaw out that cold… cold heart.”

  “Very funny.” Lora moved into my arms. “I heard bad talk about this being a dangerous mission because of Nick.”

  “As usual… his plan worked… better than planned. I think the guy writes these scenes into his novels and the real-life events follow his instructions.”

  Al and Kade joined us with Mr. Voodoo out of the box. “Mr. Voodoo is the greatest! I’ll put him on my dresser where he can protect my room!”

  “Good idea, Kade,” I agreed. “His creepy countenance will ward away all evil spirits. This one is for you Al.”

  “Oh Dad… it’s beautiful!” Al turned to let me put it on her. She hugged me. “Thank you!”

  “You can wear it tonight. We’re going out to dinner at the Warehouse. Bad Penny wants to celebrate arriving home alive.”

  “I’ll bet he does,” Lora replied. “Claude sure likes his new nickname.”

  “Worse than that, he speaks of himself in third person, like Muerto. I need to take a shower. Get ready for our night out. If you want something to drink, let’s take an Uber.”

  “I would like a couple glasses of wine,” Lora answered.

  “I need to find a dress to wear with my necklace.” Al hurried out of the room.

  “Can I take Mr. Voodoo, Dad?”

  “Sure. I put the dinner invitation out to the Monsters. I’m sure they will want to see Mr. Voodoo.”

  “I’ll finish vacuuming with Mr. Voodoo on the table while you and Mom get ready.”

  “Sounds good. We’ll be out shortly.”

  “Okay.” Kade put Mr. Voodoo on the coffee table and resumed vacuuming.

  “That was nice of you to hire Kade as our maid, Lora.”

  Lora blushed. “He wanted to do it! I didn’t force him.”

  Once inside our bedroom, I determined a quickie was in order before my shower. It became apparent immediately that I had been missed. The quickie journeyed far past the normal quickie range, complete with Al banging on the door. Luckily… Lora and I had mystically anticipated the interruption by a few seconds. I went into our bathroom and showered while Lora gave Al another lecture on privacy and patience.

  * * *

  Lynn could not stop appreciating Mr. Voodoo. Every time she looked at him in Kade’s hands, he jutted the doll at her, making spooky sounds. “No…no more, Kade! Aunt Lynn has had… enough.”

  “Okay. Can I put Mr. Voodoo on the table with me, Dad?”

  “I have no objection.”

  “That is a very pretty necklace, Al,” Lynn said.

  “Thank you! I love it.”

  Lora escorted the kids to where the Monster family auxiliary compared their own notes on Monster-land. Since today was Saturday, Laredo flew Flo, Tommy, Jess, and families back to the Bay in time to make our dinner date. Florence excited people. The Governor of California having dinner with the Oaktown Tactical Unit was a big hit with the Oakland Blue eating there. They wanted pictures, autographs, and to make short suggestions she listened to. We Monsters were drinking tonight.

  “Is there ever any reason to doubt Delta Dawn after this small miracle,” Lucas asked. “The damn thing went down smoother than riding an iced sliding board.”

  “I admit I had my doubts, but when Nick launches into this stuff, he doesn’t wear even a shadow of doubt.” I finished both initial brothers. Marla refilled them immediately.

  “I assumed so many things would go wrong, I thought of shooting myself,” Bad Penny interjected to wild amusement.

  “The fight and Assio-Warez are next. I’m getting back into the water with Hook tomorrow morning if anyone wants to go fishing. I’m not taking Rudo lightly. I plan to be ready to the max so we can all have a good time back East and maybe Muerto will create a great ending for Assio-Warez. He plans to go early and do some book-signings. I think I’ll join him and take Kade and Al to see the Statue of Liberty.”

  “Count us in too,” Lynn said. “We’ll let Jonas and Amara have the house to themselves with Clint Jr and Tonto.

  “We interviewed State Highway Patrol Officers for Flo’s security detail,” Tommy said. “We found six who are all combat veterans and love Flo’s platform. They will take over security. The officers know Sacramento inside and out. Jess and I weren’t very good security guards. Dev and the Oakland Tactical Unit need us around here.”

  “How has it been for you so far, brother?” Jess asked Mayor Constantine.

  “Not bad,” Dev answered. “Because Flo took the heat getting her programs going, I concentrate on monitoring them. Our Oakland PD keep me informed on actions to help keep our streets and parks clear of vagrants. When a new tent city begins, the police and Oakland Public Works move on it right away. The fewer people, the easier to redirect them to the state-of-the-art shelters we donated to get built. Each one has its own security force made up of gang members and veterans we’ve rehabilitated and trained, much like the City of Hope. Some refuse any help or guidance at all. They get escorted out of the city after storing their pictures, DNA samples and fingerprints. If they’re caught again, they go on a road gang.”

  “We received some extra money on this last job,” I said. “The shelters need full security monitoring stations as we discussed before – might as well get them installed now.”

  “I’ll ask for bids,” Dev replied. “Monitoring stations would help our security forces ward off problems before they get out of control.”

  We heard a commotion outside the restaurant. A bunch of voices chanting restore the welfare of migrants, or Governor Flo must go.

  “It seems we have a leak in the Governor’s office,” Tommy said.

  Flo walked over to us. “Want to walk out with me?”

  “You don’t need to go out there,” I replied.

  “I really do, John
. They don’t scare me.”

  “Okay but stay inside until I check the monitor and see who and how many.”

  “Thank you.”

  Marla gestured me around the bar. “C’mon, John, I’ll take a look with you.”

  Marla led the way to the Warehouse monitoring security station. “Uh oh… it looks like maybe forty or fifty people. No wonder we can hear them in here. Mexican flags, and Dreamer placards… oh goody.”

  “What are you going to do, Champ?”

  “I’ll take my crew through the kitchen and get behind them. This is what we formed Oakland Tactical Unit to do. First though, I’m going to make a call to a friend we helped out before.”

  After the call, I returned to the bar. We had a lucky thirteen of our unit here, including Claude Chardin. The only guys missing were Laredo and Denny. “I need to take the unit around behind them, Flo. There are too many for you to confront until we make it safe.”

  Flo hesitated.

  “Mom! Give us some time,” Jess urged. “The mob could have weapons, pepper spray, or even acid.”

  “Understood,” Flo relented. “You be careful out there. Call me out when you apprise the situation.”

  I led the unit through the kitchen and out the back way. The mob couldn’t hear us over the chanting. We threaded in behind them, looking for obvious weapons or containers with possible missiles to throw. Seeing nothing we couldn’t handle, we spread out around them with stun-gun nightsticks in hand. Clint and Casey had their Colts out, ready for weapons being drawn. I grinned, seeing the media setup to hijack Flo, complete with cameras and reporters. They finally noticed me as I got around to the front. Their chanting faded to silence.

  “The Governor will speak with you, but the first instance of aggression, vulgar language, or interrupting, and the Oakland Tactical Unit will break this up.”

  One of them chortled in amusement. “Are you the Unit?”

  “No, but I could be with a crowd of buttercups like you, Betty.” I gave him the stop sign as he took a step towards me. “Don’t be an idiot! Come at me and I body-slam you into the pavement. The Unit is all around you. They are all armed and if you know anything about the Oakland Tactical Unit, you know every one of them is a killer.”