Hard Case V: Blood and Fear (A John Harding Novel Book 5) (21 page)

“I’m glad I’m not in on that experiment,” Tommy replied.

“Amen.”

That’s when a loud twang sounded inside, followed by muffled thumps, and then silence until the screaming started.

* * *

“Laredo’s head will be so swelled if this works we won’t be able to speak to him without bowing first,” Clint whispered. “It took him three hours to install after you gave him the idea. Some of these guys are not going to survive this.”

Lynn patted his knee. “I’m sorry, did you think I cared? We retrieved Kornev’s name from their cohort earlier. I know Denny wants a few more for his keychain, but he already gathered a shit load of intel from those first guys we gave him. It’s time to have a little fun.”

“It’s a damn good thing he rigged a mechanical trigger,” Clint said. “This EMP shit is beginning to piss me off. God knows how many things we’ll have to replace. That was a surprise.”

“Quiet… here they come. This will be so good.” Lynn fingered the trigger connected to a release in the floor which would launch a two inch diameter solid steel bar to a ninety degree angle at waist level with bone breaking force. It worked much like a mousetrap, but didn’t move past the ninety degree range.

Their front entrance opened. The men entered inside the narrow foyer silently, making sure to close the door with quiet deliberation. They stayed perfectly still while listening in the darkness for any reaction to their entrance. They moved in harmony, beginning to spread out. As they passed the spot where the entranceway widened, Lynn triggered the release. The bar shot into place with devastating effect. Bodies flew backwards into the foyer walls and entranceway door with such force, it took many moments for the victims to find their voice. When they did, they drowned out Lynn’s applause and laughter.

* * *

Our entry into the house required some force as there were a few bodies writhing around behind it. Once inside, Tommy and I scanned the foyer with our mini flashlights. “Damn. This is a mess.”

“Don’t you ruin this for me, Cheese,” Lynn warned, as she and Clint surveyed the damage. “That was lovely. Get to it boys. I’m seven months pregnant. I’m not doing search and seizures. They’re all alive too. I want a team in here tomorrow morning undoing everything that damn EMP did.”

I found the weapon they used, and handed it to Lynn. “I can tell this much even in the dark. That’s a prototype.”

Tommy, Clint, and I maneuvered the six thugs together, assessing the damage. The really noisy ones, we plastic tied, and gagged with duct tape. The groaners, we separated after restraints were in place. That done, I took pictures while Tommy aimed his light on each face. Denny could make sure we had the same group Clint sent pictures of before. I received a text during our show and tell. Clint and Lucas had the driver.

* * *

“There he is, Case.” Lucas pointed at a Mercedes SUV parked along the roadside one block away from Clint and Lynn’s home with the motor running. “Damn, a new GL. These suckers are livin’ good.”

“Don’t even think about confiscating it, Lucas,” Casey replied, driving by, and turning at the end of the street while Lucas ran the plate. “You have enough money to buy a fleet of them, you cheap prick. Buy yourself one.”

“Why should I? His nice lookin’ GL will just go to waste, or the minions will claim it.” Lucas saw he wasn’t getting any leeway on the confiscation from his partner. “Fine, another community property vehicle for the minions.”

“Want to play rock, paper, scissors to see who gets to educate the driver?”

“I got it,” Lucas said. “I’m going with an MP5 burst right through the windshield since I can’t have the damn thing. When you box him in, it’ll be over in a few seconds. I heard Cruella had Laredo rig some kind of trap for the ones entering the house. She’s gettin’ nasty in all directions lately.”

“I heard because she put the minions on alert. I told Gus to call me when they get activated. You be careful with that fruitcake, Lucas. Want me to show you again how I got that cool nickname, Night-shot Casey?”

Lucas scowled in Casey’s direction. “You bring up that lucky shot in the dark while backing the Cheeseburger’s play on the bad guy one more time, and I’ll put an MP5 round right through your head… Night-shot.”

Casey enjoyed Lucas’s upbraiding, turning off his lights as he approached the Mercedes GL. He angled in at such a way, the SUV could not go forward because of the vehicle ahead, and could not reverse because of Casey’s block. Lucas leaped from the passenger seat just before their own GMC Acadia halted. The driver, with Lucas’s MP5 pointed through the window at his head, instantly turned the situation into a calm takedown.

“Get the fuck out of the vehicle, and lay face down on the pavement! Do anything else, and I put a burst right through your head, Daddy.”

Lucas sped Mohammed Nejem’s journey to the pavement considerably when Nejem hesitated after exiting the vehicle with another overhand bitch-slap. The slap pitched Nejem into the GMC, and onto his knees. Lucas knelt on him with one knee in the middle of his back, forcing him flat with an anguished cry of pain.

“This is all I’d imagined, Case,” Lucas said as he roughly searched Nejem for weapons and ID. “I hoped Mohammed would be one of the guys, but I never dreamed he’d be stupid enough to actually join in at the ground level.”

“Yep,” Casey agreed. “He’s a genius. Throw him in the back once he’s on his feet. We’ll introduce him to the facts of life on the path he’s chosen later. I hope Amara doesn’t screw us over later after she understands Daddy there had to be sanitized.”

Lucas pitched the bound and now gagged Nejem through the GMC rear hatch, and closed it. He rejoined Casey in the front with a big smile. A moment later they were speeding toward the Dostiene residence. “It sure was nice of Mohammed to join in the front line work. He gave me another golden opportunity. Smacking that perverted thing calling itself a father was just so nice. We read crap about these ‘Honor Killing’ assholes in the papers more and more. I wonder what the hell goes on in any American’s head considering allowing Sharia Law in to piss all over the United States Constitution. I can tell you one thing, brother: if it happens, I’m not sure what the hell I’ll do.”

“We’re in the right place, with the right group, if it does,” Casey replied. “There’s no use beating it around in your head now, partner. Thanks to Denny, inadvertently through John, we have a sanctuary… at least for now. I guess we live in the present while we still have a Constitution to defend, and pray for better management.”

“May as well pray for world peace,” Lucas replied, his fists tightening. “I don’t know about you, but I’m gonna’ get me a piece before I allow the upper political echelon of stupidity to sell out the nation in a politically correct acid bath.”

“I’m with you. Maybe we should start saving to buy an island. If all of us put into the pot, I bet we could. We’d make sure we had an airstrip on it, and a real good deep water pier approach. We could build a fortress on it, impregnable by EMP attacks or the zombie apocalypse for that matter. If things get too hot for us on the mainland, we could take the flag there for preservation.”

“I’m in, Case!” Lucas sat up, his hands slamming the dashboard. “That is one exceptional idea! You’ve given me a goal. I’ll let you keep the Night-shot tag.”

“Can I keep referring to it without a bullet in the head?”

“Don’t push your luck, brother.”

Casey chuckled. “Understood.”

* * *

I looked up from my triage operation as Casey and Lucas arrived with Amara’s Daddy, figuring in my head how many of our Lynn ‘mousetrap’ victims would survive. I couldn’t speak for possible internal organ damage, but it seemed we would have a full group of survivors to hand over to Denny. He loved it so much as to dispatch a full cleanup crew to the scene for extraction. Lucas and Casey seemed particularly buoyant as they dragged Amara’s old man into the house of alternate lighting. Clint had his EMP protected satellite uplink with Denny on screen to observe. I did the medical triage, because I had a lot of experience, and I loved the entertainment value of Lynn mingling to terrorize my patients while Clint backed her up with Tommy overseeing.

“Papa did participate, huh?”

“He sure did, John. Lucas applied his second bitch-slap of the day for him,” Casey replied. “I see the new intruder alert system worked well. I know you would have had the video if the bastards wouldn’t have EMP bombed your peripherals, Crue.”

Lynn sighed, making as if she were going to kneel on one intruder’s ribcage as he hummed for mercy behind a duct taped mouth. “Damn right, Case! I was set to record anything except a prototype EMP attack.”

“All will be well, Lynn,” Denny said loudly from on screen. “Although as highly entertaining to watch as I’m sure your intruder alert invention was, we have them all alive to clarify this horrible invasion of castle Dostiene.”

“I’m too tired to really show these boys a good time,” Lynn admitted. “Send any uncooperative ones to the House of Pain if they are reluctant during questioning, Spawn. I’m going to bed.”

“By your command ‘Mistress of the Unimaginable’. Rest well,” Denny said.

Lynn giggled as she moved toward the stairwell, giving Spawn the wave off.

“I’d like to work Daddy Nejem myself,” Lucas said, grabbing the aforementioned father of ill repute’s ear, shaking Nejem’s head violently.

“I…I will answer anything… anything. Do not let this beast torture me,” Mohammed begged.

Denny liked that. “I enjoyed his professing of compliance, Lucas. I don’t appreciate his naming of you as a beast. Feel free to give him a sampling of your wares to gain also a modicum of respect when he speaks of you.”

The rest of us backed away. It would be a valuable lesson for our survivors to see as well as Nejem. Lucas smilingly cut the bindings on Daddy Nejem, helping him to his feet from where we had seated him. Lucas patted his face. “Like Denny said, you’ve learned fear, but not respect. I’m going to teach you respect right now. I’ll give you a couple of minutes to formulate whatever fight you want to oppose me with. Then… I’m going to beat you like a man. It won’t be pretty to watch, but it’ll damn well show your cohorts here we ain’t the American pussies you all have been led to believe. You have thirty seconds to regroup, you woman beating sissy. For your sake, I’d recommend at least putting your hands up to defend yourself, girlie. Otherwise, I’ll just boot kick you unopposed after I bitch-slap you to the floor again.”

Nejem was done. He fell on the floor, begging forgiveness. Lucas backed away. It had never been his intention to force the point past complete capitulation and eagerness to surrender intel. “Like Crue said, Denny, if you get any resistance from these turds, send them to the House of Pain. We’ll set things right. Speaking of Pain Central, have you had it cleaned out yet?”

“Already taken care of,” Denny answered. “This action should quiet things while Yuri melts his communications network trying to find out where Amara’s Papa and his helpers went. After a few weeks in Clint and Lynn’s protective custody, I believe we’ll be able to relocate Amara safely. How about sending her away to college somewhere?”

“Damn, that’s actually a great idea, Den,” I admitted.

“You act like I never have them,” Denny complained. “Actually, it was Maria who suggested it.”

“I’ll find out if she’d like to do that and where,” Clint said. “I’m thinking someplace North would be good, maybe Colorado State.”

“She won’t be drawing attention to herself, so any crowded college campus would be a good choice,” Denny replied. “I like the North better than East. Amara would run into too many Islamists there, sympathetic to destroying the nation they’re stealing blind already.”

“That reminds me,” Lucas said. “Case came up with a hell of an idea. We need to buy an island for when the political hacks import so many jihadists, they install Sharia Law, and we end up killing a whole bunch of people. We need an island sanctuary. We have the money. Hell, when we get this whacko ‘Ghost’ corralled, I bet he’ll beg Crue to let him give us all his ill-gotten gains. I know Yuri will.”

I could see Denny’s face light up. I know the rest of us liked the idea.

“I’m on it! Damn, that’s golden,” Denny proclaimed. “It will be an outpost against the darkness. We’ll need a deep water port if possible, and a landing strip for Laredo. We’ll get it done no matter what happens here. We’ll make it into our own personal resort until we need it, or a special place to take one or two rendition type terrorists. My team will be there shortly. I have to start checking out available islands that can work for Casey’s idea. Spawn out.”

“You sure lit a fire under Spawn, Case,” I told him. “I like your idea more than I care to say. I love America, and this area in particular, but I see nothing but death and chaos if we keep doing what it is we’re doing. Having an island sanctuary even as a short term safe place would be incredibly good. What made you think of it… the new baby?”

Casey shrugged. “Yep. That’s the main reason, but a sanctuary where we don’t have to worry about loved ones in a place where we could send the minions in as guards with their families too seems perfect to me. We have hard corps minions. Those guys can be counted on. They’re part of our weirdo family now. I hate to say it, but we better save for island batteries to repulse the drones possibly sent our way too. With Denny’s inside knowledge, we may be able to smuggle state of the art island protectors against drones into place too.”