Hard Case V: Blood and Fear (A John Harding Novel Book 5) (14 page)

“Yeah, that is one of the most impressive gaming experiences down there. I need to take Al and Lora again. Al had a blast killing zombies on screen in that 3D theater mode. Lora… not so much.”

“I’ll rack up a big zombie body count for your approval.”

“You do that, Jess. Thinking about you and Dev going head to head on the zombie killing experience is almost entertaining enough.”

“I’ll ruin him for the game. He sits down to pee now. Brother Dev won’t have a chance. Even if he had a chance, he doesn’t gamble, so I’d be wasting my time competing against Metro Man.”

Jess, Tommy, and I were laughing so hard from that ace, with Lucas’s bass yelping roar from the bridge, Dev couldn’t get a word in edgewise. He shrugged it off as we wound down our enjoyment of his small roasting. Then, Cruella Deville and her better half climbed the stairs to our main deck.

“Give me a laugh, boys,” Crue said. “I need it.”

She and Clint definitely enjoyed the limo story, followed by our take on the zombie game. Lynn walked over and hugged me.

“That was one impressive strike, John. I’m sorry about losing it like that on you. I’m working on my taking as well as giving, but the damn hormones are raging. You wouldn’t happen to have someone in mind I could work out my issues on, would you?”

“Not immediately, but as over the edge as Denny’s been on this, it may happen real soon. He thinks this shit in the works is so bad, if the Bulgarian ‘Ghost’ guy showed up, he’d launch us like an Independence Day fireworks show, no holds barred.”

“Well damn… that sounds worth waiting for. I take it, even after all we’ve found out, the next step is this goofy matchup, huh?”

“That sums it up,” I admitted. “Oh yeah, Denny wants you to tone down your conversations with girls’ softball parents, Clint. Shame on you.”

Clint enjoyed his sendup at my hands. “Okay, fine, I’ll allow Cruella Deville to interact with the pissed off parents. You do know of course the first one who raises a hand to her gets a third eye along with all of their posse… and no, she can’t stop me. My lovely wife has acknowledged the danger involved with handling girls’ softball parents as we do terrorists. We have decided to allow the vaunted Cheeseburger to handle all future interactions until they descend into violence, in which case innocents will die.”

I waved in acknowledgement. “The Cheese will accept full intervention duties from now on, to ensure the continued wellbeing of fellow softball parent gamesters. Since we’ve already disposed of our unwanted soulless assholes, let’s adjourn to the bridge with Lucas for the trip back. I have been informed we may have to let loose the full scope of bad endings we’re geared up to do. If worse comes to worse, we hit everything suspect without mercy or any proof. This is one of those worst case scenarios where we don’t have the facts, or any clues to lead us in a formidable direction. We all know things change. I have Crue’s minions on the street, and Denny is working our IT boys with whip in hand. He will be meeting us at the dock if Jafar or Laredo discover something we can act on.”

“You can bet old man Alexi is working this Kornev debacle with everything he has in reserve too,” Casey added, taking a break from his fishing endeavor on the bow. “Did Denny have any theories about how this could have come about? I mean… hell… one minute we’re pitting John in a match for some illusionary dock rights, and suddenly, we’re fighting for our lives, and the survival of the country. Did I miss something?”

“I was supposed to text him when we were heading into port, which I did. He told me he’d see us at the dock. That means he has some clue what’s going on. I wish that ‘Ghost’ bastard would come to town. I’m set on a ‘game show’ special, or in other terms, how many skin squares will it take to make a chessboard.”

“I must admit,” Lynn said as the rest of us hooted at my info gathering mention of Cruella Deville’s more monstrous interrogation technique, “that is one of the most satisfying fact extraction methods I’ve developed.”

“We also have a suspicion Kornev will try and move the fight to an earlier date. With the pressure building to get this ‘Ghost’ guy in town, I’m ready tomorrow if it works to get him here.”

“I hate being optimistic about the damn fights, but you’re as ready as you’ve ever been,” Tommy stated. “If I’m contacted, I’ll arrange a meeting right away. Do you want it at The Warehouse again?”

“It would be best for monitoring all accompanying traffic either inside or outside the bar. It would be a bonanza if the ‘Ghost’ snuck in, thinking to get a glimpse at who Marko will be fighting. I’m betting one of us could pick him out of a crowd.”

“Are you talking about snatching him right on the spot, John?” Suddenly, Clint didn’t look enthused. “We’d be tipping off everything. Remember, this guy may be a step higher in the food chain, but we don’t want to lose any players scurrying for the tall grass when they find out ‘Ghost’ has been taken.”

“Good point,” I admitted. “We’ll wait for Denny to meet us with what he has. Besides, it’s wishful thinking the ‘Ghost’ would walk into the bar to observe anyway. He will already be on edge with the number of acolytes we’ve relieved him of in the last couple days. It will probably come down to picking him out at the fight by the way Yuri reacts to him, or a Marko loss as we’ve already discussed, could flush him out into the open.”

“Lots of ifs and maybes in this,” Casey remarked.

“There won’t be if I get my hands on ‘Ghost’,” Lynn replied. She pointed. “There’s Denny, and he has a real anxious look about him. Let’s Taser his ass, just to chill him a little.”

Chapter Five

Political Expediency

“Hey… what’s so funny,” Denny asked, as we hadn’t quite finished enjoying Lynn’s chill pill idea. “Never mind. I’m sure it had something vicious to do with me. We have a good idea what they’re hoping to put together. It seems the Russians are allowing some very dangerous weapons to arrive on the open market using shell corporations. The latest one brokered by the ‘Ghost’ for sale to Boko Haram pirates in the Gulf of Guinea was an EMP bomb, smuggled aboard a container ship that was ported in the Nigerian International Port called Tin Can Island. The State Department believes it’s the same EMP tech the Russians sold to North Korea. They can be put in a warhead, or detonated in place. It doesn’t take much for one to completely disable a container ship, leaving it dead in the water. The low tech pirates can scramble on board without resistance in the dark. The container ship can’t call for help or move.”

“Wait a second.” We all halted our disembarking tasks to hear what Casey had to say. “I thought we were the only ones who had anything potent enough to disable a vessel from a hand held weapon. If the Russians have something like that, why in hell would they sell it to those Boko nitwits or North Korea for that matter? Doesn’t the potent stuff have to have a nuclear charge?”

“Right on all counts, Case,” Denny said. “The Russians have a warhead very similar to what we’ve been working on to fire from launchers like an M136. The military grade black-market warheads and hand weapons have been smuggled out of Russia before. Once a guy with means like our Bulgarian arms dealer gets his hands on something as lethal as an EMP warhead, he has it deconstructed for mass assembly. It would be no trick to add a detonator or develop it to be fired from an RPG7. Naturally, the non-nuke EMP warheads would be localized, but think of the infrastructure disaster if they’re used on our electrical grid.”

“You think these training camps already in place, Kornev has plans for, could be put into operation assembling these EMP warheads?”

“I do, Lucas,” Denny answered. “In a concerted attack, they may not be able to cripple us completely, because we do have shielding, but not enough of it. Power stations, water utilities, trains, and financial district centers are susceptible to low yield EMP weapons. Smuggling the ingredients for mass production of these EMP weapons should be a top priority of every agency in the Federal Government. Guess what? We’re it.”

“It’s not very smart using us like this,” Lynn replied. “Perhaps now would be a good time to shut off all shipping from suspicious places, and close the damn borders with troops.”

Denny shrugged. “Instead, they launch us. At least we won’t have to put together a last minute attack on the high seas with something like anthrax involved. They caught North Korean cargo ships trying to get nuclear missiles through the Panama Canal as late as 2013, and they still allow the bastards to use the Canal. We don’t have answers. All we have is a deadly solution.”

“A temporary one at best,” I added. “Let’s get the hell out of here. We have softball practice later after I pick up Al from school. We’ll all stay on this, and keep our eyes open until I can force Kornev’s hand. Isn’t there some EMP or microwave bursts that could be used in concert from container ships at a distance from port?”

“Hell yeah, they could,” Clint agreed. “If the container ships are supplied off the shore before anyone knows what’s happening, they could mount the more potent canons to get the job done. They have the deck space, and means to shield them from view. Now you’re making sense with this shit. I confess to nodding off while you were discussing this small time EMP attack threat. Knowing how easily Kornev could build something unimaginable in a port he controls, I’m with Denny and John. This is the big time. If we want to fight an all-out war on American soil, I can’t think of anything more potent to bring that about than bastards who think they can’t be touched off shore firing EMP cannons in concert, or planting EMP bombs. These people are serious. We already have a population of smartphone zombies, who can’t release the damn things from their hands for five minutes. Consider what knocking out all communications devices would do to the zombies. They’d probably start eating brains for real.”

Denny waited for the zombie line appreciation to subside before going on. “Clint’s exactly right, which is why we’re going to end this threat. Until we know the scope of it, we’ll have to play this dangerous game out to its conclusion. Let me know if Tommy or Alexi get word Kornev wants to meet. It would be a welcome sign we’re at least worrying these assholes.”

I didn’t let on how really sick I was of this terrorist crap. I could tell from the grim faces around me I wasn’t alone. When you lead a band of killers, it is very difficult to factor outside political stupidity into decisions made to confront threats. Sometimes the urge to first adjust the elected officials selling out our nation on a daily basis overwhelms me – not a good thing. “Tommy or I will let you know if we hear anything. I have to get Al from school. We’ll continue our world saving duties after practice. I know the training gig today was tough, Lynn. You can take today off from practice if you want.”

“No way,” Lynn said. “The girls need their female role model to counteract the influence of the violent Cheeseburger.”

I stared at the sky, shaking my head for the killer elite enjoying Lynn’s reasoning for not taking a day off from practice. “Oh yeah… that’s what they need.”

* * *

Lynn glanced over at her husband with a bemused smirk as he turned out of the marina parking lot. “You got on a roll back there with the boys. Is there something deeper going on I’m not aware of? Usually, Denny or John simply point you to the kill zone, and away you go… with me of course.”

She reached over to fondle Clint from knee to chest as he drove when he remained silent. “If you don’t answer me, I’m not letting you have your way with me before practice.”

Clint curbed their Toyota. He enveloped Lynn in a torrid embrace from which she had no retreat or defense. When finally he pulled away as their friends drove by honking horns, and shouting derogatory remarks, Lynn panted while leaning over the center console into him. She managed to flip off their detractors to much amusement as the vehicles sped on. “Well okay… you have a passionate problem with our work somehow. Sharing means caring, Cowboy.”

Clint put his finger in his mouth, making gagging noises for his amused wife. “Oh God… don’t ever say that phrase again. The problem is I saw this video on the Internet about either a country’s population maintain at least a 1.9 birth rate, or they cease to exist. All of Europe, America, and Canada are under that rate. The deadliest scourge of humanity now is at an over 8 percentile.”

“Oh my goodness, you Islamophobic infidel! That’s what sent you over the edge? You believe we’re being bred into extinction? I have news for you, infidel. I plan on having at least six kids. I’m Latino by heritage, but red, white, and blue through and through. I’ll raise an American Flag loving brood to counteract this world wide plague you speak of.” Lynn held up her fist. “We will not be defeated!”

Clint enfolded her in his arms, reacting to her humor with amusement and hope. “Do you really mean that? I’ve always wanted a big family. Hell… I never had one, and I know if you did, you don’t know who they are anyway. I love you more than anything on earth. I would love to father the brood you’re espousing. I’m worried about keeping you alive until then.”

“Screw that. It is what it is, Cowboy. We’re rich. Money and self-indulgent bullshit is why Western Civilization is dwindling. We’re monsters. We do what we do with the West Coast Avengers because we’re the last entity on earth to call when a big bad surfaces, and we love what we do. Have you ever seen me mope around in abject angst while slicing pieces off of bad people? We’re freaks, Clint. We don’t belong around soccer moms, girls’ softball leagues, or even just normal people – but here we are. I’m not giving it up, and I’m having babies with you until I can’t have babies because we’re rich, and I’m planning on being Psycho Mom. As a ‘Man from nowhere’ you don’t understand how pumped I am at the thought of Psycho Mom at everything from birthday parties to marriages.”