Corps Justice Boxed Set: Books 1-3: Back to War, Council of Patriots, Prime Asset (41 page)

An additional note added that the sniper’s
fire was verified by a UAV that had loitered long enough on station
to get video of the entire gun battle.

“Thanks for checking on that, Andy.”

“No problem. You need anything else?”

“Nope. Just give me a call when you get
in.”

“Will do.”

Cal placed his phone on the
wet bar.
What the hell am I going to do
with this guy?

+++

Daniel Briggs knocked on Cal’s door
precisely at quarter ‘til eight. Cal opened it and invited Briggs
inside.

“Can I get you anything?”

“No, thanks.”

“Any more interesting nights on the
street?”

“Not yet.”

“I wish I could say the same.”

Briggs cocked his head in concern. “Anything
I can help with?”

“I’m not sure.” Cal didn’t know how much he
should tell Briggs. On one hand, he knew he probably wouldn’t say
anything. Most Marines knew how to keep their mouths shut. On the
other hand, SSI’s mission in Las Vegas was completely off the
reservation. If anyone so much as caught a whiff of what they were
doing, it could spell real trouble for Cal and the company.

“Do you mind if I ask you a couple questions
first?”

“Sure.” Briggs nodded.

“Okay. First, anything I tell you today you
can consider Top Secret. Cool?”

“Cool.”

“Second, what’s the deal with the CMH?” CMH
is short for Congressional Medal of Honor.

Daniel’s eyes went cold. “How did you find
out about that?”

“I have ways of finding out anything I need
to. You okay with that?”

“Why were you checking up on me?” Briggs
accused.

“Wouldn’t you do the same thing? You meet
this guy that looks like he just stepped out of the jungle and he
saves your life. Oh, AND he’s a Marine?”

Daniel’s temper cooled and he actually
laughed. “You’re right. I guess I forget how I come across
sometimes.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I don’t
like to go into many relationships blind. With the resources I have
at my disposal, I usually checkup on everybody I can. So you want
to tell me about the CMH?”

After a brief hesitation, Briggs explained.
“Apparently the SEAL Commander put me in for it. I don’t want
it.”

“Why not?”

“The damned thing makes it sound like I’m a
fucking hero. I’m not. A hero would’ve saved those guys.” Cal could
see tears coming to his eyes.

“It’s just recording what you did, Daniel.
From what it sounds like, you deserve it. And that’s coming from a
guy who knows a thing or two about awards Marines don’t want.”

Daniel looked. “What do you mean?”

“Let’s just say I won an award for killing
some bad guys and saving some buddies. I’d give it away if it meant
getting my Marines back. It took me a long time to acknowledge the
fact that I did something heroic. I don’t think I’m a hero either.
I did just what they trained me to do: kill the enemy and take care
of my Marines. The faster you come to that realization, the faster
you’ll heal, man.”

Briggs nodded thoughtfully. Was this the
missing piece? Was God finally answering his prayers?

Cal went on. “I want to introduce you to
some of my guys. We’re all part of a company called Stokes Security
International; SSI for short. My dad started it a few years back
after he got out of the Corps. Who knows, maybe you’ll like it
enough to stick around. We can never have enough lead-slingers
around.”

Cal smiled and was pleased when Daniel did
the same. He was on unfamiliar ground. Of course he had the
authority to hire new employees, but he hadn’t yet. Cal just got
the feeling that there was something to Briggs that could really
complement his team.

He gave Briggs a quick rundown of what SSI
did but decided to leave out the covert aspect. Better safe than
sorry for now. They talked for a few more minutes. Cal was
impressed with Daniel’s knowledge of Las Vegas. Like a true sniper,
he’d evaluated the area with a cunning eye.

Cal gave his new friend a quick brief on
what they were up against. He left out the details concerning
Zimmer’s blackmailing, and kept it to the threat coming from
Ichiban.

“How about you join us for lunch at noon? I
can introduce you to the rest of the guys and maybe you can poke
holes in our plan.”

Daniel accepted the invitation and excused
himself to run a few errands.

Cal watched him go, all the time wondering
if he’d just found a diamond in the rough.

+++

Ishi had spent the morning trying to run
damage control. His father had flown into a murderous rage at the
news of the escape. It was only the impending coup that had finally
calmed the incensed Nakamura.

“From now on, you will not leave Matsura’s
sight!” Kazuo Nakamura pointed at the third man in the room. The
small man smiled and bowed to his master.

“Matsura has already coordinated our
deliveries. It is now a simple matter for him to monitor the
situation. I have talked to our contact about recent events. He
assures me that he can provide information that will eliminate the
threat of this Calvin Stokes.”

“What kind of information, father?”

Nakamura glared at his son. “It will be
provided to Matsura when I receive it.”

“What about the Congressman?” Ishi dared to
ask.

Father smiled at son. “I have taken care of
Congressman Zimmer. He is no longer your concern.”

He walked away. It was a dismissal.

Ishi’s embarrassment was complete. His
failures laid bare, the young Japanese felt afraid. Would his
father keep him from the coming glory? Just as he had the thought,
he shook it off. His father wouldn’t throw him to the side. Ishi
was his only child. Since the day of his birth, they’d groomed him
for this moment. Ishi would listen to his father for the time
being. Soon enough, he would exact his vengeance on his family’s
enemies. His father would come to see that all his training was not
in vain.

+++

The SSI team met at noon. There were no
immediate updates from Neil. Cal was desperate for more intel on
the Ichiban organization, so he allowed Neil to keep clicking away
while the rest of the group talked.

He’d started the meeting by quickly
introducing Briggs to his team. It was clear that Zimmer wasn’t
happy about having an outsider involved, but he wisely kept his
mouth shut. After hearing the story about Briggs coming to Cal and
Brian’s aid, the Congressman couldn’t disagree that the sniper
might be a valuable asset.

“So now that we have a lock on where Ichiban
houses its main servers, we need to get in there and see what we
can find. As of now, we don’t have anything concrete on these guys.
At least nothing we can take to the Feds,” explained Cal. “We know
they’ve augmented their own security staff with some Russian thugs.
Me, Brian, and Top are compromised. We won’t be able to set foot in
any of their hotels. That means it’ll be up to Gaucho’s guys.”

Gaucho raised his hand. “How much money are
you gonna give us to hit the tables, boss?”

The assembled men all laughed. Leave it to
Gaucho to keep it light.

“I’m not giving you a fucking penny,
Gaucho,” Cal joked. “I heard about your shitty luck in Tunica.”

Everyone laughed again. The Hispanic
commando did like to spend his time off at the Mississippi casinos.
Contrary to what Cal said, he often came home with pockets
bulging.

Briggs raised his hand and the room went
silent. Up to that point, he’d said little more than hello to the
elite team. They all sensed a warrior in him, even without knowing
about his exploits.

Cal pointed at him. “Whatcha got,
Daniel?”

“I was wondering if maybe I could be one of
the guys going into that hotel.”

Everyone looked to Cal. It’s not what he’d
expected. “I really just brought you here for a little Vegas
insight. I’m not sure I feel comfortable putting you in harm’s
way.”

“I’ll stay out of the way. It’s just that I
know these places a lot better than these guys. No offense,
fellas.” He looked around the room to nods of agreement.

“Okay,” Cal assented, “Gaucho, use Daniel
however you need. I’d prefer he sticks to recon.”

Gaucho nodded and patted Daniel on the
back.

“Okay, any other questions?” Cal asked his
men.

“You want me to stay with the Congressman?”
Trent asked.

“Yeah. Make sure that we…”

“Oh shit.” Everyone turned toward Neil. He
was clicking his mouse frantically, pulling up multiple
screens.

“What is it, Neil?” asked a concerned
Cal.

“They just posted the murder scene video on
YouTube.”

Congressman Brandon Zimmer paled and looked
close to vomiting.

“I guess they just called our bluff,” Cal
offered conversationally.

+++

After Daniel and the
contingency team left, the remaining men crowded around Neil’s
computer screen. The video was exactly one minute long. There was
no sound, only a flickering subtitle:
“Woman butchered by popular politician. More details coming
soon.”
Zimmer cringed as Beth’s naked body
flashed into focus. Luckily they’d decided to blur her face, for
now. The camera panned around the dismembered body and bloody bed.
No one said a word.

I can’t imagine waking up
to that
, Cal thought. Although he’d
resisted it before, he now allowed a shred of sympathy for the
Congressman’s predicament. Cal was pretty sure the man standing
next to him had not been the culprit of the gory scene replaying
over and over again on the computer screen.

+++

“Did you really think that was necessary?”
the politician asked Kazuo Nakamura.

“The Congressman forced our hand. He was
given explicit instructions. He decided not to follow them. Now he
will know that we are very serious about exposing him.” Nakamura
took another sip of his green tea. Posting the video had been a
gamble, especially in the presence of his current guest, but he had
to maintain his position of power.

“Very well. How is the rest of our little
agreement progressing?” asked the politician, between sips of his
own tea.

“The upcoming convention is proving to be a
problem.”

“Why is that?”

“The Secret Service is being extremely
diligent. We are concerned that all the pieces will not be in place
on time.”

“You assured me that this
would not be a problem. What do we need to do to remedy the
situation?” the politician asked through gritted teeth. He’d put a
lot of faith in the Japanese businessman. They were too far along
to turn back. Besides, he’d waited long enough for his day in the
national spotlight. Only yesterday, he’d listened as the blithering
idiot in the White House had bowed to yet another foreign dictator.
The President had become a foreign policy nightmare. It was time
for strength within the Democratic Party once more.
FDR must be rolling in his grave,
the politician thought, not for the first
time.

“I think we can handle the Secret Service. I
am, however, concerned with this SSI organization. Do you have the
information you promised?”

The politician smiled. He’d called in a lot
of favors for the contents in the manila envelope. There’d also
been some substantial bribes to loosen the tongues of some
ultra-patriotic federal agents. Nevertheless, the information
contained in the envelope would not only take care of the SSI
problem, but would bolster the politician’s new platform as
President. Yes, it was time to clean the skeletons out of the
closet. America would be a shining example of strength and
transparency. No more pansy pandering to terrorists and third world
countries. It was about time America had a real democratic leader
at the helm.

“Everything you need is in this envelope. Do
not release the information to the public until the hour we
discussed. You may, however, use the information to dissuade SSI
from further involvement near our little operation.”

Nakamura finally smiled to his guest. He
would have to remember how ruthless this man could be. Unconcerned,
Nakamura knew he had enough evidence to condemn the man should the
politician decide to cast the Japanese aside. Besides, the packages
that were presently being delivered were his organization’s
ultimate insurance policy. The two men were connected for better or
worse.

+++

The Council members sat in stunned silence
as the YouTube video replayed across their screens for the second
time. Pres. Waller pressed STOP and addressed the group via video
conference.

“So as you can see, the ante’s just been
upped. I’ll be heading out to Las Vegas soon for the convention.
I’m planning on having regular contact with Stokes. Once I know
more I’ll get you an update.”

The members of The Council of Patriots
disconnected from the call. To a man, no one would correctly
predict the final outcome of the coming drama.

Chapter 23

Las Vegas,
Nevada

9:12am, September 18th

The Democratic Party was converging on Las
Vegas. The convention began in two days. Congressman Zimmer had
already gotten ten phone calls from staffers and fellow Congressmen
traveling to Vegas. They all wanted to ask if he’d watched the
YouTube video and see if he had a guess as to who the murderer
might be. He’d laughed off the questions and asked whether they
were the guilty party.

He dreaded every call. His paranoid mind
kept telling him that they knew it was him. Zimmer knew they
didn’t, but he wondered what they’d say when they found out he was
involved. They’d crucify him. He didn’t think badly of them for it.
He knew he would’ve done the same thing a few months ago. They were
as clueless as he’d been.