Corps Justice Boxed Set: Books 1-3: Back to War, Council of Patriots, Prime Asset (53 page)

What they couldn’t know was that the squad
leaders had been the only ones to be given special ceremonial
rounds engraved with Japanese lettering for the WWII era weapons.
It was a small vanity that the prideful Nakamura had insisted on,
thinking that the one clip per squad leader would be sufficient
considering the complete lack of security. He’d underestimated the
Marines.

None of the four remaining Japanese had
ammunition. If it bothered them, it didn’t show. They were standing
in a tight formation, bayonets pointed at their enemies.

“Put the rifles down!” yelled Cal at the
four men.

Instead of complying, the enemy on the far
left yelled something in his native tongue. His warriors
charged.

+++

Kazuo Nakamura peeked around the corner. He
watched and smiled grimly as his four remaining loyalists charged.
It would be an honorable death.

As quickly as possible, he made his way to
the American President, pistol at the ready.

+++

They were out of rounds. Just like their
ancestors at Belleau Wood, the trenches of Okinawa, and the jungles
of Vietnam, the four Marines moved to meet their enemy.

+++

Congressman Zimmer climbed down to the
ground floor. His father had opted to take the stairs. He ran
toward the prostrate President, not realizing the Nakamuras were
stalking in right behind him.

+++

The eight men met in a clash of steel and
flesh. Both sides were highly trained and deadly. The hulking Trent
was the first to dispatch his opponent by dodging the man’s bayonet
stab and then the butt of his empty pistol onto the top of his
opponent’s head. The powerful blow crushed the man’s skull and he
collapsed to the ground. Trent turned for a new target.

+++

Andy wasn’t so lucky on the far right. Still
woozy from the trailer episode, he just missed a parry and got a
nasty cut deep into his forearm. The assailant kept stabbing,
trying to gut the Marine Captain. All Andy could do at the moment
was dodge the stabs until there was an opening or the challenger
overcommitted.

+++

In the middle of the group, Cal picked up a
bloody Garand rifle from the ground and charged his foe. The two
adversaries thrusted and parried. Taking a step back, Cal flipped
the rifle over in his hands and gripped the weapon like a baseball
bat. With tired arms screaming in protest, he swung the butt end of
the rifle at his rival’s head. The man scrambled to bring his own
rifle up vertically to block the swing. He never had a chance. The
swing was too powerful. The Marine was too mad. The stock of the
M-1 blew through the parry and smashed into the man’s head. Game
over.

+++

Next to Cal, Daniel surprised his foe by
throwing one of his knives straight at the man’s face. It was a
pretty harmless throw, and Briggs would’ve been lucky if the thing
had done any damage. But that’s not what he wanted. The Japanese
raised his rifle to block the projectile. He heard the satisfying
clang as the weapon bounced off harmlessly. However, this action
gave Daniel the distraction he needed. Going to the ground, he did
a quick roll and thrust his remaining blade into his target’s
abdomen. The man dropped his weapon and grabbed his stomach. Daniel
extracted the dagger and drove it up through the man’s throat. He
gurgled as the sniper twisted the blade through the man’s neck. The
imposter fell to the ground, dead.

+++

Andy was struggling to keep up with his
enemy’s thrusts. He’d gotten two more deep cuts on his arms trying
to deflect the longer bayoneted rifle. Out of the corner of his
eye, he saw Trent step behind the remaining Japanese soldier.

The lone warrior noticed Andy’s glance and
turned to face his new threat. Too late. Like an anaconda, Trent’s
enormous arm wrapped around the man’s throat and squeezed. The man
dropped his rifle and scrambled to tear the giant’s grip off his
windpipe.

Before he could do so, MSgt Trent twisted
the man’s head violently and severed his spine. He discarded the
imposter on the ground.

In unison, the four Marines turned toward
the President. They saw Brandon Zimmer bending down to check on the
American leader. They also noticed the two Japanese men approaching
the Congressman from behind.

Chapter 40

Las Vegas,
Nevada

7:01am, September 19th

Brandon Zimmer bent down to check on the
President. The leader of the free world moaned and rolled over,
gripping his left arm. He was alive! Wounded, but alive.

“Hold on, Mr. President, I’ll help you get
your arm wrapped.”

“What…where are my…?” the President tried to
ask.

“Let’s just get you out of here first, Mr.
President,” Zimmer yelled over the music that still reverberated
loudly overhead.

The President grimaced as he tried to sit
up. Brandon couldn’t believe he’d survived the firing squad. He got
the President to his feet.

“Walk away from the President!” yelled a
voice behind him.

He turned to find Ishi and his father
walking closer. The elder Nakamura was pointing a small pistol
right at Brandon.

“Fuck you!” Zimmer yelled as he stepped to
shield the President. Kazuo Nakamura changed the angle of his
weapon and shot the Congressman in the leg. Brandon fell on top of
one of the dead Secret Service agents and screamed, clutching his
shattered patella.

+++

Cal and his three friends stopped short when
Zimmer was shot. They were four men against two, but Nakamura was
the only one with ammunition. He saw Senator Zimmer at the
entryway, opposite the Japanese. Cal motioned for the Senator to
stay where he was. Richard Zimmer ignored the hand signal and
walked purposefully toward the President.

+++

As if on cue, the music overhead ended. The
four Marines poised to make a run for the President. Kazuo Nakamura
leveled his weapon at the President and addressed his adversaries.
“If you want the President to live, you will stay back.”

They didn’t doubt him.

Senator Zimmer approached the President from
behind and put his right arm around his boss’ opposite shoulder.
“How are you, Mr. President?”

“Zimmer? What…what’s going on?” asked the
President in confusion.

In response, Senator Richard Zimmer pulled a
pistol out of his left coat pocket. “Well, Mr. President, I hate to
tell you that this will be your last day in office.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, let’s just say I’m sick of your
pansy-ass. I think it’s time for a new world leader.”

The President looked at the head of the
Senate Intelligence Committee in shock.

“Don’t look so surprised, Mr. President.
It’s truly unbecoming of an American President to be so afraid of
death.”

The President steeled his gaze. “You’ll
never get away with this.”

Sen. Zimmer chuckled. “That’s where you’re
wrong, as usual, Mr. President. You see, by the time the smoke
settles, all of you will be dead and I’ll be the last one left. The
Party and Americans will flock to me in their grief. Losing an
American President is a small price to pay for getting our national
pride back.”

Before the President could respond, Kazuo
Nakamura cut in. “Enough of this, Senator. Let me kill him so that
we can catch our flight home.”

Richard Zimmer looked back at Nakamura with
barely disguised contempt. Yes, he had been useful, but maybe it
was time to end their relationship. He leveled his gun at the
Japanese businessman. “I think maybe I can do this without you now,
Nakamura-san.” Without another word, he aimed at Nakamura’s son and
fired two rounds. The bullets slammed into Ishi’s chest.

“Father…” he said quietly as he reached for
his father, instead falling to the ground.

“You will pay for that…”

“Oh, what are you going to do? Shoot me with
that shitty little Nambu? Did your father give you that before he
died, Kazuo?” the Senator asked, smirking. He knew all about
Nakamura’s familial past.

“How dare you…?” seethed Nakamura.

“Oh shut up, you Nip. Did you really think
that I was going to let you build your little empire? You’ve got to
be fucking kidding me. If I’d known…” Zimmer stopped talking as he
noticed Nakamura laughing almost uncontrollably.

Zimmer’s face colored. “What are you
laughing at?!”

Nakamura continued to howl crazily. Everyone
watching thought the man was cracking up. Finally, he quieted and
looked back at his mole in the American government.

“I’m laughing because I read you so well,
Senator.”

“What are you talking about, you idiot?”

“I knew you would double-cross me. Yes,
you’ve become a very upstanding public figure in the last twenty
years. But does anyone remember your early days? The days when the
Irish mob bankrolled your election? How many favors did that cost
you? And only to have that same mob investigated and put in jail
years later. Tsk, tsk. No, Senator. You and I are more alike than
you might think,” Nakamura smiled.

“I am nothing like you. You know what, I’m
done…”

“No, Senator, I have one more surprise for
you.”

Zimmer looked back in
confusion. He thought he covered his bases.
What does this little Japanese prick have up his
sleeve?

“While you were so concerned with weaving
your little plot to take over the Presidency, we were quietly
making deliveries to your beloved Representatives.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,”
replied a flustered Zimmer.

“We know about the new Opel smart phones
that everyone wants. You Americans will soon wait in line for days
for this little piece of technology,” Nakamura held up his own Opel
smart phone. “You know that we’ve established a large network of
blackmailed American government officials over the years. Well, our
experts in Japan were able to acquire a single shipment of phones
and retrofit them with a little gift.”

Zimmer’s eyes narrowed. “This was your
insurance policy?”

“Yes, now you understand! You see, if my son
and I don’t arrive for our flight in thirty minutes, my people are
ordered to detonate the devices,” Nakamura said smugly.

“Detonate?” Zimmer asked.

“Why, yes. My staff is very crafty when it
comes to technology. What you don’t know is that we’ve been
secretly developing a higher grade of explosive that is
undetectable by scanners or your bomb dogs. Quite impressive,
really. This explosive was inserted with remote detonating software
onto the Opel smart phones. We’ve already confirmed delivery to
over one hundred of your Senators and Congressmen. There are also
over two hundred other important business leaders and government
workers who received the phone over the last two days. They were
very happy to get an early version of the phone. In fact, if I’m
not mistaken, even the President has one of our phones in his
pocket. Now, I’m not sure, but wouldn’t it be difficult to be
President and run a country without half of your elected officials?
Not to mention all the businesses that would suddenly be without
their leadership.”

“You son-of-a…”

“Let’s not call each other names, Senator.
Why don’t we just finish our business and move on to more glorious
times for both of our countries?”

“So what are your terms?” Zimmer asked
through gritted teeth. He’d hoped to be rid of the Nakamuras and
not have to follow through on all the silly promises he’d agreed
to.

“Simply this: I kill the President, all his
friends over there…” he motioned to the four immobile Marines,
“…and I walk out of here with my son.”

“What about my son?” Zimmer asked, warming
to the idea.

“Take him with you, as long as you think he
can keep his mouth shut.”

“I’ll take care of my son. How do I know
that you won’t detonate those phones if I let you go?”

“You don’t. But it would be much better for
me to run the new Empire of Japan with the help of a healthy
American ally. Besides, I’ll be more than happy to give you a
detailed list of all the recipients of our…upgraded phones once we
land in Tokyo.”

“What am I supposed to do with this mess?”
Zimmer motioned to the piles of dead men.

“We’ll use the same story we agreed upon.
Those men were a rogue terrorist unit aligned with the growing
Chinese communist threat. My government will be very apologetic and
supply information corroborating your claims. We already have the
documentation produced. It will all be taken care of.”

The senior Senator from Massachusetts wasn’t
sure, but he didn’t have much choice.

“Okay. If your son is still alive, take him
and…”

His comment was cut short by six loud
gunshots from the handgun Congressman Zimmer had taken from one of
the dead Secret Service agents.

Kazuo Nakamura looked down at his pockmarked
chest and dropped his pistol. Very slowly, he gazed up as blood
seeped out of the corner of his mouth. His final mumbled comment,
as he fell dead, was muffled by Ishi’s crying.

“What have you done, Brandon?” Zimmer asked
his son in shock.

“I was sick of listening to the little
fucker.”

Brandon struggled to stand on his one good
leg. He managed to get up and face his father and the President.
The Senator’s pistol was pressed to the side of the President’s
head.

“What now, Dad?”

“Shoot him.”

Brandon raised his gun and fired two
shots.

Chapter 41

Las Vegas,
Nevada

7:11am, September 19th