Hard Case VI: The Killer Inside (John Harding Book 6) (17 page)

“Oh…oh my… that was simply delicious, Gus,” Lynn finally muttered. “Let’s go. I guess we’ll need to piece together a few more puzzle pieces. I’m sure Jak didn’t leave anything out on purpose. He was so upset after his ear treatment, he unintentionally left out some important information. We’ll get to the bottom of that now, won’t we, Jak?”

“I know now what you want,” Jak said, never looking at Lynn. “I didn’t know you had these people here. They were stationed on the other side of the border. We are connected.”

“Good.” I stopped him. “Who gave you the order to hire the sniper?”

“Arian Sopa,” Jak answered. “He is Albanian as I am. He has an estate in Livermore. I am unaware of anyone else in this area who has been successful infiltrating the gangs here. It took me two years to get into position. That is why the Fahima woman was so upset.”

“Have you been to his estate?” Maybe we could fix this before word reached Sopa.

“Yes, it is on Cedar Mountain Road.”

I think it is time to split our squad for the day. Crue would not need my help with prepping for her Hollywood directorial gig. Clint and the minions would be here for prisoner arrangement. Denny and Laredo would be our eyes and ears while my old mates, Lucas and Casey, accompanied me to Livermore. If it looked as if Denny and Laredo would be able to give us satellite updates as we hit the place in real time, we stood a good chance of getting Sopa before he heard we already hit the Locos. Denny, who had accompanied us, looked at me with a knowing smile.

“Split Squad?”

He did know. “Yeah, Den, with you and Laredo watching for action all around the ranchero this new player Sopa lives at. Crue and Clint can handle the soon to be reality TV stars for a day. Lucas, Casey, and I will try and capture Sopa before word gets out about the Locos. It will be tricky in broad daylight so we’ll need to take a look at the estate from satellite, and make a plan before we go there.”

“Agreed,” Denny replied. “I’ll take Jak with me and get the reconnaissance you need while you guys get ready. Crue and Clint can start on Bonnie and Clyde right now.”

“I like it,” Lynn said. “We’ll be done in time to play poke and hook tomorrow with the Great Banana.”

“I have a head wound in case you didn’t notice, Crue. I’ll have to train out of the Bay.”

Everyone laughed but me.

Chapter Six

Big Fish

One of the rolling green hills overlooking the Spanish style hacienda made a perfect camouflage nest for Lucas to settle into with the M107 .50 caliber sniper rifle. We could tell from the satellite shots Lucas would have a clear shot at the hacienda’s many open windows. He would also be our cover. Casey and I would approach the hacienda by ground in the dense brush at the rear of the property. It would be hot work. We wore tan camo outfits head to toe. Lucas would be our eyes as to discovery. No one would be able to move on us with him in the nest no matter whether they discovered us or not.

We also had Denny and Laredo networked with Jafar to provide three sets of eyes on our satellite coverage. Casey and I had Lucas ragging our asses every time he saw a single blade of anything move around us of course, so it was an entertaining approach. We opted for Casey’s favorite weapon: silenced MP5’s. Naturally, we carried handguns, with both of us choosing the .45 caliber Colt. With military style flash-bangs, smoke grenades, and a few real grenades we covered our bases for the assault as well as they could be covered.

Lastly, we had thermal imaging showing only half a dozen people in the hacienda. They had two guards which was why Lucas prodded us to remain unobserved. He would eliminate them when we made our move on the hacienda. Casey and I weren’t fooling around either. We didn’t want a war before we made it to the house. If all hell broke loose, Lucas had enough .50 caliber ammo to collapse the structure. We wanted Sopa alive for the time being. If there were any more big wheels in this terrorist link, we wanted them now.

“Damn, Recon, your approach sucks, you clumsy white-bread cracker.”

He was full of shit. I know he kept an eye on the hacienda most of the time. Casey and I were making a damn invisible approach. “You don’t have a clue where we are, Ahab. Quit pretending you do.”

“Why you… I ought to put a round right next to your head.”

“Yeah, if you knew where my head is. If you do, tell me how far I am from the hacienda. You have range finders and every sighting gizmo known to man. How far, Ahab?”

Silence.

“Yeah… that’s what I thought.”

“Shut up, peckerwood! You’re fifty yards away.”

Casey chuckled in my ear. “We’re closing in on twenty yards, you old fossil.”

“When I get you in the Bay, we goin’ to have some fun then. Say when. The guards round the property every fifteen minutes. There is one point I can get them both. You two goldbricks will be able to drag them undercover, and hit the house. Here they come. I need a go or no go in five seconds.”

“Tap ‘em, Pappy.”

Casey and I heard the four shots from the M107 on our open line, but nothing anyone all the way here will notice. We heard nothing of the two guards’ deaths. Casey and I sprinted the last distance, found the head pulped guards, and dragged them into the bushes around the rear of the house. We stripped out of our camo gear, leaving only our Kevlar in place. The rear entrance was unlocked because the location of the place coupled with patrolling guards made them confident. Casey and I were about to give them a lesson in overconfidence. We found two in the kitchen, which was the first occupied room we came to.

Casey shot one right between the horns, and I grabbed the other one out of his chair while Casey watched our six. With my hand gripping his throat, and his feet not touching the floor, I did a short interrogation. “Do you know where Sopa is?”

He choked while shaking his head in the negative. I snapped his neck.

“Still no movement or alarm,” Lucas said.

“Denny? Do we have a thermal?”

“The other three thermals in the house are in the master bedroom, upstairs. I hope you can get this guy alive.”

“I hope so too, brother. Do you have line of sight on the master bedroom, Pappy?”

“No joy,” Lucas replied.

“It’s on the left, all the way in the back of the hallway,” Denny added.

“Let’s go, John. I’m afraid it’s time for the Cheeseburger battering ram.”

“Agreed. If I don’t get this done soon, Lucas will start shooting at me through the window.”

“Damn right!” Lucas didn’t miss an opportunity like that. “Denny? You see what I’m seeing?”

“Company, John,” Denny confirmed. “Two SUV’s, coming fast. Sopa must have gotten a call out. Do you need assistance?”

“Did you just insult me,” Lucas asked. “I have a clear shot wherever they come to rest on the driveway. I’ll keep them occupied until the Blue’s Brothers quit singin’ and dancin’ inside, and get Sopa.”

“On it,” I said as Casey and I raced to the master bedroom.

I didn’t pause. The bedroom door was a standard balsa wood veneered door. I smashed it down as if it were made of paper. Two women screamed as Casey entered behind me ready to kill or maim. Sopa was on his knees, hands locked behind his head. If he knew what was in store for him at Pain Central, he probably would have went down shootin’. I’ll put in a good word for him with The Mistress of the Unimaginable if he’s cooperative. I restrained him and then the young women. We didn’t neglect women in odd places with terrorist gangsters. We had one of the most deadly women on the planet with us, and disregarding these two because of their sex was not going to happen. They cried us a river, but they were going along for the ride home once Casey and I ambushed the thug cavalry.

“I checked a linen closet downstairs we can stick them in, John,” Casey said as we rushed them to the stairs.

“We haven’t made any real noise yet, Case,” I replied while we stuffed Sopa and his women in the linen closet Casey picked out. He closed the door and I propped a chair under the handle.

“You’re thinking grenades.”

“Yep.”

“Bad Cheeseburger… bad,” Casey admonished as I handed him one. “You’re thinking Lucas traps them in the driveway and we make a statement.”

“Nothing makes a statement like grenades in close order combat.”

“Best get into position, boys. They were coming fast and hard all the way until reaching about a mile away,” Lucas said. “They slowed way down, so it might be Sopa was in contact with them until you grabbed him.

“That would explain his surrender,” Casey said, as we took up positions behind the decorative porch arches. “He didn’t even speak.”

“I believe he thinks his thug convoy would fix our wagons, partner.”

“I’ll stop them twenty yards from the house,” Lucas said.

“Perfect.” Then we waited.

They weren’t dummies. Lucas planned to stop them at the top of the approach circle where they would be single file. We didn’t plan to be fancy. While Lucas pumped rounds into their vehicles, Casey and I would approach from each side, toss the grenades, and hit the dirt. We knew Lucas had us covered. Once we were sure of our kills, we needed to scramble our prisoners the hell out of here into the hills where we left Lucas. We could then decide if the result of our grenade attack was sufficient to distract the local swarm of cops I’m sure would be sent in our direction.

The approaching vehicles must have a guy trying to sight in on an ambush because they were in no hurry to get down the road. I imagined numerous calls to Sopa’s cell-phone in my bag going off with a God awful ringtone came from our approaching attack squad. I had no idea what that ringtone was, but even the great Beeper sounded better.

“We should have Crue torture that prick Sopa in punishment for his ringtone,” Casey muttered.

“I agree.”

Our targets decided after seeing no movement for the last fifteen minutes to make their approach. Lucas pumped half a dozen armor piercing rounds through the engine block, tires, and cab of the first vehicle with one through the driver. He disabled the second, working on the driver and tires as Casey and I ran, tossed our grenades, and chewed dirt. Casey’s target was the lead. Mine was the second. The explosions were spectacular. I even heard an intake of breath from Lucas. Casey and I were hugging earth. We knew better than to pop our heads up before secondary explosions finished.

“Okay, boys,” Lucas said finally. “It’s time to haul ass. Get moving. There ain’t anything living in those flaming hulks, and no one got clear. Message sent.”

“I’m on with you still, John. Make it into the hills with Lucas as planned. I will make some calls. The action van won’t be stopped. Come on home.”

“On our way, Den. We have two women we’re not leaving. They’ll have to come with us.”

“Understood, John. We’ll work it out.”

Casey and I shifted into high gear. We needed to get into the denser brush between Lucas’s position and the hacienda. We slipped on our discarded equipment for the trek out. Casey took charge of Sopa, who was surprised as hell he wasn’t getting rescued. I think shock would be too weak a word to describe the look on his face when we opened the linen closet. I shook the sobbing women into a state of attention then.

“Listen to me! We have to move. You two will be coming with us whether you like it or not. Don’t think for a second I won’t start breaking things on you if we get slowed down by your fright fest. Would you like a demonstration?”

I grabbed a finger of each behind their backs. They screamed out their willingness to accompany Casey and me at full speed. They were dressed well enough. We moved them the hell out of there quickly. By the time we heard sirens approaching, our group had progressed three quarters of the way to Lucas. I was nearly carrying the two females by then. The one I suspected as a person of interest was dragging her feet in particular, but I didn’t have time for an attitude adjustment. Casey kicked Sopa along. The slender, dark haired thirty something woman, who triggered my hunch reflex soon added to my suspicions. When she thought I wasn’t looking, she shelved the fright mask. Her eyes moved then for any way she could make an escape. When I turned my attention toward her, the veil of horrified helplessness fell again into place. I knew one thing for sure: I was glad I brought her along.

When we were within a hundred yards of Lucas’s position, he warned us down. “Hit the dirt, kids. Make your way to me on your bellies. If one of your prisoners sticks his or her head up, adjust it for them. The cops are flowing all through the grounds, casting eyes in all directions.”

Casey and I hit the ground immediately, forcefully taking our prisoners with us. They didn’t like it, especially my bad hunch girl. She thought the fall to the ground would give her an excuse to scream out, but I was ready. I choked her before a squeak could exit. I stuck my murderous Cheeseburger face into hers while holding the other woman tightly by the hair.

“Move along the ground quietly or I rip your throat out. Do you understand?” I allowed her enough slack then to breath and nod.

The other woman remained silent and terrified through the entire trek, including the last part worming toward Lucas. Then, it was a matter of waiting for Lucas to give us the all clear below the rise where his sniper’s nest was. That last fifteen yards upward had no cover of any kind. We would be exposed to anyone looking in our direction. As cover though, fire trucks called to the scene, caused enough commotion, coupled with the dead bodies to keep the police focus on the house and grounds.