Dark as Daylight Ch. 13

"They couldn't have gotten Joe's chocolate covered ants yet."

"No, nothing as nutritious as that. They're having chicken feet for breakfast."

"I thought they outlawed that many years ago."

"I don't know, all I know is they are eating them by the plateful, and I left the room."

"I guess it's not as bad as pigs' feet."

"I will go along with that."

"Where are the boys' now? Reluctantly, I have to let Tom out of his room."

"Paul will you get the boys please?"

"I can shoot the door off its hinges, if you'd like general."

"Please let him do it that way. It will scare Tom to death."

"I will allow it, if you stand in the center of the door."

"Done."

"I hope you're as good as they say you are Paul."

"Put your helmet on Laura, and don't worry about a thing."

Laura ran around the half circle and pounded on Tom's door.

"Are you finally going to let me out now you prick?"

"I don't have a prick, and the boys don't have the solvent. If I were you, I'd find a safe place away from the door, because Paul is going to open it in a way only he can. I am going to be standing in the center of the door to give him depth perception. That is how much I trust him. Joseph do not come out of our room."

"Why, what have you done now?"

"You will hear it in a minute."

Laura took up her position, put her helmet on, and nodded at Paul. He put the red dot directly on her nose, and then moved it to her right. Without one seconds pause there was a loud report from his rifle, and the first hinge broke open.

Nearly at once Tom and Joe screamed, "What the fuck was that?"

She said, "Stay where you are, and stay down."

The second shot rang out and the second hinge broke off. Then the third, and the fourth.

Paul changed magazines and eliminated the fifth and sixth hinges the boys glued in place. To empty his magazine, Paul shot open the handle and locking mechanism of the door.

Laura yelled, "Open the door now Tom, you're free to go."

Joe came out first, and grabbed her.

"Don't you ever do that again. I'll tie you up and put you in the basement if I have to, but if you scare me like that, I'll put you there just to keep you safe."

"I was safe knucklehead. Paul is good at a mile, at 800 feet, he could do it blindfolded."

"I swear Laura, the day you say I do, you will not do that again."

"I guess I'd better have all my fun now."

"Was that a yes to my question?"

"You've asked me a lot of questions; which question are we talking about?"

"Miss Burkart, look over the railing and look down. Tell me what you see?"

"You see, you just asked me another question."

"What do you see when you look down, Miss Burkart?"

"A very long fall Mister Constantine."

"Now that was an excellent answer Miss Burkart. Now answer the question you know I asked you, before you make that long fall."

"Yes, I can break down an M-16 in under 20 seconds."

"It's been very nice knowing you Miss Burkart. I will help the team scrape up your remains, after you hit the bottom."

As he was about to pick her, up the door to Tom's room fell backwards pinning him underneath. The expletives he was shouting at the two of them, made them laugh.

Laura said, "Relax Tom, I'm going to go to the top of the door, and Joe will be at the bottom. We will pick up the door, and get it off you."

"Dammit, hurry up, and get me out of here."

Laura walked straight up the center of the door, to the top and jumped down. Tom was calling her many names, but most of all he was calling her a fucking bitch.

"Tom, how else was I supposed to get to the top of the door? The whole area around it is blocked. You had a choice of me walking up the center of the door at 100 pounds, or your friend, the jolly green giant, at 220 pounds. Which one of us would you have preferred, Thomas?"

"The midget, naturally."

Laura jumped in the air, and landed two feet inside the edge of the door.

Tom screamed at the top of his lungs, while Joe laughed at his friend misery.

"What did you call me, Thomas?"

"A dear and wonderful woman, who is going to marry my best friend, Joseph Constantine."

"That's really funny Thomas. Those were not the words I thought I heard the first time. I believe I heard you call me a midget. Did you call me a midget Thomas?"

"Never in my life would I dare call you a midget. I have watched you take my good friend to the floor with no effort at all. A little person could not do that to Joseph. You are a strong vibrant woman, with a strength of any man. I wish I could emulate you in many ways. Would you please get off my head now?"

"If you ever call me midget again, I'm going to shoot you in both knees. Are we on the same page Thomas?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Joseph, let's get the door off this idiot, before I kill him."

**********************

Buffalo 1 was flying into the teeth of the 55 mph winds. It's forward air speed was barely 105 mph, because of all the weight it was carrying. It was 10 miles from the target, when Dragonfly came up alongside it. Its' radios were still out, but everything else worked. The game plan was now in full flow, and the opposition force should be frightened beyond measure.

"Central Comm, this is Hotel, final approach."

"Hotel, this is Central Comm. We are on alert status, good luck."

The Cobra took the lead, and made a high speed pass from East to West to wake up everyone from the opposition force. It made a turn and came back around and made a pass from west to east to make sure it did a good job of it.

Buffalo 1 had 20 men rappel down on the eastern flank, and proceeded to do the same on the west flank. These men, in full raingear, moved closer to where they knew the enemy was taking shelter.

Buffalo 1 returned to the center and touchdown briefly, allowing the Colonel, Patricia, Alfonse, Chase, and six others to exit, before returning to the sky.

Watching them from the opening of the building site, was General Marcus, and any man who could get a view of what was going on outside.

They lined up 9 across, and Patricia 3 feet behind the Colonel. She argued about it, but did not win. Then they moved in military fashion towards the central 'Bear Trap.'

The rain was pouring at their backs, and the wind was howling, but their raingear was keeping them dry and warm.

When they reached the edge of the 'Bear Trap' Lucius yelled down into the pit, "My name is Colonel Lucius Canyon, and I wish to speak to the leaders of this force. I have a one time offer for you. If you accept it, we will guarantee your safe passage off this facility. Is the leader of your unit in this quagmire?"

Pavel replied "Yes, we are both down here."

"We wish to speak to you face to face. When you come up, we will issue you raingear to keep you dry, and I guarantee your safety."

"How can we be assured this is not a trick?"

"I am standing above you. I can start dropping phosphorus grenades down, into this hole in the ground, anytime I want. When you start burning, you will attempt to leave the vehicles, at which time I will begin dropping fragmentation grenades. If anyone survives that onslaught, there are 2-30 caliber machine guns on either flank, plus our automatic rifles, which will cut you down. I am a soldier, and I give you my oath, you will not be harmed."

"We will be up as soon as we can get out of these vehicles."

*************************

It took nearly 12 minutes for the 2 men to make it to the top of the 'Bear Trap', and as soon as they were a few feet away from the edge, they received 2 sets of raingear to keep them from getting any wetter than they already were.

"Thank you Colonel Canyon. My name is Henrik, and this is Pavel. I was in charge of South, and he was in charge of North. We have not heard from our commander in almost two days."

"Was your commander leading this attack?"

"No, he was coordinating it from the rear."

"Should I bother telling you where your commander is now, or do you want to guess?"

"No, I believe that's not necessary. He is gone, and left us to fend for ourselves."

"Do you know his name?"

"No, not his real name. We just called him 'Cowboy', because he loves to watch old western movies."

"Would you recognize him if you saw a photograph of him?"

"Probably not, because he always wore makeup, and a disguise. We didn't care, because he handed out money like it was water."

"Did you receive the payment he offered you, before you came here?"

"Yes we did. We all verified it with our banks, and transferred the money to other accounts to make sure it could not be reversed. He told us to do that as a sign of good faith."

"That was very kind of him, wasn't it?"

"What else can you tell me about this man? How tall was he, was he thin, average, or heavy? Did he wear glasses; did he have broad shoulders or narrow shoulders? Did he walk with a limp? Anything like this would be useful to us."

"As I said Colonel, he wore disguises all the time. Sometimes I didn't recognize him until he gave me the code word."

Patricia asked, "Show me how he walked."

Henrik took about 20 steps, turned and walked back.

Patricia said thank you, and didn't utter another word. Lucius knew something was up.

"Here is my offer, and it is for one time only. Your men will bring their arms, all of them, here. They will drop them off, will walk up the left driveway. They will be given food and something to drink. They will continue down the right driveway, and seek shelter again, until you are ready to move out as one unit.

You will not be given a lot of food, but it will be enough to sustain you until you can reach the methods of transportation that got you here. At that point, you are on your own. I don't know what the arrangements were for you to get back to your country, but I would suggest you get back there as soon as possible. When this rains stop, every law enforcement agency in the country is going to be in this area, to help the local population get back to normal. If they find you here, you are going to wind up in jail for a very long time.

Your other choice is annihilation. Our helicopters are fully operational as you heard, and they will begin strafing runs over the cars your men are hiding in, as soon as I give the word. My men have already infiltrated those areas, and any resistance will result in a bloodbath. I don't want to use my road building machines to dig a mass grave for your men. I want them to go home and live in peace. I want my men to go home and live in peace.

Just for your information, the 2 boys you are after, are in Southern California enjoying Disneyland, and all the other retractions in that area. Wherever you got your information, it was more than 2 weeks old."

"The 2 boys are not here! The 'Cowboy' had your plans, and guaranteed us the boys would be here. When we brought them to him, he was going to give us an extra $40 million to spread around to our men."

"When was the last time you saw this man, before you assembled for the attack?"

"We haven't seen him, since he showed us the plans. We always spoke to him over a secure link, for the past 3 weeks."

"Do you have a way to contact him?"

"Yes we do. We send out a signal on the secure link, using a day code and an urgency letter. If we need an immediate response, we put a W at the end of the day code. If it's an important message, and we need a quick response, we put an E. If it's a normal message, we put an M. He normally responds very promptly."

"Where is your communications gear?"

"In the truck with our commander."

"Are you sure he was here today, and not an imposter?"

"As the lady asked, he walked like he always did before, so I'm sure it was him."

"Unfortunately, we will not be able to contact him, because he probably drove off in that truck."

"Where was the truck parked?"

"Approximately 100 meters off your access road, under some tall trees. We surrounded it with brush so it could not be seen."

"When we get up top, I want you to write out exactly how you would contact this 'Cowboy', including the day code, the lettering, and any specific wording you would use during a transmission to him."

"That will be no problem for us Colonel. He left us here to die, or be captured. He lied to us about the position of the boys, and he should have called off this raid, because this weather has been forecast for a week in advance. No army can fight in weather like this."

"Did you tell him about fighting in the rain?"

"We did, but he said if we did our jobs correctly, it would be over before the rains came. He never mentioned you had helicopters. We wondered why he gave us surface to air missiles as part of our armament package."

"Thanks for all the information. Do you need to speak to anyone to accept or decline my proposal?"

"No Colonel, I believe it's a generous offer. We will inform our men to stand down, and give them the remainder of your instructions."

"Please remind your men, that even one accidental gunshot could start this disaster from starting all over again. I believe neither one of us wants that to happen."

"I agree, Colonel. I will make sure our men understand that."

"Alfonse, white smoke please."

"Yes sir." He walked to the center of the roadway, and popped 3 canisters of white smoke.

Moments later, Buffalo 1 and Dragonfly flew through the white smoke and landed in the parking lot.

"Alfonse take Mrs. Valentino to General Marcus, and have her explain to him what happened down here."

"Why me?"

"Patricia, both you and I know who it is now. Until we can get the full board together, we have to stay separated, until a decision is made on his future.

"I didn't think you would pick up on it. I'll tell you how I found out later. Let's go Alfonse, we've been kicked out of the Army."

"We are in very good company, Mrs. Valentino."

******************************

"Hello dad, Lucius pulled another rabbit out of his hat. It's all over down here in Charleston. He did it without firing one shot. He even won $100 from Alfonse, who did not mind giving it to him."

"What did he do this time, Patricia? What was the size of the rabbit?"

"Dad, do you remember seeing that really old Charlton Heston movie, "El Cid."

"I saw it about 50 years ago if that's the one you're talking about."

"That's the one dad. Do you remember the scene where they blockaded this one town, until the people were starving?"

"Yes, then instead of bombarding the town, with boulders, he used his catapults to throw bread in. The people revolted, open the gates and let his army in. Don't tell me that's what Lucius did?"

"That's what he did dad. He flew in with 2 helicopters, 49 men, one woman, and a plan. The plan worked, and now we both know who the tip of the spear is on the Board of Directors. I will not mention his name until we get together. Then, we will lay out the proof before you. I will bet you he may try to leave the country, and dig a hole so deep, not even earthworms can find him."

"How sure of this are you Patty?"

"100 percent dad; all roads lead to him. Lucius knows it, and I know it. I want to bring in those 3 men, who are hiding in Finland, into the boardroom. I want them to testify against him. We have all the financial records, travel records, and phone intercepts we need to hang him, but live testimony would be nice."

"How do you know those men are in Finland?"

"3 people were killed in a shopping center, in Geneva. Their Mercedes luxury cruiser was stolen. There were only 250 made for a test market, because the price was going to be in the $300,000 area. The one they stole belonged to a Bayer Executive. It had a satellite tracking device in it. The thieves changed the license plate, but they didn't know about the tracking device. The police knew exactly where they were, and have arrested them. By now, I would expect the Swiss government is requesting the extradition of Friedrich von Bierman, Otto von Osterhagen, and Arthur Schultheise on the charges of Capital Murder, and auto theft."

"It just so happens I have several high ranking friends in the Swiss government. I also have a few friends in the Finnish government. I could help them with their extradition problems, if need be."

"I would like to have them here, live and in person, dad. It gives it much more homey feeling."

"I'll see if I can arrange a detour to the United States, for them with Lucius. I know they will enjoy that meeting very much. Then they can testify before the board, and we can return them to the Swiss government, in metal boxes."

"Dad, they have to return to Switzerland in 1 piece to stand trial. If they don't the Swiss government is going to be pissed."

"I will tell Lucius to be very kind to them. He won't like it, but he will follow my orders."

"I can't tell you how happy I am that this is over. Your wife is so horny, there were flames coming out of her ears."

"Everyone can go home now. I will meet her in New York tomorrow afternoon, and take care of her needs."

"Can I ask you now where you hid my husband?"

"I did not hide him. He wouldn't leave work. He stayed in his office trying to get out from under all his paperwork. I ordered him to go to the science project, and I won't tell you the words he used to tell me where to go. The building has a backup generator to keep everything dry. We also sandbagged the entire outside of the building to make sure no water intruded in it. We left them there with 6 guards, who were not exactly pleased with his decision. They had plenty of food in the commissary, the air conditioner worked, and so did he; 20 hours a day, from their reports."

"William, I do not care if his desk is clear, or not, I'm taking my husband away from his work, for two weeks. He deserves a vacation. I am taking him so far away from his work, I am going to make him forget about it. If he doesn't, my husband is going to burn out. He has not been away from that building in 6 years. I don't care if I have to drag or drug him to get him onto an airplane, but he's coming with me."

"You will not get an argument from me, Patty, but you are taking security with you. I will not let you go without it. Things may be over here, but there is always the possibility of an unknown group who would love to take the 2 of you captive. We can afford to pay any ransom they demand, but they would probably kill you anyway. I won't let that happen."

"I can accept that dad. As soon as this damn rain stops, I'm going to hire a Boeing 777, and I'm not telling anyone where we are going."

"You are going to tell me where you're going. I don't care if you going to South Africa, or if you going to Tahiti. I want to know, because I will go crazy if I don't."

"Have I told you today that you are a pain in the ass?"

"No, but I feel much better now that you have. Tell our wives they can go home so we can start our normal lives again. Do not come with your guns blazing at Stephano. You do not want to start a fight with him. Why don't you take a helicopter, and join him at our building. I'm sure he would be happy to see you."

"You tell them dad. You are in West Virginia, so you are closer to them than I am. There just happens to be a helicopter in our parking lot. I think I'll take one for a ride."

"Patricia, you will do nothing of the sort. You will ask General Marcus if the flight crew could take you to our building. If he says no, then tell him you're taking the helicopter by yourself. He knows your history, and he will panic at that thought. You will get there, or he will have a heart attack at the thought of you flying a $40 million helicopter by yourself. How the hell did you find out I was in West Virginia?"