by Bill Brewer
Panzer grabbed the rifle.
James shouted, “Hey what are you doing?”
Panzer pointed the gun at the big male charging up the hill. As he pulled the trigger, the barrel jutted skyward as Diegert stood and shoved the rifle up, sending the bullet into the bright blue sky.
The sound was immense as it rolled across the grassland. The big lion stopped in his tracks. He seemed to suddenly be aware that his enemy was not the strange skulking dog-like creatures with whom he shared the savannah, but rather the one enemy he knew his teeth and claws could not defeat.
The entire pride scattered when the bullet’s explosive report reverberated across the low valley. The cubs followed the mothers who crossed the stream and dispersed into the park. The big male also headed to the gully, which divided private from public land. Just before crossing, he looked back with his golden eyes to see that his enemies remained on the hill. He splashed through the small stream and disappeared into the bush.
Panzer turned to James. “Give me more bullets.”
“No. They’ve crossed into the park. We’re not going after them.”
“Maybe you can’t, but I will.”
“You’re not getting any bullets.”
Pointing the unloaded rifle at James, Panzer shouted, “Give me the bullets.”
In spite of knowing the gun was now harmless, James was very uncomfortable having the barrel pointing in his direction. Putting up his hands, he said, “Look, we’ve got two hours before we have to start our journey back. If he returns, we may have another shot at him.”
Panzer cast a disapproving scowl at Diegert, who turned away, avoiding eye contact. Panzer continued to glare at the young man, his contempt building.
“How is it that you can kill a dozen men, including the President of the United States, yet you can’t pull the trigger on this wild animal?”
Diegert looked at the man with rage boiling inside him. “You know I didn’t shoot the president. Someone else had control of the trigger, and I’m sure you know who it was.”
“My point is you’re a natural killer, a trained assassin. Why couldn’t you shoot the lion?”
Diegert looked at James, as did Panzer. The guide had an expression of disbelief as if he expected to be let in on the joke any second now. Panzer spoke, “Oh, please excuse me for not making proper introductions earlier.” With a wave of his hand, Panzer said, “Please meet David Diegert, killer of men. The world’s best assassin.”
Diegert’s fierce gaze told James he was not happy to be referred to as an assassin. Yet Panzer had more to say. “This failure of the moment,” he gestured toward Diegert. “This hesitant, incapable shooter is, in fact, one of the most prolific assassins in the world. He has killed dozens of men, most of whom were taken out upon my orders. He will kill at my direction.”
Turning to Diegert, Panzer said, “Please explain what thoughts brought you to ruin this million-dollar opportunity.”
Diegert eyebrows shot up, furrowing his forehead.
“That’s right,” said Panzer. “One million dollars for the license to get us the chance to take down that lion. Why couldn’t you kill him?”
“People deserve what they get. They’re criminals, they’re dishonest or they’re violent and they get the retribution they deserve. None of those things are true about animals. And we were not killing that lion for food.”
After a long look of consternation, Panzer said, “Why didn’t you say this before?”
Diegert shrugged. “I wanted to see wild Africa. I wanted to see the lions. I just didn’t want to kill them. Besides you never asked if I wanted to kill a lion.”
“You’re a natural killer. I never thought I would have to ask.”
“You keep calling me that and telling me about NK cells, but I don’t feel like that. I know what I’ve done, but it is not natural.”
James stepped back from the pair and drew his .44 Magnum. Pointing it at Panzer, he said, “Sit down.”
“What are you doing? We’re talking about pursuing the lion. What is this?”
“Shut up and sit down.” He turned to Diegert. “Lie down, face in the dirt.” Shaking the big gun at him, he said, “Do it now!”
Diegert knelt down and laid face down in the grass. James ordered him, “Put your hands on the back of your head.” Diegert slowly complied.
Panzer was still standing with a look of utter disbelief. James stepped over, shoving him to the ground. Panzer fell and rolled into a seated position on the grass.
James picked up the rifle and set it up on the tripod pointing at Panzer.
“This scope with its built-in video camera will record your admission to all the crimes you have committed against Earth and all its inhabitants. Do you think you are the only one who can hire an assassin? I am being well paid to record your final moments, during which you will beg for mercy, only to receive a .375 mag through your chest. The whole world will witness the death of Klaus Panzer, the man who sought to rule Earth.” James maniacal diatribe seemed completely unhinged, but his pronouncement was no veiled threat as he chambered a bright brass round into the rifle’s breach.
“James, this is crazy. Are you off your medications? We’ve known each other for years.”
“I’m not on any meds. I’ve known you for years and that is why I know you are guilty of gluttony, greed, lust, envy, and pride. You may not be slothful, but now the wrath of the world’s betrodden will bring you to your death. But first you will witness the death of your son.”
James swung his arm, pointing the .44 at Diegert. David wasted no time, immediately rolling to his left, scrambling low on the ground, seeking cover behind a large rock. His desperate escape was pursued by booming discharges from the .44. Two misses, but the third struck Diegert’s calf muscle, re-opening his recent injury. With blood spurting from his lower leg, he fell behind the rock.
James picked up the loaded rifle as he went after Diegert. Standing at the rock, James commanded, “Come out of there. I want your father to see you die. I want him to see your head explode.”
Diegert slowly stood. James pointed the big pistol at his head. The angry man turned to see that Panzer was watching. At that moment, Diegert hurled a stone at James’s head, striking him in the temple. James stumbled backward, disoriented, but not down. Diegert limp-hopped around the rock, grabbing the .44, which James held in his right hand while holding the rifle in his left. Diegert had James’s right wrist in his left hand and with right jabs, he punched him in the face. The big man took the punishment. He kicked at Diegert’s legs, sending pain shooting through his lower body, yet Diegert clung to his balance. Planting his right foot, Diegert grabbed James’s left shoulder as he tripped him over his leg, sending the hunting guide sprawling on to the big rock. The rifle fell upon impact, but James held on to the pistol. Diegert seized James’s right forearm, keeping the pistol at arm’s length.
Panzer saw that the hunting rifle lay in the firing line of James’s pistol, but he took the risk and made a move for the long gun. James caught sight of him and squeezed off two shots. One went wide. The other hit Panzer in the gut, spinning him as he fell. With his left now free, James punched Diegert in the head, neck, and face. Diegert was blocking and punching with his right, while James countered and defended with his left. James fired his pistol one last time, emptying the revolver. He released the weapon and used his hand to free himself from Diegert’s grasp. As he stood, he drove his heel into Diegert’s calf, nearly blacking out his consciousness. He grabbed Diegert’s face, sinking his fingers under Diegert’s jaw and just below his eyes. Diegert felt James holding his head like a bowling ball as he tried to drag the big guide to the ground. James released Diegert, making a run for the rifle.
Diegert picked up the stone he had earlier thrown at James. He righted himself and forced a charge at James with the stone in his right hand. As James was turning to point the long gun, Diegert hit him in the face with the stone. The blow stumbled the man, and Diegert hit hi
m again in the side of the head. James lifted the rifle, but Diegert was too close for the barrel to be effective. A missed shot rang out as Diegert hit James with the stone again and again. The big African dropped to his knees, blood pouring out his ear and nose, and a gash opened above his eye.
“Who paid you to kill my father?”
“Thousands,” groaned the bleeding man. “You rich bastards can’t own the earth.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Diegert hit him one more time with the stone, knocking him unconscious. He pulled James’s belt from his loops and tied his arms behind his back. He unclipped the strap from the rifle and secured the big guy’s ankles. James lay on the grass, his blood soaking into the ground.
Diegert pulled his own belt from his waist and cinched it just below his right knee to staunch the blood flow from his injured calf.
He hobbled over to Panzer, who lay on his back gasping in short breaths. He was shot in the lower left quadrant of the abdomen. The projectile experienced minimal deformation, creating an exit wound not much bigger than the entrance.
From the Rover, Diegert retrieved the first aid kit. He cleaned Panzer’s wound. Panzer asked, “Why such treachery?”
“Apparently he was being paid by some group that wants to stop you from owning the world.”
“Ludicrous. They can’t stop that.”
“If you were dead, I don’t think you could own the world.”
“Yes, but neither would they. Another powerful person would step in and do the same thing. In fact this whole save the earth bit may be just a ploy to throw us off the true culprit.”
Diegert prepared the gauze and ointment for the next step. “This’ll hurt.”
Wincing, Panzer asked, “What have you got in there for the pain?”
“Ibuprofen.”
Panzer rolled his eyes.
Diegert placed gauze pads on both the entrance and exit wounds. He wrapped an ace bandage around Panzer’s waist, encircling the wounds, and pulled it tight. That is when Panzer felt the pain. The pressure hurt like hell, but it stopped the bleeding. Panzer’s breathing eventually returned to near normal.
“You undoubtedly have organic material inside your body which will set up an internal infection. That could kill you in forty-eight hours,” said Diegert with all seriousness. “We need to make the trip back to camp and get you to Nairobi.”
“Where did you learn all this?”
“In the Army. Every soldier is certified in combat first aid.”
Handing Panzer a water bottle he said, “Now you’ve got to keep drinking so your blood volume doesn’t drop. Here’s the Ibu and take this Amoxicillin, it’s an antibiotic that’ll help.”
Panzer gulped down the pills.
Diegert drove the Land Rover over to Panzer and helped him to the truck. “For the roughest part of the ride, you should sit upright.”
“Wait, where’s James?”
“He’s tied up over by that rock.”
“Give me the truck’s toolbox and bring him over here.”
CHAPTER 27
Diegert lifted the bright red toolbox and set it on the hood in front of Panzer who leaned against the truck. He walked over to James, pulled the back of his collar, and dragged him face down across the ragged grass over to Panzer. Diegert flipped the bound man on to his back and stood next to his father. James regained consciousness after his rough handling.
“James, you’ve injured me quite badly, so I don’t have time to waste. I want to know who paid you to kill me, and I believe the quickest way to get the answer is with the password for your phone.”
Panzer took a pair of needle-nose pliers and placed one side of the jaws inside James’s nostril and let the other jaw sit on the outside of the nostril. He did not press the jaws but just let them sit there, half in and half out of his nasal cavity.
“Son, could you please get his phone from his pocket.”
Diegert retrieved the phone.
“Please be prepared to input the password James provides.”
“Fuck you,” said James defiantly.
“That seems doubtful, but give it a try.”
Diegert input the insult. “No good.”
Panzer slowly placed his hand on the plier handles and gave them a quick squeeze.
A piercing scream erupted from the big man as the nerves in his nose were compressed between the iron jaws.
“Now that was just a pulse. Imagine how it will feel when I don’t let go. Please give me the correct password?”
“You’re going to kill me anyway.”
Panzer squeezed the handles as hard as he could and held on throughout James’s screaming. After a full minute, during which James was reduced to blubbering, Panzer released the pressure. “Now there will be no more attempts at negotiation. Quit all that sniveling. I haven’t even drawn blood yet.”
James looked up to see Panzer inspecting his nails.
“Give us the password now.” Without giving James the chance to answer, Panzer clamped the pliers, twisting them hard, tearing off a bleeding flap of nostril.
The suddenness of Panzer’s escalation, and the intensity of the screaming startled Diegert.
“There is no option for you,” shouted Panzer as he held the piece of skin in front of James’s hysterical face. Panzer commanded, “Give us the password, or I will dismantle your face with this simple tool.”
The blood ran over his mouth, down his chin, and onto his shirt. As James started to speak, bloody spittle shot from his mouth. “Sh-sh-Chicago.”
Leaning forward, Panzer clarified, “Chicago?”
James nodded.
“You’ve never even been there.”
James shrugged.
“The man says Chicago,” Panzer blared to Diegert.
Keying in the word, Diegert said, “We’re in.”
Placing the pliers with the piece of nostril on the truck’s hood, Panzer approached.
“What should I look for?” asked Diegert.
“Check the texts for Chin Lei Wei.”
“What? He’s one of the board members.”
“He certainly is. One of the main reasons I created Crepusculous was to keep my enemies very close.”
Scrolling through the messages, Diegert said, “Hey… Here we go. Yeah, Chin Lei Wei.”
Diegert’s eyes tracked over the screen, reading the messages in the texts. “Sure enough, the fucker was going to kill us during the hunt. The cheap bastard. Chin Lee got him to do the job for fifty grand.”
“We keep the phone as evidence, allowing Mr. Wei’s treachery not to be denied.”
“What about him?”
“James has killed many animals. I think it only fitting that they get their revenge. Leave him bound, but tie him to a tree.”
Diegert recalled Omar Pascal, the NCIS officer he shot in the middle of the Gulf of Aden while escaping Djibouti on the Sue Ellen. What if he hadn’t shot him and just threw him in the ocean miles from shore? Slowly drowning seemed like an awful death. James would be disemboweled and consumed by hungry carnivores. It seemed worse than drowning, but if he didn’t shoot him, he didn’t kill him. Tying a rope around James’s waist while the man’s hands were bound behind his back and his ankles remained secured with the gun strap, Diegert ignored the pleas for mercy as he bound him to the trunk of a nigra bushwillow.
Panzer picked up the pliers, flinging the piece of nostril into the air. Diegert dodged the flap of flesh as he passed Panzer on his way to the Land Rover.
“You’re lucky we aren’t going to kill you,” said the tall gray man looking down on James. Panzer flipped the switch on the small speaker box atop the tripod. The call of hunting hyenas cast across the savannah. “You can use the time to pray to your God before the animals come to prey on you.”
“Please, if you take me with you, I’ll help you get back at Mr. Wei.”
“What a generous offer of cowardice treachery. But through the power of text, I’ve already deceived
Mr. Wei about the successful completion of your mission. I can tell you he replied thanking you.”
James’s look of hope sagged into crestfallen despair. Panzer squatted down., “He is a man of his word, Mr. Wei. He transferred fifty thousand dollars to your account.” He gestured with the phone. “I now have all the evidence I need to force him into a very deep corner. The only assurance I have that you will not betray me is offered by the lion’s thirst for blood.”
Panzer rose to his full height as he stepped away. “Goodnight, James.”
CHAPTER 28
Diegert drove while Panzer rode in the back seat. The GPS guided the route, but the landscape was just as rough as before and the closing in of darkness slowed the pace, making the trip even longer. Diegert twice had to stop the vehicle and tighten the bindings on Panzer’s wounds. What took an hour on the way in, took three hours on the way out, but they eventually found the dirt road and finished the trip in two more hours.
Arriving at the resort late at night. Diegert told the manager that a lion attacked them and, in the chaos, both he and his father had been shot. They were able to escape thanks to the quick action of James. On the way home, however, they encountered a tourist van, which had lost radio service and had an engine problem forty-five minutes away. Generous James, the African jack-of-all-trades, stayed to help them. Diegert gave the manager GPS coordinates that were well to the east of where James had actually been left. Panzer was medically unstable, and Diegert insisted the helicopter be prepped for immediate departure to Nairobi.
Once the AW 169 was airborne, Diegert radioed ahead to the Nairobi Wilson Airport, instructing them to have the Gulfstream ready to depart as soon as they arrived. Panzer was able to walk, but he was definitely woozy. As soon as he was in the jet, Diegert used the plane’s medical kit to change the dressing on his wounds. He gave Panzer Oxycodone, which took away the pain, allowing the man to sleep. He changed the dressing on his own leg wound, wishing that Kashani was on this flight. He gulped down a couple of Oxies, reclined the big wide leather chair, and slept six hours on the way back to London.
