Reprisal!- The Eagle's Sorrow

by Cliff Roberts

  The sudden swerve caused Jason’s left front tire to catch the two-inch lip on the asphalt between the driving lane and emergency lane. The sudden change in road surface height jerked the steering wheel from his hands. For a split second, Jason thought he could catch the wheel and regain control.

  Before he could fully react, the front driver’s side tire blew out its side wall on the rough edge of the asphalt. The chrome wheel sliced through the deflated tire and then gouged a rut in the asphalt for fifty yards, before it dug in deeper and sent the car into a forward flip. The car rolled a dozen times before slamming into a bridge abutment and bursting into flames! Jason never felt a thing as his neck was snapped in the first violent roll. He wasn’t wearing his seat belt, and so his body was tossed around the car’s interior like a sock in a dryer.

  The oversight of the seat belt was actually a blessing, since it saved him from watching the rolling car strike the abutment, which crushed his ribcage, shredding most of his internal organs. If he hadn’t died quickly from the sudden stop, he would have endured his final moments on earth engulfed in flames!

  The Mercedes drove on, watching the tragedy in his rearview mirror, putting distance between himself and the wreck. After a few moments, once he was sure no one had witnessed the crash but himself, the driver picked up his cell phone and called the prearranged number, leaving a voicemail stating he had completed his assignment. He then drove off into the night.

  The next morning, the papers carried the headline: “President’s Chief of Staff Dies in Auto Accident!” Unbeknownst to President Starks and Bascome, the incriminating package with which Jason had threatened Starks wasn’t actually in Bascome’s control. Bascome’s men had found a package that Jason had wanted them to find; and having found a package—the one package that Bascome had told them they would find—they failed to look deeper into Jason’s affairs and friendships. They missed the package that Jason had sent to a college friend, who now worked for a major news magazine. Included were instructions to open it upon Jason’s death and do whatever he felt was right with the contents.

  The End

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  Excerpts from:

  REPRISAL! THE EAGLE’S

  CHALLENGE

  Tom and Ron watched the motorcade arrive right at eleven a.m., just as Azzaam had said it would. Garza’s men opened the gate and allowed the first two cars into the compound, while the last two remained parked out front. The two cars out front carried a total of eight men who quickly exited the vehicles and trotted around the sides of the compound, providing extra perimeter protection for their boss.

  Both Tom and Ron sat behind sets of binoculars on tripods several feet back from the open French doors to their balcony at their villa. They had hoped to catch sight of this mystery man Azzaam, but once again they had been blocked by the trees.

  Pam was having far better luck as she sat listening to the bugs they had planted in and around the villa. The bugs picked up the two men exchanging pleasantries as Azzaam exited his car, and Pam was extremely pleased when the bugs continued to work perfectly as the men entered the villa. It got very interesting when Garza told his men and girlfriend to get out of the living room and to leave him and Azzaam alone.

  “Can I get you some tea or fruit juice?” Garza asked, trying to take the man’s religion into account. He had heard somewhere that Muslims are forbidden to drink alcohol.

  “A drink would be appreciated! Make it Jack Daniels!” Azzaam stated boldly. “Put some ice in it!”

  “Ah…yes, but isn’t it forbidden?” Garza asked.

  “Only for practicing Muslims,” Azzaam stated as he looked out the window at the sea.

  “Oh, I see. You can be like the Catholics, then! Some are still Catholic, but they don’t practice all of the supposed requirements of the religion.”

  “No, I’m nothing like a Catholic!” Azzaam quickly retorted, a sneer crossing his face as though he was offended by the comment.

  “Oh, forgive me! I meant no disrespect. I was only trying to understand what is a truly complicated subject for me, which I’m not educated enough to understand.” Garza quickly apologized and tried to explain away his faux pas.

  “Oh, shut up!” Azzaam stated as he took the drink from Garza. “I want to know what has been done about acquiring the Costa Rican government’s cooperation for the use of the road through their eastern mountains. We need to move our people north to Mexico.”

  “The Mexicans, as you told me, would have agreed to provide transportation to the American border for the hundred million that you offered, plus the right to claim sovereignty over the Southwestern United States that they lost in the Mexican-American War in the 1840s.

  “They accepted a minor fee of thirty-five million after I assured them that we would back their claims to both Texas and the other Southwestern states, if we’re able to force the end of the United States.” Azzaam explained the deal he had made with the Mexican government in exchange for allowing the movement of men and equipment through their country to the border with the States, cutting Garza out of the equation.

  “It is a very good deal for them and for us! We will have over two million men occupying their country, and if we cannot cause the immediate downfall of America, we can take control of Mexico!” Garza stated his true intentions as he choked back his anger over the Arabs meddling in his operation.

  “What of the Costa Rican government’s cooperation?” Azzaam asked forcefully.

  “All is arranged except for a small matter of the president’s fee for the cooperation. I believe, though, that I can gain his support with a slightly higher gratuity of around forty million and written promises that he can remain the leader of this country. He suspects that we will be trying to forge a much larger country comprising the Central American countries after we have caused the downfall of the United States. He is wise man, and only wishes to protect his family’s interests in the new order of things.” Garza explained the concerns of the Costa Rican president.

  “The man is of no consequence. Pay him and give him any assurance he asks for.” Azzaam quickly dismissed the political bargaining that Garza seemed to enjoy so much.

  “I take it the recruiting goes well?” Garza asked.

  “It is going according to schedule. I have recruited large numbers in Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia and Brazil—over a million men who will march on the States next January. Currently, we are conducting training in the mountains of Bolivia and Chile. Of course, most of the men will be transported north on ships we are retrofitting in Indonesia. We will sail them north to Mexico where we will disembark and then march on the border. What have you accomplished in Mexico as far as developing a covert army to provide recon and advance work inside the American border?” Azzaam asked, putting Garza on the spot.

  “I’ve recruited a large number of men, as well. Currently, I have over twenty-five thousand men and women, who are in training or have already moved across the border to prepare for missions as you dictate. I hope to recruit another twenty thousand to join with the troops you have already recruited in South America.” Garza shared his progress with Azzaam, who was looking at him as if he had just insulted his mother.

  “This is completely unacceptable!” Azzaam screamed at Garza. “I want you to recruit at least twenty thousand men and women from each of the Central American countries and have them ready to go by December. Offer more money per man if you
have to, but get it done. The powers that be want to be at the border on January first, two weeks after President Starks declares martial law in December, if all goes according to Allah’s will,” Azzaam stated. He knew they must cross the border at midnight to deliver the right message to the Americans and the world.

  “Yes, I will double my efforts to ensure that I can provide the required men. After all, that is what you are paying me for, no?” Garza chuckled.

  Azzaam gave him a sideways look of disdain, knowing he would be one of the first men killed on the day of the attack. Until that time, he had a purpose, and so he would live until then. Maybe.

  Swallowing the rest of his drink, Azzaam asked about the other key Costa Rican government officials and their position on the crossing of their eastern mountains. Garza said he had played golf with the police commandant several times during the past month and that he was confident that man would do as he was paid to do. He explained that the minister had chosen to haggle over the price, but once he saw how Garza dealt with a rogue lieutenant, the man had accepted the ten million he was offered and pledged his agreement.

  Azzaam then asked how the actual construction of the road was coming along. Garza explained that the jungle was much denser than they had thought and the progress was slow, but he was confident that he’d make the deadline.

  Azzaam reminded him that if he didn’t have the road completed, he would have outlived his usefulness. This struck Garza cold, and if it had been any other man, he’d have killed Azzaam where he sat. But Azzaam was a golden goose who would be slaughtered soon enough, once Garza had fleeced him of all the money he could. He failed to share that he had gotten the president to agree to five million already and that the rest of the forty-five million was for Garza’s private accounts in the Caymans. He also didn’t tell him that the defense minister had accepted a million dollars, and again, the rest had gone to Garza. The largest non-communication was the fact that he had actually recruited twice as many men as he had told Azzaam he had. He would be well-protected by his private army when the time came to execute Azzaam, thus ending the overbearing Arab’s attempts to bring his precious Allah to the lands devoted to Jesus Christ.

  They then spoke about the amount of cocaine that Garza had sold to Japan and China during the previous month, and how much profit Azzaam would receive. Garza tried to explain the problems he was having with some small time officials. That set off Azzaam. After he ranted for several minutes, he suggested that Garza take matters into his own hands and kill the men who were interfering with the sales. Garza explained that was exactly what was happening. As they spoke, his men were busy eliminating the men who had betrayed him.

  Azzaam then ordered Garza to have someone travel to Honduras and get the MS13 gang to follow through with the pledge they made to create a civil war in that country. Garza replied that he just had the leader here for a day of golf and was assured that they would begin within the month. The shipment of arms that they expected from Cuba hadn’t arrived as planned, and their contact was stalling them. Azzaam seemed to understand that and stated he would have someone talk with the Cubans to get the arms moving.

  He then asked if Garza had begun training a team for the attack on the Panama Canal. Garza assured him that the team would be ready and that he even had arranged to have a second team ready to go if the first team ran into trouble. Either way it went, the canal would be closed on January first.

  Azzaam ate lunch in the Garza villa while they discussed minor issues in vague terms, and then he and his caravan left. Ron had managed to get a small GPS tracker attached to one of the cars parked out front by jogging by and faking a fall as he passed. He fell face first to the ground and quickly stuck the tracker under the car on the frame as the guards ran up and pulled guns on him. He explained in Spanish that he had just tripped and that he wasn’t a threat, but they patted him down anyway and glanced under the car before they shoved him around a bit and told him never to run by again or they’d shoot him dead. Ron smiled and limped off down the road before doubling back to the villa.

  ****

  The box sat undisturbed until its appointment with destruction. At one a.m. exactly, it burst into flames. The pantry quickly became completely engulfed and the fire spread to the kitchen before anyone knew there even was a fire. It then took the fire department ten minutes to respond and another ten to get their equipment unloaded and prepared to fight the flames.

  Tom and the team helped them hook up the hoses to the two tankers that arrived two minutes after the first fire engine arrived. Then they went into the villa, jogging right past the guards who normally would have refused them access. They went directly inside to make sure everyone was out of the building and to start their search.

  As the other firemen began spraying water on the flames, the team split up and wandered throughout the villa looking for anything that might provide more intelligence. Tom found the office of Garza’s numbers man, Primo, behind the second door he opened on the first floor. He quickly called Pam over to download the hard drive on to a flash memory stick, while he shuffled through a pile of CDs on a shelf, finally deciding to take them all, stuffing them into his pockets as Pam finished the download.

  Alex found another computer in a second floor bedroom which he downloaded to another flash memory stick, then grabbed two blue binders from the shelf that reminded him of the binder he had found in Cuba, which he tucked inside his coat without looking at them.

  Ron followed behind the other team members, squirting lighter fluid onto the desktops and the floors, knowing that the heat of the flames would cause it to ignite and incinerate any evidence of their having been there.

  As the team met up on the first floor by the glass wall that led to the beach, Ron slipped down the hallway to the office that Tom had found and squirted lighter fluid all over that room. It burst into flames almost the instant that the liquid touched the wall. He tossed the can of lighter fluid in the room for good measure and ran to join the other team members as they exited through the glass doors that led to the pool area and the beach.

  They kept moving towards the water as the flames intensified and began to consume the decking around the pool. At the far end of the pool deck, they quickly discarded their firefighting gear, slipping around the fencing, which ended a few yards into the water. Then, just when the team thought they could relax, several gunshots echoed in the night, and Mike felt the breeze of a bullet whiz by his ear as everyone dove for the ground.

  Looking back, Ron and Tom could clearly see four of Garza’s security men running across the pool area silhouetted against the flames of the burning villa, shooting at them as they advanced. Apparently someone had been watching the firemen after all, and they had seen the team exit out the back when every other firefighter was out front trying to subdue the flames.

  Mike and Alex were the first to return fire, tearing up the deck railing and deck furniture with the fully automatic spray from their silenced MP5s. The team did their best to continue backing away from the men on the villa’s pool deck, only to be cut off by four men who suddenly appeared around the corner of the neighboring villa. Luckily for the team, the beach here was covered with small, rocky outcroppings. They quickly dropped for cover as they began taking on the new threat.

  Mike went down quickly with a shoulder wound, and Pam received a round to her left leg before Ron and Tom could spray the new foursome with their MP5s, taking out two of the four who decided to pop up to shoot just as Ron and Tom opened up.

  As the bullets whizzed all around them, Tom knew they had to find cover quickly. They also had to find a way to escape. The only advantage they had were the flames that were behind Garza’s men, which silhouetted them, making them easy targets.

  Ron help Pam limp along the beach, moving farther away from Garza’s men, as Alex and Tom kept firing at them in the hopes that they could find some cover before more of Garza’s men arrived. If any of the security staff had called Garza at the club, he could
be arriving at any minute with another twelve men. That would not be a good thing.

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  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

  INSPIRATION:

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN