“I think we have answered the question of whether you will help us or not. I should give all of you Dr. Muerto’s intestinal cleaning treatment for what you did to that young girl. Let’s start with who hired you idiots to do this?”
“Our… boss… Tito Salento!” One of the men answered immediately with his companions shaking their heads in the affirmative.
“Where can I find him?”
“He…he’s the guy in the hall you killed.”
“Tito’s not dead yet. I blew away his knees. Why would Tito want to come after me, and kidnap the police lieutenant?”
“You killed his brother. Tito find out… that lieutenant had something to do with it. We asked around hard about you and Dickerson. When he gets problems, Dickerson calls you. Tito took the chance if we grabbed him, the wife would go to you instead of the police.”
The speaker’s face revealed he thought maybe the rest of his gang had the woman and her kids. “They went after you. I bet they got her and the kids. Maybe… we can get them back for you.”
“You idiot,” Cala said. “Muerto killed them all. The lieutenant’s family is at Muerto’s house. The gangbangers are outside, stuffed in the back of your gang’s Cadillac. Do you have another vehicle?”
Silence.
“Uh oh… it’s best not to hold out on Muerto,” Cala continued. “He will give all of you an intestinal cleaning like your friend.”
“Blue Dodge van on the street. Tito has the keys.”
“How did you bunch get in the country?” Nick moved closer to the speaker.
“Los Zetas smuggled us in before the border crackdown. Tito’s brother was an enforcer with them.”
“Ah oh… another damn continuation,” Nick said to his friends. “What’s his name. I think I could guess but I’d rather hear it from you.”
“Raul… Raul Zeron. Raul changed his name from Pedro Salento when he went to work with the Zetas. Tito waited when he heard another Zeta guy was going to check on your crew as suspects. When they disappeared, Tito checked your past. He knew you did it. After Vasco and his crew disappeared, the Zetas didn’t want any more to do with you. Bangers in Salinas know you and Dickerson are tight. They told us to stay away. Tito wouldn’t listen.”
“They were smart. Tito’s not,” Nick replied.
“Let us go, man! We don’t ever come back.”
“Not happening. Some mistakes you don’t walk away from. You guys earned your shot of happiness. Don’t piss me off and go down the Dr. Muerto road like your buddy.”
Nick injected each one. When it was over, he and Johnny dragged Tito to one of the vacated chairs, cinching him tightly in place. Gus threw some water in Tito’s face, bringing him to sputtering consciousness. Tito screamed when the awakened pain in his knees knifed into his skull. Nick slapped him hard in the face until Tito got the message and shut up.
“Hi there. I heard you were looking for me. Your mysteries are solved. Yes, I’m Nick McCarty and yes, I blew your brother’s head off with a .50 caliber depleted uranium slug. He was down in Texas, killing Americans.”
“I…I will kill you for this. One day, I will get out. You are a dead man!”
Gus, Johnny, Jian and Cala all enjoyed Tito’s declaration, with Cala clapping her hands. Nick patted Tito’s face. “You are a funny guy. I knew you would be. This is just as well. You’re far too stupid for this gig.”
Nick’s face grew solemn with the task ahead. “I don’t know how you think this will end, but when you raped the little girl, you earned a different ending than your crew got.”
“Nobody touches Tito! The Zetas will hunt you down.”
Nick sliced the clothing from Tito’s front with his knife, spreading the clothing out. He then showed Tito his scalpel. “Would you like to say a prayer or something before I begin? You won’t be able to say much once I start.”
“Fuck you, poser!”
“Oh yeah,” Nick whispered. He put the gag in place over Tito’s mouth. Nick sliced through tissue like a born surgeon. “Doctor Muerto is in the house!”
Over the next hour, nothing saved Tito’s sanity or life. He stroked out in the middle of his third round through the intestinal cleansing. Nick sighed, glancing at his friends. “Well, now for the boring part. Let’s get the van loaded. I have a case of magnesium flares in the Ford. I hate to say this, but it would probably be better if we pack the bodies in the Ford for the freezer. We’ll prep them after our gig in the North. We’ll torch their vehicles in the sand between here and Route 156. We’ll need to keep them tarped at the Carmel Valley house. No one will miss this bunch. No need to put a rush on them tonight.”
“Good,” Cala said. “After we finish, you can drive back to the ‘Grove’ with Jian and Gus. I know Neil won’t say much besides thanks, but do you have a plan to get Diedre home without a lot of problems?”
“That’s the reason for the stashed vehicles and bodies. I’ll deliver her to a couple of happy parents and do my US Marshal ploy. I’ll tell them because the MS-13 gang members were all illegal aliens, we took them into federal custody with the possibility they will be detained on terrorism charges too. Gus, Jian, and I will put on our US Marshal Kevlar vests like we just came from the raid.”
“The story has holes, but not much can be done about them,” Gus added. “I hope Diedre will be okay in her head after that ordeal.”
“She seemed tough enough to handle it, but we can’t fix everything. You’ll be with me when we deliver her home. All we can do is look for signs she may need help coping. We can talk later. I’ll go get the van and back it to the door.”
“I wish we could have done a cartoon video. I lose ground to the cat videos daily,” Johnny remarked. “I dropped under a cat hopping on a cucumber this morning.”
“I’m certain we’ll do better in Oakland,” Nick replied after an amused break. “We must be masked or both Amir and his son will have to die. This crap may be too complex anyway.”
“The City of Hope needs him, Muerto,” Cala stated, following Nick to the door.
“I know. A growing city with a resort will need many more like Jared. He may have talent for organization too. Eventually, a hospital will need to be built with someone to run it and recruit. Later for all this talk. We have bodies to move, this house to wipe down, cops to awaken from their drugged sleep, and young girls to return home.”
“I see a couple of Bushmills on the deck later, Muerto,” Johnny said.
“Amen to that.”
“Don’t forget you’ll need to walk Deke,” Gus called out after him.
“Damn it! Thanks, Payaso… you prick!”
Gus chuckled. “Anytime.”
* * *
Linda hugged Nick and Gus after they helped put Neil to bed. “Will he be okay?”
“Don’t worry, Linda. Neil will be fine,” Nick promised. “I will be over tomorrow to talk with him. Remember not to let him talk about this to anyone until he speaks to me.”
“I’ll make sure of it. This used to be the quietest town.”
“People are saying that in a lot of towns,” Nick replied. “The globalists have been throwing open the borders to third world terrorists and low life thugs as a way to control our populace. They believe if you import the lowest common denominator of violent hordes, the world will all be under a one world order police state.”
“Do you really think that’s true?”
“Nick’s theory is the only one that fits this weirdo descent into darkness,” Gus answered. “Why in the world would nations be importing malcontents who drain our economies dry? Anyhow, Nick and I need to take Dierdre home.”
Linda turned her attention to the young girl smiling at the doorway. “You have my phone number, honey. If you need to talk with anyone, call me.”
“I promise, Linda.” Dierdre shook her hand. “Rachel and Tina told me the same thing. If I can’t get a grip on this, I will call.”
* * *
Nick and Gus walked away from Dierdre’
s home with some uneasiness. The dad wanted vengeance and the mom wanted to sue everyone in existence. They had been tearfully joyous to have Dierdre back, but Nick’s explanations of vague justice did not sit well with either parent. Nick had finally needed to explain Dierdre’s rapist was killed during the action, which was quickly corroborated by Dierdre. The conversation went downhill from there.
Only Dierdre bursting into tears and hugging Nick ended the verbal retribution he and Gus listened to. “They saved my life! They can’t change what happened!”
Dierdre’s outburst quieted the parents finally, allowing Nick and Gus to leave the family with the promise they would stay in touch.
“Wow, that went well,” Gus said.
“It probably went better than it should have. I could put myself in the dad’s shoes. The only thing making the conversation bearable was remembering Tito’s passing.”
“Yeah… he paid for his crimes here on earth. It’s only eleven. I think I’ll have a Bushmills with you after we walk Deke. Tina only had a glass of wine before dinner. She won’t mind driving if you play a little piano.”
“I can do that. Sipping and playing will be very comforting after tonight. I can’t do it too late. The kids have school tomorrow. I’m walking them with Deke. Want to have an Irish morning at the ‘Point’?”
“Hell yeah. We need a nice easy morning with Johnny and Jian before our trip North. An Irish coffee conference fits our schedule for figuring on a form of action taking Amir’s kid too. I sure hope he can be made to understand. It’s hard to believe he’s an Unholy Trio fan.”
“We have no way of knowing if he is or not,” Nick replied. “It could be the videos stir him into jihadi action figure territory. He could be plotting some way to get at us for Amir. It’s my imagination conjuring him into a City of Hope surgeon and hospital administrator. At least we’re not handling the details for this snatch and grab kidnapping. John knows the North much better than I do. Since forming his Oaktown Cartel, John’s information network is impressive.”
“I wonder how much notoriety he accrued during the UK intervention with his incredible win over Carl Logan. He beat the undefeated Heavyweight Boxing Champ. That, in tandem with his YouTube video matches, military, CIA, and FBI connections, probably make it impossible for him to go unnoticed anywhere. The speech he gave in the UK went viral with you singing ‘God Bless the Queen’. Anonymity will no longer be a problem for you two.”
“The media buried most of the sensationalism because they want what we did to fail miserably. The globalists are none too pleased with our operations. They know who revamped Cafrey’s Isle of Darkness. Success with the City of Hope will have them screaming for our heads. Unfortunately for them, we have those memory discs in our hands. Paul let me know he and Denny have made it plain any action by the leaders in that idiotic one world order movement will mean disaster for them. This time we have the CIA Director on our side with video, financial, and hard copy proof with what we scavenged from Cafrey’s island. Paul warned me they would like to do a drone strike on us.”
“We saved a family and a young girl tonight.”
“I hope I can frame that in a way with Neil tomorrow where he might overlook the part about Tito and his MS-13 gang looking for revenge mostly on me.”
“My advice is let Neil ask the questions. You form the answers in a way our rescue tonight was a heroic action rather than self-defense.”
“I’ll make a note. What if he asks the wrong questions?”
“Use the phrase ‘I don’t recall’. It works for the politicos.”
* * *
Neil drove his squad car next to the small group of Nick, Jean, Sonny, Jay, and Deke the dog. Nick’s head turned to scan the area with his peripheral vision constantly. He caught sight of Lieutenant Dickerson and waved. He stopped everyone and handed Deke’s leash to Jean.
“I need to talk with Neil for a moment.”
“Okay, Dad.”
“Hey… no Quinn this morning?”
“He’s teething. His nose is running so much I was afraid we’d need to put a scarf around it. I’ll walk him down to the beach with the rest of the cartoons. It’ll take his mind off it and the salt air might do him some good. How are you doing?”
“A little confused but it’ll pass. I don’t know what to say except thanks. I’m pretty sure it had something to do with our actions against the gangs. I don’t know exactly why. Maybe that’s for the best. I should never have been blindsided like they did to me. I imagine no one will ever hear from them again, huh?”
“Not without a medium and a séance.”
“Linda told me they held a young girl captive.”
“The leader, Tito, did it. He paid for his crimes.”
“Yuck.”
“That’s not exactly what he said. I texted the address to you this morning where they stayed. You’ll find trace of them there, plus all their phones. They didn’t have anything else. Johnny downloaded everything on them so you can do what you like with them.”
“I’ll be more careful from now on, Nick.”
“Maybe now would be a good time to kick free of me, my friend. You’ve probably seen my gang mixed in with John Harding’s crew up North, fighting terrorists and building cities. We’re moving up everyone’s list of people the globalists want dead.”
“It’s too late for that, Nick. Call me if you find out anything I need to know.”
“It’s your funeral. I believe Linda may want this to end.”
“Doin’ right ain’t got no end!” Neil drove off before Nick could respond to his favorite smartass remark fed back to him.
Nick grinned and returned to where the kids were stifling laughter. “Not funny, big ears. I guess I won’t need to stop by Neil’s place now. I know I’ve been away and that usually means trouble. Do you three have any information not passed on to my lovely wife?”
“You mean other than your father is a racist, Islamophobe,” Jean asked sweetly.
“Really? Is someone picking on you because of the recent news?”
Jean smirked at Nick as he took Deke’s leash again. “No one picks on the three of us… no one. Everyone stays away from us except the kids who do get picked on. We take them into protective custody until it stops.”
“Well done. You’ve obviously handled it discreetly or your mom would have been wringing me out to dry.”
“Wringing you out to… oh… you mean like twisting a wet towel? You need to get new lines, Dad,” Jean advised.
“Why? You’ve never heard them. So, who is it saying this? Remember, Islam is not a race or a religion. It is a Sharia Law Death Cult, hell bent on conquering the world, while torturing and killing anyone who does not believe as they do. How do we put that in Snowflake terms, children?”
“Islam is not a race or a religion. It is a political ideology, based on subjugation of others,” the three kids intoned together as taught.
“Excellent.”
“We tried that on him,” Jean said. “I thought his head would explode. He’s the fiancé of a six-grade teacher. You know the type. She’s blonde, blue-eyed, and probably carries one of those signs in demonstrations I’ve seen on Facebook, with ‘I open my legs for the refugees’.”
Nick lost all train of thought, intents for admonition, and breath for the next few moments, as Jean high-fived her minions. “Oh… my… God… you girl, are a treasure. Okay… this airhead teacher thinks Sharia Law does not apply to her, and the boyfriend coddles her infidel mind with what, kids?”
“Taquiyya, the allowance by Islam to lie to the infidels,” the three answered.
“That’s the one. How did this incident happen and what’s the fallout?”
“No fallout, Dad,” Jean answered. “We waited for mom on the inside of the door to the school while you were away. She was a little late because Quinn’s car-seat busted. She had to wait for Tina to get there before coming after us. The teacher, Brittany Weber, tried to hurry past us, but the boyfriend
stopped her. He pointed at us and asked, ‘are these the children’. She got a scared look on her face for a moment, but nodded yes. That’s when he slandered you. Brit had to grab him after we answered him correctly together.”
Nick took a deep breath. “Gee, the offended Muslim - picks out kids, insults the father of one of the kids, and then gets ready to kick the crap out of them when he’s answered the way he should be answered. You had your knives, right?”
“We had them out the moment he moved toward us, behind our leg where they couldn’t be seen, ready to thrust,” Sonny answered. “We work on it together all the time, Sir. I’m the tallest. I strike high, Jay strikes middle, Jean gives the victim what she calls the Cruella Deville haircut.”
Another pause while Nick enjoyed yet another dead pan gem. “I…I swear. You kids are missing your calling. Stand-up comedy should be in your future. I have to tell Crue that one when I see her.”
Jean giggled. “I texted it to her, describing our training strike method. She texted back with one of those wide-eyed emojis with ‘Oh no you didn’t just label the groin strike a Cruella Deville haircut’. I wrote back, ‘yep, for all time’. She loved it.”
“I’ll bet she did.” Nick walked along, signaling Deke into different commands with his hand, as he had been training his beer buddy intensely during off-times.
The kids watched with fascination as they approached the school. Deke would alternately move, ready to strike between Nick’s legs, prance next to him, side by side touching his leg, or launch in front, moving side to side in front of Nick. The kids gasped at Nick’s drop of the leash and hatchet like command with his hand held in chopping form. Deke streaked forward twenty feet, snarling and growling, while moving back and forth sideways. A two-toned short whistle from Nick brought him back.
“Deke’s as smart as Clint’s dog, Tonto. Dogs love training, treats, and performing. After a time, they do whatever you teach them because they love and respect you. Me and Deke are mates, right Deke?”
Cold Blooded Assassin Book 8: Rule of Nightmare (Nick McCarty Assassin) Page 9
