Code-5 (Adventures of a Baby Boomer Book 1)

by Thomas Shaw

  Julie was instructed to ask Tom a series of questions each time he would put himself into a hypnotic state. Each answer would give SAM a little more information until she was able to pin-point the location where Hussein lived.

  At one point in their conversations SAM asked Tom how he planned to dispatch Hussein.

  He simply said, “I’ll shoot him with my .45.” SAM was immediately concerned that this would draw a lot of un-needed attention to the situation and after some interchange with Dr. Merrill it was decided that they would use a different method.

  Tom and Julie were instructed to disguise themselves and once again drive to the bakery to pick up a package. Tom was wearing a fake beard and turban headdress while Julie worn a black burka which covered her from head to toe. On the way to the bakery Tom made an unannounced stop at an auto mechanics shop and bought two portable grease guns that you would use to lubricate parts on a truck.

  While asking to pick up the special package, Jhameel was taken aback because he didn’t recognize Julie right away. When she removed the vail covering her face she could see that he was physically relieved to see who it was and handed over the package with the complimentary loaves of bread. They returned to the “safe house” with what they assumed was an uneventful trip.

  It was mid-week and SAM had determined that it was now or never if they were going to initiate the plan to eliminate Hussein. Tom was dressed in black and looked more like a Ninja fighter than a college student from Oklahoma. Julie once again wore the burka as they loaded the Mini Cooper with a can of diesel fuel they found in the garage along with a can of gasoline use for the lawnmower. SAM directed them into a seedy part of Tehran where the streets were lined with small rundown houses. The street lights were out which helped them maintain their stealthy disguise. Tom approached the front door just like he was someone who lived there. He pulled a small device from his pocket and inserted one end into the lock and squeezed the handle a couple of times allowing him to unlock the door. He quickly moved inside and closed the door behind him. Using his small LED thumb light SAM guided him directly to Hussein’s bedroom. As Tom slowly moved into the room he reached under the light jacket he was wearing to remove the safety strap on the shoulder hostler that held his Colt .45 pistol. With his heart about to pound out of his chest Tom moved toward Hussein who was lying on his stomach, face down. He slowly slid his hand under the pillow until he felt the barrel of the 9 millimeter Glock handgun. After removing the gun he slowly pulled the side of the sheet back over Hussein’s body until his left buttock was exposed.

  Moments later he carefully moved over to the chair a few feet from the bed and sat down. Once he was settled in he was ready for the confrontation which he activated by dropping his foot heavily on the floor. There was a stirring on the bed and then Hussein said in Arabic, “Is there someone there?”

  Tom reached up and turned on the floor lamp that was sitting beside the chair.

  Hussein immediately recognized Jim Peterson and tried to reach for his weapon but his arm was moving agonizingly slow.

  “Are you here to kill me?” he said in English.

  There was a long pause then Tom replied, “I already have.”

  He reached over and picked up the diabetic insulin syringe that was sitting on the floor lamp stand. “The needles on these things are so small you can’t even feel the injection,” Tom said holding up the syringe in the light. “I’ve just given you 10 units of Black Mamba venom, which happens to be the deadliest snake in the world.”

  Hussein just laid there looking at him; the paralysis was already starting to take effect.

  “I just wanted you to know a few things before you go meet Allah, Tom added. “You probably already can’t move your arms or legs and in a few more seconds it will become difficult to breath and then your heart will shut down. The last thing you will hear is my voice and I just want to tell you that you will not make the Martyr list this year because I’m going to cover your body in pig fat right before I cremate you just so you will be unclean when you meet “the man”.

  You’ve just been given a one-way ticket to Hell.”

  These were the last words Hussein heard before he died. Tom placed his fingers against the side of Hussein’s neck to see if there was a pulse… there was none.

  Tom quickly rolled Hussein up in the bed sheet and tied off each end. He then hefted him over his shoulder and advised Julie that he was coming out. She replied that it was all clear and had opened the hatch back on the Mini Cooper.

  SAM was directing Julie to take a road that would lead them to a garbage dumping area when she noticed that they were heading in a different direction altogether.

  “Where are you going?” SAM demanded, concerned that this change in plans could compromise the mission, “and what was all that business about covering him in pig fat and cremation.”

  “There’s been a change in plans,” Tom said “just trust me on this one. It’s something I’ve got to do.”

  Julie drove about fifteen miles out of town to an area that had been heavily bombed during the 10-Day War. She weaved her way around debris in the road until they found what they were looking for. It was a 55 gallon steel drum lying on its side. After a quick inspection Tom saw that it was just what he was looking for; it was empty. He quickly pulled the silencer out of his jacket pocket and screwed it to the barrel of his Navy Colt. He aimed the pistol about three inches above the bottom of the drum and pulled the trigger. He then rolled the drum a few more inches and pulled the trigger again. He repeated this process seven more time until there were nine holes evenly spaced around the base of this steel drum. He then pulled Hussein out of the back of the car and rolled him out of the blanket onto the ground. Tom reached into the car and retrieved one of the grease guns and inserted about two feet of the flexible hose down Hussein’s throat into his stomach and pumped the handle until the gun was empty. He retrieved the other grease gun from the car and inserted the hose up Hussein’s anus and emptied the heavy grease into his bowels. He then pushed the dead body into the steel drum and stood it upright emptying the can of diesel fuel into the drum followed by the gasoline. They both stood back as Tom pitched a lighted match into the drum. There was a giant whoosh of flames as the vapors ignited the rest of the material in the drum.

  Tom and Julie immediately left the area only to stop a couple of hundred yards away to look back to check their handy work. The air was drafting in through the holes in the bottom of the drum so fast that it made a roaring sound like a jet engine about to take off. The accelerants added to Hussein’s body burned with such intensity that the steel drum was already turning a bright orange with streaks of yellow snaking up the sides as it approached 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature any organic material would be vaporized or at least turned to ash.

  Tom was basking in the glow of retribution as Julie drove back to the “safe house”. Silently the other three minds involved were concerned that Tom was slipping over to the dark side.

  18

  Once again back at the “safe house” Tom, Julie and SAM focused their attention on finding Tom’s father. The physic capability in Tom seemed to be getting better and better. After several self-induced hypnosis attempts Tom was able to describe visually seeing his father who appeared to be working in some laboratory looking setup. Once again he was able to feed bits and pieces of information to SAM so she could put together the puzzle of where Dr. Goodman was. They seemed to be making good progress when SAM suddenly interrupted their meeting with information that their “safe house” location had been compromised and the gang of terrorists that Hussein had been involved with was determined to eliminate the American spies at all costs and planned to do it very soon. SAM had determined that the best time to leave this location was in the middle of the night which gave them about nine hours to prepare. Tom had found several rolls of razor wire in back of the house and as part of the plan, moved the car out of the garage into the backyard behind the house. Tom also fou
nd a military grade high intensity flood light in the garage which he pulled out and placed it in the driveway about ten feet in front of the garage door. He then fashioned a 4x8 foot piece of plywood onto a stand that held it at a 45 degree angle facing toward the gate on the driveways entrance. The center of this sheet of plywood was about seven feet off the ground. The next step in SAM’s plan was to place the flood light on the ground pointing straight up at the center of the plywood. Julie then took pieces of aluminum foil and taped them to the center face of the plywood in the form of a three foot diameter disk. The last step was to set rocks, buckets of sand and sandbags around the flood light making a three foot high protective wall. Using the last of the sandbags Tom built another wall inside the house in their living room under the main window that looked out toward the front yard and driveway. He then removed this window from its frame and ran a makeshift wire from the flood light into the house. This setup would allow them to plug and unplug the flood light which would shine directly up toward the aluminum disk mounted at a 45 degree angle which would redirect the beam of light toward the front gate. They waited until it was dark to string the razor wire, making a four foot high barrier about midway across the driveway. Tom then put a light chain around the handles on the gate, held together with a simple paddle lock. Julie had loaded everything she could into the car and was getting more nervous as each minute passed. She was just returning through the backdoor when she saw Tom working on something at the kitchen table. The box they had picked up several days earlier was sitting there. He had attached the silencer onto the .45 caliber pistol then laid it on its side while he inserted a special firing mechanism between the trigger and the trigger guard. This was something SAM had designed especially for this purpose. Once in place Tom inserted a key in this unit and wound the spring until it was tight. When he pressed the button in front of the trigger guard; it caused the spring to unwind manually pressing the trigger on the .45, five times per second as long as he held the button down. In other words this spring operated triggering device would literally turn his Colt .45 pistol into a sub-machine gun. All that was left for Tom to do was to load one of the special 50 round clips that SAM had supplied in that shipment.

  Julie had placed everything they might need into their backpacks and loaded them into the car. It was getting late as she cooked a couple of hot-dogs for dinner while Tom setup his position by the window.

  They didn’t have to wait long. SAM was advising them that nine members of the gang had collected about 100 yards down the street and were moving in their direction. This particular night was overcast which made it particularly dark. Tom couldn’t even see the gate at the end of the driveway. They had left a light on in their bedroom but the rest of the house was pitch black. Tom thought he heard the shuffle of feet by the gate but knew they were there when he heard the snap of a bolt cutter cutting the chain.

  Tom eased the modified Colt up on the sandbags and turned it sideways so each time it fired the recoil would jump the barrel to the left and not the upward motion if he was to hold it in a normal manor. This would keep his field of fire at a consistent height. Julie held the plug to the flood light in her hand and was kneeling by the wall outlet a few feet from Tom.

  Just then Tom heard the first person to make contact with the razor wire let out a stifled scream. Then a second one and a third…

  “Plug in the light”, he whispered. Julie jammed the plug into the socket and the flood light immediately came to life. The beam of light bounced off the aluminum foil and lit up all nine terrorists bunched up at the razor wire. They immediately opened up with their AK-47’s trying to shoot the light out but their bullets simply passed through the reflection off the aluminum foil. Tom took careful aim and pulled the trigger on his modified firearm. He held the button down raking his gun left and right across and through the razor wire. He kept firing until his clip was empty… “Pull the plug”, he shouted.

  Julie jerked the wire out of the socket and everything went dark just like a few second earlier. Tom listened intently to see if he could hear anything moving in the driveway. The seconds seemed to drag by but there were no sounds at all except from a dog which seemed to be several block away. Tom removed the empty clip from the gun and because of its overheated barrel carried it by the handgrip as they quickly moved toward their car. Tom reloaded his pistol, hopped into the backseat and made ready for any defensive action as they drove around the side of the house and out the driveway. They were fortunate that there was no sign of life as they passed by the pile of bodies tangled up in the razor wire. Julie was driving while SAM was given her exact directions that would take them to a small town on the south shore of the Caspian Sea called Chalus. This is where they would spend the rest of the night at a Microtel.

  After getting a few hours’ sleep, Julie dressed in her head to toe burka and called for a taxi to take her to the local market so she could buy supplies for the next couple of days.

  Once Tom was well rested they immediately went to work to find out more information that might lead them to his father. It turns out that each time Tom placed himself in a trance, even though it might only be for a couple of minutes when he came out of it he was exhausted; sometimes taking up to three hours to recuperate. The information he had gleaned from earlier self-induced hypnotic sessions had brought them to this exact location. SAM felt sure they were getting closer to Dr. Goodman’s location and by getting physically closer might give Tom a better “view” of where his father was.

  By noon they were ready to try another hypnotic session to see if they could “see” the exact location his father was being held. Tom settled back on the sofa with his feet on an ataman and relaxed into a self-induced hypnotic state.

  At the exact right moment Julie said, “Can you describe the location and address of the building your father is being held?”

  There were a few moments delay then Tom said, “It is a large building with a red roof with an empty field on the North end. There are three major roads that come together in a round-about.”

  Seconds later SAM said, “I’ve got it!”

  Later that afternoon SAM was explaining to all concerned that this building had been a warehouse but recently turned into a barracks type arrangement with large rooms of exercise equipment. She thinks it’s being used as some sort of training center and thinks this has got to be where they are holding Dr. Goodman but that’s as close as she can get.

  After several back and forth conversations between SAM and Dr. Merrill, it was decided that Tom and Julie would make their move tomorrow evening after everyone had gone to bed.

  They hadn’t left their motel room since Julie had returned with the necessary supplies they needed to keep them going for a couple of days. By late afternoon they had packed everything they needed into the Mimi Cooper and were dressing for the part they would be playing later that evening. Julie downed her black burka as usual while Tom was dressed in black pajamas, looking more like a ninja warrior complete with a black stocking cap. He strapped on the leather shoulder holster so he could carry his .45 Colt concealed under his left arm pit. Julie made a nice dinner, then they both set back and waited. Tom was even able to take an hour long nap before SAM interrupted, “It’s time.”

  Without any conversation they both slung their backpacks over their shoulders and walked to the car. SAM directed Tom to the building with the red roof and had him park about fifty yards away in the shadows of another building. He didn’t realize it but SAM had directed a stealth drone to orbit about ten thousand feet over this location so she could keep an eye on everything outside the building.

  SAM directed them to a rear entrance where Tom used the lock picking device he had use on Hussein’s apartment to defeat this locked door as well. Julie was instructed to remove the canister from her backpack and get ready to activate it at the first sign of trouble. They had both activated and inserted the earplugs that would keep them from experiencing the extreme vertigo.

  Tom swit
ched on the flashlight app on his cell phone which illuminated a small area in front of them. They were in a large room with all sorts of exercise equipment. They walked through this room until they came to another door that opened into a long hallway with doors about every twenty feet on both sides. It was completely dark when Tom slowly moved a door handle and found that it was unlocked. As he pushed the door open it made a slight squeaking noise from the hinges; Then out of darkness, “Who’s there?” in Arabic.

  Julie immediately activated the canister and turned the intensity setting to full capacity. The signal was so strong that she felt a wave of nausea even through her ear protection. Without seeing the person who had challenged them they could hear him retching violently in the darkened room. They quickly tried each door as they moved down the hallway, they were all unlocked except for one which had a padlock on it and was locked from the outside. Tom tried the picking device but in the excitement he put so much pressure on it that he broke the tip off of the unit. With his cell phone light in one hand he pulled the Colt out and fired twice which shot the lock off the door. The door was partially open but he kicked it the rest of the way in with his foot. As he shinned the light into the room he could see someone sitting at a desk convulsing violently… it was his dad. Julie activated the earplugs and inserted one in each of his ears. She found a towel lying by the sink and was wiping away the regurgitated material from his face when she heard him say, “What the hell’s going on?” Tom shined the light back on his own face hoping he would recognize him when he realized he was wearing a black knit cap pulled down to his eyebrows. He quickly pulled the cap off and said, “It’s me, dad.”