“Report,” he shouted into the device that he now clutched in a death grip.
“Come now,” Bona yelled into the walkie-talkie. Keo heard shooting in the background. He also heard something that sounded like a bug zapper. He didn’t wait for Bona to explain that there were about a hundred strange, blue, very tall defenders who were firing some sort of laser at Bona and his men. Kiri Keo was already consumed with revenge and reacted. After all, someone was stealing his profits.
Keo dropped the phone and ran to a large bell that was hanging near the front of the veranda. He grabbed the cord and repeatedly clanged it loudly. His troops began appearing in the front yard of his estate. They were all dressed to do go into battle. One hundred armed men filled the lawn.
The drug lord pulled out his pearl handled pistol and fired several shots into the air to get the attention of his men. He stood at the top of the steps of his estate home and addressed his small army.
“Poachers are stealing my poppies,” he screamed. “I want you to kill them all,” he barked. “I’m also offering a pound of pure heroin to whoever brings me the leader’s head.” Keo had no intention of ever paying the bounty, but it sounded good to his men.
A roar went up from the men as they raised their guns and shouted wildly.
“To the trucks, men,” Kiri Keo screamed.
***
A US Navy destroyer named the Zumwalt was stationed in the Gulf of Thailand. It had recently been ordered there to monitor anything going on in Cambodia. The modern ship held the most up to date tracking systems available and was connected to the satellite grid. It had launched several drones to help scope out the area. Its mission was to find the cloaked Sumi base. The top secret orders had come from the office of General Wendell Whitehead at the Pentagon.
“I’ve got something,” a Navy specialist sang out.
“What have you got?” The supervisor quickly asked and moved over to look at the monitor.
“I see a line of six trucks with a bunch of heavily armed men heading northeast in the province of Preach Vihear,” the specialist replied.
“Get the satellite to zoom in on the trucks,” his supervisor ordered. “Send the drones in too. I think that they may be headed to the place we are looking for. I’ll pass the information up the ladder.”
***
It took the drug gang almost an hour to reach the Sumi basecamp in Cambodia. During the bumpy dirt-road ride, Kiri Keo stewed in his quest to seek vengeance. He realized that he had not asked Bona any questions and knew he was heading into battle with no information about what he would face. It was a mistake, but he didn’t care, all he wanted was revenge.
He had little concern over his second in command’s fate. There were plenty of young men who would be eager to take his place. He just hoped that the six man team had done some damage to the poachers before they died.
Suddenly, the lead truck where Keo was riding skidded to a halt.
“Why are you stopping?” Keo screamed to the driver in a furious voice.
“Something is wrong,” the driver replied. “The road should continue into the village, but as you can see it ends right here,” the driver said as he pointed.
“Did you take a wrong road?” Keo roared at the stupidity of his driver.
“No sir,” the driver explained. “I was born in the village, I know the way there.”
Frustration overwhelmed the drug lord and he slammed his small fists against the dashboard. “Why do I have to put up with such incompetence?” Keo roared. He was now unsure of how to continue.
“Look!” the driver exclaimed and pointed.
When Kiri Keo looked up he saw a man suddenly appear on the road ahead of them. He was bloodied and seemed to be charred like he had run through a fire. The man was Bona, his second in command.
Keo jumped down from the truck and headed to the survivor. He was followed by all his men. As he approached Bona, the man collapsed on the road. Keo realized that the burns were too severe to allow Bona to live much longer.
The single-minded drug lord asked one question. “Are they destroying my poppy fields?”
“Yes,” Bona croaked out. “They have placed some sort of invisible dome over the area.”
“How many intruders are there?” the drug lord next asked. But it was too late, Bona was dead.
***
Inside the dome the Sumi leader surveyed the damage done by the six invading warriors. He had eleven men dead and six more wounded. His two giant Reducers were still in working order, but most of the men that had been killed were the operators and half the protection force. Most of the remaining Sumi were builders not warriors.
“Pull everyone back inside the compound,” he ordered. “We need to move the weapons someplace where they are not out in the open.”
“Yes, sir,” one of his builders responded. “I’ll move them up behind the top of the tallest building.”
“Will there be another attack?” another Sumi asked.
“There are a number of non-blue men collecting just outside the cloaked dome,” one of the remaining protectors yelled. “Once they realize that they can enter, they will attack.”
“Should we call for a shuttle to bring reinforcements?” his second in command nervously asked.
“Go and transmit a distress signal, but our leaders will never send a shuttle out in the daylight,” the leader remarked. “It would tell the non-blues too much information about us and risk the loss of the shuttle craft. Remember we can’t cloak those ships. They run on fuel that leaves an energy signature. It can be tracked. If they ran on Altos, what the non-blues call Vril, we would be saved.”
“Then I feel we may be doomed,” his second replied.
“Our loss will not go unnoticed,” the leader responded thoughtfully. “Turn off the cloaking device. Let’s show our leaders and everyone watching that we can fight.” He then roared out for his men to hear. “We are Sumi and cannot be defeated. Prepare to defend our new home.”
The second in command bellowed. “They will not stop us from moving our people to this world. We will fight to our death.” He didn’t realize that some of the Sumi were not that committed.
***
Kiri Keo still didn’t know what kind of resistance he faced inside the dome. Bona had died before he had passed on any intelligence about the poachers. It was clear to the drug lord that the fighters inside had flame throwers and maybe more powerful weapons. It’s a good thing that we brought grenades and the two RPG’s, he thought.
“I want half of you men to work your way around the back and half to attack from here. You have ten minutes to get into place. Go inside the dome on your bellies. I want to sneak up on them. When you hear the first shot, attack,” he ordered.
He had just finished giving out orders, but before half his men could leave, the dome suddenly disappeared. Keo was shocked at what he saw.
“We’d better all go in together,” he nervously said.
***
“How soon can we get boots on the ground,” General Wendell Whitehead asked the admiral of the Pacific fleet. “I’m sure that we have found the base camp.”
The general was in the secret situation room at the Pentagon. Twelve monitors covered the far wall. Several live feeds from Cambodia were displayed. An equal number of monitors held the faces of the various commanders that were involved in the secret mission.
“We can chopper them in, but it will be six hours before they will be ready and can reach the location,” The admiral responded. “We are not in position to launch an attack. It will take us another three hours to reach the maximum launch limit.”
“That’s bad,” General Whitehead said shaking his head. “It will be dark in four hours. Once it is dark the Sumi will send in reinforcements or pull out any survivors. Most of all they’ll take back their weapons. We need those weapons, Admiral.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s the best I can do,” the Navy man responded. “Do we have a go ahead on the mission
?”
“Yes,” General Whitehead answered reluctantly. “Launch your people as soon as possible. No matter what, we need to retake the site.”
“Something is happening,” a technician yelled out. All eyes turned to the satellite feed. A collective gasp came from the hardened military men.
“How is that possible,” the fleet admiral exclaimed. “They have only been on site for about twenty-four hours.”
“It took the Khmer people over one hundred years to build the first one,” General Whitehead told everyone. “The Sumi appear to be serious builders.”
***
Kiri Keo was stunned by what he saw. Instead of his beautiful poppy fields and a small village surrounded by jungle, the whole area under the dome had been transformed into a huge structure. Everything he had worked for was gone and replaced by a replica of something every Cambodian recognized.
The compound covered almost one square mile. It was surrounded by a twelve foot high wall. A wide moat completely enclosed the entire compound. Buildings inside reached as high as seven hundred feet, but appeared much higher to anyone on the ground. Keo knew that there were only two entrances, the main one in the front and a smaller on in the back.
Kiri Keo also knew that the original structure was only about a hundred miles to the Southeast and was a religious site for Hindus, but the compound before him was a veritable fortress. The structure was an exact duplicate of Angkor Wat. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
“How could this have been built without our knowledge,” he screamed at his men. He was so angry that he was tempted to kill some of his men for their incompetence.
“I was to the village two days ago to pick up a delivery,” his driver replied nervously. “It wasn’t there then.”
“Well it’s here now and we are going to take it back,” Kiri Keo roared. “Every man who survives will get a pound of heroin as a reward.” The drug lord’s men were all greedy. They all raised their guns and screamed wildly.
“There is no drawbridge and no door to stop us,” one of the men noted. “We can just rush in and kill them.”
“Charge,” Kiri Keo screamed like a madman. He didn’t have a plan, but he knew how to attack.
***
“Sir,” the Navy technician yelled out. “I see about a hundred men running towards the structure.”
“How many defenders can you see?” General Whitehead quickly inquired.
“It looks like about eighty men,” he replied. They are all very tall and seem to hover in the air.”
“That’s because they all have antigravity devices and sleds,” the general replied knowingly. “They’ll be able to glide up and see over the walls. I wonder what other weapons they will use to defend themselves?”
“This fight could go either way,” the fleet admiral said.
“Send the drones in as close as possible. I want everything recorded. Maybe we can learn something about the Sumi,” the general ordered.
“Why build a fortress that looks like Angkor Wat?” one of the other military leaders suddenly asked.
“The Khmer leaders who built Angkor Wat a long time ago believed that it represented the center of the universe,” the general responded. “The Sumi believe that they are the center of the universe.”
As they watched the screens, they saw many Sumi defenders glide over towards the front entrance. At the same time, they noticed a red stripe shoot out from the top of the highest structure inside the compound. The laser beam tore up the ground several feet in front of the charging drug gang.
“Why haven’t they fired any of their other weapons?” The admiral asked.
“Their weapons were not made for long range fighting,” General Whitehead responded. “My understanding is that most of their devices only have a maximum range of twenty feet. They need to let the attackers get close before they are effective. I guess we will find out which ones can be used for longer distances real soon.”
“But the attackers have guns,” the admiral exclaimed. “They can shoot at long range.”
“I know. This is going to get very interesting,” General Whitehead muttered.
Chapter Sixteen
Meanwhile, Colton Banyon and his original team of five along with the four member SIM team were headed to Istanbul.
Pramilla, the Indian diplomat, had called in a favor and commandeered the private jet from the Indian Ambassador to Morocco. It provided their transportation.
They were due to land in two hours. From there they intended to take a helicopter to the remote island of Avsa in the Marmara Sea. If all went well, they would be there by twilight. They wanted to approach the Sumi depository at night.
“Colt,” Colonel Cole said as he rushed over to Banyon’s seat. “The Pentagon just told me that someone is attacking the Sumi compound in Cambodia.”
“It’s a drug lord who wants his land back,” Banyon explained. Wolf had already gotten him up to date a few minutes ago in the plane’s bathroom.
“When will the military get there?” Carol asked nervously. “We don’t want the Sumi weapons in the hands of a drug lord, do we?”
“Not for another three hours,” Jerry Cole replied. “But you should know that the Sumi have built an exact duplicate of Angkor Wat under the dome. The cloaking device was turned off a few minutes ago.”
“I think that this is their Alamo,” Banyon explained. “They want people to see that they can fight.”
“But why doesn’t the Sumi high command send in reinforcements?” Loni quickly asked.
“They can’t send any shuttles,” Banyon told them. “The shuttles can’t be cloaked and we would be able to shoot them out of the sky easily.”
“But why can’t they be cloaked?” Loni continued.
“That I don’t know yet,” Banyon said.
Chapter Seventeen
The drug lord’s men all dove for cover as the laser beam destroyed the ground directly in front of them. Kiri Keo now knew that the defenders had weapons greater than flame throwers. He also could see many blue heads popping up along the wall.
“Hah,” he proclaimed defiantly. “They have painted their faces blue to disguise themselves,” he said with bravado. “They are probably some of my own men who have decided to steal my poppies. We need to kill them all, do you hear me?” he screamed fanatically.
“But we are pinned down boss,” a man answered. “Rushing them would be suicide.”
The drug lord thought for a second. He then pointed. “You,” Keo yelled out, “you with the RPG. Can you see where the laser beam came from?”
“It’s at the very top of that temple like building,” the man replied. “But it somehow moved behind the building after it shot at us.”
“Shoot the building with the RPG,” the drug lord demanded. He thought for a few more seconds and changed his mind. “No wait,” he suddenly shouted. “I have a better idea.”
“Tell us what you want,” another man pleaded. They were all worried now and didn’t know what to do next, but were eager to please the drug lord and earn a pound of heroin.
“You,” the leader pointed to his driver. “Go and get the biggest truck that we brought. I want you to drive it right through the entrance. We’ll hide behind it until we get inside.” Turning back to the RPG holder, Keo continued. “As soon as they expose the laser weapon to take a shot at the truck, blast it to pieces. Use the second RPG if you miss.”
The driver was clearly frightened. It looked like Keo was sacrificing him to get a shot at the laser weapon, but he knew that he would die right there in the open field if he defied the drug lord. He said nothing and got up from the ground. He raced for the biggest vehicle in the convoy. Soon the rumble of a dump truck could be heard heading down the causeway.
Kiri Keo pointed to ten more of his men. He didn’t know their names, but they knew to obey him. “You men provide cover fire. If you see any blue heads above the wall, shoot your machine guns. Don’t allow them get a bead on us. Get as cl
ose as you can,” he ordered. “Go now.”
The men immediately went to their bellies and began crawling towards the edge of the moat.
As the truck slowly passed the gang, they fell in behind it. They had reached the halfway point across the moat when the leaser weapon slid out from behind the temple like building. It looked like a silver Zamboni machine that was used to clear the ice during a hockey game, only bigger. A very tall blue man stood at the back working the controls. The large device hovered in the air. The man with the PRG didn’t hesitate. He pulled the trigger and the rocket sped off. It slammed into the huge laser weapon and blew up. A piece of the temple blew off and so did the blue man. The device dropped to the ground immediately.
“Attack,” Kiri Keo screamed at the top of his lungs. The truck sped up. The men picked up their pace and the snipers opened fire. It looked like the drug gang would overrun the compound in less than a minute. So far there had not been any return gun fire from the blue defenders.
The truck was half-way across the moat when suddenly everyone heard a sound like a twirling propeller. Keo peeked around the side of the truck and was horrified. A giant knife was spinning through the air and headed directly at the truck. It was at least ten feet tall and had two cutting edges. It was heading straight at the center of the truck.
“Get down,” Kiri Keo screamed. His men dropped to the ground. Several jumped off the causeway into the deep moat just as the knife hit the truck and cut through it like butter. The large dump truck split in half and parted like a sliced apple. Both halves rolled into the water and crushed six of the drug lord’s men. The driver was one of the causalities.
Keo turned and watched the big knife continue up the causeway. It turned slightly and slammed into the line of trucks used by the drug gang.
“They’re blocking any chance of us retreating,” he shouted to his men. “We must kill them all now or die ourselves. There is no turning back.”
The Society of Orion Book #7: The Turkish Findings (Colton Banyon Mystery 21) Page 5
