Red Horizon

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “I’m John Harding,” I told the leader, who was a bit larger than me in every way.

  “We did not appreciate that minstrel show your houseboys put on for our amusement.”

  Uh oh. I spun only just in time to catch a flying Lucas with murder in his eyes and on his brain. Tommy, Jess and Dev joined me. “Easy Gunny. These aren’t BLM’s. Let me find out what they are.”

  Lucas pointed at the leader, his features a sudden mask of dead calm. “You call me houseboy or minstrel again, Farrakhan’s turd, and I’ll snap my fingers like this.”

  Lucas snapped his fingers.

  The leader grinned in the usual condescending manner most of us were familiar with when looked on as ignorant jerks by the more enlightened amongst us. “What happens then, old man?”

  In the next instant Lynn materialized at his side as if beamed there with razor sharp knife at his throat. “When Pappy snaps his fingers again, I slice your throat, and we kill everyone you walked in with. What we joke around about with each other in a private party has nothing to do with you, ass-wipe. Speak every word from now on as if your life depends on the content because it does. Say you understand.”

  The man looked at death. Luckily, he recognized it. I didn’t plan on any more interventions. I was hoping Alexi was placating our Oakland PD friends in the gaming section. His companions I could tell were less than enthused with the situation. “I…I understand.”

  Lynn patted his face. “Good. Don’t forget. My reminders won’t go well for you.”

  I took a deep breath. “Okay then. You wanted to see me. How may I help you?”

  “I am Mohammed Knowly of the Nation of Islam. Your group of-”

  “Careful!” I could see the end of life smile on Lynn’s face. Lucas was straining to hold onto control at my side. “You apparently didn’t understand Lynn’s warning clearly enough. Stick to the point you came here to make. I thought you guys all wear red bowties.”

  “Never mind our dress, Harding. Your group has been terrorizing the Muslim community. We’ve been informed of your intervention to take Amara Nejem from her rightful family, and you have a woman preaching hatred against Islam in public: Samira Kensington.”

  “Amara is part of our family now. She’s going to college, learning skills, and is a personal assistant on movies with Director Dostiene. Amara couldn’t be happier. As for Samira, she’s here now and can speak for herself.”

  Sam slipped forward through the grinning Monsters with a smile and Jafar at her side. He wasn’t smiling. “I’m Samira. If you mean that I speak of Islam’s subjugation of women, you are correct. Islam needs reformation. I do not consider myself a Muslim any longer, and your sect believes in the extermination of white people. Even true Muslims don’t go that far… yet. I have looked into the hatred long enough. I only speak now when asked, and I am honest in my admission. Women are not chattel to be abused. I have a daughter now, and I will kill anyone who tries to treat her as they do other women under Sharia Law. Why are you self-important toads really here? Amara Nejem and I are not slaves. We are free, happy women.”

  “There you have it, Mr. Knowly,” I said, when Samira’s introduction caused momentary silence. “Did we cover everything? This is a free country. If you and your friends don’t like it, maybe you’d better move to a country with Islam’s brand of Sharia Law slavery, if they’ll have you.”

  “You represent the Oaktown Cartel. I’ve come to challenge you.”

  When the laughter died down I took another deep breath. “I don’t think you understand the rules of the Oaktown challenge, Mohammed. If I win, Oaktown absorbs your group. I can’t speak for the others but I don’t want your Nation of Islam toadies. As I understand it, you don’t sell drugs, or do anything else against the law. We only stop gangs terrorizing communities. You’re free to live any way you wish on your own, including hating anyone who doesn’t match your skin color or beliefs. As long as you don’t act on that hatred, we won’t ever have a problem.”

  “If I beat you in the cage, you will hand over Amara Nejem, and stop Samira Kensington from blaspheming Islam. If you win, we will forfeit twenty-five thousand dollars.”

  “Okay… now you’re pissing me off. I don’t own Amara. My associate Lynn will slice you into little pieces if you touch Amara. If you ever threaten Samira Kensington or Amara, we will erase you and your crew from the face of the earth without a trace. That said, why in hell would I need to fight you? In addition, even the Muslim hate groups like ‘The Muslims of the Americas’ don’t recognize the Nation of Islam. They’re a cult to us, and they think of the NOI as a sub-cult. I don’t see them reaching out to you bunch. What do you want and why should I care?”

  My dismissal of his objective ticked him off.

  “So, you are afraid to face me!”

  “You better cool that talk, brother,” Dev told him, trying to ease a public confrontation from ending in a killing. “John explained we’re not in the slave trade and we protect our own. Even if he agreed to fight you in the cage and lost, you wouldn’t get Amara or silence Samira. We have no beef with the NOI community. Why… oh… I get it.”

  Dev turned to us, his confused companions. “It’s the Nejem family. We hit them hard without a follow-up. They must have decided to get the NOI in on the situation. Talk about snakes out of different pits.”

  “The Nejem family requested our help in rectifying this outrageous situation. Amara was promised in marriage to a true believer. It is her duty to honor that contract,” Knowly said.

  “Are you stupid?” Tommy and I had faced off with NOI members before. They’re a bit like the black Klan, but instead of simple separatism as the Klan practices, the NOI want the white race to disappear. Usually, they stay inside their own community with the race hatred stuff. “Dev just explained you’re not getting Amara. John and I have worked together for years in Oakland. We’ve seen your communities taking care of their own. Live and let live. Back out of here and forget the money the Nejem family promised you. Yeah… I’m certain there’s a payoff for this dumb move, but you can’t spend it if you’re dead.”

  “Besides, Betty,” Lynn decided to throw gasoline on the cooling flames, “you couldn’t beat the Dark Lord in a cage-fight with a baseball bat, pussy. Hey… that’s an idea. Why don’t-”

  “Don’t say it, psycho!” Tommy’s intuitive hunch as to where Lynn was going with her insult generated amusement. He turned to Knowly, who was seething under Lynn’s verbal smack-down. “I’ll tell you what, John will fight you straight-up for twenty-five thousand if you want to get your ass kicked that badly, but you won’t be getting anything else.”

  “Or… if you’re smart,” Jess added, “you’ll walk the hell out of here. Grab your prayer rugs for getting down on hands and knees and thank Allah you’re still alive.”

  “What’ll it be, Huckleberry,” Tommy asked. “We have real business to attend to.”

  “How much did the Nejem family offer you, by the way?” I wanted to know for future reference.

  I could tell the way his features went blank for a moment he never thought we’d question his motive, but Tommy knows nearly everything has a money origin. I wanted a figure to determine if we needed to erase the Nejem family or not.

  “Fifty-thousand, brother,” Jafar stated. He had been working his iPad. He has clearance to use any assets the FBI or CIA offer. Hacking into financial institutions isn’t one of them but Jafar knows his way around.

  “How… you cannot access our financial records without a warrant!” Knowly neared the sanity demarcation line. “I will report this!”

  “No you won’t. Put up or shut up,” Tommy demanded.

  “I will beat you to death in the cage,” Knowly stated, pointing at me. “Then, I will work with the Nejem family to destroy your organization of criminals.”

  Tommy sighed. “Tomorrow at nine in the evening. Do you know where we hold the cage fights?”

  “I know it. You will pay for these blasphemies tomo
rrow night, Harding.” Knowly backed his crew out the door.

  “If those idiots weren’t tied into the Islamic death cult and racist bullshit, the community ideals they have of hard work, two parent families, and belief in God could turn around any inner city problem in existence,” Lucas said. “Knowly called me a houseboy. I want you to beat him until he cries for his Mamma, Recon.”

  “I’ll make a note. Let’s get a drink. I need the brothers to wash down this episode of stupid people walking.” I led the way back to our place at the bar, waving the all clear sign to the three Oakland PD officers. They waved back and returned to their dart game. Marla had my drinks ready. I drained my Beam brother and half of brother Bud. “Oh my… that’s much better.”

  “A baseball bat, Psycho? Really?” Tommy wasn’t letting Lynn’s adrenaline rush negotiation alone without an accounting.

  “Oh calm down, Snow White Sands.” Lynn gave him the wave off. “We need to start charging a penalty for the number of times these posers claim they’re going to beat Cheese to death in the cage. I need to direct an award winning documentary of the fight tomorrow night with the title ‘Before Bragging About Beating John Harding To Death In The Cage, Watch This’. You’ll need to bloody him, Cheese. Tommy let you out of poke drills this weekend. You need the work in the cage”.

  “Ah… I think there may be a little more to this.” Jafar held his tablet for us to see. “Knowly is a Northern California MMA Heavyweight Champion – twenty-three wins, no losses. He fights under the name Black Jihadi. Alexi would know more than I do about it, but I think Knowly’s angling to get into the UFC. So far, all he has is a few local TV appearances. It may be how the Nejem family interested him in making this about Amara and Samira.”

  “Jafar’s right,” Alexi agreed. “If Knowly beats John handily in a made for YouTube video, he could catapult into the upper levels of UFC with one appearance. Do you still wish to do it, John?”

  “Sure. This at least takes the mystery out of Knowly’s annoying visit.”

  “I will arrange all the specifics for tomorrow night. I’ll call Earl and ‘Rique for security. Do you wish to bar the politicos?”

  “Nope. I know the betting’s good with them in the house. We’ll have tight security, right Gus?”

  “Yes. I will call in the Asian Crips to work the outside area,” Gus Denova said. As acting Godfather of the Oaktown Cartel, our absorbed gangs did our bidding.

  “You can bill it as Hard Case versus Black Jihadi the MMA Northern California Champion too,” Tommy added. “You have other business too with Nick’s newly found nest between us and Tahoe.”

  “It’s good business for us and the country. If we hit the compound in a precise killing manner, Nick has it in mind for us to confiscate it. I’ve seen the pictures. The surrounding acreage looks like a mountain paradise. The compound has hot tubs, huge rooms, fireplaces, and only one way in, or out, by road. Muerto’s thinking helicopter pads, and possibly an airstrip. It would mean being able to launch at least a helicopter strike without anyone knowing where it originated.”

  “I want in on the assault. A luxury mountain retreat would be a terrific escape for a few days, especially if we could fly there,” Lynn said, with everyone else echoing her sentiments.

  “I’ll fly the mission to get a piece of that,” Laredo said. “Traffic into the mountains toward Tahoe is the pits in the winter. If it’s not blizzard type weather, either me, John, or Jafar could fly there. We could have a Monster Christmas in the snow at our retreat.”

  “Agreed,” Lucas said. “This op took the bad taste of Knowly away. You must be thinking stealth insertion on the outskirts of the compounds acreage.”

  “Exactly,” I replied. “There’s a bunch on the grounds right now, including this Saran Al-Kadi. Can you get us satellite surveillance 24/7, Denny? It’s vital to know their routes around the compound in case they have anything booby-trapped.”

  “I’ll get it started tomorrow morning,” Denny agreed. “There could be a treasury of info in a place like that. You’re not thinking of using an EMP bomb on it, are you, Cheese.”

  Silence, crickets, clinking of glasses in the background. I shrugged as amusement set in at the Spawn of Satan reading my mind. “Yep. That was exactly what I had planned. I figured on a blackout when we reached assault positions with Agent Tonto. Between our super-dog and night-vision gear we could practically walk in and shoot everyone in the head.”

  “Could you at least consider an info gathering mission? I’ll fly with Laredo and Jafar. With Nick’s crew and Tommy, Jess, and Dev, we can have all the backup we need, including land vehicles on the main road waiting in reserve.”

  “We don’t want to rebuild the place after the assault, Spawn,” Casey said. “The good part of John’s assault is possibly holding the mayhem and destruction to a minimum. Uh oh… I just thought of a drawback to the EMP bomb. I’ll bet a great place like that has everything wired on computer controls, with apps for turning on lights, hot tubs, music, and even fireplaces. Maybe we should take a chance on Denny’s more circumspect plan of attack. We’ll send the minions in to take the first hit.”

  “That’s just mean, Case,” Sylvio complained.

  “He’s only kidding, right Case?” Quays’ brow furrowed when Casey grinned instead of answering. “This… after we went shoulder to shoulder with you into Chabahar, waiting for Iranian jets to turn us into dust particles.”

  “Calm down, my fellow minions,” Gus Denova soothed. “The Monster Squad has an assault crew and we aren’t it. I’d step up and take the first hit though to have a chance at the mountain retreat vacations. We’re only a short jump to that small air field at Lake Tahoe too. We could cruise there for a night at the casinos.”

  “I like your thinking, Gus,” I told him. “Let’s wait for a couple days of satellite surveillance before we decide. It may be Al-Kadi’s crew are complacent in their hideaway. Nick told me Al-Kadi won’t know how we accessed the location. We’ll have to be ready for anything though. Paul contacted you and confirmed the kill mission, didn’t he, Denny?”

  “Yes. It doesn’t mean we can’t make room for prisoners. I’ll take care of them. It’s a black op though on USA soil. We’re contractors with the CIA. It wouldn’t take much of an investigation to trace our roots. We’ve been lucky so far with the threats we’ve handled on US soil. The nitwits in DC know how close we came to an atomic bomb hitting China Basin on board Alexi’s tanker. I know how stupid the rules of engagement are. Paul Gilbrech is the best CIA Director I’ve ever worked with. He got those Iranian jets splashed before they wiped the Monster Squad and Unholy Trio out after Chabahar. Paul wants this Al-Kadi and the rest of his Isis shitheads removed from this dimension. He’s trying to rig us a silent approval of operation where we can move as a contracted strike force with congressional backing.”

  “All the more reason this expansion of strike bases we can launch from makes sense,” I added. “If we could get an exception made for our operations on US soil, it would be much less difficult to move on a target. I saw your facial expression when Saran Al-Kadi was mentioned during our discussion before dinner, Claude. I was hoping you knew him.”

  Chardin nodded. “I didn’t say anything then because we were meeting with your whole team now. I needed to think through the complications that may arise for me. Al-Kadi tried to have me killed in France. I stopped taking contracts from the Saudis. Whether rogue elements of the government initiate these branches of Islamic murderers or the plague is systemic, the fact is they fund nearly everything from behind a curtain of payoffs to political figures all over the world. As I’ve explained previously, that ‘Arab Spring’ bullshit was the last straw for me. I can tell you this much, once Al-Kadi knows of your team, he will stop at nothing to destroy you and your families. That is why I needed time to decide. I am in with you on this. I see you are committed to fighting these bastards by any means available.”

  “We protect our own too, Claude,” Denny said. �
�I have an idea for a way in without blowing the place apart. It carries some danger of course. If you’re interested, I’ll call Nick and see if he likes the idea.”

  “I do not care about the danger part. I only care about protecting my family once Al-Kadi knows I am involved. What is it you would have me do?”

  “You know of Nick McCarty’s elevation in ‘Dark Web’ lore to the number one assassin in the world since his killing of Felix Moreau. It would be a bold move if you and Nick arrived at Al-Kadi’s compound at the front door. If you two could get inside, I believe the distraction would be enough to enable the rest of our assault team to enter with a minimum of destruction.”

  Wow. Thinking it over silently, Denny’s idea seemed not only plausible, but perfectly suited for the op if Al-Kadi’s curiosity could be stirred by the arrival of two world class assassins. I kept my mouth shut because Claude needed to make up his own mind. I could tell from the faces around me, I wasn’t the only one who liked the idea.

  “What you describe would be very bold,” Claude acknowledged. “If Nick will join me in this, I will do it. You do know once Al-Kadi knows it is me on his doorstep, he may tell his men to open fire.”

  “If Dead Boy’s with you, he’ll shoot them in the head before they can aim,” Clint said. “We’ll be in position as a strike force to move quickly if something goes wrong. Lucas will have a sniper nest picked out with full view of the main house front. You have to be careful with Dead Boy though. He’ll sneak a grenade in and our vacation retreat will be a pile of rubble.”

  Clint’s warning provoked much amusement.