He felt his gut still cramping as he tried to lift himself off the seat, but the explosion came just at the moment he was bending over trying to get leverage for his weakened body.
Right at that moment a jet of feces and piss hit him square in the face filling his eyes, ears, nose and mouth knocking the wind out of him. His bare bottom and genitals were seared and slammed by the concussion, like he had been hit by a red hot baseball bat he was later to say. The explosion lifted him off his feet, propelling him, along with his effort at standing up, into head butting the toilet door. He then collapsed in a heap onto the ruined toilet seat and the jagged edges of the toilet pail cut the backs of his legs.
He screamed. He screamed long and loud barely making any words come out, just an incoherent screaming wail borne of the deep torment he felt.
---oOo---
An hour later he was feeling slightly better. His men had arrived to find him covered in feces and piss cowering in the toilet making mewling sounds like a badly beaten animal, unable to move.
His men, taking an arm each, got him into the shower, sluiced him down, washed him then dried and laid him onto the bed. The best medic of his army came, bandaged his legs where they had been cut after swabbing them liberally with antiseptic, "Raymond, this is serious. Open wounds and feces and piss mean you can get badly sick!"
He had listened then nodded. Nothing came to his deranged mind.
Now, laying on his bed he wanted to sleep for an hour or two. Maybe that would help him recover.
---oOo---
He had five men in his room with machine pistols, safety off, rounds chambered in the breech, ready to go.
The instruction was simple; "If you see her shoot her."
Two were pointing at the door. One was pointing out the window and the other two were sitting quietly watching the other three just in case. They would take it in turns to sit and relax whilst the others remained standing guarding the room.
He found it difficult to sleep with the men in the room but his wounds and the amount of energy he had expended screaming sapped him of every little bit of energy. He was beyond exhausted and he hurt. He hurt a lot. He drifted off into a sleep then woke almost instantly when he heard a floorboard creak. This continued for a few minutes till a fitful sleep claimed him finally. He was almost quivering in his nervous energy but finally blessed calming sleep claimed him.
The guards stayed as still and as quiet as they could. They could see just what a toll had been taken with the boss, he was now a nervous wreck. They stayed as still and quiet as they could. Eventually they heard his breathing slowing and deepening as he became more and more sound asleep. They started to relax slightly but nevertheless they were concerned. This woman had really churned up the camp, caused a lot of trouble. Each man wondered what the boss would give him if he killed her and brought her head to him. It was a sweet diversion for them.
The boss had been asleep for very little time when there was a loud thump on the roof. All the men looked up quickly then looked down again, looking for something that the thump on the roof might have been a diversion for. Then they heard it rolling slightly, clattering loudly. Thumping. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. The time was ticking away.
A few eyes returned to the roof but the boss did not stir. He was so tired he looked dead to the world.
However just a few short seconds later, the explosion was terrific, more a demolition charge than a mere grenade.
It was at least ten times the size of the others that had been going off with monotonous regularity. This one detonated on the simple tin roof blowing it downward into the room knocking the standing men flat onto the floor. The seated men were thrown off their chairs crashing to the floor and Raymond, tucked up in his bed fast asleep was smashed into the bed then lifted back up and shaken in the enormous explosion. Pieces of roof plus wooden splinters embedding themselves in exposed flesh stinging men with hundreds of small pin pricks oozing blood, the men in agony.
Five seconds later another huge explosion sounded right under their room on the ground floor. It could only be another huge grenade had been thrown in through a window or door at the men stationed on the ground floor. This explosion also shook the building.
The men in Raymond's bedroom lay gasping and groaning in their misery then they smelled it. Smoke!
---oOo---
Raymond was sitting on the ground leaning against his garage as he watched his office building burning brightly. All the men had escaped, barely, though not without cost. Some were laying on the ground moaning, writing in pain from smoke inhalation. Some were moaning from concussion from the enormous explosions that had nearly destroyed the building, and some the exertion escaping the near death experience.
He had been only just saved from being burned to death, exiting his room supported by two men, they had confronted a wall of smoke coming up the staircase and with most of the top floor roof blown off it created a chimney effect allowing the fire to accelerate. The guards and himself had thrown themselves down the staircase getting lightly singed on the way. Once out of the building they turned to see it was now fully engulfed in the blaze.
He was sitting there wondering how she had done it.
She was only young and small. Little. Yet the trouble she caused was so out of proportion he couldn’t believe it, his mind struggling in the disconnect between her size and effect.
A terrible toll had also been taken on the men. Nearly a hundred were now injured or dead, hit by gunfire unleashed indiscriminately in an attempt to kill the woman. He could understand that, if he saw her he would release automatic fire indiscriminately against her. Morale was getting low with the men mumbling about luck and superstitious fantasies he did not believe for an instant.
Sitting against the garage wall he wondered what he could do. After a few minutes he decided, "Call the army back in, get me five thousand more men into this area. I want every man shoulder to shoulder. If she shows up here I want her dead, dead, dead!" He put his head back, closed his eyes, tried to think of standing over her dead bullet riddled body. That would make him feel better.
The radio was used for an hour to marshal the troops.
---oOo---
High in space the ferret communications satellites captured all the radio chatter and passed it on back to the NSA then to the CIA.
A small inter agency task force was quickly created to monitor and evaluate. Raymond and his army had destabilized the region for a decade. Just hearing his voice on the radio was unusual. Getting the intercepts they now had was extraordinary. Trying to capitalize on his misfortune was their focus.
Few knew who was behind it all, and of those who did, the question was 'what on earth is she doing?'
---oOo---
By dawn over seven thousand men and increasing were clustered within five square miles and still they came. Their tents were erected, cook fires were lit, the supporting people were motivated to provide food for the small army of soldiers now all searching for the small 'terror woman' as she was being called.
Just as the sun was rising, Raymond still had not had any sleep. Now almost in a trance of exhaustion, with bruises over much of his body, he was drifting aimlessly in his thoughts. There had not been any sightings of the woman in the last few hours so he was thinking that maybe they had chased her off or perhaps she was wounded and had crawled away somewhere to recover or die. He truly hoped she was wounded, in pain, suffering.
Sitting back down again, leaning against the garage wall, he heard "Psst!" The blood drained from his face. It could only be one person.
The men beside him and he looked around, not seeing anything, then looked up to where the noise came from.
There she was! Laying on the roof not three yards above his head looking over smiling. As he looked up she dropped a grenade right into his lap then her head want back quickly and she was gone. He looked down in terror then threw himself away from the grenade making only a few feet before it exploded against t
he legs of one of his guards.
They were shaking their heads, cursing, looking around for the woman with their guns pointing upward when another two grenades came over the edge bracketing them, one either side.
---oOo---
It was yet another running gun battle in the shadows of the early morning dawn in the jungle. She would be sighted then a volley of gunfire would strafe the area where she was, then nothing.
That is nothing was hit except for others in his army, hit by the gunfire which was sprayed around indiscriminately.
This went on for an age. No one could be that lucky! She moved like a ghost, flickering from place to place with automatic gunfire chasing her yet she was never hit or slowed down.
Raymond was starting to wonder if she really was some kind of voodoo woman. No one could be that lucky. He was standing with his security group, this time ten men with sub machine guns at the hip pointing out ready, circling him with every part of anywhere near them covered. The gunfire in the distance came and went, and the way sound traveled in the jungle, it was a surreal time.
Standing there he wondered just what she hoped to achieve with this. He was not going to surrender to her. No way on earth. As he was thinking of that a grenade sailed out of the jungle to land just a few away and this time he saw it was not a small pink one. This was the large kind. He jumped backward with his arms over his head when it let go.
Like those that had demolished his office, the explosion was huge, throwing up sand and dirt and leaves but stunning the whole of his security group of ten, bringing them to their knees.
They were on the ground shaking their heads trying to clear them when three more of the big grenades were thrown and landed, bracketing them.
The explosions again huge, the concussion flattening them to the ground making them writhe in agony. She was escalating. He would not have thought it possible.
---oOo---
He lay on the ground, his body battered and bruised beyond belief. His men around him moaning, some retching.
Never ever before had he been bested like this. At every moment it she had been able to anticipate him, to be able to somehow defeat him and reduce him to his knees. He looked around as he lay on the ground shaking his head trying to make sense of what was happening.
Just one woman had done this!
As he lay on the ground trying to get his hearing back suddenly he found himself looking into her face as she bent over. As he watched she pulled another grenade out of her bag. This time it was vastly different to the ones she had been using, even the big ones.
It was worse. The worst.
This was a fragmentation grenade, a big one also, the size of a large soup can, huge in comparison, so big that her hand did not wrap fully round it. She pulled the pin slowly as she was looking into his eyes then held the grenade right by his face. If she let go the lever would flick up, the striker would hit the fuse then five seconds later he would be dead. He knew that. He had used these in the past.
He knew that from a laying down and disabled condition on the ground he would not be able to get away quickly enough.
With the grenade under his chin, he could feel it against his throat. The eyes of the guards were on it, open and staring, no one moving.
Then almost in slow motion she flicked the lever up. With a loud 'clack' the grenade was fused so he knew he had just five seconds to live.
Then she was gone.
Too quickly follow she was running past his garage. With a flick of her arm he saw the grenade fly through the open door then disappear inside. He put his hands over his head then flattened himself onto the ground.
Seconds later there was a blast then over the next five minutes other blasts as his fuel, cars, jeep, workshop and machine shed all burned down.
He was screaming in frustration as he lay, then sat, then stood backing away from the flames and smoke. The other men who had been with him, his security cordon, were likewise all shaking their heads trying to get their bearings.
He put his head back and screamed. Just standing there screaming was all he could do.
---oOo---
Raymond took time to calm down. Men rushed to him again, surrounded him with their guns pointing out looking for the woman. Most had seen her once already and most had fired their guns at her but not a single one had been able to actually hit her. That was the most surprising thing. Sure, she was small and fast but no one should be able to evade like she did.
As the morning light finally gave way to a hot humid morning, a strange thing happened; the light started to go out.
---oOo---
The NSA had vectored a satellite with enhanced optics over the Colombian jungle where the radio chatter was coming from.
They knew exactly who it was, Raymond's voice print was well known and their computers were always looking for it in the hope a predator drone could be vectored to his location to send a hellfire missile through his bedroom window.
Raymond was seen as the highest value target in South America so his elimination was top priority for the CIA. Any 'hits' of Raymond's voice were instantly downloaded to the CIA for evaluation and possible action.
His recent screaming over the radio was completely out of character; he seldom if ever used the radio for all the normal reasons.
As the satellite watched, the sun started to come up, then it became apparent the level of activity was increasing again. In the dark, the thermographic and infra red sensors looking down on the jungle had been almost overloaded by the quantity of sources. The jungle for five miles around the burning structures looked like a small village, literally alive with activity, cook fires and other sources.
With the sun up, it was apparent there had been trouble. Buildings had burned down as well as a major thermal flare was centered on what had been the remains of a shed or garage.
As the morning light took hold a strange new phenomenon started to take place; the region around the jungle village started to go dark.
This was new.
It took nearly a minute but at the end of that time it looked like a circle had been cut out of the jungle, or a large black semi spherical dome placed over it. Nothing came out; infra red, ultraviolet, visible light, all were blocked. This caused consternation.
A quick check of assets revealed that a major military marine task force was stationed not far away, the carrier Obama, Heinlein the Zumwalt destroyer, and assault ship Bataan and others on station. It was the work of only a few minutes to arrange for a recon mission with high definition cameras to over fly the region at a number of heights.
---oOo---
The end game at last she thought as she focused her thoughts, reached out, then shut down the area surrounding Raymond and his army. With this she had options. She could terminate all electrical activity, totally, blocking thought and autonomic processes causing bodies to shut down. She could accelerate electrical activity and cause spasms that would cause bodies to rip themselves apart. She could be gentle and generate terrors, the waking fears that people suppressed and denied. She could make them so strong, so life like, that screaming and unconsciousness followed. With a little suggestion, a little push she could make people in the zone feel anything she wanted.
Then, as she stood watching and sensing the effect she smiled. The dark had fears that the rational rejected.
She let the dark linger for a few minutes, then a few more. With dark, deep dark, and nothing happening it left fear to grow and fester. She smiled thinly.
Then, as the time had stretched to a half hour she felt the impending intrusion. ‘Can’t they leave me alone’ she whispered to herself. Using a drone would have been annoying, but she could sense they were using a manned pair of Sea Raptors with sensor pods which was vastly worse.
'This is a problem' she muttered feeling angry, 'just when I'm getting close they want to put their noses in.'
She lifted her phone out then speed dialed, "Sir I hope all is well and happy with you," she put in.
<
br /> He, on hearing who it was waved quickly for his staff to give him the room.
"Kate everything is normal here, just frantic mixed with desperate as per usual. I had a briefing there were strange happenings in Bogota, but what’s happening in the jungle is vastly more interesting."
She sighed, just loud enough for him to hear. "Sir, it is going one hundred percent to plan, nothing so far is even remotely different to what we planned except for one thing." She sighed again. “I can see the Obama task force is exactly where I want them. Tomorrow I’ll ferry out some people to motivate them with a demonstration they won’t like.”
Then, she sighed again, “But sir, there is a problem.”
He listened to her, imagining her rolling her eyes on the phone. To him! "Kate what do you mean, something’s gone wrong?"
"Sir not yet. I'm in the end game with Raymond but the Navy is about to ruin it with a recon overfly that will break what I've done if I have to put it on hold. Would you mind calling Admiral Smeaton extremely soon and request in the strongest terms that his planes don't come within five miles of the zone. He'll know what I mean. If they enter the zone bad things will happen."
He heard that, it was cryptic, "Kate, zone? Bad things? what’s happening?"
She was not going to enlighten him however, "Sir please! I'm on a tight deadline today and tomorrow. By bad things I mean it will be a 'barely survivable event' for airborne intruders. The Admiral will be well aware of what I'm talking about. Would you please excuse me, I have some people to, ah, motivate with extreme, ah, um, ah, urgency."
He almost smiled at the thought. "Kate I'll call the Admiral. May I presume you'll see me on your return?"
What he got back he was feeling quite unsure of for some reason, it felt too compliant coming from her. "Sir thank you, I'm looking forward to seeing you on my return." With that she was gone.
Since he was being ordered around by a teenager, he reasoned he might was well do her bidding promptly, it was what she expected.
Making the request on his phone, he sat back in his chair. She had been specific in her status update however. 'One hundred percent to plan' sounded good. He just was not one hundred percent sure if Kate had told him what the plan was or revealed all of it.
The Camper: First Contact and the Planet Tamer (The Stellar Universe Book 0) Page 11
