by Finian Blake
“All of the players are there and we plan on ruining the rest of their lives, or what’s left of them,” Mary Lee said cryptically. “Go down to Boris’s office and he will narrate the action.” Mary Lee drove Winnie to the computer center escorting Winnie down to Boris’s lab finding her assistant Molly, Blake Reid, Senator Belight Paul and Felicia Devon already present. Nikki and Boris had setup up a sixty-five-inch computer monitor for their viewing. Mary Lee escorted Winnie to a seat that was between Molly and Senator Belight.
“This is the best seat in the house I have to run but Boris will see to your needs.”
“May I pour you a drink,” Boris asked casually walking over to a serving cart containing liquor and appetizers. “It will be about a half hour before the event starts.”
Mary Lee drove to the helicopter pad to double check Nadia’s progress finding the Huey’s motor shutting down.
“The engines are serviceable and we have a full load of fuel plus four fifty-five gallon drums full of Jet-A which brings us to max takeoff weight,” she told Nadia grimly. “I have no idea of how much weight their helipad will take, but we will get it up there. Boris is going to start the attack on their mainframe ten minutes before we touch down. We will take Ted and Tom with us to manage the drums and turn the drains on the fuel tanks. Mary Lee we have 2,500-feet of Prima-cord and 25 pounds of C-4. You, Rhonda and Cherry make the dump, hit the basement and wait for us in the trucks when you finish. You have twenty packs with five pounds of C-4 and one hundred feet of prima-cord in each pack,” Nadia produced a diagram of the building. “Place one pack by each support post with duct tape and tie the prima-cord off to the main run that Tom will kick down the emergency stairs. Here’s the important part. I will be the last one out and will set the fuse when we are all clear.” Mary Lee took the plans without comment driving down to the first dump truck.
“Just what in the hell is going on,” Salvador raged. “We should have some news by now.”
“They probably went dark,” Henry tried to sooth Salvador. “You know that this is not the kind of an operation that you want to broadcast over the radio.”
“Hello Ardent control, we have ten dead assholes and we blew the shit out of your competition,” Henry mocked. “Do you really want news like that going out over the public air waves?”
“I see your point, but it is still making me crazy,” Salvador snapped. “We lost those other assholes. They quit without even telling us.”
“We have thirty mercs, to deal with a handful of geeks and some private security,” Henry argued as a warning started to come from his computer console. “We are being hacked they are attacking our secure accounts.”
“Which ones are they attacking,” Salvador said with panic as a second alarm blared. “What the hell is that?”
“They are hitting our financial accounts,” Henry said unnerved by the crudeness of the attack. “Boris must have had some sort of failsafe in case of attack. The boys must be in his lab.”
“What do we do,” Salvador screamed ignoring the fact that Wayne Haggard was with them.
“Yes what do you do,” Wayne pressed. “My company has all of our records stored on your system.”
“The only reason that Boris succeeded the last time was that he was updating his attack as I was trying to clear it,” Henry said trying to sound confident.
“How are you doing now,” Salvador said being completely unimpressed.
“Well I closed off his access to our customer files and I just about have him out of the Ardent finances, but he is in your discretionary accounts,” Henry was trying to sound hopeful.
“Shit,” Salvador howled. “I paid the mercs out of those accounts that will give them all of their names and accounts not to mention mine.” The direct line from security rang.
“What,” Salvador screamed in to the phone.
“Sir we have the helicopter from this afternoon landing on the roof and there is a large dump truck backing into the loading dock.”
“We were expecting the helicopter, so take your boys to the loading dock. Get that truck out of here.” Salvador jumped out of his chair grabbing Lloyd by the arm. “You might as well make yourself useful come with me.”
Peter led the remaining four guards down to the loading dock to find the dump truck raising its dump bed pulled across the dock instead of up to it. All five men were stopped dead in their tracks as the load started to slide out of the back. They saw several bodies slide out of the bed with a pickup truck loaded on top of them. Peter dropped to his knees along with the man standing next to him. A third man dropped before the other two realized that they were being targeted. The last two men dropped as Mary Lee walked in the loading dock firing her silenced nine millimeter VSS. As she approached Cherry took out the cameras from the cab of the truck. When the second pickup slid out of the bed she inspected the bed to be sure that there were no left overs and drove the truck out of the dock. As soon as Cherry was clear of the dock Rhonda backed her dump truck in next to the pile that Cherry had just dumped laying her load of carnage next to the first pile. As she lowered the bed she watched Cherry climb the dock with several back packs loaded with explosive. When the bed was fully down Rhonda grabbed her back packs running into the building looking for the stairs. By the time that she reached the basement Cherry and Mary Lee had already duct taped four back packs as high up on the pillars as they could reach.
Nadia brought the Huey in for a hard landing hoping that the overweight Huey would not completely collapse the pad as they landed. She could feel the supports start to sag as she switched off the engines. She and Ted moved to the side door as Tom kicked two 500 foot reels of detonation cord on to the pad. Nadia rolled the spools to the top of the stairs securing one end to the hand railing and started to roll them down the stairs while Ted helped Tom roll three of the 55 gallon drums of Jet A to the elevator ready to load them inside. Tom tipped the fourth drum on its side with the fill hole at its lowest point. Just then a bell announced the arrival of the elevator, so Ted leveled his VSS at the opening.
The door of the elevator opened with Salvador and Lloyd stepping out into the waiting muzzle of Ted’s weapon.
“What the…” Salvador started to say.
“Your boys fucked up again,” Ted said quietly with a thick Scottish accent. “It was the third time, so we decided to show you how to do a proper raid.” Ted fired without further comment. The bullets ripping through each man’s chest producing an exit wound about the size of his fist leaving no doubt that they were dead. Ted silently moved the bodies out of the doorway proceeding to roll the 55 gallon drums into the elevator. When all, three drums were loaded on their sides he waved to Tom who threw a switch on the console that would purge the entire load of fuel from the helicopters tanks. As Tom exited the helicopter he removed the fill cap on the drum of Jet A taking only a second to be sure that it was draining inside the helicopter. Nadia had made it down to the third floor with the two rolls of detonator cord rolling one of them out several feet down the hall before shooting the lock off of the computer lab just as the elevator arrived. Ted and Tom rushed out of the elevators with their weapons at the ready joining Nadia at the door. Before they could register their surprise Lloyd, Wayne and Henry received one bullet each from the assassins. Ted and Tom stayed with one roll of det-cord while Nadia moved down the stairs headed for the basement moving much faster. The smell of jet fuel permeated the stair case when she reached the lower level rolling the det-cord through the basement nodding silently to Mary Lee, Rhonda and Cherry as they tied the other leads of det-cord on to her main line. After Nadia made it to the back of the room she back tracked helping the others tie the charges on to the main working their way to the elevator. When the elevator arrived Ted and Tom rolled one drum out of the elevator opening the fill cap to drain out in the basement. All six people took the elevator to the loading dock with Ted opening the drains on the last two barrels as the others moved to the trucks. Once he heard both trucks fi
re up Ted pushed all of the elevator’s buttons sending it on a slow trip to the helicopter pad and Nadia started a three-minute fuse, running to the truck which started to move before the door was closed. Ted finally broke the silence.
“Three minutes isn’t very much time but we can’t risk anyone walking in,” Ted said the concern showing in his voice. “It’s three o’clock in the morning and a weekend so we should be good. All of the buildings around it are older warehouses so the collateral damage should be minimal.”
The elevator rose to the helicopter pad leaking its cargo of jet fuel down the elevator shaft opening its doors just as the fuse set the charges off. The det-cord fractured the staircase and anything that was touching it igniting the 400 plus gallons that had been dripping through the building. The helipad collapsed dropping the helicopter down into the building. The two barrels of jet fuel that had been loaded into each of the dump trucks ignited setting the bodies and the pickup trucks on fire. When the charges on the lower supports went off the building started to twist slowly collapsing onto the loading dock and the warehouse next to it covering the load that had just been dropped from the dump trucks. The draft from the open spaces in the rubble turned the pile into a blast furnace with the Jet A providing a temperature hot enough to melt steel.
Mary Lee and Rhonda drove their trucks to the truck stop and the six people started to wash both of the trucks spraying both trucks down with five gallons of pure bleach before the final wash. Both trucks were washed and driven to another truck stop and washed a second time after which the trucks and the end loader were parked back in their appropriate spaces just six hours after Crasher had launched his assault. Everybody that had any contact with bodies stripped off their clothing and showered three times washing their clothing in a strong bleach solution before shipping them to London for disposal. When they were through at four thirty AM, Eden and Rene pulled Cherry to the side.
“I thought that you did not believe in revenge,” Eden said with a look of deep concern on her face.
“This was not revenge,” Cherry began quietly. “They tried to do us harm three times and the last time they tried to kill us. We held back hoping that this was a onetime deal but they kept coming, so this was self-preservation. They had to be stopped and we did exactly that. We just did it in a way that we could get away with it. The Russians paid Crasher half a million dollars to take us out, so we made it look like they could have possibly done it.”
“The Russians,” Eden and Rene gasped at the same time.
“I thought that the mercenaries were just Russian,” Rene continued. “You mean that Russians are actually financing this!”
“Yes, the Russians.” Cherry said calmly. “They paid half a million to Crasher on top of what Salvador paid him, so we will put it in their arena. Remember that we used all Russian weapons, the det-cord was Russian, and the explosives were Russian, but most importantly the money was paid out of Russian accounts. Right now there is a Russian security officer that is being sent back to Russia in disgrace for ordering such an action. Remember that we are an official NSA contractor with the responsibility of monitoring the Russians, so Paul Valiant, the director of the NSA, will have no problem managing just the right amount of noise.”
“But Ardent is the company that was destroyed,” Rene protested.
“Ardent was also a NSA contractor, but not at our level, so Paul should be able to sell it, easily,” Cherry said brightly. “There is one thing worse than trying and failing.”
“And that is,” Eden asked carefully.
“Trying and getting caught,” Cherry said with certainty. “Much like the Spartans, getting caught is the worst thing that you can do.”
“Why are you taking the time to tell us this,” Rene asked suspiciously.
“Practice my dear,” Cherry said brightly. “I have to go sell Senators Belight and Ransom on the idea along with Paul and Felicia Devon although I don’t think it will be that difficult.” As former police officers Rene and Eden were familiar with violence, but this was beyond belief.
Cherry walked into Boris’s laboratory in time to see Senator Belight down a full glass of whiskey. He kept mumbling the word shit over and over again. Senator Ransom was in deep conversation with Paul and Felicia Devon. Molly and Reid sat just in back of them having their own conversation stopping to fiercely hug Mary Lee when she walked in. Cherry decided to sell the group.
“We have Homeland Security covering this action,” Cherry decided to start off slow, so she could get a sense of where they were at. “They were contracted by Salvador Ardent and the Russians to kill everyone here and blow the place up. Salvador first sent twelve assassins to do the job, then Eight, and finally over thirty well-armed mercenaries with explosives to blow our operation to hell. That explosion at Ardent Computers was done with the explosive that they brought here to use on us, only we substituted the Russian version of C4 for what they brought with them. They planned to kill everyone that they saw men, women, and children. All of their innocent help work nine to five so the only ones killed were all active participants.”
“How can we be sure of that,” Winnie asked urgently.
“We made sure that you watched the raid,” Cherry said calmly. “How many people did you see there?”
“We counted nine,” Paul answered for Felicia. “Five security guards, Salvador, Henry, Lloyd and of course Wayne Haggard were all that we could count.”
“That’s because that was all that there were present,” Cherry reassured the group. “I am requesting your silence on this matter not demanding it.” Reid thought back unable to recall a single incident that her boss had mentioned.
“Marvin is this true,” Reid asked pointedly.
“I have no personal knowledge of any actions undertaken by Ardent Computers,” Marvin said trying to sound certain of his facts.
“That is perfect Capitol Hill double speak,” Molly said not buying his innocents.
“If I thought that he was personally involved things would have been very different,” Cherry said indifferently. “I have no choice but to believe the good Senator. Now that the facts are out in the open I am sure that Marvin can see that our actions were justified.”
“Absolutely…” Marvin said not wanting to anger either Cherry or Rhonda after seeing the efficient carnage that they had visited on forty plus people.
“So, are you saying that the actions of this evening were justified,” Senator Ransom asked.
“I just witnessed an act of treason by Salvador Ardent and Wayne Haggard being prevented,” Senator Belight said with rock solid conviction.
“Then based on your views I believe that I concur with your estimate,” Senator Ransom smiled looking at Paul and Felicia Devon who were still stunned by the extent of the actions that they had just witnessed.
“I believe that we can accept that assessment,” Paul said remembering that Salvador and Wayne had just tried to kill them and that the death of Wayne Haggard left them as undisputed owners of the combined company of Titan and Hall that he had just tried to steal. Everyone turned to Reid and Molly to make the decision unanimous.
“We are not permitted to discuss matters of National security,” Reid said with conviction.
“What she said,” Molly said with equal conviction.
“Fuck the bastards,” Boris said drunkenly. The group lifted their glasses to toast their unanimous decision. “It’s five AM let’s get some sleep.
Paul Valiant closed the Skype feed that Boris had setup knowing that the nations secrets would be safe since Rhonda had proven that their security was up to the task.
He opened a private line to his counterpart at the FSB. “Uri, it has come to my attention that you have paid a mercenary group to attack one of our secure facilities in Maryland.” Paul said with mock sternness.
“That is preposterous,” Uri protested as a matter of form. “That would be an act of blatant aggression. If that were true it would be an act of war.”
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nbsp; “If that is how you describe it. Do you want to turn our dirty little business into a dirty little war,” Paul pressed? “I am sending you the account numbers that we were able to obtain from one of the survivors just before he died of his wounds.” Paul Valiant hit the transmit button sending Uri the information through the established backdoor routing.
“All that this shows is that an amount of half a million dollars was transmitted to an operative named Crasher,” Uri said fighting to keep his voice passive adding an afterthought. “You did say died of his wounds.”
“Yes, Crasher was buried by a seven story building that collapsed on him when it blew up just a few hours ago,” Paul put a sharp edge on his voice. “Your man Fyodor authorized the payment.”
“If he was buried by a seven story building how did you interrogate him?”
“It wasn’t easy,” Paul said sternly.
“Impossible an amount that large must be countersigned by somebody with executive authority here in Russia,” Uri protested strongly.
“Look at the last document that I transmitted,” Paul said calmly. Uri moved to the last document to see that his name was on the authorization.
“I must research this,” Uri said with mild protest.
“I would like to give you all the time that you need but it is almost five o’clock and the news crews are hanging on this story like a hyena on a carcass.”
“I will need at least an hour,” Uri said in a monotone voice.
“Given our history, I do not believe that you authorized this.” Paul said trying to give Uri a quick out. “I would like to tell the President that Fyodor acted on his own forging your name and that you will take the appropriate action.”
“You may be assured of that,” Uri said heavily breaking the connection moving to the direct line for the Embassy in Washington DC.
“Fyodor, Aeroflot has a direct flight to Moscow leaving at fifteen hundred and I would like you on it.”
“Is there a problem,” Fyodor asked innocently.
“You will be fully briefed on board.” Uri said in his warmest voice breaking the connection returning to the backdoor phone.
