Operation

by Tony Ruggiero

  “Are you alright?” Barkley asked.

  “Yeah,” Reese said as he tried to think of something to say that Barkley would believe. As much as Reese liked Barkley, he wasn’t absolutely sure what he would do if he suspected the creatures were alive. Worse yet, he didn’t know how he would react to the fact that if Dimitri had killed Stone and Scott, which he probably did, would that make him an accomplice?

  “John?” Barkley said. “You look like you—”

  “Oh, sorry, I was thinking,” Reese said. “Do you remember when Josip was killed?”

  “When Idriz had saturated his blood with the elixir and tricked Josip into attacking him and biting him to revenge the death of his two daughters? I doubt I will ever forget that.”

  “Well maybe when Josip was killed, somehow Scott got hold of the collar and later placed it on Stone.” Reese knew that Barkley came in right after the attack and hadn’t seen the collar had been totally destroyed.

  “Yeah…I guess that must be it. It’s the only explanation that works,” Barkley agreed. “You know, I can’t say that I will miss General Stone. I don’t think he was wrapped too tight. I think he fell off the deep end when his daughter died of a drug overdose. He was fixated with taking out his own revenge on the drug lords, probably in the way that Idriz felt about the death of his daughters by Josip.”

  “Yeah. I see what you mean. That must be it,” Reese said. “But you know, the one thing about Stone that amazed me was that he was always thinking about his next move. He had a contingency for just about everything he planned and put into action. He was incredibly intelligent. I can understand why they placed him in command of SOCOM.”

  “They named a successor for him, General Morris. Do you know him?”

  “No. You?”

  “I’ve heard about him. He’s made from the same mold as Stone. For all practical purposes, these two could be brothers, with one exception.”

  “What’s that?” Reese asked.

  “Morris is a politician at heart. He can smooth talk his way through anything.”

  “A dangerous combination,” Reese said. “A man with control over the Special Forces of the United States and the clout to convince Washington to use them.”

  “Well, we’ll see. Word is out that he will be testifying before a special committee on the hill about the circumstances of the death of Stone and Scott.”

  “Do you think he knows the complete story?”

  “I don’t know. Probably. This whole affair has left me…I don’t know, kind of questioning my own perception of things.”

  “You sound like me,” Reese chuckled. “I’ve been going through the same thing. All I can suggest is that you put it behind you.”

  “You make it sound so easy, to just forget about it.” Barkley offered. “My God, look what we did. We captured creatures that most people believed were nothing than a myth. We controlled them and sent them to kill other humans. It sounds almost like…”

  “Slavery,” Reese added.

  “Well…sort of, I mean these creatures were killers in themselves. It’s just uncanny—the whole damn affair.”

  “Put the whole thing in perspective, Sam. You were following orders. And now it’s done and over with. They’re dead.”

  “John…you’re sure about that, right?”

  “Sure about what?”

  “They’re dead. You’re sure?”

  “Stone and Scott?” Reese asked, but he knew where Barkley was heading, considering their conversation up to this point.

  “No. Dimitri and the others.”

  “I pressed the button on the remote control to inject the elixir.” Reese answered the question the same way he had answered it when he was getting debriefed. It was the truth. He actually had pressed the button to inject the elixir. What he hadn’t admitted was that he had planned the escape with Dimitri, as well as disabled the remote control device. He stood on the bridge of the ship and in front of many witnesses, activated the remote control to inject the poison into the vampires. Of course, nothing happened to the vampires, and in a few days, when the elixir lost its potency due to its short life, the vampires removed their collars safely.

  “I just hate to imagine what would happen if they had escaped somehow and were loose. I would feel…responsible.”

  “I know what you mean, Sam, but...” Reese thought about mentioning that Dimitri was not like the rest. He was different and his outlook on the world was so…

  “But what?” Barkley asked.

  “Nothing,” Reese said, thinking it was time to get away from this subject. “Well now that we have put all of those messy details, how about a beer?”

  “Sounds good,” Barkley said. Reese saw by the change in his expression that Barkley was ready to move on in the conversation as well.

  Reese grabbed two beers from the refrigerator and came back into the room.

  “So how are you occupying your time since you retired?” Barkley asked.

  “I’ve been working on a book. Well, actually, I’ve been working on it for years. When I retired, I thought it would be easy to finish, but for the longest time I felt I was missing something in order to finish it, one final bit of information. But now, I think I can finally put that finishing touch on it now. The time feels right.”

  “And after that?”

  “I’ll be teaching at Old Dominion University next semester, a class on ancient myths. Between my Navy retirement and teaching, I can live comfortably and that works for me.

  “Glad to hear it.”

  “So, what about you? Any thoughts about life after the military?” Reese asked.

  “I’ve been thinking about it. I can retire in about eighteen months or so. John, I hate to go back to this but there’s something I want to ask you about the Team op.”

  Reese felt himself tense. Why was Barkley so obsessed with this, he wondered? Did he suspect that he had set the vampires loose and not killed them?

  “What’s that?” Reese asked.

  “When it all ended, do you remember that “spook” at the debriefing?”

  “Yeah…he was hard to forget wasn’t he?”

  “What agency do you think he was from?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine on that one. Heck, maybe he was from one we don’t even know about. Why do you ask?”

  “Well I don’t know if, well I’m not sure…”

  “What’s wrong, Sam?”

  “Every once in a while, I get that looking over my shoulder feeling…like I’m being watched. Do you ever get that?”

  “No, but then I have a habit to being oblivious to some things like that. You know, off in my own little world.”

  “Maybe I’m just imagining this with all that has happened. We went through a lot, didn’t we?”

  “Yes, we did. Part of me regrets leading Stone to the vampires and training the SEALs on how to capture them and getting you to develop the elixir and collars. It’s almost as if they were something that should be left alone. If they have been around this long and gone virtually undetected, I wonder if I screwed the natural cycle up in some way.”

  “You wouldn’t go back to the Balkans and look to see if any more exist?”

  “I don’t know. If I could study them without causing them any harm…I don’t know. As far as you being jumpy, in my opinion, you have every right to be. We lived on the dark side of existence for what…almost a year. We saw and experienced things that nobody else can even imagine.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Too bad we can’t write a book about what happened. It would be a collaboration between…let’s see…something like Anne Rice and Tom Clancy would write. We could market it as their baby. Make a hell of a movie, too.”

  “Yeah and maybe we can star in it as well,” Reese added. “Ah, the life of the rich and famous awaits us. Too bad that by the time they declassify this, if ever, we will be dust in our coffins.”

  Both men laughed and then sipped their beer in silence for a few seconds b
efore speaking.

  “Thanks, John,” Barkley said.

  “For what?”

  “Talking this out with me. It’s good to talk about things and it’s not like this is a topic that just can be thrown out at a cocktail party. I feel a lot better. Maybe I am just paranoid about all of this. You’re right—I should just lay it to rest with Dimitri and the others.”

  “Good man,” Reese agreed, forcing a smile.

  “Speaking of laying them to rest,” Barkley continued, “philosophically speaking, do you think vampires go to heaven or hell when they finally die? Do they regain their soul or are they outcasts forever?”

  Reese fought to maintain a smile. The question was too similar to a question that he and Dimitri had discussed as to what now seemed like a long time ago. He smiled and answered, “Don’t get me started on that one. Talk about a philosophical nightmare! I’ll save that one for discussion with my students. If you want an answer—take the class and find out.” Reese raised his bottle of beer and said, “Cheers!”

  As the cold beer flowed down his throat, Reese couldn’t help but notice the even colder sensation that pervaded his thoughts. Something bad was going to happen. He didn’t know how he knew that or what caused the feeling, but there was no denying it was there.

  As he closed his eyes to clear his mind of the feeling, he saw two red eyes staring back at him.

  Tony Ruggiero has been publishing fiction since 1998. His science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories and novels have appeared in both print and electronic mediums. His published novels include:

  Team of Darkness. The US military has developed a new weapon to be added to its arsenal—the creatures known as vampires. Tony uses his Navy experience to write this dark fantasy thriller about vampires being used by the Navy. Ground-breaking and fast-paced, the novel is a characteristic mixture of the vampire lore of Anne Rice and the clandestine secrets of the military found in Tom Clancy novels. The concept has led to a series of books to be released in 2006 through 2008: The Team of Darkness declassified files. Book I: Operation Immortal Servitude, Book II: Operation Save the Innocent, Book III: Operation Face the Fear and Book IV: Operation Endgame.

  Aliens and Satanic Creatures Wanted: Humans Need Not Apply. Aliens, Satanic Creatures and other alternate life forms have gathered together to make a stand for literary fairness. Move over, pesky human...a change is coming. An anthology of short stories where the center character is not human; includes the award winning story, Lucky Lucifer’s Car Emporium, as well as Electronic Bliss, Invasion or Subversion, and Going up?

  Tony is also a contributing author to The Fantasy Writers’ Companion from Dragon Moon Press. The Companion picks up where The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy leaves off. The Fantasy Writers’ Companion takes on more advanced topics of writing, such as incorporating horror, incorporating mystery, developing a story in your favorite RPG universe, and exploring alternative cultures for world building. Tony’s contribution is a chapter on the effective use of horror in fantasy. Other collaborative work includes The Writers for Relief Anthology and No Longer Dreams Anthology.

  Coming in 2006/7 from Dragon Moon Press:

  Tony’s longtime favorite of space opera adventure debuts in a two-book series: Alien Deception: Nothing is as it appears…nothing. Your whole life you think you understand who and what you are and then one day you learn that it is all a lie. So what do you do? You have lunch with the leading candidate for President of the United States…you and your alien friends.

  Alien Revelation: Death has many meanings. For some it is an end, while for others it is a beginning. Yet, for one human/alien hybrid, it is a way to have one final chance to try and save his home, Earth, a son he has never seen, and find an enemy that just won’t stay dead.

  Tony retired from the United States Navy in 2001 after twenty-three years of service. He and his family currently reside in Suffolk, Virginia. While continuing to write, Tony teaches at Old Dominion University, Saint Leo University, and Tidewater Community College in Norfolk, VA.

  Please visit his webpage at www.tonyruggiero.com