Cold Blooded Assassin Book 6: Red Horizon (Nick McCarty Assassin) (23 page)

“Holy crap, Dad!”

Nick, who never thought of his deployments, combat, or training as entertainment, realized for the first time he should be sharing it, in particular with Jean. He already had no doubt she would be in combat. “Sorry, kid. I tend to forget about my past as it becomes the past. In any case, we were flogged for using naval assets in the region for a black op. My CO was an old Vietnam vet. He told the Admiral who called him we were all on the same side, thank you for the assistance, and go fuck yourself if you think saving American servicemen is a tragedy. The Admiral laughed and said he’d take the heat from the morons over him. I heard they became best friends.”

“How many past surprises do you have stored in your Muerto mind,” Rachel asked.

Nick sipped his drink with calm satisfaction. “I don’t live in the past. When you two trigger something from my past, I explain it. I have found a crew to collaborate with who are as monstrous as I am. They served America, kept on with what skills they could develop within their range as cold blooded killers, and we serve now to defend America. We will not defeat this Islamic scourge by pretending they don’t exist and it’s all a misunderstanding.”

“So… if I said tell us everything… what would you do?”

“I’d tell you to go upstairs and get to work on your homework. You would of course be grounded for eternity. Your Mom and I love the passion you achieve your objectives with, but you scare both of us with the lack of foresight you show in achieving them. I’m not shy about answering questions about my past life, but be careful of what you ask for. Some things cannot be explained as if they were a trip to the county fair.”

“Understood,” Jean replied with grim acceptance. “I don’t care much about flying stuff. I want to be on the ground, stopping bad people.”

Nick smiled at Rachel burying her face in her hands. “Understood, Viper.”

Rachel peeked out from between her fingers. “We’re going to hell.”

“Welcome to my world.”

* * *

Nick happily walked Deke and Jean to school, taking extreme pleasure in the still gray skies, cooler ocean generated temperatures, and watching Deke hop up and down as he walked next to Jean. All was right with the world for a moment. He glanced over at Gus, his brother by another mother, with light hearted enjoyment. In that heartbeat Nick spotted the accelerating car in the distance. He threw the smiling and shocked Gus toward Jean.

“Protect Gus!” Nick pushed Gus toward Jean and Deke, only adjusting at the last second to what evolved. He saw Gus take Jean down, covering her with his own body and Deke sitting calmly at their side. Nick grinned as he drew his Colt.

Nick did not wait for gunfire. His senses, honed over the past missions, ripped reality into his ongoing perception of everything. Nick stood in a shooter’s crouch, weapon aimed. The moment Nick saw the machine pistol appear at the rear passenger window, he fired a three shot group into the driver’s head. The vehicle caromed to the tree enhanced side, opposite their walking path to the school. Nick noted the engine didn’t rev as he approached the vehicle on a dead run. He killed everything in the vehicle, seeing surprised looks from the other occupants as he fired without hesitation into each head.
No one hunts me or mine.

Nick reached in and turned off the key. He recognized the features of what was left of the faces belonging to the shooter’s companions. “Aw… shit.”

Gus peeked from his duty in shielding Jean, knowing he was the last defense if Nick failed. He eased the 9mm handgun from its side holster, ready to bring it to bear on anyone until his own last breath. “Nick?”

“It’s me, brother. There’s no use in Jean going on now. I’m calling Rachel. She can pick you, Jean, and Deke up. We have another Kader problem, Payaso.

Gus helped Jean to her feet while Nick kept watch, Colt in hand. “Are you okay, Jean?”

“Yep.” Jean hugged Deke who remained vigilant at her side. “How many, Dad?”

Nick took a deep breath from his crouch. “Three. Please call your Mom. It would be better if she heard your voice first.”

“Sure. I got this.” Jean called home, laughed, and brought the phone over on speaker with both Gus and Deke at her side. “It’s Mom.”

“Hi, honey.” Nick did not relax for a moment. “Little busy. It’s the Kader show again. Please head here. I’ll have Gus call Johnny to warn him.”

“On my way.”

Gus had his phone in hand, calling Johnny.

Nick stayed vigilant as he heard sirens approaching.

* * *

An hour later, Nick sat at Neil Dickerson’s desk. Neil joined him with a folder, sitting down opposite Nick with a pinched look on his face. “First off, I’m glad you, Gus, and Jean are alive and well. Please don’t think otherwise. That said, this new incident on the heels of the gangbanger shooting is going to be rough. Your friends in the US Marshal’s Office confirmed for the DA that you have been targeted by the Kader family. I took this folder detailing the planting of explosives on your house. I explained how the Kaders were also tied into the Fontaine incident. I think if he could, the DA would order you exiled from Pacific Grove.”

“I couldn’t very well allow them to kill us,” Nick said.

“I think the execution style killings in the car worried the DA, his words, not mine.”

“Apparently, he doesn’t know much about those MP5’s they aimed out the window at me. They were fully automatic, Neil. We would have all been dead in seconds. I couldn’t very well allow them to recover from the tree ramming and open fire.”

“I told him. The fact all three had fully automatic submachine guns definitely made an impression. The DA thinks you can just shout halt and the whackos with submachine guns lay down their guns and surrender. I reminded him it would be much better to worry about where the hell those three came into possession of the guns.”

“I’m concerned about that myself. I recognized one of them, Ishmael Kader. He’s the only male Kader I’ve ever met who I thought was reasonable. There he was, in the backseat of the car this morning, getting ready to blast us with a submachine gun. That means Cala Kader’s marriage to Johnny Groves set off the crazies in the Kader family. They refused my offer of a dowry, even though it was much greater than Fontaine’s. Ishmael was the Kader family negotiator. When I talked with him last, Ish wanted no part of me. Did you have a chance to find out who Ish’s friends were?”

“Yes. I’m sure their identities and background won’t make you feel any better. They were accepted in the last bunch of Syrian refugees.”

“Oh goody. It wasn’t enough I had the family already here trying to kill me. Now, California decided to import them for me. Ever wonder if maybe our looney tune leaders want to be part of a new Caliphate the Muslims keep killing people all over the world to install?”

“I don’t know, Nick. I meet people in this state all the time. I live near some very good people. They work blue collar jobs. They live a conservative life style – but they go out on Election-Day and vote into office the worst idiot leftists they can find to vote for, who don’t believe in anything they do. I don’t have an answer for it.”

“Can you send me what you found on the other hired killers with Ish? Oh… uh… am I free to go?”

“Yes to both questions. I’ll call if there are problems. I’ll go with you to get your personals. How does Jean manage with the events like today on the walk to school?”

“Exceedingly well, my friend – frighteningly so. None of it is a game to her, but Jean’s fearless. At least Rachel doesn’t think I’m corrupting her.

“You could drive, moron.”

Nick stood. When he thought he could repeat what Jean said earlier, in tone with the way she sounded, Nick took a deep breath. “Jean told me, ‘if we avoid our regular routines, the terrorists win’.”

The two men endured a lengthy appreciation of Jean’s adlib.

* * *

The woman cried in muffled quietness. She had buried her husband, Ishmael Kader, that morning. Their two children slept in the adjoining room at the house of Ishmael’s relative who was also now dead. A hand gripped her shoulder, causing a brief bark of surprise, as she turned to the person clutching her shoulder. The black masked figure made hushing motions, which she obeyed instantly.

“Hello, Aara. Do you know who I am?”

“Yes… you are El Muerto,” Aara answered in whispered tones. “He told me you would come once he failed to kill you. He guessed who you were, but he could not convince his family elders to leave you alone. They threatened to kill us all for trying to escape the family. He sacrificed himself to save us, but Ishmael knew you would come. My husband foresaw his death in a dream.”

“It’s too bad Ish didn’t call me. I would have freed you all from the Kader nightmare,” Nick explained. “I have killed all the males in this house except for the children. The women have been sedated. They will awaken. I noted you were still awake. I liked your husband. He attacked me, my daughter, and my friend, after agreeing to stay away from me.”

Aara nodded in sad agreement. “Ishmael told me I might barter for my family’s lives if I gave you this.”

Nick accepted the thumb-drive from Aara’s hand. “In reality, I never would harm you or your children. I only allowed you to talk with me because I needed to warn you and the other women Kaders. Pass the word once the bodies of the male Kaders are found in the house. Plead ignorance to the police how such a thing could happen. Blame it on Islamists unhappy with the Kader’s failure to obey Sharia decree. Count your blessings, find men for husbands outside Islam. Never mention anything about me ever. Here.”

Aara accepted the envelope with reluctance. “I will never mention you again, Muerto. No one who has any sense of reality will ever speak of you again. I will warn them. I do not know if the women will heed my warning after your visit here, but I will tell them. Blaming extremists will be what I do when asked. If you post my husband’s thumb-drive contents, the police will suspect the actual men responsible for all these deaths.”

“The envelope contains a cashier’s check on a bank in the Cayman Islands for five million dollars. Use it to help free yourselves from this Kader curse. Also in the envelope is an internet drop address. Contact me there with any information or problem you have. No one else will be able to access it. Once you use it, another will be issued to you. Each time will be untraceable. Keep silent about the money, Aara. Work in silence to help the others. Do not worry about the zealots who wish to wail in the streets. Leave them to their self-pity and grief for maniacal male mutants who terrorized them daily. They will be lost. I know each of your fellow Kader women wives has been mutilated… except for you. Ishmael was the only man amongst the male Kaders to refuse the atrocity. I am sorry for your loss.”

Nick injected Aara with a syringe to sedate her until morning. He wasn’t sorry for her loss, but he felt after learning how much Ishmael had refused to do under pressure, that his wife and kids deserved more. Plus, he now had an unexpected gift Ishmael meant for his eyes only. Five more mutants were brought to room temperature this night in the house of Kader. Nick had no doubt the sudden unexplained deaths would bring the authorities pounding at his door. He also knew they would be able to prove nothing in relation to his involvement. Nick had left his own clues amongst the dead, pointing to an Isis betrayal and claiming the deaths of the males as retribution for their disloyalty. Combined with the messages of outrage posted earlier on hacked Muslim terrorist sites, Nick figured to have enough misdirection to play ignorant at the Kader killings.
I’m not done by a long shot. This will be war as promised
.

Nick stayed close to the house fronts with mask on. Arriving at the street perpendicular to his targeted street, Gus drove to the curb and Nick entered the back. Johnny sat next to Gus with satellite imaging while monitoring the police band. Nick passed the thumb-drive to Johnny.

“Do a quick scan of this. We may be able to post it into the police website if the info helps distract from my Kader culling of the herd.”

Ten minutes later as Gus drove along slowly towards Nick’s house, Johnny removed his headphones. “Ishmael confessed to the attempt on your life as ordered by elders in the family and an outside group with Isis ties. He claims they would have killed his wife and kids if he had not went along with it. Ishmael spoke plainly he did not expect to survive the attack. I have found nothing yet expanding on anything that would jeopardize what you did tonight. In fact, once I go through the entire recording I will bounce it around and post it to the police.”

“Maybe I won’t have the cops beating on my door after all. There will be no more school walks. I’ll be driving Jean and Sonny to school from now on. Deke will have to walk with me down to the beach for his outings. That was a very close call with the Kader hit attempt. Did Ish mention names, Johnny?”

“Yes, but three of them are now dead. They were in the house you relieved me of in-laws at and acquired this marvelous thumb-drive of proof. One other family name resides in New York. He was the one who sent the three you killed. Another interesting thread concerns the Pilot Hill compound of Al-Kadi. Although Ishmael didn’t know their names, he said two other men sent from New York stay at the compound. The elders threatened his family, claiming the cell would take vengeance on Ishmael’s wife and kids. By sending the two assassins to accompany the Kader relatives they left Ish with very little room to maneuver. He should have called me.”