The Desert Lion's True Colours (20 page)

‘Ok… So what you saying Chief? How do we fit into all that? What does my father have to do with some world-wide conspiracy… ?’

Realising how naive Leon really was to the real truth Pyro decided to speak up.

‘It’s not a conspiracy young cub. This is real life.’ He said.

The chief applied some pressure to Pyro’s right arm so as to remind him of how quickly he could inflict pain.

‘Talk again. I dare yah.’ Spat the Chief into the back of Pyro’s ear.

Deep down he really did not have any issues with Pyro. In fact he was hoping they could have worked out their differences but at that moment he could not afford Pyro to say something that could endanger their lives. He waited to see if Pyro was going to take him up on his dare but as he had hoped, he declined. Seeing no comeback the Chief Edwards turned his attention back to Leon and said ‘Your father, Pyro, me and a few others were all a part of an unclassified elite black-Ops unit called “Desert-Lions” aka “Chameleons”. We worked UNDER the US government but ONLY took orders from Camistock. You could say we were the hardware to the Governments software… Whenever the majority of any group rejected a trigger released through the media or some other information service, we were sent out to cause disruption. I won’t go into the details or the names of those who had to be removed. But I will say no one was off limits. Even a few of our own presidents had to be erased in order to keep Camistock’s agenda in tacked.’

‘Are you kidding me?’ Jay interrupted again.

‘It’s no laughing matter.’ Chief Edwards replied. ‘We were trained to infiltrate and blend into the surroundings of our target
-
hence the name Desert Lions. We were all given an assignment in Belize however when we received our full orders it was nothing like any other mission we had undertaken. We were told to wipe out a whole area, mothers, children, old people; they wanted everyone in that location gone and then spin the story that it was government in-fighting backed by the islands gangs.’

‘Come on Chief. That doesn’t even sound reasonable!’ retorted Jay, sounding more curious than anything else.

With a sigh the Chief replied ‘Doesn’t it? Over the years the Agency has implemented different versions of that mission throughout the Caribbean. Just look at Haiti, Cuba and Jamaica
-
the list goes on.’ The Chief paused and waited for Jay’s response however when none came he continued,

‘Anyway, when we were given our assignment your father told the Agency he wasn’t going to go through with it. He decided he had enough. Obviously that was not an option Camistock gave any of us, so they threw him into prison.’

‘I know this already.’ Leon said flatly.’

‘Yeah, that’s old news.’ Jay chimed in. ‘. . . Why don’t you tell us what happened to you.’

With his head held low, the Chief replied ‘I can’t say I’m proud of it… but I took the mission. I, I had too.’

No one replied to that. Pyro was there. He already knew the answer to why the Chief followed through with the assignment so he really did not need to hear the details again. Jay reasoned the way the Chief started the sentence told him the story was going to be depressing so he opted to let it pass. As for Leon, he could tell that whatever it was affected the Chief deeply. So just out of respect, he felt it best to let it go. The Chief however was silent for what seemed longer than a few seconds and now Leon started to regret not asking the Chief to explain himself. The silence was becoming uncomfortable. He was about to say something when Pyro
-
who was also aware of the tension
-
shuffled his feet to the right, away from the Chief which immediately caught his attention.

Looking over at Leon but addressing all three, the Chief first cleared his throat and said ‘After a few years, under the guise of President Reagan, Camistock came knocking on your father’s prison door. In exchange for a chance to live the rest of his life on the outside he would become their sole supplier of drugs in the south. Your father took the deal. To be honest, I would have too. He became a millionaire overnight and a billionaire within two years. In all the time they worked together he and Black made well over 6 Billion dollars. With all that money Aaron was able to rub shoulders with not only the rich and famous but those individuals Camistock needed to keep an eye on
-
if you know what I mean? He had a good thing going. But he messed up…’

‘How?’ Leon blurted out.

‘He met your mother.’

As soon as the words were said, the Chief realised his mistake.

‘Wait. I’m sorry…’ he said. ‘. . . How it sounds is not what I meant. What I meant to say, was he decided to have a family. Having a family was never part of the deal. So Camistock arranged for you to be shipped to one of their boarding schools when you were old enough…’

‘What!’ Jay exclaimed. ‘Glenmuir was a school backed by Camistock?’

‘Yep, one of the best.’ replied the Chief. ‘. . . I’m surprised you didn’t realise that before. Most, if not all the boys who leave Glenmuir either end up finding careers in the CIA, FBI, the Pentagon or some other department headed by the Whitehouse. Anyway, after you and your mother were sent away your father evidently started planning a way to disappear.’

Leon cut him short, ‘Hold it right there Chief. So where is my mother now?’

‘I don’t know!’

‘What you mean, you DONT KNOW? You MUST know where she is?’ Leon pleaded.

‘I’m sorry. But I don’t.’ replied the Chief. ‘When your father evaded us three years ago, your mother was moved to another secure location. Whereabouts I have never been informed of.’

While Leon thought about the Chief’s answer Jay said, ‘So Black is a Desert Lion too?’

The Chief looked back at Jay with indignation.

‘Come on, of course not! Do you not see the size of that fat shit? Black was an up and coming drug dealer the Bureau had been watching due to his family connections in Haiti. We had hoped we could use him for information, so Leon’s father was assigned to turn him. But what Aaron didn’t know, was that after a few years the higher-heads made a deal with Black behind his back.’

Leon looked over at Jay with a raised eyebrow to which Jay smiled, knowing the Chief had just confirmed what they already knew to be the case.

‘So what was the deal?’ Leon asked.

The chief let out another sigh and simply said ‘Karim.’

‘Karim?’ Leon repeated

‘Yes, Karim. We or should I say Camistock, felt the US needed someone else to take over as the main symbol of Terrorism. Osama played his role. In all honesty, he’s been breathing rented air for years. We’ve always known where he’s been
hiding
. The last report was that he’s residing in Pakistan right next to an army base.’

‘Are you being serious?’ responded Jay after a slight chuckle.

Chief Edwards nodded his head in response and then said, ‘Since 911, it was becoming apparent that a large portion of the world was not buying into our Governments story of terrorism… As in, starting and ending with him that is. So they started to groom Karim. However Camistock soon realised unlike Osama, Karim had his own agenda. Unfortunately, we didn’t find this out until it was too late. So when we became aware he was looking for funding, we decided Black would be the idiot stupid enough to think we actually needed his money.’

The Chief let out a slight chuckle and then said, ‘I mean, come on… Camistock owns Wall Street and the fucking treasury, why would we need him.’ The Chief paused to clear his throat then said ‘Anyway, your father intercepts a text message we already had. I don’t know how but he figured out what was going on from beginning to end.’

‘So you ordered Black to kill him?’ Jay asked.

Chief Edwards gave Jay another cold hard stare but rested his attention on Leon. Pleading his case he said ‘No I didn’t. Your father brought that one on himself. He called the Superior at his house. Demanded they return you and your mother and you all be given freedom…’ The Chief paused for a moment then said ‘. . . Your father told him, if he did not do as he was told he would kill him and make sure the whole world finds out about the governments affiliation with Camistock.’

Pyro started to laugh

‘What exactly do you find so funny?’ barked the Chief.

Not answering him directly, Pyro shook his head and in a low voice said ‘Aaron, Aaron, Aaron. You crazy fool.’

The words were spoken over a large smile. No hint of sarcasm but a large amount of admiration. Leon realised this immediately, walked past the Chief and stood up in front of Pyro.

Looking directly into his face Leon asked, ‘What else do you know?’

‘I know everything and nothing all at the same time.’ He replied.

Turning to face Chief Edwards Pyro said, ‘You wanna know why I left? The Desert Lion’s whole being is wrong. We were never working in the interests of America. We carried out missions to increase Camistock’s grip on the world. I know they only kept me alive for their own sick reasons. Every day I woke up, I wished it would be the day I met my creator. You on the other hand…’ Pyro paused to let out a sly chuckle, and then said ‘You on the other hand sold your soul TO THE DEVIL.’

Chief Edwards did not reply. Just heaved a sigh, gently pushed Pyro out of the way so that he could face Leon straight on,

‘Nate, believe me,’ he said. ‘As a loyal American I used to think Camistock had our best interests at heart. They were the ones who set up NATO, the UN. For Christ sake the words “
National
Security
” was penned by them. But after they…’ The Chief stopped talking halfway through his sentence when someone started to knock on the warehouse door.

The Chief, Leon, Jay and Pyro all turned towards the entrance of the metal building and saw Carter, dressed in the same Black tactical fatigues as the other men.

‘Carter… !’ Jay exclaimed. ‘What’s he doing here?’

The Chief replied, ‘He was with me when Leon’s father called.’

Pointing in Carter’s direction Jay said ‘I don’t trust him Chief.’

‘Who do you trust Dean?’

‘I used to trust you.’ Retorted Jay sarcastically.

‘Well, you better start trusting me again.’ replied Chief Edwards.

By this time Carter was within five feet from where they were all standing.

‘Chief, I don’t want to rush you…’ Carter said politely. ‘But if we want to keep this on file as an O.T.O (Official Training Operation), we really need to get out of here and have the guys get back to base.’

The Chief did not reply verbally but fulfilled Carter’s request by taking hold of Pyro’s arm and leading him towards the warehouse door.

‘Chief, wait.’ Jay called. ‘So what happens now?’

The chief stopped walking, turned around and said ‘We stick to the mission as planned.’

‘What!’ Leon exclaimed. ‘After everything you’ve just said. You can’t be serious?’

‘As serious as a heart-attack…’ he replied dryly.

‘Fuck you Chief! You can’t expect us to continue with this.’

Chief Edwards cut him off, ‘Look… If you don’t go to New-York, Black will contact H.Q, which will then send alarm bells all the way up to the Board. Trust me, we can’t afford that, none of us can…’

Giving Pyro a slight shove in the back he then said, ‘Not even you. So come on. We need to get you two patched up and off to New-York in just a few hours.’

Without saying another word the Chief turned back towards the door leading Pyro outside.

Carter followed behind with what Leon noticed to be an uncontrollable smile creeping across his face. He wanted to say something but he was just too tired.

Jay walked over to his partner and rested his hand on his shoulder.

‘This shit seems to be getting deeper and deeper huh?’

Leon nodded his head in agreement.

‘So what you wanna do dawg?’

Leon pondered the question for a moment then said ‘The old man saved my life.
Our
lives
. If he didn’t call the chief when he did we would not be here right now. I need to meet him. I need to know everything.’

With that Leon made a slow 360 degree turn so that he could take in the whole interior of the warehouse. Apart from the two metal chairs he and Jay were tied to and a few other chairs placed intermittently around the covered area was empty. With a long sigh Leon shook his head from side to side.

‘What you thinking?’ asked Jay, standing at a distance.

A few seconds passed before Leon replied ‘I’m not sure. Everything I guess.’

Jay did not want to push Leon for an explanation. He could only imagine what his friend must have been going through. He gave Leon a few more minutes before letting out an exaggerated yawn followed by what could only be described as an exasperated sigh.

‘Are you two coming?’ he asked.

Leon was about to answer but noticed Carter had returned and was standing in the middle of the doorway watching them.

‘What is wrong with that guy?’ mumbled Jay.

Sensing Leon wanted a little space Jay gave Leon a pound of the fist and said ‘I’ll see yah outside.’ Within a few seconds Jay had exited the warehouse, bouncing Carter out of the way, just like he did earlier that day.

CHAPTER 12