Chuck
I was on the patio with all of my family, and Steve and his family, about to relax after getting back from a really strenuous mission. I was just about to have my first sip of a drink when my cell phone began ringing.
"Johnson,"
Wanda's voice came through the phone, "You need to listen to your voice mail messages. You're needed as soon as you can get there."
"Who needs me and where Wanda?" I asked this as I moved out the door of the patio.
There was concern in her voice when she said, "The Secret Service needs you in Detroit as soon as you can get there. Not only that, the Marshal Service is trying to get you to go to the same location too. You need to grab Nightfox and head out. Oh yeah, you should probably take Lisa with you too, as this is supposed to be as serious as what you just did. I have to call everyone back as soon as I've contacted you. How soon can you leave?"
"Oh shit, Wanda, I'm tired and need a break. Nightfox and Lisa are going to be tired too. But if we're really needed, I guess we can leave in an hour. Considering everything, have someone meet us up there in three hours." I took a deep breath and asked, "Can't this wait until the morning?"
Wanda said, "I don't know all the details, but the Secret Service has already formed a team of near a hundred men. They have a leader, but they need you because you've done this before and you know what to expect and what to look for. They are already near engagement now and need you as soon as possible."
"Okay, okay, we'll be there between two and half and three hours, max. It's right at five now, so say about eight at the latest."
"I'll monitor your progress with your GPS on your phone," Wanda said softly, "I'm sure everyone else will be doing that too."
I hung up and was turning around to go get Lisa and Nightfox. They were both standing there. I said, "Detroit, same problem. We are to meet a team of a hundred for this one; it must be really big or more difficult. Sorry, Sam, but we need to roll. Lisa, you can dodge this one if you want."
Lisa said, "No, I heard what Wanda was saying. I'm supposed to go."
The three of us went inside to advise everyone we had to go again. There was the usual "Do you have to?" and "Can't someone else do it?" I just said, "This is our job. When they need us, they need us. Lisa's going to come to help me with the flying."
As we gave more hugs and kisses to family, I saw a look of fear on Mercy's face. When I hugged her, I said, "Don't worry, we'll be fine."
Mercy said, "I have a bad feeling about this. Be careful, Chuck. Take care of Lisa too."
On the way back to the house, I handed my cell to Lisa, "Call the airpark and have the Citation fueled and ready." I said to Nightfox, "Dress in fatigues, I get the feeling we'll be in the thick of things as soon as we land."
Lisa was holding my cell phone to her ear and said to me, "Jimmy already has the Citation torn down for the inspection it needed. They are suggesting a Lear, is that okay?"
"It'll have to be, tell them to have it fueled and ready. We need to burn."
At the house, the three of us went to our dressing areas and soon re-appeared in fatigues, with our armor already on. We checked our duffel bags to make sure we had some clean clothes and our field vests. I dug out the box of explosive rounds, refilled the magazines, and also filled the magazine for my collapsible MP5. While I was doing that, Lisa was doing the same with her equipment. I hollered to Nightfox to make sure he had extra rounds. He came in with two magazines in hand and said, "I need some rounds for these. Do you have enough?"
In less than twenty minutes after I got off the phone with Wanda, we were loading our equipment into my car. A big cart came into the driveway and my ladies, along with Mercy and Kathy, got out carrying some big bags. Kathy said, "We women won't let you guys leave without something to eat. We made a bunch of sandwiches and small bowl type plates so you can have something to eat. There are some bottles of iced tea too."
We got more hugs and kisses. Nightfox got a hug from his little Maria and even Kathy, then we got into my car and left, waving at those we were leaving.
At the airpark, the Lear was out on the tarmac in front of the hangar with the engines running. As we began loading our equipment, Jimmy came out and said, "I did a good preflight for you and made sure everything is ready, including the coffee. DeDe said this was some kind of emergency, so I stayed to get you ready."
"Thanks, Jimmy; it is some kind of an emergency. Tell DeDe I'm not sure when I can get this aircraft back. Hope it doesn't screw up our charters."
Jimmy laughed, "It's yours anyway. This is the first Lear you got. Remember the rat aircraft you brought back, or rather that I flew back? This is it. See you when you get back, Chuck, you too, Lisa."
No one seemed to think our wearing fatigues was unusual. I guess I did enough weird stuff that fatigues just added to the mystical nature of my life.
In a couple of minutes, we were blasting down the runway, rotating into a steep climb, heading almost due north. Lisa was busy calling in a flight plan, and I could see Nightfox on the CCTV monitor in the cabin on the satellite phone. All three of us finished our duties at about the same time. Nightfox had already pushed the button on the coffee maker, poured some coffee, and handed it to us. He sat in the little jump seat next to the cockpit door and said, "I talked to central briefing and they said a convoy of trucks have been tracked from a northern Canadian mosque. Intelligence has it that the trucks were going to cross into Detroit to get to the planned objective. Briefing says this is part of the same major multiple strike plan as the group in Seattle."
Mentally, I said, "Fuck, more fucking explosives to deal with."
My head was flooded with multiple voices, "Watch your mouth or your mind, Chuck."
I looked across at Lisa and she was smiling at me. She said, "That was Mercy, and I think that other voice must be her mother."
I shook my head and forced myself to close off my mind so I wasn't a broadcast center for all the telepaths of the world. I said to Lisa, "Are you ready for more of the same? This is beginning to get old. Somehow our government has got to become more proactive with these guys. We can't let them continue to penetrate our borders before we try to capture them. We need to get rid of them before they get here."
Lisa said, "I know what you mean, but how are they going to do that? The only way would be to close the borders. Our trade and traffic with Canada is too heavy to shut down the borders for total or complete searches for everything that comes across. The same with Mexico, we have to come up with a better way."
When we landed in Detroit two hours later, two cars moved toward the aircraft as we were being waved into a parking position. Ground personnel chocked the wheels for me as I shut down. When I opened the door two men were holding up Secret Service IDs, and two were holding up Deputy Marshal badges and IDs. I almost laughed.
I announced to both sets of men, "I think this one will begin as a Secret Service mission and end as a Deputy Marshal event. You two Deputies, give me a minute with these guys and I'll brief you."
I waved the two non-deputies to me and asked, "How much of this is out to the Bureau and Marshal Service?"
One of the Secret Service men said, "It's all over the feds here in Detroit. Hopefully, it doesn't leak all the way to the people trying to blow us up. We need to capture them and their explosives. The Marshal Service was brought in because they aren't big on leaks like the Bureau. They will hold it down. So far, the Bureau doesn't seem interested and think we're chasing our tails."
I waved the deputies over to us and said, "Since you guys are in on this, I need to reiterate, whatever you see, hear, and do having to do with this case will be totally erased from your memory when it's over. If you have a problem with that, you need to resign ASAP. This operation does not need to be publicized. You'll know why as more of it comes down. If we're still alive then, you'll understand."
The four men all looked at each other with a variety of emotions running across their faces. I think most of what I was seeing was disbelief. We unloaded our gear into a Marshal Service Suburban and rode to the same warehouse district I had been to when I was involved with the previous gangland style intrusion with the escapees. We parked near a pure white motor home, with a guy in a dark suit standing by the door holding an MP5.
I approached the guard and showed him my ID. After he inspected it, he spoke into his wrist, then held his hand up by his ear. He looked at me and said, "Go on in." Lisa and Nightfox were going to follow me but he held his rifle up barring the way. I was quick to touch the man's arm, and said, "They are part of my team." I turned to Sam and Lisa and said, "Show your IDs."
The guard repeated the process, including having a conversation with his watch. He just nodded at us and stood aside as I pushed the button that opened the door.
Inside, the motor home was an electronic operations center. The front of the big bus was like a conference room without a table. There were seats in a circle with an opening in the front and the rear for traffic. There were two men sitting there, and both stood as I came in. The older of the two asked, "Chuck Johnson, right?"
I nodded, then pointing to Lisa and Sam, and said, "This is my travel team. What's up and what's your plan?"
The guy waved for us to sit and handed me an eight by ten photo of three large semis, with an SUV in front, and another following. The man said, "This first photo is of the group as they left the original mosque compound."
He handed me a second eight by ten that showed five semis with the same two SUVs. He said, "This is how they are now after another two trucks joined them. They are about a hundred fifty miles out, moving along at about a hundred kilometers per hour, you know, about sixty miles an hour. They'll be ready to cross the border in about an hour and a half to two hours unless they stop. They should be about ready to get fuel as they have been traveling nonstop for almost four hours."
I asked again, "So, what's your plan? Are you going to let them get into the city? You should be detonating those trucks out in the country and never let them near heavy population."
The guy said, "CIA didn't want to set the trucks off in Canada, and it's now to the point that we are going to have to try to capture the trucks and hope they don't set them off. We have a little information about them, though. When they were refueling the last time, each of the trucks loaded with about two hundred gallons of fuel in their tanks, then pumped another four hundred gallons of fuel into a special fuel receptacle on the trailer. When our man was up near the trailer, he said there was a heavy smell of nitrogen fertilizer."
While we were talking, someone from one of the positions back in the motor home came forward with a piece of paper. He handed it to the man talking to us and returned to his seat.
The guy said, "This confirms what we have been thinking. One of trucks just pulled away and is now parking at the loading docks at the baseball stadium in Toronto. That means the trucks have to be about two hundred miles away or at least three hours. We need to do something about the truck up there. Let me call our Canadian counterparts to see if there are any functions up there tonight."
The man got up and went to one of the communication positions behind the seating area, put on a headset, and started talking. We could see him talking and nodding while writing down information. When he finished, he put the headset on the table and came back to the seating area. He said, "There isn't anything tonight, but there is supposed to be something tomorrow evening. We may have to wait to take that truck, but we need to find out if the detonator is a cell phone or on a timing device. We're watching the truck right now and should have more information soon."
I asked, "What is your intelligence on this so far? What are the targets?"
He said, "The way we have it now, is that all the targets are baseball stadiums. Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and Toronto. What do you think; about thirty thousand or so per ballpark, so about a hundred fifty-thousand people in total?"
The number of potential deaths stunned me, and I could tell it was as surprising to Lisa and Sam. I said, "We have to take these trucks before they can be set off. We have to get at the truck up in Toronto to see how it's put together so we can disable all of them."
The man said, "If all else fails, we'll shut down all cell phone traffic until we get them disarmed, but I don't want to try that in case they have a martyr on board to set the whole thing off. That would be the easiest way. Just check your watch and set if off when the time comes."
I suggested, "Okay, let's watch and take the truck in Toronto, then the one in Detroit while there is no one at the stadiums. We'll stop the other three on highways away from heavier populations. If they blow out there, there will be a lot less collateral damage."
The man asked, "Are you willing to risk getting caught by the authorities up in Canada trying to do this? The CIA isn't worth a hoot up there lately and won't do anything risky."
"Yeah," I said. "I'll run up and take care of that one, but you'll need to take the one here in Detroit and then capture the three other trucks out in the countryside."
Sam and Lisa looked at me, "You guys will come with me. It'll take the three of us to do something like this anyway." I looked at Lisa and Nightfox, "Do you have your passports?"
She smiled and said, "It's in my gun case."
Nightfox nodded to me and I knew mine, or at least a copy of mine, was in my gun case. I said to the lead guy, "This is my cell phone number. We're on our way to take out that truck up there, or at least disable it. If you hear anything at all about the truck up there, call me. Ah, can you get me a helicopter to get us up there fast? We need to make tracks real quick if we're going to get back here to help."
The man nodded, pointed to a location on his big map, and said, "Get to here, at this park on the other side of the border. A chopper will pick you up and drop you near where the truck is. It will wait for you. Stay in touch with them."
I asked as we stood, "Do you have any handheld radios we can use? That would make everything faster. We'll use ear buds so the speakers won't give us away."
The man had one of his men bring three radios with fresh batteries. They showed us the frequencies we needed to use and we left. Outside I told the two Secret Service men, "We need your car unless you want to drive us into Windsor. We're on our way to Toronto."
Both of the men said, "I'll check with the boss. We should go with you since we're CIA liaison agents for up there. If something happens we can get us out quick. Did you order a chopper?"
When I nodded, the man spoke to his watch then listened. He got a smile on his face then said to us, "Let's go. Now we can do this. Brief us on the way."
The three of us broke out our collapsible rifles and put them at our feet. When we crossed the border, the Canadian guards looked at the IDs and passports of five people wearing fatigues very warily and waved us through. We arrived at a small park at the same time a helicopter was landing. We only took what we would need, our recently acquired night vision equipment, our rifles, some extra ammo, and our Kbars. What else would we need?"
While in the helicopter, we all put our ear buds into our ears and arranged our handheld radios so we could get at them easily. While we were in the air, one of our Secret Servicemen held his radio up and pointed to a frequency position. We all turned our radios on and turned to the frequency. We heard, "The truck driver has gone around his trailer and appears to have locked it up and is moving away from the rig. We got up close enough to hear him tell the dock people that he would be back tomorrow evening to unload before he moved on. They gave him permission to leave his truck. We'll pick him up as he moves through the city. We want to make sure he's not being watched and someone isn't waiting to pick him up."
Our helicopter set down in a parking lot on the other side of the stadium. We quickly moved around the stadium until we got to the shipping and receiving area. There were three trailers there, but only one trailer with a tractor attached. That was our target.
We split up, one of the Secret Service men and Nightfox moved out to keep watch and to make sure there was no one watching the truck. This area was hidden from the public, so it was easy to make sure no one was watching.
One of the Secret Service men brought out a field strength meter as we approached the truck. We walked around the truck and trailer very slowly watching for movement on the meter dial telling us if there was anything broadcasting from within the truck. While we walked around the truck I saw a bunch of duct tape on side of the trailer with some wires coming out from under the tape going into the trailer.
I slowly peeled off the tape and found a cell phone. I used my Kbar to cut the wires from the phone then began looking for anything else. Lisa tugged at my shirt sleeve and pointed high on the side of the trailer. There was another mass of duct tape with wires coming out of it. I climbed up on top of the trailer and lay down on the roof so I could lean over and pull the tape off. I cut those wires and dropped the cell phone down to Lisa. While I was up there, I went completely around the truck to make sure there wasn't anything else that was obvious.
Back down on the ground, the agent was messing with the lock on the back doors of the trailer attempting to pick it. Lisa said, "Let me" and pulled what looked like a pocket knife, but this one had several small tools. With a flick of her wrist, the lock popped open.
The inside of the trailer was full of barrels that were filled with diesel fuel soaked nitrogen crystal fertilizer. Each barrel had a detonator taped to the top inside of the barrel. Lisa and I quickly began cutting the wires to the detonators while the agents were pulling the tape loose and putting the detonators into a plastic garbage bag they had with them. There were eighty barrels lined up in four rows of twenty. This would be enough to totally destroy the stadium and everyone inside. These people were monsters.
I suggested to the agents, "Let's make it look like the cell phones are still in place and lock this thing up. Lisa, find something to jam the lock so it can't be opened with a key or by picking it. That should discourage anyone trying to get into the truck."
We found some trash that we rolled up and put under the two sets of duct tape. I had to climb to the top of the trailer again to do the high one. We pushed the wires under the tape and it looked as it did when we came up to it.
I said, "Come on, let's get back to Detroit. If the terrorists do the same thing there, we'll know what to do and how to handle it. Let's move it."
We made our way back to the helicopter and were soon on our way back to Detroit. While we were flying back, over our ear buds we heard, "The driver of the Toronto truck had an accident. He was accidentally run over as he was crossing the road to get to a service station. Two men ran out from the service station to help him, but the man is dead. The two men left after emergency vehicles arrived on the scene, but we have them under surveillance. We will keep you posted."
All five of us nodded to each other. One of the agents talked into his watch, then listened. He said to us, "The Detroit truck is moving toward the baseball stadium right now. There was an afternoon game, so no one is there tonight. I'm going to redirect the helicopter to cross the border and land at the stadium so we can watch and disable the truck."
We landed on the opposite side of the stadium from where the shipping and receiving dock was. Just like in Toronto, we made our way around the stadium and looked over a wall to see the driver checking the two cell phones on the trailer. We watched him pull a gym bag from the truck cab before locking it. He moved toward the gate and had a few words with a guard there, then walked down the street. I said to the two agents, "See if this guy is being tailed. Call in, or do what you have to do, so he is followed. Lisa and I will drop into the lot and work on the truck. Advise us of what you find out. If you find out he's being watched, come help, but don't go through the gate. The guard can't see back to the truck, so we can stay undetected."
Lisa and I scanned the fences and didn't see any security cameras aimed at the truck. We both dropped over the ten foot fence and went to the truck. We found the two cell phones in the exact same positions on the trailer as in Toronto. I replaced the cell phones with trash and quickly stuck the wires under the tape. Lisa opened the trailer and the three of us were cutting the wires to the detonators when the two agents showed up. The one said, "One of our teams is following the guy. He's heading up the street toward where a truck stop is right now."
The agents took another plastic bag and began pulling the detonators and putting them into the bag. When we finished, Lisa disabled the lock on the trailer and we left.
The five of us did a man over man exit over the fence and walked around the stadium to the helicopter. From there, we went back to the headquarters motor home that we had been in before.
Inside, we found out that the trucks had split up and were heading in three different directions. The plan was to cause each of them to have breakdowns out in the country, capture the driver, and disable the bombs. We would drive empty trucks to the stadiums and walk away, similar to the other locations, so no one would suspect before all five trucks were accounted for. We also wanted to capture whoever was picking up the drivers.
The man who had briefed us before, said, "There's one more thing for you to do while you're here. Our men have a place that we need some help penetrating. It is in the warehouse area we're in now, but is very heavily guarded. We don't know how many people are guarding it, but there are a lot. The reason this is important to us is that it is a money factory. They are producing counterfeit fives, tens, twenties, and hundreds. Their bills are near perfect, even the ink. They haven't shipped any yet, but a couple of bills have shown up from their workers. They are paying their printers with counterfeits. I need you to evaluate how to get in and take it down."
I asked, "Why don't you just use the National Guard and take the building."
"We want to make sure we get the plates, paper, and ink. If we get all of the materials, they can't just move next door and start over. The other thing is this operation may be run by the same people that want to blow things up. A lot of guys with turbans and beards are coming and going from the building. You've had direct experience with these people, not many others have."
I could see Sam wince at being told we had more terrorists to deal with. "Okay, let's go look at this place. I'm sure you have it under surveillance, why not just show us the tapes?"
The guy said, "You need to see it first hand. You might get a better idea."
We walked outside and one of the agents we had just been with took us for a walk. The building in question was just two blocks away. What we saw was a building that took up an entire block, similar to the other buildings in the area. An agent handed me a pair of field glasses and I looked at the side of the building we were on. I could see a guard house at the outer fence, and another guard shack outside the building, next to a door and near the loading docks. There was nothing else to see. We walked completely around the building and found nothing unusual.
What appeared to be a large office area was in the front of the building. We walked up to the dark windows to see if we could see anything. When you looked through the tinted windows, you could see the office area was empty, no furniture, nor anything else. We could see light coming through some small windows in doors leading to the back, the factory area. You could also hear the hum and rhythmic machine noise of printing presses.
Nightfox said, "Let's get some cameras and come back. We can easily get through these doors and put some cameras through the walls to show us the factory area. If we had four cameras with wide angle lenses, we should be able to cover all of it. That will give us what we need to know."
Lisa agreed and said the doors would be no problem unless there was an alarm. We walked back to the headquarters bus and told the leader there what we wanted to do.
He had a tech bring us four cameras with small wide-angle lenses. The tech said, "Take some duct tape so you can mount the camera remote from the lens. There is a ten-inch wire that goes between the lens and camera. Make sure it is plugged in properly before you leave. Here's a small kit that should help you mount the lenses anywhere."
We had our assigned agents drive us to the building and had them watch for us. One agent in with us, and one agent outside as a lookout. Lisa was through the outer door in seconds. The girl has a knack for locks. We did a good recon through the door windows and discovered steps leading to a second floor. Upstairs was perfect. We were able to use light switch boxes to push the small lenses through the warehouse/factory drywall to mount them. We taped the cameras inside the wall and screwed the light switches back in place. I called in with my radio and asked if there were visuals on the cameras. It took a few seconds and there was an "Okay, got them all. Good work."
We left with Lisa re-locking the front door. When we got back to the headquarters bus, the lead guy said, "Go get some rest. We'll take you to a hotel and you can review what we have seen in the morning. I'm going to sack out too."
Nightfox, Lisa, and I were taken to a decent hotel where we could get something to eat. I told the two, "Even though it's after midnight, I'm going to the bar and have a beer. If you want to join me, do so, but I'm going regardless."
Both of them looked at me strangely and accompanied me. Lisa had a beer, while Sam had a glass of iced tea. When we were finished, I said, "Now for a decent meal and some sleep. I think we've been burning ourselves out a little lately." The hotel had a twenty-four restaurant.
Lisa said, "We have been busy, but I've never been in the field like this. Are you guys always this busy?"
Nightfox said, "I usually only had one mission a month, but since I met this guy, I've been busy constantly. I think the Marshal Service he works for is a bunch of slave drivers. They are constantly on his back to do something."
"Oh, Nightfox, it isn't that bad. Between the two services, we have been busy, but one by itself hasn't been too bad. We've just pulled some strange duty, that's all."
After we ate, we went to our rooms. Lisa and I took off our clothes and barely kissed before we were both asleep.
I had requested a five thirty wakeup call and was startled by the phone when it rang, seemingly only seconds after we went to sleep. I looked at my watch and saw it was only three AM. I answered it, "Johnson."
The man from the headquarters bus was on the phone, "A truck just arrived at the factory and we can see them using forklifts to load counterfeit bills. There must be billions of dollars in bills there."
"Okay, I'll be right there. Ah, get some more men there. You can use the Bureau and Marshal Service for this too. Surround the building, and if the truck leaves, take it down as soon as it gets a couple of blocks away. Send your drivers for us."
I called Nightfox's room and he groggily answered. After explaining to him what was happening, he said he would meet us in ten and hung up. Lisa was already putting her clothes on. We both regretted not showering before going to bed, but we did wash our faces and brushed our teeth.
Nightfox met us in the hall and we went downstairs where we were met by our agents. They drove us back to the headquarters bus, where the lead man said, "Okay, we have a dozen Deputy Marshals and a dozen special agents surrounding the building. Check out the cameras. They show the truck almost full now. That's a lot of bills. Look at the equipment. They have eighteen big presses working twenty-four seven. It looks like they inspect every sheet of bills that comes off the press. That is some operation."
I said, "If you take the truck, we have to take the building at the same time. I think we should take the truck, then the same men can push through the back gate, while a group goes through the front office and surprises them."
Lisa said, "The inside of the front doors have push to open bars. We can disable those so no one can run out that way. There are four doors from the office to the factory area. We will need four units to go through there."
"Good thinking, Lisa. How many people do you have from the Service?"
The guy said, "Nineteen field men, plus the two who have been with you. So twenty one and with you three that is twenty-four."
I said, "Okay, that is four groups of six. We'll go through the factory doors as soon as the outside guards alert the inside that men are coming through the gates. That should catch them trying to remove the plates or whatever they are using for printing. Do your men know what to look for?"
"Yeah, they've all been trained to know about printing presses. They will be able to salvage everything we need. Are you going in there yourself?"
"Sure, that's our job. We'll go in with the central team. I'll make sure everyone knows to use their weapons if anything at all confronts them. We can't take a chance of them getting guns and reducing our ranks."
The leader grimaced and said, "We don't usually do that, but then we don't run into this type of thing too often. The men are trained and they will abide by what you say. Let's brief them."
We went outside and all of the men we were going to use were there, ready. I explained that if someone made a threatening gesture, or looked to be pulling a weapon, to shoot immediately. "Don't wait to be a statistic. Shoot quickly and accurately. Normally, I would suggest head shots, but I doubt these people will have protective vests. If you shoot someone and they fall and get back up, shoot for the head. Do it quickly and don't miss."
A head came out of the door of the bus and a man said, "They're closing the door of the trailer. Our man outside said the truck is started and has the lights on. We have an ambush set up."
I said to the men, "Let's get over to the building and get inside quickly. We need to be there when the ambush men come back through the gate."
We drove to the front of the building and didn't try to hide the vehicles. Lisa had the doors unlocked and we were divided into four teams in less than two minutes. I heard through my earpiece that the ambush teams were approaching the rear gates.
An alarm bell went off inside the factory, and it looked like everyone there went into action. I radioed for us to get into the factory.
I was yelling as we entered, "Everyone put your hands up. Don't move, get away from the machinery. Don't do anything that will make us shoot. Put your hands into the air."
A rifle next to me fired, then I heard more rifle fire from the two entrance teams on the ends. My rifle was at my shoulder when I saw a guy bringing his hand up with an automatic in it. I shot him in the head before the pistol was level. I heard both Lisa and Nightfox shoot, then they had to shoot again. That's when I saw several robed men in turbans running from a rear room. All of them had AKs and were firing in our direction. I hit four of them myself, and I know Nightfox was taking target practice too.
It seemed as if, as soon as we had downed all of them that had come out, another group came from the back. I was nailing one after the other, when the back doors burst open and Deputy Marshals and Special Agents came running in. Four of them were hit immediately, and I hoped they were only knocked down from the force of a round.
Lisa was saying, "I think that's all of the guys from the back."
Nightfox said, "Damn, I sure hope so."
I was scanning the room, looking for movement, when my lights went out.
It was quiet, very quiet, but I felt movement around me and I felt someone holding something to the side of my head. There was movement around me, but it wasn't hurried or frantic.
That's when I heard Nightfox say, "It looks like he's coming around. The medics should get to him soon. Christ, we have too damn many men hit on this one. This mission was crazy."
I could hear the anguish in Lisa's voice, "God help them if Chuck dies. I swear I'll personally kill every one of the fucking heathens."
I turned my head and opened my eyes. Lisa was looking down at me with tears in her eyes. I said, "I'm not dead, and you don't have to kill anyone. Someone rung my bell is all."
Lisa said, "They sure as hell did, you have a new part in your hair. It's only an inch or so long, but it's going to be there from now on. You may have to grow longer hair."
That's when I noticed Lisa's arm wrapped up. "What's with your arm, Babe?"
"Stupid bullet got me in the left arm in the soft flesh, no big deal, probably just some stitches. Sam's hit in the leg. He's hurt pretty bad. I got him trussed up and he's being still. The ambulances should have been here already. I don't know what's taking them so long."
My head was lying on Lisa's lap as she still held something to my head. I said, "Let me up. See if anyone has a first aid kit and let me help."
"No way, Buster, you probably have a concussion and would probably fall down again and bust the other side of your head. Let me see if your radio works, mine took a round."
Lisa lifted the radio and keyed the mike, "Headquarters, where are the medics. We have multiple gunshot wounds. Headquarters, come in."
Nothing.
I said to Lisa, "Find someone from the Bureau or a Deputy. Their radios will get their operations center."
Lisa put my head down on the concrete and said, "Stay there, don't more. Sam, make him stay still, you too, stay quiet."
Lisa got up and I could hear her calling for a Deputy. I heard her have a conversation, then heard the Deputy calling in. At least I heard the confirmation from his radio. There would be action now. Actually, I could hear sirens already coming this way.
Lisa came and sat back down, placing my head on her lap again. We were still there when a paramedic came to us and said, "Who's first?"
Lisa pointed to Sam and said, "His leg is bad. Not an artery, but the muscle is torn up pretty bad. Do him, then look at this head wound, then me."
The guy didn't take but a few minutes before he was radioing for a stretcher for Sam. He said to Sam, "We'll get you patched up. You'll be fine, but you may have some trouble with that leg until you learn how to use it again. You're done playing cowboys and Indians though."
Sam burst out laughing and said, "That's really funny, considering I'm an Indian."
The medic said, "Yeah? What kind?"
Sam said, "Lakota from Montana."
"No shit," the medic said. "I am too. What tribe?"
The two had a conversation before the stretcher arrived and Sam was hauled away. Sam was feeling better.
Lisa had the medic look at me and he said, "I can't sew him up here. He'll have to go into the hospital. We'll need to watch him for a concussion too. You, young lady, will also need some stitches. Let's get you both up and out for transportation to the hospital."
I was dizzy when I stood, but not bad. I made sure to clear my rifle and to pick up Sam's. Lisa picked up her weapon and cleared it as we were being walked out the back of the building. Both of our agents were there and both were without injury. They said they would take the two of us to the hospital so the medic gave them a note and went back to help more people.
As the two Secret Service agents drove us to the hospital, the one not driving said, "Our headquarters bus was blown up. Everyone on board was killed. These people must have known we were watching and planned to do us. I don't think any of our people will ever again have trouble using their weapons. That was the best station chief we could ever have. He really did a good job watching out for us."
I was stunned. The man who had requested my help and sent us into a bad situation was not with us any longer. That was a real loss. I wondered how many men were on that bus and how many men were lost on that raid. That should have been done by the army or people like that. Even then, they would have had casualties. This was not a good line of work.
I could feel Lisa relaxing as we got away from the warehouse district. She said, "I was scared this time. You went down, then Nightfox went down. All I could do was keep firing. I went through all three of my magazines until I had to reach down and get one of your spares. Where did they all come from? There had to be way over a hundred of those soldiers in robes and turbans. That was really scary."
"Lisa, Baby," I said, as I looked up at her as she still cradled my head in her lap. "Relax, it's done, it's over. We're alive and kicking. Sam is going to be okay, and you and I are going to be fine."
"I know," Lisa said. "It's just so stark, so intense, the way that shit happens. It's like we are playing our guitars, playing the most intense blues piece there is, and it's real, so very real. You and me, we are part of the piece. I guess my dad set me up for all of this, and Pops and Rags did it too. When all that shit was happening, I was hearing something in my head, blues, mind bending, and hand-warping blues. I kept firing to the rhythm of a down blues tune. I could hear your bass line as my rifle kept spitting rounds at everything that moved. Even when I was hit, it was only a crescendo of what I was playing. Is that sick? Or what?"
"That's the way it is, Lisa. You're more than just you. You're an outlet of real blues expression. I can't wait until you and I can do some private wailing. Just you and I playing to each other, feeding off each other, playing the intensity of what we've been through. We'll have to make sure we record it, it'll never be the same."
"Damn, Chuck, the way you describe what we'll produce, I want to go home and grab my guitar and play the way I've never played before. It's gotta be electric though, this has got to be metal. I'll get out the Gibson or the Strat, whatever, but it's got to be amped up high. This is going to be serious shit."
"Hold that thought, Lisa. We'll be home soon and we'll do that. Just the two of us and we'll really tell the story. We'll know, but the rest of the world will hear the fear, the intensity, the victory, and the relief. It'll be all us."
Lisa petted my head and leaned down to kiss my forehead. "I love you, Chuck. We are meant to be, aren't we?"
I smiled, knowing she saw and felt my love for her.
A couple of minutes later, amid the mass confusion of an emergency room, I was being wheeled into an emergency area curtained off between another area. Hopefully, Lisa was being taken care of. My head was clearing and I was able to focus. Whatever concussion I had must not be that bad.
A young doc came in and looked at my head. He said, "You probably need stitches, but I don't know how to close a scalp wound like that. I'll do the girl with the gunshot wound, and have the regular trauma doc work on you."
I kept thinking that I hoped the regular trauma doc finished with Lisa before he came in.
A beautiful lady came into my curtained area and sat next to me, on the side of the bed where the wound was. She said, "Yep, just like Lisa said, you need some stitches. I'll close you up, but we need an X-ray first to make sure you don't have a cracked skull. You could have some bone fragments in there that will make you a loosey goosey. Let's get an X-ray, then fix you up." The very nice looking lady leaned over me and gave me a shot of some very attractive cleavage. As she caught me gawking, she said, "Lisa said that if you looked longer than a second, you were fine. Thank you for staring. I'll give you a real good look when I stitch you up."
I almost laughed at the silliness of the situation.
A couple of Neanderthal orderlies came in and lifted me onto a traveling bed to take me to X-ray. They wheeled me to a cold room where they positioned my head so the neutrons could penetrate my head. After a lot of roaring and clicking, the two guys hauled me back to the emergency area. Lisa was waiting.
The attractive doc came back in and looked at Lisa, "Are you sure you want me to do this? I've never been asked to flash a patient while I sewed him up."
Lisa said, "Do it, he needs the rush. I'm broke right now, and you look like you're something special. Give him a thrill."
The doc wiped my head down then arranged some materials on the bed tray. Before she put on her rubber gloves on, she leaned over and petted my head. With her other hand she unbuttoned her uniform until it was below her bra. With dexterity of youth, she reached behind her, unclasped her bra, and two very nice melons spilled out. She pulled it from her uniform and spread her scrub top to show me. "Like these?" She asked.
All I could say was, "Beautiful."
Lisa grinned and whispered, "I concur, very beautiful."
The doc smiled and threaded a needle, then called for assistance. A cute young black nurse came in to help. She looked at the Doctor, her eyes opened wide, and her mouth fell open. Lisa said, "She's giving my man some anesthetic, you could help, you know."
The nurse rolled her eyes and looked at the doc. The doc said, "You mean you wouldn't want this good looking guy to get a gander at your lovely top? He does seem to be appreciative. Look at his indicator."
There again, I almost laughed. I was rock hard, stretching my fatigue pants straight up. The nurse said, "That does indicate he's worthy, doesn't it?"
"Very," said the doc.
The nurse unbuttoned her top and showed she didn't have a bra on. Her very cute small breasts looked very suckable and very desirable to play with. I said, "My, oh my, I need to come back and investigate all of this beauty. What do you think, Lisa, should we check these beauties out later?"
Lisa moaned, "Oh yeah, that we must."
The nurse giggled as she kept the trailing thread away from where the doc was stitching. I was apparently licking my lips, when the nurse said, "Don't you dare raise up and suck on one of my nipples. That could cause me to get excited. Just lie there and be nice and quiet."
The tease of a nurse patted me on my hardon while she helped the doc. Lisa was also giggling as I was being treated.
When the doc finished, she said, "You probably have a mild concussion and should not overdo anything for a couple of days to a week. No workouts, no hard swimming, and very casual workouts in bed. If you two need instructions, Lucy and I will be around to instruct. What do you think, Lucy, want to instruct this couple how to do it without straining themselves?"
Lucy groaned and said, "I'd strain myself, that's for sure. Doc Cindy, you are such a tease. Lean over and give this cute white boy a suck on one of those nipples."
As Doc Cindy leaned over me, pushing a nipple into my mouth, Nurse Lucy did the same, and I sucked and nibbled on one of her cute nipples too. They both groaned and stood up fastening their uniforms back together. The doc addressed Lisa, "Watch him to make sure he doesn't get dizzy. If he gets nauseous, bring him back in; he's fine otherwise. Take it easy on him and don't overdo it. He needs some rest. He needs some of what you can give him, but some rest would be good too.
The doc and nurse gave Lisa a hug. The Doc winked at Lisa and gave her a lip kiss that said, "Come see me some time."
When they left, Lisa leaned over me and kissed me, "You are the sexiest man. Women just can't help showing themselves to you and teasing you. I love it. I think we need to visit here one of these days." I just smiled.
Another nurse came in and said, "The doctor is releasing you both, so you can check out and leave. An administrator will be in to take your information in a minute. Please wait until she has been in."
Five minutes later, a frumpy woman with a scowl came into the curtained area. She laid her clipboard on the top of my chest and said, "I suppose you don't have any health insurance, either one of you?"
Lisa stood and looked at her with a ferocity the administrator wasn't used to. She grabbed her clipboard and said, "I'll just mark you down as charity cases." She stood and began to leave.
I said, "Stop, stop right there. Turn around and sit in that chair by the bed."
She sat and I said, "When you address a patient in your hospital, you will address him or her by their name, with a Sir or a Ma'am, as appropriate. You will be courteous and you will be patient. If I hear otherwise, I will have this hospital shutdown or sold to someone who knows how to treat patients."
The lady thought about what I said for a second, then stood, "Who the hell are you to tell me how to treat anyone? You're the deadbeat who can't afford to get treated."
I simply asked, "Did you ask? Did you ask if I might have had health insurance? Did you ask, that since my wound came as a result of a police type action, if I was covered by a law enforcement agency?"
The lady looked at me closely, "You, a cop. Not a chance. If you are, show me."
I closed my eyes and told her, "Write this number down on the payee's line. 399471222, that will get you paid."
She said, "That's a federal number, one of the agencies. You can't use that."
"You didn't ask, and yes, you can use that. Now, put that number on my ticket, Lisa's, and a guy that's here named Nightfox. I'm sure you'll have several using that same number tonight. Now get out of here before I arrest you for being a bitch."
Lisa was giggling again when the frumpy lady left.
The doc stuck her head in the curtain and said, "I heard that and I agree. She is a bitch. Thanks for straightening her out, and thanks for doing whatever you did to get wounded the way you did. Come see us when you can handle the nurse and me."
Lisa giggled again and was nodding her head.
I said, "Let's get out of here before they sic a candy striper on us to wheel us out of here."
We were trying to walk out when a little girl in a candy striper uniform came running with a wheelchair. She said, "Oh no, you can't just walk out. You have to be wheeled out the door. Hospital orders."
As she sat in the wheelchair, Lisa said, "Okay, you can wheel me out. Come on, let's go, let's get out of here."
"But, but, you're not the one. He's supposed to be in the chair."
"I'm the one with the shot up arm. He's just got a scratch on the side of his head. Come on, Honey, wheel me out. What do you think, Chuck, could she be a treat for us later?"
Going along with Lisa, I said, "I don't know, Honey. She may not be experienced enough for us to really enjoy her. She might not get off on what we do with her."
You could see her exposed flesh color turning red. She cocked her head and while leaning down at Lisa's ear, quietly said, "I may be more than you can handle, Lady. I think I could turn you inside out before your friend here could get it up."
Lisa grinned, "Now that's a bet. Come with us, Honey, and we'll turn you every which way but loose."
From then until we were able to get a taxi, Lisa and the candy striper exchanged all kinds of horny challenges. When we did get a taxi, the candy striper leaned over and kissed Lisa on the lips. I heard her say to Lisa, "I would really enjoy playing with your pussy."
Lisa was in nirvana all the way to the hotel. It was already almost nine in morning. Not knowing what else to do at the moment, I called Wanda, my contact. When she answered, I said, "All three of your people are wounded. I think I can fly tomorrow, but I need to know what else I might need to do to wrap up what we've been doing. Can you find out and call me back? This one got out of hand."
Wanda asked, "All three of you are wounded? What kind of wounds?"
"Nightfox has a serious leg wound, Lisa got one of my signature wounds in the fleshy part of her left arm, and I was grazed on the side of my head. Nothing serious for Lisa and me, but we are broke for a while."
Wanda said, "How come no one called me?"
"Probably because all of the key people from the station here were killed in a terrorist explosion."
"No one is left, Chuck? Did that really happen?" I could hear Wanda gasp.
"It did, Wanda. The Secret Service station Chief and all of his key people were in a portable field office. The terrorists blew it up and they all died. We've actually completed two assignments, but you'll only hear about one. Anyway, Wanda, call in for us and let me know what to do. I'm not sure when Nightfox is going to be released."
Wanda said, "I'll call you right back."
Wanda called back a couple of minutes later. "You can come home when you can. If you need someone to come up and fly you and your airplane back, we can do that too. Should I or can I advise your other important others of your condition?"
"Don't do that yet, Wanda. We'll tell them, but we don't want little Maria to know Sam is hurt. Let me get him up and on the way home, then we'll tell her and my ladies."
"Well, you're not dead, so that's something," Wanda sighed. "Base said that Detroit was a mess, and that they had sent a couple of more teams up there to clean up. I suppose you three led everyone into whatever it was you were doing. Jesus, Chuck, you need to be careful."
"Hey, I'm breathing and looking down at the roots instead of looking up at them. We're both fine. We'll probably see you tomorrow or the next day."
I hung up on her as she was not a good person to try to reason with. Lisa said, "Come on, let's change into regular clothes and have something to eat. We both need steak and eggs, and a glass of red wine to build up our blood. I think I'm going to have you munch on me an hour or so to relax me too."
We did eat and had quite a bit of rich red wine, but I didn't get to do any carpet munching. We fell asleep in each other's arms with our clothes still on.
Primary editing by Pepere
Proofing by Sagacious
Additional Helicopter Knowledge by Rotorhead
Last one through – Deenara2000