Encountering Evil: Dark Horse Guardians Book Two (31 page)

The day of the September 11
th
was warm and sunny with no wind. Ben watched and waited dressed in a baseball cap with sunglasses in a look-out location near enough to the stadium to observe all that was happening and appeared to reload the drones periodically. His perch was on the rooftop of a building a few hundred yards away. He secretly smiled to himself with the knowledge that the terrorists would all die within a short period of time. After the disbursement of the Chanel translucent powder was completed at the stadium, the men made their way back to the compound and the
real
celebration began.

The evil bastards were congratulating themselves and smoking
Cuban cigars while shooting their AK’s into the air. Leftover food from the night before was brought out by Rashida and the men were gorging themselves on the leftovers, but the goat cheese was gone. Some of the men were demanding the women dance for them.  The women performed as ordered at the feast. Ben sat beside Ali Farouz at the long banquet table placed outside in the front of the community building. As candles were lit the men crouched on the ground in unison murmuring prayers for the maximum number of Americans to die. After the prayers, Ben sat through the surreal scene smiling and waving his hands in the air to encourage the celebration. He knew it was only a matter of a few hours now and he’d be away from this hell hole and soon the evil bastards would all be dead.

Evening was approaching and Ben wanted nothing more than to get out of town. He told Farouz his plane would be leaving from Boston for his long trip home to Pakistan. With the
Sparrow project now completed, Ali Farouz embraced Ben and thanked him profusely for his great help. "Watch the news…" Farouz bragged excitedly. There will be many Americans getting sick and going to the hospital and dying!" Ben watched as the fat man danced a jig. He ha'd never seen Farouz
this
excited. Ben smiled and danced around with the terrorists as they fired AK's into the air chanting anti-American slogans: “Death to Americans” and “Islam will conquer the world”…it was like a movie he had watched once, and now he was in it.

Some of the men were beginning to experience noticeable abdominal pain, the very first stage of anthrax poisoning. Soon they would develop fever, nausea, vomiting and severe diarrhea and at that point it would be too late. Ben had taken all of the
real
Cipro with him from the compound. His men made sure there would be none available for miles around the place. Once the men dropped dead, the Dark Horse Guardians would move into the compound and bring the women and children to a holding facility. The plan was to reunite them with their respective families in various countries. 

Farouz made much of Ben's departure. "Gather round, all of you," he spoke in Pasto dialect. The men who had been drinking alcohol and dancing became silent. "We must show respect for the good doctor who helped us on this jihad…Doctor Malem…the great Doctor Malem!" The men all made a strange sound, very familiar to Ben, a high-pitched yelling that almost resembled a yodel. Once the excitement subsided, Ali Farouz embraced Ben once again. The foul body odor of the man was nearly unbearable as Farouz spoke glowingly, "Ah, Doctor Malem, we could not have done this without your expertise. This has been the greatest achievement and we thank you for your help. Safe travel back to Pakistan and tell others there how successful we have been!" After a few minutes, Habib arrived with the old Chevy Blazer.

As Ben climbed into the Chevy with Habib, he noticed a few of the men were beginning to cough. Ben rolled down the window and said, "You guys really need to stop smoking those cigars." And Habib was off. He drove Ben to Logan airport where he got into his rental car for the long drive back to Maine. Habib was taking a flight back to a town near the border of Israel. The two men shook hands as they parted. Ben felt tremendous gratitude for Habib's assistance. Looking into Habib’s black eyes he said solemnly, "I could not have done this without you. Be safe, my friend." Habib smiled and said, "We did a good thing, doctor. The women and children will not live under oppression any longer in this place. We destroyed one compound. We did a good thing."

As Habib boarded his flight, Ben took a roundabout route to get home just in case he was being followed. It was a habit he could not break. He pulled into a lonely rest-stop in the middle of the night somewhere in a heavily wooded area on the New Hampshire border and called the Dark Horse Guardians on his encrypted satellite phone. "Elvis, what's going on in there?" There was a slight delay and Elvis replied, “Nate, Tom and Jake are performing reconnaissance with drones equipped with night vision. We’re watching the men dying on the compound. They went for the Cipro, and all of them have taken it. But thanks to you, it won’t work.” Elvis gave an update, "
We hacked their wireless connection and jammed it.  None of their cell phones work.  Hold on…some new info. They're dropping like flies. Most of them are vomiting. Some have diarrhea. It won't be much longer. I'd say twenty-four hours. We’ve formed a blockade at the gate. Nate has moved inside and is laying low in the trailer you stayed in. He has eyeballs on the situation. As soon as we can extract the women and children, we have the safe house ready. The only delay will be getting their travel paperwork done, but we've got an expert to help with that. So, we are hopeful it will go smoothly. Go home, Chief. Get some rest. We've got it from here." Ben thanked them for their good work and ended the call.

Leaning against the car door he immediately fell asleep from sheer exhaustion for a few hours. When dawn broke, he woke, took a leak outside, and changed his clothes. He wore a black
hoodie, black pants and put a black ski mask into his pocket and pulled on a pair of black driving gloves. He continued his drive to Maine. He had one stop to make before going home to his lovely Lara. He ordered an extra-large black coffee at a drive-thru to wash down another dose of Cipro.

When he drove past the driveway of the residence that housed Dillon Varney
, he parked his vehicle down the street and looked around for cameras. None there. He removed his shoes and took the ski mask out of his pocket and slipped it on and pulled the black hoodie up. The house was an eight-plex apartment dwelling, rundown and the front door was already open. He knew the apartment was on the first floor and walked down the squalid ramshackle hallway to unit 2B. He paused for a moment and listened. It was 5:30 AM. No one was stirring in the building. He used a small tool to open the lock on the door and crept silently to the bedroom of Dillon Varney.

The 250 pound slob was snoring fully clothed on a stained mattress on an old cast iron bed. Ben slipped a piece of rope around his ankles and tied a knot securing his feet to the cast iron footboard. Then he secured his hands. When Varney began to awaken, Ben
put the pillow over his face and held it there as he placed his other hand on Dillon Varney’s windpipe. The large man struggled for a bit, but after eight minutes he stopped moving. Ben checked for a pulse. Gone. He untied the rope and put it back into his pocket. A dog barked in an adjoining room. Ben left though the same door. No one saw him. He walked to his car, got in and drove away. He just saved the taxpayers a tidy sum of money. Dillon Varney would not have to go to court for attacking Lara. But, more importantly, Lara would not have to be put through the testimony and the likelihood this evil son-of-a-bitch would serve a few years and be back out. Justice had already been served.

~ Lara ~

Home from the hospital for several days, Lara had her mother and Rusty as temporary roommates, and she was thankful for that. Rusty thought September 11
th
would be a good day to visit Clearwater Farm and take a walk on the beach. Although she was happy to be home, Lara felt a wave of anxiety spread over her momentarily as she entered the kitchen where the intruder attacked her. Einstein's happiness distracted Lara from the morbid thought. She kneeled on the floor and rubbed the dog's ears and for a moment all seemed right with the world. Rusty said, “We’re having a sleepover tonight!” Lara smiled up at him, “Oh, you don’t have to do that.” He grinned, “It’s all set. We’ve got steaks on the grill tonight.” Lara’s mother was loading the food into the refrigerator, “Got your favorite ice cream, Lara!”

The next day the custom ordered draperies made of raw silk arrived and she borrowed Tony and one other guy on his crew to install them. Finally, she would have privacy at night. As she flipped on the television, a breaking news report captured her attention. Apparently, a radical Islamist compound was found with fifty dead men outside of Springfield Massachusetts. There were signs of women and children living there, but they were nowhere to be found. A street vendor who sold handmade hijabs was being interviewed on camera, "There were hundreds of them, I swear. I sold hijabs to them. Women and children lived in this place…"

Lara's heart nearly stopped when she heard the reporter say the men appeared to have died from ingesting anthrax.
Oh God. It was Ben's mission. He killed them all with anthrax.
Lara listened closely to the reporter's words, "And, a top terrorist kingpin was found dead here, the elusive Ali Farouz…a man responsible for hundreds, if not thousands, of deaths across several continents. He was a mastermind of terror plots and funded by the Muslims of Peace Foundation.”
Ali Farouz was dead
.  The man trying to kill Bettencourt, Nadia’s father, was dead. Lara had to sit down as she took in the reality of it.

~ Nadia ~

The young blonde who had just celebrated her 17
th
birthday watched the news on the television in a state of disbelief.
He was dead
. Her cruel abusive father was dead and she no longer needed to run. Linda Jorgenson entered the room and took Nadia’s hand, "I'm sorry, dear, that you had to learn about your father's death this way." But Nadia did not cry. There wasn’t even a tear forming in her eyes. She had no feeling except that of elation. "You don't understand, Mrs. Jorgenson, I am happy.
I am free now
. I won't have to worry about him coming after me. It's as if a nightmare has ended for me." Linda looked into Nadia's dark eyes and for the first time seemed to truly understand the horrors the young girl had lived with all of her life. Nadia spoke with amazing composure, "I want to finish my senior year here with you as Vanessa Jorgenson. I love the school and the friends I have made. I love going to temple with you. This is a life I never could have imagined." Nadia watched as Linda's eyes fill with tears. Linda Jorgenson whispered, "Of course you can stay here." Nadia moved toward Linda and embraced her.  “I can never thank you enough.  You have saved my life.”

~ Ben ~

Pulling into the long driveway of Clearwater Farm
late-morning, Ben breathed a sigh of relief. The saltwater farm was quiet and Rusty's car was parked next to Lara's. As he approached the porch door, Einstein was whining loudly on the other side and nearly knocked him over when he opened it. Ben crouched on the floor as he allowed the dog to lick his face and nuzzle him repeatedly with sheer joy. "Good boy, good boy…" Ben noticed he was laughing naturally for the first time in weeks.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lara standing in the kitchen doorway in a pink bathrobe. His heart nearly burst. "Oh, darlin' what a sight you are…" She ran to him and he choked back the tears as he stood and embraced her. Lara was silent and he knew she was crying as she nestled her face into his chest. Ben whispered, "
God, I smell awful. I'm sorry, darlin'. I've not showered for a couple of days." Then she lifted her lips to his and kissed him, and he broke down. He could not pretend any longer that he was just returning from a weekend away. After kissing her, he buried his face in her hair and couldn’t stop the staggering breaths that wracked him for a minute. He was unable to speak.

He felt Lara cup his face in her hands. He looked into her beautiful eyes as she whispered, "I thought I might lose you." Ben felt the need to assuage her feelings, "Oh darlin' – I will
always
return to you. It was just another mission." Lara stared at him in disbelief for a moment. "How can you say that? It was horribly dangerous. I saw the news. My God, Ben, you could have died in that awful place. What if they found you out?" Ben remained stoic, "But they didn't…and that's the end of it." Lara didn't seem to be finished with the conversation. She exhaled and said, "No Ben. That's not the end of it." He sensed he would be taking a shower alone.

~ Lara ~

The master bedroom floor was littered with Ben's clothing as he stripped to take a shower. She suddenly felt guilty for confronting him that way. He had just returned from seven weeks in hell. He looked exhausted and emaciated. She knew he hadn't eaten decent food for weeks. Suffering for this cause could kill her handsome intelligent husband and she didn't want to lose him. Not as a martyr. She knew there would be a lengthy discussion about future missions. She decided this wasn't the time to bombard him with questions and a speech about the danger of his Dark Horse operations.

She didn't want to argue with Ben, she wanted to love him. Missing him for the past seven weeks was difficult, but the attack she suffered made her want to cling to him even more. She tossed her bathrobe onto the floor and got into the shower. Lara smiled as a look of surprise spread over Ben’s face. She handed him the soap and he reveled in the moment, running his slippery hands over her feminine curves. Rinsing both of them thoroughly, Ben faced her as the hot water continued pounding them. With one swift move his strong arms moved around her and before she knew it Lara was against the tiled wall of the shower with her legs wrapped around his waist. His broad hands cupped her bottom. He held her that way for what seemed like forever. It was a wild and primal moment for both of them…a release of pent up tension, anger, frustration and longing exploded within a few minutes. Lara heard her mother’s voice, “Is that Ben? Is he home?” Lillian wandered into the master bedroom but turned to leave when she heard them in the shower. “Shh!” Lara put her finger on Ben’s lips. But that didn’t stop him from crying out with pleasure. Almost unable to breathe, Ben exhaled, “Oh God, you have no idea how great that felt!”