Hard Case VII - Red Waves (John Harding Series Book 7) (52 page)

“Oh, hell yeah! Let’s blow this ship to kingdom come, Cheese,” Casey stated. “This is a kill mission. If by some miracle we hit the bastard, I say we do ‘Jaws’ on the approach and ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ on the kill. No witnesses.”

“Amen to that, brother.”

* * *

The communications officer put the printed order in his captain’s hand.

The captain of the Peris smiled as he read the order. “We are to hunt these infidels down and kill them all! Make ready all weapons!”

The communications officer started to do just that when the radar man turned in his seat. “In coming, Captain! Missile on intercept course, Sir!”

The Captain watched with dread at the horizon.

* * *

Casey and I looked at each other like two kids on Christmas morning. We had just launched an RGM-84 driven rocket with its own fuel booster. This was an updated smart bomb. We Monsters sat on the deck with feeds from Denny’s AWACS along with the cam in the nose of our rocket beauty. It hit the Peris amidships. The secondary explosions nearly blew the Peris into two pieces. We naturally went into pirate mode with all the pirate talk we could thread into our celebration. Captain Blood appeared on Jafar’s info screen as we throttled full bore toward what remained of the Peris.

“It’s a floating hulk, John.”

“Boo hoo.”

“If you finish this without prisoners or leaving survivors, there will be repercussions.”

“Boo fucking hoo!”

To his credit, Denny grinned. “Captain Blood out, you damn pirates!”

“What does that mean,” Gus asked, leaving his copilot Issac at the Valkyrie’s helm.

“It means we obliterate everything, Payaso,” John Groves stated.

Gus shook his head. “I’ll be on the bridge. Full speed ahead.”

* * *

We approached with the deep beat of our ‘Jaws Theme’ blasting as we slowly approached the destroyer wreckage. Yeah, lifeboats were in the water. Too fucking bad. I gave the order and we did our ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ assault on everything. By the time I called a ceasefire to our assault, we had ridden through an attack mode numerous times with deadly volleys of everything we had on board both ships. Absolutely nothing survived. What was left of the Peris slipped below the unforgiving waves. There were no survivors.

I turned to my Monsters while petting Tonto. “Let’s see if we can plot a course to Chabahar without anyone knowing where we’re headed. They don’t have an AWACS surveillance plane. When we get within a half mile of Chabahar, Nick and I will go with Lucas aboard the Sea Wolf to scout targets and plot our next phase. Does that sound okay to you, Nick?”

“Absolutely.”

Chapter Nineteen

Miles to Go

Nick and I approached our last target with the twelfth Limpet mine on our string. We found two other warships we fastened two mines to amidships, one on each side. We mined the docks with all the others, leaving one at the furthest end of the facility to be unscathed when we began our final accounting. Once finished with that very long and arduous task, we found a quiet place to get the hell out of the water and sink our gear. From our waterproof carrier we adorned ourselves with Kevlar, MP5’s, Colt .45 caliber automatics, and at Nick’s insistence – grenades. With full dark robes, including the nearly full face kufiya headdress, we sought out transportation. Both Nick and I spoke the lingo. At that time of the night, not much moved.

We found the first military vehicle in sight. We killed the two military operators who fronted us with the usual bored attitudes toward our dress and deferential approach. Nick and I hid the bodies before driving toward the pier we’d picked out for our operation. Lucas skimmed the Sea Wolf in without lights long enough to leave us Clint, Tonto and Casey. The battle with Lynn to stay with Lucas had only been thwarted by her ignorance of the lingo.

The compound housing our adversaries incorporated a military type gate with two guards, where we knew by their communications and Perry’s help, it indeed housed the Starlight’s pirating originators. The military vehicle made the guards hesitate exactly the amount of time we needed for Nick to fire silenced MP5 rounds in their heads from the position he’d taken on foot. I drove next to the gate to help him stash the bodies out of sight. No one else guarded the compound. Tonto, who had sailed aboard the Sea Wolf for the longest journey of his life appeared ecstatic to be on land. He moved into position at the slightest indication from Clint, hugging his master’s leg at every step. At the compound’s residence building, Clint opened the door and Tonto streaked in. With over a dozen body signatures, we relied on Tonto for direction.

We killed in methodical method as Tonto led us through the compound’s housing facility. Unlike the Seals when they took Osama Bin Laden, we took no prisoners. We never faced any morality problems with children. Three women died along the way. ‘Via Con Dios’ Lynn whispered in our ears as she watched the operation from our cams. Ali Khan and Joram Mannan occupied the last two huge bedrooms in the back of the first floor complex. We killed their paramours. It did much to enlighten our two main targets about us not being regular federal authorities of any sort. They were bound and gagged quickly and left in Tonto’s capable care.

We cleared the second floor in rapid form, killing everything that moved. Tonto went on a search and destroy mission after we thought we had covered everything in the building. He came up empty. It was time to move our two prisoners. Clint injected them with our special knockout formula for transport. It was on our way back, the authorities found out a military vehicle was missing. Jafar fired off the mines on the two warships according to our plan if we needed a distraction in port. It allowed us to reach our pier destination for pickup by the Sea Wolf without incident, although the city was alive with activity now. Once aboard the Sea Wolf, we moved out of range while Jafar blew the remainder of our planted mines at maximum distress intervals.

“What a sight,” Casey remarked as we relaxed aboard the Sea Wolf while watching the chaos through range finders.

“I believe our distractions worked, but I’m glad to be getting the hell out of here after we zoom in to leave them a few other things to think about.”

“You’re sure you want to do this, John,” Nick asked.

“I am. Are we ready Lucas?”

“Yep. Assume assault mode. We’re going in. If you have a problem, Dead Boy, jump overboard now. Maybe Gus can pick you up.”

Nick grinned and took out his XM25. “Let’s do this.”

The Sea Wolf blasted our ‘Jaws Theme’ as we approached slowly with all lights out. People even involved in putting out fires and transporting the injured, stopped to peer out to sea, trying to figure out the source of the sound storm. By the time they had the direction zeroed, we hit them with ‘The Ride of the Valkyries’ at full volume and no distortion as we attacked. We fired everything, and everyone had a weapon of choice. The XM307 mount did the most damage. Lynn aimed at every building in sight, wiping out infrastructure it would take the Isis assholes a long time to rebuild. We didn’t leave until the Port of Chabahar was afire from one end to the other. We then steamed out of port at full speed with Gus on the outskirts, pacing us at our side. Unfortunately, we received the bad news from Denny we’d hoped would be too slow coming.

“They’ve scrambled jets, guys.”

“Is there any help on the way, or do we fire everything we have and hope for the best?” Yeah, I was being a dumb smartass.

“We’re working on it,” Denny said and disconnected.

I turned to my fellow Monsters with the Valkyrie tied in to us and listening. “Lock and Load. Iran sent jets. Can we do anything from the air, Laredo?”

“They’ll probably be here in a few minutes, Cheese,” Laredo answered. “I’m near the UH-60M. I can keep them busy. You may be able to fly everyone else out on Cheeseburger One.”

“I’m staying if someone will steer the boat,” Nick stated, retrieving the XM25 from his equipment bag.

“I ain’t going anywhere,” Lucas stated. “I’m not leaving the Sea Wolf except in a body-bag.”

We all heard the jets approaching. I grinned. “Man the guns folks. There’s nothing to be done now but load what we have. We have a lifeboat if anyone wants to take that route.”

“Enough with the pep talks, Cheese,” Lynn said. “You guys hearing this over on the Valkyrie?”

“We have it, Lynn. It’s been a pleasure,” Gus replied. “I’m steaming away from you so we don’t present bunched targets.”

“Take care, Payaso,” Lynn replied, as she readied her own XM25. “Let’s get some.”

“Three Mig-29’s incoming, guys,” Denny barked suddenly in our ears. “Paul says he has help on the way. Fire anything you have as a distraction.”

The Migs roared across the night sky. They formed for power dives and destruction. We Monsters readied our defense. We planned on firing a barrier of explosive shots. It was a joke but one we needed. We planned to die with our boots on. The Migs dived, but four F-18 Superhornets arrived. The air battle ended in a lopsided dusting of the Migs with the F-18’s barrel rolling over the top of us with attitude. Yeah, we were howling and waving like a bunch of second day boot-camps. When our military is allowed to perform, they do exceptionally well. None of this crap would be necessary if our idiots in charge would allow us to win at all cost. After President Truman saw our casualty figures defeating the Japanese at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, he then unleased hell on earth to win the war before any more of our people died. In doing so, he saved the lives of countless numbers on both sides. Winning a war is hell with an ending. Fighting a war without winning is unending hell. I enjoyed my Monster thoughts after watching the most powerful military on earth make a statement with an ending for a change.

We docked our battle boats for Alexi’s tanker ‘The Roma’ to transport to the states for us. Alexi made instant arrangements for flying our captives with Seal Team guards by private plane from Khasab for incarceration back in the good old USA, and then on to hopefully Gitmo. We had all their info. Anyone getting out by Presidential decree or other traitorous act would die at first sighting. Iran could prove or complain about nothing without admitting they plotted to hijack the Starlight of the Seas. They knew we had Khan and Mannan. By the time we reached port, Lynn owned those two dogs. She knew all their contacts in Iran. Dr. Deville had the boys call home to their contacts with one message – they would talk.

Laredo flew us back on board the Starlight for the last few days of the cruise. The reunions were wonderful. We didn’t bother asking permission to bring Tonto along. He was one happy dog. The passengers avoided us. Nick received an official complaint from the entertainment director’s office about some guy named Charlie. He did his book signings and we all lived a few days of bliss where no thought about terrorists entered into thoughts at all. We stayed on board at the final port visit on the cruise itinerary. Denny informed us the video added by Jafar to the State Department’s answer to Iran’s formal complaint with confessions by reformed terrorist masterminds, Ali Khan and Joram Mannan, shut them the hell up. The Port of Chabahar destruction drew a host of complaints from other countries, because the reconstruction cost for the deep water port would be significant. The enablers in India were also given a video of what they enabled Iran to do by financing Chabahar. They shut the hell up too.

Nick hosted a party in his royal suite for all of us. Only the minions stayed with the Sea Wolf and Valkyrie for the voyage home aboard Alexi’s tanker as they did in transport. I’d make things right with them. I planned to send the minions on an all-expense paid super luxury cruise anywhere in the world they wanted to go with their families. Lucas and Tommy bunked in with me, Lora, and Al. Tonto, of course, stayed with Clint, Lynn, Dannie, and Amara. Gusti, our superlative concierge, fixed the interrogation cabin in first class condition for Dev and Jess to share. Nick’s partner Gus reunited with his wife Tina in Nick’s suite for the remainder of the voyage. We had great food, drink, and twin hot tubs on the huge balcony. The two story suite was magnificent.

Denny made sure our team received VIP handling for all our gear, baggage, and people. Security personnel all along the way ushered us around after our return to the departure port in Dubai. Only one minor altercation occurred while we were all in the VIP lounge in Dubai. Three nitwits in suits disparaged the way our women dressed and behaved, along with complaining about Tonto. We did not cage Tonto for the trip back. He went with us everywhere. They tried approaching Samira first but ran into Lynn’s smiling countenance with Tonto at her side. After all we’d been through, it was a lighthearted moment ending the second Tonto growled in his patented ‘Hell Hound’ imitation at Lynn’s direction to ‘show them your teeth, Tonto’.

In the states, Laredo and I handled air transportation to our private hangar. Nick, Rachel, Gus, Tina, John, Cala, Jean, and Sonny opted for a stretch limo ride down to Pacific Grove. Gus’s Valkyrie copilot, Issac Leon, accompanied them for a visit. The kids exchanged pledges to stay in touch. After hearing about Rachel’s expertise at spotting, I added her into my mental list of people to be counted on. Our ladies bonded into best friends as they shared being bonded with Monsters. The rest of us settled through the jet lag at our respective homes, happy as hell to be back. I waited the usual few days before annoying Tommy.

“Hey, T. I’m thinking about a Monster party over at The Warehouse.”