Butler Did It! (28 page)

<<>>

“I understand you intend to raid
Levasseur’s compound.” Kobi said as he pushed his way through the
assembled redshirts loading the Rusty Duck. “I must go with you,
the artifacts are my responsibility.” 

Trask stepped between Kobi and the
boat, blocking the smaller man’s way.

“Well, I know Doc said you’re good to
go, but I don’t want any amateurs endangering my team. Can you
handle yourself in a fight?”

“Mr. Trask, I have been fighting
heavily armed poachers for the last ten years. I’ve seen plenty of
combat,” said Kobi as he reached out and pulled Trask’s automatic
from its holster. He immediately checked the load, jacked a
cartridge into the chamber, took the weapon off safety and fired at
a clump of floating seaweed highlighted by the light shining
through the open bow doors. A spout of water marked its
annihilation. Kobi re-set the safety and returned the weapon to
Trask.

“Sighted seaweed. Sank same,” Trask
quipped, as he turned to one of his security staff. “Get this man a
weapon. He’s going to need it.”

<<>>

Katharine waited with the rest of the
crew, hoping every minute to hear that Tommy and Butler were safe.
She heard the report about the fate of the Ambigu as soon as it
came through, as well as Trask’s orders. Scant minutes later she
was on the cargo deck watching Trask organize his raiding
party.

Katherine knew she could never persuade
Trask to allow her to come on this mission, but she was determined
to go, one way or another. The man who had Kobi’s treasure also had
her underwater camera with the pictures of the Coelacanth. She had
to get aboard.

Taking advantage of the crew’s
preoccupation with loading the Duck, she climbed up a boarding
ladder hanging off the stern, crawled just forward of the cockpit,
and rolled under a bench. Grabbing a tarpaulin, she pulled it over
herself.

If I can avoid discovery until we
are on our way, Trask will have to let me come
. She
rationalized.

Ten heavily armed men clambered onto
the Rusty Duck, and quietly seated themselves as best as they could
on the overcrowded craft.

The pilot gunned the throttle.
Enveloped in a blue haze of diesel exhaust, the Duck drove off the
loading ramp into the choppy waves.

“Listen up,” Trask announced, “our
objective is to find, secure, and return with one Alexander
Levasseur. Mr. Butler has designated a beach a quarter mile down
the coast from Levasseur’s compound as our landing site. We will
rendezvous with him for a sit-rep. After that, he and Tommy will
guide us to our quarry.”

“About two hours ago we sent a camera
drone over our target and took a few images,” he said passing out a
handful of printed photographs to his crew. “As you can see in the
photographs...” Trask began. The assault team, anticipating a
lengthy briefing, settled in. Katherine stifled a grunt as the man
sitting above her unexpectedly kicked at the tarp; striking
Katherine in the process. Her breathless gasp escaped the notice of
all, except one.

Chan’s head immediately swiveled toward
the sound, and his eyes stared into the shadow under the bench,
pinpointing Katherine as she peered from behind the tarp. He
casually touched his index finger to his lips, conveying in one
conspiratorial gesture,
I know you are there, and I’m not going
to give you away.

“…
about two hundred feet
west of the gate is a guard barrack,” Trask rattled on. “We know
that there will probably be from ten to fifteen guards in the
compound. With luck, half of them will be asleep, drunk, or in
town. Remember, all of them are well-trained mercenaries. Also,
remember that Levasseur has two women as his personal bodyguards.
Both are stone-cold killers. Assume that everyone you meet is as
skilled as you are. They will kill you without hesitation, so don’t
give them a chance.”

<<>>

Within an hour, the pilot quietly
beached the Rusty Duck next to the Dolphin on a moonlit beach west
of Levasseur’s compound. Trask and his team gathered on the beach
looking for Tommy and Butler.

From out of the nearby underbrush came
the highly recognizable warble of Tommy Cooper.

“HOOT, HOOT”

“YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. THAT IS
THE WORST BARN OWL I’VE EVER HEARD.”

“FOR YOUR INFORMATION, IT WASN’T A BARN
OWL, IT WAS A LOON.”

“IT SURE WAS.”

Matthew Butler and Tommy emerged from
the underbrush, still arguing over fowl birdcalls.

“Ready for a little party?” Butler
asked, falling into step with Trask and his team. “Follow me,” he
directed, leading the assault team through the dark underbrush
toward the compound’s perimeter wall.

In a sheltered clearing near the wall,
Butler knelt in the dirt and drew a detailed map of the compound.
“This is a path winding up from the dock to the house.” He
explained, as he pointed to locations on the map.

“The house has three entrances. The
east side entrance leads to a large garage. The main entrance opens
on a circular drive that heads south toward the gate. The west
entrance to the house leads to a swimming pool, and beyond the
pool, the helicopter pad.”

“There are two guards on the gate, and
I figure a half dozen off duty in the guard barracks about one
hundred yards beyond. We spotted four more guards on what looks
like two-man roving patrols. It takes them about twenty minutes to
make a full circuit of the compound.”

Trask thought for a moment and then
said, “Squad A will take care of the gate and barracks, and I will
lead squad B against the roving patrols and the garage.” Turning to
Butler, Trask said, “Since you know what Levasseur looks like, you,
Chan, Tommy and Kobi will assault the house.”

“What about the chopper?”

Tommy stepped forward. “I’ve got it…”
seeing the question in Butler’s expression, Tommy said, “Trust me,
I’ve got it.”

With military efficiency, the team
proceeded to scale the compound wall and drop silently to the other
side, before separating into the three designated
groups.

Hearing the men move off into the
distance, Katherine crawled from beneath the bench. She could
easily see that the men’s trail lead away into the
underbrush.

Katherine thought to herself
, if I
follow them into the underbrush, I’ll get lost for sure, but if I
follow the beach, I’ll eventually get to the dock and the path to
the house
. Taking off her boat shoes, she briskly set off along
the tide line.

<<>>

As soon as they arrived at the house,
Butler quietly led the way through the kitchen door and along the
hallway toward the living room. They could hear several voices in
animated conversation.

Chan whispered in Matthew’s ear. “Give
me two minutes to flank them.” In seconds, he had disappeared down
a hall.

Peering through a gap in the door,
Matthew could just see Levasseur and his companion, Simon Njuguna,
in the front room, along with Elke and Eva. Levasseur and Njuguna
appeared to be admiring a small golden statue. Both men were
talking at the same time, and Njuguna was waving his arms in bold
gestures.

“On the count of three,” Butler
whispered to Kobi.

Butler and Kobi burst through the door
with their pistols drawn. Elke and Eva’s reactions were inhumanly
fast. In milliseconds, the twins went from casual interest in the
conversation to full defensive mode. Two Glock automatics held
Butler and Kobi in their sights.

For a brief eternity, no one spoke, no
one moved, no one breathed.

“Well, this is awkward.” Butler
declared, analyzing the situation. “I think what we have here is a
Mexican Standoff.”

As each waited for the other to make a
move, Katherine suddenly stumbled into the room and stopped
directly between Butler and Levasseur, commandeering the attention
of everyone.

Pointing at Levasseur, she demanded,
“Give me my camera, you son-of-a-bitch!”

“Do you mean this, my dear?” Levasseur
purred, pointing to Katharine’s camera sitting in the middle of his
desk. Despite their training, everyone in the room followed
Levasseur’s finger instead of covering everyone else. It was
classic magician’s misdirection, and it worked beautifully for
nearly three seconds.

Butler yelled a warning, but it was too
late. Levasseur leapt toward Katherine and spun her around, pinning
her arm up behind her back. Using her as a shield, he backed toward
his desk and grabbed a letter opener, which he held against her
jugular.

He turned to Butler, “Drop your weapons
or I’ll cut her throat.”

Just then, the sharp echoing sound of
gunfire erupted in the compound; the unmistakable sound of an
AK-47.

“That would be my guards removing your
backup,” Levasseur gloated.

Immediately afterwards, the more muted,
but faster cycling sound of several M-16s drowned out the
AK-47.

“And that is my backup kicking your
guards’ butts,” returned Butler. Keeping their pistols aimed at
Elke and Eva, Matthew and Kobi began to edge toward Levasseur. In
the distance, the sounds of gunfire continued
sporadically.

“This doesn’t change anything. Drop
your weapons now or I will kill her!” Levasseur
threatened.

Thinking quickly, Matthew took Kobi’s
pistol from him, added his own and tossed both weapons into the
nearby tank of Moray Eels.

This way they can’t use them against
us
, he thought. It was the second instance of magician’s
misdirection and it worked for about the same amount of time, just
long enough for a silent attack.

From the darkness behind Elke and Eva,
Chan suddenly materialized. Leaping into the air, the Pelican’s
martial arts master slammed one foot into the nearest twin;
knocking her into her sister. The two women fell, one on top of the
other, with such force that their weapons spun out of their hands.
Pushing themselves off each other, the pair eagerly assumed a
martial stance. Chan’s eyes lit up with glee as he squared off
against the two blonde women, each of them nearly a foot taller
than himself.

Xander, livid at the sudden disarming
of his bodyguards, reeled as he tried to adapt to the changing
situation. His hand shook, causing a tiny nick on the delicate skin
of Katherine’s throat.

Seeing a trickle of blood seep down
Katharine’s neckline, Butler decided to gamble on a
strategy.

“Don’t worry, Katharine, it’s only a
little scratch, you’ll still be able to sing.”

Sing?
Thought Katharine,
I’ve
a lunatic at my throat and he’s making jokes about
singing?

Even Xander looked puzzled. Suspicious,
he pulled harder on her arm, forcing Katherine up onto her
toes.

Suddenly hope and understanding washed
over Katherine.

Sing!
She thought.
Hell yes,
I can sing.
Enthusiastically following the routine she had
learned from Sandra Bullock’s movie, Katharine swung her free elbow
into Xander’s solar plexus, as hard as she could.

S is for Solar Plexus
. She
thought.
I is for instep.
She brought her heel down hard on
his foot.
N is for nose,
and he’s got a big one, she slammed
the back of her head into his face, crushing the cartilage. The
letter opener fell from Xander’s hand as he screamed in pain.
Dropping to her knees, Katharine spun around, yelling; “And G is
for Groin!” She punched with all her strength directly into his
jewels.

<<>>

Kobi’s focus was on Simon Njuguna from
the moment he and Butler had rushed through the door. The instant
Simon saw Kobi emerge from the shadows, his jaw dropped and his
face went gray. He began visibly shaking, his panicked look
accompanied by eyes that darted left and right.

He’s going to run,
thought
Kobi.

Just as Katherine started her ‘SING’
attack, Simon showed his cowardice by grabbing the golden statue
and bolting into the dining room behind him. Kobi ignored
everything else and gave chase.

Simon skirted a large dining-room table
and raced through a set of double doors into a well-equipped
professional kitchen. Kobi nearly caught him, but Simon, hearing
Kobi’s footsteps, spun around once he was through the doors and
slammed them back at Kobi as he entered. Kobi was able to block
much of the force of the blow, but one door clipped him on the side
of the head hard enough to knock him down and stun him for several
seconds. That left Simon just enough time to run to the far end of
a long steam table and cast about for a weapon. A ladle caught his
eye as a grimacing Kobi burst into the kitchen holding his ear.
Setting the statue on the countertop, Simon quickly grabbed the
ladle and threw it as hard as he could. Having poor aerodynamics,
the ladle curved to the left and clatter ineffectively on the
floor.

“Hello cousin.” Kobi said through
clenched teeth.