Cold Blooded Assassin Book 6: Red Horizon (Nick McCarty Assassin) (8 page)

“The birds love me, Payaso. Don’t be a hater.”

Chapter Three

Carone

Quinn laughed in Rachel’s arms as she held him aloft to watch Johnny throw bits of bread into the air, surrounded by a flock of beach birds hovering for snacks. Jean, Sonny, and Deke maneuvered around him while staying far enough away to keep from interfering with the feeding. Deke in particular acted entranced with the bird feeding as always, staying slightly behind Jean’s leg, while peeking at the chaotic scene.

“I don’t think Deke ever will get used to the flying rats,” Gus said. “I swear… every day we accompany the birdman from the sand out here, the swarm grows in numbers.”

“You’re probably right, but the kids love it as much as Johnny does,” Nick said. “There’s so many now, I keep expecting them to attack like in the Alfred Hitchcock movie ‘The Birds’.”

“That movie is creepy,” Tina added. “It gives me chills watching him. I’m like Gomez. I keep waiting for them to start poking his eyes out.”

“The birds know him so well now, if he ever comes to the beach without food, they will surely attack,” Cala remarked.

Jean pointed at an approaching vehicle. “Police car, Dad.”

Nick sighed while taking one last long sip of his spiked coffee. He didn’t look around. “Is it slowing down?”

“Yep,” Rachel answered while playing with Quinn as she glanced toward the street. “It stopped. Neil got out. He’s waving.”

Gus took Nick’s cup. “I’ll be back.”

Nick trekked to where Neil waited. “Hello, Officer Dickerson. How may I assist you?”

Neil gestured at the squad car. “Let’s talk in the car, Nick.”

“Do you want me in the front or the back?”

“Very funny.”

Inside the vehicle Neil waited for Nick to begin the conversation. Nick kept smiling. “Aren’t you going to say something?”

“I texted you the details. What else would you like?”

“A professional assassin contracted by a mobster living on a ‘Mother Ship’ was sent to ace me because his boss, Fernando Carone, wants to build a port connection for illegal trafficking. You found him before he did it. Want to tell me how?”

“Can’t. I only told you about the hitter because until I get Carone shut down, you’ll be in danger. Those ‘bangers being released today, Nano Calista and Doug Morgan, were part of Jay Park’s crew. Carone sent them all in to test the waters for his port plot.”

“Their lawyer, Lance Botorf died yesterday too. His secretary found him early this morning. It seems he died in his sleep. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you, Nick?”

“Why ask me that, Neil? I’ve went over the details of everything you should be concerned with. Let’s focus on going forward. I can’t watch for all the ‘bangers who show up in town, hoping to create extortion rackets and drug outlets. You know now to be observant when strange hoodie idiots frequent the town. We’ll move on Carone as soon as possible. He’s dangerous in more than a few ways.”

“You saved my life again. I know that. Calista and Morgan have already been released. Is there anything else you’d like me to do?”

“Nope. We’re good right now. I may ask you to keep an eye on my homestead soon. Gus, Johnny, Cala, and I will be traveling into the Tahoe area for a time. It’s undecided whether I’ll be taking my family or not.”

“I can do that. What’s with calling Groves, Johnny, and did you three cartoons draft Cala?”

“We’ve been collaborating with another team in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their leader’s named John Harding. Johnny loved that robot movie, called-”

“Short Circuit… Johnny Five?” Neil took a moment to enjoy that piece of information. “That…that’s good stuff. I’ve seen John Harding fight in the UFC. Is it the same guy?”

“The very same, and Cala requested a more active role. She’s taking piloting lessons. Cala also has a few other impressive skills.”

“Things seem to be heating to a boiling point around here since you all went on that ill-fated cruise. Did you partner with Harding’s crew on that action? I read where it was heavy combat with pirates.”

“It was heavy combat with Iran backed Isis assholes. There were no survivors… at least on their side. I have a morning’s relaxation to get back to, Neil. Thanks for letting me know about the two ‘bangers being released.”

“No problem. They gave us an address in Salinas. It’s a known gang hangout. I’ll text it to you. They had money for a taxi, so no one met them when they left. I didn’t know if you’d want them followed or not. Now that I know about Carone, maybe I should have.”

“We’ll stay alert. Until Carone’s taken care of, we’ll have to be on guard 24/7. See you later, Neil.”

“Until then.” Neil gave Nick a small wave before getting in his squad car.

Nick rejoined his crew, relating to them the news about Calista and Morgan. Johnny had finished the bird feeding. Jean and Sonny were walking along the coastal path with Deke as Nick sat down. Gus indicated he had the kids on com. “The cops found the lawyer already. I warned Neil to be on his guard until we fix the Carone problem.”

Rachel handed Nick a refilled Irish coffee. “We’re lucky to have Neil.”

“Or he’s lucky to have us,” Gus replied. “Nick’s already saved his bacon numerous times. He’s on the pad.”

“There’s only so much he can do. He knows many times we have actionable intelligence about national security problems. Grace left a text wondering about fallout after the ‘Starlight’ at sea action. I’ll let her and Tim know about our Carone problem. It would be interesting to know if the DOJ has ears on Carone’s ship, Tempest.”

“What’s on for the rest of the day, Muerto,” Johnny asked.

“I’m thinking a cruise possibly tomorrow. With The Tempest parked only five miles off of Point Lobos, we could empty the freezer, and see if we can spot Carone’s pleasure craft.”

Gus leaned forward in his beach chair with an earnest look. “I’ve studied pictures of Carone’s super yacht. It’s magnificent. Is there any way we could confiscate it, Muerto?”

“I don’t know, Gus. Mostly, we can’t spend what we do have without attracting the attention of our government. We have the money to buy one or custom make one of those super yachts. To stay under government radar we had to get special permission to get a helicopter through government channels beginning in the CIA Director’s Office, and that was with us paying for it. It’s the money that will be our undoing. I can talk to John Harding. They have an escape island. If we could pull it off, John might let us build a pier to accommodate it.”

“It’s a waste,” Tina said. “You cartoons would turn it into a battleship anyway.”

“Stay out of this, T-Rex,” Cala said. “It would be beautiful going on cruises in our own yacht. By the way… who are you calling a cartoon?”

“Oh… I forgot you’ve become a cartoon too,” Tina retorted. “What was it they call you… Clammy or Crabby… something like that?”

Cala giggled. “Good one, T. Let’s do it if we can, Muerto. Think of having our own super yacht. Gus mentioned it’s 240 feet long. Doesn’t that take a lot of professional crewmembers?”

Gus nodded with a sigh. “That’s the drawback. Most are automated to a point they nearly run themselves. A full crew would probably be about seventy members and more, depending on if the yacht can be chartered to the wealthy or not. On a stationary ‘Mother Ship’ that moves only rarely, a skeleton crew of around fifteen would be about right. Maybe crewing with John Harding’s people would be close to the only way we could go on a cruise safely. Even if we hired Issac on a permanent basis, we would need a lot more people. Vetting them to sail with us would be nearly impossible. I could train all of you, but we’d still need Harding’s people too. It’s probably a bad idea.”

“Don’t discount it yet. I’ll talk to John and see what he thinks,” Nick said. “It would mean an armed assault on the boat against nearly twenty killers. I had planned a full on kill mission. I would mine the ship to blow. After the explosions, we would move in for weapons free destruction until nothing was left. An armed assault to take the ship would mean a bloody battle or my getting on board with some form of toxic gas after everyone is asleep, depending on sentries. I would have to kill them first from long range before going on board with the gas. It would be a tricky mission for one guy.”

“You and John mined Port Chabahar together,” Johnny said. “The Tempest is a three decker nightmare to assault, especially crewed by killers. I think it’s a bad idea, Muerto.”

“Did you just insult me, Johnny?”

That drew laughter from even Rachel. Gus was the first to speak. “When Muerto went on board to end Jason Bidwell and Max Stoddard, he rigged the whole thing by himself, including the interrogations. After that gig, if Muerto says he can do it, he will. If the sentries are roving around the inside of the yacht instead of standing watch, they’ll be tough to spot.”

“I’ll talk to John. As you pointed out about the crew, we may not have enough able-bodied people to sail a yacht the size of The Tempest. What if we took care of the crew and flew on our own crew of professionals to sail the yacht to ‘Monster Island’. They wouldn’t know what happened to the crew. You could captain your new vessel to the island then, Payaso. I can use CIA people through Paul to make ‘The Tempest’ under a completely different registry. We’ll create a dummy corporation to be the front desk owners of the yacht.”

“Damn, Muerto… that’s brilliant,” Gus admitted. “Talk to John. We’ll need him on board for this. We’ll need a well-built docking facility. They may already have one built for their own boats. A 240 footer would require a dock far larger than even their ‘Valkyrie’.”

“No harm in finding out. I’ll call John today before we empty the freezer and go hunting for The Tempest tomorrow. Can you prepare our fish food for tomorrow morning, Cleaner?”

“Of course, Muerto,” Cala answered. “Johnny will help me. We’ll be going now though. We need some sleep. Although Johnny has only had one coffee, I am designated driver for Payaso and T-Rex too. Let’s go lushes. We must prepare for our cruise.”

“Don’t you be issuing orders, Nurse Ratchet! Kabong? You need to keep ‘Crabby’ in line. She’s been hanging out with you cartoons too much.”

“My love,” Johnny said, taking Cala’s hand. “Don’t aggravate the T-Rex. She will take it out on Payaso and he’ll whine all day tomorrow.”

“You are right. I am so sorry. Please take your time joining us at the humble Groves mobile,” Cala replied, waving at Nick and Rachel. “See you tomorrow, Muerto.”

“Viper? This is Payaso,” Gus called out on his com unit. “Return to base.”

“Understood, over,” Jean replied in his ear.

“They’re on the way back. Nice morning.” Gus handed his com unit to Nick.

“Yep. It was a good one, Gus. We’ll be a bit busier tomorrow. I’ll let you know later how John feels about our boat plans. Would you like to come along on the cruise, Cousin Itt?”

“About as much as I’d like to be put in a closed box full of Tarantulas, Gomez.”

“A simple no would suffice, Cousin Itt,” Nick replied.

After their friends left, Nick and Rachel relaxed for a few moments while sipping their Irish coffees. They knew it would not take long for Jean, Sonny, and Deke to return.

“Your horror show dance card sounded full, Muerto,” Rachel shifted the sleeping Quinn slightly in her arms. “I’m glad you’ve joined with Harding’s crew on some of this terrorist crap. With all of you sharing threats and information, maybe there can be a lull in this insanity. I figured after the pirate combat and destruction of Chabahar, it would at least give the Muslim horde pause for a couple months.”

Nick thought about Rachel’s words for a moment. He didn’t want to blurt out some feel good talking point to a wife who had spotted for his sniper’s nest in combat. “I’ve given up trying to decipher what our government leading idiots have in mind for us peons. They import terrorists under the guise of human rights in the tens of thousands, positioning them all over the states… I guess so they’ll be ready to massacre us during their final uprising. They constantly try to take away our Second Amendment rights, the only protection we have against them and the invading Islamic plague they’re importing. They use laws they passed without our representation to intimidate anyone standing in opposition to their tyranny. They steal the money we earn, the money we save, and the money they confiscate from our bankrupt Social Security retirement. Worst of all, they give our confiscated money to illegal aliens, terrorist imports, and professional welfare cheats.”

“Damn, Muerto… we should run you for President. If you’d stop killing people for a few years, your checkered past might dip under the radar.”

“Very funny. See, this is why I never answer you with anything other than sarcasm or humor. When I answer you seriously, I get disrespected and discounted.”

Rachel muffled amusement with her hand. “Discounted? You mean like a reduced price Muerto where we only get a couple dollars for a discounted Muerto?”

“You’re mean!”

* * *

Deke sniffed over a varmint hole under the rocks as Jean and Sonny came into sight of Otter’s Point Beach where the coastal path paralleled the road. Jean smiled over at Sonny. They could hear Nick and Rachel laughing.

“What do you think they’re laughing at?”