Authors: Sid K
The Storm Maker
THE
STORM MAKER
SID K
Copyright © 2015 Sid K
This story is a work of
fiction. All names, characters, places, events, persons are fictional and
product of author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or
dead, places and events is purely coincidental.
Front Cover
Image purchased from http://www.fausga.com/
Back
Cover Image(S) used under license from Shutterstock.com
All
rights reserved.
ISBN: 1514841355
ISBN-13: 978-1514841358
Chapter 2 – it’s all about the cash
chapter 4 – colonel and constellar
chapter 9 – hitman and enforcer
chapter 10 – the house of banks
chapter 11 – the investigation
chapter 18 – the rangers’ gambit
chapter 20 – the clouds on the
horizon
chapter 21 – the gathering storm
chapter 22 – into the eye of the
storm
chapter 23 – the battle of tower
02/02/958
The
car hurtled up the winding hill, the driver paying careful attention to the
roadside to avoid running the car over the cliff. However that danger was moot,
because a strong and wide steel bar cordoned off the road from the valley
below. There was no traffic as it was a privately owned road on a privately
owned hill. Meanwhile Vanx Uttr sat in the back seat lost in his own thoughts.
His
presence had been requested by the owner of this hill who owned the
fortress-like mansion atop. Although ‘requested’ would have been a nice way to
put it, the man thought. Demanded would be a more appropriate description. No
other man in the country could have made this demand.
This
was a secret trip for the passenger. Usually he traveled with the entourage of
at least two police cars, one in front and the other behind, and his own armed
bodyguards as well. But this was to be a totally secret meeting and his host
would not appreciate him bringing any security along with him, nor would he let
them into his home.
The
man took a cigar from the compartment on the back of the driver’s seat, lit it
up and relaxed back in the seat. The elections were just nine months away and
his host, as the biggest financier by far of his party, was sure to use that
fact to extract great favors from him. Party Leader Vanx Uttr was the founder
of the Ranx Rejuvenation Party, which held the largest number of seats in the
Ranx Assembly and formed the government as the leading party in the alliance.
Today he was going to meet the man who had made his party what it was.
His
car finally reached the top of the hill and stopped in front of a steel gate,
fifteen feet tall and wide enough for two cars to pass at once. Two armed
guards stood outside. There were two flood lights on the top of the gate on
either side. Both beams converged on the car as one of the guards walked up to
it. Vanx rolled down his window and when the guard saw his face he saluted him,
and said, ”Go ahead, sir; Boss is waiting for you.” He motioned for the other
guard to open the gate.
As
the car passed through the gate Vanx got a better view of the forty-odd room
mansion that was built like an armed fortress from the olden days. But where
the fortresses of the old were made out of rock, this was made of steel.
Surrounding the gate on all the sides and enclosing the mansion was a ten-foot
tall steel wall with flood lights spaced out in even distance. The road leading
from the gate to the entrance was lined with trees on both sides, although they
were not as visible now in the night.
Vanx’s
driver pulled the car to in front of the entrance where an attendant opened the
door for Vanx Uttr and led him into the house. Inside was a big hall with
marble floors, chandeliers and paintings on all the walls. But his host was not
here; the attendant led him to an elevator and left him there. Vanx knew where
he had to go and pressed the button for the third floor. He saw his host when
he exited into a smaller room.
Boss
Hantex Rut was a fifty two year old man presently dressed in a finely tailored
light blue suit and matching pants and wearing polished black shoes. He had a
fluffy full head of white hair, a rectangular face and a chin that had started
to sag a little. He was wearing square sunglasses and was smoking a cigar when
Vanx walked into the room.
The
room itself was divided in two parts, the right half of the room had a long
dinner table but there were no chairs around it, as it had been converted into
a planning desk by the boss. The boss was sitting on the side of the table in
the only chair in the room. The left half of the room was completely empty but
the left wall had a few pieces of expensive artwork hanging from them. The boss
made no attempt to find a chair for Vanx.
“How
is the party doing?” Boss Hantex asked.
“Same
as usual,” Vanx replied as he walked up to Hantex and stood a few feet in front
of him. He felt awkward standing there and facing Hantex as if he was just
another one of his employees, but he realized that was probably how Hantex
thought of him.
“Election
time is coming,” Hantex said.
“Somehow
I don’t think you have invited me here to talk about the elections,” Vanx said.
“Of
course not,” Hantex said, “It’s about the deal we made a long time ago. I am
calling in the favors.”
“So
you are pretty sure that you are going to follow through with this plan of
yours?” Vanx asked.
“Not
the kind of man to weave empty webs in the air, am I,” Hantex said. “You should
know this by now.”
“Building
a big business is one thing,” Vanx said, walking to the table. “You are talking
a covert war here.”
“You
think the Sanguine Empire was built on peace?” Hantex asked. “If we are going
to establish ourselves as the true heirs to Sanguine Empire we are going to
have wage relentless war.”
“A
war against the Starfire Nation?” Vanx said startled. “That was not part of our
agreement. Do you realize we have roughly one-fifth of their military
strength?”
“That
is all taken care of,” Hantex said, “No one will know that the Ranx State is
behind my project till it’s fully operational and the Starfire nation has been
forced to surrender.”
“That
depends on whether this super-weapon of yours can even work,” Vanx said.
“It
is nearing completion,” Hantex said. “One more month and I will be ready to
carry out my first test. I have spent the last two years and half of my wealth
to see this project through and now it is bearing fruit.”
“Half
of your wealth?” Vanx was amazed. He began pacing back and forth.
“But
that is just between you and me,” Hantex said, “I want everyone to think I am
still a billionaire.”
“But
what do you want from me then?” Vanx asked. “Looks like you have everything
under control and taken care of.”
“I
need Ranx Rangers to provide protection for my project,” Hantex said. “And for
some other work that I can’t disclose right now. Some of them may die though.”
“What?”
Vanx was startled. “What in the world are you planning, fellow?”
“Do
you think we can have a war and men won’t die?” Hantex asked. “But forget that,
you give me what I need. When the project goes live, it will need protection,
at least initially when it will be vulnerable. And I need spies for that type
of work as well. Give me Suka Manx and one thousand of his Ranx Rangers and
give me one entire operational team of Eye of The Ranx.”
“That
won’t do, Hantex; you cannot be serious,” Vanx said, “Our best soldiers as well
as our spy team in your project? That would be enough cause for the Starfire
Nation to declare war on us.”
“That
is for the final stage of the project,” Vanx said. “It won’t be long now. We
had agreed to this earlier and you can’t turn into a chicken now. I am already
in talks with Suka Manx and he is on the same page.”
“What
business do you have suborning the officers of the state?” Vanx asked angrily.
“Suka
Manx is a patriot,” Hantex replied. “He would never agree to something that
wasn’t in our country’s best interest. He also has guts, something your party
seems to have lost.”
“Even
if I agree, I will have to convince Mr. Tonex Jut,” Vanx said. “As the State
Minister he is the only one with the authority to give the orders to both the
army and the spy department.”
“Give
me a break.” Hantex became agitated and leaned forward in his chair. “You are
the party leader. If he refuses, throw his ass out on the street and install
some more pliant stooge as the state minister.”
Vanx
did not say anything to that.
“If
you don’t want to see the Banker’s own bitches and bastards come to power next
election, you will do as I tell you to,” Hantex said. “Otherwise, not only
will I give you no more money, I will throw my hat behind the Banker. Our
combined financial power will see your party eating the dust and winning only
two seats as you did before I became your savior.”
“Alright,”
Vanx said, “I will talk to the state minister.”
Vanx
was miffed to receive an open threat, but he had no other option. The Banker
was the richest man in Ranx Nation and bankroller of their rival the National
Growth Party. The NGP had been in power for twenty years before the Ranx
Rejuvenation Party had defeated it five years ago. RRP was formed twenty-two
years ago, but in the elections held twenty and fifteen years back, it had won
no more than two seats each time. Then Hantex had agreed to provide them with
huge funding to allow it to go toe to toe with the NGP. It had then won thirty
four seats ten years ago and ninety one seats five years ago, the last outcome
finally allowed it to form the government with two minor parties.
Summary
of Ranx Election Results
: Last 25 Years
Total
Seats:
225
Seats
needed to form Government
: 113
Party | National Growth Party [NGP | Ranx Rejuvenation Party [RRP] | RRP Allies | Rest |
25Yrs. | 130 | - | - | 95 |
20 | 126 | 2 | - | 97 |
15 | 129 | 2 | - | 94 |
10 | 115 | 34 | - | 76 |
5 | 78 | 91 | 26 | 30 |
There
was one other dramatic option; he could have ‘The Boss,’ as Mr. Hantex was
known, arrested for subversion. But that was dangerous; the Banker would smell
opportunity and start making offers to other minor parties including his
party’s allies; Hantex would do the same from the jail. Their combined offers
of money could result in the fall of their government. He could not even put
off the possibility that the Banker and the Boss could bribe the army generals
to stage a coup. Vanx had to accept the Boss’ demand now and buy some time to
think further.
“Pleased
with you now,” Hantex said. “We will make history books.”
“I
am curious,” Vanx said. “How did you come to know about the possibility of this
super-weapon?”
“From
the two Polar Powers themselves,” Hantex said smiling, “You do remember two
years ago Starfire and Narducats were on the verge of their third war with the
atomic weapons lurking in the background. Fortunately for them, they negotiated
and climbed down from the war stance and they signed the Treaty of Wizardton.”
“I
remember that. It was officially called the Starfire–Narducat Atomic Arms
Control Treaty, signed in the town of Wizardton,” Vanx said. “We even had a
whole meeting on that and an expert on international law explained the treaty
to our party and government leaders.”
“Apparently
not well enough,” Hantex chuckled, “It was more than twenty-three thousand pages
long and it talked about limiting the number of atomic weapons and the
verification and communication and it went on and on about all sorts of
technical details. I read that whole thing. Page by page with a pen in my hand.
And I struck gold. Despite the name, the treaty wasn’t just about the atomics,
it also included many other issues that they had negotiated and agreed on. One
of them was the advanced arms section—speculative weapons that scientists in
either country were experimenting with. The most exciting amongst them were the
Storm Weapons. Oh sure, they buried that deep inside the treaty, I don’t
remember the exact page, but somewhere between page fifteen hundred and
eighteen hundred was the discussion on that, in the most vague and ambiguous terms.
Both had agreed to stop further experiments and developments. I decided to pick
up where they left off, and I have been busy working on that for the past two
years.”
“Well,
I don’t know what to say,” Vanx said.
“You
just talk to your man and get me what I have asked for,” Hantex said, “And I
shall make our country the Imperial Ruler of the whole world; what Sanguine and
Narducat Empires could not do, we will do.”
