Horace Goes Home, Book #2 of the Bader Trilogy - Unhappy mob boss.

Today’s excerpt is from Horace Goes Home, Book #2 of Bader Trilogy.  Mob boss gets report he didn’t want to hear.  Enjoy and have a fantastic day. 

m.j.

 

While Maine Bobbitt was getting moved into the Grassi home, a very unhappy Aldo D’Alema was reporting in to Bettino Prudi.  He really didn’t want to make his report—in fact, had delayed it longer than he should have.  “They’re gone.  All three of the jokers I had up there are gone.  Their cars are gone, too…no sign of them.  No sign of any kind of struggle or blood, or anything of the kind.  Just gone.  As far as I’ve been able to find out, they haven’t been arrested.”

“What are you telling me?”

“I don‘t know what I’m telling you, other than they’re gone, and I have no idea how or to where.  I can’t believe they lost their nerve and just split…but I have no idea what might have happened.”

“What do you propose to do?”

“Again, I have no idea.  The one I had up there first was dug in real well.  I don’t see how anybody on the ranch could have spotted him.  I knew about where he was going to put the other two—same deal.  Information on this whole deal is hard to come by…nothing on the streets.  I’ve got good men checking.  They’re coming up empty.  There’s no buzz about what the cops are doing—or this NCIS outfit, or the FBI.  All I do know is the FBI went through Longfellow’s office with a fine-tooth comb. 

“The new dick, Bergmann, is in place, but not rushing to make a bunch of changes.  But I hear he’s a solid cop, who will undo some of our good work in placing a few guys in the detective branch of LAPD.  I’ve been told he’ll weed them out eventually.  I’ve talked to a couple of our best men, and they say there’s no way to get to Bergmann.  He’s straight arrow.  I’d bet we never get anyone into Homicide.  The new boss there is a spook, but he’s supposed to be on the up-and-up, too.  Also, of course, there’s Bader and his brother-in-law, Evans.  Those two may have more money through their wives than I have—even though you take good care of me.  They evidently were the two—along with Bergmann and the black cop, Wilcox—who got rid of Cartwright.  Speaking of him—Cartwright, he’s disappeared from sight, too.”

“Aldo, my friend, you are supposed to be able to keep up with these things.  You seem to be at a total loss.  Are you getting too old to handle your job?”

D’Alema, who was forty-eight, sighed, “I hope not.  But I do admit I’m at a total loss now.  The only thing that even runs through my mind—besides offing Sgroi and Mosello—is to take out Bader.  He seems to be the glue holding Homicide together.  In addition, he evidently has an excellent relationship with this NCIS bunch, as well as the FBI.  But offin’ a cop is not the best of ideas—especially one as well-liked and well-connected as this guy.  The other thing we still don’t know for sure is if this wino Horace is even at the damned ranch.”

“No, let’s not be doing any cops.  That draws too much heat.  But I do want this damned Horace jerk.  You got anybody else to put out there to watch the ranch?”

“Yeah—I can do that.”

 

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Whodunit Did It, Book #1 of the Bader Trilogy - Elmer on way to Berlin. (And flashback to Asps Series as they refuel at a certain secret SAS base.)

Today’s excerpt is from Whodunit Did It, Book #1 of Bader Trilogy.  Elmer, Greg, and Ruth on way to Berlin make a stop in England for fuel.  Elmer tells Reggie about their treatment during a refueling stop (it was at the secret SAS base the Asps often used). Enjoy and have a wonderful day. 

m.j.

 

Reggie asked about the flight.  Elmer replied, “Oh, great.  This plane is plush—we’ve been treated like heroes of some sort for our mission. 

“First we stopped for refueling at Scott Air Force base outside St. Louis, then Greg called a number he was given to get us refueled in England.  We stopped at some evidently top-secret base there.  Greg called the number, which turned out to be MI6—you know, the British Secret Intelligence Service.  He told them what we were doing.  All of a sudden you’d have thought we were the most important people on the planet.  He said some fella in the background said something about Admiral Crimmins being a Navy SEAL in his younger days, so we should be allowed to land where we did.  You should have seen the hard cases all over the place. 

“While we were refueling, standing around out of the plane stretching our legs, a bunch of them came by in full gear.  Not a one of them looked like he had an ounce of fat.  They were all carrying sniper cases.  I’ve seen a few of those in my day.  Then there was this C-130 doing touch and goes—man, what a pilot.  I mentioned to a guy refueling our plane that the pilot sure know his stuff.  This Brit told me it wasn’t a guy, but a woman—a Yank.  Said she had a bit of age on her, because she had been flying that particular plane, which had been given to the Brits, for ten or fifteen years.  Oh, speaking of her being American, Greg said the guy who suggested we land at the base also sounded like he was American.

“Besides all the stuff at the base, we managed to go over this damned case, from beginning to right now, trying to figure any new angles…including the one Ruth came up with on costumes.  Speaking of which—anything happening on that yet?”

“Yeah, got one rather sound lead.  Called a costume place in Thousand Oaks.  It seems they work with the movie industry, so they have photos of all their stuff.  When their salesman saw our pictures, he was able to pick out two of the disguises for sure.  Told us some of the others may have been sold there, too.  He told me they no longer carried any of them, but the one our killer wore in the jewelry store was the most recent.  They stopped selling it about a year ago.  Anyhow, the owner—who would be able to help us more—is on vacation in Costa Rica…won’t be back for two weeks.  Alan and I were thinking it might be worth a trip down there.  Maybe when you guys get back we could talk Greg into letting us use his plane to go check the owner out.”

“Nice try, Reggie.   Anything else?”

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Adios, Amigos, Book #9 of the Asps Series - Big time al-Qaida thug is gonna go down.

Today’s excerpt is from Adios, Amigos, Book #9 of the nine-book Asps Series.  The team and friends finalize their plan to take out a high ranking al-Qaida terrorist. Enjoy and have a great day. 

m.j.

 

Jim shook his head.  “No ‘buts.’  But, just to let you know, we’ll be a bit shorthanded.  Dusty and Ike are out of it.  Wounded—hopefully not too bad.  Dusty has a concussion.  Ike took a nasty one to the top of his shoulder.  Jack was working on trying to get the bullet out of his shoulder when we left.  You didn’t mention how many men these guys have available.”

Drew shrugged.  “Only an educated guess at this point, but I’d say around twenty or twenty-five.  We have no idea if Kabul is coming in alone—or with bodyguards or something of the sort.”

“In addition,” Boris added, “we have no idea if he’ll go with them when they go to round up the drunk British team.  If not, it’ll leave fewer at their villa to defend him.”

Maggie joked, “You had to get the SAS and SIS involved as drunks—nice touch.  I’m sure Whitehall would approve…not.”

Drew laughed.  “That would explain why there has been no other activity of a strange sort out of our Embassy.  Seems to fit well with this being a British operation after all.  Tony’s idea—which we applaud, by the way.”

Maggie grinned.  “I’m sure you do.  Okay—as the official SIS Agent on sight, I approve.  In fact, to tell you the truth, I love it.  What about the music?”

Boris smiled.  “Taken care of already.  It’s nice to have some young blood around.  Edgar pulled us up some suitable music using his pod deal, whatever you call it.  At any rate, we have already transferred it to Drew’s laptop, so can play it when needed.”

Bruce shook his head.  “You guys forgot one touch.  Just which of our males can imitate a British accent well enough to fool anyone—even a bunch of terrorists?”

Maggie smiled.  “Ike, for one.  Once when we were doing a little deed together, we got to joking around a bit.  He sounded more like Tony than Tony.”

Bruce sighed.  “Yes, but he’s out of it.  And that’s only one—we need two.”

Drew asked, “He should be able to sit and talk, shouldn’t he?”

Jim nodded.  “Yeah, if Jack okays it.”

Maggie joked, “Jack will okay it.  If need be, I’ll soften him up with some sex.”

Jim muttered, “Would soften anybody up.”

Drew smirked.  “Spoken like a man whose wife is not here.”

Boris grunted.  “Spoken like a man whose wife is not here—but honestly spoken.”

Maggie grinned, then joked, “Always nice to know one has admirers.”

Jim quickly uttered a few sentences with a British accent…words that could have easily been spoken by Sir Alistair, or any other British noble.  When he finished, Bruce nodded.  “Okay, we have our two for that part of it.  Of course we also just lost our best shot.”

Jim asked, “I wondered if you’d ever admit I could outshoot you?”

 

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Father Mulligan, Book #8 of the Asps Series - The Asps after Fugleman.

Today’s excerpt is from Father Mulligan, Book #8 of the nine-book Asps Series.  The raid on the ranch foiled, the Asps are in a plane following the plane the man in charge used to get away.  Enjoy and have a fantastic day. 

m.j.

 

As the two planes continued on a heading for Lincoln, Bruce called Jim to tell him what they were doing—also how the raid on the ranch had been smothered.  Jim joked, “Holly already called about the raid.  Nice work not offing any of those guys.  Good thought to handle them the way you did.  Hector is pissing and moaning about all the new help he now has, but with a smile on his face.  Holly had me tell him most of them are Marines.”

Bruce laughed.  “I’ve got no idea on that score…know one guy, at least, was Army…Special Forces.  Good man…once he learned not to sleep all the damn time when he was supposed to be on duty.”

“What about this Fugleman guy?”

“One of his planes headed due east.  The one he’s on is angling southeast…somewhere on a line through Missouri—if they go that far.  I’ve got a hunch about it, but we’ll see.  We both know he’ll wind up with asshole Papoulias.”

“Yeah.  Well, keep me informed as you feel like it.  See ya…thanks.”

“For what?  So long.”

Spiro Papoulias was a billionaire several times over…nearly as rich as Jim.  He was a big-time financial power broker for the Democratic Party.  On an earlier mission of the Asps, Jim had managed to get some damning information on Papoulias.  It had caused the President to keep him at more than arms length…after Papoulias had been a welcome visitor to the White House whenever he chose, previous to Jim’s interference.  Papoulias had never forgiven Jim.  He was an evil man at best.   He wanted Jim Scott dead…period.

Knowing full-well what he had been primarily hired for, Hans Fugleman nonetheless wanted Boris Telman dead…almost as much as his boss wanted Jim eliminated.  He knew he should be working out how to take care of his assigned task, since his first two attempts had failed—but the chance to get to Telman’s home while he was in Montana, so he could rig it to explode when the “master spy” returned—was just too good to pass up.  The two men meeting him from their visit to St. Louis were just the two to handle the matter.  Both were experts in explosives.  They also had an ample supply of same safely tucked away in the plane they were in. 

When the plane he was in made preparations to land in Lincoln, Dusty called back to the cabin.  “Looks like Lincoln, Bruce.  Want to follow it down, or just circle around up here?”

Bruce hobbled forward.  When he arrived there, he paused for a few seconds.  “Guess we better go on in.  He changes planes, we should at least know what he’s getting on…damn shame we’ll lose the GPS advantage, though.”

Bonnie asked, “Yes, isn’t it?  I guess you want me to try to follow visually if he does change planes, dear?”

Bruce laughed.  “Yeah…would be nice.   How are you on fuel?”

“Just fine, if we don’t have to go all the way east.  If so, we’ll run short.  Better call ahead to order up some, to have it waiting on us when we get in.”

Dusty nodded.  “I’ll take care of it, Bonnie.”

·          

By the time Bonnie landed her plane, Fugleman had already seen the plane he was hoping would be there waiting for him.  As soon as his plane pulled to a full stop, he went forward to the cockpit.  “You fellows can go on home.  I’m changing planes here.”

 

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Billy's Rescue, Book #7 of the Asps Series - Asps find camp where Billy was held captive, but he isn't there.

Today’s excerpt is from Billy’s Rescue, Book #7 of the nine-book Asps Series.  Asps find camp where Billy had been held, but discover everyone there is dead.  They assume (correctly) that Billy somehow managed to escape and had a hand in blowing up the camp.  Enjoy and have a wonderful day. 

m.j.

 

Now absolutely certain just where the camp was, Dusty led the team toward it, but circled around to the left just a bit.  His reasoning was if any sizable number of terrorists survived the blast, they would come running down from the camp, straight to where the team had been.  He reasoned it was better to engage them from the side instead of head on, thus being able to eliminate several before they realized where the trouble had come from.  While it was well-reasoned out, it also took the team further away from Billy.

The team also picked up their pace considerably, but did so with assurance from Wendy there were no infrared signatures emanating from the camp.  While they weren’t quite running, they were close to it.  They covered the distance to the camp in well under an hour.  When they got to there, one look told them they would find no one alive.  They hurried on in to look over the scene. 

While the rest of the team looked things over, Bruce made the call he had waited on making until he knew more.  He called Glenn Burgess, who was an Assistant Director of The National Clandestine Service at the CIA.  Glenn was Bruce’s immediate supervisor.  “Well, boss man, we’ve got a mess here.  First off, Billy was captured—we’re pretty sure he got away clean.  We’re in the camp, but it isn’t where we were told it would be—it sure as hell isn’t anything like what we were led to believe we’d find.  Furthermore, they were waiting for us.  I want the name of the jackass who ran us into this jackpot…then I’m gonna ring his damn neck.”

“Whoa, whoa—back up a bit.  How was Billy captured?  How do you think he got away?”

“He walked right into an ambush.  Dusty was nearest him.  He, Dusty, managed to pop four of the bad guys, but they got away with Billy.  As we approached the camp we captured…for a very short period of time…three guys who were coming from the camp.  They verified Billy indeed had been taken here to the camp.  As the rest of us neared the camp, it went up in a ball of fire, due to a terrific explosion.  My guess is Billy somehow managed to escape, and left one of his calling cards.”

“Well, where the hell is he?”

“Damned if I know.  If it was me, I’d split the scene after I blew the place.  Now, back to who set us up.”

“I’ll take care of that.  You find Billy.”

“Yeah, okay.  But I’m pissed.”

 

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Bullets And Baseball, Book #6 of the Asps Series - Asps and freinds trying to track down a couple of terrorists they missed earlier.

Today’s excerpt is from Bullets And Baseball, Book #6 of the nine-book Asps Series.  Asps and friends plan how to take out two terrorists they missed in an earlier raid.  Enjoy and have a great day. 

m.j.

 

NOTE:  Please pardon the shameless plug below for COMPHIBRON ONE, the last duty station of my four years in the Navy.  Before you ask, Dusty is not a relative.   

             

Tony raised an eyebrow as Bruce asked, “Something happen to them?”

Sergey nodded, “Yes, Bruce—as they say in your Western movies, ‘they came down with a severe case of lead poisoning’…administered by someone quite close to one Boris Telman.”

There were a few chuckles as everyone in the room knew Sergey had just confirmed he was the one who had killed the two, as he continued, “They were—are to meet two high-ranking gentlemen: Jansher Mirza, a Taliban, and a Haqqani by the name of Raji Kahn, here in Islamabad.  Those two will take them to Hassan and Usmani.  I think the odds are great that Mirza and Kahn will have escorts with them…by ‘escorts’ you can read ‘bodyguards,’ if you choose—as you should.”

Bruce asked, “And you want Bear and Billy to pose as those two, Kamel and Morsi?”

When Sergey paused for a few seconds before answering, Hector asked, “How old are those two?”

Sergey cleared his throat.  “Kamel is—or was—47…and Morsi, 37.”

Tony grumbled, “Sergey, you’re too clever by half.  First you get us to do your dirty work in Iran, so you can be the hero to India—and now this.  You all but ensured yourself Hector would be here, with the plan he would go in instead of Billy, due to the age situation—as I’m sure he’s about to volunteer to do.”

Sergey shook his head.  “I can see how you might think so, but actually I had in mind make-up to age Billy’s face.  As to you folks taking out the band of bad guys in Iran, I simply didn’t have the assets available to handle such a venture.  Had I not been up to my eyeballs with a matter in Kashmir, I would have happily gone with you.”

Hector sighed.  “I’ll go in.  Make-up is nice, but having spent so much time around Jim and Holly—mostly Holly—I feel more confident in effecting an Egyptian accent in Arabic than Billy probably can.  How about you, Bear?”

“I’m sure not as well as you, Hector, but I can muddle through.  You’re right, by the way—Holly is better with various accents.”

Tony, mollified somewhat, muttered, “Sorry I jumped you, Sergey.  I do, however, have another question…don’t you have assets who can do this?”

Sergey shook his head again, then answered, “Not really.  I do, obviously, have assets who can pass as Egyptians, but two are in Kashmir, and one is embedded in a Haqqani enclave.”

Tony slyly asked, “What do you have going on in Kashmir?”

“A potential mess we might all get involved in, but I’ve been keeping India up-dated on the situation, and they seem prone to taking action on their own.  Time will tell.”

Bruce butted in.  “Back to the matter at hand.  Sergey, after Bear and Hector go talk to these two guys, Mirza and Kahn—then what?  We follow them to Kamel and Morsi?”

“Something like that, Bruce.  It likely will be a fluid situation.  One would guess we’ll have to play it by ear.”

Dusty joked, “Back in the day—the late 1950s—I had a relative who was attached to the staff of Commander Amphibious Squadron One, and their motto was ‘Play it by ear.’  That outfit is still around, but don’t know if the motto is the same.”

 

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Bear's War, Book #5 of the Asps Series - Matchmaking, imp style.

Today’s excerpt is from Bear’s War, Book #5 of the nine-book Asps Series.  Holly plays matchmaker.  Enjoy and have a fantastic day. 

m.j.

 

Just then Holly and Sarah walked into the work area, with Sarah carrying baby Holly.  Holly asked, “What’d you say this time, husband?”

“Patty wants to get in the sack with Anson—and, if he’s not willing—wants to try Jack out.  Was just asking me how to go about it.”

Patty pouted.  “Jim, dammit—that was said to you in confidence.  And, Holly, I didn’t say I wanted to go to bed with one of those guys.  I said if I got married again to have a man to help raise Harry, I’d want it to be someone like them—and wanted to know how to go about it.  Jim said I should just ask one of them to go to bed with me…crap.”

Holly looked at Jim and growled, “Stanley James Scott, you can be a big pain in the ass at times.  Patty asked you for help and you have to wise off.  Gad.  Patty, you have a preference of the two?”

“Yeah, maybe Anson a little bit.”

Holly nodded and took out her cell phone.  Anson’s cell phone rang and he answered, “Hi, Anson here.”

“Anson, this is Holly…big Holly, not baby Holly…she can’t talk yet.”

With Patty shaking her head no violently, Holly continued, “When you get a chance, ask Patty out on a date.  She thinks you’re cute.”

“You on the level?”

“Yeah.”

“I will.  I think she’s pretty as hell, and nice as all get out.”

“Good, so long.”

“Bye.”

By the time Holly put away her phone, Patty was red in the face and hiding said face in her hands.  Holly grinned.  “He’ll ask you out when he gets the chance.”

Jim and Sarah were laughing as Patty peeked from between her fingers, then opened her hands enough to stick her tongue out at Holly.

Holly ignored it.  “He said you’re pretty, and nice.  Right off the bat…no hesitation.  So he must have thought of you a bit, too.  He spent a long time married, and probably likes the institution.  As far as I know, he’s not had a date since his wife died.  Do you both good…even if nothing comes of it.”

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Tears And Terrorists, Book #4 of the Asps Series - Bear and Kye infiltrating terrorists.

Today’s excerpt is from Tears And Terrorists, Book #4 of the nine-book Asps Series.  Bear and Kye making progress to get inside the group of terrorists planning to overthrow the government of Nambia.   Enjoy and have a wonderful day. 

m.j.

 

Bear and Kye had established a friendly relationship with the travel guide, and when he again complained about the situation in Namibia, Bear innocently muttered, “I know what you mean.  Democracy is good for the ins, but not so hot for the outs, and the poor.  I think it would be exciting to just once see the fat cats get theirs.  My sister and I are excellent shots.  Sometimes when we practice, we put a picture of some hotshot in the bull’s-eye and shoot out the eyes first.”

The travel guide asked, “Just how good a shot are you, anyhow?”

“Excellent, if I do say so myself.  With a good rifle, can split a two-inch board in half from a mile.  So can my sister.  Up close—a hundred feet or so with a handgun—can hit a small coin every time…again, with a good weapon.”

The travel agent—who had agreed to join the revolution and was a trusted member due to his friendship with the man he’d talked to the day Bear and Kye had overheard them—asked, “Would you like to show me?  For real, I mean.  I know a nice place where we can shoot without being disturbed.”

“Sure.  Sightseeing is getting boring.”

They continued to talk, and after the travel guide found out where they were staying, he told them he and a friend would come by later in the day and take them to the firing range.  The ‘range’ turned out to be several miles out of Windhoek, and there were several people living in tents at the site.  Bear was given a rather nice sniper rifle and asked to fire it at a target less than half a mile away.  After checking the rifle over, Bear sighted in and hit the edge of the bull’s-eye.  He sighed, made an adjustment on the weapon, and fired three more shots.  All three were dead center, with the travel guide watching through binoculars.  Then he handed the rifle to Kye and she duplicated his feat.  Next Bear sighed and shook his head.  “This is too close to be a test.  Let’s move back a bit.”  The travel guide and his companion looked at each other and walked with Bear for a distance nearly twice as far from the target as they had been in the first place.  Bear took the rifle from Kye and proceeded to fire three shots into the bull’s-eye from what was now nearly a mile.  Kye followed suit, with three dead-on shots, also.

When they finished, the travel guide asked, “Would you like to join our little group?  We might be planning on dealing with, as you called them, the ‘fat cats’.”

Bear nodded.  “Perhaps.  But, obviously, I’d want to know more.”

“That can be arranged.  We have two new men who are going to do the training and, once they’re settled in, they may want to talk to you.  Expert shots can always be used, and you two are the best I’ve ever seen.”

He handed the binoculars to his friend and added, “We’ll drive you back to your hotel and contact you sometime tomorrow or the next day…if that is alright with you.”

“It is.”

Once back in their hotel suite, Bear checked for bugs, then called Bruce and told him of the day’s activities.  Bruce applauded him, and said to play it by ear and to stay in touch. 

·          

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Fido, Book #3 of the Asps Series - Some light humor after a mission.

Today’s excerpt is from Fido, Book #3 of the nine-book Asps Series.  Returning from a mission, the team has some fun at Ike’s expense.  Enjoy and have a great day. 

m.j.

 

On the trip, Harry suggested they fly into Billings and let Ike off, since his family lived there.  Harry would remember back to that decision with fondness.  When the plane landed in Billings and Ike started to get off, Harry looked at him and asked, “Do you have a key to get in?”

“Oh, for God’s sake, I forgot again—and Beth is working.  Naturally, the kids are in school.  Dammit all to hell.  When will I learn?”

Harry sighed.  “Probably never.  Come on, I’ll rent a car and take you home…and pick your front door lock for…what now, the third time?  You’re gonna have to learn how to pick locks, or start remembering your key.”

Harry looked at Bruce.  “You can forward my mail to the condo unit Jim set aside for us here in Billings.”

Bruce chuckled and asked, “What mail?  You haven’t gotten a letter in the last year, which I can think of.”

Harry shrugged.  “Yeah, well, you never know…one of these days.  Jack, you wanna tag along?  We might get lucky.”

“No, thanks.  The last time I went bar hopping’ with you, all I got was a nasty hangover the next day.  You damned Jarheads seem to have hollow wooden legs…uh, no offense, Sarah.”

“None taken…but don’t ask Bear about my drinking’ ability.”

When Bear and Sarah had met, she was sloppy drunk—for the only time in her life—and to his credit, he managed not to bring up the subject since.  Now, however, he smiled, “Best leave that one alone, if I don’t want to move to a new bungalow.”

 

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The Zimo Hunt, Book #2 of The Asps Series - Bye, bye "rooster."

Today’s excerpt is from The Zimo Hunt, Book #2 of the nine-book Asps Series.  MI6, SAS, and the Asps take out the “rooster.”  Enjoy and have a fantstic day. 

m.j.

 

Harry, Bruce, Tony, and Sergeant Squires then discussed their plan, after all agreed which tent was likely to contain Nuri Bekhit.  As all members of the combined team—which included another nine SAS members, besides Sergeant Squires, started to close in—those four eased forward, to the very edge of the camp.  Once there, they ordered their men to start systematically taking out any men in sight.  There were ten men clearly in sight, and silenced shots hit all ten in a span of less than a minute.  But, as the entire team started to close in on the camp, another man came out of a tent, saw his dead comrades, and gave the alert—just before he too died.

Harry, Tony, and Sergeant Squires hurried forward to the tent they felt sure would contain Bekhit, while Bruce slowly walked to the middle of the camp with the other members of the combined team, looking for possible targets.

As Harry, Tony, and Sergeant Squires neared the targeted tent, three men ran out, with guns raised.  They all died before they could fire.  Harry took out the man on his side, Tony took out the man in the middle, and Sergeant Squires downed the last of the three.  They walked forward, and Tony swore as he looked down at the body of Nuri Bekhit.

Harry just shrugged, “No chance of taking him alive, after that jackass gave the alarm.  So okay, we got a dead rooster, let’s see what we can find in the way of intelligence in the tent, Tony,” as he led the way into the tent.

Both Tony and the Sergeant spoke Arabic, and laughed because ‘Nuri’ meant ‘rooster’ in Arabic. 

 

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Birth Of The Asps, Book #1 of the Asps Series - The Asps start their first mission.

Today’s excerpt is from Birth Of The Asps, Book #1 of the nine-book Asps Series.  The raid to take out the al-Qaida terrorists on the Island of Dominica commences.  Enjoy and have a wonderful day. 

m.j.

 

With that, everyone else but Dusty and Key started following at a distance, behind Ike and Jack.  Ike had gotten a clear look at where the two men were, and as he and Jack got close, he motioned that they would be getting off the road and going into the tree line they were already walking very close to.  When they were about twenty feet from the two men they sought, Ike stopped, took out his Asp, and motioned that he would take the man standing on the left.  Jack nodded and took out his Asp.  About two seconds later, the two men died and crumpled to the ground.

Ike whispered into his headset, “Two down and out,” as he and Jack moved forward to make sure both men were, in fact, dead.

On hearing that, Dusty checked in.  “I heard.  We’re pulling out now.”

As Dusty started the truck and swung it around, the rest of the team caught up to Jack and Ike and all of them started walking up the road, to where it intersected with the tire tracks Dusty had found the night before.  As they walked forward, all had their handguns out, ready for any eventuality.

As they approached the tire tracks, they saw two more men about fifty feet in front of them.  Bruce and Harry raised their Asps and fired.  Both men fell dead where they were.

Tony watched and had heard nothing…absolutely nothing.  “My God, those things make no sound at all.”

Harry grinned.  “You might have heard something had you been closer to us, but they are real quiet.”

“I’d say that was a bit of an understatement, old friend.”

Harry just chuckled as he followed Bruce down the tire tracks.

 

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Sedona Chip, Book #9 of the Janitors Series - Border crossers get nasty surprise.

Today’s excerpt is from Sedona Chip, Book #9 of the Janitors Series.  Janitors take out a drug smuggling operation and the terrorists who came across the border with them.  Enjoy and have a great day. 

m.j.

 

As he was talking, the two trucks started their engines and turned to leave.  Knowing the three men heading for the SUV had night vision goggles, Jim ordered, “Hold fast, for now.  Hector, after we take out these three, you take one truck.  Janet, you get the other one.”

Then Jim added, “Okay, I’m on the one in the middle; Dan, take the one to his right; Hector, you get the other one; Harry, the driver.  On a silent count of three.”

Roughly three seconds later, four nearly silent shots were fired.  All four targets died almost immediately.  Jim said, “Go after the trucks.  Holly and I’ll check on these guys, to be sure they’re dead and get those three backpacks.”

Hector turned his buggy and gave chase to the truck that had been nearest him.  Janet—driving another buggy, with Dan at the machine gun and Bruce alongside her—took off after the other one.  The buggies were much faster in that type of terrain, and both trucks were soon overtaken. 

Hector pulled alongside one of them and shouted, “Pull over.”  The response was a gun aimed at him.  He already had his Walther in his right hand, and shot the driver.  Then he growled, “Open up, boys and girls—they ain’t friendly.”

The truck Hector had overtaken—slowing with no driver—swerved into a high place in the sand, and slammed to a stop.  By that time, Harry was already raking the truck with the fifty-caliber.  Dan was doing the same to the other truck.  With the driver of that truck now dead, it soon ran into a small knoll, ran up on top of a small tree, and stopped. 

Long before Dan and Harry stopped shooting, everyone in both trucks was either dead or dying.  Hector got out, went to the truck he had chased, and crawled over the bodies, to cut open one of the backpacks.  It contained cocaine, which Hector tasted and spit out.

The other truck and dune buggy were about twenty feet from where he was, so Hector just walked over to the other buggy and asked, “Jan, you have any lipstick on you?”

She looked at him sort of funny, then remembered his story of this exploits with Harry in Mexico, and answered, “Sure.  Never leave home without it.”

She reached into the utility pocket of her black fatigues and handed the tube to Hector.  Hector asked, “Is the camera we use for identification in one of our buggies?”

Jim heard and replied, “Yeah.  In the one you were driving, Hector.”

Hector grinned.  “Thanks, amigo.  All these guys are dead, or close to it.  I’m gonna stir up some more woe for drug dealers.”

“Good.  Holly and I are wearing decon suits, so we’ll pull the backpacks off these three guys.  Then, we’ll drag ‘em over to within about ten feet of the buggy.  After that, we’ll test ‘em.  All four of our targets are dead, by the way.”

Jim had put two decontamination suits in his buggy before it was dropped.  It also had a portable set to test for various chemicals.  They also had a Geiger counter.

While Jim and Holly were taking the backpacks off the three men, Hector wrote (in Spanish) “Not here either,” on the windshield of one of the trucks, then took a picture of it.  Finally, he took pictures of the dead and dying—and of the mostly shot-up backpacks full of cocaine.

He grumbled, “When we get these developed, I’ll send them down to my in-laws and have them tack them up somewhere in Ensenada.  They’ll be seen, and the drug war will continue.”

As the other two dune buggies headed back to Jim and Holly, Jim was finding nothing other than explosives in his testing.  Holly, however, found what she didn’t want to find.  She swallowed.  “Damn, Jim—they’re ‘hot.’  The Geiger is going pretty good.”

Jim walked over to her, looked at the needle on the Geiger counter, and sighed.  “Okay, honey, back off.”

 

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Devil's Brew, Book #8 of the Janitors Series - Drew helps hood escape justice.

Today’s excerpt is from Devil’s Brew, Book #8 of the Janitors Series.  After getting the information the FBI Director wanted, Drew agrees to help the mob boss giving it to him with a planned escape from justice.  Enjoy and have a fantastic day. 

m.j.

 

As Drew led the Calabrese group into the computer room, Holly nodded in Jim’s direction and headed off to do as asked.  Without a word to anyone else, Drew led Angelo Calabrese and his two bodyguards to his own bedroom.  Once there, he asked the two bodyguards to remain outside the door, as he led the Don into the room. 

After a slight nod from Angelo Calabrese, the two bodyguards did as asked.  Inside, Drew turned to his guest and asked, “Care for something to drink, Angelo?”

Angelo was duly impressed with the room.  Each of the bedrooms in the Joint was, in reality, suite-sized.  In addition to an overlarge bathroom, ample closet space, dressers, and king-sized bed, the rooms also contained three large easy chairs, sofa, end tables, and a lavish bar.  He nodded and answered, “Yes, please.  Whatever you’re having is fine.”

Angelo had remembered from the only other time he and Drew had shared drinks—over a meal purchased by Angelo—what Drew had had to drink.  The aged sour mash Drew now poured over rocks for both men fit his taste pallet quite nicely.

After a clink of glasses, Drew tilted his head toward lone of the easy chairs.  “Have a seat and tell me what’s on your mind.”

Angelo sipped his drink, and looked directly into Drew’s eyes.  “One of my men—to my everlasting shame—has contracted to deliver a large shipment of military-grade weapons to a group that I am certain are terrorists.”

Drew crinkled up the corner of his mouth and took a piece of paper Angelo handed him.

As Drew glanced at the contents of the piece of paper, Angelo continued, “Tomorrow night those items will be delivered to that address, which, by the way, is a warehouse.”

“Do I get any details of how this came to pass?”

“My man—who had the misfortune to attempt to learn to swim with cement shoes—was more interested in profit than in just who he was selling those items to.  Fortunately another of my men came to me and told me of the proposed deal.  Oh, before I forget it, most of the more serious items on that list have been rendered useless…just in case whoever you turn this over to should somehow screw up and let the terrorists get away with the weapons.”

Drew smiled.  “Thank you for that bit of caution.  May I ask if you expect anything in return for this information?”

“Not a thing.”

“I thought not, but had to ask.  Now may I ask what your plans are?  Are you returning tonight to New York?  And will you be involved in the transfer of the goods?”

“No, to the last two items.  As to my plans, I will tell you on the condition of your silence.  Sort of like you were my priest.”

Drew laughed.  “Angelo, I’ve been called many things in my life, but never a priest.”  Then, remembering his promise to John Engle to keep Angelo’s pending arrest to himself, he thought, “Fair is fair,” before he continued, “Anything you tell me on the subject of your plans will remain with me.  Unless, of course, you plan to take out the President.  Your two home-state Senators, however, I might overlook.”

Angelo laughed and shook his now-empty glass.  As Drew got up to refresh their two drinks, Angelo looked at the ceiling for a moment.  “I’m getting out.  Your warning about the new FBI Director was correct.  He’s good, and I’m about to be arrested.  Please don’t ask how I know, but I do, and I need to get out.”

“When?”

“Now…tonight.  When I leave here.  You asking me to come here to give you this information was a blessing.  When we take off, we are not heading back to New York.”

As Drew handed Angelo his refilled glass, he asked, “Does your plane have the capability to reaching your destination without refueling?”

“No.  We will have to make one stop for fuel.”

“Since I have agreed to keep this to myself, may I ask the direction your flight will take?”

“South.”

“Would a refueling stop in Florida be satisfactory for you?”

“Yes.  You would help me in this matter?”

“Yes, Angelo, I would.  And will.  As you are aware, I was CIA.  I still have contacts, including the man—an old and very dear friend—who runs a secret airstrip in Florida used by CIA, and—for the most part—only CIA.  Let me give him a call.”

 

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