How 'about Both, Book #3 of the Bader Trilogy - Hector and Horace protecting Elmer's home.

Today’s excerpt is from How ‘bout Both, Book #3 of the Bader Trilogy.  One of the two men on Elmer’s 24 hour a day protection detail is sent back inside by Horace.  Enjoy and have a fantastic day. 

m.j.

 

That corner of the house was in total darkness, but there was still enough light for Stan to see that Horace, dressed in black, was wearing a shoulder holster—one that was not empty.  He asked, “You got a license for that thing,” as he pointed to the weapon.

“Yup.  Look, I don’t want to be a smartass, but we’re much better equipped for this type thing than you are.  Plus, Elmer is a good friend of both of us.  When you go back inside, tell Elmer that Hector and Horace will keep you all safe during the nighttime hours.”

“When did you guys get here?”

“We followed you from the station house.  We relieved the two guys who have been here most of the day making sure no one did any nasty things, like plant bombs, during the day—and to keep an eye on Ruth and Lizzie…and Doggie.  I’m sort of partial to all three…so is Hector.  Me more so than Hector with Doggie—she and I became good friends last year.”

“Nobody followed us here—I was driving.  I would have spotted you.”

“Wrong.  Of course it was an easy following job because we knew where you were headed, or assumed you were bringing Elmer home.  Didn’t expect Maine to be with you, but that’s fine.  We like her a lot, too.”

“Well, I don’t know you from Adam, but I’ve heard of Garcia.  Have actually seen him around the Chief’s office from time to time…and followed him—the Chief—and Red Grassi around the golf course more-n-once.  What does Garcia do on Tuesdays?”

“Good one.  No damned terrorist would know the answer.  He makes tacos in his taco shop.  Today, he was fighting Red over who would do the cooking.”

“Okay, I guess you’re who you say you are—but I don’t like it.  The Chief told Ken and me to guard Elmer.  We can’t do too good a job of that inside.”

Horace sighed and took out his cell phone.  He used his speed dial for Elmer’s number.  Elmer answered, “Hi, Horace.  What’s up?”

“I’m outside with your security detail…or one of the guys on the detail.  I’ve been trying to explain to him, without hurting his feelings too much, that Hector and I can handle things out here better than he can.  Would you like to ask him to come on inside, please?  Through the back door, please.”

“Hector’s with you?”

“Yeah.  Right now he’s trying to cover the front and back, since I’m here trying to get this fine fella to come in to share some of your good booze.  This idiot Simmons is gonna try for you here, he’s in some deep do-do.”

“Give him your phone.  His name’s Stan, by the way.”

Horace handed Stan the phone.  “Stan, Elmer wants to talk to you.”

As he took the phone from Horace, Stan was fuming, but was also starting to get the idea this guy Horace might have some expertise he didn’t have.  “Hello, Elmer.”

“Come on inside…via the back door.  I’ll explain when you get here.  Those guys are both ex-Military Special Ops type guys.”

“On my way,” Stan replied as he handed the phone to Horace, turned, then took a step before he thought to say something to Horace.  When he turned around, Horace was nowhere to be seen.

On his way to the back door, Stan wondered just how Horace had managed the disappearing act so smoothly.  When he got there, Elmer let him in.  “Sorry about this, Stan.  You’re a good man, or the Chief wouldn’t have put you on the keep-Bader-alive detail.  From what I’ve seen of you, you and Ken are right types.  But those two guys out there—plus about fifty to a hundred more of Hector’s men—are, as I mentioned, former Special Ops types.  No way in hell Simmons—with or without any of his friends—is gonna do anything bad around here.  Just why Hector took it upon himself to come out here to protect me is beyond me.  Come on—let me buy you and Ken a drink.  He passed because he planned on relieving you in a few hours.”

Stan just shook his head as he followed Elmer into the living room.  But he was soon enjoying a drink with Ken, Ruth, Maine, and Elmer.  Elmer then explained what he knew about Hector Garcia, but let it go with a rundown on the help he and his detective/protection agency had been to the LAPD over the years. 

When Elmer finished, Ruth laughed, “Well, guys, one of you either has to talk Maine into sharing her bed, or you’re sleeping together.”

Maine joked, “I’ll auction off the other side of my bed to the highest bidder.”

Ruth laughed.  “Elmer, you make a bid, your ass is grass, and I’m a lawn mower.”

Stan grumbled, “We’ll make do…neither of us has the money to make the bid it would take.  It doesn’t work out, one of us can use the couch.”

 

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Horace Goes Home, Book #2 of the Bader Trilogy - Elmer playing safety first.

Today’s excerpt is from Horace Goes Home, Book #2 of the Bader Trilogy.  Elmer makes arrangements for more of the people—including his new female partner—helping him on the mob case to move to his friend’s ranch for safety.  Enjoy and have a wonderful day. 

m.j.

 

Elmer sighed, “Go get Bert, Maine.”  When she headed for the door, he took out his phone to call Red. 

Red answered, “Don’t be calling me to get you out of trouble.  Actually, Ruth is having a good laugh about the situation.  She knows if a new detective has to be trained there, you’re the best there is.”

“I know Ruth will be okay with this deal.  What I’m calling about is how about feeding three more at the ranch?  I’m thinking Bert and his wife need to come out.  They could stay with Julie and John.  Hold it…got another idea.  Four more to feed.”

Red interrupted, “However many—sure, bring ‘em on.  We’ll figure out where everyone sleeps when you get here.  Worried about their safety?”

“Yeah…except one.  I think…wait—may be only three.  I’ll call you back.”

“Never mind…just come on with however many you want.”

While he was thinking about the number of new guests for the ranch, Bert, Alan, and Maine came back into the office.  Elmer looked at Bert.  “You and Edna are moving to Red Grassi’s ranch tonight.  This thing with Prudi is getting ugly—I want you safe.  If they’re watching us, they’ve seen you with Alan.  Alan, since you chose to come in here, nosing around when I told Maine to gather Bert, you take him home right now.  Pack them up, then head for the ranch.  Any problem with that, Bert?’

“Not when you put it that way.  I saw the big stinking sniper rifle that guy had.”

Elmer laughed.  When Bert and Alan left the office, he called Greg.  “Is Chuck married?”

“No, why?”

“How about talking to him and John about him staying with John, until this is over?  My thinking is they can come back and forth together, with Bert—who’s moving to the ranch tonight—and Alan can ride together.  I can ride with my new partner.  She’s moving to the ranch tonight, also.”

“She?  Nice-looking?  Ruth should really like this.”

“Naw—ugly, skinny thing Reggie pawned off on me.”

Maine put her hand on her hip and rolled her eyes, but kept quiet, as Elmer continued to talk to Greg.  Before he got off the phone, John and Chuck had agreed to the idea, then Greg brought Elmer up-to-date on the total lack of success he and his team had encountered during the day, on coming up with a way to find Sgroi and Mosello.  Finally, Elmer looked at Reggie.  “Done.  Got any more easy cases?”

“Got no more cases—get me the paperwork on the one you just solved.”

Elmer stood up and nodded, “Come along, partner.”

When they got back to Elmer’s desk, Maine asked, “What if I don’t want to live on this ranch?”

“Then you get a new partner right now.”

“I’m in.  They got horses?”

“Yup.”

“Then I’m really in.  I need to get a few things.”

“Figured you would.  Let me get the paperwork Reggie wants, then we’ll go pack you up.  But I’m not helping you pack any damn vibrators.”

“Oh, that’s funny.”

“I thought it was.  Now hush, so I can do this paperwork.  Coffee, please.”

 

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Whodunit Did It, Book #1 of the Bader Trilogy - Reggie and Alan not having fun, but with humor.

Today’s excerpt is from Whodunit Did It, Book #1 of the Bader Trilogy.  Reggie and Alan working to pare down list of possible suspects.  Enjoy and have a great day. 

m.j.

 

Alan had come up with an idea to speed the process along.  He had suggested something he reasoned should have been thought of earlier.  The males on their list who were married were not too likely to be the man they were looking for, so could be moved to the very bottom of the list.  The problem now was how to determine just who on the list was married, and who was not.  After working on a very labor intensive system, therefore not saving too much time—Reggie called Homer.  “Hi, Homer—this is Reggie Wilcox over at the cop shop.  You got time to talk?”

“Yeah—if you talk fast.  Actually we’re in a bit of a lull before the storm, so to speak.  What’ve you got?”

“I’ve got this damned list of over five thousand names.  We just used our brains to figure out—since the guy we’re after is very likely gay—he’s not too likely to be married.  So any way to easily move the married guys to the bottom of the list?”

“They should all be single…the ones on the list.  That’s the way we set it up.”

“I didn’t know—or if I did I forgot it, in my half-awake stupor.  Anyhow, if that’s the case, out of the first hundred we checked, we found twenty who are married.”

“People do get married.  You no doubt started at the top of the list with the younger guys, who are more likely to get married.  The list isn’t made up of today’s stats, as far as marriage is concerned.  Anyone married in the last six months might be on it.  Sorry, I can’t help you prune it down any further.  Goodbye, Reggie.”

“Yeah—so long…thanks for bursting our bubble.”

Reggie explained what Homer had told him.  Alan shook his head.  “Crap, I know that—where’s my mind.  I remember being there when Elmer set the parameters for Homer.  As my esteemed leader would say—damn, damn, damn.  We’ve just wasted half a day on my stupidity.  Sorry.”

“That’s what Homer said…’sorry.’  Okay, back to it…no short cuts.  At least we got a smell on the other angle.  Guess I should call Elmer with it to let him know.  They should be somewhere over the Atlantic by now.”

“Naw, let’s wait a while before calling him…we might have something worth telling him.  We tell him we want to go racing off to Costa Rica, he’ll crap.  In addition, if we wait until they get back, maybe we can get NCIS to let us use their plane to go down there.”

“Yeah, that’s gonna happen.  Just like I’m coming back in my next life as a beautiful white gal who’s a movie star…one who has all the men she wants.”

“Do you have secret desires to be white—and female?”

“Neither…just sayin’.  Back to work.  Well, wait a second—maybe white.  You guys get all the perks.”

“Like what?”

“Like Elmer has a fit…so does the Captain…if they see me making coffee.”

“Making coffee is a perk?  You’re nuts.  Besides I’ve drank your coffee—it’s awful.  You know the coffeemaker we have has those nice, little packets of coffee that are supposed to be one per pot—not eight or ten per pot.”

“Picky, picky, picky.  Now back to work, you about-to-be-married young man.”

 

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Adios, Amigos, Book #9 of the Asps Series - Asps and friends hit al-Qaida hard.

Today’s excerpt is from Adios, Amigos, Book #9 of the nine-book Asps Series.  The Asps and friends take out the last al-Qaida drug operation in Bolivia.  Enjoy and have a fantastic day. 

m.j.

 

Before loading up in the Land Rovers, Bruce spread one of Jim’s excellent topographical maps on the hood of his vehicle.  With Jim, Dusty, and Maggie alongside, Bruce smoothed the map a bit.  “Look, guys…er, plus nice little old ladies…if this map is right—and I’ve never known one of Jim’s maps not to be—I think with the hardiness of Land Rovers we can cut across country.  It’ll save about three hours driving time to the site Maggie and Jack found.  It is here, isn’t it, Maggie?”

As Bruce spoke he pointed to a spot on the map.  Maggie nodded.  “Yes, more or less—if my aging old lady eyes don’t deceive me.  We came down exactly three point eight miles from that turn-off back down the road, toward where we came from.”

Bruce looked at Maggie and grinned.  “Okay, I’m thinking this is the way to go.”

Everyone agreed.  Dusty was assigned the task of leading the team across country to the al-Qaida drug camp.

The drive took over an hour and a half, but actually saved closer to four hours driving time, since they would have to have gone several miles out of their way just to get back to the road Maggie and Jack had used to follow the car they followed.  When Dusty slowed his Land Rover, it was near the top of a rise.  He went just a bit further, stopped, then got out.  He crawled the rest of the way to the top of the slight ridge before he looked down at the camp.  By then, Bear was alongside.  He shook his head.  “I don’t know how you do this, but I sure am glad you always do.”

Dusty joked, “Just a steady diet of sex with my darling wife.”

Kye, who had also come up, bragged, “There’s a husband a girl could learn to love.”

Bruce, also in the small group who had come forward, laughed, “If you were anything like a girl, that might hold true.”

Kye hit him…on his wounded arm…but not too hard.  A smiling group moved back down the hill to discuss the route they would use to walk down to the camp.  After it was agreed on, Bruce looked around.  “Well, there is no place to hide our Land Rovers.  Maggie, you’re elected to stay with them.  You’re English—so are the Land Rovers.”

Maggie frowned.  “I’m Irish—don’t you forget it, idiot.”

Even with one less person on the attacking team, the attack went smoothly, as there were only thirty-seven armed men at this camp.  Most died in the first minute of the attack, as again there was plenty of cover, so most died not having any idea where the shots were coming from.  This resulted in even less wild return fire.  In spite of that, both Ike and Dusty received wounds:  Ike in the top of his shoulder while he was laying prone, which would turn out to be a long time healing, and a shot grazed Dusty’s head.  It knocked him out for a few minutes, but did no serious damage…except to Kye’s heart, as she at first thought she had lost her husband.

 

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Father Mulligan, Book #8 of the Asps Series - Fugleman on the run.

Today’s excerpt is from Father Mulligan, Book #8 of the nine-book Asps Series.  Some of the Asps, and some of their friends making plans to track the man who tried to bring death to Jim’s doorstep.  Enjoy and have a wonderful day.

m.j.

 

Bruce got back on the speaker system to tell the other sixteen men to come forward.  He told them to bring their empty weapons with them.  As they started forward, Boris asked, “What about Fugleman?  Want Drew and me to deal with him, Bruce?”

“No thanks, Boris.  We’ve got a pretty good idea where he’s headed…but to be on the safe side, I’m about to dispatch some of our people in the plane we still have here.  They can get to Billings long before he does, then circle around until his two planes take off.  I’m sure the Chief will be nice enough to let us know which plane Fugleman gets into.”

“Or,” suggested Maggie, “if we shake a leg, we can land to get GPS devices aboard before he gets there, so we can watch for our own selves.”

Bruce chuckled, “You married well, Jack.  Good idea, Maggie…thanks.  Bonnie can fly the tracking plane…I’ll go, but will need someone with good legs.”

Wendy joked, “I’ve been told mine are pretty nice…but not what you had in mind.”

Everyone laughed, before Bruce looked at Ike.  “You can go on home to see your family for a change.  Dusty, you up to it?”

“Yeah.  I only lost a chunk of meat…hurts a bit, but I’m more mobile than you, Bruce.”

Jack sighed, “I’d go, but better stay here to tend to our walking wounded.”

Dan offered, “Janet doesn’t need me to fly—I’ll go.”

Anson nodded, “Yeah—me, too.  Gives you two more seats on Jan’s plane.  Gonna be enough to go with you, Bruce?”

“Yeah, let’s get.  Holly, you okay to take care of things here?”

“Oh, sure.  Get outta here.”

Bruce stood up, bent to kiss Holly on the check, then headed to the hangars, as Bonnie—who had been on the veranda of the home she shared with Bruce, sniper rifle at the ready—hurried to the hangars as well.  Dan, Anson, and Dusty did the same from their various places of concealment.

 

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Billy's Rescue, Book #7 of the Asps Series - Billy's parting shot.

Today’s excerpt is from Billy’s Rescue, Book #7 of the nine-book Asps Series.  After Billy makes good his escape, he takes out the terrorist camp.  Enjoy and have a great day.

m.j.

 

While those three hurried to catch up, and the rest of the team moved forward, Billy found what he was looking for.  In addition to a clear shot at one of his pin-less hand grenades, he had also been looking for a convenient place to duck down.  The spot he found had a mini-outcropping, above the one he was on.  He settled in, took careful aim, then squeezed off his shot.  As soon as the gun fired, Billy rolled down to the smaller outcropping.  Even as he went, the shot had hit just above the grenade, but caused it to move enough for the lever to spring free.  When the grenade went off, it set off a chain reaction of explosives in the cave—including the other grenades—to cause a horrendous explosion within seconds of Billy’s shot.  All the terrorists Billy had seen died instantly.  The cave curved around in the general direction Billy had gone.  Around the first bend of the curve were nearly eighty more terrorists Billy hadn’t seen.  They too died almost instantly.  The cave and tunnel leading from it went for a few miles.  For nearly a mile of the distance, the tunnel was blackened, with the sound of the explosion traveling on down the tunnel for miles.

·          

When Billy squeezed off his shot, the rest of the Asps were moving forward.  The explosion had such force that—even though they were over four miles away, they at first thought they were under attack.  Even at their distance from the camp—they could see the fireball, as it went up into the air in the pre-dawn.  Bruce muttered, “What in the hell?  I sure hope this means Billy is fighting back somehow…I also hope he’s not around too close.”

“Amen,” Dusty muttered.

·          

Wendy had just flown over the terrorists behind the Asps, so was approaching the camp when the explosion and fireball lit up the sky.  She shook her head.  “Mother of God.  What in the world was that?  Phil, did it fry our infrared?”

Phil laughed before he answered, “Naw.  But it sure did mess with some of my other instruments—no damage, I hope.”

Wendy joked, “You were on a roll until the ‘I hope.’  That I didn’t need.”

·          

Billy waited a few minutes, then went back to the spot he had fired from as he looked around the camp compound.  It was deathly still.  Satisfied, he hurried in the direction of the Asps, but—obviously unknown to him—well east of their position. 

·          

Well behind the Asps, the group of terrorists reduced in size by Phil also saw the fireball and heard the explosion.  They were far enough away, however, they had no idea just what had caused it, or where it came from.  One of the men told those around him it was probably some type of bombing raid by the Americans.  The entire group picked up their pace for no reason any of them could put into words.

 

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Bullets And Baseball, Book #6 of the Asps Series - British MI6 and SAS, the Asps and friends in major battle with terrorists.

Today’s excerpt is from Bullets And Baseball, Book #6 of the nine-book Asps Series.  British MI6 and SAS, along with the Asps and friends are helped out by Wendy in the C-130.  She swoops down with a Gatling gun raid with the plane after a mammoth mine field deals the terrorists a major blow.  Enjoy and have a fantastic day.

m.j.

 

Even as those two men were climbing up the rough terrain, the scouts of the enemy column passed the first of the mines laid out.  Cyrus, of course, saw, as did his group—and a few of those on the other side.  He looked over the column carefully before he reported, “Bruce, for the most part, these fellows are marching four or five abreast,” then paused, smiled at the thought he’d just had, and added, “I would guess you lot from the Colonies would prefer I not use “meters” in my description, so in language you’ll understand, I would estimate they are strung out for roughly half a mile.”

Bruce chuckled.  “Thank you, Sergeant Major…I appreciate you being so kind to us of lesser intelligence.  Bear, what say you?”

“I’d say it’s gonna be a close fit.  You saw where we finished up on your end, Bruce.  So, I’d say when the lead guy in the main force—not their scouts—are about ten feet short of that spot, I pull the plug.”

Bruce replied, “Sounds good.  Cyrus, what do you think?”

“I’m not sure where he left off, but when you tell him it’s about time, if I think waiting might be a good idea, I’ll notify you of same.”

“Fair enough.  Bear, we’ll do it your way.  Cyrus, they have night vision capabilities?”

“No, not that I can see.  Might be why they wanted at least half a moon, since they probably plan to move up the valley at night, then by sunrise hunker down for the day.”

Bruce agreed.  “Yeah, probably makes the most sense…though these Islamists aren’t too long on sense.  I best call Wendy to make sure she’s close by.”

After Bruce made his call, and there was nothing else to talk about, the wait was on until Bruce alerted everyone.  “Bear, I’m thinking pretty soon with the mines.  Cyrus, okay with you?”

“By all means.  The last of them—save a few stragglers—have passed the start of the minefield.”

Bruce ordered, “Do it, Bear.”

Bear pushed his remote button, rigged to set off the entire minefield at one time, and a horrendous explosion followed.  Of slightly over seventeen hundred men on the valley floor, less than eight hundred were still on their feet seconds later.  Of those standing, several were wounded to some extent.

Bruce called Wendy and asked, “Where are you?”

“Coming, darling.  Should be there in less than three minutes—you ready for us?”

“Yup…bring it on.  About half of them are already down, thanks to Bear.”

“Love that man.  See you soon.”

When the plane flew down the valley, it was tilted to about a seventy-degree angle, giving Jim and Maggie, on that side of the plane, easy shooting.  When Wendy announced, “Now,” they started shooting.  With their night vision capabilities, they could easily see their targets and laid down a withering fire, cutting several of the terrorists to shreds.

At the end of her run, Wendy straightened out, made a wide, low turn, then headed back up the gorge.  This time she tilted to the other side, with the SAS troop and Pete opening up.  About halfway through the run, they ran into a problem.  Everything aboard the craft had been secured and checked over three times.  The four gunners were in seats behind their guns.  The seats were bolted in place, and each gunner wore a safety belt to hold them in place.  The bolts on the right side of Maggie’s seat suddenly gave way.  The noise of the bolts snapping was heard over the sound of the Gatlings by both Maggie and Jim.  The seat, with Maggie in it, bent away from the fuselage, almost all the way around, but the bolts on the other side at least held fast.  Maggie was left dangling there, strapped into her seat.

As soon as the run was over the plane straightened out, Jim called up to Wendy.  “We got a problem back here…keep her level until I get back to you.”

“What broke loose?”

“Maggie’s gun chair…but only on one side.  She’s okay, except from the smell of things, she crapped her pants.”

 

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