Muerte Resurrected E-Book

John W. Wood

• Herausgeber: Next Chapter
• Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

After terrorists acquire a suitcase bomb, no one knows who they are or what the target is.

A team of specialists is reactivated and assigned the code name 'Resurrection'. Their mission is to locate and neutralize both the bomb and the terrorists.

In command is Captain Rico Garcia of United States Marine Corps. His handle is Muerte, and his Military Occupational Specialty is MOS 2666: Speed Killer.

Leseprobe

Muerte Resurrected

Death's Return

Muerte Series

Book 2

John W. Wood

Contents

Acknowledgments

The Death of Muerte

1. The Pentagon

2. Spain, The Resurrection

3. Wyoming

4. Russia

5. Poland Two Days Later

6. Memories and Preparations

7. Chang and Brody’s Ranch

8. Delta 12

9. Getting Ready

10. You Are Moving Out

11. Las Vegas, Nevada

12. Hell Yes!

13. Don’t Shoot Our Guests

14. One American is Down

15. The Jet

16. Poland, ABW Headquarters

17. Air-Cargo headquarters Warsaw, Poland

18. A Change of Plans

19. No Such Thing as Coincidence

20. Figuring it out

21. The Puzzle

22. Have We Failed?

23. A Bearded Ghost

24. Poland

Chapter 25

26. Help Arrives

27. Metro Police Department

28. Boulder City, Nevada

29. Delta Command

30. Las Vegas - A New Target

31. Poland

32. The Blood Hounds

33. Command

34. Somewhere Over France

35. Las Vegas

36. Boulder City Airport

37. La Palma

38. FBI Office, Las Vegas, Nevada

39. Doctor Bernard Clevenger

40. That Changes Everything

41. Ramona

42. Jerez, Spain

43. Las Vegas, Nevada

44. La Palma

45. Resurrection Command Center

46. California

47. Enroute to Marrakesh, Morocco

48. CIA Headquarters - Langley, McLean, VA

49. Las Vegas, Nevada

50. Langley

51. Morocco Contact

52. We Must Hurry

53. Cat and Mouse

54. Frustrations

55. Roadblock

56. He’s Getting Away!

57. La Palma Airport

58. A Death in the Family

59. We Won’t Leave Him

60. A Grateful Nation

61. The Favors

62. Absent Friends

About the Author

Copyright (C) 2022 John W. Wood

Layout design and Copyright (C) 2022 by Next Chapter

Published 2022 by Next Chapter

Edited by Richard Wildbur

Cover art by CoverMint

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author’s permission.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Rich Wildbur, editor, researcher, and close friend of many years.

Thank you, Rich, for your help, support, and the many hours you have selflessly donated to the success of my books.

Bio – Rich Wildbur

Rich was born in 1946 and grew up in Royal Oak, Michigan.

He graduated from Western Michigan University in 1970 with a B.S. in Engineering.

He started flying in 1967. By 1969 he had his Commercial, Instrument, Single, and Multi-Engine certifications, including his A&P Aircraft Mechanic license.

Rich started working as a fluid systems engineer in 1972 and was with the same company for over 40 years.

He owned and managed rental properties during those years and enjoyed owning a few airplanes.

After retirement in 2013, he found he enjoyed editing books.

Dedicated to

My partner, Mary Felix

Thank you, Mary, for your love and support

“The best defense against evil men

Are good men skilled at violence.”

~Rory Miller~

The Death of Muerte

Columbian Cartel

Carlos Guzman, 'Otoniel' (Powerful Lord), sat next to his pool. The air was excellent, and the evening was enjoyable. Carlos' security men stood in the shadows, not as alert as they should have been. Years of doing the same thing, day after day, week after week, month after month, had made them complacent. A distant sound began to confuse both Carlos and his security team. Carlos recognized the sound at the same time as his guards.

Several vehicles, moving at high speed, were approaching the Villa.

All of a sudden, there was the sound of suppressed gunshots. Bullets began to ricochet off the buildings and the pool's marble tiles. Men began to die. Carlos jumped up to run, but a man dressed in black knocked him to the ground. Carlos looked up to see the face of Rico Garcia.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Carlos shouted in a rage. He started to stand, but Rico threw a sidekick at Carlos' head. He collapsed to the floor, and his left eye began to swell shut. "You estúpido (stupid), you can't take over! My men will kill you within a day!"

Rico squatted next to Carlos and grabbed the drug lord by his hair, "Carlos Guzman, you are under arrest."

Carlos hissed, "You can't arrest me!"

"Actually, you're going to disappear. Whether you live or die will be up to you." Two black-clad men stepped up with a wave of Rico's hand and jerked Carlos to his feet. One of the men cuffed Carlos's hands behind his back and moved him toward the open front yard.

As soon as they walked into the yard, a black helicopter descended from the night sky and landed. The two men picked Carlos up, carried him to the chopper, and unceremoniously tossed him inside. More rough hands grabbed him and placed a hood over his head as the black machine climbed into the night sky.

More black-clad armed men moved about the grounds and house, engaging and killing the Narco-guards, while others ransacked the house. Bodies lay everywhere, as no one other than Carlos was taken alive. Rico entered the home where he saw Paula Guzman, Carlos' wife, dead. A pistol in her hand and a bullet in her forehead. Rico turned to see several of his men coming down the stairs carrying bags, boxes, and computers.

One of the men said to Rico, "Good thing we brought the trucks. Never saw so damned much money."

'They haven't seen anything yet!' thought Rico. "Get everybody loaded up. I'm setting the charges to go off in ten minutes."

Twelve minutes later, an eruption of C-4 explosives and white phosphorus lit up the night sky. The explosions were heard and seen from miles away. When the Columbian Army and the local police arrived, nothing was left but burnt rubble and bodies.

Las Vegas - The Next Day

The residents of Las Vegas couldn't remember seeing so many law enforcement officers at one time. Uniformed police, men dressed in SWAT uniforms, and men in suits with guns and badges were moving throughout the city. The media was caught entirely off guard. They scurried about trying to interview men whose only response was, "No comment." At the same time, the news wires flashed stories about massive explosions in Columbia. Those stories were followed by newscasts that reported multiple explosions in Mexico. The attacks appeared to target the drug cartels.

Soon, the Las Vegas area looked like a kicked anthill. The police set up two warehouses to receive and hold prisoners. The Civil Liberties Union was sure something illegal was going on but couldn't put their finger on it. One TV news anchor, who badgered a cop-friend about what was going on, was quietly told, "This is what a REAL war on drugs looks like."

Then, word began to circulate that several prominent citizens had been arrested, including some bank officials and a couple of judges. So far, there were no reports of shots fired. However, a few bad guys, it was reported, had "slipped and fallen" during the human trafficking arrests involving underage girls and had been hospitalized.

The following day, people watched the latest news about the raids. They heard about similar operations in Florida, New York, Louisiana, and other states. Stories began to emerge about a "real war on drugs." Panic was building across the country as junkies discovered that drugs were hard to find and non-existent in some locations.

The next day, the local newspaper and TV stations reported several hundred people arrested in Nevada alone. Law enforcement had seized tons of marijuana and several thousand pounds of pure cocaine. A load of Black Tar heroin in an eighteen-wheeler, valued at sixteen million dollars, was found by a DEA agent.

Metro officers Sergeant Barnes and Commander Conrad would receive commendations for the four-year investigation. Only Barnes and Conrad knew that a former Metro officer named Rico Garcia had fed them the information. They remained silent, having been threatened with Federal prison if they ever spoke of it.

Drug enforcement agents reported that an attack on a Mexican Cartel had claimed the lives of nearly a hundred Narcos. Black tabi-clad men were seen by survivors, blowing up drug processing plants and killing the drug makers. The local police were unsure if a Narco drug war was going on or if it was a secret government operation.

Several judges and government officials began resigning, retiring, or disappearing in Mexico, Peru, and Columbia.

Within a small circle of law enforcement, word got out that Rico Garcia, a corrupt Las Vegas Metro cop, was killed in a plane crash. He was trying to escape the Columbian authorities. The impact had also claimed the lives of the two pilots, alias Chang and Brody, both known Narcos of a Mexican Cartel.

La Dolce Vida (The Sweet Life)

Near Port Lligat, Spain, the ocean breeze cooled the Villa high above the clear blue sea. Noisy gulls flew about, stealing food from each other. The Villa was built above a cliff, where the waves broke noisily on the rock face below. A woman, the locals had begun to call el Solitario 'The lonely one,' sat on the marble deck of the patio.

A soft knock on one of the French doors drew her attention. Turning, she saw one of the servants. "What is it, Rita?"

“Señora, there is a man at the door. He wishes to speak to you.”

“Who is he, and what does he want? You know I don’t want to be disturbed.”

“He says he’s un policia, Señora.”

The woman felt a twinge of fear when she heard the police were at her home. But she went to the door and slowly opened it. At first, she felt light-headed, and then she burst into tears as the man put his arms around her and pulled her close. Rosa and Rico hung on to each other as if their lives depended on each other, not letting go.

“I knew in my heart you would come, but the news stories… it all seemed so final,” sobbed Rosa.

Rico guided Rosa back into the house, saying, “The jet did what we wanted it to do. But the police nearly caught us when we went for the other plane. It delayed us an extra week, but we made it. ‘Muerte is dead.’ He died in that plane crash. It is our turn now. No more killing, no more looking over our shoulders. For us, it’s ‘La Dolce Vida.”

Chapter1

The Pentagon

Deep within the Pentagon, four high-ranking men sat at a conference table in a briefing room. They listened intently to a fifth man, Senior Agent Stephen Boyd of the Central Intelligence Agency. “That’s it, gentlemen. Many Americans will die if these terrorists get their hands on this device. The President has tasked us with finding these terrorists and neutralizing them and the device. We need a team capable of operating within the terrorist community and or the Russian mob if need be. They must be both diplomatic and intelligent but ruthless if necessary. They must not hesitate. Too many lives are at stake.”

General Callahan replied, “I know of a team that meets all of your requirements. If you meet with me in my office, I can fill you in.”

“If you would fill us in now, General, it would save time,” suggested Agent Boyd.

“I can’t. The operation and the people involved are still highly classified. Before I can speak with you about them, I will have to obtain permission.”

Boyd studied the broad face of General Callahan. At first, Boyd was upset that the general thought he had to get permission to talk to him. ‘Hell, I hold the highest clearances… the General isn’t showboating,’ Boyd thought. “Will half an hour be long enough?”

“Make it forty-five, and I’ll be ready.”

Forty-five minutes later, Stephen Boyd entered General Callahan’s office. The General sat behind a large desk covered with neatly stacked files. “Come on in and have a seat. Can I offer you something to drink?”

Taking a seat in front of the desk, Boyd shook his head and replied, “No, thanks.”

“I have permission to speak to you about an operation you may have read about in the papers.”

“The operation was in the papers, and you couldn’t speak to me without permission?”

“The papers only carried the outcome of the operation. Only a select few know what happened.”

Boyd sat back in his chair, “Let’s hear it.”

“To start with, about fifteen years ago, we discovered a young Marine in Force Recon who possessed unique talents. I selected him and several others with similar abilities to form an elite group I developed within MARSOC (Marine Forces Special Operations Command). Out of twenty men tested, six made the team. They were classified as MOS 2666, Speed-Killers. Their speed and agility were something to see. They became proficient at everything we threw at them. They have language skills, can fly several aircraft types, and are skilled with foreign and domestic weapons. But one of them, Rico Garcia, was the best of the best. His handle was Muerte.”

Boyd sat up and said, “I’ve heard that name. I was working in intelligence in Afghanistan. He often worked alone, if I remember correctly.”

“That’s him. Well, we received orders for a special operation. Garcia was to infiltrate the Mexican Cartel and destroy it from within. Garcia not only infiltrated the Cartel, he became the head of the Cartel. He and his team were responsible for hundreds of arrests in Mexico, Columbia, and the United States.”

“This Garcia, is he still operating?”

“No, Garcia and two of his team died in a plane crash. But, if necessary, Garcia and his team could be resurrected.

Chapter2

Spain, The Resurrection

Colonel Ethan Wade, USMC, retired, watched a man and a woman as they shopped in the Spanish open-air market. Wade stealthily made his way through the market. He covertly observed the couple through the bustling crowd. Customers handled the fruits and vegetables, smelling and gently squeezing the produce, checking for quality and ripeness. Wade picked up a piece of fruit and pretended to examine it. But it was the man and woman who held his interest. The man had shoulder-length black hair and a thick, full beard. He stood head and shoulders taller than most people in the market. He wore white cotton slacks and a black polo-type shirt that accented his broad shoulders and muscular arms. In his left hand was a woven bag filled with fruits and vegetables.

The tall woman had short black hair that enhanced her handsome features. She wore a brightly colored print cotton dress that highlighted her deep brown tan. As the couple left the market and walked toward an area of luxury villas, Wade followed them. Up ahead, the street made a sharp left turn around the corner of a building, causing Wade to momentarily lose sight of them.

Speeding up his pace, Wade turned the corner, nearly running into the man.

Ready to strike, recognition showed on the man’s face. “Colonel Wade?”

“Hello, Rico,” replied Wade. “Hi, Ramona,” Wade said to the woman standing behind Rico. “I was on my way to your home when I saw you in the market. I didn’t want to draw attention there, so I followed you home. I see you haven’t forgotten your tradecraft.”

A concerned Ramona moved to Rico’s side, “What brings you here?” she asked Wade.

“I need to talk to the two of you.” Seeing the alarm on Ramona’s face, Wade said quickly, “You are not compromised. There is no danger.”

“Come to our home, where we can talk.”

Wade was impressed with the Villa. Its shiny tile floors and bright white walls gave a feeling of coolness to the interior. Rico led Wade through a hallway out to a patio. The dark green, tiled patio floor stopped at the edge of an infinity pool that looked over Valencia's blue Gulf. “You have a beautiful place here, Rico,” said Wade.

“The weather is perfect year-round, and our families are close by.”

Ramona came out of the house and said, “Please, have a seat. Refreshments are on the way.”

The three moved to a glass-topped table and sat down. Rita brought out a tray of fruit and cheese and a decanter of refreshing tropical fruit juice. She then retreated back into the kitchen.

“Please, have something to eat,” said Ramona to Wade.

Rico asked, “Why, after all of this time, have you decided to visit us?”

Wade unbuttoned the first three buttons of his shirt and reached inside. He removed an envelope from a flat fabric case and handed it to Rico. “This explains why I’m here.”

Rico took the envelope, opened it, and removed a single piece of typewritten paper. Silently, Rico read and then handed the letter to Ramona. After reading and rereading the letter, Ramona said, “You have to be shitting me! The President of the United States?”

Wade laughed, “It’s no joke. He is asking you to reactivate. Not only you but the entire team, including me.”

“What happened that’s so important that we need to reactivate?” asked Rico.

“We have information from a vetted source that a terrorist group is about to receive a nuclear device. The device is Russian-made, similar to our suitcase bomb, but larger and powerful. We need to find out who is selling and who is buying. Then neutralize them and the bomb. It was General Callahan who recommended our team.”

“Have you talked to the other team members?”

“Most of them. I have contacted Wolf and Benny. They both agreed to the reactivation. Wolf is arranging transportation to meet Chang and Brody in Wyoming. Brody and Chang don’t know we’re coming. I wasn’t able to contact them before coming here.”

Rico turned to Ramona, but she said, “We’ll do it before he could speak. Rico and I have kept up with our skills, and he has been acting like a caged lion since the last mission.”

Wade looked at Rico, who had a lopsided, guilty grin. Reaching out, Rico wrapped his arm around Ramona’s waist. “Yeah, count us in. What are you calling the mission?”

“Resurrection,” replied Wade. “After all, you guys have been dead for several years.”

Saying Goodbye

With Wade at their side, Ramona and Rico walked hand in hand along the sidewalk that bordered the broad avenue leading to a neighboring home. The brightly colored nearby buildings and the fragrant plants were pleasant to the senses. The three turned onto a side street and came to an open, black, wrought iron gate. As they passed through the gateway, two elderly couples greeted them.

Ramona smiled brightly, “Momma, Papa, it is so good to see you.” Ramona hugged first her mother and then her father.

Rico wrapped his arms around his mother and kissed her cheek. He then shook his father’s hand, and then the two embraced. “Mama, Papa, Señor, and Señora Cortez, Nathan Wade. We are old friends from the Marines.”

Wade surprised them when he spoke in fluent Spanish, “It is a pleasure to finally meet all of you. Thank you for inviting me into your home.”

“Come,” said Rico’s mother, “I have food and drink inside.”

Rico winked at Wade, “Our mothers always have food and drink ready for guests, no matter what the time of day.”

Inside the Villa, a cool breeze flowed through the patio, over the red-tiled floor covered with ornate rugs, and out the open windows. On the walls were colorful paintings of sun-darkened people working in the fields. Mother Garcia led everyone out onto the patio. They were greeted by the raucous chatter of a colorful parrot sitting on top of a black-barred cage.

“Parlanchín (Chatterbox), hush, we have guests,” said Rico’s father. The bird bobbed his head up and down but remained silent. “Sometimes, I think he understands me, no matter what I say.”

Everyone sat at a large table covered with a white tablecloth. Wade could smell refried beans and something else that made his mouth water. A young man and woman, dressed in black slacks and white blouses, began to bring dishes out and place them on the table. “Come, Señor Wade, eat while the food is hot,” said Señora Garcia.

While she passed the plates, Señor Garcia asked, “Ricardo, why have you asked us to meet with us like this?”

Rico tore a tortilla in half, folded it, and dipped it into his beans. “Ramona and I have been asked to do some special work for the government. We will be leaving in the morning. We wanted to spend the evening with you.”

Rico’s mother looked concerned and pointed her finger at Rico. “No more the shooting! You said it was over.”

“No, momma, no more shooting. Some equipment is missing because Ramona’s and because my clearances are still good….”

Rico’s father interrupted, “Señor Wade, you have asked them to do this, this special work?”

Wade was uncomfortable when he lied, saying, “Yes, I recommended them. I took the contract and asked them to help me.”

Ramona’s father leaned forward, “What is this thing, this missing equipment?”

“I’m sorry, Señor Cortez, but it is special equipment that I’m not at liberty to discuss.”

“No more shooting! I don’t want my boy coming home with more holes in him. He did before, you know.” Señora Garcia clasped her hands in her lap.

Wade almost smiled at what was said, but he knew where Rico had gotten those holes in him. The man had a handful of Purple Hearts. ‘I hope to hell none of them get holes in them and that they all come home safe.’

After dinner, they all went out to an open patio. An ocean breeze cooled the evening air as everyone took a seat close to the swimming pool. Señor Cortez asked, “Señor Wade, where are you from?”

“Born and raised in Laredo, Texas. My father was a Captain in the Border Patrol.”

With a twinkle in his eyes, Cortez said, “My people come from Nuevo Laredo.”

“Nuevo Laredo is a beautiful town that has seen better days.”

Cortez pressed his lips together and nodded his head. Then he chuckled, “I’ll bet our fathers traded shots across the Rio Grande!”

Wade laughed out loud, “Now that’s right possible. Sometimes those gunfights would go on for hours.”

“Si,” said Cortez, clapping his hands together with a laugh.

Señora Garcia asked, “You are married, Señor Wade?”

“I was. My wife died in an auto accident many years ago.”

Señor Garcia said, “You were an officer in the Marines? My son has mentioned your name in the past, I think.”

“I was Rico’s commanding officer for many years.”

Rico’s mother looked at Wade as if he had been the one to personally put the holes in her son. But then her face softened, “You take good care of our children while they are gone.”

“I will do my level best to keep them safe.”

The two servants came out to the patio carrying two chrome buckets filled with ice and bottles of Estrella Damm. Garcia reached into the bucket for a beer bottle and looked up at Wade. “Cerveza?”

“Si, gracias,” replied Wade.

Soon, everyone had a cold beer. Wade asked Garcia, “How do you like it here in Spain?”

“At first, we missed our friends, but we adjusted quickly with the Cortez’s here.”

Señor Cortez said, “Because we speak the language, we quickly made friends.”

Ramona said, “When Rico and I retired, it was easy for us, with our families here.”

There was an uncomfortable silence until Wade said, “I know how and why you had to come here. Your son, Señor Garcia, and your daughter, Señor Cortez, did a great service to our country. It was dangerous work and could have been dangerous to you also.”

Garcia pressed his lips together, thinking, and said, “You know my son’s story. I wanted him to go to college. But because of circumstances, he was forced to join the Marines. I thought, “At least he will have a life.But he did go to college, and he became an officer.”

Rico, listening to his father, remembered that night that his life changed forever.

Fifteen Years Earlier

The Texas sky was filled with stars and insects. The flat open fields of squash and okra seemed to glow in the moonlight. A metal-wheeled irrigation system sprayed water across the crops. Nineteen-year-old Rico neither saw nor heard any of it. Rico only felt the hammering of his heart as he stared at the man's body he had just stabbed. A thirty-year-old boozer and bully, Sanchez disliked the handsome Rico, who was intelligent beyond his years. At every opportunity, Sanchez would harass and goad Rico.

But tonight, the drunken Sanchez crossed some imaginary line when he called Rico the son of a whore. Rico hammered his fist into Sanchez’s jaw and dropped him to the ground. When Sanchez got up, he held an eight-inch stainless steel harvest machete in his hand. The heavy blade gleamed in the moonlight. If Sanchez thought Rico would cut and run, he was wrong.

Rico’s right hand struck like a rattler. He gripped the wrist of Sanchez’s knife hand.

Rico’s left hand wrenched the knife from Sanchez’s grip. It could have been over then, but Rico’s blood was up, and he slashed Sanchez’s neck and then again across his stomach.

Now, Sanchez lay on the ground, his life’s blood spurting out with each heartbeat.

Rico turned and ran for home.

Rico’s father had been the farm foreman for nearly fifteen years. Rico’s life was good because of his father’s hard work and fairness to the farmhands. But as Rico headed home, he was sure that he had just destroyed everything his father had worked so hard to build.

The Present

“Ricardo, Ricardo! What degree did you get?” Rico’s father questioned him.

“Oh, I’m sorry. What did you ask?”

“What degree did you earn?”

“Poppa, you know it is a Master’s degree in Business Management,” replied Rico.

“Your father knows,” said Rico’s mother. “He just likes to hear you say it.”

Cortez said, “Our Ramona did the same in the Marines, but she had two years of university before. Did you know these two knew each other before the Marines?”

“Yes, I did,” said Wade, “Funny how life goes; you leave a place, your friends, and years later in some faraway place you meet again.”

“As kids, they were sweethearts,” said Ramona’s mother. “They didn’t see each other for years, but now they are, married.”

Ramona looked at her husband and remembered, ‘He was going to kill me once, thinking I was a spy for the Mexican Cartel.’

Five Years Earlier

Ramona, working undercover for ICE, had been transported to Las Vegas by Sex Traffickers. A man named Rico Banderas, who looked familiar, claimed her for his own. One of the bosses of the Cartel told her to spy on Banderas. Banderas found out she was spying on him and took Ramona for a one-way ride into the desert.

Rico didn’t respond to Rosa’s questions but took Rosa firmly by the elbow and guided her out to his car. “Get in,” he ordered her.

Rosa felt a knot of fear in her stomach. ‘Something’s wrong!’ she thought.

Rico drove the Jag onto the highway and began going fast. Soon he took a turn-off that became a two-lane paved road. He accelerated to 110 miles per hour. Suddenly Rico slammed on the brakes and turned off onto a dirt road. He drove far enough down the road until the Jag was out of sight of the paved road. He stopped the car.