Nightmare in Red (Nick McCarty #5)

“I…I need a doctor. Get me… to a hospital.”


Nick grinned down at the wounded sniper shouldering his MP5. “Now that was funny. You must think I’m the regular federal authorities. Here’s the deal, Bucky. I’m going to help you down the stairs, out of the building, and across the street. You’ll be joining your buddies there.”

“I cannot… I have lost much blood.”

Nick kicked the man in the groin, evoking an elemental scream coupled with hand grasping panic at his injured parts. Nick waited a few moments. “I don’t think you understand, Bucky. I don’t care about your bloody wounds. Now that I’ve cleared that up. Are you going to get on your feet with my help or do you need another kick start?”

“No! I will stand!” The man lifted his uninjured hand for Nick to get under. With Nick’s help, he sobbed and cried his way to a standing position.

*

“Here he comes,” Phil said. “He has some guy hobbling along with him. Is that the sniper? Why the hell would McCarty help him?”

“It’s best not to ask too many questions.” Clyde waved back at Nick as he passed by the car. “I hope his scene doesn’t take too long in setting the stage.”

“I can sure understand why Paul likes this guy so much,” Ken said. “He’s killed probably three or four guys already and he still has that shit eating grin on his face.”

“He’s a damn monstrous freak!” Phil was upset at the way Clyde and Ken deferred to Nick with respect.

“When I go into combat, I want to be with a guy like Nick,” Ken replied. “I’d have a great chance at survival. If I wanted to die with the other scared boot camps, I’d buddy up with you, Phil. I heard you have a great kid back home Nick thinks a lot of. Concentrate on him and shut your pie hole.”

*

“What’s your real name, Bucky?” Nick propped the wounded man in the same position he had been in.

“Akila…” he cried out as Nick shifted the MP5 into shooting position on the man’s shoulder.

“That means ‘wise one’. Heh…heh… good pick.” Nick placed his hand over Akila’s and fired a burst at the crates where the ambassadorial party was, pulping the head of the Algerian Ambassador, Ben Sahraoui, whom he had draped over a crate. “Nice shootin’, Ak. I think one of Ben’s guards is drawing a bead on you, pal. I’ll go check. Stay here.”

Nick hogtied Akila, laying him on his side. Nick ran over to his crate scene and dragged one of the dead bodyguards into position to fire an AK47. Nick helped the corpse take aim at the squirming Akila. Nick fired a burst that struck Akila along his side and previously uninjured shoulder, watching the man’s body jump and twist before lying still with only groaning twitches of movement.

“He’s down but I think Akila has a grenade,” Nick warned the corpse. “I’ll go check. Don’t move.”

Nick ran back to the near death Akila. Nick retrieved his grenade, pulled the pin, and kept the grenade from arming while putting the pin in Akila’s hand. Nick tossed the grenade so it hit and rolled into the crates where it exploded in spectacular fashion. Uncovering from where he had retreated, Nick waited for Akila to die. He then placed the MP5 near Akila with only the man’s fingerprints on it.

“Hell of a job, Akila. I should FaceTime John and make you do a Kabuki dance but that explosion will probably bring unwanted attention from the public and police. See you later. Oh… by the way… your sniping sucked.”

Outside, Nick hurried to the government vehicle and slipped in next to Ken. “All done. Let’s go get cleaned up. That bitch Cameron tipped off the ambassador which is why we received the great greeting party. I’ll have to settle for payback at a later date with her. You were a terrific driver, Ken. If not for getting the car into a position blocking the sniper’s bullets, Clyde and I might not have made it.”

“Glad to do it even for free, Nick. Was that a real grenade we heard go off in there?” Ken drove away without looking back.

“Believe me,” Clyde answered from the back for Nick, “it was a real grenade.”

“Here’s the scene guys. The sniper tried to kill the ambassadorial party but was wounded. Leaving his sniper rifle on the roof, he dragged himself across the street to finish the job of killing everyone. After a shootout of disastrous consequences, Akila the sniper pulled the pin on a grenade to finish the battle. There were no survivors.”

“That story’s insane,” Phil said. “No one will believe that.”

“Left with no other viable alternative, I think it works,” Clyde countered.