John handed one to Nick, and shouldered the other. “This will be messy, but fun.”
“Indeed it will be, brother Kabong. Our star in the next segment will be Bojangles. He’ll be in the entryway to greet the oncoming spectacular show’s end.”
“I like it. Is this what they can call averting a disaster of monumental danger.”
“The people do when they find out. Everyone else in authority with few exceptions simply shrugs and claims it’s a blip on the radar. We’ll make it into a movie where the blip becomes a nuclear reaction.”
*
“We’ve outed the Pakistanis. We killed an entire cell of Isis agents, found an arsenal of deadly weapons including two combat helicopters misappropriated for terrorist use, and did it all with very little government help,” Nick stated as he took final sightings with the video camera. “I wish we could have given Paul his due, but everyone in power will know it was his doing.”
“Are you sure it should end like this? You do realize this will rattle doors miles away, and probably knock us on our asses, right?”
“I told you I fixed the missiles, Payaso. John and I carted the bad parts inside the arsenal for the government to take care of while you dragged ass, barely helping.”
“What about the fuel tanks in the copters, Muerto? I was not dragging ass. I was watching for prying neighborhood eyes.”
“I’ll bet. We have to have some concussive force for the show, right John?”
“Yes, Muerto. Stop nagging us. It is like having Tyrannosaurus Tina here questioning our every move. You looked very frightening in tonight’s movie. Be satisfied with that.”
“Okay, but if we get blown to kingdom come, don’t blame me. The movie is our best one yet. We made a real statement.”
“Here comes the real statement,” Nick said, shouldering the M-80 Yugoslavia made anti-tank weapon. “These are single use, so hit something, John.”
John chuckled as he crouched into firing position. “Fire in the hole, Muerto! Say when.”
“Bojangles appears to be dancing a jig, guys,” Nick said. “That’s really nice of him to get into this final filming with some great adlib moves like that.”
Gus watched the man chained loosely to the helicopter twisting, yanking, and taking small breaks to plead and swear in three languages Gus could count. “Only you could describe that poor sap’s last pleas as dancing a jig, Muerto.”
“Thank you, Payaso. It is nice to receive acclamation from a friend.”!
“That wasn’t acclamation, Muerto!”
“That is of no importance. Fire… fire… fire!”
Gus watched the hits through the range finders before the helicopters exploded. He dropped immediately to the ground with his fellow Unholy Trio cohorts before the concussive wave swept over them. All the glass at the back of the house shattered.
“Uh oh,” Nick called out. “Who is going to pay for those windows?”
“Very funny, Muerto,” Gus said. “Bojangles was very unhappy at the end. Did you have to fire the rocket through him?”
“He was in the way of the helicopter, Payaso.”
“That’s because you chained him there… oh never mind. Let’s get the hell out of here. Even Paul won’t be able to hold off the local forces for much longer. They’ll be thinking we’re blowing up the whole state.”
“Our movie will be impossible to top,” John commented with some sadness. “We’ll have to make something incredible to top this one.”
“You drive, Gus. I’m going to take a quick look at the video and send it to Paul. He deserves first look at the masterpiece. Then I’ll call Clyde and tell him wheels up in an hour. We’ll soon be driving toward Pacific Grove where fate and the lovely Cala await El Kabong, the hero of Hell’s Gate.”
“Where is this ‘Hell’s Gate?”
“It’s a mystical place of bravery and sacrifice, John. If Gus would have been more supportive, this operation could have classified as a textbook example of assaulting superior numbered legions of bad guys.”
“Even you can’t think of tonight’s action as anything but a complete success. Turn off your negative vibes for a moment and smell the roses, Payaso.”
“Yes,” John agreed. “Save your mission bashing for the lovely Tina.”
“Your day is coming. Mark my words, Kabong.” Gus drove away down the darkened highway as neighbors finally piled out of their houses in the early morning hours. “Those people will be surprised at the closeness to death many of them came to. This will be a long travel day.”
“I’m glad we’re driving to Pacific Grove before any of this really gets plastered into the news. There will be media and police everywhere,” John replied. “It would be best to be on the move while people and authorities follow the media’s warped take on all of it. Then I will spring the real deal on them with our YouTube movie. El Kabong will be on top over all cat videos once again.”
Nick sat in the back enjoying the banter while finishing his first look at the movie. “Damn… this is good, boys.”