Nick shot apart the locking mechanism and doorjamb. The door swung slightly open. Automatic weapons fire in what Nick could tell was 9mm blew through the door. When the firing stopped, Nick waited a moment before speaking. “That wasn’t very nice. I’m going to throw a grenade inside your room and blow you to kingdom come. I’ll count to three. If you’re not out here next to me, your pieces will be. One… two…”
“No!” The door slammed open. Al-Kadi rushed out with his hands up. Tonto ran him over, continuing inside to check the room while Nick restrained and helped Al-Kadi to his feet.
Lynn walked past to get in with Tonto. “I’ll check the room.”
John Harding joined Nick. “I’m not sure if we can spare the time here in interrogation, Nick. There was literally a small army. If not for bringing the heavy weapons, we might have gotten our heads handed to us. As it was, Laredo had to finish them off. Denny’s working on a collection team. This was a mess… a damn successful mess… but a mess none the less. We’ll need to move Saran to Pain Central. Can you wait for a few days while we make sure of his story?”
“Sure, John,” Nick answered. “He’ll have considerable funds here though.”
“I’ll leave the minions here to watch the house and interact with Denny’s cleaning crew. I’m sorry your ‘Spaghetti Western’ plot didn’t work out for you.”
“That’s okay. Al-Saud wants only his network information. I figured we could clone the drives, make sure all relevant info is off them, and then I’ll take what’s left to Dubai for my meeting. We can take the photos of Al-Kadi now, and I’ll get on the road. Samira drove a confiscated vehicle to Pilot Hill with my tools. I have to go see the Kader in New York. If everything works out there to my satisfaction, I’m going to the sand.”
“What? You are going to kill me now?” Al-Kadi’s outrage began to seep dumbly into his features, the full black chin beard bobbing with his mouth. “I knew it! You bastards were sent by Al-Saud! We can make this right. I will double what he’s paid you!”
“Do you need him unmarked, John?”
“Nope.”
In a split second, Nick pistol whipped Al-Kadi to the floor. He then pounded him unconscious. Nick retrieved the small leather envelope he’d taken from Senta’s belt. Taking the scalpel from the small leather pouch, Nick slit Al-Kadi’s throat with a shallow slice so the blood welled thickly, soaking the bottom part of his beard grotesquely. Once there was a small pool of it around Al-Kadi’s head, Nick turned to Johnny, who had accompanied the house assault team. Johnny nodded. Without another word, he began snapping pictures from different angles. Johnny finished by taking digital fingerprints and a DNA swab.
“Done, Muerto.” Johnny looked over his pictures. “These are very good.”
“Thanks, Johnny.” Harding and his crew had been chuckling over Nick’s adlib of making Al-Kadi appear dead. They remained silent as Nick tightened Al-Kadi’s shirt around the shallow neck wound tightly. Nick straightened to his feet. “Good as new.”
“That was very cute, Dead Boy,” Lucas said. “Does this mean you’ll be leaving for New York right away?”
“If I can, I’d like to duck out of here with my crew. We’re heading for New York. I believe Kader will be getting word about the people he’s lost and head for the sand. We’re through playing with the Kaders. Eliah and all the male Kaders we find with him are going bye/bye. If you learn how the hell Al-Kadi knew we were coming I’d sure like to know who tipped him.”
“We’ll call you once Lynn gets him in the mood,” Harding said. “There’s really nothing more here for any of us to do before the cleaning crew finishes. Be careful in the sand. If you get into trouble, don’t hesitate to call.”
Nick smiled. “I won’t, brother. The only other thing I could use is a letter, written and signed by Saran. Do you think we can get Agent Tonto to talk him into writing it, Lynn?”
Lynn smiled. “Absolutely.”
*
“I’ll admit to one thing, John,” Denny said while inspecting the grounds across the road from the compound, “if this doesn’t set those Isis bastards on their heels, nothing will. I put a team to work on our escrow papers. The compound will be ours once Al-Kadi signs it over to us with Lynn’s help. I know a construction company in Sacramento that will build and repair the compound without any questions asked. We have a lot of small cosmetic repairs to be made but nothing real bad. It could have been a lot worse except for the vegetation across the road. Can I still have Fernando?”
“He’s been my good little helper,” Lynn said. “Muerto took care of my other toy. If not for him needing her to be a weapons carrier, I wouldn’t have let her go in. She was a little too polished for my taste. It all worked out in the end. We decimated the pricks. It was definitely a killing field across the street. Do you want to take Fernando with you now?”
“Yes, if I can,” Denny replied. “Does Muerto know you’re giving Fernando to me? Carone did send men after Nick.”