“I will perform brilliantly and we will finally be rid of my Kader curse. Do you believe Eliah is the last one doing this, Muerto?”
“According to Ishmael’s wife, Eliah has been responsible for everything that’s happened. He’s the one who blocked the payoff I offered to leave us all the hell alone. Eliah threatened Ishmael’s family because he tried to change the other elders’ minds.” Nick lifted his glass. “Let’s have a toast to Ish. He was born into the wrong family, but maybe now his wife and kids can escape Islam’s curse. I wish he had called us.”
They toasted Ishmael.
Cala sighed and sipped her wine. “At least I had one decent male relative.”
“Lynn’s assistant, Amara, had the same family problems. I believe the Monster Squad has made a severe reduction in the number of male Nejems. They were tied into our Pilot Hill bunch. I don’t think there was an Ishmael in their family reunion in hell.”
“I wonder if Lynn cured Florence,” Gus said.
“My guess would be it’s a guarantee,” Nick replied. “There’s something about the way she breaks someone down in interrogation. I’ll bet Senta resisting the cure gave Lynn pause for thought. I know they’ll have Chuck and Sal keeping a close eye on Flo. This is a dangerous business leaving enemies alive at your back.”
“I figured you would have killed Flo,” Johnny said. “Did Senta really turn on you or did you seize the opportunity?”
“A little of both. I needed to distract the gunmen. We’ll know what happened when Lynn finishes with Al-Kadi if she hasn’t already.”
*
Claude asked to sit in on Al-Kadi’s interrogation. He helped Clint and Jafar sift through the mountains of information to judge what could remain for Nick’s visit with Al-Saud. He earned the time. I could tell he wanted to ask a question when Saran became pliable. I noticed something bothering the assassin from the moment he heard our operation involved Saran Al-Kadi. Although Al-Kadi wanting to have Claude killed I’m sure was enough reason for Chardin to want Saran dead, I knew it wasn’t the only reason.
Saran pissed Lynn off on the way home. He thought because he was still alive that we planned to let Al-Saud or someone have him. No one explained what Nick had done to him. Saran figured we were suddenly scared of lawyers and lawsuits because Nick beat him like a red headed stepchild. Lynn listened to him whine and threaten us with everything under the sun. It was amusing at first. Then it dawned on Lynn that Saran didn’t know his men were all dead. That’s when the fun began.
Lynn clapped her hands together with delight. She took Jafar’s iPad over to Saran. We record everything we do with video and audio. It’s sick in a way, but we’re monsters. Anyway, Lynn sat next to Saran and said, “I bet you’d like to know what happened to your army of misfit Muslims, don’t ya’?”
“They will be freed soon,” Al-Kadi stated with confidence. “We merely defended our land against invaders. You will all end your days in prison for this outrage. I will never be handed over to Al-Saud.”
Lynn was amused to no end as were we all. When she managed some breathing control, she stated with some excitement, “oh, Saran, you’re right on all counts… except about us ending our days in prison. First off, your soldiers are all free. They did defend what they thought was your territory. It wasn’t, but that’s neither here nor there. Thirdly, you’re right – you will not be handed over to Al-Saud. That letter I dictated to you was for another reason I’m sure you have suspicions about. Let me show you this to fill in some of the blanks.”
Oh boy… the look of horror on Saran’s face as he watched the bloody annihilation of his men, their screams, and Laredo’s cockpit video of the survivors in the woods blown to bits – priceless.
“Murderers! My men were trying to surrender!”
“Really?” Lynn grabbed the iPad as if she cared, squinting at the screen and replaying the section that offended Saran. “Oh damn. Look at this, you guys.”
We put sad frowns of concern on our faces as we scooted to a position in the UH-60 where Lynn could enlarge the part and put it on replay. It was hilarious. We oohed and awed, shaking our heads, seemingly heartbroken over the fact that murderous swine, without a uniform or country, tried to give themselves up when they knew we were going to kill them all. Lynn threw the iPad into my lap. It was a tight fit for all of us. Lynn glared at us with hands on hips.
“You monsters!”