Cold Blooded Assassin Book 6: Red Horizon (Nick McCarty Assassin)

“It’s good business for us and the country. If we hit the compound in a precise killing manner, Nick has it in mind for us to confiscate it. I’ve seen the pictures. The surrounding acreage looks like a mountain paradise. The compound has hot tubs, huge rooms, fireplaces, and only one way in, or out, by road. Muerto’s thinking helicopter pads, and possibly an airstrip. It would mean being able to launch at least a helicopter strike without anyone knowing where it originated.”


“I want in on the assault. A luxury mountain retreat would be a terrific escape for a few days, especially if we could fly there,” Lynn said, with everyone else echoing her sentiments.

“I’ll fly the mission to get a piece of that,” Laredo said. “Traffic into the mountains toward Tahoe is the pits in the winter. If it’s not blizzard type weather, either me, John, or Jafar could fly there. We could have a Monster Christmas in the snow at our retreat.”

“Agreed,” Lucas said. “This op took the bad taste of Knowly away. You must be thinking stealth insertion on the outskirts of the compounds acreage.”

“Exactly,” I replied. “There’s a bunch on the grounds right now, including this Saran Al-Kadi. Can you get us satellite surveillance 24/7, Denny? It’s vital to know their routes around the compound in case they have anything booby-trapped.”

“I’ll get it started tomorrow morning,” Denny agreed. “There could be a treasury of info in a place like that. You’re not thinking of using an EMP bomb on it, are you, Cheese.”

Silence, crickets, clinking of glasses in the background. I shrugged as amusement set in at the Spawn of Satan reading my mind. “Yep. That was exactly what I had planned. I figured on a blackout when we reached assault positions with Agent Tonto. Between our super-dog and night-vision gear we could practically walk in and shoot everyone in the head.”

“Could you at least consider an info gathering mission? I’ll fly with Laredo and Jafar. With Nick’s crew and Tommy, Jess, and Dev, we can have all the backup we need, including land vehicles on the main road waiting in reserve.”

“We don’t want to rebuild the place after the assault, Spawn,” Casey said. “The good part of John’s assault is possibly holding the mayhem and destruction to a minimum. Uh oh… I just thought of a drawback to the EMP bomb. I’ll bet a great place like that has everything wired on computer controls, with apps for turning on lights, hot tubs, music, and even fireplaces. Maybe we should take a chance on Denny’s more circumspect plan of attack. We’ll send the minions in to take the first hit.”

“That’s just mean, Case,” Sylvio complained.

“He’s only kidding, right Case?” Quays’ brow furrowed when Casey grinned instead of answering. “This… after we went shoulder to shoulder with you into Chabahar, waiting for Iranian jets to turn us into dust particles.”

“Calm down, my fellow minions,” Gus Denova soothed. “The Monster Squad has an assault crew and we aren’t it. I’d step up and take the first hit though to have a chance at the mountain retreat vacations. We’re only a short jump to that small air field at Lake Tahoe too. We could cruise there for a night at the casinos.”

“I like your thinking, Gus,” I told him. “Let’s wait for a couple days of satellite surveillance before we decide. It may be Al-Kadi’s crew are complacent in their hideaway. Nick told me Al-Kadi won’t know how we accessed the location. We’ll have to be ready for anything though. Paul contacted you and confirmed the kill mission, didn’t he, Denny?”

“Yes. It doesn’t mean we can’t make room for prisoners. I’ll take care of them. It’s a black op though on USA soil. We’re contractors with the CIA. It wouldn’t take much of an investigation to trace our roots. We’ve been lucky so far with the threats we’ve handled on US soil. The nitwits in DC know how close we came to an atomic bomb hitting China Basin on board Alexi’s tanker. I know how stupid the rules of engagement are. Paul Gilbrech is the best CIA Director I’ve ever worked with. He got those Iranian jets splashed before they wiped the Monster Squad and Unholy Trio out after Chabahar. Paul wants this Al-Kadi and the rest of his Isis shitheads removed from this dimension. He’s trying to rig us a silent approval of operation where we can move as a contracted strike force with congressional backing.”