The Day The Oil Stopped Burning. Chapter 9: Anegada, Smoking some Cubans

Chapter 9: Anegada:  Smoking some Cubans.

 

 

It was well after midnight when Jack returned to the boat and he had been gone for over six hours. While Dougy and Geno were confident that he was alright, Annie G was starting to get a bit antsy. “I’m glad you’re back Baby” she said as he climbed aboard “I was starting to get worried”. Everyone was back in the cockpit, having eaten dinner and having a few cocktails…except of course for Max who never drank. He had however taken off his tie, jacket, and leather dress shoes which Jack noticed immediately, and then commented. “Ok guys I know that we have had a rather surreal week and that nothing should surprise me at this point, but I have just witnessed the two most incredible things ever. First: I have actually seen Max Cunningham without a tie and sport coat, wearing flip flops no less. Second: I just had a five and a half hour conversation with the creator of our universe”. “No fucking way’!!!! Was the response in unison from five guys and one girl? “Yes way” said Jack. ” I am not kidding you, if was fucking incredible. Unfuckingbeleaveable, I can’t even begin to describe how ultimately awesome it was”. Jack proceeded to spend the next eight hours straight explaining every minute detail of his conversation with Bob while his friends sat in total amazement. He shared every question he had asked and every answer Bob had given. He shared the incredible feeling of peace and serenity that had come over him. He shared the incredible bond that made materialized between them. He shared all the secrets that had been reveled….except one, and that had been the one answer that Bob had not actually spoken, but Jack had felt it, and Bob had let him feel it, and had confirmed that his feeling was correct. Jack knew that he had the answer to the very question which all mankind desperately yearned to know, and he had promised not to reveal the answer to anyone. “I can live with that” he thought to himself. He shared to his friends that he had never in his life felt the feeling of raw, unmitigated, unequivocal love as he had just felt during his five and a half hour meeting with this strange being from somewhere he could never comprehend. They had all asked a million questions, and listened as they never had before. The sun had risen and it was now Zero eight thirty hours and no one was even tired. In fact they all seemed to be on adrenalin high, just completely amazed at what had happened and what Jack was sharing with them. Finally someone suggested that they all get some shut eye of they would all be wasted by evening. Max volunteered to stand watch while everyone else tried to get a few hours sleep. Jack had also explained at least some of the details surrounding the current situation and what he had committed to do about it. He was very clear that this was his commitment and that he was not expecting the others to automatically follow him in his plan of action, but everyone including him knew that was just bullshit and that there was no way in hell that any of them was not in this thing one hundred percent. Max set up his laptop and customized M4 assault weapon in the helm station. He checked his Glock 9mm and half dozen loaded quick change back up clips and he started to develop an action plan. Everyone else except Geno who was too wound up to sleep had crashed. Geno took the forward watch and settled into his routine of scanning the horizon for any and all approaching vessels. Geno had always had extremely accurate vision and his Celestron Marine 16 x 60 binoculars allowed him to identify a vessel at over five nautical miles. Of course the Nanny Lu had great radar, but it took a trained eye to sniff out a suspicious vessel and Geno was gifted with that uncanny ability. “Let me know if anything looks goofy to you. I’m going to start running some hypothetical scenarios and see if we can actually pull off this save the world thing”. “You got it Max, I got the eye out and you will be the first to know if I don’t like what I see. By the way, if anybody can effect a plan from God to save the world…..it’s you brother”. Max’s usually expressionless face actually reveled what might have actually passed as a smile…just for a millisecond…then he went to work.

 

Bob had let Jack know that there was simply no way he was going to be able to bring down the entire conspiracy and that it would be fallacy to even try. The objective was to get the GECA legislation through the U.S. Congress and on to the White House and United Nations. Bob had also let Jack in on the fact that he was kind of going out on a limb because there had not been a decision among the powers-at-be regarding any kind of intervention. Bob has been assigned the task of looking after earth in a manner of speaking and was acting on mankind’s behalf on his own. Therefore he was not going to be able to enact a grand gesture as had been done sixteen years ago when they let their presents be known and passed on tons of information and change the composition of oil. That was pretty overt stuff and there was to be none of that this time around. The odds seemed pretty lopsided to Max being the pragmatic warrior that he was. What the hell were the chances of six men and one woman going to have against a highly financed international ring of highly sophisticated crime with leaders at the height of power in every country including the United States Senate and House and Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines and who knows where else. “This is freaking impossible, not to mention suicidal” he had said earlier. But then “I always preferred to be the underdog” he had added later. He was assessing their assets and liabilities as he had always done and had suddenly realized that this was going to have to be done on faith. This was a foreigner concept to Max. He had taken on long odds without hesitation before, but he always knew and accepted exactly what the odds were and what was required of him to beat those odds. This was a new game; one in which the rules he had relied on for so long no longer applied. He basically had to bet his life, the lives of his friends and the success of an entire mission to save the world on intelligence against all odds because it came from a supreme being. This was just something that he was going to have difficulty getting his head around.

 

Max had established a secure communication channel with Ron and had already apprised him of the situation. He was actually concerned about a security breach within the EAG. The thought of any corruption within his own organization made his shudder, but he had totally failed to recognize the size, scope and utter unscrupulous nature of the forces he was up against. Ron had assured him that they had uncovered some of the very same evidence, and were rapidly coming to similar conclusions however his reaction led Max to believe that they had not really grasped the size and scope of what was happening ether. His commentary was filled with expletives like, “you have got to be shitting me” and “holy shit” and “no fucking way”. Ron usually spoke in such expletives, but the tone of his voice betrayed his usual confidence and Max got the distinct feeling that Ron was actually blown away by what he was hearing. Ron had immediately scheduled a meeting with everyone who was in attendance at the previous day’s conference. He was a bit surprised when he was unable to raise Sam, and also that Art Dutton had been unavailable, but had dismissed it at the time. Now he was freaking out. “Jane, I want somebody to contact Sam Markey now. I can’t get him and I have a direct communication frequency. Something screwing is going on. Also, I need you to get a hold of Art Dutton’s office. He and Sam had an appointment with General A.J. Lukas. I want you to find out what in the fuck is going on”. “On it chief” Jane had replied.

 

By fourteen hundred hours Jack had woken up and met Tom and Jimmy in the galley. “Wow that felt good to catch a few zees. I was mentally exhausted” said Jack. “Is Max still of watch”. Yea” Jimmy answered “and Geno is on visual as well. I was just going up to relieve them after getting some grub going”. “So, what’s our agenda today”? Jack allowed as how he really was not sure. “I guess we should all have a confab and see what Max has learned from the boys in D.C. I really hate to leave here…..I mean I really, really hate to leave here, but I suspect that we probably will have to head back to D.C. and throw ourselves into the lion’s den. Fuckin-A do I hate the thought of that”. “Especially since I heard on the radio from Earl that he caught a dozen nice Tuna and two really nice Mahi- Mahi in the passage just four nautical miles from right here, and I know it’s been six years since you have tasted Jimmy’s famous Tuna sushi rolls” Jimmy added just to twist the knife. “This crowd never gets any easer does it” Jack asked to no one in particular.

 

Suddenly, Geno was yelling up a storm and Max was running into the cabin heading for the firepower stash. “What the fuck is going on” Jimmy shouted. “Geno spotted a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk coming in hot from the east”. “Fuck” yelled Tom as he followed Max. “Doug, get your ass up, there’s a party brewing up here and you don’t want to miss it”. Geno had a SAW set up already on the forward tramp and Max and Tom emerged with an assortment of rifles, RPG launchers and the Shoulder launched laser guided sidewinder that had already proven its effectiveness on Beaver Island. Tom had stabilized himself at the edge of the aft cockpit and had braced the sidewinder missile launcher against the cockpit cover. He already had a clean sight on the approaching chopper and was ready to blow it out of the sky on Max’s order. “Max, I got Missile lock any time you give the nod”. “Roger that” Max replied. “Geno, you ready with the SAW”? “Ready” Geno replied. “Dougy where are you” Max yelled. “If I were up your ass you’d know where I was” Doug yelled as he came flying out of the amidships hatch in his boxers and his favorite .308 auto in his hand. “I was just about to seal the deal with Angelia Jolie in my dream and you fuck sticks show your ugly………I’m going to blow your ass out of the sky you dick wad”. “Wake up grumpy did we” Geno said as he held his sights on the approaching chopper. “Geno, you sure that’s a Black Hawk”? Max yelled. “Absofuckinglutely” was his reply. “Max, do we blow um away or wait to see if he fires on us”? Tom yelled from his ready position. “Because if he lets one of those 2.75 inch M4 rockets go or opens up on us with that 30 MM cannon it might just be too fucking late”.  “Radar says he’s four point six miles and closing fast at one ten” Jimmy yelled. “Jack better make sure

Annie G is under some cover, we might take a hit”. Suddenly before he heard a thing, Tom saw the mussel flash on the forward mounted 30 MM cannon and squeezed off the trigger on his missile launcher. Within one point three seconds a small explosion stopped the approaching chopper in its tracks. As the forward momentum stopped, and the rotor slowed the chopper started a rapid descent as fire ravaged the cockpit. In the time it took Dougy to say “Asta la Vista motherfucker” the chopper was in the water and sinking fast. “What’s the depth over there” Max asked Jimmy. “Around one twenty. Easy dive if that’s what you want to know” “Yep, let’s head over there and see what we got”. “Who wants to go diving” Dougy yelled “Now that I’m up, I guess I might as well…or I can pound a few beers if any of you guys want to go…I hate to hog all the fun you know”. “Yea, a real fun hog, that’s you all the way Dougy” Jack said. “Actually, you stay and pound those beers; I want to take a look at who these buttholes are”. “Done deal Jackie boy, Annie said she wants a little time with me when you’re not around anyway”. “Dream on liver lips” Annie G said as she came up from below. “You boys sure do know how to keep a girl entertained…what’s for lunch”? Jack said "I can take the spear gun and see if I can spear us a nice grouper for lunch....or, you can fry up some spam". "Yummy, you know I just love spam and eggs. Maybe I'll just make up some conk salad in case you miss". "That's what I love about you baby, such confidence". Max and Tom had loaded all the diving gear into the tender, Jack hopped in and they sped off to the site where the chopper had plunged into the sea. "We had better see if we can ID these guys" Max said. "I suspect they won't exactly be carrying driver’s licenses". "Who do you think they are Max" asked Jack. "Mercenaries, hired guns, probably from Cuba, maybe Columbia. Let's take a look see". They geared up and hit the water. Things were still pretty cloudy considering that a burning helicopter had just fallen out of the sky and sank leaking hydrogen battery fluid, synthetic lubricant, hydraulic fluid, and quite possibly a large quantity of blood. "Just before getting in the water Tom had turned to Max to say "you don't think that there is blood in the water do you".”Why... You getting squeamish on me now". "No, I just hate sharks, they are mean motherfuckers". "Jesus Tom just get in the God Dam water, you are such a pussy sometimes". 

 

The sharks had indeed been lured in by the irresistible draw of blood in the water. At least a dozen good sized tiger's were visible through the still cloudy water. The chopper had fallen just south of a significant drop off that rose from well over four hundred feet to about fifty. It was about two miles off shore and the depth gently tapered all the way to the beach with mostly sand bottom and occasional coral head. A coral reef protruded off a point several miles to the east blocking the prevailing east winds and providing one of Jimmy's favorite anchorages. Even during "the season" Jimmy's bay was usually empty. This time of year it was guaranteed to be deserted. Considering that the entire population of the island was less than a hundred and no one lived west of the main harbor, Jimmy's bay was as isolated as it gets. 

 

They descended to one hundred and twenty feet when they came to the chopper hung up on a small ledge in the drop off. There were two bodies which had obviously died upon impact. "Teach you to mess with guys who pack a sidewinder" was the thought going through Tom Rum's head. Tom had a tendency to take it personally when people tried to kill him, unlike Max who always kept emotion completely out of the situation. Max had always thought that was why Tom preferred to carry and operate the superior weaponry; and the miniaturized, guided, shoulder launched sidewinder with the plethora of different available warheads for all different situations was far and away his favorite. Max realized that Tom was usually able to use his skills and advanced weaponry to defuse a deadly situation before it became deadly for them, and he took it as a personal insult that anyone would try to do his friends or associates harm. He also got visible satisfaction out of doing away with such threats which all in all made him an amusing companion and incredibly effective bodyguard. He used to kid Max about his secret service days saying "you should have gotten the Sarah Palin detail back in '07-08 mate. I would have been giving her the high hard one. She was hot"! "You are so fucking juvenile you.” was always Max's standard response. "Come on Max; don't tell me you would not have tapped that action. I would have been hailing her from behind while she's looking over at Russia..... Out her back window". 

 

"They searched the bodies and as suspected no ID was not forth coming. The chopper was devoid of any form of identification, no serial numbers were left and it was clear that the chopper was black market. It was heavily armed and under normal conditions and against any foe other than Jack and friends would have been deadly. In this particular situation, deadly only to them. Two 30 MM cannons and two .50 Caliber forward mounted Gatling guns along with four wing mounted 2.75 inch missiles. Max disassembled some of the machinery and weaponry to take back to the boat and attempt to determine some place of origin. He also removed some of the personal gear. He knew that there would be no evidence- because he knew these guys were professional- and like him would not have made any mistake that would reveal their identity. In the world of spooks not revealing ones identity was the most important thing. As Tom Rum and Max completely surveyed the chopper recharge, jack had followed a couple twenty pound grouper up a canyon and was moving in for the kill. He was clearly torn between his desire for more information about those who were trying to kill him and his desire for the ultimate lunch of fresh fried grouper and conk salad. He was swimming ten feet above and twenty feet behind the fat and delicious looking grouper when a six foot tiger shark came around the bend in the canyon fifty feet ahead and was swimming fast right toward them. The grouper did an abrupt about face and started swimming right toward Jack. Within a second he had let two spears go nailing both grouper and shooting a healthy dose of highly potent shark repellent dead ahead. In another second he had collected the grouper, turned, and joined Max and Tom as they finished up at the wreckage. Max gave the signal to ascend and they headed back toward the surface. After a short decompression stop they were back in the tender heading back to the Nanny Lu. "Who were they" Jack asked as they sped toward the Cat. "Cuban mercenaries, defiantly Cuban. Real badass fuckers". Max answered. "Yea well they don't look so badass as cooked, soggy, dead motherfucking corpuses now do they" Tom added. "Any clues who they work for" asked Jack. "They will work for anybody; equal opportunity killers I guess. Undoubtedly your buddies in the wacko conspiracy world. Those crazy Cuban mercs don't give two shits who is writing the paycheck as long as it cashes and you really don't want to be on the other end if it doesn't. Fuck um, they're dead now and I doubt this stuff is going to tell us anymore. Let’s get back to the boat, eat those grouper, call Ron, and develop our next step". "And have a couple big ass Rum drinks" added Tom.