God's Lions - House of Acerbi (48 page)

“Like shoulder-fired missiles?”

“Those would be useless against our choppers,” Wilson said. “All of our Blackhawks have new laser defense technology. We don’t want a repeat of
Blackhawk Down
. Anyway, it doesn’t really matter, because without helicopters this mission is dead in the water. We need to neutralize those missiles.”

“Well, from what I just heard, it doesn’t sound like anyone has enough of the things to do the job anyway,” Leo said.

“There are a hundred and twenty of them locked inside those two hangars across the field.”

The men turned to see Ariella standing in the doorway behind them.

“What did you say, Ariella?” Lev asked.

“I said the two hangars across the field are full of them. This field was rented from the U.S. government last year by a private company that manufactures them. I just walked over and looked inside one of their hangars. I counted 120.”

The men looked at one another without speaking.

Ariella crossed her arms and waited. “Well, you want to go look at them or what?”

Lev and Ben were already pushing their way through the door as Leo found himself unconsciously following along behind with Colonel Wilson and Alon. Crossing the hot concrete runways, it took twenty minutes for the small procession to make it to the hangars across the field.

Peering through the dusty windows, they saws rows of brand new, gleaming white drones, and it appeared like they were being readied for shipment.

“I thought they just tested these things here,” Wilson said.

Lev was busy brushing the fire off his shirt after smashing his cigar against the hangar window when he was peering inside. “Well, evidently they manufacture them here too, and from the looks of things, these drones are headed for the Navy.” Lev pointed to the USN markings on the wings. “I wonder where all the employees are?”

“The company was forced to close up shop for the duration of your mission for security reasons,” a voice called out behind them.

The surprised group turned to see a short, middle-aged man standing directly behind them. He had a low slung stomach that advertised the fact that he enjoyed his beer, and was wearing a white western shirt, jeans, and a pair of expensive-looking cowboy boots. He was also holding an assault rifle.

“We’re based across the field,” Wilson said quickly. “Military.”

“I know who you are, Colonel Wilson. I’m Jack Beck ... CIA. We’ve been guarding the perimeter of this field since you arrived. We had to clear out the folks who own this little airplane business before you all landed. We even had to handcuff the owner for awhile until he settled down. They were some pretty unhappy campers.”

“I can imagine,” Lev said. “They’re going to be positively thrilled when they return and find we’ve taken all of their drones.”

“You don’t say. You got orders for that?”

Wilson smiled at the man. “No sir, but we will.”

“I’d love to know what you people are up to, but even we’ve been left out of the loop. Whatever you’re doing has been classified at the highest levels.” The man paused for a moment as the group stared back at him in silence. “Do you guys know how these things fly?”

Lev and the others adopted blank stares.

“Didn’t think so,” the man said. “Each one of those little puddle jumpers in there has to have its own pilot.”

“But they’re drones,” Lev said.

“Yes, but they’re still flown remotely by pilots sitting in a little control room somewhere. Sometimes they’re flown from thousands of miles away via satellite uplink. The closest control facility is located at an air force base in Tucson, but they’ve only got four little cockpits in a couple of plain-looking trailers. I know ... I checked. I used to fly model planes as a kid. I wanted to fly one of these things.”

“They don’t have autopilots?” Wilson asked.

“Nope. They’re not like cruise missiles. You can’t just fire them and forget them.”

Alon pressed his face against the glass and looked at the rows of drones. “I guess that’s that.”

The CIA man chuckled. “I’ll leave you good people to carry on. If you have any problems, just shoot up a flare or something. I’ll be around.”

With that, the stocky man turned and disappeared around the side of the hangar as the group began trudging back across the field in the blistering heat. It was quickly becoming apparent that their plan of attack was beginning to fall apart.

“The drone thing probably wouldn’t have worked anyway,” Alon said. “With them or without them, we’re still going in, but I’m afraid there’ll be a lot of casualties in the first wave of choppers.”

Ben looked up at the hulking figure of Alon walking beside him. The man was talking about the possibility of being killed as if he were planning a trip to the grocery store. “I’m going to ask for some better satellite photos. We may find a weak spot in their defenses we haven’t spotted yet.”

“Well then, Ben, I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is that we just received some new, fine-resolution satellite photos for you to look at. The bad news is that there’s a good possibility none of us will make it out of there alive.”

Ben stopped as the group continued walking across the field, leaving him behind in the 107 degree heat. Looking to the south, toward the border of Mexico, he felt like someone had just poured ice water down his back.

After they crossed the field, Leo kept walking past the hangar. He wanted some time alone, and despite the heat, he was beginning to enjoy the solitude of the desert. Pausing for a moment to check for scorpions, he climbed to the top of a large boulder and sat with his legs folded as he looked out at the magnificent desolation ringing their position. The absurdity of the picture caused him to smile. He wondered what people would think if they saw him all alone out in the desert, perched on top of a big rock with his legs folded beneath him like some kind of ancient shaman. It was a vision straight from the pages of a Carlos Castaneda novel.

Maybe we’re going about this the wrong way
, he thought to himself. He was growing increasingly uncomfortable with the military option, and it seemed that every time they had a solution to a problem, something else popped up to block their way forward. Added to this, they hadn’t heard from Daniel since they arrived. It seemed that the code in the Bible had grown strangely silent. There had to be another way to stop Acerbi, but so far the solution seemed just beyond their reach, as if they were feeling their way forward through a thick fog.

Evita’s voice broke the stillness. “Leo!”

“I’m over here.”

Leo watched as she rose up on her toes in a ballerina-like move to sidestep the thorny cactus plants at the base of the rock and climbed up beside him. Shading her eyes with one hand, she squinted at him in the bright sunlight. “What’s this ... the start of a forty-day vigil in the desert?”

Leo laughed. “No ... just thinking.”

“They sent me to find you. Sounds like more bad news.”

Leo looked out over the desert one more time and sighed before sliding down the side of the boulder and holding out his hand as Evita slid down behind him.

“Let me guess. They found another secret weapon or something at Acerbi’s ranch.”

“I’m not sure. The military guys seem really upset about something. They wanted me to find you and bring you back.”

By the looks on the faces in the room, Leo knew as soon as he entered the trailer that something bad had happened. Lev, Moshe, and Alon were present, as were Ben Zamir and Ed Wilson.

“What’s going on?”

Lev raised his head and looked straight at Leo with eyes that had taken on a cold edge. “The two scouts.”

“What about them?”

“They’re dead.”

“What!”

“Killed by Acerbi’s men. Their heads are on spikes in front of his ranch.”

“What! I thought they were on their way back here!”

“They were,” Wilson said. “They were driving back through Sonora. They were almost to the Arizona border when they called to say they were stopping at a police roadblock. We never heard from them again. The police were either Acerbi’s men disguised as Mexican Federales, or real federal police that were on his payroll. There’s kind of a blurry line down there between the good guys and the bad guys. We figure they never gave them a chance. They probably just opened up on them as soon as they stopped.”

Ben slammed his fist into his open palm. “I knew we should have flown them out after they had been spotted.”

“They were following operational procedure, Ben,” Alon said. “They were protecting the security of the mission.”

“Well, security is shot now, and I get to write letters of condolence to the families of those men. I should have ordered them to blow the truck and sent in an extraction team to fly them out. Now Acerbi’s men know some major players are in the area.”

Leo sat on the edge of a worn couch and looked around the room.
So much for the element of surprise.

Ed Wilson reached into his backpack and pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels. Uncapping it, he took a long swig and slammed the bottle down on the table. “I say we nuke the ranch and be done with it. I’m asking my boss to call the President. If he gives the go-ahead, Acerbi’s hacienda will be nothing but a smoking, glowing, radioactive hole in the ground a few hours from now.”

“I’m beginning to agree,” Lev said. He eyed the black label on the whiskey bottle and poured some of the golden liquid into his coffee.

“Go easy on that stuff, Professor,” Wilson said. “It’s not some of that kosher wine you guys drink.”

Lev took a sip and looked him right in the eye. “And I’m not a Jew anymore, but even when I was I could hold my liquor.”

Wilson clapped him on the back as the door to the trailer opened and Jack Beck poked his head in. “I just heard what happened to your boys. Sounds like payback time, but first I think you guys need to turn on the TV.”

Alon was the first to find the remote and switched it on. It felt like the air had been sucked through the door when they all gasped. Sitting at a glass-topped table with a swimming pool in the background, Rene Acerbi was peering into the camera, and despite the pleasant ambiance of the setting, he wasn’t smiling.

Acerbi’s dark eyes seemed to reach beyond the camera and look right into the room. A red banner scrolled across the bottom of the screen announcing that local programming had been interrupted for a special news bulletin. The entire scene was eerie. Against a vacation-like background, the expression on Rene’s face had a chilling effect on those in the trailer, for they were aware that they were looking into the eyes of a mass murderer, and whatever he was about to say would be either a threat or a lie.

Good Evening. My name is Rene Acerbi. Many of you probably recognize my name because of the much publicized fact that I happen to be one of the wealthiest men in the world, but there is much about me that you don’t know. Let me begin by saying that great wealth comes with its own special obligations, especially to those less fortunate, and I have always considered it my greatest obligation to use my wealth to make the world a better place for future generations. Tonight, with the help of a dedicated group of individuals, I am addressing you from a secure location because the world is in danger, and if we don’t take action soon, our time as a species on this planet will soon come to an end.

Acerbi paused to let his words sink in before he continued.

Several days ago, scientists employed by the Acerbi Pharmaceutical Corporation, working in a secret location, discovered a vaccine for the new and deadly virus that is now spreading throughout the world. Without it, millions will die. My goal is, and always has been, the welfare of those who have been struck down by this horrible disease. However, because of circumstances beyond my control, I have been stopped from producing this vaccine or distributing it to you and your family.

In the last twenty-four hours, we have uncovered a sinister plot hatched by a group of powerful individuals who want to increase their fortunes by taking over the governments of the world. To this end, they want to eliminate at least half the people on the planet to make it easier to control those who remain. These evil men and women are responsible for developing the virulent pathogen that has been released into the world, and they plan to hold its deadly power as a weapon over your heads if you do not comply with their wishes.

The vaccine I possess is the only thing that stands between you and a viral Armageddon, so I now beseech you to rise up and come to my aid. The governments who do not support me are under the control of the group who is spreading the virus. They must be eliminated. We are with you, and as soon as we are able, we will begin disseminating the vaccine around the world to save as many of you as we can. It is time for the people of the world to join with me and come together so that we can stop these evil people and abolish the corrupt governments they control.

Together, we will defeat them, and I will stand with you at the forefront of a new beginning. I will begin by releasing a list of names of those who belong to this group to the press so that they will be exposed for what they are. Once we have succeeded in eliminating them, a new dawn will rise over a global community led by fair and wise leaders. I only hope that we are not too late, so I remind you that time is of the essence if the human race is to be saved.

Without so much as a “good night” from Acerbi, the screen faded to black before control of the satellite signal was passed back to the TV network. Acerbi was now gone, replaced instead with the shocked expression on the face of the television anchorman. Within seconds, the producer’s voice in his earpiece cued him to the fact that he was back on live TV.

“Uh ... you’ll have to excuse me folks. I ... I don’t really know what to say at this point except that our network appears to have been hijacked somehow for that broadcast. We here in the newsroom cannot verify its authenticity or where it came from, so until we learn more, please stay tuned and we’ll try to get to the bottom of this.”