Elite 2 Part 14

Wednesday

Morning

0600hrs

‘The news is where we are now. The island is getting pep up for the President’s visit today at noon. Do you see the dirt on the streets? Nope, thats because they been swept clean for today. But there are still worries on the streets of gang wars. :Last night fire at the closed amusement park was claimed to be pranks by the youths with fireworks. All officials has denied any gang war going on there. But the people on the street is thinking otherwise. This is Angela, Island News.’

What they didn’t see on the TV sets are the body bags that was shipped by the boats to the morgue. Police has cordoned the area but the number of cars going into the fire burnt amusement park carries some important ranks and names.

The Commissioner has ordered a gag order on all personnels from making any public or private comments on the incident.

‘The new word just came in. The President will be here at 1300hrs due to a technical issue of his logistics. Tim Curry, we bring you the news on time.’

0712hrs

‘Good morning, Captain’, was what I heard. I opened my eyes to see the two Islander Police Officer, Micheal and Roke. I reached for my injured left shoulder, and find it well bandaged.

‘Roke is a trained paramedic and he removed the bullet. You might yourself with a sore shoulder for a while’.

‘Not my first’, as I looked back at the two officers dressed in the police jumpsuit. Their shoulder holster holds the M1911 and their belt showed some ammo pouches plus a ka-bar knife. I can see the MP5A3 slung on their back and it looked deadly.

I am still in my dark shirt and pants, but no more guns. Not even my faithful ankle gun. I can see Marcel sitting on the floor like me a few feet away in his sleeveless jacket and he looks okay except for the bandage on the left thigh.

I also see Melanie next to Marcel, still unconscious probably from the fatigue than anything else. She is still dressed as she was last night.

All of us are not restraint by any materials except for the two armed policemen.

It was then I saw Major Tuan across the room. He is seated like us but his uniform looks like its being dragged through the washer without the water. He also spot a bandage around his forehead.

0720hrs

I been awake for over half and hour. I been watching the room which we are held in; and also listening to the sounds to figure out our location. I can hear the sea waves and the sea birds, so I presumed we are by the beach some where, but there are no sounds of vehicles or boats, so we are on an isolated beach front.

But where? I don;t really know unless I can peek out the window behind the officers.

‘I can see that the Kingfisher is awake. Good. We may begin then as I have a short morning before the President arrived. Captain Marius, Major Tuan, and Ms Melanie Selvi plus the infamous Kingfisher. If you are wondering of the young man who was with Melanie; he is currently tied down to some bad materials. You see I am envy you all. So does Roke.

You are all household names. Captain Marius, ex Special Division aka Death Squad. He is the founding member of Death Squad under the Governor then. You got a confirmed kill of ten and unconfirmed of five.

Major Tuan former Army with a reputation for creating killer squad. Your men has killed more then two dozen people and many unconfirmed ones.

Kingfisher, professional killer and gang enforcer; a tally of twenty five confirmed kills and many more associated ones.

You will have two hours to rescue the two or cleared the estate which we are on. Its about fifty acres and there are eight of them besides us out them with sniper skills to make sure you failed. If you do failed or are killed by us, then there is nothing to worry about.

But if you do get cleared within the two hours or rescue any of the two, you may go free. In two hours, they will die in that attachment if you do not save them.

Its simple game; we call it ‘tragedy’.

I looked at the two officers who are obviously mad. But they told us get ready in twenty minutes and the clock starts at 0800hrs The clock now says 0740hrs

‘But we are been fair to you. Here is a Ka-bar each. And there is someone joining us. Major, you know him as Mr Yen. He is an accomplihsed hunter.’.

I muttered a prayer to myself.

And for Melanie.

0745hrs

‘Micheal, why are you doing this?’ I was being led out of the room and out of the small house. We are actually on a hill down below the slope from Mr Chiang Men’s house.

‘Melanie, you are the bait for them. You never told me of your relationship with the Captain. I only found out when I spoke to the officer in the Station. You lied to me about your life.’

‘You knew asked me of mine nor I of yours. We only knew each other, damnit.’

But I drew no answer from Micheal. I was pushed into the SUV and driven across the hill to the beach. Thre was a boat there waiting for me. I was put on the boat and taken out to the sea about five hundred feet out. There is a floating platform there and I was left on it.

‘I wouldn’t try to swim if I were you. There are sharks here, and this platform has a bomb on it. It will detonate at 1000hrs. Goodbye, Melanie.’

‘Micheal, you are crazy......’

I watched him drove the boat off the platform leaving me there. I looked at the water and I can see the fins on the sea. He is crazy.

0750hrs

‘Tuan, we either cooperate or we die. Your call on this. We call it truce for now.’ I looked at the Major and he nodded.

Now we planned our moves. Marcel tells me we are on the estate of Mr Chiang Men. The major ran forth to check and confirmed it. He said we are at the bottom slope of the hil towards the sea, where this is a small chalet build for guests. He said the mansion should be at the back of us but he is not sure where are the hostages.

Marcel point to me of the platform and then he pointed to the sniper at the boathouse. The sniper there is covering the beach area.

‘I know that man. He is mine.’ The Major was excited to see his man at the boathouse. He went to the front door and holler at the man. Instead of a salute, he got was a bullet which was embedded into the door frame.

‘He ain’t yours no more, Major. I think he is now one of theirs.So are the other nine. Its called ‘who pays more’. If I may suggest we leave now and plan our moves among the trees. I have a bad feeling here.’

We ran out and headed for the nearest cover nearby, a long hedge of about three feet high and it surround the mansion like a perimeter. Just as we hit the hedges for cover, the chalet exploded in flame when the bomb was activated. The major and Marcel looked at me and I smiled with ‘I would had done it too’ look. We nestled ourselves against the largest thickest clump which we can find and do some planning.

The mansion is above us and we are now between the beach and the mansion. According to the Major, there is a path going up to the mansion on the right side if you facing the sea. The path leads to the small jetty which Micheal took the boat, and its also leads to the swimming pool in the back garden. On the right of the path is the orchard where fruit trees are planted. It offered very little cover as the ground is trimmed monthly but there is a small shed in the far side of the orchard where the gardening tools are kept. After the orchard is another path from the top to the beach along the wall. At the top of that path is the Barracks facing the swimming pool where Tuan and his men stay. The barrack is next to the main gate to the mansion.

On the left side of the path is the flower garden that slopes down the hillside. There are rows of flowers and orchids planted there. There is also a small shed on the far side of the garden for tools. The difference for this garden is the tar road that winds down the hill slope in a zig zag movement to the small jetty. The major said its used to transport illegal stuff from the boats. Next to the flower garden on the extreme left are the servants quaters and training room for the guards including the armory.

As for the mansion, its a double storey building, colonial in design with the long balcony that runs parallel to the house. Its about four hundred feet across and a hundred feet width with a extended car porch of twenty feet width and fifty feet across. The roof of the mansion is the roof tiles slanted at 30 degree with six windows on each side.

The ground level consists of the library, study, music on the right while the meeting hall and dining hall is to the left. The upper level consist of twelve fully furnished bedrooms.

According to the Major, on normal days there are at least six guards in the mansion, of which one is in the car porch. The back of the house has two guards at the pool area. There will be two more patrolling the grounds every hour; hence the ten guards.

His own strikeforce take care of the barracks only. He reckon he has no one in the barracks now.

After the main gate is the open secondary plantation of over 10 acres which the strikeforce used to do their training. There is only one road leading to the mansion and it passes through the jungle.

And there is thirteen armed men out there looking to kill us within three hours.

We do have a problem.

And we have a plan that is crazy.

0811hrs

I know its a crazy plan but its the one which can work. The Major suggest we take the armory and I said that will be the place most reinforced. He then suggested we run for the jetty and the boats, which we botyh objected.

So it was my plan they agreed on.

Let’s us take the barracks first. They might be things which we can used. The Major was getting excited and he said he has a M1911 in his drawer.

So it was agreed.

But we need to run across the orchard and then to the barracks. It was then the Major mentioned about the dogs. He said they are a couple of Dobermann’s in the orchard, but they are only let loose at night. That alleviated our concern but we need to act now.

We crawled along the hedge until we come to the moved out towards the walk path. So far no one shoot at us yet. Maybe they are not here anymore.

We crossed the walkway and stepped into orchard. The Major took the front as he is supposed to know this area. Marius was the flank and I took the centre.

‘Dogs!’

And the shots also came in too.

0821hrs

Rain saw the dogs sniffing the air. They are getting agitated and their forepaws are dragging the side of the gates. He signaled the handler to let them loose into the orchard. The old man unlatched the door and the dogs went hunting. He is on top of the shed with a view of the orchard. He adjusted his telescopic lens and saw some movements near the middle of the orchard. He caught the glimpse of the Major. So its time to do some payback for the punishment he has taken by the Major. He fired off a few rounds from his M16A1. It confirmed his sightings; the three men are running down the hills sl0pe. Let the dogs do their job now.