Bishop's War (Bishop Series Book 1) Read online

  “That he has loyal followers here and they will target John and Felix?” asked Antonio.

  “Yes, in part. But, the worst case is he and his men come after your cousins and his superiors also give their names to their assassins. The same ones who may be coming to kill this local terrorist leader may also come after the boys.”

  “So we may have two separate threats coming at us from the same organization,” Antonio said.

  “Four threats,” Gonzalo said.

  “Four?” asked Calixto.

  “Four. The two separate threats from the terrorists and then there is this Michael Meecham who I hear has made a vendetta against us.”

  “That’s only three,” said Carlos.

  Gonzalo looked over at Antonio, waiting for his prized pupil and heir to the throne to answer.

  “The fourth is our own government,” Antonio said.

  “Yes, exactly. We don’t know where they stand. And there are many agencies at work here. CIA, FBI, NSA, ATF, Homeland Security, local police and who knows who else. Are they simply using John as bait, or do they have a more sinister agenda towards him?” Gonzalo raised his hand dismissively before anyone could speak. “I know they are coming for me now, but first we protect the boys. Nothing else matters.”

  “You can be just as effective from Mexico or Brazil, mi hermano,” Sesa said. It was the first time he had spoken as he was a man of few words. Gonzalo paused before answering. Sesa had tremendous vision and Gonzalo would not be where he was today, or even alive for that matter, if not for the counsel of his older brother.

  “We’re at war now, and I can’t leave until these threats to them are completely wiped out. I’d gladly spend the rest of my life prison in order to keep them safe. After, if there is an after for me, I’ll leave. But not now. Now we plan and review.”

  “Okay, this Meecham,” Gonzalo said. “Find out everything you can. The police captain told John and Felix that he’s coming after them. That means he’s also coming us, la familia Valdez, so we go after him, too. He’s an evil one, and must have made many enemies over the years. Find them. Once we have more information we’ll meet again and decide his fate.”

  “Let’s get our intelligence people studying these terrorist organizations. None have claimed responsibility for the attack because it failed. Still, we should look into them. See if we can find any patterns that will help us against them,” Victor said.

  “Excellent. Next, your men, Antonio. Tell me who you have and who else we may want to bring in,” Gonzalo said.

  Antonio gave him a detailed run down of every man he had, discussing their strengths and weaknesses.

  “Let’s call the Bank Robbers. They’re the best planners I know and they helped us in our past wars,” Fiero said.

  “Yes, but they don’t rob banks anymore. They work only as consultants now. Double their fee and if they’re already on an assignment triple it. I want them working for us full time until this is over,” Gonzalo said. Fiero nodded and left the room to make the call.

  Once Gonzalo was satisfied and Sesa also nodded his approval he stood up and stretched. Pouring a glass of water for each of them he said, “Now we start again. See if we missed anything. Now we are planning and studying the board. Soon we will act, but without planning we can never make the correct move. So let us begin again.”

  Chapter 15

  Pro KEDSS

  Queens, NY

  Kevin Mitchell pulled back the heavy curtain and looked out of the window for the third time. He huffed and resumed pacing back and forth in the spacious living room.

  “Where the hell is he? We’re on the clock now.”

  “Easy Kev. He’ll be here soon,” Danny Jones said.

  “Easy? The Valdez Boys are at war D. That means that as of two hours ago so are we. Gonzalo doesn’t like excuses, especially when it comes to his family.”

  Remembering Tom Tom and Skeeta Davis and knowing what Gonzalo still did to them every year, Danny nodded his head in agreement. They had helped plan the abduction of the brothers after Gonzalo’s sister had been killed. Danny had even designed the underground dungeon which was now their permanent home in Mexico.

  Danny was sitting on a chocolate brown leather couch with his legs stretched out in front of him staring intently at a scuff on the tip of his black cowboy boots. Kevin was halfway through another lap across the room when Ed Taylor pulled into the driveway and hurried through the door.

  “Hey guys, sorry I’m late,” he said when he came in.

  “Where the fuck were you?” Kevin asked.

  “Upstate. Hit traffic on the way in.”

  “We’ve got full time work now. Fiero called. We’re on retainer indefinitely and he tripled our rate,” Kevin said.

  “Sweet. Who are the Valdez boys at war with now?”

  “Whoever’s behind Union Square,” Danny said.

  “No shit?” Ed said. It wasn’t really a question.

  “No shit,” Kevin replied.

  “Glad we’re getting paid, but I would’ve done this work for free. We’ve got a brother in the White House fellas. He’s already got enough on his plate without these terrorists runnin’ round blowing up shit in our own town. We’re working for Gonzalo, but I’m doing everything I can to help the black man with the plan.”

  “I’m with you on that,” Kevin said.

  “Let’s get to work,” said Danny.

  All three were well dressed and in their early fifties. They were a tight knit team that had robbed over sixty banks around the world over the last thirty years. None of them had done any time, or even been arrested. They were that good.

  Master planners and experts at identifying weaknesses in security, between bank heists they worked as consultants for the Valdez family, Columbian and Mexican Cartels and African Dictators. After each of them put away several million dollars they gave up robbing and became full time security professionals.

  They called their highly specialized and very secret consulting company Pro KEDSS, which stood for Kevin, Ed and Danny’s Specialty Services. Kevin had an engineering degree from MIT, Ed learned combat tactics and demolition as a Force Recon Marine, and Danny was a computer genius capable of hacking into any system. Together they made a formidable team and now made more money protecting governments, crime families, and even banks than they ever did stealing.

  “Here or in the van?” Danny asked.

  “Let’s start here and then go mobile later tonight. We’ll sit down with Gonzalo and his brothers tomorrow morning, but we’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then and we’re already behind schedule thanks to me,” Ed said.

  They all turned when the motion sensors around the house sent a vibration through the room.

  “That’s the cavalry,” Danny said, looking at the surveillance monitor. “This job may get bloody so Fiero sent over Christmas, Boogie and Minty. I told them to tool up in case things get hot right away,”

  Danny opened the front door and three rough looking men walked in. They each brought something heavy to the war: themselves. Christmas was an ex-Navy SEAL, Boogie had been a CIA operative for years specializing in wet work, and Minty spent twelve years in the French Foreign Legion. They were the elite fighting force within Gonzalo’s army.

  They each carried duffel bags and merely nodded their heads in greeting, as they were in the midst of a heated discussion.

  “You shouldn’t even be talkin’ since you ain’t never had game to begin with,” Minty Jackson said. They called him Minty because of his bright green eyes. He was five-seven, with a barrel chest and massive arms from his daily morning workout of a thousand dips and a thousand pushups before breakfast

  “I’m a fan of the game motherfucker. Just ‘cause you played a little ball don’t make you no authority on this here. And don’t start with your shit about how many points you scored back in the day,” Boogie Washington said. Everyone called him Boogie because he ran ten miles a day rain or shine. Tall at six four, his frame
was lean and wiry.

  “Neither one of you knows shit about the Knicks so your opinions don’t count,” said Randal ‘Christmas’ Owens, who was also in tremendous shape from a combination of muay thai kick boxing and Brazilian jiu jitsu.

  “What’re ya’ll squabblin’ over?” Danny asked.

  “Best Knick all time,” Christmas said.

  “Any position?”

  “Yep.”

  “For me it’s Frazier,” Danny said.

  “You see? Here’s a man knows what he’s talkin’ about.” Christmas gave Danny a high five.

  “I still say it’s Patrick. Stats don’t lie and he’s the all-time leading scorer.”

  “Fuck the stats. I’ve got Frazier, Monroe, and Bernard all ahead of Patrick,” Boogie said.

  “Don’t we have work to do?” Minty asked.

  “Yeah we do,” Kevin answered.

  “Are we rollin’ out now or are you guys headed downstairs?” Christmas asked.

  “We’re going down for an hour or two, but we’ll give you a heads up before it’s time to move out unless something jumps off,” Ed said.

  “Cool. We’ll recheck our gear. Hey, I’m sure you already know, but we take our orders directly from you on this Op… unless.”

  “Unless?”

  “Unless from a military perspective the three of us feel your leadership skills are lacking.”

  “Then what?”

  “If there’s time we contact Fiero. If there’s not we try to work it out between us. If we can’t all agree to the best course of action we stand down. Look, this is just worst case scenario shit. We know you guys are pros and we’re not here to second guess you. We cool?”

  “Yeah, we’re good. Fiero already broke it down to me and Danny, but I wanted to hear it from you directly and make sure Ed heard it too.”

  “Okay then.”

  “What’re you packing?” Kevin asked.

  “We’ve got it all. MP 5’s with sound suppressors, a Harris M86 sniper rifle, grenades, Claymores, lots of hand guns. We’ve even got a .50 cal that can knock out a truck or take down a steel door from half a mile away. We’re under your command for this op, but I’m sure you already know that if we light off any of the heavy stuff the whole world’s gonna take notice. How do you see this going down?” Christmas asked.

  “We’ve always tried to be subtle and silent when it comes to ending lives, but you’re weapons free on this. Terminate with extreme prejudice by any and all means necessary.”

  “Good. The opposition?”

  “Right now we’re estimating enemy strength at between fifty and a hundred split up into small two to five man teams. That’s really just a guestimate, but we can’t picture more than that or they would’ve had security leaks by know. A hundred max, but I bet it’s less than half that. The numbers work for you?”

  “Yeah, no problem. The three of us can handle that many and I’ve got four more deadly motherfuckers on standby, locked, loaded, and ready to roll in case we need ‘em. Main problem I see is finding these assholes. They sure ain’t gonna charge us all at once. How you gonna draw ‘em out?”

  “Working on that.”

  “Cool. Now, some a these terrorists are gonna be experienced fighters from back home, but a good number of ‘em are probably just true believers whose only trigger time’s been on a shooting range. That said, we ain’t taking ‘em lightly. These dudes blow themselves up,” Christmas said.

  “Understood. We’ll have more info for you soon, Christmas, but for now you guys just sit tight.”

  “You got it, Kev.”

  “Let’s get it on,” Kevin said as he pressed in the eye of a large samurai warrior statue three times. A section of the wall slid away, revealing a reinforced steel door. He entered another code on the frame and it too silently opened inwards.

  Kevin, Ed and Danny walked through the doorway and down the rubber padded steps that led to the basement. The room looked like the control center at NASA or NORAD. Every wall was covered with multiple giant screens and there were three consoles set up on the inner side of a large C shaped desk. They each sat down in wheeled captain’s chairs and began typing furiously.

  Chapter 16

  Bunny Rabbit

  John met with his uncle early Sunday morning and gave him a complete run down of everything that happened the day before. They talked a lot about Meecham and being careful. He spent the rest of Sunday and Monday with Maria trying to decompress and making some difficult calls. He spoke with Amy, Tommy’s widow, offering condolences and making plans to attend the funeral on Thursday as a pall bearer. He’d also called the widows and mothers of his other four fallen brothers from Team Razor. Logistically, attending all five services was going to be tough, but he had to do it. Maria worked out the itinerary and they were leaving on Tuesday afternoon.

  He wanted to speak to his uncle again, but he never used phones of any kind. John had to make several calls to get through the layers of Valdez security and finally reached his Aunt Grassiella. He let her know he was leaving town for a few days. She would pass the news on to Gonzalo and she also cautioned John to be careful until the terrorist leader was captured or killed.

  His last and longest call was to Felix. Felix seemed really shaken by Saturday’s events. After an hour on the phone they planned to meet on Monday night to do some hard drinking to celebrate being alive.

  John had been on an emotional and physical rollercoaster. Throughout it all Maria was right there to offer advice, to listen, to make love, and then to let him rest, which was what he needed most.

  On Monday night he dropped Maria off at her mother’s house on the Upper East Side and then met up with Felix at his place. Their cousin Chris Valdez was there when he arrived and John explained that there was a former member of his Special Forces unit that he had to meet with to tell him what happened to Tommy and the guys. They all wanted to have a few drinks anyway and “Bunny” was bartending.

  The three cousins walked into Still Bar around eight and it was crowded for a Monday night. “Johnny B!!!” Bunny shouted as soon as he saw them. He came running and grabbed him in a bear hug. Bunny, whose given name was Valentino Brown, was black and Italian. He had a face like a model and was built like an NFL lineman. A serious power lifter, Bunny was a massive man at six-five and two-seventy. He’d saved John’s life on more than one occasion and was a true friend.

  “Hey Val!!!” John said, hugging him back. They gave each other a kiss on the cheek and solid pounds on the back.

  “Val, these are my cousins Felix and Chris.”

  “Call me Bunny,” the big man said, extending his giant hand to each of them.

  “Saw your picture in the paper Johnny. That was a fine piece of soldiering.”

  “Just glad they don’t have my name.”

  “Big news man. Gonna be hard to stay anonymous on this one. Hey, I worked the day shift today and I’m just getting off. Hope you’re here to do some drinkin’. What’re ya havin’ fellas?”

  “Hennessy and Heinekens all around,” Felix said.

  “Doug, make that four times and these guys don’t get a check,” Bunny said to the bartender who had just come on shift.

  “Bunny, we need to talk,” John said.

  “Walk with me.”

  They went into the open back room that had an empty bar against the far wall. Felix and Chris watched the exchange and saw Bunny collapse into their cousin’s arms. The big man was sobbing and seemed inconsolable after John gave him the sad news about the death of so many friends.

  Wiping his eyes as they walked back, Bunny grabbed a snifter of cognac and raised his glass high.

  “To fallen heroes! Gone, but never forgotten!” he said solemnly.

  “Gone, but never forgotten!” was chorused by the entire bar.

  Bunny downed the drink in one swallow. “Doug, give us the bottle and make sure there’s plenty of cold ones on ice. It’s gonna be a long night.”

  “Sure Bunny. Anything y
ou need,” Doug said. He refilled the glasses and left the bottle on the bar before moving away.

  They drank hard and steady, but John knew he had to fly with Maria the next day to attend the first of the funerals and was trying to pace himself. He and Bunny told stories about each of their friends, describing embarrassing situations and countless acts of bravery under fire. They repeatedly toasted to each man’s life and his valor.

  “So Chris, I hear you’re gonna to be one of us,” Bunny said.

  “As far back as I can remember I’ve always dreamed of it, sir. I can’t believe all the stuff you and John have done. I just hope I can finish the course and put on that Green Beret.”

  “You will. We’ll fill you in on what to expect. Just do your job, work your ass off and learn all you can. Piece a cake.”

  “I never heard Special Ops training referred to as a piece a cake, sir.”

  “Will you stop calling me sir for fucks sake? The name’s Bunny.”

  “How’d you get the name?” asked Felix

  “We were in Iraq. In Fallujah. I was on point and walked into an open area with no cover. Three little fellas with AK’s screamin’ about Allah this and Allah that opened up on me from a rooftop twenty feet away. They started shootin’ and I started hoppin’ and boppin’ and runnin’ round in circles till Johnny here took ‘em out. Bam, bam, bam. Three shots and he put all three of ‘em down for good. See your cousin here did his part to support the war by not wasting any ammo.”

  John laughed, but both Chris and Felix were in awe and hanging on every word.

  “I shoulda been wasted, but didn’t even get a scratch. Just some Iraqi sand in my eye from the ricochets. So anyway, after that everyone called me Rabbit on account a how I hopped away from those bullets.”

  “How’d you go from Rabbit to Bunny?” Chris asked.

  “When we found out he took ballet as kid it was just a natural progression.” John said.

  “Seemed to fit,” Bunny added. “My whole life, even when I was a Green Beret, I always dreamed of being a dancer,” said Bunny as he put his hands high over his head and did a dramatic twirl. “Billy Elliot is my fuckin’ idol.”