When the Man Comes Around part 5

In a small, nondescript compound in the middle of the jungle, Agent Saffron stood in front of a suit of armor, sipping his coffee. Next to him was a wall of photos detailing what he knew of Nadie’s organization. Below that, was a desk containing a laptop and a thumb drive.

Miles away, Ramona Sanchez heard a knock at her door. When she got up, she slipped a gun in her palm and looked through the peephole. She lived in a small town outside the city of Venti Santos. It was more or less an equal distance from both La Respuesta and the CIA headquarters. She had constant communication with both groups, but it was rare that either one of them came knocking.

“Ramona, are ya in there?” a familiar male voice could be heard, “I gotta ask you a few questions.” A tall man she recognized was outside and she could see a shadow next to him, indicating a hidden figure waiting off to the side. It was all very strange and she knew it’d be a bad idea to olen the door. “I’m coming,” Ramona called out as she backed away toward a window, “Just got outta the shower.” She turned and attempted to open the closest window, but stopped when she heard her door get kicked in. The tall man was the first inside the house, a gun firmly in his hand. Ramona turned and fired, quickly putting a bullet in the man’s forehead before he had the chance to do anything. When the tall man hit the floor, the second man appeared in the doorway; this one managed to pop off a few rounds. Ramona ducked behind her table and returned fire.

The second man quickly disappeared behind the door as a few bullets punched holes in the wall. “It’s true, isn’t it?” he shouted, “You sided with the Americans, you traitor bitch!” Ramona didn’t respond; she swatted a cup off her table and it flew toward a far wall and shattered. Hearing the noise, the second man poked his head into the doorway again and raised his gun in that direction. Ramona took the shot from the side and blasted the nose off the man’s face, killing him. As she pulled the dead man inside her home to avoid nosey neighbors, she thought to herself – La Respuesta somehow knew about her relationship with the CIA. She wasn’t sure how it happened or what else they might know. One thing was for sure – she needed to go meet Saffron.

Meanwhile, an old car raced down a road leading to a jungle path. The Bald Man was in the driver’s seat and another one of his enforcers was in the front passenger seat. On the dash was Michael’s phone. The screen displayed a GPS signal that led to the Cavalier armor. Michael sat in the backseat, his wrists bound with a zip tie. If his hunch was correct, he’d be taken to the CIA headquarters where he hoped to retrieve his armor and summon the Dragon hovercraft. After that, he would finally track down Nadie. He only needed to take down CIA agents and guerrillas first. “Yeah, piece of cake,” he thought to himself derisively.

They parked the car on the side of the road and made their way on foot through the jungle. In a dark grove of trees, they came to a small complex. Michael looked at his phone and the signal it gave. “This is the place,” Michael slipped the phone in his pocket, his hands still tied.

“You’re sure that’s a CIA base?” the bald man asked.

“I’d be surprised if it wasn’t. My stuff is inside,” he raised his zip-tied wrists, “But I’m gonna need my hands if I’m gonna get it back.”

“Not a chance!”

“Look, if you need me to infiltrate a CIA base, however small, I need to be hands-free. If you’re worried about me taking off, it’s not like I can get far considering you have guns and I don’t.”

“Ten minutes,” the bald man opened a pocket-knife and cut the zip tie.

Moments later, Michael climbed through a window and crouched low in a short hall. He remembered Saffron traveling with two more agents and Ramona, although he doubted he would see her there. As he neared a door, he could hear voices inside the room. Quickly opening the door, he witnessed the two CIA agents sitting at a table, playing cards. In a second, they were on their feet, pulling guns.

Michael grabbed the wrist of the closest agent and shoved the arm back as a bullet was discharged. The agent on the other side of the table took a shot to the thigh and fell back. Still holding onto the gun hand, Michael removed the mag from the gun and slammed it into the agent’s face. The agent’s head snapped back, striking the wall and he slid inti an unconscious heap. The second agent began to recover and stand up for another shot. Michael kicked the table, sending the corner into the bullet-wound and the agent doubled-over in pain, giving Michael the opportunity to grab him by his collar and slam his face into the table hard enough to collapse it. Knowing Saffron likely heard the commotion, he quickly left.

With the two agents down, he made his way to another sector of the small compound. There, he found a room full of weapons and surveillance gear. In the far end was his armor, standing upright like a museum piece. On a nearby desk, he found a laptop with a thumb drive. Remembering a previous conversation with Saffron, Michael took the time to pocket the thumb drive in the hope it contained certain information.

“I gotta admit, I didn’t expect you to get this far.” Agent Saffron stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame, “Finding a CIA base and taking out two agents without your armor ain’t bad.”

“Guess I have one more fight before I get what I came for,” Michael took a fighting stance.

Saffron threw a right hook, which Michael blocked. It was followed with a blocked left. Then Saffron performed a throat strike, which sent Michael stumbling back and struggling to breathe. Saffron pressed the attack and pushed Michael’s back against the metal shelf behind him.

“Y’know we got a ton of facial-recognition tech,” Saffron told him, “One quick scan of that handsome mug of yours, and I know everything I need about you. Wanna know why I won’t use it?”

“Why?” Michael croaked.

“Because I don’t give a shit.”

Michael brought his elbow across Saffron’s face and then kicked him in the ribs. Saffron fell against the wall and rolled away to avoid a second kick. Saffron came at him from the side and delivered a punch to the jaw. Michael fell back and at the last second, he feinted; he placed a hand on the floor and performed a split-kick to the agent’s chest. Saffron spun around, tripping over a case on the ground and hitting the floor. He quickly rolled back onto his feet and Michael kicked him in the chest again, forcing him against the shelf. Saffron caught his balance by snatching the shelf, so Michael performed an axe-handle strike. Saffron fell and bounced his head off the desk, then slumped to the floor.

Wasting no time, Michael placed his armor over his civilian attire. It fit awkwardly, but there wasn’t much time. Once he had everything in place, he activated the Dragon. In a different jungle, turbine engines ignited and a slight blue glow emerged from under a camouflaged tarp. The hovercraft rose, the tarp slipping away as it elevated. Once it cleared the tree tops, the rear thrusters fired-up and it took off to the Cavalier’s location.

It had been roughly ten minutes, but since Michael was now in full armor, it didn’t matter if his captors came in after him. By his estimation, it would still be some time before the Dragon got there and having to take out the two guerrilla fighters outside was a likelihood. When he left the compound, however, he saw both men face-down in the grass. Upon closer inspection, it was evident they had been shot in the backs of their heads.

“We told you, you were in over your head.”

The Cavalier turned and saw Ramona emerging from the brush, a silenced pistol trained on him. He shook his head and glanced down at the bodies, “They never knew you were a double agent. You infiltrated La Respuesta while also playing the CIA. Looks like I threw a monkey wrench in that plan.”

“They were eventually going to be pitted against one another. You just placed us ahead of schedule.”

“And by ‘us’, I imagine you’re referring to Nadie’s cartel. He had you keeping tabs on both his enemies at the same time, didn’t he?”

She smiled genuinely, “Very good.”

He continued, “Once I learned who you were, I realized it was all Nadie’s doing. When La Respuesta attacked the parade, Mano and his cops showed up way too fast. You knew what was gonna happen and told your boss. And last night, after I met you and Saffron on the roof, Mano showed up again. There was no other explanation as to how he found me. You told him where I’d be.”

“Maybe you weren’t so out-of-your-depth as we all thought,” she tilted her head to the side, “But there is one correction. You mentioned that I infiltrated La Respuesta. I’m afraid you’re still not understanding just how much control my employer has… Nadie was the one who formed La Respuesta to begin with. He knew a group would form against him, so he took it upon himself to create one. It’s easier to keep track of your enemies when you organize them.”

“After what’s happened the past few days, you won’t have La Respuesta around much longer.”

“Nadie will form another group to take its place. You’ve accomplished nothing.”

“You’re pretty smug. Did you forget I have my armor now? What do you think that gun’s gonna do?”

“It won’t do much, I know.” With her free hand, she took her phone out and glanced at it, “I just needed you to be distracted a few moments longer. There’s a surprise heading this way.”

“Can’t wait to find out what it is.”

Cavalier snatched her by the wrist and pushed the gun away from him to get in close. A sharp punch to the forehead rendered Ramona unconscious and she fell to the jungle floor; the Cavalier retrieved her phone and placed it in his belt, knowing it could be inportant. The Dragon had geocoding technology and he hoped her phone could provide the key to finding Nadie.

Then, he heard a loud mechanical noise approaching and for a moment, he thought it was the Dragon. The next sound he heard was a massive explosion.

The CIA compound went up, sending hot debris in every direction. The force of the explosion sent him into the air along with chunks of dirt and tree bark. A wall of flames and smoke towered over the trees and whatever was left of the compound burned. Agent Saffron and his men were dead now and their work was gone save for the thumb drive in the Cavalier’s possession. He had little time to dwell on that, however. A large object began to move through the flames. The Cavalier activated his Round Table weapon and a holographic battle axe and long shield appeared in his hands as he waited.

The first thing he saw was a large canon slowly emerging through the fire. Then came armored plating and two sets of treads. The T-72 tank rolled over the remains of the building, flattening steel and mortar. The Cavalier knew the tank was fast and powerful; there was no way he could stand up to it. He turned on his heel and quickly made his way deeper into the jungle, disappearing from the tank’s sights.

Unfortunately, he heard more sounds approaching as he made his way toward a treeless valley. A series of humvees pushed their way up the rough hills; at the back of each vehicle, a soldier was stationed with a minigun. The moment they had visual on Cavalier, they opened fire, sending streaks of light up the hill and when the Cavalier dropped, the high caliber rounds cut down the trees. “Well, this sucks,” Cavalier thought to himself and raced back in the opposite direction.

From another location, General Barca watched a live feed of the footage. He proudly called Nadie to tell him the good news, “Sir,… We have eyes on the Cavalier.”

“Make sure he never leaves that jungle,” was Nadie’s response.

Nadie placed his phone down on an end-table and was aline with his thoughts. The knight was proving to be more resourceful than he anticipated. His mind once again drifted back to a time when he was also forced to be resourceful…

He remembered General Zahino’s oppressive reign over Costa Triste, which ended decades earlier. Shortly after Zahino took over the country, Nadie bought a vineyard and ran a small winery. He had been influenced by Roberto De La Vega’s cousins from Venezuela. A year after De La Vega was killed by Zahino’s men, Nadie had the cousins come to his vineyard under the guise they were helping him with his business. He sent the cousins to the North to find Child’s Faith – a particular berry that was highly toxic (unless one built up an immunity as a child).

At the same time, Nadie was attending a wedding. The groom was the newly appointed director of the Secret Police: Daniel Guerrero (Guerrero would one day be the Costa Tristen ambassador to the US). He had risen in the ranks over the years, earning a place within Zahino’s circle, but Nadie could tell he detested the man. Most people did. Guerrero was a bit different than most, however. As the director of the Secret Police, he had a certain skillset, thousands of equally skilled agents to follow his orders, and the power to carry it all out. The main reason why he didn’t act against Zahino, Nadie surmised, was due to starting a new family.

During the wedding reception, Zahino stood up to address the crowd. Normally, it would be the wedding party and family seated alongside the bride and groom, but once again, Zahino inserted himself where he didn’t belong. No one dared say no. It didn’t help that he was drunk.

He slurred and rambled as he rose to his feet, “Gentlemen, I only have one thing to ask of you… all the men in the room,… sorry ladies,” he moved closer to the bride while still addressing the crowd, “What – what is a sign of power? Absolute power. What is it?”

“Running your own damn country!” one of his underlings shouted happily.

“No, no, more than that.”

“Killing your enemies without blowback?” was another guess.

“That’s a good one,… but I got one better,” he looked the bride in the eyes, “The surest sign of absolute power is going to a wedding and doing this to the bride…”

He pressed his face firmly between the bride’s breasts and nuzzled aggressively. Guerrero played it off as a joke by forcing a smile, but the “playful” shove showed he was upset. The bride didn’t bother masking her disgust and quickly removed herself. The wedding party was mostly silent while Zahino’s people burst into laughter. Nadie was understandably disturbed by the display.

Later, as the party guests began to file out of the banquet hall, Nadie found Guerrero alone and outside on a balcony, overlooking a beautiful coast.

“Congratulations again,” Nadie told him.

“Thank you,” Guerrero spoke quietly.

“I cannot fathom a world…,” Nadie began, “… in which a man touches a bride on her wedding night and the groom is too afraid to act.”

Guerrero gave him an angered look, “What the hell do you expect me to do?”

“That man killed a close friend of mine,” Nadie continued, “The man was by no means innocent, but he gave me much, and I owed him my life. I had to witness his dismembered corpse shoved in a freezer and then I had to agree to work for Zahino. That day seemed like such a long time ago, but I haven’t forgotten it. I believe God has instilled in us, a sense of justice and if we do not ensure that justice is served,… we have disobeyed God himself.”

“And my question still stands,” the distraught groom looked up at the moon, “What do you expect us to do?”

Nadie’s expression was cold and logical, “…We obey God.”

Continued…