Attack and Response - 5. Big Bullets and Guns

Jap and Jacky smiled, both nodded their heads in understanding and then turned back to Gerry and Kyle;"You guys ready to pop some caps?"

Kyle nodded his head in agreement, a second later Gerry followed suit. The expression on his face told everyone he was unsure, but he knew that his younger brother wouldn't steer him wrong. The four boys left the trailer and went over to the parking area where there were several HUMVEE's parked; Jacky climbed in the drivers' side and started the vehicle. Once the other three had gotten in the vehicle, he put the automatic transmission in drive and headed over to the 'War Wagon' to sign out their firearms. Jap and Jacky got 'Gargon' and ‘Bert’, then checked out two AR-15's for Kyle and Gerry along with the necessary ammunition, magazines and hearing and eye protection for all four of them. The drive to the range took them about fifteen minutes to make. Jacky pulled up to a hastily constructed building with covered shooting positions branching out from it on either side. At this time of day, there were only a few ‘shooters’ using the range, the James boys were working their newly issued accuratized AR-10’s and David Allyn, along with Justyn Tyme were practicing with their 15’s. Before getting out of the vehicle, Jap turned to Gerry and Kyle; “Okay guys, put cher shooting glasses and hearing protection on, make sure you got ’em on any time your on the shooting line and someone’s shooting.” Gerry put his glasses on but had a little problem figuring out how to work the ear muffs, Kyle ended up helping him, then Jap showed them how to work the sound level controls. Gunnery Sergeant MacCarver was the Duty Range Officer, after checking in with him the four boys unloaded the firearms, ammunition and support gear they’d brought with them and placed them on the last two shooting benches to the left of the ‘Range Shack’. Jacky, leading the way, entered the Range Shack; turning to the two brothers he started the briefing. The briefing took a half hour, twenty minutes longer than normal, mainly due to the need to ensure that Gerry understood what was being told to him. After the safety briefing, Jap took Gerry over to the white board and drew diagrams of sight pictures for open, aperture and telescopic sights. Gerry listened with rapt attention, though he didn’t ask a single question. Jap used a de-milled AR-15 (basically a training device, the rifle was made inoperable by the simple expedient of plugging the barrel) to explain trigger and breath control then placed Gerry in the four different shooting positions, explaining the pros and cons of each position. Once they were finished he placed the ‘dummy’ 15 back in its storage bracket and said; “Okay guys, I want you to concentrate on being safe, check your firearms to make sure they’re unloaded, always point the firearm in a safe direction and always keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot. Either one of ya got any questions before we go out and shoot?” Neither Gerry nor Kyle had any.

On the way out of the shack Jap grabbed four pieces of carpet. Once back on the firing line he laid out the pieces of carpet and placed the two AR-15’s on them along with three loaded and one empty magazine on each of the shooting positions.

While Jacky and Jap were working with the two boys, Bucky Trenton, Bill Henderson, and the Bateman Brothers were talking about the kidnapped boys and men. “So far the head asshole hasn’t contacted J.C. yet.” Bucky said in a pissed off tone of voice; “J.C. has tried to phone him, but all he gets is an answering machine.” Bucky stopped talking for a few seconds, then continued; “To the best of our knowledge, our people are still alive, otherwise I think we’d be seeing bodies appear, either that or parts of them. I guess we wait until they contact us, unless of course we get lucky and we stumble across them.”

Matt frowned at Bucky’s last statement; “We need to push the search more, the last time anyone heard from this clown was just before he headed to Cuba. What’s the chance he took them back there and has them hidden some place like Havana or some other town where we can’t get a fix on them with your ‘Snoopy’ system?”

Bucky sat at the conference table shaking his head; “I just don’t know, he may have done just that, but we just don’t know.”

James interrupted the conversation; “Matt’s right, is there any way we can get more people involved in looking for them, I mean can we bribe some of the local people and see if we can’t get some info on them?”

Once again Bucky was shaking his head; “Unfortunately, most of the people we’d be dealing with aren’t honest crooks. Once we bought the information we’re looking for, the guy we bought it from would in all likelihood turn around and sell it to Jorge Espinoza and he’d know we were tying to locate him and maybe close to finding where he was. Worse, we might push him into killing some of them to make us back off. As much as I hate the idea, we have to keep this as low key as possible, especially with this dirtbag. He’s already shown that he doesn’t mind killing innocent people, or for that matter destroying anything that gets in his way. Evan and I are using all our assets in Bolivia, throughout the Caribbean, Mexico and all the Gulf Coast States to locate them, until he contacts us, or we stumble over them, all we can do is wait.”

Matt and James nodded their heads in agreement, Bill Henderson spoke for the first time; “So what do we do, just sit here on our hands waiting for this son of a bitch to contact us?”

The other three just looked at Bill and finally Bucky spoke; “That about sums up our options, at least for now.”

Matt pointed out; “Well at least it gives our guys time to work up for when we do have a concrete target. The more time our new long distance shooters, Eric and Marc have to practice the happier I’ll be, they’ve both gotten pretty good with the Barretts you’ve provided. But, I want them to be sure they’ll be able to hit consistently at 2,000 meters if they need to. Plus I’d prefer to have a couple more long distance shooters available for cover fire, I know that six shooters may seem like a lot, but the more coverage we have the less likely it’ll be that one of the badguys can get a shot at one of our people. Tomorrow, we’re going to take our people who’ve been designated as the initial insertion team up for some practice jumps, after we do four or five low level jumps, I plan on doing several HALO drops. The more practice they can get in before we have to go for real, the better I’ll feel.”

The discussion on what was required and how they would go about getting the people back continued into the night. There were still several problem areas they needed to address, but they all agreed that there was nothing insurmountable. The last thing to be discussed was the two newest members of Unit One, Kyle and Gerry Morton. James seemed a little unsure of them; “Kyle seems to be sharp and quick, unfortunately Gerry can’t be described as the ‘sharpest knife in the drawer’. Right now, Jap and Jacky have them out at the range working with both of them; I just don’t know how they’ll work out. If worse comes to worst, we’ll leave them here when we deploy to our jump off point.”

While the adults were talking over the upcoming training and deployment, Jap and Jacky were amazed by the way both Kyle and Gerry took to shooting. Especially Gerry. Maybe it was because he followed each and every suggestion he was given exactly, what ever it was, he was blowing the shit out of the center of the hundred meter target. After Gerry and Kyle fired their last rounds Jacky told them to safe their firearms and dump the empty magazines. When they had complied and laid their rifles on the carpet Jacky asked; “You guys feel up to trying some long distance shooting?”

Kyle looked at Jap and nodded, he found that he had really liked working with the AR-15, and was looking forward to trying the big Barretts even more. “Yeah I would.” He responded; “I never, or I should say we never did any shooting before and I think Gerry is having as much fun as I am.”

Gerry, standing about as close to his brother as he could get was nodding his head in agreement; “I like it, can we do some more?” He asked. Neither he, nor his younger brother had ever fired a gun before today and he was really happy that he had done so well. He didn’t understand why everyone was so impressed with how well he could shoot; he just did what Jap had told him to do. It didn’t matter to him, he was just glad that he was able to make his new friends happy because he was able to do so well. Then he thought about getting something to drink, he was thirsty.

Jap once again told Gerry what he had to do to hit the target at long distances with the much bigger gun that hadn’t been shot yet. As Jap was teaching Gerry what he needed to know, Jacky was doing the same thing with Kyle. It was getting late now, while they still had about an hour of shooting time left, Jap and Jacky tried to be as quick in their explanations as possible. They knew that Matt and James wanted at least two more shooters capable of hitting at long distances and they thought they may have found them.

An hour and a half later Jap and Jacky burst into the trailer where the adults were berthed. Jap saw James in the lounge area watching TV and moved over to him, cutting off his view of the television; “James, James, take a look at this.”

James was about to point out that he was watching the TV and that Jap ‘made a better door than he did a window’ when he saw the expression on the little redhead’s face. Looking down at the two ‘Thousand Yard Targets’ he was holding, one in each hand, he saw so-so groupings of what looked to be .50 caliber holes. Returning his gaze to Jap’s face he asked; “What’d you and Jacky do, have a bad day at the range or is there something wrong with your scopes?”

Jap got an exasperated look on his face, turned red and started to sputter; “No, no, no. This ain’t mine, it’s that new kid, Gerry’s, you ain’t going to believe the way that kid shoots. Give me a week and him and maybe his brother will be shooting as good as me and Jacky.” Jap stopped talking and reached up with the sleeve of his MarCams to wipe the spittle off his chin and then continued talking in an excited voice; “Both of them are great shots, but that Gerry kid is out-fucking-standing. This was his third magazine with ‘Bert,’ I couldn’t believe the way that kid ‘zoned in’ when he was shooting. He did everything we told him to do, everything. And, he did it right for each and every shot he took.” Jap couldn’t praise Gerry enough, James listened to the boy go on and on for another thirty seconds or so before holding up his hand.

“Hold up Jap, I get the idea.” James said, he took another look at the target, a really close look at it. Jap was right, the grouping of the shots was phenomenal for a first time shooter. Hell, it was really good for most experienced shooters. Looking at Jap again he asked; “You think he can do this consistently, or maybe it was just luck?”

Jap looked a little crestfallen at the suggestion that it was just luck, then he brightened again; “No Sir I don’t. I . .”

Just as Jap was about to explain his reasoning, the door of the trailer opened and Jacky ushered Kyle and Gerry in to the room. Jap looked over at Jacky and said; “Tell em Jack, tell em how good these guys are.”

Jacky smiled at his lover before saying; “Considering they never fired a gun in their lives, they both did excellent for first time shooters. I figure if we take them back out for the next couple of days and they do as well as they did tonight, we got us two more ‘shooters’ for the team.”

Jap turned back to James with a big shit eating grin on his face and said; “See, I told ya, I wasn’t lying to ya. I really think they’re good enough to be a big help to us when we find that asshole who took the kids from the island.”

James nodded, but was frowning as he replied; “They may well be just what we’re looking for, but the question is, will they want to become involved with the operation? Beyond that, will they be able to do what’s required if they do decide to go in with us?”

Kyle had listened to what James had just said and asked; “What would we be doing? I still don’t know what you guys are setting up for, I’ve heard some of the guys talking but nobody will give me a straight answer about the ‘Operation’ you just mentioned. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on and I’ll tell you if I want to get us involved?”

James studied Kyle and Gerry for a few moments before nodding his head; “You’re right Kyle, give me a minute.” Reaching over to the table that was by his seat he picked up his cell phone and one-handedly punched in a number, holding the phone to ear he waited until someone answered and said; “I need you in the lounge area, grab Bucky, Bill and John on your way here.”

In a few minutes, the front door of the trailer opened and Matt, Bucky, Bill Henderson and John Wilcott walked quickly to the lounge. Matt was the first to speak; “What’s up James, you sounded kinda worried over the phone?”

James held up the two targets for the newcomers to view and then explained who had made them. After the others had studied them, he went on; “Kyle brought up a good point, they’ve only been here since this afternoon and are clueless as to what’s going on. The question is, do we want to bring them in on the op and tell them the whole story, or do we keep them out of the loop? If we brief them in, and Kyle, more importantly, if their Father doesn’t want them involved, then we have a problem.”

Kyle looked into James eyes as James was talking, he saw the honesty there, he also saw the need for the others and especially Kyle to understand that he wasn’t going to lie. James took a deep breath before speaking directly to Kyle; “Eight Days ago, a South American Drug Lord attacked a small island group in the Caribbean, seventy one men, women and children were shot down in cold blood. When it looked like they were going to be beaten by the residents of the island, they were taken off the beach in boats. As they left they kidnapped thirty seven men and boys as hostages and used them as shields. The boys and men were from twelve to twenty two years of age, most of them were in their mid-teens. So far we’ve been unable to locate where they were taken to. Right now we have people looking for them from the southern coastal area of the United States to the northern portion of South America. When we locate them, we’re going in and get them out.” Once again James took a deep breath before dropping a bomb; “When we go in, we aren’t going to allow one of those mother-fuckers to live, when we leave, we plan on every one of the murdering bastards being dead.”

Kyle inhaled sharply; “That’s why my dad’s here, to give you more fire power, is that it?”

Bucky spoke for the first time; “The man in charge, the Drug Lord, escaped from Columbia before he could join his fellow drug lords in death. He’s been setting this up for the last two years and with the help of the Cuban government attacked the islands we told you about. The attack, besides killing seventy one people, injured, or I should say wounded another one hundred and three men, women and children and caused over seventeen million dollars worth of damage to the islands’ infrastructure.” Bucky thought for a moment before continuing; “All, I repeat ALL of the death and destruction was paid for with drug money, money that came mostly from the United States and Canada. I for one will not let this continue. If we let him get away with this he’ll consolidate his power base and could turn out to be another Saddam Hussein or Moammar Kadafi, only nearer our own shores.”

Kyle looked shocked; “Why haven’t we heard about this on TV, why isn’t our government involved in finding the people who were kidnapped? Why are you guys doing this without getting the FBI, or the CIA, or the DEA involved, not to mention the Army, Navy and the Air Force?”

Bill Henderson spoke before anyone else could; “Because, Kyle, the island is a haven for kids and some men who are legally adults but are not much older than you or Gerry. These boys and young men are gay; they came from the streets of Miami and Fort Lauderdale for the most part. They were pulled off the streets mainly, some were rescued from brothels where they were being held prisoner and sold to the highest bidder for whatever sick sex act the individual bidder wished to perform. My son Doug, his lover Buck and Evan Falconberg started the school by bringing fourteen boys to the island after taking them off the streets and in one case out of a torture chamber. As Bucky said, we aren’t going to let this . . this . . . this slimy filth get away with it.” Bill stopped talking, took a couple of deep breaths and continued; “As to why the government isn’t helping, they don’t want to hear about gay boys who were selling their bodies on the streets of major American cities so that they could survive, that’s too big of an embarrassment. The same people in the government don’t want to hear about the pimps and the bastards who run brothels peopled by runaways, street kids or kids whom they kidnapped and hooked on drugs. I look back and see how lucky I was that Doug had friends around him when he came out, and how ashamed I am because of my reaction when he told me he was gay. He could have easily ended up as a male prostitute with out their help. Then you have the Cuban angle, with so many people clamoring for normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba, the government doesn’t want to make accusations that Cuba helped attack and was responsible for kidnapping thirty seven American Citizens. That’s why we’re the ones going to get our people back, that’s why we’re going to make sure the asshole responsible never has the chance to do what he’s done to our people, or for that matter, anyone else, ever again.”

After Bill was finished, the room fell silent. Gerry wanted something to drink, but because of the somber silence, he just stood there watching his brother think about what had been said. He tried to understand what the men had said, but all he got out of the discussion was that someone had done bad things to some “gay” kids and they were going to make them stop. Then he thought of something that was said earlier by the redheaded boy named Jap and asked; “Ummm, sirs, can someone tell me what you mean when you say gay?”

Matt looked at the boy, remembering he was mentally challenged he spoke in a soft tone as he replied; “Gerry, ‘gay’ means that a person likes someone of the same sex, two boys like each other the way a boy and a girl would like each other. Jap and Jacky for instance, they’re boyfriends and they love each other. Do you understand?”

Gerry screwed up his face and thought for a moment before replying; “You mean like Kyle and me, I love him? Does that make him my boyfriend?”

Kyle blushed furiously and quickly said; “No Gerry, we’re brothers and we love each other in a different way than Jap and Jacky do.”

Jap and Jacky smiled at Kyle and waited for Gerry’s next question, wondering how he would answer it.

Gerry didn’t disappoint them; “What do you mean Kylie, how can they love each other in a different way?”

Kyle’s’ blush deepened and he stuttered as he tried to answer; “Um, well you see, I mean, they just do, umm listen I’ll explain it to you later after we finish talking. Okay?”

Gerry frowned but said; “Okay.” He then turned back to Matt and smiled, perfectly content to wait for Kyle to explain everything to him later.

Kyle returned his attention to the group of men; “I understand what’s going on now, but I still need to know what your plans are and how much danger Gerry will be in if I decide to help.”

The entire group heard the ‘I’ in Kyle’s answer, they understood where he way coming from and knew he wasn’t going to put his brother in the middle of a dangerous situation. They could also see that he wanted to help, but wouldn’t take the chance on letting his brother get hurt if there were any way around it.

James saw this and recognized the same feelings he had for Matt when they were younger and knew some of the pain Kyle went through on a daily basis trying to protect his older/younger brother from the vagaries of the cruel world. James nodded and started speaking; “On the sixth of June . .”

It took nearly an hour and a half to complete Kyle’s briefing on the events of June Sixth until the present time. Kyle and Gerry had sat down on a sofa near James and listened with rapt attention, James noted that during his narrative that Kyle exhibited a number of different emotions: From shock and horror over the Gestapo like tactics used by the invaders while they interrogated the boys and men on the beach and their summary execution of them when the answers they sought weren’t forthcoming, to amused disbelief at Marcs empty headed parachuting stunt and his rescue by Jacky just before he could auger in to the desert of the Bateman property in Washington State. When James completed the story everyone in the room remained quiet, allowing Kyle to mull over what he had been told. While Kyle was thinking, Gerry spoke; “Kyle I gotta go to the Batroom.” Gerry always called the bathroom the ‘Batroom’, nobody knew why, he just did. Kyle looked at him, not really seeing his older brother, the images of death and destruction still held him in their thrall.

Jap quietly stood up and held out his hand to Gerry and said; “Come with me Gerry, I’ll show you to the head.” Gerry smiled at the younger, shorter redhead and stood up taking Jap’s hand, smiling at him as if he were the older of the two. “Okay Jap.” He said and followed him with the full confidence that a child has for an older boy or adult he has full trust in. As they walked towards the end of the trailer where the Heads were, Kyle turned and watched them go. He knew that his brother had the mental development of a ten year old; he also knew he seemed to have a sixth sense about the people around him and whom he could trust. Gerry was very comfortable around Jap; actually he was very comfortable around all of the Unit One people and the people from New Jersey. Watching them walking to the ‘Batroom’ he knew he had to help these people, he knew what had to be done and was prepared to do it. Turning to James he spoke in a soft firm voice; “If I, and Gerry, can help you, and you can keep Gerry safe while we’re doing what needs to be done, I’m in . . . we’re in.”

James nodded before saying; “You do realize that you may have to take a life, in all probability more than just one?”

Kyle nodded his head in understanding; “Yes I do, under any other circumstance I’m not sure I could. After hearing what these, these people did to the men, women and children on your island; I won’t have any problem taking theirs. They’ve proven themselves to be less than human and need to be destroyed and I want to help.”

Matt looked at Kyle for several seconds before speaking; “Just so you understand, the operation to recover people that were kidnapped is not going to be easy, nor completely safe. You and your brother will be out of range of most of the stuff they’ll be throwing at us, but like everything else in the real world, ‘shit happens’.” He stopped speaking to gather his thoughts before continuing; “The long distance shooters will have to be dropped in by parachute from an altitude exceeding 20,000 feet, we believe we have time for the necessary training, but like I said before, ‘shit happens’ and I want you to know about any possible problem areas. Do you think your brother will be able to handle jumping or will he have a problem with it?”

Kyle thought about it before replying; “I don’t think he will, we’ve done bungee jumping before and he really liked it. I think if I talk to him about it he’ll be okay.”

James broke in to say; “If worse comes to worst, we can do a ‘tandem jump, strap him to one of the experienced jumpers and insert him that way.”

Matt nodded his head in agreement and said; “That’ll work, but let’s wait on that option until we know how he handles a low altitude static line jump. Anyway, it may all be a moot point if your father won’t let you go. He does have the final say in all this and he may not want to put you and Gerry in ‘Harms Way’.”

Kyle new he was right, but kept his own counsel and let Matt continue. Jap and Gerry returned from the head, Gerry moved to his brother’s side and said nothing, just listening to what was being said.

Matt tried to ease Kyle’s mind by saying; “James and I will talk to him tomorrow, you two continue working with Jap and Jacky at the range, see if you can tighten your groups more.”

The group discussed the possibility of what would occur and how soon it might happen. Kyle thought about what he had been told and tried to put himself in the kidnapped boys’ position. All he could think of was how scared they would be, he knew he would be if he was in their position. When the meeting ended, Jap and Jacky walked Kyle and Gerry back to the berthing trailer and whished them goodnight before retiring to their room. Kyle and Gerry used the head and went to their room where they got ready for bed, once in bed, Gerry asked; “Kyle, what did they mean when they said those boys were gay?”

Kyle didn’t speak for several moments, causing Gerry to ask; “Kyle, are you awake?”

“Yeah Gerry.” Kyle responded; “I’m just trying to figure out how to explain it to you, give me a minute will ya?”

Gerry nodded his head and just waited for his brothers' reply.

Kyle lay on his bed trying to come up with an answer Gerry would understand, one that wouldn’t be too embarrassing to himself while he was trying to make Gerry understand. Kyle thought for a few minutes before saying;"Okay Gerry, you remember how I taught you to jack off?"

Gerry smiled to himself and said;"Yeaaaah."

"K, some guys do that to each other and other stuff too." Kyle said.

Gerry thought for a moment before asking his younger brother;"What other stuff Kyle?"

Kyle turned red, luckily the light from the small table light was dim and Gerry couldn't see his reaction. Thinking quickly he said;"Stuff, stuff a guy would usually do with a girl."

Once again Gerry asked;"What do you mean Kyle, what kind of stuff?"

Kyle sighed; Gerry wasn't going to let it go at 'Stuff';"Okay Gerry, stuff that when two boys do it, it’s called 'gay.' Stuff like one guy puts his dick in the other guy's mouth and then the guy sucks it until he sperms. Sometimes, one of the guys will put his dick in the other guys butt and push it in and out until he cums. You remember what ‘cums’ means don't you?”

Gerry smiled to himself;"Oh yeah, I know what ‘cums’ means, that's when the sperm comes out of my penis after I rub it for a while. I really like that."

Kyle smiled before saying;"Straight guys jack off and cum, or if they're really lucky they cum from having sex with girls. Gay boys cum when they have sex with other boys instead of girls. You understand now Gerry?"

"Okay." Gerry said softly;"But why don't they cum when they have sex with girls?"

Kyle let out a breath of air, he loved his older brother deeply, but sometimes talking to him was like talking to a brick wall. "Umm Gerry, most gay men or boys don't have sex with women, that's why they're called ‘gay’." Kyle looked at his brother for a few seconds before continuing;"Gay guys, for the most part, just like to have sex with other guys. You understand what I'm telling you? That's why guys who just like women don't like gay people, I think it's because they believe that gay people want to have sex with them and it scares them."

Gerry got a thoughtful look on his face as he thought about what his brother had just told him and said;"Okay, I understand about gay boys now, but I still don't know why people don't like them, or why they think they want to have sex with them."

Kyle should have known Gerry was going to ask him that, but he also knew that it was important that he try to make his older brother understand. He didn't think there would be any problems with the Unit One boys or men, but he didn't want his brother to find himself in a situation that he wouldn't understand or that might scare him. Continuing with his explanation, Kyle said;"Gerry, I don't know either; I guess there are gay people out there that might force someone to do something they didn't want to do, and that's what scares everyone. It's just like when a man makes a girl or a woman have sex when they don't want to, it's wrong and it makes people mad. When a guy makes some other guy have sex, whether it's a man or a boy, they think it's not only wrong, but that the guy is evil and sick. From what I've seen from just being around the guys out here today, I don't think any of them are like that. Look at Jap and Jacky or David and Phil; they all seem to be great people don't they?"

Gerry smiled at his brother before saying;"Yeah, that little boy Jap sure was nice to me, he made me feel good when he told me him and Jacky wouldn't let anyone pick on me."

Kyle exhaled softly and smiled at his brother;"So now do you understand about gay people and why a lot of guys don't like them?"

"I don't understand why they like having sex with each other, or why other guys don't like them, but I do understand that they are our friends. I like everyone we have met here, and I want to be their friends too."

Kyle smiled at Gerry again before saying;"Okay, that's a start, maybe we can talk to them and they can explain it better than I've been able to. Anyway it's getting late and we gotta get up early tomorrow so let's get some sleep." Saying that, he reached out and turned the lamp on the small table between their beds off. Turning so that he was lying on his back he said;"Good night Gerry, I love you."

After Gerry yawned he responded with;"I love you too Kyle, good night."

Rednecks: 0, High-Tech 1

End of Chapter 5
Next, Chapter 6; Big Bullets and Newbies
By; Jamie Haze and GhostRyder15