XVI
Eke wore a blue Hawaiian shirt. He would start, he decided, as a
tourist and he tried to appear wide-eyed. He was wide-eyed all right.
He was back in Honduras now with a new mission. This time he was
alone, all alone. Bob Dylan once sang, “Theres no success like
failure and failure is no success at all.” Somehow, now, that seemed
an appropriate attitude. The tourist walked.
Here he was, back in Honduras walking by the capital building.
Hed hardly said a word to anyone in two weeks. Hed been quiet, it
was all happening inside of his mind. No more talking. Talking to Bills
mom, and then saying goodbye to his own mother were both
incredibly difficult. Just thinking about it forced painful tears to form
behind his eyes. But he held them back and hed held them back and
stared at nothing for two weeks and now he was numb.
Numb and ready. The wrought iron fence was eight feet tall. He walked by it
nonchalant, like a tourist. And he noticed, looking around, that there
were tourists here.
He felt a sudden twitch inside. He didnt want innocent people
getting hurt. He just wanted to get everybody else, all of them.
He wanted revenge but that wasnt really even correct. He wanted
to make things right - to right a wrong. Plus, he now had nothing to
lose. He had explosives taped to his waist. Hed already lost.
As he walked, he looked all around to see if anyone was
watching, picking his pace up slightly. His heart quickened as he
nonchalantly reached into his travel bag he was carrying, looking just
like a tourist, and tossed two packets into the air. They landed on the
other side of the fence.
The air was calm. The air was dry. Dry air, he knew, was good for
explosives. So as the packets landed and he fingered the button in
his pocket (but didnt push it – yet), he approached a side road on the
left and up ahead, on the right, he saw the main gate and quickly
assessed the situation. If he was correct, this first part should work
easily. What a beautiful day. Thats what he thought as turned down the
side road and quickly ditched his blue Hawaiian shirt for the white
Izod underneath.
The cargo pants he was wearing were special. These were
expensive pants all right, but they were a bit different than those $100
jeans that were just coming into vogue in 1983. In fact, Eke laughed
to himself, these pants cost a lot more than $100 and although he
was looking to make an impression, he didnt have a lot of interest in
fashion.
He was interested in action. These pants were baggy. He had
modified them with Velcro openings on the inner calves for quick
access to the big guns he had harnessed to his legs. He was dressed
and ready. He ditched the travel bag on the ground. No need for that
anymore.
So he smiled. He didnt know why, but he smiled and it seemed
like it might be the last time. He stood on the side road and looked
around, making sure that there were no tourists close enough to the
packets to get hurt. Then, with adrenaline pumping, he slid the
protective shield away from the ignition button on the remote and he
pushed it. The ground shook. He was frightened.
Immediately he played the part of a frightened visitor and
everyone turned and looked as the three guards ran towards the
explosion. And as they did he pushed the button twice while
simultaneously pulling out his silenced nine millimeter to shoot the
remaining guard. He grabbed that guard after putting away his
firearm, and pulled his body into the guard post located on the fence
exterior.
Meanwhile, the main door of the capital building opened and
more guards poured out and ran towards the explosion on the left
side of the building.
And thats when he took his chance, stepping out of the
guardhouse, and moving onto the premises. Quietly, he dropped one
of the explosives and moved on. The time to detonate would come
later.
Frightened, still using fear as his ally, he looked frightened like
everyone else. Chaos was his friend. He raised his arms, showing he
was clearly unarmed. And then, frightened, he made a break for the
cover of the buildings interior. No one paid attention to him. He
wasnt a threat. They wanted to know about the explosions. And he dropped another packet off to the side to lessen the chance of
anyone innocent getting hurt.
He kept the nine-millimeter hidden. He wished that he had floor
plans to this complex, and he wished he knew where the guards were
posted. Information is as important as weaponry but he would have to
go on his instincts.
And he would have to figure out who is who in the grand scheme
in here. Some men, he knew, would be here just because of
circumstances. They needed a job. Others – well, they would get
what they deserved.
There were two sets of stairs – one in the front by the main
entrance and one in the rear of the building. He headed towards the
back because he figured that most of the guards would be running
towards the front. He was right.
He hoped hed continue being correct. His plan would end in
disaster one way or another, but he preferred it to be on his terms.
Around back, he found the stairs and started running up them but
halfway up, he thought he heard something so he stopped and
nonchalantly bent to tie his shoelaces. He kept his head down, hoping to avoid eye contact but a set of eyes had made contact with
him and now the hairs on his neck were standing on end.
“Que pasa?” A thin man with a long chin was staring at Eke, and
a gun was pointing lazily at Ekes head. The man didnt seem
suspicious enough to be really worried. More following protocol. And
that was his last mistake.
Eke snapped his left arm upon the gun and then he set his feet
and hit the man with a perfect uppercut. The gun came loose. Like
that. Eke jumped for the gun, turned, and shot.
And thats when the switch finished switching. Right then, there
was no more turning back, no chance, no how, not even God himself
was going to stop this now.
Suddenly, death became video game easy. It was like living in a
movie. He could hear movie lines in his head and this whole final
scene seemed to have a soundtrack of songs he somehow found
thematic to his life. It was the final scene. He was sure.
Eke knew his death would come just the same as all the others.
But not yet.
He would be careful. He was not committing a random act. This
was the real thing somehow. He didnt even know what that meant. Real. This was real. His heart was pounding, so he slowed it by
controlling his breathing. In, out. In through the nose… one, two,
three… Seven counts. Out through the mouth for seven. In, out. He
did it and it worked. He was back in control.
A little late to learn this trick, he thought to himself. Yet, it worked,
and for the next half hour he knew he would be grateful. Yes, a half
hour tops. What was he thinking? Everything in his life seemed so
wrong. Always. Holes were dug and then when he realized he was
digging a hole he usually dug faster. And here he was again. Digging,
digging…
What was he thinking? He wondered a bit himself. After all, he
had said he was against terrorists and their cowardly ways and here
he was, a fucking mimic.
But not a complete mimic of terrorists. The ends, he began to
realize, were justifying his means and that perhaps compromised his
ideals. But– duh!– hed compromised his ideals a lot more the last
time he was here when he helped the bastards overthrow a legitimate
government in an operation that got his best friend killed. Ideals?
Fuck those. Somebody killed Bill. Yes, Eke was angry. He tried to breath again. Get it under control.
He dropped the last explosive and moved on. And he then he pushed
the button three times and heard the charge in the front go off in a
little confidence builder.
As soon as the explosion occurred, Eke heard the quick crackling
of gunfire. Everyone was frightened. He knew he was at an
advantage because of one reason only– he was the only one who
knew he was the only one.
The illusion of many was being created by the explosions. Eke
smiled. He held one of the Uzis in his right hand. He heard gunfire
from up here too, on the second floor.
So it was time to let them know he was here. He aimed the gun
with his right arm and sprayed down the stairs. Then with his left arm,
he reached into the Velcro of his pants and pulled out the second
machine gun. He moved up the stairway in a crouch.
He felt gleeful. But that wasnt right. It was more like manic
desperation. Suddenly, he heard footsteps flying down the hallway
leading into the staircase on the second floor. Towards him, they
were definitely coming towards him. He stayed crouched. He was
maybe 20 feet from the corner and as they turned the corner he shot them down before they even knew he was there. He took a deep
breath, as they fell, gasping. He shot again.
And then he headed towards the corner. But behind him, he
heard more footsteps, coming up the stairs. He turned and
instinctively shot again and then watched as the first two men fell and
then two others ran around the corner right into his line of fire. Ducks.
Like ducks in a line.
But the fifth man stopped before Eke could hit him. He backed up
into the stairwell for cover. Now Eke didnt have the right angle. And
he had to get rid of this guy and move on before others had a chance
to corner him.
He shot once, just to keep the guy honest and hidden in the
stairwell. Then, he assessed his situation. The hallway seemed a key
link through the building. Quickly, he shot again towards the stairwell.
And then after putting one gun down, Eke grabbed a grenade
from one of the many pockets of his trousers. He pulled the pin,
counted one…two… and he tossed it down the stairwell. One
problem solved- he picked up his gun.
He made his way down the second floor corridor. He was
bouncing back and forth, looking out ahead of him. With his head on a swivel and each hand holding a gun, he kept his nine-millimeter in
his waistband of his pants so he could get it fast. He looked into a
room on the right and it looked empty. He looked around again. He
thought he heard something. He waited and then he dashed for the
doorway on the right. He leaned quickly with his back against the wall
and, breathing heavily but quietly, he reloaded.
As Eke was reloading, he thought he heard some rustling in the
room across the hall. Fuck! He turned his gun into the hallway and
just sprayed it to let them know he was still here. Now, he focused on
the moment at hand, and on the room in front of him.
He worried about grenades. And then he remembered that they
should also be worried about grenades. He pulled one out. And then
he took a moment to collect his thoughts. He knew that they were in
that room and he was pretty sure that they knew he knew. That made
it fair.
He pulled the pin to the grenade. Then he kicked open the door,
let loose a spray of machine gun fire and then let the grenade fly into
the room. “Cunt-sucking bitch,” he thought. “Why are they making me
kill them?”
Boom! Another problem taken care of. The hallway was long and there
were rooms on either side but he had to get down the hallway to get
to the presidential suite. He hugged the walls of the hall. He knew
that whoever might be in these other rooms were not going to be
friendly and he knew that they knew he was up here. There was, after
all, the matter of the loud explosion moments ago. His eyes shot all
over the place. His hands were tense, sweating.
But he was confident. Beyond confident. He didnt care. And he
was very aware– almost hyper aware. So he noticed a shadow of a
man crouched just in view in one of the rooms on the right. Eke fired
and he saw the shadow fall but then he heard shots and suddenly the
wall behind him was being shredded. Shit!
A cartoon voice echoed in his head: “Run away! Run away!” He
laughed for a brief second. But then he came up shooting, both guns
blazing as he rushed the room where he saw the shadow. As he
reached the door, he used the gun in his right hand to reach around
the corner and shoot. Meanwhile, his eyes were on the hallway and
the other doors. He went into the room where hed just killed a man and looked down at the corpse. “See what happens when you dont
evolve,” he said to himself. How else to deal with this absurdity?
Humor.
He still had someone to deal with– someone who had shot at
him. Instead of chasing the man back out of the room, he decided to
duck behind a table and wait for a moment. To hide and wait. As he
lay back there, he realized how everything up until now had always
been wrong. And here he was, in his final stand, wondering if two
wrongs can possibly make a right. He waited long enough. He stood
and headed towards the hallway.
So far, hethought, at least reinforcements hadnt arrived. When
he turned into the hall, he just let loose, letting the guns fire and fire.
He saw a man take many bullets. His body was so stunned that it just
twisted with the firepower before finally falling into the moist red spot
it created on the floor. Eke moved forward.
There it was – the presidential suite. Pay dirt. Yes, this pay dirt
means dirt nap. But fuck it. He didnt care. He was living with burdens
and he was going to get rid of them, even though it meant disposing
of his own life too. It was funny logic. But his best friend died and he
was responsible for bringing Bill to his death. All of it was horrible. As he stepped into the door, every mistake in his life flashed through
his eyes. Even this. It wasnt just Bill that had been killed. Many
innocent people had died too.
If anyone deserved to go to hell, reasoned Eke, it was himself.
Every decision he ever made was wrong. How is that possible? It
cant be, but it seemed so. Even his favorite foods were bad for him.
Wrong, wrong, and then wrong again.
And now, he was here to make one final right.
He pushed open the door.
“Well hello, weve been expecting you.” The voice and face was
that of General Guillermo Sanchez. The bastard. An evil bastard and
he smiled as such. It was a beautiful smile. His eyes glowed.
Eke glared. Ugly. This was one ugly situation.
“I am happy to see you,” said the general.
Eke said nothing.
“I mean it. I know what you just did. And those men were
important to me, its true. But you. You are special.”
“Special, huh” Eke said sarcastically. He looked around the room.
There was Jacque on the left and Maria on the right, standing behind
the sitting general. She nodded her head at him. Bitch. The general continued. “Why fight among ourselves. We are all
on the same side.”
“Dont be so sure about that,” said Eke.
The generals eyebrows went up. “Comrade, you should listen to
me.”
Comrade?
Eke couldnt argue. And that, of course, was the problem.
The general waited and then said, “This is about freedom. You
know that.”
“That depends on your definition of freedom” Eke stared down the
general. “Freedom for Hondurans, Nicaraguans, or you?”
“We can both of us have great lives,” said the general. He
seemed to be changing the subject. And then he tried to wander
back. “The two of us can do many great things, you know. We can
change the face of this little corner of the world. People seem to pay
attention down here right now, have you noticed?”
“I have noticed,” said Eke. He began to slide the wire in his left
cuff up towards his wrist. He did it slowly, while talking. “You remind
me of a boss I once had. He was a shiny and slick public person who seemed to be able to scam everyone but underneath it all, he was a
snake. A fucking snake.”
“I am sorry you feel that way,” said the general, “Because, really,
yours is the waste of a good life.”
“Do you think?” asked Eke.
“Oh yes,” said the general. “That is exactly what I think.”
Maria smiled at Eke. She looked almost sad.
“So you are going to kill me?”
“I am afraid you give me no choice.”
“You know, thats funny. Because I figured as such.” He smiled at
Maria.
She looked confused.
He then looked to Jacque, whose gun was holstered by his side
as if ready for a draw.
“Well, are you going to pull that pistol, or sit there looking
stupid?” Eke said while ready to draw his own gun from his
waistband. They both grabbed for their weapons and each man fired
a shot, both falling back simultaneously. Eke was hit in his right
shoulder, while Jacque was hit in the gut- both men dropped their
guns. Instead of picking up his weapon, Eke slowly pulled himself up and sat in the empty chair that faced the general. He acted like he
was scratching his right wrist and pulled the second wire down as he
spoke.
“Ive always said,” Eke spouted in between gasps of pain, “If I
died right now, Id be happy for two reasons.” The general seemed
poised in front of this unarmed intruder.
Maria stared at him. Her face registered something. Happy for
two reasons…she had heard that from him before. She was caught
catatonic, thinking.
“For one, because I got a chance to live in this lottery called
life,” Marias face, in shock, began to register as he continued,“And
two, becausefor men like us, itll finallybe over!” H is eyes lit up. “Hell
aint so bad, youll see! Besides, someones got to be at the gates to
greet ya!” And with that, he clapped his hands together and made the
connection between the two wires. And for an instant, just as his
hands came together and he felt the explosion begin to tear apart his
body, he knew for the first time ever that he did not fail…?
Continued below…
To Saad and Mohammad bin Laden,
I too have been a coward for most of my life, hiding from my
fears and emotions behind alcohol and drugs, and here you two and
your daddy physically hide from the rest of the world!
You are no generals or leaders of any kind, now or in any
fanatical death realm, because there is no true leader who doesn't
have the freedom or control to travel the globe as they so choose
You can't even openly travel in whatever land in which you hide. YOU
AND YOUR DADDY ARE LIVING IN SPIDER HOLES! Where it takes
weeks, even months for you to be heard!
OSAMA BIN LADEN, YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN ARE
IRRELEVANT!
And I am willing to face any consequences for these beliefs
and words I hold by meeting you upon any "Field of Honor" you may
choose!
E.K. (1/1/10) THE RULES ARE SIMPLE: After the seconds check the
opposing weapons both men shall face one another the equivalent of
ten paces, keeping their feet firmly planted to the ground. On the
count of three (In Latin), each man can begin firing- the first man to
knock his opponent off his feet is the winner. If an opponent moves
his feet prematurely, or is not found to be sober, he will be
disqualified!
