out of the dunes, an electric flatbed truck was trundling along the beach. The driver stopped at each bonfire to drop off a plastic cooler, and briefly speak to whomever was in charge.
As he drove away into the darkness, the eager college students dragged the coolers out of the light and into the darkness. Minutes later, swarms of people descended on the area, many of them still talking on their cell phones. In rapid order, the party escalated to a new level of debauchery, as the students reeled about smoking what looked like homemade cigarettes. Their laughter became disjointed, and soon items of clothing started coming off, which was a short procedure as most of the students were wearing only bathing suits and flip-flop sandals.
“Is that marijuana?” Thomas asked curiously, clipping a grenade to his belt. Dashingly handsome, the man was an expert hacker, and always carried an Australian army combat laptop slung at his side.
“I ordered zooters,” LoMonaco replied.
He scowled. “What’s that?”
“Marijuana soaked in formaldehyde.”
Thomas was stunned. “Isn’t embalming fluid poisonous?”
“Extremely.” She laughed. “But first you get incredibly high.”
“How much did you get?” Greene asked, raising an arm to shoulder height. He flexed his hand and a small .44 derringer slapped into his palm, then back out of sight.
“Five kilos.”
Greene frowned. “Do we really need that much?”
“Probably not,” LoMonaco said with a shrug. “But I assumed it would be better to have too much than too little.
“Agreed. Failure isn’t an option,” Greene said, then he turned and shouted the phrase. “Failure isn’t an option!” Inside the darkened suite, the men and women of Operation Daylight repeated the words over and over as if it was a battle chant.
“Where are the whores?” Thomas asked, walking over to the balcony.
“They’ll be here soon,” Greene replied, strapping on body armor. It was as supersized as himself, but fitted perfectly, molded to his specific contours.
“And here they come,” Victor Layne stated gruffly.
Unlike his giant employer, Victor Layne was fat, and didn’t give a damn. His incredible physical strength was infamous from Adelaide to Christmas Island.
A few moments later, six more electric trucks rolled out of the dunes, each carrying dozens of shopworn but still mildly attractive women in skimpy bikinis or loose summer dresses. As the ocean breeze lifted the hem on one, it was clear that the woman wore nothing underneath but tan lines.
Taking LoMonaco by the arm, Greene pulled her aside. “Samantha, are all the supplies ready at Compose?” he asked quietly.
She nodded. “All set, sir.”
“Excellent,” Greene said with a brief smile, then he turned. “Victor, what did you tell the colleges about the party?”
“That I was an alumni and just wanted to help the kids celebrate the big win.”
“What big win?” Thomas asked.
Layne shrugged. “Who cares?”
“Alumnus,” LoMonaco corrected, walking onto the balcony with the Neostead resting on a shoulder. “ Alumni means several, alumus is the male singular.”
Layne scowled. “You’re kidding. Alumnus?”
“God’s truth.”
“Then God is an idiot,” Layne snorted, walking back into the darkness.
Down on the beach, the party was starting to get out of control as naked people began running about, and numerous students were having sex on the beach. Mostly it was couples, but sometimes there were three people involved.
“Bah, sex on the beach,” Thomas muttered in frank disapproval.
“It’s sort of romantic,” LoMonaco countered. “Even for these drunken fools.”
“But the sand gets everywhere. And I do mean everywhere!”
“So you shower afterward,” Layne contributed. “Let’s let them enjoy what little time they have remaining.”
Just then, they heard the crackling of explosions, and suddenly rockets soared high into the night sky to explode into colorful blossoms.
“Fireworks,” Greene grunted, sliding on clear surgical gloves. “Nice touch.”
“Thanks,” Layne said “I thought it might stimulate a faster response from the local PD.”
Softly, in the distance police sirens howled. Soon flashing lights appeared along the coastal highway.
“How many?” Greene demanded, grabbing the banister with both hands, and squeezing tight. “How many did they send?”
“Six, eight...ten cars!” LoMonaco reported, dialing for enhancement on a US Army–issue monocular. Computer-operated, the device took the ambient light of the stars, blocked out the bonfires, and delivered a perfectly clear black-and-white image of the beachfront debauchery.
“Excellent,” Greene exhaled, sliding on a ski mask. “Okay, time to go to work, people.”
“Daylight!” Thomas shouted, brandishing a Colt revolver.
“Daylight!” the armed people in the suite repeated, and surged out of the room.
In the hallway, a young couple gasped at the sight of the armed mob pouring from the suite.
“Go to your room,” Greene commanded, cradling an F88 assault rifle. “This has nothing to do with you!”
The man nodded and dragged the terrified young woman inside with him, and slammed the door shut.
“Why leave them alive?” Thomas snarled, hefting an Atchisson autoshotgun.
“We do not harm our own kind,” Greene stated, just as the elevator opened.
Inside the cage were three Latina maids dressed in clean white uniforms, and carrying the various tools of their trades.
Firing from the hip, Greene, Layne and LoMonaco ruthlessly slaughtered the dark-skinned women in a hail of gunfire.
Leaving the bodies where they fell, Greene and Daylight moved through the luxury hotel, wounding any Caucasian they encountered, but ruthlessly executing everybody else.
In the lobby, one of the terrorists drew a bead on the desk clerk, but LoMonaco stayed his hand.
“One of us,” she whispered.
Exiting the building, Greene and his people paused to reload, then moved out, heading directly for the main access road to the secluded beach,
