Free The Last Operation (The Remnants of War Series, Book 1) by Patrick Astre

heart through and through.
    He convulsed as the shock overwhelmed his system. His mouth attempted to open but was held fast by the blonde's teeth. A muffled gurgling rattle from deep within his throat was the only sound Miguel Aquilino made as he died.
    * * *
    Kurt Rhineman lowered Miguel Aquilino's corpse to the thick-carpeted floor. Just a small amount of blood spread from the protruding ice pick handle in the deadman's chest. He removed the blonde wig, kicked off the high heels and stepped out of the dress. He dragged Miguel's corpse to the broad fully mirrored bathroom and propped him up against the Jacuzzi so his face was visible in the mirror.
    Kurt retrieved the pocketbook he had carried, removed the make up case, returned to the bathroom and set to work.

 
     
     
    Chapter 12

     
    Matt Kelly had been crawling, wearing the "Ghilie" suit for seven hours. The suit was a Marine Corp sniper cover consisting of mats of gray material and vegetation that blended in perfectly with the surrounding semi-desert clay and scraggly plants. Her movements were slow and measured. She was invisible in her surroundings as she reached a spot one hundred yards from the fenced compound and about midway between the two guard posts. She'd crawled directly out of the west the sun her ally as it sank low and eventually disappeared under the horizon. She had scorpions run across her and once a Pigmy rattler slithered inches from her face. The Marine Corp training paid off. She'd reached her vantage point unseen without setting off the motion detectors. Later it wouldn't matter.
    Lashed to the Ghilie suit and camouflaged with brown tape, clay pads and vegetation, she carried a Remington .308 with 10X Sniper scope and magazines of 168 Grain hollow point munitions. Lashed to the other side of the suit were four olive drab cylinders, each about three foot long and similarly camouflaged. Before darkness enfolded the compound, the spotlights came on, lighting up the entire oval surrounding area. Matt lay just outside the pool of light. Waiting.
    * * *
    Kurt Rhineman examined himself in the mirror one last time. He felt confident he could pass a casual, not too close scrutiny. The voice and accent would be the main problem. He felt he knew how to handle that also. He had practiced it enough at Langley.
    He dragged Miguel's corpse into the main room and wrapped it in a sheet. He then rolled the body in the area carpet, lashing both ends securely. Then he pushed the button that would summon the security guards on duty inside the house.
    * * *
    Sanchez and Cruz were sitting in the kitchen playing cards when the red light indicating Miguel Aquilino's apartment started to blink.
    "Oh shit," said Cruz, his bushy mustache decorated with tortilla crumbs from the recent meal.
    "It's early. El padrone will still be going strong."
    Sanchez nodded. He was a tall thin man with deceptively strong arms. He was suddenly worried. Miguel Aquilino's cocaine-fueled rages were legendary and much feared for their deadly unpredictability. A few months ago he had shot one of the guards in the temple when the man had winced and hesitated in removing a young Campesino girl's body that Miguel had battered to death with a ball peen hammer. Now Miguel wanted them upstairs, in his apartment.
    Sanchez and Cruz entered the apartment slowly, cautiously. Miguel Aquilino sat with his head back on a leather easy chair in a dim corner of the room. His thin mustache gleamed with a few white flecks, the long scar white in the brown face. His voice was gravelly and slurred. A half empty bottle of Tequila lay on the table next to him. An empty bottle of Dom Perignon was on the floor and a small pile of white powder laid heaped on one corner of the glass-covered bar.
    "You take this puta , this insolent bitch," he said, pointing to the rolled up area carpet in the middle of the room, "you will drop her at the garbage dump on the North Road at the edge of town. Now listen carefully you