Chapter Twenty-one: Infiltration
Oléaga, Cimarron Province, Costa Luna
5 November 2013
0300 hours local time
Barely had the PPP detachment assigned to Costa Luna, Station Santa Corazon, settled back down in PPP headquarters before they were once again tasked with returning to the country and assisting the Kingdom's Defense Army, the Royalist guerrilla army formed by the ousted Prime Minister of Costa Luna, Andres Valderama, in the name of Queen Rosalinda I of the Kingdom of Costa Luna. With the Army of Socialist Revolution now in control of the kingdom's capital city of Santa Corazon, Juan Marcos Domingo Estrada, the rebel also known as Magnus Kane, had declared himself "Sublime President of the Costa Luna Social Republic," and the locals were now already calling the fighting between the KDA and the ASR the Second Costa Luna Civil War, even though the primary instigator of this civil war was actually born across the Strait of the Coasts, in Costa Estrella. The rest of Station Santa Corazon had already left for Costa Luna to assist the KDA in their fight against Kane and his rebel army, and Carter and Rosie were to be the last ones out of the PPP's Costa Negra headquarters and back into Rosie's country.
The two of them were brought back to Costa Luna by a grey Zodiac inflatable raft with a modified engine that made barely a sound even at its rated top speed of over 42 knots. The boat cut through the still moonlit waters of Bahia de la Luna, the body of water that had led to the country's name, Moon Coast. A phosphorescent wake made by the excited dinoflagellates in the water trailed the boat as it approached the tiny seaside town of Oleaga. Oleaga was the classic seaside village which made its living mostly through the local fishing industry, although tourism has become an increasing factor in the rising standard of living in the town after an excellent marketing campaign by Queen Rosalinda promoted Costa Luna as one of the last unspoiled island paradises in the Caribbean. The town itself remained mostly unaffected by the conflict between Valderama's Loyalists and Magnus Kane's Socialists, which was itself mostly confined to the north and west of the country, around the capital Santa Corazon and those provinces nearest to Kane's home country of Costa Estrella, but the lack of tourists brought about by the war meant that Oleaga would have to rely on its fishermen to keep it afloat once again.
The Zodiac beached itself a short distance from Oleaga. Carter and Rosie jumped off and the boat's operator gave them a curt nod of the head and a whispered "God be with you" before he immediately reversed the boat off of the beach and turned back for the Costa Negra Islands. "Look at this place," Carter muttered as she and Rosie began to walk down the road to Oleaga. "It's like a tropical island version of Lake Monroe. I almost half-expect to see my dad's bait shop pop up anytime soon to our right."
"And if Major Mason's bait shop does show up to our right, then we will know that we are very much lost," Rosie replied.
"Was that a joke, Rose?" Carter asked disbelievingly. "Did you just try to tell a joke?"
"Yes, I believe I did," Rosie said with a straight face. At that Carter finally burst out laughing, and even Rosie let a small satisfied smile form on her lips. "Stick to just being a royal, Rose," Carter finally gasped. "I don't think you've got a comedy in future."
They walked the rest of the way in silence, or as much silence as they could muster without Carter managing to snigger again after remembering Rosie's joke. The two of them finally arrived inside the Oleaga town limits without too much fuss and they dropped into a local tavern, where they sat down on stools in front of the bar and ordered two bottles of the local beer. They noticed that there was another customer at the bar, and one look at her and they both knew that the woman was not from here, as her white skin made her stick out among the locals like a sore thumb. Rosie was of course Costa Luna born and bred, and Carter could pass herself off as a local, but no matter of creative interpretation and reinterpretation could hide the fact that the other woman in the bar with Carter and Rosie was a Caucasian.
The woman was drinking the same beer that Carter and Rosie had ordered, and she drank down some beer and took a drag from her cigarette before she acknowledged the presence of the new arrivals beside her. "Hey there," she said. "Hey," Carter said back.
The woman then asked, "You guys like football?" When neither Carter nor Rosie replied, the woman continued, "I'm talking about soccer here, not American football. The locals are mad for soccer over here, which they call football. The locals are very excited for next year's Caribbean Club Championship. Real Santa Corazon crashed out of last year's tournament but after they retained the Liga Primera de Costa Luna title, the locals think that everything's possible. That being said, I'd say that Real Santa Corazon actually has a chance at beating Antigua next year…."
"…but that's only because Santa Corazon signed that guy from Topeka," Carter said, finishing off the code phrase.
The woman finally turned to face her, and Carter took note of her long curly brown hair, gray eyes, and Southern accent. "It's nice to finally see another American here in Costa Luna, what with all the shit that went down in the capital," the woman said. "Tonya Johnston," she said as she extended her hand.
"Carter Mason." They shook hands. "And this is Rosie Fiore," Carter added, introducing Rosie, and she and Tonya shook hands as well.
"I heard of what you two did over in Chechnya a few months ago," Johnston said. "That was some nice shit you did over there, what with taking down those extremists and killing that guy Kodudov."
"Well, that last part was more on luck than anything else," Carter shrugged off. "We got really lucky that we found Kodudov where we found him and command just let us take the shot."
Johnston nodded her head. "So, you guys ready to join the Kingdom's Defense Army already?" she asked.
"Sure thing," Carter replied with another shrug. "When do we start?"
"Not so fast, mi amiga Americana," the bartender interrupted. He took off the straw hat which had been covering his face and revealed himself as Andres Valderama, prime minister of Costa Luna and leader of the Loyalist Kingdom's Defense Army. "I have something else planned for you and your friends." He took out a map of Costa Luna from the pocket of his Hawaiian shirt and laid it out on the bar table.
"This is Hacienda Buenavista," Valderama said, pointing to a large patch of green over on the western side of Costa Luna, maybe fifteen kilometers or so from Oleaga. "This is the property of Dona Elena Dragovich de Estrada, mother of Juan Marcos Domingo Estrada, otherwise known as Magnus Kane. After the chaos and fighting that is now taking place in Santa Corazon as a result of Your Royal Majesty's escape from the Emerald Palace, Magnus Kane decided to move the strategic headquarters of his Army of Socialist Revolution to his mother's hacienda, and I think it also has something to do with the fact that they're growing crops other than corn, rice, and bananas over there now. As you all know, the Army of Socialist Revolution turned to the Caribbean drug trade to finance itself and keep itself afloat during the four years that Magnus Kane was at Los Penitentes, and they are looking to continue that even now that Kane is back in their midst. And aside from running the war in the hacienda, Kane is also meeting with cartel leaders from all over the Americas. I want to know what they're talking about in there so that we can add the funding and selling of narcotics to all of Kane's other cases, not only against the people of Costa Luna but also against humanity in general. Binibining Johnston here will provide you two with the bugs and give you what technical assistance that you may require…."
Valderama suddenly pocketed the map and put on his straw hat once again. Johnston took her cigarette and took a long drag. "The Ejercito is here," she said through the cloud of smoke coming from her mouth. "Act natural."
The Luneros in the tavern had wisely decided to leave the premises as soon as the soldiers in the beige uniforms of the Army of Socialist Revolution entered the tavern. Only Valderama, Carter, Rosie, and Johnston remained behind. The leader of the three soldiers, a sergeant by the look of the bare insignia on his uniform, looked around and headed straight for the bar. "Papeles, gringa!" the sergeant shouted at Johnston, who immediately attracted attention because of her white skin. When neither she nor the other women moved, the sergeant raised his voice and shouted, "Papeles!"
When his demand was still not met, the sergeant walked right up to the bar between Johnston and Carter. "I said give me your papers, gringa!" he shouted right in her face. But Johnston didn't even flinch.
What happened next was too fast to very accurately describe. One moment the ASR sergeant was standing arrogantly beside Johnston; the next moment he was screaming in pain as a knife had suddenly appeared in his hand; Johnston had stabbed him and pinned him to the bar. Carter took out the Glock pistol in her hidden shoulder holster and shot at the other two ASR soldiers before she put the gun to the sergeant's head and blew his brains out. "Thanks for that," Johnston said as she stood up and removed the knife from the sergeant's hand.
"Your weapons, amigas!" Valderama called out, and he threw Carter's AK-101 rifle towards her, and she caught it in midair. Valderama did the same to Rosie's weapon, an M4 carbine. He then took out his own weapon, an M16A4 rifle, and Johnston then brought out an Uzi submachine gun. "They probably heard those shots all the way to Santa Corazon," Valderama said as he jumped the bar and moved to board up the tavern's windows and lock the door. "No sense in hiding away now. Your Majesty, you and your friend will make a run down the national highway to Calle Obregon. Johnston and I will provide you with covering fire."
Valderama took a peek outside through a slit in the door. "The ASR is already here en masse. We only have one chance at this. When I say go, you two go. Don't wait for us. Ready? Go!"
Carter and Rosie ran out of the tavern and into a withering hail of gunfire, to which Valderama and Johnston responded with covering fire of their own. Two cars bearing the markings of the Royal National Police of Costa Luna but with the word Royal taped over and replaced with the word Socialist were already in front of the tavern, and the ASR soldiers who had driven the cars here were hiding behind the doors and firing their Kalashnikovs indiscriminately at the tavern. Carter and Rosie shot at the Socialists through the car doors before running out to the main highway. "Over here, Carter!" Rosie shouted as she fired one more burst at the commandeered police cars. "Calle Obregon is this way!"
More police cars commandeered by the Army of Socialist Revolution were approaching their location. Rosie took hold of the M203 grenade launcher mounted underneath her M4 and fired a round at one of the cars. The round shredded the car's engine block, and the police car ground to a halt right in the middle of the street, causing at least two other cars to crash into its rear. This forced the soldiers inside to get out and continue the fighting on foot. The air was alive with bullets, and the locals did their best not to get involved in the fight between the KDA and the ASR that had somehow found its way to their town.
"Go!" Valderama shouted at the women as members of the Kingdom's Defense Army, both uniformed and in mufti, appeared seemingly out of nowhere and began engaging the Socialist soldiers. "My men and I will keep the Socialists occupied! Your survival is of the utmost importance to all of us!"
"Come on!" Johnston said. "I have a car around the corner!" Johnston's car turned out to be a cherry-red Ford Crown Victoria. Johnston positively jumped into the driver's seat while Carter went into the front passenger seat and Rosie slid into the back. As Johnston started the engine, Rosie yelled out, "We have los Socialistas behind us! We have to get out of here!"
"I'm working on it, your highness, I'm working on it!" Johnston ground the gears and applied some gas, and the car roared to life. "Hold on to your butts!" she shouted as she drove the Crown Vic out of the alley and back onto the national highway. But as more commandeered police cars were already moving to block the way, Johnston turned right back to Calle Obregon, taking a circuitous route around the arriving ASR and back onto the national highway.
"Get out of the way! Get out!" Johnston shouted at the townspeople trying to get away from the firefight even though she knew that they couldn't hear her, and they wouldn't understand her anyway even if they could.
"Please tell me that those aren't barricades!" Carter moaned as she saw what was ahead of them. But they were indeed barricades, formed by two police cars face to face with each other and blocking any passage to and from Oleaga by way of the national highway. "Get down!" Johnston shouted, but both Carter and Rosie need not be told. The windshield cracked and spidered as bullets started impacting the Ford, and the cigarette that Johnston had clamped between her teeth fell to the ground. "Shit! My lucky smoke!" she called out.
"Forget about your lucky smoke, girl," Carter retorted. "If the Socialists don't kill us then that burning stick of tobacco and paper will! Eventually!"
The Ford Crown Vic crashed through the barricade of police cars without stopping, and Socialist soldiers scattered as they jumped out of the way of the surging Crown Vic. "Oh, my God!" Carter shouted.
"Hold on to your butts, ladies; it's going to be a bumpy ride!" Johnston said with a laugh. The car proceeded to smash through the rest of the barricades, losing both of their headlights in the process.
"Yeehaw!" Johnston shouted. "Oh, yeah!"
"Oh, my God!" Carter muttered as she finally slid up her seat and looked at the rearview mirror at her side, which was literally hanging by a thread from the rest of the car body. "I can't believe we survived that!" she said once she had finally collected herself.
"Well, believe it, ladies," Johnston replied. "At least we're home free now. Next stop, San Isidro de Pepever. It's a shame that I have to dump this car, though. I really like it, but if we keep hold of it, the Socialists can track us down, and we can't have that, can we?"
"No, we cannot," Rosie said, speaking for the first time since they got into the car and drove through the Socialist barricades.