A/N: Thank you for all of your reviews! :)
Andrew S. Fairchild smiled grimly as he sipped a glass of fruit punch. Tonight was the night either he or Phillip would die. No sane person alive would care to wager on the outcome. The future of the world depended on the events of tonight. Arthur had contacted him about the situation in Washington. The poison letters had been stopped. Slowly doctors were coming up with ways to treat the terrible disease. Phillip would know that though.
The missiles would leave Bogota or Santiago's hacienda by truck tonight. They would then be loaded onto smuggling boats at Cartagena. From those boats they would be loaded into old scrap warships that would be able to launch them. The future was bleak if those missiles could not be stopped.
A man sauntered past Fairchild's table. Fairchild was careful not to look up. All would be for naught if Raven recognized him. He stood up and followed.
********
Frank cringed as the ancient truck he was in sped over another rut in the dirt road to Santiago's hacienda. Couldn't they slow down? He hoped that Nancy and Joe were having a better time. They had separated into two companies. He and Juan's team were coming to the hacienda from the north and Joe and Nancy's team was coming from the south.
Wincing Frank looked up and scanned the grim faces of Juan's friends. Some might die in the assault tonight. They thought it was worth it though. Worth it to free their villagers and friends. Many only had machetes. Frank was probably the only one with a gun other than Juan. It was the same one Fairchild had given them after Elayne's kidnapping. Juan had the gun that Fairchild had given to them when they had been hired by Fairchild to protect Elayne.
The truck came to an abrupt halt, throwing the passengers forward. "This is as far as we drive," Juan said. "We sneak to hacienda."
Frank nodded silently. "Just give me warning before we hit it," he instructed in a whisper as they silently got out of the truck.
*******
Nancy and Joe followed the villagers slowly through the heavy jungle attempting to be silent. No matter how they tried, they were no match for the young men they followed. Suddenly they all stopped and some of the young men began to whisper in fast voices.
Nancy tapped one on his shoulder. "What's going on?" she asked.
The man named Carlos translated. "Guards senora, what shall we do?"
Nancy looked at Joe and he shrugged. Finally Joe came up with something. "Can you take them down silently?"
"We will try senor." Carlos replied. He motioned everyone into the jungle and off the trail. Another couple of villagers hid behind some trees beside the trail waiting to ambush the coming guards.
Soon a pair of bobbing flashlights came into view. Nancy could hear them talking casually. They weren't expecting anything. Good. As they came closer Nancy could dimly make out that they were carrying machine guns. Even better.
The guards finally approached the men laying in wait. The ambush was sprung as the pair of villagers jumped on the guards. Nancy winced as she watched. All it would take was a little gun shot or shout.
After a couple of minutes the fight was over. The guards were knocked out. "Tie them up," Joe instructed the villagers. They nodded and used the guards' belts to tie them up and scarves to gag them.
"Put them off the trail," Nancy said, "we'll come back for them later." She and Joe grabbed the guards' guns. They would come in handy.
*******
Andrew Fairchild silently stalked through the jungle on the way to the hacienda. There was no need to follow Phillip any longer. No need for more risk than necessary. As he walked he molded the plastic explosives into the appropriate shapes that would effectively blow up a heavy semi and its contents.
Next he set the remote detonators in the middle of the blobs. All he would have to do was stick the plastic explosive on the bottom of each truck and he could blow those trucks up from the other side of the world. Assuming that the explosives weren't discovered by then of course.
That would be useful. Andrew had no wish to have the Colombian government connect him to the blast that would result from two little bombs.
********
Frank slowly and cautiously looked out from behind a large tree at Santiago's hacienda. It was elegant and fairly large, but flat. It had not been built for defense. However, the guards surrounding it would be a problem.
The main focus of attention was two semi trucks. Very large wooden crates were being loaded into the trucks. It looked as if they were almost finished with the task. Frank scanned the premises trying to come up with ideas. It was his group's job to distract the guards while Nancy and Joe's group stormed the hacienda and rescued Elayne. "Any ideas amigo?" Frank asked Juan.
Juan shrugged. "Try to start a fire maybe. That distract them. Cargo look very valuable. They won't want it to go up in flames."
Frank scanned the place for something that they could set on fire. His eyes finally came to rest on the gazebo that was a bit away from the main building. That would work, but how to set it on fire? As Frank looked around some more he spotted some barrels of gasoline near the generator building. Perfect.
"Juan," Frank whispered, "do any of your men have some bottles on them?"
Juan turned and spoke in hushed tones to the group. Four of them pulled out glass pop bottles from their packs. "Like this?" Juan asked.
"That's great." Frank whispered and he motioned towards the barrels. "Now we need to 'borrow' some gasoline from one of those barrels ."
"I'll go with you," Juan said.
Frank nodded. "Good, get those bottles."
The pair slowly sneaked through the night towards the barrels. When they arrived Frank filled them up three-quarters full. He and Juan then sneaked back to where they had left the villagers. Frank began to instruct them. "Here's what we do, we stick some paper into these, light the paper on fire and chuck them into that gazebo. Any questions?"
*******
Nancy stared as the gazebo on the other side of the hacienda burst into flames. She snapped out of reverie and motioned towards the villagers to follow. Taking the safety off one of the guns they had taken from the guards, she and Joe charged into the compound and towards the hacienda as guards and people from within the hacienda ran towards the gazebo to put the fire out.
*******
Fairchild nearly laughed as he watched Santiago's gazebo burst into flame. It looked like the Hardys and Drew were around. Taking advantage of the guards' distraction he darted across the compound and jumped under the nearest semi.
*******
Nancy and Joe charged into the hacienda wielding their guns with the young Colombian men following them. On their way in they had been forced to shoot several of the guards. The halls were deserted.
"The basement, quickly!" one of the Colombians urged.
Nancy and Joe nodded as they quickly went through the house looking for a way into the basement. "There!" Joe pointed towards a staircase that led down.
The group stormed down the stairs. "Elayne!" Nancy yelled. "Elayne! Can you hear me?"
"This way!" came a female voice that was heavily accented.
The party rushed down the hall towards the door that the call had come from. Joe and a burly man broke the door down. Nancy and Joe entered quickly.
Inside the room were approximately fifty women and children. On one of the cots Nancy spotted bright red hair. It was Elayne. She and Joe rushed over as the men behind them rushed into the room grabbing their wives and children and hugging them. Her face was streaked with blood and her arms covered with bruises.
"Elayne!" Joe said as he gently shook her awake. "Elayne."
Elayne slowly opened her eyes and looked at Joe and Nancy. "I knew you would come." she said weakly.
*******
Fairchild quickly stuck the explosives on the bottom of the semi trailers. He would wait to set them off. It was best if the trucks were far from civilization before they exploded. He rolled out from beneath the second trailer and ran back to the jungle. Now he had to wait for Phillip. For Phillip would come.
*******
"Are you okay Elayne?" Joe asked with heavy concern.
"I'll live I suppose." Elayne replied weakly with a smile.
"What did they do to you?" Nancy asked.
"Hardly a tale fit to entertain," Elayne commented. "Perhaps I'll tell you later."
"We have to get out of here now." Nancy instructed.
Elayne shook her head weakly. "We have to go to Santiago's office first. They wanted to know if my father knew their plans. They do not think he does. I don't think so either. Not that I let them know that though. I heard one of the guards talking about where they were kept. We need to get the plans and show my father."
Joe nodded. "That's what we should do Nancy."
"We'll do it," Nancy agreed. She turned to Carlos who was holding hands with what appeared to be his young wife. "Carlos, you'll have to lead everyone out of here."
Carlos nodded soberly. "I will. How can we ever thank you for all of your help?"
Nancy shrugged. "Let's wait until this is over before we talk like that."
Carlos smiled and nodded. He left the room with everyone but Nancy, Joe and Elayne.
Elayne tried to sit up. "You'll have to help me up." she said wincing.
Joe stepped forward and helped her up. "Are you sure you can stand let alone walk?" he asked with apprehension.
Elayne nodded. "Just get me up and I'll be great."
Joe lifted her off the cot and stood her on her feet gingerly. "Are you sure? If you can't I'll help you."
"I'm sure." Elayne replied as she attempted to maintain her balance and succeeded.
"Let's go then," Nancy instructed.
Following Elayne's weak lead they slowly went up the stairs, across the house and into Santiago's empty office. Nancy stepped up to the window and looked out. "Joe, the fire is going out, we'd better hurry."
"It's in here somewhere," Elayne told them weakly.
Nancy and Joe began to ransack Santiago's office.
*******
Frank and his group continued to keep out of sight as they watched the gazebo fire burn. Or rather, smolder. They had managed to put out the fire fairly quickly. Frank spotted Santiago yelling and giving fierce instructions in Spanish. He was gesturing wildly and pointing to men. Finally they broke up. All of the guards except three got into the semis. The other three remained with Santiago. Frank watched the semis pull out on to the dirt road and head north. He hoped that there was nothing bad on those trucks, because he didn't know how to stop them.
Suddenly Santiago and his guards turned and went into the house. "Juan!" Frank exclaimed. "If we don't do something they're going to catch Joe and Nancy!
********
"Here it is!" Nancy called out as she scanned the contents of a manila folder. "We can leave now."
Suddenly a familiar voice spoke. "I'm afraid you will not be going anywhere."
Nancy, Joe and Elayne spun around to face Santiago and his three guards.
Santiago stepped forward and struck Elayne to the ground. Joe growled and stepped forward but one of the guards held up a gun. "I wouldn't advise that Mr. Hardy." Santiago said coldly. He then turned towards Elayne who was lying on the floor. "What did I say about you trying to escape Miss Fairchild?"
Elayne didn't respond. She just glared at Santiago.
"You've burned down my gazebo and freed my slaves," Santiago said in a extremely unhappy voice. "I will not kill you, but I will make you wish that I would kill you, for a while anyway."
"My father will strangle you to death when he gets his hands on you." Elayne said in a strong voice.
"I'm not afraid of your father," Santiago replied cooly. "I think that he is a fool. Not only that, I don't believe he is a match for the Raven."
"Who's the Raven?" Joe asked trying to hold Santiago off.
Santiago grinned evilly, "Don't you know?"
The three shook their heads no. Santiago laughed harshly.
Abruptly they were interrupted as Frank, Juan and some of the other natives burst into the room. They attacked Santiago and soon had he and his guards subdued. "How are things going?" Frank asked cheerily.
********
The man nicknamed Raven stepped from his car and walked forward scanning the glowing embers of Santiago's gazebo. No one was there. Whoever had set it on fire had most likely succeeded. Santiago was easily distracted. At least the semis were on their way to Cartagena.
"It's been a long time Phillip." came the voice of Andrew S. Fairchild.
Phillip C. Fairchild spun around to face his twin brother. "What are you doing here?" Phillip demanded angrily.
Andrew smiled. "Why do you think Phillip? My daughter disappears, an obvious effort to distract me. Then the next day poisonous mail is received in Washington D.C. You had it planned rather well, I admit. It might have worked. Overthrowing the government. If that failed you had a wild card up your sleeve. Me. You could impersonate the head of the United States Central Network. You would have had command over the armed forces as the bureaucracy in Washington was destroyed. You know that the President would turn power to me, or someone who looked like me in such an emergency. You made only one mistake Phillip."
"What was that?" Phillip replied coldly.
"Instead of playing games like the normal child did you laid out battle plans and other plans. How to blow up a building, how to take over a government. One of those plans you repeatedly rehearsed out and planned. This plan. I recognized it Phillip. The instant you turned eighteen you joined the CIA and became one of the top agents alongside me. Then you turned to a renegade. I should have known that it was only a matter of time." Andrew Fairchild finished his explanation with a sigh.
"A matter of time until what?" Phillip snarled.
"Until I was forced to kill you." Andrew replied. Slowly he lifted up his right hand and place it just above his heart, clutching the open edge of his coat and pressing it to his chest.
Phillip grinned inwardly. Andrew had one health problem. His heart. He wagered ten to one that as they spoke Andrew was suffering from a heart attack. This type of situation was a stressful one at best. "How do you intend to kill me Phillip? I see that you are not armed, and even if you are you're in no position to kill me."
Andrew smiled, "You're a dead man Phillip."
Philip growled as his hand shot into his coat for his gun. Andrew's right hand dropped from where he had been holding it as Phillip's gun cleared his shoulder holster.
***********
"Wonderful now that you're here!" Elayne said brightly, despite her obvious pain and suffering.
The men that had followed Frank in dragged the guards and Santiago out and closed the door leaving Frank, Nancy, Joe and Elayne in peace.
Their heads snapped towards the window as a single gun shot sounded from outside. "What was that!" Nancy asked.
Frank shrugged. "Probably some stray guard or villager. Don't worry they won't get to us. We're safe and secure here now."
"We're glad you showed up." Joe said to Frank. "How did you know to come?"
"I saw Santiago and his three guards go into the house. I knew they were about to find you." Frank answered. "Say, do you know what was on those semis?"
Nancy opened the folder she was holding and scanned it her face going pale. "Missiles and explosives," she replied.
*********
Andrew S. Fairchild glanced at the antique derringer in his hand. It was a sleeve-draw type. Back in the 19th century it had been the fastest draw in the west. His grandfather had given it to him when he entered the CIA. Andrew had never suspected that he would kill his brother with it.
He stepped forward and looked at Phillip's corpse. There was a black-sheep in every family it seemed. It was a shame that he had been forced to deal with his family's black sheep. Fairchild sighed as he pulled out the remote explosive device from his pocket. He pressed the button. From several miles away he heard a large explosion. It was over.
A/N: Epilogue to come. :)