Chapter 28 Burning Colombia Down

A/N Ranger is still in Colombia on phone calls and in meetings so once again for ease of reading please assume everything in italics is spoken in Spanish.

Update for those that skipped the last chapter: Sergio was caught. His "mistress" Camilia has been rescued. Sergio refused to make any deal with Ranger and Ranger records him saying he wants Ranger and his whole family to die. Hector gets Sergio's laptop and empties all of his bank accounts. Snark and Negro "work" on Sergio to get him to sign paperwork and get a list of business contacts and their phone numbers. Then Ranger sets about having his men repeat the DVD and do everything done to the prostitute to Sergio. After being beaten, tortured, raped and whipped Ranger took his own ankle gun, put it in Sergio's hand and stuck it in his mouth, then tortured Sergio till he blew his own head off.

All the bodies were collected and piled up. They were covered by two strips of GroundXR Hellfires, that are made of thermite. Thermite burns so hot it will burn through asphalt and concrete and would reduce the pile of bodies to ash with nothing left to identify. The house was then blown up and burned down on top of them. Bomber and Skeleton took Sergio's car to the airport and they flew his plane back to Colombia so it would look like Sergio had left before the fire.

Sunday May 23 04:30

"Load up" I ordered to everyone and they grabbed their equipment and guns and headed out the door. Basher chose to sit in the back of the pick-up truck, Jack-knife had used to ram the blown-up gate, RPG poised proudly on his shoulder ready to take out the house. I chose to sit in the passenger seat of our beat up, 1995 red Ford Bronco letting Tank drive back to the airport. Forty-five minutes later we parked the car in an apartment complex parking lot. Locked it up and started jogging back to the plane. Twenty minutes later everyone was arriving back at the plane and getting loaded up. At 05:45 we were leaving for good.

The pilots had taken to sleeping in the first class leather seats while we were gone, which was good, it meant they would be fresher for the next short leg of our trip.

I had Wolf do a brief physical check of Camilia to make sure she didn't have any severe injuries. He took her into the back kitchen area and was done ten minutes later.

He came out and set the girl down in a chair and came to me as I stood in the front of the plane and whispered. "You're not going to like it."

"Report."

"She has minor bruises on her legs and torso. Half are faded, look to be about two weeks old, half of them are fresh. Her back has thin white scars across it like he or one of his employees has taken a short whip or a switch to her and beat her with it. But none of that is a long term health problem."

"What is the long term problem?"

"She has a four inch scar across her lower abdomen. I don't have an ultrasound to confirm this but she says he took out her uterus so he couldn't get her pregnant. If he didn't, he certainly did some kind of surgery like getting her tubes tied or something."

It took everything I had not to put my fist through the wall. I wanted to go back and torture the sick sadistic bastardo all over again.

Once we were in the air I encouraged everyone to sleep. I went through the flight attendant area and found small pillows, thin blue blankets and night masks. I finally got Camilia settled down in the backrow with a pillow and a blanket and she quickly curled up and went to sleep. I stacked the rest on the cart and once again wheeled it up to the front and parked it.

Before Hector went to sleep I gave him Rascal's video of Sergio and asked him to download it as we slept. I specifically asked him to edit the parts of him signing the paperwork and checks together in one short video. Because they did such a great mind job on him, he appears sitting in the bed fully dressed gladly taking the paperwork and signing it and the checks. I have no doubt he had no clue what he was actually signing and did not become suspicious and require Snark and Negro's special talents till they started asking about his business associates and their phone numbers.

Then I showed him the video of him blowing his head off and if there was any way to edit out the duct tape so you just see him blowing his own head off. He assured me with the short clip of me sticking it into his mouth pre-tape and a little editing magic he could make it so. Finally I gave him the information I had on The Saint and asked him to track the number and get me all he could find on the guy.

Then I paused and leaned very close to his ear. "I know I am still working you hard my friend. Just know there is going to be a very large multi-million dollar bonus for you."

"Thank you Boss, but you know I would do it for you anyway. And to make sure our Angelito and your baby girl is safe."

"Thank you Hector, for everything. Especially that dildo. Oh my god that dildo." A big smile split my face. "That was amazing! It felt so good to stuff that up in him. I've never seen one that size. Where the hell do you get a dildo that large?"

"Special order. Only one manufacturer makes them that large. There are even sizes larger. I knew he was not a large man but figured that could be forced up there."

"It was perfect! The best surprise of the day!" I left him with a grin on his face.

I went into the bathroom, with my small clothing bag and stripped. I first washed my arms thoroughly with airliner soap to remove the blood and dirt. Then I soaped up a washcloth with Bvlgari from a travel sized bottle I carried and, starting with my face, washed down to my feet. I redressed in clean cargos and t-shirt and went to the front of the plane. Tank was now laid out in the first row of seats on the right and I took the first row of seats on the left.

I was debating calling off all the rest of this plan, or at least the killing off of all of his family. No one knows Sergio is dead and if I just assumed all of his businesses with all his money and appoint someone to run it, they could stop the cocaine business from the inside. But his family, his brother and brother-in-law specifically, would fight for control of the businesses and the brother-in-law would keep the cocaine business alive and well. Best to keep with the plan and destroy the cocaine fields and his entire family. No little children to inherit the kingdom and come after me in ten years for revenge.

I wasn't going to sleep until I had the plans for the day worked out and a safe hanger for the plane to park in. I divided everyone up into teams. Assigned everyone their targets, sorted all the paperwork by teams and wrote down times, coordinates and weapons on each. I broke down exactly how many weapons each team was to take. There was plenty for everyone as long as no one got greedy.

We landed just before 07:00 and I left the plane to scout the airport. I found the main office, lied about the plane make and tail number, and they didn't even walk outside to check. There wasn't a hanger big enough to fit the whole plane but I rented one for us to park in front of for the next two days. I sent the pilots to a nice hotel telling them if everything went well we would be leaving Monday night.

I finished working on my notes about 10:00. Then I tucked my folder away, laid my seat all the way back, crossed my arms and drifted to sleep on thoughts of Stephanie. When I think of her and dream of her all my old nightmares drift away.

At 13:00 my watch beeped me awake and I quietly made my way to the bathroom and washed my face. I went to wake Dago and Hangman. They were the Panama team and had a five-hour flight to get to the villa that was outside Puerto Pina just across the border. I gave them their orders, told them to get something to eat and to pack some drinks, sandwiches and snacks as they had ten hours of flying ahead of them.

Once they were ready I gave them the location of the airport Sergio usually lands in and walked them over to the ten-person plane that Sergio uses. Once they got it started they taxied over to our plane and got their bags, food, two LSATs and ammo, and got ready to leave. Their orders were to scout the property and verify the drone hit; that the property was destroyed. Then make their way through the property killing all guards or anyone else left alive and return back here tonight.

It was a three hour flight to both the West and East compounds. I wanted the men there two hours early to destroy the warehouses, houses and set the timers on the hellfires in the fields. I wanted everything burning about 02:00. By 15:00 most everyone was awake.

Camilia was still sleeping and I asked the Tres Amigos to take care of her. To talk to her and see if they could find out where she was from. To see if she remembered her address or phone number or anything. The paper I had on her only gave her parents first names. I gave them some cash and sent Negro out to buy her some real clothes, books, movies, cards, toys, a tablet. I told Hector to run searches and see if he could locate her family. By 16:00 Negro was back with clothes and toys for her and she was just waking up. Thirty minutes later Hector had located her family only an hour away. The Tres Amigos loaded her up and headed out to take her home to her family.

I gathered all the men up who were going to other locations in Colombia and gave each one a run down on what they were supposed to do. I assigned Skeleton to fly Frizz, Lover Boy and Starr to the Eastern compound just outside of Bucaramange. They had a total of five fields, six warehouses, one single house and the compound to be hit between 00:00 and 01:00. I got them loaded up in one of Sergio's smaller cargo planes with sandwiches, snacks, and armed for bear. Same orders to kill everyone they find on the compound. I wasn't expecting many because that compound was empty most of the time but there were probably a few guards that live there year round. The only rule I gave, use up all the ordinance you have, bring nothing but the LSATs back.

I assigned Bomber to fly 3 teams. Grenade, Basher, Mr. T., Hairy, and Snark to the Western compound just outside of Popayan. They had a total of seven fields, nine warehouses, four houses and the compound to be hit between 00:00 and 01:00. I got them loaded up in one of Sergio's medium cargo planes, again with plenty of food and drinks and armed to take down an army. Sergio's mother and grandmother lived on this compound so there were going to be more guards. Same orders: kill everyone they find on the compound, bring nothing back.

I assigned Irish to partner with Ice and fly to a small airport outside Medellin, in Central Colombia. They had a total of three fields and two warehouses. Irish wanted to fly one of the medium cargo planes, so I loaded them down with food and with some LSATs in case there were guards around the warehouses. They probably have the easiest job and part of what I was going to skip doing when I had only eight men. But since I had the manpower I wanted to be thorough. By 17:00 I had everyone loaded up and in the air and the Tres Amigos were back.

They gave me the basic run down that her family was very poor. She was their oldest child. They were so happy to have her back but they were scared Senior Valentino is going to come back, punish them and take her away again. They said that her father works in one of the warehouses and fields that we are planning on blowing up. The men didn't like leaving her because they didn't feel like she would get an education and proper choices in her life. I got all of the family's contact information and promised them she would be taken care of.

The majority of the properties I was after were here to the South. I assigned three teams. Me and Tank, Eagle and Jack-knife, Wolf and Bullet to be at the compound at 21:00 for the fireworks display and to make sure no one was left alive. There were ten fields and fourteen warehouses down here but the real challenge was going to be the twelve houses because eight of them were within a half mile of each other.

To assist I had two more teams assigned to the South, Beaver and Rascal, then the trio Afable, Negro and Muerte. I passed out aerial views and pictures of all the properties. Once everyone had their paperwork, I began the directions.

"We start at 21:00. Three teams at the compound, two teams starting in the fields and warehouses. Then at 00:00 we will meet up at the Esmerelda neighborhood to take out the eight houses. Three are on the same street. Those houses all have to go up at the same time so the residents aren't alerted that something is going on. Once those three go up we split and hit the last five within five minutes that way we can get out of the neighborhood before emergency personnel arrive. Then each team finishes up, most of you have at least one more house to take out after that. We should be done and headed back to the airplane no later than 01:00."

"No one at the compound lives. Once the four missiles hit, Wolf and Bullet go over the wall and take out everyone in the back. Eagle, Jack-knife, Tank and I will hit the front and sides and meet you in the back. No guards at the warehouses live. When you approach the warehouses, count the cars. If there are a bunch of cars you know there are workers inside. If there are lights on inside expect there are workers inside. Shoot the outside guards first. Put a fire bomb in the back of the building. Wait five minutes for it to spread. If more guards come out kill them. His guards are like his own little militia. Any that aren't killed will rise up to avenge his death and cause problems for anyone trying to run his companies in the future. Any questions?" No one responded.

"We leave to get vehicles at 19:30. In the meantime raid what's left in the kitchen. There are more sandwiches, snacks and hot meals that cook in the special ovens."

I've seen drone strikes before, but knowing this was mine and taking down an enemy to the people in my life, felt more fulfilling. Four missiles were a bit much. Two would have done it and three would have been thorough. Four just meant all that was left was scattered burning rubble. I had counted six men in the front yard before the missiles but only five after. Either way we went over the wall and quickly took them out. Three minutes later we had made our way to the back where there were now four dead men, climbed back over the walls and disappeared into the night.

Tank and I were assigned two additional warehouses, and one of the reasons I assigned these to us was because unlike all his other storage facilities these were in a busy industrial area. I figured we could burn them down and not set everything else on fire in the process. I was surprised they weren't guarded and before blowing them up we slipped inside.

Within the rust red warehouses were rows and rows of boxes of coffee beans. I guess at some point they had a great surplus or maybe there were companies that actually only buy his coffee without the special side of white powder.

"I guess we don't need to burn these down." I told Tank.

"I don't know I like my coffee beans roasted."

"Smart ass."

"If I was being really smart I would have brought a coffee maker instead of explosives."

"Grab a can, I've had good Colombian coffee before and it's worth it to get it straight from the fields. I can give it to Ella and she'll roast them and grind them for me."

"Ella has you spoiled. With her cooking and cleaning for you I don't know how you make it out in the field."

"I can still take care of myself and a contingent of men in the field. But to be honest, this last trip I've been craving her omelets. I don't know what she puts in them that make them taste so good." We walked back up the unlit street to our beat up tan Dodge truck. Me carrying two cans of coffee and Tank carrying one.

We stopped at a small hole in the wall cantina and got a late meal. We ordered beers but didn't drink them instead asking for a pitcher of water to go with our food. We took turns watching footage of the flying drones and reading the updating texts on the outcomes at several locations. They were on their way back from Panama. Whether his ex-wife couldn't stand extra guards, or because they were divorced and she was out of the country so he thought she didn't need them, there was only one lone guard outside the gates. They had walked the whole property and found no one else.

Irish and Ice in Central Colombia were done and flying back. Sending some spectacular pictures of the warehouses burning. Again only a few guards and no workers at any of their locations. West Colombia reported all the warehouses had been taken out. Workers in half of the nine warehouses. No innocents injured, all the fields ready to burn. Basher and Mr. T had gotten impatient and blown up their four assigned houses early. All three teams were now in position outside the compound waiting for the drone.

Both teams from Eastern Colombia were outside the compound waiting and were checking in. Skeleton and Frizz reported workers in all three of their warehouses. The fields were ready. Lover Boy and Starr reported no problems. They even sent a picture of their one house as it exploded. At 23:30 we left and went to meet up with the rest of our team to take out the houses.

All the houses in this neighborhood were on one acre lots making it very easy to destroy one without burning the whole neighborhood down. At 00:00 we were all in position and with a single signal five houses went up. Three on this street, two more three blocks over. Seconds later I dropped the rocket launcher in the open bed and was back inside the truck, Tank speeding on to the next target.

We had a third house to hit when we were through with this neighborhood and Tank fired two rockets into it. It was bigger, true, but we had brought the extra ordinance to get rid of it. Once he was done firing he got as close to the fire as he could stand and chucked the firing tube into it. It was my goal to have no weapons, except the crates of LSATs, on the plane when the night was over.

We made our way back to the airport, where many of the guys were standing around, the stairs to the plane having been retracted. I called the Captain and he immediately opened the 'door' and dropped them. The rest of the night was spent watching the drone drops remotely and getting reports in from each team. The Central Colombian team arrived first and gave me the photo evidence of their destructive exploits. The Panama team arrived a little after 03:00 and reported no further problems.

The East Colombian team arrived just before 04:00 and showed me the recordings of the drone drop that occurred at 00:27; reporting no guards found on the property. The Western Team arrived at 4:45 complaining that Basher and Mr. T took too long to come back from the drone drop that occurred at 00:43. Again they had video for me. By 05:15 everyone was settled back in seats sleeping and the plane was locked up tight. Before each man went to sleep I gave out eight assignments for guard duty for the early afternoon through dinner, that I would notify them of where and that if all went as expected we were leaving Colombia by 20:0o.

Monday May 24 08:00

My watch beeped at 08:00 and I got up with Tank. We retrieved the truck where we had left it in a local neighborhood, took my suitcases, all the black crates that the ordinance had been in and left. First we drove through an area where there was an outside farmer's market and found an older man that was selling clothing and sold him all the crates for a few colorful outfits and some pesos. Then Tank drove me to the best hotel in town, the GHL Grand Hotel Villavicencio, where I showered and changed into my Armani suit.

We were in Villavicencio, Colombia where Sergio's headquarters and many of his businesses were based. Hector had already found me two local attorneys. Convers Codazzi and Renaldo Gomez were well reputed to be the best business attorneys in town. At 09:30 I arrived at their office, showed them the paperwork and discussed what it takes to get it filed in court and how long it would take. Codazzi explained that they didn't need to be filed in court, they needed to be filed with the regional office of Colombia's business regulations and that he would do it today. That technically the transfer of business and power is effective as soon as it is filed, but it could take up to a week before it becomes finalized in the records.

I told them to do it and had them start working on new paperwork to transfer some parts of the businesses to other named persons. They said they would have them by lunch. I left and went back to the hotel where I started making business calls. I called the managers that were in charge of his coffee fields until I found the one that handled payroll. He had been riding around all morning looking at burnt up fields, manufacturing plants and warehouses and reported that all of them had been destroyed.

I started the rumor that Sergio had been forced to sell to me on Friday and in retribution had his men burn down all of the fields. I told him that this Friday when everyone was paid they were to receive six months severance pay since we were going to have to replant the fields and to figure out that total and give it to me. He did some rough numbers and told me 2.8 million dollars. I asked for the main bank account the money needed to be put into and put the responsibility to transfer the money down into all the smaller accounts on him and for all the checks to be cut by this Friday. I also offered him a bonus, to be paid to him when he contacted me back saying it was all done.

I sent Hector a text to transfer the money from the business account that had 25 million in it. I didn't want the poorest among Sergio's victims, the ones that work in his fields and cocaine plants to suffer from this hostile takeover.

I then called the top five men whose businesses would be affected by the changes I was making and made them a million dollar offer to meet me for lunch. Two of them lived here or near here but three of them had to fly in so I set up a late lunch at 14:00 in the presidential suite of the hotel.

After those arrangements were settled, I started calling the four cartels. I called Loz Zetas first, asking to speak to the main man in charge and when he wouldn't put him on I explained that Sergio was out of the picture. His fields had burned down and the warehouses were destroyed. He wanted to know when they would be producing again and I explained that at this time we had no plans to replant what we had been growing. I said I knew they were going to be losing money and didn't want them coming after me and asked how much would it take to buy them off.

Immediately he put Miguel Trevino Morales, the leader, on the phone. I thanked him for his time and explained that Sergio was gone, along with his whole family, and asked how much would he be losing this first year. I told him that I wanted to pay them for this inconvenience, their lost revenue and the problem of finding or growing a new supplier. He wanted 500 million dollars. But from the monthly totals I knew that they did about 12 to 15 million a month with him or 140 to 180 million a year. I explained that I was not wanting to cause problems but that Sergio did not have that much in his accounts and that he was working with 4 cartels and 5 other business men that all needed a slice of the pie. I offered him 200 million dollars to leave me alone and he agreed.

I immediately called Hector again. "I'm sorry to ask so much of you. Thank you for handling all these millions of dollars, but now I have to pay off the other sharks in the water before someone hungrier comes along to eat me. How much total is in his business accounts?"

"Bones has been working all the little accounts. Let me look it up."

Fifteen minutes later he called me back. "Bones is almost done with all the little accounts. He has had a problem today with one bank where as he was accessing the accounts someone was going in and changing the passwords. He has been having to rehack them one at a time but so far has transferred 1 billion 352 million dollars into your business account."

"Thank you. Now I need you to transfer 200 million to the Los Zetas" and I gave him the information. I had laughed when Morales gave me the information but was an unregulated way to send and receive millions of dollars instantly and all they had to give me was an email address. I still had millions left and was willing to spend all of Sergio's money to keep these men off my back.

The next three phone calls went about the same. Antonio Cardinas Gulleo and Mario Cardinas Gulleo of the Gulf Cartel also accepted one hundred fifty million dollars and agreed to leave us alone. Servardo Gomez Moreno of The Knight's Templar was sold for seventy-five million dollars and he was getting a good deal because he didn't do as much business as the other two. Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas of La Familia got twenty-five million. La Familia hadn't actually done any business with Sergio this past year but they had done big business in the past and I wanted to stay on everybody's good side. In less than an hour I had spent $450,000,000. Ignoring the fact that I had it to spend, it was a staggering sum.

While contemplating my next steps, I received a phone call from the hotel's front desk asking permission to allow two men up to my suite. I sent Tank down to check it out and he returned with my attorneys bringing me the paperwork they had drafted.

"We pulled a list as you requested from the business offices for all one hundred and seventy-two businesses. We filed the generic form you had him sign that said he was selling you all his businesses, making you CEO of each and selling you all property owned by that business. Then we filed the specific forms for each of his seven businesses that he was CEO of." Senior Gomez told me.

"There is a huge stack of paperwork here. The first folder are forms transferring the businesses that own things: his offices, one for each of his houses. planes, trucking hubs, separately the trucks and trailers, the fishing boats, the refrigerated trucks, his cargo ships and all the shipping containers and both mines. There is one form for all 25 fields and one for the 29 warehouses." Of course I didn't tell them they were all burned to the ground.

"This second folder are the forms to dissolve all eleven middle management companies." I quickly signed them so they could get them filed today.

"This third folder are the new joint ownership paperwork for the eight companies that actually ran the businesses, one for the local shipping company that managed the planes and trucks, the local fishing business, the international cargo shipping business, one for each of the mines, one for all of his coffee fields and warehouses, one for his company that buys and sells South American products, one that buys products for international trade." Senior Codazzi explained to me. I quickly looked through the stack. "Who ever signs these will be joint owner with you for ten years at which time you promise to sell the businesses to them.

"This is the stack of personal contracts you requested, written exactly as you stated. We did add the line 'at any time, now or in the future'." Senior Gomez explained.

"Thank you gentlemen for all your hard work today. The retainer I paid you this morning is for one year of services and I expect to renew it every year for many years." I showed them out of the suite and Hector was waiting in the hallway for me.

I led him to the couch and he set his computer down and showed me a DVD. He popped it into his laptop and I saw it had seven videos on it.

"The first video is of him signing all the paperwork." He explained as he flipped through them. "The second video is of him telling you he's going to kill you and your family. The third is him telling you he wanted one hundred million dollars a year. The forth video is of you stuffing the dildo up his ass. This is only for your viewing pleasure and I must say to you," he gave me a devilish smirk, "Now that you know how satisfying it is to stuff a large cock up a man's hole, we must go out sometime and see if you still find it as pleasurable in the States." He grinned widely at me.

"They say you never know till you try it. The only problem I have is that it wasn't my cock. It was yours and yes I found it immensely satisfying. My friend, I don't think you need my help to stuff your big cock in anyone's hole. But if you do, give me a call, I liked stuffing your big cock into his tiny hole." After staring at me for a second, he laughed at me. One thing I noted, Hector is such a serious and dangerous man but on this mission he has helped me every step of the way, making this go as smoothly and as pleasurably as possible.

"Brother I owe you so much for this." I waved my hand at the machine. "You have gone above and beyond for me this weekend." We did a complicated handshake and gave each other a head nod. He skipped to the next video.

"This is Snark and Negro's whole session with him." He skipped again. "This is his entire torture session from the time you came in and took over till he blew his head off – unedited." He skipped again. "The last video is the edited video of him shooting himself. It is such a close up, don't show it on any big screens and really you don't want to show it with any other video."

We watched the video of Sergio shooting himself. It opens with him already having the gun in his mouth. It runs for over two minutes, while you see him flinching in pain repeatedly and then BLAM he's dead.

"Wow," I told Hector. "You did an amazing job getting the duct tape out of the video."

"It didn't take too much. I have a program that alters video. I cut out the part of his face with the tape on it and replaced it with the video of his face before the tape. If I hadn't had that I couldn't have done it. But if you watch it closely, the area around his mouth is blurry for a few frames where I spliced the new video in and when he blows his head off. So don't show this video repeatedly to anyone and not on a large screen. The blurring will be too obvious to anyone closely watching his mouth."

"Thanks Hector." I told him. "Let me transfer them to my phone." I said stepping closer to his computer.

Hector jumped to his computer and bent over it. "Let me change them to smaller files so you can easily play them on your phone." He said.

"I just need two, the one of him signing the paperwork and him blowing his head off."

"The TV is relatively new. We can hook your Bluetooth up to it so you can play video's on the TV."

"Do it." I said and handed him my phone.

Five minutes later he closed his computer and stood upright. "They are in your email."

"Hector I have Sergio's top business associates coming here for a lunch meeting. I'm going to need to transfer money to each of these men's accounts. Can you stay in the bedroom and come out when I need you?" I questioned.

"Of course." He told me. He picked up his computer and I showed him to the bedroom of the suite.

"Feel free to order room service. We are going to be eating lunch in here." I told him. I invited all my men to order room service and gave them the plan rundown for the afternoon.

When they were done eating I had six of my men stand as guards all up and down the hallway and let Tank and two more in the room for the meeting. I wanted a show of force and I wanted to have more muscle than anyone else would bring. It was 13:45 and I was ready.

To be continued….

A/N: Thank you all for your reviews! Hoped you enjoyed all the destruction as he burned Sergio to the ground. Please read and review.

As always big THANK YOU to my beta Sassysaint you are so my cheerleader and I appreciate it!

Second Big THANK YOU to my sister, Jonelle. Thank you for fixing all my many little mistakes.