David Bruns: Weapons of Mass Deception

The man’s eyes narrowed, then he nodded. “Okay, but he stays in the kitchen with me. Understand?”

“Whatever. Where is he?”

“He said he wants to start in the study tonight. You can meet him there.”

Using her body as a shield from the guard’s eyes, Saffron flashed her hand open twice toward Rafiq. Ten minutes. She pushed past the guard. “I know the way. Where’s Ghassem tonight?”

“He’s off. It’s just me here guarding the kingdom.”

Rafiq stepped into the kitchen, letting the smells of spices wrap around him. Another reminder of a home he would never have again. The guard waved his hand toward the stove. “There’s tea, if you want it.”

Rafiq sat at the table, facing the clock. Nine minutes to go.

Patience.

The guard sat across from him, reading the paper. He slurped his tea.

Six minutes.

“There’s tea if you want it,” the guard said again.

“Thank you, no.”

The guard shrugged.

Three minutes.

Rafiq controlled his breathing, watching the sweep of the second hand around the face of the clock.

At one minute, the guard looked up at him with a scowl on his face. “Are you going to keep doing that deep breathing all night? She’s going to be at least an hour, maybe two.”

Rafiq lowered his gaze from the clock to the guard. Then he rammed the table against the man’s chest, pushing him back against the stove and pinning his arms to his sides. The man tried to cry out, but the force of the blow had knocked the wind out of him. Rafiq leaped onto the table and grasped the man’s head, one hand on the back of his neck, the other cupping his chin.

With a sharp twist, the man’s body relaxed under Rafiq’s hands.

He slipped his hand into the man’s jacket and drew out his handgun, a Glock 17. It would do the job.

Rafiq walked swiftly through the halls of the mansion, his feet sinking silently into the plush of the carpet. His heart thundered in his ears.

Patience.

In the end, it was Saffron’s laughter that showed him the right room. She’d left the door ajar. Rafiq peered through the crack to see the prostitute, stripped down to her bra and fishnet stockings, sitting astride a fat old man in a leather armchair. An open bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label sat on the edge of the desk next to two glasses.

Rafiq used the muzzle of the handgun to push the door open, letting it bang against the wall. Saffron looked up, pulling her tits away from the old man’s face. “Took you long enough,” she said, hopping off Aban’s lap.

Aban looked up in surprise when she spoke. When he focused on Rafiq’s face, the color drained from his own. He reached out and grasped Saffron’s wrist. “Please, go get help. This man means to hurt me.”

Saffron twisted her arm away as she bent over to pick up her clothes. “That’s the general idea.”

Rafiq handed her an envelope as she brushed past him. He could hear her tinkling laughter as she made her way down the hall.

He stood in front of the armchair. Aban, dressed only in boxer shorts, a T-shirt, and dark socks, quailed under Rafiq’s glare. His robes lay in a heap next to the chair, topped by his turban.

“Do you know who I am?” Rafiq asked him.

Aban swallowed and nodded.

“Do you know why I am here?”

Aban voice was raspy with fear. “Brother, whatever you want, I can give it to you.”

“On that we agree, brother .”

Rafiq pulled the trigger.

Thank you for reading Weapons of Mass Deception , the first co-authored work of the Two Navy Guys. If you enjoyed it, please tell your friends and leave a review on Amazon. As independent authors, we get our readers the old-fashioned way: one at a time via personal endorsements from other readers, like you.

There’s a companion story to WMD called Death of a Pawn about the real-life assassination of Argentinean Special Prosecutor Alberto Nisman, featuring none other than Rafiq. Get your FREE copy at www.davidbruns.com.

Thank you,

David and JR

Aka The Two Navy Guys

David earned a Bachelors of Science in Honors English from the United States Naval Academy. That’s not a typo. He’s probably the only English major you’ll ever meet who took multiple semesters of calculus, physics, chemistry, electrical engineering, naval architecture, and weapons systems just so he could read some Shakespeare. It was totally worth it.

He spent six years as a commissioned officer in the nuclear-powered submarine force chasing the Russians before leaving the Navy for corporate life in the mid-90s. For two decades, he schlepped his way around the globe as an itinerant executive in the high-tech sector, and even did a stint with a Silicon Valley startup.

David is the author of the sci-fi series The Dream Guild Chronicles and a few other speculative fiction works. He and his family have visited over two dozen countries and almost all fifty states, but Minnesota is home.

Jon, a born and bred Minnesotan, graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1990 with a BS in History and a commission as an Ensign in the US Navy. His assignments during his twenty-one-year career included duty aboard aircraft carriers and amphibious ships; participation in numerous operations around the world, including Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia, and Afghanistan; and service to the Navy as a CIA-trained case officer. His final assignment before retirement was as the US Naval Attaché at the US Embassy in Helsinki, Finland. Jon earned an MA in National Security and Strategic Studies at the US Naval War College, as well as his Navy parachutist badge, logging thirty-five jumps during his career.

Jon and his wife, Melissa, reside in Webster, Minnesota on their five-acre hobby farm, where they care for their fruit trees and their six rescue dogs. He teaches courses on the US Intelligence Community at Carleton College and Metropolitan State University and has numerous philanthropic pursuits. Prior to his collaboration on Weapons of Mass Deception , Jon co-authored a screenplay on the Falklands War of 1982.