B L O G G E R H O O D

Wordzzle 80

Take a turn past the Raven's Nest Drive-In and get all the dope on the program.

This Week's Ten Word Challenge: Charitable, alligator, tribute, drunk, slave, preparation, carrots, mountainside, propeller, lark

The mini challenge: chisel, worship, suicide, organic, plus


This Week's Episode: Desert Nights


A tent in the Kuwaiti Desert. Lieutenant Amir Al Kasishada had seen few women like the one tied to the center pole of his tent. His ancestors might have had fine slave wenches in their tents when they fought the Turks, but that had been many centuries ago. She had made herself up nicely after her interrogation; so much so in fact that she merely appeared drunk rather than abused. The interrogator had given the lieutenant little information concerning the woman's crimes other than she had offended the royal Saudi family in a major way and would not be allowed to live.

Charlotte smiled once more at the young officer. She knew it would be suicide to move too soon. First she must make the man so enamored of her that he would be unwilling to share her. Amir approached her with a combination of arrogance, ignorance and eagerness. The predator in her undertook the preparation necessary to accomplish the life and death task she faced. Not unlike the way an alligator can wait patiently near the banks of a river for its prey; she would wait till the lieutenant was clearly within her power before she struck.

Once he untied her she stayed on her knees and slowly unzipped his uniform trousers. It was here she would start the process. She would worship his member and body like it was that of a god. She needed to motivate him to get rid of as many of his men as she could. Charlotte engulfed him with her lips and uttered a moan so real and organic that the young man almost came in that moment.

The South of France, the Vignoire Estate. Count Vignoire was surprised to receive another visit from Inspector Georges De Solemaone. He was even more surprised when the officers accompanying him arrested his housekeeper. The old man and the inspector sat in the parlor while the gendarme explained that he knew who Charlotte really was and also that the housekeeper was slowly killing him with South American parasites. "I was just waiting here to die" the old man explained. "Why don't we put that off till your time has really come?" asked the inspector. By the time they were done a new live-in nurse had come out to the estate from town and the Count was being seen by a physician that still made house calls and as an added plus would start the treatment to eradicate the exotic parasites. Inspector De Solemaone left the estate with the feeling that he'd actually made a difference in the tragic life of one very sad old man.

Laughlin, Nevada. The dusty mountainside that stood above Casino row was filled with double and single wide trailers that housed the dealers, clerks, and assorted other workers that were fortunate enough to rent these relatively cheap and close to work abodes. Sitting at the very top was a water tower. Atop this tower were two surveillance techs borrowed from the Nevada State Police. It was somewhat of a tribute to the little Laughlin PD for their work in the uncovering of a serial killer and serial fraudster that they could get this kind of help on short notice.

The two techs had both night vision and infra-red scopes. From their viewpoint they could see over a mile of the river, the McCool's condo and all approaches from the Nevada side. If they spotted an individual with a gun the whole department would know immediately. The Bullhead cops and Arizona State patrol had the Arizona side covered.

McCool’s plan involved a modified carrot and stick approach to capturing the killer. In this case the “carrots” were two life sized figures made up to look like the couple. It would have been less than charitable to call these decoys “dummies“. They were really more like actors. These were specialized robotic doubles used in film making that had been donated on a lark by an L.A. producer who’d been swindled by the Hollingsworth/Liplin team. The FBI had not had a use for them till now, but Sgt Johnson was glad to help when McCool called. While not perfect, they would seem very lifelike from a distance in the dark.

Jean was staying with Carla while Dan and Thomas staked out the area. They had gotten the decoys set up ahead of nightfall in the belief that the killer would not come out before dark. In this they were lucky. The killer didn’t resume his surveillance of the McCool’s Condo till 9:00 PM and by that time the team was in position and the decoys hard at work. A technician controlled their movements by a wireless controller and made the couple shift in their chairs, move their arms and seem to take a drink from their glasses.

The assassin watched for just a few minutes and then headed down to the marina. He had rented a boat earlier in the day and made a copy of the key. He would cut the chain holding the boat to the dock, push the boat away to float downstream before starting the engine and then set himself up for his shooting run. A small tripod would steady his 223 custom sniper rifle with scope and silencer. He was an expert shot with this weapon. The current ran slowly past the McCool’s condo and his plan was to run upstream and drift back down with the current. He would be careful and go slowly. The last thing he wanted to do was to run aground or hit a rock in the shallows with the propeller and become stranded in the river. Using any lighting was out of the question, so that meant no running lights as well. After the hits he would cruise to the airport dock and catch the ten o’clock shuttle to Vegas. He loaded his gear into the boat and pushed off.

Bullhead City, Arizona outside the McCool's condo. Directly below the condo the shoreline had been built up with large rocks and boulders. McCool situated himself behind a large boulder on the upstream side and Griggs found a spot on the downstream side. They had been waiting since nightfall. McCool's legs were starting to cramp and he needed to pee. He glanced at his watch and noted the time, 9:43. The only thing they'd seen in the last 1/2 hour had been a fishing boat slowly heading up the Colorado with its lights out. Since then nothing. He had become so bored that he'd used his pocket knife to chisel "TM loves JM" into a piece of sandstone next to him. After this was all over he would bring Jean down here and show it to her.

His earpiece squawked from the lookouts on the tower "Boat coming downriver, possible gun setup on bow". The com network lit up with double clicks as the team stood ready. This could be their guy.

RT