Contract Free Arulco: The Bitch Must Die!

Day 51 Meduna Bay
MV Darwin’s Prize
1720 Local

The Motor Vessel Darwin’s Prize arrived in the Bay of Meduna and dropped anchor at 0810 that morning but was not visited until 1600. Those six visitors currently lounged on the forecastle enjoying the dropping sun after taking a refreshing dip into the clear Caribbean waters.

The Darwin’s Prize was an all wood yacht one hundred and thirty feet long with three decks above the waterline. Outside of the fantail being reinforced with a helicopter landing pad, the white and wood stained yacht did not look out of place in the scenic Caribbean waters.

Robert was returning to his sun-chair after refreshing Sheila’s and his drink; not driven by modesty, he was naked as was Tara. Gilbert, Sheila and Kara only wore swimming bottoms as they sunned themselves. Sara was clothed the most, wearing a full bathing suit under an extra large t-shirt.

“So then Helmut made it out of here?”

Sheila nodded, “Yes, after he did his job in Alma, he walked up to Drassen and took the next flight out. Since it took him most of the next day to get up to Drassen we thought he was captured or worst, tagged by Bloodcats, but he made it fine. Only reason I found out this morning was because Pablo had called and wanted to know what we were going to do with the weapons and armor Helmut left with him.”

“I don’t think Helmut will want to work with us again.”

“Yes, I think that is a fair assessment,” Sheila accepted.

“Fucking Pablo,” Sara said bitterly from behind the dark wide sunglasses she wore.

Sheila conceded, “Yes, Pablo is a creep, but a necessary evil. We know he will be skimming the top but he is better than the next guy, trust me.”

Kara didn’t feel like talking about Pablo, “Igor and Iggy have left as well.”

Sheila nodded since she had been busy in for the last three days making sure the country of Arulco didn’t collapse upon itself, “Yes, they took up the AIM contract in the Philippines.”

Tara added what she knew, “Igor told me he was going to go find his Uncle’s remains.”

“From what I understand, that op in the Philippines went worst than ours did and I feel safe to say that our mission was a success because of the five of you.”

Robert and Tara raised their glasses in salute, “Here, here!”

Sara did not instead she looked over the side of the yacht into the water.

“So Grizzly took the job as head of the Presidential Guard?”

Sheila concurred, “Now that AIM has officially recognized the operation in Arulco, Grizzly took the job and the first thing I did was hired Bull and Vickie to come down here and assist him. Vickie doesn’t have an ego but she is damn good about getting shit done so whatever those two testosterone driven louts screw up, she will fix, quietly and efficiently. Good Girl Vicki.”

“What do you mean by AIM has just officially recognized the operation in Arulco?” Sara tone was full of vinegar.

“Sara, this whole Arulco fiasco was Gus’s making. Chivaldori had no interest in coming back here, you saw him at the airport, he is a moron. He got the job because his father handed it to him and Diedranna took it away from him as easy as you taking a lollipop away from a baby. Gus knew the time was right to bring the six of you along and he saw the Queen as someone who needed taking down a peg or two. When the Queen wiped out Omerta, he knew the time was ripe and sent us in, ignoring AIM’s objections the entire time.”

How’s and why’s peppered Sheila, “Chivaldori had no money, Gus financed this entire operation, he was pissed with AIM when they said no because he had wanted to bring half of the AIM’s roster down here. He figured with that many seasoned merc’s the six of you would get bloodied and the whole job would take about a week. AIM’s saying no meant that the AIM roster was off limits for the Arulco job.”

“But we got support from AIM.”

“No Tara, not AIM, just people under contract with AIM. There is an AIM By Law that states operators were not allowed to work for other agencies but could take independent contracts. Most of the AIM personnel were not willing to take an independent contract with Gus because AIM had told everyone that it was in their best interest not to.”

“So why did…”

“Red joined up because he thought he was already on AIM shit-list, he wasn’t and Gus wasn’t going to tell him otherwise. MD agreed because the last four contracts he applied for, he wasn’t selected because he was too green. Grizzly was on probation and didn’t care to stick his nose at AIM. Igor and Helmut both agreed under Ivan’s recommendation that Gus wouldn’t steer them wrong. And Ice,” Sheila grinned, “Ice just plain liked Gus and me.”

“So now that the operation is done, AIM has cleared Arulco for operations. The blows.”

“Yes, but that is the way it works Tara.”

Sara mulled over a conversation she had with Gus, “What about Cougar? What was Gus up with that?”

“That was one of his many plans, wheels within wheels, if he gave AIM Cougar than he thought AIM would forgive him of his sins so to speak. It didn’t pan out, Speck refused to let anyone near MERC’s best get sent to Arulco. Now Speck is screaming at me about how we let his two ‘rising stars’ die in enemy hands.”

“Fuck Speck.”

“Yeah, fuck Speck and those wankers at MERC.”

“Hey speaking of wankers, what is Red up to, I haven’t seen him around the palace?’

“Actually, he told me that he is going to the PI too, but not with the new I-Team. Get this; he is going to take over Devin’s explosive biz.”

“Shit, I hadn’t heard that, I had assumed that he was going to hang out in Meduna with Grizzly for a bit. AIM is going to shit bricks when they find out. Red may be a wanker but he is one of the more reliable ones AIM has in the use of explosives.” Sheila wasn’t sure if she was upset by Robert’s news.

Robert looked directly at Sara, “To our fallen comrades!” Sara looked at him as the other toasted, “To our brothers!”

Sara let one tear glide down her cheek before she blinked them away and turned her attention to Sheila asking the question that had been on her mind for some time, “Are we all related?” Sheila’s poker face was suddenly in place, “Was Gus Tarballs our father?”

Sheila looked at each of the young men and women before answering, “You,” nodding to Sara, “are not from Gus’s loins.” Turning to Tara, “Neither are you. As for the rest of you the answer is yes. At least Gus was so sure that you were his progeny that he did not have a DNA test done like he did with Sara and Kara to prove that they weren’t in fact his offspring.”

Tara smiled knowingly at Sheila’s revelation; Robert rubbed the unshaven whiskers on chin as he pondered what he was just told. Gilbert simply nodded. “Albert was as well.”

“Fuck, I knew there was a reason why I liked that big slug. To Albert.” Sara weakly raised her glass of ice tea as she joined Tara’s toast.

“So Gus had a paternity test done to confirm that we were not his children?”

“Yes, Kara.”

“Why? Why was that needed?”

“Gus believed in the survival of the fittest. He believed in siring as many children as he could to ensure the survival of his line.”

“His line, meaning we have some proud heritage in our background?”

“Not at all Gilbert, my understanding is that Gus’s heritage is rather ignominious in the fact that it contains no royal blood or great leaders or heroes, but rather Gus believed in the violence of man and to survive one had to embrace that violence.”

“Where did that come from?”

“From his father Sara, or if I gather correctly, the death of his father.” Sheila paused to take a drink of her gin and tonic, sucking in additional air as it burned towards her stomach, “Gus’s father was an everyday guy, he owned a convenience store or maybe it was a gas station, I am not sure, but he was a working Joe, providing for his family, living the sedate life. When Gus was ten, his father was held up and the thief killed Gus’s father in cold blood.” Sheila took another drink, “That set Gus on his track of multiplying to be merry. That was why I always insisted Gus were a condom, he had been with so many females all over the world, impregnating most of them.”

“There are more of us?” Tara sounded gleeful as well as shocked.

“You think Gus had a gene in him that made all of his children want to be soldiers? No, you are the few. You were Gus’s favorites because you did follow the path he set before you.”

“How many more?”

“I think Gus said there was twenty two, but he didn’t make clear if there was twenty two total or twenty two out side of the six of you.”

“But if he did a paternity test then why would Sara or I be included as his favorites?”

“Because he had a relationship with your mothers and for many years he thought you were his so when proof was given that you weren’t Gus ignored that truth. To him, you were his daughters.”

“Yeah, right, we never saw him.”

“That is true Gilbert, but he saw you and he wasn’t a total dead beat dad because he did send money to your mothers and he did pay for your education as well as bringing those of your born elsewhere to the United States. He did that and more.”

“Like what?”

“Well, the most obvious example that I know of is with Kara.”

“What did he do to me?”

“He encouraged all of your mothers to imbue in you the knowledge of guns and to not fear them. Your mother, who I had actually met before, was the most fragile thing; guns and violence simply did not exist in her world so instead she sent you to camp…”

“Where the main activity was target shooting, skiing was secondary. That son of a bitch!”

Sheila smirked, “It doesn’t end there sweetie, after you made the Biathlon team, Gus paid your trainer to discourage you. He didn’t want you to become an Olympic athlete.”

Kara was no longer smiling, “That bastard!”

Sheila agreed, “Yes, Gus was very much a pratt. But it worked, he gave you the option of coming to Arulco and you did. Same with all of you. In some way, he greased the wheels so chasing after him on some adventure wasn’t so much of a leap.”

Robert stood, “To Gus, what a mother fucker!” Everyone joined in on that toast.

“Sheila does Gus, do we, have family?”

“Outside of your twenty odd half siblings, no. Gus had two siblings, his brother died of a drug over dose and his sister died of natural causes at the age of forty seven. Gus’s mother died about two years after he left home to join the army at age 17.”

Everyone sat amongst their thoughts as they watched the sun slowly setting.

“So what happens next?”

“Well, I know that Gus left his inheritance to the six of you that was to be divided equally with whoever survived Arulco.”

“Did he expect all of us to survive?”

“No Sara, he did not. Like I said, Gus for all of his charm and charisma was a pratt. Originally he thought that maybe two or three of you would make it, when he saw the Army’s actions to retake Drassen, he was hoping that at least one of you might make it.”

“Who?”

“Who?”

“Yes, Sheila, who did Gus think would make it out of that hell hole he sent his children into!”

“Uhmm, you Sara, or Kara.”

“Not me? I am hell on wheels? I own the night!”

“Yes, you do Tara but you are also reckless and a risk taker.”

“Well, fuck yeah!”

“Gus thought you weren’t going to make it out of the first major battle.”

“Ha, proved that fucker wrong, now didn’t I!”

Robert leaned forward, “To Tara and her ever expanding ego!” Everyone laughed including Tara who beaned Robert with an orange.

“So Sheila, just how much is Gus worth, I mean this was his yacht, right?”

“Let me put it to you this way, Gus was ‘LOW-DE-DE-DE-DE-D’,” Sheila’s poor imitation of dragging the word loaded out prompted laughter at her. “For all of his charisma and charm, the man networked with the best of them and knew where to invest his money.”

“So why was he in Arulco? Why didn’t he stay on the sidelines, on the Darwin’s Prize?”

“Because he was an adrenaline junky and he really wanted to personally take down Diedranna. That and I don’t think his dick would have let him stay back. Still, I know that he has taken care of you and your siblings. They all have a trust fund in their name that matures when they reached twenty five, but for the five of you, let’s just say if you didn’t want to work another day in your life, you could probably swing that, so long as you don’t go hog wild spending your money.”

“And you Sheila?”

Sheila grinned over her gin and tonic, “Oh, he took care of me, in more ways than one. After I am sure that Grizzly has secured Arulco or the next President is elected, I am done here. I have already filed my retirement with AIM and Gus has bequeathed me with the Darwin’s Prize. I think I am going to give it back the name it was commissioned with, the Abigale Elizabeth.”

“What about you Sara, what are you going to do next?”

Sara looked at Gilbert and thought about not answering.

“Yeah Sara, is there wedding bells in you future?”

That questioned startled Sara, “What the fuck are you talking about Tara?”

“Well, I wasn’t the one who hired Skyrider to fly me to Cambria, just so I could see MD!” Tara threw back at her sister.

“That is where you went?” Kara blurted out and the shocked looks on Gilbert and Robert showed their surprise at Tara’s leak.

Shaking her head, “It is nothing like that, sure MD is a sweet guy, but that isn’t why I went to see him.”

“Then why?”

“I have been stiff for a long time and some of the aches and pains are on the painful side. So I went to see MD as a doctor. He patched me plenty of times in the field so I trusted him.”

“And?”

“Some of the earlier wounds that I had received were not sewn very well. I have a lot of scar tissue built up and his recommendation is for me to have them removed. He gave me a name of the best surgeon he knows in Chicago.”

“So are going to Chicago?”

Sara shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe. I thought I might go home to see mom first and then decide.”

“I do know that I am going to disappoint Gus because I am out of the soldier of fortune business. I wish I had never joined it.”

“You aren’t going to disappoint Gus, Sara, you did an incredible job and if he was still alive I know that he would be beaming with pride.” Sheila looked at Sara’s siblings, “He would be proud of you all. You did a nasty job but a job that needed to be done. I do know that he was proud of you when he was alive. You have other siblings who are doctors and lawyers and tradesmen and there are some dead beats too but Gus knows that when the shit hits the fan, the five of you has what it takes to survive!”


+++++++++++

Author's Notes:

This story is based off of the computer game Jagged Alliance 2 using the 1.13 with Headrock Mod. Almost all of the events that happened in the story took place in the game with very few liberties taken by myself.


After I posted this story to the Bearpit forums I thought about adding the following points somewhere in the story but never got around to it.

Edit: Talk about Tara sexcapades and Hamous
Robber experience with the Arulcon Auto Rocket Rifle (hates it) and how he has two sex slaves calling him master in Cambria
Kilroy mentions Maddog’s very small penis
Elliott was the mole not Joseph, Joseph just liked Gus and saw the writing on the wall about the Queen and Elliott was killed by the Queen prior to Gus dying.

For those that read the hole ka-bang, thanks for the time and I hope you enjoyed it.