Texas Hold'Em, by Mitzi (PG)

[the-hobbet.livejournal.com]

Fandom: THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Pairing: none
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: Black Raptor listing
Why this must be read:

Mitzi is best known for her entertaining Old West tales (don't miss them), but I'm going to recommend her only ATF story.

When Ezra's cover is blown by an accidental meeting, he and JD are pulled out of their undercover assignments with a group of domestic terrorists. Thinking the job is over, they are in the process of wrapping up and salvaging what they can out of the fiasco - that's when everything goes to Hell in a handbasket!

The stakes are high, the danger extreme, and the writing intense and robust as fits a fandom originating in the Old West. The air of authenticity becomes even more understandable when you learn Mitzi is a retired federal field agent who incorporated real procedures, techniques, and, I suspect, attitudes into the story. A scene in which a hostage is extracted is based on field tactics in which Mitzi participated as one of the drivers (as she said, "being bumped by a 'dumb' blonde driver didn't arouse suspicion until it was too late for the perpetrators"). For a taste of the real thing, don't miss this story.

Test drive Texas Hold'Em

Josiah thought back to the beginning of this case. It started out with one of those walk-in snitches who come in with a story so paranoid and so bizarre and, well, just so out there, that for all the world your first impression is that she is bi-polar, to be generous, and unmedicated at the best.

Her name was Billie Jo Trainer and she was a small time girl from Harker Heights, Texas. Well, Harker Heights is small, but it's only a stone's throw from Killeen, Texas, home of Fort Hood, one of the biggest military bases in the country. How she got to Denver and the ATF offices there was anyone's guess.

At first, the story sounded like it had come from the lonely little voices in Billie Jo's head. Terrorists were going to attack a Baylor Bears football game.

Right there Josiah heard the theme song to Twilight Zone going off in his head like the warning claxons of the starship Enterprise. Was mixing old TV references as bad as mixing metaphors? Well, Josiah Sanchez was only talking to the other voices in his head, at the moment and he decided he liked the analogy.

But no, it got better. This wasn't an Al Qaeda attack. It was neo-Nazis and skinheads trying to instigate a race war by killing small town Texans and blaming it on Islam. No particular group, just Islam. Billie Jo's story was lacking in detail.

~~~

Vin Tanner, about eight cars back in traffic, had let his mind wander to how the case started as well. Vin hated to admit that the lack of educated reasoning as to who to blame for the attack was where he had heard a sliver of reality slip into the story for him. "Who" wasn't as important as "where."

Set off a bomb in Waco, Texas, the buckle of the Bible belt? Leave credible evidence Osama was behind it?

"One Riot, One Ranger" and "Remember the Alamo" rang in his inner ears. Texas would take care of business itself. If the government or FEMA wanted to reimburse them for the bullets later? Good deal.

No, it wasn't really like that, but even the Texans who knew better pretty much enjoyed the image. And that minority on the lunatic fringe who truly believed the myth or wanted to believe? They could come up with a plan like this.

Texas Hold'Em

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