I thought about things in Minneapolis off and on all night. I even woke up and went to the office in the den to check on updates on all the systems to see if there was anything new or something I had missed.

Saturday we followed our regular routine of cleaning the house as a team and then family time. Family time that carried on through the evening; tonight was the last night we were going to be able to try to expand our family this cycle.

The C5 came back from its secret flight for the agency on Sunday morning and was leaving for Africa on Tuesday with the last shipment of choppers for the continent. One more flight to the Middle East would end the chopper deliveries.

I spent Monday in the gym helping to finish up the training for the last group. With all Andy’s men and ladies in Minneapolis, the training was running behind. By the end of the day the trainers and I were satisfied. This group was leaving with the choppers on the C5 in the morning.

My trainers had been working overtime; tomorrow would be the end of it and all of them were going to get a couple of weeks off with pay.

I returned to the office for a few minutes with Marcy before our meeting, only to be met by Robert with a folder.

“You need to look at this,” he said as I followed him into my office.

“He had more computer problems and left the drives plugged in while he was trying to resolve them. This is more than we had but still doesn’t answer many questions,” Robert said then he added.

“At this point I am not sure his computer data is not a diversion. Things that should be there are not.”

“You think we may be getting played, then.” I replied.

“I’m just suspicious,” Robert replied.

“Either way we can’t take any chances,” I replied.

Other than confirming the planned date was still Thursday, I saw little new. I wondered if the date was an intended distraction. I wondered if Diya suspected that someone was on to him. The date had popped up several times in too many of his conversations, almost like he wanted us to find it.

I sent the updates to Andy, waited a few minutes and then called.

We talked about 30 minutes; both of us just did not like what we knew – and worse – what we did not know.

“I will be there tomorrow morning and I will stay until this is over or goes away. What do you want me to bring?” I asked.

“We have everything we need. I am going to set up the infrared equipment tonight and start using it tomorrow morning at all the entrances; it is the least intrusive of the things we have,” Andy replied then he added, “Bring some more women who can do pat downs on female students if necessary.”

“Ten four boss,” I replied letting him know he would still be in charge.

I called Vicky, Ching Lee and Lorrie to tell them I wanted the administrators from their departments which had helped with the security at the political debate, who had worked the metal scanners and infrared scanners; there were a total of ten of them.

“Tell them to pack bags enough to carry them at least to the weekend. Pantsuits, slacks, no skirts and make sure they have their vest and holsters.”

I was just getting ready to go see if there was going to be a meeting when Ben-David stepped into the hall.

“Shalom my friend,” I said

“Shalom; I have updates for your system,” he replied as he handed me a stack of discs.

“If you have time I can show you the chopper that is going to Entebbe next week,” I said.

Together we rode to Morton in my Suburban and had another private talk.

“I received the files from the Randolph Reichmann interrogation. A lot of things will help us. The Russians were spreading different pieces of the info around to the Syrians, Iran, Hezbollah and the Palestine. They kept the satellite information for themselves and Iran.

“There was chemical research that went to Hezbollah and groups in Palestine that have already been used against us. Randolph Reichmann had put together a system and a group of unwitting accomplices,” Ben- David said and then he asked.

“Did you lose any more of the agency people from your staff?” he asked.

“Four were reassigned from the three other colleges. They were led to believe they were working on an agency project. There were also a couple professors that are under investigation, from what I have been told,” I replied.

As with all things that involved money Marcy has assigned a SAP number to each Blackhawk. We walked into the aviation shop to look at JBGSBH 60. It was the 60th Blackhawk we owned to go into service. This one would go in the paint shop Thursday and would be ready to load on the C5 Monday morning with the food for Nimule.

Robbie joined us and pointed out the things he had left in the chopper as I had instructed.

“The last thing I need to do is try that mount and whatever you needed that power plug for, to make sure it correct,” Robbie replied.

Lorrie met us at the armory to open the door. Robbie and I loaded the M143D-H and the aviation bracket on a cart; we did not need the ammo brackets and belt. I just wanted to spin test the gun to make sure the MIL spec plug and controls were wired correctly.

Ben-David was all eyes and they were locked to the drones that were on the rack and two new ones on the floor. Andy had two of the older ones with him.

I had ordered two new ones because we were unsure how long those hard working little electric motors would last. We were using them heavily as part of all the training. We had parts but spare drones made more sense when things were in a rush. The diagnostics took an hour with a laptop.

Andy had set up one as a camera/ gunship and the other camera with option of dropping devices. They were assembled and ready for testing when Andy came back.

I had to tap Ben on the shoulder to let him know we were ready to exit the vault.

On the walk back to the hangar, he asked “Are they effective?”

“Saved our asses in Kampala,” I replied.

Robbie set the bracket on the mounts, installed the pins then put the gun on the bracket and connected the BNC connector. One of the mechanics turned on the master switches.

After the panels went through the test sequence and were fully powered up, I squeezed the trigger and watched the barrels spin up. I moved the fire control through its range and watched the barrels speed up and slow down.

If the ammo belts had been loaded hell on earth would have been happening wherever it was aimed. This was a Dillon upgraded M134 with hardened steel and titanium upgrades; it could fire from 2 to 6 thousand rounds a minute depending on the setting and had a million round life before overhaul was needed.

Robbie put it on the cart. I wheeled it back to the vault and onto the shelf.

Back at the chopper, “Paint it and do the final checkout Robbie, it’s leaving for Kampala with me on Monday,” I said.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.