I spent an hour on VCATS with Tom. Then I made an MTAC call to Ben. The task force had been quiet all week. I wondered if the Feds had broken the codes – there was only one sure way to find out.

I was glad to hear the task force was making progress on the code changes – slow, but progress. I left it at that; no need at the moment for them to know any different.

But first there were things I wanted to know from others. I had opened the door to send armed personnel to a foreign country to conduct a military- police type operation under contract.

I fully expected Louis and President Bisset to figure out a way to do the raid themselves – or at least lower their pride a step and allow the pact countries to help carry out the raid. But I needed to have all the bases covered and my ass especially, just in case they want JBG to do the job for them.

I started with the Secretary of State Dick James. The conversation lasted an hour. It would take Curtis Warren several days just to do the paperwork for the State Department. Then there would be a closed hearing process before any approval. Slowly but surely JBG secrets were going to be put on paper and the freedom of information act would slowly reveal all.

The State Department was just the first agency I made contact with. Next on the list was the CIA and I placed a call to Frank Love. The CIA was one of the agencies that needed to give its approval. More forms and copies of the State Department application needed to go their way.

The DHS was next on the list; they would get copies as well and Eric would need to sign off on the application along with Marty Coeburn of the FBI.

Next was a callback to Ben Smith. The NSA would have a major role in approving the request. I did not even get to state my request with Ben; someone had already called him.

”Are you sure you want to get started in this line of international work? JBG supplying soldiers of fortune and mercenaries does not sound like your kind of business. You know you are going to be competing with the remnants of Black Bear Corp,” Ben said.

”I have no interest in running a mercenary unit, I just want my ass covered so no prosecutor comes out of the woodwork with some rule or law that we did not comply with and wants millions in fines.’‘

”While there are some things that Black Bear has and does that I would like to have, Black Bear can have all the mercenary work. They are being sued for wrongful deaths of their employees and collateral damage, just to name a few. I want no part of it,” I said.

”That’s interesting to know. Black Bear’s legal dilemma is on the fast track through the court system to closure. It has a lot of agencies on edge. The court is indicating they are going to revoke all their licenses and force them out of business while collecting their remaining assets to settle the suits. There is not much left asset wise as it is; the courts and lawyers have taken huge a toll.’‘

”They do a lot things that will be hard to replace – much of it off the record for several agencies and the DOD. Black Bear’s weakness was never sending enough people to correctly do the job. Their systematic planning assumed their men were ten feet tall and bullet proof. I will talk with some people and get you all the information I can,’‘ Ben said.

While I was doing that, Marcy, Jenny, Cindy, and Mary Ann had been busy talking with the office back at the gym. Ching Lee, Lorrie, and two of her administrators made the flight to Oklahoma City this morning; they were just now landing. It had slipped my mind that while it was just afternoon where I was, it was 0600 in Oklahoma.

The team Andy sent included the drones and the men to control them. They were staying for a few weeks. Ching Lee and Vicky were meeting with Chancellor Hemming at 1300.

”Let the fireworks begin,” I thought.

I knew there were going to be fireworks before everything Ching Lee wanted to do was implemented. The Chancellor was furious that all the ID’s were being canceled and redone – including his.

Then came the changes to all the camera systems with the addition of dozens more. Also upsetting him were the upcoming changes to rules for visitors to the campus.

Today there would be drones flying all over the college grounds gathering close-up video and data for baseline data streams. This was something the EIT group wanted. It was a new field they wanted to experiment with: inlay, overlay and 3D graphics.

The new drones were going to fly grid patterns using their onboard computer and map every inch of the campus in extreme detail. When one drone signaled the controller that its hard drives were nearing capacity, the other drone would take over the grid and continue while the data was downloaded and check for clarity and accuracy.

At 1500 Ching Lee had scheduled a meeting with the Chancellor and a select few administrators and was going to drop the hammer on them. I suspected that it would happen well before the planned 1500.

We closed down the all the communications. We were just three hours into a ten hour flight; it would be midnight when we arrived. We had debated on staying in the motel, only to find out it was full up during the flight. That left one of the big tents or sleep in the plane.

We elected to sleep in the fancy reclining seats of the plane to finish out the night rather than trying to get situated in a tent that late at night. Andy and men could hit the tents if they wanted or join us. Andy and his men bunked in the tent that had been reserved for security, leaving the plane to us girls.

At 0600 I started cooking coffee on the kitchen’s small stove. A few minutes later everyone was up. The racket outside informed us that area was awake and coming alive with activity.

As soon as I opened the door and lowered the steps, two vehicles were headed my way along with an aircraft tug to move the plane to a better position on the tarmac.

One of the vehicles was driven by Ray Underhill.

”Hello bosses, I didn’t think I would see you so soon but I’m glad you came. There lots of things happening around here! I have been making a lot of decisions and drafted some help along the way. I want to make sure I am going in the directions you want,” he said.

”First thing though is the hotel has finished cleaning a couple rooms vacated by early departures and you can use them to shower and freshen up. I also told them you would be in for breakfast and coffee. After that we have a lot to show you and talk about,’‘ Ray added.

The long hot shower felt good – almost as good as the coffee that was prepared by someone who had been in the service – toe curling strong, the way I liked it.
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After the showers and breakfast there was the meeting to start the explanation of what was going on.

”Mr. Jordaan – the diamond mine manager – and Mr. Chetty – the gold mine manager – sent notices to some people they knew that we were looking for miners and skilled construction trade craftsman with the hotel as the contact. The phones have been ringing so much I sent one of the security guys to help take calls at the switchboard.’‘

”Word of mouth was as effective as the notices. Skilled craftsman are calling and showing up – several dozen a day. There are so many that the big disaster tents are filled. The newcomers are living in their cars and small tents that they brought on the south-west side.’‘

”We have already installed sewer and water to the parking area and built bath and shower buildings to make sure there were no sanitation disasters there.’‘

”We have ten ten-man block and mortar crews doing footer and block work and also as many electricians, plumbers, dry wall installers and finishers, framers, painters and roofers. There are so many that I am having trouble keeping enough materials here.’‘

”The Air Force delivered a C5 load of supplies for the radar station yesterday – primarily chain link fencing and equipment for the Air force offices and crew quarters they want built. They left blueprints of what they wanted built. By the way, they are very happy with the location we chose for the radar site.’‘

‘‘I have several crews putting up the fencing today.’‘

”They are sending another C5 tomorrow with more equipment and a big jet fuel truck to help us out. They were not happy being refueled with the 2000 gallon at a time truck we have. They are also sending a detachment of men to begin hooking up the radar and tents for them to live in until we get the building they want built.’‘

”I have ordered more equipment to keep everyone working. I ordered more jet A tanks for the fuel farm and several more man lifts.’‘ The conversation lasted a few more minutes with Marcy asking a lot of very pointed questions.

When we finished there were three vehicles waiting outside the motel to carry us around. The first stop was to the southwest to see the many small tents; there were even cars with canvas perched off the top and on poles for shade and cover.

We stopped at one of the bathhouses the crew had built for ladies. I was happy to see Raymond had correctly described them. Each had showers on one end, a laundry mat in the middle and the other end was toilets. This one had a dozen shower stalls with privacy curtains, a dozen washers and driers and a dozen toilets with doors.

I would like to be a mouse in the corner when the bill for the thousands of rolls of bathroom tissue this place was going to use hit her computer screen, even though the current arrangement was temporary. It was explained to all newcomers that things furnished now for free would not be when final housing for them was finished.

There were piles of clean towels and washcloths stacked on shelving with notices that no towels or cloths were to leave the building. There were large hampers for them. I wondered who did the washing and folding of them but soon learned that some of the wives of the construction people were as eager to work and earn as the men.

There was a maintenance area attached to buildings; in it were rows of electric hot water tanks. There were six of these buildings; three for men and three for women.

The tour continued to the new power station. One of the 1000KW units was running quiet and smooth. We looked over the fuel tanks; I was happy to see they were adequately anchored, secured and braced with easy to see level gauges.

The monitoring and ordering of fuel had been assigned to the people who were in charge of the aviation fuel farm; a proper decision to let one person be responsible for all. The tour continued.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.