Bjjonesmylife. Book 2

We were just getting ready to look at the progress at the radar site when I heard the tires of a large plane touching the runway. It was one of our C5s. Lorrie had said that the plane was leaving the Georgia plant late yesterday.

We watched it maneuver to the tarmac in front of the hangars. After the normal shut down process, the big door at the rear of the plane opened and men exited.

The C5 was carrying the six partially disassembled Air Tractor At802Us we had purchased for patrol duty. The wings had been removed and placed in special crates to prevent damage during the flight and to get them in the plane.

Along with the planes were all the maintenance jacks and equipment to put them back together. Jacks and equipment are worthless without aviation techs to use them.

On board the C5 were four techs from the Air Tractor factory and four from our aviation shop, along the four pilots who had been training at the factory.

A talk with the group informed us that it would take a week to assemble and test the six 802s. One thing that I knew they didn’t was that an Israeli C130 was delivering the armaments for the planes at noon.

Adriyel Dorin – the director of Mossad – and I had worked out an agreement for eight mini guns, seventy five Hellfire missiles and three hundred Hydra 70 rockets; enough for each of the pilots to test the planes and weapons systems out before all the techs left.

I had been able to buy the hardware mounts for the Hellfire, Hydra 70s and the mini guns from the manufacture without any special licenses or permits. I thought that was strange, given the nature of the equipment, but they were considered hard items and not weapons.

We went to look at the radar site and its installation. When the General finalized his request it was for ten acres. The Air Force was to supply the chain link fence; ten feet high with razor wire on top and the gating and controls to surround the entire ten acres.

The living quarters were to be built outside the fence inside the now access controlled airport. I was to supply the labor for the install at US union labor prices plus the normal add-on. There was a huge markup and – as expected – Marcy jumped at the contract.

As usual there was a Marcy SAP account for all materials and labor associated with USAF radar base Polokwane. The Air Force agreed in the contract to do vectoring for all arriving planes; one less headache for JBG to worry about.

The biggest glitch in the contract was the Air Force wanted the walls to be small arms and small explosive devices resistant. I wondered how that was going to be achievable in this environment. I also wondered if they knew something I didn’t or were just being unusually cautious.

I estimated that it would take two more C5 flights to get all the fence here and wondered if anyone had tried to purchase any in the big city three hundred miles away. It would have to be cheaper than the freight cost in a C5 or a c17.

But then with the war winding down in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan maybe the Air Force needed flight time to keep the pilots and crews busy and certified. It was not like the government needed to say something was worn out in order to ask for replacement funding.

Two of the footer and block crews were working on the foundation for the Air Force crew buildings. I estimated they would be finished by darkness then the framers could begin in a couple of days. The mortar joints that secured the blocks together needed time to dry and harden. Raymond implied the building would be ready in less than sixty days. Sixty days was within the Air Force General’s deadline.

We finally ended up at the mines, starting with the gold mine. Mr. Chetty knew we were coming. I had sent him a message when we were inbound.

“It is so good to see you. I am pleased that you take the time to respond to my messages personally. In the twelve years of Arab control not once did anyone in upper levels respond to any messages I sent,” he said.

”I am glad you have been able to bring the operation back so quickly. As you can see, my people are trying hard to keep my promises to you,” I replied.

With safety glasses and face shields on, we watched them place scoops of nuggets into the smelters to turn it into liquid. After several more steps it was poured into the 12.5 kilo molds. When we were here before, there had been six pots and electric furnaces waiting to be used. Today I counted twelve in use.

Mr. Chetty noticed I was counting, ”Even before the Arabs came, we never had enough electricity to run the six kilns at one time. Since the new plant we can and they work much faster and hotter. Before the kilns were working mostly at night. For the last week we have been going around the clock.”

A pair of molds were beside each kiln; when the gold was in the proper molten state it was poured into them. When filled they went onto the cooling racks. When they had cooled enough, the gold bars were removed and weighed.

A worker drilled or added gold with a torch to make the bars weigh 25 pounds. Then they were stamped with the mine mark, a SF for South Africa, the final weight and a serial number. We watched six gold bars every ten minutes make the trip from the kilns to the cooling racks.

The look on Marcy’s face was one of relief. The mine survey and the promises from Mr. Chetty and Mr. Jordaan were apparently true. There would be enough income to pay for this venture and allow for some profit.

We had spent millions in just a few weeks here. With the delivery of the six Air Tractors and the arms for them, we spent thirty million just today. JBG spent half a million in fuel and support for each round trip C5 flight.

“The carpenters made wooden crates from the instructions Raymond gave them. Each crate – when filled – weighs in at two thousand pounds plus the weight of the crate.”

”They also made the two special boxes you wanted to hold four bars each. I am waiting for your special instructions on what to do with them,” Mr. Chetty said.

”I need to make the trip to the diamond mine first, then I will explain,” I said.

Next up was the trip to the diamond mine office that everyone had called the shack. It was more than a shack; there were six small concrete cells with heavy locked doors.

Mr. Jordaan opened doors to show us the result of the digs they had started at the locations where they had hid the diamonds from the Arabs. On the shelves that lined the walls of each cell were cloth bags the size of a small bag of flour.
”Wow, I didn’t realize there would be this much so soon,” I said.

”Things happened a lot faster than I thought they would. In another few weeks we will be back to the full number of miners in the diamond mine. Are you able to carry all this back with you? It is too much to be kept here,” Mr. Jordaan said.

”Yes, one of our big planes is here, it can carry all the gold bars made so far and these diamonds back with them. I will have one of the shipping crates brought over for you to pack them in,” I said.

”I need two bags, each half full. Do you have a bag handy that we can split one of these into?” I asked.
We just stepped outside in time to hear a C130 landing. It was the IDF delivering the weapons we had agreed upon.
Back at the gold mine Mr. Chetty and I placed four gold bars and one half bag of uncut diamonds in each of the special boxes that had been made. Then we securely nailed and screwed the cover on it. With his help we loaded them on the back of the Humvee we were being driven around in.

We went directly to the airfield. The weapons were already being unloaded from the C130 and placed into the storage building by the forklift. We watched as they finished the unloading.

Ariel Dohan was the senior Mossad agent assigned to the delivery.

”Are you returning directly to Israel or making another stop?” I asked him.

”As soon as we are refueled, it is a direct flight back to Tel Aviv,” he replied.

”I have two crates and a letter I need delivered directly to Director Dorin as soon as you land. Are you able to handle that?”

”Yes, I can do that,” he said.

The two crates were brought to the C130 and secured while I wrote the letter.

”Director Dorin.
Bond 007 says diamonds and gold are makers and movers of all nations and I have been told a girl’s best friend. This should be close to the payment we agreed upon. Diamonds are Forever and Gold Finger still rules, but Octopussy was my favorite.

Send me a picture of you with the goods to verify you received them. Thank you for the shipment, we shall use them wisely.

Gold Finger lives on. BJ”

Less than an hour later the IDF C130 took off headed back to Israel. It was soon after that the C5 was empty of Air Tractor parts. They were being replaced with crates from the mines. The C5 would depart later today if the trucks showed up in time to resupply the fuel farm.

In a week some of the aircraft mechanics would need to catch a flight home. Two from our shop and all the tools were staying to maintain the growing JBG fleet.

In a few weeks a freighter was arriving at the coastal port with more Humvees and a couple MRAPs along with two more Blackhawks fresh from the military surplus auction and a quick trip through the rehab shop. The freighter had been leased and loaded out at the Baltimore marine terminal. Once they arrived I would have some extra confidence about security.

It was also carrying hundreds of tons of other supplies and equipment for Polokwane in shipping containers that would be used for long term storage.

We brought all the managers together for one last meeting before we left. It was a pat them on the back and question session.

”Everything seems to be working well. Is there anything we in Maryland can do to make it work better?”

It was an informed discussion that lasted an hour. C5 flights would be every two weeks – sooner if needed – to bring supplies, swap out security personnel and return with whatever bars and diamonds that were ready to be shipped. It was in this meeting that I informed them about the freighter coming in to Maputo.

”I will get you a manifest of everything on it and how it is loaded or packaged. I do know there are one hundred shipping containers that will have to be transported. There is a truck dealer there and Marcy has ordered a few truck with flatbed trailers.”

”We were also told there are contract haulers that will help. As soon as there is a confirmed docking date, one of the flights will bring extra security as drivers to help with getting everything here.” I said.

An hour later my G5 was headed to north east with a fuel stop in Morocco. The C5 was leaving several hours later and was having in flight refueling off the Madeira Islands.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.

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.

The lunch turned into a working lunch with more progress being made than had been made in the morning session. The progress carried over through the afternoon session.

We finished at 1600 for the day with the hard issues done. The next joint meeting would be in a month. JBG had plenty of work to do in Europe for several months.

As usual there was another fancy dinner and social event planned for the evening. All of us attended and had a great time with the social activities and dancing after.

It’s funny how lovely ladies draw so much attention and jealousy from wives. Cindy and Mary Ann both took advantage of the gym with the tanning salon freebies and it showed; they danced a lot of dances with lots of different men. Jenny, Marcy and I danced more with our escorts and just an occasional dance with others. I was sure that more than one of the married guests were going to get a stern talking to behind closed doors.

Louis Boucher was one of the men who asked me to dance. Off to the side and out of close proximity he told me that he and President Bisset would be at Loures at 1000 after the final round of meetings that the leaders were going to have in the morning.

I had intended to fly back to the states so we could accompany Ching Lee to Oklahoma State. We would have to cancel going along. I knew she could handle it without any problem. I would send Andy to reinforce her orders and stifle any opposition to them from anyone in the security.

With that change in plans I decided we would go back to Polokwane and check on the progress first hand. I was sure Marcy wanted to see where all the money was going – and there was a lot of it – and how much was being wasted.

With breakfast finished at 0800 and the orders for our jet to be ready to leave when we finished, we were waiting for the two of them to arrive.

Marcy, Jenny and Mary Ann were following up on other developments with the crew quarters and bunk buildings. The construction was ahead of schedule and the site would be completed in two weeks or less.

While they were doing that I finished up the presentation for Louis and Bisset. They arrived at 1000 on the nose. I took them to one of the meeting rooms along with my portable office and the papers I had brought.

“Louis, President Bisset, do the names Fatin Bashir or Butros Tayfur mean anything to either of you?” I asked.

“No, should they?” Louis asked as President Bisset was shaking his head.

This was going to be a lot harder than I thought.

“Fatin Bashir is the brother of Major General Adeem Mohamed Bashir who was promoted to commander of the Iranian Republican Guard intelligence unit after I killed General Kedar. The Iranian Republican Guard intelligence unit controls all of the terrorist cells sponsored by the Iranian government in Europe, Africa, North and South America – which I am sure you know.”

”Fatin Bashir was sent by Kedar to the ‘Grande Mosque de Paris’ to assist the Iranian Republican Guard intelligence spies that are there just two days after the Pact announcement. Kedar was furious that his spies had failed to know anything about the pact.”

”Butros Tayfur was sent to the joint ISIS training center in the district of Chapelle-Pajol. My intelligence on the training center says that it utilizes two full city blocks in one of your no-go Muslim only areas.”

”He was sent there at the same time as Fatin to assist in the training of one hundred individuals being trained in intelligence gathering and sabotage to work in areas near US military bases. His assignment also was to continue and expand the spying in France and elsewhere.”

“Those training center participants are a mix of individuals from every terrorist group in the Middle East and Africa. They spend their time, learn their specialty trade and return to wreak havoc wherever they are sent.”

”If my intelligence is right, since the recent decline in ISIS strength in Syria and Iraq they have increased the training of individuals for lone wolf attacks.”

”Attacks at home in the heartland have a far superior effect on moral and fear than watching the six o’clock news of events in some far off land. There has been so much of it and so commonplace that the public has become hardened to those images.”

”Now with radical elements in Russia, China, Pakistan and India getting involved, terrorists are able to get passports and visas that have been filtered and very clean allowing those individuals to move around more freely. The one hundred sent to the US all possessed French student and work visas. They were approved by your government,” I said and waited for a response.

”You are correct that there are several areas of Paris that are problematic. We did not know there was a training center there. We have encountered resistance – extreme resistance – to police to the point that we don’t go there without a request from them. Honestly those areas are off limits to the police,” Louis said.

”The last attempt at restoring traditional law there was a failure. At the sign of any police the streets are quickly blocked to prevent entry and the cars surrounded by angry rioters,” Louis said.

”Yes, I have the aerial video. We use it in some of our training on how not to conduct large scale raids,” I said.

Louis just looked at me and said, ”How not to conduct large scale raids? I didn’t know there was any video.”

”Not enough officers. Not enough riot gear. Not enough heavy equipment to move obstacles out of the way. There comes a point that you have to expect collateral damage and ignore it and press on with overwhelming force,” I said.

”You are at the point that you have to make multiple agonizing decisions. The center has to be closed down, they can no longer be left alone and everyone in it has to be dead or arrested and isolated forever. I’m sure that you know that.”

”They are sending mass murders around the world, not just inside France. It’s only a matter of time before they light up your streets with lone wolf mass killings.”

”The leaders of the pact have got to come to agreement on a location for a maximum security prison for terrorists. I broached the subject yesterday and it was quickly brushed aside for other important business.”

”You do not want to house these extremist with general prison populations, you are only multiplying the extremist tenfold by doing that. General population prisoners are bored, gullible and easily indoctrinated,” I said.

”One of the problems is that they infiltrated the National Police and the National Gendarmerie to the point that carrying out large scale raids like the one to shut down the camp will be impossible. They will know we are coming at the earliest planning levels,” Louis said.

”Well you do have a few options that you did not have before. None will be politically easy.”

”The Pact could plan, organize and carry out the raid without using any French police until the final stages – as in traffic control after the raid started. However, I sense a lot of mistrust with the members at this point in the organization. It may be too soon to try such an advanced step.”

”The other option is to have the JBG Special Operations Team come in and do the raid under the auspices as contract French law enforcement officers. In no way can we have relatives with collateral damage or survivors of aggressive tactics showing up in US courts seeking monetary awards. So there will be contracts, legal letters of agreement and understanding and so on,” I said.

”Do you have enough men in the Special Operations team to carry out an assignment of that size – it could take several hundred?” Louis asked.

”The men are no problem, just all the little pieces to make it all work,” I said.

”We have to discuss it with all the ministers to see what action we will take,” Prime Minister Bisset said.

”You have some time to work it out but not much. Just be careful who you talk to,” I said. ”And let me know as soon as possible.”

A few minutes later we were on our way to the airport to continue our trip to Polokwane. It would be near midnight when we arrived. Things had been happening all morning everywhere. I was going to be busy on the flight.

The first was a VCATS to Tom for updates. To my dismay there had been a flurry of posts from Tiam to cells in the US with confirmation demands.

The three cells along the Mexican border were told to expect an influx of travelers in six weeks. Travel orders would be sent before their arrival.

I wondered the reason why an influx in six weeks then I realized four to five weeks was the time that it took freighters to make the trip from the Persian Gulf around Cape Horn to docks in central America. Then add a week to make the trip through Mexico.

ISIS, The Taliban and others were doing a mass exodus from Syria, some of them to our borders.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.

At 0800 we were in the cafeteria eating breakfast with the few men who were finishing up. Breakfast was two groups – those that were getting ready to start the day and those who were ending their day. For the first ones, breakfast was at 0500 to 0600; they had to be at their duty post at 0700, giving them a few minutes for the last cup of coffee and to hit the head. Loures was being run like a military base with BJ and JBG modifications.

Since there were three shifts of security guards and operations, breakfast was basically served all day long. The 0500 was buffet style. It only took a few minutes for the cook to make up pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, scrapple and such for the other shifts which were much smaller.

Like me, most men wanted the first meal of the day to be breakfast no matter what time of day that was. I just couldn’t seem to enjoy having a full steak dinner as breakfast – because of the time – then hitting an aggressive day or field routine face on. I know it was odd but I had ideas about a lot of things.

After breakfast we went to the command center and began our day. The five hour difference meant that we could hold video conversations with the embassy security teams in Europe, Asia and Africa. Vicky and I did that while Marcy looked over the office data from home and made financial decisions.

At noon I received a 911 text from Tom.

”Today’s broadcast has drastically changed, they are including several sets of numbers and very little else, also the broadcast is sent every hour,” he said.

“They are getting ready to change the posting web sites, possibly the codes as well. Have they requested that the cells acknowledge? ” I replied.

”No,” Tom said.

In our questioning of General Fayeez Mohammad under the Doc’s guidance and before I killed him, he gave up all the backup sites and codes that all the cells had. Those lists were in my office safe – four thousand miles away.

”Ching Lee will down in a minute,” I replied. I hung up on Tom and called Ching Lee.

”Ching Lee, open my safe. In there on the center shelf is the folder with answers from the interrogation of General Mohammed. Near the back of the folder is the list of the emergency backup web sites and access codes he gave us – I think you were there. Carry that sheet down to Tom. We think they are changing the things today,” I said.

I called Tom back with more instructions, ”Tom – Ching Lee is on her way down with some things that may help. Don’t share any of this with the Washington group. Tell them we are working on it but have no answers at the time, if they call.”

We spent a few hours on VCATS communicating with Raymond Underhill. Things were moving. The generators were being delivered today and put in place.

The fuel tanks had been delivered Friday and with the help of the security men, were set in place. The fuel company had connected them together with valves, hoses and pipe, checked for leaks and then filled them with fuel.

Tomorrow the generator people were to meet with our private utility people to hook up the generators and adjust them. Then they were going to cut the South Africa Utilities wire feeding Polokwane and install switch gear with locks in case things changed and we needed to hook up again.

The old generator had been running more than fifty percent of the time since we bought the property. It had started burning five gallons of oil a day; its life was at an end. The new ones were going into service just in the nick of time.

Marcy, Jenny and I finished the day out in the small gym and recreation area. It was 2000 hours when Tom called back with updates on the intelligence problem.

“The website we had been eavesdropping on went dead at 1400. You were right; one of the numbers they were repeating was in your papers and led us to the one they are now using. They are transmitting lots of new information and orders,” Tom said.

”Washington has called; they are at a loss. I have done and will continue to do as you instructed. As we finish up today I will send it to you in an encrypted file with everything they have broadcast on the new sites. How do you want it, little or big black book?” he asked.

”Be safe and send it big book,” I replied.

Marcy, Jenny and I spent two hours on the computer with the big black book codes, unraveling the flood of messages that Tiam had sent out.

All cells had been required to acknowledge they had received instructions on the new site. More micro management from the IRG; some agencies never learn. The more messages sent the more likely someone will find them – like me. Several new sites that were previously unknown also made the acknowledgment.

After Tom put it through the programs, the IP addresses were found to be from the strip joints near the military bases where the ISIS / Iranian spies were sent. All the joints had assumed cell status.

They were going active on the new sites and ordered to send routine activity reports and gathered intelligence weekly. Until now there had been few broadcasts from those sites, usually just acknowledgments to Tiam when requested.

A major escalation in intelligence gathering was afoot from the Iranian Republican Guard intelligence unit and the remains of ISIS that had gone in hiding for the next Caliphate attempt.

We were up early and had breakfast with the 0500 group. We were bombarded with questions. One of the first was could there be some arrangement made to get good old fashioned American foods from time to time.

The normal Portuguese breakfast foods available locally left a lot to be desired when one was used to ham and eggs scrapple and sausage with pancakes. Especially if one was going to train hard and needed two to three thousand calories a day.

“There is a solution. Put together a primary list of foods you cannot get here and based on space available, we will add those things to the freight flights coming in this direction,” I said.

”Biff can add a couple more large walk-in freezers to handle the extra,” I added.

On Tuesday the meeting started at 0900 and was a blender from the introductions – Prime Ministers and top security chiefs. It took an hour before cool heads prevailed. None of the crap was about anything productive, all of was power playing ‘mine needs to be bigger than yours’ – just because.

It was 1000 before we actually got down to talking about glitches and solutions. One of the glitches was the number of agents coming to Fort Smith and the cost of getting them there.

I was glad I Marcy had came along. While all the discussions were going on she was working in her laptop and emailing Lorrie. They were working on a plan.

The next question was how soon better cooperation between the Pact countries could be implemented.

“The JBG command center for the agreement is up and running as we speak at our Loures site. The remote sites have been completed in four countries. The other five are in various stages of construction and testing. I expect they will be done by the end of the month.”

”JBG is in the process of assigning the agreed upon manpower to each of those sites and completing the necessary training. I am returning to the Loures command center to make an important video call to our Maryland office and have lunch there. If any of you would like a tour of the center and site, you are welcome to join me there for lunch or after,” I said.

There was no such thing as a short order cook in France; to call them anything but a chef was an insult that may get you a lap full of food or no food at all. In reality ours was a short order; the meals were buffet style with the menu changing some every day.

With the number of people there and the numbers coming. anything else would be an impossibility. It would be mass stupidity to expect them to hit the local restaurants for food three times a day. Plus, there was no way for security to deal with dozens of food deliveries at meal times.

We ironed out more issues until the meeting broke for lunch. Marcy, Jenny, Mary Ann and I had lunch with the nine leaders and their heads of security.

I had been intending on eating lunch at Loures and wanted to find out what posts had been made this morning. Instead we lunched with the group who were going to Loures after the fancy catered lunch.

It was during the lunch break that I gave Louis Boucher a note. “Sometime before you leave to go back to France I need to have a top secret meeting at Loures with you and President Bisset if he wants to join in – if you trust him with your life and career,” I had written.

Louis looked at the note and nodded.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.

Tuesday quickly became Wednesday and then Thursday, almost as fast as a blink of an eye. Thursday I spent the morning with Vicky reviewing embassy issues. Thursday afternoon I was back with Ching Lee reviewing the progress at Oklahoma State. A few things had been done this week but by end of next week a lot of things will happen.

Jenny had identified ten individuals who had advanced computer skills, either from the military or federal agencies. Yes, we were now getting applicants from federal agencies.

There were several from the DHS and the FBI. When questioned why they were leaving, ”Sick of politics interfering with investigations and preferential treatment for certain groups.” Some things never change I thought.

Ching Lee, Vicky and I were planning on flying back to the college next Thursday. The new people chosen were getting a crash course on facial scanners and the college security program. One of Andy’s drone operators was going there to operate the drone.

The two new drones were bigger and had better cameras. The controllers for them were a two joystick control box. The cameras could be operated one hundred and eighty degrees when the drone was set to hover in a fixed position with one joystick.

Another good thing was there were over a dozen different styles and types of cameras already programmed into its controller. Cameras could be mixed and used at the same time; long range, wide angle, infrared, night vision and a laser pointed homing camera.

The laser homing was a great addition; just put the dot on the object and the drone positioned itself to follow and keep the object in center of the view, all the while still maintaining altitude automatically. With the newest advances in batteries it could maintain station for several hours.

Still there were a lot of things that needed to come together before next Thursday.

Friday I spent the early morning with VCATS with Biff in a conversation that made my decision to fly to Portugal Sunday night. I was planning to leave Monday night for a joint PACT meeting but there were several issues I needed to address first.

Friday afternoon it was spent on VCATS again with Raymond Underhill at Polokwane. The next few weeks were going to be busy there. The first of the three C5 flights carrying the DOD radar was to leave early Monday morning. The flight had been finished out with several of those big tents used in hurricane recovery, along with food, army cots and blankets.

Raymond had been thinking ahead for all the manpower that was to arrive. He had found a sewage truck and two portable bath trailers; one was shower stalls and the other was hopper stalls and porta-potties. They were 300 miles away and JBG paid plenty to get them trucked to Polokwane.

The sewage truck could empty all of them. The sad part was the only thing we could do with it was spread it out in a field several miles away from the town for now. A better method of dealing with sewage was coming. At least it would be better than dung pits at the end of each street.

Manure was manure; all over Asia and in other parts of the world human crap was used for manure to improve crop output. In America we call it sludge; at least we treated it before in was injected into the ground on farm land.
I had read that New York and Massachusetts had a state approved process to dry it out and use it for mulch around your house. I could just imagine the smell after days of damp and wet weather and then stepping in it.
I wondered if the water from the plant could be used as irrigation; maybe we could grow something useful on a few of those desolate acres after manure had improved the soil.

The flight was also carrying twenty men from J&J construction. Raymond had worked to get a majority of the equipment on site. Jake’s men were going to put it in place and test run it, possibly use some of it. Also going were twenty more for the security team.

A second C5 was leaving Tuesday morning with more of the same and 200 cases of MREs (meals ready to eat); not military surplus but fresh from the supplier. This was not going to be a picnic and they were told so up front.

I called all the mates on a conference call to see who was going with me with the change of plans. Jenny still needed to go because of contract changes and additions.

They decided that Marcy and Cindy – if she wanted an out of the office experience and one clerk to take notes – would accompany me on this trip.

At our meeting one more issue was addressed. On all of our help wanted ads they had – for a long time – specified that we required at least two languages or more. We also gave temporary grace to those who promised to learn a second language prior to the end of the probationary period. If they didn’t, they would be terminated.

We were having difficulties with it. We had provided self guided language programs on the company computers. It helped some but not enough. It was decided that we would hire language teachers in the eight languages we specified.
They would work in conjunction with the computer programs and be part of the regular recurring training program. They could even conduct class using the VCATS system when space was available. All we had to do was find eight foreign language teachers willing to travel.

Cindy and Mary Ann were excited to go to Portugal. Neither was married but both had long time boyfriends. It seemed like today’s generation has no interest in marriage. I had no interest in marriage for different reasons, the largest reason; I simply did not need a man to be my better half. I had my mates and we had married each other in a private ceremony amongst us, even if that marriage would not be recognized anywhere. They understood all my female quirks and I theirs, we were happy and we loved each other. Now we had four little ones to carry on after we were gone. What more could you ask for?

Jenny and Ching Lee drove Cindy and Mary Ann to Annapolis to the fancy dress shop. I didn’t know what kind of high-end clothes they had but I was sure they didn’t have any elaborate ‘top of the line’ evening dresses. Every time I went to Europe I ended up at an affair that required the very best. I expected this trip to be the no different.

Saturday we watched the Morton crew unload the trucks with the first shipment of radar parts. The load masters carefully moved the loads back and forth the get the center of gravity of the load in the right place.

The load had to be balanced so that as the fifty thousand gallons of fuel burned off, the plane would not become nose or tail heavy. Either one of those would cause the plane to become harder to control and maybe crash. It was something that was done on every flight that carried freight – on all planes.

On passenger planes it was not so complicated. The passenger seating solved some of the problem and placing baggage from one end to the other in the cargo bay settled the rest. With weighing the baggage and average passenger weights it all worked out in the end.

We packed Sunday morning after breakfast; fancy dresses, jewelry and the likes, just to be prepared. The afternoon was family time, getting ready for the goodbyes that were coming.

I had to explain to JJ and RJ why they could not go this time.

“Mommy is going to be busy. Pop-pop and grand pop have a lot for you to do while we are gone,” I told them. After hugs and kisses they ran to be with the family.

Marcy, Cindy, Mary Ann, Shannon, Gordon, Sid Ortel, Ziva, Abra, Farah, Jenny and I boarded my G5 for the trip. We were sharing the trip with as much freight as the plane would carry for the Loures site. The wheels left the concrete at 2000 hours. With flying time and time zone changes, we would arrive at 0600 Monday morning.

We were staying in two of renovated private resident houses at the new Loures site. Since they were for adult guests, one of the changes we had made was more rooms were made into bedrooms. The den was removed and turned into a bedroom. All the bedrooms had two twin beds. More savings for Marcy.

With Loures basically up and running, things were a lot smoother. We could do two meals in the cafeteria – no running to and from a motel. That also meant MTAC, VCATS and the command center were just a few feet away.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.

“Are you through with your meeting?” Ching Lee asked, ”If not, finish it up.”

I forced myself not to smile; Ching Lee was growing more aggressive and stronger since Takeo was born. Before she always needed a little guidance then took things and ran with them. She did not need the guidance any more – now we needed to make sure we got out of her way.

”Frank, Jim and Harry, stay; the rest of you continue with your assignments,” Ching Lee said as they got up to leave.

”Frank, I was happy to see that you did not cave into the student union demands about changes to the guards at the parking lot entrances. I am disappointed to see that the university still has not made any attempt to install any kind of restrictive fencing along the front by the highway. That was one of the recommendations of last year’s audit and they agreed to it,” Ching Lee said.

Ching Lee had brought two maps – one was the college grounds as it was today and the other was last year’s map after the audit with the suggested changes marked on it.

Unfortunately there were a few that had not been started let alone completed. The college had agreed to do all of them.

I called Washington just in time to catch Bobby before she went home.

“Can you look up in the grant system to see what amount Oklahoma State applied for and was finally granted, the application date and the award date?” I asked.

“They requested four point nine million sixteen months ago under the Emergency Construction Terror Prevention Program. The House appropriations approved four point two million fourteen months ago.”

”There have been progress reports on the construction phase of four items in the request, those four were completed. There were no completion or compliance reports on the four remaining,” Bobby said.

”OK Bobbie, thanks, have a good evening,” I said.

Either way it was too late to push the issue now. I anticipated that any attack would happen in sixty days or less. The only thing pushing a rush on construction would do was telegraph that we were on to them – the last thing I wanted to do.

Tomorrow I would have Ben put the screws to the college. The grants had restrictions and regulations. They had to have specific projects listed and the cost of those projects with bids accompanying the request. The funding was not meant to be just a cash grant. There was a deadline on the construction with one grace period for weather or material shortage.

I needed to do that to protect both JBG and myself at the task force. If the media ever got wind that a college with JBG security was let slide on the grant requirements there would be hell to pay.

There were Representatives and Senators who wanted the grant program stopped, freeing up funds for pet projects. There were others that were still pissed that their favorite college didn’t get special treatment in the grants.

“Our visit is not social and our conversation is strictly confidential. This college is at the top of a list of potential terror targets gleamed from recent ISIS sources.”

”I expect an attack to be carried out against Oklahoma State this school year. I agree with Ching Lee that it is a disappointment that the college has neglected to complete the agreed upon measures. There is nothing we can do about that.”

”What we can do is gently step up security without tipping off the people that are watching and doing the planning,” I said.

”We don’t want to drive them away and underground with their planning. We don’t want them to suspect we are watching but that is exactly what we are going to do.”

”The EIT group is scouring all known communication links that the terrorist had and still use. We know this group is Middle Eastern or possibly African connected so all students from those areas are to be looked at.”

”What Robert, BJ and I need you to do is to tighten your surveillance of those individuals without being obvious. Use the card system to track them. Are they routine meeting on campus, off campus, in small groups or large groups? Be intelligent about it.”

”I know – it’s racial, regional and religious profiling but we have to find an edge that helps us find out what they are planning and when,” Ching Lee said.

”Ching Lee has asked HR for additional people to be sent here temporarily and I have agreed to that as soon as we get training completed. As you know we have a lot of irons in the fire right now so they will be trickling in as soon as they can,” Jenny said.

”Frank, Jim, Harry; we are going to split into three groups and you are to take us through every hall, building and the grounds. What we are looking for with extra eyes is soft spots in the security profile, where we need extra cameras or subtle changes we can put in place,” I said.

With that we started the walk, Jenny and I went with Frank, Vicky and Lorrie went with Jim and Ching Lee and Marcy went with Harry. Each of us had a pad, a pen and cell to take pictures if we wanted.

The walk took two hours with us ending back at the security office. Frank, Jenny and I had walked through the administration building and were told the Chancellor was in meetings and could not be disturbed.

I asked for an envelope from the secretary, placed one of my business cards in it and sealed it, “Give this to the Chancellor as he leaves for the day,” I said. I had written on it ‘Sorry I missed you.’

We had one last quick conversation with the three. “We will evaluate the information tomorrow and have a conference video call in the afternoon. You can expect more manpower and equipment ASAP,” I said to Frank.

Thirty minutes later we back at the MAAR. The four from the office had arrived and were getting oriented into what they needed do for the next few weeks.

My G5 was a thousand miles from Oklahoma when Chancellor Hemming called all apologetic, “I’m sorry I missed you. You should have told the secretary to interrupt the meeting,” he said.

“When I tell my secretaries I don’t want my meeting disturbed, even Lucifer is not getting by them – no matter how hot the pitchfork is,” I said.

“I will be back in a couple weeks. I will let you know when, by then we will have a lot to talk about. Ching Lee is going to order some changes in the security for your college,” I said.

“We have a contract,” he said.

”There are no issues with the contract; you can rest easy on that,” I said.

We talked and compared notes from the walk around the whole time we were in the air headed back to Morton. By the time we landed Ching Lee had several pages of recommendations for changes.

Tuesday, the six of us spent the morning with Tom in the EIT room going over the last three weeks of translated intercepts from Tiam just to make sure we had not missed something.

I directed Tom to put an increased effort on finding the other nine cells. I wanted to make sure we were not being fed a line of distraction.

At noon we had come to a group of temporary solutions. Now it was up to Ching Lee to implement them.
East Coast Security would be dispatched to install fifty new cameras in the locations we had picked and upgrade the displays in the office there.

Jenny was going to have HR go back over the applications of all the current men and ladies in training and those coming to see if any had advanced computer skills in the security area.

We had decided to activate the facial recognition program against the college wishes. All six of us made that decision because the consequences could be far reaching. Another thing that could upset the college was Ching Lee was going to send two of the new larger camera drones.

We were also going to deactivate all the IDs over a two week period and reissue them as a way to verify student ID.

These last few things would place a heavy work load on our people, even with the four more I was going to send.
Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.

The weekend passed quickly, intertwined with questions, work and boys. I did get to spend several hours in the gym each day.

We had a great homemade dinner Sunday night. It was a beef roast that had been cooking in a crock pot all day with onions, seasonings and carrots.

When the items were removed, the broth was made into thick gravy to smother mashed potatoes and dip homemade fluffy rolls in. There was a salad for starters and hot apple pie finished it off. Even the finicky boys liked it.
The girls had been in on the conversations with Robert and Tom. At noon on Sunday Tom sent me a text that the information that I requested in my in box.

Over the weekend we decided that we would go to Oklahoma State on Monday, just to do a walk around. They had decided we were going to spend a lot more time together – whenever possible – during the week. The girls had named such future ventures as cross training.

Monday morning at 0700 we boarded the G5 with tickets to Oklahoma City International airport. First thing we were going to do was to do an audit on the MAAR auto rental site when we arrived. Marcy had handed off most of the field work of the audits to some of her administrators based on customer feedback cards.

There were some discrepancies between what customers were reporting and what the audits were saying. Marcy suspected that the audits were not surprise audits. This audit was a surprise – we had not told anyone where we were going. Lorrie had done the ticket ordering herself.

I had no real plans to go to Washington this week. The House and Senate members were still not satisfied and were now threatening to subpoena the task force members. If they did, I would go back to the special case court. I would not be part of that zoo this week.

It was 1030 when Marcy walked in the MAAR offices. Hellfire and damnation quickly followed, some of it behind closed doors that were nowhere thick enough. There were only two people working the counter when there should have been four or more for the early arriving planes.

Oklahoma City International was one of the larger US airports. The MAAR site there had been one of the busiest sites with a lot of employees. It was also one with the most competition. Every major auto rental agency had an outlet on the airport grounds or close by.

The site was a mess with so much traffic it required constant attention; it wasn’t getting nearly enough. While Marcy was reading the manager the riot act Ching Lee, Jenny, Vicky and I straightened up and waited on the line of customers.

It was no different than working the site at Morton Field – the computer program was the same, the customer numbers and express sign in was the same. It only took a few minutes to get on stride. The only question I had to ask one of the regulars was where the cars were parked for customer pickup.

With all the computers now fully manned, it only took a few minutes to get the lines whittled down.
The numbers were just down to a few when one of the men in line said, “You look familiar, like somebody I should know.”

“I get that a lot,” I said just to brush him off as I finished and gave him his car keys.

The lady behind him said, “I think you look like that lady on TV. In fact, I’m sure of it,” as she was pointing to the TV on the wall.

ZNN was interviewing Senators on the steps of Capitol Hill about last week’s hearings using my picture on a split screen.

“I had to get a better paying day job,” I said with a wink.

She was next in line, “How may I help you?” I asked.

“Do you have any cars available? My friend who was going to pick me up had car trouble,” she said.

“We have several – compact, subcompact, full size or SUV – how long did you want it for? Do you want the optional insurance?” I asked.

“I like the full size; I feel a lot safer in the big ones, just for one day. Paw said to make sure I got the insurance,” she replied.

“Full size it is. Drivers license, credit card, secondary ID, or passport if possible,” I said.
I quickly typed the information onto the form. And then waited while the computer processed, printed the form and credit card transaction.

Elle M. Clampett, age 26, Hoot Owls Holler, Spencer,W. Virginia 25276. She was modestly dressed; even so it could not hide she was a doll. I was willing to bet she did not get to sit too long at an old fashioned barn dance in the Holler.
The computer printed out the forms and I handed her a pen to sign them.

When she handed them back, “Would you sign an autograph for me, Paw and Granny would never believe I met someone important?” she asked.

I pulled a piece of paper out of the copier.

To Ellie Clampett.
We met briefly in Oklahoma City – God’s country – and had a pleasant conversation. Fight for freedom and demand your rights – don’t let anyone push you around. Stand proud because even with all its troubles, we still live in the best country in the world.’

Ambassador Roberta Jones, Chairperson of the Presidents Terrorist Task Force Over sight committee.
I took one of my federal business cards, marked out the phone number, attached it to the paper and handed it to her.

”When you get home attach your ticket to this – that will make it more meaningful later on,” I said.

She must have thanked me a dozen times before she left.

Marcy walked out of the closed office just as three employees came in carrying Mc-Gaffe cups from the fast food joint down the hall. We had been here thirty minutes; from the lines when we arrived they had been gone much longer than that. Their time cards had shown they were the second time slot employees.

The first three employees started at 0600, this group – the second slot of three – started at 0800 to be on hand when the rush started.

“The video shows they left at 0900 and there were lines then. They have been gone two hours on break,” Marcy said.

“I was going to put the manager on probation but with all things combined, I’m going to fire the four of them. I just called the office to send four MAAR employees here temporarily in the King Air. Two are from the Morton site and two administrative assistants from the office.

“I’m going to interview the assistant manager. Do you want to sit in on it?” Marcy asked.

“No, get Jenny – that way you will have HR involved. Awfully odd that the three seem to be able to walk over the manager like that. Something else much deeper is going on. Make sure you ask those questions in the interview.”

“While you are doing that I will interview the other three, asking the same questions and fire them,” I said.

The morning was long gone and it was after 1400 before we finally drove into the parking lot for the JBG security building. Security was active as I expected it would be and the way Ching Lee and Andy had designed.

There was limited access to the student and visitors parking and they were separate lots.

Ching Lee wanted to drive when we left the airport for the college. She had made the trip several times while setting up the contracts and the security. She drove up to the security at the gate and showed her card to the guard Ray Malone.

“Do not announce that we are here,” she said.

”Yes ma-am,” he replied.

Ching Lee drove to the security building where we parked.

Inside there was no one at the counter but we could hear talking. It was shift change – therefore information exchange – for the evening supervisors and crew.

We didn’t say anything, just quietly poured ourselves a cup of terrible weak coffee. I picked up the coffee pot and set it down hard.

“Just a moment, we will be right out,” someone said.

I motioned the girls to follow.

“How about we come in instead?”

”You call this crap coffee?” I said as I closed the door behind Jenny who was last in.

“Oh shit.”

“Jimmy, there are ladies present and you are right – Oh crap – what did we do for this kind of visit?” it was Frank Hammonds – the site director – who said it.

”I guess you are going to find out fairly quickly,” I said as I laid the folder that I had brought onto the desk.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.

I went to the White House first to meet with Troy and the President. I wanted to see if they had any special instructions I needed to follow. There were none.

Andrew and I met Curtis Warren on the steps of Congress. I was wearing the new heavy body armor at Andy’s insistence. If anyone was going to kill me, it would have to be with a head shot. There were dozens of security from the Secret Service and the capital police on the steps.

They were needed to keep media back. I wondered why the White House wanted me to climb the stairs. It was clear they wanted the airtime at my expense.

This morning’s appearance was to be Senator Black’s Senate Judiciary committee. This was not the first time that I had testified before congressional committees. It was one of the few times I was forced to do so under a subpoena.

Inside walking to the judiciary chamber to testify was like walking through a maze. There were Senators everywhere standing in the hall. Most were politicking for the home town papers, wanting handshakes or to be seen with me as their staff took pictures.

“Raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth?”

Just to piss them off, “So help me God – I do,” I said.

The questions began, “Ambassador Jones.”

“I am prohibited from answering any questions about the collection of intelligence in this case by the Federal Court of Special Cases of the District of Columbia,” I said.

“I cannot answer that question because I believe it falls under executive privilege,” I said.

Then they changed tactics to questions that only required yes or no, trying to trap me. It didn’t work.

Finally they gave up and went through the report and asked general questions related to the meat of the investigation. By lunch time they had run out of questions related to the planned Harrisburg terror attack. Then they started asking just general questions about where we stood on stopping terrorism.

For lunch we were asked to join a group of Senators in the congressional cafeteria. Lunch there was a five course meal on the government’s meal card. A nap would have been more appropriate than sitting for three more hours in the congressional hot seat. But that is where we headed.

It was at the lunch that I met Senator Ginger Brothers from Nevada. I had met her husband Sam in Polokwane. She was brassy and ballsy. She pulled a chair from another table and forced herself into the table and the conversation without invitation.

“I see you met my husband in South Africa flying around on the government’s dime,” she said.

“Actually I was flying on my own dime when I met Sam,” I said. Then I added, “All this extra time in Washington is costing the government a lot so I will be able to do a lot more flying,” I said.

“What do you mean?” she asked all surprised.

“My agreement calls for only sixteen hours or two days a week max – for anything over that the government pays ten thousand an hour plus expenses. You have got me here testifying all week,” I said jokingly.

She was all flabbergasted, stuttering and didn’t have a quick comeback.

“Don’t fret, that is only about one – tenth of what it cost for congressional salaries,” I said.

After a few minutes it was easy to see why Sam wanted to be as far away from Washington and her as he could get. I wondered how two so completely oppositely personalities could be married and not be in a continuous brawl. Distance was the only answer.

The congressional side was more of the same, just different people who thought they were important asking the same questions, getting the same answers.

“Four more days of this to go, what a waste,” I thought. But there was a reprieve. Friday morning both the Senate and House finally came to the conclusion that they weren’t going to learn anything new from me by any tactics they tried. The two subpoenas for Friday were withdrawn before we went into the chambers.

Curtis went back to his law practice with one hundred thousand of the government’s money for his time. Andrew and I went back to Section Twelve to catch up on all we had missed, or so I thought. Instead there was a party for us in the White House.

Troy called it a survivor’s party for lasting a week in the hot seats and not killing any of the Congressmen or pissing any of them off. “I know you had to be fighting the temptation,” Troy said.

I was home early enough to sit in on the whole meeting that was now done by division. Then there were the new divisions from Polokwane and Loures teams.

The report from the A team indicated Loures was progressing – in a month they would be ready for the full complement of men and ladies going there. Training would be ready to send the men and ladies there a couple weeks after that.

The B team was at the meeting to give a report. To speed conversations along, the Loures team was known as the A team and Polokwane group as the B team as a way to reduce confusion.

At Polokwane things were finally starting to move. The Cat construction dealer there was aggressive and hungry. The new Grove crane and two forklifts – one of those that the boom just kept extending – big enough to lift a fully loaded shipping container and one that was small enough to carry materials into the big rear door of the C5s were already there along with a medium size bulldozer and two excavators . The bulldozer was preparing spots for the generators, fuel tanks and other equipment to go.

The group of men who had stayed at Polokwane were some of those men that could do just about anything, including operating equipment. All it took was a little direction or a good operator’s manual.

There were piles of heavy timbers at the mines that were going to be used as the base to sit the generators on and for the fuel tanks. Apparently the Saudi’s forgot or could not cancel the contract on the timbers. There were enough for months – maybe year’s worth – piled up. Marcy had canceled the contract until the pile was substantially reduced.

The three generators were going to be delivered the middle of next week and placed on their permanent spot. We had decided on a smaller one to carry the load for the time being with automatic equipment to start the bigger ones and add them online as needed to save fuel.

The diesel tanks were coming on Monday and would be filled with fuel as soon as they were plumbed up on Tuesday. The Cat techs wanted fuel on site before they would hook them up and test run them.

Jake had contacted a high voltage utility contractor in South Africa that had agreed to make the hook-up and cut the SA power company power off. That was better than buying a bucket and line truck and flying trained men there to use them. The company had agreed to meet the Cat techs there and make the changes.

They were going to build a distribution yard so a high-voltage electrical fault in one area would not put the entire complex out of power.

Jake was going to send a group of ten heavy equipment operators to work on the electrical for two weeks to sort things and keep things moving.

The contractor had repaired two of the water wells and was waiting on his big well rig to drill the larger well for the water tower. That was to happen next week.

The water tower had been downsized. They were now going to install multiple one thousand gallon water bladder tanks plumbed in parallel. A water tower – if it happened – would come later. There was a minimum delay of two years after a contract was signed.

By the end of next week the mines could go to whatever production level needed as the employees came back. To my surprise they were coming back much sooner than I expected and more of them.

The complete mix plant and the complete crusher plant along with all equipment to put it in production were arriving in that two week window.

The Air Force was delivering part of the Doppler radar to Morton for us to deliver to Polokwane. We had decided that we would fill out the load with large military surplus tents for some of the people to stay in until the shanty town was rebuilt and also include canned food.

With everything moving forward, I started towards the house through the tunnel. I wanted to stop off and see Robert before he went home and to see him off. He was taking three weeks of badly needed and deserved vacation. One of our G5s was carrying him and his family to Seattle where they were going on a two week Alaskan cruise.

Tom Folsom was filling in for Robert while he was gone. Both of them went through this week’s communiqués from Tiam who was still the poster for General Bashir.

There were the general broadcasts and then there were several directed to the cell in Oklahoma. Their plans were still in the early stages. But they were talking – giving up little things as they did. I thought it was funny that now- on every communiqué – were instructions to stay pure to the cause and to avoid the curse of vile women and drink.

Oklahoma State started its fall semester last week. They started their classes two weeks before Labor Day like many other colleges with big football programs.

Ching Lee had everything that was our college security agreement with Oklahoma State printed out for us to look at as a group. Marcy, Jenny, and Ching Lee had negotiated those contracts. At the time they were made I was too deeply involved in terrorism to be involved.

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“What’s going on?” Anne asked.

I showed her the phone. The congressional people suddenly found some reason to be hanging around.

“Anne, when the other Suburbans get here, you and Andrew are to split up and each take one back to the White House. There is no need of you two being collateral damage if there is an attempt on me. I will ride by myself,” I said.

The court clerk handed me six copies of the judge’s order; typed, written and signed as he spoke it in court. I was reading it when Senator Black stepped beside me.

“Are they after you again?” he asked.

“Chatter is making rounds on terrorist channels. You never know what will happen. It may be nothing but you cannot take chances. Either way it would be best to keep some distance from me in public for a while,” I said.

Agents in tactical gear walked in carrying my heavy armor. ‘It was just too hot to wear this too long,’ I thought as I put it on.

The trip back to the White House was quick and quiet. That meant if the threat was real, it would happen on the way home again.

Anne, Andrew and I met with the President’s inner circle and went over the Harrisburg report one page at a time. I answered a lot of questions and a lot more on the recommendations.

Anne and Andrew were leaving at 0800 for Harrisburg; their meeting was scheduled at 1000.

The press conference and release of the report was also at 1000. Department heads and the congressional committee heads were to receive their copies at 0900.

Andy sent four Suburbans with six of the new graduates from training. They would be leaving in a few days for Europe but today they were in body armor with MP5s slung across their shoulders and fingers on the trigger guard.

The press at the gate knew something was different than this morning. They shot right to the fence and started yelling questions. I didn’t even bother to wave as I was hustled into the SUV.

The ride home was fast. I watched ZNN for their latest take on things. After I left, the White House had released a statement that the final report on Harrisburg was at 1000. They were building up hype for today’s news run. It was politics as usual in the Washington merry go round.

We arrived home without incident, nothing unusual at all. It was a relief but at the same time concerning. Were they trying different communication methods to see if we had broken the codes and were able monitor them?

I headed straight to Robert’s office to find out what was going on. Robert had left for the day but there were several reports in my box and the duty man explained how they had come across the chatter.

It came from a telephone and then a text conversation between the escort group handlers near the Norfolk Navy yard. The time on the call logs indicated the text happened at noon. I wondered how Robert got the active phone conversation.

This would be something new if the EIT group had come up with a way to randomly monitor phones. I knew the NSA had the capabilities but they were not sharing the tech.

One thing that I was certain of is that the terrorists were embarking on a systematic testing of all their communications. They were then waiting to see our reaction to determine if that line of communication had been breached.

I left Robert strict orders that unless there was reliable, indisputable evidence that an attack on the family was imminent, we were to respond in no way publicly.

It was a short meeting with a quick read over things at Polokwane. There was a spreadsheet with material, equipment orders and delivery dates. That list was growing by dozens of lines daily.

Someone had sprinkled outdoor fever dust on my mates. They all wanted to go the gun range and then visit Fort Smith.

I knew what the Fort Smith visit was all about; Jenny let the cat out of the bag. RJ and JJ had been pestering all day to go there. The girls had promised them that I would take them when I got home.

I should have been upset, but it had been a while since I had taken a close look at the fort in a while. It was getting used hard and I wondered how everything was holding up and if repairs were needed.

But first was the gun range even with the two boys, just to see how they would react to the noise. They were still years away from doing any actual shooting. Eventually they would be taught with gun safety being the first and I would insist they show and demonstrate that.

We had practiced that for a while, unless our Glocks were in a holster on our body they were in a locked drawer or the gun safe. The very first safe I had bought and placed in the closet was still the one we were using at home.
The boys behaved well although it was a challenge to get them to wear double hearing protection – the foam ones and the clam shell style over top of them.

We spent over an hour at Fort Smith looking at most things. I was happy that Andy’s group was seeing that everything was kept up. The boys picked up more souvenirs.

Because I was looking at things and places where they normally wouldn’t go, the boys stayed with my every step. Of course the questions never stopped. No wonder my mates wanted them to go with me. Vicky had brought them the other day. They had worn her out with questions and running from one place to the other.

The ride to Washington was as quiet as I expected. A government plane carried Anne and Andrew plus a couple helpers from Andrews Air Force base to Harrisburg International.

I stood with the President, Troy and the Justice Department officials as the spin was put on the Harrisburg investigation. Most of the questions were directed at me for my little caper. The reporters were furious that I would answer no questions about that part of the investigation and all the blackouts on the first few pages.

Anne and Andrew were back long before I went home. Their meeting had gone quite well, especially with the recommendations for multiple agency large scale training exercises. There was to be more cross training between SWAT groups and proper access to excess military equipment, armored HumVees and MRAP light weapons along with extra training on reinforced structures and above all, improved tactics training for large scale operations.

Traffic was a fiasco because of the normal ‘get to the beach’ driving for the weekend. School and colleges would be starting soon, putting pressure to get the family vacations finished. To make matters worse the weatherman had promised sunny, muggy and hot; normal August weather.

The weekend went fast. Saturday was family work time – something that had gotten put off the last few weeks with the rush. We made up for it on Saturday. The house was cleaned from basement to the attic. We carted two truckloads of old clothes, trash, magazines and worn out furniture to the dumpster behind the office.

We had spent money everywhere else on everything for months. It was time to start upgrading where we lived. The girls were going to look for new carpet for the downstairs and upstairs. One of the heat pumps had been repaired twice this summer. We made the decision to replace it with something new and more efficient before winter.

The dredging of the creek behind the house was done with all the shoreline work and the dock completed. We could start looking for a nice sized boat for us to use next year. It was just too late to get one to use this year.
We had a small cookout for just family – my mates and the kids, mom, Dad, Jason, Lisa, Jake and Mindy – on Sunday afternoon. Food, beer and doing just nothing hit the spot.

You never get away without thinking of work just a little or I didn’t. I wondered about Oklahoma State. We supplied their security. Were there any holes in it that needed plugged?

But for now it was still more family time. First was the hot tub and then with the boys in bed, we all retired to the living room for more intimate time and play. It was midnight when we were all too tired to continue. The only thing left was to all of us hitting the showers and smuggling up with our mate.

Morning came way too fast. Sitting in the hot seat was not going to make it any better. The ride again was uneventful and fast.
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After breakfast I put on the best black ladies business suit I had and even applied a little makeup and perfume – something I almost never did.

I carried the only complete paper record of the broken code communiqué we had captured between Tiam and Jaed. Those that Robert had deciphered and I carried to the task force meetings, I collected after they made their way around the table.

The FBI, CIA, DHS and national intelligence all were supposed to be doing their own code breaking. I had no control over them – well maybe I did some but they always seemed to be days late with whatever they did.

The subpoenas were for me – not the agencies – and that only made me think that the congressional people thought I was an easier target. Time would tell. Plus several of the committees that had subpoenaed me had a reputation for leaks to the media.

I was in Section Twelve at 0800 with Anne, Andy, Bob and Troy and explained what was going down today. Troy wanted to know why I had not gone through the normal court process to squash the subpoenas.

“Every time those congressional people come out of the courthouse they will have to have their time in front of the camera, dropping hints and tidbits and trying to cover it with double talk to get more time. Intelligent people and speculating news people will blow the cover away in a matter of time.”

“This court will put an end to all that; it will be a new experience for them,” I said.

I handed Troy two of the Harrisburg reports, “I may have to enter one of these as part of the materials at court. Have the President look it over. When I get back I will go over it with you. Andrew and Anne are going to PA tomorrow to present it and its recommendations to all the participants of the raid tomorrow at 1100,” I said.

A pair of secret service agents drove us to Judiciary Square. Inside the lobby Curtis Warren was waiting. In a private room to the side Anne, Andrew and I went through the papers we had brought one by one.

Then we went through the Harrisburg report. The reason being the first few pages continued the little white lie with a time line with more redacted black ink than visible white paper.

There were dates for the calls to the tip line; the interview session was all blacked out. The placement of the FBI ladies in the establishment and fake reports from those ladies – right up to the last day – were blacked out as well. Everywhere there should have been a name, place or other information that could lead to a real person was blacked out.

“OK, you were certainly consistent. You are going to testify the why and how and the national security need and why it must be kept top secret. You have documents to prove it was successful,” Curtis said.

“You can expect to be aggressively cross examined by the judge. You did bring enough reports for the defendants to review in the discovery process and for the judges to follow along?” Curtis asked.

“Yes on the reports but there is only one copy of the transcripts from the intercepts,” I replied.
The bailiff knocked on the door and told us we could go into the courtroom. They were ready for our hearing; the court would be called to order in ten minutes.

Our cell phones were collected as were any other devices. We went through the scanners and x-ray stations. The Senators, Representatives and their aides were behind us.

I guess they thought they could bring the flunkies with them. They were terribly upset when they were told only the persons named on the subpoenas were allowed; all other persons had to exit the building.

The floor above and below the courtroom had been cleared and closed off to all visitors; only court personnel allowed.

We had to stand when the judges came in. ‘Be seated.’ The bailiff read the docket.

“The Federal Terrorism Court Special case of the United States will come to order. The honorable James Patton is presiding. Case number 18-409 Jones verses the US Congress. All testimony, evidence and rulings in this hearing are Classified under the rules of special court and punishable by a minimum of ten years in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary,” the bailiff said.

There are no deluxe prison cells there I thought to myself.

All of us had to sign secrecy agreements.

“Your honor, the plaintive seeks to have the two subpoena duces tecum overruled under national security interest,” Mr. Warren said.

Curtis gave a lengthy opening statement followed by Holcomb Black for the senate judiciary committee, Albert Palms for the house judiciary committee and finally, Rico Barns for the house domestic affairs committee.

Anne, Andrew and I listened for an hour to legal motions, challenges, objections, previous rulings and legal precedents and so on.

“The Senate and House both have a constitutional responsibility to oversee and demand accountability from federal agencies, even those that have been given special powers to deal with emergencies for the executive branch. The terrorist task force is no exception when criminal activities may have happened.”

“The use of federal agents in nefarious – possible illegal – activities by the task force cannot be overlooked,” Senator Black said.

“Your Honor, the purpose of this hearing is to stop testimony that could and would become public that could do tremendous damage to the security of the United States and the international fight against terrorism by Ambassador Jones.”

“Ambassador Jones is prepared to enter into evidence top secret information that will remove all doubt about the reasons for her actions and the necessity for no disclosure,” Curtis added.

“Your Honor, there can be no evidence that eliminates the responsibility of Congressional over site and the public’s right to know what their government is doing,” Senator Black said.

“Mr. Warren you may call your witness and present your case,” Judge Patton said.

“I call Roberta Jones,” Mr. Warren said.

“State your full name,” the court clerk said.

“Roberta Josephine Jones,” I said.

“Raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?” the court clerk said.

“I do,” I replied.

“The Harrisburg terrorist cell was well trained – its leaders were trained by the IRG with ISIS connections. The cell was controlled by the Iranian Republican Guard intelligence unit first with General Fayeez Mohammad. After his death General Abdalrahman Kedar was named its leader.”

“I pulled a partial dark web address with a partial password from General Mohammed’s body – our experts did the rest,” I said. Another little white lie.

“Prior to getting into the dark web we knew nothing about the activities of the Harrisburg group. It was just recently we learned there are also ten other Iranian controlled groups from that link.”

“What I am saying is we have broken the current secret code that the IRG is using to communicate with the terror cells in the United States.”

“There were no leaks from within the cell. All the information was from the broken codes. We knew that with the Harrisburg raid the code would be changed and we would lose our ability to identify and track the other cells.”

“We were desperate for a way to convince General Kedar he had a leak from the cell and not a code problem. I didn’t think of it until I was on the podium – what better way than the old vices. I just had to make it outlandish enough that the media would take it and run worldwide and do a convincing job.”

“There were no strippers, no strip joints and no FBI agents working there. The media did their thing. General Kedar fell for it. That is why I am asking to have the subpoenas dropped. Any hint or thought that the codes have been compromised or the cover story is false would be a disaster in the fight on terrorism. One that may lead to mass causalities,” I said.

“You removed materials from the General’s body? Just how did you manage that?” Senator Black asked.

“General Mohammad was with the Hezbollah group that attacked my convoy on the Golan – we think as an advisor. You shoot at me – I shoot back. I put a three shot group in his chest and a round between his eyes for good measure,” I said, another little stretch on the truth but I did kill him, just not that way.

“What evidence do you have that the Iranians fell for it?” Senator Black asked.

“They told us so. Mr. Warren, may I have the book please?” I said.

“What book is that?” the judge asked.

“We feel the unencrypted communiqués are so secret and so sensitive there is only one copy and this is it, “I said.

I flipped to the pages and found the two communiqués the day after the raid and removed them.

“Here are the two that indicate he fell for the story,” I said as I handed Judge Patton the two pages where Kedar was railing about his people falling for the oldest vices and demanding purity.

Judge Patton read the two papers then called the Senators and their lawyers and Congressman Palms to the bench to read the two papers.

“Your honor, all this is irrelevant and immaterial. Ambassador Jones killed General Kedar. Surely the codes are useless now,” Senator Black said.

“Your honor, the codes are still active. General Kedar ordered the attack on me in the Golan Heights; he tried it again and I defended myself. We have reason to believe General Kedar was planning dirty bomb attacks as soon as the materials became available from their nuclear program.”

“General Kedar is no stranger to mass murder. During the Iraq and Iran war he ordered dozens of villages and small towns eliminated; even the newly born. I have no doubt he would order dirty bombs used,” I said.

“We simply cannot cause premature failure of the codes by giving them any indication that we know of them.”
“Where is the next target,” Judge Patton asked.

“Kadar’s replacement Major General Adeem Mohamed Bashir has smaller goals. The cell in Oklahoma has been ordered to plan an attack on Oklahoma State University in the fall,” I said.

“The court will take a ten minute recess before I rule on this case,” Judge Patton said.

“Your honor, before you do that there is one more item I would like to bring to your attention. The day of the attack I ordered an investigation because of the number of officers killed and injured. That report has been completed and will be released tomorrow, if the President approves. The first few pages continue the cover story,” I said.

Andrew handed the judge and then the congressional people a copy.

I waited for questions before the judge ordered the recess and went to his chambers. There were none.

The ten minutes seemed like an hour before the judge came back.

“The subpoena duces tecum are overruled and are null and void. I am hesitant to void all the subpoenas although that may be the best way. But it would interfere with the duties of Congress.”

“Therefore the court orders you – Ambassador Jones – are not to answer any questions related to the intelligence gathering leading to the Harrisburg raid. The court will issue an order to that effect.”

“I remind everyone of the secrecy statements you signed. This court will administer only the harshest penalties under the law for violating those oaths,” Judge Patton said.

Andrew collected the reports and I had the communiqués. The bailiff returned our phones. A text alarm went off as soon as I turned the phone on. The message was from Robert. “Picking up chatter – there may be an attack against you today. More as we get it – is not from our normal sources.”

“Andrew, we have a problem. Find the two Secret Service agents and tell them to call the office. We need two more Suburbans and extra agents in body armor with auto weapons and bring my heavy armor from the coat closet,” I said.

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