Bjjonesmylife. Book 2

“The Saudi’s have the former gold and diamond mine property in South Africa listed for sale. Look at the price; that’s one hundred dollars an acre,” Vick’s sticky note said.

Vicky and I had several discussions about the mines while we were waiting those few days for the Prince to arrive and then several more after we saw the gold, diamonds and rubies Crown Prince Sultan al-Zahab had acquired to pay for the Chinese weapons.

There was no way that amount of wealth could be extracted from a depleted mine. He could not remove those kinds of things from the royal treasury without a lot of attention that he would not want. Once they were gone he would have no way to replace them.

At the time I was willing to bet the Crown Prince manipulated production to convince the King to close the mine as not being productive enough to pay the costs. This would allow the Prince to divert the production to fund his terrorist ambitions. It all made sense to me the more I thought about it.

The mine property covered six thousand acres, both mines, all mineral rights and what was left of the airport, the short runway close to the mine, and the town including the hotel where I killed the group of them.

I wondered why they wanted to sell now. Then the thought hit me; the Saudi war in Yemen was not going good for them, much worse than the world knew. The factions they were supporting had stalled in their offense because their arch enemy Iran was aggressively supporting the other side.

Iran had sent them missiles and now an occasional missile was falling in the homeland. Oil prices were down so oil revenue was down and the cost or running a proxy war was always high.

Saudi Arabia was a unique country, rich in history. For centuries nomads roamed the desert and ruled by terror, controlling the trade routes and oasis water. Then they were controlled by various European and Asian powers, the Assyrians , Medes, Achaemenids, Romans, Turks, Mongols, the Ottoman dynasty, the French and finally the British.

Then along came more powerful sheikhs with bigger following of cut-throats and forced the nomad tribes to join or die and eventually forced an end to colonial rule and declared a king. To maintain power the King collected taxes, bribes and blackmail to generate revenue that was divided among the nomad tribes.

Then came the massive oil revenue money that flowed in buckets, needing to be divided. The solution to the division of the money and keeping the nomads in line was a process of naming royal princes, princes and other delegations, nominally buying loyalty. This process ate hundreds of billions of dollars. With declining oil revenues and the proxy war, the royal reserves were being depleted at an alarming rate. Then the King died, internal power struggles grew tremendously and became the norm.

Now the kingdom was struggling internally and the heirs to the throne were resorting back to the old ways. Princes and their following were being charged with corruption and other offences that carried long prison terms or the death penalty, some simply disappeared.

It was under this cloud that the power struggle cultivated support for the proxy war as a distraction and to unify. Proxy wars were never won, always ending in stalemates unless you were willing to commit your own troops and overwhelming firepower.

The house of Saud was not going to commit troops. The nomads may have pledged loyalty but there were still deep seated resentments against the house that fighting and dying would bring out.

It had become a quagmire and was eating funding, creating the need to unload anything not needed and a dead mine surely was not needed. They were being sneaky about it by selling it through a third party broker and listed by the original mine name.

Six million was chicken feed if it turned out it could be even a marginal mine and paid its way. Worst case scenario – it could be a hole in the ground. Even a hole in the ground had uses. I had several in mind if it went that way.

Paying for it with some of their own money I had stolen would be a riot. I had Lorrie contact the broker for information. I had Marcy call Jeanna to find someone who could do a survey and geological study of the mine and its continued viability. I called Jake to see if he was interested in surveying the equipment, if it came to that.

After that there were discussions about the air show in two weeks. I was surprised that there were several local organizations that wanted to participate.

We were advertising free hot dogs, but the local fire department ladies auxiliary, the local VFW and the Foreign Legion wanted to have food booths with crab cakes, hamburgers, cheese burgers, corn on the cob and a dozen more carnival type dishes.

The ice cream shop in town wanted a hand dipped ice cream booth, just to name one.

July was also recruitment month for the local National Guard; they also had asked for a spot for a booth. Lorrie had a number for the commander of the barracks on the Denton highway.

“Good afternoon Major Scott, Ambassador Jones; I understand you want a booth at the air show?” I asked.
“Yes, I talked with Lorrie, is there problem?” Scott replied.

“No problem at all, I just wondered if you would like to spice things up a little,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“I am assuming that you have plenty of blanks for the M60 and M16 that your men could use for a demonstration. We have several late Viet Nam era Hueys that still have army markings on them. Find a few villains and have the helicopters drop a few of your men into a fire fight with blanks and then your men man the booth.”

“When I was a youngster Dad carried me and a couple friends to a open house at the armory. They even let us fire a machine gun with blanks – that was the thrill of the summer,” I said.

“I will have to check on it and let you know, you know all about how the chain of command works,” he replied.

Don’t forget I sit across the meeting table with the top links in that chain most every day. If you have any trouble give ma a call I can give that chain a tug if necessary,” I said.

Marcy’s meeting was enlightening; the weather had been good and was predicted to be a dry month. Not good for farmers but great for construction. The pipes from Qtown were ahead of schedule and gaining.

The contractor putting in the pipes had rented one of those new super sized trenchers. It cut a trench wide enough for both pipes at the same time as fast as the men could walk. It was GPS controlled – it was on grade with the engineer’s specs on the first pass.

The same was true with the truck stop and dealership but then Bob’s construction had so many sub-contractors on site they were nearly bumping into one another.

Tuesday I did not go Washington; I let Ben deal with the fiasco that was Washington. I did call and tell him that I was flying to Harrisburg Wednesday to watch the raid on Avon Heights and offered seats on the helicopter.

After a few minutes of thought I called Lorrie and ordered a second helicopter with pilot, copilot and two crewmen sent to Harrisburg International tomorrow morning.

Andy, Vicky and I spent the next three hours on a VCATS call to Biff and Ed. Four of the ministers were making changes so that JBG security could move into the guest cottages. That transition should happen in the next couple days for them. The others would be in place by the end of the week.

Lorrie had another flight to Turkey on Thursday with the C5 that we were going to utilize to drop off the rest of the armored Suburbans and cases of equipment needed in Portugal to set up communications.

Somehow all of this was going to work out but the ride was not going to be a smooth one.

It was nearly 1600 when Ben called; Jaed had rented a box truck from Pennsylvania Truck Leasing and Rentals to be picked up tomorrow morning. They were the International truck dealer for the Harrisburg area.

To finish out the day I made a stop in Roberts’s office for an update. Jaed and Tiam had just finished a conversation on the dark web site confirming what we already knew and then a few more.

Jaed and the group were setting the timers on the bikes Wednesday morning and then loading them in the truck. Their plan was to deliver them to the water park. They would be placed on various bike stands in the fireworks viewing area starting at noon on the Fourth.

“The General kept another appointment, this time to Iraq. TV stations and papers reported on his visit,” Robert said.

“OK,” I replied.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.

When we stopped at the White House the media was crowed at the gate shouting questions. I just waved as I went into the side door. I went straight to Section Twelve.

The table was full; the only ones not there were Troy and the President. I guess everyone wanted to see and hear what my position on the impending fiasco was.

“The last few days have been busy, filled with earth shattering changes that are just beginning,” then I changed the subject.

“What’s the latest on Harrisburg? It looks to me like they have possibly moved all the bikes to the farm. Do you have the 0800 pictures yet?” I asked.

“What have you noticed about there being anything different in the farm pictures in the last few days?” I asked.

The conversation about the pictures lasted ten minutes before I opened my portable office, placed the pictures from last Wednesday and yesterday on the table and pointed to what they were missing.

A much larger conversation on if they suspected their cover was blown or a final stand ensued.
“Ben – have you had someone looking at all the credit cards issued and used in the Avon Heights zip code in the last six months?” I asked.

“No – why do you want that?” Ben responded.

“I am kind of interested what they have been buying. More importantly, what have they been having delivered,” I said.

“Get somebody to UPS, FedEx and the USPS to see what they have been having delivered and from who in the last six months. Check all credit cards in the zip for the same reason and have them flag all purchases for the next few days. Have them send a report every hour. You want to know if they have rented any trucks or private aircraft charters,” I said.

“We have identified four men at each machine shop that are on the watch list. They have been seen in the surveillance video helping Jaed and at the barn,” Ben said.

“We have voice recordings from the machine shops and cell phone conversations that indicate their plan is to carry all the bikes to the park on Wednesday afternoon.”

“They are planning to use the distraction and confusion of getting the fireworks and viewing stands set up to get the bikes in place. You may be right that they are going to rent a larger truck.”

“We will watch the comings and goings at Avon Heights and make plans to raid the barn and the machine shops Wednesday at noon unless something dictates we go sooner. I will notify the SWAT teams I want to participate to be ready to go at 1000,” Ben said.

I nodded my approval as I packed up my things to leave. I was going to stop by the Oval Office on my way to the IRS.

“We were wondering when you were going to stop by,” Troy said as he handed me a list. The list contained six more Senators and eight Representatives that had their accounts seized this morning by the IRS.

Hap had sent me the email Friday that it was going to happen this morning.

“You can’t say they weren’t warned,” I said. “There will be more tomorrow,” I added.

“Did you see the report on delinquent funds recovered? Five hundred million a day over normal revenue deposits,” I said.

“The phone banks are setting record call volumes for non tax season,” I added.

“Congress is getting miffed; some of them are calling for your removal,” the President said.

“Wait until after the 5th. I have approved some changes in the tax rules to the way the TV and movie industry get to calculate profits that will add substantial tax revenue by ending their creative accounting procedures for production and syndication cost and profits.”

“The letters notifying the studios of the change have been mailed, wait for them get to them so they can vent at me and not the new commissioner,” I said.

“By the fifth the rest of the Congressional delinquents will be served,” I said.

“Is the task force going to be able to stop the Harrisburg thing?” the President asked.

“Life is never a sure thing but I feel confident it will be brought to a satisfactory conclusion by late Wednesday afternoon,” I replied.

“I’m going over to the IRS building then I’m going home, I have a conference call from the Pact nations at noon,” I said.

“I understand there are several more EU nations wanting into the Pact,” Troy said.

“There are provisions for that to happen on page two,” I replied.

“You have a photographic memory?” Troy asked.

“No, I have an administrator’s copy of the Pact documents for when the memory fails,” I replied.

“How many men are you going to hire for the security contract?” Troy asked.

“One sixty for sure for Portugal – possibly three times that – maybe more depending on developments in the next few days,” I replied.

“I wouldn’t count your chickens before they hatch, the EU is backtracking today on key provisions of their charter that were previously unchangeable. Those in control are suddenly open to modification and updating key portions that divided the members,” the President said.

“Makes you wonder if they think I could be used as a pawn,” I replied.

“That might have a tendency to piss me off, bad things have been known to happen to people that do that,” I replied as I stood to leave.

I went over to the IRS building. Hap was walking towards me as I opened my office door. My desk had several neat stacks of paper with sticky notes. One note said ‘Needs your signature at the arrows’ the other, ‘Please read and suggest plan of action’. Susan was living up to her reputation as a capable and qualified executive secretary.

Hap looked over my signatures and filled me in on the last few days while I was away.

“The last of the Congressional people that fit the criteria that you requested will be served Wednesday morning. Where do you want us to go from there?” he asked.

“Drop the amount from ten million to five million, start on the hill and this time expand it to all employees first then everyone else,” I said.

“I anticipate that I will be out of this job in a week or so. The necessity of me being here should come to a climax Wednesday or Thursday.”

“If I have any input I will recommend you for the job. In the Congressional hearings blame me for all the grief of the collections,” I said as I stood to leave.

My new security crew was waiting as the secret service dropped me back at the White House; so was the media at the fence. They had seen my Suburbans park in the parking lot and knew I was soon leaving.

That was something I was going to change as soon as we were back at the office. It was a slip up that could not be tolerated.

I was back at the office and in the command center. I opened the link to Premier Cordeiro. Biff had set up the VCATS using his laptop and camera with the satellite link.

“Two more countries have asked to join the Pact and two more are in discussions. Will adding these countries create any hardship on your existing plans?” Premier Cordeiro asked.

“No – it will be an added contract and fees. Have you determined the financial arrangements for the Pact? Specifically are you going to create your own financial structure or use the existing EU arrangement?” I asked.

“We will be starting our own joint banking system. That was the first thing the EU did while trying to leverage us to drop the Pact. They were shutting off our ability to carry out international transactions through their system. We knew they would so we were prepared for that.

“The decision on a central bank, location and what will be the Pact currency will happen in the next few days.”

After the conversation I felt much better as I made my way to Marcy’s meeting. As I started looking through the papers that had been placed for me to look at, I noticed one of them was a page from an international commercial property sales group with a note on it from Vicky.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.

Book 2 Chapter 32
We were three hours late leaving Lisbon; the six leaders had spent the night as guests of Premier Cordeiro and wanted another meeting with Vicky and me.

Fifteen more pages of notes, another list of requests for the Pact plus the request for urgency in completing some of the requested task was going to keep JBG busy as hell.

I wanted to nap on the flight home but that wasn’t going to be the case.

Ed and Biff stayed with the Lisbon group; there was just too much going on for one supervisor to handle with the sixty people there.

Andy was with us. I wanted him to be on hand for the Harrisburg thing; he could fly back to Lisbon with several men from the EIT group to get things rolling.

For the seven hours the three of us brainstormed ideas and put them in an outline form. There were so many pieces, that was the only way we were going to keep it straight.

I did not have time to dwell on this; from Morton we were going straight home. I needed to look at four days of complete reports from Robert instead of a few highlights.

Monday was decision day for Harrisburg and I wanted to be prepared.

We were one hundred miles out when Marcy sent a text, “Your welcoming committee has been waiting for hours, and the restaurant has sold buckets of coffee.”

When the plane taxied to a stop I understood the welcoming committee; it was a media frenzy. I expected one or two not dozens; every major news outlet was there on the viewing area in front of the terminal building.

Jenny called while the plane was approaching the terminal and gave me the highlights.

We let Hanna and Melinda be the first ones off so they could get set up to do a report with the other news groups. Vicky and I waited until we were the last persons off the plane.

My mates met us at the plane steps. We were attacked by two little boys. Every time I was away from them for a few days I was amazed at how much they had seemed to grow and learn.

I squatted so I could be at their level for hugs and kisses. After the welcome they wanted to help with my bags. With the handle all the way out I leaned my portable office over so they could pull it along. With a little guidance each took a side and pulled it towards the terminal building.

It was time for the walk to the terminal to face the music and let the questions begin.

“Ambassador Jones – the EU chief prosecutor is demanding that you be arrested and extradited to Brussels to face charges for conspiracy, espionage, violation of international noninterference laws and other crimes against the EU. Do you have any comment?”

“This is the first I have heard of this but I think they will have a long wait on their hands,” I replied.
“There will certainly be a lot of time-consuming legal maneuvering before that happens,” I added.
The EU had gone into a frenzy after we left Portugal.

I wondered why I had heard nothing about this from the White House. They were either busy doing behind the scenes damage control or just letting Europe vent steam until they simply ran out of it.

Either way the international lawyers were going to be busy Monday.

“On today’s news shows Senators and Representatives from both sides are demanding Congressional investigations into your trip and all contracts. Some are demanding that you be removed from your position in the White House given the events and the EU charges. Do you have a response?” the reporter asked.

“Well I am over worked and under paid; that would help with the over worked part of the equation,” I replied.
“Are there substantial contracts for JBG when the dust has settled and how will they affect JBG operations in the county?” another asked.

“The answer to the first part is yes – multiple contracts for the security division and there will be more. JBG has and is expanding; these new contracts will require more expansion sooner and faster,” I said.

“That’s all the time I have, I still have to deal with that work load we talked about for a few more days. Plus I have to prepare for the hot seat on Monday, asbestos jeans might be proper attire for the day,” I said.

Family time was first then I would go check my box in the EIT room. Family time lasted the rest of the afternoon and into early evening with a light supper at home. I spent quality time with the boys and held the little ones.
Vicky gave out all the souvenirs she had brought back; in a way I felt bad that I had not been able to go shopping and vowed that I would on the next trip.

There were brief discussions about the contracts and the JBG involvement in NMITC.

There were hours of news broadcast that my mates had recorded about the Portugal trip. I fast forwarded through most of it and listened to the highlights. There was very little I did not know, only the things with the EU that happened while we were flying home.

I didn’t get to Roberts office; with the little ones in bed my mates and I became intimate. It was time for some serious affection that all of us needed.

I was sitting in Roberts’s office reading the reports from Harrisburg when he came in. Lots of progress had been made while I was gone. While I was reading I had Cindy make copies of all the contracts and the Pact agreement for me, then placed the originals on Jenny’s desk so she could start the processes that needed to happen. I would carry copies in my portable office today.

For two days in a row there had been several trips each day to the two machine shops to move bikes to Avon Heights. From the number of bikes seen in the pictures I was sure they had most if not all of the bikes moved to the barn.

At the barn there were changes – looking at just today’s pictures it was hard to notice. But go back three or four days and compare; it was obvious.

All old Amish farms had multiple buildings separated by distance – always at least seventy five feet – and more if the building was important or housed things that easily burned like hay or straw.

This was a fire prevention thing; if one building caught on fire there was enough separation that only that one building burned to the ground and not all the farm buildings. It was an Amish building tradition carried on today.

As modern farming grew, buildings often become large enough to house everything needed to farm. Many had a lean-to attached to often three sides making use of the bigger building as part of the structure. A fire in one of these buildings usually meant that a farmer lost most of his machinery and other equipment.

Outside most of the separated buildings piles of dirt were appearing and growing. Next to the barn were more piles of dirt that were also growing.

The first story of those barns was usually the milking parlor and the second story of the barn was the hay loft. Both had new square holes cut along the ends and sides. I could see shiny new hinges attached to the fresh cut boards.

It only took a glance to know what they were doing – they were fortifying the barn and digging tunnels to those out buildings. Since there was no mention in Ben’s updates I was getting, I wondered if anyone else had noticed it. And then I asked myself “Why not?”

Since the invention of aerial photography intelligence had been comparing today’s pictures to last week’s, to last month’s, to last year’s pictures. That was how they caught the Soviet missiles being placed in Cuba and the North Korean and Iranian missile expansions.

Surely someone on the committee was comparing these. With NSA and CIA people on the task force it should have been routine. Why bother taking hourly pictures if you were not.

At first I wondered if the group suspected we were watching them and preparing for a final fight. The other thing could be that they knew if they were successful we would eventually connect the dots to them, leading to a final fight.

When I questioned Robert about the messages between Jaed and Tiam, there was nothing that stuck out.

What did stick out were messages from the General Kedar referencing the new contacts in Paris and the new Pact Nations. There was a lengthy discussion among several posters about the news conference on the steps of the palace.

General Kedar – being his usual arrogant dominating self – was livid that all these things had been done and escaped outing by the Iranian spy ring in Paris.

To improve the intelligence gathering in France he was sending agents to work with Fatin Bashir at the Paris Mosque and the ISIS contact Butros Tayfur in the Paris training site.

In his furry about the intelligence failure Kader had thrown caution to the wind and used their names in the encrypted post. We now had names for two Iranian spies in France. More importantly, we had the name of the ISIS contact.
Like it or not I climbed into the Suburban in the covered parking garage, a change in routine driven by security and was carried to 1600 Penn Ave. Let the fun begin! I was multitasking; reading and digesting the papers from my box and listening to the news as we went.

The Pact Nations and fallout from my trip was still page one news.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.

When everyone was seated, Premier Cordeiro passed out a ringed folder to everyone including me.

‘The Northern Mediterranean National Immigration and Terrorism Control Pact’.

“I asked Ambassador Jones to be here and act as impartial moderator and chairperson as we finalize this document. I also believe she can help develop the organizational structure and its goal. I think we all know that Ambassador Jones will not hold back her opinion and thoughts,” Premier Cordeiro said.

I moved to the chair at the head of the table and then suggested that we read each page and discuss the changed paragraphs; those changes had been marked. After the paragraph marked was the new paragraph in bolder print in its new corrected form. I started reading the page out loud.

As I started the first page I had a flash, ‘I am in so deep that a deep ocean research submersible won’t be able to find me.”

1 ‘The purpose of this Pact is to create a unified response to the uncontrolled migration of immigrants from Africa and Middle East and prevent/eliminate terrorism in the member countries of this pact.’

2 ‘The members of this pact are Portugal, Spain, Italy, Albania, Bulgaria, France and Greece. Other members may only be added by unanimous vote from members.’

3 ‘The members of this pact have agreed on a one year total ban on new immigration effective at midnight tonight.’

4 ‘All migrants entering the member countries shall be returned to their home countries within forty eight hours by best means possible.’

5 ‘All immigrants currently waiting in the camps shall have ninety days to find permanent host countries. Failure to do so will result in deportation.’

6 ‘All funding and payments for placements, living and housing stipends are frozen.’

They were removing the freebies attracting immigrants. There were several countries in northern Europe that did not have immigration problems because they gave no freebies. The immigrants did not want to go where they had to find jobs and pay their way immediately. The EU was trying everything – including massive fines – to force those countries to take their share of immigrants and provide those freebies, without success.

One by one, countries were getting tired of the EU dictating the makeup of their population and demanding they pay for the liberal ideas of a few.

7 ‘All current stipends for current immigrants granted residency permits will be reduced by fifty percent at the one year mark end eliminated at the second year mark.’

8 ‘All immigrants will be subjected to more stringent requirements for residency permits.’

9 ‘Immigrants with unknown backgrounds, criminal records, members of any organizations or association with any group or individual on the terrorist list shall be immediately deported.’

10 ‘All immigrants arrested, tried or convicted for any crime for a period of ten years shall be deported.’

11 ‘Prior to the end of the one year moratorium, unified policies and procedures shall be developed and implemented to complete a standardized immigration policy among the members of this pact.’

At the end of the first page I asked, “Are there any objections or changes to the first page?” There were none, so I went on to the next.

There were fifty pages to this document and I read all of them out loud and checked them off as approved.
The last twenty pages were dedicated to the fight on terrorism and it was a much more aggressive stance than the EU or even the US had discussed.

1 ‘Terrorism shall be given a top priority to members of this pact.’

2 ‘ The members of this pact shall develop an anti- terrorism task force that unites the efforts of all members under one control, respectively alternating the chair position between the members each year.’

I could just imagine Central America wanting to be part of an anti terrorist force with the US and wanting rotating control.

3 ‘ The task force shall develop an intelligence operation independent of Interpol and the EU’s alert system.’

4 ‘The task force shall develop a unified force to respond to terrorism threats among the member states with impunity.’

5 ‘Changes to judiciary principals between member states shall be implemented to allow uniformity in prosecution and sentencing. Those changes shall allow members of the anti-terrorism unit to travel between member countries without restriction or delay.’

6 ‘ The task force shall develop and train a force capable of international missions to deter, thwart and intercept terrorist attacks against member nations.

‘Damn, a 007 group with license to kill,’ I thought.

It was well past midnight when we finished; there were eight completed copies coming off the printers.

There were general discussions while we were waiting for the final approved version to be printed off.

I was floored when the cover sheet was printed; there was a place for me to sign confirming the authenticity of the document and the unanimous decision of the pact signatories and as administrator. I really did not expect that; did it connect me in a legal way to this process and document? No doubt.

Then came the next surprise in an open conversation. They wanted JBG to supply technical guidance on the makeup of the intelligence section, and supply training at Fort Smith for their teams, including the 007 teams. They wanted the training done at an independent unbiased location outside of Europe, given current European tensions.

Washington was going to have a fit, I would bet on it. And it would not register on the Richter scale to what the EU was going to say. Their beloved Interpol had just been taken a broadside from a destroyer.

Their major ‘carved in stone’ open immigration policy and achievements had taken a full salvo from the New Jersey’s nine guns with general purpose shells. With the rumblings from other EU members it would surely sink the EU policy in its present form and possibly the EU itself would not survive. This was not one nation as in Brexit, but 7 nations united.

The EU leadership had crushed any opposition to their policies with a heavy fist. This was a quarter of their member nations revolting without gunfire as of yet.

The United Nations was going to have a fit as well, now that many aspects of the committees were controlled by Muslims or Muslim aligned countries and they were pushing for open immigration. I fully expected the UN to deny the Pact recognition and begin a punishment process.

The secret invasion of non-Muslim countries in Europe had started quietly decades ago and now was in full force under the cover of refuges escaping war and famine. A crisis caused by the major Muslim powers as part of the grand plan.

The free flow of invaders into Europe would be halted. The very thing that this pact was going to end was a major road block in the grand plan. That plan was obvious to anyone willing to open their eyes.

Millions of Muslim refugees weren’t going to Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Jordan or United Arab Emigrates; the wealthiest countries in the region with kindred religion, customs and language. The explanation was clear if you had any knowledge of history and an open mind.

What would Turkey do? If this pact held, Turkey was the only route and this pact had just isolated most of Turkey. It made a smuggler’s paradise across the Black Sea the only way and Turkey was a pro at the smuggling business from the beginning of time.

With the media called into the media room I played them MC again and read a quick hand written announcement, then called the men to the table to sign each of the eight documents. I signed all of them as well.

The next round of documents signed were a general agreement for JBG to supply training and communications for the pact with details to be worked out in 14 days. That agreement carried approval for all JBG security to carry and possess any and all firearms and equipment we felt necessary to provide security in the seven countries. Even more important, it exempted JBG from customs inspections and delays.

Marcy, Jason, Jenny, Curtis Warren, Howard, Fine and Howard were going to be flying to Italy to formalize the contracts; they just did not know it yet. Italy was going to be the temporary central location for all things with the pact.

Then all those VIPs gave speeches celebrating the great achievement and patting each other on the back for their commitment to the member nations.

After a round of very expensive champagne and more photographs we called it an evening. We were carried back to the hotel. As soon as the door closed on the Suburban Gordon handed me my phone back, “It has not stopped vibrating,” he said as I locked my copy of the agreement in my portable office.

“When did the White House get my phone number?” Vicky asked, “The President wants you to call right away.”
I had been so busy I had not thought about the time difference. The signings and statements were prime time news. Melinda’s broadcast of the event was carried live as well as her questions . She asked a lot of pointed questions, her Washington political experience showed at this level.

It was going to suck to be me for the next few days. I could just imagine how many subpoenas I would get from Congress next Monday.

I had my Suburbans diverted to the US embassy instead of the motel and went directly into the MTAC room with Ambassador Taylor following.

Troy and Dick James were with the President when their screen answered my page.

“I see you added one more day to your quest to piss off the rest of the world,” the President said.

“Better pissed off than pissed on – I have heard – and that has never been a fantasy of mine,” I replied.

“Just how did you manipulate yourself to be the spokesperson for that group tonight?” Dick asked.

“They came to me to me during the social hour with the request,” I said.

“It seemed innocent enough just to be moderator during the final negotiations. Plus I viewed it as gathering intelligence,” I added. “After that was when it got complicated!”

“Looks like JBG is going to pick up a lot more contracts; they want their advance training done at Fort Smith and the gun range plus they want JBG to set up their communications and command system. I gather they want it independently developed. I suspect there is still a little skepticism and lack of full trust,” I said.

“You do know what the EU is going to say. They have already announced a statement to be delivered Monday,” Dick said.

“They are prepared and have a joint response ready. I suspect they will give the EU an option; accept it or bye – bye,” I said.

“Do you realize what you are saying? Dick asked.

“Yes I do, there will be a political crisis in Europe and a major realignment of potential friends and allies. Are you ready to take advantage of it? I am. I have been working JBG into a position to do that,” I replied.

“I thought the CIA was the only one that wanted to start revolutions and civil wars. Who gave you lessons?” the President asked.

“When are you coming back?” Troy asked.

“Tomorrow morning, before noon,” I replied as I signed off.

Tomorrow morning was going to be crazy with sixty of my group changing hotels, getting everything off the plane they needed. Biff received his second promotion in thirty days.

The helicopters were already in the hangar waiting to be picked up, unless the Premier decided he wanted one or two to stay. Or the security group wanted them to stay to move among the NMNITCP (Northern Mediterranean National Immigration and Terrorism Control Pact) countries. That was a mouthful I was quickly going to shorten that down to the (Pact). From there the little things were going to drive everyone crazy.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.

Saturday morning was laid back; no early appointments. My entire security group had an extended breakfast and discussed the events of the day.

Vicky and I were going to sign the contracts with Premier Cordeiro at noon in the palace in front of the cameras. Melinda and Hanna had front row spots in the media section.

At four we had an appointment with the royal hairdresser, then we were dressing.

The rest of the time we were spending in either the motel or at the US embassy that was not far away. Since this was the last full day here I instructed Andy to let the men and ladies have some time off to go sightseeing or to get souvenirs to take home. But they were to stay in groups.

The next discussion with Andy and Biff finished up – one we had started yesterday. The eight Suburbans were staying and after Andy talked to the men and ladies, sixty of the eighty were staying along with Biff until we filled all the positions with permanent employees.

They were going to be staying in a motel Marcy had found that was connected to one of the chains that gave us great discounts. The search was on for a place that we could lease or buy for housing. But that was going to have to wait until the permanent staffing was completed.

With a housing allowance some may decide to buy property and move here with their families, although I would never recommend that.

The men we were taking back were members of the special OPS team and my personal bodyguards.

Monday the search would begin in earnest for the security detail. Mischief and Mayhem had started on that yesterday.

At 1000 Jenny called with the final report from Howard – Howard and Fine, our corporate lawyers, and then a file containing the contract so that we could compare the documents to make sure that there had been no changes of language before signing.

At noon – with the cameras rolling and flashes glowing – Vicky and all the dignitaries signed the documents. I stood back and watched and then listened as Vicky took questions and held her own against experienced reporters and made the corporate statement.

What I would find out in a few minutes was ZNN cut into their normal programming and carried the signing live, including the after signing, hand-shaking and politicking.

Melinda, with the assistance of the local ZNN reporter gave an analysis of the summit, it’s possible effects on the local political landscape and a survey that the local papers had taken. She also added what local political pundits were saying. I guess they thought it was important. Maybe it was just a slow ass news day in ZNN land?

What was important was the free publicity that JBG was expanding our international security reach. The terrorism summit opened doors and this was likely to kick it into high gear. Already there were calls to the office seeking conversations and requests for terrorism summits.

One was from Canada – unusual because ‘we love diversity’ – Canada had routinely denied they had or were concerned or had issues about terrorism or terrorists.

After we finished Marcy, Jenny, Ching Lee and Lorrie did a live broadcast to all JBG sites from the office announcing the contract and a few details about the expansion for the security department.

Monday morning all JBG security personnel would get an email job location offer to fill the Portugal jobs. By allowing embassy security to move around it kept fresh eyes in the locations and broke the boredom. It also broke up things that could set up a routine that could prove deadly.

At 1600 we showered and we went to the palace hair dresser to get a style appropriate for a state dinner.

At 1700 we were back in the room to get dressed. All the clothes were placed on the bed in the order I was going to put them on. I was just stripping when there was a knock on the door. It was Hanna – fifteen minutes early – with Melinda tagging along.

Hanna was going to take pictures tonight of Vicky and me and send them to the family at home, starting with us getting dressed. She was early – oh well, she had seen us naked in the gym showers hundreds of times. Melinda – well, she would now.

First was the new bullet resistant top and underwear for both Vicky and I and then the thigh holsters, the new smaller lady’s Glock that fit perfectly in it and finally the dress.

“You’re even packing heat to an event like this?” Melinda asked.

“Never let your guard down; that’s what assassins wait for,” I replied.

Melinda became a helper with the flowing dresses, helping us get properly positioned in them.

She was also looking a labels, talking out loud. “A Rachael Gilbert evening gown, very nice.” After the dresses were situated and adjusted Melinda started passing jewelry. Hanna moved in to take close ups of the jewelry.

“A Jaeger LeCoultre Rendez-Vous Tourbillion watch that’s top of the line. I like the look, but at three hundred thousand that’s above my income,” Melinda said.

As she picked up the bracelet for my left arm, “Now this is unusual. I never saw anything like this.”

Vicky walked over to explain, “It is solid gold from our gold mine, 99.9 % pure. The row of birth stones in the center on this side are our birthstones, the four on the other side are our children’s birth stones and the two rows of diamonds on each side of the birthstones came from our diamond mine. They are two carats each; there are twenty four on each bracelet.

“The only difference is the placement of the birth stones so we know who the bracelet belongs to. We had six of them made, one for each of us,” Vicky said as she winked at me.

The look on Melinda and Hanna’s face was priceless. So that’s what the girls had nicknamed the room in the basement where the Princes bounty was kept – that and the cash from all of our illicit foreign endeavors – ‘the mine’. I fought to keep the chuckle to myself although I did shake my head a little.

The final piece was the necklace and after the explanation for the bracelet, the only thing Melinda said was, “Very nice.”

There was another knock on the door, this time it was Gordon and Sid. They were early but we were ready for Hanna to take pictures to send to the girls tonight.

A dozen photos later Andy carried us along with Hanna and Melinda back to the palace to walk the red carpet into the palace with all the other dignitaries. There was an abundance of cameras.

Taping the red carpet welcome was as far as any of the reporters could go, including Hanna and Melinda. Inside only the official palace photographer was allowed.

The leaders of other five scheduled countries pulled up as my security pulled away. Then two more – the leaders of France and Greece arrived. We met on the red carpet for the sake of the media. This was the first that the world knew the leaders were to be here.

Gordon was carrying my cell phone in one of the pockets of his tux. As soon as we were inside he handed it to me. I had set it on vibrate so as not to disturb.

It was Troy, “Just what the hell is going on there? You might be stepping on some toes mingling with that level of dignitaries. Did you know they were coming?” he said.

“I’m kind of rusty with my dancing so I’m sure I will – poor Gordon. I found out a couple days ago there may be some guests,” I text back.

Inside the first hour was social hour; everyone was nursing drinks. With Gordon on my arm or close by I carried the same martini around for twenty minutes before I could dispose of it. Vicky and Sid were following my example. The last thing I wanted was to be tipsy for the events that were coming.

I smiled, posed for the photographer with everyone there, and talked – even getting to use my Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and French several times – very carefully I must add as I made the rounds. I had a good time in the social event with a lot of interesting side conversations. I know Vicky did as well; she and Sid were always surrounded and in conversation without a break.

The meal was exquisite with a variety of dishes available; steak, lobster, pasta, salads, fish and many more. Too many to sample and that did not count vegetables and dessert.

There was an hour and thirty minutes of dancing and then the waiter delivered a note to go to rear of the hall to the meeting room off to the left of the kitchen. The leaders received the same note from the waiter. Premier Cordeiro was already at the table.

“Have Hanna and Melinda wait, I don’t know how long this may take. It may go possibly to morning, but I am sure there will be a major news conference at the end.”

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.

“Good afternoon Mr. President, Troy, how is the weather in Washington this afternoon?” I asked.

“The weather is great, but on the other hand there is a political storm brewing.”

“I got word that the IRS seized the assets of Senator Waxdeller last night. The Senate is unhappy and the rain clouds are growing,” the President said.

“You will have plenty of grounds to replace me as IRS commissioner on the fifth; by then the thirty six other delinquent Senators and Representatives will have their assets seized. Have Harry give a reminder in his press briefing that all it takes to stop the seizures is a phone call and a payment agreement if you owe back taxes.”

For the next hour I filled the two in on the JBG contract with Portugal, as a common courtesy. I was sure it would hit the news cycle Sunday morning, if not before. The official announcement and signing was going to be filmed Saturday morning before the State dinner.

Vicky did not know it yet but she was going to be the on camera as JBG’s signor for the document. I was going to sign off camera.

We were up early, had breakfast early and were early at the Portugal National Police Training Center. A few of the local media were already there but were not expecting us to arrive so early so they were unprepared.

Hanna and Melinda – on the other hand – were given a few minutes head start to arrive before us and were ready to roll as soon as we stepped out of the SUV.

Howie and his group of helpers were already there performing the last walk through before the attendees arrived. A quick check myself and I was satisfied.

The arriving participants had to deal with the gauntlet of reporters at the entrance to the training center after they had missed Vicky and me going in, they were not going to let anyone get by them now.

All of visitors had tipped off their own local media to get the best PR they could. Politics was politics everywhere in the world.

After a sign in sheet, name tags, and introductions, we began the program. Every device we had seized from every terrorist, every terrorist camp, every terrorist group that we had raided and every terrorist device that had been used in the wars in the Middle East war was discussed. The plans and blueprints we had also found in them and on the general net were discussed.

There was a lengthily discussion about the new household chemical mixes to make explosives and poison gasses that was hitting the internet.

The display tables had examples of each one as a complete product and disassembled for the attendees to view.
The discussion covered homemade devices we had found and the conversion of military shells as well as the practice of taking the high explosive RDX from shells to make other explosive devices.

There were reports from Iraq that the Iraq army had found over one thousand 155mm projectiles that had been emptied of the explosive after ISIS ran out of the powder bags and shells to shoot the projectiles through the howitzers in the final days. It was feared that the RDX had found its way into Europe with the refugees.

Howie gave descriptions and specifications of countermeasures that worked, if there were any. Howie had done testing of every device, built devices using captured plans or copying seized units – sometimes many of them – while searching for any possible countermeasure.

There were a few success stories from all the testing. Howie had found a countermeasure for the mobile IEDs that we had found in West Virginia that could have been so deadly.

That countermeasure consisted of metal shields that were folded down from underneath by air cylinders on all four sides, anytime the SUV came to a stop. Those shields kept the IEDs from getting under the vehicle. In testing the occupants would survive if the IED detonated outside of the armor package we ordered on the vehicles.
Howie had worked with Shore Machine and Fabrication – the same machine shop that had made the devices for our drones – to engineer and perfect the operation on our test SUV.

That countermeasure – along with frequency jammers to stop the new threat from small grenade carrying drones showing up in the Middle East – was being installed on all new armored SUVs we ordered.

A field install kit was being made for the ones we already had in service in Africa, the Middle East and now Europe where we had embassy security contracts. The reason for this was the mobile IED was reported to be in production by the IRG weapons development division. This tidbit was another one of the things we had learned from Colonel Kassis.

Another tidbit from Colonel Kassis was that the IRG had perfected Hollywood’s special effects favorite – the bad guy spy bomb. For years 007 and competing shows had shown the bad guys riding on motorcycles, riding up beside their targets vehicle and sticking a small explosive device on the window or door and driving off.

The problem with that is no adhesive or magnet is going to hold an explosion tight enough to do any real damage before the device falls off. Older cars with older windows would indeed shatter into thousands of small pieces when hit with even the simplest object. Some of the explosive power would enter the car but very little.

With those windows a spring loaded center punch would work and most all EMS carried a punch or a small rescue tool in their bag. That tool had a pointed side to break those old style windows and a seat belt cutter on the other side.

Those tools no longer work with federal mandated changes to side window glass. Side windows have to have the same safety glass as the front windshield. This change was brought about in an effort to thwart carjacking while sitting at stop lights. No longer would a simple tool give carjackers easy access to the driver if the doors were locked. To get through that window now took time and aggressive tools.

The Iranians had used the same technology that was in the IEDs that they sent to Afghanistan and Iraq. That technology had killed so many US soldiers in armored vehicles.

Those IEDs – instead of exploding instantly – in microseconds created a super heated molten glob that was expelled and penetrated or melted a hole through armor plates instantly.

That glob of super heated molten metal – when exposed to the air – exploded and was deadly. The full power of the propellant would then follow through the hole.

They were heavy, five pounds or so, with a wide ring of super adhesive with a quick peel off. To activate it they used a small lynch pin with a short lanyard; once pulled there was no way to stop it as there was with bombs with timers and batteries.

According to Kassis, it would penetrate even one inch thick bullet resistant laminated polymer glass and I had reason to believe him under the duress that he was.

There was a long lunch and then I talked for two hours about intelligence collection from social media, chat rooms and a variety of other methods. At no time did I say anything about the dark web.

The two hour talk ended with another two hours of question and answers. That was followed by a press conference that lasted another hour. Melinda was ZNN’s field reporter, much to the dismay of the local ZNN station. Hanna reported for the shores local station.

With an abundance of reporters from all the countries involved, there were plenty of questions directed at those participants. Vicky and I only answered a few questions and that suited me just fine.

The entire group was treated to supper at a five star eatery by the Premier. I was glad to finally go to the motel; today was busy and tomorrow was going to just as busy.

I called Robert from the motel room on the State Department secure smarter than smart phone; sometimes it was smarter than I was.

The good news – bikes were spotted today at several locations. Jaed picked up a load of bikes from each of the two machine shops we had under surveillance. The IRS generated report – when put through the terrorist list – flagged eight employees from the shops on the terrorist watch list.

The bikes were carried to a very large barn near Avon Heights. Ben increased aerial and drone surveillance of both the machine shop and Avon heights.

I spent an hour on MTAC with Ben putting together the pieces needed for multiple raids on Tuesday. With so many leaks in the various local police departments no actions, orders, or requests for SWAT teams would be made until just an hour from the raid time.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.

Thursday morning was a change in my routine. We were going back to the Palace for final discussions on the security agreement; we had gotten much further along than I expected the day before.

We were close to an agreement and it was going to be a major contract. It was going to take one hundred and sixty men and ladies to give them the coverage they wanted, and they wanted a lot.

Each minister wanted a driver on duty 24/7 and their own Suburban. Along with the driver each was to get two bodyguards 24 hours a day. The logistics to accommodate the drivers and guards at the residence had to be worked out.

The general discussion was that there would be a mini command center with communications and a place for them to watch the camera monitors. All of the ministers apparently lived on better than average estates with extra rooms or guest cottages they were willing to sacrifice for their safety.

Of course that meant that there would have to be dozens of automobiles for our men to get to the job every day – just one more logistical nightmare. That was why the contract was for five years to allow JBG to recoup some of that investment. It would expire at the end of the Premier’s term.

The Premier and Vice Premier were to have six bodyguards on every shift plus three drivers and three SUVs; one for the premier to ride in, one to lead and one to follow.

The contract price was at ninety six million a year and we had not even talked about helicopters yet.

I was not looking forward to the logistics. Just where in the hell were we going to find temporary housing for one hundred and sixty plus people? It was not going to be in a five star motel.

Better yet, where were we going to get all those employees on short notice? The negotiations lasted several hours and then another two hours on VCATS with the girls. Introductions both ways from four thousand miles away can be tricky but it worked out well. In the end we had a contract we could live with.

I could tell by Marcy’s smile there was plenty of profit to work with. Then there was the lease of eighteen more armored Suburban’s.

Lorrie would be happy because the eight Suburban’s that were here were staying. Only one more C5 flight would be required and it would be loaded both ways. It would be departing Morton with eight more Suburban’s and returning with all the equipment and tools used for the summit and the four helicopters.

For lunch the ministers and premiers wanted to go to a swanky private club resort to celebrate the security contract. I really think they wanted another ride to evaluate the Suburban’s and our security posture.

I was sure when during the meal the Vice Premier asked, “Why do you choose these large vehicles over luxury brands?”

“I survived a truck bomb in one of these; it blew the chassis off the frame and I walked away with minor injuries. It has proven protection that I will stay with.”

“Sure, there are a lot of weapons that will penetrate the armor and kill you. Even tanks get destroyed but for what we see the most, these have the best survivability,” I replied.

We carried them back to the palace and then we went to the training center to help Howie finish up the displays for tomorrow’s summit. Howie and his helpers were finished. Vicky and I went through the video program frame by frame on what we were going to say about each display after Howie gave the technical description and demonstration.

When we were finished it was back to the hotel for supper. The same as last night, Vicky and I were carried to the embassy for secure communications. The reporters hit the city again, this time with the news cameras.

The communications started off positive, first from Ching Lee, “I sent 10 security guards from Blair College to ride the road from Harrisburg to Lebanon, starting at the spot they were lost yesterday. Several of them agreed to use their personal cars and the others rented cars from the MAAR site.”

“The tag scanners picked up the three cars on 78 at Colonial Park headed east; they followed them to Avon Heights. Avon heights used to be an Amish community, not any more. Robert can fill you in on the details,” Ching Lee said.

“Avon Heights was a small Amish community with roughly twenty houses and a small store that catered to the community. The community was surrounded by small Amish family farms of twenty to thirty acres. They were traditional Amish who used horses to farm with and who shunned modern conveniences.”

“The previous administration settled several Muslin families from Iraq and Syria in the community. The Amish church was burned within weeks and violence against the Amish community started with the children being harassed and bullied. The women and girls were harassed everywhere they went; several girls were assaulted. Their farm animals started dying; tests said they were poisoned.

“When the Amish tried to get permits to replace the church, the Muslims bused in hundreds from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to oppose the permits. The Amish could not even get into the courthouse, the spots reserved for buggies was filled with protesters who refused to move. The county police had to clear the area.”

“The new church was torched before it was completed. The Amish – being of nonviolent beliefs – moved to Kentucky to join a larger group,” Robert said.

“That is the same method that they use everywhere they go. They did it to neighborhoods and whole blocks in Detroit, Milwaukee and Rochester,” I said.

“I have talked with Ben and the helicopter just made a second pass over the area. I should have the video soon,” Robert said from his report.

“Thanks Robert, I think you know what I want you do,” I said.

“Yeah, find out the name of every individual in Avon Heights and run them through the systems. Looks like we already know who three of them are,” Robert replied.

I called Ben and was directed to the task force MTAC. The entire group was there including Andrew and Anne. The discussion lasted two hours with an abundance of instructions and questions.

“Ben, there are a couple things I want special, first get with the Postmaster General. I want a list of all the people that got mail at the Avon Heights post office boxes and delivered three years ago before all this started and another list for today’s date.

“Next a mosque has been built there; discreetly see if you can find out any information on the Imam. Then check out where the funding came from to build it. I would bet Turkey, Iran, or Saudi Arabia,” I said.

“We already asked the postmaster for some of the same things a couple hours ago and have nothing yet. They say they have to wait on approval of the Inspector General,” Ben replied.

“Andrew, call him and read him that highlighted paragraph I used the other day and tell him that I am only five hours away. If I have to cut my trip short it will not be a good day for either his future employment or retirement goals,” I said.

“Ten- four boss, I read you loud and clear. Twist his arm or you will come to break it,” Andrew replied.
My next MTAC was to the President and Troy; I had to wait for fifteen minutes for them to get clear of a meeting they were in.

While I was waiting, Ambassador Taylor knocked on the door this time and asked for permission to enter. Seeing that I was in a hold pattern he asked, “What are you going to do about France and Greece?

“I met with both their Ambassadors to Portugal today; they are not happy.”

“They thought they could get an audience with you but you were in closed door meetings. I called Washington for guidance and was told you were going to handle it,” he said.

“If there is another summit at a later date they will be invited. Currently there are things going on that have a French connection that must be played out. I am afraid that allowing them to the summit may jeopardize the outcome.”

“I told the President yesterday that the summit was a JBG event with a possible business arrangement and had no connection to the US government.”

“The first diplomatic need of this trip was satisfied when I walked up those steps again in front of the cameras.”

“The other will be satisfied with the state dinner and festivities after including the inevitable media orgy Saturday night.”

“The leaders of the five countries attending the summit are coming to the state dinner. Their attendance has not been made public yet and there may be a couple more additions. The summit and dinner will be the first non EU sanctioned political gathering since its inception. I’m sure it will be a massive PR event for all.”

“After Brexit and now with others who are making noises about leaving the EU, we intercepted a communiqué from the EU leadership that indicates they are nervous and more than unhappy about this summit. They are discussing a variety of responses. The targets of that response have yet to be named, but I am sure I will not escape unscathed.”

“After the festivities wind down there is a top secret meeting among just the leaders. I have been asked to attend the meeting and possibly chair it. Maybe I am the one who should be nervous.”

“By the way, you and the misses have an invitation to attend the dinner and social gathering as my guest,” I said as the screen went live with Troy and the President.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.

Supper was great – after all, this was a five star restaurant. I sent Vicky to take pictures for the girls, Hanna, Melinda, their camera men and some of the security team to sight see the city as the sun went down.

The security team I sent with them were from the first group I had sent here. I figured that they had explored the city by now and knew where the points of interest were. Although I did remark the strip clubs and casinos were not points of interest because of the political fallout if they were spotted.

I went to the embassy to use the MTAC secure communications. First was Robert.

“We got breaks today, Jaed spent several hours today at one of the machine shops just to the edge of the city. I sent the information to the Harrisburg group. It’s was too congested to get a drone over there.” I sent the information to Ben.

“They are getting a proper OSHA inspection tomorrow. We used one of the burn phones to call in an anonymous safety complaint to give them some paper to work with.”

“The power company is hanging one of those new transformers there tomorrow, low voltage and fluctuating power complaints in the neighborhood,” again from the burn phone.

“The Harrisburg group has sent pictures of several new helpers with Jaed this morning. All three of them are on the Interpol terrorist list. The last known sighting was in London six weeks ago.

“We used traffic cams to follow them as far as we could today. Tomorrow we will have access to more in that direction. Ching Lee is sending some of her people from the college to stake out the road and follow them if they can. The tag numbers come back to that same lot outside Philly,” Robert said.

I was not sure if I liked that. I did not know how skilled the college security teams were in tailing and not being seen in that kind of stakeout procedure.

“On a more private thing you asked us to follow General Kedar. He did make a trip to Pakistan as his travel calendar indicated and his arrival was covered by the Fars news agency,” Robert said.

“OK that is a start; keep checking,” I said.

“Robert, call East Coast and see if they have any portable tag scanners that mount on a car available. If they do, get a couple ASAP. Since we now have some tag numbers to work with we may be able follow them that way. It’s a long shot but I will take it,” I said.

The next one was to Ben Smith; I wanted to double check what he was doing with all this information. I listened to Ben explain his day so far. He confirmed what Robert had told me and carried it a little further. He was going to have an agency aircraft – alternating between a small plane and a helicopter – take photographs of the area every hour during daylight hours.

Ben had commandeered a telephone repair bucket truck. Tomorrow the 500 pair phone cable near the shop was going to need an all day repair and maybe for several days. The next day a fiber optic repair crew would go through the motions to replace it with the agency as part of the crew. At least positive things were happening.

I was ready to end the conversation when Ben said, “The President had requested that if I talked to you that you call him. Secretary of State Dick James left the same message.”

“OK – thanks,” I replied.

I called the President on MTAC, he picked up right away. Troy and Dick James came up on the split screen, all saying hello at the same time. I knew this could not turn out well.

“Did you get up one day last week and decide just to piss everybody in the world off in six days – take a break and then piss off some more?” the President asked.

“No, not really; who have I pissed off now?” I asked.

“Well for starters a third of the House is still screaming about the IRS leadership change. The other third wants you subpoenaed to explain why the collection changes. The Senate wants hearings on the ousting of the IRS commissioner. That’s just what’s happening in Washington,” Troy said.

“France and Greece are really pissed off about this terrorism summit and want to know why they were not invited. Both ambassadors have been to the State Department and have filed an official complaint,” Dick said.

“Now what’s with all that and how do we respond and why were not informed of this summit?” Dick asked.

“The plan was to put eyes on me so the task force could operate more freely in this Harrisburg mess; that part apparently worked with everyone wanting a piece of me,” I said.

“The visit to the Prime Ministers Palace was completing the State Department obligation that led to the attack on me. The Premier and his people are quite happy.”

“You should have gotten a lot of good PR on that. I did kidnap two reporters to make that happen and their reports are going to continue for several more days.”

“The terrorism summit on Friday is a JBG event, not a US government sponsored event. We are attempting to expand our security arm into an international business. Along with already known terrorism information that will be reviewed and highlighted at the summit, JBG will showcase our available security profile. I can assure you that no secrets will be reveled.”

“The five countries that are invited have requested security information since the first attack. France – for obvious reasons – was not invited and Greece for other reasons.”

“In other words I am happy France is pissed off. I am hoping that it leads to a burst of communications between the terrorist partners. You know me – I look past the trees and forest to the mountain that is behind them. I want to put that mountain through the crusher one rock at a time,” I said.

“Simply explain to them that the summit is a JBG event and you have no control over JBG; but you will do your best to try to influence me on their behalf to participate in the next upcoming summit.”

“As far as the House and Senate go, they can stuff it where the sun does not shine. There will be no response to any subpoenas or statements until after the Fourth. If we get the attack stopped before the third – and the odds of doing that are looking better every day – the news and press conference that you give will answer all their damn questions,” I said.

“If you think Congress is pissed off now, just wait a couple weeks. It will get worse,” I added.

“I don’t think I want to know why,” Troy responded.

After another thirty minutes I left for the hotel. I was in the gym with Andy, Biff and some of my men and ladies. We were trying our best to break their equipment from overload when the group of sightseers came back, shopping bags and all.

I asked Hanna and Melinda if they had maxed out their credit cards yet. Even the security men I had sent with them were carry bags for them.

“Oh no, not yet! Daddy gave me one with a high limit,” Hanna said.

“Lucky girl; I charged my things on my expense card. I might have to give up a couple paychecks after I get home,” Melinda said.

A little while later, from the side Vicky remarked, “You ought to see the lingerie those two bought, their boyfriends are in for one heck of a ride. I told them they could come to the room and model them for us later if they wanted to.”

“I did get some nice souvenirs for the girls and men of the house at home,” Vicky said.

“I’m glad you did because it is unlikely that I will be able to,” I said.

Back in the room, Vicky and I did a VCATS from my computer to chat with the girls and see the little ones.
Marcy and Lorrie had signed the contracts with US Air for the five 747s. The forest service had signed contracts yesterday. Of all places, they had to be flown to Mississippi for the tank modifications but they needed to come to Morton first to have a lot of things removed that Lorrie’s mechanics could do.

What the hell were we going to do with 2000 seats that would never be used again? I was sure Marcy would try to sell what she could. The rest – that was simple, strip the upholstery off to go to the dump and sell the aluminum framework for recycling.

I was sure Marcy would see some profit in that. I was equally sure a few of the better ones would be placed around in a few hangars to take breaks on.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.

After breakfast Vicky and I returned to the room to change. Craig took Hanna and Melinda to the palace steps to get set up. The Portugal media was to be notified of a VIP event ten minutes before we arrived but like most capitals, a few approved media always staked out the legislature halls and the presidential palaces.

Hanna – being the experienced open field reporter – quickly took advantage of the wait to film material for the lead in to the other news reports and local interest shows on her station. Melinda was handicapped because her experience was limited to Washington’s tightly controlled political scene. Melinda was fed her script for thirty second reports.

“Good morning this is Hanna Page for channel 34 news. Late yesterday afternoon my cameraman Jed Hoover and I, along with Melinda Schaffer and her camera man Nick Cote from ZNN were sworn to secrecy and spirited out of the United States. This morning we stepped off the plane in Lisbon Portugal.”

“I am climbing the steps of the palace and government office of Portugal Premier Aleixo Cordeiro. Just a few weeks ago Ambassador Jones and Vice President of the embassy security division for JBG Vicky Jones survived an assassination attempt at the top of these very steps. The bloody mess created by the attack has all been cleaned. The only reminder is the chips caused by the bullets in the marble and granite.”

“Ambassador Jones and Vicky are on their way and will arrive in a few minutes to climb these steps and complete the unfinished business of their first visit amid international diplomacy and under extremely heavy security supplied by JBG,” Hanna said.

Hanna and Jed quickly descended the steps and around Melinda and Nick who took the hint on what they could be doing and were ascending, working on her report.

With both reporters back to the sidewalk Craig handed both ladies body armor to put on.

“BJ’s convoy is five minutes away. Andy says you can make the connections to go live with your broadcast and send the reports you just made,” Craig said.

Moments later both ladies were looking into the cameras doing dialog and sending the tape they had just made.
While they were talking, JBG security and the official palace guard took their places on the steps. The JBG guards were armed; over head the helicopters started flying a box pattern. The cameras panned over the assembled security and helicopters flying over head.

The street had been blocked off at both ends eliminating unwanted and unknown traffic. Other than pre-approved local media no one was allowed on the street. Craig and Andy made sure that Hanna and Melinda had the best spots with the local media behind them.

The cameras followed the line of Suburbans as they came to a stop; more security exited the vehicles first. This much security was overkill and unnecessary but we were also trying to sell a security contract and first impressions would go a long way.

I waited until all the security was in place and Andy gave the OK for Vicky and me to exit the Suburban. We stepped out to blinding flash bulbs and video lights as we prepared to climb the steps.

When I looked up the steps the Premier, Vice Premier and his ministers were coming down to meet us and were nearly at the bottom.

Vicky and I met Premier Aleixo Cordeiro and Vice Premier Eamon Ferreira at the first step. I knew it was planned for the local media but it would also play well in Washington. Sorry Troy, your ‘keeping my head down’ wasn’t going to work.

“Ambassador Jones, Vicky, I am so glad you came back to Lisbon. The things that happened last time you were here were not of the Portugal I know and love,” the Premier said.

“We are glad to be back and plan to enjoy my short stay in historic Lisbon. All freedom loving nations are under intense pressure as radical terrorism rears its ugly head worldwide. We in the states have not been immune to the deadly attacks.”

“My goal while I am here is to expand your knowledge and explain deterrents necessary to defeat terrorism and improve communications between our countries,” I said.

“With that in mind the Ambassador and I can announce a five nation anti-terrorism summit and informational program on Friday at the National Police Training center here in Lisbon. US Ambassador Jones will be there as the principal speaker and her JBG security division will be providing training and displays,” Premier Aleixo Cordeiro said.

“The five countries participating are Portugal, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria and Albania,” I said with the camera flashes still going off.

For the local media’s benefit Premier Cordeiro introduced me to all the ministers and dignitaries and said a few words to them as I went down the line shaking hands and playing diplomat.

When I finished, Premier Cordeiro asked if I would take a few questions from the local media.

“Sure, I think the reporters with me may have some as well,” I said.

“Ambassador Jones, have you fully recovered from the wounds you received here and in Israel?” one asked.

“Yes I have recovered and I am back working out in the gym,” I replied.

“When you stepped out of your SUV did you have second thoughts about climbing those steps again?” another asked.

“No, no second thoughts at all. It is not in my nature to back away when things have been difficult. I view those things as a challenge to be overcome and to move past them,” I replied.

“How long are you going to stay in Portugal and are you going to other countries in the area?” another one asked.

“I have some official functions to attend Saturday and will fly home after that. No, I am not visiting any other countries on this trip. I have pressing business in the US that I need to attend to on Monday,” I said.

“Ambassador Jones, are you going to do any sightseeing on this trip?” Melinda asked.

“My work schedule is going to allow me very little leeway to sight see this historic nation on this trip. I intend to come back again and spend days to do that,” I replied.

Melinda was not fooling me, she had been looking at the brochures at customs while commenting on all the things she would like to see if there was time.

“Ambassador Jones, why were there only five nations involved in this anti-terrorism summit?” Hanna asked.

“Those five nations had reached out to my training group requesting a broad program to help with the problems they are experiencing. Space was another consideration,” I replied.

At that I walked up the steps to the Presidential Palace with Premier Aleixo Cordeiro. The cameras were not missing a single step. At the top the Premier pointed out all the bullet damage to the wall where a few short weeks ago we had been standing.

The rest of the day was spent discussing a variety of things including the security proposal he had asked for. Andy was meeting with his ministers and doing field assessments at each of their houses and making plans for us to work with.

Each minister had different requirements that needed to be met. There were of course several calls from Troy, the President and the Secretary of State.

At one point in the afternoon we took a break and the Premier, Vice Premier and several ministers rode around the city in a small motorcade – sort of a guided tour – in the Suburban’s.

I pointed out that JBG would supply this kind of armored SUV for VIP use. Secretly, that was one reason for the trip to get them inside one, more of a sales pitch for Marcy.

At 1700 Portugal time we called it a day. Hanna and Melinda had just returned from sightseeing the city in time to make a report for the afternoon news cycle. Outside with them was the gang of reporters that were there this morning. A quick news conference followed with the reporters

We were going back to the Corinthia Hotel to eat in the restaurant and then to the embassy. It was noon in America and plenty of time to catch up on events at home.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.

With Roberts’s latest reports, I was meeting with Ben, Eric, Frank, Anne and Andrew. It was to be the last meeting until I returned from Portugal. The ISIS contact had emailed Tiam – therefore General Kadar – the pictures of the twenty girls and their chaperons; not only pictures but their travel plans – flight numbers and all. They were making the flight to the US the third week of July.

An enormous debate ensued. A couple of members – especially from the FBI – wanted to pick them up at the airport. I quickly shut that down; such a move would kill the intelligence source.

“How do you know that this is not them checking their communications for breaches? They could be waiting at these airports to see if we show up in force,” I said.

“We know when they are coming. What better information can we have than the information on their passports? Not only that, when they come through customs we could get weight, height, multipoint facial scans, full finger and hand prints and possibly DNA. Plus anything with them would be scanned for data; the customs search could be very thorough. We needed to make sure an agency specialist is working in customs the days they are to arrive,” I said.

I cornered Eric to have a new rule implemented that all persons arriving on either a student visa or a work visa had to submit to a mouth swab DNA sample to be added to the visa file at the point and time of entry.

Eric was not happy but when he saw how serious I was and the arguments for it, he agreed. The logistics were going to be a nightmare at customs entry points. Eric was going to issue an emergency rule effective in ten days.

Ten days was barely enough time to get the kits and training but it had to be done. I was sure I would hear more from the White House – oh well, I had big shoulders.

Back at the White House it was soon time to leave. I made one phone call to Hanna. Then I sent a Secret Service agent out to find Melinda Schaffer and her camera man Nick Cote to bring them to the side media room.

The side media room was where a reporter who was granted special access to administration VIP’s could do a one on one interview.

“Melinda, Nick are your passports valid?” I asked.

“Yes, but why do you ask?” Melinda replied.

“Be at Morton Field at 1400 so you can go through customs, the plane leaves at 1500 with or without you. Pack for four days – the temperatures are in the low 60s and daytime highs will be low to mid 80s,” I replied.

“Nick, bring enough equipment to do remote broadcasts” I added.

“Where are we going?” Melinda asked.

“I cannot tell you and you cannot tell anyone – not even your bosses – that you are leaving or for how long. To do so may mean the difference of walking down the plane steps or getting carried out of the cargo bay in a body bag when the plane comes back home. You will be able to do a live broadcast tomorrow. They will know where you are then,” I replied.

I felt sure Andy had all the possibilities covered but there was always the chance. One of those ‘never say never’ things.

Back in Section 12 I informed Anne, Andrew and Ben I was leaving and would not be back until Monday. On the way out I let Troy and the President know I was going to go to Portugal.

“Good luck, keep your head down and stay out of the headline news,” Troy said.

He already knew that was not going to happen.

I arrived home at 1230 and had lunch with the girls and boys, then went through the list of things that had been packed. Then there was the list of things that needed to be packed and it was down to a few items.

At two we were at Morton looking over the plane. All the seats were back in the plane; in fact, it had made several paying flights since it had brought us back from Israel. I checked to make sure the fancy dresses had been properly stored as well as all the other items for the State dinner Vicky and I were going to attend.

Gordon Decker was going to be my escort to the dinner and Sid Ortel was going to be Vicky’s. I double checked to make sure the tux, shoes and the like were packed. The jewelry was packed and locked.

When I went back into terminal, Hanna and Jed Hoover were waiting. While we were making small talk Melinda and Nick arrived with their baggage and gear.

To leave the United States on commercial flights one needs to go through customs here for departure inspection to prove you are not a fugitive, mass murder or wanted for other various crimes. When you arrive at your destination you will have a much faster trip through customs or you will have a very long wait with the customs process.

One of the documents that they needed was tickets with all the information to be processed. The tickets were labeled as JBG Aviation flight 725 Direct to Lisbon Portugal with return tickets in the packet. Hanna and Melinda would know where we were going as soon as I handed them the tickets.

Lorrie had started this procedure for tracking purposes in case the inevitable ever happened and we lost a plane; there would be a hard list of everyone on board. Marcy was onboard with it so she could have a written record and generate flight cost and prices for the future.

Every flight that I went on I was issued a ticket; usually, I did not pick them up unless the flight was out of the country.

“I’ll remind you – don’t tell anyone where we are going. Go through customs; we are soon ready to go,” I said as I handed them the tickets.

Everybody who was going was here and I was ready to go. It was a long flight, seven hours with five time zone changes. We would leave here at 3 PM and arrive in Lisbon at 3 AM Wednesday their time. It would be daylight by the time we were through customs and in the motel room to freshen up for the day that was planned.

The girls and I went to Lorrie’s office for a few more moments of affection and private good bye.

It was 1445 when the wheels left the runway. I did what I always did on a flight like this – reviewed with Vicky what we needed to do when we arrived and then went to sleep. I would need the energy and having my wits not clouded by the need for sleep. My entire team – to the man – did the same thing.

At three the copilot woke me up; we were going to be a little late landing. We were in a holding pattern for twenty minutes. I called Biff Leland to tell him that we would be a few minutes late.

Biff had been in the Special OPS team for four years and had been involved in practically all the ops missions. When Bill was killed he applied for the position of team leader to replace him. Andy and I had been pleased with his performance so he got the job. Biff was in command of the ground security team.

Terry Bozman was one of the Blackhawk pilots and in command of the four helicopters the C5 had dropped off – two Blackhawks and two Hueys. If necessary he could also draft the two from the embassy if needed. Both men reported to Andy when he stepped off the plane.

It was 0330 when we stepped off the plane and 0400 when Vicky and I walked through customs. All our luggage was labeled diplomatic so there was no inspection; a diplomatic courtesy.
All eight of the new Suburbans that the C5 had left off were in the passenger pickup line waiting, along with two from the embassy. Biff and Terry exited vehicle number four as we approached. Andy joined us as we placed our bags in the back.

We talked while the rest of the group made it through customs. Biff gave the schedule of today’s plans; it was almost word for word with the plans I had worked out on the phone.

Vicky and I were to walk up the steps of the Presidential Palace at 1000. I listened while Biff and Terry described all the precautions and placement of JBG security personnel.

By the time we were finished, everyone had made it through customs and was in a Suburban. The convoy stopped in front of the Corinthia Hotel of Lisbon. With today’s arrivals, Marcy was paying for fifty rooms; as usual she had negotiated a big discount. JBG has the two top floors again.

All the rooms had two full sized beds. All the men were two to a room and it was the same for the ladies. The two TV ladies had the same room and their camera men in another room.

Vicky and I had a joining room only because we needed the other room – possibly for a meeting and greeting room – the staff had removed the beds and replaced them with table and chairs. We were sleeping in the same bed; the other bed was to put things on.

It was in that meeting room those final preparations for the day was set in motion. I had Andy assign Craig Dexter to the TV people. He was to get them in place and set up before we were to arrive at the palace steps. Then all of us went to the hotel restaurant to eat breakfast.
Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Bob W.