Bjjonesmylife. Book 2

Friday morning breakfast was at the Morton Field restaurant; it was good but not as good as my cooking. I had a secondary purpose for going that direction this morning.

The Quito three were back to gun club again today. Today was make or break day for them but I had other needs and plans for them, if they would go along.

I had a pocket full of loaded clips for our Glocks and picked up hearing protection as I walked through the door to the pistol range. I stood behind the glass and waited until the three were done firing.

They were pulling the targets back as I walked to them and looked at the targets; well, I guess they could scare their assailant to death. They had been at this two days a week for the last three weeks and none of them had put any rounds in the bull’s eye. They were all around it, left, and right, above and below.

I hit the button to send the targets back to the mark, stepped into the first position and started firing until I emptied the clip. I snapped in a new clip and repeated the process at the other two stations.

With the targets back to us all the rounds were in a two inch circle in the bull’s eye in all three. “There is no reason you cannot do this,” I said to them.

I wondered if it was an eye problem; did they need glasses, were they wearing contacts and had not told anyone just to look pretty? The company doc we had do the physicals just did the normal ten foot eye chart and peripheral vision test.

They were shooting the sixty foot skills test. I put on new targets and stopped them at 10 feet and handed each of them a full clip.

“Now hit the bull’s eye,” I said as I stepped back.

When the clips were empty all the rounds were in the bull’s eye; not a nice pattern, but in the eye.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were near sighted?” I asked.

“We weren’t until after the eye surgery,” Ellen replied.

“All three of you, what eye surgery?” I asked.

“Ambassador Woodman insisted we all be blue eyed and blond. He forced us to go to a doctor down there who changed our eye color but left us nearsighted,” Ellen replied.

“He threatened to have us fired; he had made videos of us and threatened to put them on the net. Then he implied that we could have fatal or a serious accidents or end up on the ghetto streets for a day to teach us a lesson,” Ellen said.

“Did you contact your Black Water supervisor?” I asked.

“They told us it was no big deal, that it was the new in thing, to get it done or else,” Ellen said.

“What about the threats?” I asked.

“He was an ambassador and we were hired help making trouble; he denied it so they did not believe us,” Alice replied.

“Why did you fight so hard not to come here?” I asked.

“It was not us; we were not even told we were going to be able to come until the morning of the flight. We were not allowed to associate with the other JBG men any time unless Ambassador Woodman or Sally was present,” Alice replied.

“We interviewed you when we were there, why didn’t you say something?” I replied.

“They had bugs on us and hidden video in the room,” Alice replied to my question.

All my interviews were supposed to strictly confidential with no video and no audio. That order was in the original information packet signed by both Victor and the Secretary of State; Woodman had violated direct orders on top of everything else.

I was angry, very, very angry; it was a good thing Woodman was two thousand miles away. I would deal with him when Kampala was over.

“Would you wear contacts or glasses if we sent you to an eye doctor to correct the problem?” I asked.

“We were told that we cannot ever wear contacts because of the surgery and Ambassador Woodman will not let us wear glasses,” Alice answered.

I looked at Jamie whose face was as determined as I was, “Go ahead and certify them; put my initials on the line too,” I told her.

“Alice, Ellen and Linda, as you know all the embassy swaps are taking place today. I need all my rapid response people back here to do the complete personnel swap at Kampala on Monday, even down to the cook.”

“The problem is I don’t have anyone who is even remotely familiar with the social aspects of embassy party scenes, protocol or any of it. I want you three to go to Kampala with me for the six weeks. I think you are very knowledgeable in that area,” I said then added.

“Kampala is one of the premium pay sites; $500 a day if money is an attraction. I will leave the three ladies who are in Quito there; they can pack up all your belongings and you will have them in the morning, but I need to know very soon.”

It only took a minute, “We will go anywhere and do anything to keep from going back to Quito,” Alice said.

I called Cindy, “Find me one of those eye doctor – eye glass companies who make glasses while you wait. I need three people done today. I don’t care where it is or how much it costs. Offer them a bonus.”

I called on the satellite phone my group at Quito had been issued and asked for Cynthia Hunt. Cynthia was the lady who had tried to move into special ops; she was built like a line backer and had an attitude to go with it.

“Cynthia, I am going to give the phone to Ellen, Alice and Linda; they are going to Kampala with me. They need all their personnel belongings from there. Box all of it up; make sure all of it gets on the plane with the returning men. Make positively sure you get everything; call to verify when finished,” I said then added.

“If Woodman gives you any trouble, break his neck and push him down the stairs to make it look like an accident. He is a blackmailer among other things; check your rooms for mikes and cameras,” I added.

Just to be clear I called Vicky, “Go to my office and record all the internal embassy cameras at Quito, especially the living quarters.”

Cindy called back, “Baltimore, in two hours.”

“Find someone who knows Baltimore to take Alice, Ellen and Linda there. They will be at the office in 20 minutes,” I said.

I carried the three back to the office with me. Cindy met me at the elevator, “Jack Watson is going to take them and wait to bring them back. Baltimore is his assigned work area,” she said then added. “There is a 100 dollar rush fee.”

Jack was another one of the agency trainers who had just started working for us part time to help with the new training rush with the expansion.

“Give Jack one of the office credit cards and $300 from the cash in my desk drawer,” I replied.

Edit by Alfmeister

Proof read by Bob W.

Both planes from Charlotte landed within 20 minutes of each other. The G5 that Jason, Lorrie and Jenny made the rush trip in; it flew faster than the Bombardier and was later in taking off but landed first. Lorrie and Jenny did an inspection of the Charlotte MAAR office, causing the later taking off.

When we bought MAAR there were four major rental car companies at the site. There were now two and MAAR was the biggest, renting an average of 150 cars a day. It was Marcy’s premier site that she used as a challenge to other sites.

I was still on VCATS when both flights returned. After talking with the management team of Jason, Jenny and Lorrie I left word that I wanted to see Joni and Paula when they returned.

I had spent the rest of the day on the state department VCATS learning. The higher level of authorization opened Pandora’s Box for me to investigate. I limited my looking to the Kampala embassy. I went back two years looking at all the alerts, general e-mails, letters to the embassy and anything else I could find.

The only other distraction was a call to Andy, “The components need to be shipped disassembled. I have Bob’s Construction coming tomorrow to build crates to the Air Force requirements. The specs are in your email.”

I was taking a break when Joni and Paula came in; I was watching live video from the Kampala entrance camera. From the way they came in they were expecting the worst.

“Are you two OK? Do you need to see the doctor?” I asked.

“We are OK; just a couple of bruises,” Paula replied.

“I hear that you did well in the confrontation and inflicted substantially more punishment than you received, and that you worked together. That is why I wanted you to take the training; so you could defend yourself and to teach you how to do it as a team. You did a very good job and I’m very proud of you,” I said then I added.

“I am sure that Jenny told you but I am going to repeat it. Do not, under any circumstance, answer any questions or calls about today’s incident without Jenny or Jason being with you. I am sure someone claiming to be an investigator will call you all hours of the evening saying they only have a question or two. Do not answer them; refer them to Jenny’s office number. They will try anything to trip you up and change the events. Again, good job! Thanks for stopping by, I am glad you are OK.”

I was tired and glad we had a short meeting. I was ready for the hot tub and gentle snuggling with Marcy tonight. First was supper at the Outback Steak House in Annapolis, another of my favorite places to eat. The blooming onion salad and seafood combo always hit the spot. We took the armored Suburban just for safeties sake.

It was a beautiful evening; a few people recognized me and spoke a couple wanted autographs. I had spent too much time on TV lately. I guess being recognized was something else I needed to get used to.

It was the hot tub again tonight. Crash and Marlene were in their room doing the bunny hop. We could hear her pleasure downstairs; she was always very vocal.

The general was still staying close. I guess it was needed; it seemed I was always answering a question for him. He was in one of the rockers facing the highway. He asked if we wanted another round of wine coolers; of course we did.

He placed the tray on the edge of the tub and passed out the coolers; I wondered if he wrote down what we liked or if his memory was that good. This time he stayed and chatted a few minutes before he went back to his chair. I guess we still looked good; I noticed a rise in his pants before he turned and went back to the chair.

Marcy had been sitting in my lap – we were together tonight – it was going to be a long enjoyable night. I could tell by the way she was kissing and getting antsy that we would soon be in bed.

It was a wonderful night; Marcy was passionate in a gentle way, both giving and receiving.

It was Thursday; I had just four more days at home. All of us went to the airport restaurant for breakfast.

Bob’s carpenters were building the crates to put all the hardware in we were carrying with us. I stopped by the hangar to give Howie a little information on how I thought things should be packed.

I wanted each of the drones packed in a separate crate. I did not want to lose one crate somehow and lose all of them. Howie agreed with me.

I went back to the office to sign into VCATS again. I was to participate in multiple group sessions today. Several of the groups were from Africa, one from South America and one from Asia. At over a third of the sites there were JBG employees stationed.

It was a long day – an interesting one and at times a boring one. I listened and learned. I also learned how to sugar-coat bullshit so that it smelled like roses – something that left a bad taste in my mouth.

At four I threw in the towel and went to the gym with the General tagging behind. He was embarrassed again when I stripped down and changed into my workout clothes. There were some of the embassy people still working out with Kathryn. I did a few warm up exercises then went to Kathryn.

“I haven’t been in the gym for two days – I need a good workout. Are you up to it or should I look for some who is rested?” I asked.

“I haven’t worked up a sweat with this group; sure, what do you want to do?” she replied.

“The padded suits, gloves, face shields. Let’s go at it. This will probably be the last time I get to do this for six weeks,” I replied.

Forty five minutes later we were both on our backs flat on the mats, gasping for breath, covered with sweat and exhausted. My muscles hurt but it was a good hurt.

Kathryn had given her students a break while we worked out. When we were breathing more normally we stood, “OK, which two of you are next while we are suited up?” There were no takers.

Tonight the fare was Italian. Jenny drove this time; she was not happy with the performance of the heavy armored Suburban, even with the diesel.

We went to the famous Italian restaurant – soup, salad, and spaghetti with meatballs, seafood and dessert. We went to the Italian place a couple times a month. The waitresses knew us and the word soon spread that we were there.

We had asked for a table in the corner for more privacy. It did not work; we were constantly interrupted. I now knew why people in the news, the wealthy, and celebrities went to the only the best restaurants that provided privacy and seclusion.

The staff always asked if we needed anything before they offered congratulations or other small talk. It was the other people that got obnoxious. There was even a reporter there that thought we should give him an interview while we were eating.

We were home in time for the hut tub again after baby’s nipples and burping and a few minutes in the rocking chair. Holding our babies and rocking them was something I was going to miss terribly.

Tonight I went to bed with Ching Lee. Ching Lee was aggressive and for her to be satisfied it needed to be returned just as aggressive. We were both exhausted and satisfied by midnight. Unless the babies cried or the house caught on fire, I did not have the energy to move.

Edit by Alfmeister

Proof Read by Bob W.

Bob Jackson, Mr. Nobles, and John Jenkins were sitting at the fancy meeting table when the general and I walked in. The general was carrying my portable office; that was one thing he was good for.

“Good morning Ambassador,” they all said.

“It’s still BJ to my friends,” I replied.

After the introductions I asked the general to wait out side while I had the meeting with them.

“I guess that you have seen the news it is a six week stint; the question is where do we go from here? There are several ways to go; one is a six week leave of absence. Another would be six week un-paid leave of absence. The final one is for me to resign,” I said.

“Kampala, Uganda of all the places in the world to go to they pick that god-forsaken place to send you,” Bob said.

“Well it is just for six weeks and I have had boosters for all my shots,” I said with a laugh.

“You know with all the people that have worked at the college I don’t think we have ever had an ambassador,” Mr. Nobles replied as if talking to himself.

“Are they going to pay you for the six weeks or are just donating your time for the contract?” Mr. Jenkins asked.

I knew where he was going with that question. If you want to keep money coming in you better keep the day job. I had an answer that was going to blow his socks off.

“The State department is going to double my JBG base salary for those six weeks. My JBG base salary is $25,000 a week,” I replied.

I could have counted fillings in their teeth if I wanted. What I did not say was that all six had of us had the same base salary. It was some kind of tax thing; we paid taxes on it but reinvested it all back into the company. We lived off Jenny’s and my day job salary. At the end of the year we always got big refunds. I did not understand how that worked and did not want to know. We paid tax accountants handsomely to deal with all that.

What I had done was to tell them straight forward I did not need the job if they wanted me to resign.

Bob immediately changed the subject, “we have already gotten calls from the history, world studies class, current affairs class, and they want you to participate in discussion groups with the students next year.”

There was a knock on the door, “I hate to interrupt but I need to confirm a couple things real quick,” The general said.

“Monday 0700 the C17 will be at Morton field. All the things you wanted were approved and will already be loaded. You said you were loading two armored suburbans, 10 pallets of hardware and one Blackhawk. How many seats are you going to need?” He asked.

“40 if we go in the 17. The department hasn’t responded as to how they are removing the current staff there. If they are going to come back on general aviation then we will go with the 17. If they are going to send an empty department plane to Kampala then we should go on it. We would be there when the 17 landed. Either way is fine,” I replied.

“I will get an answer for you Ambassador,” the General replied and left.

“BJ I don’t know but it seems like there is a lot more going with this than you are letting on. Armored SUV’s Blackhawk’s, pallets hardware, replacing the entire staff there” Bob replied.

“That is a very perceptive observation. I cannot confirm or deny that. It is about three levels above classified. The only thing I can say is just watch the world news,” I replied.

“We will approve six weeks of unpaid leave. You will have to pay for the medical for those weeks,” Mr. Nobles said.

“Who would you suggest to fill in for you? Bob asked.

“Patti. She knows the systems, scheduling, payroll and the people,” I replied.

“I think so too. Let’s go tell her. ” Bob replied.

After congratulating Patti we headed home. The general opened the rear door for me to set in the back, “You have some calls to make,” he said as he handed me the list.

A few miles outside of town, “This thing drives like a tank.”

“That’s because it is. It weighed 6000 pounds when it was sent to the up fitters and 12000 when it came back after all the armor was installed. That’s why it is on a ¾ ton chassis, a diesel and cost $175000,” I said.

I was still on the computer on VCATS and working the phone when the SUV stopped at the office. I was not happy Jason, Jenny and Lorrie had gone on a rush flight to Charlotte.

Joni and Paula were working a business flight to Charlotte International today. The group was from an engineering firm in the industrial center. The flight had left early this morning 6 am and the plane and crew was paid stand by to bring them home after their meeting tonight.

They had spent time walking the retail sections of the terminal and spent time in the MAAR rental site killing time.

Paula’s uncle that had taken everything she was entitled to from her parents estate happened to be in the terminal and recognized her. He went ballistic. He tried to force her out of the terminal demanding that she come with him. When that didn’t work he tried to drag her out.

Joni and Paula both put the training they been given to use. The only thing that saved the uncle was airport security arrived to separate and take control. They worked him over badly. Joni and Paula and the uncle were being held at the DHS airport office while the EMT’s worked on him. I could just imagine what was going to happen when Jenny got started. All I could do was wait.

I remembered that I had Eric’s counterpart George Payne still in my phone from the college shooting. I dialed the phone.

“George Payne,” he replied.

“BJ Jones JBG security we worked together at the college shooting,” I said and then Continued “You are holding two of my employees at the Charlotte Airport. I have been rather busy can you give me an update?” I asked.

“Ambassador, Eric said I should be expecting a call from you. Congratulations on your new position; I have three of your officials here also. They are pushing quite hard for charges against Mr. Craft.

Mr. Craft insists that he still has legal control over Paula.”

That is not correct; the state order expired when she turned 18 Paula is now 19,” I replied then I added.

“While you have him you should consider asking him what happened to the 500K life insurance money that Paula was the only beneficiary on that had disappeared; or what happened to the 200K paid up college fund that disappeared or for that matter what happened to the 400K in funds that were from the sale of Paula’s family home that has disappeared while he had control of her finances.”

“If you can get an answer out of him for that I would like to hear it,” I replied.

“Jenny had access to all the legal paper work if you need it. However I don’t think that I need to remind you regardless of the reason that simply interfering with a flight crew is a federal felony as is assaulting a flight crew member and then there is the attempted kidnapping. Jenny will sign any paperwork necessary to file those charges. Our legal teams will follow the process through the court system.” I said.

“Yes ma-am those charges are my thoughts as well. As soon as the medics release him we will be going to the courthouse to file the charges. Your crew will be released as soon as they finish the written statement.” Director Payne replied.

“Thank You, Director; some time when you are in Washington maybe you and Eric can be my dinner guests,” I replied.

Edit by Alfmeister

Proof read by Bob W.

Crash put the coolers on a tray to bring them to us.

“I’ll carry them over for you, I’ll have a Bud or a Bud Lite if you have it,” the General replied.

The General almost dropped the tray into the tub when he looked up from the tray at the edge of the tub. He did not expect to see us in the tub naked.

“Um, oops, ah, I’m sorry, I think Crash set me up,” the General said.

Ching Lee, Marcy and Jenny laughed so hard, they almost woke the boys up.

“Crash, did you set the General up?” I asked.

“No ma-am; I thought Marines were trained to handle anything on the spot, including being a gentleman. I know us Army Air Corps folks were; I guess he just has to get used to things around here,” Crash replied then he started laughing.

“I get the rocking grape, Marcy gets sour grape, Ching Lee gets watermelon, Vicky gets the twisted orchard, and Jenny gets the natural grape juice,” I said.

Crash had turned two rockers towards the highway away from the hot tub. We had rockers everywhere, it seemed, and moved the small table between them while the General was trying to hide his embarrassment.

“You were in the Army Air Corps?” the general said.

“Yep, drafted in June 1942 right out-a school; I had been flying Jennys down at the dirt strip on the island. I did the mail run to Baltimore once a day from June until November 41. I had just finished flying lessons and got a license when old Burt crashed his Model A into a tree and broke both legs,” Crash said and then continued.

“Burt charged me a dollar a lesson and I had to put gas in the plane. A lesson was an hour; the plane used 75 cents in gas. He had a contact with the post office that had to be kept. Burt begged Dad to let me fly the route until school started; I got 2 dollars a day. Thought I was a millionaire,” Crash said.

“I flew B17s while bombing France and Germany, got shot up a lot over Germany but had luck on my side. Those Luftwaffe fighters were bad news. I manage to survive two rotations before coming back to the States. When I reported to go back, my orders had been changed,” Crash said.

“I went to California to learn how to fly B29s that were new. When we went out to look at that thing the first time, it looked like a monster, big and shiny. Took four months and then we flew a squadron first to Hickman and then to Guam. I flew out of Guam until the end of the war. They were still killing Japs out of the caves and tunnels the whole time we were there,” Crash said.

“You fight in the mess in the middle east?” Crash asked.

“I went from the academy to the Vietnam rice patties. Spent a few years in Korea after Nam; I was getting ready to give it up and become a civilian after Desert Storm when 911 hit. I was promoted to general two months later,” the General replied.

“I moved to the Pentagon a year ago, I was glad to get away from there; I have seen enough sand and sand flies,” he said.

“And now you have the gravy duty that goes with the rank,” Crash replied.

“Sometimes it is not so gravy; some of the politicians and ambassadors are spoiled so rotten! But, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem with this assignment,” the General said.

The buzzer went off; fun time in the tub was over. I help get the babies ready for bed; Jenny had to do the nipple part. Burping, new pampers and a few minutes in the rocking chair ended the night for them.

After a round of good nights, hugs and kisses, Lorrie and I exchanged places. I went to her and Vicky’s room and her to my room with Jenny.

There were a couple of hours of moans and whimpers and sounds of pleasure before it was cuddle time. I woke up at 6 with Vicky spooned tight in my arms, something I was soon going to miss so much.

By 6:15 the percolator was sending the fresh coffee smell throughout the house. The girls wandered out one by one for coffee or juice. The General followed Crash down.

I had the griddles on the stove and filled with cooking food, rows of bacon, sausage and scrapple. Another griddle was filled with eggs, scrambled and fried. I had chopped up potatoes to round out the things on the stove for breakfast.

At eight I was sitting at my desk working on e-mails and multitasking on VCATS. There were three times as many secure e-mails as before with my new security clearance and position.

Maybe I was paranoid but today I decided to use one of the new armored Suburbans that was waiting to be shipped to the Middle East. The up-fitter was just now finishing the second order Marcy had made. Now, there was an order for forty more.

In the e-mails was the full equipment list from Andy along with the sizes for the body armor I had requested. I gave the list to the General to get him out of my hair for a few minutes. I also gave him an additional list of things we were taking; 10 pallets of equipment, the two Suburbans and the Blackhawk.

Then to put him on the spot, “What kind of plane is the DOD supplying to carry all the equipment? By the way, we need to be at the compound at 9:30 to observe equipment testing. Then I have an 11:30 meeting at KCC.”

Frank, Eric, and Kevin were just parking at the compound when the General and I stepped out of the truck. Howie started the conversation by first explaining the test site in the center street between the two block buildings that he and his crew had set up.

“We made a 20 foot circle out of the pile of pallets by placing them vertical and putting them together with screws. There is a red three foot target area in the center. This morning we lined the inside with cardboard. The cardboard will allow us to see the true effectiveness and dispersal pattern of the hardware,” Howie said.

“I tested the device wiring before I loaded the charge and hardware; it’s ready to be loaded on the drone. There are two recording cameras; one on top of each of the block buildings aimed at the center of the drop area. The drone targeting camera is being recorded on the laptop. Everything is ready,” Howie said.

I called the tower to find out how close any planes were to the area. There were none within 15 minutes. Then I called the 911 emergency numbers and talked to the day supervisor.

“This is BJ Jones at Morton field. We are conducting a controlled explosive demolition. There will be one explosion – it may be loud – if you get any calls. It will happen in the next ten minutes,” I said.

We moved 200 yards away and turned on all the laptops that controlled the cameras.

“Let’s do it,” I said.

Howie changed out the safety in the device from the red hardened steel to the green poly shear pin and turned the key to activate the unit.

“Green light, take her up Charlie, put her over target,” Howie said.

This was the full 100 pound version; it lifted off without any hesitation. We stood behind the suburban looking at the video feed from the drone and watching the drone quickly get into position.

Martin had one of the expensive shoulder video cameras like the porn companies used – he claimed. He was following the drone from liftoff and then following the device as it fell.

As soon as the camera acquired the red target Charlie dropped the device. “Bomb’s away.” With the weight gone as the device dropped free, the drone elevated several hundred feet in a split second.

There was one hell of an explosion. The pallet circle was blown apart, the pallets flat on the ground like a domino circle.

We walked to the circle to look at the pattern the ball bearings had left on the cardboard that had been on the pallets. Martin filmed the patterns so Andy could analyze how effective it would be. I walked around and looked at every piece of cardboard filled with hundreds of holes. I was satisfied that we had the last line of defense if we needed it.

“Howie, can you deliver all the laptops and the video card from the camera to my office. The four of you be in my office at three and we will send Andy the video as we do a conference call. You men did a great job – I think Andy will be pleased – I know I am,” I replied.

“General, we’ve got to go or we are going to be late for my meeting,” I said.

The general and I walked into the administrative meeting room at KCC with five minutes to spare.

Bob Jackson, Mr. Nobles, and John Jenkins were waiting for me.

Edit by Alfmeister

Proof read by Bob W.

It was four when the finger food and socializing petered out. I had shaken the hands of more Senators, Representatives and VIP’s than I would ever be able to remember. The green carts carried us back to the Suburbans. I walked to driver’s side only to be stopped by Marcy.

“No you don’t; Ambassadors don’t drive, they get driven. Get your butt in the back seat and don’t forget to buckle up.” Never argue with Marcy when she is that direct; you are not going to win.

The General walked up, “I will follow you back to your office, then I need to find a motel room close to you as your liaison until you depart for Kampala.”

Marcy’s driving was as fast as Jenny’s; I knew who was giving who driving lessons. The trip from Washington in rush hour was normally an hour and a half; we were sitting in front of the gym in an hour with a minute or two to spare.

On the way home I had asked the three girls riding with me what they thought about having the General stay in one of the upstairs bedrooms for the five days. Crash and Marlene were staying in one while they were there; the other three were empty.

“We are not changing our life style. If he does not like it, he can leave,” Marcy replied.

I called the Inn and reserved a group of tables for us for supper. I thought that since I was going to be gone for a while that I should enjoy some of the foods that I often craved before I left. I had little else to do since I was in the back seat.

When I turned the phone on I started receiving text from all afternoon. Most of them were congratulatory; several were business related. I had time to respond to them.

Andy wanted a VCATS as soon as I was able. There was a partial list of things he wanted to discuss; that would wait until we arrived at the gym.

It took ten minutes to finally make my way to the office because of the well wishers. It seemed everybody was happy and supportive. The eastern shore media was blasting out Hanna’s report and the interview at every news break. The General was by my side every step of the way. I wondered if he was a liaison or a spy: he was staying so tight.

The first order of business was to page Andy.

“Congratulations, Ms. Ambassador,” Andy said as soon as the system keyed ‘Live’.

“You know I am going to put your ass on the floor for that Ms. stuff,” I replied with a laugh.

“I’m bigger that you are,” Andy replied.

“That means your ass will just hit the floor harder, that’s all,” I replied.

“Yeah, you’re probably right about that, you have a faster reaction time than I do,” he replied.

“Can you acquire the construction blueprints of the embassy at Kampala? I am thinking about doing some blast reinforcing after we arrive. The prints will tell me how much we will need to do and where,” Andy asked.

“I think I can; I will find out for sure in a few minutes,” I replied.

While I was talking I sent a text to Victor with the request.

“What’s on the list to bring so far?” Andy asked.

“Two of the older armored Suburban’s, the four drones and the hardware Howie has been working on. We are live testing them in the morning,” I replied, “Oh, and one Blackhawk with a pilot.”

“Are the air freighters going to be JBG or Air Force planes?” Andy asked.

“DOD plane – I would imagine – not that it makes any difference. Whatever we need will be on the plane no matter what. I will ask my DOD liaison as soon as he gets situated. I had him wait in the meeting room while I made a few calls,” I replied.

Our supper reservation was for 7 so we had time to work more on the planning. Today I had the General sit in; I wanted to keep my eyes on him instead of allow him to wander around. Cindy and her three new assistant administrators – Stacy James, Lynn Smart, and Kurt Williams – were joined by Mark and his two assistant administrators – Cody Kims and Karl Schiff.

Lynn, Kurt and Karl were new promotions; they had been clerks for the security department. Yesterday was the first day as junior management and the start of 6 months of probation for the position. Today was the first meeting they had attended. There were now 10 assistant administrators in my security department.

Yesterday I opened the door to management changes for the security department while I was gone. Today the security department was going to be temporarily split up.

Vicky chose the embassy security; she had been with me and shot at in the first embassy we visited. Since then she had visited more of them than I had. She loved the long hours in the plane, learning new languages and cultures.

Ching Lee chose the college security; she didn’t mind flying but liked the shorter flights to the colleges we had and liked the challenges at the college setting.

The changes were necessary, first because I was leaving for six weeks and second, we were getting all those additional embassies. Those new embassies would add 1100 new employees to the division before October 1st.

Not to be outdone, Marcy was now bidding on two more colleges for the college division; growth is good if it is orderly. I worried about the orderly part now.

Cindy and her administrators would report to Vicky and Mark and his to Ching Lee. I did not say anything, but even after I returned the two divisions were going to stay separate.

The girls were going to have to handle all the press conferences and the documents for the air freight companies. The first will be with UPS next week and the other two the following week.

Then there was the trip to Canada in a little over two weeks, if Lockheed stayed on schedule. Marcy and Lorrie were going to have to make those PR events in my absence. I would have loved to see the planes freshly painted and new JBG decals before they were flown home.

As with all important things we did, no one but the six of us knew that additional planes were in the works in case the plan went down the tubes at the last minute. The intention was to not to tell the pilots. They would be told the trip to pick up the planes was for additional training.

At six thirty we walked out of the meeting room to head for the Inn. I went to the refreshment center to see if the homeless girls wanted to go. I had reserved enough seats for them. The General was already in tow.

As I rounded the corner I saw the four with Victor and Allie. “I have reserved tables at the inn for supper; you are invited to go along if you want.” Allie was ready to go and so were Alica, Paula and Amanda.

Joni and Victor said they just wanted a light salad from the salad bar in the center so they stayed. I would have to look at the camera tapes to see how serious this was getting.

I had reserved just enough tables for all the family and guests; tables were put together to make it work. Several county council members and other county department heads were in the restaurant. The county executives did a public meeting at the Island High School once a month. Another round of congratulations followed.

Tonight was seafood night and all you could eat crabs. I ordered the seafood combo, blackened salmon, crab legs and crab cakes and savored every mouth full.

At home we showed the General to his room and then we hit the hot tub for an hour of private time before bed. The two boys were in carriers on a high bench beside the tub Dad had made so we could see them when we were in it.

The cold wine coolers went down smooth and easy as we relaxed. Of course intimate touches were returned, a hand here, a touch there. Tonight was my night to spend with Vicky; she was sitting next to me when we first got in the tub, now she was in my lap with my arm around her. It was the same every night in the tub.

The intimacy started in the tub or whatever evening event we did. Jenny was with Lorrie tonight; they were opposite us and just as close.

The timer was showing that we had another 30 minutes before it shut down. Crash, with the General tagging behind, came out to the refrigerator for a couple beers.

“Do you girls want anything while I’m in the fridge?” Crash asked. Any time we went to the store to recharge the fridge, Crash always kicked in $40 bucks.

We settled on another round of coolers.

Edit by Alfmeister

Proof read by Bob W.

We cooked supper and ate at home. We spent the time together building more on our relationship. I had a feeling that this Kampala situation was going to lead to some stress that all of us would have to deal with.

But tonight it was food then the hot tub and babies. Then there was soft talk, soft touches and no talk of business; that would come tomorrow. It was a great night, but morning came too early. Each night until I left on Monday was going to be special for each my mates.

We were in the office by seven and started the general planning for the next 40 days. General is all it would be; plans are simply made to modified, broken or trashed.

At 8 I called all employees to the upstairs offices; I had the homeless girls man the customer window and control access to the gym while everyone was getting the scoop.

The first statement was, “The information you are about to hear is strictly confidential. It is not to be discussed outside this room until after the public announcement in Washington at 2 PM.” The information was limited to the embassy expansion and the temporary ambassador appointment.

Thirty minutes later we were making the same announcement in the Morton Field meeting room.

By 10:30 I was done with both the VCATS and SVOL conference calls. At 10:45 I was sitting in the hairdresser’s chair at Jenny’s insistence.

Then we went home for a quick lunch and for me to change into the best professional form fitting pant suit I had. We needed to be early; Victor had tons of rules, regulations and policies that I needed to review. We were just going to hit the important ones; the rest I would look up if I needed them.

It was a cover story for all the peons in the department who were never going to know the real reason this was taking place. That I and my team were essentially bait.

We made good time; traffic was light heading west across the bay this time of day. East bound was another story all together. We came in three Suburbans, us six girls, Jason, Mom, Dad, Cindy and Mindy. Jake was going to meet us there and Lisa was staying home to babysit the boys.

The directions directed us the park in the secure state department parking garage. Several green powered carts were waiting for us as we parked.

We walked into the State department building and this time I was taken to a room we had walked by swiftly the last time we were here. The rest of my family was waiting while a new picture was taken for the new ID card. They swabbed my mouth to get a DNA sample. I knew what that was for and hoped that they never had to use it. There was also a DNA report in my HR file at JBG.

I read several authorization forms, several nondisclosure forms and then signed them. The state department phone I had was exchanged for a new and more secure model; they were even nice enough to transfer the contact list.

If they thought they were going to find a windfall in the contact list they were mistaken. The only thing that phone had been used for was official business unlike some other well known politicians who were in hot water now.

We were finally finished and escorted to the media center to wait for a few more dignitaries, we were told. I noticed right away that Hanna and her camera man were in the front. Either she had been really early or someone with clout moved her to the front.

Victor, Eric and Frank came walking in from the side entrance. Eric had some papers with him. “I notified the ATF that we were adding a manufactures license to your other ATF authorizations to cover you for that device you are making; sign on the check marks,” he said as he handed me a pen. After I signed the forms he handed copies to Jenny.

At two on the dot the Secretary of State came out to read the politically correct speech before getting to the JBG part.

“JBG has repeatedly proven itself with its current security contract. The department, after an in depth process, has awarded JBG a contract security expansion that covers all of the embassies in Africa and the Middle East starting on October 1st. There was however one condition and that was that Roberta Jones – affectionately known as BJ, president of JBG – serves a short stint in the shoes of an Ambassador to expand her knowledge of daily embassy operations.”

“Ambassador Bernardi of the Kampala embassy needs to return to the US for a critical surgical procedure for six weeks. BJ will be assigned as ambassador at our embassy there for those six weeks. BJ, step forward to take the oath of an Ambassador,” he said.

“Repeat after me; I Roberta Josephine Jones do hear by swear to uphold the laws and represent the United States of America as Ambassador to the best of my ability.” I added, “So help me God.” A phrase that was part of the oath I gave years ago.

The rest of the oath and the process was a blur with the camera flashes, the media and the handshakes from dozens of people I was going to have to know. Luckily all of the questions were directed at the Secretary.

As the officials drifted into the side halls and the major media moved off to report to their news desk, Hanna called out for an interview.

“BJ, congratulations, this has to be a moment filled with pride for you and your family. How soon are you going to leave for Kampala?” Hanna asked.

“I leave Monday,” I replied.

“With you going to be gone for six weeks, who is going to step up to fill your shoes at JBG?” she asked.

“Marcy, Jenny, Lorrie, Ching Lee and Vicky and I each have a division of JBG that we are responsible for. We cross train to be able to keep things running smooth when one of us is away. I being gone will be of no consequence; they can handle any problems that come their way. My administrators that handle the day to day operations for my division will report to them,” I replied. “We have everything covered.”

Several other news persons had recorded the conversation. I went to the side door that my family was being ushered into. There was a catered meal set up for everyone.

Victor handed me my new ID card, in bold red letters above my picture it said, “Roberta Jones, Ambassador of the United States of America.”

The realization of what I had just done finally settled in. I had served my country for 10 years in some of the worst hell holes in the world. Now I was going to serve it again in one of the worst regions, only this time as a leader and a much bigger target. The money was going to be much better this time though. This time there was a beginning and ending date; six weeks, I can handle that.

It was at the dinner that was nothing but finger foods with my family gathered around that I was introduced to Marine Lt. General DeMarcus. I had seen him before in the sandbox; I recognized him immediately. He was the one who escorted the army general who was looking for my head into the MASH tent after the Camp Roberts rescue.

The doc was checking my arm where the field medic had stitched it up from the bullet wounds at the camp. I was sitting topless on the exam table when they barged in; the doc was checking my upper body out closely for shrapnel and had found several small pieces.

With a big smile he came to attention and a salute that I returned and then shook his hand.

“Ambassador Jones, it’s great to see you again. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that someday I would be working with you and you would be my boss. When I first saw you and you didn’t back down from that army general, I was impressed; after reading your file I am even more impressed. Believe me; it is going to be a pleasure to work with you. After all, we survived all those years in the sand – this is just a bump in the road.”

Edit by Alfmiester
Proof read by Bob W.

As soon as the girls and Cindy were seated, I handed out the report so everyone would be up to speed when Frank arrived and a serious conversation could be had.

As they were reading I watched facial expressions and eye contact, there were no changes I could detect. I guessed I would have to wait until Frank got here and we started talking.

“Sorry I am late; there was a stalled car on the bridge jamming up everything,” Frank said as he sat down.

I started the conversation to bring the girls up to speed. “As you know with the new state contract JBG has all of Africa and the Middle East. When I learned that, I had the EIT team expand the surveillance to all the embassies affected,” I said then continued.

“What you have read is about a planned attack on the Kampala Embassy that originated from a contact in the Prince’s computer. I turned this information to State, NSA, DHS and the Agency,” I said.

“I did not want another Morocco incident or for JBG to have to go in and reestablish security from the ground up. Since Morocco, there have been changes in policy and procedures when an imminent attack is suspected. Victor is here to fill us in with the latest update,” I said.

“When JBG forwarded this folder to us last week it was the first we had heard of an attack in the planning for Kampala. The CIA and NSA verified the information on Friday,” Victor said.

“In the past we would have closed the embassy and reopened it in six months, but now it could take years to get it reopened. The department feels BJ was right in the initial discussion that the terrorist would take over the building and use it for a propaganda bonanza and recruiting windfall. That would be totally unacceptable,” Eric explained.

“The administration is adamant that there be no more Benghazi type losses and wants all the state department people out but also does not want to close the embassy,” Victor said.

“After intense sessions, the Secretary and President arrived at this deal. The upgraded security contract for Kampala will go into effect immediately as soon as you can get your best people on site,” Eric explained.

“The next part of the deal is crucial and may be the hardest part for you to accept. The ambassador and staff are coming out; to keep the embassy official with an ambassador the Secretary wants to appoint you, BJ, to a 40 day term as an ambassador. They are going to say it is cross training as part of your contract expansion so you can see all the things that go into running an embassy,” Victor explained.

I thought Jenny and Marcy were going to fall into the floor. Everyone else was apparently too stunned to speak.

“You know I am not much of a politician and I doubt any better of a diplomat,” I replied.

“Then you should be able to learn a lot in 40 days then,” Victor said before he laughed.

“The Agency and the DOD has been directed to assist with any request you have. Lt. General DeMarcus has been assigned as your liaison from the DOD; he will accompany you back from the swearing in and news conference tomorrow at 2 PM at the State Department. He will be with you until leave for Kampala. You do have office space he can use until then?” Victor said.

“You seem to assume that I am going to accept this proposal,” I said.

“We knew you would. You have never backed away from a challenge; this is no different,” Victor replied.

“Andy received this file this morning; it was hand delivered. He and I think a lot alike so I think the plan will call for the truck being stopped as soon as it crosses the property line; the further away from the building the better. They may have armored it so I think Andy will want Stingers and Javelin shoulder fired weapons to make that happen and a few 50 cal with full armor piercing belts,” I said. Then I added “I want military grade full body armor for the entire team.”

“Just make a list and give it to DeMarcus,” Frank said then added.

“We are re-positioning several satellites to improve intelligence and communications.”

“By the way, you have carte blanche; bill everything and everybody at the premium rate, even for setup costs, even the administration fees. Do not hold back anything,” Victor said.

“That all I have for now, I’m going to find Allie and take her to the restaurant for supper. Is it OK if I take Alica along if she wants to go?” he asked.

“You may have to take all four girls; if you do, have them put their meals on my tab,” I replied.

After Victor and Frank had left, the real debate began and it was mellow to what I thought it would be, but it lasted for two hours before everyone was on board with it.

Jason stated that HR had started getting replies from the job postings that were on the military bases and some from the online postings.

“As soon as you get 35 good ones, hire them and get them here for training ASAP,” I said then added. “It would be nice to have them ready to go as soon as this attack does or does not happen, to get them in place at Kampala and then get us back on the training schedules.”

“I want the training of the embassy groups that are here stepped up; let’s go with 12 hour days for the rest of the week. That includes the Quito three, I want them back to their assigned embassies before the weekend is out and the RRT back so we can transport to Kampala on Monday,” I directed.

“I want Andy to have plenty of time to get things in tip top shape with time to spare.”

“Cindy, cancel the rest of the training schedule for embassy personnel for the next forty days and substitute the college training schedule. Vicky and Ching Lee may be able to help Ty, Herman, and Kathryn on the mat refresher if you need them, Jamie and her group should have no trouble with the weapons recertification; we had figured 3 days for the process,” I said.

I called Andy on VCATS and filled him in on all the developments. “I will send you a list in the morning so they can get started on it, boss. The things you asked for were right on but let’s take advantage of the offer and add to it while they are willing. Good night, Ms. Ambassador.”

Andy cut the feed before I could respond; he was wise. A few un-ladylike words were on the tip of my tongue. I will Ms. Ambassador him face to face.

I sent a text to Hanna, “Be at the State Department press room at two, if you have problems getting in call me.” I was sure Marley would be there.

Then another text to Bob Jackson and Mr. Nobles, “Watch the State Department news tomorrow afternoon. I will try to get with you in Wednesday morning to work out the issues and details.”

Then two emails, one to all JBG embassy supervisors: “VCATS conference call at 10 EDST. The second was to all the college security directors; “SVOL conference at 9 AM EDST”. I wanted all of them to hear about the embassy expansion and the 40 day cross-training from me and not the media.

Edit by Alfmeister

Proof read by Bob W.

Monday morning I was headed to KCC for the morning. I had to finish up the school year end reports and submit my budget for next year. I was slightly under budget this year and had added 5% for next year and replaced a couple cars that were at the end of their life cycle.

There were opportunities for the college to get excess vehicles from the state or federal system; all that was up to the administrators.

The boys were now 16 weeks old and Jenny was going back to work in four weeks. I did not know who it was going to be harder on, us or her. The time together had only made the family bond tighter.

Jenny had been working from home the whole time when she needed to. We had paid to have the SVOL system installed at her state office for live conferencing. Her office personnel had fallen in love with process. There was a daily conference now.

There was no issue about child care – both mom-mom’s and Mindy had made it perfectly clear that there would be no daycare for the boys. Lisa was determined that both would have a genius level IQ before they were five and educational toys for infants were showing up weekly.

How that worked at their age I had not a clue. I suspected that it was just a way to get your money.

The third group from Rochester was finishing up their second week and would be heading back home Friday. Peterson was with them as usual. Last week most of days were spent on the firing range; they had brought some new weapons with them and wanted to get proficient with them at the gun club.

As big as New York State was, they were beginning to have trouble with their weapons training ranges. The anti-gun people and the environmentalists had joined together.

They were challenging the permits and existence of shooting ranges and filing lawsuits. They were using possible lead and noise pollution and the possibility of stray bullets to close down decade’s old shooting ranges and gun clubs.

The gun club that we used was beginning to experience the same problems. Jason and the Judge both were on the board of directors and were lifetime members. JBG had a corporate member ship.

The gun club was on over 1000 acres that was privately owned. That owner was getting up in years and was indicating he wanted to sell. If developers were to buy it our training would take a terrible hit.

Developers had bought a 100 acre parcel two miles from the east end of the gun club four years ago. The noise and lead complaints were coming from there.

I had put a bug in Jason’s ear to find out what the owners’ intentions were and to stay on top of it. With the size that our security division was going to grow to, a place for weapons training was mandatory.

I was back at Morton Field shortly before noon. Cory from Bay Machine Works texted me that he would deliver all the components that he had made, including the testing nose piece that Howie wanted.

Howie, Charlie, Hoss, Martin and Abe were going to spend the afternoon figuring out how to load the package to keep it balanced. Then they were going back to the compound to test drop the unit from different heights.

They needed to figure out the minimum height that would make it hit the target nose down. It was dropped in a horizontal position and had to hit the target in a vertical position; hopefully the fins were large enough to make that happen quickly. Then they needed to align the targeting camera.

We met Cory and helped unload the components in the armory. Howie and the group started working with the weighing and setting up the drones.

I took the invoice and went to the gym to help the girls and guys training the last Rochester group while I was waiting on Andy.

I had given the pilot a sealed envelope to give Andy when they made this morning’s embassy swap. The three groups that trained last week minus the ladies were flown back to their respective embassies; the RRS teams were picked up and delivered to 3 more embassies and those personnel returned here.

The ladies had spent all week on the weapons training and might, I stress might, be able to hit the side of a barn with a shotgun. They had never handled any kind of weapon and were simply scared to death of them and had made little progress in three days.

Jamie and they were so frustrated she sent them to gym for the hands-on training to give everyone a break and change on Thursday and Friday.

Now that their group had gone back, the realization should have hit them that it was either get with the program or be gone and it would not be back to Quito as JBG employees.

It was 2 PM when Andy paged me on VCATS from the embassy in Chile. He had the entire packet on the US Kampala Uganda embassy that Robert and Burt had put together. The packet also contained all the aerial pictures I could find of Kampala.

I explained that today it was not a JBG site but that could change later today and that soon all African and Middle East embassies and the complete security of them would be a JBG contract. I wanted him to be aware and be able to plan a defensive strategy if we needed it.

“Why did you need the drone operators and Howie at headquarters?” Andy asked.

“Hold on a minute and I will send you some pictures,” I replied.

“What the hell? That looks mean!” Andy replied.

“There are two versions; a general purpose and an anti-personnel, the operators are testing today. Once we know how they act as they fall and get the targeting camera adjusted and are satisfied, Howie will work on the charge package. Then we will test the anti-personnel one for effectiveness. I will have it video-taped and send it to you,” I said.

“How many do you have?” Andy asked.

“Sixteen, eight of each, do you think we need more? I was going to wait until after the testing to decide on that,” I replied.

“That’s a good idea. Keep me informed and send me the video. In the meantime I will reread all this again and look at the pictures,” he replied.

I was getting things ready for the meeting when I was surprised by a young voice, “Miss BG, is it OK if Alica helps me work out in the gym?” it was Allie’s voice; Victor was standing beside her smiling and shaking his head.

“Sure, she is down there somewhere, just be careful,” I replied.

“You are just in time for our meeting; I thought you were going to VCATS me?” I said.

“I think what I have to propose is best explained face to face,” he replied. Then Victor added, “Frank is on his way; he thinks he will be here after 10 minutes or so. The NSA guys did not want to come.”

Brook handed me another update, I read it then exhaled deeply before I added it to the file I had sent Andy. I put them on the copier and printed 10 correlated copies, then handed the update to Victor to read.

Edit by Alfmeister

Proof read by Bob W.

Saturday morning we met Joni, Paula, Alica and Amanda at Morton field. We had an 11 AM appointment at Fort Lauderdale with the owner of the L100-30 that was at Lockheed. We had 10 million in cash – as stipulated by the sales contract – from the vault in wheeled carry-on luggage.

The flight was jovial; we were having a good time. Today was one those days we could enjoy the class and comfort of a G5. It was a no rush flight with no pressing work after the transaction was completed.

After the transaction we were going to walk the beach and get dinner at an ocean front restaurant before returning home. Our house rental customers raved about the restaurant.

Kerry Boyardee was in a wheel chair and was waiting with his two sons and an attorney in the meeting room at the general aviation terminal when we arrived. We were thirty minutes early.

Lorrie came prepared with copies of all the paperwork for the plane. Lockheed had even supplied a new certificate of ownership for the aircraft that the current owner needed to sign over to us; it was the same as an automobile title.

We stacked the 10 one million dollar blocks of money on the table and signed all the paperwork. We were all done in 30 minutes.

None of us had brought any swimsuits or gear. We walked the beach and shopped the shops until our reservation time for early dinner.

We were back at Morton Field by 8PM. I ran the security videos just to be confident that things were quiet at the gym and no one had been around the Horsey house today while we were in flight. Maybe I was a little paranoid but I wanted to be safe than sorry.

The weather on Sunday was supposed to be a nice warm early summer day. We planned the first cookout of the season. Jason, Lisa, Mom, Dad, Jake, Mindy, Eric and Frank along with both of their wives, Victor, his daughter Allie and the four homeless girls were to be there. Joey, Janice, Becky, Lisa Brownly, Sly, Erica and Glenda (the infamous north six) were home from college for the weekend and were invited along with Mable and Mike, Eric’s secretary and her husband.

Sunday morning we had a light breakfast and then prepared all the foods that we normally had at one of our cookouts. I was devious in my inviting Eric and Frank; I wanted them to meet Alica.

Alica, like Paula, had personality and attitude that was infectious. She was very withdrawn and cautious the first few weeks, but once she was confident that no one was out to take advantage of her, the real Alica came out.

How could she recover and be so positive after what she had possibly been through at the foster home? Then trek a thousand miles as a runaway – let alone live in a junk car in the woods all winter – only spoke of the power of determination to survive and youth.

Joni and Paula had been in the area since midsummer and watching over Alica and Amanda since November. I wondered if there was a word of mouth network of some kind for runaways in the area.

I don’t know who Jenny called the day after I picked up the runaways, but the new town administrator resigned for personal reasons. The police chief suddenly found a job in another county to be closer to his wife’s ailing parents.

Herb Albertson was named the new police chief. He had seen the girls at the restaurant with us and had apologized several times for the actions the department forced the field officers to take.

We had everything ready before the invited guest arrived; the four girls had come over before we finished breakfast, wanting to help put lunch together.

We set up all the tables and chairs in the garage and the grills out on the apron as we did for every cookout. No matter what the weather did, we were always a step ahead.

The cookout went off well and as planned. Family and friends with plenty of conversation made it a nice day. In some ways, it went better than I expected.

Victor lost his wife of ten years to cancer last summer and had taken it hard and because of his nine year old daughter Allie, had not been socially active. His life revolved around her now and of course work.

Allie befriended Alica almost as soon as they arrived. Allie had been to the gym several times with Victor and to our cookouts several times last year with the group.

Allie, in true nine year kid style, was introducing her new friend to her dad and the others she knew at the tables and that included Frank and Eric whom she had seen often. That part of the plan came together nicely.

The thing that I did not expect was Joni and Victor. There weren’t that many years different in their ages by today’s standards; Victor was in his early forties. Joni was 28.

The introduction was made by Allie as she was making the rounds with Alica. Something clicked; there was a lot of talking. They sat together when the food was on the table, with Allie and Alica sitting across from them. I wasn’t sure but I thought phone numbers were being exchanged.

Eric asked, “Is that the same Alica that we were discussing the other day?”

“Yes, one and the same,” I replied.

“If it should come to the point that you need help with that chipper, just call,” Eric replied.

With so many conversations going on the day was gone before we knew it. Leftovers went home with some of the guests; a few things we kept. After the garage was cleaned up and everything put away Victor and the girls were invited into the house; everyone else had left for home.

It was 9 PM before Victor and Allie left. On the way out Victor said, “Meetings tomorrow will finalize what the Secretary and the President want to do about the Kampala Embassy. You may not be in favor of the outcome. I will VCATS you during your afternoon meeting.”

I was working a very relaxed schedule now at KCC. Graduation was last week and the staff was substantially reduced; all the professors were gone for a couple months. There were some special events; bicycle clubs and a couple of cross country running clubs that rented the dorm rooms for a short stay over and such. Patti and I were going to rotate the days.

All the employees who worked part time during the winter months were mostly farmers. They were now busy plowing, planting and spraying.

Carson had aerial spraying scheduled to start tomorrow; the bugs had started eating on the winter wheat and barley. When we had bought the crop dusting business to get the start for Morton Field I wondered how we would find any pilots insane enough to do dusting.

Lorrie had over a dozen jet pilots that fought over dusting flights. Full throttle on the turbine with the prop clipping the wheat then yank the stick to get it over the trees or the power line, and then a full power U turn and dive to the other end of the field. Heck, I had heard that they even flew under the power lines sometimes. They said it was the greatest G force ride there was.

There was a new family conversation to add to the mix now; Jason and Dad had planted 500 acres of the rented farm in corm. Dad had found out that it was not quite as easy as he remembered helping grandpa.

They had plenty of support and different opinions about seed varieties and fertilizer options. The airport restaurant had become meeting central for the early bird farmers and seed, fertilizer and equipment salesmen.

More than one had left the restaurant to help them with a problem with the tractors or planters. There was a 20 year gap in memory and technology that had to be overcome. The John Deere salesman that Jason knew had spent the biggest part of a day teaching them how to set up and use the hi-tech planter.

Jake was going back to Japan on Monday for a week. It would be the final trip for several months. The reactor core breach had been successfully sealed. It was a waiting game now. Japans Nuclear Regulatory agency was going to monitor the radiation level and plan any additional work if those levels did not continue to drop.

Jake would soon be done with that project and working the Virginia construction site. Jake, Mindy and Jenny were making tentative plans for Jenny to donate eggs as soon as her doctor gave the OK.

Mindy and Jake made as many trips to see and hold the boys as the grandparents did.

We made out in the hot tub before turning in for the night; it was a fun evening. Even the boys slept through the night for the first time.

Edit by Alfmeister

Proof read by Bob W.

I was in my office with Lorrie and Marcy; we were discussing the latest update of the work on the two C130s at Toronto. Every few days Lockheed sent pictures and a report on progress; they clearly understood the deadline was fixed. Jenny and Marcy had insisted there be a daily financial penalty for every day past the deadline in the contract.

Amy sent an email that the budget had been signed and that we should precede with logistics for the new embassies. Everyone would be super busy again with some things on hold until the state department decided what they wanted and where. The email indicated that we would have the final numbers and locations in two weeks.

We did not discuss these things outside our small management group. Our administrators and clerks had signed confidentially forms and were told to never discuss pending contracts, potential contracts or expansion plans, not even with other groups within the company.

When it became necessary for other company groups and divisions to be involved, all teams would be notified. We did this to stop endless hours of rumor, water cooler talk and messaging.

We would begin the hiring and training process again. It would take every day of the five months we had to put it together and then some, unless I depended heavily on their previous military training and experience. I intended to hire as many former military as possible.

Twenty embassies with 30 employees and twenty with 25 employees; damn – 1100 more security employees to hire and train; what a headache this was going to be. That headache did not include all the other pieces I needed to make it work.

Jenny, Marcy, Lorrie, Ching Lee, Vicky and I no longer could devote days at a time to the training process; we were just too busy. We are going to be able to tweak certain parts of the training – we simply had to – but that was going to be it unless there were problems. I was planning on using the expertise of many of our existing employees, including the RRT.

I called Bob’s Construction; the call went to voice mail, “Bob, I need an update on both projects at least twice a week and I need to see you as soon as you can.”

I called General McJames and asked, “Is it still possible to get help wanted posters put onto military bases in the recreation center and clubs or has there been an executive memo to end that as well?”

“Yes, that can still be done. The post has to be approved; send me the post and I will get it to the review committee and they will notify you of any changes needed. Then once approved it will be electronically sent to each base to be put on the bulletin boards,” the general replied.

“How many new employees are you looking for?” McJames asked.

“1100, plus up to 35 pilots,” I replied.

“Wow; a whole battalion,” McJames replied.

“Yeah, to be scattered in 40 different countries,” I said then added, “As soon as HR gets the post drawn up, I will send it to you.” After some small talk, “Thanks General, I need to run.”

I hand wrote a post and added an informational sticky note; it would one of the topics for our meeting tonight. General McJames would have it in an email late Monday.

Frank and Eric were stepping off the elevator as I returned from the coffee pot that was always full with fresh strong coffee.

Seated in my office, Frank began the conversation, “All the Blackhawks left in the Arizona bone yard are on hold. The DOD wants to give all of them to a couple of our allies as part of a military assistance deal. They were requesting Cobras but the powers to be are only going to fund a few through the aid program and give them a few of Blackhawks,” he said.

“Neither one of them really want the Blackhawks, but will likely be forced to take them to get the few Cobras they want. You may be able to deal with one of them to buy a few,” Frank added and then continued.

“There is an intelligence/military meeting with a selected few of our allies in six weeks at the Wye Plantation retreat; both of them will be there. I will see that you get an invite and make the introductions. I will also make it known before hand that you may be interested in buying some if they want to sell,” Frank replied.

“Eric, do dirty vice cops fall under the jurisdiction of DHS if trafficking is involved or will I need to go to the FBI or somewhere else?” I asked.

“Just about everyone will want and get a piece of that action. Where is this at?”

“Cleveland Ohio,” I replied. Then I added, “My investigation is not done yet. But it looks like he is dirty to me. Just too many coincidences, and I know what you guys think about that.”

“Where is the trafficking coming from?” Frank asked.

“Mexico and more, I’m sure,” I replied.

“The agency will be in on it too then,” Frank replied.

Burt’s report was only two dozen pages long; I ran it through the copier and gave each of them a copy to read. When they had finished Eric said, “I have to agree – too many coincidences, they are looking for her. There is no doubt he is dirty and with the Mexican connection, may be a lot more involved.”

Brook Hayward tapped on my door (she was the clerk for Robert and Burt), “I hate to interrupt but Burt said to get this to you ASAP.”

It was another report from Burt. Matt Bentley was the vice cop from Cleveland. I ran two more copies and handed Frank and Eric one to read while I did the same.

The report was his life’s history, bank accounts, property holdings and the department files on him. Then there were all his phone records from his land line, personal cell and department issued cell with all the text messages from both. Burt had different highlights for calls to Mexico and Central America and repeated calls to several cells on his personal cell phone.

Those other calls were during all hours of the day and night. They were listed by several ways; by the number, day and times. The ones to Mexico and Central America were always the same times.

The texts were very informative and incriminating no matter how I read them. I was damn sure glad I did very little by text. I could say more in 15 seconds than I type text in 5 minutes.

The property holdings were impressive for a vice cop. I was willing to bet they were in the slums of Cleveland with a protection racket and money laundering operation going on. I wondered how many girls were chained to beds waiting for the next customer with ten dollars.

I waited on Eric and Frank to finish before I said anything that I was thinking. One thing I was thinking was as thorough as Burt and Robert were, I would bet that in a few days I would have reports on all the most frequently called numbers, tying things together.

“Is this Alica here?” Frank asked.

“Yes! She was one of the four homeless girls I adopted from C-ville. You have already met a couple of them, Paula and Joni,” I replied.

“Paula was homeless? You’re kidding.” Eric replied.

“No, afraid not, she was living in a junk car in the woods by the old mill. The town police were going to carry them to the county line in freezing weather and dump them out,” I replied.

“As soon as Ohio finds out Alica is here, they are going to come get her,” Eric replied. “If this cop and his group don’t find her first,” he added.

“Over my dead body,” I replied.

I slid his picture across my desk, “He is flagged on our facial scanners; if he shows up here he will get some solitary time in the compound to answer questions and then a look at the inside of the wood chipper by the pond. Dad, Jason and the Judge had it stocked with fresh water trout, bass and catfish. Fresh chum does them good from time to time,” I replied.

“You don’t really want to do that! It could have a really bad ending for you,” Eric replied.

“You catch him there and no matter what he has done, some up and coming DA or federal prosecutor will plea bargain all his crimes away for his testimony. They will put him in the witness protection program and his punishment will be time served. Then they will give him a government check for the rest of his life. And don’t tell me they won’t do that because you know they will,” I said.

“If he or any of his buddies show up here after questioning, they are fish food or else they get dropped off in the African desert from 20,000 feet wearing flex cuffs and no chute,’’ I added.

After looking at Frank, Eric replied, “Can we sit in on the questioning before you do that?”

“I can guarantee you that next week a joint task force will be looking at him and his fellow officers with a mission. Can we take anything that does not have Alica’s name on it?” Frank asked.

“Is there anything else we need to discuss before we leave?” Eric asked.

“Yes, I need a rush on a couple of passports,” I replied as I pulled a file from my desk and handed it to Eric. It was a backup plan in case Alica need to be gone for several weeks.

One application was in the name of Jane Alica Jones. Burt had made up a complete new life history for her to go with the name including a birth certificate from the State. It seems Burt still had connections in the state agencies. The other was for Amanda Black with her original information.

“Ah, so you do have a backup plan to make her disappear if need be,” Eric replied.

“Always plan ahead,” I replied.
Edit by Alfmeister