Bjjonesmylife. Book 2

Thursday morning I was up early at 0500 – it was already 0900 in Bamako. Vicky never moved as I slipped out of bed and quietly dressed in the kitchen to keep from waking everyone up. Crash was sitting at the table drinking a cup of instant Maxwell House, watching.

“Getting an early start today?” he asked.

“The C130 landed in Bamako at 9 last night, they should soon start the second leg. I want to make sure it gets off without a hitch,” I replied.

If Charlie started on schedule, they should be nearly finished. Either way, I was going to call and check on progress. I left a note for the morning cook that I was in my office and what I wanted for breakfast when she started cooking.

I logged into VCATS and my email. My email had several dozen messages, some with large attachments. Four were from Charlie – the first one was still shots from Buddy’s camera. It was a picture book of the flight from takeoff until they were in sight of the air tanker.

The second started where the first left off with the C130 approaching the fueling tanker and ended with it pulling away. The final group of pictures was of the African coast and landing. The video clips were of the complete in-air refueling with another segment on landing at the Bamako airport. It looked like I was the only one sent the emails, so I forwarded them to the rest of the girls.

I answered my ringing phone, “They are test flying the chopper now. The C130 has been refueled. As soon as Glen and the State Department returns and signs off, we are ready to leave for Khartoum,” Charlie said and then he continued.

“You should know Boko Haram has advanced its gorilla campaign closer to the international air route between Bamako and Khartoum. There are reports of aircraft coming under small arms fire. They were low flying small planes and helicopters. Two British and one French cargo plane are making the same flight we are today. The French plane wants to join up with us and fly as a pair. We agreed to that and they are scrambling to be ready when we are. I told them we would wait for a reasonable time on them.”

“The two Brits are leaving either later this morning or after lunch. They are not friendly at all, an independent group,” Charlie said.

“They may be going to detour somewhere along the flight for a resupply air drop. There are a lot of things going on in the area,” I replied.

“What is your plan?” I asked.

“Fly high and fast,” he replied then he asked, “What are the chances of side arms if something should go south on one of these flights?”

“To be honest, I don’t know but I will make some calls to find out. I know I would want one,” I replied. “Keep me informed – more often if you can – try not to get Lorries plane shot up; she would not be happy.”

I called Frank to ask about the sidearm request.

“Technically no; a lot of countries frown on civilian firearms, even when they are at war. You could get some jackets that say U.S. Diplomatic Security on them – that would get you some leeway. It is a gray area,” Frank replied.

At 06:00 Eastern, 10:00 GMT in Bamako, Charlie called again, “We are taxiing behind the French plane and will be airborne in a few minutes. Everyone is thrilled with the 407. I told them to call you. I told FBO, where the old chopper is, that we will pick it up tomorrow afternoon.”

“Be safe, Charlie,” I replied.

MaryAnn brought in my breakfast with another large mug of hot coffee. While I was eating, I looked at a notebook Cindy had prepared for me to work in tandem with the computer file on my computer.

I looked first at the Bamako embassy staff, Ambassador Steven Crow, 52 years old, had served in various diplomatic services world wide for a number of years. Grew up in the Midwest and had attended UCLA before joining a congressional staff as an intern. He quickly moved up and then was appointed as an aid to Ambassador Melvin Mitchell at the Japanese embassy.

I knew that name. Melvin Mitchell was the newly assigned ambassador to Japan. I was one of the military embassy guards on duty for the official ball to welcome him to his post. That was my last night in Japan. At times, it is indeed a small world.

I then looked at the staff list for the Khartoum embassy. It had been a large embassy but recent events in the Sudan had caused a reduction in personnel. I wondered why they had a chopper assigned to this embassy.

Bernie Furnell was the ambassador assigned there. He had been a major-mega fund raiser for the current president. That explained the chopper for sure, a perk that few ambassadors get. But why did he draw such a crappy assignment out of the 180 embassies the US has established worldwide?

I keyed VCATS to the Khartoum embassy and informed Ambassador Furnell that his chopper was on the way. He should expect its arrival at the Khartoum international airport in the six to seven PM time frame and be able to take a test flight in it tomorrow morning.

Even though his politics and mine were different, he received me as an old friend. So much so that I wondered if I had met him somewhere some time.

We spoke for an hour that revealed he had read the information that Amy had sent out and then done an extended search on JBG and me of his own. He had even viewed every part of our website. He asked a number of questions on the college security part of our company and about MAAR. It turned out that he had one of our Fast Tracks customer rental cards.

I spent another hour on VCATS and looking through the notebook as the girls were slowly filing in. Lorrie loved the flight pictures and video. Lorrie, Vicky and Ching Lee were excitedly discussing how to add it to the website.

I filled Lorrie in on the flight, Bamako to Khartoum. It was then that I remembered to send Marcy authorization to start billing the State department for the two choppers.

To set the tone for the M&M colleges, there had been a gang shootout on the main road that went past the Minnesota College last night. The police found three bodies on the sidewalk at 4 AM.

That area was not in the JBG security area, although it did back up a parking lot. The parking lot and sidewalk were separated by a security fence. The college had problems with the student parking lot being used by the section 8 apartment tenants across the highway for party central.

Charlie called at noon Eastern; they had just landed. It was 7 PM Khartoum time. They were going to try to get the chopper unloaded before dark. The flight had been nerve racking but uneventful.

Charlie said that they were going to get an early start in the morning at 6 AM there; that would make it midnight tonight here. I ended the call with instructions for him to call in the morning. I would stay up to take the call on my office phone.

Jake and Mindy came in after lunch. Being able to pull off the surprise appearance at the Christmas party had them pumped up. Tony was still in charge of the J&J Company Pennsylvania Site until the Japanese reactor job was complete and Jake was finished with Japan.

Then they were going to expand the company with a second location yet to be determined. Mom had found a house near the end of Summers Road, only a few hundred yards from the judge’s house. They had an appointment to meet the realtor there to inspect it at 4 today.

Jake came back at the right time; Carson had just called from Morton Field that there was a load of steel plate there. The vault was Jake’s project; he went to take care of it. Luckily the big forklift was still there in the super hangar.
Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Joe H.

Jake and Mindy left for Pennsylvania at 1. Jake had been here three days and I still had not been able to have time alone with him. I wanted so badly to hold him.

All the girls were doing the things that were needed to keep JBG going strong. Vicky and Ching Lee were making videos of the 407s for me to send to Ambassador Adam later today. Marcy and I were in our offices. Jenny was in hers, and having some heated arguments on the phone with her Annapolis office. Lorrie went back out to the airport. She decided to move everyone but the pilots into the terminal building. She and all of her staff were there doing the plug and play with computer terminals and flat screens.

She was leaving two flat screens behind in the pilots/ mechanics office as she was calling that side Hangar- one for scheduled arrivals and the other for scheduled departures.

While Lorrie was working in the terminal building she had the pilots hang a banner on the front of the terminal announcing that JBG Flight Services was now open in the main terminal. Vicky and Ching Lee were going to update the web site.

I was waiting for any updates on JBG’s first security flight mission, the replacement chopper mission that was in play. There were still three hours of flight time to go before the C130 would land at Bamako and I was still on pins and needles. I spent some time looking at the geography of Africa. A lot of the countries had new names since I was in school, due to rebellions, divisions, and other political strife.

The flight from Bamako to Khartoum flew over some of the most contested territories in Africa. So far none of the belligerents had taken to shooting down planes flying in the designated commercial plane routes. My guess on that was such an event would cost them too much in political support from whoever was sponsoring their war. It was more of the unwritten rules.

I now knew why we had received the shipment with the Blackhawks. Diplomats were forbidden by international laws from carrying weapons into other countries. Contract security details and accompanying police forces were another story and a gray area. We were to fill that gray area just like Black Water had done.
Black Water had grown too big and too fast with the Iraq war. They had to hire people too fast and did so without asking the right questions. They had tried to isolate the Iraq part of their operation from the rest of their business. In Washington, when things go bad with that large of a scale, no one is isolated from the flying horse dung. There were lessons to be learned, I hoped I saw them.

Ching Lee and Vicky must have come back. The ding of an email interrupted my thought process. Vicky had sent me the four video files they had taken of the remaining 407s. I had to admit, the JBG Security decals on those choppers boosted my spirits.

When I finished looking at all four of the videos, I sent them to Adam with a simple note, “Which one do you like best?”

While waiting for a response from the Ambassador, the weather came to mind. One of the things we had gained from all of these changes was access to NOAA US Government classified weather forecasting worldwide that the agency used. I wondered if it was truly any more accurate than the old Farmers Almanac. I looked at the 30 day forecast.

On January 25 it predicted a blizzard for the Middle Atlantic States coming from the south. We always had massive snowfall when the storms came from that direction and when the winter cold air from the north met over the Delmarva. Most years we missed the big blizzard for one weatherman’s excuse or another, usually one or the other front stalled.

How anyone could be wrong as often as they were and still keep their job was beyond me.

I went to Jason’s office; I knew he kept a copy of old Farmers Almanac on his desk for the tide charts. Sure enough it predicted the same. I called Robbie to have him make sure we had everything we needed in place in case a blizzard was coming our way.

We started our four PM meeting with no word from the C130, our first security mission for the State Department. Because of Jason’s absence, we had a short meeting – Jason was missing – he was rabbit hunting with my Dad today.

The biggest discussions were as follows: the flight to Bamako, Lorrie’s group making the changes at the airport and Jake’s project in the parts hangar. Marcy and Lorrie knew I had something that needed special security as a result of the planning they did with Jake today. Finally Marcy asked point blank what it was.

“The Blackhawks came loaded with freight it is advanced military weapons and ammunition along with some other goodies. The kind of stuff you fight a skirmish with. The kind of stuff that you don’t want loose in the neighborhood,” I replied.

“I assume that it gets delivered to some of the embassies at some point in the future. I think the fewer people that know about it, the better,” I replied.

As I said that, I did not think they needed to know the whole inventory list. There were at least a dozen cases of C4 along with detonators, another dozen, maybe more, 50 cal belt fed machine guns with chopper mounts, tripods and crates of belted ammunition. There was an equal number of M-60 machine guns and crates of ammo.

There were several crates of M16’s with several crates of clips and dozens of ammo boxes. There was 1 crate of 50 cal sniper rifles, the sales brochure I received every month from Law Mans supply had one listed on special pricing of ten thousand with the best scope on the market. The crate indicated there were 20 of them in there. There was 1 crate of 308 sniper rifles and another dozen ammo boxes of loose ammo for both and several mini Gatling guns with cases of ammo and chopper mounts for them.

The most worrisome thing was the 4 crates of shoulder fired anti-aircraft Stinger rockets and the crate of hand grenades.

I made a mental note to ask Frank if and when we were getting the license to have possession of those kinds of materials. I knew you needed a serious level Federal Firearms License for a lot of it.

I was counting on Bob’s estimate that his crew could put the armory together fast. I wanted it a more secure place than in a shipping container by the maintenance building. It did seem like a simple plan except for the door and I wondered why any company would have one of those in stock. I was counting on Jake to keep it moving forward as my construction inspector.

At 5 PM Eastern Charlie called from the Bamako Senou Airport, I placed the call on speaker so everyone could hear. They had just landed and were directed to park on the military side of the airport.

“We are parked in between a group of French and British military planes. We are riding with a group of British officers to the motel. When you contact the embassy, tell them to have their people here at 0630 to help unload and flight test it,” Charlie replied.

“OK Charlie, I will make the call now, remember to take plenty of pictures. Get some of the embassy accepting the chopper if you can,” I replied.

I logged into VCATS again and made the connection to the DETC system to let Amy know that the C130 had landed in Bamako Senou Airport and then to the Bamako US embassy, unsure if anyone was there to operate this time of night.

The call was immediately picked up by the night security crew. I recognized the name and face as one of the Black Water employees who we were acquiring.

Cindy had been working all day on a computer file for each embassy with names and pictures so I could be sure whom I was talking with. All I had to do is just click the location file and there was the employee list.

Thomas Clifford was startled when I identified myself and his response was priceless. “The bosses never called here before,” he explained.

“Have you read the introductory packet that state sent out yesterday?” I asked.

“Yes Ma-am – every word – but your agency Intel file is the one that made us stand a little taller. Believe me; we are looking forward to meeting you as soon as we can. The last few months have been tough on us, the guilt by association with the Iraq division has been bad and then being abandoned at Benzi – well, you know the story.”

I explained the reason for the call and the time that Charlie wanted the pilot and a staff member of the embassy there to inspect the chopper.

“I will pass the word to the pilot tonight and send a message to the ambassador,” Thomas replied.

The conversation with Thomas drove home that I should read the agency file on all of my new employees before I met them, hell, maybe I should even read mine first. I would have to see how far the agency login and password I had would go.

After the call, we went to Annapolis to finish all of our Christmas shopping; it was hard to believe two more days to go. Jenny was easy to shop for. The babies were going to have enough clothes to take them to a year old. The mind teaser had been shopping for the rest of us.

We had not told Jenny but we were also were going to have a family baby shower at the same time we opened our Christmas gifts. The governor and her coworkers had one for her at their Christmas party.

At a little after 8, Tony called – the J&J Christmas party had started at 730. He said, “I am going to kick your ass for keeping it a secret that Jake was coming home,”

“You will have to take a number and get in line then. A girl has to keep plenty of secrets; you know that,” I replied. Then I added, “Tell everyone Merry Christmas for me and thanks, put a round of drinks for everyone on your JBG card and send me the receipt, O if they need a taxi ride to get home safely add that to the receipt.”

Edit by Alfmeister

Proof read by Joe H.

I was up early; maybe it was because there was so much riding on today’s outcome. Receiving the contract to provide embassy security personnel for the State Department in my mind was a turning point for JBG. Today was the biggest test for JBG since we had formed the business. It could be another shining achievement or a colossal failure.

It was bigger than when we took on MAAR or the vacation homes division. I thought we would stop growing with the eight colleges and now we were adding two more, not to mention the college police force. This was bigger than all of those achievements combined. The outcome would decide our future in so many ways. It was a joint effort by two departments of our company supporting one another on an international scale. The parts were aviation and security – totally dependent on each other for a successful outcome.

If the next three to four days were successful it would quiet all the Doubting Thomas’s within the State Department and the rest of the agency that we were worthy of having the security contract. No one had come forth to challenge the awarding of the contract to us in bold print. In big government they were always there with campaign contributions to sway opinions and gain influence.

There were so many things that could go wrong with the planned flight. If the in-flight refueling went bad there was no choice but to crash land in the ocean, thousands of miles from nowhere. It was not a comfortable thought.

My people had been checked and double checked to the last possible detail. I had comfort in that they were the best anyone could have in our business. The C130 had flown multiple flights for us with no problems. It had been checked out by our C130 certified mechanics. The pilots had double checked everything they could yesterday.

The flight plans had been sent to DOD and the agency for approval to make the refueling schedule workable. Everyone had signed off on it so it must have been well planned. I was not qualified to look at it and make changes. In fact, we had no one in our senior management who was qualified. I needed to look at all the qualified pilots we had on board to see if anyone was qualified for such a position. Jack has his plate full as out chief pilot and recertification instructor.

It was early enough that I made the normal big Sunday breakfast on a Wednesday morning. I called Dad to see if everyone was up and if they were, to invite them to breakfast. It was just in time – they were trying to decide what to do for breakfast. 15 minutes later they were walking in the door.

The percolating coffee aroma had all the girls and Crash up and at the table with my folks as I was taking the food off the stove.

I knew what everyone liked: eggs, bacon, sausage, scrapple, pancakes, an omelet for Ching Lee and Marcy, plenty of toast with orange juice and coffee made it a morning power meal. I asked Jake and Mindy if anyone wanted anything fixed differently for them.

I watch as Jake made a breakfast sandwich, a slice of buttered toast, layered with bacon then an egg, then two slices of crispy scrapple and three sausage patties, two slices of cheese, another egg, and all covered with another slice of toast.

Jake was smiling as he finished putting it together, “You cannot find a sandwich like this anywhere in the world,” and then took a big bite of it.

Mindy asked, “What is scrapple?” All of us had at least one slice and a couple of us two.

“It’s good – try it, you will like it – if we tell you what’s in it, you won’t eat it like some Japanese foods,” Jake replied as he took another bite of his sandwich.

By the time we finished all the food was gone and everyone was full. With the dishes in the dishwasher and full coffee mugs, we went over to the gym to do our own things.

Jake connected to our wireless to do some research while everything else was getting started.

Jenny was in her office doing her state work, making conference calls to her associates. Tomorrow she was going to Annapolis to work on the next set of cases that were going to trial. Because she was so pregnant, the other prosecutors were going to handle the actual trials for her.

The VCATS was pinging as soon as I signed in just like yesterday; I only had to do updates today, no serious problems for me to deal with. Amy was one of them. She asked if I had notified the embassy at Bamako to tell them that the chopper was on its way.

“No, I want the plane safely on the ground there before I make the call. It will be 8PM there before the plane lands, too late to unload the chopper tonight anyhow,” I replied.

It was 10:30 AM before I heard from the flight, six and a half hours after takeoff. At six hours the flight should have been past the halfway point. I had been concerned for an hour. The refueling should have happened by now.

Charlie Campbell called on the satellite phone Marcy had given him. Where they were going, who knows what kind of cell service was available.

`”BJ, the tanker just pulled away. We have been making good time, even with two engines feathered. We have had one heck of a tail wind for the first five hours but we are going to loose some of it soon. We are 800 hundred miles past halfway. The one refuel should be enough. Buddy brought his good camera equipment. He is going to have some great video and still shots for Ching Lee and Vicky to put on the web site,” he said.

“Give me the numbers where you are at now, so I can mark it on the map, and then call me when you land. Oh, keep taking the pictures – that is a good idea that slipped by us,” I replied.

I marked the spot on the map and went looking for girls to show them the location and give an update. I was informed that Lorrie and Marcy had gone to the airport with Jake. They were to meet Bob from Bob’s Construction. They had left with a copy of the blueprints for our hangar.

I wondered what they were looking at that was that important when Jake and Mindy should be leaving for Pennsylvania in an hour and a half. I did not get to think long about it.

The VCATS pinged me back to reality as I accepted the call. It was Ambassador Adam Cartwright from the embassy at La Paz, Bolivia. There was a sizable detachment of future JBG security there, including two armored Suburbans, a Bell 407 and the Blackhawk that was out of service.

“I am hearing through the grapevine that you are working feverishly to be in command and take over well before the contract officially starts. Is there any truth to that rumor?” Adam asked.

“Yes, that is correct, two of the out of service Bell 407’s are being replaced this week. We have a replacement Blackhawk for you, but it is going to be next week before that happens. The logistics are going to be a nightmare on that. I did not get the defect list from your pilot yet – there is a possibility it can be repaired on site much easier and faster,” I replied.

“He was given that request yesterday. You will have it today or I will have his ass on my shoe. To be honest, I am not very satisfied with him or the one before him. If you have any qualified pilots I would be open for a trade,” Adam replied.

“I have plenty of qualified chopper pilots, but if you don’t want him I know I don’t either,” I replied then added, “If you want us to supply a pilot it has to start through channels on your side first.”

“Did I understand you that the Bell we have is going to be replaced with a new one as well?” Adam asked.

“They are not new but have very low hours and are in pristine condition. The Bell factory techs have been here inspecting each one before we bought them. I think you will be very pleased. There is several different paint schemes, if you want I will have pictures sent to you and you can chose one,” I added.

“You would do that for me, that would be great! I will be watching for them. You will have that defect list today,” Adam replied as he cut the conversation.

I called Vicky and explained that I wanted her to take the video camera and make a short video of each Bell 407 outside and of the interior to send to Adam. I did not care where the choppers went so Adam picking out one he liked would be a PR plus.

I headed to the coffee pot for a refill and met Jake, Marcy, Lorrie and Bob stepping out of the elevator. Each with a fresh mug, they followed me to my office where Jake spread out some hand drawn diagrams and a couple of brochures.

“I was thinking about that inventory that we put in the storage trailer and how you needed to secure it, here is what I came up with. I built one similar to this in Japan to store radioactive materials until they could be picked up.” Jake said.

“I figured 32 x 32 by 8 ft high. Put a course of 12 inch blocks nine feet high with rebar drilled 6 inches into the floor then filled with concrete. Line the inside walls with hardox 500 hardened steel plates 1 inch thick welded together then line the inside with another filled and reinforced course of block. Then plate the top with the hardox and place supports for the top to intersect with the plate joints. Then we pour a foot of concrete on top the plate,” Jake said.

“For the door, this is the same one I used. It is a 5 ft wide electronic bank vault door. It weighs 10 tons and level with the floor on the bottom so you can use roll carts or a small forklift to move things in and out. The door is in stock in Ohio, they can ship it out today. It will also to be welded to the plate and offset to be flush with the concrete blocks.

“The beauty of the door is it takes two people with three ID features to open it. Punch in your ID number, then a palm print and finally a retina scan, and then the other person does the same thing. It is very secure,” Jake said.

“Lorrie suggested that it be built in the parts room with the door opening into the pilot’s room. The parts room is more than big enough for it,” Jake added.

“This time of the year block work is scarce. Get the materials here, and then it can be up in a week. Building it inside the hangar means there is no weather issue. The pilots won’t like the noise when we cut the hole for the vault door. It might be a good time to move the clerical people into your offices in the terminal. It is finished,” Bob said.

“It will give me a project to do while I am here,” Jake said.

A glance at Marcy and Lorrie and I said, “Ok, have at it.”
Edit by Alfmeister
proof read by Joe H.

I finally found Jake and Dad in the JGB part of terminal building. They were looking over the work done by all the contractors. It had been a while since I had been in there myself.

The building had that new smell, just like that of a new car does. We looked over all the offices. Lorrie gave both Carson and Sabrina each their own office. We found their name plaque on the door. The office furniture was already set up along with the computer systems.

We had a nice business counter for the flight service and a second counter for MAAR computer terminals to do the rentals.

Further towards the tarmac entrance was a nicely sized pilot’s lounge with chairs, a couple of couches and two wall desks for courtesy computers. It was more for looks than anything else. Our pilots were going to be headquartered in the side hangar where they were now.

The next stop was the kitchen. Suppliers were still installing the last of the appliances. I checked out the big walk-in cooler and freezer. Both were operating and very cold.

In the cafeteria all the tables and chairs were waiting to be set up. The boxes were stacked along the wall. There were other boxes of kitchen plates, pots and pans waiting to find their assigned spot in the kitchen by the chef.

I still wondered why it was so important to the agency to have a cafeteria and a chef on site. The agency was paying for that part and the restaurant would be open to the public. I guessed that there was some kind of cover story for that if anyone asked. There had to be some kind of gimmick, I was sure of that.

We made our way down the hall where the meeting rooms were. There were four that were general meeting rooms that the public could reserve. Beyond that there were four more for JBG private meetings, behind one of those fancy red ropes on a brass fixture. A sign hung on the fancy rope (Area closed authorized personnel only). Moving past those rooms we came upon a door which had in front of it, another fancy red rope on a brass fixtute.

I moved the fixture and we tried the door. The brass plate on the door was stamped (Department of Homeland Security Morton Field office); the door had one of the ID card readers installed on it.

“They are all locked on this end,” My Dad replied then added, “I was in there when they were putting the office equipment in.”

I had the ID cards that Eric, Frank and Amy had issued me plus my JBG card, for a total of four. I slid the DHS card and the door opened. Dad was right there were four very nice offices as we entered through the door.

One was labeled US Government Office; I knew that to be the CIA office and the card Frank issued me opened that office. the other office was labeled U.S Customs and the State Department card opened that one. The other two were meeting rooms and my cards opened them as well. They were very fancy meeting rooms at that similar to the one we went to in Washington.

Dad and I gave Jake the tour of the maintenance building and the super hangar that Jake had negotiated for. The contractors were making good time with it. The building was finally totally enclosed, even all the side hangar’s had their doors.

It was getting dark by the time we made it into the super hangar so I flipped the light switches by the door. All the buildings were equipped with new energy saving LED lighting that was very bright, even though they were over fifty feet from the floor. This was the first time I had been in the big closed hangar with the lights on. The hangar looked even bigger with the lights on.

I needed to go back to the Summers Road office after I verified that everything was set for the C130 flight tomorrow. Lorrie, Marcy and Jenny were still in the temporary office when I arrived.

The flight folder was complete and everything was checked off. The mechanics had checked off the mechanical components of the plane and filled it with fuel. There was a notation of all the tools they had loaded on the C130 in order to reinstall the main rotor blades.

The folder also had copies of the flight plan with all the little details written on it. Those details included times, checkpoints, radio frequencies and anything the pilot or crew needed to know along with any special instructions.

It was a 12 hour flight without adding in the slowdown of refueling. With leaving Morton at 0400 and the time zone difference adding the fuel delay, it would be 2100 when they landed, far too late to unload one of the choppers and reassemble the rotor blades.

An overnight stay in Bamako – I wondered if they had made room arrangements. Hopefully they would get an early start the next morning. Bamako to Khartoum was 2200 miles – a six hour flight with good luck, providing they could fly the commercial airline routes.

It would be late afternoon when they arrived, hopefully with time enough to unload the last chopper and make it air worthy before dark. Another overnight stay in Khartoum, then load the other junk chopper and the flight back to Bamako to load the junk chopper there. The final overnight stay was in Bamako before flying home the following day.

The round trip was almost ten thousand miles in four days with four in flight refueling. The trip would consume 70 thousand gallons of fuel with over 40 hours of flight time. There would be three nights of motel rooms for the seven crew plus meals and who knows what else. It would take a day to do the expense accounting when they got back, unless the lead pilot assigned someone to do it during all the free time in flight.

I had to chuckle; I could just see Marcy’s calculator spitting out the numbers now. I wondered what was going through Lorries mind too.

Everything was in order – I had done everything I could do. I was not going to call the ambassador until the plane was on the ground in Bamako.

I wondered if this was how generals felt before a great battle, everything had been planned and all they could do was wait on the sidelines for the final outcome.

By now it was dark. Ching Lee sent me a text that supper would be ready in 30 minutes. It was a much smaller affair tonight; us girls with Jake, Mindy and Mom and Dad.

If Jenny had been asked about the menu I knew that we were having filet with salad and some kind of pie alamode – for dinner-she had been talking about supper for the last hour.

I guess the trip to the office would wait until after supper but it had to happen. Cindy had texted me that there were things on my desk that I needed attention tonight, even though we were not having a meeting.

Supper was great! Ching Lee and Vicky had learned all Jenny’s little secrets on how to grill great steaks. I sat at my normal spot at the head of the table place with Jenny to my right and Jake and Mindy to my left.

We were finally able to have a family conversation with Jake. I also got the feeling that there was a question he wanted to ask me in private. He did not say that but my sixth sense felt it.

Mom, Dad, Jake and Mindy soon said their goodbyes for the evening. Jake and Mindy planned to stay at Mom and Dad’s. Jake and Mindy were leaving at noon to go to Pennsylvania for the J&J Christmas party and were spending the night in a motel there. They were going to return the next day.

I spent an hour at my desk reading the material Cindy felt was important. There were sticky notes with instructions for tomorrow and signatures that finished the work for tonight.

It was going to be nice to snuggle and make love with Marcy tonight; she was always so warm and gentle and I needed that after today.

Edit by Alfmeister
proof read by Joe H.

“BJ, that takes care of communicating to the embassy’s that have choppers, what now?” asked Cindy.

“Cindy, can you setup a connection with VCATS so I can speak with Amy Lockerman please?” I asked.

“Sure thing BJ,” Cindy replied.

“While you are doing that, I’ve got to pee something bad. If you like I can get you another mug of coffee as I refill mine,” I replied.

“A refill would be great,” Cindy replied.

The first call after pee break and mug of coffee was to Amy Lockerman.

“Hello BJ, I have been expecting you to call after my boss jumped the gun on us and sent out your control packet to the embassies,” she replied.

“It has been an interesting morning, that is for sure,” I replied.

“Are you aware that three of the choppers out of service? One is in Khartoum Sudan, another is in Bamako Mali and the third is in La Paz Bolivia,” I asked.

“Yes. I was going to talk to you after Christmas to see if anything could be done. Our worst fears are happening; Black Water has thrown in the towel early,” Amy replied.

“I will know before the end of the day about the choppers. Who do I need to contact for in-flight refueling, or are we forced to use commercial airline routes?” I asked.

“McJames can order that, why?” Amy asked.

“Its 4500 miles from Morton to Bamako Mali across the Atlantic; it will take two in-flight refuelings,” I replied.

“The DOD has the equipment to do just that. They will cross bill the State Department directly for it. I will make the call McJames and authorize an open Purchase Order to use whenever you need it for our contract. Just send me an e-mail to confirm each time you use it. He will send you a 24/7 contact number you will have to call, try to give them as much lead time as you can. You will have the numbers within the hour,” Amy replied before she hung up.

I called McJames to ask if what I wanted was even possible to do.

“Sure put it all together on paper then call me,” he replied.

I dug in my desk for a world map then drove to Morton Field. When I walked past the offices, I saw Lorrie, Marcy and Jenny were in one of the large office areas with people I did not know. I assumed they were the owners of one of the Bell 407’s. It looked like they were signing papers, finalizing the purchase.

I walked on through and into the hanger where the choppers were lined up. I noticed several men in lab coats with Robbie and several of our new aviation techs assisting them near one of Bell 407’s.

“Robbie, how are things going – is it a success story yet?” I asked.

“The factory techs are doing the run ups and checks outside first. Then we bring them inside and remove all the inspection panels for them to finish the inspections. So far three have been completed and approved,” he replied.

“Can you pull the lead tech over? I need to confirm a couple things with him,” I asked.

“BJ, this is Glen Burton, chief field tech for Bell helicopters, Glen this is BJ the big boss,” Robbie made the introduction as we shook hands.

“Glen I need to put two of these 407’s in a C130. If my research is correct, if we remove the rotor blades they will fit side by side, nose to tail in the C130 cargo bay. Is that a feasible job?” I asked.

“Yes, you will have to mark the position of the blades and install them back in the same position – that way they will not have to be rebalanced. At that point, all you need to do is torque all the pins and retainers to specs, use new safety wire and cotter pins, check fly it and you should be good to go,” Glen replied.

“How long will all that take?” I asked. By now an audience had gathered round us. Pilots always find something to do around new planes especially when they are in the hangar. Why should it be any different with choppers here? All of them were in the hangar trying to look busy, they had moved in to listen in on the conversation.

“It will take two techs two hours per chopper. Where are they going and when if I may ask?” Glen said.

“One is going to Bamako Mali and the other is off to Khartoum Sudan, Africa if I can find pilots and technicians willing to go. Then if I can coordinate in-flight refueling in time, they would leave early tomorrow morning,” I replied.

I saw hands go up in the pilot group and two from the technician group each saying, “I’m in.”

“Do all of you have up to date passports?” I asked. Then I added, “You may not be back in time for Christmas.”

“We are still in,” the older of the pilots replied. The entire group of qualified C130 pilots were ex-military and so were the two C130 mechanics.

“ Ok then I need a flight plan to make it come together, you better get with it. Robbie, don’t take anything apart until I clear it with Lorrie,” I said as I walked away followed by the pilots.

They went to the pilot area and started pulling maps and charts while I walked over to the table where Marcy, Jenny and Lorrie had just finished with another owner looking at the world map I had brought from the office.

I spread the map out on the table and started explaining my problem, what I need to do and how it needed to happen. I explained about taking the rotor blades off, putting two copters in the one of the C130’s and sending two techs along on the flight. I explained about bringing the two out of service choppers back on the return trip

Marcy’s and Lorries eyes kept getting bigger and bigger. Their mouths opened to say something and then closed.

I pointed out the route I anticipated that the C130 would take and the areas than I thought the in-flight refueling would take place. My smarter than smart phone started dinging that I was receiving messages as I finished.

“How do we refuel in air” Lorrie asked as I was looking at the messages. One was from Amy and several from McJames with the contact names and numbers I needed.

“I have a number to call to make that happen,” I replied.

“Who is going to pay for all of this?” Marcy asked.

“The State Department, Amy has authorized a P.O. for it with add-on fees,” I replied as I sent her the e-mail from Amy.

Charlie Campbell approached the table, “As light as the load is going to be once we get to altitude, we can feather 2 engines and extend the fuel ranges a long way with no problem,” he said. He then added, “We are almost finished with the planning. We assumed that we would be using the international flight corridor between Bamako and Khartoum.”

“You know more about that than I do. Finish the planning with best guess for the refueling so I can call it in. I need a copy in writing because I have to send a copy to State and the DOD for the refuel,” I replied.

“Let’s go see Robbie and get the loading started,” I said. “One of you pilots is going to have be the loadmaster to help with the loading and getting the Bell strapped down.”

By the time we made it to the hangar the inspections were completed. Robbie and Glen Burton met us. “We are finished. You are good to go with all six of them,” Glen said.

“Robbie, these two are the ones going,” as I pointed them out, “Put JBG decals on them. Charlie is going to help you get them positioned in the C130 and strapped down,” I said.

“I am off for the next weeks. For a trip to Mali and Sudan you pay my expenses, give me some spending money and I will go along and help,” Glen replied.

I looked at Marcy and she nodded OK.

“I am a free man, no wife or kids to deal with so my holidays are quiet. This will add some excitement. You are going to fly my guys back to Long Island tonight anyhow so it will work out,” Glen replied to my questioning look. “I will help with the blade removal then head to the nearest Walmart to pick up some things.”

Another thought hit me while he was talking, “Charlie, you need to make sure that the two airports you are going to have fuel and will take our fuel cards,” I said. He nodded in reply.

Our conversation had been so involved that we were not listening to the airport radios. Now there was a definite thump, thump, thump coming to the airport. I knew from the sound what it was; I had heard it so many times.

The Black Hawks had flown straight in from the south east and turned to land in front of the main terminal in formation, “Military pilots for you, they never forget all that training,” I thought.

“You call for the marines?” Glen asked.

“ Hell no, they belong to us,” I replied to an astonished look.

The pilot stepped out of the 1st chopper, waved me over, “They made us sign for the freight, if you want to call it that. All six of them are loaded and they stressed that you are responsible for it and to lock it up good and tight,” he said as he slid the door back for me to look inside.

I looked at the crates; I had unloaded those kinds of freight many times in the sandbox. I went to each of the Black Hawks and looked in. Each of them was full of something different. “What the hell am I going to use this stuff for? This stuff is for serious turf defense.” I had a feeling and it was not good.

Dad and Jake walked to me while I was at the last chopper looking in. Jake looked over my shoulder and said, “Oh Shit, what are you going to do with that stuff?”

“I don’t know yet. But I don’t want anyone to know about it until I find out. Can you and Dad help me unload them? There is an empty shipping container over by the maintenance building. We can use the small forklift. We will load it on pallets,” I said.

The pilots knew what they were carrying and volunteered to help. Dad drove the forklift to and from the shipping container while Jake, the pilots and I stacked box after box of the stuff on pallets. The container was full when we finished.

The shipping container had multiple places for locks on the door and I put a new lock on every spot. I even thought about having one of the guys weld the doors shut but decided against it.

The shipping container was at best a very temporary storage for that hardware. I had to have something much more secure than that, and soon!

By the time Jake, Dad and I were finished, the two choppers were in the back of the C130 and Glen was on his way to a Walmart. The Bell crew were on their way back to MacArthur Airport on Long Island.

The C130 group had finished planning and they were double checking their numbers, with Lorrie closely watching.

I faxed the plan to the necessary people and called the number that McJames had sent me. I let Charlie talk directly with the controller. When he was finished I asked, “You have double checked the fueling coupler and verified that everything works correctly?”

“Yes ma-am, all of us have, twice,” he replied.

“You are leaving at 0400; go home, pack and rest,” I replied. “You have to do the same thing with one of the Black Hawks next week,” I replied.

I looked at Lorrie and Marcy, “Have you added all this to the insurance?”

“We are working on it, almost done,” Marcy replied.

“They are going to need travel cash just in case, four bags – one for each pilot of the group,” I replied.

Each bag had 25,000 in it in $100 bills. It would take two bags to fill the tanks on the C130 one time in the average market, if the location would not take the fuel card.

“Got it,” Lorrie replied.

I finally had a few minutes to spend with Jake and Dad as soon as I could find them.

Edit by Alfmeister

Proof read by Joe H.

To my surprise we made good time; for some reason traffic was light even at the Bay Bridge. The G5 was still several miles out as we walked through the hangar to its entrance over looking runway 4.

It had been two years since I had seen Jake and had left the military. As planned Mom and Dad had met them at LAX The G5LR had made the trip without refueling. I’ll bet it was a sight to see when Jake and Mindy walked through customs. I would have given anything to see their faces when they found out who the business clients were.

I know Mom and Dad had been keeping them up to date on things at home. I was sure they still there was still plenty to catch up on. Lucky for us that the flight from Tokyo to LAX had been delayed in takeoff and they had flown in rough weather, adding an hour to the 11 hour flight.

They were to arrive at eight, instead it was close to ten and then it would still take another hour or so to get through customs with their luggage. That was why we were able to get to Morton after our long meeting to greet them.

I met Jake at the bottom of the steps with a bear hug and a kiss along with lots of tears. It had been a long time, too long for me.

After the long hug and kiss, the rest of the girls each gave Jake and Mindy their greetings and a hug.

While Jake, Mindy and the girls were engaged with greetings, Dad and Mom took the opportunity to corner me. “Business client, huh, you knew Jake was coming home and have known it for a while and kept it a secret from us. You know there was a time I would have spanked you for something like that,” Mom said.

When the girl’s attention had turned to Mindy, it was Jake’s move me off to the side by my arm. “The girls are even more beautiful than in the video chats. Jenny is so radiant; you chose well for your special family. I felt the babies kick when we were hugging. I cannot wait to hold them,” he said.

Then he added “Mindy and I want to be here when they are born. All Mom and Dad could talk about was having grandkids, they are so happy. Oh, by the way Dad says he is going to get you back for the surprise.”

“I think Mom plans to pay me back too,” I replied.

Jake continued by saying, “Tony was right, you do have great planes. I want a plane just like that one if you can find me one. We are going out to supper at the inn as a family – I hope all of you can come. We are going to spend the night with Mom and Dad. Mom would not take no for an answer,” Jake said with a grin.

“Tomorrow Mindy and I want the grand tour of the gym, on Wednesday afternoon we are going to the company party and plan to be back on Thursday,” he said.

An hour later we were at the Inn as Jake wanted. The place crowed so we had to wait in the bar until they made room for the 14 of us: Jake, Mindy Lisa, Jason, Joey, Mom, Dad, Crash, Jeanna and her girls and the six of us.

While we waited we pulled several tables together in the bar. The local news was on with Hanna’s report. I had to admit it was good being the lead in the news without having to discuss a tragedy this time.

As the Hanna’s piece finished Dad looked at me, “Two secrets in one day; you are starting to worry me,” he said before he broke out into a smile.

We only had to wait ten minutes before we were seated. The meal was great as it always is. We all ate our fill and Jenny as usual ate for three. She was the last one to finish and even passed on desert.

Several other business people and family friends we knew stopped by the table. Some of them stopped to see how Jenny was doing and others because they recognized Jake and wanted to say hello.

Frank Rustone and his family came in and Frank made a turn as soon as he saw Jake. They were old friends from high school, plus Jake had used QT banking as his business bank for years. All of my extended family knew Frank from the initial gym loan at the beginning of our business.

Jake and Frank made plans to get together after Christmas and go goose hunting and late season deer hunting. Jake was going to use one of our suburbans and Mindy one of the pool cars while they were visiting.

Duke Justice and his wife came in to eat next. It was one of those evenings where an evening out turned into a reunion of everyone you knew.

Even though there had been the issue with Duke’s son, we had become friends the best of friends and he and Jason went way back too. I had never met Duke’s wife until tonight. He stopped to say hello which led to a round of introductions that led to a round of introductions.

After the introductions Duke extended his hand and said, “Congratulations on your newest business expansion, it was on the national news before I left the house.”

As I shook his hand I asked, “Which one was on the news? There are a couple in the works this week,”

“The State Department contract,” he replied. “Eighty countries, that’s a big one.”

“The other announcement is that we are adding two more huge colleges to the security umbrella in January,” I replied.

“All the contractors you have had working for the last six months are anxiously waiting for you to build something big so they will have work to carry them until spring,” Duke replied.

“They need to look elsewhere, we are done for a long time,” I replied.

It was nearly 10 by the time we walked out of the restaurant to call it an evening and midnight before we finally made it to bed. The family all together sparked family time of our own on the couch. Things were getting close enough that baby names were being discussed while holding hands and being affectionate.

Tomorrow was going to be another busy day for us and it came early.

At seven, Lorrie, Sabrina and Carson left for Morton Field. The rest of us went over to the office The entire group of Bell 407’s were to arrive early this morning. The factory inspectors were to arrive at 9 to begin certifying the condition of the choppers.

Marcy had the certified check already made out for each one if there was nothing found defective.

One of our jets was leaving at 7:30 to the Marine base in N.C. with six pilots on board. Lorrie thought it would be fun leaving them in the dark about the flight. All they were told was that they were needed to shuttle aircraft around. They were in for a surprise when they saw what they were bringing back.

Frank had arranged for them to be fully fueled for the trip. He also said there was some freight coming with them that I need to lock up as soon as they landed. He emphasized that I personally needed to supervise the unloading and storage.

I wondered what that was all about. I guess I would know before dark.

I was waiting in my office for Jake and the folks to show up to give Jake and Mindy the grand tour. But as usual, all great plans get suddenly changed.

After the announcement yesterday, the powers to be at all 80 affected embassies started demanding more information. The information packet that was to be mailed the day after Christmas – 20 days before we were to officially take over – was sent out last night.

That packet had all the contact information including the newly upgraded video communications system that we had named VCATS – short for Video Communications and Telephone System that was installed and tested last night.

The system was secure and compatible with the MTEC that the military, NSA, FBI and CIA used and with the DETC that the State Department used and it was only in my office. It required an ID card and a palm print to activate it.

My office now held both video communication systems, VCATS and SVOL Sysco Video Office Live that we used with the MAAR sites and the colleges. VCATS was used for secure communications.

I had to rearrange my office, I had to move furniture and lighting so that when the systems were on only my desk and the wall behind it was shown during the video link.

I along with Cindy and the girls were the only approved users for the new system.

Cindy had passed all the security and background checks. I had promoted her to Senior Security Director, my number 2 after the girls. I had asked if Ching Lee or Vicky wanted to step up in a security position full time and they both declined. They were busy and happy with what they were doing.

The VCATS started going off announcing incoming request before I had finished my first mug of coffee. Cindy and I were both working at my desk trying to get our heads wrapped around new scheduling and what we needed to do to get a handle on things.

The calls all went the same way, ‘Seasons Greetings’ then the introductions. Then they asked what changes were coming their way.

Thank God for Cindy, as soon as they introduced themselves Cindy displayed the site information on one of my many monitors that were out of site of the camera. It included the equipment that we were to supply at the site, the manpower and their names. Cindy made me look in control and ready to run with the change.

The most important thing for me at the moment was what part of the world they were in and the second was the time zone they were calling from. That was going to be an adjustment for me to make. Eight to five here may be 10pm to 6 am there. I guess a bank of clocks on the wall with a location card was in order. I needed something to keep that one straight in my mind.

The first 10 calls were from the embassies that we were supplying choppers to. They wanted to make sure we understood the condition of their current unit’s and wanted to know what plans we had to make repairs and how soon? I listened to the recent issues they had with Black Water.

I asked that they forward a list of needed repairs to the aviation units as soon as possible so we could get things in the works, and to do the same with the Suburbans we were supplying them.

I was sad to learn that two of the Bell 407s and one of the Blackhawks choppers were out of service and had been for a week or more. Cindy wrote down the airport where choppers were at and what the current problems were.

I spent the next two hours on VCATS calls, one site after the other. I needed a bathroom break and another mug of coffee, and then I needed to ask questions and start giving orders.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Joe H.

Seven am Monday on this wonderful cold morning found Marcy, Jenny, Lorrie, Jason and I in two cars of our own unmarked cars, fighting our way through rush hour traffic on our way to the DHS Joint intelligence briefing room in Washington.

The NSA, DHS, State Department and CIA were scheduled to be there. Again I wondered what we were getting ourselves into. We were supplying logistics to two of those agencies and had never before been requested to any meetings like this.

The only thing that I thought we were going to do here was to simply write paychecks for 500 security employees who were subcontracted to the State Department. Those employees were still direct reports to the Ambassador’s security chief at whatever location they were assigned to, or so I was led to believe.

Part of the logistics package that we needed to do was supply 80 armored vehicles at 80 locations and helicopters at 10 of them. I guess my questions would be answered in due time.

I was instructed to wait in the lobby after I identified my group to the receptionist. She was still filling out temporary visitors badges when Frank and Eric opened a side door and walked in.

“That won’t be necessary,” Frank told the receptionist as he handed her five cards with retractable belt clips. She scanned the cards and handed them back with a clipboard.

“Name, card number, day, time and sign on the line,” She replied and then added. “Always have the card on you, when you leave the building, the card reader will automatically clock you out.” I put the information on the line and clipped the photo ID badge onto my belt along with my JBG badge.

Frank and Eric led us behind the closed door though a series of halls and other doors that required us to use the ID cards. Marcy, Jason and Lorrie carried briefcases and all of us were carrying our Glocks, even Jenny had hers under her jacket.

We were all wearing a professional ladies business suits with jackets; the temperature this morning was in the low 40’s. It was getting harder and harder for Jenny to find maternity business suits that fit her.

I was amazed that no one patted us down or asked to see in the briefcases. I was given no instruction on if we could carry our weapons or not. We were a security company and always carried the federal ID we were issued – an eternity ago it seemed. Now we had a much higher clearance.

Frank led us into a huge elaborate meeting room with a monstrous walnut meeting table. The chairs were red leather and padded more than best home living room chairs that I had ever seen, and I had seen some fancy offices in military establishments.

The walls were filled with flat screens so that where ever you were in the room, you had only to look straight ahead to see what was displayed.

I knew a few of the people in the room, Frank, Eric, McJames and Amy Lockerman, Victor Edmonson and Elmer Hobart. Frank introduced the rest and the agency that they worked for; there were a lot.

Four were US senators and 4 more were from the House State Department oversight committee, responsible for Embassy Operations and Security. They also served on the funding committee for the State Department.

Victor Edmonson, the director of embassy security, made the statement that JBG had been awarded the security contract by the State Department, replacing Black Water as required by Congress. The transition was to begin after the holidays.

The decision would be made public at a 2PM news conference in the conference center lobby.

Frank made the opening statements about JBG, and our cooperation in logistics and mission specific training for the agency.

Eric discussed the four successful on going surveillance operations we were assisting DHS with. It was at this point I was asked to give an overview of the security division and all the colleges we supplied security for. I kept it short and sweet. JBG security division had a five hundred full time and part time employees and responsibility for 20 thousand students at ten colleges, all in ten different states.

Eric then surprised Lorrie by asking her to give an overview of JBG Morton Field, now that it had been officially designated as an emergency airport in the area.

I was even more surprised when Lorrie asked if she could connect her laptop to the system to run a PowerPoint about the airfield.

Lorrie’s PowerPoint started with the barren farm with the one crop dusting runway and progressed from there, explaining the fuel farm, the terminal building with all the available meeting rooms and the restaurant. She explained about the runway width and lengths and the experimental snow removal system. Then she explained about the hangar space including the super hangar and on site Doppler radar.

Lorrie then explained that the restaurant and terminal would be fully operational on January 1.

She then showed another PowerPoint of our fleet of planes that we had available for charter with interior and exterior pictures and the addition of the helicopters after the first of the year.

Lorrie was a fast thinker and included a segment on the rental houses that were available as safe houses on short notice in Florida and one in Queens Anne County.

I had to laugh at that, she was talking about the house we had built for Crash that was still unoccupied. Lorrie liked James Bond and spy novels. I guess with this group she guessed that safe houses were the normal thing.

There were several individuals actively taking notes around the table. All of them began writing when Lorrie went through the aircraft list. With the helicopters on the list, Lorrie had made the decision to rehab two and possibly three of the Bells.

For the next four hours we listened to the descriptions of various security levels and how the embassies world wide responded to each level. There were discussions about intelligence collection at the embassies.

There was even a discussion of using the JBG employees in operations if necessary. In some areas information was their only assignment.

As I had suspected from the beginning, intelligence was part of the game with the diplomatic corps when in foreign countries. Intelligence and security went hand in hand everywhere.

I finally received a full list of the embassies that JGB was going to be working with and finally complete files on all the former Black Water employees – now JGB employees. The folders that we were given before were either incomplete or inaccurate or just terribly out of date.

The embassy list was a dozy in some of the hell holes and hot spots in the world. It was no wonder that State was contracting out security in some of those areas after Benzi. If there was a fiasco they wanted someone else to blame and to cover their collective asses.

I asked but did not expect to receive all incidence reports involving the former Black Water employees

After a massive catered lunch fit for kings and queens, it was back to the meeting room for open discussion. It was more like open season on JBG in a good way.

While we were having lunch I sent a text to Hanna Page and Marley Kendall about the news conference and the location, but not the reason.

Reasonable questions were asked and we did our best to answer all of them.

I asked point blank how far the badges we were issued would carry us. They were different than the normal badges that federal law enforcement displayed. What agencies honored them?

The badges would allow entrance to any US embassy worldwide and any military installations with escort, excluding classified areas.

The ID that Frank had given us and we were to keep allowed Marcy, Jenny, Jason, Ching Lee and Lorrie and me to attend these once a month interagency security briefings. Marcy, Jenny and I would receive by e-mail all national alerts. I was told this was done for two reasons.

One was our affiliation with DHS and the college security agreement. The second was the international embassy security alert system that we were now part of.

It was highly recommended that I visit all eighty embassies that I had employees at as soon as possible to form a working relationship with the ambassador groups there.

The state department was going to work up a portfolio on JBG and me. It would give all the non-classified things we did with various government agencies and our capabilities. It would be sent out in the informational package to the ambassadors 20 days before we officially took over the security contract.

The handwriting was on the wall; I needed to resign from KCC and possibly make it college number 11 under our security umbrella.

I had to handle these duties myself. I could not ask the girls or my administrators to take this on. To go to eighty countries and meet that many people was a huge task. I was sure there would be introductions and discussions with the host countries security personnel.

Another thing that was emphasized was that I needed to be in a position to handle calls from embassy staff personally in emergency situations, and if necessary immediately travel to that location if need be.

At the news conference the contracts were signed by all the appropriate high level dignitaries including Marcy, Jenny and me with brief statements.

Hanna Page was beaming; she was the only reporter from the Eastern Shore beat. Marley was in Fredrick County on assignment and her parent station did not think the Shore rated sending another reporter. Hanna had a Shore exclusive.

Hanna even managed to get in several questions that quieted the news group. Being a regular in the gym, Hanna phrased her questions for maximum benefit of her inside knowledge.

At 2:30, as we were walking to the parking garage I received a text that the G5 carrying Jake from LAX would be landing at Morton Field at 3:30. I drove while Jenny gave me back seat driving lessons on how to make it from Washington to Morton Field in one hour. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead was her motto.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Joe H.

Monday came too fast for me, but it was here. Flights were leaving Minnesota at seven; the planes had left Morton Field at 5 to pick up the second group of employees for training. Another plane was returning from Michigan with the last of that group to be trained here.

Any more training of those groups would be done at the respective colleges on site. Most of the training left was for the part time people.

At nine several people from the agency and the state department, plus the FBI came in as a group and requested the use of a private office. They were going to begin the top level investigations of JBG employees who were going to have access to any related documents.

Marcy had generated a list of those employees. Luckily the agency approved pilots or any of our mechanics who needed this treatment. Since our talk on Friday the scope had been narrowed down.

Marcy’s list now included, Marcy, Jeanna, Lorrie, Vicky, Ching Lee, Jason, Roseanne Cindy, and Mark, two of Marcy’s clerks and my two clerks and me. The investigators promised to have all but the in-depth background finished by the end of the week. I was to be the last one to go through the polygraph and interview process.

True to their word the, State department was finished Friday morning as I was wired up for the polygraph. I spent four hours being interviewed while wired up.

We trained very hard for two weeks; I put in 16 hours a day’ for those two weeks in the gym. For all my hard work, I started losing weight again. I increased my protein intake but that did not help, I was working out so hard.

In between the training sessions there were conference calls and updates from everywhere. Good news came from a few places. Dan called to say that Sonny had been discharged and was in good spirits. His football team had won the Thanksgiving Day game by a field goal in overtime without him and the team had been invited to a bowl game. The old doctor promised he would be able to play in it.

The MAAR manager at Cherokee County airport had sent Jason an envelope of receipts and the leftover cash that Jason had given Sonny’s dad.

Sonny’s mother has included a two page heart-warming thank you letter for all the help and assistance we had provided them.

Sam and Artie had been interviewed by all the agencies. Curtis Warren supplied an attorney to be with them through the process.

The second week of December had come to an end and training was over. All the employees were back to their respective colleges. I had a new Security Director and a second in command at each site.

East Coast Security was more than fifty percent completed with the camera and equipment installation. Marcy had the complete office package delivered to both sites. The new people had plenty to keep them busy until the students returned.

Between Christmas and New Years Day both sites would be paid a visit/inspection so things could be tweaked before students arrived. I had not decided if additional help was going to be sent there to help with all the new ID cards to be issued.

On the 15th of December the State department was satisfied with all the security checks and investigations they had done. The State Department then issued a preliminary letter of intent to award JBG the contract. That meant that it was a done deal except for official signatures.

With that in hand Lorrie purchased 6 Bell 407 TS low hours choppers we needed for the contract. Lorrie contracted with Bell to inspect the choppers at Morton Field before we would make final payment on them. It was the owner’s responsibilities to have them there on December 21 for the inspection.

A helicopter is a piece of equipment that is designed to self destruct. It simply shakes it self to death one hour at a time and requires a host of continuous inspections to find loose, missing parts and structural cracks from the vibration.

On the 17 of December six Blackhawks were posted on the government site. JBG bought all six sight unseen with Frank’s recommendation. We paid 15% of the original cost.

All six were at a marine base in North Carolina. We had four days to fly them out to Morton field. Luckily the ex-Air Force pilots we had hired with the last group had time in choppers. The pilots were being flown down in the morning to fly them back.

We only needed four but Frank arranged that we buy all six. He said we needed spares. In a video call with state and the agency I learned two were going somewhere in South America and two somewhere in Africa.

The planning was already in the works to ferry all the choppers around. The distances were too far to fly them so the plan was to remove three rotor blades and load two choppers each in the C130’s front to back to get them to their destination if it was feasible. They were to return with the junk two choppers in the round flight.

All the junk choppers were going to be kept at Morton as parts pigs. Lorrie was going to decide later if we were going to keep them whole or disassemble them and catalog the spare parts or try to rebuild them.

I argued that there should be enough good parts out of the six Bell 407s to get two flyable spare choppers. Who knows, once we get our minds wrapped around choppers we may find plenty of use for them.

There was also the possibility that she may have the mechanics rebuild two of the Black Hawks. It was something the mechanics were going to have to decide after inspecting them.

With the military downsizing because of the President’s decision to retreat from the Middle East, there were plenty of helicopter mechanics out there. We just needed to find a couple of good ones to add to Robbie’s crew. For now the mechanics we had could do double duty.

It was important to have our own mechanics. They were always busy with repairs, inspections and service work. There was no way you could run a flight service the size we had grown to without them.

Thursday and Friday I was back at KCC to finish out the December paperwork requirements. I would be finished there until after January 2 when the new semester started.

I was glad to see the Christmas weekend was a less than week away. All of us needed to finish shopping. Our close family had grown this year after the announcement that Jenny was pregnant. Jason, Lisa and Joey were household regulars now.

Crash and Marlene were always in the house. I guess it is true that old men relive their sexual youth. Marlene carried a blush most of the time and was always putting her clothes in order when one of us walked in on them in a room – not that she wore that many clothes. She was always in super short skirts with garters and hose with halter tops or something that was easy access for old Crash.

The more I thought about it, she dresses like a hot to trot sixteen year old. She was ready to fuck on the blink of an eye and dressed for easy access. Maybe she just liked to tease old men.

I was on pins and needles Sunday morning. Our best G5 was leaving Sunday night and going to LAX. It needed to be there by 8 AM. That was the time that Jake and Mindy’s flight was to arrive from Japan. Ellen Mills was the flight attendant. She was the most attractive and the best flight attendant anywhere, I suspected. Ellen had it together from A to Z and was the most requested flight attendant that we employed.

I wanted to meet them in the worst way and had planned on going, but I needed to be here for another State, CIA, and DHS meeting Monday morning. This one was in Washington. Marcy, Jenny and I were requested to attend.

I told a little white lie to Mom and Dad that a very important customer was going to be picked up at LAX. I wanted them to represent the company and greet them and make the trip back to Morton Field with them.

Jake had not told them he was coming home for the holidays; he wanted to surprise them and boy did he. We had managed to keep his secret.

Jake was going to surprise Tony and the J&J group too. Their Christmas party Wednesday night at a Ritzy Hill Valley Country Club outside of Kennet Square Pennsylvania. He was just going to walk right in.

All the J&J equipment was gone from Morton Field, their part of the job was done. Tony was going to come back to do a final inspection on the terminal building the first week of January. Bob’s Construction was putting the finishing touches on the interior this week.

Tony was also going to make periodic trips to make sure the hangar people adhered to the contract. With Jake going to stay a month, he may not have to.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Joe H.

Thursday was upon us, Thanksgiving Day – everyone brought a covered dish of some kind to the gym for all the employees and gym regulars to enjoy. Dad and Jason had cooked two turkeys to be sure there would be enough.

All the tables and chairs we had stacked in the garage were carried over to the gym in back of Dad’s pickup truck, assisted by all the able bodied men to load and unload them.

All the employees at Morton Field were invited and came along to.

Lisa and Mom made all the specialty foods. There was the usual candied sweet potatoes gravy and dressing, along with apple, mince meat, chocolate and lemon pies. We had a feast.

We were going to do this all over again for just family and friends tomorrow at the house. Lisa and Mom had made plenty and separated it into two equal portions. All those refrigerators came in handy.

Friday morning Frank called to ask if he could bring a couple of friends and acquaintances with him and his wife.

“Sure, we have plenty of food,” I replied. And we did; Lisa, Mom and we girls had cooked more of anything we thought we would be short on. The guests were going to carry home leftovers for sure.

Marcy had bought plenty of those cheap plastic food containers. Three meals of turkey and leftovers were enough. We were going to have to spend extra hours on the gym floor as it was.

We had a big guest list and by 11 they were arriving. Some came early to help set everything up. The extra help was nice; it was even better that they did not need continuous direction. There is only so much that you can do with table and chair arraignments. It doesn’t really matter where you put the salt, pepper and napkins on the table as long as there are enough of them there.

We had several of those multi crock pot food heaters for the hot foods, much larger crock pots for larger volume foods and coolers with beverages of all kinds.

The judge, his wife, Jason, Lisa, Joey, the North six and their families, Jeanna and both her secretaries came. Marlene and Crash were playful as ever. Marlene was in her late 40’s or early 50’s and she was dressed to play like she was 30 and still wild. I wondered how she acquired the daddy complex in the first place.

Frank arrived with his family, Eric and his wife with Mable tagging along. His guest turned out to be no other than Amy Lockerman and her husband Allen. Allen looked like he was a sub in the dom/sub games. He was always looking down at the floor unless spoken to with his hands always behind him or to his sides. Either that or he was extremely shy.

Lisa said grace and everyone took a plate and the feast began. It was easy to tell when people had food; it got quiet, the only thing heard was occasionally someone asking for salt or pepper or to pass this or that. It stayed that way for an hour or so before chairs were being pushed away from the table with grunts and groans.

The tables were cleared – the china quality paper plates filled the trash cans. The real forks, spoons and knives joined the dirty glasses in the dishwashers.

The deserts were brought out and put on the tables – to more grunts and groans – with another stack of paper plates and plastic forks. Along with the desert came the fellowship of family and friends the things that made us strong and kept us together.

It was late afternoon when the family and friends started leaving in two and threes. Most had gone, only the close family remained along with Frank, Eric, their wives, Amy Lockerman and Allen.

Frank and Eric approached me and asked if we could talk about business – if I had no objections – for a few minutes.

The security business is like war. Once you start it goes 24/7 and even though it was a holiday weekend, my employees were still walking beats, monitoring cameras and protecting and I was still responsible. So no, I had no objections talking business.

Marcy, Jenny, Lorrie, Eric, Frank, Amy, Jeanna and I drifted into a corner. Vicky and Ching Lee asked the wives and Allen if they would like a tour of the gym.

The first logistics questions were answered. We would have to buy six Bell 407’s on the market. There was no surprise there. Amy insisted the State department contracts and agreements were complex and firm with the host countries.

The agency along with backing from the State Department would prod the DOD to put six of the better Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawks at the bone yard on the closed auction site for us to buy. JBG would be authorized to buy anything we wanted from that site from now on.

Jeanna had worked up a number for us to offer to the bankruptcy judge and the Bank of Virginia for the fleet of armored SUV’s and the worn out junk planes and choppers.

Then the news that I knew was coming. All JBG employees at the office and Morton Field would have to undergo the highest level of background checks there were.

All would have to pass polygraph tests, a new round of finger prints and an agency contractor ID card. Jenny, Marcy, Vicky, Ching Lee, Lorrie Jason, Roseanne and I would be issued a low level diplomat ID. All employees would have to get passports if they did not already have one.

With everything we had going on for the next two weeks, agents from the agency and the State Department would be here on Monday to start the process. Once all of that was in order we would be awarded the contract, with January 15 as the official start date.

That would give JBG 45 days to make the transition to management of the former Black Water employees and to visit all 80 countries and the diplomatic overtures to be made.

JBG would gain a few things other than more employees and equipment. With the increased security clearances the girls, Jason and several of my clerks, including Cindy and Mark, could carry our Glock through airport security.

One other benefit also stood out on the paperwork; JBG would be able to provide security and bodyguard services to all but the President and Vice President as contract services.

The down side was that there were 80 countries to visit routinely as contract security management for the embassies. We talked about the nuts and bolts and things that we would need to complete on our end of the contract for another hour.

We had two more days to rest and strengthen our family, before all hell was going to break out starting next week. December was going to be one busy month.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Joe H.

Wednesday morning was the last morning I would be driving to KCC for a couple of weeks. After the Thanksgiving holiday I was training for two straight weeks at the gym again. Then it was back at KCC for a few days then more training at the gym. The second group from Michigan and Minnesota were to be at the gym on Monday.

I did have the days off between Christmas and New Years but had to be back at KCC for the first Monday of January, for the start of the second semester.

I finished out all my pending paperwork and work schedules until I would be back mid-December, including who was to be acting supervisors for each shift. Patti was going to do most of the day shifts.

At eleven I went to the cafeteria to have Thanksgiving dinner with the staff. So that the security people who were working could partake, I had split the lunch break so they all could enjoy the great food.

As I was sitting eating I had a hair-chilling feeling on the back of my neck, the kind that when it happened in the sandbox it told me a firefight was going to happen soon.

Then I had a vision. In this vision i had a revelation that this was going to be my last winter at KCC and with the coffin in the vision I knew it to be so. For it was me in the coffin this time and not a blank face I used to see in the sandbox. The coffin was waiting to be lowered into the vault on a lush green hillside; a spring or summer funeral. I shrugged it off and finished lunch.

After the very filling lunch that would require several hours in the gym to work off, I drove home thinking of all the things I needed to do in my office at the gym.

I was back at the meeting table. My mates and Jason had been going through the stack of folders Frank had left last night.

Marcy had taken my security discussion to heart. First thing I noticed, she had swapped out our laptops again. All of us had the same type of laptops. There was better pricing in quantity and Marcy saved every nickel she could and choked poor old Lincoln at every chance she could. She bought dozens at a time to get the get the biggest discount she could possibly get.

As I walked to take my place, I noticed that the light indicating the wireless had been turned on was now dark. On top of that there was a carton of new thumb drives on the tabletop and every computer had one installed. The indicator was blinking that the drive was in use.

I had to laugh as I took my normal seat. There was a bold-typed sheet explaining a temporary electronic computer security policy until a formal policy was put in place, and how to send information direct to the thumb and not store it on the laptop hard drive.

Jason, Roseanne, and another clerk from Jason’s team had the Black Water employee files; they were scanning the pages with portable desktop scanners. Jason noticed my questioning look and walked over to me.

“I have loaded our personnel program onto these laptops for this project. All the data is being saved on those thumb drives. When we are finished, all the data colledted from the thumbs will be saved onto one laptop as an HR master until the security changes you discussed last night have been fully implemented. Then I will put it on the secure mainframe,” he said. Then he added “Some of these people are getting really good salaries but they also have some exceptional credentials. They are assigned in some horrible parts of the world,” he replied.

Marcy was looking at the logistics folder, “BJ, I have started a pad with questions we need to ask Frank. There are 100 armored SUV’s being billed to the State Department. Ten of the sites have two and the rest have one.”

“There are also 6 Bell 407 helicopters and 4 with some kind of designation I think are military. The designation will not come up on a search. They are written into the terms of the contract. The question is, can the agency work with the bankruptcy judge for us to buy the lot or are we going to have to scramble to buy them on open market?” she asked.

“If we have to buy them on the market there is going to be a long lead time for them to be built. Although a contract for 100 may move the order to the front, it will still be a long time,” I replied.

Lorrie added, “Low hour Bell 407’s are plentiful from my research. I can’t find anything on the others. Add that question to the list. What are they?

“Have you called Jeanna about financing?” I asked. “Based on the numbers you have?”

“The contract called for fixed monthly payment from the State Department with ‘Extras’ and Black Water had some wild administrative add-on charges,” Marcy replied.

I picked up the sheet of questions and went into my office to call Frank’s private number. But first, I sent an e-mail to Charles Fine of Howard, Howard and Fine, our corporate attorneys.

“Charles, does your firm handle last wills and testaments?

Thanks, BJ”

Then I called Frank. “Hello Frank, how are you today?” I asked.

“I am fine. I would speculate that you are calling with questions?” he replied.

“Yes, I am to start with Marcy – she wanted to know about the armored SUV’s in the contract. There are 100 of them, will we be able to get them through the bankruptcy court and at what cost?” I asked.

“Well, they are 4 years old or newer; we require that for reliability, most likely 25 of each year. The Bank of Virginia is holder of the liens on them. I will send you a contact name and number and the outstanding balance. They are over a barrel because of where they are located, and quite frankly they have been assholes about it.”

“I would offer them 50% of the value and let them stew. They will come up with a number far less than what is owed to get out of the loan. They are not going to be able to send a repo man to get them,” Frank said.

“The next question is the choppers,” I said.

“The Bells are flying pieces of junk, Black Water has done no maintenance on them in 18 months and along with that they have high flying time on them. The pilots are screaming bloody murder about flying them, they claim those choppers are unsafe. At the moment there are 20 pilots in the employee list.”

“What are the other four?” I asked.

“Slightly demilitarized Blackhawks used for escort – same as with the Bells – no maintenance; good for parts is about all. We will find some better ones for you if we can deal. The countries where they are located – they are a necessity,” Frank said.

“I will pass it on to Marcy,” I replied then hung up.

I opened the e-mails that came in while I was talking to Frank. One of them was a reply from Charles Fine.

“Yes we do. If it is a simple will you want, just e-mail how you want it to be set up. If it is complicated I can visit. It is your choice. If I may ask, you are not ill are you?” Chuck Fine.

I e-mailed back my simple instructions for my will and then gave them instructions to get a complete report on the bankruptcy of Black Water including assets, value and liabilities ASAP. Then I went back to the meeting table where I filled Marcy and Lorrie in on my conversation with Frank.

After supper and some time to unwind it was quite obvious the girls were frisky; I guess they needed a real stress relief after the day they had. With it being mid-week it was just the six of us and we made to most of it. We took a long shower, even trimming the stubble on all the sensitive spots. I helped Jenny shave her legs – with her growing stomach it was a difficult job for her to do.

Then we made love, first to each other and followed that as a group orgy. The pump-up dildos got an aggressive workout although I noticed Jenny was being treated lightly. Everyone was afraid they might hurt her or the little ones by going too deep.

She clearly was not being satisfied tonight and dropped enough hints about it. I knew what she wanted and it was one of the big toys. They were her favorite; she loved the stretched feeling it left her with and it had been weeks since we had used the big ones on her.

We had a secret pact among ourselves not to use them on her until after the births, and so far we had been successful but not tonight. I slid the big one in and gave it five pumps to hold it in place. Jenny was plenty wet from all the pleasure we had given her already.

She watched me get ready and was even whimpering in anticipation as I lubed it from a new tube, just to make sure there was no contamination.

With her large abdomen, the only way was doggy style. I took my place behind her and teased her opening with it before I entered. I placed one hand on her back and one firmly around the toy in a position so my knuckles would play havoc on her clit. Jenny was getting the stretch and fullness she wanted to feel but not the depth. In only a few minutes she was announcing her pleasure.

Marcy, Lorrie, Ching Lee and Vicky had moved to her sides to assist in taking her over the top and then to support her so she would not collapse face down.

We were all very exhausted as we stepped from the shower to call it an evening and snuggled with one another.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Joe H.