Bjjonesmylife. Book 2

Caroline was having a tough go of it. She had made two more trips to surgery. Linda Breeze had intended to go home on Wednesday to return to work. The company she worked for told her to stay as long as necessary.

Linda was a nervous wreck and spending so much time alone did not help after her family went back to Fort Wayne. Wednesday night Courtney convinced her to stay at her house in the spare room.

For JBG the week had been busy. Marcy, Cindy and Mark were crunching the numbers for the two new sites. On Wednesday, Eric and agents from two other agencies met with Marcy to review the bids and make adjustments. Those adjustments were more surveillance equipment, more costs and more mark-up.

The contracts were rewritten and sent to both colleges for approval. It was a no brainer for them; more security and less cost with the government grants in the equation. Both colleges faxed signed contracts back on Thursday and the process began with the job postings in those cities.

Finally, on Thursday I was able to get back into a normal routine for the rest of the week. Thursday night, while on the way home from KCC I stopped by the airport site.

One of the three batch plants was gone along with several of the concrete mix trucks. The floor pour was different than what had been done with the runways. It looked like they were starting from each side and working towards the middle with the concrete.

They were using some kind of pump truck get the concrete to the big center sections. One of the men said it was the same procedure that they had used with the other two hangars. I had not been around to see the first ones.

With the heating system in the floor, it was the only way they could pour it. They were working on the last few hundred feet of the hangar. Men were riding on a gasoline powered trowel that was smoothing the surface.

The outside sections already had the steel beams to support the roof beams in place and they were installing the roof beams with big cranes. To me it looked like this was the only place concrete work was left to finish along with the tarmac and its connection to the runways.

It made sense because Tony had said that all the concrete work would be finished before any freezing weather. In this area that could happen soon after Thanksgiving, just four weeks away.

Tony had sent me a text yesterday that both the JBG and Agency hangars were now completely finished. The Agency had their contractors installing top secret stuff in theirs now. Tony said there was a daily convoy of government trucks and SUVs navigating the access road to the hangar.

Marcy and Lorrie were both itching to move our planes here to stop the tie down, rental fees and FBO fees at Easton for the bombardiers and at Island Airport for the rest.

There were two hold-ups to that move. One was the OK from Tony that the concrete was ready to support that kind of weight. The other was the terminal building. We needed to be able to assemble passengers out of the coming cold and bad weather and they needed a place to park their vehicles.

Fuel was not one of the problems. The fuel tanks were filled to check for any leaks before the final payment to the contractor. Our fuel supply was ready to go.

Bob’s Construction and all of his sub-contractors had made remarkable progress on the terminal, but I did not see the move happening for another month at least. As soon as the cover crop seeding was done the biplane would make its last flight here.

The mechanics were going to drain all the fluids, remove the batteries, touch up all the paint then help Bob move it into the terminal to its designated spot as a museum piece as we had agreed with Crash.

Lorrie had found a turbo prop duster to replace it for next season. It was getting a remanufactured turbine installed at the factory along with some new spray components.

I headed to the office so I could get updates at our evening meeting. The news was better tonight from Caroline; she had made her first steps today and had checked in with some of her classes. The rest of her family was coming back Friday night. Courtney sent a text that Caroline’s family wanted to see me if it was possible, either this weekend or next weekend.

Tony had good news; we could start using the 4-22 runway for all flights the first week of November – next week – and we could move into the hangar at any time starting this week. The 15-33 run way needed another 10 days for full capacity but could be used if we had to, for planes weighing less than 15000 pounds.

The runways would have the painted landing markings, numbers and stripes finished tomorrow. The lines and markings to our hangar, the agency hangar and the terminal were also going to be painted

The instrument landing system was operational for both runways and had been certified. The airport identification beacon and radio systems would go operational Friday morning.

After much discussion, the move would be made this weekend with the Bombardiers first and the rest of the aircraft by Monday morning. Easton and the county would get no more payments.

I asked Tony to tell all the contractors to keep all equipment off the runways and taxi-ways after Saturday and if they were working near the runway, the equipment would need flashing lights operating. All boom trucks and cranes needed a light on the highest part of the tower.

The east end side hangar was going to be office space for the pilots and mechanics anyhow, so for the time being it would serve as our customer center until we could move into the terminal. There was a parking lot with it that would have to do.

Marcy and Lorrie were going to place the order for the cubicles and chairs, computers and flat screens to fully set it up. When the terminal was finished it could be moved, or maybe not.

The office supply company had same day delivery and setup. The phone system had been tested in our hangar and was waiting for plug and play; hopefully the techs could come Monday to expand it to meet the changes.

The mechanics could move the shop equipment starting tomorrow if they wanted the overtime, or as they had time Monday. Things were coming together and they needed to with the shorter days now.

Eric, Ty and Kathryn knew we used video conferencing a lot, they also knew we had nightly organizational meeting. Eric sent me a text asking if we were in a meeting and for the video address if we were.

For the next hour we had a video conference with DHS; not only Eric, but his direct supervisor from Washington. It was the first time I had seen or even heard of Douglas McJames. I had to assume he had one of those deep missile proof offices at some secret location.

He knew a lot about JBG and the things we did. He knew even more about me and my mates and talked like we were long lost old friends. He asked a lot of questions about Rochester, Michigan and Minnesota. He finished the conversation with instructions for Eric to attend our session tomorrow night.

Edit by Alfmeister

Proof read by Joe H.

Monday I was glad to be headed to KCC. I was driving and Patti was riding with me. Patti had returned late; she had been on an out of town trip with Kate again. Patti was pumping me for every little detail of the Frost Borough attack.

There had been a renewed discussion at the breakfast table this morning about the weekend adventures. We had brain-stormed for two hours last night. Jenny and I came up with a corporate statement in case anyone showed up with questions. I knew that sooner or later some would come knocking on our doors .

Vicky and Ching Lee, as our public relations spokes persons, were going to send the statement to all JBG security sites and hold a video conference at 7 AM with all the directors – just to CYA.

Caroline Breeze had become a hot topic in Mountain County. Frost Borough was the county seat as well as a college town. It was an off year election cycle. That election was less than 15 days away. The Frost Borough local media went berserk with the kidnapping and rape of Caroline Breeze.

The sheriff was trying to ride the coattails of her rescue to reelection and was taking credit for a lot of things that happened there, and that was fine with me. Going into the final weeks to reelection the sheriff was a couple points ahead of his opponent in the polls before Friday night’s abduction of Caroline and now had a double digit lead.

The real problem was his opponent’s last ditch efforts were making waves. He was shaking trees and rattling the leaves to see what might fall out. The under-dogs sometimes do desperate things. The other thing the sheriff’s opponent was harping on in the local media was he knew the Johnson boys and there was no way they should have died.

I found out later, Murphy Cox was the local handyman grounds keeper; that kind of thing. That explained the porch full of tools that I selected from and all of the people that knew him were skeptical of the charges laid against him.

This fight had the potential to get nasty very quickly, especially if any of the details of my interrogation became public knowledge.

I learned from the 6 AM news report stated that Murphy Cox was to be charged with the kidnapping and rape of Caroline and the kidnapping, rape and the murder of Sonya Deerfield last November – complete details would be released at the 11 am press conference given by the Mountain County Prosecutor’s office .

Courtney was sending me every scrap of newspaper print that was appearing and recording all the local newscasts. She had been posting them for me on the JBG server so I could look at them.

So far there had been no mention of any legal representation for Murphy or any statements from any lawyers that might be consul for him, but I knew there had to be a state or county attorney appointed by now.

As for Dean Skaggs he had called College Chancellor Howard Nobles – they were old friends – apparently heaping praise for the fast action and the return of Caroline alive.

As I figured Howard Nobles and Bob Jackson were in my office as soon as the fresh pot of coffee was being made. I knew they were both itching to ask questions.

Seeing that it was between shift changes with all the day shift had checked in and the night shift ready to check out, there was no better time to gave a joint briefing to both about the weekend in case reporters showed up asking questions here.

“May I have your attention please: All of you know that I am part owner of JBG and we supply security to other colleges? Saturday morning an advance team including myself was flying to Michigan and then on to Minnesota to evaluate the security needs for two new potential clients,” I said.

“I received an in-flight call from our Frost Borough security office indicated that they had a missing student. I decided to divert our flight to Frost Borough to assist in the investigation,” I added and then continued.

A preliminary investigation had been under way before the Security Director made the call to the senior management team. In that investigation she questioned all of the fellow students that had been with the missing student in question. She determined that she needed help.

This is what had played out the night before: There had been a group of eight students. First they went to the football game, and two off campus bars. That investigation revealed that the girl, Caroline Breeze became separated from the group at the second bar when she informed one of her friends that she had met a friend whom was going to return her to campus. It was clear she did not make it,” I said.

“Using further investigative techniques we later determined she was possibly being held in a house outside of town. When we arrived on the scene there was one suspect in the house that was detained while the security team searched for the girl. We uncovered her bloody clothes and ID card in a day bed but no girl was found at the premises.” I said.

“On a more further search of the property there was evidence found that indicated there were at least two other individuals involved besides the one we had detained. The individual was uncooperative as you can imagine. It was at this point that the local sheriff became involved. Based on some things we found I believed that she could possibly still be alive. At that point aggressive interrogation and very aggressive techniques were put in play,” I said.

“As a result the suspect gave up the names of his partners along with the location that she was being held. He stated that they were getting ready to kill her and dispose of the body very soon. The JBG security team and the sheriff arrived just as they were preparing to decapitate her,”

“A split second decision was made as a result both assailants were killed at the scene. The girl was in critical condition but has later improved enough to move from ICU to a private room. The investigation continues today,” I said.

“There are some things that I want to reinforce from this tragedy.”

1. When security gets notified of a missing student we start a search immediately. In this situation, the State police were called but the response was 24 hours then you can fill out a missing persons report. Not at my house, the search starts immediately.

2. You use the tools we have provided we have provided here for you. If a student is found to be missing from the college grounds: Use the recorded camera data combined with the student’s ID card and report it immediately to your director. The ID card has a magnetic strip and is triple thick for a reason, the duty person can follow it around campus and senior management can follow it further off campus in an emergency.

3. The cell phone – even though we can’t activate the GPS tracker, there are people that can in an emergency. I have those numbers on my call list and I am going to set up the protocol so the duty person and the directors at each site will have access and authority to make that call.

4. Remember that you do not answer any questions from media or friends about any missing person or person’s during or after the investigation. It quickly gets blown out of proportion, miss-information runs riot and can lead to unnecessary grief for the family. Direct anyone asking questions to the official spokespersons and never accidently volunteer any information while making small talk.

5. The call to the family is to be left to the director to make when the facts are known. No one is to call with ‘I think you should know,’ to the family or friends.

6. Accommodate the family once the facts are established and the decision to notify them has been made or the victims are found. Senior management will schedule air travel, motel rooms and rental cars as necessary for the family.

“All of you in this room will at sometime be in the position of shift duty supervisor. When things go south, call your supervisor, time is critical; get the help you need immediately. When we went through the door, she was seconds from being killed,” I said then asked, “Any questions?”

None of the security people had any questions or else they did not want to ask them when to two top college administrators were in the room. The night shift people left quickly to go home and the day shift people to their job assignments.

That left Chancellor Nobles, Bob Jackson and Patti in the office with a fresh cup of coffee. Chancellor Nobles asked, “Exactly what are aggressive interrogation techniques?”

I glanced at Bob Jackson. Being he was a marine from the first Iraq war and I was sure he knew what I had meant.

“Well, I broke his fingers one at a time. It only took four fingers before he decided to give up his buddies,” I replied to the question.

“Hell, I am no saint and never pretended to be. Lets get one thing clear, I will do whatever is necessary for those under my protection,” I replied to the Chancellor’s startled expression that was almost as good as Courtney’s. As for Bob Jackson had a little smile that gave away his feelings.

I had a feeling that if I ever got fired from this job it would be by e-mail and not face to face with Chancellor Nobles.

The rest of the day was quiet – I spent most of it on the phone and computer doing both JBG and KCC work.

Edit by Alfmeister

Proof read by Joe H.

Courtney was not scheduled on weekends other than being on call, as all supervisors are. We went to one of those ‘breakfast all day’ places before going to the hospital.

When we arrived at the hospital the Breeze family was already there, along with several of Caroline’s friends sitting in a waiting room having a general discussion. The doctors had not been out to talk to anyone. Dean Skaggs had not arrived yet.

The group of friends that came were the same ones who had been out partying with Caroline when she went missing. Courtney had interviewed all of them yesterday morning before calling for help.

Courtney introduced them to me as the “big boss”. Again there was that term again.

“You’re the one who found Caroline, and you’re the one who you made the guy talk. It’s all over the college rumor mill. Is it true were you really going to cut off his fingers to save Caroline,” one of the girls asked.

“Do not believe what you hear in the rumor mill girls. Do you really think I could do that?” I replied.

“We looked you up on the internet. The college has a top of the line system you know. We think he is lucky to be here and Caroline is more lucky that you were the one looking for her. You are one of those type A personality people, no bull – all action,” the girl said.

“It was not a one woman show I was just along for the ride. Yes I played my part. But Courtney and her team were key to finding Caroline in time,” I replied.

At that moment the elevator door opened ending the conversation.

Dr. Debra Rich stepped off the elevator to join our group. After a warm hug, “I see you still have not learned to run from the gunfire. According to the news it was a good thing yesterday,” she said.

There was a small room off to the side of the waiting area where we could talk. The doctors and clergy went to meet with the family of patients. I asked the family to follow me in there and I made the introductions.

I explained that I had asked Dr. Rich to come speak with them and Caroline because I had several traumatic experiences in the past and Dr. Rich had helped me with them. She had a wealth of experience with cases like this. Then I excused myself to let the Dr. begin.

I joined Courtney and Caroline’s friends back in the waiting room. Courtney and I were going to stay to get a medical update before I made the decision whether to go to Minnesota or back to the Island.

To keep busy I filled in the time working on my laptop. I looked over the reports that Cindy, Mark, Ching Lee and Vicky had filed last night from the Michigan College.

I took this time to guide Courtney through the process that we used to place video cameras and the rest of the equipment as I worked on the camera placement list. The group had really worked up a great series of pictures to work from at the Michigan site. The locations that the college had agreed upon were great. Like the other colleges I added a camera here and there.

The College Board had already agreed to use tag scanners at the four college entrances along with a list of other goodies that DHS suggested we install as well. One of those items on that list included several cell phone monitoring antennas.

Eric had already sent me the preliminary list of agents who would be assigned to both colleges. They were going to get the training in our systems starting the 1st of November. The transition period for the change-over was to happen over the Christmas and New Year’s holiday.

Jason wanted to run the help-wanted ads starting next week and have all the checks, interviews and hiring done by November 15th. That way the in-house training could begin the weekend after Thanksgiving with two weeks training for each group. Everyone would be on board to help with the transition over the holidays.

New ID cards could be issued when classes started in January. The attack on Caroline proved that the ID card system we used was worth every penny it cost.

The two additional colleges were going to add another six thousand students under our protection and an additional two hundred more employees. Both colleges were heavy into sports and had insisted we add coverage for all sporting events to our offering.

Marcy had forty more cars coming. As with the others, the new cars would go into MAAR rental sites and she would pull older cars out for security.

I just hoped that this new endeavor did not interfere with newest arrivals, Jenny’s pregnancy.

It was nearly eleven when the doctors finally finished their rounds and were ready to update the family and us on Caroline’s condition. Dean Skaggs had just arrived in time to join us.

They said, Caroline would be in the hospital for at least two weeks for treatment and physical rehab. The doctors wanted it done at the hospital and not as an outpatient.

Mr. and Mrs. Breeze were deeply concerned that Caroline would fall so far behind in her classes that she would be unable to complete the school year.

I interrupted at this point. Seeing that all the players were present; now was the time to barnstorm.

“I can have the security company install cameras in each of Caroline’s classes. She can remotely attend all of her classes or I can have them recorded for her and she can review the material when she is not in therapy,” I offered.

“I am sure I can work up an access code to allow her to use our remote security feed and with a laptop Caroline can attend or at least review the classroom discussions and assignments,” I said.

“Dean, can you pressure her professors to cooperate for the two weeks?” I asked.

“Oh yes, they may not like it but they will go along as an experimental project. They can even e-mail her the quizzes and tests,” he said.

The good news was that Caroline was going to be transferred to a private room later today so her friends could come visit her.

Her family was going to stay to mid-week. Both parents needed to be back at their jobs and the kids back in school.

Dean Skaggs agreed to pick up all the bills for motel rooms, rental cars, and flight expenses.

I asked Courtney to check in every day and keep me informed. Dr. Rich was going to stay till mid-week when her family left and then return to spend the weekend with Caroline.

By now it was mid-afternoon and Caroline was in her private room. The jet coming from Minnesota was going to land to pick me up in an hour. I was going to be glad to snuggle next to Jenny tonight.

Edit by Alfmeister

Proof read by Joe H.

We stopped on our way to the hospital at a fast food joint. A salad with chicken to go along with several large black coffees would be all I needed.

Courtney and I met Dean Skaggs in the emergency room surgery area. While Courtney and I waited we finished our lunches. Then I filled Dean Skaggs in on all the morning’s events, answering his questions as best as I could.

I called Marcy, Lorrie and Jenny on a conference call to fill them in. It was a tough conversation over the phone, one that I would rather have done in person.

After the call, I sent both Marcy and Jenny texts, wanting a private conference with them. Because of today’s events I was worried the conversation we had might rekindle fears and anxiety in Lorrie from her own attack four years ago. I wanted to stress to the girls to stay close to Lorrie.

I called Dr. Rich, one of JBG’s on call shrink’s that we used to evaluate all potential new security employees and who had helped me heal from Betty’s death. She has also helped Misty Black last year. I had hardly finished the conversation when she agreed to be here in the morning to help the family and Caroline as soon as she was able to be seen.

The doctors finally came out to update Dean Skaggs, Courtney and I on Caroline’s condition. It just happened that Major Welch and the sheriff appeared in time to be in on the briefing. She was slowly improving. She had broken ribs, broken bones in her hands and a broken nose with multiple cuts and bruises.

A specialist in cosmetic surgery was flying in from Baltimore’s John Hopkins Hospital to minimize permanent scars. A gynecologist surgical team was finishing up repairs to her female parts.

I was mad all over again. I asked the Major if Murphy had confessed to being involved with the rape and murder of the Frost Borough student last year.

“No, nothing has been said about that yet,” he replied.

“Let’s go discuss it with him while I am still fresh on his mind,” I said.

“That’s not going to be necessary. There was enough DNA left on the body; there won’t be any problem tying them to the crime,” Major Welch replied. “Besides, I hear he may go into cardiac arrest at the sight of you coming to see him again.”

With lunch and the briefings at the hospital it was now after one. My cell phone rang. It was the pilot of the G5 returning from Fort Wayne with the Breeze family.

“Boss the family was early and we have a good tailwind; we should be there between 13:45 to 14:00 hours,” he replied.

“How is the family holding up?” I asked.

“Very worried,” he replied.

“I can understand that. We are all very worried too,” I replied.

The cosmetic surgeon from John Hopkins arrived and went directly into the surgery unit. I drove Courtney to the airport where I signed for the two Tahoe SUVs that the family was going to use during their stay. We just needed to log in their drivers licenses when they arrived.

The manager brought us the special deliver from Jamie. I picked out one, verified the SN on the form and signed that I had received it, then slid in a clip, chambered a round and slid it into my holster. Courtney did the same thing, and then she called for one of her day people to pick up the locked courier case.

While we were waiting I started getting pictures on my phone. I went to one of the computers in the MAAR rental site to look at them.

Aerial cover crop seeding started today. In order for the farmers to get paid from the state we had to complete the process by November 15th and showing green in the field if an auditor showed up. With corn it was no problem; the crop was out in time to plant it in a conventional fashion.

Late beans were the problem; they were still green and growing because of the late fall. A plane or chopper was the only way to plant.

The dusters were using the 15 runway. Crash’s old runway was long gone and the concrete needed several more weeks to set up since it was put down.

Tony said,” You can begin using it any time you want for dusting,” Sabrina was a god send, she had taken pictures of the first landings and takeoffs at our airport.

There were even several pictures of Crash with the planes and several more of him pointing to the new painted and logoed water tower with Morton Field painted in big black letters.

I was glad to see Marcy and Lorrie’s email had received them to; the airport was Lorrie’s baby and planes landing and taking off there would make her day. We were giving the pictures a good look-over and discussion when the G5 contacted the tower to join the landing pattern.

As the G5 was pulling up Courtney and I walked out the door and onto the tarmac pushing the small baggage carts that all small airports used. They were not much bigger than the ones that most motels used but they were several times more heavy duty.

In reality none of this was my place. JBG security was clear of any responsibility. Caroline’s attack had happened off campus but I could not just walk away.

That was what made me detour the flight to Frost Borough. Five minutes was the difference between living and dying for Caroline.

There were many things that could have added five minutes. If I had not stopped the sheriff from reading Murphy his rights it would been over then and there. If I had played nice girl when questioning Murphy we would not have arrived in time. Just five minutes was the difference.

She did all but one thing right. She had stayed with her group of friends at the football game on campus. Then with them at the first bar and it was at the second bar is when things went haywire.

Why did she leave the group? Was she drugged? Her friends insisted that she was not consuming any alcohol at either of the bars when Courtney questioned them this morning.

Was she selected and separated by choice? Had the group been followed from the first bar to the Bulls Den? Unless Murphy talked we would never know. Had they corralled her and just forced her out the door?

During my many discussions today with Major Welch, he had ordered a search warrant to get the video surveillance tapes from both the Bulls Den and the Half Mile Bar. “There is no way they do not record the activity in the bar,” he said. Then he added, “I ordered a drug test on Caroline.”

With the wheels chocked, the engines off and the turbines slowing to a stop, I came back to the here and now; Courtney and I pushed the carts to the plane stairs and assisted the Breeze family to the tarmac.

I helped the co-pilot stack their bags on the cart. Andrea, the flight attendant, followed Mrs. Breeze down the steps. Her face was very red and showed the effects of recently crying.

Andrea responded with, “Hi boss,” as soon as she saw me; I wondered where that title had suddenly appeared from.

I asked who would be the eventual drivers of the two SUVs as we loaded the bags in the back and informed them that they needed to record the driver’s license information.

Courtney and I both drove to the hospital, pointing out various landmarks that the Breeze family would need to get around in the next few days.

At the hospital Courtney and I listened while the doctors, the sheriff and Major Welch undated everyone on the latest information. Because it was so late I decided to stay at Courtney’s house in her guest room for the night. Ching Lee and Vicky had been thoughtful enough to leave my bag at MAAR for me when they departed.

Tomorrow morning after I had made the introductions with Dr. Rich and the family, the G5 was flying me to meet up with Ching Lee, Vicky, Cindy and Mark at Minnesota. If – and it was a big if – everything went smoothly tomorrow morning with the Breeze Family.

With the four of them there I was not needed anyhow, other than for appearance sake.

Edit by Alfmeister
Prof read by Joe H.

UPDATED CHAPTER

As the state police started unpacking their things, the sheriff stopped the officers at the door. “This is my case and investigation; I want to make this clear before we go any further,” he said.

‘Election year coming up,’ I thought to myself; this will really be a mess.

Thanks to quick thinking the state police and sheriff’s deputies had closed off the farm lane, keeping the media out.

The investigation began with a deputy and a state police officer taking thousands of pictures. While the police were doing their thing I was still on the phone with Eric. Courtney occupied her time by calling in off duty security personal to bring her department to where it needed to be.

After my debriefing with Eric I called Dean David Skaggs of “Frost Borough College” to make the toughest phone call I had made in a long time.

“Mr. Skaggs, this is BJ, I am calling about one of your students, her name is Caroline Breeze, age 19, and she was abducted last night from a party at the Bulls Den Club. No one reported her missing until this morning when her roommate found her bed had not been slept in. We found her a short time ago and she is in a Medivac chopper headed to the medical center as we speak,” I said then added.

“She was raped and brutalized by as many as three men; two of the assailants are dead and the third is on his way to the center as we speak. She is in critical condition for sure. I am with the police assisting with the investigation outside of town with Courtney and some of her security personal. As soon as I find out more information I will call you,” I said.

“I will put a call into HR to get her family information and then go the Medical center. Meet me there when you can. I want to hear the complete story from you and Courtney before I call her parents,” Dean Skaggs replied. BJ please call me David.

“Ok David get the family’s information and I will get one our jets on the way to pick them up. I think they are in the Fort Wayne Indiana area.”

While I was talking to the Dean the state police and the sheriff’s forensics units rolled up.

A few moments later Major Robert Welch – the MSP barracks commander who we had met when we first took the Frost Borough contract. The Major escorted all three of us, the sheriff, Courtney and I into one of the forensics units.

“Start at the beginning,” Major Welch instructed. “Sheriff, because you fired your weapon you cannot be the lead investigator. I will be running this three ring circus from this point on.”

Courtney started by describing the frantic call from Caroline’s roommate, then to her investigation of her partying friends and the conversation up to the in-flight call to me.

Courtney told how she even tried to get a look at any video from the Bulls Den, only to be told that the cameras did not record for customer privacy.

“Why didn’t you call the barracks?” the Major asked.

“I did and I was told that there was little that could be done until she was missing 24 hours,” Courtney replied. “After that a missing persons report could be filed.”

Major Welch did not like that reply and it showed on his face and in his eyes.

Then it was my turn. I explained the electronic search leaving out as many of the details that I could. I quickly moved my statement to us arriving at the house and finding Caroline’s clothes and ID card.

“I have the other county forensics unit at the house collecting evidence,” the sheriff stated.

The sheriff said, “I arrived at that point,” then he began filling in pieces and leaving out as much as he could.

Major Welch asked the sheriff how he convinced Murphy to give up the location where Caroline was held.

I was waiting for his response to that question.

His reply was, “Aggressive interrogation tactics and the pictures on here sealed the deal that he had no choice,” as he handed the bagged camera to Major Welch.

“I want a copy of all the pictures on the camera,” the sheriff replied as he gave the camera to the Major.

“I need all the weapons that were fired collected and who they were issued to,” The Major replied. “The corporal will collect them and log them.”

When the corporal was finished the security department was down 6 side arms – Ronnie’s, Sandra’s, Justin’s, Shelly’s Courtney’s and mine.

Dean Skaggs called back with the family information. Caroline had two younger brothers and a younger sister by 10 months.

I called the weekend duty clerk in the office back home. With all of us gone we thought it was best to have someone there. By luck both of Lorrie’s clerks chose to work overtime. Carson was working today. We had coverage from 6 AM till 10 PM. They knew how to run the aviation division and the rental side if something happened.

“Carson please send one the Gulfstream’s directly to Fort Wayne Indiana International and have the crew stand by for an emergency flight back to Frost Borough ASAP. Make sure there is a flight attendant and anything she needs on it,” I instructed.

“Jamie is on her way to the office. She is going to give you 6 handguns from the lockup. Get them on the 11 AM BWI to Frost Borough business flight. Send them in a locked JBG courier case, mark it Special Handling. Use one of the smaller planes from the island to BWI. You have handled this before; it should be a piece of cake.”

“10-4 Boss,” Carson replied. “Call us back when you can. We have been listening to the radio the whole time, it sounds bad.”

“It is very bad,” I replied.

At this point in the investigation Major Welch started interviewing everyone one at a time in the forensics truck.

The coroner removed the bodies in body bags. The bale of hay was put inside a big trash bag. More pictures were taken.

At 11 Carson called back, “The plane is in route to Fort Wayne; they will be on the ground in an hour and a half. The package is on the business flight.”

“Thanks Carson,” I replied.

“Dean Skaggs, the plane will be at the general aviation terminal at Fort Wayne around 12:30. How is her condition?” I asked.

“Critical is all they will tell me; they are doing more tests,” he replied. “She is drifting in and out of consciousness as we speak.”

“Will you make the call to the family or do you want me to do it?” I asked.

He gave the contact numbers he had; a home and two cell phones. I guess that was my answer.

This one was going to be a lot worse than the call to the Dean. I walked out to sit in Courtney’s Suburban.

I called the home number first. “Is this Mr. Robert Breeze?”

“Yes”

Hello Mr. Breeze, my name is Roberta Jones president of JBG Security, the security company for Frost Borough College. Everyone calls me BJ.

“Do you have a daughter named Caroline who attends Frost Borough College this semester?”

“Yes”

“Mr. Breeze, I have some bad news to tell you. Caroline is in the hospital in surgery as we speak. She was a victim of an attack.”

I heard yelling, shouting and several names being called; the rest of the family from my note.

A woman came on the phone and I had to repeat what I had said. Then Robert came back on and the lady was sobbing in the background. My heart was breaking for her.

“Mr. Breeze, Robert, a private jet will be at Fort Wayne International about 12:30 to bring you and your family to Frost Borough. You need to pack several days’ worth of clothes. You need to meet the crew of the plane in the General Aviation section. Do you need to write down that information? General Aviation section G; the plane will have a Black and Gold circular logo with JBG in the center on the tail.” I said.

“How many will be with you so I can get motel rooms for you?” I asked. “Seven.” “How many rooms do you need?”

“Four rooms with two beds each.” “OK, they will be ready,” I replied.

I made a call to the Holiday West for four rooms, then to the MAAR office at the airport for two SUVs for the family.

I walked back into the barn, “Major, Courtney and I need to go to the hospital. Dean Skaggs is there waiting. Caroline’s family will be here in a couple of hours. I am having them flown in from Indiana. I would like to meet them at the hospital,” I said.

“We are almost done here; your people are free to leave. We know where to find them if we need anything more. We are headed to the hospital ourselves,” he replied.

As soon as I sat in the passenger seat when Courtney turned to me and asked, “How do you sleep at night with days like today? I thought I saw it all at the gym. BJ were you really going to cut off That Bastard’s fingers?”

“Courtney, the only thing that stopped me was the look on your face. (With a laugh) girl it was precious and what I needed at the time.”

“If Caroline recovers I will sleep just fine. If she does not, I will not sleep until I answer what could have been done to change the outcome. It will be the walk to St. Peter at the Pearly Gate that will be tough.” I replied. “The words I get may not be good,”

I looked at the clock on the console; it had just changed to noon. I was exhausted – the adrenaline rush was gone and the worst part of the day was yet to come.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Joe H.

As I started back into the kitchen, the Sherriff and a couple of his deputies stepped up onto the porch.

“I think I have heard enough; I need to take over and read him his rights.”

“Bring me the camera please,” I said into the mike.

As the sheriff and his two deputies looked at the video I said, “Based on the timestamp on the video there is a chance she may still be alive. You read him his rights and lawyer him up, there is no chance and we may not even find her body. By the legs and backs there were two other men there. Fifteen minutes is all I need. We will know where she is and who they are. I promise you he will still be alive – maybe not healthy, but alive – then you can read him.”

One of the deputies headed for the door heaving, on the verge of up-chucking, “Jimmy, get back in here and bring your pad,” the sheriff said as he put the camera in an evidence bag.

The sheriff scribbled on the pad, “Witness this Jimmy, you too Sam.” Then he handed the deputies his badge and gun and then a twenty, “Take that to the Mayor. Go by the south road and stop at Doc’s, tell the clerk you’re picking up the Mayor’s prescription.”

“Doc’s is a liquor store,” Jimmy replied.

“The mayor needs a fifth of Jack every other day. Today he is going to need extra,” the sheriff replied.

After they turned to leave, the sheriff pulled his backup piece out of his boot and shoved it in his holster. “I want to see a fifteen minute confession.”

I sent everyone out but Justin, Ronnie and the sheriff. As Courtney walked by me, I told her “Bring me all the ammonium caplets out of the first aid kits, don’t be long finding them.”

I pulled Justin and Ronnie aside and instructed Justin to hold one of Murphy’s arms and Ronnie the other, then explained what I was going to do. I lit the torch and told the sheriff to hold it for me.

“Murphy, this is the last time. Where is Caroline?” I asked.

“I not telling you anything,” he yelled rather loudly.

I took the tree pruners in one hand and started to reach for Murphy’s little finger, when I saw Courtney standing in the door with the caplets and an indescribable expression on her face. Then it hit me about the conversation with Eric about Black Water and their downfall with the split second decisions they made on that street in Iraq. I changed my mind about cutting his fingers off and was going to break them one at a time. I took his little finger and bent it back until it gave way. Everyone in the room heard it snap as it broke. Murphy’s screaming was ear shattering as he passed out. I had the little propane torch burning in case the fracture broke through to cauterize the wound if necessary.

It took two caplets from Courtney, to bring him around.

“Where is Caroline?”

“You can’t do this to me. I am not saying anything,”

I took ring finger and repeated the process and two more caplets.

“You have 8 more fingers to go then I start on your toes. Where is Caroline?” I asked.

He looked lost in space, in shock I suspected, but that would not last long. I moved to break the next finger tip when he started screaming.

“OK, OK, the Johnson Brother’s farm. Billy and Randolph are waiting for me. We were going to have a little more fun then kill her and throw her body in the cow manure lagoon. Please stop. That’s all I know.”

I had broke two that time and then his wrist and gave it a good twist to dislocate all the pieces. The healing process would be months after the twist and useless to him after it healed “That is for what you were going to do,” I muttered even though he was out cold.

“Cuff his good arm to the refrigerator and both feet together; let’s go to the farm. Sheriff, call your deputies to come back to get him and call 911,” I instructed.

“They can make that decision when they get here. I know where that farm is; let’s go. I will ride with you; they took my car,” he said.

Ronnie led us there at almost a hundred miles an hour. We turned into a big cow farm. I could see the big manure lagoon tank and smell it. By the tank was a big barn; at the door closest to the tank was a green Dodge pickup.

We raced to the door; I was the first one through it. Seventy five feet away was Caroline draped across a bale of straw. One of the Johnson brothers was behind her naked, taking her doggy style. The other was standing by her head with a vile looking bush axe of some kind, ready to decapitate her.

They both noticed and heard us at the same time. I put five rounds in the one standing with the axe as did five other people. I hoped they were as good a shot as I was. The one on his knees jumped up and tried to run, only to receive the rest of the rounds in the clips.

I heard the Sheriff call 911 and for a Medivac chopper as I was attending to Caroline. First aid kits appeared from the cars, along with blankets.

One of the Johnson brothers was still alive somehow. The Sheriff stood and fired one more round, “Save the taxpayers some money,” he mumbled.

It seemed like forever but the EMTs soon arrived and the chopper shortly thereafter.

“We just don’t know if she will make it,” one of the EMTs said as they loaded her on the chopper. The Johnson brothers were covered with a blanket to wait on the coroner.

I sent Ching Lee and Vicky to the airport to continue on to Minnesota and Michigan. As they were leaving, the state police cars were coming in to start the investigation. I knew where I was going to be spending the next two or three days.

I called Eric, “I have a problem. Do you have a few minutes to hear about it?”

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Joe H.

Justin was right as Courtney followed him to the edge of town and onto North Hill Road; this was not one of the modern parts of town. Courtney was driving her Suburban and I was sitting in the right seat.

Shelly was riding with Justin in the lead in one of the marked Frost Borough security cars. Courtney and I were in her suburban following them. We were followed by Ronnie Baines and Sandra Couples in another of the marked cars. They were followed by several more of the day people in the last marked car with Vicky and Ching Lee in the rental car.

We turned into 19429 and were looking at an older two story larger square house. The front porch had been closed in sometime in the last few years. There was no door on it. The house needed paint and maintenance in the worst way.

As we emptied the vehicles I directed Justin and Sandra to secure the back of the house. As we approached the porch, I noticed there were no doors on the side of the house we were at. As we got closer I directed Shelly and Vicky to watch the other side of the house. Even though I did not give the order all of us had our guns drawn and ready in case someone went stupid inside.

The smart phone still showed the card inside the house at this address.

As Courtney, Ronnie and I started navigating our way to the porch, I saw a sheriff’s car go past the house headed into town make a sudden stop and u turn to come back to the house for a second pass.

The ex-marine came to the front in a situation like this as I surveyed the porch. It was stacked with plumber’s tools, torches and pipe along with boxes of fittings and an assortment of yard and tree trimming tools.

In a split second decision, “Courtney, you need to go keep the new arrival outside and occupied,” I said. She nodded and went to meet him.

I went to one side of the door and motioned Ronnie to take point on the other side of the door. Like me he had been used to running up to a door in full gear and kicking it down. The gear he was wearing now couldn’t hold a candle to the military grade stuff. It required brains to overcome that drawback. I was glad he understood that.

There was no door bell or knocker. Standing to the side I used my left foot to knock aggressively on the lower door. I keyed the mike and said, “Heads up, getting ready to go in.”

I kicked the door three times again and yelled, “Anybody home, hello.”

I was just about to kick the door in when someone inside yelled, “Hold your pants on I coming. Who is it?”

I responded to that with, “Hello, hello,”

As soon as the door cracked a bit I kicked it the rest of the way open and Ronnie pushed the guy back and into a chair at a table.

The other four security people that were behind us rushed in. As they did I keyed the mike, “Be careful, don’t touch anything that could be evidence, look for the girl or her clothes.” I wondered how much of their training they would remember. They had a day or two of training on how to search a potential hostile environment.

As each room search came back clear on the radio I asked the 30’s something man with a scruffy nasty beard, “Where is Caroline?”

“I don’t know any Caroline, who are you? Get out of my house. Do you have a warrant?”

I pulled out my cell and showed him her picture. I could read the startled knowing look that flashed in his eyes. I pressed another button on the phone and opened the ID locating program and expanded it several times. It still showed the ID as very close.

“Ronnie, if he moves shoot him, just make sure he will live long enough to answer a few more questions,” I said.

I followed the red dot on the screen as it led me to the living room to a couch that also made into a day bed. I pulled the strap to open it up. It still had sheets and a blanket on it as it opened up.

One of the day people tapped me on the shoulder as I was reaching for the blanket. “Boss here,” as he was handing me a pair of blue latex gloves to put on.

I flipped the blanket open and there were her clothes with the ID clipped on the belt. I felt sick to my stomach as I keyed the mike, “We have her clothes and blood. Everybody, make sure you have on gloves before you touch anything. Justin, Sandra search the back yard really well, look for a body, disposal area, anything.”

“Listen to me, all of you had the training; you know the drill. I want the rooms searched again, use your cell phones, take a 360 of pictures with them and of any drawer or closet before you touch it,” I said.

I took a picture of the clothes and went back to the kitchen.

“He says his name is Murphy Cox,” Ronnie said.

I shoved the phone in his face with the picture, “OK Murphy where is she? We know she was here.”

“I’m not saying nothing; I know my rights. I want my phone call,” he said.

One by one my people were reporting back from the room search and outside with nothing here, including Justin from outside.

“You have a real problem – we from the college security department, not the police department – you are not getting that call unless you answer my questions,” I replied. “ALL OF MY QUESTIONS!”

“Boss, I found a digital camera in here,” one of the group that was in the living room yelled, “It still has the card in it,” he replied.

He handed me the camera. I held it at arms length so I, Ronnie and a couple more guards could look at the stored pictures. It was all I could do to not to lose my breakfast; the guy standing to my left was not so lucky. He barely made it out the porch door, upchucking all over the grass. There were three men in the pictures working over Caroline – one of the men was Murphy.

To say I was mad was the understatement of the century. Murphy was going to tell me where Caroline or her body was or die a painfully slow death.

In the sandbox I had only participated in one painful extraction of information. The convoy I was in had been ambushed; we were holding our own and even taken a few prisoners. One of those prisoners had detailed maps and information on our convoy and several more that were to follow in the next several days. He was a boastful SOB about how they were going to treat us women captives.

I wanted to know how he got the information and was sick of his mouth. I shot off four of his toes and put one round in a kneecap before he told me all I wanted to hear. It saved the other convoys from attack and ours from another attack, if we survived this one. He died in the back of a truck before he could get medical attention. It was a week before I got the first good night’s sleep after that incident.

After that I listened to the field intell group any where I could get it; from the groups any time they were boozed up and bragging. I spent some free time on the net and reading blogs. Also, my time with the master could come in handy if time allowed when the need was there.

I went out on the porch, looking through all the tools for something to use instead of my Glock. There is a difference when the person you are interrogating has to live. I did not care on this one after looking at just a few of the pictures. It would save the taxpayers some court cost money.

I found just what I was looking for; I could make my interrogation last long and necessary until I had all the answers. The question now was how long would I spend in jail afterwards. I knew some good lawyers; I just hoped that they lived up to their billing.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Joe H.

On Monday Tony started work on the last open triangle between 4 and 15 runway for the big hangar. The plastic tubing for the heating system had been delivered by overnight freight from the Midwest. As the trucks started delivering the pieces from the ship-out lot at Sparrows point, the floor pour for the super hangar was well underway.

A chief engineer from the hangar company who was staying on site for the first two hangars oversaw the tubing placement with the expansion joints and anchor bolt placement for this last hangar.

On Wednesday Jenny and I had another appointment with her doctor. It was another normal progress checkup. Three and a half months to go and everything looked great. Dr. Peterson asked if Jenny had felt any movement yet. “I think so but I am not sure,” Jenny replied.

“When they kick you will know, they should be kicking anytime now.”

That night a courier from the agency delivered two large sealed packets. They were preliminary reports on the two colleges that the agency wanted us to set up student security for.

Inside the first packet there was an envelope marked ‘personal and confidential’ addressed to me. I recognized the hand writing as Mable’s, Eric’s secretary.

The note inside was written by Eric, “The departments of Justice and Education are each going to issue a two year grant to each college to upgrade student safety based on campus crime statistics. JBG will be the only certified and qualified bidder. Use the markup formula the agency is using for your services on the bid. Email me a copy before you submit it.”

“The same manpower agreement we have with JBG at Rochester will be in place at both Colleges. Act quickly if you can. Eric.”

I sent Eric a text, “Three of us will fly up on the weekend to evaluate equipment and manpower needs. I will make the introductory calls tomorrow to get things rolling.”

The first page of the packet was the request for our services from each College Board. The first packet was from Crystal Falls Michigan and the second was from Duluth Minnesota. Tomorrow night we would begin the evaluation process and I would start making calls on Friday.

Wednesday night Marcy felt the first kick. We had all just gone to bed when Marcy ran into the different bed rooms to tell all of us. It was the first time anyone had felt any movement. There was a rush for everyone to have a hand on Jenny’s belly to see if there were any more.

There were. All of us felt and saw the movement. All of us had a tear in the corner of our eye. A miracle was happening in our family and by feeling the movement we felt like we were part of it.

Crash had came in just in time to see all of us rush to Marcy’s room. He stepped to the door and asked if everything was all right. We explained what had happened and that we were waiting for more.

Crash smiled, “I remember doing the same thing when Liz was with child. We found out that the baby will respond to sounds and music. With some kinds of music it was almost like the baby was trying to dance. When it was really active Liz would sing a lullaby and calm the baby down. They recognize Mom’s voice and moods early.” Then he said, “Everyday will be a new experience if they are getting active. Good night ladies,” as he turned and walked away.

Saturday morning Vicky, Ching Lee and I were in a jet flying to Michigan and then on to Minnesota. Marcy. Lorrie and Jenny were on their way to Florida to deal with the new rental houses that we had bought at Friday’s auctions. To finalize the purchase, inspect, and schedule whatever improvements were needed of new rental houses we had bought at Friday’s auctions. Jenna had been down there two days with the attorneys.

We had been in flight for about 45 minutes when Courtney called, “I just thought you should know we have a missing student. Caroline Breeze 19. She went with a group and her roommate to several parties. They lost track of her at the last party and thought she had returned to the dorm. We are trying to sort it out now and interviewing every one that was with her.”

“Keep me informed,” I replied.

We flew on for a few more minutes then had a change of mind. I picked up the com phone to the pilot, “Bruce divert to Frost Borough please.”

Thirty five minutes later we were walking into Courtney’s office.

“I was just getting ready to call you. You must have been close?” she replied.

“Yes, we were on our way to Michigan and Minnesota to look at a college there,” I replied.

“Here is what we have narrowed it to,” Courtney said. “A group of eight girls and four boys went first to the football game. It ended at 8PM and from there went to the Half Mile club. They all agree that Caroline was with them.”

“They left there and went the Bull’s Den. The place was packed and it was there that things went bad. There was an older crowd there. Caroline and a several more wanted to leave and were waiting on the others to leave.”

“Somewhere in that wait she told the group that she had found a friend that was going to take her back to the dorm,” Courtney said. “Her ID card has not been used since yesterday afternoon. She has not been missing long enough to report her as missing to the police. They will just say she shacked up with someone for the night,” Courtney said.

By now some of the off duty people who were listening to our security radio had shown up asking if they could help in any way. Justin Roper and Shelly Black – the two ex deputies – and Ronald Baines and Sandra Couples – the two former Marines – were waiting in the lobby listening to our conversation.

“Well let’s see if she still has her card on her,” I said. Courtney looked at me curiously. Courtney’s search by card number was limited to the campus grounds. My search was unlimited as long as I authorized the Google and card access fees each time.

My other directors did not have that access either because of legal concerns. In fact the card people instructed that we use it only on employees during the work shifts and never on students at any time. The courts had been firm in ruling it was an invasion of privacy.

I connected the display to the big plasma, entered my ID, checked all the authorization boxes, entered Caroline’s ID and waited on Google and East Coast Security to find the card – if it had not been destroyed.

A few moments later 19429 N Hill Road popped up on the screen with the identifying little red dot.

“That is the North Road out of town to Hill Top Peak. I think I have been there on a complaint before,” Justin replied. “That is a pretty run down area.”

I linked my smarter than smart phone to the security program display. With a few clicks when we got close it could led us to within 5 feet of the card.

I took one of the portable radios out of the charger, clipped it on my belt and the mike on my lapel then I clicked the mike after turning it on. The rest of the radios in the room responded as I keyed the mike to let me know it was working.

“Let’s go find her, Justin. You lead us there,” I said.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Joe H.

Things were so busy now I was neglecting things that I should have been paying more attention to. My mates and especially my clerks were taking on more and more responsibility without being asked.

With the goal to finish the seminars before the 1st of November, people were gone from mid week until Sunday. Ching Lee and Vicky – whose responsibility had been the gym and advertising – were now fully into training, leaving their clerks to handle those jobs.

Among the three of us, we added training the agency’s twenty new people into the schedule along with everything else. We were all at the limit. Marcy was leaving stacks of documents that I needed to read and sign on my desk every day.

September became October and then October 15th in the blink of an eye. I had not even looked at the airport plot for progress until the day Marcy and Lorrie came into my office with a hand full of bills for Portland cement, asking if I knew anything about them. Both girls were clearly irritated and upset. The bills were for 634 more tons or $254,000.00.

Another invoice was for several hundred thousand feet of plastic tubing, boilers, a hurricane reinforcement kit and insulation. Another was a labor estimate for one million dollars. The final invoice was for materials and freight charges from Baltimore to Morton field for 6000 tons of materials for another two million.

It was then I remembered that I had asked Tony to haggle with the hangar company. I must have signed off on one of Tony’s notes without fully reading it. A look at the airport plot showing the big hangar occupying the last empty triangle between the 4 and 15 runway with the fuel farm.

I had made a terrible mistake and I knew it. I explained the sequence of the conversation with Tony and then the possibility of signing off on it. Then I had to ask if we had enough money to pay for all of it. I did try to smooth it over by telling Marcy my plan was to use part of it for MAAR car and additional aircraft storage, along with an indoor training facility as needed.

It was at the end of the conversation that Tony walked in, “Has anyone seen some invoices that I left by the fax machine a couple of hours ago?”

“Are these the ones?” I asked after taking them from Marcy and giving them to him. Both girls were waiting on a more detailed explanation.

“Yes. I faxed them to Jake for him to look at. The company wants a million too much for the freight and value of the pile, we decided. I called a buddy at the Sparrows Point Marine terminal and found out that starting Friday the company is going to pay a 100k a day penalty for tying up a complete load-out lot with it. They had to make a decision or else,” he said, “Come to find out Jake has had dealings with the guy that owns the hangar company before that ended well.”

“Jake has been negotiating with him for two days, yesterday Jake sent me a text that a deal was close,” Tony said.

“I just got off the phone with the owner; he accepted Jake’s offer for the hangar – delivered and assembled at Morton with the hurricane and heat upgrades needed. They also want to use the hangar for advertizing. Jake is going to call you later tonight; he wants to swap you for stock in exchange for paying for the hangar and life time storage for his jet, when he buys one,” Tony said.

“The project over there has taken a turn. The reactor core melted completely through the containment and is 500 feet deep in the bedrock. He will fill you in. It is good news and bad news story, in a way,” Tony said.

I breathed a sigh of relief for at least a few minutes, until I talked to Jake to see what he really wanted. I did not have long to think about it; my cell started ringing.

I was expecting it to be Jake but heard German instead, “The phone had gone back in use extensively at the Arlington Mall. They have been there several times a day. Looks like they are letting different people case the mall from the security video,” Eric said.

“Or as a decoy leading you in the wrong direction,” I replied.

“We have thought of that but ruled that out; there are other things connecting the Arlington Mall. Have you thought of anything that would explain how they might have known you spoke Arabic?” Eric asked.

When I answered no he said, “The agency ran an extended search from the twenty four hour period after the shooting until you received the call, for anything with your name or JBG. There were multiple extended internet searches on you by name and your various business connections, including your military record.

Several of those searches came back to the mosque we talked about. We also found out that on the day of the shooting dozens of new immigrants from Iraq relocated near there.”

“We are cross referencing the names to see if you may have had any contact with any of them while you were on stationed there,” he added. “So far nothing has been flagged on the computers.”

That ended the call with more questions than answers and I had a bad feeling about the whole mess, one that made me angry inside. Amateurs, even dumber ones, would never telegraph their intentions so blatantly and that was what bothered me.

My thoughts were interrupted by Jake calling on my office phone.

“I only asked that Tony investigate the options, not ask you to buy the hangar,” I said.

“Tony did not ask me to buy the hangar. It became the challenge of haggling with an old friend. I got one heck of a deal and you have the place for it.” Jake replied.

“Tony has been filing in the pieces that you and I haven’t had time to talk about. You have no idea how proud I am of you and your mates. Mom and Dad are too. Mom sends me every bit of information that hits the news about you, even videos,” Jake said then he continued.

“Tony has been after me for years to get a corporate jet so I could expand the construction company out west and south, to still be in control. I was intending on retiring when we were done here. Instead of five more years, my part is going to be done in a year or less.”

“I contracted to salvage the reactor on the original damage estimate that the fuel core was still contained in the reactor. It is not it has melted completely through and is now about 500 feet deep in the bedrock and cooling. The engineers are predicting that its descent will end at 750 to one thousand feet, based on the dropping temperature of the core. When that happens we are going to put hundreds of tons of graphite on top of it, then a lead shield and finally finish off the hole with concrete.”

“After that the regulatory agency is going to monitor radiation leakage and determine what will be necessary to seal any leaks permanently. At that point my contract ends. I am going to have a lot of free time in between those events, so I will be coming home and will fly back and forth as needed.”

“I know without asking that I can charter one of your jets anytime to carry me back and forth. If they are anywhere near as nice as Tony tells me, I may eventually buy one like them and lease it back to you, now that I know you do those kinds of things.”

“When the hangar is complete and the full cost is known, we will work out a stock swap for the value and I will leave the stock to my new nephews in my will as a small part of their inheritance.”

“By the way, keep your eyes open for a house on Summers Road – Mindy and I want to be close,” he said.

I had hardly been able to say a word – just listen to what he was saying – but said, “You know you can stay with us any time; we have plenty of room.”

“I know about the dozen rooms you have added and the Horsey house conversion. Mindy says no way other than a visit. She says she is not sharing me with anyone and there would be too much temptation there. She does not think my heart will handle that much strain, plus she reads you as being the jealous type,” he said with a laugh.

“Not jealous, just possessive,” I replied. I could just imagine what was going to happen the first time I was alone with him.

We talked another hour about a lot of things. One of those was sending the G5LR to pick him and Mindy up at San Francisco International the Monday before Christmas for an extended visit.

I was relieved and beyond happy as I called my mates to the meeting room to fill them in on the conversation. Big brother would be home in a little over two months and he swore me to secrecy. I could only tell my mates, not Mom or Dad and especially not Tony. Jake wanted to surprise them at the company Christmas party.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Joe H.

Kelly, Mark and three security guards were waiting at the main gate as the dealer unloaded the Gator. I sent one of the day guards to pick up the supply’s we needed while we were waiting on the Gator. The tools for the job were gloves, wire cutters, box cutters and several cans of black spray paint waiting to cover all the odd color over spray that was on the fence.

I had left Marcy, Jenny, Lorrie and Cindy in the security office to check on business at home and catch up on e-mails. Jenny was going to transcribe her notes from this morning onto the electronic system.

As I started removing the first cardboard poster I instructed my crew, “Pull everything off the fence and cut it up into small pieces to fit in the dump body and touch up the paint as we go.”

The place was a real mess. There was a line of posters on the fence and dozens of empty spray paint cans all over the grass. We had our work cut out for us. I wanted to be in the air before dark.

The first load of cardboard posters was on its way to the dumpster with one of the day crew sitting on top to keep it from bouncing out. We used the time to pile up the empty cans and continue to take down more posters, and also touch up the fence paint.

As we started the clean up there had been a few artists, ‘I was told I needed to be more politically correct’ along the fence when we arrived but they had quickly gathered their things and left.

The Gator had just returned and we were stacking more in the dump body when a new group started our way.

The original group had been a mix of men and women. Now there were different men headed back. This group was all men and larger, and definitely not the same nationality as those that left. Instead of heading to a spot on the fence they came straight at us.

I wondered if this was part of the group that the agency was watching. The men had full uncut beards, the Arabic head scarf that they liked to wear to display the sect they belonged to and the black hood rolled up on the top of their head.

Another thought that came to mind was they never did anything on an individual basis. If you had the stomach to watch the gruesome videos they posted, one person beheaded someone and twenty more were with guns to put on a big show. All of them had their face covered with the black hood that ultimately showed the coward’s that they really were.

In Russia during the Stalin era, Hitler’s SS troopers and the Emperors soldiers didn’t hide behind a mask when they committed mass atrocities. They believed in what they were doing and were unafraid to be seen.

Today the men hid behind masks, used women and children as shields or forced them to be suicide bombers and needed a chanting crowd to give them courage.

The group was finally standing in front of me. One was in front with the other three standing behind him. “What do you think you are doing?” the one standing in front asked.

“I am cleaning the trash off my fence,” I replied. One of those standing behind him began speaking in Arabic. I understood everything he said but was going to wait for the interpretation before I responded. Play dumb in other words.

“Fence is public property, college is public property. How can you say you own fence?” he replied.

“The college is a private corporation; the students pay a fee to go there. Anyone can go to the classes at the college if they are qualified and pay the tuition fees,” I said then added.

“My company is in charge of student safety. I paid to have the fence installed; it is my fence. It was a very expensive fence, nice historic wrought iron. Posters and spray paint make it look it look like dog feces. I will not have my fence looking like that.”

The man behind him listened to his explanation and then gave him a long statement to counter what I had said as we continued to pile the posters in the Gator dump box.

“You are woman – you cannot own fence. We are a minority here and we have minority rights – you cannot stop us from using the fence,” he said.

I responded by saying “Everywhere you are a minority you beat the minority rights drum with a passion. Everywhere you are a majority there are no minority rights at all.”

Then continued by saying, “I own the fence; do not put posters or paint on my fence. You have plenty of places to hang posters and paint in the development you just came from.” Knowing they were Arabic and their customs and then just too really piss them off, I added: “If you deface my fence any more I will drape swine entrails over your doorways and swine blood on your door steps. You treat my property with respect and I will do the same with yours,” that statement was a major insult and a harsh warning. I was prepared to fight after I made the statement.

I thought the interpreter was going to have a heart attack or else he was in the process of crapping himself, “I cannot tell him that, he will be furious!” he replied.

To his dismay and surprise I stepped to side and repeated what I had said, this time in his Arabic language to his leader.

After a long silence and desperate fear in the expressions of the interpreter, the leader stepped to the front and said in broken English and finally in Arabic.

“You are no diplomat but a firm leader. I have no doubt that you own the fence. You stand your ground solid and are very confident in yourself. I suspect you may have been a soldier in a different life and you understand your adversary’s much more than they suspect. I cannot go to my people with the ultimatum you have presented to me,” he said. “There must be a way we can come to a workable solution.”

I thought for several long moments before I said anything.

“One day a week on the weekend they can hang posters and paint but no paint on the iron of the fence. At sunset all the posters come down and all the trash cleaned up and removed. If they are working on large posters they can take it with them and bring it back to continue working on it the next week,” I replied.

He studied a minute and then said, “Two weekend days, Saturday and Sunday?”

I waited and presented a look of deep thought before I answered.

“OK, on the second day one hour before sunset all the trash and unwanted posters get bagged up in trash bags and I will have one of my people haul it to the dumpster with someone from your group helping,” I replied.

He thought a moment and said, “OK good. Let me send these three to bring the artist over and we will explain the agreement then they will help you clean up this mess.” While his three guards were gone – and in reality that is what they were – we had a general conversation in Arabic.

Jason, Kelly and our helper – who I knew was one of the agency guys – stood quietly and listened to our exchange.

Three hours later, with the trash gone, the posters down, and a far less adversarial conversation, I agreed to see if someone from the arts department would come and judge the posters on the last Sunday of the month and give three cash prizes – 100, 75, and 50 dollars. Kelly and a designated individual of their group were to monitor that the cleanup was satisfactory each Sunday evening.

I had a hunch that the man I had confronted was one of the main individuals that the agency was watching. By allowing the poster painting that I was sure was being used as a message board or a meeting place to continue on the weekends, I had forced them to do a week’s worth of messaging in two days.

Or, I had forced them to use a secondary system. If the agency did not know what it was, the increased traffic on it would soon give it away.

Eric confirmed my thoughts on the flight home. It was a short, simple phone call in German, “I hear you are a diplomat after all. Congratulations. Well done.”

That answered another question that had been floating in the back of my mind. Eric’s people had been instrumental in pushing the complaints to gain more information from my visitor today.

If they did not have it before today, they had excellent facial recognition by the best quality video and digital voice recognition on him now that money and government could buy. The agency had replaced the cameras that East Coast had installed on the street and had the contractor send JBG the bill to cover their tracks.

The cameras were so powerful I could count the button holes in the buttons on a shirt halfway down the fence from my laptop and any facial imperfections they had.

That was why some of the checks that kept showing up on Marcy’s desk had little post it notes on them. We had paid the contractor two hundred thousand for the cameras along with installation and the check that arrived a few days later included an added 50% administrative fee. Marcy would do those kinds of transactions all day long.

The agency was making it very hard to decline any of their requests. The next group of twenty Rodney wanted trained were to start next week. The check arrived in advance and included a (quality demonstrative bonus for past practices) in the notation line equal to the training charge.

I had asked Rodney if he could suggest an agency accountant to consult how to make all that stuff look right for the taxes. He sent Marcy a retired IRS senior case investigator the agency used when they had special needs to audit suspected national or international criminals for money laundering.

The agreement was simple, we were to hire him full time and subcontract him back to the agency as needed, a minimum of 20 hours a week with markups. It was another cover as to who was doing what for whom.

Robert Alderman and his wife quickly took a liking to the JBG perks and benefits we offered. Another new Suburban that was paid for by the agency and leased through MAAR sealed the deal.

He had been working as an independent contractor. This arrangement gave him more cover and security. It was one more employee that did not need our medical coverage. All the extra office space we had built in with the last office expansion was filling up fast.

Robert had gone to work for the IRS straight out of college, putting in 20 years and taking the Federal 20 retirement plan. He was 44, his wife Maryann was 40. They had two kids – both girls – going to UV on athletic scholarships and are starters on the basketball team.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Joe H.