I woke up at my usual time, just before six, but without the benefit of a sexy mouth on me. Just the thought brought me to full erection though. I decided that I wanted some Tai Chi this morning, so I slid from bed, slipped on some clothes and my peg, and went out to the yard.
After only a few forms, I felt a presence and discovered Wanda in her own stretches. A few minutes later, Jan and Don joined us. When I drew my form to a close, I saw that Marie and Angie had joined us, while Brandy, Dennis, and Tina were sitting on the grass watching us, fascinated.
I waved the group toward the pool, mentioning I couldn't get wet yet. They all swam, enjoying themselves. I was envious, but if I really wanted some exercise, I could use the gym.
Brandy and I fed everyone and helped them get going. Just before our group was ready to leave for the day, the other four girls showed up to give us goodbye kisses as we would be leaving this morning. Nancy whispered in my ear, "I'm sure I have my baby. Thank you, Chuck, Mom will love it so much. We all will love it, but it will give Mom something extra."
They all departed so Tiani, Brandy, and I cleaned up the kitchen and went to take a shower. I put on the waterproof bandages before joining Brandy. She didn't want any deposits as she said, "I'll smell like sex and your stuff will be running down my leg all day."
We were ready by quarter to nine, so we loaded our bags and my bass into the car to drive to the air park.
The Gulfstream was being prepped for the flight as we drove up. I joined John and Lisa in looking the aircraft over and checking it with them. When they were satisfied, Lisa and I went into the office to put on our shirts and accessories. Star had loaded the plane with two meals each, some sandwiches, and lots of drinks.
We boarded the plane, waved bye to John, Star and DeDe, and shut the door. Lisa sat in the left seat while I ran down the checklist for her.
The trip across the bay took longer to get up and down than the flight. Upon landing, a fuel truck pulled up and topped off the fuel for us.
We had gone over our inventory one more time when a limo drove up and the six people going with us got out. They were all happy to see us and boarded immediately. The girls made sure everyone was buckled up while I shut the door and climbed into the cockpit next to Lisa.
Everything was smooth for the first four hours, then we began running into some weather that we knew was coming. Our radar showed we would have to be way up high to get over most of it, so we radioed to announce our intention of climbing to over forty thousand feet. It was still bumpy, but not nearly as bad. The tops of the cumulus were probably around fifty thousand where the tropopause was, so they were higher than we could fly. We did climb until we were at forty-eight thousand. We were in some smoother air, but still getting buffeted around a lot.
We finally flew out of the weather after spending over an hour jumping around. That made me a lot happier and I could tell that Lisa had been concerned. She took a potty break, then it was my turn. We had an opportunity to have a sandwich and some coffee, but didn't feel comfortable eating a meal in case we hit more turbulence.
We had descended to our planned altitude, had our eyes glued to the radar, and listened for any traffic. It was a huge relief when we made contact with air traffic control out of Madrid. On approach, the gear worked as it should and there were no indications that anything shook loose. Lisa said we would have the plane gone over thoroughly before we started back.
When the wheels touched down, I was conscious that I had to pee, really bad. The excitement and tension had gotten to me. I decided I didn't like Trans-Atlantic flights all that much.
The passengers had all sensed how severe the storm had been and thanked us for getting them there safely. I wanted to thank Lisa too.
We stayed with the aircraft to make sure it was cleaned up. The customs and immigration people in Spain were very nice and recognized my authority to carry in their country. I had thought there might be a problem, but all of the Spanish officials we dealt with were courteous and helpful.
We had six mechanics going over the aircraft for almost three hours. They even did some run ups with the engines to test them and came to the conclusion the plane was good to go.
We left the aircraft plugged into local services to keep the coolers and freezers cold and left for the hotel.
The band was drinking pretty heavily, talking about how rough the flight had been. The roadies said their cargo aircraft had to declare an emergency after flying through the turbulence. They said it had been really scary.
The four of us ate heartily, with none of us drinking. Not even a beer. I needed to help the antibiotics along, but I think the others just wanted to keep their systems clean for the return trip.
We were tired out so we went to bed after noting the times for the practice. We planned on going to watch as we wouldn't watch the concert.
While I watched, Lisa was given some very thorough loving by Tiani and Brandy. Tiani didn't understand until Brandy told her, "Chuck says he wants us to be together more. I told him we went back to our house because we wanted to make love to each other. He said he would love to watch us and would not interrupt. Tiani came to me and kissed me. She whispered, "If we do that and you're hot for us, I'll take care of you. If my pussy's too sore, I have a mouth and hands."
Lisa thought the arrangement had possibilities. She said, "I like to be watched, that really excites me. Can I have Chuck now?"
Brandy said, "Let's line up and he can have all three of us."
That girl is full of ideas.
We did play for another half hour or so and finally fell asleep, satisfied.
We woke up together, just a little groggy. The hotel phone was ringing. I answered it.
The agent said, "Most everyone is up and I think the band wants you guys to watch them practice. Come down for some breakfast so you can go with the band in their bus. Oh, and bring your instruments."
I told Lisa what the agent said and she laughed, "He wants more jam music for more of that album or another one. Hope the spirit is with us again, that last time was fun.
We were up, showered, and dressed, in jeans and band crew T-shirts. I wore my big tour jacket to keep the gun hidden in public. The banquet room was full of people and full of food. We loaded up on food and coffee while visiting with legions of people we would never see again.
At the auditorium, the sound guys had the place pretty well set. There were cameras everywhere, with cameramen practicing shots that were being displayed on giant screens on each side of the stage. The band ran through their play list and only actually practiced a couple of pieces. They began to fool around and had Cokes and bottles of water delivered around as they were looking for some kind of beat. Brandy told Jimmy, "You should have Chuck do the little piece that he did at home and recorded so he could play his guitar with it."
Lisa and I got our guitars out and I showed Jimmy the lead in with the bass that had sounded so good. He asked what I did with the guitar to follow it. He handed me his Les Paul that was on a stand by his bass. He repeated my lead in and began the walk I had laid down. On the first note of the walk I was able to let the Les Paul wail. It wasn't the sound I wanted so I stopped, used an effect, and set the sensitivity on the guitar. I had Jimmy drive the lead in a little stronger and hit it again. The Les Paul sang the blues in its purest form. About four bars in, the lead guitar of the band began doing a rhythm back while the drummer picked up the beat perfectly. Jimmy kept the driving blues beat going with the keyboard guy playing the same chords Jimmy was doing. Lisa picked up the blues back beat and joined the piano and bass to give the music a solid, driving blues blanket that had chills running up and down my spine.
I nodded to the lead guy and let him take over while I pulled back into rhythm back up. Jimmy nodded to my bass so I put his guitar down and picked up the bass line so he could play his guitar. Soon the lead was to the bass and I was able to make the Strat sing the way it was supposed to sound. Lisa took a turn at lead and I think she even surprised herself as she was driving a hard blues beat that was almost metal. We finally cooled it and slowed down and began a half speed tune with wailing and crying and moaning from the instruments that was truly epic. Almost two hours had passed when we went through the joint chord progression we all knew to stop.
We all sat back grinning. The lead said, "We have to travel all the way to Spain to get this to work. Damn, wonder what we can do in Australia or New Zealand?"
The TV guys and sound guys flashed the band with Lisa and me playing on the big screens. They showed me showing Jimmy the lead in without the amp, then me showing Jimmy the riff I used at the beginning of the walk. The video wasn't cut and showed us starting, stopping with the adjustments, then the hard lead in to the beginning of two hours of Jamming. Watching the video on the big screens was pretty impressive. Jimmy said, "Now you'll be immortalized. I think we'll use that for our primer for the show while people are coming in."
Kenny was there and said, "My ass, we're going to work it and sell it. That is music man, that will be our Jammin 2 album, but on video."
Jimmy said, "They'll fuck it up and it won't sound like anything we did. Just leave it alone, Kenny, leave it pure. People like to see how we get something together. We'll be taking pieces from this and last week's session to singles for years. Some of those riffs are prime, original, never done before, prime."
Lisa was ginning, she said, "I wish my Dad could tell me how he liked that. I know he's with me, watching me. He would have been glowing in that music."
We all went back to the banquet hall for a meal. We couldn't decide whether it was lunch or supper, but we all ate. The band was going to lie down for a nap and then get ready for the show. We decided to nap too, then leave for the airport to get the aircraft ready and check the weather.
We did nap, cleaned up, and put on our uniforms. Out at the airport, we checked the weather and talked to some pilots that had just come across. We decided that we would never have enough fuel fighting the headwinds, so we would take the northern route through Greenland. We would refuel there, and if necessary, again at Islip on Long Island.
The flight would be about three hours longer, but it would be safer. The weather wasn't going to be bad up north but we would be in the jetstream going against us. We finally received a pilot report that the wind was down to fifty knots around forty thousand feet, so we planned to stay in that area. The northern route had good radar coverage all the way home so there were advantages.
When the band arrived, we told them of our decision and they heartily agreed. They said, we're all for smooth after that trip over. Take your time, we'll watch movies and kick back. We can always nap back in that bedroom.
The flight home was long. (How long was it?) It took so long, the calendar changed twice. Not really, but it seemed like it. Lisa and I were both very tired by the time we landed. Neither of us felt as if we could nap in flight so we kept each other going with stories about our youth, mixed with questions about teaching people how to fly.
We were happy to set the plane down in Clearwater. We had already cleared customs in New York where we got fuel, so the band was able to get right into their limo with their baggage and leave. We flew home quickly and almost jumped for joy when we taxied up to the hangars. We left Spain Saturday night about midnight. It was now fourteen hours later, two o'clock on Sunday afternoon. We cleaned out the aircraft as quickly as possible. I used the tow motor and pushed it into the hangar. They needed to wash the aircraft, and it needed fuel and servicing, but they liked it to be inside when at home.
The girls were really dragging even though they had napped a little. They had made a couple of meals for the band and us, and probably a couple of dozen drinks for the guys. It had been a good trip home.
When we landed, Lisa said to me, "I don't want to go home right now. Those guys out there are going to be up and too loud for me to get a nap. Can I go home with you guys?" She was welcome, of course.
When we got home, everyone wanted to hear stories of the trip, but we were too tired to do much more than just fall into bed for a nap.
The girls wouldn't let us sleep past seven. They said we needed to have dinner and move around a little before getting a good night's sleep.
Now we began telling the story of the flight of horrors going over to Spain, followed by talking about the jam session. Lisa got up and found her purse. She took out a CD and said, do you have a player, you know, for music, so we can listen to this while we talk?"
I put the CD in and heard the beginnings of the jam session in France. The girls had ordered pizza, so we all had pizza and beer, telling the stories of the trip, and listening to a really cool jam session. Wanda was listening and said she thought it was just awesome. I know I thought it was special. I really wanted a video copy of the Spain session.
Lisa said, "Kenny said the mix version of the CD is even better. This is raw, straight off the board, without any mixing at all."
It was exciting to know, we would be sharing our music with a lot of people.
Tiani wanted to go home for the evening and Brandy was acting anxious, so I suggested to her, "Go ahead, go home tonight. I'll see you either in the morning or after work tomorrow." Brandy hugged me tightly and kissed me saying, "Thank you for understanding."
We decided to use the hot tub, but I was out of the waterproof bandages and had to pass. Instead, I went into the gym and used the bike for a half-hour, then washed up before bed.
When it was time for bed, Lisa crawled up to me and pulled my shorts off. She said, "You ain't getting any, but I hate to feel clothes against my skin when I sleep. Kiss me, you fool, and go to sleep."
I didn't need to be told twice. I was instantly asleep.
There was a very wet something rubbing across my thigh. It was rubbing back and forth, spreading moisture all over my thigh. Lips touched mine and a hand came to the side of my face. A strange voice said, "Love me, Chuck, make me sing like you do that bass guitar. Love me."
The request was welcome. I was instantly hard as I looked forward to enjoying fulfilling the request. I did make love to the creature that I finally realized was Lisa. She was so very responsive and so full of energy returning the touches and kisses, that our joining inflamed her more. It took a long time for our passion to burst into raw flames before dying down. She hugged me saying, "I love sleeping in our wet spot."
The clock read three o'clock.
When I woke up at six, I heard it storming outside. The rain was really coming down. I moved around and slid out of bed to use the bathroom. I thought about the gym but thought I might do something later as I wanted a big breakfast this morning.
After shaving, I got into the shower, not caring whether the bandages got wet or not. I was washing when a grinning Lisa came in. She had a silly grin on her face and said, "Want to know how kinky I am?" When I looked at her funny, she wrapped her legs around my good leg. I felt warm water stream down my leg as Lisa giggled a little girl giggle. "Isn't that kinky? It's so naughty. Kiss me and tell me you enjoyed me waking you last night."
I kissed her and told her I had very definitely enjoyed making love to her last night.
She said, "I really liked it too. I didn't have to have another girl or anything. You made me feel special and boy did you make me get off. Whew, that was good. Do you think Brandy or any of the others will be mad?"
"They shouldn't be upset as they have no right to be. They did what they wanted and probably felt we might do what we wanted also."
I began washing Lisa's hair, enjoying the extra touches that I was giving her. She purred her enjoyment and languished in the attention. She said, "You're spoiling me. I'll want to do this some more." She was watching me as I attended to her and asked, "How do you stand on one foot like that for so long?"
"Practice, little girl, practice."
We finally finished the long shower and dressed. I didn't put on work clothes as I was going back to the doctor for the follow-up he wanted to do. Lisa and I began making a big breakfast together. We made sausage, biscuits, scrambled eggs, and a huge bowl of gravy.
People began showing up for breakfast, having a hard time waking up while the rain pounded outside. Slowly, everyone woke up and had coffee, Coke, or Diet Coke, and dished up a big plate of food. Tina said, "You should have told me no one was staying over last night, Chuck. I would have warmed your bed."
Lisa grinned, "I kept him warm, even though I told him no fooling around last night."
She giggled before saying, "I forgot I told him that, and woke him up about three o'clock. He was very attentive."
Dennis said, "Lisa, if you need a ride out to the air park, I'm going that way. I have to pick up a couple of parts to see if we can duplicate and improve on them."
"Great, Dennis. Thank you."
Wanda said, "I need to go over a couple of things with you this morning, Chuck. We can do it here or you can come in. You can't stay though, a directive came down that you are not to go on duty until you're released by the doctor."
I shrugged. I figured the shit would hit the fan as usual, but oh well. I would figure out something to do with my time.
Everyone left except Wanda, so we sat having some coffee. She had her briefcase out and went over some budget numbers for the local Homeland Security station. She told me that our savings in the other divisions were being eaten up by the heavy caseload they had. I told her to write the Director over there to outline what functions other agencies might be able to pick up to reduce the overtime.
Wanda suggested, "Why don't you go by there and just visit with the man and make these suggestions. He might want to tighten up a little more if he gets some attention. He sometimes reminds me of a little boy when he doesn't get his way or a lot of attention."
"What else?"
"Now some personal stuff, do you mind?"
I smiled, "You know that you're special to me, Wanda, personal stuff kind of goes hand in hand with that."
She nodded and smiled, "I had a really nice time with John both Friday and Saturday nights. Friday we just went out to dinner, but Saturday night we went to dinner and dancing. The man is really a lot of fun to be with. I lost it and made him take me home. I don't think I scared him, but I did wear him out by morning. He brought me home yesterday morning and I haven't heard from him. I hope he isn't put off by an aggressive woman."
She looked up at me and said, "And I also hope you're not put off by me being aggressive. I still want you and me to be fooling around friends."
I smiled.
She said, "Last item."
She took a big breath and said, "I talked to Maxine on Saturday. She wants to know whether you would allow Lena to live here while she goes to school at South Florida. She says that she knows you would watch out for her and help her when she needs it."
Wanda paused, "I talked to Lena and found out she is coming here on a scholarship and is planning on studying for her master's degree to become a teacher. Lena understands that you might have some reservations about her being here, but wants you to know she's still angry at her sister for her actions. She doesn't know why you had the restraining order put on Bobby, but she said she knows it must have been bad. I think you should let Maxine and Lena come see the suite and decide. I've told them what the rent and food is, so they know what it costs. I think if you have Lena up here, you'll have Tina visiting often. Can you handle having your ex's two sisters around?"
I gave my opinion, "Probably, I really won't mind, as I do have a lot of personal things that I'm involved in right now. I will say this, and you need to get it across to Lena, there will be no intimate relationship. We can be bosom buddies, the greatest of friends, but no intimate relationship, no fooling around, no sex."
Wanda said, "I already said that to her and Maxine. I think they understand."
"I just don't want to be in a situation where I might hurt her or invite trouble from Bobby or the Rocky guy. That may seem pompous on my part, but I don't play fair or fight like the ring guys do. I'll really use the folding chair."
Wanda agreed, "I know, I was impressed you were able to keep from really hurting the man before."
I nodded in agreement. "Have Maxine and Lena come up to look. I might be here; but then again, I might not. The girls might be here, and then again, they may not. Maxine and Lena will have to accept the way we are and the way we live."
Wanda stood, "That's it. Go hide somewhere. Go see the Homeland office about their budget, but don't come in. The girls are proud that they can handle everything. Little Angie is becoming an excellent worker. Her grades this past semester qualify her for a full Marshal Service tuition reimbursement next semester, including the summer term if she wants. She's proud of herself."
"I'm proud to be her boss, or at least partially her boss."
Wanda smiled, "You're her boss. I'm just the delivery person and teacher."
I put on some nice slacks and a knit shirt, along with a sport coat to see the Homeland guy. I downloaded and printed out his budget numbers, and highlighted the overrun areas. Most of the overtime was out at the airport, so perhaps we needed a better method of scheduling unless it was one of those twisted union problems.
I called the Homeland office and advised the man that I would be there shortly. He welcomed me and said he would be waiting. We chatted in his office then I suggested we go to his cafeteria for a cup of coffee so we could discuss his budget. You could see him stiffen up.
We discussed the overtime and it was due to a constant scheduling problem. We had no restrictions on the quantity of men we hired, just the total amount of hours they worked. Since normal forty hour men were banging in (calling in saying they couldn't come in) we were being forced to pay overtime to cover for the absence. I suggested this, "Hire an entire extra crew for each shift. Each time a guy calls in, bring in the other men and split the hours between the two. It won't take long before they don't call in unless they really need to be off. You know the difference. I will send a directive over for you to hire the new men and to handle the shifts the way I described. Since there is so much unemployment, I'm sure the new men will be happy with part time work. When the union guys bitch, send them to me."
"God, that's brutal. Can't I just hire a couple of guy to fill in?"
"The problem would be constant. A guy works in place of someone who called in and the next shift has the same problem. If the new guy has to work a consecutive shift, that would be overtime and we have to give it to a senior man instead of who we just hired. Hire a whole shift as call-in part time. When it shakes out, we'll end up with just the people we need and a couple of part time spares."
I drove by the office, made up the directive, and had Wanda disseminate it. That would cover the Chief.
Next, I went out to see the doc. I had to wait a while since I was a drop in. He checked the wounds, had his nurse rewrap them, and I was able to talk her out of a bunch of waterproof bandages.
I stopped out at the charter office to find the hangar empty of charter type aircraft. It was eerie, as the only planes there were the little rentals and training aircraft. The biplane was there and I would have flown that, but it was still raining.
I went across to see Jimmy. He was doing great, but said, "I need a car. Can you help me find something?"
I called Hank and told him about Jimmy and his need. He said he would call his cousin and look in the confiscations. I promised Jimmy we would have him something quickly.
I drove to the prosthesis store with my damaged leg to show them and get their opinion. They said the stalk should be replaced since I might put some stress on it and the leg could collapse. I asked if they could make me a sports leg while they were at it. The wife went through the measuring process again to make sure of the size. They discussed the value of the different types and we agreed on the most popular sport foot. The sports leg was really expensive, but I was making decent money with no real big expenses.
Hank called me, he said, "Got you covered, Boss. My cousin has a five year old Wrangler he got from the county auction. He says the only thing it needs is a radio and some electrical repair. Your man can have it for less than half the low book value."
"Can you have it hauled out to the air park that I fly out of?"
Hank yawned into the phone, "I need to make a trip with some equipment. I could probably drop it off on the way. Where do you want it out there?"
"When will you be going out there?"
"I can be out there in about thirty minutes, I'm caught up here."
"Look for my car. You'll drop the Jeep across from it."
I left the prosthesis store and headed back to the air park. After parking, I found Jimmy buried in a customer's annual. He couldn't see me, so I said loud enough that he would hear me and not get spooked and bump his head, "I have your car on the way out here, Jimmy."
He was out of the engine compartment in an instant. "What is it?"
"A Wrangler that needs some electrical work and a radio," I said, giving him the price.
"Wow, that's cheap. What color is it?"
"Don't know but they are easy to paint if you don't like the color."
About that time Hank pulled up with the big flatbed and backed toward the hangar. It took about ten minutes to get the Jeep off the truck and Jimmy was exclaiming, "This is great. This fiberglass body is perfect for the winter, but I guess you guys don't have winters do you. Look at that, a full set of canvas too.
Hank handed Jimmy the keys and Jimmy asked, "How bad is the electrical?"
Hank said, "Everything works, but it's just twisted together and taped right now. You need to butt the cut wires together and solder them. That's really the only problem. My cousin says even the air works."
Jimmy slid into the seat and turned the key. The Jeep started up and ran okay, but not smooth. He nodded, evaluating the car. He got out, looked at the tires that were at least fifty percent worn and turned to Hank. "Who do I pay?"
Hank motioned toward me, "Give this guy the check when you have it and I'll give it to my cousin. Here's the title, remember you need insurance and you need to register it. Here's the receipt for the amount my cousin wanted so you can pay sales tax."
Jimmy asked, "Can't I give the check to you now?"
"Sure, no middle man; I wasn't worried though. If Chuck vouches for you, you're good for it."
Jimmy was getting his checkbook from his tool box when he said, "I like to pay as I go. This is good. Now my dad can sell my Jeep up north."
As Jimmy wrote the check, he said, "The color is perfect. White will help keep the truck cooler down here. I'll get that top off tonight and put the curtains on. Down here, I'll have the curtains off ninety percent of the time."
Hank shook hands all around and said, "I have to pick up a Bureau's duty car that died. It's right down the road, so you know I'm not spending too much of the man's money."
"Thanks, Hank. You helped out a young man that seems to be making a good name for himself here. You did good."
Jimmy went to talk to his boss and came back, "Can you run me up to the tag office? I went to the driver's license office last week, so this shouldn't be bad. Star called her insurance agent and I was faxed this card."
We went to the county tax office and were pleasantly surprised to find it pretty empty. Since it was near the end of the month, no one had money, so the lines were short.
Back at the air park Jimmy said, "If you have extra time Wednesday and Thursday, the Lear team will be here with their aircraft and you can probably get some time with them and cut down your class time this weekend. I'll be pulling inspections for them and I'm sure they would rather fly and teach than sit on their butts.
"I'll be here. Sounds like a plan."
My cell phone rang at that moment, "Johnson."
Wanda said, "I guess your convalescent leave is going to be short. The Tulsa, Oklahoma, office just had a bomb threat. The ATF team came and cleared the station but is now going over the rest of the federal building. They have found an unexploded bomb and have disarmed it, but more threats are now being phoned in. The news media have not been let in on what's happening, so they know they are being watched. The Marshal in D.C. says you are needed. Where are you so you can get some clothes and leave? I'll call the charter service to see what I can get."
"I'm out at the air park right now and I can see they are short of airplanes. I'll find out what I can do, meanwhile check on commercial connections for me. I'll call you back."
In the charter office I found that my B200 would be back by three but it would take at least an hour to get it ready to turn around. The Lear wouldn't be back till five and that was the same case, an hour to turn around.
I called Wanda, "I won't be able to leave until four in my plane or six on the little jet, so the earliest I can get there is about nine-thirty or ten tonight."
Wanda said, "Southwest won't get in until after midnight, so commit for one of the planes there. Go pack and swing by the station for some information I'm having the girls pull right now. There have been a series of strange events in the area that has your Marshal in D.C. concerned."
Packing was fast and I did remember to pack my new vest and the extra magazines for my Glock in my little gym bag. Back at the air park, my B200 was in and being refueled and prepped. Star came out with a thermos of coffee and a couple of sandwiches, "Here's some left over sandwiches from the charters today. You eat them or they will go to waste."
I checked the weather to Tulsa and wished it wasn't the time of year that you had to battle thunderstorms. I filed a flight plan that would take me around a line of storms near southern Missouri that stretched north past St. Louis. As I was getting ready to board, Lisa came running out of the office, "Here, take this and listen to it on the way. It's the audio from Saturday in Spain."
The flight to Tulsa was great because I had the CD to listen to all the way but the trip was horrible because there were thunderstorms everywhere. I couldn't get totally away from them, so I had to endure the painful bumping and shaking all the way. A lesser plane at lower altitudes wouldn't have been able to make it.
At Tulsa, I was sent to the government parking area and attended to as if I were important. All the people at the airport were friendly and very courteous. I called the duty line at the station and the Station Chief answered.
When I told him who I was and that I was at the airport, he said, "Man, I'm so glad you're here. I'll send someone to get you. I'll brief you then we'll get some sleep. Hopefully we can get a line on this craziness tomorrow."
I had an idea, "How about meeting me somewhere so I'm not seen at your offices. If you think you're being watched, my presence could be misunderstood."
"Okay, sounds good, but where?"
"Why not the hotel? I have reservations at the Hilton at the airport so meet me at the bar in half an hour. That will give me time to check in and check to see if anyone is watching me. Give me your cell number, if I'm being watched, I'll call you. I may want to see where someone who is watching me goes."
The Chief said, "It'll take about forty minutes to get there. I'll talk to you then."
I took a cab to the hotel and quickly checked in, using the bogus name for undercover federal operatives. The hotels always give you strange looks, but the room charges are always quickly accepted. Their acceptance is confirmation that the no-name policy is okay.
After putting my cases into my room, I went to the roof area of the hotel to watch cars coming in from over head. I called the Station Chief and asked him what kind of car he had. He told me he drove a White Expedition. Since he was close to the hotel, I asked him to stay on the line with me as he drove in.
I saw his car come down the driveway toward the front of the hotel. I said, "Stop for a second as if you're trying to decide where to park."
A car that had been coming fairly close behind the Expedition slowed and stopped in the double driveway lanes. That car turned its lights off quickly and began backing up slowly.
I said into the phone, "You have a tail, park in one of the open spaces out on your right. Get out and go into the lobby. Stay on the phone while I watch."
As soon as the Expedition moved, the car in the drive began moving and turned on the lights. I watched as the car parked and someone got out of a rear passenger door and followed the Chief into the lobby.
I told the Chief, "Go to the desk, ask them some stupid question like how late can you get the free breakfast, just anything to get your tail inside. When you're done, get on the elevator and go to third floor. Get off the elevator and go to the stairs and stand in the stairway. Hopefully your cell will still work there. You're going to see one of the guys following you. He has a brown jacket with light Khaki pants and is wearing a tan ball cap. Don't look directly at him except in passing. Don't stare."
I hurriedly went inside and took the elevator downstairs and went out the rear door in an attempt to circle the car that followed the Chief. The guy who followed the Chief into the lobby was still there by the elevators, watching one of floor number displays. I passed by him knowing that he didn't know who I was. I kept checking with the Chief to make sure we had not lost contact.
I said into the phone, "New plan, go down the stairs as fast as you can and apprehend the guy by the elevators, hurry. Call me back in five minutes. I've got something to do too."
The landscaping made it easy to skirt the car I was interested in and keep plants between the car and me. When I was near the car, I could see a driver and a front seat passenger, but no one else in the back seat. Hopefully, I didn't miss anyone getting out of the car. I noted the windows were down.
Pulling my sidearm I quietly slipped through the vegetation and came out just to rear of the front passenger window. I put my gun to the head of the passenger and said, "Both of you, no strange moves and you will live. Driver, keep both hands in view and get out of the car and go to the front."
He hesitated, but then got out and went to the front of the car. "Lay across the hood of the car with your arms out straight. Don't move, your life depends on it."
I poked the passenger in the temple and said, "Now, you're going to get out very slowly. You'll keep your hands in view, in front of you at all times. I want to remind you that your life depends on your cooperation."
Reaching in the car to pull the door handle made me vulnerable, so I poked him with the muzzle as I opened the car door. While I was watching the man on the hood, I had the passenger get out of the car and stand, leaning against the car with his legs spread.
I searched him quickly, emptying his pockets, finding an automatic in his waistband. I had him keep leaning against the top of the car but moving his feet out from the side so his weight was on his hands. While the man was in this position, I searched the driver, emptying his pockets and not finding anything. I only had one set of cuffs so figuring the gun toting guy would be the worst, I cuffed him.
"Now you on the hood, get up, take your shoes and pants off." When he didn't respond right away, I nearly yelled, "Move, I said, shoes and pants off, now." When he was barefoot and in his tighty whiteys, I said, "Now take your buddies shoes and pants off him. Do it now, and live, or would you rather I just,,,,,."
The man did it while the handcuffed man groused the whole time.
"Let's walk to the lobby, don't try to run or I'll fire. Let's go." While walking to lobby, I called the Chief with my cell. "You okay?"
"Fine, I have the guy inside in custody. What should I do?"
"Good man," I said. "Call a duty person and have them come for three prisoners. We'll put these three in solitary and work on them in the morning."
I walked the barefoot, almost naked, men into the hotel to the surprise and entertainment of the desk staff and the Chief. He said, "I guess that's one way to keep them from running.
Here," he handed me a set of handcuffs, "cuff the other guy, I carry two pair."
About fifteen minutes later, two deputies came into the lobby surprised to find two men with no shoes and no pants. None of the three had said a word while we were waiting, except for one who said he wanted to call his attorney. I gave the deputies orders to lock them up for questioning in the morning and asked them to call a tow vehicle to pick up their car and transport it to the Bureau lab. I showed the two deputies where the suspect's car was and asked the Chief, "How about a beer while you brief me?"
We went into the small hotel bar where food could be ordered. We both ordered a salad with a small steak dinner. The Station Chief, Sandy McCahill, began telling me the story up till now.
"This started right after the Bureau arrested a young man for plotting to blow up a shopping mall here in Tulsa. The arrest occurred just outside a local mosque's grounds, not on the mosque property, but sad to say, the arrest was witnessed by several other men. The Tulsa area has a large Muslim population both here in Tulsa and in some of the rural areas north of here. Over this last year, the Muslim radicals have become more vocal in their demand to have a voice in local politics, but have not had anyone enter in any of the political races. The Muslim group contends they should be given a seat and a say in local matters automatically, not as an elected official."
"As you can imagine, the debate has raged in the newspapers and on the local TV programs by both proponents and opponents. The Marshal's office became involved when a group of protesters stood in front of the federal building downtown with fake bombs strapped to their bodies. The local police were terrified the bombs were real, but one of my men just went up to the protesters and began pulling the fake gear off. They were all arrested by deputies for threatening a federal building."
"Two federal judges didn't help the matter as one denied bail to the protesters that came in his court while the other granted bail, and in a couple of cases, dismissed the charges as being silly. The judge said it was silly to think that someone would actually blow themselves up right here in the U.S.A. in order to protest a silly religious matter."
"The next day, that judge was sent a threat that he would die for saying the Muslims he let out of jail were silly. You can bet he was asking for protection faster than he let the protesters out of jail. The judge's car was being tampered with, but the car alarm alerted him to call the police. Some fingerprints on the car matched those of the men he released, but now they can't be found."
"The next thing was a garbage can full of nitrate fertilizer mixed with diesel fuel on the judge's front doorstep. There was a detonator connected to a cell phone, but it didn't work so the bomb didn't go off."
"We've had the bomb in the basement of the federal building and now we're getting threats on deputies', agents', and judges' personal homes and families. The men are ready to begin a sweep of all of the Muslim mosques, offices, homes, and farms in the area and make sure there won't be any additional problems."
I asked, "Have you tried to have a talk with the Imam at the mosque? He must be aware of some of these acts, and even if he approves, he would have to know if the problems continue, his people could be hurt."
"He knows, but won't recognize the problems are coming from his group. He insists we're making this up and it was all caused by us not keeping the grounds of the mosque a sanctuary."
After thinking about the problem for a few minutes, I said, "Let's get some sleep, then you and I will go see the leaders at the Mosque tomorrow. The militants may realize their men didn't check in and will be looking for them by morning. We'll thoroughly interrogate the ones we have before doing anything with them."
Sandy said he would pick me up at seven and headed home. I wanted to get some rest, but I thought I should call John to let him know we were having a possible Muslim extremist terrorism problem in America's heartland.
He answered his cell, "Scott."
"John, Chuck, I'm in Tulsa and believe we need to alert everyone. This has all of the signs of some homegrown extremist terrorism. I have three prisoners we captured trying to watch our Station Chief here. Two were armed and all three are asking for their attorneys. We're going to interrogate them in the morning, but we'll have to turn them over if they make too much noise."
John asked, "Can you hold them on anything?"
"I'm not sure of Oklahoma's gun laws and I will check on it, but I think I could make a charge of stalking in the local courts stick. Only problem is it's not serious enough to remand them till trial. If there is a gun charge, that might do it, but it's all supposition right now."
John again asked, "What can I do?"
"If you could get them out of the country, say down to Gitmo, we might get something out of them. I know we can't water board them but we can scare them into thinking we can."
"You think it's that important?"
"You tell me, John. You thought it serious enough to send me here and I'm telling you like it is. Yeah, it's that important."
"I'll send a courier. Have your captives at the airport in an hour. I'll get a transport from Oklahoma City."
"Thanks, John, your country may thank you."
John said, "You know this will all blow up in your face if they come back to the States?"
"Yeah, I do, but so what. If I keep them off the streets a few days longer, I've done my job."
Since I still had my clothes on, I called Sandy to let him know what was going on and told him to get some sleep; I would handle the transport.
While getting the men out to the airport, I told them where they were going. All three were suddenly full of information. They began telling us their plans, what they intended to do, and how they intended to do it. Every man on the prisoner transfer detail was taking notes as fast as they could. When it became obvious where they were going, all three were almost crying, trying to convince us they could help save the world. In front of the prisoners, I said to transport crew, "If any of these creeps tells you anything that will save anyone, call me. I'll decide whether they come back or stay out of the country."
It sure sounded like the three men thought Gitmo was worse than it really was. We would see as they had about five hours to come clean.
I went back to the hotel and crashed.
Primary editing by Pepere
Proofing by Sagacious