Chuck
A ringing phone brought me out of a deep sleep. When I picked it up, a recording told me that I had left a wakeup call for this time. Looking at my special black Rolex, I saw that it was seven.
The Rolex always brought a smile to my face while I was still in the special dreamy state between slumber and being fully awake. The watch held some special memories for me, as the Hawaiian trip had solidified my thoughts of Lisa, and given me opportunity to become more entwined with Steve and his family. The watch was also special because it had been a gift from some special Irish friends. Friends I hoped to see again soon.
No sooner had I hung up than phone rang again. It was Nightfox, and he said: "Just making sure you got a wakeup call. I'll see you downstairs in twenty."
I did the triple S morning routine, and was waiting for the elevator, when Sam walked out of his room and came toward me. We went to the area where a free breakfast was being served and had some bacon, scrambled eggs, biscuits, and gravy. The food wasn't as good as on the patio, but it was good. While we were eating, my cell phone went off.
"Johnson."
John was on the other end and said, "You now have some DC elite dancing around this morning. Someone arrested the grandson of the Martinson Corporation, Carter Martinson. Do you know anything about that?"
"John, the man will be in court this morning on charges of murder, espionage, theft, and criminal conspiracy. I didn't direct him to be arrested, but would have if I hadn't been beaten to it. Ask anyone that inquires why they are concerned and get a statement."
"I can't do that with the politicos here. That isn't healthy, and I would prefer to keep my job."
"Why do you want the hassle, you don't need that job, and I know you like living the good life on the beaches and on the water."
"Johnson, don't tempt me, although I do like living here where I am. My family is happy here, and I do a service for my country in the job I'm doing. Just be careful out there and don't step on the wrong toes. Martinson has always been known for having tight security, so don't be surprised to find someone on your back."
"No sweat, John, that's why I have a new man watching my back for me. Should I shoot them or warn them first."
"Damn, don't be shooting anyone from Martinson. That would be a sure way to get us all in trouble."
"John, we did that last night inside the hotel when we were in a firefight with some hired shooters. There's a total of six dead and all had Martinson employee cards."
"Oh shit, this is not going well, is it? Does the Director know?"
I said, "If he doesn't, he will as soon as he's in his office. Are you in your office yet or still at home?"
"It's after eight here. Of course, I'm in my office. I don't lollygag around like you do."
"Go get the reports from his office so you can catch up on the evidence. There are probably several hundred pages of interrogations and evidence there by now."
"Were you up all night getting this evidence?" John asked this accusingly.
"Yep, went to bed near five for a couple of hours. I'll sleep more later, but it's mop up time now. Listen, my breakfast is getting cold. I'll call you later." This time I hung up on him.
After eating, I said, "Let's go into the station and see if we can file our reports, then we'll go see the Bureau boys to see what the deal is with them. Come on, we'll see if we can either get a car or catch a ride."
The front of the hotel had people being searched as they left. The people who objected were taken back inside and held until Bureau people could talk with them before forcing them to be searched.
A deputy came up to us and said, "I'm here to be your taxi driver. The Chief has me on nanny duty for you."
As soon as we entered the station, Frank Sterling came up to us. He said, "You probably only got a couple of hours sleep last night too, huh? If you need to use a desk to write your reports, use any of them." He waved his hand at multiple open desks with PC monitors on them.
Sam and I sat at computers and went through the incidents we were involved in, as well as the interrogations. It took well over an hour before we were done and handed in the printed reports. The station clerk asked if I saved the file. I told her I had, and she found that Sam had saved his as well. I said, "I've already transmitted mine to Tampa, so if you would, send Sam's too."
She said, "Oh yeah, you're the Charles Johnson who reviews these, aren't you?"
Nodding, I said, "That's Chuck to you, Ma'am. Charles is kind of formal for a guy like me."
She smiled and went to work on the reports.
Frank Sterling, the Station Chief took us to the break room and poured us some coffee and offered us some law enforcement donuts. Sam and I each had a special donut with our coffee while listening to Frank's summary of what all had transpired since the major incidents last night.
I said, "You know those techs that were recording had to be the ones that alerted someone that the other two men were caught. They haven't mentioned that yet, so we need to get that out of them so we have the right order of what happened and who was notified by whom."
Frank said, "We'll get them all back into the interrogation rooms and work on them. I'll get a good time line on all of the activities. The fake agents that followed everyone upstairs fooled our guys last night. If they were fooled, a lot of others may be fooled as well. Both the Bureau and my station have been warned to ask for ID every time they meet someone they don't know. Hope you don't get mad at being stopped."
"No problem, Frank. That way I'll know we're all being careful." After pausing, I asked, "What can I do for you? Sam and I are good for leg duty if you need something done."
"Got it all covered, Chuck. Ned and I have over a hundred visiting agents and deputies helping on this now. We both have mixed the teams to help us coordinate our activities. The place that's going to need help is DC. A lot of shit is rolling downhill toward them. Hope they can handle it."
I had to nod in agreement to that statement.
"How about I talk to the prosecutors for a few minutes before court this morning? Do you know where they might be?"
Frank smiled, "They are all lying down on cots in the ready room. You probably should wake them up so they can clean up for court. The two women will probably want to brush their hair."
Sam and I went into the ready room and woke the four prosecutors. As they sat up and stretched, the lead man said, "This is some kind of case. I'll bet the boss is going to have a shit fit over all the high profile people we're messing with."
The two girls excused themselves and headed for the bathroom. The two guys were given razors and toothbrushes and told there was shaving cream and toothpaste in the locker room. They headed that way.
I sent the clerk into the women's locker room with toothbrushes and asked the clerk to give them whatever supplies they might need.
A half-hour later, the four looked presentable and began gathering all their documents to go before a federal judge.
The prosecutors played a game for the arraignments. They had only one prisoner in the courtroom at a time. The judge asked the prosecutors for every man accused, "Are you sure you have evidence to convict this person without wasting the government's money?"
Each time one of the prosecutors would say, "Yes, Your Honor, we have sufficient evidence to present and convict today if you want to convene a trial."
A single law firm had been hired for all of the prisoners, including the Martinson kid. The prosecutors were grinning, as it became even more evident there was a conspiracy of some sort. All of the prisoners were remanded to custody since they were all considered flight risks. The judge specified that the prisoners were not to be removed from this building unless he personally authorized the transfer.
After court, the prosecutors, the Marshal Station Chief, and the Bureau Special Agent got together to discuss what needed to be accomplished during the interrogations. They did say the law firm was leaving an attorney at the building to attempt to be present for all questioning. Ned said, "Hell, we have four interrogation rooms and there's only one legal eagle. We'll bring Martinson and three others up, so we should be able to get information from at least one of them. The lawyer will stick with the money, so we should be able to question the others freely unless they specifically ask for an attorney."
The prosecutors all looked at each other and said, "One of us will try to be in each of the interrogation rooms so there is no coercing the prisoners."
I told the group, "Sam and I are going to take a short nap, then head up to Salt Lake City. We'll give you a call to see if you need us back here. I think you have all of the big loose ends tied up right now. Keep me posted through my Tampa office."
Before we left, I asked Ned if he had heard how Bud and Jim were. Ned said, "Bud's a tough one. He's going to have sore ribs, but nothing's broken. No cuts or tears on him either. Jim's solid, no problem there. He says he needs to get this done and back to Las Vegas for some important business of some kind."
I laughed and said, "He met his match. The girl of his dreams walked into his world a couple of weeks ago and he is lovestruck. Now that he knows what a little heaven is, he wants more."
Sam, Ned, and I laughed at that, then shook hands all around and headed back to hotel for a nap. Sam and I agreed to meet at noon to head out to the airport. Our nanny deputy said he would be in the lobby waiting for us.
Two hours later, Sam and I were refreshed and heading out to the airport. When we entered the hangar where my Citation was parked, we were challenged by the deputies guarding the place. We had to show our IDs and badges and have them confirmed before they let us proceed to the bird.
While we waited for confirmation, I called Wanda. She said she had received all of the reports and asked about Bud. I assured her he was all right, then she said, "You may get a call. I was notified to advise you to keep an open channel." There was a pause, then she added, "Mark, from out at the trailer park, asked for your cell number. He said he had forgotten to record it on his phone. Should I give it to him?"
"Sure, Wanda, he rode out here with us. I have his personal cell number. I can give him a call. He's in Cheyenne visiting with his son and his family."
Wanda said, "I heard you gave him and Caroline a ride. That was nice of you."
"Easy to do, Wanda."
She said, "Remember to keep a channel open on the required frequency. Call me if you need anything."
I did a very thorough preflight of the aircraft to make sure it hadn't been tampered with. The plane had been fueled, so I had the aircraft towed outside then began the startup. While waiting for the gauges to get stabilize, I filed a flight plan for Salt Lake City, set my radio receivers for the frequencies I wanted, punched up the information on the instrumentation, and waited for clearance for taxi and takeoff.
While we were cueing up to takeoff, three successive airplanes landed that were all government owned, including an Air Force air transport. I suppose some big shots were coming to town to muddy the waters. Glad we were getting out of there.
The Salt Lake City visit was pleasant. The Station Chief was very happy to have special congratulations. He asked that all of his off-duty men join us for dinner and set up a reservation to handle everyone.
During the dinner, I made a special announcement and congratulated the Chief and all of the men who had helped during a key period of the investigation of escapees that were moving back into the U.S. from Canada. Their ability to keep the prisoners out of sight may have saved many lives, as they could have been involved in any number of other terrorist activities.
Sam and I stayed overnight and slept soundly as we were both worn out. In the morning, I checked in with the Omaha operation and found that they were in good shape since the federal judge had issued a directive all the way to DC Justice regarding his order to remand all of the prisoners. All out of town non-Bureau or Marshal Service personnel were forbidden contact with the prisoners. The only people who could interview them were law enforcement, prosecutors, and their own legal counsel.
We sat back at the breakfast table, sipping our coffee and talking about what was next. I called Mark to see what his schedule would be. Mark said, "Caroline and I don't want to go home yet, but could you stop by here for a while. You can enjoy a meal and I'm sure my son has room for you to stay the night if you want. He wants to talk to you about something you may want to hear. Would you mind stopping in?"
"Not at all, Mark. We'll be in about eleven this morning. Will that be all right with your son?"
"Sure, my kid is on a sort of forced vacation right now, so he has plenty of time."
"See you soon, Mark."
When I filed for Cheyenne, I was redirected to call it in personally. I had to give my agency security number for permission to land. I gave my U.S. Marshal security travel number and was granted permission to land. They must be doing something special in Cheyenne to have security that tight.
As soon as we set down in Cheyenne, a follow-me truck pulled in front of us and led us to the operations building. There, a handful of Air Force Air Police came out to the aircraft to greet me. A young lieutenant asked for our IDs, then took them to his vehicle to call us in. When he came back he said, "Why did you use a different number to land this time? The number you gave us before wasn't from the Marshal Service, it was a Secret Service number."
I looked at the man hard trying to remember the sequence of events that happened when we left Tampa and filed to come in here. "Let me see that number to see if it matches what I have."
The man produced a pad of paper with a number written on it. I compared it to my Secret Service agent number and they matched. I told the officer, "Must have just forgotten which branch I was traveling for. I often have to mix travel for both agencies."
He nodded and told me, "You have people waiting for you in operations. If you prefer, I can detail someone to watch your aircraft."
"Thanks, Lieutenant, I appreciate the courtesy."
As Nightfox and I walked to the operations building, I said, "I think I know who our watchdog is at home. Pretty sneaky. I wonder how long they were watching me before they approached me for that first mission."
Sam said, "They watched me for three years in the Corps before they offered me the position. They had someone on my own team that I didn't know was observing me. They were smart too, since they waited until it was time for me to re-up before they approached me. They did tell me later who had been watching me. The Service is pretty thorough, you know."
Inside operations, Mark's whole family was there to greet us. Mark, Caroline, Gene, his wife Sandy, and their two kids were all happy to see us. Sandy said, "Come on, we'll get back to the house and have a tall cold glass of iced tea so you men can talk."
At the house, Gene got right down to business. "My job with Martinson is in question because of some kind espionage the company was involved in. They must have been trying to get information from other companies and now my division is locked up tight. As you saw, even our little airport is locked up tight with security. So far, the company is paying me, but I can't take a chance they will continue. I have a family."
Mark said, "I know you're involved out at the airpark, Chuck. You may even be one of the owners the way DeDe talks about you. Gene needs a job that he can depend on. He's an aeronautical engineer with emphasis on electronics. If you could let him submit an application to S&S, he could be of value with R&D or at the airpark. The man is rated to fly almost anything and is a great instructor. Sandy here is also an instructor, so you would be getting two for one. Do you think you could help get him an application?"
"This is easy," I smiled. "Let me call Ruth at S&S to see what we need to do. You know Steve, Mark; he always wants a shot at talent."
I called Ruth and she asked for Gene's personal e-mail address. She said, "I'll send him our forms and he can fill them out and e-mail them back. As soon as we have them, I'll run him by Steve."
Gene gave Ruth his e-mail address, then he was transferred to someone else who was obviously knowledgeable about the equipment Gene had been working with. He then talked to another person who he answered with some technical questions. He paused, listened then said, "Thank you, I hope to meet you soon. Here's Chuck."
When I took the phone, John Tenant said, "If this man checks out, he's hired. Steve and Wes are looking for someone with his qualifications for here and in the R&D center. Steve is going to go nuts until he has him locked up. Tell him to just sit tight and begin thinking about working in warmer weather."
Sandy had gone to their PC and was printing out the forms that had been sent. She handed them to Gene who began filling them out by hand while Sandy was doing something with the forms on the PC. Her fingers were flying on the keyboard then she printed out the forms and circled some boxes. She came over to the table where Gene was working and said, "I've filled in all the areas they asked for except the few that are circled. You may not be able to give them straight answers because it's going to be classified. Write what you want. I'll check what I filled in with what you've written to make sure it's correct."
Gene rolled his eyes and began scribbling on the forms. Sandy went back to the PC and compared what she had typed to what Gene had handwritten. Gene brought the forms back to Sandy and she entered the last of the data. She made up an e-mail that contained Gene's school transcripts, his work resume, his security clearance information, and his pilot information. She included her own information, with a short note, and sent it all.
The whole time we were having the conversation and the frantic filling out of the application, Sam and Caroline were playing with the kids. Sam had gone outside to play catch with Gene's son, while Caroline was doing something creative with Gene's daughter.
After lunch, we were talking about the various areas of the airpark and how busy the place was when my cell phone rang. About the same time, Gene's home phone rang.
I answered, "Johnson."
It was Steve. "Chuck, what do you think of Mark's son? What do you feel? I'd really like to hire him."
I paused and searched Gene's and Sandy's consciousness and found nothing but purity and happiness mostly. There was a cloud over their lives at this minute, but nothing serious.
"Good, Steve. I'd say you should do something if you've checked out everything."
Steve said, "Pure as the wind driven snow. Are you still at his house with Mark and Caroline?"
"I am."
Steve said hurriedly, "Can you bring him here so I can do a sales job on him?"
"Sure Steve, why don't you ask him to come yourself?"
He said, "I think Ruth is on another line doing that right now. If he isn't still on the phone, I'll talk to him though."
Gene was sitting, looking a little dazed, when I said, "Steve Sharp of S&S Industries wants to talk to you. Can you talk to him?"
Gene smiled and reached for my cell. They talked for a few minutes, then he handed the phone back to me. Steve asked me again, "You don't mind bringing him back here do you?"
"Not at all, Steve. It may take them some time to put some clothes together, but I'll let you know when we'll be there."
Sandy had left the room and was calling Caroline to come help. Gene grinned at me and his dad, saying, "I guess you and I might be working with each other, Dad. Steve Sharp just said he wants me to work with the R&D group as well as with Wes out at the airpark."
Mark was smiling and said, "That's really good. I'll be proud to work under you, Son. I'm not doing that much out there anyway. Most of what I do is to suggest stuff and help try to put it together."
"Sure, Dad," Gene said. "Like those wind generators you've been playing with for the last twenty years. You've already told me you have reduced the size of them by over sixty percent."
Gene stood, "I better help Sandy get us ready. Chuck, tell Sam to get my kid in so he can get a bath to go flying. All you have to say is we're taking your jet and he'll be flying in here."
In just a half-hour, luggage began appearing at the rear door. Caroline and Mark had changed and were ready to go and the two kids were finishing getting dressed. Gene came in and said, "A neighbor is coming to get a key to watch the house for us. She should be here any second. If you need fuel, you'll have to call out to the airfield. Those guys don't offer anymore. Since the Air Force took over, the place is very cold and not near as fun as it used to be. That will probably change with the problems that are going on, but it sure isn't fun while it's happening."
Gene helped me call out to the airfield to order a fuel truck with Jet A. They said it would be standing by the aircraft when I arrived.
After the neighbor came by, we loaded up and drove across a field to the airfield. A security truck intercepted us and accompanied us to the Citation. I loaded the people and began fueling the aircraft. Gene had taken his car to a secure area and walked back. I radioed a flight plan and was given quick access to the runway. In minutes, we were racing down the runway on the way to Tampa.
Gene had sat up front with me at Mark's suggestion. Gene had experience in a smaller Citations and a Learjet, so he was excited to see a Citation X in operation. With a strong tailwind, we were traveling over the ground near the speed of sound if you believed the GPS. (The ground speed of the airplane was the total of the air speed, about 600 miles per hour, plus the tailwind of about 75 miles per hour, adding up to pretty close to 700 miles per hour, which was the speed of sound through air at our altitude.)
After being in the air a while, I had Sam use the Sat phone and call the airfield to let them know we were a little over an hour out. I asked him to have DeDe or whoever was on the desk to call Steve and tell him.
We were on glidepath to land when my cell phone announced I had a text message. I couldn't look at it then, so I ignored it and proceeded to land. When we parked in front of the hangar the aircraft was assigned to, Steve, Ruth, Tiny, and Wes were there to meet us.
My goodness, Gene's kid must be a good catch to warrant the welcoming committee.
As soon as we were out of the aircraft, Mark introduced everyone and the group, except for Nightfox, went into the charter office. I looked at my text message and it said, "Call local contact for instructions." I guess that was Wanda, so I called her.
When I called and asked her what was up, she said, "You have a job but nothing to do right this minute. I'll brief you and Sam at home about five, be there."
It was only four, so I made sure the aircraft was taken care of and Sam and I took our bags from the plane. The house was quiet when we got home, so we put our stuff away. I did tell Sam that we might have somewhere to go when Wanda got home.
At five minutes to five, Wanda came in and sat at the counter. She said, "Look over this file while I tell you what's up. The service wants you to pick up a package in Maine and take it to Colorado. Check out the size and weight of the package, and you'll get the drift. This shouldn't be a big deal, but they specifically wanted you to handle this."
The package was seventy inches, by forty inches, by twenty-inches. The weight was a hundred eighty pounds. I looked up and said, "I wonder if this is live or dead weight?"
Wanda said, "I don't know. All I know is that you are needed to pick it up and take it to Colorado. There is no specific time but you need to call up there to let them know when you will be there. You should use your Secret Service flight number when you file so you will be escorted on the ground."
Wanda slipped a note across the counter that said, "There may be changes as to the quantity of packages when you arrive."
I looked up at her and she said, "I have a package in my car for you. Let's get it and put it in your car now."
We went to Wanda's Chrysler where she had a dozen sets of cuffs and a dozen sets of chains. She also had a cooler that described, "If you need to tranquilize the package or packages, use this. It's non-lethal and will make handling easier."
I said quietly, "What the fuck, Wanda? What's this about?"
"Don't know, Chuck, and I don't want to know. I'm just doing what I'm asked. When are you going?"
I said, "No time like the present. I could use another pilot to spell me though. What do you think if I were to take Lisa?"
Wanda did a double take at me and said, "Why her?"
"She's a good pilot and it would give us some time to talk."
Wanda looked down then back up at me. "Sure, I'll see if I can find her. She isn't flying today and is probably over on the patio."
I told Sam what we were going to do and suggested we wear fatigues. He agreed, and we both changed. Lisa came bursting in the kitchen door and said, "Sure, I want to go flying. I'll put on my flight suit."
Motioning Lisa to me, I softly said, "Why don't you put on fatigues like Sam and me."
Lisa's head jerked up and there was a glimmer of fear, then recognition. She smiled and said, "It'll take but a minute to change and get a bag ready."
That was the answer. Lisa was my local watchdog. They must have shit when we got together. This was uncanny though, as she was living at the nudie camp before she came to live with us. I would have to really think through that period of time to see how that all worked. I wonder if we were still an item. Did we both go beyond the planned observation to become interested in each other? But her relationship with Peaches is real, but then how did she get from Atlanta to Tampa. What brought her here?
The three of us looked strange in our fatigues. Sam was taken back by Lisa's dress, but I said to him, "She's one of us, Sam. Since I know who she is, we'll use her."
We were on our way to Maine in less than an hour. Sam was sitting in the jump seat behind the cockpit so I could explain what we were doing. I said, "If there are more than ten, we'll have to make two trips. We have chains for twelve, but I also brought a couple of rolls of duct tape to tape their mouths shut if we have to. We have some shots to give them if they give us trouble. These packages must be especially bad or we wouldn't be given the assignment."
When we landed in Maine, we were escorted to an area at the end of the airfield. There was a small hangar there that we parked in front of with the aircraft door facing the hangar. With Lisa helping to refuel and Sam, armed with his small assault rifle, watching from inside, I went into the hangar to get my package or packages.
A guy in fatigues greeted me warmly and showed me four men shackled to chairs in the middle of the hangar. Four men were watching them with rifles. The guy said, "These four are not nice people. We really want them alive for a while in order to interrogate them. Cuba is out right now, so we have to use our covert cells in Colorado. If you want, take one or all of the guards with you. Dump them there with the people who meet you and you're done. Be careful. These men were captured coming into the U.S. with over a thousand pounds of explosives. The CIA has been tracking them for a month and we picked them up at the border before immigration could get at them."
"I'll take your guards with me and bring them back if you want. The extra eyes to watch these guys would be good."
The guy said, "Tell you what. You'll be close, so just drop them at the base out there. I'll call and let them know your flight plan. Let's get them loaded and out of here."
We took the men to the aircraft and seated them before the four men ran for their gear to ride with us. Nightfox said, "I hope these guys don't do anything. I can't shoot them in the air, so it'll get bloody real quick."
One of the guards who had returned handed Nightfox a magazine for his assault rifle, "Here, rubber bullets. They hurt like hell, but generally don't draw blood and they won't penetrate the aircraft." The guy handed him a Glock magazine and said, "Same with these. But to be on the safe side, do you have that cooler of injectables?"
The guards quickly injected the four prisoners and watched them get sleepy.
Lisa and I filed our flight plan and went through spooling up and taking off. We were at about forty-thousand feet when the standby channel sounded off, "Eyes, Mouse."
"Eyes," I answered.
"Look to your left. Remember me? This is a different bird this time."
I looked to see an F-18 off my left wing. The pilot gave me a salute and I keyed, "Looking good, Mouse. You need to get me a ride in one of those."
He returned, "Ask, they might even have one of these for a one-legged dude like you. I'm going to ride with you along with the bird on the other side of you. We'll have to refuel in a bit, then we're going straight to the base when you reach your primary destination. We'll see you later for an early breakfast."
Nightfox went to stay with the four guards watching the sleeping prisoners. I took the opportunity to say to Lisa, "You made a mistake. You used the Secret Service number for me to get into Cheyenne. When I landed using the Marshal Service number, they were all over me. You filed the flight plan, so you must be my local protector. Are we more than watcher and subject?"
Lisa reached across to me and touched my arm, "A lot more than that. At first, I was just an observer. It was my job to watch your back when you were around here. I watched to make sure none of the unsavory types that the Service gets involved with came around. I'm supposed to get to know the subject. Well, Chuck, I got to know you too well. Now I want to just be close to you and not just your observer. I've already filed with the service to be released."
I said, "We'll have to discuss that a little more later. I have a thousand questions to ask, but you may not be allowed to answer some. Have you known what kind of missions I've been sent on?"
"Only when you were going to have a mission, so I could elevate my security observations. They don't divulge what missions another agent goes on. This branch of the service handles a lot of stuff the CIA hands off. Some of our jobs are not very pretty. I do know about your job out in Las Vegas. That was so big that it quickly spread through the service. You and Sam did a good job out there and probably saved several thousand people."
We were quiet for a few minutes before Lisa said, "How about we get the shrink to talk to us for a few minutes. I've already talked to him about us, and he knows we're tight. I'm sure he's let our bosses know about us as well. They must not mind because no one has said anything."
"Damn, Lisa. You've really become to mean a lot to me. You know, the love thing. I've even been fantasizing about us living our lives out together."
Lisa turned to me, "We will, Buster. We will live our lives out together. Chuck, I love you like you'll never know, and want us to be a part of each other forever. Please, Chuck, this may have started out to be business, but it's become personal, very personal."
I smiled at Lisa and said, "I know, I feel the same way. We'll do some more talking soon."
About that time, we were descending to land in Colorado. I was busy for a few minutes and landed smoothly. We were directed to a special parking area and were met by a large van.
Our guards checked out the people accepting the prisoners and helped the groggy men from our aircraft to the van. When the van was leaving, I called a fuel truck. When that was taken care of, I called over our secure radio, "Mother, Eyes."
"Eyes, this is Mother, go ahead."
"Instructions from our location."
"Stay black, under five thousand feet or at tree top level. No need to radio for landing instructions. You are expected and will be tracked. Mother out."
All I did was key the microphone twice. I shut down the transponder and filled an IFR plan out of there. It took a little over an hour to get to the remote field where we landed and were escorted to the usual hangar.
Two carts met us this time. One had the same guy who usually talked to me. He said, "I want to look at this new bird you got. You're the talk of the Service. Now everyone wants their own Citation. You've started something."
The guards that had accompanied us said goodbye and rode off in a cart.
After the local contact had checked out the Citation, Sam, Lisa, and I rode back to the administration area with our man. Once inside the offices, Sam was ushered away, and Lisa and I were shown into a conference room.
The man that entered the conference room was special somehow. He was dressed the same as everyone else in fatigues, but held himself a little differently than the others. He smiled at Lisa and me, then said, "You two have come a long way. Chuck, you have been a good addition to our group, and you, Lisa, have been a rock in the service since we solicited you. Now that you two have, and I don't have a better term for it, hooked up, I think we need to make you partners in some of the tasks you are assigned to do."
Lisa and I looked at each other, wondering what the guy was talking about.
"Both of you are important to our mission. That mission is to take care of special events that occur here in the U.S. that can't be handled by the CIA. You two will be assigned events that require your special abilities. Chuck, your new friend, Nightfox, will still be a part of your operation, but will now be an alternate backup to Lisa. There may even be times when you will need both of their expertise to accomplish the mission assigned."
Lisa said, "I've applied to be released from the service. I think that Chuck and I have become more than just acquaintances and roommates, and now need to concentrate on where we will go from here."
The man said, "I understand, Lisa, but I want you to stay within the service for a while to help Chuck and Sam. They are going to have some very unusual assignments coming up during the next few weeks that will require someone with your knowledge and ability. Please, consider it as helping Chuck. He is going to need you."
Lisa looked at him then me, "Of course, if Chuck needs me, I'll be right there for him. I do want to separate from the service though, as we are planning to start a family. I don't need to be doing anything dangerous while I'm trying to make little Chuckies." With that, she giggled and looked at me. I could feel her love for me and hear her telling me, 'I love you, Chuck, please, let's just enjoy our lives together forever after.'
The man said, "I respect that. Both of you are needed for this next one, so just relax and wait for the briefing. We'll get with you and give you the plan when it's time. Between now and then, enjoy life, enjoy the aircraft the service bought for you. Actually, they stole it from the manufacturer at a ridiculous sum, as a bribe for several military versions they put on order. You were worth it, Chuck, that Las Vegas job was worth ten times what that Citation is worth. You'll never know how much your country appreciates what you have done. You too, Lisa. Your observations of Chuck have helped us gain one of the best agents we've ever had. Now, both of you, go home and wait for your orders. The time is coming for some heavy action."
The man shook our hands warmly and led us out to the cafeteria where Sam was waiting for us. We had a good meal and decided to head home, even though it was very late. Sam said, "I want to get home to my Maria. I'll make some strong coffee just for the two of you."
In the big hangar, Lisa and I did a preflight inspection and had the bird spooled up and moving out of the hangar. A few hours later, we were descending through a lot of heavy weather. We landed in heavy showers and were waved directly into our normal hangar. There, we unloaded our luggage into an airport van and headed home. We let Sam out at Maria's trailer. He had called her and the door was open with a robed Maria, smiling, waiting for him.
Lisa and I drove home and went inside. The bed was crammed with women. They were all sleeping, waiting for us. Lisa and I slid into the mix and were soon sound asleep.