There was a sudden coup in North Korea. Weapons supplied by China had found their way into the hands of a large number of people who were tired of being hungry and living without electricity. After the initial fighting between government forces and citizens had died down, the Chinese government stepped in and established an interim government. Even the Chinese soldiers were shocked by the conditions in North Korea.
Three weeks had passed since the attempted missile attack on the United States. Throughout that time, the American Embassy in Beijing had not accepted any calls from the Chinese government. Thus it was that the President of China was shocked when a message requesting his presence at the Embassy showed up on his desk. After arguing with his advisors, the President of China made the trip to the American Embassy. He was greeted at the gate by a Marine and directed to a little room just inside the building.
On entering, he found that he was not facing the Ambassador, but some strange man who he had never met. The man rose and greeted the President of China with undue familiarity. "Hello. I'm glad you could make it."
"Where's the Ambassador?"
The man answered, "He's unavailable until you've met certain conditions."
Convinced that he wasn't going to like what the little man was going to say, the President asked, "What are they?"
Handing the President of China a small stack of folded papers, the man answered, "We know it was the Premier who ordered that the missiles be fired at us. We would like you to extradite him to the United States to stand trial. The details concerning the delivery of the man to us are in those papers."
The President of China looked at the papers in his hand and sighed. He asked, "What else?"
"That's all," the little man said with a smile. China had already carried out the one thing that the United States had really wanted from it. He escorted the President of China to the door and said, "Thank you for coming here."
"I'll deliver the former Premier to your country," the President said surprised by the leniency of the American demands. If the circumstances had been reversed he doubted that he would have been that lenient. Curious, he asked, "What would have happened if I had refused?"
"I'd rather not answer that question. I really dislike talking about ugly things," the man answered with a sinister looking smile.
Mike walked into the house with Cathy. She was giggling at what she had seen on the drive over to his house. There was an elderly couple down the street that had been chasing each other around their yard. The old woman had been topless and her breasts were flopping all over the place. Smiling, she said, "I can't believe that your neighbors are out in their garden like that."
"People aren't doing that in your neighborhood?" Mike asked.
"They are, but they are all a lot younger than your neighbors," Cathy said. She turned away from the door and came to a complete stop upon seeing the two massage tables side by side in the living room.
Kim stood between the tables and, using the voice, said, "Get undressed and get on the tables."
Both obeyed without argument. Cathy said, "I wish that I could bottle that voice."
"You and me both," Mike said as he lay down on his back.
Kim went over to Mike and started massaging his face. Within ten minutes, he was sound asleep as Kim worked on his muscles. Once she had finished with his front, Kim went over to Cathy and said, "Relax. He will sleep until I end the massage. I will finish with you first."
It amazed Cathy that Kim knew exactly where each knot and tense spot was. The strong fingers of the woman worked at each spot slowly releasing the tension. Cathy found that she was soon asleep under the soothing touch of Kim. She woke and less than a minute later she reached a brain numbing climax.
"Oh my," Cathy said with a shaky voice.
"You watch him. I show you magic spot on man," Kim said turning to Mike. She had him turn over and went to work on his back. Cathy watched as Kim worked on various muscle groups. She could actually see the how Kim ran her hands across his back and then returned to work on little areas with her thumbs. Mike was putty in her hands. After working every muscle from head to toe, Kim woke Mike just enough to turn over.
With very light strokes, she ran her hands up and down his body. She took special care around the insides of his thighs. Still asleep, Mike spread his legs. Kim leaned over to Cathy and whispered, "Watch."
Cathy watched wondering what the big deal about the hand job was. Cathy could see that he was on the verge of an orgasm when Kim did something rather surprising to him. Shocked, Mike sat up wide eyed. His come sprayed almost to his head as he shouted, "Oh my God!"
It was hard not to laugh at his reaction. Cathy could see that he had no idea of what Kim had planned for him. Kim looked over at Cathy and asked, "Did you see what I did?"
"Yes," Cathy answered finding that her heart was beating fast.
"Good. Do that to him when you take him in your mouth. He will do anything you say," Kim said as if Mike wasn't even in the room.
Mike was staring at Kim wondering why she had done that to him with Cathy watching. Wondering how long it would take for his eyes to uncross, Cathy asked, "Did you like that?"
"Uh," Mike answered flustered by the entire experience.
"Good answer," Cathy said with a smile. Seeing that he was somewhat upset, she said, "She did the same thing to me, but you slept through it."
Pointing in the direction of Mike's bedroom, Kim said, "Go to bed and have fun. You both relaxed enough to have very good time."
Mike looked across the desk at James Wentworth the Third. In a very soft voice, he said, "I'm tired of the killing."
"I'm not surprised. There has been a lot of that," James said watching Mike as he struggled to find the right words to say. Mike's answer was not what he had been expecting to hear when he had offered the man the chance to take over the Middle East Section.
"I'd like to return to the domestic counter-terrorism section," Mike said.
Knowing that Mike had basically dismantled the remaining terror leadership in the United States, James seriously considered the request. The problem was that there wasn't much left for Mike to do there. Shaking his head, James asked, "Your teams are doing a great job. I'd love to have your guidance as we move closer to the primary source of terrorism."
"You can get along without me. There are others who are just as good as or better than I am," Mike said giving a little shrug of his shoulders. He didn't believe that he was indispensable.
"You were the one who found Jamal," James said.
"That was luck," Mike said with a dismissive shrug of his shoulders.
James studied Mike and then asked, "Did you know that in certain circles you have become known as the Hunter because of your ability to find terrorists?"
"I heard that," Mike answered shifting in his chair.
James considered his options. He asked, "What will you work on if I return you to the domestic side of the house? There's not much going on there."
"I'll track down the hundred most wanted terrorists that remain," Mike answered. He rubbed the nub of his left middle finger and then said, "I'm very good at that."
James thought about it for a minute. He knew that Mike wasn't going to take over the Middle East Section. Although things were quiet in the Asian Pacific region, there was always the chance that things would flare up again. He decided that a compromise was needed. He suggested, "How about you stay with the Asian Section? It is not very active at the moment. You and your team can spend half of your time hunting down the big players in the Muslim Brotherhood. You'll have access to the whole world. In fact, I'll make that a general policy that all individuals can look for the top one hundred terrorists during intelligence lulls."
Mike thought about the suggestion. He felt that if he was able to take out the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood that it would speed the peace process along quite a bit. The real problem was that they didn't know too much about the men who were really running the show. He was convinced that none of the Western intelligence services even knew who the top men in the Muslim Brotherhood were. He finally answered, "I'll do it."
"Great," James said rising from behind his desk. He reached across the desk with his hand and said, "I expect to hear about some spectacular catches, Hunter."
Karen walked over to Mike on unsteady feet and said, "Unk."
Mike grinned and picked up the little girl. Giving her a little hug, he asked, "How's my favorite niece?"
Karen cooed and sucked her thumb. Sanjay laughed and said, "She sure does enjoy your visits."
"They grow up so fast," Mike said enjoying her attention. Sanjay's other two daughters barely gave him the time of day, but Karen always came over to greet him when he visited.
"So when are you going to marry Cathy?" Sanjay asked. He knew that Mike found spending time with Karen was a bittersweet experience. He enjoyed playing with the little girl, but it reminded him of how much he missed having Robert in his life.
The question startled Mike and he answered, "I don't know."
Sanjay shook his head and said, "You might want to start thinking about it. The women are making plans."
Mike blew a raspberry on Karen's tummy causing her to laugh. Looking over at Sanjay, he said, "The only plans that I'm interested in at the moment involves firing up the barbecue grill and cooking some steaks."
Several hours later, Mike and Sanjay were watching the news while recovering from a very nice steak dinner. Both were drinking scotch and making comments about the different news stories while the women were in the dining room drinking coffee. Mike commented, "I noticed something about the nature of the cable news stations the other day. It seems to me that the coverage of international news constitutes almost eighty percent of the news time."
"I noticed that," Sanjay said bobbling his head in agreement. The local cable company had even started broadcasting the news from other countries with translations provided by subtitles. He said, "I think that all of the fighting here has made people aware of the fact that events overseas can affect them."
"Yes. At least we aren't bombarded with news stories about ill behaving Hollywood types any more," Mike said relieved that hours of discussion about the misadventures of decadent female celebrities had been replaced with real news. He found it irritating that news about men dying for their country could be displaced by a story about some actress giving the Paparazzi a beaver shot while getting out of her car.
"I know what you mean. I never understood the fascination with celebrity that dominated American news," Sanjay said. Despite his conscious attempt to fit in with Americans, there were still some aspects of the American culture that he didn't understand.
"To tell the truth, neither did I," Mike said. He took a sip of his scotch impressed with the quality of drink that Sanjay stocked in his house.
"Really?"
Mike nodded his head and said, "A lot of people think that there is one American culture, but there isn't one. There are all kinds of subcultures, each of which has a special interest. I never understood the Hollywood crowd and fandom. I've never understood the Born Again Christians."
"So I'm not the only one who is confused by that," Sanjay said feeling a little relieved. He glanced at the television and said, "It looks like things are heating up in India."
The news was covering the arrival of American Military advisors in New Delhi. The government of India believed the American intelligence concerning the plans by the Muslim extremists to overthrow the government. It was actually pretty safe to say that the historical tensions between Hindus and Muslims predisposed the Indian government to expect the worst of Muslims.
Mike nodded his head and listened to the news story. He noticed his father emerging from one of the airplanes in which American troops were being discharged. He wasn't exactly surprised to see his father. His mother had told him that his father had been assigned as the lead military advisor in India. He said, "At least we were invited to fight in India."
"I'm not surprised. There is a long history of tension in India between Muslims and Hindus. Even Gandhi couldn't come to an accommodation with the Muslims. Pakistan was created because Gandhi couldn't convince the Muslims to support a unified India," Sanjay said.
Shaking his head, Mike said, "You know, I had forgotten that."
Sanjay said, "It makes you think. If Gandhi couldn't negotiate with radical Muslims, then who can?"
Mike stepped into one of the former Internet Cafes that he oversaw and was taken aback by the way everyone turned to look at him. It was as if they were surprised to see him. Suspicious, he asked, "What?"
"I read in the paper this morning that you had been shot," Eric said looking confused.
"What?" Mike asked.
"It says in here that Mike Bowman was shot while going to meet an informant," Susan said holding up a newspaper clipping. She'd been on the telephone trying to learn more.
Frowning, Mike held out his hand for the article. He glanced over the basic text of the article. The amount of information was pretty limited. It appeared that Mike Bowman had gotten a call at his house late the previous evening asking him to come down to the parking lot of a mall for information about a crime that was being planned. He was found wounded and unconscious several hours later by a mall security guard making his rounds. Frowning, Mike said, "I know this guy."
"There are two of you?" Eric asked wondering if it was safe to make a joke about that being two too many. He bit his tongue. While the political correctness constraints had lessened, there was no sense in making the boss angry.
Mike nodded his head and answered, "Yes there are. Unfortunately for the other Mike Bowman, I'm the one with the unlisted telephone number."
A number of people had read the article about Mike Bowman being shot with concern. Although Mike was unaware of it, Kim had fielded close to thirty phone calls and assured everyone that Mike had not been shot the previous night. The first call had been confusing, but by the third call Kim had come up with a pat answer.
Mike returned to his primary office to find an envelope from the White House on his desk. He opened the envelope and read the message inside. Looking at the sheet of paper, he smiled and said, "It's about time."
"What?" Shirley asked.
Mike said, "They are having a ceremony for the rededication of the CIA Memorial Wall. I've been invited to participate in the ceremony."
Everyone who had worked for the CIA clapped their hands on hearing the news. Although it wasn't widely discussed, many of the former CIA analysts felt that they had been shafted by the lack of action concerning the Memorial Wall. Too many of their friends had died as a result of that attack and their passing had gone unnoticed.
Mike read the end of the invitation and said, "There will be open seating for any who may want to attend. I suggest that everyone who used to work for the CIA take the day off."
Shirley nodded her head in agreement. She had been one of the women who had covered her mouth and nose with her shirt. Terrified at breathing germs or radioactive material, she had run around with her breasts on display for everyone to see. It wasn't until she had gotten away from the building that she had finally covered herself. Stripping and getting scrubbed with a stiff bristle brush in front of strangers had been painful and humiliating. She had cried through the entire experience. She said, "That day is etched into my memory. I'll never forget it. Going through decontamination was the most humiliating experience of my life."
"You were a lot better off doing that than going home to wash," Mike said.
"There's no way I would have gone home and spread it to the kids. I go to the doctor every six months to get checked for cancer. No mother would ever put their kids in the position where they would have to do that," Shirley replied.
Others in the office nodded their heads in sympathy. Those who had worked for the NSA or in the Pentagon understood exactly what she was saying. Everyone who had been through that experience knew the fears that she was expressing. Mike shook his head and said, "I think that it is sometimes easier to face a bullet than cancer."
"That's true when you can shoot back," Tim said.
Officer Mike Bowman woke in a hospital bed listening to the soft beep of the monitoring equipment. It was his third day in the hospital and he was feeling much better. He looked around and spotted his wife sitting in a chair by the bed. Seated next to his wife was another man. It took him a moment to recognize the man as the one he had seen kill the terrorist at the mall. He had a feeling that the man's presence was not good news. In a weak voice, he said, "Who are you?"
"My name is Mike Bowman."
"Who are you?" Mike asked again not believing the answer.
Mike rose and went over to the bedside. Holding out his Homeland Security ID, he answered, "I'm Mike Bowman and I have a few questions for you."
"Oh, God," Mike said with a groan. He didn't want to go through the events of that night again. So far, he had repeated the story a dozen times and each time it sounded less credible.
"I need to know exactly what happened to you."
"It's a very short story. I got a call from someone telling me that they had information about a pending terrorist attack and that I should meet them at the third level parking entrance to the Center Mall. I parked my car and went over to the entrance. There wasn't anyone around. About the time I reached the door, someone shot me," Mike said.
"Did you recognize the voice?"
"No."
"Did you see who shot you?"
"No."
"Did you see anything suspicious while you were at the mall?"
"No. There was no one there. I looked around and saw nothing and then I was shot." He shrugged his shoulders knowing that the questions would turn to why someone would want to kill him. He said, "I've got no idea why anyone would want to kill me."
Mike took a seat in a chair by the bed. Crossing his legs, he said, "I fear they may have been after me."
"Why?"
"That is a very good question and I'm trying to answer it."
Mike looked over at the other Mike and asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm an analyst in Homeland Security. Occasionally, I get involved in events as they unfold. I guess that I've earned a reputation with the enemy as being one of their greatest threats," Mike answered. He didn't know how they learned about him, but he suspected that his time spent tracking down terrorists might have had a bit to do with it.
"It is kind of hard to believe that there are two Mike Bowmans running around," Mike said from his hospital bed.
"Some folks would say that is one too many," Mike said.
Officer Bowman looked over at his wife and said, "I guess that I'm going to have to be a little more careful from now on."
Mike's wife didn't look very happy. That was because she wasn't happy. The past three days had been the worst of her life and she never wanted to go through that experience again. Mike said, "I think it was an amateur homegrown terrorist who tried to kill you. A professional would have known how to contact me. You ought to be glad that it was an amateur. A professional would have made sure that you were dead before leaving the area."
A chill went down Officer Bowman's back at the thought of what could have happened. He asked, "You classify terrorists into professionals and amateurs?"
"You might say that. We've been watching the ones who've gone through real training and they are much more dangerous than the homegrown individual acting on his own," Mike answered. He sighed and said, "I think you might want to get an unlisted telephone number."
"I guess I better," Mike said. He looked at the other Mike Bowman for a second and then said, "I have to know. What were you doing at the mall that day?"
"I was looking for my wife and son."
"Did you find them?"
As his eyes threatened to tear up, Mike answered, "Yes, but it was too late."
Hearing the anguish in his voice, Mike's wife said, "I'm sorry to hear that."
Mike stared off into space for a moment and then said, "I'll be going now. I'll let you know when I've learned more about the attack on you."
"Thanks."
"By the way, officially I wasn't here today," Mike said with a grim smile. He hadn't cleared his involvement with anyone considering it a personal matter rather than an official investigation.
"Somehow I had a feeling that you were going to say that."
Mike left the hospital wondering how difficult it would be to track
down the man who had shot Officer Bowman. He wondered how much time he
would have to devote to the matter. Things were heating up between
India and Pakistan and if it bust loose then he'd be tied up for weeks.