Chapter 105

Present – Thom and Samantha – Driving Vic and the news crew to the tunnels

Shit! I was hoping that Victor would take me up on a martial arts fight with the twins since I would love to see him get his ass kicked since he was such a RPITA. But he said he had fought them before, then I remembered where he had a run in with Ira: It was when Stacy shot Ben so I taunt, “Yeah, Ira really kicked your ass when Stacy shot Ben, you’re lucky she didn’t kill you.”

Vic grumbles, “It was fortunate I didn’t kill her.”

I laugh and continue the taunts, “Yeah right, if you knew how many people have tried to kill them through the years, you’d realize how lucky you were. Neither of them are known for their restraint.”

He declares, “They should be shipped the fuck back to what-ever-stan they came from. All those ‘stan’ countries are shitholes.”

I have him going now and with my guidance he is going to cook his own fucking goose. I add some fuel to keep his fire going when I laugh and say, “You mean Kazakhstan? Unfortunately there’s no way anyone can touch them since they have diplomatic passports.”

Vic replies, “Typical communist ploy - give their spies diplomatic immunity.”

I laugh, “Man are you out of touch! Kazakhstan is now a republic and is rich as hell because of all the oil, natural gas and mineral deposits. Besides, the women from Kazakhstan are said to be the most beautiful women in Central Asia...”

Thom has Vic all worked up and I’m not sure why but I’ve let it go on long enough so I step in, “Vic and Thom, stop behaving like little boys and professionally do your jobs.”

Thom laughs and Vic apologizes, “Sorry Ms. Stevens, Thom and I got off on the wrong foot...”

Thom interrupts, “ ... And since then Vic has been putting that foot in his mouth. He doesn’t realize that all conversations in this car are monitored by the control room in the cabin. With his insults of Kazakhstan, it should be interesting when Ira and Mira meet us at the entrance to the tunnels.”

I say, “Don’t worry Vic, I will make sure they leave you alone. I do have some pull with Ben and Jennifer.”

We arrive in the garage, the car is surrounded by security and Thom orders, “All weapons need to stay in the vehicle.”

Vic grumbles but leaves his guns and knife in Thom’s car. We exit the vehicle and Thom says, “Now we need to do a quick search of the three of you. He motions to Mira and asks, “Will you please check Samantha?”

I am thankful that it isn’t a man who searches me because she searches everywhere (yes even there!), it was much worse than a TSA search at an airport. I was thankful that Thom, and not Mira or Ira searched Vic, but was upset when Thom discovered a hidden knife on Vic. Thom motions to his guards and orders, “Put him in the holding cell until we return.”

Vic says, “Sorry I forgot about that, can’t you give me a break?”

Thom is being a hard ass and states, “After the way you treated me at the restaurant? It doesn’t matter, you’ve broken the rules so now you don’t get access to the tunnels.”

Vic is placed into a holding cell while we are escorted inside.

Thom says, “Samantha, please make sure your report doesn’t contain anything about our new security measures. We’re still trying to figure out how the terrorists determined Ben and Jennifer are back and mounted the car bomb attack on the front gate.”

We walk through the tunnels, pass through a device that looks like a metal detector and it goes crazy. Thom says, “One of you must be carrying a mobile phone?”

Gretchen runs up and demands, “Who has the mobile phone?”

I pull mine out of my purse and confess, “Sorry, I didn’t know I couldn’t bring this with me. Please don’t lock me in the holding cell.”

Gretchen scolds Thom, “Thom, you didn’t explain the rules to them!”

Thom says, “Sorry, after I found the knife on Samantha’s body guard I was distracted.”

Gretchen looks at my phone and says, “Samantha, something doesn’t seem to be quite right with your phone.”

I ask, “What do you mean?”

Gretchen replies, “Well, it looks like it’s trying to connect to another phone.” Then Gretchen orders, “Let’s head to the Faraday cage with this.”

We begin to walk toward the control room and I ask, “What’s a Faraday cage?”

Gretchen explains, “It’s a room that’s covered either in wire mesh or copper that isolates all incoming and outgoing signals. If your phone has been hacked, we can’t be too careful.”

We head into a wire mesh room and Gretchen begins to examine my phone, and says, “Well, I think we’ve discovered how the terrorists knew about Ben and Jennifer being back. This phone has been blue-bugged.”

I ask, “What does that mean?”

Gretchen informs me, “It means that someone else was listening to every call you made on this phone.”

Thom asks, “Can we figure out the number it was calling?”

Gretchen answers, “Unfortunately not.”

Ben and Jennifer walk into the control room, see us in the Faraday cage and Jennifer asks, “Gretchen, is there a problem?”

Gretchen replies, “Yeah, someone blue-bugged Samantha’s phone; that’s how the terrorists knew you were back.”

Jennifer suggests, “Gretchen, can you clone her phone so we can look at the program to figure out who did it?”

Gretchen answers, “Jennifer, I don’t think that will work with her phone. The best thing to do is to destroy this phone and give her a new one.”

Jennifer looks at Ben and comments, “Ben, see how easy it is to hack one of the newer phones.”

Ben says, “Thanks Gretchen for finding this, but I didn’t think we allowed mobile phones into the tunnels.”

Thom confesses, “That’s my fault. I found a knife on her bodyguard and was distracted by that. It won’t happen again.”

Ben asks, “Where’s Samantha’s body guard?”

Thom replies, “He’s outside in the holding cell.”

Ben orders, “Thom, let him out of the holding cell, check him for mobile phones and bring him in here. It’s too damn cold to hold anyone outside.”

Thom leaves and I ask, “Where would you like to do your interview?”

Jennifer states, “Well, certainly not here, how about our bedroom.”

Ben reminds her, “Jens my love are you forgetting we’re having some work done in our bedroom?”

Jennifer giggles and says, “Oh yeah I did forget about that.”

I ask with a little sarcasm, “What sort of work are you having done to your bedroom, a bullet proof door?”

Jennifer blushes and Ben says, “No, Jens liked the mirrors on the ceiling in the place we were staying so much, we had to add some to our bedroom.”

Jennifer still blushing suggests, “How about the meeting room.”

Ira states, “Yes, that would be superior to your bedroom domicile.”

I ask Gretchen, “What about my mobile phone?”

Gretchen shakes her head and says, “Sorry, it’s not leaving the Faraday cage. Talk to Liz about getting you a new one.”

We move into the main meeting room, John sets up the camera and I begin my interview.

“Good Day America, this is Samantha Stevens with the Truth network interviewing Ben and Jennifer Blaine. They have recently returned from what we found out was a self-imposed exile. Would you please tell America, what prompted your return?”

Ben looks at the camera and replies, “Yeah, I will tell you. I got tired of running from the terrorist fuckers.”

Jennifer leans over and suggests, “Ben try not to swear, they will just have to bleep out the swear words.”

Ben apologizes, “Sorry about that, I think I can get through this without swearing. Can we start over again?”

Of course we can so I repeat, “Good Day America, this is Samantha Stevens with the Truth network interviewing Ben and Jennifer Blaine. They have recently returned from what we found out was a self-imposed exile. Would you please tell America, what prompted your return?”

Ben smiles at the camera and replies, “Yes I will tell you why we are back. I fought these terrorists in multiple countries and I’m not about to let them chase us from our home here in America.”

I ask, “So where were you on your exile?”

Jennifer answers, “Sorry Samantha, but we can’t reveal our whereabouts on the exile.”

I continue, “Aren’t you worried that the terrorists will attack you again?”

Ben replies, “You mean like they already tried this morning with the car bomb at the front gate? I welcome the chance to kick their...”

Jennifer covers Ben’s mouth and interrupts, “ ... Derrieres.”

Ben hugs her and says, “Thanks my wife. Like I was saying I welcome the chance to kick their rears back to the hell they crawled out of.”

Then Ben asks, “Samantha, how much do you know about the Muslim religion?”

I confess, “Just a little.”

Ben continues, “The Muslim religion was founded by the prophet Muhammed who the Muslims say is the last prophet sent by God to the world. Did you know he was a pedophile?”

I remarked, “I didn’t know that.”

Ben resumes, “That’s right, he married a six year old girl and consummated the marriage when she was eleven.”

In a shocked voice I say, “Eleven years old!”

Ben continues, “Yes, there are many writings which prove this fact. But the worst thing about this so called ‘Religion of Peace’ is that it’s not peaceful at all. There are over 100 verses in the Koran that instruct the Muslims to kill the Infidels. Here are a few of them.”

Ben pulls up a well-worn Quran and I comment, “It looks like you’ve used that Quran some.”

Ben smiled at the camera and replied, “Yes I have. I had this with me in Iraq and studied it. It’s important to know your enemies.”

Ben flips it open and reads, “Quran (2:244) - “Then fight in the cause of Allah, and know that Allah Heareth and knoweth all things:

Quran (2:216) “Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not.

I could continue on with all the verses, but it’s more important that we get out our message.”

Jennifer says, “That’s right and our message, unlike the message of the Quran is a message of hope...”

Ben interrupts, “ ... That’s right! We’re done running from these...”

Jennifer covers Ben’s mouth again to keep him from swearing and interrupts, “ ... followers of a false God.”

Ben hugs Jennifer and continues, “We’re done running from them and we will gladly send them to their Godless hell...”

Jennifer adds, “Because the reality is that there aren’t any seventy two virgins waiting for them. All that’s waiting for them is eternal torment in the fires of hell.”

I am practically shocked, quickly regain my composure and ask, “Aren’t you worried you or your friends will be killed?”

They kiss each other and Jennifer says, “No we’re not. I know for a fact we won’t be killed, and neither will our friends.”

I ask, “How could you possibly know that?”

Ben replies, “Because God has a plan for us and the plan isn’t yet complete.”