Chapter 50

I cleaned up and showered in the hotel room and then put on another pant suit with no blood on it. We were going out to the swanky French restaurant L’ Abeille for dinner. At least the girls were talking to me now. For a while I was getting the cold shoulder treatment.

We rode in three Suburban’s with the drivers from the JBG group assigned to the embassy. He said he knew Paris reasonably well. It was a good thing he was driving.

The traffic was horrible, the drivers obnoxious, impatient and plain out assholes. If I had been driving I would have intentionally wrecked half of them just so I could mash their faces. I guess everybody in Paris drove with the same attitude.

The realization hit me that it was time for a vacation. The stress of the last couple of months was getting to me; I needed a break - we needed a break. As soon as things settled down, a week at East Water Cay was in order - maybe two weeks or more would be better.

The reservations had been made this morning before we went to the air show. The place got deathly quiet as we were led to our tables in the corner with all kinds of cutlery and silver utensils on it. The side of my face was bruised enough that it was easily seen.

I could only guess what local media was saying about today and what footage they were running. But there was no doubt that most of these people in here had seen it.

We looked over the wine list and Jenny picked out a couple that she thought would be good. Even though I was not a wine drinker it was good wine.

We listened as the waiter went through the entrees. All of them sounded good. I settled on an all you can eat seafood and pasta sampler with a salad and another bottle of wine for the table. We took another bottle of wine to carry to the room.

It was a wonderful meal; one the gym equipment was going to have to counteract the pounds we girls would put on.

Back at the hotel the girls all came into the room. There were enough glasses for all of us. For two hours we sipped wine and talked about today, tomorrow and forever.

Tomorrow evening Ching Lee, Jenny and Lorrie were returning home. They had been away from the little ones long enough. Truthfully we all had; the VCATS helped but not enough.

I called Louis at 0700 for an update.

“We think you baited the General and he fell for it, but there is nothing we can do about that. You are free to leave.”

“Some of our men connected to the new security arrangement found out that you assist with some of the training scheduled at Fort Smith and are looking forward to sparing with you, others not so much,” Louis said.

“There will be a hearing to present the evidence to the magistrate. If we need you to testify you can do it by video. But I think it will be cut and dry.”

“The Iranian delegation has left for Tehran with the body. The realization that their hero wasn’t such a great hero after all has set in. They are trying to find a way to keep the hero image alive long enough for a state funeral,” Louis said and ended the call.

An hour later the wheels left for Athens, Greece, the last stop on this European portion of this trip. It was 1100 miles - two and a half hours in the G5.

The embassy’s Suburban’s met us at the airport and carried us to the embassy. I needed to MTAC with Ben and the committee; I had received a text from Ben indicating that a conversation was needed.

“Ten subpoenas have been received for you to appear before various Senate and House committees; two of them are subpoena duces tecum. You are to report with the items on Wednesday and to testify,” Ben said.

“What are the items?” I asked.

“All documents and records related to the FBI participation in the surveillance related to the terrorist enclave at Harrisburg,” Ben said.

“I will not be back in the states on Wednesday; therefore I will not be there to testify. It will take time for an extensive search and to prepare the documents. Have the attorneys get at least a thirty day postponement,” I said.

“I will work on getting the subpoenas squashed before then. Only time will tell,” I added.