Chapter 53

It took three hours to finish the paperwork, FAA papers and international transactions forms. The pilots grilled the Boeing people for those three hours over every specialty item built or added to these planes.

Even after the delays with the time zone changes, the wheels touched the Morton concrete at 2000 Saturday evening. I was expecting a nice quiet homecoming, but I was wrong.

The text messages must have been flying as fast as we were. It looked like every JBG pilot and flight attendant that didn’t have anything else to do was here. Jake, Mindy, Dad and Mom, Jason - I could understand to pick up Lisa. As if that wasn’t enough, Hanna and Melinda were there with one cameraman. I wondered about that arrangement.

Another group that was waiting was surprising and I wondered how they knew I was returning home. They were Troy, Frank Love, Eric Roberson, Ben Smith, Marty Coeburn and General Ingram. After a thought I knew they had simply looked at FlightAware. They simply looked at planes with Morton Field as the destination and the estimated arrival times.

The one issue with the 737 was that it took a stairs to exit the plane. There were none attached to the door. We had several of them now; one was the stairs truck and the other two were smaller tow able with a little Duetz diesel in them for power. Military surplus was our source. The pilots must have called for them.

They were towed close to the plane and then the operator could move it into position at a snail’s pace under its own hydraulic power. Those two were waiting with carpets on the top platform and throw carpets on the tarmac to keep mud out of any plane.

Another helpful thing that came with the plane were runners to place on the carpet to keep it clean in bad weather. We thoughtfully placed them where they were supposed to be, where I was sure there would be traffic.

It was 2200 before I walked in the door at home. The feds had wanted to have a quick talk before they left. They wanted to know when I planned to return to DC for my turn in the barrel and wanted a blow by blow of how the General’s death was planned and executed.

I put the trip off until Thursday. I had a lot of work to do for JBG; in fact, all of us girls did.

Thirty minutes in the hot tub and I slept like a baby - all of us did. Breakfast was on the table before JJ and RJ came down half dressed. They wanted to know where we were going today.

I spent the day with Robert going over the details captured from the intercepts for the last three weeks. There were interesting bits in them; some bad, some worse and some just brought more unanswered questions.

The good was the link was still active although there was a reduction for a couple days in posts from the IRG after General Kedar died. The official post had been reduced but broadcast from cells in the US and the world had an up spike.

First there had been tributes to his valor and leadership. But there had been a delay in Iran releasing any details about his death until after the state funeral. There had been some leaks courtesy of what little internet that got around the Mullah’s attempts to block outside news.

The day after his funeral the truth started to get through, although somewhat watered down for a different outcome. He was portrayed as dying fighting for the honor of his country.

The third day after the funeral the full bootleg clip of the fight and his death started going through Iran like wildfire. The official version was quickly muddied about the way in which he died.

There was anger from Iranians in all directions. They were angry at the Mullah’s that had built up their General’s last fight into something that it was not. Then they were mad that someone from the United States was involved. Then they were really pissed that it was just one woman who had killed him. There were challenges to claims of the strength of the Iranian soldiers when a woman had so easily killed the ‘hero general’ without using weapons.

There were demonstrations against the US and calls for my head. The Mullahs called for calm and began a systematic campaign on the state news to deliver explanations.

The overall official explanation was the General was under the influence of heavy painkillers for his back problems. Those painkillers had slowed his responses and affected his ability to defend himself and possible led to the decision to instigate the fight.

Of course there was no autopsy to confirm or deny anything because it was against their religion.

In a few days the anger died away after the Mullahs called for calm and a new commitment to them. There was always the new domestic issue to redirect the attention of the public. This time it was the extension of gas rationing and an expansion into diesel.

The demonstrations directed at the US were why the State Department had officially been quiet. The official statement was that I was to be called by the State Department for a review and questioning and also a possible discharge.