Chapter 67

Lunch was in a fancy Washington restaurant in a private room, a working lunch discussing events of the morning. Discussions that were going to be heated when we got home, I was sure. While the presentation was informational this morning, a zillion questions needed to be answered that were going to affect all JBG divisions.

It was going to take a vision to even see how the pieces would fit. Could we grow that much at one time and survive? The underlying question was - why was the Federal intelligence group pushing so hard for JBG to take over Black Bear? A question that would take weeks to be fully answered.

What I couldn’t say at the time to the girls was that with things going the way they were going, the ability to rapidly reassign manpower may be important.

Back at the office we decided to assemble teams to dissect all the boxes of information the trio had allowed us to leave Washington with.

Lexi and several more from our tax department started going over the operating books, financial records and bank accounts. Not only of Black Bear but Black and Bear’s personal accounts. Robert’s group hacked their personal accounts from their banks.

All of the contracts were copied and divided up among the legal department to evaluate the potential revenue and requirements.

Lorrie assigned two from her real estate unit to investigate the property. I wanted to know for sure that it was as free and clear as the CIA said it was. I also wanted to know just how big those tax payments were and if there was any proposed local regulations that would affect the properties - especially the one in Louisiana.

I had the EIT group attack the electronic communications that Black Bear used including their e-mail systems, storage and whatever Robert could find on their texts among the top ten management people.

I wondered why the CIA was involved in holding property for Black Bear. Was it leverage? Was it to keep prying eyes away when things started to go south? Had there been men, supplies, equipment - even foreign operatives trained there? I would bet it was all of the above. A very good surprise inspection and tour was on tap.

CIA owned property and other federal properties always have plenty of signage warning of dire consequences for trespassing.

I knew our C130s and C5s had picked up materials for shipping classified Central American OPS at several secret locations and I would bet this was one.

Was the location and whatever was carried on there so important to the CIA that they needed to keep control of the property as Black Bear was sinking? Was it a way to give them loans to keep them afloat as long as they could?

Congress was on a warpath and had been for days - the new buzzword was accountability so everything and every agency was under the thumb. The CIA should have been exempt from that kind of scrutiny. In fact, the CIA was the only federal agency that could seize funds from foreign banks of Americans for a variety of international crimes.

But still I had questions. There were several influential congressman and women that thought they were higher than God. Senator Ruth Gavin from Missouri on the Intelligence Oversight Committee, Senator Hope Emerson - same committee - and Senator Gilbert Howell from California, he was on the Senate Appropriations Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee. They were the ones wearing war paint and firing up the others after Black Bear.

I wondered why they were still pushing so hard for continued Congressional investigations into Black Bear after the secret court had taken control and closed off so much. They were on the news channels every day with some kind of new wild-assed statement or accusation. Then the media pushed the meme based on anonymous sources. Now they were trying to go after individuals lightly connected to Black Bear.

We approved unlimited overtime for all those working with us and ordered the time honored staple for long evenings - pizzas and subs from the Morton restaurant and the refreshment center downstairs. Ching Lee, Lorrie and Jenny went home to take care of the little ones.

The process continued on Tuesday and into the night. I added more people to look at everything Wednesday since Jenny, Andy, Marcy and I would be gone to Mexico City.

My meeting with President Martinez started at 1000. I expected a long day.

It was two thousand miles from Morton; just a little over four hours. We boarded the plane at 0500. There were the four of us going plus six security men. A presidential security team was picking us up at the international airport. I informed President Martinez that we would all be armed.

The flight was a working flight - still working on the Black Bear proposal. People in the office had worked late and many had come in early. We had implied it was a special project.

The flight went faster than expected and we arrived at Mexico City International Airport (MEX) at 0930.

Before I left the plane I gave Max Grover and Toby Nash - my pilot and copilot - the coordinates and the aerial picture I had for Black Bear’s Louisiana training complex.

‘‘I want to do a flyover and then land if it is at all possible and it is to be a surprise. I think some of our CIA pilots have made flights in and out of there; you may want to call them to see if there are any special instructions that apply,’’ I said.

The limos carried us to Los Pinos, the president’s official residence. There was the usual niceties and media orgy on the steps, the round of usual handshakes. I was surprised that Juan Pedro Garcia was with the official group.

I surprised Andy by calling him to accompany us inside and to the meeting. He had been standing off to the side with the men as he usually did, keeping a watchful eye over things.

Inside the official greetings were repeated with further explanations of what each of our responsibilities were. I introduced Andy as the new Senior Vice President of Special Operations and Logistics.

‘‘If I want to go kick down the gates of Hell, Andy assigns the men and logistics to follow me,’’ I said.

Jenny and Marcy raised an eyebrow but quickly understood where I was going and nodded. They knew that unless something earth-shattering came up, the Black Bear was a done thing. A management team to run it would be the only option.

The first session lasted until 1230 when lunch was announced. It too turned into a working lunch.

The after lunch session was when all the tough parts started.

‘‘Why hasn’t the federal law enforcement agency been able to stop the tapping of the pipelines?’’ I asked AG Inez.

‘‘We have made repeated raids and arrested many but as with things in your country when no witnesses come forward, there is no one to testify against them or else there is kidnapping judges and police. The process ends in their favor.”

‘‘The cartel and gangs are treated like royalty in prisons by other prisoners and guards are afraid for their lives.”