Chapter 41: If You Need Help...

Late-August, 1986

Charlie POV:

Emmy, Sally, Bill and their kids had arrived and things started to settle down. We were now heading NW with Matt and Ralph’s old yacht under sail, behind us.

Matt, Ralph and Annette were taking the first shift at the helm, under the expert tutelage of ‘Popeye’.

All of their kids were eagerly playing with the babies, who were having a ball receiving all the attention the ‘Big Kids’ were giving them.

CJ seemed to be causing some interesting consternations amongst the 5 youngest, as he was talking nearly as good as they were.

He was definitely miles ahead of his siblings and was eagerly exploring the wonder of having ‘new buddies’ who were on his mental level.

Even if they were 5 times bigger than him.

I, meanwhile, was getting overanxious to pop to Ibera’s. I wanted to see how things were going with my three brothers and Linda.

Yes, Ed was just as much a ‘Brother’ as Bob, Greg, Rex and Jeremy. Willie, however was still more of a mentor and friend, because of our prior relationship.

He was becoming more like a ‘Big Brother’ every day, though.

My Sweetie was in my head, “I know you’re chomping the bit to go, so, go ahead. I think we’ll be okay without you for a few seconds!”

“Do you or any of the other girls want to join me? It seems that the kids are being thoroughly entertained.”

I felt her going into ‘Broadcast Mode’, asking if anyone wanted to check on our ‘Space Travelers’.

Gracie, Jamie, Sheila and Emmy were quick to want to join us, especially, knowing we’d only be gone from here for a few seconds.

Soon we were all at Ibera’s where she was totally mesmerized, gazing into a huge portal.

We startled her, but, she quickly started talking excitedly, “Oh, I’m sooo glad you’re here! Bobby and his friends really need some help! I just don’t know what to do...”

I chuckled, “Oh? What could they possibly need? I know Greg felt like he was taking way more than he felt they would ever really use.”

Ibera looked nervous and harried. She gasped, “Here, let me back this up so you can see for yourself!”

We watched, as the four of them flew from the beach, following Bob to a large pond or small lake. From there they flew a bit further to a small pond with a waterfall flowing into it.

I gasped, “Wow! They found a perfect campsite! I see Greg’s already laying something out.”

“That’s where his shed’s going to go ... but, keep watching!”

“WHAT shed!? Where is it and how is it going to get there?”

Ibera huffed, impatiently, “PLEASE! Just keep watching ... I’ll explain, later.”

Suddenly all four of them seemed to be flying around looking for something. Then, they landed and before I could believe my eyes the girls all shrieked, “They found a tiny BABY.”

I gaped at Ibera, “Where did it come from?”

Ibera was shaking her head, “We don’t know, but ... just keep watching, Charlie. Ladies, you may not want to see what happens next...”

Next, we saw Linda and Bob, as Bob cut a trail, using a machete and his PK, back to their campsite. Nothing dramatic about that ... then, Ibera zoomed, to where Greg and Ed were approaching a cave of some kind.

Then I saw the macabre scene.

Some poor woman had been eviscerated! I could only guess it had been the baby’s mother. When we saw inside the cave, all the ladies were screaming and crying. Her two small children had also been reduced to shredded pieces of flesh.

“Oh gosh, Charlie, we gotta help them!” Gracie pleaded.

“What are they going to do with that little baby!?” Emmy asked desperately.

Ibera yelled, “KEEP WATCHING.”

Then, suddenly, this huge, ferocious monster started running toward Greg and Ed with vicious intent.

The girls were screaming, especially Jamie and Gracie.

I was holding my breath until Ed pulled his pistol and blew the beast into next week! His three headshots caused it to flip over onto its back, where it snorted once, then stopped moving.

Gracie and Jamie were now crying and clutching each other in relief. They both saw how narrowly their soulmates had escaped the same fate that poor woman and her kids had.

We all watched as Greg and Ed gutted the thing and discovered the contents in its stomach. I watched as Bob blew his lunch into the weeds.

Ibera fast-forwarded to the four of them gathered back on the beach. Linda was clutching the baby that was wrapped in some kind of skin, to her bosom. Then I saw the aforementioned ‘shed’ materialize. Ibera explained how she’d ‘guided’ Greg into designing it. When I read Bob’s note, I also knew what they needed and what I had to do.

So did Mary, Jamie, Gracie, Sheila and even Emmy.

We all kibitzed for a minute before ‘popping’ back, to various places, to gather our ‘aid’ items. Then we would all meet back here to send the help that our ‘Traveling Family’ members so desperately needed.

Ibera reminded us that many of the items we could ‘dream up’ right here.

That caused many giggles and suddenly, only Jamie and Gracie still needed to ‘pop’ out.

I popped back to the boat, where I talked Matt and Ralph out of two of their AK-47’s, 600 rounds of ammo and a half dozen extra banana clips. I was also getting some wild ideas of other things I could get my brothers that were bound to bring a smile.

The ‘engineering’ part of my architectural mind was going crazy.

I just hoped that Greg could figure out how to use what I was going to invent for him.

CIA Headquarters, Langley, VA

William ‘Willie’ Monte POV:

Our other three team members were sitting in the ‘War Room’, anxiously waiting for us, when Bruce and I arrived. They had all of the photos and data posted on the big board and were looking through the data files.

Lockhart looked at Bruce and me, “This looks pretty straightforward to me. There’s only four roving guards inside the compound and two at the gate. This shouldn’t be any problem at all!”

Laramie and Peters were acting like they had no idea what they were seeing.

That could be because there was nothing TO see!

I huffed, “Where are all the vehicles?”

Lockhart looked confused, “What do you mean?”

I looked at Bruce, who saw what I did, and was shaking his head, “What Monte means is, the place looks deserted! OF COURSE there’s no vehicles, because there’s nothing going on! If this ‘Pow-wow’ is what we were told it was, there should be twenty to thirty vehicles inside that compound. Either this isn’t where this meeting is going down or nobody is here yet! My bullshit detector is screaming that these photos either aren’t current or this meeting isn’t really going to happen in three days, at least not here!”

I hadn’t told Bruce yet what Pops had said about the date, but with what I was seeing I had no doubts that Pops was right. Bruce also didn’t know that Pops was in the room with us.

Both him and Rex.

I saw that the compound appeared to be about 600 yards north/south by about 400 yards east/west. It had an 8-foot high block wall surrounding the entire site with triple razor wire on top.

Getting over it, if we had to, would be a bitch.

According to Marek’s ‘factored-in’ plan, we were to subdue the guards at the gate and just drive on in! Then, using silenced weapons, take out the roving guards, set claymores around the main building and when they went off, catch the cartel leaders trying to exit the building.

After Lockhart read the plan out loud, I huffed, “That plan was hatched up by somebody suffering from early onset STUPID...”

Marek had just come in and cut me off, huffing, “I beg your pardon! I came up with that plan.”

I looked at my team, ignoring the one-man penis gallery, “Like I said...”

Then I glared at our intruder, “Marek, we don’t have enough information! Where are all the people that are supposed to be here!?”

His beady eyes were like saucers now, “INSIDE THE DAMN BUILDING. Where else would they be? They’re not having the meeting out on the lawn!”

I was just about to go ballistic when Pops flashed, “We’ve got what we needed. I’ll explain later, but, for now, just agree with this moron and go about doing whatever training you need to do. Trust me, you won’t be going on this mission alone!”

I heard Rex, “No, you won’t. Don’t say anything, but both Marek and Franklin are going in your place. They just don’t know it yet!”

Okay, now I was REALLY pinching myself.

How do you go from nearly laughing your ass off, back to being belligerent?

This telepathy thing can be REALLY hard to deal with, sometimes!

I threw my hands up, “Okay, okay ... I can see that maybe I’m just being overly skeptical. Marek, since this is going to be so easy, maybe you should accompany us? We could all benefit from your expert tutelage!”

I wanted to see his reaction ... I felt both Rex and Pops chuckle, silently. (Now THEY were pinching themselves!)

Marek looked like he was ready to shit a brick. His mouth was like a fish out of water and his eyes were now even bigger than before. “Um, um, well, I would ... but I need to coordinate things and make sure your Evac goes according to plan...”

I smirked, “Suuure ... we wouldn’t want our Evac getting screwed up now, would we!?”

I really hoped I could see this asshole’s face when Pops executed HIS plan! Whatever it is.

We were all still staring at Marek and I sensed Bruce thought I just went daft. I really wish I could tell him what I know. I also wish Charlie or Jeremy could ‘check out’ Bruce, just to see if he really was the good guy I believed him to be.

I sorely wanted to confide in him.

As Marek slinked out of the room, I announced, “Alright, guys, let’s head to the training grounds to see just what kind of shape everyone is in. Put on your training fatigues and we’ll meet there in 15 minutes.”

Laramie and Peters looked alarmed. Peters gasped, “Um, Agent Monte, I’m going to have to run home ... I don’t have anything here!?”

I was about to yell when Laramie chimed in, “Me too.”

Even Lockhart was incredulous, “You guys don’t have a ‘go-bag’!? Jesus! Even Maggie at the front desk has a go-bag! Just how long have you guys been Agents?”

(A ‘Go-bag’ is something every agent needs to keep in his/her locker. It’s supposed to have everything you’d need for a five-day deployment. Extra uniforms, fatigues, work boots, gym shoes, undies, you name it.)

The two of them looked like a couple of beets. Laramie stammered, “I was never told anything about a go-bag. Director Franklin just assigned me to Special Ops last week.”

Now, I was incredulous, “Well Son, then you’re about to learn the hard way. You guys AREN’T going home. You may not even be going on this mission. You’re just going to have to make do with what you’re wearing. Now let’s get moving. We’ll meet on the training field in 15 minutes. DON’T BE LATE.”

The two of them were left looking at their patent leather shoes and suits they were wearing.

Bruce chuckled, “This is going to be fun!”

The three of us headed to the locker room to put on our lightweight training fatigues and desert-combat boots.

I must be getting soft, since I grabbed one of the Agencies many golf carts to ride the mile or so to the training grounds. Halfway there we saw a hang-dog looking Peters and Laramie walking that way.

We all waved as we cruised on by them, since this cart only had room for four.

I chuckled, “Hey, I never said they couldn’t commandeer a golf cart!”

Lockhart chuffed, “Just how hard are you going to push them, Monte? I have a hunch they’re completely out of shape.”

I grinned, “I figure we’ll start off with a five mile run, just to get warmed up, then we’ll run the obstacle course a few times, spending extra time climbing the tower and rappelling.”

“Look, Monte, five miles might even be too tough for me ... can’t we make it like ... maybe a mile?”

Bruce laughed, “You obviously haven’t trained with Bill before. This guy is a god-damned workout warrior! Don’t give him any shit, or he’ll have us doing 10 miles at a 6-minute mile pace!”

Lockhart gasped, but then closed his mouth, hoping that Bruce wasn’t serious. I winked at Bruce, who I knew could keep up with me, step for step, at even my fastest pace.

I could somehow sense he was also hoping I wouldn’t get too crazy.

We arrived and I figured it was time to separate the wheat from the chafe.

Just as Peters and Laramie walked up, I announced, “Okay, well, I’m going to be easy on everyone today, so, we’ll start off with three miles at a 6-minute pace. This is a quarter mile track, so that’s 12 laps. The first lap we’ll go slower to get warmed up, but, we’ll sprint the last lap. Let’s hit it!”

By the third lap, Laramie and Peters were about to get lapped by Bruce and me. Lockhart was almost half a lap behind us.

I smirked at Bruce, “I can see running is not their strong suit!”

He gasped, “Uh, Bill, are you aware that we just ran that last lap in less than a minute? That’s a four-minute mile! If you keep this up, I’m not going to make three miles...”

Oh Shit! I’d forgotten about my littlest buddies’ ‘gift’ ... it felt like I was loafing! I immediately slowed to what I felt was a crawl, “Sorry, I guess I got carried away.”

Bruce huffed a chuckle, “You must be working out a whole lot more than I remembered. Thanks for slowing down. I have a feeling our two newbies are about to fall out! Let’s just pace them and see what they’ve got?”

We did and Bruce kept looking at his watch. After another lap, he groaned, “Wow, they’re just barely doing a 7-minute mile!

Lockhart had just caught up to us, breathing hard, but chuckling somewhat, “I thought you were trying to set some kind of land-speed record, Monte! You and Bixby up and left me!” He pointed at the two newbies, “They’re about to drop dead. They’re never going to make 8 more laps.”

I grinned at Lockhart, “Well, let’s see how far it takes for them to quit. Go ahead of us and set the best pace you feel you can finish at.”

He slapped my back, “Okay, but it WON’T be anything like your last lap!”

With that, he accelerated, passing the new guys and urging them to keep up. Then, he settled into a nice 6-minute-mile pace. I was impressed. I didn’t figure Lockhart to be in very good shape.

It might have been because he knew Peters and Laramie wouldn’t be able to go much further.

Within a lap BOTH Peters and Laramie stopped alongside the track and were panting with their hands on their hips. Lockhart was a good 100 yards ahead of us, since we’d been pacing our newbies.

Bruce and I decided to race to catch up.

I wanted to test my speed, so I took off, trying to see how fast I could get back around to Peters and Laramie.

It was fun. The faster I ran, the faster it felt like I could still go. I blew past Lockhart and realized my strides were 12 feet or more! As I rounded the turn and saw Peters and Laramie I slowed the fuck down. I wasn’t sure, but I had a feeling every eye around was on me.

I ‘trotted’ up to them, then slowed to a walk, trying to cool down. I walked up about 100 feet, then turned and walked back. As I got back to them, Bruce and Lockhart had JUST caught up to us.

Lockhart, completely out of breath, barked, “Holy fucking SHIT, Monte! Do you have any idea how fast you were going?”

Bruce was looking at his watch, wide-eyed, before looking at me. He was about to say something when he saw me tightly shake my head. He winked, “He just broke the world’s record for the 440-yard dash AFTER running a mile!”

He winked again, flashing two fingers, twice.

Did I just run the 440 in like 22 seconds? I knew that American, Lee Evans held the record since 1968 with a time of 43.86 seconds. To think I’d just cut that in half was mindboggling. And I’d slowed down the last 75 yards or so!

I was about to freak out.

Laramie beat me to it, “There ain’t no way I could ever keep up with you, Agent Monte. Maybe I’m not cut out for field work...”

Lockhart was eyeing me suspiciously, but joked, “Don’t worry kid, nobody will ever keep up with him.

Peters sighed, “For such a big guy, maybe you should try out for the Redskins? I could just see some skinny assed safety trying to bring you down ... IF he could even catch you!”

Now THAT was some food for thought. I shuddered, wondering just how much I could bench press now...

Thankfully, Bruce brought us back to business. “I think we need to see how everyone does on the obstacle course.”

That proved to be an even bigger debacle than the track. Lockhart did okay, but our newbies: fell off the rope bridge, splashed down on the pond swing-over, only got 6 feet up the rope assisted wall climb, got hopelessly tangled up crawling under the rope bed, then nearly drowned, falling off the log run over the creek! By the end they looked like a couple of mud-dogs.

They’d be lucky if their previously shiny shoes ever shined again.

Their pants would certainly be going straight into the trash.

I felt bad for them. I bet they’ll have ‘go-bags’ by tomorrow, though.

Somehow I felt like they didn’t really ask for this. I didn’t want to break their spirit, but, as they headed back toward the office, they looked like two whipped pups.

Back in the locker room, we took showers and I dressed in my best ‘business casual’ clothes that I kept in my locker. It was much less stuffy than my Agency suit.

I hoped this would be okay for my date with Maggie. Bruce was looking at me, grinning like a loon, “Looks like somebody’s trying to impress our Maggie!?”