Chapter 2

“Hello, Bashira, it’s Doug. How are things going with you and Amir?”

“Good, Doug. Are you and your wives starting to settle in as married people?”

“Well, not yet, Bashira. The honeymoon trip has ended and we just got home yesterday, but our honeymoon is continuing. If I’m lucky it will continue for some time to come. I’ll have to wait to see if married life is different from just living with my ladies. What is Amir doing?”

“He is busy with a number of issues, Doug. Canceling your visit was upsetting to the leaders with whom you were to talk, but they said they understood the situation and that trying to address the issues you were going to discuss would have been difficult under the circumstances. Amir has tentatively arranged for you to meet with President Tinqua Abou of Mozambique in about four weeks. The media should lose interest by then and we can set the exact date and time as we get closer to the preliminary meeting date.

“Amir hopes that you can spend several uninterrupted days in each of the three countries. Building a rapport with their leaders will be very beneficial, when it comes time to provide their countries with support.”

“I can do that, but it will give the media time to find me.

“Since the trip is no longer a continuation of my honeymoon, I could take our Embassy doctor with me, and she can assess the situation personally. She said she was willing to go if Amir and you think it would be a good idea. Since I will be hopping us into Mozambique, she won’t need a passport to get through customs. However, it would probably be best if she had some type of travel document, so she will also need a UN Laissez-Passer.”

“Doug, the reason for your trip to Africa has always been valid. However, Amir presented as a UN mission in order to issue you and your wives with UNLPs. Amir is now representing it as a critical diplomatic mission. So, taking your doctor along with you is a very good idea. The health issues in Mozambique do need to be assessed by an outsider. Amir and I should have thought about you taking your Embassy doctor with you in our original planning. I’ll arrange for her to be issued a UNLP like yours. Just send me a photo and her personal information.”

“Bashira, since Amir is now considering this to be a critical diplomatic mission, wouldn’t it be appropriate for him to have you go along to represent the UN? Has Amir given that any thought?”

“No, we haven’t considered that, but it sounds like a good idea to me. I’ll talk with Amir about my going with you. We will have to see if I’m available when you go, and if Amir agrees, he will probably have me go with you. Have you made any progress on how to handle the issues that came up during your honeymoon?”

“Yes, my people and I have come up with a plan for responding to the five issues. We will be releasing five press releases during the next ten days, and we will hold a press conference in about two weeks. We will hand out copies of the press releases at the press conference and discuss the issues with the media. Instead of explaining what will be in the press release, I think I’ll send you copies of the draft press releases. You and Amir can provide us with comments.

“Our approach seems like a good plan to me, Bashira, in that we are focusing on the issues rather than the person who created the issues. We may need to modify it a bit as events occur, but it is a good starting point. I just wish we could target the Patriarch and his family. But unfortunately, I’ve been told public attention is what religious zealots like him want. I was once told ignoring them until they go away is the only thing that seems to work, but it can take forever. Bill and Sue favor a Scorched Earth approach. I’m not familiar with the term, but it is rather descriptive, so I have an idea of how they would like to handle the religious zealots.”

Bashira agreed to set up tentative appointments with the other two leaders at one week intervals, and we addressed a few additional matters regarding the three trips to Africa before we ended our conversation.

While I had been on the phone with Bashira, Cindy had called Betty to let her know we had a lot of work to do and wouldn’t be home for lunch; Rita brought lunch to us. It was midafternoon by the time we finished what had to be done. Cindy and I were still tired from our trip, so I decided we should take the rest of the day off.

When we got home, my wives and I decided on an early dinner, and bed right after that. During dinner, Cindy and I talked with Rita, Betty, and Carol about not mentioning that they married each other during our wedding and about not using the terms slavery, master, and slave. We gave them the alternative terms that would be acceptable to use. Betty said cleaning up the kitchen could wait until tomorrow, and Carol agreed. We hadn’t fully recovered from jetlag so we finished eating and went to bed. It didn’t take us long to fall asleep.

Betty and Carol were out of bed, cleaned up, and had started breakfast, when Rita, Cindy, and I made it out of bed. By the time we late-risers had cleaned up, Betty and Carol had breakfast ready for us all. As we ate, we discussed our plans for the day.

Rita, Betty, and Carol were planning on a shopping trip for groceries, and the other things we would need for the next week or so. Then, they would straighten up around our home. With the three of them tackling those tasks, they should be done by lunchtime for our home was not that big, and we only needed a limited amount of food. Betty liked to shop frequently, so she would always have fresh produce and meat to use in fixing our meals. If Cindy was available, she would go with them after lunch to shop at Victoria’s Secret. They had appreciated my comments on their intimate sleepwear, and decided that they had to supplement what they had with a few more nighties.

Cindy and I decided our honeymoon had disrupted our grasp of what needed to be done next. We decided that when we got to the office we would assess where we were in the various items we had been dealing with before we left on our honeymoon.

Cindy and I left for the office, and when we were about half way to our portable, our inner perimeter alarm system was triggered. We ran to the security department’s portable to find out what was happening. As we approached, the Security Portable’s door flew open and Bill’s people charged outside carrying laser rifles and deployed to the southeast of the portable.

As we entered, I asked, “What’s going on?”

I’m not sure who, but one of Bill’s people replied, “We aren’t sure, Doug. The force field switched to Level 1 Alert and indicated the problem was in our southeast quadrant.”

I saw Bill coming out of the Control Center. “Any idea of what’s happening, Bill?”

“Not yet, Doug. We had no indication of anything wrong, until the alarm went off. The duty operator is reviewing the outer perimeter data at the time of the alarm to see if there was anything going on that might explain the alarm. I have a second operator scanning the outer perimeter’s history files to see if we may have missed something important.

“I hadn’t noticed it before, but what this system needs is a report explaining what causes an alert.”

One of Bill’s people said, “I’ve worked with the previous version of this Archer system and it had such a report. Some engineer must have eliminated it without anyone noticing it.

“Cindy, make a note in the Multiverse To-Do file to let Harry know about the problem.”

As I sat down, Sereine, Coral, and Sto came in the door.

“What’s happening, Doug?” Sereine asked.

“We aren’t sure. Bill and his people are checking to see why the security system switched the force field to the Level 1 Alert mode of operation. That is what set off the alarm.”

A short while later one of the operators in the Control Center shouted, “Hey, Bill. I have something here.”

The six of us headed to the Control Center along with a few of Bill’s response team members, who were now fully armed. Bill and I had disagreed over the level of armament his response team of security guards needed when they had to respond to a threat. I favored defensive weapons only, since they would be within our force field, and Bill felt they needed to be prepared to respond to any threat.

Since security was Bill’s responsibility, I let him manage his department as he felt was necessary; but, we did discuss a few alternatives. He decided on non-lethal defensive weapons for normal duty, and full armament for an alert condition, which meant lethal and non-lethal weapons. His decision applied to the security guards, not my bodyguards. I agreed with his idea of installing a weapons rack for our security guard’s laser rifles near the exit to minimize the delay necessary to arm our people.

As we entered the Control Center, the operator said, “Bill, the event that triggered our alarm was reported in the southeastern quadrant of our living area. So, I’ve been reviewing the perimeter video taken of that quadrant at the time of the alarm. I found what appears to be a muzzle-flash. I zoomed in on that spot and saw what looks like a rifle equipped with a very large silencer and a large scope. It is difficult to make out details due to the low-resolution setting of our video cameras. Right after the shot, I could see movement that appeared to be someone moving through the shrubbery headed toward the road. We are looking at the earlier videos from that tower to see what happened in that area before the alarm.”

Bill said, “Good work. What can you tell us about the person heading for the road?”

“Not much. The terrain and shrubbery between the fence line and the road provides good cover for someone that wants to get close to the fence line. We got a rear view of the person at one point, and it is apparent he was carrying a long thin object that appears to be a rifle, but our monitors don’t give us enough resolution to accurately identify the object and the angle prevented us from getting a picture of the guy’s face.”

“Okay, give that video file to someone who can enhance it on a high resolution monitor. Maybe they can get a better image of the person, and of what he is carrying. I just wish we had a larger data storage capability that would support using the camera’s high-resolution settings.

“What about the earlier videos?”

“We are still working on it, Bill. So far we’ve only found two brief glimpses of what appears to be a man moving toward the fence. From the date-time stamp, it appears like he moved into position a long time before the sun came up, but due to the low resolution of the camera, the brush, and the low light level we can’t get much detail.

“From what we can see, it looks like this man made good use of the terrain to mask his approach. His slow careful approach didn’t trigger the outer perimeter’s alarm system and he stopped about a hundred yards before he got to the perimeter fence, so there wasn’t any advance warning. In the few images of him that we did get at the time of his approach, there wasn’t much to notice and then it was only a short blurred glimpse.”

After a few moments of thought, Bill said, “Doug, it seems like we had an intruder who slipped into position, but stayed well outside of our security perimeter. If I recall that part of the perimeter correctly, he would have had a clear line-of-sight to our compound. His manner of approach and subsequent actions remind me of ex-military turned assassin. If that is true, he was probably carrying a sniper rifle, rather than a hunting rifle. Since you and Cindy were on your way to your office when the alarm was triggered, I have to assume you were his target. I doubt he was interested in shooting Cindy. It is also apparent that he fired at you and the bullet is what tripped the alarm.”

“Do you think we should deploy a rover?”

“Ahh ... no, Doug. Personally, I think we need to keep the rovers and their capabilities a secret. Besides, we’ve waited too long now for that to do any good. He is probably long gone and we would never find him now with a rover.

“I’m going to have to change our procedures for something like this. I think we will need to immediately deploy a rover to the appropriate area when an alarm occurs. If something like this happens again, maybe we can get a video of the perp and possibly stun them.

“The brush between the road and our fence line was a major factor in making it possible for him to approach undetected. We need to cut down that brush so it can’t be used as cover again. Your property line actually extends to the road, so we won’t need a permit from the county to do the work.”

“Ok. You are probably right about this guy being a professional assassin and with removing the brush, and I also agree with your policy change. I just wish that we could have captured and questioned him, Bill.”

Sto’s reaction was unexpected. He thought to me, “Man shoot Doug! Sto not sense danger. Why Sto not sense danger?”

“We aren’t sure, Sto. Someone was outside our fence line with what appears to be a rifle. We are still looking for more information.”

Bill said, “Thanks, Doug. If I am right about him being a professional, we can expect further attacks. Shall we notify the Sheriff’s office?”

“Yes! Be sure you give them all of the video from any detection tower that may have recorded his vehicle on the road during his approach and withdrawal. I doubt that we will find the sniper, but maybe we’ll get lucky.”

“Why no danger. Sto sense danger. No danger.”

“I don’t know, Sto. I agree that there was danger for the man shot at me. I don’t know why you sensed no danger.”

“Bill, Sto is worried about not sensing any danger. He thinks the man was close enough for him to sense the danger, but there was no indication of a threat against me. Do you have any idea why Sto didn’t detect the man?”

“I’m not sure, Doug. How does Sto sense danger?

When I asked, Sto thought to me, “Man think kill Doug. Sto hear thoughts. Sense want harm Doug.”

I told Bill what Sto told me, and Bill said, “If he is a professional assassin, that may be why Sto didn’t sense him. In fact, Sto not sensing danger supports my impression of the man being a professional assassin.”

“What do you mean, Bill?”

“Sto listens to the thoughts that people project and it sounds like he senses their emotions. That will work for detecting many types of people that are out to harm you, Doug. However, a professional assassin is different. To him, shooting you was just a job and he would have had no anger or other strong emotion about you. Since there was no emotional involvement, there was no emotion signaling danger for Sto to detect.

“As far as the assassin’s thoughts go, he probably viewed you as just a target. He may not have been thinking that he would kill you. He was more likely focused on shooting at a target and probably didn’t think of the target being a person. I doubt he gave any thought to what was going to happen when the bullet hit you. Sto may have heard his thoughts without them registering for they weren’t about hurting you. The assassin was thinking of hitting a target and Sto was scanning for thoughts about someone harming Doug.

“If I am right, I doubt that Sto could have detected the shooter before he took his shot. Once he fired, he was focused on getting away, which was also not something Sto was looking for in trying to detect a threat against you.”

“That makes sense, Bill. What about other situations? Are we likely to have a similar problem in public places or at the events I attend?”

“I would say that anyone planning to harm you in public or at an event will be radiating thoughts about what the person is planning on doing. They need to take many factors into consideration and they will be thinking about the specifics of how they will get into position to shoot at you. Sto should be able to easily sense that type of threat if he isn’t limited to detecting emotions.”

I could hear Sto chastising himself for not detecting the shooter. It wasn’t his fault, but he was blaming himself.

“Cindy, it looks like the excitement is over. Sereine may be able to help Bill, but we are going to be in the way. Let’s get to the office, so we can take care of whatever else we need to do today. Bill certainly doesn’t need us here taking up his time. He will have enough to do today as it is.”

When we reached our office, I said, “Cindy, the assassination attempt is to take priority over everything, so the press conference takes second place. If Bill needs to talk with me or if he needs a meeting, arrange it right away. Other than those two items, I plan to review everything that needs to be done, and prioritize my tasks.”

“Okay, Doug, I have some things to do in my office.”

After Cindy left, I turned to Sto and thought to him, “Sto, it wasn’t your fault.”

“Sto not find danger. Man shoot at Doug. Sto make mistake. Man try kill Doug.”

“Yes, it is true you didn’t sense the danger and the man might have killed me if I wasn’t inside the force field. However, you did not make a mistake. Were you listening to what Bill told me?”

“No, but Sto not warn Doug. Sto make mistake.”

“Sto, let’s talk about the emotions you can sense. You can sense anger and hate. True?”

“Yes.”

“When you sense those emotions, you know there is a possibility of danger. True?

“Yes.”

“If there is no anger or hate, can you tell from someone’s emotions that they plan to hurt me?”

“No.”

“Okay, so if there are no emotions indicating a threat, then as far as emotions go, there is no reason to warn me of danger. True?”

“Yes. Sto protect Doug.”

“I know, Sto, and I appreciate what you do for me. But, we aren’t always able to do what we want to do. What you didn’t hear was Bill telling me that he thought the shooter was a professional assassin, and they don’t have the type of emotional response that you can detect to indicate a threat.

“Now, let’s talk about thoughts. If someone close to me is thinking bad thoughts about me or thinking about harming me, you can hear those thoughts. True?”

“Yes.”

When you hear that type of thought, you know there is the possibility that someone may try to hurt me. True?”

“Yes.”

“If someone is not having bad thoughts about me and is not thinking about harming me, can you tell that they may be a danger to me?”

“No.”

“Good! Bill thinks the man had been hired to kill me. He wasn’t angry or upset with me, so there were no emotions for you to detect. He was thinking about shooting at a target, not me. So there were no threatening thoughts about me for you to hear. Do you understand?”

“Yes. Sto make mistake.”

“Okay, why do you think you made a mistake?”

“Sto not warn Doug. That mistake.”

“I see. Sto, is it a mistake to warn me of danger if you do not sense emotions or thoughts of danger to me?”

“Yes.”

“You did not warn me because there were no indications of danger for you to sense. That is not a mistake. I want you to think about what we talked about. You can only do so much, and you did everything you could have done to protect me. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Sto not warn. Make mistake.”

As Sereine had said months ago, arguing with a Bushbie was pointless once they had made their mind up about something. My only hope was that Sto would come to accept that it wasn’t his fault. I doubt he would admit that to me, but that is what I hoped he would come to accept.

It occurred to me that instead of arguing with Sto, my time might be better spent writing and memorizing a rant against the reporters regarding the media invading my personal life. However, it would have to seem like a spur-of-the-moment rant, when I sounded off at the press conference. I would have to practice it to make sure I didn’t overplay the rant. Sue and Abby would be a good audience. They would know if my words and tone came across as real.

Meanwhile in Greeley, a very rattled Rory Crabtree is placing a call to his boss, Harlow Woodard.

“Hello, Boss. Things didn’t go as we planned.

“I don’t know why I failed, but it scared the hell out of me. So, I’m going to check out of my motel, ship my gear to you, and catch the first available flight out of this town. I don’t care where it’s going, as long as it is away from here and not toward you. I’ll take my time before coming back, just in case someone spotted me and I’m being followed.”

“What happened, my friend?”

“When I got into town, I followed our plan, Boss. I rented a non-descript car and found a motel on the west edge of town. I drove out to the general target area, but stayed well away from the guy’s ranch.

“I found a hill, a good distance back that overlooked the guy’s property, and parked the car. I took my spotter scope and climbed up the hill. About twenty feet inside of this guy’s fence line, there are poles all around the property. I also saw a number of small shelters between the poles and his compound. I got a good look at the pole closest to me, and it appeared to have a video camera, a couple of antennas, and other equipment on top of the pole. I don’t know what the shelters are for, but there seems to be about one shelter for every ten poles. I was able to see the guy’s compound, but it was nothing more than a lot of mobile homes, portables, and antennas on top of more poles.

“I decided that since this guy had an extensive surveillance system, I would have to stay well back from his fence line. I could see a road on the west side of his property. From what I could see, there was an area near the road that I thought would allow me to approach the fence line without being seen.

“I spent the rest of the day looking for a good place to steal a car during the middle of the night that had a housing tract nearby. I located a dancehall bar that was a short walk from the type of neighborhood I wanted.

“The next day, I spent the morning on top of the hill watching the target area. No one seemed to be aware of my presence, and I saw the target come out of a mobile home and walk to one of the portables. He spent most of the day there, so I think that was his office. I got back to my motel early in the afternoon, ate lunch, and went to bed.

“Around ten in the evening, I got up and went to have a late dinner. From there, I drove my rental to the neighborhood I selected, and parked my rental along the curb outside one of the homes. It was a good location, Boss, for no one seemed to be aware of me, and there was no foot traffic at that time of night.

“I walked to the dance hall bar and scoped out the cars parked in the parking lot. I picked out a car that seemed right for my needs, and stole it. Then, I drove it back to the neighborhood where I left my car. By the time I finished the job, the car would have been reported as stolen, and the cops would be checking the license plate numbers of similar cars.

“I parked next to my rental car and swapped license plates between the stolen car and one of the neighborhood’s cars. I moved my gear from my rental into the stolen car, and drove out to the target area. The road I had seen was one of those county dirt roads that practically no one uses, but the locals. I parked the car on a flat spot just off the road facing the way I would want to go after completing the job. Then I took my gear and moved toward the fence line. I got as close as I could get without showing myself and staying well back from the fence line.

“Once I was in position, I used my laser range finder to determine the distance to where I thought my target would be when I took my shot. It was just over a thousand yards. There was no wind, so I set my scope for that distance with zero deflection. Then, I settled in to wait for my target to appear.

“Once the sun rose, I made sure my tripod had a firm footing and my line of sight to the target area was clear. There was no noticeable wind, but I made a final check of my scope settings anyway. I settled down and got into position to take the shot; everything was good and had gone according to our plan up until then.

“When the target stepped out of his mobile home, he had a companion with him. She was on the far side of the target, so I knew she wouldn’t interfere with my shot. As they started walking to the guy’s office, I tracked their movement and gave them the proper lead to compensate for their speed. I slowly squeezed off my shot, and felt the recoil. The silencer did its job for all I could hear was a loud phuft that couldn’t have been heard a hundred yards away. That was when everything went to hell, Boss.

“About half a second after I felt the recoil, the guy’s alarm system went off. It seemed to me that the guy and his companion never noticed the bullet go past them, but they did react to the alarm. They changed directions and started running toward a different portable. Just before they got there, the portable’s door flew open and the guy’s security team charged out with guns in hand. What spooked me about that was the speed of their response and when they set up in a defensive arc, they all had their weapons pointed in my general direction. It was as if they knew I was there, but not exactly where.

“As soon as I heard the alarm and saw the target start running, I knew I wouldn’t have a chance for a follow-up shot. I grabbed my equipment and headed for the car as fast as I could go and still keep under cover. I also tried to keep an eye on what was happening in the target area. When I got to the car, I tossed my gear in and got out of the area as fast as I could.

“I’ve had a bit of time to think things over while driving back to town, Boss, and I am spooked really bad by that guy’s security system.”

“What do you mean, my friend?”

“Well, they apparently had no warning of my presence, until I squeezed off that shot. In a little over a second, his system detected the shot, sounded the alarm, and informed his people of the general direction from which the shot came.

“Boss, my life depends on it, so I stay on top of new developments in security systems. I’m telling you, there is no security system on the market that can do what that guy’s system did. There is no way that I will go up against his system again. You can get someone else to do it, but please don’t ask me. If you want me to take this guy down in a public setting, I will at least think about it. But right now, I’m so spooked that I don’t want to get anywhere near this guy ever again.

“When you factor all of that in with the speed of the security team’s response, what I come up with is, this guy is someone we shouldn’t mess with again.

“I dumped the stolen vehicle as I normally do, and retrieved my rental. As I said, once I check out of the motel, I’ll ship my gear to you and get the first flight out of town. I should be back in town in about a week, Boss. Other than taking this guy on again, is there anything you want me to do?”

“No, my friend, it sounds as if you did everything properly. If you are right, and I think you are, it seems our client sent us out against a high-security target without letting us know what we were going up against.

“I will have a talk with our client. All he said to me was, his client told him they wanted to remove a business competitor. Have a safe journey home, my friend. We will talk more when you arrive. If our client can’t provide me with suitable answers, you may have a job or two to take care of in order to settle this matter.”

At the ranch a short time later...

“Bill, it’s Doug. I want to convene a meeting to discuss the press releases. I know you must be busy right now, but if you have the time and are interested, you are welcome to join us.”

“Thanks for the invite, Doug. I’ve gone as far as I can on the assassination attempt, so I should be there shortly.”

“Ah, Bill, one thing occurred to me. Do you think, this attack was motivated by the media attention our idiot focused on me, or was it the result of something else?”

“Humm, the thought of why and who has crossed my mind, Doug. Right now, I just don’t know. The more I find out, the more this sounds like a professional hit. If this attack was due to our idiot, I would be expecting an attack by a bunch of amateurs. A professional hit of this caliber costs a lot of money, and I don’t see a bunch of angry religious fanatics having the money and contacts to arrange a professional hit in such a short period of time. Most professionals investigate their target before they accept a job, which takes time. When I add in the fact that they need to plan their attempt, and check out the area, the timing seems to rule out our religious fanatic and his friends. I may be wrong, but this seems to be motivated by something else.”

“I was afraid you would say that, Bill. We will need to increase our security for at least several months.”

“Yeah, that is what I am planning to do, Doug, but the increase will probably be permanent. See you at the meeting. Bye.”

The meeting was short. We each briefed the others on what we were doing and answered questions. The only new information was Abby needed about another hour to finish documenting the information she would give to Kim, and Kim provided us with the time, date, and location where the press conference would be held. I told Kim who I wanted to review the draft releases in addition to me. I would have Cindy fax a copy to Bashira as soon as I got my copy from Kim.