Chapter 13

I headed over to the Mexican place for dinner and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I got back in time to watch a movie on the Starz Westerns Channel and then called it a night. I realized I would need to change the sheets tomorrow because these smelled like Bridget, Sally and sex. But I was hoping it would provide some good dreams for tonight, anyway.

I got up the next morning and had breakfast and then set about getting things set up for the upcoming week. I changed the sheets and ran a load of clothes through the washer and dryer. About 11, Earl buzzed from the gate and I opened it and turned the mines off. He showed up with several trays and dish covers that had the distinct look of coming from a hospital. I didn't ask.

We stowed his gear and he helped me finish up with the little chores that needed completed. Then we went downstairs for a look around to see if everything looked appropriate for what we were trying to convey to Snelling. From what we could see, it looked pretty good. I was worried about one thing. I didn't have a doorway to the rest of the cave from the new hallway.

"It's only gonna be up for a week or so, do you really need it in that time?" Earl asked.

"I don't know, but I'd hate to need it and have to take a sheet of plywood off to get there. I don't think a door is all that expensive and it wouldn't take much for us to put it in," I replied.

We studied on it for a bit and the buzzer went off. We went upstairs and Bubba was at the gate. I opened the gate and turned off the mines for him to get up.

When he got there, we got all his stuff stowed and then included him in the discussion of the door.

"Are ya gonna leave it up after the mission?" Bubba asked.

"I don't know. I don't really have a reason to take it down, unless I need to get something big in that way," I told them.

"Well, what do you have stored back there?" Earl wanted to know.

"I've got a bunch of plastik and other necessary things, like wire, I-R triggers and relays, some mines made up to replace the ones that I trip to scare the shit out of kids tryin' to sneak in here, and just basic things that I don't want others to know I have," I said.

"I would say hold off on putting a door in. We don't really need it right now, and I doubt you'll need any mine replacements for a week or so. After the mission, me and Earl can help you put one in if you decide to keep the hallway," Bubba put in.

"Ahh, I guess you're right, I just don't like to have access cut off from my supplies."

We closed that discussion and went back to trying to find any flaws in our portrayal of a hospital room. Everything looked pretty good so we decided to take a break for lunch.

The next place we really needed to be was back here by 8 PM for the phone call from Frank. Since we didn't really have anything else to do, I suggested we do some fishing. That was met with a round of approval and we cleaned up from lunch and headed for the boat. I took the pontoon out, since it would be a bit crowded in the bass boat with three people.

August is hot in Arkansas, and today was not an exception. Fishing in mid-day is not really a good idea. We fished and then moved, then fished and moved again, for about an hour before finally giving it up. We found a secluded cove and went swimming to cool off. It felt really good and we stayed in the water until the thirst for a beer called us back to the boat.

We had our beer, got dressed and then headed back for the air conditioning at the house. We had another beer and then decided on Mexican tonight and headed for Theodosia. The meal was fantastic and we got back around 7:30 to prepare for our conference call.

Promptly at 8 PM, the phone rang. I answered it and it was Frank. I put it on the speakerphone so we could all talk. Frank took the lead.

"Plans for our end are all in place. We have altered things just a bit, but that won't affect the outcome. As soon as we get away from his house, we will pull a gun on him and sedate him at that point. I've scouted the area and we have a wonderful place to pull in while we do our thing."

"Once he is sedated, the plan will proceed as we had previously planned. The only change is, after we transfer him to Gary's plane, I will return to remove all traces of my intercept before we go to my plane. We don't want to leave any traces for anyone to find."

Bubba spoke up. "That's good thinkin' Frank. We want this to be as clean as possible. On our end, we have the room completely ready. Plus we've got camo head nets to wear when we are in his presence so he can't identify us later. My only concern is what do we call each other while we've got him here. We sure don't want to use our names, or any nicknames that might be traceable to us."

"That's good planning, Bubba," Frank said. "I would suggest that we use numbers. One through eight is fine with me. That keeps it simple and nothing that he can read into it."

"What' gonna be the routine once we get him here?" I asked

"Frank and I have discussed this. I think we should just keep him sedated the first night so he has no idea why he's bein' held," Bob said. "Then, the Sunday, we'll use Pentathol on him so he won't have a chance to build up any lies in his mind before we question him. After that, we are gonna use standard questionin' techniques designed to get him to tell us the truth we already know."

Earl spoke up. "I wanna be in on them standard questionin' techniques."

"Earl," Frank said, "we don't want him injured to the point we can't deliver him to Chicago. I think it would be a good idea for you not to get involved in the standard techniques. You can participate in the questioning, but I don't want you to get carried away by getting your hands on him. Understood?"

"I guess you're right Frank, but I sure want a lot of answers on a lot of questions."

"You can question, but you just can't touch."

"Ok Frank, I'll keep my lily whites off of him."

Frank continued. "For his meals, we need to have him convinced that he is in a hospital, so no freshly cooked meals. I would suggest that you buy some TV dinners. Something like fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy and a vegetable. Something that tastes bland like a hospital would serve. Maybe some Jello for dessert. Also, you need to get some plastic glasses for water for him. No milk with a local label that he can identify. Gary told me you have the trays and dish covers, but you also need some non-descript silverware too. Probably any thrift shop will have them."

"I've got some old US Government surplus silverware in the old house. That should do for that problem. I'm pretty sure I have some old plastic glasses to use also. So that problem should be covered. We can get some TV dinners tomorrow at the store. We'll get about 3 of each kind so we can rotate the food he gets," I reported.

"That will work," Frank said.

"Ok, now for names. Frank why don't you take one. Gary will be two. Dave three, Bob four, Butch five, Bubba six, Earl seven and I'll take eight," I said.

"We can live with that," Frank replied.

"Ok, what else is on the schedule?" Bubba asked.

"Ok, he will have a catheter in place by the time we deliver him to the plane. He will be restrained on the gurney and the bed for at least the first day. He'll be pissing into a bag for at least that long. He will be sedated so he really won't be much of a problem. He also won't be eating the first day. We'll feed him with an IV and that's how he'll get his fluid intake too. After the first day, it will depend on how cooperative he is as to when he gets to eat. That will be his reward for his cooperation. I don't believe he is going to be easy to crack. He's got a lot of loyalty to these folks, or he wouldn't have put in the amount of effort he has. It might take a couple days to finally break him. I'm pretty sure he's not going to roll over real easy," Frank said.