Chapter 9

While many of the people in Turkey are Muslim, the ‘democratic’ government of Turkey was secular. This meant that politicians had to run for election periodically and worked hard to preserve their reputations. On the world stage, and inside Turkey because of the current activities associated with the earthquake, few organizations had the news capital of the Fusion Foundation. As head of the Fusion Foundation, the doors of the Turkish government opened for Ed Biggers.

Followed by members of the press, Ed walked through the halls of the Turkish Government with little resistance. Using his truth sense, Ed was able to move through the bureaucracy with ease through the expedient method of exposing criminal acts of bribery, extortion, and embezzlement. As a result of his passage through various departments of state, the government of Turkey was suddenly much more honest. By the time he reached the upper level of government, individuals were very willing to help him with military support in tackling the terrorist organizations.

Oscar and Penny had followed behind Ed and only had to take care of one problem, a minor bureaucrat who decided that going to jail for murder was no worse than going to jail for extortion. Penny had put him down with a single blow to the throat when he had charged into the room waving a gun at Ed. The act had pointed out that the Druids were not defenseless. It did not point out that Penny knew that the man was coming because of a warning by Annette.

It was a very subdued President, Prime Minister, Chief of General Staff, Minister of Defense and Commanders of the Army, Navy, and Airforce who met Ed at the Çankaya Presidential Compound. All of the men in that room had spent the previous hour getting briefed about him and the Druid organization. The information they had received about what the Druids were capable of doing was very frightening.

After the appropriate introductions were made, Ed sat in a chair in front of the President while Oscar and Jennifer took positions next to the security guards along the wall. The two Druids had paused to examine the guards and then dismissed them out of hand. Ed took the opportunity to study the men in the room.

The President glanced over at the two red robed Druids leaning against the wall, recognizing them from his briefing. It was rumored that the small man was responsible for the deaths of over a thousand terrorists. If the small man wanted, he could probably defeat half the men they chose to put in a battlefield. He was frightening enough, but the woman was the one who terrified him. It was rumored she could walk through walls. She had penetrated some of the most secure installations in the middle east with devastating effect. The Iranians were still wondering how she managed to take out their Nuclear Program in a single night. He shuddered at the thought of having her so close to him.

Turning to look at Ed Biggers, the President found himself staring at the medallion nestled on the man’s chest. The gold medallion appeared to glow against the black robe. The briefing had described the Druids as a modern version of the Magi of ancient times. After meeting the Druid, he could believe it. In English, he asked, “Dr. Biggers, what is it that you want the government of Turkey to do?”

“I would like the military to take out the terrorist organization responsible for kidnapping the employees of the Fusion Foundation,” answered Ed speaking Turkish and looking the President in the eye. Oscar raised an eyebrow when he heard Ed speaking Turkish.

As the men in the room shifted uncomfortably, the President replied in Turkish, “It’s not that simple.”

“It is that simple,” countered Ed again in Turkish.

“We are still investigating the abduction,” interjected the Prime Minister.

“We know all that is necessary to take care of the problem. We know who did it. We where they are, and we know how well armed they are. All we need is your army to go where we tell them to go, and to do as we tell them to do,” countered Ed.

“You can’t know all that,” declared the Prime Minister with a sinking feeling that Ed did know.

Staring at the floor, Ed was silent for a moment and then smiled. Looking over at the Prime Minister, he said, “At this moment, three men are headed to this room. They will reach us in about a minute. One is a security guard with a semi-automatic holstered under his coat. One is a pushing a cart loaded with snacks. There are ten small chocolate finger cakes, eighteen stuffed dates, a bowl of dried figs, and some other treats whose names I don’t know. The other man is pushing a cart with coffee and tea. The cups are very elaborately decorated in blue and gold.”

Fifteen seconds after Ed had finished talking, there was a knock on the door and, after a security man opened the door, three men entered the room. It was exactly as Ed had stated. The Prime Minister couldn’t help but count the number of cakes and stuffed dates on the one cart. White faced when the counts agreed with the prediction, he asked, “How did you know?”

“I am a Druid,” answered Ed as though that was a sufficient answer. It appeared that it was sufficient for the men in the room. Looking the President, he asked, “So do I have your army?”

Impressed by the demonstration, the President sat back in his chair and considered the Druid sitting in front of him. His intelligence agents had known that Ed was a human lie detector, but he had not been told the man could speak Turkish or that he could see through walls. He answered, “Yes, but the army must remain under the command of our officers.”

Ed stood and handed a slip of paper to the President. Without resuming his seat, he said, “Good. Have the person you place in charge of this action call the number on that paper. Jennifer will coordinate everything.”

The man looked at the slip of paper and then up at Ed who was moving towards the door. Surprised at the name on the paper, he asked, “Jennifer Wilson will coordinate the movements of our army?”

“Yes,” said Ed with a smile as he paused on his way to the door. He reached over to one of the carts and picked up a finger cake and popped it into his mouth. He was half tempted to ask for the recipe.

Visibly shaken, the Army General in the room asked, “The Jennifer Wilson? The Druid who consults with the American Army? The woman who coordinated eighteen simultaneous attacks against the terrorist camps inside the West Bank for Israel?”

“The same,” replied Ed with a nod of his head.

Not sure that he wanted to hear the answer, the Prime Minister asked, “How many Druids are involved in this?”

“Fourteen,” answered Ed with a smile. After making a gesture towards the door, he added, “I have to leave now. I have two more countries to visit today.”

‘Fourteen?’ echoed in the mind of the Prime Minister. He couldn’t believe his ears. Swallowing heavily, he thought back to his briefing about the Druids. They were a powerful organization that wasn’t one to anger. When a Druid turned his or her attention to a problem, it stopped being a problem. Who knew what would happen when fourteen of them turned their attention to a problem? Looking over at the President, the Prime Minister asked, “If we had not agreed to support you with our armies, what would have happened?”

“Oh, I imagine your government would have fallen in a week or two,” answered Ed as he left the room followed by Oscar and Penny. Ed didn’t like making threats, but knew that there were times when it was necessary for others to know the consequences of their actions. His parting shot had been intended to make sure that the support they received would be the best that was possible.

As they left the complex, Ed said, “That went well. Now we go to Iraq. Hopefully, we’ll be done with our meetings there before sunset.”

“You scared the hell out of them,” commented Oscar glancing back the way they came. He looked at Penny and said, “I thought the President was going to die when he was looking over at you.”

Shrugging, Penny answered, “I have a reputation in this part of the world because of a surveillance camera I didn’t notice. It’s really strange. One little incident with a Nuclear Weapons program that failed to get off the ground, and people start looking at you funny.”

“Imagine that,” commented Oscar wryly with the result of provoking a laugh from Penny.

Their plane landed at the Freedom International Airport outside Baghdad late in the afternoon. The gentle jolt of the tires hitting the runway woke Oscar from his short nap. Looking around, he yawned and then asked, “Where are we?”

“Baghdad,” answered Penny as she stood and stretched.

Ed opened the door and stepped back as a wave of hot air rushed into the plane. He said, “It feels like it is about a hundred and ten outside. That wouldn’t be so bad, but it’s humid.”

“It’s the rivers,” commented Penny as she stepped out of the plane. She paused to look around for anything that might be a threat despite reassurances from Annette that all was well. A Hummer was parked near the plane and was there to take them to a meeting room.

“So this is the cradle of civilization,” said Oscar looking out the door.

“Mesopotamia,” said Ed as he stepped out to stand behind Penny.

Oscar brought up the rear and followed the other two over to the Hummer. Penny said, “It’s nice to be back here. Things are looking a lot better now than the last time I was here.”

The three of them entered the Hummer with Penny getting behind the wheel. She had pulled the soldier out of the vehicle to take his place. Oscar found his hand caressing the pistol in his pocket as if seeking reassurance that all was well. Settling in his seat, Ed said, “I thought it would be harder to arrange a meeting with the government leaders here.”

“Jennifer?” asked Oscar wondering if she had something to do with their reception.

“Yes. It appears that she provided some help in squashing a situation that could have escalated into civil war,” answered Ed. After the Americans had turned over the majority of security over to the Iraq military, former members of the Sadam regime had made a bid for power. Swarming into Iraq from Syria, they were well armed and organized. Jennifer had laid out a battle plan that caught the terrorist without cover from the resurrected Iraqi Air Force. It appeared that her contributions were not forgotten.

Penny drove the Hummer over to a building that had once been a barracks, but had been turned into a command center. The number of guards around the building said more about what was inside of it than the plain appearance of the building suggested. She commented, “Looks like the big boys are here judging by all the soldiers lurking around.”

“That’s what we want,” said Ed with a smile. Things were going much better than he had thought possible. He had expected to have to drag the leaders out of their homes, not for them to come to him.

Oscar stared at all of the soldiers and mapped out in his mind how he would attack. Looking over at a nearby building that provided perfect cover, he said, “This isn’t a very secure location. Could you have Annette look around?”

Ed spoke into his microphone for a second and then said, “You’re right. There’s someone on the other side of that building with a car. She says it is loaded with explosives.”

Without saying a word, Oscar opened the door and dropped out of the still moving Hummer. Penny was smart enough not to react and drove on towards her destination. She looked back in the mirror, but it seemed as though he had disappeared.

Oscar crawled to the building while glancing over at the Hummer as it went to the building in which the meeting was being held. There wasn’t a place where he could hunker down behind some cover and wait for the car. Instead, he moved to a point closer to the path that he expected the car to take on the way to delivering its payload. Once in place, he knew that all he had to do was wait.

Wishing that he had a rifle, Oscar lay on the ground with his pistol in hand. Behind him, Ed and Penny exited the Hummer and went into the building. The guards around the building seemed to relax. Oscar could feel his alertness growing. A minute passed by with nothing happening, then five, and finally ten. The heat burned its way into his body as if the environment was purposely trying to sap his strength. It was a relief when he heard the sound of a car being started.

Oscar was beginning to wonder if he had made a mistake when the car didn’t come around the corner of the building immediately. Rather than move, he continued to wait. Annette’s voice in his earphone announced, “He’s praying. Give him a minute.”

Oscar didn’t respond, but kept his eyes on the corner of the building where he expected the car to emerge. Annette said, “You’re amazing. I can’t locate you and I know where you dropped out of the car.”

Her words brought a smile to his eyes, but he kept his face fixed. With a sense of excitement, she said, “He’s moving.”

Although her commentary was intended to help, it threw his attention off and seemed to undermine the tension that he counted upon to react quickly. The distraction was only momentary. Recovering, he waited with his body tensed and posed to move at the first sign of the car. The car came around the corner and raced towards him. He jumped and ran towards the car before the driver had even became aware that he was there. At nearly point blank range, Oscar fired three shots into the driver and then dropped to the ground.

The car slowed as the driver lost consciousness and then began to move around in a large circle as the driver’s body kept the steering wheel in a slight right turn. Oscar stood to the side and watched the car move an erratic path across the tarmac. He then turned to watch the bedlam that exploded around the guarded building as guards came running out to take control of the situation.

Walking over to one of the guards still at his post by the building, Oscar looked at the pistol in his holster. Pointing to the ammo pouch on the man’s belt, he said, “Give me a clip.”

Shocked, the guard reached in and removed a clip from his ammo pouch. Handing it to Oscar, he asked, “Where did you come from?”

“School,” answered Oscar cryptically as he replaced the partially used clip in his pistol with the borrowed clip. He ejected the live round in the chamber with a practiced smoothness. The guard noticed that the gun had never been completely unloaded throughout the process.

No one stopped him as he made his way into the building. Inside, he stopped to look around and was about to ask for directions from a guard when Annette said, “They are down the hall in the third room on the right.”

He followed her directions and entered the room to find Ed and Penny standing near the door. Penny commented, “I heard that the problem was solved.”

“No problem, just a minor irritation,” remarked Oscar with a wink.

“Let’s go. Our business here is finished,” said Ed with a grin. The little episode outside had worked to their advantage. It was a minor demonstration of power that spoke volumes about the capabilities of the Druids.

Oscar followed Ed out of the building, allowing Penny to lead the way. They walked past shocked guards to the Hummer. The one that Oscar had asked for a clip saluted when they walked past. Oscar nodded in the man’s direction.

Inside the Hummer, Penny remarked, “I’m impressed. I never saw you once you dropped out of the car. Annette provided a nice running commentary on what you were doing.”