Chapter 15: The War Begins

The family spent the balance of the day showing our newest members around the estate and the beach. Tim and I spent our time with our heads together dredging up names and positions of people we knew who might provide us with intelligence. We had several names on our lists in common, and of course Tim had new ones I hadn't had contact with. My contacts were a bit dated compared to his.

Tim suggested we call a former team member of his who he was still close to. The friend worked for one of the alphabet agencies now and had deep contacts in several others. Tim felt his friend would be discrete. We discussed it and decided to go ahead and contact him. If a problem developed with his discretion, we could always have Merlin "talk" to him.

Tim called his friend and they set up an appointment to meet in Arlington, VA in two days. They didn't discuss anything regarding the subject of the meeting. Phones aren't the best place to have serious discussions.

At supper that night, we informed the rest of the family of our plans to fly up to Arlington and start our intelligence gathering. A vigorous discussion ensued and not surprisingly, it ended up that all of us would make the trip. The Pham family would take care of Linh, Thu, and Kim.

Shortly after Mai and Merlin had arrived from Los Angeles, Merlin had a flight service shuttle his Gulfstream V to our little local airport. He leased a hangar there and set up a maintenance schedule for his aircraft. Tim called the flight service and started them on preparing his aircraft for a departure the next day.

Bright and early the next day we were all together in the Gulfstream V winging our way north to Arlington, VA. It had been years since I had spent time there. My mind wandered back to my periods stationed there. There had been good times and bad. Oh well, I decided; we live in the now.

I had made reservations at the Hilton Mark Center for two, two bedroom suites that joined. This would give us enough space to work and the privacy each couple needed.

Much as I hated to, we flew into Ron Reagan and luckily the flight service Merlin uses was able to get us temporary hangar space in the non-commercial section of the airport. At least we were close to the areas we wanted to visit. The girls, other than Heather, had never been to the capitol so they were excited and wanted to at least hit a few high spots while we were in the area.

I told them it would all depend on what we came up with when we talked to Tim's contact. I figured there was probably no rush to get to our next destination and start kicking ass but I didn't want to raise too high a profile around my old stomping grounds within the beltway either.

We rented a passenger van and headed for the hotel. I gave that odd shaped building where I used to work a special salute as we drove by on I395. In no time at all we exited onto Seminary Road and pulled up at the hotel. It was like Déjà vu all over again! I had spent a lot of nights at this hotel in my other life. I hoped all the folks I knew then were retired now.

We got our check in and were shown up to the suites. They still met the quality I remembered. Great view from them, too. We all split up and the ladies went and unpacked in the bedrooms. Heather and I, along with Tim and An were in one suite and Merlin and Mai shared the other with Sam and Am. We had a connecting door between the main living rooms of the suites and left it open for ease of movement.

Tim called his contact and gave him our suite and phone numbers. I had Mai sweep the suites for bugs and insure no one could use a laser probe or other external eavesdropping method. She said we were clean and would stay that way while we were there. It sure is handy to have your own built in bug sweeper!

The contact called back and we set up a meeting for that evening in our suites. In the meantime we would use the afternoon to show the rest of the family the sights and find a nice place for dinner. We were all a little tired from traveling so we decided to forego Washington DC and the Capitol sights for today and just head down to Old Town Alexandria for a laid back afternoon of window shopping and strolling.

We headed out onto Seminary Road and headed east to King Street. That took us right into Old Town. We parked in a municipal lot and started walking. It was a long afternoon for this old soldier hitting every boutique and shop in the area. The ladies were in their glory. Heather, An, and Mai showed Am how to be an American Woman. Shop til you drop! Or your mate does... We ended up down on the lower end of King street around dinner time. There is a plethora of restaurants in the area. You can take your pick of cuisine.

We ended up at Landini Brothers restaurant. We get a lot of seafood in Jupiter so we (the ladies) decided we would go for Italian. Make that Northern Italian. It was really quite good. Heather and I regaled the others with a story about how we walked out of one of the more famous seafood restaurants almost next door to where we were now.

We were just a couple and we went into one of the more advertised establishments for dinner. We were seated in a far corner in the darkest part of the dining room. We waited, looking at our menus for almost twenty minutes with no server appearing. I had looked around the room and noticed quite a few tables with six to eight guests seated getting served. I noted that many of them had been seated well after us. I tried several times to attract someone to assist us but with no luck. I looked at Heather and she smiled and we proceeded to walk on out. I did mention to the hostess on the way out that I represented a large military contingent in the area and I would be sure to pass on our experience at their restaurant.

Anyway, maybe it was the fact there were eight of us but we had a great meal at this restaurant. We finished up, left a good tip, and headed back to the Mark Center. We were in plenty of time to get settled and ready for our guest.

Tim's contact showed up right on time. The rest of the family stayed in the other suite while Tim and I met with him in our suite.

After our introductions, I thought to myself, "Man, they get younger and younger. Or am I just getting older?"

We didn't use names and I just sat back and let Tim go for it. He had a rapport with his friend and I didn't want to interrupt it. They talked over old times a bit and Tim mentioned that he had worked for me when he was first assigned to the teams.

His friend looked at me and smiled, "Oh, we know who the Sergeant Major is. He's a legend in the teams. I might add that he is well known among a few agencies around town also."

He turned to me, "You didn't just hang out for that last two years when they stuck you here until you retired. You stirred up a lot of shit while you were in the Pentagon. I think there were more than a few people happy to get back to their cushy lifestyle when you retired."

I just looked innocent and said, "Who me? I was just waiting to pull the plug. I don't remember bothering anyone."

He laughed and turned to Tim, "OK, what the hell do you want? If it's in my power you know you have it."

Tim proceeded to give him the entire story of the slavery situation including our motivation deriving from those we loved being slaves and our need to fight this disgrace on mankind. He got wound up when he explained his wife's connection to slavery and you could feel the passion he held inside when he spoke of how An lived for thirteen years. By the time he was done, I was moved myself.

His friend sat there for several moments after Tim finished his recitation. Finally he took a deep breath and looked at both of us.

"Is this room clean?"

Tim looked at me.

I said, "Let me put it this way. The deepest clean room in the bowels of the Pentagon or the Asshole under NSA is dirty when compared to this suite. There are no bugs. There is no way anyone can monitor us from the outside. We have methods that I can't disclose, but which are so far superior to what anyone on earth has that I can guarantee we are totally alone and un-monitored."

He looked at me for a moment then nodded.

"I believe you. I am sure I don't want to know how you are doing it, but I believe you are. Let me tell you a little background so you know why I am committed to helping you.

"I know that you will take the information I give you, both now and later, and put it to the proper use. I don't need or want to know how you will do that. It will be a relief to me to see some of the information we have risked our peoples' lives for, going to real use instead of being bastardized by the politicians that wallow in the trough around here.

"I've been in this business for a long time. I've seen a lot, but I've seen very little to compare with the atmosphere we have within the beltway today. You both understand me when I talk of the warrior's ethic. We are trained in Military Science.

"Most people have no idea what that is or that there is a quantifiable and precise activity that could be defined as science in the military. They don't understand that we study history. We study the effects of terrain, weapons systems, intelligence, manpower weather, and the multitude of quantifiable factors that make up the modern battlefield. They don't understand that we take these calculations and use them to determine the optimum ways to use physical force to accomplish our country's goals.

"What I have been observing in recent events is our top military experts developing correct scenarios, using their vast knowledge, and advising our political leadership in how to best utilize their military assets.

"I have seen these same top military experts return with ashen faces after being scorned by politicians who couldn't find their asses with both hands. These politicians have their heads so far up their ass they need a Zipperotomy to see where they are going. These military experts were ignored when they gave their best and most accurate advice on how to use our military might, and told by ignorant fanatics who already had their minds made up, how they were to use our military.

"They returned to our headquarters, knowing that not only were the instructions they were given going to kill a lot of warriors due to their improper and poorly supported use, but that we also would be squandering our military might and destroying the effectiveness of our forces. The reason given was sometimes philosophical and sometimes simply a matter of budget. Money wins out in the end.

"Some of our military leaders couldn't handle the conflict between what they knew to be right and what they were forced to do and chose to retire. Others for their own reasons stayed but tried to lessen the impact of their orders. As you know, it is our code that once we have given our utmost effort to convince the civilian leadership of their error, we then turn a loyal face forward and support our orders with our whole heart.

"That's where we are today and we have pretty much destroyed the military effectiveness of our country by obeying our civilian leaders. Your request of me will allow me to use some of our knowledge and assets for a cause that should not interfere with our civilian leadership but still give me a reason for living. What do you want first?"

Tim and I sat there looking at the floor. I know I was feeling our issues were so insignificant compared to what our contact was dealing with that I was embarrassed. I mentally communicated my feeling to Tim. He just nodded and looked sad.

Tim turned to his friend.

"As I explained, we are going to be visiting different geographic locations throughout the U.S. We will use whatever information you can provide, to give us an initial introduction to the slave trade in that area. From that we will develop tactical intelligence and build our plan from there. That's probably all you want to know about that."

Tim thought to me, "It just hit me. Do you think we could or should offer to look into any terrorist cells we might encounter while we are working these areas? He probably has some rough intel that we could expand on or maybe even take care of the problem for him."

I thought back, "Go for it Tim. I think we have room to expand our interests and besides there may just be some overlapping here anyway. "What do the rest of you think?"

I heard a chorus of 'ayes' from the family.

Tim turned to his friend, "As you were talking, a thought occurred to me. We have some excellent intelligence gathering methods and the ability to surgically act on our information. We are generally pretty subtle. Would you like us to do a little side work for you looking into any intel you might have on terrorist cells here in the U.S.?"

His friend looked at Tim, then at me.

"I have a feeling I am in over my head with you folks. I'm going to go with my gut. If I can't trust you guys I'm retiring! I'll have a package for you in approximately two days. Can you hang around for awhile?"

Tim said, "Sure, we'll take our family sightseeing and kick back a little before the real work starts. One thing though, please don't take any chances and if you have a problem with anyone get in contact with me immediately. I can't elaborate but we can keep you from having problems if you are compromised."

His friend looked at him and shook his head.

"I'll take your word for that but I'll be especially careful anyway."

We said our goodbyes and the rest of the family came into the living room.

I said, "Well, we have a couple of days off. What do you want to do?"

I received a chorus of mental responses.

"Shop, shop, shop, shop."

That covered the ladies.

"How about you guys?"

Tim and Merlin were laughing. Sam was looking puzzled.

Tim said, "I would suggest we take a ride on the Metro and show everyone our Nation's Capitol. We can also do some shopping. DC has plenty of shops around the Capitol Mall area."

Everyone murmured agreement to that plan. I enjoy riding the Metro and no one who lives around here would drive in Washington DC. They are all Kamikazes there. We decided to leave in the morning and drive to the King Street Metro Station and take the Blue line into the Mall. You can get off at the Smithsonian and start a walking circuit of the Mall, ending up right back where you started when done. You will be DONE. It's a long walk.

We all hit the sack early to get some rest for the next day's activities.

The next morning we had breakfast at the Mark Center and headed out in the van for the King Street Metro Station. Only Heather, Tim, and I had experience in the area so the others were fascinated by everything. They knew what we knew from our merge, but the joy of experiencing the area first hand was evident in their behavior.