Chapter 1

Bobby and I were sitting out on the back porch of the safe house we were in charge of, discussing how busy, but yet how calm we had been. Since we had gotten together as a team for the safe house, we averaged a little over one person or couple per week to watch over before they were escorted to some new far off place. We both laughed at how the television program called it "In Plain Sight."

The service did hide people in plain sight. A witness from Miami may end up as a stock clerk in a Wal-Mart in Toledo. An undercover guy from New York may end up as house painter in Springfield, Illinois. The people escaping one thing or another ended up with a safe unexciting life in a mundane community, living happily ever after.

I have to describe Bobby for those who haven't heard any tales about us yet. Bobby is a magnificent six foot seven and weighs around three fifty. There is not an ounce of fat on her gorgeous frame. She has a body that is just big, huge, luscious, tasty, and all that stuff. She's got a rack on her that defies description and gravity. Her caboose is something to marvel at. Just watching her walk away is captivating to me and draws a crowd.

Then there is me, an average guy about five eleven, but who should be six feet, that weighs around one eighty when I eat enough. I lost a leg to an RPG in Iraq, and now have a good prosthetic that I can usually walk without a cane with. I exercise constantly so I can remain in decent shape and I can tell you, Bobby puts me to shame with the weights and the machines. She is one tough cookie.

We got together while some guys that wanted to have bent noses had a scam going against the government. They faked helping returning servicemen and were making a bunch of money. Because I was the one who stumbled onto the deal, I became a target and was sent to Bobby's safe house. The whole thing got all out of shape and the marshal service mistakenly made me a deputy and paid me more money than the employment people I had just started to work for, so here I am, still a deputy, working as Safe Two under Bobby. The whole thing's a long story. You'll have to research it and read it all for yourself.

While Bobby remained the Safe One person at the house all the time, as soon as I was pulled from the federal unemployment or employment office, I was given a mixed bag of duties. The worst was air marshal. You got on a plane in the early morning at one location, flew to place B, boarded another and flew to place C, boarded another then flew to place D, and finally flew home to arrive sometime before midnight the same day. Because you were to be the vigilant duty person on a flight, you had to remain alert, watching what was happening all the time. Anyone standing around in an aisle for more than a couple of minutes was suspect. Anyone in a lavatory for too long, was suspect. Anyone approaching a hostess in the galley was really suspect.

Another great duty was to accompany a federal prisoner to another facility that better matched the crime he had committed. Usually it was by air and we were often put in first class so it was easier to confine the prisoner. When we flew coach, I always wanted either the last seat in the plane or the first seat. If the plane had three seats across the aisle, whoever was unlucky enough to be in the third seat was bumped. I had read all the directives and viewed all of the videos on prisoner transport so I followed all of the suggested means of securing the prisoner. My prisoners got to wear some neat ankle cuffs with a pretty chain between the legs. They of course also wore handcuffs secured at the waist by an additional chain.

These cuffs were cool as they allowed the prisoner hands free enough to read, eat a little clumsily, and drink from a straw, but restricted the person from giving me a fat lip or attempting to overpower me. When I flew with a prisoner, I kept him at the window on my right and wore a shoulder holster, instead of the belt holster I usually wore, as it concealed the weapon better.

I always made sure the prisoner had plenty of reading material and always advised the hostesses that the person was a prisoner and was not allowed anything other than a snack and something to drink.

Funny, on those flights, I never ate anything but I did bring along a bottle of water that was checked through for me. If the cap was broken, I tossed the water. One of the videos told of how a hostess had drugged the marshal and the marshal ended up deceased. That wasn't going to happen to me.

I was always the first on and the last off the plane. If someone was going to intercept me in the terminal, I wanted to make sure there were fewer civilians around if it did happen. Of course, if there was an air marshal on the flight, he knew where I was so I could assist him or he could help me if necessary.

The last thing that I said to a prisoner before we left his detention facility was that if we were attacked, I would shoot him first then try to capture the attackers. Several prisoners objected to my theory of self-preservation, but I told them that this was the only way I could ensure that my prisoner would not escape. One smart-ass told me, when I explained how I conducted transport, that since he was wearing body armor he didn't feel my threat was real. I had to explain to the man that I spent all my time on the range practicing head shots. He shut up.

A couple of times during these six months, I had been sent out with a team to track down an escaped prisoner. My special forces training came in handy for these missions. My fake leg made me a little slower than some, but my training gave me the edge at anticipating what a runaway would do. So far, I was four for four in captures while leading a team. The good thing was that all were captured without injuring the escapee.

My good friend and former leader, Howard, was promoted to the western region and became a real live genuine U.S. Marshal, not a deputy like the rest of us. He didn't like the politics, but he said he sure as hell liked the increase in pay.

Bobby and I were getting some sun out on the pool deck when the duty phone rang. We kept the phone with us, so Bobby reached over and answered, "Safe One."

I could only hear one side of conversation. It wasn't very informative.

"Right."

"Right."

"That soon?"

"We'll be ready."

"I'll have him call in as soon as we have the subjects."

When she hung up, she was getting up, so I did the same thing, sliding on my fake leg. "They are bringing a couple from Orlando and should be here in about ten minutes. Let's get dressed. The boss said they are high priority."

High priority could mean they are important, well known politicians, public figures, or it could mean that a few dozen paid assassins were looking for them.

We quickly dressed, turned on all the house security, and checked our defenses. The drive team called with the signal and the garage door was raised. Bobby and I now had an even better way to wait for a delivery.

Bobby watched the video monitors for the car coming in, while I positioned myself in the garage where I could not be seen but could observe the car bringing in the guests, as well as all the occupants. The techies in the service had come up with some neat sunglasses that could see through dark tinted windows on vehicles as if the tint was not there. So I was in my position while Bobby was at the door, watching the car pull in through the mirror by the door.

When the car stopped, the driver's window went down and a hand went to the top of the car and patted the roof, the signal that it was our guy and everything was okay. A deputy got out of the passenger door and the driver got out of the driver's door. Both of the rear doors were opened and three people got out. There was a man and a woman that looked scared shitless, and another guy that made you think he might be in the service.

I watched them go into the house, waited thirty seconds, and went to check the Suburban they had come in. I checked under the seats and down between the seats quickly before went into the kitchen door.

Bobby had two pieces of luggage open, going over it with our electronic detector. The guy I didn't recognize was giving her shit about being so over cautious. He didn't know I was in the doorway and he was between Bobby and me, while the two deputies and the couple were standing on the other side of the table, observing.

Bobby kept going over one area on the side of the suitcase until the new guy said, "Would you get over it already. Just shut the fucking thing and get us something to eat."

Bobby looked up at the guy and said, "Hold you horses, friend, something is setting off the gizmo here and I'm going to find out what it is. Bobby stood up and said she would be right back. I stepped into the hall while she walked by me, went to the kitchen, and came back with her little tool kit. She took a small pair of scissors and cut the lining of the suitcase away until she could see the entire side of the suitcase. There was something duct taped to the side. Bobby peeled off the tape and used some tweezers to hold up a small, thin, square object.

Bobby pulled her transmission decoder from her tool kit and turned it on and it began blinking crazily. She said "Ah shit."

The man standing watching all this seemed to be reaching behind his back so I put my gun to the back of his head quickly and said, "Be very still. Do not move even the hand you have behind your back."

I looked at Jack across the table and said, "Jack, you cover and David, you come take this guy apart so we can confirm who he is."

Bobby said, "I'll put this in a safe box real quick and call in."

David pulled an automatic from the guy's rear holster, and two more small automatics from each ankle. We removed his coat and pants and took them to Bobby to put in the safe box after we had emptied everything from his pockets.

As he was cuffing the man, David said to me, "I never understood why you laid back all the time until just now. This is strange."

I told David, you cover this gentleman for a minute while I get my traveling chains for him. I'd like him as immobile as possible. I got the leg irons and the waist chain that attached the cuffs that were behind his back to it. There would be no putting your hands under your feet to get your hands in front of you.

The couple who was being transported was terrified. The man asked, "Is there someone tracking us? What was that thing? Who is this man?"

I asked Jack, "Where did this guy come from?"

Jack said, "It was funny, the duty man at the court house said this guy would accompany the couple through to their permanent location. The couple is strange as well, because we didn't get a full folder, just a file folder with a stat sheet and transport order."

Bobby came in the room and said, "We need to watch how we handle the couple, but the chief doesn't know what to do about this guy. He's dispatching three teams to cover and watch the area. We are to use only the sub-tactical radios to contact the teams. No commercial stuff."

I went into the storage area and pulled a clean suitcase out for our guests. "If you need additional clothing, we have a wide assortment to choose from. It would be good to wear clothes that you normally would not wear. So please pick out some apparel and use this suitcase. We want to keep this one for a while."

David had the strange agent or marshal out in the living room sitting on a couch. Jack said he had attempted to ask him for his supervisor's name or contact location, but the guy had clammed up. David had called his Orlando office and had a team on the way to the courthouse to pick up the guy who had handed off the couple with our funny prisoner.

Our new station chief, Forest Harding, called from his vehicle and said he was almost at our location. He said he was alone and would park in the driveway. We watched as an agency car pulled to the left side of the driveway. That was the correct side for them to park when using the driveway. Forest got out of the car, shut the door, and walked to the front door. Nothing unusual at all.

Bobby let him in and then he debriefed each of us as to everything up to this point. He used his cell phone and called Orlando only to find out the guard at the courthouse may not have been a real guard and was long gone. He called in to the DC operations center and briefed the duty people, asking if there was any intelligence about the guests.

Forest tried to interrogate our stranger and got as far as we did. I asked Forest if I could just kill him and put him in a bag since he was taking up space and he had to detail someone to watch him 24/7. Forest put on a good show thinking about it for a while. He said, "Too many people know we have him under watch. Perhaps you can take off some of the extra chains and maybe he'll make a break for it. That would work.

The guy had some guts because he never made a peep throughout all of our conversations.

Our guests were due to be picked up by two of our people and flown in a private plane to somewhere in Missouri and taken from there by commercial air to their final destination. Forest called S&S Air Charter, the private service, to confirm the reservations. The flight was due to leave at seven this evening. Apparently the owner and his wife were the pilots tonight, as they said they needed the flight time. We used the charter company all the time as they were dependable and had various types of planes, perfect for different types of cover.

Forest asked, "Have you guys run the gizmo over this clown yet? Let's check him to make sure he doesn't have an implant. Dave, lay him down on his stomach and put your foot in his back to keep him still. Bobby, run the gizmo over him very slowly. If he swallowed something we might pick it up either from the back or the front."

Bobby did every inch of his body from the back before we turned him over and did his front. Around his abdomen we picked up a trace signal similar to the trace signal from the other device in the safe box.

Forest said, "Okay, get him some clothes. I'm taking him to one of our teams near here. They'll take him in for an MRI and find out what's on him. How about we transport the couple to the airbase tonight and cancel the flights. We'll set something else up, but right now I want these guys out of here. Bobby, you know the procedure. Full alert until we say clear or move."

We only put a robe on the guy and put the safe box in the car with Forest. David and Jack got the couple ready to move, but we were going to use our Suburban instead of theirs. We trusted ours better. David and Jack were to follow us in their car. Bobby called one of the teams and told them that we were leaving and they were to occupy the house until we returned.

I made sure the couple was comfortable in the back seat while I arranged my firepower in the middle seat in order to be able to access the sunroof if necessary.

Bobby backed out of the garage into the street and waited until the other car was behind us, then we headed toward McDill Air Force Base. We had a standing order for a small group of rooms attached to one of the most secure areas in the United States, the Centcom barracks. The gate guards were cordial as we showed them our ID, along with our transport order. We drove up to the barracks and escorted the couple into their overnight quarters. I asked the sergeant on duty if we could get some food brought for the two agents and our guests since we had missed lunch and supper in the excitement. Soon the four were eating, enjoying their food.

Bobby and I said that we would see them again sometime and wished the couple a safe trip to where ever they were going. Instead of driving home, we stopped at the office to see what they had discovered about our prisoner and the device that had been in the luggage.