Chapter 13

Flashback Natasha (Jens) — Kabul Afghanistan - Wednesday 17 October

Liz had me worried as hell because she should have contacted me by now. I searched with the computer to see if I could find information on her and I got a popup which announced an e-mail from her. It blew my mind because it was WAY outside our established protocol.

I read her e-mail and called Linus over. "Linus, it looks like Glen grabbed Liz and Bernie. She sent me an e-mail to my normal account. How would you assess the security risk?"

He stopped messing with the cute little Suzuki, came over and looked at the e-mail. "Well it's not good that she sent it to your email account. But it was from a mobile phone and you did go into the account through the web interface and a few proxy servers. I think you're okay but make sure you don't reply to her."

"Come on Linus, you keep forgetting I'm not a newb."

He laughed and explained, "No I remember, I just like to tease you about it."

I gave him a nasty look because it reminded me of an unpleasant chain of events early in Ben and my relationship which we hadn't mentioned it before. "You remind me of an old guy who liked to do the same thing. He was always trying to be funny in e-mails to me. I don't know if I took it wrong or read more into what he said than he meant, but his e-mails either upset me or offended me. We were like oil and water: He loved to tease me and wouldn't back off."

Linus gave me a serious look and asked, "So what did you do?"

"Well, the last time he bothered me was the final straw. He ordered me to do something so I stopped answering his e-mails and blocked his address on my account. I won't ever correspond with him or see him again."

Linus was shocked. "Damn that's pretty severe isn't it?"

"Linus, I warned him multiple times and Ben warned him multiple times but he still wouldn't listen. He just kept after me. I had to do something because I would get angry at him and then Ben would suffer."

Linus said, "So you're warning me in a nice way not to go overboard with teasing you."

I smiled at him and responded. "Please, especially right now. I have enough stress without you adding to it."

"I'm amazed you just didn't kick his butt. That's what I would normally expect you to do."

"Believe me, I thought about it. But I didn't do it out of respect for Ben and respect for him."

Linus gave me a funny look and added, "Jens, sometimes you amaze me. I need to get back to work on the Suzuki."

I felt much better knowing Liz was okay and even chortled a little. She was going to kick Glen's ass so hard he wouldn't be able to shit for a month - and he deserved it. I almost wanted to be there to see it.

I checked the drafts folder of the account and found the reply from Matt and Jim but didn't find anything from Jack yet. I decided to wait on a reply until he contacted me. I decided to get some sleep and said, "Hey Linus, I'm going to crash for a while." I lay down on the cot but couldn't get to sleep right away because I could sense what was happening to Ben.

Flashback Glen — Kabul Afghanistan - Wednesday 17 October

Things were royally fucked up now! All hell broke loose because somehow word leaked I had Liz and her cameraman locked up in the brig. Phone calls poured in from DC and I was getting my ass chewed off on every one. They even had audio of the conversation I had with the fucking little bitch. And now other news crews were outside asking to talk to me. I pushed the button on the intercom and ordered, "Get Liz Morgan and her cameraman up here right now."

I told my secretary to tell everyone I was in a meeting. I was so tired of talking to the DC dickheads. I was pissed as hell as I waited for her to show up. They showed her and the cameraman into the office and she sat right in the chair. She looked at her watch, gave me a shit-eating grin and added, "Well Glen this took about a half hour longer than I estimated."

I knew I needed to be more careful this time. "Ms. Morgan, it seems we had a misunderstanding and I'd like to apologize to you. I just wanted to make sure you and your cameraman were safe."

She looked at me and responded, "Glen we know that isn't the truth. We need to talk in private."

I looked at her and asked, "Ms. Morgan, I've already been burned by you. How do I know it won't happen again?"

She stood up and said, "Bernie, here's my mobile phone. Take a hike but stay close." The cameraman took the phone, left the room and she continued, "Just so you know Glen, I don't totally trust you. If I'm not out of here in thirty minutes Bernie contacts everyone again." Then she gave me the shit-eating grin and said, "I'm sure you don't want that to happen."

"Liz that was a sneaky trick you pulled on me," I barked.

She shook her head and then explained the situation, "Glen getting Marine on me isn't going to work. I'm not afraid of you so knock it off. We can either talk or you can get your fucking ass chewed some more by my friends."

I thought for a few moments and relented, "Okay Liz. I want to know where Jens is."

"Glen, this isn't a lie. I don't know where she is right now."

"Do you know where she was earlier today?"

"Glen, I will answer this question for you honestly, but then you have to listen to me and answer my questions. Do we have a deal?"

I thought about it and decided I can always BS her later so I answered, "Sure Liz we have a deal."

"Yes Glen, knew where she was earlier today. But she dumped Bernie and me because we're dead weight."

"Liz, do you know what she's planning to do?" I was getting pissed because she kept grinning at me.

"Glen, she's doing what you refused to do - she's going to rescue Ben."

"Liz cut the crap, Ben's dead. Evelyn keeps showing me the video."

The smile continued as she answered with a question, "Glen, did you see or find a body?"

"No. We can't get into the area."

Liz next asked, "What about the object that flew out of the chopper?"

"Liz, we can't tell what it is."

She smiled even bigger. "Glen I can. We sent the video to the best post production house in the country. The object is a Marine. Jens says it's Ben."

"Liz there's no proof it's Ben," I continue to argue.

Finally the grin left her face but instead she looked upset. "And there's no proof it isn't Ben. What about Jens, don't you believe her?"

"Evelyn says she's just consumed by grief. We need to find her and bring her home for therapy. So if you know where she is, I would appreciate it if you would tell me."

"Glen, I've been truthful with you before and I can truthfully say now, I have no idea where she is. Now I've answered your questions it's time for you to return the favor."

"One more thing Liz, if you hear from here do you promise to contact me?"

"Glen, you've used up all your favors with me today. It's time for you to answer a few questions."

I originally thought Liz knew where Jens was but I now believe she doesn't. I'm not real happy about the whole situation but I reply, "Okay Liz, I'm ready."

I watched as she almost physically transformed and she became a hard-assed news reporter. "General, first you should know I don't really trust you and I never have. I tolerate you because you're Jens' father. All my reporter instincts tell me something is going on, something dirty. You'd better hope you're not involved because I will hang you if you are."

"Liz," I started but she interrupted me, "That's Ms. Morgan to you right now."

"Ms. Morgan. I don't know what you're talking about."

"General, let me lay it out for you. First Jens and Ben almost get killed at the sniper competition. Did you investigate who hired the Russian hit men masquerading as snipers?"

"Ms. Morgan, we just assumed it was Middle East terrorists."

She grinned at me and asked, "You know what happens when you assume? You make an ass out of u and me. I would suggest you have it investigated, because it doesn't feel right to me."

"Liz..." She gave me a dirty look and I changed the wording, "Ms. Morgan, we didn't think it was worthy of investigation."

"General, who the hell gave you that bit of bad advice?"

I didn't want to tell her the truth so I lied, "one of my advisors."

"You need to fire their asses and get someone decent. Next, they get sent on a FUBAR mission by General Stockman. You need to investigate the hell out of him because he's crooked as a dog's hind leg. Did you even know about or authorize the mission?"

She is treading on dangerous ground so I hide behind security and answer, "Ms. Morgan, because of national security I can't answer the question."

She grinned again and replied, "Okay, you just told me with your answer you didn't know about the mission. So the bastard Stockman had some sort of ulterior motive. I guess it doesn't matter that Jens almost died on the mission?"

I got pissed and retorted, "It sure as hell mattered. If it wasn't for Ben she would have died."

"That's fucking right! Ben saved Jens life and you leave him in a piece of shit country to be tortured and probably killed. What the fuck happened to no man left behind?"

"Ms. Morgan, we can't afford to go in right now and recover the bodies. Besides they were burnt to hell in the chopper."

Liz stood up pissed as hell and yelled at me, "You stupid fat bastard, except for the one Marine who was thrown out of the chopper! It was Ben and he's still alive!"

I stood up and answered her, "Ms. Morgan, I will not be insulted in my own office by some stupid whore pretending to be a two bit news hack who fucks anyone to get her stories. Get the hell out of my office and don't ever come back."

She grinned at me. "General, you've just made the biggest mistake of your life. I'm leaving and I will be back when I have proof of the conspiracy. You'd better pray to God your ass isn't involved or I'll hang you. By the fucking way, I expect the Marines to pay for my damaged equipment."

As she started to storm out of the office, I yelled, "don't let the fucking door hit you in your flat fucking ass." Son of a bitch! I don't believe she called me a stupid fat bastard. I hope the fucking Taliban catch her and torture the hell out of her. Stupid whore!

Flashback Bernie — Kabul Afghanistan - Wednesday 17 October

I was in the outer office with Glen's secretary and Captain Piece and we heard the whole exchange between Glen and Liz. She ripped him a new asshole and then came flying into the outer office and got right in Captain Pierce's face. "You'd better have my purse and it had better have all the money in it or I'm going to chew your ass worse than I chewed the fat bastard's."

He held out her purse and she snatched it out of his hands and looked inside. She caught my eye and grinned and winked. She was happy with the purse and we walked out of the office. She paused before we went outside as she fixed her makeup and hair, took the money and her IDs out of the purse and threw it in the trash.

"Bernie, take all you valuables and IDs out of your wallet and throw it in the trash too. I'm almost sure they put bugs or tracking devices in my purse and probably your wallet."

I did as I was told and started to say something but she held her finger to her lips and smiled. We walked outside and there were several news crews waiting. They all ran up and Liz went into her actress mode. They were asking her bunches of questions and she held up her hands, "I want to personally thank each and every one of you for reporting this story and helping us to get released."

One of the reporters asked, "Ms. Morgan, why were you detained."

She replied, "It's an obvious case of abuse of power. General Donaldson thought we knew where his daughter Sergeant Jennifer Donaldson is hiding. We have no idea where she is and he wouldn't take no for an answer."

"Is it true they destroyed all your camera gear?" another asked.

"Yes it is. They told us there wasn't room for the equipment in a Stryker. Come on those things are huge! So they put it on the back. When it got here it was full of small caliber bullet holes. I told General Donaldson I hold the Marines responsible for replacing our equipment. I would love to talk longer, but we need to find a safe place to stay where megalomaniacs like General Donaldson won't arrest us."

We walked away and I said, "Damn Liz you sure got Glen pissed off."

She smiled at me, "Yes it worked perfectly. Thanks for letting me borrow your phone and then taking it back from me."

"You recorded the whole thing again."

"I most certainly did Bernie. You don't think I'd lose an opportunity like this. You would think some day he would learn."

"So Liz, what's the plan? With BW and now the Marines pissed at us are we heading back to America?"

"No fucking way. I'm not letting them chase me out of this country. We'll leave when I'm damn well ready to leave and not a minute sooner. But first we're going to get our back up gear and then we're going underground."

Liz pulled out her phone and dialed a number.

Flashback Liz — Kabul Afghanistan - Wednesday 17 October

I didn't let Bernie know, but I was seriously concerned about our safety. Once things simmered down between BW and the Muslims they'd be after my ass again. And after my little discussion with Glen I knew the Marines weren't going to help us.

I only knew of one place to go, so I made the call. "Greetings Dariush, I bet you didn't think you'd hear from me again."

"Ms. Morgan, it is indeed a fortunate day for me to hear from you again so soon. I wish I could hope it was to accept my earlier proposition. But I know better."

"Dariush, you smooth talker you. No wonder all your Muslim wives love you. I called today to ask you for a favor."

"Ms. Morgan, I feel honored. This is the first time you have asked me for a favor, what may I do for you?"

"Dariush, it seems I've gotten a few people upset at me and I need a safe place to stay and a couple of fearless body guards would be nice."

"Ah yes Ms. Morgan, it seems like you and your friends being here have greatly helped my business. I had visits from both sides asking for information, so tell me which one is upset at you?"

"Well, it would be BW and also the Marines."

I hear him chuckle as he said, "So it's true. You are the one who shot four BW ops and ran over one in a Humvee. Yes, they are very upset at you. But what did you do to the Marines since I thought you were good friends with them."

"It seems their General and I had a heated discussion," I said.

He laughed, "Ms. Morgan I will gladly find you a safe place to stay. And I think we will be able to find men to be your body guards."

"Dariush, we are picking up our gear and I was wondering if we could get safe passage to your place and some side arms?"

"Ms. Morgan, I will send Ahmil in my Mercedes to pick you up. He will also know the correct response."

I hung up the phone and we walked towards the gate.

Flashback Jack — Wednesday 17 October

The phone woke me and I was a little sleepy until the heard the disguised voice. It was as good as a cup of strong black coffee for making me instantly awake. It took about two seconds to figure out it was Jens and to also figure out the website and the password.

I hung up the phone and Masha said, "Jack honey, who was that?"

"Masha it was a very strange phone call from Banzai's fiancé, Jennifer Donaldson, and I need get on the computer."

"Jack, can't it wait until morning? Come back to bed."

"No Masha, I think this is important." I'd heard Banzai was dead and Jens was AWOL. I needed to get to the bottom of this.

I fired up the computer and went to the email account and read her message. I couldn't believe it because she said Banzai was captured and the Marines weren't doing anything about it.

God Dammit! I could not believe it. I spent the rest of the night checking out her story and after the hours I spent researching, it checked out.

I logged back into the email account and started a new message.

I must say I am fucking surprised and upset. I couldn't believe it so I verified things and you are correct. J, I am so sorry and you can count me in. Let me know when and where 'cause I want to kick butt and take names.

J

I went back to bed, "Mmm, Jack I missed you. The bed was cold as a Moscow night without you."

"Masha, I hate to tell you but I need to go away for a while."

She quickly sat up. I recalled the day we met and how I became the luckiest man in the world. "Jack, is it about the phone call?"

"Yes Masha, it looks like Banzai needs my help."

"Jack, I thought he was dead?"

"Masha, the Marines think he's dead. But Jens says he's been captured and the terrorists are torturing him."

I saw a few tears in her eyes as she said, "Poor Jennifer, she must be going crazy. Jack he saved you many times, and is responsible for us meeting and marrying, you must go and help. But please take care of yourself. Our baby will need a father when he is born."

She is such a good woman and I am so lucky I thought as I promised, "Masha, I will be back for the birth of our first child." I went into the second bedroom and made sure my go bag was ready. Then I went back to the computer and waited for Jens' reply.

Flashback Natasha (Jens) — Kabul Afghanistan - Wednesday 17 October

I slept like crap for about two hours and woke up with stabbing pains in my legs. It felt like something was eating them or biting at them. The pain disappeared when I woke up - I guess it was a bad dream.

Linus had finished the shield on the front of the Suzuki and was sawing logs on the other cot. I sleepily shuffled over to the computer and checked the email account. I wanted to jump up and down because Jack was on board. I created a new message and posted it in the drafts folder.

Okay guys, here's the deal. We need to move very quickly on this.

M&J tomorrow morning you two need to tell everyone you are going on a training run and accidentally get lost. You will really board a private jet at 0700 and be here tomorrow night. Make sure you leave everything so it looks like you are coming back. Do not tell your wives.

J, tomorrow a jet shows up for you at the same time. I know you've already told M but I know she can be trusted.

I look forward to meeting you all tomorrow night. We will pick you up at the airport.

Semper Fi J

I set up the flights, leaned back in the chair and relaxed for the first time in weeks. I was almost asleep when the perimeter alarm started beeping. Linus was up in a flash and turned on the outside IR monitors. We both watched as a dog ran away from the building.

I looked at Linus and admitted, "Damn, that scared the crap out of me."

"I was having such a good dream and the damn dog ruined it."

"Linus, it looks like my three guys are on board. They should be here tomorrow night. How's it coming with your guys?"

"Let me check the computer." He went to check his site. "It looks like only two can make it. One guy messed up his knee. I'll make the arrangements to get them here."

He finished and I asked, "Linus, will these guys be able to follow instructions?"

He replied, "They should do well. Are you going to run the op?"

"I think we'll run this as a team and all have an input. It would be a shame not to use all the experience we have on the team. In the field I'd like to make Jack the lead and you the second."

He looked astonished, "Natasha, I figured you'd run the op in the field."

"Linus, I'm too emotionally attached to this to make good decisions. I trust Jack and you to make the right decisions."

"Natasha, I'm honored you'd trust me."

"One more thing, Linus, I'm going to ask you to watch me and make sure I don't do something crazy. I-I-I can't trust myself not get captured," I admitted and started crying.

Flashback Linus — Kabul Afghanistan - Wednesday 17 October

Jens was very upset and I didn't know what to do. I wanted to hug her but was worried she'd kick the shit out of me. I needed to get her mind off things.

"Natasha, I'll get to work on the gear. Why don't you look at Stockman's files?"

She looked at me and cursed, "Shit, I forgot all about those!"

Flashback Natasha (Jens) — Kabul Afghanistan - Tuesday 16 October

Dammit! I just wasn't thinking straight! Too much worry, too little sleep and I'd forgotten all about the files from Stockman's computer. I opened the folder and realized we needed to save this somewhere in case this computer was lost. I went into Liz's secure server and uploaded the whole folder. Then I tried to unravel this convoluted mystery.

There was so much data it was almost overwhelming, so I sat back, closed my eyes and analyzed the data. Sometime later I heard someone yelling, "Hey Natasha wake up, you're snoring."

It reminded me so much of Ben I opened my eyes and expected to see him. I was disappointed when I saw Linus and he must have seen it on my face. "Gee Natasha, you don't have to look like you're upset to see me."

"Sorry Linus, I hoped to see Ben. He used to tell me I snored." Then I realized, while I was sleeping my mind came up with a plan. I started a recursive sort on the folder and sub-folders by date and copied the results into a new folder. I watched as the screen and hard disk flashed, shit there were a bunch of files. But now I would have them in a chronological sequence.

After ten minutes I had the results and started looking at the older data first. There were shipping records, sales records, yield records, emails but nothing described what the hell it was they were selling. I pulled up the web browser and brought up a map and looked at the areas the records talked about. Slowly I could see things start to make sense - and I was pissed as hell!

I stood up, walked to a stationary bag Linus had hanging and started beating the shit out of it. Linus came over, waited for me to finish and asked, "Natasha what has you so pissed off?"

I was sweating up a storm, all my clothes were soaked but I answered, "Linus go over and look at the sorted folder and the map I pulled up and let me know what it tells you."

I wasn't done so I attacked the bag again. A half hour later he came over as I collapsed to the floor, exhausted.

"I hope the hell you left something in the bag for me to beat!" he yelled as he laid into the bag.

Twenty minutes later he was done and said, "Natasha the bastard's been running a fucking drug operation."

"Linus I came to the same conclusion, but neither of us has looked deep enough. There's other things going on that I can't quite figure out and I need to do more research."

I went back to the computer and started pouring over the data again. It was all the same, the bastard had been growing, refining, shipping and selling drugs ever since he took over the base. There were emails between bunches of people, many of which had IP address information so I knew the DEA could figure out who they were. This was going to be a major bust.

About a year ago the records showed a dip in their sales and I wondered what was going on. I found the answer in an email - a competitor started operating close to his turf. The new group furnished drugs for less money in order to steal their customers. His group was pissed because they had to cut the price and profit of their fucking drugs to compete.

There were a bunch of emails between people trying to figure out what to do. Finally one from the account I had tagged as Stockman said he had a solution: He was going to send in a two person team to recon and maybe take out the building. Someone asked if he was going to hire mercs and I could almost hear Stockman laugh when he answered he'd been asked by a friend to find a mission for a couple of Marines. I about shit my pants when I looked at the date and I realized it was the mission Ben and I went on!

I went back to the bag and beat it up some more, "You fucking son of a bitch, sending us on a fucking mission to destroy a fucking-son-of-a-bitch drug plant. I'm going to kick your ass so hard your nose will bleed..." I was swearing and kicking and hitting the bag until I couldn't even move. I fell to the floor crying so Linus came over, picked me up and carried me to the cot.

I was crying a steady stream of tears, "Linus, the bastard sent Ben and me on a mission to destroy the rival drug factory. That was where I got appendicitis and Ben saved me."

"Natasha, we'll fry his ass for this. Don't worry, once it gets out he is a major drug supplier, everyone I know will be gunning for him. We hate fucking drug runners."

I turned over the other side of the cot and tried to puke but I only had dry heaves. Then I rolled back. Linus covered me and gently said, "Natasha get some sleep."

Flashback Linus — Kabul Afghanistan - Tuesday 16 October

I went over and looked at the intel Jens just got through reviewing. Shit! She was right! He sent them on the mission she talked about. I looked around some more and found an email I was glad she didn't see. It was a request for Stockman to find some dangerous mission for SM Blaine. The next email cussed the hell out of him for sending Jens on the same mission and threatened to 'take him out' if he didn't 'take care of SM Blaine.' Finally there were congratulations for a job well done and a big payment.

I hid the emails from Jens because she couldn't cope with them right now. I emailed a few of my other hacker friends with the IP addresses from the emails and asked if they would trace the computers. The addresses were old, but the hackers were really good and I thought they might be able to pull it off. If so, we'd know who all the bastards involved in this fucking drug operation were.

I sat back and thought about what happened to this information if I died. I went into my personal email account and created an email describing everything, even attaching the hidden emails as proof. I set the send date to one month from today and sent it to my entire address book. If I didn't die, I would go back into my email and delete it and it would never be sent.

I knew Jens had copied the data to Liz's server, but I decided it wasn't enough. I needed someplace safe and hidden to store the data. I racked my brain because it needed to be the last place someone would look. Then I remembered the old VAX¹ server from my college days. I wondered if it was still online and if I still had an account. I also wondered if they'd left BSD Unix on it. I tried to remember my logon information and digitally headed to where the server used to be.

¹VAX (Virtual Address eXtension) server — It is an established line of mid-range server computers from the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). It followed DEC's PDP-11 in 1978 and also introduced a new operating system, VMS. With BSD Unix installed it is a favorite of hackers for its especially large and programmer-friendly set of assembler instructions.

I was greeted with the familiar screens and started filling them in.

Username: LinusT

Password:•••••••••••••

Welcome to OpenVMS on node CMellon

Last interactive login on Friday, 11-DEC-2000 08:41

Last non-interactive login on Thursday, 10-DEC-2000 11:05

$-

I checked the server and noticed no one had used it for years, but they still kept it running. You have to love old forgotten systems because they are such good places to stash things. I checked to make sure there was enough disk space - there was. Then I uploaded the original encrypted file to the VAX server. After it uploaded I touched² the date on the file to make sure it looked like it was stored when I went to school. I setup a process to email me if anyone messed with the file and then hacked my logon date, time and the logs to erase any traces of me being in the system.

²touch command — Only worked because BSD UNIX was installed (otherwise you'd need GNV(GNU's Not VMS) installed). A UNIX command lets you change the create time and access time of a file.

Now I felt better. Very few people would think of looking on the old server for anything.

I looked over and Jens was still sleeping but not soundly. She wriggled and made a bunch of noise when she slept and snored occasionally. It wasn't as bad as the other Seals I used to work with. I checked the perimeter one more time and then crawled off to sleep in my cot.

Flashback Liz — Kabul Afghanistan - Wednesday 17 October

As we waited just inside the gate of the base you could hear random and sporadic gunfire coming from Kabul. I guess we had opened up a real can of worms. I had BW and the Marines pissed off and Jens and Linus have the Muslims pissed off. God I hope those two weren't in the Humvee when it slammed into the mosque. It wasn't the plan Jens described - it was even more suicidal.