Chapter 238

They had researched us thoroughly - and especially me - and it showed in the conversation over lunch. I no longer felt uncomfortable in a room full of questioning brass. There was a time that I would have barely eaten at all, afraid I would make a mistake or say the wrong thing. But now it was almost fun.

Some questions were direct, some not so but they were on a 'fill in the blank' hunt for information. We answered carefully and often with questions of our own to which the response was often, "I can't talk about that."

The question they were pushing hard for answers to, "What was your connection to the agency?" The only answer I would give is that we were on the contractor list to supply flight services on request. When he tried to dig deeper with "Such as?" I used his answer, "I can't talk about that." That drew chuckles from around the table that he did not like.

Then there was a follow-up statement, "You seem to have some college security contracts in areas that are of high interest, did you have help in selecting which colleges to supply services to?"

"No, any college that wants our services sends in a request and an evaluation starts from that," I replied.

"And the labor supplied for that?" he asked.

"Applications, testing, interviewing; all done in-house," I replied.

The main course was being served and that ended that line of discussion, at least for awhile. I was just finishing up when my cell rang with a blocked number. I excused myself and backed away from the table to take it.

This time it was Rodney and the conversation was in Arabic. He called to inform me that the first part of the operation this morning had gone smoothly. When I turned back to the table everyone was looking at me. The conversation in Arabic had raised eyebrows.

Dessert was next served. Hot apple pie with ice cream - my favorite! I had finished the last fork-full when my cell rang again. This time it was Eric and the conversation in German. Again I stepped away as Eric asked if something should go south, could either of those girls kill.

Sie verfügen über beide gewesen geschult Janicehat sich getötet bevor wenn man ist erforderlichsie warden tun es nochmals," I replied.

What I had said in German was, "They have both been trained. Janice has killed before - if it is needed she will do it again."

I was sure that Ty and Kathryn had run a thousand what if scenarios by them when they were in Rochester for them to even be considered as possible recruits for the agency. It had possibly been discussed this morning, also. No planning session was complete without the possibility of what ifs that are not covered. Eric was looking for confirmation.

To add to that we had conversations of our own after I got the impression that the agency may be interested in them. I had asked the question, "Could you kill if the earpiece told you to as part of an operation?"

Just as I finished that statement an officer on the other side of the table who must have understood German choked on his dessert. It took two of his buddies to get him straight. Then three or four officers walked around the corner with him asking, "What happened? She said WHAT!"

Marcy asked, "What did you say?"

"We should talk about that later," I replied. "We need to go to Jenny's quarters."

I extended thanks to the General for the tour and lunch and we went to Jenny's guest quarters before they had a chance to get their thoughts together.

Jenny had let it be known in her calls to us back at the gym that she hated the regular mess food that was being served to the court by the base. We had brought several coolers of foods that she had requested, with the coolers packed with dry ice. Some of the more immediately needed things we unpacked and put in the refrigerator freezer. When there was no room for any more, we condensed the coolers, and then finished topping off the dry ice from the empty cooler. We had bought the very best coolers we could find. They were very expensive; the literature that came with them said they would keep food frozen for seven days with dry ice.