Chapter 378

I was on my way to VCATS; I knew things should be coming to a head by now at several places. I was not wrong; as soon as it keyed live Amy, Victor and Woodman were paging me.

Amy and Victor both knew why the swap was going on so I keyed them on a conference call.

“Ambassador Woodman is furious that you are going to keep the three ladies extra time,” Victor replied.

I explained in detail, “I need the three ladies to handle the social agenda at Kampala. They are here, experienced and willing to go and I do not have time to find or train other people. Even though we are preparing for the worst, we have to present the appearance of normal embassy operations. That was the point of this whole operation.”

There was silence on the screen for a few moments; finally Victor broke that silence, “Yes, that was one of the goals of the swap, we were so involved with the terror part we never considered the social aspect and with the six week stay, it will be necessary.”

“What do we do about Woodman?” Amy replied.

“Tell him I pulled rank, that I need my employees for a special project for six weeks.” I replied.

“I am going to add him to the conference call,” Amy replied.

“Good morning Ambassador Woodman; good to see you again,” I replied.

“Good morning Amy. Victor, I did not know you would be on this call. I was told that Alice, Ellen and Linda could come back after their training; now I am told they are not coming back for six weeks and Cynthia is packing up all their belongings to go to Kampala.”

“I want to know why before I file an official protest with the Secretary. What is so damn important in Kampala to take my people?” Ambassador Woodman almost screamed.

“It’s above your pay grade,” Amy replied.

“I have classified clearance,” Ambassador Woodman yelled.

“What is going on at Kampala is three levels above that; as I said, above your pay grade. Outside of the White House there are only 6 people who know the full story and you are talking to three of them. Make any noise and you will be called to Washington for an operational review; that would be a red X in the file and censure. We do not need any traffic that might be monitored or hacked,” Amy said.

Hmm, had she just pulled rank on him and added a threat? Sounded like it to me.

“I don’t care and I still don’t like it,” Woodman responded before he closed the window.

“There is something else going on there,” Amy replied.

“Yes and it is criminal. When I return you will have a complete report. Don’t you think it is odd that a site that is at the very bottom of the risk scale has three body guards for the ambassador’s wife? Re-evaluate the security needs there so we can discuss the details in six weeks. I would like to take two of those ladies out today,” I replied.

“Oh no, don’t do that today. He is upset enough,” Amy replied.

“OK, I have work to do and time is running out,” I replied.

I paged Ambassador Joe Bernardi at the Kampala embassy. I guess I was slightly negligent; I should have talked to him before now.

“Good evening Ambassador, I am not interrupting supper am I?” I asked.

“No, just finished and was finishing up things for tonight. You are going to run things for me while I have whatever secret surgery I am to have,” he replied.

“I heard that surgery is pretty sensitive but has a good success rate,” I replied.

“Well, just what is it? You seem to know more than I do,” he replied with a laugh.

“You don’t know? Wow, they are going to add 4 inches to your cock and make you 2 inches taller, make you 20 years younger and double your libido,” I said as I tried to keep a straight face.

“I don’t think my back can stroke 4 more inches,” he said before he broke out laughing.

“Either you know more than I do and they have sworn you to secrecy, or as little as I do,” he replied.

“You have been at this longer than I have, so we will just let it go at that. I have some questions for you.” We talked about an hour. I asked about the availability of sand to set up a beach volley ball court for exercise and about trucks to bring the pallets of materials to the embassy.

I learned that it could take a week for a trucking company to make the delivery. I did not want the items we were taking to be sitting on a freight dock for a week in that part of the world.

I also learned that while Kampala was the home to over a million people, it was the melting pot for the region with hundreds of ethnic groups and the problems that mix created.