Chapter 472

Section 12 was busy when we got back. The questions I had asked about Saif and his entry were yielding results. When the Exxon Val Diageo left the New Jersey oil terminals, the records showed the tanker was carrying three fewer crewmen.

That prompted a search of all the Exxon Val Diageo trips in the last two years. Each time it left port to return to the Middle East oil terminals, it left with fewer crewmen; sometimes three, sometimes four or more.

That prompted a search of all tankers that came into the East coast. It was a search process that was going to take days, let alone the other questions; who were they and where are they now.

It was easy to understand why a tanker would not wait in port for a missing crewman. Daily lease rates for a supertanker were $95,000 a day. Not only that, when a departure time was posted, as many as four tugs were contracted to get the ship away from the terminal and the river pilot was already on board.

The vessel to pick up the river pilot was also contracted and enroute to take him off the ship. Departing and arriving was an expensive exercise. The captain was given strict orders to get underway at the appointed time or else.

The simple numbers said that these were not crewman missing the ship; these were people paying to be carried into the US illegally. The Exxon Val Diageo had dropped off ninety in the last two years.

The question was where were they now? This had been going on a year before Saif made the trip. That meant that Saif was not the leader but a middle man. Was he recruited and paid to build vests and bombs? Had he muscled his way to be the leader?

The next question was, were they all part of the same terrorist group? If they were, we had a much bigger problem than anyone imagined.

The men were poring over Coast Guard records, looking for other tankers and other freighters that may have been doing the same thing.

The Friday traffic home was miserable. Thanksgiving weekend was just two weekends away and the weather was still Indian summer, chilly nights and warm days.

One pour had been done on the new tarmac, fifty feet deep by four hundred feet wide. Another one would be done tomorrow. Twenty - four left after tomorrow, twelve weeks’ worth and add in the holidays - it was not looking good to be finished by bad weather.

Saturday started off with a big home cooked breakfast for my mates and the boys. My first since last Sunday, it was a pleasure to watch the boys in the highchairs eating little bits of eggs, bacon and scrapple. They loved Sugar Smacks.

After breakfast we went to Morton Field to see the second pour that Jake’s crew was doing. I expected to see the new pour next to the one done Thursday; it was not. It was on the far end. Other crews were digging for the next pours and welders were putting rebar together; two more trenches scattered along the new tarmac pad.

I did not understand this process. I would have to get Jake to explain it to me sometime.

Back at the office, the girls and I had a relaxing conversation. The basement was done as Bob promised, including the command center that I wanted with the theater seating. Marcy and the girls were going to plan what and who to put down there next week.

Robert had all the screens for the command center room installed and checked out by the manufacturer’s representatives. Marcy did jokingly ask if we could put a popcorn machine in the kitchen, “Robert says we can have movie night in there with the sound system that came with it.”

The new equipment Robert had ordered was already down there and hooked up. Whatever he ordered must have been big. All the data on the mainframes had been transferred to one new computer and he had ordered several. They moved the existing computers down there Sunday morning.

Marcy commented on how fast all the computers were working, like a bullet. Even the remote MAAR sites noticed the difference in speed.

All Bob’s men had finished their passport applications and visited the doc for the shots. Four weeks was pushing the minimum limit on the shots, but it had to be done.

Bob thought he would have trouble finding seventy-five men to go over the holidays. When they found out the pay, some had to be turned down even though they would be gone from mid December to the end of January.

Bob had ordered all the materials on the list and they would start being delivered in the coming weeks. They were to be stored in one of the hangars. Marcy had already confirmed all the rooms for the men.