Chapter 530

My security team picked me up early today; we were still varying the times. I wondered when I would be able to stop this foolishness and had that discussion with Andy and the girls.

I reluctantly agree to continue until the end of my term at the task force, four weeks and four days to go.

It was good to be able to see all the day people in the office and have a normal conversation with them. I finally had time to talk with Cindy, Susie Q and Mark to see how they liked the Vice President positions now that they had been in them for a few weeks.

I got to sit in on the first full length business meeting in days instead of hearing just the highlights. I was glad to hear that the Pig Iron Point permitting process was ahead of schedule. The state and county environmental departments signed off immediately after determining the creosote would be removed. Jenny had to send confirming letters to both. The federal part had two more approvals to go through.

The rest of the news was good. We left early; Lisa had stayed with the boys all day. She had crock pots with beef, pork, mashed potatoes, gravy and rolls. Lisa, Jason, Jake and Mindy finished out the family meal. The boys were getting better at feeding themselves. We had a great family evening; hot tub and a feel, fondle and cuddle session.

It was Thursday, just two more days this week to make the trip. I needed real private time with the girls and boys. This job was beginning to wear on me.

Things started to go downhill by nine; General Ingram had been in twice and closed the door both times.

There were big meetings going on upstairs in several rooms, meetings that I did not even have clearance to attend, not that I wanted to.

He had been frustrated in his attempts to do anything in regards to meeting in La Jarita Mexico.

The best he could come up with was satellite surveillance of the area with increased border security and hope they could catch the traitor going across. None of which were much help in either of our opinions.

For one thing, I thought the components were already across the border stashed somewhere. Why run the risk of carrying all of it at one time? A box of switches or other small parts isn’t going to pique the interest of a border guard but all of it together may.

That would possibly mean there were partners in the cartel.

My thoughts were interrupted by my phone.

“The two are negotiating again. The one is still bouncing but originating from Virginia but the other is fixed at Havana. I’m sending the GPS numbers; use your fancy system to locate them,” Robert said.

The government’s fancy Google didn’t have any trouble finding the spot. It was a freighter at the commercial dock flying the Iranian flag in Havana. After checking the international shipping schedule the general cargo freighter Alvan was 168 meters long. It was scheduled to leave tonight and dock tomorrow at Tampico. Tampico was on Mexico’s east coast, a marine terminal plus a major support terminal for the offshore oil wells.

From La Jarita Mexico to Tampico was over 300 miles through some of the most contested cartel territory. If I was betting it would be a drug plane flying the buyer to La Jarita and then flying the purchase back to a grass strip near Tampico to be loaded on the Alvan.

As I was thinking, the computer kept running; the Alvin was scheduled to depart Tampico two days later for Caracas Venezuela. Iran had agreements with Venezuela and made suspicious flights with military personnel. That’s how the parts were going to make the trip to Iran.

I called Frank. I knew the agency should have assets there, or at least I thought they would. I called the General to make the trip to see me for the third conference of the morning.

“What have you found out?” I asked. I wanted to know what his spooks were doing.

When he responded with nothing new I filled him on what I knew.

“We have assets working there but they are few,” Frank replied.

I called and asked the General the same question and gave him the same information. It was a screw-up at several levels; security reviews had been ordered. A full scale investigation was held off as not to scare everyone away. The DOD in the critical weapons destruction group, the nuclear weapons tracking group and the NRC that was to track and have control of the weapons core were all going to be in the hot seat.