Chapter 58

Thornburgh brought troops.

"That doesn't look like money," Andrea said.

She was unrecognizable. For days the boat crew ... all three of them ... and the Ambassador ... had been throwing away everything the ATF had destroyed. The Marines had loaned her one of those long scrap bins ... the crew had it about half full ... it stank. The King's Knight had a walk-in cooler and a huge freezer plus a big pantry and storage for a years supply of hygiene products. They had had cases and cases of MRE's.

In 1988, MRE's were just coming on the surplus market ... C-Rations were still available and in a few places K's were still on the shelves of the surplus stores.

The ATF agents had opened and shredded every thing. Even the Tabasco had been opened and tossed. The meat from the cooler and freezer had been gone through and tossed aside.

When asked, the LAIC (Local Agent In Charge) said, "Criminals hide what we're looking for in the strangest places."

"What are your Agents looking for?"

"What ever we find."

"Don't you think... ?"

He interrupted his interrogator, "We don't think..."

And was interrupted in turn, "We noticed."

"Right now there's no evidence to bring in the Drug Enforcement Agency but one never knows what one will find. So we look at everything."

"I see."

So, when Attorney General Thornburgh approached the boat he thought Andrea was part of the cleanup crew. Well, she looked it. Her hair was bound up in a bandana, her jeans were filthy, her tee shirt was torn from a sharp edge, her face was greased and blackened ... just like the rest of the crew. They looked exactly like what they were doing ... a cleanup crew four days into a real mess.

The boat wasn't any better: the rigging was gone, the mast had been pulled, there were holes in the deck where the turrets were going to go ... port, starboard and stern. The hull had been cut and a thirteen foot 'plug' was in the process of being constructed to lengthen the boat to one hundred feet. The bow section was in a separate cradle and a Navy crew was cutting out the German tubes in preparation for the placement of two Mark 37 tubes.

"We have a lot of Mark 37 torpedoes," the Navy Chief had said to David, "They're obsolete and have been replaced. We won't go into that. These are the latest mods. They're smaller than those German torps and we can let you have eight plus two in the tubes."

Thornburgh climbed the rolling stair at the stern. As he went past the name and home port he suddenly realized there had not only been a HUGE mistake made but someone had been remiss in passing on certain information. He stopped at the top of the stair and spoke to the Army Captain in charge of the detachment of troops accompanying him.

"Captain, there's been a mistake. I'm not sure exactly how bad a mistake but it would be better if you and your troops were to stand down someplace over there." He pointed at the only clear spot on the dry dock. "Keep an eye on the boat but, don't come aboard armed. That's all we would need ... invading foreign soil with armed troops."

"Sir ... it's a boat ... not soil."

"If what I think happened, happened ... the Coast Guard seized a National warship, and the ATF trashed it."

The troops assembled themselves in the designated spot, stacked arms and fell out.

Thornburgh took the last step to the top of the platform and hollered, "Hello the Boat."

Jake showed up ... the Attorney General was sure a serious mistake had been made. The man who appeared at the pilothouse door was obviously a foreign national...

'Shit, shit, shit, he thought, 'I hope he's just part of the cleaning crew.'

Jake recognized the man ... here was his tormentor. This was the man who pulled his passport, stopped his gainful employment, forced him into homelessness. It might not have been him directly but he did nothing to stop it. In the singsong India English accent he had used to hide behind he said, "Assistance you are seeking? Help I can."

Andrea was behind him and immediately snickered. Jake grinned.

"Andrea Koenigsknecht," asked Thornburgh, "Is she here?"

"Mrs. Ambassador you are seeking? Calling you are? Expecting you she is?"

"Ah..." 'What is he saying?' "I need to speak to her."

"Appointment you have."

"No."

"Courtesy expected before seeing ... she."

Andrea stepped through the door, "Jake, quit picking on the man." She smiled sweetly. He face was so smeared she looked like she was about to bite.

"May I be of assistance?"

"I think there's been a terrible mistake. I need to speak with Ambassador Koenigsknecht."

"She's not here." Andrea struggled to keep a straight face. "but the Duchess of Rákóczi-Hapsburg is. Perhaps she can help." It was Jakes turn to suppress a giggle.

'Oh, great! ... Worse and worse. Now I need the State Department.' "I could speak to her."