Chapter 11

Present – Jens – In the tunnels

Hammer dragged a person into the room, Linus just finished one of his terrible jokes (thanks Daddy!), and I declare, "I'm not sure which was worse the drugged water or the joke. Now Hammer what makes you think this man isn't a Marine?"

Hammer answers, "Th' dobber gart up some tossel an' bull story abit hoo he'd saved th' General. He was braggin' tae aw th' other men."

Daddy looked at him and swore, "Like hell he did! I've never seen this man in my life."

Hammer nodded his head, "Och aye, that's whit Ah thought. Plus he does nae hae dug tags."

Todd signs, "If you don't mind, I would like a chance to interrogate him."

Daddy commands, "Go ahead do whatever it takes to get the information out of him."

I interrupt, "Excuse me but this is my cabin and I'm still the boss here. Todd, please interrogate the prisoner but don't kill him."

Daddy laughs, "Spoken like a real Princess Boss."

I stamp my foot and complain, Sharik barks while everyone else laughs...

Present – Todd – In the tunnels

I request, "Linus could you help me interrogate the prisoner?"

Linus replies, "Sure, I'd like to watch how you do it."

We move the prisoner to another room and I sign, "Linus tie him firmly to a chair."

Linus binds him to a chair and the prisoner boldly states, "There's no way I'm telling you anything."

I sign and Linus translates, "When I'm finished, you will have told me everything that you know and then some."

Linus questions, "What sort of torture do you have planned?"

I sign an answer, "Torture never works. They will give you any answer just to stop the torture. However the medicinal herbs I will give him will have him singing like a jaybird."

I open my pack, remove the medicinal substances and prepare the mixture. Then I sign, "Linus help me force him to drink this."

Linus grabs his head, holds his mouth open with one hand while I plug his nose with my other hand and pour the mixture into his mouth. He chokes, gags but finally swallows most of it.

Linus questions, "What's next?"

I sign, "We wait..."

Present – Glen – In the tunnels

After the shock of the fake Marine I decide it's damn time for me to vet all the 'Marines' that are here. I look at Hammer and ask, "Well, since you caught the first bogus Marine, do you want to help me interview the rest of them?"

Hammer answers, "Heel och aye, Ah can spo' a fake a kilometer awa'."

Jennifer suggests, "Daddy, you should coordinate with the TSIFFTS truck and use their resources, it will go faster."

I smile at my daughter and reply, "Thanks honey that's exactly what I planned on doing."

Maria suggests, "I would make sure each man you vet gets a dot of ink on their hand."

I question, "You mean like they did for the elections in Iraq?"

Maria nods her head, "Exactly like that. But make sure it's a color of ink that isn't easy to find."

I look at Hammer and say, "Well let's move it, we have a hell of a lot of men to interview."

Present – Maria – In the tunnels

Glen leaves, I look at my Princess Boss and ask, "How are you feeling?"

She gives me a funny look but then replies, "I'm hungry as hell, how about you?"

I answer, "I could eat a fucking rocking horse."

Jens suggests, "Let's go and get some food."

But I grab her by the arm and order, "Jens, not until we get you in body armor with a helmet and get Matt and Jim here."

She questions, "How the hell are we going to get Matt and Jim here?"

I laugh, "Oh I'm sure they're in the mess tent. I will grab one of the men running by to fetch them for us."

Before I open the door I caution her, "Stand at the far side of the room." My Princess Boss moves to the far side of the room, I open the door and it doesn't take long for a 'Marine' to run by. I stop him and ask, "I'm Jennifer Donaldson's aide, could you please go to the food tent and find Matt Comes and Jim Marky? Tell them to gear up, full battle gear, and come to this room."

I gave him a big smile and he almost falls all over himself when he says, Yes ma'am."

I quietly remind him, "That's Ms. to you since I'm no officer."

I turn and I am shocked at what my Princess Boss asks...

Present – Jack – In the tunnels

Masha asks, "Jack my love, where are we going?"

I answer, "Masha, I need to find Jennifer to see how she's doing and what's going on."

She correctly interprets my question, "Don't you mean you want to see how her father has affected her?"

Hell, I knew better than to try to lie to Masha! I answer, "Yeah, you caught me."

Masha laughs, "Jack my love, I catch all your lies but some of them I choose to ignore."

Then she advises me, "Jack, I need to find a computer to use."

I grin at her and tease, "Oh, you're going to go and do some of your soccer mom things again."

She smiles and laughs, "I'm glad things are finally out in the open between us."

I head into the tunnels while she and Ivan head toward what has to be a CCC tent. And yes, I'm glad things are finally out in the open. I'm impressed as hell that she never, not even once, pumped me for information. I didn't even think it was possible to love her more.

Once in the tunnels I stop and ask a Marine, "Do you know where Jennifer Donaldson is?"

The Marine replies, "I don't know where she is but her aide is in the fourth room down on the right." Then he asks, "Do you know a Matt Comes and Jim Marky? I was asked to find them."

I laugh and answer, "Hell yeah, they will be in the mess tent eating more food than any two men could normally eat."

I head down the hallway, get to the door, knock and hear, "Who's there?"

I reply, "Maria, it's Jack."

She opens the door, grabs my arm and hauls me into the room right in the middle of a fight.

Maria complains, "Jens, I can't believe you asked me that."

Jennifer says, "Well, what the hell do you expect after what you and Todd have said."

I interrupt, "What the hell are you two arguing about?"

Maria orders, "Jens, ask Jack what you just dared to ask me."

Jennifer smiles at me and says, "I asked Maria if she thought Daddy helped Evelyn escape from the mental hospital."

I pause and then ask, "What the hell are you two talking about? And how in the hell does this help anything we're doing?"

Present – Liz and Bernie – In the TSIFFTS semi-trailer

We head back to the TSIFFTS trailer and I question, "Do you have any way of tracking where a mobile phone is?"

They guys at the consoles laugh, "Hell, we do that for breakfast. Give me the number."

I give him Samantha's number, he enters it into the system then he swears, "Son of a bitch!"

I ask, "What's wrong?"

He says, "Well, someone really smart has messed with this phone, it says that the number is located in Latvia." He laughs and continues, "Now it's located in Germany. Sorry but unless we deploy a Stingray Fake Cell tower in a general area of this phone there's no way to accurately determine where the number really is."

I question, "What's a Stingray fake cell tower?"

The console operator looks at the commander, the commander nods and after the approval he informs me, "It's a computer with a cell antenna and specialized software which will force a cell phone to connect to it."

I ask, "Do you have access to those?"

The commander walks up and suggests, "It's probably better if we drop this discussion."

I notice my report about all that's going on here at the cabin is coming on the Truth Network, so we drop the discussion and watch the report.

My report no sooner ends than Samantha's interview with Stacy comes on...

Present – Samantha – Interviewing Stacy

I double check, "Stacy are you sure you want to do this?"

I see a few tears in the corner of her eyes. She wipes them away with the back of her hand and says, "Samantha I don't have a choice in this matter. We have to do this."

Bill cautions, "Samantha, please be gentle."

I nod at Bill, he starts recording and I announce, "Hello America this is Samantha Stevens for the Truth Network. Today I have a special interview with Stacy Summers. Hello Stacy how are you doing?"

Stacy tries to smile for the camera, then says, "Well Samantha, I've had better days."

I continue, "Would you like to explain that?"

Stacy says, "Well, I've just discovered that when..." she chokes a little bit then continues, "when I was raped the man that raped me also used a foreign object inside of me and permanently damaged me."

I question, "Would you care to elaborate on what you just said?"

Stacy stated, "Yes a doctor just informed me I can never have children naturally, any children I have must be delivered by caesarian section."

I continue, "And because of this you told me you were forced to make a very hard decision. Would you please share that decision with America?"

Stacy looks into the camera and answers, "Yes it forced me to make a terrible decision which will cause some of America to hate me and from which I'm sure I will never fully recover. Even though I had every intention of having this baby, this new information has made me decide to terminate this pregnancy."

Stacy, shudders and appears to break down, Bill zooms in on me and I close with, "You can see the anguish this decision has forced upon Stacy Summers. I only hope that Americans can find it in their hearts to forgive her. Samantha Stevens signing off."

I run over and hold a very distraught Stacy...

Present – Liz – In the TSIFFTS semi-trailer

Bernie looks at me and says, "Wow, what a shock and what a report."

My phone rings, I look and find it's the station. I answer and ask, "What's going on?"

The director explains, "The damn phones are ringing off the hook with the majority of people supporting Stacy's decision. That was a hell of an idea getting Samantha to travel with Stacy Summers. What a hell of an interview!"

I smile and think, yeah we got lucky as hell...

Glen walks up, puts his hand on my shoulder and states, "Now that took some balls to do an interview like that. I sure wouldn't want to be airing my dirty laundry to America like that."

I question, "What are you doing here?"

Glen answers, "Hammer found a fake Marine, so he and I are in the process of vetting all the Marines that are here."

I question, "Do you know why the fake Marine was here?"

Glen gives me a serious look and answers, "Yeah, I think he was from the drug lord and was after my daughter."

I silently question if Glen might have also been affected by the drug lord. I smile and say, "Well it's a good thing she has you here to help her. Now if you don't mind Bernie and I have some things to do."

We leave and Bernie observes, "Liz, what the hell was that about?"

I hold up my hand, take out my phone, call the station and order, "I want some research done on former Marine General Glen Donaldson. I want to know of any trips he's taken outside of the country and if he's been out of contact for any extended periods of time. And make sure you only give this information to me and no one else - especially Jennifer Donaldson."