by Finian Blake
Rhonda came out of her office and leaned against the door. “I don’t know what’s eating him there is nothing that is compelling enough to move his request ahead of any other request. I told him we could comply in two days.” She looked worried, “That clown is clear around the bend and I think that he may use his influence to get at Colleen when she goes to Quantico. He is in Justice.”
Cherry shrugged, “Well then we will have to send her farther away.”
“Where do you think that we can send her?”
“Colleen do you have a passport?”
Colleen brightened up. “Yes, I went to Nassau last year and with the new rules I had to get a passport.”
Rhonda was curious, “Where are you going to send her?”
“I am going to send her to balmy old England for some SAS training.”
“I don’t know of any arrangement that we have with the Brits.”
Cherry smiled coyly, “I do and your office won’t even have to pay for it. We have to move now the last flight out leaves at nineteen thirty. Our office does a lot of witness protection. I will take care of Colleen and you can clear the workmen.”
“Workmen…?”
“Yes I am ordering some security upgrades for your office starting with two new doors.”
“But, this is a government building and we have to submit plans and get approval.”
Cherry laughed, “Your Director said I get whatever I want and that includes many other areas. The workmen will be here between six and seven to install the improvements and I will be back here no later than nine o’clock this evening.”
“Did Victoria have that kind of clearance?”
“Absolutely, we can talk when I return.” Cherry took Colleen by the arm.
Edward woke up from his out of body trip and Layla was still traveling. He picked up a recorder and started to make notes. By the time that he was done Layla was reconnecting with her body. “Edward I was in Rhonda’s office and Felix is clean clear around the bend. He pushed in her office and assaulted Cherry.” Edward smiled waiting for the rest of the story. “She kicked his ass and caught him stealing Colleen’s gun, so she kicked his ass a second time. Cherry is putting Colleen on a flight to London and set up a three-week training session with the old men. She is going to take her place as Rhonda’s assistant. Finally, Felix really wants to damage all three of them.”
Edward started with his news. “Felix found Alex and Anna’s social security numbers and is running their taxes claiming that they are financing terrorism and he is making plans to freeze their bank accounts under the Homeland Security Act. He is also checking out Tom Thomas, Helen Thomas and their daughter Susan. He seems to have developed an interest in Four Diamonds.”
Layla frowned, “We had better get this to him right away.”
Layla and Edward caught Alex and Anna having drinks with Arnold and Sera on the patio. After everybody was filled in Alex surprised everyone when he spoke, “We prepared for these upsets. He can freeze my LA accounts. That is only 6,000 dollars. I want to see why he is pursuing this. I want to know who else is pushing this or if he is just stupid. He is a high ranking member of the Justice Department so we need to be careful about how we handle this whole mess. I am pretty sure that the FBI, CIA, and NSA want this buried and they are not going to support him. He found an incomplete form and discovered a fair amount of information off of that. Edward and Layla are watching this closely so let’s see what he does and where his support comes from. In the mean time we keep all of his targets informed about his progress. Keep Helen and Susan Thomas at the Amazon Inn. Lynn can buy Little Susan one of those miniature horses to hold her attention. I also want Cherry to have real time information. What do you two think Arnold?”
Sera jumped in first, “I think that you should have had Arnold shoot him two years ago. The bastard sent Arnold to kill me!”
Arnold had a different idea, “I think that Sera and I should go out there to back up Cherry. I am not too wild about Colleen going out to the Inn but Cherry had the duty and made the call. We need to stay as close as possible to Felix since he is a surprise package and he is likely to try anything.”
Cherry made it back to the building just before nine. She followed the noise down the hall to Rhonda’s office, finding that both doors had been removed with the new doors waiting for instillation. With one crew on each door things were moving along at an unbelievable pace. There was also a crew installing monitors in the inner office on Rhonda’s desk and were preparing the cameras for the outer office. The locks on each of the doors were a series of four electrically controlled dead bolts that would prevent anyone from kicking in the door and both doors could be locked trapping somebody in the outer office until security arrived. The cameras would allow Rhonda to monitor the outer office giving her the ability to monitor the room while nobody was in the outer office. There were also three cameras monitoring the hallway so that she had control of the outer door.
Rhonda pulled Cherry down the hall. “How are you paying for all of this?”
“My clearance allows me to take a certain latitude. This is how your office should have been set up for your level of responsibility. They are bullet proofing the bottom four feet of the wall between the two offices and will be replacing Colleen’s desk with one that has a four-foot bullet proof rise from the floor on the front and sides.”
“That doesn’t sound like much of an improvement”
“We want to improve security not make the place look like a fortress. If you duck down behind the desk any attacker will have to expose himself to press any advantage. Remember security is right down the hall. All that needs to happen is a delay that is long enough for them to get here. I have installed hundreds of these all around the world with Victoria and they work while they maintain a proper office environment.”
Ronda’s interest switched, “You Know Victoria?”
“She’s my sister. They wanted to send her but she was on assignment and she recommended me for the job.”
“I really liked her. Victoria was a pain in the ass to begin with but we worked things out. Where did she go? It’s like she fell off the face of the earth.”
“Victoria was never a marshal. We can become whoever we wish to be. When Sean Manworth attacked that CIA operation he also attacked us indirectly. We kept trying to back off and he kept pressing. When he had that heart attack, Evan Black took over and things really went out of control. All that he could see was revenge and got you wrapped up in the deal. After Senator Mudson tried to kill Simone we decided to either get a truce or end things because the FBI, CIA, and NSA were completely pissed off. Felix Owens ordered Harry Tildon to kill Simone and that brought us to you. Victoria was really glad that you elected to call a truce because she was very fond of you.”
Ronda had no idea that she was missing so much information. “Would Victoria have killed me?”
Cherry took hold of Rhonda by the shoulders, “The final decision was hers to make, unlike the Sweepers we are able to make on sight assessments and make changes. We are more of a coalition than an organization. Everybody is a private contractor and as such we have the right to accept or refuse.”
“Why didn’t they just sweep me or for that matter you could just sweep Felix now.”
“Mistakes are common as a matter of fact the whole file was generated due to a single simple mistake. Sean Manworth of NSA arbitrarily elected to end a CIA project which they didn’t understand and over twenty-five people died. Many lives were ruined due to a single mistake.”
Rhonda hung her head on that comment. “I made a ton of mistakes on that one. I wish that I could have some of them back.” She brightened up, “You said that Victoria stood up for me.”
“Yeah, she said you made some mistakes. She insisted that they were mistakes and not malicious actions. Victoria stood solid to put you on the safe side and made me promise to have a fair look at what was happening.”
Rhonda was concerned, “What are your ord
ers now.”
“I don’t have any definitive orders, but I intend to protect you from that lunatic Felix. Which reminds me I need a place to stay, do you have a spare bedroom?” The two women dragged chairs into the hall and talked through the night.
It was six in the morning when then new desk for the outer office was being installed which was the final improvement. The wide desk stretched from the inner door to the wall. Cherry started the introduction, “The side by the wall holds two computers, printer and scanner. There are five flat screen monitors in a cluster. The four-foot front and side by the office door are bullet proof covered by wood panels. I switched out the furniture to match the desk. Cherry pointed to the door, “Besides the normal latch there are four set pins that are controlled from a console at your desk. You have five flat screens one for the camera, and two apiece for each one of your computers. The long horizontal surface holds your control console. There are two upholstered chairs in front of the desk which are flat out uncomfortable and the ones at the side are extremely comfortable.” Rhonda gave her a strange look. “Sometimes you want the people in front of you to be uncomfortable. I guarantee that within three minutes they will be squirming and wanting to leave within ten minutes. You can call Felix to test them out. If you can keep him seated for a half hour he will be ruined for the rest of the day.” Cherry looked at her watch pointing to the phone. “That will be the last touch.”
Rhonda looked at the phone. “It hasn’t rung yet.” The phone rang as if on cue. “Yes, send him up it was an order from this office.” A man of solid build with a brush cut rolled a cart in the office with two gun cases and several boxes of ammunition on it. “My secretary will sign for it.”
Cherry signed the receipt and started to open a gun case. “These are Benelli M3 twelve gage shotguns they are both semi-automatic for twelve gage and pump for rubber bullets and bean bags. With the folding stock that collapses they are forty inches long in the folded state.” Cherry walked over to the console and slipped the shotgun into a pair of clips that were just out of sight.
Rhonda had to ask, “Have you ever shot anyone.”
Cherry said offhandedly, “Never by accident.” Rhonda called Felix’s cell phone requesting that he come down to the office before he went to his office.
Felix arrived at a quarter after eight. Cherry and Rhonda watched him walk down the hall from their respective desks. He walked past the door and came back to it. Felix looked in the office seeing Cherry standing behind the desk as he walked in. “I didn’t recognize your office there are quite a few changes. Is Rhonda in?”
Cherry smiled warmly, “She is expecting you. Please go right in.” Felix tried the door finding it locked. “OH, I am sorry sir this is a new system.” She pressed an unseen button and the door loudly buzzed open. Cherry followed him in the office indicating the chair in front of the desk and took a chair at the side of the desk. Rhonda fiddled in her drawer for a few minutes before producing the desired form, noticing that Felix was already starting to squirm. “I have a copy of the National Secrets Act that needs to be signed before Cherry escorts you down to the documents room.”
Felix shook his head to refuse the document. “I have already signed one of those with my security clearance.”
“If you want to go down to the documents room you will sign a form each time that you go there and Cherry will verify the documents that have been viewed logging in your activities. Your cellphone and any electronic devices will be locked up in my office.”
Felix flared, “I won’t be treated like this.” Both women were trying hard not to laugh at his discomfort.
Rhonda was hoping that the laughter was not coming through in her voice. “Those are the rules for the hard copy room. I am charged with monitoring who accesses them. I need to know what is being viewed and who is viewing them. We had a late night. Cherry and I are going home when you are finished.”
“I don’t care if...”
Rhonda held up her hand, “Hold that that thought.” She picked up the phone dialing a four-digit number. “Sir I wonder if you could help me with an interdepartmental matter. Fifteen minutes will be just fine. I will see you then.” Rhonda put on her best honey sweet voice. “The director will be down to see us in fifteen minutes right after he finishes a dump.”
Felix swallowed hard. “I think that I will sign your paper and see those documents.”
“Nonsense, if you think that you are being abused you have the right to complain. The Director is most anxious to listen to whatever you have to say.”
Felix started to rise out of his chair. “I don’t have to put up with this.” Rhonda looked at the monitor and saw the Director coming down the hall. “Cherry why don’t you get the front office the Director just walked past our door.” Cherry walked out of the room. Rhonda wanted to keep Felix in a mood. “Tell me Felix, are you still stealing panties?”
Felix was half way out of his chair when the Director walked in. “Holy shit this is nice.” The director noted that Felix was half way out of his chair and red faced. “Is there a problem?”
Rhonda looked at Cherry, “I think it is best that you process those papers now. Felix the director will need to review the file before making a decision. I believe that two days should do it.” Rhonda stood up offering the Director her chair and took Cherry’s chair.
It was ten minutes before Felix limped out of the office. The locks slid in after the door closed and after a half hour Rhonda paged Cherry. “Go to the documents room and bring me the ‘Sweeper File’ for the director.” Cherry brought in the file leaving immediately without being asked. It was another half hour and she was once again called into the room. She heard the outer door lock and the inner door open. Cherry walked in the room taking the other chair at the side of the desk. The director noted her tailored clothing and that she wore flat heeled ankle boots that were obviously not out of the bargain store. At five foot two she walked with an easy confidence that declared she was not intimidated.
The director just said two words, “Cassandra Black?”
“Cassandra Black,” Cherry repeated the words.
“How and why…?”
“The ‘why’ is that this file is way too sensitive and the ‘how’ is that we watch the watchers. You read the file and right now you wish that you hadn’t. The hard copy documents are usually like that and you put the right person in charge of them.”
“Can’t you just swat Felix?”
“You read the ‘Sweeper File,’ that is a road that leads to disaster. There is still a possibility of more disaster. We need to find out if someone is pushing him or he is just off his nut.”
The Director shrugged, “I’ll vote for him being nuts.” He reappraised Cherry as a woman finding her to be both extremely attractive and fit. Cherry was five two with thick fine auburn hair, huge breasts, bulging biceps, a tiny waist and thick muscular legs. The Director first placed her age around the late twenties, but after a more critical inspection he placed her age in the late thirties. What he found difficult to believe was that she wielded that kind of authority. She managed it well and her clearance checked out. “Cherry you arranged and executed this in less than 24 hours? What did you have for budget?” Cherry side stepped the question by asking one of her own.
“Yes, do you want all the same toys?” Cherry nodded to Rhonda and she pulled the Benelli M3 twelve gage shotgun from under the console redirecting the Director’s attention. “It is both semi-automatic and pump for non-lethal rounds such as rubber bullets and bean bags.” Cherry continued side stepping the question. “You do understand…”
“Of course I do, Cherry. What about the uncomfortable chairs?”
“They make people appreciate a short interview.” Cherry said quietly.
“If you had suggested them out of the blue I would have said that you were crazy.” The director gave a sinister laugh. “After seeing how they work I will go for them too.”
“We will pick up two thirds and I will t
hrow in the Benelli M3 personally, if you approve them for our office. Do you like the colors?”
The Director threw out a test. “How soon do you think that you can deliver?”
Cherry didn’t make a fuss about getting approval. “If the crew can work during the day on the weekend you will have your complete office by Monday morning depending on how many computers that you want your desk to accommodate. The shotgun can be here by one o’clock this afternoon so that you can stop by the firing range on the way home. Tom Thomas from Four Diamonds Security will call you to arrange delivery and the work.” Cherry snapped her fingers and a card appeared from nowhere. She enjoyed the surprised look on his face. “I like magic, making things appear and disappear turns me on. Rhonda and I are completely blown out after last night. Do you mind if we leave?”
Alex and Anna elected to stay in Huntington Beach not wanting to draw the wrong attention to Edward, Layla, Sera and Arnold. He arranged for a private Gulf Stream from F & F Air Services for their flight to Tipton airport near Baltimore. Four Diamonds was just southwest of the city and NSA was near Tipton in Fort Meade. The good thing was that with proper approval the limousine could pull directly up to the Gulf Stream when it landed. The airport was not accommodating commercial carriers yet. Just before landing Layla started to meditate leaving her body to see what Felix was up to. Sera looked worried asking Edward. “Since we are moving how does she know where to find her body?”
“Sera it is kind of like a cell phone no matter where you are located it will still get the call so when she is ready to return Layla goes to automatic.” Sera didn’t like the answer, but in fifteen minutes Layla was back and after a minute was reconnected to her body.
“Edward, Felix has frozen your parents California accounts under the USA PATRIOT ACT. He called them terrorists!”
