CIA - The Slave Traders

by Joe Bob Newman

and led her out of the theater. When he got in the car, he started it up and turned the A/C on and pulled a bottle out from under the seat. He unscrewed the lid and handed it to Lynda. She shook her head. “No.”

  Dennis said, “Aw, come on, Lynda, just a sip.”

  She took the bottle and took a sip. She handed it back to Dennis. He guzzled a large amount and belched. He added, “Excuse me!”

  Lynda said, “Dennis, I think you had better take me home.”

  Dennis leaned over to her and put his hand behind her neck and pulled her across the seat and kissed her hard. Lynda pushed back hard and grabbed at her purse. She had the knife in it.

  Dennis let her go, and said, “Okay, okay; you’re cold as a dead fish. I just wanted a little kiss.”

  Lynda demanded, “Dennis, take me home, now!” She had her hand on the knife now.

  Dennis put the car in reverse and backed out of the parking place. He said, “Come on, Lynda, let’s go out to the lake and go for a swim.”

  Lynda had her wits about her now. She said, “Dennis, I said to take me home!” She was very adamant.

  Dennis did not say another word, just drove her home.

  Lynda was out of the car before it stopped and ran up to her porch. Dennis just watched her with a scowl on his face.

  She slammed the front door, and both her mother and dad looked up from the news that they were watching on TV. Her mother asked, “What’s wrong, dear?”

  Lynda grimaced and said, “Nothing.”

  She went to her room. She undressed and was on the phone to her girlfriends, warning them about Dennis.

  The rest of the weekend went by quickly.

  On Monday morning, Lynda and her mother went shopping for a business suit for Lynda to wear to the interview. She picked out a black skirt with a white blouse. It came with a little jacket. She bought a pair of shiny high heels, not too high though. She spent the afternoon and all day Tuesday walking in the heels, getting used to them. It would not be good to fall while on the interview. Her mother showed her how to walk and stand up straight. Lynda did everything but balance a book on her head.

  Early Wednesday morning she drove to Dallas and found the Federal building. She had to pay to park.

  At ten o’clock she was standing outside the office door shaking. She was scared of what might happen. What if they did not like her?

  She opened the door and walked in just like her mother had showed her. An older woman sitting behind a desk smiled up at Lynda and said, “Yes, may I help you?”

  Lynda said, “I have an appointment.” She handed the lady the letter.

  The lady looked at the letter briefly and told Lynda, “Take a seat.”

  Lynda took the letter back and sat down in a comfortable red chair. The lady was on the phone now, looking at Lynda as she talked. Lynda could not hear what she said. Whatever it was, it seemed bad. Lynda folded the letter up and put it in her purse. She was ready to leave quickly. She knew it was just her nerves, but she couldn’t help the fear that she felt.

  An executive-looking man came through the door behind the woman; he smiled at Lynda and motioned for her to follow him. Lynda was up in a flash and walked slowly to the door and followed the man. They went down a hall and he stopped at an open door. He held out his hand to her. He said, “Hi, Lynda. I am Tom Phelps. I am the Director of the office here in Dallas.” She took his hand and shook it firmly, just like her mother had shown her. He pointed at a chair and she sat in it. He went to a file cabinet and got a file out. He brought it back to the desk and sat and seemed to review the file. Without looking up, he asked, “What kind of a job are you looking for, Lynda?”

  His question caught her off-guard. She hesitated a moment, thinking, then said, “I want something exciting, a job with travel. A job that takes me to places that I have never been to before!”

  Tom looked up at her over the file that he was holding up. He said, “Good answer, when can you start?”

  She was ready for this one: she said, “Monday.”

  Tom got up and said, “Come with me!” Lynda followed him. They went out into the hall and went to the next room. It was a break room. There were three people in it: two men and a woman. The woman was taller than Lynda, had on a miniskirt, and had red hair. She was very attractive. The two men were about Tom’s age, thirty, and were just in shirts and ties, no jackets. Tom introduced Lynda and then said, “I would like you to meet some of my team. This is Bobby Hodges, Wayne Jenkins, and Marilyn Peterson.”

  Lynda shook each one’s hand and said, “Pleased to meet you.” She memorized their names.

  Tom said, “We are working a very difficult case and need someone that will pass as a teenager. Are you interested?” Everyone was smiling at her.

  Lynda smiled back and said, “Sure. I just have a few questions.”

  “Okay,” Tom said, “shoot.”

  Lynda giggled at the phrase, and noticed that they all looked at each other. She asked, “What do you guys do?”

  Tom went over the CIA’s duties to the country. He was patient, but they were all in a hurry to do something. He added, “By the way, your starting salary is thirty-seven thousand, and you must understand, it is a twenty-four-hour-a-day job.”

  Lynda was thrilled and appalled at the same time. She asked another question. “This is happening so fast, is it real?”

  They all laughed at her and Tom said, “It is very real. You will have a partner. You two will be a brother and sister team. Your partner is Billy Mitchell; he will be here after lunch. It’s eleven-thirty, lets all go to the cafeteria and have lunch.”

  Lynda walked beside Tom. She was scared to death, but acted like she owned the place. Tom bought her lunch and the five of them all set down at a table. They talked small-talk, almost ignoring Lynda. Then another man sat at the table. He looked about eighteen to Lynda. They all greeted him as Billy. Tom introduced Lynda to him. Billy was as cute as he could be.

  Lynda was surprised; she felt an attraction to Billy. Billy just had on blue jeans and a gray tee shirt. She noted that the tee shirt had holes in it.

  Tom looked at Lynda. “Can you start today? We really need you.”

  Lynda did not hesitate. She said, “Absolutely!”

  “We have to go do some paperwork, then Billy will take you home and you need to pack some teenager clothes and come back. You and Billy will fly to the coast tonight. Bobby and Marilyn will be your back-up and support team.” Tom added, “Are you afraid of flying?”

  Things were happening too fast for Lynda. She felt like she needed to take a deep breath. She did. Tom looked at her intently. “Are you all right?”

  Lynda said, “No and yes!” Tom looked a little confused. Lynda went on, “No I am not afraid of flying, but I have never been on an airplane, and yes, I am all right.” She took another deep breath.

  They all laughed at her. Lynda thought that everyone seemed to like her!

  After they had all finished lunch, Billy escorted Lynda out to his car. It was a fire-engine-red Chevy Camaro. He talked continuously. He told her about the job. They were going to meet a brother and sister in Galveston. They were the children of a Sheik from the Middle East. They were to just get friendly with them for the weekend. “They know me, and I told them that I was bringing my sister. They do not know that we are with the CIA. We are trying to gather intelligence on their father. You just play dumb, okay?”

  Lynda said, “I can do that really good!” Lynda was beginning to think that she and Billy had a connection. He was the kind of guy that she had been looking for all her life. He had rugged good looks, wavy hair, and had a sense of rhythm about him. She had never been so impressed with a guy in all her life. The truth was, she was very attracted to him.

  Billy smiled at her. “Don’t worry, you will do fine.” He told her about his parents and how he had grown up, who his friends were and everything he had done.
The more he talked the more Lynda was impressed with him. He was quite the man, she thought. He was wrapping up as they got to her house.

  Lynda introduced Billy to her mother, and told her that she had been hired and that she was already on the job. Her mother seemed flustered.

  Lynda packed her bag and took a swimsuit with her.

  When they left, Billy said, “We need to get you a white bikini. I want you to look ‘hot’ for Pheelar. He likes hot American girls.”

  They stopped at a clothes store and went in and found the smallest bikini that they could. Lynda was embarrassed to put it on. Billy scrunched his face, and said, “Man, you are hot!”

  Lynda blushed. She was enjoying Billy staring and making eyes at her. She put on a little show for him.

  They made it back to the office at about two o’clock, and Billy showed Lynda where to park. She got out of the public lot and parked in the private lot. Billy said, “We have three hours to review the job, then we have to head out to the airport. A private jet will take us all to Houston. By the way, you are supposed to be sixteen, okay? You have to act young.”

  Lynda was taking it all in. She nodded her head “yes.” She acted like a kid around her daddy. She would just act the same way for this job.

  They spent three hours intensely training and showing Lynda what to do, and what not to do. They helped make it easy so that she would not be so likely to make a mistake. She and Billy were to play that they were not on the best of terms