Tess Awakening

by Andres Mann

  Jake and Tess evaluated what expertise they could leverage to develop a business. Jake had a keen intellect and analytical ability that enabled him to address faulty strategies and political failures. He also had contacts worldwide that could be brought to bear on a range of issues. Both had significant knowledge of the military not only that of the U. S. but several foreign countries.

  Besides her skill as a pilot on different aircraft, Tess had been schooled in strategy and tactics as well as counterinsurgency. Both were disillusioned by the disastrous consequences of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The U. S. had sacrificed thousands of soldiers and forced the taxpayers to pay billions of dollars in the hopeless task of nation building at the expense of other domestic needs.

  With General Turner’s financial backing, contacts, and experience, they finally established a business whose core mission was to provide expertise to governments of developing nations that needed efficient government and defense infrastructures. They called their company Strategic Resource Development, Inc. The short term they used was SRD.

  After hiring a dozen of highly qualified and experienced key members of the team, all veterans, they drew initial contracts with South American and African countries struggling to contain corruption and tribal conflicts. They arranged for training of government officials and top military officers, creating policies and procedures to prevent corruption in government and advising their armed forces in the procurement of military hardware appropriate to their needs and resources. These countries did not need the latest fighter jets that cost millions of dollars. They just needed cost-effective planes, weapons and related training appropriate for the challenges in their region.

  In a short time, SRD grew to become an international private military company specializing in military training, logistics, weapons systems maintenance and management consultancy.

  The U.S. Department of Defense hired an established military training company to train nine battalions of the new Iraqi army with an option to extend the training to 27 units. They also hired SRD as a subcontractor.

  Chapter 45

  Duel on the Highway

  Tess’s dad, General Turner, adored little Morgan and persuaded Tess and Jake to let him have the child every other weekend. The parents usually dropped him at her dad’s Manhattan apartment on Fridays and drove to Jake’s farm outside Sleepy Hollow to relax for a couple of days. They picked up the little bundle of joy on Sunday evenings and spent the week in Manhattan attending to their business.

  This time, her dad got to keep little Morgan for the week. Tess and Jake needed a longer break. After dropping off the child into the arms of Grandpa, they got into Jake’s Land Rover and headed for the farm.

  A man observed them from a café across the street and called someone on his cell phone as soon as they left.

  While driving on the highway, Jake noticed a black GMC Yukon SUV following them. The car maintained its distance, but it was obvious that the driver was matching the speed of Jake’s Land Rover. Trained by the CIA, Jake suspected that something wasn’t right. As they made a pit stop at a roadside facility, a second black Suburban SUV joined the Yukon and parked at the periphery of the restaurant.

  Jake shared his suspicions about the two vehicles, but Tess suggested that his former CIA adventures sometimes encouraged paranoia. “I hope you are right,” Jake responded. Without further ado, they resumed their drive north.

  Once they got back to the highway, they passed a deserted strip of the road with steep banks on both sides. The Yukon had followed them and now accelerated, closing the distance between them and striking Jake’s Land Rover on the left rear corner. The driver was attempting to drive their vehicle off the road. Jake, an expert driver, managed to control his heavy vehicle and called upon his training by the CIA. He made a sudden U-turn, preventing the other driver from hitting him again. Somehow, he managed to keep the top-heavy car from capsizing. The maneuver was executed so abruptly that the driver of the Yukon kept going forward. Jake then spun the Land Rover around, burned a lot of rubber, accelerated and positioned himself behind the Yukon. The driver didn’t have time to recognize what was happening. Jake accelerated toward the rear of the SUV. The driver ahead of him finally saw what Jake was trying to do and accelerated, now attempting to get away from the Land Rover chasing him. Jake caught up and clipped the Yukon on the rear bumper, the same way that the SUV driver had previously tried to run him off the road. Jake was more precise and sent the Yukon down the steep bank. The driver could not control the car, capsized, hit a tree and the vehicle exploded.

  Jake and Tess stopped and ran to the burning car, but the flames were too intense. Realizing that there was not much they could do, they got back into the Land Rover and sped away. The other vehicle, a large Suburban, had raced past them, but made a U-turn and now careened toward them.

  “This is nuts!” Jake exclaimed. “These people are suicidal.”

  “He is coming straight for us,” Tess warned.

  “I know. Hold on Tess.”

  The vehicles were on a head-on collision course. The big Suburban was racing straight for them, its driver apparently not caring about the impending doom. Jake calculated in his mind what he could do to avoid the collision. He drove towards the opposing vehicle at high speed, steered the heavy Land Rover at the last minute, brushing the attacking SUV on the side, forcing the driver to lose control. The Suburban waved from the impact and careened into a protective rail, shredding metal with an awful noise. Jake backtracked and stopped behind the damaged vehicle. He wanted to get his hands on the driver to get some answers. As he approached the car, he saw that the driver was hurt. He tried to open the mangled door just as the driver recovered from the shock. Jake could not loosen the jammed doors of the SUV. He went back to the Land Rover to get a crowbar, and then he heard a shot. The driver had killed himself.

  “Who would do this? Why would they want to kill us?” Tess exclaimed.

  Jake held her in his arms and came to the only logical conclusion. “Tess, this smells like something that Amir would do.”

  “How can Amir get two people to commit suicide just to kill us?”

  “Can you think of anyone else who could do this? He recruited fanatics to try to stage a fatal accident. They were willing to die for him.”

  Tess stared into space, horrified. “He will do anything to get little Morgan. I will call my father.”

  She got on the cell phone and dialed. The General answered on the second ring. “Dad, is everything okay there? Is little Morgan with you?”

  “He is at the park with his nanny, Carol.”

  “Dad, call for help immediately. We think that Amir just tried to kill us using two big cars. He is likely to come after the baby.”

  “Don’t worry, Tess; I will have my security people there in a few minutes. I am glad you and Jake are okay. Please keep me posted on what’s going on.”

  A few minutes later, Tess’s father called back. “Tess, someone assaulted Carol, Morgan’s nanny in the park and took the baby!”

  Tess froze. “Jake, I think that Amir’s people have kidnapped little Morgan.”

  Suddenly, another SUV appeared and headed straight for them. Jake and Tess were standing by the side of the road and realized that the driver was going to try to run them over. He waited until the last minute, grabbed Tess by the arm and jumped out of the way into a steep ditch. The car missed them by inches.

  Jake turned to Tess and to his horror saw that she had hit her head on a rock. She was bleeding and prostrated on the ground. She was also unconscious.

  Two men left the vehicle and came after them. They tried to jump into the deep ditch, but one of them stumbled and screamed. He had broken a leg. The second man managed to get on his feet and pointed his gun at Jake, who this time was ready for him. They both took a shot, but Jake hit him first. The man fell on his back, dead.

  Jake turned to the other man, who was writhing in agony, a bone protruding through his leg. As Ja
ke approached, the man pointed his gun at his own head and pulled the trigger. Blood and bone splattered. The man died.

  The highway patrol arrived. Jake was trying to revive Tess, but she did not respond. “Get an ambulance,” he screamed.

  The paramedics arrived and quickly attended to Tess, rapidly placing her on a stretcher. Jake wanted to go with them, but the policemen grabbed him. “Sir, the Paramedics are taking your wife to the hospital, but you need to remain here so that we can sort things out.”

  “My wife is hurt, and I am going with her!”

  “Sir, we need to investigate what happened. It won’t take long.”

  More police officers arrived, and Jake realized that they were not going to let him go until they talked with him.

  He told them what had happened, and promised that he would go to the police station to help with the investigation, but first he had to see how Tess was doing. One of the cops drove him to the hospital. Jake ran to the emergency room. A medical team was working on Tess, who was still unconscious and bleeding from her head.

  Finally, a doctor came to Jake. “Your wife has a concussion. We will need to do a Cat Scan of the head and possibly an MRI before we know more.”

  “How about the baby? Is the baby okay?”

  “We don’t know yet. You wife has contusions all over her body. We will know if there is a problem in a couple of hours.”

  Jake fell on a chair, hands on his eyes. ‘Amir, you will pay for this!’

  They eventually put Tess in a private patient room. Monitors and IVs in her arms made her look like wired for sound.

  Jake called her father and updated him on the situation. The General was appalled and told Jake that the baby’s nanny was at the hospital with a broken arm. There was not a sign of the baby. Local police and the FBI were already on the case. All local airports had been alerted.

  Jake returned to Tess’s room, but she was not in her bed. Furious, out of his mind with dread, he was ready to manhandle the nurse in charge until she told him that Tess had lost the baby. Jake emitted a scream of agony.

  Eventually, the medics brought Tess back to the patient room. She was still unconscious. The doctor showed him the MRI, indicating a large pool of blood trapped in her brain.

  “Doctor, what can we do about it?” he asked.

  “The decision will be up to the neurosurgeon, Mr. Vickers. She should be here shortly.”

  Jake, a man of action, had to control himself; in his frustration he was ready to hit people who, in his judgment, were not exhibiting the requisite sense of urgency.

  Tess’s father arrived and hugged him. “Jake, I will not leave a stone unturned until the hospital does the right thing for Tess. I also have a squad of my investigators on the case; they are working with the FBI to find the baby.”

  Jake looked at the general with fury in his eyes. “I am quite sure that Amir is not in the country and that he has built firewalls to make sure that this mess will not point to him in any way. We may believe that he engineered this, but it will be impossible to prove it. This has gone too far. The authorities will be powerless. We will have to deal with this situation ourselves.”

  “I definitely agree,” said the General.

  Chapter 46

  Failure and Wrath

  Kemal broke the news to General Amir al-Saadi. The operation was not successful. The men that chased Jake and Tess were dead.

  Amir fulminated: “How could this happen? All they had to do was to box them in their car, take Tess and eliminate her husband.”

  Kemal was philosophical. “General, they tried to do their duty and died while attempting to fulfill your wishes. They did not expect the woman’s husband to be skilled enough to turn the tables on them. In any case, we have arranged to take care of the men’s families.”

  “What do we know about Tess Turner? Is she going to be okay?”

  “All that we were able to find out is that she is in a coma. They have security people guarding her.”

  Amir was furious. “Your men were supposed to capture her and what happened— they probably killed her!”

  “I am sorry General, but I wasn’t there, so I don’t know how it happened. There is one bit of good news, however; we have the baby.”

  “Where is he?”

  “Our people have taken him to an apartment in Manhattan. We have arranged for a reliable woman to tend to the baby’s needs. We have three men guarding him, but they have to lay low for now. It seems that General Turner and the FBI have placed alerts at all local airports and are scouring the city to find him. They even have posted surveillance at the Iraqi Embassy. We can’t risk making a move until things calm down.”

  Amir grabbed the edges of the desk, clearly upset. “The only way to get the baby out of the country is to use one of my private planes, but I would wager that my Falcon at JFK is already under surveillance.”

  Kemal was looking at a message on his smartphone. “Our people say that they can’t afford to move the child at this time for fear of being discovered. They are going to stay in place until it’s safe to get him out of the country. They are looking at all options, including going to Canada or Mexico.”

  Amir was upset that Tess got hurt, but at least he had the boy. All he had to do is bring him out of the country at the first opportunity.

  “Kemal, I am sure that everyone understands that the child must be kept safe under all circumstances. Also, make sure that someone keeps tabs on the woman Tess and keep me informed about her condition.”

  “We will do everything we can, General.”

  Chapter 47

  Carmen Redux

  Chief Warrant Officer Carmen Cabrera had completed another round of training for new Iraqi pilots on helicopters. She was less than pleased with the progress of her students but was confident that eventually they would achieve proficiency.

  She kept running into Nicola Orsini, the local representative and trainer for AgustaWestland, a multinational helicopter design and manufacturing company that provided some aircraft to the Iraqi Army.

  Carmen smiled alluringly at the tall, handsome man. He reciprocated and they had dinner together.

  “I suppose that this place does not agree with you. You are an Italian that is probably used to the Dolce Vita.”

  “I am afraid you are correct, this place does not suit me very well. I miss Italy. I travel overseas too much. Mostly, I train people on the use of equipment made by my company.”

  Carmen’s agile brain sourced her internal database. “You guys make the A129 Mangusta. Nice chopper.”

  “It’s a lower cost alternative to your expensive American equipment. It’s state-of-the-art, and we feel that it is competitive.”

  Carmen volunteered: “I spent a lot of time shooting it out in Iraq.”

  Nicola told her a little about himself. “I was in the military myself and have been in Iraq for a while, piloting a Mangusta helicopter to provide air support for the Italian forces in Nassiriya. Previously I was in Afghanistan to support Italian and Allied forces operations. Now I am a civilian, but I pretty much do the same work, except for the shooting part.”

  “I mostly fly Black Hawks and Kiowa’s,” Carmen added.”

  “I have never met a female helicopter pilot. You must have a lot of stories to tell.”

  “You have no idea.”

  Carmen was restless. She needed to bed a man, and she had a gorgeous Italian sitting right next to her; might as well take advantage of the opportunity. She initiated her irresistible coquettish mode; the two of them drove to one of the few safe hotels in Baghdad.

  Carmen took a shower and appraised her tiny five foot two frame in the mirror. “Not bad, girl, boobs are still perky, and the tummy looks tight. Time to rumble.”

  Her usual approach was to motivate the guy she had chosen, insist that he lay on his back, make sure he got nice and hard, jump on top of him and get it over with quickly. It was seldom lovemaking, just raw sex. She had been raped when she was young
and she resolved to treat men as they often treat women. She always insisted on the ‘wham, bang and thank you Sir’ approach.

  Nicola was lying down on the bed and saw Carmen coming out of the bathroom. She dropped her robe and stood naked in front of him. Nicola smiled, appraising the diminutive but perfectly proportioned young woman. “To say that you are beautiful would be obvious, Carmen. You are gorgeous.”

  Carmen walked to his bed and lay down next to him. “Well, now that we have established our intentions, get those silly pajamas off and play.” She got on her knees, straddled him, and started to unbutton his top. Nicola smiled.”

  Carmen then started to pull off his bottoms, but Nicola stopped her.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, annoyed. “Let’s get it on!”

  Nicola looked straight at her and said “no.”

  “What do you mean ‘no,’ you don’t want to do it?”

  “I don’t want to do it this way. I want to know you first.”

  “Nicola, don’t be an idiot, I don’t need sweet talk or a lot of foreplay; let’s do it and get it over with!”

  “That’s the point; I don’t want to get it over with. I don’t want to just have sex with you. I want to make love to you; I want it to last for a long time.”

  “I got it, you are gay!”

  Carmen picked up her robe and made it to the door. “I am out of here.”

  Nicola swiftly jumped to the door and grabbed her by her arms. She clutched her nightwear against her bosom, staring at him with anger. Still holding her, he pushed her against the wall and softly kissed her.

  By this time, Carmen was ready to explode. This was nuts. All she wanted is to get laid then go to sleep, why complicate things? Her other men were more than happy to let her take charge of the proceedings.

  Nicola kissed her again and while holding her by the waist, led her to the bed and eased her on her back. Carmen attempted to get on top of him, but he used his powerful arms to make her stay on her back.