Carly giggled.
“Now that he’s all better, take this crazy bear and go play.”
Carly grabbed Bruiser, gave him a big hug and disappeared into her room.
Mary grabbed the pen and wrote, “What is it?”
Jonathan answered in script, “It’s a listening device, they’ve bugged us.”
Mary grabbed the pad and wrote in all caps, “THOSE FUCKERS! I HATE THEM. A CHILD’S TEDDY BEAR FOR CHRIST’S SAKE! How in the world did they get a bug in Carly’s bear? She never lets go of it.”
“They’re very good. I’m guessing that they put it in there when she was sleeping. How well do you know the new nanny?”
“I guess not well enough.”
Jonathan moved through the house with cat-like precision. He combed the room until he found a camera, hidden inside a picture frame on the shelving. He turned it slightly so that it would continue to broadcast, but pointed it toward an obscure portion of the room. He emptied the dried flowers from their vase, stuck his index finger inside and pulled out another one. Everything they had been saying was going directly back to the agency. He placed it next to the other one on the coffee table and both he and Mary studied them. Mary took the pad and wrote, “How many more?” to which Jonathan wrote, “I would guess 4 or 5 in each room and there’s probably something embedded in me.”
He quickly found 2 more listening devices, one in the fax machine and another on the inside of a vent.
Mary shivered as if she were crawling with insects. “How did they get in here?”
Jonathan wrote, “They know your schedule and were probably in and out in less than 10 minutes. Unfortunately they’ve heard everything we’ve said and now know I have the programs and computer and that we are planning to leave. I am so stupid!”
“Do you think you have them all?” wrote Mary.
“No, I’m sure I don’t and I don’t want to have them all. But we’re going to have to leave here now and check into a hotel and get organized if we ever hope to lose these bastards. You know when we go, we’re going to have to leave everything?” Jonathan scribbled.
“Leave everything?”
“Everything.”
“What about your car?”
“Bugged and Lojacked.”
“Your brand new Corvette?”
“We have to leave it.” “Where will we go?”
“Where have you never been and always dreamed of going?”
“Hawaii.”
Jonathan chuckled.
“Everything stays in the house. We’ll take a cab and check into a hotel. Mary, do you know where Carly’s transistor radio is?”
“It’s in a box upstairs.”
“Please get it and the sharpest knife we have in the house and a book of matches.”
Mary returned with a small plastic radio, a sharp knife and the matches.
Jonathan grabbed the radio and turned to the AM band, and then moved the dial until there was no channel and turned up the volume. He peeled off his shirt and pants.
“Move this up and down my body,” he wrote. “When you hear the static increase and then a steady beep, stop and tell me if you can see a small incision.”
Mary did as he asked. When she moved the radio up his back, the radio started to pick up a transmission and began to beep.
“There it is,” she blurted out.
Jonathan “shhh’d” her.
“Do you see an incision?” he wrote.
She shook her head no.
“Go and get a magnifying glass, it’s going to be real small.”
Mary returned with the magnifying glass and once again got very excited when she found it.
“Sterilize the knife with the matches and cut it out.”
Mary touched the incision with the hot knife and Jonathan seethed and tightened. She starting digging below the skin and he started to bleed. “This isn’t working,” she said and received another “shhh” from her husband. “Keep digging,” he wrote. “It’s going to be real small.” She found the device buried neatly, just above the right shoulder blade. She marveled at how thin it was. It was much thinner than the others, like a miniature pace maker.
“It’s a transponder. It broadcasts a beep to someone’s computer screen,” Jonathan explained. “It’s so that they will always know exactly where I am. Scan my body again, there may be another one.”
Mary did, but there was only one.
Jonathan wrote, “We need to be careful with this, because as long as it’s transmitting, they will follow the signal. I’m guessing that with this device and all the bugs there’s no one outside watching.”
“What about all the reporters? They’re still out there.”
“We’ll leave out the back, through the woods.”
How much cash do you have?”
“I have a bunch, because I just cashed your relocation allowance check. Let’s see, there’s about $12,000.”
“That’s perfect.”
“Now leave your wallet, but grab your driver’s license, passport, ATM card and give me your Master Card.”
“No cell phone?”
“Absolutely, no cell phone.”
“I’m afraid,” scribbled Mary.
“I’m pissed,” replied Jonathan.
Chapter 4
Harry Davidson knocked on William Reed’s office door. It was 7 p.m. and all the executive assistants had gone home, so the office and phones were quiet. Bill Reed sat in his office watching the end of the evening news, drinking a large goblet of Scotch smoking a Cuban cigar.
“Sir, sorry to bother you, but I thought you would want to know that the Andersons are about to bolt.”
“Isn’t that what we expected?”
“Yes, sir, but it appears that someone is helping him.” Davidson turned on his laptop and showed the Director the film of Jonathan opening the package. Jonathan’s voice was perfectly clear as he described each item to Mary and Carly.”
The Director stared at the film in disbelief. “Who would send him all that? Is that our latest generation QX-4 computer?” asked Reed.
“Yes sir and those memory sticks contain both the Blue Herron programs and whatever else it was that he was working on before he left.”
“This is a fucking nightmare! Now you’re telling me that he has the analysis programs?”
“Yes sir.”
“Jesus Christ! Jesus fucking Christ, now I’ve seen everything. Okay let’s get back to basics. Seeing that no one knows how to do their fucking job around here, I’ll do it for you! Get me a list of everyone who has been given a QX-4. Shit, it hasn’t been out that long, we couldn’t have distributed that many of them,” said Reed.
“About 78.”
“About? What the hell does that mean?”
“Well, that’s how many our records show we’ve distributed from inventory; there’s another 67 on the inventory list, but our physical inventory only counted 62.”
“So there are five unaccounted for?”
Davidson cowered as if preparing to receive a punch, “Yes sir.”
“We are supposed to stand for intelligence!” screamed the Director. “But we’re nothing but a bunch of buffoons!”
“Sir, apparently now his wife is helping him. Is there something I need to know about her, sir?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know, sir. She seems to be on the same crusade as Anderson, sir.”
“What in God’s name do you expect, Davidson! Her son was incinerated in that building. Of course she’s going to want to find the ones responsible. And if she finds them, she’ll rip their fucking hearts out. Isn’t that what any mother would do?”
“Do we have to concern ourselves with her, sir?”
“Right now we have to concern ourselves with everything. Now get some special ops agents over there, now! And don’t alert the agents we have out front, I don’t want the press to catch wind of anything. He can’t go anywhere without us knowing where he is, correct?”
“Good! Anything else?”
“No sir.”
“Leave the lap top.”
“Yes sir.”
Davidson exited.
The Director picked up his phone and dialed PD McVay. “I need to see you, now!”
PD entered almost immediately.
“PD, look at this.” The Director replayed the film. “What do you make of this?”
“She seems distraught.”
“It’s worse than that, she’s turned.”
“Are you sure?”
“Listen to her, she’s a god damn vigilante.”
“Should we abort?”
“She doesn’t know enough to do us any harm, and at this point without her the entire project is dead. Let’s give her a little time. Her cousin’s still committed, so we can use her. Now you see the wisdom in only telling our folks what they need to know. Imagine if she knew the entire plan.”
“Can the two of them figure it out?”
“Never, but Matthew’s death may actually work to our benefit.”
“Should we warn Bob?”
“No, we have him covered.”
“For his sake, I hope you’re right.
Chapter 5
Jonathan, Mary and Carly exited the rear of their home and he carried her the nearly 2 miles to the McDonalds on the corner of Occaquan Road and Highway 641. The winter night was cold and Jonathan had told Carly to dress warm. She emerged dressed in a blue jean skirt with thick blue tights underneath, a pink sweater, wool hat, mittens and her winter coat. Jonathan wore his brown leather flight jacket and Mary a dark wool coat. They bought Carly a happy meal and while she sat with Mary, Jonathan went outside to use the pay phone to call a cab.
Carly loved the excitement of packing up her favorite toys and leaving for an overnight adventure. As she munched her cheeseburger and nibbled on her fries, she continually looked down at her pink Barbie backpack that contained her prize possessions which included her Velveteen Rabbit book and Bruiser. Mary had tied the little brown bear to one of the shoulder straps, so that he wouldn’t get lost and would always be within hand’s reach.
“Daddy, will we have a new house and will I have a new room?” asked Carly.
“You’ll have to wait and see,” answered Jonathan. “It’s going to be a surprise.”
Carly took another big bite of her burger and then began talking with food in her mouth, “Booser wats to lve in the wulds i….tn.”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” scolded Mary.
Carly gave her mother a cross look and then quickly swallowed. The lump of food was so large that they could almost watch it move down her tiny throat. Realizing that the swallow was too big, she took a large slurp of her Coke to help it down and then grimaced as it hurt the inside of her throat as it made its way down to her stomach. “Bruiser wants to live in the woods in a tent,” she repeated.
Jonathan laughed out loud.
“How are we going to get to our new house, Daddy?”
“We are going to get a taxi-cab, sweetie. Now tonight is going to be special, okay, honey. So don’t ask too many questions and before you go to sleep tonight, I promise you that you’ll be in a brand new bed.”
Carly looked at him with confusion, but seemed to understand most of what he said. She held her finger to her mouth and said, “Shhh, it’s secret right?”
Jonathan nodded, “Shhh, it’s secret.”
“And we are going together.”
Jonathan held out his hand, “Together forever.”
Carly threw her arms around him.
Mary felt like an outsider.
“Take me to Target,” Jonathan instructed the cab driver.
It took the cab only 10 minutes to pull to the front of the store.
“You want me to wait?” asked the cabbie.
“No this is good, keep the change,” returned Jonathan. He handed the driver $20 and before leaving slid the transmitter Mary had taken from his back between the cushions of the seat.
Carly sat in the shopping cart as Jonathan scooted around the huge Supercenter. Mary watched in wonder as Jonathan purchased an assortment of compounds that included hair color, scissors and make-up from the pharmaceutical department and then an equal assortment of items from the school supply section. Carly was excited when her father told her that they could each pick out a small carry-on suitcase and enough clothing and toiletries to fill them. She found a yellow one that matched Barbie’s hair on her backpack. She looked a little concerned when she saw the assortment of clothes her father had picked out for her, but remembered what her father had said and played along quietly. Jonathan paid for everything with cash and then used a pay phone to call another cab.
“Take me to 24 hour fitness.”
“What are you going there for?” asked Mary.
“I left some tools of the trade there in a locker.”
Jonathan emerged from the fitness facility with a stainless steel suitcase and placed it by his feet in the cab.
“Lincoln Memorial,” said Jonathan as he hopped back into the cab. Mary looked at him oddly, and Carly let out a big yawn and quickly fell asleep, her head on her Daddy’s lap, before the cab was out of the parking lot. Traffic was stop and go, but still moving and it took the cab nearly an hour to get from Occaquan to the Memorial. Jonathan kept turning his head, looking behind to see if he could spot an agency vehicle following them; there were none. As they approached the Washington Mall, Jonathan stared intently out the window until he found what he was looking for.
“There, over there.” He said as he pointed to what appeared to be nothing. “Pull over and let us out….now!”
The driver slammed on the brakes throwing them hard against their seatbelts and almost causing an accident with the other traffic. Jonathan put a strong arm across Carly’s chest to keep her from flying forward into the back of the front seats. Carly’s eyes popped open, filled with fright and she started to cry. Jonathan yelled at the cabbie, “You need to be careful. We’ve got a little girl back here!”
“Sorry sir, you told me to stop, so I did what I had to,” he returned.
Mary seemed undisturbed.
Jonathan grabbed Carly and carried her away from the cab. “Pull around the square and pick us up right here,” Jonathan instructed the cabby.
“What about my fare?”
“I’ll give it to you when you come back.”
“You better not stiff me man, you owe me $100.”
Jonathan took a hundred dollar bill out of his pocket and ripped it in half. “You get the other half when you pick us up.”
Carly seemed to settle down, in the arms of her daddy. Mary followed Jonathan over to a street person sitting on a park bench. The man was grizzled and ripe, paying close attention to a small bag next to him, which undoubtedly held all of his possessions.
The man had a panicked look on his face as Jonathan rushed towards him, but seemed confused by the fact that he was carrying a small child.
“Don’t hurt me,” said the man. “I ain’t bothering no one. Jes’ need a place to rest my tired bones.”
Jonathan pulled out a wad of money and handed him $20.
“Why thank-you,” said the man immediately settling down and perking up.
Jonathan handed him another $20. “Could you please stand up next to me?” asked Jonathan.
The man stood directly at his side.
“Mary, is he about the same height and age?”
“He’s your height, but I don’t know about the age.”
“I’m 43,” answered the homeless man. “You don’t weather so good when you live outside.”
Please take off your hat.”
The man took off an old raggedy hat that had a limp brim and a crushed top. “I’ve always had nice hair,” replied the man. “I just can’t take care of it like I should.”
“Perfect,” thought Jonathan. “Please sit down and don’t be
afraid. Now, I want to ask you something. Would you like to stay in a real nice hotel for a few days?”
“I ain’t gonna do none of that perverted stuff?” replied the man backing away.
“No, it’s nothing like that. We just want to do something nice for someone on the street.”
“Why? What do you want?”
“Mary, tell him that we’re not going to hurt him.”
Mary put her hand on his shoulder and said, “Really, we’re good people who just want to help the homeless.”
“I guess,” answered the man, still unsure of their intentions.
“I want you to come with us in the taxi and we’re going to check you into the Washington Marriot hotel. I’ll give them my credit card and you can stay there for a week, order room service, go to the bar, anything you want in the hotel.”
“I don’t understand why you would do all this,” answered the man. “I don’t even know you.”
“It’s okay,” answered Mary. “We’re really not going to hurt you. You can put your bag in the trunk of the taxi and we’ll take care of everything.”
“Why’re you doing this? Have I won some kind of a prize?”
“It’s pretty complicated, but kind of. Now come on, hop in the cab with us.”
The man tentatively picked up his garbage bag, followed them to the curb and waited with them for their cab to come around. When the driver pulled over, Jonathan rapped on the trunk signaling the driver to pop the lid. The street person climbed into the front seat. No one was happy with the stale smell of liquor, urine and sweat that followed the man into the car.
“I don’t want that bum in here! This is gonna ruin my cab,” yelled the driver.
“I’ll give you an extra $50 to clean it,” shot back Jonathan. “Come on, we only have a few blocks to the next stop.”
“Where we going?”
“The Washington Marriott.”
All four windows were now down and no one seemed to mind the freezing cold air that flowed through the cab as the car cruised down M Street before pulling into the Marriot on 22nd.
“What about the other half of that hundred?” said the cabbie before the cab rolled to a stop.
Jonathan handed the other half to him together with another one hundred dollar bill.
Perspectives, An Intriguing Tale of an American Born Terrorist Page 20
