Uncivil Liberties

by Gordon Ryan

  Wolff angled his head, a quizzical look on his face.

  Carlos rapped the restrained man on the side of the head with his pistol barrel. “Señor Wolff, I have your papers and your laptop. I have no need of you. Now choose. Answer my questions and come with me, or you join your friends in the room in front. They have no choice. Comprende?”

  Wolff slowly nodded again.

  Carlos struck the pistol barrel against the side of Wolff’s cheek, saying nothing.

  “Yes, I understand,” Wolff responded.

  “Muy bien. Now, let us make this decision. Do you want to live, Señor Wolff? If I deliver you to the people who want you, it is their choice. But at least you will survive this night. Now, who were your two visitors?”

  “Indonesians. Guerillas from the islands.”

  “What did they want?”

  “Just to make contact. They were leaving tomorrow.”

  Carlos didn’t believe him, but stood quiet for a moment, considering his options. He glanced at his watch and then at Wolff again. Both men shared a knowing look. If Wolff was as experienced as Carlos had been led to believe by both British intelligence and General Connor’s summary, he knew that on many prior occasions, the roles had been reversed and it had been Wolff deciding whether or not someone would live.

  Carlos reached in his pocket again and retrieved the small leather packet, withdrawing another syringe and vial. “You are going on a cruise, Señor Wolff. And you will live a while more.”

  Once he had injected Wolff with a deeper sedative, he pressed his throat microphone and contacted his outside backup. “Coming out with one package. Meet me at the head of the south path.”

  At the intersection of the paths heading toward the beach, Gunner took the inert body of Wolff from Carlos and carried him to the beach where he was placed in the Zodiac. Both SAS men nodded at Carlos and McIntosh and left without another word, heading inland to return home as tourists.

  Sergeant Sean Macintosh cranked the small outboard to life, and the agile Zodiac gathered speed, climbed over the first few swells, and quickly disappeared into the darkness, headed directly off-shore toward Rainbow Blue.

  In twenty minutes, they reached the yacht. Cameron tossed them a line and held the inflatable fast as they lifted the body onto the deck. Carlos unzipped the body bag to assure Wolff was still breathing. Pug and Cameron lifted the craft out of the water onto the aft deck, and Jenkins triggered the deflation device.

  Cameron glanced at his watch. “Right, we’ve got about two hours till first light. We can be well over the horizon by dawn. Sean, you and Carlos get our guest below and secure him. I’ve got some canvas straps beneath the bunk.”

  “Too right, Captain,” Macintosh replied. Both men struggled to lower the immobile body through the small hatch into the cabin.

  Cameron moved aft, toward the wheel, passing Pug who was helping Jenkins deflate the raft. “Let’s get underway. Pug, pull up the anchor, will you?”

  Pug moved to the bow and began pulling on the nylon rope, retrieving the anchor. He stepped to the mast and loosened the halyard securing the mainsail, then joined Cameron at the helm. In a few seconds the sail unfurled, took the off-shore breeze, and Rainbow Blue came about, headed away from Timor.

  “Pug, why don’t you and Carlos get your heads down for a couple of hours. I’ll take the helm and the lads will shift off on stag with Wolff.”

  “Agreed. Carlos said he should sleep till about eight.”

  “That’s fine. If he wakes earlier, Sean or Graham will call us.”

  Pug nodded and stepped through the hatch, passing Sean Macintosh in the main cabin.

  “He’s out like a light, General. I’ll call you when he comes around.”

  “Fine, Sean. Thanks,” Pug replied, heading forward to the double bunk space where he’d left his gear. Carlos was already lying on the port bunk. Pug lifted his sea bag, dropped it to the floor, and sat on the rack.

  “How’d it go?” Pug asked.

  “No problems. I put two down, then I sedated Wolff. Drilled him for about ten minutes and decided he might have more information, so I brought him back. Got some documents and a laptop.”

  “Good, we’ll go over them in the morning. Do you think he’ll talk?”

  “Probably not if he’s as much a professional as we’ve been led to believe, but they should have more luck at Thomson,” he said, referring to the Thomson Correctional Facility in Illinois, where all Guantanamo terrorists had been transferred. “If we still had Guantanamo, we’d have more options. With luck, the computer will tell us a lot. It never fails to amaze me how much these guys keep on their laptops, thinking they’re secure. But we’ll try to get him to open up in the morning. I’ll keep him lightly drugged once he wakes up. I spoke English with a thick Spanish accent. Probably should continue using that tomorrow, keep everyone else quiet, and Wolff blindfolded.”

  “Agreed. Now let’s get a few hours’ rest.” Pug lay back on the bunk, fully clothed, instantly falling sound asleep.

  The first sensation Pug felt was Cameron shaking him awake. He sat up on the bunk, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands.

  “What time is it?”

  “Just after seven,” Cameron replied, speaking in a whisper since the below decks cabin was so close to where they held their captive. “Wolff’s not awake, but he’s moving around a bit, so he should be up shortly. Carlos is with him. I brought you some coffee.”

  Pug reached for the cup. “Thanks.”

  “What’s the plan?” Cameron asked.

  “Is he still blindfolded and cuffed?”

  “Yeah. The lads taped his eyes shut. Carlos told us to remain quiet in his presence. He won’t even know for sure where he is, other than the pitching of the yacht. The particular drug Carlos used leaves people woozy and a bit off balance, not completely alert.”

  “Fine. You got the video cam set up?”

  “Carlos has everything all ready.”

  “Good, let’s get him up and see what we can get out of him while he’s disoriented. Carlos will do the talking, just to confuse him with a Mexican accent.”

  They stepped aft to the main cabin area, which contained a small kitchen and a couple of bunks on either side of the room. Macintosh was reading a paperback novel and sat on the bunk directly across from Wolff. Carlos sat at the small table used for meals. The prisoner lay on his bunk, mumbling incoherently and beginning to shift about.

  Pug put his finger to his lips, reminding everyone to be quiet. He motioned to Macintosh to get Wolff up and put him on the small bench in front of the table across from Carlos. Sean lifted Wolff almost bodily, setting him down hard on the bench. Pug took a place on the bunk, just behind the camera, which had been set up to film Wolff over Carlos’s shoulder. Cameron sat on the bunk where Wolff had been restrained.

  “Señor Wolff!” Carlos shouted. “Wake up!”

  The confused man mumbled incoherently.

  “Shut up and listen, you stay alive. You on ship, near Algeria. I want information. You talk, you live.”

  Tilting his head toward the sound of the voice, Wolff replied, his speech mumbled. “Algeria? No, . . . Timor.”

  “I say Algeria,” Carlos shouted. You answer or stay here forever. Interpol want you too.”

  “What do you want? Who are you?” Wolff asked, appearing a bit more rational as the questioning continued.

  “I ask questions. You answer. What’s your name?”

  Wolff paused for a moment, cocking his head to listen to the sounds, adjusting his shoulders to the tautness of his hands cuffed behind his back.

  Carlos reached across and slapped Wolff hard across the left cheek, the blow stunning the blindfolded man. “What’s your name?”

  Wolff struggled against his bonds and shouted an expletive.

  Carlos glanced at Pug and shook his head, acknowledging that Wolff appeared as tough as they expected and likely unwilling to talk without more abusive persuasion. “Maybe we loos
en your tongue, Wolff, with pliers. We don’t care you live or die, you piece of shit. Algerians pay good money for you. Maybe Israelis, Egyptians, but they, how you say, harsh with prisoners. Who we sell you to, Wolff? You talk first, you choose.”

  Wolff remained quiet as Carlos let him think it through.

  After a moment, Carlos leaned across the table and slapped him from the other side, nearly knocking him off his stool. “What you doing in Timor?”

  Wolff recovered from the blow and sat upright in his chair.

  Carlos spun around and released a string of rapid-fire Spanish invective to no one in particular. Then he turned back to face the prisoner.

  “Wolff, this is waste of time,” Carlos said, his voice now calm and soft. “I told them.”

  Carlos stood, scraping his chair across the floor for Wolff to hear. He nodded to Pug who began to speak.

  “Wolff, I’ve got a meeting ashore with the Algerians. They’ll be more cooperative than you, that’s for certain, and when they get their hands on you, they might change the interrogation tactics. You’ll wish you could be with me again.”

  Wolff angled his head again, trying to place the new voice and accent.

  Pug continued. “I’ll leave you with a couple of my friends and come back in the morning. In the meantime, you can think about what I’ve said. All we want are some answers and we’ll put you ashore. Of course, you have to make your way safely out of North Africa, but then, you grew up here. You know it well. And you’ve been in and out of here on arms deals to Hamas or Hezbollah for years, haven’t you? The choice is yours, Mr. Wolff.”

  Pug stood, also making sounds of departure, moving about the cabin toward the hatchway. He motioned to Sergeant Macintosh, giving him a ‘two minutes with you’ signal.

  Macintosh stood and stepped in front of Wolff, leaning down to breathe close to his face. “And a good day to yer, Mr. Wolff,” he said, rolling his R’s and thickening his Scottish brogue. “I’m so pleased we have this time together. Unlike my gentle friend, I don’t want any answers,” he said, reaching out and grabbing hold of the prisoner’s hair, jerking his head closer. “All I want is screams, Mr. Wolff. ‘Tis music to me ears.”

  Wolff didn’t respond.

  Macintosh tightened his grip on Wolff’s hair and twisted his head upward at a steep angle while placing his knee against Wolff’s chest, pulling the head against the pressure of his knee.

  “I said I don’t want answers, or questions, either, Mr. Wolff. I want screams, you see. And we’ll get there, I can assure you.”

  Wolff tilted his head slightly, trying to make sense of the ambient sounds that surrounded his location. Macintosh continued in a softer tone.

  “Now that Hispanic lad, he’s in charge. Don’t know why, since I always get the better results, but still, we all get paid to do our job, ain’t that right, Mr. Wolff. He wants answers, I want screams. Funny thing is, Mr. Wolff, you can make the choice, if you know what I mean. Of course, I’m only guessing that you would prefer his way to mine, but still, when all’s done I’d like to have a go at my way,” he said, pulling even tighter on the blindfolded man’s hair.

  Wolff grunted in response to the physical assault, but remained silent. Carlos nodded at Macintosh, who knocked Wolff back against his chair, then stepped away.

  All was silent for several moments as Carlos once again scraped the stool on the deck and resumed his seat across the small table from Wolff. “You tough man, Señor Wolff. I am tougher. This is last chance, asshole. Talk or die.”

  “Go to hell,” Wolff replied. Finally Pug motioned to Carlos and mimed injecting a syringe. Carlos nodded and stepped behind Wolff, retrieved a prepared syringe from the counter top, and jabbed it into Wolff’s neck.

  By early afternoon, with some satellite phone help from Washington, Pug had entered restricted files on Wolff’s computer and performed a cursory review of data without much success in deciphering any of it. Late that afternoon, he downloaded the video of the interrogation onto his laptop computer, hooked up his sat com telephone, and connected with his DHS contact, transmitting his written report and the full video, plus the contents of Wolff’s laptop by secure encrypted satellite link to General Austin. Thirty minutes later, Pug, Carlos, and Cameron sat on deck as Rainbow Blue made for the next contact with the Australian submarine.

  Just before dark, the rendezvous with HMAS Rankin was accomplished, and Wolff, still drugged and unconscious, was transferred for delivery to Australian authorities who had already made arrangements for his transfer to the Americans who would fly him out of Australia.

  With Rainbow Blue secured against the hull of the submarine, Carlos scrambled aboard and Pug tossed his bag to the waiting Aussie seaman. The two SAS troopers also boarded Rankin. Pug then turned toward Cameron and reached to shake his hand. “Captain Rossiter, it’s been a pleasure. Maybe we’ll meet again some time. I figure I owe you a good dinner for this South Pacific cruise.”

  “My pleasure, General. I just might pop over and take you up on that meal.”

  “You’re on. Have a good trip home. It should be quiet out here for the next few days without us. I doubt it will be quiet where I’m going. And it won’t be comfortable for Wolff, either.”

  “I like it quiet, Pug,” Cameron said, loosening the lines, “and I’ve got a few days left on my original plans. Won’t be surprised, however, to get another message from the colonel to report in. Vacation’s over, I’m afraid.”

  Pug accepted a hand up from the chief of the boat, stepped back onto the steel deck grating of HMAS Rankin, and watched for a few moments as Rainbow Blue drifted away from the sub. He gave a quick salute toward Cameron and then slipped through the hatch and down the ladder.

  Nine hours later, at dawn, a helicopter once again appeared on the horizon, and both Carlos and Pug were hoisted up and transported to USS Abraham Lincoln, now two hundred miles further west. They caught the COD again the following morning, headed for Jakarta, where they transferred to commercial aircraft, and returned to Washington D.C.

  Chapter 11

  Rumsey Valley

  Yolo County California

  March

  Following the convocation of legislators in Las Vegas, Dan and Nicole Rawlings had spent another three days in the neon city, attending several shows and just enjoying time away from the pressures of Dan’s legislative duties in Sacramento. Although the trip had been to discuss the prospect of other states joining with California in forming a new nation, it had also served as a brief extension to the abbreviated honeymoon Dan and Nicole had taken to Mazatlan after their marriage in January.

  Their wedding had certainly not been every girls’ dream. A New Year’s Day decision, a quick trip to Reno, a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Mexico, and then they came home as Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Rawlings, with Dan returning to his state capitol office the following Tuesday, spending the next two months behind closed doors in California Assembly and Senate workshops on constitutional development.

  Nicole’s retirement from the FBI, confirmed shortly before Christmas, had been a blow to the young woman, changing the course of her life even more dramatically than her decision to marry Dan Rawlings. They had moved into Dan’s condo in Davis, about twenty miles west of Sacramento. As he had promised, they contracted to build a new home slightly northwest of Davis, up Rumsey Canyon, where Dan’s family had settled shortly after the Civil War. It was to be the fourth Rumsey / Rawlings home in one hundred and forty-five years. Jack and Ellen Rumsey had been the last to build, in 1946.

  On a bright Sunday morning, the last day of March, Dan suggested they drive up Highway 16 toward the new home site to view the work that had been accomplished in their absence. Fifteen miles from Woodland, just west of the tiny village of Esparto, Dan took a slight detour off the main road. Nicole knew immediately where he was going: the Esparto Cemetery to visit Jack Rumsey’s final resting ground.

  Jack Rumsey had been the patriarch of the family through most of the second
half of the twentieth century. He had died at age 89 of a heart attack the previous August. His death had occurred one day before the insertion of federal troops into Sacramento and the brief gun fight between the 82nd Airborne Division and the California State Reserve that the press had dubbed The Battle of Capital Mall. Dan had commented several times that he was grateful that Jack had been spared the necessity of seeing his beloved California party to an armed conflict between California and military forces of the United States of America. Even Dan found it hard to believe.

  As they pulled into the small, well-maintained cemetery, Dan parked on a side road and they exited the vehicle, slowly walking toward the Rumsey and Rawlings’ family plot. Dan’s older brother, Tom, who had died during birth, lay in a row with Ellen and Jack Rumsey and several earlier generations of Dan’s family. Now, with a new home, the prospect of a new state, and even the possible advent of a new nation, Dan found himself wondering if Jack Rumsey would lay buried on “foreign” soil.

  “The roses are starting to bloom,” Nicole said, pointing toward the row of bushes that surrounded the family plot. Dan looked in their direction, taking Nicole’s hand and strolling past several headstones. Jack and Ellen’s ornate marker had an asymmetrical appearance, with Jack’s engraving fresh and bold, compared to Ellen’s inscription, which had tarnished a bit in the decade since her death. It gave the marble edifice a visual, compelling, and heartfelt story without the need for explanation. In most respects, it was a traditional family plot, with headstones reflecting that some members had spent merely hours on their earthly sojourn, others nearly a century.

  “My mother told me that her mother, Grandma Ellen, planted those roses almost fifty years ago. Mom’s been caring for them ever since she was a teenager, when Grandma would bring her here to tell her about our early pioneer family.”

  “They’re lovely,” Nicole replied. “We never had flowers so early in Connecticut. That’s one reason I love California. Did you have much to do with your grandmother?” she asked. “I know you and your grandfather were very close, but how old were you when Ellen died?”