The Remote Traveler (The Remote Series Book 1)

by Finian Blake

  “Ted, I am fifty years old and not inclined to waste time. I was interested in you out on the firing line.” Ted put his arm around her waist finding that Nadia’s body was solid. She had a better body than most twenty-year-old women.

  Ted stammered, “Let’s shag.” Nadia led him to the bedroom.

  Nadia and Ted awoke early. She caressed him tenderly before shoving him out of bed. “We have fifteen or twenty people waiting for us in the courtyard. You could not handle the grief if we don’t join them.” She dressed in her sweat suit and running shoes. “Your fatigues and boots will have to do. Get dressed.” She went to the kitchen and started the kettle to boil. Ted came in the kitchen and poured a glass of water. As he was drinking, a hand full of gravel struck the window. Suki, Anna and Alex were stretching down below. Suki waved to Nadia grabbing the crotch of her sweats making a humping gesture.

  “Come on Ted I am going to teach that little bitch a lesson. I am going to run the shoes off her feet.” Nadia ran downstairs with Ted close behind her. He seemed to have recovered from his surprise last night. Nadia and Ted started out at a brisk pace with the others following. They met the ‘Old Men’ in front of Susan’s house. Layla, Susan, Lynn, Noah and Adam joined the ‘Old Men’ for the run. Alex, Anna, Susan and Lynn did the parents circuit which ended at the restaurant in the security center. The others would be gone for another hour. When they finished the run Nadia and Ted took a seat at the table with Suki, Mark and Sidney. Ted went right to his question.

  “Suki, do you really have an open slot or were you kidding?”

  “Mark is going to retire. We were going to have you take over his slot, and there will be two other slots after that.”

  “Nadia’s company handles the domestic security and my company does the international security. You will handle the evaluation and training for the security personnel for the company along with our contracts.”

  “I thought Nadia worked for you.”

  “Technically she does but Mark is her boss and you will be her boss if you accept. Susan, Lynn, Sarah, Alex and I own the Inn. We have veto power over anything that happens on property, but nothing has ever been vetoed. Nadia’s word is golden. You met all of the ‘Old Men’, two have died, two have retired and Mark is retiring. Nobody has ever been let go. Once you are on, the only way that you leave is if you choose to or you die.”

  Ted could not believe his luck, “Well, I’m on.”

  “A cottage goes with the job. You will take over Mark’s cottage by the first gate on the equestrian property, and you can use the flat in the security center until he moves across the road. When can you start?”

  “As soon as the army releases me, I would start tomorrow if I could.”

  “Turn in your paperwork today. Susan will clear it. The army never turns her down.”

  “You’re kidding me.”

  Mark sounded dead serious, “Ted, I never kid about business. Nadia will drive you back to the base and you can go on leave until your paperwork is official.”

  “Just snap your fingers and that is all there is to it.”

  Suki gave him a tight smile. “We never ask you to do things blindly. This is how it works. We train foreign security forces for small governments, oil sheiks and private concerns. We uphold British interests on a lower level all over the world. One call to the right person and we get what we want. How do you think we get all of those restricted goodies? It took us one phone call to get you cleared.” Suki pointed to Lynn, Susan, Adam and Noah at the next table. “The kids have been raised with this. They grew up with the ‘Old Men’. They ate, breathed and slept military science along with politics since they could walk. They could use plastic explosive, shoot and kick ass from the age of ten. By the time they got to boot camp, they could instruct it.”

  “This sounds more and more interesting all of the time. Although I thought that I was retiring from the government.”

  “We have no official ties to the government.” Lynn said calmly Alex and Anna have no official ties to the Yanks or Russians. We are officially a multinational corporation with our own financing plus we manage to turn a tidy profit with our efforts.” Suki patted Ted on the arm. “Have Nadia drive you to put in your retirement papers. They will accept them and you will be done.”

  Nadia used the Bentley Mulsanne to drive Ted back to the base impressing him greatly with the vehicle.

  “This does not look like the standard Bentley.”

  “We had it bullet proofed and supercharged. It has a blown 6.75-liter engine with the additional improvements it prices out at just over a quarter of a million Pounds. This is the most recent one. We have four more security limos. Susan uses the Continental R for her personal car.” Nadia stopped at base housing so that Ted could put on his first class uniform. It took a half an hour for him to prepare to go before the general and by that time the moving van had pulled up with Nadia giving them their instructions.

  “There are only two rooms to pack leave the furniture, throw the food and perishables out please box everything else.” Ted kept a minimum of personal possessions and the movers were well started before he was ready to leave. Nadia entered the base driving straight to the administration building. She gave her name to the receptionist and was directed to the Generals office with Ted. They were shown in immediately and the general went directly to the point. He often teased Ted about retiring. He joked about it only last week. The general hated to lose his top N C O, but the call came from the highest level at MI. Ted’s services were required immediately, and his retirement was to be given the highest priority.

  “Ted I wish you the best on your retirement. I would like to know what the all fired hurry is.” Nadia stepped forward in her chauffer’s uniform.

  “Excuse me sir, but the call expressly forbids you from asking, or Ted from answering.” The general suddenly recognized that Nadia was a security detail, not a chauffeur. “We will have all of his things packed and removed from base housing before noon. If your secretary is done with his paperwork we will sign and be on our way. Time is critical.” Ted did a formal salute and left followed by the chauffeur. They stopped by the secretary’s desk, signed the paper work and left. The general looked out the window. Nadia held the rear door of the Bentley Mulsanne for Ted and then climbed in the driver’s seat. The general could not help but wonder what the poor bastard had gotten himself into. He resented the way that the orders were passed down to him because as a general he had never received orders like that in his entire career. He had handed out orders like this but never received orders this way, and he did not like it.

  The Bentley drove back to base housing. The truck was only a tenth full when the job was finished. All of the furniture was from base housing so all that had to be packed was Ted’s personal things. Ted rated more than a flat, but had no need for more and left the houses for families. He was a career man and kept his personal gear to a minimum. Before the truck left Nadia went over it with an electronic detector finding two transmitters. Before she pulled out with the Bentley she swept it too. There was one transmitter on it. She drove back to the administration building and went directly to the general’s office. She held out the three transmitters dropping them from a foot off of the secretary’s desk.

  “I don’t wish to see the general. Tell him that this will be reported and duly noted on his record.” The general caught her before she reached the elevator grabbing her by the arm. He noticed that she had bigger biceps than some of the men in his command.

  “You can’t…”

  “You were informed that this was a critical assignment and those transmitters are a serious breach. With all of the leaks of sensitive material we will need to do a formal investigation. Since you are a general this will apply to your entire command structure.”

  “You can’t.”

  “I will make you a deal, if there are no more transmitters we will call it ‘no harm done’,” Nadia, decided to back off. “We will be sweeping the truck and car a
t a secure location.” The general released her and returned to his office. Nadia drove off making it back to the Inn by five.

  “He was a descent Commanding Officer. I didn’t care much for you pushing him that hard.”

  “We wouldn’t have had to, if he hadn’t planted those bugs. Are you still good with this?”

  “I have talked to the other men, and it is the way to go. This is the only way to keep doing what I like. They would have made me retire in a few years anyway. I have 32 years in and I just turned fifty.”

  “I am sorry for going hard on your general, but he violated his orders. He may be a general, but as a soldier he must follow orders. I have dealt with several generals in the past, and find that they are the worst offenders.”

  “Who is in charge…?”

  “That would be Susan, Mark, Suki or Alex.”

  Ted was surprised, “Alex, you mean the Yank?”

  “Yes the yank, he is the father of Adam and Noah, your two new instructors. We have you in the honeymoon cottage for now until we can make other arrangements. All of your meals will be free at the pub, service center or room service.”

  “You offered another accommodation last night. Is that still open?”

  Nadia stroked Ted’s cheek gently. “I was hoping that would be an acceptable choice for you. Will the same room be alright?” Nadia shook her head looking Ted straight in the eye. “Let’s not bullshit, I think that we have something developing. You can move in with me and we will see if there is something there. In any case the job is yours no matter what develops. Mark will start working with you to bring you up to speed. Sidney, Randy, Ernie and Carl understand that you will be running the show with Suki. No matter what happens between us you are here as long as you choose.” The next question came up naturally.

  “I thought that Carl was the bartender.”

  Carl is our ordinance expert from the Royal Marines. We can’t set off explosives here so he keeps the bar. Carl mixes dynamite drinks and sets off dynamite too. He will be one of your men. He can blow out a candle without damaging the wax. We have a room at the shooting club that we train in using the small charges that we use for doors and windows. The big stuff we save for a quarry in Scotland. He works closely with Suki who is our electronics expert. She designed many of the electronic detonators that the SAS uses.”

  “I thought that I had seen him before. We have done some joint exercises a while ago.”

  “I think that you have probably met most of the men, every one of them was a top instructor prior to working here. You will be busy with contracts most of the time and you can select which ever job around the inn that holds your interest.”

  “We never discussed salary. What am I making?”

  “You have a 50,000 Pound signing bonus on your books now. Your permanent housing is included. Twenty percent goes to the business, Seventy-five percent of the profits from each mission are split between the participants and you get five percent of the net as director plus an equal share on the missions that you actually conduct. We used five people on the last mission, they netted 30,000 Pounds each for eight weeks work and we are back logged several months with contracts. Which brings up the next issue, we need two more permanent instructors, permanent contract workers plus several reserves. You can work on that with Suki.”

  Ted stopped before leaving, “Speaking about signing, what will I need to sign?”

  “We operate on our word,” Nadia laughed. “If you need to you can change your mind at any time no piece of paper is going to hold you anyway. If your word was not reliable, we would not have asked you in the first place. Select a new name and Sarah will make a full set of papers for you. None of us use our birth names for working the contracts. It’s a measure that we use to protect our families.”

  Sarah had aerial photos of the Farm in Antelope Valley. She wanted to go over the area with Layla, Edward, and Alex. “Alex requested an emergency assault plan. The photos are in several types of light and from several angles. The information is restricted, but with the MI clearance I was able to get the high resolution satellite shots from several angles. With the security perimeter at the Farm it will be difficult. Evan Black is pushing the issue. He took out a member of his team in order to keep the rest of the team in the game. There is not a chance of backing things down without taking him out. I am planning a detailed study of the area. Their sensors would be a big problem and Suki wants Edward to examine the area to find out what they are using. She will review the general types of sensors, before Edward goes into his trance.”

  Edward walked into the main house at the top of Russian Hill. Suki was sitting at the table with a 25-year-old Eurasian lady. She was five-foot-four and strikingly beautiful. With Raven black hair and dark almond eyes, her European bone structure and Asian accents made an interesting combination. Suki looked up from the stack of diagrams on the table.

  “Layla, you have not met my daughter Yuki. She is visiting from London.” Layla looked Yuki over wondering why Edward never met anyone that he was interested in before he met her. “Yuki is an electronics engineer. I asked her to visit with the latest updates on the new sensors.” Yuki waded right in.

  “Most of them are wireless now and with the new integrated circuits they are completely independent. With a small solar panel, they are almost undetectable. The most reliable way to locate them is from their security center. Most of the serious systems are run by an independent computer that has no outside links, so we can’t tap into their system. The area covered is usually around a mile in all directions. Sometimes the sensors are doubled up.” With the security being domestic they will not have the most sensitive units on site. You can bet that the sensitivity will be limited to one hundred yards usually less. The low light cameras max out at about four hundred yards. Here are pictures of the different types of sensors. Mom will show you some instillations that we have done for some of our customers.” Suki took over and Yuki took a seat next to Layla.

  “We have examples of some of our advanced instillations. We will assume that they have booby traps along the most attractive routes. Remote claymore mines are still very popular. Trip wires are also common. They should have a diagram of the defenses in the computer. You want to do your exploration in the early evening. When the natural desert predators are hunting, they will set off some of the traps. Suki took two hours to detail the different setups that they could expect. Ted sat back listening to the briefing. His admiration for his new boss was growing this was not a casual effort.

  When the briefing was finished Yuki rose to leave. Layla followed her out the door.

  “Yuki, how come you and Edward never got together?”

  “It would be like dating my brother. He considers me to be his sister. Susan and Lynn feel much the same way as I do. We would not go after Adam or Noah either. It has been hard to find someone. The men here have caused us to set the bar very high and it is hard to find someone that is even close to the example that we were given. Adam and Noah have the same problem. Their expectations for women are off the scale.” Yuki took a minute to appraise Layla. “You must really be something to land Edward. His standards are off the scale for a mortal woman to live up to.” Layla beamed at the compliment.

  “I have him now. Does this mean that I qualify as an Amazon?”

  “Suki tells me that you have been accepted. You are officially a member of the Amazon Ladies.” Yuki put her arm around Layla’s waist and started walking down to the guest cottage. “Edward is getting the shopping list for ‘Traveling’. They will be at least an hour. Let’s take a walk.” Layla wanted to get to know Yuki better as an honest friend.

  Edward nodded and sat down with Suki and Ted. “Well Ted it looks like I have been dismissed. Let’s go over those satellite photos.” Suki had Cherry and Sarah come over for the review. Edward had never looked at infrared high resolution images before. They found an infrared set that was taken just after sunset. There were several bright spots on the image. The solar p
anels used to recharge their batteries were still hot from the sun, holding their heat longer than the back ground earth. Cherry plotted them on the area map. When they were finished Cherry did an overlay and marked the tracks on the primary map. They made a shopping list for Edward to check out. Cherry and Irina would be taking over Sarah’s duties in a few years. Both women were in their early forties and more than competent. They had been doing this type of work for twenty-five years. Sarah was still in charge, but none of the girls or Nadia needed supervision.

  Edward turned to Ted.

  “I might as well do the check from here. Could you make sure that nobody comes in the bedroom until I come out?”

  “You can count on it. The room is sealed once you walk in.” Ted always took his orders seriously and there would be no breach until Edward said otherwise.

  “Suki, I will need a recorder the instant that I wake up. The information starts to fade quickly like a dream. Keep the shopping list handy and be sure that we cover the whole list and ask detailed questions. This is the first time that I will be doing this without Layla debriefing me.”

  Edward went in the bedroom and started his breathing. Within minutes he was in the chicken coop at the farm. After a few tries he found the security room. It was just pre-dawn in California, and the coyotes were just starting their hunt. They would explore all of the area for any game. One of the trip wires was triggered. A mine on either side of the draw exploded shredding the unfortunate coyote. Sam started to cuss.

  “The coyotes keep setting off the trip wires. We will have to switch over to claymores that we can trigger manually.” He pulled out a map and marked the location of the needed replacements. Edward noted the other locations of the mines. The computer screen indicated the locations of the reporting sensors. The duty roster only showed five people on duty for the morning shift. It listed two sweeper teams that were on call, but none of the teams were at the Farm. He started to wonder if he could get the operator to test the system. Edward started to feel unsure of both him and the system. He wanted to push the need for the operator to have a system test. Lance the system tech pulled up the sensor grid.