The Remote Traveler (The Remote Series Book 1)

by Finian Blake

  “You miserable bitch, that’s our dad. Do you think…?” The sound proof door closed off the rest of the comment. It took almost ten minutes before the door was reopened by Lynn. She was still red faced and there was a forced calm in her voice. The hair on one side of her head was out of place.

  “My sister and I have come to an agreement on priorities. Please come in and have a seat.” Lynn took a seat behind her desk. There were only three chairs in front of the desk. Susan and her mother Lynn leaned back against the wall.

  Alex wasted no time in coming to the point. He began in a calm voice, “I am sorry for bursting in on you like that. Edward tells me that Scott is on his way here from MI with the severed finger of the consul. He sounded extremely distressed, so I arranged to use the service center apartment for the briefing. The consul seems to be of particular interest to him. Edward believes that he may be some kind of relative. Edward what do you have.”

  “I am pretty sure that I will be able to find him now. Layla will go with me and we will plot the area when we find him. I would like Sarah and her full crew to remain available to do the plot when we come out of the state. We want our information as fresh as possible.” Lynn looked across her desk.

  What are your recommendations?” The elder Lynn came off her resting position on the wall.

  “They have the SAS on standby for a rescue operation. We have done several contracts in that country. If Suki and Sarah could make their personal knowledge available, it would be helpful.” Lynn always asked knowing that no reasonable request would be refused.

  Alex put in an addition, “I think that we should offer all of our resources to Scott without reserve. There is something about the consul that he is holding back. As long as Scott has been head of MI he has backed us. If we back him now I am sure that it will go a long way to securing his support in the future when we need his cooperation again. His support has made many of our contracts possible, so friendship aside we owe him big time.” Lynn pushed her chair back from the desk.

  “Edward and Layla will see what they can find and we will go from there. I will have security drop the asparagus when the helicopter calls.”

  Alex left with Edward and Layla. Lynn motioned her daughter Susan out of the room. She sat on the edge of the desk.

  “Here it is from Lynn to Lynn: First of all nobody works for us so we need to ask instead of telling. Second Scott is personally involved so we will back him with all of the resources that we have, without reserve. And third if you ever talk to Alex like that again, I will kick your ass until your nose bleeds. Even if he wasn’t your father he is at the top of my most respected list.”

  “Alex wasn’t upset. He knows his place.”

  “Alex didn’t say anything because it’s the worst thing that he could do to you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “His advice was spot on. He could let you flounder around and muck the whole thing up. If you are smart you will get him on your side.” Lynn patted her daughter’s displaced hair with a smile. “At least Susan hit you in the head, no damage done. Fix your hair and let’s go. One more thing, I know that you are not a little girl any more, but we still say please and thank you. Thank you Lynn.” Her mother closed the door firmly behind her not waiting for an answer.

  Scott’s helicopter landed and Lynn was the first one to greet him.

  “How was your flight?”

  “It seemed like it took forever. Is Edward available?”

  “He is waiting for you in the security center. Do you have the item?”

  “Yes, those bastards cut his finger off!” Scott held up a small plastic box. Susan took him straight to the apartment and Edward greeted him at the door. Layla and Edward reverently examined the finger. Alex poured Scott a stiff Whiskey which he downed in one toss. Alex allowed him to stay in the room while Edward and Layla slipped into their meditative state. It didn’t seem like they were breathing.

  “Are they alive?”

  “Yes, they are out of body.”

  “Do they both have to go?” Scott wanted to get familiar with the process.

  “No they can both do it. If they stay under for more than ten minutes, I believe that they will have something positive.” After twenty minutes Alex pulled Scott out of the bedroom.

  Susan was waiting for them in the sitting room and her mother Lynn hugged him firmly. “Scott, are you alright?”

  “Not even close, why did you pull me out?”

  “It’s better if they are left alone. This whole thing hit you pretty hard. Is it something personal?”

  “The consul is my wife’s cousin Todd. I got him the job, so she blames this whole mess on me. I hear about it all day while I’m at work. Then I hear about it all night at home. He is a good man. Todd was only in the country for a day. They were after his predecessor he was one of ours.”

  Lynn took his hand sympathetically, “You know that we will treat this as more than business. You are like family and any resource that we have is at your disposal. I am sure that everyone here will do their utmost.”

  “Thank you, if anyone working for me suggested that I depend on a séance to do my work they would be sacked.” Lynn poured Scott another Whiskey and pushed him back on the couch.

  Scott woke up not having any idea of how long he had been asleep. There was a fair amount of noise in the bedroom. He got up and looked in the room. There were six people working on the bed.

  Scott didn’t have time for pleasantries, “What the hell is going on?

  Lynn greeted his question with a reassuring smile. “They located Todd. He is in a small village near Sur, in Oman. They are just off of the water. Sarah is working on your map and doing a mockup of the compound. You were stone cold out of it so we let you sleep until we had something to present. It will be several hours before we can get you a complete lay out, but you can put the needed teams underway. Make your arrangements with the SAS after they arrive at the jump off point. The house is only about a half mile off the coast, so it should be a piece of cake for those lads.” Scott walked over looking at some of the work that Sarah was doing. They had the door and window placement, the room sizes and there was even an approximation of the furniture.” Suki started her brief.

  “There are ten well-armed guards, plus miscellaneous family members. They are in a compound with a house and three out buildings, one of which is a garage. There is one flatbed truck, one pickup truck and three Rovers. The nearest compound is one hundred fifty meters away across a road and it appears to be a farm family. A sea based helicopter should be able to make a run from the coastline to the compound in less than a minute landing just outside of the wall.”

  “Scott what can you tell me about the Sultan?”

  “Sarah, he conducts a friendly government and should give us only a token complaint.

  Suki joined the conversation. “We have done several contracts in the country and one within that area. From what I have seen so far you can be in and out within twenty minutes from the time that you cross the coast.”

  Lynn gave her reassurance. “We will give you absolutely all of our intelligence. Can we do anything else?”

  Scott wanted to develop a time line, “How soon can you finish the brief?”

  “I have six people working on it now. We can brief you as we build the model. I just request that nobody finds out about how this information was obtained.”

  Scott was curious, “How would you like me to explain it?”

  Lynn blurted out, “Spies…! MI is a spy agency.”

  “Ok but I will need help with briefing the SAS.”

  Lynn offered, “We can give you Ted and I believe that we can talk Edward into going along too. Being a former SAS instructor, Ted can make sure that you get the elite team. He knows our little secret. Ted will brief with us while we build the models. Then relay it to your team. Irina and Nina are building the models in Auto Cad. When you leave here you will have everything that they need. I am not sure but I think that
Ted will see it all the way through as your personal representative.” Scott was dumbfounded by the degree of the response.

  “What can I do in return?” Lynn walked up to him taking his hand giving him a warm hug.

  “You are family and everyone here is doing this for you. There are times when we should not discuss debts.” Alex stood up and walked into the hallway. Lynn chased after him.

  “Wait I wanted to apologize to you for this morning.”

  “You did a few minutes ago.”

  Lynn wanted to finish her apology. “Susan was right this morning.”

  “Yes she was, and you are right now. I can guarantee one thing. You will make more mistakes. The important thing is what you do about them.” Alex gave her a warm kiss and lightly pushed her back toward the room. “Keep up the good work.”

  Alex walked down the hall and stopped in the security room. Harry Tildon came to the main gate looking for Simone. Security cleared him to the pub. Alex went down to meet him. Victoria and Simone were in a back room having a drink. Alex observed Anna walking into the Pub as he rounded the corner. As he walked to the pub he knew that Anna’s arrival was no accident. Carl was pouring a glass of wine for Anna as Harry walked up to the bar. Harry had just arrived looking somewhat panicked.

  “I can’t find Simone. I called some of my deep people back there and found that Senator Mudson tried to rape her in a hotel room, but choked to death on his vomit before he got the job done. They loaded her in an ambulance and it was hijacked on the way to the hospital. They found the ambulance in Delaware and they found the two paramedics in a ditch with a double tap in each of their heads. One of them had an NSA set of IDs. Evan at the NSA has been on the phone three times today. He wants me to find Simone. They made him a Special Envoy with a shift to the State Department and he still wants to play spy. Evan and his assistant Pauline want the full scoop on her and this place.” Harry gasped for air after getting the whole statement out in one breath.

  Anna was the first to speak, “Who sent you back here?”

  “Evan and Pauline sent me back to London. They wanted some information about the situation in Oman. They just kidnapped our consul over there. It seems that kidnaping is becoming a real industry in Oman. Our reports show that the threat seems to be coming from Yemen. They have a group kidnapping diplomats from the more affluent countries. They are using family members already living in Oman to hide with. I understand that they have had a British consul over there now.”

  Anna decided to take a risk with Harry, “So, Evan and Pauline sent you home a few hours before your date, George showed up in your place and failed to kill Simone because of a freak accident. Then Simone was kidnapped on the way to the hospital and is currently missing.” Anna wanted to emphasize her point, “What happened to the paramedics, with the ambulance?”

  “They found them shot in the head in a ditch.”

  “What about the two men in the ambulance?”

  “They found them with silenced weapons and multiple IDs on them.”

  Anna already knew the answer, “So, do you think that all of this is a coincidence?”

  “No, Senator Mudson was a cross dresser and Simone sold him some of her fashions. I think that he tried to kill her. They want me to find Simone to kill her and I want to find Simone to protect her.” Harry seemed honest. Anna decided to go for the conversion.

  “Harry, do you know what a sweeper team is?”

  “Yes…”

  Anna pushed, “Do you know what a domestic sweeper team is?”

  “There are no domestic sweeper teams.” Anna dragged Harry over to a table.

  “Have a seat I have a long story to tell you.” Anna went all the way back to the day that the first sweeper team tried to kill Jane and Edward moving along to the present. She down played Simone’s roll, and avoided as much of the Inn’s involvement as she could. It took an hour to finish the story. Harry knew that there was more to the story, but was disturbed about the news of domestic sweeper teams. He looked at Alex in a new light.

  “You actually took out six sweeper teams?” Harry did not try to hide his surprise.

  “No I took out three teams the police took out two and they took out one of their own teams themselves. That plane crash was no accident. Evan and Pauline made the arrangements to have the Senator’s wife fly back from LA to DC on the flight. Call agent Byrne of the Los Angeles FBI office and find out who cleared her for the flight. It may be necessary to kill a threat to the nation, but what about killing your own.”

  Harry had to admit that the last argument had a lot of merit. “According to your story they killed ten of their own plus blew up their own facilities when they were exposed.”

  “And they tried to kill Simone when she found out about it. Check around and see if the facts match. I will do what I can to see if I can find Simone.”

  Harry was worried about what Alex would do. “What are you going to do about me?”

  Anna stepped in the conversation. “We only kill to protect. Go investigate what we have told you, and decide what you are going to do. I suggest that you use our secure phone this mess could get worse.” After Harry walked out Simone and Victoria walked in from the back room.

  Simone didn’t wait for Alex to comment. “Harry is a good man. I feel bad about hiding from him. What do you think he will do?”

  Anna shrugged, “Harry is a good man and I hope that he is a smart one. We just trusted him with a lot of information.”

  Harry drove back to London looking for the accident that he knew was going to happen. He went on his computer and accessed the files from the LA police and FBI. Harry was glad that he had a clearance that would permit his probing. All of the information that Anna and Alex provided him with was correct. He called Agent Byrne and found that he was running a full scale investigation of his own into the crash of the Lear Jet.

  “We had three witnesses that were flying back to DC on that plane.”

  Harry sounded pissed off. “Why did you let the Senator’s wife on board?”

  “I didn’t want to do it at first. Pauline pointed out that having the Senator’s wife on board might act as a deterrent to any funny business. It made sense, so we let her fly with them. We were told not to disappoint the Senator.” Harry needed to be really careful now.

  “I just uncovered the fact that she was out in LA to hire a publicist. The Senator’s wife was going to divorce the Senator and expose his habits when she got back to DC. According to the information that I could find they were all dead before the plane crashed into the ocean.” Harry was careful to phrase the next bit very carefully. “The Senator was found dead in a hotel room dressed in drag. He raped a woman. She disappeared on her way to the hospital. They found the ambulance in Delaware with both attendants dead in a ditch and the hijackers dead inside. They had NSA, FBI and Washington DC police IDs on them. You might not have heard that yet.”

  Agent Byrne was instantly alert, “Three of the people that we caught in LA had fake FBI IDs for current agents. I will call the director. Have they found the witness yet?”

  “No we need her for a case that we are working on out here. If she shows call me at any hour.”

  Harry was satisfied that Anna’s story was mostly true. One thing that bothered him was that she said that the CIA knew about the operation at the Inn. He was the station chief and he never heard of it. Harry picked up the phone and called Alex at the Inn.

  “Your story checks out. I need one more thing before I make up my mind on this subject.” Alex waited for the question. “If the CIA knows about this, you must have a clearance. I need to know what it is.” There was a long silence on the other end of the line. Alex finally answered.

  “Alright, but you will have to call the director’s office to check it out. The clearance is ‘Cassandra Black’. Be careful how you ask.” Harry never heard of the clearance, but he knew what the black meant. He called the Director’s office and was eventually put through.

  The
director went straight to business. “Harry, what can I do for you?”

  “Somebody is trying to use a clearance that is not on file. I need to verify it.”

  “What is it?”

  “Cassandra Black…” There was a very long silence on the other end of the line.

  “Harry, give them whatever they require.”

  “Do you want to know what they want?”

  The director was firm, “No, give them what they want and forget that you ever talked to them. If there is a problem, talk to the director at MI.” Harry had Scott’s cell number. He called and it was answered immediately.

  “What can I do for you Harry?”

  “I am checking out a clearance and my director told me to call you.”

  “What is it?”

  “Cassandra Black…”

  Scott choked, “I am at the Inn right now. Why don’t you come out and we can talk face to face?”

  Harry drove back to the Inn being admitted immediately. He drove to the security center and was directed to the apartment. Scott was just preparing to leave with a large map case and Ted was following behind him holding a scale model of a building.

  “Harry, I don’t have much time. Since Alex used the clearance I suggest that you do whatever he asks of you.” He looked over Scott’s shoulder and saw Alex and Anna sitting in the room. “I have a helicopter to catch. Come on Ted.” Scott closed the door leaving Harry with Alex and Anna.

  “You could have used the clearance right away.”

  “It has only been used twice since it was given to me. I am not a name dropper. I would much rather appeal to your good judgment. What did the Director tell you?”

  “He said to do whatever was requested and forget about what I did.”

  “You checked out my story what does your reason tell you?”