by J. C. Phelps
Mr. White came back in with our coffee and sat next to me. We kept skimming. The sleep deprivation went on for several days and when the tape went black we would stop to listen in. After just three of these sessions, The Lion began to sing like a songbird. He gave names and places, he admitted to atrocities of all kinds. I wondered if it all were true, some of the things he admitted affiliation to were terrible, unthinkable horrors.
Then the sessions became more subdued and he talked without incentive. The days became more recent and a man was introduced to The Lion as a psychiatrist. This man delved deeper into The Lion and made him bear his soul. After hearing his reasons for doing what he did, I wondered if he even possessed a soul. He had no sane reasons for anything. I had to wonder if he wasn’t driven insane by the treatment he had received at the installation though.
“Can we believe all this?” I asked Mr. White.
“We are looking for specific information, it doesn’t matter if it’s all true or not,” he answered.
“But, I’d say anything to get them to stop what they’re doing!” I said, a little disgusted.
“It’s just the way it is. Nobody can have that much detail about something they weren’t involved with in some way. They have people sorting through it all, I’m sure,” Mr. White said with no feeling in his voice.
“What are we looking for?” I asked.
“I imagine they will get to your father pretty soon. It would be nice if we could find something to discredit The Lion to his followers too. The government couldn’t release this, but we can,” he said.
“I’d think his craziness and the fact that it sounds like he gave up everyone should be enough to discredit him,” I said.
“Maybe for us, it would be enough, but these people he has under his control are easier to manipulate. And once they have an idea in their heads, it’s hard to get it out. What we need is something that would severely damage the reputation of The Lion,” he said.
We continued with our search in the same way and got to the day my dad was abducted and slowed the video again so we could watch and hear the events. Before, there had been only a few people that had been in and out with The Lion, but on this day there was a barrage of people that came to the installation. The outside cameras captured several vehicles pulling through the main gates.
I looked at Mr. White and he wasn’t surprised. He started telling me who the people were and what their role would be once they got their chance at Abbas. He was right with everyone. Some of the men went in hard with threats and blows; others were a bit subtler in their questions about where my dad could be located. In the end, Abbas couldn’t tell them much. He didn’t know anything about the abduction. At first he gloated and told them he better be released and returned to his country, but before long, he was blabbering on and not making much sense at all.
“Well, we’ve seen it all now. Let’s get down to the office to see what Mr. Red and Mr. Blue have come up with,” Mr. White said moving from the computer.
I followed and we went down one floor. We went to Suite 72 this time. It was a fairly large area. Upon walking in the door we were greeted with a very small room with a desk and not much else. There was a door behind the desk and Mr. White led me through it into a small hallway. To my right were five heavy doors with thin, sliding observation windows. In the middle of the hall was a door to my left. We went through that door and were confronted with two more doors directly in front of us and one on either side of us. Mr. White opened the door to my left and walked in.
It led to another small room with a two-way mirror that I could see an interrogation room with drab gray on the floor, walls and ceiling. Mr. Red and Mr. Blue were talking to each other and The Lion was slumped over in his chair. It reminded me of the man in the satellite picture. Mr. White knocked on the glass and we were motioned into the room.
I noticed when we got into the room Mr. Blue’s doctor bag was sitting in the corner on the floor.
“So?” Mr. White directed to both men.
“He should come around in a few minutes.” Mr. Blue said.
“I got names and places from him. Some of them are ones we didn’t have before. This guy is crazy. One minute he’s lucid, the next he’s raving,” Mr. Red said, shaking his head.
“I gave him a sedative,” Mr. Blue explained The Lion’s slumped position.
Mr. Red gave me a new list of names and places to look up and said, “We’ve less than two hours to find something or we’ll have to relinquish him.” He nodded to The Lion still motionless in the chair.
Mr. White handed me the keys to his apartment and I headed back to the war room.
My leg had started to ache a little so I put it up on a chair as I began my search. We hadn’t heard anything from the other men yet, so I thought I would look at the satellite picture of the man in the chair.
Nothing had changed there. The man was still in the chair and the other two men were apparently standing guard, so I went to work on the new names and places. This was a lot like data entry. I punched in the names or numbers and got a result.
I had only been at it for a few minutes when Mr. White returned.
“I got word from Mr. Black they’re in position and waiting for us to tell them where everyone is located in the building. Pull up the UAV feed,” he said.
I did as I was told and sure enough, there were two extra bodies right outside the building. The UAV was outfitted with several cameras so we were able to see everything in real time and because it was dark there, we were watching it all with the night vision camera. Mr. White began to describe the positions of the only other two men in the area. I saw the figures of Mr. Black and Mr. Green move around behind the building and slowly enter the room with the man in the chair. One of them went to him and lifted his head then let it fall back down on his chest. My stomach turned because it seemed as if the man might be dead. Then I saw them walk away from the building.
I looked to Mr. White with terror in my heart, making sure to keep the emotion from my face.
“Well?” I asked.
“Not him,” he replied. “They’re on their way back home.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t know who the man was but was glad it was not my father.
“It’s time to go. Did you come up with anything new?” Mr. White asked.
“No,” I said.
“I think we have enough downstairs to give to his followers. You wouldn’t believe how crazy he is. I don’t understand how he got anyone to follow him, no matter how deprived they are. Some of the deaths in his own group were previously blamed on others but he just admitted to killing them himself. One of the men was his second in command and very well liked. Quite simply, he was the reason The Lion has supporters. No one knows he’s dead either. I think it’s enough to get the rest of the people to rethink why they followed him in the first place.”
I was standing and ready to go. I was in a hurry to get my father back.
“I need you to stay here while the rest of us make the drop,” Mr. White added, like it was no big deal.
“What? I thought I was going with you,” I said a little upset.
“I need someone here to tell us what to expect. You will be following The Lion’s signal. Mr. Blue gave him more than just a sedative. While he was out, he put a small transmitter under his skin. We cannot lose track of him.”
“What about my father?” I asked.
“We will retrieve him.”
“How do you know they will have him to trade?” I asked.
“We’ll make sure everything works out right. This is the only logical way this can happen, Ms. Grey. I am not going to stand here and argue with you. You don’t have the experience to go out into the field for this one. I don’t want to jeopardize the Admiral’s safety just to give you more experience. Do you?”
“Of course not, but…” I said and left it hanging because I couldn’t think of a reason why I should be able to go.
He left me with th
e location of the drop and a phone number. I was given the headset he had been wearing when he spoke with Mr. Black. We tested it to make sure I could hear him and he could hear me. I was to call the phone number only if things turned bad and no body else was left to make the call. Under no circumstances was I to lose sight of The Lion.
I pulled up The Lion’s signal on one computer. Then I pulled up the other UAV that Mr. White had sent to do the local surveillance on a different computer. The sun had been up for about an hour so I first looked at the site with normal vision. It was a house on a bad side of town. The house looked like it hadn’t been lived in for years. The windows were boarded up and there were no signs of life anywhere except for one man on the badly weathered porch. He was standing by the front door, smoking a cigarette. Mr. White and I quickly surveyed the area so he knew the layout and then we switched to the infrared. The heat signatures came up brightly on the screen. There were three other men in the building. I assumed one of them was my father! They were all positioned toward the back of the house in one room, sitting fairly close together.
“I’ve got what I need. Now you need to keep an eye on things and let me know if anything changes,” he said.
“Got it,” I replied as he walked out to go rescue my dad. In less than fifteen minutes I heard Mr. White’s voice in my headset.
“Are you still reading me?” he asked.
“Yep,” I replied.
“You’re going to have to learn how to talk on one of these things,” he said. “Everything the same?”
“No changes,” I reported.
“Everyone has an ear piece, but only I have a microphone. I will contact you only if I need to. You are to report the position of the enemy every thirty seconds once we’re on scene. Is that clear?” he asked with a military tone.
“Yes, sir,” I replied.
“We should be there in about half an hour,” he said and then it was quiet.
I watched the house, alternating between the infrared and normal video. Nothing changed until after Mr. White contacted me to tell me they were arriving. I watched Mr. White exit the van we had used the other night. I was surveying the entire area and saw there were three warm bodies just across the street in another run-down house. I would have reported it to Mr. White, but I also saw The Lion’s signal in the same building. Ok, I know where the good guys are. I have to keep track of them. I made a mental note of the body shapes and positions.
Mr. White was escorted inside the house by the man who had been standing on the porch. I watched them walk to the back of the house. Two of the three men that had been seated stood. I assumed the one still seated was my father.
Mr. White handed one of the men something that looked like a briefcase. I couldn’t hear anything, but it seemed the man was agitated.
Just about then another vehicle pulled up and three other men got out. I notified Mr. White of the situation but he didn’t acknowledge. I heard one of the men say, “I don’t care what you have here. You won’t get Stanton until I have The Lion!” He was angry and yelling.
“I have him available.” Mr. White calmly informed the man.
“I want him now, White,” the man replied.
“You’ll get him. My word is good. I just want you to watch that tape first,” Mr. White said.
I saw the two of them go to another room in the house where the man opened the briefcase. I heard The Lion ranting and then heard him admitting proudly he had murdered several different people. The Lion went into detail about how he had killed every one of them and how the victims had reacted. It was sickening.
This took a little time and I had been surveying the area and reporting as expected. One of the three men had begun snooping around at the van, another was walking around the house and another was on his way to the house across the street. I reported every movement. I didn’t get any verbal response and was afraid they weren’t hearing me, so I started to give the exact positions of every person starting with the three men snooping outside. Finally I saw The Lion’s signal moving inside the other house. I looked back to the infrared screen and saw one of my guys, either Mr. Blue or Mr. Red escorting The Lion away.
Mr. White then said, “Now, do you still want The Lion for the same reasons?”
“I’m going to beat him to death,” the man replied softly.
“Good, as long as we’re clear,” Mr. White said. “When I get the Admiral safely out of here, I will call with The Lion’s location.”
“That doesn’t work for me,” the man said.
“You either give me the Admiral or I take him,” then added, “we all just want to know our positions in life.” I assumed the last was meant for me so I gave his position first and then the other man’s position again. Just then a gunshot sounded from a distance and I saw the man fall to the floor.
Mr. White walked over to him and helped him up. “That was a warning, the next time will be fatal. My man never misses,” he emphasized. He helped the man, who was cursing, back to the room that contained my dad.
I was scanning the area and had seen the shot being fired through the infrared camera. It had come from where the Lion had been just moments ago. Then the shooter moved away quickly.
One of the men reached down and helped up my father. Mr. White turned and led them all outside. The three men that had come in another vehicle were placed at different intervals around the van and house.
“When I get the Admiral safely in the van I will hand over The Lion,” Mr. White explained.
“You better not screw me, White,” the man said as Mr. White helped my father into the van and drove away.
“Is my dad okay?” I said into my microphone.
“Stay focused,” Mr. White’s voice was firm. Then I heard my dad’s voice.
“What?” He said.
“I’m sorry, sir. I wasn’t speaking to you,” Mr. White replied.
It was quiet except for my voice reporting the positions every thirty seconds. Then I heard Mr. White tell my dad, “I need you to call in the whereabouts of The Lion to your people. Tell them to hurry or they might not get him back alive. You may want to have the local police pick them up because they have people in the area.”
Then my father’s voice came over the microphone. He was barking orders like he was a drill sergeant. When he was finished, Mr. White’s voice came on again.
“Ms. Grey, don’t lose The Lion’s signal. Mr. Blue, Mr. Red, you can release the dog,” then I heard him call the man at the house.
“Company’s on the way,” he said. I didn’t know if he was warning the guy or telling him to expect The Lion. I watched The Lion walk out of the house and Mr. Blue and Mr. Red started to leave through the back door. A couple of the men had circled around the house that contained our guys and The Lion. I almost missed telling Mr. Red and Mr. Blue about the two men making their way to the back door because I was watching The Lion emerge from the front of the house. Quickly I gave the positions of the two men coming at them. They stopped in their tracks and waited for them to come. I was torn between watching the tension unfold at the back of the house and the violence directed toward The Lion in the front.
Slowly the two men advanced and I reported every step. Eventually the two men reached my guys. It was quick. Mr. Red and Mr. Blue had them down before they even knew what hit them. As far as I could tell it was painless, but fatal. They made a quick escape after that. I continued to report the scene until the police showed up. The Lion was beaten severely, but he wasn’t dead. The men scattered, but they did manage to catch two of the three still standing along with The Lion.
Mr. White’s voice came through the earpiece again telling me I could stop my reports. He told me he was taking my dad to get my mom and he was going to take them both home. He said I should wait for him there and then he would take me home to see them both.
I was grateful and exhausted. The pain killers had worn off quite some time ago and if it hadn’t been for the excitement, I would have been asleep lo
ng ago.
It was about two hours before Mr. White returned to pick me up. I had fallen asleep and he woke me gently.
“Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah. Do you need anything, or can we just go?”
He shook his head no and we headed for the outside world. I shut the door to his apartment and was inside the elevator ready to get home.
“How are they?” I asked as we rode down to the garage.
“They’re both just fine,” he replied.
We were quiet the rest of the ride to my house. Mr. White dropped me off at my parents’ door and waited until I got inside before he left.
My Mom and Dad were sitting close together on the couch watching TV; neither of them looked any different. Mom stood from the couch when I walked in and Dad looked away from the TV in my direction.
“I knew you could do it,” my mom said as she walked up to me and gave me a huge hug. “I knew you wouldn’t let us down.”
I hugged her back, realizing how much I had missed her and Dad. The tears welled up in my eyes. I didn’t need to be in control around them. They were, after all, my parents. The people I could go to if I had problems, the people I tell all my joys and sorrows to.
Mom, shhsh’d me and Dad came to our side. We all had a group hug with Mom and I crying and Dad holding us together.
“I missed you guys,” I said after the extended hug. We all felt a bit uncomfortable, but I didn’t care. “I didn’t realize how scared I was until I saw both of you sitting there,” I sniffled.
“We’re all okay now,” Dad said while Mom went to get her and I some tissues.
The next few days were spent at each other’s sides. I think we were all just a little afraid to let a family member out of our sites. We didn’t do much, just hung out and talked. I found out Abdullah Salah, A.K.A Mr. Jones, had been an informant for my father for years. My dad had helped him find a place to live in the United States and helped him set up his own business in exchange for information.
