The Bahamas Caper

by Drew Hill

  “So what should we do about the ransom?” Jackson questioned.

  “Obviously they are very clever, so we can’t trick them. We must follow through with it. Besides, we can’t stake it out anyway. There’s no cover,” said Trent.

  “We can’t give terrorists a nuclear bomb. They could use it to bomb a city in Israel, Paris, London, or may even use it against one of our cities,” said Joe.

  Timothy sighed. “I have no choice.”

  Daniel tried to encourage him. “We have two days. In that time maybe we can find where they are holding Jordan and rescue him. Just don’t get discouraged.”

  Timothy sighed again. “You’re right, Daniel. Well, this meeting’s over.”

  They all got up to leave. Agent Harkens entered the room and strode over to where Daniel was standing. They talked for a minute and then left. As Daniel went down one hall, Agent Harkens let two men into the room and shut the door.

  ҉

  Drew was looking at more phone intercepts and suddenly exclaimed, “Oliver, come look at this one!”

  “What does it say?” asked Oliver.

  “It’s from the number we were looking at earlier. It says, ‘They’ve got him! They’re killing everyone—,’ Then the caller hung up. What do you think it means?” asked Drew.

  “It seems another group has captured an important person and is killing the rest of the group,” said Oliver.

  “But who’s being killed and who’s killing them?” asked Drew.

  “I don’t know.” Oliver threw his hands in the air.

  ҉

  As Marcus Tolliver was leaving his hotel, he heard running footsteps behind him. He turned to look behind him and was suddenly struck on the head. He collapsed on the ground in a heap.

  ҉

  “Are they sure it was Marcus?” asked Timothy the next day.

  “Yes. Apparently someone knocked him on the head, double-tapped him, and threw his body in the river,” said Daniel. “By the way, where’s Bill and Joe?”

  “They both called in sick.” Timothy reached for his cup of coffee. “So have you uncovered anything else about the whereabouts of my son?

  “No, although the Mission Boomerang team did uncover an unusual call. It said that some people took ‘him’ and they were killing everyone. There have not been any calls since,” replied Daniel.

  “Also, nothing on Frank,” said Agent Harkens, who had been invited to be in the meeting since Frank wasn’t there, since he was the DDI, and there currently wasn’t a Director of the CIA. The former Director of the CIA had been fired by Timothy Michaels almost a month before. He hadn’t found anyone to take his place.

  “What should we do about the ransom call?” Timothy sipped his coffee.

  “I guess we have to pay it.” Daniel shrugged.

  “Is there nothing else we can do?” asked Timothy.

  “I do have an idea,” said Agent Harkens. “We can monitor the area with a Predator drone and catch them before they try to use the missile.”

  “That’s a good plan,” said Jackson.

  “Yes, but where should it fly?” Trent inquired.

  “What do you mean?” asked Timothy.

  “I mean, should it guard the convoy, or should it fly above the spot where the ransom will be paid?” Trent looked around. “If it watches the area, then we may see them coming, but if they decide to ambush the convoy, then they can take the missile and we won’t know what happened.”

  “Well, we should probably use it to guard the convoy.” Timothy nodded.

  “Alright, let’s do it then,” Daniel declared.

  ҉

  Two men walked toward the door of the armory and punched in the code at the keypad. One of the men stepped inside and walked down the hall to the main office. He shut off the main power switch and walked over to a computer. He brought up a program and started a systems restart. As a five-minute timer appeared on the screen, he walked out the back door and opened a garage door. A truck backed in. They loaded up a large box and drove away after shutting the armory door.

  ҉

  Timothy walked into the room. “What happened last night, Dan?”

  “They stole a surface-to-air missile battery and six missiles,” answered Daniel. “By the way, nice to see you today, Joe. Are you feeling better?”

  “Yes, I am. Thanks for the concern,” said Joe. “But Bill’s still sick.”

  “Trent’s sick today, too,” muttered Jackson.

  Timothy looked up. “Is everything ready over in Egypt?”

  “Bill called the President of Egypt yesterday,” said Jackson, “and they have agreed to support us any way they can.”

  “I think our men are heading out there now,” said Daniel. “I better go watch the Predator soon. Also, the Mission Boomerang team is watching as well.”

  “Okay, let’s get on it.” Timothy stood.

  “And pray that we recover Jordan and the missile,” said Jackson.

  “Yes,” Timothy uttered. “Pray.”

  ҉

  “Okay, Landon, are you online?” asked Oliver.

  “Yes,” said Landon, “There’s the jeep, the driver, two men in the back, and a case containing a missile in the passenger seat.”

  Malachi looked at Oliver. “Okay, they’re driving out to the place now.”

  “Everything looks okay,” said Oliver. “Let’s hope it stays that way.”

  ҉

  “Convoy Driver, you are at the coordinates,” Daniel spoke into the mic. “I repeat, Convoy Driver, you are at the coordinates.”

  “Copy, Eagle Leader. I don’t see anything but a lot of sand and a few large sand dunes, including one right in front of me. I’ve parked and am waiting. Over.”

  Joe, Dan, and Timothy watched the video for several minutes and nothing happened. “They must have found out about the Predator,” said Joe.

  Suddenly the computer beeped. “We’re being painted!” exclaimed Daniel as his hands flew up and down the keyboard.

  “What does that mean?” asked Timothy.

  “It means they’re aiming at the Predator with a surface-to-air missile!”

  The beeping sound change and Joe exclaimed, “They’ve fired!”

  Daniel’s hands flew over the keyboard as he maneuvered the drone to avoid the missile. The first one missed, but another one was fired almost instantly. As he maneuvered the drone, the missile got closer and closer. He turned it right, and it collided with the missile in a fiery explosion.

  The driver of the U.S. jeep turned his head suddenly as he heard the explosion. As he looked around, the sand dune in front of him exploded as another jeep drove out from inside it and fired AK 47s rapidly, killing all three of the U.S. convoy men instantly. One jumped out, grabbed the missile out of the U.S. jeep, and tossed it in their vehicle before jumping in himself.

  Chapter 7

  Oliver sat and thought as different parts of the case came back to him. He picked up a piece of paper. Then it hit him. There was a spy! He excitedly told the group, “I’ll be back shortly! Just keep doing what you’re doing.” And with that he opened the door and stepped out into the hall, shutting it as he left.

  Agent Harkens watched him walk down the hall and muttered to himself, “What’s he up to?”

  Oliver felt a hand grab his shoulder. He turned and saw Agent Harkens. “What are you doing?” growled Agent Harkens.

  Oliver took a step back. “I need to talk to you.”

  “What about?”

  “Agent Harkens, I think there is a spy in the President’s inner office,” declared Oliver.

  Agent Harkens thanked Oliver for the information and told him to get back to work. He wasn’t about to tell him he agreed with the younger agent’s statement, or the fact the CIA had had the conference rooms and even the Situation Room swept for bugs, or that they had scheduled lie detector tests for later that week.

  As he walked down the hall, Agent Harkens thought, He’s either honest or very clever. Besides, he
can’t be the only spy, if he’s a spy, because he doesn’t have access to all the information I believe is being leaked.

  ҉

  A man was out catfishing on a boat with his son one night in Miami when he heard somebody swearing. He drifted ahead in silence and saw through the gloom several men struggling with a bundle. Suddenly the bundle moved like something inside was struggling. The man was horrified. They were going to drown something — or someone. They dropped it in and walked back to a truck. They jumped in and drove off.

  The man dived in where they had dropped the bundle. He saw it and grabbed it. He struggled back to his boat and forced the bundle up over the side. He pulled himself onto the boat and plopped down, exhausted. The son opened the bag. In it was a boy of about sixteen years of age. The son turned on his flashlight and pointed it at the teenager in the bag. When he did so his eyes widened.

  “Dad, do you know who this boy is?”

  “Uh, no, son, I’ve never seen him before,” he gasped.

  “This is Jordan Michaels, the President’s son!”

  ҉

  “So how are you feeling, Jordan?” asked Timothy three days after the rescue.

  “I feel fine now,” he replied.

  “Can you tell us what happened to you?” asked Joe.

  “I was sleeping on my bunk on the cruise ship when I heard Agent Hopkins cry out. I woke up, and saw five strangers in my room. Agent Hopkins was on the ground and badly bleeding. I heard someone pounding on the door, and heard Sergeant Matthews say, ‘Is everything alright in there, Agent Hopkins?’

  “One of the men pulled a grenade out of his pocket, pulled the pin, opened the door, threw it out, and slammed the door shut. I heard yelling, and then there was a loud explosion. A man saw me sitting up in my bed, ran over, and hit me on the head. After that everything was black.

  “When I woke up, I was on a helicopter. I tried to move, but I was bound and gagged tightly. I heard one of the men say something in another language. A man walked in and undid the gag. He said, ‘I will untie you so you can eat. If you try to get away, I will shoot you.’ He held an Uzi in his hand, so I wasn’t going to argue with him. He untied me and gave me a sandwich. I ate it, and he tied me back up.

  “I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until we landed on an island. They brought me into a cabin and hid me under some floorboards. Then a call came in and the leader said something I couldn’t understand. They left me under there for a while and I heard gunshots. I thought I was being rescued, but after the gunshots stopped, the men came back in. They grabbed me and carried me to a small fishing boat. They hid me in a crate in the hold. They fed me once. We landed, and they transported me to an abandoned warehouse.”

  Jordan took a drink of water.

  “I was kept there for a day. Then they moved me to another warehouse. They fed me each day and untied me so I could walk around, but a guard stayed in the room with me to make sure I didn’t try to escape. Also, three times during that period, I was brought to a car, still blindfolded, bound, and gagged, and driven out for a while. I didn’t know why they were doing it until the third time.

  “A man whispered in my ear, ‘I am about to undo the gag. If you scream, I will shoot you. Understand?’

  “I nodded, still not sure what was going on. He undid the gag and whispered, ‘It’s your father.’ A phone was placed up to my ear. Then I heard your voice.

  “I wanted to say more than I did, but the phone was pulled away too soon. I realized it was just to show I was still alive.

  “A few days later, after I was kidnapped, I heard gunshots again, and a man ran in. He picked up a phone and started excitedly talking in whatever language he spoke. The guard grabbed a gun and crouched by the door. When the door opened, the man on the phone hung up, and the man next to the door emptied his gun at the door. But there was no one there. Then a man I’d never seen before stepped out from behind the door and shot both men several times. He walked over and hit me on the head with his gun.

  “When I regained consciousness, I was in another abandoned warehouse. I was there for what seemed like a day. Then my captors put me in a bag and set me in the back of a truck. When it stopped, the men grabbed my bag and dragged me a short distance. They then threw me in a river. I struggled against my ropes but couldn’t get free. Just as I felt I couldn’t draw another breath I felt the bag being pulled up. I came out of the water and was set in a boat. Then my rescuers me took out of the bag, and you know the rest.”

  “I’m glad you’re back, son.” The President put his hand on Jordan’s shoulder. “You’ve had a rough time. Why don’t you go rest?”

  “You know, I think I will.” Jordan yawned and walked out of the room.

  Chapter 8

  “Oliver, there’s a new object for your mission,” said Agent Harkens. “Now, you’re to locate the missing nuclear missile before it can be used.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Oliver.

  Agent Harkens left the room, walked down the hall, and entered a small room. There he saw two CIA agents seated at a table in the center of the room and another standing by the door. On the table was a strange looking machine. One of the agents motioned for Agent Harkens to sit down.

  The agent asked, “Isaiah Harkens, do you agree to take this lie detector test?”

  Agent Harkens answered, “Yes.”

  “Alright, let’s get started.” They asked some control questions first. Then they started with more direct questions. “Were you an accomplice to the kidnapping of Jordan Michaels?”

  “No,” he replied.

  “Are you, or have you ever been a spy for ISIS or any other terrorist groups?”

  “No.”

  “Do you know anything about the whereabouts of the missing nuclear missile?”

  “No.”

  After several more questions, the agent said, “Alright, well, that’s it for now. We may ask you some questions later on, but you can leave for now.”

  Agent Harkens got up and left the room.

  ҉

  Timothy asked Daniel about the lie detector tests the next day.

  Daniel sighed. “Everybody on this list except Bill Gray, who’s sick today, Mark Right, who’s been on vacation in Greece for three weeks, and John Blackright, who left for Paris on a vacation the day before we started the tests, passed the test.”

  “Who was the most suspicious?” asked Timothy.

  “Well, Bill, Mark, and John not being here is suspicious. Also, the machine acted strange for Joseph Martins, Trent Baker, and Jackson Barkley.”

  “What do you mean by acting strange?” asked Timothy.

  “Well, it seemed not to be working properly, possibly because it was malfunctioning.”

  “So, if it was malfunctioning, would that affect the test results?”

  “I’m afraid so. At least I think it was only those three. So that narrows the suspects to Bill, John, Mark, Trent, Joe, and Jackson.”

  “So, does that mean we’ll have to redo the tests for them?” asked the President with a sigh.

  “Probably so, but it only postpones it by a few days. Would you like another machine to be brought tomorrow and redo the tests for three men that were here?”

  “Yes, that will work. I’ve got to go now,” Timothy took a sip of coffee out of his cup and left.

  ҉

  The next day, as Secret Service agents led Jackson Barkley down the hall, they passed Trent as he went down the hall the other way. They walked into the small interrogation room. As they closed the door, Agent Harkens stepped out of a doorway across the hall from the room. He walked across the hallway and stood next to the door, listening in.

  “Alright, Mr. Vice President, did you—,” the agent started to say, but he was interrupted when the machine exploded. Agent Harkens, who was still listening in at the door, was knocked unconscious as the door flew open and struck him in the head.

  Trent and Joe ran down the hallway when they heard the explosion. When they reached the ro
om, they saw Agent Harkens sprawled on the ground. Trent grabbed him and pulled him over to a room across the hall. Joe tried to enter the room, but the heat was too intense for him and he stepped backward.

  By then several paramedics had arrived at the scene. Some of them ran into the room where Trent and Agent Harkens were. Others looked into the burning room to see if any of the men had survived. Jackson Barkley groaned and several of the men plunged into the room to save him. Finally the sprinklers kicked on and put out the flames rather quickly.

  When they went to dispatch aid to the men who had been injured, they discovered the three CIA agents were dead. Jackson Barkley and some of his Secret Service agents, although badly burned, were still alive. They rushed a stretcher to them, and rushed them to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

  Agent Harkens finally regained consciousness as they set him on a stretcher. He blinked once and looked at the blackened room. Then it all came back to him.

  “How’s the Vice President?” he asked.

  “The Vice President is being rushed to the Walter Reed AMC for treatment for his burns. The three CIA agents and most of the Secret Service agents are dead,” said one of the paramedics. “Now just lie down and be still. We’ll take you to the hospital as well.”

  As they wheeled Agent Harkens down the hall, Joe turned to Trent. “How did you get here so fast?

  “I was coming back for my water bottle when I heard the explosion. How did you get here so fast?”

  “I was waiting for my interrogation when I heard the explosion.”

  Daniel came right then and looked at the room. He turned and told an agent standing nearby, “I want no unauthorized personnel here. Tape the doorway, put up signs down the hall, the works. Guard the room carefully. I’ll be back shortly to oversee the investigation.”