by J C Ryan
Dylan was a brilliant operator with unmatched skills and ability to rapidly summarize a situation and take action. Sean had the knack to plan a mission, prepare for it and execute it with deadly efficiency. Between the two of them, they were a formidable team.
The meeting went late into the night as Sean and Dylan went through every bit of information in detail; every bit was analyzed and questioned to the nth degree. To Carter, initially, it was a mind-numbing experience, but as the meeting progressed he was filled with a feeling of veneration for these two men. Their meticulous demand for detail spoke of experience and skill that instilled an enormous measure of confidence in him. It was the first time in the days since James told him that Mackenzie and Liam were alive that he felt tranquility slowly start to wash over him.
They were having yet another coffee; Carter had stopped counting after his fourth while Sean did a recap of the decisions.
Because the only person who could lead them to Carter’s family was the mole in A-Echelon, their strategy was for Carter to start the nuke project again. Selected pieces of information out of Carter’s research would be ‘fed’ to the A-Echelon servers where Rick Winslow’s hidden tracking software would lie waiting to detect and follow the path of the data when accessed by anyone.
Rick would gain access to the A-Echelon servers under the pretense of a network and server audit by a team of CIA IT specialists, which James would request. It was standard operating procedure for government organizations, especially those that were handling classified data, to conduct regular security audits on their networks and servers. James would just be doing his job by requesting such an inspection.
They would establish two streams of communications; ‘apparently concealed’ and ‘definitely concealed.’ In their ‘apparently concealed’ communications they would keep up the appearance of secrecy but drop in tidbits of information for the mole to keep him or her, or them, interested. Their ‘definitely concealed’ communications were to be held absolutely one hundred percent secret. No one must ever know they had another communications channel. Those phones and tablets provided by Rick were never to be used in public, never. No one must see or hear them use those; ever. The success or failure of their strategy depended on that.
In regards to the original ancient nuke project, nothing of the magnitude or urgency of Carter’s initial brief had changed; the threat to national and global security remained as dangerous as before. Therefore, those nukes had to be found before a terrorist group discovered them. James had Ben Friedman’s promise of cooperation from the Mossad, and they would use that.
Carter would lead a team of archeologists, which would include a few undercover EA operators for security, to the City of Lights in Egypt to continue the search for that hitherto elusive library. Another team of experts, which would also include undercover EA operators, would be sent to Professor Chandra Pillay’s dig in North India to conduct an extensive underground survey.
As for Mackenzie’s respirocyte project, it was decided to keep that on hold for now. They were speculating as to why the terrorists were holding Mackenzie and Liam and had not used them to make a ransom demand. It could’ve been that they were using Liam as leverage to force Mackenzie to work for them, or it could just be that they were waiting for the right time to make such a ransom demand. Neither A-Echelon nor Executive Advantage had anyone with the expertise to head up the respirocyte project. And because of the security concerns, it was not advisable to bring such a person on board at this stage.
Rick Winslow would configure Carter’s satellite link on Freydis to conform to his encrypted secure communications methods.
Sean would provide Carter with a list of special equipment that would be required for his training, which he had to purchase and take with him when he returned to Freydis.
Sean and Dylan would work out a training plan and roster for Carter. His bodyguards, while he was on Freydis, would consist of a team of two former Special Forces operators who would also take responsibility for his training. The bodyguards would be rotated on a regular basis.
Carter would divide his time between his research and training.
“I’m only going to say this once, Carter,” Sean said looking him directly in the eye. “You have just entered Special Forces training. You will not be shown any mercy, nor will your trainers cut you any slack. This is a serious mission, and I won’t endanger the lives of my team or your wife and child just to take you along. I’ve agreed to let you train, but if you can’t cut the mustard and be a true asset to the team, you’re not going. Understand?”
Carter was furious and started to argue with him, but then realized a soldier wouldn’t argue with his commander. I will be an asset; I won’t let my family down. Carter straightened to what he hoped resembled an ‘attention’ stance. “Understood, Sir. I’ll be ready.”
Sean suppressed a smile; he had seen the fury flash in Carter’s eyes and also the decision to become a soldier. “See that you are,” was all he said before he turned away. He’s off to a good start.
Chapter 30 -
Nothing can be tracked back to us
Nate Gordon relaxed in the back of the limousine while returning to the CRS office after his trip to Georgetown where he’d had a meeting with his most valuable contact in DC, in fact, not just in DC; the man was his most valuable contact, period. The man had his finger on the pulse of the entire political system of the United States. There was not a single government department that he couldn’t get access to with the tip of a hat. He had or could easily get, if required, access to every single government project in progress, in planning, and even if it was still only in concept. Besides his immense political clout, the man was rich beyond measure. He came from a wealthy family who had wide-ranging business interests, which included pharmaceutical, medical, and real estate.
Gordon liked this man. They shared a lot of common traits. Both of them had business minds, but neither of them relied solely on brains for their success although they both had plenty of those. To be successful, they both believed you needed a little bit of luck, a lot of insight, unrivaled powers of persuasion, and, most crucial, ethical flexibility. Ethical flexibility meant simply that you could ignore your reservations when extraordinary strategies were required. In other words, if you wanted something, you took it.
There were only two people who knew about the relationship between Gordon and his top contact, and that was Gordon and his top contact. This man was the silent partner in CRS, and only Gordon knew who he was. The other CRS board members never asked; all they knew was that this silent partner was responsible for more than half of the company’s revenue. That was good enough for them; they didn’t have to know who he was, and they were happy to refer to him only as NTC – Nate’s Top Contact.
Gordon was in an excellent mood when he walked into Dwayne Miller’s office and closed the door.
“Morning, Nate,” Miller smiled when he saw Gordon. “Good to see you. Come on in and have a seat. What can I get you to drink? Coffee? Tea?”
Gordon looked at his watch. “It’s past 11:00 I’ll have a Scotch on the rocks. I’m in a celebratory mood.”
“That sounds good,” Miller laughed as he turned to the liquor cabinet and prepared the drinks. “Can you tell me more?”
Gordon thought about it for a moment. NTC had just given him a heads-up about a new Alzheimer drug that was about to be submitted to the FDA for evaluation and approval. Until now, the pharmaceutical company involved in the development had been able to keep it secret. Lab tests and animal trials were extremely promising. The next phase was human trials, and if they were successful, it could very well be the end of Alzheimer disease. CRS has a number of clients in the pharmaceutical industry that would pay handsome amounts to get their hands on the technical details of a drug like this.
Miller stopped and looked at Gordon, who hadn’t answered him. “Nate?”
Gordon came out of his reverie. “Oh, sorry. I was deep in thought there for
a moment. No problem, I can tell you.”
Miller’s smile grew bigger as he listened to Gordon. His eyes were flashing dollar signs, and his mind was already calculating bonuses.
“Thanks for that Nate. I will get a team onto it right away. Just out of curiosity. Was this a tip from NTC?”
Gordon nodded and took a sip of his scotch.
They both smiled, and Gordon asked Miller to give him a status report on the Devereux projects.
“Well, as far as Carter Devereux is concerned, the project is in full swing. We have deployed a surveillance team to track and follow him. I’m receiving reports every other day from the team.”
Gordon nodded. “Sounds good. What have you learned so far?”
“He’s been in DC for the past two weeks, and it looks like A-Echelon has assigned bodyguards to him now. Two of them around him at all times from what we can see.”
“Bodyguards?” Gordon frowned. He didn’t like the sound of that at all. “Do you think they know he’s under surveillance?”
“No, I don’t think so. He’s been under guard since Jerusalem according to my information. Our surveillance is non-intrusive, we’ve got tabs on his phones and Internet activities, and the team is making sure they keep distance between themselves and him, rotating observers frequently, you know, the usual stuff.”
“Then why has he sprouted bodyguards? I don’t like it; something’s up.”
“Well, given that he’s been investigating ancient nuclear weapons and that he was placed under guard right after the attack in Jerusalem, I’d say that someone is paranoid that maybe he was the target of an assassination attempt by that bomb blast and is taking precautions,” Miller suggested.
“Hmm,” Gordon mused. “Well, I still don’t like it, but I suppose that is a possibility. Keep an eye on things and proceed carefully.”
“I’ll do that, but I’m pretty sure no one in his circle knows he’s being watched.”
“Alright, so where is he now and what’s he doing?”
“He went back to his ranch in Canada two days ago, accompanied by two bodyguards of course. It’s a bit more challenging to follow and observe him there.”
“Why is that?”
“Well, the place is more than 50,000 acres, and there are no access roads. He gets in and out of there by plane. It’s too much of a risk to send people onto the property, at least not for long periods of time. So our only means of surveillance out there is to make use of drones.”
“Aren’t those things easy to spot?” Gordon looked a bit worried.
“We’re not using commercial drones,” Miller smiled smugly. “We’ve got a few military drones. Those babies operate above 2,000 feet and are controlled from about 30 miles away.”
Gordon nodded. “We should be okay with that then. Now, what about that book we are looking for?”
Miller shook his head. “I’m afraid all our searches came up empty. If there is anyone out there that knows anything about the book, they are definitely not talking about it on the Internet. I guess we will have to launch that international search as suggested by El Fadl.”
Gordon shrugged. “Yeah, that’s unfortunate. But I suppose we don’t have much of a choice then. Just make sure that nothing can be tracked back to us.”
“Understood. Give me a few days to see what I can do and I’ll let you know.”
They took the last swirls of their Scotch, Gordon got up to leave, and they said their goodbyes.
Chapter 31 -
Four days of hell
On Carter’s return to Freydis, he was accompanied by Roy Taylor, originally from Saskatchewan, and Andre Levesque a French-speaking native of Quebec, who grew up in Quebec City. They were both former JTF2 - Joint Task Force 2 operators, who had worked closely with USA Special Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. JTF2 was one of three units in the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command consisting of CSOR - Canadian Special Operations Regiment, the Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit and 427 Special Operations Aviation Squadron.
Carter took an instant liking to the two younger men. On the trip back there was a lot of time to talk and Carter discovered that Andre had a love interest back in Quebec City, and that was part of the reason why he was so excited with the assignment at Freydis, he was closer to her. The two of them were planning to get married the next year. Roy, on the other hand, had sort of permanently moved to DC, not that he wasn’t loyal to his country of birth, his decision to make the move had to do with a beautiful dark haired woman, to whom he was married and who was a lecturer at Georgetown University. They had no children yet. His explanation, “we’re still practicing,” made Carter smile.
All this talk about family and girlfriend soon had Carter’s mind returning to a time that seemed like only yesterday, when he and Mackenzie met and started dating. He had his own wonderful memories of special moments, collected over the years, carefully wrapped up and stored in a very secret part of his brain, from where it was possible to recall them when things got tough. The difference was, Carter thought, being ten years older than the two young men beside him, he had more of those memories stored than they had even had the opportunity to experience yet. He hoped, over the years ahead, that their minds would be filled with experiences just as delightful as his.
Later on, their conversation turned to Freydis and the next two weeks during which time they would all have much to do. Carter had to get the nuke research going again, and there were two expeditions to plan; one to the City of Lights and one to North India.
They were planning to start their days at six am with a five-mile run which would, over time, build up to ten miles, followed by an hour of hand-to-hand combat training, then breakfast. After that another five hours of training covering various Special Forces skills such as the use of hand weapons, field craft, urban warfare, small tactics, observation, and survival. Carter had made arrangements with Bly to cook dinner for them every night. He couldn’t give her too many specifics over the phone. He would explain all of it when he was back.
Carter was not a novice when it came to firearms, in fact, he was not a bad shot at all. His grandpa, Will, taught him how to shoot, hunt and handle guns from a very young age, but what he was about to experience was in an entirely different league.
They were not planning on letting him use live ammunition for months. There was a lot of dry shooting (without ammunition) training Carter had to go through before he would fire a single live round. It was going to require hundreds of hours of practicing stances, aiming and learning the art of pulling a trigger. Then he would be ready to fire a shot with a laser gun. He had to become equally skilled with either hand and be able to achieve a hundred percent hit rate with the left and right hand, and even while holding a gun in each hand.
It was going to take at least 100 hours of practice before Carter would be given a gun that fired a laser beam, mimicking a real shot. Another 200 hours with the laser guns would bring him to the point where he would be ready to fire a live round. They were planning to use handguns with silencers when they reached that point. Carter’s weapons training would take up two to three hours every day. Andre and Roy explained to him that by the time he fired his first live round, he would have squeezed a trigger around half a million times.
The huge expanse of Freydis provided the ideal space for them to train without any fear that they would be seen or heard. Carter had no illusions that these young men were going to give him a hard time, but he was ready for that. That’s what he asked for and what he paid them to do. They were planning to build various obstacle courses and silhouette shooting ranges to mimic real life situations as best they could. The airplane hangar, sheds, and other buildings around the homestead would be used for close quarter combat techniques.
When they landed at Freydis Ahote, Bly and Jeha were there to pick them up with the electric carts and help them move their luggage to the cabin. Jeha couldn’t get enough of Carter’s attention and immediately made friends with the two new guys a
s well. Providentially, Will had built a large cabin with four bedrooms when he started out on Freydis. Maybe he was expecting Carter to fill them all up with great grandchildren one day. Roy and Andre each had their own room.
When they were unpacked, Carter and Jeha went over to visit Ahote and Bly, and fill them in on the events of the past two weeks in DC, the plans they had made, and the new arrangements. He also told them that Roy and Andre did not have all of the information; all they knew was that they were here for his protection and training.
As far as Roy and Andre were concerned, Carter’s family was killed in a bomb explosion in Jerusalem. They had no idea about Carter’s research projects. The reason he required the training was that he had to be prepared to work in dangerous places on high risk, secret projects around the world.
Carter didn’t share any of the sensitive information or the strategy they had in mind with Ahote and Bly either. However, he had to give them the real reason for why he wanted to undergo the training.
Ahote laughed when Carter told them. “So now you’re going to turn into Rambo!”
“Maybe not quite as vicious as that, although I wouldn’t say no if I could have his capabilities,” Carter chuckled. “But seriously Ahote, it is vital for me to be there when Mackenzie and Liam are rescued. If it is going to be a covert operation, then I don’t want to be in anybody’s way.”
Bly shook her head. “Carter, the past few months were bad enough – let’s hope and pray that a peaceful solution will present itself so that no one else will be killed or injured.”
Bly was happy to help with the dinners and to have the two young men around. They reminded her of her own children who were about the same age as Roy and Andre. They made a good first impression on her.
