The Wolves of Freydis

by J C Ryan

  Ahote was keen to help Carter to gain better bushcraft and survival skills.

  ***

  Six o’clock the next morning found the three men outside ready for their run. Carter still had some discomfort from his injuries, but he didn’t say a word when the pain started eating at him after a mile. He gritted his teeth and continued. He was totally out of shape after the months of inactivity in the hospital, and many weeks afterward with casts on his arm and leg. At the three-mile mark, he was in severe pain but forced himself to keep going another mile and then he walked the last mile back home.

  Roy and Andre didn’t say anything. They knew about his injuries; they were impressed that he didn’t start walking after a mile. They waited for him on the lawn in front of the cabin and started his first hand-to-hand combat lesson. They were skilled in Krav Maga, Taekwondo and Brazilian Jujitsu techniques. Although Carter’s existing tai chi skills had equipped him to give a good account of himself in hand-to-hand combat, he quickly realized that krav maga and taekwondo were aggressive forms of self-defense. The tai chi philosophy was never to initiate violence, the krav maga and taekwondo philosophies were the opposite; engage and destroy the enemy as quickly as possible.

  When they took a break for breakfast, Carter felt like he was about ready to collapse. But that’s just what his body felt. His mind told him he was okay.

  They took their mugs of coffee and went outside to the porch. “I don’t know about you guys,” He smiled, “but I must have had quite a few hundred gallons of coffee in my life, and yet this coffee is the best one ever.”

  “It’s strange how one can appreciate simple things, which we usually take for granted when you have to do without it for a while,” Andre said in perfect English with a hint of a French accent.

  “Let me tell you Carter, the best drink I ever had in my entire life was a glass of cold water, and that was in the middle of winter.” Roy laughed.

  They finished their breakfast and went over to the big shed where Carter got his first lesson in the use of handguns. Crawling, rolling and jumping, running and crouching while practicing to draw and point the gun at targets around the shed. No finger on the trigger, just drawing and pointing.

  By 1:00 pm, seven hours after they went for the run, they were done for the day and Carter plonked down on the shed floor with his back against the wall; he was exhausted and in pain. Andre and Roy walked up and held their hands out to pull him up.

  “Come on old timer,” Roy teased. “Let’s go home and give you something to eat. You did well today.”

  Andre chimed in. “Yeah, the next three or four days are going to be hell, but your body will get used to it. To be honest, neither of us thought you would make it to the three-hour mark.”

  Carter grinned. “In that case, I’m looking forward to the days after the next three or four then.”

  They all showered and had lunch after which Carter planned to get on with his research work while Roy and Andre reconnoitered a two-mile area around the homestead. They took pictures and drew maps of the area; they had to know where every tree, bush, and rock was. Then they went about deploying a whole range of solar powered electronic surveillance gadgets, which included laser trip wires, cameras, and microphones - all wirelessly connected to two computer screens inside the cabin. By the time they were finished, the Freydis homestead was a fortress. No one would get within two miles of the place without them knowing. That was if they could get past the wolves in the first place.

  Carter and Ahote still had to introduce them to the wolves of Freydis.

  Once alone in his study, ready to settle down, Carter suddenly felt lost. He was in severe pain after the morning’s workout and thankful for his foresight to renew some of his prescriptions for pain relief the doctors had given him to take if necessary.

  A glass of water and two painkillers are the first order of the afternoon and then he thought, on with work.

  He soon discovered it was not going to be that easy. It would have been such a relief to sink down into his thoughts of the City of Lights. He still believed that it contained what he needed to lead him to a better understanding of the ancient nukes and also, he hoped, to finding out more about who else was interested in the subject and if they were the ones holding Mackie and Liam. It seemed so easy, and yet it was just not possible. His tired brain reverted to his first emotions when he learned they were still alive.

  He went to lie down on his bed, hoping to sleep for a while, but it didn’t work. Nevertheless, he stayed lying down in the hope his physical pain would diminish.

  It was just such an enormous seesaw of emotions. The belief he had lost them both and wishing he was also dead and that terrible knowledge, dragging on week after week as he slowly, sometimes against his will, recovered. Then the relief and yet fear that came when James learned they were indeed alive.

  If they were alive, where were they and who had them? Were they being taken care of or were they neglected, forgotten in some prison somewhere starving and ill. He had no way of knowing, and it was eating at his soul.

  How in the hell can I get away from these thoughts long enough to make the break I need to get to the research that must be done?

  He got up and had another cup of coffee, followed by another, and after four hours, he took two more painkillers. Slowly the pain receded and with it the sharp mental agony and pictures he had of his loved ones.

  With a small amount of relief, knowing full well it was the Codeine that was giving him the break, he finally got his head down over the research that needed to be done before they could return to the City of Lights.

  Two hours later he surfaced from his research. He was tired, but the pain had eased considerably, and he was able to accept the fact that, in a few hours’ time, he would be taking on another grueling day with his tormentors.

  Dinner with Bly and Ahote gave a welcome break for all three men. Roy and Andre made a big hit with Bly, keeping her laughing at some of their stories about their days in Special Forces and all the awful things that happened, and the torture they went through.

  Carter was amused at the humerous spin they put on the things they experienced, and thoroughly enjoyed hearing of their training days and the errors they’d made; it made him feel he was doing okay after all.

  Ahote sat there grinning broadly; he could so easily relate to these two, it reminded him of the rigorous training for undersea work he'd gone through as a young man.

  Roy highlighted the pain and agony of the long runs and the heavy loads they were expected to carry over miles and miles of rugged terrain, which, in his opinion, was up higher mountains and down deeper valleys more rugged than anything around Freydis. Andre complained of the awful food that was supposed to sustain them, and then asked for a second helping of everything.

  They asked about the City of Lights and the city in the caves of Cusco. Ahote and Bly enjoyed Carter’s re-telling of the story as if they were hearing it for the first time.

  All in all, it was a happy meal, a healing meal, and one that sent Carter to bed with a more cheerful and relaxed feeling than he’d had in a long time; confident he would get his family back.

  It was the next day in the afternoon, after Carter had a bit of rest from another grueling seven hours of running, hand-to-hand combat, and weapons training, that Ahote said it was time the men were introduced to the wolves.

  “No one is altogether safe if we don’t introduce them. Not to say they would harm anyone, but we’d certainly be told if there were strangers on the land.”

  “Are they domesticated?” Andre asked.

  “No, not at all, their contact with us is purely their own idea. If Carter isn’t around, they vanish. Unless there is a good reason, we don’t see them until Carter returns. Although you can be assured they have watched everything you have done since you arrived.”

  “Everything?” the two men exchanged glances thinking of the surveillance equipment they had set up.

  Carter grinned, “Do
n’t worry, they won’t touch anything, just go over everything to check you both out.”

  “It sounds as if they are part of the old legends of wolves who take care of humans.” Ray commented, “Does anyone remember Mowgli in India being raised by wolves? And that’s not just a story, it has actually happened many times.” Ray continued, “The First Nation peoples’ beliefs are that there are wolves who are special. Usually, they pass unnoticed by us, but if someone needs them they suddenly appear, then just as suddenly vanish again.”

  Ahote, a Hopi Indian knew and understood that well.

  “That sounds like Keeva and Loki," Carter joined in, "not that anyone was in dire need when they first turned up, which was before I met Mackenzie, but once we were married they adopted her and things have been strange ever since,” Carter added.

  “Strange?” Andre asked.

  Carter went on to tell them of the experiences they’d had since with the wolves of Freydis and how special they had become to the people here.

  “That’s eerie isn’t it. You have to wonder how it happens, that they knew when no one else did.” Ray commented

  “Yes,” Andre joined in, “and yet there’s no denying that it is becoming increasingly clear that animals do know and sense far more than we are aware of, maybe it’s just us that are slow.” He grinned quietly to himself knowing he was right.

  They had walked a short distance from the homestead when movement under the trees exposed Keeva and Loki watching them.

  Carter stopped them, “Hang on while I go and get them to come in.”

  They watched as Carter walked a little further and raised his hand at which both wolves moved forward to greet him then followed him back to the three men who were watching.

  “Put your hands out like this.” Carter put his hand out and they copied him.

  “Loki, Keeva here is Ray, and indicated Ray’s hand, each wolf sniffed the hand and then licked it. Carter then went on to introduce Andre and the wolves repeated their scrutiny and acceptance.

  They allowed both men to pat them before once again vanishing back into the woods.

  “Well, I’ll be!” Ray smiled, “I’ve never experienced the like, what a beautiful thing to happen.”

  Andre was grinning, “That’s the best thing I’ve ever known.”

  Chapter 32 -

  Three meetings

  James Rhodes was a little nervous as he prepared for his meeting with the President, and Irene picked up on it. Hunter Patrick had always taken care of these types of meetings only calling James in occasionally, as needed. Hunter was good at managing upwards; James didn’t think he had the same skills. Irene helped him to prepare, and like a mother figure, although she was easily ten years younger than James, did manage to calm him down and boost his self-confidence.

  The meeting was in the Oval Office, attended by the President, Vice President, Director of the CIA, two members of the National Security Council, and the Secretary of Defense.

  The first few minutes were spent congratulating James on his permanent appointment as Director of A-Echelon and then a discussion of the tragedy of the Jerusalem bomb explosion. Everyone in the room except James believed that Mackenzie and Liam were killed in that explosion along with 23 others, and James had no intention of sharing his knowledge with any of them. The attendees were all glad to hear about Carter’s recovery and grateful that he was prepared to come back and continue his work on the ancient nukes.

  James gave them an overview of all the A-Echelon projects and answered their questions. The Ancient Nuke Project was discussed in more detail than any of the others and the Vice President wanted to know what the plans were for the continuation of Mackenzie’s respirocyte project.

  James explained that they were in the process of finding someone with the right skills and who would be able to pass through the stringent security clearance process.

  At the end of the meeting, the President suggested that James bring Carter around for a quick get together the next time he was in DC.

  James was relieved when the meeting was over, the presentation went well, but the idea of hiding information from the President and the rest of the people in the group distressed him. Nevertheless, he had no choice; the security leak could be anyone inside A-Echelon or anyone outside who knew what was going on. He had to keep the information contained within the small group, which consisted of himself, Irene, Carter, Sean, and Dylan. Those were the only people who would have the whole picture until the problem was resolved.

  Irene was waiting for him when he returned from the White House.

  “How did the meeting go, Jim?”

  “Thanks to your motherly oversight and reassurances during the preparation, it went very well,” James grinned. “The only awkward part was where I deliberately had to lie to them. I just hope that my withholding information from them doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass later.”

  “I can understand those feelings, Jim, but I don’t think we have many other options at this point. Maybe you could share it with the Director of the CIA. We both know him, have worked with him, and we trust him. But that wouldn’t serve any purpose other than to make you feel better, and that’s just a ‘maybe’ it would help you feel better.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. Unless I have a good reason to go and talk to him we should keep it to ourselves and deal with the fallout if it happens.”

  ***

  About 6,700 miles to the east of Washington DC, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, it was 9:00 pm when the deputy director of the General Intelligence Presidency of Saudi Arabia, Ibrahimi El Fadl was shown into Xavier Algosaibi’s study.

  The two men greeted each other and talked a bit about their families, their health and the politics of the day before they got to the reason for El Fadl’s visit.

  “Mr. Algosaibi, I’m here to give you an update on the two projects at the Institute of Scientific Research and Development – ISRD – which you have placed under my oversight.”

  Algosaibi took a sip of his coffee and waved for El Fadl to continue.

  “The first good news is that we have just received word from Mr. Nate Gordon of the CRS that A-Echelon has started work on the Ancient Nuclear Research Project again.”

  That brought a big smile to Algosaibi’s face. El Fadl knew it was the right tactic to soften the old man’s mood by leading with the good news first.

  “Professor Devereux has recovered from his wounds and has apparently agreed to continue the research. He was in Washington DC the last two weeks and is now back at his ranch in Canada.”

  “It sounds as if CRS is doing a good job of following and studying him,” Algosaibi smiled.

  “Indeed sir. I’m impressed with how much information they have been able to collect in such a short time. They also know that Devereux is now under 24/7 protection by a contingent of bodyguards.”

  “Mhh, I can’t say I blame him.” Algosaibi pouted as he remembered that Carter Devereux could have been in their custody now were it not for Youssef Bin Bandar’s screw-up of the Jerusalem operation.

  “I’d say it would take maybe another six to eight months before we have received enough information from CRS to enable us to start planning a mission for the abduction of Professor Devereux.”

  “Why so long?” Algosaibi asked as he leaned forward. “I would have hoped we could do it in a matter of weeks, not months.”

  “Sir, it’s become more complicated now that he has the bodyguards looking after him. Also, when he is on that ranch, it’s not easy. It’s an enormous place; more than 50,000 acres and it’s very isolated with no access roads. Devereux uses an airplane to fly in and out. On the one hand, that might be the ideal place to abduct him, but on the other, it’s going to take very careful planning. While CRS is collecting all the information about him, they must take extreme care that their observers are not discovered. So at the moment, they do all their observations with high altitude military class drones, which they control from 30 miles away.”

&
nbsp; Algosaibi had his hands in a steeple under his chin, deep in thought. After a long silence, he said. “I want to speed this up. Let CRS know the contract price, for this half of the two-fold contract, has been doubled. They will be paid $50 million if they can deliver the information which would lead us to Devereux’s capture in 60 days.”

  El Fadl wanted to argue about the wisdom of that but decided that not only was it not his place to argue for CRS but that it would also be better not to oppose the old man. “Yes, sir. I’ll get the message through to Mr. Gordon right away.”

  Next, they talked about the respirocyte project, and El Fadl explained that Mackenzie was now leading the research and although that meant the project team had to go back to the drawing board. Daiyan Nasser, the Director of the ISRD, felt that they were now heading in the right direction. Progress was slow but promising. The major stumbling block for them remained the fact that they had lost the Sirralnnudam.

  Algosaibi clenched his fist, another one of Bin Bandar’s stupid screw-ups, he thought. “What progress has CRS made with that?”

  “Unfortunately, not much, sir.” El Fadl was a bit nervous, but he knew it was better to give Algosaibi the truth rather than a rose-colored version of it. “CRS is now looking at alternative methods to try and find a copy.”

  Algosaibi thanked him for his time, got up and accompanied him to the door where they said their goodbyes.

  ***

  Nate Gordon’s smile looked as if it was stretching from ear to ear when he read the decoded message from Ibrahimi El Fadl. $50 million if you can help us capture Professor Devereux within 60 days.

  He threw the message on Dwayne Millers desk puffing his chest out with self-satisfaction and sat down.

  “Holy shit!” Miller exclaimed. “$50 million! Man, we have to do this.”

  Gordon smiled and nodded, “Yep, we have to. Can you throw more resources at this?”

  “You can bet your ass on that. I’ll pull them off other projects.”