JoJo and the Unit Ch. 01

As always, I have to thank those that have helped me with these stories, from my beta readers, those special friends that I've leaned on so many times for advice and my editors through the years that these three stories have been in existence. You have all been amazing, from Halo Two-Five, to Curtis and then JoJo taking the trilogy to its conclusion. I've had fun with this and you the reader have been kind enough to humor me. Many, many thanks.

Please note. This is a story.

It came from my head and not from any history books. It's a story.

*******

I was working on the paintwork of the Keyleigh Ortiz, my attention was on the work in hand, but it didn't stop my instincts telling me something was up. I stopped and looked around. JoJo stood some twenty feet away. Her eyes met mine and we nodded to each other.

Something was up, even from there I could feel it. She tilted her head towards the clubhouse and walked in its direction. I hadn't mentioned too her that Ruth was in America with the two girls, so I figured she was just being cautious. I cleaned my hands and followed along about ten minutes later.

JoJo had drinks for us both on the table, both drinks were on her side of the table, so it clearly meant that I was to sit beside her. She wanted both of us to have a clear line of sight of the doors, not to mention the whole of the club floor.

I had heard hints, it's not difficult to when I was still in and out of the Unit's building, keeping up with old friends and arranging nights out with the wives for Ruth.

We sipped our drinks and being that close to her, the tension within her felt like it wanted to burst right through her. We spoke in generalities at first, but I quickly noticed JoJo lower her voice to a level that I could hear her comfortably and no one around us could hear her at all. She began:

*******

Freddy came into the office as JoJo was getting herself a coffee. Out of habit, if one was near the coffee pot, then they made one for each of them. JoJo handed Freddy his mug, and in return, he handed her the news from around the world. JoJo had instigated this practice a week into her taking control of the Unit. Both the Foreign office and the Home Office would send the Unit a condensed information sheet daily. If it was news or something to do with British interests abroad, it was on the sheet. If JoJo wanted more information on any story, she would either call her contact at the Home Office or look it up herself.

One story caught her eye, more so when she married this story to one from the day before. A junior diplomat was run down and killed. It was originally in the news letter as some sort of mugging/robbery gone wrong. Two of the local police were on a coffee run around the corner when they heard the commotion. When they arrived within seconds of the incident, one of the two suspects had the dead diplomat's wallet in his hands. They both spotted the police and ran back to the car, with said wallet firmly in his grasp.

One of the local Police stayed with the body while his partner gave chase in the car. The Police did their best, but lost them in the multitude of alleyways. It got more complicated when the other officer called in the mugging, then went through his pockets in the hope of finding some sort of identification. That's when they found his diplomatic ID, and it all hit the fan from then on.

JoJo was now reading about an attempted break-in, at the morgue in the early hours of the morning where the junior diplomat was resting. As a mark of respect, the ambassador had placed a member of the embassy's security team to sit with him through the night. The security guard heard the break-in and radioed the embassy; they in turn called the police. Since the morgue was directly up the road from the police station, they were there within seconds. No one was found, but a window was broken.

When the dust settled, the ambassador trebled the guard on the dead junior diplomat's room. JoJo felt that the ambassador was right in doing what he had.

She stared at the wall directly in front of her, which happened to be the wall behind Freddy. He had caught her doing this a few times, so with an almost invisible shrug, he left his boss to mull things over, and eventually she looked directly at Freddy, who was already deep into the day's paperwork.

"Freddy, please phone all the guys at home, tell them they are all exempt from shaving until further notice. Please make sure it's on daily orders, as well."

Freddy looked up at his boss, his brow already creasing, wondering what she had seen that he hadn't, when he brought in the news sheets. She was already halfway across the room, both news sheets in her hand. He read them; she had even underlined both stories, then looked at JoJo before nodding in agreement.

JoJo was still deep in thought when a smiling Freddy put the phone down, "All done, boss, although Ashley wasn't amused when I phoned and gave her the same order."

She remembered that she had said all the guys; that's when they both laughed.

With her interest now piqued, JoJo followed up on the story of the young diplomat; there were no more break-ins. The diplomatic service brought the body home three days later: although, it almost turned into a diplomatic incident when the Arab country tried to slow the process down. In the end, the country's king apologized on live television for the death happening in his country; the body of the diplomat left an hour later via a private plane.

*******

A week later.

JoJo was just entering her office when Freddy was putting the phone down. "We need to be in civvies, boss. We have an eleven o'clock appointment with God's Brother at Chequers. Her cheeks warmed, she nodded to Freddy, turned and went to change. Freddy drove, leaving her to wonder at this sudden summons.

Once through security, they parked and were ushered into the library. The Prime Minister was seated; the two other men in the room stood by the window that overlooked the courtyard were they had parked.

JoJo's boss came in shortly after. "Sorry I'm late, traffic."

The Prime Minister pointed to the small conference table, they all sat, all but her boss. He pulled a sheet of paper from his case and looked at JoJo.

"I don't know how you figured it out, Captain, since it's taken us until this morning. I know you've put the Unit on a no shave order, and thank goodness you have."

That's when the file hit the table. Even reading from upside down, JoJo could make out the words: Stephen Beckman. She knew from her own research that was the name of the young diplomat.

"As a matter of policy, since he died abroad, our own coroner's office did an autopsy"

Her boss's hand opened and a very small flat container came into view. JoJo recognized it as a protective holder for a memory card. It slid across the table and came to a stop within a foot of JoJo. Only when it came to a stop did she look again at her boss.

"Mister Beckman swallowed that before he was killed; they went looking for it believing he had it on him, and they seemingly didn't realize that he had it in him."

Her boss once again delved into his case and pulled another folder out; everyone got the same picture. It showed a young blond woman who looked to be in her very early twenties, topless, and in what could only be described as a piece of cloth held on her body with floss. The background was out of focus, so all eyes were directed to the blonde woman.

"Please read the back."

Almost as one, those around the table turned the picture over. Only two words were in what everyone assumed to have been Stephen Beckman's handwriting. "She's alive."

All but one of the group looked again at her boss. Her boss, however, was staring at the one man who hadn't. "I'm sorry, Charles. I truly am."

The man was openly weeping now. JoJo and Freddy just glanced at each other and continued to watch everything going on around them.

A moment later, the man stood and said. "I have to call Sally and tell her that Becky is still alive."

The iron in her boss's voice came to the fore just then. "You can't do that, Charles. If you do and it gets out, you have signed her death warrant."

The man turned towards her boss, and with venom in his voice, said, "So what do expect me to do, abandon her like we did a year ago?"

They all had sympathy for the father, just as JoJo knew her boss was right. They somehow faked her death and spirited her almost a full continent away. If they thought for a second it was discovered she was still alive, the people involved would have no hesitation in killing her for real this time.

The minister stood up from the conference table and leaned forward, his hands and arms taking his body weight as he stared at her boss. "How the hell did she end up in that country, anyway?"

Her boss looked at her and said, "Captain?"

JoJo was already expecting this. "Slave trade, sir' she is a stereo-typical type, white skinned and a natural blonde." She then tilted her photo towards the Prime Minister and pointed. "Have you also noticed her ankle, sir? She has on one of the new type personal trackers. That means that whoever has her, not only has her in his sight, but everywhere else, as well."

The Ministers eyes bore deeply into JoJo. "You had better watch your mouth, Captain Carmichael, that's my daughter."

JoJo stood, and also noticed that her boss slowly sat himself down.

"Her life at this moment, Minister, is the length of how long you can keep this to yourself and only yourself; not even your wife can find out. The day after tomorrow is the anniversary of her burial; lay flowers at her grave, hold your wife up and keep this secret for as long as you can."

Her eyes bore deep into one of the most powerful ministers in Whitehall.

"If you can do that, Minister, there is a chance, a slim chance that those that have her will think that Stephen Beckman never got his information out and that their secret died with him. You, sir, need to give us time: time to formulate a plan, time to get your daughter back home safely."

The Minister was still mulling over his options, few though they were. God's Brother inwardly smiled with relief when his friend sat down again.

Curious about something, he turned to JoJo, and said, "How did young Mister Beckman find her when every police and intelligence agency in the world had given up?"

Not having all the facts frustrated JoJo, and speculating in front of her own boss was not a wise thing to do, but he had looked at her and directly asked her. She knew she had no choice.

"We know from records that they both went to Oxford University, although Stephen Beckman was a year in front of Becky Harmsworth. At best guess, sir, although they never ran in the same circles, they would have seen each other around. Even at a junior level, when Becky went missing, her file would have gone across his desk."

The Minister was staring at her, so she added, "As the agencies came up empty handed and moved onto other things, Stephen Beckman's memories of her would have instantly awoken in him when he spotted her, even after so long from seeing each other at Oxford. The missing persons report on her would have still lodged itself in his brain."

After a moment's pause, the Minister nodded his head and stood to face the Prime Minister. "It's going to kill me keeping a secret like this from my wife, Prime Minister, but you have my word and my silence."

He then turned his gaze towards JoJo, and said, "You and your people bring her home, Captain Carmichael, and my family will forever be in your debt."

With another nod to God's Brother, he turned and left the meeting. When the door to the library closed, they all looked at the Prime Minister.

"It seems you have your next assignment, Captain Carmichael. The sensitivity here, of course, is that she happens to be in one of the few countries that we have close links with in the Middle East."

God's Brother then looked directly at JoJo, and said, "Find her, bring her home. I will leave you people to do your thing; call my office if you need anything out of your sphere of influence."

The Prime Minister then stood, everyone else in the room followed his actions and waited for him to leave the room.

*******

It took almost two weeks before JoJo called her boss and he joined her and Freddy in their office. Coffees were introduced and two files were pulled from JoJo's desk. Both JoJo and Freddy left their boss reading. It took awhile before he looked at either of them again.

"I did wonder why you sent every member of the Unit and families on leave. You're browning up your team."

JoJo nodded. "There are enough cosmetics out there that could have done that artificially, but the natural look is better I think, plus, they deserved the holiday." She then nodded to both files, still in the hands of her boss. "So, what do you think?"

He placed both files on her desk and looked directly at her. "Something has you spooked about this operation; what is it?"

She knew better than to even think of hiding her thoughts from her boss.

JoJo leaned back on her chair and thought on how best to reply. "Somehow, these people spirited Becky Harmsworth away from her backpacking holiday with her friends and managed to fake her death, as well as keep her out of sight of the public for a year. I also believe, all though I don't have a shred of evidence to prove it, but I strongly suspect she was stolen to order."

Her boss nodded at the unspoken worry about this mission: who was holding her and how far did these people's influence travel up the Royal Family in that country.

"Hence the second folder?" he asked.

This time JoJo leaned on her desk so she could look her boss directly in the eyes.

"Freddy has already told me this has never been done before with the Unit, and believe me, sir, I would rather not have this second file even on the table."

The second file had no title, yet it held a strategy that also came with its own risks. The first file was complete, from insertion into the country, surveillance of the target and also various strategies for snatching Becky Harmsworth back, dependant on what they found when they dug deeply enough, as well as extraction from the country. It was the second file being added that worried all three in the room.

Until they entered the country and gathered more in the way of intelligence of their own, they truly didn't know how influential the people that kidnapped Becky and smuggled her this far away from her backpacking holiday really were. The royal family ruled the country with a very iron fist. The people were well looked after and opportunities for the young people were many, but that also meant that someone within the royal family probably knew these kidnappers.

The second file was, to some extent, a Hail Mary. If the original plan looked like it was discovered, the Unit would be exposed. The Unit would go dark. All electronic devices turned off, batteries removed and vehicles changed. The Unit would have to fend for themselves, but JoJo's relationship with her original regiment still left her with options.

Laying groundwork such as boats moored in coastal villages with three months' rental for the docking, cars bought and parked close to certain district with the keys left in magnetic boxes and fixed to parts of the car, even memorizing the names and places of men and women who owned medium sized planes that for the right amount of money, they could hire. The pilot would remain silent; their silence was part of the reputation they required for some of the things they transported.

Only JoJo had the knowledge of every form of transport that was now open to her; going dark wasn't something that any of the Unit wanted to happen, but it was there if it all hit the fan when they grabbed Becky Harmsworth back.

She watched as he nodded, and they all stood at the same time. He looked at both JoJo and Freddy when he told them that both files would stay there; he was going to verbally tell God's Brother the contents. It was only on his say-so that the second file would be authorized or not.

For the next ten days, both files remained locked in JoJo desk.

She had to move her coffee to her other hand to answer the phone. "Captain Carmichael speaking."

"Both have been agreed. You have a go." Her boss severed the line a second later.

*******

JoJo looked at Freddy, her phone still in her hand, and she nodded at him before replacing the phone onto its cradle. It was decided between them after the original meeting with their boss in that very office that Freddy would get the Unit up to speed with clothing and weapons.

It was time for Captain Joan Carmichael to return to her old regiment for the first time since she had come to the Unit. She had phoned them on many occasions, and was eventually assigned a contact within the regiment that she had used on many occasions over the time with the Unit, but this was different.

Armed with the original photo that had cost the life of one young man, she once again set foot on familiar ground. She smiled to herself; 12th Intelligence Unit barracks hadn't changed, not that she expected it to, and so many memories came flooding back to her about the place. It was the birthplace to what came next in her career, and she felt she owed the regiment so much.

She was shown into the office of Major Sheppard. She stood and waved her hand at the seat across from her desk. "Welcome back to the fold, Joan."

Her smile was genuine, and a few minutes catching up, was worth it. "You caught us all flat footed. We didn't expect a visit from none other than the head of God's Brother's Unit."

JoJo blushed, then placed a file on the desk in front of her. "I need your help and I have a request." She pulled air into her lungs to calm herself; she hated what she was about to say next. "I have a photo here. I need everything you can glean from it. If it's within the confines of the secrecy of this matter, I will answer any question I can, but even that's limited to me making a phone call to request permission to do so. I'm sorry, Major, but I'm not making the rules on this one."

She watched as Major Sheppard's face hardened, and understood why.

The Major picked up the photo, looked at it for a moment, then at JoJo. "What is it you need?"

"Absolutely anything and everything your people can glean from that photo."

"We're going to need the negative if you have it."

She opened the file again and placed her fingers into the little pocket within the folder, then handed the Major the small envelope protecting the late Stephen Beckman's memory card.

"How long do we have?"

JoJo stared at the Major for a moment, then said, "I'm here for the duration; I leave only when you have nothing left to tell me about that picture."

For two days, six people stared at the picture that now took up the size of the far wall; they knew everything, from the make of the watch on the wrist of the fat hairy guy sunbathing naked, the manufacture's name of the ankle tracker the blonde had on, the name of the smaller dark haired woman who was also sunbathing naked, the color varnish used on her fingers and toenails, even down to what time the photo was taken, courtesy of the same watch the fat hairy naked guy had on.

Facial recognition came into play, and they had the names of three of the people in the picture. Two of the names came via records from Interpol; both the fat hairy naked guy and the smaller dark-haired woman, both wanted for questioning for human trafficking, prostitution and slave trading. The tone of the other five people in the room changed almost instantly when the name of the blonde woman came back through facial recognition.

Major Sheppard sent everyone out of the room for a coffee break, then looked at JoJo. "Let me guess. If I ask one question about the half-naked blonde whose name we all now know, my career could screech to a halt?"