There Must Be A Mistake Ch. 18

"I will call you tomorrow afternoon."

"Goodbye Mister Purcell; you work on Sundays?"

"Only God takes a day off, not us humans."

***************

"Come on monster; mommy is taking you to work. She wants to talk to daddy about you."

"Can I play with the Blue machine again?"

Delicious grinned at him. "Why not, you might teach it something."

"I wish it worked faster, like the ones Gordon is playing with."

"How do you know about the computer Gordon is working on?"

"He puts his cell phone on and lets me watch him work as he puts the star chart programs into the computers."

"Is he doing it correctly?"

"Oh yes, Gordon is very smart; he's smarter than you are."

"Do you want to get a spanking?"

"No, why would you spank me? What did I do wrong?"

"You said Gordon was smarter than I am. It may be true, but you didn't have to tell that to me."

"I thought everyone knew."

"I invented and designed the three engines that are taking us into the New World of Space. Why would everyone think Gordon is smarter than I am?"

"What you did was in the past. What Gordon is doing is for now. What I am going to do is for the future. It's all part of the plan mom."

"What plan Newt? Who made up this plan?"

"Grandma was told me there was a plan. She loves you a lot."

"How do you know grandma loves me?"

"We talk all the time. She watches over me to make sure I don't get in trouble. She taught me how to open the locks to your room, and how to use your computer."

"Mom, if you can hear me, stop telling my son my secrets."

"She can't hear you mom; she's in a meeting."

"Who is she in a meeting with?

"Peter, Paul, and Mary."

"It's nice to know that singing group is still together."

"They sing too, mommy?"

"Oh God!"

"No mommy, she isn't at this meeting. It's Saturday, She's resting"

"Newton please stop talking, you're scaring me."

"Okay mommy, but nothing bad will ever happen to us."

"Does the word us include your father?"

"Oh yes, I am going to have four brothers and two sisters. How else could you have more children?"

"Newt don't you dare tell that to your father. He will walk around with a permanent smile on his face."

"It's okay mommy, he will be smiling very soon."

"Why will daddy be smiling very soon?"

"Teddy is already growing in your belly."

"I can't be pregnant Newt, I've been taking... Oh no, did I forget to take my birth control pills with everything that's been happening here. Someone please shoot me, now is not the time for me to have a baby."

"Can we go to work now? I want to play with the computer."

"Okay, but if you hear a bomb go off, it will be your father when I tell him I'm pregnant."

"4 ½ months pregnant mommy, you have to start taking your folic acid and prenatal vitamin and mineral pills."

"Is there anything you don't know Newt?"

"I'm learning the same way you learned mom. Grandma is teaching me."

"Will you thank her for me?"

"I don't have to, she watches over you every day too."

"Dad told me that once, and I forgot about it. Thank you mom, thank you for everything you've done for me."

Grandma says, "I love you too. I owe you a sweet life."

Delicious began to weep, as she picked up Newt, and kissed him.

"Ice cream first, then we will go to work."

"Two scoops?"

"One scoop, you monster."

"At least I tried."

"When you are 13 you can have two scoops."

"Why do I have to be 13 to have two scoops?"

"Probably because I said so."

"The United States is not supposed to be run by tyrants."

"I am not a tyrant, I am your mother. There is a big difference."

"I don't think so, they both act the same."

******************

84. Retribution

"Switchboard."

"This is Marcus with a message for the Brass. Soldier of Fortune Magazine, issue 2634, page 76; center left. Urgent: Believe it concerns 'The Private!' I will check in every two weeks."

"Message received."

"You're getting old Paul. It's only 500 meters, and you only hit the edge of the 10 ring."

"Did you see that gust of wind that blew up at the last second Colonel? I'm happy it hit it at all."

"I can see all my years of training are going down the drain already. If you can't judge the wind from this distance, you are in big trouble. You also are going to owe me $1000."

"You think you are going to do better than me on this shot Sir?"

"Absolutely Paul, would you like to add a zero to that bet?"

"Sir, I may be getting old, but I'm not getting stupid. Take your shot."

Colonel Lucius Canyon waited for the wind gust. As soon as it reached its maximum fury, he depressed the rifle's trigger gently. He aimed three feet right of the target and 16 inches high. Never taking his eyes off the scope he watched the projectile curve gently and hit the target a few millimeters high, in the center of the ten ring.

Paul looked through the spotting scope, and sighed. "Colonel, sometimes I think you could do that with your eyes closed."

"Practice Paul, year after year, day after day of practice. It's like that Canadian kid who took the sniper out in Iraq from almost a mile away. Severe crosswind from left to right, and three floors below him. It was an unbelievable shot. The sniper killed 16 people from his perch, including a green lieutenant, who refused to keep his head down. That kid fired the shot a total of five floors above the sniper, and 15 yards to his left. He admitted he only wanted to scare the sniper off that balcony, but he put that bullet in his right ear, and blew his brains out instead.

He got a medal from the Canadians, the Brits, and us for that shot. Practice Paul, practice, practice, practice, and then there's a little bit of luck involved."

"Are you ready to lose another thousand dollars?"

"Absolutely, it's only money."

"Why don't we moved back to 700 meters, and I'll make a man out of you."

"Can you see that far Colonel?"

"I'll muddle through Sergeant."

The Colonel's cell phone rang for the first time in seven months. There were only two reasons for it to ring. There was an urgent message; or it was William and he had a problem. He never expected it to be both.

"This is Backwoods."

"Switchboard with urgent message."

"Authenticate."

"Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, Sword, Overlord."

"Proceed."

"Marcus: Soldier of Fortune Magazine- issue 2634 - page 76- center left. Believe it concerns 'The Private'. I will check in every two weeks." Message ends. Switchboard out."

"I'm so glad I made you get your helicopter pilots license. We are going to the mainland."

"What's up Colonel?"

"Marcus thinks there's a hit out on 'The Private.' There is only one person with balls big enough to try it."

"The Vice President; I knew we shouldn't have let that bastards live."

"William wanted him humiliated all over the world, and he got what he wanted. Now let's see what that prick has in store for William. I won't warn him, until we have more facts. Marcus could be wrong, although I doubt it."

Four hours later, they were in downtown Vancouver searching for a store that carried Soldier of Fortune Magazine. The issue was two months old, but it only came out quarterly. It was deliberately obscure, but there were enough references to a wealthy man, and separating his son from a doting father to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"Sir, it would be great if we could get one of our young ones to join up with them. We could implant a beacon into his ass and follow him wherever he goes. We would know where the target is, and know if he had been compromised."

"It's a good idea Paul, if we could get everyone to check in. Not everyone is going to check in. They may all have lives now. They are all wealthy, and may have settled down. It's what we did until today. It's time for me to call William and give him a warning."

************

"Lucius my old friend, what do I owe the honor of this phone call?"

"William, if you're in New York get out now. There is a hit out on you and your family. They are going to try to kidnap Patrick and extort money from you. I'm going to try to get my group together and find out who these bastards are. I believe I know who the tip of the spear is already."

"Please don't tell me it's the Vice President."

"I keep telling you that you are the smartest person I have ever met, and it's true."

"Well the good news is I'm not in New York, I'm in Temple Texas, watching over the building of a spacecraft."

"Please don't tell me you're involved in that venture?"

"I am, but only $80 billion worth."

"I love how you say that as if you take it out of your pocket and it means nothing."

"Lucius, I have already received 400 patents from this project, and five percent of each patent is mine. Each patent will bring in a minimum of $5 billion a year, most of them will bring in much more. By the time this spacecraft leaves the earth, I will have recouped all my money plus some. How bad a deal do you think I've made now?"

"William, I kneel before you, and bow my head in shame. I'm sorry I doubted you."

"You should never kneel before me my friend. You called to save my life and the lives of my family. They are worth more to me than all the money I have. We have excellent protection here for everyone. Each family member is guarded by two men or women. They are not rent a cop's, they are fully trained agents led by General Dan Morgan."

"Danny is there? Can we do a conference call?"

"Absolutely, don't hang up."

"Lucius you old reprobate, nobody has killed you yet?"

"Danny if you couldn't do it, nobody else could."

"God knows I tried. At least I got you kicked out of the service."

"I got closer to Milosevic, than anyone else did. Another week and I would have brought you his head."

"I would have loved his head, but not the way you went about getting information about that murderer."

"It was not a clean war Danny and you know it. You saw the pictures of the people in the open graves. Babies without heads, mass murders committed daily. The bastard was a war criminal and you knew it. I was the answer to that problem and you cut me off."

"These are old arguments Lucius, neither one of us is going to change our minds. What do you have for me today?"

"I was out of the business until I got a call today. A member of my former team found in article in Soldier of Fortune Magazine. Someone, I believe it's the vice president, is gathering a team to kidnap William's son, Patrick. He is going to try to extort a large sum of money from him. You know as well as I do, once they get it the boy is dead. They have to be stopped before they try."

"How do you know it's the vice president?"

"It's retribution for what happened on July 4 at his home in West Virginia. He's blaming William for how he reacted that day. I know it doesn't make any sense, because William was there to give him money. He fucked up, not William; but in his warped mind he wants to get revenge."

"Why do I have a feeling there's more to this story than meets the eye?"

"You're a suspicious person Danny, you always were."

"You are a lying sack of shit Lucius, you always were."

"Are you two finished yelling at each other now? I would like to know how both of you are going to protect my family and me. I want Lucius involved He is my friend, and I trust his counsel."

"How long have you two known each other?"

"I believe it's over 20 years, isn't it Lucius?"

"23 years to be exact William."

"That's a few years after I kick you out of the service."

"General, you are crossing the line. I don't want to hear that tone of voice about my friend one more time. I don't want to hear that line of questioning one more time. If I do you're fired, and he will replace you. I told you I trust Lucius with my life. He has saved it more than once. He has been the leader of my protection people for almost 15 years. He has been a friend and confident for 23 years. Don't get me angry again General Morgan; I am not use to being insulted by a member of my staff. Do you get my message General?"

"Yes Mister Zabo, loud and clear. Who is running the protection detail here; Lucius or me?"

"You are General, just as you were yesterday and the day before, nothing has changed. Lucius is my advisor he will not interfere with your operation, is that clear. If you tell me to do something, I will do it without delay."

"Thank you Mister Zabo, I now understand what my parameters are."

"What do you intend to do about my wife and son?"

"I intend to find a safe house far away from here for them to live in, until we can ascertain what these people are going to try to do."

"Danny, I'm going to try to have one of my young people infiltrate their organization. We're going to implant a beacon into his ass so we can locate him. If it works, we will be one-step up on them. It's iffy right now, because we don't know if anyone is going to check in or when."

"Okay Lucius, keep me advised."

"Dan, my daughter has a place in Glen Falls, New York; would that be secure enough?"

"Before you answer that Danny, I lost 10 men there to an assault by 30 people using rocket propelled grenades and heavy weapons. The barn is made out of concrete; the roof is made of steel. Downstairs they have a vault with a door made by a bank security company. I had a total of 14 men there, and they held out for 12 hours, until help came. The only reason they lost is I wasn't there to lead them. I was out of position. I was in Antarctica on a wild goose chase."

"Whoever set you up must have been very good. That doesn't happen to you Lucius; no one sneaks up on you."

"All I was able to find out is the moneyman funded it out of Kansas City. By the time I got there, they found him in the Mississippi River cut to pieces. Dead men don't talk, and all my leads dried up. It could have been the Kansas City Organization, the Chicago people, or anyone else for that matter. They were after William's daughter, Patricia. My men didn't let them get her, and they paid a very dear price protecting her. That was 22 years ago, and it still hurts today."

"We all lost men in Kosovo and we put it behind us so we could move forward."

"That's the difference between you and me Dan. You can forget your men. Each man in my unit was trained by me. They belonged to me. In Kosovo, I brought them all home, because I led them into battle. They followed my orders. I led them, not my sergeants. To this day I can tell you the name, rank, and serial number of every man I ever lead. I wouldn't trade them for any other soldier in the Army, because I trained every single one of them. They never drank, and they never took drugs. We were the most highly decorated unit to fight in that stupid, fucked up war."

"Gentlemen, we are getting off the subject again. Let's return to the present and think about something else. Sooner or later they are going to figure out I am not in New York. They will find out I am down here and they will tell the Vice President about it. What could they do to me down here?"

Dan opened his eyes in fright. "Do you think he would try to blow up the Beach Ball?"

"He gave the order to blow up Even's two armored cars. I wouldn't be a reach for him to try to blow up the spacecraft."

"Where did you get that information from William?"

"Congressman Horace Bordeaux told me. He couldn't testify to it, because he didn't have any paperwork to back it up. Vice President Silver told him to have it done. Bordeaux contacted the people at Advanced Logarithms. They make the brains for the missiles that fly off our drones. They took two rockets that were supposed to be used for flight testing and filled them with explosives. They took the drone out for a ride 200 miles northwest of Denver. By the time the rockets hit the trucks the drone landed. It was taken apart, and stored in the back of a truck. The rest is history."

Delicious knocked on the door, walked into William's office, and overheard part of the conversation. She put up a finger, and asked to be recognized.

"Delicious, how can I help you?"

"Can you put me on speaker; I think I can help all of you."

"Go ahead."

"My dad thought about someone trying to blow up the Beach Ball five years ago. He had an identical model made, and it is ready to be shipped here, anytime we want it. Supposedly, it will fool everyone that works here. We're getting it for the price of a sticker on the outside of the real thing."

William asked, "Who is the other Beach Ball being made by?"

"You have to promise not to laugh."

"Delicious this is not a laughing matter."

"It was made in the blimp hanger at Goodyear."

"Why are all the scientists here, if they are making it up there?"

"Mister Zabo, Goodyear made one out of a thin latex and rubber material. When it gets here, we have to blow it up."

"Your father thought this up?"

"Everyone tells me my father's crazy."

"Crazy like a fox! That's the funniest thing I have ever heard of."

"I laughed when I first heard it."

The three men on the telephone followed suit.

Dan said, "If we announce that we are taking the spaceship out of the hanger, at twilight, to verify the star navigation charts against the nighttime sky, it could draw them out. We can say everyone will be there: The chief administrator William Zabo, all our scientists, and every man and woman who has worked on the spacecraft since the very beginning. It will be the first, and last time the 'GOOD LUCK' will be outside the hanger, until the day it is ready to fly off into deep space. It will be too much of a temptation for them to resist."

William asked, "What do we do once we get them here?"

Dan said, "That's easy, we kill all of them except one. That will be Lucius's friend."

"That would be mighty nice of you Dan. I would get angry if you killed him."

******************

"Hello Patricia; it's dad how are you?"

"Dad what's wrong, you sound awful."

"I'm going to be sending Jemma and Patrick to you. They have to be kept safe, because there is a contract out on us. I am staying here, to draw them to me. They will be coming to you with a large protection detail. Is that okay?"

"Dad you know it is. I would do anything for them and you."

"Do you really mean that Patti, because if you do I have something else I want you to do for me, and it's close to being illegal."

"Will it make our families safer dad?"

"I can guarantee it will make us all safer."

"Tell me what to do, and I will take care of it."

"I need you to dust off three of your old programs. You have to find out everything that's going on with Jim Pierce of Advanced Algorithms. I have a feeling he's been stealing money from the government for a long time.

He is hooked up with William Stevens, and it was Advanced Algorithms who fired the rockets at Even's armored cars. The order came from the Vice President personally.

I want you to find out where he has hidden his money. I'm sure their money tied in together. There should be hundreds of millions of dollars in their accounts, if not billions.

Transfer it into one of my accounts, and I will feed it back to the government. With your help I will be able to tell them who stole it from them and how. They should love that story."

"How soon should I expect Jemma and Patrick? I will get two of the houses in tiptop shape before they get here with their support team."

"I would say two or three days."

"I will take care of it dad. The other matter will take me 10 days to two weeks. I'm a little bit rusty."

"They are going to try to blow up the Beach Ball Patti. We have a plan in action to take care of that possibility."