Four Months in Cuba

by Luana Ehrlich

  “That’s correct.” I gestured at the document he was holding. “I’m surprised to hear you handle the requisition requests personally.”

  He chuckled. “No, I never see them unless there’s a problem. One of my people red-flagged this request when she noticed some items that weren’t on the protocols mandate for Operation Peaceful Retrieval.” He adjusted his glasses and read, “Twenty-four paperback copies of La Santa Biblia.”

  I nodded. “That was my own personal request, and I’m more than willing to reimburse the Agency for the Bibles.”

  He brushed aside my offer with a flick of his hand. “No, there’s no need to do that. I’ve already taken care of it. However, you can satisfy my curiosity by explaining what you did with the Bibles.”

  After giving Edwards a brief description of Phene’s reaction when I found her in my hotel room reading my Bible, I told him about discovering the little group of believers having a church service on the beach and using index cards instead of Bibles.

  “I knew I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least try to get them access to some Bibles.”

  Edwards nodded. “I probably would have felt the same way.”

  When I explained how I’d delivered the Bibles by placing them inside the cabana box, he chuckled and said, “I wish I could tell the members of my Bible class this story. My wife and I often talk about how fortunate we are to live in a country where access to the Bible is not restricted, and where discussing it doesn’t land us in prison.”

  “I never thought much about it until I saw how much the Cubans valued possessing a few Scriptures. That’s when I decided I had to do something. To be truthful, ordering up the Bibles was an impulsive decision, and I don’t make those very often.”

  “No, I don’t imagine you do.” He leaned over and placed the requisition request back on his desk. “Don’t worry, though, I’ve taken care of it.”

  I stood up and offered Edwards my hand. “I can’t thank you enough for keeping me out of hot water with Director Carlton, not to mention the DDO.”

  After Edwards shook my hand, he gestured at the chair I’d just vacated. “You might want to sit back down while we discuss how you can pay me back for doing you such a big favor.”

  Like Columbo, it appeared Edwards had lulled me into a false sense of security.

  * * * *

  I sat back down in the guest chair. Meanwhile, he walked around and opened up one of the drawers in his desk.

  After pulling out what appeared to be a bookmark, he slipped it inside his coat pocket. When he sat back down across from me, he said, “You’re in a difficult position, Titus.”

  I nodded. “I realize asking Wally to bring in the Bibles put him at risk, and I shouldn’t have—”

  “No, I’m not talking about the Bibles,” he said, shaking his head. “We’ve settled that already. I’m talking about you personally.”

  “What about me?”

  “You’re a new follower of Christ. You said you didn’t know anything about the Christian faith until a few months ago, and yet you don’t have any kind of support system. In my church, you would be called a baby Christian.”

  “Really?”

  He nodded. “Just like a baby left alone to make it on its own, you’re at risk right now.”

  “How am I at risk?”

  “You’re at risk of becoming discouraged as you try to live out your faith. You’re at risk of becoming so focused on one thing in the Bible that you neglect others that are just as important. That’s why I always encourage new believers to get involved in a church. I believe being around more mature believers who are able to answer your questions and be an example to you is very helpful.”

  “I can see how that might be helpful, but I just can’t picture myself doing that right now.”

  He smiled. “Exactly. That’s why I said you were in a difficult position. However, I think I may have a solution.”

  I had no idea where Edwards was going with this, but I nodded and said, “Okay.”

  “Here’s what I’d like to do. I’d like to become your spiritual mentor. In fact, I’d be honored if you’d allow me to do this for you.”

  “That’s very generous of you, but I couldn’t ask you to—”

  “No, Titus, hear me out on this. I’ve done this before with other men, and I can assure you it’s helped me as much as it has them. Allowing me to mentor you is how you could pay me back for taking care of this requisition matter for you.”

  Not only was I blown away by Edwards’ offer, I was shocked by how wrong I’d been about him. From the moment I’d entered the room, I’d made one wrong assumption after another about the man.

  Now, I realized Andrew Edwards really was a nice guy, and his congenial attitude wasn’t just an act to put me at ease so he could spring a trap on me later.

  “How would it work for you to be my spiritual mentor?”

  “Whenever you’re between assignments, we could meet and discuss the questions you may have about the Bible, or we could study a book of the Bible together, or if you have something that’s bothering you, perhaps some personal matter, I could pray with you about it. I’m just offering to be available to you, Titus. What you do with my invitation will be up to you.”

  “I promise I’ll give it some thought, but no matter what I decide, it was kind of you to make the offer.”

  He reached inside his coat pocket and pulled out the bookmark I’d seen him remove from his desk. “I don’t imagine you’ve encountered any doctrinal questions yet, but when that happens, you might find this bookmark helpful.”

  When he handed it to me, he said, “You’ll notice it’s a list of ten doctrinal questions and the Scripture references for each of them.”

  I quickly scanned through the list, and then I turned the card around so Edwards could see it. I pointed to question number three; Why does God let bad things happen?

  “The next time we see each other, I’ll take you up on your offer if you can answer this question.”

  “You’re right, that’s a tough one, and in our line of work, I’m not surprised it bothers you.”

  I nodded. “I had a situation in Santiago that didn’t turn out the way I thought it should. Since I’d been praying about it for several days, I was expecting a different outcome. I have to tell you, I was pretty angry with God about what happened.”

  Edwards took a quick look at his watch and said, “I’m due in a staff meeting in a few minutes, so I’ll have to make this quick, but let me caution you about something. Don’t use prayer as a means of manipulating God. He’s not a vending machine—put prayers in, get answers out—nor is he a genie who’s there to fulfill your desires.”

  He glanced down at his watch again and got to his feet. “Don’t get me wrong, Titus; you can ask him for whatever you want, but when everything’s said and done, you need to trust him to do what’s best for you.”

  When I stood up, I said, “It’s hard for me to see what happened in Santiago as being best for me. I know for sure it wasn’t good for the person I was trying to help.”

  He shook his head. “You’re looking at the short-term results. God sees the beginning, the end, and everything in between.”

  After I thanked him for his help, he said, “You know, Titus, there could be something else going on here as well. God often tests us to see if our faith is real.”

  As we walked towards the door, I said, “I don’t have any doubts about my faith. I know it’s real.”

  Edwards smiled and nodded. “Spoken like someone who hasn’t had his faith tested yet.”

  Although Edwards didn’t claim to be a prophet, his words turned out to be prophetic.

  Chapter 37

  I was fifteen minutes early for my briefing. Even so, when I arrived in Conference Room E, Carlton was already there.

  He was huddled with Coach Thompson at one end of the conference table looking at an image on his laptop. Katherine Broward was also there, along with a couple of other ana
lysts from her office.

  As soon as she saw me enter the room, she waved me over to where they were standing. After we greeted each other, she said, “Do you know if Frank will be attending the briefing today?”

  I nodded. “When I saw him yesterday, he said he’d be here. Why?”

  “I wanted to update him on what I discovered about Governor Gilberto’s property holdings in Santiago.”

  “What did you find?”

  “Titus,” she said with a flirtatious smile, “you know I can’t tell you that. Frank was the one who asked me to do the research, and I have an obligation to report the results to him first. It wouldn’t be courteous to do otherwise.”

  “What about showing a little courtesy to the primary on the operation?”

  Katherine ignored my question when she saw Benson walk in the room. “There he is now. Excuse me. I better catch him before Douglas starts the briefing.”

  I stood off to the side and observed Benson’s reaction when Katherine reported her findings to him. There was nothing there to see. All Benson did was nod at her a few times. He didn’t even take out his tablet and make any notes on it.

  “What’s so interesting about their conversation?” Juliana asked.

  “Oh, hi, Juliana. I didn’t see you come in.”

  “No, your attention was elsewhere.” She nodded her head at Katherine and Benson. “What’s going on with them?”

  “Katherine is being courteous to Frank.”

  “Is that what they call it now?”

  * * * *

  Carlton began the briefing as soon as Josh Kellerman from Support Services arrived. Kellerman was head of the Legends division, and it was his job to brief Juliana and me on the cover stories we’d be using in San Andros.

  Carlton began the briefing by announcing the DDO would not be attending the meeting. Perhaps it was my imagination, but I was sure I heard a sigh of relief from everyone in the room when they heard that announcement.

  After Carlton welcomed Benson and explained his role as the liaison between the Bureau and the Agency, he turned the meeting over to Coach Thompson.

  I’d had a few operational briefings with Coach before, and like most briefers, he had his own unique way of imparting information. I felt sure his style was modeled after the long hours he’d spent listening to his coaches prepare him for a football game.

  In this setting though, instead of talking about the opposing team, he talked about the opposition. Instead of referencing four quarters of a game, he referenced the four components of an operation. Instead of focusing on a catchy phrase to motivate the players to win the game, he focused on a key word to prompt his operatives to stay on task.

  Today, he began with the key word.

  “This operation will be dealing with several unknowns, so I want you to focus on what you need to know to make this mission a success. That’s the key word—know.”

  He touched his mouse, and a PowerPoint slide appeared on the screen at the far end of the room. “I’ve divided the game plan for Phase II into four components.”

  On the screen, Coach had a bullet point for each of the four components, and after reading off each one, he clicked over to the next slide and began explaining his first point, Component One: Know Your Location.

  “Here’s a satellite view of San Andros. It’s the largest island in The Bahamas and the least populated, which is probably why Franco Cabello has a villa there. According to the latest data, there are six thousand residents on the island, but with over two hundred hotels and resorts, the small towns on San Andros can get pretty crowded.”

  Thompson moved on to the next slide, which displayed a street map of San Andros with three blue dots marking three locations.

  “You’ll be staying here at the Los Tavios Resort,” he said, pointing to the blue dot closest to the ocean. “You’re booked into the Dorado Villa. As you can see, it’s secluded and has its own private beach.”

  Pointing to a blue dot to the north of the resort, he said, “Here’s where Franco Cabello has his residence. It’s about thirty miles from the resort and sits on top of a hill overlooking the ocean. Access to the house is limited to this road, and like Lorenzo’s compound, the entrance is manned by security guards.”

  Coach pointed to the third dot on the map, San Andros Airport. “You’ll be flying into San Andros on a charter flight. If anyone checks, it will appear Senator Mitchell’s office arranged the flight. You will arrive on the island tomorrow afternoon at three o’clock. A rental vehicle will be waiting for you at the airport.”

  When he clicked over to the next slide, I noticed it was a collage of several different images, and I wondered if this was what he’d been showing Carlton when I’d walked in the room.

  Coach said, “The most troublesome unknown in this operation is where the handover of Ben will take place. You’re looking at some possible locations in San Andros for that exchange, and when you arrive, your assignment will be to scout out these sites and give the Ops Center your analysis of each one.”

  After he described the sites and explained why the Ops Center had chosen them, he moved on to the next slide.

  Using his laser pointer, he drew an imaginary circle around the heading, Second Component: Know The Opposition.

  “What do we know about the opposition? Our analysts have a high degree of confidence Franco Cabello is the person who’s been communicating with the Senator for the past two months, even though Rafael Lorenzo was the person who took Ben from Club Nocturno. This is based on several facts, one of which is Franco’s role in other big-name kidnappings.”

  Coach looked down at the other end of the table and nodded at Katherine. “I’ve asked Ms. Broward to give you a readout on Franco and discuss how he’s handled other kidnappings.”

  Katherine usually seemed very sure of herself when she was addressing a briefing. However, once she’d described Franco Cabello’s modus operandi, she appeared hesitant.

  “There’s been some disagreement among our analysts about whether I should mention an anomaly in the way Franco’s been involved in Ben’s kidnapping. I’m reluctant to say anything because it may not have any relevance to this operation, but then again, it may.”

  Carlton spoke up. “By all means, Ms. Broward, if there’s something unusual about the way he’s handling Ben’s kidnapping, we should hear about it.”

  She nodded. “That’s just it. He hasn’t been the one handling the kidnapping. That’s been Lorenzo’s responsibility from the beginning. Usually, Franco himself initiates the kidnapping, communicates with the family, and facilitates the transfer. This time, Lorenzo and Cabello have been working together.”

  Carlton said, “The difference is that Ben’s kidnapping wasn’t planned. Lorenzo’s men caught Ben snooping around the warehouse and when they told their boss, he told them to grab him.”

  “I’m aware of that,” Katherine said, “but what I’m concerned about is how this will affect the exchange. Will Lorenzo also have a role in that? If that happens, I’m afraid our operatives will have their covers blown.”

  Everyone looked down at the other end of the table where Juliana and I were sitting.

  “She’s right,” I said. “When Juliana and I met Rafael Lorenzo in Santiago, Keith Gabriel told him we were museum employees. If Lorenzo is in charge of delivering Ben to us, our cover stories won’t hold up ten seconds. He’ll recognize us immediately.”

  “There’s not much chance of that happening,” Carlton said.

  “Why not?” Katherine asked.

  “Because at this moment, we believe Ben is already on his way to The Bahamas, and, according to our watchers on the ground, Lorenzo is still at his compound in Santiago.”

  * * * *

  Coach Thompson backed up Carlton’s statement by showing us surveillance photographs of a private plane on the tarmac at the airport in Santiago.

  “Our surveillance team in Santiago sent the Ops Center these images an hour ago. We were pretty sure the cart
el would be transporting Ben to San Andros by private plane, so we’ve been watching the airport ever since the Senator received the final instructions for the handover.”

  “Is that Lorenzo’s plane?” I asked.

  “No, this plane is registered to JRB Leasing in Panama. It arrived in Santiago three days ago, and we’ve been watching it ever since. It turns out JRB Leasing is a shell company, and we haven’t been able to determine who the real owners are yet. As of right now, we suspect the aircraft belongs to Los Zetas, and Franco is using it to move Ben from Cuba over to San Andros.”

  He clicked on two other images.

  Both of them showed a man getting on and off the aircraft. “We haven’t received a positive ID on this man yet.”

  The next image showed the plane in broad daylight, but this time, it was emerging from a hangar.

  Coach said, “The plane was parked inside the hangar overnight, and earlier this morning, a white van drove inside, stayed for about fifteen minutes, and then left. After that, the plane taxied out to the runway and took off. A few minutes ago, the Ops Center sent word it had just landed at San Andros Airport.”

  “Do we have surveillance on the ground at San Andros?” I asked.

  Carlton nodded. “Our surveillance teams arrived last night. They’ll let us know if the passengers on this aircraft have any kind of contact with Franco Cabello.”

  “If I remember correctly, the cartel notified the Senator they’d be checking out Austin King and his new bride before finalizing their plans for the handover.”

  Carlton looked puzzled by my statement. “That’s right, but I’m not sure what—”

  “I’m just wondering why Franco would have Ben brought over to San Andros now? Why wouldn’t he wait until after he’s verified the legitimacy of Austin King?”

  “I agree with Titus,” Katherine said. “Franco is the cautious type. He’s been known to delay handing over a hostage if he suspects the victim’s family violated his rules.”