Kyle then gave Jeff good news on his family’s extraction plan. “They will be taken to an undisclosed location on Big Walker Mountain near Wytheville, Virginia. This is a sufficient distance from the blast and fallout radius, and drivable in less than one day. En route, your family will think they have been kidnapped. They will be stressed. I am sorry, but at least they will live. Once they have cleared Savannah, the Genesis operatives will stop and explain what is happening. Then they will go dark. Once the event passes and our operatives have determined that they will be safe, they will be driven to the nation’s capital and released at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, Maryland. The operatives will give them a letter with instructions and a personal letter from you. If they refuse the money, the millions will be made an anonymous gift to major black educational institutions and special needs foundations that focus on American children, regardless of color.”
“Kyle…thank you. I thank Genesis. Praises be to God.”
Kyle reached across the table and in a very quiet voice said, “Jeff, you do not have to die. It’s your choice. You can activate your Apophis Tablet from anywhere. Apophis is powerful. It will find the Fireships. Go with your family.”
Jeff looked at Kyle with an intense sense of conviction. “The prophet, peace, and blessings of Allah be upon him, said, ‘I have been commanded to fight the people until they bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.’ Kyle, I feel I must be there with the brothers that will make the ultimate sacrifice. That’s ninety-five percent of the soldiers that were with us today. I have made my peace. I am an instrument and a servant of Allah.”
Their server brought the main course. Jeff and Kyle shared mutton and beef dishes, and Jeff tried dapan chicken for the first time.
The next morning, Jeff lay awake in bed in his hotel room. It was early morning. Jeff had to report for duty on his container ship in two days and Kyle had a flight to catch back to Charleston, South Carolina. He slept late that morning as he and Kyle had hung out at the JZ Jazz Club last night. Jeff thought it is near eleven o’clock. Let me call Kyle and see if he got lucky, or did she get lucky? Jeff laughed so hard he had to get up.
Jeff heard a sharp knock on the door. He heard a voice cry out, “Room service.”
I did not order room service, but Kyle did, I bet, Jeff thought. Trying to get me up and going. What is wrong with him? He has a flight to catch.
Jeff opened the door. There were four fully armed, uniformed men and women standing at the door. One of the women held her badge up and firmly informed Jeff, “We are from the Office of Naval Intelligence. Get dressed now. You are coming with us.”
Jeff was stunned. “What is this about?”
“Sir, we will answer all questions at the location where we are taking you,” said the officer as she searched Jeff.
The naval commander looked Jeff dead in the eyes, “Do not leave our sight and do not go near any computers or cell-phones.”
At that point, a male officer escorted Jeff to his bedroom to get dressed and moments later, the officers escorted Jeff downstairs to a dark blue unmarked vehicle. As they approached the vehicle, he saw Kyle handcuffed in the backseat. They were very gentle with Jeff. They placed Jeff on the opposite side of Kyle and drove away under unmarked escort. The two officers in the front seat were very heavily armed, and they made Jeff and Kyle keenly aware of this.
The naval officer informed them, “You have been arrested as terrorists. We have the responsibility and power to identify and apprehend suspected terrorists anywhere in the world with proper approval from the world's governments. We also have the power to interrogate terrorists and suspects to obtain intelligence about terrorist activities and impending terrorist attacks, and we can lawfully detain them so that they do not pose a continuing threat. If naval intelligence determines that you are combatants of America, its commonwealths, and allies, you have no rights. You get me?”
Kyle and Jeff looked at each other. Their faces were expressionless and they were silent.
Chapter Fourteen — Black Site
Captain John Russell’s plane landed in Savannah. It was nice to be a passenger every once in a while, he thought. J.R. headed over to the car rental counter, jumped in his rental car and headed for Daniel’s home. It was not a long drive out of the city to the fairly new upper-income private gated community that has a great signature golf course where Daniel and Marcia lived. They had a very nice five-bedroom home and the kids walked to school. Daniel and Marcia loved this community as they had sidewalks everywhere. People walked and talked and shared the multicultural community.
Just as J.R. pulled into Daniel’s driveway, Antonio recognized him, “Hey, Uncle J.R.!”
Daniel and Marcia were happy to see J.R. Marcia asked: “How are Alexis and the twins?”
J.R. laughed. “Marcia, you should tell me. You guys talk every day.”
Marcia smiled, “Just checking.” She hugged J.R. and kissed him on his cheek saying, “I am glad you are here.”
Daniel gave him a hug. “Here let me help with those bags. Are you staying for a while?”
“I just left Marine Intelligence at Base Quantico in Virginia and am headed for the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort. I am due there for tactical war games with my squadron. I thought I would spend a couple days with you guys.”
J.R. headed upstairs to the guest bedroom and changed out of his military uniform into jeans. His cell-phone rang.
“J.R., this is Colonel Werner.”
“Colonel Werner…I did not expect to hear from you.”
“Relax, captain. How's your father?”
“He is fine, sir.”
“It is imperative you stop by Fort Stewart today Captain…you hear?”
“Copy that.”
“Bring your friend Daniel with you.”
“Colonel…how do you know Daniel?”
“Bring him with you. That is an order Captain. See you soon.”
“Good day sir.” J.R. headed downstairs, grabbed the piping hot burger that Marcia had just prepared for him, and headed to the garage with Daniel. As they opened the door that led to the garage, J.R. howled, “Oh no, you did not!”
“What? I can have a Ram pickup truck. I needed the RAM-2500, J.R., and you have the RAM-1500.”
J.R. laughed. “Daniel, why did you need a bigger engine?”
Daniel laughed. “Bro', I needed the room and power to haul six of my work crew if I need to. Have you seen the size of those guys I work with?”
“Give me the keys. Let’s see if this diesel engine is everything they say it is.”
Daniel threw J.R. the keys. “If you get that burger all over my seats, I will shoot you myself.”
As they pulled out of the garage into the driveway, Marcia waved and shouted to J.R., “I see he’s letting you drive his new toy.”
J.R. headed to Interstate 16 as they chatted. Daniel turned the radio on to pipe in some sounds. As he turned to the Jazz Channel, He heard Glen Beck’s voice.
“Daniel, I did not know you were into Glen Beck and his goddamn conspiracies theory”
“J.R. I try to keep an open mind. He has some stuff worth listening to.”
“Oh yeah, …like this right.”
Glen Beck was commenting on CIA and Black sites.
“Folks, the Central Intelligence Agency will neither confirm nor deny the existence of CIA black sites. Rumors have long persisted that these black sites exist not only here in the United States but also in Afghanistan, Iraq, Poland, Lithuania, Romania, and Thailand. Some experts believe that more counties are involved. These countries make the CIA program possible in two ways. First by enabling 'rendition,' which involves transferring U.S. detainees abroad without due legal process, and secondly, by providing facilities far beyond the reach of U.S. law where those detainees are subjected to torture using extremely aggressive persuasion techniques.”
Daniel asked, “J.R., do you think the CIA purposely sets up tort
ure sites?”
“Daniel, I cannot answer that question directly. But I would say that if it is in the interest of protecting Americans…I see no problem in what the CIA does. It is their job. That is what they do.”
“You are such a patriot, J.R.”
After ten minutes or so of dead silence, J.R. asked, “You mind if we go up to Fort Stewart?”
Daniel replied, “No, it will be good to get on post again. We can use your clout at the commissary.”
“That is code for ‘I want to buy beer and wine for the holidays at cost plus five percent with my buddy’s military discount’.”
“Yep…pretty much.”
J.R. took exit 90 for GA-144 toward Fort Stewart. They were enjoying the sounds of jazz by Boney James on the surround sound system.
“This is sweet, Daniel, she rides so quietly!”
“Thanks, J.R. Man, I forgot how big this base was. We have been driving along the base for what five miles now? and we still have fifteen miles to go to get to General Stewart Way.”
“Daniel, this is the largest Army installation east of the Mississippi River. It covers about 280,000 acres, which include parts of Liberty, Long, Bryan, Evans, and Tattnall Counties.”
“How many miles is that?’
“I would say about 40 miles across from east to west, and 19 miles from north to south. What is interesting about Fort Stewart is that it has everything. Size, terrain, climate, and location.”
“You mean it is close to two deepwater ports…Savannah and Charleston.”
“Yep. Also, keep in mind that this large expanse of property was required for the firing ranges and impact areas which an anti-aircraft artillery training center needs for live fire training. The army operates field artillery, helicopter gunnery, and small arms ranges simultaneously throughout the year with little time lost to bad weather.”
J.R. made a right turn at General Stewart Way and followed the directions to the main gate on General Screven Way. The security guard checked Daniel’s ID and J.R.’s military ID card saluted him and opened the gate. J.R. informed Daniel that they would stop in and see Colonel Tyler Werner of the Infantry Division Command Group’s admin building.
“He is a friend of my dad’s and I had the honor of serving with his son on an assignment years ago. He said he needed to see me today. I have no idea why . . . but he knows I'm on leave.”
After being cleared at the entrance, J.R. and Daniel were escorted to Colonel Werner’s office. Once there, they were escorted to a conference room and told that Colonel Werner was incoming. It wasn’t five minutes before a door swung open and in stepped Colonel Werner.
“Captain Russell, it is good to see you again.”
“Good afternoon, Colonel…this is my best friend, Daniel.”
“Welcome, Daniel!”
After the small talk, Colonel Werner motioned for his assistant to bring in a tray of sandwiches and refreshments. The Colonel chuckled, “Boys, we may as well have lunch while we talk.” Colonel Werner looked at Daniel. “I asked J.R. to bring you here in the name of National Security.”
Colonel Werner handed Daniel documents with arrow message flags pointing to 'sign here' instructions for multiple signatures. “I need to quickly get to the point. We are going to need your signature before we can proceed.”
Daniel looked puzzled. “What is this for?”
“We are having this conversation because your country needs you, son. At this point, I need you to sign this Department of Defense security agreement. Once signed, you will have level-one clearance. I must tell you that under the Treason Act you can never tell anyone why you are here today. If you violate this agreement by deliberately transferring or selling classified information, it will constitute violations such as conspiracy, sedition, espionage, and treason. A person found guilty of these offenses could face death. Do you understand, young man?”
Daniel looked at J.R. for assurance. J.R. nodded his approval so Daniel opened the packet. He read the document and signed it.
Colonel Werner now asked, “Have you heard of the N.R.O.?”
“National Rifle Organization?”
Colonel Werner laughed, “No Daniel, it's a little more serious than that outfit. The National Reconnaissance Office is the U.S. Government agency in charge of maintaining America’s intelligence satellites network. The public is not very familiar with the N.R.O. as the agency was classified from inception in 1961 until their declassification to the public in 1992. This agency serves all of the military intelligence community and DoD. The satellites that make up the network are called N.R.O. spysats.”
Suddenly the conference room opened. A uniformed woman entered with mission briefs in hand and sat next to Daniel. She started to eat a sandwich.
“J.R. I haven’t spoken to you since Portsmouth.”
“How are you, Captain Parrish?”
Daniel nodded, “Hello.”
Captain Parrish did not ignore him…but she did not respond.
Colonel Werner introduced her. “Daniel, meet Captain Sara Parrish of Naval Intelligence. The intelligence community is at the heart of strategy and operations in America’s Navy. Sara coordinates intelligence activities with N.R.O. and the Navy. A part of what this young lady does is transform raw data into vital intelligence. She works in the Global Combat Information Center for the U.S. Navy Cryptology and Technology Department.”
Daniel was impressed and commented, “Wow…I am glad you're on our side!”
Sara smiled, sipped her beverage, and moved to the Communications Center at the front of the room. It had a state of the art video wall that streamed the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard display cubes, which provided real-time intelligence and military operational information. Images of global maps and data points appeared on the big screens. The smaller screens showed the N.R.O. insignia, which was a globe of the Earth with a tiny circular satellite in orbit around it. Sara pressed the remote and an image of a bomb appeared. “We are here today because several weeks ago, the N.R.O. picked up old familiar heat signatures which we have not seen since 1987. We know these signatures because we built the devices. What we are talking about are B-53 bomb signatures.”
J.R. asked, “B-53 bombs were held in a reserve after the weapon’s retirement from the U.S. arsenal in 1987. Weren't they all supposedly destroyed by the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration?”
Sara pressed the remote. “Yes, and potentially no. The NNSA is responsible for the management and security of the nation’s nuclear weapons, nuclear non-proliferation, and naval reactor programs. This global map shows containerized ship and oil tanker traffic on the Atlantic Ocean and around India and China. We traced the heat signatures of these B-53 bombs across the Atlantic to India, and then to China where they disappeared. We think that they are being shielded by lead, as this metal is known to be an effective sound absorber and radiation shield around x-ray equipment and nuclear reactors. Six distinct signatures were detected. Intelligence reports from our allies indicate that they traveled on a container ship leased by a company that has ties to a terrorist organization called Genesis.”
Daniel nervously asked, “So you think my longshoremen crew handled this container ship in Savannah?”
Sara looked at J.R. then at Daniel. “Actually no. Our intelligence reveals that this cargo ship employed an American second captain who kept showing up. We doubt that he even had a clue that the B-53s bombs were being transported on his ship. That is how well Genesis’ hydra-like structure works. Soldiers within one cell are often unaware of the existence of other cells and, therefore, cannot divulge sensitive information to infiltrators. As luck has it, we tracked him and the bombs with N.R.O. spysats.”
Sara’s computer generated a picture of Jeff talking to the Widowmaker. “He handled the detonators, that we know.”
Daniel almost fell out of his chair. Sara continued, “The suspect we have been following is your kid brother Jeff. N.R.O. Spysats caught him in Buchare
st consulting with a known hostile. The 'hostile' is a Romanian bomb expert.”
Daniel moaned, “Is this possible…is this real?”
Sara answered smartly, “We can track star systems billions of light years away. You would think we could turn a satellite back toward Earth and track a human. You would think!”
Colonel Werner gave Sara a hard look and cleared his throat. “Proceed carefully, commander.”
Sara continued, “We deployed DCSNet’s Digital Storm, which is the FBI’s surveillance system that captures and collects the contents of cell and hard line phone calls including text messages, for full wiretap orders.
Sara pointed at a series of intercepts displayed, “Digital Storm revealed alarming chatter between Jeff and the Genesis collaborators we know as Kyle and Jameela. We were also alerted by the National Security Agency Data Center that they cracked an intercept that had military strength encryption codes, and it revealed massive transfers of money from banks in Dubai and Djibouti before the trail disappears.” Sara then took her seat.
Colonel Werner got up. He looked at Sara, JR then Daniel. "Let me remind everyone that this information is on a need to know basis.”
Daniel was in tears as he quietly moaned, “Is this real?”
J.R. heard him and reached over. “Everything will be alright. We will fix this.”
Daniel and J.R. had no idea that they were on the precipice of a new normal.
Sara sensed that Daniel was stunned by this information and had begun to stress. Still, they had to deliver more bad news. Sara decidedly took a seat across from Daniel. “I can tell you that we have both Jeff and Kyle in custody. They were picked up in Shanghai, China. They are being interrogated as we speak.”
“My brother is in Gitmo?” asked Daniel.
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