The Sweeper File (Remote Traveler Series Book 2)

by Finian Blake

  “I would love for you to call me Momma.” She looked back at Cherry and Rhonda, “Momma…?” They both embraced Tamar kissing her on the cheek. Everything was moving extremely fast for her. Tamar had a feeling that her son would be intimately involved with these people for a long time.

  Cherry excused herself walking to the stall that Tom was using to review the equipment.

  “Tom I have finished my task for Alex. Would you like me to help with something?”

  “As a matter of fact I have something for your talents. Our chopper pilot is very good, but I would like someone that is familiar with our sensitive operations and you would be a perfect substitute. You helped develop all of the intelligence so we would not have to worry about introducing another person to the mission.” Tom smiled warmly to Cherry. “We will probably rope Ted and Nadia from of their hides across the river to the rest of the teams. I assume that you want Rhonda as your crew.”

  “She is one of us now. I want Rhonda with me on this all the way.” Cherry said quietly not seeing that Rhonda and Boris were standing in the doorway. Rhonda moved next to Cherry taking her hand.

  “All the way…” Rhonda said wiping a tear from her eye.

  “What about Boris?” Tom said looking over the two women.

  “I think that Boris should monitor communications and the computers from the van with Adam and Colleen to make sure that we are not surprised by any of the local agencies. He is in with both of us for the whole ride.” Boris moved in behind Cherry and Rhonda.

  “We are in all the way.”

  Randal had been sitting back not saying a word letting the whole plan develop. They were now a team that he had every confidence in.

  “Tom, I want to have a full FBI response team standing by in choppers.”

  “Why…” Tom looked pained.

  “If this has to go public I want to have a cover story. I have the perfect team leader in just the right position.”

  “Who…?”

  “I want to use agent Wright, he was in with me on the cover up for the ‘Sweeper File’ in Los Angles and I know that I can count on him. You met him on that one.” Randal was right they might need a cover.

  “Alright you are the FBI liaison, but keep them out of the air space. I don’t want Cherry dodging around with team members on the rope.”

  “I can live with that.” Randal had one final requirement. “Felix Owens is still a member of the Justice Department, and we would like to rescue him if at all possible.”

  “All right,” Tom smirked. “Sera if Felix is rescued I want you to take charge of the ‘Idiot’.”

  “Sera…!” Randal started to object.

  “That’s right Sera will show no mercy if ‘Idiot’ gets stupid. Since he tried to have her killed, she is the perfect person to watch him.” Tom’s voice was hard and Randal had to acknowledge that Felix may not cooperate.

  “After that incident with Cher and Sue I have to concede that point.”

  Felix awoke in the van with Rajiya sitting next to him on the floor. One end of a chain was around his neck and the other end was chained to the back of the driver’s seat.

  “We are almost to the gate if you give us any trouble…” Rajiya pressed the gun in Felix’s ribs not finishing the threat. Nabil pulled up to the gate which was guarded by two uniformed police officers. Bob the younger officer approached the driver’s door.

  “Have you come back for more samples?” Felix could only hear the officer’s voice, since he was standing three feet away from the van. “I see that you are wearing your hazmat suit what’s the occasion.”

  “Taking all of those samples paid off. I am going to remove a couple thousand gallons and take it to our new incinerator ship. We take the shit 500 miles out to sea and burn it. The fumes have two thousand miles to disperse, so we will not add to the pollution. We are going to use that camouflaged shit truck, so those damned tree huggers don’t protest us. If this works, we can get rid of most of this shit in no time.” Nabil lied.

  “Those tree huggers could screw up a one-man parade. You should take a few of them out to sea with you and dispose of them.” Bob made no attempt to hide the malice in his voice. “Well you picked a good theme for camouflage nobody wants to look in a turd hearse.”

  “If you would care to, you are welcome to inspect the vehicle.” Nabil offered.

  “Not even if I could use one of your suits,” Bob laughed. “We will see you on the way out.” Bob waved both of the trucks through not even bothering to check the ID’s of the other people.

  “Good man you may live to see another sunrise,” Rajiya said as she pulled the gun out of Felix’s ribs.

  The van pulled up in front of the large double doors of the bunker. Nabil walked casually to the control panel pushing the button to open the doors. Before they were fully opened Maalik was already backing the truck into the bunker. When Nabil gave him the signal to stop Maalik jumped out of the truck running to the van. Nabil stopped frowning at Maalik’s panicked behavior.

  “Take your time the guards think that you belong here. If you hurry, there will almost certainly be an accident. We will finish putting on our suits and secure our hostage only then will we begin working on the transfer.” Nabil pointed to Rajiya who was walking Felix over to a support post chained by the ankle. The cuffs would not go over the protective boots so they just used a paddle lock and chain.

  Maalik and Khalid started to set up the four hydraulic pumps that they would be using while Safiyyah laid out the hoses and Nabil started to remove the inspection plate that held the trigger. Nabil was thankful that they had practiced so many times back at the warehouse. Within the hour things were working smoothly and the first drum was almost empty. The fuel was thick and pumped slowly so they were glad that they had brought more than one pump. Halfway through the operation one pump quit working, they were down to twenty barrels when a second pump stopped working and a third pump stopped working when they were down to just six barrels.

  Maalik was decidedly unhappy with the delay and he was sweating profusely inside of his hazmat suit.

  “What kind of junk did you get for this job?”

  “The fuel is extremely caustic and thick. That is why I brought four pumps. We have enough fuel to make a bomb but those last six barrels will make it much bigger,” Nabil said defensively. We can quit if that pump fails. Help me clear the other equipment out of the way so that we can leave when the pumping is complete.” Rajiya checked the chain on Felix’s ankle and started to help Nabil, and Maalik clear the equipment.

  Felix was sweating profusely in his hazmat suit. As he squirmed around trying to get comfortable he noticed that his foot was sliding inside of his boot. He worked slowly taking advantage of the pump failures. When the third pump failed Felix slipped his foot out of his boot slipping the chain from around the boot laying the chain across it to make it look like it was still attached. Felix was still hand cuffed so he knew that he would only get one chance. Nabil, Rajiya and Maalik were clearing the equipment on the far side of the truck, so Felix decided to take the chance. He edged closer to the door waiting for a moment when he was sure that everybody would be distracted. When all of the terrorists were on the far side of the truck Felix slowly slipped out of the door not daring to run until he could no longer see inside of the bunker. Maalik was the first to notice Felix missing.

  “Stupid cow, where is our hostage?” Maalik raged at Rajiya. Rajiya ran to the door looking for Felix forgetting to grab her gun. She looked right and left just seeing Felix disappear around the corner of the bunker instantly braking into a full run to catch him. Maalik saw her run out the door without her weapon. He grabbed an AR 15 running out the door about thirty meters behind her.

  Ted and Nadia were in their hides waiting for more targets to come up front. Suddenly they saw a figure in an orange hazmat suit walk slowly down the front of the bunker toward Arnold, Sera and Eden. Nadia quickly determined that the figure was unarmed calling to Arnold.


  “I have one target in a hazmat suit that appears to be unarmed, go for a capture. Wait I have one more target that also appears to be unarmed running after the first target.” Nadia was calmly talking into her com radio. “Ted, keep an eye on the door and I will cover the team.” Nadia saw the first figure fall as the second figure rounded the corner of the bunker.

  “I have a third target exiting the building with an assault rifle. All units we are kicking it off. Ted fired on the target holding the assault rifle watching him fly back against the grill of the truck. A forth figure raced to check the third target with Nadia dropping him within three feet of his companion. Ted fired an anti-material round into the center of the grill with Nadia’s second round about three inches from his, less than a second later. Ted fired again hitting the right side of the engine with Nadia doing the same on her side. Ted’s second round hit the lead cylinder of the V-8 engine on the right side and Nadia’s round hit the lead cylinder on the left side making the engine a total wreck. Both of their third shots hit the engine again insuring that the job was complete. The armor piercing rounds were next.

  “Go for the pressure tank.” Ted called out on his radio. Nadia and Ted each picked out a spot just over the cab of the truck firing at the same time. There was no doubt that both rounds scored a hit entering the tank leaving a hole that was visible from their scopes.

  “Hold fire,” Ted called when there was no fire or explosion. “Right and left teams move to the door. Cherry we are ready.” Nadia saw a figure moving down the side of the truck with what appeared to be a weapon and another figure behind it. Nadia fired hitting the figure center target and the second target dropped also.

  “Proceed with caution we have three probable kills and two captures with the left team that leaves one mystery target inside next to the truck. The truck is disabled and there are two rounds in the pressure vessel with no catastrophic event. We will rope over with the helicopter. Clean the hostages up and we will send them by helicopter to Four Diamonds.”

  As the team made their way over to the edge of the large door way they were greeted by the over powering smell of the uncontained rocket fuel.

  “We made a big mistake!” Randal called out over the radio.

  “What was that?” Tom called back.

  “We can’t get in the bunker. It’s too contaminated and we have one target in an unknown condition,” Randal replied.

  Eden tapped Arnold on the shoulder, “I have an idea.” She raced around the corner toward the two captives.

  “Sera hold the door.” Arnold raced after Eden. By the time he rounded the corner Eden was already stripping the hazmat suits off of the captives.

  “We have another problem,” Boris’s voice came over the radio. “The two guards are looking back toward the bunkers. I think that they heard the shots.”

  “Have Adam and Colleen put them to sleep,” Tom replied as he watched the helicopter drop ropes to Ted and Nadia. After they hooked on, the chopper flew across the river dropping them on the left side of the bunker.

  Eden and Arnold came running around the corner of the bunker wearing hazmat suits with Ted and Nadia close behind. Tom was shaking his head pointing at Eden.

  “Not her,” Tom said emphatically.

  “The suit fits her,” Nadia countered. “We need somebody in there now.” Nadia turned to Eden. “Stay behind Arnold and back him up. We have one terrorist unaccounted for and then secure the equipment.”

  Eden and Arnold moved into the bunker checking the two presumed dead first finding them both dead. They then moved down the passenger side of the truck finding Khalid with a hole through his chest. He was lying on top of Safiyyah who had been knocked unconscious when he flew back into her. Arnold and Eden each took an arm dragging her out of the bunker to the emergency shower that was between the bunkers. Rene and Randal splashed her down with liquid soap and started to scrub her down with long handled brushes that were at the shower.

  Arnold and Eden went back into the building securing the pumps and making sure that there were no fires in the bunker. They checked the cab of the tanker and finally checked the van finding the three spare suits that Nabil had brought with him for emergencies. Eden and Arnold brought the spare hazmat suits stacking them next to the shower. They both showered with the suits on before removing the suits and showering again. Felix, Rajiya and Safiyyah were handcuffed and shackled before being loaded in to the chopper for the flight to Four Diamonds. Each one received an injection which knocked them out. Tom preformed a body count of the terrorists and a head count of the team as everybody collected the equipment loading it into the van. Tom double checked his counts and turned to Randal.

  “We have everybody and everything, call agent Wright and have him bring in the response team. I hope that he is a good story teller because this will take a lot of explaining.” Randal called the response team while Tom drove to the main gate.

  Both of the officers were asleep in their car from the effect of the tranquilizers. Jumping out of the van Eden ran over to Adam and Colleen. And the three of them moved the two officers from the front seat to the back seat of their car. Eden jumped in the other van leaving with Adam, Colleen and Boris. Tom got on the radio as soon as they had pulled out of the contained area.

  “What was that all about?”

  “That was the idiot that groped me while we were on patrol.” Eden said bitterly. “He turned all of the officers against me for turning him in. That is why I didn’t have any back up that night we came down for Sera and Cherry.”

  “What did you do?” Tom had to ask.

  “The back of the squad car does not have any door or window controls. Somebody will have to let them out of their car. I also took their spare handcuff keys so that they will have to be released by someone else.” Eden laughed, “I couldn’t resist the payback.”

  “Fair enough,” Tom laughed, “we will debrief at the barn. Cherry is going to take her three passengers to Four Diamonds and put them in the holding cells until we figure out what to do with them.”

  Felix awoke in a windowless eight by ten room wearing a pair of bright orange cotton pajamas. The mattress was reasonably comfortable and there was a combination stainless steel toilet and sink in one corner of the room. At the foot of the bed was a concrete ledge that was exactly two feet wide which held a metal tray with a paper cup of water and next to the cup were two pills. A quiet voice came out of nowhere.

  “Mister Owens you have been rescued from the hands of the terrorists and you have been seen by a doctor. All of your wounds have been tended to and your jaw should heal nicely. The pills next to the cup are pain pills and the ice pack will help the swelling. We will arrange the dental work that you need in the near future.”

  “Where the hell am I, and who are you?” Felix mumbled through his wired jaw.

  “You are in a secured detention facility and I am your guard.” The mechanical voice grated on Felix’s nerves.

  “I want a lawyer.”

  “You are a lawyer. You are being detained under a National Security letter and you will have your chance to make that request at your first interview.”

  “I have my rights.” Felix wanted to scream but could only issue an irritated mumble. Tom looked at the video monitor getting serious enjoyment out of Felix’s frustrations. He wanted to stick to business but there was nothing that said Tom could not take satisfaction from Felix’s discomfort.

  “It seems that you are more concerned with your civil rights than anyone else’s.” Tom made it a point to feed Felix every time he slept to distort his sense of time which would turn one day into three days. One of the pills was a serious pain pill and the other was a mild hallucinogenic. Tom talked the police chief into deleting all reports of Felix from the local reports. Cherry made a personal request to the director of the NSA to eliminate all mention of Felix, Boris erased all of Colleen’s employment records from the NSA files and the Director of the FBI had all mention of Cherry and Felix remove
d from their files. The hard sell was to convince Betty to forget about the pictures of Cherry on Felix’s computer. Tom finally promised her a job with a salary equal to Felix’s if she called the incident an accident and signed commitment papers for him. It was easy to convince Senator Belight that he never asked Felix to look for the ‘Sweeper File’. Felix would wake up with a psychiatrist telling him that he had a psychotic break and was committed by his wife for his protection.

  Rajiya and Safiyyah awoke in a ten by ten windowless cell wearing bright orange cotton pajamas. They vaguely remembered being loaded in a helicopter and receiving an injection. When they stood up there was a knock at the door and a short woman wearing tinted glasses and a burka entered.

  “You are being detained pending investigation. I regret to inform you that Nabil, Khalid and Maalik died of their wounds.” Cherry was enjoying the anonymity of the burka and dark glasses which hid her blue eyes. “There are clothes for you at the foot of your beds. I can assure you that you have only been attended to by women and only women monitor this cell. You will be detained until the facts of your actions have been discovered.” Rajiya looked at the pile on the bed. There was a long sleeve blouse, long pants, a hijab and the proper underwear stacked on a prayer rug with a copy of the Koran next to the pile.

  “Where are we?” Rajiya asked.

  “Safiyyah, that is the direction of Mecca.” Cherry extended her arm toward the door. “I suggest that you pray.”

  Rajiya was unnerved that this woman new who they were since neither one carried any identification on them. After Safiyyah had showered Cherry escorted Rajiya to the shower.

  Cherry pointed to a cabinet which contained the personal toiletries from the bag that she had left in the warehouse for their escape.

  “How…?” Rajiya tensed to rush Cherry.