CIA - The Slave Traders

by Joe Bob Newman

you want to get married? I am free the rest of this week.”

  Lynda laughed, “Not that quick, sailor.” She kissed him lightly on the lips. She watched him bop back to his car. How could she not love him, she thought. But she was no more sure than when she had married Ted.

  On Saturday, Marcus had to ship out. He left his new family amidst tears of sadness and new joy. When he was gone, Lynda went to her mother’s house and showed her the engagement ring. They began making out a list of guests to invite. She made sure that Max’s name was not on the guest list.

  In the weeks to follow, Lynda missed Marcus very much. She completed all the items that they had listed to do for the wedding.

  Marcus sent her an airline ticket to go to Pensacola, Florida to meet his parents.

  On a Friday night, Tasha, baby Ted and Lynda flew on a direct flight to Pensacola. When they arrived there were a number of familiar Seal faces and banners welcoming her. Marcus took her directly to a motel and let her change clothes and clean the kids up.

  She met Marcus’ proud parents. They did not know how to act around Lynda’s kids, especially baby Ted. Tasha had run to Marcus like he was her daddy. Everyone smiled. They all went to Marcus’s parents’ house, and Lynda was dragged into Marcus’s bedroom. There were a multitude of awards that she was shown. She was surprised to see that he had been an all-star high school football player. There were many awards from his Navy days, but she was surprised to find that he had not been to college.

  All his aunts and uncles showed up to meet his new family. Cousins came out of the woodwork. Marcus’s brother John Junior and his sister Sally and their families were there. There were so many new faces to remember. Lynda could not remember them all.

  Everyone seemed to take to Tasha, but Ted was another story. Marcus’s mother doted on the two children, but his dad was standoffish.

  Marcus’s friends, the Navy Seals, treated Lynda like a queen. She buddied up to the Seals that she knew. Each of the Seals had a confidence about him that was unmistakable. She felt so “safe” around them. One of the Seals, Jonathan, asked, “So, when is the big day?”

  “Saturday, April twenty-ninth.”

  Jonathan smiled. “So, you’re still a free woman.” He picked Lynda up and swung her around. “If you have second thoughts, I am available.”

  Lynda laughed and said, “Sailor, put me down!”

  Jonathan put her down. There was a line of Seals behind him, waiting their turn. They each picked her up and swung her around. She giggled and laughed! Jonathan grinned. “It’s tradition, ma’am.”

  All nine men swung her around and around. She felt a bond with each of them. When the last man was swinging Lynda, Marcus came up, and grabbed her. He seemed very protective. “You guys go get your own girlfriends. This one is mine!” He held Lynda tightly.

  It was while Marcus was holding her that her cell phone rang. It was Tom.

  Tom immediately said, “Lynda, Code Blue. We need you back as soon as possible.”

  Lynda knew that “Code Blue” meant that a national crisis was imminent. She said, “Tom, I am in Florida. I will get home as soon as possible and be in the office.”

  She punched the “end call” button and looked at Marcus. “I have to go; my country calls.”

  All the Seals understood. They helped her gather up the two kids and her personal items. Marcus drove her back to the airport. Lynda called her mother; she would be at the Dallas airport to take the kids. At the Pensacola airport, she kissed Marcus and dragged Tasha for the next plane to Dallas.

  The trip home was relatively peaceful. She studied the newscasts, but had no idea what the national crisis might be.

  At the airport, her mother took Tasha and Ted. Lynda ran to her car, and drove quickly to the CIA Center. It was abuzz with activity. She went to the conference room, and a large map of the United States was on the board. Seven areas were flashing red. One was the Dallas, Fort Worth area. She picked up the briefing sheet and read it.

  Basically, it read that an Iranian group was claiming to have a nuclear bomb inside the United States, and was targeting one of seven sites. Lynda’s first thought was to call her parents and tell them to get out of the area. She bit her tongue and read the rest of the report. The group had some credibility, as the Iranians were now claiming that some uranium was missing. She knew that this could mean a lot of different things. But it could also mean that someone had made a bomb.

  She looked at the seven sites and wondered which would be the target. She knew that the FBI and CIA’s job was to find the bomb and the group. They had to be stopped.

  Wayne was the tactical nuclear expert. Lynda got up and found him. He handed her two pieces of paper. He said, “Check these out.”

  She went to her desk and read the two notes. One was that a truck had been spotted as radioactive by a portable analyzer. The truck was in Arkansas. It was headed west on Interstate 30. She had to get a team of radiation experts in place and get the truck stopped. She knew that this was a good solid lead. Whether it was the bomb or not, this truck needed to be taken off the road. She called Homeland Security, and got a team in the air to Texarkana, Texas. The truck was three hours away. She notified the Texas Rangers. They would make the stop with Texas State Troopers.

  The homeland team was four hours away from touchdown. That meant the Texas team would have to hold the truck for an hour and hope nothing happened.

  The second piece of paper said that radiation had been detected on a ship in Houston’s harbor. Right now, it was just being watched by CIA operatives. It was not likely that a bomb would go off on a ship in the harbor. Lynda’s immediate priority was the truck.

  Gil came in; he had just arrived. Lynda told him to go to the conference room and to take her second piece of paper, and follow up on the ship. He took the paper and headed for the conference room.

  Lynda called the airport; their helicopter was available and fueled up. She told them to get ready; she would be there in twenty minutes. She grabbed her purse and laptop, and headed for her car. When she was in the car, she called Tom and told him what she was doing. He agreed. Twenty-two minutes later, she was airborne from Love Field and headed east toward Texarkana.

  The first thing Lynda saw when she got to Texarkana was a gridlock of traffic. The troopers were stopping every vehicle. She had the helicopter pilot land on the highway, just past the road block. She told him to wait. She got out and ran to the patrol cars. The pilot moved the helicopter into the grassy median.

  Lynda held out her badge and screamed, “Who’s in charge here?”

  A tall man with a cowboy hat on, a white shirt and blue jeans started walking toward her.

  He nodded. “Ma’am, I am Ron Johnston, Texas Ranger. That would be me.” He smiled courteously.

  Lynda tried to control her anger. “Ranger Johnston, get this traffic moving. If the bad guy sees this he will just get off and we will lose him.”

  The Ranger thought for a moment, then was off running, yelling commands.

  The traffic was soon moving. Lynda yelled at the Ranger, “Sir, come with me.” She turned and ran for the helicopter.

  Ranger Johnston followed the woman. He was not sure why. Not only was she beautiful, she seemed to be in command. They both boarded the chopper and put headsets on. They could talk to each other. Lynda explained to the Ranger what was going on. She told him about the Iranian group. She told him that she only wanted to stop the one truck. She called the observer and he said that the truck was thirty minutes away. All the Troopers and Rangers were put on hold for a few minutes.

  The Ranger’s radio beeped. He held it up to his ear. Then he said, “A trooper is behind the truck, he is doing his best to not ‘spook’ the driver.”

  Lynda thought for a second, then said, “Let the truck come to us. The radiation guys are running late.”

  Then the plan went askew. T
he truck got off a few exits early and pulled into a truck stop.

  Lynda ordered the trooper to detain the driver, and everyone headed to the truck stop. She radioed the other helicopter bringing the radiation team that the location had changed. The Ranger gave them new directions.

  Her helicopter landed at the truck stop, and she and the Ranger got out and ran to the trooper. She asked the driver, “What’s in the trailer?”

  The driver, a big black man, said, “I don’t know. I think it’s empty. I was just hired to haul it to Dallas and leave it at a truck terminal.”

  Lynda asked, “Who hired you?”

  The driver said, “My boss got a call. I don’t think he knows what’s in the trailer either.”

  The four people walked to the back of the trailer and found a big padlock on the doors. The driver looked at the lock and said, “I have a bolt cutter in my cab. Let me go get it.”

  He took off with the trooper close by. Lynda could see other patrol and Ranger cars coming, but no helicopter.

  She had to know if this was the real deal or not. She made an executive decision. She would open the trailer and see if it was empty or not.

  The driver brought the bolt cutter to the back of the trailer. The Ranger took the cutters and cut the lock off. No one wanted to open the doors.

  The big Ranger opened the door and stood back.

  The trailer was nearly empty. One pallet sat in the center of the trailer. It was tied down