by T C Miller
A sudden whimper from under one of the beds was followed by a girl pleading in a Slavic language.
“Nora, trade places with Jake…Think we need you in here.”
The voice became more frantic by the second. Nora traded questions and answers and a few minutes later a girl of ten or so slowly came out and stood up. She wore a faded gingham house dress that was two sizes too big, with eyes wide open with fright that added to the impression of a pitiful waif.
“Says the other girls heard us and went to the safe room…Didn’t realize she was in the bathroom. She hid here and was praying when we came in…Thought we were going to kill her.”
“Why in the world would she think that?”
“American television…They think we’re all violent people who kill anybody who’s different…Guards told them they’d be raped and killed by local gangs if they left the building alone. I told her we’re not all bad…She asked why we have guns, then.”
“Sounds pretty smart…Tell her we’re here to help, not hurt them.”
“Did…Says the last door on the right is the safe room and there are eleven other girls in the group…plus one they don’t know.”
“How old are they and do they have weapons?”
“Mostly in their teens…Says the guards took anything that could be used as a weapon. Guards haven’t been here today.”
“C’mon, let’s see if we might could coax them out of the room.” He keyed his radio mike. “Davies, radio Banner…Tell him we need Immigration here ASAP.”
“Roger that, Boss.”
Five minutes later, after a flurry of verbal exchanges, the girls emerged one-by-one from the safe room looking pale and frightened.
“They were told they should never leave the building without one of the guards to protect them,” Nora interpreted. “I see why they’re scared.”
One of the older girls stepped up to Nora and whispered in her ear. She interpreted for Bart, “Ilyana says there’s one girl left in the room who’s afraid to come out…The one they don’t know…Says the guards hurt her badly for trying to escape.”
Nora followed him into the darkened room and they searched it with their flashlights. The bright circles of light came together on a young woman huddled in a corner shading her eyes from the powerful light with one hand. She used her other hand to hold her dress where it had been torn at the shoulders.
“It’s okay, we’re here to help you,” Nora said in Russian. The girl shivered and whimpered. “Please…don’t hurt me… again,” she said in clear English.
“Wait, that voice…” Nora exclaimed.
The pleading stopped and the girl reached out to them with trembling hands. “You’re American. Help me, please…I’ve been kidnapped.”
“We know…That’s why we’re here.”
“Sound familiar…Who are you?”
Bart realized the flashlights were blinding the girl. He switched his from her to Nora. The girl dropped the hand shielding her bruised and battered face.
“Licia,” Nora blurted out.
“Thank God, it’s you!”
Licia stood on legs that trembled like a newborn fawn and rushed into Nora’s waiting arms. Her sobs filled the room and tears poured down her cheeks.
“It’s okay, honey,” Nora cooed as tears also ran down her face. “You’re safe now…Nobody’s going to hurt you.”
Licia lifted her head from Nora’s tear-soaked shirt after a few minutes and gazed at them through eyes that were crimson from crying. “Where’s my dad? Peter’s men picked me up from the motel.…Said he’d been hurt in a bad wreck… Supposed to take me to him…Brought me here instead. Is he okay?”
“Don’t know, darlin’…Haven’t located him yet.”
“Whatever you think he’s done, it’s not his fault. Peters took control…threatened everybody. After a few people died everybody just kinda went along. If you got out of line you had an accident…He bought off people in charge…There was nobody to turn to.”
“Understood…It’ll all be taken into account. Meantime, we’ve got a few things to clean up…Take her upstairs and let the medics check her out…I’ll ask Banner what he wants to do with her.”
“Do with me? I want to go home…Haven’t done anything.”
“We’ll see…After you’ve answered some questions.”
“Sure, I’ll help anyway I can…Want to see those creeps get what they deserve…Things they did to me and the other girls…”
She was becoming visibly upset. Nora held her tighter and stroked her hair. “It’ll be okay…”
“Like I said, take her upstairs…Medics’ll treat her and document her injuries.”
Twenty minutes later they met in the street in front of the building where a variety of emergency vehicles were parked. Licia sat in a brightly lit ambulance talking to an EMT who was making notes on a clipboard. Nora sat next to her with her arm around the young woman’s shoulders.
Bart knocked on the window and motioned for Nora to come out. He closed the door behind her and led her away from the vehicle. “Just talked to Banner…Bad news…Coast Guard was searching the bay after the choppers crashed and found Doug Martinez’s body…Say he had injuries consistent with falling off a cliff.”
“Or being pushed…”
“Either way, he’s gone.”
“That’s horrible! How’re we going to break the news to
Licia? First she’s assaulted and now her dad’s dead…Lot for a nineteen year old to take.”
“Ain’t that the truth…On the other hand, we need to tell her as soon as possible…See if we can get a relative to sit with her.” Ten minutes later the EMT finished and left the ambulance. Licia had her head buried in Nora’s shoulder and occasionally shuddered. The smell of antiseptic inside the ambulance was nearly overpowering.
Bart began the dreadful task as gently as he could, “Licia, can you look at me, please”
She made eye contact with him and looked both frightened and shell-shocked. “Okay.”
“Do you have any family who live close by?”
She shook her head.
“Where’s the nearest relative?”
“Only one left is Aunt Mary…She’s seventy-eight…In a nursing home in Kansas with Alzheimer’s…Haven’t seen her since I was a little girl…Why?”
“There’s nobody else? What about your mother’s side?”
“Only child…Her parents died in a car crash…Why are you asking me about family? I have my dad…that’s all I need…”
“That’s what I’m getting at…I have some really bad news…”
“Something’s happened to him?”
“Yes…he’s gone.”
“Peters took him?”
“Licia, I’m sorry…Your dad has passed away.”
“No! Must be…a mistake…”
“Wish it was. His body was pulled from the bay less than an hour ago and his wallet was on him…Fingerprints matched…I’m afraid it’s a positive ID.”
Licia began a wail that filled every corner of the inside of the ambulance with grief and anguish. Nora held her tightly and stroked her hair.
Bart sat quietly with his head down and listened to the young woman’s pain. “Gonna step outside…See how the other girls are doing…Unless you need me.”
“Licia and I’ll be okay…Give us a while.”
Bart stood in front of the building a few minutes later talking to the EMT who treated Licia. “Excuse me, got a call coming in. TRT-2, roger that, Team Leader. Meet me in front of the Druid Building, along with TRT-1…We’ll talk it over, out.” Twenty minutes later the team leaders stood in front of the building and watched as INS agents ushered the Russian girls onto a bus for the trip to a holding facility near San Francisco.
Bart turned to the other two. “I’m sure they’ll take good care of them. Now back to business…Pick two men from each team to guard the cannery and this building…Clean up and forensics teams’ll be here in the morning to take ov
er. Chopper you and the rest of your teams back to base…Questions?”
They shook their heads and left to brief their teams and prepare for departure.
The door of the ambulance opened and Nora and Licia walked over to Bart.
Nora nodded toward the bus. “What’ll happen to them?”
“No idea…Immigration’s problem.”
“So we just walk away?”
“Our job’s tracking down the smugglers and Eichner…It’ll keep us plenty busy.”
“What about Licia?”
“Talked to Banner…She can’t go back to the motel until Forensics has cleared it. Besides, we don’t know if Peters’ll come back. We’ll take her with us on the bus…She can sleep on the couch tonight and tomorrow we’ll drive to the office.”
“We need to stop by the motel and get some of her things.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem. Things are under control here…Although, now the action’s over, I’m hungry as a bear comin’ outta hibernation…Need somethin’ real soon.”
“I think we all do.”
***
CHAPTER 29
OFFICE OF THE WEST COAST DIRECTOR NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY “I know you want to get home and unwind after yesterday’s mop-up…but I have to brief the Director in two hours…Let’s do a quick update.” John Banner sat in the easy chair in his office and Bart and his team sat around him in a semi-circle.
“What about TRT-1 and 2…You already debrief them?” Bart inquired.
“When they got back yesterday…Their point of view was
tactical and mostly exterior…I’m interested in events leading
up to the raid and hostage rescue, especially you two…” “Don’t know it was actually a rescue…” Nora playfully
interrupted. “We escaped and were just waiting for sunset…
Which doesn’t mean we weren’t happy to see our
knights-in-shining-armor.”
“Read the initial report,” Banner replied. “You sure did a
number on that guard.”
“Teamwork all the way.”
“Anyway, everybody made it out in one piece…more or
less…How’s your arm?”
Joanna touched the bandage under her sleeve. “Docs say it’ll
be fine in a week or two.”
“Good to hear. In terms of the overall mission, Colonel, how
do you feel it went?”
“Nobody’s happy most of the perps got away. On the other
hand, we broke up a major tech smuggling ring…Also
identified Martinez as one of the leaders…if not the leader.
He’d have gone undetected otherwise…Pressure we put on him
forced him into the open…”
“Or the Russians forced him to take part of the blame by
kidnapping Licia…Could go either way.”
“True…Still, they’re on the run…Just need to track ‘em
down.”
“Already started…Analyzing reports for a five hundred mile
area…Couple of gun shop and sporting goods store burglaries
and a bank robbery may be connected.”
“Wouldn’t bet the farm on it.”
“Okay, I’ll bite…Why not?”
“Perps’re too sophisticated…My guess is they had this
escape planned well ahead of time…Probably had stashes of
weapons, cash and anything else they’d need…including
vehicles.”
“So how would you track them?”
“Start with bank accounts…See if they rented storage
lockers or small warehouses.”
“Got Financial Forensics on it.”
“I had a little experience with that in OSI.” Nora noted.
“Perps use indirect sources to hide transactions.”
“Meaning?”
“The way the Russians wormed their way into the
Druids…Went to such pains to get rid of people familiar with
the books. Be hard to launder money through those
accounts…But they might use them to hide their activities.” “Could be…Anything else, Colonel?”
“The search for Morgan is continuing,” Bart replied. “Had
reports he was last seen swimming for shore…No sign of him
yet. We’re aware of his actions, but I feel like there’s somebody
or something else involved…Too dang many coincidences…
Gut tells me something bigger’s in play.”
“Can’t argue with that. Internal Affairs is checking out
everybody, although I’d say the leak’s coming from higher
up…No proof, but every time we get close to these guys, they
slip through our fingers…Getting really unhappy about that.” “So, JB, what can we do to help?”
“Nobody’s called me that since my Navy days.”
“Seem like a JB to me…But if it bothers you…” “No, I like it…To answer your question, though…Not sure
where we go from here…Give me a day or two to kick it
around.”
“Think we could all use a little time to digest it all.” “I know…Why don’t you and your team head back to
Sacramento for a few days.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice…Lots of packing and tidying
up to do before we move over here.”
“Actually, I wanted to talk that over with all of you…And
now’s as good a time as any…The Director and I feel that
moving you to a more central location might be a good
idea…Anything catastrophic happened here or in Washington,
you’d be available to help recover and investigate.”
“Central? Like Stockton or Fairfield?”
“More like Colorado or Kansas.”
“Whoa now, that’s definitely central…What about logistics
and comm work?”
“Under control…I don’t want to get into specifics right
now…Go ahead and take that time off…We’ll discuss it
later…Meantime, you might plan on the mover’s picking your
things up the end of next week…Keep enough with you to
function out of pocket for a few weeks.”
“Whadda y’all think?”
Jake and Joanna answered in unison, “Sure.”
Bart looked at Nora. “You?”
“Looks like another adventure…Bring it on.”
Banner picked up the intercom and told Melissa to send in
Licia.
“There’s one more thing we need to square away…Jake and
Joanna, would you excuse us?”
Licia came in and sat beside Nora on the couch.
“As head of this office, I want to tell you how sorry I am for
your loss…The Director of the NSA and I’ve talked about your
situation and we’re prepared to offer you some help getting
things back on track. Your father left a very modest life
insurance policy…”
“Everything we had was tied up in the motel…Wasn’t a lot
left over.”
“Yes, I know. I have our people looking into your father’s
accounts…hoping to find anything we can…but it doesn’t look
promising. He may have hidden accounts that could take
months to uncover, if ever. Now you could, as the sole heir, run
the motel yourself…”
“I know how…I’m not a child.”
“True, but that’s a lot of pressure to put on anybody.” “What choice do I have? There’s a second mortgage and
suppliers to pay…Not to mention utilities and upkeep…and
employees who count on the job to feed their families.” “I imagine you’re feeling a little overwhelmed at the
moment…anybody would be. We have a proposal that you’re
free to reject, although I think you’ll find it generous and to your
advantage.
“We’ve had a need for some time for a West Coast safe
house for our people and witnesses…Can’t go into details
because of the classified nature…But maybe we can help each
other. We’re prepared to rent all of your rooms three hundred and sixty five days a year. We should only need a couple of rooms for a few weeks at a time…so you can rent out rooms
we’re not using.”
“I don’t understand…We average about forty per cent
occupancy…except for a few months in the summer…Even
then, it’s never over eighty per cent…That’s why we’ve had
such a hard time…You’re telling me we’d be at a hundred per
cent all the time? For real?”
“In writing.”
“What about the money from renting out the rooms you’re
not using?”
“Yours to keep…Would that help?”
“Like a dream come true…or winning a lottery.” “On another subject…Do you have any interest in college?” “Love to go…Just can’t afford it.”
“I checked your high school transcript…A 4.0 GPA…You
weren’t offered scholarships?”
“Lots…But I had to help care for my mom…Then, after she
died, I had to help my dad run the place.”
“Understandable…How does this sound?…We have one of
our people run the motel while you attend college…” “For four years?”
“Six…with post-grad work. What area did you want to
study?”
“Computer sciences…I’m really good at math.” “I was hoping you’d say that. University of Colorado has a
top-notch program…”
“I know…They were one of the schools that offered me a
scholarship. But I’d have to reapply…and there’s housing and
transportation…”
“We’ll get you in, furnish housing and a car…pay your
tuition and fees and give you a two thousand dollar monthly
allowance. What do you think?”
“That I’m dreaming…Gonna wake up and find out it’s all a
fake-out, right?”
“No, it’s very real…And after you graduate, there’d be a job
waiting…If you want to work for us.”