“Enough.” I said and all eyes turned to my image. I looked at the General. “I am truly disappointed with these actions. I came here to help you and this is how I’m greeted. Tell your men to leave, General.”
“Who are you?” he said and stormed out of the hangar.
The Colonel instructed the men to stand down. They formed a group at the entry door to the room where he told them that what had happened didn’t go any further. Then he stood still at the back as if waiting for me to give him instructions.
The remaining people around the table gaped at my image. Trepidation reflecting in their eyes.
“I’m going to bring back the Major and then continue.”
The image disappeared and I bounced back to the FBI building in Dallas. The Major was still standing outside the front of the building using his cell phone. He quickly put it away when I approached.
“Everything, okay?” he asked.
“For now,” I said. “I’ll let the Colonel fill you in. Are you ready to return?”
He nodded. We found a suitable place and bounced back to the hangar less than three minutes from when I’d left. The Major confirmed to the group that he’d been to Dallas. He said he’d checked his cell phone GPS and that too had confirmed his location. He explained that the bounce had no effect on him, it was so quick that he wasn’t sure what had happened. He had felt disorientated initially but only for a minute. I thanked him and told him to join the Colonel, still standing at the back of the room.
I held sway now, there wasn’t going to be any further skepticism about my abilities. Anything I said would be taken as gospel. They were in the palm of my hand for now. No one asked me why the Tasers and bullets had passed right through my body. They were aghast.
It was midnight in Syria, another hour and my window to rescue the hostages would open. I had to broch the subject.
“I said earlier that there was a time sensitive issue that I wish to solve. At this moment, there are seven captives, or hostages, being held by ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Two of them are slated to be executed at dawn tomorrow, their time. It’s currently midnight over there. I plan to rescue those two people, an American man and a Dutch girl. That rescue will set off alarms within the ISIS leadership and may well result in the decision to execute the other five captives. I plan to extricate them in darkness and bounce them somewhere, probably a hospital. They need care, especially the Dutch girl who has been raped repeatedly.” There was genuine concern around the room, even though they all new exactly what happened to hostages in ISIS controlled Syria and Iraq. “I don’t know where to take them and I don’t know how to handle the psychological effect they will experience by suddenly being in another place. I need your help on both matters.”
This was a CIA matter, outside the briefs of either Homeland Security or the FBI. Everyone looked at Alberton. He pulled out his phone and spoke for a while. When he put his phone down, he looked pleased.
“There’s a naval hospital in Portsmouth; they will take all seven. They won’t ask questions, we send CIA operatives there, it’s set up. They have a psychologist on staff, I suggest he’s briefed about all this.” He waved his arms in a circle. “Miss Moran can do that when she arrives.”
I nodded. “Good, I’m monitoring the situation in Syria for the most opportune time, which will be when there are the fewest guards. How long will it take for Miss Moran to get to Portsmouth?”
“Maybe two hours.”
“I’ll take her,” I said, I turned to Pippa, “If you would like?”
She smiled and her eyes lit up.
“What are you now? a chauffeur service. It must be love?”
“Shut-up, Sally.”
Alberton, Pippa and the other CIA agent left the table to talk in private.
“Now terrorists, here in the US.” I continued. The Homeland group piqued up. I addressed them directly. “There are three terror groups in the US that I believe you are not yet aware of. One of these groups are planning to detonate several devises they’ve placed inside a Ballistic Missile Destroyer undergoing a refit in Norfolk.” I summarized the situation and said that I thought HS could deal with this issue without my assistance, but if they wanted me to help they should contact Pippa Moran. They were amazed but skeptical.
“How do you know this?” The tall man with the silver hair, asked.
“I’m sorry, but for the time being I’m going to keep that information to myself.”
He didn’t push it, which I appreciated. Then I told them about the guy in Los Angeles and the couple in Tucson. I produced pictures of the weapons cache of both groups and where to find them. I vowed that there would be no more terrorist attacks on American soil while I was around.
Next I turned to Georgina Lambert and her team. “I think this is your responsibility. Serial killers. I have seven in the US right now.” She said they were working on five. “Georgina, this is going to take some time, I think it would be beneficial if I came to your office after you’ve had time to call in the appropriate staff.”
“When?” she asked.
“At your convenience, email or text Pippa.”
“What! She’s now your secretary? I can deal with more than one email address, Jo-el?” Sally. My quick brain picked up a tad of annoyance.
“I also want to go through with you, or whoever you designate, a list of all children and women currently held captive for sex in the US. There’s sixty-three children and ninety-two women.” She looked at me and frowned, but didn’t say anything.
There was grim silence in the hangar building. They were wrestling with whether to believe me or not. I completely understood, I’d been through this for a week now and I kept doubting myself. There was fear in the eyes that couldn’t leave me. Who was this man? How could he know all these things? What was really happening? What did he want? I felt sure that once they saw the results they would accept me, but I’m not sure they would ever trust me.
Chapter 30
HOSTAGES
The Homeland Security and FBI teams left the hangar, leaving just the two Marines, still watching from the sidelines at the back of the room and the three members of the CIA team.
“Come and sit down, I might need your advice.” I gestured at the Major and Colonel at the back of the building. They looked at each other and then took seats at the table alongside the CIA team who had now finished their briefing. For the first time, I also sat down at the table, I wanted them to accept me as on their side.
“Please understand that this situation is new to me. I’m struggling with what I should and shouldn’t tell you. You are probably wondering how I manage what is shown on the monitor.”
“Among other things, yes,” said Alberton.
“You met me for the first time yesterday. What you’ve seen and what I’ve told you must be right on the edge of your belief system. I realize that because I have only had this technology for one week and I’ve struggled with it every single day. I need you to accept what I say as the truth, even though in the world we live in, it’s ridiculous. Imagine if you were to show a smart phone or computer to a man in say the 1920’s, or the fifteenth century. If I tell you everything now, you simply wouldn’t believe me. So, I’m trying to educate you slowly and prove out each of my statements. Does that make sense?”
The group nodded.
“So there’s a lot more about you, even more incredulous than you’ve already shown us?” asked Alberton.