Entering the ship forward on the port side, they made their way through the forward officer’s quarters and back into the wardroom. All the way, Hammond related stories of his time on the ship, her history and the interesting times they had shared. For some unexplained reason he made his way to the great ship’s bridge. He pointed out to his two escorts the thick armored citadel and all the things he had grown accustomed to on the old ship.
Hammond finally came to his chair on the starboard side of the bridge. There was a small line across with a sign which said “do not sit.” Hammond chuckled as he pulled the line off his seat. “That doesn’t pertain to the Commanding Officer,” he said with a grin.
The faux leather covered seat felt the same as it did when he left it. It seemed to envelope him; and his body, sensing the familiar, responded by immediately relaxing. Hammond continued to relate stories to his escorts, but as he talked, the weariness seemed to overcome him. Slowly, as he relaxed, his eyes grew heavy. Within a few minutes he fell asleep almost in mid-sentence.
The secret service agent grinned and looked at the petty officer. “Let’s not bother him. If you take this entrance, I’ll move to the other side and take that one. We’re pretty secure up here,” he said.
The petty officer nodded and moved back to the door just fifteen feet behind the chair. Stepping out onto the bridge wing she began gazing out around the ship and wondering about the man she was guarding. He was unlike most senior officers she had known. Everyone knew his reputation, but he was much friendlier than she had expected. Earlier that evening she had seen him mingling with his crew. They all acted more like friends than the typical officer — enlisted relationship she knew. Maybe that was what made him different. Placing her hands on the wooden railing, she glanced down along the pier. Everything was quiet and there was no movement except for a couple of birds roosting in a grassy area beside one of the buildings. Her eyes made their way along the ship and up to the 16-inch gun director far above them. Aside from a carrier, this was the biggest ship she had ever been on. She wondered what it would be like when the ship was underway. Talking to some of the old crew, she could tell they loved their ship. Somehow she too felt good about being aboard. Running her hand along the steel bulkhead, the petty officer got a sense of welcome. She glanced back at her charge, now gently snoring in the seat. She smiled at herself. They fit together, she thought. Returning her thoughts to her duties she almost dared anyone to disturb either the ship or the man during her watch.
President O’Bannon, with his Secret Service escort, made their way to the Situation Room of the White House for the morning briefing. It was still dark outside, yet the room was filled with cabinet members and staffers who had been up all night gathering information and making preparations to address the current crisis. The story broke from the CNN news affiliate in Bogota, Colombia, at 3 am. An initial statement had been formed two hours before and issued through the White House Press Office after the news broke. There would be a press conference at 8 am. The President hoped there would be better news.
“Please keep your seats,” said O’Bannon as he entered the room. He quickly made his way to the center of the table and sat down. “Okay, let’s forgo the usual brief. If there’s something needing my personal attention, you can get it to me later. Right now I need to hear everything we know about this event in Colombia. What have we got since last night?”
“I’ll start,” said the Jeff Dunning of the CIA. He stayed in his seat as he briefed. “We were able to work with the Colombian FBI equivalent. Mr. Brennan gave our people a good debrief on what went on and when. It appears all the mayors received a written invitation for this dinner, supposedly from their foreign minister, where he was supposed to give a farewell. We have the copy of the invitation and the envelope it came in. Obviously it is a forgery and the ministry told us it could not have issued the invitation because the Minister is out of the country. They also pointed out that the invitation didn’t even have the appropriate seal on it. We sent everything off for fingerprinting, but only Mr. Brennan’s prints are on it. When the government was notified they closed the borders and put everyone on the lookout for a white panel truck with vegetables painted on the side. They also said it had a loud engine. A border guard recalled such a vehicle going from just outside Cucuta into Venezuela. They remembered it because it had a broken muffler and the truck seemed to be simply waved on when it crossed into the country instead of the usual check. That may be a clue in the case. According to everyone on the Colombian side, the Venezuelan government always stops and inspects trucks crossing between the two countries. Why they let this one through is anyone’s guess, but it’s not normal. The Colombians also interviewed the restaurant staff when they finally regained consciousness. The people who arranged for the dinner had indicated to them that they were with the government and had issued specific instructions on what would be prepared and how everything should go. A specific chef had been brought in for the meal and everyone had been paid in cash. After everyone had been served, armed men entered the back and took over. Some of the staff members were hit over the head while others were drugged. The rest we were able to get from Mr. Brennan,” he said.
“Right now, Colombia is turning over every rock to find these people, but they believe, as we do, they were in that truck headed into Venezuela. I contacted our people there. We have a few capabilities I can brief you on later, but there have been no indications of anything that would give us a warning. There is one guerilla group operating in the area. It’s the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia also known by their acronym, FARC. They do have a long history of kidnapping, murder, drugs and terrorist operations. Most of the time it’s against the government in Colombia, but it has spread to other countries in South America. More recently, the FARC has renounced its terrorist operations in deference to more political means, but sometimes old lessons die hard. This might be one of their operations, but as of now there’s no evidence that they are behind this,” Dunning said.
“I talked to the Colombian Minister of State,” said Jeff Branson, the Secretary of State. “He brought up both the FARC and the ELN or National Liberation Army of Colombia. Both these organizations have been negotiating with their government and have curtailed their terrorist activities. He said for the first time in a long time, Colombia was having a period of internal peace and prosperity. He said he doubted either of the organizations would want to break that peace.”
“I agree,” said Dunning. “It wouldn’t make much sense and there have been no activities which would suggest otherwise. I say that, keeping in mind the Venezuelans have harbored both of those organizations in the past. This means there might be some faction of either organization running an operation on their own. Again, this would be pure speculation. There are no facts to back any of this up.”
“One thing we have learned recently is that the FARC, in particular, has been working closely with some businesses to expand and even to export goods, especially to the United States,” said Bill Cochrane, Secretary of Commerce. “We’ve been watching this for about a year and it all appears to be legitimate. This would go along with why it would not be logical for the FARC to be behind any of this.”
The President sat back in his seat and lifted his hands in resignation. “So from all I hear we’re still pretty much in the dark on who did this. Anything we come up with would be pure guesswork,” he said.