“Again, I’m sorry, Ford. Will make it up to you. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Emily. See you in a bit,” as he got up to give her a kiss.
Just as Emily departed Clyde’s, a text arrived to Ford’s phone from Wu. He thought about opening it, but decided to hold off, and left it unread for the moment.
Emily walked off the Metro platform and down the stairs. “You and Robert owe me big time,” Emily scolded Mark, pointing at him, as she got a ride from the Green Line Metro stop.
They both scanned their ID’s into the extensive security system and scanned their retinas into a display, then entered into a nearly empty Headquarters building on a quiet Friday evening. Most of the employees were gone, and the only people besides them were the cleaning crew and watch standers. As they got into the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF (pronounced “skiff”), Emily was hot under the collar.
“What the hell is so important that you guys had to drag me in here on a Friday night?” she demanded. “I told you two!”
Robert entered the office cubicle area holding a memo pad, and waived them both over to the meeting room just outside their office spaces. He entered the meeting room, lowered the large wall sized white projector screen, and waited for the projector to warm up. “Hello Emily, welcome. We do have a few updates for you, and need your help,” Robert said.
“Screw you.”
“Thank you for coming back, Emily,” Robert said, attempting to calm her down. It wasn’t working.
The computer and projector were powered up, and the PowerPoint slide show was in view. Robert and Mark had just finished four hours or so of deep dive into raw data, and provided analysis on a whole host of information. From checking reports to making calls to other DIA offices, to applying critical thinking steps, they both felt all the bases were properly covered. They also felt their findings were significant, and on the tip of something big.
“Yes, hello, Robert. Lovely evening. Whatever. Please, tell me what is so damn important already!” Emily had fired back.
“This is…” as Mark hit the spacebar on the computer, and the first slide came up on the screen.
Just as their eyes were comprehending what was on the screen, Calvin Burns, the Deputy Director of DIA walked in on them. He was most likely the only other senior leader in the building, and it showed his dedicated work ethic to the job. Working late on a Friday night was the norm, not the exception.
“Hello everyone, looks like you’re burning the midnight oil. How are things going?” the Deputy asked.
“Oh….ah, good evening, sir… come on in. We were… just going over some of the findings from when we last saw you. We hit the mother lode,” Mark said, showing the Deputy a seat to sit in.
The small conference room they were in was certainly not for executives. The table was full of crumbs, the trash overflowing, and chairs were far from leather. Emily was a bit embarrassed they were talking to the Deputy in there, but he came to them.
“Thank you for inviting me in. I had a feeling you were all here. What… ah… what have you found out so far?” the Deputy asked. After a brief pause, he turned to Mark. “Not sure if you heard about my time on the Hill earlier today, but there was a call placed to the Committee about our time in the auditorium this morning. They are asking what the deal is,” explained Calvin.
“Huh. No, sir, we didn’t hear. Been face down in reports, doing some analysis of the data. Found some remarkable information,” Mark shared.
“Oh? Like a good team. I wouldn’t expect you guys to be involved with the politics, but the Hill sure was breathing down my neck. Was really hoping you had something. So, what do you have?”
“Plenty. Take a look at these gems,” nodding up at the screen. “Robert, you start. Take it away.”
Clyde’s was still humming with a Friday night vibe, with the smell of burgers, music jamming, and people feeling their alcohol. Although Emily ran off to work after only one glass of wine, Ford grabbed her food to go so she could eat it at the hockey game. Ford knew how to get to the Verizon Center from here pretty easily, so he figured he’d stay for another round and enjoy the scene. It was way different than the Rapid City, South Dakota night life, which was the largest city closest to Ellsworth AFB. Rapid City was fun, but this was a different type of fun because it was a college town inside a city. So many young, energetic go-getters, all in one spot.
He took out his smart phone while he sat at the table, and reviewed Wu’s texts. There were a number of them on the phone:
Wu: dOing som flying today. Good wx. Saw in news a Dalls Cowboys game ison this weekend.
Ford chuckled to himself at the misspellings on the text. That was unlike him, and it was either a reflection of typing while wearing flight gloves, or, Wu had be drinking. Second one was there, too:
Wu: how are you doing, Ford Would likke to see you and fam soon. Miss everyone. A lot. Can you talk soon
Being an only child his whole life was something Wu had talked about when they were all kids, and the topic even arose later as adults. Ford had consistently heard Wu wish that he had siblings to celebrate birthdays with, holidays, and have another family around. Wu also shared with Ford regularly that he wanted a large family himself, and when he found the right girl, they were going to have a full house of little ones running around.
Ford took a drink from Emily’s wine since it was going to waste, pulled out his credit card for the bill, and waited for the waitress. Ford decided to reply back to the texts:
Ford: hey bro, awesome to see you’re making things happen over there. We got up for an early hop, only to have a ground mishap. All ok.
Ford: Had a snowplow hit our jet while on the ground. Big fire on aircraft. Burned up good. We all got out and no injuries. Earned a week off!
Ford: In DC now, visiting Emily. Off to a Caps game in a few minutes. Section 101, Row M, Seat 1 just off the ice!
The waitress returned with the check and Ford signed it. He noticed that the drinks were not on there, so he double checked, and asked her on her trip back to the table.
“Your buddies from earlier, Brian and Pat, picked up the tab. Said you were a hero. Saved someone’s life recently,” the waitress told Ford. Ford shook his head in amazement, and was grateful. He nodded at her and said thank you.
He continued texting Wu:
Ford: I am heading to hockey! Caps game! When can you talk?
To Ford’s surprise, Wu was typing something back already, as the bubbles appeared in his smartphone, notifying Ford he was replying.
Wu: Enjoy hockey. Yes, need to talk. Something serious has come up. Busy right now. Thanks for text. Talk soon.
Chen and the Chinese military leadership rarely parked the Devil Dragon at the same airport or airbase, in the same location, for more than one night. They constantly moved it around the country, parking it in different areas so that its visibility to others was held to a minimum. This rotation of locations was not just for military members working on the project, but for curious locals, too, in addition to adversaries who might be looking for something. The flight schedule was closely held by Chen, and not established that far in advance. This meant planning was difficult for home and social lives, and created a somewhat expeditionary force that lived out of suitcases.