“JASON!” the Deputy called inside.
“Yes, sir.”
“Have Michelle Boyd get her ass up here. Don’t go putting it in writing, either. She’s one of Klubb’s girls… a missile analyst. I want you in here, too, so have her come up here to talk to you, then, bring her butt in here,” Deputy Burns instructed Jason. “Now.”
“You got it, sir,” as Jason left to make the call downstairs.
Oh, man, he is fired up thought Jason, as he called for Michelle to come down to his office. Michelle did not read into the call, and came up to see Jason right away. She was not carrying anything in her hands, and nearly pranced in to see Jason, thinking it was half social, half missiles related. Since her involvement with the Committee phone call seemed like forever ago, she had not thought about it since her night out with Jess at The Dubliner.
“Hi Michelle. Come on in. The Deputy wants to talk to you,” Jason said.
Her face immediately felt flush, and turned red with complete embarrassment.
“Oh. I thought I was coming to see you, Jason.” She knew exactly why she was in there, but now wasn’t sure if the FBI was inside to arrest her for partial disclosure back in the bar.
“Follow me, please,” Jason said. Michelle followed behind, and had near zero reaction time to formulate a plan. Jason knocked on the brown wooden office door twice. “Sir, Michelle Boyd here to see you.”
“Send her in, Jason,” Deputy Burns said, as he came out from around his desk.
Michelle walked in just behind Jason.
“Ms. Boyd, come in. Don’t bother sitting, as you won’t be here long. I know of your bullshit involvement with contacting the Hill recently regarding my hearing. Yes?” the Deputy said, rolling the dice. He really wasn’t one hundred percent sure if she did it or not. This was the moment where she could deny it all, or come completely clean.
Michelle stood there and at first did not say anything. She was silent.
“Michelle?” Jason said, a bit loud.
“Yes, yes, sir. It was me,” Michelle admitted.
“I don’t care what your reasons are. I don’t care what your politics are. Not completely sure what your connections are on the Hill. But… if you don’t want orders to fucking Timbuktu, you are going to fix this. Understand? Am I clear?”
“Yes, sir. I am so sorry. When I placed the call, I was just calling out of anger. Our missile section wanted the nod to do something good for DIA. We wanted the credit, and it made me mad that Mark Savona, that aircraft analyst, came in there and started in and…,” Michelle attempted to explain.
“Hold, hold up,” as the Deputy waived his palm around in the air. “I don’t want to hear your bullshit excuses. BULL CRAP! You know what you did was wrong. I have every right to throw your Goddamn ass out of here and strip you of your clearances. You’d never work in national security again. You’d be stuck working at the IRS, or worse, DHS. So shut it and grow up.”
“Yes, sir…,” said Michelle, as she started to cry.
“Call over to your source on the Committee, have her march in to see the Senator, and tell the good Senator that it was nothing. False report. Turn it off. OFF!”
“Yes…. sir,” Michelle said, sobbing.
“I’ll consider this mess done, then. Come and see Jason later today after you make the call. Jason, yes?”
“Yes, sir,” they both replied.
Calvin thought for a moment, and then changed his mind. There was no need to come back and report to him. “Wait a second, wait a second. Don’t bother calling,” as he put his hand up in the air. “I am confident you will take care of it. Clear? Now get out of here.”
They both walked towards the door, and Calvin knew he unloaded his anger. “Hey, Michelle. Hold it, again.”
“Yes… yes, sir?”
“Look. This situation is one of the largest missions in DIA history. You wouldn’t have known that when you made your call, but I know now. This has grown into a major event. A major national security mission. It doesn’t get any larger than this. There is a lot going on with details that would blow your fucking mind. So, we keep this topic and conversation between only us. Understand? Classified. Not a breath to anyone.”
“Yes, Mr. Burns.”
“Now get the hell out of here.”
Wu pressed the red icon on his phone to hang up, and was overcome with emotion. He sat on the wooden desk chair on his hotel room, and held his face in his hands. Wu cried, and cried hard. Tears streamed down his jaundiced skin from his red eyes. He was emotionally shot, and he did not want his life to end so early. The roller coaster of denial, then anger, and now sadness, was taking a true mental and physical toll on him. He looked and felt like total hell, and was happy the jet was being worked on today so he could take a breather before taking off again on his final flight.
He used the time wisely to reflect on his tremendous life, and was thankful for the opportunities his Mom set up for him when he was young. The opportunity to study math, attend college, and achieve a prestigious position in the Air Force and flight training, was every boy’s dream. Wu was reviewing his life in sequence, thinking about his father when he was a young kid. Although he was not a man of religion, Wu wondered if he would see him, along with his mother, again. Perhaps above all the emotions he had felt already, the strongest emotion felt was his loneliness. He wanted someone to hug him, to hold his head, to take care of him, to just tell him things would be all right. Like his mother used to do when he was a young boy. He missed her, too, and let another round of crying come out of his body.
Wu took out his phone again and decided to text Vic at the U.S. Consulate. He made sure the Peanut was attached, and in green.
Wu: Vic this is Wu Lee. Just wanted to make sur you relayed my final requests to Mark and if not it is necessary you to do it today. Things are happening soon. Very soon. Than you
Robert was lying down on his back on the white, glossy floor of the large aircraft hangar and looking up at the belly of the G650ER, along with the Certification Process Specialist, an Electrical Engineer technician, and an External Loads Engineer. They had flashlights, and were shining the light on the external seal of where they just finished making the rear ramp.
Robert rubbed his palm on the lip of the ramp, which was evident if you were looking for it, but terrifically camouflaged from the outside. He crawled out from underneath, thanked the technicians, and walked inside to chat with the pilots.
“Ramp looks good. Want to try it out for me?” Robert asked, pointing his thumb back inside the hangar. Robert walked back to the jet, and the techs were still there, as now was Reggie, Rose and Arnold, the Gulfstream leadership team. The Electrical Engineer technician handed Lurch back his cell phone, complete with the new Gulfstream 650ER app installed. The tech verified the aircraft’s Wi-Fi and password, and showed him the up and down options.
“Ok, here we go!” Lurch yelled outside the cabin door to the floor, wanting to ensure no one was down below.
Lurch pressed the down button. Upon doing so, the two rear seats slid to the outside of the airframe on rails, as did the carpeting. The floor and ramp of the jet lowered to the hangar floor.
Vrrrrrrr ffffft.
You could hear the motors lowering the ramp down on the pistons, and there was just enough space for Ford to slide down on his butt and jump. The glossy white floor was now easily seen.
“Well. I’ll be dipped in shit. Check that out,” said Lurch, as he spit some chewing tobacco into a white, Styrofoam coffee cup.