Jacked Up Part 10

Thursday evening I looked through my belongings. The bulk of my clothing was army supplied so that would not be a problem. The stuff I had brought with me added up to not much at all. I packed a bum-pack with my credentials and then a small back-pack with spare underwear, a tee shirt and a few other light items.

On Friday morning I woke early and dressed for a training run as an infantry soldier, sports bra and pants, strong trousers and shirt and boots over two pairs of socks. I put on a webbing harness and attached the sidearm and a water bottle. I did not have a helmet but put a cap on with my hair in a pony-tail. I clipped the bum-pack around my waist and slung the back-pack on. Looking around at what had been my home for the last few months I made sure that I had not left anything and walked away from there.

I broke into a trot and then got a steady pace up. It was a good four miles to the barn so it would be a while. I would not be getting breakfast in the mess this morning. As I ran I wondered who had organised my future and if I really did have a future at all. I stopped a couple of times to have a drink from my water bottle and felt pretty good when I arrived at the barn. The door was ajar as before and I drew my gun and made sure it was ready to fire as I peeped in. No-one seemed to be there and I went inside, stopping to allow my eyes to get used to the gloom. Just then there was movement from the back of the room and General Xaviour walked in saying “Bad tradecraft, J, I could have shot you while you were adjusting to the light. You should have shut your eyes outside for a few seconds before coming in at a rush. Never mind, you survived and you will learn something new from this.”

I acknowledged the lesson and we both holstered our weapons. He took me through the back to a hidden Humvee and we got in. As we drove away he told me that my line of investigation had got someone worried and that he had intercepted orders to Major Quinn to arrange an accident. “I had always worried about that man” he said “whenever he had a few he would get carried away with what was wrong with the country and I had the idea that if he was in charge we would only be left with correct thinking white men and compliant women.” He then told me to get into the back between the seats and pull a blanket that was there over me.

I listened as he drove to the main gate and told the sentries that he was going to town for a little while. He hardly stopped and the poor guys could just look as we went though. As he accelerated from the base he told me to stay low for a while but to take off my back-pack and weapons harness but to put the gun in my waistband at the small of my back. He got me to stay in the back as he drove, telling me that I was to disappear into spook clouds and that he had arranged for a few things to happen that would make Q and his friends too busy to worry about me. He asked where I was with the investigation and I told him about the mercenary and the email links to DC. I passed him the list with the name, the email addresses and the dates and flight numbers of the earlier emails. I suggested that it would be interesting to locate the reports of the two ‘failed’ attempts, especially just what explosives had been found.

He congratulated me on doing too well to the point where I was now a danger. He said that there was a hold-all behind the seats and I was to grab it. He then instructed me to get out when we got to the next gas station and to take everything I had into the ladies toilet. He said there was an outfit for me in the hold-all which I should change into and to put all of my army gear into the hold-all but to hold on to my gun and spare ammo. When I came out I was to leave the hold-all behind and there would be a blue car outside the toilets waiting for me. I was to get in to the passenger side and greet the driver like an old friend.

When we pulled up he wished me good luck and good hunting and said he would let me know more later on. I carried the hold-all and back-pack into the toilets and locked the door. The hold-all had a nice big shoulder bag, shoes, underwear and a skirt suit. I stripped completely and redressed. It was odd to be wearing civvies after so long in fatigues. I combed out my hair and put on the cosmetics in the bag, looking at myself in the mirror I thought that the army life had been good to me as I was leaner and fitter than any other time in my life. I transferred all of the stuff I had brought with me into the shoulder bag and packed the hold-all with all the army stuff, including the water bottle. I zipped it up and left it in the waste bin as I walked out into the world with a skirt swishing against my legs for the first time in months but with the added feel of a gun in the waistband at my spine.

The blue car was there and I got into the passenger side saying hello to the driver in a loud voice, like two old friends. We pulled away and I noticed another woman going into the toilets as we left. The driver was a woman I had met in the CIA and she greeted me with “Well Anita, you have certainly stirred the pooch this time.” She then told me to put on the dark glasses that were in the glove box and we drove north for a while before turning towards Pensacola. She then told me that I was to be given a lift to a small airfield where a plane would be waiting for me. It would take me to Atlanta where I would stay in a safe house for a few days while my new identity was raised. She didn’t want to know where I was going after that but wished me well, saying “I’ve worked with X a few times and that man can move mountains when he tries. He has pulled out all the stops for you so, whatever you are up to, it must be very important.” When we arrived at the small airport she pulled up next to a plane and said “Stay alive” as I got out. I thanked her for the lift and walked to the plane steps.

At the top of the steps I looked back and she was already leaving the airfield. The cabin crew pulled the steps up as soon as I was in the plane and the pilot started the engines as I was shown a seat, next to a stranger. With my shoulder bag put up in the luggage locker I sat down next to this man and buckled up. The plane was already taxiing to the threshold and the man waited until we were in the air before speaking.

“When we arrive in Atlanta” he said “you are now called Anita Ryan, not a brilliant change, sorry, but enough to muddy the water. There you will brief a small group on your investigation so far at a safe house we have in the outskirts. That group will be me, a couple of high level FBI officers and an equal number of CIA operatives. As far as your own credentials go, consider yourself to be back in the CIA as well as being a Special Agent in the FBI. I am afraid that your temporary assignment as a Major in the army has come to an end as there is going to be an unfortunate accident on that base which will kill off Anita Jackson as well as a certain Major Quinn. I believe that X has organised something in the playground with rather a lot of explosives.”

I stayed quiet while I took all this in. Then I asked “Have you been looking at these bombings for a while?” He nodded as he said that there had been suspicions but it wasn’t until I linked the six names that a pattern had emerged which had galvanised the flight I was now on. “You did well, Anita, I am sorry that one of the flights had your parents as passengers but I do believe it gave you that extra spark that allowed the truth to emerge, it was a real mistake to have launched you down the path that you have taken. Those who launched you will, hopefully, think that the danger to them has now been negated but we are going to have you appear as a completely new person when you leave Atlanta. That is something I think we are rather good at.”

The cabin crew brought around some food and I remembered that I had missed breakfast so tucked in with gusto. My companion ate sparingly, saying that he had already eaten this morning. We stayed quiet until we landed at Atlanta where the plane was taxied to a secluded part of the airport where a limo waited with dark windows. When we stopped I reached up for my bag and he got a briefcase down. As soon as we were down the steps and into the car, the plane made ready to leave again. We drove out of the airport and into the countryside, entering a gate and along a driveway to a place that looked like a stables complex. At the house we got out and the car went off around the back of the house.

“In we go, young lady” he gestured to the door and we entered the house. He led me to a large sun-room where the expected four people were waiting for us. There were no introductions. A maid asked if we needed any drinks and I asked for a coffee and she left us in peace. My travelling companion asked me to relate my recent experiences, starting with boarding the bus in Detroit. It took a while, only stopping when the maid brought my coffee. When I got to my findings, especially the latest ones in regard to the messages and their origins, the FBI guys looked uncomfortable in their dark suits while the casually dressed guy and gal from the CIA had smiles on the faces. I told them the name of the mercenary I thought was the bomber and then said that there had been two attempts that had been aborted and the dates of the flights.

When I had finished my host pressed a button and, when the maid came in, said “Maisie will take you to your room, you will find enough of a wardrobe to choose from. I expect that you will like to wash off that army persona and have a rest. We will dine at seven and we dress for dinner. Maisie will show you what would be suitable and also help you dress. I wasn’t sure how far you had gone but when X told me that you had put a firecracker under his most trusted aides I knew that we needed to hear what you had found. You have done rather well; have a rest and I will see you at the dinner table. Thank you, my dear, you have done us all a considerable service but I do expect that we will ask more of you in the future.”

Marianne G 2021