The Break - Chapter 28

Chapter 28 The storm was gone as suddenly as it appeared. It left a-half-an-inch of pebble-sized hail on Anita’s balcony. The fury of the storm matched the mood in Ron’s head. He had run through a few of the general issues with Anita, but it was time to get down to the details of exactly what happened that night. But how do you tell the story in a logical fashion when it just didn’t make sense. Sure, he had seen Schnieder’s erratic behavior and the interactions between him and the mysterious Ian Gegger. But nothing else seemed to fit. “Let’s give this another shot.” Ron said to Anita. “I think if I start with when I hooked up with the band and I give you some details we can make some head way.” “Okay.” Anita replied as she felt a pang in her stomach. “But is it okay if we order some food?” “Don’t be silly, Nitti.” Elena said motherly. “I have burritos ready for heating or a big pan of enchilada’s that I can thaw and have ready in no time.” Taking a moment, it occurred to Ron that he hadn’t had decent enchiladas in a very long time. “Enchiladas sound great.” Ron said eagerly. “But I thought you wanted to hear the story.” Anita protested not really wanting hear her sister banging around in the kitchen. “The kitchen is right there and all I have to do is microwave the pan for twenty minutes and then put it in the oven.” Elena explained. “I was planning on having them for dinner anyway. So, everything is done.” “If you really think you won’t miss much.” Anita acquiesced. This brought peels of laughter from Elena. Apparently, she found something Anita said extremely funny. Anita felt a twinge of embarrassment for her sister. Ron wasn’t laughing and could not imagine that anything she said was even remotely humorous. “Miss much.” She chuckled when she was able to speak. “With his voice? BOOM! BOOM! People in the street can hear the story.” Instantly, Anita was more than embarrassed by her sister, she was mortified at her inappropriate comments. But it didn’t last long, because Ron let out a guffaw, followed by several moments of heartfelt laughing. “She’s right.” Ron agreed. “I’ve never been accused of speaking too softly.” As she turned toward the kitchen, Elena smiled to herself. In the last four or five hours, as she got to know him, Elena found that she liked this big gringo. He definitely had something about him. “Enchilada’s it is.” Elena declared cheerily. Not even hesitating, Ron began to tell the story from when he went to meet the band. When Ron’s plane landed at SeaTac airport, the band’s bus was there to meet him. The band, actually, Ronnie, decided to take a ferry from Vancouver to Seattle. Being a native Coloradoan, large bodies of water were absolutely fascinating to Ronnie. The number of their little tribe had grown. Emily arranged to leave her car at a friend from school’s house and she and Chelsea were going to ride with the band until they drove back through Seattle on the way to Portland. Now, Big Ron was with them. They were now eight. From the moment he stepped on the bus, he felt tension. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something. “Dad, you remember Schnieder?” The two men shook hands firmly and gave each other a speechless nod. “You know the boys.” Ronnie said as they turned away from Schnieder. “Hey, Mr. Harrision.” Ass said cheerfully. Leaning his head toward the person sitting in his lap, he continued. “This is Emily.” “Hi there, Emily.” Ron said. As he greeted her, he leaned forward just enough to make her lean towards him enough that he could get an excellent view of her very large breasts. He was rewarded with a very good view directly down her blouse. “Hey Coach.” Pete said even though he hadn’t been on Ron’s team for almost ten years. “Pete.” He said crisply as he nodded. “Who’s this?” “Ah, sorry Coach.” Pete said apologetically. “This is Chelsea.” “Hi Chelsea, nice to meet you.” He said. Operating at a professional level in this regard, he did not try the same move he used on Emily. If you vary your technique, you rarely ever get caught. Instead, he waited until she began to sit back. It is a natural reaction for people to look away during the awkwardness of being introduced. At that moment, Big Ron took a quick inventory of Chelsea’s assets. He was very impressed. “Very nice.” He thought. “Bet she looks even better naked. Ah, but don’t they all.” Turning away, he saw Ben sulking and looking out the window. Quickly, he shot a look back at Ass and he knew. He didn’t know exactly what the problem was, but he knew it involved those two. “Hi Ben.” He said in a very gentle tone. “You okay?” “Huh?” Ben responded somewhat dazed. He was some engrossed in thought, that he had no idea that Big Ron had boarded the bus. “Oh, hey Mr. Harrison.” He managed. “It’s all good.” Ron knew that was about the most he was going to get out of Ben. Turning back to Ronnie, he saw his son in a completely different light. In the month or so since he saw him, the boy had become a man. Unable to keep from smiling, he felt surge of pride build up inside him. “Where we headed?” Big Ron asked. “Well, we don’t play until tomorrow night.” Ronnie explained. “But I thought we’d catch the ferry today and kick around Vancouver. I heard it’s a pretty cool city. And freaking Pete has never been to Canada. Can you believe that?” “Well, yeah. I guess I believe it.” Big Ron replied. They continued talking as Schnieder guided the bus up the I-5 towards the ferry docks. A small spasm shot down Schnieder’s spine. “What time is the ferry?” Schnieder asked. “We have like two hours.” Ronnie said. “I think we have to get in line like an hour before hand to make sure we get on it.” “Uh…I just remembered.” Schnieder said uneasily. “I have to pick up some stuff for the lighting. But it’s really close to the dock. Is that okay.” “Yeah, cool.” Ronnie replied. The conversation seemed innocent enough, but it didn’t sit right with Big Ron. There was something in the way that Schnieder worded the question. Ron wrote it off as post air travel mental slow down. It wasn’t really jet lag, because it is only a one hour difference between Mountain Time and Pacific Time. But Ron believed there was definitely a diminished mental capacity that people suffered when they flew. No one else believed him, but he had landed several large deals in his favor by flying the other side in at the last minute. Additionally, he would never fly in the day of a meeting. Want to have every advantage possible, he always flew in the day before the meeting and made sure he got a full night’s sleep. Since he thought it was just him, Ron wanted to sit down. Actually in his current state, he wanted to lie down. The two hour flight had almost completely sapped his energy. It didn’t take much since he started the chemo. Taking the time to look at his father closely, Ronnie saw how exhausted he looked. It took him completely by surprise. His dad had always been the picture of health. A strong, mountain of a man that never backed down from a physical challenge in his life, he had always been Big Ron. But he couldn’t really deal with his feelings right now. There was too much happening. “Dad?” He said as soon as the thought crossed his mind. “We have beds in the back ….” Ronnie saw it briefly in Big Ron’s eyes. It wasn’t any more than a flash, but it was there. It was the look of embarrassment that some one who wasn’t well, but was doing his best to hide it. Ronnie thought quickly, he knew his father was uncomfortable that Ronnie had seen his weakness and acted on it. Wanting to give him an alternative, it came to him. “There’s a shower, too.” Ronnie said. “You know, whatever you need to freshen up after the trip.” “Sounds good.” Ron said. “Think I’ll go back and give it a look.” Opening the divider, Big Ron walked to the back of the bus and collapsed onto the bed. He was even more exhausted than he had thought. Sinking deeply into the surprising comfortable, Big Ron was sure he would fall asleep immediately. However, sleep didn’t come. Instead, he laid there and thought about Ronnie’s situation. It seemed that Ronnie was handling it all right. Big Ron had never seen his son walk with such an air of confidence. It was startling, but very satisfying. For the first time, he really saw himself in his son and he was very, very proud. The bus came to a stop. It seemed that it was stopped longer than any stoplight. Curious, Big Ron sat up and looked out the window. Remembering that Schnieder wanted to make a stop, he wasn’t surprised to see him walking into the warehouse. For some reason, Big Ron decided to watch for a while. What he saw next, didn’t seem right. Schnieder appeared with a medium size moving box. By the way he was straining, it appeared to be a very heavy box. Not knowing much about lighting he could be sure, but it seemed the box was much heavier than he would have guessed. “What are you looking for?” He asked himself. Soon Big Ron rolled over and fell into a deep sleep. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The warehouse was devoid of human presence except for Ian. Patiently, he waited for Frankie to show up. Checking his watch, he noted that Frankie had exactly three minutes and thirty second to show up. Exactly, three minutes later he saw the bus pull up at the cross street. Even if the light was red, Frankie was going to be on time. Ian was pleased, Frankie had maintained his training. The other four had all lost their training. None of them recognized him or the code words, but they all did a double take when he mentioned “Operation Active”. Not out of recognition, but because a complete stranger walked up to them and said “Operation Active”. Ian found himself hustling out of an alley after the first time, very disappointed in himself in not doing better research. He was much more careful on the subsequent encounters. Having no luck, he had almost given up on approaching Frankie. But his desire to complete this mission overcame any trepidation he had about embarrassing himself one more time. Therefore, right now he felt that the mission had a better than even chance of succeeding. It was the first time he had thought that since he came up with this desperate plan over fifteen years ago in the wasteland of Northern Afghanistan. As Schnieder got off the bus, Ian saw he pick up the gait of a soldier. His shoulders pulled back, chest out, chin up and completely confident he strode quickly to the door that Ian told him to come to. “Afternoon, sir.” Schnieder snapped crisply as he came to attention in front of his superior. “Afternoon, soldier.” Ian responded. “You’re late.” “Respectfully, sir.” Schnieder responded. “I am exactly eleven seconds early.” “So you are, soldier. So, you are.” Ian agreed good-naturedly. Quickly, he performed his inspection of his troop. Once again, Ian was impressed. To the causal observer, everything about Schnieder indicated that he was a burned out ex-hippie. But Ian could see the attention to detail. The subtle crispness of all of his clothing. Reaching in to Schiender jacket, Ian extracted his Glock and inspected it closely. Sliding the action back, he caught the ejected cartridge before it hit the ground. Ian was more than pleased, this man was ready for anything. The action of the weapon was completely smooth and then was not a speck of dust to be seen. Ian knew this weapon had been cleaned this morning. Not satisfied by one weapon, he reached into his waist band and extracted his second weapon. Same inspection, same result. Lastly, he checked his backup in his boot. That, too, was in impeccable condition. “Excellent, Johnson.” Ian praised. “You are the best damn soldier in the outfit.” “Thank you, sir.” Schnieder responded. “Now here is the task I have for you.” Ian started. “I have material stored in several places where your little tour is going to take you. You assignment is to locate the provisions and keep them close to you.” “Yes, sir.” Schnieder responded. “No problem, sir.” “Remember, this is a dark operation.” Ian lectured. “That means no one, repeat, no one is to know anything about this. Including any local law enforcement or federal agency and especially no civilians. Understood?” “Yes, sir.” Schnieder responded. Ian looked hard at his soldier to be sure that message was received. “This means that you have the authority and the duty to ensure the security of the mission.” Ian cautioned. “By use of any means you deem necessary.” “Understood, sir.” Schnieder replied. “Now, here are the first three packages.” Ian barked. “You are not authorized to look at the contents. Keep them sealed and secured and with you until you receive further instructions. Clear?” “Crystal, sir.” Schnieder responded. “Now pack ‘em up and get the hell out of here before your civilians get worried and come looking for you.” Ian said dismissively. “Yes, sir.” Schnieder responded. As bent over to pick up the first box, he looked up to see if Ian was watching him. But he was no where to be found. It was as if he disappeared or had never been there. Schnieder wasn’t really sure, but he didn’t trust his judgment in matters like this. All he knew was that he had his orders and he would follow them. Unfortunately, he knew what would happen if he didn’t follow orders. That was never going to happen to him again – ever. Shivering at the thought, he quickly straightened up, turned and carried the first box to the bus and stored in behind the band’s equipment. Completing the other two trips quickly, he made some adjustments that would ensure that they would not draw attention. It was important that Ian maintain an almost ghost like presence around Frankie. Keeping the weapon guessing was part of the process. There were to reasons for this. First, it was a very effective way of controlling the weapon. Second, it provides plausible deniability in case the weapon is captured or in case of a glitch. It happened during the first round of the experiment when they allowed an uncertified weapon back into the United States. Without the proper handling, the weapon snapped under the duress and climbed a clock tower. The result was twelve dead civilians. Even worse, it compromised the mission he had been trained for. This mission could not fail. The task that Ian assigned to Frankie was not just a logistical one. This was also a test. Ian could have waited to have him pick up the explosives when they returned to the United States, but he wanted to see if Frankie could make it through two border crossings without getting caught. If he could do that, the rest of the mission should go off without a hitch, since the bus wouldn’t be subjected to the same level of scrutiny at any other juncture. Judging on how Frankie had performed so far Ian was fairly confident that he would make it back to Portland with all the explosives and the rest of the equipment he had stashed in Vancouver and Victoria. Ian was smiling as he watched the bus pull out of the parking lot and drive toward the ferry dock. Once again, Ian found himself smiling. It was pure genius to take ferries to Canada. The security at the ferry terminals was much more relaxed than at the highway crossings. Yes, he had to give Frankie credit. The man was operationally sound, despite the fact that he had no idea what he was doing. Not on a competence level, he literal had no idea the actions he was taking. All of the facts of the mission were coded into him. When Ian talked to him, he was really speaking directly to Frankie’s subconscious and completely bypassing his normal language processing capabilities. The result is that Frankie acted, but he was not aware that he was doing anything. <<< Chapter 27 Technorati Tags: Fiction, Online Book, Chapter, Rebeleyeball, Paul Gavin IceRocket Tags: Fiction, Blook, Chapter, rebeleyeball Copyright (c) 2006 Paul Gavin. All rights reserved.