Tinker' Taylor: Spy, & Soldier

Ernest Bywater

All rights reserved © 2017

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This book contains the following stories:

'Tinker' Taylor

'Tinker' Taylor: Spy

'Tinker' Taylor: Soldier>

'Tinker' Taylor: Home Guard

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This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. All rights are reserved by the author, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

Product names, brands, and other trademarks referred to within this book are the property of their respective trademark holders. Unless otherwise specified there is no association between the author and any trademark holder is expressed or implied. Nor does it express any endorsement by them, or of them. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark, service mark, or registered trademark.

Cover Art

The background image is Gewerbe, Pfannenflicker by Franz Feyerabend which is in the public domain. The cropping, size adjustment, and text is done by Ernest Bywater. All rights to the cover image are reserved by the copyright owners.

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15 February 2022 version

Published by Ernest Bywater

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Note: This story is in US English.

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The title styles in use are a story, a chapter, a sub-chapter, and a section.

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Images

Refurbished floor plan

All images are also available in high resolution at:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ebk8ve052m0c1rs/AACohN7e_x8OuRFrn0EbQ2L6a?dl=0

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Note

Originally a 'Tinker' was a traveling metal worker who went around the countryside repairing metal utensils and tools. The name Tinker is said to be derived from the sounds of the metal objects hanging from their packs lightly knocking together as they walked from village to village and town to town. This was due to them carrying all of their tools and many metal goods for sale as well as some items waiting for them to repair when they had the time to work on them, along with their cookware, clothes, blankets, and food. As they walked the metal objects would sway and knock against each other to make a small metallic 'tink,' and this is what gave them their name. This also made it possible for the people to hear them coming and to walk out to meet them at the roadside to arrange work for them or to buy new or repaired goods while also selling a few repairable metal objects that have broken and they can no longer use. The Tinker would later fix the items and sell them for a small profit. In later times some more prosperous tinkers used a small wagon or cart and some set up shops in the large towns and cities where the customers came to their shop.

Today the noun Tinker is more often used to refer to someone who does minor repairs to appliances or mechanical items, or someone who does a lot of fiddling with the inner workings of mechanical items or appliances to make them work better. Many modern tinkers also do a lot of minor building and furniture repairs similar to that of a very good general handyman. In some countries the word tinker is used to refer to any person living the gypsy lifestyle of constantly moving and camping while never stopping to live in a permanent house.

Note: Sorority means 'a house or group of women' and only that.

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A truthful statement attributed as a quote to Winston Churchill and George Orwell, but not proven to have been said by either of them.

People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

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'Tinker' Taylor

The Beginning

At 15:30 hours Master Sergeant Jack 'Tinker' Taylor walks into the ward of the Womack Army Medical Center where his wife and new born son are. He stops to look at his son for a moment before he turns to talk to his wife, Madeline Leyland. One of the hospital administration staff nurses has a clipboard with papers on it when she follows him in while she asks the couple, “Have you decided on a name for him?”

Jack pulls a coin out of his pocket and he flips it while saying, “Call it. If you win he's named after your father, if I win he's named after mine.”

Madeline says, “Tails,” while the coin is in the air.

Jack catches the coin, slaps it onto the back of his hand, looks down at the head displayed, and says, “Randolph Leyland Taylor it is.”

The nurse sees what the coin shows, but she simply smiles while she writes down the name on the several forms on her clipboard while Madeline grins as she says, “I hate Randy as a short name form so we'll call him Lee on a daily basis as it's the short form of his middle name.”

A moment later the name on the plastic identity bracelet on the boy's wrist reads Randolph Leyland 'Lee' Taylor, and the same information is noted on all of the paperwork for the hospital and the other authorities.

When the nurse goes to leave Jack says, “Lieutenant, can you please stay to witness some signatures for us.” The nurse smiles as she nods.

Jack pulls a bunch of papers out of his pocket, places them on the bed table, sorts them into two piles, and then he goes through one set signing all of the forms in it. When he steps back the nurse steps up to check and sign as the witness on the forms he just signed that require a witness to the signature. She then glances at the other pile, and she moves the table to where Madeline can sign while she says, “You need to sign these first, Captain.” While Madeline reads and signs her forms Jack puts his forms in his pocket. In a few minutes all of the forms are signed, and the few requiring a witness to the signature are also signed by the Lieutenant.

Madeline looks at Jack as she says, “I thought we were going to discuss who retires after they send me back to our quarters.”

Jack replies, “We were! However, when I had proof the new company commander is a worse asshole than the previous one I decided I'd had it. I got the word you were going into labor at eleven thirty, but he wouldn't let me leave until after he had his lunch. Then he went to lunch and he came back half drunk at fifteen hundred. I already knew how much leave I'm owed, so by taking all of my due leave prior to not re-enlisting I can walk out of the unit at the end of next week. Now I know both you and Lee are OK I'll go to file all of the papers today.”

Madeline sighs as she says, “OK! I understand. Go get it done, Jack.”

Within minutes of leaving the medical center Jack is handing in the paperwork for Madeline at the 3rd Brigade Combat Team Headquarters before going to the 82nd Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade HQ to hand in his own paperwork. While there he has a quiet word with one of the HQ staff he knows well so they can pass on why he's filing his papers to leave the unit as soon as he can. He hopes someone will listen then look into the behavior of his new company commander. After that Jack returns to the medical center to spend time with his wife and son.

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All of the paperwork is processed, and Jack's last day with the Army on Friday of the next week is spent processing out of the Army.

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Family Background

Madeline grows up as a tom-boy who's happier to be out hunting in the hills around the family property than when she's at the mall with her friends from school. One of Madeline's uncles who served in the 82nd Airborne Division teaches her what he knows of the Army and military skills. As an early teen Madeline joins a local dojo to learn martial arts to give her an edge in hand to hand combat training. Her uncle influences Madeline's schooling through her decision to go to a high school with an Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) program and a college with an Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program. All of her early training results in Madeline being an officer in the 82nd Airborne Division early in her military career. While at Fort Bragg she meets and marries Sergeant Jack Taylor. Shortly after Lee is born Madeline is offered a bonus to stay in the service, which she accepts.

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While growing up Jack earns the nickname of 'Tinker' because he's always taking apart and rebuilding a host of electrical, electronic, and mechanical devices. He's often able to get broken things working again. When he isn't fixing things he's usually 'tinkering' with car engines to make them work better to give a higher performance or he's helping his father repair or tune car motors. Jack qualifies as a motor mechanic to work in his father's automotive workshop as soon as he's old enough to pass the state tests for an automotive mechanic's certificate. It's a good life until Jack's father is shot by a robber during an attempt to rob the gas station the workshop is a part of. The whole facility is sold by Jack's uncle as part of settling the debts of the estate. The little money that's left after the sale is split between Jack and his step-mother. Since they both have to leave the residence above the shop Jack's step-mother goes to live in Florida while the nineteen year-old Jack joins the Army to make a living.

Being a graduate of high school with a motor mechanic's qualification makes Jack a prime candidate for recruitment as a technical person. After his Initial Entry Training, what most people call basic training, Jack goes to Fort Lee, Virginia, for specialist mechanical training. Due to his prior qualifications and previous experience he ends up being qualified to work on a wide range of military vehicles instead of just a few vehicles the way most of the other troops at the training center are qualified for.

While Jack rises up through the ranks he also does distance learning courses on electronics and electrical gear in his off-duty time for his own interests. Someone higher up the command chain see's Jack's file then sends Jack to do the specialist training on the electrical and electronic gear in the vehicles his unit maintains. Jack's wide range of knowledge is why he gets early promotions to supervisory and management positions where a large part of his work is troubleshooting the unusual problems.

Along the way Jack meets and gets to know a Lieutenant in one of the combat units his unit supports. While the Army doesn't like officers and enlisted personnel becoming personally involved with each other there are no heavy restrictions on people from different command structures. After several months of getting to know each other First Lieutenant Madeline Leyland and Master Sergeant Jack Taylor are married. A year later Lee is born soon after Madeline is promoted to Captain.

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By leaving the Army Jack is able to be a 'stay at home dad' to provide the primary care for Lee. While Madeline is still at home in their married quarters recovering from the birth Jack is busy looking for a suitable residence that's close to an entrance to Fort Bragg, is off the base, and it has a suitable space for him to use as a workshop for private work. When he finds one he makes arrangements to buy it, only to have his father-in-law, Randolph Leyland, arrange to have it bought by the family trust his grandfather had set up. This way they don't have to take out a mortgage on it while they pay rent at a minimal below market rate to live there.

After being discharged from the Army Jack sets up a combined motor mechanic and electrical workshop in the large workshop attached to their new home. Part of the two workbenches is a place where he can set Lee in his fancy car seat to allow Lee to watch what Jack is doing. Thus, from when Lee is only a few weeks old he's in the workshop watching his father work on a variety of cars, electrical items, and electronic items to fix them for his clients. Most of Jack's clients are military personnel or their family members because Jack's shop is so close to Fort Bragg and he does not charge them a high rate to do the work. Jack knows how tight their family budgets are so he only charges a low labor rate. He also gets some contract work from the Army as a specialist trouble shooter.

The natural result of this arrangement is Lee soon has an interest in, and a knowledge of, the types of work his father does in the workshop. As he grows older Lee works with his father to learn what he can of this work. In doing this Lee is following in his father's footsteps, so he soon earns the nickname of 'Tinker' as well, although many call him 'Tinker Two' due to his father also being known as 'Tinker.'

One good outcome of the early training from Jack is Lee develops an interest in learning all that he can learn. Being a fast learner with a wide range of interests means Lee learns a lot more than most people his age learn. Lee's mother adds to this desire for learning and knowledge by teaching him all of the knowledge and skills she has, when she can.

Whenever Madeline is at home with Lee she talks to him about the unclassified parts of her work. Typical of the training Madeline gives Lee is when he starts to crawl about the floor Madeline gets down to teach him how to crawl in the same way soldiers crawl in a combat zone. This is very different to how most babies crawl, so when other people see Lee crawling like a trooper it amuses them to see him playing 'soldier' as a baby. When he's old enough to understand them she also teaches him all of the military knowledge and skills she has. Two unusual training events for Lee are his very early involvement with the Sensei of a local dojo to start him on martial arts training as soon as he can walk, and the other is Madeline involving ten year-old Lee in her learning of Arabic at the same time she's learning the language. Learning together helps them both learn it by talking together in Arabic a lot of the time they're at home together.

As Lee grows older he's taken to the range and taught how to safely handle and use handguns and rifles. The size and type of weapons grow as he becomes big enough and strong enough to handle them. Early guns are low caliber weapons firing sub-sonic rounds. By the time Lee is twelve years old Madeline has Lee firing some of the military grade rifles and handguns kept at the range. On his thirteenth birthday Madeline teaches Lee how to fire a .338 Lapua Magnum Barrett M98B sniper rifle they have at the range. Madeline is a good sniper herself, but Lee soon proves to be a better shot at very long distances than he is with a rifle at medium distances, which surprises a lot of people at the range.

Many people are surprised at fourteen year-old Lee's accuracy with a range of pistols up to 50 yards, but his accuracy with the Barrett M98B at 1,000 to 1,800 yards is a very big shock to many the first time they see him fire the rifle. Even Madeline is surprised by Lee's long-range skill with a rifle when he's introduced to a .50 caliber rifle the day a Barrett M82A1 and a Barrett M95 are brought to the range to see if the fourteen year-old Lee can use them. After a few minutes to get used to them he's more accurate with both rifles than the men who brought them to the range. However, Lee does say, “The fifty caliber rifles may have a bigger hit, but I don't like the higher recoil impact on my shoulder they have over the three-three-eight Lapua. Those fifties really hurt my shoulder.”

Over the years both Jack and Madeline teach Lee all of the knowledge and skills they can. Their friends and collegues also teach Lee lots of other knowledge and skills, like the martial arts teacher from the nearby dojo who used to be an Army hand to hand combat instructor. While Lee never takes part in any of the tournaments or grading the Sensei teaches Lee everything up to the 4th level of black belt in the two martial arts he teaches. When the Sensei is hit and killed by a runaway truck with faulty brakes while his car is stopped at a set of traffic lights the teachers at the other dojos refuse to take Lee on as a student as he doesn't have any of the certificates to show his skill levels. Lee keeps his skills current by practice katas as well as training with his parents and anyone from Fort Bragg he can convince to train with him.

The end result is Lee is not an average teenager. He's very fit, skilled in many trades, and able to teach himself from books and videos.

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Schooling

When Lee reaches the appropriate ages he attends the local schools. Lee likes learning so he often has extra work he's doing for Distance Learning Advanced Placement classes he gets over the Internet or via the Fort Bragg Distance Learning Center, this is because he has a hard time paying attention in class due to being bored by the constant repetition for the slow students. The result is he does a lot of self-study which includes a lot of college level work while in middle school and high school.

Lee is good at choosing Distance Learning courses that aren't too reliant on material he still has to study at his day school. When there is something he has to study ahead in he studies the material as a Distance Learning course so no one at the school knows how far ahead he is of where he's supposed to be. This often results in Lee having less of an in-class participation than is liked by the teachers, but he manages it.

Jack and Madeline aren't concerned with Lee studying subjects ahead of what his classmates do because he does it at home. However, they do wonder how he can do some of the courses because he doesn't have a high school diploma. When they ask Lee about it he says, “I suspect they think I'm a soldier on base as I go through the Fort Bragg Distance Learning Center for the course registration and administration. They have a process where I can pay for the courses direct and Grandfather set up for them to bill him for them. Even the on-line services I use were initially set up through the Fort Bragg Distance Learning Center. Once I was registered and in their system they just allow me to do any course I can pay for, provided I've done the prerequisites or I can pass their on-line test to show I understand the required entry material. Before you ask, the few times I've had an issue understanding something in one of the courses I've been able to get someone through the Distance Learning Center to tutor me, and I paid them for their help.”

Slowly shaking her head in wonder Madeline says, “Well, I can't fault you for wanting to learn things. Just make sure to have some fun too.” Lee smiles while he nods his head in agreement. However, some of what he considers fun his parents call work, so it's easy for him to have fun.

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Military Family Life

One aspect of the Taylor family life is the times Madeline is away from home due to performing her duties as a military officer in a combat unit. However, due to most of Lee's friends at school and in the area where he lives also being from military families it's a common part of the daily lives of them all. For most families the absent one is usually the father, but there are others where it's the mother and a few where both parents are away on duty at different times. This fact of life makes a few aspects of life a little bit more difficult, but they all deal with it and get on with life. What does come out of it is the children of the parents who go away on duty become closer friends and help each other out where they can.

Another aspect they all learn to live with is the risks of having a member of the family serving in a combat unit. Every time they go on a deployment or a training activity there's a risk the family member going away may get hurt or killed. It's another matter they learn to live with.

Most of the married military members take the time to explain to their children the risks involved in their work, although some details are kept quiet until they feel their children can handle the concepts involved. Thus most of the children of the military families have a much more realistic approach to life than the children they know from non-military families. Also, military family parents often teach their children to be much more independent than most children are. Many are also taught to be a lot more aware of their surroundings and how to anticipate and respond to problems instead of just reacting to problems when they occur.

This usually results in the children from military families being more self-confident and independent. While this isn't true of all of the children in these families it's true for the majority of them. The children talk to each other about what's going on in the lives of their families as well as their studies at school and out of school, as most of them are doing extra studies outside of the usual school hours. Often the extra studies relate to sports or hobbies while the older children tend toward studies aimed at what they want to do in life if they've already made a decision on their future work. Due to the influence of their parents most are involved in some sort of physical fitness training or in martial arts of some sort.

Lee, like all the military children, lives a cycle of parental care around the presence of the parent in the service. When his mother is home Lee spends more of his time with her, and when she's away on duty he tends to spend more of his spare time with his father. When both are busy with a work project of some sort Lee spends more time with his extra studies or with the other children during the daylight hours after school.

Across the country the basic dress of a child is jeans and a t-shirt, especially at school. However, when away from school and near their homes many of the military children end up dressing in kid-sized BDUs (Battle Dress Uniforms - what many people call fatigues), because they're comfortable and hard-wearing. Lee is sure many of his friends' parents are like his father who buys them from the base stores because they're a lot cheaper than jeans and last longer, and saves them money. One aspect of wearing clothing matching the military personnel is once they grow to be tall enough to look like a short soldier the children are often mistaken for junior members of the military units while walking around the base. A lot of the children turn it into a game by imitating the way the troops move about the base. A few even take it further to travel as if they're a unit in transit when on base as a group for some reason. While they don't trick the serving members, due to not wearing any ranks or unit patches, they do surprise some non-military visitors to the base about how young some of the troops on the base look when they see a group of children in BDUs double time on their way to somewhere on base. Most such trips are to use the few base facilities they're allowed to use or to visit friends who live on base or to go shopping at one of the shops on the base.

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'Tinker' Taylor: Spy

Helping Hand

One Saturday afternoon Madeline and Jack are having a cook-out for a group of their friends who recently left the Army for various reasons. A lot of them had served with Madeline on different operations with the largest group of them being recently retired from the same company on medical grounds or their enlistment expiring and them not re-enlisting.

A year before they were all on a recovery mission with Madeline in charge when it went to hell. They did successfully complete the mission, but most of them were seriously wounded when they had to fight their way to their secondary extraction point because of a number of enemy forces at both extraction sites and along their travel routes. It was clear to all involved their plans had been leaked to the enemy at some point soon after they were able to rescue the people they were sent to help get out of the country. After Madeline reported the intelligence breakdown the people in charge of the operation's intelligence said the problem had to be at her end. Madeline didn't accept that because her troops didn't have the exact location of the second pick-up point but the enemy forces had it. Since she didn't tell the enemy then the location had to have been given out by someone at the operational command center. When the details of this dispute became known the troops involved decided it was time to leave the Army to put all of that trouble behind them, so they did.

Many of the retired soldiers are discussing setting up a company of their own to contract with the government for the people to do the same sort of work, but without the usual government oversight to approve all of the aspects of the operation. A lot of them like the idea.

The discussion slows when Jack asks, “Have you written a business plan yet? Do you plan to work full-time or part-time? Thought about the hardware you want and the costs? What about getting intelligence on the task, the people, and the location?” He pauses to let that sink in before adding, “A lot more is involved in putting together those operations than hitching a ride and going to the location. Also, those types of operations aren't all that common. Although, there are some segments of the government who would love to have a private company to call on to take such risks when they want to be able to disavow the operation if things go wrong or if they go exceedingly well.”

They move to talking about resolving all of the issues and what they can do when not on a mission. The biggest issue for them is obtaining reliable intelligence on the operation and area. The one they talk about the most is what to do for a living when not on such rare operations. The next most important part is how they go about finding clients and work.

The meal is well in the past and the evening is closing in when Lee says, “You may want to consider operating as a part-time business along the lines of the old televisions show 'Mission Impossible' where they had folders on people's skills and selected a team to suit the operation after the basic plan is decided on.”

Jack laughs as he says, “Lee, you must've been digging around in the TV archives to find those shows! I'm surprised a thirteen year-old knows about the TV show. Although, that does seem a good way to set up for those types of operations if they don't also want to work as bodyguards and building security.” The discussion moves on, but nothing is settled.

A few days later Madeline has a quiet word with one of the generals who often tasks her with the recovery operations. After she explains what they talked about on Saturday he promises to sound out a few people then get back to her. The General later talks to some senior people at the National Security Council (NSC). Two months later word is passed back to Madeline the NSC would like to see such a group set up. While they could loan equipment for a task they can't create it. Madeline mentions it to Jack and Lee, then Lee talks to his grandfather and a new company is set up under Lee's personal trust account to finance the new business.

Having Lee's grandfather set up the company under Lee's personal trust helps to distance the company from the US government and the Army while also providing the initial funds for the company.

The retired soldiers all agree to work part-time as required by the business whenever an operation comes their way. Sergeant John Turner is the administrator. They have to rely on word of mouth for clients since it's not the type of business you can advertise on television. However, clients are slow in approaching them as those involved are being very choosy about who they let know about the new company named Omega Recovery Company with a short name of Omega or ORC with an Omega symbol as their shoulder patch logo while they also used a stylized image of the fictional Orc on their letterhead along with the Omega symbol.

The first ORC operations aren't quite along the lines they expect, while they are dangerous and deadly. In the first year of operation they retrieve several kidnap victims from criminal groups within the US and Mexico. They also help a few people to escape from the compounds of some of the more extreme cults as well as a few other groups who make it hard for people to leave them. With each successful operation the word spreads through the people with power, those with money, and some government groups about the skills of the Omega People, as they're often called, to get a hard job done at a reasonable price for the task without all of the hassles required to have it done by government organizations. Their reputation grows with each successful operation due to them never failing a task they take on, becase they research and plan them very well.

A large part of their success is due to them insisting the client pays them to conduct their own evaluation of the job before writing a contract and planning it. This lets them confirm the intelligence given to them by other sources before they plan the operation. What does surprise them is when they find out which government supplied intelligence sources can be trusted all of the time, and which can't always be trusted. Why some of the intelligence work of those organizations is good and some is bad is something they can't work out, but they do note the results and they take great care with what they get told from some of the organizations.

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Distant Drums

On a Saturday in late April fifteen year-old Lee is wearing BDUs while he hides in the bushes near the back door of his home. He's sitting with his legs crossed while working hard on pretending to be a part of the bushes. He has his paintball marker loaded with a dozen paint balls of a special chemical mix a friend made for him. The contents of the balls won't leave a color mark on the target, but they will make it smell like a skunk had sprayed it. The gun is sitting on a support ready to fire with Lee's arm also supported in the ready to fire position. This way he won't have to move his arm to shoot his target when it appears. The laser sight Lee has mounted on the gun and sighted-in will ensure his aim is good.

About an hour after Lee takes up his position he sees movement in the bushes near the back of the yard. His target has arrived. Lee waits for it to move further into the yard to be sure of his aim while thinking, Now I'll make that damn cat attacking the birds at Dad's feeders very sorry. Maybe this will encourage it to stay away. The cat is halfway from the rear bushes to the feeders with the local birds feeding there when Lee turns on the laser and he starts to slowly bring his weapon on target. The sound of the patio door sliding open and voices has the cat immediately spinning in its own length and streaking for the back fence bushes again. Lee thinks, Damn, now I'm going to be sitting here for another hour or more.

Then he hears his mother say, “General, much as I hate to say it, this Operation Sunflower just won't work. I'd like to close the scum down, but there's a leak you can't find, so you'll only be sending people out to get killed. Find the leak and deal with it, then I can put together a team.”

Lee sits still and he listens while they talk about the operation and the problems with it. When he hears the operation is to close down a ring of people kidnapping young children for the sex slave trade he realizes how upset his mother is about not being able to deal with these people. But he agrees they can't take any action until they can counter the leak in the HQ area. From their talk Lee knows operations from three different groups have been compromised by the leak, and that makes it hard to locate the source of the leak. The only thing the two discussing the project can agree on is it seems the leak is more than one source, and that makes it almost impossible to locate. After a fifteen minute talk they go inside, and a little later Lee hears a car drive away. He continues to sit still and wait.

Thirty minutes later the cat returns. Lee waits until the cat is almost at the bird feeders. The cat often freezes while watching the birds as it stalks them. Lee waits. The cat moves a little then it stops. The laser is on the cat's middle so Lee fires two rounds very fast. The cat's head comes up at the sound of the gas discharge to launch the paint ball on its way. For a fraction of a second the cat stays still before it spins in place and starts to run away. The first ball hits the cat's side as it starts its turn and the second round hits the cat's back just after it finishes turning. Lee thinks, Got ya! I wonder what your owner will think of you when you get home smelling like that? Lee starts to stand up, but the cat is out of sight before he can get to his feet. Lee walks over to where he shot the cat, he pulls a small handheld sprayer from his pocket, and he sprays the ground where some of the chemical splashed after the balls hit the cat. The chemical in the sprayer will negate the chemical that was in the paint ball so the area will smell OK in a few minutes. Lee smiles as he walks back inside.

For the rest of the weekend Lee thinks about the conversation he overheard. Like his mother he doesn't like not being able to take down the bad guys involved, but it's just too risky with the leaks in the system letting them know when a team is on its way in to deal with them.

During the week Lee has a thought, makes a call, and visits a retired soldier after school on the following Thursday. At a house a few blocks away he walks around the back to find a man in his workshop, and Lee says, “Sarge, what do you know about Operation Sunflower?”

Sergeant John 'Wood' Turner, US Army retired, turns to Lee to say, “I know enough to know I don't want to go near it, that you shouldn't even know about it, and it pisses me off we can't deal with the scum. Why?”

“Well, I don't know the location or the other details, but it seems to me the only real problem is the fact no one can get an operation activated without their spies knowing about it.” Turner nods his agreement. “Well, what if we can get a small team in to do the recon and get the recovery done before anyone here is told it's being done?”

Turner smiles at Lee as he says, “That's a good basic idea! It has only a few problems. One, the people in the remote target area will be very careful of any unknown men in the area. Two, the cost of getting the team to the location without help from higher up. Three, we need somewhere safe to stay in the area. Solve those three and we may have a chance.”

“OK! I'll work on it. While I do that why don't you list a support unit of four or five people to support the field agent and to provide cover fire in the extraction phase. Where are we talking about?”

While slowly shaking his head Turner grins as he says, “I can do that.” He then tells Lee where the operation needs to occur. Lee sighs on hearing the location, slowly nods, and walks away to go home while he thinks about this. He already has item one covered and he's sure he can cover item two, but the third is the real problem for him to solve.

The following weekend Lee is with his grandfather for the weekend. At one point they're alone and Lee says, “Gramps, I don't know if you know who to talk to, but I know you know who to talk to so you can find out who to talk to about what I want.” His grandfather smiles at the convoluted statement. “I need to talk to someone in the Mossad who you have reason you can trust my life to. Can you arrange it?”

Randolph Leyland turns to stare at Lee for a moment before he sighs and replies, “I know someone I can speak to. What's this about?”

“Sorry, Gramps. Need to know. This has already cost too many lives for me to not keep it close to my chest.”

“I see! I think. I'll set it up. I suppose you want it to be face to face in a secure environment where I introduce you and vanish!” Lee simply nods his agreement while he gives his grandfather a weak grin. “Each day you're more and more like your mother. Is she a part of this?”

“No! I can't afford to involve her because she would have to notify a few others who I need to keep it from. I also need to try and get this done this summer, so we need to move quickly. The longer this takes to get ready the more chance it will come apart on me.”

Randolph sighs as he nods his agreement while thinking, I don't like this, but he's way too much like his mother. Well, he's better trained than she was when she started on these activities. I just hope he knows what he's doing with this one. The rest of the weekend is a good time of fun activities and Randolph teaches Lee a few things about scuba-diving as well.

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A Friend of a Friend

On the Friday a week later Lee and Randolph leave immediately after school to fly to Washington, D.C., in a small jet. On the flight Randolph and Lee change into evening dress suits. At Dulles International Airport they're met by a car with a driver to take them to the Israeli Embassy in Cleveland Park, D.C., where Lee is surprised to find they're attending a dinner party where he's the youngest person there by over two decades.

After the meal the fifteen people there move to a large lounge room to talk. When they're almost to the lounge room door Randolph stops to introduce Lee to a man by saying, “Lee, I can't tell you this gentleman's real name but I'll introduce him to you as David. I trust him a lot. He's the man you want to talk to. I'll go chat with some folks while you have your talk.” Lee smiles, nods, and turns to follow David to a room.

A few minutes later David shows Lee into a room, shuts the door, turns on a switch beside the door, turns to Lee, and says, “This room is shielded. Normally I wouldn't speak to someone as young as you, but I owe Randolph a lot for his past help. I'm surprised I could not get any information on you from any of the regular sources in the time available to me. So who are you, and what do you want to talk with me about?”

Lee grins as he says, “I bet you were told my name is Lee Taylor and that was all!” David nods his head yes. Lee adds, “I've been called Lee since the day I was born, so that's all people know me as. However, my legal name is Randolph Leyland Taylor, my father is Master Sergeant Jack Taylor, retired, and mother is Lieutenant Colonel Madeline Leyland. I'm sure that helps you to put things into perspective.”

David laughs as he says, “The checks on Randolph showed his son-in-law as Taylor and Randolph had a grandson, but none of us equated Lee Taylor to being his grandson. We all thought you were just a friend of Randolph since Taylor is a common name and we couldn't find any of your father's family with the name Lee. OK. That explains why Randolph was pushing to have me talk with you. Why?”

“I'm sure your sources know about a proposed US plan that's on hold called Operation Sunflower and why it's on hold.”

“Yes, I do know about that operation and why it's held up. I'd like to see it done by my people, but we can't afford any backlash if we do it.”

“Good, David. It's likely you know more about the details than I do. As I see it the issues with the operation are the US has an information leak that stops them from getting the operation off the ground and the targets are very wary of new men in the target area. I believe the first can be countered by not having any US government involvement until after the recovery is made. The second can be dealt with by having a ground agent they won't think is an agent. That leaves a few issues I need some help with to get this show on the road. First is intelligence on the target and target area without involving the US intelligence services. Second is a way to reach the target area without any US help. Third is an extraction method without any US help. Last is somewhere in the area to safely hide a four or five person support team while the agent is busy at work.”

David scrutinizes Lee for a moment before saying, “ I'm surprised at someone your age organizing this, but I can help you with all of that if I think you have a chance. Also, I don't need to get any help or approvals to help you in this as I can authorize what's needed. However, I need to be convinced they won't pick out your agent on arrival there.”

Lee grins as he replies in Arabic, “I'm short for my age and I think I can easily look like I'm younger than I am.”

After a long and hard laugh David says, “That's one answer I was not expecting.” He switches to Arabic with a slightly different accent as he asks, “Can you do this accent which is what they use in that region?”

Copying the accent Lee says, “I'm sure I can with a little practice. Can you get me some tapes to listen to so I can practice the accent?”

In English David says, “You almost have it. Yes, I can get you tapes. I can get you into the area via Jizan Regional Airport in Saudi Arabia and the extraction will be from the entry point to Ovda Airport in Israel. You will need to get your group from the target compound back to my people in Jizan. The target compound is in the mountains east of Jizan. While it's near a Saudi village we believe the actual compound is across the border in Yemen. I'll get everything to you through Randolph.” After a little more discussion they shake hands then they leave the room. While they walk out David thinks, He's young and smart. I think he may be able to deal with this devil we're after. However, if he can't deal with him there's no way to link Lee back to us or the US government or Israel. I hope this plan of his works as it's the best chance I've heard about to stop this group's evil activities.

The next week Lee receives a packet of information delivered by his grandfather. It has a lot of details about the compound, the village near it, and recordings of people from that area in daily conversations. While the local accent is a little different to what Lee was originally taught it's close enough he has no trouble learning it. He also copies the recordings to give to Sergeant Turner for the support people he selected so they can all practice the local accent as well, because they all speak Arabic well.

When Lee hands over the tapes he tells Turner, “Sarge, I've arranged an independent insertion and extraction. I need a support group to be on hand if there's an extraction issue and we have to fight our way out. I figure the target won't see me as a likely risk to them.” Turner sighs when he simply nods as he takes the recordings. In the following days he organizes a support team and he gives them the recordings.

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A Country Boy Can Survive

On the Friday of the first week in June the team of Lee and four combat veterans who speak Arabic well are leaving a plane at the King Abdullah bin Addulaziz Airport in Jizan. David got the team into the country near the east coast and they took a commercial flight across the country. While the preparation time is short it is sufficient for the small team to get ready for the task on hand. The biggest advantage they have in this operation is the very high level of secrecy. Other than the team involved only David and Sergeant Turner know about the mission. David organized for the people getting them into the country to be different to the ones who'll help with the extraction, and they're different to the local village helpers. None know who they're helping, nor why, nor who else is helping them. No one in the US intelligence or military organizations are aware of them going in, nor does anyone within David's organization or government know about the team being deployed.

At this time the plan is to get the team in place so they can evaluate the situation. If they can organize the recovery of any kidnap victims they'll do so while inflicting as much damage as they safely can do to the kidnappers prior to leaving. Otherwise they'll plan for the recovery to take place later while setting up and asking for more people. There's just too many unknowns for them to do a detailed plan yet. One aspect of the plan is for Turner to contact the General to get a contract for ORC to do the job signed by the NSC once the team is on the way out.

While moving through the terminal the team members find a place where they can change their clothes and their facial disguises to cut the links between their insertion and their on-site activity. As a result of the changes Lee looks a lot younger than he did on the aircraft while the others look older than they did on the aircraft. On leaving the terminal the team makes it's way to where they were told to meet up with their local contact. Code phrases are exchanged and they climb into the back of the truck loaded with things to be delivered to the village nearest their target. The trip is only around fifty miles with most of it on good roads without a lot of traffic, but the vehicle isn't the best and the roads near the end of the trip aren't the best, either. Thus it takes them close to an hour and a half to travel from Jizan to the village that's their destination.

The truck stops at a farm on the edge of the village for the team to get out and enter the farm where they'll be staying while in the village. Only Lee will leave the farm while they're here, the rest will help work the farm and stay out of sight as much as they can.

Two days after they arrive Lee walks into the center of the village with the other farm children: a boy Lee's age, another boy of about ten years-old, and two girls between their ages. Their job is to deliver some of the excess produce to a woman in the village market area and to collect some items wanted at the farm. The girls are doing the carrying while the three boys provide their male escort. This task is done every two or three days. The process has Lee being accepted by the locals under his cover name of Aziz while it also allows Lee to learn what he can about the area from what he can see and what the locals say near him.

At other times Lee and Abdul, the oldest farm boy, wander the hills. They claim to be out hunting, but the main reason is for Lee to get a good idea of the terrain and to find places where he can watch the compound from. He finds a few vantage points to watch the compound and the road to it. He can also tell trying to reach and climb the compound walls isn't going to work at all due to the terrain and what looks like landmines near the walls and the road. Watching how the compound's vehicles go along the road makes it clear it has some mines along it as well. There's two points where the vehicles deliberately drive on the wrong side of the road, and they always drive on the same side of the road when they go through those two areas. Each area is only about a hundred yards long and there appears to be markers beside the road, but they are a concern.

Each night Lee describes what he's done and what he's seen to his support people so they know what's happening, then they discuss it all. One night about two weeks after they reached the farm they all agree there's no way to make an external entry to the compound, unless they can find its secret exit. They're sure there is one, but they can't find it.

On the first day of July the farm children are in the market with food when a truck from the compound drives into the market place and stops. Four men get out and stand beside the truck. Half an hour later a bus drives up beside it and a dozen mid-teen boys get off the bus.

Lee asks Abdul, “Do you know what this is about?”

Abdul replies, “I'm not sure, but this happens every two or three months. I think they're new staff for the compound. I don't know.”

Lee and Abdul watch while the men check the bags of the boys, they search the boys, then they check off their names on a list they have. One of the men says, “That's all on the list and they'll do for recruit training, but we still need two more boys for errands in the house.”

The one in charge looks around, spots Lee and Abdul, walks over to them, and demands to see their identity papers. The two boys don't like this but there's little they can do with the four armed men watching them, so they get out their papers and hand them to the man. He reads the papers, looks the boys over, and says, “Get on the truck. You just got hired to work.” When Abdul goes to object the man says, “Someone here will tell your family about your new work. Move.” He hands them back their identity documents but he doesn't write their names down.

Lee sighs, grabs Abdul's arm, and they move toward the truck. They climb in and look for seats. The only spot big enough for them both is at the front of the truck on the driver's side, so Lee goes there to sit down and Abdul sits beside him. Lee quietly says, “I don't think it wise to say anything to him.” Abdul gives a short laugh before nodding agreement. Lee adds, “I hope they pay us for the work.” Which gets another nod.

The man is correct in the other children saw what happened and they tell everyone at the farm about it when they get back. Lee's team discuss what this means, then they decide to sit and wait to see what happens.

Because all of the background checking of people is done before they get sent to the compound no one checks the background of Abdul and Lee. Also, because all of the boys had been searched before they told Lee and Abdul to get in the truck the two boys aren't searched. So they get to enter the compound with all the materials they normally carry on them. Thus they're the only new people who are armed. Both boys have knives while Lee has some drugs as well as a .25 ACP pistol in his pocket.

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Interlude

Jack and Madeline go to Randolph's home to celebrate the 4th of July with the rest of the family. When they don't see Lee there Madeline asks, “Jack, when is this camp you sent Lee on over?”

He lowers the drink he's about to sip from as he says, “I thought you sent him on the camp. I only know he told me he was going to a camp for the summer, but he didn't say how long.” Madeline's eyes go wide while she shakes her head no.

Just then Randolph walks over to them. He hears what Jack said and says, “Lee hoped to be back by now, but he does plan to be back before school starts. I don't know where he went, but he did ask me to cover for him if anyone asks. So I ask you don't make an issue of his absence.” Both of Lee's parents turn to give Randolph hard stares, so he adds, “I've no idea what it's about, but I did promise to cover his butt.” They both sigh and nod agreement while they wonder what their son is up to.

While they trust Lee a lot they don't like how he tricked them and he didn't clear this with them before going away to wherever it is he went.

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In various parts of the world a number of men are kidnapping eight to twelve year old children to order. Some are for their looks while some are selected as a way of hurting their families. In all, fifteen children are kidnapped and smuggled around the world over a ten days in July.

One by one the kidnapped children all arrive in an old warehouse set up to house them as prisoners. In the last week of July there are nineteen children in the warehouse. Their hands are tied together, their mouths gagged, and they're loaded onto a bus. The bus leaves on a long drive to a remote compound. They arrive at the compound on July thirtieth.

Around the same time a dozen men head toward the same compound after they either fly into the area or drive across the country. All of the men arrive at the compound on the thirty-first of July.

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Bad Moon Rising

Within a week of being taken to the compound Abdul and Lee are hard at work within the household. They're fully accepted by the other workers there while the other boys from the truck are being trained as fighters for some group the two boys don't know the name of because it's never said in their hearing. Within two weeks both boys are running errands all over the compound without anyone asking what they're doing or why. It's just assumed they were given orders to do something and they're now doing it. Thus the two boys are able to acquire a few things for their own use without being noticed by anyone in authority.

In the afternoon of July thirtieth Abdul and Lee are given baskets of food to take to a part of the compound they hadn't previously been to. Each of the doors in the area are locked with the key on a peg nearby, except for one door where there's a key on the peg, but the one to open the door is concealed above the door to the left of the door they have to go through. Lee's interest is raised by this extra security, especially when a similar set up is used on the door at the far end of the hall, but the key is above the door on the right side of the hall.

At the end of the long walk they enter a large room with a number of children locked in cells and the two boys are ordered to give each child a measure of the food they have and one of the bottles of water they have. Both do as they're told with blank expressions on their faces. However, Lee thinks, I need to bust these kids out of here very soon because the reports only have them being held here for two or three days, at the most.

That night Lee and Abdul have a discussion before Lee goes to check on the trucks in the compound. He finds they're fueled and ready to go. He already knows where the truck keys are kept and how they disable them against theft, he found that out in the first week in the compound.

The next morning Abdul and Lee make a similar feeding trip to the cells. After lunch they spend a lot of time taking extra food and drink to the VIP guest rooms. In mid-afternoon the two boys watch a number of cars arrive and a lot of very well dressed men get out of them. After being greeted the men are shown to the VIP guest rooms.

The workers like Lee and Abdul eat before everyone else so they're on hand to act as servers when required. While they eat their evening meal the man who's in charge of the house servants says, “Abdul, Aziz, tonight you need to dress in clean clothes as soon as you finish eating. You will be attending to the guests by collecting their purchases from the cells and taking them to the guests' rooms.” Both boys simply nod to show they understand their orders. It seems this is another of those tasks given to the newest of the low level workers.

After eating their meal the two boys wash and get changed into clean clothes. As he dresses Lee makes sure he has all of his weapons on him. When Abdul sees Lee arming himself he does the same. He now has four good knives to use instead of the one poor quality knife he had when he arrived. Like Lee, Abdul was able to acquire a few extra items from the stores when no one was watching them closely.

Once they're changed they present themselves for inspection. Their supervisor looks them over, checks they're freshly bathed and dressed in clean clothes, then he sends them off to the office of the senior assistant of the compound's owner. When they walk in the door Abdul and Lee are faced with two armed men pointing pistols at them. The senior assistant has one guard behind his chair, a bunch of black cloth bags on the desk, the safe is open with more cloth bags, there's a book the man is writing in, and papers on the desk. On identifying them the men put their guns away, followed by the man at the desk pointing to a sheet of paper while he says, “Take the list there, match the children with the numbers, and take them to the guests on the list.”

Both boys nod as Lee reaches for the list with his right hand while saying, “Yes, Sir,” as he slips his left hand into his robes to get the pistol he has. Both of the men relax and the man at the desk goes back to his book while the guard watches Lee. The guard stiffens when he sees Lee's left hand lifting up with a pistol in it. However, before he can do more than start to reach for his own gun Lee places a .25 ACP hollow point round in the man's forehead before changing his aim to shoot the man at the desk. The short barreled, sound suppressed .25 ACP firing sub-sonic hollow point rounds at only five hundred feet per second makes almost no noise at all, apart from the click-clack of loading a new round.

While dropping the magazine to replace the two fired rounds from the extras in his pocket Lee softly says, “I've been wanting to do that since we arrived. Grab the briefcase then put all of the contents of the safe and the desk into it.”

Abdul replies, “So have I. This looks like you don't intend to stay the night.” Lee shakes his head no to indicate he's not staying. “Good. Let's get this done.” Both boys are busy while they talk. In a few minutes the two expended bullet cases are in Lee's pocket, the two bodies are hidden in the cupboard, the desk is tidy with all of the papers and the cloth bags from it in the briefcase, the now empty safe is shut and locked.

Lee leads the way as they walk out of the main building. They stop to re-enable one of the trucks, put the keys to it in Abdul's pocket, and hide the briefcase in the truck. Then on to the cells.

They follow the correct procedures to access the cells by using the hidden keys. In the final area they show the list to the man in charge. He smiles as he waves at the children waiting in line. Each one has a collar on them with a number on a tag hanging from the collar, they're gagged, and their hands are tied behind them. Short leads of about three feet long are clipped to the front of each collar and the other end is clipped to the back of the collar of the child in front, except for the lead girl who has a longer lead hanging to the ground in front of her. Abdul takes up the lead of the front child and he starts to lead them out. However, the count is one short of the number they've been feeding. The man turns to go back to his rooms to the side of the cells, so Lee shoots him in the back of the head. Lee picks up the casing before going to the room where he finds the missing girl. He leads her out while calling to Abdul to wait a moment. In less than a minute the girl is added to the end of the line and they start leaving again. On the way out Lee locks the doors, but he places the key from the peg in the hiding spot and the door key on the peg just to make it harder for people to get into the cells soon.

When they exit the building the cells are in they walk across the open inner compound to the main building in order to not alert the guards on the walls and watch towers around the compound. They can get to the truck unseen from this building by using another exit.

Lee walks up to Abdul to have a short quiet talk. They reach an agreement on how to do things then they go to the first guest room. Abdul knocks, the door is opened, and they enter. Lee apologizes for not knowing the man when he asks the man his name while he checks the room out. There are three men there, the VIP guest and two guards. On being given the name Lee looks at the lists and says, “Sir, I see I have to leave numbers seven and eight here with you. Is that correct?”

The man smiles and starts to walk forward when Lee turns toward the line of children. The two guards relax a little, then they start to react, but it's too late to do any good when Abdul suddenly throws his knife at the guard on his side while Lee's left hand comes up with the pistol to shoot the other guard and the guest. They stop only long enough to strip any valuables from the dead, their identity documents, hide the dead, reload the gun's magazine, and collect the fired cases.

The group goes from room to room with Abdul and Lee killing all of the men in each room. In some rooms there's three men, some only have two men. In one room they find a bag of diamonds on each of the dead men so Lee takes a moment to check the identity documents on the two men, and he smiles when he sees they have US passports. He thinks, I do hope I've just closed part of the leak in the US. Lee also takes their cell phones, but he removes the batteries before putting them in a pocket.

While they don't dawdle it still takes time to do all they have to do, so it's almost an hour after they were sent to do this task before Abdul and Lee are helping the children into the back of the truck. They leave them tied up and gagged to minimize any talking. Lee tells them, using both English and Arabic, “We're getting you out of here to get you home. But we have to make like we're part of this operation to do so. We'll untie you when we reach a safe place.” After seeing they're all seated the back is closed and the cover tied down Lee tells Abdul, “Warm up the truck, I've got a few more presents to hand out.” Abdul smiles while he nods, then he goes to start the truck. He has to let it warm for several minutes before they can drive away, and this is the most dangerous time for them.

Lee goes to the armory, lets himself in by using the spare key he stole in the first week, collects some explosives and some timers, then he goes about the compound leaving timed bombs to go off in a few hours time.

Lee is back at the truck in plenty of time. The two boys smile at each other when Lee lays several AK47 rifles and a bag of loaded magazines in the foot-well of the truck. They both look around the compound, climb into the cab of the truck, and get ready to leave. Both can drive, but Lee has Abdul drive so he's left able to shoot anyone he has to shoot. Lee has both his pistol and a loaded AK47 ready to use, if they need them.

It's still early in the evening so no one should be worried about the truck leaving, but the boys don't know if there's a protocol to be used when leaving the compound. As the truck approaches the gate one of the guards leaves the guardroom, looks at the truck, recognizes the faces in the cab, turns to say something into the room, and he waves at the boys as the gates open so they can drive through it. Lee watches to see the gates close behind them while he says, “I hope you remember where to drive to avoid the landmines, Abdul.”

“I think so. We'll soon find out.” He does remember where he has to drive to be safe, so they make it back to the village in one piece.

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On the Road Again

The trip to the farm is no problem, but getting everyone to calm down when they get there is a major issue. However, they do get things calmed down, then they quickly explain what's happening while they release all of the children. Abdul and his parents have a short discussion then they load all of their important personal gear into the truck, Abdul's father takes over as the truck driver, and everyone else gets in the back, except Lee. The extra guns and ammunition go in the back as well.

Just before they leave Lee jumps out, goes to the back of the truck, asks for a special phone, he waits a moment for it to be handed to him, then he gets back in the cab and they get going. The truck has more than enough fuel to get them to the airport, so they don't have to stop until they get there.

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Tie a Yellow Ribbon

While they drive down the mountains Lee turns on the satellite phone he has and he checks he has a good signal. He enters a number from his memory and he waits until it's answered with, “Workshop.”

Lee says, “Start the lathe. Full delivery is on the way,” and he hangs up so if anyone is listening in they don't have the time to locate him.

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John Turner stares at the phone in his hand while he thinks, How in the hell did they manage to do that? Slowly shaking his head he dials a number and he waits for them to answer. When they do he says, “General, Sergeant Turner here. Do you still want someone to deal with those child sex slave people in the Middle East?”

In an office deep in the Pentagon a worried General says, “Yes, we do, Sergeant. The scum have recently kidnapped some kids from families of important people who have been causing them troubles. When can you get a contract to me?”

“I'll go and email it to you now.” John goes inside, opens the correct program, works out how long they've been gone, enters the amount they previously worked out, and he sends it to the General's email address.

Half an hour later he has the contract back with the proper electronic signatures and codes to show it's been accepted. Also, half of the amount has already been deposited to the ORC bank account. John smiles at their first really Impossible Mission being arranged and done.

John's phone rings and he answers it to hear the General ask, “When can your people go, Sergeant? What do we need to do to support you?”

“General, the project leader didn't trust your intelligence people so they're already deployed. How soon can you deploy a passenger jet with a few fighters for protection to Tel Aviv for the final return stages? The team is already in country and are on their way out with a number of packages. I don't know how many.”

“Damn! You went in without approval, what if we weren't going to agree to the price?”

“The team leader had the help set up and the basic money covered before he took the team in. Someone will be in contact when they reach Tel Aviv. See if you can locate the leak while you get the jet on its way.”

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After a ten minute wait Lee makes a second call after switching to the second frequency the phone uses. When the phone is answered he says, “Watch Sixty Minutes for a plane story about thirty packages.”

David smiles as he replies, “I'll look for the story.” They both hang up. David makes a couple of other calls to ensure all is ready for Lee and his group to safely leave the country.

After another ten minute wait Lee switches back to the first frequency to call a third number. It's answered by a voice Lee doesn't recognize so he says, “Tell the Colonel T Two said to tie a yellow ribbon,” and hangs up. He sighs while he puts the phone away. He hopes he just spoke to a new member of staff he doesn't know and it's not an intercepted call. However, if it was an intercept they won't make much sense of it.

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In an office at Fort Bragg a puzzled corporal gives the phone a strange look while she slowly hangs it up. The sergeant walking into the office asks, “What's wrong, Corporal Mills?”

“I just had the weirdest phone call, Sergeant. As soon as I answered the person said 'Tell the Colonel T Two said to tie a yellow ribbon,' and they hung up before I could say another word. That's damn weird.”

Sergeant Davis smiles as he says, “I'm sure it sounded that way. But it makes sense to me.” Mills stares at him. He walks to the door to the inner office, knocks, waits to be told to enter, and he walks in saying, “News, Ma'am. T Two said to tell you to tie a yellow ribbon. Nothing else.”

Madeline looks up and says, “Now why is he concerned about radio traffic intercepts and message decryption? Damn, I wish I knew where he went and what he's up to.” The phone in the outer office rings again, it's answered, and put through.

The General says, “Colonel Leyland, I just had word from your people at ORC they just completed Operation Sunflower. Why didn't you tell me they were going in?”

“Because, Sir, they never told me.” Then she starts adding things up and says, more to herself than anyone else, “I'll kill him!”

“Kill who, Colonel.”

Coming back to the phone Madeline says, “Sir, my son, Lee, has been away who knows where all of the summer. His grandfather covered for him going away to an unknown destination. I just got a cryptic phone message that he's coming home. It was done in a way that indicates he was under very tight communications security. I think he took a team in country without telling me about it. I don't know how he knew about the operation or how he got in country, but it's the only thing that makes any sense of all of this to me.”

“Well. I was told the team is bringing out a bunch of packages via Tel Aviv, so I guess he got help from some Mossad people. But how could he do this at all?”

“General, Lee speaks better Arabic than I do, and he's a much better shot as well.” They talk for a few more minutes before they hang up.

When the call is finished Davis tilts his head in a silent question while looking at his boss, and Madeline says, “ORC has just completed that damned Operation Sunflower. I think Lee took the team in and is now on his way out again.” Davis slowly shakes his head while he turns around and walks out of the office, closing the door behind him.

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About the same time as the truck Lee is in enters the outskirts of Jizan the timers on the explosive reach their time limit. A lot of explosions rip apart the parts of the compound where Lee had been busy placing the explosives to take out the leaders, guards, armory, and the guests.

When the explosives start going off many people are moving about in the compound trying to find the senior assistant as he failed to make his end of day report. Many of the people in the open area are killed or hurt by the explosives set to destroy the vehicles and armory. Others are killed by the explosives set in the main residential areas to cover the deaths of the guests. The areas where the bulk of the household staff live and work aren't damaged in the direct explosions, but some of the secondary effects of the shock waves and the shrapnel does damage them. Only the few senior staff who are in the main residence area when the bombs go off are killed in the blasts. Because some of the bombs were set to blow out the walls there are extra blasts when parts of the wall fall onto the landmines in the area around the compound and they set the mines off.

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Twenty minutes after reaching the airport everyone from the truck is in an old cargo plane waiting to take off. The stolen guns are left in the truck as David's local people will deal with them. Lee is carrying the briefcase of the things he took from the compound.

Once the plane is in the air two of Lee's support team walk around talking to all of the kidnap victims to get their names and the details on how to contact their families. They list them down to send out when they feel it's safe to pass the information on by radio or phone.

None of those in the plane relax until it enters Israeli airspace, and they all sigh when it lands at Ovda Airport in Israel. The plane is a cargo plane on a regular flight between the two airports, so it doesn't raise any alerts with the air traffic controllers. However, sitting on the floor leaning against the cargo isn't all that comfortable, so all are happy to leave the aircraft after it enters the hanger and the doors are shut for privacy.

Lee and his group are walking across the hanger floor when David walks out of an office to greet them. One of the girls sees him and she runs to him while calling out in Hebrew, “Uncle Hiram, you saved me.”

David replies in Hebrew, “I helped, but the worn out young man at the back of this group is the one who did it. I only helped him.”

Lee walks up and says, “I caught the odd word in that, Hiram.”

“I wear many hats, Lee. I guess you recovered the children and left once you saw they had them.”

“Yes. I was working inside the compound when they arrived, so I acted to get them out before they could be moved on to other locations where we couldn't get them back. I felt it better to act while they were all together in the same place.” Lee holds up the briefcase as he adds, “I've got a lot of papers and other things here I'd like you to handle for me. The top boss was out of my reach, but his top assistant and the VIP guests are all dead. I did leave some presents for them to have a bang-up party after we left.”

“We have some lovely satellite images of the place being severely damaged by the explosions. The Saudi officials are already searching the site and identifying the dead. I don't think they'll get much until after dawn gives them more light. However, they've already identified a few of the dead as very important people whose families won't be happy they're dead. Nor will they be happy about it being known where they died or what they were doing when they died. A cover up is already in the works from those who know who is likely to be involved. I find it very interesting who already knows who is dead before their bodies are found in the debris of the site. That shows there are a lot more people who knew what was going on at the compound than we thought knew about the activities and events there.”

“Well, I'll let you and the others worry about all of that and the other political repercussions from the event. The people we were with had to come out because they were compromised. If they aren't your people or you don't want to resettle them in Israel I'll take them to the States and see about getting them approved as legal migrants there.”

“With the damage done at the compound they don't need to be there to keep an eye on it now, so I'll help them get resettled back in their home village. Now, what do you have for me?”

They've been walking while they talk so they enter the office David came from while one of David's helpers directs everyone else to another room. Lee puts the briefcase down on the desk and he opens it while saying, “When I shot the head assistant I cleared out his safe and desk, so you now have all of his papers, and they won't know if they got destroyed in the explosions or not as I set one bomb in that room. I also got the passports or identity document of each of the VIPs and their guards I killed. Two of the VIPs were Americans, so I grabbed their cell phones as well, but I removed the batteries. I'll let you go through all of that crap and pass on what you want to send to where it should do the most good. I also collected a lot of bags of gems they were using to pay for things. I'd like you to sell them for me, give Abdul and his family five percent, keep ten percent for your help, and put the rest into a Nevis trust for me so I can get at it later. I feel sure you can do all of that, and I trust you to do it for me.”

David laughs as he says, “I don't think I want to do anything to make you angry at me. You just destroyed a very powerful man who was seen as one of the 'Untouchables:' that's someone too well connected and too powerful to be dealt with. Not only did you hit him on his home turf, you took out a lot of his closest allies and friends. If he lived through the bombs his reputation is all but destroyed because of what you've done to him. Good work. I also hear your mother is not happy with you.”

Lee laughs as he says, “I expected that. However, it had to be done, and done by someone in a way without the spies getting wind of it. When we went in the only people who knew about our involvement were my team, you, the few people you spoke with, and Sergeant Turner. I think the tight security and my youth is what allowed us to get through their security screen unchallenged.” They discuss the affair for some minutes before breaking up to get something to eat and drink.

An hour after arriving at Ovda Airport they're all in the air again on their way to Tel Aviv where three of the children are met by their families while Abdul's family are driven off in a van, and the rest of them board a plane to fly to the USA.

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Not So Easy

The kidnapped children are returned to their families who are very happy to have them back safe and sound. However, Lee's return home is a little more troublesome. Lee and his parents have a very long and heated talk about the events. In the end they see why he did what he did, but they aren't happy about it. The end result is Lee promises not to be involved in any future such activities without telling his father all of the details, or until after his eighteenth birthday and he's a legal adult. That seems to suit all of them, so the matter ends there.

The US intelligence community are happy with the ability of ORC to get the extremely difficult missions done, even if it is in a much more non-standard way than such things are usually done.

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The main target who Lee couldn't reach is injured in the explosions and he's taken to hospital, then transferred to another hospital. About ten days after the explosions at the compound the man dies of some odd complications while in the hospital. The staff had been thinking he would recover fully when he suddenly took a turn for the worse and died.

Many people suspect the man did survive the explosions but he was then eliminated by either his family as being an embarrassment or by the family of one of his guests who were upset with him about their family member dying due to the obvious major security breach at his home.

Despite their best efforts in their investigation the Saudi officials are unable to find out who attacked the compound or how. They are able to find out no official units from the US or Israeli military or intelligence services were involved in the attack. They still have a lot of lines of inquiry to follow up when they receive orders from higher command to terminate the investigation as not being worth any extra effort. Those in the investigation team recognize it's being shut down for political reasons and they agree with the decision, as they may be required to act if they do find out who conducted the raid. However, they don't want to act against whoever conducted the raid as they're glad to be rid of the people who were killed in the raid.

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Interlude

Three weeks after returning from his Operation Sunflower trip Lee is visiting with Sergeant Turner in his workshop. At one point the topic of conversation is, naturally, the events overseas. After a few minutes of discussion Lee asks, “Sarge, how hard is it to build a gun with a built-in suppressor?” Turner turns to look at Lee, so he adds, “I found the sound suppressed twenty-five very useful, but it was very hard to use due to the heavy forward weight as against the even balance of most handguns. I'm sure it's the suppressor's weight that makes the difference in the balance.” Turner nods to Lee. “Well, I was thinking about how to make a suitable gun that was properly balanced with the suppressor on it.”

Turner says, “You can do that with rifles, but not with handguns.”

“I'm sure it can be done if you go with a bullpup design. There's a lot of smaller bullpup guns of fully automatic design out there. We can take one of those and scale back its performance a bit while we make it a semi-automatic gun. If we also work on using a subsonic round the sound to be suppressed is a lot lower to start with.”

“I suppose that could be done. I'll have to talk to a few people.”

“Another thought I had is if we can cut down a rifle with a distinctive bullet to be the size of a handgun then cut the propellant to make it a subsonic round it would confuse the hell out of people.” Turner frowns at Lee. “Look, take a fifty, cut the propellant to have a muzzle velocity of only eight hundred feet per second, put a folding or extending stock on it with a removable suppressor on a shortened barrel. You can end up with a gun that's only a little bigger than a handgun until you extend the stock and attach the suppressor. Load with an under powered X M one oh two two and they'll think the shot came from miles away when the shooter is a lot closer. Thus the search will start far behind the shooter. It wouldn't be of much use in an open field, but good for urban work. Yes, the range would be shorter due to the lower charge and velocity, but the confusion factor will help the shooter get away.”

That was a preview of 'Tinker' Taylor: Spy & Soldier. To read the rest purchase the book.

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