M. Forsythe - While Rome Was Sleeping

“Me too, Sister,” Andrew closed the door behind Ruth, and said to Charlene, “Come here.”

She was standing, her eyes still bandaged, but she carefully stepped toward his voice. “Andy, I’m so happy to be leaving here.”

“Me too, sweetheart.” His arms were around her and lifting her face he gently kissed her. They held each other briefly and she touched her fingertips to her lips, then to his. “I want so much to see you, Andrew. The bandages come off in a day or two, then ..,” she faltered.

“Shh, it’s going to be okay, trust me,” he said confidently as he kissed her again. “C’mon let’s get out of here!”

The Convent of St. Helena was housed in one of the old ivy covered brick Capitol Hill family homes. It had belonged to a doctor whose family of ten had left the seven bedroom nest, at which time he and his wife opted for less space and more freedom and selected a townhouse on Tenth Avenue.

Several of the Sisters of St. Helena were waiting as Andrew delivered Charlene into the capable hands of Sister Ruth and Sister Cecelia, a tall, smiling upbeat Nun.

He winked at Ruth as he kissed Charlene on the cheek and said, “I’ll call after while and make sure the Sisters are treating you well.”

Charlene smiled saying over her shoulder, “Thank you, Andy and I’ll look forward to your call,” as Sister Ruth took her hand and led her toward a sitting room.

“Don’t think about anything right now, dear, you just sit here and put your feet up and rest,” Ruth said tucking a soft throw around Charlene.

Ruth hurried back to where Andrew waited. “Now don’t worry about Charlene, we’ll take very good care of her. Before you go though there’s something you should know, Andrew; while I was at Charlene’s house getting some clothing and some of her personal items I took a call from a friend of hers, Olivia Coleman.

I told her that Charlene had been injured and that she would be staying with us at the Convent for a time. She seemed most distressed, Andy, and briefly mentioned that she wanted to come to be with Charlene. I haven’t told Charlene yet; I wanted to talk with you first. What do you think?”

Andrew pondered a moment and then said soberly, “Sister Ruth, I think you had better tell Charlene. If it were up to me I wouldn’t want her to come, but it’s not my decision or yours… its Charlene’s. You know it’s possible that it could be a good thing.”

“I suppose so, Andy, I’ll tell her, but I’m going to pray about it first,” Ruth stated firmly.”

Andrew grinned at the out-of-character serious face of the Nun, “You do that, Sister, and throw one in for me too. Call if you need me. I’ll check in with you later.”

Washington, D.C.

Friday, October 3, 1980

Neil and Fred had spent several hours searching the packet again and found the microfilm hidden in a small slit on the inside of the packet.

After viewing the enlarged documents both Wellman and Klein were speechless with surprise and shock.

Kelshaw had managed to acquire information about a major world corporation who’s Board of Directors and shareholders would be internationally held up to scrutiny by world governments, as a result of his discovery.

Contracts between the LPF Pathet Lao government and GCI and the Government of North Vietnam carried agreements for the use of convict labor, made up of political prisoners and dissidents. The agreements held that the labor pools would be supplemented by prisoners of war held in China and various camps in North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

There were contracts for material to be delivered through the Port of Haiphong by independent cargo ships and by air cargo planes where possible.

Neutral GCI would take no notice of embargos or blockades. Kelshaw had filmed a list of international GCI consultants, their fields of expertise and their special access to monetary and material resources.

Among the consultants two names stood out from all the rest; they were the two from the United States. Brigadier General Bradley E. Coleman, United States Department of Defense, special military consultant and Lyle J. Ramsey, Esq. of the United States Law Firm of Ramsey, Wilson & Carr of Seattle, Washington, and Washington, D.C., contract overseers.

Other country names of consultants were identified as well, but Neil and Fred focused only on the United States.

“No wonder Coleman looked sick when I told him his career would be examined…,” Neil commented.

Fred offered, “Well you were right about Coleman being in the mix, to an even greater degree than we first thought.”

“But he didn’t quite fit the Big Bad Wolf profile. Durkan certainly did.” Half smiling Neil mused, “Only George would have used a fairy tale to identify a cast of characters like the ones we are looking at. However, Coleman’s involvement with GCI was clearly something that none of us expected—not even George.”

“He did a good job, Neil. We have names of some of the US POWs that Chernakov provided that were taken to China and the Soviet Union. And we have an idea of what happened to some of our POW/MIAs with the information George provided from North Vietnam and Laos and GCI,” adding, “It looks like we have our work cut out for us… an full scale investigation of GCI and their use of POWs,” he said resolutely.

Neil nodded, “Yes and we’re going to need a lot of help. GCI may well be out of our reach; our best level of attack will be through Coleman and Ramsey and Carr. I think that Senator Ken Stone will be glad to help with this. He has a staff that’s up-to-speed on the POW issue. I’ll call Senator Mike Owens as well.”

It was Fred’s turn to smile, “Since they’re both on the Armed Services Committee and Owens chairs it, I would guess that would turn up the heat on your friend General Coleman; am I right.”

“I should say that’s probably a pretty good guess, Mr. Wellman,” Neil agreed.

Their conversation was interrupted by a call from his secretary Nancy, “Mr. Klein is Mr. Wellman with you?”

“Yes, Nancy he is.”

“There is a gentleman here to see both of you. He said to tell you that his name is Lu Chan.”

Seattle

When he placed the call to Washington, Andrew was again told that Neil Klein was in conference and could not be disturbed and that his secretary would have him call as soon as he was free.

He knew Harry Browne was chomping at the bit for the GCI story and he was eager to talk with Jim Savalza and perhaps initiate some action around the law firm of Ramsey, Wilson & Carr. The tie with Coleman was becoming obvious and there should be enough evidence to hang all of them not to mention GCI, maybe.

He decided to call Savalza; at least he could check on his car. The detective sounded distracted when he picked up the phone, “Savalza”

“Jim, this is Andy, Where’s my car?”

Savalza sighed; he didn’t really want to tell Andrew about the sad condition of the Land Cruiser. He had looked at it earlier and determined it was not drivable. Clearing his throat, “Andy, let’s talk about your car later, I’m working on something else at the moment.”

“Wait a minute—my car—I need my car!”

“You don’t need it right now, Andrew, believe me.”

“How do you… what are you trying to tell me, Jim?” Andrew’s frustration was spilling out.

“Nothing…” he paused, “Now, Andrew, I haven’t had a chance to thoroughly check it out, but I do know that it’s in impound and it’s safe. We’ll get it in a day or two… you have insurance don’t you?” Savalza dodged, he thought of the Land Cruiser with its wind screen gone, a large hole in the seat penetrated by a chunk of flying debris not to mention a flat front tire.