Terry Neale - Jo-el

“I think you are hilarious, Sally, but I prefer you the way you were.”

She reverted back to the image of a young Bridgette Bardot and sat back in the armchair.

“So, read me the message from Pippa.”

“There’s three.”

“Sounds like their getting their panties in a bunch!”

Sally needed the database to decipher that remark, so she ignored it. “This is the first.” She said. “‘Jo-el, we deeply regret what happened, today. We would like to meet at your convenience and on your terms. Pippa.’”

“That it?”

“Yep.”

“Short and sweet. What’s the second?”

“’Jo-el, I’m not sure if you received my email, earlier’, then she repeated the first one.”

“Did you send a reply?”

“No, should I have?”

“No, that’s okay. The last one.”

“’Jo-el, The United States Government would like to formally apologize for its conduct earlier today. Our decisions were made in haste and not well considered. We truly regret our actions and would like to have the fortuity of meeting with you at your convenience and on the terms you desire. Please respond at your earliest opportunity. Pippa.’”

I couldn’t help smiling. “I should frame that! What on earth is ‘fortuity’? I guess they didn’t want two ‘opportunity’s’ in the same paragraph. Oh, the beauty of a thesaurus. We moved from ‘deeply’ to ‘truly’, is that an improvement? What do you think?”

“I think you need to stop dissecting the email and send them a message back.”

“Oh come on, Sally, lighten up. I bet they spent an hour writing that last one.”

“Almost.”

“Ha! Doesn’t Colin have to report back to the Director at five? Less than an hour, perhaps I should respond at Five-O-one?”

“Now who’s being childish?”

“Hey, they don’t mean it anyway. It’s a pack of lies, you heard what he said to the Director. They still plan to detain me, or try to. Maybe I should wait a while, see if I get a meeting with the British Home Secretary.”

“Your reason to meet with them, Jo-el. Don’t forget that. You need a relationship with America. They’ve got the most money and have the best facilities and expertise to build the spaceships.”

“Not sure they have the most money, they’re twenty trillion in debt, a lot to the Chinese. But they do have the facilities and they are way ahead at getting things done. They will try anything, throw their heart and soul at stuff. I love that about this country. In my opinion it’s what makes them so successful. I don’t doubt that if you’re right about this bloody storm the Americans will end up saving our ass. Okay, let me think of a reply.”

I sent Pippa an email that said, ‘Pippa, I accept the apology and understand the reaction. I am still willing to meet and on reflection, based on what I have to discuss, Homeland Security should be invited. Let’s make the location a conference room at a military base, it is important to keep the meeting away from the media. No weapons. Please be aware that I have abilities that make it impossible for you to detain me. Joel.’

About fifteen minutes later I received a reply from Pippa. ‘Jo-el, thank-you for your understanding. I will get back to you with the details.’ Wow! Fifteen minutes to write one sentence, the efficiency of government.

“Sally, I need more preparation. For the Brit meeting I want a list of potential terrorist actions against the UK and maybe anything deadly in Europe, just like you showed me for the US. For both meetings I want a list of any US or UK citizens being held abroad against each governments wishes. Also, serial killers on the loose in both countries, if there are any? And finally, children or women held in captivity in each country for sexual reasons. We’re going to clean up some bad stuff.”

“You know I can provide that as you ask for it at each meeting?”

“I realize that, but it doesn’t hurt to prepare. What else am I going to do for the rest of the day, anyway.”

“Well you’ve got the cooking class tonight.”

“Oh crap! I think I’ll have to bow out of cooking classes for a while. I’ll go see Betty. By the way, what happened to the stock market today?”

“It closed up, recouped most of yesterday’s losses.”

“No news, I guess. I haven’t been seen in public. I need to keep an eye on it. Somehow we have to avoid a depression when I drop the bombshell.” Then I asked Sally. ”Did anyone see me arrive at Langley?”

“No, they had it sealed off.”

“Those guys are damn good at that, for sure.”

I went to see Betty and explained I was done with the cooking classes. She was upset.

“Who’s that girl, I’ve seen in your house?”

“What?”

“I’ve seen her, through the window. What is she, a prostitute?”

Oh, crap! She must have been snooping and seen Sally.

“She’s just a friend, Betty.”

“You should know better, Dave. Young thing like that, must be your daughters age. And Mary only gone a couple of months.”

I was lost for words.

“How’d she get here anyway, I’ve never seen her outside and I don’t see a car? What are you up to? I see funny things through that window.”

“You shouldn’t be snooping, Betty, that’s rude and un-neighborly.”

“I don’t like those people near my house. You get rid of her.”

“Who I have in my home is up to me.” I could feel my temper rising.

“It’s just wrong, Dave. Think about Mary.”

“I’m leaving.” I slammed her front door shut as I left. Shit!

Sally was waiting in the family-room, seated in her armchair. “She thinks you’re hooker,” I said. She just looked at me and laughed.

“Bit of a disappointment then.” She stood up and walked right through me. I laughed.

“You said it.” I sat down on the sofa and Sally went back to the armchair. “Can you block the windows, can’t have her snooping anymore.”

“Sure.”

I spent the afternoon reading through the data that Sally had amasses. My primary focus were seven captives held by ISIS in Syria. One American, one Brit., two French, one Japanese and a young Dutch girl who’d been kidnaped in Turkey. ISIS used these people to make money, requesting half a million dollars for their release. This practice had been going on for some time; the governments around the world were beginning to baulk at payment and it was now down to the individual families to raise the cash. In many cases the companies the captives worked for would help fund their release. However, the American and Dutch girl were in dire straits, neither had been able to raise the required funds and the Islamic State had threatened to execute both of them at dawn on Thursday. That put the execution at 4 p.m. California time, Wednesday, tomorrow. I decided this wasn’t going to happen, but I wanted to meet with the Americans prior to rescuing these poor individuals for a couple of reasons. I wanted to show them what I could achieve and I wanted their help as to where to take them. During the night in Syria would be the best time for the rescue so somewhere between noon and 2 p.m. in California. So, the meeting had to be Wednesday before three p.m. eastern time. I believed the Americans wanted to meet soon so I was hopeful they would come back to me with a meeting time tomorrow. I was going to bounce them out, which I hadn’t tried before but Sally was adamant that I could bounce maybe as many as five people at one time. All the captives were held in different areas, so I’d be going back and forth. I was also concerned that if I got two out the others could be at immediate risk. The other problem was the effect on the captives of being bounced. I’d had time to understand what was happening, but they would not. I imagined it would play havoc with their minds.