Terry Neale - Jo-el

Sally had shown me the captives and each of them were in a bad way. Undernourished, beaten, the girl had been raped many times. They needed hospital care. I was appalled and annoyed with myself for not checking this situation sooner. I was going to reunite these people with their families.

There was some good news, there weren’t any imminent terrorist threats in Europe unless the groups Sally showed me changed their plans. In total, there were seven serial killers in the US and three in Europe. All of them were currently lying low and it should be easy enough to pick them up.

If the Brits wanted to act quickly, I could be up in the night. The eight-hour time difference was a pain, but nothing I could do about it. I decided my mind was becoming jumbled with all the time zone issues and a little of the amber nectar was called for. I told Sally to keep a check on everything for me. A simple task for her.

I ate little that night. Sally reminded me to take another life pill. Those things were magic. I turned in half expecting to be in London before dawn broke on the west coast.

I slept a full eight hours and was in the kitchen drinking coffee when Sally told me that the Brits had set a meeting for me at four in the afternoon, which was in a little over an hour. Good, that should work. Then she pointed out that the meeting was on Thursday. Those Brits, nothing rattled them, eh! Sally explained that the Home Secretary was attending a debate at Oxford University that afternoon and her daughter was a part of the debating team. I guess world security would have to wait? Inside I admired her priorities.

“Your girlfriend sent a text.”

I ignored the dig. “And?”

“One o’clock eastern time, Quantico. Hanger three, alongside Turner Field runway.”

“Will there be weapons?”

“At a distance.”

“Jeez! How far?”

“Quarter of a mile maybe, depends where they set up.”

“They don’t feel safe without fire power, do they? I assume you can protect me?”

“Sure, no problem.”

“Okay, tell my girlfriend I’ll see them there.”

Sally grimaced.

I fixed some Grapenuts with blueberries. I’d run out of bananas and that was the end of my blueberries. The little jobs of life weren’t getting done. Pity I couldn’t send Sally out to shop. One o’clock, two hours before my window to rescue the captives, that should work.

I showered and had time to run to the local grocery store. I even picked up a regular bottle of Black Label, which was almost the same price as the one and three quarter liter bottle I usually bought at Costco. God, I was such a cheapskate.

At a quarter to ten I asked Sally to show me what was happening at the Turner Field hangar.

“Who are all those people?”

“There’s three from Homeland Security and three from the Marines.”

“The Marines?”

“It’s their base.”

“Where’s Pippa?”

“They dropped her,” answered Sally. “To cut the numbers to three per department.”

“What? She’s my contact!”

“Just kidding” Sally laughed out loud. “Oh boy, you got it bad. She’s there, behind that stanchion, talking to the good-looking FBI guy.”

I threw Sally a glare, but she just laughed.

“Twelve of them. Can you see the backup?”

“They’ve got twenty guys, dotted all over. High-powered rifles. Semi-automatics, grenades, and a couple of rocket launchers, old style, they’re not heat-seeking. I guess they don’t think you radiate enough. Two of the team are snipers, they can hit an apple from a thousand yards.”

“My God! What are they thinking? Should I call them on it? Jeez! I don’t know? I think I’d rather not know.”

“You’ll be fine.”

Easy for you to say. She loves this, just lapping it up.

“Better go with the full shield. I wish I’d seen it tested against this stuff.”

Sally got serious, I imagine she could sense my fear. “I checked it out, it’ll work. First shot I’m freezing everything they’ve got.”

“Let’s hope they miss with that first shot.”

“Yea, let’s hope.” She laughed. Back to type.

Five minutes to ten, almost one o’clock eastern. No clouds. “Bounce me to that point on the other side of the Potomac, opposite the airbase.”

“You don’t want to bounce right to the hanger?”

“No, probably scare the shit out of those guys with the guns.”

“Okay, you’re the boss.” Sometimes I wondered.

I bounced to the edge of the Potomac. The day was clear but cold, high clouds faint in the distance, a weak wind blew from the east. The water of the Potomac was calm. I couldn’t see a vessel in either direction. I took off and flew the two odd miles across the river. Sally guided me toward the hangar until I had eye contact. I flew in low over the runway, not a jet in sight. I landed about twenty yards from the hangar doors which were wide open, space heaters were spread out randomly.

Pippa was standing just outside the giant hangar doors, wrapped in the same dark grey overcoat. She saw me and beamed. Eat your heart out Sally. I walked slowly toward her and had a sudden urge to greet her with a kiss on the cheek. The old ‘kiss-hello’, I decided against it. She reached out with both hands and I took them.

“Let’s hope this goes a little better,” I said.

“It will, Jo-el,” she smiled, I melted, then mentally slapped myself. Not the right time, Dave.

“Who’s in charge?”

“Alberton, but only by understanding, no individual authority.”

I guess that meant he needed approval from the other heads for any action, that was good. Group decisions take time.

I indicated for us to go inside and we walked next to each other into the giant hangar. I could see an enclosed area at the back, paneled with glass. There were people inside, standing, watching us arrive. Most of the room was taken up by a square table with four chairs on each of three sides and one chair on the remaining side with its back to the far wall, mine I surmised. It was much warmer in the room; the space heaters were winning. Alberton came forward and shook my hand, I let it happen, but really, I wanted to clip him around the head. He introduced everyone, I recognized Georgina Lambert and her team but couldn’t remember who they had dropped. Same with the CIA members, whatever. It was all a bit of a palaver, too many people, I thought, at least Sally can remind me who’s who.

Everything was cordial, I considered mentioning the backup team, but decided to let them have at least one advantage. They all sat down, I walked to the spare chair but decided to stand.

“How do you want to do this, Jo-el?” A snide smile. Ooh, it’s be fun to whack him. “Your show.”

I had to remember why I was there. Forget my advantage and show them that I was on their side and was there to help. I had to be humble.

“Well ladies and gentleman, thank you for giving me this opportunity to meet with you, I know there is considerable interest about who I am and how I’m able to fly. I am prepared to tell you something about myself, but at this first meeting I won’t be able to reveal everything. There are various things I must keep secret, for my own security. My main aim for being here today is to assist you in your everyday work. I have abilities and information that will greatly contribute to your success.” I could sense a disbelief, shoulders sagged and some arms were folded. “I’m afraid I have to disappoint many of the general public, I am not the Second Coming of Christ, I am not an alien, I am a normal human being, who has been provided technology that is vastly superior to anything you have previously seen.” I paused for effect, not sure there was any. “So for a start I’ll lose the wings.” My wings disappeared. Also, I’ll change into something that doesn’t make me look like a comic book superhero.” I changed into a business suit, similar to the one I’d worn in London. I think Pippa was impressed.