The Gravity of Anti-Gravity (30 page)

“Thanks Forest, I’ll be in touch when we get closer to the time of the rescue.” Rolf hung up.

Jerry went to Brenda’s house to meet with her parents and he felt an uneasy anguish. “Hi, Jerry,” Brenda said as she opened the door, “Come on in, my parents are waiting to talk to you.”

When Jerry walked in, Brenda’s parents looked at him like he was the Grim Reaper. Everybody exchanged pleasantries. Brenda’s mom spoke first.

“Brenda has told us about your plan to rescue Bill. It sounds incredibly dangerous. What chance of success do you think you have?”

“We have assembled the best, most experienced team possible, Mrs. Harris,” Jerry answered as convincingly as possible. “Our mission chief is Rolf Morton, Bill’s associate Stella’s brother. I worked with him during the kidnapping of Joanna and as our mission went on, he proved to me to be the best field commander I’ve ever served under. He’s got a good handle on our goal, got a great plan and is preparing all of us to accomplish our mission with a minimum of casualties.”

“So you expect casualties, Jerry?” Brenda’s father asked.

“Mr. Harris, I am sorry but I cannot guarantee any outcome and casualties are a very real possibility.” Jerry explained. “If we fail and are captured, we will all spend the rest of our lives in a Chinese prison camp. Being killed might be a preferable outcome. But let me give you my honest assessment of our mission; we will not fail!”

“My people have said that without your permission, Brenda will not be part of our team,” Jerry continued, “so the decision is yours to make.”

Brenda’s parents left the room to talk.

“Damn it Jerry, why did you have to make it sound so dangerous,” Brenda asked.

“Brenda, because it is!”

About ten minutes later Mr. and Mrs. Harris came back into the room, sat down and gave us their decision.

“Brenda, if your father and I had our way; you’d be married to that good Mormon boy back in
Utah. But we realize you are your own person. You are an independent, intelligent young woman. We also realize we can’t protect you from everything that may come at you in this world we live in. So if this is something you feel you have to do, you have our blessing.”

Brenda jumped up and screamed thank you and hugged her parents. “Don’t worry Mom. Don’t worry Dad. When I come back, we will all celebrate, including you, Bill, Jerry and the whole neighborhood.” Brenda looked at Jerry and said. “Let’s hit it dude, we’ve got years of training to cram into this head in three weeks!”

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Stella and I sat by ourselves in a corner of the large cafeteria and were having our evening meal. We usually arrived late so most of the other people working at the facility were already done and gone. We felt this reduced our chance of any of our conversation being overheard.

Our guards always accompanied us to the dining room but stayed near the entrance about one hundred feet from the table we usually occupied.

“Stella, it’s been only two weeks that we’ve been here and I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m getting sick of Chinese food,” I whispered

“Me too,” Stella answered, “and these designer clothes they gave us to wear everyday aren’t the most flattering attire I’ve ever worn either. But I’m hoping we don’t have to stay here much longer.”

“This place is impregnable and we are in China,” I said. “They won’t even tell us what part of China. Stella our only hope is to design the anti-gravity device and hold them to the President’s promise that we’ll get out and be rich.”

“He also said we’d be treated like kings.” Stella said. “Look around, is this how a king would live? He was willing to tell us anything to have us go along with his plan.”

“Do you really believe they will release us Bill?” Stella added, “The Chinese will have two trillion dollars invested in us. In the end they will want to squeeze every nickel out of us they can. Unless we get rescued, we’re here for life.”

“That’s what Pops said too” I added. “Right now though, I’m worried about the little guy we are working with. It only took him a week to suspect that we were working on Toaster instead of Atlas. How long do you think we can work here before they figure out we are leading them down the wrong path?”

“Not long; a month or two, maybe,” Stella answered.

“Stella, to be honest, sometimes I wonder about what waits for us back home; just more people trying to capture us and steal our secrets. Maybe being held here is the lesser of a bunch of evils.”

“Don’t think that way Bill. Your device will be completed, and under our direction. We will make sure the technology gets distributed in the fairest way and benefits the most people. It’s only a matter of time.”

“Stella I wish I had your optimism.”

“Bill, I have a feeling that Rolf is coming for us. I don’t know when but it will be soon and he won’t come alone.”

Come on women’s intuition; don’t fail me now, I thought.

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For twenty consecutive days, Brenda trained and studied twelve hours a day. Each day she spent three hours with a female CIA agent learning covert spy tactics, two hours with Jerry learning close-quarter combat and two hours at the shooting range learning to shoot and understand different weapons. She finished her day with Agent Alvarez where they both practiced their Chinese. On her way home she stopped at the same cross country track she ran on in high school and jogged at least five miles.

Near the end of her twenty-first day Brenda’s phone rang. It was Rolf.

“Brenda, I understand your training is going great. All your trainers are saying that you are the most motivated student they have ever worked with. Let’s hope you are ready because the training is over. It’s time to take action!”

The entire team met at the CIA building in Los Angeles on Thursday morning with the gear they were instructed to bring.

“OK people,” Rolf announced. “We are leaving in ten minutes. Get into the vans. We will be traveling to LAX where we will board a military transport for a six hour flight to
Hilo, Hawaii. After refueling, we will fly another nine hours to Nagasaki, Japan on the Island of Kyushu. From there we will board a Japanese container ship for our 400 mile trip across the East China Sea toward Shanghai. This leg will take about 11 hours. I hope none of you gets seasick because I understand that the East China Sea is a little choppy. I will give you more information in route. Let’s move out!”

Most of the team slept on the first leg of the trip. Brenda went to sleep as soon as she sat down. Three weeks of intense physical and mental training had taken its toll.

The team leaders, Rolf, Jerry, Vaughn and Felix Alvarez stayed awake and reviewed the plan over and over. Vaughn spoke to the team leaders. “Just before we left, I heard some scuttlebutt. Rumor has it that the Chinese are dragging their feet on forgiving the first trillion dollars of the debt and the President is furious. He is sending the Secretary of State to
Beijing to find out what’s going on.”

“I heard the same thing,” Alvarez said. “I hope the President gets paid before we complete our mission. It could be a little difficult for him to collect after that.”

When the team got to
Hilo, everyone went into the terminal to eat.

“You’d better enjoy the meal here people. It may be the last decent food you’ll get for a while,” Rolf said as we walked into the restaurant.

After everyone ate and the plane refueled, it was time to complete the second leg of the journey.

This time Jerry announced. “Get some rest and let that meal digest a little. In exactly four hours we review everyone’s assignment and what you can expect on our mission.”

Four hours later, the instruction began. Each of the three teams was briefed separately.

Agent Alvarez gathered his team around him. “OK, men and Brenda; This is the last review session of our team’s role in the rescue so pay close attention and ask questions if there is anything you don’t understand.”

“In about four hours we will land in Nagasaki.” Alvarez continued. “From there we will board a Japanese container ship bound for Shanghai. The container ship will rendezvous with a fishing boat we have secured and we will all board. About one in the morning, this vessel will drop the other two teams near their destinations outside of Nantong. Those teams will go ashore using an inflatable raft. Our team will stay with the fishing boat and it will be moored it at a dock which is near the central city of Nantong. After we secure the boat we will exit and start walking.”

“Our weapons will be stored in old suitcases that we will carry,” Alvarez continued. “This way we will look like normal people getting home from a commercial fishing trip carrying our dirty laundry. The briefing continued through the end of the mission and when it was finished, it was repeated again and again.

By the time the plane landed, everyone knew what they had to do.

Team members crowded around the windows of the plane as it taxied up to an area away from the terminal in Nagasaki. Two black vans were parked and waiting. As soon as the plane stopped and the rolling ladder moved into place, everyone grabbed their gear, hustled down the stairs and got in the vans.

“Get settled quickly people and hang on. The ship leaves in twenty minutes and it’s a half hour drive.” Rolf said.

When the two vans pulled up to the ship there were three Japanese men waving wildly for everyone to get on board. These men picked up some of our gear and carried it to the ship. Just as everyone got to the top of the gangplank it started to retract. Within fifteen minutes, the efficient Japanese crew had the ship turned and heading out to sea.

“Wow, that was a close one,” Jerry commented to Rolf. “Let’s hope the rescue runs that smoothly.”

“I agree,” Rolf answered. “Let’s get Vaughn and Alvarez and check our equipment.”

The four men sat in a small storage room making sure everything had made it to this point. “We’ve got four inflatable rafts, a life vest for everyone, fifteen handguns with silencers, and a make-up kit with material to make the Caucasians look more like Chinese. As I go down this check list everything else is here too,” Jerry said, “So far so good!”

The 400 mile trip toward
Shanghai was rough. Being the start of summer, it was a warm humid night but fortunately clear. The ship was returning mostly empty containers to China. The light load caused the ship to ride higher in the water magnifying the effect of the constant up and down rolling of the sea. Everyone tried to rest but few did. The anticipation of the mission and the cramped quarters made for an uneasy journey.

About eight hours into the transfer, Rolf came and announced that everyone should meet in the mess hall. The men whose stomachs could handle it and Brenda ate a light breakfast. Rolf got up to speak.

“We are scheduled to meet the fishing boat in two hours. On that vessel will be a selection of native clothing. Find something that fits, and put it on. Two of Felix’s men, who will join our team there, will assist you. In our remaining time here, two of our team members, Robert Chan and Joe Kim, who took a crash course back home on how to make Caucasians look Asian, will go to work. Those of us who need it will wear a latex prosthesis around our upper face. It is designed to elongate our eyes. Make up will finish the facial look. Anyone with light hair will also have it dyed black with a chemical that will wash out the next time you shower. Chan and Kim, do your magic.”

Within an hour the entire group was either Chinese or resembled one.

“OK people,” Rolf announced, “we just made contact with the fishing boat and it’s about a half hour out. Get your gear and put it into the net sling outside attached to the metal swing arm. After the boat ties up, the arm will drop the gear on the deck. We will each climb down the rope ladder and board. If you haven’t navigated a rope ladder before,” as he looked directly at Brenda, “be careful. We can’t afford any casualties this early in our mission.”

When the fishing boat arrived and was secured to the side of the container ship, Brenda was the first in line to descend the ladder. As she scampered down the ladder in what appeared to be record time, the rest of the crew clapped and Brenda bowed. She had quickly become the favorite of the rescue team.

When everybody was on board the fishing boat it was untied from the container ship and started to drift away. Rolf looked at his watch. It was midnight. Right on schedule, he thought.

Alvarez introduced his operatives to Rolf and Jerry. “Nice job Felix,” the man named George commented. “It looks like you’ve got a bunch of native Chinese here; except for these two basketball players and the black guy over there.”

“The tall guys will head up our teams on the east and west flank of our operation so they will have less contact with the native population,” said Felix. “The black guy is FBI agent Marvin Vaughn and he will stay with the boat at the dock and help coordinate operations. The one I want you to pay particular attention to is Brenda Harris over there. She’s the only female on our team. She will be playing a lady of the evening, so help her with the correct attire for the part. And for the men, who look the least Chinese, get them some hats, or scarves or anything else that will hide some of their face.”