Читать книгу The Legacy of Shadows - William Speir - Страница 14

Jamie spent most of the week getting ready for the training at Fort Benning that would begin the following Monday. By the time Thursday rolled around, she was exhausted but confident that all of the preparations were complete. All that remained was to load up the equipment and drive to Georgia, which required the help of the five instructors assigned to her who were all arriving the next morning.

Hunter stuck his head into her office. “Are you ready to go? We have just enough time to get there.”

Jamie looked at Hunter with a confused expression on her face. “Go? Go where?”

Hunter gave her a sideways look, stepped into her office, and whispered, “The Commandery.”

“It’s Thursday!” Jamie leaped to her feet and grabbed her gym bag. She followed Hunter, turned off the lights in her office, and locked the door.

“I’m heading out,” Jamie shouted to one of her assistant instructors who was locking up the dojo that night.

“All right,” the instructor responded. “See you tomorrow.”

Jamie and Hunter walked to the dojo entrance. “I’ll drive,” Hunter offered. “We can pick up your car after the meeting.”

“Thanks. Can you drive me tomorrow morning, too? I don’t want to leave my car here while I’m in Georgia.”

“No problem. I figured you’d want me to do that.”

They got into Hunter’s car and sped off toward the Commandery, arriving just before the meeting hall doors were locked. Hunter took his seat with the other Knights and Dames, and Jamie walked over to the benches for the Knight and Dame Commanders.

The meeting was well attended that night; there were hundreds of Knights and Dames in the meeting hall already. Almost all of the seats on the risers along the back and side walls were filled. Jamie scanned the risers for a moment before finally spotting an empty seat.

She had just sat down when the Grand Magistry filed in and took their places on the dais at the far end of the hall.

Once the opening ceremonies were concluded, Alasdair Stirling stood and addressed the assembly. “Tonight, we are dispensing with the usual intervention requests and reports on active interventions. Instead, Brother Patrick Mills will be sharing intelligence committee findings with us that are restricted and on a need-to-know basis, and he will outline the initiatives that the Order is undertaking as a result. I cannot stress enough that this information is highly classified in terms of national security and therefore is not to be discussed, mentioned, or even alluded to with any person not present in this room. Understood?”

“Yes, your Excellency,” the chorus of voices from the assembled Knights and Dames responded.

“Very well. Brother Mills, please present your information.”

Alasdair sat as Patrick approached the dais. He bowed to the Grand Magistry and then addressed the men and women in the meeting hall.

“Russia’s security services have had a cyber breach. All of the activation codes for sleeper agents located in America have been stolen and deleted from the Russian systems. They now have no idea who their sleeper agents are, where they’re located, or how to contact them to prevent them from being activated.”

Anxious voices filled the Commandery as Knights and Dames expressed concern and asked questions at the same time. The Sergeant at Arms had to step forward to restore order so Patrick could continue his report.

Patrick relayed what he had learned of the Russian breach, his conversations with the Order’s contacts in the U.S. intelligence community, and the intelligence community’s response to the breach.

“There are members of the Order involved at every level,” Patrick told the assembly. “We have members in the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, and the military who are part of America’s counter-terrorism and counter-espionage units, and we have members who are providing surveillance training and other training services to these units to prepare them for their role in stopping whoever is behind the Russian breach. Members of the intelligence committee are also working with our contacts in Russia to better understand how the breach occurred and who might have been behind it. How additional resources of the Order will be deployed to assist in stopping the sleepers is still being defined, but there will undoubtedly be opportunities for many of you to participate.”

Jamie paid close attention to everything that Patrick said. So this is why the martial arts society is providing training to military and civilian counter-terrorism and counter-espionage units. No wonder I’m heading for Fort Benning in the morning. I’m sure that Hunter has put two and two together by now, but if he asks, I can’t confirm that what I’m doing at Fort Benning has anything to do with what Patrick just told us. The confidentiality agreements that we signed at the meeting in Phoenix last week forbids me to.

While Hunter drove Jamie back to the dojo to pick up her car, her mind continued to replay Patrick’s report.

“Why so quiet?” Hunter asked after a while.

“Just trying to think of anything I’ve forgotten for Fort Benning,” Jamie replied. “I don’t want the first batch of students to find us unprepared.”

Hunter nodded. “From what we heard at the meeting tonight, I imagine that you’re going to be training some very important students. I guess that’s adding to your stress.”

Jamie didn’t take the bait. She knew he was fishing for a confirmation, and she wasn’t going to give it to him.

“Well, you’re going to be just fine,” Hunter assured her after a moment. “You know exactly what to do, and you’ve done it before. You’ve got this.”

“I’ll feel better after the first week. It usually takes that long for everything to settle down.”

Saudis Bhandari and the rest of the team of instructors accompanying Jamie to Georgia stood together in the dojo parking lot the next morning with two vans when Hunter dropped Jamie off.

“Knock ’em dead, Babe. I love you!”

Jamie kissed Hunter goodbye. “Thanks. I will. Love you, too!”

She got out of the car, grabbed her bags from the trunk, and waved to Hunter as he drove off. Looking at the instructors, she asked, “Is everyone ready for this?”

“Yes!” they responded.

“Good.” Jamie gestured to the two vans parked in front of the building. “Put your bags in the vans, and then let’s get the equipment loaded so we can get out of here.”

They stowed their bags and followed her into the dojo. Jamie had already lined up all of the equipment for Fort Benning along the wall. Jamie picked up the first box and gestured for her team to grab the remaining boxes and load the vans. Within thirty minutes, they were ready to leave.

Tobias arrived to get the dojo ready for the morning classes. Jamie had asked him to handle things while she was gone, and he readily agreed. He wished everyone a safe trip and assured Jamie that the dojo was in good hands while she was in Georgia. As he entered the dojo, the vans pulled out of the parking lot and headed for the interstate.

The trip to Fort Benning was long and uneventful. To keep the trip from taking too long, they limited their stops to food and fuel as much as possible.

When they reached the gates at Fort Benning late that afternoon, they were directed to a security post where guards checked Jamie and her team’s identification and searched the vans.

While base security searched the vans, an army sergeant arrived and approached Jamie.

“Miss Anderson? My name is Sergeant Barfield. I’ll be your liaison here on the base.” He handed Jamie and her team their identification badges and lodging packets. “Keep your ID badges with you at all times. If you’re caught without them, you’ll be arrested by base security.”

The badges hung on lanyards, and Jamie and her team put the lanyards around their necks.

The sergeant nodded. “It’s too late to get into the training facility, so I’ll take you to your lodging here on base. There’s a restaurant there that serves dinner until twenty-one-hundred hours, and there are fast food options in walking distance if you need them. I’ll help you get checked in and then meet you in the parking lot at oh-nine-hundred hours tomorrow to take you to the training facility so you can unload and set up your equipment. Any questions?”

“No, Sergeant,” Jamie responded.

The sergeant walked over to the security personnel who had finished searching the vans, spoke to one of the NCOs, and gestured for Jamie and her team to join him.

“Your vehicles and equipment have been cleared. If you’ll get in the vans and follow me, I’ll show you the way.”

Jamie and her team followed the sergeant’s vehicle to their on-base housing, which was a cluster of base-run full service hotels reserved for relatives, visitors and civilian contractors. He escorted them inside one of the gray concrete fifteen-story buildings and over to the check-in desk on the left side of the lobby. The civilian clerk behind the desk gave Jamie and her team their room assignments, and Jamie was glad that their rooms were all on the same floor. The sergeant then helped them unload their bags from the vans and carry them to the elevators.

“Thank you, Sergeant,” Jamie said once her team and their luggage were inside the elevator.

“My pleasure, ma’am. I’ll see you in the morning.”

When Jamie got to her room with its flat, pale aqua painted walls, she sent a quick text to Hunter letting him know that she had arrived. She also sent a text to Senior Master Frank Whitworth telling him the same thing. Then she took a shower, dressed, and met her team downstairs to get dinner.

The next morning, Jamie met her team in the lobby at 8:30. Jamie made certain that they all had their ID badges visible. After a quick breakfast, they walked to the vans to wait for Sergeant Barfield. At precisely 9:00, he pulled into the parking lot.

He handed Jamie a map of the base and said, “Follow me. I’ll lead you to the training facility.”

The sergeant drove out of the parking lot, followed by the two vans. The base commander had set aside two large buildings away from the busy part of the base. One building was for surveillance, target acquisition, and the other training being taught by SignalCorps and Tom’s old company, and the other building was for combat martial arts instruction.

The sergeant showed his badge to the NCO in charge of the guard detail around the two buildings. After the NCO inspected the badges of Jamie and her team, he waved them all through, and the sergeant led the two vans around to the loading dock of the building they’d be using for combat martial arts.

Jamie and her team spent the rest of the day setting up the equipment for the training. The base commander had provided cushioned floor mats and red foam-filled safety gear for the students, and Jamie had brought her video cameras and monitors so she could record everything and play it back to help her students understand what she was trying to convey to them. It was a technique that worked very well with her other students.

Once the cameras and monitors were in place and tested, Jamie notified the sergeant that she and her team were ready to return to the on-base housing to rest.

“I’ll escort you back,” he said. “Water, power drinks, and towels will be delivered tomorrow. Where do you want them?”