A Sense of Duty: A Former Navy SEAL Falls in Love and Begins a New Journey with his Private Consulting Company: Dark Horse Guardians (21 page)

The next day was sunny and warm, which was unusual for December. They rose early and hiked to the back of his seven acre property to the shooting range. They shot at targets for hours. He won for a while, but Lara finally bested him. He was a good natured loser. Rusty bought Lara a big breakfast before she drove away that morning. Lara gave him a new 9mm Glock for Christmas with a laser sight. He was thrilled. She told him to reserve New Years Eve for dinner at her place, and said it was a sleepover. Rusty couldn't stop smiling.

Lara was happy with the little plan she was scheming to put Rusty and her mother together for New Years Eve. As she pulled into the driveway behind the pink Victorian, she remembered she had left a book in Ben's office. She had a night or two to work on her master's thesis and decided to retrieve it. There was no one on campus except a skeleton security force during the Christmas break. She went into her condo and turned on the lights. Then, she fed Einstein and put on his leash for a walk to Ben's campus office. As she walked out of the driveway, Eric's black Infiniti pulled up. Eric parked and jumped out. "Can I tag along for the walk with Einstein?" Lara hesitated. "Sure, Eric." "I'm going to pick up some books I left in Ben's office last week." Eric smiled, locked his vehicle and walked with Lara. The campus buildings were dark with only a few security lights on. Few people had access to the professors' building, but Lara had an extra key made when she worked as an assistant several years ago. As she walked down the corridor toward Ben's office, she tried to remember where she left her books. Using the key to Ben's office, she opened the door and she slipped inside with Einstein and Eric followed. She flipped the light switch on and searched for her books. Lara noticed Eric staring at every item in Ben's office with great interest. For a few moments, Lara paused and looked around Ben's office. "It's beautiful, isn't it? Everything in here is representative of Ben: the framed maps on the wall, the restored fireplace and photos above it, his desk, and his private library." She looked at the beheading sword on the wall across from his desk with the framed poem next to it and instinctively feared for his safety. She knew he was overseas on a secret mission, but had no details. Then wondered if she
had
details, would she worry even more? It was difficult to concentrate on her school project or Eric knowing Ben was on the other side of the world, possibly in grave danger. Ben's fleece jacket was draped on his office chair. Taking it in her hands she brought it to her face and closed her eyes as she inhaled Ben's scent. He would not mind if she borrowed it. She grabbed her books and turned off the light, locked the door, and ushered Eric and Einstein back out to the campus green. She sensed Eric's competitive streak surfacing as he uttered, "That's an impressive office, Lara."

Arriving back at the pink Victorian, Eric rustled around in the backseat of the Infiniti and retrieved a six-pack of beer from his car and a paper bag. "You certainly came prepared…" Lara smiled. They ate in the kitchen and the sandwiches he brought were particularly good. Eric was nostalgic about Christmas, "I always take the week of Christmas off for a vacation. It gives me a chance to stop and really soak in the mood of the season. What do you like to do in the winter? Do you ski?" Lara grimaced. "No, but Maine has some great spots for that." Eric asked, "How about ice skating?" Lara paused, "I haven't done that since middle school, but I used to love it."

Eric asked Lara about some of her favorite Christmas memories. "My favorite memories of Christmas were when I was in grade school, my father was alive, and I still wanted to believe in Santa Claus. I remember my mother baking cookies and playing Christmas music." Eric told her stories about living in boarding school and the ingenious pranks he played on his classmates. "Christmas was one of the few breaks we got to go home to be with family. All of the other kids went home to a big home cooked meal, parents who loved them, and Christmas presents. At the boarding school everyone looked forward to going home for two whole weeks, except me. I actually would have preferred to stay on at the school because I was used to the routine there. One Christmas my parents took me to Rio de Janeiro for two weeks. That was wild."

Lara couldn't imagine spending Christmas anywhere but in New England. And, she couldn't imagine living at a boarding school. Eric smiled, "I was wild in boarding school and nearly got thrown out. It was because I got bored easily. I referred to it as boring school." Lara laughed at his vivid descriptions of the dorms, how he tortured the administrators and all of his bad behavior. His fondest Christmas memories were of driving to Maine to spend the night with his Aunt Olivia and Uncle Don Henderson at the farmhouse. He especially remembered the Christmas dinner they served and the real Christmas tree that filled the house with the aroma of the holiday season. He enjoyed opening gifts with his cousins. Lara realized that Eric's life had been a solitary existence. He spent a great deal of time yearning to belong to someone or something, much like
her.

~Eric~

At precisely 10 Eric stood up, "Thank you, Lara, for letting me keep you company tonight
," he said with a cheery demeanor. Lara seemed to be pleasantly surprised by his impromptu visit. "Thank you for the sandwich, it was delicious." He slipped into his coat and shoes. Then, Eric embraced her, kissed her sweetly on the forehead, and was gone. He didn't have far to drive. He was sleeping at his aunt and uncle's house for Christmas week. His parents traveled to Greece for the holiday this year. He wanted to remain close to Lara, especially while Ben Keegan was out of town. He needed to gain her trust. It might take some time, but time was something he had. He liked the idea of taking her ice skating. He finished off the six-pack of beer in his room at the farmhouse and spent the rest of the evening on several dating websites.  He chatted with prospective women and arranged to meet a few of them for coffee.  The first meeting had to be a quick one because he got bored easily.  This was just a substitution for Lara and he knew it.  But, until he could have her, this was his tonic for the emptiness he felt inside.

~ Ben in Israel ~

Ben's first stop was to meet with Moshe in Israel. Moshe outfitted him with the finest weaponry, ammo, knives, and a sleek HK416 rifle, as well as a canvas bag filled with disguises, robes, beards, varied styles of sunglasses - the works. Meanwhile, Ben was receiving fine details about sleeper cells setting up in the New England area from his trusted friend, Moshe. For the past six years they had forged a close bond having both suffered personal losses on 9/11. Moshe's motto was "Kill them wherever you find them." He was the most creative operative Ben ever worked with. He monitored Ben with the most sophisticated drone technology on the planet
all while he served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Moshe also had a situation room filled with computers and dedicated hackers that rivaled the best CIA cyber-com operatives in the United States. Moshe knew the NSA and many other intelligence agencies around the world monitored his every move, therefore, any communication using a cell phone or the internet was scrutinized by prying ears and eyes. But that didn't prevent Moshe from communicating constantly with Ben.

During his first tour in Iraq, Ben had discovered what a valuable asset Moshe was to the United States, but was smart enough to keep the relationship under wraps. The two men coordinated intelligence often. With Moshe's help, Ben neutralized numerous high value targets. As Ben's unit rescued American military hostages in theater, Moshe helped gather information to assist him. Moshe was much more than a friend to Ben. In Afghanistan when Ben was injured by an IED then captured by the Taliban, Moshe literally saved his life. Minutes from being beheaded, it was Moshe's quick reaction that helped Ben's SEAL team track him down and extract him. It was Moshe's voice on a crackling radio to Elvis
reading him the exact coordinates of Ben's location that saved him. The meeting today with Moshe was critical. They would have private, open and unedited conversations today.

The armored vehicle approached a remote adobe building in a southeastern corner of Israel. Dust clouds swirled around the vehicle in the late evening hour. The nondescript building was surrounded with several layers of razor wire with hidden security cameras everywhere. An impressive fighting force separated into several tiers protected the perimeter of the property. Moshe was waiting for him. Ben was dressed in black wearing a hat with a wig, sunglasses and a fake beard. His skin was darkened with make-up. As Ben entered what appeared to be a large warehouse, one of Moshe's men came out to greet him. Lots of precautionary measures were taken in this part of the world. Once Ben was cleared, he entered the building and Moshe embraced him and spoke softly in Hebrew. "
Chief, we have details to work out; then you must get the hell out of here before daylight." Moshe and Ben had devised a careful communication system utilizing a gardening blog and an on-line encrypted game called Dark Horse.

Through the on-line encrypted game, Ben was going to be coordinating drone strikes in the United States on sleeper cells operating right under the nose of Homeland Security, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. This meeting with Moshe was done with the secret blessing of the Central Intelligence Agency. Ben and Moshe found it ironic that Muslim Brotherhood members had infiltrated Homeland Security in America, and were now setting up plots against the United States. Hell, they were even embedded in the Department of Defense. Moshe was all business. There was cheese and fruit to eat, bottled water and lots of strong coffee. The meeting lasted four hours and they were the only two people in the safe room. Ben was one of the few people Moshe completely trusted. Moshe gave Ben photographs of the targets and exact locations within the United States.

After a long and fruitful discussion, Ben left their meeting without delay in the dark before sunrise, just as planned. His notes were scrawled in Hebrew and written in a code so that only he and Moshe would understand them. Their encryption program would be virtually impossible for anyone to decipher. The heavily armored vehicle picked Ben up and whisked him away into the blackness of the night. He arrived at the airport and boarded a private jet. The plane ride to Pakistan was comfortable. Before he fell asleep, Ben thought about the irony that most of his obstacles existed in the state department and congress. It was the coalition of politicians that fell into the category of liberal progressives with no real world knowledge of how battle was truly fought and won. These blowhard politicians had one specialty, showmanship. They didn't read legislature consisting of thousands of pages, because they were too busy spending their time on television talk shows or standing in the well of the senate reading from a teleprompter. Most of them were nothing but brainless spineless idiots, especially the liberal elites. The CIA, FBI and Homeland Security were littered with incompetent people as well. The appointees in top positions were most often guys who made it through Harvard or Yale with a D average, and had crony connections to get into a position of authority.

The people in power had no real-world experience on the battlefield or as a commander. The sad reality was: the lives of the fighting men and women of the U.S. forces hung in the balance. The jokers on the Senate Intelligence Committee or the Department of Defense and the Executive Office were the puppet masters pulling the strings. Each had their own political image as their top priority. They worried about focus groups, satisfying their campaign bundlers, the latest polls, their private jets, their $600 haircuts, lavish vacations, these people made Ben sick. Even though the United States government had pockets of corruption, it was his country. The United States was the only beacon of freedom and it was his home. When he first joined the military, Ben felt he belonged to the United States. But now, it was different. He felt the United States belonged to him and he had a sense of duty to clean his own house.
He knew the cure for the greedy leadership in America would not be so easy.  It wasn't a matter of just getting rid of the greedy bastards in power; the task would be to change the system that rewarded them.

Ben boarded the twin turbine Piaggio P-180 Avanti appreciating the fine details of its Italian design. Faster than most jets, it cost a cool 4.6 million. Ben hoped someday he would be able to afford such a luxury. It was Ben's preferred way to fly, and he was thankful that Moshe provided transportation for his week-long trip.

~Lara~

Although it was midnight, Lara worked on her master's project for an hour and then her thoughts were filled with Ben. Knowing just bits and pieces about Dark Horse, Ben's consulting work was fascinating to her. What she knew so far was that Ben, with the help of other operatives, was tracking terrorists in plain view. For a moment Lara took a deep breath and closed her eyes; how could this be happening in Maine? But then she vividly remembered the September 11
th
terrorists boarded a plane starting their journey here in Portland, in this sleepy little corner of the country. She wished she could chat with Ben on the computer, but that was not possible in this situation. One thing Ben and Lara had in common was neither of them used social media. Both used secure webmail accounts and texting only. She did, however, have pictures of Ben on her phone. She had taken several photos of him in his newly renovated office with Einstein. She took a picture of him on the 1940's Indian Chief motorcycle. And, there was a particularly endearing photo of him sitting on her sofa in a T-shirt. She downloaded the photos onto her laptop and zoomed in. Just viewing Ben in the photos flooded her with memories. She wondered what it would be like to be married to someone who was gone most of the time. Could she handle the constant loneliness?