Necessary Retribution (33 page)

Rada laughed. “He doesn't need much help. Your husband is a very resourceful and determined man.”

“Believe me, I know.” Both women laughed again.

“I'm glad you're not laughing, Lev,” Robin observed.

“I'm remaining neutral, like Switzerland.” Everyone laughed at Lev's comment.

“Karen this is Ilya and I'm sorry, young lady, but we've never been formally introduced.” The young girl smiled shyly and looked at her shoes. “This is Sasha,” Rada offered.

Karen held out her hand to Sasha who tentatively took it. “You're a very pretty young lady, Sasha. How old are you?”

Sasha looked at Karen with admiring eyes. “I'm nine years old.”

“My, and you speak English so well. We have a son about Ilya's age and daughter who's older. They'll help you get settled in school.”

Robin looked at his watch. “Let's get your luggage in the truck and head for the island.”

During the ferry ride and the drive back to the Coupeville area, the Rogov family looked around in awe, except for Sasha. She had taken a definite liking to Karen and asked all kinds of questions about Whidbey Island, the United States and told Karen about Vladivostok.

Robin drove down beautiful country lanes along the west side of the island. Lev and Rada commented on the beauty of the sea and forest together. Robin occasionally came back onto the highway, but then turned off onto more county back roads. Eventually, he pulled into the driveway of a nice home on a high bank overlooking the Strait of San Juan De Fuca.

“You have a very beautiful home, Robin,” Lev observed.

“We do actually, but this is your home for now.”

Lev's eyes grew wide and Robin heard Rada gasp behind him.

“Our company has rented this home until you find the house you want. It's fully furnished, you'll just need to go grocery shopping. I've got an appointment to tend to for a while, but Karen is going to help you get settled. I'll see you in an hour or so.”

Karen was already out of the car with Sasha following her and Ilya not far behind.

“Robin, this is all overwhelming.”

“I know, Lev. Just take it one day at a time and everything will fall into place.” He turned and looked at Rada and saw tears streaming down her face. “I hope those are happy tears.”

“Some are, but I remember how I treated you in the beginning. I am very sorry.”

Robin laughed. “I deserved it back then. Come on, let's see your new house.”

When Lev and Rada entered the home, Rada cried more and held Lev tight. Robin could see Lev fighting back tears of this own. It made Robin feel better about all that had happened to the family.

Ilya and Sasha came running into the living room and grabbed their parents. “Momma,” Sasha cried, “come, come see our wonderful new home! It's the best home in the whole world!”

Karen came into the room. “Everything looks good, Rob.”

“Great. I'm going to leave now. See you all in a little bit.”

Robin left and drove to Oak Harbor to visit Tim Echoles. Tim had been released from Harborview and now recovered at home. Alice let Robin in.

“Hi Alice. I was pleasantly surprised to get your message about Tim being home. I thought it would be weeks.”

“That was before you came. He's really perked up since then.”

“That's wonderful. Where is the rascal?”

Alice led Robin into the family room where Tim sat in a hospital bed. The back of the bed was fully cranked up into the upright position and Tim exercised with a spring tensioned muscle builder.

“Robin, you're back!”

“Yes, sir I am. How are you doing?”

“I'm getting stronger by the day. The doctor says if I keep this up, I'll be able to go to work in about two weeks.”

“What about working from home?”

“What do you mean?”

“We can get you set up here with an IBM computer and it will be hooked to our office and we can bring what paperwork you need to look at every day and take it back. I wouldn't expect you to do it all day, just as you feel good enough. That way you can ease into the position.”

“That would be great. I'm really going nuts without enough to do.”

“Okay, I'll get it set up.” Robin looked around. “Do you have a nursing service looking after you here?”

“Yeah, we have one.”

“Is it good?”

“Well, they change them all of the time and it's a pain to retell things, but it's all right.”

“I'm going to bring a nurse in to meet you. She is now our company nurse. If you like her, she can take over.”

“Wow, you have a company nurse?”

“Yes, she's Russian and she's very good. We picked her up in Russia this trip.”

“Holy smoke, a Russian nurse. You guys really are international!”

“We are international. You're part of the team now.”

Tim grinned. “Thanks, Rob. That means a lot to me.”

“Well, make no mistake; your job is going to be a tough one. We had a rough go this time. Two of our guys got seriously hurt. Rada, the nurse and our team doctor will also be looking after them. I'm going to figure a way to get the other two on the island.”

“We have a team doctor, too?”

“Yep. She's in Taiwan now, taking care of our other wounded man.”

“Man, Russia, Taiwan…you guys were busy.”

“Yes we were. I've got to run, but I'll check back on you in a day or two.”

“Okay, Robin. I appreciate all you're doing.”

“You can pay me back by getting up to speed and start running the business end of this company.”

“I will.”

“Good, I'll see you two later.”

Robin drove to his own home, got the secure phone and called Doug on his satellite phone.

“Doug here.”

“Hey, Doug, how are you?”

“Going nuts waiting around.”

“What's the word on Rick?”

“His strength is building back up, but he's still pretty weak. Maria thinks he should be able to fly back in about 5 days.”

“Okay, I want you to get back here. Do you think Maria can handle things alone?”

“No problem because she won't be alone. Cái and his former general are helping.”

“Good. Get on a plane and get back here ASAP. We need to move on the current problem.”

“Roger. I'll be back in a jiffy. The Taiwanese Marines are treating us like royalty and told me when we're ready to go, they'll fly us back.”

“Whatever works. Just get back. Tell Rick I said to get off his ass and get healed up.”

Doug laughed. “He'll appreciate your usual soft heart.”

“Yeah, tell him I'm worried about him and do what the doctor says. I need him to be able to get back to one hundred percent.”

“I will, boss. I suppose you know about Kahlid.”

“Who?”

“My Palestinian friend.”

“Oh, yeah. Bring him with you.”

“Roger, that.”

“See ya when you get here.”

“Bye.”

Robin next dialed Jamie.

“Com center, Jamie.”

“Hey, Jamie.”

“Hi Rob. I thought you'd be calling.”

“Any news?”

“Nothing concrete, but NSA did pick up some signals intelligence (SIGINT) about quote ‘important cargo’ end quote, out of the Middle East. The source is a cell phone belonging to a known tango in Pakistan.”

“Do we have anyone working on it?”

“Yeah, Jonathan is on it and has some of his Legionnaire buddies and some friends retired from the British Special Air Service (SAS) helping him out. They have a lot of contacts and hopefully they can flush something.”

“Remind me to hire more Legionnaires.”

“You got my vote!”

“Who's coming to relieve you?”

“Mike will be here in about an hour.”

“Okay, you need to spend some time home. Take two days off. I'll handle the schedule.”

“Rob, it's okay. Nancy understands. In fact, she's here helping me out.”

“You guys need some time together.”

“We all do, but this situation is too dangerous for any of us to be taking too much time off. Besides, I'm the only one with the deep contacts in the intel world.”

Robin thought for a moment. “Okay, but when this is over you two are gone for awhile.”

“We'll talk.”

“Doesn't anyone follow orders around here?”

“Yes, but what's good for the goose is good for the gander. I don't see you taking any time off.”

“Okay, we'll work it out when this is over. I'm going to tell Doug to head over and hook up with Jonathan. Let Jonathan know, will you?”

“Will do, boss.”

“Bye.”

Robin dialed Doug again.

“Yeah, Rob.”

“Change of plan. Call Jonathan and make arrangements to meet him. He may need some help there.”

“You got it. You know, I'll have to take Kahlid.”

“Why?”

“I can't leave him here, Rob. He's not exactly welcome in Taiwan.”

“Ask the Marines to fly him to Virginia. I can have Bill Grassley arrange to pick up Kahlid since they'll be training him.”

“I'll ask David, but he's used up a lot of stock for us all ready.”

“See what you can do and let me know.”

“Roger.”

Robin next called the Fort Lewis Hospital and asked for Mark's room. A female voice answered.

“Mark Warren's room.”

“Nurse, this is Colonel Marlette. Can I talk to Sergeant Warren or Sergeant Young?”

“Hi Robin. This is Jessica Lanthrop.”

“Well, I see Mark is being well taken care of, Jessica.”

“I'm here for moral support. Willy is here doing the actual work.”

“I'm sure you being there makes Mark want to get well real soon, Jessica. Can I talk to Willy?”

“Just a minute.”

“Hey, boss.”

“How are things, Willy?”

“He's stable. As soon as you get a place ready, we can move him.”

“Good. I should have a place in a couple of days.”

“We'll be ready, Rob.”

“Thanks, Willy.”

Robin looked at his watch and wondered what was taking Karen so long. He went to the refrigerator and pulled out a plate full of steaks and started preparing them for grilling. The front door opened and Eddie, Laurie, Cathy and Andy came in followed by Casey.

“Hey, Dad. What's up?” Eddie asked.

“We're going to have our new Russian friends over for dinner. How ’bout helping set the table for ten people.”

“Okay.”

“We'll all help,” Cathy offered.

“That would be wonderful, my oldest child. Can I have Andy for a little bit?”

“Of course, Dad,” Cathy said kissing Robin on the cheek.

The others got busy and left Robin and Andy to themselves.

“Cathy says you've been working on some interesting projects.”

“I hoped we could talk a little. My dad told me some things about the operations in terms of equipment that would make things easier, so I've been doing research and experiments to see what I can come up with and I think I've got some ideas.”

“Like what?”

“Well this new cell phone technology is really interesting. I think it's going to be revolutionary.”

“It is interesting, but the damn phones are like bricks. We may as well stick with the sat phones which aren't much better, but they do have worldwide coverage.”

“I wasn't suggesting you change to cell service. I think you need to stay on satellite, but look at this.”

Andy handed Robin an electronic device a little longer and wider than a cigarette package and just about as thick. On one side, Robin saw a moveable stick. He wiggled it and moved it into an upright position.

“I take it this is the antenna.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Are you sure it will pick up a satellite signal? Looks pretty small to me.”

“It has the same components your current phones have. I've just miniaturized them.”

“Is this one programmed?”

“Yeah, dad had Jamie program it. Push that button to turn it on.”

Robin turned the phone on and the screen lit up. “What kind of light is that? That's not the usual back lit liquid crystal you always see nowadays.”

“That's what is called Light Emitting Diode, or LED. It uses much less power than other types of light…almost ninety percent less.”

“Wow, that will save battery time.”

“That's why I used it.”

Robin dialed the com center and Mike answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“That's not a very professional way to answer the phone.”

“Oh, I'm sorry, Rob. I didn't recognize the phone number.”

“I'm just kidding you, Mike. I'm using a new smaller version of the sat phone built by Andy.”

“Really? The signal is very clear. More clear than our current sat phones and the delay isn't as noticeable.”

“It sure seems like it. I think we gotta winner here. I'll talk to you later.”

“Okay, boss.”

Robin handed the phone back to Andy. “How much does it cost to build one of these?”

“Well, that's the problem. It's takes about twenty five thousand dollars. The guts of this thing are very expensive. Plus, I want to add a few features.”

“Like what?”

“A digital camera and a digital sound connection for a tactical earpiece. You noticed there's less delay in your transmission.”

“Yes.”

“Well, working with L.E.D.s I became interested in light and found a way to use it to accelerate the speed of the transmission through space.”

“From this phone?”

“Oh, no, there's not enough power in the phone to do that. It all takes place in the satellite.”

“Andy, you're turning into a genius!”

“No, not really, Dad. I'm lucky enough to be exposed to all kinds of very smart people and inventions through the CIA. My expertise is in miniaturization, but it lends itself to a lot of other areas. Almost all of the inventions we talked about, I helped invent or helped in their further development, so the other folks are helpful when it comes to giving me a break on the patent licensing.”

Karen and the Rogovs came through the front door.

“Andy, I'll start a new account and put two million dollars in it. Build us enough phones for the team. Keep me apprised of your other projects that apply to us and we'll fund them.”

Andy's face lit up. “Really?”

“Really.”

“That's great! Thanks, Dad.”

No, thank you, Andy. We can use any edge we can get.”

Karen came up and kissed Robin. “The Rogovs are very happy with their new home.”