Chapter 47

Mike and Cathy returned home from work to find Bob waiting outside for them to show up. Making the Marines guarding Mike a little nervous, Bob walked over to the car carrying a bottle of wine with him. Mike got out of the car and said, “Hello, Bob.”

“Hello, Mike. I wanted to thank you for accepting our offer on your house,” Bob said.

In a very natural reaction to being jerked around over the price of the house, Bob and Ellen had not been happy with Mike. Ellen had been getting angry at what she viewed as unbridled greed. Bob had been hurt at the idea that his friendship was worth nothing. He and Ellen had been blown away when the real estate agent had come over and announced that Mike had accepted their first offer. That had restored Bob’s faith in his friend, particularly when the agent had revealed that Mike had known nothing about the matter.

“I didn’t know what she was doing. When I discovered that she was playing games, I told her to stop it,” Mike said still feeling a little angry at the agent.

Seeing that discussing it was making Mike upset, Ellen said, “It was a wonderful thing you did.”

“If I had known about your first offer, I would have accepted right away. I’m sorry that you had to go through all of that pain,” Mike said.

Feeling a little guilty at thinking that Mike had been the bad guy in the entire deal, Bob said, “I wanted you to have this bottle of wine as a token of our thanks.”

“There’s no need to do that,” Mike said.

“Take it,” Bob said holding it out.

“I appreciate it,” Mike said as he accepted the bottle of wine from Bob. It was a very nice gesture.

As Mike and Bob walked towards the backyard to look at the garden, Cathy turned to Ellen and said, “I think you’ll enjoy the house. I just love the bathing pond. It’s perfect after a hard day at work. I think it’s even better than a Jacuzzi.”

Ellen blushed and said, “I fell in love with it that afternoon we spent there.”

“It’s rather romantic and the earthiness of it seems to have a positive effect on Mike,” Cathy said.

“It seemed to have the same effect on Bob,” Ellen said thinking back to the afternoon she had spent in the patio. She didn’t know if it was the fact that they were naked in the bathing pond or just an effect of the surroundings, but Bob had definitely demonstrated that he was still interested in her as a woman.

Cathy smiled and said, “Mike is always an animal when we get out of the water. Of course, I do my best to make sure that the animal in Mike is raring to go.”

“You naughty girl,” Ellen said with a giggle.

The Friday evening’s news covered the deaths of a large number of very wealthy individuals. They reported that within a four hour period a number of billionaires and millionaires died as a result of American missiles. The first reaction of the press was confusion. Since there weren’t any obvious connections to terrorism, it looked like America had declared war on the rich. Puzzled, the Greek government looked to America seeking an explanation as to why it had killed one of the richest men in that country. No one understood the dramatic execution of so many rich and powerful men.

Knowing more than the press did about the reasons behind the deaths, Mike and Cathy sat on the sofa watching the news reports, somewhat amused by the speculations that were being put forth. Mike had an arm around Cathy and was holding her close to him. She snuggled in and listened to the commentators. After a very ridiculous suggestion had been put forth, she asked, “Is anyone going to explain why those bastards died?”

“I’m pretty sure that President Archer will make a statement or two about the matter,” Mike said. Given the President’s history of giving the unvarnished truth, Mike was pretty sure that the world would be talking about this incident for years.

Shaking her head, Cathy said, “I can’t believe that Stanley Roberts was Mr. X. He was such an obnoxious opponent to war that it’s hard to believe that he was supporting a war against his own country.”

“He hated this country,” Mike said.

His investigations into the activities of Stanley Roberts had unearthed just how much the man had hurt the country. For close to twenty years he had been working to disarm the military, shutdown the intelligence agencies, and make the job of law enforcement even more difficult. Several members of the Intelligence Oversight Committee that had been put into place by the previous President had been working on orders from Stanley Roberts.

“Why?” Cathy asked. Knowing as much as she did, their motivations were still a mystery to her.

Giving her a little hug, Mike answered, “I don’t really know. It was obvious from his actions that he didn’t want the government to survive.”

Cathy glanced over at the television and said, “President Archer is about to make a speech.”

After a little bit of a delay, President Archer made his way to the podium. He took a sip of water and then looked out at the members of the press. That little smile that made so many people nervous had returned.

He said, “When Dorothy wanted to return to Kansas, she went to see the Wizard of Oz. After a journey filled with various adventures, she finally reached the Emerald City and was granted an audience with the Wizard of Oz. While Dorothy was facing an impressive façade intended to overwhelm her; her dog Toto pulled aside the curtain and revealed the man behind the myth. Sometimes life is a lot like a story.

“Several weeks ago, a Homeland Security analyst, code named the Hunter, lifted the curtain on the leadership of the Jihad Movement. What he discovered was astounding. He learned that a number of very wealthy men, and their henchmen, had been directing the Jihad Movement from behind the scenes. Hidden by a curtain of secrecy, these men had been creating armies, corrupting governments, and planning major campaigns of terror.”

Knowing that a lot of people knew him as the Hunter, Mike groaned and said, “I can’t believe that he named me.”

“That’s not good,” Cathy said imagining a future in which he would be constantly asked if he was the man who identified the true leaders of the Jihad.

The President continued, “The Hunter unearthed how this secret cabal was structured and how it operated. He pulled together evidence that proved conclusively that the orders these men gave were being carried out by terrorist organizations around the world. He exposed everything about the Jihad Movement.”

The President paused and looked around the room at the reporters taking in the faces of disbelief. He said, “This afternoon, we took out the entire cabal. Some very rich men died. These rich men had been using their wealth to attack the world. We have also frozen their assets.

“The money supporting the terrorist organizations has stopped flowing. There will be no more weapons or ammunition. There will be no more bribes to folks in order to get them to look the other way. There will be no more armies raised in the background. The terrorist organizations are on their own and they are dying.”

The President paused significantly and then added, “With the actions of this afternoon, we have won a very major battle in the war against terror.”

After President Archer gestured to the assembled press corps for questions, one of the reporters asked, “Was Stanley Roberts one of the leaders?”

“The death of Stanley Roberts and his associates in the plane crash this afternoon was an accident. It’s being investigated by the appropriate authorities. So far they believe that it was pilot error,” the President answered.

“Why would he lie about that?” Cathy asked surprised at the President’s answer.

“He probably isn’t lying,” Mike answered.

Cathy pulled away from Mike and asked, “Are you telling me that he doesn’t know that Stanley Roberts was one of the leaders?”

“We didn’t tell him about Stanley Roberts,” Mike answered.

“Why?”

“He doesn’t have the clearance to know that,” Mike answered.

He had to admit that Jack had done a good job in clearing out the American faction of the leadership of the Jihad Façade. It was always news when a couple of Hollywood types died of overdoses, but nothing out of the ordinary. A rich man’s airplane crashing on takeoff was a common enough event. Fat men had heart attacks all of the time.

He added, “I imagine that we’ll tell him now that Stanley Roberts has been eliminated as a threat.”

“So who ordered them to be killed?” Cathy asked.

Mike was silent for a moment and then said, “It’s not important. It was done and the world is safer because of it.”

A reporter asked, “What can you tell us about the Hunter?”

When President Archer started answering the question, Mike turned off the television not wanting to listen to the answer.

He said, “Let’s go to bed.”

“It’s only eight,” Cathy said glancing over at the clock.

“I know,” Mike replied with a grin.

Karen ran over to Mike shouting, “Unk!”

Cathy laughed at the little girl’s exuberance and said, “I think she’s going to call you Unk forever.”

Catching Karen in his arms, Mike lifted her high in the air, and then hugged her. The pair rubbed noses.

Grinning, Mike asked, “So how is my favorite niece doing?”

“Unk!”

Mike set Karen down on the floor and knelt down next to her. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little stuffed animal. It was a floppy eared dog. He gave it to her and said, “I brought you a little present.”

Karen grabbed the little present from his hand and then gave him a hug. She stepped back to look at it. She said, “It’s a doggy.”

“That’s right. It’s a doggy. What are you going to name it?” Mike asked.

“Happy,” she answered and hugged the stuffed animal.

Watching the pair interact, Teva said, “He spoils her rotten.”

“Yes, he does,” Cathy said making plans that as soon as they moved to Texas she was going to do her best to get pregnant.

Teva looked over at Cathy and said, “You’re waiting for the move to Texas.”

“That’s right,” Cathy replied knowing exactly what Teva meant.

“Does he know?”

“No, but I don’t think he’ll complain,” Cathy answered with a smile.

Teva went over and got Karen’s attention so that Mike could join Sanjay in the backyard. The sooner he went out back, the sooner she could talk with Cathy. Picking up Karen, Teva said, “Sanjay is replacing the gas tank on the grill.”

“Ah. I’ll bet he could use a little help,” Mike said standing up.

When Mike stepped out into the backyard, Sanjay looked up and said, “I hate these gas tanks. You never know when they are about empty until you run out of gas. It always happens in the middle of cooking steaks.”

“Yeah,” Mike agreed. He knelt down to watch Sanjay work at loosening a rusted wing nut that held the bracket that kept the tank in place.

“So someone code named the Hunter discovered the real leadership of the Jihad,” Sanjay said glancing over at Mike.

“So it appears,” Mike said.

“I bet you were happy when the President named you,” Sanjay said. The sarcasm in his voice was impossible to miss. He had just about fallen out of his chair when the President had identified the Hunter as the individual responsible for identifying the leaders of the Jihad.

“You can say that again. Every mayor and police chief of every large city in the country refers to me by that name,” Mike said shaking his head.