It’s a very cold morning, January 23, and the overnight snow in
Boston is about seven inches deep. The snowplow has just finished
plowing the street where I live. Samuel Radsworth is my name, or
just Sam to most who know me. I’m 54 years old, 6 feet 4 inches tall,
with a ruddy complexion and graying hair that I prefer to call
platinum blond. I also have blue eyes and weigh about 230 pounds.
Unfortunately, I like a cigar too often, but I never smoke indoors. I’m
sitting in my apartment contemplating last night’s State of the Union
speech by the president. I conclude it was packed full of lies and
promises. It was (in reality) a political speech, since he is up for reelection
this year.

Interrupting my thoughts was the phone ringing. I answer it to
hear the voice of my surrogate father, best friend and mentor,
Forrest Norman. Forrest is a World War II veteran that will
be 80 years old this year and I swear he doesn’t look a day over sixty.
Forrest is a slim man, 6 feet 3 inches tall, with a ruddy complexion,
and weighing about 200 pounds. He has gray hair and is a little
balding in the crown, but it gives him a distinguished look.
According to the press he is a billionaire now, but what’s the
difference when you get into the hundreds of millions? I can’t even
think in those terms. Forrest doesn’t talk about money much, but he
sure knows how to make it and how to spend it and he is very
generous with it. We were neighbors when I was growing up. He was
like a father to me after my father was killed in the Vietnam War.

“Hi, Forest, what’s up?”

“I need to see you. Can you arrange to meet me at the lodge on the
30th?”

“I sure can. You sound rather urgent, are you all right?”

“I’m fine, Sam, we can’t talk over the phone. I’ll send Jack to pick
you up at 8:00a.m.on the 30th. I’ll see you then.”

The receiver clicks and now I’m contemplating the call; Forrest
was never evasive before. Something was very different about that
conversation. Jack Bledsoe is Forrest’s pilot; we had been friends
since he went to work for Forrest. Jack is a good-looking guy; he
reminds me of Smiling Jack in the comic strips. He is 42 years old, 5
feet 10 inches tall, and flew an F-15 in the first Gulf War. Jack is a
walking encyclopedia on all aircraft; he lives and breathes them.
I will only have to drive about five miles to a small private airport
that can handle the Lear Jet. I have met Jack, Nick and Forrest there
many times in the past.

Forrest’s son, Nicolas, and I were playmates when we were kids.
We were more like brothers. Soon after my father was killed in
Vietnam, Forrest’s wife left him. At the time he was busy becoming
very rich in the new technology of the time, copy machines,
transistors and other electronics. Forrest just wasn’t home much.
Forrest’s wife took a lot of money and left with a hippie. She even
abandoned Nick. Forrest never tried to find her. His attitude was
good riddance, and she has never been heard from since. My mother
took care of Nick daily after school until Forrest finished work. On
the many nights that he never made it home, Nick spent the night at
our house. Forrest had often taken Nick and I fishing and hunting on
weekends. We all enjoyed picnics together. We were like a family.

When Nick was older, I asked him once why he never wanted to
look up his biological mother. He said, “Anna is my mother.” He was
talking about my mother. He felt like Forrest; he never wanted to see
his biological mother.

Mother was a part-time secretary and could not afford to send me
to college. Forrest paid for my college tuition, the same as Nick’s,
including extra spending money. When I was older, I realized that
mother couldn’t have afforded to keep the house we lived in, if it
weren’t for Forrest helping her. Mother never remarried and neither
did Forrest. After Nick and I went off to college, Mom moved in with
Forrest. Shortly after that, they moved to the lodge in Virginia. Since
Mom passed away three years ago, Forrest has been very lonely. He
now has more time to spend on his pet peeve, political corruption.
By giving me a college education, Forrest’s generosity allowed
me to have my career as a covert operative in the CIA. It had been my
dream, even as a teenager. Not to mention, my last statement from
Forrest’s money manager indicates that my personal net worth is in
excess of five million dollars. This is due to the many generous gifts
to Mom and I over the years; all of this is money that I had no reason
to touch. 

My career had been very satisfying to me until the government
started doing things that I felt were not in the best interest of the
country. About six months ago I decided it would be best if I took an
early retirement. I still hadn’t really decided what I wanted to do with
the rest of my life. When I started with the CIA, or known by insiders
as the Company, we used to assassinate leaders of foreign nations
that were a threat to the U.S., not go to war with them, and get a bunch
of our young men and women killed. I should also mention the
extremely high cost of a military operation compared to a small
assassination team.

I did have an inkling of what Forrest may want; Forrest had been
very upset with the way the government had been allowing
corporations to send American jobs overseas and the so-called New
World Order. He was of the opinion that if he were starting out today
he would not have the opportunity to make it as big as he had. He
believed that young people should have the same opportunities he
had. He also believed that lobbyists were nothing more than political
bribers, as were corporations that donated large sums to candidates
and the so-called soft money donors. Major election reform and
removing corrupt politicians from office were, in his opinion,
absolutely essential to prevent the United States from becoming a
third-world nation.  I shared his opinion, as did most of our friends. Corrupt
politicians were everywhere today, Forrest insisted. They never stop
stealing and putting pork projects into our budget, which are nothing
more than payoffs for contributions to their re-election coffers. What
a great retirement these folks have made for themselves with their
ridiculously high retirement pay, not to mention keeping their reelection
campaign coffers when they retire. Forrest often said, “Put them on Social Security and see how quick it gets fixed.” Forrest has many more ideas about reforming the political scene, some of which even I’m not aware of yet, I’m sure. These were some of the ideas and frustrations he had been tossing around for several years now.

I decided to go downstairs to see Billy and Debbie since it was
very nasty outside and I was in no mood to play in the snow. Billy
Adams is a brilliant computer hacker, as is his live-in girlfriend,
Debra Davis. Billy and Debbie met on the Internet. They moved into
the building a little over two years ago. They were good to know, for
a computer novice like myself. They kept the viruses and spyware off
my computer and had even upgraded it for me. We also had similar
political views. They were in their mid-twenties and sometimes it
seemed to me there was nothing these two couldn’t do with a
computer.  I knocked on the door and Debbie answered in her normal way.

“Whaz up, Sam?”

“Not much, I just came by to see what you guys were into today.”

“We haven’t been doing much today. Billy is just practicing
hacking into some government computers.”

About that time Billy hollered, “Come on in here, Sam, you’ve
got to see this.”

I went into their computer room, which was
originally a small bedroom in the back of the apartment, and Billy
said, “Look!”

I looked and on the computer screen were the last five
assignments I had worked at the CIA, two of which were still top
secret. Immediately, Billy shut off the computer, explaining that they
may track him if he stayed on any longer. I wasn’t surprised; this is
exactly why I’m here, to cultivate this friendship.

Jokingly, I said, “Someday they are going to catch you, Billy.”

Billy, in his confident way said, “Not a chance. Maybe Debbie,
but not me.”

To which Debbie responded, “That’s not going to happen, you
propeller head. Anything you can do, I can do better.”

Billy and Debbie worked at home on their combined businesses,
building web pages and troubleshooting networks through a VPN
router. They also do other things with computers that I know nothing
about. Since Billy was in trouble with Debbie after his last remark, he
got up and poured us all a cup of coffee and tried to be real nice to
Debbie the rest of my visit. I’m sure this had something to do with
getting out of the doghouse, since on other visits Debbie had always
poured the coffee. I had become a good friend with Billy and Debbie
since I had retired and they had been down to Forrest’s lodge for
several weekend visits. Forrest was amazed at their ability to hack
into other computers and did everything he could to encourage them,
including paying for several high-tech gadgets that they mentioned
would be neat to have if they could afford them.

After some interesting conversation, I finished my coffee.
I thanked them and said, “I’ll see you guys later.”

I went back up to my apartment and turned on the television news.
It was the same old lies from last night’s speech, so I put in a DVD
movie to watch. I poured a brandy and sat down to watch the movie,
but couldn’t get interested in it. I kept thinking about the phone call
from Forrest. I decided to call Nick to see if he had any idea what his
father was up to. I dialed Nick’s number and waited. Nick never
answers the phone until he knows who it is, then he answers.

“Hi, Sam! Man, you should be here now, we’re having a real party.”

“What’s the occasion?” I ask.

“I just closed a deal for Dad and I. We purchased a small toy company.”

“From the sounds in the background and your exuberance, you
must have stolen it.”

“Yes, we really did. They just received patents on a new toy
weapon, and you won’t believe it until you see it.”

“That sounds great, but the reason I called was to see if you know
what your dad is up to. He called me this morning and was very
mysterious.”

“Yes, I know, and you just need to be at the lodge on the 30th and
you’ll find out. I gotta go, my guests are waiting. I’ll see you at the
lodge, brother.”

He hung up. This was getting more interesting every minute. I
sure know now that something big was up. I really couldn’t read
anything into the conversation with Nick, as he and Forrest were
always buying and selling companies and buildings like they were
playing monopoly. Often they try to outdo each other, but
occasionally they partner a deal. Forrest had taught Nick well.
Nick is 54, 6 feet 2 inches tall, with blue eyes and blond hair, and
weighed about 210 pounds. He has been married and divorced twice
and says he can’t afford any more ex-wives. If a female doesn’t get
off the plane when he gets there on the 30th, it will mean he probably
doesn’t have a steady at this time. He had no children from either
marriage. In that respect I think we are both a disappointment to
Forrest. I’m sure Forrest would have liked some grandchildren to
fuss over. If I had had children, he would have considered them his
grandchildren also.

I spent the week making phone calls and a couple of short trips to
renew some old friendships. It had snowed again this morning, about
11 inches this time. I’ll sure be glad when this winter is over. It sure
is turning into a nasty one. Tomorrow is the big day. I will finally find
out what Forrest and Nick are up to.

I was tired and anxious and it was almost dinnertime. I looked out
the window and noticed someone had cleared our driveway, so I
decided to call my on-again/off-again girlfriend, Mary Steele, and
see if she wanted to go out for dinner. She had just returned from an
out-of-state assignment this morning. Our relationship had been on
and off for 20 years now; most of the time on and sometimes off, but
we were most of all, always, best of friends, even in the off times.
Mary is 5 feet 8 inches tall and even at forty-two, the most beautiful
lady I know. She has beautiful blue eyes and brunette hair that has a
sprinkle of gray now and weighs about 135 pounds. Don’t tell her
that I told you, because she thinks she needs to lose a few pounds, but
I think she is just perfect. She never liked my job at the Company. She
really became upset when I returned to the States in an air ambulance
one day after being saved by my partner when we were escaping from
a completed job about ten years ago. I guess they didn’t like the way
we completed the job, so I took some 9mm hits on the way out, but
nothing serious. Mary was really happy when I retired. She is a
journalist for a large newspaper here in Boston. When she answered
the phone, she said, “Hi, honey, did you miss me?”

I said, “Of course I missed you. I’m cooking tonight at your
favorite steak house; are you hungry?”

“Can you ever think of a time I turned down a free meal?”

“Come to think about it, I really can’t. I’ll have to remember that
the next time you’re peeved at me. I’ll pick you up in 20 minutes.”

“You know very well that I can’t be ready in 20 minutes. It’s 5:20
now, pick me up at six.”

“All right, honey, I’ll see you at six.”

I met Mary about 20 years ago. She had just finished college and
wanted to be a journalist and I have a friend that was editor at the
paper where she still works. Needless to say, I introduced them and
Mary was hired and has been with them ever since. She has great
instincts for searching out a story and the paper is lucky to have such
a capable journalist. When she got her first paycheck she called me
and insisted she buy me a steak dinner. Don’t ask me what she sees
in an old guy like me, but one thing led to another and here we are
going to the same steak house almost 20 years later.

I picked Mary up at 6:00 o’clock, she must have been hungry
because she came running out as quick as I pulled up. Either that or
her apartment was a mess and she didn’t want me to see it. She was
a neat freak and if one paper was out of place she would have
considered the apartment to be a wreck. She jumped in the van and
gave me a quick kiss and said, “I’m hungry, let’s go.”

After we were seated at the restaurant, Joe, our waiter, asked if we
wanted our usual and we agreed.

“What great story are you working on today?” I ask.

“Nothing great today. I was just prying into an unsolved murder.”
“Oh yeah? Which one was that?”

“The hooker they found on the docks last February.”

“I remember that. Didn’t they think she was somehow connected
to our great senator? You don’t really expect that one to be solved, do
you?”

“I guess not, but one can always hope. You sure were quiet on the
way here this evening. It reminds me of when you were with the
Company and were getting ready to go on a new assignment.”

I told you she had good instincts.
“No, I’m just going down to see Forrest tomorrow.”

“Gee, I wish I was off tomorrow. I’d like to see him too.”

“That’s all right, we’ll both go down the next time. I’ll probably
be back in a couple of days.”

“Easy for you to say. I just get back in town and now you’re
leaving.”

“Sounds like you’re going to miss me, like I missed you for the
last week.”

Our drinks came, a margarita for Mary and a brandy for me.

“Any chance I can stay at your place tonight?” I ask.

“Since when do you ask? You know that’s a stupid question.”

“Well, the airport is close to your place, so it would be convenient
and we could spend some quality time together.”

“Now I know something is up and I know you are not going to tell
me, so I guess we will spend some quality time together tonight.”

Joe brought our New York strip steaks medium-well with a baked
potato and ranch dressing on the salad, just like always. The meal
was fantastic as usual and it was nice to have Mary back in town.
After dinner and another drink we were in a great mood to retire to
Mary’s for our quality time.