Albatross (22 page)

“The government killed my wife and changed my life forever. They attacked my friend and tried to kill my patient. And when we got in the way, we were considered ‘disposable.’ They started it,” David replied.

Andersen felt his knees getting weak and had to return to his seat. He was truly exasperated at this man who claimed to be a victim.

“They started it? Is that the best you can come up with?” Andersen pushed.

Then David looked to his left and seemed to trail off, and he eventually returned his focus to Andersen and recited a familiar text that Andersen swore he had heard a long time ago:

Two are better than one,

because they have a good return for their labor:

If either of them falls down,

one can help the other up.

But pity anyone who falls

and has no one to help them up.

Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.

But how can one keep warm alone?

Though one may be overpowered,

two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

Andersen looked blankly at David. Maybe his witness was just crazy. Andersen had to consider that as a possibility.

“John’s gospel?” asked Andersen. He couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“No. It does sound like John though. It is Ecclesiastes, but I can’t give you the exact verse and place. Is that better than ‘they started it?’” David asked.

Crazy? No. Dangerous? Probably
, Andersen concluded. David seemed too organized and two well put together to be insane. Andersen began to rethink his strategy. The closer he got to the personal nature or possible stress points of this witness, the more clinical and resolved his witness became. Andersen was convinced that David was telling him the truth.
It’s just that the whole thing is so unbelievable,
he thought. Andersen could not afford to have his only key to this bigger problem stop talking, so in the finest tradition of interrogation, he changed his strategy and took a softer approach.

“So how did you live as a group off the grid for more than three years?” Andersen asked.

That question seemed to be a more difficult for David than Andersen had anticipated.

It took David a minute to regroup, but then he slowly started, “That was very difficult to start, but it somehow all worked,” David reflected. He had to begin somewhere. “At first, the idea of no longer running and hiding was exhilarating, but we were all at odds to figure out how to get started. Burns gave us the first two objectives, which were to set up a base of operations and get in shape.”

“‘Get in shape?’” Andersen asked.

“Yes,” David answered, and then he elaborated, “I am embarrassed to say that he insisted that while we focused on the logistics of figuring out the day-to-day operations of living together as a team, we needed to physically exercise our bodies to prepare us mentally for learning new tasks.” David paused before he continued, “I know what you’re thinking. I bet your imagining old footage of terrorists cells running around in the desert, shooting off automatic weapons in a training ground. It was far from that. We had to start with the basics.”

Andersen had to admit that David was right; he had those images in his head.

“Go on,” Andersen encouraged.

Reluctantly, David continued, “The first order of business was to figure out where we were going to live. We decided that we would rent a house, a small house with three separate apartments. This setup would allow us room to set up a living area for all of us, a place to work out of for Samantha, a place to have room to physically exercise, and a place to research and plan.

“In regards to housing, we found the first house right on the Rhode Island/Massachusetts border. Since the house had about three floors, including the refinished basement apartment, we carefully arranged and assigned spaces to accommodate our needs. The top floor was used primarily as sleeping quarters and where we had our meals. This was supposed to be the place to get away from work. We had dinner there, slept there, and rested there. It was our home. The ground floor had a faux bedroom and living area, but this primarily served as our computer and research area. Here is where we would sit and plan and talk and research. This was a place of employment. Here is where a million ideas and plans were born, shot down, and modified. We also set up the exercise room, which was originally a master bedroom, with a treadmill, elliptical, weight sets, floor mats, and a heavy bag. It was a health freak’s dream of a workout world.”

That explains why David is so fit
, Andersen thought.

David continued, “The basement apartment was where Samantha saw clients. She had to shift her clientele more toward sensual and erotic massages. The idea was that she could make about half the money as she was making before without exposing herself. Samantha seemed to be both bored with her job but almost energized to be working toward a greater goal. For Samantha, she wanted get a life back for herself and to give a much better life to her sister and Emma. She was really changing.”

Andersen watched as David took a moment to reflect before he continued, “The story for our being there was that the Millers, meaning me, Becky, and Emma, lived upstairs. I was a disabled war veteran, and we were married. The second apartment was for a sales representative of renewable fuels who was away most of the time. The basement apartment was for the nice, single woman who had a mental health issue that kept her homebound.

“Rent was paid typically in cashier’s checks or cash. Food was delivered to the door. Rent, food deliveries, and the occasional outing for Emma from time to time was never predictable and hopefully difficult to follow. The windows had reflective glass during the day and were open with lots of sun, while at night, the shades were drawn, and the lights were often kept low. Extra food, clothes, and money were always on hand, and we all had packed bags with the very basics to leave in five minutes. The winter storms we had the last three years did nothing to us. We were bored without electricity, but fortunately, we had radios and battery-operated televisions.

“Our mail was delivered to three different PO boxes, and we had two off-site storage sites that could receive packages. Those off-site storage sites also housed two cars that were also packed with more clothes, food or what Burns called ‘MREs,’ and more money.

“We set up those debit cards that could be filled with cash and used for Internet purchases for some supplies like medications, vitamins, and often special treats and clothes for Emma. Textbooks, magazines, and seemingly mundane stuff people might order online if they were an outdoorsman, hunter, or a hiker—various knives, hiking gear, camping gear, personal protection thing—all that stuff would be delivered to either the PO boxes or storage sites.”

“Wait a minute,” Andersen interrupted. “How did you get a driver’s license or proof of residency?”

“Prior to our leaving the extended-stay hotel, Burns had obtained genuine passports that were empty. Between Burns’s contact with former covert operatives and Samantha’s ties to some people she knew, both were able to obtain different passports which in turn allowed the women and Burns to get different licenses. Once there was a place of residency, the rest was easy—electric, gas bills, hard-line phones, Internet, and cable, all of these were done online,” David continued.

“All cell phones and call minutes were purchased with cash in different stores. All the cell phones had to be smart phones to have the ability to keep dates, log data, schedule meetings and designated rally points and codes. The laptops were also paid for in cash. But these were a bit tricky in that we had to find small computer stores that built and configured laptops to any specifications. For us, the specifications were to be small, lots of RAM, lots of power without bloatware and lots of memory. The software for all of them included voice-activated and voice-interface capabilities so that I could use them. For every reconfigured laptop we had, we had flash drive and portable, external hard drives and reconfigured laptops in the cars stored off-site.”

David took a breath and moved on. “The hard parts were making sure that we got at least one hour of exercise six days a week. That was very difficult at first, but after about a year, this part of the adjustment was now a pleasure and we were up to more than an hour every day.

“The next challenge was to come up with a schedule of breakfast, lunch, and dinner that I could help to make without seeing and have the meals be not only healthy but good. That meant a very organized arrangement of the food in drawers, refrigerators, and cabinets. This required me to team up nearly all the time with either Samantha or Becky. Of late, though, Emma was my copilot.”

This was the only time David seemed to have a smile, Andersen noticed. Andersen made a careful note.
Knowing that Emma drew positive emotion might be important later
, Andersen thought.

“In the first year after leaving the hotel, we all had lost a lot of weight, gained a lot of endurance and strength, and were now in a rhythm of operating together. The biggest drawback was trying to keep things fun so that we could have some sort of normal upbringing of Emma. She saw me and Becky as her mother and father.”

There it was again—an emotion. David appeared sad.
Maybe the little girl is David’s weak spot
, Andersen conjectured. He made another note.

“And yet she had the attention of three adults all the time and seemed to like doing what grown-ups were doing, whether it be on the laptop, smart phone, or treadmill.

“The biggest problem after this was narrowing the areas and search parameters for the operation center Burns was searching for. Frustration and anger was mounting, but then there was an epiphany. One night, Becky asked me why we needed surge protectors for the laptops and other sensitive equipment. Once she knew they were needed to protect the electronics from surges and frying their systems, she made a seemingly obvious conclusion. If this operation center was the hub of all foreign intelligence gathering around the world, it would use a whole lot of surge protectors and dampeners for a lot of electronics. Therefore, the electrical output would be over the top, especially if it was located in civilian building or professional complex, as Burns was positive it would be. I have to tell you that when Becky and I told Burns, his response was, for him, over-the-top. He simply said, “Brilliant.” Samantha and I came up with the next approach to assist in the search. In order to get into buildings, see blueprints and plans, get images and orders for electronics, and truly gain access to anywhere in any building, we needed to have a cover. We decided to create a limited partnership business that focused on green, renewable energy with us as the energy consultants.”

“No way,” Andersen said. This was genius—dangerous but genius. This guy had figured out a way to get his hands on any building permit or plan, access any building, and obtain a look at any manifest he needed.
Getting by security would be significantly easier for them now,
Andersen thought to himself.

“It only cost seven hundred dollars online with all of us as officers and our location at storefront location that Samantha arranged with one of her clients. We had a mailing address at one of our PO boxes. It took about three months to become proficient in renewable energy strategies and electrical circuitry, learn a whole lot about architecture and blueprints, and obtain new projects with upcoming and preexisting commercial offices. Burns was able to come up with the specific parameters for searches based on the probable size of the operation center, the energy output, the number of staff and vehicle requirements, the city and town locations that would allow such a place to effectively blend in and not draw attention, and the corresponding computer and electronic equipment. Burns felt that he had thoroughly exhausted his search in one city, but with this new approach, he planned to retrace his steps. That left two cities for us to focus on.”

David stopped again. Andersen, who had been writing most of the time, looked up and saw that David looked like he was trying to recount something but had lost the thought. Andersen was initially perplexed. David looked away for a moment. Then Andersen figured it out.

“You found it, didn’t you?” Andersen said.

David hesitated.
He’s thinking it through
, Andersen concluded. David turned to face Andersen and finally responded, “Yes. It took about five months to find it. One month for Burns to confirm it. Another two months to locate the auxiliary command site and the key personnel involved in the operations of both sites.”

“So where is it?” Andersen asked.

Andersen thought David would hesitate when it came to answering this question, but that was not the case. “It’s in the Shaffer Building in Waltham, Massachusetts, overlooking America’s Technological Highway,” David answered.

“Route 128?” Andersen tried to confirm. He said this more for his own benefit than David’s. Andersen made a note and then put his pen down. Both men were silent.

Chapter 14

If Samantha learned anything
about being a prostitute, she knew that being someone else was more about attitude and presentation and little about sincerity. Without much effort, Samantha knew she could be anyone she needed to be; she could act any role that was required. She could be submissive, innocent, seductive, or dominant. She could remain invisible in a crowded room, or she could hold everyone’s attention. She could be whatever she needed to be on cue. In the past, these skills were her best defense. It kept people at bay. As her relationship with Burns grew, she relished his attention. She felt vulnerable yet happy at the same time. She never thought that was possible. She never really believed she could be like “the normal girls” who had boyfriends or husbands who loved them for who they were. Not just sex. Every time she remembered how Burns had taken care of her and hadn’t expected sex in return, she still would smile.
I’m not going to lose this life now,
Samantha thought. Fear of losing her newfound sense of living kept her focused on what she had to do … for Becky, David, and Emma.