Kidnapping Madam President Read online

Kidnapping Madam President.

  Jimmy has just arrived in Mallorca from the United States where he receives an emergency telephone call from Frank to go to Cairo, Egypt on a rescue mission.

  Ring…ring, ring...ring goes the telephone in Mallorca.

  Jimmy answers the telephone, “Jimmy West.”

  “Jimmy!

  “Hi Frank…

  “I need you to go to Egypt tonight,” demands Frank.

  In fact, I have an airplane picking you up in 2 hours.”

  “Roger Frank. ……But…

  What’s the hurry?”

  “Have you been watching TV?”

  “Yes, and I know about the President’s airplane getting shot full of holes.”

  “We think it’s an inside intelligence job,” remarks Frank.

  Apparently, as soon as the plane landed, there were two simultaneous attacks, one on the airline terminal involving a pickup truck with a terrorist in the back shooting RPG’s into the terminal buildings to distract the Egyptian troops and keep them busy.

  The second attack came out of no where. The airplane had just reached the end of the runway and was starting to turn-round and several cars attacked the plane.

  One drove right up under the back landing gear and exploded, blowing off the landing gear.

  The plane collapsed onto the runway and the terrorists came along, both sides of the plane shooting it full of holes with RPG’s, including the pilot’s cabin on top. Then terrorists ran up the wings on both sides of the airplane and used an Arab can opener to open a hole in the fuselage to enter the airplane.

  “What’s an Arab can opener?” asks Jimmy

  “RPG,” replies Frank.

  The terrorists entered the plane and shot anyone who opposed them and I guess the President surrendered.

  Well, she didn’t have much choice about it…. Surrender or die.

  They took her and your Lt Colonel, Army friend and two agents out of the plane and put them in a limo and drove off.

  About a few miles away on a back street, they changed cars. And we know they changed cars at least two more times heading into Cairo.

  The whole operation went like clockwork. It took them less than 4 to 5 minutes to get the President. I mean, these boys knew what they were doing.

  From what they are saying on the TV, nobody really knows where she is at and they are even speculating that she is in another Arab country by now, replies Frank.

  “No,” replies Jimmy, “I will bet money, she is in Cairo.”

  It’s a maze of old buildings and a great place to hide somebody….There’s not enough soldiers in anybodies army that could search all of Cairo, it’s impossible.

  “I agree,” replies Frank.

  “Here’s what we know,” says Frank.

  “You know Ralph has family in Cairo.”

  “Yes,” replies Jimmy.

  “Well, one of his family members, a sister or sister-in-law, or one of those relationships, married an Arab businessman into his family.

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “Ralph and him are pretty good friends,” replies Jimmy.

  “I have met him; he’s a pretty nice guy.”

  “Well, Ralph arrived in Cairo two days ago to visit with her family, because he likes Cairo. The relative has been telling a story about seeing what he thinks was the President and your Lt Colonel friend, being unloaded from a car or van at a palace, near his work. It appears he had finished work and was walking down the street to the bus stop. As he passed the palace, I think it was more like a grand house, he saw the black doors to the courtyard open up and saw a black limo and white van pull into the palace courtyard. But, before the doors closed, he saw a man dressed in U.S. Army green and a lady being pulled from a car and hustled into the building along with two other men in gray suits. He knows the Army green uniform because Ralph was in the Army. He said that they all appeared to have their hands tied. He also said, your Lt Colonel friend appeared to be shot, as he saw red on his shirt that looked like blood. He also said, the man looked at him before they closed the doors and he looked American. Then, the guards ran up to him and yelled something at him, I think it was go away and they closed the courtyard doors. He also said one of them had an AK-47 assault rifle showing. So, he went home and told Ralph what he saw and Ralph contacted the ship which is sitting at a Suez dock waiting for all you guys to show up tomorrow.

  I have instructed Ralph to go back to the palace with his relative and wait for you to show up. I have asked him to scout out the place, but do not enter the building, that’s your job. Now I know this is a rush, I need you to get into Cairo tonight to meet up with Ralph and go have a little look see at this place.

  What about the US Military, they are not in control and we think foreign intelligence may have been a part of it. Most of the military and Secret Service with her was killed. So there are only a few U.S. people around and no one we can trust.

  Egyptian military would most likely storm the place and she would get killed. But, I think the terrorist would get tipped off by some government agent before they came and they would move her.

  So, it’s a chance, but I am willing to take that chance, because we have good, reliable information and I want to send you to have a look see.

  “What if she is there?”

  “It’s going to be up to you and Ralph to figure out how you are going to get her out.”

  “I don’t care how you do it or how much it cost.”

  “You’re authorized to use cloak and dagger.”

  So, I am counting on you to use your stealth. I think that’s the only real way to do this operation. The ship commander has been briefed and will help you anyway he can…..If you can get her to the ship, we will sail out right under their noses and contact the U.S. fleet in route through the Suez Cannel.

  “Roger Frank.”

  Cloak and Dagger is special operations clandestine mission that never happen, and everything is done in secret. Money and resources are unlimited.

  “What do you need?”

  “I need my kit!”

  “It’s on the plane.”

  “Everything… blowgun, bow and arrows, two 9 mm’s with silencers, and your trusty AK-47 and silencer.”

  “Sounds like you know me Frank.

  Also Frank, we will need cash in Egyptian pound notes.

  We are going to have to pay off some people.”

  “If Ralph’s relative is right, tell him to keep quiet and give him a hand full of cash,” instructs Frank.

  “Ok, Jimmy, anything else?”

  “Yes, I am going to need three dishdasha for the men, two shumagg for me and Ralph, and a black headscarf and abbayah for the lady.” “Put them in a backpack bag of some kind.”

  I want to make them as Arabic looking as possible.

  “Anything else!”

  “What about transportation?”

  “We will have one of our guys rent a large SUV to pick you up at the airport and take you to Ralph and wait, just in case.”

  “Anyway, it can take you back to the ship if we are wrong.”

  “Anything else?”

  “No Frank that will do it.”

  “Jimmy!”

  “Yes, Frank.”

  “If she is there… Get her out alive.”

  “Roger, Frank.”

  I hung up the telephone from Frank and thought, the boy has lost it.

  What are my chances that the lady President would be at that location?

  What are the chances that Ralph’s relative got the story straight?

  It’s all second hand information and I would put the stories credence at about zero, zip.

  I think Ralph’s relative did see something, but I bet it was some pissed off Arabic man bringing home, his family because they had embarrassed him out someplace and the boy is mad as hell.

  But, Frank has asked me to go see, so I will. I have to be at the ship tomorrow anyway for the on-ship training. So I a
m there one day earlier, what the hell. Air Rescue is paying me good money to check out this location, so I guess I can’t complain too much.

  I thought, ok, I’ve got to get my shit together. Right now, I have about one and a half hours to get ready and get my butt to the airport to meet the airplane, so I’ve got to move it.

  I jumped into the shower and cleaned up as I‘ve got to smell good for the President!

  I went into my special closet and pulled out one of my black ninja outfits and put it on with my special shoes for sneaking around.

  I found a mask and slipped it into my pocket so when I get to this place, I’ll slip it on.

  I packed some extra clothes and things, that I was going to need while on the ship for the next week including another ninja outfit.

  I locked up the villa and put everything in the car and headed out to the airport. I arrived at the private plane side of Palma Airport where I checked-in. I talked to the customs and immigration guys, whom I knew for about 15 to 20 minutes and then the plane came in.

  After boarding the airplane, we took off for the four hour trip to Cairo, Egypt.

  It was early evening and dark when we arrived at Cairo Airport and passed through customs and immigration. My guns and equipment were hidden in a special compartment on the plane. Customs and immigration came on-board and looked around, asked me and the pilot a few questions looked at our passports and that was it.

  When they all left, my guns and special equipment were put in the car by the driver and I changed into Arab clothes i.e. dishdasha and shumagg. So when I left the airplane, I looked as Arabic as possible. I got into the back seat of the car and the driver drove me into Cairo. As we drove along I checked over my equipment and loaded my AK-47, sword and bow onto my back carrier, and checked my handguns. Then slipped the dishdasha back over my ninja clothes and rapped the shumagg around my head.

  We arrived at the special location and Ralph was there waiting for me. He had checked out the courtyard and the limo and van were still there. He conveyed to me that someone was there, because from time to time, he could hear talking coming from the house.

  He took me around to an area of the courtyard wall where we were out of view of the public and I removed my dishdasha and shumagg and slipped on my mask. Ralph and I synced our watches to the correct time and tested the two-way radio’s. I then turned my radio off as I didn’t want any sounds while I was in the house. I would turn it on only when I was ready to leave, so Ralph would know I was coming out of the house. Once I got over the fence, I would unlock the gate. It was Ralph’s job to take care of any guards outside and cover me, once we have determined that she was here in the house.

  Ralph checked the street for people traffic, and after it cleared, he motioned for me to come out of the side street where he put his hands together and gave me a lift up the black wooden gate. There was about a 5 foot gap between the stone arch above me and the wood gate. I laid there on top of the wooden gate for a few minutes looking into the courtyard. It was square shaped courtyard with paving stones where the cars were parked, and a stone lined garden, full of small trees and palms. The building was the typical Cairo three story brown sandstone with arch shaped balconies and mashrabeya screen covered windows on all three floors. As I looked around the courtyard, I saw no movement by anyone, so I rolled off the top of the fence and hung down with my hands, then dropped to the ground. I undid the latch and pushed the wooden gate open and Ralph slipped into the courtyard and hid along the courtyard wall.

  I nodded to Ralph and slipped over to one of the cars and looked in, seeing no one. Then I glanced over at the van and no-one was in it either. I signaled Ralph that no-one was in either the car or the van.

  I thought, this is as good as place as any to put the Coyle Bow together. I catch a lot of flack about using my Coyle Bow, but most people don’t realize that a 55 lb bow has more stopping power than a 45 Cal pistol and it’s silent. I reached behind my back and pulled out the collapsed bow. I unscrewed the lock nuts on both collapsed limbs of the bow and turned each limb into position, then locked them into place and screwed both lock nuts as tight as possible. Next, I unhooked the bowstring from the lower limb and stood the lower limb on the pavement and grabbed the upper limb and pulled down on the bow as it flexed I strand the bow. Again, I reached behind my back and pulled from my backpack the quiver bag of arrows and flung the bag strap over my head and quiver bag onto the back of my shoulder. But, for the time being, I would wait on string an arrow as I didn’t want to kill anyone needlessly right now. Once I have determined that the lady President was here, then it would be open season on guards.

  As I was putting my bow together, I continued to look and listen for people and determined that no-one was around. I decided that it was time to move so I then slipped over to a palm tree in the courtyard garden and kneeled down in the greenery amongst plants and smaller trees and just watched and listened for a few minutes. I could hear voices coming from the first floor area of the house near the entrance just ahead of me. So, I decided that I would slow down my pace, so I must have waited about 15 to 20 minutes before the first human appeared in my view. He seemed to be carrying some food or something that I couldn’t make out. He walked down the second floor steps leading to the courtyard, walked right by me hiding behind the palm tree and entered the entrance where I could hear him talking to someone. Then, I heard a door latch click and the door opened and he disappeared.

  I thought that must be the basement entrance. I got up and slipped over to the wall by the doorway and looked into the entrance. Sure enough, someone was sitting there at a table with his back to me. I looked around the wooden cupboard lined room and no-one else seemed to be with him, he was all alone. As I watched him, I thought, he is busy doing something and not paying any attention to what’s going on around him, except listening to his little radio. So, I very, very quietly eased myself into the room, trying to stay as close to the darken area of the wall as possible and sneaked up to the door. I stuck my head in the entrance and it turned out to lead to stairs going down into the basement. Using the door as cover, I quietly slipped onto the landing and started very quietly going down the stairs. At one point I stopped and bent over and looked into the room and saw no-one, so I quietly, but swiftly rushed down the stairs onto the basement stone floor.

  It was a small basement room, maybe 15 feet wide with wooden cupboards along one wall. There were two doors and two lights and a few pieces of furniture scattered around the room. I could hear people talking behind the first door, so I assumed that was where the guards were stationed, if they were guards and not homeowners. I snuck up to the door and looked through the keyhole and saw a couple of people sitting at a table. I thought, I should bypass this door and go to the next one and look in that keyhole to see if people were also in that room. So, I slipped along the basement wall and as I passed the second light in the room, I unscrewed the light bulb, turning the light out and making it darker in that end of the room. I quietly slipped over to the last door, took out the key and looked through the keyhole and into what appeared to be a dark room. I took hold of the door knob and it turned but the door wouldn’t open. So, I put the key in the lock and turned it to unlock the door. Success, I thought, as I turned the door knob the second time and it opened. I only slightly opened the door, only a crack, so I could see into the room. In the distant corner of the room, I could see two guys sitting on cushions on the floor in what was a very dimly lit room. There was another well lit doorway, which is where the guards at the other outside door where located. I very carefully opened the door some more and stuck my head in and looked behind the door. It was dark and nothing, no-one was around. So I very slowly eased myself into the room in a stooped position, shutting the door very gently behind me. I very slowly and as quietly as possible, laid down on the floor and watched for a couple of minutes. But, from the dimly lit room, I kept hearing a woman whispering to someone, that someone has entered the room. She kept say
ing, she could see the outline of a figure in the doorway light and she was getting very excited. I crawled over to get a better view into the little room and there she was, the lady President.

  I thought, shit me, it’s her.

  Now this changes the whole ball game.

  I very quietly pulled back into the darkened area of the room by the door and reached behind me and pulled out an arrow and threaded it onto the bowstring.

  I pulled back on the string to make sure it had tension, because if I had to kill these guards, I wanted to do it quickly and silently, no sound or noise. I didn’t want anyone upstairs, knowing that I was around.

  I got upon my feet and moved over to the wall next to the little room the four were sitting in.

  I silently moved along the wall until I could look into the room. From around the stone arch, I briefly stuck my head around the corner and quickly looked into the room. I could see her looking at me and speaking to my Lt Colonel friend who was lying on one of the sofas.

  And he looked like he had been shot.

  In the dim light, I slowly moved up to her and the closer I got to her, the more I came into view of her, and the more excited she became at my presence.

  Finally, she just said, “who are you?” as she looked at me.

  I said, “I am with Air Rescue Special Forces.”

  I could tell she was just about scared shitless of me. She was shaking and I could see fear written all over her face. As scared as she was, I kind of got the impression that she didn’t know what to think of me. I came out of the darkness wearing all black, except for my blue eyes, which is the only thing she can see of me.

  I said to her, “I am a friend – do not fear me, I will not hurt you.”

  Then I heard her say in a low voice, “I just peed my panties.”

  I didn’t want to say anything, but yes, there was a puddle by her feet.

  “Hi Jimmy,” whispers the Lt Colonel.

  “Hi old man” as I pulled his Army green coat open to look at his wounds.

  “It looks like you got shot pretty good old man.”

  With surprise written all over her face, she asked, “You know him?”

  “Yes,” he replied, “Jimmy use to work for me in the Army.”

  “Madam President, meet Jimmy West the best commando in the world.”

  She seemed to relax a little bit.

  Out of the corner of my eye I could see movement in the next room.

  I said to them, “Stay still, we have company coming.”

  She said, “What do you want me to do?”

  “Raise your dress and show a bit of leg, attract his attention,” I replied.

  I moved off into the darkness again and got ready for the guard.

  He walked into the room like he owned the place. As he walked up to her, I took aim at his back so the arrow would go through his heart. I moved over a bit so as not to endanger the President. I adjusted my aim and let the arrow fly.

  It hit him so hard that it went through his chest and stuck about a foot out of the front of his chest.

  He was no more than two feet from the lady President as his eyes bugged out, a little blood came out of his mouth and he just dropped to his knees and just fell over…dead.

  The lady President put her hand over her mouth as I don’t think she had ever seen anyone die in front of her. She sat down next to the Lt Colonel with tears in her eyes.

  The Lt. Colonel said to her, “it’s started?”

  He pulled his arm around her shoulder and she moved over to him.

  She put her head on his shoulder and said, “What do you mean, it’s started.”

  The Lt Colonel replied, “He will kill all of them, just stay here with me for a few minutes. Jimmy is notorious in Air Rescue for slipping into a place, killing all the guards and leaving with hostages that is what he is good at.”

  “He is one of a very few well trained Ninja’s in the world.”

  I waited a few minutes for the second one, and when the first one didn’t respond he came to investigate. As soon as he entered the room, I took good aim and let fly another arrow.

  As with the first one, the arrow went completely through him and out the other side. He just fell down to the ground… dead.

  I walked up to the doorway, and peaked into the room, the third guard was still sitting at the table doing something. I took good aim and let fly another arrow and he too died sitting in his chair.

  I came back to the group and took my backpack off and put it down on the sofa. I de-strung the bow and unscrewed the lock nuts and collapsed the bow.

  As I was pulling out the clothes for them to cover their normal street clothes, I put the collapsed bow and arrows in the bag.

  I reached behind my back and pulled my AK-47 assault rifle out of its holster with its attached silencer and leaned it up against the sofa.

  As she watched me get out my AK-47, she asked me, “How are you going to get us out of here?”

  “We are going to walk right out the front door,” I replied.

  The Lt Colonel started laughing, “you haven’t changed a bit have you Jimmy.”

  “No, Lt Colonel!”

  I proceeded to tell the lady President that I was sent here to check out the building by Air Rescue, and if I found you here, I was to get you out. The U.S. government doesn’t know where you are at nor does anyone else. Some people believe you are in Cairo, others suggest you have been taken to another country.

  “How much help do you have with you?” She asked.

  “Me!” I replied.

  I have a co-worker outside, another commando who will cover our escape. He’s a good commando and he knows what he is doing, but I am good at stealth so I always get all the inside jobs.

  We have a car and driver waiting just along the street.

  It’s really up to us to get you out of here, but there’s not many people guarding you. There were three guys down here and one or two upstairs and that’s it. So, really we don’t need a lot of help.

  This is what I am good at…. Stealth rescues.

  “I have heard about some of your rescues,” replies the Lt Colonel. “That gun you have, it’s an AK-47 assault rifle, but what kind of silencer do you have on it?”

  “It’s a modified silencer Lt. Colonel, this gun makes no noise.”

  “I know you’re about the best in the world at secretly getting into and out of places that’s for sure.”

  At this point, Madam President seemed to be happy with my comments.

  “Ok,” I replied, “let’s make you all look Arabic.” I pulled out the three dishdasha and handed one to each of the men and a shumagg for each of them. I told them; put these on over your street clothes.

  I pulled out a black headscarf and abbayah and handed it to the lady President. I said, “Here put this on over your street clothes and she started doing it.”

  I pulled out the shumagg for myself and started rapping hit around my head.

  I helped the lady President get the abbayah down over her clothes and showed her how to fit the black headscarf. Then I helped the Lt Colonel with his dishdasha and shumagg.

  I asked, “Can you walk?”

  “Yes,” he said, “but, I will need help.”

  So I told the two other Secret Service agents to help him when we started.

  “Ok,” they replied.

  The lady President spoke up and said, “None of you have seen me in this outfit.”

  “Right!”

  I replied, “I know it’s embarrassing for you, Madam President, but you’re right, we didn’t see anything.”

  “But, also remember, this mission never happened and I was not here.”

  “Are we all ready?” “Yes.” They all replied.

  “Let me lead and you follow.”

  I reached into my bag, and pulled out the small radio and turned it on.

  I keyed the mike, “Ralph!”

  Paused for a few seconds.

  �
�Again, Ralph!”

  “Yes, Jimmy!”

  “She’s here and we are leaving now.”

  “How does it look out there?”

  “You’re clear Jimmy.”

  “I will be looking for you.”

  “Roger,” I replied and turned off the radio.

  I grabbed my AK-47 with my left hand and opened the door leading into the small hallway with my right hand.

  To my surprise there stood another guard, I didn’t have time to shoot him as the gun was in my left hand, so I reached behind my back with my right hand and pulled out the sword. I rotated it in my right hand and lunged forward and thrust the sword through him and out his back. He just looked at me funny with my sword sticking through him. I pulled it back out of him and he just dropped to the floor …dying.

  The lady President just gasped at the sight of me killing this guy and she turned to her side and was physically sick.

  I put the sword back into its sleeve and pushed it back onto my back.

  I stepped over him and so did the others and walked over to the stairs.

  I turned to them and said in a low voice, wait here for me until I get upstairs on the landing and you start your way up the stairs being as quiet as possible.

  “Ok,” they replied.

  I headed up the stairs, watching and listening for anyone trying to come through the doorway to the stairs.

  At the top, I looked into the room and the guy was still there working. I looked behind the door towards the hall and no-one was coming through the hallway from the next room.

  I took aim at him and pulled the trigger on the AK-47.

  The rifle made a muffled “sput” sound and the guy’s head fell onto the table…dead.

  I looked out into the courtyard and motioned with my hand to Ralph, who was looking at me.

  Then I turned back to the basement door and motioned for the others to come from the stair landing.

  I pointed to Ralph and said, “You see that guy over there in black, go to him,” I replied.

  They started moving out of the basement door and heading across the courtyard towards Ralph in a fast walk. I kneeled down next to the basement door using it as cover, and I pointed my AK-47 in the general direction of the hallway for safety and watched for movement by anyone.

  I was right in being cautious as another person appeared in the hallway.

  And before he saw me, I took aim at him and squeezed the trigger about three times.

  “Sput,” “sput,” “sput” went the rifle as the shell casing ejected from the gun with a little kick. He too fell to the ground…dead.

  I opened the basement door as wide as possible to shield me from anyone coming into the hall and started moving backward towards the courtyard entrance.

  I exited out the door and closed it so if anyone else came into the room from the hall, they couldn’t see us leaving across the courtyard.

  Ralph had already summoned the car to pick us up and was leading the four out the courtyard gate and getting them into the car.

  I ran across the courtyard, looking all around and exited the courtyard gate. I jumped into the back of the car and the driver took off down the street.

  I said to him, “Slow down and observe the speed limit and drive nice and safely.”

  “Roger, Jimmy,” he replied.

  “How long will it take us to get to Suez?” I asked.

  “About an hour Jimmy, it’s about 40 miles,” replied the driver.

  Madam President, spoke up, “Where are you taking me?”

  “We are taking you to our ship Global Rescuer which is docked at the Port of Suez.

  We don’t know who to trust here as we think it was an inside intelligence job, so we are not going to take a chance with you. We are going to take you to our ship and slip out of town and down the Gulf of Suez. Once we get you on-board our ship, we will contact the U.S. Navy Fleet and arrange a pick up, most likely around Jeddah, Saudi Arabia or somewhere close. The Air Force may fly into Saudi Arabia and send a helicopter to pick you up.”

  The Lt. Colonel, spoke up, “its ok Madam President… you’re safe.”

  He continued, “I know you don’t know these people, but I know Jimmy…..You’re safe.”

  “Thank you Lt Colonel,” she replied.

  “Madam President, our ship used to be a cruise ship before we converted it. You have a suite waiting for you with fresh clothes and a cabin attendant to help you with anything you need. I think its Nadia, she is from Thailand and very nice.

  She will take good care of you.”

  “How long will I be on the ship?” asks Madam President.

  “I would say, it’s going to take us about 24 + hours to get down the Gulf of Suez a ways where it’s safe for you.

  You will be able to get a good night's sleep Madam President, as well as all of you will get a good night's sleep tonight. You have a telephone in your suite tied to our global communications, so you will be able to talk to the White House or anybody you want to.

  As for you Lt Colonel, “it’s the sick bay for you.”

  We have a doctor on board, and he can treat gunshot wounds, so he will fix you right up.”

  Once we got out of town, I felt a little better as we didn’t run into any roadside checks. It took us about 50 minutes to reach the Port of Suez and the dock.

  The commander had a launch waiting for us. It was pretty quiet and no traffic on the dock as we exited the car and walked down the walkway to the waiting launch.

  I helped the lady President get into the launch and the Secret Service helped the Lt. Colonel into the boat. The driver had already been instructed to take the rental back and catch up with the ship in another port along the Gulf of Suez. Ralph and I jumped into the boat and the pilot headed out to the ship.

  The ship's commander was waiting for us at the side entrance on the second deck.

  “Welcome aboard Madam President” as he shook hands with her.

  As the Lt Colonel was brought on-board, the commander said, “Take him to sick bay, the doctor is waiting for him.”

  “Good, job, Jimmy and Ralph, good job.”

  “Thanks commander.”

  “You guys know where you’re staying.”

  “Yes commander.”

  “Madam President, this is Nadia. She is from Thailand and will be your cabin attendant and personal assistant. Anything you need, just ask her, and she will get it for you.”

  “Ok, everybody, excuse me, while I get this ship the hell out of here.”

  “Madam President, after you have freshened up with new clothes, Nadia will bring you up to the bridge and we will contact the White House and arrange a pickup.”

  “Thank you commander,” replied the lady President.

  After that time, Ralph and I broke off contact with Madam President and her group, as Air Rescue likes to separate the rescuer and the rescued.

  I did sneak a trip down to see the Lt. Colonel a couple of times and we swapped war stories about our Army careers.

  It was a good 24 hours later, when a Presidential helicopter landed on the airstrip topside and picked up the President and her group.

  I think the ship’s commander had informed Madam President that the U.S. Government i.e. The White House would be receiving a bill for our expenses, but for the most part, this mission never happened. He suggested that the White House dream up a good story of how U.S. Army Special Forces saved her.

  It was a day later, that it splashed all over the news on TV, U.S. President rescued in a daring night time rescue by U.S. Army Special Forces, and everybody was very happy.