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They walked into the small cluttered office and expected something more formal for a man in such a high position. Hoskins smiled at the two men as he looked up from his desk. He was nearly bald, so like many men today, he shaved his head to look younger and hipper than the twenty-five year Agency veteran actually was. The pleasant Hoskins walked around his desk to greet the younger men. It was obvious that the medium framed, barrel-chested man, who now lived behind the pile of paperwork on his desk, was still in good shape and was definitely no one to fool with. One or two pictures of some older kids adorned his desk, but no picture of a wife, or ring on his finger. In this line of work, probably every other person in the agency was part of a dysfunctional family and the CIA was nothing if not a larger version of one.
After some quick introductions, Hoskins said, “And what can I do for you boys?”
“David’s sister called him from the Republic of Georgia and said that she saw a local farmer digging up some radioactive containers that were buried on his land. She’s afraid that the farmer is in the process of selling the containers to some foreigners.”
“Now that’s one hell of a coincidence, just the other day I read a report on discarded radioactive materials in the former Soviet Union,” Hoskins said as he rifled through a few piles of paperwork on his desk to find the article. “A new objective recently came down from the President instructing us to do everything possible to make sure that these materials do not fall into the wrong hands. We could never underestimate the ingenuity of a terrorist, now can we?”
“No, sir,” Brad and David replied in unison.
Hoskins looked directly at David and asked, “So you’re originally from Georgia?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I take it that you still speak the language and know your way around the area?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You know where this farm is located?”
“Yes, sir.”
Hoskins turned his attention away from the two men and started typing on his computer terminal.
“Who do you guy’s report to?”
Knowing that David was nervous at this point, Brad answered, “We report to Bob Gola, he’s the Director of Electronic Surveillance.
“I know Bob, he’s a good man, and what is your workload for the rest of the day?”
“We’re double-checking the feeds to a few of the up-links that we’re preparing for Homeland Security,” Brad said.
“Does Bob have you guys working this weekend?”
“No, Sir.”
“And I take it that if called upon, you can work this weekend?”
They looked at each other and said, “Yes, sir.”
Hoskins picked up his phone and dialed a number.
“Hello, Bob, how are you? Good. I need to borrow two of your men for the rest of the day and through the weekend. We need to be in the air by noon. I’ll fill you in on the details later. Okay, thanks, Bob, I owe you one.”
“We’re going to Georgia?” David asked.
“That’s right, son, I take it that you’re okay with that?”
“Yes, sir, this is great.”
“Good. You two need to go down and talk to Gola, then go home and pack some overnight clothes and get back here ASAP. It’s 10:00 A.M., I want you to meet me at the heliport no later than 11:30, understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
Hoskins looked the two men sternly in the eyes and said, “You cannot tell anyone about this, not friends, co-workers, family, sisters, or anyone, do you both understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
Brad and David hurried out of Hoskins office and went back down to Electronic Surveillance to meet with Gola.
As his office door closed, Hoskins remembered how it was when he was a new recruit in the agency. You wanted so much to be a part of the action, to contribute something to the team. That was the one thing that kept Hoskins in the agency all these years. Just like the Marines, the agency had the core goal to do what was right for their own and for the mission. Having a young kid from Georgia walk into his office with a related story to a report that was sitting on his desk was too much of a coincidence to pass up, and definitely worth a road trip to check out. Hoskins called his secretary to make the arrangements.
When they got down to Electronic Surveillance, Brad and David knocked on Department Director Bob Gola’s partially opened door and walked into his office.
“See that,” Gola said with a smile, “Didn’t I tell you guys that I’d get you out on a field trip some day?”
“You sure did, Bob,” Brad said, “But, thanks to you, I just lost the office pool. I picked ‘When hell freezes over’.”
“Okay, funny man, just for that you’re going to take someone else on the trip with you,” Gola said.
“Oh no, who else is going?”
“I want you two to take the ‘Hummingbird’ and field test it.”
“I thought we were going to evaluate it for another month before sending it into the field,” David said.
“You have nothing to worry about, we just received two other prototypes, so we’ll continue the in-house audits and you two could run field checks with the original. Hoskins has already been briefed on the unit and he’ll direct you when and where to put it into use.”
“We know what the R&D costs are for that unit, you’re not going to kill us if we come back without it, right?” Brad asked.
“Relax guys, with the new units here, the original Hummingbird is expendable. Now don’t get me wrong, I’d love to get it back in one piece, but everyone knows that shit happens when you’re in the field.”
“Thanks, Bob, but as reassuring as that is, could you put it in writing,” Brad said.
“Okay, smartass, you’re wasting time, go home and get packed and get back here quick. I’ll have the Hummingbird all packed up for you.”
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