Kathy was glad to get back to the Brandon McLean house. The rebuild greatly improved the space available. She remembered the first time she saw the house it was still burning from a terrorist attack that killed Jack’s father, and his two Vietnamese house staff and friends. Shadow was also badly wounded in the attack but managed to give the alarm and kill the man who shot him. Since then the house was run like a fort. All long-term houseguests like Kelly and Sally were given battle stations if the house ever came under attack. Kelly was in the Brandon house in Charleston when it was attacked and killed two of the attackers seconds after she rolled out of bed naked. She wasn’t astonished on her first visit when Mrs. Minh asked her if she wanted coffee or tea in the morning and did she have enough ammunition for her SOCOM. The Brandon motto was “Always be Ready.” Kelly had made sure to give Sally a heads up on what to expect on the trip down to McLean from Pittsburgh.
The Minhs served a superb dinner for the four of them once Jack and Kathy arrived. Vietnamese noodle soup with a dash of nuoc mam and a very acceptable Indian curry with home baked nan. Vietnamese ’33’ beer flowed freely. Sally remarked that she could learn to live like this. “It will be much easier as soon as my muscles stop hurting. I thought I was in shape. Your friend, Paul Kim, laughed at me when I told him I had studied Aikido and was in good shape. He was right. You hapkido people are something else. Three hours a day of instruction and another two hours of practice has wiped me out.”
Kathy laughed and said, “Been there, done that. It was one of the hardest things I ever did. The pain does go away after a few months.”
Kelly elbowed Sally and said, “See, that’s what I told you.”
After the house was asleep, except for Shadow who made random checks during the night, Jack sketched out his plan for meeting with Lee Jensen in the morning on a yellow pad. His thoughts turned to his priority needs. No question a good surveillance unit was the backbone of most investigations. He would ask Howie to fill that role. They could stay in Pittsburgh but be ready to travel anywhere in less than six hours. If Lou Washington would join them again, he and his daughter Storm could recruit and run an analytical unit with an audio and photographic capability. They would need an office in McLean or nearby. Kathy, using her CIA training and experience, could supervise the documents guy his father had used in Pittsburgh. She was the brains for designing and using alias documents. That left Lee Jensen and his law firm to handle the payrolls, cover companies, buying or leasing large items like planes and residences, and protecting the Brandon fortune and people.
Barry Kelly | Facts and Fictions 