Chapter Twenty-Three
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." (Churchill)
THE PLAN
The next step was to devise a plan, thought the Captain.
“Okay folks, the votes have been made and tabulated. We all agreed to return to Dallas and find the reason for the assassination. But we cannot jump into Pegasus and hop on back to 1963 and start running around wildly. We must first plan a course of investigation before we set foot inside that slick, shinny, time-traveling machine.”
“Okay Grandpa, give us the plan.”
“First and foremost we have an enormous problem in the lab. The computer coordinates and the final destination date had been changed on Pegasus before I left the launch site in the laboratory. Someone in the lab was responsible for making the changes. I was fortunate while on the ground in Texas to have one of the best shade-tree handyman rescue Pegasus, or I would be a sixty-nine year old that had only been born twenty years earlier! And you would still be sitting here in this conference room waiting, forever, for my return.
“Earlier I said we were going back to Texas. We are, but we have urgent work here that must be solved before we go. I have already assigned jobs to Krista and Olive Marie, but Sam Lin and Si Lie I have a job for you too. Spook and Tinker I haven’t left you out. In just a moment, I will discuss your assignments.
“The more thought I have given to the saboteur in the lab the more I believe I can fathom whom he is.”
“Who Grandpa? Who is this loathsome snake-in-the grass?”
“Just a minute and I will reveal him to you. Sam Lin and Si Lei I appreciate you want to go with me to Dallas, but I now believe I have an assignment that is just as important.”
Sam Lin answered, “Captain, you realize we will perform any duty you think is essential, you are the boss. Si Lei and I are at your command.”
“Thank you for your support. What I am about to ask of you is going to seem distasteful, but it is necessary. I don’t even relish the thought of requesting this assignment, but I believe it is entirely necessary. You will both be of greater value to me and our mission if you will faithfully perform what I am about to ask.”
“Of course Captain, what do you want us to do?”
“You asked if I recognize whom the traitor is. Yes, I believe it is Mr. Ryan Rousseau, SCAR’s Chief of Experimental Design and the Flight Director downstairs in the lab. Before any of you say anything, Sam Lin and Si Lei, I realize he is your friend as he is mine, but I strongly believe he is responsible for my almost disastrous time-travel failure. I want you both to do a complete, and I mean complete, background check on our friend. I grasp he was with you both in Bangkok, and I also understand he was instrumental in getting Spook, Tinker and me out of Thailand and safely home with the satchel full of alien documents. I also understand we owe him a lot, but we do not owe him our lives. Go back to Bangkok and check him out guys, I believe he is hiding some deep, dark secret. You must find out what it is.”
Walking over to the table, he picked up the bag where he had stowed his red flannel shirt and blue denim overalls. He removed the overalls and took out a piece of pink napkin from the front bib. It was the napkin from the Carousel Club in Dallas. Slowly he unfolded it, silently read the name written on it and turned to face the others sitting around the conference table.
“Folks, I jotted down this note while sitting in Jack Ruby’s Carousel Club on Thursday the day before President Kennedy was killed. The name was seen by one of the Carousel waitresses Miss Linda Lou Dearmann, known professionally as Kandy Barr, as she was delivering a drink to the table where Jack Ruby was talking to six of his friends, all bosses of the Cosa Nostra. The name Miss Dearmann saw was MK-ULTRA. I am not sure what it means.”
“Captain,” said Sam Lin, “I too have heard that name - in Bangkok at our CIA headquarters building. I wasn’t assigned to that particular project, but I did put two and two together and figured out it was a black ops, hush-hush, need-to-know only, operation.”
“You’re right Sam Lin, I too have heard of MK-ULTRA,” added Si Lei.
“Sam Lin, Si Lei we need you to catch the next flight out to Bangkok. Turn over every rock, call in every favor you might have over there but find out about MK-ULTRA. And find out if Mr. Ryan Rousseau had any connection to it. If he did, what was his involvement? It’s a strange coincidence that the word MK-ULTRA was being used in Dallas, Texas in 1963 by a bunch of Mafia bosses, and the CIA, in Southeast Asia, was mixed up in the same project in 1967. You acknowledge I do not believe in coincidences. I believe where there’s smoke there’s fire and gentlemen I’m beginning to detect the aroma of smoke coming from Mr. Ryan Rousseau’s direction.”
“Grandpa, you said you had a plan to uncover the saboteur in our lab. What are you going to do?” Asked Gabby.
“Nothing, right now, we have a number of projects connected to the Kennedy assassination to complete before attempting another Pegasus flight. Utmost is the data I believe Sam Lin and Si Lei will uncover in Thailand concerning Rousseau. I have been thoughly acquainted with this man, as have Sam Lin and Si Lei, but as well as I have known him I now believe he is hiding something. Something so sinister that he is willing to kill to keep secret.”
“Are you serious Captain?” asked Sam Lin.
“That’s your mission -- find out!! Krista has you and Si Lei booked on a flight out of here tomorrow at 0700 on American Airlines 4446 to Washington, D.C. From there you grab a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong. From there you will proceed to Bangkok. Have a pleasant flight - and get information on Ryan Rousseau. There’s more to this man than meets the eye, you just need to find out what it is. Oh, by the way, you will probably need some help in Bangkok. Those CIA types can get out of hand sometimes. I’ve got a couple of guys I’m going to sent over to work with you two... they should be there in a few days.”
“Who are they Captain?”
“Lonnie Joe Wheeler and Rocky Jolliet. We worked with them on the Egyptian expedition last year, both ex-Special Forces, and definite assets if you get into trouble over there. I’d rather we wait and send all four of you together, but I believe it is important to get our ‘boots on the ground’ over there as soon as possible. You two go on ahead and get the operation started, and I will get Wheeler and Jolliet over there as soon as possible to help”
MORE ASSIGNMENTS
Reaching back into the overalls he pulled out a second colored napkin. Slowly Captain Scarburg unfolded the rose piece of paper and began to read the names he had written on it at Jack Ruby’s place also. The main difference this slip of napkin had names that were recognizable. He had taken the information supplied by Linda Lou word for word; he did not want to miss anything. He began to read: “ ... the one sitting on Jack’s right is Sam Giordino. He’s from Chicago. Next to Sam is Johnny Russolli out of Las Vegas, and I believe he has something to do with the mob in Hollywood. Then it’s Santo Riccocante from Tampa. Next, the guy smoking the cigar is Carlos Mancini. I believe I have heard he’s from New Orleans, and the guy wearing the sunglasses is Angelo Marino from somewhere up north, Philadelphia I think.”
Spook spoke up, “Captain, I’ve heard about these guys and you are right they are Cosa Nostra. I would like to discern their connection with Ruby too.”
“Good Spook, you are one step ahead of me. I thought you and Tinker would be the perfect ones to dig up dirt on these mobsters. Spook, with your CIA experience you could pull these bugs out into the light without arousing any noticeable suspicions. There is a CIA connection to the assassination somewhere – we just need to find it out. I’m almost certain most of the persons involved would be dead by now, but there should still be a paper trail of their involvement, or maybe there is someone still alive that would provide some pertinent information. ”
“Bad as I hate to admit it Captain, I believe you are right. Tinker and I will do our best to find out what the connection is.”
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“Thanks guys. There’s another area we need to investigate. I believe a tie-in exists with the CIA, Jack Kennedy, the Cubans and the Bay of Pigs fiasco in April 1961; however, Spook and Tinker I believe your investigation into those Mafia bosses might show some connection to the Bay of Pigs screw-up. Try to see if your Mafiosos have any tie-ins to show their connection with Cuba.
“Krista, you and Olive Maria are to be the collection point of all the data these investigations will generate. You will need to compile this information and organize it. Olive Maria you are the computer guru and our computers are linked to the Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill AFB in Florida. Your job is to peruse these highly classified databases, to which we have clearance, and glean any information on MK-ULTRA, the Bay of Pigs operation, the Mafia bosses, the Kennedy Assassination or anything that might be important before our return to Dallas. On the return trip, I will be taking some of our personnel, so our personal safety will depend on the data you uncover.”
“How long do we have to accomplish these tasks?”
“Obviously we have waited since 1967, so we are not under any deadline, but remember as long as we work on this assignment other projects will have to be put on hold. So work with as much speed as possible but let’s make sure the data we gather is accurate and pertinent to the John F. Kennedy assassination on November 22, 1963.”