For the first time Shelby spoke, “I don’t know about you, but I would like a little more action. I love spending time with Jasmine, but, after the last two years I want to feel that rush again. I like the idea of never touching the junk. That really puts insulation between us and the police.” So did I, but I wanted Rachael with me also, this would need to be discussed. I told Shelby we should talk tonight and get back to him tomorrow. He agreed.
Perroni returned and we enjoyed a wonderful meal. I explained “Alright Dominic, Shelby and I need to talk this over. We have more than ourselves to consider.” He nodded, “I understand, Rachael and Jasmine are part of this also, you really need to talk to them.” This shocked me, but I tried not to show it, how did he know about the women? While I tried to recover Shelby took up the conversation. “If we decide to do this I don’t believe we have enough manpower. I think Jessie and I would feel more comfortable with one or two additional hands.” He agreed “That is probably the best course of action. Here is my secure phone number. Call me tomorrow with your decision.”
On the drive home Shelby and I discussed the possibility of adding more manpower. We both knew men who in the past were strong and fearless, but that was over twenty years ago. I wasn’t even sure if any of them were still alive. There was one requirement we both agreed upon, the people we selected could not have criminal records. Shelby had had minor altercations with the law, but we didn’t need to attract undue attention to ourselves.
Now our problem was Rachael and Jasmine. I was pretty sure this wasn’t going to go over to well. I had been telling Rachael I wanted out of this business, now I wanted back in. If I didn’t have strong feeling for her I would have just gone and done it, but I had fallen in love with her and couldn’t deny my feelings. I wasn’t going to lie to her, I owed her that. I wanted her to stay with me, but I knew this could be a deal breaker. I told Shelby my feeling; he had much the same feelings for Jasmine. We both agreed to tell the complete truth and let the chips fall, if either of the woman wanted to leave us, the deal was off. I would call Perroni and refuse the deal.
We arrived back at my house around 10pm. Both of the woman were there watching TV. Shelby took Jasmine upstairs to the bedroom and Rachael and I stayed in the living room. I didn’t want this to be the end. I loved her and wanted her to be with me forever.
“Rachael, I love you, and would never do anything to jeopardize our relationship. An opportunity has come up for Shelby and I to run a security operation for a major player up north. The money is huge. But it’s not the money attracting me, it’s the action. We both miss the work and really would like to take this deal. We agreed that if either you or Jasmine doesn’t want us to do this, we would turn it down. It is a security operation and will be dangerous sometimes, but it’s what we love to do.”
She looked at me kind of sadly. I sat holding my breath waiting for an answer. Finally after what felt like hours she looked at me and smiled. “Jessie, I love you and want to spend my life with you, but the last thing I want to do is change you. I love you for what you are and what you do, so I’m not going anywhere.”
I had my go-ahead, now I had to wait on Shelby. Rachael and I watched TV on the sofa, about an hour later Shelby came downstairs smiling. I could tell he had gotten the answer he wanted. Jasmine came down minutes later, buttoning her blouse. I think they must have celebrated their decision. We all had drinks and turned in for the night. I loved Rachael that night like never before, I was so grateful to have someone like her who understood me. I asked her to marry me, she laughed and said, “That piece of paper don’t mean anything Jessie, I love you and am not going anywhere, but if that is what you really want, I will marry you.”
The next morning I called Perroni, I told him we were in but wanted 20%, a shot in the dark. He didn’t even hesitate and agreed, crap, I should have asked for 25%. He gave me the number of an electronics guy and a hardware guy. Whatever we needed one of those could get it quickly and discretely. We were going to get scrambled phones in a couple of weeks and they would be shipped to us.
The following day Shelby and I made of list of possible partners. The list contained about ten names. Shelby contacted an old flying buddy of his who had access to service records. After much tracking he located most of the names and phone numbers. I began to call. Out of the first five I was able to contact two. My approach was to just start a general conversation and find out what their situation was. Both the men I contacted were married with kids and making a good living. One was in sales and the other was a cop. I was able to reach one in the second group of five. He was awaiting trial for drug possession, probably not a good candidate. None of the others in the top ten answered. I left messages where I could and started on the second list.
There was one name that kept coming up in our conversation, and he was the first person on the first list. One of the no answers, Carl Rome. Carl had been a LRP, Ranger, sniper, and my partner. He had probably killed more men than he could count. For all I knew today he could be dead or in jail, but it was worth finding out. Carl lived in Eagle, Idaho just outside of Boise. I called and got no answer, not even a machine. Hell, we had plenty of travel money. We decided to take a flight to Boise.
The following day we took a morning flight to Boise. We had only a P.O. Box and phone number for Carl. We rented a car and drove to the Eagle Post Office. The clerk said he couldn’t give us an address for the owner of the P.O. Box, it was against the postal rules. Five one hundred dollar bills changed the rules and we had an address. I tried the phone number again with no luck.
Chapter 36
Carl Rome
Cletus Farley Jr. was born on September 16th 1951 in Buck Mountain, Arkansas. To say Buck Mountain was backwoods would be a major understatement. He was delivered by a midwife in a house with no running water and no electricity. Buck Mountain was as rural as you could get. His birth was never registered with the State. No record of Cletus Farley Jr. existed. As a child growing up he lived hand to mouth. Whatever he or his father could catch or kill would be his supper. At times his father would disappear for days at a time and he and his mother were left to fend for themselves. He learned early the craft of hunting and capturing prey. He could track anything through any environment. Even when his father was home he was drunk on moonshine. The only skill he seemed to have had been making moonshine. When Cletus was eight his father disappeared one day and never returned. Cletus never attended school but his mother could read and write and taught Cletus from the few books they had available. By the age of ten Cletus was making whiskey and selling it throughout the area. He could move through the woods as silent as a cat and always brought home game for the table. Cletus’s mother took up with any man who would have her. Some of the men treated Cletus good, but others beat his mother and him. He had known no other life but at night dreamed of one day going to one of the places he had seen in the books his mother kept.
Living in a harsh environment had made Cletus hard. He grew big and strong. He could run for miles through the mountains. When Cletus was sixteen he returned home from hunting one day and heard his mother screaming. He went in the back door and found a large naked young man beating his mother. He stepped between the man and his mother and was hit across the face. The naked man kicked him while he was on the ground and turned back to Cletus’s mother. He kicked her several times and was about to kick again when Cletus pulled his skinning knife from his belt. He stepped in front of the man and drove the knife into his groin and pulled upwards with all his strength, gutting the man from crotch to breast bone. The hooked blade of the skinning knife pierced his heart and he dropped to the ground with the knife still in him. Neither Cletus nor his mother said anything. Cletus felt nothing, no emotion at all. He felt more sympathy for the animals he hunted in the mountains. He stepped over the man and withdrew the knife from his chest.
His mother had gotten up and sat on the edge of the bed. She took the dead man’s pants and pulled out his wallet. S
he glanced in it and handed it to Cletus. She told him to take the wallet and leave for good. He was shocked. He knew she couldn’t mean it. She told him again to take the wallet and whatever was in it and get away from there as far as he could.
Eureka Springs was the closest thing that passed for a town. He had been there to sell moonshine. She told him there was a bus terminal in town, he was to get on the bus and go as far as the money in the wallet would take him. It had been hammered into him since birth to respect your elders and do what he was told. He didn’t know why, but his mother knew best so he prepared to leave. He asked her when he could return. She told him never, he was never to come back to this God forsaken place again.
Cletus packed his belonging, which consisted of two shirts and two pairs of pants. He filled his pocket with deer jerky and was about to walk out. His mother stopped him. He thought she had changed her mind, but she only asked him for his skinning knife. He had put it back in its sheath and stuck it in his belt. He gave it to her and she told him to go. Cletus’s mother lay on the bed and waited about an hour until she was sure Cletus was gone. She carefully took the skinning knife and opened both her wrists to the bone. By the time both bodies were found Cletus would be far away.
It was 3PM when Cletus left Buck Mountain for the last time. As the crow flies it’s around eight miles to Eureka Springs. Traveling the trails and ridges it took Cletus fourteen hours to reach it.
He wandered around the small town and found the bus terminal, it was 5 AM. He had looked in the wallet and found there was forty three dollars folded in it. He entered the terminal and there was a woman behind the counter. He handed her the money and asked how far he could get on it. Cletus had never even ridden in a car before much less taken a bus. She counted the money and told him the only bus that day went to Jonesboro, left at 11 AM and would cost thirty dollars. He bought the ticket and as she instructed sat and waited. He ate some deer jerky and drank water from the fountain he saw in the corner.
The bus arrived at 10 AM and no one got off. The woman told Cletus that was his bus. He climbed onboard, gave the driver his ticket and settled into a seat. He had no idea what to do so he just sat and waited.
At 11 AM the bus pulled out and began its run to Jonesboro. The bus made several short stops, but for most of the trip Cletus was the only one onboard. They arrived in Jonesboro at 5:45 PM, on time. The driver told him this was his destination. Cletus got off and marveled at his surroundings. Eureka Springs had been the largest city he had ever been to. But this town had larger building than he had ever seen before. Hi-ways, people, too much to comprehend. He had thirteen dollars left and no idea what to do. A woman at an information desk asked if she could help. He had no idea what he was supposed to do now, but he knew he was hungry. He asked about something to eat. She told him there was a lunch counter in the terminal, but it wasn’t very good. She pointed across the street to a strip mall. He looked in that direction but had no idea what a mall was. She said to go to Johnny’s restaurant in the mall, they had good food cheap.
Since he was starving he followed her directions and crossed the street looking for Johnny’s. There was a sign brightly lit on one of the building saying Johnny’s 24 Hours. He went in the front door and a woman told him to take any seat he wished. He sat at a counter like the ones he had seen in Eureka Springs. The woman brought him a folded piece of paper and glass of water. He eagerly drank the water and remembered a story in one of the books a home about a restaurant and a menu, this was apparently a menu. There were so many choices he had no idea what to get. He had eaten mostly game and crops grown at home. There was a man sitting on the stool next to him, the man looked at him and asked. “Hi son, can I help you?” Cletus noticed the man was in uniform. The only uniforms he had ever seen had been police and game wardens. He smiled at the man, “I’m hungry and I don’t know what to get.” All Cletus could think of was the he was in trouble. The man smiled, “Well the club sandwich is good here.”Cletus had no idea what that was but said OK. He told the woman he wanted the club sandwich.
The man in uniform extended his hand, “I’m Sergeant Ben Willis.” Cletus just nodded, Willis tried to coax a story out of Cletus. “I just got here on the bus. My mama told me to go take the bus as far away as I could. She told me never to come back.” Willis’s eyes let up. Cletus was served his club sandwich. He inhaled it quickly and Willis paid for it. Willis told him to follow him that he wanted to show him something.
Two doors down from the diner they entered Willis’s office. Even though Cletus had no idea what this place was he followed Willis to his desk. There were pictures of men and women in uniforms all around the room. There was a large cutout poster of a man in a tall hat with a red, white, and blue vest with the words ‘Uncle Sam Wants You’. Willis asked “How old are you son?” Cletus truly had no idea, birthdays weren’t something anyone at home worried about. Willis shrugged, “Do you have any ID son?” Cletus wasn’t sure what ID was but he handed him the wallet. There was an Arkansas Hunting license, a social security card, and thirteen dollars in it. The Sergeant looked at the License and the Social Security Card. There were no pictures or other forms of ID. The name on the license was Carl Rome.
Sergeant Willis had fallen behind on his recruiting quota. If he didn’t pick up some recruits he would lose this post. He had a couple of lady friends and he didn’t want to leave Jonesboro. Willis asked “Son, do you know what this place is?” Cletus shook his head, “No Sir I don’t.” Willis explained, “Well Son, I’m in the Army, I’m a soldier. My job is to get people to join the Army. It’s a great job. You get clothes, a place to live, and three meals a day. And they pay you. You can travel all over the world. It really is a great thing to do.” This sounded good to Cletus but he just wasn’t sure if this was what his mother had in mind.
Then Willis threw in the clincher. “You know something else, if the person is in any trouble when they join the Army they are free.” Willis had dealt with men in trouble before and this boy had that look about him. “Son can you read and write?” He had Cletus read him a sentence from a recruiting pamphlet. He asked about school, Cletus said he had never been, the Sergeant put down home schooled on the application. Now came the sticky part, “Your name in the wallet is Carl Rome, is that your real name son?” Cletus was worried, he didn’t want to go to jail. He just stood and looked at Willis. Finally made up his mind for him. “OK, good, your name is Carl Rome.” Cletus didn’t really understand but he didn’t want to get in trouble so he agreed. He was told his name was Carl Rome, he was nineteen years old, and his birthday was June 11th 1948. He was told to memorize his Social Security Number which was on a card in the wallet.
Cletus was no dummy, he knew something wasn’t quite right, but he also knew if the police were called he would be going to jail. He did as he was told and signed the paper where Willis said to. He was told to raise his right hand and repeat his oath. After all was finished Willis shook his hand and congratulated him. Willis told him he would take a bus in two days and be taken to his training camp, Fort Campbell Kentucky. He was told Uncle Sam would put him in a motel until the bus came. Who Uncle Sam was he had no idea, but he was tired and needed some sleep. Willis drove him to the motel, gave him forty dollars to eat with and told him he would pick him up at 7 AM day after tomorrow. Cletus Farley Jr. was now Carl Rome U.S. Army.
The bus wove through every small town between Jonesboro and Fort Campbell. By the time it arrived there were forty recruits onboard. The bus was noisy and the people onboard loud, until it passed through the gates at Fort Campbell. Suddenly everyone onboard got very silent. A Drill Sergeant jumped onboard even before the bus stopped and began yelling and calling everyone names. They were rushed off the bus and told to stand in a line. Then more men in uniform and funny hats screamed in their faces.
This didn’t faze Cletus, his father and his mother’s many men had done that many times before. He kept reminding himself his name was Carl. Sergeant Willis had
put a name tag on him before he got on the bus. During the next seven weeks he was yelled at, pushed, kicked, and run. But nothing they did to him came even close to his life before. To Carl, this was summer camp. They issued him a rifle, much more powerful than the one he hunted with at home. On long marches men around him griped and fell down, but Carl could walk or run for hours without any problem. The first day on the firing range he hit every target. In the end he was the only recruit to get a perfect score and earn the rating of Expert.
He ate well and trained hard. He put on muscle and was singled out for contact drills. Carl made it through basic training finishing first in his class and carried the unit’s colors at graduation. Many of men graduating had families there, but Carl simply walked back to the barracks to wait for his next task.
The following Monday Carl began Advanced Infantry Training. Again he breezed through this every phase, and he again finished first in the class.
The following day he was summoned to the First Sergeants Office. The Sergeant told him men who finished first in training and rifle range were offered the opportunity to attend Ranger School. He was told it would be much harder than anything he had done before, but it was an honor to be selected. The Sergeant told him to take his time and discuss this with his family, Carl said he had no one to ask and that he wanted to go. He was given a two week leave until the next Ranger Class was to begin. He spent the time exercising and resting in the barracks.
The first phase was to begin at Fort Benning Georgia. He was bused to Fort Benning and greeted much as he had been before at basic training. It was the same type of training, but much more physical and intense. As before, he breezed through all the physical aspects. He was taught to navigate with the stars and how to read maps, how to move alone and in small units. Weapons training was his favorite. He excelled with every Weapon. He moved through the woodlands quieter and faster than anyone else, including the instructors. During the mountain phase he was really in his element. He had grown up moving through the mountains and could navigate the terrain like a bobcat.