Covert - Introduction of characters

Proposed Opening Scenes
Prologue
Scene [1]

Joe

Go ahead. Send the letter. Janet’s all grown up now. Her old man, the preacher, is pushing daisies and her Mom is in a home. What threat could there be now?
Ten years ago, Joe was about to end his first hitch in the Army. He was on leave back home, trying to find a job to go to after he separated from the Army.
He bumped into Janet at a high school football game. She was gorgeous and built like something a lot older than the sixteen year old he later found out she was. She was so tempting... and so willing.
They were about to do it in the back seat of his 57 Bel Air, now I say about to, damn it, in the church parking lot that Sunday night when her old man ripped open the door and dragged her out by one foot. He threw her on the ground and came back into the car after Joe bellowing, “I’ll smash them things off with a tire-iron.” Joe barely got out the other side with his pants at half mast.
The old man circled around the car after Joe for what seemed like an hour. Janet grabbed up what of her clothes she could and ran toward the rectory.
“Get out of town or I’ll have you arrested for child molesting,” her old man shouted. “Go back to the Army and stay there.” Before he followed after his daughter, he picked up a huge rock and busted the windshield.
Even though he had four more days of leave left, Joe drove all the way back to his post that night. When he came through the main gate, the MPs inspected the broken window and the pink panties on the rear window shelf. One said, “I like your décor, but I have to gave you a ticket for the broken window.”

* * *

I had no intention of reenlisting until the Captain summoned me to his office a week later.
The Captain was holding three letters. One from her Dad, one from the police chief and one from a judge. The Captain said, “Son, my advice to you is stay in the Army. Transfer somewhere a long ways away from her. And next time, pick some girl over the age of consent.”
“But I didn’t know she was sixteen.”
“Doesn’t matter. If you go back there, in a week you’ll either be in jail... or dead.”
So I re-upped. Dumb move.
And the Captain suggested a real neat place to go see; Vietnam. ‘They got some little skirmish going on over there and they need some advisors.’ He arranged it.

* * *

Vietnam, in the early days, wasn’t so bad. His specialty was director of provisioning. What he couldn’t get through channels, he could get from the locals. He learned all about politics, customs, sharing the wealth and a bit of coercion from time to time. We called it persuasion.
The sharing the wealth part was quite good. You do something for me, I’ll do something for you. And if there were a few dollars spread around, like greasing the funnel, things ran smoothly. Nothing really big. There was a war going on you know.
But, last year things were starting to sour. Some congressmen were probing around the records. New personnel were replacing the regulars. And the South Vietnamese Army was muscling into some of their best customers. It was time to leave.
Since he was ‘in country’ for almost ten years, he could just about name the place he wanted to go. Germany in the spring sounds good.
On his way to his new post, he passed through his home town. That was where he found out what happened to Janet and her parents. In Germany, married to a GI, not going to be too far away. He got her address.

Pages: 3
Words: 655

Prologue
Scene [2]

Janet

The letter from Janet’s first love, Joe, was quite a surprise. It said, ‘I’m being transferred to Ludwigsberg, Germany.’
Oh my God! That’s only eighty miles away. Thank goodness I was home when it came.
She rushed down to the base post office and rented a box, then responded to him with an address correction. Her husband still believed he was her one-and-only.
It took a month of correspondence before she could find a way to legitimately go to Ludwigsberg to pay Joe a visit. She volunteered to be the director of this year’s bible study camp. She chose Ludwigsberg for the week-long retreat, and of course had to go inspect the site.
The old feelings started to tingle her toes as the train neared Ludwigsberg. She hadn’t seen him since he started his second enlistment when Kennedy shipped him out to Vietnam ten years ago. Mom and Dad ended that relationship with letters to his commander and intercepting her mail. ‘A sixteen year old shouldn’t have anything to do with an Army Corporal.’
When the train squeak/lurched to a stop, there he was, a super-sergeant now, standing next to the cab stand at the end of the platform.
She stepped off the train and walked with the crowd toward Joe.
Keep your cool. Don’t run. Just shake his hand and say ‘Hi’.
He hadn’t spotted her yet. Her walk quickened.
A flash of recognition spread over Joe’s face.
Oh, shit. Janet dropped her bag and flew the last half car length and pounced on him. Kisses so sweet as she had never tasted before... and uncountable.
The cabby stood and watched for a minute, then walked down the platform to retrieve her bag. “You’ll be coming with us?” in perfect English.... “This yours?” and held up her bag.
Between mouthfuls, Janet nodded.
Their lips didn’t even part as they got in the backseat. It took a little time for Joe to finally tell the caddy “Bierstube” as their destination.
Pausing from the smorgasborg of affection, Joe finally said, “Wait, maybe we should drop your bag at your hotel first.”
“What hotel?”
“You can’t stay at my place on the post. There’s too many people around that just might know your husband.”
“Don’t be silly. He’s just a tank driver.”
“Janet, I’ve been in this Army too many years. Things like that happen.”
“Well then, I could stay at the Geiger Hostel. That’s what I’ve come to inspect.”
Joe directed the cabby to the hostel five miles from the post.
When the cabby arrived, he had to honk the horn to get their attention again.
Janet said, “I’ll just go in and register. I’ll leave my bag at the desk.”
“Why don’t we go to the room?”
“I believe it’s dormitory style here. And they will know me well in a month or so.” She jumped out of the cab.
Janet walked into the hostel office. It was 1950’s Renaissance Alpine décor, fake rocks and a pitiful waterfall in the corner by the desk.
The registration clerk asked, “Oh yes, Mrs. Harper, would you like to start your tour with the cafeteria? It’s almost serving time.”
“I have a previous dinner engagement, I’ll see you later this evening,” and she dashed back out the door.
The cab dropped them off a block from the Bierstube. The sidewalks seemed to funnel hundreds into the beer hall. There must have been close to a thousand already there.
Joe said, “The Grey Storks, a heavy metal band, will be here tonight. We can find a spot a bit of the way toward the back. There is no privacy... but there is anonymity.”

Pages: 4
Words: 613

Prologue
Scene [3]

The Commander

They don’t normally become a spy out of choice. It’s just not on the high school job councilor’s top ten list of occupations. How would you list the special talents?
The Commander recruited Roger while he was a reserve call-up, freezing his ass on a tin can1 off China in 62.
He’s a musician, a school teacher, not a ‘covert operative.’ James Bond is a myth. Spying is hard work. Really, two jobs. One, to preserve security, you have to be good at something overt. But the other, damn if we even know what we’re doing most of the time.
The question Roger had just asked would be logical in normal circumstances. But I shan’t answer it.
“You don’t have to know, Rog,” the Commander, now Roger’s director, said. “Believe me, the less you know, the safer it is for everybody.”
“Safer.” Roger said. “Okay, ‘what’ are we looking for?”
“Just record the contracts. You have legitimate access to the contract files for the entertainment groups you hire. Get the names, amounts and dates for the contracts that aren’t in the Army records. We need to know how they funnel cash to the mob.”
Roger swallowed... “The freaking mob?”
“Don’t worry, this is still national security, not just a police action.”
“And how do you propose I do that? If they have a second set of books, what makes you think they’ll show me?”
“Rog, you’re a salesman, a musician and you drink a lot. Get to know them.”
Humm. Job requirement: Must be a drunk also.
Roger said, “Too bad sex isn’t in my toolbox of skills.”
The Commander didn’t reply to that. He just raised an eyebrow for a second.
Roger said, “I have to go to Ludwigsberg in the morning. I’ve got to see a new heavy metal band playing at the Bierstube there.
The Commander said, “Yeah, I know. That’s why I wanted to see you tonight. Stop by that post and introduce yourself around there, too. Become a regular. Try to fit into the décor of the place.”
“That’s a tiny post. How many shenanigans could there be there?”
Considering who just got himself transferred there, you might be surprised, Rog. “They all start small,” the Commander said.

Pages: 3
Words: 378

Prologue
Scene [4]

Roger

Roger, in mid swallow, lowered his stein enough to get a closer look at a couple in the corner booth. The woman looked a little familiar. I just have to believe that is Janet, from an office down the hall from mine. His office was eighty miles away, though. The man, a GI, was about Roger’s age and had sergeant stripes half way down his arm.
The woman turned a little bit profile for a second. That is Janet! But Janet is married to a soldier back at the base. I’ve met him once or twice. But this guy, I’ve never seen before.
The couple was, shall we say, engaged in each other. Janet was facing mostly away and probably hadn't seen Roger since he came into the crowed Bierstube a few moments ago.
I don't even want to know what she's doing here.
It was rather obvious though.
Shoot, and I rather like this pub. I don't want to strike it from my list just because she sneaks in here.
Roger asked for a refill, then carried his stein to an open booth up front, out of eyeshot of Janet and where he could get a better view of the stage. His full red beard, ruddy complexion and perfect German fitted the décor of the beer hall.
The table next to him had several GIs challenging each other to see how fast they could down a full stein. A funnel on a hose aided the process.
Janet is a looker, but she acts the perfect (and faithful?) wife back at the base. Some of the hound dogs came sniffing around, but she never gave them cause to think she was interested in anything but U.S. Army Logistics.
Roger's published job is to arrange ‘NCO’ and ‘O’ Club entertainment for the Army installations in Germany. It is a perfect fit for his other job, as it requires frequent trips to audition musical acts all over the country. Ludwigsberg is a fertile place to find good talent.
His covert director suggested he drop by the Army post just outside of town and ‘introduce yourself, meet the office and take a general look around.’ What he will be looking for in the future wasn’t quite clear.
So, he was here tonight to listen to the heavy metal band setting up on the stage. The concert was about to start, he inserted wax plugs into his ears.

Pages: 2
Words: 408

Footnotes
1  The USS Laws (DD-558), a Fletcher-class destroyer, during the Quemoy-Matsu incidents.