| General Fiction posted February 7, 2025 | Chapters: |
...30 31 -32- 33... 
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The mission begins with a flight to the Philippines
A chapter in the book The Devil Fights Back
The Devil Fights Back - Ch. 32
by Jim Wile
The author has placed a warning on this post for language.| Background Three intrepid women team up to conquer medical challenges. |
Recap of Chapter 31: The tap on Leonard Merra’s phone picks up a conversation between Merra and Tony Faiella (Barry Degner) to step up the violence and break some bones this time. Fran decides they have enough to arrest Merra on the charges of conspiracy and solicitation of assault. She travels to Philadelphia and arrests him. After calling his lawyer, he makes a phone call with the cryptic message, “I’m passing the baton.”
Chapter 32
Early February, 2026
Fran
By the third week of January, as soon as the last required chemical had arrived, the company we had hired to make the 5,000 gallons of the Balanga plant spray began producing it. Brian’s team had named the substance KPM-26 (for Kendrick-Payne-Mattson and the year 2026).
Brian’s estimate of a week to make the required amount was quite accurate, and by the beginning of February, the plant began loading it onto tanker trucks.
The chemical plant was located right here in Charlotte, so the tanker trucks had only a short drive to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport. On the airport’s grounds was an Air National Guard base known as the 145th Airlift Wing. Two C-130 Hercules planes had been flown there to receive 2,500 gallons of KPM-26 each for the 36-hour-long flight to the Philippines.
I had called Brian a week ago when we had a firm date to leave for the mission. “Hey, Little Brother,” I’d said at the time, “I’ve got some details of our upcoming trip. We’ll plan on flying out in a week—on the morning of February 4—from right here at the Charlotte airport. Let’s figure on a five-day trip. That will be three full days of travel time and two days in the Philippines. Where we’re going is very near the equator, as you know, and the daytime temperatures will be in the low 80s at this time of year, so pack accordingly. Buy some camo pants and shirt too. Do you have some kind of backpack?”
“Yep. I’ll pack that too. Anything else I should know?”
“Yeah. Although there should be nothing dangerous about this mission, you just never know, so I’d advise you to pack your gun. Have you had a chance to practice yet like I asked you to?”
“Not yet, but I will between now and then.”
“Good. I’ll be in touch again before then, and I’ll give you the exact time to be at the airport the day before we leave.”
“Hey Big Sis, I’m really impressed with how fast this is all coming together. Usually, government projects like this one can be notoriously slow, but I’m sure your leadership had something to do with the sped-up timeline.”
“Well, I only have so much influence, but the President recognized the gravity of the threat Dipraxa poses and put the head of the Department of Health on the project to expedite matters. I think the speed that it all came together is mostly due to him.”
“Alright, then. Talk to you soon.”
I called Brian last night and told him to arrive at the National Guard facility on the grounds of the Charlotte airport for boarding one of the two planes at 9:00 AM today. I was already there when he arrived at 8:30. We had to show a picture ID, but the White House had given us the proper clearance to board the military plane.
Our seats were near the front, which would make the flight smoother and quieter, being farther away from the four turboprop engines that powered the aircraft. Even so, it would be noisy.
We were cleared for takeoff and were wheels-up at 9:20 AM on Feb. 4. We would be in the air with only a few brief stops to refuel for the next 36 hours. The great circle flight path would take us across the country, just south of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, across the Pacific, down over Japan, and finally into the Philippines—an 8,500-mile trip. Adjusting for the 13-hour difference in time zones, we would be landing in Manila at approximately 10:00 AM on February 6.
Due to the space required in the cargo area to house the 2,500 gallons of KPM-26, there was little room for any kind of exercise. The best we could do during the long flight was to get up and stretch in place. We could walk a few steps, circling around the large tanks of liquid, but space was very limited.
Much of the time, Brian and I spent playing chess. He had brought a small, magnetic chessboard, and we played many games. We also read and did crossword and Sudoku puzzles.
There were two land-based refueling stops in the US before heading out over the Pacific Ocean. We deplaned during these stops and had about an hour to get some physical exercise in. We ran together and did calisthenics. The rest of the refueling would be done midair.
Meals during the long flight consisted of MREs, * granola bars, and protein bars, with bottled water, juice, coffee, and tea for beverages.
There was no good space for sleeping, and we just catnapped in our seats for only a few hours at a time.
Due to the extreme weight of the plane with the 2,500 gallons of KPM-26 it was carrying, the flight time ended up being almost 40 hours. We arrived in Manila in the early afternoon. Along with the crew, we had decided not to attempt the mission today, as we were all too tired and cranky but would find a hotel, get some good meals, and be well rested for the mission tomorrow.
Brian and I had breakfast together early this morning at our hotel restaurant. Before flying the spraying mission with the C-130s, he and I would first fly over the island to check for any people there. We would have to postpone the mission if that proved to be the case.
The DoD ** had arranged for a pilot to take us up in a single-engine Cessna 172. It’s about a half hour’s flight in the Cessna to our destination. It was a beautiful, clear day with a cloudless, light blue sky above and a deep blue ocean below. We passed by a number of islands and atolls on the way to Gunagua Island.
As we approached it from the west, Brian said, “Fran, I see a frickin’ boat there on the north shore. It looks like a large fishing trawler. What the hell is it doing there?”
“There could be some innocuous reasons, but I think we’d better photograph it. We’ll send the photos to the DoD to analyze the type of boat and see if they can determine the nationality. They can also access satellite data and see where it originated from. This plane has a SATCOM *** system that will enable us to transmit photos we take immediately by satellite to the DoD.”
I instructed the pilot to begin taking photos of the island on this first pass along the north side. I also told him to fly well away and wait for at least 10 minutes before turning around for the second pass. I didn’t want to arouse any suspicion from the boat below or any people on the island that they were being surveilled by the same plane.
After turning around and approaching the island from the other side, flying over the southern portion this time revealed no other signs of life.
We were done with our surveillance and headed back to Manila. En route, I called my contact at the DoD using my sat phone and confirmed that they got the satellite transmission of the images of the boat and the island. I asked them also to analyze historical satellite data to determine the boat’s origin. They promised to call me with the results within the hour.
In much less than an hour, before we even arrived back at the airport in Manila, the DoD called and gave me their report. When they hung up, I said to Brian, “The boat is Chinese and originated in the Chicom city of Zhanjiang.”
“Could they determine from the high-res photos what it was doing there?”
“A few photos showed a small number of people on the island, but it was difficult to tell exactly. There was pretty dense foliage covering much of the area where they were. You know what this means, don’t you?”
“Shit, Fran. We can’t keep flying a recon plane over to verify when they’re gone without arousing suspicion. So, it means we’ve got to go there in a boat ourselves and let the C-130s know when the coast is clear. While we’re there, we may want to take a closer look at what they’re doing.”
“What’s your best guess as to why they’re here now?” I asked him.
“They’re probably here just to harvest some Balanga for making more Dipraxa. But they could be here to harvest whole plants and excavate soil. They may have realized they can’t grow it at home without the native soil.”
“Then we’d better try to verify that. It would be nice to know if Dipraxa doesn’t eventually hit the skids, that the reason is because they’re now growing their own.”
“How will you know that? Maybe our formula just doesn’t work.”
“Nah. You three are too good. I know it’ll work. This means we need to get to the island ASAP before they leave so we can spy on them. Let’s go back to the hotel and quickly get our gear and weapons. I’ll call the DoD again and get them to arrange a fast boat for our return to the island.”
 Recognized |
* MREs: Meals ready-to-eat, frequently used by the military.
** DoD: Department of Defense
*** SATCOM: Satellite communications
CHARACTERS
Fran Pekarsky: One of three narrators of the story. She is an FBI agent from the North Carolina field office in Charlotte.
Dana Padgett: One of three narrators of the story. She is the assistant marketing director for a Big Pharma company.
Brian Kendrick: Fran's younger brother. He is the inventor of Dipraxa and Glyptophan.
Julia Kendrick: Brian's wife. She is a world-class violinist who now plays in a bluegrass band.
Johnny Kendrick: Brian and Julia's baby boy and Marie's grandson.
Dr. Marie Schmidt: Julia's mother. She is the third narrator of the story.
Cedric (aka Cecil): The doorman at the apartment house where Marie lives.
Lou D'Onofrio: Fran's boss at the FBI.
Patty Mattson: A hacker friend of Fran's. The programmer on Brian's project.
Abby Payne (nee St. Claire): A girl from Dana's past, who she used to bully but has befriended during their adulthood. The mathematician on Brian's project.
Leonard Merra: A vice president at the Big Pharma company where Dana works. He is in charge of stopping Glyptophan.
Barry Degner (aka Tony Faiella): Dana's friend who will act the part of a leg-breaker to attack Brian.
Picture courtesy of Poe Assistant
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. ** DoD: Department of Defense
*** SATCOM: Satellite communications
Fran Pekarsky: One of three narrators of the story. She is an FBI agent from the North Carolina field office in Charlotte.
Dana Padgett: One of three narrators of the story. She is the assistant marketing director for a Big Pharma company.
Brian Kendrick: Fran's younger brother. He is the inventor of Dipraxa and Glyptophan.
Julia Kendrick: Brian's wife. She is a world-class violinist who now plays in a bluegrass band.
Johnny Kendrick: Brian and Julia's baby boy and Marie's grandson.
Dr. Marie Schmidt: Julia's mother. She is the third narrator of the story.
Cedric (aka Cecil): The doorman at the apartment house where Marie lives.
Lou D'Onofrio: Fran's boss at the FBI.
Patty Mattson: A hacker friend of Fran's. The programmer on Brian's project.
Abby Payne (nee St. Claire): A girl from Dana's past, who she used to bully but has befriended during their adulthood. The mathematician on Brian's project.
Leonard Merra: A vice president at the Big Pharma company where Dana works. He is in charge of stopping Glyptophan.
Barry Degner (aka Tony Faiella): Dana's friend who will act the part of a leg-breaker to attack Brian.
Picture courtesy of Poe Assistant
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