Chapter Fifty Seven:
Thursday, November 20, 1997 – Washington D.C.
The late morning weather in D.C. was drizzle mixed with light snow and a promise of more of the same later in the day. Outside Rayburn House Office Building, Enos got out of the cab first, held the umbrella over Soonie as she stepped onto the sidewalk, and repositioned her coat around her shoulders, snugging the collar over her exposed neck. Although they had both grown up in climates where the cold can chill you to the bone, they had also both been living in California for more than ten years and the contrast seemed to be affecting Soonie more.
Since yesterday morning, when Enos awoke in Los Angeles with Soonie sleeping peacefully on the pillow next to him, they had poured over maps and timetables, laid out an agenda and itinerary for the next four days, gathered legal documents and made sure their passports were up to date, called to make an appointment with Cooter Davenport, packed at Soonie's apartment, made both short and long-term arrangements, packed at his apartment, and said goodbye to Mrs. Huang. Departing LAX late in the evening, they had slept very little on the plane.
When they landed at Dulles, the first priority was to make an honest woman of Soonie. Not that Enos was feeling the least bit guilty. He just wanted to make sure that, since they had already put the cart before the horse, there was a wedding band on her finger by the time they got back to their hotel room that night and that tomorrow morning when he woke he would be looking into the eyes of his wife.
Since Virginia had no waiting period or blood test requirement, their first stop on the way to the Capitol was the City of Fairfax, Virginia to apply for their marriage license and make arrangements with an officiant to perform the ceremony later that very afternoon.
Enos and Soonie Had been waiting in the tiny ante room of the office of Georgia's District 4 Congressman Ben Davenport for about twenty minutes. His administrative assistant had them penciled in and shared with them that he was at a loss to explain how they had managed it, what with his boss's busy schedule and trying to wrap up before the Thanksgiving holidays.
Enos could hear Cooter's voice, and his distinct Georgia accent, in conversation with someone as he approached the open door to the office. From his tiny desk, the AA gathered a couple of portfolios and a stack of messages, ready to hand to the congressman as he passed through. When Cooter walked through the door, he paid little attention to his AA and lit up like a Christmas tree when he spotted Enos. Throwing out his right hand, he shook Enos's hand so vigorously that it vibrated his whole body.
"Enos Strate, as I live and breathe. How the heck are ya'?"
"Doin' okay, Cooter. You're a sight for sore eyes too," Enos said, smiling broadly. He couldn't help letting out a high pitched hee-hee. "Hey, you look pretty good for sittin' behind a desk all day."
"Well, you know, I go to the gym now and again. What brings ya' to D.C? When Jamie here told me you said it was imperative you see me today, you coulda' knocked me over with a feather offa' Mizz Bunch's Banty rooster. I told him to clear my schedule so we could take time to visit."
"Don't have much time for visitin' Cooter. We got a lot to do and don't have a lot of time. I sure hope we're not takin' you away from somethin' important."
That's when Cooter realized that Enos wasn't alone. "Course not," he said, looking back and forth between Enos and Soonie, the expression on his face a gigantic question mark.
"Cooter Davenport, I'd like you to meet Kyung-soon," Enos said, smiling proudly, "my wife."
Forget the question mark, Cooter was dumbstruck.
"Well, she will be by this afternoon anyway," Enos clarified.
Soonie put out her hand and Cooter took it, still trying to make heads or tails of what he'd heard. Had the world just gone topsy-turvy?
"Cooter, I'd be much obliged if we could talk now. We've got a lot goin' on the next four days and we're eatin' up daylight."
"Sure, sure..." he said, letting go of Soonie's hand, still looking much like a curious puppy seeing something shiny for the first time.
Soonie let out a tiny muffled sneeze, prompting Enos to pull a tissue out of the travel pack in his overcoat pocket.
"You think I could get her a cup o' coffee, Cooter, or maybe some hot chocolate. She's been snifflin' ever since we landed."
"Jamie, could you get us all some coffee and bring it into the office?"
Soonie held up a hand and spoke softly to Enos. "I should stay out here and let you two talk. I think I would be a distraction."
She was right, of course. She was always a distraction for him and it might be easier if he and Cooter talked alone. The subject of Daisy was bound to come up.
"You sure?"
"Yes. Perhaps I will explore the Capitol building. I have never been to Washington D.C."
"I don't want you wonderin' around out in this cold."
"Jamie," Cooter said, "Why don't you give...um...the future Mrs. Strate here a private tour? Take her through the underground pass, show her the Senate floor. But first, make sure she gets somethin' warm to drink."
Before she left the office withe the AA, Enos put his arm around her shoulder and gave her a gentle kiss on the temple. "I'll call you when we're done here. Won't take too long, then we can get somethin' to eat."
As Jamie led Soonie out the door, Cooter was still wondering if the sky was going to fall in on them any minute now. He even took a quick glance out the window to see if pigs were flying.
In his private office, Cooter motioned for Enos to sit and then sat down behind his mahogany desk. Before he took the chair opposite, Enos noticed a photo of the Hazzard County Garage, one of Uncle Jesse shelling peas on his front porch, and one of himself in the uniform of a Hazzard County Deputy along with Cooter, Daisy, Bo and Luke leaning up against the General Lee. There were others from Hazzard, and all of them were placed smack in the middle of twenty of so other framed photos of Cooter shaking hands with dignitaries and heads of state.
"How'd ya'll meet?" Cooter asked pointing with his thumb at the closed door, "You and K'yoon..."
Cooter had come closer than most trying to pronounce her given name. Enos chalked that up to having to relate to people from other countries. "Soonie. You can call her Soonie."
"How...where...? Do the folks back home know about...Soonie?"
"If you mean Daisy, she knows. Most of it anyway."
"I just never...I mean, it don't seem possible. I remember when..."
"Cooter, I'm real sorry, but we don't have time to take a stroll down memory lane and I need you to keep this under your hat. I'll be sendin' Daisy a letter and some other stuff, but it's real important that you don't share too much right now, especially what I'm about to tell you. There's other people...innocent people...that I don't wanna' put in harm's way."
"Well, you did use the word 'imperative.'" Cooter said, settling back in his leather chair and running his hand through his hair as if smoothing his thick, graying mane would make the exchange less surreal. "Okay, Enos, whad'ya need?"
Over the next hour, Enos explained what he could to Cooter, who listened in rapt attention with occasional slack-jawed interludes, to what had transpired over the past six months, right up until the day he resigned from the LAPD. He did not tell him about his belief that Kate was alive or that he planned to find her. That was information Thompson would be sharing with the FBI on Monday, along with the complete file and detailed investigation notes he and Thompson had amassed.
"I need to find a good immigration attorney and I need to see somebody at Interpol before the weekend. Today if possible, tomorrow at the latest, at least where it concerns Interpol. Need to get the application process goin.'"
"Interpol?...You wanna' work for Interpol, here in Washington?"
"No, I want to work for Interpol at their office in Seoul."
Cooter blinked a couple of times. "As in South Korea?"
"That's would be the one."
Cooter blinked again and gave his head a quick shake to clear his mind and gather his thoughts. "You know it takes several months…"
"I know. That's why I need to get it started now. I hate to ask for favors, Cooter, but I'm askin' anyway. Can't even promise it's gonna' be the last time."
"Enos, you may not be a constituent anymore, but you're still a neighbor and one o' the best friends I ever had. If it don't break the law or my oath as a public servant, I'll do whatever I can."
Cooter pulled out his Capitol Hill directory, found the number for the Attorney General's office and picked up the receiver on his office phone. After he found the appropriate person, he listened to them for a couple of minutes, then, made arrangements for Enos at the D.C. office of Interpol for the next day. He put down the receiver and chewed on his bottom lip for a few seconds.
"Apparently, somebody already faxed your CV, your service record, and five references to their office. One of them was from the Mayor of Los Angeles. They were just waitin' for a call..."
He waited to see if Enos was going to comment. When he didn't, Cooter asked, "Who are you...and what have you done with Enos Strate?"
"Still me, Cooter. Just all grown up and a whole lot wiser."
"Yeah, I can see that. So, why is it I think you're not tellin' me everything?"
"Someday me and you are gonna' hang our fishin' poles over Hazzard Pond and have a good long talk about it. But, right now, I need you to trust me and to do somethin' for me while I'm gone."
Cooter studied Enos while he settled back into his chair and listened.
"There's gonna' be a bill comin' up before congress in the next couple'a years called the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act. The advocate committee in California's gonna' send you the research they been workin' on so far. I need you to sponsor it, or at least support it and get others to support it, or do whatever it is that you folks do to get bills passed. But it needs to go through. It'll pave the way for federal funding for full blown task forces all over the country and all kinds of other services that have to do with combattin' the domestic and international slave trade."
"So you're a lobbyist now?"
"Whatever it takes, Cooter. You in?"
"I'm familiar with the problem...and I take it you've got up close and personal knowledge of it?"
Enos just gave him a solemn nod.
"You know I only got one more year in my elected term, right? If it's the one I been hearin' about, bills like that take a while to get to the vote – especially if they involve a fair to middlin' chunk of the national budget. And I might not even be here by the time it reaches the House."
"Then I'm hopin' you'll make sure you win the election."
"Now, that's a bit taller order than just getting' you in the door with Interpol."
"You are gonna' run again, aren't ya' Cooter? 'Cause we're countin' on ya.'"
"Well, then, I guess it's a good thing I already planned to go for another term, ain't it?"
It was the first time Enos smiled since he sat down.
Sunday, November 23, 1997 – Los Angeles, CA
'Crazy' Cooter had not only smoothed the way into the Interpol interview, he insisted that some random officiate in Virginia wasn't good enough and arranged for Enos and Soonie to be married in Falls Church, VA with a minister officiating the ceremony. Cooter was one of the two witnesses. The other was the minister's wife.
If Soonie hadn't been feeling so under the weather, Cooter would have taken them out to dinner. But her cold deepened over the course of the afternoon and by the time they got back to the hotel in D.C., she was drinking over-the-counter cough syrup like it was going out of style. So Cooter arranged to get Soonie to a doctor on Friday while Enos was at the US National Central Bureau, headquarters of Interpol in the United States.
Friday evening, after Soonie was asleep, Enos sat down to finish the letter to Daisy and packed the box he'd brought with him to D.C.
By Saturday afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Strate were back in Los Angeles. Enos hadspent the first the first three days of his marriage taking care of a sick wife and he was grateful for every snotty, sneezy minute of it.
Thompson stopped by early Sunday morning to bring the box of Enos's personal items from the office and to go over any new information about Kate that had come in since he and Soonie left for D.C. After he finished filling Enos in on what little new information there was, Thompson asked, "Kay feeling any better?"
"Yeah, the doc in D.C. gave her a prescription for the cold and somethin' to make her sleep. Said she mostly needs rest. He gave her some Dramamine to help her sleep on the plane. Said it would also help with the jet lag."
"Going to be a long flight to Seoul."
"Thirteen hours."
"Guess it's too late to talk you out of this?"
"Yep," Enos said in his best Thompson impersonation.
Thompson smiled in spite of his best efforts. "I suppose I had that coming."
"Yep."
"Okay, okay."
"You look a little green around the gills, Tommy, somethin' else on your mind?"
It was the first time Strate had called him that. Elektra called him Tommy all the time just to needle him when their paths crossed while working with their respective teen programs. 'Oh, well,' he thought, 'it was better than his other nickname, 'Eagle Eye' or Angela Kim's version, 'Double E.'
Mallory had made Strate's suspension one week. He had made Thompson's stint with the high school cadet program a six month gig. So far, it hadn't been all that terrible.
"I was wondering," he cleared his throat, "if you would mind if I asked Elektra out."
"You mean like...on a date?"
"Yep...yeah, on a date."
Enos thought about the implications for a few seconds with some amusement at Thompson's obvious discomfort.
"First off," he said, trying to get serious, "why are you askin' me? You asking' for my approval?"
Thompson took a deep breath.
"Yeah, I guess am." he sighed. It wasn't easy for him, especially since Strate seemed to be enjoying it a little too much.
"Even though I'm old enough, I'm not her Daddy."
"Maybe not, but she cares a lot about what you think. And you and I didn't exactly get off on the right foot. If you remember, she had a front row seat."
Enos wasn't sure how to react to being asked for parental approval. Although, if everything worked out with the custody proceedings, he would have to start getting used to having a daughter whose would-be beau might someday present him with the same kind of dilemma. He had become a husband and, for all intent and purpose, a father in the space of a few days.
After making Thompson wait a few more seconds and playing with his wedding ring, he said, "Then, I don't have a problem with it. But you get outta' line and I hear about it..."
"You'll kick my ass even if it gets you busted all the way back down to fetchin' Sheriff Coltrane's corn dogs. Yep. Got it."
It was saying goodbye to Aaron that took its toll. Inez had resigned herself to E marrying Kay, and even giving up his badge, but she was having a hard time with how Aaron was taking the news of what was going to happen next. When she picked Aaron up at LAX on Saturday morning and told him about his Uncle E going away for what may be a year, at least, he had become unusually quiet, almost sullen.
He'd wanted to ditch classes and jump on the first plane to L.A. when Inez called him to tell him what had happened Halloween night, but she had managed to talk him out of it. She'd only called him so he wouldn't hear about it some other way. He talked to friends still in L.A. all the time, friends who knew how close he and his Uncle E were.
So, Enos took the time, while Soonie slept, to spend the rest of Sunday morning with Aaron. Sitting on the back steps adjacent to the driveway where they'd had many a game of H-O-R-S-E or Twenty-one, they talked about Aaron's college experience, the girl he was sort of seeing, the friends he had made – anything but what was taking Uncle E away to a place that was only thirty five miles from North Korea.
"It's not like I'm gonna' be gone forever," Enos told him. "Besides, you have school and a girlfriend to keep you busy. And baseball season will be here before ya' know it."
"And what's going to be keeping you busy?" Aaron asked.
Aaron took political science and was acutely aware of the climate between the two Koreas with Kim Jong Il's finger now on the nuclear button in North Korea. Even that wasn't what concerned the boy.
"I know you and Mom aren't telling me something. I'm not a kid anymore."
"I know you're not, and I'm real proud o' the man you turned out to be. There's just some things I can't talk about right now. Your Mom understands."
"Yeah, she probably does. Doesn't mean I have to like it."
Inez had given them their space without interfering and only came out the back door when it was time to remind E that he had to catch a plane in about four hours. So she gave him a quick hug and let Aaron walk with him to his truck.
"We'll keep in touch. And I don't wanna' find out your grades are slippin' because you're spendin' too much time courtin.'"
Enos gave Aaron the usual bear hug but held on to it a little longer.
"No, Sir," Aaron said, gripping him a tighter. "Thanks for everything, Dad. I love you."
"...You're welcome, son. I love you too."
