This next adventure of the Gibbs clan, et al., involves the U.S. State Department. Rather than create new characters, I've borrowed them from "Madam Secretary", another of my favorite TV shows. The main character, the Secretary of State, is Elizabeth McCord and her husband is named Henry. Her executive assistant is Blake Moran; her chief policy advisor is Jay Whitman. The President that Secretary McCord works with on her show is not the one in our story (but the actor was a guest star on NCIS in Season 11) and the country of Bacia is fictional. Other than this information, you don't need to have watched "Madam Secretary" or know anything else about it to follow (and enjoy!) the story.
Chapter 15
SURPRISES
Two weeks after their vacation, Tim was well back in his work groove. He was pitching in, doing some preliminary work on a new case, when his desk phone rang.
He answered, saying, "Hello, this is Gibbs."
A male voice said, "Agent Gibbs, my name is Blake Moran, personal assistant to Secretary of State McCord. At your convenience, the Secretary's policy advisor, Jay Whitman, would like to speak with you."
"State? Can you tell me why? Is there a cyber-crime involving NCIS?"
"No, there's no cyber-crime nor is NCIS involved. Mr. Whitman is heading up a relief effort in the country of Bacia and is hoping for some advice."
"Advice, interesting. Yes, Mr. Moran, I'll speak with Mr. Whitman although I'm curious to know why he's seeking my advice. I'm a regional director for several cybercrime units at NCIS."
"Regional Director? Ah, sir, are you also Agent Gibbs, Agent Jethro Gibbs?"
"That explains it. I am an agent underneath the fancy title but I'm Timothy Gibbs, son of Jethro Gibbs."
"I'm sorry to have disturbed you, Director. Although puzzled as I asked for Jethro Gibbs when I called. Do you know if he's available?"
"He's probably not; he was taking my grandfather somewhere this morning. He's semi-retired, Mr. Moran, and when he works it's at FLETC's New Mexico location. If you think I can be of help, I'm happy to speak with Mr. Whitman."
"May I ask your security clearance?"
Tim told him adding, "Feel free to check with Director Vance or Secretary Porter, I report to both."
"Thank you, I appreciate your candor and cooperation, considering I'm asking you for a favor. I'll check with the Director or Secretary to ensure protocols are followed."
"I'll be here until 1200 Mountain Time, and then I'll be out until 1500."
"Very well, I expect I'll be calling back in a few minutes."
After disconnecting, Tim did a little research on Bacia, remembering hearing something about it on the international news, now that Dad had encouraged him to start following the news again. When he saw what was currently happening, he nodded, that made some sense. The name Jay Whitman was tickling the back of his mind but he had no memory of what he looked like or of meeting the man.
Forwarding his desk phone to his cell, he headed up to the roof garden for some fresh air. He needed to stretch; he'd been sitting for too many hours.
He didn't stay long as the day – and the roof – was heating up. Back on his floor, he used the restroom, went back into his department for a cup of iced coffee before returning to his office, closing the door behind him.
After turning off call forwarding, he was just logging on to his laptop when his desk phone rang. He smirked; his security clearance must be high enough for whatever this was.
"Hello, this is Timothy Gibbs."
"Director Gibbs, this is Blake Moran again. We have clearance for you to speak with Jay Whitman if that still works for you."
"Sure."
"Jay's in our embassy in Bacia; I'm setting up a video chat with him now. Sorry this is complicated; we need a tightly secured line."
"I understand. I'll swap over to my laptop, I've got better security there than on the phone lines."
"Of course."
Tim quickly finished logging on and transferred the call. He smiled at the man on the screen, "Ok, all done."
"That was fast!"
Tim quirked his lips, "What can I say, I'm a geek!"
Moran smiled, those who knew him would recognize his genuine amusement. "All right, stand by please and I'll bring Jay on with us, then I'll drop off. If either of you need anything, Jay will ping me."
Tim nodded and the next image he saw was a man about his age. "Mr. Whitman, I thought the name was familiar and you look familiar, we must have met somewhere along the line. How can I help you?"
"Director Gibbs, thanks for taking the time to talk with me. And yes, you look familiar too although I don't know when we would have met. I'm in our embassy in Bacia, gathering our expatriate citizens to bring them home. One of the problems I'm facing is where to take them. I remembered hearing around the department that somebody from NCIS spearheaded moving a large group from DC to New Mexico and about the two ranches that built homes for Evacuees. My boss called Secretary Porter and she advised us to contact Agent Jethro Gibbs. My apologies if I gave Blake the wrong name. I hoped you might have some suggestions."
Tim nodded, "That's all right; both were family endeavors. How many people will you have?"
"We don't have final numbers yet. We've sent word to everyone but I'm learning that at least a quarter of the American citizens here have already left. Right now, I can only give you a range of 25-40 people."
"All right. Are there families with children, couples, singles - age ranges?"
"We know of 4 elderly couples, ages between 82 and 92. The oldest couple has been here for 35 years. They have not been to the U.S. in 20 years and truly have no family or friends left at home. There are 5 other couples, ages from mid-50's to mid-60's, recent retirees. There are 5 singles in their 20s and 30s and 7 families, parents and anywhere from 1-4 kids. The parents range from 30s-40s and the kids' ages range from 6 months to 15 years old."
"And what kind of housing are you looking for, temporary, permanent, something in between?"
"Yes."
Tim chuckled, "I understand. Next question, do you know if any of these folks have criminal records?"
"These people do not. Some of the Americans we've contacted have refused to respond. The FBI confirmed most of those folks are wanted for questioning, have warrants against them or past criminal records. After hearing that we sent everyone's names in but the folks we're talking about are clean."
"Thanks; I'm sure the expat criminals are now long gone from Bacia."
"As long as they don't hurt anyone and I don't have to deal with them."
"Your best bet is to find a community that can handle a range of ages and needs. I know we have a few vacancies, not sure how many. Having said that, I have no authority to offer you anything, it would be up to the Limited Liability Corporation that owns and operates The Grove, the name of our Evacuee community. The other possibility is the Ortiz Ranch next to us; they may also have vacancies. When are you leaving?"
"Our deadline is next Tuesday, a week from today. The government here is very pleased that we're being cooperative, collecting our citizens. Secretary McCord was proactive in contacting the government and negotiating some time. But the unrest towards non-natives is growing every day. The sooner we leave the better."
"I'll present this to our group, the LLC I mentioned. Only a very few of them have any sort of security classification, most are civilians. That's going to make things difficult."
"It doesn't have to be, I have the authority to waive the security clearance. Blake is a stickler for protocol, in his position he has to be. Besides, the media is already on the story, there's really no reason to try to keep this quiet. Contained would be nice but as I said, the story is already out there."
"All right, then I'll send out a notice, arrange for a meeting tonight. Most of us live on the ranch and those who don't can attend by video chat. And I will ask for their discretion. Do you have any questions for me, other than how soon I can let you know?"
Whitman gave him a half-smile. "Yes. How much rent will you charge them? And where will they live? Keep in mind most of these people are living here because of the lower cost of living."
"Again, I can't promise anything but I will suggest we charge them what they've been paying in Bacia. We have evacuee housing on a plot of land next to our ranch as well as 30+ rooms in a converted barn on the ranch."
"All right, I'll see if we can figure out the rents they're paying now. What would you advise them to bring?"
"I'm sure you've already told them this but they need to close their bank accounts in Bacia and convert it to cash, American cash depending on the exchange rate. Tell them no cashier or bank checks; cash is the only answer. I don't know whether the exchange rate would be better there or back here; your folks in the Embassy would know that. Clothes, medications, written prescriptions if they can get them, their jewelry, photos, toys for the kids, their favorite artwork and treasures, books and favorite pillows, probably limit that to 2 per person – I mean pillows to sleep on, not throw pillows. For us, it was comforting to have our pillows. It'll be rough, they'll want to bring their entire lives and you don't have time or space. I'm assuming you're limited to 1 plane?"
Jay answered in the affirmative and Tim continued, "Give them definite numbers: 2 suitcases per person, give them a weight limit per bag, check with your pilots or maybe use what the commercial airlines do, 50 pounds per bag. Say 5 toys per child, 4 pieces of artwork per couple or family and their electronics. You don't want to limit the photos but you could have them bring the albums to the Embassy and then they can remove the photos and leave the empty albums behind. Maybe they can bring two big garbage bags per family too, have them double up the bags.
"If I had to do this again and please God I won't ever have to, I'd bring all my clothes and the kids' toys in doubled up garbage bags and pack the artwork, books, treasures and photos in the suitcases. Clothes can be washed, repaired or replaced; old photos, unless they're online, are irreplaceable as is a lot of artwork. We packed in boxes, which cost money and then have to be recycled after."
"What about furniture?"
"Up to you but I'd say probably not; it would take too much time and effort to transport to the Embassy and might be a problem as far as cargo weight, with everything else. Again, you can check with the flight crew. Even if you said, 'light furniture', you'd likely end up with a 500 pound hand-carved beautiful table that will break everyone's heart to leave behind. My godparents had one we had to leave behind. We had a week or two more time to prepare than you do and still had to leave many things. How about this – see if people can ship their furniture to the U.S. That way you're off the hook for the weight and the cost and I bet the international shipping companies would love the good publicity.
"If they stay at The Grove, La Serenidad or at the Ortiz Ranch, the houses – and the bunkrooms in our barn - are completely furnished, including dishes and utensils so they could leave those behind. We brought books – one of the family had a huge collection of books and we brought a tiny fraction of them. But those weigh more than clothes and you'll have to watch that."
"Ok, that sounds reasonable."
"What about pets?"
"Do you allow them?"
"Most, with conditions. We'd need to know what they are and how many. We do not allow snakes, venomous or not, or anything poisonous, like scorpions, spiders or tarantulas. Dogs, cats, birds and fish are fine, if the birds and fish are legal in the U.S. Most states have a list of fish that are forbidden, I'll send the one for New Mexico to Blake. And there are rules around bringing birds in, we have a copy somewhere I'll also send to Blake or he can Google the information. My family has turtles we adopted but we've learned since then that they're not good pets, both for their sake and ours. That means no turtles are allowed either. La Serenidad has a barn and paddock and can handle alpacas, llamas, sheep, goats and horses. Although I don't know how you'd transport them!
"We cannot accept dogs who have a history of biting, too many vulnerable people around. The owners need to bring copies of the veterinarian records and all dogs and cats, even indoor cats, must have had all their shots and vaccinations. That's state law. If any of the animals come from a herd or group under quarantine, they cannot enter the state of New Mexico or I suppose any other state. Because the pets lived outside the U.S., each animal will have to be examined by a veterinarian here. If they come here, we'll have a vet with a truck pick them up when the plane arrives, check them out at the vet hospital and bring them back. That's worked well with our Returnees.
"We have a few houses designated for cat owners. My kids and I are allergic to them; there were sufficient allergies amongst the Evacuees to go ahead with the separate homes so we know never to place non-cat owners in them and my kids and I know not to get within 20 feet of any of them. Cats are not allowed outdoors, this is a rural area with many wild predators. Our first evacuees didn't listen until two cats were mutilated by coyotes. On top of the danger, we don't want feral cats, too many problems there. Indoor cats only and we prefer both dogs and cats be spayed or neutered. There is a limit of three cats or dogs per household; if residents have both, the limit is still 3 in total. There is a cleaning deposit for each animal although I'll suggest that be paid over time. Dogs on leashes when outside the house, even on the patio. There's a dog park in Albuquerque where they can take their pups. All these rules apply to The Grove, Rancho La Serenidad and the Ortiz Ranch."
He paused, "For our own evac group, all dogs and cats had to travel in kennels, the rest in cages, tanks or whatever their habitat is. I don't know how you're going to get them here. We ended up hiring a pet transport company, so much easier."
Whitman sighed, "I'd say no pets but that's cruel and people will especially need them. I wonder if we could find a pet transport."
Tim scrolled through his phone, "Here's a couple of numbers to try. If these companies can't help you, they might have contacts who can."
"Thanks, it's worth a shot."
After setting up a time to talk again the next day, they disconnected. Before Tim resumed his work, he took a quick look at The Grove database, finding 20 houses available.
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
Tim sent out a request for a LLC meeting that evening, telling the membership he had an interesting suggestion for their vacancies. Then he settled into work, concentrating on and completing the coding he'd started earlier. Somehow, he got through the hours until he and Ellie left for her doctor's appointment.
They were both excited about the appointment. After they saw the doctor, they were having an ultrasound. It was easy to focus on that and not the chats with the State Department. The doctor was pleased with Ellie's health and smiled at their excitement over the ultrasound. When the tech came in for the ultrasound, the doc shook his head, "I forgot you weren't able to have Mackie's ultrasound until we were all released from our shelters. This is a lot earlier, right?"
They nodded and he grinned. "Cool!"
The doc left while Ellie was prepped, the tech got busy with the wand and Tim started recording. He grabbed Ellie's hand when they heard their child's heartbeat. It was a little like an underwater electronic version of the word "wow" being rapidly repeated without end. Then the baby seemingly danced around and they watched, enthralled. Ellie laughed, "It's a little dancer! I'll bet you $50 it's a girl."
Smiling at his wife, he responded, "I shouldn't take you up on the bet, but I will." Minutes later, Ellie was still smiling, watching.
They continued watching the tiny figure bouncing around while the tech measured the baby. After Ellie cleaned up and dressed, they drove back to the day care to pick up their children.
As they drove toward the day care, they talked about telling the family. There was a family dinner on Sunday where for once all 6 siblings would be there along with Ali as well as Kelly's boyfriend Matt. They'd make their announcement then.
They'd first have a video chat with the Bishops in Oklahoma when the family gathered for lunch at their ranch early Sunday afternoon. They'd also need to let the extended family know but they'd worry about that later. Ellie reminded Tim that Jenna, her maid of honor at their wedding, was coming for a visit in August. She'd sheltered with family in Florida and was currently living and working in Atlanta.
Now the only thing they had to worry about was keeping their secret to themselves for a few more days.
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
After dinner that evening, the LLC convened in the shelter or called in. The kids were there too, either listening or playing in the old playroom. Shannon thought to bring the baby corral and the babies camped out in that.
Once Geordie, the current chairperson, brought the meeting to order, Tim walked to the front, making sure he was in hearing range of those attending via video chats. Briefly, he recounted the call from State, explaining the problem in Bacia: foreigners were on the verge of being expelled. "The movement is called Nativism. The native Bacians don't want any non-natives in their country."
After giving them all the information he had, he paused and Penny stood. "These people are refugees, evacuees just as all of you were. Why don't we offer them housing here? We could charge them a little rent, maybe what they've been paying in Bacia?"
There were nods and then Shannon whispered to her. Penny chuckled, "Oops, I forgot I'm a member now! I move we offer to rent our available homes to the Bacian evacuees charging them the same prices they were paying in Bacia."
Jimmy stood, "I second the motion."
Tim took the floor again to explain the rationale behind the suggestion: that many of the expats were retirees who'd left the U.S. in search of a lower cost of living. Most of the others worked online and were not necessarily on fixed incomes. A great deal of discussion followed until Grammie proposed they include a yearly or half-yearly review of the rents and use a sliding scale to determine the amount of rent. That appealed to everyone. The motion was amended to include a half-year review for the first year, moving to an annual review after that, using a sliding scale. They also agreed to allow monthly installments on the cleaning deposits for pet owners. The amended motions were approved.
After the meeting, Tim sent a text to Blake Moran who replied with a happy emoticon, adding that he and Jay would be in touch as soon as they had more information.
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
By Wednesday afternoon, Tim was becoming a little antsy; he hadn't heard anything further from the State Department. He knew they were likely swamped organizing and arranging the transport of the expat Americans to the Embassy but he was impatient to know about the final head count, the number of pets and the other information he'd requested. He smiled; as happy as he was to help these people he was even more excited about the baby.
Taking a break, he started making a list of names. As they'd decided they didn't want to be told the gender ahead of the baby's arrival, he jotted down names for girls and boys, including some currently used for either males or females. Off the top of his head, he jotted down Jackson, Anne, Amelia, Henry, Barbara, Patrick, Sean, Mason, Blair, Cameron, Bradley, Scott, Collin, Emma, Nathaniel, Colleen, Elizabeth, David, Andrew, Lauren, Kathleen, Mark. He stopped there, Ellie would have more names to add and he needed to work!
Thursday morning, he was contemplating another cup of coffee when his laptop pinged. He hoped it was either Moran or Whitman. It was Moran and he was smiling. "I've got details for you."
"Great!"
"I'll send you an e-mail but I thought you'd want a call too. First, they're leaving Bacia on Monday as planned. They'll fly here and meet with Secretary McCord and staff for a debriefing. We've arranged for rooms for them that night. We have clearance to transport them to Ortiz Regional Airfield on Tuesday. Is that related to the Ortiz ranch?"
"Yes; it's on the Ortiz ranch, which is next to La Serenidad. We have a back road between our two properties. We'll have trucks and cars there to transport everyone and everything over to The Grove."
"Great, I wondered about getting everything moved. Figure arrival time for early afternoon, we'll get you an ETA closer to the flight. Next, how many homes do you have available?"
"We'll have to keep some open for Evacuees; they're still moving and settling around the country. Now we're getting folks who are coming here for new jobs and they stay with us until they can afford a place of their own. Having said that, we have 16 homes we can offer your folks plus some of the bunkrooms in our converted barn. I don't have current numbers for the bunkrooms, my guesstimate is 30 rooms.
"The homes are fully furnished, dishes and all. There are 6 one-bed, one-bath homes empty right now and the rest are three or four bedrooms with two baths. Each of them has heat and air conditioning as well as a shaded patio. There are several neighborhoods and each has a communal laundry building. The bunkrooms all have beds and some storage; we can shift the beds around as needed. There are plenty of bathrooms, although they're shared, and there is a fully equipped kitchen, a laundry closet and common area on the first floor."
"Wonderful! Do you have photos to show the group?"
"Yes, we have a slideshow of the homes and photos of the converted barn rooms and common areas that I'll send you. It would help if I knew the number of people, split into singles, couples, families and how many kids or other relatives, then we'll know how many of the singles and doubles we'll need to prepare. They've all been cleaned but the LLC likes to add some personal touches. I need to know about pets, too."
Moran smiled, "I have all the numbers if you have time now."
"Great and yes, I do." Blake gave him the breakdown, which Tim promptly loaded into a spreadsheet. He raised an eyebrow when he was told a pet transport company would bring the 5 cats, 9 dogs, 4 alpacas, 3 llamas, 10 sheep and 12 goats, assorted fish and 4 birds.
"That's going to be fun and I hope whoever owns the llamas, sheep and goats will rent them to us to clear the ranch and The Grove."
"Llamas eat weeds?"
"No, they protect the sheep and goats who do eat them."
"Ah, I see."
Tim laughed at Blake's professionally neutral tone, finally saying, "I was a Navy brat as a child, then moved to Baltimore and lived in the DC Metro area most of my adult life. Ranch living is definitely a learning experience!"
"I'd never know you were an amateur South-westerner."
"Huh, I guess we really have gone country!"
Moving on, Blake verified all the animals were legal in the U.S., had had the appropriate shots, the dogs, cats spayed or neutered, and that pet owners were bringing their records. Then he reported the range of rents and utilities people had been paying. Tim was heartened by those, while they were low by U.S. standards, they would at least bring some income to the LLC, who would use it for maintenance of The Grove.
When they finished, Blake added, "Jay said to tell you one of the embassy staffers found an international furniture transport company. If people have furniture shipped, will they have to store it or will you move your furniture out?"
"That's great! Sure, we'll move our stuff into storage. Any idea when the stuff will arrive?"
"The least expensive way is by ship. The timeframe Jay gave me was 3-4 weeks. He said the ship it's coming on isn't sailing directly to the U.S."
"Ok. That makes it a little easier. The newcomers will have some time to settle in a bit before it gets here. Gives us some breathing room too."
"Great! That's all I have. If you have any more questions or details, just send me a text or email."
"You check them on personal time?"
Blake made a noise and Tim laughed, "Right, sorry, what's personal time? All right, if they arrive during the day on Tuesday, most of us will be at work. And that might be easier on the new arrivals; they won't be mobbed by the whole crowd!"
"But there will be people available?"
"Oh sure, 40 of us live on the ranch and several people are retired. They'll be here. If you need a contact for that day, here's my mother's cell number; she's better at answering than my father now that he's retired-ish." He gave Blake the number.
"Thanks for that. Jay or I, possibly both of us, will be on the flight, we were looking forward to meeting you."
"Hm, tell you what, if the flight arrives around 1500, I can get away early, work from home later."
"I'll see what I can do."
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
After the call with Blake, Tim sent the slideshow and photos. Then he tried to return to the case file reports he'd been reviewing. That was a useless endeavor. Instead, he spent a few minutes looking at the database for their evacuee homes, noting that the 20 homes were comprised of 6 singles, 13 doubles and 1 guesthouse. He had a note from Geordie correcting his house count, saying they only needed to hold back 2 homes for potential Evacuees. Geordie also confirmed the availability of 30 bunkrooms in the barn. Tim sent the numbers to Blake.
He sent out an e-mail asking for another quick LLC meeting that evening, meeting via Skype/video chat was fine; he wanted to give the group the latest details. Finally, Ellie called to say she was ready to leave. When they met in the parking garage, she smiled at her husband's face; he seemed relieved and she guessed he'd finally heard from the State Department.
"The Bacia group is coming here, flying in on Tuesday. I got the final head count of people and animals. The kids are going to be over the moon, there are alpacas, llamas, goats and sheep coming!"
Ellie laughed, "You're more excited about them than the people."
"I'm hoping we can rent the sheep and goats to clear the ranch and The Grove and the llamas will guard them while they're working. I'd rather do that than be stuck inside listening to weed whackers for days on end! Plus, there won't be bits of stuff flying all over the place. Although I guess with all the land to be cleared it would be tractors dragging a cutter or something like that."
They told the kids about the llamas, alpacas, sheep and goats as they were driving home and as predicted, Ty and Brynie were very excited. "Can we play with them, Daddy?"
"No, Bryniegirl, they're not like dogs, not pets. You can visit them and maybe their owners will show you how to pet them, give them treats."
"Cool!"
Ty frowned, "Where are they going to live, Daddy?"
"They'll share the barn and paddock with our horses, Ty."
"Oh boy, we can see them every day!"
Lia knew what horses were, she'd been riding with her mommy and daddy. She babbled something that included the word horsies. Brynie turned to her, "Lia, there are new animals coming to the barn. We'll get to see them!"
Lia beamed, her big sister was excited and happy so she would be too. New animals sounded fun to her!
After dinner, Tim gave the LLC an update.
"The State Department has approved us taking the American Expats. They're flying out of Bacia on Monday, they'll stay overnight somewhere near the State Department after a debriefing and then flown to the Ortiz Airfield on Tuesday."
Uncle Dave looked surprised, "A private plane? The government's flying them here?"
"Yes, to the U.S. and here. I was surprised too. Don't know about a private plane, for all I know, they're flying from Bacia on C-130s." That got a chuckle out of the agency and military people and then their laughter had to be explained.
Tim continued in a more serious vein. "Because of the rapidly deteriorating political climate against anyone not a native of Bacia, the State Department sent a jet to extract the Ambassador, the staff and their families. That's standard procedure, although they may sometimes fly out on a military transport. The flight was happening anyway; State added 33 more passengers. And hired a pet transport."
Jim frowned, "Where is the State Department these days?"
Geordie grinned, "In Charlotte, North Carolina. Don't know where the Secretary sheltered. But the McCord family and many of Secretary McCord's staff are living and working in Charlotte. The McCords have horses and brought them back to the East Coast as soon as it was safe."
Nobody asked how he knew although it was probably public information. But one never knew with Geordie and he rarely answered questions.
After that, Tim looked around, "We have 18 houses we can rent to them; we need to hold back 2 for any Evacuees. Although these folks qualify as Evacuees from a different event."
After reviewing the specific houses, what needed to be done between now and Tuesday, Maisie raised her hand. "These people are likely strangers to each other and to us. It would be great if we could send them a photo so they'd at least know what we look like."
With a smile, Tim set up his phone and then scooted into the frame, taking a photo of everyone, phones and tablets held up for those on video links and sent it to Blake Moran with the caption, "Welcome from all of us, we can't wait to meet everyone!"
A few minutes later, he was surprised when his phone rang with a call from Secretary McCord. When he answered, she asked to be put on speaker; he shushed the crowd and waded into the middle of them holding the phone up, using a volume boost app to increase the volume beyond the phone's capacity.
"Blake sent me your photo with the wonderful caption. I wanted to say a personal thanks to all of you for your generosity! This is great news; I've sent it on to Jay Whitman who replied that he'll share with our returning citizens. We believe this will really lift their spirits; as you can imagine they're upset at being forced out of their homes, some of them have been there for more than 30 years. After this past year, we all know how that feels. I won't keep you, I just wanted to say thank you from all of us at State! Along with your generosity, you've made us very happy and that doesn't often happen!"
Once she was off the call, Tim found a long text from Blake with the travel information including the arrival time at Ortiz Regional Airfield. Just about everyone but the ones on video chats were still there so Tim shared the information:
"The flight is cleared to land at the Ortiz airfield, that's great! Arrival time is 1500, that's 3:00 PM. Not much furniture, most of what's being saved has been shipped by a moving company. Anyway, there are bicycles, a lot of suitcases and plastic bags full of belongings."
Uncle Jim frowned, "Tim, how do they already know that?"
Tim was reading further and looked up with a frown, "Good question, Uncle Jim. Listen to this…they're holed up in the Embassy until the flight is cleared to leave on Monday. The note says they have plenty of food, water and the power is on. There hasn't been any violence directed at them or the Embassy but once the government knew they were going, they asked, and the word asked has quotation marks, that they be moved to the Embassy compound immediately. The note says they're safe behind the gates, the Bacian government has given their word and our Marines are guarding them, Hoo Rah! They'll be leaving at the same time. They'll be taken by helicopters straight from the Embassy grounds to the planes."
Breena exclaimed, "Wow, gonna be a tense weekend."
Colonel Barnes exchanged a look with his daughter, Geordie and Jethro, all four Marines very familiar with the challenges of guarding embassies. Maggie suddenly frowned as her phone buzzed. Stopping to read the text, she shook her head, "Gotta go, my turn! Some of those Marines have dependents with them."
Penny was horrified, "Will they fly with the Marines or the others?"
"Wherever there's room. My job to find out." She hurried out of the shelter, the others soon following.
A/N: Sliding scale fees are variable prices for products, services or taxes (and in the case here, rents) based on a customer's ability to pay. Such fees are thereby reduced for those who have lower incomes, or alternatively, less money to spare after their personal expenses, regardless of income.