1968

Chapter Sixteen: June 24th, 1968

Lorelei's point of view:

Director Robert Komer was coming to brief us on a program he specifically set up a couple of years ago that mainly dealt in sabotage of the Viet Cong and its Guerrilla troops. It was in the early morning that his helicopter landed in the base and he was the one to come out of it. I didn't know about this whole CIA-operated program that went by Operation Phoenix until the morning I found out he was coming. I was then told that Komer had heard of me and wanted to ask me a favour, for whatever reason that was.

"Director Robert Komer, my name is Colonel Jack Horowitz and this is my wife, Colonel Hilda Horowitz. These are my children and fleet admirals Jacob and Lorelei Horowitz," my dad introduced us as we waited for Komer at the helipad. He came to us and he shook all of our hands. When his eyes and hand reached me, it was apparent that he lingered. There had to be a reason for that, but I didn't know. It wasn't a perverted gaze, it was a stare I had never seen before.

"Very nice to meet all of you. If you all don't mind, I'd like to speak with Miss Lorelei Horowitz about that favour we discussed, Jack," he replied. My father nodded and then I became confused. I didn't know my father knew about the favour and what it was. I had no idea what he wanted to ask me. Shouldn't I be the informed one here?

"Yes, absolutely. Lorelei, would you be alright with following the director into the meeting room? He wants to speak with you for a while," my father said. I nodded and followed Komer into the meeting room. He asked for me to shut the tent, and I listened, but the fact of this made me even more anxious about what he wanted me to do.

"If I may, what is this about?" I asked as the warmth of the closed tent came around and heated my skin. Everything here was so hot I was surprised I hadn't died from a stroke.

"Don't worry, it's nothing bad and you are welcomed to say no. However when I was researching you and your file, it came to my attention that you had the intrigue to do something that could potentially help end this damn war," he replied. I nodded and stood across from him, the strategizing table dividing us.

"Alright, so what is it?" I asked.

"Well, you do know of Operation Phoenix, right?" He asked, and I nodded, "the operation sets up a sort of revolt against Viet Cong, of which has people that specialize in any form of reconnaissance. Do you know what that is?"

"Espionage, sabotage, things like that?" I asked. He nodded and smiled at me in approval. He moved from the other side of the table to closer to me, this was when he opened up a file and it revealed a man, definitely Vietnamese, and what seemed to be his profile.

"This is Trúc Ngô but he goes by the name of Captain Blackheart, cliché, am I right? He'd be your first mission," he explained to me. He was asking me to be an agent in reconnaissance. Asking me to find a way to kill him or torture him for something. I couldn't believe it, I had never considered doing a trade like that. I didn't even know if I would be good at something like espionage. I wasn't exactly spy-agent material, or I didn't think I was anyway.

"I don't understand. What makes you think I can do something like this? I'm not an agent, I'm a soldier. Those are two different things, I'm sure you know already," I replied. He chuckled and nodded but handed me the file despite my protest. I took it like I had nothing else to do, reading over it a little bit.

"I talked to your father about it and he thinks you can do it. Your brother has said some things about your work with General Loan as well," he said with a smirk on his face. I sighed when I took the hint of what he was talking about. Jacob told him about my little flirt session to get Komer over here in the first place. Typical Jacob to do that.