Dan Barns: Problem Solver

Chapter One

 Now contacting me should be easy. I have a cell phone, a home phone, an email account, a mailbox, and a fairly easy schedule. My life was an open book. I figured me living life to the fullest on a low end budget would allow me peace with my degree. I helped people, that was my life. One of the older ladies in my neighborhood was bragging to her overpaid, too busy to visit, oldest son about this man fixing things with very little resources, even if it just came up out of the blue.

A few days later, people came to my house, offered me a challenging job and a rewarding career in the world of saving lives. They knew the right words, they knew the keys to turn, and I was hook. I now work for a company that is Latin for Company. I work for Turba Inc. It stands for Training, Understanding, Running, Babysitting, and Assisting. I trained under them for a year. I learned all about wounds, guns, boats, viruses, technology, nuclear issues, and a lot of stuff that just needs to be known.

When I am home, which can be for months on end, I continue with my life as I was. Which means, Monday and Thursday evenings I am at the boys and girls club in a sleepy little town of a population of 10563 when I am home. So Thursday was quite, I did all my usual things, which included homework study help at 4 p.m. and boys basketball at 5 p.m. Homework was done, boys were dressed out. We did our warm up drills and started a small game to wrap up the session and in walks a pizza delivery guy.

"Congratulation boys, you won the city council sports team of the week. They have provided eight large pizzas and Gatorade for all the wonderful players on this team." The pizza delivery guy said as he laid it out.

I told my coaching partner I would be gone for the weekend, something came up and I have a weekend trip. I would try to be back by Monday.

I stepped out to my truck and waited for the pizza man who wore $140 dollar shoes and $100 slacks to deliveries. "I think in I am in the wrong business. I don't get paid enough in my line of work. I feel like my guys are being used against me. What's up?" I finally asked.

"You know we like to keep you as a big secret. Who would believe a guy from small town U.S.A. or would think a small town man would be a genius and a government problem solver. Got you a trip to a small resort town on an island far away from the mainland. You are meeting a young lady there that has some very important information for us and she needs to be kept safe from the people she got it from. It seems we had a sleeper among our crew who was killed for his efforts. Pictures, tickets, travel file, and your passport are all in your pizza box coach. The city is proud of you."

Jim said as he got in his car and left.

I had a box with pizza and information and a disguise kit. First time I had received pizza and reading material at the same time. I got in my truck, removed the information and kit from the box and put it in my always ready backpack, and headed to the airport an hour away.

My backpack contains a couple of different size shirts, a couple of caps, two pairs of sunglasses, a military can opener, a roll of duct tape, a couple of pens and pencils, paper, two pairs of pants, a pair of shorts, matches, water bottle, a small folded empty backpack, pain reliever, paper clips, bread ties, gum, mints, shower and shave kit, an mp3 player, a solar charger, sewing kit, a two way satellite radio, batteries, and three packages of jerky.

The pizza was good but the reading was likely to give me heartburn. I stop at a drive thru and got a drink. Sure give the kids a drink but not the coach. I had to laugh. The way they contacted me was always different. Nothing was ever 'Hey come in we have a mission' It was always some odd outfit and a tragic or desperate situation and I was leaving on the next plane.

I know the drill on arrival to the airport go check in and check my bag, give my governmental pass, go sit and wait to be told when I leave. Not this time, I check in and was told to go to gate 15, they are holding the plane for me. That floored me. I ran got aboard, not a security check one. I sat in the tail section with an open seat beside me and then as soon as the door is secure and the flight attendant tells the pilot, we start our taxing and air bound. Wow, this must be tough. Now I am curious and have time to read this file.

I begin my read, the lady is the daughter of a general for someone in the middle east. A general that I had been up against during my years as in the military. He hated the people that slowed him down and our troops had put a stop to a lot of his schemes over the years. Okay that's easy. She just got back to school, when she overheard a guard say she has the wrong case. She looks thru it and found war plans for ground attacks in unknown country. The list of towns are bases that she has pen pals in around the world. Her letters have been read thru and they are using that information for bomb sights. Any annual event that was discussed was where they wanted to cause damage. In plain letters, no one would want to be out and about at local festivals if he had anything to do with it. 

She headed out the window and boarded a jump plane. The plane landed her on an island off the coast of Brazil. So that is the tropical location. She will meet me tomorrow at the farmer's market. Luck would play a big part of this mission as it does in all my missions. I had no picture, no way to identify her, and I am flying blind. Wow, It could be worse. It almost feels as though the upper management looks at the mission, too dangerous if the guards follower her, and says if it is a one way job hand it to the hillbilly. I love my job. It gives me travel, and adventure and adrenaline highs. I took a two hour nap and waited for the plane to land. I had a hotel for the night and the tickets back were at my discretion. I looked at the tickets and I could cash them in at any airport that had the right airline. The island was twenty miles from the mainland. The imports were extensive and the export is fish, fruit, and some alcohol that comes from a local fruit.

As the plane landed, I figured a vacation day was in order and therefore I would look to see what kind of tourist traps they had. It's the best I could do, after I got a shower. Basketball practice is not the freshest smell to leave with.

A/N: HEY! I plan to update once a week or more. Depends on how it goes from here. :) Tell me what you thought! Leave a comment and don't forget to follow! If you want to hit me with a vote! :) Bye, Bye.