Between Fortune and Fate: Jack Wellington UN Attaché

By Gerald Goble

Jack Wellington is scheduled to go to Latvia to help an Art Museum. A missing IAEA agent causes concern within the UN. Arriving Jack finds the Art Museum is the last in a chain of events stretching back to WWII. To assure the museum antiquities are preserved he must enlist the help of Latvian Government Officials and ordinary people while dodging bullets from a nest of criminals, spies and assassins. In doing so he also helps a small Holocaust Museum and finds the body of the IAEA agent. There are traces of Polonium-210 and those that killed the agent are now after Jack. But Jack must also be calm, interested, and attentive while his fiancé is on the phone reviewing their wedding plans, and her job is bringing her there, and she is coming with her TV film crew.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gerald Goble
• Release date: Jul 24, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370219353

Gerald Goble

Gerald Goble has PhD in Theoretical Physics and has been a research scientist, teacher, federal employee, businessman, manager, and martial arts instructor. He is author of several scientific publications, U.S. Army Publications on Ammunition and Explosives, non fiction books "The Way of Two as One“, "The Bear Slayer – Women’s Self-Defense“; the fiction books, the Bunko Club Murder series, and the Jack Wellington UN Attaché Series, Westerns “Jacob’s Coat”, "Strays" and "Warrior Woman" and Science Fiction, "The Majestic Committee."

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Between Fortune and Fate

Jack Wellington UN Attaché

by

Gerald Goble

Between Fortune and Fate

Jack Wellington UN Attaché

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical including photocopying, recording, taping by or by information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author with exception of brief quotations.

US Copyright 3/2012

This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either, the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

For Joan my friend my love

Chapter 1

Thomas Morgan was driving back on the A10 in Latvia. He pulled out his cell phone, searched through the numbers and punched one of them. After a long moment, the phone connected and a young woman answered, International Atomic Energy Agency I and A office, Gisela speaking."

Morgan said, Gisela this is Thomas. I need you to pass along some information to the Chief of our Inspection Team, Karl.

She answered, Yes, go ahead.

Morgan said, "Karl, as you suspected the goods from the reactor site were nothing important. The Director of the reactor, Mr. Dzenis was shipping personal goods and paying for a passenger on a charter flight using funds from reactor accounts. I intercepted the shipment scheduled for a Dussault Falcon 900EX at Ventspils airport. The goods were scheduled for shipment to Trabzon Turkey, and its proximity to Iran was worth investigation.

The goods were household items, clothing, and two valuable paintings that belong to a Miss Zuza Lipea. Miss Lipea is the mistress of the Director, and the end point of the shipment is a villa above the beaches near Riza Turkey. I have been there, and the beaches are very good. The items along with Miss Lipea were unloaded from the airplane and checked with the wand for radioactivity, and none found. I suspect Miss Lipea is radioactive to Mrs. Dzenis.

While checking the aircraft I stumbled on to an old trace, which I am investigating. When I find more details, I will include it in my final report. Morgan paused and asked, Did you get all of that Gisela?"

Gisela said, Yes. She read back the dictation.

When she finished, Morgan said, Maybe you better leave out the bits about the beaches and Mrs. Dzenis to make it more professional.

Gisela said, Humpf, Mr. Dzenis deserves a little ridicule, but I will take it out. You’re scheduled for a flight out tomorrow morning. I will pass it to Karl and leave a copy on your desk.

Morgan said, Good, see you tomorrow He placed the phone back in his suit pocket.

It was dusk when Morgan pulled into a rest stop at Tukums. He yawned, rubbed his eyes as he turned off the car, and opened the door he said, I need a cup of coffee before I fall asleep and drive into a ditch.

Something cold and metal pushed into the back of his neck, as he was half way out of the car. A voice behind him said, Mr. Morgan we need to have a little talk. It would be better if you didn’t make a problem.

Morgan turned his head to see a large man holding small automatic handgun next to the side of his head. A second man stepped behind him, pulled him to a standing position and began tying his hands. Morgan said, If you are going to rob me, go ahead and take the money.

The large man motioned to the second man who began slipping an elastic gag over his mouth. Morgan turned his head and said, Wait I work for the UN and the Latvian police, — . The second man secured the gag and pulled a cloth bag over his head. The two men pushed Morgan to the back door of the SUV, pushed him into the back seat on the floor, and tied his feet. The large man said something in Lettish, and the second man got into Morgan’s car while the large man got into the SUV. The two cars drove out and on to the A10 in the direction of Riga

An hour later, the two vehicles pulled to a stop next to one of several abandoned buildings not far from the Daugava River in an area with several government buildings interspersed with green spaces. The area was dark and the only people around were in vehicles that appeared to scurry through the area on their way to somewhere else.

An older man was sitting in a Mercedes when they came to a stop. He got out saying something in Lettish to greet them. The two men got Morgan out of the back seat of the SUV and leaned him against the side of the vehicle.

The older man retrieved a small cardboard box from the Mercedes and handed to the young man that drove Morgan’s car. The young man searched Morgan’s pockets dumping the contents into the box. He emptied the billfold of cash, cards, photos and other items inspecting each one. Next, they inspected the contents of the leather folder Morgan used to carry his passport, visa and extra pictures. The young man opened cell phone, showed the listing to the older man and pointed to the call Morgan made to Gisela. The younger man went to the back of Morgan’s car and searched Morgan’s suitcase. He opened the suitcase on the back seat, cursorily looked at the toiletries bag and dropped it on the floor in front of the back seat. He then went through all of the pockets of Morgan’s clothes. The large man became impatient and said something, which caused the young man to close the suitcase and come back to Morgan’s side.

The older man turned to the large man and said in English, Boris we better get on with it. Anton, help Boris get Mr. Morgan here downstairs then come back here and go through the laptop. Find out everything he has done with it in the last twenty-four hours.

The four men went inside the abandoned building, into a back room and down a set of stairs. At the bottom, Boris removed the cloth bag from the head of Morgan. Morgan looked around. They were in a dimly lit basement room. A single light hung from a fixture in the middle of the ceiling. The lighting cast shadows of the men on the floor. There were three concrete tanks filled with water in a row on one side of the room. The walls of the tanks were about eight inches thick. Boris and Anton lifted Morgan up until he was sitting on edge between the first two tanks. There was a pulley fastened to the ceiling with a rope and a hook on the end. Boris placed the hook in the ropes that secured Morgan’s feet.

The older man asked, Boris, are you sure this American method works. I prefer the old-fashioned method.

Boris said, Andrei, the Americans swear by it. In any case, the doctor told me I had to give up smoking so I don’t have any cigarettes to use. I tried a cigarette lighter in Milan, but it made the car smell after I was finished. Anton smokes. If this doesn’t work I will have him provide the cigarettes.

Boris raised a switch on the wall and a pump outside of the building ran for a few moments pumping water into the first tank then stopped. He raised a hose connected to the pump line and sprayed water into the first tank with a valve on the end of the hose then turned it off leaving it dangling in the first tank. He moved Morgan around until his feet were dangling in the water of the middle tank, and his back was to the first tank. He made a motion with his hand to Anton, who went back up the stairs.

Boris removed the gag around Morgan’s mouth, and Morgan said, Wait, wait. What is it you want?

Andrei said, We want to know what you found in the airplane you searched. It will go easier on you if you just tell us everything.

Morgan said, I didn’t find anything. Boris pulled on the pulley raising Morgan’s feet causing him to lean back toward the first tank of water.

Morgan said, Wait, if you are from Dzenis? I found nothing. If he is sending something to the Iranians, I didn’t find anything. All that was there were Miss Lipea’s personal belongings, no software, no radioactive material, no technical specifications, nothing.

Andrei asked, Who is Miss Lipea?

Morgan looked at him with a confused look, and Boris pulled on the pulley again causing Morgan to lean back toward the first tank at a higher angle. Morgan asked, Aren’t you from Dzenis? Boris pulled the pulley rope making his feet raise and him lean back toward the tank of water. Morgan said, She is Dzenis’ mistress. He was sending her to some villa in Riza Turkey with some belongings to set up a place for a liaison.

Andrei said, That could be useful. Why did you pick that particular airplane?

Morgan said, It was the one Dzenis hired to fly to Trabzon Turkey.

Andrei asked, We were told you took something out of the aircraft and sent it somewhere. What did you take out?

Morgan hesitated then said, Oh. You're those, —. Boris pulled on the pulley rope again. Morgan said, Wait, wait, I don’t know anything. All I found was an inhaler that was tainted with something radioactive.

Andrei said, Boris, I told you to clean up after Marlen.

Boris said, He never told me what he did with it. He just said it was hidden was where no one will find it.

Andrei shook his head. Well Mr. Morgan you just have bad luck. Andrei turned and walked over to the stairs and upward.

Half-way up the stairs, Morgan said, No, wait, —." There was a splashing sound.

At the top of the stairs, Andrei went out the door of the building and over to Anton, who was looking at the laptop. Anton said, The last thing he did was to save a text file to and E drive. I have looked around and there is no pen drive in his luggage. He must have put it in the package he sent.

Andrei nodded, then said, We need to go over what you have to do. Here are Morgan’s ticket to Vienna, his passport, visa, his Euro Driver’s License, and the papers for the rental car. Take the car back to the airport and turn it in. All you will have to do is pick up the receipt for the car. Check the luggage, laptop and the two equipment boxes in at the front of the airport. When you get on the flight, do not talk to the stewardess, or anyone else. Take Morgan’s seat and sleep or pretend to sleep for the entire flight. When you get off the flight and process through Customs hand them all of the papers, including Morgan’s driver’s license. You have a beard, which will make the photos on the passport less important. There should be no problem since, Morgan is returning to Vienna and is in the IAEA. Once you clear Customs, drop all of the papers in a trash container that is in a restroom. While you are in the restroom, shave. Then go to the airline counter back to Riga. Here is a Visa showing you entered the EU through Germany by car and are returning home. The stamp in your passport matches the Visa information. You should go now to the airport and wait there.

Anton folded the laptop and got in the car. As he was about to leave Boris came up the stairs. He was brushing water off his clothes. Andrei motioned for Anton to leave then turned to Boris and said, This whole thing was sloppy. I still prefer the cigarettes for an interrogation. You didn’t even need to water board him.

Chapter 2

Jack Wellington stood in the back of the elevator as people got on and off the elevator at the UN Headquarters building. It was Monday with the usual small talk on weekend activities. There was a comfortable familiarity in the elevator ride. He recognized many of the faces of people, but he actually knew few of them. At thirty four, physically fit from regular exercise, just short of six feet tall with brown hair, a pleasant personality and attractive, he blended well with the day workers. In college, before he came to work at the UN, he studied engineering, science, language arts, history, archeology, and museum studies trying to find a single subject that fit his variety of interests. The process made him perfect for the attaché job at the UN.

It had been a month since he was at the UN. As an Attaché for Cultural Affairs, he was sent to help countries protect and secure cultural artifacts in times of disaster or war. He was in Japan for two months restoring artifacts from a museum damaged in the tsunami and then covered with radiation. With a month off for some personal time he was going back to work.

For the moment, he lived in New Jersey with his parents and commuted to the City. He didn’t care for living with his parents, but with his frequent travel for the UN, it was hard to justify an apartment where he would be there only a few days a month. Thankfully, his parents cut him enough slack not to ask questions if he did not come home some nights when he was not on travel.

He thought, I’ve been pouring over the news on-line and in the newspapers and there are no earthquakes, floods, fires, or new wars. It looks like I may be able to hang out here for a while. Jane will like that.

Jane Alden is his fiancé and lives across the street with her parents also. She is in her late twenties, tall, thin, shapely with dark-brown hair. She has degrees in communications and language arts and is a director for a public TV station in New York City. A few months ago, Jack’s mother had arranged a blind date with her while Jack was in Venezuela, and she was taking some graduate courses there. The meeting blossomed over time into a proposal.

Jack’s supervisor at the UN is Warren Oaks. He is a little older than Jack, a little heavier, and a little shorter. He lives on Long Island in a three-bedroom ranch with a wife and two children. As supervisors go, he is good, looks after his employees, never griping without reason, and gets maximum output from his employees without looking over their shoulders. This is Jack’s fifth year working for Warren since he was hired from an interview at Princeton.

When Jack entered Warren’s small office in the middle of the building with no windows, his supervisor Warren called out, Jack you're back. Well did you pop the question? His secretary Fran Grace stopped what she was doing and there was a moment of silence. Jack nodded. Fran smiled and Warren said, Well, tell me all about it and don't leave anything out or my wife will kill me.

Fran and Warren both leaned forward a bit, and Jack looked at them. He said, Well it didn't take place on the Empire State Building.

Fran said,