True Identity

By Larry D. Black

True Identity is a novel about Terry Barnett, great-grandson to Tom and Doris Scroggins. As a veterinarian student, Terry was on a field trip to the Middle East, where he was forced in to the services of Al Kida. After returning to the States, Terry was faced with the seemingly impossible task of breaking the tie to Al Kida and staying alive.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Media Literary Excellence
• Release date: Apr 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781958082034

Larry D. Black

Larry D. Black is a local author with eleven published novels centered on the Scroggins family. Larry was reared in the southern part of Franklin County, Texas, and attended Mt. Vernon High School through his junior year at which time his family moved to Houston, TX. He is a graduate of the University of Houston and is now retired after being employed with a major defense contractor for twenty-six years. He is married to Martha and they live in Franklin County on Larry's original home place. Together, he and Martha have five children and sixteen grandchildren, and four great great- grandchildren. Since retiring, he has two full full-time jobs. For one, he and Martha owned and operated a Boer goat farm (Little Creek Farms) in the South Franklin community until recently. After some twenty years of raising goats, Larry recently sold his goats and now devotes his time to working in his yard. Secondly, he is a preacher at the Blodgett church of Christ where he spends a lot of time ministering to inmates and drug rehabilitation. Between the two, Larry never has a shortage of anything to do.

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True Identity 

Copyright © 2022 Larry D. Black 

All intellectual property rights are reserved. Except for brief quotations incorporated in critical articles and reviews, no part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author. 

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ISBN (Paperback): 978-1-958082-02-7
ISBN (Ebook): 978-1-958082-03-4 

Printed in the United States of America 

True Identity is Volume 13 about the Scroggins Family. It is about Terry Barnett, a great-grandson to Tom and Doris Scroggins. Terry is a young veterinarian student who finds himself involved with ISIS and then spends the rest of his time trying to break loose of their grip. 

This book has enough suspense to keep your attention and enough compassion to melt your heart. It will pull at your heart strings and have you biting your nails as young Barnett tries to stay one step ahead of ISIS. 

This book is entirely fictional. While some locations are actual places, the story of those places and names of people are fictional and any actual happenings similar to this book are purely coincidental. 

Larry D. Black published author with ten novels centered on the Scroggins family. Larry was reared in the southern part of Franklin County, TX and attended the Mt. Vernon High School through his junior year at which time his family moved to Houston, TX. He is a graduate of the University of Houston and is now retired after being employed with a major defense contractor for twenty-six years. He was married to Martha (recently deceased) for thirty-one years and they lived in Franklin County on Larry’s original home place. Together, he and Martha have five children, sixteen grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. Since retiring, he has two full time jobs. For one, he owns and operates a Boer goat farm (Little Creek Farms) in the South Franklin community, and secondly, he is a preacher at the Blodgett church of Christ. Between the two, Larry never has a shortage of anything to do. Larry is now married to Linda and they have custody of three grandchildren. The five of them continue to live on the farm and enjoy the pleasures of farm life. 

Following is a list of books written by Larry. 

                 Books by volume number  

•Vol. 1 Family Honor - about Tom, Doris, and Ben Scroggins 

•Vol. 2 Love is Forever - about Ben and Mary Ann Scroggins 

•Vol.3 Against All Odds - about Peter (Little Pete) and Jean Scroggins 

•Vol. 4 Heart of Compassion - about Lois (Scroggins) and Larry Cox 

•Vol. 5 This Road I’m On - about Lewis Scroggins 

•Vol. 6 Survival In the Wild - about Toby and Tara Scroggins 

•Vol. 7 Mystery Behind the Walls - about Terry and Debbie Scroggins 

•Vol. 8 The Restless Young Heart - about Rusty Scroggins 

•Vol. 9 Guilty Until Proven Innocent - investigative services of Robert Scroggins 

•Vol. 10 Perils of the West - history of Thomas Scroggins 

•Vol. 11 Improvise - is a rescue adventure by Sonny Scroggins 

•Vol. 12 Never Give Up - drama in the life of football recruiter Richard Scroggins 

•Vol. 13 True Identity - Terry Barnett tries to break loose from an encounter with ISIS 

•Vol. 14 Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining - B.J. truck driving adventures (not published) 

I dedicate this book to my vet and dear friend, Matt Gerdes. Matt has been my family vet for nearly two decades. During that time, he has proven to be a very competent veterinarian of medicine. But equally, if not more so, he has been a loyal friend, and I cherish that friendship. 

Matt has recently opened up a new clinic and we wish him the best. 

1 

The room was small with bare walls. There was a table in the center with two chairs on each side. Directly over the table was a low-hanging florescent light. I was sitting in one of those chairs waiting for someone to come in to question me. I had never been in an interrogation room before and certainly not one here in the Pentagon. I saw a mirror hanging on the wall, and I knew from watching episodes of NCIS on television that it was a one-way window where people could gather on the other side of the wall and monitor the behavior and dialog of the one being interrogated. 

I sat there patiently and tried to stay cool although I was very nervous. Finally, a middle-aged man with gray hair along the temples came in and introduced himself. Hello, I’m Agent Michael Ratliff. You can call me Mike. I assume you are Terry Barnett? 

Yes, sir. My name is Terry Barnett. 

Terry, can you tell me about your past? Agent Ratliff inquired. 

"Well, I grew up in northeast Texas. My dad was Dr. Mike Barnett, a medical doctor, and my mother, Teresa, was a nurse. At one time she pursued a singing career under the stage name of The Porter Sisters. I grew up as a typical teenager with a twin brother in a rural atmosphere. I went to college at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, to study veterinarian medicine. While there, I became involved in the Political Action Committee, also known as PAC. It was through PAC that I had an opportunity to go to Aleppo, Syria. 

### FLASHBACK ### 

I was inside my hotel room entering into my iPod the events of the day. As the journalist for PAC, I maintained a daily log. I knew ISIS had a real strong hold in Syria, but as I mingled with the people of the city, there was nothing to identify the good people from the bad. There was nothing to distinguish ISIS allies from normal Syrians. Earlier in the day, there was a shooting toward the end of the street where I was staying, and four people were killed, including the shooter. I hurried down there for a firsthand look. The shooter looked to be about fifteen years old. I wrote in my journal, The biggest problem we encounter is knowing how to recognize the bad guys. 

As I was writing, Paul Shepherd came in. Paul was a fellow student, and he and I were working together on this project. We were on spring break at college and planned to be in Syria for three to four weeks in order to report what everyday life is like in this part of the world. We were into our second week and planned to go out into the countryside tomorrow. 

Paul was a political science major and had aspirations of getting into politics after he graduated from college. His goal was to go to Harvard Law School and get an advanced degree, but that was not for me. I wanted to open a vet clinic in some small town that had no vet. My love for people and my love for animals is what pushed me in that direction. I was about to graduate and receive my DVM diploma from Auburn University. I had just finished my first semester as an intern and had one more to complete before graduation. 

Do you know about the shooting? I asked Paul. 

He said he had heard nothing. He was at the military base, located at the edge of town, making arrangements for a military escort for us tomorrow as we ventured out into the barren countryside. He said a military jeep and four soldiers would pick us up at the hotel at six-thirty in the morning. 

I told him I was excited to see something besides the city. Aside from a different nationality and styles of clothing, the city looked like most any other city in the states – high-rise buildings and hustle and bustle. Then I got back to writing in my diary. 

The next morning, Paul and I were both up early. The PAC sent us to this part of the world in order to see how politically suppressed average local people were. To do this effectively, I wanted to visit the rural areas. As I had done every morning of my trip, I emailed Mom and Dad to reassure them that I was fine. Then we grabbed a quick breakfast and climbed into the military jeep and were off. After about twenty minutes, we were in the rural desert areas of Syria. It was a mountainous but desolate area. We drove for what seemed to be miles before seeing anyone. Finally, we saw a small cluster of people who appeared to be nomadic shepherds. 

We stopped and started walking in their direction, and they appeared to be frightened. The children ran and hid while the women stood behind their husbands. One of the soldiers with us spoke Aramaic, and I asked him to tell them that I was an animal doctor and ask if they have any sick sheep or dogs. One of the men, who I assumed was the leader, motioned me to follow his lead. We made our way back behind a crude shelter where I saw a mama sheep with two lambs trying to nurse her, but it appeared that she had mastitis. I asked Paul if he would get my bag from the jeep. He did so and it contained some powdered antibiotics which I mixed with water. I gave the ewe an injection and told the interpreter to tell the shepherd that she should be better by tomorrow. In addition, I had some ointment that I rubbed on the sheep’s sore udder which should also help ease the pain when the lambs tried to nurse. 

Before leaving, the translator told me that these people had lived here for almost seven years and every night they feared that ISIS might come down and take everything they had, especially the young girls. 

As we walked back to the jeep to leave, the translator said, The sad thing is that families just like this are all over the country and often there are one or more members within their family who embrace ISIS and would kill them in an instant if they were instructed to do so. Credit is due to the terrorist groups who have devoted their time and loyal people supporting their cause. I felt much remorse as I reflected on what I had just heard. 

We visited four other places before it was time to return to the city. While on a dirt road that led from the hills to the main highway, there was an explosion that seemed to have set the world on fire! In an instant, there was a loud noise and everything around was bright, and I could sense that I was being hurled through the air. I thought this was the second coming of Jesus except I didn’t hear the trump of God or the voice of the archangel. 

The next thing I remembered was waking up in some type of underground bunker. I was in shackles along with Paul and one of the four soldiers. The soldier was in excruciating pain as his arm was severed and was bleeding profusely. No one did anything to help him. I thought the least they could do was to provide some kind of bandage to stop the bleeding! Being shackled, there was nothing Paul or I could do but sit by and watch the pitiful man slowly bleed to death. How I longed to be back in east Texas with my beloved family! 

Finally, in what I guessed to be the wee hours of the morning, the soldier died. Paul and I were both relieved to see him out of his suffering. I had some cuts and bruises, and Paul thought he had a couple of cracked ribs, but other than that, we were okay. We assumed the other soldiers were killed in the explosion and figured we survived because we were in the back of the jeep and the brunt of the explosion was in the front. 

Naturally, Paul and I discussed where we might be and why. We both felt that we had been apprehended by an ISIS band, but why? I was really hungry but even thirstier. No one came to our aid. We were limited in our mobility. The only thing we could move was our heads and hands and feet for just a few inches. 

Time passed and there was no sign of any other life anywhere. By this time, I had soiled my clothes which were very uncomfortable, and the acid from the feces had chapped my skin raw. Reality set in that we had been left here in this dungeon to die. Paul and I spent a lot of time discussing spiritual matters and whether or not we were ready to meet our Maker. I also wondered if anyone would ever let Mom and Dad and Jerry know what had happened to me. I knew Mom must be frantic since she had not heard from me. 

My life was not squeaky clean, but it had been more spiritual than Paul’s. Not that I was comparing myself to him, but at least I had grown up in a Christian family and had some knowledge of scriptural principles. Paul said he had never been inside a church building except for a few weddings and funerals. He didn’t even know there was an Old and New Testament in the Bible. But neither of us was ready to die. 

Finally, a door opened and two armed men came in. They looked to be about fifteen years of age. They unlocked the chains of Paul’s shackles and dragged him away. He was struggling to walk and gasped from the pain in his ribs, but they seemed to care less. Paul was being treated worse than an animal. I could hear him crying, Where are you taking me? as he was being dragged out. 

Soon, it was deathly silent. I was alone with the dead soldier. My mind began to play games with me. I had to do some serious self-talk to keep my composure. I wondered where Paul had been taken and if I would ever see him alive again. 

I must have fallen asleep due to fatigue as I was awakened by the same people who had taken Paul. As with Paul, they forcibly dragged me from the bunker. I had been sitting for so long that my feet didn’t want to work. Once outside, the brightness nearly blinded me as my eyes had adapted to the darkness of the cell where we were held. 

I didn’t know where I was. Was I still in Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, or maybe even Iraq? If I could somehow get a message out to my family, I didn’t know where to tell them I was. 

Soon, I was dragged into a room that was filled with what I assumed to be ISIS comrades. All the people looked just like the people on the streets of the city. By their appearance, there was no clue that they were affiliated with ISIS. 

Once inside, I noticed a backdrop of a desert scene on one wall with video cameras mounted on tripods positioned in front. They sat me in a chair, and then I was all alone. After