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Chapter XXX
Operation McLenco
So grateful! It was nothing short of a miracle that Maria had gotten the job. She was quiet and shy, way too shy, and probably too young and inexperienced as well. Why, she’d only graduated from nursing school a month before. And she’d lived all but the last six years of her life in the Philippines. What did she know about American ways compared to someone who was born here? But she’d work hard, follow orders to the letter, and provide her patients with the best care she knew how to give. She’d live up to their trust in her.
McLenco Institute was located twelve miles outside of Waco Texas. Then it was set back from the main road about five miles down Farm Bureau Road Twenty-Three, and then three miles off of FB twenty-three down an unnamed dirt road with deep ruts, a road just barely wide enough for a car to drive over it. You had to really want to find the institute, or you’d just drive right on by.
But once you rounded the last turn, the ghost town impression ended, making way for metal and concrete. The institute gave the impression of a bomb shelter approximately the size of a shopping mall. Slabs of concrete ran the length of the building, their gray monotonous plane uninterrupted except by a small door, a handful of narrow slits criss-crossed by metal bars, and some Joshua trees and saguaro cacti stuck in the ground as landscaping. Inside, however, the institute was cutting edge, Maria learned later, with a security system second only to the Pentagon.
Dr. Heckleweit welcomed Maria personally on her first day. Satisfied with her credentials, he leaned forward across his desk, and looked directly into her face.
“This institute has the most up-to-date psychiatric techniques of any hospital in the world. We can provide basic medical procedures as well, but the main focus of our work is psychiatric. Much of our research deals with terrorism, and is, therefore, top secret. You’ll be required to follow orders without question. National security depends on this.” Maria merely nodded.
“You are not to receive visitors here at the institute. Personal phone calls should be limited to emergencies. No cameras, cell phones, or other recording devices are allowed on the premises.”
“Yes, sir,” she said.
“You will start immediately,” he said. “Your first patient is Johanna Jacobson. She’s under heavy sedation at the moment. You’re to assist our other nurses with her care, and as soon as she’s able to walk, bring her to my office.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you.”
And with that, Maria began her work at McLenco Institute. There were few patients – they barely outnumbered the staff. Most were obviously Arab, and all were heavily sedated.
Most of Maria’s day consisted of tending these patients: bathing and dressing them, providing food and medication, as well as taking vital signs – temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and such - and escorting them to and from the bathroom, and escorting them to Dr. Heckleweit’s office.
For four weeks, she walked Johanna down to Dr. Heckleweit’s office and back. And, each day, walking down the hallways with Johanna leaning against her and stumbling along beside her, Maria wondered about Johanna. Why was she here? What was her story? What had she done? And, as she had promised Dr. Heckleweit, she never wondered the questions out loud.
Dr. Heckleweit worked with Johanna daily, and, as the weeks wore on, his smile grew rigid, and his voice tightened with unexpressed frustration. The questions were always the same. “Who are your sources? Do you have friends in the White House? The FBI? In the CIA? Where did you learn about Iraq?” And always, Johanna’s answers were disappointing.
"“I can't get any names from her, and she doesn't seem to be hiding anything.” Dr. Heckleweit was on the phone to the White House. “It’s pointless to continue. We should release her.”
But Alex wasn’t buying any of it. He couldn’t let Johanna go free and risk her talking. And her writing was too dangerous. Besides, Johanna had learned about his scheming somehow, and he had to plug the leak before his whole empire crumbled. She was a major flaw in a close-to-perfect plan. “There has to be some connection.” She’s got to know someone who has access to sensitive information. There's no way she could know these things on her own. Did you ask her about bugs or computer hacking?"
"I did. She’s been given just about every truth serum cocktail we have, and I’ve asked every question I could think of. I don’t think she’s sophisticated enough on the computer to do what you’re suggesting.”
“How about someone else at the paper?” Alex was frustrated and desperate for information.
“Not that I can tell.”
Alex wasn’t surprised. They’d bugged most of the computers at the Upstart Gazette, and hadn’t come up with anything useful. “I need to know where she’s getting her information.” His voice trailed off.
“Well, what do you want me to do about it?"
“Keep working on her. Up the dosage. Do something, anything. I've got to find out who she's talking to. Everything depends on this. I don't care what you do, or how you do it. Just find out how she's getting her information."
“It may kill her.”
“Just as long as she talks first.”
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