FIVE
Private Stevens drove Mario to Landstuhl RMC; he told Mario he would be available all day to take him wherever he needed to go. Mario almost blurted out `take me to bed' but shook his head, ordered a coffee and a croissant, and then his cell phone rang: it was Tommy.
"What's up Chief?" Tommy's loud voice on the phone was always startling to Mario.
"Just got back to the hospital; I'm going to get an update on Lina from the doctors, and then I have a meeting with Jim Richins from State. He has already begun the process of searching military records for `Norton'."
"OK; I spoke with the PM and he wanted me to bring him up to date. So, probably, Lina will not be going back to Spain?"
"Correct, too dangerous for her and if we can make all the arrangements, she will not be going back to Iraq either."
"When do you think you are going to be coming back here?"
"I will find out from Jim Richins later this morning, but I will let you know before the day is out." His cell phone was indicating another incoming call, so he said goodbye to Tommy and picked up the new call: Stuart wanted an update as well. Mario gave him all the details he knew so far, including what was happening to both Lina and the search for `Norton'. "Hopefully we will be headed home by tomorrow night at the latest" Mario said.
"That's good; `we'?"
"Yeah, I'm hoping to pull some strings and bring Lina to LA with me. I'm hoping we can get all of this mystery figured out soon. By the way, do you or Raj know of any support communities in LA for Iraqi refugees? I'm sure she will need some serious support very soon."
"I don't personally, but we have plenty of contacts and resources in the Mayor's office, so I can put that in motion for you."
"That's great; as always, you have been an amazing help. Thanks so much Stuart."
"No problem Uncle Mario."
"It sounds so weird to hear that name. How about just `Mario'?"
"As you wish."
"Goof ball. Thanks again, and kiss Raj for me."
"OK, see you soon. Best wishes."
Jim Richins had just found Mario where he had been eating his croissant and having coffee, which had not done very much to smooth out his erection from his brief encounter with Private Stevens. As Mario finished his call with Stuart, he and Jim began walking to the small conference room they had used the day before. Jim said "Here is what we have so far: there have been over 200 men named `Norton' in the European command since August of 1990, the beginning of Operation Desert Shield, George H. W.'s little war, the Kuwait invasion. That was probably too far back for a girl who is now about 21 years old, right?"
"True."
"So, fast-forward to Operation Desert Storm, the second war, or the invasion of Iraq, George W.'s dirty little war against WMD's. That began in March 2003 and went through 2011. But our search of military personnel which found these 200 GI's includes all of those dates, from both Kuwait and Iraq. I limited the search to military personnel and did not search for any government contractors. That photo you saw- it was clearly an Army guy?"
"Yes. So far, it seems simple- maybe 200 military guys are not such a big number; are all of them still alive?"
"No, unfortunately. Twenty-seven were killed in action in-country; sixteen more died after returning to the US, probably suicides. You know there has been a horrifying amount of that going on?"
"Yes, and it's a damn shame."
"Yeah, I wish we had an answer on that one." Jim shook his head.
"So, we are down to 157 men. Do we have current addresses for all of them?"
"Another big shock; nope. Only 110; the rest only show the last known address, which in most cases was the address at the time of enlistment."
"Shit."
"Yeah."
Jim went on: "There is another wrinkle you may have already thought about: what if `Norton' is not his family name? What if that is his given name?"
"Oh God."
"Well, I have been thinking about that. You remember Jeremy from the old neighborhood?"
"Yes."
"He works for the FBI now, and in fact is in the LA office. They have some pretty cool face-recognition software; I already have a call in to him to see if we can get them to help us. You need to get that photo from Lina to get the ball rolling."
"Sure. Let's do that immediately. So, if Jeremy can tell us who this guy is, that's a big leap forward. We can determine the first name, last name, and then maybe go forward and find out his current address?" Mario was growing excited at the prospect.
"True. All of which is necessary to granting her refugee status for six months while we work on the permanent resident application." Jim Richins was turning out to be a big help.
Mario asked, "So can we safely ignore the CNI claim that she is a spy?"
"Most likely. I'm having some background research done."
"By the way how is the Captain today?"
"He is great; I had to spend a lot of energy to reassure him last night of my commitment to our partnership. He does not want to come out and do anything like get married until after his military retirement is guaranteed."
"I understand. How about you? Is the State Department pretty flexible?"
Jim sighed; "Yes and no; officially, `yes', of course, especially after the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell. But unofficially, you will find plenty of asshole middle managers up and down the line who can make your assignments pretty terrible, just because they are homophobic."
"How about here in Ramstein?"
"I'm in good shape here, for the moment; if some new guy comes in over me, things might change. My goal of course is to be with the Captain until his retirement is approved, and that is a little tricky. Military transfers can come up at any moment without warning although the MP's seem to be a little more stable; less-frequent transfers."
They were interrupted by a doctor who wanted to update Mario on Lina's condition. "We have found through x-ray some old bruises and fractures; nothing recent. She has no serious infectious history as far as we can tell; having something like TB might keep her out of the US for example, but she is clean from all of the blood tests we have done."
"What about STD's?" Mario asked.
"Well, that's a good question but always a not-very-pretty one. She has a current case of Chlamydia, for which we have given her an anti-biotic; it is a fairly common STD even throughout the US and is easy to cure. One dosage is all that is needed. There is nothing else, no syphilis, no HIV, no gonorrhea, etc. She has apparently had one or two UTI's, but there is one other thing."
"UTI's?"
"Urinary tract infection."
"So, what is the other thing?"
"Well this is the really sad part, I can't be absolutely certain, but it appears that she may have been raped at one point, and possibly impregnated, and subsequently had either an abortion or a miscarriage."
"Oh my god, and so young? Really sad." Both Richins and Mario shook their heads.
The doctor left after assuring Mario that Lina was ready to travel at any time; she was fairly healthy and just needed to have a follow-up with another doctor in three months on her anti-biotics. Jim said, "I need to begin asking her a few questions; I want you to be present as well."
"Sure; let's get her some lunch and get started. I want to be on the road some time tomorrow, if you think that can be arranged."
Richins laughed; "You are looking at the guy in State who approves travel vouchers and entry documents."
During lunch, Mario and Richins asked Lina several questions to try to drill down in the history and find pathways to getting her mystery solved. The first thing that Richins asked, which surprised Mario, was where exactly she was born in Iraq. He later explained to Mario that Iraq is still a very tribal country, and depending on where she was born, and therefore which tribe she was affiliated with, would help with two issues: her possible refugee status, and pinpointing where `Norton' was at the time of her conception. That would seriously move the checkers forward on the game board toward finding the American GI.
Lina explained that she was born in a region of Iraq near the border of Iran and the Arabian Sea, in Basra. Her mother was not a native of Basra, and therefore not a member of the tribe from that region, but was actually from Mosul, far to the north and west. Iraq is a huge country, and most of it is desolate; it is filled with tiny villages and uncharted roads, and very little interaction between regions and tribes.
"How long had your mother been in Basra, when you were born?" Richins asked.
"Many years. My brother was also born in Basra before me; his father, my mother's husband, was from Basra and died there after my brother was born, but before I was born."
"Do you know what year you were born?" Mario asked.
"1998."
"Bingo!" Richins exclaimed. He stepped out into the hallway and made a phone call. In about ten minutes, his cell phone rang; it was his connection to the military records offices at Ramstein. Ibrahim Norton, Sergeant First Class, was assigned to a military transport unit which conducted security along the major highway through Basra, Iraq's second largest city, from Baghdad to Kuwait. Now it was time to see if Jeremy at FBI's LA office could confirm the photo with the name.
Jeremy called Richins back in about an hour; Ibrahim Norton was alive, living in a military veteran's homeless shelter in the Simi Valley area, divorced, missing a leg, addicted to Oxycontin, a regular patient at the LA Veterans Hospital, with no known relatives. Jeremy had already assigned a pair of FBI colleagues to watch Norton without alerting him; there was no need to do anything until there had been a positive DNA test.
"Pack your bags Mr. Garza; you are the lucky winner of a one-way trip to LA."
Jim Richins and Mario hugged and laughed; this was a great moment. So far, the most impossible parts of the mission had been accomplished.
Fourteen hours of flight time plus two transfers in London and New York, put Lina and Mario on the ground at LAX mid-afternoon on Saturday, exactly a week after Mario had left to fly to Majorca. While in London, he had phoned the Prime Minister of Spain to report "mission accomplished"; he further assured the PM that Lina was not a spy. Mario also phoned his brother Alfonso and brought him up to date on all of his travels, apologizing for not being in touch earlier but wanted to keep Alfonso from worrying about him while on this wild chase.
His chat with Alfonso was warm and nostalgic; he had not seen his brother since the funeral of their mother, nearly a year ago. Their father was still alive and living in Buenos Aires, of course, but was in failing health. Mario needed to make plans for a trip to see his father soon. Alfonso promised to meet him in Argentina.
Mario also called Stuart and Tommy to report on their progress; Stuart and his husband Raj were in Mexico for two days to recuperate from the stress of working for the Mayor of LA, the US' second-largest city. Stuart promised they would have dinner with Mario as soon as they got back to California. Stuart Warden and Raj Acharya had been married just since the US Supreme Court announcement in 2016 and both worked at the Mayor's office in City Hall.
Tommy was in high spirits for Mario's call; he had already heard from the Prime Minister and had already received payment for the professional fees billed by the law firm. The Prime Minister also promised to invite Mario to a week vacation at his villa in Ibiza. Several weeks later, when Mario found out that the firm had billed, and been paid, Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand US greenbacks, he wondered how much of that was from the personal funds of the PM and how much might be looted from the Spanish treasury. Tommy related to Mario that he had already arranged for the DNA testing, as soon as they could arrange it with Ibrahim Norton.
When they were on the ground in New York, Mario called Jeremy at the FBI office in LA. Jeremy reported that they had no trouble tracking Ibrahim Norton's movements and activities; a homeless veteran with an Oxycontin addiction and one leg was easy to follow. Mario explained when they would be arriving in LAX, and Jeremy gave Mario his personal cell phone number in order to stay in touch. Jeremy also commented on the `spy' situation: it was clear that Lina was not a spy for anyone, nor even equipped to be, although it was looking highly probable that her brother was. That information had already been passed on to the Spanish PM.
Through all of this, Lina had been silent. This bothered Mario a great deal, and he wondered if her reticence was due to cultural differences- third world countries generally have strict rules about the participation of women in society. He also wondered if it might be, at least in part, to her personal history- the probability of abuse and/or rape, the abortion or miscarriage, and certainly the horribly lonely life of losing both her mother and her home and being forced to live in a strange foreign country. A sad life, to be sure, and Mario was committed to helping her find her way in the homeland of her biological father.
It was the Wednesday following when Ibrahim Norton agreed to meet them at the VA hospital in order to undergo the DNA testing. Mario thought he could detect some clear similarities between Ibrahim and Lina, but the DNA test would solve the riddle. Forty-eight hours later, Mario received a phone call from Tommy: 97% positive. Mario called Jim Richins immediately and let him know, asking for an introduction to the appropriate people at State to begin the long paperwork process to get Lina approved for permanent residency status.
That night, having dinner on the patio overlooking the Pacific at his palatial home in Malibu, the home he had shared with his husband Mason, Mario remarked to Stuart and Raj how strange life can be.
They already knew the outlines of the journey that took Mario from LA to Majorca to Madrid to Germany and then back to LA, but Mario also filled them in on a few of the smaller details, such as the partnership enjoyed by Jim Richins and his MP Captain, and the FBI office support from Jeremy, the former Malibu neighbor who had been a fuck-buddy of Carlos. Stuart had probably never divulged to his husband Raj how he had been involved for a time with Carlos, and Mario felt it was not necessary to bring it up now.
He did however ask if they knew how Carlos was doing; Stuart said they saw him about every other month or so; they had lunch on weekends together whenever Carlos could get time free from projects. As a civil engineer and an architect, Carlos was in great demand to survey major building projects around southern California and certify them as earthquake-proof. Nothing is earthquake proof, thought Mario, especially the human heart. Carlos was proof of that: married and divorced, with two beautiful children, he is a stunningly handsome bi-sexual Latino.
Mario also asked Raj how his sister was doing; as a professor of economics at Cal State LA, she had moved up from Santa Monica Community College, and had gotten married. She and her husband and two children flew back to India once a year to visit various relatives; this year her son was going to stay in California rather than going on the trip to India. He was just finishing his first year at USC, taking a summer internship at the Mayor's office.
Finally, Mario asked Stuart and Raj if they had seen Ross and Joaquin recently. Mario had spoken to Joaquin when he was in Spain at the beginning of this adventure for Lina but had not heard from them since. Stuart said he knew they were very busy with the two galleries, but they had not seen them in person since New Year's.
Mario decided they had to have a party to gather together all of the old friends; he made the suggestion to Stuart and Raj, who immediately agreed to help him make the arrangements. Mario decided to wait until slightly warmer weather; it was nearing the end of February, which was, despite their latitude in southern California, still winter, with wet and unpredictable weather.