Phantom Warriors---The Beginning and Mission One: The Amazon Jungle

The Beginning and Mission One

The Amazon Jungle

Charles Welch

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© 2011 by Charles Welch. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 08/04/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4634-3623-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-3622-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-3621-6 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011913015

Printed in the United States of America

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Contents

Dedication

Main Characters and Code Names

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my parents;

Thelma and Earl Welch

Both deceased.

Main Characters and Code Names

Team Commander: Colonel David Bolton (Special Forces) . . . Eagle One

Team Leader: Major Brett Stone (Special Forces) . . . Casper

Team Executive Officer: Lieutenant Jessica Blasey (Linguist Specialist) . . . Flo

Sergeant First Class Timothy West (Delta) . . . He-Man

Sergeant First Class Darek James (Special Forces) . . . Widow Maker

Sergeant First Class Nick Adams (Ranger) . . . Santa

Staff Sergeant Leroy Hunter (Special Forces) . . . Sheriff

Staff Sergeant Christopher Santiago (Delta) . . . Blade

Staff Sergeant Bo Maxwell (Ranger) . . . Lucky

Staff Sergeant James Richardson (Special Forces) . . . Zombie

Staff Sergeant Elijah Hue (Ranger) . . . Apache

Staff Sergeant Zack Keller (Delta) . . . Z-Man

Staff Sergeant Jennifer Williams (Linguist Specialist) . . . Brain

Staff Sergeant Julie Summers (Linguist Specialist) . . . Angel

Samantha Stone (Major Brett Stone’s daughter) . . . . Sam

Scott England (Major Brett Stone’s CPA) . . . . Tiny

Prologue

Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Tacoma, Washington

Dad. Dad!

What is it Sam?

It’s time to get up. I don’t want you to be late!

Hey, cut me some slack, Sam. I’m going to be a civilian pretty soon.

Now! Captain Stone.

"Uh oh. When she calls me Captain I know I better listen. Young teenage daughters have a way of telling their Father certain things without actually telling them.

Captain!

I’m awake Samantha!

Okay, she said. You got to start out processing from the Army if you want to become a civilian Captain Stone.

I got a whole week to out process.

Dad! You need to get started as quickly as possible so that you can get finished.

Why the rush, Sam?

I want you to finish out processing with everything possible before you change your mind about getting out of the Army.

Don’t worry about that Sam. I don’t think anything can get me to change my mind. When I get out, you and me are going to take that long awaited vacation I promised you.

I know Dad. That’s why I want you to get up and get started. Oh and by the way, I made you breakfast.

Thanks Sam. You’re going to make someone a good wife one of these days.

I got up and got ready for work. It felt strange knowing that after ten years in the Army, I was finally getting out. My first few years in the service were great and I got to do a lot of exciting things. But the last few years just got a little to boring for me and I needed more excitement than what I was getting. So, I made my decision to get out. I have to admit though; I’ll miss the privileges I’ve been entitled to since becoming a Captain.

Captain Stone!

What Sam?

Let’s go soldier! Eat and go!

Oh boy. She’s on that Captain Stone trip again.

All right Sam. After this week you won’t be calling me Captain any more. You can call me Mister."

Mister? She said, How about good old fashion Dad?

Sounds good, Sam.

We sat down at the breakfast table and Sam placed a plate of three eggs, six pieces of bacon, gravy and biscuits in front of me.

So, are we still on for today after you finish with whatever it is you got to do to out process?

On for what? I teased her as I ate my breakfast.

You know for what. We’re going to look some more at some new houses. You know we can’t continue to live on base after you get out of the Army.

I know. I told you I wanted to rent a place for a few months so we can take our time looking for the right house.

Dad, we need a place of our own now! You said so yourself that you were tired of living in rented quarters and you wanted a place you could call home permanently.

I know, Sam. I just don’t want to rush into such a big decision.

Rush? Dad, we been looking for the right house for two weeks now. We need to find something Captain!

You love saying that don’t you? Samantha!

Yep. I’m going to miss that Captain Stone.

Yes, I am too.

You better finish your breakfast and go Dad. You have your appointment at the out processing center at ten this morning.

I finished my breakfast and headed out to work. I still had some time before my appointment so I stopped to get a mocha and newspaper. I went inside the coffee shop, ordered a white chocolate mocha with almond and picked up a copy of the newspaper. Scanning through the paper, I noticed the lottery numbers were printed out and although I hardly ever buy any tickets, yesterday I had bought two tickets just to impress the good looking cashier.

I remembered I had stopped at the store to buy some coffee and some mints. When I went to the counter to pay, there was an older gentleman getting his cigarettes. He had asked the girl for a lottery ticket and she printed one out. He went to pull out his wallet and then he realized he didn’t have it on him. He looked up at the girl, embarrassment showing on his face and said, Sorry, I must have left my wallet at home. She told him it was okay and as he started walking out of the store she was putting his cigarettes back.

When I approached the counter, she asked if I would like to buy a lottery ticket also. I told her I don’t normally buy lottery tickets but for some reason I told her to give me two Washington State quick picks.

Would you like to have this one I just printed out for that other gentleman? she asked.

Sure, why not?

Well, she said, some people are superstitious about how they buy these tickets and I didn’t know if you were one of those people or not.

It doesn’t make any difference to me. I’ll take it and give me one more.

I had noticed then the sign on the counter said the Washington State lottery was fifty-nine million dollars and the drawing was that night. Also, next to the sign, was a picture of the clerk who was standing next to a Ford Mustang with a sign in her hand which read; One day I’m going to get one of these.

I asked her about the picture and she told me that was her dream car she saw at a dealership and she was trying to save enough money for a down payment for the car.

After we talked a few more minutes, I bought the two tickets, paid for my coffee and mints and then she had wished me good luck with the tickets. I also had wished her good luck with the Mustang.

Anyway, I pulled out my two lottery tickets and started comparing them to the numbers in the paper. I didn’t even know the numbers on them because they were both quick picks. I knew that if I could at least get three or four numbers, there would be some kind of a payout. So, I took a drink of my coffee and started comparing the numbers. I checked the first one that I had bought and found I didn’t even have one number on the ticket that matched. No surprise. I grabbed the other one that I bought that the old man couldn’t pay for and I started looking at those numbers.

The winning lottery numbers were 7-12-13-27-41-43. I looked at my ticket and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I started choking on my coffee and actually spit it out of my mouth onto the table. I grabbed the paper tighter with my left hand and held it close to my face while I had the ticket in my right hand holding it also close to my face. I compared the numbers again and then I started breathing hard and I said the numbers out loud… 7-12-13-27-41-43. I still didn’t believe it! I got out of my chair, placed the paper on the table and looked at the paper and my ticket again and there it was, no mistake, 7-12-13-27-41-43!

I had just become an overnight multi-millionaire fifty-nine times over!

Chapter 1

To say becoming a multi-millionaire overnight was a stressful event would be an understatement. Not stressful financially of course, but stressful in ways such as what do you do with all that money?

I called the out processing center and told them to change my appointment until tomorrow afternoon.

Then I went home and Sam met me at the door and asked, What are you doing Captain? You should be out processing.

I got great news Sam! You’re not going to believe it!

She got serious and said, What is it Dad?

You better come inside and sit down honey. This is important.

We went into the house and sat at the kitchen table.

What’s up, Dad?

Remember those lottery ticket’s I told you I bought yesterday?

Don’t tell me you won something on them.

Sam, were rich!

Define rich, Dad.

Fifty-nine million dollars! I won the lottery! Every number matched!

What? I don’t believe it Dad!

Believe it honey. We won!

What are we going to do? Sam asked.

Well, first I need to go to the bank and get a safe deposit box to put this ticket in until I turn it in. Then when I get out of the Army, you and me can sit down and discuss the future.

That’s great Dad. I can’t believe it!

Believe it Sam. We won! And I want this to be our secret for now. Don’t tell anyone yet.

Don’t tell anyone? Dad, were rich! I want to tell everyone I know!

In time, Sam. In time. Just for a few days, don’t say anything.

Okay, I’ll try.

Thanks Sam. Don’t worry, in a few days you can tell all your friends.

After I left Sam, I drove over to my bank and waited for them to open. I was standing at the door, first in line to go in when the doors open. At 10:00 am, a lady from the inside came to the doors, unlocked them and said, Good morning, come on in. I followed her to her desk and noticed her name plate read Holly Mason, Manager.

Can I help you? She asked.

With a calm voice I said, I would like to rent a safe deposit box for one month. How much do they cost?

The small one is twenty dollars a month, she said.

I would like to rent a small one for one month, please.

Do you have an account with us?

I pulled out my check book and said, Yes, I do. Then I handed her the check book so she could get the account number.

She ran up my account number and said, Okay, Mr. Stone, no problem.

I filled out the forms she gave me for the safe deposit box then she walked me over to the vault were the boxes’ were and gave me the key to box 117. I asked her for a moment of privacy and she walked away.

I pulled the ticket out of my wallet and placed it in the box. I made sure that the box was secure and then I walked out with biggest smile on my face and told her, Thank you. She just stared at me and said, You’re welcome.

I placed the key on my car key ring and went to my car and sat in disbelief what was happening to me. I had become a multi-millionaire with probably less than four thousand dollars in current bills I owed. Subtracting four thousand from the fifty-nine million was like dropping a dollar on the ground and not picking it up. I was rich!

They say the brain can process a lot of information at any one time and whatever that was; I think my brain was doubling that.

I thought, what am I going to do with the money? Where am I going to live? What kind of car do I want? What am I going to give Sam? Should I work or maybe start a business? Maybe I’ll just sit back and enjoy the rest of my life. The questions just kept bombarding my mind. It felt like my head was going to explode.

I thought about the payments that the lottery would give me. In Washington State you had two choices. You could either choose taking all the money at once, but the catch is you only get half of the winnings, or you could elect to have the full amount after taxes, given to you over a period of twenty-five years. I made some dumb choices in my life but this wasn’t going to be one of them. There was no way I was giving back to the state half of my winnings. I was definitely going to take the money over twenty-five years. I had sixty days to claim the money.

The next thing I thought about was am I going to live for another twenty-five or fifty years? Who knows? But I knew one thing; Sam and I could increase our chances of a longer life if we would start eating right. I thought I might hire a personal chief. Man, my mind was racing.

I thought about getting a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and an Attorney. I figure an accountant firm would be able to take care of all my expenses and accounts because I’m sure there’s no doubt that once the IRS finds out I am a multi-millionaire they will be watching me all the time.

Figuring I should do that first, I went home, got the yellow pages and looked for the biggest ad I could fine for Public Accountants. I wanted the best and I figure that if a business could afford a full page ad, then they are most likely not some fly by night company that would be here one day and gone tomorrow. I wanted someone with credibility.

After locating a firm in Tacoma, I decided to drive downtown and check them out. I know I probably should have called to make in appointment but when you’re sitting on fifty-nine million dollars, you can’t wait to tell someone. I thought I would just walk in, that way, I could also see how they treat their clients with or without an appointment.

I walked into the office building and looked at the directory on the wall for England and Hart Accountants. It showed they were on the eleventh floor. I got on the elevator and went to the eleventh floor. When I got out of the elevator, I saw the sign that pointed that the office was to the left. I walked into the office and approached the secretary at the desk.

Hi, I would like to talk to Mr. Hart or Mr. England.

Do you have an appointment?

No.

Mr. Hart is out of the office and Mr. England asked not to be disturbed.

Miss, I said. I think your boss wouldn’t mind being disturbed after he hears what I might be able to offer him. I promise you this is very important and it will make his day.

She looked at me and said, "Well, first of all, he’s