230416 The Lost Years

This may sound strange for those of you who know me, but it is something I need to write so my family knows why, when I disappear.

There were several years no one knew about when I worked for the company as they like to call themselves. I was recruited aboard ship during my navy service to do a few jobs in the far east for the company. The company does not like its operations to be known. In fact when an operator decides to leave the company, he or she changes from an asset into a liability. The company does not like liabilities, or what they call loose ends. Therefore, what you would do with a loose thread on your suit or dress (cut it off and dispose of it) is what the company does.

That is why I have been on the run for the last several years. I never know when I hear an unusual sound in the middle of the night if that sound is a wandering cat on the prowl or if someone from the company is paying me a late night visit. One never wants an unannounced late night visit from someone on the company payroll. That’s when I reach for my go bag and leave wherever I am for a new location. I don’t wait for sunrise; I’m gone immediately. Those ex-operators who decide to wait until dawn, never live to see old age.

So far in my years of retirement, I have moved 16 times in different states. The company never stops looking for loose ends that may expose their operations. I had made a mistake in Hong Kong years ago and when the knock at my hotel room door came in with a voice saying “room service,” when I haden't called for room service, I rappelled out the window using a rope I had in my go bag and have been on the run ever since.

At 2:30 this morning there was a knock at my door. The man called out “Police, open up.” Police knock on doors at dawn; only the company knocks on doors in the middle of night…