CHAPTER 37
The Story of Michael Hendricks
HE hadn’t always been Michael Hendricks. But what’s in a name, really. It’s just semantics. This one was merely one of many identities he’d invented for himself in his service for an organization that had no name and technically didn’t exist. At least not on paper. And most certainly not on any verifiable level.
But to say that he was in the employ of this group would not be entirely correct. It was more accurate to say that he was one of the organization’s co-founders.
The sixties, the decade of free love and experimentation was quietly giving way to the seventies, the decade of passivism. This was all fine and well except that a few choice individuals felt the United States was in big trouble. One of these individuals was a man the Marine Corps would later come to know as Michael Hendricks.
Certain the country was headed for a major meltdown, he and others were convinced they had to step in and put a stop to the decline of western freedom and all it afforded.
It started as mostly a trial and error venture, and later thrived due to the brilliant mastermind of Hendricks. He had a knack for knowing, within hours, when he’d implemented a plan that couldn’t possibly work. And he was also adept at figuring out, just as quickly, how to fix the problem.
It didn’t take a lot of effort to realize they needed the element of anonymity for the organization to thrive and prosper. More than anything else, Hendricks and his colleagues knew they had to protect the identity of their recruits.
The organization was all about covert operations. It’s what they did best and they prided themselves on their capabilities. They did things the United States Military couldn’t do legally. They took what they needed, whether it be economical, tactical, or monetary. If Hendricks, or any of the other founding members thought they needed something—didn’t matter what it was—someone was given the orders to make it happen. And if need be, elimination by assassination was not out of the question.
Since confidentiality was of the utmost importance, the decision was made early on that each member would immediately begin utilizing various identities once joining the organization.
For the most part, he’d gotten stuck in the identity of Michael Hendricks because that’s the one he was using when he met Caroline Chambers. He was in his mid-thirties back then and a couple of years into the elusive organization. Caroline was a beautiful young girl just out of college with dreams of becoming a doctor.
Michael and Caroline lived together for several years. It was easier to hide his various identities from her that way. The specially created identity of Michael Hendricks was an officer in the United States Marine Corps. So Caroline wasn’t surprised when he was frequently called out into the field for some sort of training or another. And while she thought he was out on some military exercise, Michael was actually carrying out some covert operation that he and his associates had deemed necessary.
Michael and his colleagues weren’t prejudiced against one type of recruit over another. However, most of them did come from the United States military. Not all of them, but the majority did.
Since they were picking up recruits from the military, they swiftly learned that it was crucial to expunge the military records of their members. They figured out just as fast that new records had to be invented, for at least one of the identities the recruits were going to use. Not all their identities were military. In fact, it became evident rather quickly that no more than one or two should serve in any branch of the military. More than that, and they were risking their covers being blown.
But there had to be some trail of some sort, no matter how phony or illusory the identity was. It had to be military. At least one identity needed to have access to various military institutions throughout the world and without repercussions.
Michael and his colleagues were not above placing themselves in strategic situations, such as prominent positions in various departments of the United States Government, which ultimately offered up carte blanche, a convenient advantage when it came to getting what they wanted.
In the beginning, back when there was only a handful of agents, it wasn’t hard to keep up with all the duplicity.
For the most part, Michael Hendricks was a happy man, enjoying his adventures as a field agent for the elusively secret organization, which he prided himself on being a large factor in the creation of. But he also took pleasure in returning home. To Caroline.
His direction changed one bright spring day when he returned home to his beautiful companion and the most pleasant of surprises. She was pregnant.
At that point, the whole world changed for Colonel Michael Hendricks. He was getting on in years, for a field agent. On the verge of forty in a couple of years, he decided to restructure the organization to suit and accommodate his decision to marry the mother of his child.
As time passed and the organization grew, it had become clear that they needed to establish a central position for someone to fabricate military records for the members.
This notion went against every principle they’d founded their organization upon. The person who held this position would know all the inter-workings of the organization because they’d know all its members. Nevertheless, it had to be done. But this was a position the founding members weren’t willing to turn over to just anyone. So Michael took the job himself. He felt better about the whole thing this way. He wasn’t keen on the idea of a recruit knowing more about the organization than him.
In essence, he permanently became Michael Hendricks. For the most part, he came in out of the field and took a permanent full-time position in the United States Marine Corps. Michael Hendricks had a most impressive military career—at least on paper.
Initially, he gave himself the grade of Captain. His rise up the ranks came without fanfare as orders came down periodically from Washington in a usual and common manner. No one ever questioned the orders, not even when Michael Hendricks was promoted up to the rank of Brigadier General and eventually named the commanding officer of MCAS Cherry Point in North Carolina.
Michael settled into a quiet life with his new wife, Caroline Chambers Hendricks. He liked it this way, too. He was able to be home with Caroline quite often and eventually their baby girl, Grace.
As Grace grew, Michael’s missions for the organization became fewer and fewer. It seemed that he was now content with the job of simply creating the false records for the recruits.
O
f course the walls came crashing down around Hendricks a few years later when his wife was killed tragically in an automobile accident. It was then that he made the decision to retire from the field completely. He was able to do this only because he was one of the members in charge. A simple recruit would never have been allowed to make such a decision.
To the outward appearance, Michael was merely a high-ranking official at Cherry Point, while in reality he was inventing records for select individuals.
Years passed, uneventfully, until Grace graduated from high school and continued her education at the local university. She was barely nineteen when Captain Eric Wayne entered her life. Smitten with each other, they formed a bond quickly.
Michael was extremely pleased with Grace’s choice in men. He saw something in Eric, something he couldn’t put his finger on. But he was certain Eric loved Grace and he would always take care of her.
Unfortunately, Hendricks’s colleagues saw something in Eric, too. The decision was made quickly, and the task fell to him to recruit his daughter’s new beau.
When Hendricks inferred that Eric Wayne wasn’t recruit material, the response was…if he’s good enough for your daughter, he’s good enough for us.
Once Michael accepted the realization of the situation and the position he’d placed Eric, and therefore his own daughter, in, he began making plans to save them from the mess he’d created.
It wasn’t like he could tell his colleagues that Eric had declined. At that point Eric would have been framed for some heinous crime and sent to Leavenworth for far longer than Michael even dared to venture a guess.
Stalling, under the pretense that he was preparing for the recruitment, Michael paved the way for Eric and Grace’s disappearance.
Knowing the end was coming sooner or later Michael hid clues in his V.A. file. Clues that only Grace could find. He showed Eric the secret compartment hidden inside his desk while it was still empty. Later he put the key to locker thirty-six at Grand Central Station inside the stall.
He felt confident that he had all the bases covered since it would take both Eric and Grace to find the locker and its contents.
Maybe it was an elaborate plan but he had to make sure no one else got their hands on the explosive information. That was the only way to keep Grace and Eric alive.
And his main goal was his daughter Grace’s safety. He’d gladly trade his own life to secure her health and happiness.
CHAPTER 38
The Letter
My Dearest Gracie, and Eric:
If you’re reading this, you’re together and you’re both alive. And as happy as that makes me—unfortunately it also means that I’m dead. And since you’ve found this letter, it means you’ve found out a lot of other things, as well. Many things that are going to confuse you.
Gracie, after reviewing the contents of both briefcases it may appear to you that everything you know to be true is a lie. But the love that your mother and I felt for one another is not a lie. And the love we shared for our only child, you, is not a lie, either.
Michael Hendricks was one of various identities that I created for myself long before I had the pleasure of meeting your mother and finally having you.
As I’m sure that you’ve seen by now, in the briefcases filled with revelations, I was one of the co-founders and first active agents of an elusive organization that has never been burdened with a name. All of the particulars…names, dates, places…and anything else you need to know, including full explanations and historical background on my fellow comrades and our group can be found in one of the briefcases. The other contains various identities and access to all the financial support the two of you could ever need to keep you safe, secure, and hidden from anyone who may have inadvertently deemed you a threat based on my actions.
I acted of my own accord in becoming involved in a task to create this organization, which would carry out missions the United States Military could not—not legally, anyway. I did it for the good of this country. I agreed to be a party to the founding of this organization for our country’s national security and for the general safety of all American citizens. But if I had known how it would play out, Gracie—if I had known that I’d meet your mother and we’d end up having you….
But I cannot change what’s already been put into effect. And given the opportunity to go back and do it all over again I cannot say that I’d change anything. To never have created the organization would surely have been detrimental to the United States and therefore to all U.S. citizens. We could all drive ourselves crazy with “what-ifs”. But that isn’t going to do anyone any good.
The bottom line is, they wanted Eric. And they wanted me to recruit him. I tried a feeble attempt at stalling to bide some time. I pretended to prepare the way for his recruitment, when all the while I was merely paving the way for the two of you to escape together. My hopes are that you’ll disappear someplace where none of them, not even the agents I’ve trained myself, can find you.
Eric, you must not fight them. This is a war you cannot win. You cannot fight something that does not exist. I have provided you enough ammunition so you can make certain they keep their distance. I’ve provided documentation, which you may be able to use as leverage. The knowledge is not meant to be a means for you to wage open war with them. But you must understand, it is given to you so you will know exactly WHO you’re up against. It’s all there. Everyone that can possibly be a threat to you, there’s plenty of documentation on them in one of the briefcases.
My advice to you is…take my daughter and disappear under the guise of new identities (which I’ve provided for you). You’ll have nothing to fear from any of these identities because no one other than myself, and now the two of you, knows anything about them. The bank accounts are clean. None of them will ever be traced back to me, much less you.
Eric, I know the task I’m laying at your feet is one you can easily handle. You’re made of the stuff that’s needed to outsmart them all. That’s why they wanted you so badly. I was not willing to attempt a recruiting where you were concerned. First off, if you had refused you would have been accused (and convicted) of some crime or another that would have gotten you serious time in Leavenworth. If you had agreed, you and Grace would have been separated forever. Quite simply, because as a general rule the identity of Eric Wayne would have been erased. Spouses and significant others are not allowed to know the particulars of our organization, not even its existence.
And I could not do that to you, Gracie. I could not tear Eric away from you in any shape, form, or fashion. Whether it be time in Leavenworth or in service to this country.
Gracie, just know that I will love you forever. My love for you is my motivation for the things I do now. No matter what happens from here on out…you will live in my heart forever.
I’m counting on you, Wayne. I’m banking on the fact that I’m not wrong about you. You take care of my daughter, you hear.
Stay Safe and Never Let Your Guard Down,
Michael Hendricks