What about Ricky Riccardo?

Boston General Hospital

Three days after she was stabbed multiple times, Natalie Leuze's condition improved enough for the medical staff to determine that she was going to pull through. 

Natalie lay awake, sipping liquids only and trying not to think of the incident that got her in this condition. Her strength did not allow her to push a button on the TV remote, so it stayed off. 

Her most immediate concern was for Ricky Riccardo, her chihuahua, who was home waiting for her. 

One nurse in Boston General called the local PD where The Bee was, and they sent a car over to go in, feed the pooch, and take him out. 

They then arranged to place Ricky with one of the waitresses at the Bee, who lived nearby, while the actress recovered. That's the Maine way.

While thinking about her life's journey, she realized she was not finished. 

There was so much more to do, including finding the bastard who stabbed her in the parking lot of The Breakfast Bee.

She lay facing a window, her movements frozen due to intravenous connections, medical tape, and pads put in place to restrict her movement.

It was nice that they placed her facing the window. Natalie only realized where she was yesterday and understood how lucky she was to be here. She had been told about the medical flight, but she did not remember a minute of it.

She remembered the short, smelly man.

As she drifted back to sleep, she thought of a day 23 years ago.

When she was seventeen, she packed her school backpack to leave a miserable home environment.

For some unknown reason, her mother collected Social Security Disability. Louise also supplemented her income by servicing truck drivers who spent the night.  

This had been going on as far back as Natalie remembered, and she had gotten used to visitors in her house who were pretty nice to her. 

The regulars would bring her gifts or leave her a few bucks for lunch money at school.

One of them, Anthony, has stayed for the last two years. 

When Natalie's mom drank herself to sleep, Anthony would come down the hall and watch TV with young Nat. They became friends and TV buddies, and she shared that someday, she would move to Hollywood and act in movies. 

Anthony advised Natalie and told her to ensure she got the good parts. 

He taught the young girl the "Ins and Outs" of sleeping with producers to get parts and swore all the big stars did it when they started. 

He taught her everything by holding "workshops" on how to be better than other girls going for the same part. He gave the girl a checklist that covered everything.

After a while, Natalie told him she was talking to her school drama teacher about sleeping with producers, and he started asking her for information about Anthony. She hadn't done that, but she leveraged cash from Ant to keep their arrangement private. 

In half a year, she had saved just over five thousand dollars.

It was time to make her move. She was going to Los Angeles.

Northern New Hampshire

The first camera Eve had found earlier was still in place and looked operational. 

That would mean the Feds had not searched for ground sensors and cameras in their new playground. 

Whoever monitored the cameras must have seen me climb the tree and start uninstalling this very expensive-looking equipment. I wore a ski mask, but I have to assume that a short brown Tango would be a giveaway. 

He was with us the last time we came here. I slid down the tree with my bounty, and we collected two ground sensors and one more camera.

On the way back,  I heard a woodpecker, which is good luck.

I wonder if they can do facial recognition on dogs. Somewhere, Tango is in the system now.

I'm trying to figure this out as we reach the parking lot. The Federal Government found an underground barracks for a foreign army within our borders, and there is no big stink about it.  

I had heard from Strier that the Feds found the bodies of the security guards and Lem from WLT buried in the facility.

That in itself should be headline news. Why isn't this on every news station or site? Something stinks.

We got in and started driving home. A small navy-gray truck sped up two miles down the road to get behind me. It followed for about one more mile, and then the truck's operator turned on the blue flashers to pull me over. Here we go.

The uniform was unlike anything I had ever seen: olive green pants, a tan shirt, a gold badge, a sidearm, and a Homeland Security patch. She approached my driver's side window, and her hand was not on her sidearm, so I assumed I was not a threat.

I rolled my window down, and she said, "Sir, you were spotted exiting a Federal property marked as a no-trespassing area on video."

I said, "I saw the signs when I came out of the woods and realized my mistake. I did not see any where I entered."

That is some flimsy bullshit. I then piled a little more on. 

"This is a perfect area to spot "Dryocopus pileatus" this time of year. Do you know the pileated woodpecker? " I pointed to my camera and said, "I'm working on my life list." "It is a remarkable bird, massive and somewhat whimsical as they poke giant holes in trees. You have seen them, haven't you? Once you see it, you can't forget it.

I then lifted the camera so the officer could see a perfect shot of a Pileated Woodpecker on its screen. I swear the woodpecker looked like it was smiling.

She then asked me if I could wait a minute while she went to her vehicle. I watched in the rearview mirror as she lifted her mic, said something, and waited. My license plate will now be on some list as this stop will be entered into a database.

She returned about two minutes later and said. "Thank You, sir; in the future, please don't birdwatch on a Federal Facility unless it is a National Park.

I saluted and thanked her, and then Tango and I started down the road.

New York, New York - The Golden Dish

Yeung Bao was sitting in his usual spot when a young Asian woman approached the table with what looked like a stack of invoices. Bao thanked her, and she went back to the elevator. He pulled a photo from the stack that had just come in from Northern New Hampshire. A man entered the compound area and removed two cameras and two ground sensors. 

Bao was amazed that the American Feds had taken this long to find the perimeter security devices. He picked up his tablet and ordered that all surveillance around the site stop. Nothing would be tracked back to New York.

Bao was happy to be back in New York. A softness for America crept into his life, but he would fight it. His kids were Western in their ways. They begged Mom and Dad to take them for fast food meals and the toy that came with them. They viewed American cartoons and other violent shows. Their English was perfect.

"Would they grow up to serve China?"  he thought.

The plan continued, but now, one part is missing.

China will have a battalion-sized underground equipped army inside America within two years.

Bao had work to do.