.

others. This provided a way out, we let the Cubans provide too much tactical leadership and this contributed to poor communication. The CIA saw the writing on the wall and threw in the towel. They knew it was going to fail when Kennedy withheld the air support... support they had given their word on... so they did nothing to avoid capitulation. The CIA went on furlough.

      There was pressure from the Cuban families who had lost loved ones on the beaches to mount a second invasion using exiles and mercenaries, as well as volunteers from other island countries. But this was quickly abandoned when no one could figure out what would happen to them once they hit the beach.

      You'll remember that was when we were locked in the barracks with the exiled leaders. They all had relatives among the dead, and here our own troops were holding them in armed guard...keeping them from leaving Opa-Locka.

      What could I tell these men? That our President turned to jelly...that we fucked them. I felt like Jack-The-Ripper, I wanted to sugar coat the failure...make it memorable or a memorial. The dead marking the tragedy as the waves rolled their bodies, to and fro, like a porch swing. What must they have thought of the most powerful country in the world rolling over as though we sought to escalate the fable that was Castro?

      The men sat in stoic silence remembering... and regret.

      He continued without interruption from the others. The Freedom from Castro movement must re-emerge. The operations down in the Keys are nothing more than nats on a cow’s ass.

      “We must create an event to re-focus on the Cuban problem. We create an event that shocks the world; our Congress and our citizens and rekindles the Cuban refugees’ confidence in the word of the United States. Which, we will follow through-on this time because JFK wants to settle the differences with Castro and Russia.”

      Kennedy believes the revolution is a self-centered, perpetuating economic and political vulture which threatens to spread this discontent through the Caribbean. He also does not support guerilla raids and has encouraged the exiles to join the U.S. Army. If we seek a second invasion with all forces behind it, without restrictions or conditions we must plan now with efficiency and haste.

      We must move the Cuban matter beyond the fringe of well-meaning but senseless child’s play. We must generate an event that will shock this government to its foundation. We know Cuban intelligence from the mainland of Cuba has its agents in Miami. Our strategy must employ a schedule that takes place out west...more conservative and passionate that will throw Cuba under the bus, sending the cops on a trail that leads to the door of Castro.

      The time has come to be done with half measures...it is time for high risk because the stakes are high. The time has come to be rid of the Castro brothers and the time has come to get there now.

      How many times must we fail as we pretend to be the "Merchants of Fair-Play" in this country? Look at Vietnam...gave it away, would not let our men win...look at Korea...we have pandered to those little bastards for over fifty years...let them develop nuclear capacity just look at Iran, except the Koreans are clearly nuts. We have a fifty year legacy of incompetence on the field of battle. We have become the bully who has been called out by the fifty pound weakling...and we have been found lacking.

      It is an embarrassment...led down the path by doves with clipped wings. Once we knew who we were at the Alamo, at Imo Jima, when we saved France and England after Japan had decimated our Navy at Pearl Harbor. My generation has always been proud of our country. Never fearing to look our enemies in the eye and never blinking. But this country is now on a course to the left...and having any democrat as our Secretary of State is like appointing Jane Fonda to declare war against Ho Chi Mien.

      The Kennedy money has softened them...old Joe Kennedy knew how to toe the line. He faced off against the toughest in prohibition, ran rum ...made a fortune. But Jack Kennedy is his Mother's boy, a kinder, gentle soul...a go along, and get along President.

      I know you want this as much as I do. We want to set-up an attempt on the life of JFK. We have no intention of hurting him...so Ray Ray your men must be chosen and retrained...not to kill, but to scare the hell out of him and bring this country to the brink of war. We will plan every step, design every incident leading up to this event. We will design a team that leaves no trail back to us but will point definitively to the Cuban Intelligence Directorate. Inherent in the plan will be a second set of plans with clues, less murky that point to the CIA’s attempts to assassinate Castro.

      The plan that I envision will contain American and Cuban retaliation. An entire campaign with precise paperwork and documents: passports; driver's license; address books; receipts for weapons and travel. Our team of shooters disappears but leaves a faint trail for the cops: mail order forms; change-of address cards at the post office, photos. We will develop a person or persons from a piece of clay who is trained to fire the shot which will reverberate around the world.

      The snipers will be traced to paid agents who have slipped out of the country, gone to Venezuela. This is the right plan with no politics, no indecision, no appropriation and these are the conditions which we have always maintained were essential for success. The life secret and we have to protect it with our very souls...until the shooters are on the roof, or on a railway trestle!

      There was a chilling silence, as if an organ stops at a wake...and then Flynt said, we hit Kennedy because we couldn't get to Castro, is that the hidden agenda here?

      "Understand we do not kill Kennedy, we miss him...we rattle the psychic of America, as was done by the shot to Reagan"

      Ray Ray had a question that was on the mind of the others but did not ask..."Who is our benefactor...who is picking up the tab?"

      Ray Ray's question hung in the confines of the car, the pressure threatening to blow all the windows.

      Finally Flynt said, "All that I am able to identify at this time is that the benefactor has the code name "Skipper" and you would readily identify the official name if you heard it. In order to establish his ability to fund our effort an account has been opened with a Hong Kong businessman through an international law firm in the amount of one hundred million dollars."

      "That’s a nice round number."

      "I don't think my wife could spend that."

      Flynt continued..."all right, now listen this is important, if the group agrees to go forward, I am authorized to wire a Quarter of a million to each of you into an account with a law firm in Lake Geneva, Switzerland. This is an advance on your ultimate fee of one million dollars to carry out your orders. If any part of which is bungled we will all loose the balance."

      "So how do we get the money?" Ray Ray asked

      "We'll get there Ray Ray" Flynt said, "You are going to get a lot of help. The

      steering committee will give you names of potential shooters, who will obey your training instructions, your job is to coordinate the detail in the plan and make certain the shooters do not kill the President and are safely removed from the scene with the exception of a lone gunman who will take the fall."

      "Where do I signup...and how do I access the retainer?" Ray Ray chimed in.

      "You seem eager to get that money Ray Ray, are you short on funds?"

      "Hell no...it is just that I have been screwed so many times by liars...look what happened at the Bay of Pigs...kept getting the run-around...one excuse after the other...I will not fund this job." he said.

      Chapter VI

      THE PLAN TO MISS KENNEDY

      Mick Flynt, the hardnosed CIA operative had a vision of the shooter. He would be a loner, not well educated, a failure as a soldier, a wife abuser and poor example of a father and son. Probably around thirty years of age, a man exhibiting a high degree of self-importance and a bitter, (bordering on panic hatred for anything related to the government,) probably exhibiting a small-man complex which he attempted to make-up for by wearing a gun. He would enjoy being photographed with his rifle and side arm and even would wear an ammo belt strapped around his chest.

      Louis Wagner, an old school CIA operative possessed a great