Politics of Blood (Gray Spear Society Book 8) (26 page)

"And Aaron, the same rule applies to Marina. She already knows too much. She doesn't need to know any more. On the same topic, I want you to start upgrading the security around here."

"Ma'am?" Aaron said. "The security in this building is already borderline ridiculous. We could hold off a small army."

"Then I want it to be completely ridiculous! Where the safety of the twins is concerned, there is no such thing as too much. Spend what it takes to counter every possible threat. Your budget is infinite."

He nodded. "Yes, ma'am. Some arms dealer is going to be very happy he met me."

Nobody spoke for a moment.

"On to other business," Aaron said. "Where the hell is the President hiding? I checked the news this morning. His location is officially secret."

"I'll find him," Bethany said. She stared straight ahead without moving.

"Are you doing it now?"

"Yes, sir. We're scanning the electronic correspondence of the Secret Service."

He remembered she had wireless access in her brain. She could use her computers from anywhere in headquarters.

After a pause, she said, "President Haley and Vice President Darrow are staying at the private residence of Bernard Templeton."

"I've heard that name," Aaron said.

"He's a billionaire. The location is eastern Illinois."

Bethany faced a computer monitor attached to the wall. The screen turned on and showed a satellite image. An irregular section of land was outlined in red. It contained two lakes and some thickly forested sections.

"It's big."

"One thousand five hundred acres," she said. "The home is in the north-east corner."

The satellite image zoomed to show a huge, three-story, white house surrounded by smaller buildings.

"What kind of security do they have?" he asked.

"The Secret Service is patrolling the grounds. Otherwise, I don't know, sir."

"I'll go," Ethel said, "and I'm taking Boreas and Tawni with me. We'll hide in the woods and watch for trouble."

"Yes, ma'am," Aaron said. "Do you want me to give you a ride in the helicopter?"

"It's too risky to fly in daylight. We'll drive."

He nodded. "Now, let's talk about the mysterious Jed Parker."

"I did some research this morning, sir," Perry said. "It's a fake name."

He was wearing a gray, pullover shirt with a coffee stain on the collar. He had cut himself shaving this morning. His oversized glasses with their thick rims looked like a theatrical prop.

"Not a surprise, but there might still be clues out there. Check the records of the burned farm. Dig into the finances of Pure America. Follow the trail of electronic breadcrumbs."

"Yes, sir."

Aaron grimaced with annoyance. "We're running out of leads, and we still have no idea who the enemy is. If we can find the President so easily, I bet they can, too."

Jack's voice came through overhead speakers. "Commander, there is a security breech in the basement of the hotel."

Hearing the dead man's voice again spooked Aaron.

"What kind of breech?" he said.

The image on the computer monitor changed to a surveillance feed. It showed a man in a blue worker's uniform walking through a narrow hallway. He had long, black hair and a ring in one eyebrow. Exposed pipes hung on the walls.

"Lowest level, center section," Jack said.

"I've seen that guy," Nancy said. "He's part of the maintenance staff."

She wore loose, gray coveralls over a plaid shirt. There was a smear of black grease above her right eye. Another glob of grease was in her frizzy hair.

"He works for the hotel?" Aaron said.

She nodded. "I think he's one of our electricians."

"Then he knows he shouldn't be in that section. We need to get down there before he stumbles into a trap. The meeting is temporarily adjourned. Nancy, you'll go down with me."

"Yes, sir."

Aaron jogged to his private suite. He took off his formal robes and tossed them onto the bed. He put on a white dress shirt and blue slacks.

Nancy was waiting for him outside his door. They took the elevator down to the basement.

After searching for several minutes, they found the errant electrician. He was staring at some conduit and taking notes on a clipboard.

"Hey!" Aaron yelled. "What the hell are you doing down here?"

The electrician turned with a startled expression. "Who are you?"

"I'm Mr. Berrycloth, the owner."

The electrician's eyes widened. He straightened up and said, "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't recognize you."

"I asked you a question."

"I'm just trying to figure out where all the wires go, sir. I'm an electrician. It's my job."

"Not exactly," Aaron said. "When you were hired, you were explicitly told some sections of the hotel are off limits. You were given maps with those areas outlined in red. You're standing in the middle of one now. You know very well you shouldn't be here. Don't tell me it was an accident."

The electrician swallowed. "I just wanted to know what the big secret was. I wasn't causing any trouble, sir."

"Who says there is a big secret?"

"Everybody knows."

"What do they know exactly?" Aaron glared at him.

"That this hotel is a cover for some kind of top secret government agency." The electrician glanced at Nancy nervously.

"Regardless of whether that's the truth or not, does it give you the right to violate the terms of your employment? I should be able to tell my employees how to behave in my hotel, especially when they're being paid such generous salaries."

The electrician lowered his eyes. "Yes, sir. It's just..."

"What?" Aaron said.

"I was wondering if something else is going on. Maybe it isn't a government agency."

"So you came down here to get some answers. You thought we wouldn't notice?"

"I'll leave." The electrician started walking.

"Wait." Aaron jumped forward and grabbed his arm. "Don't rush off. You were right to be suspicious."

"I was?"

"I mistreated you. I withheld information. I apologize for being unfair. Go ahead and explore."

The electrician stared at Aaron in confusion. "You're not mad?"

"Not in the slightest."

"You won't fire me?"

"Furthest thing from my mind." Aaron waved his hand dismissively. "I'll even give you a tour. We have some amazing equipment down here. Do you want to see? Or would you rather go back to doing your cushy, undemanding job?"

The electrician furrowed his brow.

Aaron pointed at a green door at the end of the hall. "What's in there?"

"The emergency power system," Nancy said. "Four turbo-diesel generators."

"I'd love to see that. Wouldn't you?" he asked the electrician. "Take a look."

The electrician glanced at the door. "You're sure?"

"I'm giving you a free choice. You can go back upstairs and obey my rules from now on. Or you can look behind that door. I won't intervene either way."

The electrician walked down to the door and tried the handle, but it didn't open. A keypad was attached to the wall.

"Try 2-3-2-3," Aaron called.

Nancy squeezed her eyes shut and turned away.

The electrician punched in the combination. He successfully opened the door this time and entered the room.

"Cool," he said.

There was a meaty thwack. A thin stream of blood trickled out of the doorway.

Aaron turned to Nancy and sighed. "I made a terrible mistake."

"What, sir?" She peeked at him.

"Moving my team here. It's just not possible to have adequate security. We're too exposed. I thought I was making a bold and innovative choice. I wanted my people to work in the sky, not under the ground. My inexperience as a commander betrayed me."

"We'll figure it out."

"No." He shook his head. "We have to leave. How long will it be until the Chinatown building is ready for us?"

She grimaced. "Several months, sir. We'll be lucky if it's this year."

"Let's try to push the schedule. I suppose we can't move until the twins are done with their project, anyway. I don't want to disrupt them. We'll have to make do with this place until then."

"Yes, sir." She paused. "What about the security upgrades that the legate wants? Are we going to spend a gazillion dollars on brand new weapons and then leave them behind?"

"Exactly." He looked at the spreading pool of blood by the green door. "Let's clean up this mess and get out of here. We still have a mission to complete."

* * *

General Arnold Joseph turned on the television in his office. He took the rubber stress ball from his desk drawer and settled back into a comfortable position. There was a cooking show on the television, but it didn't matter. It just needed to be on.

"1: LET'S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS," he transmitted using the concealed keypad in the ball. The button combinations used a code for added security. If it fell into the wrong hands, they wouldn't know how to use it. "FOUR, DID YOU TAKE CARE OF PURE AMERICA?"

The Fourth Corner of Freedom responded quickly, "ALL EXCEPT OLAF." The shimmering, holographic words were laser red on the television.

"1: WHAT HAPPENED?"

"4: RELEASED FROM PRISON FIVE MINUTES BEFORE MY MEN GOT THERE. DONE BY FAKE FBI AGENTS. TWO MALES. VERY MUSCULAR. FORGED PAPERWORK. HACKED COMPUTER FILES. NOT AMATEURS."

The news hit Joseph hard. A fake FBI agent had also detonated the bomb last night.

"1: MUST FIND OUT WHO FAKE AGENTS REALLY ARE!"

"4: WORKING ON IT."

The good news was that Olaf didn't know much. The Corners of Freedom had chosen Pure America because of their enthusiastic embrace of ignorance and stupidity. Olaf in particular seemed to have no intellectual curiosity at all. The opposition would get very little information of value from him. The idiot could barely spell his own name.

"1: WHERE IS PRESIDENT?" Joseph sent.

"3: SECRET SERVICE CONTACT SAYS HALEY AND DARROW WITH BERNARD TEMPLETON."

"1: BILLIONAIRE?"

"3: AFFIRMATIVE. OWNS VERY LARGE CHUNK OF LAND IN RURAL ILLINOIS. FARM COUNTRY. HERE ARE COORDINATES." A latitude and longitude followed the text.

Joseph copied the numbers to a piece of paper.

"2: CAN'T LET HALEY OR DARROW GET BACK TO WASHINGTON. NEW BUDGET READY TO SIGN!"

"1: I KNOW. NOT SURE WHAT TO DO."

"2: DROP BOMB FROM AIR?"

"4: TOO HARD TO COVER UP. BOMBERS NEED CREW AND AIR FIELD."

"3: CHECKING SATELLITE PHOTO NOW. FIVE KILOS C-4 WILL DESTROY HOUSE AND KILL EVERYBODY. BOMB CAN BE SMALL. HAND DELIVER?"

"1: SECRET SERVICE LOOKING FOR BOMBS."

"4: DELIVER WITH SMALL UAV?"

Joseph's eyes widened. "1: YES! USE NEW MOTH-MAN UAV. SINGLE OPERATOR CAN LAUNCH FROM BACK OF TRUCK. VERY STEALTHY."

"2: GOOD IDEA."

"3: DON'T LIKE USING REAL MILITARY HARDWARE. MIGHT BE TRACED BACK TO US."

"1: BLAST WILL DESTROY PLANE AND ALL EVIDENCE. CAN OPERATE AT NIGHT. RANGE 100 KM. NOBODY WILL SEE IT COMING. JUST NEED ONE MAN FOR REMOTE CONTROL."

"4: I HAVE MAN THAT WILL DO JOB. HIGHLY TRUSTED. ALWAYS FOLLOWS ORDERS."

"1: I WILL PROVIDE UAV. SHIP TO ILLINOIS TODAY. ATTACK AT 2100 HOURS TONIGHT. WILL USE SPY SATELLITE FOR RECON."

"4: MAKE SURE ORDERS CAN'T BE TRACED TO YOU."

"1: I'LL USE SPECIAL SECURITY."

"3: BLAST WILL KILL MY CONTACT."

"1: REGRETTABLE BUT NECESSARY. NEED TO ELIMINATE THAT LOOSE END ANYWAY. NEXT TIME WE TALK, WILL BE GOOD NEWS. FREEDOM WILL WIN!"

* * *

Aaron and Nancy stepped out of the elevator and walked into the white entry chamber of headquarters. Seeing nobody behind the security glass disturbed Aaron. There was just a tall stack of computers in a rack. Somebody had thoughtfully placed a cowboy hat on top. The real Jack had liked cowboy hats.

"Good morning, commander," Jack said. "Good morning, Nancy. How are you feeling today?"

Aaron raised his eyebrows. "A computer cares how we feel?"

"I'm confirming your identity with verbal interaction. I'm matching your voiceprint, collecting biometric readings, and verifying characteristic physical deformities."

"Oh. In that case, I'm feeling pretty good."

"Me, too," Nancy said uncertainly.

"Do you mind if I ask a security question?" Jack said. The voice emulation was so good, Aaron could almost believe he was hearing Jack's ghost.

"Go ahead," Aaron said.

"Commander, on the north wall of your private quarters, there is a picture frame. What does it contain?"

"Medals from my days as a police officer."

"How many?" Jack said.

"Six. The one on the left has a red, white, and blue ribbon."

"You may enter."

The side door buzzed. Aaron and Nancy quickly went through. He felt great relief, as if he had passed an important test.

Aaron walked through headquarters to locate the members of his team. Ethel, Boreas, and Tawni were gone. Aaron assumed they were on their way to eastern Illinois.

The twins were performing an experiment in the science laboratory. They were shooting a violet laser through a crystal which transformed the light to red. Kamal stood back with an anxious expression.

Perry was at his workstation in Aaron's office. The hacker was staring up at a dozen large computer monitors arranged in a grid. Aaron didn't understand why he needed to see so much information at once, but apparently, it made a difference. The twins had the same arrangement.

"Well?" Aaron said.

"The Jed Parker identity has a bank account," Perry said, "but all the deposits and withdrawals were in physical cash. Untraceable. That seems like a dead end, sir."

"What about the farm? Did he own it?"

"Rented and paid for in cash. No paperwork. This guy was very careful."

Aaron furrowed his brow. "Go back to the bank account. Is there any money left?"

"Let me check." Perry typed on his keyboard. "No, sir. It was cleaned out and closed this morning."

"Another cash withdrawal?"

"Yes."

Aaron grinned. "Which means he accepted the money in person. The bank will have his face on a surveillance recording."