The Forgiven The Fallen The Forsaken (46 page)

Once they were
alone, Helen said, "I don't know about you, but I'm wearing out." 

"Me, too. 
These last couple of months has really taken a toll.  Why don't we take a few
days off," said Julia. "Let's go back to the Arizona house today. 
I'll set it up."

Julie called
and let their assistant know that they would be leaving for Arizona.  They
slipped out an employee entrance door wearing scarves and dark glasses and
stepped into a waiting passenger van with their security. 

"Are you
sure this is okay," asked Helen.

Julie answered,
"Come on, we've earned it."

They were
several blocks away when they heard a massive explosion. 

"What the
hell?"

Helen said,
"We have to go back."

Julie paled and
said, "John, get us to the airport,
now
!"

Helen looked
like she was in shock.  "But our people?"

Julie
whispered, "Helen,
we
were the targets.  There's nothing we can do
back there except let the bad guys know they didn't get us and maybe give them
another shot.

They arrived at
the airport and security spent a half hour going over every inch of their plane
before taking off.  They flew over the city only to find that it was their
building that was hit and it was completely destroyed.

Julie texted
her father on the cell phone they kept for emergencies.  "
Bomb in SF.
Assuming assassination attempt.  Missed us by minutes.  On our way to safe
place
."

Helen cried for
the first hour of the flight home.

LAS VEGAS

The bombing in
San Francisco was brutal.  Jim sat with Rob and General Whitman listening to
reports on the damage so far.  The loss of life was staggering. 

Rob said,
"Thank God!  The girls texted.  They're okay and are going to ground,
probably to their Arizona property."

"Let's
keep that quiet for now," said Jim.  "We can let our evil mastermind
out there think he succeeded.  Maybe he'll slip up. Tell them to stay
dark."

Whitman said,
"This wasn't Kemp.  Israelis don't work this way."

Rob asked
"Who do you think it is?"

"I'm
thinking it's the leader of the conspiracy," said Whitman.  "He's
brutal and tends to overdo things.  I'm betting he's up to his eyeballs in our
government, too."

The monitor
that was set to the national news was showing reports that the girls were
believed to have been killed.  Jim rubbed his chin and said, "It may be
good for people to think the girls are dead for a while.  I have no idea what
this will do to the plebiscites, though."

"He has
someone in congress or he may even be in congress.  He's playing the long
game."  Rob hit the table with the palm of his hand.  "We have to get
out of here now!"  He pushed the intercom and said, "Evac now!"

Secret Service
agents exploded into the room, grabbing all three men and running them to the
waiting limousine, then to Air Force one.   As soon as the men were aboard, the
plane left the runway at full speed.

Fifteen minutes
later, the base they had just left was hit by a large explosion.

"Jesus,
Rob!  How the hell did you know?" 

Rob just sat
there in shock.  Nellis Air Force Base was gone.

Jim looked at
him and realized that all three of their wives had been there.  "Oh my
God!"

Whitman said,
"We'll deal with that later.  For now we need to run the country."

"Get me a
camera in here," said Jim.  "I need to make an announcement to the
country."

Once the camera
was there, Jim started his address. "My fellow Americans, today a weapon
of mass destruction was detonated in Las Vegas.   The damage is catastrophic,
but we will find those responsible and bring justice to them.  I am in control
of the country and will remain so.

"Keep your
courage up and please pray for the innocent victims of this vile act."

He had the
cameraman turn off the recording and said, "Get that out now."

"Rob, tell
me, how did you know?" 

"It was
Whitman's comment about the leader of the conspiracy overdoing things and being
up to his eyeballs in government.  I realized that our mystery scumbag is in
government and congress is on recess this week." 

Whitman said,
"Of course!  If our conspirator is in congress, he has access to
everything we tell them.  He's certainly not going to blow himself up, but
otherwise, he'll be as close to us as he can be." 

Jim said,
"We need to kill this bastard."

Rob said,
"We need to identify him first."

"He's a
sneaky son of a bitch and this will have to be quiet," said Jim. 

Rob said,
"I'll get my team on it."

"Good
hunting," said Jim. 

ARIZONA HOUSE

Julie said,
"Dad just texted and said to go dark.  Something big is happening, apparently."
She opened the small window and dropped the phone out of the plane.

"That
sounds good because right now I just want to crawl into bed and stay there for
a few weeks," said Helen. 

"You're
not kidding."

A few hours
later they were landing at their Arizona property.  They were both thrilled to
get out of the plane.  "Next time we buy a plane with a bathroom,"
said Julie.

One of their house
staff came running up to them and said, "Las Vegas was hit with a scramjet
missile!  The news is reporting you two as killed in San Francisco."

Julie said to
him, "Tell everyone, no information goes out about us being here.  We
could easily get the next one if anyone figures out that we're here."

They went into
the house and spent the next few hours getting up to speed via the military
communications equipment.  What was immediately clear was that the attack on
Las Vegas was devastating. 

Just before
midnight, one of their bodyguards woke them about a car pulling up the private
road.  Julie and Helen dressed quickly.  After a couple of moments wait,
security called back an all clear.

Both Julie and
Helen were shocked to see each of their mothers and Aunt Susan walk into the
kitchen.  After quick hugs, Susan walked straight over to the liquor cabinet and
pulled out a bottle of Southern Comfort.  She said, "Sorry kiddos, but
Aunt Susan needs a good stiff drink.  Anybody else?"  She poured several
small glasses and passed them around. 

Helen asked,
"What happened?"

Emiko said,
"We went out to Boulder city for lunch.  Our security detail took one look
at the situation and started to drive to Phoenix.  I diverted them here and
insisted that they keep things quiet."

Denise asked,
"Have we heard from Matt and Luke?"

Julie said,
"Dad says they're okay and keeping a low profile.  Whoever did this was
after all of us, though."

Susan said,
"Hopefully we'll know more tomorrow.  We'll crash here tonight if you
don't mind, and take things from there tomorrow morning."

"Maybe we
can figure things out," said Helen.  "Whoever it was sure as hell
wasn't subtle.  No one knows that we're alive except for the immediate family. 
That could be an advantage."

Denise looked
into her glass and said, "Tomorrow we kick some ass."

Everyone agreed
completely.

PHOENIX, ARIZONA

Rob met with
his team at Luke Air Force Base.  "We're working on the assumption that
our perpetrator is up to his eyeballs in at least some aspect of the government
and has people in congress if he's not in congress himself.  We've entered the
final stages of the game and he's playing for all the marbles now. 
Thoughts?"

Green said,
"Sir, if it's his end game, he's positioned to take over.  Who is in place
to take charge if the principles are taken out?  One of those folks will be our
conspirator or will lead us to him."

Will said, "Then
Speaker Larson should be our first suspect, then the President Pro Tempore of
the Senate, Senator Rollins.  After that the chain of succession goes to the
various secretaries, and they're all our people."

"Look at
them anyway," said Rob.  "I don't think there would be anything
there, but we need to make sure."

Matt asked,
"What about the missile launch?"

Dave said,
"It was launched off of a mobile platform in Idaho, but it could have been
driven there from anywhere."

"Larson is
out of Wyoming, and Rollins is out of Louisiana," said Ann.

"We know
what we've taken out, but do we know how large the conspiracy had to be to have
been viable," asked Green?  "How big was it?"

Ann answered,
"We've taken out enough to account for the minimum size.  There could be
another large base that wasn't in Simmons' databases.  There would almost
certainly be several smaller groups still out there.  There wouldn't be enough
to take over without being able to step in and taking over existing
institutions."

"So it's coup
d'état, light," said Rob.  "It all fits."

Matt asked,
"What about Senator Ellis?"

Dave said,
"I think we can safely call that an assassination at this point.  Either
he knew something or was in the way.  Maybe we need to look at his replacement,
Senator Bernard."

Rob said,
"We need to have evidence.  Start thinking about what problems the enemy
is going to have."

"Off the
top of my head, I would say communications, logistics, counterintelligence,
controlling their own people, security, and equipment failures," said
Julio.  "So far, except for launching missiles, everything they've done
could have been accomplished by a small special ops team.  I don't think we're
dealing with more than fifty people."

Green said,
"I'd agree with that, which makes their communications even more difficult
in some ways.  I'd look for encrypted satellite communications that look
military but can't be explained fully."

Matt said,
"A smaller group minimizes the logistics issues."

Green argued,
"Some of it, but it actually makes some things a lot harder because
there's more use of outside vendors."

Rob said,
"I like the equipment failure approach.  What do we look for?"

Green rubbed
his chin.  "Anything to do with satellites or military electronics, sir.  Encryption
equipment."

Rob thought for
a moment. "It's a good start.  Where would they base their
headquarters?"

"The more
useful approach would be to look at where they wouldn't base HQ," said Will.
"You’re up PK."

Green said,
"They need to avoid as many weather related problems as possible.  With
all the electronics, they can't afford to be flooded out.  They can't afford to
be snowed in for long periods of time, though with access to major roads, they
could still be okay in colder areas. They can't be too far away from everything
to influence events, so Alaska and Hawaii are out.  They wouldn't put
themselves through the aftermath of the nuke on D.C., though they could still
be a few hundred miles from there."

Rob asked, "Best
guess?"

Green took a
marker to the large map of the US on the table and drew a rectangle from
Washington to North Dakota on the top and Northern California to Kansas on the
bottom.  "I think they are operating out of this extended area, with the
most likely area for Mr. X's headquarters being here."  He circled Wyoming
and the surrounding area."

Julio asked,
"So you think it's Larson?"

"Too soon
to say.  I'm basing this on the pattern of their bases that we do know
about," said Green.

"That's a
small enough area to look for electronic emissions," said Julio.  Any kind
of base is going to have a fair output of heat, too."

Rob asked,
"So if you're putting your next paycheck on it, where would you bet?"

Green didn't
hesitate, "Right here, sir," drawing a circle around the area
surrounding Cheyenne.

Rob said,
"Then that's where we start.  We keep the press looking for Kemp, though
to throw off the scent."

SAN DIEGO

Jamie and Luke
had met with his mother earlier in the day and were still digesting some of the
conversation.

"It sounds
like it's all hands on deck to track down the conspiracy," said Jamie.

Luke frowned
and said, "I just don't see that we have a lot to offer with the
investigation.  We can be bait, but that's about all we're good for right now. 
I'd rather keep working on classes and sit this one out for now."

She hugged him
and said, "I'm so happy to hear you say that!"

"Mom isn't
looking for us to be in the middle of it.  I think that video freaked her
out."

"Me too,
and I was there."

"We can
take some short runs next week if you want.  We'll just keep it quiet and blend
in."

"Sounds
good."

They returned
to their studying, knowing that there would never be enough time to learn
everything they needed to know. 

BRAZIL

FEBRUARY 15th

The island was
rapidly transformed into a facility that had everything they could possibly
want on a small island.  Jim purchased three matching sea planes that would
allow for evacuation during hurricane alerts and built hidden cement shelters
at high points on the island that should stand up to anything short of a huge
ocean surge.  For that possibility he had the shelters made water proof and
with automatic hatches to close off the airflow.  He also stocked them with
rebreathers that would provide hours worth of air if necessary.  The shelters
would also provide protection from small arms fire.