“Did you say the Effort?” Captain Kane asked with disbelief. “We’ve been after them for some time. Are you sure you can find them, because we can’t?”
“You just don’t know what rock to look under, but I now do,” General Stone explained as he walked away from the confused TACP team leader.
Chapter Forty-One
The big C-5 cargo plane was halfway across the Atlantic Ocean when Simon finally finished interrogating the Effort men. They were secured in the very back of the plane. The TACP team lounged in the middle and the MAD team sat near the front bulkhead.
When Simon wanted to talk to one of the meteorite hunters he had Malcolm and Kaley, who had found some safety pins, escort them to the front of the plane. Malcolm asked the questions while Simon tried to read the brains of the hardened men. He had already collected the names and addresses of the Effort structure in Chicago. They had done that during the fight in the desert. General Stone was now attempting to gather a list of crimes that he could charge the hunters with so they wouldn’t ever be able to be free again.
The last interview was with Ralph Burns. He claimed that he was not part of any organization, but was hired because he could identify meteorites from simple rocks.
At first, he was not very cooperative. He seemed to reflect the Effort manifesto.
“Do you know that the Effort intended to kill you as soon as they had collected twelve meteorites and got back to Chicago?” Malcolm asked the bookstore owner.
“I had no idea,” Burns responded with real alarm and covered his mouth. “Oh my God, you saved my life.” General Stone nodded his head, telling Malcolm that the man was genuinely upset with the news.
“Where were you supposed to deliver the meteorites?” Malcolm asked.
“I was supposed to take them to the closed steel factory warehouse just outside of Chicago,” the man blurted out.
“Have you ever been inside the factory?” Malcolm continued.
“No,” he said sadly. “All I know is that they had turned it into some kind of manufacturing plant to build something.”
“How close were you with the Effort people?”
“I’ve had nothing to do with these guys until just recently,” Burns explained.
“Actually that’s a lie,” General Stone uttered and pointed a bony finger at him. “Your brother is an Effort leader and you have a warehouse in the back of your store that is filled with illegal guns.”
“How did you know that?” Ralph Burns wondered out loud nervously.
“We’ve already had people go through your bookstore,” the General lied. But I will send men as soon as we are done here, General Stone promised himself.
Ignoring the comment by the general, Burns asked. “My brother was in on this?”
“Yes, your brother was willing to let you die,” General Stone explained. “The least you could do is return the favor.”
“Okay,” Ralph Burns said angrily. “I’ll answer your questions, but you have to give me a deal.”
“Of course,” General Stone lied.
***
“We’re going to need more help,” Malcolm told General Stone. The four of us can’t possibly handle fifty thugs.”
“Yes, you’re right,” the old man replied and rubbed his chin. “There seems to be more of these monsters than we originally believed.”
“White supremacists just never seem to go away,” Malcolm commented and shook his head.
“Every culture has its own share of supremacists,” General Stone said philosophy. “The jihadists are just Muslim supremacists.”
“There’s another problem in dealing with the Effort,” Malcolm pointed out.
“If you mean that one of Keidel’s sons is telepathic,” the general said. “I think Lisa’s telepathy skills are far greater than his. She should be able to handle him easily.”
“So, what’s our next move?” Malcolm asked.
“We need to see what additional help we can muster and then head for Chicago. We need to stop Hans Keidel and his sons from turning the world into a wasteland.”
And then the satellite phone rang.
***
“It’s Gillian Darby,” the scientist excitedly breathed into the phone.
“Yes, Gillian,” the general replied. “What do you need?”
“You were right Simon,” she said cheerfully. “When I reviewed the satellite footage from the Hub Dam, I not only found out when the Switch was set off, but I found and identified the three men who shot it off.”
“What?” General Stone quickly sat up straighter. “Explain?”
“The satellite footage clearly shows exactly when the Switch was fired. A streak of energy shot out from the device and is captured on the recording. Not only that, but I was able to zoom into the exact place where the energy originated. I found three men. So I zoomed in farther and got their pictures as they looked into the sky. The computers did the rest.”
“Hold one second, will you?” the general pleaded. He turned to Kaley. “Boot up your laptop. I’m going to have Dr. Darby send you some photos. She thinks she has found our jihadist players, the ones causing all the damage.”
“Malcolm, come over here,” Kaley yelled as she fired up the computer.
“Gillian, can you send the pictures to Kaley’s laptop?” the general now asked.
“Yes, of course, can I have her email address,” the Doctor replied. “I’ll send the photos now.”
“Malcolm, can you look at these photos with me?” Kaley spoke quickly over her shoulder. “Is this enough information to find and track these nut jobs?”
“Well, let’s see,” he said as he moved close enough to touch heads with the goddess. She refused to move. “We have a picture of the men. We also know where they were at exactly nine o’clock at night and that’s a location, so yes, we should be able to find them.”
“We’ll do it,” the small women demanded and punched him in the arm.
“Where are these three men located right now?” Malcolm said out loud.
Everyone paused as Malcolm waited for an answer.
“Damn,” he suddenly shouted out. “One of the men was an Iman. One of the other men shot him and he is floating in the reservoir as we speak.”
Why an Iman?” Kaley asked.
“They thought he had strong telepathy powers, but when the waterspout took off and became uncontrollable, they realized that he had none, so they killed him.”
“So can you track them?” Lisa inquired.
“We are already tracking them, but I have uncovered a bigger problem,” Malcolm continued.
“What could be a bigger problem?” Kaley asked.
“They have found a new Iman who has strong telepathic powers. They’re going to test a new disaster tomorrow.”
“Do you know what it is?” the general demanded.
“It appears that they want to create an earthquake on the very edge of the vortex,” Malcolm explained.
“Where?” Kaley West screamed with frustration.
“They are going to set the Switch off in the provincial state of Punjab, India. It’s just over the border with Pakistan.”
“What time?” General Stone asked.
“They are shooting for 9:00 A.M. tomorrow.”
“Why there?” Kaley wondered.
“I have that answer,” Lisa called out. She had immediately looked up Punjab on the Internet. “The state is small, but has twenty-seven million residents. The majority of people, over ninety percent are not Muslims, and there is a major fault line that runs through the center.”
“A perfect setting for a natural disaster,” Malcolm uttered.
“General,” Lisa exclaimed. “We can’t let that happen. We have to stop them.”
“Let me think,” he muttered as the weight of the world suddenly pressed down on him.
Chapter Forty-Two
“Are you crazy,” Captain Michael Kane shouted. He had just been told by General Stone that the plane neede
d to be turned around and their new destination was Chandigarh, a city in the Punjab state of Northern India. The general also told him that they needed to get there before 9:00 A.M.
“Captain,” General Stone said. “All that I can tell you is that we are attempting to stop a huge disaster. Millions of people could die. If you need further confirmation from your superior, I can get it. Or are your men too tired?”
“It’s not that sir,” the TACP officer replied with a wave of his hand in dismissal. “It’s just that your movements and procedures seem so herky-jerky and strange to us.”
“Yes, you’re right,” General Stone explained. “But so are the movements of our enemies. We have to adjust to them on the fly. We have no choice. If you want to be replaced, I can arrange for that too.”
“Replaced?” the captain replied indignantly. “Never. We’d never hear the end of the jokes about how we couldn’t keep up with four office weenies.”
“Good,” General Stone remarked cautiously. “I think.” The general wondered if they would continue the mission just to keep their tough reputation in tact.
“What do you want us to do?” the captain asked.
“Arrange for ground transportation and prepare to go into the mountains in Pakistan. The people we seek will be there.”
“Are we going to lag behind you like we did at the Eye of the Sahara?”
“No this time you’re going in with us.”
“Why the difference?”
“Alright, I’ll tell you our mission. We’re going to try to stop some jihadists from starting an earthquake in the Punjab and we’re going to have a limited amount of time to find them. We need boots on the ground.”
“And what happens if we don’t find these guys in time?” the captain wondered.
“Then, we could all die.”
“I’d better get on those arrangements then,” the TACP officer responded and saluted.
Part Seven
The Jihadists
Chapter Forty-Three
Dr. Raja, Dax, and their new telepathic Iman named, of all names, Mohammed, were also on the move. They were riding in a school bus over some dirt trails near the border between Pakistan and India. Dr. Raja wanted to be on time to launch the Switch. There was much riding on the timely implementation of the earthquake.
Thirty armed jihadist’s rode behind in their heavy-load truck like they were going on a picnic. The truck was for bringing loot back. Dr. Raja had no choice but to allow them to follow. The local warlord had sent his men to protect his investment.
That was because the greedy Dr. Raja had made contact with the warlord through the Iman named Mohammed. The Iman had explained that one of his followers was a local leader and would pay Dr. Raja for the privilege of being onsite and the first one to pillage when the earthquake occurred in the non-Muslim territory of India.
He reasoned that there could be much looting before any authorities could reach the area. After all, the people in the earthquake area were all infidels and fair game. This offer made a lot of sense to Dr. Raja, especially when the warlord offered a million dollars for the privilege of being the first to loot the wealthy state of Punjab. So they struck up an arrangement and the jihadists were included. It was after all just what the doctor wanted to do.
What the mind-damaged Dr. Raja didn’t understand was that the Iman was instructed to double cross him. He was told to shoot the partner named Dax and capture the good doctor as soon as the device was successfully fired. Some of the men sent would help. The warlord wanted the device for himself only.
The normally super-paranoid Dr. Raja was more relaxed than usual and didn’t object because he believed he had the answer to the problem of poor direction that occurred when the Switch produced natural disasters. The warlord was also a Muslim, so he trusted him. He was anxious to try out the new settings on the device. He now believed that it wasn’t the primary aimer, the Iman, who caused the problem as much as it was the calculations. There was a mistake in the calculations.
He had gained that information when he was on his laptop several hours ago while hovelled in a cave. He noticed a little red light on his computer screen. It indicated that there was some video footage from one of the cameras in the place called the Pit in Area 51.
There had been very little activity in the lab for months, but today came a real revelation. He punched the button and a picture to two people filled the screen.
One was the commander of the secret base and the other was the inappropriately dressed, infidel whore of a female worker, he thought. A portion of the cleavage in her breasts was exposed causing Dr. Raja to both salivate and be infuriated at the same time. The two people were talking while the American Switch device sat on the table in front of them. He watched the conversation with fascination.
“Are you sure about the miscalculation?” the commander inquired in a whisper.
“I’m very sure,” the non-hajib covered woman responded. “I’ve checked the numbers several times.
“It’s a good thing that Lisa Lange called you and explained that her translation was wrong,” the commander replied happily.
“Here, let me show you the difference,” the stinking cow of a woman explained. She pointed to the Switch. “The calculation to set the speed, that’s the number six calculation, is the problem. We have the number 2 as the third number in the current calculation, but it really should be divided by 2.”
“Will that make a difference?” the commander asked in confusion.
The blasphemous bitch responded. “It will make the natural disaster move much slower and more controllable,” she smiled and looked right into the hidden camera. Dr. Raja saw that she wore red lipstick and face paint. He was so angry that he would have stoned her to death if she was nearby.
“So we’ve solved the problem of aiming the device, right,” the commander remarked and clapped his hands.
“Yes,” she agreed. “But we not only solved the problem, we’ve made it into a sustainable weapon,” she answered and fluttered her eye lids causing Dr. Raja to scream at the screen. “She’s flirting, she’s flirting. She deserves to be raped.” He pointed at the screen with a threatening gesture.
***
“How did we do?” Dr. Darby asked as she and the commander walked into a secure room in the Pit.
“I’ll bet that whoever was watching your performance is now so angry that he has skipped over the fact that the original translation is actually the right one.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure they will make the changes before they shoot off the switch in a few hours.
“I’m glad we could help General Stone,” the commander said.
“I can’t believe he came up with this plan in just a few minutes and called us,” Dr. Darby said.
Chapter Forty-Four
The droning sound from the C-5 made everyone sleepy, but General Stone was awake and called Malcolm over for a private meeting. Since everybody else was within hearing range, he pulled Malcolm into the flight deck of the huge plane.
General Stone had just finished speaking to the TACP commander in Washington D.C. Since the MAD team was headed to India and not to Chicago, General Stone decided that they needed surveillance on the Switch factory in Cicero and the home of Hans Keidel and his sons — at least until the MAD team could reach there.
Right now, the team was diverted to India because of the imminent firing of a Switch by the Jihadists. The TACP commander assured the general that he would send some covert operatives to keep track of the supremacists.
“Malcolm,” the general started. “I need to talk to you about Kaley,” he said solemnly. Malcolm could see sadness in the old man’s eyes.
Malcolm had no idea where the Simon Stone would go with the conversation, but he replied anyway. “What did you want to say to me?”
“You know she is like a daughter to me, correct?” the suddenly sentimental man replied. “I have known and watched over her for over ten years now.”
�
�I know that,” Malcolm responded.
“My concern is that she has become almost uncontrollable lately. Have you noticed?”
“She is downright scary,” Malcolm said with a puff of his cheeks and circled his finger around the side of his head.
“I want you to take her under your wing,” the general pleaded. “I’ve done all I can do. You need to stay with her day and night. You especially can’t let her out of your sight when in combat. She has the ability to become a monster that no one wants or can deal with.”
“Simon, I’ll do my best, but she constantly pushes me away,” Malcolm responded sincerely.
“You’re reading her mind wrong my friend,” the wise surrogate father told the startled Malcolm and shook his finger at him. “She has had so many traumas in her life that she doesn’t want any more. So as a result, she pushes everyone away, yet she craves attention, especially friendship. It’s a physiological need, one of man’s most basis desires.”
“If she wants friendship why does she constantly try to belittle and humiliate me?” Malcolm flapped his arms in frustration.
“It’s her defense mechanism,” Simon explained “The only way I know to change that is to get her attention and tell her to stop, or you will have to put up with it.”
“I’m running out of patience, Simon.”
“Then grab ahold of her by the arms, look her square in the eye, the tell her to stop punishing you. I know that she cares for you and will listen. She’s told me on many occasions,” Simon responded. It was a revelation to Malcolm. “She sees me as an old uncle, but her view of you is far more intimate.”
“Intimate?” Malcolm frowned — it gave him a look of indignation.
“Admit it, you care for her too,” the old man said wisely.
“I admit it,” Malcolm responded after a few seconds and threw up his arms. “I have treated her with kid gloves because I didn’t want to lose her. But now you’re saying that laying down the law should work better, right?”
The Oracle Philon Page 17