As all eyes in the conference room focused on the scenes of destruction, the door opened and allowed in a flood of light from the offices outside. A small man dressed simply in a black suit and tie and white shirt quickly found a seat against the wall. Only the president looked his way, then quickly back at the horrendous scene.
“Casualties?” he asked.
“Preliminary reports from the Roosevelt are better than you would have thought. Thus far, four hundred and fifty-seven seamen are dead with a like number injured. At this time, we are not sure of the ship’s survival. All assistance is being rendered by Japan, Australia, and England, whose small task force could be in the area in four hours,” Admiral John C. Fuqua said from his spot at the table. “The Russians have offered moral support only at this stage due to the damage sustained at Vladivostok.”
“Okay. What are we looking at for the Lake Champlain?” he asked.
“Thirty-three officers, twenty-seven chief petty officers, and three hundred and twenty-four enlisted men. She went down with all hands.”
Niles Compton placed his arms on his knees and lowered his head. He had just arrived by helicopter on the White House lawn from Andrews Air Force Base, and walking in and seeing this brought what was happening into very real and deadly prospective.
The president gestured for the lights as the large screen dimmed and the horrific scenes vanished.
“Recommendations?”
“We have to defend our people, Mr. President, that much is evident,” the admiral stated flatly as he looked the president in the eyes.
“Agreed. The rules of engagement have already been sent to all American forces the world over,” the president said, looking at the admiral and guessing at his next words.
“A change in our ROE will not be an adequate response, sir. We have to—”
“Start a world war, because that is precisely what we would be doing. The Korean consul and Chinese ambassador have notified us that the strike on our task force was defensive only and dictated by an overt act of war against their countries. No matter what we believe, and no matter how much we cry out our innocence, they believe they were hit intentionally by us, and if not us, someone in our sphere of influence. Who else would have the technology to do what they’re claiming to have evidence of, if not the West?”
“Their claims are absolutely without scientific foundation. Our own people say that what happened could only be a natural occurrence,” answered the director of the CIA, Charles Melbourne.
“Nonetheless, we have earthquakes without aftershocks and the evidence these people claim to have is just—” The president tossed his pen on the yellow pad before him and it landed on the casualty numbers he had circled several times. He closed his eyes in thought and left the question hanging.
“Gentlemen, this has to be thought out clearly. I have my doubts that the Koreans would have done this for any other reason than because they were pushed into it. It just does not make military sense. The move to hit that task force was an act of desperation on their part. I feel it. If it’s a direct attack launched with some unknown science or not, it doesn’t matter, gentlemen; they believe it is.”
“We have to respond, we owe it to those boys.” The admiral’s voice was easy and steady but every man in the room could see that it was forced.
“First, I want a five-hundred-mile exclusion zone placed around our task force. I am ordering the air force to start low-level recon overflights of the North Korean rally points. I want preparations made and target packages on my desk in three hours in case Kim moves across the border. We will let him know clearly that this threatening gesture toward the South shall be met with unyielding force.”
The president met every set of eyes in the room.
“The Koreans have said they are finished talking, but I will not allow them to once again start a bloody war without more facts to back me. I will make them see reason, but I need proof that these were natural disasters, or I need evidence of a crime, is this understood?” He was looking directly at the directors of the CIA and the FBI. “We are lucky the Russians have remained quiet on this tape of theirs. We can be thankful they are not adding fuel to Kim’s fire, at least for the time being.”
There were nods all around the table.
“We’ll meet back here in three hours. Get me answers. Dismissed.”
Niles received several curious looks from the security council as they broke up. He did not exactly avoid eye contact but did not outwardly look directly at them, either. He watched as the last member closed the door, then he looked at the president.
“It took you long enough to get here, goddammit.”
Niles nodded. “My people needed their instructions. If we had not been so secretive about our friendship, I could have left much sooner. Especially now that I see we’ve got some real problems here.”
The president smiled and then quickly stood and walked over to the director of Department 5656 and held out his hand.
“Don’t want people knowing about how close we are. It could be bad for you on your end and me on mine. Secrets, the world runs on them.”
Niles stood and took his hand. Alice had been right in her assessment about the president and Niles Compton. They were not only childhood friends but had attended Harvard together. The ROTC student and the computer-sciences nerd had been friends since they were eight and had been roommates together at the first of several colleges.
“I trust my people. You’re lucky I caught on when you first arrived at Group,” Niles said as he watched his friend wearily sit down.
“When I visited at the complex I thought it wise to play our friendship low-key. I didn’t know if you had told anyone about us being friends. And then,” he poured himself a glass of water from the decanter, “when this earthquake stuff started, I was bombarded from everyone from MIT to my own science advisers saying that the events were natural in nature and there could be no way they could have been manmade.”
“And?”
“Niles, something’s wrong here. I have a gut feeling—not really much to go on, I’m afraid—that something’s happening here we don’t understand.” He took a drink of water and set down the glass. “I’ve been a soldier all of my adult life and this is just not right. The Koreans would never chance their annihilation on this. Regardless of what most people think of them, they do not act without cause, even if it is a ridiculous one.”
“The Russians and Chinese—how are they reacting?”
“The Russians are just waiting to see what we do before committing one way or the other. China, well, the chairman condemned the Koreans for attacking our ships, but fell far short of telling their ally to back down. In other words, they’re not sure either.”
“What can I do to help you out?”
“Niles, you’re the smartest man I’ve ever known. The people you’ve collected in that desert hamlet of yours are truly amazing. I need your brains. I need you here to help me get us out of this growing nightmare.” The president slid a folder across the table to Niles and then looked away.
Niles read the report and then looked at the president.
“Both were assassinated today, only minutes apart.”
“God, this can’t be just a coincidence.”
“The goddamn world’s falling apart just like it’s being orchestrated. It makes you think the North Koreans may be onto something.”
Niles closed the folder that held the CIA report. “Pinpricks against the body,” he said quietly.
“What was that?”
“Enough pinpricks will bleed a body, no matter how strong and powerful, until it’s too weak to function.”
The president did not have to ask any more. He knew that Niles was the man to turn to.
“Who do you have working on the murder of your people?”
“Colonel Jack Collins, the Group’s security director.”
The president looked at his longtime friend. “Collins is with you? I know Jack; I thought Congres
s and the Joint Chiefs crucified him a few years back for talking to Congress about the screw-up in Afghanistan?”
“They did. I got what was left. And he’s still a better soldier than you ever were.”
“What in the hell do you know about soldiering, you bookworm?” he shot back. “You’re right about Collins, though.” The president thought for a moment. “Dammit, Niles, I need you and your best people on this thing.”
Niles stood and patted his old friend on the shoulder.
“I want my budget request fulfilled, Mr. President.”
“You’re a blackmailing little bastard!”
Niles patted his shoulder even harder.
“I ordered my people on it before I left Nevada. Still one step behind me on the uptake, aren’t you, Jim?”
Both men grew silent as the vision of the burning Theodore Roosevelt entered their minds at the same time. Niles knew that the president was angry and wanted to hit back at someone. He just wanted to make sure that the anger was directed at the right someone.
7
GOSSMANN METAL WERK BUILDING
OSLO, NORWAY
Coalitionist Zoenfeller, representing Austria, and the members from India, Canada, and Poland, along with main council, sat in the main conference room of the factory. Caretaker was on the main monitor from a location other than Oslo.
The richly appointed area was semidark, which was close in color to the mood of the four men and one woman gathered there. In front of each of them sat open file folders that had been forward to them from the Coalition’s new headquarters in Chicago. The information contained in the folders was an insult. It bordered on treason and had been done so brazenly that the gathered members actually feared for their lives for the first time since the thinly veiled coup had started.
William Tomlinson was declaring war on the world almost three full years ahead of the schedule set by the whole of the Coalition members five years earlier.
“Caretaker, we have the grounds to remove Mr. Tomlinson from the council and expunge him from the Coalition, do we not?”
The elderly man cleared his throat and looked uncomfortable on the monitor.
“You have the right of law on your side as set down by Juliai writ. However, you gentlemen and lady,” Caretaker nodded in deference to the Indian representative, “I’m afraid you will not have the votes. Many of your colleagues have joined the young American in his actions. I have learned they are very close to finding one or even all of the Atlantean Keys.”
Zoenfeller could not help but notice that Caretaker kept saying you and not us or we.
The old man picked an eight-by-ten photo from the file in front of him showing the aftermath of the Korean air attack on the American task force and slapped it with his fingers. “This is madness! The loss of life on those two American warships was horrendous! He is weakening someone the Coalition needs to maintain continuity in the world until we consolidate.”
Knuckles rapped on the table in agreement.
“It’s not I you have to convince. I would recommend, secretly of course, that you contact the members of the Coalition who are teetering on the fence. Get them to commit to a more subtle approach. For now I must take my leave.” Caretaker reached to turn off his laptop camera.
“Where are you going? We have other matters to discuss,” Zoenfeller said angrily.
“Until you do receive the needed support of the rest of the Coalition, I am obligated to advise only the ruling body of the council. Thus far, with all due respect of course, you are not it. I am sorry.”
With that quick apology, the image of the Caretaker of Coalition law vanished. The four members looked at the table in stunned silence.
Without preamble, a six-sided monitor slid up in the middle of the conference table. The test signal was a sharp and clear picture of a golden eagle on a red background. It soon vanished and the concerned face of Tomlinson appeared on the screen.
“Good morning.” He looked at his watch. “Awful late to have a meeting the rest of us weren’t informed of, isn’t it?”
“You have done a grievous injustice to our plans. You have moved on the leadership of Germany and Japan, who are now stunned and running scared,” Zoenfeller said as he stood and leaned over the table, making sure that his face was framed in the camera lens on top of the monitor.
“They are not running anywhere. Germany’s replacement, a Coalition designee, is already in place. He has already issued a statement saying all is well, assuring the German people that the terrorist element he is holding responsible for the assassination will face swift German justice. Japan in the meanwhile has but one choice in this matter and can only turn to our candidate in the next few days. By Japanese law, they can do nothing else.”
“You’re going to bring the entire free world down around our heads!”
“You’re worried about the attack on the American task force? Well, even that has its benefits. While it weakened the NATO response in Korea, it has also guaranteed Kim Jong Il’s destruction sooner, rather than later.”
“And how is that—by giving them the military courage to cross the border?”
“Exactly. The American theater commander, once the Second Infantry Division and its South Korean allies are overrun, will have no choice but to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons to stop them. As for Russia and China, they will soon cease to be of concern, as their countries lie in ruins, smashed beyond all ability to govern their own populations. There will be no assistance rendered to North Korea by her allies.”
Zoenfeller sat back heavily in his chair, amazed at the calm demeanor Tomlinson was showing.
“After that, the assassinations will continue in later weeks until we have all of our people in place in the capitals of the West, and then our two-thousand-year-old charter will be fulfilled. We will have done what every Coalition Council has failed to do since the time of Julius Caesar. It gives me chills to think it was our Council that did this great feat.”
The elder members looked horrified but remained silent.
“When the great Julius Caesar threw off the shackles imposed on him by the weaker members of our Ancient family, he couldn’t have the foresight to believe the power his children would someday wield. His murderers, in their vain attempt to stop his desire for one rule for all the people, have finally led us to this momentous occasion.”
Zoenfeller tried one final effort to bring the lion of the Coalition to the table of reason.
“Surely we can wait until the Atlantean Key is recovered. If we continue to accelerate beyond planning, things could spiral out of control and these great dreams of finally gaining all that was lost by our ancestors fifteen thousand years ago will be lost, possibly forever.”
Tomlinson smiled and then looked into the camera. He now had Zoenfeller and the others right where he wanted them, and he would use the old man’s fears and words to silence his voice in the Coalition forever.
“The recovery of the plate map is happening as we speak. The Atlantean Key will be found in no more than a week, and then our greatest enemies will be bashed to pieces by the very earth they walk upon.”
“You have already been found out!” the old man said incredulously as he lost all control.
“You are referring to the supposed audiotape of the wave?” He laughed, and then he seemed to look into the monitor hard enough that the members thought he was staring directly into their souls. “The aerial platform will no longer be used. We will not need it. With the tone receptors already in place, we will strike at the world from a lair they would never, could never find—the very birthplace of the Wave itself.”
Tomlinson saw the look of utter surprise on their faces. Even a few of his junior members were stunned.
“That’s right. We have not only succeeded in finding part of the Ancients’ city intact, we have already started naval operations to use the sunken city to conduct operations against Russia and China, even the United States, from one and a half miles below the floor
of the Mediterranean.”
Zoenfeller slammed his aged hand against the polished tabletop. “No! We won’t allow it. If you destroy Russia and China, they will react. There are always survivors to a massacre and believe me they will want retribution. You have taken a carefully orchestrated plan and accelerated it until no one in the world will believe the Wave was a natural occurrence. We will stop you.”
William Tomlinson smiled and leaned back in his overly large chair.
“I understand your timidity. All four of you have the Coalition’s respect and gratitude for assisting us in planning the new order. I have tried to keep you informed out of respect, but we will not allow you to betray the new reich. From the time of Caesar, through the Crusades, Napoleon, and even Hitler, we have strived to bring a sense of justice and continuity to all people and eliminate those that curse the name of order, that Gaius Julius Caesar saw in the barbarians of the world. Now, at the very moment of triumph, you have failed our cause. Old friends, you are hereby expunged from the Juliai Coalition. Your services to the Ancients will be remembered with honor and respect. Good-bye.”
The monitor went dead. There was not even the image of a blank signal on in Tomlinson’s place. Every member present on both sides of the Atlantic knew what was about to happen. It did not take long.
There came a light knock on the door. Without waiting for permission to enter, a thin man dressed in an Armani suit stepped in. He looked around the meeting room and then half bowed and then closed the door.
“I am here to accept your last requests, which will be written out on the notepads in front of you,” he said with a thick Spanish accent.
Ancients: An Event Group Thriller Page 18