by Reed Sprague
“You’re too good, Dom Jr. You’re too good. What if I’m asked to go on Hancock’s show?”
“Then you will have to go. We don’t want him to feel alienated or shunned. He deserves a one–on–one interview with you. But I hope it doesn’t happen.”
“Why’s that?”
“Brighton will demand equal time. He’s a disaster. We can’t win by going on his show, and we’ll get a black eye if we refuse his request after accommodating Hancock. Let’s just hope it dies.”
CHAPTER TWENTY–TWO
The three members of the USFIA Governing Council were missing. There was no trace of them. Their immediate family members were also gone, as were their closet relatives outside of their immediate family. Those who ventured a guess believed that they chose to disappear, that they chose to become a part of Tyler Peterson’s group. They had given in, most said; they sold out. Many believed that they would resurface and issue a public statement supporting Peterson, but that was only speculation. No one knew for sure. Three of the most powerful people in the United States simply vanished. Sydney Albert was now the lone person in the world with the power and the guts to do something to stop Tyler Lee Peterson.
In addition to being the closest of friends, Speaker Perez and Senator Milton shared a common concern for their nation and for the welfare of the entire world. Both knew that Peterson had to be stopped, neither had the official power to do it, and neither knew anyone who did.
U.S. and U.N. laws were intertwined now and it was unclear as to which was to be followed. Perez and Milton decided to chuck all laws that were not in the best interest of the United States, and simply do what they believed needed to be done in order to save the world from Peterson and restore the U.S. to independent–nation status. They would conduct many secret meetings, planning ways to bring down Peterson. It was risky. U.S. government officials were required to yield to international laws, and everyone everywhere was expected to yield to Peterson.
As elected government officials in the U.S., Perez and Milton had been required to swear their allegiance to the mission of the WWCA and its leaders, policies and laws. They had to swear their allegiance or be forced to give up their positions. Their decision to remain in the congress and senate gave them a remote chance to topple Peterson. From the outside, though, that would not have been a possibility for them. So they did as all other political leaders and government employees in the U.S. did. They placed their left hand on the WWCA Decrees For Governance, raised their right hand and swore their allegiance. Neither had any intention of abiding by what they had sworn. Millions of other U.S. politicians and public employees also swore their allegiance, including police officers and school teachers—anyone at all that was considered in a vocation in service to the public.
Perez and Milton knew about River, and they were sure that what they knew was good. Congressman Perez’s congressional committee had investigated River, but they had concluded that River had been setup by Hernandez. It was not clear exactly why he did it.
While Perez knew Albert well, he still feared that their plans and proposals could not be shared with Albert. On the other hand, even a U.S. congressman and a U.S. senator could do nothing to mount a rebellion without money, an intelligence gathering apparatus, guns, and soldiers. Albert had plenty of money in the form of USFIA’s budget, he had the intelligence gathering capabilities of the USFIA, plenty of weapons, and an army of his agents who could serve as soldiers. If Perez and Milton could mount a successful rebellion, the U.S. president, now a hapless puppet, could be re–empowered and could lead the U.S. back to independence and freedom. If Perez and Milton’s rebellion failed, the president would not be held accountable for their actions. They would tell the president nothing of their plans.
Perez and Milton decided to roll the dice and meet with Albert and Warwick. They would not hold back. They agreed to submit their full ideas. They contacted Albert and set up the meeting.
“Sydney, it’s great to see you again. How are you?” Perez said, as he engaged in a hearty handshake with Albert.
“I’m well. It’s nice to see you, Mr. Speaker. What can I do for you?”
“I believe you know Senator Milton from New Jersey. The two of you met at the Conference on Intelligence and Homeland Protection in D.C.”
“Yes, Senator, I remember. How are you?”
“I’m doing fine. Listen, Sydney, I want to get right to the reason for this meeting. Congressman Perez and I have studied Peterson’s ascension to power and the U.S.’s ceding of power to him. We want to explore these recent developments with you. Mr. Warwick, you know of Peterson’s ascension better than anyone. I understand that you actually wrote a report calling for action to bring down Mr. Peterson.”
Senator Milton had not been as forthright as he had led Albert to believe he might be.
“Explore? In what way and for what reason?” Albert said, expressing outward reservation and a casual attitude to mask his inner delight and intense interest.
“We’re concerned,” Perez said. “We believe that the events of the past few years have not been in the best interest of the United States, and we’re concerned that the world has allowed itself to be fully controlled by one person.”
Just as Perez and Milton had risked a great deal to meet with Albert and Warwick to expose their concerns and prepare a plan of action, Albert and Warwick were at risk as well. They had an advantage that neither Perez nor Milton had. Albert ran the most powerful intelligence organization in the world, and Warwick was that organization’s most trusted agent. Within a few minutes of his agreement to meet, Albert knew more about the congressman and the senator than they knew about themselves. He found nothing, nothing at all — not even a hint — that they had any loyalty to Peterson.
While Albert was one of the most intelligent and powerful persons outside of Peterson’s inner circle, he was a man who paid close attention to his gut feelings. Albert’s gut told him to get on with it, to go with the Speaker and the senator.
March 2026. Peterson became less patient with each passing day. His once unquestioned rise to the pinnacle of absolute power was now under scrutiny, at least in his mind. Things seemed to be stalled. He could no longer manipulate, position, persuade or use any form of trickery to increase his power. It seemed that the world had handed over all it would cede to him. If Peterson wanted absolute power, and surely he did, he would have to take it. The time had come for him to make a final move. His disciples were in place, he controlled the world’s nuclear triggers, he could call out armies if needed—whatever it took. His master plan could wait no longer. He would move fast now.
Peterson had at first disallowed challenges to his power. Anyone, from anywhere in the world, who chose to criticize or even question him was to be considered an enemy of God. There were large numbers of critics now, though, so he could not expend the energy to stop all of them through arrests, harassment or censorship. He decided on a different approach. Critics would be allowed to shoot off their mouths. He could make his point more effectively by making it clear that he would take actions swiftly to destroy his real enemies, those who posed a real threat to his authority, while allowing less serious criticism of him or of the WWCA.
In other words, Peterson would tolerate his everyday critics. At least for awhile. Long enough to draw them out into the open so he could keep an eye on them. But eventually, in his own good time, Peterson would move with brute force against all of his critics. Whenever it was that he decided to move against them, he would move swiftly. Literally overnight he would gather up all his suspected enemies and send them off to take advantage of their new employment as scientific research assistants, counting grains of sand in the African desert.
The USFIA had to be brought under Peterson’s full control. Peterson knew of River’s work. He could tolerate it no longer. Peterson’s newly formed United Nations Officers Protection Force had been watching River and Eddy for quite some time. River was to be stopped, regardless of wha
t it took. River knew too much, he was too smart, and his work and words had been highly challenging to Peterson. Peterson also had a score to settle with River and al Qatari for the fact that the U.S. government acted unilaterally to destroy the terrorists’ camp in Medina. Such independent military action was Peterson’s to take and his alone, he believed. River and al Qatari would pay the price for their heroics. Peterson alone was to be the world’s hero.
Peterson needed to call on an old friend to help him out again, someone who was loyal and who also had a reason to want River hurt badly, someone Peterson could use and then toss aside for awhile, until he needed him again. Peterson’s chief of staff, Dante Hall, contacted Frederic Hernandez and went to work on him once again. They met in Hall’s office.
“Fred, please come in. Sit down, sit down.” Hall said, inviting Hernandez into the chambers of his lush office.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Hall. What can I do for you,” a dutiful and grateful Hernandez replied.
“We’ve all been watching you and keeping track of your many accomplishments at the FBI, and, of course, what you have done for us. We are prepared to encourage you to advance up the ladder several rungs at once. Have you heard of the newly–formed United Nations Officer’s Protection Force?”
“Yes, yes I have. But I don’t understand. Only the most elite, well–known and dedicated agents are chosen for service in the Force.”
“Your record is good, and you have been selected. I’ll show you the office you will have if all of this works out for you.”
Hall showed Hernandez an office that would have satisfied the ego of any Fortune 500 corporate CEO. It spoke loud of prestige and power and respect—all things Hernandez believed he deserved but had been unable to attain. It was all before him on a silver platter.
“Tell me more,” Hernandez said, as the two of them sat down in the new office’s guest chairs. After several hours of negotiations, Hernandez was sold. He really had no choice. He was already too far in with Peterson to reject an offer from him.
Things would move quickly, he was told. He would begin his new job right away. He would have top secret clearance and would answer directly to Hall. By the time Hall was through with Hernandez, his ego was so bloated that he was puffed up like a narcissist on supersteroids. He strutted from office to office, almost floating in his newly created fantasy world. He couldn’t imagine that the world owed him any less than this new position. It hadn’t taken long for him to embrace his new sense of entitlement. “How had it taken so long for the world to notice?” he wondered. Now that it had noticed, Hernandez was basking in the notoriety.
Hall wasted no time getting down to business. Hernandez would be told that there was an opportunity to hurt River, deeply, and that Hernandez should head it up as his patriotic service to the new world government.
Hall’s first meeting with Hernandez began in Hall’s office on the second day of Hernandez’s work in his new job. “We have a person who believes he is above the law, a person who believes that he is above Mr. Peterson. Your job is to dissuade him from any further action against us. Do you understand?” Hall explained.
“Define dissuade,” Hernandez replied.
“No, Mr. Hernandez. That’s not how this works. You define dissuade. Then you go out and dissuade. Do you understand?”
“What are the rules? The boundaries? The restraints?”
“No, no, Mr. Hernandez; you’re missing the point entirely. This will not be like your previous work for us. You define things now. We don’t want to know. The only rule that matters is the rule that says that those who are uncooperative with Mr. Peterson’s government must be stopped. You’re only out of bounds if you don’t do enough to stop the challenges to Mr. Peterson.”
“And the restraints?”
“There are none. We don’t want restraints. There are to be no restrictions placed on your creative thinking.
“Oh, and there is one other thing. You do what you do and you don’t report it to anyone. Keep your mouth shut. I don’t want to know and I don’t want anyone else to know. We can’t know details. Just get your stuff taken care of. You will be judged on whether or not threats have been eliminated. That’s it. That’s the bottom line. We have no interest in judging you on the procedures you choose to use to accomplish your tasks. Your rewards will be great, Mr. Hernandez. Your punishment for failure will be severe. So don’t fail.
“I’m ready.”
“Your first case will be a tough one. You can’t fail and you can’t even slip up. Do you understand? We are throwing you right into the fire.
“River Warwick,” Hall said simply.
“Yes,” Hernandez replied.
“He must be stopped,” Hall said. “He has demonstrated disdain for Mr. Peterson’s authority. We have to make sure that he fully understands that he must stop his work at USFIA and that he must change his ways. Here’s the deal. We can’t have him harmed directly. It would be too obvious. Besides that, he is surrounded by USFIA security. We’ll be caught and then exposed if we go after him directly. We don’t have full control of USFIA yet, although we expect to have that control eventually. USFIA is the last holdout of independent authority in the U.S. government. We need to send them a message that any disloyalty on the part of their personnel will result in unpleasant consequences. Warwick’s too popular for us to go directly after him like bulls in a china shop. Any action against him personally would expose us. Too many people are around him who would realize what we’re doing and expose us.”
“I thought I was on my own with regard to the details,” Hernandez said.
“You’re on your own when I say you’re on your own. If I happen to change the rules, Mr. Hernandez — and you may find that I do that quite often — you will be flexible.
“Now, I’m going to give you some options, ways you might want to get at Mr. Warwick, to send him a message loud and clear. You will not be given this many options for future missions. I’m helping you to think creatively because this is your first assignment in your new position. After this, you’ll have to come up with your own options.”
“Okay. Go ahead.”
“After I’m done giving you these options, you’re on your own and you must succeed in sending the message without any trace back to us. They must get the message without getting it. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“Warwick has a wife and twin children. We don’t give a damn about any of the three of them, but just remember that we don’t want public outrage. Whatever happens has to send one message to the USFIA and another to the general public. The public has to believe that a horrible crime occurred, and that we are in full control, and in fact we will prove to be the heroes.
“At the same time the public is eating that crap and believing every word of it, USFIA has to be sent the message that, while there is no chance that they can prove that we’re involved, they still understand that the unfortunate event was a result of the actions of their personnel. Nothing means as much to Warwick as his family. Nothing.
“Oh, and one more thing. You may want to save one or more of the three of them for insurance purposes. Sort of an unwritten agreement between us and Mr. Warwick that if he behaves, he might get to see the survivors again.
“You need to get to work now. Have a nice day.”
Things had become much more complicated for River and Eddy. Now the top agent for the USFIA, River was no longer foolishly youthful. He was a highly skilled professional. He was good at his job, and he still believed in the ideals of his country and in the ideals learned in the USFIA academy. The USFIA was the only remaining source of power, integrity and independence in the entire U.S. governmental structure and, for that matter, in the entire world. River had to be careful. He was not allowed to shine too brightly. He and Albert knew full well that Peterson would work to dismantle the USFIA. The USFIA was Peterson’s only remaining obstacle to absolute world dominance. Peterson was coming after them. They could hear Peterson and his ar
my marching deliberately towards them without even placing their ears to the ground. Perhaps their own Governing Council members were marching with Peterson towards them.
River loved Eddy more than ever. They had given up nearly everything in hopes of bringing Eddy’s dream for Emily’s Angels to fruition. And, they had sacrificed a great deal for River’s career. In spite of the world’s chaos, they were satisfied that they were doing as they should to ease the suffering of others. Their lives seemed full. Something was about to go wrong, though. It was about to go terribly wrong. It happened fast, and it shattered River’s world.
12 April 2026. River and Eddy were in San Antonio for a few days of rest. River was tired and was enjoying one of his famous naps back at the hotel while Eddy took the kids for a walk. Eddy was relaxing along the Riverwalk with the twins, enjoying a lunch with them under a shade tree, down near the edge of the water. She was worried, but no more so than at any other time. Would she be abducted? What if something happened to River? What if someone did something to harm the twins? Who is this madman, Peterson, who’s running things now? Is he as dangerous as he seems? Will he demonstrate restraint now that he has so much power?
Eddy quietly sipped her water, ate her sandwich, and wondered. She fell into a deep sleep, something she seldom did in the middle of the day. The twins were secure in their stroller, locked in by the safety straps. The wheels of the stroller were locked in place. The twins were napping.
As soon as Hernandez and his agents were certain that their spiked water rendered Eddy unconscious, they moved in. They calmly highjacked the stroller with the twins in their places. The agents disappeared from the stream, out onto the streets, loaded the twins into a waiting van and casually drove away. Eddy awakened thirty minutes later, looked around, and screamed in horror.