The 13: Fall

by ROBBIE CHEUVRONT

  Agent Brian Greene checked with the other agents on-site, one last time, as the motorcade arrived at the Capitol. All four zones reported all clear. That still didn’t make him feel any better. Of course, an impromptu speech like this did work to their advantage on some levels. With little to no planning, it gave potential threats little time to plan themselves. Statistically, the risk should actually be lower. But his job wasn’t to play the odds. It was to do everything in his power to make sure the man whose life he was to protect at all costs stayed alive.

  He waited for the agents in the lead and rear cars to step out and do a perimeter sweep. Once they gave the all clear, he opened the door to his vehicle and got out. Looking around for double precaution, he opened the back door and motioned for the president to come out. It was only a short walk to the inside of the building. And once they were inside, the first part of the unknown would be behind them. He motioned for his men to flank the president on all sides, and then he gave the go.

  Keene and Boz arrived at the Capitol building ten minutes before the scheduled arrival of the president. When they got there, Taylor was already waiting for them. She handed Keene a picture and then gave one to Boz.

  “Here’s our guy!” she said excitedly. “Quinn Harrington, thirty-four years old. Unmarried, no kids. Graduate of University of Texas and then on to seminary. He has a master’s degree in theology.”

  Keene took the photo and studied it. It was definitely the guy. He knew, just by the eyes. “Good job, Taylor. How’d you—you know what? Never mind. Doesn’t matter. We need to get this to all the agents.”

  “Already done. I handed out hard copies and also made it available for download. Every agent and DC police officer has this on his Metro Link right now,” she said, referring to the recently developed smart phone required by all government agents and local law enforcement. Then, “You don’t think this guy is really gonna show up, do you?”

  Keene thought about that for a second. Honestly, he had no idea. He didn’t know what to think. They had been looking for this guy for almost a week now and nothing. Not even a crumb. But there was still the fact that the guy left that note in the warehouse, telling them that it wasn’t time yet for them to find him. So what did that mean? That eventually they’d get lucky? That all of a sudden he would just decide to come in peacefully? No, Keene couldn’t take that chance. This was the perfect place and time to pull something, if someone was so inclined. And his radar was screaming inside him right now. He started to say something when a young, attractive blond woman brushed past him, her head down, looking at her phone.

  “Oh, excuse me,” she said. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

  “Sure,” Keene said as he watched her continue on. “My fault,” he tried to call after her, but she was already gone.

  “Really?” Taylor said.

  “What?” He laughed. “I’m not allowed to talk to a pretty woman?”

  Taylor remained unmoved.

  “Right.” Keene cleared his throat. “I don’t know if he’s gonna be here or not. But something doesn’t feel good. We need to be on our toes.”

  “Agreed,” Boz said. “Doesn’t sit well with me either.”

  Keene couldn’t believe it. Did Boz actually just take his side on something? “Weren’t you the one who said you thought it was a good idea for the president to do this?”

  Boz pursed his lips. “Yeah. I was. And I still think he needs to. But I’m with you. I’m not sure it has anything to do with our Prophet, but I’ve just got a bad feeling about this.”

  “All right,” Keene said, trying to think. “Here’s what I want us to do. Taylor, you go meet up with outside perimeter detail. Make sure they all have the picture. Boz, you take the outside by the steps. I’ll hang back here and wait for President Grant’s arrival. Once he’s on-site, we’ll decide where to station ourselves. Everyone got a comm?”

  Both Boz and Taylor nodded in the affirmative.

  “Good. Put them in and let’s check in with the detail.”

  All three put their earwigs in and clipped their wrist mics on just in time to hear the head of the advance team speak.

  “POTUS has arrived. Heads up, everyone. We’ll move to the building in five, four, three, two …”

  CHAPTER 43

  Men were so easy, Alex thought. And this guy was supposed to be one of the best? Seriously! He didn’t even bat an eye. Well, that wasn’t true. He did. But not at the fact that she picked his phone and ejected the magazine out of his weapon. Typical guy, she thought, carried it right there on his hip. She had pocketed both items before they had even separated. And he was too busy trying to get her attention as she ignored him and walked on by. Ever since Joseph had introduced her to this new life, she had always been thankful she was an attractive woman. It just always came in so handy when she was doing a job.

  Weaving her way in and out of people, she slipped off to the hallway. She needed to get an idea of the space she was going to be confronted with. As she approached, a guy about her age stood sentry over the doorway. He held his hand up to stop her.

  “Sorry, ma’am, this corridor is closed for the evening.”

  She smiled and pulled out her false ID. “Brenda Jones, DHS. Agent …?”

  Cole, ma’am.

  This part was a gamble. One of two things was about to happen. Either this guy was going to shrug it off and let her through or he was going to call her in and clear her ID. She hoped, for his sake, it wouldn’t be the latter. Either way, she was going down this hallway. She looked behind them just to make sure they were out of sight and earshot of everyone else in the building.

  “Nice to meet you, Agent Cole,” she said putting away her badge. “I’m here on behalf of the director. I know you guys have been scrambling all day to get this done. Just helping out. I’m just doing a walk-through of the evac route. Director Levy wants to make sure you all have everything you need.”

  The agent nodded to her and said, “Yes, ma’am. We were told the director would have a few people on-site. Have a good evening, ma’am.”

  She moved past the agent and started down the hall. She had gone about halfway when the agent called to her, “Ms. Jones!”

  She turned hesitantly, placing her hand behind her back and resting it on her weapon.

  “Yes?” she called back.

  “The president is on-site. He’ll be entering the building momentarily. Just wanted to let you know.”

  “Thank you, Agent Cole. I’ll finish walking through and then be right out.”

  The agent nodded to her and turned back around to face his post.

  Keene greeted Agent Greene and the others as they ushered the president into the rotunda. There were some guys there he knew. Many of the Special Ops guys would move on to security detail. And though many of them went into private security because of the money, there were a lot who became Secret Service.

  “Good to have you here,” President Grant said.

  “Glad to be here, sir,” Keene said. “Mr. President, you sure you want to do this?”

  President Grant looked at him with sadness in his eyes. “Have you seen the news this evening?”

  “Been kind of busy, sir.”

  The president nodded. “The country is in turmoil, Mr. Keene. No one is sure what’s going to happen, including me. I cannot go out there and tell them that everything is going to miraculously change. But I can go out there and tell them what I believe. And right now, this country needs that.”

  Keene didn’t bother to say any more. He knew there was no persuading the man to not do this.

  “Okay, then. Agent Greene, my other two operatives are outside with your detail. We’re going to be walking around just checking faces. That okay with you?”

  “Sure,” Greene said. “You’re all on the comm, so if you see anything, or if we see anything, we can communicate, and we’ll move after that—”

  “There won’t be anything to see,” President Grant interrupted. “He
won’t be here.”

  Keene felt the air go out of him. “How do you know that, Mr. President? Has he contacted you again?”

  President Grant looked at him somberly and said, “I just know.”

  “Mr. President,” Greene spoke up, “if there’s something you’re not telling us, we need to put the brakes on this thing right now.”

  “It’s fine, Brian,” President Grant said. “We will move forward, as planned.”

  Keene watched as the president gave Agent Greene the nod. That was it. This speech was happening. No turning back now.

  “Keene,” Greene said, grabbing him by the arm, “I want you to stay close.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” Keene said. “Let’s go.”

  CHAPTER 44

  Several thousand people had gathered in front of the steps of the Capitol. It might have looked like an inauguration, save the grim looks. A podium had been constructed, giving the president a place to speak from. A wire fence had been set up twenty yards away, to keep the mass of people back from the steps. And Secret Service agents surrounded the stage, forming a wall between the people and their leader.

  President Grant stepped outside and looked out over the crowd. News cameras lined the fence in front of him. The speech would be on all the major networks, and many of the cable channels as well, he had been told. That was good. He walked up to the lectern and raised his hands to quiet the crowd.

  “My fellow Americans, today has been a strenuous day on our country. First, I would like to send my condolences to the Forester family. Our thoughts and prayers are with you tonight as you mourn the loss of your loved one.

  “Now, I would like to talk to you all about this stock market crisis. I have been on the phone all day with leaders from around the Wall Street community. And I would love nothing more than to tell you that this is just a hiccup and everything is going to be fine. Unfortunately, at this time, I cannot do that.”

  The crowds began to erupt in groaning and shouting. This was expected though. You couldn’t just tell people worse news on top of bad news and think it would be received well. He waited a second before quieting them again.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, please.” He waited for them to give him their attention again. “But what I can tell you is this. Our country has always persevered through hard times. I know that many businesses and investors are panicking right now. And there’s good reason to. There is no guarantee that this will be an overnight fix. But we can get through it. And I would like to tell you how, I believe, we need to respond.

  “In order to do that, though, I need to tell you about something that has been happening over the last several months …”

  Keene listened intently as the president continued with his speech. He was really going to do it. He was going to tell the people about this whack job. And the people were listening as if he were reading them a bedtime story.

  “Greene,” he whispered into his wrist mic.

  “Go for Greene.”

  “This is Keene. You see anything?”

  “Nothing yet. What is he doing? I thought he was going to talk about the market crash.”

  Keene pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yeah.”

  There was a crack over the earwig. “Hey, this is Taylor. I’ve been back and forth all over this perimeter and got nothing.”

  “He’s not here.” It was Boz.

  Keene still wasn’t sure yet, but he was starting to share his colleagues’ opinion. “Just keep your eyes open. We don’t know that.”

  “… and so earlier this week, I received another message from this man.”

  President Grant stopped for a moment and took a deep breath. Here it was.

  “Up until this last message, I had ignored the man’s warnings. The reason for this is because there was no tangible threat. You must understand that the White House receives hundreds of threatening letters a week. However, I still have a duty, as president, to protect this nation. So I want to inform you that I have invoked the article of the Intelligence Enforcement Act that places all of the authority of the Department of Homeland Security back in the hands of the presidency.”

  This came with another eruption of the people. It was plainly understood that if this was to ever happen, it would signify that there was believed to be an immediate and impending threat against the country.

  “Please. Please! Ladies and gentlemen.”

  It took several seconds for the people to become calm again.

  “I want to assure you. We have no knowledge of an impending threat against this nation. However, and please let me continue when I say this, I do believe we are in a dangerous place.”

  He waited for the interruption he was sure was coming, but strangely, there was none. Everyone stood quietly, waiting for what was coming next.

  “You see, what I haven’t told you yet, are the details of this man’s warnings. I would like to do that.

  “I have made no attempts to hide my beliefs when it comes to God and my relationship with Him. And so I will not apologize for what I’m about to say. Ladies and gentlemen, we have become a godless nation. For too long we have done everything in our power to remove God from every aspect of our lives. And we forget this country was founded upon basic Christian principles. We have become a nation of man’s laws, not God’s. And in an effort to not offend someone who doesn’t share many of our personal beliefs, we have trampled on the very foundation that our forefathers bled and died to establish.

  “I cannot tell you what is going to happen to this country. I cannot stand here and assure you that the stock market is going to bounce back over the next week. We may very well be headed for another disaster like the Great Depression of the twentieth century. But I can promise you this. I believe that God is doing something among us right now….”

  “… So I want to inform you that I have invoked the article of the Intelligence Enforcement Act that places all of the authority of the Department of Homeland Security …”

  Okay, Alex thought. She’d heard enough. It was time to get this show on the road. She had been watching the speech from her phone. And she had been down here since she had encountered the agent upstairs. She fully expected that he would be coming to find her in a matter of moments if she didn’t come back up. But that wasn’t going to happen.

  Instead, she picked the lock on the small closet and opened the door before going back up the small flight of stairs and turning the corner. The agent was at the end of the hall, still maintaining his post.

  “Agent Cole,” she called.

  The young agent turned to see her.

  “Come here. Quickly! I think I’ve found something.”

  The man didn’t even pause. He took off at a jog, headed toward her.

  “Down here,” she said, opening the closet door. “I found something in here you should probably take a look at.”

  The agent stepped past her and stuck his head inside the closet.

  “What? I don’t see any—”

  She had already pulled the silenced pistol out from underneath her jacket. As Agent Cole stuck his head inside the dark room to see what she had called him there for, she pulled the trigger twice. The gun made a quiet Phst, Phst. Agent Cole slumped forward into the closet.

  She stepped inside and turned on the switch. A single bulb hung above her, barely illuminating the six-by-nine room. There was a mop bucket over in the corner, so she dragged the body over to it and placed his head inside. Didn’t need any blood seeping out from under the door.

  Next she pulled out the cell phone again and opened the browser window. This time, instead of returning to the speech, she logged on to a secure network. Her network. She typed in the commands and clicked back off. In just a few seconds, the server would place a call. And that call would then be routed, then rerouted again, through four different satellites, towers, and cell phone carriers. Then it would connect, and then …

  CHAPTER 45

  “… But I can promise
you this. I believe that God is doing something among us right now …”

  President Grant had no sooner gotten the words out when he felt the need to stop for a moment. He didn’t know why. It wasn’t that he was at a loss for words. He knew exactly what he wanted to say. But something gave him pause. It made him step back for a moment and think. It was as if he were all of a sudden suspended in time. He could see the people around him, looking at him, and he could see the agents and Jon Keene standing next to him, but it was almost like he was outside of his body looking around. Everything and everyone was moving in complete slow motion. He felt a gentle breeze move across the stage where he stood, and it was warm and comforting. And then from somewhere deep inside, he heard a voice. The voice was gentle and soft but authoritative at the same time. He felt a tear form in his eyes. He had heard this voice before. It was familiar to him, though he hadn’t heard it for a while now. He closed his eyes and listened.

  Keene immediately knew something wasn’t right. He turned to Agent Greene who, by the look on his face, felt the same way. They locked eyes. There was a slight panic in Agent Greene’s face. Keene was some twenty yards away, so he lifted his wrist mic to his lips.

  “Greene, what’s going on?”

  “I’m not sure,” came the reply as he watched the agent move in close to the president.

  “You need to get him out of here now!”

  “Affirmative.”

  Keene quickly covered the short distance between himself and the president and heard Agent Greene talking.

  “Mr. President, are you okay? Sir, we should go.”