by Dan Kelly
Struggling to get his laughter under control, he finally succeeds and fills his brother in on what has happened over the past four days. By the time he was finished, Hank had quieted down and asked Ernie to put Joel back on the line. “You know, Jergensen, sometimes you can be a real smartass.” With an evil chuckle he added, “You better keep a sharp lookout over your shoulder because I’m a firm believer in that old adage, ‘Revenge is sweet.’ Now, back to real life. Since we’ve been out of touch, there have been some developments, some bad and some good.
“People have begun rioting in cities all over the country. Hundreds and in some cases thousands of very irate victims of the pandemic crisis plaguing our nation are storming the city halls and utility companies demanding that they do something to resolve the mess we’re in. This latest deterioration in the public’s patience and confidence in the government’s ability to find and eradicate the cause of the bedlam that has beset our country was brought about by a nation-wide email blitz from an entity claiming to be the perpetrator of everything that has been happening.
“This entity calls itself The Last Resort. The message was short and to the point. I’ll read it to you. ‘The American dream is dying. We have the cure. Everything we have been doing is to demonstrate that we have the intelligence, the power, the means and the commitment to change the course of destruction our nation is on. We will permanently eradicate the corruption, the selfish, self-serving interests that pervade every walk of American life. We will restore the freedoms and dreams that have been buried by a bureaucracy that only cares about its own welfare. When the time comes for you to make a choice, and that time is fast approaching, put your trust in us to give America back to you.’ It’s signed The Last Resort. Surprisingly, so far there has been an amazingly small amount of vandalism and looting, but tempers are rising into the stratosphere.”
“So what’s the good news, although after what you just told me I doubt your answer will put much of a dent in the dread I’m feeling right now?”
“The good news is that Ashok’s counter measures have finally been implemented and they are beginning to take effect. Power is beginning to be restored all over the country and communications although spotty in some areas, are coming back on line. The Air Force has come through big time by spotting and destroying a lot of the drones being used to disrupt communications. I’ve been told they are constructed to look like birds. A few attempts have been made to net them in flight as well as after they have landed, but they have self-detonated before they could be captured. Apparently, these things are very sophisticated.
“Ashok hasn’t yet been able to come up with a means of neutralizing the force fields these drones emit. Hopefully, the Air Force can destroy enough of them to discourage their continued use. Ashok reiterated his warning, however, that we shouldn’t become too satisfied with these developments because the people we are dealing with are extremely intelligent and clever. He believes that it won’t be long before they come up with countermeasures of their own.”
Joel relayed Ernie’s suggestion regarding the use of propaganda and the reasoning behind it. “I like it. The old fart still has it.”
“I heard that.”
“You were supposed to.”
“Okay, Hank, what can you do to get us back in the air?”
“Hold on.”
While Joel was holding on, he passed on Hank’s news to the rest of the group. Collette said, “The Last Resort is the name Ron Baltzinger said the people he was telling me about called themselves. Hmm, there’s no way that could be a coincidence.”
In Hank’s inimitable fashion, it took him less than five minutes to locate a construction company that had a helicopter that was capable of airlifting his plane to a nearby private airfield owned by a local flying club, the Flying Fools, that could refuel it and get them airborne. The airfield was about 25 miles from Morrisville and the guy in their office said that there were signs everywhere directing folks to their location.
Ernie dropped them off at a car rental agency and after they all thanked him profusely for his hospitality and help, he headed back to the farm and they went inside to rent a car. Collette mumbled, “Now I know what a sardine feels like. Being one of five people stuffed into a cab of a pickup for over an hour is not going to be one of my fondest moments.”
Barbara quipped, “Well, it was better than becoming human ice cubes clunking around in the back of the truck. It’s got to be in the twenties out here. The only cold I like is a cold beer on a hot summer day.”
When they walked through the door, they were relieved to see lights on, computers working and hear phones ringing. Barbara noted, “I don’t like to be a spoilsport, but I can’t help wondering how long this is going to last.”
Joel responded with, “Well, as Gramps used to say, ‘Wondering and worrying are a waste of energy. Get off your butt and do something.’ Let’s get back in the fray.”
Chapter 21
-Chicago-
Two days later at eight in the morning the four of them are back in Chicago sitting in the conference room with the rest of the group waiting for Hank to join them. No one’s talking as they’re too involved with their own thoughts about where they are in the process of finding out who is responsible for the attacks on America’s way of life and apprehending them.
When Hank enters the room there’s a shuffling of feet and papers, but nary a word is uttered until Hank says, “It’s like a mausoleum in here. Why the doom and gloom? Did someone close to us die and I don’t know about it?”
Sal Peralta spoke up with, “Sorry, boss. I think we’re all frustrated over the fact that despite all of our hard work we don’t seem to be making much headway in identifying and nailing the maniacs behind our nation’s latest nightmare.”
Nodding his head solemnly in understanding, his face suddenly lit up with a smile as he announced, “Well, take heart everybody. The reason I’ve called this meeting is because our four musketeers here”, pointing to Joel, Barbara, Collette and Tania, “have changed the complexion of our mission significantly. Listen up.”
Forty-five minutes later everybody was brought up to date and talking at once about what their next step should be. The frustration had evaporated. Looking at Barbara Hank said, “I just got some interesting feedback from my contact at the NTSB. When they checked out the ID info and tail number of the plane you gave them, they discovered that the two men killed in that plane crash worked for Robert Feldman and the plane is owned by him. That’s a coincidence I just can’t buy. They must have been following you. Somehow you and Joel aroused Halkias’s suspicions and he put Feldman on your tails.”
Turning to Joel Barbara said, “Halkias must have recognized us from the restaurant and didn’t like the coincidence when he spotted us in the lobby of his office building. He probably checked out who we were there to see and didn’t like what he heard from Ted Cavanaugh. Rotten luck sure does stink up the joint, doesn’t it?”
After a moment’s thought Joel responded with, “There’s a decent chance that no harm has been done. I’ve used Clear Sky Enterprises as a cover before and I’m shown as the founder and CEO. It actually exists, if only on paper. For all of his curiosity, Halkias may have nothing to show for it but some lingering doubt. Only time will tell.”
Hank cautioned them all with, “Don’t underestimate any of these people we’ve selected to put under our microscope. From what we’ve learned about five of these men so far, they are definitely no body’s fools and aren’t about to associate with anyone who is. Be careful with everything you do to learn about them. I’m beginning to pick up vibes that not only are they not anyone’s fools they also are so determined to accomplish their mission that they will resort to any means they deem appropriate to remove any obstacle in their path, human or otherwise. In other words, they should be considered very dangerous.
“Okay, while we’re waiting to see what the tails we’ve placed produce let’s move forward on some other fronts. While our
four musketeers here were enjoying the hospitality of my brother and his wife and the rest of us were slaving away trying to slay the dragon that threatens our shores, my brother Ernie came up with a suggestion that I think has a decent chance of working.
“In a nutshell, Ernie thinks it’s about time we went on the offensive and did something to shake up the confidence of our adversaries. The implementation of Ashok’s countermeasures must already be messing with their minds and giving the enemy, to use Ernie’s expression, ‘cause for pause’. He thinks this may buy us some time. Something else that he feels will give the enemy cause for pause is the use of propaganda. He suggests that by whatever means available, no matter how intermittent, we should start making public announcements that the authorities are zeroing in on who is behind all of the mayhem that has been occurring lately. We could even drop a few of the names we’ve come up with as ‘people of interest’. Ernie also believes that this also has the potential to cause our nefarious antagonists to panic a little and start to make mistakes. So, what do you folks think about this idea?”
Everyone in the room endorsed the idea and all began to speak at once with their input on how to go about it. Sal Peralta stood up and with several up and down waves of his hands got everyone to quiet down. “I’m sure in all that racket there were some excellent ideas being propounded, but no one could hear them. Since I currently have the floor, let’s start with me and move clockwise around the table to give everyone a chance to have their ideas heard.”
All nodded their heads in agreement and Sal continued with, “In my journalism days, I learned that nothing beats a media blitz when it comes to getting a message out quickly to a wide audience, however, you’ve got to get the media to go along with you. If the private sector wants to launch a media blitz, the first prerequisite is to have the financial means to do so and secondly the media has to have the time and space available to meet their requirements. If it’s the public or government sector striving to launch a blitz, different resources are needed, namely, people who have power and influence and are adept at using these attributes to persuade others to do their bidding. Hank, I think the President of the United States would be the ideal resource for our launching a propaganda campaign. We could write the script here, submit it for his approval and then turn him loose on the media execs. With what’s going on in our country right now, I can’t imagine any media exec turning down a request from the President to assist us in this endeavor.”
“I agree and the sooner we get to it the better as far as I’m concerned. I don’t like being a counterpuncher. It goes against my grain.”
Kirk Dodson jumped in with, “Now hold on a minute. There’s a good possibility that these people will react the opposite way from the way you want them to go. If they panic because they feel that a net is closing around them, they might very well accelerate their time table instead of having second thoughts about what they’re doing. Whatever’s left in their hopper to foist upon us might be devastating enough to make whatever attempts are made to ensnare them pointless.”
Perry Jacobs joined in with, “Your assessment might be dead on, Kirk, but what have we got to lose by taking the initiative and trying to put doubt in their minds of them pulling off what they’ve set out to do? If we sit back and do nothing but wait for our tails to come up with something we can use against these bastards, they’ll proceed on their current time table and finish what they started anyway. I agree with Hank, these people are fast approaching their finish line. If we want to have any chance of turning the tide we’ve got to do something now.”
Barbara chimed in with, “I agree with Perry. We have very little to gain by waiting and a lot to lose by sitting on our hands and hoping for a miracle. The fact that Halkias had Feldman put a tail on Joel and me has me thinking that we hit pay dirt when we singled them out for closer scrutiny. If they had nothing to hide, they wouldn’t have given a second thought to Halkias recognizing Joel and me from the Chez Genevieve other than acknowledging the coincidence. I think we’ve already started to rattle some cages and should turn up the heat with some inventive story telling.”
The discussion continued on for another half hour, but finally a unanimous consensus was reached. They were going to do their damndest to severely unnerve the people behind the attacks on the quality of the American way of life and hopefully get them to make some significant mistakes that will lead to their capture and ruination of their quality of life.
The conference room became quiet as they all started to think about what they wanted the media to report. After a couple of minutes, Hank looked first at Sal and then at Collette and broke the silence with, “Sal and Collette, since the two of you have the most experience dealing with the press and using them to get a message across, to influence opinion, I want the two of you to put your heads together to come up with something that will have these maniacs soiling their britches. We will all meet back here at three this afternoon when the rest of us will have the opportunity to make editing suggestions. When we have the final version of what we want to have disseminated, I’ll call the President to bring him up to date and enlist his support and participation in our maneuver to get these people all riled up and anxious about what might be coming down the pike to take them out. While Sal and Collette are working on the script draft, the rest of you split the remaining names on our list of 24 and see what you can come up with that might put them in the same bailiwick as the other five. We’re on a roll people! Let’s keep it going.”
Hank returned to his office and the rest filed out of the conference room, their heads already filling up with ideas for the news release. Hank’s thinking, “These folks are no slouches when it comes to using their gray matter. This afternoon’s meeting should prove interesting.”
Chapter 22
-Elizabeth-
While all of this was going on at Sentry, Halkias and Feldman were meeting in a working class diner across town from the business center where no one would know who they were. They were dressed casually in an attempt to fit in, but it was obvious that there clothes didn’t come from Kmart or Old Navy. Halkias was paranoid when it came to avoiding any possibility of anyone in their group being connected with anyone else in the group. His number one priority has always been to keep the existence of the group completely hidden from public view. The fact that Jergensen and Sheehan had seen them together at the Chez Genevieve has been eating at him ever since he found out about their visit to his office.
With concern clearly etched in both of their facial features, they were discussing the possible fallout of the investigation of the plane crash. Halkias was saying, “At this point, all we can do is surmise. If the tail number of the plane wasn’t destroyed in the fire resulting from the crash, the authorities know that IISS is the owner of the plane and that you are the head of IISS. If any ID of your employees was found, that discovery will eventually lead to you as their employer even if the tail number has been destroyed. The authorities will be curious about why a flight plan wasn’t filed and you’re going to need a convincing response to their inquiry. Of course, we know that filing one would have been useless because they had no idea where the plane they were following was headed. So, that’s problem number one.”
Feldman interjected with, “Problem number two and the more serious one is finding out who this Joel Jergensen and Barbara Sheehan really are and why they were sniffing around your offices. My investigators tell me that this Clear Sky Enterprises is nothing but a shell corporation that is engaged in absolutely nothing. If there not up to something completely kosher, a shell like this could come in handy in a lot of situations. I have my investigators digging for background on these two and hopefully will have some info shortly.”
“Good. I think it’s time I call another Last Resort meeting to bring everyone up to date and consider moving up our time schedule. Forces have come into play that perhaps necessitate that.
I expected some intelligent retaliation to our attacks, but not so effe
ctive and so quickly. Whoever out primary opposition is they are no lightweights. President Weinstein and his pack of incompetents didn’t come up with these sophisticated tactics to thwart us on their own. Outside help has been brought in and we’ve got to find out who they are and remove them from the picture.
“Another potential problem is that we and perhaps others in The Last Resort have come under suspicion of playing a part in the recent attacks on America’s infrastructure. Jergensen and Sheehan’s visit to my office and their use of a phony corporation to get information about me has set off my internal RED ALERT. We may have to go underground to avoid any further disruptions in the carrying out of our game plan. How are your people doing with their research on a way to neutralize the countermeasures that have been inflicted on us?”