by Dan Kelly
“I’ll heed your advice, Hank. Bye for now.”
Without saying a word for he had nothing more to say, Hank got up, walked into his office and shut the door.
Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly Barbara said, “Obviously, Hank saw that video on TV or someone called him. I’ve never seen him like this. He’s boiling mad on the inside and cool as ice on the outside. It’s easy to see why he was a general. As angry and upset as he is, he still managed to stay calm enough to come up with a strategy that has a darn good chance of working while everybody else is in a daze. Do you think the Italian government will go along with his idea?”
“I think we have a better than even chance with Weinstein doing the asking. He has a certain charisma, something magical that causes people to lower their defenses and want to please him. This coupled with his exceptional powers of persuasion should give him an edge, but I know nothing about the Italian Prime Minister. He might have exceptional sales resistance.
“If I know Hank, he’s already working on a Plan B, so that gives me some comfort if Weinstein craps out. A week can go by very fast and with each passing day the American people are going to be putting more and more pressure on the President to resign and if he doesn’t, which I’m sure he won’t, we will be getting closer and closer to a national panic and who knows what will happen then.
“We’re back to a wait and see mode, Barb. If you know any good prayers, I suggest you say them. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”
Chapter 69
- Breuil Cervinia, Italy-
Three days after the demands and threats were broadcast, Feldman comes barging into Halkias’s bedroom at three in the morning and shakes him awake. “Wake up, wake up! Damn it,.
Basil, wake up!”
Rolling over onto his back and rubbing his eyes Halkias sleepily mumbles, “What do you want? What’s wrong?”
“We are in big trouble, that’s what’s wrong. I just got an email from Joe Appecelli, the man I left in charge of my office in Elizabeth, and he’s just gotten word of a long procession of army vehicles moving quietly through Milan and heading our way. One of the soldiers is his kid brother and called him to let him know he was being deployed to be part of some special civilian search of some municipalities north of Milan and would be out of touch for a while. Joe knew about our names and pictures being shown on TV and it didn’t take him long to put two and two together. He concluded the civilians were us and sent the email to warn us.”
Basil was now fully awake and his brain was firing on all synapses, determining and evaluating their options. “As I see it, there are only two courses of action open to us. We can stay here and engage in a standoff with the Italians, our weapons against theirs, and stay on plan regarding America. This definitely would present future foreign policy issues when we take over. No country likes to be threatened, bullied with nuclear weapons, and they have long memories when it comes to that kind of intimidation. Also, we could wind up dead by failing to surrender.
“The other option is to hightail it out of here to someplace that would be safe for as long as we need to get American capitulation which shouldn’t be more than a couple of weeks. The stickler with this alternative is where is that someplace? Does it even exist? Our places of business and our residences are all under continuous surveillance and our names and pictures have been plastered everywhere, so there’s a real danger of being recognized and arrested if we try to move to another location. If we were to relocate, it wouldn’t have to be to anything as grandiose as this. We would just need sufficient accommodations for seven people and the basic amenities.
“Wake up everyone and get them into the drawing room. This is a decision that should be made by the group.”
Ten minutes later everyone’s gathered in the office/drawing room and Halkias breaks the latest news to them and gives them their options. “You have given me the decision making authority to do what is necessary to make our quest a reality, but I believe this situation calls for a group decision on a majority rules basis.”
Needless to say, the ensuing dialogue was heated and frantic. After a solid hour of intense bickering and bellicose confrontations, a consensus was reached. They were going to head for the hills, more specifically the city of seven hills, Rome.
It turns out that David Zadikoff is a joint owner of a villa in one of the seven hills, Aventine, and neither he nor the joint owner, a cousin of his, gets the chance to stay there very often because the demands of their businesses are always taking them in a different direction. It’s currently vacant.
The deciding factors were:
The villa is large enough to accommodate all of them and has all of the required amenities.
It is in a secluded area where their presence should go unnoticed.
It is in Southern Italy, a long way from where the searches for them are being conducted.
They won’t have to worry about being apprehended trying to leave Italy and enter another
country.
They won’t have to expose themselves to discovery by staying at a hotel or renting
something.
Halkias’s helicopter has a range of 700 air miles on a single tank of gas. It’s approximately
350 air miles from the chateau to Rome and the helicopter’s tank is almost full. Its maximum
airspeed is 125 knots or about 144 miles an hour, so they could be in Rome in under three
hours.
They can execute the final stages of their assault from the villa without any special
preparations. What they need is already there.
At seven that morning, they are all packed and heading for the helicopter. Twenty minutes later the chopper is loaded and they are airborne, and none too soon. As they rise above the chateau and are about 1500 feet in the air, they turn south and spot two army vehicles driving up the winding road to the chateau. They are about a mile away from the gated entrance fronting the chateau.
Halkias climbs to 10,000 feet and opens the throttle. Hollingsworth asks Halkias, “Do you think they saw us?”
“It’s hard to say. As of this moment, they don’t know who lives in the chateau. The search for us has just started and it’s being done without any fanfare in the media and the rumor mill hasn’t had a chance to kick in yet, so they won’t suspect that we know they are on the prowl for us.
“This being the case, they have no reason to be looking for people hurriedly taking flight. Until they talk with the staff, there’s no reason for them to start looking for us in the vicinity. Whether or not anyone sees this helicopter overhead as they approach the chateau, it doesn’t matter as they have no reason to think anything of it. If after talking with the staff someone does remember seeing us flying overhead, so what? They won’t know who was in the helicopter or where it was headed.”
“So, everybody sit back and relax. The weather’s beautiful, enjoy it.”
Chapter 70
-Chicago-
Joel and Barbara are sitting in Dee’s Diner, a 1950s style eatery that has been in the family since it opened its doors 60 years ago. Dee’s grandmother was the first owner. She still comes in and putters around once in a while. She’s 80 years old and looks it, but has the quick mind and wit of someone much younger. The granddaughter was named after her grandmother, Diane, and they both have the same nickname, Dee, and they’re both sweethearts.
Joel and Barbara come here often for lunch and after talking with Dee and enjoying the huge and delicious portions of ‘granny’s grub’, Dee still uses her grandmother’s recipe for just about everything on the menu, they always feel rejuvenated when they leave. They both need some rejuvenation right now as this Last Resort mess has really gotten under their skin and it’s beyond frustrating for them.
Taking several long sips of her root beer float Barbara says, “You know, Joel, ever since we got Hank’s call in Hawaii the tail has been wagging the dog or we’ve been going around in circles chasing ours. Nothing we�
�ve done has brought us any closer to nabbing these guys. If the Italians don’t find them in the next three and a half days, America is going to be in a very precarious position.
“The President and the military are not going to give in to The Last Resort’s demands, so these nuts will start firing nuclear missiles at our cities if we let them. I doubt there’s enough time for our folks to come up with a software resolution to the unauthorized access problem, so the only thing the military can do is disable all of our missiles to prevent unauthorized launches, but this would remove the deterrent that presently discourages nuclear attacks by other countries.
“I don’t think The Last Resort wants to nuke the entire country and take over a country that has been reduced to ashes, but then again who knows what these crackpots might do if pushed hard enough. I don’t know if they have access to other missile sites and I don’t know how long it would take to disable all of our missiles. I don’t think these sites would have to be completely dismantled, but I’m no scientist and I’m just guessing. What a bloody puzzle this is.”
“Another worrisome thought that just crossed my mind is what if The Last Resort spots the Italians moving in on them and launches missiles before our people can do anything to prevent it?”
“It’s inevitable that they’re going to hear about the search for them before they spot any of the searchers. When they do, I think they will react in such a way as to avoid breaking their word to the American public. They are trying to gain the trust of the American people and will do everything possible to keep their word and stick with their promise to wait a week for the government’s answer. I hope I’m right. Three and a half days isn’t much, but I’ll take it.”
As they were settling up with Dee for another fabulous meal, Joel’s cell sounded off. It was Hank with some more bad news. “Sorry to spoil your lunch, but misery loves company. Mine turned to lead in my stomach when I got a call from Vince in Breuil Cervinia. Vince joined up with a contingent of soldiers and they paid a call on a chateau outside the village. Joel, they had just missed the whole rotten bunch of them.
“The staff told them that when they went looking for the men for breakfast this morning they were nowhere to be found. Sometime between the time the staff went to bed last night and 7:30 this morning local time they upped, packed and departed. None of the staff knew where they might be headed, but they said their helicopter was gone so they probably left in that.
“The housekeeper admitted that the staff knew who the men were and had been paid a considerable amount of money to stay at the chateau and avoid contact with anyone from outside the residence except for delivery folks and to keep their mouths shut when deliveries were made. They were asked to do that for only a couple of weeks.”
“Nothing will happen to them. They didn’t break any Italian laws.”
“One positive thing came to light out of all this gloom. Vince got a tail number on a helicopter he spotted flying overhead when they were approaching the chateau. He had to use his binoculars to catch it, but he was quick enough in grabbing them to see the number before it turned and headed south. He’s thinks this might have been the getaway chopper. If he’s right, we might be able to track it down. When are you coming back to the office? We’ve got to come up with something to deal with this development PDQ. We’re running out of time.”
“We’re on our way.”
Chapter 71
-Chicago-
The entire Sentry staff is sitting around their conference room table trying to come up with a new plan of attack and getting nowhere in a hurry. Hank said, “I’m going to call the President and ask him to join us on the speaker phone along with anyone else he wants to include. If ever there was a time for all of us to put our heads together, this has got to be it.”
It seemed the President answered the phone almost before it rang. He picked up during its first ring. “Hank here, Ira. I’m sitting here with my staff and we’re trying to come up with something new to throw at The Last Resort and we haven’t managed to even come up with some pebbles. I’m thinking maybe it’s time for a brainstorming session with Sentry, the White House and anyone else you’d want to include joining in. Time is quickly running out, the rioting and fighting in the streets is getting out of control and we’re no closer to a resolution to our problem than we were when this whole mess started. Our country is like a volcano on the brink of eruption. We’ve got to make the best use of the time remaining and I’m hoping that the old truism ‘the more heads the better’ will prove to be alive and well.”
“I think that’s a good idea, Hank. Maybe I should have suggested that at the beginning. Maybe I was too damned cautious about who to trust.”
“Don’t browbeat yourself, sir. Second-guessing will only give you a headache. You made all of the right moves under the circumstances. Sometimes an outcome is determined by sheer luck and so far ours has been rotten. We can sit here and cry in our beer or go down fighting. You, me, my people here at Sentry, the American people, we’re all fighters. We’ll fight to our last breath, so let’s put our heads together, come up with a plan and go kick some ass. Who knows, maybe our luck will change. We’re definitely due.”
“Sheesh, General, you should consider being a coach someday. That pep talk was up there with ‘Win one for the gipper’.” Softly chuckling he added, “Thanks, Hank, I needed that. Hold on and let me round up my crew.”
Everybody sitting around the conference room table was looking at their boss with renewed respect and admiration. The man was definitely a leader, no doubt about it. He knows what to say and when to say it.
While they are waiting for the President, Kirk Dodson suggests, “Hank, I think the time has come for Ferguson to be taken out of the game. He’s of no further use to us and if we don’t toss him into a cell pretty damn quick he’s liable to get it into his head to take off like his buddies did. He’s got to be getting more than a little nervous over the close calls The Last Resort has recently experienced and seeing the rest of his group scampering to save their hides might just be enough motivation for him to do the same.”
“I agree, Kirk, and I’ll pass your suggestion on to the President when he comes back on line.”
With a malevolent smile on her face Barbara said, “Boy, would I like to be there and see the look on his face when he’s arrested. He’s in for the shock of his life when he finds out we’ve been on to him and using him for out purposes. It certainly wouldn’t sadden me if the shock killed the blighter.”
Joel knows where all this anger is really coming from. Barbara has had first-hand experience with traitors. When she was 15 and the Troubles in Northern Ireland were in full swing her older brother, a Provisional IRA supporter, was arrested and put in jail because a traitor squealed on him. He never got out. Nine months after he was locked up he was stabbed and killed in his sleep. The murderer was never identified, but it was believed to be someone who had a deep hatred for the Provisional IRA.
Joel is thinking, “This creep is lucky it’s not Barb arresting him. It would be an experience he’d remember until his dying day.”
Fifteen minutes later the President came back on the line. “Okay, Hank, everybody I want here is here, my cabinet, the Director of the FBI, the heads of the CIA and Homeland Security and Lorraine Caldwell.”
“Okay, Mr. President, it’s great that you were able to gather all of these people on such short notice, but if we want to get the most out of this session we’re going to have to come clean and tell them everything we’ve done on an absolutely need to know basis and why. We need new ideas. We must not waste time discussing things we’ve already tried.”
It only took fifteen minutes for the President and Hank to give a succinct overview of the results of Sentry’s initial investigations, everything that was done to try to trap The Last Resort and where they stood now with the Italian’s sweep search. The President finished the briefing with the revelation of Sam Ferguson’s treachery. The President’s team was stunned to
find out that they had a traitor in their midst, someone who had a great deal of access to confidential information.
Hank interjected with, “Mr. President, one of my people has suggested that we take Ferguson out of the game immediately because he’s a definite flight risk and I agree with him.” Hank explained Kirk’s reasoning and the President readily agreed. He picked up a phone and everyone in the Sentry conference room heard him instruct White House security to arrest his press secretary and tell them there was no need to do it quietly.”