by Dan Kelly
When he came back on line he said, “Knowing that their pipeline to the White House has sprung a permanent leak should shake them up even more than they probably are already. Saint Vitus’s dance would be too good for them.”
“With Ferguson out of the picture, that makes two down and five to go. Those five fled their chateau only minutes before the Italian military got there early this morning. We have reason to believe they made their departure via helicopter and headed south. We have a tail number that is registered to an Italian corporation, Antonelli Manifatturiero S.p.A., which apparently doesn’t exist. We know these guys are very good at subterfuge, so that shouldn’t surprise us. Just a sec, I’m getting a message on my cell from Vince Torizzio.
After reading it he said, “We just might have gotten a break. The place of registration for the helicopter was Rome, so maybe, just maybe, that’s where they’re headed. Mr. President, do you think you could successfully prevail upon the Italian Prime Minister to try to organize another joint military/police search for these people in Rome and arrange for a media blitz like he did up north?”
“It won’t hurt to try.” Looking over at the Director of the CIA he asked, “John, do you think your counterparts in Italy could help us find these lunatics?”
“As you just said, Mr. President, it won’t hurt to try. The more oars in the water, the faster we’ll get to wherever we’re headed.”
Hank said, “Okay, Mr. President, we’re passing the baton on to you. Run as fast as you can with it, sir. Every second you save could be the one that saves our bacon.”
The conference call ended and the worrisome pacing began.
Chapter 72
-Washington D. C.-
Sam Ferguson is in his office getting ready to send an email to Bob Feldman to notify him that something big is up, that the President has called a last minute meeting of his cabinet, the FBI, the CIA and Homeland Security. He has typed out the message and is just about to click on send when two White House security people burst into his office and tell him he is under arrest for treason.
That was mistake number one. They had the element of surprise going for them and should have just pounced on him immediately, cuffed him and then told him what was going on.
Mistake number two was assuming that since Ferguson was very good with words, hell he was the Press Secretary, he would elect to try to talk himself out of the situation and therefore be fairly easy to restrain. They knew he was not the typical desk jockey. They’ve seen him around the White House and knew he could be a serious physical challenge if he decided to resist arrest, but they really didn’t think they’d have a problem.
It only took seconds for them to regret that assumption. Before they could react, Ferguson turned the huge heavy desk he was sitting at over on its side and shoved it at them. It slammed into both of them, knocking them on their butts. Ferguson was surprisingly quick and in a flash was around the desk and on top of the nearest security guy wailing the tar out of him. During the struggle, Ferguson managed to get a hold of the security guy’s gun and was about to shoot him when the other security man who was back on his feet again pulled his weapon and shot Ferguson in the chest.
Amazingly, ten minutes later Ferguson was still breathing, conscious and spewing invective loaded with expletives, all aimed at the President and politicians in general. He was a man filled with hate and lust for retribution. Gradually, his utterances became nonsensical and unintelligible as he went into shock. He died before medical help could arrive.
The White House security man who shot Ferguson remarked, “How could someone that crazy go unnoticed for so long? That was one mixed up dude.”
When the President got word of what had happened, he had no pity for the man. “I’m glad he and that other traitor, Palmer, are history. Their demise saved the taxpayers the cost of their trials which would have been quite a bundle. The only regret I have is he died before we could try to get him to tell us where the rest of them took off to. Damn!”
The President called Hank and told him what happened and Hank’s reaction was pretty much the same as the President’s. “Good riddance.”
Chapter 73
-Rome-
The remaining five members of The Last Resort arrived at the villa in Rome about 11:30 in the morning local time. It is everything Zadikoff said it was. It is quiet, out of the main stream of traffic, auto and pedestrian, and it has all of the amenities and then some. The architect did a marvelous job duplicating what an ancient Roman villa must have looked like centuries ago. It is
quite beautiful and has a magnificent view of the city.
Before unpacking, Feldman got right to setting up his computer and other means of communicating in what is used as an atrium, a reception area for guests to the villa. It didn’t take Feldman long to be fully operational, but his first contact with his network brought some very bad news. He got the word that Ferguson had resisted arrest by White House security for treason and was shot and killed. His arrest was all over the news as well as his affiliation with the rest of them.
Feldman passed the news on to Halkias who instead of showing some kind of exasperation over the setback just squinted his eyes and went into deep thought. Finally he responded with, “I pushed our luck with Sam. I should have pulled him as soon as I suspected something wasn’t right and not exposed him to the public embarrassment of being arrested for treason. Sam was a powder keg of emotions and you never knew what was going to set him off. When he blew, he often let those emotions wipe out his common sense. If he had kept his cool, he would still be alive.
“When the assassination attempt on the Vice President failed, it was with some trepidation that I was willing to chalk it up to a combination of insufficient preparation on Malcolm’s part and just plain bad luck.
“When our attempt to take out Sentry was met with a military ambush, I was certain that somehow Sam’s cover had been blown and I should have told him to get out of there then. I didn’t because I figured if the White House could use him to disseminate false information, why couldn’t we turn the tables on them and do the same. I never got the chance. I figured our plans would proceed without a hitch and I could wait for the right time to use him to get something we wanted. I figured wrong. Things have gotten dicey and although I’m more convinced than ever that we will prevail, we mustn’t let unanticipated developments distract us from our goal or we will fail.”
Hollingsworth asked, “So, now that the authorities are hot on our tails wouldn’t it be a good idea to move up the schedule for the launch of the next missile? If we wait for the original deadline, they might close in on us again and perhaps we won’t be so lucky the next time around.”
“No, we’ll stick to the original promise. I want the American people to know that I won’t lie to them. We’d be getting off on the wrong foot if I were to start acting like the very people we’re looking to replace.”
Barbara Sheehan has read the man correctly, but even if she had heard him speak these words she wouldn’t have felt any better knowing that some city in the U. S. was going to be leveled if the Italians didn’t come through for them.
Chapter 74
-Chicago-
There’s just two days to go and still no clue as to where The Last Resort is hiding, if indeed they are even in Rome. The President was able to persuade the Italians to refocus their search efforts on Rome, but so far they’ve been unable to turn up anything.
Barbara is sitting in Joel’s office and feeling helpless. “Joel, there’s just got to be something else we can do to catch these guys. Why can’t we think of it?”
“Barb, if we’ve missed anything I can’t imagine what it is. We’ve given it our best shot. All we can do now is sit and wait.”
“If the Italians come through for us, I promise I’ll wear nothing but Italian clothes and eat nothing but Italian food for the rest of my life. I’ll even learn to speak Italian although with my brogue that should make for some interesting listening.”
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A light tap on the open office door interrupted their laughter. It was Ashok. “Barbara, I just fell into an entire field of four leaf clovers.”
Barbara’s mood swing must have set some kind of record as this sounded like some good news was about to come their way. “Don’t worry yourself. You won’t get a rash.”
For a second Ashok was a little nonplused as he thought she was taking him literally, but then he realized she was just being Barbara using her Irish wit to make him smile, so with a big smile on his face he gave them the good news. “As you know, I’ve been surfing the net hoping to pick up something that might lead us to this pod of pea-brains. I just hit pay dirt. One of these behemoths of intelligence did something really stupid.
“We know that Ronald Baltzinger is a big time gambler. I started thinking that someone like that might have an addiction to gambling and might not be able to control his urges. Rugby is a big sport in Italy and online betting is well established. I thought maybe if I surfed the net, looking for announcements of big winners or losers I might get lucky and find some mention of him.
“I did. I contacted the web site and explained what I was up to and why and they contacted their host who was able to pinpoint where the bets were coming from. This fruitcake has been placing bets from a computer with an email address of [email protected] and using his real name. The host was able to provide a phone number and the web site individual was able to get an address from that. Aventine is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. We now know where they are and they don’t know that we know.”
Barbara leaped up from her chair and gave him big bear hug and a loud kiss on the cheek. If Ashok’s smile got any wider, his face would crack.
Joel ran out of his office and headed for Hank’s. He wasn’t there. “Shit! Where’s a general when you need one?”
Joel looked for him everywhere, but he had apparently stepped out without telling anybody where he was going. That wasn’t like him. This Last Resort menace was even messing with Mr. Unshakable’s head.
As Joel headed back to his office he heard the elevator ding. He turned and saw Hank stepping out of the elevator with an overflowing box of donuts in his hands. “I’ve been looking all over for you. You’re always yelling at me for forgetting to tell you where I’m going, that the kinds of things we get involved in demand that we know where each other is at all times. So, now it’s my turn to remind you that what you did is a no-no.”
“You’re right. You’ve reminded me eloquently and I consider myself appropriately reprimanded, now stuff it. I needed a sugar fix and while I was attending to that I thought the rest of my troops might need one as well, but I think I got a little carried away.”
With a mock-serious frown on his face he sternly said, “Okay, we’ll overlook it this time.”
“That’s mighty big of you. You keep kissing ass like that you might get a raise if we survive the nuclear holocaust that might be coming our way. What’s so damn important that you were running all over the office looking for me?”
Joel told him and the box of donuts and need for a sugar fix were ancient history. He now was riding on an adrenaline high. The donuts wound up on top of a file cabinet and if Joel hadn’t stepped out of the way he would have been bowled over by Hank racing to his office to call the President.
Hank called the President who called the Italian Prime Minister who contacted the man in charge of coordinating the sweep search. Everything was about to come a head. An unprecedented direct communication link was set up between the Italian Field Commander and the President of the United States because if a wrong decision was made all concerned thought the President should have that honor.
Chapter 75
-Rome-
There’s less than 30 hours to go before Halkias must follow through on his threat to launch another missile and the tension in the villa is beginning to mount. Up until now, the remaining members of The Last Resort have been able to rationalize the consequences of their actions as justified collateral damage for the greater good of America as a whole. What they’re planning to do if they don’t get their way pales in comparison. Mass murder is a lot harder to rationalize, no matter how just one thinks the cause is. It’s estimated that the current population in Washington D. C. is 617,996, not including the non-residents that work there. That’s a lot of dead bodies.
Hollingsworth voices what he thinks is probably in the minds of others in the room. “Basil, perhaps we should back off on carrying out our threat if the President doesn’t give in to our demands. We’d be killing a lot of innocent people. There must be other ways we can bring sufficient pressure to bear on the decision makers to get what we want.”
Feldman exploded. “That’s out of the question! We’ve come too far to back down now. It would be construed as a weakness to be exploited by the swine that have sullied the American dream. We must do what we said we would do if we want to ever be taken seriously. Besides, those swine deserve to be slaughtered anyway.”
For the first time Hollingsworth realizes that Feldman isn’t quite right in the head. “This guy has no conscience. He can rationalize anything he wants to do no matter what the consequences might be.”
Zadikoff sided with Hollingsworth and said, “I think we should seriously consider what James is suggesting. We can always use the missiles if nothing else works.”
Baltzinger said, “The way I see it, the odds of success are even whichever way we go. When I’m faced with those kinds of odds, I never bet the farm on the outcome, too many variables. I’m with James and David on this. Let’s save the artillery for another day.”
Feldman is beside himself. His face is turning beet red with anger and he is having trouble speaking coherently. His cussing is easy to understand though as he accuses the three of them of cowardice and a lot of other incomprehensible things. It’s obvious to everyone in the room that Feldman has lost it.
During this entire encounter, Halkias has been quiet, letting them vent their concern about what might lie ahead, but the atmosphere in the room has now reached a point where he must
intervene. Since everybody is yelling, trying to be heard, Halkias starts pounding on a coffee table to get their attention. That’s as far as he gets. He’s interrupted by the sound of a deep voice coming through a megaphone from somewhere outside. Everyone hears it and shuts up to listen to what is being said.
“This is Lieutenant Morrelli of the Rome Police Department. You are completely surrounded by my officers and soldiers of the Carabinieri. You are under arrest for illegal entry into Italy and after due process will be extradited to the United States to be prosecuted for crimes against the American people. Come out with your hands on your head and walking backwards. Now!!
“Feldman shouts, “Son of a bitch. How the hell did they find us?”
Hollingsworth say, “It doesn’t matter. The jig is up.”
Feldman violently responds with, “The hell it is.” He runs over to a slightly open window and yells, “Listen up out there. The annihilation of a major American city is just a finger tap away on my keyboard. Get off this property and let us leave or I’ll do it I swear.”
The Captain has been advised as to the capabilities of these people and knows he must be careful about how he handles the situation. The Captain says, “Don’t do anything rash. Give me fifteen minutes to get instructions from my superiors. Okay?”
Feldman shouts back, “Not a second more.”
Feldman turns to the others and says, “They’ll do what we say. We hold all the cards.”
It’s now Hollingsworth’s turn to explode. “Bull shit. There’s no way they’re going to let us walk out of here. We’ll be better off if we surrender and cooperate. That way we have a chance of negotiating some leniency when we go to trial.”
Baltzinger and Zadikoff quickly agreed, but Halkias wasn’t buying the argument. “What fantasy land do you guys live in? They’ll lock us up and throw the key away or sentence us to death. If I’m going to die, I
’ll do it my way not theirs. When we all bought into this venture, it was with a do or die attitude. Spending the rest of my life in prison doesn’t appeal to me.”