“Is my son okay?” Bill demanded.
“He seems to be fine.”
“Then I’ll take care of him; help those men over there.”
Just then Janice came in and grabbed her son. “Are you okay; did you get cut?” She started immediately feeling his body and looking for wounds. All she found was singed hair on his head. Bill had taken the brunt of the heat, and one whole side of his hair was severely singed. The paramedic had applied a salve to the first-degree burn on his face.
The captain of the Marine detachment came in and ordered a report from the medical staff.
“Civilians are shaken but sustained no injuries. Lance Corporal Leeds has multiple lacerations and blunt trauma, but he’ll make it. Sergeant Rhodes was knocked out but coming around with no apparent physical trauma.”
“We are in lock-down, people. Evacuate the civilians to the safe room.” He approached the Hiccocks. “Sir, your family will be safe in an interior room. I’ll post a guard. Come with us now.”
“Captain, if that helicopter was attacked, it could have the most serious national security consequences. I am a member of the Nat Sec Comm. Does the safe room have commo capacity?”
“Yes sir, it is designed for the commander-in-chief to carry out military and national emergency command and control, sir. This way.”
Bill carried Richie and held Janice’s arm as they entered the secured conference room, which was blast proof and gas proof. Four Seabee techs entered with them and one Marine in full battle gear with loaded arms and his own radio gear. Then the giant blast door shut and the clunking mechanical sounds indicated it was sealed.
Bill knew the Navy insignias well enough to decipher that he had two ensigns, a lieutenant, and a captain with him. “Captain, do we know what brought the chopper down? Was it mechanical failure or an attack?”
“Playing back helipad surveillance camera video now, sir.” He shuttled the tape (they still used tape here) fast forward until Landau was on board, then slowly advanced until the chopper lifted out of the frame. “The camera is fixed and didn’t follow the chopper up, but no one got near the bird sir. No one placed anything on it.”
The video continued showing an empty helipad, but then Bill saw something. “What was that?”
“Going back.” The captain jogged the tape slowly in reverse. As the frame lines rolled, a brief streak appeared over two frames of the video.
“Do you make that out to be what I think it is, Captain?”
“Seems like a missile, sir, just over the tree line on a trajectory up. And here, a few frames later, the helipad is lit by the flash and now debris is falling. I’d say it looks like a surface to air missile, sir.”
“Are there any other camera angles, Captain?”
“Lieutenant?” He turned to an officer who was at a series of screens that held multiple video-camera feeds.
“Checking the roof security cam now sir. Yes. There in the upper right; it appears to be coming from the lake.”
“Scramble perimeter defense, stop and inspect all lake traffic immediately. Set up fifteen and twenty-five mile perimeter checkpoints, and I want those up immediately, ensign.”
“Aye-aye sir,” the third Navy man in the room said.
“Dr. Hiccock, who was the passenger?”
“It’s Bill, and he was a man who may have held a secret as great as the universe itself.” Bill turned to the ensign on the communication console. “I need the president, immediately.”
“White House Interconnect, this is Camp David, secure command and control. I have ultra-flash level comm for Phantom. Repeat this is an ultra-flash level comm for Phantom,” the ensign barked.
Bill noticed he used the president’s Secret Service call name, ‘Phantom.’ He was probably airborne right now on a seventeen-hour flight to Bangkok for the Asian Rim Summit, which was the reason Bill and Janice had gotten the invite to Camp David.
The loudspeaker in the room came on, “Air Force One operator, hold for POTUS… This is Mitchell.”
“Can he hear me?”
“Yes, I can hear you; who is this? Bill, is that you? What’s got you calling me? Not enough towels in the guest bathroom?”
“Sorry, sir. Professor Landau is dead. Right now it looks like an attack; a missile attack on his helicopter as he was leaving the Camp just seven minutes ago now.”
“Dear God, are you and your family okay?”
“Yes sir, just a little shaken up, but thanks for asking.”
“Who’s in command where you are, Bill?”
“Captain Weld here sir, first Seabees, I am comm. Marine Captain Holliday is detachment OD, but he is outside the secure con, sir.”
“Any casualties, son?”
“Two wounded, expected to survive, on the ground. The chopper had a crew of three, sir. I am afraid they are all lost.”
“May God have mercy on their souls, Captain.” The president spoke to people on the plane, “Ray, get FBI and NSA patched in ASAP!” and then returned to the phone. “Have a nice relaxing time in the country, I said, Bill. Any thoughts on what happened?”
“Someone who doesn’t want the professor to continue his experiments found out he was here and had the wherewithal to stage an attack.”
“Who are we looking for, Bill?”
“Long list of activist groups who don’t like particle research and feel it is dangerous.”
“Black-holers, Bill?”
“Essentially, yes. They come in two forms. The scientifically motivated, who may or may not understand the inherent risks in fiddling with the glue that holds all creation together, and the deist, motivated by the belief that big science is meddling in God’s handiwork.”
“Any of those groups have missiles last time you checked?”
“That is the random element here, sir. Who would have had that kind of armament at the ready, waiting for this opportunity, which I myself didn’t know about until yesterday afternoon when you called me?” Bill heard someone speaking to the president and he mumbled something back.
“Bill, they tell me I have FBI, Sec State, Sec Home, and NSA now on the line.”
The president then recapped the situation. “Gentlemen, we have an attack on American soil on a scientist who was involved in controversial research. The press is no doubt going to be all over this in a matter of minutes. I need your assessment and suggestions as to how we handle this. Bill, tell ’em what you know and what happened.”
Bill repeated the events of the last ten minutes while they asked questions and made observations. At the end, the president summarized the conference call. “So the wreckage is on federal land and within the security perimeter of the compound, therefore, we control the crash site. The majority of you think mechanical error is the best positioning, and I agree. It preserves our investigatory options and keeps public panic to a minimum. The professor is a known particle physicist, but his finding is relatively recent and has only been circulated among the peer groups, so it is not generally known. Bill will use his influence to keep a lid on it within the scientific community. Have I left anything out? Good. Then you all have your tasks. We will reconvene at — Ray when are we wheels down in Thailand? Okay let’s say 6:30 DC time. Thank you ladies and gentlemen, that is all.”
Almost on cue, one of the media monitors in the room, the one tuned to CNN, showed they had interrupted their programming for a news flash. Bill asked that the sound be turned up.
“… getting reports of smoke, a thick column of black smoke originating, we believe, on the grounds of the presidential retreat known as Camp David. I believe we have amateur video — let’s see, can we put that up? Here it is. As you can see from this exclusive amateur video obtained by CNN, there does seem to be black smoke rising from — and we can’t be sure from this video — but what we believe to be the grounds at Camp David. Now, my producers are telling me to point out that the president is not at Camp David, or even in the country, for that matter, because as our Washington Bureau Chief
Candy Crowley pointed out, he is at this moment mid-Pacific on his way to the Bangkok summit. Whether this is a fire, a forest fire or something else, we’ll just have to wait and see. But what we can say for certain is that smoke has been seen rising from the general area of Camp David. Stay tuned to CNN for more coverage of this breaking news.”
“If you suffer from erectile dysfunction…” The tech switched off the sound when they rolled a Viagra commercial.
“White House on one, sir.”
“How do I pick up…oh,” Bill said, as a Seabee picked up the receiver, punched the line switch and handed the receiver to him. “Hello. Hi, Brent.” Brent Cummings was the assistant press secretary, who was handling the situation because the press secretary was flying on ‘One’ with the president. “Yes, you were on the call, Brent; that’s the way the president wants to handle it. Oh, I see your point. Hey, here’s a thought. The professor was interested in joining my group; maybe that’s why he was here. What group? Eh, um — the 2020 conference. Yeah, I never heard of it either, I just made it up. It’s a way to see clearly what the scientific challenges for America and the world will look like in the year 2020, but it also means perfect vision. You know, I like it. I’ll have my office draw up the press release that I was going to release when I got back from the Camp on Monday. Good. Let me know.”
Bill hung up and went over to his wife and son. “How we doing, big guy?”
“It boom!” Janice held her son a bit tighter.
“Yes, it did but its okay. Everything’s okay. Later, Mommy and I will take you to the movies again, would you like that?” He tickled his arm a little. “Yaay! Dumbo!” Bill said as he kissed Janice and walked away, thanking God for the innocence of children, which could shield them from the kind of horror that had just befallen them.
“Bill, look,” Janice said, “CNN.”
Bill looked up in time to see a video of himself, Janice and Richie taken at the Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn this year. “Turn up the sound.”
“…advisor, his wife Dr. Janice Hiccock and their son were scheduled to be at Camp David this weekend according to our White House correspondent, Miles Whitaker. Miles…”
The scene switched to what the networks call the portico shot. It is a standby position outside the White House where all the major networks have a camera, a tent-like covering, and an assigned reporter and producer ready to go live at a moment’s notice. Miles was framed by the columns and large lantern on chains that hung in the vestibule of the mansion.
“Linda, on Friday the press office here at the White House released its weekend news schedule, and on it, down at the bottom, one line simply reads, ‘At the president’s invitation, White House Science Advisor William Hiccock will be staying at Camp David with his family.’ Now, once again, at this time we don’t know for sure if the smoke we are seeing has anything to do with the compound. There’s word that a press conference is being held in fifteen minutes to address not just this matter but also a pre-release of the president’s remarks on the upcoming Bangkok summit. Back to you Linda.”
“Thanks, Miles. Let’s hope that the Hiccock family and the staff at Camp David are safe and sound. Moving on to international news, the body of Saudi security man Abrim…”
The tech cut the sound. Bill looked at Janice. “So much for a quiet little weekend getaway.”
“The worst part is now we have to explain why we didn’t invite our friends. Oh, God, Bill. We should call your folks and my mom before they see this.”
“Lieutenant, is there a phone my wife can use? Honey, it’s a non-sec line, so just tell them we are fine. Nothing else, okay?”
∞§∞
Joey was in the director of French Intelligence’s office awaiting Brooke’s arrival when he and Dupré saw CNN International’s coverage of the Camp David story. He had immediately called Bill’s cell but didn’t get through because of the secure room Bill was in, so he called through the White House switchboard.
∞§∞
“White House interconnect for you Dr. Hiccock, on one.”
This time Bill beat the Seabee to the phone. “Hiccock. Joey, you heard.”
“Are you guys okay?”
“Yeah, Richie and I were looking right at it when it exploded. He’s okay but I am going to need a trim — and some more medicated cream.” He said the last part out loud to the room hoping someone would appear with a tube.
“What happened?”
“Looks like a surface to air missile killed a professor I was meeting with.”
“Huh?”
“When he was leaving by helo, he had just lifted off and wham. This could be a new science war, Joey. Somebody trying to change scientific policy by force.”
“Does anything normal ever happen around you? Should I come back to DC?”
“No, not at the moment. Besides, what you are doing there is also important.”
“Well, I’ll brief you on that when you have the time. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t looking for another job.”
“Thanks Joey, you are all heart.”
“Hug Janice and Richie for me, and hey, be careful.”
Bill laughed at Joey admonishing him with his own words.
∞§∞
The Fox News anchor was stalling for time as the screen was split into two, with the picture-in-picture focused on the White House pressroom podium. The “heads up” to the networks noted only that there would be a statement about Camp David at the now-moved-up afternoon briefing. The assembled press corps bristled a little as the assistant press secretary and a Navy commander entered the room, followed by a phalanx of aides. They knew something was up and started dialing their personal cells. This created a cacophony, which caused Brent to wait until he had their attention. Seeing this in the Fox control room, the director cued the anchor over his earpiece to say, “We now go live to the White House press briefing room for more on this breaking story.”
The pool cameraman and the pool producer both wagged a finger at Brent and he started by reading a prepared statement as his aides handed out printed copies.
“Good afternoon. It is with great sadness that I report to you today that a Marine helicopter on a routine assignment at Camp David in Maryland crashed earlier this afternoon. All persons onboard the aircraft perished. The dead include Navy Lieutenant Commander Niles Markey, Marine Aviation Captain Jesse Higgins, and Warrant Officer Peter Klug. The sole passenger, Doctor Roland Landau, was also pronounced dead at the scene. The next of kin have been notified and the president has spoken to family members to offer his condolences and prayers during this difficult time. The circumstances surrounding this crash, which appear to be related to mechanical failure, will be further covered by Commander Bowman, who will take the podium shortly. That is the end of my prepared statements. I will take limited questions because, at this time, we do not have all the facts. Miles.”
CNN had broken the story, so Miles Chafee got the first question. “We have a report that the president’s science advisor was at Camp David when this occurred. Is that why Professor — ” He looked down and checked his reporter’s notebook, “Landau was also there?”
“Yes, Miles, I am glad you reminded me. First off, let me say that Dr. Hiccock and his family are fine and have not been affected by these events. As the commander will speak to later, the aircraft went down outside the compound proper, and at no time was anyone in the compound in danger. As to Professor Landau’s visit, and there will be a follow-up information packet on this within the hour coming from the office of Science and Technology that Dr. Hiccock heads up, I believe that Dr. Landau was there to accept a position in the ‘2020 Committee’ or ‘2020 Initiative.’ I’m sorry I don’t have the exact title.”
He turned to an aide to the right of the podium and then repeated out loud what the staffer read from his jotted down notes. “The ‘2020 conference?’ Thank you, Jeff. As I said, that information is coming, but essentially, it is a new program that was to be announc
ed Monday, focusing on the scientific challenges facing America and the world as we approach the next decade. Professor Landau was accepting the chairmanship of this commission and would have been heading up the recruitment of leading scientists and technological innovators around the world. And again, although the loss of every life is to be mourned, Dr. Landau’s untimely demise is certainly a great loss to the scientific community.”
Brent switched his focus and bodily direction to the other side of the room and called on the reporter from CBS. “Harold.”
∞§∞
“Was this aircraft a Sikorsky from the president’s fleet or was it — ”
The sound switched off as a hand put down the remote and scratched at a scraggily beard. “They didn’t mention the missile.”
“Of course they didn’t. They need to show control. They also didn’t mention the research. They are hoping the story dies with Dr. Landau,” was the calm and measured response.
“We should have waited a little longer till the helicopter was over public land. Then there would be evidence of our attack and the world would be forced to find out what these monsters are doing.” The man’s stress was evident in the rising pitch of the voice.
“It happened the way it happened. But we still have a card to play.”
With that he picked up a cell phone and dialed. “Hello, CNN, I want the editor on the helicopter crash. He will want to talk to me. Tell him it was not an accident. I will hold.”
His fingers tapped the phone. At that moment, there was a knock on the mobile-home door. Both men in the trailer jumped.
“United States Marines. Please come out of your trailer; this is an investigation. Repeat, please come out of your trailer.”
The God Particle Page 15