Secret of the Oil: Prequel to the Donavan Chronicles

by Tom Haase

  Matt looked at General Bergermeyer, knowing she had to be the one to reveal their intentions. She only looked at the President. Then Matt slowly nodded his head.

  “Well, I have a proposition that may interest you, and it is the reason for all the secrecy.” The President rose from his high-backed chair and started to pace back and forth behind it. He was a man thinking things out. Matt observed the intensity in the eyes as the President turned to face him.

  “I want you to do exactly what you plan.”

  Matt’s jaw nearly dropped open. What in the hell is he up to?

  “There is a catch, but let me explain in detail before you make up your mind. I also extend this invitation to Sergeant Donavan. You see, I have been thinking the President needs a team of people he can call on to do things that he can’t call on anyone else to do. Not CIA, FBI, Homeland Security or any other organization. The fiction writers have had a field day over the years postulating all kinds of secret teams the President has at his disposal to solve all kinds of super secret operations to save the country. Well, you two actually did that in real life. So, why not be the President’s secret force to do that type of thing when I need someone I can tap who is outside of the normal operations of the government?” He stopped and sat back down.

  Matt could tell he was not explaining it in depth and there were some holes in the offer. He decided to keep quiet even though it would be a great time to ask questions. If this offer was real, and he assumed it was, there would be time to take care of small details later. He looked at Bridget who was viewing him with her head toward the President but her eyes were hard over glancing at him. She made a shoulder gesture that Matt took as “let’s see what happens.”

  “For the present, you will remain as serving members of the armed forces but will be removed from all active duty lists and will appear as if you are no longer in the service. Your pay and privileges will continue to accrue and your promotions will be on time. You will only report to the two officers in this room or to me personally. This offer is good as long as I am President and it might carry over to my successor depending on his or her wishes. You will be acting as a private contract security firm. Go ahead, set it up, and operate as any other private organization. You will do business as that entity unless you receive a contract from one of us to carry out a mission. Then you will have at your command all the government’s equipment, technology, communications, etc. that you require. You get the best of both worlds, continuing to serve your country and engaging in the fields you want to as private citizens. Once you are set up you can always fall back on that if future Presidents decide not to continue the program. What do you think?”

  Matt could not believe it. This allowed them to do all they could ever want. It gave them access to all the resources of the government and none of the limiting control features that had hampered their operations in Saudi. Bridget was staring at him.

  “Mr. President, does this mean the officers here will control any operation you decide to give us?” Matt had to know what controls or limitations would apply on the use of the government’s resources.

  “Let me make this very plain. You will receive a mission and you will be in control. All assets of this government will be at your fingertips and these two will provide that support. Your job will be to get the task completed by whatever means and to send me the bill including your own compensation as a contractor.” The President sat back in his chair and waited for this to sink in.

  Matt looked at Bridget who nodded.

  “In that case, I accept your offer. We might need our two other team members.”

  “That can be arranged,” said the President. “Anything else?”

  “With the mandate you have given us and the resources you will make available there is nothing else we could ask for,” he said as he looked to Bridget.

  “Mr. President, I’m afraid I must pass. I want to get out of the Army and go back to school to pursue a career in archeology. My enlistment is up in six months,” Bridget said.

  “I may have to rethink the manner of your employment with me. Perhaps Matt might have to go to the FBI where another close friend of mine is the director. That might make it easier for him to operate in certain areas. I’ll decide later. Right now, young lady, as a personal favor to me could you help Matt here get set up?” the President asked.

  “That I could do,” Bridget responded. “I would be willing to help get the rest of that gang, if we ever can.”

  “Okay. Now we have settled that. It is time to fill you in on parts of your operation in Saudi that you were not aware. You went after the two devices that were scheduled by this guy, Tewfik al-Hanbali, to detonate in the city and the oil reserves. You do not know some things. One of the men who got away was al-Hanbali’s brother, at least we believe he is, and the other was a Russian.” The president moved to a map on the wall.

  “What Russian?” Bridget said in open astonishment.

  “We believe he is the one who is responsible for the actual construction of the weapons. The technical boys, who evaluated the weapon you brought back, think the methodology is consistent with the way the Russians construct their nuclear weapons.”

  The President turned to Matt and said, “We think the Russian is the one who owned the computer Matt took at the gas station. It had some useful information on it, and we did recover an e-mail address on that computer, but unless he uses that same e-mail account on a new computer we have definitely lost him. Other than that, we now have lost any way to track them or perhaps communicate with him. Admiral Kidd will fill you in on the details of that after this meeting. You eliminated all but two members of that terrorist cell and destroyed it as an effective unit. Where the two that got away are, or what they intend to do, is unknown. We have to assume they will take some time to get operational again.”

  The President took a moment to let his words sink in. “Your first mission, after you get set up, is to deal with it. Now that Bridget has agreed to work with you on this I have one directive: go get them.” The President rose from his chair to indicate the meeting was over. He walked over to them and said, “Good luck, good hunting, and keep in touch. They’ll tell you how for normal times but you may have a need to contact me. Here is my personal cell phone number.” He handed it to Matt and then left the room.

  “Well, Mr. Higgins, since you are unofficially out of service, are you completely satisfied with this arrangement?” the admiral asked.

  “We both thank you for what both did,” Matt said.

  “You two now have a presidential directive and a specific mission from him. Why are you standing around here like two deer in the headlights?” The admiral smiled as he said this.

  “We are on it,” they said together.

  * * * *

  At that exact moment, thousands of mile from Washington, Basam al-Hanbali and Yuri Marchanovich were driving across the southern Saudi Arabian desert toward the Yemen border. There they planned to disappear for some time in order to reorganize and rebuild their cell. They regretted they had lost that crucial computer in the trade for the car due to their need to get away quickly. They now continued without that item but they still had their prize. Yuri could reconstruct most of the data lost on the computer. That remained only a small secondary concern.

  Strapped safely in the back seat rested the third atomic weapon.

  THE END

  AFTERWORD

  Thank you for reading Secret of the Oil. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing this novel.

  If you loved Bridget, get her full-length novels Secret of the Thorns , Secret of the Bibles and Secret of the Icon.http://amzn.to/1MUijiR

  The first adventure with Matt can be found in Secret of the Oil.

  To purchase this work on Kindle or in paperback visit: www.tomhaase.com.

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  I write fast-moving adventures that excite and entertain the reader. My purpose if for you to enjoy the rush I experienced while composing a thriller embedded in a mystery.

  After spending twenty-nine years in the U.S. Army, the opportunity arose for me to fly as a commercial pilot for a regional airline. At present, I currently am composing the next book in this series. To learn more about me visit my website at http://www.tomhaase.com or my blog at http://tomhaaseauthor.com.

  I live in Savannah Georgia with my wife of twenty-six years.

  Copyright Information

  Secret of the Oil

  Copyright 2014 by Tom Haase

  All Rights Reserved

  This is a work of fiction. Characters, incidents, places and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be constructed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  No portion of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical article and reviews.

  All inquires can be made to: tom@tomhaase.com