The Phoenix Agenda: A Thriller (A Rossler Foundation Mystery Book 6)

by JC Ryan

  Sam whispered, “Mr. President, I agree with you. I’m also not taking it. I’m certainly not going to sit on my butt watching how our country goes down the drain. But I have to warn you; we have to be very, very careful. They'll not hesitate to throw us in jail or kill us. In fact, if they were sure it wouldn’t cost them a lot of support, they’d do it right now.”

  Nigel replied. “Yes we’re the enemy now, but I would certainly like to make them regret making enemies out of us. I guess currently we are still useful to them for their propaganda and to get the masses on their side, but they’ll get rid of us as soon as we have outlived our usefulness. ”

  Nigel shared the story of their arrest and the events on that fateful day in as much detail as he could. Sam was alarmed when he heard how the four secret service agents were killed without a single bullet being fired. “What sort of weapon do you think could have done that, Mr. President?”

  “Sam, I have no idea. Those boys just dropped to the ground and were dead in a minute. I haven’t ever seen anything like that, not even in movies. Some beam or ray or … I just don’t know. One thing’s for sure; they have a weapon that can kill people like that, and my guess is they have already used it to kill millions all over the world. We may never know the truth.”

  Sam told him how their arrest happened, and what their current circumstances were.

  “Do you know anything about the Rosslers?” Nigel inquired.

  “No sir, just what was on the news. But that isn’t true - I’m certain of that. All I could get from my contacts before they went quiet was that the Rossler Foundation was shut down, the servers had vanished, and the safe was empty when the FBI turned up there. Many of the staff and their families, including my old friend Luke Clarke and his wife, have disappeared.”

  Nigel was curious, “Why was that not reported in the news? What do you think?”

  “Mr. President I have a theory. I could be over-optimistic, but I believe the Rosslers somehow got warning about what was about to happen and went into hiding somewhere. My guess is they’ve managed to keep that 10th Cycle Library out of the hands of these thugs, hence the big scene to get hold of them.”

  “Well, Sam, you have just made my day! If our friends are somewhere out there and have that library with them, there is a glimmer of hope. Just the same as you and I, they'll not accept this. I’m as certain of that as I am my own name. They might very well be our only hope.”

  Sam agreed, “Yes, Mr. President, those are my thoughts as well. I am sure that if Luke Clarke is out there and he is alive, he’ll contact me when the time is right. I just wish I could find a way to stay in touch with you.”

  Nigel smiled, “Yes, between the two of us we would have been able to organize a revolt that would have been revolting and would make the French Revolution look like a Sunday school picnic.”

  An agent walked up and said, “Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, please follow me.”

  The Harpers and Lewises had to say goodbye in a hurry. Sam had one last thing to say when they shook hands, “Mr. President, I promise that I’ll do everything I can to get you out. Remember the word ‘sandpiper’. That will be my codename.” With that, Sam turned around, took Susan’s hand, and followed the agent.

  Don’t make me wait too long

  Sam knew James Gordon; he was one of the senior people in MI6 when they first met. Gordon became head of MI6 after Sam retired, and Sam was a little more than pissed off when he learned of Gordon’s haste to join the new world order.

  Sam and Susan’s meeting with Gordon went much better than that of the Harpers, despite the massive, almost uncontrollable urge, Sam had to choke the living shit out of James Gordon. After which, he’d go ahead and kill Anastasia Oriov, as well as the other nincompoop in the room. However, he managed to stay calm and diplomatic throughout the entire proceedings.

  Gordon started off, as with everyone else, with the offer of a good position in exchange for a pledge of allegiance. Sam and Susan quickly and very politely told him that they were not interested, mainly because neither of them was interested in politics or public life. They just wanted to be retired.

  Gordon then moved on to the second option, “Sam, you have made many enemies in your time, and we are concerned about you and your wife’s safety. So therefore, you will remain in our protection as long as it is necessary. You already know the rules, which will continue to apply. The only addition will be that Anastasia…” (who reminded Sam of what the female version of a Japanese sumo wrestler could look like) “… has planned and scheduled public events into your calendars that you will be required to attend. You will not be required to say or do anything during these events. You just have to be there. Do you have any questions?”

  “Yes, James - not so much a question, rather a friendly request. I am an old man, and as you have rightly pointed out earlier, I have made more enemies than one man can afford in a lifetime. Susan and I are grateful for your concern about our safety and welcome the protection. We just want to be left alone so that we can enjoy our old age and retirement. We have no problems attending your events. Susan has never been on TV, and I'm sure it will be great when her children and grandchildren can see her on TV from time to time. We’re happy with your proposal. There is just one more request, sorry, actually two, which we hope you would give your favorable consideration.” Sam managed to keep a smile on his face during that entire sarcastic dialog.

  “What do you have in mind, Sam?”

  “Well, the first request is that we be allowed to take up fly fishing again. We’re both crazy about the sport and are starting to suffer from withdrawal symptoms lately,” Sam said as seriously as he could without cracking up.

  “That will not be a problem at all Sam. I am sure the agents will also welcome the opportunity to get out from time to time. What is your second request?”

  Sam was struggling to stop himself from laughing and keep a serious face. “Thank you for that, James. That means a lot to us. The second request is that we be allowed to cover up the video cameras in our bedroom and bathroom when we are inside those rooms.”

  Gordon suspected for the first time that Sam had been making a complete ass of him the whole time. Nevertheless, he restrained himself and without showing any emotion told them that they would be allowed to cover the video cameras as requested. He got up, thanked them for their time, walked them over to the door, and wished them a safe trip back home.

  As Gordon walked back to his seat, his mind was in a state of complete confusion. He’d expected this interview to be the toughest one of all. Was he wrong about that? Was it perhaps the toughest one and he just did not realize it? Had Sam been playing the fool with him, or was he serious that he just wanted to retire? Sam Lewis was a legend in the spy community; everyone knew what a genius the man was. He felt sure Sam was not going to take all this lying down. He had something up his sleeve. He, Gordon, had better make sure that security around Sam never relaxed. That was probably what Sam would be waiting for.

  When Sam and Susan walked out of the Oval Office, Sam said, “Luke, my friend, don’t make me wait too long.”

  “What was that Sam? Who are you talking about?” Susan asked.

  Sam placed his finger on his mouth and whispered, “Shhh, I’ll tell you later.”

  After the Lewises were out of the Oval Office, James Gordon picked up the phone and asked the secretary to get hold of Robert Wilson immediately.

  A few minutes later, Wilson was on the phone. “Wilson, listen carefully to me. I just had the interview with Sam Lewis and his wife. I’m convinced he has something up his sleeve. It is your responsibility to make sure he doesn’t get away. Double the security guards, increase the surveillance -do whatever you have to do. I know him, and I know enough about him to be worried. It will serve you well to also be worried. Make certain your men never get sloppy around him. I don’t want this man on the loose – ever.”

  The zingers

  Salome, Luke, and Raj were working on a secur
e communications strategy when Roy arrived to ask her if she would like to accompany him on his daily walk. Roxanne had strictly enforced this as part of his rehabilitation treatment. Salome welcomed the opportunity to take a break and spend a bit of time in the open air with her husband.

  “And the camera, Roy? What’s that for?” Salome inquired when she saw the digital camera in his hand.

  “Bird watching,” Roy replied absent-mindedly.

  “Don’t you need binoculars or a telescope or something like that for bird watching?” Salome asked.

  “I want to make a movie,” Roy replied, but it was obvious his mind was occupied with something else. Salome knew him well enough to know something important was going on in that brilliant brain of his, and that it was best to not get in the way of that process. He would tell her when he had it figured out.

  When they got outside, Roy said he wanted to see if he could find some hummingbirds. Not too far from the main entrance, Salome spotted a few ruby-throated hummingbirds hovering in mid-air around a tree with a wild honeysuckle vine entwined around it, and pointed Roy to them.

  “Let’s see how close we can get. I don’t want to scare them, but I want to get as close as possible,” Roy whispered.

  They got to about five yards from the birds and sat down. Roy started taking pictures and videos. They were watching the spectacular show of acrobatics put on for them by these crafty little birds in absolute silence and amazement. The birds maneuvered in all directions - right, left, up, down, backwards, and even upside down. Sometimes it even seemed as if they were doing it all at once.

  About an hour later, Roy got up and pulled Salome up. “It was incredible just to sit and watch them. We should do it more often. I love it,” Salome said excitedly.

  “Yes, it was mesmerizing to watch them, wasn’t it?” Roy replied.

  “Okay, Roy. Would you mind telling me now what’s going on in that brain of yours? Has birdwatching become our new hobby, or is there something else I should know about?” Salome inquired.

  “Salome, you know me too well. Although, I wouldn’t mind taking birdwatching up as a hobby. It looks like it could be a lot of fun. The main reason I’m interested in the hummingbirds is to see if I can build one. I’d like to make one so close to the real bird, it would be impossible for a human to know the difference,” Roy explained.

  Salome was confused, “Darling that sounds nice, but I have no idea why you would want to do it. What do you have in mind? Please start at the beginning, and don’t assume I know anything.” Salome smiled.

  Roy explained to her that he got the idea a few days ago when they were talking about getting in touch with Sam Lewis. "One of the big issues is going to be contacting Sam, who will most probably be under heavy surveillance and maybe even guarded. That is, if he isn't already locked up somewhere. I think we can use the hummingbirds and spyflies to get close enough to Sam to observe what's going on and to get a message to him without being noticed.”

  Salome stared at him in awe. Only Roy would have thought of such a thing. But he had more to say.

  “If I can build an improved version of my existing hummingbirds, similar to those that were instrumental in defeating the drones of the Sword of Cyrus, it might just work. I want to equip the new versions with cameras and microphones, speakers and other electronics. The birds have to mimic the real birds so closely that it would be impossible for casual observers to notice. That way, we could get the birds very close to the target person and drop a message without anyone realizing it. I guess you can call it, as Luke explained the other day, ‘hide the fact that a communication took place,'” Roy concluded the explanation with a verbatim quote of Luke’s words.

  Salome just looked at him with admiration. His idea just solved a major headache for them, which was how to contact any of their target people, such as Sam, without putting anyone in danger. This idea, if he could make it work as he described, was brilliant!

  Salome turned to head back when Roy said, “Hang on. Hang on. I have one more thing to do.” He took a few small microphones out of his pocket and walked to the tree where he placed them as high and close as he could get to the flowers where the birds were feeding. The birds moved away a few yards, but when he walked back to where Salome was standing, they all returned immediately.

  “What was that?” She asked.

  “Our birds should not only look like real hummingbirds, they must sound like them too. I’m recording their chirping and the sound of their wings.” Roy replied.

  “Let’s go back. I’d like to tell Luke and the others what an ingenious man I married,” Salome joked, knowing what a modest man Roy was.

  “No! Promise me you won’t do that,” Roy pleaded with her. “I need four days, I think, and then I will demo it to you and the rest. Just give me four days.”

  “And four nights. I know you, Roy James,” Salome said with a smile. She knew from experience that when Roy got busy with something that interested him he forgot to sleep.

  “A day has twenty-four hours; sunlight and darkness are part of it,” Roy apologized in advance.

  The next morning Roy, Ryan and Raj disappeared into Roy’s lab and worked on the little messengers that they were going to call ‘zingers’. They studied the pictures Roy took and played the videos in slow motion, sometimes frame by frame while they took notes and made sketches. Raj studied the natural movements of the birds very carefully and programmed that into the on-board nano computers of the zingers.

  A little bit more than four days and four nights later, three exhausted but excited men walked out of the lab. They had three zingers, flying, humming and chirping exactly like real birds – it was time for a test and a demo.

  After they had sent out the mini drones to scout the area outside to make sure it was safe to go out, they went straight to the tree where Roy and Salome had seen the live birds a few days before. There they found their little friends already busy humming, chirping and feeding. The first thing to know was if the hummers were going to scare the real birds away. Roy launched Zinger 1 and sent it over to the tree. At first, the real birds moved away when the zinger arrived, but only a few feet. They returned within less than a minute when they realized it was no threat to them.

  He then launched Zinger 2 and 3. This time the real birds took exception to the arrival of these new rivals for their food. One male ruby-throat took it on himself to attack the newcomers, giving their operators a challenge to keep their artificial birds in the air. They’d fooled even the real hummingbirds - It was time for a high five! The little ruby-throat at last grew tired of chasing the zingers away since they wouldn’t stand and fight, nor were they approaching the flowers to feed. At that point, the zingers mingled with the hummingbirds with no further trouble.

  The second celebration came after Raj collected Luke and the rest of the Steering Committee to come and have a look. They could not pick one of the zingers out from among the real birds. They went up to two yards away, but still couldn’t see a zinger, even knowing exactly what they were looking for. It was only when Roy brought the three of them back to him via the remote control that they recognized the dummies.

  The next challenge Roy and his team had was to secure the radio signal between the remote control and the hummers. The danger was that someone could hijack their birds in mid-flight while operating it from a mile or more away.

  They were stunned

  The Harpers, Lewises and Rosslerites were all shocked when they saw and heard the media versions of the Harpers’ and Lewises’ interviews at the White House. It was the main news for days on end. ‘Former President of the United States, his head of the CIA and many others came out in full support of the Supreme Council and New World Order’ the media headlines screamed.

  In the days that followed, more and more names and faces of prominent politicians, officials, and celebrities from all over the world appeared. Among others, the Pope and the Dalai Lama were added to the media broadcasts as James Gordon and Anast
asia Oriov continued their world trip.

  Many, in fact, more than half of those who were reported to support the new regime were allowed to speak to the people and tell them why they were in support. People wondered why President Harper, the Pope, the Dalai Lama and many others never spoke, but the media was quiet about that.

  Nigel and Esther Harper, although they were expecting something like this to happen, were severely affected when they saw it in reality. They started to wonder if it was not better for them to rather be locked up or dead. Their names and faces were used to lure thousands, if not millions, into slavery and misery. How could they ever live with that? Sam and Susan’s reactions were not much different as they came to the same conclusions as the Harpers. Unless they could find a way to put an end to this and very soon. To live with the guilt of causing inconceivable suffering for multitudes of people was untenable. Something had to be done about it.

  The first reactions of the Rosslerites were that of total shock and disbelief and the latter was what it remained – disbelief. They remembered that they were listening to the Supreme Council’s news that had nothing to do with the truth. They were sure neither the Harpers nor the Lewises would have switched sides. It made them realize their friends were in imminent danger, and something had to be done about it – quickly.

  As soon as these broadcasts began, the Rabbit Hole turned into a war room of activities as everyone who had a contribution to make got busy with their tasks on their resistance effort. They had decided on the name Project Phoenix, after the bird of the Greek legends that was reborn by rising out of the ashes of its predecessor.

  It was as if they all personally heard Sam Lewis’ desperate plea for help to his friend Luke Clarke.

  Let’s get hold of Sam Lewis

  As they walked back to the cave after Roy’s demo, Luke was wondering how much easier life would have been back in his spy days if he’d had this type of technology available. He told Daniel that as soon as Roy had added the final touches to the hummers, they would have solved a major problem. He would be ready to go on his mission to find out what Sam Lewis’ situation was and get in touch with him.