by JC Ryan
Upon arrival outside the door, his last visit to the office still vivid in his mind, he hesitated before going in. To his relief, Laurie Campbell was not sitting at his desk this time. I probably just imagined the whole thing. He thought, shaking his head at his crazy notion.
“Where’s Nguyen?” He demanded from his aid.
“We don’t know sir. We can’t find him.”
“Start turning over beds in Washington and find Lucas Nguyen!” He yelled.
“Yes, sir.”
“And when you do find him, tell him to get his ass over here yesterday; he’s now officially at the top of my shit list!”
“Yes, General!” The aid squeaked as he scrambled for the door.
At Raven Rock, they had been watching Hayden’s every move. Roy adjusted some settings on the panel and as soon as the aid left, Laurie Campbell appeared in the office with Hayden.
“Now what are you going to do, Tom? Your Secretary of Defense and most trusted advisor is missing. Maybe he has abandoned you, Tom.”
Forgetting for a moment that he was seeing a ghost, he yelled, “What did you do with the prisoners, bitch? Where are they?”
“I’ll never tell you, and you’ll never find them.” She faded from view just as two of his guards ran into the room.
They stopped short when they saw Hayden was alone.
“What are you doing here?” he growled.
“Sorry sir,” one of them answered. “We heard you yell and thought something might be wrong.”
“Do you see anyone else in here?” Hayden asked, brusquely.
“No, sir,” they both answered looking at each other inquisitively.
“Did you see anyone else when you came in?”
“No, sir.”
“Then you two better get your hearing checked. Get the hell out of here!” he jumped from his seat, rushed at them and shoved them bodily toward the door.
The two guards looked at each other in confusion. What the hell was that all about? But neither of them said a word.
He slammed the door behind them muttering, “am I going mad? Have I lost my mind? She’s dead. I know she’s dead. She can’t possibly be here having conversations with me. And how does she know about Lucas?”
“Because I know everything now that I’m dead, her voice whispered. “I am now in a timeless realm, Tom. I can see the present, the past, and the future. And I know how it’s all going to end for you, Tom. Believe me; it’s going to be bad. Very bad.”
He spun around, expecting to see her again, but the room was empty. He clasped his hands over his ears to shut out all sound.
***
Lieutenant General Kurt Frayser had just reached the exit to the parking lot when he heard someone call to him.
“Hey, Kurt! Can you come downstairs and give me a hand for a minute?”
It sounded like Nguyen, so he hurried down the stairs thinking that perhaps the man had fallen and injured himself yesterday and was unable to get up.
As his foot left the last step, he felt a sting on his neck.
Chapter 70- A bird’s-eye view of the world
Since his arrival at Raven Rock Daniel had got a taste of the enormity of the task and the demands being President of the United States was going to place on him. Nigel has been mentoring and preparing Daniel as much as he could. Yet, no amount of training and schooling could ever replace real experience and Daniel was getting it in droves.
He started his days with an intelligence briefing from Salome and her Intelligence Committee. This was followed by the daily planning and preparation sessions, with the members of his shadow cabinet who were located at various safe houses across the country where they and their families were kept in safety by Tectus members, all of it conducted via the secured video links set up by Raj. Afterwards followed the mentoring session with Nigel, Sam, Luke and the elders at the Rabbit Hole including Sarah. This usually started with an appraisal of the preceding meeting with the shadow cabinet, followed by Nigel and others imparting more wisdom and advice to their young understudy.
Daniel also had a demand on his time from Cabinet members for one-on-one meetings to discuss department specific ideas, issues and plans. In between it all he had to deal with the Trepang crisis and participate in the Rosslerites leadership group led by Sam to plan and execute Operation Winnow. The name they had chosen for the operation to overthrow Hayden was a reference to blowing air through grain in order to remove the chaff. “Getting rid of the worthless,” Roy had quipped.
Despite the mounting pressure and responsibilities, the fact that he was still recovering from his shoulder wound, and didn’t have his family with him, Daniel never complained. He always looked energized and enthusiastic, a true inspiration for everyone around him. Nigel quietly took notice—he was impressed and he was proud, “He is going to be a fine president,” he had often remarked to his fellow Musketeers before he had relocated from the Rabbit Hole to Raven Rock in anticipation of the attack on the White House.
***
It was Nigel’s knocking on the office door frame that got Daniel to look up from his computer screen.
“Nigel, come on in!” he invited.
“By my calculations, it’s past lunch time, and you’ve been at that desk since dark o’clock from what I hear,” Nigel stated.
“Nigel, we’re underground… it’s always dark in here,” Daniel smirked.
“You know what I mean, don’t avoid the subject. None of us wants to face Sarah’s wrath for not making sure you take care of yourself! When’s the last time you ate?”
“Dinner last night.”
“Son, that was nearly 20 hours ago; come on, let’s go to the cafeteria and get something to eat.”
Daniel noticed the little tablet computer in his hand. Nigel was very seldom seen using computers and gadgets. In fact, Daniel couldn’t recall ever seeing the former President ever using a tablet computer; having one in his hand now had some significance. Daniel had to ask, “what do you have there?”
“I’ll tell you over lunch, now come on!” Nigel turned away clearly expecting Daniel to follow him without altercation.
Daniel muttered to himself but got up and set out to catch up with Nigel.
They selected a table away from other diners for a measure of privacy and settled in to eat.
“How are our guests?” Daniel asked, referring to Hayden’s cabinet members that had been captured and were holding in cells at the underground headquarters. It was part of Nigel’s tasks to talk to the captives and persuade them, in gentle ways, about the wrongness of their ways and their enormous disservice to the American people.
“They seem to have accepted the situation, I’ve got Frayser listening and talking to me. Nguyen is probably going to play hardball. But he is also the one who is probably in the most trouble for killing George Miller, Secretary of Treasury and I suspect some others. I’ll keep on working on them; we might just need something from them when the time comes.”
“Hmmm. I guess you will fill me in when the time comes?” Daniel smiled.
“Indeed.”
“So, what do you have on that tablet?”
“This,” Nigel said, “contains a birds-eye view of the international political status of the world. Salome and the Intelligence Committee have been collecting and analyzing data and have put together a full report for you. It’s all on here.”
Daniel’s eyebrows raised, “Excellent! Let’s see it!”
“There’s quite a bit of information to sort through in there. Shall I give you the highlights and then you can study the details later?”
“Sounds good. Let’s hear it!”
Nigel took a sip off his coffee and started. “Russia is basically in chaos. By nature, it’s an inhospitable country that has, in modern times, relied pretty much only on gas and oil to drive their economy. Several decades ago, gas and oil prices began to drop as the Middle East started pumping more oil and also more and more countries started developing their own n
on-fossil-fuel energy solutions.
“Russia was in the economic doldrums long before Brideaux came to power, his reign only exacerbated their situation.
“The Russian people are hungry and desperate—famine and barbaric scenes of civil unrest have become commonplace. Worse than our own.
“In the past when the Russian people and economy were suffering, their government would launch an offensive outside their borders to draw attention away from their domestic issues. It looks like they are preparing to do the same now, only this time it’s not just to hide their domestic issues, it’s to get their hands on the food supplies of their neighbors.
“They have also been making some noises about the extradition of Brideaux and his cronies.”
“Well, they’ll have to join the queue with everyone else,” Daniel said.
Nigel nodded and continued.
“China. Before Brideaux’s power grab, China was usually careful to avoid all-out war with anyone. However, now they’re also feeling the economic pinch and their overpopulation doesn’t help.
“In order for them to survive as a nation with what they have now, given the state of the world economy and food production, they would either have to reduce their population by half or get more territory. I probably don’t have to tell you what they’ve decided?”
Daniel shook his head, “So, they’re looking at the breadbaskets and land of their neighbors, which means they’ve changed their policy about war.”
“You’ve got it,” Nigel said.
“The nearby Asian countries and countries a bit further away like Australia and New Zealand are becoming anxious now that they feel the eyes of one and a half billion Chinese staring at them.”
Daniel frowned. “Okay, that means we’ll have to keep an eye on what Russia and China are doing.
Nigel agreed and continued. “The Middle East. The people of the Middle East have pretty much been living in appalling conditions for hundreds of years, except for their crooked politicians and oil sheiks. Right now, that area is a disaster of Biblical proportions.
“Although strife and turmoil have always been part of their daily existence, it has become much worse since Brideaux and is deteriorating by the day.
“As you know, the population of the region was drastically reduced by the Ninth Cycle virus, which wiped out nearly fifty percent of the people of Middle Eastern countries a few years ago; they are still recovering from that. The only positive out of their bleak situation is that they are so busy fighting each other they don’t have the time and resources to be training terrorists to attack the rest of the world and convert us all to their faith.
“But having said that, the exception is, as always, Israel. Despite their differences, they are united in their hatred of the Jews, which has continued unabated since the days of Abraham. The issue is that lately their hatred has become stronger than ever. By their reasoning, since Israel seems to have come through most of Brideaux’s destructive actions unscathed, Israel must have been in cahoots with Brideaux.”
“Now where do you start to argue with foolishness like that?” Daniel noted, shaking his head.
“Well here is some advice for you; never argue with a fool. He will pull you down to his level and beat you with experience.”
Daniel grinned. “Great piece of wisdom. I’ll remember that.”
Nigel continued. “Not much has changed for South America and Africa—in broad terms their lot has been more or less the same before, during, and after Brideaux’s time. There are no imminent threats from them. Their situation remains dreadful but there will be nothing the United States, can do to help them until we are back on our feet.”
“Heartbreaking, but I guess the reality of ‘charity begins at home’ rings true now,” Daniel said.
“The countries of Western Europe are better off than most,” Nigel said. “In spite of the rough times the European Union had a few years ago, which almost led to its complete demise, it did survive the bad patch, which has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for them. All its members have been able to share food, shelter, resources, etcetera.
“They don’t have much, but what they have, they’re sharing. Their close location to each other, small country size, and excellent infrastructure is helping them to move supplies around quickly, providing relief in places where it is needed most.
“Although they are better off with their food and supplies, they have not been spared the civil unrest that the other countries are experiencing. However, it is not as bad as in the other countries.”
Daniel was shaking his head by the end of it, “And that was just the high-level view, the tip of the iceberg so to speak, the part that we can see. Only God knows what dangers are lurking below the surface.”
Nigel nodded.
Daniel would only later realize how true his words about the lurking dangers were.
The two men fell quiet while sipping their coffee and finishing their lunch, reevaluating the information.
Nigel spoke first. “The Intelligence Committee believes that the United States, because of our democracy, brainpower, infrastructure, technological advances, and our industrious nature, will be the country that is probably in the best position to get out of this turmoil before everyone else. That’ll make us the world leader again.”
Daniel interjected. “Why do I get the impression you have some reservations about being the world leader? Isn’t it true that most of the world thinks it’s best to have America as the guardian of the free world—to be the deterring power to Russia, China, and any other countries with notions of expansionism?”
“No reservations, it’s probably best that we are the world leader. The thing is that to a certain extent the playing fields around the globe have been leveled. The military and security forces of every country have been decimated, military arsenals have been destroyed, so has each and every nuclear weapon, even nuclear power stations.”
“Oh, my God! We’re looking at a new arms race, the Cold War all over again!”
“That’s about the size of it.” Nigel replied somberly. “We can see only one way that tide could be stemmed - the technological advances available in the Tenth Cycle Library. People like Roy and Raj and their teams can get us to the front and keep us there.”
Daniel looked pensive when he spoke. “I sincerely hope you’re not suggesting that the library be turned over to the government and used to establish the United States as the World Leader.
“Sarah and I have always said we want to keep the Library out of the hands of any government, we have always been of the opinion that the information was left there by the people of the Tenth Cycle for the benefit all of humanity, not just one government.
“But as soon as we started delving into the information we realized that we couldn’t open it up to everyone. Our civilization has not reached the level of maturity which the Tenth Cycle had when they left the Library for us. There is just too much technological information, which could be used for malevolent purposes. Many times, Sarah and I have wondered if there was a way we could somehow ‘undiscover’ and undo what we have done because we as a civilization are obviously not advanced enough to use the information responsibly.”
“Are you saying…” Nigel started, but Daniel held his hand up.
“Let me finish. What I was about to say was; in the light of what we are dealing with now, we might have to reconsider our stance. And as far as I am concerned, and I am sure Sarah will support me, the decision is not just oursto make alone. That burden now falls on the shoulders of the leadership of the Rossler Foundation. I would even go as far as to say that it probably should be debated by everyone living in the Rabbit Hole.”
Nigel slowly nodded. “Yes, I agree. However, I don’t think there is an immediate urgency to make a decision about it. As long as it is in the hands of the Rossler Foundation, as it is now we know the United States will get the benefit. But, to get to the front of the pack of countries who would be jockeying to be the new
world power, we’ll have to put in a lot more effort and resources to get everything out of the Library and use it to our advantage. And for that it might be necessary to allow the government in as a type of partner.”
“Yes, I can see that. I’ll talk to Sarah about it. If she agrees, we can float the idea at the leadership meeting tomorrow and get everyone to put their thinking caps on,” Daniel said.
“We should keep in mind that as long as we have that library, whether it’s in possession of the Foundation or the government, there will be those who would want to get their hands on it, with no regard for costs, money, effort, and lives.”
Nigel agreed and then changed the topic. “Daniel, as you know, I’ve pledged you my support, and I’ll always, as long as I’m physically and mentally able, be available to assist you in any way possible.”
“Why so melodramatic all of sudden Nigel?” Daniel smiled.
“Maybe because I know that when you’re taking your place in the White House you will have to pull this country out of the deepest sewer it has ever been in. It’s going to require the leadership of someone who has the ability to unite the people, assemble the best, most qualified and experienced people in a bipartisan coalition to work on resolving the issues.
“It’s going to take a leader who will not hesitate to ask for help, a person who is honest and open—never covering up anything, who exhibits openness and true transparency—someone who will tell it like it is and do whatever it takes.”
“Sobering thoughts Nigel, sobering indeed,” Daniel whispered.
I’m telling you that because I believe you have what it takes, and so does the entire Rossler Foundation leadership group, and every Rosslerite I have spoken to.”
“Thank you, Nigel, it’s truly humbling and inspiring to know.”
Their meal and meeting complete, Nigel handed Daniel the tablet before they went their separate ways.
Chapter 71- PsyOps Phase Two