The Shadow's Code

by Miles Goodson

  James looked at the ceiling. His eyes were stinging. His vision was blurry and he was trying to wrestle a throbbing headache. “OK. Tell you what. Let’s run it by the president, we see him tomorrow at 1600. See what he thinks,” James said, dropping two tablets into a glass of water that fizzed and frothed.

  Bill agreed, they both left their offices shortly after the phone call and were feeling worn down. Fatigue was beginning to cloud their minds.

  The president arrived at a funeral plot at a quarter past ten in the morning; the secret service followed him at a distance. A breeze shot through the cemetery and the president stood tall before sitting down next to Sasha and Wendy. Felix’s ‘suggestion’ to recruit them into the secret service was strong enough for the president to tell both of them to go with him back to D.C that day. Both smiled from ear to ear and agreed. The president wasn’t sure about asking them to watch Roger, he trusted Roger, but he also trusted Lt Felix. The service was finished in fifteen minutes as most of the people there knew they were burying a coffin of bricks and that Lt Felix was currently sat on a military transporter plane heading for the West Indies. They made the service look genuine just in case someone was watching but it was a short and sweet affair.

  As the service finished everyone darted away in different directions. Wendy and Sasha were escorted to a car. They followed the president to a military base twenty minutes away. Air Force One waited on the tarmac. Over twenty secret service agents guarded the plane. The pilots were busy in the cockpit requesting a special route back to D.C from air traffic control. The president had requested some ‘thinking time’ in the air so the plane flew west initially, then up towards New York State before heading back to D.C., adding an hour onto the journey. The president was back in the White House by 3.45pm. Wendy and Sasha were put in a briefing room with the Secret Service Head of Staff; the president had made it very clear that these two ladies were to be hired. Initially the Head of Staff had challenged the decision. However one mention of the name Lt Felix changed his mind. Their IDs were printed within an hour.

  James and Bill waited patiently until 4pm in Roger’s office. Roger wasn’t there, which they were both happy about. James couldn’t help but shake his leg; bouncing it up and down on his toes. He was nervous. He was about to walk into the Oval Office and listen to Bill explain that Lt Felix may be a traitor. James had not seen the president angry before, but he had a feeling he was about to.

  The president beamed a smile as the two men walked into the Oval Office. James forced each cheek as far towards his ears as he could. Roger was still missing. Bill shook hands with the president and noticed that the president’s fingers were very cold. James didn’t notice. He was too busy worrying about what Bill was about to say. They all sat down.

  “So, anything new?” the president asked, grabbing his mug of coffee and clasping his fingers around the warm porcelain.

  “Actually yes,” Bill answered confidently. James tried to disappear into his seat but couldn’t sink any lower.

  “Great, what do you have?” the president asked.

  “We’ve been trying to track down who could have helped Kioshi. Who may have tipped him off about locations and times,” Bill said. The president put his coffee mug down and was now leaning forward slightly. Bill decided to continue rather than wait from a response. “We drew up a short list and one person seems to stand out… it’s Lt Felix.”

  The president’s eyes widened and his eyebrows went up in surprise then back down into a deep frown. He leaned forward a bit more and placed both his elbows on the desk. James felt like he was sat on a landmine just waiting for it to explode underneath him. His mind drifted to the thought of being thrown out of the White House. He would be a running joke back at Langley.

  Before the President had a chance to respond there was a knock at the door. Roger entered, his face was pale and he was mopping his brow of sweat. He had spent the last forty minutes in the men’s room and after a few steps into the Oval Office realized he had an urgent need to return.

  “Dammit, sorry, I will be back in a minute,” he said, turning around.

  “Are you OK, Roger?” the president called but Roger was already out of the door and charging down the corridor.

  The room fell silent for a moment. The president was confused and his mind drifted into a cascade of questions. Surely it couldn’t be Felix? he thought. Although he did just disappear and his note did seem riddled with guilt. What about the girls? Had he told them to keep an eye on things for him? Is that why he wanted Wendy to watch Roger? What was wrong with Roger anyway?

  The questions in the president’s mind stopped when Bill coughed. He tried to break the silence and remind the president that both he and James were sat in front of him.

  “What… I mean, are you sure? Do you have proof?” the president asked. He had delivered the hammer blow question straight away and James feared Bill’s answer.

  “Well Sir, we’ve gone through the list over and over. We can’t think of anyone else close enough or with the resources. James and I have investigated each other to prove we are not trying to cover our own tracks. We’ve delved into each other’s lives and can’t find any proof that either of us was implicated.”

  The president raised his hand to stop Bill speaking again. “OK, what about Warren, or Roger - where is Warren anyway?” he asked.

  “Warren had become a nervous wreck so I’ve given him all the work I can to distract him. He is doing a report on Somali pirates for me that is taking up a lot of his time.”

  James settled himself for a few seconds. He managed to settle his heart rate enough to speak. He explained that Warren had come up clean. They could only do limited checks on Roger but he spent nearly all his time in the White House where phone lines were monitored and the Secret Service roamed freely.

  “What about the agency that hired Lindon?” the president asked, desperate to find another culprit. James shook his head.

  “They knew nothing about Lindon except his name. They knew we were planning to capture him but they knew nothing of Kioshi.” The president went deep into thought, creasing his forehead and staring at a picture on the wall.

  “It only leaves two people, sir, Lt Felix and… well… you,” Bill said cautiously.

  The president acted as though he didn’t hear what Bill said at first, but decided he had better answer even though no answer was necessary. “Well it wasn’t me. I think we can safely assume that?”

  Bill and James nearly gave themselves whiplash with the speed at which they nodded. Both were nervous at even the thought of suggesting the president was a mole.

  “Lt Felix, I just… I don’t know.”

  Bill looked at James. “Do you know where he is, sir?” he asked.

  “Gone.”

  James’s eyebrows shot up. “Gone?” he said.

  “Yes, I went to the funeral this morning. Well not his real funeral, but he sent me a letter. It said he had intelligence that he was next on Kioshi’s hit list and so was going to disappear.” James and Bill felt vindicated for suggesting Lt Felix. His actions were the ones of a guilty man; at least in their minds. “He even sent two of his staff to meet me at the funeral. He said I should give them jobs and that one should keep an eye on Roger.” The president darted his eyes left and right. “Yes, that’s it, if one of them was to follow Roger everywhere, including our meetings, she would overhear everything and could report back to Felix, and I would be too busy being suspicious of Roger to notice what was happening right under my nose… DAMMIT.” The president slammed his fist on the table.

  “Well hold on sir, this is just a theory, maybe we shouldn’t be so hasty.” James’s bravery had grown during the conversation. “Why don’t you put the woman to work as requested by Felix? Then we can monitor her. If there’s anything suspicious then we go from a hunch to proven fact.”

  The president looked at one of his shoes and became fixated on the design around the toecap. The perfect stitching around
the edges and the gleaming tan leather held his focus. After a few seconds of silence passed he answered. “Yes, you’re right. Let’s meet again in three days. I want you both working on this around the clock. We must have answers, and quickly.”

  Both men nodded. Bill’s neck went dark red, as he knew he was going to get roasted by his wife when he got home. He had promised to take the family out tomorrow and now he would have to work. Maybe she would understand, he thought. Then reality kicked in, this was the fourth time he had cancelled plans with the family in the last six weeks. He would be sleeping in the guest bedroom tonight.

  Chapter 39

  A bout of food poisoning had slowed Roger significantly since Tuesday; he cursed his decision to go to a seafood restaurant on Monday afternoon. Not a single fish looked like it had seen the sea for months. Roger called the office but there were only a few memos to read and a couple of meetings in the afternoon; nothing important. Roger got his secretary to read him the memos over the phone and cancel his appointments. He was going back to bed and wouldn’t be available for the rest of the day.

  The president had noted Roger’s absence; fortunately Roger prepared the president’s diary a week in advance, along with speeches and factsheets. As long as he was back before Sunday then his absence wouldn’t slow down the well-oiled machine of White House politics. However it did mean that the president didn’t have a chance to brief Roger about his suspicion of Lt Felix. Roger was also unaware of Lt Felix’s close aides Sasha and Wendy who were now working their probationary shifts in the Secret Service.

  Bill arrived early at his office the next morning and quickly busied himself by scribbling notes. He had only managed three hours sleep in the guest bedroom the night before. The mattress was too hard and the pillows made him sneeze.

  James had arrived at Bill’s office only a few hours after him. They were both determined to crack the unanswered questions that were arising the further they investigated. Lindon, Kioshi and project ‘Parasite’ all lingered in their minds like a vast desert of unknowns. At 10.15am James stepped out for some fresh air and to make some phone calls to his team at the CIA headquarters. Bill got them both a coffee from the vending machine, as his secretary wasn’t in on the weekend. A moment after he arrived back in his office with a scolding hot Styrofoam cup he heard the sound of knuckles wrap at his door.

  Melvyn Longbrine walked through the door. He had a dark grey goatee that the army tolerated, but which had always annoyed Bill. Melvyn held one of the highest security clearances in the cyber team and had been helping in any way he could.

  “Morning Melvyn, news?” Melvyn sat down in front of Bill and laid a thin file on his desk. He exhaled for an extended period then looked straight at Bill.

  “Sir, I’ve found something. I don’t know what it means, and I’m not sure I’m cleared to even look at it.” Bill was suddenly alert. He held his hands on his desk, touching the tips of his fingers and thumb together.

  “Go on,” Bill said. Melvyn opened the file.

  “So I’ve got the whole team working on Kioshi and one guy working on Lindon as you asked. I decided to concentrate on anything that may be associated with ‘Parasite’. I wanted to see if there was anything about ‘Parasite’ that might give something away about Lindon or Kioshi. Over the past few days I’ve been exploring a trail that I thought might lead me somewhere, but… well…” Melvyn looked at the ground. He didn’t quite know how to put into words what he had found. Bill’s fingers were now tapping.

  “Dammit Melvyn, spit it out!” he ordered. There was a short pause.

  “Basically I wanted to see if Kioshi had ever tried to access the files… he hasn’t but there are suspicious attempts at access from outside…. but what I found was something completely different. I found old paperwork and missions that have not been given the green light but still went ahead. The files show that the US Army and Air Force worked together on over twenty-two nuclear weapons.” Bill’s heart rate slowed. This wasn’t the breakthrough he was hoping for.

  “Melvyn, you know we’ve got an open project with nuclear warheads and we work together with the Air Force and the Navy,” Bill said, slumping in his chair.

  “Hold on. I didn’t tell you the whole story yet. The first of these types of weapons is recoded just before the Nagasaki attack. The type of nuclear weapon is unique. It’s not a warhead like I’ve ever seen before. These bombs are set to be triggered thousands of miles away. They are stable enough to sit unattended for years and then be mobilized.” Bill was growing more impatient.

  “So?” he shrugged. “I’m really not sure why you’re wasting my time with this,” Bill said impatiently.

  Melvyn continued, “I’ve uncovered a mission statement for the Nagasaki attack. It was a written mission brief using pen and paper rather than a digitalized mission but someone has scanned and uploaded it to the system. One of the planes was sent with one of these weapons on board. In its official report it had a technical fault and it returned to base, but what I’ve uncovered shows it flew a separate mission. One to drop this weapon and leave it sitting there, just waiting to be detonated. Then I uncovered twenty-one other mission statements, but these are all for embassies… US embassies across the world… The controlled devices show as ‘active’ but they are addressed at embassies. Some of them are in friendly nations!”

  Bill was confused and his eyes were now wide open. He glared at the thin file. It had addresses and codes, but little other information. What Melvyn had uncovered was just how successful ‘Parasite’ had been. Melvyn leaned down and whispered.

  “Sir, I think these embassies are holding remote nuclear weapons.”

  Before Bill had a chance to answer James knocked on the door and walked straight in. Bill turned to Melvyn and whispered, “Leave this with me and please get me something on Kioshi that I can work with.”

  “Yes sir.” Melvyn stood, nodded and smiled at James as he walked out.

  “Anything of interest?” James asked.

  “Perhaps,” Bill answered, staring at the single piece of paper. “England, Germany, South Korea, Canada,” he whispered to himself. Bill lifted his head. “Sit down, James. I need to share this with you.”

  Bill explained to James what he had just been told. It left both of them scratching their heads. They agreed that the only person who was going to be able to answer this was the big man in the White House. Bill called Melvyn back to his office.

  “I need you to put a report together with everything you’ve found, and I need it by 1800,” Bill ordered.

  Melvyn nodded. “I will do all I can.”

  The president agreed to meet them at 8pm. Bill has asked to meet at 7pm but the president wanted some time for a family dinner.

  A military helicopter touched down on the White House lawn at 19.55. Bill and James had become a regular sight. They strolled towards the Oval Office. When they arrived they were told the president was in his dining room and had asked for them to join him there.

  Bill and James hadn’t been to the president’s dining room before. It was the finest dining room James or Bill would ever see. Every single item gleamed and nothing was out of place. The president was in a jumper and khakis. His purple slippers were begging for a comment but neither James nor Bill had the courage.

  “Sir, James and I are here with more questions than answers again, but we are making progress.”

  The president smiled and nodded but didn’t speak. James was going to give a rundown of the report that Melvyn had written but after tripping over his first few words he let Bill take over. The president’s eyebrows rose, dropped and then darted at different angles as Bill spoke. His usual open character and booming voice remained hidden. Instead he was tight lipped and reserved. Bill assumed he was just tired, or relaxed now that he was lounging on a couch instead of sat in his office chair.

  “How did you come across this again?” the president asked. Bill looked straight forward and spoke quickly.

  “One
of my cyber guys stumbled across it as he tried to track any attempts to enter the system. He hoped it would lead him to some new information on Kioshi,” Bill answered.

  “We should go to my office,” the president said, then slipped off his purple slippers and pushed his feet into a pair of shoes next to the door. The three men walked down the hallway in silence. Once they reached the Oval Office Bill and James sat down but the president stayed standing.

  “Gentlemen, what you have stumbled across is a national secret that is handed down from president to president in the presidential briefcase I showed you once before. It has not been discussed in over fifty years between anyone but the presidents of our great country and Lt Felix. Not even the men who took part in the mission really knew what they had done, such was the genius of Felix.”

  Bill and James looked at each other for a second, then returned their gaze back to the president who was looking out of the window. The president exhaled, huffed and leaned forward as he stared out of the window. He was about to tell them an ugly truth.

  “After the success in Japan we realized that leaving such a powerful weapon on foreign soil gave us power and the ability to stop any great war before it began. In 1964 we embarked on a project, which continued the legacy of Nagasaki…‘Parasite’ is much more than I have led you to believe.”

  The president paused and Bill and James digested the information. Another great secret was being laid bare to them. The president turned to them.

  “Everyone thinks that a nuclear attack will be visible by air. The idea that you will see the bombs coming is a weakness and always has been. It gives the enemy a chance to strike back. Many years ago one of our great leaders decided that we should insure ourselves against such weakness. They decided to move some of our nuclear weapons overseas… then… if needed we could attack without warning. Just press a button and inflict massive damage without an enemy state knowing what hit them. There will be no radar blip, no signal and no alert of a warhead screaming through the skies. Just a detonation.”