PROJECT BlueBolt - AMERICAN UPRISING: BOOK III - AMERICAN UPRISING

by Marshall Huffman

  Kim went through her team’s approach to the Indiana facility and they followed the same process of critiquing the plan. Gerhardt was glad they had gone through it from top to bottom. Kim had never used the Halothane container before and would have opened it in the wrong direction. It wouldn’t have been a major problem but the gas would not have been nearly as effective, especially if the wind happened to be blowing.

  The last step in the preparation was to show the plans to Thomas, Lance, Ivan, and Lincoln. It was somewhat a waste of time because they didn’t really grasp the timing and why certain things had to be done in the specific order as Gerhardt and Kim lay out. While they asked a lot of questions, what it did do was give both Gerhardt and Kim a chance to really talk out the plan as if teaching it to students.

  ***

  Carrie Ingram had been flirting in a very subtle way with a young man named Allen Coldstine. She was almost sure he was involved in leaking information to dissidents and as an IIB agent she was determined not only to find out where the information was going but where it was coming from as well.

  She had observed him on three separate occasions going to Windsor Park. He would sit at the same bench and after looking around he would reach back and remove an envelope. As much as she wanted to grab the envelope, that would do little to determine who the information was coming from and where it was going.

  Today she decided to make her move. She watched from a distance as Allen looked around and then sat down on the bench. She immediately walked toward him.

  “Allen?”

  “Oh, hey Carrie,” he said standing up quickly.

  “No need to get up. How are you doing?”

  “Fine. Just fine. So, what brings you to Windsor?”

  “I was just cutting through. I thought it was you. What brings you here?” she asked.

  “I like to spend my lunch time here. I really like the peace and quiet.”

  “I don’t blame you. It is lovely. Please sit. I’ll join you for a few minutes if you don’t mind.”

  “No. No, please,” he said sitting back down.

  He was surprised when she sat fairly close to him rather than on the end of the bench.

  “It is peaceful isn’t it?” Carrie said, leaning back.

  “That’s what I like best about it. Not a lot of people come here.”

  “So how is work going?” she asked.

  “Same ole same ole, just a different day.”

  “Boy, I hear you there. I am sick of having all these restrictions placed on us. I feel like I can’t do anything without someone watching over my shoulder. We have cameras throughout the entire building where I work. It seems like the ISS can track me from when I get up to when I go to bed, if they stop there. I wouldn’t doubt they have our houses wired.”

  “It is fairly oppressive but I guess it is for our own good,” Allen said.

  “You really think so? Do you really think they have the right to stick their nose into everything we do?”

  He looked around hurriedly, “I wouldn’t say that too loud. Someone could overhear you and turn you in.”

  “You wouldn’t do that would you Allen?”

  “Of course not but someone else overhearing you could and then you know what happens.”

  “You mean I would disappear like my neighbors did?”

  “I don’t know about your neighbors but yes, something like that.”

  “Geez Allen, when is all of this going to stop? I wonder every day if this could be my day to vanish. I mean, what if someone who just doesn’t like me starts a rumor that I am anti-government? I could be taken off to one of those camps and no one would ever know,” Carrie told him.

  “What does your husband do for a living?”

  “Allen, I’m not married. Heck I don’t even have a boyfriend. My life is really boring. I get up, go to work, go home and lock my doors. I hardly ever go out because I don’t like the bar scene. I just read a lot. I don’t even watch much television.”

  “I know what you mean. Everything you do is a risk now days. You hang out with the wrong people or let something slip and you could land in big trouble.”

  “I hear you,” she said looking at her watch, “I need to run. Here,” she said writing her phone number on a piece of paper, “Call me sometime if you want,”

  “Yeah, sure, that would be great. I’ll do that,” he said standing when she got up.

  “I hope you do,” she said as she walked off.

  ***

  Within a few weeks Carrie and Allen had become a couple. She still maintained her own apartment but they spent most of their spare time together. He had asked her to move in on two or three occasions but she had held firm on keeping her own place.

  “Come on Carrie, just spend the night. You don’t need to go home,” he said as they got out of bed.

  “I can’t Allen. I have a big meeting tomorrow and I have to be ready. I need to go over my notes and be totally focused.”

  “I’ll give you space, I promise. I’ll work in the other room.”

  “Allen, I would really like to stay but I just can’t. This is too important. I need time to prepare and you would be a distraction.”

  “Alright, but I don’t like it. I don’t like you being out this late at night.”

  “I appreciate you worrying but I can handle myself. Now I really do need to run. I’ll come by or call you sometime tomorrow,” Carrie told him.

  He just sighed as she closed the door. He had been seriously thinking about asking her to marry him.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “General Lamb, how is the IIB doing? Anything further on stopping intelligence leaks?” Douglas asked.

  “Honestly? Not much is going on. There has been little in the way of militia action. In fact, they have just sort of melted into the woodwork. The only way we can flush out leaks is to have them active.”

  “And the uprisings? Anything on those?”

  “Since Chicago it has been pretty calm. A few big mouths ranting, but nothing organized. I believe a lot of potential protests were quelled with the way Chicago went down.”

  “I agree. You did a hell of a job. Hell of a job,” Douglas said.

  “Actually it was Colonel Bigelow who led the raid.”

  “And he answers to you. You are far too modest. It’s one of the things I appreciate about you. I doubt I could have selected a finer officer to head up the ISS.”

  “Thank you general. It’s very kind of you to say so.”

  “What about the IIB?”

  “That is a different story. They have been extremely active. We have flushed out seventeen ISS agents who were passing along information. On top of that, thirty-one more were selling protection to people that were on our suspect list. They have all been dealt with.”

  “Excellent. You know, we give those people good pay, great benefits, free housing, and all kinds of other perks and they still get greedy. I hope you sent them someplace very unhospitable.”

  “Alaska.”

  “That should do it.”

  “As you know, I have selected three IIB agents to keep an eye on their fellow agents. We found one of our own IIB agents trying to pull off his own scheme. My spy found one of the IIB agents shaking down an ISS agent who had his own racket going. It was the corrupt shaking down the corrupt. It never ceases to amaze me what people will do for money.”

  “Or power,” Douglas added.

  “Yes. We can’t forget that,” Lamb agreed.

  ***

  “What’s going on with you Allen?” Carrie said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re acting so secretive lately. Is there someone else?”

  “Goodness no. Carrie, I love you. Don’t you realize that?”

  “Then I don’t understand. You go to Windsor Park and sit at the same bench almost every day, rain or shine. What is going on?”

  “Nothing. I just like the place. It’s my quiet zone.”

  She just looked at him,
waiting.

  “Nothing is going on. Not really.”

  “Not really. Not really. And what does ‘not really’ mean?” she asked.

  “It means I just go there and hang out.”

  “Fine. You don’t want to tell me, that’s just fine with me. Look, I have a lot to do today. I think it would be better if I took off now.”

  “Carrie, don’t do this. I’m telling you it’s nothing.”

  “Hey, that’s okay with me. I gotta’ run. I’ll call you,” she said jumping up and heading for the door.

  Allen had to rush to catch her before she could get out door.

  “Hold it.”

  “Come on Allen. I need to go.”

  “Listen to me for a minute,” he said, grabbing her arm.

  “Allen. Let go.”

  “Sorry. I just want you to listen to me,” he insisted.

  “I don’t want to listen to you. I don’t care what you do. Now let me go and open that door.”

  “Please Carrie. I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

  “Allen, I don’t want to know anything. What you do is your business. I just can’t be involved in a relationship that isn’t based on trust. Let me go right now or I’ll scream. I mean it.”

  “Damn it Carrie, listen to me. I work for the resistance.”

  She just looked at him for several moments before speaking, “The resistance? What are you talking about? What resistance?”

  “Come in and sit down. This is going to take some time to explain.”

  “Allen. I don’t think I want to know. This sounds dangerous. I think you had better not tell me anything else. I won’t mention this conversation ever took place. Please, I don’t need to know about what you do.”

  “Yes you do Carrie. I love you. You need to understand everything and I was wrong not to tell you. Please?”

  She lowered her head and shook it.

  “I don’t think I should hear this.”

  “Please?” he begged.

  “Alright but this scares me,” Carrie said.

  They sat at the kitchen table and he told her everything he knew from the beginning to the end. She didn’t ask questions but listened intently. When he was finished she sat for a long time, just making sure she had all the facts straight.

  “I need to go Allen. I need to think about what you just told me. I’m not upset or anything but I need to sort out how I feel. You have put yourself in real danger and for what? Do you really think what you are doing will make a difference?”

  “I have to believe that,” he replied.

  “But the risk. You could just vanish in the middle of the night like so many others. Then what?”

  “You mean about us?”

  “About you, about me. Do you think for one minute they wouldn’t come after me if you were caught?”

  “I would never mention you.”

  “That’s bull. Of course you would. You would have to. They can make you talk. You would have no choice but to tell them everything. It wouldn’t be an option,” she replied.

  “I would tell them everything else but not about you.”

  “You are so wrong and so foolish to believe that they don’t already know about us. There is a camera just outside your building. They already know about us Allen.”

  He just looked at her without speaking.

  ***

  “Come in agent Ingram. I understand you are on to something important.”

  “Yes sir. I think I have a lead on the higher up leak you were looking for.”

  “Really? That is interesting news. Are you talking about the White House?”

  “No sir. Well, I think they may be attached to the White House but not actually in it,” she said.

  “Where then?”

  “In the Pentagon.”

  “The Pentagon? Really? Why would someone in the Pentagon be supporting the dissidents?” he asked.

  “I don’t know that sir, but that is the way it appears.”

  “Alright. Tell me what you do know.”

  “I have gotten close to a courier for the militia. He goes to Windsor Park and picks up an encrypted letter which he then passes on to a guy he calls ‘Rex’. That is not his real name but it is what he goes by. That guy then takes it to another person who decodes the message and phones the contents to the militia,” she told him.

  “What militia? There are a lot of them out there.”

  “From what my contact said, the militia have banded together under one command. It’s called the American Resistance Movement.”

  “Where does the encrypted information come from?” he asked.

  “My contact says he isn’t sure but he thinks the person is in the military.”

  “Why?”

  “Sir?”

  “Why does he say that? Has he seen the man? Is he in a uniform?”

  “My contact sa…”

  “You’re talking about Allen Coldstine, correct?”

  “Uh…well, yes sir,” she stammered.

  “Okay, go on.”

  “He went early to see if he could spot the courier.”

  “Whatever for? The idea behind a setup like that is to keep the information compartmentized. Doing that puts the whole network in jeopardy.”

  “Sir, he isn’t a professional. I think this is nothing more than a lark to him.”

  “A very dangerous one,” Lamb said, “Go on. Why does he think that?”

  “He said the man had a military haircut and just looked like one to him. The way he carried himself.”

  “That’s not much to go on. Still, it is something to look into. What else does he know? Can he describe this ‘Rex’ and the possible military link?”

  “I didn’t press that issue. I didn’t want to make him suspicious. I just listened,” Carrie told him.

  “And that was the right thing to do. Very smart. If you had done that it would have made him suspicious. So what are your plans now?” he asked.

  “That’s partly why I am here. I don’t know exactly what to do next. I told him I would have to think all of this over.”

  “That was shrewd thinking. I want you to stay away and not talk to him even if he tries to contact you for a day or so. I want him to think you are seriously thinking about what he told you and are struggling with what to do. Let him worry about it for the time being. Then you can go back to him and tell him that what he is doing is foolish and dangerous. You want no part of it. I know I am asking a lot but you need to untangle yourself from this operation. You could get caught up in the crossfire so to speak and I need good agents like yourself.”

  “You want me to drop the relationship, correct?”

  “I think that would be the best thing but the decision is yours. I certainly don’t intend to force you.”

  “No. No, I see what you are saying. At some point you are going to have to sweep them all in and question them. It would be better if I wasn’t involved with that part.”

  “Precisely.”

  “I’ll tell him in a couple of days then.”

  “You’re sure you’re okay with that? He asked.

  “Yes sir, I am.”

  “Thank you for bring this to light. You are a wonderful agent and I am sure you will be happy with your promotion to regional leader. That will be effective as soon as you are ready to wrap this up and move on.”

  “Sir. Thank you. I didn’t do this for a promotion.”

  “No, but you deserve it. This can’t be easy for you but you are willing to do what is good for those who are loyal and that deserve special consideration. Congratulations Regional Commander Ingram,” he told Carrie.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  General Lamb sat in his office reading the official report that agent Carrie Ingram had submitted. This was a serious blow to his information gathering ability. If she could stumble onto it, that meant others might as well.

  Promoting her to regional commander would help in the immediate time but there was still the problem of All
en. Obviously his being able to identify both couriers was a huge problem. As much as he didn’t want to have to do it, Allen was a threat that had to be resolved. He had to move on the issue but if he rushed it could set off alarm bells. Ms. Ingram was no fool. If Allen suddenly disappeared she might start to wonder. Then again, he could be brought in for questioning and Lamb could find out just how much he really knew. Finally he made his decision.

  “Johnson, this file is on Allen Coldstine. He is suspected of passing along information that is confidential in nature. Here is his file. I want him arrested and brought in for questioning.”

  “When do you want this done?”

  “Immediately,”

  “Friday night?”

  “Is that a problem for you? If it is I assure you I can make some other arrangements. I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you,” he said sarcastically.

  “No sir. It’s just that most of our interrogators won’t be in until Monday.”

  “I think I can handle one little informant, don’t you Mr. Johnson?”

  “Yes sir, sorry sir. I didn’t mean it…”

  “Just go get the man before you put your other foot in your mouth,” Lamb told him.

  Johnson turned and rushed out of the office, grabbing two other agents and they headed off to bring in Allen Coldstine.”

  Lamb needed him brought in when no one else was around. He had to find out exactly what Coldstine knew and how much his network was jeopardized. Everything was going so smoothly and then someone had to stick their nose in too far for their own good. If he had just done his job this would never have happened. But it did happen and now he had to do some damage control.

  ***

  Allen sat sweating in a small room with a single light. A one way mirror was right across from him and he knew he was being watched. All it did was make him more nervous. Carrie. He had to protect her somehow. Maybe they wouldn’t ask if he just came out and gave them the information. He didn’t want to get her involved in all of this. It was his duty to protect her.

  Finally the door opened and a man with three stars on his collar walked in the room with a thick file folder. He walked around the room first before he finally sat down across from Allen. He didn’t say a word but just started looking through the file.