by David Archer
“Hell, no, I’m not going to forgive you,” Allison replied. “Why didn’t you just come and tell me what was going on? As long as I’ve known you, I would’ve taken you seriously.”
“Yes, but you might also have wanted to bring others into your confidence. That’s what we couldn’t risk. Allison, we don’t know for sure that we have a clear idea of who all is involved, and some of the noise these people are making has actually implied that they have someone in every agency. If they got somebody in our outfit, then there was too big a chance they might figure out that we got you involved. I couldn’t risk it, so this little dodge was the best idea we could come up with.”
“Okay, fine, whatever. Just tell me, and don’t pull any freaking punches, do you honestly believe all this is real?” She held up the cell phone Holloway had given her. “They let me read through all their files on this whole operation, and while it looks real, it’s possible this is some kind of set up. If you honestly believe it’s true, I want to know why.”
“Because it would work,” Parker said. “If the disaster strikes that kills off thousands and thousands of children, and the right people start making noises about how there’s no way to protect those children in a world with so many freedoms, the people of America are going to start demanding that those freedoms be abrogated. Oh, sure, there will be plenty of diehards who insist this is some kind of plot to enslave us all, but the truth of the matter is that most people would go along with it. The vast majority of Americans think that life is pretty good; if the government thinks they’ll be better off with an internal passport system, or without assault rifles, most of them are going to grumble for a few minutes and then they’ll give in. If you don’t believe me, just look back to when they started requiring guns to be registered. Every gun owner in the country complained, but he still went down and registered his guns.”
She scowled at him. “Fine. I guess that’s what I needed to hear. You’re right, way too many people would go along with this idiocy. Now, tell me what you think about the idea of bringing Camelot in on this.”
“There’s nobody else who could do it,” Parker said. “To be completely honest, we didn’t know when the balloon was going to go up, and I think we’re lucky that this all happened while he’s got Cinderella out with him. Between the two of them and Noah’s team, I think there’s a good chance the head of this hydra can be cut off fast enough to keep them from growing all the way back.”
“Have you got a plan worked out?” Allison asked.
“Me? I’m not the tactician. What we need to do is get you and Molly Hansen into a plane, send you out to where the team is hiding. All I know right now is that they’re in England, and that they have been set up to the point they should be able to live under the radar for a long time. They’ll need Molly, but planning a mission like this is going to have to be on Noah, for the most part.”
“Does Molly know anything about this yet?”
“Nothing. I wasn’t about to bring anyone else in on this until I knew you were on board. That way, if you decided to take me out and have me shot, nobody else was going to die with me.”
“You old bastard. All right, let’s do it. What’s the next step?”
“We’ve got to get you to Noah. He’s not going to accept orders like these from anybody but you, and I’ve made sure those people over there know it.” He took a deep breath. “Allison, there’s one more thing you need to know about.”
She looked him in the eye. “Parker, if you’re about to give me some bad news…”
“The worst. At this time, I don’t dare let anyone inside our organization know the truth of what’s happening. The reason for that is because there is one person involved whose name has been kept from you until now, because I know you well enough to know I’m the only person you would ever believe about something like this. Allison, I’m talking about the president, himself.”
Her eyes shot open. “Jonathan Andrews? The President of the United States? Parker, you’ve got to be pulling my leg.”
Parker picked up a tablet that was tucked down beside his seat and handed it to her. “This video was taken just under a week ago. It’s already queued up,” he said. “Just hit the play button.”
Allison looked at the tablet in her hand and touched the power button, making it light up. There was a video all ready to go on the screen, and she touched the icon to make it play.
The video was grainy, and had obviously been taken by a camera designed to operate in low light and from a distance. It showed President Andrews standing in a parking lot with Senator Solomon Perkowski and Tom Lewiston from the NSA. Apparently, whoever got the video had used a shotgun microphone, because she could plainly hear them speaking.
“How soon are we talking about?” asked the president.
It was Perkowski who answered. “The first event will take place within the next sixty days,” he said. “That will get us started, and then the second event will follow about three months later. The final event will come a week after that one. By that time, we’ll have enough backing to install you as the Chairman I of the Ascension Council, and then we’ll order a special election for a new president, to replace you.”
“Can’t happen soon enough to suit me,” POTUS said. “I’ve had about all I can take of being hamstrung by your colleagues in Congress. We could’ve accomplished so much, if it weren’t for all the partisan bull crap.”
“It’s not going to matter now,” Lewiston said. “Once we are in power in the United States, the Russian arm will start working on setting up a council of their own. We’ll form an alliance with them, and there won’t be anyone left in the world who can stand against us. Within a year, our Council and theirs will replace the UN with our own Supreme Council, with you and Petrokov as co-chairs, and we can install governors in every other country.”
Andrews shook his head. “I’m still amazed that we were able to recruit anyone in Russia,” he said. “With both countries working together, though, we can finally put some common sense into government throughout the world. You know, I entered politics thinking that we had the best system in the world, that majority rule was the only way the world would ever know peace, but that was stupid. Letting the people have any say in how they are governed is only a recipe for disaster. It’s no better than anarchy, because everyone thinks they know best.”
“That’s the whole point, Jon,” Perkowski said. “The only hope the world has at this point, if we are going to avert the potential for a worldwide, global disaster like nuclear war, is to put rational minds in control of everything. Unfortunately, you can’t do that if the people still have the right to protest against you. They’ve got to come to accept that only a true government can keep them safe and secure, and the only true form of government is an oligarchy of rational men and women.”
Andrews nodded. “That’s unfortunately the truth,” he said. “Just let me know what needs to be done, and I’ll do what I can from my end.”
Perkowski laid a hand on his shoulder. “Jon, you already did the most important part. You brought us all together and came up with this plan.”
“The only thing we need to be terribly concerned about right now,” Lewiston said, “is gaining control over the agencies that are not already with us. I’ve been feeding some information to the permanent select committee on intelligence, and I’ve got Ryan’s assurance that he’s going to take action very soon. E & E has been without oversight for quite some time, and we need to get them under control. It’s going to require a bit of a shakeup, but we think we can get its director to cooperate. Either that, or she can spend the rest of her life in Leavenworth.”
“Do what you have to do,” the president said. “If we can keep Allison, I think she could be very useful, but she was installed by the previous administration. I’m not sure I’ve ever gained any loyalty from her, so she’s expendable, as far as I’m concerned.”
The video ended, then, and Allison stared at the tablet for a moment before
looking up at Parker.
“He knew this was coming? That they were going to take me down?”
Parker nodded. “Yes. I’ve been hammering him to try to put a stop to the whole thing, but that was just to keep him from finding out that we know he’s involved. Allison, I know this is going to be hard to accept, but you’re going to have to order Noah to assassinate the President of the United States.”
Allison looked him in the eye. “I can handle it,” she said.
Chapter TWELVE
Molly had just walked into her apartment when her phone rang, and she glanced at the display to see that it was Parker calling. She tried to answer quickly but missed the button and had to hit it a second time.
“Doctor Parker? It’s Molly,” she said.
“Hey, cutie,” Parker said. “How would you feel about keeping an old man company for dinner?”
Molly jerked the phone away from her ear and looked at it for a second, then put it back. “Sounds good to me,” she said. “Want me to meet you somewhere?”
“Yeah,” Parker said. “How about the Sagebrush Saloon? I hear a lot of good things about that place.”
The Sagebrush Saloon, Molly knew, was Noah’s favorite restaurant, but she’d never heard of Parker ever going there.
“Cool,” she said. “It’ll take me about half an hour, is that okay?”
“Perfect,” the old man said. “I’ll see you there.”
Parker had never invited her—or anyone else she knew—out to dinner before, so she suspected he was being deceptive and cautious. There must be something he wanted to talk about, with no one else aware that they were having a conversation, and it wasn’t hard to figure out what it would relate to.
Allison’s arrest had left Molly and almost everyone else devastated. Allison was the spine of the organization, and there were fears for its survival throughout the whole community. Molly hurried into her bathroom and checked her makeup, ran a brush through her hair, and then grabbed her purse and was back out the door. She rode the elevator down to the parking garage under the building and was almost to her car when she heard the squeal of tires and looked around.
A Ford SUV pulled up beside her, and the back door opened. Her heart began to race for a moment, not sure what was happening, but then she saw Allison grinning at her from inside the car.
“Get in,” Allison said, and Molly obeyed without hesitation. She shut the door behind herself and turned to look at her boss.
“Oh, my gosh,” she said. “You’re out already? What’s going on?”
“Nope,” Allison said, “I’m still sitting in jail in Denver. You’re imagining this, it isn’t real. You’re also going to imagine that you’re about to get on an airplane and fly to England.”
Molly’s eyes went wide. “England? But I didn’t pack or anything.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Allison said. “We already arranged for luggage with a selection of clothing that will fit you to be loaded on the plane. Officially, you’re calling in sick for the next few days. Doc Parker authorized you to stay home.”
Molly glanced at Parker, who was driving. “Okay, is it too much to ask for somebody to tell me what’s going on?”
“Not until we’re in the air,” Allison said. “I know this is kind of a shocker for you, but will you trust me when I say it’s necessary? You and I have to go see Noah, and we need to make sure nobody knows.”
Molly nodded slowly. “I trust you, you know I do. I’m just absolutely overjoyed to see you. This has all been such a shock, I’m not sure I’m not dreaming.”
“It’s not a dream, Molly,” Allison said. “It’s a freaking nightmare.”
Parker went directly to the Kirtland airport, and then right onto the tarmac, where a Gulfstream G650 jet was waiting.
“The flight crew has no idea who you are,” he said as he pulled up next to the stairs. He picked up a package from the console between the front seats and handed it to Allison. “Passports, cell phones, and ID kits for both of you,” he said. “Allison, your name is Judy Walker; Molly, you’re her daughter, Emily. The two of you are going to London on a shopping spree, because you’re rich and can damn well afford to. The plane came from a leasing company, arranged through one of our dummy corporations that the GAO doesn’t know about. When you get to London, call our station chief there. He’ll make arrangements to get you to Noah. Call Holloway from a secure line when you’re ready to come back, but they can only cover you being gone for four days. All the details are in your kits. Now, go. It’s one a.m. in London, now, and the flight will last about nine and a half hours, so you will get there around ten. I don’t know how long it will take you to get to Noah from there, but we don’t have any time to waste.”
Allison opened the package and looked at the contents, then handed one of the wallets to Molly.
“Leave your purse with Parker,” Allison said, dropping the cell phone Holloway had given her on the seat. “Anything we need, we’ll get when we get to London. Let’s go.”
With her eyes wide, Molly got out of the car and waited for Allison before starting up the stairs into the airplane. It was a luxury flight, and the two of them took seats that were facing each other as the flight attendant closed the hatch and made sure they had their seatbelts fastened. They made small talk with the flight attendant until she told them that it was time for takeoff, and the plane was in the air only ten minutes later.
Once they reached cruising altitude, the flight attendant brought them dinner and then disappeared toward the front of the aircraft. Molly and Allison, both of whom were hungry, dug in and ate the microwave meals, and then Allison began to explain to Molly what was happening.
An hour and a half later, Molly looked up at Allison and smiled.
“I think I have the beginnings of a plan,” she said.
“You damn well better,” Allison said. “That’s why you’re coming with me. You and I are probably the only two people in the world Noah trusts outside of his team, and we’ve got to impress on him just how important this is. Unfortunately, we’ve also got to explain that he’s going to be completely on his own. We will not be able to provide support for this mission, so he’s going to have to rely on his own wits, develop his own resources. I’m confident he can do it, but a part of me feels like we’re throwing him to the wolves.”
Molly smiled, but there was something wicked about it. “Yeah, well, who better to throw to the wolves than another wolf?”
* * * * *
Noah awoke when the sun came through the window that morning, and managed to slip out of bed without waking Sarah. He went into the bathroom and took care of morning necessities, then got into the shower. He was running low on clean clothes, and most of what he had was designed for the desert; as he dressed, he decided it was time for them all to go shopping.
He sat in a chair and waited for Sarah to wake up, reading a book he had found on one of the many bookshelves in the Great Hall. It was a story about the struggles of an American cattle farmer who inherited a sheep farm in England, and the difficulties he had in adjusting to the life of an English country gentleman. Noah made careful note of some of the mistakes the character made, hoping to avoid making similar ones.
It was almost nine by the time he heard the sounds of some of the others moving around, so he decided it was time for Sarah to get up. He sat on the bed beside her and kissed her gently, and her face broke into a smile even before her eyes were fully open.
“Good morning,” she said. “Mmm, that was a nice way to wake up.”
“I think we need to go do some shopping in London, today. None of us really have the kind of clothes we’re going to need for living here, and it might be nice to just act like tourists.”
“Yeah, that would be great,” she said. “What time is it?”
“It’s almost nine,” Noah said. “I heard Marco talking to Neil a moment ago, so I’m assuming they are all up. Why don’t you grab a shower and meet us all down in the dining room for bre
akfast?”
“Okay, babe,” Sarah said. “I’ll be there in half an hour or so.” She threw off the covers and climbed out of bed, while Noah slipped out the door into the hallway. He tapped on Neil’s door. Neil opened the door, while Jenny and Marco were sitting on their sofa.
“Good,” Neil said, “you’re up. We were just thinking about going down to ask about breakfast.”
“That’s what I had in mind,” Noah said. “Penny will be down in just a bit, she wanted to get a shower.”
“Excellent,” Jenny said. “These two guys have been trying to convince me they’re starving to death, and I’ll confess to being a little hungry, myself.”
The four of them walked down the stairs, and Thomas suddenly appeared at the bottom.
“Good morning, sir,” he said, addressing Noah. “Will you be having breakfast this morning?”
“Unless it’s already too late,” Noah said with a grin. “I have forgotten to ask what time breakfast would be ready.”
“Sir, this is your home,” Thomas said. “Breakfast will be served whenever you wish to have it. If you would like, there is both coffee and tea available. If you’ll tell me which you prefer, I shall have it brought to the dining room.”
They all chose coffee, and then went to the dining room. Thomas appeared moments later with a tray holding four cups and a large carafe, plus sugar and cream. He made a slight ceremony out of pouring the coffee and setting a cup before each of them.
“Beatrice asks if you have a preference for breakfast,” he said. “She had a thought of preparing bubble and squeak with poached eggs.”
“Bubble and squeak?” Jenny asked. “What is that?”
“Leftover vegetables from last night’s roast, fried in shallow oil. In America, you would almost certainly call it hash. It is a staple of the British breakfast repertoire. Beatrice makes some of the best I have ever tasted, topping it with poached eggs.”
Marco grinned. “You had me at poached eggs,” he said. “Why don’t we give it a try?”