by Colin Weldon
“Todd, stand down,” Royo said. “That’s an order.”
The phone on the table suddenly began to ring.
“Put it on speaker,” Nora said. “Tell the pilots everything is fine down here.” She looked over at Hiran. “Have you got a link up with the on-board radar yet? I want to be able to see who is following us.”
Hiran nodded.
“Give me a minute,” he said still staring at Abigail’s body.
The phone continued to chirp.
“Hiran, concentrate. Listen to what I am saying and do what I ask,” Nora said raising her voice.
“Easy Nora, just take it easy,” Eddie said to her.
Royo pressed the answer button.
“Sir, everything alright back there? We heard gunshots,” came the voice of Colonel Strom, the Captain of Air Force One.
“Everything is fine, Colonel,” replied Royo.
“Sir, I would like permission to speak to Nora Stone,” said the Colonel’s voice.
“Yes, Colonel Strom, what can I do for you?” said Nora.
There was a moment of silence on the other end. Eddie looked at some of Abigail’s brain matter as it fell off the TV hanging on the wall. He tried to regain control of his heightened emotional state. He retook his seat at the table, as did Holt.
“Ms Stone, if you look out your window you will see that we are currently being escorted. I would suggest that you make your demands known to the ground as soon as possible because, as I am sure you are aware, they will not allow Air Force One to approach any ground based targets, so we need to find an amicable solution to your grievances before that happens,” said the Colonel.
“Thank you Strom, I’ll keep that in mind. If I were you I would worry about flying this plane and using its considerable defensive capabilities to keep airborne. I’ll be in touch shortly,” she said reaching across the table and hitting the call end button.
“Jesus,” said Hiran looking at his computer.
“What?” Eddie said.
“There’s a fucking air force on our tail.”
Eddie got up out of his chair and looked out the window. Sure enough, a squadron of fighters was flying in formation about five hundred metres away. Behind them, there were more. He couldn’t make out the markings but recognised the shape of the Dassault Rafale shape used by the French. He also saw two Tornados in tight formation just behind the tail section of the plane.
“Which air force?” Eddie said straining his eyes to see as far back as he could.
“Eh… All of them?” Hiran replied.
He looked over at Hiran and back at Nora, who remained cool as a cucumber.
Royo turned to Stone. “Nora I need to speak to the White House.”
Nora leaned back in her chair.
“I wasn’t finished telling my story,” she said.
“Talk to me about Tarsis,” Eddie said.
“What is Tarsis?” Royo said.
Eddie looked at Royo.
“It’s a robot. They took a soldier and made him into a cyborg,” Eddie said.
“What?” Royo said.
The table suddenly shook. Eddie looked at Nora who had just slammed her fist down on it, making it crack. The force of the impact was a quick reminder of her strength.
“Don’t play the fool with me Harold. It’s unbecoming of your office,” she said.
Royo puts his hands up.
“Please, just for a moment, assume that I have no knowledge of what it is you are talking about,” Royo said. “If you don’t believe me, then just pull the trigger.”
Holt shifted in his seat.
“I already told you what they’ve done with my baby. Which is part of a much bigger project. Your government is harvesting children, brainwashing them, growing them into an army of half human half robotic soldiers and using them in a new offensive to both solidify its stronghold on its own citizens, with the more ambitious goal of deploying them across the globe to expand the empire and enslave the human race. I’m one of the products. Tarsis is another. And my daughter is a third., ” Nora said, leaning on the table. “Any other questions?”
Eddie’s heart sank. While his view on conspiracy theorists was simple, that they were kooks with tin foil hats, being on this plane, having seen what he had seen, what he had devoted his life to, suddenly fell apart. Hiran bent over and vomited on the floor. Eddie couldn’t blame him, although this really wasn’t the time nor the place for it. He looked at Royo whose face had turned ashen.
“The woman lying on the floor over there did a hell of a job on me,” Nora said. “Part of what just happened was the repayment of the favour,” Nora leaned back keeping a close eye on Holt.
“Let me tell you a story,” Nora said, “A story about a small syndicate of men. An ancient group, intent on corrupting the incorruptible. These men sit in the dark. They pull the strings. They make the calls. Wise was the person who introduced me to them.”
The room fell silent.
“These men show you what real power is. The power to control the destinies of billions. Wise stood beside me that day. In that room. They showed me what my daughter had become. They showed me what the world was becoming. My mission was a simple one. Destabilise. Be the hand of chaos in a world overrun with their madness,” Nora said glancing out of the window.
Eddie was stunned. He knew, of course, that Wise had secrets. You don’t get to a position like that without being within circles of secrecy but the thought of him as a traitor was hard to stomach.
“Let me speak to the White house,” Royo said soflty.
“Very well,” Nora said flicking her finger to the phone on the desk.
Royo instantly pressed the quick call button to the situation room in the White House.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
White House Situation Room
“Call coming in from Air Force One!” said a solider in dress uniform. Heller looked at Wise, who had taken a cigarette off Malcolm Lewis and was pulling deeply on it. Heller had never seen Wise smoke.
“Let’s hear it,” Heller said..
There was a clicking sound.
“Gentlemen,” said the president.
Heller looked at Wise and noted his frown.
“How are you, Sir?”
“As you can hear, I am alive and well,” said Royo, before adding, “Eric, you there?”
Heller cleared his throat. He could feel his palms getting sweaty.
“Yes, Mr President,” Heller replied.
“Is Director Wise present?” said Royo
“No Sir, he was but he stepped out to take a call some time ago, he has not returned,” Heller replied wondering where the hell Wise had gone.
“Find him, I want to speak to him, take him into custody if you have to,” Royo said.
Heller began to panic, He knows
“Do it, and Eric, one more thing. If this aircraft threatens any targets on the mainland, you are to shoot it down,” Royo said.
Hammond cleared his throat
“Sir, I don’t think…” he began saying before Royo interrupted again.
“Shoot it…” Royo shouted before the line suddenly went dead.
Heller felt his hands begin to shake. All eyes turned on him. He turned to Hammond.
“Do as he says,” he said to him.
“You’re talking about shooting down Air Force one with the President on board. He is incapacitate and that order cannot possibly be followed,” Hammond said.
“I am not saying anything right now General, I want you to present me with options for dealing with an airborne target of that size,” said Heller.
Hammond looked at Admiral Fisher, who gave him a nod.
“Yes sir,” he said.
There was a quiet second of disbelief in the room before telephones were grabbed an
d calls began to be made to the various military divisions with frantic instructions being furiously ordered down their receivers.
Heller sat quietly and stared at the screens at the front of the situation room. He had never felt so alone in his life. Where the hell was Wise?
CNN Washington Office
“What we do know for certain at this stage is that the president’s motorcade, or rather what was left of it, entered Le-Bourget airport under the escort of the French military and that Air Force One is now airborne and traveling east back towards the United States,” said Alex Knight into the camera.
He was now on his third clean shirt of the day. The heat from the studio lights made it difficult under normal broadcasting days to stop from sweating through one pair of clothes, but today was different. He had begun his shift nearly twenty-four hours ago and while he was offered the choice of relinquishing his duties a few hours previously he knew well that a news day like this only happened once in a career.
“There has been an information embargo from the US Military but sources close to this station have been informed that the president is alive. However, there may be some sort of hostage situation taking place on board Air Force One. Trading has been suspended on the stock exchange and there are reports of heavy air force presence from the British and French air forces currently tracking Air Force One as it crossed UK airspace some two hours ago. The airspace surrounding the motorcade incident in Paris has been shut down but we are getting reports that there have been a number of fatalities during an assault on the president’s car. Gunfire and explosions were heard in the neighbouring streets before these astonishing scenes were recorded earlier,” he said pausing to allow the footage of the military vehicles escorting the president’s car, looking battered, down a highway.
“There are unconfirmed reports that the president may have been injured in this attack and is in fact en route to a military hospital at an undisclosed location. While Air Force One has a full surgical bay capable of handling most trauma cases, we do not know for certain what the actual condition of President Royo is. At present there have been several groups claiming responsibility for the attack, along with the Islamic Brotherhood of Freedom, The Black Hand of Islam and the ALT, all of which have yet to be corroborated. We will keep you updated as we get it. We will be right back after this.”
The camera cut to a commercial.
“You need to get me in an areal unit, I need to be there when the plane lands,” he said looking up at his producer again.
“How did I know you were going to say that,” Scott said in his ear.
Washington
“We’ve lost contact with Tarsis,” said Tyler Shaw down the phone as Wise listened intently.
He made sure to lock down the soundproofing system in the back of his limo so that the driver couldn’t hear anything. He had left the White House, hedging his bets just in case they made contact and Stone started spilling her guts to the idiots sitting around the table. Besides, Heller had his instructions.
“Say again?” Wise said, trying to contain his anger.
“He was clearly damaged from the grenade but the diagnostics sent back when he reactivated showed that his main CPU was fully operational,” said Shaw.
“Then why have we lost contact?” Wise said.
“Could just be interference with the on-board systems from the jet, could be he’s sustained more damage than we thought. We have to get back to do a full run down on his systems to be sure. It may only be temporary,” Shaw said.
“What was the last set of directives he sent back before going offline?” Wise said.
“Well, he was on standby. There was no indication that he had been discovered as of yet. That won’t last of course,” said Shaw. “In my opinion, he will resume his primary objective in the absence of a contravening order.”
“He’ll attack?” Wise said
“Probably,” replied Shaw.
Wise took a moment to think about it. Maybe he did not need Heller at all. A rogue French fighter attacking Air Force One may just be the lucky break he had been waiting for.
“Perfect,” Wise said, “call me again the moment contact is re-established.”
“Yes, sir,” replied Shaw.
Wise hung up and leaned back in his chair, glancing out the window as Capitol Hill rolled by.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“That was noble,” said Nora to the President tapping her finger against the table.
Royo put his hands up as if to say ‘hey what ye gonna do?’
“Can we take a realistic stock of our situation?” Eddie said, trying to distance himself away from the smell of vomit in the room.
“Sorry,” Hiran said, looking embarrassed, before turning back to his computer screen.
“Stock?” Nora said.
“Yeah, stock, a look at this current tactical situation. You and I both know they won’t allow us to fly all the way to Nevada. They’re gonna take a shot at us, so why not land and we can at least get off this flying bulls eye,” said Eddie.
Nora smiled.
“You think we’re gonna walk away from this?” she said swirling her finger in the air.
Eddie had to admit that the situation looked grim either way.
“We are ninety minutes from the eastern seaboard Nora. What do think is gonna happen next?” he said.
“They won’t fire on us,” she replied looking at Royo, “they won’t.”
Holt blew a mocking laugh out of his mouth.
“No man is bigger than a terrorist attack, Stone, you’re deluded,” Holt said.
“I was sent to kill heads of state. Did you know that?,” she said looking back at Royo.
Royo’s mouth was open.
“Sanctioned by?” he whispered.
“Sanctioned by the Quorum,” Nora responded.
“The who?” Eddie said.
“The Quorum, Eddie, that’s what they’re called. They are a group of war mongering old men, but they are the most powerful the world has ever known.”
“I know of no such force within the government,” Royo replied.
“Of course not, they don’t need you, Mr President. With all due respect, your office has very little ability to affect anything without public and congressional scrutiny. That’s not how they operate. They weave their web deep within in the systems of power in the world, the agencies away from the public eye. The financial institutions protected by shields made up of lawyers, executives, endless layers of law and hidden finance. You can’t stop them. I can’t stop them. I’m dead already. All I want is to see my little girl one last time before they get to me, and they will,” Nora said.
“Goddam Wise, son of a bitch,” Eddie said softly.
“Well they don’t control me or the secret service,” Holt said.
“Oh?” Nora replied, “and who cares about that? No offence but what role does the secret service have other than protecting the president?”
Holt frowned.
“It would seem then that I have more work to do, Ms Stone, you have to believe me, I ordered Wise’s operation shut down. You know why I ran for president? It wasn’t my idea at all. My wife had a crazy notion in her head that I could make a difference. Now look,” said Royo looking down at Abigail’s body, “you can’t solve this by the barrel of a gun. I am truly sorry for what has been done to you. You may choose to believe me or not, but. I am not an evil man, nor a man intent on world domination. If I had known any of this, I would have put a stop to it. For my wife,” Royo said looking at the table. “It was her birthday yesterday. She died two years ago. I know what pain is Nora, the pain of a broken heart. I promise you I will do everything I can to help you.”
Holt looked at Royo in surprise.
“Ginny told me once that if for one moment she ever felt that I was being turned or acting in a way that wo
uld be contrary to my conscience or put the lives and liberties of those that I represented in jeopardy, then she would divorce me, without hesitation. I loved my wife dearly. She was my whole world. Look at what has happened because I have been too swept up in my own grief, too blind to see. On the life of the person who was my only reason for living, I tell you that I never meant to hurt anyone!”
Eddie watched as a tear fell from Royo’s eye and made his way down his face. He watched as the tear dropped onto the table, then he turned back to Nora. She had a look of surprise in her eye. Had he gotten to her? She bowed her head and began shaking it. She looked defeated. She looked at Eddie who nodded at her to tell her Royo was telling the truth. Then something unexpected happened. Nora Stone flicked the safety on her gun on and placed it on the table. She sat back in her chair taking a quick glance at Holt, and just as she did, the plane suddenly lurched to one side.
White House Situation Room
All hell suddenly broke loose.
“What the hell just happened?” shouted Heller.
“Someone has just fired at the plane!” said a panicked Malcolm Lewis.
Heller looked at the situational data coming in from the screen. It showed one of the fighters breaking formation and pulling off to the right hand side of the plane. He stared at the pictures of Air Force One pulling evasive manoeuvres.
“Who the hell is that?” Kroch asked as Hammond began barking orders down his phone.
Pilots squawking on the radio began to merge into one big vocal circus.
“Looks like one of the French,” said Lewis tapping some commands into the screen.
The image changed to a close up of the attacking fighter. Streams of bullets from its guns formed a path towards the tail section of Air Force One, which was now churning out chaffing flairs. It banked left, then right. Black smoke began spewing out of its tail as it banked hard right as it descended.