by Ali Vali
“Sir.” The voice on the intercom sounded excited. “You need to get down here.”
“What the hell now?” Rooster asked.
They made their way down the corridor, and as they went past Jerry’s cell they saw his face pressed to the small glass that the guards used to do visual checks. When they reached the open door of Adam’s room they found him on the floor next to his bunk with froth oozing out of his mouth.
“You didn’t check him when he came in?” Drew asked as he pressed his fingers to Adam’s neck to check for a pulse that he knew wasn’t there.
“We did, and we also took everything away from him,” said the doctor leaning over Adam’s body. “The only thing I can think of is that he brought it in rectally. None of us thought he was crazy enough to try something like this.”
“Start thinking on the crazy level, gentleman,” Drew said as he stood, “because this situation is even more out there than I first believed.” He stepped away from Adam’s lifeless body and let Rooster in to look over the space. “Have Jerry moved into interrogation again, and cuff him to the chair. Once you let him stew for a few hours, give him a choice to talk to me or Walby Edwards.”
“Mr. Edwards is currently assigned in Afghanistan, sir,” the guard said.
“I’m well aware of where he is, but one phone call is all it takes, so tell Jerry if he’d like to test my resolve, I’ll be happy to make that call and I plan to keep him chained to the chair until Walby gets here. Either way, I’m not the one with my ass in the hot seat so what the fuck do I care, but move him now.”
“What do you want to do next?” Rooster asked.
“We’re going back to the offices of New Horizons, only this time we’re going to take a long look. The answers have to be there, and I just feel that whatever these idiots are involved in is something that is going to blow up in our face if we don’t figure it out soon.”
Rooster followed him out of the building and into the car waiting right outside. “Jerry was the type of man that the last president valued for his loyalty, but Jerry used that to his advantage and made friends on the extreme right of the spectrum.”
“What he did was step on anyone who didn’t agree with his politics, and our old boss applauded him for it,” Rooster said and Drew nodded. “You know, you were there. When that old son of a bitch got canned, for a while it was like he wasn’t gone, there were so many people like Jerry and Adam left behind.”
“What we need now is to find out how many weeds he planted before he left, and if it’s really Jerry who’s responsible for them all.” The car sliced through Washington traffic with a police escort and they headed to the offices Jerry and Adam had set up in the suburbs.
“If you want, you can head back and I’ll take care of this.”
“Just because I have a title now doesn’t mean that I’m going to sit behind a desk and wait for someone to try to torpedo President Khalid’s character in an effort to discredit him as a leader.” He hit his fist on the arm rest. “They tried that shit during the campaign and it didn’t fly. They’re not getting a second chance.”
A team of guards standing at the office entrance moved aside only when Rooster flashed his ID at them. “The files we’ve found so far that you looked at were in a safe room in the middle of the building.”
“The stash we’re looking for won’t be with that. Those boxes you carried out of here before were window dressing to throw us off their scent.” Drew walked in the quiet space and studied the layout from the plans that Rooster had laid out on the receptionist’s desk.
“My men went through here slowly and thoroughly. I doubt we missed anything,” Rooster said from over his shoulder.
“Which one was Jerry’s office?”
Rooster pointed to the big space at the end of the left corridor. “Since he’s got a power complex, he picked the big one.”
“It looks like the biggest one, but that honor goes to this one.” Drew pointed to the one on the opposite side of the plans. “And I’d bet my ass that this one doesn’t belong to the late Adam Morris, does it?”
“That one was furnished, but no, Adam’s office was this one next to Jerry’s.” Rooster pointed to a small space with no window access. “You think it’s in there?”
“If I know anything about who we’re dealing with, I’ll need a few things before we go take a look.”
“Sir, you only have to ask and we’ll get you whatever you like.”
Drew made him a list and headed to the mystery office. The furniture was tasteful, but there were no personal touches to give him a clue as to who sat behind the large desk. There were only two pieces of art on the wall, but they were beautifully framed copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
From the report Rooster’s men had put together he knew every drawer had been opened and every wall searched for a safe or other hiding place. The Declaration print had a safe behind it but it was empty.
“Sir, you have a call on line one,” one of Rooster’s men said.
“Drew Orr,” he said into the receiver as he tried out the comfortable leather desk chair.
“I’ve gotten about twelve phone calls today from twelve men who went on about how important they were, and they all center around you and your treatment of two patriots you’ve locked up,” Peter Khalid said and laughed.
“Did you write their names down so I can add them to my list of weird shit to look into today?”
“I did one better. I had their files pulled and delivered to your office. Anything new?”
“Adam Morris is dead from a pill he smuggled into the facility in his butt, and I have a corporation swimming in cash, but I can’t find it.” Drew opened the desk drawers and peered inside to check out what the owner had stocked it with. “But on a good note I’m sure you read my report on what happened today in the Sea of Japan. Our lost lambs have returned to the fold.”
“I did and I also read your theory of what’s going on with these people at the Pentagon.”
Drew laughed and rolled the chair back so he could see all the way to the back of the middle drawer. “Are you sorry yet that you asked me to do this job?”
“No, but all those callers certainly are of a different opinion.”
“Don’t worry. If the ship goes down, I’ll make damn sure I’m the only one on it.” He rolled the chair back when he saw the corner of a gilded religious card shoved to the back of the drawer. “You can count on me for that at least.”
“What you’re telling me then is that you think this job has made me an asshole if you think I’m going to stand for that. Tell me what you want and I’ll move things along for you.”
Drew took the religious card out and looked at the picture. It didn’t have an image of someone with an exaggerated halo on their head, but instead had the image of an old schooner sailing in rough seas. It was the symbol of St. Brendan, patron saint of sailors. The men who’d searched the premises before had most probably seen it but had left it as something not important to the investigation.
“Sir, I need you to trust me.”
“Drew, drop the titles, this is me you’re talking to, so level with me. What’s got to get done and how serious is this?”
“Peter, I need you to stay out of this until we’ve finished our initial investigation, and as soon as I’m done here I need to see you and Vice President Michaels.”
“Take your time. I’ll call Olivia for a meeting early tonight.”
Drew hung up the phone and tapped his finger on the St. Brendan stamp. “Only a sailor would keep this. Rooster,” he called out the door.
“Found something?”
Drew held up the stamp. “This is part of the answer we’re looking for, so maybe the other part is here as well. Did my request get here yet?”
“Our answer is to pray?” Rooster asked and laughed.
“I have a feeling they’ve already been answered.”
“You ready?” Rooster waved in the Marines who wer
e right behind him when Drew nodded.
They walked in and rolled in an x-ray machine. “Cover every inch of the floor that doesn’t have a heavy piece of furniture on it,” Drew said and stood to get out of their way. “Once you’re done, use the wand and cover the walls.”
The scan took only a few minutes before the men rolled up the rug in front of the desk and took a crowbar to the wide wood planks that made up the floor. The compartment held a metal box that resembled one that banks used in their safety deposit vaults.
“Wait outside,” Rooster told the Marines.
When the door closed Drew opened the box. “Have them go through the rest of the building inch by inch, and tell the surveillance team you have on Rodney James’s house to be extra vigilant.” He shut the lid and picked up the evidence. “Come on. We have a meeting at the White House.”
Chapter Thirty-three
Sea of Japan
The waves were starting to pick up so Berkley couldn’t tell who was on the vessel headed toward them. Only when they were about a hundred yards out did she see the blond hair on top of the binoculars glued to the eyes she knew were blue. “We’re almost home, Junior.” She started kicking toward the boat.
“Hello, sailor,” she yelled up to Aidan when she was close enough. The divers had hit the water as soon as the engine was cut and they took Junior from her arms and put him in a stretcher so they could lift him onboard.
“You’re late,” Aidan said, her voice cracking at the end.
“You know how much I love to sightsee. We even went horseback riding. It was like camp.” Berkley smiled up at her. “In the end it was your pie that motivated us to get moving, so we borrowed a plane.”
“I’ll make one as soon as you’re back onboard, but for now get up here.” Aidan shielded her eyes from the sun but couldn’t take her eyes off Berkley, who saluted her from the water.
“Glad you could make it out here to greet us,” Berkley said when she made it up. She smiled, knowing from the expression on her face that Aidan wanted to touch her as much as Berkley wanted to take her into her arms, but this wasn’t the time.
As soon as they got Junior out of the water Aidan gave them the sign to move out. “Get us back and then get back on patrol,” Aidan told the men on the rescue boat. “We saw another set of parachutes deploy after the second plane started to go down, and I want to get to whoever it is before the Koreans get to them.”
“Let me see to my partner and I’ll be happy to tell you what we’ve been up to as soon as we get back.” Berkley, now wrapped in a warm blanket, sat next to Junior, who was similarly swaddled. “How you feeling?”
“Like I’ve crashed twice in a lifetime. Thanks for getting us out of that hellhole.”
“Glad to do it, and now I’ll see what I can do about that nurse I promised you.”
The trip back to the carrier didn’t take long, and the medics waiting for Junior wheeled him away as soon as they hit the deck.
“Welcome back, Commander,” Devin said and shook Berkley’s hand. “Whenever you’re ready I’d like to debrief you.”
“Give me a chance to take a shower and I’ll be happy to answer any questions.”
“Could you answer a couple before that if I promise I won’t take a lot of your time?”
Berkley glanced at Aidan before answering.
“Is that yours?” Aidan pointed to the blood on Berkley’s shoulder where the blanket had slipped down. When she got no immediate answer she shook her head. “I know the perfect place for you to ask all the questions you want, Devin.”
They entered one of the exam rooms in the infirmary and Aidan covered Berkley with a warm, dry blanket after Berkley peeled away her flight suit. They’d left Devin outside until the doctor had a chance to examine the injury. “You should plan to stay down here until that’s healed,” she told Berkley.
“In good time, Captain.” Berkley adjusted the blanket and waved Devin in. “But for now I want to know what you’ve done with the team that went with me. Did Blazer and Alan make it back here?”
“We still have Alan in custody, and the captain let Blazer go for reasons she’ll explain to you.”
“Not anymore,” Aidan added. “He’s back in custody.”
Devin nodded and turned his attention back to Berkley. “As you know, we didn’t have radio contact with you while you were gone unless it was necessary and with your plane down, we didn’t have the conversations between you and Junior. The only two left to fill in the blanks of what happened were Blazer and Lewis,” Devin said.
Berkley then gave them a rundown of how the mission had progressed up to the destruction of the North Korean plant. “Before that, the little punk tried to test me, but he did his role well until we were on the way back. As we turned for home the North got a plane up and Blazer disobeyed a direct order to not turn and engage. He did and almost got his ass handed to him, so I had no choice but to bail him out. What I can’t prove was what happened next. I told him to bank in one direction and he went the opposite way, leaving me hanging. We got shot down, and with more than one plane on him by then, he decided to do what I ordered him to in the first place.”
“What, run back here with his tail between his legs, leaving his team leader behind?” Devin asked.
“He’s an ass, that’s for sure, but I’m not convinced that his performance in the heat of battle wasn’t more shaped by nerves than anything sinister on his part.”
“There’s more,” Aidan said and told her about the message that had gotten to Jerry. “The defense secretary is starting his own investigation stateside, but we haven’t found who got the message out or how. There’s no record of it.”
“The communications systems on the jets are capable of getting out a message in code if someone really wants to get specific about it,” Berkley said. “They’re satellite linked, so a message going out from here to the Pentagon wouldn’t raise too many eyebrows on the other end if the person they delivered it to didn’t act surprised.”
“We checked everything that can raise a signal onboard and found nothing.”
“Look for someone who is a little more than computer literate. It would’ve taken some time, but it’s possible to get something out, then erase it from the system if you know your way around the program. That’s one way to do it. The other way is much more simplistic and that’s sending it in Morse Code. Not everyone is a techie these days, so no one ever thinks to check something so low tech.” Berkley shivered and wrapped the blanket around her more tightly. “Alan didn’t tell you what you wanted when you showed him your cards? If Jerry Teague and Adam Morris are in custody, I’d talk if I was involved somehow, because there’s no way Morris lets his kid go down.”
“He was about to when you got the first message through. I put him back in lockup until we got you back,” Aidan said.
“Wouldn’t the message they received at the Pentagon have had some sort of code of where it originated from?” Devin asked. “A specific radio, I mean.”
“Like I said, there’s ways around anything if you know what you’re doing. For now my suggestion is to go through everyone’s records. We want to talk to anyone with higher than normal computer skills and we’ll work down from there, but first I want to talk to butthead and bigger butthead.”
“Captain Aidan had already mentioned everyone’s service files, so I’ll take care of finishing that,” Devin said. “And if you don’t mind I’d like to be there when you talk to Blazer and Alan.”
“Sure, but make certain you don’t have him anywhere around Alan. That’s who I want to talk to first,” Aidan added when Devin went to leave.
*
Berkley sat beside Aidan and pushed her drying hair back off her forehead. “You can fuss at me later, but first I want to tell you something.”
“What makes you think I’d fuss at you? All I want to do is touch you to make sure I’m not dreaming.”
“You live with and love a woman long enough and you learn certai
n things about her.” Berkley laughed.
“That was the old Aidan you bunked with in Hawaii.” She stood and locked the door. “This is the new and improved version.” She pointed to her chest. When Aidan reached Berkley she sat in her lap and kissed her like Berkley’s lips held the nectar of life. “Please don’t ever scare me like that again,” she said when their lips parted. “I thought I’d lost my chance to prove to you what you mean to me.”
“I didn’t make it through that to show what a survivor I am, baby. I did it because my fear was that I’d miss the chance to tell you that despite our stupidity and what happened in the past, I love you. Don’t live another moment thinking you have to prove anything to me.” Berkley framed her face with her hands and kissed her forehead.
“Ma’am.” The intercom on the wall buzzed.
“Yes,” Aidan said and sounded frustrated that work had intruded on them.
“The rescue boats radioed in and said they’ve found two more survivors and are bringing them back.”
“Who are they?” Aidan asked.
“A female pilot and a civilian, from what they said. Should I tell them that you’ll be up to take care of where to put them?”
“Have Devin handle it and for now take care of any wounds they might have and then put them in the brig.” Aidan tapped her finger on the side of the radio and turned back to Berkley. “Friends of yours?”
“If I’m right, I think it’s the pilot that shot me down, but it was a lucky shot. Anything else you want to know you’re going to have to wait until the interrogators get a hold of them.”
“Do you think they’ll keep so we can finish our talk?”
“I thought we were done?” Berkley met her half way when Aidan moved back toward her. “The picket fence and dog are in our future, but for now we’ve got a lot left to do around here.”
“Just like that?” Aidan asked and gladly parted her lips when Berkley kissed her.