The Ultimate Revenge

by Sally Fernandez

  “Where do you go from here?”

  “First, I’m going to take a time-out, maybe take my wife on an extended vacation. In time I’ll decide, but I won’t go anywhere near the energy industry or the U.S. Government.”

  “I know Amanda is saddened by your imminent departure. She’s enjoyed working with you.”

  Adam offered his first comforting smile. “She was one of the best confidantes I’ve worked with; I’ll miss her. I hope we can continue to socialize, but let us keep a distance for a while. We must avoid the threat of guilt by association.”

  “Adam, I understand and I respect your decision and I thank you for your candor. I’ve kept you long enough my friend.” Noble offered him his hand.

  Adam shook Noble’s hand and offered a smile of gratitude. Then he turned and disappeared into the darkness.

  31

  DAY FIFTY-ONE

  The last several days, he remained holed up in the All Stars Travelers Inn in Spearfish, South Dakota, where he endured the solitary confinement and planned the next step of his plot with precision. He ventured out of the hotel only to scrounge up his meals. His unwholesome choices were between the Pizza Hut and Arby’s, located across the street. Eager to move to the next target, he had to force himself to proceed with caution. Days had passed; the time had arrived. He downed the last slice of pizza, grabbed his duffle bag, and left his room.

  When he first checked in, he prepaid for four nights. On checking out, he stopped at the reception desk to pay for the two extra nights after having to delay his stay. He shuffled through his wallet, pulled out a crisp one hundred dollar bill, and handed it to the night clerk.

  “Please call me a taxi.”

  “Yes sir, one moment.” The night clerk placed the call to his Johnny-on-the-spot brother-in-law. “Your taxi will arrive momentarily. Have a safe trip.”

  He offered a brief smile and headed out the door. Outside the sun had set; it would be dark within the hour.

  He handed the driver a slip of paper. “Take me to this address.”

  It took twenty minutes to reach his destination, but upon arrival he spotted his vehicle straightaway. It was parked in the last row in the deserted parking lot. He paid the driver and then waited until he sped away out of sight. Left alone, he used the spare key to unlock the car and quickly hopped inside. Within minutes, he was back behind the wheel of his freshly painted red Ford Bronco driving away from Spearfish thinking it was worth the extra days. He was still on schedule. In seven hours, he would arrive in Brookings, South Dakota shortly before sunrise, where he would spend one night. The following night, under the cover of dark, he would ease into St. Paul, Minnesota.

  32

  SKIP A BREACH

  Burke was confident that Simon was heading in his direction and had taken all precautions. Roadblocks had been set up at all access roads leading into St. Paul, Minnesota. Anyone crossing the junction onto either State Road 280, Route 35, or I-94 would be stopped for visual identification. All hotels had been alerted in the area surrounding the Mideast ISO control center. The local authorities maintained around-the-clock stakeouts.

  Nothing more could be done—other than to wait.

  Burke understood that Simon would likely hack surreptitiously into the facility’s network directly and it would be untraceable. However, he would have to be within range of the source. Burke set up surveillance along the perimeter of the control center at Energy Park Drive and North Lexington Parkway. He also arranged for the parking lot at the apartment complex adjacent to the center to be patrolled.

  It had been a frustrating week. The situation had remained stagnant and Burke’s confidence had eroded. The time had come to report in to the director.

  “Burke, what’s the status?”

  “Nothing has surfaced. There have been no sightings of Simon and no unusual activity at the center.”

  “Do you still have the roadblocks set up?

  “Yes, but he must have eluded us in some way. In fact, only one Ford Bronco was stopped.” Burke explained that the particular vehicle was red and that the plates did not match. The two occupants were males with proper I.D., but the driver was a nineteen-year-old college student heading to the University of Minnesota. The passenger was an older man with short blond hair and dark blue eyes with his right arm in a sling. “That’s the closest we’ve come.”

  “BURKE!” Noble shouted. “Get their descriptions out to the local hotels. See if anyone resembling the pair checked in or out within the past few days. Call me right back.” Noble slammed the receiver back into its cradle.

  Noble tapped feverishly at the keyboard to access the St. Paul computer system. Within minutes, he located Simon’s telltale code. Simon had left his imprint. They were too late—at least to capture him. It took Noble another thirty minutes, to remove the trigger date along with Simon’s permutations and delete his failsafe program, leaving the original program intact. On a hunch, he entered the computer system for the Carmel control center and located Simon’s failsafe program—he had already penetrated that system as well. Noble quickly performed the same procedure and restored the original code.

  Then after moments of contemplation, he deciphered that Simon had changed the failsafe codes at both installations from within the St. Paul’s control center. At that point, he sat back and stared at the screen. Simon, what are you planning next? “Shit, he never intended to go to Carmel,” he blurted aloud. He hurriedly pulled up a map of the country on his computer and zoomed in to The Great Lakes region. After studying the map further, he concluded there were several options for crossing over the border into Canada.

  “Doris, please get Agent Burke on the line.”

  Noble stood up and paced his office reevaluating his conclusion, while he waited to speak with Burke.

  “He is on line one.”

  “Thank you.” Noble took a calming breath and hit the button. “Burke, did anyone see our duo?”

  “Your instinct was correct,” Burke sighed. “The person fitting the description of the passenger checked out of the Best Western at Bandana Square two nights ago around eleven o’clock.”

  “You mean Simon.”

  “I’m afraid so. The location of the hotel would make sense. It is a seven-minute walk to the Midwest ISO building. Moreover, there is an apartment complex located between the hotel and the facility. The resident’s parking lot can be accessed without difficulty and is situated essentially outside the control center’s door.”

  Burke continued to inform Noble of another possible lead he had received moments before from one of the other agents. “Yesterday night, the local authorities conducted a raid at a local chop shop in Dubuque, Iowa, suspected of conducting illegal activities other than the obvious. The owner is a two-time felon on parole.”

  “Agent, please cut to the chase.” Noble’s eagerness was evident.

  “Director, the felon didn’t ask for his legal mouthpiece but asked to speak with the feds. He wanted a deal. Our blond-haired, blue-eyed passenger traded his red Ford Bronco for a souped-up silver 2010 Dodge Challenger. I just sent out an updated APB and I’m in the process of setting up roadblocks heading into Carmel.” Burke hoped it was the lead Noble wanted.

  “Forget it Burke, he’s not heading to Carmel. He is heading to the Canadian border.”

  “Sir, with all due respect, how can you be sure?” Burke held his breath and waited for the reproach. He was pleasantly surprised when Noble explained his logic with composure.

  “Simon already infiltrated the Carmel facility using the St. Paul network. Therefore, he is on his way to the Canadian border and to the final facility in Mississauga—but which way, we do not know. He could either head north toward Sarnia, Ontario or to Fort Erie, Ontario via Buffalo, New York.”

  “Director, how can we be sure that he won’t charter a plane or a boat to transport him across the border?”

  “He’ll take the route we don’t expect, purposely to tie up our resources. Simon needs t
o be in control and the fewer people he has to interact with the better. I still contend he will drive to the border.” Noble feared his reasoning may prove to be irrational, but it was worth the risk.

  “That would make sense, Director. He would not switch cars on the way into town, but would on his way out of the country. Dubuque is eight hours to Sarnia and eleven to Buffalo. I suspect he’d take the shortest route.”

  “Again we can only speculate. Simon has gotten this far without a trace.”

  “We still have some time in our favor if he heads toward Buffalo. Let’s focus on Sarnia first. I’ll send up a helicopter to see if they can spot him, but if he continues to travel at night it will be near impossible.”

  “I’m afraid Burke, our best bet will be to capture him at the border. But which border?”

  “Director, I’ll arrange for the traffic to be rerouted to prevent border crossings, and coordinate with the local feds and the Mounties to move in at a moment’s notice.”

  “Get to work. Alert me the second you know anything. And Burke, sorry about losing my temper. Simon has the tendency to get under my skin.”

  “No worries Director. He’s getting to all of us. In fact, I think he’s living under my skin.”

  “Call me back after you have everything in place.”

  “Will do.”

  Noble tried to make sense of all of the events that had occurred, but knew there was a missing part to the conundrum. He asked himself, “Simon, what do you and the other players in this drama have in common?”

  33

  ALLUSION OR CONCLUSION

  Noble looked up from his desk and noticed Max heading out of her office. He called out to her and waved her into his office. “I just received a call from Burke.”

  “Please tell me he has captured Simon.”

  “No such luck. He’s still on the run but we know for sure he’s heading to the Canadian border.” Noble filled her in on the details as relayed to him by Burke.

  “Conning a college kid to drive him to St. Paul was a nice ploy.” Max was amazed Simon had eluded detection for so long. However, there was something else she needed to discuss. “Can you spare a little time? There is something that’s been gnawing at me.”

  “Sure, what’s up?”

  Max sat in the chair across from Noble’s desk as she carefully phrased her words. “We’ve thwarted Simon’s plan thus far—and he’s only days from being in our grasp—so understanding his motives at this point may be of less importance.”

  “True, but where are you going with this?” Noble was curious as to her hesitancy.

  “Here it is. Throughout this investigation we have uncovered a number or remarkable facts, inferences, and a host of fascinating characters.”

  Noble eased back into his chair and said, “It’s interesting that you’d bring this up now. I’ve been toying around with the same thought, trying to make the connection between them and Simon.” Then he offered a hint of smile and pointed to the white board behind where Max was sitting.

  Max turned and looked at the scrawling on the board that appeared to be a mathematical formula, it read:

  Godfather & Financier + Agenda 21 + Covenant +Resolution 16/18 + OIC

  Sustainable Development

  = Global Governance

  “Exactly! And they all seem to have one common denominator—the United Nations.”

  “But I still can’t make the connection to Simon,” Noble admitted.

  At that point, Max was confident she would garner Noble’s support and announced, “I have a theory.”

  “I’m all ears!” He was always interested in Max’s theorizing no matter how outlandish, even when she was brusque and challenging.

  Feeling back in her groove, Max returned to her animated self. “I drilled deeper, going beyond the facts we had uncovered—mostly for my own edification. I figured we were so far into the weeds, what’s the harm?”

  “Go on,” he said with a hint of trepidation mixed with excitement. He had learned that when Max was excited, he should be ready for anything.

  “First, we know that the Godfather of the Environmental Movement had a well-publicized career in the U.N. and continued his intimate relationship for years afterwards. From his own words he believes wealthy nations should help pay for poor nations by redistributing the wealth, which could only happen through some form of global governance.”

  “Let’s not forget his thrust was couched in the name of sustainability and we’ve deduced that global warming was his catalyst,” Noble reminded.

  “Certainly with the help of Al Gore and company, they were able to perpetuate what now appears to be a questionable argument, at best. Even the I-P-C-C, the highly regarded Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, continues to dial down the hysteria with each successive report. In fact, as far back as 2013 Matt Ridley, a British scientist, framed the global warming debate. He said that climate change is either the most urgent crisis facing mankind requiring almost unlimited spending—or it is a hoax dreamt up to justify socialism. Ridley takes the middle of the road approach and states his ‘lukewarm third way—that climate change is real but slow, partly man-made but also susceptible to natural factors, and might be more dangerous but more likely will not be.’ Both sides attack his argument.”

  “Didn’t the Environmental Minister Patterson from the U.K. state that more deaths are attributed to cold winters than hot summers, also pointing out that longer growing seasons for crops could extend farther north in some of the colder areas due to global warming?” Noble questioned.

  “That debate continues to ping pong as to the number of deaths and the real causes. The reverse argument, of course, is that more people have central heating to protect them against the cold, but fewer have air-conditioning in the event of extreme high temperatures. In terms of agriculture, the extension of growing seasons is less debatable.”

  Max halted a moment, and then pointed out the consequences of the offshoot of policy decisions. “Ignoring the naysayers on both sides, savvy investors continued to make millions of dollars in green energy and carbon trading products. As a direct result the U.S. in particular has lost jobs and the ability to become energy independent has not met expectations.”

  “We can’t be sure there’s a direct correlation, but evidence does suggest that the green energy craze may have had a negative effect on jobs,” Noble challenged.

  “In either case,” she countered, “it is an effective argument the advocates of global warming have launched. By keeping the discussion alive, some believe it gave credence to the Covenant—taking us back to global governance and to the United Nations, as you laid out in your formula.”

  “Don’t get carried away. I still don’t see a link to Simon,” Noble replied with a puzzled look.

  “It’s coming, but first the players.”

  Max took a deep breath.

  “We know that the Godfather and the Financier have worked together hand-in-glove. Moreover, four years earlier in 2013, the Financier’s Open Society Foundation collaborated with Harvard University to offer an internship program on Rights and Governance Global. It started with a ten-day seminar in Budapest, followed up with a six-week intensive internship at a non-governmental organization. It seems they were sowing the seeds everywhere for a one world supranational-government.”

  “You know one of the things I found most puzzling is the Financier’s involvement in foreign affairs. I’ve always connected him with reigniting the so-called progressive movement in the U.S.—not in the U.N.,” Noble admitted.

  “I was getting to that point.”

  “Come on Max, you’re not trying to make a connection between Simon and the United Nations?”

  “It may merely be a coincidence, but Baari’s handlers and Simon appear to be attempting to polarize America to support their varied causes. The ElBaradei connection piqued my curiosity at first, and then I remembered your conversation with the president about the OIC. I checked them out more closely.
”

  “What did you find other than that they are a powerful voice representing the Muslim world?”

  “That’s an over-simplification, and only scratches the surface. Historically, the Arabic/Islamic states have voted over seventy percent of the time against the United States in the U.N. General Assembly.” Max grinned as she sarcastically pronounced, “You can bet the ranch on that fact; it was reported by Snopes.com.”

  They were both aware that it was frequently reported—though unsubstantiated—that the Financier funded the Snopes’ fact-checking website heavily. Some have even posited that it has political leanings that are similar to those of the Financier.

  Noble caught her verbal jab, but he was disturbed by the data. “The revelations are more extensive than I had realized.”

  “Please bear with me. I’m going to load up on quotes to support my premise. So this requires your full attention.” Max caught Noble’s eye. “And your patience.” She then glanced at her tablet and read from her notes. “The OIC was established in 1969 with a charter ‘to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony.’ Their charter was extensive, but here are two of their goals…”

  …to the principles of the United Nations Charter, the present Charter and International Law…to preserve and promote the lofty Islamic values of peace, compassion, tolerance, equality, justice and human dignity to [endeavour] to work for revitalizing Islam’s pioneering role in the world while ensuring sustainable development, progress and prosperity for the peoples of Member States.

  “That was a mouthful,” Noble stated, “although it sounds very positive. You have my attention; this is becoming more intriguing by the minute.”