“Yes, sir.”
“Period.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll take this to the DNI, then. See what they can find out about him.”
“Or her. Linda or Nancy. Or some other woman with no desire to self-identify herself, as you call it, as a woman. Thank you, Moose. Anything else?”
“You do know, sir, that if we plant a false lead, we can identify him, or her, when he acts on it?”
“I do, Moose. In the event we decide the Rogues Task Force is going to fail to find out who this is, I’ll let you know. We can authorize any number of additional search procedures at that time. Okay?”
“Yes, sir.”
He walked out of the Oval Office with the information he had been seeking.
Chapter 7
“What’s up, Lin?” the Director asked as she sat down in his office. She had asked for a five minute meeting.
“Just checking in with you on my Rogues Task Force work,” she replied.
“You guys find any vigilantes yet?”
“No. And me scheduling a meeting with you wouldn’t be how you’d find that out.”
“I suppose I’d hear from the President or Moose. Especially if you turned out to be the inside traitor.”
She made a face.
“The President told me you turned down the chairmanship without even checking with me.”
“True enough. The CIA can’t be party to a domestic investigation.”
“Even if I ordered you to?”
She looked at him thoughtfully. “Director, if you are ordering me to, we need to have a long walk in the Langley woods.”
He just stared at her.
“So,” she said, “you suspect me too?”
“I think there’s a high probability that the President and Moose are right that it’s an inside job. There was a lot of thought went in to selecting which five should look into this for us. I’ve studied the backgrounds of the other four. I agree that it’s either among you five, or one of you will find the insider pretty quickly.”
“Two didn’t make the cut.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, I heard. Look, Lin, I know you as well as I know any professional in the world. After twenty years working together off and on, I’d bet it’s Nancy and or her pal the JSOC Colonel. But, after extensive investigating, all five of you were equally above suspicion. So, it’s a horse race. Neck and neck.”
“Good to know of your confidence.”
He shrugged. “It goes with the territory. You, of all people know that, Lin.”
*
Less than ten miles away, the Director of the FBI was midway through the same conversation with Nancy Moffett.
He leaned forward. “Look, Nancy, if it weren’t for your friendship with Colonel Edwards, I’d bet you wouldn’t be on the Task Force. But it probably takes two very senior people for these vigilantes to make this go. Assume that there are two, then you and Tom are in the bull’s eye. Simple as that. And if it’s not you two, then you both are ideally positioned to discover who it is.”
“It could be just one of us, of course.”
“Of course. Is your friendship with Tom such that you wouldn’t turn each other in if one of you discovered the other?”
“Ah, a trick question. Thanks for not asking me that one over drinks.”
“And the answer is?”
“I can’t speak for the Colonel, sir.”
“Noted.”
“I’ll let you know if it turns out to be Tom.”
“Unless you’re his partner.”
“Or decide to join him.”
They looked hard at each other.
The Director burst out laughing. “Thanks for the meeting, Nancy. Amusing. No, I don’t think it’s you in answer to your question.”
“One more question, sir.”
“Yes?”
“Exactly how hard do you all want us to find these guys and turn these vigilantes in?”
“I can’t speak for everybody.”
It was Nancy’s turn to laugh.
“Exactly how hard do you want us to find these guys, Mr. Director, sir?”
He stood up, grabbed a handful of MM peanuts out of the bowl on her desk, and said, “Just as hard as the President does, ma’am.”
Chapter 8
May and Samms had arrived in Colorado Springs late the night before to join Cheese and Tom. It was now 8:00 am and the four were looking down from the hill at the Quonset hut through their field glasses.
“How many are in there?” Samms asked.
“All of them,” Cheese replied.
“The eleven only?”
“No,” May said. “No, they’re all there. Twenty-two.”
“Any civilians?”
“We don’t think so,” Cheese replied.
“You don’t think so?” Tom said. “We’ve never had any collateral damage. We’ve never killed any noncombatants and I don’t need to remind anyone that we’re committed to avoiding that.”
Silence.
“I’ve been watching for three days and no unaccounted for innocents have either come or gone out of either door,” Cheese said. “And no innocents at all have failed to come out after entering. There’s virtually no chance there are any good guys in there.”
“And none have entered this morning.” May said. “And I don’t think these guys have the balls to keep hostages.”
“So we’re talking about walking in with their own silenced Uzis you stole from them, and killing twenty-two armed militiamen,” Samms said.
May and Cheese nodded.
“None guarding the compound?”
“Not that we’ve ever seen,” Cheese replied.
“Okay, all set,” Tom said. “Let’s do this. Is it still the plan to leave the computers untouched for the Feds to find?”
May nodded.
Cheese showed them the floor plan again. Twenty work stations. They each rememorized the five they were responsible for. Stared intently at the configuration, in scale, in relation to the doors.
“Show me the bathrooms again,” Tom said. “Who’s covering those?”
“I am,” Cheese said, “while you three finish off the kill shots to the heads.”
“Are you sure there’re no rooms underneath?” Samms asked.
“I checked again last night. For the tenth time. It’s all cables underneath. But, thanks, Samms. That reminds me.” He pointed with a stick. “Here’s the kitchen and the computer and telecommunications room. Samms, you take those as quick as possible. That leaves Tom and May for the kill shots. And Samms. Don’t shoot into the computer room unless you’re left no choice. You wanted those computers left working for the Feds.”
He got three nods.
“Okay. As Tom says, let’s do this thing.”
They started down the hill, and the side door opened. They all froze. Then hit the dirt on their stomachs.
Two guys came out. Walked over to a Jeep at the back of the hut.
“Shit,” Cheese said. “Those we know to be two of the eleven. If they drive off, we’ve got a serious problem.”
They watched as the two got in the Jeep and started rummaging around.
A third man came out and trotted over to them.
Got in the back of the Jeep.
“Can we nail those three on the way in?” Tom said. “We have silencers.”
“It’s our only shot if they start to leave. One of us will have to cut them off. And then cut them down.”
“That’ll put only three of us in the hut,” Samms said.
“I’ll take the three in the Jeep,” May said. “I can stay out of their sight and ambush them as they come around the hut toward the road over there.” She pointed off to the right of the hut.
The Jeep started up.
“But,” she said, “I think I should stay outside during the shooting. I’d make a perfect target walking in through the door during the gunfight.”
“Good point,” Cheese said. “We will have to improvise in there
without May. No choice. The day after tomorrow is D-day for these guys. We can’t put this off.”
The Jeep’s engine died. They could hear the driver cursing during failed attempts to restart.
They watched as a fourth man came out. Cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled toward the Jeep.
The driver got out and walked toward the fourth man. They talked, looking over at the Jeep.
“Now, May,” Cheese said. “They won’t see you. Now.”
May duck-ran down the hill, keeping the hut between her and the four men at the Jeep.
The four men stood around the Jeep talking.
A fifth man came out of the hut just as May slipped out of sight around the corner by the door.
“Jeez that was close,” Cheese said. “Just as a reminder, now they’re not going to all be at their work stations.”
“I didn’t think that was going to be likely from the beginning, Cheese,” Tom said. “Just let’s all breathe and try not to shoot each other in there.”
The fifth guy whistled to those in the Jeep. When he got no response, he leaned back into the hut and said something.
Samms took her safety off. “What if we take out these five, then wait to see if they come out one at a time?”
“I don’t like the odds,” Tom said. “Then we may not be able to surprise those inside and they can call for help. I don’t like it.”
“Roger that,” Cheese said.
May had now disappeared completely from sight.
The fifth guy closed the door and trotted out to those in the Jeep.
“They going out for takeout breakfast?” Tom asked.
“They never have before,” Cheese replied.
“I wasn’t being serious. I don’t like the five to one odds for May now.”
“Me either,” Samms said.
“Do you have a Plan B, Cheese?”
Cheese looked at the area around the hut. For the thousandth time.
“I don’t like it, but you two could take out those at the Jeep, and May and I can go in to the hut seconds later. It could work. But I don’t like it at all.”
They watched the five talking at the Jeep.
“Anybody see May?” Samms asked.
Two shaking heads.
After what seemed like an hour, one of the men at the Jeep raised the hood. He peered in while one of the others trotted back to the hut.
The one in the hut came back out several minutes later with two other guys. The three headed for the Jeep where the first guy was still sticking his head in at the engine.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky,” Tom said, “and all twenty-two will come out for a photoshoot by the Jeep. Make our job easier.”
“That leaves just fifteen inside,” Cheese said. “The seven at the Jeep appear to be unarmed. It’s tempting.”
“May could take out those seven by herself while we went in.”
Now three of them had their heads in the engine. The other four stood around, passing out cigarettes.
Cheese texted May, “you ok?”
Got back a “yes.”
“Can you see the seven at the Jeep? Could you take them out by yourself?”
“Probably.”
He showed her answer to Samms.
“Too risky,” she said.
“Hold on,” Cheese texted.
“It’s only a matter of time until one of these geniuses thinks to go bring a car from their lot on the other side of the hill,” Samms said. “Time for Plan C.”
She went into a crouch. “Do you know any of their names, Cheese?”
He looked down the hill. “I’m sure two of those guys are named ‘Chris’.”
“Text May to come out and cover me. You two sprint down into the hut. But wait until those seven are focused on me.”
She stood as Cheese texted, “come out…cover Samms.”
Samms started trotting down the hill, toward the seven at the Jeep.
“Hey, guys.”
Three of the four standing by the Jeep looked up at her.
“Chris.” She waved her left arm, Uzi cradled in her right.
Sure enough, two of them responded to hearing their names, and looked curiously up at her.
She started trotting down toward them. Saw May crouching at the corner of the hut, out of their line of sight.
Two of the guys with their heads in the engine stood up and watched her trotting toward then. All seven were now looking away from where May stood ready to emerge.
“I’m looking for the Friends of Freedom. I’ve been traipsing all over these hills for days looking for them.”
She waved as she picked up her pace, now coming down at a near-run.
“Do you know where I can find them? You’re not the Chris I know.”
None of them said a word. Two looked nervously toward the hut.
“Who are you?” one of them said.
She was now fifteen yards from them, maybe only a foot above them.
“Dolly. Dolly Madison.”
She pointed the Uzi now at the center of the seven men.
“Some militia. Who trained you guys to all stand in one place?”
One of the men stepped behind the Jeep’s driver, reached behind his back, and started to pull out a pistol.
“No!” Tom yelled as he and Cheese hurtled down the hill toward the hut’s door.
Just as Samms opened fire, May emerged and shot the man with the gun from behind before he even got it above his waist.
May cut in front of Cheese and Tom’s path coming down the hill and opened supporting fire for Samms.
Four of the seven fell on the spot, two ran toward the hut directly into May’s fire, and one grabbed the fallen pistol and dove behind the Jeep.
Cheese ran to the side of the hut, as Tom reached the front door and put on infrared goggles over his knit head mask. Cheese reached and cut the power to the Quonset hut, simultaneously putting his goggles on over his mask, as the two rushed through the door.
“Hands up. Police.” Both shouting.
*
“You okay?” May asked. Both she and Samms had taken what cover they could behind rises in the sandy slopes. The guy behind the Jeep had an edge in cover, but a decided disadvantage in firepower and numbers.
The two guys who had run toward May were dead, as were two of the four in front of the Jeep who Samms had shot. The two wounded guys were trying to get up.
May shot one in the head as he was up on his elbows.
In response the other tried to scramble on all fours toward the Jeep.
Samms shot him dead.
“I give up,” said the man behind the Jeep, almost hysterically.
“Come out,” Samms said. “Toss the gun. Then come out hands up, palms out.”
“You going to shoot me?” He was crying.
“Either way,” Samms said.
“Who are you?”
“I already told you.”
Samms could see him sliding on all fours away from her voice, keeping the Jeep’s tires between them. The other cars were in that direction, but he would have to go up the hill to get to them.
May’s voice calmly said, for both to hear, “You’re headed directly into my line of sight, big fella. That direction isn’t going to work for you.”
He stopped sliding away from the Jeep.
He lay there for a beat or two. Gun in both hands, pointed in the direction of May’s voice.
Then he rose up and dove all in one motion into the back seat of the Jeep.
*
As expected in the dark confusion, some of the militiamen complied with Cheese and Tom’s “hand’s up” order, and some didn’t. Two of them had the presence of mind to head for the back rooms.
All hell broke loose as the Uzis spit fire as the remaining thirteen militiamen started going down.
One rose up behind a computer and aimed a Glock in the now-gloomy light being let in by the holes in the walls of the hut.
Tom cut him practically
in half.
Less than thirty seconds in.
Cheese sprinted to the first bathroom, while Tom lurched into the kitchen.
A shot rang out. Missed Tom.
He crouched, swiveled, and cut the shooter down with a burst from the machine gun.
He then turned and headed toward the computer room just as he heard a burst of fire inside one of the bathrooms.
He kicked the door into the computer room down. Went in crouching, just as Cheese burst in after him. A lone militiaman stood, hands up. Standing right in front of one of the servers. He was shaking. Terrified.
“I give up.”
“Come out here where we can talk to you,” Tom said, arm outstretched. His voice soothing. “You’re the one we needed to talk to.”
Visibly scared, the militiaman complied. Walked out into the pitch black room.
*
The man in the Jeep lay quietly on the back seat. He was surrounded. But he was armed. If he could hold out for his fifteen colleagues to come rescue him, he would have a chance. He had only seen four of these crazy people.
He reached through the seats and pushed the horn. Nothing. The Jeep was dead.
He pushed his pistol up to the open right side window, peered to where he thought the woman was.
Nothing there.
He squirmed around and repeated it out the other window, looking toward the left front.
A voice behind asked, “Still don’t want to give up?”
He ducked down. There had been nobody in front of him.
He tried to think. Was the body of the Jeep bullet proof? Of course not.
He crept down to lie on the floor while he thought.
How long had he been in the Jeep? Probably less than two minutes. Maybe even less than one.
Why was nobody coming out of the hut? Surely they heard all the shooting.
He heard a voice, “Hold off, May. I’ve got him on this side.”
Then the whole right side of the Jeep opened from the automatic fire. One bullet ricocheted off the left door handle and passed through his left triceps. Several bullets passed through the Jeep and holes opened up in the left side doors as well.
He scrunched down flatter on the floor, yelling involuntarily from the wound in his arm.
“You want more?” This from one now in the front. A woman as well. What the hell?
The Point Of A Gun: Thriller Page 4