The Point Of A Gun: Thriller

by Steven W. Kohlhagen

  “Let’s start in a different place,” Licht said.

  Four heads turned toward him.

  “The President called me this afternoon and reiterated that the Paladins have to stop until this contract,” he held it up in his right hand, “is completed.”

  “Do we now know with certainty it was them yesterday?” Tom asked.

  Licht flicked him one card and Nancy another. Both with Samms on the front, one with a Superman logo on the back and one with the universally recognized Batman symbol on the back.

  They pushed them toward Linda.

  “That one in the Little Rock Temple, the Superman one. And that one, with the Batman symbol, was in Jackson.”

  “Do you all know what that’s supposed to mean?” the lawyer asked.

  “Yes, of course,” Licht said. “The ultimate super vigilantes. Maybe it’s going to Samms’ head now.”

  “Or she’s signaling it is their last attack,” Linda said. “Trying to make the President happy.”

  “If I were Samms,” Colonel Edwards said, “I would ask you and the President where the hell you get off threatening me at this late date. If there’s a terrorist attack coming down tomorrow that the government isn’t aware of or isn’t prepared to act on, are you seriously suggesting that if I can stop it I shouldn’t?”

  “Yeah,” Linda said, warming to the task. “I’m curious, too. What’s the implied ‘or else’ to me if I’m Samms and Tom isn’t?”

  “I’m feeling,” Nancy said, “a little like we’re approaching the climactic scene in Spartacus. The one where the Romans start asking who Spartacus is, and, before Kirk Douglas can stand up and take the rap, everybody starts standing up and saying ‘I’m Spartacus’.”

  “Bad example, Nancy,” Linda said. “The Roman authorities back then solved that particular problem by crucifying all of them along the Appian Way.”

  The lawyer laughed.

  Nobody joined her, and her laugh trailed off into silence.

  “The President has a carrot rather than a stick in mind,” Licht said. “Read the third section of the document.”

  Everybody but Linda picked up the draft agreement.

  “Not interested?” Licht asked, looking at Linda.

  The other three looked over at Linda.

  “There’s no need,” she replied.

  “Because you’re not Samms?” Tom asked.

  “No. Because I know what it says and I know what the President now wants.”

  Everybody but Linda looked down and re-read the third section.

  When they looked up, Licht said, “The President is suggesting we implement section three now. That we agree that Samms will alert the President of any imminent terrorist activity until we have all signed the agreement.”

  “And if I’m Samms,” Linda said, “what assurances do I have that the government’s anti-terrorist actions will be effective. That innocent lives will not be lost as a result of this Paladin shutdown?”

  “Section three sets up a process whereby if the Paladins call Moose, there will be no questions asked. No SAC questioning the evidence. No government bureaucracy or bureaucrat empowered to request actionable evidence. The appropriate anti-terrorist resources will be put at Samms disposal to implement his or her suggested battle plan.”

  “No questions asked?” Tom asked.

  “None. The President will authorize all available force to carry out any and all Paladin proposals.”

  “How long will section three exist in the form you just outlined?” Linda asked.

  “Until the document is signed by the four of us, or until the President rescinds it. Whichever comes first.”

  “C’mon Licht, which one of us do you think is dumb enough to fall for picking up a phone and calling in an airstrike through Moose?” Nancy said. “Whoever does that will be arrested in five minutes.”

  “Not if they use this secured phone.” He tossed a phone on the table. “It’s traceable only to me.”

  The three of them looked at the phone.

  Seriously? Back to kindergarten?

  The lawyer looked at them with a look that said, “Well I’ve seen it all now”.

  Licht waited for whoever was Samms to make the obvious point.

  But instead, all three burst out laughing.

  Licht looked confused. “I miss a joke?”

  “Several, actually,” Nancy said. “Let’s bypass any editorial comment on your dramatic attempt to get a seasoned intelligence officer or two to fall for a high school charades game stunt by reaching out for the phone and outing themselves.”

  “Actually,” Colonel Edwards said, “can we please ask our lawyer to step out for a minute?”

  “Sure.” Licht signaled her to leave and she did.

  After she closed the door behind her, Licht said, “Thank you, Colonel. I should have done that before I tossed the phone on the table. Sorry, all.”

  “I know, Professor,” Linda said, “that the three of us are on the same page here.” She looked pointedly at Licht. “Probably the four of us, actually.”

  “About what?” Licht asked.

  “Whether or not I’m Samms, I admire what the Paladins have been able to accomplish. And the three of you are on record with the same sentiment. If I were you and the President, I’d be working to get Samms to sign this document and move on with next steps.”

  “Which is what we’re doing.”

  Linda nodded, then said, “Noted. If you’re wrong and none of us is Samms or a Paladin, then this has all been and continues to be for each of us a glorious waste of time.”

  She looked out the window for several beats.

  Licht pulled two other phones out and placed them on the table next to their identical twin.

  All three looked down at the phones, then up at Licht.

  He shrugged. “Just in case.” He looked over at Linda. “You were saying.”

  “If you and the President have been right all this time, then why don’t the four of us add a clause to this document right now? We each sign an agreement that says we each are, and have been all along, members of the Paladins. The second section here then gives all four of us immense power to lead the intelligence community in materially more effective counter-terrorism work.”

  “You would confess, under oath, to a lie?” Licht said. “You’re asking each of the four of us to lie?”

  “Not all four of us,” Nancy said.

  “C’mon, Licht,” Tom said. “There isn’t a person involved in all this who hasn’t perjured himself in the interests of national security.”

  “If this isn’t what the President and Moose had in mind all along,” Nancy said, “maybe it should have been.”

  “And, in your mind, Linda, the virtue of your proposal is?”

  “There are three virtues. And I would see them whether or not I am Samms. One, both the good that has come from these acts and the guilt that is being pardoned is dispersed over a larger number of now sympathetic, very senior officials.”

  “Agreed,” Licht said.

  “Two, nobody outside our group will then ever really know with certainty the actual guilty parties. And three, per our discussions about the good that can come from bypassing bureaucratic constraints, the four of us will be working together on a course of action we each now believe will be more effective than continuing the way we have.”

  “I agree with those points,” Tom said.

  Nancy nodded, “Especially if we’re under martial law.”

  Licht pushed one of the phones toward each of them. “I’ll think about it, Linda. But my job here tonight is to get your assurances that the Paladins will not strike again until we have a deal.”

  “Those things,” Tom pointed to the phones, “have you and Moose on speed dial?”

  Licht nodded.

  “You still authorized to sign for the U.S. Government?” Linda asked.

  He nodded again.

  “No need to go back to the President?”

&nbs
p; “Asked and answered.”

  “Linda,” Nancy said. “Let me make sure I understand what you are proposing. You are asking the head of counter-terrorism at the FBI, domestic JSOC, and CIA to admit…”

  “And the Professor,” Linda said.

  “And Licht,” Nancy nodded. “To admit that they have been part of an unauthorized covert group of vigilantes murdering people, some of them American citizens, not only not convicted of any crimes, not only not accused of any crimes, but also some never having actually committed any crimes?”

  “Well,” Linda said. “For the record, whether or not I am Samms or working with Samms, I am willing to sign that document. To answer your question, yes.”

  “And,” Licht said, “what do you tell the General and your son if you’ve been denying it to them up to now?”

  “In the event, that would be my problem.”

  Nancy looked at Tom, then at Licht. “I’ll have to think about it.”

  “Me too,” said Licht.

  Linda shuffled the phones, picked one up, and pushed the other two closer to Nancy and Tom. “I don’t,” she said. “Whether or not I am actually Samms, I pledge to stop her activities until the President rescinds this document. I will agree that if I have a say, I will see that she calls Moose instead of the Paladins.”

  “By the way,” Nancy asked, “do these have voice scramblers?”

  Licht smiled. “Yes, I think we’ve thought of pretty much everything.”

  “Then I will also take Linda’s pledge,” Nancy said. “If I have a say, Samms will call Moose.”

  Tom smiled. Then laughed. “Me too. At least until the White House fails to follow through.”

  “In that event,” Nancy said, “we would be back to square one.”

  “Agreed,” Licht said.”

  “And my proposal?” Linda asked.

  “We each said we’d think about it,” Licht said.

  “Colonel,” Linda said, not taking her eyes off Licht, “could you get the lawyer back in here.”

  Chapter 53

  The next night, Samms was in her safe house with May and Tom. Cheese was on the phone.

  “What’ve you got, Cheese?”

  “Ask May.”

  “The three jihadists who have been talking about attacking a hotel lobby in a suicide attack are a go tomorrow afternoon,” May said.

  “Where?”

  “Houston. Just as we thought. The St. Regis.”

  Samms looked at Tom. Started unwrapping one of her chocolates.

  “Are you sure?” he asked, looking down at the phone.

  May slid her iPad across the table.

  Samms moved over next to him. They both looked through the decrypted messages.

  “Your source?”

  “My usual. But it’s sources. Two not one. These messages came off several sites. I’m a hundred percent sure, Tom.”

  “Cheese?” It was Samms, pausing to finish the candy. “What’s confirmed on the ground?”

  “I have had the three under surveillance off and on for a couple of weeks. They’re not making much of an effort to hide it. They’re together most of the time. They rent one house, around three miles from the St. Regis.”

  “What’s your plan, Cheese?” Tom asked. “I know you think it’s a fair fight, but there are three of them, they’ll be armed, and you won’t have an escape opportunity from a hotel surrounded by cops within five minutes.”

  “Two.”

  “Two plans?”

  “No, the cops’ll be there in two minutes.”

  “Okay wiseass,” Samms said. “What’s your plan?”

  “May’s flying out here tonight once you give us the thumbs up. There’s a perfect spot down the street from them. They have to go by there. May and I will ambush them from a stolen car, and then drive away in a second stolen car. It’s all set up.”

  “Cheese?”

  “Yes, Samms?

  “You and May need to walk us through this one. Every detail. Names, ranks, serial numbers, street addresses, the whole nine thousand yards.”

  “Every detail?”

  “Yes. Everything that isn’t here on May’s iPad.”

  It took them an hour before Samms and Tom and May could get everything coherent on paper.

  “Cheese?” Samms said.

  “Yes?”

  “One more thing.”

  “Yes”

  “Come home immediately, Cheese. This mission is off.”

  May looked stunned. “What?”

  “The Paladins are coming home.”

  *

  Samms and Tom sat in a car in the empty Jefferson Memorial parking lot. Engine running. Pointed at the 14th Street Bridge. A straight shot to Virginia if there was even a hint of an approaching car.

  Samms dialed the phone Licht had given them.

  “Hello?”

  “Moose?”

  “Yes? Who is this? Only the President has this number.”

  “And the Professor.”

  Silence.

  “Samms?”

  “God, you’re good Moose.”

  “What is it, Samms? You woke me up.”

  “Jihadists are attacking the St. Regis Hotel in Houston tomorrow afternoon at five o’clock Washington time. A suicide mission.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “Fuck you, Moose. This is a test that you and the Professor and the President set up yourselves. If you guys at the White House fuck this up, dozens of people are going to die tomorrow afternoon and your deal with the Paladins and the Paladins Task Force is off. After only one try. Forever.”

  “Okay, sorry, Samms. I wasn’t fully awake. What are the details?”

  “Are you serious, Moose? You think I’d give you details in the middle of the night over a phone that may or may not be secure.”

  “How do we get the details?”

  “They’re in an envelope at the foot of Licht’s bed. A very pretty young Asian woman broke into his house and placed it there twenty minutes ago.”

  Silence.

  “Moose?”

  “I’m here, Samms.”

  “Do you want to call Licht and tell him? Or do you want me to?”

  Chapter 54

  The four of them were meeting with their lawyer and Moose in a conference room in the FBI Building. They had chosen the time and location so that they could follow the Houston JTTF attack on the jihadists.

  When they arrived, a bowl of MM peanuts sat in front of Nancy, assorted dark chocolates in a bowl in front of Linda. They had each smiled at the sight when they entered the room, but neither asked who had put them there.

  Under the circumstances, the President and the Director had agreed with Nancy to let the operation report to her number two. The Director had agreed to hook up a phone connection in the Task Force’s conference room to the SAC on the ground in Houston. Their connection was on listen only mode.

  On one wall of the conference room there were two real time aerials, one of the jihadists’ neighborhood, the other of the neighborhood surrounding the Houston St. Regis.

  The anti-terrorist operation was set up to either intercept the jihadists’ departure from the house identified by Cheese and May, or, if possible, to hit them while they were still preparing.

  There were six sets of three agents in the JTTF and two backup groups of five three blocks away.

  While the Paladins Task Force waited in the FBI conference room, they each looked through the latest final version of their proposed agreement. It included Linda’s proposal for a joint confession. The lawyer had passed out two copies of the revised document to each of the four of them.

  “Per your instructions there are two version of the last section in these documents. One where you each sign with identification of the Paladins added as an Appendix by only one of you. The second version is Linda’s proposal.” She looked at Moose. Saw his confusion and didn’t elaborate. “Please pay particular attention to how the other Paladins, those who are not
signatories to this agreement, are covered.”

  “I don’t get one?” Moose asked.

  “No,” Licht said.

  They all looked up from the documents at the sound of “All set?” coming from the SAC on the aerial scene.

  Eight distinct affirmative answers came back in order.

  Silence settled on the conference room.

  “Please leave the room and wait in the other conference room,” Licht said to the lawyer.

  She left.

  “One last check,” Moose said. “The Paladins have been ordered to stand down, right?”

  The four ignored him as they looked up at the first aerial. Then down at the documents. Reading as they waited for something to happen.

  They all looked back up at the aerial as they heard the SAC say, “Ready.”

  *

  But, in fact, Cheese had disobeyed Samms’ order to come home. Had turned off all communications and, unhappily, stayed in Houston to monitor Samms’ promised government anti-terrorist action.

  While Samms and Tom and May continued to look for lone wolves to turn over to the government, for today at least, Cheese, had, in effect turned himself into a lone wolf.

  He knew this could put them in a tough spot on the Paladins Task Force. But he also knew that Samms’ and Tom’s confidence in him would get them all through it. He hoped.

  His first job that night, after Samms had ordered him home had been to assure himself that all three jihadists were in their house. Once he had been certain, he had set off to figure out how the FBI and DHS were likely to play it. Protect the St. Regis, or ambush the terrorists?

  Unlike the Cheese and May plan, the JTTF would have numbers on their side. They could cordon off the area around the terrorists and either go in after them or wait for the ambush that had appealed to Cheese. But, unlike Cheese and May, the SWAT team would probably be under orders to only kill if necessary.

  Pesky bureaucrats.

  Given that constraint, Cheese figured they’d want to minimize the probability of collateral casualties by going in after them, rather than meeting them at the hotel or ambushing them on route.

  He then had spent the rest of the night searching for the best surveillance position to keep an eye out on the weakest spot in the likely assault plan. Since he had rejected their likely plan early in his own planning, this didn’t take very long.