Covenant - THE CONTROLLER 01

by Jerry Bruce

  Four team members were responsible for taking out the men in the guardhouse. Since this was well lit and visible to anyone looking from inside the building, they had to momentarily knock out the lights, seconds being all that was needed.

  As soon as one of the men shut down the power, the other three rushed into the shack and within a couple of seconds killed Johnson and Higgins before their eyes had a chance to adjust to the sudden darkness. Two terrorists quickly donned their uniforms, and once in position, the power was reinstated. From a distance, all looked normal.

  The terrorists now had to wait for the relief guards to show up. They didn’t have long to wait as the shift change was precisely on time. It was customary for the two guardhouse replacements to accompany the others to each sentry position as the switch was accomplished. After all positions were posted, they would then relieve the Marines in the guardhouse. The assault team didn’t know with certainty what order would be used, as their scouting missions had shown that each Marine team did things differently. They knew that no matter which post the Marines went to first, their five teammates could easily take out the six Marines by virtue of surprise.

  Corporal Stevens and Lance Corporal Jonas led their four privates in perfect cadence to station number four. They would relieve the guard in reverse order. As they approached guard position four, they never noticed that the man in the Marine poncho with the hood pulled over his head wasn’t wearing spit shined boots. They were totally unprepared for what ensued and never knew what hit them. Each Marine was killed in precisely the same manner as the others—quietly, painlessly, and instantly. Once the word was given, the assault team that was going to take over the embassy building proceeded to their stations at the entrances. The two uniformed “guards” remained in the guardhouse and one terrorist sentry remained at each post.

  There were three entryways into the embassy, each one covered by six terrorists. On cue they would gain entry, leaving one teammate stationed inside the door. The rest would proceed room by room until they had secured the first floor offices. Since it was after midnight, they didn’t anticipate anyone being present on the first floor except in the communications center, which was manned around the clock. They encountered only one radio operator in the center, quickly neutralized him and disabled the telephone system. On command, the man assigned to disable the elevator called the car down and shut off the power. The assault team split up into two groups, each proceeding up one of the two staircases. Their intelligence reports indicated the Marine quarters were at the south end of the building, and their intel was perfect.

  * * *

  Richard’s feelings were mixed. He had committed to working with the Controller, partly on the assumption that the Controller had been open with him and told him everything. Now it was obvious that the Controller was withholding information. The president wondered why he wasn’t told of the relationship with Senators Vallins, Thompson and Margolis. He decided that the only way to clarify the situation was a call to the Controller.

  “Hello, Richard. I was expecting your call long before this.”

  “You know why I’m calling?”

  “I believe you have called to thank me for the little surprise gift I gave you.”

  “Gift?”

  “Yes, the guarantee of support for your Social Security and free trade programs, all wrapped up in a tidy package of three senators. I trust you were surprised.”

  “So you’re saying that you didn’t tell me about your relationship with them so that it could be a surprise, as opposed to a lack of trust?”

  “Yes, Richard. I thought of telling you a long time ago but decided to wait until you were prepared to start laying the groundwork for your programs. Now that you know, I hope you’re pleased.”

  “Of course, their support is a godsend.”

  “I’m glad you feel that way, now if you will excuse me, I have other matters to which I must attend. Good bye, Richard.”

  * * *

  Several days had passed, with the family enjoying Camp David more and more. Richard was more relaxed than ever and ready to tackle the next challenge that could be thrown his way.

  “Mr. President” Adam’s voice sounded very serious, “We have a serious situation here.”

  “What’s up, Adam?”

  “Our embassy in Cairo has been forcibly taken by a paramilitary group of unknown origin. Apparently around midnight Cairo time, small arms fire was heard coming from the embassy compound. Sources say it lasted several minutes with multiple guns firing simultaneously. Attempts to contact embassy personnel have failed. It appears all means of communication have been taken out.”

  “I’ll have the helicopter bring me back first thing in the morning.”

  “Thank you, Mr. President. I’ll have everyone waiting when you arrive.”

  “See if the vice president is available to join us as well.”

  “Will do, sir.”

  Richard leaned back in his desk chair so far that it almost tipped over. Adam didn’t know that Richard was already aware of the situation. He had received a call from the Controller earlier, alerting him to the developing crisis. The Controller indicated that while this could turn into a favorable turn of events for the U. S., he had nothing to do with its initiation. He offered this before Richard could pose the question. And for some reason that Richard couldn’t fathom, he believed the Controller.

  * * *

  Adam was waiting when the helicopter touched down, and as soon as the president exited, he was right there to take Richard straight to the war room. No members of the press were allowed to greet the helicopter; instead they were asked to stand by for a later briefing. Something like this was impossible to keep quiet for any length of time, and Christine Morrison was being bombarded with questions in the press briefing room. She was her usual tactful self and said little that could backfire on the president.

  “I have everyone assembled, Mr. President. I hated calling you back like this, but we have more resources here, should we need them.”

  “Don’t apologize, Adam, you did the right thing.”

  “I have to tell you up front, Mr. President, the military is going to take a hardball stand on this. We aren’t sure, at this point, how many Marines were killed, but it’s a fair assumption that most, if not all were killed.”

  The war room was manned with the usual staff, but this time also included the vice president. Everyone rose and came to attention as the president entered the room.

  “Please, everyone, take a seat. General Wilson, will you start us off?”

  “Yes sir. The situation is this, Mr. President. A force—number of men unknown—has taken control of our embassy in Cairo. So far no one group is taking credit for the action. We feel that they are waiting to see what our reaction will be. The number of hostages is unknown, as is the number of casualties. It is a certainty that there are casualties among the Marines, at least. We have sources that tell us there was small arms fire that lasted about two minutes. Since there has been no communication from the embassy, we assume that the perpetrators were successful in taking out or neutralizing any military threat.”

  “Do we have any idea who is behind this?” Richard directed the question to CIA director Thornton.

  “Not at this time, sir. We’ve been in contact with all our sources in the area and nobody is talking. Until somebody comes forward, we can only speculate.”

  “So speculate.” Richard raised his voice slightly and his eyes turned piercing. If the Controller knew who was responsible why couldn’t his own intelligence agency? “Every day we go through the regimen of discussing threats, and the first time something happens, we are totally unprepared. Why is that?”

  “I can only offer our best guess, at this point, Mr. President.”

  “And just what might that be?” The president’s sarcasm was obvious.

  “We feel that there are only a couple of groups capable of such an organized paramilitary action. One would be the Peoples A
rmy of Liberation, which is being financed and protected by Syria, and the other is the PLO.”

  Richard couldn’t take it any more. He had to somehow give up his knowledge of the event without appearing to be informed. “Aren’t you forgetting a few other groups? Such paramilitary groups exist in Israel, France and Germany, not to mention a dozen others. I suggest you start exploring the idea of a so-called ‘friendly’ nation being responsible. In case you haven’t noticed, I have been advocating some fairly radical ideas, ideas that may seem threatening to certain nations. Let’s face it, not everyone in the Middle East wants peace if it means having to make concessions on their part. So start looking outside the box. It may be that the reason no one wants to take credit is because they don’t want to be exposed at this time.” Richard figured by specifically naming several countries, one of which was the responsible party, he could direct attention without admitting to prior knowledge. He would never be able to satisfactorily justify why he allowed lives to be lost when he knew beforehand of the attack.

  “Sir, shouldn’t we be focusing on getting our people rescued?”

  “General Wilson, I would like nothing better than to take back our embassy with a show of force, but not until we identify the perpetrator. Who it is may determine how much force we use. I suggest you develop a plan that will succeed without further loss of life to our citizens, assuming we have hostages to protect. If you can’t guarantee that, then you’d better start coming up with reasons why we can’t rescue our own people from our own embassy because we are going to have to face the nation and answer some embarrassing questions.”

  “In the meantime, Director Thornton, I suggest you bring all your resources to bear to get us some answers. I don’t want to walk blindfolded into a conflict with an unknown enemy. And I might add, the future of your agency may depend on its performance at this time.” Richard was setting Thornton and the CIA up for failure or overwhelming success, and he knew it. He and the Controller had agreed that they needed the CIA to be their eyes while the two of them directed their attention to more critical matters. But they were not willing to let the agency carry on as it had been. One way or the other, the CIA was going to be drastically changed. It was going to shed its lone wolf attitude and answer to the president and do his bidding, or be disbanded.

  Thornton had a surprised look on his face. He quickly glanced around the table and saw some bemused looks on the faces of his foes, and surprised faces on his friends. He had to swallow his pride, yet not appear too sheepish, so he replied, “Yes sir, we will leave no stone unturned.”

  With that, the president dismissed everyone except Adam and Stephen.

  “You came down pretty hard on Wilson and Thornton.” Adam was looking at Richard with a questioning stare.

  “I cannot let business as usual prevail any longer. The CIA has been carrying on as though they don’t have to answer to anyone. Well, that is going to change. From now on they answer directly to me and take orders from me. You know as well as I do that no one would fight me if I chose to disband the agency. They have made too many enemies and not enough friends. There is a place for the CIA, and I want to get them back to that place whether they like it or not. Do you think I was too hard on them, Stephen?”

  “Not at all. I’ve been pretty open about my dissatisfaction with both the military and the agency. I would caution you, however, not to embarrass them again in front of everyone. You don’t want to make enemies of them.”

  “I intentionally embarrassed them. In the future my dealings with them will be in private sessions. I think I made it clear to them that they both are replaceable, and that there are a host of candidates capable of filling their shoes.”

  “What’s our next move, Mr. President?” Adam was anxious to get to work on this problem.

  “I would like both of you to come up with options based on the assumption that we are dealing with an unfriendly act by a friendly nation. We have to be able to rescue our people and leave no uncertainty that we have had it with terrorism; and that we will take down any nation that uses or harbors terrorists, no matter who they are. I want to send a message to the world that it ends here.”

  “You sound certain that we aren’t dealing with known terrorists.”

  “Stephen, I feel that this is a politically motivated move aimed at slowing us down and sabotaging the peace process I’ve outlined. I don’t think for one minute that a radical group is involved. It doesn’t make sense. We would have been deluged with braggadocio and demands by now if it were one of the known groups. No, I’m convinced that we are dealing with a new player in the terrorism game. And if the CIA doesn’t recognize this and find out who it is, then they are useless to me. Don’t get me wrong; I want them to succeed. I don’t have the luxury of time to form another spy agency.”

  “Let’s say for the sake of example that one of our ‘friends’ is responsible. What could we use to leverage our position? We have already tried, and prior administrations have tried, to use every political weapon at our disposal to defeat terrorism, all for naught.” Adam asked the question before Stephen could.

  “I said to explore all options. That includes military.”

  Stephen jumped in. “You can’t be advocating sending in our troops for an assault on a friendly country?”

  “Listen to me, both of you. Listen carefully. For years, decades in fact, we have been playing the ‘sit down and talk’ game with the Israelis, Palestinians, Syrians, etcetera, all to no avail. They just keep escalating the conflicts. Now we are at the point where war is a certainty during our watch. Well, my feeling is this; if there is going to be a war, then we are talking about a nuclear conflict. None of these countries have the common sense anymore to have a limited conflict. They would take the next step of using nukes. Of that, I have no doubt. Each of them has enough capability to make a lifeless desert of the entire Middle East. They have reduced the loss of life to a statistic and numbed themselves to the pain. To them the number of human beings lost during a war is nothing more than a number to be avenged. As far as I am concerned, I think it’s about time that we flexed our nuclear capabilities.”

  Stephen responded, “Are you saying that we should be the ones to make the first strike? Please tell me I’m on the wrong track here, sir.”

  “You are definitely on the right track. I intend to call the bluff on these assholes, once and for all. They either are going to sit down and sign a peace treaty or I am going to nuke them. They have passed the point of no return. Take Israel for example. For years we have sided with them and sold them armament to protect themselves, and what have they done. They used us and our arms to fuel a conflict that they have no intention of ending. Well, time is up.”

  “Mr. President, you can’t be serious. This could lead to a global conflict. And you’re talking as if you know that it’s Israel to blame.” Adam was bordering on insubordination, but didn’t care.

  “I know it is Israel.” Richard stressed the “know.”

  This got Stephen’s attention like a blow between the eyes. “What? How could you possibly know that for a fact?”

  “Let it suffice to say that I have my sources; sources with irrefutable credentials, unknown to you.”

  “This is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. Where did you come up with this idea that we could start a nuclear conflict?” Stephen was appalled.

  “Face reality. Have I said anything that isn’t true? Can you both say that war in the Middle East is not around the corner? And do you discount that everything points to a massive buildup of nuclear capability on all sides? Be honest with yourselves and you’ll answer ‘no’ to all those questions. Our satellites have gathered data showing nuclear tests, silo locations, and mobile missile launchers throughout the Middle East. In your hearts you know that we have our backs against the wall.”

  “But how can we be sure it’s the Israelis? What proof do we have?” Adam’s demeanor softened slightly.

  “My sources tell me that with
in twenty-four hours we will discover evidence that the paramilitary force that took over the embassy was comprised of specialists from several Arab countries. The Israelis have manufactured this evidence with one objective—to get us directly involved in a conflict against the Arab world, with Israel as our ally. The problem we face is, should the Israelis come to find out that we know of their plan, they might do something stupid. We have to keep our knowledge secret until we are certain that we can get our personnel out of that embassy. Then we can confront the Israelis publicly. By doing that in an open forum, we show the Arab world that no one nation is going to hold us hostage or compromise our values, not even an ally. The Israelis will back down. I’m certain of it.”

  “How can you be so sure?” Stephen was rubbing the back of his neck trying to rid himself of the tension headache that was building.

  “Because I intend to show the Israeli Prime Minister a detailed plan for surgical nuclear strikes against Israeli targets. I will assure him, in no uncertain terms, that I consider the embassy attack as an act of war against the United States. I will give him an ultimatum that they stand down from defensive positions and turn over all weapons of mass destruction to us or face annihilation.”