by Drew Hill
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“Gerald, this is the boss. Our friend’s been arrested. I need you to go to Montreal. Our next target’s Canada. Call me when you get there.”
Chapter 17
“Trent finally confessed and told us his story,” Frank told the people in the Situation Room. “About five months ago, he was contacted by a man who said he was sent by the leader of ISIS. He told Trent they were planning a big mission soon, and they needed an ear in the President’s Cabinet to keep them updated. They offered a large paycheck, so Trent accepted.
“They gave him a number for which to contact the mission leader. But he didn’t feel good about working with foreign terrorists. So when another man contacted him, and offered him the same salary, he accepted without much hesitation.
“They kidnapped Frank and the two agents to throw suspicion away from Trent. When they did the lie detector tests, Trent found out they were using the new lie detectors and got the flash drive with the program to mess up the results on it. He put Isaiah Harkens’ name on it to throw suspicion on him. Since Trent confessed, Isaiah Harkens was released.
“The man then asked for classified plans of different weaponry. So Trent got them and mailed them to a certain post office box in Miami. From there they could be shipped to wherever the people who hired Trent wanted them to.
“About a week ago he noticed different people began shadowing him. He knew they were agents from one of our intelligence agencies, so he convinced his men to do the fake escort. Then he snuck out the back and we know the rest. That’s the story he told us.”
“Did he tell who hired him?” asked Mark.
“No, he did not. He said the first man claimed he was sent by the leader of ISIS. The second man never gave his name, or so Trent said.” Frank shrugged.
Joe spoke up. “I also have good news. We intercepted a call from the boss to Gerald. MI6 gave us the code to crack the encrypted calls from Gerald or the boss. It told him to head to Montreal. It said the next target was Canada. Now, we just need to intercept Gerald.”
“After that, all we have to find out is who the boss is,” said John.
“What I’m worried about is what they said during the call.” Timothy looked around the room. “They said the next target was Canada. But I thought they already used their nuke they got from us.”
“There’s three possibilities to explain this problem,” Daniel stated. “Either they’re bluffing, they acquired nukes from someone else, or they may have copied the design of the previous nuke.”
“What do you think, Mark? Do they have a nuke, or are they bluffing?” asked Jackson.
“I wouldn’t put it past them getting more nukes, since Gerald is a weapons dealer. And if their boss could hire the Secretary of War, he could easily hire a scientist to build the weapons,” said Mark.
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“How is this nuke coming, Dr. Xaviers?” asked Harold Summers, the man who stood by the table.
“Good, Mr. Summers. This will make five built. How many are you going to use in Canada?” asked Dr. Xaviers.
“Probably one for now. Excuse me. I’m getting a call.” Harold walked away and answered the call.
“Hello, this is Harold.”
“Harold, this is the boss. MI6 has been intercepting our calls. They’ve cracked our encryption devices. I found out when they told the CIA. That’s why I’m not using my regular phone. I’m going to get new encryption devices after this operation. But I’ve changed my mind about where we’re going to hit.”
“So where are we going to hit now?”
“Deliver the nuke to Toronto. I’ll call Gerald shortly. Got it?”
“Yes, but—” started Harold, but the man had already hung up.
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“Gerald, this is the boss. They’re waiting for you in Montreal. MI6’s been intercepting our calls. They also broke the encryption codes. I just found out about it. We’ve changed targets. Sneak into Toronto. Get a new phone and call me when you get there.”
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“Have you caught Gerald yet?” asked Timothy.
“No, we haven’t,” Frank answered.
“What do you mean?”
“We sort of lost him,” was the sheepish reply.
“You lost him! How did you lose him?” Timothy exploded.
“We were preparing to catch him when we were called by the NSA. They intercepted a call to Gerald from his boss. It told him we were waiting for him and that he was to sneak into Toronto. It said to get a new phone and call him when he got there.”
“So how did he get out of Montreal without our seeing him?”
Daniel took over. “He never got into Montreal. There was a flight from Iran to Montreal. It stopped in Calgary. Our agents asked if there had been a man answering Gerald’s description. They said there had been and the man got off at Calgary. Agents in Calgary asked about where he had gone after that. Apparently Gerald hired a private pilot to take him to a small town near Toronto. From there he could easily get into Toronto.”
“So what do we do now?” asked Timothy.
“Well, we can try to intercept the call from Gerald to the boss,” Frank suggested. “Maybe we can find Gerald and the nuke.”
“Oh, by the way. Can you run a check on all the presidential candidates? Amos told me he thought we should check on all their campaign contributions,” said Timothy.
Daniel nodded. “Okay. I’ll take care of that. Goodbye, Mr. President.”
As Daniel and Frank exited the room, Frank turned to Daniel, “Daniel, I need to talk to you about something.”
“Yeah, what is it?”
“I think there’s another leak. How else could ‘the boss’ have known we had intercepted the calls and were waiting for Gerald in Montreal?”
“You’re right. But how? We’ve swept every room for bugs. Every worker here has been thoroughly checked and most have taken a lie detector test. Whoever this spy is, he’s covered his tracks well.”
“We need to find out who it is.”
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“This is Gerald.”
“Gerald, this is the boss. The cargo is in your hotel room. I had one of my men place it in there today. I’ll call the Canadian government tonight. I’ll let you know what to do in two days.”
“Anything else?”
“Just be very careful. After this go to our home base. Harold will be waiting for you.”
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“Hello?”
“Listen here. I know you’re tracking this call. So I’ll talk fast. Unless you want the city of Toronto decimated by a nuclear weapon, you’ll pay fifty million dollars into a Swiss bank account. I’ll text you the account number. If it’s not there by nine o’clock two days from now, you can say goodbye to the city of Toronto. That’s all.”
As soon as the man hung up, the Canadian agent who taped and traced the call said, “Alright. It looks like the call was from Detroit, Michigan. This call corresponds with what the CIA told us about Gerald Hamilton’s whereabouts in Toronto. So I wonder who this caller is. Maybe the boss.”
“Let’s catch this gang before they carry out their threat to bomb Toronto,” said the Prime Minister of Canada with a determined look in his eye.
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“Hi, Jackson. Did you see that Dominic Walton topped us in the polls last night?” asked Timothy.
“Yes, I did. Came to talk to you about that. By the way, what are you doing?” Jackson looked at him curiously.
“Well, I lost my travel mug. I’ve searched all over, but I can’t find it,” said Timothy.
“Did you use the tracker that’s in the secret compartment in the bottom of the mug?” asked Jackson.
“Yes, but it isn’t working. It turns on, but it doesn’t say where my mug is.”
Jackson suddenly remembered why he had come. He’s too busy now, anyway. “Oh, well. Goodbye, Mr. President.”
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“So who’s the Harold mentioned in the call?” asked Frank.
“I think it’s Harold Summe
rs, an American gangster who has worked with Gerald Hamilton before,” said Daniel.
“Where is their home base?” Frank questioned.
“I’ve noticed Miami keeps coming up in this case. Could it be their home base?” Agent Harkens suggested.
“Doubtful, although possible. We’ve monitored the warehouse where Frank was kept since then. Nothing going on there. The warehouse is owned by a coffee company right now. They said they weren’t using the warehouse then, and the people were trespassing without permission. So no clues there.” Daniel sighed.
“We know Gerald’s staying at a hotel. Have they searched all the hotels in Toronto?” Agent Harkens asked.
“They haven’t searched all of the hotels yet. However, they’re working on it,” Frank answered.
“Could Gerald be in a disguise? Maybe that’s why they can’t find him,” Agent Harkens pointed out.
“That’s a good point. How will we find Gerald before they use the nuke?” asked Daniel.
Frank put his hands on his head. “I don’t know. But we have to try. Millions of people’s lives are at stake.”
“Changing the subject, have you checked all the candidates? Their campaign sponsors and things like that?” asked Agent Harkens.
“Yes, I have. I’m to get the reports tonight. Now I’ve got to go. See you later, Frank and Isaiah.” Daniel walked out.
Chapter 18
“Hey, Frank. Could you come here for a minute?” Timothy motioned him over.
Frank walked over. “Yes, Mr. President?”
“Could you look at the tracking software in my mug? I lost it but couldn’t get the tracker to work right. I found it this morning and was wondering if you could look at it,” said Timothy.
“Sure. The tracker’s still in the little compartment at the bottom, right?”
“Yes, Frank.”
Frank twisted the bottom of the cup. It opened and he looked inside. He saw what looked like a small microphone. “Wait a second! This isn’t the tracker! It’s a bug!”
“What!” exclaimed Timothy.
“Yes, Trent must have put it in here. That’s how they knew so much about our plans and operations. They just heard you say it. No wonder we couldn’t find any bugs. The bug was in here the whole time.”
“Now we just need to find Gerald, Harold, and the boss.” Timothy declared.
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A young man entered the room. “Here’s the report you asked for, Mr. Smart.”
“Which report?” Daniel looked puzzled.
“The report of the candidates’ financial contributions,” said the young man.
A look of recognition crossed Daniel’s face. “Thanks. I’ll look at it right now.”
The young man exited the room. Daniel opened the folder and pulled out the paper on Dominic Walton. He glanced over it and suddenly looked down at something. He read it four times. He picked up his phone and called Timothy.
“Hello, this is the office of Timothy Michaels, President of the United States,” answered the secretary.
“Can I talk to the President, Ma’am? I have something very important to tell him.”
“Who is this?” asked the secretary.
“Oh, uh, Daniel Smart.”
“Well, Mr. Smart, I’ll get the President for you. I’m putting this call on hold.”
Daniel waited for a moment until Timothy’s voice came over the line. “Hello, Daniel. This is President Michaels.”
“Mr. President, I need to meet privately with you. I have something important to tell you.”
“Yes, Dan. I’ll meet you at nine p.m. tonight. Is that fine with you?”
“Yes. That works for me. See you then.” Daniel finished the call. Now to find the evidence to support my theory.
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“So, Dan, what did you want to meet me about?” asked Timothy.
“Well, Mr. President, I got that report on the campaign contributions of all the presidential candidates you asked for. I was reading the one on Dominic Walton. He has mostly supported his own campaign.”
“Yeah, I knew that. So what about it?”
“After France paid the fifty million dollars to protect Paris from being bombed, Dominic Walton nearly doubled the amount of money he was spending on his campaign.”
“What are you implying?”
“Just let me finish. When they traced the call from the mysterious man to Canada, it was traced to Detroit. Dominic Walton was in Detroit making a speech. During the time the call was made, he had just finished his speech and wouldn’t stick around to answer questions. That gave him the opportunity to make the call,” said Daniel.
“Are you saying you think Dominic Walton could be behind all this? It all could be a coincidence.”
“Yes, you’re right. Except for the evidence I found. I checked the voice transcript of the recorded call to the prime minister of Canada and compared it to the voice print of Dominic Walton during a speech. They matched exactly. Dominic Walton called the prime minister of Canada and threatened to nuke Toronto. I’m guessing he’s the boss.”
“And the motive would be millions of dollars to support his campaign for president,” the President said slowly.
“I’ll have him arrested.”
“Wait. If we arrest him now, the media will say I ordered him to be arrested to damage his campaign. And we really have little evidence other than the voice transcript.”
“Do you think I should simply keep him under surveillance until we get more evidence?”
“Yes, that would be a good idea. Just don’t let him get away.”
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Dominic Walton was driving down the streets of Detroit when he noticed someone following him. He knew the bug had been found, so he didn’t know what was going on there. He had another source, but he couldn’t utilize that source, at least not yet. He suspected the FBI or CIA had found something suspicious about him. He decided to see if they really were following him. He went down another street and pulled over. The car stopped in front of a fast food restaurant across the street. He started the car and drove on. They pulled out after him.
Dominic was sure now they were tailing him. He wondered what to do. He couldn’t make the call to the prime minister with them watching his every move. He decided to lose them. He went down every side street he could find. He slowed down and sped up at intervals.
Dominic finally lost them and pulled over. He needed a minute to think. He decided to call the Prime Minister of Canada.
“Hello,” answered the Prime Minister.
“Are you going to pay the fifty million dollars or not?” asked Dominic.
“No need to be so rude, Mr. Walton,” said the Prime Minister.
At the mention of his name Dominic hung up. So they did know, huh? He needed to get out of the country. But he wondered how he could do that. Unless he staged an accident to make it look like he died. It was an old trick, but the public would fall for it. The FBI and CIA might still be suspicious, but what could they prove? As soon as he finished this piece of business, he would go back to home base.
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Timothy woke up. He’d slept well for the first time in several weeks. He walked over to the television and turned it on.
“And so, it looks like his campaign is over,” the announcer was saying. Timothy looked up, startled.
Did someone drop out of the race? Timothy wondered.
“Apparently, as he was driving home after giving a speech, Dominic Walton drove off a steep embankment in the dark. When the car hit the ground, it burst into flames, apparently killing the driver. It exploded before the ambulance arrived. And in other news,” continued the anchor, but Timothy wasn’t listening. Confused thoughts rolled through his brain. He picked up the phone and called Daniel.
“Hello, Mr. President.”
“What happened last night?”
“You mean with the car accident?”
“Yes, I mean the car accident. What else would I mean?” Timothy snapped.
“Sorry, Mr. President.” Daniel cleared his throat. “Well, the car burned up, so we can’t tell if he was really in the car or just faked his own demise.”
“What about the men who were tailing him?” asked Timothy.
“They said he lost them. And it looked like he did it purposely. I think there are two scenarios: either he was trying to lose them, and went down the embankment because of it, or he sent the car down the embankment so he could sneak out of town easier.
“If scenario 2 is the correct one, where do you think he’s going?”
“He will probably go to their home base.”
“I wish I knew where that was.”
Chapter 19
“Gerald, this is the boss. Everything’s gone wrong. Set the timer on your suitcase and sneak out of town. When you get out, head back to home base. We’re putting Operation Doomsday into effect. Goodbye,” said Dominic Walton.
“But wait a minute, boss, I—“ started Gerald, but Dominic had already hung up. Gerald opened the brown suitcase and reached for the timer. He set it for five o’clock in the evening and headed out.
Gerald walked up to the front desk and checked out. He exited the building and got into his car. As he drove off, he noticed a police car pulling up to his hotel. He thought nothing of it but continued to drive toward the exit.
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“Have you had any people check out today?” asked a police officer.
The receptionist looked back and forth at the two police officers. “Only one. A young man checked out shortly before you got here.”
“Do you mind if we search his room?” asked the other police officer.
“No. I’ll go unlock it for you.”
They went into the room and the police officers looked around. “Look, he forgot his suitcase. I wonder what’s inside?” The younger of the two police officers opened it up.
“What is it? A clock, a bunch of wires— wait a minute! This is a bomb!” exclaimed the police officer.
The receptionist turned pale. “A bomb? In this hotel?” he stammered.