Solar Minimum

by Greg T Meyers

The five mile walk from the Capitol to Ted’s condo in Georgetown took Ted and Shay just over two hours. They could not take a taxi or any public transportation since they were both carrying an M27 and a Berretta. Escaping from their offices at the Capitol with only their lives they also dared not temp fate by trying to get their cars out of the parking garage. Besides, it was a warm night and Ted and Shay had much to talk about, the foremost being how to find out where the marines had taken Jess and then plot how to free him. The most obvious detention location was the DC Jail on D Street near the river but since that was a civilian facility, Ted and Shay were not sure if Jess was even there. The bigger question at this juncture was how they could find out where he was.

  Ted’s condo was in the same neighborhood as Gus’s and in a few minutes they would pass by Gus’s flat—as he liked to call it. Ted and Shay out of necessity kept to the shadows trying their best to conceal their powerful weapons. Coming to Gus’s building they walked around the back side, keeping to the thick shrubs that grew on the east side of the building with the plan of taking the alley that lead to Ted’s building. To get to the backside of Gus’s building required them to pass under a street lamp while crossing the street. They hid in the shadows waiting for the traffic to clear and then they each took turns running across the street and into the dark bushes on the other side. Safely across, they made their way to the backside of Gus’s building and they both let out a short sigh of relief as the remainder of their walk would now be in complete darkness in the alley. Just then they heard the sound of a handgun being cocked from behind them and they both froze.

  “If you do anything besides throw down your weapons I will blow both of your damn heads off,” came a voice out of the darkness that demanded respect.

  Ted and Shay put their hands in the air and then slowly pulled the straps of their M27’s off their shoulder and laid them on the ground. Then each pulled out the Berretta that was concealed in their pants and dropped them.

  “Now take ten slow steps forward and stop and if you even think about taking a single step more or decide to run, I’ll drop you both.”

  Ted and Shay counted their steps being very careful that they didn’t miscount in their effort to follow the man’s instructions exactly. On step eight Ted confused himself and couldn’t remember if he had just take step eight or if he just finished seven. He looked at Shay out of the corner of his eye and decided to just follow him. After they reached nine or maybe ten they heard the voice command, “That’s good,” as they then heard footsteps walk to where they were standing and collected their weapons. “Now, put your hands on top of your heads and turn around slowly and before you think you’re skilled or clever you need to know that I can cut you both down before you even scratch your heads and I can shoot out your two front teeth at 100 yards.”

  Ted and Shay slowly turned around to find a light being shined in their eyes so they could not see who the man was. Then to their great surprise and relief they heard, “Senators?” The commanding voice began to laugh, “What the hell? What are you two choir boys doing playing with marine-issue firearms and sneaking around in the dark at 1:00 a.m.?”

  Still breathing heavy from the adrenaline rush Ted tried to explain, “We were nearly killed or I’m mean abducted in the Capitol, two marines are dead in their throats and they have Senator Erdem already.” In Ted’s mind his words made perfect sense but the man behind the light just laughed.

  “Put your hands down Senators, and here I thought you were dangerous.” The man turned off his light and for a few minutes Ted and Shay could see nothing until their eyes grew accustomed to the moon light. Shaking Shay’s hand and then Ted’s the man said, “General Clancy, United States Army.”

  After seeing the military display in the Senate Chamber a few hours ago and considering the two dead marines they had stolen weapons from and left bleeding on the Capitol floor, Ted and Shay were more than cautious. It was impossible to know how deep or high up the Vice President’s power was in the military and both Ted and Shay independently determined it was best to say as little as possible, “Good evening General,” said Shay.

  General Clancy was one of the youngest generals in the history of the United States and at 34 years old he had already been a general for 6 years. He was old school and like most military personnel he was crass and blunt. Ted and Shay both knew that Geoffrey Clancy and Gus were good friends but after the day’s events it wasn’t clear who side anyone was on or if they had even chosen a side. There was an awkward pause between the three men and finally the General put his firearm back into its holster.

  “We are all playing our cards very close to our vest it appears, can’t say that I blame you. We’re all a little confused at the moment. When I heard that Senator Erdem was hauled out of the Senate I became increasingly worried about Gus, knowing he would not take such actions on the chin. So I came looking for him but it appears I’m too late. Do you know what happened to him or his whereabouts? ”

  Feeling a little more comfortable with the General now and realizing he was probably on their team; Ted looked at Shay, making sure they were in agreement to trust the General. Shay gave a slight nod giving Ted the go-ahead, “Gus is in England along with his assistant and Senator Hector. They left last week on some important business that we are not at liberty to discuss.”

  “I am very glad to hear it,” said the General sounding very relieved. “When I arrived I saw that Gus’s townhouse had been broken into and I made a sweep of the place just to confirm my suspicion that whoever broke in was looking for Gus. It appears nothing in his home has been touched so robbery is out of the question. Whoever broke in was on a mission to find Gus and nothing else and I don’t think it a wild assumption to suggest it was the Vice President, or at least some stooge the VP hired.”

  “But why Gus, he wasn’t even in the Senate Chamber this evening?” said Shay confused.

  “All of you on that Abdul committee are marked men especially after Senator Erdem’s heroics there tonight, which by the way I thought was damn hilarious, trust a Texan to call a spade by its true color—baklava-eating bugger,” the General laughed loudly, “I can’t think of a better title for the SOB?” Recovering from his laughter he continued, “So, where are you both headed so heavily armed, and what marines did you kill to get government weapons?”

  Ted pointed in the direction of his condo, “We’re headed to my place just on the other side of the alley.”

  The General cut off Ted before he could explain about the weapons, “Senators, did you not understand what I just said? They came looking for Gus, who wasn’t even at the Senate tonight, I’m certain they came looking for you first. The Vice President is silencing anyone who openly opposes him.”

  Ted and Shay realized the General was right, after all the marines did come looking for them over two hours ago and by now someone would have found the dead marines outside Shay’s office, marking them both as suspected murderers. Shay looked at Ted wondering what they should do but Ted returned an equally blank stare.

  “You two want to tell me what’s going on? You’ve already betrayed the fact that you have a secret,” the General then added, “I’m probably on your side.”

  Ted was about to speak when the General held his hand up in a command to be silent. None of them moved while the General’s hand was still frozen in the air. Years of combat training had allowed General Clancy’s hearing to be much attuned to periphery sounds and the ability to identify an approach. They were all still standing in the open lot behind Gus’s townhouse in full view of any by passer.

  “We need to disappear and get away from anything that is familiar to you both. I suspect your homes, cars and even the church you frequent will be under surveillance. My SUV is parked half a block beyond Gus’s place. A moving target is much harder to hit so I suggest we drive while we talk.”

  Driving westward out of Washington toward the Shenandoah National Forest, Ted and Shay slowly began to spill their guts about t
he Minimum and the events that lead them to be so heavily armed behinds Gus’s townhouse. The General struggled to believe the story especially how two—seemingly non-military trained—choir boys over-powered two armed marines. Relieving Ted, Shay took a turn in briefing the General, “Gus left for England last weekend to find an astrophysicist that would speak freely about the effects of the Minimum since his father has life-long connections with the Oxford faculty. We’ve not heard anything from him except that he Matt and Veronica are prisoners of sorts and not allowed to leave England or their hotel without an escort. When last we spoke, they were on their way to meet with the King since the rumor on the Transnet is that the U.S. has taken responsibility for the embassy bombings.” Almost forgetting Shay added, “Oh, and the British Ambassador is alive—thank goodness.”

  “Well that’s too bad—damned unfortunate that is,” said the General as they turned off Highway 211 into the National Forest onto a narrow rough road.

  Shay braced himself as they went through several large potholes, “Why is that, he was the only survivor. I’m guessing you think he should have gone down with the ship?”

  “It’s no secret the Vice President and the British ambassador were friends and I’d go so far as to say close friends—in light of tonight’s events that puts him on the wrong side of things don’t you agree? Besides,” the General paused, figuring that U.S. intelligence was practically meaningless now and continued, “the British ambassador was once an employee of an international real estate company based out of Belarus. Not that that should mean anything to you two except Gus and I have reason to believe this company had much to do with the peaceful take-over of Praia.”

  Ted sat listening to General Clancy realizing that Gus must have had a confidence with him at one point during the developments of the Abdul investigation; however it was obvious the General was not up to date with the latest happenings, “We know Toprak, probably more than you do.”

  “I bet you do,” responded the General almost under his breath.

  The General pulled off the paved road onto an even smaller dirt road and drove for about three minutes to a small clearing in the woods. Stopping the truck he reached under his seat and took out a loaded 9mm, pulled back the hammer and then pointed it at Ted and Shay instructing them to get out.

  “What the hell are you doing?” said Shay both afraid and confused, “I thought we were on the same side?”

  The General directed them to walk into the woods about 50 feet and then ordered them to lay face down on the ground with their hands on the back of their heads. “Alright you two choir boys, it’s time for a come to Jesus. Who do your work for and where did you get your military training?”

  “I think you have it wrong General, we’re not soldiers, you know who we are,” said Ted in a calm voice.

  “I know who you pretend to be just like that damned chameleon Vice President. The second hand on my watch is on the seven, you have until it gets to the three to make penance for your sins.”

  Shay was becoming more unraveled by the second, “Bloody hell General, we are U.S. Senators nothing more.”

  Ted was also getting more concerned as the seconds ticked, “Shay is right, we work for no one but the United States Government and we are loyal to freedom.”

  It became very quiet as Ted and Shay waited for the General to accept their answers or at least say something. Ted began to wonder if the General was still standing over them and he lifted his head slightly to get a glimpse. Just then the General said, “Time’s up—get your head down you Toprak bastard.”

  The General’s 9mm fired and Ted felt the General stamp on his right foot very hard. In the silence that followed the loud gun blast, Ted started to feel his sock absorbing water and while he wondered if they were lying in a small streambed he patched the sensations of the last few seconds together, that idiot shot me in the foot! Ted waited for the pain sensation to finally overcome the body’s natural shock blockers and reach his brain. He knew it would take approximately 30 seconds and right on cue he yelled out in pain.

  “You both have a lot of body parts I can blow off before you die and we’ve got all night. So, whenever you’re ready—but keep in mind, I’ll use one of you for target practice every 30 seconds.” The General took out a camp chair from the back of his SUV and set it up a few feet away.

  “General, we are who we say we are and nothing more; we are investigating Toprak, not joining it. You must believe us,” said Shay very shaken and afraid.

  “So you want me to believe two Ivy League Nancy’s over-powered two U.S. marines and killed them both before they could even get a shot off? I inspected the weapons you stole from them and none of them had been fired. Only highly trained assassins could do such a thing, and I’ve seen Toprak’s work before. Your signature of ripped out throats is pretty easy to spot.”

  The General got out of his chair and walked over to Ted and Shay, “Time’s up.”

  Ted and Shay heard the hammer click as the General aimed his gun trying to select a body part that wouldn’t kill them if they lost it.

  “Wait! We are not with Toprak and I can prove it,” yelled Shay as Ted moaned in pain.

  They heard the General’s weapon disarm and the General return to his chair, “Ok, Nancy, prove it,” said the General mocking the senators. General Clancy, like Gus had grown more and more disgusted with the poor caliber of congressmen over the years and it was very clear he didn’t respect any of them except for Gus.

  Shay took a gamble. He figured the General knew much more about Toprak then he was telling and maybe even more than both of them. He also gambled that Gus probably told him about how he killed Abdul, something Gus would have only told trusted confidants.

  “We know that Gus killed Abdul in his apartment in his own bed,” said Shay, cutting to the chase and trying to save body parts.

  General Clancy was already a very large man much like Matt, naturally strong but the effects of the Minimum had increased his stature greatly. Without another word, the General helped Ted get up and carried him to his chair.

  “Hold tight Senator,” said the General as he walked out into the thick brush and collected some dry wood and threw it in a pile in front of Ted. He walked to his SUV, returned with a gas can, sprinkled the wood with it and then took out a cigarette. Lighting it he took a long drag then threw it on the wood pile. The pile burst into flames illuminating the dark forest around them. The General saw Shay still lying face down on the ground with his hands on the back of his head, too petrified to move.

  “Nancy, you can get up now,” said the General chuckling slightly.

  With the light of the fire, the General knelt down, took off Ted’s shoe and rolled off his blood soaked sock as Ted winced and moaned in pain. He inspected the hole he shot through Ted’s foot feeling for broken bones and other signs of damage, “Oh, good! I was hoping for that.”

  The General had intentionally aimed for the large space between the first and second metatarsal just in case he was wrong about the senators. The bullet had shot clear through Ted’s foot. He took out a flask from his back pocket, poured it on the hole and then stuck his finger all the way through the hole ensuring the alcohol saturated the wound completely. Watching the General, Ted passed out from both the pain the sight of seeing the General’s finger poke all the way through his foot. He spoke to Ted as though he was still conscious, “It’ll hurt like hell for a few days solder but you’ll get along just fine. It’s a good thing it was friendly fire,” he said laughing alone.

  Shay had finally gotten up and watching the General act as a medic, he was angry at his lighthearted demeanor but was still too afraid to say anything about it. The General opened a first-aid kit from his SUV and had dressed the wound about the time Ted came too. Most people carried a simple first-aid kit in their vehicles with a few Band-Aids and aspirin, but General Clancy’s first-aid kit was more like a field medic’s with everything imaginable for an emergency. After he dressed the wound he
handed Ted his flask and Ted took several swallows, thanking him for the makeshift pain-killer. Just then, the General stuck a syringe in Ted’s thigh and shot him up with 20mg of Morphine, “You’re welcome.”

  After getting out two more camp chairs, the three of them sat quietly at first as they let the last 20 minutes drift away from them like the soft breeze blowing the flames of the fire. Shay finally broke the silence shaking his head, “What the hell Clancy?”

  “The game of coups and secessions is a damned-ugly business, I had to be sure you were not one of those Toprak harbingers, they seem to be everywhere these days. And I also had to be sure you were not in the Vice President’s camp,” said the General as he stirred the fire.

  Still irritated Shay responded, “Whatever gave you such an idea? We are close friends of Gus’s and you know that.”

  The General sighed, “Only if friendship meant anything anymore. I had a secretary for five years and trusted her with much more than I should have,” the General paused and shook his head, “damned shame.”

  “Had?” asked Shay reluctantly.

  The General had a stick in his hand and he pulled it out of the fire and blew on the ember as it glowed brighter, “Yeah shot her between the eyes this morning. Found her talking quietly on her personal phone—which is illegal inside the Pentagon these days anyway—but she was talking devil-gibberish just as Gus said Abdul was doing before he attacked Senator Hector. I knew right away what was going on and I didn’t want to have an encounter like Matthew did so I ended her call.”

  “She was heralding from within your office? Abdul seemed like he had to be on the Ellipse to herald.”

  “I’ve thought about that since, and I have reason to believe that heralding can now be done from anywhere with the Minimum increasing more and more—but there was no mistaking the sound and she was in a sort of trance. There is no telling how many there are among us. I apologize but when I found the two marines I sent to guard your office with their throats ripped out, well I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t either of you, or both who did it. I didn’t want to believe it but I put a bullet through a friend’s head today and a woman to boot. That will haunt me the rest of my life. The longer we drove the more uncomfortable and concerned I got.”

  Ted had fallen asleep in his chair, the Morphine and alcohol doing its job. “Wait, you sent the marines? I thought you were with the army?”

  “Gus called about a week ago and asked that I keep an eye on you three periodically. When I heard what happened in the Senate with Jess I feared the worst and called in a favor. Since there were several detachments of marines in the building I had two redirected under the guise of guarding you for the Vice President’s purposes. So the question is: who is the harbinger who killed them?”

  “I think I know,” said Shay remembering that Enakai had left the office first and was able to step over the marines in the dark. “I hired an intern last week and she was in the office late tonight, much to my surprise. She left just before we did, but what is most curious, Ted walked into the dark hallway before me and tripped and fell over the marines; Enakai didn’t, as if she knew they were there.”

  “I dare say she did know,” said the General as he got up to put more wood on the fire. “These harbingers are a half possessed type of creature, quite out of control of their freewill and while it seems a little inhumane to dispose of them, until we learn how to free them we have no choice; they are much too dangerous to be left in a prison cell since they can still carry out their work.”

  Shay leaned over to warm himself closer to the fire as the night was turning a little cool, “So I have to ask, how did you deal with the noise of discharging a weapon inside the Pentagon and what did you do with the body?”

  “Nothing, I just left her sitting there at her desk and left the building straight away. Things are a bloody mess right now. I gathered up all the supplies I could at a moment’s notice as you can see,” he said pointing to his SUV, “I suspect they will be taking roll at the Pentagon any day now to find out who’s on which side. I hate to say it but it’s about to get very ugly, and if Jess weren’t missing I would demand that we all get out of Washington.”

  “Oh, Jess. I had almost forgotten. What do you think they have done with him?”

  Just then, Ted’s phone began to vibrate in his coat pocket. Shay got up and reached inside Ted’s breast pocket and answered his phone, “Hello?” he said timidly.

  A familiar voice responded, “Ted?”

  Shay was relieved, “Gus, how the hell are you? Are you Guys OK?”

  Ignoring Shay’s questions, Gus quickly explained they had to get off the phone as fast as possible and that they had just touched down at Reagan National, “We need a ride and a place to go for the night.”

  “Gus, we’re about an hour away, maybe less if we can get away with breaking the limit. We’re with Clancy in the woods—I’ll explain later.”

  Shay hung up, “Gus, Matt and Veronica are here and need a ride. They will be waiting for us on the airport grounds, secluded as best they can until we arrive.”

  The General carried Ted to the truck and Shay scattered the fire that was already out and they rushed toward Washington. Reaching Reagan National, they called Gus just long enough to find his location. They stopped under an overpass as Gus and Matt climbed in from the darkness, “Where’s Veronica?” asked Shay.

  “In England, and safe,” said Matt thinking about where they had left her and added, “very safe.”

  General Clancy rose through the ranks in the army quickly due to uncommon valor in several small but bloody military operations in the Middle East in the 30’s. He was an excellent strategist and was the pure definition of a warrior, skilled, strong and fearless. They crossed over the Potomac into Alexandria looking for somewhere to hide-out but still close enough to Washington in case they got any intel on where Jess was being held. The General past a for sale sign in front of a row of townhomes and turned the corner to the backside of the block and directed the group into the vacant building by kicking in the door, “We won’t be discovered here—at least for a day or so.”

  The group slept as much as they could amid the random discussions of the events that had happened to all of them in the last few days and each tried as best they could to fit them into a rational sequence. Gus and Matt intentionally excluded the fact that they were part of an English organization sent to spy on the U.S. and that they now had titles of Lord and Sir.

  The General redressed Ted’s foot, checked for infection and gave him another shot of Morphine to get him through the night. Shay marveled at how he could be so callous and murderous when he thought he and Ted were his enemies to now being as caring as a nurse. Shay lay down in the empty room, thankful that they at least had carpeting to lie on. Dozing off he tried to block out the smell of pet urine on the dirty carpet under him and wondered why Gus and Matt seemed to be a little more reserved than usual, especially Matt. He seemed to be very different, more mature, more—noble. “Maybe I’m just tired,” he mumbled to himself as he fell asleep while the sun was beginning to rise.

  After only a few hours, Shay was awakened by sirens racing down the street in front of the townhouse and rolling over to get up he noticed that everyone else was already awake and two different conversations were in process. Gus and General Clancy were discussing possible detention locations within the greater Washington area where they could have taken Jess. Ted and Matt were looking out the windows trying to discover what the emergency was at the end of the block.

  Matt opened the window and stuck his head out so that he could get a better view, “It sounds like a small riot.”

  With the window open they could all hear shouting and a police megaphone giving orders but they were still too far away to make out any details. Just then they heard five shots fired and then three more. Matt rushed from the townhouse out the back door and ran in the direction the shots came from. The street was quiet as he approached the scene and Matt stood for
several minutes listening intently, waiting for any indication of what had happened. It was very quiet, too quiet for a crime scene where eight bullets were just fired. Matt slowly peered around the building, but still keeping himself as concealed as he possibly could.

  He saw two police cars parked at opposite ends of the scene with doors open and looking on the ground he counted one, two, three, four officers on the ground that appeared to be dead. Surveying the scene more he counted one more body, a civilian that appeared also face down on the ground. No one else was at the scene which seemed rather odd since being a voyeur is one of the great American pastimes. Matt crept out into the street and approached the closest officer who was lying in a pool of blood. He reached down to take a pulse on the officer’s neck—nothing, moved and tried again—nothing, he slowly rolled the officer over and jumped back in alarm. The officer was badly bleeding from the top of his head to his waist as if he had been mauled by a bear. He then noticed the signature of the killer, a large bite from the neck, “harbinger,” he said quietly, “but where the hell are you now?”

  There was little need to check for any survivors after Matt had discovered the cause of death. There was very little chance anyone survived a surprise harbinger attack. If it hadn’t have been for Shay, he would have probably been dead too. He knelt down and looked under the police car, looking for feet, trying to determine if the harbinger was still nearby. After a 360 degree sweep of the scene and not finding any clue that the harbinger was near, Matt stood up and looked around the scene again. With shots having been fired, it was very unlikely the harbinger had not been hit considering the professionals at the scene. He then looked down and saw a blood trail leading out of the scene and into the alley where he had been hiding; I must have walked right past it, thought Matt.

  Retracing his footsteps, Matt made his way back into the alley following the blood trail until he came to a rather large pool of blood and the trail stopped, “That’s odd,” he said out loud as he looked up. Just then a shape dropped from the fire escape with a loud shrieking scream, knocking Matt to the ground. The harbinger rolled several feet away after hitting the ground and Matt quickly thought, I know what this thing can do and I won’t make the mistake I did last time with fair play.

  Matt jumped to his feet just as the harbinger was coming toward him at full speed, mouth open and still screaming. Matt wound up in anticipation and connected his closed fist in the harbinger’s face. The force of Matt’s right arm and the speed of the harbinger’s approach inflicted terrible damage on the harbinger as the force of the blow knocked it off its feet and into the alley wall, then falling hard on the ground. Rushing over, Matt kicked it as it tried to get up, knocking it back into the wall and then back on the ground. He remembered how lethal a harbinger bite could be so before it could roll over again, Matt placed his foot on the harbinger’s neck and kept it from getting up or rolling. The harbinger screamed in great protest and then began to relax and finally stopped struggling. Matt wasn’t sure if it were alive or dead but not wanting to take any chances as if he were handling a poisonous snake, Matt kept his foot on the harbinger’s neck as he tried to look down to determine if it was still breathing.

  “That’s two dragons now Sir Matthew, and with your bare hands,” came a voice from down the alley. Matt looked up and saw Gus and the rest walking toward him. “I’m quite sure it is rather harmless now, you can remove your foot and let it breathe.”

  Gus’s presence once again dispelled the Toprak influence, and Matt slowly released the host. Seeing the host still not moving, Matt bent over and rolled it face up. The host was a woman though it was not apparent when it was acting like a harbinger.

  The woman opened her blood-filled eyes and looked at Matt with a slight smile, “Thank you,” she said. She was completely disoriented and as she began remembering the recent events and biting the officers, she vomited in disgust. She had been shot at least three times and it was amazing she was still alive. Matt wiped the blood from her face and eyes and seeing that she was innocent at least on some levels of what she had just done, he took compassion on her.

  Gus—who was always compassionate—came and knelt next to Matt and began asking the woman questions, “Do you remember how this happened? How long have you been a harbinger?”

  The woman could hardly speak but when she did it was very soft and Matt and Gus leaned nearer, “I worked for Toprak Esir three years,”

  Gus interrupted, “So you did this voluntarily?”

  The woman choked struggling to breathe and speak, “I’m just a property manager.” The woman began to cry, “I couldn’t stop, and I couldn’t—Gott verzeih mir liebste liebe.” She choked several more times as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she went limp.

  “Gott verzeih mir?” said Matt.

  “God forgive me,” said General Clancy who knew both German and French. “God forgive me dearest love,” to be exact.

  Matt looked for any kind of identification on the woman and finding none he stood up and look at her with pity. “Poor thing had no idea what she was doing and could not stop herself. I can’t imagine the horror of doing something so terrible and not being able to stop your own hand.”

  Gus walked out onto the street surveying the scene, “Dearest love huh?” He walked over to the man who was not in uniform and with his foot rolled him over. Seeing his face he took a step back in amazement and called for the group to come over.

  “Well, nice to see that karma isn’t fickle. The SOB got his,” said the General as they all looked at the British ambassador with his throat ripped clear through. The group all looked at the General in surprise at his callous comment.

  “He was in league with the Vice President and was the subject of an on-going Toprak investigation for about a year now,” said the General defending his position.

  Several people began looking out their windows and a few ventured out on the street to survey the scene. Gus approached one of them and asked if they knew what had happened. All the residents knew was that they heard shouts and screams and they guessed someone called the police thinking it was a bad case of domestic violence. No one would report what they saw next and when Gus or anyone in the group approached them they turned and walked away.

  Gus could hear the sound of additional sirens approaching and determined it was time to disappear. They all made their way to the General’s SUV, which was a black government vehicle making it easier to travel through the streets of Washington unimpeded. The windows all had black tint so that no one could see in. It was the perfect vehicle to hide four wanted senators.

  Buckling his seat belt the General stopped in the middle of an epiphany and stared out the windshield. “What is it?” asked Gus climbing into the passenger seat.

  “I think I know where they are keeping your missing senator. The General pulled out onto the street and started heading north in earnest.

  Hesitantly Gus asked, “Do I dare ask where we are going?”

  The General looked at Gus for a moment and then straight forward and said, “The Pentagon.”