Millenium Strike

by Christopher Cole

  Holden had to be careful during his briefing, to skirt the issue of who may be involved in passing the information to the Chinese. In light of the fact that a relative of a cabinet member could be involved, discretion had to be observed. At least until they had enough evidence to make a case.

  The national security chief stood and brought the meeting to order, introducing Holden to everyone present. Frank knew most everyone in attendance and nodded as he rose to speak.

  “Since our last meeting, several facts have come to light. I should start by informing you that the undercover Interpol agent who had infiltrated the assassins, agreed to try and make contact with the general. To that end, she was successful. During her visit to his mountain compound, she was able to identify a flag in a map room. It turns out that it was the flag of Kazakhstan. This would dovetail nicely with some information we have gotten from other sources regarding the Chinese general. He has ancestral ties to the region that is now known as Kazakhstan. The nation has rich oil and mineral deposits and serves as a crossroads between Russia and China. In addition, the oil deposits from western Siberia could come into play since two pipelines have been slated for construction that both pass through Kazakhstan.

  We think he is going to make his move on or near January 1, 2000, by utilizing the confusion caused by the Y2K problem, which has been widely discussed. If he is able to have relatively free reign getting into and controlling the territory, it will be all but impossible to route him out. Killing the Soviet ex-defense workers with knowledge of systems in need of updating sure has helped in that regard.”

  The national security chief broke in.

  “So, we know who, where, why, and when. The problem is how to stop him. The Russian political situation makes it difficult for us to divulge this information to them, since a perceived threat of this magnitude could elevate a hard liner into power and return us to a cold war or worse. It could even precipitate the start of a nuclear conflict with her neighbor. And now the Chinese also have the technology to blind Russian satellites that may be working. Gentlemen, the situation has become very unstable and untenable.”

  One of the others at the table addressed Frank. “Have you made any progress on the leaks?”

  Holden took a deep breath. He had to be careful.

  “We have some new leads which we are currently pursuing. Right now, I can’t really give you any definitive statement regarding the matter. As soon as we know anything for certain, the council will be notified.”

  Frank took his seat and picked up a glass of water. The chair spoke again.

  “What options do we have to stop this?” he asked addressing one of his colleagues across the table from him.

  “We have several options. One, we somehow help the Russians and the Kazakstanis update their systems. That way, they could be ready to defend themselves. Our profile of the general indicates that he is very shrewd. If he started an attack and met much resistance, he would probably abort. Our second option is to build up our forces in the area and get a word of warning to him before he starts his move. The third option would be to take him out of the picture completely.”

  “Do we even know where he is?”

  “Not yet,” Holden spoke up. “Interpol is working on it in Paris as we speak.”

  “How could we help the Russians without tipping them off?” another asked.

  “Perhaps we could offer blanket help to everyone in the region,” another answered. “That way it wouldn’t raise any suspicions.”

  “But wasn’t that why the general hired these assassins to begin with? He wanted to make sure that those who knew how could not repair the systems in time. Who could we get to do the work even if our offer was accepted?”

  Frank jumped in.

  “I think I know someone who may be able to help.”

  The others members of the council seated at the table stopped and looked at him, imploring him to continue, which he did.

  “Vincent Marks is one of the individuals we had under investigation regarding the leaks. He is the one person we have all but cleared in the matter. His company has some of the brightest people in the world in software and chip development.”

  “Do you think he would help?” the chair asked.

  Frank answered thoughtfully.

  “He is in the private sector and it may cost us some, but I’m pretty sure, if called on, he would go along and put all his resources at our disposal.”

  “Good. It’s your job to get him to go along.”

  Frank raised his hands in protest.

  “Gentlemen. I’m just a really fancy cop. I think a call from someone like the President would serve your purposes better.”

  “I think that can be arranged,” the chairman responded, “but, I would still like you to be available since you probably know him better that anyone around here.”

  Frank nodded in agreement.

  “What if their governments refuse? Do we tell them anyway?” one of the others asked.

  “That will be up to the President, but we should consider that as a possibility. If they don’t cooperate how long would it take to build up our forces in the area?”

  One of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke.

  “We have a lot of troops and assets deployed around the Persian Gulf right now. We could count on some of them to help cover both areas, but we would probably have to move some of our Indian Ocean carriers in closer to the mainland. We have time but we need to start contingencies now.”

  “I’ll let the President know,” the chief advisor noted. “Let’s hope the Russian and Kazakstani governments accept our help.”

  “What about our third option?” one of the others inquired.

  “We don’t know where he is and until we do, I think it best not to discuss it. If there are no other comments, gentlemen, this meeting is adjourned.

  Frank got up and left with the others. He was walking out to his car, when his director shouted for him to hold on. When he caught up to Holden, he asked, “What have we got on the Bennett case so far?”

  “We have telephone records, hotel records, credit card records the whole thing. Wiretaps have been a dead end so far, I’m sorry to say. I’m heading back now for a report from my staff. We should be getting some hits by now.”

  “Good. Let me know as soon as you get something solid. We’ve got to shut them down immediately!” the director replied.

  “Yes, sir,” Frank responded.

  He left the White House grounds and headed back to his offices.

  * * *

  Upon arriving, one of Holden’s deputies came to greet him. He could not help but notice that there was electricity in the air walking through the offices.

  “What’s happened?” he inquired.

  “Not what we expected,” his deputy answered, “not what we expected at all.”

  Holden followed him back to the conference room where some of the agents had phone records stacked on the table.

  “O.K. What’s going on?” he asked again.

  “Well,” his deputy started, “we started going through Bennett’s telephone records. The strange thing is that we couldn’t find any matches to the assistant systems manager. None, whatsoever.”

  Holden had to catch himself.

  “No matches at all?” he asked.

  “None at all,” he replied. “We have accounted for nearly all of the phone numbers in his records. There’s only an occasional number here and there we haven’t matched yet.”

  “So why all the excitement,” Holden asked looking around the office.

  “I’ll get to that in a moment. Second, none and I mean none of his calls were to his uncle!”

  Astonished, Frank asked, “Are you telling me that he hasn’t even spoken to his uncle, the Secretary of Commerce?”

  “Uh huh. Interesting isn’t it? It gets be
tter.”

  “I can hardly wait,” he said, holding his breath.

  “When this happened, we decided to check from the other direction. The records for the assistant systems manager were polled and indeed we didn’t find any matches to Bennett. But we did find matches to the Secretary of Commerce! Twenty-seven calls within the past three years.”

  Holden was reeling.

  “This is hardly what I expected,” he said.

  “The calls were primarily to his cell phone and home phone.”

  “So, Bennett didn’t have anything to do with this at all!”

  “No sir, we figure that the systems manager and Secretary of Commerce must have met during a family get together years ago while the two youngsters were in college. We don’t know how long they’ve been in contact since we’ve only gotten three years of records so far. But we’re in the process of obtaining the older records.”

  Holden thought for a moment and turned to the team working on the phone records.

  “Go ahead and get the records. Look into bank accounts here and abroad for the Secretary.”

  Turning back to his deputy, “We’re going to take everything we have so far to Judge Pruitt and get an arrest warrant for the assistant systems manager. He’s liable to sing like a bird when he realizes he faced with life imprisonment. I’ve got to call the director and break the news.”

  Turning towards his office, Holden braced for what would be the most important call he had ever made.

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY SEVEN

  Paris

  Kit pulled on her jacket and opened the door, leaving her hotel room. It had been two days since the bombing and she had seen hundreds of aerial photographs without identifying any of them. Fatigue had finally overcome the whole staff and Johanne sent them home for a couple of days. Perhaps, once rested, they may be able to attack the project from a different perspective.

  She had opted to get a hotel room and not go back to the safehouse, since she desperately needed immediate rest. She had her rest and now she was heading there to see Garrett. Kit had found herself missing him over the past few days and she wanted to see him. A little while later she opened the door to the safehouse.

  “Garrett? Are you here?”

  There was no answer and she entered the flat and looked around.

  “Garrett?”

  He wasn’t there so she took off her jacket and threw it on the bed. Then she noticed an envelope lying on one of the pillows addressed to her. She picked it up and opened it, then began to read the letter inside.

  ‘Hello Kitten,

  By now you know that I came in from the cold. I have some things I have to answer for back in the states, but that shouldn’t take too long. I hope that you weren’t embarrassed by me turning myself in to your superiors the way I did. I certainly hope it doesn’t cause you any problems. Kit, I’ve had time over the past couple of days to do some thinking, and have finally come to the conclusion that I never should have left this life, or you. I know that we can never have a normal life with 2.5 kids and a house with a white picket fence, but I do want to share what time we can together, that is, if you’ll still have it that way. You’ll be hearing from me as soon as I can get my affairs settled at home. Take care of yourself.

  Garrett

  Kit finished reading the letter feeling mixed emotions, happy with the message contained within and sad that she had missed seeing him. Then her eyes went back to the middle of the letter.

  “A couple of days?”

  She dialed her phone and listened as Johanne answered on the other end.

  “Johanne? Hi this is Kit.”

  “Good morning Kitten. Hope you are rested.”

  “I am, Johanne, thanks.”

  She pressed on.

  “Did Garrett Adams turn himself in?”

  “What are you talking about, Kitten?”

  She became alarmed.

  “Sir, I’ve lost total track of time. How long has it been since I got back?”

  “It’ll be four days tonight, I believe. Why?”

  “Oh my God!!” she exclaimed, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach. She sat on the bed, trembling.

  “Kit? Kitten are you OK?” the alarm in Johanne’s voice revealing itself.

  Kit managed to regain her composure just enough to respond.

  “Sir, was there anyone found in the wreckage from the bombing the other day?”

  “The bombing, here?”

  “Yes!”

  “They found pieces of a vehicle and some body parts.”

  “That’s it?!” she interrupted, a sick feeling of nausea coming over her.

  “No, Kit. I wasn’t finished. They found one survivor, a John Doe, I believe.”

  She started; her heart began to pound.

  “Where, where is the John Doe now?” she asked, “Do you know?”

  “No, Kitten I don’t but I could find out for you. Do you think this John Doe could be Garrett or something?”

  “I don’t know, I hope so. Could you call? Please, sir? I need to know where he is.”

  “O.K, Kitten. Let me make a couple of calls and I’ll call you back. You on your cell phone?”

  “Yes,” she said, the urgency in her voice.

  She hung up and started to pace the room. Trying not to think the worst, hoping that Garrett was in a hospital somewhere, hurt maybe, but alive. After a few moments, the phone rang again. She answered before the first ring was completed.

  “Hello, sir?”

  “Yes Kit, it’s me.”

  “Well?”

  “The John Doe was taken to a nearby hospital. He was brought in unconscious and remained so, until earlier this morning.”

  “He’s OK then?” she asked.

  “He’s gone, Kit.”

  “Gone?” she asked dreading the worst.

  “They came to check his room early this morning, and he was simply gone. Vanished. From my conversations with the nurse, he did fit the description of Garrett, that is if the photos I have are accurate.”

  Kit let out an audible sigh of relief. Her superior continued.

  “Kitten, I’m not going to jump you now, but perhaps you should think about what you are doing and talk to me about it.”

  “Yes, sir,” she said, ending the conversation.

  Kit picked up the letter, and smiled, tears rolling down her cheek. She didn’t know where Garrett was, but that didn’t matter to her. He would be back for her, she knew that now, knew it for certain, and she would be waiting. From here on in it would be their time, their life.

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY EIGHT

  Washington, DC

  The events in the week, since Holden had made his call to the director, had been nothing short of remarkable. As Frank had predicted, Vincent Marks agreed to lend aid to the Russian and Kazakstani governments, and surprisingly, they had accepted. The full weight of his resources was being thrown at the problem and many were hopeful that the work would be completed by the millenium. Preparations were also underway to beef up military assets in the region, just in case the work either wasn’t completed or the General decided to pursue his plans anyway.

  The arrest of the assistant systems manager for MWS Industries had resulted in evidence of long-standing leaks to the Secretary of Commerce. The case of espionage against the Secretary was growing and had passed the threshold where an arrest would be possible. That’s where Frank was heading now.

  His thoughts were about how satisfying it was going to be to slap the cuffs on this man. Many were dead, including one of his friends, and many more could die, because of this man and his greed. It was one thing to arrest someone in the private sector for such deeds. But to Frank, the crime was compounded when it came to a public official being involved. A trust between the public and their offic
ials had been broken, and in turn a path of broken lives had been left in its wake.

  Holden had made calls to contacts in the press. He wanted to humiliate this man and send a message to others that this behavior would not be tolerated. He knew he was taking the chance that his director would fire him for making a public spectacle, but Holden didn’t care. He turned into the parking lot of the Secretary’s building and parked his car. He met the members of the press in the lobby as they arrived. Once they had all gathered, the group rode up to the fifth floor of the building. As the first of them left the elevators, officials in the office looked up in surprise.

  Holden strode down the hallway with the media in tow and up to the office door of the Secretary of Commerce. The Commerce Secretary’s assistant started to protest, but stopped when he flashed her his badge. He opened the door. The Secretary was on the phone when Frank and the others entered. He hung up and rose indignantly.

  “What is the meaning of this?” he demanded.

  Frank drew his weapon, adding to the drama and demanded the Secretary turn around and put his hands behind his head. The Secretary stared in amazement while the glare from the lights of the cameras captured it all. He just stood and started to tremble. Frank repeated his orders.

  “Sir, I said walk around to the front of the desk and put your hands behind your head.”

  The man’s face turned red, but he did as he was instructed. Holden pulled out his handcuffs and read the Secretary of Commerce his rights.

  “What am I under arrest for?” he demanded.

  Holden read off the list of charges, loudly, so the news cameras could pick it all up. When he was finished, the Secretary almost collapsed. Holden turned him around and marched him out of the offices to the waiting cars below.

  * * *

  Several days later

  “So Frank, I hear you’re some kind of celebrity now.”

  “I don’t know about that Johanne. I was given some time off for my stunt with the media.”

  “Well, at least it’s over.”

  “I hope so Johanne. Apparently, the Secretary was to be given oil and mineral rights in Kazakstan in return for his help. It came to light that, his family had quietly shunned him over the past years, so he had nowhere to go after leaving government. He was a lonely and bitter man. I really feel sorry for his family.”