by Sean Salazar
Jess then stepped to the left of the platform, out of view of the two kneeling men. She heard two muffled pops, a gurgled cough, and a splash—knowing that they were now dead. She aimed at the lowest man on the ladder; they were now halfway to the ceiling. They looked to be elderly men and they were talking to each other as they climbed. As she watched, both men stopped climbing, but did not turn to look down. She began to pull the trigger and then hesitated when she realized who they were.
Ed and Alex were both in her sights and easy targets. This time she could finish them both off. She aimed at Alex and began to squeeze the trigger when she stopped. She saw another person, a younger man on the second level looking down. He was speaking to them, waving them up. If she pulled the trigger, it would alarm the soldiers on the surface. She lowered her weapon, accepting that they will live for now, and continued her mission.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“The CIA director would like to see you,” a voice from above said.
“On our way,” Ed answered, climbing the ladder hand over hand, with Alex right behind him. The young man was on the first level and when Ed reached it, he noticed that the door on the left side of the passageway was now open.
“This way,” he motioned.
Ed climbed off the ladder carefully putting his foot on the brick floor. He looked back down into the dark cavern and for a moment thought he saw someone running below.
Ed reached to assist Alex off the ladder who blurted out, “I got it.”
“All right,” Ed said, pulling his hand back.
Alex eyed the open door at the end of the short passageway. “Why couldn’t we have used that way the first time?”
“Sorry, sir,” the young man answered. “I think the engineers below just gave the okay that this location is secure enough to use.” Alex wiped his hands on his pants, “Okay then, let’s get on with it.” The young man led them to the end of the old brick passageway, up two steps and through the door which led to another passageway traveling to the right. The square brick passageway looked like it had not been used for a long time. Ed couldn’t resist and asked as he walked, “What is this area used for?”
“Actually, sir, you two were below the emergency operations center.”
“So,” Alex said from behind, “that rules out knowing anything about that chamber below?”
“That would definitely be a no,” the young man replied as he continued to lead the way. “And what do you mean by that?” Ed asked. “The space below is apparently a surprise to everyone, including me.” They reached another door and the young man punched in a code on the keypad next to it. As he opened the door, he motioned for the two of them to enter. He then led them up two more short flights of stairs passing several armed guards and another group of military men standing around one of the doors. The young man led the two of them directly to it, causing the men to stand aside. Upon entering, Ed saw large monitors covering all four walls. Ms. Churchill and Natalie were standing near a table focused on the center monitor.
Ms. Churchill waved them over.
As they approached the table, Ed thought he heard the hardened voice of the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Oppenheimer, loudly coming from the computer monitor.
“You have got to be kidding me! Knights, knights and horses attacking a university; you have got to be kidding me.”
“It gets better,” Ms. Churchill said, glancing down at a piece of paper she was holding. “I received a report of another attack moments ago.”
Mr. Oppenheimer looked down and read something that was just handed to him from someone off to the side of the camera. After a few seconds he looked up into the screen and with a perplexed look said, “I obviously spoke too soon.”
“Natalie,” Ms. Churchill said.
“Yes,” she answered wide-eyed, obviously overwhelmed by everything.
Ms. Churchill continued, “Eighteen Muslim students were massacred, and at the same time a group of Christian missionaries were killed in Mexico by men masquerading as Muslims.”
“Dear god,” Alex whispered to Ed as they both observed the exchange.
“Unfortunately, Natalie,” Mr. Oppenheimer said, “you were right with your advice, so let me ask, is this what you had in mind?”
Natalie slowly responded, “Uh, no, sir.”
“But why in god’s name would they go...” Mr. Oppenheimer continued loudly, his voice echoing throughout the room, “...go through all the trouble with armored horses and knights?”
“Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary,” Ed said, stepping in front of the monitor. “Knights and horses make perfect sense...”
“All right,” Mr. Oppenheimer replied. “Well, feel free to give me a hand understanding this.”
Ed thought for a moment, carefully choosing his words. He then explained, “The Brotherhood is part of an ancient order,” he paused, “following an apocalyptic script. You absolutely have to keep that fact in mind.”
“Yes, I’m getting that this is some ancient legend bullshit and yes I get that they were pissed off after the bombing in Iraq, so answer me this,” Oppenheimer continued loudly, “why go through all the trouble of dressing up as knights?”
Ed responded as calmly as he could, “Mr. Secretary, allow me to introduce Mr. Alex Pike.”
“Greetings, Mr. Secretary,” Alex said. “I recently rejoined the fight from a delightful period of capture and incarceration.”
“I heard something about that,” Oppenheimer said. “If I’m not mistaken, both of you were rescued by Agent Robek.”
“That is correct,” Alex responded
“Good,” Mr. Oppenheimer said loudly. “It’s a benefit to all of us that you two remain healthy.”
“Thank you, Mr. Secretary. That is also our goal,” Alex said, chuckling.
“Now getting back to my question,” Oppenheimer continued, “in your opinion, are these knights part of the Brotherhood, and is this a sick continuation of the church massacres?”
“That is a very good question,” Alex answered, as he turned to Ms. Churchill and asked, “Did your report indicate what the knights were attacking at the university?”
“An archaeology building appears to have been the primary target,” she replied.
Ed and Alex both exchanged glances and Ed replied, “Well, the archaeology building does sound suspicious.”
Mr. Oppenheimer continued, “Before I make any more suggestions to the president, at this point, I don’t care who these knights are except that they have to be stopped. From what you just said, and this latest attack in Georgia, would you conclude that the knighted horsemen are the Brotherhood gang of apocalyptic thugs we have been dealing with?”
“In this case,” Ed answered, “it’s hard to say decisively. Under normal conditions, it would depend on what their target was. Considering the knights stormed an archaeology department at the university...” he paused, “and massacred a group of Muslim students...”
“It’s a strong possibility,” Alex finished for him.
Mr. Oppenheimer continued, “Ms. Churchill, what response would you recommend?”
“At this point, seeing as how the attack occurred under a few hours ago, I would gather that local and state SWAT teams are now converging on the area and a statewide search for the knights has begun.” She paused, “As for the CIA, and by direction of the president, I will initially defer that question to Ed.”
“Allow me,” Ed said, turning to Ms. Churchill, “without raising any red flags with a full investigation, is there any way we can ascertain which department they attacked within the archaeology building and which professor or professors were involved at the university?”
“You suspect something,” Mr. Oppenheimer asked.
“Yes,” Ed answered.
“Very well,” Ms. Churchill said. “If we move quickly with what you’re suggesting, it could probably be accomplished at least at the university. We can put the place in a national security lockdown, temporarily keeping out the local p
olice investigators and FBI.”
“That would be splendid,” Ed said. “The Brotherhood is clearly after something, so my guess would be that the university or someone there may have had something archived or an item of importance was recently discovered.” He put both hands on the table, glanced directly at the computer monitor so the Secretary of Defense could see him clearly. “Since we are pressed for time, I would suggest quickly investigating the scene in Georgia with my team.” He paused and glanced at Ms. Churchill for a response.
She appeared physically agitated and asked, “What are your plans?”
He looked back at the monitor, “First, Mr. Oppenheimer, as I told the president, I want you to know that we can handle this investigation more efficiently than your men.” He then directed his next question to Ms. Churchill, “How quickly can you hold off the investigators in Georgia?”
“It’s hard to say because the media is already rolling. What I can do is steer the investigation in different directions.” She crossed her arms and calmly released a smile. “What exactly are you planning?”
“I will send agents Al and Vance to Georgia to ascertain what we can.” He glanced at Alex, then back at Ms. Churchill. “I believe they are arriving shortly and Alex and I will provide support.”
Ms. Churchill cleared her throat in an unlady-like fashion, “I am not promising that I can pull this off, but how much time do you need to perform your investigation?”
“Give us twelve hours,” Alex answered
Ed was about to pull his hands back off the table when he felt a strong vibration.
“What the hell was that?” Churchill asked, alarmed.
Chapter Twenty-Six
One hour earlier
As soon as Al landed and climbed out of the MIG-31, he saw Vance waiting for him. He was leaning against an SUV with his arms crossed, smoking a cigarette. Al dreaded having to listen to his friend’s bellyaching about what a screw-up he was, and how he lost Berardi. He was already a few hours late due to a small mechanical problem before takeoff and now he had to put up with Vance’s smart-ass comments. He handed his helmet to the ground crew and climbed out of the flight harness. He thanked the pilot for the lift and headed towards the SUV. “I knew you would lose the bastard,” were Vance’s first words.
“Yeah, whatever,” Al responded and returned the comment with, “But I did get Alex Pike out alive. Don’t I at least get a hug for that?”
Vance uncrossed his arms and held them wide, “Come on, it’s hug time.”
“Never mind, I’d rather have you buy me a beer.”
Vance laughed and opened the door. “Like I said, killing, breaking things, you’re good at. Capturing, friendly conversations, and picking up chicks, you’re not.”
Al ignored him and climbed in. “So what’s the plan?”
“Where’s my money,” Vance asked with a straight face.
Al pulled out his wallet and opened it, showing that it was completely empty.
“Okay then, you buy the beer,” Vance said, climbing in after him.
“We have a debriefing with Churchill and Ed, I think.”
“Natalie?”
“Oh yeah, her too,” Vance said. He then asked, “So what happened?”
“Nothing, he just got away.”
“That’s it? What did he do, hold you down, tickle you until you couldn’t breathe, and slip away?”
“Yep, just like that.”
“Figures,” Vance said, glancing out the tinted window as the driver made his way out of the airport. As they were approaching the White House, the driver received a call and became frantic. “There was an explosion under the White House!”
“When?” Al asked.
“Just now.”
“Ah, shit,” Vance said.
Al noticed the area was rapidly diving into chaos. Another security man ran up to the car while it was still moving. “We’re evacuating,” he yelled out. “The CIA director will meet you two outside.” He pointed to a row of armored troop carriers parked along the far end of the driveway.
“All righty, then,” Vance said, bolting out of the car. They joined dozens of military and civilian personnel scrambling in all directions. Just then, Al also noticed a cloud of black smoke silhouetted against the night sky that had formed above the tent covering the hole. “That can’t be good,” he said.
One of the troop carriers began backing up, and as it did, Ms, Churchill, Ed, Alex, and Natalie exited the main door, followed by two more armed guards.
As they all hurried past, Churchill said to Al and Vance, “Stay close.”
She led the way to the back of an armored car that had just backed up. Several men and women were running by and heading in the direction of the driveway.
The back door of the armored troop carrier opened and a soldier inside with a headset on yelled to the director, “This is definitely an attack.”
“The other entrance,” Churchill demanded. The man pulled out his radio, spoke a few words, listened to the response, and then said, “Our men are approaching there now.”
“They are destroying the writing,” Alex said. “Yes, they are,” Ed replied. “But who are they?” Al stepped closer to the back of the armored vehicle next to Churchill to listen in on the conversation. The soldier in the armored troop carrier was speaking into his radio and Al clearly overheard another voice responding, “Go, red actual.”
“In position. Setting up perimeter.”
“Roger.”
“Moving in ten seconds.”
“Roger, standing by.”
Vance bumped next to Al, also attempting to listen in.
The voice came over the radio, “Casualties.”
“Roger.”
“Four dead in vehicles.”
“Go on.”
A few seconds went by until the voice came back on, “Two more dead in alley”; a brief pause, then, “unable to enter through window into basement; heavy smoke.”
“Roger,” the man in the armored car said, and then turned the radio volume down. “Fire crews on their way.” Ms. Churchill turned to Al, “They got us.”
“It sure sounds that way,” he answered. Natalie walked up to them. “Why would they do this?” Alex spoke up, “It’s a tactic they use; it’s called destroying the evidence.”
“I knew this was going to happen,” Ed said, focusing on Churchill. “It’s unfortunate but it’s their pattern and don’t bother looking for them; they’re gone.”
“I will take that under advisement,” Churchill said, obviously not liking that comment. She then turned to Al as if she was reading his thoughts. “We’re losing control here, Al. We have knights on horses randomly attacking and killing students, and now they openly attack the White House.”
“Knights?” Al asked, not sure what she meant by that.
Ed grabbed Al’s arm and pulled him over. “I need you and Vance to head to Georgia immediately. We absolutely need to find out what the knights were looking for and why.”
Al asked again, “What knights?”
Ms. Churchill stepped away from the vehicle and said, “I will organize the flight immediately.” She motioned to one of her security men and spoke to him.
“What knights, damn it?” Al demanded.
“Knights on horseback attacked the University of Georgia,” Ms. Churchill said.
“What the hell?”
Ed paused for a moment and looked around and then focused on Ms. Churchill. “The information we were able to acquire from down there must be deciphered immediately.” He paused again and walked over to the back of the eight-wheeled armored vehicle. He glanced inside and then turned around, “My dear, would you happen to have any more of these vehicles available?”
Without answering, she stepped back to the rear of the vehicle and said, “You can have this one.” She then pulled a note out of her jacket pocket and handed it to Ed. “I almost forgot to tell you that the forensic people examining the skeletons found something that you n
eed to go look at.”
Al glanced at Vance, “They can’t be serious about horses and knights?”
Vance shrugged.
Churchill spoke to the driver, then told Ed, “The driver will take you there now.”
One of the security men stepped up to Al and Vance. “Come with me, please. I’ve been instructed to escort you to the airport.”
Al grumbled, “Dammit, I just got here!”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Washington, D.C.
Ed assisted Natalie and then Alex into the back of the armored troop carrier and climbed in himself. They each found a seat, all of which were the metal fold-down type. Ms. Churchill came around from the front and swung open the door. “The driver will take you to the forensic lab.”
“Thank you,” Alex said.
“You have my direct line, so keep me informed of what you find,” she said, closing the door.
The heavy vehicle jerked forward and Natalie, hanging onto the edge of her seat, said, “Just like home.”
“This charming young lady,” Ed announced to Alex, “is a United States army veteran.”
“Well good for her,” Alex answered, obviously uninterested. After a second, he pounded the metal roof and added, “I was almost killed in a metal coffin like this.”