“You can’t leave yet, Pop.”
Ben frowned. “Why not?”
“Once the riot gets closer, my team will head for the clearing. If Justin’s trucks are still there, they’ve got the tools to excavate and move them. But they need to know where to look first.”
“We’re not even sure they’re in the clearing.”
“They have to be.”
“What do you want me to do?” he asked.
“Stick close to Cy,” she replied. “If anyone can find those trucks, it’s him.”
Chapter 68
“You did this.” Donovan twisted toward me. His eyes swirled with fury and suspicion. “I don’t know how, but it’s got to be you.”
I arched an eyebrow. “How do you figure that?”
“Because you tipped off that reporter,” he said. “Don’t bother denying it. You and your team were the only ones who knew about the fake gold.”
“What about Malware?”
“You can’t even prove she exists.”
I sighed, exacerbated. “I explained that already.”
“Yeah, she deleted the texts and then you threw your phone off a building.” He chuckled humorlessly. “That’s real believable. Especially since our techs can’t find even a trace of those messages in your digital history.”
How had Malware known about the fake bars? Did she have someone on the inside? If so, who? What did that person and Malware hope to accomplish? Did they want the gold for themselves? Or were they after something else?
Donovan glared at me. And K.J. and the president started to look at me with fresh eyes, as if they’d finally seen the light. His accusations, although insane, were clearly getting through to them.
“How do you think I tipped off the reporter?” I asked. “I don’t even have a phone.”
“You’re a resourceful guy. There must be a thousand ways you could’ve gotten messages to him as well as to your Berserker friends out there.”
“Why would I do that? What could I possibly have to gain?”
“For starters, a crapload of gold. This is some long con game, isn’t it? As soon as you realized the gold was missing, you started plotting to get your hands on it.”
“We wouldn’t even be here without Cy,” Beverly retorted. “He found out about this clearing, not you.”
“We would’ve figured things out sooner or later.” Sneering, Donovan stuck his face in front of mine. “So, what’s the plan, Cy? Use our equipment to locate the gold and then lead us astray?”
I shook my head. “You’re crazy.”
K.J. unlatched his sidearm. “He’s making some good points.”
I looked at him in disbelief. “You too?”
“It’s not just them.” President Walters gave me a keen appraisal. “I think it’s time you started telling the truth.”
Beverly and Graham tensed up. I shot them a quick look, warning them to take it easy. There was still time to salvage the situation.
“I already am.” I took a deep breath. “Can we get back to work? That mob will be here soon.”
President Walters studied me for a long moment. “No.”
K.J. whistled. The door flew open and two soldiers entered the room.
“Don’t do this,” Beverly said.
I backed up to the window. The thin partition vibrated gently at my touch. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw dark grass beneath us, partially lit by numerous fixtures.
“Come on.” Donovan grabbed the president’s arm and dragged him to the doorway. “We need to get airborne before that mob arrives.”
The president nodded. Then he stepped through the door and exited the room.
Donovan shot me a look that managed to exude gleeful triumph and nasty disdain at the same time. Then he exited the room as well.
“Secure them,” K.J. said with a dismissive wave in our direction. “Take them to Fort Knox and keep them in custody until further notice.”
“You’re making a mistake,” Beverly said. “You know me. You know my record.”
“Actually, I don’t. You’re one gigantic secret, Ms. Ginger. A secret I don’t want to deal with right now.”
“Any ideas?” Graham whispered as the two soldiers advanced on us.
“How do you feel about testing gravity?”
“Gravity?” He cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t mean…”
I spun around. Grabbing Beverly and him by the arms, I lunged for the window. The thin partition shattered on impact.
The fall was short, seeing as how we were only on the second floor. But our tangled limbs still caused us to land awkwardly. Soldiers came out to help us, but we quickly brushed them aside and sprinted into the maze of vehicles, soldiers, and supplies.
“Get out there.” K.J.’s scream floated out of the building and into my eardrums. “And don’t come back until you’ve found them.”
Chapter 69
As we ran, I looked around, searching for a place to hide. In the process, I saw President Walters and Donovan hurrying toward a waiting helicopter. Everywhere else, I noticed frenzied activity. Workers abandoned their jobs and raced toward their vehicles. Senior officers huddled together in small clumps, making plans for the oncoming mob. Junior officers rallied troops and began to organize them.
Beverly raced to the tree line before halting behind an armored vehicle. Spinning around, she kept an eye out for the pursuing soldiers.
“Well, I’ll tell you one thing,” Graham gasped. “I’m never voting for that guy again.”
“Who are you kidding?” I replied as I joined them. “You haven’t voted in decades.”
Beverly glanced inside the armored vehicle. “No keys,” she said. “But it shouldn’t take me long to hotwire her.”
“We’re not leaving,” I replied. “Not until we find that gold.”
Graham’s jaw fell agape. “Those bastards just tried to arrest us. Why would you want to help them?”
“It’s not about them.”
“Then what’s it about?”
Good question.
In 1949, a young Justin Reed had stood in the main clearing, along with his Army buddies and ten gold-filled dump trucks. Smoke had appeared and then he was gone, vanished in the blink of an eye. He was never seen again, but his disappearance had caused a ripple effect that stretched through generations.
My dad, Drew, tore down large parts of historic Manhattan hoping to track down Justin. But my motives were a little more unclear, even to me. It wasn’t like I’d known Justin. He was just a face in a fading picture.
It’s Dad… it’s always been Dad.
And just like that, everything clicked into place. Family was everything. Dad had sacrificed his reputation and even his sanity in order to locate his missing father. And I was willing to risk arrest and possibly my life as well in order to complete his quest.
“I need to find out what happened to Justin,” I said. “For Dad’s sake.”
Beverly pursed her lips. “We don’t even know if the gold is still here.”
“It’s here,” I said. “We just have to find it.”
“And how are we supposed to do that?”
Another good question.
The Capitalist Curtain papers were still clenched tightly in my fingers. I unrolled them and turned to the Smokescreen diagram. “How’d they operate this?” I wondered.
“Remote control?” Beverly guessed.
“In 1949? And underground as well?” Graham shook his head. “Not likely.”
I studied the diagram closely. “See these lines and shading?”
Graham nodded. “They look like walls.”
“My thought exactly. Justin must’ve tunneled out some kind of underground room and placed his crew inside it. Chances are good they staged the whole incident from there. If we can dig it up, we might be able to figure out how they made the trucks disappear.”