“Mmmm… I’m starving, “she said as she walked up behind him placing her hands on his shoulders looking at the grill.
“Should be ready soon…. Dad called today,” he said.
“The General,” she asked turning her gaze from the food to him.
“Yeah. He wants to have us to lunch on Friday and give us a tour of the mountain. He is sending his driver to collect us.”
“Okay. Sounds like fun.”
“Don’t you have to work Friday afternoon?”
“No problem. I’ll just trade with Brenda. She owes me…. It’s about time you get to see him; once a year isn‘t exactly what you call close nit. If my family was here, you couldn’t get them out of the house.”
“Yeah, tell me about it,” he said, which was quickly followed by a sharp poke in his ribs.
“Seriously, you need to spend some more time together. It isn’t always going to be like this with the two of you being this close to one another.”
“You’re right,” he said, meaning it, “I think I’m actually looking forward to it.”
Thursday
Reports of absent politicians, socialites, and other well-known figures were being made in earnest now. What started the week in mild commentary and humor about how Washington was running “much more smoothly now with everyone gone” had turned into a cause of serious curiosity, if not concern. Congressional representatives could not be reached, political aides were giving the ‘run a round’ to any inquiries, and socialites were just not being seen or heard from. Congress was two months away from recess, and it was reasoned that not every important person could be on vacation at the same time, although, the resorts and popular vacation locations were being scrutinized by some of the more inquisitive reporters. All of the major businesses were running as usual sans their CEO’s. Social services remained uninterrupted, and stores and banks remained open for business.
After four days of constant attention, and a few anonymous reports, the major media networks moved from their normal under-whelming efforts, to ramping up their investigations. This event was not just endemic to the U.S.; it was being reported around the world. “Where Are They?” headlined the International Herald Tribune. What took four days to manifest serious attention in the mainstream media was already boiling over with conspiracy theorists on the blogosphere. Everything from alien abductions, to mass suicides was being reported by the alternative news sites. The one thing they all had in common was that no one really knew what was going on, and there were just not any verifiable leads.
Friday 10:45am
As he called to his wife from the living room for the third time, “Terri, let’s go. We’re gonna be late,”, Keith saw the blue Air Force staff car pull to the curb. A young captain got out of the car and walked toward the house. Keith made a quick study of the man. He looked like your typical paper pusher and canapé passer, but he was a well put together individual. Keith’s opinion of ‘desk jockeys’ was standard among his kind, but he also knew that his father suffered no fools, nor tolerated incompetence, so if he had been working for his father for any length of time, he must be all right. Opening the door, he stepped onto the porch.
“Captain Bishop, I’m Captain Lucas…Brian,” he said as he offered his hand.
“Good to meet you Brian. We can be on our way as soon as my wife finishes up. She’s only been getting herself presentable for the last few hours or so,” he said with a smile, which was reciprocated in a manner of understanding.
“I heard that,” his wife said as she came into the room still making adjustments in arranging her clothing. While she bypassed her husband, sticking her tongue out at him as she did so, she offered her hand to the Air Force captain, “Hi, I’m Terri. And if he hasn’t told you, his name is Keith.”
“Nice to meet you ma’am,” he said.
“Please call me Terri.”
“Okay Terri… If you two are ready, we’ll go. Things are a little hectic at the mountain right now. They have been for the last two weeks, so it takes a little more time to navigate our way through the traffic.”
As they all walked to the car, Keith asked him, “Why so busy, or is that a secret,” he said trying to be amusing.
“No secret. We have a joint civilian and military exercise taking place; has been for the past ten days. ‘Safe Harbor’ it’s called. We’ve never had one like it before. It’s been absolutely crazy around there.”
Keith liked the easygoing nature of his father’s aide. When he spoke, he was genuine. He had the kind of face where expressions just could not hide what he was thinking. He was an open book. No doubt, he thought, one of the reasons why his father had him on his staff. It was a beautiful sunny day, with only a few clouds perched above the mountaintop to provide some patches of shade in the outlying areas. Even though he was in his dress uniform, it was pleasant enough just to have the windows open for the short ride. As they came closer to their turnoff, traffic was bumper to bumper. Thinking it was going to take forever to get to the mountain complex, Keith was about to say something when Captain Lucas pulled into the center lane and continued past the traffic jam.
“Is all of this involved with your drill,” Keith asked.
“Yeah, I told you it was crazy.”
“How is it we get to go through?”
Captain Lucas reached onto the front dashboard, grabbed a white plastic card with a bright red number one on it and passed it back to Keith. “This means we have priority. Every vehicle coming through here has a similar placard. Once they get onto NORAD road, there is a kind of marshaling area where vehicles move ahead based on priority. I’d hate to have that job,” he finished.
Keith handed the sign back, “Yeah. It doesn’t exactly sound like a lot of fun. You said they have been doing this for the last ten days. Has it been like this the whole time?”
“Pretty much. Today and yesterday have been the only exceptions. Along with all the packages, equipment, and other supplies they’ve been bringing in, they started bussing people in thirty to forty at a time; businessmen, medical people, tradesmen, and military. At last count there were more than 4000 additional people in the complex.”
“Wow,” Terri spoke for the first time since they had left. “Is it really that big? Do they have enough bathrooms for all those people?”
Keith smiled at his wife knowing both the sincerity of the question, and the fact that it was the first she asked.
Captain Lucas chuckled. “Yeah, it is that big. In fact, it can accommodate many more than that if necessary, especially if they go down to the lower levels. I’ve been there for over a year and I still haven’t seen everything yet,” he finished.
“When is this exercise supposed to be finished,” Keith asked.
“Actually, in a few hours, at least this part of it. I’m not sure what phase two is yet. We won’t be briefed on that until after phase one is completed.”
“If they can get all of what we just passed moved in the next few hours, I’ll be impressed.”
“Never underestimate the Air Force captain,” Lucas replied while smiling into the rearview mirror. Bishop just smiled in return.
The remainder of their ride was quiet as they looked at the many vehicles slowly making their way. He turned the sedan off highway 115 and onto the facility-named-road. Not long afterwards, they came to their first traffic control point. It was manned by an Air Force 1st lieutenant. When they pulled up to the temporary gatehouse, Captain Lucas rolled down the window and extended his credentials. “Guests of General Bishop; they should be on your roster.”