Jake thought for a moment. “Can’t we just send a nuclear missile out there and blow it up?”
“We tried that. Several times. With the level of our technology, it takes three months to get a warhead to where the reflector satellite is. They simply fly out to the warhead and hit it with some kind of energy-based weapon and destroy it. We never even get close.”
“So you’re thinking the B83 is on its way to the same satellite?” Stafford asked.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Jake asked in reply.
“And there’s no way for us to get to it in time,” Honi said. “Even if we somehow were able to get a nuclear missile through, it would take three months to get there. We have only two weeks. It can’t be done.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Jake replied. “Two general scenarios — one, the bomb is set with an internal timer and will detonate whether the world surrenders to them or not, so the whole world domination thing is a ruse. Or two — the deadline to surrender is real and someone has to send the detonation signal. If that’s the case, we stop the signal, we stop the Event.”
“But that still leaves the bomb and the reflector satellite in place,” Honi said. “That means that every seventeen days they have another window to send that detonation signal. We would never be safe.”
“So a more permanent solution is needed,” Jake replied.
“Ultimately, yes,” General Davies added. “We have known this group existed for at least ten years, but we have been unable to find out who the members are. Because of you and your team, we now know some of the people we depended on to investigate the group were in the Phoenix Organization themselves. You uncovered three major players in just the last week. That’s why I recommended you to the President. Now that the four of you understand the situation and what’s at stake, it’s time to go get Senator Thornton.”
CHAPTER 15
General Davies dropped Jake and Honi off at the entrance to the FBI building at Pennsylvania and 9th in D.C.
“You’re going to need a regular bureau car to transport Senator Thornton,” General Davies said. “Major Stafford and Agent Bartholomew will meet you in front of the Capitol building.”
Ten minutes later, Jake and Honi arrived at the main entrance to the Capitol building. Stafford and Ken were standing there with four other men in suits.
“These are four of the soldiers from the President’s Unit,” Stafford explained. “They will handle any problems that arise.”
The team of eight climbed the stairs and went through security. Each member of the team was armed and showed IDs to the capitol security officers. Jake glanced at their IDs. They didn’t look like soldiers; they looked like Homeland Security, just as their IDs said. One of them carried a dark satchel with what looked like a briefcase inside it.
“Those IDs real?” Jake asked one of them quietly.
“Why?” he replied. “Don’t they look real?” He flashed a big smile at Jake.
Jake chuckled. “Looked real to me.”
They entered Senator Thornton’s office on the second floor. Thornton’s secretary and Chief of Staff moved to block access to the Senator’s office. Jake held out his ID.
“How many years do you want to spend in prison?” Jake asked.
The two hesitated and then stepped aside. Jake, Honi, Stafford and Ken entered the inner office with three of the soldiers close behind, including the one with the satchel.
“What the hell are you doing in my office?” Senator Thornton demanded. “Get out!”
Jake showed him his ID pack.
“You want to talk to me, you go through my attorney. Now get out!”
“You’re coming with us,” Jake said firmly. The three soldiers moved in back of the Senator.
“The hell I am,” Thornton replied. “I know you don’t have a warrant, so get out of here before I call security!”
“I don’t need a warrant,” Jake stated.
“Says who?” Thornton replied defiantly.
Jake held the Executive Order up for him to read. Senator Thornton breathed out heavily.
“That son of a bitch.”
Jake took the Senator’s left hand and slapped the cuff on. “Turn around.”
The Senator turned. Jake took the other hand and secured it in the cuffs behind Thornton’s back. The group of eight led him out of the Capitol, while other members of congress and their staffs looked on in stunned silence.
“Where are we going to take him?” Honi asked. “Someone is going to try to get him out, just like they did with General Teague.”
The soldier who had talked with Jake earlier said, “No worries. We have a place.” They put Thornton in the back of Jake’s bureau car with Honi sitting beside him. The soldier held his hand out, “I’ll drive, if you don’t mind, sir.”
“You have a name?” Jake asked.
“Dave Smith,” the soldier replied. “Agent Bartholomew can ride with my brother, Ron Smith, and Major Stafford will go with my other brother, George Smith, in the third car.”
“And the fourth guy?” Jake asked.
“Hank,” Dave replied.
“Hank Smith?”
“Of course,” Dave answered.
Jake looked at the other soldiers. “Not much of a family resemblance.”
“It happens,” Dave replied.
The three-car procession took off southwest and drove about a mile before each car turned in a different direction. The car Jake and Honi were in pulled into a three-story parking structure and up the ramp to the second level. Jake saw five identical cars with dark tinted windows parked in a row, all with identical license plates. Everybody got out and the group slid into one of the five waiting cars. All five vehicles pulled out onto the street and went in different directions.
“We assume someone will be tracking the Senator,” Dave said. “This is our version of the shell game.”
Dave drove for ten minutes, and then turned into another multi-level parking structure. Three more cars waited — different make and color, tinted windows, and identical license plates. They traded cars once again and drove away.
“This would give your friends at the NSA headaches,” Dave said to Honi.
“It would,” she replied. “How long did it take you to organize something this complex?”
“This? This isn’t complex. We put this together while you were inside the mountain learning about the reflector satellite.”
“You know about that?”
“We know a lot about a great number of things, ma’am. It’s just part of the job.”
“I bet,” she replied looking over at Senator Thornton. From the look on his face, the realization that no one was going to rescue him soon was sinking in. An hour later they arrived at a small farmhouse in the hills of Virginia. Two more members of the President’s Unit were waiting for them. Senator Thornton was ushered in and strapped to a stout wooden chair with large plastic zip-ties. Jake pulled a chair over and sat in front of Thornton. Honi stood, watching, as did Dave Smith.
“Okay,” Jake said. “This is how it’s going to work. You are going to get a lot of opportunities to talk with me. In between those opportunities, these guys are going to have an opportunity to do what they do.”
“You haven’t read me my rights,” Thornton said. “You can’t use any of this in a court of law.”
“That’s because there isn’t going to be a trial. You don’t exist anymore. Your future is being moved from one black site to another, each one worse than the one before.”
Thornton looked over at Jake. He had a mixture of fear and superiority on his face.
“I’m not going to be here that long.”
“Oh,” Jake said in an exaggerated tone of understanding. “You think the Phoenix Organization is going to rescue you, just as they did General Teague? The only reason they bothered with Teague is they still needed him for the second weapon.”