Jim herd rumors of camps similar to their own on the outskirts of cities all around the country. Anytime he asked what was going on, however, he was met with the calculated response of, “we’re working on a solution.” When Jim got to the front and held out his tray, the man in the hairnet slopped a pile of bland mush onto his plate. Coyle leaned over with a frown on his face. “Damn. And I was really hoping it’d be the charcoal.”
Two MPs knocked him and Coyle in the shoulders as they made a beeline for Samantha and Annie. “Samantha Kearny,” the taller MP asked. Samantha pulled Annie behind her and she wrapped her arms around her mother’s leg. “Yes?” she responded.
“We need you and your daughter to come with us,” the shorter MP said.
Jim pushed the tray back onto the serving counter and made his way over to the MPs. “What’s going on here?” he asked. The shorter MP held his hand up to keep Jim back. “Sir, please stay back.”
Jim knocked the MPs hand out of the way and before he could reach for his pistol Jim had his arm locked up behind the MP with his knees on the ground. He pulled the gun out of the subdued MP’s holster and pointed it at the other MP’s head that had his hand hovering above the pistol at his hip. “Don’t,” Jim said. The MP pulled the pistol out of his holster, dropped the clip out and cleared the chamber. The crowd around them had spread out and Jim kept the gun aimed at the MP with his hand in the air, and the other MP winced in pain as Jim kept his arm pinned back.
“Out of the way! Move!” shouted a voice.
A group of soldiers forced their way through the crowd and five men circled Jim A brash sergeant walked right up beside Jim and pressed the barrel of his Smith and Wesson 9mm into Jim’s temple.“ Drop it, fucker,” the sergeant said. Jim kept his gun pointed at the other MP. The sergeant pressed the barrel harder into Jim’s skull.
“Drop it now!” the sergeant repeated.
Jim let go of the MP’s arm and dropped the pistol to the ground. The sergeant grabbed Jim’s arms and threw them around his back, cuffed him, and slammed his face into the grass. The group of soldiers that were with the sergeant grabbed Samantha and Annie as they strode off through the crowd that had gathered. The sergeant pointed at Coyle and told another soldier to grab him as well. “But I didn’t get to finish my mush!” Coyle shouted as his tray dropped to the ground. Upon seizing Coyle, they escorted him out of the cafeteria with the others.
Jim was taken into a separate tent and shackled to a chair. The MP he disarmed made sure to give him a nice pop in the stomach before he left to return the favor. Once the MP left an officer in fatigues entered the tent. Jim could only make out the silhouette and the circling smoke that rose from the tip of his cigar. He lingered for a moment before getting close enough for Jim to make out the features on his face and the four stars on his hat.
He read from a file in his hand. “Jim Farr,” he said aloud, “Former officer and specialist in Navy Intelligence. Honorably discharged after twelve years of service and three combat tours during which he earned twenty commendations, two purple hearts, and the Navy Cross.”
The general paced around Jim in his chair examining the contents of the file. He took a long drag of his cigar and puffed out a billow of smoke. “Now why the hell would someone who was awarded the Navy Cross attack two MPs at a military refugee camp?” he asked as finally looked up from reading.
“The military and I haven’t really seen eye-to-eye over the past few year, General,” Jim answered. The General let out a hearty laugh as he chewed on the end of the cigar. “I can see that,” he said smiling. The General’s assistant came in and handed him another file along with a chair. He leaned back in his chair and his belly stretched as he attempted to get comfortable. Goddamn I’ve gotten fat,” the General moaned. Jim finally noticed the name on the general’s jacket. His eyes went wide as the words left him.
“General Locke?” Jim asked.
“We can talk about your father later, Farr. We have other pressing issues to worry about.” Locke motioned to Jim’s cuffs. “You can take those off,” the general said. “General, I highly suggest—” the assistant began. “Damnit, Chris, he’s not going to kill me. Take the cuffs off,” Locke barked.
Chris hesitated for a moment, but walked over and set Jim’s hands free. Jim rubbed his wrists and Locke handed him a photograph. “That’s your brother in-law, Matt Kearny. He was picked up during the evacuation of Phoenix two weeks ago. Do you know what he does?” asked Locke.
Jim looked over the photo of Matt in his hands. It was taken somewhere in a downtown area. “He’s an engineer for some software company,” he replied. “PamTech. They’re one of the military’s largest contractors. They handle a lot of our digital security platforms. You’re brother-in-law was one of their lead engineers who handled a majority of our accounts,” explained Locke.
Jim shook his head and rested the paper down on his lap. “You think he has something to do with all of these attacks?” he asked. Locke paused for a moment before speaking. “I don’t know, but we do know that he was in charge of all of PamTech’s digital security functions. He has a security clearance higher than anyone in the company and we need him to grant us access to those files to see if they’ve been tampered with,” Locke continued.
Jim rose out of his chair and turned his back to Locke as he continued to examine the picture. “Why don’t you just break through their fire wall? You have enough resources to do it,” he said. “We tried, but the files aren’t on their network. We think they’re on a stand-alone hard drive,” Locke said. “We need Matt to tell us where it is.”
“How long have you had him?” Jim asked.
“Jim, we’re running out of time. If we don’t get that data, then we could be open for more attacks. Hell, we still have riots happening all over the country. We need—”
“How long?” Jim repeated. Locke let out a sigh. “Two weeks,” he answered.
Jim’s jaw clenched. His hands tightened into fists. He turned and focused his eyes on Locke, but not before he noticed Chris’s hand at the firearm on his hip. “My sister has been asking about him since she got here and each time you told us you didn’t know,” Jim said.
“Well, depending on who you asked, that was true. Besides us there are only a handful of people who know where he is and what this is about,” Locke replied.
Jim closed his eyes and shook his head to calm himself. “You want me to convince him to give you the hard drive,” Jim sighed. Locke paused for a moment before he answered, “Yes.” Jim opened his eyes, walked back over to the chair, and sat down. He looked back down at the photo in his hands as he spoke. “My sister and niece get to see him before I help you,” he said.
Locke glanced over at Chris who was shaking his head. “Done,” he answered. “You leave today.” He rose and grabbed the grabbed the picture in Jim’s hand. “Jim, we need that drive,” Locke said. Jim’s hand tightened on the file as Locke tried to pull it away. “And my niece needs her father,” he replied. Locke tapped his cigar with his finger and ash fell onto the dirt floor. He gave a weary smile. “Let’s hope we both get what we want,” he said.
Upon his release, Jim was met outside by Annie, Samantha, and Coyle They each had a million questions, but mostly Coyle. Jim pulled Samantha to the side out of earshot from the others. “They have Matt,” said Jim. Samantha let out a shocked, harsh whisper, “What?” She looked around as if he was there in one of the tents. “Where is he?” she asked.
Jim kept his voice down as he spoke, “They want something he was working on for his company. I think they were going to use you and Annie as leverage to get what they want.” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “They can’t do that!” She wasn’t whispering anymore. Jim wrangled her back in. “Hey, we need to be smart.” He glanced around at the soldiers before looking back at her. “They think I can convince him to give up what they want.”