Sam made a thin-lipped smile. For a retired Senator, he seemed well informed about the day to day itinerary of sitting members of Congress. “I’m sorry. I’ve no idea. I wasn’t informed who she was with. But as far as I know, Congresswoman Bledes was the only fatality we’ve had so far throughout this entire terrorist attack.”
Retired Senator Finney swung his wheel chair around toward the door. “You’d better get back to work Mr. Reilly. Someone needs to avenge her death, and you can’t do it while you’re in here.”
“I’ll try my best,” Sam assured him, and walked out the door.
Chapter Forty-Three
Sam Reilly made his way along K street toward Franklin Square.
The boulevard was silent. Mercenaries or terrorists — whatever you wanted to call them — lined the southern side, mostly ignoring him, while U.S. marines and armored tanks lined the opposite end. It looked like something out of an urban warzone in the Middle East, not the U.S. Capital.
At the far end of the street a hot air blimp was tethered by a rope above a building, with a large advertisement for some local law firm.
Sam stared at the image.
His heart pounded in his chest as he felt that awful sense of déjà vu. He knew exactly where he’d witnessed that identical scene before. It was impossible, and yet almost certain. What was more unexpected was the fact he knew, with the same certainty, that he wasn’t going to act on the knowledge, or inform the Secretary of Defense.
Not yet, anyway.
Sam still needed to complete his part in this evil game before it was over and he lost everything. He had to know what was hidden inside the scuttled wreck of the Clarion Call.
He kept walking east.
Sam unlocked his cell phone and dialed Elise’s number.
She answered on the first ring. “How did your meeting go with retired Senator Charles Finney?”
Sam smiled, and kept walking. “We got it wrong. It was Senator Finney’s brother, Joseph in the photograph.”
“His brother?” Elise said, “I didn’t find any record of a second Finney with matching facial features on the DMV for the past two decades.”
“You wouldn’t have. He disappeared, most likely dead, in 1996.”
“The same year the Clarion Call was scuttled.”
Sam swore. “Of course. Why didn’t I think of that? It can’t just be a coincidence. Everything keeps pointing back toward the scuttling of that ship — the Clarion Call.”
“What do you want to do?” Elise asked.
“Has Tom located the wreck yet?”
“No, but the Maria Helena’s not yet in position of the GPS coordinates your father gave him. Illegal or not, your grandfather kept records of the event.”
“Really?” Sam asked. “That seems like a strange thing to do if you were going to try and bury secrets.”
“The ship’s in 720 feet of water. I suppose he was fairly confident the secrets would remain buried,” Elise replied. “Besides, apparently the scuttling was all a big show.”
“A big show?”
“Yeah. Someone out of the 832nd Ordnance Battalion US Marine Corps out of Fort Lee provided the ordnance required to sink the ship.”
“Are you serious?”
“It gets better.”
Sam said, “Go on.”
“Who do you think was the officer in command during the scuttling blasts?”
“No idea. Who?”
“Major Roger Goodson. Alex’s father!”
“You’re kidding me! But Alex said he and his father had never really got along. Said he’d never learned why. His father was a military man — an Officer in the Marines to his core — while his grandfather opposed the military and had been a pacifist all his life.”
“That might justify why Alex’s grandfather and father never got along. They might both know the truth — whatever that is. One thing’s for certain. There’s something connecting the Goodsons with the Reillys.”
“Thanks, Elise. You’re the best.”
“I know,” she acknowledged, cheerfully.
Sam grinned. Cultural norms might prefer women to be modest, but Elise knew her value, and pretending wasn’t her thing.
“Now what do you want me to do about it?” she asked in the next breath.
“Tell Genevieve I need a lift. She can pick me up at the Shaw Recreational Center, corner of 11th Street and Rhode Island Ave, NW.” Sam grinned. “Because I’m coming diving with Tom. The Clarion Call holds a mystery I intend to personally pry out of her.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Sam took 11th Street NW out of the terrorist’s delineated hot zone section of the capital.
Stopping to search his phone for Alex Goodson’s number, he found it and pressed the call button. The phone rang out after several rings. Sam ended the call, then pressed the redial.
Alex picked up on the second ring this time. “Yo! Mr. Reilly. Did you find what you were looking for?”
“You mean, did I find the nuclear bomb hidden in Washington, D.C.?”
“Yeah, that.”
“No. But I found something else, which I’m hoping you might clear up for me.”
“Shoot.”
“There’s an old cargo ship which was sunk off the coast of Sandy Point State Park called the Clarion Call.”
“Yeah?”
“Have you heard of it?”
“No. Should I have?”
“I don’t know. It had some significant mechanical issues and was scuttled about five miles off the coast by your father in 1996.”
“That would make sense.”
“Really? Why?”
“My father was a Major with the 832nd Ordnance Battalion US Marine Corps out of Fort Lee. If the ship was scuttled off the coast of Sandy Point State Park, then it’s likely he would’ve been responsible for sinking it.”
“Do you know what year your grandfather and your father stopped speaking to each other?”
“How would I remember that? I was just a kid in 96.”
Sam grinned. Alex had answered his questions without actually answering his questions. “I read the FBI’s report on you. Apparently, you have an eidetic memory. You were very close to your grandfather, but far from close to your real father. I’m betting a hundred bucks a kid like that would remember when his father and grandfather had a falling out, and prevented you from seeing your grandfather.”
“May 22, 1996.” Alex sighed heavily. “I never found out what tore them apart. When was the Clarion Call scuttled?”
“May 21, 1996.”
“Mr. Reilly!”
“Yes?”
“What are you going to do now?”
“I’m going to dive the Clarion Call and see if I can find the connection. Then I’m going to pay you another visit.”
“Good, you do that.” Alex said. “Remember, about a million lives are counting on you.”
“Dammit, Alex!” Sam snapped. “I’m the only one here trying to help you. Maybe you should think about that.”
Chapter Forty-Five
Alex hung up the phone and walked out onto his balcony. The city spread out in front of him, as busy as an anthill in the early afternoon. He was hungry. Ironically, he’d forgotten to eat. He glanced back at the building. It would be some time before he put the finishing touches on the building of his gamer haven.
Still, everything was coming along nicely.
His father’s death had changed his life.
The man who had never understood him and who had always seemed to find ways to tear him down had left this world. His death had taken a weight off his shoulders.