Anvil (13 page)

Jessica
Simmons was angry.  And frightened.  But mostly she was pissed
off.  Waiting in the conference room as ordered by Lieutenant Hunt, she
was apprehensive about what was coming.  In less than ten minutes a
Commander from Naval Intelligence had arrived with four large Marines in
tow.  He had walked into the room as the Marines took up positions to
prevent anyone from entering or leaving.

Jessica
leapt to her feet and came to attention when he walked in.  He looked at
her with hooded eyes and tossed the legal pad she had used to write out her
confession onto the polished table top.

“I’m
Commander Tillman,” he said in a somber tone.  “Take a seat, Petty
Officer.”

He sat at
the head of the table and began reading from the pad.  Jessica lowered
herself into a chair at the opposite end, back perfectly straight and hands
folded in her lap.  Tillman quickly read through the four, hand-written
pages, then re-read them at a slower pace.

“We have a
problem, Petty Officer,” he said, pushing the legal pad to the side and leaning
forward with his arms resting on the conference table.

“Yes,
sir.  We do,” she replied, meeting his accusing gaze.

“You realize
I have enough here already to refer you to NCIS for charges of espionage and
treason.”

Jessica was
stunned into silence.  This wasn’t what she’d expected.  Sure, she’d
spoken out of turn, revealing sensitive information.  But treason? 
Espionage?  She wasn’t the spy!

“I’m not a
spy, sir!”  She said through clenched teeth.  “I acknowledge I’ve
made a mistake, but I’m not the one talking to the enemy.”

“Semantics,
Petty Officer.  Revealing classified information to anyone not authorized
to receive that information is a serious offense.  And this is not a grey
area.  It’s very black and white, and with your clearance level you are
very well aware of that.”

“Sir, I’m
more concerned with the information that has and is being relayed to the
Russians.  That’s why I came forward.”

“You mean
the information that you provided?” 

Tillman
looked at her with raised eyebrows and a lump began to form in her stomach.

“Yes, sir,”
she answered, breaking eye contact and looking down at her hands for the first
time.

“What else
have you told the Russians about?”

“What
else?”  Jessica’s head snapped back up, her mouth open in surprise. 
“I haven’t told the Russians about anything!  I made a mistake in talking
about something I shouldn’t have, and that’s all it was.  A mistake!”

“A
mistake.  Is that how you’d categorize your relationship with Chief Petty
Officer Hiram?  A relationship that is clearly inappropriate and
prohibited by Navy regulations?”

Jessica sat
staring at the man, stunned by the direction this was going.  She alerts
her CO to a breach in security and the possible dissemination of information to
the enemy and this guy is sitting here talking about an inappropriate sexual
relationship?

“Sir, if you
want to charge me with something, call me a lawyer and get on with it.  I
thought the bigger issue here would be the fact that it appears we have someone
feeding intel to the enemy.”

Jessica’s
eyes flashed as she spoke, fear and anger fueling her frustration.  She
wasn’t sure what she expected when she decided to confess all to Lieutenant
Hunt, but it wasn’t this.  Who she was or wasn’t having sex with didn’t
seem to be nearly as important as a traitor in their midst.

“Oh, it is
an issue, Petty Officer,” Tillman said with a condescending tone.  “But
I’m trying to understand why it happened in the first place.  Who
initiated the relationship?  What else has he asked you to tell him? 
What else have you told him?”

It was
starting to make sense.  They didn’t believe her.  Didn’t trust that
she was telling the full truth and wasn’t just trying to deflect suspicion so
she could continue passing secrets. 

“I want a
lawyer, sir,” Jessica said, realizing the warnings from Major Chase were nearly
prophetic.

“A
lawyer?  But you haven’t been charged with anything and I’m not a criminal
investigator,” Tillman smiled. 

Jessica
didn’t know what to say.  She had been around long enough to understand
that until NCIS got involved this wasn’t a criminal matter.  Mind racing,
she looked up when the door opened and shot to her feet.  Commander
Tillman turned, annoyance clear on his face until he saw Admiral Packard
standing in the doorway.  He too leapt to his feet and came to attention.

“Petty
Officer, please excuse us,” the Admiral said, stepping aside so she could leave
the room.

“At ease,
Commander,” he said, closing the door behind Jessica.  “Can she be
trusted?”

“Sir, I’ve
only begun speaking with her.  I can’t answer that at this point.”

“Commander,
we’re at war.  The Russians are about to start dropping nukes on our heads
and according to her CO, that young lady is the only person that has the ability
to give us an edge.  So, I’ll ask you again.  Your gut feel. 
Can she be trusted?”

Tillman met
the Admiral’s eyes for a few moments as the gravity of the statement hit him.

“Sir, my gut
feel after speaking with her CO and ten minutes of conversation with her is
that she is genuine.  She made a mistake and when she realized it, she
came forward.  But there could be many more layers to this.  She may
well be a Russian agent.  There are many aspects of this that bother me.”

“Thank you,
Commander.  If we survive the next twenty-four hours there will be time
for a thorough investigation.  Leave one of the Marines to keep watch on
her activities and pursue other avenues at this time.  I have a job for
her.”

“But, sir…”

“Dismissed,
Commander,” Packard barked.

“Yes,
sir!”  Tillman snapped to attention, held the position for a few
heartbeats then left the room.

Packard
stepped to the open door and called for Jessica and Lieutenant Hunt to join
him.  Moments later they stepped in, one of the Marines looking inside the
room before closing the door behind them.

“Sir, I…”
Jessica began, falling silent when the Admiral raised a hand.

“Petty
Officer, we don’t have time for that now.  You made a mistake, and you are
going to have to live with the consequences of your actions.  However, we
have an emergency and a higher priority at the moment.”

Packard
waved them into chairs, remaining on his feet.

“You found
something called the Thor System and the Lieutenant contacted NIS,” the Admiral
began.  “I was just briefed on what it is, and candidly it is our last and
only hope.  Lieutenant Hunt assures me that you are the best person to
break into the system and take operational control.  Perhaps the only
person.”

Jessica’s
head was spinning.  Two minutes ago she was being interrogated by an
officer from Naval Intelligence.  Being accused of spying for the Russians
and committing treason.  Being threatened with criminal charges for
everything from sexual misconduct to operating as a foreign agent.  Now
she was being put back to work?

“Sir, I’ll
do whatever is asked of me,” she finally said.  “I’m not a spy!”

Packard
stood motionless, staring down into her eyes.  He wanted to believe her,
in fact did believe her.  But he had dealt with traitors before and knew
from experience that their most valuable skill was the ability to lie to your
face and convince you they were telling the truth.

“I sincerely
hope not,” he said after a long pause.  “And if I had any other option,
you wouldn’t go near a terminal or any classified data until NIS is satisfied
that you’re who and what you say you are.  But I don’t have a
choice.  You need to break into that system and you have twenty-three
hours.  After that, it won’t matter.  We’re on a deadline, and if you
can’t get us in with enough time remaining to deploy it, I don’t have a choice
but to surrender to the Russians.”

“I
understand, sir,” Jessica said.  “What is the Thor System?”

“That’s
classified, Petty Officer.  Get us in.  That’s your job. 
Knowing what it is isn’t necessary for you to do your job,” the Admiral said,
his voice stern.

“Understood,
sir,” Jessica said.  “I’ll get you in.”

The Havoc
suddenly gained altitude, banked and flew away.  What the fuck? 
Thinking I was about to die, I was so surprised that I just lay there for a few
moments watching it disappear over the horizon.  Then I realized the
incoming mortar and machine gun fire had stopped.  I exchanged glances
with the Ranger and Apache pilot, then carefully poked my head out to check on
the Russian advance.

They were
withdrawing!  Again, what the fuck?  They had us.  The ground
forces had us pinned and an attack helicopter was close enough to chew us up
into hamburger.  What the hell was going on?

I
involuntarily jumped when my earpiece came to life.  Orders were being
shouted.  And questioned, which is very unusual.  But the overall
command was to cease fire and fall back to designated rally points. 

“What the
fuck?”  The Ranger called from where he was watching the Russians pull
back.

“That’s what
I want to know,” I answered, slowly climbing to my feet.

A few
moments later the two other men stood up next to me and together we watched the
enemy retreat.  Only it wasn’t a real retreat.  We hadn’t won the
engagement, forcing them back.  Someone had negotiated a cease fire. 
And as far as I was concerned, they had done it just in time.

“Let’s go,”
I said, helping the Ranger lift his fallen brother onto his shoulder.

There were
more bodies than we could carry so other than the dead Ranger I decided to
leave them where they were for the moment.  Details would be sent out to
retrieve the dead, but I couldn’t imagine what would be done with the remains. 
We didn’t have a morgue.  That only left the option of hand dug graves for
those killed in battle.

It was a
long hike back, farther than it had seemed when I’d run into the battle. 
The ground was littered with bodies, both American and Russian.  It was
dotted with armored vehicles that were burning or burned out.  There were
more crash sites within visual range than I could count, and perhaps an
aviation expert could have recognized the difference between our planes and the
enemy’s.  I couldn’t.  I just hoped that most of them had been built
by Ivan.

After most
of half an hour we reached the temporary command post.  When I appeared
around the base of a low hill, Rachel spotted me and broke into a run. 
She slammed into me, throwing her arms around my neck and nearly taking me off
my feet.  Holding me in a tight embrace she whispered in my ear.

“I thought
you were dead.”

I squeezed
her back, then released her when she stepped away.

“What the
hell is wrong with you?”  She shouted in my face as tears ran down hers.

I was
touched by the show of raw emotion, but wasn’t in the frame of mind to deal
with it.  Standing there looking at Rachel’s tears I was relieved when
Irina walked up and leaned in to kiss me on each cheek.  Ignoring the
looks I was getting from Soldiers and Marines that were trudging past where we
stood, I took Rachel’s hand in mine and headed for where Colonel Blanchard
stood with a sat phone pressed to his ear.

“What the
fuck, sir?”  I asked when he lowered the handset and pressed the red button
to end the call.

“Temporary
cease fire,” he said, blowing out a deep breath.  “The Russians launched
ICBMs at Hawaii.  We shot down most of them before running out of
missiles.  They destroyed the last one before it re-entered the atmosphere,
then called Admiral Packard with terms for our surrender.”

“What? 
What terms?”  I asked.

“We stop
fighting and hand over all of our assets.  And evacuate North America and
the Bahamas.  We’re restricted to Hawaii.  The Admiral agreed and
that bought us a twenty-four-hour cease fire until the final condition is met.”

“What’s the
final condition?”  I asked.

“You,” he
said, holding my eyes with his.  “We have twenty-three hours left to
deliver you to any Russian commander.  If we don’t, they nuke Hawaii.”

I stood there
staring at him, half expecting him to smile and say he was just fucking with
me.  But I knew he wasn’t.  Knew my time was almost up.

“You can’t
be serious,” Rachel cried.  “We don’t hand people over to the enemy. 
That’s not what we do!”

“How many
people left alive in Hawaii?”  I asked Blanchard.

“One point
four million civilians,” he said.  “And another thirty thousand military.”

“No you
don’t,” Rachel released my hand and grabbed my upper arm, trying to pull me
around to face her.  “They haven’t used nukes so far, there’s no reason to
think they will now!”

“There’s
every reason to believe they will,” I said, turning to look at her.  “And
I’m not worth all those lives.”

“Tell him,”
Rachel looked to Irina, pleading for her to help convince me that I didn’t need
to turn myself over to the Russians.

“I am sorry,
but he is correct,” she said in a soft voice.  “President Barinov is quite
capable of using nuclear weapons.  He has not done so up until now because
he was intent upon maintaining the fallacy with the Russian people that this
plague was the doing of the Chinese.  Something has changed, giving him an
excuse to wipe the few remaining Americans from the face of the planet.”

 “Rachel…”
I said gently, stopping her from continuing to protest.  At least for the
moment.

“Do you
think he’ll actually honor the terms if I surrender?”  I asked
Irina.  “Or is he just doing this to get his hands on me and he’ll launch
anyway once they have me?”

Irina stood
quietly for a moment, considering the question.  Blanchard, Rachel and I
remained silent, watching her.

“I do not
know, but I have a difficult time trusting him.  He has shown in the past
that commitments and treaties he has entered into are only respected for as
long as is convenient.”

“So you’re
saying we shouldn’t trust him?”  Blanchard asked.

“I am saying
that his past actions have shown him to be untrustworthy,” Irina said.  “I
was trained as an intelligence officer, and in the absence of current
information about a subject’s intentions, the only way to predict their
potential course of action is to analyze how they have behaved in similar
situations in the past.”

“She should
speak with the Admiral,” I said to Blanchard.

He nodded
and called over an aide, instructing him to arrange a secure call with Packard.
 The man immediately set to work.

“I have
twenty-three hours?”  I asked Blanchard.

“Slightly
less,” he said, checking his watch.

I was
unprepared for the turn of events, but can’t say that I was terribly
surprised.  Barinov wanted revenge and had shown that he wasn’t going to
rest until I was either dead on the battlefield or rotting in a damp cell at
the Lubyanka Prison, waiting for my very public execution.

Sighing,
struggling to accept the inevitable, I turned and looked at the horizon to the
southeast.  The sun was setting and it was already dark in that
direction.  Katie was somewhere out there.  Infected.  If I
turned myself over to the Russians…

“If I do
this, I want your word that you will find my wife and take her to the
researchers,” I said, turning back to face Colonel Blanchard.

“You have my
word,” he said without hesitation.  “But I’m not sure how we’re going to
track her down.  You said earlier that you had an idea.”

“She was
CIA,” I said.  “Not long before she left the Agency they began putting
tracker beacons in selected officers.  Just a small chip that was
surgically implanted in her upper thigh.  It’s dormant until activated by
a coded signal, then is supposed to transmit her location for forty-eight
hours.”

“You’re sure
it’s still there?”  He asked.

“Positive. 
I felt it a few days ago,” I said, not bothering to explain what my hand had
been doing on my wife’s upper thigh.

“Any clue
how to activate it?”

“Speak to a
Petty Officer Simmons at Pearl Harbor.  I’ve already mentioned it to her
and she can help.” 

By this time
the call to Admiral Packard had gone through and Blanchard and Irina stepped
aside to speak with him.  Rachel stood next to me, distress clear on her
face.

“I don’t
have a choice,” I said softly, leading her away from the command post.

“Yes, you
do.  Don’t stop fighting.  It’s going to be dark soon.  Let’s
slip away.  We can find Katie and get her to Seattle,” Rachel pleaded.

“And more
than a million people in Hawaii die?  And all of these Soldiers and
Marines?  They’ll be wiped out.  No, that’s not something I’m willing
to do.  Not something I could live with,” I said, shaking my head.

Rachel stood
in front of me, staring into my eyes.  Fresh tears began flowing as she
accepted I wasn’t going to change my mind.  With a sob, she stepped in and
wrapped her arms around me, burying her face against my chest.  I held her
as she cried.