Politics of Blood (Gray Spear Society Book 8) (28 page)

A tingling in his gut told Aaron that God was paying attention. Aaron was finally on the right track. The Lord didn't visit unless there was something worth seeing.

"Do you feel it, Perry?" Aaron said.

"What, sir?" Perry replied. He was standing off to the side in a gray T-shirt and jeans.

"That burning sensation. God's breath. He is with us now."

"I don't feel anything."

"A shame," Aaron said, "but I guess that's why you're an assistant instead of a
legionnaire
."

"Can all
legionnaires
tell when God is near?"

"As far as I know, yes."

Norbert was standing on the other side of the table in his soft, gray robes. "It's like jet fuel is being pumped through your veins," he said with a grin. "You want to run through a brick wall and kill whoever is behind it with your bare hands."

Perry grimaced. "That sounds like an overdose of amphetamines."

Smythe and Sheryl rushed into the conference room. They were still wearing their blue suits from the bank assignment.

Perry had set up a DVD player on the table. Smythe nodded to Aaron respectfully and put a disc in the slot.

Aaron studied the video as it played over and over. Smythe's description of "Jed Parker" had been very good. Smythe was a trained scientist and had a sharp eye for detail.

Aaron looked at the pictures on the table. Now that he had a specific face in mind, he could pick out the right one. After some consideration, he settled on a winner. A knot in the man's forehead was the key detail.

Aaron picked up the paper and read, "Major Tom Boyd. Highly decorated pilot. Currently, an officer in the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency.
Fuck!
"

"What's wrong?" Smythe said.

"We're up against the United States military." Aaron sighed. "Now I understand the green dynamite."

He paced back and forth as he contemplated his next move. Nobody spoke. His team knew better than to interrupt his train of thought.

After minute, he turned to Perry and said, "Spy satellites."

"Huh?" Perry raised his eyebrows.

"Let's assume the enemy knows where the President is hiding. If that's the case, I bet a spy satellite is focused on that location. The Air Force loves their spy satellites. I want to know who gave the order to redirect the satellite."

"You're jumping to a bunch of conclusions at once, sir."

"That's my prerogative," Aaron said. "Go get the answer."

Perry hurried out of the room.

Smythe took the picture of Major Boyd, a.k.a. Jed Parker. Smythe studied it with a frown.

"Thoughts?" Aaron said.

"I'm disgusted. The U.S. military is supposed to support and defend the President, not try to kill him. He isn't a tin-pot dictator, and this isn't a third-world country. Are you going to call the legate?"

"Soon. Let's see what Perry can dig up first. When Ethel asks questions, I want to have answers."

* * *

Ethel was perched on a high branch like a giant, black bird of prey. She was watching the home of Bernard Templeton through a pair of high-power binoculars.

The billionaire was hosting President Haley and Vice President Darrow on a wooden deck in back. They were sipping drinks and eating roasted fish. The fish looked fresh caught and had probably come from the lakes on the property. The chef was using an open grill which was producing plenty of smoke.

Ethel focused her attention on Haley. He was such a handsome man and not just on the outside. His compassion and wisdom made her feel like an ogre in comparison. He could teach her so much about leadership. She desperately wanted his approval.

It's not fair,
she thought.
I was given a taste of love, and then it was taken away.

A green light made her turn around. A ball of bubbling mist was floating in the air. Interior flashes were like a thunderstorm in the core of the ball. Occasional bursts of light escaped from the spherical maelstrom.

"You'll get it back," the Lord said. The comforting words entered Ethel's mind directly.

"When?" Ethel whispered.

"Soon. I haven't forsaken you."

She sighed. "Yes, Sir."

The sound of a snapping twig made Ethel look down. Tawni was practicing with her sword in the shadows between the trees. Solid darkness encased the blade like black paint. As it swept through the air, it left broad swaths of smoke behind.

When Ethel had joined the Society, gifts had been rare and special. No
legionnaire
got one until at least five years of service. It was exceptional for a cell to have more than one member with a gift, and some had none.

Aaron's arrival had turned that timetable on its head. He had received a gift on his very first mission. No other
legionnaire
in history could make that claim. Since then, many other young
legionnaires
had also benefited from the Lord's new generosity. Tawni was a perfect example. After only four months of service, she was already quite powerful. Her training was progressing at a supernatural pace. Smythe's astonishing healing ability put him firmly in the top echelon of the Society, and he had waited less than a year.

"Why are you doing this?" Ethel whispered.

"I need a strong army," the Lord replied.

"You have one."

"It must get stronger
quickly.
"

"Because of the twins?" she said.

"Change is coming. My enemies are fearful and desperate. There will be war. The path to the future is a river of blood."

Ethel was shivering. The Almighty didn't make statements like these lightly.

The green mist faded away.

* * *

Aaron walked into his office. "Perry," he said, "do you have anything for me?"

Perry looked up from his workstation. He always struck Aaron as a classic nerd, but perhaps Perry just needed a better haircut and cooler glasses. Aaron decided he would ask Sheryl to give Perry some style tips after the mission was done.

"You were absolutely right, sir," Perry said. "An Air Force surveillance satellite is watching the President. I'm not sure why I ever doubted you."

"You'll know better next time. Who gave the order?"

"I'm having trouble with that part of it. The computer security is tough to beat."

"I thought you had passwords for everything," Aaron said.

"Somebody changed the passwords and didn't tell us. If you want an answer quickly, we'll have to use the big guns." Perry glanced at the door.

"I want an answer
now
. Come with me."

Perry followed Aaron through headquarters. They entered the science laboratory, where the twins were engaged in yet another experiment.

Kamal was there. He looked at Aaron, blushed, and turned away. Aaron winced. He still had to work out a resolution to that painful situation. Fortunately, the mission provided an excellent excuse to procrastinate.

Bethany and Leanna were staring at a glowing red dot floating in the air. It was hovering above a tangled mess of electronic equipment. The pure red light refracted in the depths of their crystalline eyes.

Nancy stood on the other side of the workbench. She was wearing very dark safety goggles and holding a fire extinguisher.

"Bethany," Aaron said, "I need your help for a minute. Perry can explain."

"We're trying to find out who gave the order to redirect an Air Force satellite," Perry said. "All the information is on my workstation."

Bethany faced Aaron. She didn't speak, and it wasn't clear she had heard the request. The red light reflected from half of her metallic skull.

"Did you hear?" he said.

"Yes, sir," she said in her synthetic voice. "I'm working on it."

"What's taking so long? It seems like a simple request."

"The Air Force is using some interesting, new security protocols which will require analysis. My usual techniques aren't getting through. Leanna, I think we need to use the hammer. This task can't wait."

"I agree," Leanna said. "Initiating."

Aaron was shocked to hear her voice. It had been weeks since Leanna had spoken a word. He had started to wonder if she had forgotten how to talk.

There was a long pause.

"General Arnold Joseph is the man you're after," Bethany said. "We found evidence of direct communication between him and Major Tom Boyd. There is something else. This morning, General Joseph had a Moth-man UAV shipped to Illinois. It seems suspicious."

"What is that?" Aaron said.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we need to get back to our experiment. Perry will do that research for you."

"Of course. Thank you."

Aaron and Perry left the laboratory.

As they walked back to Aaron's office, he said, "What is the hammer?"

"I don't know." Perry shrugged. "But it clearly worked."

* * *

General Joseph was sitting at his plain, wooden desk in his office. He was trying to work through a stack of reports, but he was having a very hard time focusing. He kept thinking about what would happen tonight. The future of the United States of America depended on the success of this operation. The pressure to succeed was almost unbearable.

Frustrated, he stood up and went to the window. His office was on the third floor of the Pentagon, and the window faced the south parking lot. Beyond the lot, traffic flowed in both directions on Interstate 395. Hotels and a shopping mall were on the other side of the highway. The view failed to inspire him, but it was better than staring at reports.

The phone on his desk began to ring. He grabbed the handset.

"Hello?" he said.

"General Joseph? This is General Blanc at Air Force Space Command. I'm calling to give you a heads-up. We just had a major security incident."

"What happened?"

"Put simply," Blanc said, "something steamrolled our entire data infrastructure. We were completely offline for five full seconds."

"What was offline?"

"Every screen in every control center."

"A loss of power?" Joseph said.

"No, it was a massive cyber-attack, but I've never seen anything like it. Simultaneous, world-wide denial of service. Nothing was responding. We were blind and helpless. All the diagnostics are green now. We're back in control of our satellites."

"But we just upgraded all our computer security at considerable expense."

"That's correct," Blanc said. "Maybe we didn't upgrade enough."

A white envelope was shoved under the door of Joseph's office.

"Thanks for calling," he said. "Send more information as it becomes available, please. Obviously, I have a keen interest."

"Will do."

Joseph hung up the phone and ran over to snatch the envelope. It was made of thick, hard material that looked like cloth impregnated with resin. It was as stiff as a piece of wood. The envelope was warm to the touch.

He fished out the message inside which was covered with strange notation. Some marks looked like mathematics, some were alien symbols, and some were just scribbles. A few English words were mixed in, but they didn't form straight lines. The font type and size varied with each letter like an old-fashioned ransom note.

The message read, "Beware. Ure ennemmees approech. - frend."

Joseph had received these kinds of notes before and had learned to trust them. This one wasn't specific enough to be useful though.
What enemies?
he thought.
How much time do I have?
He had to proceed with the operation regardless of the warning.

He dropped the note into the shredder. He went to his liquor cabinet. He desperately needed his daily shot of whiskey to calm his nerves.

* * *

Aaron studied a picture of a Moth-man on Perry's computer monitor. It was an unmanned aircraft with a wingspan of twelve feet. The black color and flattened, faceted shape showed it had been designed for stealth. According to the descriptive text, the plane had an operational range of 100 kilometers and could be launched from almost anywhere. It could be controlled remotely or fly autonomously on a programmed mission. A high-resolution, multi-spectrum video camera allowed the operator to see what was happening even at night.

To Aaron, the most interesting detail was the maximum payload. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to demolish the vacation home of Bernard Templeton and kill all the occupants.

"We need to get the President out of there, sir!" Perry said. "This thing is a flying bomb, and there's no way to stop it. It's practically invisible. If you try to jam the control signal, it just switches to autonomous mode. It's state-of-the-art military hardware."

"Not so fast," Aaron said. "If we pull everybody out, our enemies will just strike another time."

"But we already know General Joseph is responsible. Can't you just call the Washington cell and ask them to grab him? Why are we messing around?"

"I'm sure he's not alone. We need to root out the entire conspiracy and determine their motives. Grabbing Joseph now will drive the rest into hiding."

"Then what do you want to do, sir?" Perry said.

Aaron paced in his office as he tried to come up with an answer. The blank, gray walls made him feel like he was in a prison cell. He really needed some kind of art. A tiny square window wasn't enough.

A plan formed in his mind.

"I have an idea. I want you to build a radio signal detector set to the frequency used by the Moth-man. That should give us a couple minutes of warning."

"There is a big difference between 'should' and 'will,'" Perry said.

"Get to work. We don't have a lot of time."

"Yes, sir."

Aaron walked out of his office. He found Smythe and Norbert working out in the exercise area. Norbert was on his back on a weight bench with hundred-pound weights in each hand. Smythe was kicking a heavy bag.

"Just the gentlemen I wanted to see," Aaron said.

The two
legionnaires
stopped exercising and paid attention.

Aaron continued, "Buy or steal a full-sized prison bus. Black out all the windows except the ones in front, so only the driver can see. Put basic provisions inside: drinks and snacks. Drive it to the location where the President is staying and meet me there. Dress for battle."