Season Of The Harvest (Harvest Trilogy, Book 1) (15 page)

On the center display was his most
recent official FBI photograph, now being broadcast by a national
news network.

“Oh, shit,” he muttered as he turned
to catch up to Naomi. As he passed the various workstations, he saw
that some displayed maps of various parts of the world, while
others showed what looked like network diagrams and computer code.
Still others had only mundane programs like web browsers and chat
programs running.

“Play it,” Thornton ordered as Jack
took his place next to Naomi, Tan silently standing a few feet
behind. A man sat at the circular console at the center that had
half a dozen screens and several keyboard consoles. He clicked a
control and the paused broadcast began to play.

“In what sources are reporting is a
devastating blow to the nation’s premier law enforcement agency,”
the newswoman announced, “the Federal Bureau of Investigation has
put one of its own on their ‘ten most-wanted fugitives’ list.” A
series of photos of Jack paraded across the screen as the woman
went on. “Jack Armand Dawson, a former Army officer and special
agent with the FBI for nearly ten years, is wanted for the murder
of two fellow agents and the suspected kidnapping of a third. He is
also the leading suspect in the lethal bombing of the FBI
Laboratory at Quantico yesterday that left thirty-seven Bureau
employees dead and more than fifty injured.”

Suspected
kidnapping of a third?
Jack’s mind ground
to a halt for a moment as he thought of what that might mean before
the scene cut to show a mob of cameras surrounding Ray Clement as
he stood on the steps leading to the entrance of the J. Edgar
Hoover Building. Jack felt his gut twist in emotional agony as he
saw how distraught his boss and mentor was, knowing that there was
no way to tell him, or convince him, of the truth of what had
happened.

“We have good reason to believe,”
Clement began, pausing as he visibly fought for control, “that
Special Agent Jack Dawson was involved in the murders of Special
Agents Manuel Castro and Jacob Boardman, and was also responsible
for the disappearance of Special Agent Lynnette
Sansone.”

Jack looked sharply at Naomi. “What
happened to her?” he whispered. “What did you do with her
body?”

“Later,” she said quietly, her
attention riveted to the screen.

“The three agents were sent to
Dawson’s home to question him about the explosion at the FBI
Laboratory,” Clement was saying, “where he had been handling,
without authorization, evidence related to the murder of another
agent, Special Agent Sheldon Crane, just before the bomb exploded.”
He paused again, rubbing his eyes with one hand. “Dr. Jerri Tanaka,
a colleague of his who worked at the laboratory, and with whom he
had a close relationship, has been directly implicated in the
bombing.”

Then Jack’s face disappeared, to be
replaced with Naomi’s. It was the same photo that Richards had sent
to Jack, and he could see her tense up as Clement continued with
his statement.

“We believe that Jack Dawson is in
league with an organization known as the Earth Defense Society,”
Clement said, “which has been implicated in the death of Special
Agent Sheldon Crane three days ago in Lincoln, Nebraska. This is a
photograph of Dr. Naomi Perrault, who is believed to be one of the
group’s leaders. Prior to these events, we have evidence to
indicate that the Earth Defense Society, or EDS, has been involved
in attacks against government and civilian computer networks for
purposes of disruption and possibly industrial espionage.” His
expression hardened. “We have added both Jack Dawson and Naomi
Perrault to the Bureau’s top ten most wanted list, and are looking
for any leads on them or other members of the Earth Defense
Society. That’s all I have.”

With that, Clement ignored the storm
of questions the reporters hurled at him and walked up the steps,
disappearing into the building behind a wall of stone-faced special
agents and Capitol Police.

“I think that was more than enough,”
Jack said when the playback stopped, feeling like he was going to
throw up.

“So now we have two of the most
wanted people in America, and every one of us is going to have FBI
agents breathing down our necks,” Thornton growled. “You’ve
compromised our entire mission with this foolishness!”

“This isn’t the place for this
discussion,” Naomi said, her tone carrying a great deal more
authority than Jack expected.

Without another word, she took Jack
by the arm and headed toward one of the doors in the wall that held
the large displays. Thornton, Tan, and a woman Jack hadn’t been
introduced to yet trailed behind.

Naomi pushed open the door and
stormed into a conference room with a large oval table in the
center surrounded by a dozen chairs. The wall adjoining the command
center outside had two big flat panel displays that were hooked up
to a video teleconferencing system, while the sloping outside walls
held only the shock-mounted lights.

Thornton slammed the door closed
after the other woman had entered. Tan waited outside.

“Naomi,” Thornton
began, “this is a disaster! It was bad enough with just them after
us. But that was out of the public eye. Now we’ll have every cop
and agent in the country gunning for you and
him
...” He looked disgustedly at
Jack and shook his head, momentarily speechless.

“We knew this day would come,
Gregg,” she retorted. “And I told you six months ago that we were
running out of time.” She looked at Jack. “If it hadn’t been this,
it would have been something else. The turning point is that they
know now that we have real evidence of their plans. Before, they
were content to harass us when there was opportunity to do so, but
they didn’t think we could do what we’ve done. Now they know we’re
a real threat, and they have to stop us.” She looked at Jack,
softening her tone. “He’s an innocent in this affair, and he
doesn’t deserve to be blamed by you or anyone else. Sheldon
sacrificed himself for us, and I wasn’t about to let someone else
die on our behalf without even knowing why.”

“I hate to break it to you
lovebirds,” the woman who had come in with Thornton said, her voice
laced with sarcasm, “but we’ve got another problem.” She looked at
Jack, giving him an appreciative once-over from head to toe with
her brown eyes, then stepped forward and thrust out her hand. “I’m
Dr. Renee Vintner,” she said with a thick New York accent. “Nice to
meet you, although it would’ve been a lot better if you’d have
brought some beer along. Gregg never orders enough.”

Thornton rolled his eyes, but Jack
couldn’t help but grin as he shook her hand, amazed at how strong
her grip was. She was a short, rotund woman in her early fifties
with carelessly cut curly black hair that had barely begun to show
any gray. She gave him a tight but heartfelt smile.

“Hi,” Jack said, happy for a
diversion from the frigid tension in the room between Naomi and
Thornton. “Nice to meet you, too.”

“So, what’s the problem, Renee?”
Naomi said.

“I found the files that Sheldon hid
in the photo frame’s memory,” she explained. “That was easy enough.
We coordinated the encryption and the pass phrase before he went to
Nebraska, just in case we got to it first. I didn’t have any
problem with that, and got the files we were expecting.” She
frowned. “There’s also a file in there that he encrypted a second
time, and I don’t have a goddamn clue what the pass phrase might
be.”

“Can’t you just break it?” Thornton
asked irritably.

“With enough monkeys, typewriters,
and time – sure,” Renee snapped. “But Sheldon wasn’t a monkey. He
lived and breathed this stuff. Whatever pass phrase he used is
going to take forever for a password cracking program to resolve,
even using every network resource I have. It would save a lot of
time, maybe years, if someone happened to know what the pass phrase
was.” She looked pointedly at Jack.

Shaking his head slowly, Jack told
her, “Sheldon never mentioned anything like that to me. He never
said anything to me about any of this! Even the photo frame: I had
no idea it was important. If it hadn’t been a gift from him that he
made a big deal over, I probably would’ve thrown the silly thing
out. Why did he do that, anyway? Shouldn’t he have just sent the
data directly to you guys?”

Vintner shook her head. “He would
have if the operation had gone as planned,” she told him. “But I
think that once he was inside, he must have found something that
made him think he’d been compromised. He was smart and had a backup
in that little gadget he gave you, but was also an idiot for not
telling us about it.” She shrugged. “Jack, was there anything else
that he made a big deal over?” she asked him. “It would have been a
name, or number. Maybe a phrase of some kind. It would’ve been
fairly long, something he wrote down or emailed to you?”

“I don’t know,” Jack told her,
trying to think of anything Sheldon might have told him that could
be a clue. “I don’t remember him writing anything down for me, and
nothing that he said or emailed to me stands out.” He shrugged.
“I’ll try to remember, but if you don’t mind my saying so, I’m a
bit overwhelmed at the moment.” Looking from Renee to Naomi, he
asked, “What’s so important about all these files?”

“The files we were expecting, that
Renee was able to extract,” Naomi explained, “were the genetic
blueprints to the corn and the other crops in the new, and final,
product line that New Horizons is planning to market. Those
blueprints are both evidence that we can use to help expose their
plans to the public, and that, with a lot of luck, we can use to
try and develop a countermeasure. As for what this other file might
be, I can’t even guess.”

“It wasn’t part of the plan that we
prepared Sheldon to carry out,” Thornton said. Much of his anger
had drained away, as if he had grown tired of carrying a heavy
burden. Now he just looked tired. And frightened. “We planned and
carefully rehearsed for every eventuality that any of us could
think of to help prepare him to get into the lab at LRU, get what
we needed, and then get out as quickly as possible. Obviously,
something went very badly wrong.” Turning to Renee, he said, “Do
what you can.” With a quick glance at Jack, he said, “Maybe we’ll
have some good luck for a change.”

“Come on, Jack,” Naomi said in a
disgusted voice, stalking out of the room. “Let’s get out of
here.”

Jack turned to follow after her,
ignoring Thornton, but giving Renee an apologetic shrug. His mouth
dropped open with surprise when she cocked her head in Naomi’s
direction and gave him a mischievous wink.

“Be sure you show him everything,
Naomi,” Thornton said tersely.

Outside the briefing room, Tan began
to follow after them, but Naomi turned to him and said stiffly,
“Thank you, Tan, but that won’t be necessary. We’re
fine.”

Tan only nodded and stayed rooted
where he was as Naomi and Jack headed for the spiral staircase and
made their way down to the lower level.

Naomi headed for the small dining
hall, stopping in front of one of the three large coffee
makers.

“Would you like some?” she said in a
tightly controlled voice as she poured a cup. Jack saw that her
hands were shaking.

“Sure,” he said.
“Thanks.”

“If you’re hungry, go ahead and grab
something to eat,” she told him, nodding her head toward a table
that held several covered warming trays, plus bread, bagels, and
lots of fruit. All of it looked fresh and homemade. He was still
trying to come to grips with the situation he had been thrust into,
and food was the last thing on his mind. But his stomach grumbled
from not having had more than a couple beers before the battle at
his house and all the time that had passed since then, and he knew
that his body needed some fuel.

“Do you want anything in yours?” she
asked as he grabbed a plate and piled on some scrambled eggs,
turkey bacon, and a bagel.

“No, thanks,” he said. “Just
black.”

She nodded and brought it over to
where he’d taken a seat at one of the tables, then sat down across
from him.

“I’m sorry about that,” she told
him. “Gregg’s a good man, and he’s been crucial to what we’ve been
able to accomplish. But sometimes we don’t exactly see eye to eye
on things.”

“Yeah, I sort of got that
impression,” Jack said wryly. “What did he mean about showing me
‘everything’?”

“He meant that I should show you the
same things that we showed to Sheldon and the others who work
here,” she said cryptically, “to show you the things that convinced
them that the war is real, and that we’re not just a bunch of UFO
nuts or eco-terrorists.”

“Listen,” Jack said, “I get the
stuff about New Horizons, I think. But I’m still not seeing the
angle with the little green men.”

“There aren’t any little green men,”
she said darkly. “I can promise you that.” She shook her head. “The
web site thing was my fault. After I was...enlightened, one of my
crusades was to try and bring the war to the public’s attention.
That was something else that Gregg tried to talk me out of, but I
wouldn’t listen. He was right about it, though: the way I presented
it just made us look foolish, and attracted every UFO and alien
abduction nut around the world.”