The War Planners (2 page)

Chase.  Where was he when you needed him?  He had been a ghost ever since he joined The Teams.  That was almost a decade ago.  David had seen him on a sprinkle of holidays over the years.  But nothing like the close relationship they once had. The three siblings were a military fa—

The car came to a sudden halt, followed by the sound of doors opening and shutting. There was an anxious hotness in his chest that he thought could be the start to a panic attack, although he had never had one so he wasn’t sure.
Would they hurt him?
 

He could hear men talking—in English.  The sound of a jet engine spooling up told him that they were at an airport. 
Not good
.  This could only get worse if they got him outside of the country.

David heard the trunk open and felt a rush of cool air.  Then the hands grabbed him again.  It was more than two people.  Not a fair fight even if he had use of his arms and legs. Tied up, his chances were precisely zero.  They moved him swiftly.  David gave up struggling.  There was no point.  He felt cowardly for not fighting.  He tried to justify it in his mind.  He told himself that he was saving up his strength but deep down he knew it was just reality setting in.  David had completely lost control of the situation.

  It felt like there were zip ties around his legs, feet, and hands.  He barely had the ability to move and was almost certain that the loss of circulation had made his limbs fall asleep. 
God, he had to pee
.  The fear made it worse.  If they didn’t untie him he was just going to go.  What was there to lose?  Now they were lifting and pushing him up.  The loud sound of the jet engine indicated that they were likely putting him on a plane.  He was going to get thrown into a dark prison cell and be tortured by someone that barely spoke English.  He had seen enough on TV to know how it went.

They set him down gently enough on what felt like a cushioned surface.

A voice said, “We ready to go?”

“Yes sir.  We’ll be airborne in five.”

“Roger.  Thanks gents that will be all.”  Footsteps down a metal ladder.

The jet engine noise faded and then a hiss as the cabin door must have been closed.  He heard a higher-pitched whine and felt the rumble of the aircraft as it taxied out.  He was pretty sure that there was at least one person nearby.  He could sense it. 

“Hang in there, David.  We’ll untie you in a minute.  Sorry about this.  It is not ideal.  Relax.  We’re not going to hurt you.”

A rush of relief and maddening curiosity flooded him.  He fought back tears as he thought once again about his family.  He thought about trying to talk but again it felt useless.  Just wait.  Wait. 
Wait
.  He knew that voice.  Who was that?  It was…Tom.  It was Tom Connolly, one of the senior managers at David’s work.  David didn’t work directly for him, but they had been in meetings together. 
What the hell was he doing here
?

Someone tore off the duct tape and lifted off David’s mask.  He looked up at Tom and two others, sitting in the luxurious cabin of the Gulfstream G-V.  Tom wore a wrinkled suit and a tired face.  There was one other man who had on black tactical gear and was about the size of an NFL linebacker.  The third person was a short, round woman that looked to be in her early forties.  She had fading highlights in her hair and a very odd smile on her face considering the situation.  It was a sheepish look, like she was hoping that David wasn’t going to be mad at her.

David coughed and sucked in deep lungfuls of air.  He was lying on a cream leather couch that ran along the plane’s cabin wall.  The two men sat across the narrow aisle, facing him.  The woman sat one seat forward of them, watching. 

“What the Hell is this, Tom?”  David asked, looking back and forth between them. 

As he spoke, he heard the engines roar.  They were all pushed backward as the aircraft took off and rotated upwards into the night sky.  They were airborne.  This was all happening too fast. 

David was still on the couch, and the big guy was holding him as the aircraft angled up into the sky, making sure that David didn’t slide down and fall off.  Tom leaned over and yelled above the noise of the engines.  “I’m sorry Dave!  This was the best way to do this!  We had to make you disappear!  Hey, promise me you aren’t going to cause a scene, and we’ll untie you and I’ll explain everything.  Can you promise me that?  Like I said, we are not going to hurt you.  We’re on the same team.”

David was confused, but nodded vigorously.

Tom turned to the big guy next to him and motioned towards David.  The man flicked open a pocketknife and hunched over David’s body.  With one hand he held down his limbs, pressing a good portion of his easily 230-pound frame into David so he couldn’t move.  A few quick slices cut open the zip ties, and then the man stepped back, watching to see David’s reaction.

Even if he had wanted to, David could barely move.  He rubbed his sore wrists where the zip ties had left deep red marks on his skin.  His legs were tingling and sore.  He lay on the couch, propping himself up by his elbows.  His ears popped as the aircraft gained altitude, and his body lurched in the turns.  David repositioned himself to sit upright.  The loud noise from the jet’s takeoff had subsided, and the three men sat staring each other down in the spacious cabin.

Tom said, “Are you alright?”

David nodded.  He kept his guard up.  He didn’t know what to do or say.  He still wasn’t sure if his life was in danger.  David didn’t know Tom too well, but he knew his reputation.  Jerk was the single most-used description.  He was supposed to be one of those guys that thought he was smarter than everyone else in the room, regardless of his expertise on the subject at hand.  The result was that he tended to treat people like they were idiots.  In an organization full of smart people, he was not loved.  David had worked with him a handful of times, and each time he had used that condescending tone like the engineers and analysts were wasting his time.  But he never had any reason to fear or distrust Tom.  Until today.

Tom said, “You hungry?  Thirsty?”

“I have to go to the bathroom.”

Tom snorted.  “Sure.  It’s down in the back.  I’ll explain everything when you get back.  Go.”

David got up, rubbing his sore joints and limbs.  He hobbled past the woman to the back of the plane, with Tom’s assistant in tow. 

“Leave the door open,” said the henchman. 

David didn’t acknowledge him.  The command pissed him off.  Apparently they weren’t
totally
on the same team.  But he still wasn’t sure what was going on, and didn’t want to risk any sort of physical punishment to a disobeyed order.  He urinated and washed his hands, then splashed some water on his face.  He headed back to sit in the seat across from Tom.  His body sank into the plush leather chair.

Tom was on the white phone connected to the seat.  He had a grim look.

The woman held out her hand and said, “Hi, I’m Brooke Walters.”  She gave him a polite smile.

David didn’t know what to say.  He held out a limp hand and looked at her like she was a mad woman. 

“David Manning.”  He said. 

Tom spoke over them on the phone.  He said, “So it’s confirmed?  He’s gone?  Okay.  Understood.  Yes, we’re airborne.  Walters and one from In-Q-Tel.  No.  We had to go with someone else. Manning. Yes, I’ll explain later.  Yes.  That’s everyone on the list.  Yes.  Yes.  Okay.  I’ll talk to you then.”   He hung up the phone and looked over at David, letting out a deep sigh. 

David closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself.  He then looked directly at Tom, and asked, “Tom, what just happened?”

Tom tilted his head and stared back at him.  David could smell stale tobacco on his breath.  There was an opened pack of Marlboro reds on the table.

Tom said, “We kidnapped you.  Sorry about that.  It had to be done.”

The woman seemed to shrink into her seat.

David said, “
I realize that
.  Why?  What reason could you possibly have?”

Tom stared up at him, his face shifting into a tired frown.  He glanced at the big guy and said, “Can you give us a minute?” 

The henchman nodded, went to the back of the plane, and sat down.  Tom waited until he was out of earshot before speaking.  He took out a paper folder and read through some of the papers.

“Says here you’re an Annapolis guy.  Just like your dad.  And your brother and sister went there too.  Wow.  I see they were big athletes while they were there.  And you did…
sailing
.  Ladies must have gone crazy when you told `em that, huh?  Still, that’s quite the Naval Academy legacy, huh?”  David found it surprising that Tom had worked in the same office for the past couple of years and knew nothing about him.  It fit with his reputation as being completely self-involved.

“What is that you’re reading from?”

“Your file.”

“My file?”

“So your dad was an Admiral?”

“Is an Admiral.  Could you please tell me what this is all about?”

Tom raised his eyebrows and said, “And your brother was a SEAL…and now he works for… Oh, I hadn’t seen this yet.  He works for us?”

David replied, “No, he does not work for In-Q-Tel.”

The woman laughed.  Tom looked up from the file and smiled.

Tom said, “In-Q-Tel. 
Right
.  Dave, let’s get a few things straight.  I am not employed by In-Q-Tel.  Not really.  It is a more of a part-time deal for me.  My real employer is the same organization that indirectly pays the bills at In-Q-Tel.  The Central Intelligence Agency.  I specialize in counter-espionage.”

David frowned and said, “What are you talking about?”

Tom ignored him and said, “This situation all started a few weeks ago.  We have uncovered some very disturbing bits of information.  I’d heard rumors of course, but until you hear it from a reliable source, you tend to discount those as conspiracy theories.  Rumors like that…just seem too crazy to believe.” 

Tom looked lost in thought for a moment, and then looked David directly in the eye.  “A penetration of that scope…and at those high levels.  It’s unthinkable.”  He sighed.  “But it looks like it’s happened.  And the same source that tipped us off on that told us something much worse.”  He looked down at the file again.  “Now, we’ve got a long flight ahead of us.  I promise I’ll answer your questions.  But I only recently found out I’d be taking you on this little vacation, so humor me for a few minutes while I peruse your biography.”

David didn’t know what to say.  He still had adrenaline pumping through his veins, and felt angry at Tom’s attitude.  Still, something told him to calm down and try to be patient. 

He said, “Tom.  Look…if this is some national security breach on a project or something, I’ll cooperate with whatever you need.  I still don’t understand how kidnapping me from my home could possibly be appropriate or necessary.  Why the hell would you take me like this?  And what do I have to do with whatever is going on?”

Tom ignored him.

“Your sister’s a Navy pilot huh?  Hmm.  Some family.  And you…failed out of flight school.  Huh.  I guess you were the black sheep?  That must have been a hell of a conversation with old dad.”  He looked up briefly.  Enough time to see the flash of anger in David’s eyes.

“I didn’t fail out of flight school.  It was a medical disqualification.  Bad eyesight.” 

Tom waved off what he was saying like it wasn’t important.  David decided that the jerk personality wasn’t some CIA cover.  That part was genuine.

He said, “So then you got a job with In-Q-Tel as an analyst in `08, and have been with the company ever since.  Your current project is ARES, correct?”

David looked at the woman and then back at Tom.

Tom saw his hesitation and said, “Relax, she’s cleared.  She’s NSA.”

David looked at her in surprise.  She smiled cheerfully.  David said, “Why should I trust anything you say to me after what I just went through?”

The air phone next to Tom rang.  He ignored David’s question and answered the phone.

“Connolly here, go.”

David turned to Brooke and whispered, “Okay, can
you
tell me what’s going on?”

She said, “Sure can.  First, I just want to say how sorry I am about how they took you.  I had nothing to do with that.  I just found out about all of this yesterday—“

Tom hung up the phone and got up, walking to the front of the plane.  Brooke and David watched as he opened the door to the cockpit, spoke to the pilots, then walked back and sat down.  The plane banked to the right and David felt his stomach flutter.  Whatever Tom had said, it seemed like the pilots had made some course corrections. 

David said, “Changing our destination?”

Tom said, “We didn’t really have a destination prior to takeoff.  The pilots had to file in flight.  We’re good now.  We’ll be in California in six hours.”

Had they really just taken off without knowing where they were going?  What kind of mess was David in?

David said, “Alright.  I’m all ears.”

Tom’s voice was gruff.  He said, “We lost someone.  Actually, I just confirmed that on the phone a few minutes ago.  He had been missing for about a week.  But now it seems they’ve identified the body.  An agent stationed in China.  He was the one who sent us the warning a few weeks ago.  Stumbled on to something big.  Bigger than any of us imagined.  Turns out all those rumors had some legs.”