by Ali Vali
“People often think they’d act differently in situations that call for something outside their norm, but that’s seldom the case,” Walby said as the nurse came in with the doctor. The man checked Rachel’s head and ordered an X-ray of the shoulder and a bandage for the gashes close to her hairline and face. He then deemed it necessary to keep her overnight to monitor her for a concussion. “When you’re raised like Rachel, you’re pretty hardwired.”
“So she lashes out. Then what?”
“Her emotions are predictably unstable, but she’s not without charm.” Walby tapped on the screen over Rachel’s face. “Look where her eyes are glued.”
The radio in the exam room was there for calls from the field, but it could do so much more, and Erin could almost see every one of Rachel’s thoughts, as if they were in a cartoon bubble over her head. “There’s only one thing between her and that little bit of the outside world.”
“Exactly,” Walby said as a doctor left and the young nurse started cleaning Rachel’s wounds. “We might have to offer Captain Levine a job after she retires from the navy.”
“Let’s see if she’s on the money first,” Erin said as Rachel placed her hand on the nurse’s forearm and seemed to be speaking softly to her. “But she might know what she’s talking about.”
“One day when you’re bored, read the files on these ladies. Cletus and Aidan are impressive, but you add Wiley, and you’ll understand why this will work. They’re all master strategists.”
“I hope more than anyone she’s right, because if not, this will be like trying to find a needle in the Atlantic Ocean,” Erin said, watching.
“A very dangerous needle with deadly intentions.”
* * *
Berkley stood outside on the deck looking up at the moonless sky. “Nothing like a nighttime sky in the middle of the ocean,” she said to Wiley. They’d reviewed all the files again in the last week but didn’t find anything else to help them find Chandler.
“I’d love to bring Tanith out here and show her this,” Wiley said, taking something from her pocket. “She’d enjoy all the stars you can see from this vantage point.”
She took the picture Wiley handed over and turned it toward what little light was coming from the bridge above them. “She’s a cute kid, and Aubrey’s beautiful. They’re going to be fine. You know General Gremillion won’t let anything happen to them.”
“I think our plan is sound,” Wiley said, sounding as tired as she felt. “We have time, but if we run out, how many Taniths and Aubreys are out there with no idea there’s a maniac ready to kill them? It makes you wonder what happened to this guy to make him think this way.”
“I’m with you, buddy. I thought this would’ve worked by now, but we can’t give up. You have to have a little faith.” She handed the picture back and pointed to the door. “Let’s get some sleep, and we can read the maniac’s manifesto again tomorrow.”
She made it to her quarters without running into anyone of consequence, giving her the chance to put her pajamas on. It’d been a week since she’d been shot, and she was moving easier, but she wasn’t at full steam yet. Her dedicated nurse was still coming by to change her bandages, and she found her nice and engaging as they talked about nothing of consequence. They had a lot of noise in their lives as they sped home, but this was the best part of her day.
“Anything yet?” she asked Aidan when she walked next door.
“Cruise Liskow still hasn’t responded to Command and has removed all the locater devices on board,” Aidan said, finishing with her own pajamas.
She would’ve rather done without them, but Aidan was taking the doctor’s orders seriously, and she’d said that being naked was too tempting. “Did they give you his last known location?”
“Yes, and they have every available sub in that area searching, but so far no luck. Our little convoy has the best radar guys looking for the two that got away from us, but they’re batting zero as well.” Aidan walked over to her and put her hands around her neck. “I should’ve ordered the guys to blow every single one of them when we had them in sight. If something happens, it’ll be my fault.”
“Hey, no way,” she said and kissed Aidan’s forehead. “I’m glad you didn’t. He should see it coming and know who’s responsible. This is something that will happen.”
“How can you be so sure?” Aidan gazed up at her like someone who really wanted absolution.
“Because from the day I met you I’ve never questioned your commitment to country and to seeing a job through.”
Aidan smiled, but she didn’t seem happy. “You would know since I was such an idiot.”
“Sweetheart, I’m with you because I believe with my whole heart you know exactly what commitment is, and that your commitment to me is the one thing that’ll be the solid foundation I can count on. We’re going to win, and then we’re going to enjoy the life we build together.”
“I love you, and I’m so glad you’re here.”
“I love you too, and I’m going cross-eyed reading all that crazy shit Chandler wrote and kept in those files, but it’s got to be there.”
“What?”
“Every leader, and he considers himself that, has that last doomsday plan. The Hail Mary pass that’ll turn even the hopeless cause around so he can claim victory.” She moved them over to the bed and lay down to press up against Aidan’s back. “He had to realize somewhere deep that all this was a hopeless cause, because the greatest country in the world won’t be so easily taken. There’s always that underbelly of misfits in any situation, though, and he’s tapped into it more successfully than anyone in history.”
“Which means he loses, but he leaves his mark on history?” Aidan took her hand and held it to her chest.
“Maybe,” she said, and thought of Liskow. “This sub captain, Liskow, he needs the launch codes before he can fire, right?”
“Yes. We don’t have any on board, but that’s the usual procedure.”
“Is there a way to override the system?” This was starting to make sense.
“I’m not sure, but it can’t be easy. No one wants to give that kind of power to one guy, as a preventative.” Aidan turned to face her. “What are you thinking?”
“Liskow isn’t going to join Chandler in this attack—he’s giving him the means to attack.”
“What does that mean?” Aidan rubbed her back when she sat up with a grunt.
“Chandler has the capacity to fire, but Liskow has the hardware he needs to do that.”
“Liskow was recruited to hand over his warheads?”
“Makes sense, doesn’t it?” She got up and headed back to the conference room.
“What are you looking for?”
“The one spot where our needles will surface.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
“She’s taking the bait, sir, but it didn’t lead to where we thought,” Walby told Rooster, Carl, Preston, Jonas, and the ships headed back from Korea. Aidan called it in after they’d quickly changed, and Berkley explained her thoughts.
“Who’d she contact?” Rooster asked about Rachel Chandler.
Walby explained how he and Erin had watched and listened as Rachel slowly charmed the nurse, or thought she had, since the young woman wearing a wire actually was part of Walby’s team. She’d gone along with Rachel’s plan to stay in the infirmary and helped her get messages out. But none of those short conversations had been to her father or their missing sub captain.
“It was a grunt at Gromwell Enterprises,” Walby said, and Rooster slammed his hand down as if he’d had enough.
“The defense contractors?” Aidan asked.
“That’s it, but the guy she spoke to is nobody,” Walby said.
“A nobody who hasn’t contacted anyone above him,” Jonas said. “We’ve had him under surveillance, and he works, then goes home. No strange phone calls or emails.”
“Remember Erica Gibson,” Berkley said. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,”
she said, and Wiley nodded.
“Is that a Sun Tzu?” Carl asked.
“Actually, Leonardo da Vinci said it, sir, but that’s what Gibson and her buddy Hattie Skinner did to get David Morris’s messages to his father Adam in the Pentagon,” Berkley said.
“Morse code?” Jonas asked. “Seriously?”
“You need to search his home and his office for anything that can transmit that’s not a phone or computer,” Aidan said. “But we might not need the messages.”
“We look for any holdings Gromwell has on the East Coast,” Rooster said. “The CEO, Tom Bristol, wasn’t on Chandler’s list.”
“Chandler held some back as security, even from his own people,” Walby said. “It’s a common practice in situations like this. He needs a back door for certain things and can’t risk exposing them. If Bristol is taken down, it locks the door that’s vital to some part of his plan.”
“Gromwell has two facilities in the East, but neither is on the coast,” Erin said.
“It’s there,” Aidan said. “You just have to find it.”
“It can’t be a manufacturing facility,” Preston said. “Not everyone on their payroll will be in favor of whatever their plan is, and that would’ve been too much exposure.”
“This time we search from the top down,” Jonas said. “Tom Bristol, Gromwell’s CEO, did business with Butler’s administration, and they still have viable government contracts.”
“I’m on it, sir,” Erin said, and Walby agreed to help her.
“If Aidan’s calculations are accurate, we’ve got maybe three days,” Berkley said. “Work fast.” After the conference call was over, they looked at each other, and she opened the computer again and searched for specific US sites.
“I’ll be back early with the rest of the guys,” Wiley said as she waved over her shoulder before leaving.
“I don’t remember any one place in any of those files, but Chandler reminds me a lot of Hitler.”
“How so?” Aidan stood and took her hair out of its short ponytail.
“He writes everything down. The Germans were notoriously good record keepers, and those records helped convict some folks after the war.” She stood up and put her arms around Aidan, so she could kiss her. “Do you think there’s anything in the Art of War about having an orgasm as a way to clear and reboot your brain?”
Aidan laughed but didn’t stop her wandering hands. “I believe so, and if it didn’t make the cut, someone should add it.”
They stripped, and Aidan insisted on straddling her hips and doing all the work, as she called it, as a way of not straining her wound. She felt the sensation of her fingers going in and out of Aidan, and it did make her forget anything but that. She had a long list of reasons why she loved Aidan, but seeing her move against her and knowing she was this wet for her made her let go and enjoy the moment.
Unfortunately, the moment was like a nanosecond, and it made Aidan laugh. “Sorry about that, but it seems like forever since you touched me, and I had zero control.”
“I’d say I was disappointed, but you look so gorgeous I don’t think I will.”
“Let’s see how disciplined you are, Cletus.” Aidan laid her back and kissed down her body. “Try not to lift your hips,” she ordered her. “I don’t want to have to explain to Nurse Flirty why you popped something.”
“Come on, baby. She’s just being nice.”
“For a naval aviator you’re completely blind and clueless sometimes.” Aidan kissed her clit softly, which made her want to forget about the whole hip thing. “That’s good for me though.”
She would’ve commented, but having Aidan suck her in hard and fast made her close her eyes and concentrate on not screaming or moaning too loud. Embarrassingly, she came even faster than Aidan had, and she had to laugh as well. “You’d think we were sixteen and clueless.”
“You, clueless?” Aidan moved next to her and kissed her on the lips. “No way. I just think we needed to let a little steam out of the pot.”
“Now that I feel boneless, let’s get some sleep, and we’ll start over early.” Aidan kissed her again and moved so her butt was pressed against her groin. “I told you pajamas were a bad idea,” she said as she slid her hand from Aidan’s hip to between her breasts.
“I should listen to you more often,” Aidan said, moving closer.
They slept for six uninterrupted hours, and Berkley sat with a cup of coffee staring unfocused at the papers spread all over the table. Aidan had left to check on their status and the weather ahead, giving her some quiet time alone. She finally shook her head and went back to the laptop and the files Robyn Chandler had so meticulously put together. Most of it consisted of Chandler’s delusional writings and his visions of what his government would be.
The list of names and who was missing from it had to be where they’d find the answer. Her gut told her that was a fact.
“Good morning, Captain,” Erin said after Berkley had requested a link to her. “What can I do for you?”
“Call me Cletus or Berkley, please,” she said as she combed back the hair that had fallen on her forehead. “Did you or your people separate the list between enlisted and civilian personnel?”
“We did about ninety percent of it, but FBI Director Chapman didn’t grant access to the bureau at large, which is why we haven’t finished.”
“Anything interesting on the civilian side so far?”
“Interesting how? I find the whole thing really weird, but maybe it’s just me,” Erin said as she raised a diet-Coke can.
“You’re right about that, but someone in your position, in mine, or someone who works for or runs Gromwell makes sense,” she said, and Erin nodded.
“You want the person who doesn’t make sense.”
“I need that misfit list, but culled from the whole group. What you need to do is tell whoever’s doing the work to speed it up.”
“I think I could provide some incentive,” Erin said, typing something into her laptop.
“If they live in DC, the only incentive they should concentrate on is not being caught in a major nuclear fallout. That’d be a real downer for any future plans with the bureau or otherwise.”
* * *
“We received this transmission, sir.” A crewman handed a handwritten note to Dick. “We deciphered it after checking a lesser-used channel. It was coming through in a constant stream of Morse code.”
I know you won’t let us down and won’t forget us. We are your future, even though we are at an end. We’ve left you all you need on the seashore. Our greatest ally is waiting for your orders and to fulfill your destiny.
The note was somehow from Rachel and cryptic enough not to give away anything. She and Jeffery were still alive, and waiting for him, but more important, whatever he needed to finish the job was located in the one spot that had been his sanctuary. It was a mystery how she’d managed to send the message, but it did show him that of all his children, Rachel was the most cunning and most like him.
“Do you want me to send a reply?”
“No. We can’t risk that,” he said, folding the sheet and placing it in his breast pocket. “In a few days, everyone will know my reply, Rachel,” Dick said, waving the man away. “And I mean everyone.”
* * *
“Are you kidding?” FBI Director Jonas Chapman asked Erin when she told him what they’d found. Rachel was still being monitored by Walby, which freed her up to return to Washington.
“I’d have stayed back at Gitmo if I had any doubts. We would’ve found this eventually, but Cletus thinks differently than most, and her comment about simplicity made me confident this is the main misfit we should be looking at.” She placed her finger on the top of the page she handed him and tapped the name. “If I’m wrong, neither of us will be alive for you to reprimand me.”
“Let’s go, and you can explain the use of the word misfit along the way.”
“It was Berkley’s word, not mine, but it fits. Did Director Newto
n’s agents have any more insight on this?”
“He’s pissed that we’ve shut him out,” Jonas said shaking his head. “His word not mine, so he’s supposedly following some leads that came from the CIA’s operations in South Korea. I have no idea what they are, since he’s punishing me for keeping him out of the loop.”
The Situation Room was full when they arrived, and President Michaels gave them the floor after they were securely locked in. “Go ahead, Agent Mosley,” Jonas said.
“Good afternoon, Madam President, and everyone,” she said, glancing at the screen and noticing Cletus smiling at her. “Captain Levine and I discussed different strategies, which led our agents to one name on the list that made the most sense when it came to narrowing our search for a location.”
“Is it someone at Gromwell?” Olivia asked.
“In a roundabout way, yes, it is,” Erin said, placing the picture Graham Boyd used for his real estate business’s advertising on the screen. He was an older man with red/orange hair that in no way was natural, and a blue tie with a knot popular in the sixties. “Captain Levine asked me to find the one person who didn’t fit on Chandler’s roster, the one who would in no way seem to contribute to the war Chandler wants.”
“And it’s this guy?” Rooster asked. “If it’s for the most strangely dressed, he’s our man,” he said, and everyone laughed after obviously noticing the two-toned shirt collar that came down into long points well past his collarbone.
“Until three years ago, Mr. Boyd was a real-estate agent who was barely scraping by, which might’ve had something to do with his choice of clothing, but now he’s a multimillion-dollar seller. That streak started with the sale of this house,” Erin changed the picture to a large, beautiful beach home, “to Jacklyn Whitestone.”
“It’s a regular beach house. Big but regular in the scheme of these things,” Vice-President Drew Orr said, sounding confused.
