“What sort of involvement?” Tolley asked.
Morgan took a deep breath before answering. She’d never said the words out loud for fear that they might be true. “I’m not sure. But I’ve always wondered… if the nuclear device that was dropped from the International Space Station was developed using nuclear material from my uncle’s company. But Jack has always denied any connection between his company and the bomb. Then again, he just made a run for it so maybe he knew about it.” Her face fell, and she stared at the floor.
Tolley recoiled and exhaled sharply. Then she went silent for a few moments. “Do you think the Russians are involved?”
Morgan rubbed her forehead. “I have no doubt. Especially after hearing about the Russian space rockets headed for the moon. David said three of them launched today?” Morgan’s thoughts drifted to the mysterious cocktail code.
White Russian, black Russian, and a side car? Did the cocktails refer to each of the rockets?
Tolley nodded. “Yes, three rockets launched from space pads belonging to a private company called Green Dragon Pioneers.”
Morgan nodded quickly as she received a surge of adrenaline. “I know that name. Now I’m convinced more than ever that the Russians are up to their necks in Nightfall and possibly even behind the president’s assassination. Before today, I’d suspected someone known as the Benefactor to be the driving force behind Nightfall. I only had an inkling of who it might be before, but now I’m certain of it.”
“You think you know the Benefactor’s identity?” Tolley asked.
“It’s Anton Vega.”
“What? The billionaire space technologist?” Tolley asked, her eyes bulging. “He’s an American citizen. But why—”
Morgan gave her a half smile. “In full disclosure, it’s just another one of my crazy theories at this point. I’m pretty certain that a company owned by Anton Vega called Green Dragon was involved in Nightfall. That name doesn’t feel like a coincidence.”
“The coincidences are definitely beginning to add up,” Tolley said flatly.
“I found evidence today that Vega is linked to the Russian oligarch, Igor Koslov. He hired the individuals behind the cyberattacks against China. And earlier today when I stopped by the Cyberthreat Intelligence Integration Center, I wondered if Vega’s company also operated a satellite in highly elliptical orbit. But I didn’t get a chance to dig deeper.”
“You know how our early warning satellite network went down this afternoon?” Tolley asked. “You think Anton Vega hacked Polaris from his satellite and then took control of the entire network?”
“Ma’am, think about it,” Morgan said. “The Russian government authorized the unannounced launch of three space rockets owned by a private company. They had to know we would receive alerts from our early warning system. To keep their plans a secret and prevent the ARC system from receiving a false alarm that might lead to nuclear war, they put us in the dark.”
“For about forty-five minutes,” Tolley said, finishing her sentence. “Just enough time…” She went silent for a moment.
To bring about the end of the world.
Morgan imagined the president was contemplating how close the United States, China, and Russia had come to an accidental nuclear war. To keep a few space rockets heading for the moon a secret.
Whatever Anton has planned for them… it had better be worth it.
The president looked up and stared directly into Morgan’s eyes. “I still need to decide what I’m going to do with you.”
Morgan swallowed hard. “Are you going to fire me?”
“Well, that’s what Elise recommended,” Tolley said. “She claimed you’re a huge liability to my administration. She also thinks your loyalties remain with your family.
Morgan broke eye contact, and her shoulders dropped.
“But I disagree with her,” Tolley said. Morgan breathed a sigh of relief and looked back up at the president as she said, “About your loyalties, that is. You’ve proven incredible loyalty to our country during its darkest hour. And at great risk to your own interests. As for posing a liability… I haven’t decided about that part yet. Thus far, you’ve been quite an asset.”
Morgan remained silent. There wasn’t anything she could say at this point to persuade the president. Either Tolley would judge her by her own actions or determine her to be tainted by her family. And if she objected too strongly, the president might not decide in her favor.
“I had that drive sent over to FBI Director Laski earlier this evening,” Tolley said. “He called me right away with some preliminary news that may be of interest to you. As I expected, the drive is an encryption key to a collection of sealed files about Nightfall. His agents have already begun poring over the evidence. An initial overview implicates a number of senior officials within the U.S. government including Grayson, your uncle, your mother, and sadly Harrison himself. I told Director Laski of your role in getting him the encryption key, your talent for thinking outside the box, and of course… your stubborn determination. He had an interesting idea, but for it to work, it would depend entirely on you.”
Morgan sat up a bit straighter.
“Are you willing to help bring the perpetrators of Nightfall to justice?” Tolley asked.
Morgan nodded without hesitation. “Yes, ma’am.”
“No matter the cost to your family?” Tolley asked. “Your close connection to Jack and Faye are the reason Director Laski thinks you have special value to his investigation. Are you prepared to turn your back on them?”
Morgan nodded solemnly. It was her only chance to prove Jack’s innocence.
“You realize I’m going to need you to help me bring your uncle and mother into custody.”
“I understand the costs, ma’am,” Morgan said, swallowing hard.
“Good.” Tolley folded her hands. “Then I want you to head up a small Top Secret interagency task force within the White House. Its sole mission will be to discover the full truth behind the Nightfall Incident. You’ll work closely with the lead FBI special agent assigned to the case by Director Laski. You will report your findings only to me and Laski. We’ll need to keep a lid on this investigation until we’re ready to reveal the truth to the public.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Morgan said, feeling a new surge of energy flood her body.
Elise marched into the Oval Office and tapped her wrist urgently. “Madam President, Mike Palmer is here to see you with some vital information about the Russian oligarch behind the cyberattacks.”
“Mike Palmer?” Tolley asked, furrowing her brow.
“Ma’am, he’s your senior director for European and Russian Affairs on the National Security Council staff.”
“Oh,” Tolley said.
Morgan suppressed a smirk. The president had yet to acquaint herself of her entire staff. Even though it was only Tolley’s fourth day on the job as the president, she’d grown into the role as if she’d already been there for years.
“Put him on my schedule first thing tomorrow morning and beg my apologies. It’s getting late. I really need to spend some time with Blake and Lucy.”
Elise smiled. “Absolutely, will do. Have a restful evening,” she said, rushing out of the office.
Then Tolley turned to smile at Morgan. “We’ll talk about the task force more tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ve restored your full access to the White House, and you may leave without an escort.”
“Madam President, thank you for having faith in me. I won’t disappoint you.” With that, Morgan rose from her chair and departed the Oval Office. As she walked down the hallway toward the main exit, her smartphone buzzed. She saw a text from Grace on the screen.
Want to grab a drink at Off the Record?
Just spoke with your boyfriend, and he’s game
Morgan smiled, typed a response, and turned around to head for the West Wing exit instead.
that sounds amazing
Grace responded:
Also, may need to crash on you
r couch tonight if that’s okay
Zach just dumped me by text message
Morgan touched her face in surprise. Ouch.
Epilogue
TORI
August 10, 2033
1100
Homeland Network News
Washington D.C.
Tori glanced down at her script one last time and brushed a loose hair aside as the camera started rolling. “Hi, I’m Tori Scott, from the left,” she said, smiling nervously at the camera. Though it was finally her big day, she wasn’t looking forward to the shade her co-host would likely throw her way on the live show. They’d fought vigorously before going on air, and the source of their disagreement was not resolved.
“And I’m Emilio Valdes, from the right.”
“Welcome to The Counter View on Homeland Network News,” Tori said, glancing at Emilio and forcing a stiff smile.
“The news talk show that presents both sides of the issue and lets you decide,” Emilio said flatly and glared back at Tori. “At least that’s what it used to do…” he muttered under his breath.
Tori blanched, uncertain about how well his comment could be heard over the audio. “This morning, we have an amazing show lined up for you,” she said, trying to muster as much enthusiasm as she could drum up while keeping her voice from shaking. “The Counter View was incredibly fortunate to receive an exclusive preview of the ARC investigation report coming out of the White House this evening. No other network has seen this report, and we’ll highlight the key findings for you. We’re also going to get a live response to the report from the one and only billionaire space technologist Anton Vega, who comes all the way from Moscow. So, you’ll definitely want to stay tuned to the show.” She turned to Emilio to ask him a question but then hesitated for a moment.
Will he play ball?
Tori glimpsed her executive producer urging her from the sound booth to keep things moving. “Emilio, you read the report. What do you think was the most important finding from your perspective?”
Emilio grimaced. “Personally, I’m most interested in how you got exclusive access? How is it that you’re suddenly so cozy with the president?” He touched his face with his index finger and looked up at the ceiling. “Oh, I know… didn’t something happen last month when you visited the White House with your protégé? Yeah… after that, everything changed. For example, you’ve refused to cover any of the obscene allegations against Centoreum Tech or anonymous reports we’ve heard about from inside the Pentagon over the past month. It’s almost as if you’ve forgotten you’re a journalist. And isn’t that poster boy for killer robots working for the president now? Tori, tell me, what sort of drug deal did you make with Tolley to remain silent? That’s what I’m most interested in hearing about.”
For a moment, Tori was speechless, like a deer caught in headlights. She’d expected a hard time from her co-host. But she didn’t think he’d attack her outright on live television. Ignoring the heavy feeling in her stomach, she swallowed hard, faced the camera, and read from the teleprompter. “With the ARC investigation report about to hit the streets, Dennis Warren, the CEO of Centoreum Tech, is currently facing charges of felony fraud for making false claims about the capabilities of the ARC system to the Pentagon and tampering with the system after its launch to deceive Congress.”
Through the glass, Tori saw her executive producer signaling to go to the video feed from Moscow. “However, yet another CEO faces some close scrutiny given the findings of the report. And we’re thrilled to have Anton Vega join the show to get his initial response to the allegations.” She turned toward the video screen and saw Anton’s chiseled face appear in front of a shelf full of books. “Mr. Vega, thanks so much for joining us today.”
“Thank you so much for having me on the show,” Anton said.
“You’ve received an advance copy of the ARC investigation report,” Tori said. “I’m sure you have also followed the media coverage here in the U.S., suggesting your company may be liable for the close call we had with China and Russia last month. Thus far, you’ve been silent on the matter. But now that you’ve read the report, how would you respond to the allegations?”
Anton nodded. “Of course, thank you to Homeland Network News for the opportunity to comment on the report. It’s very unfortunate that Green Dragon Pioneers got caught up in all of this. There’s certainly plenty of blame to go around for the nuclear crisis with China, but I would push back against any assertion that my company bears responsibility. My company remains committed to bringing about the dream of commercial space travel. To achieve our vision, we collaborate with a wide range of private companies and foreign governments, including Russia.”
“But your company did fail to announce the launch of your space rockets,” Tori said. “And as you’ve read, this caused a false alarm within the Department of Defense’s ARC system which led to the near-launch of U.S. nuclear weapons against China and Russia. Doesn’t that make your company at least partially responsible?”
“Not at all,” Anton said. “My rockets were launched from Russian territory. That means the Russian government had the responsibility for reporting the planned launches to international authorities. Now, I don’t know why the Russian government didn’t do that, but I’m sure it was due to a bureaucratic error. The real blame for the nuclear crisis should be placed squarely on the Department of Defense’s ill-conceived automation of nuclear command and control. This report is intended to distract the American public from the terrible truths about the ARC system and the military and civilian leaders who succumbed to the siren call of artificial intelligence.”
“Look, the ARC system wasn’t entirely responsible for what happened,” Emilio interjected. “If you really want to talk about what went wrong, then we have to consider Russia’s cyberattack against China’s unmanned submarines that were parked in our coastal waters. That’s the sort of reckless behavior that will get us into a nuclear war, not an autonomous system.”
“Actually, the report suggested that it wasn’t the Russian government behind the alleged attack, but rather an oligarch by the name of Igor Koslov who acted independently,” Tori said.
“So they say…” Emilio said, his tone skeptical. “I understand he’s now under house arrest on the orders of the Kremlin. Seems like Koslov is a convenient patsy to me. Anyway, here’s the point I wanted to make about ARC. Taking the system offline was extremely shortsighted on the part of the president. I admit it may have gone a bit awry, but didn’t ARC detect that something unusual was afoot? Doesn’t that prove the system is better at detecting an emerging nuclear threat than humans?”
“If I may add something to this discussion,” Anton said, his forehead creased. “According to the report, the ARC system nearly started an accidental nuclear war on the basis of misinterpreted data. If the programmers hadn’t been able to intervene in time, millions of innocent people would be dead right now.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah… we’d all be a pile of ash by now,” Emilio said, flapping his hands dismissively. “But it didn’t happen. Because someone stepped in to save the day. The system actually worked just the way it was supposed to. It provided us with strategic warning, and humans intervened just in time before it made a grave mistake. But with the system offline, the United States will no longer have strategic warning of nuclear threats. To me, we’re much worse off than before. The report distracts us from what we should be focused on.”
“Oh really? What’s that?” Tori asked.
“As far as I’m concerned, the Russian government is covering up the real mission behind having Anton Vega send three space rockets to the moon. I don’t buy the explanation of a moon base in the report for a second. The rationale is flimsy at best. There would be no reason for all the secrecy or the veiled threats from the Russians to steer clear of the moon.”
“Well, what was the real reason then?” Tori asked. Since you’re so smart.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Emilio asked, giving her a dum
bfounded look.
Tori remained silent.
“Let me lay it out for you,” Emilio said. “A Russian oligarch hires a well-known hacker to mess with China and keep our eyes focused on them. The same hacker manages to take our early warning satellite network offline for a time so that we can’t detect missile launches. The Russian government collaborates with a private sector company to launch not one, but three space rockets to the moon. And they do it in secret, raising the specter of false alarms and the risk of accidental nuclear war. To me, that suggests a mission of incredible significance to Russia. But our government thinks they’re building a moon base?” Emilio shook his head and waved his hands again. “That’s terribly naïve. No, the Russians would have carried off this scheme for only one purpose… to put nuclear weapons on the moon.”
Tori’s mouth fell open as she contemplated the implications. But she recovered quickly and asked their guest a follow-up question. “Anton, perhaps, you could explain Russia’s intentions for the moon mission.”
Anton smiled. “I admit, your colleague’s suggestion gave me a good, hearty laugh. The Russian government has no plans to weaponize the moon. I personally checked the inventory of each rocket before the launch. I think I’d notice a few nuclear weapons lying around. Not to mention that would be a grave violation of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.”
“Then what do you make of the veiled threats coming from the Russian government about your new moon colony?” Emilio asked, his face scrunched. “Or the extreme secrecy around the launch?”
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