Mischief Island
Page 27
He said, “I’ve established a seventy five million dollar trust fund in your names. Yup…Seventy five-million. IT’S YOURS.” The ball room was very quiet and many faces were in awe, shock, disbelief. He chuckled. “What?…do you know how much I paid to get elected? I was prepared to spend four hundred million, but I won it on the cheap at one hundred million dollars. Thanks to you, I won’t need nearly that much to win the next one. Have you seen my ratings? I’m getting a bargain here. A real bargain. I’d like to give you a dollar for every life you might have saved but I’m not that rich.”
The applause was thundering, and everyone was on their feet.
The president gave them a snippy smile and head nods. “We’ve got an awards ceremony, so I’ll shut up. President Salinas has a few words to say.” He gave Salinas the floor and sat down.
The evening ended with the president personally giving each man and woman their Navy Cross.
The following morning, Heather was summoned to meet with the president. It was an honor she was looking forward too. She put on her best smile as she was led into the Oval Office. The president came from behind his desk to shake her hand. They exchanged platitudes, and she was invited to sit on the couch, while the president returned to his desk. After coffee was served, the president’s mood changed dramatically. He said, “Seems you were right, you had two boyfriends on Palawan. Tell me about Alamo, your former husband. What happened out there?”
Heather began to repeat the official lie, but she saw the president’s doubting eyes boring a hole in her. She paused, thinking fast, looking around for help, finding an empty room. She said, “You and President Salinas talked…”
“Yes we did. He has a very high opinion of you, by the way. I haven’t reached that conclusion. I’ve conducted an investigation and your former associates are convinced you were Alamo’s mistress. Is that why you resigned?”
“No sir, I wasn’t his mistress. I was his victim.”
“That’s an interesting theory. By the way, I can understand his obsession with you.” He paused to study her reaction. He relaxed slightly. “You know I watched you carefully. I have never seen anyone work under pressure like you did. You have a very fluid and adroit ability to problem solve. Your order to bring drones was a masterful decision that saved the day. You saw the error that cost three men’s lives and saved the remaining Ghost ship. I was spellbound the way you knew to target the anti-aircraft batteries first. I was watching a master, a genius, someone with lightning speed situational awareness.” He paused again. He sipped his coffee. “I was intrigued. That leaves me with a lingering question I can’t figure out. You had to know what Alamo had planned for you? Why did you accept the assignment?”
“Protecting the plan was more important than protecting myself.”
“Commendable, but not convincing. You were aware of Alamo’s volatility and instability. Your open affair with Master Chief Petty Officer Perrotte had to have a destabilizing effect. How was that protecting the mission? You sent it sideways, and I’ve got to believe you were problem solving.”
“Sir, I’ve had a long infatuation with Ted, and I couldn’t resist temptation.”
“I see through you Heather. Infatuation, temptation, and let’s not forget calculation. You’re in the intel business and you have access to operator’s histories. Perrotte is exemplar in every way but he has a sad personal history. Is he aware how badly manipulated he was?”
“Ted Perrotte did not kill Alamo. I did.”
“Yes you did, but you did not pull the trigger. How is your relationship with Perrotte working out for you? I see you moving on. You’re not cut out to be a SEAL wife.”
Mr. President, I love him very much. He needs me in his corner right now. I want to see him through OCS. I can only say this much, I won’t have another Alamo Jones in my life. I see that coming my way.”
“Well, let’s hope not. If I were you I would withhold judgment.”
“I will. But you could help me out. Take him out of tactical special ops.”
The president chuckled. “I’m ahead of you. Why do you think I jumped his rank? We need that man on the general staff. We need a man who can steal nukes and who knows what else.”
“Can I tell him?”
“No. It has to be his idea. We have too many staff officers with a lack of enthusiasm. Let’s move on to something more disturbing. What was wrong with the Alamo plan?”
“Alamo and I agreed on the geopolitical evolution going on in the South China Sea. China’s huge investments of island building had little economic value. To put a military conventional force to achieve uncontestable dominance would require a great wall of sand that would drain resources and take years. In the interim, China could not guarantee that a persistent littoral challenge was winnable. Alamo and I made the argument of the obvious. China was investing in a nuclear platform, not a conventional one.”
“You didn’t answer the question. By the way, the theory proved correct.”
“Alamo chipped out a series of escalations that would push the Chinese on all fronts. He understood the psyche of Chinese thought. Alamo thought a small clandestine raid where China had to put up or shut up would catch the Chinese flat footed. He was using old technology. He was bogged down with the thought that the nukes were on the island. He was absorbed with tactics that fit a SEAL Special Ops sneak and peek. What was lacking in the Alamo plan was a neutralization of the threat. The Alamo plan could get us to the brink of war, but was thinly watered down with options to prevent one. The options were nothing more than the musing of a mad man. I kept up with the technology and the resulting geopolitical shifts. Alamo did not. We had violent disagreements. His anger toward the Navy Chief of Naval Operations staff intensified, and he became warped with his own vision.”
“What vision was that?”
Heather was showing her grasp of recent developments. She said. “He didn’t see the significance of China’s ability to modify and adjust the flight path of its missiles in flight, or the production of heavy warships. The ability of China to send a carrier task force, or the rapid advance of the Chinese naval air wing. He was bitter and angry until I showed him the technology we had achieved. In a word sir, I stayed on top of the Alamo Plan because it was brilliant. Alamo didn’t. I did the updates and made the plan viable.”
“So Alamo was obsessed with you, and you were obsessed with the Alamo Plan you created?”
“In a modest way, that’s correct.”
“Let’s move on to what followed after Alamo died. When did the idea to steal the nukes arise?”
“I can’t say exactly. I didn’t have a clue until Ted met with Admiral…I’m sorry, President Salinas in the grotto. It came out of the blue, and I winged it on the fly. I swear.”
“Heather, I’ve been in business all of my life. I’ve seen business swindles turn on a dime. I’ve watched double dealing, all sorts of sorry deceptions that would make the CIA blush. You assumed Alamo’s identity, shadowed his untimely death. Then you convinced President Salinas to Perrotte’s bold plan, molded and shaped it, then bamboozled the SECDEF to execute it. That’s what I call a real puppet show and a lot of strings to pull. Stealing those nukes came out of nowhere and I wished I’d come up with the idea.”
“Yes sir, it was brilliant. I saw the potential when Ted explained it to me.”
“Has it ever dawned on you that you’re the second most brilliant person involved? He called you Mata Hari. That should have been a dead give away. Mata Hari was an amateur. It has occurred to me that you were the one being manipulated…from day one. I’m just saying.”
Heather’s hand flew to her mouth. She choked back a shriek.
“Settle down, Heather. We all deceive, sometimes for a greater good and sometimes for selfish interests. I’m the biggest deceiver of all time and just proved it. Hell, I spent weeks making a jackass out of myself. Was it for a greater good? History will determine that issue, but I have a clear conscience. So should you, but you
have more to atone for than Ted.”
“Sir, I don’t like the inference.”
Don’t play the woman card with me Heather. You got a dead Alamo out of the deal and Ted got three dead SEALs and three dead contractors. I haven’t mentioned four hundred dead civilian workers under a Vietnamese oil platform. Is it coincidental that your warning of the radar track of Ghost One was a tad late? Did that get buried in your list of priorities? Anyway, that makes you the only one on the planet that knows the truth.”
Her tone was terse. “That’s an allegation I find repulsive.”
“So… if Alamo Jones was here, do you think he’d find it repulsive?”
“As you stated, I am the only person to speak to the facts. It’s repulsive and an insult. You’re baiting me to confirm something you suspect. I have nothing to say on the matter.”
“Ever?”
“Not ever. What did you say about deceit in the cause of a good outcome?”
The president moved papers across his desk. His mood seemed decisive. “You said I could stand you against the wall and shoot you. I should sign the paper work.” He paused to get her reaction. She was too accepting of his high jinx. He said, “I’m joking. I’m joking. I was only kidding.”
He slip papers across his desk. “This is a general warrant of amnesty for all personnel on Palawan. Make sure you deliver it personally to Warrant Office French. The other document is a solicitation to have you join my staff in the White House.”
Heather did a double- take. “I’m not sure I understand, Mr. President.”
“The position I have in mind for you requires someone who can see past the clutter and ambitions of people like Alamo Jones. I need in-depth problem solving and beyond the brink thinking. How would you feel taking a job at the National Security Council?”
Heather’s mind was clouded. “Sir, I can’t make the connection.”
“Sure you can. We just had straight talk. You walked into this office expecting nothing less. We both know what you’re willing to sacrifice and your candor makes you and I partners in crime.”
“I wouldn’t characterize it as a crime.”
“How would you characterize it?”
“Justice.”
The president chuckled. “Well, Mata Hari blew a kiss to her firing squad, and to this day, no one knows whose side she was on. She went to her death with the secrets of the French and German High Command in her head. She could have changed the outcome of World War One.”
“I don’t see the comparison.”
“Oh, I do. My closest advisors masked what happened out there on Palawan. You called them out with revealing a damned thing. No one knows how we prevented a war with China, but you do. I could see you blowing a kiss to your to your firing squad.” He grinned at her.
She said, “I thought we closed that subject.”
“We have and the interview is closed. I would like to offer you the position of Special Assistant for National Security Affairs.”
Heather gasped. She blinked and said, “The Special Assistant for National Security?”
The president nodded.
“Why me?”
“I need a Mata Hari having eyes and ears on the National Security Council, someone more cunning, someone more practiced in intrigue, and someone who will fiercely sacrifice herself to prevent another war.”
“Sir, I need some Ted time. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt enough love to anchor me in my desperation of finding it. We have a lot to work through.”
“Are you headed off to Idaho?”
“Yes sir. I don’t know a thing about hanging wall paper, or skinning a deer, so it might take awhile.”
“Take your time, Heather. I’m a shoe-in for the next election.”
Author Biography
Robert Lance is a retired US Air Force officer and airline pilot. He is an active businessman and former CEO for a communications corporation.
Lance has a graduate degree in contemporary Russian studies. He contributes to several academic societies specializing in his fields of expertise. Lance is also a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO), Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), International Thrill Writers (ITW), and the RAF Club. He is active in the “war bird” community.
Lance is also the author of Caesar’s Cat, The Shadow Spy, and Lottery Rage. He enjoys seeking out new experiences, adventures, and foreign travel.