SILVER-2 (NORRIS FILES)

by Marshall Huffman

  Getting comfortable enough to sleep was the real problem. He could actually hear the people that were staying in their cars just outside the gates to the Speedway. It sounded like a party going on for most of the night. It wasn't until 3:00 A.M. before it started to die out.

  He drifted off from time to time but came awake every once in a while when some strange new sound crept in. It was a long day and the temperature took its toll. He managed to go into a semi trance that came in so useful in Vietnam.

  He was shaken out of it around 4:00 P.M. when a large truck backed into the area of the start/finish line. He picked up his binoculars and watched as several men got out and started unloading equipment. Power cables, portable generators, conduit and assorted hardware were being unloaded. He continued to watch through the remainder of the afternoon.

  At sunset he could see security men taking up stations around the entire track. It looked like they were there for the night as well. He was glad he was already in place. He continued to watch the progress of the men scurrying around. It was becoming obvious that they were erecting some sort of structure. He watched fascinated.

  When it became too dark, they brought in flood lights and continued to work. By 1:00 A.M. Sunday morning, they completed the work. It was ready to test, Giovanni surmised. Everyone cleared the area and one of the men started a generator. Several others were standing around a small workstation. He could see little happen, but they seemed quite excited and happy about the progress.

  He decided it must be some sort of security device. An energy field that deflected the SILVER-2? An electrical field must be running between the six posts that had been erected.

  Eventually they shut down the system, but again Giovanni could see no change. It had to be some device to protect the President. The workmen shut off the flood lights and several guards were posted around the system. There was little he could do about it at this point.

  He was safe or else they would have just come for him as he sat in the air conditioner unit. The guards were changed at 4:00 A.M. but Giovanni didn't realize it. He was fast asleep.

  CHAPTER FORTY -EIGHT

  Sean and PJ had been busy all day Saturday making final plans, setting details and working out guard changes. The Unitech people had finally arrived in Indianapolis, but it took a police escort to get them to the track. Once they did get there, they immediately started to set up the distortion field.

  They worked straight through until early morning. At 1:30 A.M. Sunday morning they sent word to PJ that the device was in place and functioning. They were very confident that it would perform as planned.

  The only real drawback was if the SILVER-2 was set on automatic. A final meeting was set for 4:00 A.M. in the parking lot of the museum in the track infield. PJ and Sean grabbed a helo at 3:45 A.M. Fifteen minutes later he found himself drinking a luke warm Diet Coke and surrounded by 350 or so other blurry eyed men and women.

  "O.K. people, listen up. At 5:30 A.M. the gates open to the track and half the world will pour in around us. I want to get this over with and everyone on station before that happens," he found himself saying through a bull horn.

  "Captain Peters."

  "Over here," he said raising his hand.

  "Anything you want to report about last night?"

  "It was a quite night by 500 standards. 87 arrest, mostly drunks. 17 assaults, mostly husbands and wives. Two robberies and some other minor stuff. All in all, a quite pre-race night. My people know what they are supposed to do."

  "Thanks. Captain Jon Otterman, State Police?"

  "Yes sir. We had a routine night as well, out on the perimeter. Three arrests for illegal weapons, 42 fender benders and one jerk with a 50 caliber fake machine gun mounted in the back of his van.

  Seems every time someone would tailgate him, he would have his friend go back, open the doors and pretend to shoot the offending vehicle. Turns out it didn't work, but it sure scared the hell out of a few people."

  The crowd broke out in a laugh. After it died down he said, "Hey, just a routine night."

  "Thanks for sharing that with us Captain. City Police?"

  "Over here. We have nothing unusual to report. It was better than most nights with or without the 500 crowd. We had few problems. Most of the people who come here are good people that love the spectacle of this place. They didn't come for trouble."

  "O.K., you people can go to your assigned positions. The combined forces hang loose for a few minutes."

  The various police departments left to take up their assigned stations.

  Once they had all gone PJ said, "The Unitech people are pleased with the device they have come up with. It gives us some breathing room, but we can't let down. Not only do we have the SILVER to look after, but you never can tell when some other nut is loose and looking to make a name for their selves. Stay alert and we will all get through this. Sean is passing out the special badges that we will be using to identify ourselves. I want to go over the schedule one more time."

  Everyone groaned.

  "I know. But let’s do it just the same. Everyone is to be on station by 5:00 A.M., that's 26 minutes from now. Stay off the communications channel unless you have a sighting that needs to be checked out. The President, First Lady and his party will arrive at 11:15 A.M. There will be three choppers; the first is a diversion only. The second will carry the President and First Lady and a couple of big wigs. The third will have the rest of the entourage.

  The President and First Lady will be immediately taken to the staging area just under the main grandstand. The others will be escorted to the V.I.P. box seats, just to the right of the start/finish line.

  At 11:35 A.M. the First Lady will be escorted to the V.I.P. seats. At 11:50 the President will be brought out to the start/finish line and taken directly to the erected protection barrier.

  At 12:00 noon he will give the command to start engines. As soon as he is done, he will immediately be surrounded and taken back to the staging area. Once the race starts we will get the First Lady and escort her to where the President is.

  They will be taken to the Hulman Suites in turn two for the rest of the race or until they say it's time to go. Any serious questions? Anything to report?"

  No one said anything.

  "Good, then let’s get to your assigned posts," Sean said.

  As they were leaving one of the agents came up to PJ and said, "I don't know if it’s worth mentioning, but I had a workman up on the roof above the penthouses in turn one."

  "Did he have a work order?"

  "He said it was down in the golf cart. I saw him drive up. He had on coveralls and tools."

  "What was his name?" PJ asked looking at this watch.

  "Mick or Rick. Something like that. The security man at the top said he knew him and that he had been working up there off and on for two weeks."

  "Well, it sounds all right. We will have men on every roof top. We'll check it out with the maintenance people just to be sure," PJ said. You had better get going. You have a long walk and not much time to do it in.

  The agent took off across the infield. He was glad he had at least mentioned it.

  CHAPTER FORTY -NINE

  Giovanni was awakened by a voice drifting across the infield. Someone was talking on a bull horn. He checked his watch. It was 4:05 A.M. He powered up the scope and found that there were several hundred men and women standing in the parking lot of the museum. Most had on a uniform of one kind or the other. The man with the bull horn was dressed in sports clothes.

  He watched for some time and then many started to drift off. He could not hear what they were saying but he did hear laughter once. It had to be a security briefing he figured.

  He shut down the SILVER and closed his eyes. He was able to sleep for another half hour. The sound of thousands of cars starting awoke him this time. It was 5:30 A.M. and the gates were open.

  The sun was just starting to break over the horizon. Within minutes, cars and people started to pour into
the infield. It was like bees finding pollen. They were swarming everywhere. As the sun climbed higher in the clear sky, the number of people increased as well. The bleachers were starting to fill and the steady stream of humanity continued to come, wave after wave.

  Giovanni took a leak and sat down. He had a quick breakfast and looked out of the vent every once in a while. Agents were starting to show up on top of the roofs. He could hear them talking to one another. A couple came and stood directly in front of the unit he was in. They stayed and talked for several minutes. He could hear every word.

  When he looked out again, several bands were starting to line up and take formation on the race track surface. Young kids in bright uniforms from different schools were tuning up with their musical instruments. The sun glimmered and sparkled of the hundreds of marchers.

  He looked at his watch it was 9:00 A.M. and soon the bands were underway, marching around the two and a half mile oval. New pace cars were on the track as well as old race cars from the past. Celebrities were waving to the people from convertibles. It was some show, and he had the best seat in the house.

  He powered up the SILVER once more and checked out the start/finish line. Nothing was going on. He could clearly see the red seats that were cordoned off for the President's VIP party. Shirts and tops were starting to come off the people all around the track as the sun got higher and higher in the sky. It was crystal clear.

  People were starting to break out beer, soft drinks and chicken. Every place he looked people were munching on chicken. The marching bands were starting to finish and filter off the track.

  Looking around he could not find a place that was not filled to capacity with fans, but still they came. A noise started from below and he looked out on the track. The race cars were starting to be rolled out onto the surface.

  Sleek, brightly colored, state of the art racing machines ware making their appearance. People up and down the pit lane were laying out tools, air guns, and tires. Stacks and stacks of tires. Soon all the cars were in place and the track surface was filled with men in uniforms that were attached to the various machines.

  Drivers holding helmets were either standing around talking or off by themselves. Several were starting to slide into the cockpits. The fans had been working themselves into a controlled frenzy ever since the first car appeared. It was indeed the greatest spectacle Giovanni had ever seen.

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  Immediately after the meeting PJ and Sean made their way to the truck that Unitech had arrived in. Dr. Wegeng was supervising the proceedings.

  "Doctor. Nice to see you again, PJ and Sean, remember?"

  "I may be a doctor, but I'm not absent minded. Sure I remember you."

  "Everything set and ready to go?"

  "Were ready. We made a few modifications since the last time you saw this thing. We came up with a way to project the field out from the field generator armatures. It extends the shield another foot and a half. It just gives us a little more safety margin. It’s connected into a sliding platform now so that when the President is in place the reading will remain the same, even though we are sliding him back a few inches at a time while extending the filed. The end result is that he will be in the same spot through the Doppler scope, but in reality, he will have moved back another foot and a half."

  "And the shooter can't tell?"

  "Not really. If he is looking through the scope he will never know," Dr. Wegeng said proudly.

  "That's brilliant," PJ said.

  "We think so," Dr. Wegeng agreed.

  They left the doctors to their work and headed to the control tower. The crowd had grown to enormous proportions. The announcer was talking almost nonstop. It was a sea of color.

  They made their way up into the tower and checked in with each control point. Nothing new was reported. PJ and Sean watched as the cars were pushed on to the starting grid and the crew members making last minute adjustments. Wiping down the already gleaming racers.

  Many of the race car drivers were starting to go through the ritual of walking around the car and putting on the fire protection gear. Balaclavas were slipped over heads and faces. Nomex gloves were being put on. Several were starting to work there trim, athletic bodies into the cramped cockpit.

  Sean said, "What about that report of the guy on the roof? Do you want to check it out?"

  "I guess we should. I'll call maintenance and see what the story is," PJ answered.

  Using the transmitter he called the maintenance building. It took several calls before someone answered.

  "Yes. What do you want?" was the tense reply.

  "This is Government Security for the President. I need to talk to someone about a repair job done on the roof of the penthouses in turn one."

  "Look, can it wait? We have about ten small emergencies going on right now. I don't really have time to......turn one, inside wall......yes," he broke off, talking to someone in the back ground.

  "As I was saying, I don't have a lot of time to talk right now."

  "It's important or I wouldn't call. I just need to know if someone was authorized to work up there."

  "Just a second. I'll need to get the work logs for.......well have it towed then....don't mess around with it.....I don't care who it belongs to, have it removed."

  Several seconds passed before he came back on the line.

  "Yes, it looks like we had a couple of men up there this past month. Roof leak, a/c work, shit like that."

  "You have a man named Rick or Mick?"

  "No. I have a Nick. Nick Ponce."

  "That could be it. Did he work on the roof?"

  "Hell, I don't know. I would have to pull all the work orders to find out who did the work. Sorry pal, I ain't got time now. We don't keep them in this office anyway. Look I gotta' go."

  "Well, thanks."

  "So, what do you think?" Sean asked.

  "Well, I would like to have someone run down those work orders, but I guess if they don't have them over there it would be too late by the time we found someone that could get the information."

  "I think it's all right. They have a Nick, and they had work done. It sounds good."

  "I sure hope so. It still makes my gut react a little. Look, let’s be safe. I want to double the security on the roof in turn one. Let’s make a show of it."

  "You got it," Sean said and called in the orders. Within seconds they could see new figures on top of the penthouse suites."

  The crowd was starting to settle down into their seats somewhat. PJ looked at his watch, it was 11:10 A.M. Time to go meet the President. They were as ready as they could be.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

  Giovanni looked at his watch. It was 11:11 A.M. He could see new agents on the roof and several more were climbing up. Had they figured it out? Even if they had, what could he do about it? He took a drink of water.

  "Shit. I hate heights," one of the agents said.

  "I ain't too fond of them myself," came the reply.

  "Man look at the garbonzo's on that baby," one of the agents said looking through binoculars.

  "Let me see."

  "You pigs," a woman agent said.

  The announcer was going through the drivers and their qualifying speeds row by row. The television cameras were alternating shots from every perspective.

  He continued to watch through the SILVER-2 scope. The people in the snake pit were in rare form. He could hear a helicopter coming from some place. He looked at his watch. 11:13 A.M. He was pretty sure it would be the President and his party. Just a little longer and he would be a very rich man.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

  PJ and Sean were at the helo pad along with ten, very tall, Secret Service agents.

  "It's inbound, two miles out," someone said.

  A few seconds later, "One mile."

  They could hear them coming in, but no one could spot them.

  "Half mile."

  Just then, they darted over the north chute stands and came in hot. T
here were three in all. The first one touched down and immediately took off. No sooner had it cleared the pad when the second slid into place.

  The President and First Lady came down the stairs. No waving to the crowds this time. They were immediately surrounded by the agents and rushed, almost at a run, to a room under the main grandstand.

  The next chopper settled down and the people on board disembarked at a leisurely pace. They were escorted to the VIP seats.

  Sean and PJ were with the President and First Lady. Wilber Wainright pushed his way into the room as well.

  "What's the status?" he demanded.

  "The deception field is in place and working. All areas report no unusual activity. We are as secure as we can make it at this time."

  "Nothing on the shooter though?"

  "Correct," Terry Logsdon said.

  "You still think it's on?"

  "Well sir, since there are no more appearances before June 1st, this is their last chance."

  "If 'they' ever were intending to harm the President," Wainright said.

  No one took the bait.

  "It's not too late to call this off Mr. President," PJ said.

  "Don't start that crap again," Wainright said.

  "I appreciate your concern young man, but the die is cast. We're here, you're ready. Let’s just get it over with, shall we?" the President said.

  "We go in," Logsdon said looking at his watch, "twenty one minutes."

  "First Lady, it's time for you to go to the VIP seats," Logsdon said, two minutes later.

  Four agents entered the room.

  "It's time sir," one of the men said to Logsdon.

  The First Lady got up and walked over to Calvin,

  kissed him on the cheek and said, "Don't forget your line."

  She turned and left with the agents.