Turning to Su, he said, “Su, I’m sorry. Should I have told you this three days ago, when I found out? Would it have changed your mind in helping us further?”
Tears streamed down Su’s face as she realized that her actions may have doomed her parents to possible torture and death. To her credit, even with her buried emotions leaking out onto her cheeks, her mind continued to hum along at a high rate of speed. “I chose to help you and take this chance to escape knowing what it might mean. The decision was made when I first agreed to speak with you and really, when I decided to become a friend of Lisa’s.” Looking at Lisa, she could see tears welling up in her eyes as well.
Su continued, “I can tell that what you say is the truth.”
This statement resulted in a look of astonishment from Hugh.
“I can always tell,” Su said. “It is a gift, or a curse, or both, but I’m always right. Since beginning Charm School, I always know when someone is lying. No, it would not have mattered if you had told me three days ago.”
After another pause, Su said, “I just need to learn how to grieve.” With this she bowed her head.
Hugh waited for several seconds before saying, “Su and Lisa, I can tell you from experience that grieving takes a lot longer than anyone logically believes it should. That being said, let’s put that on the back burner for now and go into some additional news.”
Both girls looked up quizzically.
“Because of what’s happened and the President’s reaction, I need to get both of you out of here to a safe place. There, you will have access to news and other information, but will still need to follow some strict rules to keep you safe. I’ll get into those in a minute. Right now, I need to leave you both alone for a couple of hours.” Looking again at Su, Hugh said, “Can I trust you to remain here until I get back?” Su nodded her head. Again, her instincts told her she could trust Hugh.
“Good. Now, Lisa, you’ve got your car here, and I acquired you an alternate license plate for it. I presume you still have the toolbox I gave to you in your car?”
“Yes, Daddy,” Lisa said with a little exasperation.
“Good. If for any reason I am not back by morning, you need to load up your car and drive yourself and Su to Uncle Peter’s in Kentucky. Can you do that? Oh, and here.”
Hugh took five hundred dollars out of his wallet and handed it to her. “Make sure you do not use any credit cards and avoid any roadside conferences by driving the speed limit.”
Su asked, “Roadside conferences?”
Lisa smiled and said, “Yes, that’s what Dad calls it when a policeman pulls him over. He never gets a ticket and usually makes a friend of the policeman in the process.”
Turning to her dad, Lisa asked, “Dad, what’s this all about?”
“Honey, there is the possibility that some of our own people might be looking for you. I’m just being careful, okay? Anyway, I should be back in a couple of hours. Love you.” Hugh picked up his briefcase and walked out of the door.
Chapter 29
The New Year - Plus Thirteen Days
The Mountains of Southeastern Afghanistan
0515 Hours Local Time
The cold, pre-dawn light had just begun to cause the eastern sky to glow when Hadi’s steps could be heard softly crunching through the snow and ice up the path. Ahmed had been standing at the entrance for over an hour, staring out into the night.
At Hadi’s arrival, Ahmed was not pleased at the disturbance. “Why have you disturbed my quiet time, Hadi? It had better be important.”
Surprised at the brusque tone of voice, Hadi bowed deeply and said, “Great leader, I have additional news. The Chinese Infidel has arrived in Kabul and will be here by early afternoon. Also, your wife’s brother, Ali al-Hadiz, has also arrived in Kabul with two friends. They will not be arriving until after darkness has fallen.”
Ahmed’s mood brightened instantly. “Inform me when the Infidel has arrived. Serve him tea.”
Hadi said, “I will do as you command. He also comes alone this time. No assistant to carry his water.”
Ahmed nodded and then motioned his dismissal to Hadi.
. . .
Forty minutes after Cho was led to the protected cliff overhang where he was to meet Ahmed, Hadi listened as one of his men whispered in his ear. He relayed to Cho, “He will be here in a few minutes.”
For his part, Cho sat patiently on the rock. The tea had initially at least warmed his hands, even if he didn’t drink it. Eventually, however, it had grown cold, so he set it aside. He responded to Hadi’s statement with a slight nod.
Ahmed walked into the overhang area with a purposeful step, as if he had just come from an important meeting. In reality, he had been waiting impatiently, 100 meters away, to make his entrance. He did not wish to be seen as too eager to meet Cho.
“You are back.” Ahmed’s statement was given in a neutral, matter-of-fact tone.
“May Allah be merciful on you and your people.” Cho gave this polite greeting with a slight bow as he had arisen when Cho approached.
“What brings you back, without useful materials or even your follower?” Ahmed was aware that Cho had brought neither his assistant nor any trucks filled with weapons or explosives.
Cho said, “I have been sent with an important message for your ears only.” Cho glanced around at Hadi and four fighters acting as guards.
Ahmed ordered the four fighters to move out from under the overhang and out of earshot, but still within sight. He then motioned for Hadi to join him as he moved close to Cho. All three men were standing.
“Hadi will remain. What is your message?”
Cho stared at Hadi for a moment before choosing to ignore his presence and turned to Ahmed. “Are your fighters ready to take Jihad to the world and kill Infidels?”
Ahmed smiled broadly and said, “Yes, they are ready. Each man speaks English well enough to go through Customs. All have been to Europe for several days and returned on their own, as a test. All are committed to this cause and will glory in meeting Allah.”
Cho nodded his head at the news. “The last time we spoke, you said your martyrs must receive the virus here, in the mountains. My superiors have told me to arrange for my medical people to be in Kabul, at a safe location near the airport. Your martyrs will go to the location with their tickets and luggage three hours before their scheduled departure. There they will be injected with the virus and taken directly to the airport to board their plane.”
Ahmed was initially inclined to argue about everything to show that he was in charge. After further thought, he decided to appear to be reasonable. He asked Cho, “How long will it take from when the martyrs get the virus until they begin passing it to others? And how long before they will be obviously sick and then too sick to travel?”
Cho hesitated before saying, “The symptoms of the virus will not become obvious until about thirty-six hours after they receive the injections. I do not know how soon they will become contagious or when they will no longer be able to travel. I presume they will begin passing the virus at least several hours or more before they start showing symptoms.”
“When will this happen?” Ahmed asked while failing in his attempt to mask his excitement.
“I do not know. I am led to believe it will be soon. Maybe within a month or two and maybe sooner. You must be ready. I will send my assistant the day before the medical team will arrive in Kabul. I am sorry, but that is as much advance notice as I can give. Once the decision is made to go forward, things will have to happen very quickly. Your security remains good? No one knows of our meetings?”
“If my security were not, an American cruise miss
ile would have killed us long ago.” Ahmed’s fatalistic statement showed his true belief on the topic.
. . .
Undisclosed Safe House in Northern Virginia
0200 Hours EST
When Hugh returned he found both girls still up, although in pajamas. Su had even giggled like a little girl when Lisa pulled out a pair of PJ’s for her four days earlier.
“See girls,” Hugh said as he walked in the door. “Told you I’d be back. But I’m only here for a few minutes and have to leave again. Lisa, I have a number of items that might be useful in this bag,” showing Lisa a large duffle bag he had just dropped in the corner. “My same instructions from before are in place. If you don’t see me by 7:00 a.m., I want you to load your car and head for Uncle Peter’s. Take this bag with you. Okay?”
“Daddy?” Lisa said this with annoyance.
“I love you, Sweetheart,” Hugh said with a hurried smile, before giving her a big hug. Breaking the embrace, he reached over and brought Su in for a mini-hug with Lisa.
With that, he abruptly broke away from them and walked toward the door. “And I mean it. By 7:00 a.m., if I haven’t come back, you two be on the road for Kentucky. Got it?”
“Okay, I’ve got it, Dad.”
Chapter 30
The New Year - Plus Thirteen Days
The Callahan Residence
Outside of Cronin, Kentucky
0300 Hours EST
Sean woke with a start to find himself in his childhood bedroom in his parent’s house outside of Cronin. The secure room was down the hallway. His start had awakened Linda, whose long blonde hair was scattered haphazardly across his chest. She peered at him through folds of hair to see what had caused him to wake.
“I’m sorry, beautiful. Just a little flashback,” he said with a wan smile in the light of the moon peeking through the window. “Guess it’s my turn, huh?”
Linda had recurring nightmares several times each night of her kidnapping and rescue by Sean during an operation in Afghanistan.
Linda kissed him and snuggled closer under his arm, feeling the reassurance brought by her soon-to-be husband. She made sure to sleep on the side opposite from his stump to avoid bumping it and causing Sean pain. Of course this was only after Sean’s mom had moved her things from the guest bedroom into Sean’s room. She had somehow gotten a wardrobe into the room as well just to hold it all. When Sean had asked his Mom who had done it, he had gotten a terse, “I did. Any problem?”
Being the intelligent son he was, he kept his mouth shut and merely shook his head no. Since both were wide awake, Sean asked, “How is the small unit training of your security force going?”
Sean remembered the large number of volunteers that showed up for the first neighborhood security meeting just after Christmas. Even better was almost twenty percent had prior military experience. Since that meeting Linda had taken them in small groups out to a nearby state park rifle and pistol range to familiarize them with their firearms. Accompanying these training sessions were lessons on small unit tactics. Once they had gotten over the fact that she was female, everything had flowed smoothly. It didn’t hurt that word leaked that not only was she one of the rare female Special Forces (SF) operators, she had also been in command of an “A” Team. All of her “troops” were in awe of her.
“Amazingly well,” Linda said with genuine surprise. “Especially when you let me borrow the guys in your SWE security detail to help. They were getting pretty bored anyway and appreciated being able to get out. These folks are very gung ho and with so many out of work, they have the time and are really motivated to do something productive. Most even have their own AR clone, and at least a thousand rounds of ammunition. With the Fontaine administration pushing hard for an Australian-style gun confiscation, everyone stocked up. With what we have, we should be able to handle at least a few small skirmishes. Good thing, too. No ammunition is for sale anywhere.”
Pausing to wipe away a drop of sweat from Sean’s face, Linda said, “Fortunately, someone in the neighborhood, with deep pockets and a strong vision of the future, bought out an ammunition warehouse and had been stockpiling. Some of that ammo has been made available to us.”
Linda continued, “I’ve got the volunteers broken into six, eight-man teams so we’ll be able to have one team out patrolling round-the-clock if necessary, while another team will be split between the two neighborhood entrances. At least initially, all those teams will do is observe and report. I don’t think it will be very easy for anyone to penetrate the perimeter of the neighborhood by vehicle, so the only reasonable access is by the two entrances. Someone trying to get in would have to cross the creek or traverse some pretty difficult farmland. In case of an attempt to do so, on foot or by some type of off-road vehicle, I’ll have the roving patrol keep an eye out for those types of infiltrators.”
Sean could only stroke Linda’s hair and look at her in amazement.
“The security force has five single women and three, sixteen or seventeen year old girls, who volunteered,” Linda said. “All play varsity women’s sports in their high school and all have experience shooting, including two bona fide deer hunters. I think at least three of the females will be a good sniper.”
Sean was smiling. “How about leadership on each team?”
That brought Linda back down to earth. “That’s where we’re weakest. Two of the team leaders are former non-coms, so I think they’ll do fine. The other four kind of make me nervous. They just don’t seem to be very good at thinking on their feet. Like we always say, though, the best way to train someone to think on their feet is to drill them repetitively until they don’t have to. At least not much.” That last comment was what made every commander very nervous.
“Mike and your Dad have also been getting a lot done. They went around to all the surrounding cattle and horse farms and talked to the owners and their managers. All but a couple of these farms were pretty intelligent and have signed on to a verbal agreement to cooperate with the neighborhood if things get really bad. In exchange for protection and some manual labor we’ll at least have access to beef and horse power. One of my security teams also happens to be made up of experienced horsemen and women, some with their own horses stabled nearby.”
Sean rose up on one elbow and brought Linda’s face up for a kiss. “My God, you’re amazing!”
“Best Damned “A” team leader in the world you incredible man, you.” It was quite a while before they managed to get back to sleep.
. . .
The White House
0835 Hours EST
Burt sat on the couch in the Oval Office facing his President with a very sour feeling in his stomach. It wasn’t enough that the President wanted him to help her seize unprecedented power. Now he had to inform her that it would take an additional twenty-four hours before she could sign the Executive Order and announce to the world that things were so bad in the United States that she must essentially take control of the country and its economy herself. He hadn’t felt this nervous since the time five years earlier while awaiting word of the paternity test for that young intern.
Burt had merely given a deep, but quiet sigh when twenty minutes earlier he had sent Katherine’s favorite speech writer, Danny, to write the speech that would change America. At least there would be over a full day to refine and make small changes to the speech before Katherine delivered it the following evening. He’d have to insure Danny didn’t leave the White House until after her speech.
Sitting across from Burt in her usual chair, Katherine had sat measuring her Chief of Staff for the past several minutes. She didn’t want to contemplate how she should react if he told her the Declaration of Emergency could not be done. Finally, she said,
“Madam President, key members of your staff have been working almost nonstop since yesterday.” Burt paused before continuing, “But unfortunately, it will take until tomorrow before the barest of the required formalities can be met. With your permission, I will ensure key members of Congress and the military will be available by secure telephone tomorrow evening between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. You will need to call and inform fifteen individuals. I have placed them in descending order of likelihood that they will run immediately to the press. Before that, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. you can inform your staff and Cabinet. An emergency meeting will be called for that time later tomorrow morning under the ruse of an urgent need to discuss a possible wage and price freeze. Of course it really isn’t a ruse, but only a small part of what will be announced on national television at 9:00 p.m. Baxter doesn’t think there will be any problem pre-empting programming on the major networks, at least within the mainstream media. Does all of this sound all right to you, Madam President?”
“I don’t like these delays.” Katherine seemed to spit out the words with distaste. “It will have to do, though. Now, where’s the first draft of my speech?”
“I have Danny working on it now,” Burt said. “He’s highlighting the need to cease all gun sales in the country and for the government to take steps to secure public order and ensure that everyone has what is needed to get by. Heavy emphasis is placed on making sure everyone gets enough to eat and the need for the government to manage critical resources. We’ll cite Presidential Executive Order 13603 once for justification, but will mostly focus on all the bad things that have happened since the economic crisis began. Got to be careful not to turn the speech into a blame game against the Chinese, or we’ll have too many people in Congress and elsewhere shouting for war with China. I asked him to write it to point the blame at past administrations that left us with so many trillions in debt that we were doomed for a very painful correction.”
The Final Proclamation (An America Reborn Thriller Book 2) Page 16
