by Steven Linde
Jake left the White House with three armored Humvees from the 3rd Infantry Regiment; he was in the center Humvee. Each Humvee was sporting M-249 machine guns in its turret each manned by a Soldier. Normally it was a thirty to forty minute trip to the Fort however, even months after the event there were still plenty of stalled cars on the road as well as debris left from the many aircraft that fell from the sky that day. Most of the dead bodies had been cleared or eaten by the local wildlife it was still slow going and you never knew the type of people you might encounter along the way. Jake had taken along two secret service agents and the President’s tech advisor. Each Humvee had at least four Soldiers in it.
Being that they were going to an active Army post they would see more Soldiers. There weren’t many infantry type Soldiers there because of the nature of the post. What Soldiers did remain were technical primarily from the Signal Corps and like the Marines they were well trained in marksmanship and basic tactics. Most also know how to use and have used the various types of Machine guns as well as grenade launchers. They were not trained in advance infantry tactics, if you could really call it that, in Iraq and Afghanistan they never went out of the wire to conduct patrols or chase down the enemy. Like most of the bases, Fort Meade had closed and secured all of the gates leading onto the post except for the main gate. There other rational for closing the gates was that there wasn’t that much vehicle traffic anymore and with all sorts of bad guys these days outside the gate it was a lot easier to defend.
Jake and his escort arrived at Reece Road Main gate the MP’s at the gate checked every one’s credentials and passed them through. Parts of Fort Meade were normally busy there were a lot of families that lived on post and with the event even more moved there for security. There were seven schools on post and all were in session. The schools had resumed about two months ago to the relief of the parents, they were also working on re-establishing the sports programs and in some cases programs for the adults. Still, most of the adults were still more worried about surviving then extracurricular activities. On post they had cleared a lot of the land for farming and raising cattle and other farm animals in a very large way. These were smart people and understood what it was going to take for long term survival, there problem was they weren’t all that physically adept to the work, even the Soldiers that were needed elsewhere.
They pushed through post to 9800 Savage Road, as they approached the first thing Jake noticed was the emptiness of the parking lots that surrounded the area. Granted he had seen it all before, but it always struck him as odd not to see all the cars, it was life now. They pulled up to the primary entrance to NSA HQ; he could see inside that there were guards on duty, ‘What the hell?’ he thought. He got out, followed by the two secret service agents that were armed with M-4’s as well as pistols, these days any law enforcement required more powerful weapons than only their service pistol.
Jake walked up to the doors and pulled on it, it was locked, he knocked on the door and one of the security guards looked at him. The guard made no move to the door, Jake pulled out his White House credentials that identified him as the President’s Chief of Staff and flashed them towards the guards who took no notice. Jake banged on the door getting the guards attention and waved them over, again the guards ignored him. ‘OK,’ Jake thought, ‘you want to play like that.’ He walked back over to the lead Humvee and spoke with the OIC of the small convoy. All the guards in the building could see that the man that was at the door was now talking to one of the Soldiers, then that Soldier turned and said something to the Soldier in the turret. The Soldier in the turret turned the turret towards the entrance which was largely glass and fired at it with the M-249.
The two guards quickly dived for cover as glass from the windows splintered every place, the Soldiers in the Humvee’s quickly exited the vehicles and charged into the building with weapons up. They were on the guards before they could draw their weapons. Jake followed once the Soldiers had the guards cuffed. He walked up to them and flashed his credentials again, “I’m the President’s Chief of Staff and I’m here at the direction of the President of the United States. The last time I checked this building is owned, operated and under control of the President.”
The guards continued to stare at him, not saying a word, “You two don’t have anything to say before I call in the Provost Marshall to have your asses thrown in the stockade?”
“Sir,” one of the guards stammered. “We’re only following orders from upstairs. We were told absolutely no one comes into the building, no one.”
“Who told you that?” demanded Jake; he was in no mood for games this morning.
“The director, sir.” replied the same guard.
“Director Vance is in the building? How many others?”
“Yes sir he’s here and there has got to be a hundred or more people in the building.”
“Fine take me to him now.”
The zip ties were removed from the guard’s wrists and they stood up brushing the broken glass off them. Jake again briefly spoke with the Soldiers OIC, the OIC then instructed two of the Soldiers to escort the guards and be ready for anything, he ordered two more to bring up and cover their rear. With Jake in the middle of all of them and the two secret service agents on either side, they moved out and headed for the stairs.
The guards indicated that the director had been for the most part living out of his office, which indicated it was going to be a climb up the stairs to get there. The guards also indicated that there were people on every floor and some with families. The family’s part caught Jake by surprise, he wondered, ‘If they’re all living here where is the food and water coming from as well as the fuel to run the generators?’ He had a lot of questions that only the director could answer.
Arriving on the floor where the director’s office was located they exited the stairwell and into the hallway, the doors were being guarded by two very large men with MP-5’s. Jake thought it a bit odd that the director of the NSA needed this type of protection. Jake directed the Soldiers towards the office and they were stopped by the two men. The Soldiers immediately went into action by raising their weapons at the two men. Frankly the two men guarding the director’s door were outnumbered and would have been killed if they made the wrong move. It’s not that Soldiers were out to kill anyone it was only that they had been in similar situations over the past several months, none of them good.
Jake pushed through the Soldiers and pulled out his credentials and waived them at the two men, “I’m the President’s Chief of Staff and I’m here to see the director, now.” Stated Jake emphatically.
The two men looked at the credentials; the one to the right turned and entered the office, two minutes later he returned, “I’m sorry the director’s not available.”
Jake stood there taking it in and nodding his head. “Look,” Jake said to the two men. “This is how it’s going to go down. You two disappear right now or I will have you forcibly removed by my friends here. If you fire at them they will have no problem in putting you down.”
The two men looked at each other and then the Soldiers who were pointing their weapons at them, they were ready to fire. The two men stepped aside and handed their weapons over to the Soldiers and left. The Soldiers kept their weapons sited on the men until they were out of sight, Jake stepped forward and shoved the door open to the director’s office. The director was sitting at his desk, staring at his computer monitor which was apparently working. When Jake barged into the office it scared the director, he jumped out of his chair, “What do you what?” yelled the director.
Jake stopped in his tracks and stared at the director who was visibly upset at the interruption. “I’m here at the direction of the President, you know, your boss.” Jake said.
There was a tremendous amount of fire in Director Vance’s eyes as he tried to stare down the Presidents’ Chief of Staff. “Won’t work you know?” said Jake flatly.
“What won’t work?” asked Director Vance.
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“You’re giving me that stare like I’m one of your minions that’s done something wrong.”
“Am I doing that?”
“Cut the bullshit Vance, the President is concerned that you’re going rogue on him and he’s sent me to find out what’s going on.”
“Why does he think that?” Director Vance becoming defensive.
“Oh I don’t know…that you have stopped responding to his requests for status updates from you on personnel, equipment, network and satellite status, basically what’s functioning and what isn’t. Not to mention a moment ago you had your two goons try and tell me I wasn’t welcome.”
“I’ve been busy.” Was the Directors only response.
Jake turned to the Soldiers in the room, “Please place Director Vance under arrest.”
Startled by the order the Director jumped up from his desk, quickly opened one of the drawers and pulled out a pistol pointing it at Jake. “I think it’s time for you to leave.” Stated Director Vance to Jake.
A shot rang out, the Director dropped to the desk slumping over it, knocking the computer monitor off of it. The Soldier to the far right had followed his training, when confronted by an angry civilian with a firearm fire first explain later. Jake quickly looked at the Soldier that fired the shot that killed the Director, “You done?” asked Jake.
The Soldier lowered his weapon and made no apologies for his actions, a half dozen people rushed into the room to see what happened, it included the two men that were standing out front. Jake turned to the Soldiers and asked them to clear everyone away and secure the area. Jake moved to the Directors desk and pushed his body back into his seat and rolled him away from the desk, he wanted to see what he was doing on his computer. He picked up the monitor and placed it back on the desk, it was no worse for wear, although one of the cables had disconnected, Jake found it easy to reattach.
Once that was done, he hit the space bar on the keyboard to wake up the computer, it started opening on the control, alt and delete – typical for windows. Jake executed the commands and found him at the authentication screen and it asking for a password. He had no idea what it was, he then powered down the computer, disconnected everything and picked it up to take with him.
One of the guards from downstairs was still with the group, “Do you know if Associate Director Spalding is still here?” Jake asked the guard.
“Yes sir, he should be last I saw him he was one floor down speaking with some of the analysts.”
Jake walked out of the Directors office carrying the computer; he was still flanked on either side by the secret service agents and the Soldiers that hadn’t left to secure the floor. They all made their way back to the stairwell and headed down a single flight of stairs. They entered the hallway where Jake stood there looking around to gain his bearings. He found several people that looked like they hadn’t seen a good meal and a shower in weeks standing near one of the office doors. He walked towards them and once there he asked, “Do any of you know where Associate Director Spalding is?”
One of the men signaled with his thumb that the Associate Director was in the office they were waiting out in front of. “Ok great!” said Jake.
Jake stepped through the men near the door, turned the door knob and barged into the office to find Associate Director in a very compromising position with a young woman who was bent over the desk with the Associate Director standing behind her. Jake stopped in his tracks, staring at the two of them at the desk. He quickly looked down, but the Soldiers with him kept on staring, Jake wasn’t sure it was for security purposes or for their own amusement.
“Spalding would you please pull your pants back up and have the woman leave the office? Now!” Jake was irritated by what he found.
With the office now holding half a dozen people watching the spectacle Spalding was pulling up his pants as quickly as he could while fumbling with his belt. The woman pulled down her dress quickly and walked quickly out of the office with her head down.
“I don’t understand why you’re all here?” said Associate Director Spalding.
“You’re now the Director of NSA unless of course you decide to pull a gun.” Replied Jake.
Spalding stood there looking of the Presidents Chief of Staff, “I don’t understand? What happened?”
“Do you know what the Director was up to? Why he cut communications to the White House?”
Spalding looked confused, “He told me this morning he had a 10am meeting with the President.”
“He hasn’t spoken to the White House in weeks.”
Spalding’s eyes went wide, he understood he ramifications for himself if he didn’t distance himself for the Director. “Look Jake I have no idea what Vance was up to. What’s happened?”
“I was up in his office, I barged in and he was working on this computer. When I asked him what he was doing and why he had severed communications with the President he refused to answer. I then informed him he was under arrest. As the Soldiers moved to handcuff him he pulled a pistol and aimed it at us. One of the Soldiers shot him, not a wise move. So tag you’re it!”
Spalding was eyeing the computer Jake was carrying with him, “Is that his computer?”
“Yes it is, why?” Jake asked, Spalding was acting suspicious.
“What do you plan on doing with it?”
“Take it back to the White House and get one of our techs to go through it. We’ll find out what he was up to.”
“You could leave it here and our analysts could do that.”
“No thanks, I’ll feel much better if I handle it on my end.”
“Alright no problem.” Spalding said. “What do you need for me to do in the mean time?”
“First I want you to stop humping the help.” Said Jake smiling, hoping to ease the tension in the room. “Next, the President expects a full report on everything NSA in the next forty-eight hours, on his desk. In fact bring it over and brief him.”
“I’ll get on it now.”
“Don’t let me and the President down Spalding, I’d hate for you to end up like the Director.”
With that said Jake turned and left the office heading back to the stairwell, down the stairs and out the front entrance they had destroyed a couple of hours earlier. Sitting in the Humvee looking at the NSA building as they drove away Jake knew there was more going on and Spalding knew what it was.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jake returned to the White House and to the Oval Office to brief the President, but no before stopping over at White House Communications to drop off the computer with explicit instructions to find out what’s on it. He gave them a bit under forty-eight hours to determine the hard drive contents and brief him. He wanted to be ready with the hard drive information when Spalding came over to give his briefing on the overall NSA status.
Jake meets with the President at 1800 that evening in the Oval Office, it was a fairly informal meeting. Jake was also notified by the President’s secretary that he had something else he wanted to speak to him about. Jake returned to his office before the meeting, washed up and changed clothes, he felt like a new man. Jake entered the Oval Office it was only him and the President and it was hopefully a quick meeting. Jake took a seat across from the President, his secretary brought in some coffee and cheese sandwiches. Before the event there would have been an entire spread brought in but now, well beggars couldn’t be choosers.
The President spoke first, “What happened over at NSA? I heard Vance was shot and killed.”
Jake thought word traveled fast, “Yes sir it’s true. Vance pulled a pistol after I told him he was under arrest. He pointed the pistol at myself and the Soldiers, one of the Soldiers shot him, self-defense as far as I’m concerned.”
“I see.” President Washington said. “What led to you placing him under arrest?”
“Sir essentially he stated that he no longer believed you had any authority over him or the NSA and he was going to do as he pleased. I asked him what he was up to and he
refused to answer the question while at the same time working on his computer. That’s when I told him he was under arrest and asked the Soldiers to take him into custody.”
“Alright what happened after that?”
“I went over to his desk, moved his body, it was slumped over the desk and tried to access his computer in an attempt to find out what he was doing. The computer was password protected and I was unable to access it. I removed the computer and brought it with me. However, not before tracking down Associate Director Spalding, who I found down on the next floor in an office humping one of the female staff members.” Jake let that hang in the air for a moment; he could hear the President groan at hearing that.
“Go on.” The President said.
“Well after Spalding got his pants back on and the woman exited the office, I explained to him that he was now in charge of the NSA and we expected a briefing here at the White House in the next forty-eight hours.”
“Is that all?”
“No sir, he was very interested in Vance’s computer, too interested if you ask me. He offered to take it off my hands and have his own people look at it. I have a feeling that if I did that I’d never see it again, call it a gut instinct.”
“Where’s the computer now?”
I dropped it off at White House Communication’s with instructions to get me everything on it within the next thirty-nine hours. I want to have the information in hand when Spalding comes over to give his briefing. I think he knows something but isn’t talking.”
