“There are four submarines around here somewhere and one of these tunnels leads to Nantucket. Another comes out in an old historic mansion on Crosby Lane in Brewster.” Horrigan said.
“Are you kidding me?” Jessie said. “I’ve driven on that road a thousand times.”
“Roosevelt started all this in 1944 and Kennedy finished it up in 1962. Since then, there have been upgrades and modifications by everyone but the little Bush.” Horrigan said and shook his head.
They arrived at a big steel door with a hand sensor and another phone receiver. Horrigan placed his hand and recited the same sequence of code words as before. The door let out a depressurizing hiss and opened outward into the tunnel. Two men greeted them with automatic shotguns. Horrigan gave them the “all clear” and waved Jessie up the ramp.
Jessie sat in a hallway outside another giant door. Horrigan went through the same identification process, and the two guards kept their shotguns pointed squarely at Jessie’s face until the door sucked shut. They stood at ease for the fifteen minutes Horrigan and his men were in there. When the warning sound chimed and the door started to open once more the shotguns came back up. Horrigan came out.
“Strip.” Horrigan said.
“I’ll need some music. Some Britney perhaps.” Jessie said.
Horrigan couldn’t help by smile.
“Down to your boxers, no joke. He wants to see you and I have to prove you aren’t bitten.”
Ten minutes later the door opened and Jessie was presented to The President of the United States.
“Mister Brewster, Horrigan tells me you tried to blow up Maggie’s breakfast nook. I know she overcooks the hash browns but there are levels of retaliation.” The President said and waved Jessie to a chair in front of the President’s deck.
Jessie marveled as he looked around. He was in an exact replica of the White House’s Oval Office.
“There are four of these Mister Brewster. I’ve never actually addressed the nation from the real one.”
“Jessie, sir. My dad was Mister Brewster.”
“Fair enough Jessie, I’m going to cut to the chase here if that works for you.”
Jessie nodded.
“I appreciate what you were trying to do today, but my men couldn’t let you disrupt the plan. There are facts you don’t know.” The President said.
“I know they have my wife, sir and I know they killed a lot of people and I know I’m going to kill them if I have to in order to get her back.” Jessie said.
The president smiled and took a sip from his cup of coffee.
“Jessie, those men are all going to die. They have done an unthinkable thing to our country and are willing to do it again.” The President said.
“What do you mean?” Jessie asked.
The President sat silently studying Jessie for a long time.
“Jessie, what I am going to tell you would have been classified above top secret in the old world, although now, who are we keeping secrets from? Them? To tell you the truth I didn’t even know about the Sawkill strain until it was introduced into population. But understand, no matter what I tell you, you have to act rationally.” The President said.
Jessie sat up in the leather chair and held the president’s gaze.
“Is my family in more danger than I know?” Jessie asked.
“The men on this island are the very ones responsible for the outbreak.”
“What?” Jessie almost screamed.
“They are the team that broke into the Sawkill facility and started all this.” The President said.
“And why didn’t you want me to kill most of them?” Jessie asked.
“Because it’s more complicated than that.” The President said.
“Sir?” Jessie said.
“They have the virus here on the island.”
Jessie’s mouth hung open. The President stood and walked around to the front of his desk and sat on the corner.
“Jessie, they have thirteen people on the island, eleven in uniform and two hidden. One of the hidden guys is on a boat in the harbor with a sniper rifle, and the other one is in the room with the other prisoners pretending to be a tourist being held for starting a fight with one of the uniformed guys. It is an act. We have clear night vision footage of their arrival on our surveillance cameras and have made a positive identification that the guy is one of them.”
Jessie didn’t know what to say. The President continued.
“We don’t know where the virus is, and we don’t know how many containers of the stuff they have. What we do know is for the first three days they killed anyone who came within a quarter mile of the island, then all of a sudden they started taking prisoners. My guys have come up with two possible scenarios. Either they have been alerted to my presence and they are collecting human shields, or they intend to do some kind of experiments. Neither option bodes well for the people in the basement of that church.” The President said.
“Where are the guys from the fighter jets?”
“They landed in Portland and were assassinated by a sweep team. Those boys should arrive here before the Boston bombs drop.”
“What’s the plan?” Jessie asked.
“Our best chance is to get someone into the basement that can identify the mole. We coordinate a plan to take out the sniper on the boat and the guy downstairs simultaneously. Then we kill the second sniper that is skirting the area and that will draw the rest of them to the church. The wildcard is the door guard in the basement. We don’t know what his orders are. If he kicks open the door and starts spraying bullets into the prisoners it’s all for naught.” The President said.
“Do you think the mole has a gun, or the virus?” Jessie asked.
“I’d say most definitely a gun, and possibly the virus. It would make sense to keep it in a place guarded twenty four seven by four guards.”
“Is there more than one room in the church basement?” Jessie asked.
“Floor plans we were able to find show one big room with a pantry and two bathrooms.”
“I’ll take care of the mole and the door guard.” Jessie said sitting back down.
The president laughed heartily.
“And how do you expect to do that?” The President asked.
“Show me the picture of the guy pretending to be the tourist.” Jessie said.
The President went to the phone on his desk and told Horrigan to bring in the file.
“When do you want to do this?” The President asked.
“No time like the present.” Jessie said smiling.
Chapter 27 – The Church
Forty five minutes later Jessie found himself back in the freezer in Edgartown. He had studied the picture of the man in the church basement the whole trip back on the golf cart. He handed the picture back to Horrigan as he got ready to walk out of the bakery and down to Katama Bay, where he planned on stealing a small motorboat.
“You got this?” Horrigan asked
“I got it.” Jessie said and the men shook hands.
“There is no one on this part of the island right now, so head straight south for a long time before circling back to the harbor.”
“I got it.” Jessie said
As he drove the small, slow boat south, he thought about the plan and liked it with a single exception. What if he drives the boat into the harbor and they blow him away on sight? He didn’t think they would. They had stopped doing that days ago, but there was always a possibility. In the end, he decided getting the virus away from these evil men was worth the gamble, and if he failed the secret service would be on alert, guns blazing, in order to sanitize the situation.
Once he felt he was far enough south, he started the big arc to the northeast and his approach on Oak Bluffs. He made sure to stay far enough offshore to remain unseen. Once he got into Oak Bluffs, it looked like the little boat was coming from Cape Cod. The soldiers were alerted to the craft when it was a quarter mile off shore. They let it into the Oak Bluffs marina unmolest
ed. Jessie got out of the boat, tied it and walked up the dock. He said “Hi” to the first guy he came to. The old man was sitting on the pier with a cup of coffee and a paperback.
“Get back in your boat and go friend.” The man said.
Jessie ignored him and continued up the pier towards Lake Ave, just as the tank had. He got as far as the Oak Bluffs Ave crosswalk when one of the soldiers stepped out from behind the steamship authority building.
“Get on your knees.” The soldier said.
Jessie got on his knees and started to make his lower lip quiver.
“I’m looking for my wife.” He said.
“Shut the fuck up.” The soldier said. “Where did you come from?”
“Falmouth. We were supposed to meet there, but she was gone and the boat was gone. I thought maybe they came here without me.” Jessie said.
“We?” the soldier questioned.
“Yeah, me and her and the brothers we were with.” Jessie said. “Are they here? The boat is here.”
“I said shut up. We need to wait for my boss. He should be here soon.” Davolio arrived and asked the routine questions, felt satisfied with the answers, and had Jessie sent to the church basement.
The big guy with the machine gun opened the door and Jessie stepped in. Mauri looked up and her shoulders gave the slightest slug. He had to somehow let her know he was here by choice.
“Jessie, what the hell happened to you?” Mauri asked.
Jessie hadn’t thought about this aspect of the plan, but in a pinch he thought she would catch his drift fast.
“You fucking left me in Falmouth. That’s what happened. You and these two assholes left me for dead. I was thirty goddamn minutes late and you just write me off.”
Mauri was awestruck for a moment, then it clicked.
“We couldn’t wait anymore, they were getting too concentrated. We had to get out of there. It was for our own safety.” Mauri shot back.
Charlie and Patrick just stared at each other not knowing what to make of all this.
“I don’t want to talk about it right now, the most important thing is everyone is alright.” Jessie said, and Mauri took the hint.
She ran to him and hugged him. “I’m sorry we left you.”
“Yeah, we are sorry too, buddy.” Charlie said still not knowing what the hell was going on.
“No, it’s ok, you did the right thing keeping her safe.” Jessie said shaking the big man’s hand.
Jessie looked around the room scanning faces for the mole. He found him quick enough. He was the tall black man sitting in the back corner wearing a Patriots sweatshirt. Jessie avoided eye contact with everyone but Mauri and the brothers.
“Is there anything to eat?” Jessie said. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m starving.”
Mauri got him some food and introduced him to the others. The infiltrator was calling himself Randy. Jessie shook his hand firmly and gave him a warm smile. They sat and talked. Jessie made up a story about getting caught behind a line of zombies in Falmouth and having to double back and how awful it was to walk through the parking lot. He added that it took forever to find a boat he was capable of driving that had keys. In the end he felt that Randy bought it without question. The afternoon turned into evening. They ate the dinner they were given and got ready to gather around the table for after dinner conversation. By ten everyone was ready for bed. Jessie whispered the plan to Mauri as they settled next to each other on the four foot wide cot.
“What about the brothers?” Mauri whispered. “How are we going to tell them?”
“We don’t need to. This will all be over before they know what is going on.” Jessie whispered back.
“What about MacGill outside the door? He’ll start shooting.” Mauri asked.
“No he won’t.” Jessie said. “I made some new friends.” Jessie said and tightened his grip around her waist.
Staying awake waiting for the plan to hatch proved to be the hardest part. Jessie found himself being woken up by the eleven o’clock bells and cranked his neck to see the clock on the wall. He let out a sigh and that was enough to keep him awake for the next hour. When the bell next tolled things happened simultaneously. The sleeping sniper on the boat in the bay was shot through his left eye by the secret service agent who swam out to the snoring man undetected. The dozing sniper on the roof four buildings down from the church took one just above his ear on the left side. The shot was silenced, but the trauma made the man’s finger close around his own trigger and he fired his un-silenced weapon. The report was deafening, but the bullet buried itself in the ground a few feet in front of the building. MacGill heard the shot and ran up the stairs to see what was happening. As soon as he popped his head out the door it was turned into a cloud of red mist, compliments of Horrigan on the fifty cal. Randy in the church basement had reacted on the first shot. He was up and fishing in his sweatshirt pocket for his pistol and never saw Jessie coming. On his short sprint across the room Jessie removed the butter knife he had pocketed at dinner. He sprung off the chest of the guy laying on the cot next to Randy and came down, knife in both hands, square into the middle of Randy’s neck. The man dropped like a sack of potatoes and never moved again.
“Now what?” Mauri asked.
“Everyone in the men’s room, right now!” Jessie shouted.
Once they were all in the small toilet Jessie opened the door and peeked out. No movement.
“Why are we all in here?” someone in the back asked.
“In case they try not to leave any witnesses. If everything went to plan there are nine left. We hold tight and hope the President keeps up his end of the bargain.” Jessie said.
“You son of a bitch” Mauri said smiling.
Ten minutes later the remaining soldiers came down Lave Ave in two tight formations. Alternately running and covering, covering and running. They closed on the church. One of them was on a small microphone attached to his shoulder. “MacGill, Dion, report.”
They got to within thirty feet of the church entrance. Davolio and his squad were hidden behind a strategically placed Suburban while the other team was across the street on the porch of a small business. Davolio gave the signal to advance. The second squad took two steps towards the church and took no more steps after that.
Gunfire erupted from every direction. Some of it was small caliber sidearm fire, some of it was Horrigan on the fifty cal, and the rest was everything in between. It took the six well placed secret service men ten seconds to confirm the last eight kills.
Everyone in the men’s room was scared and screeching and trying to get as low as possible. Once the firing stopped they mostly composed themselves. A few moments later there was a bang in the main room.
“Brewster, its Horrigan. We are clear out here.” The big man said.
The prisoners slowly came out of the bathroom and made their way up the stairs and out onto Lake Ave.
“Horrigan, this is my lovely wife Mauri.” Jessie said.
“Missus Brewster, you have quite a fellow here.”
Mauri started to say thank you, but stopped.
“Horrigan?” Mauri asked smiling.
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Thank you Mister Horrigan.”
The scene on Lake Ave was horrific. There were body parts, guts, and blood everywhere. One of the prisoners threw up as soon as he came out of the church. A vehicle approached from the east and stopped in front of the police station.
“Looks like you have a visitor.” Horrigan said nodding at Jessie.
Jessie took Mauri’s hand and they approached the SUV.
“Are you fucking for real?” Mauri asked.
“Please don’t say ‘fuck’ in front of him.” Jessie asked with a smile.
The door opened and the President stepped out of the SUV to greet the Brewsters and the other prisoners.
“Jessie, well done, you really came through.” The President said.
“Jessie?” Mauri said grinning. “On fir
st a name basis with the President are we?”
Jessie just shook his head and shook the President’s hand.
“Your husband has done good here tonight, Ma’am.”
“Mauri. If you’re going to call him Jessie you are sure as shit not going to call me ma’am.” Mauri said and shook his hand.
Charlie and Patrick, and several of the men and women were introduced to the president before he was pulled aside for a briefing. Once the pow-wow was over, he came back to the Brewsters.
“You kids better get home and get some sleep, tomorrow is going to be a big day.”
Chapter 28 – A Riser
Horrigan sat watching the President has he read the file. He had a great respect for the man. He knew how quickly and unexpectedly it all went to hell, and he thought he did better than most would have. God forbid if this had happened while W was still golly-geeing his way through the presidency.
“I don’t get it.” The President said interrupting Horrigan’s train of thoughts. “He’s been a cook, a delivery driver, and a shift supervisor? Now he’s a safety consultant? Is this a cover?”
“I don’t think so sir. I was able to look at his home PC and he has pay stubs, W2s and even letters of recommendation in PDF files. Everything I’ve seen seems legit. His social is legit and not flagged. The only thing that caught my attention was that he was cleared by homeland for unrestricted airport access.” Horrigan said.
“What was that for?”
“His new job. He did safety audits on the Shipper’s Pride airplane at Logan, JFK, Manchester and TF Green.”
“This background is accurate as well?”
“Never been arrested, never been put on any lists, never been out of the country besides Canada and the Islands.”
“Come on Chris, no one is this clean.” The President said.
“He’s not a perfect angel. According to his driving record he has been given eight speeding tickets in three states, and has crashed and totaled three different vehicles, although he was not found at fault for any of them.”
“That’s it?”
“No.” Horrigan said smiling. “He has over ten thousand stolen songs, three thousand e-books and almost three hundred pirated movies on his hard drive.”
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