by David Archer
Chapter TWENTY-EIGHT
Allison stared at her for a moment, then slowly shook her head. “You absolutely amaze me,” she said. “All of you. You have callously planned the deaths of a quarter million people with no other genuine motive than your own comfort, wealth, and power. Congresswoman, there is absolutely no possibility that you will continue to live your life as you’ve known it. You have proven yourself a traitor to your country, possibly even to the human race, and you deserve absolutely no compassion or comfort.” She looked around the room. “Who else knows the details of these events? Is there anyone here who has that information and understands that the best you can hope for is life in a federal prison?”
Half a dozen hands waved in the air, and Allison looked back at Willamette. “It appears that you’ve been outbid,” she said. She reached behind her back and drew her pistol, calmly aimed at the Congresswoman’s face, and squeezed the trigger.
The loud report caused half the people in the room to scream and cover their ears, and several actually vomited as the congresswoman’s head exploded. Her body bounced against the back of the chair and then slithered out onto the floor, her head turned so that the gaping wound where her eyes and nose had been was visible to most of them.
Allison looked at Mikesell. “Are you interested in survival?”
Edgar Mikesell, Director of Intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security, raised one bleeding hand and extended his middle finger. Allison aimed her gun at his head, but then lowered it.
“Finish him,” she said to Jenny.
The girl flashed her a big smile, then turned and drew her knife across Mikesell’s throat. Blood sprayed out for a few seconds, and his head sagged down onto his chest as he died.
“Now, listen up,” Allison said. “I have absolutely no reason to be merciful to any of you. However, in the interest of preserving life in this country, I will make one offer.” She paused, then motioned for Neil to come close to her and whispered in his ear. He listened, then nodded his head, and Allison looked around again. “One by one, you will each tell this young man everything you know about the horrific events that you helped to plan. He will make a video recording of your confessions, which absolutely will be used to guarantee that you will spend the rest of your lives in a federal corrections facility. Now, in the interest of justice, I must first state that you do have the right to remain silent. However, under Classified Presidential Action Directive Number 92, in matters of National Security that involve charges of treason, the Director of Elimination and Eradication may, upon a request from any American agency involved in preserving said National Security—or on her own volition—order the immediate elimination of any suspect who refuses to cooperate. Do all of you understand what I’m saying?”
Most of those present nodded or stated that they did understand, and Allison nodded her acknowledgment.
“Neil,” she said, “take one at a time into another room. Record everything they say, be sure to have them identify themselves and state their confession to being part of the Ascension Project on the video. Sarah, you go with him to keep them covered.”
Hands shot up again, and Neil pointed at Herschel Robinette. “You first,” he said. Sarah had handed Jenny’s gun back to her, and now aimed her own at Robinette as they walked out of the room.
“Now,” Allison said, “while they’re having a little chat, there’s something else I want to find out about. We know that you people have been working with a group in Russia that is trying to accomplish the same thing over there. I want names, and I want them now. Who’s going to give them to me?”
Several of the people looked at each other, confused, but no hands went up. Noah raised his rifle again and pointed it at Perkins. “I understand Senator Perkins has been handling a lot of the contact with the Russians,” he said.
Allison turned to Perkins. “Bill? I’ll give you the same deal I offered before. You talk, you live, but in federal custody.”
Perkins gave her a sour look. “Do you think a federal prison, with underpaid and undertrained staff, could keep the Bratva from getting to me if they wanted to? That’s who we deal with over there. They’d kill me if I give up any information.”
“I’m going to kill you if you don’t,” Noah said. “Which way do you expect will let you live longer?”
“I’ll make you a counteroffer,” Perkins said. “I want witness protection, but under your division. I don’t care if you turn me into your house boy, I don’t care if you put an ankle monitor on me, I don’t care about anything other than not being where they can get to me.”
Allison looked at him for a few seconds, then cocked her head slightly. “Do you honestly think the information you’ve got is that valuable to us?”
“I guarantee it,” Perkins said. “And it’s doubly valuable for its rarity. I’m the only one still alive who knows our contacts over there. Lindemann, Perkowski, and I handled that, no one else.”
“Then you’ve got a deal. Marco, whatever happens, don’t let any harm come to him.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Marco said.
A woman raised her hand, like a school kid waiting to ask a question. Allison pointed at her and nodded. “Go ahead,” she said.
“I—I just wanted to ask,” the woman began, “what happens if we don’t know anything? What if we don’t know any information to give you? Some of us—we were just kind of dragged into this thing. I mean, I’m only part of this because…” She licked her lips nervously. “I only got invited in because I’ve been sleeping with my boss, and he doesn’t want it to end.” She glanced at Senator Lawrence, her face red with shame.
Allison smiled at her, the kind of smile a shark wears just before dinner. “Trust me, dear,” she said. “You probably know more than you think you do. As long as you give me a full and complete confession of your involvement, the deal for prison instead of a bullet stands. There might even be the possibility of some kind of leniency, in certain cases.” She looked around. “Just bear in mind that the more information you give us, the more comfortable that prison stay, or the possibility of mercy, is likely to be.”
She looked around and pointed at another man who had been sitting quietly near Duckworth. “Senator Ryan,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am?” Ryan said cautiously.
“You are the Chairman of the secret Senate committee on intelligence oversight, am I correct?”
“Yes, ma’am, you are correct.”
“I further believe that you have been using your position within the Ascension Project to assist in providing intelligence and evidence to help shut it down. Am I also correct on this?”
“You are,” Ryan said. Several of the others were staring at him, some hatefully and some in disbelief.
“As the chairman of that committee, you are empowered to call a meeting of the committee at any time, so long as you have a quorum of the members. How many members are on your committee?”
Ryan grinned. “Thirteen,” he replied. “And I’m sure you’re aware that seven of us are here at this moment.”
Allison nodded. “Yourself, Duckworth, Gibbs, Holloway, Whitehall, Thomason, and Bennett. Are you confident that all of them can be trusted?”
“Absolutely,” Ryan said.
“And with a quorum present, you can vote on and issue indictments for treason.”
“Once again, you are absolutely correct. Shall I convene a meeting at this moment?”
Allison smiled. “I do believe it’s time,” she said.
* * * * *
“The head guy is Antonin Petrokov,” Perkins said. “He’s a major boss in the Bratva, but has also had his finger on the pulse of the politics in Russia for years. President Feodor has been a puppet of his since the election, but for the last year he’s been trying to outgrow his britches. With Petrokov in command of the Russian Council, his puppet strings will be even more firmly attached.”
“That’s one name,” Allison said. “Give me the rest.”
“Yuri Romanov, he’s the new defense minister over there. He and Petrokov are old friends. He’ll be number two in the Russian Council. Number three will be Alex Gorky. Those three are running the whole thing over there, but there’s also a guy named Sergei Rubinsky and a woman named Anastasia Kaminov. I’m not sure what their positions are, but they’re both deeply involved in murder and money laundering.”
“Five names? That’s all you’ve got?” Allison shook her head. “Bill, it’s going to take more than that to get witness protection. You made it sound like you can give up the entire operation over there, but this is…”
“It’s all there is,” Perkins said. “The Russians, they play it all close to the vest. Petrokov is the head guy, he’s the one who calls all the shots. Out of the others, only Romanov and the woman, Anastasia, have any real power. Gorky and Rubinsky are tough guys, but they don’t have the brains for any kind of management potential. That’s one thing about the Bratva, they punish intelligence. The only way to rise in the ranks is to be smart enough not to let anyone notice how smart you are.”
“So there’s no one who could step into Petrokov’s shoes? Take over the operation to keep going, if we eliminate him?”
“Romanov could, or Anastasia. Nobody else. If I were you, I would still take out Gorky and Rubinsky, just to make sure everyone else knows what will happen if they try, but as long as Petrokov, Romanov, and Anastasia are dead, what’s left of the Moscow Bratva will be content to go back to running drugs and girls.”
Allison was seated at a table, with Perkins sitting across from her. Marco was right beside him with his gun still trained on Perkins’ head.
Allison leaned back into her chair and just looked at Perkins for moment. “Assuming that you’ve given us accurate information that is genuinely enough to shut down the Russian faction, just what is it you really expect in return?”
Perkins smiled and raised his eyebrows. “Best case scenario? Keep my involvement under wraps and send me back to my office in D.C. You’ll have your own private pet senator, ready to keep you in the loop on everything going on up on Capitol Hill. But that isn’t what you asked me, is it? You asked me what I really expect. Well, I suppose the right answer to that would be that I only expect to stay alive. Like I told you, if you want to lock me up in your basement and use me for your personal whipping boy, then so be it. The only thing I would ask is that I could have occasional visits with my family. Any possibility you go along with that?”
“Hold that thought,” Allison said. “Marco, don’t let him move.” She got up and left the room, walking down the hall to where Duckworth had taken Ryan and the committee for their private meeting.
She tapped on the door and waited for Ryan to tell her to come in, then stepped inside.
“Perkins just made a suggestion that may have merit,” she said. “Senator Ryan, it occurs to me that there might be some value in having Perkins remain in the Senate. Of course, he’s promised to be my personal eyes and ears on the Hill, but I’m wondering if you might have any thoughts on this matter.”
Ryan grinned. “Are you planning to do to him what you did to Monica Lord? That little chip she carries around that keeps you aware of everything she does or says?”
Allison gave him a smirk. “Hell, Ryan, you know me too well. Of course I would; you honestly think I’d trust a politician?”
“He could be useful,” Ryan said. “My only concern would be that it would give you an awful lot of power. What say you to that?”
“I think you know me well enough to know,” Allison said, “that power is among the last of the things I want. I confess, however, that it wouldn’t break my heart to have someone on Capitol Hill watching my back and doing what he can to protect my interests. The last thing I ever want is another trip to the hoosegow, no matter how luxurious it might be. Any chance you’d let him onto your committee, just to make sure you don’t send the goons after me again?”
Ryan burst out laughing. “Oh! Oh, Allison, if you ever decide to leave public service, you really should go for a career in stand-up comedy. That was the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. Of course not, we already know the man is a traitor. That may be what makes him perfectly suited to your purposes, but I’m not about to let him get hold of top-secret, compartmentalized information.”
“Yeah, I thought you’d react that way. Frankly, if you had said yes, I would’ve started to worry about your honesty and integrity. How are you all coming along in here?”
“We agreed to order indictments against all of the conspirators,” he said. “As soon as you’re done here, we’ll arrange for all of them to be arrested and taken into custody. If you want Perkins, I have no objection, but take him out of here when you leave with your people. I’d rather leave his name out of it completely than let anyone think he was working with us.”
“Some of the others are bound to give up his name under interrogation. You’ll help me handle that when the time comes?”
Ryan nodded. “We’d give him immunity, based on the fact that he cooperated voluntarily. We’ll even imply that he had kept documents of information and was just waiting for the chance to turn them over to the right authorities. That should clear his name with the public, and he can pretend to be some kind of hero.”
“The only problem, then, is his Russian mob connections. Any suggestions on how I keep him safe from the Bratva?”
“That’s easy,” Duckworth said. “We issue a statement that one of the others gave up the Russian names, one of the ones that didn’t survive. They take the heat for that, so all he needs to do is keep on being their friend. If you put a monitor chip on him, he becomes a source of intelligence about what the Bratva is doing.”
Allison shot him a look of pleasant surprise. “Why, Marvin, that’s actually a brilliant, albeit devious, idea. Make it happen. I will let him know he’s the luckiest bastard that ever lived. How soon do you want us to leave? Don’t you want to have FBI here to take care of your prisoners before we slip off into the night?”
“That probably is a good idea,” Holloway said. “The only question is how we explain the dead bodies.”
“We don’t have to explain them,” Ryan said. “This committee has the power to request eliminations from E & E, and did so. Publicly, Delta Force will probably get credit for these kills, as part of a secret operation to put an end to the Ascension Project and capture its membership.”
“Good,” Allison said. “Other than a few conspiracy theory websites, we’ve managed to keep any information about our organization away from the public. I want to keep it that way.”
“So do I,” Ryan said. “I’m calling the FBI right now. If you leave us some handguns, we can keep our prisoners under control until they arrive. You need to get your people out of here.”
“Done.”
* * * * *
Three Days Later
“You’ll be happy to know,” Allison said, “that the White House is going to announce the arrests of the Ascension Project membership this afternoon. You did good work, kids.”
Noah, Sarah, Jenny, Neil, and Marco were sitting around the conference table with her and Jefferson. She had given them a couple of days off, and called them in that morning for debriefing.
“And E & E is back to normal?” Noah asked. “No more oversight?”
“All back to normal. President Cole is coming out here tomorrow for our first meeting, but I spoke with him on the phone and he’s as firmly behind the concept of what we do as the president who created us in the first place. Now that we got Ryan on our side, things should go smoothly for at least a while.”
“Well, I’ve got a question,” Jenny said. “First thing I did when you let us know the other night was call Randy. What’s this about them being transferred to Team Pegasus? I’ve been waiting two whole days to ask about that.”
“Yes, I transferred them over to Pegasus,” Allison said. “Ralph needs an experienced team, and your guys are tough enough to help him grow into the a
sset I know he can be.”
“Yeah, fine, but what about me? You gonna make me start over with a brand-new team?”
Allison’s eyes went wide. “Jenny, I thought you would have figured out by now,” she said. “The events of the last few days have taught me a valuable lesson. I sent you out originally with Camelot to help out with the West Algeria situation, but you were a major contributor to the success of Operation Ascension. I’m not going to give you another team; you’re staying right where you are.”
It was a tossup whether Jenny’s eyes were wider than Neil’s, but both of them seemed absolutely delighted with this turn of events. They stared at Allison for a moment, then grabbed each other for a passionate kiss.
“Okay, that tears it,” Marco said. “Boss lady, you see what I gotta put up with? I got to go out and work with two happy couples. I’m going to need more time off to spend with my girlfriend, if this keeps up.”
“What are you talking about? You guys generally get a month or two between missions, and you’re rarely out for more than a week or two at a time, even then. If you can’t spend enough time with your girlfriend when you’re off duty, that sounds like a personal problem.”
“I’ve got a question,” Noah said.
“Sure, go ahead,” Allison replied. “What is it?”
“We are keeping the house in England,” Noah said. “But I’m also keeping the house here. I’d like to take the team back to England for a month, just to relax and take it easy. Any chance Renée could get time off to come with us?”
Allison glanced at Marco, then grinned as she turned back to Noah. “I actually think that might be an excellent idea. Say hello to Catherine Potts for me, would you?”
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