It appeared that the flash was either shot at—or from—Matia Island State Park. Lauren’s tacos showed up and she ate quickly. She was going to have to get a news station on in the truck right away. She had left a message for Scott and he still hadn’t called her back, which was kind of unusual. Her pills were wearing off and her neck was stiffening up.
The TV news was of course repeating itself over and over. The speculation was that the police action on Lummi Island was tied to today’s terror bombings. She scooped some rice and beans on a chip and put some salsa on board. She was in food heaven, as this place was really good, and as it was in her life, every time she allowed herself a moment of joy, for whatever reason, it was always followed by something bad to counter it.
Before she could get away from a really good lunch at a reasonable price, Los Perrico’s became the place that she would always remember in infamy. She would always know where she was when she heard the news, like people did with the Kennedy assassination or the Moon landing. Seattle’s NBC affiliate broke into the news with a live broadcast from within their NBC studio in Seattle.
Stuart Blackburn was Seattle’s top news anchor, and they gave him the lead in for this breaking story. Stuart was announcing that he was going to be interviewing the Seattle Star’s tech reporter, Scott Bailey, and his editor, Tina Polanski.
Blackburn settled in on one side of the studios coffee table, with Tina and Scott sitting across from him on a small couch. “Scott, we understand you and your editor, Tina Polanski, have some breaking news you would like to share with our viewers.”
Scott spoke very unevenly, obviously not used to the camera, “Yes, Stu, I’m the Internet Watchdog for the Star and I run a daily section on “All Things Tech.” Two weeks ago I ran an article about a new game startup by Robert Leme, creator of the SIM game sensation, Top of the Heap. In my article, Leme named his new CEO as a local Seattle resident. I was able to get a photo and place it in the article.”
Blackburn further led the interview, “So is that particular article intrinsic to this story, Scott?”
“Yes, Stu, it is. There is something very interesting about Mr. Thomas Holsinger, game creator and CEO of Mr. Leme’s new offshoot brand.”
“And what’s that Scott?”
“We believe, that is, I believe, and my editor stands beside me, that Tom Holsinger is really none other than Matt Hurst.”
Blackburn looked stunned, “That’s a wild accusation. Do you have anything to back that up?”
Stuart had a look like he’d just fucked up by taking this “Exclusive Story.” He could just see John Stewart having a field day with this material on the “Daily Show.” It was live TV, he was trapped, good thing for him they were on the level, but that would come out later, for now it was anxiety time for Stuart Blackburn.
“Stu, the police action happening right now on Lummi Island is at the home of Tom Holsinger, we just confirmed. We’ve brought file photos of Hurst from the past and now Holsinger from the present. The changes in him are small. They are effective unless you are thinking Matt Hurst, then it becomes quite easy to spot.
“The day I took his photo, Hurst had traveled back into this country, not as Matt Hurst, but as a Norm Clausen, whom later research revealed does not exist. If this is not Matt Hurst, then Mr. Holsinger wouldn’t mind coming out and explaining that I am wrong. But I have confidence that this is our man.”
As Scott said that, he looked into the camera with an extra smugness that was reserved for her. Scott could be acid if crossed. Lauren often saw him getting Machiavellian revenge on hapless waiting staff that crossed him, especially while shopping. He was so good at it that she thought he was gay at first, he could bring a person to near tears with words. Afterward, when it was just the two of them, he would have this special satiated look on his face. That was the face he was showing right now.
If it were possible, she would have split open and exploded chicken tacos all over the place. The level of deception, the depth of dream destroying bad ethics was unfathomable! Tears were welling up as she headed out to her beast of a vehicle and she vowed that Scott Bailey would not get away with this outrage! How could he do this to me?!
* * *
Ray’s phone went off and he picked it up on the second ring. It was Sarah Berkman, Eric Barnett’s Assistant Director. Ray inquired, “Hi, Sarah, what’s up?”
“Your office is being notified as we speak, there was a laser shot up in Washington State, either up into Space or down to Earth. That is unknown at this time. Several witnesses saw it, but no one could tell if it originated from Matia Island State Park into Space, or from Space to the island. Our grids are set up to see incoming missiles, not things shot straight down. Same deal with the meteorite that hit Russia, none of their missile defense shields went off. It’s something we need to work on.”
“So no casualties?” Ray asked with curiosity?
“No, but I got word on the personal favor you asked about our mutual friend, Mr. Hurst. I found his family. His parents were on the ferry by all indications. They purchased sundries in the Kingston Ferry Terminal an hour before the bomb. His wife and son are in a hospital in Anacortes. Report is they are both comatose, apparently the victims of some kind of poisoning.”
Ray shot back with incredulity, “Poisoning?”
“Yeah, they were brought in from a Seattle Park after the plane and ferry crash. All normal ambulances were dispatched out and this was a transport company. The doctor I spoke to in Anacortes said that they’re both comatose, apparent victims of a neurotoxin.
“Hurst was there, but went home to check on his parents and get a travel bag together, as their doctor, Dr. Singh, is set to transfer his family to San Francisco since their vitals are stable. Ray, according to Singh, a shooting happened in the parking lot soon after Hurst left the hospital.”
Both Sarah and Ray had a vested interest in Matt’s well being. She was the first person to make contact with him inside Manuel’s lair after Matt brought them down, and Ray put him back together. Sarah also stood with Matt at the funeral for his pregnant lover, whom he had to gun down to save the world from a great hardship that would have killed millions.
Sarah went on, “Local authorities searched the area after witnesses described a white male driving an SUV that was under heavy fire from a high-powered rifle. The witnesses furthered that the SUV then fled at a high rate of speed while the bullets continued to hit the car and blew out its rear window.”
Ray knew that somehow Matt had survived that assault with the high-powered rifle, escaped, and made it home, where he was assaulted again. He then made it out to Matia Island, where the laser shot happened, and now he was gone again. It had to be. It was the only thing that made sense.
Sarah continued, “We’ve stood down local authorities. It’s a state park, so the Coast Guard closed it off until our team can ascertain what happened.”
“Okay, Sarah, that’s a great succinct version, I appreciate it. Please send me the long version in our usual manner so I can compress it.”
“Hope I helped.”
Ray replied, “You did, immensely. Thanks, Sarah.”
They hung up and Ray knew he was asking a lot for her to help him; Eric might not take kindly to it. Ever since Ray had known her, though, he knew if you wanted someone found methodically, Sarah Berkman was the person for the job. She was the former assistant to a sinister man who used to be in her position, but he turned out to be so evil that Matt Hurst had executed him. It was a crime Matt had never answered for, as it was ruled that Beck’s victim, Vera, was in deadly peril from him at the time of his death.
Sarah survived Ken Beck and more to the point, Ken Beck survived in his position back then because of Ray and Sarah. Ray knew Beck used him as a psychological analyzer on all of his cases. Beck knew he was also a super sleuth and would not be able to stop himself from coming up with a theory and synopsis that would almost always be right. Then he would use Sarah’s incredible tactical sk
ills to coordinate the completion.
Ray knew by definition the hallmark of a great manager was the ability to delegate. Except, when Ken Beck did it, it somehow was sleazy. He wasn’t aligning good people he would groom under him, he was aligning people better than him and then he would ride them. It was a brilliant plan, and all it took was for him to be such a major reprobate that no one dared call him on his behavior. Every time Ray thought of Ken Beck, he gained new respect for Ms. Sarah Berkman.
Ray looked out his window. The day had become overcast and it played to his darkening mood. It would appear that Pablo killed Matt’s parents and most likely would end up killing his family. And now he was trying to kill Matt for the coupe de grâce. Matt never stood a chance, but at least now Ray knew for sure where he would head the first chance he got. And when he got there, he would have a Guardian Angel waiting for him. Maybe he could help extract a pound of flesh and save his friend all at the same time.
His line rang as he was gathering his things to head to the White House. It was Sarah again. The White House was going to have to wait, as Eric was requesting his presence in the homeland threat-assessment room.
He left his office on the double and when he got to the room, Eric had a live TV feed on. The room was silent and he took his seat. It was an interview and within five minutes Ray was pale. Matt was being exposed. Some Internet watchdog/blogger turned reporter had figured out Matt’s alias and was now spilling it on national TV. Today of all days! Man, Ray could see it now; every conspiracy-theory nut in the country was going to be going to the hoop hard on this one.
Matt would immediately be linked to today’s events, of course, as it was inevitable that the correlation would be made. The Federal Investigation Team was already on the Matia State Island. This was crazy, and Ray knew he was going to be asked some assessment questions real soon. He needed more key pieces of information, but it looked like President Caulfield would have to make a decision on Hurst now. What a cluster fuck.
He was so down the rabbit hole that he didn’t hear a word Eric said to him until it clicked he was being spoken to, “Ray, are you listening to me?”
Ray snapped out of it. “Sorry, Eric, calculating.”
“Okay, like I was saying, we’re trying to ascertain right now about what happened on the island. Once we have data to crunch I’m going to need assessments from all Directors. More than anything else, we need to know the source of that pulse. We were lucky enough to have two agents in the immediate area and that is going to save us some critical time. The Feds have the island sealed off and we are waiting. No one is going home tonight people, the sleeping giant just got woke up.
“All of this smells like a foreign threat has already set up shop here and even John Q Public is going to put that together. We need something to report to the White House because this is all coming to a head and the President is going to need to speak to the people.”
Sarah looked across the room to Ray and tried to apologize with the eyes as she looked at her tablet and announced, “Matt Hurst’s family has been located. His parents were most likely on the ferry and his wife and son have been located in the community hospital in Anacortes, near the Canadian Border. They are both comatose, apparent victims of a biological attack.”
Jeff Walton was the up and comer and was in on this meeting because Eric willed it. Of course, Eric also told him to shut his mouth and learn, so he was surprised when he blurted out, “Planes shot down with a Hurst associated pilot, boats blown up, lasers, and now Matt Hurst pops up. It’s obvious we are dealing with Pablo Manuel here, but why no transmissions this time? All of this fits his MO except for no transmissions. Pablo liked to talk a lot before, now nothing.”
Sarah interrupted, “I have Kim Callahan who is requesting she be fed in live to this meeting.”
Eric told Sarah, “Bring her in, but everyone knows to watch their words here,” he purposely glared at Jeff.
Kim came live on the monitor at the far end of the conference table. After the usual salutations, Kim got right to it, “What do we know, people?”
Eric answered, as was the normal convention in these types of high-level situations. Dealing with Kim Callahan was like dealing with a mental bully, even worse than Ray, if that was possible. Eric knew his answers needed to be complete as they were being automatically dissected and processed by a supercomputer.
The number one rule was never lie to Kim Callahan. She would sniff out and uncover a lie faster than anyone Eric had ever known. When you spoke to her it must be calculated and it must be truthful—half-truths were just as bad as lies. Eric answered her query, “We’re waiting on the assessment from the island before we make a call on this. It appears that the reporter is credible and all indicators are that we are under attack from Manuel. The only variance from his usual MO is no cyber attack or sheep message.”
Kim added, “I thought about that Eric, with this Matt Hurst info breaking, it would only seem logical that we hear from Manuel.”
“There’s more, Kim, minutes ago. Sarah was able to ascertain that Hurst’s wife and son are now fighting for their lives in Anacortes, an apparent victim of a biological attack. The community hospital has them; they were brought in comatose from Seattle. We also believe his parents were on the ferry. We have them making a purchase an hour before in the Ferry Building.”
Sarah’s Comm line lit up and they had a second feed come in. It was Monica Gutierrez, on site on Matia Island. Once she was set up, Sarah instructed her on whom she was addressing and let her go.
Monica narrated, “We found a body here. I’m sending the photo.”
Everyone at the table had a tablet and a picture of a small bald man with his throat ripped out and his right arm mauled appeared in living color before them. He had tattoos all over his body, even on his bald head, which was also split open at the bridge of the nose. Sarah had seen this type of man before, as had all the people at this table. This man resembled the video warriors that Pablo Manuel had used to cripple the USS George H.W. Bush Carrier Group. They accomplished this with a drone navy and fleet of air flyers.
The presence of this man confirmed that Pablo Manuel was a part of the equation. The agents needed to move the body to get to what lay underneath. Next was a live video feed of a patch of earth that was literally melted, and on the edge of this patch was also a half melted weapon. Upon circumspection, they found it to be a rifle. The fallen soldier with his throat ripped out had a weapon nearby, so this was someone else’s. In some parts, the soil had been melted into ashtray like glass, and the collected minds around the CIA’s conference table all knew that whatever did this was very powerful.
Eric spoke, “Thank you, Monica, please continue to process the area and let us know what else you find.” He terminated the feed. “Okay, we have a lot of work to do people. We need Steve Hatten brought in right away. This laser shot could have come from a plane, and we know the Air Force was up and running around Seattle. Surely they have data we can tap into. Kim, can you talk to the POTUS, please?
Kim answered, “Of course, I’ll see if we can expedite things. I take it we are going to put a lot of resources up in Washington State to support Hurst and debrief him?”
“That would be the plan, Kim, thank you and we’ll talk before the hour is up.”
The line disconnected and Kim looked at her boss with concern. He was in a real jam. TJAC put them both into power, and Lawrence allowed the implementation of Chase’s laser satellite and several others just like it. His fear was that some other foreign power would try to repeat what Manuel almost accomplished and Chase was more prepared than the U.S. Government to get the birds up. They were never supposed to be used though, unless it was absolutely necessary. He looked at Kim and was going to speak when the Blackberry on his waistband vibrated.
Kim had an exact duplicate of that phone. It was Chase texting him. Lawrence looked at the phone and reported, “Hurst called in, and according to him, Pablo Manuel is dead, that laser shot t
ook him out. Matt is now heading to the Anacortes community hospital via a seaplane and Doug Sharp is flying.”
Kim replied with a calmness that belied the situation, “I would let flow a series of expletives right now to exclaim how impossible that statement must be, but it’s becoming redundant as this man is somehow connected to the center of the universe. Well, Lawrence, at least we now know that it went for something good, and we didn’t just lose all our jobs for nothing. Now, how do we spin this so we don’t?”
The President mused, “I’ve been thinking about that and I think I’ve done your job for a change and come up with a solution. Well, first of all, we’ve been hiding Hurst, so we need a spin. Plus, we used a laser that no one knew about. My dear friends like Eric Barnett are now going to try to have me impeached before this is all said and done.”
Lawrence had his hand on his chin, pretending he was working something out, “There is one person, though, who really doesn’t like you or me and for that reason he’s our key out of this.”
Kim’s brow was furrowed as she answered, “You said it, Lawrence, I’m the one that’s supposed to come up with this stuff and before we do anything with your plan I want to put it under a microscope.”
“Well, Kim, you do just that, but your lab session is going to be as long as it takes Steve Hatten to get here, I’ve already summoned him.”
“General Steve Hatten?! What the heck are you thinking, Sir? General Hatten doesn’t just dislike us, Lawrence, he hates our guts!”
Lawrence looked like a man who was convinced, “He might really hate us, but you’re the one who told me to study him. I know the man and I know what he desires more than anything in the world, so we can use that to our advantage here. If we play this right, we will not expose TJAC. I need you to get a speech together that covers this topic.”
Kim looked over the paper the leader of the free world just handed her and commented, “Not bad.”
Without Wrath (Harbinger of Change Book 3) Page 23
