by J C Ryan
***
By the time, Air Force One touched down in Paris, Grant had the assurance that the stash of equipment removed by Bill and his team were already en route to DC. That was one less thing to worry about. He and Constance agreed it was best not to volunteer any information about the removal of the equipment unless the French brought it up.
President Robichaux of France was visibly cranky when they sat down for the meeting. The US ambassador had given him very little information about the Nabateans, but it was enough to infuriate him that he was not informed months earlier. After his meeting with Robichaux, the ambassador called and informed President Grant what to expect.
Robichaux welcomed them curtly and got right down to business. “I take it this has to do with the Nabateans, which your ambassador told me about earlier?”
Grant nodded, but before he could say anything, Robichaux continued.
“As a NATO member and ally and supporter of the US for many years, I have to place on record my disappointment about being kept in the dark about this until now.”
Grant held his hand up and started with an apology and then asked Robichaux to allow him to explain and give him the full picture.
At times, they spoke to each other in raised tones, and at times they managed to allow a grin and even a smile to decorate their otherwise grim-looking faces.
Grant and Constance operated like cogs in a Swiss watch.
Within the first half hour of the meeting Grant had told him about the unauthorized and totally illegal raid on Graziella’s mansion and the underground facility but managed to explain about the urgency and timing. It took some nifty footwork from both Grant and Constance to placate Robichaux after that revelation.
But in the end, they got him over the line as he accepted part of the blame for his security agencies’ ineptness for never knowing this was happening right under their noses for so many years. It was embarrassing, and he had the courage to admit it.
He immediately issued orders to the Chief of Police to take everyone at Graziella’s house into custody and report back to him.
It took another almost four hours before they convinced President Robichaux everything was still good between the USA and France and that this operation was in the best interest of both countries. Grant had to throw in a few guarantees that all information, technologies, and advancements gained from the Nabateans would be shared with France and other close allies.
Robichaux didn’t mention anything about the equipment removed from French soil. He must have believed them when they told him the equipment had been moved with the people who were evacuated before the US team arrived.
In the end, Robichaux was gracious enough to thank Grant for saving France and the world from the Nabatean tyranny through their timely actions.
After this, Robichaux was looking around the room asking if there were any other questions or comments when Grant cleared his throat and said he had one more small matter.
Robichaux grinned. “Why do I feel it’s not going to be such a small matter?”
Grant chuckled. “After what I put you through the past four hours, I don’t blame you, Pierre.” He continued and explained Simone Bouvier’s role in the operation.
When Robichaux heard what Grant had to say, he was annoyed and on his high horse again. But only for a minute or two when the reality of it all dawned on him, and he had to admit to himself that was it not for Simone’s help, things would not have turned out as positive as they did.
He leaned back and said, “As far as I am concerned, Simone Bouvier played a vital role in all of this, and I’m proud of her. No charges will be brought against her.
“I’m going to issue an order that her involvement be kept a secret. However, by my calculation, she should be very close to retirement, and I’m going to recommend she is placed on paid leave for the remainder of her time.”
A very tired but relieved President Grant and Secretary of State thanked Robichaux, shook hands with him and his advisors, and were escorted back to Air Force One.
Chapter 104 - The one
you should worry about
The return home of each of the diplomatic missions and all the agents and operatives were not as coordinated as their departures had been. On a case-by-case basis, some were needed for ongoing investigations and round-up of the now leaderless Nabatean network. Several of the diplomats were invited to stay and be feted for their timely assistance with a terrorist threat. Others returned immediately with transcripts and recordings of the councilors’ initial interrogations.
Now that the Nabateans were in custody, business could be discussed over the “old” secured phones again. So, Grant could talk to his counterparts at any time it was necessary. The world-wide joint operation gave him an opening to suggest more frequent and more open discussions, which he hoped would make for a more secure world.
***
In the aftermath of the raids across the globe, Carter and James continued to extract information from Sullivan. Now that they had more information gathered during the raids, there were a lot more questions.
Sullivan was cooperating voluntarily. He remained their best source of information in the short term, until they had time to study the information coming in from the captured Nabatean councilors and the quantum computers.
Sullivan’s psyche was a paradox. On the one hand, he was recalling and producing information with the accuracy of a computer. His memory for detail seemed limitless, and the verifiable facts were accurate.
On the other hand, he was keeping up his delusion that he was the emissary of King Rabbel II Soter.
A psychiatrist who observed him assured them it was Sullivan’s reality—as real as everything was real for Carter and the others.
Was he certifiably insane? Probably yes.
In his current state, he was not fit to stand trial. But that was not something anyone worried about for the time being. For the moment, he was a fountain of information, and that was what was important.
Shock after shock rolled over the interrogation team as Sullivan unpacked everything he knew about his bloodline, the people they controlled, the missions and assassinations. Perhaps worst of all was the deliberate creation of autistic savants. Carter had known the Nabateans had lost their humanity, but that part made him physically ill.
Everything was carefully recorded and videotaped. A few vetted CIA and FBI analysts were brought in to review those recordings, take notes, and launch operations to apprehend the remaining traitors, many of whom were high-ranking officials throughout most of the various government departments.
Sullivan never once even alluded to the fact that he was one of the bad guys– as much to blame for their actions as they were.
He showed no remorse at all for all the killings and lives ruined.
In fact, his account to Carter was that of an independent witness to all of it.
Over time, it came out that Sullivan had chosen Carter because most of the Council of the Nabateans, although they hated him with a passion, surreptitiously believed that he was somehow invincible.
Sullivan firmly believed there was only one person alive who could keep him safe from his bloodline members, a curious anomaly in his worldview, in which he was simultaneously a council member and an independent and omniscient observer with no ties to those evil people.
***
With the French President on board and the help of the UK government, the rest of the European governments were all briefed in detail about the Nabateans and their cooperation secured in the hunt for the missing group of savants and their equipment.
Every government who became privy to the Nabatean information immediately understood the urgency and instructed their law enforcement and security agencies to give the apprehension of the fugitives the highest priority.
In an unprecedented demonstration of collaboration and information exchange, the group was tracked down to a warehouse in Naples, Italy, within four days. They were taken from Graziella�
��s house seven days before and transported with busses to the warehouse complex in Naples. For the fifty savants, it was the first time they saw the world outside. Reality was something very different from what they experienced by watching TV—it scared and upset most of them. The “normals” in charge of them had a very hard time controlling them, and in the end resorted to lacing their food and drinks with strong sedatives.
By day seven, the group was in tatters—hungry, penniless, cold, leaderless, and desperate when no one had turned up to take them to their next location. Two of the “normals” left the warehouse and went in search of help.
The two men, who had very little social skills and were not streetwise at all, were soon mugged and left bleeding on the street when their assailants found nothing of value on them. The police found them and questioned them and quickly realized what they had stumbled upon.
The message went up the chain of command to the Italian Chief of Police, who informed the Prime Minister. They had been warned not to approach the group under any circumstances. Bill made sure the message that went out to the law enforcement agencies of every country participating in the operation had put the fear of God into them. His message made it clear this group was extremely dangerous, they had advanced technology to protect themselves—no one but the CIA had the means to defeat it. Therefore, a US task force with proper equipment was flown in from the US and put on standby in one of US military bases in Germany to be deployed for the operation to apprehend the group when their location became known.
Within four hours of receiving the Italian Prime Minister’s call, the operation was over. The group of fifty savants and five “normals” were in Italian police custody, and the equipment was on a US plane en route to a US military base in Germany, from where it would be flown to the US.
In DC, President Grant and Bill let out a long sigh of relief when they got the report from the task force leader. There was only one lose end to tie up.
***
The Russians still didn’t want to play ball—they didn’t want to swap Mathieu Nabati for the nine Spetsnaz troops. The Russian President made it clear he had no use for them, and arrogantly, also indicated he had little use for a more open relationship with the US, or anyone else in the US orbit.
Grant wanted to tie up that remaining loose end. When he started hinting to the Russian President about important information he could share, President Kolenikov blew a gasket.
“You’ve been dishonest with me? Why are you hiding things? Why did you not give all information when we allowed your people to go on the raid to capture Nabati? Do you think I’m a fool?”
But Bill had before the video conference pointed out to Grant that the information Dylan swiped from Mathieu Nabati’s electronic devices, plus the information in Graziella’s head and the heads of the others alive and in custody in the other countries, along with the information gathered from all their computers and the IT center in Paris, and the equipment captured during the raid on the warehouse in Naples, would include everything Mathieu knew and more. So, it was not worth groveling to get him. “Let the Russian President shove Mathieu Nabati up his ass if he’d like that,” was Bill’s advice.
Grant smiled into the camera, a big smile that must have made Kolenikov wonder what he’d missed. “Do yourself a big favor, Comrade. Ask Mathieu Nabati to tell you the name of the twelfth councilor.”
Kolenikov’s smug expression turned to confusion. “But, there were only eleven and eleven are accounted for. What do you mean?”
“That’s the thing. There were twelve. And number twelve is the one you should worry about.” Grant smiled even bigger as he ended the call.
Chapter 105 - Three months later
It was June 15 when the Devereuxs, with their family and a few other Freydís residents, boarded Carter’s Desault Falcon 7X and headed home. It had been three months since the Ides of March, that fateful day, when Carter and Mackenzie landed in DC and were taken in by special agent Kelly White for questioning. As they all settled in for the flight, they couldn’t help but reflect on the events of the past three months.
The quantum computers, captured during the raid on Graziella’s house, contained not only the information about how the antimatter bombs were manufactured but also the exact location of the bombs in DC and New York. It was spine-chilling to learn what devastation those bombs would have caused were they to explode.
The information about the technology of how the bombs were constructed was one of those pieces of information the US had to share with France.
The global operations wrap up was going to take months, if not years. Carter’s constant presence wasn’t needed anymore. Sullivan had been wrung dry and afterward lapsed into a vegetative state. He was expected to remain in an institution the rest of his life. His wife had initiated divorce proceedings and left the DC area.
Others would handle the investigation in the US, and each country would handle their own to determine the fate of the prisoners they held.
Except for the council member in China, of whom they’d heard nothing before or since the second one was presumed dead, and the one in Saudi Arabia, it could literally take years for them to be fully investigated and brought to trial. Those in the know expected the Saudi investigation to take less than a month before the entire network was rooted out. A perfunctory trial would be held, and then public beheadings would begin.
In Russia, Igor Ustinov has disappeared, and no amount of speculation and questioning produced an answer—he was either dead or in prison. Very few people would ever know.
There was a lot of information to work through, and then some of it would require new policies and laws to be enacted. The savant program would be dismantled, of course. What to do with the souls involved, especially those who couldn’t take care of themselves in even a minimal way, would have to be worked out. Numerous countries were involved, and negotiations to form a joint response were already underway.
Carter supposed that some benefit might come of it. The Nabateans had studied autism in deeper detail than anyone else to date. Maybe that information could help in preventing the worst forms of it. He still felt sick to his stomach whenever he thought of the lives ruined by Nabatean experiments on fetuses. Only brilliantly focused savants had been found in their facilities. What happened to the failures? So far, none of the detainees would say, but the implication was reprehensible.
Other revelations about medical science were as spine-chilling and as enraging. They’d had the cures for several types of cancer for decades. How many lives had been lost because they hoarded that knowledge for themselves? There was more. It would take more years to explore it all.
The QIT project, on the other hand, would be sped up now they had the Nabateans’ own plans for quantum computing and communications devices. The scientists involved were already drunk with the abundance of new data.
Carter’s role would again be to facilitate and optimize translations of the new library, as well as continuing and interpreting research on the A- and E-Codices. It could be the work of a lifetime, unless he decided to delegate his leadership and hunt down other archaeological mysteries. For now, he was content to stay home for a while, enjoy the kids and his friends, and be thankful he wasn’t languishing in a federal prison.
With Sean’s and Dylan’s influence, McCormick was promised a deal for his testimony against the Nabateans who would be tried in the US. He could accept a sort of house arrest for five years on Jared’s alpaca ranch—compensated by room and board only, or he could go to jail.
Jared was willing to cooperate, and McCormick admitted he couldn’t expect anything better. Or as good, if the truth be known. He’d come to love the fresh Rocky Mountain air. He had just one question before he decided, though. Would Kelly White know where to find him? If so, he’d take his chances in prison.
Kelly, too, had a decision to make. Unbeknownst to her, Carter and Mackenzie, accompanied by Sean and Dylan, intervened on her behalf with General Fle
ming. He was still teed off with her and wanted to throw the book at her.
But the pleas of the four swayed him to change his mind, and he agreed not to bring her up on charges, and that she could stay on as an investigator.
However, her service record would be notated—she would never again be entrusted with an investigation as the lead.
When Kelly heard the news, she decided to take a long leave and think about life. She’d been cured of the ambition to become the first woman in charge of INSCOM, and for her, it would never happen anyway. Maybe it was time to leave the Army and find a good man.
The Intelligence Committee hearings never reconvened. News of the world-wide roundup of an uber-conspiracy group outdid any questions about why Carter and Mackenzie, along with A-Echelon, were being let off the hook. Davis announced her retirement at the end of her current term.
President Grant, Bill, and James were also planning their retirement. Grant’s would occur upon the inauguration of a new President. His party now had a substantial lead over the opposition. The three men discovered a mutual fascination with deep-sea fishing and were looking forward to a trip off the coast of Baja California the following spring.
Bill and Simone had it all worked out. They set a date for their wedding and agreed to live six months of the year in France and six months in the US.
Irene was tasked with determining the future direction of A-Echelon. Whether they could continue to be effective now that they no longer operated in the shadows, or a new organization with a similar goal would be formed was up to her. Either way, she was to lead it.
However, Carter and Mackenzie made it clear to her that they had, for now, seen enough operational duty. They’d be involved only behind a desk or in a lab, and preferably all of it from Freydís. At least that’s what Carter said.
Mackenzie smiled fondly when she heard Carter saying that. Her husband was not the type to stay behind a desk for long. Not if there was still so much of the past to be unearthed.
