by Drew Hill
Daniel turned and saw Trent and Joe standing across the hall. He told several agents standing near him, “Take those two men in for questioning.”
“What!” exclaimed Joe. “For what?”
“As witnesses to a possible attempted assassination of Jackson Barkley, the Vice President of the United States of America,” Daniel replied.
Daniel walked down the hall as FBI agents led the two men to an exit. Outside were two police cars. Each man was placed in one of these and driven off.
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“Mr. President, Daniel Smart wants to see you,” the Chief of the President’s security detail stated as they waited outside Jackson’s room.
“Well, send him in,” the President decided.
“Mr. President,” said Daniel.
“Dan!” exclaimed the President.
“How’s Jackson?” asked Daniel.
“He’s badly burned. The doctor says there’s a fifty percent chance he’ll survive the night, and if he survives tonight, there’s an eighty percent chance he’ll survive as long as infection doesn’t set in,” said the President. “He’s sleeping right now.”
“That’s good. I’ve placed Trent, Joe, and Bill under questioning just like you said. We’ll investigate the cause of the explosion before we release them,” said Dan.
“Okay. I’ll stay here and report on Jackson’s condition,” said the President.
҉
As Dan arrived at the room, he saw several men going through the ashes. “Find anything yet?”
“We found a water bottle. We were looking at the lie detector and Tom here found something very interesting,” said one of the men.
“What did he find?”
“The machine exploded because it short-circuited,” said Tom. “The reason it short-circuited was because of a flash drive attached to a port on the bottom. Somehow the flash drive survived the explosion. All I need is a computer to hook the flash drive up to so I can find out what’s on it.”
“There’s a computer on the desk in that room over there,” Daniel motioned excitedly.
They walked up to the laptop and turned it on. The computer booted up, and Tom inserted the flash drive into it. Tom said, “We’ll soon find out what’s on here. Ah, there we go. Just type in the password and we’ll be good to go.” Dan typed in the password.
As the computer reached the home screen, an icon appeared on the side of the screen. Tom clicked on the icon and said, “Yes, here’s the flash drive’s information. Let’s see here.”
As he scrolled through the data contained on the flash drive, he saw a strange looking program. He clicked on it and read a few lines. “Dan, look at this!”
“What is it?”
“It’s a sophisticated computer program which changes the lie detector’s data to make it seem like the person being questioned is telling the truth. It worked well the first time, but this time it used too much power and caused a short circuit, thereby causing the explosion. Oh, look at this. It looks like our man left his name.”
“Who is it?” Dan nearly shouted.
Tom looked at him. “Isaiah Harkens.”
҉
As Agent Harkens woke up, he saw several agents standing around his bed. When they saw he was awake, one of them stepped forward. “Isaiah Harkens?”
“Yes,” he answered.
“You are hereby placed under hospital arrest.”
Chapter 9
Timothy noticed Jackson was waking up. “Jackson?”
“Oh, hi, Mr. President. What happened? Where am I?”
“You’re in the Walter Reed AMC. You were in the interrogation room when the lie detector exploded.”
“Tim, I’m tired. I think I’ll rest for a few minutes.” With that he fell asleep.
Timothy got a phone call right then. “Dan, you better have good news.”
“Mr. President, we think we’ve found the spy.”
“Really? Who is it?”
“Deputy Director of Intelligence Isaiah Harkens.”
“What! Why do you think that?”
“The lie detector malfunctioned because of a flash drive hooked up to it. The flash drive had a program on it that enabled it to make the lie detector think the person was telling the truth. We found the name Isaiah Harkens on it as well.”
“Okay. Was there anything else?”
“Actually, yes. We have found another suspect.”
“Who?”
“Frank Jones.”
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“Hi, Mr. President. How’s Jackson?” Bill asked when Timothy walked back into the Situation Room.
“We think he is going to be okay.” Timothy stretched. “Now, what’s this about finding Frank Jones?”
“We were watching a satellite pass of Miami. Looking at the video from a warehouse district in Miami, we think we spotted Frank. We’re sending available agents in Miami to this warehouse district,” said Daniel.
“And you think the spy was probably Agent Harkens,” said Timothy.
“Well, that’s the name on the flash drive.”
“I think I’ll go talk to him.”
Daniel laughed. “That’s impossible.”
“Not for the president,” Timothy responded with a smile.
“You shouldn't go talk to a person whose loyalties are under suspicion.”
Timothy just smiled.
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Timothy walked down the hall of the hospital, followed by his Secret Service team, and came to the room where they were keeping Agent Harkens. Two men were standing at the entrance to his room. Timothy said, “I’m here to see Agent Harkens.”
“Uh, okay, Mr. President. I’ll come with you,” said one of the men.
So leaving one man at the door, they entered. Agent Harkens turned on his bed to see who had entered his room. When he saw who it was, a broad smile broke across his face.
“Mr. President!” he exclaimed.
“Hi, Mr. Harkens,” said the President.
“So what’s going on? Why am I under arrest? I haven’t been able to learn anything.”
“On the bottom of the lie detector was a flash drive. It had a program which caused the lie detector to think the person was telling the truth. It also had your name on it,” said Timothy gravely.
“What!” exclaimed Agent Harkens. “I didn’t do it. Have they checked it for fingerprints?”
“Yes, but there were none,” said the president. “Right now, you’re the main suspect.”
“But I was only doing what I was told to do. I didn’t mess with the lie detector or with a flash drive.”
Timothy’s phone rang. “Hello?”
“Mr. President?” said Daniel.
“Hi, Daniel. What are you calling about?” asked Timothy.
“The men searched the warehouses. Frank wasn’t there. But they did find something interesting.”
“What?” asked Timothy.
“They found a wallet. It was clean except for one thing. It had a secret pocket. In it we found Frank’s driver’s license.”
“So Frank was there?”
“We assume so.”
“Thanks for telling me. I’ll be right there. Isaiah, I have to go.”
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As Timothy was on the way, his phone rang. It was Daniel.
“Look, Mr. President, we’re worried about you. You go all day without anything but coffee. You need a break. Why don’t you go take your wife and kids to a safe place to relax?”
“But don’t you need me here? What about the missile, the spy, and Frank turning up?” asked Timothy.
“We can probably handle it. If there’s an emergency, we’ll call you. You need a vacation.”
“But what about Jackson?”
“We’ll update you on his condition. You said if he survived the night, there was a good chance he’ll survive. We can handle this.”
“Okay, I’ll go to Camp David. But I’m going to stay here until tomorrow. If Jackson survives the night, I’ll go right
away. If he dies, I’m staying here until after the funeral.”
“Okay. But don’t worry about Frank right now. Think of good ways to get yourself reelected. When are you going to announce your plan to run again?”
“Probably after my vacation. See you later, Dan.”
“Good-bye, Mr. President.”
Daniel hung up, and Joe asked, “What happened today after Jackson was rushed to the Walter Reed AMC? Trent and I were being questioned.”
“Well, we discovered a flash drive on the bottom of the lie detector. It had a program on it which made the lie detector malfunction. It caused the lie detector to short circuit and explode. It also had a name on it: Isaiah Harkens. So, we arrested Agent Harkens,” said Daniel.
“So, the leak was Agent Harkens?” asked Bill.
Daniel shrugged. “We assume so.”
“Okay. Now that we’ve sorted out the leak business, we need to work on finding the missile,” said Joe.
“Well, before Agent Harkens was arrested, he told me he switched the Mission Boomerang team to finding the missile,” Daniel shared.
“How do we know the five agents on the team weren’t spies for Agent Harkens?” asked Mark Right, the Secretary of Defense.
“We don’t,” said Joe. “And nice to see you, Mark. How was your vacation to Greece?”
“It went great. I needed a vacation. So, are we going to interrogate them, to make sure there’s not a leak on their team?”
“Yes, but let’s not use that lie detector. It was a new version, but it didn’t work well. Plus, it had that port to put a flash drive in it to save the results. Let’s go with the classic polygraph this time,” Daniel suggested.
“Yes, we should do that. What have they uncovered about the missing missile?” asked Trent.
“Well, Oliver tells me they haven’t uncovered anything yet,” said Daniel.
“Is there anything we can do?” asked Mark.
“The only thing we can do is wait,” said Bill, “Wait and pray.”
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All night Timothy laid awake in the White House. He had wanted to wait by Jackson’s bedside, but his Secret Service team wouldn’t let him. Several times a strange noise startled Timothy. He looked around to see if anything had happened, but all was fine. Finally, at four in the morning, he fell asleep. He woke up at eight-thirty and went to see Jackson. Jackson was awake when he got there.
“How are you feeling?” asked Timothy.
“Okay,” said Jackson. “So, what are you doing today?”
“Packing for a trip to Camp David. Dan encouraged me to take some time to go to Camp David and relax for a while. So that’s what I’m doing.”
“I understand.”
“Speaking of which, Mark’s back.” Timothy stood.
“That’s good.”
“After I get back from Camp David, I’m going to announce my plan to run for reelection. Will you run with me as my Vice President again?”
“Of course. If you weren’t running, I’d run for President.”
“Alright. I’ll see you after my return. Good bye, Jackson.”
“Good bye, Timothy.”
Chapter 10
Two days later Landon was watching the video of a satellite as it passed over the warehouse district of Miami. He noticed someone standing outside one of the warehouses. He zoomed in, but it was just a factory worker. He was looking at different warehouses when the man looked up.
Landon sat straight up. He let out an exclamation of surprise.
Levi heard him and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“That’s not a factory worker! That’s Frank Jones!”
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Less than thirty minutes later, the place was swarming with agents. They searched the place from top to bottom, but couldn’t find any trace of him. Since this was the second time they suspected he had been at that warehouse, they staked it out.
Landon flew down to direct the investigation. When he arrived at the warehouse, he walked up to the men posted at the doors and showed them his ID. One of them led him into the warehouse.
“We searched the place thoroughly,” said the agent, “but we found nothing.”
“I think I’ll search anyway,” said Landon.
He walked around the warehouse several times and noticed some boxes. He started shoving them around and saw some lines in the concrete that weren’t straight with the other ones. He spotted a little hole and bent down. He poked at it with his finger. It didn’t feel like concrete.
“What are you doing?” asked the agent who was following him.
Landon didn’t answer for a second. Then he said, “I was walking over here and noticed the lines weren’t straight. Also, there was a hollow sound to it, like wood that isn’t thick.”
The man’s eyes widened. “You mean a hidden room?”
Landon nodded and put his finger in the hole. He pulled upward and the door swung open. Instantly a shot rang out. Landon ducked behind some boxes. The agents ran in, guns drawn. Landon waved them back. “One of you stay at each of the exits. The rest of you, come here.”
The agents nodded, and three of them took off in different directions. The rest came over to where he was. Landon pulled his SIG Sauer out of its holster. He peered into the hole from behind the boxes. The little light that penetrated the room wasn’t enough to see much. There was a ladder to get down.
Landon didn’t like it. Hidden as the criminals were, there was no way to cover a man being sent down. He would be a sitting duck. The only way he could think of would be to send a flashlight down on a rope so they could see what was down there.
He pulled out his flashlight. They turned it on and tied it to a rope they found coiled on the ground. Landon crawled to the entrance and tossed the light down. It touched the ground gently and Landon got a glimpse of the room. It was full of crates and boxes. Suddenly, a shot was heard and the light was destroyed, leaving the room as dark as before.
Landon wondered what they should do. Suddenly, he had an idea. He found a large tarp. The men held the tarp near the hole. He crawled as close to the hole as he dared. Then he signaled to them to toss it over the hole, darkening the room completely. At the last minute Landon leaped toward the ladder and hurried down it. A shot was fired, but Landon was nearly down the ladder by then. He hit the ground and crawled toward a wall. When he reached a crate, he crawled behind it and waited. Landon’s eyes adjusted to the darkness and he looked around.
Several seconds later, the tarp was removed. He noticed the room was a large one, cluttered with crates and boxes.
Suddenly, a hat appeared at the entrance above the hidden room. A shot was fired. Landon fired at the box behind which the shot had come from. A shot was fired in reply, but Landon rolled behind another box and continued firing. Shots were fired from the entrance. Another man fired on the men at the entrance. Landon fired at that spot and quickly rolled to a new spot.
A man appeared over one of the boxes. Landon quickly shot at him and rolled to another spot. Three shots pierced the spot where he had just been. The men at the entrance fired at the spots where the shots had come from. There were several shots fired at the entrance. An agent fell into the room and a pool of blood quickly formed around him.
Landon saw a man in front of him who was firing at the entrance. Landon quickly fired three shots at him. Two others opened fire on him and he returned fire as he moved from box to box.
Suddenly, Landon’s gun clicked. He had run out of ammo. He reached for another clip, but it wasn’t there. His clips had fallen out of his pocket as he was rolling from box to box. He also realized something else that startled him. As he rolled from crate to box, he had traveled across the room. That meant he was among the men whom he was shooting at.
He looked around slowly, realizing a false move could cost him his life. He was startled when a cloth near him moved. He ducked to make sure no one saw him. Then he pulled back the cloth. It was a man!
Something about the man l
ooked familiar. Then he realized it was Frank Jones, bound and gagged! He grabbed his pocketknife and slashed at the ropes. Frank removed the gag and rubbed his wrists to restore his circulation.
Landon looked around. Near him he saw one of the men who was firing at the other agents get hit. He slowly covered Frank back up and crawled behind a nearby crate.
He noticed everything was silent. He knew at least two of the men were dead, but there had been at least five firing. He also knew one of the agents was dead. An agent suddenly leaped for the ladder and jumped to the ground. He quickly rolled behind a crate. Nothing happened. Another agent followed him. Soon, all but one of the agents were down there.
Landon motioned for them to join him. He was asking Frank about the secret room when a strangled gasp was heard. He turned and saw a man without a uniform sneaking up the ladder. He pointed his gun at the man and pulled the trigger. Click. His gun was still empty. Several of the agents rushed to the ladder, guns blazing. The man fell to the ground in a heap. The agents climbed up the ladder and onto the upper level.
Landon found some of his clips and jammed one into his SIG, hearing gunshots upstairs. He turned to one of the agents and said, “You stay with Frank. The rest of you, follow me.”
Frank looked up. “I’m fine now. Just give me a gun, and I’ll take them down.”
Landon looked around and saw a gun lying on the ground. He picked it up and handed it to Frank. “Alright, let’s go!”
They rushed to the ladder and climbed it. When they got to the top, they dived into a pile of crates. Landon turned around and noticed four bodies near the entrance to the secret room. An agent from the first group that had rushed the ladder and had also taken refuge in the pile of crates saw him looking at the bodies and said, “One of them is the man you had stationed there. Two of them are agents who came out of the room too fast and got shot. The last one is one of the gunmen.”
Shots were being exchanged all over the first floor of the warehouse. The agent pointed. “One of our men is over there by that water pipe. There’s another over in that pile of crates. I think there are three of the gunmen in that pile of crates over there.”
