to say, the hot water Kaley is dipping his toes in seems to be downright scalding.
Since the satellite does not belong to the military, it would take considerable time to determine from where the imagery was downloaded. More importantly though, Fizer has absolutely no idea what was downloaded and copied to a disc, and perhaps devastatingly, where the disc is now. When Fizer attempted to summon Rushmore to his office, he was informed, to his horror, that Rushmore requested a weekend pass, claiming a family emergency to his company commander. The company commander's best guess is that Rushmore is headed home to Fort Wayne, Indiana, but he admitted that Rushmore did not actually specify.
That little shit, Fizer thought, he could be going anywhere. He could go AWOL with whatever he has in his possession, or worse yet, to the media.
Fizer started to become frantic, contemplating what he should do, actually considering whether he could withhold this piece of information from the Foundation. He knows what their immediate reaction would be – that he had fucked up, and he is incapable of handling the massive responsibility that comes with moving into a higher position of power within the group. More time ticked off the clock before Fizer finally realized that he did not have a choice. If whatever Kaley or Rushmore has in their possession is brought to light and the group discovers that he knew all along, Fizer would be finished, and he is not thinking merely about his career. The colonel reluctantly called and informed Moriah what happened.
Surprisingly, Moriah remained calm, asked several questions regarding Kaley's and Rushmore's whereabouts, and simply stated that the necessary arrangements would be made. Moriah informed Fizer that he would see him soon and hung up.
What a damn shame that Private Rushmore and Sergeant Kaley will be dead by morning, Fizer thinks.
Like all good soldiers though, Fizer prefers to believe that Kaley would take enormous pride in knowing that he died for the greater good, to protect our nation and better yet, mankind.
What more could a devoted soldier want out of life?
* * *
Initially, they received the good news first. The vessel had been flown successfully without detection and it “picked up” its passengers without incident.
Unfortunately for the Foundation, a couple pieces of rather disturbing news piggybacked their way onto the good news. It was confirmed that one of their soldiers had been killed, but this could easily be written off. What concerns Moriah is that a fish has slipped the net. As far as they know, it is only one fish, but this, in Moriah's mind, is one too many. They have not yet ascertained who the lone survivor is, but the person who killed one of their soldiers certainly possessed some type of hand-to-hand combat training. The blow that snapped the soldier's neck was not a second-rate, bush league choke-job. It was a swift and lethal blow intended for one thing and one thing only: instantaneous death.
Moriah suspects who the sole survivor is, but he does not even want to mention his name until it can be confirmed. Moriah wonders if the doctor was able to deliver a warning to him beforehand, but why would the consummate family man leave his family behind?
It does not really matter. It would not be long before they establish which one of their intended victims has escaped and where he or she might be going. All they have to do is determine from the master list who is unaccounted for and then identify their closest contact points.
Doubly unfortunate, the bad news seems to travel in pairs. The second piece of information that failed to sit well with Moriah was Fizer's revelation that something was downloaded from a non-military satellite at Evans by one, possibly two, of Fizer's men. Now, the disc, or discs, need to be recovered, and the men…well, the men need to be located and…dealt with.
Moriah knows that Fizer initially failed to review the keystroke-logging program at Private Rushmore's station. Otherwise, why had it taken so long for the colonel to inform them of this crucial piece of information?
Moriah anticipated snags and obstacles along the way, but not caused by members of his own group. Moriah occasionally asks himself how Fizer managed to slither his way inside the Foundation in the first place, but for now, more immediate concerns appear to be pressing.
They need to stay on schedule and now, it seems, they must recover some wayward evidence. For that, Moriah calls in a couple teams of “specialists” to handle the situation. Moriah gives them two names and they ensure him that it will soon be taken care of: Kaley and Rushmore will be pleading for a quick death when they are through with them. While the statement is haughty and a little over-the-top, this reassures Moriah that the evidence will soon be theirs, and the men will soon be a memory, bringing a brief, mischievous smile to his face.
The Pentagon
“…authorities say that a terrorist bombing…”
“…speculation of Islamic fundamentalists…”
“…the symbolism is heavy to strike at innocent Americans on Independence Day…”
“…vows that the monsters responsible will be brought to justice…”
“…several bombs were detonated to guarantee no survivors would make it out alive…”
The group sits in a dark conference room where the only light is provided by the glow of a half-dozen television monitors and several dim overhead lights. They listen to the news reports that are broadcast over and over again, each one recycling what the previous report described. Their faces are sallow and drawn, displaying little emotion except one of utter disbelief. The majority of the men and women seated around the conference table look completely stunned, in a state of shock that this could happen again on American soil, knowing that each one of them has failed in one way or another. There are two men in this room, however, who know the truth of what happened tonight, and they make certain to appear as the others in the room.
General Theodore Parker compulsively tugs at the corners of his salt-and-pepper mustache as he silently stares at the TV screens, studying the various scenes that unfold on each one. General Parker is a man like Colonel Fizer, men who believe in the strict rigidity of the military and an unwavering faith in the chain-of-command.
Parker's father named his son after the great war hero and former president, Theodore Roosevelt, after reading a biography on the renowned “Rough Rider.” Parker's father greatly admired the bull-of-a-man for his courage, honor, cunning, and no-nonsense attitude, from his days as police commissioner of New York to his years spent in the Oval Office. Although not related, it seems that General Parker inherited some of the very same attributes from his namesake that his father so greatly appreciated.
General Parker lived through three American wars and emerged from each one more highly decorated than the last. He caught the tail end of the Korean War in 1953 at the tender age of eighteen, earning a Bronze Star for bravery. In Vietnam, he remained in the midst of the war for almost the entire duration. He served three “official” tours of duty, was wounded four times by enemy fire and twice caught shrapnel from land mines. He arrived in Vietnam as most Americans first did in the early 1960s: strictly as a military advisor. At least, that was what the rest of the world was led to believe.
General Parker was part of a small group of American soldiers, along with several CIA operatives, who were funded by both the South Vietnamese and United States governments to run special operations behind enemy lines. Their primary goal was to cause disruption and chaos, to try and weaken the people's faith in Ho Chi Minh and the tenets of communism he posited. No one can recall to this day whether the South Vietnamese
