Chapter 55 -- NGEQSMXDPUZYRF
Carter and Jessica joined the others in Donald's office for the daily briefing.
The second day after the operation was underway, and the spent an hour or so
watching the news for any significant developments. There were none, at least
none that interested them. There was the the expected press conference at the
White House, with the Director of Homeland Security and the Attorney General
assuring their audience that the investigation was proceeding and that they
were confident of results in the near future, followed by the usual expected
questions and canned responses.
With on news of any consequence, Donald turned to updating the others. He had
gone to the office in town early that morning, returning just after they had
arrived, having a quick breakfast of little more than a toasted pastry and a
cup of coffee.
"Since our enemy doesn't have any news," he said, "let's go over what we have.
We were pretty well up to date by last night, other than a final report on the
teams. All are back to base, no casualties or prisoners other than the one we
knew about last night. Our tech guys are sifting the information flow
looking for any traces of a link to the League. If we think they've
found something, we'll move to prevent if from spreading. Each freehold has
contingency plans, from removing any evidence of their links to the League to
completely vanishing, in those cases where it's possible."
"Any word on the guy we lost?" asked Carter.
"Not much. He's still in the hospital. Apparently he took a pretty good hit,
just one shot but breaking a rib and perforating a lung. We've got a lawyer
on it, he doesn't know anything about the League but he's well paid and knows
what he's doing. They probably won't try the dirty tricks yet, like drugging
him. Having our lawyer on top of if 24/7 should prevent that, or at least we'll know if they do. And he
knows all he has to do is wait and we'll get him out. And he's got enough
good stories to leak that will lead them on wild goose chases to stall for a
while. They'll swallow anything that they think will confirm what they
already believe, or what they profess to believe"
"So we're waiting for, what?" Jessica asked. "Is our contact to happen before
further action, is it already set?"
"Yes, it is at least in terms of our intention to make contact, offer to talk,
and see what happens. At this point we're waiting for the optimum time. We
want them to try to figure something out, for a few days, and when they still
have nothing we'll contact them. There are probably two likely scenarios.
They may dismiss it as a hoax and do nothing, in which case we escalate. If
they do contact us, we'll make our demands. Obviously they'll reject them,
and we'll escalate."
"And so we're enter phase two," said Jessica. "Infrastructure attacks. How
does that go?"
"We have a plan to cut off a major city," Donald replied, "as we've discussed. We
disrupt traffic by cutting the interstate highways, railroads, and electrical
and water supplies where possible. We're thinking of Chicago, but the
decision is a couple of days off. But it will be accompanied by a series of
unrelated actions around the country. We want the pain to be widely
distributed."
"Do we have any part to play?" Carter asked.
"At this point a small one," Donald replied. "We're going to need quite a lot of
explosives for this operation. We'll be shipping out some supplies in the
next few days. More interestingly, we may be involved in extracting our man
in DC. The Council was impressed by both of our test runs - extracting James
and the hit on McCormick. We could be doing quite a lot of that if this goes
on for a while.
"And when we take our man out of DC, this could be a good place. He's from
Turquoise Valley, and he can't go back there. If they connect him with the
place they'll be all over it, and if he shows up anywhere - they'll have his
DNA and fingerprints, and of course his picture will be all over the place in
camera surveillance systems. And the chance that he can be recognized by one
even with good disguises is too great. He may end up hiding out here, like
James."
"Or he might be able to do us some good from the inside," said Carter.
"How's that?" Donald asked.
"As you said, they'll believe anything if it reinforces what they already think.
he's going to send them on a fool's errand, suppose it leads them to something
real, only it's a trap."
"What are you thinking?"
"We're already in for a penny, as they say," Carter said. "It's a war now, and
at some point those in the enemy camp, even if not with bad intentions, must
decide whether to stay. If they remain, they're now the enemy, and will pay
the price if they come up against us."
"That will be in the declaration that follows the government's response." said
Donald. "A notice will be issued to all law enforcement - not only federal
but state and local agencies. If they assist the feds they will suffer the
same consequences."
"So we're in the clear if, let's say, our man fingers a group, maybe one they
already know about. Of course they'll attack. In fact, given their
predilection for theatrics, they'll probably give it a buildup. Announcements
that they have a suspect, interviews with officials, hints of action to be
taken soon, all that. Meanwhile our guys are preparing. Their plans for a
grand triumph becomes a bloodbath. With their blood."
"That could certainly work," said Jessica. "The temptation will be too great.
And it's almost certain that they'll have plans for maximum exposure. Like
they did at Waco back in the nineties, and some other places since then. Most
of them worked out for them, but Waco was a major disaster. They invited all
the press, had their communications set up ahead of time."
"Even if they learned something from that," Carter said, "and they obviously didn't,
they won't be able to resist. Our only problem is getting it just right."
"That will be the trick," said Donald. "I'll have to clear it with the Council,
of course, but it's a great opportunity and if we plan it right, they'll have
no problem approving it."
"So let's do a quick sketch," Carter said. "First, select a viable candidate.
Not a League freehold, obviously, but an affiliate. Better yet, one of the
groups we've been in contact with, preferably one that's already blood-thirsty.
Maybe one that already has a score to settle."
"OK," said Jessica, "once we have a candidate, and they're in agreement, we
have our man put out the bait. How do we get the information to him? He'll
need some knowledge of our partner-in-crime - at least who and where, maybe
some details. He's going to be under close surveillance, and I'm not sure the
lawyer we have in there now will go along with it, certainly if he knows what
we're trying to do."
"I believe I know how to handle that," Donald said. "We have one of our own.
There are several freeholds who have lawyers as members. Once we get him out,
it'll be easy. We'll hide him in plain sight."
"The lawyer pretends to be trying to persuade him to cooperate," Jessica said.
"Clever. And it could work, especially with this bunch. They'll be recording
everything, even supposedly private conversations. If our lawyer will go along.
You said he's not one of us."
"I suspect he might," Donald said. "He's on our side philosophically even if You said he's not one of us. he isn't actively involved.
And the law will be eager, desperate now. And whoever breaks this case can
write his own ticket. I suspectly they'll fall for it."
"So," Tommy said, "how do we get our man out? Or do we?"
"Leave him in?" said Donald.
"I'd leave it up to him," Tommy said. "It might not occur to them to suspect
him when it blows up. After all, he gives them good info, the operation goes
wrong it's not his fault. And if they think they figured it out themselves by
getting the lead, at least initially, without him even knowing. He only gives
them the information after they tell him what they've got."
"You're right," Carter said. "I've been in a cell, and there's no worse
feeling even when you know you'll get out some day. He doesn't know that. It
should be his decision."
"Definitely," said Donald. "And if he pulls this off, he deserves the rest of
the war off. I doubt he'd take it though.
"So how do we get him out?" asked James. "The way you extracted me was pretty
impressive. If we can get him outside of wherever they're holding him, we
should be able to move him to wherever he's going without too much problem."
"If we can get him in the open, it won't be a problem." Donald said. "We're
putting operatives into the area, well under cover. Even if they start
setting up checkpoints and asking people for their papers - that may well
happen - they can operate. And we've planned for that.
"After we're done here I'll go back to the office and see if there's anything
new. And I'll start setting up a meeting of the committee that will have to
approve this. Full council meetings won't be happening much, if at all, for a
while."
"So we're looking at our contact with the government it the next few days,"
said Jessica. "And at whatever point we have a response, probably within
twenty-four hours, phase two begins."
"Right. After the response, we issue the public communique. It
will explain the situation and serve notice to law enforcement and security
forces that they are no longer exempt from having force used against them.
Once they have had a few days to absorb that, operations will commence."
"What are we likely to be doing?" asked Carter. "Supply, transportation?"
"Some of both, I'm sure" Donald said. "There will be a lot of explosives and
incendiaries being used, and we've got a lot stored here. We have a lot of
thermite and tons of dynamite. Having air access makes that easier. And at
some point, if it goes on long enough, our air capability will become more important.
"Anyone got anything else?" he asked. No one did.
"All right then. Why don't we get some lunch and I'll head over to
the office. and we'll get together this evening."
Later, Carter and Jessica walked around the grounds for a while before going
home. Behind her grandfather's home a large grassy acreage dotted with trees
not quite dense to block much of the sunlight but providing a place of quiet
serenity in the late summer, already beginning to cool later in the day.
Neither spoke much, holding hands and walking slowly, occasionally pausing
near a tree for a while and then moving on. The contrast between the quiet of
the place and what they knew was going on outside was not easy to envision.
"You wish you could do more?" Jessica asked.
"Yeah, I guess so," he replied. "I know what we're doing is important, and it's
likely to become dangerous at some point, but when I think of those guys on
the streets in DC, and the ones who'll be going out on operations next."
"I understand. We've done a lot, and I'm sure we'll do more. But in any case, as
someone said those who only stand and wait also serve."
She put her arms around his neck and leaned forward, pressing him against the
trunk of an old willow oak, it's prominent roots between their feet. They
held each other for a while in silence, and then walked back to the house.