Nancy put down her coffee mug and stared at Cranston.
“He made no mention of the Stargazer explosion?”
“Not a word.”
Nancy rubbed her face with both hands trying to pull her thoughts together.
“Let’s review some stuff, Bill. Each time we did the satellite tests that resulted in the weather madness, we were on linkup with Duncan. Each time he blamed it on something none of us knew anything about. In our phone conversations with him since we got back to earth, he never once discussed the communication problems with Stargazer, and he had no comment when we told him all about the unknown supply craft. He didn’t even say anything when we told him about shooting two people. He showed the same amount of emotion as if we told him we ran over a fucking squirrel.”
“Let’s take this a bit further and do some speculating,” Bill said. “Assume, for the sake of argument, that Phil Duncan is the missing insider. We screw up his plans for killing us, and then he sends another vehicle to blow up the space station that we recently abandoned. If you were Phil Duncan, what would you do next?”
“The answer is easy, Bill. I’d arrange for the deaths of Bill Cranston and Nancy Mullin. I think we need to make a phone call to Rick Bellamy from Homeland Security. He gave us his secure number. Let’s go outside and make the call—while we’re still alive.”
“Mr. Secretary, it’s Nancy Mullin calling for you on the secure line. She’s the astronaut lady, yes?”
“I was just about to call you, Nancy,” Bellamy said. “You’ve heard about the Stargazer explosion I assume.”
“Yes, we have, Mr. Secretary. But beyond that, Bill Cranston and I have some concerns, some big concerns.”
Nancy explained their suspicions about Phil Duncan, and said she feared they might be next on Duncan’s hit list.
“Explain to me exactly where you are and stay there,” Bellamy said. “Don’t move. We have a few FBI agents at Rosetta. I’m going to contact the lead agent and have him meet you in a couple of minutes and get you the hell out of there. Before you board the plane you can text message Duncan with a story that you had to visit your ailing grandmother. You’ll be coming to New York. I repeat, do not move.”
Chapter 64
August 24
Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Burke climbed into his Rockwell B-1 Lancer heavy bomber after briefing a group of other pilots. Often known as the “bone,” for B-One, the aircraft is one of three heavy bombers that the Air Force currently uses. Burke commanded a wing of 30 Lancers preparing for a bombing run against the Bartholomew Martin compound in Erbil, Kurdistan. The wing was split into three groups of ten planes, each group assigned to specific targets on the Reformer compound.
“I have the target in sight,” he said into his radio, which was picked up at the Situation Room in the White House as well as the Pentagon. “Commencing first run against the armored vehicle compound.”
In successive sweeps, the bombers attacked the troop barracks, the munitions building, the armored vehicle area, and Bartholomew Martin’s headquarters. After 10 minutes, the entire compound was a scene of smoking rubble.
“Any surprises to report, Jim?” General Dolan asked from his post at the Pentagon.
“Yes, sir, plenty of surprises. What I’m looking at is nothing that I expected. Reports from the other pilots confirm my observations. We didn’t see any planes on the air strip, nor did we see any tanks in the armor staging area. Also, when we bombed the ammunition dump I expected to see a gigantic explosion. The only thing that apparently blew up were our own bombs. I didn’t see any personnel running around either. I’m alerting the ground commander that he can commence his attack now. Something tells me he’s not going encounter a hell of a lot of resistance.”
A tank battalion, consisting of four platoons of 14 M1 Abrams battle tanks each, charged into the compound, followed by infantry units.
Brigadier General Bruce Harding, the officer in charge of the tank battalion, radioed what he saw to General Dolan at the Pentagon and to the White House Situation Room.
“A computer video war game is more violent than what I’m seeing, general. This place looks deserted. I can see no vehicles of any type, including tanks, trucks, and automobiles. I have yet to see any personnel. It looks to me like somebody heard we were coming and got out of here— fast. I’m dispatching minesweepers to look for IEDs and booby traps.”
The President stood in the White House Situation Room, not liking what he heard. He turned to Dee and Jake.
“It looks like Bartholomew Martin has pulled off another vanishing act. The Reformers compound is empty.”
“It’s obvious,” Dee said, “that Martin has his people imbedded throughout our government. He had plenty of warning about this attack. The son of a bitch may be without a title, but he’s not without power.”
“Dee, We knew this operation faced a chance of failure,” the president said. “To pull this off I’ve had to negotiate with the Kurds, the Iraqis, the Turks, and countless other entities to make sure we didn’t get into a battle with anybody other than Bartholomew Martin. Hell, we call the place Kurdistan, but it’s really part of Iraq.”
“Honey, I mean Mr. President, you’ve done everything you possibly could,” Dee said, violating her personal rule not to call him anything but Mr. President.
“The First Lady’s right, Mr. President,” Jake Arnold said. “You’ve done your best, sir.”
“Thanks for not calling me ‘honey,’ Jake.” Sometimes it pays to lighten up.
“Our next mission is going to be even tougher than attacking a compound,” the president said. “We now have to find that elusive bastard. It’s obvious that he’s up to something. And when Bartholomew Martin is up to something, it’s big.”
Chapter 65
“I could get used to having our own private airplane. How about you, Bill?”
“I think I understand why they’re treating us like royalty, hon. We may not like it, but we’re the center of the entire investigation.”
“Folks, it’s now my job to make you two look ridiculous,” the FBI agent said. “I have wigs for both of you and a beard for Bill. I guess you’ve figured out that we’re worried about you. You can take these things off after you get into the car that’s waiting at the airport.”
The plane landed at Newark International Airport in New Jersey. As promised, a car was not only waiting, but was positioned on the tarmac.
“You’re going to love where I’m taking you—a beautiful house in Tenafly, New Jersey.”
“Why?” both Bill and Nancy asked.
“Secretary Bellamy himself will be there to tell you.”
The car pulled into a long winding driveway of a house that the FBI agent had accurately described as beautiful. It stood two stories high on an acre of treed property. They both noticed that a fence surrounded the land in front of the trees. Bill noticed that there were security cameras on poles all over the property. The car pulled up to the rear door as they put on their disguises and got out.
“Welcome to your new home,” I said as I met them at the door.
“Our new home?” they both said.
“Congratulations, you are now proud members of the FBI Witness Protection Program.”
“Is this really necessary?” Nancy asked.