The lobby was a small fifteen-foot square room with three armed guards. Mounted on the wall next to the steel door was a retina scan unit. After passing the retina scan, Wiley's facial recognition software confirmed his identity and allowed Jake passage into the operations center where he found Francesca waiting. He wondered if all the security measures weren't overkill but, he figured, in Wiley's line of business there was no such thing as being too careful. One security breach and his business could evaporate overnight.
They took the elevator to the fourth floor and repeated the same drill without the guards and scanner. Required here was the same 24-digit password and thumbprint — opposite thumb than before — an added layer of security for this most sensitive area of Wiley's business. Inside George Fontaine monitored video feeds from Iran, Yemen, and Syria.
"Looks like Commonwealth might get involved in the Middle East. The Fellowship wants to topple a couple of governments but doesn't want us to send any assets. Too volatile, the Council said." Fontaine never looked away from the screens. "Jake, Mr. Wiley is in the penthouse. Said he's going to the meeting with you tonight."
"George, I need access to the mainframe for a couple of hours. Can you plug me in?" Jake pulled off the backpack, unzipped the top. "There has to be a common denominator with all these incidents and I really need to find something before the meeting tonight."
"Those arrangements have already been made." Fontaine said. "Wiley had me route an access terminal to the penthouse. He wants you and Francesca up there at eight o'clock."
"At eight? That's less than ten minutes from now."
"Yup." Fontaine shrugged his shoulders. "Take it up with the old man. I'm just the messenger."
"I'll let him know we're here." Francesca walked to the far wall and picked up the phone.
"How about doing me a favor while I'm up there?" Jake asked.
"I'll do it if you tell me your secret."
"What are you talking about?"
Fontaine lowered his voice and whispered to Jake. "I want to know how you always end up with good looking women around you. First Kyli. And now Francesca."
"Francesca's my partner." Jake leaned down next to Fontaine's ear. "How the hell did you know about Kyli?"
"Common knowledge around here. The boss's granddaughter dating an emissary is water cooler gossip." Fontaine explained. "News travels fast. Just keep in mind the consequences."
"What consequences?"
Francesca walked up next to Jake. "Wiley wants us upstairs now."
"Some guys have all the luck." Fontaine quipped.
"What's he talking about?" Francesca asked.
"Nothing." Jake scribbled something on a piece of paper. "Here's the address of the cemetery in Charleston. The traffic signal at the entrance has surveillance cameras. Since there's only one way in and out of the graveyard after hours, I thought we might get lucky and find our intruder."
"If I can hack into Charleston's traffic control center," Fontaine turned to face Jake. He took the paper. "Then I'll let you know what I find before you leave."
Two minutes later Jake and Francesca entered the penthouse and found Wiley waiting for them on the couch watching CNN and Fox on a split screen TV.
"Good, you're here." Wiley stood, pushed up his glasses, and made his trademark hair swipe. He walked over and shook Francesca's hand followed by Jake's. He pointed to a small office with a computer terminal on the desk. "Jake, you can get to work while I talk to Francesca."
The next ninety minutes passed by faster than he expected. He thought he heard the elevator a couple of times but was so entrenched in his work that he never turned around. After he was finished, he printed two copies of his report and logged off the computer.
Jake found Wiley sitting alone with a folder in his hand. "Where's Francesca?"
"I gave her another assignment. You won't need her on this one." Wiley raised the folder in the air. "George brought this up here for you. He said you'd know what to do with it."
Jake took the folder and scanned its contents. Good news and bad news. Which seemed to be the way this entire puzzle had been. Two steps forward, one step back. Jake looked at his watch. "Sir. We should get going."
"Something has come up that I must personally attend to. You'll be meeting with the President alone in the Oval Office." Wiley paused. It was apparent to Jake the Old Man was letting his news reach full impact. "Welcome to the big leagues, Jake. Only a handful of people ever get that opportunity."
21
Jake cleared the front gate of the White House and followed the Secret Service agent to the Oval Office. The agent opened the door and followed Jake inside instructing him where to sit down. The room was more elaborate than he'd envisioned. A large rug with the sunburst pattern emanating from the Presidential Seal in the center dominated the room. There were three large south facing windows behind the President's desk and a fireplace on the north wall. Each President decorated the Oval Office to suit his, or now, her taste. President Rebecca Rudd, being the first female President in history, adorned the walls with portraits of famous women. Mother Theresa and Rosa Parks were the first to catch his eye.
He didn't have to wait long before President Rebecca Rudd walked into the room and dismissed the agent. He was expecting Chief of Staff, Evan Makley, to accompany her but he was wrong. When Wiley said he was meeting with the President alone, he meant alone. She walked straight to him and shook his hand, cupping her left hand over the top. He felt the warmth in her hands. Her face reflected the stress of the job. Dark circles and puffiness around her eyes a result of long hours laboring over endless mounds of paperwork. The office took its toll on every President, aging them years beyond their time.
She moved over to her desk and motioned for Jake to take the chair next to the desk. "Do you know the history of this desk?" She asked.
"Yes, ma'am. That is if National Treasure got it right."
Rudd laughed. "They got it right. Mr. Wiley left me a message saying Ms. Catanzaro couldn't make it. I was looking forward to seeing her again. She has a passion for ethical and moral justice."
"Yes, ma'am, she does. Unfortunately she was called out at the last minute."
"That's a shame. You two make a good team." Rudd held out an open palm. "What have you come up with on Project Resurrection?"
"I'm afraid not much. A lot of information that doesn't seem to lead anywhere." Jake opened his backpack and pulled a copy of his report and handed it to the President. "I've been trying to draw a nexus between all the grave disturbances, but just when I think the evidence starts to connect, new evidence comes along that invalidates my theories."
"For instance?" Rudd asked.
"To start with." Jake spread out the reports of four cemetery intrusions on the President's desk. "All these, which include Arlington and Andersonville were black soldiers killed in Germany during World War II. None of the bodies were disturbed. In fact, the glass seals were never broken. Whoever did this was very careful to not leave behind any evidence at all. No fingerprints, footprints, tire tracks. Nothing. On the surface, it looks like all they did was open the casket out of morbid curiosity."
"And below the surface?"
"If you don't mind, ma'am, I'd like to come back to that later."
"I don't mind." Rudd scribbled something on a notepad.
"The other three we investigated are a different story. The caskets were opened, the seals broken, and the body disturbed, but nothing was taken. All of these caskets belonged to white males." The President looked at him when he said this. "The sheriff in Hiawassee chalked it up to a teenage prank and had the body reinterred before we got there. Any evidence to suggest who might have done it was inadvertently destroyed."