Rolling out of his driveway, he activated the “avoid traffic” feature on his GPS and then tuned his radio to WMAL.
Iconic D.C. broadcaster Larry O’Connor was calmly breaking down the story, but he followed his analysis with one chilling question, “If the President of the United States couldn’t be protected from the virus, how could anyone else hope to be?”
It was the right question to ask, and the answer was simple — no one was safe. A panic like nothing before was rapidly consuming the United States, and with it, the rest of the world.
CHAPTER 49
Once Harvath had said goodbye and knew Lara was safely on her way to the plane, he felt a sense of relief. It was just one last thing he had to worry about.
Stepping back inside the Signature Flight Support building, he looked at the text Nicholas had sent him out on the tarmac and tapped the icon to call him.
“Are you positive about this?” he asked when the little man answered.
“One hundred percent.”
“How long do I have?”
“Could be hours. Could be days. What are you going to do?”
“What would you do?” Harvath asked.
“Get my affairs in order and hope it’s painless.”
Harvath chuckled at the idea of a DHS Team coming to forcibly take him into custody. “Very funny. I thought you said whoever is running the Main Core database was good. You even called them sophisticated. How do you know we’re not being played?”
“Because as good as they are, I’m better.”
“But they still caught you in their database,” said Harvath, weaving his way through the crush of people.
“Something that will not happen again, believe me.”
“And how do you know they didn’t find your malware?”
“Because,” replied Nicholas, “it would be like trying to pick up a water balloon, in the dark, with a pair of razor blades. It wasn’t designed to turn on until they activated Main Core. Trust me, they didn’t find my malware. The information we’re getting from their servers is legit.”
Harvath still found it hard to believe that they were going through with it. “Who authorized it? Linda Landon couldn’t have ascended this fast. Could she?”
“Maybe she doesn’t have to pull the trigger herself. All she has to do is convince someone else to.”
That was a possibility Harvath hadn’t considered.
“Is Nina on the plane?” Nicholas asked, changing the subject.
“I haven’t seen her, but the parking lot is a mob scene. What about tracking down Damien’s staff from Clifton? Any luck?”
“It took a lot of work, but I was able to speak to the vet they use, and he in turn put me in touch with Damien’s farm manager who lives two towns over.”
“What did you tell them?”
“I told them that I had a bunch of feedstock that Damien had ordered, and that I didn’t know if he wanted it delivered to Clifton or to his other location.”
“What other location?” asked Harvath.
“Exactly,” Nicholas replied. “Neither of them knew of any other location beyond his houses and apartments overseas.”
“What about a housekeeper or landscaping service?”
“The farm manager said that his wife cleaned the house, and that his team maintained the grounds.”
“So it’s a dead end.”
“Sure seems like it,” Nicholas said, adding, “What’s your plan? Do I wait around here for you, or should I get out before DHS shows up?”
It was a good question.
Harvath had no intention of letting the Department of Homeland Security take him into custody. He was going to have to go to ground. That meant he couldn’t go home, he couldn’t go to the office, and he would have to avoid any friends or known associates. He would also have to shed his ATM and credit cards, all of his electronics, and his vehicle. However long it lasted, it was going to be a very dangerous pain in the ass.
Part of him thought very seriously of just turning around and getting on the plane with Lara right now. It had already stopped in Boston and had picked up her parents and Marco. He could have Nicholas hightail it down here, and as soon as he and Nina had arrived, they could all take off for Alaska. Harvath’s mother was already en route for Anchorage. They would connect there and disappear into the wild. It couldn’t be any easier.
He was truly tempted to let it all burn to the ground. Maybe that’s what this town needed — a massive reset. Maybe that was the only way to get things moving again, to clean all of the gunk out of the fuel lines.
Then he could come back after and help start over, help rebuild. Or maybe he wouldn’t. They could all just stay in Alaska. He had never thought that far ahead. He had never actually thought things could get that bad.
But even if he had, he knew he would still have to be here — right in the fight. It was who he was. It was where he belonged. He cared too much to turn his back. When things were at their worst was when you knew who you were and who the people around you were. The only easy day was yesterday.
Harvath had made his decision. Now, he had to decide what he was going to do next.
Like it or not, DHS was going to come for him. And at this point, it didn’t matter who had put him on the list — only that he was on it.
And while Nicholas had said it could be anywhere from days to hours, Harvath had to imagine they were going to move on him quickly. From the screen grabs Nicholas had taken, he had been coded for arrest and placed in the highest-risk category. When they took him down, they were going to take him down hard. There would be no reasoning with whoever it was. They would come prepared for him to resist and would therefore employ overwhelming force. But then what?
What happened once they had him? Would he be hidden away somewhere and left until he succumbed to the virus? Or did they have something worse than that planned? He didn’t intend to find out.
“Lock up for me,” Harvath said, “and get out of there.”
“Will do. Where are we going?”
“Where DHS won’t be able to touch us.”
“Where’s that?”
“Camp Peary.”
On a good day, the drive from Reagan National to Camp Peary was two hours. Today wasn’t a good day. Not by a long shot.
Leaving the Signature Flight Support building, Harvath had seen one of the Carlton Group’s best operatives, Lee Gregory, shepherding Nina through the sea of cars and people in the parking lot. He was a big, tough guy with a lot of experience. The Old Man had sent the right person to pick her up. No matter what happened, nothing would stop him from getting Nina onto that plane.
They chatted briefly, before Harvath said goodbye to Nina and thanked Gregory for bringing her down. Lee had a family of his own and was probably anxious to get home to them.
Exiting the parking lot, Harvath walked up the road to his Tahoe and hopped in. There was a little diner on the Richmond Highway in Tappahannock, about halfway to Camp Peary. He and Nicholas would meet there and ditch his SUV near one of the docks on the river.
Before ending their call, he had asked Nicholas to tape a note to his front door that read MEET ME AT THE BOAT. He had no idea if it would throw DHS off his trail or not. But if it did, it would be worth it.
After abandoning Harvath’s Tahoe, they would drive the rest of the way in Nicholas’s van. It was too valuable and too useful a piece of equipment to leave behind.
When he turned WMAL back on, the Vice President’s speech was already in progress.
“… your prayers for President Porter, and his family, who we trust will make a full and complete recovery. This evening, per Section 3 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, President Porter transmitted a written declaration to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives that he is temporarily unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office of the Presidency.