No doubt. Danny thought. “So there are still people at NORAD?”
“Well, not actually NORAD,” Adams continued. “The orders came from Cheyenne Mountain, NORAD’s defensive retreat. And then we haven’t heard anything else since. They could all be dead too now, for all we know.”
“There’s a back entrance to this place?” Hayley asked.
“Yes. Well, there was. It is no longer operational. It connects to the Presidential Suite—or did,” another of the men, Agent Deere, volunteered.
“Okay so—” Cameron jumped back in but was again cut off, this time by Danny.
“Hang on, Cam.” Danny held up his hand. “Can you tell us about the shield?”
Agent Adams shrugged. “Sure. All the way back to the Pearl Harbor attacks, Hawaii has been kind of the key to every continent for everyone, military and trade. It’s close to Australia, close to Asia, close to both of the Americas. Our Navy intelligence office is there, and the Marines have an intelligence branch there too. Our second biggest Air Force base is there, and they essentially have another Pentagon in Hawaii.” Danny knew all of this already.
“Anyway, with so many defense secrets and our most advanced weaponry all in one place, the government invested billions in protecting it, most of our national defense budget in fact in the past few years. There’s a perimeter ‘fence,’ so to speak, kind of like those invisible dog fences, that destroys anything coming within a ten-mile radius of any of the islands when it’s activated… a laser grid if you will. Supposedly, it’s impossible to penetrate, but there are rocket launchers set up around the islands in case any planes, boats, or missiles did miraculously get through.” Adams looked around to make sure we were all following.
“That’s the shield?” Danny asked.
“Yes and no,” Adams replied. “That’s above ground. All the engineers and rocket scientists who left NASA years ago have been developing a surface-level barrier for protection against tsunamis as well. From what I understand, there’s a reef-like wall that can rise up out of the water and slow or even deter an approaching wall of water up to forty or fifty feet, or so. Whether it stays up or is just fired up to counter whatever is coming, I don’t know, but I’ve heard it’s incredible. The wall stimulates a controlled wave in the opposite direction to counteract the tsunami. It could foreseeably be used for other defensive purposes as well.”
“How long have they had that?” Danny was thinking back to the tsunami a couple years ago that had flooded the islands.
“Well, it’s been in development for nearly a decade now.” Adams replied. “It malfunctioned a few years ago. Who knows if, or how well, it actually works now. It does have to be activated. But then it could have been. We don’t know. Hawaii was hit in this too, but last we heard it’s at least still ours, so if that’s where you’re headed, you still have a chance.”
“Yeah,” Danny replied. “We intercepted a radio message in Minnesota…” His voice trailed off as he saw the agents nodding knowingly.
“Military vet in Montana,” Walker said solemnly. “We think they got him. He was one of ours, stationed at Moore’s private island.”
Everyone was quiet for a minute. Who knows how many people the Montana man had saved. This all was a ton of information to take in.
Hayley tried to perk everyone back up. “I can’t stop envisioning a dome over Hawaii like that Jim Carrey movie, The Truman Show,” she smiled. Danny was imagining the same thing too.
“Sure,” Adams laughed. “I guess it could be kind of like that, except this shield-slash-dome isn’t a permanent structure, and it’s a lot bigger. It covers all the islands.” Adams continued, “The United States never wanted to get caught with their pants down again after Pearl Harbor. Not against humans. And not against Mother Nature either. This all was supposed to assure that.” He shook his head. “We just can’t fathom how the bastards pulled all of this off.”
Agent Smith cleared his throat. “Can I ask, is Moore still alive?”
Danny nodded. “Far as I know.”
“You must have seen him in person?” Adams asked.
Danny nodded again. “Why did you guys let him go when he brought his daughter back?”
“We didn’t,” Agent Walker replied. “Moore brought her down the main entry stairs and left her in the hallway. Then he turned and ran. We feared he was dead. But by the time we got up there, he was gone.” Walker paused. “He looked like he was hurt bad though.”
“He’d been shot,” Danny confirmed. “Probably more than once.”
“Can I ask a question yet?” Cameron raised his hand.
Danny looked at him quizzically. “Go ahead.”
“Is there any chance all your first names are John?” Cameron asked, and everyone stared, bewildered, at him.
“What the—?” Danny asked, as two of the men shook their heads no.
“Never mind.” Cameron sighed. “It would have made sense before.” Danny was still staring at him. Could he have picked a worse time for a dumber question?
“If I may?” Adams spoke up. “I get that you found Moore, you talked to him in person, and he even gave you the code to come pick up his daughter. But where does he want you to take her? And did he give you anything else? Or say anything else?”
Danny thought about what the Vice President had told him and what he should share. He considered asking them about the Elephant Box Moore had mentioned, but decided against it. “Sorry, guys. I really can’t say anything. You know how it goes. I can’t tell you any of what I know or how I even know it. There’s too much at stake right now. You’re welcome to come with us though—”
The words had barely left Danny’s mouth when Hayley cut in with a sharp whisper. “Danny!” The urgency in her voice captured his immediate attention, and he looked at her as she pointed at one of the monitors.
There was a man standing in the hallway.
FIFTY-FIVE: “Leverage”
When Major Eddie landed at the Alpine Visitor Center with the vice president, he was surprised to see one of The Seven commanders there to greet them. He knew it was highly unusual for any of them to leave Denver. Why couldn’t he have just waited like the others? What was this guy up to? Had the Russian commander been the one who rerouted them? The Russian commander halfheartedly saluted. Major Eddie noted the disrespect while pretending he didn’t and returned the salute as crisply as it was supposed to be done.
They moved the vice president into the lower level of the main building and chained him to a chair, and Eddie watched as two men with black cases entered the room and closed the door behind them. Were they going to torture him? Was this the plan all along? This could ruin Eddie’s opportunity to talk to the vice president alone. The Russian commander turned to him and asked him where the little girl was.
“Excuse me?” Eddie asked.
“Daughter,” the Russian replied. “His daughter.”
Eddie hadn’t heard anything about a little girl or the vice president’s daughter for that matter. “What?” he asked again.
The Russian started to get angry, and Eddie couldn’t understand anything he said. The commander’s personal interpreter was standing down the hall, and Eddie waved him over.
The troops in Estes Park had captured the vice president’s daughters a few nights ago. The older one had escaped, but the younger one was still being held at the Endovalley camp. The Russian Commander wanted to know why the major hadn’t brought her up with them.