Inside, the team spaced out and searched the empty barn.
The Secretary depressed the transmitter for her radio. “Check the floor for any access underground.”
“Understood, ma’am,” came the Marine’s reply.
Two minutes later, someone located a hidden trapdoor.
The Secretary felt her heart thumping in her chest. Could it be this easy? Was the threat about to be neutralized? She watched the live video-feed from the Marine’s helmet mounted camera. The man opened the trapdoor, revealing a series of steps underground. At the bottom, a large metal door was digitally locked. The door looked like something akin to what you’d find inside a bank’s vault. A single SEAL studied the digital pad. It was unlikely anyone was going to guess the code.
The SEAL spoke into his radio, “Madam Secretary, we’ve hit a snag.”
“Understood. We’re working on it,” the Secretary replied. She turned to Sam Reilly, who was next to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, several military advisers, and the President of the United States. “Mr. Reilly. Did your source mention anything about how to gain access?”
Sam’s lips thinned. “I’m sorry. Not a thing.”
She turned to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “How long would it take your team to force entry?”
“Assuming it’s not booby-trapped?” He replied with a cocked eyebrow. “It could be hours.”
The Secretary smiled. “Or not.”
On the live-feed of the door, something suddenly changed. The sound of large, hydraulic locks moving could be heard, and a few seconds later, the security door swung open.
The on-ground team leader ordered everyone out of the barn, while a remote controlled vehicle was sent inside to investigate. The Secretary found herself holding her breath as the remotely operated vehicle made its way down the stairs and into the secure room.
Its overhead LED lights were switched on and its video feed transferred to one of the Command Center’s six large display monitors. The RCV made a slow circular sweep of the room. Four large boxes located next to each other in the middle of the room.
The RCV focused its camera in on one of the boxes.
A yellow and black trefoil — the International symbol for nuclear radiation — was plastered all over the box.
The RCV removed the lead cover for the box.
Instantly the Geiger counter started to chirp, indicating the presence of radioactive material. The camera was remotely maneuvered to get a better look.
Inside, were the dismantled components of the German nuclear bomb, and more than a dozen plutonium rods.
The Secretary of Defense sighed heavily. “Thank God. It seems that Wilhelm Gutwein never intended to mount a nuclear attack.”
Chapter Sixty-Two
After the explosions throughout the capital and along the bridges of the Potomac River, the unidentified army of mercenaries disappeared, seamlessly integrating with other civilians trapped within the city.
An investigation launched immediately afterward discovered that the mercenaries had used the old Dupont Circle underground railway tunnels to escape the barricades and locked down sections of the Capital. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff swore he’d hunt them down, and have the perpetrators brought to justice.
The Secretary of Defense interrogated the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff regarding who authorized the USS Jimmy Carter to kidnap Sam Reilly after he dived the Clarion Call. She could be quite formidable when the situation required it. In the end, the man had acquiesced and admitted that he was following the advice and intel from a retired senator, named Charles Finney — regarding secrets that were in everyone’s interest to be permanently maintained.
She said, “How long have you known the retired Senator Finney?”
“Nearly forty years, ma’am. He’s a good man. Helped me get to where I am today. Why do you ask?”
The Secretary tilted her head to the left, and her piercing green eyes fixed on his. “Painter, you weren’t involved in this cover up all this time, were you?”
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff shook his head. “No ma’am.”
Three days after the events that captured the worst nightmares of Americans involving a possible nuclear attack on Washington, D.C., a black SUV drove along K Street. Inside, the Secretary of Defense and Sam Reilly sat silently.
Neither was sure that they wanted to know the truth.
The SUV pulled into the Farrugut Residences.
Sam got out and together with the Secretary of Defense they walked into the main reception area. A small, discreet, security detail followed.
The same stylishly dressed young receptionist met them at the door with a pleasing smile full of teeth.
The Secretary handed over her ID card, and said, “We’re here to see retired Senator Charles Finney.”
The receptionist’s smile faded. “I’m sorry, madam Secretary, but that’s not possible.”
“Not possible? Did I not make myself clear? This isn’t a social visit. We need to see the retired Senator, now.”
The young lady swallowed hard and sighed. “I’m sorry, it isn’t possible.”
“Why not?”
Another woman entered the room, her ID badge showing that she was a registered nurse. “Because he’s dead. I’m so sorry, he had a heart attack last night.”
“Last night?”
“Yes, it was such a shame. He was such a nice old man.”
A forensics team went through the retired Senator Charles Finney’s room. Inside, they located an M24 sniper rifle. The ballistics report concluded that the weapon matched the one that killed Congresswoman Bledes.
They also found a safe. Inside, was a single item. A letter from Werner Heisenberg to the U.S. President Gerald Ford, dated February 1st, 1976. The very day that Heisenberg had died in his own home of kidney and gallbladder cancer.
The Secretary of Defense ran her eyes quickly across the brief letter.
It started with a quote regarding ethics, for which Werner was known to be the author.
Where no guiding ideals are left to point the way, the scale of values disappears and with it the meaning of our deeds and sufferings, and at the end can lie only negation and despair. Religion is therefore the foundation of ethics, and ethics the presupposition of life.
The Secretary blinked, unsure what to make of it.
In this, I have tried to do what I believe is right for my fellow man, but in this endeavor and through all the good intentions in the world, I fear I may have unleashed the worst of mankind’s intrinsic failings — that of greed.
The Secretary read quickly over the next part, pausing on the end of the letter.
I believe that nuclear fission is too great a Genie for any one nation to behold and that possibly such power could be shared between a few nations — what I had hoped to be the United Nations — in an endeavor to create perpetual peace on Earth.
In the effort, I believe I have failed. I now share with you a list of names and persons involved in one of the greatest deceits ever to take place, and pray that you may find it within your power to rectify what I could not.
The Secretary skimmed the names. She’d already heard them all before.
At the end of the document, it was signed,
Werner Heisenberg