David said, “I think there is such a thing as a just war. I certainly think that the United States has always tried to fight for the right reasons, and with honor. I know for a fact that we train our military to question the morality of their orders, and to always fight for the side of justice. But Brooke, between you and me, I’m not sure that what we’re doing here is rooted in those moral values.”
Brooke said, “What do you mean?”
They heard the others coming closer to the door.
David’s face flushed. He wasn’t sure what to say. He clumsily patted her shoulder and said, “Hey — I’m not ready to talk about it yet. But I’ll tell you later. Trust me. Let’s just keep this between us for now, okay?”
She looked at him and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Then she nodded and whispered, “Of course.”
The others filed into the room. Brooke turned away and looked lost in thought. In his head, David made a note to himself that he would put Brooke in the ‘trustworthy’ column. He had seen enough of her. He wasn’t sure when he would get the chance, but he needed to let her know what had happened to Bill and enroll her in his plan. Now he just needed a plan.
CHAPTER 6
The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.
David Manning awoke at 5 a.m. One week. He had been on the island for a full week. During that time he had lain low. He didn’t contribute much. Only when he absolutely had to in order not to seem suspicious. They remained separated in teams for the whole week. He had only heard rumors about what the other teams were working on. Major Combs decided that the best thing for everyone was to keep the information compartmentalized for security purposes. Natesh objected but was overruled by Lena. People still talked, though. The consultants were mostly cut from the same cloth. Ex-military and government action officers and midlevel managers. They were used to having so many rules that it was impossible to obey all of them and still get the job done. So naturally, during meals or breaks, they talked.
That was how David began hearing about the other plans. The Pacific war plans. The US invasion plans. The pre-war psychological operations. It was very comprehensive. Still an early-stage outline, with many details to be worked out. But the consultants that formed the Red Cell were both very sharp and extremely knowledgeable. With each new bit of the plans that David became privy to, he grew more and more worried about who was really getting this information.
David had never hurt anyone before. He’d joined the military, if only for a brief time, to defend and protect. He didn’t know if he had it in him to hurt someone. But the more he thought about what had happened to Bill, the more he thought that his life was in danger. The more he heard about the war plans, the more he worried about the future well-being of his family.
Stress took its toll. He barely ate during meals. He couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t remember the last time he had prayed before he came to this island, but now David prayed each night in the silence of his room. Still, he knew something was missing that de-stressed him at home.
The night before, he had decided to use the sneakers they had given him in his duffel bag and go running. He needed a good long sweat. It would help keep him from getting sluggish, and from going insane with worry.
With no other obvious place to work out, he ran around the six-thousand-foot runway. The air was humid and there was a light breeze. The only sounds he could hear were his footsteps on the pavement and the rhythmic crashing of waves on the shore. At dawn, he witnessed one of the most beautiful sunrises he had ever seen. As he ran, he also got a view of most of the island’s base.
Sweat dripped from his forehead and into his eyes. He wiped it away with his forearm. His stride was long, his breathing measured. The sun peeked out over the horizon. He was almost done with the run and was feeling good.
The runway was like his own personal track. David finished another runway length and turned to cross the far endline of the runway. He was facing the waves as he crossed to the other side of the pavement. He would turn right once more and then have a final runway length to go before he arrived back at the side of the base where the buildings were located. He was a mile away from Lena, the classroom, and everyone that was part of the Red Cell.
Just before he made his turn, something caught his eye near the water.
The fence.
The barbed wire fence ran around the base and runway like a giant squared-off horseshoe, with the two ends descending into the ocean over a mile apart. The runway and all of the buildings lay inside the fence. It rose up a good ten or fifteen feet in the air and was covered by sharp steel razor wire. All around the fence, the jungle bush had been cut away and the ground scorched. That resulted in a clear path to walk next to the fence for about eight feet on either side. Beyond that manmade clearing of dirt, ash, and metal, a dark jungle rose up in thick green masses. There were several acres of rainforest on the inside of the fence, the base side, which the makers had not bothered to clear. The result was a half-mile corridor that rose at a shallow grade from the base to the apex, three-quarters of a mile away and curved around from the far end of the runway to the other side of the island. If David had wanted to, he imagined that he could run right along that narrow path and come out near his buildings. But that wasn’t what struck him about the fence.
What was odd about the fence was that it existed at all.
He had read a book recently about a town with a wall around it. It was a science fiction book, and the entire town was surrounded by an electrified fence and tall pines. The author quoted a poem by Robert Frost. David was reminded of this poem now. There were only two reasons to build a wall. To keep something out. Or to keep something in.
They were surrounded by ocean in all directions. Gravel, scorched earth, and concrete had cleared away the plants that could threaten to overgrow the base structures and runway. So then why would you need a barbed wire fence on an island? Unless there was something else on that island that you didn’t want people to see…
The barbed wire fence went straight out into the sea and sank lower and lower until about fifty feet out it was lapped over by greenish-blue saltwater. A man could, if so inclined, swim out fifty-one feet, and go right around it.
David suddenly found the need to restart his swim training in addition to his morning runs. But not today. The sun was up, and he had to get back in time for class to start. Tomorrow he would get up earlier. He needed to go when it was dark, like it had been for the first twenty minutes of his run.
He reached the far corner of the runway, turned ninety degrees, and continued on the final leg of his run, back towards the buildings. He could feel his heart pumping. The idea that he was going to break the rules and possibly find a new clue excited him. He wouldn’t just sit on his hands and wait for Lena and whoever the other organizers were to decide his fate. He would take action. He would take control. He began to feel better about himself and his situation.
Then he saw her.
A second pair of feet joined the rhythmic pattern of David’s steps on the runway. He looked up, wiping sweat from his brow. Lena. She was running in the reverse direction on the opposite side of the runway. She wore a tight black athletic shirt and tiny grey running shorts. Her long dark hair was up in a ponytail, weighed down by the same sweat that glistened off her skin. Her leg muscles rippled with each stride. She ran like an Olympic distance runner, effortlessly keeping a pace that, to David, looked more like a sprint. But something told him that for her, it wasn’t. David was a little glad that she was on the opposite side of the runway. He liked running alone, and he didn’t want to get passed by a woman. Especially one that might one day try to kill him.