“Yes, it just so happened that Director Jeffers was in Coeur d’Alene fishing during the test and agent Evans reached him about thirty minutes ago.”
“And?”
“Director Jeffers is on his way here right now, he is on our side, and so is the entire bureau.”
“Fantastic news.”
“I thought so, and what are you up to with our Russian agents?”
“Calling in favors Tina.” Secretly, he didn’t know if this would work out. Elena could very well be playing him for a sucker and shove a knife in his heart the first chance she got.
Alex and Somers entered the stockade and had Elena and Andrade brought into the dayroom.
“Agent Somers please remove their handcuffs.”
“Yes sir, but I am staying close just in case.”
“Agreed.”
Elena looked like she hadn’t slept in days, and Andrade had a look of deep concern on his face as well.
“Why the long faces?” Alex asked.
“General, are you in any danger?” Elena asked. Somers snickered.
“Miss Grodny, you’re looking at the most powerful General in the entire United States military and he is going to kick Admiral Torrance and the rest of his rat pack into the Atlantic Ocean,” Somers spoke with conviction.
“So General, you are opposed to this takeover?” Andrade asked.
“To the last drop of my blood Andrade.”
“I knew it,” clenching his fists, “you are the Patriot General, not a traitor.”
“Elena are you and Andrade ready to do me a favor?”
“Yes, of course, you have saved our lives, we owe you that much.”
Alex told them that he knew Admiral Torrance and Deputy Secretary of Defense Carney were conspirators. He suspected CIA Director Cray, but beyond that he didn’t know who was involved. What he did know was that there were very powerful people backing the Admiral and he wanted to find them and prosecute all of them. This was the mission he wanted them to undertake. They would have all the facilities at their disposal, they could fly anywhere in the world to track down leads in the case. With one proviso, Alex asked them to just gather the information. He didn’t want them killing people to get information…he suggested they try other persuasive techniques first.
“Before you accept this assignment, I want you to accompany me to my residence and conduct a conference call with your President Kleskova. I want to assure him that we are not in an offensive posture and that I am leading the charge to remove Admiral Torrance from power.”
“Yes, we will do that, and while we are on the phone with him, we can get his permission to assist you in your investigation,” Elena offered.
“That is a good idea Elena; I will ask him for your help in that matter.”
“General do we have to stay locked up?” Andrade asked.
“No, you can move into one of the officer billets for families, there are a few vacant homes around the base. I’ll have the base housing officer arrange that for you. But you must stay on the base; I cannot guarantee your safety off the base. I will get you some money so you can buy some supplies for your dwelling. I’ll have the base housing officer get you a vehicle to drive around the base and issue you a civilian ID so you can shop at the base annex, now let’s go make that call.”
Chapter 3
Old Rules No Longer Apply
Driving back to the mountainside residence gave everyone an opportunity to relax for just a few moments; the past two days had been an incredibly tense time. Elena was intrigued by the idea that she and Andrade would be put in charge of uncovering the perpetrators of the takeover. What appealed to her even more was the fact that it would be Americans she would be tracking down for General Hanken. She could not quite get her arms around this Hanken just yet, but he was certainly a man to be reckoned with. Andrade was relieved to be outside of the confinement of the stockade. He’d never realized how psychologically damaging it could be to lock up another human being; until now.
Alex was writing something in a notepad and agent Somers noticed.
“General, I see you constantly jotting things down in that notepad of yours, what do you write in there?”
“Mental reminders, thoughts that pop into my head, names, dates, ranks, people’s abilities, impressions of people, good and bad performances, a whole host of things that I can go over during the day or at the end of the day,” he went on to say, “when we get to the residence I want you and Bill to join me in the communications room. I will also have Liz in there as she speaks Russian. I’m going to need you to watch Curt; he will undoubtedly react very negatively to seeing Elena and Andrade again.”
“Yeah, I can imagine this will be a shock to everyone, I’ll keep the parties from coming to blows.”
“Good, I have enough on my mind without having to referee a verbal or physical brawl.”
Alex took a deep breath. This should be interesting; he hoped it didn’t turn into a shouting match. He walked into the residence with agents Somers and Evans, and Lt. Commander Morris. Elena and Andrade were sandwiched between the two agents with Morris following closely behind. The two Navy Seals on guard at the front door snapped to attention as Alex approached. Sandi was at the door and greeted Alex with a kiss and a hug; he was relieved to see her it brought some sanity back into his life for a brief moment. Sandi had taken several messages for Alex while he was at the base. Ted Jeffers had called and said he would be landing at Peterson shortly. The Major in charge of base housing called wanting to know what were his duties, and did he still want him to call the FEMA people about those disaster trailers to be shipped up to Colorado Springs.
Alex told Sandi he had an extremely important call to make to the Russian President; he needed Liz in there to translate. Alex asked her to get Ted Jeffers in here at the residence as soon as he lands. That became moot, as Jeffers arrived at the residence while Alex was discussing matters with Sandi. He shook Jeffers hand and asked him to accompany agents Somers and Evans into the communications room along with Elena and Andrade. Sandi inquired.
“Alex, who are those two people?”
“Sandi, give me a moment to speak with you privately, while the group goes to the communications room.”
“Okay.”
Alex pulled her aside and told her who Elena and Andrade were, and that he was using them to help ease international tensions, and that they had agreed to help in finding out who was behind Torrance.
“Alex, I have never questioned your judgment, but aren’t these people just a little dangerous, and how can you be sure they won’t cut your throat at the first opportune time?” she nervously asked.
“I know it sounds crazy, but again you do need to trust me on this. Now, please get hold of the base housing guy and have him meet me here in a couple of hours. I need you to be my gatekeeper and shield me from unwarranted distractions. I have a million things coming at me right now. When we are alone at night, I will debrief you on everything, so that you are in the loop on what is taking place. Now give me some time to deal with these agents and the Russians, take my calls, find out what they want. If you can’t solve it, then tell them I will get back to them shortly.” He kissed her and went to the communications room.
“Well Ted, how was the fishing?”
“It was good until all of this unfolded.”
“Ted, have you met Elena and Andrade?”
Jeffers had the look of a man caught completely off guard and searching for