Dead Water

5

"Yes, Richard," President Williams answered.

"Sir, I have vital information for you regarding the situation in Alaska."

"We've been studying satellite photography ourselves. It is definitely concerning, to say the least."

"Yes, sir. What I have to show you will concern you more."

"What do you have, Richard?"

"Something I need to show you, sir, not just tell you. Phillips found something in the satellite feed."

"Richard, I'm sure we've seen it ourselves."

"Not this. Trust me. I need to see you immediately. I'm bringing an encrypted flash drive with me. You really need to see this, sir. ASAP."

The line was silent for a moment. "All right. Meet me at Camp David at 7:00 p.m. I'll have the security transponder numbers sent over. I trust Christman can get you there in time."

"Not a problem, sir."

"See you then." The president hung up.

Starr walked back into their war room. "J. C., I need to be at Camp David by seven. Can we make it in the chopper?"

"Easy. We'll leave at four thirty this afternoon. That'll give us plenty of time."

"Phillips, in your recon of fish kills, you stated you'd never seen anything like this one, right?" asked Starr.

"Affirmative."

"Phillips, you're beginning to talk like a marine," deadpanned Styles.

"No, I'm not; I didn't swear." They grinned at each other.

Starr rolled his eyes. "May I continue?"

"Please do," cracked Christman.

"Thank you. Now, the point I was attempting to make was to ask Phillips to search around for any other kind of unnatural phenomena, anywhere, that might have resulted in some type of devastation. Look for, I don't know, plant life, anything that is way out of bounds. Think outside the box. Have Sunshine Boy help you, if he can."

"Sure," Phillips agreed. "He can make us dinner."

"Hope you like boiled hot dogs," Styles muttered.

Five men converged on Ryyaki Ali's home. The door was opened as they approached. Two Middle Eastern men, dressed entirely in black with AK-47 assault rifles held at the ready, stood alongside the entrance as the men entered.

A large man in his early fifties greeted them. "Welcome, my brothers. Please follow me." He led them down a stairway and along a hall. At the end was a large metal door. Ryyaki Ali punched in a seven-digit security number on an electronic keypad, and the door slid open silently. "Come in, sit at my table." The room was impressive. It had two large flat-screen monitors along a full-length desk that housed multiple desktop computers. The table was made of solid rosewood, with matching chairs. A pitcher of water and a glass were arranged at each seating place. Everyone took a seat.

"We have complete security here. We may speak our minds without fear," added Ali.

Rijah Ellhad spoke first. "I would be comfortable not stating names aloud. I mean no disrespect, but that has always been our way. I see no reason to change."

Ryyaki Ali smiled. "As you wish. We are here to discuss the beginning of our revenge on these infidel Americans. We shall possess the means within two weeks. I have an idea I want to discuss with the group, as it is our decision to make together." Slight murmuring of agreement reached him. He continued, "My vision is to have multiple targets. The agent works so well that I feel it would be wasteful to use it all on one populace unless a particular venue comes to light. I've researched and believe we have enough to feed four major public water supplies. If you agree, we need to make choices."

Ellhad inquired, "Do you mean all at once or separate?"

"Separate. I believe that manner would instill the most fear in these infidels."

Imad al-Bin asked, "Which ones do you think best serve our purpose?"

"I'm not quite prepared to answer that tonight. I have an assistant working on that assignment as we speak. I will know by tomorrow. I seek the highest possible damage. The most populated areas will increase our revenge. That can never be too great." Murmuring of agreement again reached Ali's ears.

Rijah Ellhad spoke. "I like your plan. I would think as widespread as possible would also be a good thing. Let the Americans realize that no place is safe, that we can strike them anywhere. I will take you at your word that we can speak names freely in this room, but only here."

"My thoughts exactly," Ali replied. "Then it appears this will be a short meeting."

"It appears," Ali agreed.

Starr and Christman were met by an eight-man security team after landing at Camp David. Christman was directed toward the dining room while Starr was led to a small conference room. "Have a seat, sir." Starr sat. Two minutes later, a door opened. President Robert Williams entered the room. Starr immediately stood.

"Richard, it's just us. Sit back down."

"Yes, sir."

"What's so important you had to show me personally?" asked the president.

"Question, Mr. President. Any chance you have some large screens hooked to a computer somewhere? For this, bigger is better."

"Yes, and Richard, when it's only the two of us, call me Bob. Follow me." He led Starr out the door he'd come in and down a hall. Four doors to the left, they entered a larger room. Two men inside immediately stood. "Guys, I need the room." Both left.

"Bob, I need a secure line."

"The blue phone." The president pointed toward the table.

Christman picked it up and dialed Phillips. He put the phone on speaker.

"You near a computer?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Send me an e-mail."

"What about?"

"I don't care. Just send me an e-mail so I can reply to it."

"Okay." He sent the request. Within two minutes, he got a reply from Phillips.

"Okay, Starr. Now, plug the flash drive you've got into the computer. In my e-mail, there's an attachment. Open it up."

"Done," replied Starr.

"There should be a window that popped up with multiple choices; click on flash drive."

"It doesn't say flash drive. Closest thing is jump drive."

"Christ, Starr, I'd swear I was talking to Styles. They're the same fucking thing."

"Uh, Phillips, the president is three feet away."

"Oh. Uh, hello, Mr. President. Sorry about that."

"No need to worry, Ms. Phillips. I can understand the difficulty in working with the two of them." He chuckled.

"You have no idea, Mr. President."

Starr interrupted, "Can we get back to business?"

"Why certainly, Captain Starr," Phillips replied with more than a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"You think she has it tough?" Starr retorted to the president.

"Did you click on the flash drive yet?" Phillips asked.

"Done," replied Starr.

"Okay. This will take about twenty seconds. Then the program will open. Just use your mouse normally. At the beginning, a window will pop up asking if you want a split screen. If you're on a large monitor, click Yes. Right click once to pause, twice to continue. Call me back when you get lost."

"Hold on a second. I thought you said that you'd have to give me the code over the phone."

"Originally, yes. I changed the program."

"Why?" Starr asked.

"To see if I could. I wanted to run a program that recognized a code I built into the flash drive itself. When you opened the attachment, it recognized the flash drive code and sequenced itself. Plus, it made it a little easier for you, and I also thought the split screen would be a help."

"Yeah, uh, okay. Thanks."

As soon as Starr hung up, President Williams burst out laughing. "Boy, does she fit in."

"Yeah, she does." Starr grinned. "That girl impresses the shit outta me. I don't know how you found her, but you couldn't have done any better."

Starr's attention went back to the screen, and he followed Phillips's instruction for the split screen. For the next half hour, Starr gave the president a narration of what he was watching.

"You say that speck of yellow is a man?"

"Man, woman, one or the other. It's definitely someone in a hazmat suit. On Phillips's gear back at the Ranch, it's a little clearer. You can just make out that something was tossed in the lake. Next morning, everything is dead. No doubt it's a bioweapon."

"Well, you're certainly right, as we do not have this info. Richard, I need to keep this."

"How will you explain how you got it?"

"That's the nice thing about being president. I don't have to."

"Well, as they say, rank has its privilege."

"Yes, it does, Richard. Yes, it does."