The Ajax Protocol

CHAPTER 44

General Louis Westlake had become obsessed with the Project. There were factors that could disrupt any complex operation but the worst of those were rogue factors no one could predict. The Project was one of those. Their interference had screwed up the timing of his operation. It kept him awake at night.

The news from the Caribbean was bad. His assault team had disappeared. So had the Project. He'd sent another team that found the island deserted.

Where were they? The only way off the island was by air or by sea. They didn't have a plane, so they had to be somewhere on the water. There were too many boats out there to spot them from the satellites.

Sooner or later they'd have to land and when they did, he would find and eliminate them. At least they didn't know about Denver. That thought made Westlake feel better. He reached for the bottle of 25-year-old scotch next to his chair and poured himself another drink.

Anyway, he thought, soon it won't matter. Once the Ajax operation began, things would have gone too far for Harker and her toy soldiers to make any difference.

Westlake's mood mellowed as the whiskey took affect. After all, the Project was only six people. Six people who thought they knew better than he did what the nation really needed. They were fools. They couldn't see the path to defeat Rice had laid out by negotiating with America's enemies. He thought of Rice. The President was getting stronger, but he hadn't resumed his duties yet. He never would.

When the transition period was over, there would be a different America. Those who accepted the New Order would find themselves rewarded. Those who resisted would be brought to heel, one way or another.

Westlake got up out of his chair and went to a file cabinet next to his desk, where a false front concealed a safe. He pulled the front open, entered the combination on an electronic keypad and opened the safe. He took out a flat, red notebook that contained a coded summary for deployment of Ajax and the strategy following the takeover.

As the day neared for Ajax to go operational, Westlake found himself taking out the book more often. He was looking for flaws, making sure that he had thought of everything.

Page 8, for example, listed the primary targets and the corresponding military units that would be sent in to restore order. The coordinates for each city were already entered into the computers. Ajax would activate receivers located in each city. The result would be chaos across the entire nation.

It's too bad so many people will die. He dismissed the thought. Sacrifice was always necessary when great acts were played out on the world stage.

He looked at the list. As the riots spread across the country, the result would be terror and confusion across the nation.

The first targets were in the East. The list was like a mystical litany in his mind.

Philadelphia, Atlanta.

As the earth turned, new cities would come into range.

St. Louis, Kansas City.

The final targets were on the West Coast.

Seattle, San Francisco.

He'd considered adding Chicago and New York but had decided against it. Denver had been spared for obvious reasons. He would have liked to include the Capitol, but he needed to keep the infrastructure of government intact. It wouldn't do to have the mobs burn down the White House. As it was, major population centers would be devastated.

Homeland Security, the National Guard, and the regular troops would have their hands full. Rice would die, Edmonds would become President and then he'd panic. He'd be desperate for guidance and a clear strategy to deal with the situation. Westlake planned to be there to give it to him. New emergency regulations would be issued to control the populace. They would never be rescinded.

By the time anyone realized what had happened, it would be too late. If Edmonds presented a problem, he would be eliminated along with any other troublemakers. Westlake looked again at the list of cities, the road to power. He poured his third drink and took a long swallow of the golden liquor. It exploded with pleasant warmth in his stomach, like taking a drink of the sun.

Life was good.