The Ajax Protocol

CHAPTER 58

Stephanie told the team about the DARPA weapons in Westlake's encrypted files.

"He could go after the grid" Ronnie said. "You take it down, out come the lowlifes looking for a free TV and you get troops on the corner. Martial law, like he wanted."

"That's what I thought at first," Stephanie said. "But things have changed. Before, Westlake had Homeland Security lined up and support from some key generals and politicians. That's gone. Taking the grid down would cause a lot of disruption, but it wouldn't have the same result."

"What's left for him to do?" Ronnie asked. "Like you say, his support is gone. He can't pull off his plan. I was him, I'd disappear. Get a new identity and go underground. Someplace like Brazil."

"Yeah, but you're not him," Nick said, "and Miller said he heard Westlake mention a backup plan to Martinez."

"We need to look at this differently," Selena said.

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth picked up her pen and began tapping it on her desk.

Tap. Tap. Taptaptap.

"We've been trying to figure out what he might do but we haven't thought about why he would do it."

"Go on."

"We need to get inside his mind if we want to predict his actions, or try to. He's finished as far as starting a government takeover. So what's left?"

Elizabeth set her pen down. "I guess that depends on who he is. What makes him tick."

"There ought to be a psych profile in his jacket," Nick said.

"It probably wouldn't tell us much," Stephanie said. "This man reached the highest rank possible in a world of psych testing and rigid structure. He fooled everyone. I don't think we're going to learn anything from it."

"We haven't been asking the right questions," Selena said. "So far we've been asking ourselves what he's going to do and where he might have gone. A better question might be why did he want to take over the government in the first place?"

"Why would anyone?" Nick said. "He wanted power."

"More than that," Selena said. "He thought he was going to make America strong."

"We're already strong," Stephanie said.

"But Westlake saw attempts to gain peaceful solutions on the world stage as a sign of weakness."

"Some would say he had a point," Ronnie said. "I wouldn't trust any of the so-called world leaders out there, no matter what treaties they signed. Treaties are only pieces of paper. My people know all about treaties."

Elizabeth said, "Let's stick to his motivation. Nick, you said he wanted power. That seems obvious, but it doesn't tell us anything we didn't know."

"It's not so much that he wanted it," Nick said, "it's what he was prepared to do to get it. That puts him in the company of the psychopaths. People like Caligula and Pol Pot."

"You think he's a psychopath?" Selena said.

"What else would you call someone who's ready to kill thousands of people so he can get what he wants?"

"Westlake believed in what he was doing," Stephanie said. "That tells us something."

"People like that always have a good reason for murdering everyone."

"I can guess what he might do," Selena said.

"What?" Ronnie said.

"He's finished, right? I mean, there isn't any way he can gain what he wanted."

"Of course not. What are you thinking, Selena?" Elizabeth asked.

"Westlake is a megalomaniac. A narcissist. He thinks the world revolves around him. He wants to be remembered. When people like him have nothing left to lose, the only thing left is revenge."

"Oh, my God," Stephanie said.

"Steph?" Harker looked at her.

"He's going to use Prometheus," Stephanie said. She began twisting bracelets on her arm. "It's armed with heavy nukes. If he can control it, he could start a world war.."

"There have to be safeguards on it," Selena said. "Fail safes."

"He'd have to know the codes," Nick said.

"He was in charge of the weaponized satellites," Elizabeth said. "He must know the codes." Elizabeth set her pen down. "You could be right, Steph. Westlake has nothing to lose and sooner or later he's going down. He could try and take everyone with him."

"He could use Prometheus as a negotiating point," Nick said.

"It wouldn't work. The Pentagon would just change the firing codes. They should change them anyway. I'd better call the President," Elizabeth said.