The Fusion Cage

XV

Lieutenant General Nellis strode down the fifth floor corridor to his office and hoped that the meeting he was due to attend would not end his career. A former Chair of the Military Intelligence Board and a much respected figure at the Pentagon, Nellis was one of the US military’s most powerful figures. Yet today Nellis knew that he was heading for a serious grilling.

He walked into his office and closed the door as two men awaiting him stood from their seats. One was a former Navy SEAL by the name of Miller, who as a soldier was a man with whom Nellis could identify. The other was a tall man with a formidable physique, an African — American with slightly graying hair who despite his age looked capable of causing severe physical damage to anybody who stood in his way. The name Nellis had been given for him was Mister Mitchell, and that in itself was enough to send alarm bells ringing in Nellis’s mind: a man supposedly a civilian sitting in on a classified meeting in the headquarters of the DIA.

‘Gentlemen,’ Nellis greeted them without preamble. ‘What can I do for you?’

Miller and Mitchell sat down opposite Nellis as he eased himself into his chair. Miller spoke with a gravelly voice.

‘We’ve been sent up here regarding a breach of security by one of your team.’

Nellis raised an eyebrow. ‘Whom?’

‘Douglas Jarvis,’ Miller replied. ‘Former United States Marine, works under your watch. Homeland sent us because they have no access to files.’

Nellis remained motionless for a moment. Miller was maintaining a formal bearing but he was clearly trying to project a reasonable persona. Mitchell, on the other hand, simply watched Nellis with an unblinking gaze utterly devoid of any emotion he could recognize.

‘Jarvis is responsible for the oversight of a classified research program for the agency,’ Nellis replied. ‘It’s an autonomous program, so neither Homeland nor the Pentagon would have access to it.’

‘Why is that?’ Mitchell asked, speaking for the first time. His voice was both soft and yet threatening at the same time, his forged — in — granite confidence apparently divesting him of the need to project an attitude.

‘Intelligence security,’ Nellis replied. ‘The program has assets on the ground and exposure of their activities could render them at risk.’

Miller’s controlled expression slipped. Mitchell remained silent. Nellis became aware of the sound of people walking past beyond his office door as the silence stretched out for several seconds until Miller finally spoke.

‘We have identified two individuals connected to this program.’ He slid a pair of glossy images across the desk to Nellis. ‘Do you recognize them?’

Nellis looked down and saw a black and white mug shot of Ethan Warner staring up at him. It was typical of the Pentagon that they would have provided a shot of Warner taken years ago in Cook County Jail, and not one from the much easier to acquire service record from the US Marine Corp’s primary training base at Quantico, Virginia. Beside Warner’s haggard features was a shot of Nicola Lopez, again taken via a surveillance team and not a more formal shot of her proudly wearing the blues of the Washington Police Department.

He looked up at Mitchell and Miller.

‘They work for Jarvis,’ he replied.

Mitchell folded his hands in his lap as he spoke.

‘You are aware that these two agents were responsible for disrupting a sensitive operation in Argentina a few months ago?’

Nellis nodded. Ethan and Lopez, working with Jarvis, had deployed across the globe in search of something that even Nellis had difficulty in understanding: the remains of a species not of this Earth, a fossilized remnant of something that had died thousands of years ago and may have influenced human history and development. They had uncovered startling evidence of mankind’s ancient record of extra — terrestrial involvement in early civilizations, all of which had swiftly been recovered and concealed by Majestic Twelve. What Nellis could not be sure of was whether Mitchell and Miller were working for MJ–12 or were, like him, trying to get to the bottom of it all.

‘Jarvis’s agents were deployed to South America in that timeframe,’ he confirmed. ‘However I am not at liberty to discuss the operation due to national security considerations.’

Mitchell smiled without warmth but remained silent.

‘Your man Jarvis allowed both Ethan Warner and his partner, Nicola Lopez, access to highly classified material,’ Miller pointed out.

‘Their exposure to sensitive programs is more than justified by their success in utilizing the information obtained.’

‘That would be true,’ Mitchell added, ‘were Warner and Lopez not civilian contractors.’

Nellis levelled Mitchell with a cold gaze.

‘Warner and Lopez are only given cases that the rest of the intelligence community has already rejected as unworkable. Perhaps you should ask yourself why it is that the Pentagon has turned away from at least six major investigations that presented clear and present dangers to both American security and the lives of our citizens? And if I may, I’d like to point out that you are also a civilian, are you not?’

‘This isn’t about blame,’ Miller intervened. ‘We’re being asked to ensure that the security of our most sensitive operations cannot be blown by two people over whom we have no control. This program represents a very weak link in a long chain of security measures. I can’t go back to the Secretary of Defense and tell him, hey, everything’s just fine, chill out. If any DIA programs were exposed to the public, all of our careers would be on the line.’

Nellis remained impassive.

‘Over half of all DIA employees are civilians. Who sent you, exactly?’ Neither Miller or Mitchell replied, which pretty much was an answer in itself. ‘So, the spooks at the CIA have taken a fresh interest in what Doug’s achieving down here?’ He looked at Mitchell. ‘Let me guess: Warner and Lopez have done what you guys couldn’t so now you’re looking to take over the operation.’

‘This is about security,’ Mitchell replied, ‘nothing more.’

‘Of course it is,’ Nellis replied without losing the smile. ‘So much so that you want me to breach my own agency’s security protocols because you’re worried about breaches of security protocol. Not going to happen.’

‘We’re on the same side,’ Miller said, making a stab at keeping the mood cordial. ‘We just need to keep everybody’s borders tight, is all. If this program were such a big deal then maybe you could run it through the NRO and cut Warner and Lopez loose. That way it’s all internal and we’re not farming work out to people like that.’

Miller gestured to the images of Lopez and Warner.

‘People like what?’ Nellis rumbled.

‘A convicted felon and a gumshoe,’ Miller chuckled in response. ‘We’ve got much better people available for this kind of work who won’t set off alarm bells in DC.’

Nellis’s fists balled of their own accord on his desk.

‘If you’d bothered to look into the history of these two investigators instead of just sucking up the crap that the CIA has obviously fed you, you’d know that Ethan Warner is decorated former United States Marine, as is Doug Jarvis, and that Nicola Lopez is a former DC police detective. Neither of them are amateurs at anything.’

‘They’re both liabilities,’ Mitchell snapped. ‘Ethan Warner has a reputation for directly disobeying authority and Lopez is known to be a short fuse at the best of times. Yet they’re both wandering around the country with access to all manner of classified material. Jarvis has in the past used assets of our Navy and Air Force to achieve his aims in support of these investigations, which have often led to extreme exposure events such as exploding civilian apartment buildings, violent incidents in allied countries such as Israel and repeated firearms violations in public areas throughout the country. Our business is both covert and classified.’ Mitchell gestured at the photographs. ‘They’re a danger to national security, not an asset to it.’

Nellis leaned across the desk, his eyes glowering into Mitchell’s.

‘The Pentagon has acquired extraordinary technology as a direct result of Jarvis’s investigations and I’ll be damned if I’ll let the CIA kick the door down now.’

Mitchell leaned forward. ‘Where are Warner and Lopez, right now?’

‘Busy, somewhere.’

Mitchell seemed about to make a move when a discreet buzzing sound broke the silence. Mitchell reached down and retrieved a cell phone from his pocket, answering it and listening for a few moments. Then he stood from his seat without another word and stalked out of the office. Nellis waited until the door had closed behind him before he looked at Miller. The soldier’s expression said it all.

‘Are you really in bed with the spooks?’ Nellis asked.

‘This isn’t about the CIA,’ Miller said quietly. ‘It’s far beyond that. That call means that wherever your two intrepid agents have gone, Mitchell now knows about it.’

Nellis looked at the soldier for a long moment, and then he reached out and grabbed a post — it note and a pen as he spoke.

‘You know I want to help but all of our agencies have their respective boundaries. I can’t just start exposing my own people to potential law suits should any of this become public knowledge. I have a loyalty to my agents just as much as the CIA, the Pentagon or anybody else.’

Nellis wrote a word on the note and turned it to face Miller, who looked down at it as he replied.

‘I’m just doing my job here,’ Miller said as he read the note and looked back at Nellis. He nodded slowly. ‘You understand, of course?’

‘It’s nothing personal,’ Nellis replied.

‘It never is,’ Miller agreed. ‘We’ve all got our place and we all have to fulfil our obligations, regardless of the cost. Sometimes, the powers that be are so influential that they can alter the course of history. That’s not an enemy that you want to make.’

‘Watch your back,’ Nellis warned. ‘Such people have a long history of self — preservation at the expense of their agents.’

‘Don’t worry, I’ve got myself covered,’ Miller said with an easy smile as he stood. The smile slipped as he regarded the general for a moment. ‘They’ll get what they want in the end.’

‘I know. Just going to try to hold them off for a while longer, is all.’

‘Don’t try too hard. There’s too much at stake, for all three of us now that we’re involved and for your man Jarvis,’ Miller warned him. ‘It’s better for you all if you handle their investigations directly through this office and keep us in the loop.’

‘Why’s that?’ Nellis asked.

‘Because I’m only here due to Warner’s military history,’ Miller replied. ‘Truth is, I’ve got very little control here over what CIA might try to do. I’m consulting, not controlling.’

‘Mitchell’s in charge?’ Nellis asked in surprise.

Miller nodded.

‘If Mitchell gets his claws into this alone, Ethan Warner and Nicola Lopez are likely to end up as targets themselves.’