A Triple Thriller Fest (42 page)

Jack was gone, and America was slipping further away. Life’s highs and lows never seemed to coincide, but at least they offset one another, and perhaps that was for the best.

After showering and shaving, Dan broke a couple of eggs in boiling water to poach and popped two slices of bread in the toaster. He poured himself a glass of orange juice while waiting for his eggs. A light knock on the door, one which he’d grown to love along with the voice that accompanied it, broke his concentration as he stood leaning against the sink, staring out the kitchen window. The door opened, and Nicole stepped into the room, dressed casually.

“Enough for two?” she asked, smoothing his hair in place.

“Always,” he replied. “Get any sleep?”

“Probably more than you. You’ve got enough bags under your eyes to take a trip to Europe,” she said, kissing his cheek.

He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands and then stretched his arms over his head, loosening his back muscles. “My eyes feel like the airlines sent those bags to Dubai while I was headed for Tokyo, but I’ll recover. When’s Connor coming?”

“Should be here any time. He called me on my cell while I was driving here and said he’d be about fifteen minutes. I’ve not mentioned it, but Pug also has family in New Zealand. You have more in common than it appears. He’s not out to trap you, Dan.”

“What’s he want, Nicole?”

“I need to let him make that pitch. Actually, I’m not certain of the extent of his intentions. He’ll tell you what’s on his mind, although he’s pretty careful about distribution on a ‘need-to-know’ basis.”

“Intelligence training, I suppose. Maybe he’s run into a few ‘Turners’ over the years.”

“Could be.” Nicole smiled. “Eggs are ready.”

Stacking the dishes in the dishwasher, Dan heard the doorbell ring and Nicole go to answer it. He wiped his hands on the dishtowel and entered the living room. Connor was dressed in slacks, a golf shirt, and a pullover sweater. Dan hadn’t paid much attention to Connor’s physical appearance when they had met at the armory with General Del Valle, but now Dan could see he kept fit. In his early forties, Connor was just over six feet, trim at about one hundred and ninety pounds, and still had a full head of dark brown hair.

“Morning, Colonel Connor.”

“Good morning, Dan. I’d appreciate it if you’d call me Pug. No need for protocol.”

“Yes, sir,” Dan said, eliciting another smile from Connor. “Have a seat, Pug. Can I get you something to drink? I just made some fresh coffee.”

 “That’d be fine, just black please. How are you doing, Dan? It’s been a tough couple of days. And your mom—how’s she holding up?”

Dan poured coffee for Connor and returned, placing the cup and saucer on the table next to Pug’s chair, then sitting next to Nicole on the couch. “Mom’s fine. We’ll all miss Jack a great deal. He was the spark plug in the family.”

“Seems to me you’ve picked up some of that spark,” Connor suggested.

Dan grinned. “Don’t feel like I’m running on all cylinders this morning.”

“That’s understandable. Let’s get to the heart of the matter. California’s in flames and has been for the past seventy-two hours. It’s coming back under control, but there are those who keep adding fuel and fanning the fires, and I’m not talking about the politicians, although they certainly do their part—in their own self-interest, of course.”

Dan looked at Nicole and then smiled directly at Connor. Pug took the cue.

“Present company excepted, of course,” he said, apparently remembering Dan’s newly acquired legislative role. Nicole and Dan starting laughing.

“Oops,” Pug replied, easing the sub-surface tension present since his arrival. “Dan, in all seriousness, we need to be candid with each other this morning. I want to talk to you about recent events, California’s future,
your
future—in short, I’ve come to ask for your help.”

“Colonel, we’re rapidly moving down opposite tracks.”

“I know—that’s the problem. We should be on the same track, don’t you think?”

“I did, Colonel, but look what happened on Friday—the insertion of that level of federal troops and the needless bloodshed. Was that necessary?”

“Most of the blood came from the 82
^nd
Airborne.”

“Colonel, it doesn’t matter who was killed, they were
all
Americans,” Dan said, quickly realizing the unintended corollary of his reference.

“Exactly,” Connor said softly. “They were
all Americans
. Isn’t that the best explanation for why we need to work together? I’m here to ask you to help us all
remain
Americans.”

“Colonel Connor, perhaps you should tell me exactly what it is you’re suggesting.”

Pug glanced at Nicole, took a sip of his coffee, and settled back into his chair. “Several months ago, the president formed a small investigative task force to look into the origins of the California secession movement. A diverse group of intelligence and law enforcement professionals were assigned to that task force, including a couple of special agents from the FBI.”

Connor hesitated briefly as Dan looked at Nicole, shaking his head slowly, side to side.

“Nicole,” Dan asked, “when will you stop amazing me?”

“Never, I hope,” she replied. “Truly, Dan, I’ve had a real hard time with this, and I’ve explained it all to Colonel Connor on several occasions, but, well, I just was required to keep quiet. Dan,” she said, apprehensively, “it doesn’t mean that—”

Dan reached for her hand and kissed the back of it before looking to Connor.

“You were saying, Pug.”

“Nicole’s right, Dan. I thought at one point I’d lose her, because she felt she was betraying the confidence the two of you were developing, but we’ve got to move beyond that. I’m asking you to be a part of our team, unofficially.”

“And how does one become part of a president’s task force ‘
unofficially,’
Colonel? Isn’t that a bit like being
sort of
pregnant?”

“Yeah, I guess it is,” Connor replied, nodding his head in agreement. “You’re in or you’re out, right?”

Dan stood and moved to the window of his apartment, standing quietly for a moment, staring out over the campus of the University of California at Davis. He turned back toward Pug and Nicole. “Colonel, like it or not, California is on the path to separation. You’re appealing to my loyalty to America, which, if events continue, will make me a traitor to California. That’s not much of a choice—condemned if I do and condemned if I don’t.”

“You’re right, except for one issue about which you, and most others, are unaware.”

Dan raised his eyebrows and stared at Nicole.

She raised her hands in mock surrender. “Not guilty. Well, maybe a
little
guilty,” she said sheepishly. “It’s really serious business, Dan, and I don’t mean to make light of it.” Nicole looked toward Connor, who nodded.

“Nicole, I think it’s time for you to bare your soul,” Connor said.

“Since early on, my FBI assignment has been to investigate the California militia units. That was part of the reason I was assigned to Colonel Connor’s task force. Last year, I was called in on an apparent drug overdose by the Director of Elections for the state of California. You may remember the news story—it was the Phelps case. In the course of the investigation, it became apparent that it was a murder, but the Sacramento police accepted it as a straight overdose. Then a few months ago, I was called by the acting director—a woman I had questioned back in the Phelps case. She wanted to talk to me, but I was out of the office for a few days, and she was told to call back on Monday. She was murdered less than forty-eight hours after calling my office, but before she had a chance to talk to me. Another lower-level employee of the elections office was found dead in the trunk of her car. The point is, Dan, that we have sufficient reason to believe that the California elections have been tampered with, and if so, well, you can jump to the obvious conclusion yourself. We think that what the public sees as overwhelming support for secession is nothing but the result of an engineered election.”

Dan faced back toward the window and continued to look out at the campus grounds, now beginning to fill with students
en
route
to their early morning classes.

“Let’s assume for a moment that what you say is true.” He swiveled around, smiling at Nicole, not wanting to damage their relationship by refuting her analysis. “Then we have to recognize that even if the origins were fallacious, public support
has
been garnered, and the momentum is growing. In fact, if the legislative pollsters are right, it’s downright strong. Friday’s bloodbath did nothing to stem the growth of that support.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Connor interjected, “and if we don’t do something to curtail that growth, it will just grow stronger. Dan, more than one political movement had its origins in deception and its end result in success for the originators. How do you think the Tories felt when the radicals—Sam Adams, Revere, and the others—began their diatribe against the Crown? That’s what they were then, radicals and traitors to their country. They became heroes later, didn’t they?”

“And you’re asking me to assume the same role?”

“Even though it might seem farfetched to you, I believe devious people are at work right now, and we need to step in.”

“What people are we talking about, Colonel?”

“Tell him the rest, Nicole,” Connor said.

Nicole held out her hand. Dan came and resumed his seat next to her on the couch.

“Dan, we had an agent in the Shasta Brigade for almost a year—that’s how I knew you weren’t part of the group. He was killed in the ATF ambush, although no one knows that outside of the task force. We succeeded in getting someone else inside two months ago, and he has advised that representatives of the brigade will be coming to see you shortly.”

“
Me?”
Dan asked.

“Dan,” Connor said, “look at it from their point of view. You’re going to write the constitution for this rebel nation. Not only are you akin to Adams and Revere, but they see you as a James Madison figure, much as Senator Turner portrayed you in his diatribe last week in Modesto. These boys want to assure themselves that when you write this document, you’ll protect and, in line with their desires, strengthen their second amendment right to bear arms. They want to ensure you’ll write it up to their liking. You’re gonna be their main man.”

“And if I don’t listen to them, or refuse to go along with their demands?”

“It’s show-time for them. No one will be allowed to stand in their way, and as they see it, ten years from now they’ll all be heroes in the same sense as the colonial Minutemen at Concord and Lexington. How they achieved their objectives will be lost in translation.”

“What was it you said on the drive down to Modesto?” Nicole asked. “The winners write the history?”

Dan smiled at Nicole and looked toward Pug. “What do you want from me?”

“We need your help to expose this group before it’s too late. I need you to meet with their leadership, listen to their demands, and at least appear willing to consider their point of view. They’re not going to welcome you with open arms, but in light of recent events in Sacramento, you could appear to have modified your view toward federal intrusion, just a little bit, if you get my meaning.”

“Now I’m
for
secession, is that it?”

“That’s too blatant. Not ‘for it,’ but in light of the events at the Capitol last week, you’re just not so adamantly against it. ‘Beginning to see the light,’ would be one way to describe it.”

Once more Dan rose and moved to the window, indulging his habit of taking the long view, literally, enabling him to consider the request before him.

“The governor trusts me, Colonel, and I don’t intend to betray that trust. There’s been too much betrayal already.”

Connor rose and came to stand by Dan in front of the window.

“And what’s the governor’s position, Dan? He’s already called for international recognition of his new nation.”

“He’s against secession, but he’s boxed in now and hasn’t found a way to unravel this mess and gain popular support against the secession. To use your own analogy, Colonel, some of the Founding Fathers were intent on remaining part of England. Only when events forced their hand did they become rebellious.”

“Exactly. Work with us, Dan, and between your efforts and those of the task force,” he said, nodding toward Nicole, “we can give him the ammunition he needs to fight this thing.”

Dan briefly glanced out the window once more and then back at Nicole. “I guess I’m ‘sort of pregnant,’ huh?” He laughed. “Colonel, I’ll do what I can, because I still believe in America as the nation it is, and perhaps, just perhaps, as my grandfather used to say, we can bluster a bit and shake ’em up back East in that hairy nest of politicians.”

“Believe me, they’re shaken up—well shaken, I can assure you.”

“Am I to presume that you are now my contact?” Dan said to Nicole.

Nicole looked at Colonel Connor, who responded. “That would continue the relationship you’ve built over the past several months.”

Dan walked back to the couch, took Nicole’s hands in his, and pulled her up to face him, kissing her forehead. “I’ve had worse contacts, Colonel.” He smiled.

“One more thing, Dan. I’ve advised the president of my intentions regarding your involvement. I must tell you he was opposed, but he’s never restricted my hand in my previous dealings with him. I’ll keep him apprised of developments. And I think you should talk privately with the governor. You must keep the identity of the task force members confidential, but you can advise him of our meeting if you feel it necessary. But—and this is very important—you must
not
advise him of our suspicions regarding election rigging.”

“Do you suspect him?”

“It’s on a limited ‘need to know’ basis, Dan.”

Dan nodded. “Thank you, Colonel. It’s important to me to retain his trust and to be loyal to him in the process. I think that if we can find a way out of this mess, he’ll be supportive.”