False Flag (26 page)

“Then what?” asked Susan.

“Nothing,” she replied. “We had a very short phone conversation about it, and he appeared to be excited about what I discovered. Then I heard nothing from him for almost two weeks.”

“Weird,” mumbled Donald. He wiped his hands of the debris and focused on the conversation.

“Out of the blue, he summoned us to his office,” said Steven. “He had an Aegis team surveilling Lau and his people. I thought it was odd because he would normally include me in an operation like that. Then he revealed his plan to us.”

“He sure did,” added Katie. “He and Malcolm Lowe put into place an elaborate ruse to employ the ZDG.”

“I’ve met Lowe only once,” said J.J. as he pulled down his shirt sleeves. It was getting darker and a fall chill was in the air. “He doesn’t seem like a covert-ops guy.”

Steven spoke up. “He surprised me too. Not only did he think out the plan thoroughly, he carried it off flawlessly. We caught Lau totally off guard. In fact, I barely said a word. Lowe negotiated with Lau and ostensibly hired the Zero Day Gamers for some kind of hack to gain leverage on a legislative matter important to Mr. Morgan. Hell, I fell for it too.”

“Did you know what he was up to?” asked Brad.

Steven paused before answering. He allowed two ATVs to pass on the gravel road to their east. “Not really, Brad. Hell, you know how it is. Good soldiers take orders and do their thing. Then things got interesting.”

“How so?” asked J.J.

“I got a call from Lowe to come up to 73 Tremont. Mr. Morgan told me to assemble my team with the instructions to snatch Lau and those gamer geeks. Lowe had set up this state-of-the-art computer center in an old abandoned warehouse for the geeks to finish the job—whatever it was.”

“Wait. I have to know. Wasn’t Drew Jackson part of your team? Did he know about this?” asked Susan. Donald touched her arm to calm her down. She seemed agitated.

“No, no, Suzy Q,” said Steven. “Slash, I mean Drew, was on Abbie’s security detail full time at that point. He wouldn’t know anything about it. I’m sure the guys wouldn’t have a need to let him know about the op.”

“Okay, sorry,” said Susan. “I feel bad for what happened to him. I’m glad Drew wasn’t involved.”

“That’s okay, Susan,” said Julia. “Then what happened, Steven?”

“Well, this was the last day of August, a Wednesday, I think. Lowe and I continued to play the game, telling the geeks that it was for their own protection. Lowe took over from there, and his own team handled the operation the rest of the way.”

“That was three days before the cyber attack,” stated Donald. He looked around at everyone. “Has anybody had any contact with Malcolm Lowe since then?” They all shook their heads, indicating they had not. Then Julia spoke again.

“We’ve seen Lau, however,” said Julia. “Sarge and I went to Mass General to help out after the pipeline explosion. We didn’t know who Lau was or his possible involvement in the cyber attack. It was purely coincidental. I took a liking to him, out of pity, mainly. He was burned pretty bad and incoherent.”

“When Katie and I went over to the hospital a day or so later, Julia gave us the name of a patient to check on,” said Steven. “It turned out to be Lau. I about shit myself when I saw him. This guy holds the answers to this whole freakin’ thing.”

“Did you speak to him?” asked Susan.

“Not really,” replied Katie. “He was still out of it and bandaged up. Plus a nurse was hovering around.”

“Do you guys think Morgan orchestrated this cyber attack?” asked J.J., looking at Sarge and Steven.

“It’s too coincidental,” replied Steven.

Donald knew it was time to disclose to the Loyal Nine the final pieces of the puzzle. “There’s more, and I apologize for not telling you sooner. You guys had your hands full at 100 Beacon and I felt the rest of this story needed to be told in person. Today was the first available opportunity.”

“What is it, Donald?” asked Julia, looking at Sarge, who was also puzzled.

“Susan overheard a conversation between Mr. Morgan, Walter Cabot, and Lawrence Lowell. Right, honey?”

“Yes. On the night of the martial law declaration, I was back by the bungalows and I heard voices from the edge of the woods. It clearly wasn’t the security guys, so I went to check it out. The three of them were discussing what the President’s address would be about. I heard words like
going according to plan
and
double-cross
.”

“Are you saying they knew about the martial law declaration in advance?” asked Steven.

“I think so,” replied Susan. “But I never heard them say anything about the cyber attack.”

“What does
according to plan
mean?” demanded J.J. He appeared to get angrier with every new revelation. “It sure sounds to me like those three were a part of something.”

“Hang on, J.J.,” said Brad. “We don’t know that.”

J.J. backed off.

“There’s more,” interrupted Susan. “Mrs. Lowell has acted withdrawn and angry at times. I know her, and this is not normal. I think she knows something.”

“We noticed it too,” added Julia. “She was that way when Sarge picked them up. Her anger was directed at her husband. Maybe he let something slip?”

It was getting darker. Also, they had been gone for a while. Donald needed to move this along.

“It’s possible, but we need to wrap this up and make a decision,” said Donald.

“Listen, I’m not gonna defend the old man,” said Steven. He folded his arms defiantly. “He’s had me do some fucked-up shit this year that defies explanation. But I haven’t heard anyone say that he arranged this attack.”

Donald rubbed his face with both hands and spoke. “Now, we need to tell you about Abbie.”

Susan placed her hands on his shoulders and smiled. “Let me,” she said. “Abbie was having nightmares about Drew when they arrived at 1PP. They were falling in love prior to that night, but the ordeal brought them closer together. When Mr. Morgan insisted upon leaving in the helicopter with her, Drew was being brutally beaten. She was crying hysterically, and she initially recalled Drew shouting out to her
I love you
,
I love you
.”

“She must be devastated,” interjected Julia. “It must be horrible for her to relive that nightmare over and over again.”

“It still is difficult for her,” said Susan. “But now for a different reason.”

“We understand this is a difficult time for her, Susan, as it is for J.J.,” said Katie. “But what does this have to do with Mr. Morgan’s involvement?”

“She kept playing the whole event in her mind because of Drew’s words,” started Susan. “She was troubled because she couldn’t seem to confirm what he said. She wasn’t certain he was saying
I love you
.” Donald moved closer to his wife to give her support.

“If it wasn’t that, what was he saying?” asked Sarge.

Susan looked them all in the face before speaking. “Drew was shouting
he knew
,
he knew
.”

Chapter 43

Thursday, September 29, 2016

7:00 p.m.

Prescott Peninsula

Quabbin Reservoir, Massachusetts

“I’ll see you down there in a minute,” said Sarge as he leaned into the window to give Julia a kiss. As the car slowly pulled away, the gravel crunched beneath the tires until he and Steven were alone in the dark. The brothers began the fifteen-minute walk to 1PP in silence before Steven spoke.

“Are you sure about this, bro. We can just let it go. Move on. Fuck it, right?”

Sarge didn’t answer immediately. He had wrestled with this decision since the thought first crossed his mind—weeks ago. The information he just received confirmed his suspicions. John Morgan was capable of many things, but he certainly underestimated the impact of this.
Or did he?

“What’s the last memory that you have of Pop?” asked Sarge.

“Look,” Steven replied as he pointed up to a meteorite soaring across the southern sky. “You think that was him?”

“Shut up, seriously.”

“You know, I was a lot younger than you when he died,” said Steven. “I can’t really say I have a last memory. I remember when I found out he was gone. But most of my childhood memories are of Mr. Morgan.”

“Exactly. He stepped into Pop’s shoes and looked after us like we were his own. Abbie was his blood, but we were his sons.”

They continued down the road as Sarge thought about his words.
We are family
.

“Are you saying we give the old man a break?” asked Steven.

Sarge hesitated for a moment. “Not necessarily. I’m just making sure I know what the purpose of this is. What do I hope to accomplish?”

“Calling him out isn’t gonna change anything,” replied Steven. “We might get more answers, and then we might piss him off. How would that you make you feel?”

“Pretty damn lousy considering what he’s done for us,” replied Sarge.

“And
to us
, bro. Don’t forget, he may have helped us along the way and bankrolled all of this preparedness shit. But he’s the one who brought the shit down on our heads too.”

Sarge laughed as they rounded the bend and the final fifty yards to 1PP. “Did you ever get the feeling we were like a bunch of lab rats being experimented on?”

“Fuck yeah. Like a damn puppet on a string.” Steven held his hands high in the air to imitate a puppeteer.

“He’s the puppet master, and we’re the dancing toys on the stage,” said Sarge.

Steven stopped as the two men stared at Morgan’s bungalow. “I guess it’s showtime.”

They walked to the tiny house shared by Abbie and her father. She would be there, but Sarge wouldn’t ask her to leave. He didn’t like excluding her from the earlier conversation, but allowed everyone to speak freely. He knew Abbie, and he was certain she had no knowledge of this beforehand. In fact, bringing it out in the open would help ease the burden on her shoulders.
She knows he knew
.

“Hi, Sarge,” greeted Abbie. “And Steven too. I didn’t know you guys were coming. Is everything okay?” She gave them both a hug, and then Sarge felt her eyes probing for an explanation.

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” replied Sarge. “We’re all here, in fact.”
Damn, this is going to be hard.

“Hello, Henry,” said Morgan, who was sitting in a simple wooden dining chair at a small two-person table at the back of the bungalow. This was the first time Sarge had been in one of the bungalows built for the Boston Brahmin when they were occupied. It was pedestrian compared to the opulence to which Abbie and Morgan were accustomed.
He knew, yet he has sacrificed too
.

“Hello, sir,” announced Steven as he fit his large frame through the doorway. “Wow, this is very old school. This is the first time I’ve seen the inside.” The open floor plan helped mask the cramped quarters shared by two adults.

“It is
quaint
,” said Morgan dryly. “Is this strictly a social call?”
He knows
.

Sarge’s palms began to sweat. Was he capable of confronting one of the most powerful men in the world about the biggest false-flag event in the history of mankind? Morgan was not as intimidating as in his normal surroundings at 73 Tremont. He was not wearing his usual Armani suit, opting instead for khakis and Bass Weejuns. He looked like a regular guy.
But he’s not a regular guy
.

“No, sir. It’s not,” started Sarge. He looked around for a place to sit. He didn’t want to tower over his godfather—the man who had provided him so much after his dad died. Abbie stared at Sarge and then over at Steven, who led her by the arm to a small sofa. Sarge pulled up a chair at the dining table and sat across from one of the greatest negotiators on the planet.

“What’s on your mind, Henry?” said Morgan, leaning back in his chair with a glare. He seemed to dare Sarge to speak his mind.

“Sir, we need to talk about the events surrounding the cyber attack—before and after.”

Morgan leaned back and crossed his legs while tapping his fingers on his knee. “Let’s talk, then. Go ahead, Henry.”

Sarge took a deep breath and brought up his courage.
Out with it!

“Sir, did you know about the cyber attack before it happened?”

Morgan managed a small smile and gently nodded his head without losing eye contact with Sarge. “What difference does it make if I did?”
A question with a question
.

“Well,” started Sarge, leaning forward on the table, “you must admit the world has been turned on its head, and it is human nature to seek answers. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Ahh, Henry, curiosity killed the cat. Is an inquiry such as yours necessary or in anyone’s best interest?”

“Are you denying your involvement?” asked Sarge, who was now emboldened because Morgan was toying with him. He could feel Abbie’s glare with the eyes in the back of his head.

“Sarge, really?” she asked. “Is this absolutely necessary?”

Without turning, Sarge responded, “It is, Abbie. Regardless of motivation, the time to get this out in the open is now.” He returned his focus back to Morgan.

“Satisfaction brought it back,” said Sarge, referring to the curious cat.

“Indeed.” Morgan laughed, appearing to relax. He was up to the challenge. “What would satisfy
you
, Henry?”

“It’s not just me, sir. It’s for all of us, including all of the lives who we take responsibility for here on Prescott Peninsula. The truth will satisfy me, and then I can satisfy others. Let me ask you again. Are you denying your involvement?”

“Okay, Sarge. That’s enough!” shouted Abbie as she got off the sofa. “This isn’t some courtroom or police interrogation room. My father’s not on trial.”

Steven reached out to her. “Abbie, please,” he said. “Let’s get this out of the way.”

Abbie began to tear up and then relented. She sat down next to Steven with her arms folded, staring at the pine floors.

Morgan stood and began to pace. He was assuming his position of authority.
His comfort zone
. “Henry, I will allow you this conversation one time. I’ve loved both of you boys as if you were my sons. This is my family, here in this room. But my family includes everyone in my charge. Here, and all over the world. I owe them a duty as well. That said, this conversation stays here. Does everyone agree?”