Chapter 26- Filtration Process

Chapter 26

Filtration Process

Washington, D.C

“The Secretary of Defence isn’t going to get here,” said Jack Krane, putting the telephone down.  Peter Bierko stood up and stretched for a moment.

“Okay then, well we’ll have to manage without his input then,” said Richard McCoy, the Whitehouse Counsel.  Peter wondered about that.

“We don’t have a military expert in the room though,” said Henry Finch, the Attorney General.

“Peter is a former FBI agent, that’s close enough,” said McCoy.  “Equally Jack Krane regularly briefs the President on military matters,”

“Yeah but I don’t know even half of what Secretary Hayes knows,” said Jack.

“We’ll just have to make do, you give it the old college try,” quipped McCoy.

Peter Bierko remembered his days in the FBI, when he’d been a proud civil servant.  He’d been part of a large number of anti-terrorist operations in the US, domestic work.  But he’d never seen anything quite like this.  He supposed there was a simple reason for that but he didn’t want it to be true.  When his phone rang, he’d know how bad this crisis was going to be.

“Okay so we make do then,” said Henry.  “But we need to act soon,”

“Indeed we do,” said McCoy.  “And I know how we should act too,”

Peter raised an eyebrow at this and looked over at Jack Krane.  Krane’s expression was unreadable.

“We’ve got a potential terrorist threat operating inside the walls of the military, perhaps all the way up to the top of the Department of Defence,”

“We don’t know that,” said Peter.

“But we’ve got nothing that says any different do we?” continued McCoy.  “We’ve got a lack of information.  And the only hard information we have is that someone in the military is in business for themselves.  And they could be operating right across the damned river!”

Peter thought about it, a rogue general operating inside the Pentagon.  It was a horror story; there was no question of that.  But they didn’t know if it was true, they didn’t know exactly who was a friend and who was a foe at this point.

“This is a serious threat to this administration.  Worse, it’s a serious threat to this republic.  I believe that we are justified in using our most severe force to counter-act it before it’s too late,” finished McCoy. 

“You’re not in the court room now Richard,” replied Henry.  “Just get to the damned point,”

“Fine Henry, fine I’ll bottle the answer.  We’ve got a rogue military and we outrank them.  I suggest we can the entire joint chiefs of staff, all of them.  They are all put on gardening leave, as of now,”

“You have to be kidding me!” spluttered Peter.  “The chiefs?  We don’t know if they are involved in this or not!”

“Exactly, we don’t know and they aren’t here to answer so better safe than sorry.  Then we shut the Pentagon down, we call it an exercise.  We put the Secretary of Defence in charge of the military, with all of his orders being vetted by the President,”
“You mean by us don’t you?” said Henry.

“Yes, if needs be.  Then we move against this rogue operation as fast as we can.  But this should insulate us from all potential threat avenues.  The Secret Service is your department Peter, can you vouch for them?”

“Yes I can,” said Peter ruefully.

“What about your old buddies in the Bureau?” he continued.”
“I’ve not spoken to many of them for a while but the Bureau will stay loyal to the administration,”

“Great, okay then we move, and fast,” finished McCoy.  He folded his arms and looked around the room.

“It’s so drastic,” said Jack.

“Yes but necessary,” replied McCoy.

“You’re talking about a counter-coup aren’t you?” Henry Finch said this very slowly.

“Against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” quoted McCoy.

Peter’s mobile phone rang and he flicked it open.

“Peter here,” he said into it.

“We’ve got a location; a signal intercept places the base in Wheeling, Virginia,”

“Thank you Ryan,” said Peter and closed his phone.

“What was that?” asked Jack.

“New information,” said Peter.  “We cant do what you want us to do Richard,”
“I’m not saying I want to do this, I’m saying we’ve got no choice,”

“We cant do it.  The NSA has just found out where the base giving these orders is based.  If we are going to strike, it should be there, a surgical attack to put them out of action,”

“It’s not fast enough,” replied McCoy, getting to his feet.

Peter stood up too and the two men regarded each other across the table.

“We’ve got a location for a target, someone who is a serious threat, as you put it.  So we need to strike and we need to strike right now,”

“How?” asked McCoy.  “Send the US marshal over there with a search warrant?”

“Don’t be facetious.  We send a military unit to do it, an M.P unit,”

“Military police?  I don’t think that’s going to cut it either.  May I remind you Peter that these people have committed treason against the United States,” declared McCoy.

“We don’t know that for sure do we?  We need the right information before we act,”
“And I’m saying we don’t have time, we don’t know how high up this conspiracy goes,”

“Wait a minute,” said Henry.  “No one said this was a conspiracy,”

“It must be,” replied McCoy.  “Otherwise why are we the only ones here?  There’s no telling how high up this goes,”

“You’re paranoid,” spat Peter.

“Am I?  Or am I the only one here who seems to understand the gravity of this situation,”

Villa Cyranno, Venezuela

Three men walked swiftly out of the village towards a parked helicopter.  Captain Roman Dietz wondered what it was he would find there, whether his old friend was still alive or dead.

Fifteen years ago the two of them had been young Air Force officers with bright futures ahead of them.  Peter had made is famous mistake, telling the truth when no one was interested.  Roman had made his mistake too.

He remembered the meeting with General McDonagh, who had been the one forced to deal with the fall-out.  The old General, three years of retirement, was determined to get even with the Air Force Captain who had caused so much trouble.

“How long have you known Pete Dalton?” asked the General.

Roman had stood in the office and felt utterly intimidated.  He hadnt yet made First Lieutenant and he was already being bullied by a General.  This was what they called a “lose-lose” situation.

“I’ve known Captain Dalton for two years now,”

“What’s your opinion of the man?” asked the General.

“He’s a good man sir, a solid CO,”

“I see,” replied the General. This was clearly not the answer he was looking for.

“And what about you Lieutenant?  Do you want to move up?  Are you looking for a career in the Air Force?”

“Yes sir,” replied Dietz.

“Well then, I think it’s time you revised your opinion of Captain Dalton.  Because a view that he’s a good man, will not help you move up.  I suggest you go back to your unit and you make a formal complaint about Captain Dalton and those unsound methods you were telling me about,”

“What methods?” replied Dietz.

“You know which ones.  Now you do this and we’ll be talking about you’re future with baited breath.  Do you understand Lieutenant Dietz?”

Of course he’d understood. They wanted him to discredit his friend and help himself.  So Roman Dietz had told the truth, that Captain Dalton was a good man who he trusted.  He had said more than that, that he was his friend too.

Captain Dietz walked towards the Osprey, wondering how he would be able to kill his friend if he had to.  Dietz looked over at Newman, carrying the bulky flamethrower, and then at Wharton.

Wharton, he’d be able to do it.  He’d shot the fleeing civilian with no problems and he’d suggested that they should simply shoot them all anyway.

“If one of them is infected, they may well all be infected,” he had said.

Dietz shook his head, maybe he wasn’t suited to this work anymore.  Maybe he never had been.  There was a sudden blare of noise and light and the Osprey Helicopter began to lift into the air.

“They’re making a get away!” shouted Wharton.

“What?” yelled back Dietz.

The Osprey lifted up and began to fly away from Villa Cyranno.  There was a crackle of noise and Dietz lifted his radio.

“This is Captain Dietz here,” he yelled.

“This is Rapier Twenty-Five,” came the tinny voice.  “I’ve got a friendly lifting off from the ground.  Can you confirm that it’s clean?”

Roman looked up at the helicopter and put a hand on his cross again.

“Say again Rapier,”

“This is Rapier Twenty-Five, you need to confirm that the friendly leaving is clean.  They say they are but I need confirmation of that,”

Roman Dietz swallowed hard and then shook his head.

“Negative Rapier, negative.  We cannot confirm,” he yelled.

“Roger that Captain, Rapier out,”

“Oh God,” whispered Roman Dietz.  The Osprey banked sharply and began to fly away, towards America when a missile slammed into its side.  There was a flash of light and a huge explosion lit the sky.

“It was the only way to be sure,” said Clarence Wharton.  Roman Dietz held onto his cross and tried not to think about it, tried not to remember his friend.

“The blood is gone then,” said Newman.  “How will we test the villagers now?”

Wharton looked around at Newman and then back at Dietz.

“How can we be sure about any of them now?”

How can they be sure now?