Ancient Birthright (56 page)

“Okay,” Beldon turned his face up for a kiss. “See you in a couple of hours.”

“I sometimes miss having my kids that age,” Harold said. “It’s nice knowing you can cuddle them, and that they are always close by. Now they have lives and friends of their own and seem to be gone more than they’re home.”

Ginny and her children had decided to take the entire week off and stay on the Moon. “How often do you get a chance to live on the Moon and interact with alien species? It may be days before the opportunity presents itself again,” she’d told him with a little giggle.

“How do you feel about your kids going with Dantee and Tuuan to start collecting space debris?” Beldon asked.

“You know, I’m not worried at all. After getting to know Saigg’s children and Tuuan, I trust them completely. The piloting abilities those three have shown is astounding. I think it will be great for Mandy and Josh to be involved with the experiment. If they can clean out the mess we’ve made of the area around Earth and help get the
Universe Explorer
the fuel it needs, the experience will really help them with their self-confidence and maturity. It’s a whole lot better than them sitting in their rooms playing video games or sending meaningless text messages to friends they haven’t spoken a word to since they learned to text.”

“I guess there is a downside to all the social networks we humans have developed.”

“Have you heard from Colonel Bitman about when Hooker will be available?”

“The FBI told him they would be at NRAO by eleven tomorrow morning, so we will leave here around eight. That will give us a couple of hours to get setup.”

“What do you mean setup?”

“Reedn and
Jerrod
are taking us down, and Saigg is going with us in case we need him to confront Hooker. Colonel Bitman had the rear entry of the admin building cleared, so
Jerrod
can land close and extend a tunnel as he did with the ISS rescue. He will make the tunnel look like an extension of the building hallway and configure his interior as a small conference room and a larger observation room with comfortable chairs for the people coming from DC. They should arrive about a half hour before Hooker.”

#

Jerrod
snugged in close to the back door of the NRAO admin building the next morning.

Beldon and Cindy stood beside Colonel Bitman as they watched the base civil engineer and his team remove the doors and doorframe from the building so
Jerrod
could extrude a hallway to mate with the opening. Striker and Becca were still in the ship talking to Saigg and Reedn.

“Are we on schedule?” Beldon asked Bitman.

“I got a call from the FBI ten minutes ago. Their plane has landed, and the FBI Director along with his entourage are on their way. The two FBI agents we talked to at the wedding are holding Hooker at the airport for an hour to give the others time to get here.”

“
Jerrod
has already configured his interior to provide the two rooms I requested,” Beldon said. “Saigg and Reedn will be in a third room at the front of the ship monitoring the confrontation. I thought the two FBI agents transporting Hooker could join them, so they will be close in case Hooker tries to escape.”

“Good thinking, I will have Sergeant Wainwright and some of his men stationed out here in the hallway for security, but I won’t position them until Hooker is in the conference room.”

“
Jerrod
is attaching the hallway extension to the door opening now,” Cindy observed.

A rectangular tube slowly grew from
Jerrod
’s entrance hatch area and fit itself into the rough brick and cinder block opening. When it was in place, its color changed to match the existing muted beige of the building wall. Mortar lines appeared in
Jerrod
’s construct to give the impression of cement blocks.

Sergeant Wainwright, in full battle gear jogged up and saluted Colonel Bitman. “The FBI Director and the people traveling with him are coming through the main gate, sir.”

“Thank you, Sergeant. We’re ready here. Have your men stand by in the second-floor conference room until all our guests are situated, and then have your detail take up positions along this hall. I want you and Airman Mayes to join Saigg and Reedn on
Jerrod
to assist the FBI agents if Hooker tries anything.”

“Yes, sir.”

Sergeant Wainwright jogged back down the hall and motioned for his ten-man detail to head upstairs. They had just disappeared when the front door of the building opened, and a large group of people walked in escorted by another of Wainwright’s men.

“Colonel Bitman, these are the visitors from DC,” reported the young airman as he snapped Colonel Bitman a salute.

“Thank you, Airman. You can return to your post.”

The airman saluted again then slipped past the group and headed out the front door.

“Gentleman, I’m Colonel Bitman, commander of this facility, and this is Cindy and Beldon Dumas, the young couple that Hooker attacked at the start of this mess.”

Beldon was astounded at the introductions. He had expected the FBI Director, but not the others in the group.

The Director of the FBI stepped forward and shook hands with the three, and then turned to introduce the rest of the group. He indicated a rather short, well-dressed man with thinning hair and a friendly smile. “You may have recognized this gentleman, the Vice President of the United States, Joseph Landers. Next to him is the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Norwell. And in the back, is Thomas Jenks, from the House of Representatives. He’s leading the effort to impeach the President.” He did not introduce the last two people in the group who had their backs turned and continually scanned the area.

They must be Secret Service. I’m just surprised there aren’t more of them with the Vice President.

Colonel Bitman snapped to attention, but held off saluting the five star general until he found out what was expected of him. Since the general was traveling in civilian clothes, Bitman did not want to take a chance on blowing his cover if he didn’t want to be recognized.

“We have an observation room prepared for you to witness the interview with Hooker. If you would follow me.” Bitman strode down the extended hallway.

Beldon and Cindy followed to help Bitman get everyone settled in front of the large view screen that showed the smaller conference room where they’d confront Hooker. They served coffee and pastries provided by the mess hall kitchen. The two bodyguards declined refreshments and stationed themselves on either side of the door.

“It looks like Hooker has arrived,” Beldon said when he noticed movement on the video screen. The FBI agents led Hooker into the smaller room and backed him into one of the metal chairs Bitman had provided.
Jerrod
was not able to manufacture freestanding chairs and Beldon felt that Hooker might notice if they were attached to the floor. The FBI agents shoved Hooker to a seat next to the table then left the room. Hooker had his hands cuffed in front of his body, but his legs were free.

The group watched as Hooker stood and examined the door for a way to open it.
Jerrod
had not provided a handle on the inside. Jerrod opened the door when it was obvious someone other than Hooker wanted to enter or leave. Next Hooker examined the room’s walls and ceiling. Beldon assumed he was looking for hidden cameras or microphones. His last action was to try to lift a chair, and swing it as if testing it for use as a weapon. His cuffed hands made the move awkward and the chair hard to control.

Beldon and Cindy were about to leave and enter the room with Hooker when Beldon noticed he’d returned to the chair the FBI agents had originally put him in. Hooker bent at the waist and worked at opening the seam of his tan colored pants. Beldon grasped Cindy’s arm and stopped her from leaving until they found out if Hooker had a weapon. Whatever he’d removed was small and easily concealed in the palm of one hand.

A picture within a picture window opened on the video screen and a close-up of the object in Hookers hand appeared as a magnified image in the smaller window. It was a dull silver disk about the size of a quarter.

“Anyone have an idea of what that is?” Beldon asked.

“It looks like a GPS tracker button. We use them in situations where we need to locate high-value objects,” The FBI Director said. “You just squeeze the disk to activate it. It’s then placed in a suspects pocket, or a bag of ransom money. It has a limited range of about three miles and will only transmit for an hour because of its short battery life.”

“It doesn’t sound dangerous so I guess we’ll get on with the interview.” Beldon escorted Cindy across the hall and quickly stepped into the room with Hooker as the door closed behind them.

“We meet again, agent Hooker,” Beldon said.

“How…what…where did… No, it can’t be you two? You just won’t die. None of this would be happening to me if you two would just cease to exist. If the President had let me take care of you when we first brought you here, this would all be over. I hate politicians. They always need to study opinion polls, and are never willing to make the tough call without a consensus. By the time the President conferred with Breathsword and his Chief of Staff, you were already on the
Endeavour
mission.”

“That must have given you serious heartburn,” Cindy said. “Having us right there within your reach, but surrounded by legions of instructors and mission control personnel with no way to kill us without risking being caught. Did you even think about the fact that the
Endeavour
was the only chance the Russian cosmonauts had of survival?”

“What the hell do I care about a bunch of Russians? They were already dead. From the reports the President gave me, they were going to die anyway when the nuke on their ship went off. I just had to make sure you two didn’t make it back to cause more waves for the President’s reelection. If your story ever got out, and a real investigation was launched, his political future was doomed. The President and his friend, Breathsword, weren’t going to let that happen. He just needs to get reelected, and then everything is going to change. Next year, when he takes over and gets rid of Congress, you’ll see some real changes. No more of this Constitution and Bill of Rights bullshit. America’s going to have its first royal family, and I’m going to be the leader of his royal guard.”

“You are so full of crap, Hooker,” Beldon said. “No U.S. President would ever try something like that. I think you are doing this on your own just because you’re a sadistic bastard.”

“Look Dumas, I don’t have to explain anything to you. When I’m back with my team, you and the little lady here are dead.” Hooker leered at Cindy. “We won’t quit there. Our orders are to eliminate the Vice President so there’s no chance he’ll be an obstacle. Then to hammer the nail in the coffin, we just need to take out General Kline to have complete control of the military. We’ve already removed every other high-ranking military officer and replaced him or her with our people.”

Hooker rocked his chair back on the rear legs and put his cuffed hands behind his head. “Who’s going to stop us? The FBI? They can’t even see what’s going on in front of their faces. Then there’s the Department of Hopeless Security, Director Rashid keeps them busy chasing the false leads he’s planting. They don’t have time to tie their own shoes. That was a real stroke of genius on the President’s part...recruiting Rashid as Director of DHS.”

Hookers chair slammed down on all four legs. “I laughed my ass off when the President shoved Rashid’s appointment down Congress’ throat. They never questioned his cover documents, or bothered to complete the required background checks. All they needed to know was that he was a personal friend of the President’s, and that they’d been roommates in college. His five years of training in the Middle East to infiltrate Homeland Security was irrelevant.”

The door opened to admit Striker and Becca.

“So the whole team’s here. Too bad Rishly didn’t survive so we could get the pleasure of eliminating him, too.” Hooker sneered as he leaned back in his chair and made a tight fist. “He was a traitor, saving that spaceship full of aliens. They should all be crispy atoms floating through space, but Rishly had to make the grand gesture and knock our nuke off course.”

“You keep saying we. I don’t see anyone except you sitting here in handcuffs,” Beldon observed.

“Give it a few minutes and things will change,” Hooker said with a knowing look.

“Beldon!” Saigg’s voice boomed in the room. “
Jerrod
reports that a craft like the one that attacked Colonel Bitman’s convoy is approaching and is firing projectile weapons at NRAO’s security forces. Three ground vehicles have entered the facility from the south and are approaching at a high rate of speed.”

Colonel Bitman’s voice joined Saigg’s, “Sergeant Wainwright, assist the FBI in securing the prisoner. I will take charge of your detail and protect your withdrawal. Reedn, get the Vice President to safety.”

“As soon as you are clear of the tunnel, Colonel, we’ll take the observation group anywhere they want to go,” Reedn said.

Things happened fast. Beldon grabbed Cindy and pulled her out of the way as the wall dissolved between their conference room and the bridge where the FBI agents, Sergeant Wainwright, and Airman Mayes waited. Airman Mayes wrapped his massive arms around Hooker and body slammed him to the floor as the FBI agents re-cuffed him behind his back. They added ankle shackles with a chain that connected to the hand cuffs. Sergeant Wainwright pried Hookers fingers open and grabbed the GPS tracker. He tossed it to Colonel Bitman just as the tunnel began pulling back into
Jerrod
’s skin.

“
Jerrod
, we need a holding cell six by six feet with video surveillance of Hooker once he’s inside,” Sergeant Wainwright called.

The sidewalls of the cell pushed out of
Jerrod
’s bulkhead as Mayes stuffed Hooker between them. Mayes stepped back, and the final wall completed the holding cell. View screens appeared on three sides of the cell showing Hooker curled up on the floor.