From Within (22 page)

The military arm of the ARF, unfortunately, could not procure all that Marcus and Will needed to start the next day. They were, however, impressed with what they did get in only one night. The delay gave them a little more time to plan things out more efficiently. Matt took Will to another house in the neighborhood where they took Will’s picture and came up with forged credentials that looked like a perfect match to Marcus’s.

Once Will and Matt returned, Thomas took Will and Marcus aside to tell them about another contact.

“Once inside, you need to try to find a man named Jackson,” Thomas said. “I don’t know exactly where he’ll be. He’s been doing similar work to what you were doing for us, Marcus. He has been with some of the top members of the CMA for years. He hasn’t been able to pass much information to us, though. His job is something like a butler...I think. To the best of our knowledge, he never gets to hear any of the important meetings. The most he has been able to tell us is that these people are on the move. There is a slight chance that the CMA is on to him due to the fact he hasn’t given us much information. We think he is rarely allowed to be alone.”

“He’s been with the CMA for years? They’ve been around for years?” Will asked, surprised.

“It hasn’t always been called the CMA,” Thomas said. “In fact, we believe Central Management Authority is the first name its ever had. They’ve existed in some form for possibly a couple of decades. They played the long game on this one. That is why they were so easily able to take over the government and the whole country. They’ve been planning that long. Jackson has passed us names of possible leaders and members for the last nine or ten years. I really hope they aren’t on to him. He has always had the hardest time of all of our information gatherers to get word back to us. He works in circles of very rich and powerful people who have always been on top of their own personal security.”

“So, these people who are doing all the destruction to the country are already rich and powerful and they want more money and power?” Will asked.

“You’ve hit the nail on the head, son,” Thomas said. “For whatever reason, what they’ve had isn’t enough. The information Marcus passed to us, where it sounds like they are going to enslave anyone they don’t kill off, just baffles us. We always thought they had just wanted a completely different style of government. It appears that was our mistake to assume as such. The world has a history of this sort of thing, though.”

“What do you mean?” Will asked.

“The power-hungry stopping at nothing to rise to the top,” Thomas said, matter-of-factly. “Their deep down desire to be god-like. World history tells us that it should always be expected. The United States of America’s founders knew it. They built us a pretty good system of protections. We call them checks and balances. Someone rises to the top and millions upon millions throughout history have died...killed so they can try to maintain that power...that absolute control.”

Will could see emotions rising up in Thomas as he spoke.

“Assuming we can stop them, what will happen next?” Will asked.

Thomas’s emotions subsided a little and he shifted in his chair. “Very good question. I wouldn’t be surprised if this country broke up into smaller countries. It was already happening. People coming together and breaking away into new counties or claiming to no longer be a part of their state. There is such great polarization. We will just have to stand for what we believe and try to convince people that what our founders put together was pretty darn good. What has happened over the last decade and since the CMA took the reigns should be a helper for our cause...hopefully. It’s sometimes hard to believe what people have bought into the last few decades...as far as politics go.”

Will nodded. He wanted to say more and ask more, but he wasn’t sure of what to think about it all. He had considered some of these things on a smaller scale. He had thought of how law and order and justice should be handled in his small town. How were they going to reorganize an entire country? Were there going to be enough people still alive with the knowledge of how local and state and federal governments ran?

“I’m glad there are people like you thinking about this kind of thing,” Will said. “I get a headache thinking about how this will be solved.”

“You better get over that,” Thomas said. “It is going to have to be people like you that get things back in order in your cities and counties and states. The ARF and groups like it can’t do everything in every locality. Anyway, I’ve rambled too much. You got me. I like to talk. Obviously, I’m quite passionate about this subject. If you can find Jackson, he should be able to help you. Most importantly, we’d like you to get Jackson out of there with you. He’s worked hard for our cause for so many years that we’d all hate to see him be a casualty for it. We understand that in war there are casualties, but we definitely want to minimize them.”

“How do we find him?” Marcus asked.

Thomas laughed for a few seconds and then sighed. “Look for the guy that has the name tag that says ‘Jackson.’”

“What? You don’t have anything more than a name?” Marcus asked.

“Not exactly,” Thomas said. “Our contact with him has always been electronic. I can’t tell you what he looks like. I hope that Jackson is his real name.”

“That doesn’t sound too promising,” Will said.

“I understand,” Thomas said shaking his head. “Do what you can. We are trying to get a hold of him so he can help you while you are in. It’s not like we are picking up the phone. Marcus, you know how difficult it can be to pass information with conditions like this.”

“Ugh,” Marcus groaned. “You don’t even know the stories of how stressful and difficult it was to get information to you. Based on the fact that they attempted to kill me in a plane crash, I wonder if they knew I was passing information somehow.”

“They could have,” Thomas said. “I guess it doesn’t matter now. That makes me wonder, are you sure you are going to be able to move around that facility once inside?”

“Obviously, I’ve never been inside,” Marcus said. “However, I think the hardest part will be getting in. As long as people think you belong, you can get away with a lot, even in a place like that. You wouldn’t believe some of the places I’ve worked my way into throughout my career in the media business. I’ve done stories on military bases where I was unescorted and didn’t have any official permission to do so. I’ve been in some high-tech corporate labs where they don’t even allow workers to bring their families. And,” he paused for emphasis, “I brought a camera.”

“I like your confidence,” Thomas said.

“Me too,” Marcus said back with a smile.

The three sat back in their chairs to relax. Will couldn’t help but admire the exquisite items that were everywhere in Matt’s home. They were sitting in expensive leather chairs. There were large, real paintings all over the walls. One covered nearly the whole wall. Will’s experience with art was usually reprints of a piece. Another entire wall was a bookcase. Will had repaired a nice bookcase for someone in his town and the few pieces of hardwood it required were more expensive than he thought they’d be. He couldn’t imagine the cost of a bookcase that was an entire wall.

Thomas had just started to offer Will and Marcus a drink when General Braden flew through the door. He stomped in the room with Matt in trail.

“Thomas!” General Braden said as if he had been searching for him for hours. “The bombings have started!”

“What!?” Thomas, Marcus, and Will all said together. All three stood up at the same time as well.

“Where?” Thomas asked.

“West coast,” the General said. “It appears they are obliterating California.”

“What do you mean?” Will asked frantically. “All of it?”

“Well, certainly not their precious camps,” General Braden said. “Our sources say they are sticking to the cities right along the coast for now. I’m sure they have all their strategic points. We also received word as we were heading out the door to find you that more bombers were in the air. Departed off the east coast.”

Marcus turned to Will, “I’m sure they are safe up in the mountains. There’s hardly anyone up there.” He turned back to the others, “We need to act now. They’ve probably killed millions in California alone with bombing there.”

“We don’t have everything you need yet,” General Braden said to his brother. “It could be a suicide mission.”

“I think we have enough to stop them from sending out commands to bomb,” Marcus said. “It won’t be pretty in that mountain. Plus, I’m willing to do what is necessary to stop them.”

“Marcus!” Ray said, “you can’t be thinking about doing this. We don’t have the capability to remotely detonate yet!”

“I’m well aware of the situation, Ray,” Marcus said. “We have enough explosives to bring it down from the inside.” He turned to Will, “Are you still in?”

“I’m in,” Will said with a nod of his head. “We need to move now.”

Will hadn’t planned on rushing into the plan. He hadn’t fully mentally prepared for what he was about to do. In his mind, he had pushed it back for one more day. They had hoped to have remote detonation capability for the explosives they were going to place on the inside of the mountain by the next morning. Will imagined the next morning he would wake up and just be ready to jump into the stressful situation. Now that it was here, right here, his stomach sunk and he was losing confidence in himself. He didn’t have time to lose confidence. It now appeared that the entire country depended on him and Marcus. He knew they must do this. It could be the difference between life and death for his family up in the mountains.

“You don’t,” Ray said. “You don’t have enough explosives to do what you think. I have a guy that will explain a better plan to you. Go get ready.”

Marcus and Will rushed to their rooms. They needed to play a part now. Marcus had instructed him a little on the acting required, full time, in order to get where they needed to be. As they rushed to their rooms, Marcus reminded them that they shouldn’t act like they are upset about the bombings beginning. Will thought he must be visibly fuming about the situation and he took a mental note to push back all the thoughts of his mother and Lea in California. He and Marcus were supposed to be two loyal CMA employees that were arriving as called.

They both dressed in their fresh, clean clothes. Will placed on his disguise which consisted of a ‘WWNL’ hat and a pair of glasses. He wasn’t sure why it had been decided that he wear glasses but he still placed them on his face. Marcus didn’t have a disguise at this point. He put on a nice borrowed suit. He combed his hair. He had already shaven that morning. He adjusted his tie in the mirror and went out in the hallway to wait for Will. Will walked out of the room a minute later looking like a new, eager, young employee that was to shadow the great Marcus Braden.

“You’ll pass,” Marcus told him.

He liked the glasses and hat. He especially was fond of the badge that Will had around his neck. It reminded him of every cameraman that Marcus ever worked with.

The two reconvened with the others in the great room. There was now several bags sitting on the floor. They looked like the typical camera equipment that would be carried on any usual job for Marcus. Will and Marcus knew that the bags weren’t filled with any camera equipment. They were filled with plastic explosives. An unfamiliar face that stood next to the General gave them a crash course on the procedure for placement. They originally were supposed to be getting a little bit more advanced training at some point during the day.

The man looked like he spent most of his life in the military. He was maybe in his fifties. He still had  closely cropped hair as if he was still required to do so. He wore a skin-tight shirt that he tucked into his pants. It was clear he still kept in shape from his toned muscles. His voice was constantly hoarse. It was probably from a lifetime of yelling commands at lower ranked soldiers.

The man drew a makeshift map for Marcus and Will. He told them that the plastic explosives had to be placed in exact locations for maximum damage. He explained to them that inside the mountain there were multiple layers of protection. There was the outer blast door, but there were also several inner blast doors. A nuclear bomb could detonate inside the main blast door and theoretically, people could still be safe inside if they were beyond another closed blast door. He further explained that with the meticulous placement of the explosive, they would not be trying to cave in the mountain. Marcus and Will were puzzled by this. The man told them the only way to penetrate all the security measures outside of a nuclear explosion going off inside the mountain with all the blast doors open, was his plan he was explaining to them now. Marcus and Will listened intently. They wrote a few reminder notes down on the map page. Marcus tucked the hand-drawn map into his inner suit jacket pocket after the man finished explaining.

Marcus considered the amount of detonation line they were looking at in the open bag on the floor. He knew the chances of survival for whoever was at the end of the line about to push the button were slim at best. After connecting all the charges together and trying to string the line far away from the explosive, he might be a hundred feet from the blast. Still inside the mountain. He pushed this thought far back into the pit of his mind.