Lean on Me (45 page)

“
Why are we going to
Cheyenne Mountain?” Vince smirked at her.

“
Larry Flagg has been
found,” Alex said.

F

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

An hour later

Friday early morning

December 25 – 12:47 p.m. MST

Cheyenne Mountain, CO

“
Would you like to tell me
why you were tracking this GPS signal?”

A young and angry Captain strode across the
control room to Alex. Raz stiffened to ward off an attack. MJ and
Matthew shifted to ready. Joseph stepped to her side.

“
Would you like to tell me
why you’re yelling at me,
Captain
?” Alex said. “We were
instructed to come right away so we’re still wearing our civilian
clothing. But I’m pretty sure you can read my
identification.”

The Captain peered at Alex’s identification
tag.

“
Will someone get his
reading glasses?” Alex asked.

The men and women in the tight control room
didn’t move.

“
The Lieutenant Colonel
gave you an instruction,” Joseph said.

The people scattered like mice.

“
Lieutenant Colonel?” the
Captain asked.

“
Yes, Captain?” Alex
asked.

“
You’re speaking with
Lieutenant Colonel Hargreaves,” Joseph said.

The Captain stood at attention.

“
At ease, Captain,” Alex
said. “What is the problem?”

The familiar heavy footfall of her boss’s
boss, the Admiral, came from behind her.

“
Anyone want to tell me why
I’ve been awoken from my slumber?” the Admiral asked. “Ma was in
her kerchief and I was in my cap. We’d just settled down for a long
winter’s nap and everything.”

Alex had to work to keep from laughing.

“
If this is about some
Santa report?” the Admiral asked. “So help me God… All of my kids
are in town to meet our newest grandson. My wife expects me to be
there tomorrow morning. And, unless we’re going to war, I’m not
going to disappoint her.”

Alex turned to see her boss, Colonel Gordon,
walk down the hall. He looked at Alex and at the Admiral. The
Admiral nodded to Colonel Gordon.

“
This is an active watch,”
Colonel Gordon said. “Where is everyone?”

“
The Lieutenant Colonel
requested that they find the Captain’s reading glasses,” Joseph
said.

The Admiral clamped his mouth closed to keep
from laughing.

“
Sir, I had no idea that
she was a Lieutenant Colonel and…”

“
She does look fairly
squirrelly,” Colonel Gordon said. “Trust me. She can kill you
before you think she’s moving in your direction.”

“
Yes sir,” the Captain
said.

Two Air Force soldiers came back into the
room. One of them gave the Captain his reading glasses. The rest of
the team trickled in behind them.

“
You got an Admiral, a
Colonel and a Lieutenant Colonel out of bed on Christmas. Not to
mention, me, I’m a Major with three small children waiting for me,”
Joseph said. “Lest we forget, you dragged Captain Hougah here from
her maternity leave. Would you like to tell us what’s going on
Captain?”

“
Sir,” the Captain looked
at Joseph.

“
Sirs,” Joseph
said.

“
Sirs, at approximately
11:27 p.m. a GPS signal lit,” the Captain said. “The signal had
been tagged by Captain Hougah as ‘significant.’ However, in looking
at the history of this specific signal, the location of the signal
has usually been in the Middle East or in Colorado.”

“
Where is the signal?” Alex
asked.

“
North Dakota, ma’am,” the
Captain said.

“
You call the Fey ‘sir,’”
Matthew said.

“
You’re the Fey?” Everyone
in the control room turned to look at them. The Admiral
laughed.

“
I’ve been called that,”
Alex said. “Which field?”

“
Grand Forks, sir,” the
Captain said.

“
Flight?” Alex
asked.

“
Would someone like to tell
me what’s going on?” the Admiral asked.

“
Sir, as you know, there
are three active Minuteman missile fields in North America,” Alex
said.

“
There is an active field
of one hundred and fifty Minuteman III ICBMs around Minot,” the
Admiral said. “Why are we talking about it on Christmas
Eve?”

“
Yes, sir,” Alex said.
“We’re referring to Grand Forks AFB decommissioned Minuteman III
ICBM silos.”

“
They were decommissioned
in 1998 with the START II treaty,” the Admiral said.

“
Yes sir,” Alex
said.

“
We were dragged out of bed
to discuss decommissioned missiles in North Dakota?”

“
My team has been
researching locations to stash hostages, sir,” Alex said. “One of
our second teams did a tour on a missile team. He suggested the
decommissioned ICBM fields. We’ve researched the empty
silos.”

“
The Air Force sold the
silos or destroyed them,” the Colonel said.

“
Mmmm,” Alex said. “Which
flight?”

“
H, sir,” the Captain said.
“The entire H flight.”

“
You have a GPS signal over
the entire flight?” Alex asked.

“
Yes,” the Captain
said.

“
Why is Cheyenne Mountain
monitoring an inactive ICBM field?” the Admiral asked.

“
We monitor the entire
region,” the Captain said. “Malmstrom, Warren and Minot are
flickering off and online due to the heavy snow and
wind.”

The Captain pressed a button. A large
flat-screen monitor showed North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and the
northern reaches of Colorado covered with heavy snow clouds.

“
Blizzard Albert is moving
in,” the Captain said.

“
Now, that
is
very interesting,”
Alex said.

She pointed Raz to a computer station. He
sat down and logged in.

“
The GPS signal is within a
hundred miles of the active missile fields,” the Captain
said.

“
Minot,” Alex
said.

“
Yes sir,” the Captain
said. “The 91
^st
Missile Security Forces Squadron is scrambling to
that flight, which is why I requested your presence
here.”

“
So now we know why,” the
Admiral said. “What are we looking at?”

“
I believe they’ve
intercepted a signal from one of the missing teams,” Alex
said.

“
Who?” the Admiral
asked.

“
Sergeant Lawrence
Flagg.”

“
This is about Flagg?”
Colonel Gordon asked. “Lieutenant Colonel Hargreaves you were
ordered not to do that. People are not cattle. They do not need ear
tags.”

“
Yes sir,” Alex said. “By
the time I received that order, Sergeant Flagg had obtained a GPS
implant. He was in theater, sir. I’ve been unable to remove
it.”

Colonel Gordon used his eyebrows to indicate
that now was the time for her to state her case. Alex gave him a
slight nod.

“
Sergeant Flagg and his
team have been missing since this debacle began. As you are aware,
we believe he was chosen due to his close relationship with the Fey
Team,” Alex said. “This is also true for Marine Captain Heath
Wheeler. We believe it is no accident that we have not been able to
return them.”

“
Captain,” Colonel Gordon
said. “What other data do you have?”

“
Nothing sir,” the Captain
said. “There’s a blizzard warning for the entire region. Well, you
can see it. We have signal; that’s all.”

“
You need to get us
everything you can,” the Admiral said. “Captain Houglah, you are
dismissed.”

“
Thank you sir,” Dani said.
She touched Alex’s shoulder and mouthed “Call me.” Alex nodded. As
she left the room, she said, “Merry Christmas everyone.”

“
Sir, I request permission
to activate the Fey Team,” Alex said. “We need to retrieve these
soldiers.”

“
Permission granted,” the
Admiral nodded.

“
Lieutenant Colonel?” Raz
said. “You need to see this.”

Alex went to where he was working. He
pointed to something on the screen.

“
Did you bring it?” Alex
asked. He held up a flash drive and she said, “Go
ahead.”

Raz plugged the flash drive into the console
USB port.

“
Oh you can’t be serious,”
the Admiral said.

“
What is he doing?” the
Captain asked.

“
Your system has been
infiltrated by a virus-like program,” Alex said. “This program is
designed to control what you see and who you communicate with.
Agent Rasmussen is introducing a quarantine for the virus-like
program,” Alex said.

“
The missile control system
has been infiltrated?” the Admiral asked.

“
Yes sir,” Alex said. “We
were manipulated into coming here. Raz?”

“
Here’s the actual
satellite reading,” Raz said.

The screen shifted to heavy snow clouds with
no sign of precipitation on the North Dakota missile field.

“
Oh my God,” the Captain
said.

“
I wondered about that,”
Colonel Gordon said. “Blizzard Albert is more central and eastern.
It might get as far north as Grand Forks by sunrise but not to
Minot.”

“
Weather Channel?” The
Admiral turned to look at Colonel Gordon.

“
We’re hoping Missy and her
girls will be here tomorrow,” Colonel Gordon said.

“
Lieutenant Colonel, get
your team to work,” the Admiral said. “I need to call the
President. In the meantime, I’ll speak with the commanders of each
Air Force base in the Minuteman chain.”

“
Yes sir,” Alex
said.

“
Lieutenant Colonel?”
Colonel Gordon turned to look at her.

“
Yes sir.”

“
You’d better get your men
and go,” Colonel Gordon said. “There’s no way to know the
consequences of making our nation’s missiles secure.”

“
Sir, we must also assume
that it was no accident that you, the Admiral, and myself were
summoned here,” Alex said. “We all need to go. Now. Sirs, how did
you get here?”

“
I brought two of my men,”
the Admiral said. “They are waiting on the helipad.”

“
Zack? Are the Admiral’s
guys still there?” Alex asked.

“
Yeah,” Zack
said.

“
Colonel?” Alex
asked.

“
I drove over,” Colonel
Gordon said. “My youngest is home from Afghanistan. We’re having
Christmas on post.”

“
We’ll drop you,” Alex
said. “I’ll get someone to return your car when this is
over.”

Colonel Gordon nodded.

“
The program will clean
through your system to the node,” Raz said. “It may take a couple
of hours.”

“
Button up until it’s
done,” the Admiral said to the Captain.

“
Yes sir,” the Captain
said. “We’ll wait until you’re clear.”

“
The Jakker is waiting for
us,” Alex said. “Sirs, we must go now.”

They ran out of the control room and through
the hall.

“
Everyone armed?” Alex
asked.

As they ran, her men took out their
handguns, checked for ammunition and cocked them. Colonel Gordon
took out a handgun and checked the ammunition. Alex raised her
eyebrows at him.

“
I was coming to see you,”
Colonel Gordon smiled.

“
Joseph, MJ: take the
Colonel,” Alex said. “Raz, Matthew with the Admiral. Follow
me.”

Joseph and MJ moved to the Colonel’s side.
Alex put her hand on the Admiral’s arm. Raz set a handgun in the
Admiral’s hand. The Admiral nodded his thanks. Only stopping at the
security doors, they ran through Cheyenne Mountain toward the
helipad.

“
Where are you?” Zack
asked. “Fort Carson says some computer program is running through
the system. They are scrambling backup. With the frost, they are
going to take at least seven more minutes.”

“
We’re almost to you,” Alex
punched in the code to the door keypad. “Admiral?”

She moved over and the Admiral punched in
his lock down code. They scooted through the door just seconds
before the base alarm rang and Cheyenne Mountain was sealed off
from the world. They jogged across the helipad together before Raz
and Matthew veered off to escort the Admiral to his helicopter. MJ
and Joseph helped Colonel Gordon into their helicopter while Alex
stood on guard on the helipad. Raz caught Alex from behind. Lifting
her into his arms, he stepped into the helicopter.

“
You know I can get in
myself now,” Alex said.

“
Old habits die hard,” Raz
smiled. “It’s Christmas.”

He set her down. They strapped into their
seats and put on their headsets.

“
Set,” Alex said when
everyone was strapped into their seats. “We need to take the
Colonel to his son’s home.”

The Pave Hawk rose off the helipad.