The Inner Circle (14 page)

"Mr. President, sir, you promised to make a phone call to the Senate minority leader five minutes ago. I don't think it would be a good idea to keep him waiting."

President Marshall made a gesture as though he was looking at his watch. He stood up from the table and the other men did as well.

"No, gentlemen, stay seated. Let me go make this phone call real quick and we will get back to this."

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"Yes, send it now. Okay, thanks Ted, I owe you one."

Mansfield hung up his cell phone and took out his pocket PC, which beeped a few minutes later. He and the President stood in the alley behind the pizzeria, as two Secret Service agents continued to stay alert.

"I got Ted Barnes over at the Bureau to send me his complete file. The feds have been extra careful to keep files on every person approved for a teaching license. Too many kids being taught by the wrong kinds of people."

Mansfield pushed a few buttons on the pocket PC screen and the complete file sent to him downloaded in just under a minute.

"What have you got on him?"

"Married, no children. Science teacher, teaches middle school kids, like I found out earlier. He's been at the job for about six years. No police record, no sort of red flags have really come up anywhere. Seems to have a perfect record at the school he works at, never any complaints important enough for the school to put in his record."

Mansfield continued to scroll through the report until he found something interesting at the bottom.

"This could be a problem. It says here that Ackerman almost wasn't hired because of questions raised in his psychological profile. Apparently, most school systems require teachers to be tested before they're hired."

"What kinds of questions did they have about him?" the President asked.

"I don't know, it doesn't say specifically. But I guess they couldn't have been too bad if he still got the job," Mansfield reasoned.

"So what do you think about this whole situation?" Marshall asked, needing to hear someone else’s thoughts about what they’d just learned.

"Honestly, sir, I think we should keep this whole thing as hush-hush as we possibly can. We still can't even be a hundred percent sure that Armour and this Ackerman guy have their information completely correct. But if they
are
right, I don't think this is something we want the world to know. Who the hell knows how everyone could react? We could be facing twelve years of chaos and rioting and that could prove detrimental to any plans we must follow to make sure human life goes."

"Life goes on? You're talking like this comet would really wipe humankind off the face of the Earth," Marshall said, still not realizing the full scope of the situation.

"Sir, if what they're saying is true, life could very well come to an end on this planet. After all, humans have only been around for about the past 20,000 years or so. Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for millions of years before us and look what happened to them when a comet struck."

The President thought about this for a moment, but still had trouble believing that anything was powerful enough to end the world. Sure, humankind could destroy the Earth gradually through pollution and the depletion of the ozone, but surely Mother Nature had to be powerful enough to survive a comet blast.

"Either way, I agree that this comet should be kept quiet. The five of us know right now, but as far as I'm concerned, that's three too many. It's too late to think of that now, though. Their memories can't be erased."

"We should be able to trust Wilson and Armour, but this Ackerman guy could be a question mark," Mansfield said. "Plus this information about the black hole had to have come from somewhere, so somebody else must know about the comet, even if it's just the people from NASA who stumbled on this info without knowing what they found. If they start asking questions..."

"Okay, this is what we do. Ackerman is in. It's too late to treat him like he doesn't know anything. Besides, he’s knowledgeable on the topic and his opinion could prove to be useful. I want you to talk to him, though, make sure we are on the same page on the secrecy issue. As far as other people, like the ones working at NASA who first dealt with this information, go talk to them. Find out what they know and deal with any problems that might arise there."

Mansfield typed a few things into his pocket PC. He was a natural problem-solver, and while dealing with problems like this was not normally a job given to a President's Chief of Staff, Mansfield knew it was one of the reasons Marshall kept him around. His was not a pretty job, but that was the price he paid to work with the most powerful man in the world.

"Now let's get back in there and finish this."

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When President Marshall and Mansfield walked back down the basement steps, they arrived as the three other men were deep in conversation. Armour explained that they were discussing current NASA projects that could prove suitable for a deep space, comet-intercepting operation. Since building a vehicle specifically to carry out a mission to the comet would take far too long, they would have to start with a preexisting vehicle, in some stage of being built, and modify it to the specifications needed.

"A deep-space probe is the latest vehicle in NASA’s construction process. We were going to send it to Saturn to photograph the planet's rings. This might prove to be the best option we have," explained Armour.

"What makes this better than other projects you're working on?" Mansfield asked.

"First of all, the blueprints for this particular probe were designed so the ship would be able to absorb a certain level of structural damage. Most vehicles NASA uses don't account for the kind of physical damage this one has prepared for. Making a spacecraft structurally tougher usually adds weight and decreases speed, as well as raising production costs. Most of the time space vehicles aren't expected to run into anything but open space, so this kind of structural reinforcement isn’t needed. But since this probe was destined for the rings of Saturn, developers had to allow for more leeway. We hoped to get very close to the rings for the photographs, which meant the possibility of coming in contact with a higher level of debris.

"Secondly, this probe has nearly finished its initial production. The scheduled date of departure is just about two years away, which would give us plenty of time to design and make the appropriate modifications."

"Does this sound good to you, Mr. Ackerman?" the president asked.

Earl did not appear ready to answer any questions, as he was still partially in shock about the happenings of the past fifteen hours. He'd gone from a man possessed with uncovering fraud in a trashy newspaper to being asked by the President of the United States his opinion on the best way to save the world.

"I'm not the one you should be asking about this, sir. I think you need to make sure the world's top experts are brought in so that things run correctly. I'm sure that once the world finds out about the comet, there will be plenty of people ready to contribute their expertise."

Marshall glanced over at his Chief of Staff, whose raised eyebrows told the president about the trust issues there might be with Ackerman.

"Not exactly," Marshall responded. "I don't think the information on this comet should leave this room, at least not for the time being. I am making this knowledge strictly confidential between the five of us. While I'm not one to issue warnings, there will be serious consequences if this news is leaked to anybody. I won't even be telling my Vice President. Peter will be in contact with all of you on a regular basis and I'm sure there will be occasion for all of us to meet. But as of right now, discussion of Comet... what's the name again?"

"Clement, sir," Armour answered.

"Discussion of Comet Clement will be prohibited from leaving this Inner Circle. Does everyone understand?"

Everybody answered right away except Earl, who could not believe that this monumental news would be kept a secret. He could not even tell his own wife, who was probably worried sick about him at this very moment. He was supposed to be home eight hours ago. How was he going to explain being halfway across the country?

"Earl? Can I trust you with this?" the President asked.

Earl looked at the other faces around the table, these four powerful men waiting for him to announce his silent acceptance to the 'Inner Circle.' Earl Ackerman nodded his head.

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After the meeting, Armour and Wilson rode into D.C. in President Marshall's limo, leaving Mansfield to accompany Earl back to Dulles International Airport. Earl wondered aloud why he needed the Chief of Staff to escort him and Mansfield said he wanted to make sure Earl got to where he needed. Earl knew better, though.

Mansfield sat across from Earl in the large limousine, sitting straight up and staring right at Earl throughout the forty-five minute ride. The Chief of Staff watched the science teacher like a lion watched its prey, patiently waiting for the perfect moment to strike.  Earl tried to ignore him, as he stared out the window and searched for as many sites as he possibly could. He'd only been to the nation's capital once before in his life and that had been for a convention that hadn’t allowed him much spare time to go site seeing.

All of this could be wiped out within twelve years, completely destroyed in the matter of few minutes,
Earl thought.

The tension of the day had been building up inside Earl since the discovery of the comet's path. His psyche was beginning to crack under the pressure and while he tried to take deep breaths and remain calm, having Mansfield stare at him was finally about to push him over the edge.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

"You do know how important it is to keep this secret, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Earl answered, trying to convince not only Mansfield but himself as well.

"But you don't agree with it," Mansfield answered, as though he were reading Earl's mind.

Earl contemplated this for a moment, trying to decide whether he should say how he really felt or just tell Mansfield exactly what he wanted to hear.

"I understand why the President's logic is the way it is, but no, I don’t agree that keeping humankind's biggest news a secret is the proper way to go."

Mansfield continued to stare at him and the silence between them made Earl feel even more on edge.

"We shouldn't be playing God," Earl went on, feeling a need to break the uncomfortable silence. "People have the right to know that their lives could be coming to an end in less than twelve years. By not telling them, we are bestowing upon ourselves the greatest power with which man has ever been burdened. I'm just not sure I could live with that secret."

Mansfield crossed the space between them in a lightning quick move, giving Earl no time to react in any other way besides flinching. Earl could see a crazed look in the Chief of Staff's eyes, a look that he knew belonged to that of a very dangerous man. At first, Earl thought he was going to be attacked, possibly killed right there without ever having the chance to talk of the comet's deadly secret. But instead, Mansfield pushed a button next to Earl's head and the partition between the driver and the back of limo rolled down.

"Changing plans, sir?" the driver asked.

"Pull over," Mansfield said.

"Right here, sir?"

"Yes."

Mansfield put the window back up and moved into his seat. The limousine pulled over and came to a stop on the narrow shoulder of the busy highway.

"What are you doing?"

When the car came to a complete stop, Mansfield threw open the door and stepped out, telling Earl to follow him. Earl felt his knees buckle with fear when he stepped out of the limo, as his heart began to beat faster and beads of sweat formed on his forehead. Cars zoomed by, speeding along the highway a mere few feet from where Earl was now standing. He cautiously followed Mansfield behind the limo, where the man stood waiting for him. Mansfield offered no explanation for stopping on the side of the road.

"One of two things can come of this situation for you, Mr. Ackerman," he said, his voice just loud enough to be heard over the roaring of passing cars. "One: you can become part of a very select group of people and help us try to save the world. This way, you will be a very important man, and even more importantly, you and your wife will remain safe."

How does he know I have a wife?

"Option number two might not be so friendly for anyone involved. I'll leave it at that."

Earl felt both insane anger and dreadful fear when he heard the unspoken threats directed at him, and especially his wife. He had the sudden urge to push Mansfield into the speeding traffic, but adding a murder charge to his full plate of tension and anxiety would do nothing to help. He was powerless and could do nothing but assure Mansfield that his mouth would remain shut.