“Good evening. Colonel Rodriguez, is it?” Beaumont said reading the man’s tag. “You don’t look like a Rodriguez you know,” he added.
“I’m sorry about that Sir,” replied the Colonel shifting nervously.
“Don’t apologise, it’s not your fault but I would have definitely put you down as a…” Beaumont paused as he thought before looking straight into the Colonel’s eyes and saying, “… a Williams.”
The Colonel didn’t flinch but his eyes gave him away.
“Don’t worry, I’m one of the men who gives the orders. Can we just run through the plan for this evening’s fun and games?” reassured Beaumont.
He didn’t like giving away his anonymity to this man but he also wanted to make sure he didn’t get hit in the crossfire. He could always deal with Williams afterwards if he didn’t feel he was trustworthy. To date, however, the man had been a complete professional.
“Yes Sir, of course,” replied Williams who, for the last 24 hours, had been Colonel Rodriguez of Delta Force. His Delta Force team were in fact 150 of the most American-looking Committee Army soldiers they could find. The order had been real, the only problem was the real Delta Force team who had received the original order had subsequently received a fake retraction of the command and had been sent to the other side of the world on another mission. So secret, nobody had any idea where they were.
Williams took Beaumont through the plan. It would commence at midnight and would take only fifteen minutes. The alarm would not be raised until the following morning by which time the fake Delta Force team would be long gone.
Chapter 90
It was 10.00 p.m. and they still had nothing to go on. Nobody was saying anything but everybody was very jumpy. Something was going to happen that night. They could all sense it but they had absolutely no evidence to support it.
Two phones then rang at the same time. They all checked to see if it was theirs. It was Tom and Zach’s. They both took the calls but said little. They nodded and ended their calls at almost the same time.
Zach turned to the group, a look of horror on his face. He managed to stammer.
“The Delta Force group aren’t Delta Force. The real group is on a boat crossing the Atlantic.”
“So who the hell is protecting Camp David?” asked Donald.
“The bad guys!” screamed Zach.
“Dear god! Saki!!!” shouted Donald but Saki was already moving. The helicopters were on their way and would be there within four minutes.
“What about your call, Tom?” asked Lela.
“We need to speak to the President. It seems that his presidential advisor, a Charles Beaumont, owns the phone line which dealt with the lawyer.”
“Jesus! What next?” exclaimed Donald.
“We’ve also tracked down the Migs. They were from the US.” said Tom. Relaying the second piece of information Daniel had given him.
“The US don’t have Migs, that’s ridiculous,” said Tristan.
“No it’s true, I never thought to check ours. We bought twenty one from Moldova after the USSR broke up so that nobody else could buy them. If I remember rightly, some supposedly carry nukes.”
“Yep, two have gone missing. I’m sure that if you’re the special advisor to the President, you can get your hands on a few bits and pieces. I suppose an experimental missile might not be out of the question either,” explained Tom, the anger rising.
“I’ll make the call,” said Donald. “Do we have enough evidence?”
“Yes, the phone line is irrefutable. They’ve even checked that the line definitely goes into his apartment. With the Migs and the missile, it should be enough for us to be taken seriously,” said Tom.
“OK, let’s give him a call,” replied Donald.
Chapter 91
The President received a note that an urgent call was waiting for him in the next room. He excused himself from the table, walked through to the adjacent room and picked up the phone.
He thanked God the man had a lot to say because for the following five minutes, he was speechless. Donald Kennedy explained to him how the Delta Force team were fake and that his Presidential aide was behind everything. The President thanked Donald profusely and said that he would call him back in five minutes. He called Beaumont.
“Get your ass over here now and I mean now!!!” he screamed.
Beaumont arrived less than two minutes later. When the President told him what had happened, he had remained perfectly calm. In fact, he had remained calm right up until the President told him who the caller had been. It was the first time the President had seen Beaumont rattled.
“Well you’re the smart ass! What are we going to do?” asked the President.
Beaumont had to think. “Just give me a minute.”
“OK. Get them here and find out what they know and who knows it. We can take care of it. Tell them the Delta Force team thing is correct, there was a mistake but it was just a mix up in teams. We know all about it, everything’s fine and you’ll send a chopper for them. They can be your guests for the evening, they’ll love that,” said Beaumont.
The President called Donald back and relayed the message.
“We’d better call Saki off,” said Tom as he listened to his father relay the President’s message.
“Excellent! A night in Camp David!” said Zach
“I’ll get to see my dad,” added Tristan.
“I don’t like it one bit,” said Lela, killing the excitement.
Neither did Saki, he didn’t turn the choppers round. They kept going and as they neared the flight exclusion zone, they dropped height and followed the roads. The choppers dropped them off half a mile from the fence-line of the Camp.
Twenty five minutes later, Donald, Rachel, Tom, Lela, Tristan and Zach boarded the President’s helicopter. Thirty minutes after that, they arrived at Camp David.
Chapter 92
It was just after 11.00 p.m. when Donald and Tom were asked by two secret service agents to follow them to the adjacent lodge. The rest of the party were to wait in the lounge. They entered the President’s office and found him standing by the fireplace.
“Donald, I can’t tell you how wonderful it is that you’re alive.”
“Thank you, Mr President.”
“Now tell me, what’s been happening?” he asked.
Donald and Tom ran through all the evidence they had, including Lela’s kidnap as a ransom to gain control of Alba. The President seemed particularly interested in Lela’s escape and excused himself just as they finished discussing it. Tom and Donald were unaware that the President was trebling the number of guards in the lounge and had just given orders to shoot the young girl first when the time came.
