All Necessary Force

“Speak English. What’s that mean?”

“It means the power’s being shifted linearly, like the old days. Directly from one substation to another. We’re trying to manually redirect the flow, but without the alarm system, we’re simply guessing. We’re doing our best to mitigate, but if we keep losing substations, we’re going to have a massive fault in the grid.”

He shifted his feet back and forth, waiting to be dismissed.

President Warren said, “What do you mean by ‘fault’? How massive?”

“Uhh… we’re going to lose the entire Eastern exchange. The largest blackout in history.”

It grew so quiet the president could hear the drone of the lights.

Pike grabbed the remote, muting the VTC screen to prevent the scientist from hearing what he said. “For Christ’s sake, sir,” he said, “let me go. Just me. I won’t take a team, and I’ll protect you. I’ll take the fall. Nobody has to find out about the Taskforce. I’m a private citizen. I won’t say a word, and you can put me in jail when it’s done. I don’t care, but don’t let this happen by doing nothing.”

Alexander Palmer entered the room, saying, “We got one. The guy working for Pennsylvania Power and Light. Tracked his GPS and pulled him over like a routine traffic stop.”

President Warren said, “Are we sure they’re terrorists?”

Palmer smiled. “Oh yeah. Guess who was with him? The disappearing imam from Canada, Abdul-Majid Mohammed. Along with a trunk full of some kind of specialized explosives.”

Brookings said, “There. See. Law enforcement’s doing fine.”

Pike said, “Bullshit. That’s one fucking team. We have no idea how many are out there, and the only way to find out is to catch the leader. The killer from Egypt. He’ll have a plan for failure, and he sure as shit doesn’t have a GPS on his car.”

Palmer saw the intercom on the table blinking, and held up his finger. “I told them to patch in any updates. Hang on for a second.”

He pressed the button and said, “This is Palmer. Go ahead.”

A tinny voice came through. “We tracked the GPS of the guy working at Baltimore Gas and Electric. His truck was parked down a deserted dirt road, empty. The guy working for Pepco here in D.C. doesn’t have a GPS on his truck, but his supervisor’s trying to locate him. In some good news, the guy who works for Dominion Power is being tracked right now. He’s outside of Richmond in a rural area. We have men posted at the only substation along his route with an EHVT.”

“Can you patch their radio in here?”

“Yeah, stand by.”

Thirty seconds later, they could hear the Virginia state trooper talking to his dispatch.

“I got a Dominion truck headed my way. I can see it down the hill.”

“Roger. Be advised, the suspects are considered armed and dangerous.”

“Roger. Don’t worry, I’ve handled skinheads before.”

Pike said, “What’s he talking about? He’s confused. He thinks he’s still tracking the Phoenix Order.”

Palmer held up his hand, getting Pike quiet so they could monitor the radio traffic.

“…. he’s turned on the access road. Must be the guy. He’s seen me and stopped. I’m sending Billy down to him. Stand by.”

Everyone in the conference room held their breath, waiting. Finally, the trooper came back on. “False alarm. This guy’s black. He’s not a skinhead—”

A muted crack came through the speaker, followed by random static. Then the trooper came back on, screaming. “Officer down! Officer down! I need—”

Nothing more came out.

Pike broke the silence. “They have no idea what they’re up against. Sir, manhunting is what I do, and I’m fucking good at it. Turn me loose.”

President Warren sat in silence, feeling the weight of the decision. Wondering, if he crossed the line, could he ever go back. He considered what Pike had said earlier, realizing that Pike thought the only thing riding on the decision was the fear of Taskforce discovery, and the subsequent fallout to everyone in the room. He didn’t seem to grasp the peril of an organization like the Taskforce operating on U.S. soil. He returned Pike’s expectant gaze.

A good man. But a predator. A menace to our way of life. A menace I created.

The scientist on the VTC spoke up. “Substation 416 outside of Richmond just went off-line, causing a string of shutdowns. We’re at seventy percent. We lose seven more by attack, and it’s unrecoverable.”

Pike said, “Sir?”

President Warren watched the scientist fidget on the screen for a moment, then looked Pike in the eye.

“Go.”

Brookings’ mouth fell open in disbelief. Nobody in the room said a word, the implications of the decision speaking for itself. President Warren watched Pike scramble to get out the door, a predator now free to slaughter by any means he chose.

A predator I might have to put down.

He put his head in his hands, hating the decision he had just made.

71

Jennifer and I crawled our way back to Taskforce headquarters, the gridlock caused by the lack of stoplights turning a ten-minute trip into thirty. I got sick of waiting and swung onto the sidewalk, blasting my horn at the pedestrians in front of me.

Jennifer threw her hand up to the roof and stomped down on an imaginary brake pedal.

“Jesus, Pike! What are you doing?”

“Getting us to headquarters. Call Retro; have him standing by to get us in.”

She pulled out her phone, slapping the dash at every close call I had. After she hung up, she said, “I’m coming with you.”

I considered the offer. I could definitely use the help, but I knew there was little chance we could do this clean. If she came, odds were she’d be prosecuted right along with me, because there was no doubt I was going to break the law.

“No, you’re not. Jennifer, I’m going way, way out on this. Trust me, you don’t want to be a part of it.”

“Yes, I do. I heard what’s going on. I was in the room.”

“No, you don’t. I’m probably going to do some things that make Cairo seem mild. You don’t have the stomach for it.”

We were stopped by a throng of people exiting a Metro station, forcing us to inch along, with them flowing around the truck.

“And that’s okay. The world needs more of you than they do of me. But right now, as much as you hate it, I’m the solution.”

She gave me a funny look, then turned to the window, watching the people wandering around with dazed expressions, all apparently wondering what they were going to do without the Metro.

“I don’t know what I was before I met you, but I know what I am now, and it’s not that. I used to be like them, safe and happy while someone else kept me that way.”

Her next words caused my jaw to drop.

“You called me a meat eater in Cairo after I killed the Chinese agent, and I hated you for it. Hated you for holding up the mirror. I didn’t want to believe it, but that doesn’t make it untrue. Those guys need to be stopped, and I’m the solution as well.”

She saw my disbelief and broke into a grin. “What? I am what I am. You’re the man to blame.”

I wasn’t sure if she honestly accepted what her statement meant, and there was still the problem of prosecution when this was done.

“There’s no reason for both of us to go to jail.”

We made it through the crowd, and I swerved to avoid a moped that had hopped the sidewalk as well,