once before, in the time of Julius Caesar, and that had ended in the splintering of the first family of man.
The young members of the Coalition were now in a state of near rebellion and the elders feared that the result could well mean the devastation of the planet itself.
Second Lieutenant Sarah McIntire sat with Collins and Everett in the cafeteria. She acted as if she were somewhere else as the two men spoke while eating. Then Collins looked over at the diminutive geology professor and nudged her out of her trance.
'All right, what's up?' he asked.
Sarah looked from Jack to Carl and set her fork onto her plate. 'There's a rumor going around that you guys had one hell of a fishing trip.'
'Nah, nothing special, didn't catch a thing,' Carl said, straight-faced.
'Will had a nice commissioning party, that's all that happened. So, what are you up to?' Jack asked.
'My department's been running a little slow. A lot of people out on leave, like most of the complex. I have what's left of the Geology Department teaming with earth sciences and we're going over these earthquakes just as a training exercise. Everyone seems to be stumped.'
'Stumped about what? That Korea was hit with a megaquake? It is on the Pacific Rim, you know. It's the old ring-of-fire thing. In addition, Iraq and Iran aren't exactly on stable terrain either. Shit happens,' Carl said as he swallowed some water.
'Yes, they are all unstable. But there hasn't been one aftershock in either location since the main shaking stopped.'
'Is that normal?' Jack asked as he tossed his napkin onto his plate.
'Jack--' Sarah caught herself and hoped that no one had heard her address him in the familiar sense. 'Colonel, there are always aftershocks. It's just like a long-distance runner cooling down after the main shock of a race. There are always tremors, and this is so unnatural it's raising eyebrows across academic circles. And it's not just because of the wild claims by North Korea.'
'Well, I'm sure the eggheads will--'
The computerized female voice cut short the academic question of Sarah's point as she watched the two officers reach for their dinner trays and stand. Jack looked at Sarah and she smiled. As she watched the two officers leave, Sarah remembered the very first time Jack had smiled at her and the butterflies she'd gotten in her stomach, making her feel like a schoolgirl. She smiled inwardly at the warming thought. She knew that her love for Jack had become common knowledge among their closest associates like Carl, Mendenhall, and even Director Compton, but the secret had to remain intact because Jack was a stickler for military protocol. Soon a decision would have to be made, and she knew that it would be hers to make.
The main computer center was set up like a theater. Desks were arranged on the upper level, each with a monitor, and they looked down on the main floor, where technicians worked at other stations for direct access into the Cray system known as Europa. This system was the most powerful computing apparatus known in the world and there were only four in existence. However, the Event Group's system was special. It had the ability to 'talk' its way into any computer in the world, bypassing security mainframes of most governments, universities, and companies.
Jack and Carl made their way down to the main floor and saw the man who had called them in. Professor Pete Golding, director of operations of the center, greeted the two men.
'Colonel, Captain, good of you to come.' He turned to a small monitor attached to the plastic wall of the center and waved a hand across its face. That activated the screen, and as they watched, the face of Niles Compton appeared. 'Okay, they're here, Niles. Shall we start?'
Compton nodded and watched on his own monitor in his office.
'Okay, the cell phone you came back from Africa with was damaged beyond repair. But the idiot who thought just disabling it never learned the fact that a cell phone is nothing but a small computer. It has a nonvolatile memory and this is what's used to store information. You know, it's amazing when you think--'
'Pete, listening to you is like having your teeth drilled into. Would you get to the point, please?' Niles said, rubbing his temples.
Pete looked hurt. Red-faced, he shoved his glasses back onto his nose.
'What did you learn, Pete?' Jack asked, to get things back on track.
'Well, the cell was used to call only one number. Europa tracked the owner of this number and we gave it to the Group's contact at the FBI for investigation.'
They watched as Pete switched on another monitor and then they were looking into the young face of special Agent William Monroe. He was at his home in Long Island, New York.
'Bill, how are you?' Jack asked.
'Good evening, Colonel and Captain. Pete has passed on to me your information and we have tracked a rather shady individual right here in the U.S. As a matter of fact, he's in my own home state.'
'Fortuitous,' Niles said.
'As I was saying, our friend is an investment banker and commodities broker who has an estate in Westchester County. A small burg called Katonah. Our friend had over twenty-seven calls into this mercenary's cell phone, and after checking his phone records we've learned that he had numerous other calls to Africa, not only on this cell but many others--thirty-five to be exact.'
'Talk about reach out and touch someone,' Everett said.
'Also our friend has a black area that falls in line with this whole mess. He's a collector, anything and everything, from Greece to China. Under-the-table dealings mostly, very few are reported, thus he makes for an interesting entry in the books of the FBI
'What do you think, Bill--can we get into this man's humble abode without your bosses in D.C. getting wise?' Jack asked.
'Yeah; I have enough to get a search warrant. How you cover yourselves will have to be the key here. No one on my side of the fence can get even a hint I let someone pull a raid in my backyard.'
'I think we can manage that. Can you have a few of your boys standing by in the wings for recovery purposes?'
'You got it, Jack. Just let me know and I'll have the warrant ready,' Monroe said, then signed off.
'Well, Mr. Director, do we have a 'go' to get out to New York?' Collins asked.
Niles looked into the monitor and nodded. 'You have a go, but remember, the main reason for bringing this guy down is the fact that he at the very least ordered the murders of innocent college kids and their professors, and for what, some shards of pottery? Yes, Colonel, you have a go.'
Jack nodded.
'But it would be nice to know what it was they were looking for. I mean, if ten- to fifteen-thousand-year-old artifacts didn't interest them, just what does? That's the main reason we're handling this instead of the regular authorities,' Niles said before he signed off.
Jack looked from the darkened monitor to the face of a grinning Everett.
'You packed yet?' he asked.
'Been packed. Let's go.'
As they turned to leave the computer center, they heard Pete Golding behind them as they climbed the stairs.
'Does my voice grate on people like a dentist drilling teeth?'
'Don't worry, Pete, it only happens when you talk,' Everett said as they reached the door and left.
The mansion was surrounded by immense manicured lawns and gardens, which belied the fact that hidden among imported shrubs and trees was the most sophisticated security system ever installed within the confines of a private estate. It had taken Special Agent Monroe only hours, with the help of his Europa link, to track the owner's business expenses, and the discovery of the advanced security system told the agent that the man had something to hide within the walls of the estate. The eight-million-dollar system had drawn scrutiny and been cross-referenced with the owner's identity. From there it had been only a matter of digging a little further to find the truth behind the
