The Camel Club

“You bastard!” Captain Jack groaned as he grabbed his lower calves where Stone had cut him, immobilizing the man.

Captain Jack screamed, “Why didn’t you just kill me?”

“Because I didn’t have to,” Stone answered.

“Listen to me,” Captain Jack gasped. “Ten million dollars to each of you if you kill Brennan.” They all looked at him in disgust. “He’s just a man,” he screamed.

“If you don’t shut up,” Alex snapped, “I’ll kill you.”

Hemingway managed to lever himself up against the wall. “You have to take President Brennan and leave him at a certain spot, to finish this the right way.”

Alex looked at him in disbelief. “I don’t know what the hell your crazy motivations are, and I don’t care. You’ve left the entire world on the brink of war. So the only thing I’m doing is taking the president back where he belongs. And on the way we’re going to make a call and stop six million people from being incinerated because of what you did.” He pointed his gun at Hemingway. “Now you either open the cell door or I’ll kill you.”

Hemingway struggled to his feet. “I’m not a traitor to my country, no matter what you or anyone else might think. I did this for my country. I did this for my world.”

“Open the damn door!” Alex yelled. “Now!”

Hemingway took out a set of keys and unlocked one of the doors.

“I thought you said it was booby-trapped,” Captain Jack snarled.

“I lied,” Hemingway said.

Stone and Alex carried the unconscious president out and sat him up against a wall. They found Chastity and placed her on the floor next to him.

Alex pulled out his cell phone. “Damn it, I forgot there’s no signal in here, so we need to get out of here to call Washington and—”

A man’s voice interrupted. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

They all turned and stared at Carter Gray and six men holding machine guns.

CHAPTER

68

“THANK GOD,” SIMPSON SAID, stepping toward her godfather. However, Gray turned his attention to Hemingway.

“The president was in the chopper that you flew me home in, wasn’t he?” Gray clearly didn’t expect an answer, and Hemingway didn’t provide one. “You corrupted my files, assembled an army of dead men and kidnapped the president.” Gray shook his head.

“The president’s fine, Carter,” Simpson said. “He’s just drugged.”

Gray said, “Very good. Well, we’ll take over from here.” He motioned two of his men to go get the president.

“Wait!” Hemingway shouted. “He needs to be returned the way I planned! You can’t let all those people in Pennsylvania die in vain. They sacrificed themselves for a better world.”

Gray’s face screwed up. “You are insane!” He calmed and turned to Stone.

“Hello, John. I can’t tell you what a shock it’s been finding out you’re alive,” Gray continued. He glanced over at Captain Jack lying on the floor still clutching his bloodied legs. “Two old friends I believed to be dead. Resurrection seems to be a theme of the twenty-first century.”

“I wasn’t ready to die on your timetable, Carter,” Stone said.

Simpson looked between the two men. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Alex interjected. “Look, people, we’re running out of time. We have to notify the White House that we have the president back. They’ll stop the launch.”

Gray ignored this and said, “Jackie, I want you to step over here with me.”

“What?” she said. “Didn’t you hear Alex? We have to stop the launch.”

“When you and I leave here together, you are never to speak of anything you’ve seen or heard tonight. Do you understand?”

Simpson looked at the others. “I’m sure you can trust all of us not to reveal anything that would damage the country.”

“I’m not worried about the others, Jackie, just you.”

Stone looked at the woman. “You’re the only one leaving here alive, Agent Simpson.” He glanced at Gray. “And I believe that includes the president.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Simpson shouted. She looked at her godfather for reassurance, but the truth of what Stone had just said was instantly revealed in Gray’s features. She pointed at the unconscious Brennan. “This is the president of the United States!”

Gray said, “I’m aware of that. And there’s a man in the Oval Office right now who’s equally capable of running the country, which, unfortunately, isn’t saying much.”

Simpson stared at the men with Gray. “He’s going to kill the president. You have to stop him!”

“These men are all loyal only to me, otherwise they wouldn’t be here,” Gray answered.

She said pleadingly, “Six million people are going to die if we don’t make the call to the White House, Carter.”

“Six million Syrians,” Gray countered. “Do you know how many terrorist activities dear old Syria supports? And they’re the clearinghouse for virtually all the suicide bombers going into Iraq. We should have nuked the damn country years ago.”

Simpson looked at her godfather. “You’re insane.”

“This is bigger than any one man, Jackie,” Gray replied very calmly. “This is strictly a war of good versus evil, and we have to ensure that those two sides remain clearly defined. And to do so, sacrifices have to be made, for the good of all. Even the president is not above that. And to accomplish that the world has to believe that his kidnappers have killed him.” He paused and added, “I’m sure your father would have no problem with any of this.”

“Bullshit!” Simpson roared. “He’d be the first one to throw you in jail.”

“Step over here with me, Jackie,” Gray said with urgency. “Do it now.”

Simpson didn’t budge. “No. You’re going to just have to kill me too.”

“Please don’t force me to make that decision.”

Alex suddenly screamed out, “Gun!” He threw himself toward Brennan. But someone else was a little quicker.

The shot rang out, as people seemed to be moving in slow motion. There were screams and scuffling feet and the sound of metal hitting the floor. And then there was silence.

Jackie Simpson dropped first to her knees and then fell facedown on the cold cement floor. The bullet that would have hit Brennan was now embedded inside her heart. Gray screamed and stood over Captain Jack, who’d pulled a small pistol from his ankle holster and fired at the president. Yet Simpson had denied him his kill.

Alex knelt down and checked her pulse and then looked up and shook his head.

“Jackie!” Gray cried out as he looked at his dead goddaughter.

“Beth,” a stunned Oliver Stone whispered as he stared down at the woman.

Alex, who’d been the only one close enough to hear, looked at Stone. Beth?

Gray pointed his gun at Captain Jack, but Stone’s voice boomed out. “If you shoot him, you have no connection to the North Koreans’ plot to kill the president.”

Gray’s finger remained on the trigger, but he didn’t pull it.

Stone was visibly trembling and his eyes were tearing up as he said, “We’re going to take the president to Medina. To the place Mr. Hemingway tells us to.”

“That is not an option,” Gray barked.

“It is your only option, Carter,” Stone replied. “You can’t let millions of innocent people die for no reason.”

He whirled on Stone. “Innocent! Those devils took my family from me!” Gray shouted. “They took everything I