On the silent ride continuing around the depot, they drove past the chemical agent disposal facility with its giant incinerator. Drake saw that the dedication platform had been erected in the visitor parking area. He made a mental note that the dedication platform was less than a mile from K Block.
“One more question and I’m done,” Drake said, breaking the silence. “If an emergency occurs during the ceremony tomorrow, how long will it take to move visitors to the emergency center?”
“The visitor buses arrive, and then remain behind the grandstands. They’ll take visitors to the emergency center. The VIPs will be brought in by assigned Humvees. Everyone will be instructed to return to the vehicles they arrived in if an emergency siren goes on. Our rehearsals require twelve minutes to return everyone to the emergency center,” Capt. Martinez said, without turning her head from the road.
If rehearsals took twelve minutes, Drake knew the real thing, with all the confusion that sirens would cause, would take twice as long.
“I’d like to see the emergency center, and then I’ll be out of your hair, Captain.”
When he was returned to headquarters, after a quick tour of the emergency center, Lt. Col. Hollingsworth was in a meeting. Drake was left alone in the Commander’s office to look at the books in his glass door barrister’s bookcase. They were mostly biographies and civil war histories. The pictures on the walls were of ceremonial poses with senior officers the Commander had served with. Some were pictures of young soldiers in fatigues, in unnamed places around the world, including one of a much younger Lt. Col. Hollingsworth. Drake wondered how Hollingsworth had wound up in charge of a chemical weapons depot, far away from the action.
Based on his tour of the depot, it was clear that the facility was well guarded against an attack from outside the perimeter fences. If an airplane violated restricted airspace and attempted to crash into an igloo, the earth- covered bunkers were reinforced to withstand the impact. No, if the depot was exposed to a serious threat, Drake concluded, it would come from within-from the civilian security force or some reservist.
“Well, Mr. Drake, did Capt. Martinez convince you we’re secure here?” Lt. Col. Hollingsworth asked when he returned to his office.
“That’s one straight aide-de-camp you have there, Colonel. Yes, she did her best to convince me you’re one hundred percent secure here. But we both know that’s rarely the case.”
Lt. Col. Hollingsworth sat down in his high-backed chair and studied Drake. His look was not defensive, but coolly appraising.
“If you think you spotted something, lay it out for me. Protecting this place and the people who live around here is my job. I take it seriously, but I don’t believe any place is one hundred percent secure.”
“Colonel, I can see you take your job seriously. Just a couple more questions and I’ll be on my way. What identification is required to get into the depot for your civilian personnel and reservists?” Drake asked pointedly.
“The two hundred reservists stationed here all have military ID they were issued by their units. Our security and civilian personnel have security badges we issue. If they have business here tomorrow, they’ll be admitted as always. None of them will want to be here, unless they’re working, believe me. Did you ever attend a ceremony you weren’t ordered to attend?” the Colonel asked.
“No, I guess not,” Drake admitted. “Thank you for the courtesy you extended to the Senator. I’ll head back to Portland and see you when I return with the Senator and his party tomorrow.”
As he was escorted back to the airport, Drake acknowledged the obvious threat. You might know who the individuals were who had access to your secure facility. How could you ever know their secret plans? ISIS might have secret plans that involved the depot, but how could you ever identify the people used to carry out those plans? The question worried him throughout his return flight to the executive airport in Hillsboro.
Chapter 40
Drake accelerated his old Porsche away from the charter service hanger and hit the speed dial on his cell phone.
“Hi Margo, anything urgent develop this morning?”
“Nothing that wasn’t expected. Cutler and Whitcomb said they were reporting you to the bar. Judge Beck said he’d give you to the end of the week to respond to their motions, or he’d grant summary judgment. I’m working through the pile of work you left on my desk, but we have to do something about these motions.
“I know. I’m not going to have much time until Thursday or Friday. Give Eric Katz a call, see if he’s available for some short-notice contract work. He was brilliant on the Court of Appeals brief, he can handle the motions.
“You have fun this morning?”
“More than you can imagine. Tell you about it when I get back. I’m headed to the Secret Service field office. While I’m there, would you call Detective Carson and ask if he’s making any headway? I should be finished with the Secret Service in an hour or so.”
“I will, if you promise you’ll be back this afternoon,” Margo bargained.
“Yes boss, I promise,” Drake said, closing his phone. Her next performance and salary review was going to be a lot like a union contract negotiation, giving her everything she asked for.
Drake drove to the parking garage across from the Federal office building. He didn’t expect them to tell him much, but he wanted them to realize he’d be along for the ride. After twenty minutes waiting in the reception area reading an old
Richard Rendell sat behind an uncluttered government-issue executive desk. Sitting across from him was the man who had warned him to stay out of the government’s business. Neither man got up when he entered the room.
“Mr. Drake, I’m told you have a habit of involving yourself in things that don’t concern you. I hope you’re not here to waste my time on something of that nature.”
Drake ignored Rendell’s greeting and sat down in the other chair in front of the desk, turning to John Mason.
“Nice to see you again, John. I see you’ve been telling Mr. Rendell about me.”
“No need to, really. He was in charge of cleaning up the mess on your farm last week. What is it you want, Drake?” Mason said, in his best, bored civil servant tone.
“I don’t want anything, John. This is a courtesy call. Senator Hazelton asked me to accompany him to the dedication ceremony at the Umatilla depot. He wants to know what security arrangements you’ve made for the event. Have the person in charge of planning security see me, and I’m out of here. Then you two can get back to the high-level discussions I interrupted.”
Mason looked across the desk at Rendell. “We don’t have any security plans. The Army’s in charge of that.”
“What about security for Secretary Rallings?” Drake asked, with lifted eyebrows. “Surely you’ve made arrangements for his protection. He’s your boss.”
Mason bristled. “Let me tell you something you obviously don’t know. The Secret Service is not authorized to protect the Secretary of Homeland Security. Congress provides us with a list of protectees, and he’s not on it. We do not implement operational security plans for dedication ceremonies, unless the President designates the event as a National Security Special Event, which he hasn’t. This is an Army ceremony, on an Army facility, and they’re quite capable of handling an event for a couple hundred people. Secretary Rallings has his own personal protection, just as Senator Hazelton does. Ask them what their plans are.”
“You’re telling me one of the most obvious terrorist targets walks around the country without your protection?” Drake exclaimed incredulously.
Mason stood and tried to stare down Drake. “I don’t know who you think you are, coming here to tell me what I need to do. I don’t care if Senator Hazelton sent you, we’re done here.”
Drake rose and stepped close, his nose inches away from Mason’s. “Mason, I know more about protecting someone than you’ll learn in two lifetimes. I learned from experience how to get inside security planned by little men like you. I was very good at it. You’re making a mistake, letting Secretary Rallings walk around without protection. If anything happens to him that you could have prevented, I’ll make sure someone who knows what
