Having noticing that his Chief of Staff had been rendered speechless by the claim, President Harwell seized the opportunity to ask the most obvious question.

Moving a few steps closer to Agent Bishop, he inquired, “Are you absolutely sure about that location Heath?”

“Yes sir, without a doubt.”

“Alright then I want this to be clearly understood by the four of us. You are saying that the current President of the Independent Republic of Texas, who just prior to attaining that position was the Governor for the State of Texas, is the operative known as number three within the organization which we are investigating?”

“Yes Mr. President. That is correct.”

“Well that is astonishing!”

“Yes sir, I agree. And I didn’t believe that it could be true when Lieutenant Royce first made claim to knowing the identity of number three, but we have now gathered enough evidence to prove she was correct. Through voice recognition software we have been able to compare numerous conversations between him and number eleven against several samples from when the man was Governor. The software has determined that they are an absolute match, so there is no doubt about it sir. President Marcus Stoddard of Texas is indeed number three.”

While pondering the implications, the President asked, “Well if the top man in the Texas government structure is number three, then who could possibly be numbers one and two?”

“I have some information to that end Mr. President, and I believe that you will find it enlightening. Although we have no lead at this time as to the identity of number one, I have been able to create an extensive file on number two and certain members of his family.”

“Alright Heath, tell us what you know.”

As when reporting on numbers twenty-three and three, Heath proceeded to brief the President and Christopher Westin on what was known of number two. He reminded them that the third number Ambassador Pearson would typically dial was within the 936 area code, and to be more specific, that it was located on the northern outskirts of Crockett Texas. That phone belonging to number two was in the home of a man by the name of Samuel Tillman, which once again aligned with a claim revealed by Lieutenant Royce.

Unlike Marcus Stoddard, no previous voice recordings of the man could be found for the sake of a comparative study. Therefore it would have been difficult for Heath to verify the identity of number two as Samuel Tillman if he had not personally met with and spoken to the man on one occasion. That brief interaction in Crockett had been nearly a year prior, but Heath had not forgotten the commanding voice of the man or the inflection and measured pauses within his rhetoric. Adding to what Heath considered as a reasonable verification of the identity was that the phone in question rarely changed location. When looked at on an individual basis neither of those factors would convince most people that Samuel Tillman was indeed number two, but Heath had collected a body of other circumstantial evidence which would back his claim.

Before Heath could move on, President Harwell asked, “So unlike the phones of numbers twenty-three and three, this one does occasionally move to another location?”

“Yes sir. According to satellite tracking, most of the movements were small as the phone remained somewhere on the grounds of the Tillman estate or in the vicinity of Crockett. It would be safe to assume in those instances that number two was simply moving about the property or driving into town with the phone on his person. However there has been one occasion since we began the tracking when the phone moved a greater distance.”

Christopher Westin intervened and pressed, “Define a greater distance.”

“In that singular instance the phone was tracked to a few locations over two days. First it moved from Crockett to Austin where it bounced between the Capitol Building, a nearby hotel, and a restaurant on Sixth Street. Then after another visit to the Capitol during the following morning, it headed east to a location in College Station on the campus of Texas A&M University before returning to Crockett.”

“So he potentially went to Austin to meet with number three?”

“That’s our assumption Mr. Westin.”

“Alright, that seems reasonable. But then why go to College Station during the return?”

At that moment the President didn’t understand why the query might be relevant, but he was intrigued that Heath had created what he deemed to be an extensive file. Upon hearing the belief that the visit of Samuel Tillman to College Station could have multiple purposes, he took over the questioning from his Chief of Staff.

With a slight hand gesture, he asked, “Alright Heath, what else do you have?”

Heath reminded the President that he had spoken to him previously about Mr. Tillman, and that conversation was based on Heath meeting with him and members of his family at their home in Crockett the previous April. For Heath it was obvious then that the Tillman family possessed a great deal of money, but he had not put that comfort of wealth into context until more recently.

Once he had been informed of his identity by Lieutenant Royce, Heath had done some extra digging into Samuel Tillman when time availed. What he learned was that the man was the patriarch of what could more accurately be defined as the Tillman Empire. Their wide range of possessions included everything from rail, trucking, and shipping companies for the import and export of goods and services, to vast real-estate holdings in heavily populated and remote regions of Texas. Although the purpose of owning certain parcels of their land was not known, some included oil fields and agricultural interests of both livestock and produce. As what amounted to nothing more than a minor sidebar, the family also owned their own private jet. Heath had first learned of that long before discovering the additional Tillman interests, as he had briefly known the lead flight attendant Domonique before she was killed at a Lake Tahoe ski resort.

Although much of what Heath had learned of Samuel Tillman was not obtained until recent weeks, he had come to understand that his clan was probably among the wealthiest handful of families in all of Texas. A certain amount of inherent power must assuredly come with such wealth, and Heath believed that Samuel Tillman was the type of man who would flex that power whenever the mood struck him.

Turning to the extended Tillman family, Heath cited what he had learned from various lists which were provided by the Secretary of Defense during the previous fall. A name which appeared on a few of those lists of cadets or midshipmen from the military academies was Jason Tillman, who was none other than the eldest grandchild of Samuel.

At the time of the terrorist attack Jason had been a cadet at West Point who was due to graduate with his class in six months, but unlike many others, he was one of the lucky ones who was not killed or injured at Michie Stadium. The first list where his named appeared was that of cadets from Texas who in the following months swore an oath of allegiance to their new republic. Since that time he had been posted for service within the Texas military forces as an instructor of first year, or plebe, cadets at the Texas Military Academy in College Station.

When hearing that tidbit of information, President Harwell stated, “So that’s why Mr. Tillman stopped at College Station on the way back to Crockett. He was visiting his grandson Jason.”

Heath nodded and replied, “Yes sir. That would be logical, but there may have been a deeper purpose to his visit than that.”

Continuing on, Heath took the President and the other two men back to the day of the terrorist attacks. As an ardent supporter of the football team who was known to be present at all of their home games, Jason would have been directly in harm’s way during the horrific event if he had taken his normal place within the corps of cadets. However on that day, the final home game of his senior year, he was mysteriously absent from the stadium for the first and only time during his four years at the academy. As a result, he was able to avoid the extremely hazardous confines.

To that end, the appearance of his name on a separate list raised another question. The duty roster for the academy on that Saturday revealed that Jason had called in a favor and was given a special duty of command cadet for the squad which manned the cannon on the opposite shore of Lusk Reservoir from the stadium. Well within visual range for many of the spectators seated within, its sole purpose was to be fired when the team took the field before the game, at the beginning of the second half of play, and on any occasion when they would score points against the opponent. Such a posting was not in line for the duties which Jason was normally given or pursued, but it did coincidentally keep him at a relatively safe distance from the shootings and explosions of the attack.

Heath expressed a belief that an additional benefit for Jason with that planned and fortunate circumstance of duty was the ability to avoid the infirmary for his required safety. A spot in the infirmary for the day would have required him to fake an injury or illness, and doing so was not a foolproof way to avoid being within the stadium.

Then Heath spoke of the day when he had been at the side of President Harwell for the unveiling of the memorial which recognized the fallen cadets. During those proceedings the cannon had been fired in salute, and Heath remembered that the location of it offered an unobstructed view of Michie Stadium. Although he admitted that the following was merely conjecture, Heath surmised that perhaps the most vital reason for Jason to obtain such an unusual posting on November fourteenth of 2026 would be to act as a lookout.

President Harwell and Christopher Westin stared at each other in silence for a moment, and both realized that their respective facial expressions revealed a shared belief. Everything that Heath had conveyed was a plausible truth.

Before either could break the silence to communicate that belief, Heath added, “Mr. President. Among other evidence I also have some information which pertains to another grandchild of Samuel Tillman. His name is Beau Tillman, and at the time of the terrorist attacks he was a third year cadet at the Air Force Academy. He is currently in good standing, and is on track to graduate with his class this coming May.”

Jordan Harwell shifted his gaze from Christopher Westin toward Heath.

Then he replied, “Another grandson at a different academy which was attacked?”

“Yes Mr. President.”

“Well I’m sure that the information you have on that young man would be interesting to hear, and I will want you to brief me on that subject in the near future. Unfortunately as I informed the Secretary at the beginning of this briefing, my time is rather short today. Rest assured that you made your point clearly enough for me Heath, as you have uncovered something tangible which can be built upon.”

“Thank you Mr. President.”

Turning his attention toward the Secretary of Defense, the President stated, “Mr. Secretary, your team has done a wonderful job in obtaining pertinent information from number eleven and twenty-nine. Do you believe they could install wiretaps and other listening devices into the residence where number twenty-three does her work?”

“Yes sir I do. Based on the open border policy which we currently share with Texas, my team could easily enter the republic while posing as tourists. Once in Austin, they could surveil the residence in question and develop a plan to access the home under false pretenses.”

“And how long do you believe that would take?”

“Well sir, that is difficult to define in exact terms. However we could begin the operation immediately if you so desire.”

“I do. Now how will you go about it?”

“Well sir, to begin with it would be safer to have my team drive to Austin as opposed to being flown in or using commercial airlines. That way even with false identities there would be no record of their arrival, and if anything were to go wrong during the operation then there wouldn’t be the concern of possible detainment at the airport while attempting to depart. In addition, my team will be better served if they could have all of the necessary equipment for the operation in two vehicles as opposed to risking airport security.”

“That sounds prudent. Please continue.”

“Yes sir. If my recollection of the geography is correct, then we should fly them to a location near Lake Charles in the southwest corner of Louisiana where we can provide my team with an appropriate everyday generic vehicle and an ordinary van. It’s the closest point of entry to Austin, and there is bound to be a small useable airstrip for our needs in the area. If we can handle all of the logistics and travel to Louisiana this afternoon and evening, then it should be no problem for my team to begin the drive at first light and be in Austin no later than mid-day tomorrow. Once there, the surveillance aspect of the operation could be put in motion almost immediately.”

“That all sounds excellent Mr. Secretary. Please get started on that plan right away.”

“Yes sir.”