Chapter 6

 

 

-Washington D. C.-

 

 

A few days later things have gone from bad to worse. The entire Eastern seaboard is now without power and the number of deaths and hairy situations related to these outages is rising alarmingly. Pockets of panic are beginning to pop up and are being nurtured by unsubstantiated rumors appearing on sporadic news broadcasts and in editorials of newspapers that have managed to get their papers out on the streets.

 

John Q. Public is demanding factual information and resolutions, but their demands are being met with silence. President Weinstein is in a meeting in the Oval Office with Bill Demerit the head of Homeland Security, pacing and wringing his hands, trying to come up with a game plan to deal with the power outages and reduce the potential for rioting that could be just around the corner.

 

“Bill, we’ve got to come up with an effective game plan to deal with this mess or all hell is going to break loose. Have you heard anything from Hank Aldridge?”

 

“Not yet.”

 

“Get him on the phone now.”

 

A minute and five rings later, “Sentry, Aldridge here.”

 

“Hi Hank, Bill Demerit here. I’m in the Oval office with the President and I’m going to put us on the speaker.”

 

“Hi Mr. President. I won’t ask you how you are because I have a pretty good idea of what your answer would be.”

 

“Hi Hank, do you have any good news for me. I could sure use some.”

 

“Maybe. I was holding off on calling you until I was able to give you a better answer than that.”

 

“What have you got?’

 

“We believe we know in general how the communications are being disrupted. A remotely controlled, mobile and flexible electro-magnetic force field is being deployed that acts as a barrier, blocking out all signals of any kind coming into or leaving an area. We’re working on the specifics as to how they are being moved around, identifying all possible targets and ways to neutralize the force fields.

 

“We’ve identified 24 individuals who fit the profile we’ve constructed and are in the process of investigating these people in more detail.

 

“As for the hacking onslaught, we’ve put together a system access security procedure and will be relaying it to everybody responsible for the systems being accessed or those systems that could create public havoc if accessed. We’ve also developed a software program that will detect an unauthorized access attempt and send a devastating virus back to the source. We haven’t as yet come up with anything to deal with the viruses already in the affected systems. We’re working on it.”

 

“Well, you’ve made some progress, Hank. That’s definitely good news, but we need more progress and faster. I know you are doing everything you can to expedite matters, but the American people are getting real nervous and I’m afraid if we don’t come up with some meaningful answers soon there will be rioting in the streets.”

 

“I hear you Mr. President. We’ll keep the throttle wide open. We won’t let up for a minute.”

By the way, I think it would be a good idea to keep these conversations to ourselves for a while. These people are highly intelligent and well organized. They could have ears anywhere.”

 

“Agreed.”

 

The connection was broken and the President resumed his pacing. “You know, Bill, I’m not surprised that Hank has managed to get off the ground towards a solution to this quagmire we’re in. What does surprise me though is we haven’t heard a peep out of the FBI, the CIA or anyone else here in Washington about this matter. That concerns me greatly. I think it’s time for me to turn up the heat and see who gets steamed. On your way out, please send my admin in.”

 

Lorraine Caldwell has been with the President since he entered politics twenty-five years ago and is indispensable to him. She knows him like a book she’s read many times over and frequently is a step ahead of him when he’s troubled and dealing with a serious problem. This is one of those times.

 

“Mr. President, Mr. Demerit said you wanted to speak with me.”

 

“Yes, Lorraine, please have a seat. I’m greatly disturbed over not receiving any meaningful input from certain members of my cabinet and staff of advisors on the communications and power outage problems we’ve been having throughout the country. It’s time for me to kick some serious butt and perhaps make some changes. I want you to set up an emergency Top Secret meeting in the conference room at two this afternoon. Everyone on the list that I’ll prepare must attend, no excuses.”

 

“Yes sir. I thought you might want to do something like this, so I drew up a list of people that I thought you’d like to talk with and have checked their schedules. All of these people will be in Washington for the rest of the week.”

 

Scanning the list, the President shakes his head and says, “Amazing! Everyone’s here that would have been on my list but one.”

 

“And who’s that Mr. President?

 

“Abdul-Azim .”

 

“That’s a name I’ve not heard before.”

 

“You wouldn’t and shouldn’t have. He’s the head of a clandestine operation I organized to help with terrorist activities here in the U. S. Only a very few people know about it and he is to attend the meeting using the name of Vincent Torizzio as a private consultant for multi-national corporations with terrorist concerns. I want him at the meeting because so far Hank Aldridge is the only one that has made any progress towards a solution of our problems, but he’s concentrating on domestic causes and I’m thinking that these situations might involve foreign extremists with a hatred for us and our way of life. Our situation is beyond serious and approaching critical. I want his input and continued involvement in our investigations, the structuring of countermeasures and the formation of a resolution to these attacks on the American people. We’ve got to cover all bases. I’ll personally contact ‘Mr. Torizzio’ through prearranged means of communication. Contact everyone else on the list, telling them nothing of its purpose but that it’s mandatory.”

 

“I’ll get right on it.”

As Lorraine rises and walks out of the Oval office, the President is thinking, “I hope I’m not making a mistake agitating a pot that’s already threatening to boil over, but shaking things up is the only way I can think of to get what I need from these people, ideas.”