Ghosts: CATU Book 01 Ch. 10-11

National Security Agency Building

AgentStrandon, you have a call sir," says his secretary.

"Patch it trough to me."

He gives it a few seconds before picking it up. This is the phone call he was waiting for. Knowing it will be recorded, he comprises himself then lifts the receiver. "Agent Strandon speaking."

"The President is on my list this morning. Fifteen minutes is all he has in the presidency," the voice says.

The line goes dead, time to act. Strandon hangs up the phone and prepares himself. He runs out of his office yelling, "Anderson! Stevens!"

They both bolt from their desks. "Yes sir!" they say in unison.

"Assemble the teams, we have less then fifteen minutes before the President gets assassinated."

The whole building gets moving. Phone calls are made to the White House; people are dressing in vests and preparing their weapons.

"Two minutes people! Let's move it!" Strandon yells over the noise.

Director!"an agent yells. "Sir we have a few problems."

"Go ahead," Roger says walking out of his office.

"NSA just contacted us. They received a phone call about a threat on the President."

"Did they ask for our help?"

"No sir, but there's more. We just received a call telling usGhostis broadcasting at 10:30."

"Damn it, we're out of time," Roger says, shaking his head.

"Sir!" another agent yells. "Anonymous caller says he's seen suspicious activity at the abandoned fireworks factory on 53rd. He says the people look foreign and there was a semi going into the building."

Roger knows this was it, just the tip he had been waiting for. The slip up he knewGhostswould make. Finally there was hope.

"Find Reeds and Roberts. Get Wiltkins on my phone," he says as he heads back into his office.

Spencerand Sam get to Roger's office as quickly as they can. Wiltkins is already there waiting.

"Good you're here," Roger says when they walks into the office.

"We got a lead?" Sam asks apprehensively.

"Yes, just got a call. We have to move fast, we have less then fifteen minutes. You two are heading out with Doug. I'll keep open contact with you;Ghostis broadcasting at 10:30."

"Let's get going then," Spencer says already heading out the door.

Arethe phones transferred?" asks Stanos.

"Yes sir, all calls made to the White House will be forwarded to our operators," Jacobs says. "The prop calls will go to the phones so suspicion won't be aroused."

"Good, the last thing we need is the Secret Service interfering," Stanos says more to himself than to Jacobs.

"No sir."

Get the semi loaded," Rudolph says barking out orders. "The broadcast goes out in fifteen minutes."

"The route is clear and ready," Fredrich says.

"Good. I'll take the semi, you'll take alternate route Hanson made up," Rudolph instructs. "We'll meet at the rendezvous. Before the day is out we'll have our first steps toward victory!"

The soldiers stop their work to shout praise of victory.

Mathsen has his set up at just over a mile from the White House. As long as Stanos can do his job, he has a perfect shot at the window. He looks at his watch.

Fifteen minutes and I'll finally get even.

He doesn't look forward to this job; he had nothing against the guy. He only wanted those responsible for his imprisonment and destruction of his career. This was the ultimate traitorous act he could do, but if it allowed his goals to be met, then so be it.

President McKinsey stands in the center of his office starring into the television. His thoughts are on his daughter. Like his wife, he hopes she will come home safe.

"God help us all," he says aloud.

Abandoned Fireworks Factory, 53rd Street

"Thebroadcast is coming on Reeds, make it fast," Roger says over the ear piece.

"Copy that," Spencer says.

He turns to Sam and Doug, "Sam and I will look for Sara; keep the soldiers off our backs."

"No problem," Doug says.

They jump out of the truck, Doug immediately begins giving orders.

The soldiers lead by Doug burst through every available door and window on the ground floor. The soldiers inside are caught off guard, but immediately begin firing on Doug and his men.

"Stop them!" yells Rudolph as he runs through to the next section of the building.

"Sam, I'll find Sara. Follow him and save the children," Spencer says.

"Stay safe, Spence," she says.

"Where to Roger?" Spencer asks through the microphone.

"There should be a stairway to your right, leading to the second floor. Still waiting on the schematics to get here," Roger responds.

"I see it," Spencer says.

A solider comes running down the stairs. Before he can fire his gun, he is sent tumbling down the stairs. Spencer turns around to see Doug lowering his rifle.

"You haven't found her yet?" he asks.

"Right," Spencer says.He heads up the stairs.

Rogersits watching the broadcast, worry showing over his face.

— government thought they could ignore our demands. The price was steep, yet they ignored us. They keep secrets from the people and even their secret organizations like CATU could not even stop us. For that she will pay and so shall the people suffer. The missing children will now be your governments second and last chance to comply.

Now you shall be witness to the President's daughter's death. We mean business and you will all learn the—

Reeds,we have a lock on the signal. There is a room at the end of the hall, north east section of the building," Roger says.

"On it. How much time do we have?" he asks.

"Not long. Make it fast, Hanson is about to kill her."

Spencer runs down the hall as fast as he can. He finds it strange that there is no opposition on the second floor.

"My God Reeds, he's about to cut her throat," Roger exclaims.

"I see the door." Spencer's legs burned as he bolts for it. Without a second thought, Spencer throws his body into the door. The door caves in with him entering on his back, his gun aimed for the first terrorist to come into view.

The room is empty except for Sara and video equipment.

"Were too late," Spencer says, almost in a whisper.

"I know Spencer," Roger says with anguish in his voice. "Did you get any of the bastards alive?"

"The room's empty. Sara is already dead, the broadcast is a video recording," Spencer replies.

Mathsenpeers through the scope; he is locked in on the window waiting for his target to come into sight.

Any minute now and I'll be on my way to finishing things.

He is always patient, but this job has set him on edge. For years he tried to get close to the people responsible for his downfall. It will only be moments before he has the opportunity to achieve his revenge.

A shadow casts itself across the window. He depresses the safety and slides his finger down the trigger guard.

Any second now. Come on damn it.

President McKinsey watches in horror as his daughter's life is taken in front of the whole nation. He turns away with feelings of failure.

How can this happen?

Stanos and he are the only two in the room; his wife, not choosing to watch the broadcast, hangs onto the hope that Sara will come home safely. After a long silence Stanos speaks.

"I'm sorry sir, we have failed you,Ihave failed you," he pauses to put his hand on McKinsey shoulder, "but we'll get the bastards responsible."

He gives the President's shoulder a squeeze and guides him toward his seat in front of the window.

The time is now; he has a full view of the target. Mathsen's finger slides onto the trigger and with a squeeze the bullet is on its way.

Done.

"Sit and grieve sir—"

Stanos isn't able to finish his sentence as the back of his head explodes, his brains flying in every direction. The President hits the floor as secret service men pile into the room to cover him.

Mathsengrabs his shell casings and turns to head down the fire escape when he sees the barrel of a gun pointed at his head.

"What the hell is this?" he asks.

"Disposition of a liability," Strandon says.

Without another word, Mathsen steps to the side, pulling his boot knife in the process. He may have had ten years on Strandon, but his training more than made up for it.

Strandon immediately retrains his gun on Mathsen, but he is already on the move. Mathsen lunges and tackles Strandon, the gun knocked loose goes flying. They wrestle with Mathsen trying to stab Strandon and only succeeding with a few cuts before being kicked away.

He flies backward into a wall, the jolt causing him the temporarily loose his grip. The knife clangs to the ground. When Mathsen gets his bearings he reaches for the knife. Strandon's boot comes crashing down on his wrist, bones crack and ligaments tear. The boot comes up square into Mathsen's nose; the sound of cartilage crunching is loud.

Mathsen lands on his back, blood pours down his face onto his chest. He tries to get up, but is pushed back down when Strandon steps on his chest.

"I was promised," Mathsen chokes out.

"Promises are meant to be broken," Strandon says then empties his clip into Mathsen.

Samfollows Rudolph into the other section of the building. It is dark, but she can make out boxes and the shape of a semi truck. She strides in cautiously, gun drawn.

A two by four come crashing down into her hands. Her gun falls to the floor, before she can respond; she is then hit in the stomach with the piece of wood.

"Not real though. Can't really expect much from you Americans," Rudolph says.

"I'll give you though." She gets up to lunge and stops, feeling something jab into her. The world goes spinning, and then the ground comes speeding toward her.

"Sorry, but you're my ticket out of here," Rudolph says as he picks up her limp body.

Spencermanages to find Doug in the fire fight. The terrorists are seriously outnumbered, but they are determined to not give up. "Sara is dead, the second floor is empty," Spencer says setting Sara's body on the ground next to Doug.

"You took them all out?" Doug questions.

"No one was there, this is all a rouse."

"Damn it."

What's the situation?" Spencer asks.

"We have them pinned down. We lost Redding and a few others," Doug replies.

"Any word from Sam?"

"Nothing, last I saw she was headed through the door," Doug says pointing to the now blocked area.

"Can you clear that area out?" asks Spencer.

"Only heavy thing we have are grenades. If we use those this whole place will come down, it's too unstable."

"We got to do something," Spencer says.

A rumbling noise starts up at that moment. The whole building begins to shake; metal can be heard grinding together. Suddenly wood, metal and people burst out in every direction as a semi comes roaring out into the standoff.

"Clear out!" Doug yells as he and Spencer give out of the path of the semi.

Things were disastrous. How was he supposed to run things here if it ended before it began? The moment the building came under attack Fredrich was told to get to the rendezvous point. Rudolph had a plan, but if all didn't go well, Fredrich would have to contact Hanson and tell him of the situation.

He is heading down the freeway, toward the harbor. The original plan was to meet there, Rudolph would take the seaplane to Austria and Fredrich would take the soldiers to the new hideout and set up.

Police sirens begin blaring heading in his direction. They fly past him. Paranoid, he looks in his rearview mirror to see them still going in the opposite direction. He feared Hanson would be angry if things failed here. He hoped if it did go bad, he would not be the one to have to deliver the bad news.

Afterthe attack on the White House, the National Guard secured the compound. Guards were stationed at key points along the fence and throughout the White House. The secret service were doing checks on every person entering and leaving the temporary office where the President was now located.

"What's going on?" McKinsey asks.

"Sorry to keep you in the dark sir," Secret Service Agent Newl says, "We've just received word on the situation. The sniper has been shot and killed. The NSA agent." He pauses to look at his notes. "An Agent Strandon is responsible for stopping him."

"Who was the sniper?"

"An Ex-Special Forces soldier, Lieutenant Vincent Mathsen," replies Newl.

"I see. Any news about my daughter's abductors?" McKinsey asks, changing the subject.

"Not much yet sir. I talked to Director Cornelius from CATU; they are still conducting a raid on the terrorist's location."

"Keep me posted. If you would, please bring my wife here, personally."

"Yes sir," Newl says leaving the office.

That was Sam slumped over in the passenger seat!" Spencer says in surprise.

Bullets tear through the boxes in front of him. Doug is opposite of him, returning fire.

"Go get a vehicle, we'll cover you!" yells Doug.

Figuring since the place was already falling down due to the semi; Doug pulls a grenade and lobs it at the entrenched terrorists. The explosion rocks the foundation of the building. The ceiling caves in over the terrorists and threatens to continue falling everywhere else. Realizing there time here was up, Doug sounds the retreat. Any terrorists that survive would be rounded up quickly, if none survived, it didn't matter to him.

Spencer makes it outside the building and looks for suitable transportation; he needs something fast and convenient. The police have shown up and are keeping the crowd of people back at a distance.

He spots a police motorcycle at the entrance of the gated fence. He runs up to the officer beside the bike. Flashing his credentials, he jumps on it and takes off.

"Hey!" yells the officer, but Spencer is already far enough away to not worry about him.

He speeds down the street in the direction of the semi. Flipping out his phone he called dispatch.

"This is Agent Reeds; I need a bird in the air."

"Location and description?" the operator asks.

"A red and black semi truck, last known heading southbound on 53rd from the abandoned fireworks factory."

There is a brief delay until the operator responds back.

"Bird in the air, ETA one minute."

He hangs up. His guess is the semi is headed toward an airfield or harbor, either one he was headed in the direction of both.

"Reeds!Reeds! Do you copy?" asks Roger over the microphone. "God damn it!"

"Sir, it appears Agent Reeds' signal has gone dead."

"Get Wiltkins on the line!"

"Yes sir."

The agent flips a switch and Roger is instantly transferred to Doug's line.

"Wiltkins."

"Doug what's the situation?" he asks.

"We recovered Miss McKinsey's body; the whole building is coming down. It's a waiting game now for any remaining terrorists to come crawling out."

"Where are Reeds and Roberts?"

"It appears Roberts was taken by one of the terrorists, I wasn't able to spare any men, so Reeds went after her. Whoever it was left in a semi, we believe the children are in it."

"God help us," Roger mumbles under his breath.

"Chopper's in the air, I'll send what available personnel I can to assist."

"Finish up there; I'll get the police to assist Reeds. Capture what terrorists you can, this isn't over yet."

"Will do. Out."

Sam starts to come around slowly. Her vision is a bit blurry and she is a little disoriented. Rudolph notices her beginning to wake up and quickly sticks his gun in her face.

"Don't think of trying anything, I won't hesitate to blow off your fucking head."

Sam doesn't doubt him, so she sits still, waiting for the opportune moment to fight back.

"Once we get to the plane, I might think of keeping you alive, at least for the time being," he says laughing.

"Where are the children?" Sam asks.

"Children? Don't worry about them, they're someplace safe."

The sound of a helicopter suddenly echoes from outside; Rudolph sticks his head out the window and sees one flying over head.

"Looks like your plans have gone to shit," Sam says with a smirk on her face.

Rudolph's face reddens then he hits her in the side of the head with the butt of the gun. "Shut the fuck up bitch!" He sticks the gun out the window and begins firing of the helicopter.

"Taking fire," the pilot of the helicopter says into the microphone.

"Agent Reeds," the copilot says.

"I copy."

"Semi is heading southbound on 54th, crossing over Government," the copilot says.

"Copy that. Thanks."

He gets onto 54th and the truck comes into view. He speeds up, closing up the distance at a remarkable pace. When he gets close to the truck, the doors swing open and two men with automatic rifles open fire on him.

The bullets soar past him, hitting asphalt and newsstands lining the street. Jinking left and right to avoid being hit, he pulls out his own gun and fires on the two men. Instantly he hits one causing him to lunge forward and fall onto the street. Spencer can't avoid the fallen man; the impact almost causes him to lose control of the bike.

The other soldier ducks back behind a few crates and resumes firing upon Spencer. Spencer can't risk civilians to be injured so he has to do something and do it fast.

The bridge leading to the harbor looms ahead; he speeds up coming up on the left of the semi. He takes aim at the rear tires and fire blowing them out. Rudolph fires out of his window at him in response. Spencer fires back before dropping back behind the truck.

Sam takes the opportunity of Rudolph being distracted and grabs hold of the wheel. The two fight for control of the truck as it starts over the bridge. The semi smashes into cars on both sides, pushing them to the side. The soldier in the back drops his rifle and tries to grab onto something to stabilize himself. Unsuccessful, he tumbles out of the truck rolling into a stop. Spencer looks back and as the man rises, he takes careful aim and pulls the trigger. The man drops a second after his brains fly out the back of his head.

The semi swerves ahead to avoid a barrier set up for the construction being done on the bridge. The trailer tips over crashing into the barrier and slides into the suspension wires causing several of the wires to snap off. The truck comes to a skidding halt as the bridge shudders from the off balance.

As Spencer screeches to a halt, Rudolph is exiting the truck with a gun to Sam's head. "Don't make a move closer or the bitch is dead!"

Roger enters Adams' holding cell, anger seeping out. He rushes straight to Adams as he is rising and pins the man to the wall by the throat. "You had better start giving up something or so help me you'll never leave here alive," he says with his voice full of venom.

"You won't get anything from me," Adams says defiantly.

"Then you better hope they don't hang you for being an accessory to Sara McKinsey's murder."

Adams' expression changes to that of submission. "So he lied to me," he mumbles.

"What was that?" Roger asks.

Faintly and in defeat he says, "Follow Kloser and you'll findGhost."

"What's Kloser's link to them?" he questions as he releases his grip on Adams' throat.

Adams sinks down to sit and stares at the floor. He remains silent and motionless for a long minute. Everything he did, all those years of waiting for his revenge has just shattered and is lost. What happens to him doesn't matter anymore.