Jack and Jill IV
Chapter 22
They ended up landing at Stewart Air National Guard Base, located in Orange County, New York. Basically Newburgh, New York. They found only two SUVs waiting for them.
"The Secret Service will get you to your building. The rest of us will be flying from here to DC or close enough. So far it looks like our secret is still a secret but it won't stay that way for long. We're down to eighteen days and we still need to talk to at least Russia and China. Israel and others if we can actually reach them. It might have to be by teleconferencing.
"So get some rest since you can bet you'll be flying out yet again. As for you, Storm and Jayne, you may get your wish and stay as heavily armed as you want. It depends on where we can talk them into going to for this meeting. You thought the last one was bad, you haven't seen anything yet," Madam Secretary told them.
"We'll be ready," Storm said. "I've got a few things coming that just might help with whatever."
"Such as?" she questioned him and saw him clamp his lips shut. "We're at an Air Force Base Storm. Granted it's a National Guard Base but look around. We've been busy for the last three days. This base is home to the 105th Airlift wing. Meaning mostly C-17s, not home to those F-15s you see sitting over there."
Elizabeth tried again. "So what is it you're looking for?"
Storm gave in. "Stingers, two of them, ma'am, and a mini gun."
"DENNIS!" She waved him over. "Storm here has interest in a pair of stingers and a mini gun. You wouldn't happen to know where we could get either of those?"
Dennis was all set to say no. Then he thought about it. He called for the base commander. "Two stingers and a mini gun in one of those SUVs. You have thirty minutes."
The colonel snapped to attention and saluted. "Yes, sir!" And he ran off to find just what was asked for.
"Anything else?" Dennis inquired.
Storm shook his head. "Not at the moment."
"Carry on." He left them and went to a waiting car.
"Normally I'm thinking he would have told you to go to hell. But these aren't normal times," Madam Secretary told him.
"No, ma'am, they are not. Thank you." Storm knew he had just been given a huge favor.
"Just keep these three alive." Elizabeth began to leave. "One last thing. The president at first wanted Jack and Jill to be taken from you. He didn't want civilians involved in this. If you hadn't told me that they couldn't be seen, found, or removed, none of you would be standing here now. Keep that in mind." This time she did leave them.
"Well, shit!" Kate didn't like that bit of news.
"We are all civilians," Rick pointed out.
"Whose side are you on?" Kate asked sharply. Then she took a deep breath. "Can we get out of here? Please?" Kate was ready to go.
oOo
Twenty-five minutes later one SUV had two stingers in plastic cases in back while the other SUV had a mini gun with a backpack full of ammunition in the back.
Storm had Kate and Rick while Jayne had Alexis. Each SUV had two Secret Service Agents. One was driving.
Jayne found Alexis weaving her fingers into his hand and never even turned to look at him. He was still conflicted but he didn't take his hand back either.
oOo
It took a number of trips in the elevator to get all this stuff and them up to the first floor of their five floor apartment. Storm had one stinger while Jayne had the other and up to the top floor they went while everyone else went to the living room. It had become the go-to room of late.
Jayne soon joined them and they saw he was fully armed. He handed off Kate's HK MP5-SD to her and started looking out the windows. Storm joined them after he dropped off the mini gun on the top floor as well.
"Anyone know how to cook?" Alexis asked. "We gave the cook three days off."
"If there's a grill Storm and I can," Jayne offered.
"Patio space upstairs," Alexis replied gratefully.
"Mom taught me a little. I might remember enough to keep from us starving to death. It's been a while." Kate saw the looks she was getting. "Right after I put Rick down for a nap. I'm pretty sure he slept the entire flight back but it can't have been that comfortable."
The fact that Rick was slouching told her he was still tired. So she pushed him over to the elevator and up to his room to put him in bed.
Alexis pulled out her phone when it pinged her. "It's a message from Madam Secretary. She says, 'Lock up tight and turn on your TV.'" Alexis looked at Storm and Jayne.
"Sounds like our secret is out." Storm got up so he could find the laptop to monitor the elevator and the stairwell and carry it with him everywhere.
But there wasn't a TV on this floor so up two floors the three of them went to find a TV to turn on. Sure enough every channel was talking about the same thing.
S!
Only this time it wasn't Roswell, New Mexico.
oOo
Kate finally found them and she had a rolling cart filled with plates of food and some drinks. Mostly wine and one beer for Jayne. "Go easy with that. We only have two-six packs left," she warned him.
"Nothing about riots yet?" Kate asked since so far it was all about aliens and they even had some of it right. Amplitur and the Weave. "Somebody blabbed."
"We were warned it would happen. Probably human nature. You call your wife to get her to pack up and move without you. She demands to know why. She in turn calls her very best friend and her mother and the next thing you know half the city knows," Alexis said.
"It also means when or if we go talk to the Russians or Chinese or both at the same time, they're already going to know something," Kate mentioned.
"And be trigger happy," Storm added.
"How are you coming with that out-of-the-way place where we can all hide?" Jayne was betting she had just stopped after they had talked.
"I'm narrowing it down a little," Alexis admitted. She took a bite and watched TV.
"You're searching for a hide out spot?" Kate didn't know that.
"I got to thinking—"
Kate interrupted her. "There's your problem right there," Kate teased her.
"Ha-ha. Perhaps you would like a strike one?" Alexis countered.
Kate zipped her lips closed. "I'm listening." She zipped them closed again.
"I was given a few parameters to follow. Solar power, maybe some wind power, water catchment system. Horses to get around on since gasoline will eventually go bad. Local wild life to hunt. Lots of fruit trees and maybe some wild berry bushes. Taking into account time to upgrade if necessary. A blacksmith shop. What else?
"OH! Transportation if it's an island and since gasoline will go bad that means sails. Of course if we simply have a dock but not an island that still means sails," Alexis said.
"You're sure you're not going overboard with this just a little?" Kate asked skeptically.
"You were at the NATO meeting. What do you think's going to happen? And we haven't even gotten to the Russians or Chinese or Iranians or North Koreans. Don't forget the Indians and Pakistan or Yemen or—"
Kate stopped her. "Okay, okay I get the point. I thought sure those idiots at NATO were willing to sell us out to the Amplitur. You realize we're going to need a boatload of toilet paper, insect repellent, more canned food than I can begin to think of and a lot more clothes."
"Yup. Now you know why I'm having such a hard time. Plus it needs to be for sale." Alexis rubbed her forehead. She was beat but there was so much that had to be done before they ran out of time.
"Better you than me." Kate gave up eating and just drank her wine. "We go there and we're taking a case of vodka with us."
"And beer. What am I saying? I'll just make my own," Jayne added and Alexis and Kate shook their heads at him.
oOo
"Where's that!? Turn up the volume a little," Kate asked since Alexis had the remote. It was clearly a riot in progress at least until the National Guard showed up. "Los Angeles somewhere. Never mind." It was on the other side of the country from them.
"It's going to get worse, isn't it?" Alexis questioned.
"Based on my experience? A lot worse," Kate said bleakly.
"Go get some sleep. We're going to need to take turns from now on. A rich man's Penthouse is a ripe target for looters." Storm looked at Jayne who nodded and went to his room to get a few hours before he relieved Storm.
"I know you don't like it, Alexis, but keep that thing close," Storm told her. "It's going to get worse before it gets better."
"I need to find my laptop anyway. I'll be in my room if anyone wants me." Alexis took her glass of wine with her.
Kate put the empty plates and glasses on her cart and wheeled it back down to the kitchen. Then went to their room to get Rick up and feed him.
oOo
Alexis had narrowed it down to two. One was in the Caymans so it was on an island. That meant the Amplitur would go there last. However, it didn't have much save the house that was connected to city power and water and didn't have chance of growing their food. They could get a boat and go fishing but that was it. The house itself was really nice. It would make a good vacation home but not what she was looking for.
Number two was near but not on the coast in Panama. This place had fifteen acres, nine bedrooms, and eight bathrooms. Two thousand five hundred mature teak trees, numerous and varied fruit trees, hydroponics space, and a separate greenhouse. It was offered completely furnished and at a touch under three million, wasn't that bad.
It had a pool and a Jacuzzi, a number of outbuildings. The kitchen was butt ugly. Thankfully the living room and dining room were much better. It even had a stable and pasture for horses. It didn't say how many horses it had, though.
The interior was mostly questionable but the grounds were what sold this place. So she got up and went upstairs to see if her dad was awake. She had the authority to buy it but she felt better talking to him.
Kate was just finishing feeding him. "I found an option for you to think about." Alexis put her laptop in his lap and let him tap to change the pictures.
A map showed that it was indeed isolated. There wasn't anyone close. "Completely furnished including kitchen is nice. Three million isn't a problem. It doesn't say anything about solar or wind power." Rick didn't find anything about that.
"It doesn't. We'll have to add it. We're rioting here but there might be someone in say Panama City that can install both for us. It even has a stable for horses and a pasture. It just doesn't say how many horses are there now. The pictures show dogs so we could get dogs and the entire place is fenced with three gates."
Kate saw a picture. "Was that the kitchen?"
"Yes, that's the downside of this place. It almost doesn't have one and very little storage. I don't know how we're going to solve that problem. Just one little freezer, too. We're going to need a lot more than that." Alexis pointed out.
"Purchase it. Start making phone calls to get solar and wind power installed somewhere at least for the main house. Maybe we can buy chest freezers after we get there and find somewhere to put them. Canned food could just stay in boxes out in the open.
"Looks like we're roughing it. See what it takes for us to get there while you're at it. Nice work. No islands?" Rick inquired.
"Lots of them. Islands that can grow food, not so much." Alexis replied.
He shook his head. "Just our luck. All right. Then offer full price. You know how to buy real estate from here."
"You got it, Dad." Alexis knew just what to do to buy this place. The challenge was going to be the solar and wind power and the freezers. She was thinking of starting there first.
oOo
Storm was in bed and Jayne was on the first floor watching his laptop that had a picture of the interior of the elevator and tiny pictures of the stairwell. It might be boring but he had done this before.
"Ooo, this is interesting." Jayne brought up the picture of the elevator for full screen. There were three men. All three had vests and two had 9mm that had suppressors while the other had an old school HK MP5 with a suppressor attached.
He pulled the view back out so he could see what floor the elevator was on. None of them had gas masks. They were about to regret that. They were ten floors down when he released the gas from both canisters and soon couldn't see anyone it got so cloudy.
Jayne was up and ready when the elevator arrived. When the doors opened he pressed a number and the fans they had installed began blowing backwards, pulling the gas into the elevator shaft.
The three men were down on the floor. "Idiots." Jayne used his laptop to jam the elevator door open and in just a few minutes had all three out of the elevator. Hands behind their backs with zip ties as well as their ankles. Then he searched them and took everything they had on them and dropped it all around the corner. He sent the elevator back down to the ground floor and went to get Storm.
oOo
Storm and Jayne had them in a room on the first floor and Jayne was just finishing turning the last one into a mummy using duct tape. "All wrapped up. They don't strike me as your ordinary thief," Jayne commented.
Storm threw one of their vests aside. "No, these guys were hired. Just not really good at their job. They're not going anywhere but watch them anyway. I need something from my bag and to wake the boss." To him the boss was Alexis. She was the one that had called him.
oOo
Now all of them were down in this room watching Storm get three separate syringes ready. Alexis looked at her grandfather. "What's that?"
"You've heard of Scopolamine from the movies?" Storm asked and three heads nodded. "It's actually used to reduce vomiting, motion sickness, and nausea. Doesn't really have anything to do with getting someone to tell you the truth. That really is Hollywood.
"This stuff won't either on its own. However an hour from now when they get a second shot, it will," Storm said. "While I don't have a problem torturing someone to get information, it's not actually all that reliable. People will tell you anything to get you to stop and won't have anything to do with the truth."
They all knew Storm would torture anyone given what had happened to Martha but that was different. This time they wanted to know something, not just make them suffer before killing them.
"And this stuff will?" Kate queried.
"In about two hours it will. He won't want to tell us the truth but he will," Storm assured them. "Or we wait twenty-four hours and do this all over again."
"They came up the elevator. So what happened to the security guard downstairs?" Alexis inquired. Wasn't this what he was for?
"Dead, most likely," Storm stated calmly and injected the last guy.
"Dead?" Alexis couldn't believe this. She had called Storm because of Jack and Jill and aliens, not because of this. Alexis found herself in Kate's arms.
"Try not to think about it." Kate held Alexis and tried to comfort her. "You didn't get him killed, Alexis. Whoever sent these three got him killed. Be angry at that person. The guard probably never even felt it." They would have killed him so fast he would never have seen it coming.
"So now we wait?" Alexis asked anxiously.
"We wait an hour and give them a second shot then wait another hour." Storm glanced at Kate. "We need water to wake these guys up with."
"I'll be right back." Kate left them. She was back with a large pot from the kitchen and began dumping water in their faces to wake them up.
Each side looked at the other side. Every time Alexis opened her mouth to ask them why, Kate stopped her.
oOo
They watched as Storm injected each of them one at a time and sat back and waited. Storm gave them a little for not talking at all. Not asking what they were doing. They had underestimated them and it had cost them and here they were. All three were beginning to get a little loopy. Stoned was another way of calling it.
Kate looked at her watch and pointed at Storm. "Name?" Storm had indicated that he was to do all the talking with these three.
"John…Tease." He struggled to not say each word.
Storm asked another one. "Age?"
His lips move but nothing comes out at first. "Thirty…one." He spits out one word at a time and struggled not to say anything at all and failed.
Then Storm asked the bigger question. "Who sent you?"
He really wanted to say, "Go Fuck yourself." Instead out came, "Bracken."
Kate grabbed Alexis. They had a name but was that a first or last name?
"Who is Bracken?"
Again his lips moved and what he really wanted to say so very badly was, "SCREW YOU!" But out came, "William."
"William Bracken. Go find your laptop." Kate hustled Alexis out of the room and she was back in a moment with her laptop.
Alexis typed it in. "William Bracken. Holy Crap! William H. Bracken. Sitting Senator for the State of New York. It says here he has opened an investigative committee to see if he should run for President." Alexis sat there with her mouth hanging open.
"You came here for something. What is it?" Storm asked.
Again what he really wanted to say was, "Go fuck yourself." Storm heard, "Jack…Jill." By now he was breathing heavily and sweating like a pig.
Hearing that Kate's head snapped up. "Was Bracken one of the ones that was informed by Madam Secretary behind closed doors?"
Rick answered that question. "Elizabeth never told us who."
"Now what? He sent these three so when they don't come back with Jack and Jill what does he do next?" Kate asked.
"We call for reinforcements," Jayne proposed. "We stopped these three so they know the elevator is out. Stairs are next or helo insertion is next. We can't touch Bracken. We don't even know where he is to go get him. Which we can't do." If even one of them left to get Bracken it meant these three would have less security and not more.
Storm groaned. This wasn't how he worked. But this situation was rapidly getting out of his control. "Go call her. Tell her everything and ask what she wants to do now. We have Jack and Jill. If they want access to them they have to think of something."
Alexis ran to her room to find her cell phone and make a call.
oOo
Alexis was back with her cell phone this time. "I think I woke her. She said to sit tight for now since it sounded like we were safe for the moment and she would call me back."
Storm snorted. "My heart bleeds for her." She wasn't the only one losing sleep. So were all of them.
What they didn't know was how bad it was down on the streets. How much rioting was taking place at the moment and where.
"You need to pack a go bag. They're probably not going to want us to stay here. Make it small. Pillow case or smaller if you have to," Storm told them. "Go on, go. I'll watch these three." Storm had his pistol with suppressor in hand. Though he knew these three weren't going anywhere any time soon.