CHAPTER 4:
So, thirteen months later, the arm strap loosened, as an amazed Zeke watched as his arm hit the podium floor with a clank! , and the assembled press gasped.
Area 51 is a very complicated place. Though numerous military installations are kept underground, this was almost completely so there. All of the above hangers were not connected to the underground levels, which made Ryan feel as if he was walking aimlessly into the core of the earth. If were not fore for the number 51 on all of the walls, Jack would of surely lost his way.
Easton was next to him, explaining what every dent in the wall represented.
"Nice place, isn't it?" Ryan had no guards, and the USSS was not allowed down in this area, or so he was told.
'If you like basements."
"I know exactly what you mean. Once I..." Easton purposely slowed his pace until he was almost behind Ryan. Then, he knocked the president unconscious.
We should of caught him, one Secret Service agent thought. They had chased the man, alerting all the surrounding units. Still, he had not been captured. In the midst of a DC- style traffic jam, a wanted felon by the name of Muhammad Aumm had somehow escaped.
'We need to tell the White House."
"Yeah. If this guy can slip us, he could waltz into anyplace. Pentagon, White House..." There were over 50 agents storming the city, checking every single place, but it was basically a lost cause.
"I will alert the units at the White House."
"Affirmative."
The arm was still lying there, and the Press Room invites were quickly rushed off, disappointing many newsies.
"What was that?" one reporter was CNN asked his cameraman, Charles Bartlett.
"Don't know", said Bartlett, "but that was a live feed. The whole country saw the Vice President's arm fall off."
"It did always look stiff", the reporter joshed.
"Yeah. Should we really run with this, man?"
"We should run like hell."
"I'm going to talk to him."
"You know where he is right now, you can't just call him up!"
"You know what everyone thinks! They think Jack tried to save the president. No one even knows that I was there. Jesus, I want Jack to have all of his glory. He should know about what happened in there". He jerked his thumb at the Press Room, it's doorway crowded with the media.
"NO!!!", screamed Ryan's chief bodyguard, "not know." She skipped a beat, and decided to change tactics. "He is at a confidential location..."
"Come on, Andrea! Give me the number to the president."
"I'll call signals office." Price sighed, and walked towards the converted closet.
Jack was dizzy now, and could not see four feet. He had been locked a storage closet by Easton, and Ryan was trying to figure out how that had happened.
This doesn't make any sense.
For all intents and purposes, Easton had no reason in Jack's mind to betray him. They had met four years ago, when Ryan, a normal citizen and owner of a small business, had met Easton when the NSA had called him in for advice. They had quickly become friends, and continued to do so even after Ryan became the National Security Advisor for President Durling. A few months later the incident at Thame's home had showed Easton's loyalty towards Ryan by saving his life when it would of been much easier to save his own... or maybe it was just to gain my trust. At that moment, Trent walked into the room.
"And how are we feeling?" There was a mad grin on Easton's face, a clearly senile grin.
"I know why you did it."
"Did what?"
"Why you saved my life." Thank you for falling into my trap, Trent. You must be as crazy as a mental patient.
"I don't care to listen to you, Jack. I don't have the time for this. Freedom is soon to come. Not for you, though. Ha!." He turned, and simply left the small storage area.
You blew it, Jackie- boy.
"What do you mean: you can't reach Area 51?" Thames paced around the room, needing to talk to his friend. Opening the door was USSS agent Andrea Price/ O'Day, a woman who liked being considered one of the boys, and liked Zeke. He did not know that, of course.
"What are the chances that we're going to reach him this week?" She smiled an impish grin.
"I don't know, Mrs. O'Day..."
"Andrea." I got him.
"Andrea. You saw the arm thing."
"The newsies are all over it. The Invisible - Armed Vice President. Has a nice ring to it." They both smiled, and Andrea advanced, skillfully and slowly. He saw the signal.
Oh shit!, thought Zeke.
"You know, I..." Andrea started, but was cut off by the ring of the phone in Thame's office. He reached over and answered, glancing at Agent Price.
The call was from the president's Chief of Staff.
Ryan now feared for his life. Even more frightening was that the President of the United States did not know how Easton had done it.
I mean, the place is waist- deep in guards, and all of the electronical equipment. How did he do it, how did he take over Area 51? Ryan thought he knew the answer. Because this place didn't expect an attack from within.
He saw the cell phone, cracked on one side but still intact.
The first attempt to reach it was very painful. It was very far from his position, and when he tried to jump forward, he fell flat on his face. He crawled around the floor, still trying to reach it...
The door was opened, once again, by the Director of the National Security Agency.
" You know, Jack, you're making things very difficult." He sighed. "Fool." Ryan felt the anger coming again, and decided not to control it.
"Why are you doing this. This should be impossible..."
"Oh please, shut up, Jack." Ryan saw the gun come up, and almost saw the bullet come out, and hit POTUS' shoulder. He left Ryan, bleeding, on the cement floor.
But he had not taken the cell phone.
John Patrick Ryan's staff had not entered "51", merely went back to Washington. Among them was his Chief of Staff, Arnold Van Damm, who was doing the usual paperwork when the phone rang. Arnie answered his cell phone on the third ring.
"Arnie?" Van Damm did not recognize the voice at first, but then he knew who it was.
"Jack?"
"Get down here!"
"What?" He heard Ryan grown in pain.
"Get down here, it's Easton!"
"And? Jack, I know you like flying saucers, but..."
"I'M FUCKING SERIOUS HERE, ARNIE!!!"
If you're lying, Ryan...
'Okay, what's going on?"
"Easton has taken over Area 51." That was enough for Arnold. He froze, then hung up. He stared at the ceiling for a moment before calling the White House Signals Office.
His name was Judson Potter, and he ran a restaurant called "Little Roswell Cafe", along it was not far from Groom Lake, Nevada. He also co- owned a web site iwanttobelieve.com, which specialized in showing their and other's UFO tapes, and produced live feed when they found something interesting enough.
As he was attempting to fix the twenty- year old coffee machine, he got a call.
"Yes?"
"Jud, it's Harry." Harry was the other co- owner of the web site, and a fellow UFO buff. Whenever possible, he'd try to uncover "conspiracies" of the government by trying to tape various areas. "We're planning something big."
"Like what?"
"Like breaking into Area 51." Potter snorted, then realized that his friend was not kidding."
"In the middle of the day? Harry, you're crazy! They'll kill you!"
"Bullshit! I've trespassed a dozen times. They just arrest you, then release you the next day. They keep tabs on you, though."
"What?!" Great!
'Forget I said that. Anyway, my team and I are going to go in an hour. You uplink the live feed?"
"That's simple stuff. Sure, I'll take 5 in an hour."
"Great, thanks."
News spread through Moscow fast. So far, over two hundred people had died of what had first been thought to be the cold, or phoneme. Out of the initial 200,a few had been checked for diseases, including Anthrax. When all the tests had come back positive, and order came from the Russian President to test all corpses for Anthrax, Smallpox, and things of the like. They had come back positive for Anthrax.
Near the office of the Russian President, Seregy Golokov ran into the office, unannounced.
"What is it, Seregy?" the newly- elected president asked.
"Troubling news, Sovbar Eduardovich. Citizens all over Russia are being contaminated with Anthrax."
"Anthrax?" Eduardovich was a stern man, but one who loved the Motherland and her people.
"Yes. Most likely military grade." Now Sovbar was really concerned.
"How will this affect us?"
'Well, we are sending out health warnings all over the country."
"Is this an act of another country, or a terrorist action?"
'We believe this is the work of terrorists."
"I see." Sovbar Eduardovich Volvolna dismissed his cheif advisor, and leaned back in his chair. After a long moment, he called his secretary.
"Get me the American President." It took a moment, but President Volvolna finally got an answer.
"Comrade President, President Ryan is ill, and cannot answer your call.
"Then contact the Vice President."
As Ezekiel Thames was talking to Mrs. Price about van Damm's phone call, his office phone rang.
"This is the Signals Office. The Russian President is on hold."
'This is not..." The operator did not hear him, and a moment later he heard the voice of President Volvolna.
"Thames."
"Hello. This is the Russian President."
"I know. And?" Don't be rude, dumbass.
"And I need to speak with you on matters of Russia's national health."
"Like what?"
"We have confirmed reports that over 200 people in our country are dying of Anthrax."
"Anthrax? What in the fuckin' hell..." That's when Zeke got the call- waiting signal.
"Mr. Volvolna, hold on a minute." Thames pressed the appropriate button.
"This better be good."
"Sir, incoming from the Senate..." Zeke once again for a moment, then a voice came on:
"Mr. Vice President?"
"Yeah?" It went silent on the other line.
"Hello, this is Private Rameriez of the CBDC. We're evacuating the Senate building."
"But why?"
"Anthrax, sir. It is believed that a terrorist, disguised as a mailman, infiltrated the building, and may have infected three senators. We are, as of right now, issuing an evacuation order to the White House." Thames hung up, forgetting that the Russian President was on hold. Dizzy, he turned to Special Agent Price.
"We have to evacuate, now."
Back in Moscow, president Volvona once again called in Seregy.
"Yes, My President?"
"The American Vice President put me on hold, then hung up. Is there any special reason for this?" Golokov sighed.
"Yes, Comrade President. CNN says that they are evacuating the Senate building, and starting to evacuate the White House."
"What for?"
"... Anthrax." Sovbar Eduardovich almost fell out of his chair.
"My God."
So, thirteen months later, the arm strap loosened, as an amazed Zeke watched as his arm hit the podium floor with a clank! , and the assembled press gasped.
Area 51 is a very complicated place. Though numerous military installations are kept underground, this was almost completely so there. All of the above hangers were not connected to the underground levels, which made Ryan feel as if he was walking aimlessly into the core of the earth. If were not fore for the number 51 on all of the walls, Jack would of surely lost his way.
Easton was next to him, explaining what every dent in the wall represented.
"Nice place, isn't it?" Ryan had no guards, and the USSS was not allowed down in this area, or so he was told.
'If you like basements."
"I know exactly what you mean. Once I..." Easton purposely slowed his pace until he was almost behind Ryan. Then, he knocked the president unconscious.
We should of caught him, one Secret Service agent thought. They had chased the man, alerting all the surrounding units. Still, he had not been captured. In the midst of a DC- style traffic jam, a wanted felon by the name of Muhammad Aumm had somehow escaped.
'We need to tell the White House."
"Yeah. If this guy can slip us, he could waltz into anyplace. Pentagon, White House..." There were over 50 agents storming the city, checking every single place, but it was basically a lost cause.
"I will alert the units at the White House."
"Affirmative."
The arm was still lying there, and the Press Room invites were quickly rushed off, disappointing many newsies.
"What was that?" one reporter was CNN asked his cameraman, Charles Bartlett.
"Don't know", said Bartlett, "but that was a live feed. The whole country saw the Vice President's arm fall off."
"It did always look stiff", the reporter joshed.
"Yeah. Should we really run with this, man?"
"We should run like hell."
"I'm going to talk to him."
"You know where he is right now, you can't just call him up!"
"You know what everyone thinks! They think Jack tried to save the president. No one even knows that I was there. Jesus, I want Jack to have all of his glory. He should know about what happened in there". He jerked his thumb at the Press Room, it's doorway crowded with the media.
"NO!!!", screamed Ryan's chief bodyguard, "not know." She skipped a beat, and decided to change tactics. "He is at a confidential location..."
"Come on, Andrea! Give me the number to the president."
"I'll call signals office." Price sighed, and walked towards the converted closet.
Jack was dizzy now, and could not see four feet. He had been locked a storage closet by Easton, and Ryan was trying to figure out how that had happened.
This doesn't make any sense.
For all intents and purposes, Easton had no reason in Jack's mind to betray him. They had met four years ago, when Ryan, a normal citizen and owner of a small business, had met Easton when the NSA had called him in for advice. They had quickly become friends, and continued to do so even after Ryan became the National Security Advisor for President Durling. A few months later the incident at Thame's home had showed Easton's loyalty towards Ryan by saving his life when it would of been much easier to save his own... or maybe it was just to gain my trust. At that moment, Trent walked into the room.
"And how are we feeling?" There was a mad grin on Easton's face, a clearly senile grin.
"I know why you did it."
"Did what?"
"Why you saved my life." Thank you for falling into my trap, Trent. You must be as crazy as a mental patient.
"I don't care to listen to you, Jack. I don't have the time for this. Freedom is soon to come. Not for you, though. Ha!." He turned, and simply left the small storage area.
You blew it, Jackie- boy.
"What do you mean: you can't reach Area 51?" Thames paced around the room, needing to talk to his friend. Opening the door was USSS agent Andrea Price/ O'Day, a woman who liked being considered one of the boys, and liked Zeke. He did not know that, of course.
"What are the chances that we're going to reach him this week?" She smiled an impish grin.
"I don't know, Mrs. O'Day..."
"Andrea." I got him.
"Andrea. You saw the arm thing."
"The newsies are all over it. The Invisible - Armed Vice President. Has a nice ring to it." They both smiled, and Andrea advanced, skillfully and slowly. He saw the signal.
Oh shit!, thought Zeke.
"You know, I..." Andrea started, but was cut off by the ring of the phone in Thame's office. He reached over and answered, glancing at Agent Price.
The call was from the president's Chief of Staff.
Ryan now feared for his life. Even more frightening was that the President of the United States did not know how Easton had done it.
I mean, the place is waist- deep in guards, and all of the electronical equipment. How did he do it, how did he take over Area 51? Ryan thought he knew the answer. Because this place didn't expect an attack from within.
He saw the cell phone, cracked on one side but still intact.
The first attempt to reach it was very painful. It was very far from his position, and when he tried to jump forward, he fell flat on his face. He crawled around the floor, still trying to reach it...
The door was opened, once again, by the Director of the National Security Agency.
" You know, Jack, you're making things very difficult." He sighed. "Fool." Ryan felt the anger coming again, and decided not to control it.
"Why are you doing this. This should be impossible..."
"Oh please, shut up, Jack." Ryan saw the gun come up, and almost saw the bullet come out, and hit POTUS' shoulder. He left Ryan, bleeding, on the cement floor.
But he had not taken the cell phone.
John Patrick Ryan's staff had not entered "51", merely went back to Washington. Among them was his Chief of Staff, Arnold Van Damm, who was doing the usual paperwork when the phone rang. Arnie answered his cell phone on the third ring.
"Arnie?" Van Damm did not recognize the voice at first, but then he knew who it was.
"Jack?"
"Get down here!"
"What?" He heard Ryan grown in pain.
"Get down here, it's Easton!"
"And? Jack, I know you like flying saucers, but..."
"I'M FUCKING SERIOUS HERE, ARNIE!!!"
If you're lying, Ryan...
'Okay, what's going on?"
"Easton has taken over Area 51." That was enough for Arnold. He froze, then hung up. He stared at the ceiling for a moment before calling the White House Signals Office.
His name was Judson Potter, and he ran a restaurant called "Little Roswell Cafe", along it was not far from Groom Lake, Nevada. He also co- owned a web site iwanttobelieve.com, which specialized in showing their and other's UFO tapes, and produced live feed when they found something interesting enough.
As he was attempting to fix the twenty- year old coffee machine, he got a call.
"Yes?"
"Jud, it's Harry." Harry was the other co- owner of the web site, and a fellow UFO buff. Whenever possible, he'd try to uncover "conspiracies" of the government by trying to tape various areas. "We're planning something big."
"Like what?"
"Like breaking into Area 51." Potter snorted, then realized that his friend was not kidding."
"In the middle of the day? Harry, you're crazy! They'll kill you!"
"Bullshit! I've trespassed a dozen times. They just arrest you, then release you the next day. They keep tabs on you, though."
"What?!" Great!
'Forget I said that. Anyway, my team and I are going to go in an hour. You uplink the live feed?"
"That's simple stuff. Sure, I'll take 5 in an hour."
"Great, thanks."
News spread through Moscow fast. So far, over two hundred people had died of what had first been thought to be the cold, or phoneme. Out of the initial 200,a few had been checked for diseases, including Anthrax. When all the tests had come back positive, and order came from the Russian President to test all corpses for Anthrax, Smallpox, and things of the like. They had come back positive for Anthrax.
Near the office of the Russian President, Seregy Golokov ran into the office, unannounced.
"What is it, Seregy?" the newly- elected president asked.
"Troubling news, Sovbar Eduardovich. Citizens all over Russia are being contaminated with Anthrax."
"Anthrax?" Eduardovich was a stern man, but one who loved the Motherland and her people.
"Yes. Most likely military grade." Now Sovbar was really concerned.
"How will this affect us?"
'Well, we are sending out health warnings all over the country."
"Is this an act of another country, or a terrorist action?"
'We believe this is the work of terrorists."
"I see." Sovbar Eduardovich Volvolna dismissed his cheif advisor, and leaned back in his chair. After a long moment, he called his secretary.
"Get me the American President." It took a moment, but President Volvolna finally got an answer.
"Comrade President, President Ryan is ill, and cannot answer your call.
"Then contact the Vice President."
As Ezekiel Thames was talking to Mrs. Price about van Damm's phone call, his office phone rang.
"This is the Signals Office. The Russian President is on hold."
'This is not..." The operator did not hear him, and a moment later he heard the voice of President Volvolna.
"Thames."
"Hello. This is the Russian President."
"I know. And?" Don't be rude, dumbass.
"And I need to speak with you on matters of Russia's national health."
"Like what?"
"We have confirmed reports that over 200 people in our country are dying of Anthrax."
"Anthrax? What in the fuckin' hell..." That's when Zeke got the call- waiting signal.
"Mr. Volvolna, hold on a minute." Thames pressed the appropriate button.
"This better be good."
"Sir, incoming from the Senate..." Zeke once again for a moment, then a voice came on:
"Mr. Vice President?"
"Yeah?" It went silent on the other line.
"Hello, this is Private Rameriez of the CBDC. We're evacuating the Senate building."
"But why?"
"Anthrax, sir. It is believed that a terrorist, disguised as a mailman, infiltrated the building, and may have infected three senators. We are, as of right now, issuing an evacuation order to the White House." Thames hung up, forgetting that the Russian President was on hold. Dizzy, he turned to Special Agent Price.
"We have to evacuate, now."
Back in Moscow, president Volvona once again called in Seregy.
"Yes, My President?"
"The American Vice President put me on hold, then hung up. Is there any special reason for this?" Golokov sighed.
"Yes, Comrade President. CNN says that they are evacuating the Senate building, and starting to evacuate the White House."
"What for?"
"... Anthrax." Sovbar Eduardovich almost fell out of his chair.
"My God."