Chapter 47
Mike and Cathy returned home from work to find Bob waiting outside for them to show up. Making the Marines guarding Mike a little nervous, Bob walked over to the car carrying a bottle of wine with him. Mike got out of the car and said, "Hello Bob."
"Hello, Mike. I wanted to thank you for accepting our offer on your house," Bob said. In a very natural reaction to being jerked around over the price of the house, Bob and Ellen had not been happy with Mike. Ellen had been getting angry at what she viewed as unbridled greed. Bob had been hurt at the idea that his friendship was worth nothing. He and Ellen had been blown away when the real estate agent had come over and announced that Mike had accepted their first offer. That had restored Bob's faith in his friend, particularly when the agent had revealed that Mike had known nothing about the matter.
"I didn't know what she was doing. When I discovered that she was playing games, I told her to stop it," Mike said still feeling a little angry at the agent.
Seeing that discussing it was making Mike upset, Ellen said, "It was a wonderful thing you did."
"If I had known about your first offer, I would have accepted right away. I'm sorry that you had to go through all of that pain," Mike said.
Feeling a little guilty at thinking that Mike had been the bad guy in the entire deal, Bob said, "I wanted you to have this bottle of wine as a token of our thanks."
"There's no need to do that," Mike said.
"Take it," Bob said holding it out.
"I appreciate it," Mike said as he accepted the bottle of wine from Bob. It was a very nice gesture.
As Mike and Bob walked towards the backyard to look at the garden, Cathy turned to Ellen and said, "I think you'll enjoy the house. I just love the bathing pond. It is perfect after a hard day at work. I think it is better than a Jacuzzi."
Ellen blushed and said, "I fell in love with it that afternoon we spent there."
"It is rather romantic and the earthiness of it seems to have a positive effect on Mike," Cathy said.
"It seemed to have the same effect on Bob," Ellen said thinking back to the afternoon she had spent in the patio. She didn't know if it was the fact that they were naked in the bathing pond or just an effect of the surroundings, but Bob had definitely demonstrated that he was still interested in her as a woman.
Cathy smiled and said, "Mike is always an animal when we get out of the water. Of course, I do my best to make sure that the animal in Mike is roaring to go."
"You naughty girl," Ellen said with a giggle.
The Friday evening news covered the deaths of a large number of very wealthy individuals. They reported that within a four hour period a number of billionaires and millionaires died as a result of American missiles. The first reaction of the press was confusion. Since there weren't any obvious connections to terrorism, it looked like America had declared war on the rich. Puzzled, the Greek government looked to America seeking an explanation as to why it had killed one of the richest men in that country. No one understood the dramatic execution of so many rich and powerful men.
Knowing more than the press did about the reasons behind the deaths, Mike and Cathy sat on the sofa watching the news reports somewhat amused by the speculations that were being put forth. Mike had an arm around Cathy and was holding her close to him. She snuggled in and listened to the commentators. After a very ridiculous suggestion had been put forth, she asked, "Is anyone going to explain why those bastards died?"
"I'm pretty sure that President Archer will make a statement or two about the matter," Mike said. Given the President's history of giving the unvarnished truth, Mike was pretty sure that the world would be talking about this incident for years.
Shaking her head, Cathy said, "I can't believe that Stanley Roberts was Mr. X. He was such an obnoxious opponent to war that it is hard to believe that he was supporting a war against his own country."
"He hated this country," Mike said. His investigations into the activities of Stanley Roberts had unearthed just how much the man had hurt the country. For close to twenty years he had been working to disarm the military, shutdown the intelligence agencies, and make the job of law enforcement even more difficult. Several members of the Intelligence Oversight Committee that had been put into place by the previous President had been working on orders from Stanley Roberts.
"Why?" Cathy asked. Knowing as much as she did, their motivations were still a mystery to her.
Giving her a little hug, Mike answered, "I don't really know. It was obvious from his actions that he didn't want the government to survive."
Cathy glanced over at the television and said, "President Archer is about to make a speech."
After a little bit of a delay, President Archer made his way to the podium. He took a sip of water and then looked out at the members of the press. That little smile that made so many people nervous had returned. He said, "When Dorothy wanted to return to Kansas, she went to see the Wizard of Oz. After a journey filled with various adventures, she finally reached the Emerald City and was granted an audience with the Wizard of Oz. While Dorothy was facing an impressive façade intended to overwhelm her; her dog Toto pulled aside the curtain and revealed the man behind the myth. Sometimes life is a lot like a story.
"Several weeks ago, a Homeland Security analyst, code named the Hunter, lifted the curtain on the leadership of the Jihad Movement. What he discovered was astounding. He learned that a number of very wealthy men and their henchmen had been directing the Jihad Movement from behind the scenes. Hidden by a curtain of secrecy, these men had been creating armies, corrupting governments, and planning major campaigns of terror."
Knowing that a lot of people knew him as the Hunter, Mike groaned and said, "I can't believe that he named me."
"That's not good," Cathy said imagining a future in which he would be constantly asked if he was the man who identified the true leaders of the Jihad.
The President continued, "The Hunter unearthed how this secret cabal was structured and how it operated. He pulled together evidence that proved conclusively that the orders these men gave were being carried out by terrorist organizations around the world. He exposed everything about the Jihad Movement."
The President paused and looked around the room at the reporters taking in the faces of disbelief. He said, "This afternoon, we took out the entire cabal. Some very rich men died. These rich men had been using their wealth to attack the world. We have also frozen their assets.
"The money supporting the terrorist organizations has stopped flowing. There will be no more weapons or ammunition. There will be no more bribes to folks in order to get them to look the other way. There will be no more armies raised in the background. The terrorist organizations are on their own and they are dying."
The President paused significantly and then added, "With the actions of this afternoon, we have won a very major battle in the war against terror."
After President Archer gestured to the assembled press corps for questions, one of the reporters asked, "Was Stanley Roberts one of the leaders?"
"The death of Stanley Roberts and his associates in the plane crash this afternoon was an accident. It is being investigated by the appropriate authorities. So far they believe that it was pilot error," the President answered.
"Why would he lie about that?" Cathy asked surprised at the President's answer.
"He probably isn't lying," Mike answered.
Cathy pulled away from Mike and asked, "Are you telling me that he doesn't know that Stanley Roberts was one of the leaders?"
"We didn't tell him about Stanley Roberts," Mike answered.
"Why?"
"He doesn't have the clearance to know that," Mike answered. He had to admit that Jack had done a good job in clearing out the American faction of the leadership of the Jihad Façade. It was always news when a couple of Hollywood types died of overdoses, but nothing out of the ordinary. A rich man's airplane crashing on takeoff was a common enough event. Fat men had heart attacks all of the time. He added, "I imagine that we'll tell him now that Stanley Roberts has been eliminated as a threat."
"So who ordered them to be killed?" Cathy asked.
Mike was silent for a moment and then said, "It's not important. It was done and the world is safer because of it."
A reporter asked, "What can you tell us about the Hunter?"
When President Archer started answering the question, Mike turned off the television not wanting to listen to the answer. He said, "Let's go to bed."
"It's only eight," Cathy said glancing over at the clock.
"I know," Mike replied with a grin.
Karen ran over to Mike shouting, "Unk!"
Cathy laughed at the little girl's exuberance and said, "I think she's going to call you Unk forever."
Catching Karen in his arms, Mike lifted her in the air and then hugged her. The pair rubbed noses. Grinning, Mike asked, "So how is my favorite niece doing?"
"Unk!"
Mike set Karen down on the floor and knelt down next to her. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little stuffed animal. It was a floppy eared dog. He gave it to her and said, "I brought you a little present."
Karen grabbed the little present from his hand and then gave him a hug. She stepped back to look at it. She said, "It's a doggy."
"That's right. It's a doggy. What are you going to name it?" Mike asked.
"Happy," she answered and hugged the stuffed animal.
Watching the pair interact, Teva said, "He spoils her rotten."
"Yes, he does," Cathy said making plans that as soon as they moved to Texas she was going to do her best to get pregnant.
Teva looked over at Cathy and said, "You're waiting for the move to Texas."
"That's right," Cathy replied knowing exactly what Teva meant.
"Does he know?"
"No, but I don't think he'll complain," Cathy answered with a smile.
Teva went over and got Karen's attention so that Mike could join Sanjay in the backyard. The sooner he went out back, the sooner she could talk with Cathy. Picking up Karen, Teva said, "Sanjay is replacing the gas tank on the grill."
"Ah, I bet he could use a little help," Mike said standing up.
When Mike stepped out into the backyard, Sanjay looked up and said, "I hate these gas tanks. You never know when they are about empty until you run out of gas. It always happens in the middle of cooking steaks."
"Yeah," Mike agreed. He knelt down to watch Sanjay work at loosening a rusted wing nut that held the bracket that kept the tank in place.
"So someone code named the Hunter discovered the real leadership of the Jihad," Sanjay said glancing over at Mike.
"So it appears," Mike said.
"I bet you were happy when the President named you," Sanjay said. The sarcasm in his voice was impossible to miss. He had just about fallen out of his chair when the President had identified the Hunter as the individual responsible for identifying the leaders of the Jihad.
"You can say that again. Every mayor and police chief of every large city in the country refers to me by that name," Mike said shaking his head.
"I'm glad that I'm not you," Sanjay said with a smile. Everyone in Homeland Security was already speculating that Mike was the Hunter. He had even received a call or two asking him if he knew whether or not Mike was the Hunter.
Grinning, Mike said, "I was thinking that the next time I was asked about it that I'd point over to you."
"You wouldn't dare," Sanjay said with a mock look of horror on his face. The wing nut finally released its rusted grasp and turned free.
"I wouldn't do that to you," Mike said with a laugh.
Sanjay lifted the old gas tank out of the barbecue and set it on the ground. Mike handed him the new tank. As he put the fresh tank in the barbecue, Sanjay asked, "Why did he do it?"
"I think he wanted to give me credit for it," Mike answered.
"Maybe you're right. The press is going to want to find out the identity of the Hunter. What are you going to do when they come knocking on your door?" Sanjay asked.
"I'll give the standard answer — I can't confirm or deny that I have any knowledge concerning the identity of the Hunter," Mike answered.
"They are going to love that," Sanjay said rolling his eyes. The press viewed that line as an admission of guilt.
"I know," Mike replied with a sigh.
Looking over at the uniformed man standing in his backyard, Sanjay asked, "So how many Marines did you bring with you?"
"Four," Mike answered. There had not been a reduction in the number of Marines guarding him despite the fact that the operation to remove the leadership of the Jihad Movement was complete.
"Oh. I told Teva to buy eight extra steaks," Sanjay said tightening the connector to the tank. He straightened up and asked, "How much longer do you think you'll have bodyguards?"
"I don't know," Mike answered in disgust. It was tiresome having an entourage everywhere he went.
Monday morning Tony looked over at Mike and, to no one in particular, asked, "Does anyone have any idea as to who the Hunter might be?"
All eyes turned to Mike. Shrugging his shoulders, Mike answered, "Your guess is as good as mine."
As snorts of disbelief filled the room, Shirley said, "I don't think there is a single person in this room who has to guess."
Mike ignored the comment and said, "I guess we had better get to work protecting the country from those who mean it ill. Has anything happened that hasn't made it on the news yet?"
"Mohammad bin Laden was killed early this morning in Yemen. His organization was taken out when they were trying to flee to Djibouti. They were on a boat when it was sunk by one of our Navy pilots. Al-Qaeda is no more," Tony answered.
"I take it that the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army has been destroyed as well," Mike said knowing that if Yemen had fallen so had the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army.
"That's right."
Mike figured that both of those stories would be on the news later that day. He asked, "What's happening in Israel?"
"The Air Force has been dropping Daisy Cutters over Israel all weekend. By the time they are done there won't be a person left alive," Tony answered. The Daisy Cutters were being used in the hopes that they would allow the historical stone structures to survive. The shock wave from the explosion was destructive, but nowhere near as destructive as the impact of the payload launched by rail gun or the explosion of a cruise missile.
Mike nodded his head thinking about the two dozen terrorist organizations they had already destroyed. Israel was filled with the most radical elements of the Muslim world. They had poured into the country thinking that it would be the first place the United States tried to liberate. He said, "So that means that as soon as Israel falls we've eliminated Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. With al-Qaeda gone, all we've got left is the Army of Allah, the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat."
"The Army of Allah is bottled up in Oman. They won't last a week," Shirley said.
Charlie said, "We won't be able to go after the Egyptian Islamic Jihad until we invade Egypt."
"What's going on in Somalia?" Mike asked.
"Nothing new. People are killing people," Tony answered in disgust.
"Do you think I'm an idiot?" President Archer asked looking at Mike more than a little irritated.
"No," Mike answered ready to unload on the President about having exposed him.
"As soon as I heard the news report, I figured out that the Mr. X identified in your report was Stanley Roberts. Why in the hell didn't you put that in your report? You could have told me."
Rather than explain, Mike opened his briefcase and extracted a small report. Handing it to President Archer, he said, "This is the report on Stanley Roberts."
President Archer grabbed the report and opened it up. Ignoring Mike, he read the contents. By the end of the first page, he was frowning. By the end of the third page, the vein in his forehead was throbbing. He threw down the report and said, "I'm going to kill those bastards."
"You can't, sir," Mike said knowing that the man was referring to the elected officials who had been put into office by Stanley Roberts.
"Why in the hell not?"
Mike sighed and answered, "As far as I can tell, those men ran campaigns based on their actual convictions. They truly believed that the war on terrorism was a crime. They accepted his campaign money and advice in a legitimate manner. The people elected them to office because they represented the attitudes and beliefs of the voters. The reason I didn't include his name in the report is that I was pretty sure that one or more of them would have confronted him."
Realizing the Mike was probably right about someone confronting Stanley Roberts, he knew that such a confrontation would have destroyed the entire operation. Shaking his head, President Archer said, "It is hard to believe that someone with so much political power would work so hard to destroy his own country. You'd think he'd work inside the system to make whatever changes he wanted."
"I know," Mike said thinking that the man had been working inside the system to make the changes that he wanted. Unfortunately, he wanted the destruction of the country and his actions had been very effective. The reasons for Stanley Roberts actions would remain a mystery. Perhaps some biographer or historian would dig up something in the man's past that would explain it, but Mike doubted it.
Shaking his head, President Archer said, "I was sure that you had left me out of the loop because you didn't trust me. I'm sorry about that."
"Is that why you told the entire country about me?"
President Archer gave a sad little laugh and said, "No. I was pissed at you, but I did it for another reason altogether."
"Why?"
President Archer sat back in his chair and considered his answer. He said, "There haven't been any heroes in the war overseas. Although your father's name is pretty well recognized, no one's name has risen to the top of the heap to serve as a national figurehead for this war. Can you believe that we've been fighting for more than two years and there hasn't been a single Congressional Medal of Honor awarded?"
"I wasn't aware of that. I guess I hadn't thought about it," Mike said with a frown.
"This has been the first true push button war. Since we engaged the enemy in India there hasn't been any pitched battles between our men and the enemy, at least from our perspective," President Archer said. Launching waves of Pigeons was hard work, but it wasn't the same as facing the enemy directly. Dropping bombs from well outside the range of the enemies' ability to strike out at them wasn't the same as pitched dogfights in the air.
"That's true."
He looked at Mike and said, "The real man to man engagements occurred here on American soil involving local law enforcement and the National Guard units. Let's be honest, the Army, Air Force, and Marines played a very minor role. Our helicopter pilots were the most significant contribution to the end of the terrorists here. The Navy moved ships around and provided relief."
"That's true," Mike said. Vincent had often said that the Navy's role in the domestic side of the war had been very insignificant. More often than not, it was the Navy Medics who moved in after riots were over to patch up the civilians who had been injured. The local hospitals didn't have enough beds to support provide the quantity of medical care that was often necessary.
"The true heroes in this war were you guys in Homeland Security. Even the enemy knew that. That is why they targeted Homeland Security with their dirty bombs. That is why they tried to finish the job with the raid that you and your Indian friend stopped. The American people don't know what you've done for them," President Archer said.
"Wasn't there someone better?"
"No," President Archer answered with a short laugh. Mike had been awarded every civilian honor that was possible.
"I'm sure that you're mistaken," Mike said.
President Archer laughed and shook his head. He said, "The war is nearly over. I had to give the people someone to be the hero. I thought that giving them the Hunter would be a good way for the country to learn about what Homeland Security did to return our homeland to a safe state."
"Semper Fi," Mike muttered. All of the dirty jobs fell to the Marines.
The President said, "I'll be leaving this office in less than a year. I'm going to miss it. There are times when I really regret not running for another term."
Mike said, "I have dealt with three of the previous Presidents. I have to say that of all of the men who I've met that have held this office, you have impressed me the most. I think that you are unique among all of the men who've held that office. You could have won re-election but stepped down for the benefit of the country. That's a rare quality among men in politics. I think that history will speak well of you."
"Thank you. That means a lot to me coming from you."
"You're welcome," Mike said.
"I'm going to miss our little discussions. I hope that we can meet on occasion once I've left office," President Archer said.
"We can, but I won't be nearly as respectful," Mike said with a smile.
"Respectful? Is that what you call it?" President Archer asked in pretend disbelief.
"Yes. Sometimes I even say sir when I talk to you."
"That's true." There was one thing that was still bothering President Archer. Curious, he asked, "So who ordered the death of Stanley Roberts?"
"The leadership of the Intelligence 100," Mike answered. Seeing the surprised look on the President's face, Mike said, "The Intelligence 100 was to provide the means for this country to survive threats imposed by foreign agents when the politics of the situation prevented an appropriate response. This was one case where the leadership felt that applied. Although Stanley Roberts wasn't a foreigner, he was a co-conspirator with them and the politics of his wealth and influence would have prevented an appropriate response."
"Who is in the leadership of the Intelligence 100?"
Shaking his head, Mike answered, "I'm not at liberty to answer that
question."