McDonald Array - Divide and Conquer

Something big was going down and whatever it was, Sean was the key. For whatever reason, the Russians were interested in him. He just had to find out why. Of course the easiest solution to that problem was Sean but with no way of contacting him, it was down to Vincent to get every available resource to find out what was going on and whether, as Ritter had predicted, the cold war had merely thawed.

Before he could begin to think the worst, a knock on the door disturbed him. His assistant, Jane, entered.

“Sir, we’ve got a hit on Sean Fox’ name at the State Department.”

“It’s barely 8.00!”

“I know but a request has just been filed to allow him to accompany Governor Brown to Moscow as a bodyguard.”

Vincent didn’t know where to start with the number of points that concerned him with regard to the news. However, one did stand head and shoulders above the rest, Governor Brown was visiting Moscow?

“Find out when and get Ritter in here yesterday!” he barked, the sudden increase in Russian activity with the number one contender for US President about to visit the country was not sitting well.

“And keep trying to get me Sean Fox!” he shouted through the closing door.

A similar message hit General Borodin’s desk not long after Vincent Black’s. A flag for anything referring to the name Sean Fox was also in place. Due to the timescales of Governor Brown’s request, it was fast tracked by the State Department directly to Moscow for a special VISA to be authorized which would allow Sean Fox to be armed.

As Borodin read the request, a mild panic set in. “I thought Pushkin had taken care of this?” he asked Vasiliy as he finished reading the request.

Vasiliy was ready for the question as he himself had asked the same question on reading the request.

“Look at the timing of the request.” He leant over and pointed at the 7.03 a.m. time stamp on the original request.

“Ah,” the form had been sent before Pushkin had relayed Fox’ untimely death. “Well, let’s not disappoint them, issue the VISA with immediate effect,” he smiled, handing the form back to Vasiliy.

“Of course, General,” offered Vasiliy before leaving the office and returning to his desk.

Vasiliy picked up the phone and called the head of the VISA department.

“Gregor, issue the VISA with immediate effect,” he commanded.

“I’ll have it done by the end of the day,” replied Gregor cheerily.

“Sorry, Gregor, General Borodin said immediate,” emphasized Vasiliy, knowing that when Borodin said immediate he very much meant it.

“But we have standard checks and procedures to follow. What if he has a criminal record or is not fire arm trained?”

Vasiliy didn’t have time for this. “I expect a copy of his approved VISA within the next five minutes!” he barked, before ending the call.

It took less than three.

Vincent looked up as the knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. He expected to see Ritter. Instead, Jane rushed in.

“Sir, State Department have just called regarding the Sean Fox flag,” she said breathlessly.

“What now?”

“His VISA’s been approved!”

“Excellent,” he replied and returned his attention to his computer screen.

“But that’s the thing, that doesn’t happen.”

“They don’t approve requests?”

“Not in less than fifteen minutes.”

“How long do they normally take?”

“The quickest on record, a very rushed one with a personal request from the President was 36 hours!”

Vincent’s interest went from just over 0 to 100 % in an instant in what his assistant was saying, as did his concern for Sean’s wellbeing.

“Shit, did you get a hold of Sean?”

“No and no sightings since he left the border complex this morning.”

Vincent feared the worst. The Russians were sticklers for process and detail. The only way they would have happily issued a VISA was because they knew he wasn’t able to use it.

“What about the team at Corpus? Get me the team leader,” he snapped, his heart was racing as he feared the worst.

“I’ll try but they’re probably still in the air,” replied Jane, rushing back to her desk.

“Wait, what do you mean they’re probably still in the air? Who ordered them back?!!” he almost screamed as the panic of losing Sean again set in.

“Nobody ordered them back,” came an indignant reply. “You mentioned earlier you shouldn’t have stopped them at Corpus, so I assumed you wanted them at Laredo!”

After working for the man for over fifteen years she knew what he wanted sometimes better than himself.

“When?”

“Just after I arrived having been roused from my bed at a ridiculous time in the morning. About three hours ago.”

“Have I ever told you how amazing you are!” he rushed from his desk and kissed her on the cheek.

“Not often enough,” she blushed, as she turned his phone to herself and dialed the team leader.

“No answer,” she announced dejectedly, after listening to the phone ring and ring.

“No answer to what?” asked Mike Ritter as he walked through the door.

“The team I sent to Laredo!”

“What about Sean?”

“We were hoping they had him!”

“Oh,” Mike knew how close Vincent was to Sean. “I hope it’s a decent sized team!” he added with some concern.

“Why?”

“I just read the full report on the alleged Mayday at Laredo. Alleged my ass, the Russkies landed their equivalent of a jumbo.”

“You are fucking kidding me, how in the fuck could they get away with that?!”

“They’ve been working on some stealth technology and created a couple of stealth transporters. We’ve just checked, one took off from an airbase outside Caracas in Venezuela that fits perfectly with the Mayday in Laredo. Once in the air it’s pretty much impossible to track.”

“When you say Jumbo?”

“Over 400 passengers!”

“Oh good God, we’ve got a team of five!”

“We think at least two to three hundred passengers re-boarded when they left Laredo!” offered Mike as some comfort.

“Shit, so worst case there are two hundred to five!”

Mike shrugged at what could be the case.

“Jane, get me the President!” announced Vincent somberly.

“Don’t do that Jane,” instructed Mike.

“Why in the hell not?”

“Because we have not got one shred of verifiable proof and we are currently enjoying the best relations we’ve ever had with Russia.”

“But you just told me about the plane?” argued Vincent.

“I told you the information fits but there is no evidence any plane landed in the US other than a pot head kid who filed a report. A report that has no evidence anywhere in their logs to back it up.”

“The communication system being activated in Texas?”

“The guy that filed it is likely to be redeployed to Alaska anytime soon. He’s a genius but a genius who Vice Admiral Kenyon would happily shoot himself!”

“We can’t do anything?” pleaded Vincent.

“I agree! Look I need to run, I’m waiting on a call that may make some sense of all this.”

“Good or bad?” asked Vincent.

“Let’s just say I hope I’m wrong, because if I’m not, this could be very bad!” replied Mike heading out of the door.

“So what about the guys in Texas?” shouted Vincent at Mike’s back.

“Keep calling the numbers and hope someone answers!”

Sean crawled towards the empty building. So far, so good, no hostiles. Which was just as well as neither himself nor Luis were armed. Vincent’s Desert Eagle was on its way to be analyzed as evidence that he shot the shooter, while Luis had dropped the rock that had not endeared himself to Sean. Surprise was their only weapon. From what Luis had told Sean, it seemed apparent that whoever the soldiers were, their interest was in Katie’s house.