David Golemon - Legacy

“That means this bomb could have been used as a tracking device after it failed?” Everett asked, tossing a pencil onto his desk.

“Yes, sir, its original task was to allow the detonation signal to reach this unit from anywhere around the world, as long as it was in range of the Tetra satellite. However, it could just as easily be used to track the unit if it wasn’t destroyed. So basically they had the option of destroying the plane or following it.”

Collins shook his head. He removed the small Tetra chip from the Marine corporal’s fingers and looked at it. Then he handed the silicon chip back and closed his eyes.

“Thanks, Espinoza, you can return to your duties, and take that thing with you. See if you can get a spectrum analysis on the C-4. Maybe we can come up with a batch number for a trace.”

“Yes, sir,” the corporal said, gathering his tools and the makings of the bomb. He left the office.

“So, the assholes may know where we are,” Everett said. He stood and reached for the door to the office, closing it.

“At least where our base of operations is located,” Jack said with a frustrated look. “All they know thus far is that Niles and his team landed at Nellis. I don’t think that’s a problem, but if it’s McCabe and his people they know now that Niles is linked with us, and that could be a problem. In the art of war there are very few coincidences. Our flight plan was filed from Nellis and that’s where the tracking device on Niles aircraft led.”

Everett, Mendenhall, and Ryan were silent as the colonel started talking through what they had learned.

“We can’t learn anything here. And we’re only in the way of Niles and his team as they carry out the president’s orders. Pete has run into a dead end as far as McCabe goes. His last known whereabouts were Los Angeles six years ago. He has no financial statements, no IRS records after his military days, and no passport, at least one with his real identity on it.” Jack sat down hard on the desktop. “The answers lie in Germany.”

“Niles has suspended that end of the investigation. The president is trying to find a political solution. As long as there’s a chance that we can get into the excavation legally, that’s what they want to try.”

Collins turned and faced Everett. “If what we think is down there is there, and all of this Flash Gordon stuff fails, there could be a race between us and other countries to get to Ecuador. That’s when the shooting will really start.”

“I think the shooting’s already started,” Ryan said, probing gently at the bandage covering his nose. “Just ask the Russians.”

“I think you’re right there, Lieutenant.” Jack stood once more and paced. “It’s got to be McCabe behind this. And his paymaster, whoever that is-we have to go to Germany.”

The three men from the Security Department watched as Jack stood and left the office.

“I think we’d better brush up on our German, because I’ve seen that look before,” Everett said as he too stood.

“Where are you going, Captain?” Mendenhall asked.

“Where else?” he said, smiling. “To pack.”

Jack was waiting for the elevator so he could track Niles down in the Engineering Department on Level 35 when he was tapped on the shoulder. He turned and saw Sarah standing there with her arms full of books, smiling up at him.

“Hi, short stuff,” he said as he saw several men and women passing by in the large hallway on Level 7, enough that any more intimate contact was out of the question.

“Colonel Collins,” Sarah said formally.

“What’s all this?” he asked, waving his hand at the armload of thick books.

Sarah didn’t answer at first and actually lowered her eyes before speaking.

“They’re nothing, geological stuff, far beneath your pay grade.”

Jack saw the look that said I can’t talk about it, and was about to comment on her shortened answer when the elevator arrived with a gentle air-assisted swoosh. He stepped back and allowed Sarah to enter first, and then he followed. A man in a white coat stepped up but saw the look on Jack’s face and the simple tilt of his head that suggested he should probably catch the next elevator. The doors closed.

“Level, please?” the computerized Europa asked in her Marilyn Monroe voice.

“Thirty-five,” Jack said, not caring what level Sarah needed. “Okay, what gives? You, Niles, and Virginia have been cooped up in the science departments for four straight days while the rest of us have been cooling our heels.”

Sarah watched the LED numbers beside the elevator doors descend as the air-cushioned ride accelerated.

“Europa, can you stop here please and secure the elevator?” Sarah asked, looking at Collins.

“Please state emergency,” Europa said, as the elevator came to an abrupt but gentle stop.

“No emergency,” Sarah said, as she took a deep breath and then went to her tiptoes. She gave Jack a deep, long kiss, so hard that neither noticed three of her books fall to the carpeted elevator floor. She pulled back and looked at him for the longest time. “We’re trying to get a handle on this mineral, but so far we’re having no luck at all. This afternoon we finally got a linkup with Jet Propulsion Lab and a chance to watch as they tried to bring the rover John back online. They’re hoping we can view the devastation inside Shackleton.”

“That’s not all there is. I know you, Lieutenant, and as nice as your kisses are, I’m not accepting the bribe for my silence. Now what’s going on?”

“Have Will and Jason received their orders yet?” she asked, reaching down to retrieve her fallen books. That was when Jack noticed a large manila-colored book that had nothing to do with geology: the NASA and United States Air Force training manual for space operations.

“What orders?” he asked, his eyes finally leaving the manual and locking on Sarah’s.

“All I know is that Ryan and Mendenhall are being assigned to my team. Nothing more than that.”

“Why do you need a security element in a lab?” he asked. His eyes bore so deeply into her own that Sarah had to turn away.

“Jack, I love you, and you know that, but I’m also an officer in the Army, just like you. You follow orders and so do I.”

“Okay, short stuff. Keep your little secret,” Collins said as he handed her the last fallen book. It was on the mineral properties of meteorites. “But keep in mind that whatever Niles and the president are cooking up, people are starting to die over this thing.”

“Jack, we know that, and I wish I could tell you everything, but I just don’t know. I do know you, though, and you can’t storm into Niles’s office and demand that I be kept safe. Whatever they have planned, if you want me to back away from my job, I’ll do it, for you. But it has to be me doing the requesting, not you.”

Collins reached out and hit the blinking Level 35 button again, overriding Sarah’s request for the car to stop.

“You know I won’t do that,” he said, his eyes cast down. He turned and smiled at McIntire. She smiled in return. “Not because you’re an officer in the Army, but because I love you too and would never ask you not to do your job because of that love.”

The elevator came to a stop and Europa announced that they had arrived. As the doors opened Pete Golding was standing there. He looked surprised to see both Jack and Sarah.

“Oh, hello, Colonel,” he said, adjusting the thick glasses on his nose.

“Pete,” Collins said, stepping out of the car. He looked back at Sarah as Golding stepped inside. He winked as the doors started sliding closed.

Before the door closed, Jack heard Pete say, “I’m glad I ran into you, Sarah. Europa wants your exact measurements. NASA needs them ASAP.”