Dark as Daylight Ch. 05a

"I agree with you wholeheartedly Lucius, and I want you to continue your search. However, I don't want you to narrow in on this one person. He must have known in advance this was going to fly. He was not that naïve. I don't think it came from within our camp, but I think Bolden was only working with a 15 Watt lightbulb. I think someone brighter than he is was feeding him what information to tell the President. This is just a feeling on my part, but I took you on a feeling, and I wasn't wrong.

Oh, one more thing, Patrick is the new administrator of NASA."

"Should I ask you how that came about, or should I just let it be?"

"I would let it be for now. I wouldn't want you to start laughing, while you have all these important matters on your mind. Turner would not understand either.

I will have the date and time of Even's jaunt around the country for you tomorrow. Use channel 3, encryption C4."

"Thank you William, I will talk to you tomorrow."

Lucius loved when he did that, because if anyone did break through the secure line, now they would have to see what this new encryption was for tomorrow, when actually there was none. William had a wicked sense of humor.

Lucius returned to Turner Stansfield. "You are correct about Bolden being fired. I just received word on his replacement."

"I hope they found someone from the outside, because everyone on the inside is useless. They stick their nose in the book and they follow it word by word. They never think outside the box, and they don't let their engineers do it either. Who did they get?"

"Patrick William Zabo."

"I never heard of him."

"Leave off his first name."

"William Zabo!!"

"Very good, now put Patrick in front of it, and what do you have?"

"What is he 15, 16 years old? He can't possibly run NASA. The Senate will never approve him."

"Patrick will be 17 soon. He has a photographic memory, and he will eat up any politician that gives them any crap. With his father sitting in the first row of seats, behind the witness chair, I dare any politician to be unkind to his son. It will be the last time they will be in that office. William will personally see to it.

William liked your idea about Bolden. He believes someone was feeding him information to the pass along to the President. Do you have any thoughts on that subject?"

"His wife Tricia used to work for United Technologies, but that was 15 years ago, before they started having children. She was Maxwell's executive secretary for almost 20 years before that, while he went globetrotting in the Navy. He may be cashing in on that relationship, I don't know."

"That's the reason we're talking Turner, anything we can glean from your memory helps us a great deal."

Turner heard gunfire, and dropped to the ground.

Lucius laughed, and helped him up.

"Don't worry, that's just Paul shooting up our favorite tree. One day it's going to fall on him just to get even. He gets nervous if he doesn't have a rifle in his hands every few days.

I know you practice with your handgun, have you ever shot a rifle before?"

"I did, but a very long time ago. I was not an outdoorsman, so I had no use for them."

"Come with me, and watch me ruin Paul's day."

Lucius had Turner walk in quietly from Paul's 6 o'clock position, from about 20 yards. He circled around until he was 6 feet behind Paul at his 9 o'clock position.

Paul took his shot, removed his ear protectors, and a few seconds later he smiled. "Colonel you're getting old; I can hear you coming."

Lucius said, "Oh really?"

Paul nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the Colonel's voice. He was sure he was 15 or 20 feet at his 6 o'clock position, not a few feet away at his 9 o'clock position.

"God dammit Colonel, one day you are going to scare me to death."

"Thank you Paul, now I know one way to get rid of you."

"You would not know what to do without me."

"You are probably right, but I sure would like to try."

"What can I do for you, sir?"

"I told Turner I was going to ruin your day. Shall we begin?"

"You don't have your rifle sir."

"That's okay, I'll use yours. Your sites are never correct anyhow."

"Turner do you have any change in your pocket?"

"No I don't, all I have is this extra tie pin."

"That will do just fine. Unless Paul hits it, you'll get it back in the condition it is in now. Put it in the tree Paul."

Turner said, "I thought the object of a shooting contest was to hit the mark, not to miss it."

"Anyone can hit a Mark. However, the true test of marksmanship is to see who can come closest to the mark without touching it. It's like darts. Everyone can aim for the center, but when you have to hit the outside ring, it becomes very difficult."

When Paul returned Lucius said, "Since this is your rifle I would like to take one test shot to see how poorly it is aligned."

"Be my guest Colonel. You taught me how to line up my sites, and I've never forgotten those lessons."

"We will see in a moment, won't we Paul?"

The wind was relatively calm, and what there was of it was directly in Lucius face. The humidity was low as Fall had taken over Vancouver Island's landscape. The ground was harder, the deciduous trees were dropping their leaves, and the sun was not breaking through the tall pines as it did during the summer.

"120 yards Paul?"

"115 yards' sir."

"What happened, did you get tired of walking?"

Paul refused to answer.

Lucius raised the rifle, and looked through the scope to find the tie pin. He released the safety, placed his fingertip on the trigger, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. He felt a slight breeze, as he gave the trigger a gentle caress.

Paul followed the bullets flightpath with his field glasses, and his next words told the tale.

"Why the hell do I put up with this abuse? Why don't you just take your gun, put it to my head, shoot me, and put me out of my misery."

Turner asked, "Why, what did he do?"

Paul handed him the field glasses, and told him to take a look at the tree where his tie pin was.

When Turner finally found it, and looked at the bullet hole directly next to the tie pin, there wasn't the width of a blade of grass separating the two.

To make matters worse Lucius said, "That was my practice shot, I'll do better next time."

Paul grabbed his rifle and walked away.

Turner shook his head. "Lucius, you certainly did ruin that man's day."

"That man and I have been to hell and back together. I was a young Lieutenant and he was 17 years old. I have never had to watch my back when I have him around me, and he never has to watch his, when I am around."

"Who else do you think might be feeding Bolden information to give the President? It was my initial thought that it was coming from the National Security Council, but apparently I was aiming too high."

"I would agree with you on that Lucius. Otherwise you're talking about the Vice President, The Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and the heads of the Treasury Department, Homeland Security, CIA, NSA, and the FBI. I would hate to think any of those people are involved."

"We had one vice president that turned out to be an asshole."

"Yes, and he ran down to Columbia and got what he richly deserved."

"If you think of anything else, regardless if you think it important or not you'll call me?"

"You can count on it Lucius."

"Do you want to go back to work tomorrow, or do you want to catch some fish?"

"I could go for day of fishing."

"Great, we will leave around 7 o'clock, and get to the river by 7:45 AM. There are some big salmon running this year, and it should be fun."

*******************

"Good morning, may I speak to Mister Rodney Laver please. This is Abel Walker calling. I am the caretaker of the 2 properties he has in Idaho Springs Colorado."

"Hello Mister Walker, this is Rosalynn Laver; is there anything I can help you with?"

"I guess so ma'am. I did the properties yesterday, and videotaped them as Mister Laver demands. I noticed something different this time, and I just wanted to bring it to your attention, and to tell you I didn't do it.

You know the large gravestone on the western edge of Doctor Even Luck's property?"

"Yes I do Mister Walker, please don't tell me someone defaced it."

"No ma'am, another name was added to it. It was Doctor Even Luck's name ma'am. It has his date of birth, and the date of his death, which was Wednesday of last week. There also are a bunch of numbers underneath his name I don't understand. They look scientific to me, but that is just a guess on my part. There is also some stuff on the left side I don't understand. It looks like a map of the stars, or something, but don't quote me on that. That's all I wanted to tell you ma'am. I will send him the video, along with my bill today."

"Hold on to your bill, Mister Walker. We will be in Denver either late tonight or early tomorrow. Call me at the same number, and we will meet you at Doctor Luck's property."

"I'll be working all day tomorrow Mrs. Laver."

"How much money will you be making tomorrow Mister Walker?"

"About $600."

"Be at Doctor Luck's property when I tell you to be, and you'll get a check for $100,000.00 if what you're telling me is true."

"I'll be there, because everything I told you is true."

"Then tomorrow is your lucky day Mister Walker."

**************

Rosalynn called Rod, and without any fanfare she said, "Richard, Holden, and I are going to Denver tomorrow. If you want to come along you can."

"We have work to do tomorrow, the boys are getting ready to go to Kennedy with their cousin on Tuesday. They can't just drop everything and go to Denver because you want to."

"Who is the boys' guardian, you or me?"

"You are of course."

"Who wants to get between my thighs within the next year?"

"I do."

"Richard, Holden, and I are going to Denver tomorrow. If you want to come along, you can."

"May I ask why we're going to Denver?"

"There is an inscription on the tombstone that says Even Luck is dead with what I believe are coordinates for the spacecraft."

"Why didn't you just say that in the beginning. I would have carried you all the way to Denver. I'll break the news to the boys so they will know why we're going on such short notice."

"Okay, now I have to call Dycke, and William to see if they want to join us. I will see if we can use one of Dycke's airplanes. There are going to be at least 16 of us, and whatever amount of men he has to bring along with him. I'll talk to you later."

**************

"Mister Schneider's office, Cheryl speaking."

"Hi Cheryl, Rosalynn Laver, is Dycke available?"

"Yes he is, I'll tell him you are calling."

"No, don't do that. Yell to him that Doctor Luck want him to get off the floor, and get back to work."

"Doctor Luck is no longer here?"

"You know that, I know that, I just want to hear Dycke's reaction."

"Okay, but if he fires me, I'm becoming your personal secretary."

"At twice the salary."

"Dycke, Doctor Luck said he wants you to get up off the floor and get back to work."

"You tell that dumb son of the bitch I'm not talking to him today. Wait, did he come back? Did he send another message? Did he say anything about my daughter? Am I a grandfather yet? Who's on the phone? If this is a practical joke, I'll kill whoever it is."

"Who is this, if you're kidding with me your dead."

"I had you going didn't I Dycke? This is Rosalynn Laver, and something is going on in Idaho Springs. The caretaker of the 2 properties we own up there called to say that Even's name, date of birth, and death, are inscribed on the monument he erected for his sister, himself.

The inscription also includes what I believe are the coordinates of the spacecraft on that day. My husband, Richard, Holden, and I, are leaving tomorrow to go to Denver. I wanted to ask you if you wanted to come along."

"Give me one minute Rosalynn."

"Cheryl cancel all my appointments for tomorrow and the following day."

"Already done sir, can I take off too?"

"As long as you don't want to get paid you can."

"You are too kind."

"I want the 787 ready for a 7 A.M. departure tomorrow?"

"I did that already, sir."

"Excellent work."

"She sounds like a gem of an employee Dycke. How much do you pay her week?"

"I pay her fair and equitable wage, along with paid vacation, health insurance, flexible work hours and a 50-50 split in a 401(k)."

"Aren't you the nice man. You must pay her $1000 a week, and when she walks home after taxes, her contributions to your plan, Social Security and with everything else she has to pay, she probably clears $795. Flexible hours mean she has children to support, and on $795 a week, there goes any possibility of saving money. Tell Cheryl I want her to call me when she leaves work. I want to offer her a job, a real paying job, with a saving wage."

"You can't do that she's my secretary, I need her."

"If you need her pay her, otherwise I will. I'll give you until Monday to straighten that out, or you'll be looking for a new secretary."

"Now I know why I am happy when Payne is flying her airplane. I don't have to deal with women."

"Are we going together tomorrow, or should I rent a jet?"

"You are coming with me. Be at my facility at 6:30 AM.", will take off at 7 AM.

"Thank you very much Dycke. Do you think I should get the Denver police as escorts for us?"

"Why not, ask them for a dozen cars to form up with us as we park the plane."

"How many men are you taking with you?"

"Four, maybe 8 if Payne comes with us."

"That will make 25 total. I'll call Jaden and have him get us 10 cars, with blackout windows. He'll know what to do."

****************

"Zabo residence, this is the new Administrator of NASA speaking."

"This is Mrs. Rosalynn Laver, does the new administrator of NASA have a name?"

"Hello Mrs. Laver, it's me Patrick."

"I will ask you later how you became administrator of that lofty agency, but I must speak to your father on an urgent matter. Is he available?"

"He is where he always is; in his favorite chair reading the financial papers. I'll bring him the phone."

As William listened to Rosalynn, he screamed in anguish and in pain. Somehow he knew it was true. He had spoken with Even about this many times, and told him he would live forever. Now he was gone, a man half his age had died. It wasn't fair. He was far too good a man to die so young.

"Rosalynn, we will be in Denver at 9 AM local time. There will be 2 dozen of us. If anyone finds out we are all going to be in one place, at the same time, we could be in danger."

"William the boys are supposed to go to Cape Kennedy next week. Why don't you have your pilot file a flight plan to go there, and while you are in the air, change your route to Denver?"

"Good thinking Rosalynn, I will do just that. We will see you tomorrow morning. Goodbye."

Everyone was gathered around him, wondering why he was crying, and had screamed as he did. This was a total breach of Williams protocol. He never showed emotion, except to those in his immediate family.

Jemma asked, as she knelt beside him, "Honey what's wrong?"

"Even is dead."

"How could you possibly know that, he's billions of miles away?"

"His name is inscribed on his tombstone, next to his sister's. We are going to Denver tomorrow morning to see it for ourselves."

"Anyone could have inscribed that on the stone."

"That's not the way the caretaker said it looked. I want to see it for myself. William tell Jeff we need a full crew to go with us tomorrow morning at 6 A.M. for a three-day stay. Get us an aircraft big enough for all of us. Tell the pilot to file a flight to Cape Kennedy over flying Atlanta."

"I'll get right on it dad."

"Mister administrator, this means suit tie and shoes."

"Yes sir."

"Did you hear that Jemma; I told him to do something, and I got a 'yes sir' without an argument. What has this world come to?"

"Don't let it go to your head William. It's the first time he saw you cry, and now he thinks you may have a heart."

William pulled her over his lap, and kissed her. "We know better than that don't we dear? That's why I don't play chess with him, I don't want to break his heart."

"Any time dad, I will take you apart at the seams."

"As long as you think so my son, I will let it be."

"I will leave a chessboard set up by your favorite chair. Anytime you get the courage to play me, you won't have to move too far."

"Do you remember what the Greeks did to men who they believed were above all the rest of the people in their society?"

"Of course dad, it was the crime of hubris. They were sentenced to roam the known world for 5 years, before they were allowed back into Greece. That's why Pythagoras, and Socrates were in Egypt. Aeschylus was in Sicily. Homer was in Persia, and Aristophanes was in The Lebanon."

"Sometimes I hate talking to him. I think I know more than he does, and I get a history lesson from him. It's disgraceful."

"If you think that is disgraceful dad, play me a game of chess, I will really break that new heart of yours."

"You asked for my son, now you are going to get it. Monday, 8 PM, in the library. Try not to be late."

"I live here dad; I can't possibly be late."

"If you are late, you forfeit the game."

"Your old dad, make sure you get up from your nap on time."

"I will try Mister Administrator. Monday, at 10 AM, you are going to be at my tailor getting fitted for 2 dozen suits, sport coats, slacks, shirts of varying colors, ties, appropriate undergarments, and shoes. If you embarrass me, the shoes will be lined with concrete, and you will visit the East River, feet first."

"Mom, he does have a way of making a point dramatically, doesn't he?"

"May I tell him the story about the day you were walking down 1st Avenue dear?"

"I don't believe it will make an impact on his thick head, but go ahead."

"Patrick, you may wonder why we have all this protection around us, but there is a very good reason. We were in a situation like we find ourselves in now, where we don't know where our enemies are going to be coming from. The FBI set up a plan for your father to be able to walk around freely, because he demanded it. Every morning they would send him a coded message how to get from point A to point B. No one else was to know how he would get there. On that morning, he was dropped off by his limousine on First Avenue, just past the Chinese Embassy.

2 men from the FBI or walking northbound to meet him, but so were 2 men intent on killing him. When these 2 men were within 15 feet of your father, they pulled out their guns, and fired 4 shots at his chest. Your father fell like a stone, hitting his head. He was bleeding profusely.

The 2 FBI men heard the shots and started running north. The 2 men who shot your father were running south trying to get away. The 2 men from the FBI killed the perpetrators, and one of them ran to see who the victim was. He was horrified to see it was your father, and called for an ambulance immediately. There were 4 bullet holes in his jacket.

Your father is no fool. The earliest form of a bulletproof vest was silk, very densely woven silk. The inside of his jacket was lined with it. His shirt was made with the same silk along with a light Kevlar lining. He had a light bulletproof vest under that, plus a silk undershirt.

When they got him to the hospital, they took off his jacket. The nurse tried to cut off his shirt, but couldn't. The scissors could not cut the fabric.

Your father woke up and said to her, "Don't bother, it's bulletproof."