The Inner Circle (27 page)

President Marshall nodded. He already knew what the exact plans were, but he still liked to hear them reiterated.

"I'm actually amazed at how smoothly Phase One has gone," Armour said. "I've been afraid the whole time that something bad would happen, some kind of chink in the armor. But everything has been going exactly as we've planned."

"Not everything," Marshall said. "I spoke about this with Peter yesterday and we've agreed that only the three of us will know about Phase Two for now."

"What about Henry?"

"I agree that Henry is probably trustworthy, but I don't think it will hurt us to keep him on a need-to-know basis for awhile. Up to this point, I've gauged his loyalty to the group to be around 99%. Once he gains that final one percent, we’ll fill him in on the rest of the details."

"I can understand questioning Ackerman's loyalty I suppose, seeing as he’s an outsider. But if it weren't for him, we wouldn't have found out anything about the comet. He probably deserves to know as much as Henry."

"I know you have some sort of unspoken bond with Earl because you two discovered the comet together. And even Peter, who doesn't usually trust anyone, recently argued for his trustworthiness. But some things have happened over the past few days that have completely changed his status in the group.

"Earl has lost his marbles," Marshall said simply.

"How so?"

"He was supposed to meet Peter, Henry and me for a meeting yesterday, but he never showed up. We usually fly a couple of my most trusted Secret Service guys to pick him up and bring him to D.C., but when they arrived at his home, there was no answer. I later had Peter fly down to check on him, but when he arrived, Earl just went crazy. Peter said he seemed kind of strange at first, he hadn't showered or shaved or done anything for quite some time. He was muttering all kinds of crazy things about his place being bugged. Peter said there were hundreds of tiny holes in the walls where Earl was looking for bugs."

Armour could not believe this. Earl had seemed a bit eccentric the few times he'd spoken with him, but he didn't know the pressure would take such a big toll on his mental state.

"I knew he was strange, but he never struck me as the crazy type."

"It gets worse," Marshall explained. "He eventually pulled a gun on Peter and then tried to turn it on himself. Peter had to tackle him and take the gun away before he could kill himself."

"
Mansfield
stopped him from killing himself?" he asked skeptically.

"I know, Peter can be heartless sometimes and he might have been doing us a favor if he let Earl..." Marshall's voice trailed off, and let Armour fill in the blanks on what he meant. Like the president, Armour did not want to see anyone get hurt, but he also realized the secrecy of the comet took precedence over one man's life.

"So now what do we do with Ackerman?"

"We had to have him institutionalized. Peter took care of everything last night, flew with Earl to this private little facility and had him checked in."

"Do you think that's a wise move? Aren't you worried that Earl could spill the beans to everyone there?"

"I had the same concerns at first. But really, who's going to believe some crazy muttering man talking about the end of the world? These facilities are full of people like that," Marshall said.

"Yeah, but Ackerman has specific information and names. He knows
our
names."

"Everyone knows our names, James," Marshall said. "Have you ever heard of Mimosa Grove?"

Armour shook his head.

"It's the name of the facility Peter took him to. It's pretty famous out on the West Coast, a lot of actors and rock stars have been there before. It's not like a nut house you would see in the movies, more like a treatment facility. A lot of famous or wealthy people go there for drug or alcohol rehab. I guess you could say they take care of a smorgasbord of problems."

"You still don't think there's a risk of him talking to the wrong people? The staff might not believe him but I'm sure there's other people there who might be getting released to the outside world soon."

"There's always that risk. But we'll be shelling out a lot of money to this place to make sure anything Earl says is kept under wraps. Peter told me that he got Earl his own private room and that the staff was going to make sure he was kept isolated from the other patients."

"Still seems risky with how close we are to the launch. You never know where some nosy reporter could show up," Armour said.

"Reporter in rehab place?" Marshall laughed. "I know most reporters have no soul, but I don't think they would even sink
that
low. Besides, Mimosa Grove is known for keeping big secrets. You know who Tyler Ainsworth is?"

"Sure, it's hard not to know one of the richest men in America. NASA used to have some contracts with his company before they started building ships for the Navy. Don't tell me that he's been in rehab there before? He's an old man now, he has to be pushing seventy-five."

"Actually, I believe he's seventy-six now," Marshall said. "He was a big supporter of Henry Wilson running for president before I announced my candidacy. He's a good man though, gave his full support to my campaign once Henry dropped out. Donated quite a bit of money to my campaign fund, too. And no, he's not in rehab right now. But his son, Tyler Jr., is. Peter said he's been there for a few months already."

"TJ? I think I've met the kid before when he was younger. He didn't seem crazy to me," Armour said. Armour remembered that the senior Tyler waited until he was in his early fifties to marry, the wife being a beautiful blond stewardess if his memory was correct. She gave birth to a son, Tyler Junior, a few years later.

"He's not crazy, but he did have some drug and alcohol problems that his old man couldn't take anymore. I don't really know the details, but I do know the press would eat up this kind of information if they knew about it, considering how rich and powerful Tyler Ainsworth is. The point I'm trying to make is that Mimosa Grove is good at keeping its inhabitants and their problems a secret and I see no reason why Earl Ackerman should be an exception."

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"Please, you have to believe me. I did not tell anyone anything, I promise. I don't belong here."

Earl looked up into the faces of two men who barely even heard the words he was speaking. Both men were very large and muscular – especially compared to Earl – and their stone faces let Earl know that nothing was getting through to them. The men were on either side of him and each held on to one of his arms, as they half dragged him down a white hallway. Earl resisted as best he could, but they were too big and strong for him to even slow down their movements.

"Look, I know you must think I'm crazy. I mean, why else would I be here, right?" Earl laughed nervously. "But you have to believe me. I
am not
crazy. I do not belong here."

The men stopped and one finally looked down at Earl.

Maybe I'm getting through to him. He must see in my eyes that I'm not crazy like the rest of the people in this place.

"Mr. Ackerman, you should be happy that there are people who care enough about you to put you in such a fine facility as Mimosa Grove. You have your own private room, which is bigger than my whole apartment," the man said.

"Yes, it’s a very nice here, but you aren't understanding me. I don't belong here, I'm not crazy."

"We know you aren't crazy, sir," the other orderly said. "We like to think that our guests are here for… for a mental holiday."

"I know that you're mocking me," Earl said. "But I'm not supposed to be here. I didn't tell anyone."

The orderlies looked at one another and shrugged.

"Didn't tell anybody what?"

Earl looked at the two orderlies and began to laugh.
They aren't going to trick me this easily. I can show them that I'm no fool.

"If I told you, then I'd be telling someone. I didn't tell anyone and I'm not going to start now," Earl said.

This raised the eyebrows of both orderlies and Earl saw that one of them had an amused look on his face.

"See, I can be trusted," Earl said. "Now please, release my arms and show me out of this prison."

The orderlies began to drag Earl forward again, as he fought and kicked much harder this time.

"Mr. Ackerman, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. You've only just arrived here and you already escaped from your room. Now you're making it difficult for us to do our jobs and return you there. Believe me, you will have your chance to talk to our doctors and tell them what you're thinking, but throwing a tantrum now will only make things worse for you."

Earl felt utterly defeated and he slackened in their grips.

"I didn't tell anyone," he whispered, as they dragged him back to his room and locked him inside.

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Neil Peterson hated heat and sand and if someone asked him to name the last place where he wanted to spend his last day on Earth, he would have answered the beach. Yet on his last day of freedom – before he would be picked up and brought to the NASA compound – Neil found himself sitting on a sandy towel under a blazing sun.

And he couldn't be happier.

Emily played in the surf down by the water and waved to her dad as she kicked up a mist of ocean water. They had been there for most of the day and as the sun began to lower in the sky, Neil could tell his daughter was getting tired. She had been swimming out in the ocean for most of the day, but now would not go into water that was more than ankle-deep.

When she rejoined Neil, he wrapped her in a towel and hugged her. He was glad that the sunglasses he wore kept Emily from seeing the tears in his eyes.

"I'm getting cold, Daddy. Can we leave now?"

"Soon, sweetheart. I want to watch the sunset before we go."

"But we can watch that from your house."

Only an hour before, Emily told Neil that she wanted to stay at the beach forever. But now that he wanted to stay, she wanted to go.
Kids.

"I know, but it looks much better here. It's my favorite part about the beach."

"Don't you like swimming in the ocean?" she asked.

"I would," he said, sniffing her hair. "If you didn't come out smelling like a fish."

She giggled and sat down on her towel, resigned to the fact that her father was not going to take her home until the stupid sunset was over.

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Later that night, Neil stood over his grill, cooking hot dogs and hamburgers. The night sky was clear and hundreds of stars were visible. Emily was laying on one of the nearby lawn chairs, her eyes barely able to stay open after such a long day of fun.

"Wake up sleepy head, it's time to eat your dinner," Neil said, handing her a plate with a hot dog.

"I'm not sleeping, Daddy," she said groggily, sitting up in the lawn chair and rubbing her eyes.

Neil lay down on the lawn chair next to her, eating his own food. If it had been up to Neil, the last meal he would have eaten with his daughter would have been something special, something expensive. Like lobster or filet mignon. But just like he let her choose where they would spend the day together, he also let her pick what she wanted to eat and Emily loved hot dogs.

"How many stars are there, daddy?"

"Billions. So many that nobody could ever count all of them, even if they spent their whole life trying," he answered in between bites of his food. “And do you see your favorite star, my little she-goat?”

After her father made goat noises that made her squeal with laughter, Emily scanned the night sky until she saw the one star that looked more yellow than all the others.

“Right there,” she said, pointing to it. “And don’t call me a she-goat. If you’re going to make fun of me, say the name of the star.”

“I’m sorry, my little Capella.”

“That’s better,” Emily said. Looking at stars always made her think her father was the smartest man alive and she decided to test him with another question. “What’s the name of that one there?”

She pointed up in the sky again and Neil could see one star shining much brighter than all of the others around it.

"That's the dog star, Sirius," he answered.

"Serious? Are you serious that it's called serious?" she said, giggling.

"Not s-e-r-i-o-u-s, s-i-r-i-u-s. It's full name is Alpha Canis majoris, that's why they call it the dog star. You can't even see it as good now as you’d be able to if it was winter."

Though Neil had trained for  years to be an astronaut, he’d always concentrated on the flying side. It wasn’t until the last two years – since he realized he’d be traveling deep into space – that he studied up on astronomy, during which time he learned the names and locations of many stars.