Wired (28 page)

“Mary,” Jackie had a pleading tone in her voice, “
Please
! Your father has done a wonderful thing.”

“Look! Everybody I know thinks this stuff is wacko, but some teachers at school even consider it subversive. You could get
in big time trouble messing with this off the wall stuff. I want to go to my room.” Mary fixed her eyes on the floor.

“I'm truly sorry you feel this way,” Graham said. “So defiant!”

“
Defiant
?” Mary nodded. “Just remember that word describes my position if this religion business blows up in your face. I want to
go to my bedroom.”

Graham nodded his approval. She got up and walked out. Graham didn't say anything, but silently watched her leave the room.

“Why is Mary so mad?” George asked.

“She lets her friends run her life,” Graham said. “She's missing out on the greatest opportunity of her lifetime.”

“Yeah,” Jeff said, “because we won't let her play on our baseball team”.

Graham looked at Jackie. “I told Matt to invite the New Seekers group to make their next meeting at our house. It's time for
us to get totally and completely honest with them.”

Jackie nodded soberly. “Graham, I'm with you one hundred percent.” She stopped. “But Mary could be right. We may be headed
for big trouble.”

B
Y THE SECOND WEEK
in December decorations for Merry Winter were everywhere. For the last couple of decades Christmas had become increasingly
secular. The birth of Jesus was not mentioned publicly; no one spoke about Hanukkah either. In the last five years the emphasis
had shifted so radically that everyone called the December holidays Merry Winter. Virtually no one used the old religious
Christmas ornaments, but the festival of winter was going full tilt.

Recent reports indicated that almost 90 percent of the population had been marked on their foreheads with security devices.
The mayor's office speculated that the remainder were probably the homeless and wouldn't make much difference. The Peck family
still managed to avoid being marked. The pressure to comply was easing, but the population remained edgy. Metro train lines
opened again when damage to the overhead trusses proved minimal. Overhead in the train cars, Borden Camber Carson's picture
hung everywhere, offering comfort and promise. Little comfort was taken.

Graham had been in his office only thirty minutes when Sarah Cates came in. Styled with a new twist, her hair made the woman
look unusually attractive. Graham worried that the extra touches were especially for him, so he said nothing.

“I've been able to get inside Jake Pemrose's office several times,” Sarah explained. “I've been working around the files over
there and his secretary doesn't pay me any attention. When no one is looking, it's easy to slip in.”

“Good,” Graham said.

“I want to show you something strange that I found.” Sarah laid a file on Graham's desk. “I was able to copy these documents
using the instant-reproduction machine inside Pemrose's office. It shoots out copies almost like it was breaking the sound
barrier. I was able to duplicate all of these pages in seconds. And it doesn't make a sound.”

Graham pulled the file toward him. “Excellent.”

“I thought it was strange that Pemrose would have such documents in his possession.” She reached across the desk and opened
the file. “These materials describe how terrorists are financed with American money.”

“
What
?” Graham came out of his chair.

“I thought you'd be surprised.”

Graham quickly started scanning down the first page.

“You'll notice this is a list of twenty-five American financiers, funneling money through Muslim charities for attacks on
the United States.”

“Why in the world would Pemrose have this roster?”

Sarah moved around the edge of the desk and pulled out several pages. “You'll see that the balance sheet indicates exact income.”

Graham took the page from her. “My gosh! These groups have amassed some twelve million dollars in assets.”

“Yes sir,” Sarah said. “They call themselves The Golden Chain and their influence reaches back to the saboteurs who attached
the tanker in San Diego, the Museum of science and Industry, and the Computer Center near your children's school.”

Graham stared. The documents were beyond his wildest dreams. “I-I can't believe what I'm seeing,” he muttered.

“Look at this material.” Sarah thumbed through the file. “It describes a Russian terrorist attach in Turkmenistan where a
subversive was paid five hundred thousand rupees–which is about nine thousand American dollars.”

Graham dropped down in his chair and started rubbing his chin. “What does all of this mean? Who are these people?”

“I wasn't able to identify any documents that answer that question,” Sarah Cates said. “Then, Pemrose's secretary started
moving around and I had to have, but I don't get the impression that she's in on any of this. She always has a blank sort
of look on her face.”

Graham folded his hands together, and shook his head. “I can't understand why Jake would have any of this material.”

“There's one more thing I found.” Sarah laid a small round device on Graham's desk. “I noticed a sack with about a dozen of
these things so I took one.”

Graham picked it up and looked at the circular golden object with a green button and in the center. “What does it do?”

“I don't know,” Sarah said, “but the sack was marked security
protection
. I thought maybe they…”

Graham instantly stood up. “Maybe this is what I've been looking for. You may have found it!”

Sarah shrugged. “I don't know. You notice there's both a red and a green button. Who knows what each one does?”

“Hmm.” Graham turned the strange-looking instrument over in his. “Very strange. You're right. The two buttons present a problem.
I'M not sure what it does, but I'll think about it.” He dropped the piece into his pocket.

“I hope some of this helps,” Sarah said.

“Nothing makes any sense, but it's extremely important. Sarah, you need to keep digging. Use every opportunity you can get
to work your way inside that office. Always have an excuse for being in their and don't get caught.” He shook his finger.
“But don't back off either.”

“I will be careful.”

For several moments Graham started at the pile of papers. “I'll keep this file,” he said more to himself. “You keep working
around those file cabinets and grab every possibility to watch Jake's office. I'm sure he doesn't have any idea that anyone
is occasionally dropping in to rifle through his desk and he sometimes get sloppy. That's when you want to strike.”

“I'll do my best.”

“Thank you for helping,” Graham said sincere appreciation. “This adds to what I need to know.”

Sarah beamed. “Don't worry. “I'll keep
for you, Graham
.”

Graham didn't look up. He kept staring at the papers, waiting for Sarah to have. He didn't want to encourage her any further
except to keep working on Jake's case. “Thank you,” he finally mumbled without making eye contact. “I'll be back in touch.”
Sarah left.

Graham read through the entire file once again. Obviously, a significant number of screwballs had used a wide range of charities
to amass an enormous amount of money to finance terrorism all over the country, but why would Pemrose be in possession of
this information? A big chunk of the puzzle wasn't there.

J
ACKIE HAD JUST SAT DOWN
in the living room when George crawled up in her lap. “Daddy said those people from Matthew's university are meeting here
tomorrow night.” He sprawled across her lap like a lazy Golden Retriever.

“Yes, son. You'll enjoy meeting them.” Jackie quickly glanced around the living room, sizing it up to make sure everyone could
fit in their front room comfortably. “They're nice people. You'll like the students.”

George looked thoughtfully at his mother. “And they can tell me about being a Christian?”

“That's what they do, George. They've helped me come to the same decision that your father told you about the other day. I
believe it's extremely important that we trust God.”

George nodded his head. “Yes and I want to be part of what's happening in our family.”

“Wonderful.” Jackie hugged her son. “That's the most important thing you could say.”

“Jeff and I talked about this last night when we were lying in our beds. He doesn't understand it all, but Jeff said he wanted
to be on Dad's side.”

“Good.” Jackie smiled. “That's also important to u.”

“we're all in this together except for Mary.” George frowned. “She gets really angry when you and Dad talk about God. She
doesn't want me to bring up the subject.”

Jackie's smile faded. She patted George on the head and fumbled for the right words. “Mary's been strongly influenced by her
friends. We hope she'll change her mind soon.”

“I don't think she ever will,” George said. “Her friends are really important to her.”

“Yes, Mary's at the age where she buckles under to the pressure at school.”

“I can't talk about God in my school,” George said. “I get in trouble if I do unless the teacher asks me about it.”

“The teacher
asks you
?”

“Yeah, Mom. Once a week each one of us must go up to her desk and she demands that we tell her what is happening at home with
our families. Do we attend Sunday Encounter groups. Things like that?”

Jackie's heart leaped and she took a deep breath. “What have you been telling her?”

“Nothing! I don't want to get you and Daddy into trouble.”

Jackie hugged him tightly. “Good. Very good, son. Don't ever tell your teacher anything about what happens here in our home.”

“Don't worry. I never answer her questions about religion.” George crawled down and wandered off into the kitchen looking
for a cookie. “I won't.”

Jackie couldn't escape the conclusion that the school was checking up on them and every other family in the neighborhood.
The realization left her nervous and upset. Graham needed to know about this frightening turn of events. At six o'clock when
Graham returned from the office, Jackie was waiting for him at the front door.

“Oh dear, I'm so glad you came home on time!”

“Sure!” Graham kissed his wife. “I needed to get out of there as quick as I could, but the station proved to be jammed. I
didn't get on the train as quickly as I usually do.”

“Sit down.”Jackie Pointed to a chair.“I had a talk with George today. Of course, he and Jeff are with us spiritually, but
I'm concerned about what's happening at his school.”

Graham sat down in a large living room chair across from Jackie on the couch. “At his school? What's going on?”

“I discovered the teachers question them on a weekly basis
about our religious activities
. Do you realize what this means?”

Graham's mouth dropped. “How long has this been going on?”

“Apparently for at least the last month!”

Graham. “Wow! That tosses another log on the fire.”

“Something else happened today?”

“I've also found some disturbing evidence at the office that Pemrose and company are in some way or another involved with
terrorist activity. I haven't put all of this together yet, but with the increased electronic surveillance, this problem could
be going anywhere.”

Jackie inched nearer. “What do you suspect, Graham?”

“This afternoon I also discovered Bridges has Jack Stratton and Bill Marks included in this sweet little Inner Circle as Carson
calls his hidden people. I'm not sure what their role is, nor exactly what Meacham does, but Jake Pemrose is in way over his
head. He's become Mr. Big Time.”

Jackie nervously rubbed her chin. “What are we going to do? We're extremely vulnerable.”

“I've given that a great deal of thought. Do you have all of those emergency supplies that we discussed earlier?”

“Sure. The box is stashed away out in the garage.”

Graham nodded his head. “Good. I don't have any exact plan in mind yet, but we need to keep everything ready. Anything could
happen. I did transfer a significant amount of money into Mother's old account at the bank. We could use her bank card forever
and go undetected. If we had to run, we've got money for a significant amount of time.”

“I feel like we're caught in the jaws of a pair of pliers.” Jackie wrung her hands. On some of these days I'm afraid that
life is about to be squeezed out of me.”

Graham reached out and took her hands. “Yeah,” he said. “I know. I feel the same pinch.”

“You're said time is running out on us. Well, I'm afraid the hands of the clock are reaching midnight.”

Graham stood up slowly. “Yes,” he said, “we are standing on the edge.”

T
HE NEXT DAY
Graham came home unusually early to help Jackie make the final bottles of soft drinks and potato chips since the group usually
didn't have refreshments. But five o'clock all of the children were in the house. Graham put his coat in the front office
and laid his cell phone on the desk. Mary wasn't particularly Pleasant, but the boys had a great time helping their mother
put up a few more Christmas decorations.

“Getting a little bold, aren't you?” Graham chided wife and pointed at the scene on the table.

“Why not? I thought we needed a little more than those awful snowmen and holly branch decorations. I threw in that crèche
scene your mother always had out at this time of the year. If we're going to get in trouble, we might as well do it right.”

Graham laughed. “I'm none of the people who are coming tonight will have any problem with a nativity scene.”

“Look in the morning room corner.” Jackie took Graham's hand and let him through the kitchen. “How do you like my Christmas
tree?”

“My gosh! I haven't ever seen a better one. Beautiful lights. Super.”

“Dad,” Jeff said, “I'm putting up candles in the windows.”

“Good. You're doing a great job, Jeff. Let me help you.”