Sons of Abraham: Pawns of Terror (5 page)

“Agreed.”

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

“We need to act NOW!” Wilkes snapped, slapping her hands to the glass table. “Every minute we sit here with our thumbs up our asses is another minute we give them to prepare.”

“We don’t even know who THEY are,” Kendra Hill replied. “We’d be chasing our tails.”

“It’s still better than just sitting here,” Wayne Widox replied calmly. “We need a strategy.”

President James Garber watched the argument unfold before him. His Vice President, Jana Wilkes had called the meeting to decide what actions to take. The aging blonde wasn’t giving an inch to either of the other council members. Planetary consultant, Kendra Hill was the newcomer to the group. Unlike Wilkes, she was tall, young, and in control of her emotions. Her strawberry blonde hair was tied sloppily on top of her head, strands of hair jutting out in every possible direction. Her face was a little plump for such a thin woman, with a long neck that was met by a tight black shirt, the collar resting just under her jaw. A tiny, gray jacket stretch to her stomach, too small to close in the front. It was a ceremonial garment, intended to show her position on the Earth council, rather than to function as a true coat. Black bars ran across the breast of the small jacket, indicating the number of titles and degrees the young woman had obtained. Two were green, the same as her eyes, indicating that she was a member of the Science Council. Two were blue, indicating environmental endeavors. The remaining black bars indicated her service to the planet as well as the military. Her position was once a formality, a placeholder that linked back to the days when the Earth struggled to find its salvation in the galaxy. Kendra, however, had made the position viable again, forcing the government to acknowledge that the Earth was not out of danger. The attacks of the Cybers were identified as a global threat, thus why the councilwoman had been called to the meeting.

Wayne Widox was the head of the planetary patrol, in charge of security for Earth. The man had one foot in the military, the other in the criminal justice department. The short man was pushing forty, his black hair shoved forward over his scalp, with bushy black eyebrows, and cheekbones that amplified the depth of his eye sockets. He wore the standard military jacket, dark gray, with a black shirt underneath. The rows of bars on the man’s chest showed many years in service, countless achievements, and positions obtained throughout his career. The man had an oddness to him, happy and joking one minute, then as serious as death when the situation called for it. Technically, he was a Colonel, but his divided position often left his military ranking unobserved.

“We need to do both,” Garber added. “We need to gather more Intel AND act at the same time. I’m certain we have the manpower to accomplish two tasks simultaneously. The action, however, needs to be defensive. I want our government and military structures secured, immediately. Then focus on the larger cities.”

“I have a few ideas for that,” Colonel Widox replied. “I don’t think everyone will care for them, though.”

“I don’t much care for what everyone thinks,” Garber snapped. “Just say it and save me the candor.”

Wayne looked around the room, sizing up his opponents. This wouldn’t be the first time he’d suggested this course of action, but the timing had never been better.

“Re-open the Department of Homeland Security,” he started. “Appoint someone you trust to head the DHS and task them with securing our infrastructures. If that’s done, then the military is freed to act aggressively towards the threat.”

“Not this again,” Jana snapped. “Every year Widox, you announce the same damn thing. When will you get it through your head that the old ways won’t work anymore?”

“Do you have a better idea?” Wayne countered. “I know I say it every year at the budget hearings, but I believe this to be the strongest action to take. I’m not saying the huge department that it once was. I’m saying a small department with authority to take action. Fifty people, tops.”

“I like it,” Garber stated. “However, I think we’ll need more than just fifty people. I’m thinking we could use a new form of security across the remaining nations. One force with one objective and I have the perfect candidate to lead the department.”

“Not him,” Wilkes added. “That man will dig himself so deep into this planet that we’ll have to use bombs to shake him loose.”

Garber turned to his Vice President, attempting to recall why he kept her around all these years. From the moment he was reelected, Jana Wilkes had undermined every decision he’d ever made. It had come in handy sometimes, keeping him from making a hasty decision. This time, however, he’d decided that he didn’t need her advice.

“Can it Jana,” he snapped. “Your late husband would have jumped at this opportunity. I need him right now, but I’ll have to settle for you. Can you manage to be a little less counter-productive for a few hours?”

Jana’s face grew red at the mention of her late husband. There was a time when the former Vice President had aided Garber in every endeavor, going all the way back to childhood. She knew that Garber had only taken her on to honor her husband’s memory, but she didn’t appreciate it being called out in front of others.

“I’m not a fool,” Garber continued. “The revival of the DHS is just window dressing for the people. We can’t afford to scare the public any more than they already are.”

“I don’t see how that comes into play,” Jana added. “You can’t control the public, at least not directly. They’re smart enough to see it as window dressing.”

“We have to do SOMETHING,” Kendra injected. “Applications of citizenship to other planets are skyrocketing out of control.”

“You exaggerate,” Jana interrupted. “If people want to leave, then let them. We can’t feed them anyways.”

“We can’t,” Garber added. “But we can’t afford to keep losing our population. We’re down to less than a billion as it is. At this rate, the Earth will be an empty shrine to the past.”

“That brings my next point,” Wayne stated. “As VP Wilkes suggested, we need to ACT. None of us is foolish enough to think the Cybers are acting on their own accord. So who’s pulling the strings? Surely we have a list of suspects?”

“Isn’t that YOUR job?” Kendra asked, shifting in her seat. “You oversee the military and the criminal justice department, surely you have some insight to the matter.”

“I do,” he replied. “But it’s all speculation, nothing concrete.”

“Then start at the beginning,” Garber interrupted. “Either we have something someone wants, or this is about retaliation. So let’s start with what we have that someone would want.”

“They’ve made no demands,” Wilkes said, looking to Garber. “If they wanted something, they would have told us by now.”

“Perhaps,” Wayne replied. “But we’re only looking at a sliver of the evidence. J-17’s trial was spur of the moment. We may have forced their hands before they were fully prepared. It’s obvious that whoever is behind this is also the one that reprogrammed Joseph to kill Lord Elsmere, but maybe they hadn’t anticipated that the Cyber would turn himself in. Maybe they thought he would run and they’d have an entire manhunt before they needed to show their hand.”

“That makes sense, I guess,” Garber said, running his fingers through his thinning, white hair. “That makes them sound ill-prepared, though. Whoever is doing this has a load of connections. Gaining access to the programming of so many Cybers couldn’t have come easily. The attack on the courtroom was well orchestrated, and carried out flawlessly.”

“Almost flawless,” Jana stated. “They didn’t get Joseph out alive. Calloway’s statement indicates a struggle with the Cyber and the terrorists. Clearly, they were not in control of THAT one.”

“His wireless access had been disconnected for the trial,” Widox added. “They didn’t want him acting out of character during the trial, so Major Ballistar had him disconnected. That’s why he didn’t join with the others.”

“Alright,” Garber started. “I doubt the attack was to regain ONE Cyber’s freedom. That still leaves a lack of motive. Best I can recall, we’ve done little to upset any of the other planets in recent years. Sure, we’ve struggled to maintain relations with Eden, but this doesn’t fit their profile. They’d cut off our imports long before they’d carry out a terrorist attack. Parasus lost too many in the case and the trial for them to have been involved. Hell, King Isom himself was in the line of fire.”

“That’s motivation right there,” Kendra stated. “Perhaps the whole thing was to hide an assassination attempt. Isom is impossible to breach on his home world, and it’d be obvious it was an inside job if he was killed there. If he was killed on Earth, however, they could blame anyone. Isom’s been changing laws left and right ever since his wife passed. Maybe their officials or some unknown Parasus group didn’t like all the changes.”

“I believe that warrants an investigation,” Garber replied. “With the Military Advisory program shut down, we’ll have to rely on the I.I.U. to investigate Parasus involvement. Wilkes, reach out to them and get the ball rolling on an investigation. Tell them to be subtle about it though. I don’t want to cause a war when we’re trying to prevent one.”

“I’ll make contact as soon as we’re done Mr. President,” Jana replied, making a note on her data pad. "I’ll request that Calloway stay out of it. His involvement could make things worse.”

“Good idea,” Garber added. “Like him or not, Monasaul Isom is an ally. I’d like to keep it that way if possible. What other planets come to mind?”

“Veelona,” Wayne stated. “Their government has been on us for years over the amount of tax we require. They’re ship builders, so all we can do is tax the hell out of them. Negotiations last for months whenever the treaty expires.”

“Taurus,” Kendra added. “The farmers can’t keep up with our agricultural requirements. Even with our population dwindling, our requirements are still rising every year. We still haven’t managed to feed a million people on our own.”

“No, Taurus lacks the resources for this type of attack,” Jana said. “There are no scientific researchers that dwell in cybernetics on either of those planets. I’m not saying they’re not involved, but neither could do it on their own.”

“Are you suggesting a collaboration?” Wayne asked. “That multiple planets are conspiring to take down the Earth? We have eyes and ears everywhere. If such an event occurred, we’d already know about it. We control the big rings and who uses them. We could easily go back to see what planets have sent dignitaries to the same systems at the same time, but I’d doubt we’d find anything useful.”

“It’d be pointless,” Garber added. “That would rely on the assumption that the travel manifest was correct. It wouldn’t take much to sneak a team of dignitaries onto a supply ship. We’d never be the wiser.”

“That leads us back to the main questions,” Kendra said, looking to President Garber. “What do we have that others would want, and whom would be our enemies?”

“These Sons of Abraham would be worth investigating,” Wayne interrupted. “It could be a cover, but it could also lead to some truth. Agent Calloway was friends with Joseph. He’d be motivated to find answers. We should appoint him in charge of the investigation.”

“No!” Garber snapped. “Nathan Calloway is currently the most recognized I.I.U. Agent on the roster. We need him performing his normal duties, ESPECIALLY with the MA’s out of the picture. We can’t allow jurisdiction disputes to rise up once more. I agree it needs to be investigated, but he is the last person I want to head the inquiry.”

“That brings us back to our assets,” Kendra said. “If this is a matter of what the Earth has to offer, then the MA and I.I.U. programs would be the lead export. We have little else to offer other planets that our investigative and criminal justices support.”

“Don’t forget about technology,” Wayne interrupted. “We still hold the methods for everything the first gen Cybers created. Sure, Eden has the market on artificial gravity, but the Earth holds all the other keys. The last terraship was used up centuries ago, and I’d imagine that there are other technologies that other governments would kill to get their hands on.”

Jana grew quiet at the mentioning of the terraforming technology. She would have had to excuse herself if the Gabriel Rings had been mentioned. She perused the room, realizing that she may not have been the only one being victimized by the unknown attackers. Perhaps one, or all of the other members of the table were being blackmailed as well. It made sense. Push hard on each of them individually, and you would likely be rewarded. She knew Garber too well to think he was being attacked, but Wayne and Kendra were a bit of a mystery to her. It was possible that one of them was even one of the attackers. They told her this morning that they would take a more direct approach to the matter. Was this what they meant?

“It’s possible,” Garber replied. “But that leaves us waiting for a demand or ransom. I’d suggest we keep key figures gridlocked until we know for sure. I don’t want there to be a hostage situation.”

“There are a few scheduled to go to Eden for the festival,” Kendra said. “I can’t imagine they’d like being shut out from the event. Myself included.”

“I can’t risk it,” Garber replied. “You being off planet makes you vulnerable. I know you need to work with the scientists on Eden to solve our problems, but make them come here. I’ll send a formal apology to the Queen. She has a great deal of wisdom for such a young woman, I’m certain she’ll understand. She may even sympathize and offer us aid. Eden has always remained neutral in the affairs of other worlds, but it wouldn’t help to try.”