Vanishing Point - Marc Cerasini [21]
Though shunted to the sidelines by her own staff and the press of reporters, Sherry Palmer's gaze never left her husband — even when Lev Cohen touched her shoulder and spoke softly into her ear.
"I just spoke to Bell's chief of staff, Doug Healy..."
"And?"
"Congressman Bell's going to make the introduction himself. Later this afternoon. I have all the information..."
Sherry frowned. "Oh, you have all the information? Then you must know why we weren't notified about this press conference in advance. This was no spontaneous event, Lev."
Cohen bit his lower lip. "Healy claimed it was an oversight. Someone in his office didn't make a call..."
Sherry cut him off. "That's bull and we both know it. Larry Bell is jealous. Back in the day he thought he was a better basketball player than David, and now he thinks he's a better politician, too."
Sherry finally shifted her gaze away from her husband, to focus on his chief of staff. "Bell probably believes he should be running for president instead of David, too. But that will never happen because David has the one thing that Larry Bell will never have."
Lev blinked. "Actually David has three things, or did you forget our campaign slogan? Competence, charisma, and experience..."
Sherry smirked. David Palmer possesses all those qualities, it's true, she thought. But he's only going to be President for one reason. Because he has me.
* * *
1:19:11 p.m. PDT
Hangar Six, Experimental Weapons Testing Range
Groom Lake Air Force Base
CTU Agent Tony Almeida entered the hangar through a little used side door, pausing for a moment so his eyes could adjust to the building's dim interior. Outside, in the desert's afternoon glare, most members of Dr. Reed's research team were running diagnostic tests on the massive sensor array. By now, the apparatus was sitting on top of the tower, and the huge crane that had hoisted it here had crawled back to its holding area on clanking steel tracks.
After Tony finished running his own diagnostics — on the shielded generator unit that would power the microwave emitting device — he noticed the entire team wasn't present. Slipping away, he headed back to Hangar Six to track down the missing person.
Tony circled the building, moving off the pavement into the soft sand. With each step of his steel-toed work boot he kicked up red brown desert dust. No one had used this path for some time. Tony knew because some sign of foot tracks would have been visible, and there was nothing in the sand beyond the swirling tracks of a long-gone rattlesnake.
Near the rear of the structure, Tony climbed three steel steps that led to the side door. He knew the door was unlocked — Tony had made sure of that before the researcher team even rolled out of the hangar. Now he entered a darkened storage area just off the main floor of the hangar, well out of sight of anyone inside.
With the overhead lights powered down, what little illumination came through grimy windows set high in the walls. Most of the high-roofed interior was shrouded in shadows. When his eyes finally got used to the gloom, Tony cautiously stepped around a pile of empty wooden packing crates which formed a makeshift wall.
Suddenly he froze. A hushed voice was speaking in an urgent tone...
"I told you I can't come now... The project is on a lock down, that's why... That means nobody can leave, no matter what... I'm stuck here until the demonstration is over."
Though the echoing interior of the hangar distorted some of the words, Tony recognized the speaker at once. He was the missing scientist, Dr. Steve Sable. Tony trailed the sound, moving quietly from one dark patch to another, carefully approaching the caller.
"Look, I'll try to get there soon, but I can't promise anything," Sable said. "I..."
The man's excuses were cut short by the person on the other end of the line. Sable tried to stammer a few words in his own defense, but they were apparently ignored. Patiently following the sound, Tony finally located the cyber-engineer behind an idle tow tractor.