Vanishing Point - Marc Cerasini [93]
8:00:09 a.m. PDT
CTU Headquarters, Los Angeles
Ryan Chappelle received an urgent call, a tip from a former colleague now working in the Department of Defense. Face taut, Chappelle listened to the disturbing news with angry disbelief. More than anything, he was puzzled by the government willingness to flush four highly trained and immensely valuable assets down the toilet — five, if one were inclined to count the troublesome Morris O'Brian.
After ending the conversation with his colleague, the Regional Director of CTU, Los Angeles, attempted to speak directly with the President, only to be told the Commander in Chief was "in conference." He tried the Vice-President and ran into another wall.
Frantic now, Chappelle tried calling the Secretary of Defense, and to his surprise the man accepted his call.
"How can I help you, Director Chappelle?" Secretary Thompson asked in his Tennessee drawl.
"I wanted to inform you that we have four CTU Agents inside of Groom Lake right now," Chappelle replied.
A moment of silence followed the declaration. "There are a lot of people at Groom Lake, Mr. Chappelle. Good people."
Chappelle knew that when the Secretary of Defense casually demoted him from "director" to "mister," Ryan was in trouble. Still he persisted.
"I'm asking you to call off the B-52s, Mr. Secretary. Give my men a chance to deal with the situation before you resort to drastic action."
Another moment of silence. "I would like to help, but..."
"Secretary Thompson, these are very capable agents. One of them is the very best field agent in our Unit. I believe that even though they may be outnumbered six to one, my agents can and will resolve this situation."
"Excuse me for a moment, Director Chappelle."
Promoted again, Ryan thought hopefully.
He held on the phone for almost five minutes. When Secretary Thompson returned, he seemed irritated.
"All right, Director. Noon is our new go time. That means CTU has a little less than four hours to show us your stuff. If those pilots don't get the proper code phrase by noon sharp, I will give the order to bomber command to flatten that base. It will be Rolling Thunder all over again..."
"Code phrase, sir?"
"It's a randomly generated phrase created by our computer and disseminated over a secure channel. We'll send the phrase directly to you through a secure server."
"One more thing, Mr. Secretary," Chappelle said.
"Son, don't you know when to quit."
"No sir, I don't. Not when the lives of my agents are involved."
"What is it, Director?"
Ryan wasn't completely sure, but he thought he sensed a new hint of respect in the Secretary's tone. "I need to speak with my agents in the field," Chappelle replied. "I want to alert them about the time frame they are facing. To do that, the Air Force needs to stop their jamming for a few minutes."
"I'll talk to General Boyd. The jamming will be lifted for five minutes, commencing at exactly 0900 hours — that's nine o'clock, civilian time. Good enough?"
"Thank you, Mr. Secretary."
* * *
8:30:49 a.m. PDT
Hangar Five,
Experimental Weapons Testing Range
Groom Lake Air Force Base
After the loss of his escape plane, Jong Lee established a new command center in Hangar Five, where he could personally watch over the only functioning aircraft left on the entire base. The Blackfoot stealth helicopter figured prominently in Lee's original plan. That piece of advanced hardware was even more important now that the situation was in flux.
"It was not an attack," Lee declared. "One helicopter means a reconnaissance mission, not an all out assault." Jong's thin lips curled into a smile. "It gives me hope that the Americans have been shocked into paralysis."
"It is mysterious," Captain Hsu noted. "The Americans have positioned satellites over our heads. I have seen the contrails of high-altitude spy planes as well. They know much of what is going on here. Why send a reconnaissance helicopter?"
"Have you dispatched men to the crash site?"
"Yes, sir. Woo and two men are on their way now."
A runner arrived, dispatched from the