The Nuclear Option

This story is part of an ongoing series.

The chronological order of my stories is listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and

constructive

criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

Part 6 - The Search Begins (continued)

"Why do you say that?" asked McFarland, peering hard at me.

"Just looking at what we know, sir." I said. "They knew the route being taken. They knew the frequencies of the tracking devices and how to jam them. They knew the timing patterns of the satellites: I don't know any specifics of the OST's operations, but I do know that satellites go in and out of range, and I'm willing to bet they executed the hijacking right at the point of a weakness in the satellite coverage."

"We can certainly check on that." said GEN McFarland.

"And furthermore, General," I continued, "this hijacking had to be planned in advance, so they couldn't just randomly wait for Paco's team to be assigned as the follow-up team. Therefore,

I cannot consider it to be a coincidence that this rogue team was assigned to

this

mission!

Someone on the inside had to have controlled that."

"Oh my God." said the General, knowing I was right.

"Also, General," I said, "As you know, I believe they transferred the weapon to a railcar. Tomoko Shimono 2.0's partner Jerry Barsbane is an expert in transportation. He probably knows more about railroad operations than the train people do. He would know a lot about sneaking an extra railcar onto a train, perhaps with help, and has likely done so many times in the past. Whoever is helping him probably doesn't know that the contraband is a nuclear weapon this time; it's just another operation where they'll be paid some 'extra' for helping out Barsbane."

"Barsbane knows about the railroads," I continued, "but he doesn't know, or

shouldn't

know, the extent of the OST's operations to keep track of their cargoes. So someone on the inside, that also knows about railroads, has to be a part of this."

"The logic holds, sir." said Muscone. "I'd like your permission to very quietly and discreetly check into all of your people, just to make sure they're okay."

"Wow." said the General quietly. "But can that be done without anyone finding out?"

I just smiled. "Yes sir." I said. "Mr. Muscone has 'people', sir. And so do I." I was thinking about Melina Allgood and Myron Milton, but did not mention those names out loud.

"All right." said McFarland. "I'll get Just to give you the names."

"Sir," I said, "not to cast aspersions, and meaning no disrespect to General Just, but maybe this is something you should not mention even to him. Let's keep this our secret for now, sir."

"He's right, General." said Muscone. "Something like this really has to be kept to as few people as possible."

"Good Lord." said McFarland. "Well, I'll tell you what: start with that Major Martin. There's something about him I've never really liked. And he's Signal Corps, so yeah, he'd know all the frequencies and stuff."

"Yes sir, I'll start there." I said agreeably.

"So... what do you have against Rovers and the BAU team?" McFarland asked, peering at me.

"With respect, General," I said, "I've met Bob Rovers's brother David before, and 'pure stupid' must be a genetic trait of the Rovers family. I'm sure the BAU has some good Special Agents, but this unit's analysis is sloppy at best, and unprofessionally bad at worst. For example: Jerry Barsbane wouldn't kill anyone in cold blood, which of course is a requirement to become a 'Made Man' in the Southport Mob, and that's why he's not a part of the Mob down there now. So I don't know where Bob Rovers got that shit about Barsbane from, but that's what it is... pure shit."

"I agree with Commander Troy, General." said Jack Muscone. "I'll take him and his wife's psychological analysis over the BAU's, any day."

"Yeah, I get that." said McFarland. "Okay, you and the BAU go to opposite corners and come out swinging. In the meantime, before I call everyone else back in, what do you think is going on with this? Ransom? Sell to the highest bidder, like the Iranians or Islamist terrorists? And where do you think is the most probable place they will take the weapon?"

"Sir," said Muscone, "I'm skeptical of the ransom theory. I just don't see how they can expect to get paid without being traced, and you know we're going to go after them with everything we've got once we get the weapon back, or if we find out where it is."

"I agree." I said. "And while Barsbane is an excellent smuggler, trying to get this device out of the United States is going to be a Herculean task. But if that's their intent, you need to cover Southport like a blanket; that's where all the shipping by rail and boat happens around here. The other mode is by air, and you're all over City Airport already."

"That's true. And there's something else I need to bring up: your sister is also an excellent smuggler, Commander Troy." said General McFarland as he fixed his eyes upon me. "And her loyalty to this country is very much in question."

I solidly met the General's look. "I daresay." I replied. "She renounced her American citizenship entirely. However, sir: whatever else my sister is, one thing she is

not

, is stupid. She is not going to fuck around with something like this. And wherever her loyalties are, you should know, since you've obviously looked into her, that she is

no

friend of Iran nor the Islamists. Her loyalties are to a country that already has nuclear weapons, and does not need to purloin one of ours."

"All right." said the General. "I had to mention it to round out the picture. Yes, it was brought up yesterday, by General Just, and I had him check into her whereabouts. The problem is, we don't know where she is."

"Wherever she is," I said, "it very likely is not here in the United States. Chasing her would be a time-wasting red herring."

"As to ransoms, Agent Muscone," said the General, to change the subject, "if it's money they want, we'll pay it. If they put it up for auction, we will make sure we're the winning bid, one way or another. Like kidnappings and bank robberies, that would be an FBI mission."

"Yes sir." said Muscone. The General pressed a buzzer and said into the intercom that everyone could come back in.

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

*KNOCK!* *KNOCK!* *KNOCK!*

7:20am. The door opened, and the redheaded Army Second Lieutenant poked his head into the room. "General," he said, "we have some new information for you."

"Well, don't just stand there, Lieutenant!" said the General. "Come in here and tell me what it is!" The Second Lieutenant came in, and a second later MG Just came through the door.

"General," said the Second Lieutenant, "the Midwest & Pacific Railroad reported two days ago that one of its boxcars has been stolen from its Southport yard. It's an older car, painted green, and there aren't a lot of cars in that color any more since the Midwest & Pacific changed their paint scheme a few years ago."

"Who owns the Hammondsville Railyards?" MG Just asked. "It's not the Midwest & Pacific, is it?"

"BigRoadAndRailCorp, General." I said. "The Midwest & Pacific owns no rails in this area, nor do they have trackage rights. Southport is their eastern hub, and their line west from there is well south of Hammondsville."

"General McFarland," said MG Just, "I'm going to have assets go down to the Midwest & Pacific yards in Southport. It stands to reason that the weapon was driven down to the M&P line south of here, and would be taken into Southport for transport south down the Big River or west via railroad to the Port of Los Angeles."

"Let's talk about it." said McFarland. "Commander Troy, Agent Muscone, if you'll excuse us." Jack and I got up to go. So did Laura. "Laura, you can stay." the General said.

"No, General." said Laura. "I have my University job to do. Excuse me." She led the way out of the room before anything else could be said.

Part 7 - Press Payback Plans

8:30am, Friday, March 8th. Bettina Wurtzburg and Amber Harris went into the office of Burt West for 'meetings'.

"So," said West. "Anything new on what's going on at the Old Mill?"

Amber said "KFXU barely mentioned it. They said it was a 'preparedness exercise' in cooperation with the TCPD and other law enforcement entities, then moved right along to tell people that Val Jared is a wonderful man for signing the Budget bill that discriminates against undocumented workers."

"Amber, we're alone in here." said West. "You don't have to throw the spiel at me. But I'm not surprised KFXU is kissing the Government's ass and toeing their line. The military called me, too, asking us not to comment further on the exercise, so as not to create a panic. I demanded they tell me what was really going on, and that I fully intended to find out and tell the Public everything because the Public has a right to know."

Bettina smiled. "You're starting to sound like Priya Ajmani." she said, teasing West. "So what did they say?"

"They hung up on me." West replied. "So let's find out what's going on and really humiliate them, eh?"

"Sure." said Bettina. "Keith Madden is working on it. And I'm not supposed to tell anyone this, but SNN's Bill Hacosta is working closely with us on this. He's not really happy at SNN, and maybe we can snag him for KXTC.

"That's great!" said Amber. "He'd really work Don Troy over if Troy tried to give him any shit."

Burt West shook his head. "Ladies, Don Troy does not play by the rules. As you know, Chuck Pringle is dead because of Troy. John Hardwood is dead because of Troy. Thomas P. Cook is still missing and believed dead... because of Donald Troy. Troy shoved a perp over a cliff the other day, right in front of little school children. Troy doesn't give a damn about anything or anyone. He'd just as soon kill Hacosta as look at him."

"Then I guess we better not tell you what we're doing now." said Bettina.

"Uh oh." said West. "What is it?"

Amber Harris had a huge grin on her face as she said "We've begun investigating the situation of Cindy Ross fostering and adopting Betsy Von Telsing after Betsy's grandparents died. We think that Ross' father, Dr. P. Harvey Eckhart, paid a lot of money in bribes to expedite his daughter getting Betsy."

Bettina said "We're going to start running a multi-part exposé on DFACS, leading up to the Ross adoption. And then we'll tell the world what Ross did to get in front of the line to adopt Betsy while other families have to wait for months, even years, to adopt a child."

West's face showed the stunned disbelief that he felt. "Good God!" he exclaimed. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"And it gets even better." Amber said happily. "Take a look at these." She passed over a file folder. Inside were photographs of documents that were in a file folder.

"What's this?" West asked. "Oh my God. DNA tests... Betty Morelli is Betsy's birth mother, and the biological father is..." He flipped to the next photograph, then gasped. "Jesus H. Christ! Amber, where did you get this?"

"From a source." said Amber. "For your plausible deniability, all I'll say is that Dr. Laura Fredricson knows that her husband is Betsy's biological father. Those photos were taken of the file put together for Dr. Fredricson. And we're going to tell the world that Donald Troy is Betsy's real father."

West sat back in his chair in utter shock. "Does Ross know who the father is? Hell, does

Troy

know?" he asked.

"We're not sure." said Bettina. "What happened is that a couple of years ago, Troy and Ross escorted Betty Morelli to Federal Court in the City, to testify against her husband. But at the end Morelli backed out, and took the Fifth rather than testify. She ended up in prison, where she had a child. Obviously Don Troy impregnated Betty Morelli while she was in his custody."

Bettina continued: "Her parents, the Von Telsings, claimed the child, but they died a few months ago. Curiously, DFACS tripped over themselves contacting Dr. Eckhart, though we don't know why; ergo, our suspicion of bribery. Eckhart arranged the fostering, and is paying the bills for the legal work for his daughter to adopt Betsy."

"Do you..." West started, then said "Do you know what Don Troy might do to you if you report this?"

"What, murder us? Like he murdered Hardwood?" Amber said.

"Yes!" said West. "He just might!... if Ross doesn't wax you first."

"Ross is nothing." said Amber. "She's a pacifist like her father. We can spit in her face and she won't do anything. And if Troy does something... then he'll go to prison for it, maybe even be executed."

"And you'll both be dead." said West.

"Burt, it's not like we're putting Betsy in a warehouse full of explosives." said Bettina. "We're just going to humiliate Troy and Ross by exposing Betsy's true parentage and the bribes paid by Eckhart. And they can cry me a river when DFACS has to take Betsy away from them and follow the rules and have someone else adopt her."

"Why shouldn't I fire both of you right now?" West asked, his voice hardening.

"You can." Amber fired back. "But it won't stop us from exposing Don Troy as Betsy's father and demanding DFACS take the child away from Cindy Ross. Nothing will stop that. The only question is if you want KXTC to be the station that tell the Public what they have the right to know... or not."

"She's right, Burt." said Bettina. "Don Troy has waged war on us for months now. He won the battle over Lester Holder. I really want to hire Holder back, but you won't consider it. So this is the next best thing. We humiliate him, put his family in turmoil with this knowledge, and then we hand the ball off to Katherine Woodburn, who will use this to hammer the Iron Crowbar's lack of integrity when they start bringing up the Independent State Counsel investigation in Legislative committees."

"Geeeeeeezzz." muttered West. Then he thought about it, and said: "I

do

like the aspects of humiliating Troy, the Police Department, and helping the Legislators roast Jared alive and kick him out of office..."

"And this is the time to do it, while the Iron Crowbar is preoccupied with this military exercise thing, which isn't an exercise but a real emergency." Bettina said.

"Yes, that's true." said West. "But ladies, I'm not kidding... Troy has not been playing by the rules. There really is no limit to what he might permit himself to do to you. You could be putting yourselves in real, physical danger by doing this."

"We're reporters, Burt." said Amber. "That's what we do. We put everything on the line, even our lives, to bring the People the truth they have the right to know."

The religious quality of the fervor in her voice was somehow frightening to Burt West...

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

"Dr. Eckhart, you have a phone call." said Dr. Eckhart's assistant Tommy.

"Thank you, young Tommy." said Eckhart. He went to his desk, pressed the correct button, and said "This is Dr. Eckhart."

"Hi Dr. Eckhart, this is Janelle in the City." said Janelle from the City DFACS office. "I just wanted to let you know that a couple of reporters have been prying into us. They made O.R.A. requests about your daughter Cindy fostering Betsy and the adoption process. We denied the O.R.A. requests, as adoptions are protected by law. But they're still looking into us on it."

"Do you happen to know specifically who made the information request?" asked Dr. Eckhart.

"Yes sir." said Janelle. "It was KXTC in the Town & County. The O.R.A. document was signed by a reporter named Amber Harris."

"I see." said Eckhart. "I very much appreciate you calling, Janelle. Please let me know if any more issues come up with that. And do come and visit us again soon."

"I will, sir." said Janelle. "And I'll be volunteering at your next seminar here in the City."

"Splendid!" said Eckhart. "I'll see you soon, then." They made their goodbyes and disconnected. Eckhart then exercised what some might call a family trait: he went into a reverie...

Part 8 - The Human Element

Laura and I went up Riverside Drive to Police Headquarters. Fortunately for me, I have a reserved parking spot (it is

good

to be the Police Commander), as the gated parking lot was nearly full.

Going inside, there was a good number of Uniformed Officers going up and down the halls. They greeted me as they passed by me, and I greeted them back by name, using this as an exercise to keep my memory of their names fresh. Almost all of them were from 2nd Precinct.

Laura and I went into my office, where she sat down in a hot chair and I sat down and sighed in the relief of the chair, which supported my aching back. "You okay?" Laura asked.

"Sure." I said. "But those chairs in the General's office sucked, as far as my back is concerned. There's no place like home."

Laura smiled at that as she brought her chair around to the side of the desk so that her laptop monitor would not be seen from the anteroom nor the outside window, whose blinds I closed. She then got out her 'Company' laptop computer, plugged into my secure line, and began typing away.

"Whatcha looking for?" I asked.

"You asked me to watch everyone after the General kicked them out to talk to you privately." Laura said. "That was a brilliant idea, by the way."

"Butter me up, butter me up." I said. "Anything interesting?"

"Oh yes." Laura said. "I'm going to be unofficially helping Jack Muscone with the search for moles. That Second Lieutenant looked lost. General Just had him getting everyone coffee instead of him, the Lieutenant, supervising others. As to Just himself, I don't think he liked being kicked out of the room, but he he went around getting information from people, asking a lot of questions, trying to prep himself for anything General McFarland asks him. And I think that female Air Force Captain is having sex with both Just and McFarland."

"Consider that 'confirmed' by my observations." I said agreeably. Just then my assistant Helena buzzed me and said Captain Croyle wanted to come in. I had Teresa come in.

"Before you say anything," I said, "I want to congratulate you on a very smooth operation with the transition of 2nd Precinct to this Headquarters. Extend those compliments to Abram and Rudistan."

"Thank you, sir, and I will do that." Teresa said. "But a lot of that credit should go to the XO." She meant Cindy. I chuckled at that, and Laura smiled.

"Yes, Cindy has done a great job, and from what I understand she did not have the help she expected from Captain Aaron." I said. "Is that right?"

"I'm not sure what happened there, sir." said Teresa. "Captain Aaron has always done a good job with all the Physical Properties, and the Precincts have never had any complaint to me about anything. It looks to me like this thing caught him off guard, and he hasn't quite recovered... and now he has to recover with a certain Bulldog biting off chunks of his ass." Laura and I laughed again.

"So, what did you need from me?" I asked.

"I just wanted to tell you," said Teresa, "that the wives of the three OST truck crew members are here. They're in the Pastor's Room, and Father Romano is with them. I've talked to them also. Between you and me and the crowbars, sir... there is absolutely no one else taking care of them nor supporting them in any way."