Lieutenant Colonel Rogers sat in his trailer, waiting for word from the civilian liaison, a small, dapper saintly faced NSA man named Tucker. Tucker had but one role in this conspiracy—there was no other word for it—and that was to convey whether or not the weapon had been acquired.

The Sunday New York Times lay spread across a desk below three blank television monitors. On the front page, three headlines of almost equal size vied for attention:

PRESIDENTIAL CRONY ASSASSINATED

Reverend Ormandy Shot by Lone Gunman in New Orleans

CROCKERMAN VETOES ALIEN DEFENSE ACT

FORGE OF GODDERS GATHER TO "PROTECT" ALIEN CRAFT

Gathering of England-Based Cultists in California

The whole world was going mad, and taking him along, in the past week, he had three times violated his oath as an officer. He was participating in a conspiracy that would ultimately subvert the expressed orders of the Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces. Within two weeks, sooner if all went as planned, he would attempt to destroy the very object the cultists surrounding the site wished to protect.

What disturbed him most of all was that he was not more disturbed. He hated to think of himself as a hardened radical, but he had indeed been radicalized, and he was no longer able to see and think of opposite courses of action. All he could see was a threat to his nation and a government in complete disarray. Extraordinary times, extraordinary measures.

The trailer phone rang. He answered and the command center operator told him he had an outside call from CINCPACFLEET—Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet.

Tucker's voice came on the line. He was, more than likely, calling from the aircraft carrier Saratoga operating a hundred miles due west of San Clemente Island. He had, more than likely, just finished speaking with Admiral Louis Cameron.

"Colonel Rogers, we have an arrow and all the feathers we need."

"Yes."

"Do you understand?"

"I understand."

"Your next contact will be Green."

"Thank you."

He hung up the phone. Green was Senator Julio Gilmonn, Democrat, California. Gilmonn was chairman of the Senate Alien Defense Subcommittee. He would ride in a big limousine through the cordon of cultists and onto the site in approximately ten days. He would be heavily guarded.

In the trunk of the limousine would be the "arrow," a three-kiloton warhead originally designed for an anti-submarine missile aboard the Saratoga.

Carrying this warhead in a custom sling, Rogers would enter the bogey.

He folded the newspaper neatly and stood to make his afternoon rounds.

PERSPECTIVE

CBS Daylight News,

January 1, 1997,

Hosts Tricia Revere and Alan Hack:

Revere: Were you in Times Square or watching it on TV?

Hack: TV. I value my life.

Revere: I've never seen anything like it. An absolute frenzy.

Hack: They think it's our last year on Earth. (Shakes his head at comment off camera) The hell with that. Let's be real. They do. So they're going to party.

Chapter 46

46

January 3, 1997