Page 112 of Cross Down
“We all know that answer.
“With failure.”
Chapter
136
I see Ned’seyes narrow and his face darken as he sinks deeper into the chair, staring at the screen with a hard intensity. I know what he’s feeling—his first reaction is that this must be some sort of horrible elaborate joke.
The highly professional recorded video continues.
“In reviewing the status of our great nation, as the lead military officer responsible for its safety, I saw that I had two options. I could maintain the status quo, see more deaths, more failures, or I could take a controversial path to save this nation and stop the killing.
“I have chosen the latter path. Forces under my command today repulsed a last-minute terrorist attack on the president and the White House and have taken control of the building and its grounds.
“As of this moment, the actions and the authority of the executive branch, Congress, and the Supreme Court have been temporarily suspended. Your trusted military will take command until this national crisis subsides. President Kent is safe in an undisclosed location, and I will confer with him through the days ahead.
“I have taken this action reluctantly, but I know it is necessary to save this country and its blessed people…”
On the screen Grissom pauses, coughs, and says, “Shit, sorry to screw that up. Should we start from the beginning?”
A woman off camera says, “Not a problem, sir, we’ll pick it up from here and edit it in.”
“Good,” Grissom says on the screen. “Let’s—”
Enough. I stop the video. “Nice mock-up of the Oval Office, don’t you think?” I ask.
Ned says, “That son of a bitch. That…John, where did you get this laptop?”
I say, “From Elizabeth Deacon’s ex-husband, retired general Gerrold Mason. He’s now a vice president at Global Security Services, an arms dealer and manufacturer of a number of black ops over-the-horizon and drone systems.”
“But that video, how did it get on—”
“On his laptop?” I say, looking over at the breathing but still unconscious Elizabeth Deacon, knowing I should call in medical help but also knowing I have just minutes to get Ned up to speed. “A few years ago, Mason was assigned by Grissom to the region between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, the area where that village was destroyed two years ago. Destroyed to keep a secret: That Mason and others were assisting cross-country opium smuggling from that location. They made millions of dollars, but they didn’t keep that money for themselves. It was sent to the United States, meant to be used to raise all kinds of hell, and it ended up in a classified account at Homeland Security.”
Mahoney says, “Homeland Security is behind all of this?”
I say, “That’s what Elizabeth and I thought and what Alex initially thought. But there are records on the laptop that show the money went to Homeland Security but left within days, assisted by a colonel within the U.S. Army’s Financial Management Command who was on temporary assignment to Homeland Security. Those millions of dollars wound up under Grissom’s control.”
Mahoney’s eyes widen. “The funds were used to finance the terror groups. But why?”
I say, “It was simple yet brutal, Ned. Grissom and his trusted people—working with cutouts and various sites on the dark web that would pop up and disappear—gave strategic and financial support to every domestic group that had a grudge against this nation or government. Grissom wanted chaos, death, destruction, and, ultimately, national mistrust, clearing the way for him to take control.”
“John…”
I push on. “After seizing control, he’s going to use his new powers to arrest and crush every one of those terrorists. Which will be a cakewalk, since he knows who and where they are and how to take them out.”
Ned seems to be thinking through what I just said.
I say, “And you know what? A solid majority of the American people will rally around him for finally ending the terrorist threat. Everything else will be minor. Most Americans want to be able to go to work and send their children to school without having to worry about anyone being blown up by a car bomb.”
“How do you know that, John?”
“Mason told me.”
“Are you sure he was telling the truth?”
I say, “I shot out the window of his tenth-floor office and dangled him out of it. After he shit and pissed himself, yeah, he showed me the documents on his laptop and thumb drives. He was telling the truth, Ned.”
