CHAPTER 20


   When Janet had gotten on an airplane, bound for England, nothing of what she had ever imagined about that trip took place. She was supposed to be going for an initial consultation that would eventually get her to Feyland with a medical exchange program. She never made the first meeting after the riots had broken out and, now that it appeared as if no one would be going to visit the elves anytime soon, Janet just kind of figured that was a bust. Still, Janet could not exactly say that this entire trip had came up empty. She had slept under the same roof as the British Prime Minister. She had gotten to Coven Hill and she had almost been killed a few times along the way. She supposed, that how she left the U.K. was not as much of a surprise at it should have been. Her mother had shoved her on the first plane that she could find an excuse to use and sent Janet packing. As it turned out, that plane was military and full of wounded soldiers. What Mary did not know was  that her daughter was already scheduled to be on it. Janet let her Mom have her fantasy even if Mary had a parting gift.
Janet was confused by what her mother handed her and had to ask, “did a little sight seeing?”
“When you get to where you're going, you will give that to someone,” Mary sternly replied, “is that clear?”
Janet put the object in her pocket and asked with a snarky tone, “and I'm going to know this person... because?”
Mary was not amused, “you'll know, trust me.”
By the time the plane had landed at Andrews AFB, Janet had almost forgotten about her mother's rather emotionless farewell and, in fact, such things were what Janet considered pretty normal. Her mom never was the emotional type and her father only knew one, grumpy. Janet was sometimes surprised that she had turned out as normal as she had. Her brother was more than enough proof that things could have certainly gone another way. He was somewhere out in California, right now, and probably working part time jobs to pay for his only real goal in life, which was getting his noodle fried.
The entire trip had taken a lot less time than Janet would have figured. As she stood  to the side of the planes back ramp, watching the patients being unloaded, she finally learned what the local time was and did some quick math in her head. When she realized how short of a trip it had been she whistled and wondered if it could be right. Could a trip across the Atlantic really be that short? The air force crew chief was standing right next to her and he saw the looks she gave him. He laughed and told her, “we don't have to follow a lot of rules and regs that passenger planes do. When the pilot gets out over international waters, he pours on the gas and puts our sails in the wind.”
Janet had to kind of translate what the guy was saying but, she got the gist of it and when she asked him about how often they made trips like that, she was amazed at his reply, “I do it at least three times a week. Course we don't always go to Coven Hill. Sometimes we hit Italy. Last week we had to make two trips to Spain, oh, and last month I spent a week in Japan. We don't get over there too often but, as you can guess, this bird is fitted to move critical patients so, as you can figure, we can wind up about anywhere.”
What could Janet say to that but, “wow, and you make it home for dinner?”
The guy laughed, “most of the time.”
Janet thought about that for a second and realized something, “that actually sounds like fun.” What did not turn out to be so much fun was the helicopter ride. Janet was not so impressed and she wondered how it was her father actually loved doing this. He never actually said that he did but, then again, he never said that he loved anything. He talked about flying in choppers a lot and that meant about the same thing. Janet could have skipped this part for all it was worth.
When they touched down at Walter Reed, there was some Major waiting for her. It was not completely unexpected. Janet knew her mother and how she was. The woman had called ahead and had baby sitting arranged. Mary had been doing it since Janet was a child and it was almost amusing that the woman had not stopped.
The Major was a little surprised at the one and only bag that Janet had with her. His look said everything and Janet told him, “my real luggage is still somewhere in London.” Everything she had with her had been borrowed or hastily bought at Coven Hill. She was still a little irked by that but, what could she do? As far as Janet's mother was concerned, London was not safe enough to go back just for some clothes and, in that at least, Janet kind of agreed with her. Fortunately, her mother had thought of that as well. The Major had put together a few things for her and they were waiting in a small room that had been set aside for her use. Janet was a little taken by the VIP treatment and she asked the Major, “do you do this for everybody?”
The army major laughed and said, “I do when the White House calls and tells me too. Look Doc, I just work here.” Apparently the guy was some kind of public information dude but, that was really more than Janet wanted to know. She excused him, got cleaned up in the bathroom she had, and found a couple of guests waiting for her when she got out. Janet almost choked when she saw them patiently  sitting around, drinking coffee, and having a discussion about what sounded like a football game.
The first guy was no big surprise even if Janet had no idea the guy was at Walter Reed Army Hospital. He was an old friend of her dads and, like most of those guys, a general. Janet knew that Jim Garret was important but, it was not like she kept up with all of that stuff. He must have been more important than Janet would have ever figured, considering the company he was keeping. Even if Janet had never met the other guy, he was still easily recognizable to anybody that had ever watched five seconds of cable news. It was Bill Devon, the president!
Devon proved himself to be the politician because he did not give Janet the time to cough. He got up, showered her with pleasant small talk, and shook her hand while thanking her. He also guided her to a chair and even poured her some coffee. It took Janet a minute to recover and realize she needed to be polite. She finally managed to ask, “what about... uh... you know, your daughter? Is she ok? I haven't had time to...”
It was Jim Garret who calmly replied, “she's fine Janet. In fact she's right here at Walter Reed.” When the shock on Janet's face was still apparent, Garret added, “she had minor injuries. Her detail was on the ball.”
Devon added, “don't be upset Doctor, my daughter is the main reason I'm over here. It took a few days to figure out how to sneak me out of the White House, just so I could see her.”
Garret added, “we didn't want the press getting wind of where she was.” After a sip of his coffee, he then finished his thought with, “or anyone else for that matter.” Given what Janet had just been through, she figured that was more than reasonable. She had to consider that she was now in the same building with a potential terrorist target. Then Janet realized she was sitting right next to a man that was probably at the top of a hit list for a host of assassins and nut balls. At the moment, Devon's safety was hers. Garret did not seem to notice her reaction but then a short laugh proved that he was reading Janet's thoughts. Then he put his coffee down and said, “your mom gave you something when you got on the plane.”
“Oh yeah,” Janet really had forgotten about the thumb drive at this point. She was still bewildered when she took it out of her pocket and handed it over, “she said I would know who to give it to. I guess she was right.”
The president casually told the doctor, “we didn't want the potential risk of this getting out in the open, so, you were our safest means of delivery. I apologize for that Janet,” and Devon sounded as if he meant it, “you've already been through enough but, this is important.” Devon did not seem to realize that Janet had not even considered what he apologized for next, “you were safe. So don't blame your mom. If I had thought you were in danger, even for one second, I would have never let her hand this to you.”
What Janet wanted to say to this was, “then you're a lot more thoughtful than my mother.” She kept that to herself and replied instead with, “I would have never questioned it Mister President.”
Garret laughed at that but, did not bother to explain why. Instead he took the  computer drive and put it in his pocket just before changing the subject, “you took care of Katie, I heard. Is she going to be ok?” The President looked questioningly at his general so Garret told him, “Tommy Mack's daughter.”
Devon was now confused, “the lobby guy? From that...”
“Veterans group,” Garret nodded, “yes sir.”
Janet was starting to get uncomfortable and Devon noticed. He was also quite used to such things. People who had never given Bill a second thought had suddenly become far more apprehensive with him around ever since he moved in to the White House. Everyone else usually acted much like Janet, as if they were just two steps away from a coronary. Bill Devon was just amazed at the kinds of things you could get used too. He also handled it the way he did with people he liked, he turned on his fatherly side and told the young girl, “young lady, I think you'd be more comfortable handling your patients than farting around with a couple of old guys like me and Jim. Am I right?”
It was also a good way to clear the room and Devon then huffed and told Garret, “that girl is going to be just like her mother one day.”
The general laughed, “she's lucky. Her only alternative is to wind up like Bob. Fortunately, Janet has more of her Mom's diplomatic skills.”
Devon knew those and Mary's skills, all too well, and in that department they usually started out with eyes that cut like daggers. Mary was one of the few people that didn't act like Bill was a rock star and, that alone made her very useful to keep around. Bill despised kiss asses even if, like any other old politician, he had made a career out of milking them when he wasn't practicing it himself. That was one perk to being the top dog, of course. Bob no longer had to brown nose. These days he was more accustomed to doing what he did now, that being, standing up and issuing orders like, “you know what to do with that Jim.”
Garret joined him and patted the drive in his pocket, “I'll have some kind preliminary on your desk by this afternoon. Course, you know this is going to be slow going with...”
As Devon walked to the door he told the guy, “do we really have a choice here? We can't even trust our own people right now. I would think my very presence here is more than enough proof of that.”
Garret simply shrugged and said, “we don't know who they were Bill. For that matter, we don't even know who the target really was.”
Before opening the door, the President became less than presidential when he said, “and you know what I've finally decided. I don't give a damn. They tried to kill my daughter, Jim. Being President has to have some kind of perks and if blowing smoke on the biggest investigative apparatus, in human history, isn't one of them, I can't imagine having any other.” Bill saw a reaction in his general's face and it was not one he had expected, “what?”
“I don't know Bill,” Garret replied, “what you said there. The 'in human history' part. These days, it doesn't mean as much as it used too.”
Now Devon really did consider that and he had to admit, “fair point.”
When Garret got back to his office he was a little surprised to see who was sitting in it and, the man almost acted as if it were his own. Garret did not bother to ask how the man got past his legions of security and administrative assistants. Jim had a fair idea of how that happened. Instead of bringing it up, instead, Jim simply said, “funny you would come crawling out from under the cracks, Tommy. I was just talking about you earlier.”
Tommy Mack laughed and set his coffee aside, “nothing good I suppose. Course I can imagine why. You just got back from Walter Reed, I hear.”
 “You know I don't want to seem rude,” Jim Garret replied as he stood behind his desk and began sifting through the mountain of classified documents on it, “but I am kind of busy here Tommy.”
“Well you know why I'm here,” Mack replied.
Jim sighed and then rested his fists on his desk as he replied, “I'm guessing this is about Katie? What do you need me to do Tommy? I'm not a doctor.” Jim listened to the man's requests and, after thinking about it, he realized they were not really requests. They were more like demands. Tommy did not earn two stars by being unaware of how politics worked. Very few generals did and, of the ones that did not, like say Bob Isaacs, they would probably never get more than one star to slap on their uniform. In reality, Jim was sometimes shocked that Bob even got that many. Tommy was definitely not Bob. They guy knew which buttons to push and all Jim had to say to that was, “she deserves a lot and, I aim to see that she gets it.” Jim did have to add, “not because of you Tommy.”
“Now you know me Jim,” Mack replied in his easy country manner. “If I thought that Katie didn't deserve any of that, I would never even have suggested it but, I do get reports.”
“No problem,” Jim Garret replied and, as the retired General departed, Jim left him with a parting thought, “next time Tommy, all you have to do is send a text, ok?”
That drew a laugh from Mack but, from Jim's point of view it was really not all that funny. He was certainly not in a joking mood when Sergeant Major Lenny Price wandered in. Lenny did not side step the very first issue he knew would come up. Jim had never known a Sergeant Major who would. Lenny just acted like any action he took was bestowed upon him to not only be the correct one but, a matter for holy reverence. Lenny told his boss point blank, “you know he wasn't going to go away until he got in here. I figured it was the easiest way to handle it.” If anyone else had said that, Jim would have probably figured the guy was brown nosing but, Jim new better in this case. Lenny also pointed out, “besides that, I figured Major Mack earned it.”
Jim never looked up from his paper work as he mumbled, “I guess Katie did but, we have more important issues to deal with.”
Lenny held up the little thumb drive and said, “that we do.”
That got Jim's full attention, “don't tell me you're already finished. That has got to be some next level shit over there. Who the hell did you show it too?”
“Don't sweat it,” Price replied, “nobody that saw it knows where it came from and, besides that, we didn't have to go find Stephen Hawking. As it turns out, the problem was just the opposite. Fortunately, we got a couple guys down at the museum that knows all about this stuff.”
Jim winced in confusion, “Lenny, what the hell are you talking about? Museum? Did we get the right drive? That was supposed to be the video that Conner shot at Coven Hill. I was pretty sure we'd be looking at stuff right out of Star Trek.”
“Not even close,” Lenny replied, “it's more like shit right out of the Battle of Britain.”
“What?” Jim winced again and then something occurred to him, “those towers around the perimeter of Coven Hill?”
Lenny nodded, “turns out they're all connected. They really are radar towers, of the obsolete variety at that.”
Jim stood up as he reached for his phone. As he waited to be connected he asked Lenny, “is this written up yet?”
Lenny shook his head, “didn't think you wanted it to be.”
“Guess you're right...” Jim heard the voice on the other end and replied to it, “we're on the way over.” After he put the phone down, he gathered a few items, and then nodded to his Sergeant Major, “come on, we're taking a little trip across the Potomac.”
In less than an hour, Lenny was laying it all out in the Oval Office. Devon's response was less than presidential when he said, “what the fuck?”
Jim had sat patiently and listened to the entire report. His only reply to the President was, “I don't get the whole air thing? I mean if they never had to turn Building Thirteen into a vacuum chamber then why have they been bothering? I mean despite what this Dominique guy told Conner, it...”
Devon was in deep thought as he replied, “actually, well, I should say unfortunately, that makes more sense than I'd like to admit.”
That confused Garret, “excuse me sir?”
Devon tried to figure out how he felt on the matter. In the end he said, “well it just might be the answer to another issue we've been dealing with.” When it was clear that his general was lost, the President pointed out, “you know, Jim? Like why a guy who makes submarines for a living is so interested in tornado's in Kansas.”
Garret felt a cold shiver run up his spine, “the Wizard Of Oz is not exactly fiction, is it?”
Devon blinked and then replied, “considering what we've had in the morgue, down at Fort Meade, for the last few decades, my next reaction would be to have the FBI go round up Frank Baum and question him, if he wasn't already dead.”
Jim looked to the confusion on his Sergeant Major's face and with a chuckle he said, “the guy that wrote Wiz...”
“I know who he is sir,” Lenny shot back in a semi hostile tone. The sergeant major then looked to the commander and chief and said a little more respectfully, “I know this might be above my pay grade mister President but...”
Bill nodded and politely told the man, “all in good time Sergeant Major. You've done a good job here, even if it only leaves us with more questions. The good news is, at least, now, we know the right questions to ask and that's putting us on track.”
At that point, the general turned to his top enlisted man and asked him a polite order, “Lenny, can you give us the room please.” Even a Sergeant Major had limits to their divine powers. Price knew this was one of those times and excused himself. When he left, Jim then said, “you know what this does to the threat level?”
Devon nodded and replied, “it does seem to confirm some of our more serious concerns. Unfortunately, we have no way of getting anymore reports from Arbuckle.”
“Bill,” Garret said with a tone that reflected those serious concerns, “I don't think we need any more. What the Air Force found, over there, is pretty compelling.”
“How so?” The President asked as he stood up and then faced his window, “so far, all they've found is nothing.”
“Exactly my point,” Jim replied, “that's the last thing they should have found.”
“Yeah Jim,” Bill agreed with a tone of frustration, “but I can't go to congress and tell them that the threat is, quite literally, nothing. Add that to the fact that, right now, we don't even really know what's going on in Feyland. Remember, congress is not the only crew we have to convince here. I'm getting similar reports from Rose and Mary. Unless we come off with something better than what we got, the Russians and Chinese are still leaning towards us being the culprits. They already don't like the fact that we've got the in road on the elves.”
Jim snorted out, “that's a joke.”
Bill pointed to himself, “we know that but it's not how it looks to them.” Now with his own frustration the President said, “what it looks like to me is, we're being played by our pointed eared friends, and they're a lot better at it than we gave them credit for.”
With a hint of regret, Jim stated, “you know who you have to talk to.”
“Unfortunately,” Devon replied before adding, “the real question is, does he want to talk to me. It's not like Lasky has been all that forthcoming up till now. Then the real question on my mind, about him, at least, is....”
Jim knew that question because it had been on his mind as of late. Given what Lenny had found, it really made one wonder, “is Lasky a Camelonian?”
“Exactly,” Devon replied before admitting, “I might not trust our Fey friends but, those guys, I really don't trust.”
“Well,” Jim said with a sigh, “we know we have a leak somewhere and...”
Devon finished the thought on a down note, “he's one of a very limited number of people that knows the entire story, and...” After a pause Devon went on to admit, “sometimes, I wonder if he's the only one that really does.”