Nothing New Under the Sun, page 30
Mackenzie shook her head in disbelief and then remembered, “Of course Grandpa Will! He is the one who introduced me to her.”
Patrick and Rhodes laughed while they nodded.
“Okay, so those are the main points I had to clear with you. Now it’s your turn.” She smiled.
Hunter looked at Rhodes raising his eyebrows, “Other than wanting to know when you can start, I have nothing. What about you Jim?”
“No, nothing else from me,” Rhodes responded. “As soon as we have completed your security checks, we will have to get you to D.C. for a month of orientation, just like Carter did.”
“So does that mean we have reached an agreement?” Mackenzie asked.
“Yep, that’s all there is to it.” Rhodes nodded and extended his hand.
“Welcome aboard Dr. Devereux!” Hunter said, also shaking her hand.
Mackenzie smiled brightly, “Thank you!”
Chapter 42
You’ve never been to Jerusalem
Hunter Patrick found it difficult working out the weekly budget for his institute since officially it didn’t exist. In the past, secret agencies didn’t have such problems. They were handed a lump sum of money, and in return, gave the patron the information they needed or results they wanted. The money vanished into a black hole and, if the results and information were good, the spy agency would get more funds the next time. In such a manner, secret intelligence gathering agencies found their budgets and the employee roster expanded quickly. If, however, the information and results were bad, they found themselves curtailed, and a new agency would come into being. In such a fashion, the OSS had given way to the CIA when the cowboy phase and prep school atmosphere of the Second World War replaced the need to become professional.
The institute found itself in the peculiar situation where its activities more often than not, produced nothing of value. Its adversaries on Capitol Hill, who did know it existed, compared A-Echelon to the boy who went around snapping his fingers every day until someone asked him why he did it. He told them it kept the monsters away. When informed there were no monsters, he offered this as proof that his method worked.
A-Echelon existed because, when the institute did produce something of value, it was revolutionary. A budget crisis in Congress a few years ago didn’t happen because of a vast influx of cash into the federal budget from unknown sources. At the time, government critics accused the Federal Reserve of playing with the gold supply in Fort Knox to manipulate the budget, but what they didn’t know was that A-Echelon had discovered a massive amount of gold bullion stashed in the Southwest. The horde was unknown for centuries until an A-Echelon researcher found the location by examining a map in Catalan from some conquistador centuries ago.
Another text, translated 20 years ago, gave the institute credence when they found an anti-radar coating for aircraft. An Italian alchemist working on an ointment to give its user invisibility found something extraordinary. He managed to write down the formula in his notebook in a secret code no one had ever cracked until a genius mathematician, working for A-Echelon, found the key. Legend had it that the alchemist vanished into history and, some said, with the contents of a duke’s treasure room. The notebook, seized when the duke’s troops raided the alchemist’s lab, ended up in the ducal library, but the duke’s daughter vanished with the alchemist. The author of the notebook found out there were things more useful than the discovery of turning base matter into gold.
Rhodes told Mackenzie these stories as he took her on a tour of the A-Echelon offices, housed inside the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
He took her through a back door, badly in need of a coat of paint. Once past the musty museum, Mackenzie found herself in a carpeted hallway that led to a suite of offices. People roamed past her with bound copies of books and ancient artifacts held carefully in hands wearing cotton gloves.
This royal tour of the facilities, led by Rhodes, was the first step in her month-long orientation course. Her orientation course was structured very different from Carters. Although it included some self-defense and weapons training, her course was designed for someone who would be working as an A-Echelon researcher with very little requirement to go out in the field, like Carter would have to do.
At the end of the course, she and her handler, Irene O’Connell, met with Director Patrick, the same as Carter had to do at the completion of his orientation course.
Patrick had Mackenzie’s results in front of him and looked at her where she sat opposite him, with Irene on her left. He smiled broadly. “I thought Carter was the brightest candidate we have ever seen in this place, but I think he has some serious competition now. You did very well Mackenzie. I’m impressed.”
“Thank you, Hunter. I enjoyed it very much.” She smiled.
For the next hour, the three of them discussed the logistics and administration of her project. After reaching an agreement, the meeting adjourned and Mackenzie picked up some documents from Irene before making her way to the airport to fly back to Boston.
***
“So how long have you worked for the Institute?” Mackenzie asked Liu when they had lunch together the following week. “I requested they hire you on as a translator and was informed you’ve been one of them for a long time.”
“About seven years,” she laughed. “Will got me in.”
“I was surprised when I heard about your involvement but also very happy,” Mackenzie said.
“So was I when they told me you were coming onboard,” Liu told her. “You’ll have access to libraries the Vatican doesn’t even know about. The Institute has a listing of every single obscure book in the country and all the private collections that interest them. I don’t think even I have any idea what information they have available at their fingertips. Come to think of it, I don’t think there is one single person in A-Echelon that knows.”
“It sounds like we are going to have a lot of fun with all these new resources becoming available.”
“Oh, I can assure you of that. You will lay eyes on information that will go beyond your wildest dreams. Some of it might be scary, I warn you, but for most of the time, you are going to have a ball.”
***
Mackenzie’s parents were excited and very helpful when they heard the family would be returning to Boston. Her mother was elated when Mackenzie asked her to help take care of Liam for those times when she had to be in Washington. Liam was their first and only grandchild, and they wouldn’t pass up any opportunity to see and spoil him.
After returning to Boston, Carter, Mackenzie, and Liam took frequent walks in one of the parks near their home. Liam enjoyed running around and playing with his newfound love, a three-month-old puppy named Jeha, a Cavoodle - a cross between a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel and a miniature Poodle. The two of them were inseparable. Jeha even slept with him on his bed at night. She was a birthday present from his grandparents soon after they returned from Freydis. Of course, Steven and Mary checked with Carter and Mackenzie first to be sure that they would be okay with having a dog in the house.
“So what plans do you have for the upcoming months?” Mackenzie asked Carter.
Now that she was also part of A-Echelon, it was possible for them to exchange information on their work.
“I’ve got a lot of traveling coming up soon,” he exhaled. “And I’m not looking forward to being away from you and Liam, but there are just so many places where those nukes could be. Working on the assumption that we are not the only ones looking for them, we, unfortunately, don’t have time on our side.”
Carter didn’t tell her he was worried about the contents of a CIA report shown to him by Rhodes. A ground penetrating radar satellite image picked up abnormal radiation from a location inside Syria. The CIA was being their usual tight-mouthed selves about the specifics – telling Rhodes that they would investigate further and keep him in the loop. They had been sitting on the information for weeks already.
Carter didn’t hold out much hope for a quick answer from them. The importance of information sharing between security agencies was still being paid lip service only. Despite foreign and local terrorism threats, every one of them still protected their own little information empires as if their personal lives depended on it rather than all the lives of the very people they were supposed to be protecting. With the civil war raging in Syria, there was nothing that A-Echelon could do but wait. They also hoped the CIA understood the importance of the matter, and would give it the proper priority.
“I take it that whenever the need arises for me to travel incognito, abroad or domestic, A-Echelon will take care of the necessary ID documents?”
“You really are into this ‘cloak and dagger’ stuff aren’t you!” Carter laughed.
Mackenzie gave him a playful kick on his butt.
“Don’t worry, they will get you whatever documentation you need,” he told her. “We work closely with selected people at the CIA at times, and they can create some bizarre, but possible scenarios to get you where you need to be. Remember, these are the guys who created a fake film studio just to rescue some embassy employees during the Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979.”
“So if I need to be a member of the National Archives …”
“They’ll find a way to make you all the credentials you need. One word and you’ll be anyone you need to become. I haven’t needed their I.D. cover services yet, but I’m sure they could turn you into a Carmelite nun if you needed to become one.”
“Somehow this doesn’t make me feel a whole lot better, but whatever it takes to get the job done I guess.”
“You’ve never been to Jerusalem. Would you like to see it?” Carter asked.
“I would definitely love to see it.”
“I’m thinking about meeting up with you and Liam there at the end of this big survey tour. I thought maybe we could spend a few days in Jerusalem and then take a nice one-month Mediterranean cruise before we come back.”
“Oh yes, that would be nice! But isn’t Jerusalem a risky place to visit?”
“It’s been quiet the past year. I’m not too worried about it. Things do flare up from time to time, but you shouldn’t let that keep you from seeing what most people believe to be one of the most historically significant places on Earth.”
“That’s going to be a very pleasant holiday.” She winked at him with a ‘you-just-wait-and-see' smile on her beautiful face.
Chapter 43
Where would it all end?
It was almost midday in northern India when the passenger jet touched down. Chandigarh International Airport in Punjab was very busy, and Carter and Rhodes watched fighter jets lift off on training exercises on the adjacent runway as their plane taxied up to the airport terminal. The airport handled many commercial flights, although it was also part of an Indian Air Force base. The military in India had no issues with the civilian sector using their runways. However, judging by the number of uniformed personnel around the terminal, there could be no doubt as to who ran the show at the airport.
Two porters offered their services as Carter and Rhodes left the terminal after clearing customs, but Rhodes already had a flight and transportation lined up with the Indian Air Force. He’d arranged it through the Indian embassy in Washington.
A secret GPR – ground penetrating radar – satellite controlled by the CIA produced some very intriguing anomalies at a location in Northern India. It was of interest to Carter for many reasons. Most important was that the GPR data, rendered as 3-D images by special geological survey software, showed multiple layers of structures more than 50 feet below the surface. From what they could figure out from the pictures, there were, at least, two layers, and possibly a third. The only way to get better information was to visit the site and undertake some ground based GPR surveys. It was of some concern that the site was in very close proximity to an unstable border with Pakistan.
On closer scrutiny of the images, maps, and other information, Carter and Rhodes learned that an archeological dig under the direction of Professor Chandra Pillay, an archeologist lecturing at Guru Jambheshwar University, was already established.
Carter found pictures of some of the artifacts that Professor Pillay had put online and saw that some of them were modeled out of Trinitite. The satellite radar images also showed that Pillay’s crew was just scratching the surface. There were structures more than 50 feet below the levels where Pillay’s crew was digging, and he was, no doubt, unaware of what was going on deeper down.
Carter contacted Professor Pillay and told him about the interesting anomalies he found on the radar images and asked for permission to visit the site, and to be able to explore and map it out in detail.
Pillay was delighted to oblige, especially after he heard about the financial contribution he would get for his research project if he were willing to let Carter and an associate spend some time on his dig. Of course, Carter and his associate could work on their own as long as they would share their findings with him when they were done.
Carter and James hadn’t been waiting more than a few minutes when a military vehicle from the nearby base pulled up in front of them. A uniformed orderly stepped out and held the door open for them, informing them that their flight would be leaving in the next 30 minutes. They placed their luggage in the trunk; then they were quickly taken to the military section of the airport.
A Chetak helicopter was waiting on the tarmac outside a large hangar. It was an older model, one of the many aging helicopters in the Indian Air Force fleet. Carter and Rhodes weren’t overly worried. Although it was not exactly a Black Hawk or Apache, the Chetaks still had a very good reputation as a reliable mode of air transport.
“I take it you are Professors Blackmore and Hayden?” the Indian pilot asked in perfect but accented English.
Both men had to suppress a smile - Carter, because of his name change to Blackmore, and Rhodes for acquiring a professorship. They pulled out their passports and showed them to the man who nodded and handed them back.
“I’m Captain Singh. I’ll fly you to the archeological site near the border. Your equipment arrived yesterday and is in a crate behind your seats. I hope you’re used to the heat, professors, it is very dry and very hot where you are going.”
They both nodded as Rhodes commented, “So I’ve heard. Can’t say I’m looking forward to that part of our excursion.”
They strapped themselves in for the flight. The officer told them over their headphones about the uneasy peace, which existed between Pakistan and India. Both countries, and what would become Bangladesh, were formed out of the dissolution of the British Empire in the 1940’s. At that time, Hindus set up their state in India and Muslims established themselves in Pakistan. Bangladesh was originally part of Pakistan but went its own way in 1971 after a bloody war that pulled India into the conflict. The main reason for the ongoing animosity between the two countries was Pakistan’s claim to the province of Kashmir, which India controlled.
Carter and Rhodes looked out the windows at the desolate land below, hot and dry, peppered with many small rivers and farms. Carter could not help but compare what he saw below with the natural beauty of Freydis – there was no comparison. Now and then, they would spot a packed train making its way across the land.
Rhodes took his headphones off and motioned to Carter to do the same. He leaned over and, relying on the noise of the engine and the fact that the pilot had his earphones on, murmured, “I saw at the terminal we’ve already picked up a tail.”
Carter looked at him in surprise. “Really. So soon?”
“Yep, saw two guys taking photos of us on their cellphones.”
“Should we be worried?” Carter asked.
Rhodes shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I think the photographers were just confirming and reporting our arrival. We’re going to a very remote and strictly controlled area, so I think we’ll be okay while we’re there - unless they start shooting at each other across the border. However, we can never be too careful. Let’s keep our eyes and ears open when we get to the other side.”
Carter nodded. He had received a bit of surveillance and counter-surveillance training during his orientation month at A-Echelon, but it was nothing compared to the skills of an experienced ex-CIA field operative such as Rhodes. He would have to stay close to Rhodes and get his mind into paranoid mode very quickly. It wouldn’t hurt to be vigilant.
The helicopter soared over fields of mustard and wheat, and a few hours later, they watched the ground rise up at them as the helicopter began its descent. It was with relief they felt the bump when the chopper made contact with Mother Earth.
“Be quick!” the pilot yelled from the front of the chopper. “They don’t get too many helicopter landings around here, and I don’t want them to rush in.” He was pointing at the crowd of children and adults a few hundred yards away.
While the blades kept spinning, Rhodes and Carter grabbed their luggage and the crate of equipment and jumped out. It would only take one of the people in the crowd to decide to try to get a ride in the chopper and a wholescale charge on the helicopter would follow.
Luckily, two of the archeological students were waiting for them and quickly helped them take their equipment and luggage over to a nearby Land Rover.
Rhodes gave the pilot a thumbs-up and his lips formed the words ‘thank you very much.’ The pilot returned the thumbs-up. Seconds later the helicopter rose into the sky and headed out. The crowd cheered and waved as it soared up and away.
Carter looked around. In these hills, time moved at a different pace than in the city. People planned and lived their lives in accordance with the harvest seasons and how many children they planned to have. They were extremely poor. It was a hard way to live, which is why the best and brightest traveled to the cities for work and never came back. It had been this way in India for more than two centuries, and modern transportation only accelerated the depopulation of the rural areas.
