Читать книгу The Crusaders of the Saltire - William Speir - Страница 16

Ralph’s entire team was sitting in the large conference room when Tom arrived. Ralph and Emily were uploading the video and audio from the cameras and video viewers so they could show Tom what had happened that night.

“I think you should see the video first, Tom,” Ralph said as Tom sat down at the end of the table. “We can handle introductions later.”

“Very well, Ralph.”

Ralph gave Tom a quick overview of what happened at the park. He forwarded the video to the point where the three men arrived at the statue and announced where they were going. He then forwarded the video to the house on Euclid Avenue.

Tom felt dismay, rage, confusion, and several other emotions as he watched the targets search the house, the daughter get violated, the HSF officers arrive, and the revelation of who the targets really were. For a moment, he was completely speechless. Nothing could have ever prepared him for what he had just seen. Government agents acting like common criminals, raping an innocent young girl, and doing it with complete immunity from prosecution!

“What happened to the family?” he asked finally.

Ralph pulled up the video that Emily shot while following the family. “They were taken to an HSF installation, where they were dressed in these jumpsuits and put on this truck. The truck then went to this military airfield. The family was put on this plane. The HSF officer referenced an ‘internment facility.’ I can only assume they were being taken there with these other people by plane. We have no idea where the plane went.”

“And the targets?”

“They were taken away by the HSF officers. Supposedly, they’re being sent to Dallas for another assignment.”

Tom was getting angry. “We have reports of this ‘gang’ assaulting dozens of people around the city for weeks. Now they’re just going to another town to terrorize more innocent people?”

“Apparently so,” Ralph responded.

“Do we know if any of their other victims have disappeared like this family did?”

“I knew you were going to ask that,” Ralph said. “We don’t know for sure, but we’re looking into it. The problem is: if anyone has disappeared, it means that HSF found seditious or what it considers to be subversive materials there, and we probably wouldn’t know anything about it because no crime would have been reported. Otherwise, if nothing was found, the victims would have reported the break-in, and we’d know about it from the police reports. Also, from what we heard tonight, this ‘gang’ attacks people based on tips called into the HSF hotline. What happened tonight could have been triggered by one of this family’s neighbors trying to get a reward.”

Tom hated the thought of this – pitting neighbor against neighbor, making everyone suspicious of everyone. What is the purpose? Why does the HSF want to turn people against each other? Who benefits from this?

“Did you listen to what the senior officer said about guns?” Ralph asked.

Tom nodded. “It’s amazing that the President can do all of this through executive orders, bypassing Congress altogether. I’m surprised someone hasn’t challenged it in the Supreme Court yet.”

“Who would dare?” Ralph asked. “If HSF can do this, then anyone challenging the President’s actions could face the same fate.”

Tom reflected on this for a while. If Ralph were correct, this was nothing short of tyranny, and the Order had pledged itself to fight tyranny wherever it existed. The implications were staggering.

“We need to present this to the Order. I’ll set up a special meeting with the Grand Magistry for all of you to present what happened tonight. In the meantime,” Tom said, rising from his seat and walking around the conference table to stand next to Ralph, “I want to thank each of you for your actions tonight in getting this information to me. Clearly, this intervention is over, but I think it’s going to launch another one – one that will end up involving the entire Order before long.”

Turning to Ralph, he said, “Can you introduce me to your team?”

“Certainly,” Ralph replied. Ralph had each of the members of the team step forward. Tom shook each team member’s hand as Ralph introduced them and gave a little information about their background. Tom recognized several members of the team from previous interventions, but some of the faces were new.

While Ralph handled the introductions, Emily finished compiling all of the audio and video recorded that night and downloaded it onto several portable storage devices. She kept one of the devices – the other two were for Ralph and Tom. She disconnected the equipment and packed it up. When she was done, she looked up and realized that she was alone in the conference room with Ralph and Tom.

Emily stood and brushed aside a strand of her light red hair that had come loose from her ponytail. This was the first time she had been so close to Tom, and she had to admit to herself that she liked what she saw. She knew his reputation as a leader, both in the Order and in business, and as a strategist who had a talent for making plans that worked well, but she didn’t know that he was so handsome.

Ralph had told her a little about Tom, including details about what had happened two years earlier with Antonio Mancuso and how Tom had come up with a way to save the Order while taking down a huge crime organization. She had worked on one of the surveillance teams during that initiative – following the men who bombed the Columbus Commandery – but she still didn’t know everything that had happened, and of Jenny she knew nothing. She felt honored to be in the same room with him. She awaited her turn as Ralph made the introductions.

“Tom, this is Emily McCafferty, the surveillance expert I told you about this morning. Emily,” Ralph said turning toward her, “this is Tom Anderson, my boss.”

Tom smiled and held out his hand. She took it, and returned his firm grip as he shook her hand. “I’m very pleased to meet you, Emily. If you’re half as good as Ralph said, you’ll be a valuable member of the Order and of our team.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, too, sir. I’m just happy to help however I can.”

“Did you set up all of the surveillance for tonight’s operation?”

“Yes, sir. I wired the area around the park, and I placed half of the cameras on the house after the targets arrived.”

“What did you use to record the video?”

Emily pulled out her video viewer. It was something that she had developed herself. “This is what I used. All of the cameras transmit their images to this device, which records everything on a flash drive – audio, too. You can scroll the images forward or backward, or you can switch between the inputs and see what each camera is transmitting at the same time. You have to be within two hundred yards to get a clear signal, though, but I’m working on a new transmitter for the cameras that will have a range of over a mile.”

Tom was impressed, both with her work and with her easygoing and confident manner. “Where did you learn to do this?” he asked.

“I have a degree in electrical engineering, but I used to work in a camera repair shop and loved taking things apart and putting them back together again. It started as a hobby, but now I do it for a living. I’ve owned my own production company and video studio for just over a year.”

“How did you become part of the Order?”

“A friend from school is a member and recruited me. He thought my skills would come in handy, and he knows I like to help people.”

“Well, give my thanks to your friend.”

“I will. By the way,” Emily said as she handed Tom and Ralph copies of the surveillance audio and video, “here are copies of everything from tonight. Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Thanks, Emily,” Tom said. Turning to Ralph, he said, “I’ll let you know when the Grand Magistry can meet. I think they need to see all of this, and I want your entire team there to answer questions.”

“We’ll be there,” Ralph replied.

Tom turned off the lights as the three of them walked out of the conference room and left the office. The rest of the team had already gone. Tom looked at his watch. Even though it was late, he felt he needed to call his father anyway. He said goodnight to Ralph and Emily, and turned to get into his car to make a phone call. Ralph thanked Emily again for all she had done and waited until she had gotten into her car before getting in his own and driving off.

Emily looked at Tom sitting in his car, and then she started her car and followed Ralph out of the parking lot. In spite of everything that had happened that night, as she drove home she was thinking that she really liked Tom.

When Tom arrived at his parents’ house, it was well after midnight. He parked in the circular drive in front of the house and walked around the edge of the house to the large glass double doors outside his father’s study. His father was there already, wearing a dark blue and green plaid robe over his pajamas. Tom gently tapped on the door, and his father got up and let him in.

“Good evening or good morning, son,” his father said sleepily.

“Good morning, Dad,” Tom replied, shaking the older man’s hand. “I’m sorry to wake you, but this won’t keep.”

“What is it?” Tom’s father asked.

“It’s surveillance video from an intervention operation that had an unexpected ending tonight,” Tom said as he plugged the storage device Emily had given him into his father’s computer.

Tom and his father sat down and watched the images on the computer screen. Tom told his father what the team had discovered and forwarded the video to show the key events. Tom’s father reacted much as Tom had when he saw what happened to the girl and what happened when the HSF arrived. “You mean they’re government agents?” he asked Tom as the implications of the video sunk in.

“Yes. They were responding from a tip on the HSF hotline, looking for subversive materials. When they found some, they let the HSF know, who arrived and took the family into custody. From what we know, the family was placed on an airplane and flown to some sort of ‘internment facility,’ but we don’t know where. They’re gone, and the targets were sent to Dallas. We can only imagine what they’re going to do once they get there.”

“Tom, this is the United States! This is the cradle of freedom and democracy for the world. This kind of thing just doesn’t happen here!”

“I know, Dad. But it’s happening. I want to show this to the Grand Magistry and have Ralph’s team there to answer questions. This is tyranny, and the Order needs to decide what, if anything, it’s going to do about it.”

Tom’s father agreed and promised to convene a special meeting in the next day or two. Tom disconnected the storage device and stood up to leave.

“I never thought this could happen here,” his father said as he gave Tom a hug.

“Neither did I, Dad,” Tom said as he turned to leave. “Neither did I.”