[Lady Justice 25] - Lady Justice and the Spy Page 6

  “In 1978, I was sent undercover with another agent to Nicaragua during the Sandinista uprising. We were posing as a married couple --- and well --- I guess we played our parts a little too realistically. I got pregnant.

  “The agency wanted me in the field and strongly recommended that I terminate the pregnancy, but I refused. It wasn’t like I was some kind of saint. I had taken more than one life, but these were bad men, a Mexican drug lord shipping hundreds of pounds of cocaine into the U.S.; a Columbian sex slave trafficker, stealing young girls from their families and selling them into the sex trade. Those actions I could justify, but not taking the life of an innocent child --- your life, Veronica.

  “The agency finally agreed to let me carry you full term as long as I agreed to give you up for adoption immediately and never have contact with you again. You see, if I was ever captured, your very existence would pose a threat to the United States. Con Ops agents have knowledge of covert operations, the identity of other undercover agents, and information that would be at the least an embarrassment if not actually damaging to the government. We have been trained to withstand torture to ourselves, but threats against an innocent loved one is another thing altogether.

  “They took you away immediately. I wasn’t even permitted to hold you. I knew you would be adopted, but I was never to know by whom or where you were.

  “In thirty-eight years, not a day has gone by that I haven’t wondered what became of the sweet little girl I was forced to abandon.”

  Veronica reached for her mother and pulled her into a warm embrace. Tears rolled down Sarah’s cheeks as she held her daughter for the very first time.

  All of us were desperately trying to hold back tears.

  After blowing his nose, Kevin said, “Well, this is awkward. It appears that I’m ten years older than my mother-in-law!”

  Naturally, that brought smiles to our faces.

  “Well, I have a question,” Sarah said, pointing at Kevin. “How in the world did you get hooked up with this old goat?”

  It was good to know that assassins could have a sense of humor.

  Veronica hung her head. “I’m afraid when you hear my story you won’t be very proud of your daughter.”

  “Sweetie,” she said, “There’s nothing you could say that would make me less proud. I want to know everything.”

  Veronica took a deep breath. “Paul and Jean Talcott were my adoptive parents. They were wonderful. I was twelve years old when they were killed by a drunk driver. After that I was placed in a series of foster homes. As soon as I was eighteen, I struck out on my own. I got a job and saved money to go to college. I started out waiting tables, and a few years later, after taking some business courses at Penn Valley College, I landed a job in a big insurance office.

  “It was grueling work and I was getting paid just a little over minimum wage. I was going nowhere fast, and I was constantly fighting off advances from the men in my office. One day a girl I met at Penn Valley said, ‘With your looks, you could make as much in one night as you make slaving away for two weeks in that crappy office.’ That’s how I got started working for the escort service. After a while I had a list of regular customers, and well --- there was just no way I could make that kind of money doing anything else. I’m not proud of it, but that’s how I met Kevin.”

  Sarah was about to make a comment when Kevin blurted, “In my defense, there were extenuating circumstances. I was dying! My kidneys had crapped out and the docs only gave me a few months to live. Spending a night with a beautiful woman was one of the things on my bucket list. Being in a strange town with such a short time remaining, I didn’t have the luxury of wining and dining and hoping for the best. My old pal, Willie, made some calls and that’s how I met your lovely daughter. As luck would have it, a kidney unexpectedly became available, and I gave the grim reaper the slip. Long story short, I fell in love with your daughter. I still, to this day, don’t understand what she sees in me, but I’m not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. So that’s the story. I hope you’re not too disappointed with your son-in-law, the old goat.”

  Sarah smiled. “Not at all. Given the life I’ve led, I’m certainly not in a position to judge someone else. If Veronica is happy and loves you, that’s good enough for me.”

  “I hate to rain on this happy reunion,” I said, “but speaking of that life you’ve led, you said you ‘were’ an agent, past tense, and that you were being pursued by agents of your former employer. You also said that Consular Ops was very much like the organization described in Robert Ludlum’s novels. If I remember correctly, agents weren’t allowed to just quit. As you mentioned, you know stuff they don’t want other people to know. In Ludlum’s novels, agents who had fallen from grace were considered threats to the state, hunted down, and killed. Is that what we’re looking at here?”

  “I’m afraid it is,” she replied, sadly. “I’m good, but they’re relentless, and there’s so many of them. They’ll find me one day and it will all be over. That’s why I had to see my daughter at least once before it was too late. Now that I’ve done it, I must leave before they tie me to all of you.”

  “NO!” Veronica cried. “You can’t just come into my life, then disappear.”

  “If I stay, you’ll all be in danger. I have no choice.”

  “If I may be so bold,” I inquired, “Just what did you do to get yourself in Dutch?”

  “It’s not what I did, it’s what I wouldn’t do. I could justify neutralizing murderers and drug dealers, but not innocent citizens just trying to do the right thing.”

  “Could you be more specific?”

  “It’s this chemtrail thing. It’s something that’s been going on right under our noses for a decade and a half.”

  I nearly fell off my chair. Just a few months ago, I had been up to my ears in the chemtrail controversy. Five people died trying to expose the government conspiracy, and I had feeling I was about to know how and why.

  “The government has been spraying chemicals into the atmosphere for weather manipulation and defense purposes,” she continued, “but they won’t own up to it publicly because of the damaging effects of the chemicals. Weather patterns are changing and the fallout of the barium and aluminum is poisoning our soil and affecting virtually every creature on earth, including us.

  “It’s difficult to keep something like that hidden when all a person has to do is look up into the sky most any day and see the chemtrails from one horizon to another.

  “Naturally, such a program involves aircraft, pilots, ground crews, chemical companies, and truckers. Although they’ve been told that what they’re doing is top secret and vital to our national security, there have been those who have objected, saying the devastation being caused far outweighs the benefits, and have threatened to come forward and expose the conspiracy. Needless to say, the whistleblowers are considered threats to our national security, and such threats have to be neutralized.

  “I was given such an assignment, and I just couldn’t do it. Now I’m the threat.”

  She saw the look of disbelief on our faces. “What? You don’t believe our government would order the murder of its very own citizens?”

  “No,” I replied, “we believe it because we’ve witnessed it --- five times!”

  Now it was her turn to be bewildered. “I --- I don’t understand.”

  “Then let me spell it out for you. Last year, Jack Carson, a reporter for the Kansas City Star, was contacted by Dale Fox, one of the chemtrail pilots. Over the course of three meetings, Fox told the reporter the details of his missions, and was willing to go public. On the night he was to bring Carson a sample of the chemical, he was murdered. It was made to look like an accident, but it was murder, pure and simple.

  “During the next few months, a college professor who was about to publish an exposé on the program, a whistleblower from the Monsanto Corporation, and Carson himself, all were ‘neutralized,’ as you call it. The last was a young woman who had seen the men
, probably the same ones looking for you, haul Carson away.

  “So yes, we understand all too well about what’s going on. It was made abundantly clear to us that if we didn’t want to be the next ones neutralized, we should forget the whole thing. I’m glad to hear you refused to participate in cold-blooded murders such as these.”

  She shook her head. “Unbelievable! I knew they were determined to keep the program under wraps, but I had no idea the cover-up was this widespread. If you want to keep breathing, you’ll do as they say, forget everything. As I said, they’re relentless.”

  “So what now?” I asked.

  “I have a few things to wrap up, and then I’m out of here. Hopefully somewhere they won’t find me.”

  She held her arms out to Veronica. “Can I have one more hug before I go?”

  They embraced and again the tears flowed freely. Finally, Sarah pushed Veronica away. “Always remember, I love you and I’m proud of you.”

  “Mother, please!” Veronica pleaded.

  “No, I must go,” she replied, parting the curtain for a look at the street.

  Satisfied, she turned to us. “You’re a remarkable group of people. Take care of my daughter.”

  I followed her to the door. “Sarah, before you go, we need to talk. There’s more you need to know. Can I come by the Three Trails tomorrow?”

  “Ten o’clock,” she replied. “If you’re late, I’ll be gone.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  After the five deaths, I vowed I would never be involved with the chemtrails again, but fate had intervened and brought them right back to my doorstep in the person of Sarah Savage.

  CHAPTER 13

  I arrived at the hotel a few minutes before ten. I had no doubt she’d be gone if I was late.

  I climbed the stairs to the second floor and was heading to room #8, when I met Joey Burger coming out of the #2 crapper.

  He grabbed my arm. “Hey, Mr. Walt,” he said, conspiratorially, “if you’re headin’ to that new gal’s room, I’d be real careful if I was you. She’s one tough cookie!”

  I remembered Willie’s story about Sarah crushing Burger’s cookies, and tried to stifle a smile.

  “Thanks. I’ll be careful.”

  I knocked on the door. Sarah opened it wide enough to look up and down the hall. Seeing no one, she let me in. True to her word, her bag was packed. She was ready to strike out for parts unknown.

  “Thanks for seeing me,” I said, taking a seat in the one lone chair in the room.

  “Don’t get comfortable. As you can see, I’m ready to hit the road. Now what’s so all-fired important?”

  “We need to talk about the chemtrails,” I replied. “I couldn’t say more last night because no one else knows how deep I’m into this thing.”

  I saw the look of concern on her face. “How deep?”

  “Real deep, I’m afraid. Remember me telling you about the reporter, Jack Carson, last night?”

  She nodded.

  “I was actually working with him behind the scenes. When the chemtrail pilot was killed, he just knew it was murder, so he came to Ox and me to help find the proof. That’s how it all started. Carson confided in me his intent to gather as much information as possible, then expose the whole thing through a series of articles in the Kansas City Star. As I mentioned, he was killed before he could publish his story.

  “Toward the end, he realized his life was in danger, so before he died, he copied everything he had uncovered and sent it to someone he trusted --- me!”

  Her look of concern turned to one of disbelief. “Exactly what was in the material he sent to you?”

  “Detailed notes on everything he had found. There were recorded interviews with the pilot, Dale Fox, photos of the Pinal Air Base in Marana, Arizona, including photos of the chemical drums in the bellies of the tanker planes. There was all kinds of information about the HAARP antenna array in Gakona, Alaska, with photos of similar installations around the world. There was a thumb drive from Louise Shipley, the dead whistleblower who had information about Monsanto’s involvement with the chemtrails. That’s just a small part of what he sent.”

  “Jesus, Walt! You’re sitting on a powder keg!”

  “Oh, I almost forgot. There was his interview with Kristen Meghan, the Bio-engineer with the Air Force who found a supply of the chemicals. There really wasn’t much to that, though. Before she could say much, someone put the fear of God into her, threatening to take away her child.”

  Sarah grimaced. “I’m afraid that was me. That was my first assignment in this massive cover-up. Not surprisingly, the story that was published wasn’t what actually occurred. She reported that she was threatened that her child would be taken, but the message I delivered was that it would be a shame if her child grew up without a mother.”

  “No wonder she clammed up!”

  “As I said, that was my first assignment. There were others that involved intimidation. Remember, there are hundreds, if not thousands of people involved in this thing. It’s not surprising that there are some who develop a conscience and want to speak out. It was my job, along with other agents, to remind them that treason could have very serious consequences. Is that all you have?”

  “No, there’s more. I told you last night about Frank Katz, a professor at the University of Missouri – Kansas City. He had been studying the chemtrails for years, and with some of Carson’s information, he completed a manuscript exposing the program and the government cover-up. He conveniently died before he could publish the thing, and, of course, the manuscript mysteriously disappeared --- except a copy he emailed to me which I downloaded on a thumb drive. I also have that thumb drive in my safe.”

  “Good Lord, Walt.”

  “Another thing. I gave a copy of the manuscript to an author friend of mine, Robert Thornhill. Using the information on the drive, he penned a fictional novel, Lady Justice and the Conspiracy, hoping people would read between the lines and see the truth, but like Robert Ludlum’s novels, people read but just don’t get it, or they read and just don’t care.”

  “I know the book. Since I was involved in this thing, I figured I’d better find out as much as possible. I was surprised at the accuracy and detail in the book. I wondered where he obtained the information. Now I know.

  “By the way, there was a threat assessment made on Thornhill. This wasn’t the first time he’d written about controversial subjects. In Lady Justice and the Sting, he hit very close to home on the collusion of the FDA with the large pharmaceutical companies. It definitely ruffled some feathers. The spooks remotely took a look on his computer and found instructions on how to make a bomb like the one Timothy McVeigh used to blow up the building in Oklahoma. He had used the information in another novel. One agent actually had to read all twenty-four of his novels to determine whether he was actually a threat. It turned out that his work was mystery/comedy. The agent reported that he had never laughed so hard and that nobody would ever take his work seriously. A word to the wise though, you might tell your friend to be careful. Big Brother is watching.”

  “So what now?” I asked. “I have all this information locked up in my safe.”

  Sarah shook her head. “Good question. The first thing you should know, is that if the agency ever finds out you have it, you’re a dead man. When I got my first assignment to terminate someone just like you, that’s when I called it quits. I just couldn’t do it and live with myself. But make no mistake, there are plenty of others who would take out you and everyone you love without blinking an eye.”

  “I have no doubt,” I replied, taking out my cell phone. “When Jack Carson disappeared, I made some inquiries. Then I received these emails.”

  I showed her my phone. One had a photo of Maggie going into her office with the words, “Stop digging!” The other was a photo of Maggie in front of our building with the caption, “Back off!”

  “Needless to say, that was enough for me. No matter the injustice, there was no way I was going u
p against black ops assassins who had already killed five people. I backed off, hid everything in my safe, and vowed I’d never get involved in this chemtrail thing again.”

  “And yet, here you are,” she said. “Why are you telling me all this? For all you know, I could pick up my phone, make one call, and get back in the good graces of the agency.”

  “But I don’t think you will. I don’t believe you’re that kind of person, and besides, I’ve got an ace in the hole that says you’ll not blow the whistle.”

  “Oh really? And what’s that?”

  “Veronica. Your daughter is right in the middle of this thing along with the rest of us.”

  She smiled. “Not bad for an old guy. So what, exactly, do you expect me to do?”

  “Frankly, I have no idea. I thought I could just put all this behind me. Forget the whole thing. But every day, I look into the heavens and see those cursed trails spread out from one horizon to the other obscuring the rays of the sun. Then I think about the chemicals that are falling to the earth, contaminating the air we breathe and the food we eat, and it galls the hell out of me. I’m just an old man with no credibility whatsoever. If I tried to use the stuff in my safe, no one would listen and I would mysteriously disappear along with everyone I love. You, at least, know what’s going on. You’ve been in the spy business forty years. Surely you have some idea how we can expose this conspiracy.”

  “First of all, I have no more credibility than you. Yes, I’ve been in the business forty years, but nobody knows me either. That’s the whole point of being a covert operative. Nobody knows who you are or what you do. If I disappeared, who would know or care?”

  “So, that’s it? You’re just going to ride off into the sunset, knowing that we have the goods to bust this thing wide open?”