Robert leaned back in his office chair and looked up at the clock. “So the word is that the Honolulu will be in a little sooner?”
Juan stood at the bar in Robert’s office nursing a shot of Irish whiskey over ice. “According to Eric, they are calling to pick up the pilot a little before 7:00 PM. The ship should be pulling to the docks just about sunset.”
“Perfect. We should have enough light to get off some clean shots and then have darkness to help us get away. Are the escorts for the pilot ready?”
“They are heading out to the pilot dock as we speak.”
“In a couple of hours we should get down to the boat and get everything ready. You better notify the crew. Maybe we should go out and shadow the ship a while when it comes in.”
“Yes sir. By the way, is there any way that we could test fire the twin 50s before show time?”
Robert scowled at Juan. “Those twins are pretty loud. Not bloody likely in the bay.”
Sandra chatted with some of the members of the critical response team, feeling somewhat refreshed after a long nap. Her phone rang. Picking it up, she got one of her administrative assistants. “Sandra, Director Alvarez is on the line for you.”
“Yes, I will take it. Thanks.” Sandra felt a sudden tenseness and her heart raced. “Afternoon, Sir.”
The Director started off with a long sigh. “Sandra. The situation is getting very ugly. We now have information on threats in at least three other cities and four other countries. None of these threats are in the San Francisco Bay Area. How is your situation?”
Sandra felt like a deer in headlights. She wanted to lie but it was not in her nature. Besides, the director had a stack of reports from earlier in the day. “Sir, at the moment everything is pretty quiet. However, there are a large number of what can best be called mercenaries in place armed with things like machine guns, RPGs, and mortars. I am expecting it all to get wild tonight when what we think is the ship carrying drugs comes in. Can you get us some military assets?”
Director Alvarez answered with another sigh. “Sandra, we have unofficially gone to threat level red. We are mobilizing all of the military assets that we can for the known situations, domestically and internationally. We need to pull everything that we can from you by midnight tonight. You will have to do with only your regular staff.”
“But Sir, we will be heavily outgunned. Agents will die.”
“Millions of Americans might be dead before the end of the day tomorrow if we don’t act decisively. We have information suggesting that some of the terrorists may have short-range ballistic missiles with tactical nuclear warheads. We are trying to decide if we need to evacuate cities like Las Vegas.”
Sandra could hear what was almost a sob in her boss’s voice. “Sir, please reconsider?”
“No Sandra. These orders come directly from the President. This is a dark day in United States history.”
After the Director hung up, she leaned back in her chair. Suddenly, she did not like her job at all. But being the dedicated servant she was, she decided to continue to do the best with what she had. Derek and DeMario happened to be in the room.
“Derek, you better check with your boss, things are getting worse very quickly. In the meantime, can I borrow DeMario for a special reconnaissance?”
Derek looked over at DeMario. “Sure, what did you have in mind?”
“I think that everything is going to hit the fan tonight. Jack London Square has some kind of wine festival going on. I understand that it is packed with people. It is awfully close to the Fairchild Group container ship dock. Could you have DeMario take a walk through the area to check for anything out of the ordinary? Also, we may have to get the Oakland Police to carry out an evacuation on short notice. We may have some leverage to do so. You should know that the Department of Homeland Security has unofficially gone to alert level red.”