Primary Glory by Mars Jack

Author:Mars, Jack [Mars, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2020-09-29T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

A young waiter had come and brought him another drink.

Don didn’t remember asking for it, but the fact that he had it in hand was just fine. He wouldn’t say he was drunk, but he wouldn’t say he wasn’t, either. His headache was gone. That was a small blessing.

He sat quietly and thought very carefully about nothing. Time was passing, he understood that. If they were going to go off the reservation, then he was going to have to start pulling it together soon. He should have already started.

He needed a very fast plane to get his people out in front of Air Force One, which had a monster head start.

He needed to get messages to the pilots and the CIA agent on board.

He needed to convince the hijackers to refuel the plane in the air.

He needed the services of a refueling tanker, and the green light to use it as a circus aerial act.

He needed things he simply was not going to get without help.

He was dead in the water.

His cell phone rang. He looked at the number. It was not a number he had saved. But it was an area code 703 number, which meant northern Virginia.

He answered it. “Don Morris.” His voice sounded a little uneven. Hell, he was drunk. Might as well admit it, at least to himself.

“Don, it’s Dick Stark. This is a private line.”

It was not a call Don was expecting. Straight-laced Dick Stark, who had played it by the book and ridden a desk to the top of the corporation, was calling Don Morris, the perennial outsider, the maverick. Perhaps it was a courtesy call. If so, it was good of him to do. Dick wasn’t a bad officer. In some sense, Don supposed he even respected the things Dick had accomplished. All the same, he was wary. Dick was the establishment. Don had run into more than a few brick walls dealing with the establishment.

“I’m sorry about that call,” Don said. “It was unseemly at the end. It will never happen again.”

“Not my concern,” Stark said. “I want you to know that this phone will be destroyed after we hang up, and this call itself is encrypted on my end. I’m hoping I can have some discretion from you. Is that possible?”

“It’s guaranteed,” Don said. “I’m taking a thousand secrets to my grave, including this phone call.”

“Good to hear,” Stark said. “Now here is my concern. The Vice President has decided to sit on his hands and wait until someone emerges with whom he can negotiate. You and I both know that person may not ever emerge. We need to act, we need to act now, and I’m ready to throw you a long rope.”

Stark’s words cut through Don’s funk like a razor.

“Go on,” Don said.

“This operation you have in mind,” Stark said.

“I can’t tell you anything about it,” Don said. “I can’t give you the intel I’m acting on. It’s not you, and it’s not the Vice President. If you and I were standing on a bridge…”

“All I want is plausible denial,” Stark said.

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