When Hell Burns Down D.C. Part 2

 Go here for part one:
The sight was shocking. America’s symbol of power lay charred as steam poured out of shattered windows and busted doors. Firefighters rumbled around the area, people wearing Secret Service windbreakers were prevalent, FBI windbreakers were not. Special Agent Morziat walked into the door that used to welcome visitors to the White House. He looked around and saw soot stained walls, where the staircase to the second floor had been there was a giant crater. Could this be the source of the explosion?

“Boss, small arms fire” It was Divante, he was pointing at the walls around the entrance. Multiple bullet holes were visible in the walls. “Jesus it’s like there was a battle fought in here. I am seeing lots of grenade fragments throughout the entrance.” Morziat nodded, he jumped into the crater and began to look around, and he pulled out his “snuffer” and started sweeping it around the crater. 

“Morziat, you are gonna want to come look at the Oval Office. It’s a mess.” This was Gibbs.

“We’ll be there in five minutes, I’m examining the crater that was the main entrance. Lots of explosive residue in the debris.” 

“Understood Morziat. Hurry on over here though.”

“Will do Gibbs.” Morziat looked to his left and then his right. The explosive residue was more remnant of grenades than dynamite. Which made sense; this entrance looked like a battle had been fought (and lost) here. The remains of the stair case were blown under the landing for the second floor. The crater he was standing in was at least six feet deep, the edge of the crater came level with his eyes. He was looking around, last time I entered the White House through this entrance I had to go through a metal detector and my bag went through an x-ray machine….Morziat jumped out of the crater; “Divante MOVE!”

“Boss?”

“You!” Morziat shouted pointing at a Secret Service Agent as he ran towards the door; “Do you remember the specs on the x-ray machine that was located in this entrance?”

“No sir, I just graduated from the academy two weeks ago.”

“SHIT! MOVE!”

*****

Munich, Germany

He was sitting at a table across from the famous clock tower, with the stupid show that happens at the top of every hour. Having lived here his whole life, it often got annoying but the tourist loved it. This made this square the perfect place to have meetings, and to hide if you were trying to observe those meetings. He had gotten a call from a friend, he needed someone to protect his briefcase and watch his back in the crowded square at around 12:00 hours. 

So here he was, sitting at a table drinking a dark beer and looking at his friend in the square. He watched and watched. Finally somebody approached his friend. He watched as this guy walked up and put his hand on his friend’s shoulders, turning his friends back to him. But before he could even try to move to see what was going on this, this tourist, who was digging through her purse and cursing in French, blocked his view. He gently tapped her on the shoulder and said (in French); “Excuse me but I am trying to watch the clock tower.” The French lady turned around and looked at him; she had long strawberry colored hair and was very beautiful. 

“We both know that is not what you are watching.” She said this in English. He looked down and noticed the silencer on the gun in her hand. She aimed at his head and pulled the trigger.

****

The White House Main Gate, Washington D.C

“Are you Mark Jerbralter of FOX News?” The question caught Mark buy surprise; he turned around and looked for the source of the question.  There was a street urchin with a dirty hoody standing near the FOX van, Mark looked at the kid as he waved back to him. Can’t this kid see I am busy? What could he possibly want?

“How are you doing little guy?” 

“I have a friend who says he has information on the White House explosion.”

“Oh really?” You’re lying to me kid.

“You want to know why there was a cabinet meeting that included the Speaker of the House AND the President of the Senate?” That is a question I, and the public (probably), would like an answer to…

“You have my attention kid.” Ah what the hell at least this might be entertaining. Standing in the rain, without any new information to tell the viewers is not a very fun way to earn a living.

 

“Be at the Starbucks on I street in 30 minutes.” 

“Hey Johan!” Mark turned and shouted at his producer, “I’m going to take a coffee break in a little bit.”

“You have half an hour Mark.”

Mark hopped into his 2015 Mercedes Benz C-class. He started up the engine and looked out the window, the kid was gone. That’s strange. This was probably the strangest tip Mark had ever received in his long career…..

Mark had been in the news business since 7^th grade, starting as the editor-in-chief for his Junior High’s newspaper. He rapidly shot through High School and College landing a job at CBS as a soft story kind of guy. His distaste for the way the company was run and how the rest of his fellow reporters kissed up to the politicos had “forced” him out of CBS and into the arms of a FOX News group that had yet to completely recover its credibility after its Glenn Beck experiment. Mark had forced his way into the national conscience when he busted a massive money laundering scandal that the Defense Committees (lead by a Republican Senator no less!) was running, on the nightly news. In the 20 years since, he had been Mr. Dependable, Mr. Truth, for FOX and its many viewers. Because of his reputation his producer wasn’t about to ask too many questions about his sudden coffee break, or the fact that he had been talking to a street urchin right before he decided to go on one.

I hope it’s a juicy one Mark. It better be, otherwise it will be my ass. His producer thought.

*****

Mark walked into the Starbucks 28 minutes after he first ran into the kid. At the counter was a man in a suit. His shoulders were hunched, he looked haggard, tired. Mark figured this was the guy and walked up to him. Before he could tap the man’s shoulder he turned around and looked at the reporter; “Good evening Mark.” He said.

Mark’s eyes opened wide, and his jaw dropped; “Director Stephenson…. Why aren’t you at the White House investigating the explosion?”

“The Secret Service doesn’t trust the FBI anymore Mark.” FBI Director John Stephenson’s life had been a living hell for the past three months. He had been helpless to watch as his agency was slowly shut out of every major government investigation during that time frame. 

“Excuse me Director?”

“About three months ago several of the FBI’s counter intelligence cases were assigned to Homeland Security. The rest were assigned to NSA. However, we were allowed to keep our criminal investigations. When I called the President to find out what was going on he was ‘in a meeting’. So I had our computer guys hack into the CIA, NSA, Department of the Treasury, and Homeland Security to figure out what was going on.”

“Did they find anything?”

“Not a thing, there wasn’t a paper trail at all. About a day later I got a call from a friend of mine at my Credit Union and he said that the Secret Service had shown up with a subpoena asking for my bank records.”

“What the hell?”

“It gets better. Lewiston, Jackson and Carlston [Assistant Directors] all had their bank records seized as well.” 

Mark looked at the Director in shock. “You think this has something to do with the reason practically the entire government was in the White House today?”

“It’s got to be the only reason.”

“Where they investigating you?”

“That’s the only reason to confiscate bank records.”

“What for?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Let me guess this meeting never happened?”

“Yup.”

“Understood.”

“I do have a story you can report, however.”

“And what would that be?”

“There were three murders in Germany and the Police over there think they are connected to the White House explosion……”

*****

The day after ‘The Explosion’ at NCIS HQ

“That was nice of you to send everybody into a panic Morziat.” 

“Well what the hell should I have done Director.”

“Oh no, you did the right thing. You probably could have done it a little calmer though.” Director Montgomery was trying (and failing) at containing his laughter. His senior agent was one who usually didn’t panic in the face of death. But radiation poising clearly was something he never really wanted to experience. “Have you seen the news?”

“You mean about those three murders in Germany that the press is somehow linking to the explosion in the White House?”

“That’s the story.”

“Don’t tell me the President wants us to investigate those too. The Polizei are pretty good at doing their jobs over there. As former CIA he has to know that the press are the most imaginative people outside of Hollywood’s script writers.” 

“He didn’t. Interpol got a hook on one of the suspects involved in the mess in Berlin and Munich.”

“They put an alert out?”

“Yup”

“Am I supposed to look for this suspect?”

“Nope.”

“Then why tell me about this?”

“She turned up on a ship that had squawked mayday this morning.”

“It was one of our boats that went to the ships aid?”

“Yes. The captain recognized her from the news reports and brought her here. I want you to talk to her before we send her back to Europe. Just to make sure that these plots aren’t connected. You know kill any conspiracy theories before they start.”

“Yes sir.” Morziat stood up, “What interrogation room is she in?”

“Three”

Morziat began in the direction of the interrogation rooms. This is so dumb, the chances that these two cases are even related is so slim that it isn’t even worth investigating. Why we just don’t ship her off to Europe I don’t know. He reached the door and put on his poker face, stupid or not I have an order from my director. He opened the door and stopped dead in his tracks.

“DAD?!?!?!?!”