Eagle

Part 4

 

            “NORAD? Impressive. I apologize.”

 

            “What’s the problem?” After a disapproving look from the Major, the young tech quickly corrected, “Sir.”

 

            “That’s better.” The Major slammed the crumpled paper onto his desk.

 

            “Let me guess. You want this gone.” A brief pause. “Sir.”

 

            “What are my options?”

 

            “Well, the server’s based in Malaysia, so nothing. Officially”

 

            “Unofficially?”

 

            “I could launch a DDOS attack against the server, or…”

 

            “I don’t care what you do, just do it.”

 

            “Okay.” The tech caught himself quickly this time, “Sir.”

 

            The major stewed in his chair as the tech scurried off to get to work. He knew he could cut out the source, but he knew the damage would have already been done.

 

            “Lieutenant. Did the press release already go out?”

 

            The lieutenant swallowed hard. “Yessir.”

 

            The major thumbed the safety on his pistol, then shot the lieutenant. He was aiming for his head, but instead hit him in the neck, nicking his jugular. The lieutenant grabbed at his neck, trying to stop the bleeding. He collapsed onto his knees, blood spurting out from between his fingers. The major looked with disdain at the mess. He really needed to hit the shooting range.

 

            “This better be cleaned up when I get back.”

 

            With that, he stalked out of his office.

 

           

 

 

 Chapter 12

August 21st, 2012

0901 hours

 

            “An office building was destroyed in a terrorist attack by ‘The Defenders of Freedom’, it is unknown how many people were inside at the time but…”

 

            Ellie flipped the channel. Why hadn’t Stanford come back yet?

 

            “The bombing took place yesterday. However, many of the people working were able to escape thanks to a warning from a man. An image of this man was released by an independent company after they salvaged footage from the building’s security cameras.”

 

            She was just about to change the channel again when she suddenly saw Stanford staring at her. A blurry, black and white photo of Stanford was staring at her from the screen. His face looking directly at a security camera.

 

            “According to security personal, this man warned them about an impending attack.”

 

            Stanford’s image was replaced by that of a security guard. Ellie tried to hold on to that image of Stanford.

 

            “He came in and handed me a note. It said they threatened his family, and they were forcing him to carry in something. I wish I could thank him for saving my life.”

 

            The screen flashed back to Stanford’s face.

 

            “If you have any information on who this man is, please call the station hotline.”

 

            The number flashed on screen, but Ellie was running down the hall. She didn’t know where she was going. Then she saw a door. A bathroom. She crashed through the door, it slamming into the wall. She pushed the door closed and sat against it. Sat against it, and cried.