Tarizon: Desert Swarm Read online

  Chapter 15

  The Oval Office

  Senator Rawlins was awakened by the persistent ring of his telephone. His wife was a sound sleeper and just turned over as he rolled out of bed and picked up the phone.

  “What is it?” he moaned irritably.

  “It’s the Bat Mountain Site,” Jimmy Malone said. “The situation has taken a turn for the worse. The President wants you in his office now.”

  “Is it so serious it can’t wait until morning?”

  “That’s right. He’s got meetings all morning and he wants to see you before breakfast.”

  “What’s happened, for godsakes?”

  “Colonel Martin is dead.”

  “What? You can’t be serious.”

  “Just get in here, now. We’ve got some tough decisions to make.”

  “Alright. I’ll be there in forty-five minutes.”

  Jimmy Malone was an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency and assigned as a liaison to the President on several ultra-top secret projects. So top secret that not even the President’s Chief of Staff knew anything about them. The Bat Mountain situation was an unexpected spin-off of one of those projects. About an hour after Senator Rawlings had been summoned he strolled into the Oval Office.

  “Howard. Thanks for coming in so early,” the President said. “There’s been an unfortunate development.”

  “I heard Colonel Martin is dead. What happened?”

  Malone sighed. “Well, believe it or not he was killed by bats.”

  “Bats?”

  Jimmy explained all that had happened in as much detail as he could.

  “So, it’s pretty obvious that Reverend Little is responsible, but you have no proof,” Senator Rawlings summarized.

  “That’s about the size of it,” Malone agreed.

  “I was afraid after I left, that the Reverend might cause more problems, but I didn’t think he would resort to murder.”

  “It’s revived his dying ministry,” Malone observed. “I warned you to leave the Bat Mountain Site alone. It posed no threat to us but now we’ve got a serious problem.”

  “It does pose a threat,” the President interjected. “If the truth comes out there will be general panic and I’ll probably be impeached.”

  Malone shook his head. “Only a handful of people in the CIA know about the aliens. And the Director and I are the only ones who know there is a connection between them and the Bat Mountain Site. So that’s only four people who could leak the story and I think we all can be trusted to keep a lid on it.”

  “What about the military?” the President said. “As I recall, we had to bring a few of them into the project.”

  “The only ones in the military who knew about the connection are General Thornton and Admiral Bennett, so the secret is safe,” Jimmy assured him.

  “So, what do we do now?” the President asked.

  “My advice is end the investigation. Have your scientist determine that the formation poses no threat to national security or public health and let it be.”

  “But it’s not going to go away,” Senator Rawlings argued.

  “I know,” Malone said. “Let Reverend Little have his cathedral. In a few years it will just be an unusual rock formation in the desert.”

  “But it contains an alien life form,” Senator Rawlings protested.

  “Yes. But it’s not a threat,” Malone said. “It has no agenda other than to live in peace and be left alone.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “I’ve been assured that is the case.”

  “If scientists study it long enough, they will discover it’s not just a rock formation.”

  “There won’t be any need to study it closely once our scientists have finished their investigation. We’ll make our findings available to the public. That should satisfy them.”

  “They won’t be satisfied. They’ll keep digging until they find the truth.”

  “Enough,” the President commanded. “I think Jimmy is right. Just let it alone. If letting Reverend Little and his pilgrims’ use of the cathedral sparks a rebirth of fundamental Christianity, how bad can that be?”

  Senator Rawlings shook his head. “It’s your call, Mr. President. I just don’t trust the aliens. Playing host to another life-form wasn’t part of our agreement. It’s just too risky.”

  “Well, unfortunately we’re not in a position to do much about it.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “So, make this mess go away,” the President ordered. “Give the public limited access to it but don’t let any samples be taken away for close study. That’s normal protocol anyway, so it shouldn’t raise any eyebrows.”

  “What about Colonel Martin? We’re not going to let his murderer get off scot free, are we?”

  “No. If the FBI can get enough evidence to charge him, let them do it, but in the meantime there is a presumption of innocence.”

  “Yes, Mr. President,” Rawlings acknowledged reluctantly.

  Rawlings and Malone got up, shook the President’s hand and then left the oval office. Rawlings couldn’t believe they were going to just walk away from the Bat Mountain Site. He wondered how it would all play out in the end. Was it possible the whole incident would eventually die down and the threat go away? He didn’t think there was a chance in Hell that would happen. The truth was like the air in a tire. It could be confined there for a long time but eventually the tire would wear out and spring a leak or you’d run over a nail and it would escape in an instant.