10th June
Maria Galveston sat on a bench in Constitution Gardens, looking across the lake towards the Lincoln Memorial. She glanced downwards and threw another handful of breadcrumbs onto the grass for the ducks.
A jogger approached along the path. He stopped when he reached the bench and sat down beside her.
‘Any news of Rigel?’ Maria asked.
‘Information is hard to come by,’ the man replied. ‘Security in the White House is strictly on a need-to-know basis – tighter than I’ve ever known it. The president doesn’t seem to trust anyone around him anymore.’
‘Very sensible,’ Maria replied. ‘Even we don’t know who’s working for WAR.’
‘Were you and Rigel, I mean Walt, close?’
‘Nothing like that,’ Maria replied, ‘but we spent a lot of time together on the surveillance operation in England. Living together in a campervan for weeks, you get to know someone. For a mercenary and an assassin, he was quite a likeable guy.’
‘I think he may have been taken back to England,’ Elliot Parker said.
‘Why?’
‘I think the president trusts some people in Britain, and the Brits had some questions for Walt.’
They sat in silence for several moments.
‘Why did you want to see me this morning?’ Maria asked.
‘A51H is certain that there’s at least one WAR infiltrator in the White House. I don’t know much more,’ Elliot explained, ‘but it appears that a faked presidential order for an Air Force operational sortie was sent from the White House, as if from the president. We need to find out who did that. Arkangel was almost killed because of it.’
‘Do you think anyone knows about your role for A51H in relation to Betelgeuse?’ Maria asked.
‘I hope we’re the only ones who know that,’ Elliot replied. ‘Those who send the data just know me as Saiph. White and Hawker at Groom Lake don’t know my identity either.’ Elliot looked at Maria. ‘You never told Walt that you knew who I was, did you?’
‘No,’ Maria replied. ‘Don’t forget, he was never a proper member of A51H. We just needed his skills as an ex-navy seal.’ Maria thought back to her time in England. ‘Part of my job in England was to keep an eye on him because we didn’t know how far we could trust him.’ Maria looked at Elliot. ‘You still haven’t told me why you wanted to meet this morning.’
‘I’ve got you a job as my assistant in the White House,’ Elliot replied. ‘We can watch each other’s backs, and with your experience as a police officer, maybe you might pick up something that will identify who’s working for WAR.’
‘OK,’ Maria replied. ‘It’s good to be directly involved. I keep thinking that we might all be dead in three months,’ she said, looking around the park, ‘and all of this might be gone. It helps to be trying to prevent that.’
Elliot smiled. ‘I know what you mean,’ he replied, also looking around him. ‘I’ve got to go, but before I do, shall we pray?’