Chapter 29
Jake James saw the NSA agent in the parking garage, pushing Daniel in a wheelchair, his hand gripping the boy’s shoulder in a manner clearly not friendly. He yelled and bolted down the ramp, his fellow agents, cops, and guards from the boy’s protection detail following close behind.
“Ames! Stop, or we’ll take you down!”
Ames shoved the chair forward into the open door of an SUV, and James saw Daniel kick with both feet in a move that must have been agony. Saw Parker Ames fall and the boy get up and stagger. He ran like a drunk yet his 38 inch long legs were a miracle to watch, he was as fast as an Olympic sprinter.
More agents joined the chase and the White House Secret Service men cornered all but Ames, who managed to escape them.
“Jesus!” James cursed as Daniel leaped onto the wall and dove off in what was surely a lethal fall. Ames stood and fired just as Jake reached a clear shot when the NSA agent fired again. Both guns went off and Ames fell forward, not even screaming as he disappeared over the wall. Behind James, the rest of his men caught up and he was stunned when he saw who was in the lead. “Holy Christ! Mitchell Gaines!”
“Call an ambulance!” Gaines yelled, looking over the wall. What he saw caused him to rear back in astonishment. The boy’s body was surrounded by and covered with every beast of the earth and air, yet he could clearly see a growing pool of blood. “He’s bleeding, James!” Gaines shouted and leaped. The Secret Service agent followed seconds later, both of them rolling out of the dumpster. The animals hissed, beat their wings, and attacked, driving them both back.
“Danny,” Mitch begged. “Danny, it’s Dad. Let me help you, Danny.”
The boy turned his head and sent the animals away in a cloud that dimmed the sun and Gaines was able to search his body, finding two separate wounds in his back. He looked helplessly at the Secret Service agent who pulled off his jacket and shirt to wad them up against the bubbling blood. Turned the boy over to wince as he saw the larger exit wounds to the chest.
“Danny,” Mitch cried and drew the boy into his arms as they heard the wail of ambulances and helicopters. James spoke into his mike to order the medi-flight to come down and get the boy, telling them he had two gunshot wounds to the chest. He turned to Gaines, “who is he, Mitch?”
“Daniel Gaines, my son,” he cried, tears running down his cheeks. “I raised him from the time he was fourteen until Colonel Pierce took him away from me. I’ve been looking for him since. Nearly a year, James.”
“Who is he, Mitchell?”
Paramedics reached them and took the boy from Mitch’s arms. Had him intubated, lines in and shock pants on him. Rushed him up to the helicopter in less than a minute. They watched it fly off standing on the roof as the rest of his detail joined them. He asked again. “Who is he, Mitchell?”
“The Colonel stole him. From Oliver Sustain’s R&D lab in Fairfax. Two scientists had him, Doctor Everett Hawthorne and Doctor Marian Cohen. Behavioral psychiatrists and neurobiologist. Working on behavior modification. What we used to call brainwashing.” He paused. “They’re both dead. The Colonel had them eliminated. I think, I think he used to be Dantan De Rosier.”
“Used to be?”
“The program destroys the original personality and then programs in a new one. Whatever the Colonel wanted. He had to wait four years for him to mature, no one would let a fourteen-year-old in the places the Colonel wanted to send him. He downloaded Danny, as Daniel, a French orphan who was abused and traumatized almost to a level of mental retardation. Jasmine and I adopted him. Pierce used his little techniques on us, also. When Daniel turned eighteen, he was accepted to CalPoly. We flew him out there. His roommate was Parker Ames. Jazz, and I never heard from him in person, always emails and recorded messages. I got suspicious and started checking up, Pierce found out and threatened me. I’ve been shadowing Ames, using old contacts, heard he flew in to Dulles. I’ve been two steps behind him since. What hospital will go to, Jake?”
“Walter Reed. Same doctors the President uses. Best Cardiac guys on the East Coast.”
“Get me there,” he begged.
“Why, Mitch? Why did the Colonel want this kid so bad, he’d kill for him?”
“Because he reads minds, James,” and such was his conviction that James believed him. He ordered an FBI chopper to pick them up, gave orders to his men to have a word with the President, Felice and to bring Senator De Rosier to Walter Reed but not reveal any of the situation to him. He notified the FBI about Ames and the Colonel, while Gaines fretted anxiously beside him.
The flight took five minutes and deposited the two on the helipad where they were met by more Secret Service and officers who escorted them to the waiting room outside of the OR.
The agent named Jimmy Peterson greeted James. “The ER surgeon came out, said he’s in surgery. Two bullets through the chest, one exited. He lost a lot of blood. They don’t know if he’ll make it. Who is he, Mitch?”
“President Rickover, his daughter and Senator De Rosier will be here soon, Pete. See to the security arrangements.”
“Who is this kid? Do we treat him with kid gloves or as a fugitive?”
“You treat him like he’s President Rickover’s son, got that? And his name is Danny. Let me know when the senior FBI SAIC gets here. I believe it’s Todd Dunne.”
“Yes, Sir. Senator De Rosier is in Virginia. He says if it’s important, he can fly in tomorrow.”
“It’s important enough to send a chopper for him, Pete, it’s important enough for him to be here now. See to it with an armed escort.”
“Yes, Sir,” he hesitated, curiosity winning out. “The police and EMTs said this kid was shot attempting to escape custody.”
“He was shot escaping from the NSA who kidnapped him four years ago. He’s Dantan Townsley De Rosier,” said Gaines flatly.
“No shit?”
“We took him from Homeland Security to the NSA facility in Nebraska and then on to Dallas.” Gaines told them. Everyone straightened up as Felice Rickover ran into the waiting room and made a beeline for James.
“Jake, is it true? They shot him? They shot Danny?” She was crying, her makeup a runny mess on her cheeks. The President came striding in, surrounded by his agents. He faced Gaines and James, his face a study in surprise.
“Games? I thought you’d died?”
“Long story, Mister President. I was involved with Danny and the Colonel.”
“Colonel Pierce of the NSA?” Rickover asked.
“Yes. He’s responsible for this mess. Although Oliver Sustain started it,” Gaines said with venom.
“Sustain?” Rickover snapped.
“Yes, Mister President. Director Sustain had the boy kidnapped from an abandoned boat yard on the Potomac. Set it up to look like he was murdered. The Colonel found out and raided HS R&D section, took the boy and the scientists in charge of the project.”
“You went along with this?”
“He used the same techniques on me, Mister President. Wiped my memories of HS. I thought I’d been in a car accident on the way back from Sustain’s office. I had the injuries to prove it. Found myself retired on disability and was offered a job at General Dynamics Fiber-optics in Dallas.
“The Colonel set up an adoption for my wife and me, Daniel, a French orphan, who went faithfully to therapy every week with Doctor Cohen, the same Doctor Cohen, who worked for Sustain, and Pierce. I took Danny, and when my doubts rose, she treated me, also.”
“How did you break free?”
Gaines smile was grim, “a father’s intuition. I knew Danny was in trouble. Tried to contact him and couldn’t find him at college. I followed his roommate, called in favors and found out Ames was flying back from Dubai to Dulles. I flew in and followed him.”
The surgical Nurse came out, all they could see of her was her eyes and brows, big blue eyes that radiated warmth and concern. They widened when she recognized Rickover. “Mister President?”
“Nurse? Doctor?” Rickover asked.
“Nurse Phillips, Sir. Doctor Abrams sent me out to tell Agent James he has removed the bullet and are working on his lung. We have his pressure back up. He’s fighting to stay with us. The bullet that exited tore a hole through the pericardium, he lost quite a bit of blood. The doctors should be closing him up in a few hours, they’ll come out and talk to you then. We’re cautiously optimistic, he’s made it through surgery this far. Was he in an accident? He’s terribly bruised, shows sign of fractures and his neck x-rays show a fractured C-3.”
“You do whatever you need to keep him alive,” the President swore.
“Yes, Sir. What’s his name? The paramedics who brought him in didn’t know it.”
“Dantan,” Foley said. “Dantan Townsley De Rosier.”
“Dant---the Senator’s dead son?” The nurse gaped.
“You keep him alive,” Felice growled. “You keep him alive or I’ll---” She trailed off and buried her face in her dad’s chest. The nurse flew back through the OR doors and they all heard the surgeon’s shout as she relayed the news.