New Earth: Project O.N.E.. R.D. Ph.D. Pittman

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      “Pick me up at my office in Building Six room 122. I’ll take us to a quaint place that is secluded and private, where we can talk without fear of being overheard.”

      “Perfect. See you tomorrow Dr. Chenowith.”

      Alex hung up the phone and sank into his easy chair. With the world ending he didn’t need a caustic, intellectual prima donna. What next? Would they ask him to establish a run away teen safe house?

      Well he had other things to worry about. Like how to keep the neighbors from suspecting something was up…he didn’t want the Wilsons to spend the next few years in involuntary detention. Also his investment portfolio would need to be liquidated, leaving enough cash in the bank to pay bills and living expenses. The rest should go into gold, platinum, silver and diamonds. But, then again maybe that would all be for nothing. If people were struggling for food, they weren’t going to care about Kruggerrands. He would call Howard for any suggestions, or if there were any prohibitions against accumulating precious metals since he had inside information about a future event.

      After reading the detailed instructions left by the technicians, he picked up the secure phone—and how did they install it without the neighbors noticing? They put a high gain microburst dish on his roof for God’s sake! He began to realize that standard operating procedures were no longer in effect. He speed dialed Howard.

      “Howard.”

      “Hey Alex, I see you are on your secure line, those guys work fast.”

      “Yeah, listen, this may sound crass but I was wondering…. I have a substantial portfolio.”

      “We know.”

      “Of course. But given what is on the horizon I was considering moving into precious metals, I mean taking physical delivery. Would that present a problem?”

      “Alex you have a fabulous mind, and the answer is no, there are no prohibitions for someone in your position. In fact I’m going to give you the number of a man at the US Mint to call. He’ll give you some surprising information.”

      “Thanks Howard. Bye.”

      Alex dialed the number and spoke with the gentleman at the US Mint. What he found out left him gasping for air. It seems that just yesterday the man had received notification from the Justice Department that Alex was a Level One designee. Which apparently meant that the US Mint would be shipping gold and silver coins, along with platinum ingots to him as soon as he had secured suitable storage space.

      “Um…how much are we talking about?” he asked.

      “Somewhere in the range of six and ten billion in precious metals, and fifty billion in cash of various denominations.”

      Okay. Howard had said that price was no object. Alex was beginning to see what that meant.

      The man gave him instructions on what type of secured storage he’d need, which the US Treasury would pay for. The man went on to say that their expectation was that all of the Level One designees would have their facilities in place within nine months. Alex thanked him for his time and clicked off the phone.

      My God. Things were moving far too fast. He needed to get up to speed, and stop being so damned overwhelmed.

      Then he began to think about what this new information actually meant. He was one of a number of Level One designees, all of whom were being given a chunk of the national mint. The United States was literally being broken up into pieces and spread all over the country. It was like an insurance company not concentrating its business in one area; the US government was spreading the risk. Alex got up out of his chair just about the time his residence phone rang.

      “Hello.”

      “Is this General Alex Hanken?”

      “Yes.”

      “General, this is Jeffrey Macklin from Cal Tech, I need to talk to you privately as soon as possible,”——Macklin gasped for air——“Both of our lives may be in danger.”

      “Professor Macklin calm yourself. Can I call you right back on a secure line?”

      “No, it’s got to be in person. I’m on my way there now.”

      “Hang on. I have appointments all day long and I fly out of town tomorrow for three days. I’ll be back Monday and can see you then.”

      “Very well, I’ll see you then.” The line went dead.

      Well, that was unexpected.

      Alex immediately called Howard back.

      “Howard I’ve got a small problem here, one of those professors, a Jeffrey Macklin, just called me saying that both our lives were in danger. He wanted to see me right away and I put him off until next Monday.”

      “Here’s what you do. Call Ted Jeffers at this secure number. He’ll handle this for you.”

      “Thanks Howard.” The name Ted Jeffers rang a bell but he couldn’t remember exactly from where. He’d been through so much in the last few days. He dialed the number and the familiar screeching noise of a scrambled call could be heard.

      “Jeffers.”

      “Mr. Jeffers, this is General Alex Hanken, Howard Carney said you would handle something that just popped up.”

      “General, what can I do for you?”

      “About twenty minutes ago a Professor Jeffrey Macklin of Cal Tech called me to say our lives were in danger and he needed to see me right away.”

      “Oh Christ, Macklin’s finally flipped, his boss Eldon Huart died of a heart attack and he’s conspiracy happy. General forget about it. I will take care of this, and you do your job. And if anything like this happens again—call me immediately.”

      “Thanks. And forgive me but I know your name, I just can’t place you?”

      “I’m the Director of the FBI and from now on it’s Ted.”

      “Okay Ted, good to talk to you.”

      Alex hung up, feeling even more disoriented. He was on a first name basis with the director of the FBI? This was just…the further into it he went, the more bizarre it got. And just where was he in the chain of command?

      No that was ridiculous. He was a retired serviceman with a gift for logistics, that’s all. He was being treated with deference because he was doing an important job. That didn’t make him an important person. He shook his head. Having the US Mint hand you several billion dollars can go right to your head.

      Alex got a call from Curt asking if he and Cynthia could come over that evening so he could explain to her what was going on. Cynthia didn’t know anything beyond the redeployment plan story. It was up to Alex to break the more ominous news to her. Alex went to the grocery store and dropped some cleaning off and waited for Curt and Cynthia to arrive for the evening.

      Alex went outside on the patio and looked up at the stars. Where were they? Where would they be coming from? And when they СКАЧАТЬ