Strangers

Everything spoken in the apartment was sucked directly into the enemy's electronic ears.
        Out there on the barrens, the two observers were prone on the cold ground. Jack saw that one man had a pair of binoculars. But the guy was not using the glasses at the moment, so he was not aware of Jack watching him from the window.
        He moved to the east windows and surveyed that landscape, as well, but it was uninhabited. They were being watched only from the south, which the enemy figured was sufficient because the front of the motel and the only road leading to it could be seen from that single post.
        They were underestimating Jack. They knew his background, knew that he was good, but they didn't realize how good.
        At one-forty, the first snowflakes fell. For a while they came down only as scattered flurries, with no particular force.
        At two o'clock, when Dom and Ernie returned from their scouting trip around the perimeter of the Thunder Hill Depository, Jack said, "You know, Ernie, when the storm really hits later, there might be some people on the interstate who'll see our wheels out front and pull in here, looking for shelter, even if we leave the sign and other lights off. Better move my Cherokee, the Servers' truck, and the cars around back. We don't want a lot of people rapping at your door wanting to know why you're giving rooms to some people and not to them."
        Actually, certain that the enemy was even now listening to them, Jack was using the specter of weary snow-bound motorists as a plausible excuse to move the pickup truck and the Cherokee, the two four-wheel-drive vehicles, out of sight of the observers south of I-80. Later, when heavier snow and the early darkness of the storm settled in, the entire Tranquility family would surreptitiously leave the motel from the rear, heading overland in the truck and the Cherokee.
        Ernie sensed Jack's real purpose; equally aware of eavesdroppers, he played along. He and Dom went outside again to move all the vehicles around back.
        In the kitchen, Ned and Sandy had nearly finished preparing and packaging the sandwiches that everyone would be issued for dinner.
        Now they had only to wait for Faye and Ginger.
        The snow flurries intermittently surrendered to furious but short-lived squalls. The day dimmed. By two-forty, the squalls turned to steady snow that, in spite of a complete cessation of wind, reduced visibility to a few hundred feet. Out on the barrens, the camouflaged observers were probably picking up their gear and moving closer to the motel.
        Jack checked his watch more frequently. He knew time was running out. But he had no way of knowing how fast it might be running out.
        

        
        While Lieutenant Horner repaired the sabotaged polygraph in the security office, Falkirk lectured the Depository's chief of security and his assistant - Major Fugata and Lieutenant Helms - letting them know they were on his list of possible traitors. He made two enemies, but that didn't matter. He did not want them to like him-only to respect and fear him.
        He had not yet finished chewing out Fugata and Helms when General Alvarado arrived. The general was a lardass with a pot gut, fingers like sausages, and jowls. He stormed into the security office in a red-faced outrage, having just heard the bad news from Dr. Miles Bennell: "Is it true, Colonel Falkirk? By God, is it true? Have you actually taken control Of VIGILANT and made prisoners of us all?"
        Sternly but in a tone that could not be construed as disrespectful, Leland informed Alvarado that he had the authority to include the secret program in the security computer and to activate it at his discretion. Alvarado demanded to know whose authority, and Leland said, "General Maxwell D. Riddenhour, Chief of Staff of the Army and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs." Alvarado said he knew perfectly well who Riddenhour was, but he did not believe that the colonel's mentor in this matter was the Chief of Staff himself. "Sir, why don't you call him and ask?" Leland suggested. He took a card out of his wallet and gave it to Alvarado. "That's General Riddenhour's number."
        "I have the Staff HQ number," Alvarado said scornfully.
        "Sir, that's not Staff HQ. That's General Riddenhour's unlisted home line. If he's not in his office, he'd want you to contact him on the unlisted phone. After all, this is a deadly