Once the two strangers had lowered their weapons and downed the water Morgan had given them, Harvath asked, “What are you guys doing here?”
“It’s our shift,” said the lead man, who identified himself as Staff Sergeant Steve Gonzalez, United States Marine Corps.
“With all the shit going on in the Lincoln Tunnel, why didn’t you come earlier?” asked Herrington.
“Orders. Believe me, Tommy and I wanted to come down here as soon as we heard, but it was against the protocol.”
“Whose protocol?” replied Harvath.
“Captain Forrester’s,” said Lance Corporal Thomas Tecklin. “He ran us through every contingency he could think of. The last thing he wanted was for any of the security personnel to be caught in a secondary blast meant to target newcomers rushing to the scene.”
“Wait a second,” interjected Gonzalez, the bodies of his Marine Corps colleagues-and the people they were charged with protecting-littering the floor. “Let’s start by talking about what the hell happened here.”
“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” said Harvath. “Captain Forrester gave us this location.”
Gonzalez didn’t believe Harvath. “He wouldn’t have done that. This place is above top secret.”
“He didn’t have a choice,” replied Herrington, who appreciated the man’s loyalty to his mission and his commanding officer. “He didn’t want to see any more of his marines die.”
“More?” repeated Morgan. “What do you mean, he didn’t want to see more marines die? What marines?”
“Two other sites were hit,” said Harvath. He chose the words very carefully, as he wanted to see how much the marines knew.
Gonzalez was very concerned. “Which sites?”
“Transcon Enterprises and Geneva Diamond and Jewelry Exchange.”
“Jesus Christ,” said Tecklin. “How bad?”
“Equally as bad as this. No survivors.”
“Who was it?”
“We believe it was al-Qaeda.”
“Al-Qaeda? Why?”
“We don’t know why,” answered Harvath. “We were hoping that was something you could help us with. Is there anything in particular about the information being processed here that could be beneficial to them?”
“Officially,” replied Gonzalez, “we didn’t know anything about the information that flows through here. Our job is to guard this site.”
“And unofficially?”
“Unofficially? People talk, you know? You couldn’t help but overhear things here. It was all political stuff. Some of it run-of-the-mill dirty dealing and some of it extremely volatile. Like well-placed spies in foreign governments, murder cover-ups, assassination plots, coup attempts-it goes on and on. There is stuff even hotter than that, if you can believe it, but the hotter it is the quieter everyone here is-was-about it. At the end of the day, we actually overheard very little. And none of it directly valuable as far as al-Qaeda is concerned-at least nothing I can think of that would justify all of this,” said the lead marine as he took in the devastated facility.
Three locations and zero leads. It was driving Harvath nuts. The more they uncovered, the less sense it all made. No matter how many steps they took forward, they still couldn’t seem to catch up with whoever was behind these attacks. “What about the fourth site?” he asked.
“What fourth site?” said Gonzalez.
“Sergeant, we know there is a fourth and final site. Captain Forrester mentioned it before he was killed. If we’re correct, that’s exactly where the terrorists are headed next.”
Gonzalez didn’t respond.
“He’s right,” replied Tecklin. “We need to warn them.”
“Quiet,” ordered Gonzalez.
“Why? These guys know about the fourth site, and they’re right that the terrorists probably do too.”
“We don’t know that.”
“Sarge, they’ve hit three out of four. I’d say the chances are pretty good al-Qaeda knows about the last location. We can’t just sit here and let our guys get killed. We’ve got to warn them.”
Gonzalez was torn. On one hand there were the lives of fellow marines at stake and on the other were a set of orders that didn’t seem to make much sense at this point. Nevertheless, orders were orders.
“Will you at least call the fourth location and warn them?” asked Harvath.
“It doesn’t matter. I already tried from one of the pay phones outside before we came in here.”
“No answer?”
“All I got was a fast busy signal and a ‘circuits are overloaded’ response.”
“Did you try calling Transcon and Geneva Diamond?”
Gonzalez again nodded his head. “Same thing.”
“You’ve got to tell us where that fourth location is.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t discuss any other location or locations.”
Bob Herrington had had enough. “For fuck’s sake, Sergeant. Those people are going to die over there if you don’t help us out. Make a goddamn command decision.”
“I can’t.”
“The hell you can’t. Your CO has been shot by the NSA program manager, and at this point you are the most senior marine on site. You think they’re going to court martial you for trying to save that other location?”
“The NSA program manager?” remarked Tecklin.
Gonzalez didn’t want to know anything further. He’d made up his mind. “I’m sorry, I have my orders.”
“Well, you and your orders can kiss my fucking ass,” said Herrington. “I thought marines were smarter than this. I guess I was wrong.”
As Bob walked away in disgust, Harvath pulled Gonzalez aside and said, “Steve, I’ve got a lot of respect for your orders, but at least take Morgan and get over there. You guys might be able to help even the odds. The terrorists have enough players on their team to fill at least two Tahoes.”
The sergeant shook his head. “No can do. We’ve got to secure this site and make sure no one else gets in or out until help arrives.”
“You know that could be quite a while.”
“It doesn’t matter. This information needs to be protected.”
“Even if that means other marines might die?”
Gonzalez looked at Harvath and slowly nodded his head. Come hell or high water, he was going to stand his post. In the process, though, several of his comrades were most likely going to lose their lives.
For a fleeting moment, Harvath wondered if they could muscle the marine and get him to crack, but he decided against it. As wrong as he believed the man’s decision to be, Harvath wasn’t going to torture a fellow serviceman faithfully executing his duty.
He was about to make one more impassioned plea, soldier to soldier, when Paul Morgan caught his attention and signaled that he needed to talk to him.
“What’s up?” said Harvath as he crossed over to where Morgan was standing.
“I know where the fourth site is.”
Harvath couldn’t believe it. “How?”
“Tecklin gave it to me. We both went through basic at Camp Pendleton. It turns out we had the same D.I.”
“So because of a drill instructor he just gave the information to you?”
“No,” replied Morgan. “His brother is part of the security detail at the fourth location. When they joined the Marines together, they promised their old man they’d do everything they could to make sure nothing bad ever happened to the other. He respects Gonzalez, but the way he sees it, the Marines not only taught him how to follow orders, but also to react when old orders didn’t make sense anymore and lives were on the line.
“That’s why he wanted us to have the location. But wait till you hear where it is. At first I thought he was pulling my leg, but he swears it’s for real.”
“Where is it? Where’s the fourth location?”
Morgan held up a diagram made by Lance Corporal Tecklin, and it made such perfect sense that Harvath almost couldn’t believe it.