Conspiracy at Desert One
A novel
By Bernace Charles
The Iranian
Chapter Fifty-Five
Southwest England
1999
It was dark. Roya and Lin Thi helped Walker downstairs. Lin Thi guided
Walker to her car and told Roya. "You drive and follow me. I have
to get rid of the car. I know a place where no one will find it."
With Walker in the passenger seat, Roya hurried around to slip behind
the wheel of Lin Thi's BMW. Roya followed the Austin.
Five miles out of Porthleven, Lin Thi turned the Austin off the highway
and into an open stretch of dark field. The open land ran to the south
to end at a drop off cliff. Lin Thi stepped out of the car, and Roya came
out of the BMW to help push the Austin in the direction of the channel.
It started down the slope, picked up speed, and soon plunged off the end
of the solid world. It struck water and sank out of sight.
Lin Thi returned to the BMW, and Roya slipped into the back seat. As
she entered the car, Lin Thi said, "They'll never find it." Turning
to Walker she added, "What I do for you is amazing."
Walker laughed and patted her on a knee. He said in a joking tone. "Don't
ever kid yourself that I'm not worth it."
Lin Thi removed his hand. She said, "Listen you . . . you keep
your hands to yourself."
Walker laughed and it caused his side to hurt. Lin Thi backed the BMW
onto the highway. She continued to the southwest, through the darkness,
and in the direction of a cottage rented at the edge of a narrow valley.
The valley held a path leading to an isolated stretch of beach.
Lin Thi turned off the highway, through the opening in a hedgerow, and
crossed a cattle guard. She drove down a rutted path winding its way to
a stream coming out of the northern hills and running to the channel. In
the darkness Roya was wide-awake studying the passing of a few cows caught
in the BMW's headlights. The animals watched the car as it intruded into
their space. One refused to move off the road causing Lin Thi to drive
around it. She let out, "Damn, stupid, English animal!"
***
Two days earlier
Having hitchhiked into north England to reach the town of Carlisie,
David Rice was now on a train carrying him to London's Euston Station.
From there, he would go to Heathrow Airport and return to Washington.
Because of a thick growth of rose bushes, he hadn't got close enough
for a clean shot. He thought he could kill the couple with the thrown grenade.
Rice knew he had been wrong. Walker had somehow managed to secure weapons.
He was wise enough for him and the girl to escape into the woods, cross
the river, and fire back at him. Walker possessed a good instinct.
Now, David Rice realized Walker and Roya escaped him. He realized he
wouldn't again find them until they entered the states with a complete
manuscript. David would return to Washington, update Wayne Phillips, and
decide what to do next. Walker's agent was in New York and Walker would
eventually have to meet with him. The one thing David wasn't certain of
was that Wes Walker and Roya Sanders would fly to the states. Walker could
see to their return by ocean freighter. But Walker's literary agent would
be the key, and Rice hoped Walker worked hard and long hours and managed
a manuscript within the next months. He had found blood behind the boulder
hiding the weapon case. David knew one of them was hurt. David anticipated
Walker and Roya's route to take them to North Ireland where Walker might
hide. He was certain that it would be there where Walker would hide among
the IRA.
As David watched the passing country out of the train window, he thought
back to the Americans of the American Embassy in Tehran becoming hostages
of student revolutionaries. The prevented rescue-effort was nothing more
than an accident in the Desert. That night continued to hang over men.
Laleh didn't know she wasn't the cause of the helicopter colliding with
the C-130. She hadn't known until Wayne Phillips got drunk and told her.
Yet, the scenario couldn't have worked better than it did. The military
learned a lesson and the president of the country lost the fall election.
A man came into the office with a willingness to back military research
and development and reassert the military role while favoring the agency.
Those years gave birth to the technology used during the Gulf War. The
Soviet Union had gone bankrupt trying to keep up with the technological
race.
A few men and a woman played a role in the embryonic development of
an American president. Walker was pressing to tell the story to the world,
and David was determined that he not be allowed to do it. It would never
happen. Walker's pride would be his undoing. The man's vanity wanted to
write the novel before coming forward with the story. Walker's vanity would
kill him >>>
Go to Chapter Fifty-Six
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