Overheard

“Hey Frank, hang loose, I have to make a phone call.” Security Officer Travis Tuttle waved to a large man who was racing down the hall.

“Alright, but the briefing is in three minutes which means we are already late.” Frank was already sweating from the exertion.

“I gotta tell Debbie that I’m gonna be late.” He picked up the receiver and put it to his ear, but what he had planned to be a routine phone call home turned out to be anything but.

“Yeah, we will be launching the ballistic missiles at fourteen hundred hours.” The voice at the other end of the line whispered.

“Roger that.” Another voice answered.

“What the heck?” Travis uttered.

“I’ve got someone on another line.” The first voice sounded alarmed.

“I thought this was a secure top-secret line.” The other voice sounded very much panicked that there was someone listening in.

“Let’s hang up and meet in Room 16R down the hall.” The first voice ordered.

“Roger that.” The phone Travis was holding went dead.

“Hey, we have to skedaddle.” Frank smiled but notice his friend was very pale. “Travis are you alright. It’s looks as if you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I just heard overheard something very disturbing.” His voice was distant.

“What?” Frank held out his arms. “C’mon.”

In the subterrain building there were all sorts of secret rooms along the corridors. As they hurried to the main meeting room where over two hundred security personnel would be in attendance, Travis knew they would pass Room 16R. As both of them scurried past, Travis saw two men dressed in dark suits enter the room and then close the door. He wished he had time to check it out but Frank was right, they were late for the meeting.

Travis McNulty had worked west coast security in Washington State for his entire career out of Seattle and Olympia. Frank Culsey was his right-hand man. They were the ears of the North East branch office in Seattle. Working security wasn’t spying, but it did come close at time it seemed. Distracted when he made his phone call to his wife, he did not notice he had picked up a red phone instead of one of the black ones. He had overheard two men talking about the launch time of a ballistic missile, but where? When the missile reached the target, it wouldn’t take long for the entire world to know what just happened.

As he listened to new procedures, Travis could not keep his eyes off the clock to the left of the podium where the speaker was addressing the crowd. He might as well be speaking Russian, because Travis’ eyes were glued on the clock which now read thirteen hundred thirty hours local.

What if the voices were talking about East Coast time?

The missiles would have already been launched.

Travis closed his eyes and took a deep breath that could just be his last. Exhaling, he took another deep breath. Frank was doodling in the margins of his briefing notes.

Travis had just heard a possible time for the end of the world while Frank was drawing cartoon figured in the margins.

It would be fourteen hundred hours PCT in less than twenty minutes.

Would there be a flash followed by a sonic boom as gamma rays and beta particles reduced them to anti matter. Sitting inside the mountain would prevent them from being reduced to mere shadows on a wall somewhere, but Debbie was not protected. She would be reduced if there were an atomic holocaust.

At fourteen hundred thirty hours, the briefing ended and people began to file out. If the target was in Asia, the missiles would still be on their way, Travis figured.

“Hey, are you alright?” Howard asked as they made their way toward the exit.

“I dunno.” Travis shook his head.

“What’s wrong, buddy?” Howard stopped just before they reached the security exit check point.

“I overheard them.” He felt tears rolling down his cheek.

“What? Tell me.” Howard watched his boss sink to the floor.

“Are you okay, sir?” One of the armed security officers wandered over to check on the guy sitting on the floor.

“No…” He gasped.

“What seems to be the problem?” The security officer asked.

Travis just shook his head.

“Travis…” Howard implored him

“It may be too late.” Travis came to his feet but found his legs more than a bit wobbly.

“Do you need some medical attention?” The security officer asked grabbing Travis’ elbow to steady him.

“Thank you, officer, but I have to go.” Travis insisted.

“Sure, but we have to search ya.” He nodded sympathetically.

“I just need to get back to my hotel room.” He said as his breathing accelerated.

“We’re leaving for home in the morning.” Howard explained as he grabbed Travis’ elbow and lead him to the area to be searched. After searching both of them, they were authorized to leave the mountain.

Once in the fresh air, Travis felt better.

“Do you wanna tell me what’s up?” Howard asked once they were in the rental car with Howard behind the wheel of the Carola.

Travis shook his head like a child refusing to take his medicine, but as Howard pulled out of the parking lot, Travis began to mumble. At first it sounded like he was speaking in some foreign language, but as he continued Howard began to understand.

“I picked up the red phone to call Debbie.” He sighed.

“Red phones are restricted.” Howard shook his head.

“Yeah. I made a mistake, but that’s when I heard two men talking about launching the ballistic missiles.” Travis opened his window. The fresh mountain air felt good.

“Atomic?”

“They didn’t say.” Travis shook his head.

“Only the President has the nuclear codes.”

“I know, I know.” Travis became briefly agitated.

“Could be a test fire.” Howard suggested.

“I don’t think so.” Travis glanced out the window.

“What makes you so sure?”

“The hush-hush way they were both speaking to each other.” Travis rubbed his chin between fingers and thumb.

“Chrissakes, those boys tell dirty jokes using that tone of voice. "Howard laughed, but Travis didn’t.

“What if this is it?” Travis’ expression implored his buddy.

“When I was a kid, I listened to my old man talk about Agent Orange at the dinner table. It was not dinner conversation, but after seeing what he saw, he could not get it out of his mind. Mom understood and she let him speak. She figured the worst was coming and I’d better be ready for it.” He smiled as he stopped the car at a red light. “I am sorry you overheard that.”

“I want to find some way to forget all about it.” Travis bowed his head and Howard figured if it wasn’t for his shoulders his head might not stop until it hit his knees. He had never seen his boss so distraught.

“Wanna see an X-rated movie at some adult shop?” Frank suggested.

“Naw.” But it did bring a smile to his face. “It smells funny in those places.”

They both laughed at that.

Jeff Kershaw was the boss of the shop in Seattle that overlooked the harbor in Seattle. Tall and thin with no shoulders to speak of, Jeff’s office looked like an oracle of worship to the Seattle Seahawks.

“So how was the mountain?” He asked to Travis and Howard who sat in his office with the doors closed.

“As a mountain should be.” Howard answered as Travis sat with his hands folded under his chin.

“I saw the briefing notes.” Jess held up the copy Howard had given him. “Looks like things are getting tighter.”

“Yeah.” Howard nodded, “The world is falling apart it seems.”

“You weren’t alive when the Cuban Missile Crisis was taking place.” Jeff folded his hands under his chin with his elbows on his desk.

“Only old timers were there for that, right?” Howard smiled.

“I was there for that.” Jeff looked at Howard who only had his smile to hide behind. After a long mournful sigh, Jeff glanced at Travis and noticed his troubled expression, “So, what’s up, McNulty?”

“Pardon?” Travis seemed to have been awakened from a dream.

“You have been acting as if you’ve seen a ghost.” He tilted his head as he peered at one of his senior officers.

“I overheard something when I was in the Mountain.” He ran his fingers through his thinning white hair.

“Like what? The place is crawling with spies both good and bad.” Jeff glanced over at Howard who wore a blank expression.

“I overheard two guys talking about launching the ballistic missiles.” Travis shook his head.

“God, I thought it was going to be exciting.” Jeff waved him off as he shook his head. “They’re always talking that end of the world shit. One day one of them bozos is going to press the red button.”

“What if they did?” Travis showed his clenched teeth.

“In my dad’s day, the boys in Washington D.C. talked about Brinkmanship.” He pushed his hands against his desk, “Came damn close a couple of times. Times when most folks don’t even know how close we came. Don’t sweat the talk. Most of them guys wanna make a name for themselves the hard way. Our job is to keep our ears open to what them damn Chinese and Ruskies are up to. After a couple of hits of cheap vodka and one of them will get to talking shit. It has happened for over seventy years.”

“It sounded pretty real to me.” Travis wiped his mouth with his hand and glanced over at Howard who had been quiet for the last few minutes which was out of character for him.

“Now gentlemen, if you will excuse me, I have a briefing with some two-star general from McCord.” Jeff stood up nodding.

“Time for us to scram.” Howard elbowed Travis.

“Yeah.” Travis struggled to get to his feet. Lately the struggle seemed more and more difficult. He heard Jeff greet the general.

“Mr. Kershaw, it is so good to finally meet you.” The General shook Jeff’s hand emphatically.

Travis froze to the spot upon hearing the general’s voice. His face also froze in an expression of utter terror.

“Hey, Travis what’s wrong?” Howard asked.

“My office.” He pointed.

“What the hell is going on?” Howard closed the door.

“It’s him.” Travis said in a low voice.

“Who?”

“The second voice I overheard on the phone.” He closed his eyes as if doing that would prevent the nightmare from continuing.

“Second voice?”

“The second voice I head on the phone yesterday at the Mountain.” His head drooped into his hands.

“Are you sure?” Howard melted into the empty chair.

“There are some things you know for sure.” Travis said through his hands. “That voice…the pitch…the diction…the timbre…all of it. He was the second voice; I am sure of it.”

“Take it easy. It might have been just a drill.” Howard tried to calm his boss.

“I pray to God you are right about this.”

The next morning as he prepared to drive to the office, Debbie turned on the television. The news was on as Travis grabbed his briefcase. He gave his wife a peck on the cheek just like every morning in their thirty plus years of marriage.

“Are you gonna be late, hon?” She asked reaching for her coffee on the end table.

“I don’t plan to be.” He straightened up.

“Could you grill a couple of stakes?”

“What’s the occasion?” He smiled.

“Just cause.” She sipped her coffee.

“Alright.”

“This just in.” A reported said standing in front of the White House, “Two ballistic missiles were fired by an unknown source that landed off the coast of Russia at two o’clock local time. We will go now live to the Pentagon…”

“What is this all about, I wonder.” Debbie pouted as she cradled her coffee cup

“Yeah, we will be launching the ballistic missiles at fourteen hundred hours.” The voice at the other end of the line whispered.

“On second thought dear, I may be late tonight.” Travis waved as he walked out the door, closing it behind him.

“Best we have gathered is China is testing their missiles.” Jeff appeared a bit frazzled by the unexpected news.

“Why would they fire them off the Russian shore?” Travis held his hands out.

“Beats me.” Jeff sighed as he looked out the window through the venetian blinds.

“Where’s Howard?”

“Beats me.” Jeff shook his head.

“There is a police officer here, Mr. Kershaw.” Elma stuck her head in the open door. Elma was the head administrator.

When she stepped aside, the police officer walked in.

“What can I do for you officer?” Jeff did not even look at the officer as he entered the office.

“Do you have someone named Howard Culsey who works here?” He read Howard’s name from his pad.

“Yes.” Travis answered.

“Mr. Culsey was killed in a single car accident this morning.” The officer reported. Both Jeff and Travis stood motionless in shock at the news of Howard’s death. “I’m sorry to have to bring you this news.”

“Thank you for letting us know.” Travis nodded.

“Try to have a good day.” The officer tipped his hat as he turned to leave.

“He was murdered.” Travis scowled after the officer left.

“Do you think so?” Jeff asked with a quick shrug.

“I know so.” Travis rubbed his chin.

Later that day, the east coast of Russia was hit with a 7.3 magnitude earthquake that brough a tsunami with it wiping out some villages along the coast.

“We have confirmation that the missiles caused the earthquakes. It was done intentionally.” Jeff confided in Travis who sat there shaking his head, because he knew. He had overheard.

After receiving a phone call from someone unknown who discussed private matters, Travis called the center to alert them of the call.

“You better report to the office so we can assure your safety, Mr. McNulty.” Senior Advisor Chandler instructed him.

“Debbie pack a bag we are leaving.” He pushed the button on his I Phone.

“What’s wrong, Travis?” A panicked expression crossed her face.

“I tell you once we get to the Center.” He put his pistol in his shoulder holster. Seeing him do that alerted her that this was an emergency.

When they got to the center, Senior Advisor Chandler met them before they even got out of the car.

“We have all kinds of red alerts happening.” He helped Debbie with her bag. “We are moving you and your wife to an isolated location.”

“Where?” Travis was nearly out of breath.

“An island off the coast of British Columbia.” He pulled out his hand radio, “Have Mr. and Mrs. McNulty enroute to the helipad.”

“Roger that, proceed.” A voice buzzed over the radio.

“Follow me, Travis.” He began walking to the helipad in back of the building, but just as the pilotless helicopter came into view, it exploded knocking them to the pavement. Chandler sat there watching the flames reach its fingers into the darkening sky.

“What now?” Travis helped Debbie to her feet. Seeing the shock expressed in her face, he knew that they had better find security before the next attempt was made on them.

“We will transport you both on our top-secret transport.” Chandler spoke as if this was standard operating procedure. He led them inside the heavily secured building with several armed guards began checking their identification.

“What transport?” Travis was slowly getting his wits about him. In all his years here, he had never heard of a top-secret transport. He had no choice but to follow Chandler with Debbie close behind him. Chandler pressed the passcode to a big metallic door which opened with whoosh. Travis’ eyes went wide when he saw an electric train behind the door.

“This transport.” Chandler held his arms out. “This moves on an underground track until you get to Port Progress where you will ferry over to Port McNeill on Vancouver Island. You should be alright. They know you are coming.”

“Are you serious?” Travis shakes his head as he glances ag Debbie.

“We have lost agents in this operation.” Chandler put his hand on Travis’ shoulder. “We just want you to be safe. This has become a national emergency.”

“Stay safe?” Travis glanced at Debbie who nodded her approval. “Alright, I guess we have no other options, do we?”

“I think not.” Chandler pressed a button and the transport doors open. “Good luck to you both.”

“Keep safe, Agent Chandler.” He nodded as Debbie entered the transport without any hesitation.

“I will do my best.” He waved as the door closed as the transport disappeared in the dark tunnel. “God be with you both.”

Stepping back, Special Advisor Chandler stood there for a moment after the door closed to contemplate what lie ahead. No one would have predicted this was how it was supposed to end.