The Outlaws (Presidential Agent 6)

When, inside his Level A hazmat gear, Colonel J. Porter Hamilton had pressed the TRANSMIT button for his cellular phone, and given his name, the following had happened:

An integral voice recognition circuit had determined that he was indeed Colonel J. Porter Hamilton and, at about the time a satellite link had been established between Hamilton and Las Vegas, had announced that Encryption Level One was now active.

By the time Hamilton spoke again to report the delivery of biohazardous material to his laboratory and what he planned to do about it, the cell phones in the hands of those people had vibrated to announce the arrival of an incoming call. Their cell phones automatically recorded the message, and then sent a message to Hamilton’s phone that the message had been received and recorded.

He had then broken the connection.

When those called “answered” their telephones, either when the call was first made, or whenever they got around to it, they would hear the recorded message. A small green LED on the telephone would indicate that the caller was at that moment on the line. A red LED would indicate the caller was not.

Casey saw that the red LED was illuminated.

Hamilton’s off-line.

I wonder what he wanted.

As he touched the ANSWER key, he saw that both Lester and Peg-Leg were doing the same thing.

Hamilton’s message was played to them all.

“I wonder what the hell that’s all about,” Casey wondered out loud.

“He said, ‘identical to what I brought out of the Congo,’” Peg-Leg said. “What did he bring out of the Congo?”

Both Peg-Leg and Aloysius looked at Lester, whose face was troubled.

“You know what Hamilton’s talking about, Lester?” Casey asked.

Bradley looked even more uncomfortable.

Casey waited patiently, and was rewarded for his patience.

“Colonel Torine would, sir,” Bradley said finally.

“How many times do I have to tell you to call me ‘Aloysius’?” Casey said.

He pushed a button on his CaseyBerry.

“Jake? Aloysius,” he said a moment later. “Got a minute? Can you come to my lab?”

“Captain Sparkman would know, too,” Bradley said.

“Sparkman with you?” Casey said to his telephone, and a moment later, “Bring him, too.”

Casey pushed another button and said, “Pass Torine and Sparkman,” and then looked at Peg-Leg and Lester. “They’re in the hangar.”

He pointed upward.

Colonel Jacob Torine, USAF (Retired), and Mr. Richard Sparkman (formerly Captain USAF) got off the elevator ninety seconds later.

They were dressed almost identically in khaki trousers, polo shirts, and zipper jackets, and had large multibutton watches on their wrists. Their belts held cases for Ray-Ban sunglasses. They both had clear blue eyes. No one would ever guess that they were pilots.

“What’s up?

“Listen to this,” Casey said, and handed him his Caseyberry, and motioned for Lester to hand his to Sparkman.

Both listened to Colonel J. Porter Hamilton’s message.

Sparkman’s eyebrows rose in surprise.