Page 76 of Nixon’s Promise

Nixon flipped his friend off and smirked.

“Can’t blame a guy for trying,” Holden jabbed and went back to looking at the map in front of him.

“What about one of the PHP forums? Would that be easy, too?” Nixon went on.

“Oh, yeah, easier. Oops, sorry, yes.”

“Thanks, babe. I’ll call you later.”

“Okay.”

Nixon disconnected, but before he could formulate his thoughts Chasin jumped in. “You think the forum was hacked. We’re not really dealing with the original group of We the People followers.”

“I think that it’s a possibility. It would explain the extreme change in the message. Something else is irritating the shit out of me—they’re sloppy. How many terrorists you know of use an open forum anyone can join and start spoutin’ off marker words like guns, bombs, ammunition? No one in today’s world is that stupid. They’d be on radar in two seconds. And they were. Homeland nabbed them within twenty-four hours and started investigating them.

“Alec says this group is being taken seriously because large quanties of guns and ammo can be traced back to some of the forum members. That in and of itself isn’t against the law, but when multiple followers ramp up their ammo purchases, DHS starts taking them seriously. The forum mentions Philly. It also talks about the marathon, but no plan. No call to action. The forum is bunk.”

When Nixon finished, he glanced around the room. Each man was nodding his agreement. Jameson went back to pounding on his keyboard and Weston was shuffling through papers. All of them thinking.

“McKenna say how long she thinks it will take for her to crack that message?” Chasin asked.

“She’s finishing a project for a client, then she’ll be over later. She said it shouldn’t take that long,” Nixon answered.

Nixon’s eyes landed on Holden. He was pacing and running his hand through his hair. “What’s on your mind, Holden?”

“I keep going back to us thinking the group is well-organized. Assuming two months ago the forum was indeed hacked and we are not dealing with the preppers but an entirely different organization, one that has a network in place…would they be purposefully sloppy? Alec mentioned testing loyalty but it feels like more.”

“Diversion,” Jameson declared.

“Exactly,” Holden agreed. “It’s like they’re doing whatever they can—waving their flags, drawing attention to explosives in Philly. Using an event that will draw a crowd, putting authorities on high alert and a clock to stop them. Something big to distract from what they’re really planning. I mean, it’s smart. Hell, we’ve done it. Set a charge across the city so when it detonates, we can slip out unseen. The tactic works.”

Christ, they had done that. More than once when extraction points were hot, they’d create chaos somewhere else. When everyone’s attention was on whatever mayhem they’d orchestrated no one was paying them any mind and they could walk out.

“Fuck. The question is, will they actually blow something in Philly, or do they just want us chasing our tail thinking they will?” Jameson inquired.

“I guess we’ll know when the Philly bomb disposal does their sweep. A marathon is a target-rich environment, but it is not as easy as it once was with all the added security,” Nixon told them.

The five men went silent, each lost in his own thoughts. Hours later, they were no closer to answers—all they’d done was manage to unveil more questions.

And Nixon was still on edge about McKenna. All day he’d fought the need to demand she come to his house and work on her project. If he’d had a proper workstation or his office in town was already set up, he would’ve.

He felt like he was walking a tight rope. One misstep and he was fucked.

29

“Hey, Micky?” Mandy called from outside my bedroom door.

“Come in!” I yelled from inside my closet.

The door slowly pushed open and Mandy poked her head in. “We’re leaving. I let out Sally and Goat out and fed the ducks. And everyone has water.”

My body jerked and I turned to face her.

“What?”

“We’re leaving for school. Zack’s already in the car.”

“Okay.”