Homecoming Chapter 5 (Serialized Novel)
Chapter 5
The two officers marched Stephanie out of the room, through the vast halls, and down the doublewide staircase of the university out of its front entrance. Outside they were welcomed by the school’s garden that was found in the Villa Le Balze compound. It was the longest and most humiliating walk of her life. She noted the students all around them, to whom where either walking to and from class or lying out in the comforts that the garden provided, and she could only imagine the types of things that they thought about her with their judging stares. Not that she cared, but it was certainly worse than any walk of shame that one could take after a late-night affair. She also didn’t much like the way that they had flanked her, with each one stomping through the garden with it’s many lush bushes on either side of her. At least she thought that flanking was the right word, but at any rate, it really gave the impression that they were making an arrest or that she was being detained by the United States Government.
“Can either one of you tell me what this is all about. I’m a respectable tax paying citizen and I have my rights. You cannot just cart people off like this from their workplace without any sort of explanation,” Stephanie asked of her new friends looking one to the other in a hey what gives sort of way as she did so. The thing that made it the hardest for her was found in the fact that she viewed the university, her workplace, as a sanctuary. She loved everything about her work, where it was located, the people that she worked with, and as such it was the most disheartening feeling to be taken away from it like some kind of war criminal.
“You will be informed when the time is due. That is all we can say,” the Lieutenant General told the anxiety ridden Stephanie, his gaze unflinchingly set in front of him as it had remained. Stephanie found their stern lack of communication to be more than unbearable, especially given the circumstances.
Lieutenant General Johnson and Major Evans trudged along with Stephanie until the edge of the premises to the roundabout driveway at the very front the university. To Stephanie’s great astonishment, what looked like a Government convoy awaited her there. At least, it was of the likes depicted in the cinemas. It consisted of three all black SUV’s, Escalade type, with black tinted windows and Government tags that one would expect a mafia member to be driving. Only it was unlikely that the mafia would have little United States flags on either side of the front end as they did.
As they neared the furthest SUV Major Evans rushed ahead of Stephanie and the Lieutenant General and opened up its rear side passenger and held the door open in attention for its carload. The Lieutenant General entered the backseat and the Major waited by its door, indicating that Stephanie should follow suite and take the seat in the middle between the two officers. Stephanie looked all around and getting the feeling that she had no other choice, she entered in after Kevin Johnson, with the Major trailing soon after her, closing the door behind him as he entered the vehicle.
In the driver’s seat, a man dressed in a very official looking suit turned the key in its ignition, and the SUV roared to life. Shifting the car out of park, he pulled out of the driveway, and began the journey to the location that was still as of yet unknown to Stephanie, the other vehicles trailing closely behind it.
Stephanie stared out of the dark window in disbelief, trying to remain as calm and optimistic as she could. She wondered to herself what the Government could possibly want with her as the convoy traversed down M St. NW and turned, much to her amazement, onto the magnificent arching Francis Scott Key Bridge that spanned the width of the expanse that was the Potomac River which rushed as beautiful as it ever did below them. The traffic was slow, bringing the trip to a crawl as a result of the expected bumper to bumper traffic.
In the midst of the stop and go travel, Stephanie decided to distract herself with the sights that surrounded her. For her, it was really a necessity for she could not stand the silence that saturated her in the closed confines of the vehicle and the strange men with her.
Looking out past what was the Foggy Bottom on the other side of the Potomac River, she was reminded of all the reasons that she loved working in Washington D.C. From behind the steel beams of the colossal bridge Stephanie could just make out all of Capitol Hill and she marveled over it as she always did. There was nothing like a view of the White House in all its grandeur, along with the likes of other monumental buildings such as the United States Capitol, or the Smithsonian for that matter from above the winding body of water that the Potomac provided. And she absolutely relished in the rich history of it all as well, even in the situation that she found herself in.
“Where exactly are we headed to,” Stephanie inquired of her military detail as the little black box of a chariot finally exited the bridge, continuing on VA-110 N with an immediate lefthand turn. The whole thing still seeming so surreal to her.
Stephanie’s question was met with a reverberating silence as if it had met deaf ears. The American flags in front of the car billowing in the wind as the SUV picked up speed, she cast her gaze out the window once more, craning her neck to get a better glimpse of the magnificent marble and granite Lincoln Memorial that ran parallel to the Potomac and their current position. She had to admit that it was quite the feat of human engineering that the later three of these monuments ran in a near straight line to each other. All four-building made a cross shaped formation. The grand design of it all was definitely something that needed to be appreciated. Still, she was now using these extraordinary landmarks in a process of elimination, to rule out places that they were not taking her, and to better gauge where they might be going.
As she heard the sound of a large Boeing jumbo jet whooshing by and was welcomed by the sight of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport out in the distance in front of them, a part of her wondered if she would be taking a little flight with her newfound friends.
Another part of her was curious, as to whether or not her television had been tapped into and had recorded all the wonderful things drunk Stephanie had to say to and about the President. The slightly Schizophrenic side of her she thought. Perhaps she was being carted in for all the wonderful input she had to offer, and she would be locked up like her Grandfather in some remote asylum that she had never heard of, and would never be heard from again, seeing as she had no offspring to out live her. It certainly wasn’t an impossible thought. She was aware that they did bug and tap into certain people’s electronics. Snowden had taught her that, but what why would the Government be taking an interest in her?
In the compressed stiffness of the car ride, it suddenly occurred to Stephanie that in her sightseeing that her focus was centered on the wrong side of the wide rushing and ranging deep blue Potomac. She centered in on her immediate surroundings and was shocked to see that they were following the round off ramp onto Connector Rd., and with it, Pentagon City.
“The Pentagon! You can’t possibly mean to tell me that you’re taking me to the Pentagon. I know that you said that you were with the Department of Defense, but I could hardly expect this. What on earth would warrant such a thing,” Stephanie exclaimed as the five-sided starlike fortress with its five concentric fortified walls loomed ever closer in front of them as they continued off the exit down Connector Rd.
“Ms. McGee, please refrain from such sudden outbursts. As I have said, everything will be explained to you in due time,” Lieutenant General Johnson responded firmly. “Squad leader, this is task force one. We have the subject, and are in route, approaching our destination now,” he continued, speaking into his earpiece, and as a kind of half indirect response to Stephanie’s inquiry. Her mouth hung to the floor in awe. She could not believe that she was being summoned to the Pentagon.
Suspended in disbelief, Stephanie watched as the Pentagon’s bus terminals and metro station passed them by, which were the means of transport most common for those visiting the building as tourists. She had to admit that the Pentagon too was another impressive feat of architecture.
They turned into one of its massive parking lots which was capable of holding some 8,700 vehicles and approached a gated section that took up nearly half of the area allotted. The four-mile drive that should have taken them somewhere in the ballpark of ten minutes, took twenty with all of the traffic. Stephanie felt as if she was in some kind of dream, one in which she couldn’t kind ascertain whether or not it was a nightmare or not, as they neared a security clearance booth at the midway section of this booth. Two more soldiers in their fatigues manned the booth, standing firm and erect, and staring out in front of them like those in the car, and what you would expect from the detail guarding Buckingham Palace. Stephanie couldn’t help but notice the standard issue sidearms at their hip, or the way that one of the officers looked up at her as she did so.
Lieutenant General Johnson handed one of the officers a plastic card once they came to a stop next to the booth. The officer took the card and held some kind of Ultraviolent light to it and looked at it as if he were inspected it for certain traits, characteristics, and insignias. After several moments, he handed the plastic card, which was no doubt a security clearance card, back to the Lieutenant General, and the SUV inched its way past the security checkpoint into the parking lot.
Adding to Stephanie’s sense of disbelief was noting the number of military Humvee’s occupied the area that they were in, along with the numerous military personnel that were teaming around them. Never in her life had she seen so many loaded semi-automatic weapons. And if Stephanie knew any better, she would speculate that there was something exciting them. Not that it was exciting in the traditional sense of the word, as if they were looking forward to something, but that they all were exceptionally active towards some larger means to an end which they were all working towards.
Once inside, the driver of the SUV parked in one of the many spaces that the lot allotted them. He made sure to park in a spot that had free spaces available all around it for the rest of the convoy to do so as well. The three vehicles all parked themselves in uniform fashion all next to each other, one after the other in a clearing that gave them a direct view of the building itself.
Major Evans exited the vehicle once it had come to a complete stop. He walked the length of the SUV’s rear end and opened the door for Lieutenant General Johnson, standing in attention as he did so.
“Right this way mam,” the Lieutenant General beckoned Stephanie, gesturing her to come out of the vehicle with a wave of his hand as he stepped out of the SUV. He made sure to put his cap squarely at his side with his other free hand.
As they had at the campus, the two military personnel walked on either side of Stephanie and escorted her down the length of the far side of the building. Stephanie marveled at the many windows and great arches of the concrete building. She remembered having read that it was considered an office, and the largest one at that, and now she could see why. It was just one of those little random facts that pop in the mind whenever encountering something related.
Together, the trio turned the corner down one of the many sides of the structure and walked the length of the front of the military building. Stephanie looked above her in wonderment as they got to the center of this section, and the two men led her through the front pillars of the entrance to the Pentagon.
Inside of the fortress, the unlikely team was welcomed by yet another security clearance booth. This one was manned by a brunette female. She wore a white button up t-shirt that carried with it the insignia of the contractor company that hired her out. Neatly sewed onto the sleeves of the shirt was the black bar supporting two red circles which was the trademark sign of Securitas. Stephanie was surprised to see such a commonplace security detail working the entrance of such a highly significant place as the Pentagon.
This second security clearance matched the similitude of what one could expect passing through customs at an airport. To begin with, there were a number of terminals for one to pass through. These terminals were located next to a rolling conveyor belt that one placed their personal belongings onto. The terminals were immediately followed by an X-ray that scanned for all kinds of metallic substances.
“Welcome to the Pentagon. Place all of your items on the belt, and then pass right on through here,” the brunette guard instructed of Stephanie, gesturing her through the terminal towards the vibrating X-ray machine.
“Lieutenant General Johnson and Major Evans,” the soldier declared, flashing his little plastic security clearance card that he had used at the previous checkpoint. “We have a briefing to get to in the basement section. She’s with us,” he continued putting his card back behind his jacket.
Stephanie watched slack jawed and in awe as the two officers strolled proudly through the checkpoint, setting all of its various alarms and buzzers off as they did so. No doubt the result of their standard issue side arms that were concealed behind their jackets in their holsters at the hip. But that was not nearly as unbelievable as the fact that she was about to take place in a briefing at the Pentagon of all places. Stephanie too passed through the security point, holding her bag out in front of it like it was some undesirable substance, like a baby’s diaper, knowing full well that the phone and numerous other objects would set it off. She looked back and forth between the guard and her entourage that consisted of the two offices in a scrupulous sort of way that was full of skepticism in her disbelief for what was happening. The alarm sounded, and even so, the guard waved her on with her security baton, signaling her to go along with the men that had just passed through.
The thing that most instantly caught Stephanie’s attention was the way in which the Pentagon was not filled to the brim full of state-of-the-art advanced technologies sand architectures. There were no supercomputers that were capable of hologram projections that hovered in the air as were portrayed in the movies. No, what she encountered was a stark juxtaposition to what one would expect.
In fact, the place had an almost archaic feel to its interior design; one that reminded her of the 50’s, which she supposed was about the time that it was built, and that reminded her of a cross breed between the television show Mad Men with the militaristic edge presented in Full Metal Jacket. Adding to this sensation, which she could not believe for the life of her, was the way that, for security reasons, that the place did not have Wi-Fi, and that they utilized landlines to make phone calls and to use the Internet. And what computers they did have ran only on Windows XP.
“The Pentagon consists of some 17.5 miles of corridors. At any time, it is estimated that somewhere around 40,000 essential employees work these hallways. For the time being, do we understand that you are now considered a substantial and essential personnel in this building,” the Lieutenant General asked of Stephanie as they marched down one of those vast passageways.
“Understood, ah, Sir,” Stephanie answered, in shock that this of all things was his first means of real initiated verbal communication with her since they’d met. That was the other thing that had caught her eye, or rather senses. One only need pay note to the squeaking of countless many feet shuffling across the polished and glistening floor that looked like it had only been spit shined by toothbrush in the last half hour to get a idea for how many souls were in the building. Knowing that the Pentagon comprised some 40,000 individuals put the totality of the United States into perspective. If that was some number of persons on the job at one location, she could only begin to fathom what the total was for all of the differing military branches.
Stephanie knew that the building was large. Okay, that wasn’t entirely accurate she thought. She didn’t usually go about thinking about the Pentagon and little random facts most days of the week. Nevertheless, she was taken aback by the number of individuals that the Pentagon employed. Knowing that some 40,000 people worked there, really put all of the military branches, and she couldn’t even imagine what number must comprise them all.
There were other things that she found equally as fascinating. Things such as the numerous restaurants and gifts shops that were located throughout. Although she supposed even essential military personnel had to eat. They passed gymnasiums and entire libraries that she never would have guessed would have been in the building. The many tourists giving their tour guides was another thing, but she should have expected for this. She had to admit that she had lost sight of such things given her unusual circumstances. But the most noticeable of these was that it really was a tremendous office that housed many others which they passed as they marched down its elaborate walkways.
“Hey guys, not that I don’t like playing the silent game that we’ve got going on here. But now that we’re on somewhat speaking terms, would any of you fine gentlemen care to clue me on about what this is all about? You mentioned something about a briefing. I don’t really know of what use I can be, and how essential and substantial I can be if I don’t know what it is that we’re talking about. Care to clue me in and fill in any holes for me. I just don’t know how much help I can be, seeing as to how in the dark I am about everything,” quipped Stephanie, whose demeanor was somewhat hunched over, and who was looking at them in a pleading sort of way.
“I’m afraid that I don’t have the answers in which you seek Ms. McGee. This is all strictly classified, and I am not at liberty to tell you. As I’ve been telling you, please be patient. You will be informed when the time is right,” Lieutenant General Johnson answered with a sigh as if he was starting to grow annoyed by Stephanie’s constant inquiries. “I can tell you this much. Me and Major Evans were both of the opinion that we could have done all of this without you. But we were reassured that you were of the degree of expertise to handle the situation at present. So just place your confidence and trust in as much,” he went on as they rounded a corner. “And if I am being perfectly honest, there is nothing in me that views you as either essential or substantial by any normal means,” he continued coldly with his first sideways look at her.
After turning the corner, the two soldiers came to an abrupt stop. Their final resting place was outside of that of a large elevator. Stephanie joined her companions wondering if there was any chance that there were any secret elevators that led to concealed locations on sight. She was still somewhat hurt by the Lieutenant General’s recent remarks and observations about her. There was another part of her that had to admit that she herself didn’t think she was qualified enough to be considered essential personnel at the Pentagon.
As Stephanie turned this all over in her mind, the Lieutenant General pressed the little circular button that indicated that they were taking the elevator down. Again, Stephanie made a note of the cleanliness of the place, as the elevator was of stainless steel and was every bit as polished and of immaculate conception as the floor. For whatever reason, she thought of her father saying to her, “Cleanliness is Godliness,” and she knew for half of these militaristic men that these were the types of strict morals and values that they grew up on in defending their God-fearing country.
Finally, there came a ping, and the two metallic doors slid their separate directions, opening wide for them. They waited until the two doors were open and then Lieutenant General Johnson stepped inside with Major Evans following after him. It was all but apparent that the Major was waiting for the Lieutenant General to enter before him out of respect for their ranks. Stephanie wondered to herself as to whether there was a specific length of time that they generally waited in instances such as these. Mostly so she could show them the same respect to do it herself. For what it was worth, she waited several seconds herself before entering the elevator after them.
Stephanie’s immaculate memory recollected all the previous times that she had visited the nation’s Department of Defense. Her family had taken her a handful number of times as a little girl as they toured the Capital. She had also visited a couple of times when she had relocated to the surrounding area per her occupation.
It had been in an effort to submerge herself into the feeling of being a local as opposed to coming tourist to her location. To be a part of the history that Washington D.C., had to offer for all. But that was the thing, and she recognized this even more that she had always played the tourist. Now, in her present situation, she couldn’t discern exactly as to what her role was. She had never been to this extent, and it discomforted her.
It was more intimate this way, and it was a wonderland of never-ending surprises. In her tours of the building, she had never gone so far as to enter one of the great labyrinth’s elevators, and it startled her upon entering it that there was one of those tedious elevator jingles playing in the background of the otherwise silent box. What really surprised her, even in all of the banalities of the building, was the way that things seemed strangely out of place, or unlike what one would expect of the building. It was just plain boring, but maybe that was Hollywood’s doing.
Once the three of them were safely within the contents of the elevator, Major Evans pressed the bottommost button that was located on the panel in front of him. It had a little B insignia on indicating the five-story building’s basement section. His action brought to Stephanie’s attention the many medals and accomplishments that were located on his and the Lieutenant General’s jackets.
The elevator hummed to life as it descended downwards towards the belly of the enormous construction. “The Pentagon spans across more than 29 acres and more than 3,700,000 square feet. What we find in the lower sections of the building are those offices that are dedicated to issues of national security. They are classified, and as such, everything that you see from this moment on never happened. You will speak of what happens down here to no one, nor create for any documentation of it in any format. Do you understand Ms. McGee?”
The elevator came to a grinding halt with a ping, as if the gravity and the heavy weight that the circumstances called for came crushing down on Stephanie. “Yes sir,” was all the astrophysics professor could muster as the polished metallic doors slid open in front of them; the Lieutenant General and his Major quick to make their exit as they did so.
Lieutenant General Johnson and Major Evans led Stephanie through another series of winding hallways and corridors throughout the elaborate maze. It occurred to Stephanie that it would be easy to lose oneself in their contents as they rounded still another corner. Stephanie was wondering to herself how much further their little excursion would be when the soldiers finally came to a pause outside a regular looking doorway.
“Right through here Ms. McGee,” Lieutenant General Johnson instructed of Stephanie as he and Major Evans stopped and stood in attention on either side of the doorway, the Lieutenant General opening the door for her and gesturing her inside.