Chapter 28

Monday, Memorial Day – Morning

Samantha Peterson had been a Federal prosecutor, the U.S. Attorney for Cleveland, to be specific. She had been a U.S. District Court judge. She had served as Assistant to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. After his election, the new President had nominated her as the Secretary of Homeland Security, and her appointment sailed through the Senate. She was fifty-two years old. She had kept the country safe through all kinds of threats, both publicly disclosed and undisclosed, for over three years.

Today, Ms. Peterson was enjoying the long weekend at her Northern Virginia home, with family. She'd just make a short trip into the internet to check her mail, before brunch. There were thirty-seven routine messages, which could wait until tomorrow. There was one that would not wait, it immediately caught her attention:

To: S.Peterson

From: Flash Flash Red Tomato

The key to decrypt this message has been sent to Thomas Fitzhugh.

[several lines of obviously coded message followed]

She'd been on this job for nearly three and a half years, and had never gotten a 'Flash Flash Red Tomato' email. It was an emergency message from the White House. She picked up her phone and called Marty Myrowitz, her head computer geek. After calling him to her office, she called Thomas Fitzhugh, her old boss at the FBI.

Yes, he could confirm that he'd received an urgent message, coded from the White House, containing a 128 character key, and nothing else. They agreed to put the messages on flash drives and meet at her HS office.

At 10:37 am, Eastern Time, the three of them convened in her office. Myrowitz showed his boss how to decrypt the message and then left the room. The Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of the FBI read the message as it was decrypted.

This message is NOT from the White House. I am sorry to have violated several levels of security in contacting you this way. As you will see, I had to be sure that this matter received your direct and immediate attention.

Just before 10:00 am, Eastern Time, two terrorists were killed in the area southwest of Disney World in Orlando, Florida at GPS 28.380187, -81.582906. Also in their car is a pressurized cylinder containing over 200 lbs. of sarin gas. I believe that it was not damaged in the shooting that ended the terrorists' lives, but I cannot be sure.

Peterson, stopped reading at this point to issue a Condition Red Alert, for the Orlando area, by notifying the counter terrorism desk at Homeland Security. They in turn would notify everyone else.

She resumed reading: