Chapter Two
Operation Northern Light
Catherine White, Nathaniel's senior agent, entered. A look of total terror on her face told Nathaniel something was desperately wrong.
"They've gone mad!" Catherine blurted out, "They've gone out of their minds, sir! They're going to attack Them! They're going to try to destroy Their abilities by slipping them psychedelic drugs. If that doesn't work, they intend to take Them into custody and try to control Them with other drugs. They don't know what they're doing! They don't know how they'll retaliate. They don't know Them like we do, sir!"
"Whoa! Whoa!" Nathaniel snapped, "Slow down, woman! What in the hell are you talking about?"
"That moron, Peterson, on the Bureau," Catherine continued. "He's convinced The Bureau Chief and The Agency Chief that They can be controlled, that They can be stopped, that we can use Them for our own purposes to gain our own political advantage. He calls it Operation Northern Light. I found his file on my desk this morning. We've got to stop them, Nathaniel! The Old Ones won't tolerate this! They'll do something terrible! We've got to stop them!"
Nathaniel took the file she was holding out and motioned her to a chair. His years of speed reading courses served him well. He was through the file in moments, then reached out, picked up a phone on his desk, and pushed the single red button in its center.
A moment later a man's voice with a notable southern accent answered. "Good morning, Mr. Green, I've been expecting your call."
"We have to talk, Mr. President," Green snapped rather coarsely. "I've just become aware of something extremely dangerous."
"Very well, Agent Green," the President answered. "You may come by at ten o'clock. I am sure I know what the problem is, and we can work it out." The President hung up, and Green, too, put his receiver back in the cradle. He turned to his computer and called up his messages, then encoded a special number. A message quickly appeared on the screen.
"Yes, Mr. Green," it said, "I am aware of their plans. An appropriate demonstration that they should forget these efforts is in the works. The President should be informed of it just about the time you have your meeting with him at ten o' clock. DO try to convince him of the seriousness of the situation, and that we will not be bluffing."
"Oh, oh!" Nathaniel sighed. He motioned Catherine over. She stared at the screen for a few moments then muttered "Damn! Yeah!"
About the same time that Nathaniel Green was leaving for his office Captain Jonathan Hope was waking up on the nuclear submarine Abraham Lincoln. He was waking up to the sound of emergency klaxons and a voice crying "Captain to the bridge!" It was not a way he liked waking up, not a way he enjoyed at all.