If You Don’t Like The Weather… - Prolog
It was one little toggle switch that started it all. It was a heavy duty toggle switch, if it makes any difference to the historical record. When the toggle switch was toggled, all it did was trip a small, low voltage electronic relay. And that relay simply tripped a much heavier relay. And the current poured into the rest of the circuitry that made up a portion of the apparatus that had been built over the last several years.
The Communist government of China had paid dearly for the secret plans of the device. And spent vast sums to get it built quickly and quietly. But finally it was done, each element of the complex device tested separately. When the Chairman was informed of the device’s readiness he gave a one word order to the General in charge of the project. The General himself flipped the toggle switch and the Chinese copy of the United States HAARP device activated.
“Let the Americans feel the wrath of Chinese technology! And they won’t even know it is happening!” His laugh could only be described as evil. It sent chills down the back of the necks of all those in the control room. They had no idea just how appropriate the sensation was. They also didn’t know that a test of the American HAARP system was being conducted at the very time they began their own. Nor did they know Russia started their own test the next day.
If You Don’t Like The Weather… - Chapter 1
“Mr. Lanigan,” asked Reggie, “Would you come and take a look at this?”
Brian Lanigan sauntered across the busy newsroom of the television station to see what his meteorologist wanted.
“Yeah, Reggie? What’s up? We got a storm coming?”
“I don’t think so. Not here. But look at this satellite image. There wasn’t anything there this morning.”
“It’s the weather. If you don’t like the weather…”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just wait fifteen minutes. I know the joke. But Mr. Lanigan, I don’t think this is a joking matter. Stuff just doesn’t suddenly appear like this.”
Reggie was a bit of a light weight when it came to meteorologists, but he did know the basics well enough. “Okay. Follow up on it with the National Weather Service. Might as well check the Weather Channel, too. See if they are saying anything about it. Could be a story in it.”
After going back to his office, Brian went over the stories they were planning for the day with his General Manager. He’d just had his lunch delivered when Reggie knocked on the door and came in.
“Something weird is going on,” he said, before Brian could say anything. “I was talking to a guy I know at the local NWS and he said he had noticed the anomaly, too. I heard somebody say something in the background on his end and he just hung up on me. And then, when I was watching the Weather Channel, almost the same thing happened.”
“What do you mean, almost the same thing?”
“The meteorologist was handed a sheet of paper while he was at the map and he started to read it. It was something about the same system. I’m sure of it. But the screen went black for a second and then a commercial came on. After about a dozen commercials the set was back on screen and they went to talking about some small storm system off the coast of Florida. No mention was made of the interruption or about the system they’d just been about to mention.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Strange, huh?”
“I think so. There may be something to this. Check with your other contacts and see what they are saying.”
Reggie nodded. “Will do.”
His lunch forgotten, Brian leaned back in his leather executive chair and tented his fingers over his chest, thinking. Finally he turned to his computer station and began to search the internet for anything on the event.
It was just before he was ready to give up when one of his searches turned up something. It seemed to be some sort of survivalist’s site. Posts were popping up one after another about some strange weather phenomenon.
Brian opened another browser window and kept searching, checking on the first forum from time to time. He found another site where the forum members were discussing the event on their chat room.
Much like Reggie had said happened when he was talking to the NWS and watching the weather channel, Brian suddenly lost his internet connection. He tried several times to bring it up again, but with no success.
He called the station’s electronic tech. “I’ve got a glitch. I just lost my internet.”
Before he could say more, the tech said, “It’s not you. The internet is down.”
“We have a T1 line!” Brian exclaimed. “How can we not have internet?”
“It’s the internet itself, Sir. It’s crashed. There’s nothing I can do on our end. It’s up to the big boys controlling the switching network and key servers.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Brian hung up the telephone receiver slowly. “This is going to give the conspiracy nuts conniptions,” he said softly. “But I wonder…”
Before he could follow up the thought, Reggie came through the open door of the office. “Weather satellite links are down.”
“Oh, yeah. Definitely conspiracy time.”
“What?” Reggie asked.
“Nothing. Just thinking out loud. We’re stymied at the moment. Go ahead and work on the local forecast.”
“But Mr. Lanigan…”
Brian shook his head. “I’m working on it. You just make sure you do the best forecast possible without the usual information sources.”
Reggie nodded, if somewhat dejectedly, and left the office. Brian picked up the telephone receiver again and began to make a few calls to fellow television station, radio station, and newspaper owners. Most hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary, weather wise, but all said the same thing about the internet and several satellite links. Their links were down.
On his fifth call he got a slightly different response. Or rather, no response at all. The station owner wouldn’t take his call. Neither would the next three. He was about to try another when the receptionist buzzed him and said, “You have a call on line three. They won’t say who it is, but says it’s important.”
Brian pressed the button for line three. Before he could say anything a voice said, “You will not do any weather news, other than a local forecast, and there will be no speculations as to why. Violate this instruction and you will pay dearly.” The line went dead. Brian never got the chance to get a word in.
After hanging up the telephone Brian just sat and thought for a little while. And then, very reluctantly, he picked up the telephone receiver and dialed a number he pulled up from his personal file on the computer.
“Hello? Sue?” he asked when he heard the receiver lifted on the other end.
“Why are you calling?” came a cold, hard edged voice, even through the electronics of the telephone. “You know I don’t want you bothering me. We had a deal.”
“I know. I know. I was just wondering if the Senator knew what might be happening…”
Apparently Sue knew something, since she started laughing. Cackling if you weren’t a politically correct type. “Of course he knows! If you’re ever in Acapulco, don’t bother looking us up!” Suddenly her voice lowered to a conspiratorial level. “How would you like to get rid of me for good?”
Brian held his tongue. Sue was a tricky one.
“Brian? Brian, I asked if you wanted to get rid of me for good?”
Cautiously, Brian asked, “What do you mean?”
“A payoff. Give me a hundred thousand, in gold, and I’ll let you off the hook for maintenance and child support forever.”
Incredulously Brian asked, “A hundred thousand in gold? Are you nuts?”
Sue’s voice was icy. She didn’t like to be accused of being mentally ill. People had tried it before. “Careful what you say. I’ll only make this offer once. Pay up and you’ll be done with us for good.”
Brian’s mind raced backwards in time. Sue had tricked him into marrying him, claiming she was pregnant. She wasn’t at the time. But she’d become pregnant, only it wasn’t his. She’d cried and begged for him not to leave her. So he stayed.
And she did it again. A second child, also not his. And then the tricky divorce. Her lover had political pull. A lot of it. Brian got hit with maintenance as well as child support for the two children that weren’t even his. Sue had claimed she couldn’t work and wanted to be a stay-at-home mother, anyway. Of course that wasn’t the situation, but the judge believed it. Or pretended to believe it. She got the awards.
He’d been paying for three years, with another fifteen to go, until the children reached twenty-one years of age. The amounts went up every year. And the kids were just like her. He was glad they weren’t his.
“Put it in writing,” Brian finally replied. “All nice and legal. Notarized. Everything to make it permanent.”
“You’re such a horse’s behind. It’s a deal. I want it by Friday.” She hung up.
“Acapulco? Gold? What is going on?” Brian said aloud as he slowly put the receiver back on the cradle. Brian headed back up to the newsroom to find Reggie. “What do you have, Reggie?” he asked when he found him pouring over satellite images.
“None of my contacts are talking. At least not plainly. Some of them, in between the lines, intimated that something was going on. But they all sounded like they were afraid to say more.”
“Yeah,” mused Brian. “Same on my end. I’ve been warned off following up on this. Anonymously. But whoever it was talked in a way that makes me want to believe them. Well, with what you did get before everything went down, what is up? Can you make a prediction?”
“Not really. The only thing… If this was to continue very long, the northern hemisphere is going to get really cold for a while. Not just unseasonably, but really cold. Below freezing, all the way down into the States.”
“This is June, for crying out loud! How can it get that cold?” Brian asked.
“Just look,” Reggie replied. “See?” He pulled another satellite photo up on the computer screen. This was twelve hours ago.” Another photo overlaid the first. “Six hours. And now four hours. And this last one…”
Brian cut him off. He could see the way the storm system had developed in the Arctic. From nothing to huge in just a few hours. And it was moving south-east, toward Canada. And on the track it was on, it would hit the US, if it didn’t fade away. “How soon?” he asked.
“If it keeps at the same speed, twenty-four hours. But I think it will keep growing and moving faster.”
“What makes you say that?”
“My gut feeling. Sorry, Boss. That’s all I got to work on.”
“Yeah. My gut feeling is telling me the same thing. You’re on the air in less than an hour. Cobble up the best local forecast you can. No mention of national weather. I’ll let Jim know you’ll be running short. We’ll come up with something to make it look like we had to cut you off.”
Jim Schneider was going over the stories they had for the evening news with his staff. “What’s up, Boss?” he asked. “A weather problem I should know about? You and Reggie been tense all morning.”
“Yes and no. For the moment, I just need you to cut Reggie short. Just the local forecast. You have something important enough to be a breaking news story you can cut to?”
“Well, there is the internet going down story.”
Something suddenly occurred to Brian. “Jim, I want you to check on gold sales and futures. See if there is anything there out of the ordinary. If there is, go with it for the breaking story.”
“You heard the man,” Jim said to his staff. “Get on it.”
“Thanks, Jim,” Brian said, putting his hand on Jim’s shoulder. “You always come through for me. See if you can round up Tony. I want to see him in my office as soon as possible.”
“He’s at home. Had a late night on the Toomey story.”
“Ask him to come in now, as a favor to me.”
“Consider it done. If he thinks there is a story in it, he’s liable to show up here naked, not wanting to take the time to dress.”
“Encourage him to dress first, please.” The two men laughed and Brian went back to his office.
With a sigh, Brian sat down again at his desk and leaned back in his chair. After several minutes of contemplation, he tried the internet again. Still nothing. His lunch a cold mess on the edge of his desk, he dumped it into the trash bin and headed down to the small cafeteria the professional building boasted.
He felt a bit better after a sandwich and iced tea. On his way to the elevators to go back up to the studio suite he ran into Tony. “Thanks for coming in, Tony. I really appreciate it, since you put in such a long day yesterday.”
“No prob, Chief. I smell a story. What’s up?”
“After we get to the office,” Brian said, reluctant to bring up what he was thinking with others in the elevator.
When they entered Brian’s office, Brian shut the door as Tony sat down. Tony looked at Brian expectantly as he walked around the desk and set down.
“Okay,” Brian said. “I need to know more about survivalism. You did that piece about a year ago…”
“Sure. Interesting. Not what I thought it would be when I started investigating. Something particular? The tape is in the vault.”
“No. It was only something you referred to on tape. It was something about gold and silver.”
“A bunch of them invest in gold and silver for the collapse they expect to happen.”
“That’s what I remember from the piece. Are there more details to that aspect of their preparations?”
“There is, Chief. But you know me. Once a story is done, it’s gone out of my head.”
“Oh.” Brian’s disappointment was obvious.
“But you also know I do an awful lot of research when I do a controversial story. I’ve got all of that. I scanned all my written notes into the computer and burned them to DVD’s, along with all the footage we shot that we didn’t use. Only take me an hour or so to go home, get them, and get back.”
“It would mean a lot to me if you would.”
Tony grinned. “I get the story?”
Brian smiled back at the station’s ace investigative reporter. “Of course. If there is one. I’m still trying to find out. Bring your stuff back and I’ll fill you in.”
Tony was gone without another word being said. Brian checked his watch and then turned on the broadcast monitor built into the wall. It was time for the five o’clock evening news. As he’d requested, the local weather forecast was the only weather shown. The rest of time normally devoted to regional and national weather was taken up by the story on gold and silver prices. And, indeed, there was a story. The price had reversed from a steady downward trend, to a rather sharp upward trend, in just a few hours. And the stock market was falling off.
The news signed off and the comedy scheduled after it began to air. Brian was watching a competing station that ran a 5:30 newscast. That weather report was about like Reggie’s. But they had a fluff piece for the rest of the weather time. Something that had probably been planned for a Sunday show.
Jim, and Ted Preston, the GM, came into Brian’s office as Brian started to watch another station’s 6:00 PM news. “How did you know?” Ted asked as the two men sat down in the chairs in front of the desk.
“That gold story is a breaking story. You had to know something to put us on it,” Jim said, staring at Brian.
“A hunch. That’s all.”
“Good hunch. Up there in the same class as some of those Tony makes.” Ted laughed and the other two men joined him.
The light mood didn’t last long. The receptionist buzzed and said someone from the FCC was on line one. The three looked around at one another as Brian picked up the telephone handset. Ted and Jim saw Brian go white. Brian hung up the telephone. He was silent for several long moments as the two men waited for him to tell them something.
“Pull the plug. Right now,” Brian said.
“What?” exclaimed Ted.
“Our license has been pulled, effectively immediately. If we’re still on the air thirty minutes from now, I go to jail. And there is to be no announcement as to why. Just go black and power down.”
Jim hurried out of the room, to carry out Brian’s orders. Ted hesitated, looking at Brian. “Brian…”
Brian waved his hand. “I’m okay. Go help Jim. Assure the employees, before you go home, that they’ll get paid through the end of next month, whether we power back up or not.”
“This has got to be some kind of mix-up,” protested Ted.
“I hope so. I plan to get legal right on it.” Ted left and Brian did just as he said he would. He got on the telephone to get his lawyers involved. When he hung up the telephone Tony was coming into the office.
“What’s going on?” Tony asked. “People are crying, leaving early. Someone said we’re off the air.”
“We are. FCC pulled our ticket. Take a seat.”
Tony sat down and handed Brian a trio of DVD’s. “Everything is on those three DVD’s. It’s all searchable dot PDF. You want me to find something for you?”
Brian shook his head. “No. I’m not a hundred percent sure what it is I’m looking for.” Brian looked up at Tony and added, very seriously, “I think something is going on with the weather. And the government knows it. If you are up to it, see what you can find out. But be careful. I think this could be dangerous.”
“Of course I’ll look into it. And I’m always careful.” Tony got up and hurried out of the office as Brian put the first of the DVD’s into his computer drive.
It was after midnight when Brian finally shut down the computer, feeling like his head was spinning. He picked up the phone and dialed a number from memory. A very groggy voice asked, “Who the blazes is this? It’s almost one in the morning!”
“Charlie, it’s Brian Lanigan.”
“Brian! What on earth?”
“I need you to do something for me very first thing in the morning. And I mean early in the morning.”
“It’s already morning!”
“Yes, and if the markets were open I’d tell you to get on it right now.” Brian’s voice was firm. “I want you to liquidate me just as soon as the markets open. Everything. I want five million in cash sent to my office. Two million in mixed small bills and the rest in hundreds. No fifties. I don’t like fifties. And all the rest convert to gold and silver.”
Brian’s request for gold had peaked Charlie’s interest. “As a matter of fact, I’ve been looking at some gold stocks to put you in and…”
“Not stocks Charlie. Gold. Metal. Coins to be exact.”
“Well, numismatics are a very…”
“Current gold coins. The kind the US mint puts out. All denominations. And pre-1965 US junk silver dimes, quarters, halves, and post-1921 Morgan silver dollars or Peace silver dollars. And the one ounce Silver Eagles, too. Half gold and half silver. And I want it brought here to my office as well. After the first five million, start buying the gold and silver immediately. Don’t wait to get a better deal. I want it done by noon Thursday.”
“But tomorrow is already Tuesday!”
“I want it done. Take a loss if you have to. There’s a hundred thousand in it for you.”
“A hundred thousand! Okay! I’ll do everything I can!”
Brian hung up and decided there was nothing else he could do at this time of night. He headed for his apartment to get a bit of sleep.
Despite the little sleep he got, he was back in his office the next morning at eight o’clock. It was eerie walking through the silent studios. He’d never seen it empty. There was always someone in the control room, and someone working the news desk.
He went through the DVD’s Tony had given him again, taking copious notes. He put down the pen when the telephone rang a little after ten. It was Charlie. He sounded out of breath.
“What is it, Charlie? Things going okay?”
“Brian, man! Gold took a turn up yesterday. And it started climbing again today. Up to seven hundred already today, from six thirty yesterday at close. And the stock and bond markets are getting soft. Some big time investors are moving a lot of money around. A lot of which is going into precious metals. We could pick up some real bargains in…”
“The cash, gold, and silver, Charlie. That’s all.” Brian hung up, hoping Charlie had the intestinal fortitude to do as Brian had asked.
Brian then called an old buddy. Jake was in the trucking business. He wasn’t big time, but he did okay for himself. “Jake, how you doing?”
“Okay, buddy. How are you?”
“Worried,” Brian replied.
“Worried? Why are you worried? You’ve got life by the tail.”
“Some strange things are happening. I don’t want to go into all of it, but because of it, I have a favor to ask.”
“Sure. For an old friend such as yourself, anything. What do you need me to do?”
“Do you have a box trailer out in the Rockies somewhere?”
“Sure do. I have two working that area, plus me. Reefers, actually, but doing box duty.”
“Can you take down some information now, or are you driving?”
“As a matter of fact, I am driving. Talk with Callie.”
“Hello Brian. What should I write down?”
Brian slowly read a list of company names, with addresses and telephone numbers.
“Honey, South Carolina and Ohio are not in the Rocky Mountains.”
He had to grin. “I know, Callie. I was going to ask Jake if he had a truck there or for the address in California.”
Copyright 2007
It was one little toggle switch that started it all. It was a heavy duty toggle switch, if it makes any difference to the historical record. When the toggle switch was toggled, all it did was trip a small, low voltage electronic relay. And that relay simply tripped a much heavier relay. And the current poured into the rest of the circuitry that made up a portion of the apparatus that had been built over the last several years.
The Communist government of China had paid dearly for the secret plans of the device. And spent vast sums to get it built quickly and quietly. But finally it was done, each element of the complex device tested separately. When the Chairman was informed of the device’s readiness he gave a one word order to the General in charge of the project. The General himself flipped the toggle switch and the Chinese copy of the United States HAARP device activated.
“Let the Americans feel the wrath of Chinese technology! And they won’t even know it is happening!” His laugh could only be described as evil. It sent chills down the back of the necks of all those in the control room. They had no idea just how appropriate the sensation was. They also didn’t know that a test of the American HAARP system was being conducted at the very time they began their own. Nor did they know Russia started their own test the next day.
If You Don’t Like The Weather… - Chapter 1
“Mr. Lanigan,” asked Reggie, “Would you come and take a look at this?”
Brian Lanigan sauntered across the busy newsroom of the television station to see what his meteorologist wanted.
“Yeah, Reggie? What’s up? We got a storm coming?”
“I don’t think so. Not here. But look at this satellite image. There wasn’t anything there this morning.”
“It’s the weather. If you don’t like the weather…”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just wait fifteen minutes. I know the joke. But Mr. Lanigan, I don’t think this is a joking matter. Stuff just doesn’t suddenly appear like this.”
Reggie was a bit of a light weight when it came to meteorologists, but he did know the basics well enough. “Okay. Follow up on it with the National Weather Service. Might as well check the Weather Channel, too. See if they are saying anything about it. Could be a story in it.”
After going back to his office, Brian went over the stories they were planning for the day with his General Manager. He’d just had his lunch delivered when Reggie knocked on the door and came in.
“Something weird is going on,” he said, before Brian could say anything. “I was talking to a guy I know at the local NWS and he said he had noticed the anomaly, too. I heard somebody say something in the background on his end and he just hung up on me. And then, when I was watching the Weather Channel, almost the same thing happened.”
“What do you mean, almost the same thing?”
“The meteorologist was handed a sheet of paper while he was at the map and he started to read it. It was something about the same system. I’m sure of it. But the screen went black for a second and then a commercial came on. After about a dozen commercials the set was back on screen and they went to talking about some small storm system off the coast of Florida. No mention was made of the interruption or about the system they’d just been about to mention.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Strange, huh?”
“I think so. There may be something to this. Check with your other contacts and see what they are saying.”
Reggie nodded. “Will do.”
His lunch forgotten, Brian leaned back in his leather executive chair and tented his fingers over his chest, thinking. Finally he turned to his computer station and began to search the internet for anything on the event.
It was just before he was ready to give up when one of his searches turned up something. It seemed to be some sort of survivalist’s site. Posts were popping up one after another about some strange weather phenomenon.
Brian opened another browser window and kept searching, checking on the first forum from time to time. He found another site where the forum members were discussing the event on their chat room.
Much like Reggie had said happened when he was talking to the NWS and watching the weather channel, Brian suddenly lost his internet connection. He tried several times to bring it up again, but with no success.
He called the station’s electronic tech. “I’ve got a glitch. I just lost my internet.”
Before he could say more, the tech said, “It’s not you. The internet is down.”
“We have a T1 line!” Brian exclaimed. “How can we not have internet?”
“It’s the internet itself, Sir. It’s crashed. There’s nothing I can do on our end. It’s up to the big boys controlling the switching network and key servers.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Brian hung up the telephone receiver slowly. “This is going to give the conspiracy nuts conniptions,” he said softly. “But I wonder…”
Before he could follow up the thought, Reggie came through the open door of the office. “Weather satellite links are down.”
“Oh, yeah. Definitely conspiracy time.”
“What?” Reggie asked.
“Nothing. Just thinking out loud. We’re stymied at the moment. Go ahead and work on the local forecast.”
“But Mr. Lanigan…”
Brian shook his head. “I’m working on it. You just make sure you do the best forecast possible without the usual information sources.”
Reggie nodded, if somewhat dejectedly, and left the office. Brian picked up the telephone receiver again and began to make a few calls to fellow television station, radio station, and newspaper owners. Most hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary, weather wise, but all said the same thing about the internet and several satellite links. Their links were down.
On his fifth call he got a slightly different response. Or rather, no response at all. The station owner wouldn’t take his call. Neither would the next three. He was about to try another when the receptionist buzzed him and said, “You have a call on line three. They won’t say who it is, but says it’s important.”
Brian pressed the button for line three. Before he could say anything a voice said, “You will not do any weather news, other than a local forecast, and there will be no speculations as to why. Violate this instruction and you will pay dearly.” The line went dead. Brian never got the chance to get a word in.
After hanging up the telephone Brian just sat and thought for a little while. And then, very reluctantly, he picked up the telephone receiver and dialed a number he pulled up from his personal file on the computer.
“Hello? Sue?” he asked when he heard the receiver lifted on the other end.
“Why are you calling?” came a cold, hard edged voice, even through the electronics of the telephone. “You know I don’t want you bothering me. We had a deal.”
“I know. I know. I was just wondering if the Senator knew what might be happening…”
Apparently Sue knew something, since she started laughing. Cackling if you weren’t a politically correct type. “Of course he knows! If you’re ever in Acapulco, don’t bother looking us up!” Suddenly her voice lowered to a conspiratorial level. “How would you like to get rid of me for good?”
Brian held his tongue. Sue was a tricky one.
“Brian? Brian, I asked if you wanted to get rid of me for good?”
Cautiously, Brian asked, “What do you mean?”
“A payoff. Give me a hundred thousand, in gold, and I’ll let you off the hook for maintenance and child support forever.”
Incredulously Brian asked, “A hundred thousand in gold? Are you nuts?”
Sue’s voice was icy. She didn’t like to be accused of being mentally ill. People had tried it before. “Careful what you say. I’ll only make this offer once. Pay up and you’ll be done with us for good.”
Brian’s mind raced backwards in time. Sue had tricked him into marrying him, claiming she was pregnant. She wasn’t at the time. But she’d become pregnant, only it wasn’t his. She’d cried and begged for him not to leave her. So he stayed.
And she did it again. A second child, also not his. And then the tricky divorce. Her lover had political pull. A lot of it. Brian got hit with maintenance as well as child support for the two children that weren’t even his. Sue had claimed she couldn’t work and wanted to be a stay-at-home mother, anyway. Of course that wasn’t the situation, but the judge believed it. Or pretended to believe it. She got the awards.
He’d been paying for three years, with another fifteen to go, until the children reached twenty-one years of age. The amounts went up every year. And the kids were just like her. He was glad they weren’t his.
“Put it in writing,” Brian finally replied. “All nice and legal. Notarized. Everything to make it permanent.”
“You’re such a horse’s behind. It’s a deal. I want it by Friday.” She hung up.
“Acapulco? Gold? What is going on?” Brian said aloud as he slowly put the receiver back on the cradle. Brian headed back up to the newsroom to find Reggie. “What do you have, Reggie?” he asked when he found him pouring over satellite images.
“None of my contacts are talking. At least not plainly. Some of them, in between the lines, intimated that something was going on. But they all sounded like they were afraid to say more.”
“Yeah,” mused Brian. “Same on my end. I’ve been warned off following up on this. Anonymously. But whoever it was talked in a way that makes me want to believe them. Well, with what you did get before everything went down, what is up? Can you make a prediction?”
“Not really. The only thing… If this was to continue very long, the northern hemisphere is going to get really cold for a while. Not just unseasonably, but really cold. Below freezing, all the way down into the States.”
“This is June, for crying out loud! How can it get that cold?” Brian asked.
“Just look,” Reggie replied. “See?” He pulled another satellite photo up on the computer screen. This was twelve hours ago.” Another photo overlaid the first. “Six hours. And now four hours. And this last one…”
Brian cut him off. He could see the way the storm system had developed in the Arctic. From nothing to huge in just a few hours. And it was moving south-east, toward Canada. And on the track it was on, it would hit the US, if it didn’t fade away. “How soon?” he asked.
“If it keeps at the same speed, twenty-four hours. But I think it will keep growing and moving faster.”
“What makes you say that?”
“My gut feeling. Sorry, Boss. That’s all I got to work on.”
“Yeah. My gut feeling is telling me the same thing. You’re on the air in less than an hour. Cobble up the best local forecast you can. No mention of national weather. I’ll let Jim know you’ll be running short. We’ll come up with something to make it look like we had to cut you off.”
Jim Schneider was going over the stories they had for the evening news with his staff. “What’s up, Boss?” he asked. “A weather problem I should know about? You and Reggie been tense all morning.”
“Yes and no. For the moment, I just need you to cut Reggie short. Just the local forecast. You have something important enough to be a breaking news story you can cut to?”
“Well, there is the internet going down story.”
Something suddenly occurred to Brian. “Jim, I want you to check on gold sales and futures. See if there is anything there out of the ordinary. If there is, go with it for the breaking story.”
“You heard the man,” Jim said to his staff. “Get on it.”
“Thanks, Jim,” Brian said, putting his hand on Jim’s shoulder. “You always come through for me. See if you can round up Tony. I want to see him in my office as soon as possible.”
“He’s at home. Had a late night on the Toomey story.”
“Ask him to come in now, as a favor to me.”
“Consider it done. If he thinks there is a story in it, he’s liable to show up here naked, not wanting to take the time to dress.”
“Encourage him to dress first, please.” The two men laughed and Brian went back to his office.
With a sigh, Brian sat down again at his desk and leaned back in his chair. After several minutes of contemplation, he tried the internet again. Still nothing. His lunch a cold mess on the edge of his desk, he dumped it into the trash bin and headed down to the small cafeteria the professional building boasted.
He felt a bit better after a sandwich and iced tea. On his way to the elevators to go back up to the studio suite he ran into Tony. “Thanks for coming in, Tony. I really appreciate it, since you put in such a long day yesterday.”
“No prob, Chief. I smell a story. What’s up?”
“After we get to the office,” Brian said, reluctant to bring up what he was thinking with others in the elevator.
When they entered Brian’s office, Brian shut the door as Tony sat down. Tony looked at Brian expectantly as he walked around the desk and set down.
“Okay,” Brian said. “I need to know more about survivalism. You did that piece about a year ago…”
“Sure. Interesting. Not what I thought it would be when I started investigating. Something particular? The tape is in the vault.”
“No. It was only something you referred to on tape. It was something about gold and silver.”
“A bunch of them invest in gold and silver for the collapse they expect to happen.”
“That’s what I remember from the piece. Are there more details to that aspect of their preparations?”
“There is, Chief. But you know me. Once a story is done, it’s gone out of my head.”
“Oh.” Brian’s disappointment was obvious.
“But you also know I do an awful lot of research when I do a controversial story. I’ve got all of that. I scanned all my written notes into the computer and burned them to DVD’s, along with all the footage we shot that we didn’t use. Only take me an hour or so to go home, get them, and get back.”
“It would mean a lot to me if you would.”
Tony grinned. “I get the story?”
Brian smiled back at the station’s ace investigative reporter. “Of course. If there is one. I’m still trying to find out. Bring your stuff back and I’ll fill you in.”
Tony was gone without another word being said. Brian checked his watch and then turned on the broadcast monitor built into the wall. It was time for the five o’clock evening news. As he’d requested, the local weather forecast was the only weather shown. The rest of time normally devoted to regional and national weather was taken up by the story on gold and silver prices. And, indeed, there was a story. The price had reversed from a steady downward trend, to a rather sharp upward trend, in just a few hours. And the stock market was falling off.
The news signed off and the comedy scheduled after it began to air. Brian was watching a competing station that ran a 5:30 newscast. That weather report was about like Reggie’s. But they had a fluff piece for the rest of the weather time. Something that had probably been planned for a Sunday show.
Jim, and Ted Preston, the GM, came into Brian’s office as Brian started to watch another station’s 6:00 PM news. “How did you know?” Ted asked as the two men sat down in the chairs in front of the desk.
“That gold story is a breaking story. You had to know something to put us on it,” Jim said, staring at Brian.
“A hunch. That’s all.”
“Good hunch. Up there in the same class as some of those Tony makes.” Ted laughed and the other two men joined him.
The light mood didn’t last long. The receptionist buzzed and said someone from the FCC was on line one. The three looked around at one another as Brian picked up the telephone handset. Ted and Jim saw Brian go white. Brian hung up the telephone. He was silent for several long moments as the two men waited for him to tell them something.
“Pull the plug. Right now,” Brian said.
“What?” exclaimed Ted.
“Our license has been pulled, effectively immediately. If we’re still on the air thirty minutes from now, I go to jail. And there is to be no announcement as to why. Just go black and power down.”
Jim hurried out of the room, to carry out Brian’s orders. Ted hesitated, looking at Brian. “Brian…”
Brian waved his hand. “I’m okay. Go help Jim. Assure the employees, before you go home, that they’ll get paid through the end of next month, whether we power back up or not.”
“This has got to be some kind of mix-up,” protested Ted.
“I hope so. I plan to get legal right on it.” Ted left and Brian did just as he said he would. He got on the telephone to get his lawyers involved. When he hung up the telephone Tony was coming into the office.
“What’s going on?” Tony asked. “People are crying, leaving early. Someone said we’re off the air.”
“We are. FCC pulled our ticket. Take a seat.”
Tony sat down and handed Brian a trio of DVD’s. “Everything is on those three DVD’s. It’s all searchable dot PDF. You want me to find something for you?”
Brian shook his head. “No. I’m not a hundred percent sure what it is I’m looking for.” Brian looked up at Tony and added, very seriously, “I think something is going on with the weather. And the government knows it. If you are up to it, see what you can find out. But be careful. I think this could be dangerous.”
“Of course I’ll look into it. And I’m always careful.” Tony got up and hurried out of the office as Brian put the first of the DVD’s into his computer drive.
It was after midnight when Brian finally shut down the computer, feeling like his head was spinning. He picked up the phone and dialed a number from memory. A very groggy voice asked, “Who the blazes is this? It’s almost one in the morning!”
“Charlie, it’s Brian Lanigan.”
“Brian! What on earth?”
“I need you to do something for me very first thing in the morning. And I mean early in the morning.”
“It’s already morning!”
“Yes, and if the markets were open I’d tell you to get on it right now.” Brian’s voice was firm. “I want you to liquidate me just as soon as the markets open. Everything. I want five million in cash sent to my office. Two million in mixed small bills and the rest in hundreds. No fifties. I don’t like fifties. And all the rest convert to gold and silver.”
Brian’s request for gold had peaked Charlie’s interest. “As a matter of fact, I’ve been looking at some gold stocks to put you in and…”
“Not stocks Charlie. Gold. Metal. Coins to be exact.”
“Well, numismatics are a very…”
“Current gold coins. The kind the US mint puts out. All denominations. And pre-1965 US junk silver dimes, quarters, halves, and post-1921 Morgan silver dollars or Peace silver dollars. And the one ounce Silver Eagles, too. Half gold and half silver. And I want it brought here to my office as well. After the first five million, start buying the gold and silver immediately. Don’t wait to get a better deal. I want it done by noon Thursday.”
“But tomorrow is already Tuesday!”
“I want it done. Take a loss if you have to. There’s a hundred thousand in it for you.”
“A hundred thousand! Okay! I’ll do everything I can!”
Brian hung up and decided there was nothing else he could do at this time of night. He headed for his apartment to get a bit of sleep.
Despite the little sleep he got, he was back in his office the next morning at eight o’clock. It was eerie walking through the silent studios. He’d never seen it empty. There was always someone in the control room, and someone working the news desk.
He went through the DVD’s Tony had given him again, taking copious notes. He put down the pen when the telephone rang a little after ten. It was Charlie. He sounded out of breath.
“What is it, Charlie? Things going okay?”
“Brian, man! Gold took a turn up yesterday. And it started climbing again today. Up to seven hundred already today, from six thirty yesterday at close. And the stock and bond markets are getting soft. Some big time investors are moving a lot of money around. A lot of which is going into precious metals. We could pick up some real bargains in…”
“The cash, gold, and silver, Charlie. That’s all.” Brian hung up, hoping Charlie had the intestinal fortitude to do as Brian had asked.
Brian then called an old buddy. Jake was in the trucking business. He wasn’t big time, but he did okay for himself. “Jake, how you doing?”
“Okay, buddy. How are you?”
“Worried,” Brian replied.
“Worried? Why are you worried? You’ve got life by the tail.”
“Some strange things are happening. I don’t want to go into all of it, but because of it, I have a favor to ask.”
“Sure. For an old friend such as yourself, anything. What do you need me to do?”
“Do you have a box trailer out in the Rockies somewhere?”
“Sure do. I have two working that area, plus me. Reefers, actually, but doing box duty.”
“Can you take down some information now, or are you driving?”
“As a matter of fact, I am driving. Talk with Callie.”
“Hello Brian. What should I write down?”
Brian slowly read a list of company names, with addresses and telephone numbers.
“Honey, South Carolina and Ohio are not in the Rocky Mountains.”
He had to grin. “I know, Callie. I was going to ask Jake if he had a truck there or for the address in California.”
Copyright 2007
