The Plan Level II: War Never Sleeps

By Dan L. Woods

Someone is still watching and listening.
The agency has been wounded, but it wants revenge.
Determined to eliminate Gabe, Hanna, Sophi, and anyone who assists them—the agency strikes back in this second book of the series. There’s no stopping their relentless pursuit. A secret, covert war has been declared on the hapless patriots. However, they have weapons to fight against those who pursue and those who send the hunters.
With the help of Hanna’s genius parents, a new weapon is created and used against the agency that may turn the tide of the hidden war and bring it out of secrecy. Casualties of battle mount as the patriotic group flee the hunters and pursue their prey—the newly identified leaders within the agency.
Weapons, skills, and tactics help the group fight as they pursue their mission to preserve the legitimate government and stop the agency’s efforts to blind citizens through the media. The war takes them through the nation’s heartland, into the Rocky Mountains, and into the great Northwest.
Gabe and Hanna’s love continues to grow as they struggle together against overwhelming odds. They learn how freedom comes at a cost. Can they continue? Will they succeed? If only they knew their future beyond the moment.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dan L. Woods
• Release date: Jan 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311562425

Dan L. Woods

I was born in the great state of Idaho. I've lived in Idaho most of my life with a short "vacation" of seven years spent in Arizona and New Mexico during my teen years. I had to move back to the mountains I love.I am an outdoor enthusiast. Hunting, fishing, biking, and other physical activities keep me healthy and active. Although I enjoy being with people I know, at times I embrace periods of time where I can be alone out in the wilds.I am a single parent of four-- three sons (grown and moved on) and one teenaged daughter.I graduated from Mesa High School, Mesa, AZ. I recieved a Bachelor Degree in English from Idaho State University. I enjoy reading, writing, and teaching. A full time Language Arts teacher of sixth grade students keeps me very busy. My life has had many roads. Life experiences have taught me to be strong and resiliant. I have been writing for some time, but never had the desire to publish. My students, after hearing some of my work, suggested that I write a book.I love to make people happy. I have a fun-loving personality. I hope to reflect these things in my work and writing. Each day, I try to enjoy life. Each day, I try to help others enjoy life too.

Book preview

THE PLAN

Level II: War Never Sleeps

Dan L. Woods

Copyright © 2016 by Dan L. Woods

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved.

DEDICATION

For my brother, Kelly Woods: a true soldier, a true friend, and someone who has always been there for me.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 21

CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 23

CHAPTER 24

CHAPTER 25

CHAPTER 26

CHAPTER 27

About the Author

Other books by Dan L. Woods

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank all those from whom I’ve received my inspiration, knowledge, and ideas from; my parents; siblings, children, my incredibly awesome students—past, present, and future—mentors, friends, and especially my dedicated teachers—all too numerous to mention individually. You are the greatest, and you have helped me to become the person that I am.

Chapter 1

Your diligence has its reward just as procrastination and a lack of diligence has its payoff. –Dan Woods

Boom! The enormous explosion sent fiery fragments of debris and burning bodies skyward scattering out in every direction. Gabe watched as the blazing bodies flew like missiles across the clear, blue sky. They fell like large burning hailstones as gravity pulled them back, showering the area in a gruesome display. One descending body flew directly toward Gabe as he lay hidden behind a barricade of tires; timbers; and old, burned-out cars. As the burning body approached, Gabe saw its face. Eyelids opened as it approached revealing glowing, red eyes. Gabe was paralyzed by the rapidly approaching, demonic glare. He was frozen in place as he heard the body screaming out his name just prior to impact. G—A—B—E—!

Jerking as if struck by Hanna’s taser, Gabe shot his head up and screamed. A—h—h! This nightmare had seemed so vivid, so real, and so frightening that he had awakened all the slumbering passengers within the van.

Whoa! That must have been some nightmare there, Gabe, Mr. Jamison commented as he drove through the darkness.

You can say that again, Gabe answered.

Whoa! That must have been some nightmare there, Gabe, replied Mr. Jamison, Hanna, and Sophi in unison.

Gabe just shook his head. Are you kidding me? All of you?

It was the first night of travel from Washington, D.C. to Colorado. The prior night’s events had still been tormenting Gabe’s mind as he had drifted off to sleep next to Hanna. The smooth sound of the roadway outside had lulled them to sleep early in the afternoon. Their tired bodies had been running on reserves for many hours. They had to sleep. The fight to stay awake was a battle that none of them could win, except Mr. Jamison. He seemed robotic in his driving. In Gabe’s mind, he was either inhuman or he had learned to drive while he was sleeping. Either way, it felt nice to be able to relax. Sleep, on the other hand, was becoming a chore for Gabe. His nightmares were something he had never experienced before.

What were you dreaming about? Hanna’s voice softly asked, her hands still hugging his arm. Hanna had fallen asleep while leaning against Gabe, clinging to his arm like a safety blanket earlier in the afternoon. She seemed reluctant to let it go—to let him go or ever be alone or apart from him again. Her separation from him during their capture had helped her realize how important Gabe was to her. Was it scary?

Oh yeah, it was scary alright. I was in a battle fighting against the agency—at least, I think it was the agency, he replied. Gabe related the dream to the van occupants, all awake and curious from his outburst. Those glowing, red eyes coming at me are what shook me. Those and the burning body calling my name.

That would freak me out too, Sophi interjected. She had been listening to the dream with interest. Her own experience with her nightmare about her mother and brother, Franklin, were still as fresh in her memory now as they had been the minute she had it. She felt, in her twelve-year-old mind, she had a link or bond with Gabe because of the nightmares.

What do you think it means? asked Mrs. Jamison curiously. She believed all dreams had a purpose and meaning. Often, she had told Hanna that dreams were sometimes warnings or guides produced by the subconscious mind, and they were based on experiences or ponderings the mind had been active evaluating before sleeping.

I don’t know. I’ve never really thought of dreams having any particular meaning. In fact, I’ve hardly ever dreamed this vividly before. It’s like they’ve just suddenly begun to show up, Gabe replied.

It could be a warning, Mr. Jamison said. We should be careful. I know the agency will be bent on finding you three, now that they know who you are and where you’ve been. They would’ve reported your capture last night to others within the agency—supervisors or squads that were looking for you, their people. Now that we took out some of their people, they’ll unleash the dogs on us.

Mr. Jamison—, Gabe began.

He was politely interrupted, Gabe, please call me Blake, and you can call my wife Jamie or JJ. The Mr. and Mrs. Jamison do seem a bit formal for our informal talk. Wouldn’t you say?

Yes sir, Mr. Jamison—Jake—Blake. Sorry sir, Gabe answered awkwardly. Mr.—Blake, how do you know so much about the agency, if you don’t mind me asking, and what did you mean when you said you and your wife ‘have been fighting this war longer than you know’ to Hanna?

Well, how much do you know about JJ and me? I’m sure Hanna has told you something about us, he asked.

She told me you and Mrs. Jamison—I mean JJ—are brilliant, computer programming engineers, and awesome at ignoring her hunger strikes, Gabe said, knowing Hanna was still listening. The sharp jab to his ribs reminded him quickly that Hanna’s tactics should remain ‘top secret’ from her parents.

Hey, you aren’t supposed to tell them that, dork, she said as she sent him a playful smile with the jab.

Oops! I may have just violated a top secret action by disclosing that, Gabe giggled. Anyway, we read some information about the programming you developed to listen in on terrorists through cell phones and other things. Hanna said you and—JJ, Gabe was still finding it hard to call Hanna’s mother by anything but Mrs. Jamison, were hired by NSA, the National Security Administration, right out of MIT. That’s about it. Oh wait. She said you taught her to shoot guns and feel everyone’s duty is to know how to use one, but she never said anything about how good you and JJ are with guns. That’s one of the things I’ve been puzzled about. You guys are awesome with your tactics. That’s another thing I want to know about.

Fair enough, but first things first, Mr. Jamison said as he stared ahead at the white lines that flashed through the windshield rhythmically as they drove through the darkness. The van’s headlights pushed the darkness away only to have it jump behind the van as soon as the van passed through the short, lighted pathway. What I meant is exactly what I said. JJ and I have been fighting this war ever since we met at college. I had been making some advanced programming and had made a name for myself at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. JJ had also done the same. One day, JJ walked up to me and asked me out to dinner.

Yeah, Hanna told me about that. She said you were both outgoing, Gabe commented.

Outgoing? Yes. That’s true, but there was an ulterior motive behind JJ’s invitation that I wasn’t aware of. She wanted to talk to me about joining forces with her in order to combine our research and programming skills. You see, JJ was affected deeply by the 9-11 attack. She lost her father in one of the towers.

Gabe heard JJ sniffle and wipe some escaping tears from her eyes as she continued to look out the passenger side window. The reflection in the glass did not allow the concealment she may have hoped for. Gabe could see the pain reflected on her sorrowful face as the difficult memories floated back into her mind from one and a half decades earlier. Like the passenger jets striking the towers with great force, the memory still struck with equal force, exploding the barrier walls that she had built to withhold them.

I’m very sorry to hear that, Mrs. Jamison. I know how you feel. Truly, I do. You know this though, since I lost my dad when we were all together. Gabe’s empathy for JJ flowed through his words, but it had originated from his heart. He recalled the way he’d lost his father to the agency’s actions in his hometown of Milton, CO, a few days earlier. The image of his battered, stabbed, and dying father—and the explosion—still burned fresh in his memory.

Thank you, Gabe. It’s always hard to think about losing loved ones. Some of these tears are for you and your loss, she graciously replied.

Thank you, he replied. Hanna gently hugged his arm to give him strength and tell him what words couldn’t.

Mr. Jamison continued, "After the towers fell, the government determined the attack to have been committed by terrorists. This allowed the passage of The Patriot Act. That law took away many of the privacy freedoms that citizens had enjoyed under the protections of the Constitution, more particularly, The Bill of Rights. It had been a trade-off we citizens were willing to give for increased security.

"I know you were too young to remember the attacks, but to those who were watching it unfold, live on T.V.—it was one of the most devastating things you could imagine. It made you angry. You felt pain. There was a sense of helplessness. One thing that did bloom was patriotism.

JJ and I agreed to work together. We both worked hard and developed the program that brought us fame, wealth, and the admiration of many. That’s when the NSA recruited us. They wanted our programming and our minds.

So you signed up? Gabe questioned as Mr. Jamison paused for a moment to verify their position on a map.

"Yes. We both joined under the agreement that we would work together in the computer program engineering department under the special operations program. We were given access to the existing programs and intelligence related to computer cyber-warfare, terrorist locations, and other things we would need to enhance our programming.

"The first use of our programming was flawless. It did exactly what we had designed it to do. Through our central computer system, we could open up a known terrorist’s cellular phone’s camera and microphone to view and hear whatever they were doing or saying. The NSA used this to thwart more than one terrorist attack during the planning stages.

"For several years, the program was being used in accordance with the laws. We ensured it was updated regularly to keep up with technology. The updates included the ability to ‘snoop’ through a phone’s files. Once that programming was revealed to our supervisors, they wanted more and better ‘snooping’ capabilities.

"Our work led us to jump from cellular phones to computers. There were new devices coming online regularly, and we were being required to ensure that our programs could adapt to the new technology or device without costly delays.

"The programming became very powerful. It started to become too powerful. It could be used to gather intelligence from random areas, rather than just specific phones, computers, or devices. We made the program to act like an undetectable virus within the device to avoid its elimination or containment for copying by some other government.

One day, we were monitoring the program from our central computer—the big one nobody knows about—and we found some problems. It looked like our program was being run through other agencies within the government. When we showed our supervisor what we had found, he admitted that the program had been ‘loaned’ to the Department of Homeland Security, and the IRS under the direction of the White House.

Gabe interrupted, You mean the president, right?

"Yes. Apparently, the president felt he should be able to control our program’s distribution and use. You may have heard about some of the privacy violations that have occurred with the use of our program? I often wondered why the IRS would need to have it. They claimed it is used to search for terrorists’ money. The scandals about the gathering of information on religious or conservative organizations reflected the abuse of our programs.

"Anyway, we reported the misuse of our programming to the United States Department of Justice. They claimed they would investigate it and moved us from our operating base in California to Milton, your hometown in Colorado. We were told we were being moved there because of safety concerns after I opened my big mouth and said we, JJ and I, would prevent the program from further abuse by departments outside the NSA. As you can imagine, the Department of Homeland Security was rather upset at us. The IRS would probably audit us if they weren’t afraid of a cyber-attack from our computer. So far, they have stayed back. The president, we hear, wasn’t very happy about our threat to take down his little pet project of intelligence gathering.

Once we began working on our project to disrupt our stolen program, we’ve been at war with certain parts of the government that make up—what you’ve been introduced to as—‘the agency’. We’ve had several run-ins and close calls with their agents. What you saw last night was nothing—our little battle we fought. That has become more regular than we would like to admit, Mr. Jamison said as he stopped talking to drink from his plastic water bottle.

They want JJ and me dead, he said.

What? Hanna blurted out. How long have they been trying to kill you? You never told me this! Hanna’s deep concern was filling her speech with emotions.

Sorry, dear. We didn’t want you to be alarmed. You worrying about this would only have complicated things. It’s hard enough to hide away in a small mountain town when you’re from the city. Having knowledge that a death warrant has been issued against your parents would not help you to blend in very well, now, would it? JJ responded. We’ve known since the first attempt was made to eliminate us. It was the day after we reported the abuse of our program to the Justice Department.

Huh, that doesn’t surprise me. Franklin was right when he said you can’t trust anyone in the government, Gabe said.

That’s where you’re wrong, Gabe, Mr. Jamison said. "We have some very honest and good people working in our government. You have to be able to trust some of them, or our nation is already lost. We have people we know working in the NSA that are working with us to try and root out this agency. The problem is, once the agency knows you’re on to them, they either eliminate you, eliminate your family, or they eliminate the compromised agent within the agency. They are ruthless and will stop at nothing to get their goal accomplished.

The way you need to consider the agency is exactly like any other organization. For example, look at the protests for whatever the media wants to stir everyone up about. They would like you to believe that everyone supports whatever the protest is about, but in reality, the loudest screamers get the most attention. The media goes to the cry-babies that make the most noise, stir up the most hatred, and use them to push their own point. The number of people who actually support the noisy bunch is usually quite small. The agency is the same way. They are the noisy, ruthless bunch, but their numbers are quite small in relation to the government as a whole.

How do you know who to trust? We interrogated an agent Hanna captured—one Hanna will need to tell you about since she enjoyed it so much—who claimed they have agents in all parts of the government. He even jokingly, or seriously, said they have agents in the PTA, Gabe inquired as he looked admiringly at Hanna and reflected on her shocking status during the interrogation.

That’s the million dollar question. We know some people that are risking their lives to identify who may be in the agency, but it’s a slow process. They have to be careful. There’s a lot at risk for those people, Mr. Jamison answered.

We may have something that can help, thanks to Hanna and Sophi, Gabe remarked. Sophi, who had been quietly listening and learning lit up. She wasn’t sure how she was involved, but she liked feeling important in the conversation. She was at war with the agency too. It had been them that were responsible for the death of her brother, Franklin, and her mother—murdered by an agent as she had watched from her safe room a few days earlier. They were the reason that she, at such an early age, relished seeing the agents becoming Death’s companions.

Chapter 2

Put away yesterday and be greater today. –Dan Woods

What do you mean? Hanna asked as Sophi looked over her shoulder.

The flash drive has the list from Jenny’s house, Gabe reminded.

A moment of reflection and Hanna perked up. That’s right! Dad, we printed a list off from Jenny’s computer that I found while hacking into the government records for Sandra Locke’s information. It was hidden file within the records. It had Sandra’s alias, photo, bank account routing number, and real name. We think it might be a record of agent aliases linking their true identities—like hers was.

You hacked into the government site and found the information? he asked looking at JJ and glancing back to Hanna through the rear-view mirror.

Well—, yeah, she timidly responded.

That’s my girl! he said with a celebratory cheer. Just like her old man—and mother, of course. The latter part was added after receiving a quick glare from his wife. Uh hem, our girl—that’s our girl, he corrected himself humorously. We’ll need to take a look at that later when we get to Colorado.

Sophi wanted to be part of the conversation. It’s on my flash drive. It’s special. It has Franklin—and now, my mom—on it with his secrets, she said, reminding Gabe that she possessed important information too—information that proved that the agency was using citizens, influencing the media, and murdering innocent citizens.

That’s right, Soph. You’re our evidence person. Without you, we’d never have been able to figure this out, he said, building Sophi’s understanding of her importance to their team.

Mr. Jamison looked at Sophi through the rear-view mirror. Maybe JJ and I could help you look through the information? There could be something we can use to fight this war. How would you feel about that? he asked, curiosity building about what was on the flash drive.

If it will help get the bad guys, you can look at it as much as you want. Franklin and Mom would have wanted that, she replied.

A vibrating sound and chimes startled Gabe and Hanna as they recognized the sound of a cell phone ringing. Mr. Jamison pulled out his cell phone and looked at the screen. A quick look at JJ caused her to grab the steering wheel. Mr. Jamison noticed their concern over the use of his cell phone and reminded them that his phone was untraceable. Grabbing a piece of paper and a pencil, Mr. Jamison answered the phone.

Yeah, Blake here.

A lengthy, one-sided conversation followed as Mr. Jamison wrote down information on the paper. Okay, we can meet you; Lexington cemetery; Henry Clay tomb, 6:00 A.M. Okay, we’ll be in a blue, delivery-type van, Mr. Jamison said. After a short pause, he concluded. That sounds like some good information. We’ll see you there.

Mr. Jamison put the phone away and took the wheel to resume his steering of the van. He smiled at his wife who seemed to know what the conversation was about. Gabe wanted to know, but he was too respectful to ask.

Dad, what was that all about? Hanna inquired. Gabe was relieved. He looked at Hanna with a questioning look and to acknowledge that his curiosity was aroused as well. Mr. Jamison looked in the