Captain Shelanski of the U.S.S. Harry Truman, now parked off the Southern coast of Iran with forty-three support and attack ships, went below to reexamine his updated orders. He flipped through the combination of his safe, opened it and pulled out a folder marked OPERATION: ALICE IN WONDERLAND. As he reread his orders, he looked for subtleties within them. He was of razor sharp intellect and he knew that an operation such as this had massive international implications. Understanding the thinking of the Joint Chiefs was critical for the success of the mission and his ability to make decisions that weren’t in the orders. He knew that when the battle started, many unpredictable things could and would happen and he needed to mirror the Chiefs policies flawlessly. He knew a perfect war or battle never happens, so being prepared for the unexpected and making the right decision while outside of the box was critical in staying within policy thinking.
He developed this ability for recognizing subtleties in writing from his lawyer father who explained to him how important every word can be. As his father said so many times, one word can change an entire message. This was the third time visiting his orders and that wasn’t normal. Something was bothering him about these orders and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it, thus the rereads. Within the words he could sense a conflict which was highly unusual. Affirmative words were left out and replaced with more vague entries. It was as though someone had altered his orders. He knew orders such as these come right from the top and are reviewed by several clearing departments for policy conflicts. If there were changes made, it had to have been after the reviews. After seventeen years of active duty and five years at Annapolis it was the first time he actually questioned his orders. He knew the mission was correct but again he saw conflicts within that could literally self-destruct the entire mission.
He laid the OPERATION: ALICE IN WONDERLAND folder down on his desk and thought who had the capability to alter these orders?
Back at the Pentagon in D.C. a group of Obama presidential appointees compared notes in a renovated small office that was part of the rebuild from the 9/11 crash of flight 77. After some small talk they unrolled their prayer rugs and began to pray.
Just a few miles away at CIA headquarters Dave Simon finally accessed the mainframe computer with George Preston’s forth laptop. He opened the file named Alice in Wonderland. Dave could now see and track the highly unorthodox paths of George’s implanted rugs on the GPS maps. Africa, Europe, Asia, North America? He thought to himself, these God damn rugs shouldn’t be leaving Africa, why, and most of all, where are they going? As his fingers momentarily trembled, he clicked the zoom button on the North American spots where these now infamous rugs lay. What he saw seemed to drain the blood from his body as he picked up his direct secured line to Secretary Gates as the 540th day of the Obama Presidency had no idea.
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