Page 7 of Chinook Winds

“This is Victor Douglas. Now that you and your wife are safe, it’s time to talk. We need answers. What’s Legion got planned?”

“Legion.” Duncan scoffed at the name Cole Hernandez had nicknamed the terrorist group from the bible scripture where Jesus asked the demon that possessed a man what his name was. The demon replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”

“Answer the question, Duncan. You are in no position to negotiate as I see it.” The sharp edge to Victor’s tone confirmed how much he hated having to work with Duncan, too. “Where are the nuclear weapons?”

The silence that followed was unnerving.

“What are you talking about? The nuclear weapons are safely stored on Kincaid’s property.”

Kinsley grabbed hold of Victor’s gaze and held it as the truth became clear. Howard Duncan had no idea the weapons had been moved.

Chapter Two

“You didn’t have any idea they’d been moved. . .” The truth became clear. Duncan was no longer part of Legion’s inner circle.

“I did not,” Duncan admitted at last.

If Duncan didn’t know about the nukes, what else was he kept in the dark about?

Victor held onto his patience with difficulty. “Start from the beginning. Tell me how you ended up getting involved in this, and don’t leave anything out. Your freedom depends on it.”

The team who had fought long and hard to bring Legion down assembled around Victor. Each person here was a patriot who had paid a costly price for their loyalty. Kinsley was never far from his thoughts, along with that dreadful final day of captivity. He’d watched her get shot. Was so certain she’d die in front of him before help could arrive.

“I became involved a little more than six years earlier,” Duncan said in a weary tone.

Victor tamped down his anger. “How?” It irked him that Duncan was making him pull the information out.

“I knew Jake Evans, the deputy director of the CIA. We were friends. Jake and I saw the world from much the same viewpoint.” An almost reminiscent tone came into Duncan’s voice. “Anyway, Jake introduced me to Collins. Said he was a patriot. For a while, I believed him, until it was too late.”

“What do you mean too late?”

“By the time I realized what was happening, I was onboard, and they had enough evidence against me to convict me of treason. Believe me, Collins was happy to dangle that threat over me.” Duncan blew out a loud sigh. “Jake and Collins planned to frame one of Jake’s CIA agents for the movement of massive amounts of VX gas out of Afghanistan. Though no one knew about it, Collins was working with Ahmad Hassanzai and had been for a long time. Together, they were stockpiling the gas. Hassanzai was selling heroin and using the funds to bribe people along the way to move the gas into strategic locations.” Duncan paused for a long moment. “And then your people found out about it. Hassanzai was supposed to take care of them, but as it turns out, we had a traitor amongst our team.”

At the time, Ben Parker had been working undercover in Legion to ferret out the truth behind what happened in Afghanistan and the missing VX gas.

“So, when we eliminated the gas, you turned to nuclear weapons?” Victor couldn’t imagine such a leap.

Duncan laughed. “Yes, but not everyone was onboard. Myself and Kent Foster, who was the principal deputy for the nuclear defense programs, were not. Foster knew how dangerous nuclear weapons would be in Collins’s hands. Jake did as well and he was trying to back Collins off of the idea. I believe that’s the real reason why Collins had them both killed.”

Victor recalled the footage James’s team had managed to secure from inside a secret meeting at Kincaid’s ranch in Texas. All the leaders of Legion were there. Both Foster and Evans were murdered by Collins in front of everyone, a scare tactic that firmly put Collins in charge.

“If you were so worried, why didn’t you end up dead like the others?” Victor had to be sure this man was telling the truth.

“After what happened? I knew at that point how dangerous he was, and he had his minions who had been with him for years. They were brainwashed to believe Collins could do no wrong.”

As interesting as this was, they had more pressing details to discuss. “Whose idea was it to detonate the bombs around the world?”

“Who do you think?” Duncan scoffed. “All of this was Collins’s plan from the beginning. And it’s only a matter of time before Kincaid is going to suffer the same fate Collins had intended for you, Mr. President. Collins’s goal is to run the whole thing. Everything. Every country.” Duncan paused. “It was at our last meeting that I knew he had to be stopped.”

Victor’s brows raised. “You mean the meeting in Texas?”

“No, the one that took place in the White House. When Collins started going by the name General Adam Sinclair and took over the command of the National Security Guard. There were only four of us at that meeting. Myself, Collins, Kincaid, and the CIA Deputy Director, Stephen Larsen. Collins announced his plan then and there. He told Kincaid he would step down from office in a few days, but before he did, he would appoint Collins as president. Collins assured us all that other countries would go along with his plan to reorganize the world power into regions instead of countries. The expression on his face was terrifying, the glint in his eyes. It assured me this man had something deadly up his sleeve and the power to bring it about.”

“The nuclear weapons,” Victor supplied and couldn’t believe it. Collins was willing to sacrifice thousands, if not millions of lives, to gain world power. No matter what, he had to be stopped.

“Exactly. When I left that meeting, my wife and I packed up everything we could grab, and we left the city as fast as we could. I knew I had to do something.”

“So, you reached out to me,” Victor said, his misgivings clear in his tone. He believed Duncan was only trying to save his own hide.

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