Direct Action
by Tom Fitzgerald
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Doug pulled his classic racing green 1972 Volvo 1800 estate wagon into the parking garage at terminal A. It had been a long time since he used this terminal to take the daily Janet flights up to "Dreamland" better known as Area 51.
Prologue: The Present
The three men and one woman walked into the chief justice’s chamber on the eighth floor of the Department of Justice Building, better known as the J. Edgar Hoover building. They; along with the chief justice were all federal district court judges until they were selected; and then accepted their present assignment. Only five government officials knew their assigned purpose, one being the President of the United States, who was the only one they answered to. The court they presided over is known as “The Ultra Court.” All documents and decisions by this court are classified “Ultra-Secret - President’s Eyes Only.”
The Chief Justice greeted each of the members of his court by their first names and once everybody had been seated the chief justice laughed and said, “I have read your briefs and recommendations, and we seem to have a hung jury, two for and two against. I was hoping for a consensus before I made a recommendation to the President.” The four jurists looked at him with blank stares. The chief justice continued, “The Wanderer Case is the first case under the guidelines of the Patriot Security Act. I was glad to see that the focus of your briefs were on the actions of this Special Operation Project Group of the National Security Agency. Also all agreed that the other federal agencies in this case acted in accordance with their charters. I was hoping that we could have a discussion on the key points of your summaries. Does any one object?” Justice Lang said, “This is highly irregular, but the guidelines for our decisions are only in the best interest of the security of our nation, I am willing to forgo protocol.” Justice Robinette said, “This is setting a dangerous precedence to our decision making, but I concede in the interest of was hoping when I took this assignment that we could do without pretense, egos, and guidelines.” The chief justice smiled they had their first consensus.
The chief justice took out his list of points that needed to be clarified. Starting with Justice Lang's’ argument that the leader of this special operation group should be held for trial on the charges of murder, false imprisonment, interfering in a federal investigation, illegal surveillance, and inappropriate use of government personnel and resources. Then came Justice Robinette’s recommendation to disband this group because of its rogue operating procedures, and their liability to the government. Justice Calder found no fault with the results of the case but questioned the means by which it was obtained; stricter guidelines in their operations was her recommendation. Justice Lawson presented the most interesting argument in their defense, claiming the “Chaos Theory” was the element in their success and by working outside the bounds of normal governmental bureaucratic procedures they achieved results. The chief justice said, “Shall we start with the highjacking of the explosives shipment at Oatman’s Crossing.
