The Searching Soul

by Ronald Zastre

  “On your way out, send Dennis in.” Mac dismissed her.

  ***

  “You pulled Grimmer?” Dennis asked. He had stepped into Mac’s office.

  “I had no choice.”

  “Mac, let her work it out, don’t pull the plug.”

  “She’s out!” Mac declared. He wasn’t interested in discussing it any farther.

  ***

  “What exactly is Grimmer’s program supposed to do?” asked Carl. He had corralled Dennis outside in the parking lot.

  “It’s entirely speculation, but it’s supposed to read the emotions the crew goes through,” Dennis said, looking around.

  “Emotions?” Carl questioned.

  “Yeah, how their subconscious thoughts contribute to their actions.” Dennis wasn’t looking at Carl. “That’s the best I can explain it.”

  “Talk about an indeterminate science, huh?”

  “Well, it’s a new field, but I think necessary. I’m surprised that Mac can’t see that?”

  “Mac is not seeing a lot of things.”

  Dennis finally looked at Carl, kind of shaking his head. “You know, if Mac finds out I’ve talked to you out here, he’s not going to be pleased.”

  “Forget I said that,” Carl said quickly.

  “Hey, you hear about Wisp?” Dennis asked.

  “No,” Carl didn’t sound to interested, “what’d he do, trip on his tongue?”

  “He tripped on something! They found him sitting in his car, drooling, apparently completely out of it. He’s in the hospital in a coma, and they don’t expect him to come out of it.”

  Carl didn’t say anything, just chewed his lip.

  “Carl, you have a worried look on your face.”

  “Huh, oh, me, no, I was just thinking,” Carl said trying to sound disinterested. “Look Dennis, keep me abreast.” Carl hurried off.

  “Smithers, Grimmer, and now Wisp. Friggen Mac,” Carl mumbled to himself. “I wonder who’s next?” he said looking over his shoulder.

  Chapter 43

  WINSTON CLOSED AND LOCKED THE DOOR - of his Ceesna Skymaster. He was walking away, just under the tip of the right wing. There was a muffled explosion from inside the plane. Winston ducked and turned back to look at the plane. The cockpit was full of smoke, but the windows and door were still intact.

  Chapter 44

  CARL AND AMY WERE EATING - in a restaurant.

  “I had Jennifer Ackerman in again today,” Carl commented.

  “What is she complaining about now?” asked Amy.

  “I’m the one going nuts, and you want to know what that squirrel thinks?”

  “Come on, Carl, sweetie, you have to tell somebody. We can’t have you flipping out because no one cares.”

  “She said that Ackerman has changed, again, since this last mission. Now he has gotten totalitarian and mean. She insists he’s possessed. She brought the other two wives with her, they’re barking up the same tree.”

  “What other two wives?”

  “Oh damn, that’s right, you don’t know. The Reliance flight, it comes back, and now according to the wives there are two more Ackermans.”

  “What? Is there anything to it, or just sensationalism out of control.”

  “Hell, I don’t know? I’m a nobody down there now. Mac’s got me doing maintenance. How do you think I ended up with the wives?”

  “Well, you like women, so cheer up.”

  “Not those three. Ackerman’s wife is totally fed up with the whole thing. Every time her husband goes up in the shuttle, he comes back different. She’s ready to take a hammer to the launch pad. Mrs. Walsh is shy, or afraid, I don’t know which. I couldn’t get much out of her. She rings her hands to signal no, shakes her head for yes. Mrs. Anderson, now she’s a peach. She couldn’t give a shit if her husband came back as a lizard, just wants to make sure everyone is aware that there might be something wrong, just in case there’s something extra in it for her.”

  Amy snickered. “Sounds like fun to me.”

  “Well, on the bright side, the peach would probably lay me for a ride in my car.”

  “Your kind of girl.”

  “Only before I met you.”

  “Nice try stud.”

  Chapter 45

  CARL AND WINSTON WERE HITTIN - golf balls at the driving range.

  “I never suspected you in the Smithers thing.” Winston did his waggle and then swung. “I was staying away, letting you contemplate,” he added, the ball flying out into the range.

  “Well, contemplate this? Your plane was definitely sabotaged,” Carl said, taking a club. “There was a very small C4 charge under the dash, placed to take out the controls. It was a timed charge. It was set to explode at a prescribed time after it was activated by switching on the plane’s electrical system.” Carl pulled out a ball and addressed it.

  Winston was lining up another shot. “I usually only fly the plane to my beach house at Belle Haven.” He sent the ball flying. “I took the plane down to Richmond this time.”

  “I’ve got Google,” Carl said after he had finished his first swing. Carl motioned to Winston and reached into his pocket. They sat down at a bench just behind the range. Carl and Winston looked over the Google map.

  “You normally fly to where?” Carl asked.

  “Right here.” Winston poked his finger on the map. “It’s a hundred miles, thirty minutes from take off to touch down.” Winston traced the route.

  Carl pointed to the map again. “And this time?”

  “Just down to Richmond. I was in the air not quite fifteen minutes, another ten to taxi, park and lock up, then boom.”

  “Look here. If you had made the normal flight the bomb would have detonated about here, out over the middle of Chesapeake Bay. It would have looked like you disappeared, no clues. They wouldn’t have any idea where the plane or your body would have gone down.”

  “Lots of people are getting shoved aside,” Winston commented.

  “Like who?”

  “Somebody called Colonel Wisp?”

  “He’s just sick.”

  “He’s in a coma, and he won’t recover,” Winston stated.

  “He was an ass, but why do you say that?” Carl asked.

  “Palpability, he made a mistake and he was removed.”

  “He’s just sick,” Carl repeated.

  “There might have been questions if he was killed, or disappeared. So he’s laying in a bed, and there are no questions as to why. By the time they confirm he won’t ever be getting up, no one will care.”

  “You’re saying he was put there on purpose?” Carl asked.

  “He was removed because he was stupid and said the wrong thing. You were there.”

  “If you know so much,” Carl looked at Winston seriously, “why did they almost get you in your plane?”

  Winston started laughing. “They didn’t even come close!” He quit laughing, “I only take the plane to my beach house, I told you that.”

  “And you knew there was a bomb in it.”

  “Not exactly, but I knew enough not to take it to Belle Haven.”

  “Why take it at all, if you knew something?”

  “No fun in that. I’m sure someone was watching me take off and reported the Adam’s problem was about to be solved. Now they’ve got a bigger one. I’m still here, and now they know I’m a force to be reckoned with. And whoever screwed up the hit is running for their life.”

  “But they will try again so you’d better lay low,” Carl advised.

  “No they won’t because the attempt is now news, and besides, they’re not sure what I do know. I just might have something they want.”

  Chapter 46

  ACKERMAN, ANDERSON, AND WALSH - were sitting at a table in the back of a restaurant, Winston Adams walking toward them. Anderson was talking. Ackerman saw Winston coming and put his hand on Anderson’s arm to stop him.

  “Gentleman,” Winston greeted.

  “Winston,” Ackerman acknowledged
him.

  “I don’t know where to start, but you know why I’m here.”

  “No, Winston, I don’t know why you are here?” Ackerman answered. “We certainly didn’t invite you.”

  “What the hell is this all about?” Anderson looked at Ackerman. “What does he want?” Anderson indicated Winston with a sideways nod, not looking at Adams.

  “Winston thinks he knows something, but he’s full of shit,” Ackerman spouted in a condescending tone.

  “The Searching Soul?” Winston questioned.

  “Leave us alone, we don’t want anything to do with you,” Ackerman’s tone turned juvenile.

  “You certainly do have to deal with me, I was there first, I understand.”

  Ackerman jumped up. It looked like he was going to attack Winston, but Anderson and Walsh also jumped up and restrained him. Ackerman was red faced, struggling, shouting. “Get the hell out of here, now! Get away from us! You don’t know what you are dealing with!”

  “I know exactly what I’m dealing with,” Winston said calmly. Ackerman’s outburst had quieted the entire bar, everyone watching.

  “Get him out of here!” Ackerman shouted, still agitated.

  “I know what is happen and I am going, you need me,” Winston turned and walked away.”

  Chapter 47

  CARL, MAC, ACKERMAN, ANDERSON, WALSH, AND STAN HENDERS - with numerous others were seated at large conference table.

  “I know this petition is out of the ordinary, but gentleman, we are presented with a dilemma,” Mac started the meeting.

  “This dilemma should not be solved by rushing into things,” Stan Henders, the next mission controller pleaded with the others. “If something happens, who’s going to answer . . . me?” Henders poked his own chest with his thumb. “We just barely ducked the Donald’s catastrophe, and to tell you the truth, I can’t figure out how?”

  “There was nothing to it,” Mac said.

  “Like hell!” Henders came back, “That’s what I’m concerned about, ducking issues because something’s going on here? I’m the mission controller on this upcoming flight and I don’t like it. We barely had enough time to train the scheduled crew, and now you figure we can get new people ready?”

  “That’s the point, we are not new,” Ackerman argued. “We just came back from the Redoubt Mission. Have you changed any of the programs, any of the systems, or any of the boards we need to deal with?”

  “What about the scheduled experiments, the mission parameters,” Henders continued his objection. “Those people were trained to accomplish the prescribed mission.”

  “Hey, it’s nobody’s fault we had an outbreak of measles, but we have a ship sitting on the pad and we have a mission ready,” Mac pointed out. “We have equipment that is fool proof. I think we have a responsibility to make a flight, even if it is to see if monkeys piss regularly in orbit. We need to show that we can operate, regardless of what we come up against. We lost Donald, we went on. Let’s continue with that, besides, you all know what the price tag of a delay is?”

  ***

  Carl was passing Mac on his way out.

  “That went smooth,” Carl said peevishly, heading for the door.

  “I was expecting some dissension from you,” Mac retorted, “some squawking, something. What happened?”

  “The fix is in.” Carl shrugged, still walking. “I’m not one to waste my time,” he added over his shoulder.

  “That is an accusation that I will not accept, especially from one of my subordinates.”

  Carl stopped and turned. “You have to take some responsibility for the accusation Mac. That meeting was a sham.”

  “Just because you’re seeing ghosts, I’ve got to stick my neck out?”

  “Mac, either you do something, and do it quick, or I will act on my own.”

  “I thought we were friends?”

  “We were Mac, so don’t lay this one on me,” Carl stood looking straight into Mac’s face. “You know something is happening and you do nothing. You are either really dense, or you’re part of it. I’ve known you a long time Mac, and dense is not applicable here.”

  “I expect your resignation on my desk by the end of the work day!”

  “Fine, I can do more on my own anyway.”

  “I order y—”

  “Mac, you’re the one that changed the crew assignments right from the beginning. I know that for a fact!” Carl reached for the doorknob and calmly said, “I found the memo.”

  “It proves nothing!”

  “Mac, this is not a court of law. Whether or not there is enough evidence to convict you is irrelevant. I know what you did and to me that means you are very involved in this conspiracy. And it makes no difference what anyone else thinks because I know what is happening. They don’t have a clue as to what’s going on, but I do, and you are definitely a part of this fraud.”

  “So are you Carl. You are on the other side, but you are involved too.”

  “I’m glad you cleared up that up for me Mac. Yes, I know something is happening, and it is big, and it is not going to go away.”

  “Do you want it to go away?”

  “No, it needs to be resolved.”

  “What a fool you are, resolved? You think this is a misjudgment in our policy or something like that. This is an opportunity to expand our knowledge into the next phase of our development. This is what history is made of. This is the answer we have been looking for since the dawn of human history. This is the big one Carl, and I don’t want to be left out.”

  “I’m glad we got this out of the way. I was afraid you were just going to stone wall, deny everything, or try to play dumb.

  “There are two points that should be made clear Carl, right now, for both our benefits. Number one: I never considered, or hoped that you were stupid. It would be terrific right about now, but it isn’t going to happen. Most important is number two. It really doesn’t make a difference. There is nothing you can do. There is no one to go to with this. No one is going to listen to you Carl. Not until it’s too late.”

  “Thanks for clearing up the other thing for me, Mac.”

  “What was that?”

  “I wasn’t sure about your intentions, but now I know.”

  “I doesn’t mean a thing Carl, I already told you.”

  “Oh yes it does. I wasn’t sure what to do, or more important, what needed to be done. Now I know. I’m dealing with fanatics and I have to continue no matter what.

  “Let it go Carl, let it go for you own sake.”

  “You’re the one that convinced me how important this is. Do you think, I’m just going to go away, now?”

  “I’m ordering—”

  “I don’t work here anymore, or have you forgotten? But, I’m in for the duration now. Mac, you know me. I’m not letting this go.”

  “There are people close to you that could get hurt.”

  Carl walked back to Mac, leaned over to get closer to his face. “You’re deep into this thing, aren’t you? You would never make a threat as heinous as that, unless you were cornered and scared. This is were we part company partner. From here on out, you and I are on opposite sides.”

  ***

  Carl returned to his office and checked his messages. He didn’t expect anything, being out of the loop and now out of a job. He thought about cleaning out his office immediately, but didn’t have the motivation at the moment. One message was on the machine and he listened. He didn’t recognize the name or the voice and the message itself didn’t peak any interest. It asked him to call a certain number and to use his cell phone.

  ***

  Carl finally called the number a couple of hours later, not putting too much importance to it. The call instructed him to wait on a certain corner to be advised further. At first he was skeptical and a little cautious, after Wisp, Smithers and Winston. He went to the assigned spot, a busy street corner in the middle of the day and wondered; If someone wanted him out of the way, this wasn’t the best way to
accomplish it.

  ***

  At the prescribed time, a government sedan pulled up and stopped. A man got out of the passengers side and walked up to Carl. “Mr. Boroughs?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Carl said, wondering. The guy definitely was government, or wanted to look like it.

  “I’m sorry we look so cautious, but it’s a request.” The man handed Carl a folded sheet of paper and returned to the car, got in and drove away.

  Carl read the hand written note inside. Carl stood on the street corner, lightly slapping the note on his leg. He looked at the note again and made his decision.

  ***

  Carl was standing next to his car, waiting, as a small convoy of vehicles drove up to him. The third in the line was a big black limo with the appropriate appointments attached. The limo stopped and the rear door next to him opened. Carl walked over and looked in. Satisfied, he slipped into the back seat.

  “Sorry for the clandestine meeting Mr. Boroughs. I hope I didn’t bite into your schedule,” said the President of the United States.

  “Sir?” was all Carl said, mystified, sitting back in the seat.

  “I understand that you’ve been put out to pasture,” the President said, indicating for Carl to close the door.

  “I guess I’m no longer need.”

  “I guess you stepped on some toes,” the President laughed.

  “I wasn’t comfortable with some things.”

  “The Searching Soul issue?” the President asked.

  “Excuse me?” Carl said.

  “Oh, that’s right, you haven’t heard that designation yet.”

  “No Sir, what’s it mean?”

  “It’s the thing, the issue that separated you from your job.”

  “This is about Donald?”

  “Precisely. Again, I’m sorry about the way we had to meet.”

  “No problem, Sir. Better than the last time, when I had to stand in line to get a drink and another line to shake your hand, but why do you want to talk to me? I’m just one of the grunts? Why are you confiding in me on this issue?”

  “It seems that everything is under control, according to the Agency. I’ve heard that you don’t agree? Carl, I have to confide with someone, and you are my choice. I know that we haven’t seen eye to eye on some things, but I respect the way you stand by your decisions.”

  “I don’t know Sir, I’ve been known to put my foot in my mouth, sometimes.”