by Peter Hoole
After a few moments, Darcy joined the conversation, “Then what, Mike?”
“Then,” Dunleavy turned his attention to her, “the information I was getting... it became... different.”
Caleb waited with baited breath. For so long he had worked for Dunleavy, but he had never known the source of his information. Now, he could feel a sense of relief that he would finally find out.
With his eyes, Caleb urged Dunleavy to continue. He complied, “We got pieces of a puzzle. Information that didn’t match up to anything we had previously been doing. There were no longer leads to Afghanistan, or Al Qaeda, or any known terrorist cell. After time, and after gathering more and more information, a picture formed. The information that you and your team brought back from you ‘aggressive hacking’ missions provided us with more any more detail about what this group, this unknown group, was up to.”
Aggressive Hacking was a term Dunleavy and Caleb had used on the majority of their missions. Effectively, it meant that they would travel to a location, infiltrate a facility, and download the contents of a computer or laptop.
Caleb barely looked at the information he was collecting – he figured there were people better equipped than he to deal with the information.
“Anyway...” Dunleavy continued, “You guys would bring back the information, and I’d pass it on to our tech guys... you know - Doug and Tim - the ones that were killed. Then, we’d try work out the next step. But we rarely had to do all the thinking ourselves. Before we knew it, we received some more information from our source, and we went from there.”
Murphy had been quiet the entire time, but now spoke again, “So Mike, do you know who your source is? Do you know who was providing the information to you and the Captain?”
“I never met them, but there was a name at the bottom of the letters.”
“What was the name?” asked Darcy.
“Rache” was the response.
But it was not Dunleavy that responded.
It was Murphy.
Dunleavy took a step back, “How the fuck do you know that?”
Caleb already knew the answer. A man of Dunleavy’s care and precision would not have shared the information with anyone.
“It was you?” Caleb asked Murphy. He knew her response, but still wanted her to say it aloud.
Murphy’s voice cracked, “Yes.”
“Shit.” Casey said under his breath.
The rest of the room went silent, as though they were all trying to process the information.
Dunleavy was the first to speak.
“Now you’ve really got some fucking explaining to do, Murphy.... or even fucking Rache... whatever your name is.”
Murphy spoke, “Rache is not my name. It is not a name I go by... though it is appropriate...”
“If it’s not a name, then what is it?”
Murphy paused for a moment, “It’s German...”
“What does it mean?” asked Darcy.
Again Murphy paused.
“Revenge.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Let me get this straight.” An irate Dunleavy began, “You were feeding me the information, and you knew all along what the end fucking result would be?”
“You’re half right there, Dunleavy.” I was giving you the information, but I had no idea this is where it would lead us.”
“Well you better fucking start talking...” Dunleavy shouted.
Caleb, sensing the situation might get out of hand, stood between the pair.
“Mike... you need to sit down...”
“I’m not fucking sitting down!”
“Well... back the fuck up then!” Caleb said, using language he was not accustomed to.
It had the desired effect.
Dunleavy took some steps back away from Murphy and Caleb, enough that he was touching the couch behind them. After a moment, he sat down.
Darcy put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. It seemed to calm him down somewhat.
But Caleb was not going to let Murphy off the hook so easily. Just like Dunleavy, he wanted answers.
“Start at the beginning...” he said to his lieutenant – even though the rank she had was an illusion. Murphy may have been a Colonel for all he knew.
“Cap...” Murphy began, and then she changed her tone, “Caleb... There’s so much to tell. I’m not even sure where the beginning is...”
Darcy stood from her seat and stepped towards Murphy.
As a journalist, she often had different methods of extracting information from people, and she knew this may be an opportunity for her to use her skills.
“Murphy...” she began, “you are among friends here. You don’t have to hide anything anymore.”
“It’s not that...” replied Murphy.
“What is it then?”
Murphy turned to William, “It’s him... I can’t say anything in front of him.”
Caleb looked at the prisoner. At that moment, he knew he had a decision to make. Whether to get rid of the prisoner to enable Murphy to be open, or to keep probing the prisoner.
Unfortunately for Caleb neither choice was obviously the right one, and he had trouble determining the right course of action.
It was partly due to the dire repercussions of either choice. On one hand, a man – albeit an evil one – would need to die.
On the other, they could lose valuable time getting information from Murphy should William remain around.
While these issues were important, there was something else that was causing Caleb some trepidation.
Over the past few days, Caleb’s normally reliable judgement had been tested, and found wanting.
It was his decision to keep Matthew on the plane. It was his decision to take him with them to confront Emmett.
It was also Caleb’s call to use Jacob. As a result, Jacob killed Natalie, the Colonial Agent, on the plane to Sydney, and it was Jacob that betrayed them at the Haven facility.
Lastly, Caleb made a fatal decision inside the control room. Had it not been for a series of fortunate events, Caleb would be buried under piles of rubble, having been mortally wounded by the very prisoner they now had in their custody.
It was a series of bad decisions that Caleb had made over the past few days that caused him to question his judgement now.
He couldn’t decide whether to kill William or wait.
At that moment, the decision was taken out of his hands.
With a flash of light, the room exploded with a loud bang, the noise enough to disrupt the Captain vision momentarily.
In a short amount of time, focus returned to Caleb.
After the loud bang, the only other noise Caleb could discern was a gasp from Darcy. Caleb turned to her, and could see she was looking at William.
Even though he knew what he was going to see, Caleb turned around. He saw the Englishman’s body, slumped on the floor, devoid of life.
A small wound had appeared in the man’s chest, and blood splatter had appeared on the wall behind him.
He was almost glad that William had been shot, and that he did not need to make the decision. His relieved thoughts quickly dissipated, and the shame kicked in.
He looked around the room, and there was only one person still holding their weapon out.
“Casey... What have you done?”
***
“I don’t need to remind you how sensitive the timing of everything is, do I, Catherine?”
Robert was trying to ensure that he and the rest of his colony remained focused on the task.
Catherine was his second in command. Now that Pierre had been killed, Catherine was the natural choice to take over his duties. Such was the way of the Colonials – there was always someone ready to step in should it be required.
Catherine and Pierre had worked side-by-side on many projects and tasks throughout the past few decades.
In fact, they had both completed their basic training at the same time.
They had both worked hard,
steadily working their way through the ranks.
And that meant they had to work very hard for a long period of time.
For many reasons, it was difficult to get promoted within the ranks of the colony. There were only two ways people left – they retired, or they died.
This was much the same as most other work places.
However, with such longevity playing a vital role in the Colonial hierarchy, it was very rare for anyone to die in the performance of their duties. And with such long life-expectancy, it was even rarer for people to retire.
And though she considered Pierre a valued colleague, she was also quietly pleased that she was now the most senior field operative within Zone Three.
Now, she only had to take orders directly from one man – Robert. The same man with whom she was currently conversing.
“No Sir, of course not.” Catherine replied in the husky voice she had had since she was a teenager.
“Good… because I think we need something extra.”
Catherine was confused. So far, Zone Three had done its task – the plane in Seattle – and they were currently in the process of providing the residents of the Minot base with the serum.
“What do you mean, Sir?” Catherine asked.
“I mean we need to create another distraction… here in Zone Three.”
What Robert said caused concern for Catherine. She was always meticulous and well organised – traits that had served her and the colony well over time.
“I’m sorry sir, I’m not sure I understand.”
“There is a lot of heat on us right now, and the people that infiltrated the Haven colony are still at large. There’s no telling where they are or if they’ve told anyone of our plans. We need to ensure that, if they do indeed get the word out, that the people they talk to will be so concerned with other issues that they won’t be able to react.”
Catherine was anxious. The plan had been in place for such a long time, and it was working.
As was common practice, once Pierre had been killed, Catherine began liaising with the other colonies, specifically the people at her level. She had spoken with Garrick in Zone Two, and had heard nothing that would change her regard for the situation.
The only person that she spoke to that had caused her some concern was William, her counterpart in Zone One. But, such was his reputation; she thought he was more than able to deal with the situation.
In fact, she had even helped him by taking care of the reporter’s supervisor in Los Angeles.
Even with Robert’s revelation that the infiltrators were still at large, Catherine believed the plan was still progressing within parameters.
As such, she had no idea why Robert would want to deviate from the plan. But nor was she in a position to argue. She wanted to impress Robert, as it was he that had put her in her new position. She did not want one of her first acts to be on of defiance.
“OK then, Sir. What would you have me do?” she asked.
“What assets do we have available?” Robert asked, referring to the agents in the field.
“I only have one right now – the rest are returning to Minot for their serum.”
“They’ll have to do… where are they?”
“She’s in Miami…”
“Miami… great location. Does she have transport? Does she have a Shark?”
Sharks were the one-person underwater travel pods. Not equipped for a fight, but they could get a person from one destination to another, underwater, in quick time without being detected.
“Yes sir. Where do we need her to go?”
“We need something big… something that will certainly ensure the powers-that-be in Zone Three are otherwise occupied.”
“Do you have any thoughts, sir?”
“Indeed I do, Catherine… Send her to Zone Fourteen.”
Chapter Fifteen
Caleb stood in disbelief.
While he was half expecting someone to shoot William, he did not think it would be Casey.
“Casey… what have you done?” Caleb asked, the shock evident in his voice.
The Sergeant just stood in place, his weapon raised at the now fallen William.
Caleb walked steadily towards him, unsure of Casey’s state of mind, and not wanting to spook him. As he approached, Casey responded.
“It’s ok Cap.” He said with little emotion in his voice, “I did what needed to be done.”
“How can you say that?” asked Caleb, “He wasn’t an immediate threat.”
Casey turned away from William’s body, and faced the Caleb, “But it was necessary, and he was an immediate threat.”
Caleb was lost for words. William was not armed, and he was well and truly covered.
“Sergeant,” Caleb began, “you need to explain it to me.”
“I’m not the best one to talk, Cap.” Casey replied. He then looked beyond Caleb towards Murphy, “You need to tell him.”
“Tell me what?” asked Caleb, as he too turned to face the Lieutenant.
Murphy stepped back, clearly apprehensive about what she was about to say. She was breathing heavily, as though the weight of what she had been carrying for so long had finally gotten the better of her.
Darcy, as she always did, was able to calm down Murphy. It was subtle, but a gentle pat on the back and an arm around the Lieutenant was enough to enable her to speak.
“You don’t understand these people like I do, Captain.” Murphy began, still maintaining the formalities of their relationship.
Caleb could see what Darcy was doing and opted to continue the passive approach. He lowered himself into a crouch, so he was eye-to-eye with Murphy. He looked her in the eye,
“That’s why we need you to tell us.” He said in as soft a tone as he could.
“These guys...” Murphy said with a quiver in her voice, “They are zealots...”
Caleb couldn’t imagine what Murphy was going through. After all, Caleb had no idea about what Murphy’s life was like before they met.
“Go on... Tell us what you can.” Darcy said, trying to further calm Murphy.
Murphy took a deep breath, and visibly regained her composure. After a few seconds, she looked at Casey.
It was a look Caleb recognised, for he had seen it many times.
Murphy and Casey were in love, and their care for each other was evident. Whatever they had said to each other when they left the room earlier was clearly enough that Casey completely trusted her once again.
Caleb urged Murphy to continue.
“If you could tell us whatever you can. You are our best chance of defeating these guys.”
Murphy let out a muffled chuckle, “That’s the problem, Cap,” she said, “I’m not sure we can beat them.”
“Why do you say that?”
“It’s best of I start at the beginning.”
***
“Catherine???” the young woman’s voice said over the phone.
She had received a call she was not expecting.
“Yes Larissa,” replied the husky voice, “Of course it’s me”
Larissa thought she had more time to complete her preparations for the journey to Minot.
After she had heard of the plane attack in Seattle, Larissa figured she would not be needed to complete her task.
She had only known Catherine for a year or so, but the time they had spent had had a lasting effect on the teenager.
They’re initial meeting had been brief. Larissa had just finished her day at Community College – studying hospital administration– when she was approached by the older woman.
Larissa had been sitting in a coffee shop, loading up on caffeine before her regular night-job as a cleaner.
It was not the life she had envisioned for herself in her youth. She had always wanted to be a police officer, helping those in the community less fortunate than herself. That was until she was thirteen. One night, on a day that was no different than most others, Larissa’s father was killed by a drunk driver.
After her father had passed, Larissa’s mother was less and less able to attend to her daughter’s emotional needs. This was mainly due to having to work most of the time just to break even.
As a result, Larissa drifted through life. She went from one bad decision to the next, and before her senior year at high-school, she was arrested for drug possession.
Not that Larissa was a big drug user, but she was stopped by the wrong cop at the wrong time – and she was arrested. Unfortunately, a drug conviction, even as a minor, was enough to prevent her from following her dream.
After her arrest, she was able to somewhat pull her life together. The studying she was completing was helping her towards that goal.
But then Catherine entered her life and offered her an opportunity.
According to their brief meeting, Catherine had been watching Larissa for some time.
It had all started in her Junior year, around the time Larissa was at her most... unpredictable.
As with most other high-school students, Larissa and her class mates had completed what she thought at the time was a mere aptitude test – an exam to determine and assist with deciding where their future lay.
Before the meeting at the coffee shop, Larissa had completely forgotten about the test. As she found out at the meeting, it was Catherine and her people that had organised the test, and the results had caught Catherine’s eye.
Why? Larissa did not know.
And she was yet to truly find out.
To Larissa, it was almost irrelevant. In the coffee shop, Catherine offered her an opportunity. It was “a chance for true redemption and a chance to earn something that no one else could provide”.
At the time Larissa had no idea what that had meant. But she looked at her life, and it was not meeting any of her expectations. And such is the impetuousness of youth, she decided to follow Catherine.
It was then her new life had begun.
Catherine had seemingly taken Larissa under her wing. Catherine treated her in a way her own mother never would, or even could.
With Catherine, Larissa felt special.
And over time, Catherine had taught Larissa the true nature of what her people were about, and of the essence of what they were trying to achieve.