A Subtle Agency

by Graeme Rodaughan

  ‘Yes, Sir, I’m on it.’

  ‘Excellent,’ James said and hung up. He reached his car and quickly got in, moments later he was on his way to Boston.

  This time, you will not escape us.

  * * *

  Gang checked his online order book. There was still no booking from a Mr. T. Masters for a table for two, for the duck special with the new special secret sauce.

  Arthur, my old friend. Time is running out; it has been nearly a month since I put up the message. What has happened to you?

  Arthur Slayne had planned for the possibility that he may not be able to respond. Gang remembered the plan clearly if there was no reply for a month, he was to act as he saw fit. Tomorrow was the fourth of June, a month after he had first sent the message.

  Decisions must be made.

  It was obvious to Gang that Anton belonged in the Order. However, he frowned as he thought through the ramifications of the Order becoming aware of Anton. There was the business surrounding Anton’s grandfather. Arthur Slayne had been accused of the murder of the previous leader of the Order of Thoth, George Madison.

  Gang was certain that Arthur was innocent, despite circumstantial evidence that made him the only suspect. The charges against Arthur had been pushed hard by an Order lawyer named Samuel Luther, but it had been Ramin Kain who had stepped forward to claim the rulership of the Order. Ramin’s candidacy had gone unopposed and he had been confirmed in the role of Head of the Order at an Order Conclave nearly twenty years ago.

  Gang had strong suspicions about Ramin Kain, if those suspicions were well-founded, then Anton’s emergence would not be welcome. In any event, the family name of Slayne had become tarnished over the last twenty years, Anton would find much hostility in the Order, and few friends.

  The return of a Slayne to the Order will need to be handled carefully.

  The death of Anna Slayne and the capture of William had come as a shock, he had felt forced by circumstances to activate Anton’s Ramp capability. The process was extremely risky, but fortunately, Anton had survived, and his progress since then had been a phenomenon.

  After a month, he was already three times faster and stronger than he was when he had arrived. His fighting skills were excellent and he picked up new skills extremely quickly, his learning vastly enhanced by the physiological changes occurring from the Ramp. However, he was still very emotionally fragile after the trauma of losing his parents. The incident tonight had been a clear example of how his emotions could overwhelm good sense.

  I need to spend more time with Anton, to talk things through, and assist him to gain a deep mastery of his feelings.

  Gang remembered another student of Arthur Slayne, Francis Mirovar, Force Leader for the Order with responsibility for the North East. They had been friends and sparring partners when they were both students, and Gang had followed his progress with interest after the Slaynes had gone into hiding.

  He considered that Francis could have been Head of the Order, and wondered why he hadn’t opposed Ramin Kain for the Office. Francis Mirovar had remained neutral when Arthur had been blamed for the murder of George Madison. He had a strong reputation for a strict code of honor and was widely recognized as one of the strongest leaders within the Order.

  Gang had also counted Francis Mirovar, a close personal friend before the ascension of Ramin Kain.

  Francis Mirovar is the nearest Force Leader, he will be the best to contact if we need to find refuge in the Order. I will need to re-establish contact with him to ensure that refuge, if necessary, can be found.

  Gang’s mind turned to the topic of Mr. Wang and the Hu Shizu. He did not fear for his own life, or even Li’s life from direct confrontation with the Tiger Clan, it was the immediate threat to the lives of others that concerned him. The sanctity of innocent life was at the foundation of Order belief. Gang needed to protect the people who worked at the Noodle House or lived nearby from becoming collateral damage in any conflict with the gangsters.

  Collateral damage is just a lie - it’s simply murder. All my regular staff will need a night off next Saturday; I will need a skeleton crew of extra “helpers.”

  Gang sighed; the fight with the Tiger Clan was being driven by small stupid issues, the real risk was that defeating Mr. Wang’s gangsters would draw the attention of Shadowstone and the Vampire Dominion in numbers beyond Li’s, Anton’s and his ability to defeat.

  With Arthur Slayne out of the picture, perhaps permanently, it is imperative that we rejoin the order as active members.

  Gang sighed again, his heart heavy with sadness at the prospect of losing an old friend. He had accepted Arthur’s request to stay in Boston and watch out for the Slayne family. He had moved here with his wife, and son, and soon after, Li had been born. He had focused on raising his family, running a successful restaurant and exercising his passion for innovating combat techniques with swords.

  He had kept a low profile in the Order, not seeking promotion or embroiling himself in the constant politics that seemed to come in disruptive waves through the upper ranks of the Order.

  Then five years ago his wife and son had died in a car accident. Those were dark days; it was only the presence of Li that had given him the strength to continue with life itself. The randomness of the loss had shaken the foundations of his life, and he had since devoted his life to ensuring that Li had the skills to look after herself against any opponent, as he could not guarantee that he would always be there for her.

  When he considered how powerful his daughter had become, hot tears ran down his cheeks, as his sadness over the loss of his wife and son gave way to a father’s pride born of deep admiration and love for his daughter.

  Gang had invested a lot of his life into the Noodle House, and he could feel his home slipping away. There were so many good memories of his wife and family within its walls, but his families time there was coming to a close, he was certain of it, it was like watching storm clouds roll in and overtake the sun.

  Everything is going to be swept away and swept away soon.

  Time to place fresh flowers on Tatsu’s and Qiang’s graves, it may be a while before Li and I can visit them again.

  With that thought, Gang logged out of his computer and went back to the restaurant to see how the cleaning up was progressing.

  * * *

  It had been three days since the original Panopticon hit on Anton Smith.

  James, Louise and their team of two Shadowstone operatives had set up a surveillance site opposite the Noodle House, on the top floor of a three story building. The equipment in the surveillance van had been repositioned into a room facing the street with a panoramic view of the front of the Noodle House and the Wu family residence. The building they were in was vacant, Shadowstone had taken out a one-month lease on it via a front company, they would not be disturbed.

  All the equipment that James had requested was in place.

  Sean Higgins, a short, wiry IT guru hired by Shadowstone from the NSA had wired up telescopic microphones and cameras on the roof top that covered both target buildings.

  Gary Johnson, an ex-CIA/NSA operative had placed a tiny remote camera on the back wall of the Wu property. Due to a pervasive screen of plants, the camera did not give direct access to the back side of the Wu residence, but it provided an infra-red feed of activity in the backyard directly to the stakeout’s computers.

  James had directed the Panopticon to co-opt all nearby CCTV cameras and had positioned them to provide optimum coverage of the restaurant and the residence. He had his laptop open, and the screen showed a Panopticon satellite feed at a fine grain of detail covering a hundred-yard square centered on the Wu’s backyard; green markers labeled Anton Smith, Li Wu, and Gang Wu littered the screen. He had been able to capture the necessary photos of the Wu’s over the last twenty-four hours and had added them to the search parameters for Anton Smith on the principle of tracking the known associates of the target.

  James had quickly determined that t
he Wu’s had a training environment behind the house, which was well shielded from surveillance by a roof over the training area and a high brick wall at the back of the property. He had also verified that the roof across the training area provided effective screening from satellite sensors across the electromagnetic spectrum.

  The training deck was an information black hole.

  ‘We should have a damn policy for identifying information black holes that are fully shielded from satellite observation,’ James said excitedly.

  After eight years of working with Shadowstone, it looked like he had finally found genuine Order of Thoth terrorists.

  It was 7:30 pm on a Tuesday evening and the restaurant was closed. The Wu’s and Anton Smith had started with thirty minutes of physical exercise and were now training with weapons on the training deck.

  ‘Hey, Boss, take a look at this,’ Johnson said, sharing his desktop display to the main screens on the side wall of the room. Everyone swiveled and watched as human shaped heat blobs moved across the screen. They would suddenly change position, and there would be flaring heat plumes that would expand and die from each of the three forms.

  ‘What is that?’ James asked.

  Louise stared at the screen, ‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’

  General Armitage said that they have special training and techniques, this must be an aspect of that.

  ‘... God only knows,’ James continued quietly, staring at the screen.

  ‘Listen to this,’ Higgins said, putting the sound that he had heard through his headphones through a speaker. It was a metallic clatter, timed with the heat plumes as if someone had pulled a drawer full of cutlery out of a cupboard and upended it onto the floor, not as chaotic as that would sound, more musical, like a metallic drum, with an inherent pattern and order.

  ‘Now hear what it sounds like when I slow it down by a factor of three,’ Higgins continued, and the sound resolved into clear metal on metal clashes.

  ‘They’re sparring with swords,’ Louise remarked, frowning.

  ‘And they’re fast ... real fast,’ James added. ‘You’ve got this on record?’

  ‘Yes, Sir,’ Higgins and Johnson answered.

  ‘Give me five minutes.’

  James went into a separate room and closed the door. He immediately voice dialed Chloe Armitage’s smartphone number.

  The phone rang twice before she answered, ‘James, what do you have for me?’

  ‘We have Anton Smith.’

  ‘Good work, what is the situation?’

  ‘He is currently staying with a Chinese/American family in Chinatown, Boston. We have a surveillance team in place at a stakeout opposite the families’ restaurant and residential home.’

  ‘Anything else?’

  ‘I am sure that they are Order of Thoth, they fit the profile you provided. We have been able to scan their last training session with infra-red cameras and telescopic microphones. They move extremely fast, and are highly skilled with edged weapons.’

  ‘Excellent work James. I expect a summary report in five minutes, now your orders are to remain at your station and maintain the surveillance, if they move, track them and keep them under continuous watch. It is imperative that you do not engage them, I will come to your site tomorrow night.’

  ‘Ma’am, I could get two full combat teams on site in less than three hours. We could take this cell out tonight.’

  ‘My orders stand,’ Chloe said, a frosty edge to her voice. ‘I expect you to implement them with your usual efficiency. Is that clear?’

  James hesitated for a second, he desperately wanted to close this terrorist cell down - permanently, and with disappointment leaking into his voice, he said, ‘yes, Ma’am, understood.’

  ‘James, I understand and appreciate your enthusiasm, be patient, your time will come.’

  ‘Yes Ma’am, thank you, Ma’am.’

  The line went dead, and James went back to the main room.

  Louise arched an eyebrow as he walked in, ‘orders, Sir?’

  ‘Stand watch, track them if they leave.’

  ‘Yes, Sir,’ Louise said, focusing back on her monitors.

  James poured himself a black coffee from a pot on a table, settled into his chair and began preparing the summary report for General Armitage.

  The Shadowstone team recorded another two hours of almost continuous training.

  ‘What’s this “Ramp” they keep talking about?’ Higgins asked.

  ‘Some sort of Chinese voodoo?’ Johnson offered.

  ‘Add it to the list of known unknowns. We’ll deal with it later,’ James said.

  The red blobs on the infra-red monitor disappeared from the training deck.

  ‘Looks like they’ve hit the showers,’ Johnson remarked.

  ‘Can we get some Chinese?’ Higgins asked.

  James sighed, ‘why not? Try and find me some steamed dumplings, just a mix, and some soy sauce, I love that.’

  Higgins quickly left the room and James leaned back in his chair, reflecting on his conversation with General Armitage.

  So my time will come will it, not soon enough, not soon enough by far.

  * * *

  I need to get back to New York and Boston, and Crane needs to ask me to come back.

  Chloe gently tapped her fingers on a paper pad as she waited for Haras Mosule to complete his report to Cornelius Crane.

  ‘We have no new captures or kills since the last report,’ Haras said.

  Cornelius frowned, ‘after more than a month we have three Red Empire casualties, one dead praetorian, and zero useful information - those are not numbers that impress me - are my generals losing their edge?’

  ‘No Sir, the Red Empire are very difficult to find, they would rather die than be captured. We need more resources or a different strategy. If you were to allow us to create new vampires, we could draw them out.’

  ‘Vampire creation is out of the question; you will have no control over those you transform. They could easily run amok and reveal the secret of our existence.’

  Haras nodded.

  Cornelius continued, ‘at General Armitage’s request, I replaced Praetorian Dench with Marcus Drake, a member of her own staff rather than another praetorian. I will now provide another two praetorians and an extra team of Shadowstone operatives. They will come from our Shadowstone force in England. They will all be in Jerusalem by the 10th of June.’

  ‘With all due respect Sir, the Shadowstone operatives are not much help. In fact, since we arrived, three operatives have simply disappeared without trace.’ Haras said.

  ‘What!’ Cornelius Crane growled. ‘The losses of Shadowstone operatives will in future be included in the main report - is that clear?’

  Haras blinked, ‘yes, Sir.’

  Cornelius smiled without humor as he stared at each of them in turn, ‘now something you must all understand, the six Shadowstone operatives that I will send you are all participating in an enhancement program of my own design. They are not yet the match of an Order of Thoth operative or Red Empire assassin, but they are certainly faster and stronger than a normal human. They will provide an essential daylight capability that will assist you to meet your mission objectives.’

  That program will end in tears; we should never try to enhance humans with capabilities that could one day match our own.

  Haras nodded and said, ‘thank you, Sir.’

  ‘Now General Armitage, your report.’

  ‘Yes Sir, there is nothing substantive to add to General Mosule’s report on the Jerusalem situation. However, just over thirty minutes ago, I received information from a Shadowstone team in Boston. They have an active Order of Thoth cell under direct surveillance; the Wu family.’

  Crane paused for a moment.

  He knows about them! What does that mean?

  ‘How many Order operatives?’

  How many is he expecting? Has he discovered Anton Slayne? He can independently read the Shadowstone reports - I must tell
the truth.

  ‘Three Sir.’

  ‘Normally this would be within your remit, but with you allocated to your current mission, I am shorthanded for Generals.’

  ‘We could send Marcus back to deal with the Wu family.’

  Crane shook his head. ‘No, Marcus has no rank within the Praetorian organization. They will not obey him and you are both needed in Jerusalem. I think that I will need to deal with this local issue personally.’

  I can’t let that happen! He will discover Anton Slayne!

  ‘Sir, if I may, there is an extraordinary opportunity here that has not yet been discussed.’

  Crane raised an eyebrow, ‘yes?’

  ‘The Mirovar team; recent Shadowstone reports indicate that they remain active in the North East and it appears that they have moved from a safe house in Rhode Island to another location. We could use this Boston cell to draw the Mirovar team out into the open and then crush them all at the same time.’

  ‘And how do you propose to do that? To draw them out?’

  ‘By causing these Thoth operatives in Boston to run, and to call for help. Then we find the Mirovar team’s new safe house and destroy them all. They are the key operational force located in the vicinity of your Citadel, and the only group that could potentially launch an attack that could threaten you.’

  Crane sniffed, ‘I think that you’re overestimating their capabilities versus the defensive systems of my Citadel. There is also no evidence that they even know the location of my Citadel.’

  ‘Be that as it may, there is still a significant risk to your safety. I could return to the United States and be in Boston before sunrise. The operation to draw out the Mirovar team would take less than a week. Once the task is completed, I will return here. I will be gone for less than a week.’

  ‘One week?’

  ‘One week,’ Chloe said confidently.

  Crane grinned wolfishly, ‘so be it. You will return to Boston immediately. Drake will remain in your place until your return. Drake, you are assigned to General Mosule until General Armitage returns in a week.’