The Dossiers of Asset 108 Collection

by J M Guillen

  I stared at it, entranced. My heart began to beat faster, pounding the drums of war.

  Behind the place where my mind dreams, I heard growls.

  The back of my neck itched.

  ###

  Cascading Error: Critical

  Novel Four in The Dossiers of Asset 108

  JM Guillen

  Irrational Worlds

  Amir Cadavas, Irrational 3302

  6 January, 2001

  Istanbul, Turkey

  Earth

  I am in position, I linked to Gideon as I crouched in the alleyway. I am prepared to murder the target to death.

  Understood, Bishop. Gideon’s typical gruffness bled through the link. Remember, we need information on what he’s doing here. Hold off on the righteous slaughter.

  Oh, it’ll be righteous. I slipped a smirk through the link.

  Maybe after we find out where he’s headed, he linked.

  Fine then. I sighed. It’s not as if I haven’t killed him before. I shook my head at the unlikeliness of it all.

  Amir Cadavas. Here. It boggled the mind.

  Accidentally locating Irrational 3302 had to be the most unlikely outcome of our little trip to Turkey. We’d hunted this particular motherfucker for the better part of five and a half years, and now that we were on separate business…

  Here he was.

  Gideon and I happened to be slumming in Istanbul due to a minorly inconvenient virulent plague that hit the University of Washington in Seattle. Within three days, fifteen students sought treatment for wild hallucinations and seizures. Facility Factors had attempted to seize control of the situation, yet things spread out of control rather quickly.

  Two weeks later, health officials still had no cause. The Designates stepped in after the first student, babbling in an unknown tongue and slaughtering everything in his path, had to be killed.

  The young man’s DNA had contained more reptile and amphibian markers than human. The Designates felt certain this could only be the work of some aberration or cult.

  An Asset insertion had become inevitable.

  Gideon and I had tracked those students to a single weekend frat party. That led to the discovery of a shattered amphora. The elegant, two-handled vase had been covered with blasphemous, mind-shattering runes.

  We’d also found an amphibian monstrosity looking to breed.

  Another cadre, comprising both Michele Brookmyre and Wyatt Guthrie had been on the far side of this little shindig, handling the poor, infected kids and containing them. I didn’t know what the Designates were thinking, putting those two together—they seemed to hate one another. I could imagine their constant bickering and the thought drove me crazy.

  The entire event, even by Facility standards, had been approximately no fun at all.

  Weirdness stacking upon weirdness, Facility Preceptors discovered the means which bound the creature: a very specific ritual, which made use of the inscribed stones on that amphora.

  Those Turkish Purple Jade stones, we discovered, could only be sourced from one country on Earth.

  As always, an Asset went wherever the assignment led him, so I abruptly found myself vacationing in fabulous Istanbul.

  After some sleuthing and an introduction Facilitated by Demetrius Stone, Facility Liaison, we’d found Yusef, a small-time Irrat fence who dealt in illegal reagents.

  Yusef knew far more about the world than your average pawnbroker.

  A visit to Facility Prime provided the gentleman with the proper encouragement to be forthcoming with details.

  Hours later, Designate Ling informed us that the inscribed jade had been purchased three months before. The fence didn’t recall what the customer had looked like, only that the man wore a robe and had a beard.

  In Istanbul.

  We did learn that the purchase had been in bulk—over a ton of the stone—and the payment had been in cash, but…

  After that, the trail had dried the fuck up.

  We’d investigated for another few days, mostly remaining hidden beneath the Wraith like bad-ass superspies. After heroically finding nothing, over and over, the Designates ordered our extraction.

  The possibility that we would stumble upon one of the most notorious Rationality terrorists on the planet had never occurred to any of us.

  Amir Cadavas was a Class I motherfucker, at least as far as I reasoned. The man held a lot of sway within a doomsday cult that had royally ruined my day back in the mid-nineties.

  This group, the Darkened Road, remained one of the most dangerous cabals I had ever dealt with.

  Remain there. I am coordinating with the Designate, and we are getting things into position.

  Copy that.

  Cold winter wind whipped around me, strong enough to cut through my thick coat. I didn’t love cold weather; wintery temperatures weren’t something I dealt with much on the west coast.

  But today, the weather was the last thing on my mind.

  Target sighted, I reported as a slender, middle-aged man stepped out of an antique shop. The moment I saw him, my sarcasm fell aside. I put my game face on.

  He looked so… young. Way younger than he had when I’d killed him.

  Confirm that?

  ID Positive. I kept my gaze riveted on the city square before me and focused on the Irrat as he slipped past dozens of other people going about their business. Several snippets of Turkish and Arabic filtered their way through my Crown.

  I’m in position, Bishop. Gideon’s eagerness wefted through the link. We were finally close to catching this asshole, and he knew it.

  I knew it too and practically shook with anticipation.

  Calm your jets, Rachel linked. Adrenaline is spiking. Pulse is abnormal. It also says here that your snark factor is up by 2.5%.

  It does? I grinned.

  Well, close enough, she teased. Cool off, cowboy. I’d hate to have to waste my time modulating your mecha.

  Copy that, Caduceus.

  I had reason to be nervous. Amir was a zealous, demented fuck nougat wrapped in a creamy, lunatic coating. One hundred percent of the time I had dealt with him, Assets had ended up dead.

  Yet, this could be a huge win.

  I’m engaging the Wraith now. A veil of trickling cold drizzled across my skin as I slipped into monochrome invisibility.

  Well, technically it wasn’t true invisibility. I simply couldn’t interact with light, which amounted to the same thing in a practical sense. Quite frankly, the idea that I couldn’t interact with light but could still see made me suspect I wouldn’t comprehend the science anyway.

  Understood.

  It’s a shame really—I’m never in this part of the world. Now not one of these people will see how handsome I am.

  Gideon ignored the horrific thought of people never experiencing my face. Rachel, keep your eye on Bishop’s neurochemistry. This would be a bad time to for him to have… aetheric company.

  I thought the Designates had determined that Wolfie McBoodbath wasn’t an issue? I popped the knuckle on one hand. It’s been a few months, after all.

  And it’s not, Rachel clarified. Not as long as I can keep your baseline vitals within range. Specifically, I’m watching the P4 subset of physio-axioms and modulating your adrenal medulla.

  Still? I frowned. I haven’t had a single occurrence. I had one bad day in Japan. I don’t think I need a babysitter.

  No. You need several, Rachel grumbled. It’s a full time job to watch your holotecture when the thing starts poking its way into your head.

  Also, Anya added, pre-incursion, Rationality undergoes signature changes, which I am tasked with recording. The Facility wishes to be able to predict its appearance.

  Maybe so. I frowned. But I have it under control. I still don’t need a nanny. I looked to Anya. Or two.

  Well, Rachel snickered. This is what you get when you skulk around in the bedrooms of Japanese Irrats, Bishop.

  In the street, Amir Cadavas wove his way through the crowd with the c
ertainty of a city native.

  I followed, taking care to not bowl over anyone who might get upset by being knocked flat by an invisible man.

  If Amir suspected he had a tail, he showed no sign.

  Michael was not ‘skulking,’ Anya linked primly. As an Asset onsite, I can confirm that 108 had been appropriately tasked during that dossier.

  He accidentally fed his own blood to a four-armed wolfish horror of the astral tides! Rachel chided. That can’t have been part of the mission!

  I do not skulk. I linked the words with every bit as much prim-nicity as Anya. Although, the bestial aberration did bond to me harder than Wyatt Guthrie bonds to a plate of biscuits and gravy.

  Good news, Wolf-boy, Rachel linked. I’ve been working on my script for An American Werewolf in Istanbul. Want to audition? The edge of Rachel’s lips quirked a little.

  I actually saw An American Werewolf in London. So you’re not going to get me with that one. I stepped out of the alleyway into the drizzling mist, intent upon my target.

  Pity, she linked playfully. Although I have been a little bit worried about the name. Istanbul doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.

  Yeah? I slipped through the crowd, doing my best to keep my eyes on the target.

  I prefer Constantinople. Long time gone though. She sighed. Why they changed it, I can’t say.

  Children. Gideon’s growl grumbled in my mind. Focus.

  Copy that, I linked.

  I trotted along the cobblestones, inconspicuous and very cool. Twice, I slid into doorways when the target turned.

  If Amir suspected he had a tail, he showed no sign.

  Target is the focal point of a negative point seven fluctuation in baseline Rationality, Anya inserted coolly. There is also a secondary signature with him, which shows a negative four point fluctuation. She paused. Alpha, I believe this secondary signature may be the relic mentioned in his personal record.

  He has that fucking book! Gideon’s fierce glee surged through the link. Right now! He has the relic on him right now!

  Well, what are the odds of that? I grinned, wolfishly.

  Book? Rachel asked.

  The Liber Noctiis made an appearance during our dossier within the Yucatán—the last time we saw this joker, I replied.

  The tome is the centerpiece of the Darkened Road’s cosmology, an Irrational artifact every bit as dangerous as the cultists themselves, Gideon continued. Can we confirm, Anya?

  The Irrational signature is identical to that recorded on Dossier I6-1995 by Katarina Yakovlev, she reported.

  If we can get our hands on the Liber Noctiis, that’s a win. Gideon’s elation burned in his link. The Designates have classified it as a priority one item.

  Should I engage? I quickened my step and reached inside my coat for a disruptor pistol. As Amir turned a corner, I performed the mental twitch that engaged the Adept packet.

  Like a river of sunlight, warmth and grace coursed through my muscles.

  Negative. Gideon paused. We may have been after other fish, but this takes priority. The Designates want that book, but we want his cronies as well.

  Good thing you geared the Huntsman.

  We had no way to know it would come in this handy, Gideon shrugged. Still, it should be remarkably easy to follow him if I can just get the asshole tagged. Then, perhaps, we can take down the whole cult.

  Will comply.

  Amir turned down a narrow alleyway, and I slowed my approach. Last thing I wanted was for him to duck into some hidey-hole.

  Anya, may I have a reticule for the fluctuation in Rationality?

  Of course, Michael. A brilliant-green indicator settled over my vision. Beneath it, the distance indicator read 13m.

  I’m on the move as well. Gideon sent. Perhaps give each of us a locale on the other? A secondary, sky blue icon appeared off to my left, approximately twenty-six meters away—perhaps a street or so over.

  I couldn’t help but grin. We finally had the asshole.

  There was nowhere he could go.

  The young man’s DNA had contained more reptile and amphibian markers than human. The Designates felt certain this could only be the work of some aberration or cult.

  An Asset insertion had become inevitable.

  Gideon and I had tracked those students to a single weekend frat party. That led to the discovery of a shattered amphora. The elegant, two-handled vase had been covered with blasphemous, mind-shattering runes.

  We’d also found an amphibian monstrosity looking to breed.

  Another cadre, comprising both Michele Brookmyre and Wyatt Guthrie had been on the far side of this little shindig, handling the poor, infected kids and containing them. I didn’t know what the Designates were thinking, putting those two together—they seemed to hate one another. I could imagine their constant bickering and the thought drove me crazy.

  The entire event, even by Facility standards, had been approximately no fun at all.

  Weirdness stacking upon weirdness, Facility Preceptors discovered the means which bound the creature: a very specific ritual, which made use of the inscribed stones on that amphora.

  Those Turkish Purple Jade stones, we discovered, could only be sourced from one country on Earth.

  As always, an Asset went wherever the assignment led him, so I abruptly found myself vacationing in fabulous Istanbul.

  After some sleuthing and an introduction Facilitated by Demetrius Stone, Facility Liaison, we’d found Yusef, a small-time Irrat fence who dealt in illegal reagents.

  Yusef knew far more about the world than your average pawnbroker.

  A visit to Facility Prime provided the gentleman with the proper encouragement to be forthcoming with details.

  Hours later, Designate Ling informed us that the inscribed jade had been purchased three months before. The fence didn’t recall what the customer had looked like, only that the man wore a robe and had a beard.

  In Istanbul.

  We did learn that the purchase had been in bulk—over a ton of the stone—and the payment had been in cash, but…

  After that, the trail had dried the fuck up.

  We’d investigated for another few days, mostly remaining hidden beneath the Wraith like bad-ass superspies. After heroically finding nothing, over and over, the Designates ordered our extraction.

  The possibility that we would stumble upon one of the most notorious Rationality terrorists on the planet had never occurred to any of us.

  Amir Cadavas was a Class I motherfucker, at least as far as I reasoned. The man held a lot of sway within a doomsday cult that had royally ruined my day back in the mid-nineties.

  This group, the Darkened Road, remained one of the most dangerous cabals I had ever dealt with.

  Remain there. I am coordinating with the Designate, and we are getting things into position.

  Copy that.

  Cold winter wind whipped around me, strong enough to cut through my thick coat. I didn’t love cold weather; wintery temperatures weren’t something I dealt with much on the west coast.

  But today, the weather was the last thing on my mind.

  Target sighted, I reported as a slender, middle-aged man stepped out of an antique shop. The moment I saw him, my sarcasm fell aside. I put my game face on.

  He looked so… young. Way younger than he had when I’d killed him.

  Confirm that?

  ID Positive. I kept my gaze riveted on the city square before me and focused on the Irrat as he slipped past dozens of other people going about their business. Several snippets of Turkish and Arabic filtered their way through my Crown.

  I’m in position, Bishop. Gideon’s eagerness wefted through the link. We were finally close to catching this asshole, and he knew it.

  I knew it too and practically shook with anticipation.

  Calm your jets, Rachel linked. Adrenaline is spiking. Pulse is abnormal. It also says here that your snark factor is up by 2.5%.

  It does? I grinned.

  Well, close
enough, she teased. Cool off, cowboy. I’d hate to have to waste my time modulating your mecha.

  Copy that, Caduceus.

  I had reason to be nervous. Amir was a zealous, demented fuck nougat wrapped in a creamy, lunatic coating. One hundred percent of the time I had dealt with him, Assets had ended up dead.

  Yet, this could be a huge win.

  I’m engaging the Wraith now. A veil of trickling cold drizzled across my skin as I slipped into monochrome invisibility.

  Well, technically it wasn’t true invisibility. I simply couldn’t interact with light, which amounted to the same thing in a practical sense. Quite frankly, the idea that I couldn’t interact with light but could still see made me suspect I wouldn’t comprehend the science anyway.

  Understood.

  It’s a shame really—I’m never in this part of the world. Now not one of these people will see how handsome I am.

  Gideon ignored the horrific thought of people never experiencing my face. Rachel, keep your eye on Bishop’s neurochemistry. This would be a bad time to for him to have… aetheric company.

  I thought the Designates had determined that Wolfie McBoodbath wasn’t an issue? I popped the knuckle on one hand. It’s been a few months, after all.

  And it’s not, Rachel clarified. Not as long as I can keep your baseline vitals within range. Specifically, I’m watching the P4 subset of physio-axioms and modulating your adrenal medulla.

  Still? I frowned. I haven’t had a single occurrence. I had one bad day in Japan. I don’t think I need a babysitter.

  No. You need several, Rachel grumbled. It’s a full time job to watch your holotecture when the thing starts poking its way into your head.

  Also, Anya added, pre-incursion, Rationality undergoes signature changes, which I am tasked with recording. The Facility wishes to be able to predict its appearance.

  Maybe so. I frowned. But I have it under control. I still don’t need a nanny. I looked to Anya. Or two.

  Well, Rachel snickered. This is what you get when you skulk around in the bedrooms of Japanese Irrats, Bishop.