Infiltrator

by Bob Blink

  "I'll be alright," she'd promised, but as they approached the capitol where this had all started she had private doubts that she kept to herself. Jessie had been right when she'd warned that Steph was out of her depth with what they were likely to get into.

  They'd had time to discuss and rehash their situation, and run dozens of Internet searches for information. The state of cloning technology was such that no one had openly ever cloned a human being, although it might have been attempted in secret by one or more of the various governments who had research projects in the science. But in all cases, the cloning was a slow progress, requiring as much time for the clone to mature as the original subject had. For a human clone, that meant a couple of decades. And then, you'd have an individual whose memories and experiences were totally different than the original being. Nothing they could find suggested anyone had stumbled upon a means of copying and transferring memories, including editing and adjusting them to suit a certain desired situation. To do what they had been concluding was taking place would mean someone had made a startling break through in several branches of science, and managed to keep it entirely secret while perfecting the process.

  So maybe they hadn't been cloned. Maybe they'd just been altered somehow, but they were certain they'd been under a mind control at the very least. They'd checked each other carefully. There were no scars, but if they had the nodes, who knew how it could have been done.

  The problem was the deaths of Johnson and Jerry Marshal. All were positive the two men had died. Differently, but both were gone in their minds. They discussed the possibility that instead of vaporization some kind of teleportation might have been involved, but that led to the same unwanted conclusion. No one on earth had developed teleportation. It was too much of a leap to accept that. That brought them back to the frightening idea that an alien influence had to be realistically considered, and what it could mean personally for each of them.

  "They've set up the scans?" Glen asked from the backseat after a long period during which no one had spoken.

  "Yeah," Jessie replied, uncertain how she felt about running the tests. "We have a couple of special doctors our people can use for all manner of possibilities. They can run MRIs and other tests as needed. We'll all get checked, and then one way or another we'll know."

  "Not sure I want to," Mark said honestly from the driver's position.

  Steph knew what Mark meant, but surprisingly, she had already accepted they would find her brain to have been altered. Maybe she wasn't a clone of her original self, but simply altered, but someone or something had changed her. And now they were going to do everything in their power to find out who, and bring to light what was going on. What that would ultimately mean for all of them she didn't know, but like Glen, she wanted some kind of pay back.

  "I'll shoot every one of the bastards!" Glen had raged at one point during the past couple of days. "Whether they are humans or aliens. My life has been taken from me, and I've become a robot for whatever they are doing."

  He'd settled down somewhat since then, realizing that he still appeared to retain a certain degree of free will, but he still fumed about the possibility he was programmed with the same kind of destruct mechanism that had taken Bud Johnson that night. He could imagine any number of scenarios where these implanted items might be triggered even in the absence of their phones.

  None of them knew what lay ahead, and what risks they might be forced to take, but it was clear that Agent Burrows wasn't in a position to help them as he'd hoped. The search for Bud Johnson, the one from New York that has up and vanished, wasn't going well. Jerry Marshall was also still officially a missing person, and of course they were still on the wanted list, so they'd need to be especially careful not to be spotted.

  Three of Jessie's fellow Homeland agents had been contacted and brought aboard their desperate project. It had taken time, and the three had done some independent checking before accepting that something strange was indeed going on. Ed Collins was an older agent, but one who Jessie had worked with several times and whose life she'd saved during one of their missions. A favor was owed, and Ed accepted the need to help. Joe Single and Jan Moore were both junior to Jessie, but were the closest she had to friends within the agency.

  "You're certain you can trust these guys?" Mark asked for maybe the tenth time. He was uncomfortable exposing themselves once again.

  "They've seen enough that they know something's going on," Jessie said. Besides, Ed owes me his life, and he wouldn't set me up."

  "They've had a hard look at the power usage at the Bureau Headquarters and at the power distribution center behind the building where they went for meetings. Both had unusual activity at the times we gave them, especially the day we were at the center and again a day later. Apparently a careful check back for the past eighteen months there was similar activity the other dates we had 'meetings'. Whoever they talked with attributed the anomalies at the distribution center to old and faulty equipment, and since the area is to be torn down they have ignored it since it happens so infrequently. But the dates are too coincidental to buy that. We don't know what it means yet, but it's something to add to our limited store of knowledge."

  "You said they verified the altered autopsy report?" Glen asked.

  "Yeah," Jessie replied. "I don't know how they managed it, but they can tell that the filed report was altered as Burrows indicated. I'm anxious to meet with them because they were going to meet with the Medical Examiners and talk with them before we arrive."

  "What about Bud Johnson?" Steph asked.

  "There has been no sign of him. That's what has held up the FBI since Burrows got assigned to work with Max Geller. Ed says he is a tough cop, but not very flexible when he makes up his mind about something."

  They were approaching the park where they had agreed to meet. There was no point trying to scout the area for any kind of a trap. If Jessie's friends were working against them, they had all the time and resources they would need to make it impossible to tell that something was in the works. Confidently, Jessie showed Mark where to park.

  "We shouldn't linger in such a public place," Ed said after introductions had been made. All three of Jessie's friends were there, and none looked at all like a capable agent.

  If anything, Ed looked like a middle-aged businessman, if perhaps in better physical shape. His hair was thinning on top, and starting to turn white around the fringes. Intelligent brown eyes that clearly missed little examined them as he spoke.

  Janet Moore was the biggest surprise. From the name, Mark hadn't expected an Asian. She was a Chinese-Hawaiian mix, a diminutive five-foot one, with short black hair and a solid physique. Standing next to her, six foot-one Joe Single, with reddish blond hair, looked like a giant.

  Ed's comment made Mark take an uneasy look around.

  Ed spotted the look, and grinned.

  "Don't worry. We have six others stationed in the park. They'd let us know if any interest in you was detected, but you are on too many lists and your faces have become familiar to the public. Even with the changes you have made, someone might note your presence, and any word getting back to law enforcement will make our task that much harder."

  "Others?" Jessie asked.

  "People I trust," Ed said. "Don't worry. They'll make sure we aren't trailed to the safe house I have arranged."

  "Something's happened," Jessie guessed.

  "One of the two Medical Examiners was killed in a car crash on the way to work this morning. We've told the other to take a vacation, and helped him on his way. The nature of the crash looks too convenient to me. Someone is moving at the moment."

  "When can we get those scans?" Glen asked, still focused on resolving the question as to whether he in particular, but also whether all of them had the same node as the two members of their former group who'd been autopsied.

  "We have the doctor standing by," Ed said in reply. "We'll go there on the way to the safe house. What we learn might influence what we have t
o talk about."

  "How about Glen and Steph come with us," Janet said. "Ed will ride with you and Mark. "Better that we're not all together in one car."

  Chapter 27

  "Well, that's that!" a disgruntled Glen mumbled as they followed Janet into the safe house from the enclosed garage at the back of the oversized residence.

  The testing had been simple enough and gone relatively quickly. Glen and the others had been mostly silent on the drive from the special clinic, each consumed by their own private thoughts. During the whole of the trip and testing, they'd never seen the other agents that Ed had promised were watching their backs.

  "We expected as much," Mark said as they stepped into the large great room. "It made sense that all of us would have the unexpected nodes on our brains."

  Jessie was about to say something as well, when she noticed the well separated and heavily armed men spread around the room. All had fully automatic weapons pointed at them.

  "Let's take this real easy," Ed said when Jessie started to reach for her weapon.

  "Ed?" Jessie asked, surprised by the unexpected situation.

  "I want each of you to slowly withdraw your weapons from wherever you have them hidden and place them on the floor in front of you, then step back three paces. We will examine each of you afterwards to ensure you have nothing else on your persons," Ed said, ignoring Jessie's question.

  There was really no choice. Mark could sense that any failure to comply would likely end up with all of them dead. The grim faces behind the aimed weapons suggested these were men who had killed before, and would do whatever Ed directed. Even Janet and Joe stood back, their own weapons, handguns in this case, drawn and ready to engage them. Mark carefully withdrew the Kimber and set it on the floor as asked. Steph was next, and then Glen. Jessie stood rooted to her spot, angry eyes focused on Ed.

  "Sorry Jess," Ed said, "but this is a very strange situation, and the tests clearly show that something odd has been done to each of you. The doctor told me he'd never seen such nodes, and couldn't imagine how they'd come to be or what function they might have. Given the other partial story you have relayed to me, and some guesses we have made, I want a complete debrief and discussion of what is going on before I'm willing to trust that you are the same person I have worked with in the past."

  A sharp tone entered his voice as he continued speaking. "Now lay down your weapons and step back to be searched!" he commanded.

  Jessie hesitated a moment longer, her eyes still blazing with anger, but then her shoulders slumped and she carefully withdrew the Glock, and the extremely sharp and deadly fighting knife she kept strapped close to her skin. She set both on the floor, and stepped back as her companions had done. Mark and Steph had already been searched, and were being directed deeper into the residence. A short time later she and Glen followed. They were directed to four low, soft comfortable chairs set several feet apart. They would be comfortable, but trying to get up and out of the padded seats would be slow and difficult. That was the whole idea.

  The armed group stood off to either side where they could safely set up an angled crossfire at the foursome, while Ed and his two friends sat opposite the prisoners.

  "Let's talk about this situation," he said in an agreeable tone. "I want the whole story this time, and it had better agree with what we have learned since you contacted us."

  He pointed to Mark.

  "You tell it. I've already heard Jessie's shortened version."

  Mark glanced at Jessie, who tight-lipped nodded her agreement.

  It took some time. Ed listened, questioned, sometimes asking another of the group to expand on something Mark had said, then allowed the debrief to continue. When Mark was finished, Ed nodded, but looked to Joe and Janet to see if either had any questions. Each had quite a few, and the question and answer sessions lasted almost as long as the initial telling had lasted. Specific details were probed, and his questions circled around to the same topic more than once, the follow-up questions phrased to appear to be touching on something different, but both Jessie and Mark recognized the technique. When Joe and Janet finished, Ed asked a half dozen questions of his own. The tension in the room seemed to drop as the questioning drew to a close.

  "Very odd situation," Ed said finally. "And you believe aliens are somehow behind all of this? You realize that such a claim immediately makes you appear to be a bit off normal?"

  "There isn't anyway we can see the technology existing to explain what has happened otherwise," Mark said. "Unfortunately we don't have any physical items to support our belief. If only we had the weapon Monica used on Jerry."

  "You haven't considered that those strange growths at the base of your brains might have been used to make you see things that didn't really happen?' Ed asked. "Perhaps the whole attack and vanishing act of Bud Johnson never actually happened? That's what got you started, isn't it?"

  "No, I hadn't," Mark admitted. "I guess it might be possible, but to what end? Whoever is behind this had us completely under their control for some time. Why would they set up a situation designed to disrupt that control? And if they wanted it, why didn't they simply do whatever implanting of memories while we were in the building, not out on the street?"

  "Maybe that's where it actually happened?" Ed said. "Did you ever look for evidence of the shooting out where it supposedly happened?"

  "Not hard," Mark admitted.

  "There's nothing there," Jessie said. "I looked. But why would they do what you suggest?"

  "Why is any of this happening?" Ed asked in return, but he seemed more at ease.

  "I don't believe it," Mark said unasked. "Johnson was shot on the street."

  "It turns out you are right," Ed replied. "Using some contacts we have on the street, we were able to locate the three hooligans that accosted you that night. Under persuasion, they revealed what happened, and up to the point they fled, their story agrees with yours. Oh, and we have the gun that was stored away in Mark's safe. One shot fired. I think I believe this part of the tale."

  "Then give us back our weapons and let's discuss this further," Jessie snarled. She was still annoyed at the man she'd trusted implicitly.

  "Tell me one thing first," Ed said. "How do we know you won't suddenly come under the control of whoever created those growths? If you are clones, are you the Jessie I've known for years and can trust. Maybe you are still under their control, aliens, or some terrorist group."

  "They haven't appeared to be able to control us for some time," Glen said, speaking for the first time in a while.

  "Ah, but you ran away, and they lost track of you. Now you are back, perhaps within their control range."

  "They used our cell phones as a means to control us," Steph said.

  "So you think," Janet said. "That might not be their only means of influencing your actions."

  This was something that Jessie had worried about ever since they'd come to the conclusion who was behind all this.

  "We don't know," she said honestly. "Since ditching the phones, we seem to have been able to operate normally, even while we were in the area, but perhaps they have a secondary system."

  "Honest," Ed said. "I like honesty. Given that we don't know, will you accept that we might have to be a bit careful around you, and that we might react strongly to unexplainable behavior?"

  "I can see your position," Jessie admitted, her anger fading. She realized how she might have reacted if the situation had been reversed.

  Ed somehow signaled the armed men around the perimeter of the room and weapons were lowered, although not set aside. Janet and Joe handed back the group's personal side arms.

  "Let's talk about what we know and what we might do," Ed said in a much more casual tone.

  "You four are living proof that something very unusual and worrisome is taking place," Ed said a few minutes later. "Whoever, or whatever, is behind what has been happening to you is leaving trails as they try to cover their existence. Someone inside the FBI is aware of the
situation, and modified those files as you assumed. Not many have the access and ability to do that, so it is someone fairly powerful within the organization. Someone killed Pam Chou, and since I believe it wasn't one of you, that suggests someone trying to cover up what she wished to talk about. The death of one of the two Medical Examiners is another case of attempting to eliminate witnesses to something they don't want known.

  "But you have no idea who?" Glen asked.

  "Unfortunately, no," Ed admitted. "They have been very careful to cover themselves."

  "We've got to find something that gives us a thread to follow," Jessie said. "Perhaps a closer look at that building."

  "There's nothing useful there," Joe said. "We had a hard look early on. I doubt they will ever use it again."

  "Then how?" Stephanie asked.

  "There's only one way I can see that might work," Ed said.

  "And that is?" Mark asked.

  "We need to bait a trap."

  "And we're the bait," Glen said, seeing immediately where the agent was heading.

  "Of course," Ed said without guilt. "What else would we use?"'

  "What kind of trap?" Jessie asked.

  "That's a bit harder," Ed admitted. "We know they want you eliminated, but we don't know what resources they have to accomplish the task. You could go back home and hope they spot you, but that's a bit obvious. I was thinking you might quietly investigate the death of the M.E.. That might get their attention."

  "We investigate," Glen said. "And where will you be?"

  "In the shadows, watching," Ed replied. "We don't want them to know you have help."

  "This is all unofficial?" Jessie asked. "The Agency doesn't know what you are doing?"

  "You are officially wanted for murder, and you are not being supported by the Agency," Ed confirmed. "We'd all be in a lot of trouble if it was known we are meeting with you. Besides, are we certain there isn't someone inside who might work against us?"