by Bob Blink
"You can't believe the Assistant Director of the FBI is controlled by some sinister force?" Burrows asked.
"Perhaps not him, but someone who reports directly to him. Each of us worked in a sensitive area of a secretive organization. Why not others in places like the FBI. We've wondered if there could be others like us."
"I don't think it would be someone else," Ed said thoughtfully. "There would be questions where the intelligence came from which would be awkward for a plant to provide. But if it was the Director fellow, he wouldn't have to explain the source of the information."
"I don't believe this," Burrows objected. "You are not only accusing the second highest individual within the FBI as being some sort of secret spy, but of sending his own agents to a place where they could be killed."
"One of them was," Janet reminded him.
"It makes sense in another way," Mark noted. "I find it difficult to believe that two separate groups had the ability to simultaneously break our secrecy and locate us at almost the same time. If the FBI's information came from someone inside this alien group, then that explains why you were there, and those duplicates clones were as well."
"It still doesn't tell us how they figured it out," Janet objected.
"We don't know what technology they have at their disposal," Ed said. He glanced around at Jessie, Mark and Stephanie. "We also can't be certain that one of you isn't somehow being manipulated by this group in some way."
"Bullshit!" Mark cursed. "If we were compromised, you know things would have gone down considerably differently."
Ed and Mark stared at each other for a long moment.
"Perhaps you are right," Ed said finally. "But I want to know how it was done."
"I think they can sense us," Stephanie said silently. "Not all the time, but if we are close enough."
"What do you mean?" Jessie asked.
Stephanie shrugged. "It's just a thought, but they never found us here, or at the summer camp. But once we got back into D.C. and Johnson spotted us, they have been on us almost continuously. I don't think it is Johnson, but he could alert these aliens, and if they are close enough, they might be able to sense us. We don't know what to look for, so we can't know if they have been anywhere nearby."
"That's spooky," Janet said uncomfortably.
"Interesting thought," Jessie said, but the others looked uncomfortable.
"So they might have tracked us here?"
"Possible, I guess," Steph said, looking around uncertainly.
"Maybe not," Mark said. "We killed all the clones they sent for us. Maybe the aliens didn't feel a need to be there."
"Let's talk about those clones," Ed said. "We now have proof that someone is making clones, but I thought you were supposedly clones of the original people these aliens selected for whatever they are doing. I didn't expect to see more of you. How many could there be?"
"I hadn't thought about it," Mark admitted, "but if they can make more clones, which we believe they did for Johnson, and they did it quickly, what's to stop them from making multiples of the same person?"
"I feel really uncomfortable with their being multiple version of me running around," Steph admitted.
"It could certainly complicate our lives," Mark agreed. "Any trouble these things cause will come back on us."
"I wonder how much like us they really are?" Jessie mused.
"What do you mean?" Ed asked.
"They'd be no use to try to replace us at this point. I'm wondering if they aren't set up to make more than a certain number of "models", those of us they have been using. But, think about the Pam clone we have in the SUV. I can't imagine the Pam I briefly met ever dressing that way. I wonder if they can cut and paste memories and skills and attitudes into the information they feed into the clones they make. Clearly, they have been messing with our memories. I'll bet these duplicate clones have been mentally programmed using fighting skills and the like to be useful in hunting our group down. They want us eliminated as soon as possible so the real truth doesn't come out."
"Why so few used in the attack if that's the case?" Janet asked.
"The second attack was much different than the first. The men we encountered there didn't seem like clones and they were using conventional weapons. When that didn't work, I think they tried to use their clones with the special weapons. They might not have had time to create a small army in the short time between the encounters. Perhaps they thought that four of them surprising us would be enough. They took out almost all of the support group, and if it hadn't been for Burrows and his partner showing up, they might have taken us down before we could recover. We just might have gotten lucky."
Mark thought about Jessie's words.
"We can't fight this kind of thing with the resources that are being sent against us alone. Not only do we have all of law enforcement gunning for us, but we have this unknown group with capabilities we don't understand. It's only a matter of time before they get a break and we lose."
"Who?" Steph asked.
"FBI is out," Ed said with certainty. "I am suspicious of this Assistant Director fellow, and they have you, and now probably us on their wanted lists. They aren't going to be flexible."
"There's no one at NSA set to deal with this kind of thing," Mark said.
"Homeland is going to be a problem also," Jessie warned. "They don't know what happened to a number of their agents, and knowing that Ed was involved, which police and others will establish soon enough, they are likely to think that the missing men have thrown in with us, whatever they think we are doing. And that's without the not impossible case of there being someone else inside the organization who is a plant. I don't have to be the only one they had inside."
"Our problem is not knowing who we can trust," Mark noted. "Anyone could be a plant. We didn't know what we were ourselves. Until we can be certain whoever we approach isn't one of them, and we find someone with enough influence, we are simply going to be wanted felons, who will probably disappear without a trace once the aliens catch up with us."
"We have a way to determine if someone is one of them," Steph reminded them. Anyone who is converted, or a clone, will have the nodes."
"Great, so all we need to do is run an MRI on anyone we want to trust," Jessie said. "How do we know those running the test aren't converts also?"
"We don't have to use people who might have been taken over," Steph said. "MRI facilities are numerous, and we can force those at one of our choosing to run the test. We don't have to tell them what's going on, and from what I saw before I think even I could tell if someone is afflicted with the nodes."
"Great, so now all we have to do is kidnap someone we want to help us, force them to take an unwanted MRI test, and threaten a hospital staff, adding to our list of crimes," Janet said.
"We just need the right person," Jessie said. "Just one could help us if he had the influence."
"Senator Conroy," Mark suggested.
"You want to go after a United States Senator?" Burrows asked.
"He's one of the most powerful men in Washington. He's on the intelligence committees, and he has personal reasons to dislike whoever is behind this. Pam Chou was more than just an employee. She was a friend of the family for him. And we have exhibit A in the car to show him."
"Don't you think it's likely he is compromised. Pam was working for him," Ed said.
"If they had the Senator, they wouldn't have needed Pam," Steph reasoned. "I think the odds are good that he isn't. Someone like that might just be able to turn things around if you can convince him what is happening. You'll have to kidnap him to do it, and that won't put you in a good starting place."
"We also have another form of evidence," Steph reminded them. "We have a weapon unlike anything anyone has ever seen."
"This means going back into Washington," Ed warned. "I don't see us getting any more help so whatever we do, it's going to be just our small group. I wish we knew how many of these aliens and their clones we might be facing
."
"I'd like to know how we detect the aliens," Mark said. "None of us have ever seen one, at least as far as we know, and have no idea what we are looking for. The only thing I'm certain of is that they aren't human looking. If they were, why would they need us?"
Chapter 33
In a bit of a surprise to all, they made it through the night without incident. It seemed there was no one else on their particular mountain, not searchers, or neighbors. They had the area entirely to themselves, and the cold hours of guard duty seemed wasted. No one complained. It could have very easily gone differently.
Once again the news feeds provided interesting insight into how the events of the previous day were being interpreted by the authorities. Among the gear that Ed's men had packed away in the SUVs, was equipment that allowed them to tap video directly from several satellites. While the details and specifics of the two confrontations were mostly held back from the reports, Agents Burrows and Geller were reported as missing and suspected of being kidnapped. Pictures of the two and requests for any sightings to be reported to several numbers shown in hopes of rescuing the two victims.
More time was spent on detailing the possible culprits in the likely kidnappings of the two agents. Once again, Jessica, Mark and the rest of the original team, including Jerry Marshal who the authorities still didn't realize had been killed, were prominently displayed, along with older video clips that showed the killings of Monica Parker. Added to their earlier transgressions were two additional shootings, and the belief they were responsible for the disappearance of the two FBI agents.
The list of fugitives was longer than before, however. Now added to the list were Ed, Janet, Mitch, Andy and Jeff. It was obvious the names had come from interrogation of the doctor at the clinic, who would have provided descriptions of those he had seen or operated on, and from that the FBI and Homeland had determined who the people must have been. While no mention was made of others that had supported him and been killed as a result, Ed was certain the full list being passed to law enforcement would include any and all missing agents. Showing all of them to the public would have been counterproductive, as people would likely become confused with so many suspects to consider. Besides, there was no direct evidence to link the others to the event.
"Welcome to a life of crime," Jessie said sarcastically to Ed, when they finished viewing the most recent reports.
"I just hope Andy and Jeff found someplace safe to go to ground for the time being," Ed replied. "They aren't in any shape to be moving around, which is going to be difficult with everyone on the watch for us."
"I'm going to be the only one of us able to show his face," Burrows noted. His face had been shown, but only briefly and it wasn't the best of photos. He was only a victim, not a wanted criminal, and therefore less interesting to the news types.
"That may become important in our planning," Ed replied.
The Homeland agent had talked at length with Burrows, who was now a fully accepted member of their group. He'd now witnessed first hand too many events that couldn't be explained. He'd seen his partner disappear from his side as a result of the strange weapon, one of which they still had stashed away in the back room. Then there was the second Pam, whose body was still out in the second SUV, and the multiple copies of Mark and Jessie that had been shot and who had vanished as a result.
Other facts had helped push him over to the side of the fugitives. One of Ed's pointed questions was just how Burrows' bosses had known to send him and Geller to the physician's clinic at just that time, and why they hadn't known that more than just Mark and Jessie would be there. Given the events that transpired, Burrows could see that perhaps the two of them had been sent as targets, which would suggest someone in FBI management was somehow connected to the aliens, which clearly existed. An additional nail in the coffin was the report that Janet had retrieved from the Internet that showed the individual Glen had killed and photographed at the safe house was a mafia soldier. Somewhat of a freelance shooter within the mafia structure, he was a hired gun used by the various families. Burrows could think of individuals within the FBI who would know of the man, and others like him, and might even be in a position to quietly employ the man for the kind of work that had gotten him killed.
As a result, Burrows was very much in the same situation as the others. While not formally being sought for any crimes, a condition that might change soon given some of the discussions they'd held during the late hours of the night, he'd seen too much and was suspicious of too much to simply return back to D.C. They needed proof if they hoped to be believed when they attempted to reveal what appeared to be going on undetected.
"What do we do with the body?" Janet asked. "It's been cold enough that so far it hasn't been a real problem, but pretty soon it is going to get ripe, and we can't very well keep driving around with those remains in the back."
"We can put the body in the small equipment shed out back for a while," Glen suggested, "but we can't keep using those vehicles. They aren't exactly your standard SUV, and I'm guessing reports on them went out to the cops along with our mug shots."
"We're going to need a couple of new vehicles," Jessie agreed, "including a nondescript van or two if we really plan on going forward. I assume we'll have to boost them from several of the surrounding towns."
"We might want to be careful with that," Ed suggested. "This place has worked out for us, and we might want to stay a couple of more days until we get this thing sorted out. Perhaps it would be better to borrow a single vehicle from nearby, use that to get to another part of D.C. for the real acquisitions, and somehow get the more local vehicle back so there isn't a focus on a sudden increase in car thefts."
"We are really serious about going after the Senator?" Steph asked, glancing at Burrows, who she couldn't believe would become party to such a kidnapping. "He's not exactly your desirable, low profile target. He's got Secret Service protection, and people will always know where he is."
"We talked about it a lot last night," Mark said. "We need someone who can influence the right people if we are going to get help. We believe that the Assistant Director of the FBI is suspect, and perhaps the Director himself, and who knows if there is a plant in Homeland. There's no one who would be useful in NSA, and they wouldn't be ready to help me anyway. There are other covert organizations, but who would we approach, and why would we expect to be believed?"
"Pam's body, or the Pam clone if you prefer, gives us a certain leverage with the Senator," Jessie said. "That makes him a more desirable target for us."
"Assuming he's really clean," Glen reminded them.
"That's got to be verified up front," Ed agreed. "Mark knows where there is a facility in College Park not too far from where he lived. We can use that for the scan."
"They'll recognize the Senator right off," Staph argued.
"We can keep them from seeing who their patient is," Jessie assured her. "We don't want anyone to know that the Senator was taken. That would compromise his effectiveness and potentially make him a target."
"How do we expect to make off with a very visible Senator, get him scanned, and bring him here to explain our situation, all without anyone noticing?" Burrows asked.
"So, it won't be easy," Jessie said, "but that's what we need to work out. And soon. We can't let anyone have more time to look for us. If we are found, we'll have to run, and that ends any way to operate effectively."
"That brings us back to the matter of how we've been located before," Ed said. "They were on us right away everywhere we went in D.C., but we seem to be off their radar since coming here. I don't know what's different here, but something is."
"Maybe Steph is correct, and they can somehow track us," Glen said. "Maybe it is a short range thing and we are far enough away they lost us."
"Because of those nodes on our brains?" Jessie asked. "I can't see how that works?"
Steph shrugged. "It was just a thought. It doesn't have to be correct, but just because you can't u
nderstand how it might work, doesn't mean it couldn't. I can't see how that vanisher weapon can do what it does, but clearly it works."
"I think any planning we do has to consider the possibly Steph is right," Ed said. "You four are different, and that's something we have to assume might trip us up. I think any plan has to use you four as a distraction, making it appear we are doing something different than we really intend. It may be wasted effort, but until we know, let's operate as if Steph is right. We've gone over every other possibility that would have given us away."
"There's only eight of us," Mark pointed out. "If four of us are taken out of any plan, that's going to severely restrict any planning we can do."
"Let's see what we can come up with," Ed suggested. "If we need to modify our plans, then we'll do so. Janet, what did you find on the Senator?"
"Steph is right about his being a difficult target. Other than weekends, he's booked into things everyday. He's on so many committees and is so prominent, his sudden disappearance would be big news. Even the weekends are often totally or partially taken up by one government task or another. The old stories about your elected representatives not working much doesn't seem to apply to this guy. At least not while Congress is in session."
"He has to have some down time, and possibly some bad habits we can use," Jessie said. "What about his security detail?"
Unlike the President and Vice President, he doesn't have a full time team. Generally, our representatives are protected by Capitol Police when in the building, but not otherwise unless there is some reason. Most of them, Senator Conroy included, don't like being mothered over. With the murder of Pam Chou, he was assigned one Secret Service agent who is with him during daytime hours, which he agreed to on a temporary basis. The man doubles as his driver. An ex Marine Recon guy. Picks him up and takes him home each day. Suppose we could see what options are available when he's home, but that would involve breaking through his personal security, which sounds like it is pretty good. Apparently he was robbed a couple of years ago and had a very good security outfit set him up. He's also a shooting enthusiast, and is said to keep weapons handy at home, and sometimes carries even though not officially licensed. Who is going to approach a Senator of his statue with a minor thing like that? I don't think his home is a good choice."