by Bob Blink
"Who?" Senator Conroy asked.
"Mitch," Ed said.
"I remember him," Conroy replied. "He seemed a dependable young man."
"The loss of Mitch, and the fact the clones were armed with the alien weapons caused us to act quickly and with full force," Burrows said. "If we hadn't, none of us would probably be here right now. As it turns out, we were too late. It is clear they got to Sully, and vaporized him just like they did my partner Geller."
"As for what we got from the altercation, we probably gained more than we did from any previous engagement," Mark said. "We know we have a means to monitor when the clones, if not the aliens themselves, are active. We may have cleaned out the problem in the FBI, and now know why some things happened the way they did, including why Tom and his partner were sent to the medical facility last week to be eliminated. We acquired another of the vanishing ray guns, and a new, even more deadly type of weapon. We also acquired several of the phones used to control the clones. Maybe your technical team can learn something new from them. Finally, we provided additional subjects for the medical team to investigate."
"What about these weapons?" Colonel Jones asked.
The Chief Engineer, Norm Hayes spoke up.
"We are being more careful with the newly acquired devices, having learned their stored power is limited. While we have a detailed layered map of the internals, none of it makes sense. What looks to be modules inside, turn out to be 3D regions of continuously varying densities of some very odd materials. No one has a clue how that might work. We have also set up a couple more tests using the newly acquired weapons, monitoring the emissions of everything we can think of. Something is still missing. We have tried to duplicate the EM emissions we measured from the vanishing ray, and can't duplicate the effect. Considerably more work is going to be required. Our tests have tried to get a signature of the device, active and not, that would help us sense the presence of the damn things. We have looked at everything including EM spectrum, radioactive particles, temperature, audio, even smell. Nothing has come of it."
"What about the new weapon?" Senator Conroy asked.
"A very deadly device, but in a different way," Hayes replied. "The first burst, fired at a paper target on a wooden backstop resulted in complete destruction of the target and support. The same setting of the device turned on a two-inch thick steel plate resulted in much the same thing, with the plate nearly completely consumed by the beam. An eight inch thick concrete barrier was cut through just as easily."
"I assumed you were monitoring the output from this weapon as well?" the Chairman asked.
"Of course, but what we were able to measure was an exact copy of what we recorded during the firing of the more familiar weapon. Yet the results are very different at the target. This also suggests our measurements are missing something very basic and important."
"What is your plan going forward?" the Senator asked.
"Frankly, we haven't got one. We have done all we can with the equipment we have here. For now, the weapons are secured, and until we can convene a wider range of expertise and make available test gear we don't have ourselves, there is little more to learn."
There were a few moments of silence as the group considered this.
"What about the tests of the cloned woman?" Colonel Jones asked. "Doctor, you said you have discovered something new."
Dr. Thompson nodded.
"We believe it would be possible to disable the node."
He looked at Jessie and her friends.
"That would mean the four of you could be isolated from any monitoring that has been speculated might be present, and certainly from any alternate method of sending commands that could cause you to act contrary to your, or our, best interests."
Jessie smiled.
"That would be nice. I've worried that if we get close enough to these aliens, they might be able to use some alternate means to make me take actions I wouldn't want."
"How would this work?" Steph asked.
"A thick nerve bundle connects the node to the main part of the brain. By attaching a special module at the right location, we should be able to numb the nerve, preventing any exchange of impulses between the node and the rest of the brain."
"Wouldn't that numb the rest of the brain, or impair our thinking in other ways?" Steph asked.
"We believe we can make the effect localized," Dr. Thompson said confidently.
"Wouldn't this require surgery?" Mark asked, uncomfortable with the discussion.
"A minor one," Dr. Thompson admitted.
"Minor surgery is something done on someone else," Steph said.
"I'm not sure there is such a thing, especially when we are talking about our brains," Glen added, also uncomfortable with the discussion.
"Well, it's something to consider," the doctor replied, unhappy his news wasn't greeted with universal enthusiasm.
"It's something we wouldn't want to try until after we spring our trap," Jessie said. "We need them to be looking for us if that's to work."
"Is a further trap even needed?" the Colonel asked. "Didn't this NSA friend of yours, his name is Fred isn't it, find out where the commands are coming from?"
Mark decided he shouldn't be surprised these people had figured out who his inside contact had to be. They were smart, and he didn't have that many close contacts inside.
"Unless there have been new developments, Fred hasn't been able to pin down where the inputs came from. The receivers were all phones, and it was anticipated the source would be as well, but he says it looks more like a part of the system, a repeater tower perhaps, was the source of the calls. They appeared near the Library of Congress, but he says additional data is going to be required to pin down the actual location."
"So we do still need some kind of trap to be implemented," the Senator suggested. "Perhaps that should be our next move, now that we are all here together. Mark can coordinate with this Fred, and we can attempt to draw out these clones. I'd like for us to have some insight where the aliens themselves are hiding. So far we have made zero progress in that area. Does anyone have any idea who these unknown clones were, or why the aliens like to use duplicates so often?"
"They probably have a limited number of individuals they have taken over," Steph suggested. "A matter of finding the right people, who can be replaced without being noticed by friends or family. Also, it might take some time to generate the template for the copy. We don't know anything about how this process works."
"Or where they have the facilities to make all these copies," Jessie pointed out.
"So, when can we move forward with this next step?" the Senator asked. "I want to be able to bring this out in the open sooner rather than later."
"Give us a couple of days," Major Garcia asked. "We'll spend the weekend making a plan."
Chapter 45
"Are we ready to put this plan into action?" Colonel Jones asked. He and Major Garcia were meeting privately to discuss the results of the planning sessions that had been conducted over the past couple of days.
"It's not much of a plan, Colonel."
"That's not a very reassuring comment, Chuck."
The two men had served together for a number of years, and were personally very close, although very different in appearance. The Colonel was tall and slender, with almost blond hair, whereas the Major was short, barrel-chested and stout, with dark hair cut buzz short.
"Begging the Colonel's pardon, but this theory about being detected by the aliens has only been tried once before, and that time might have given a bogus result. He explained the concern that the appearance of the alien's clones might have been because of Baker's presence within the FBI. "Frankly, there's nothing to say that the four people in the other room are able to lure these creatures, whatever and wherever they are, someplace where we might have a shot at them."
"Do we have any other choice?"
"Not much of one. That's why I'm inclined to go ahead, despite my doubts. It'll only cost a li
ttle time and some manpower to see if Stephanie's theory is correct. If it is, we are that much ahead of the game."
"Are our forces are adequate to contain any force we are likely to encounter?" the Colonel asked.
"Assuming we see the kind of presence that has appeared in the past. We will field a force ten times the size of any group that has been encountered before, all carefully dressed to fit into the normal population of an area we select. This all assumes the aliens continue to stay hidden. If they were to make a showing, we don't know what kind of confrontation we might be dealing with, but that would change the whole nature of this situation, as they would be revealing themselves, and we would no longer be operating in secret."
"Where would this be slated to happen?"
"That's another area where there has been a lot of discussion. Jessie believes the CIA almost certainly has one or more clones in place, and suggests we make it look like we are focusing on the facility in order to convince the aliens we have some knowledge of who it might be and are preparing to attempt a grab. Mark, on the other hand, feels that is too much of a random gamble, and believes showing an interest in Baker's home is more likely to produce results. The aliens or their clones could very well be interested to see if anyone follows up on his death. Of course, we could simply troll the city. Steph, who came up with this theory, believes just being anywhere in the city would be sufficient to be noticed."
"I see what you mean this isn't a strong, well-conceived plan. Who is going to be the bait?"
None of the four have elected to take the doctor up on his node numbing technique, so all but Mark Wilson will be sent off. I have elected to use Mark's idea and we'll initially target the area around Baker's home. It is a better area for the operation anyway."
"It's Wilson's preference, but he won't be involved?"
"I need him back at the Pentagon in contact with the NSA friend of his. We need to see if we get the indications of alien traffic, and hopefully something on the location of the source of the transmissions. I don't think anyone else would be an effective interface."
"How do we plan on bringing these clones down?" Colonel Jones asked.
"The doctors have explained we really don't need more clone corpses to examine. All of our men have been schooled that hits that will kill or severely disable the clones will result in their spontaneously combusting and vanishing. Jessie and Mark believe they have been preprogrammed with that action in place. Shots to the head will kill and disable the action in most cases, but again, that yields dead bodies. We are using a two-fold attack. We have men armed with a special drug that is very fast acting and will anesthetize the clones. However, as fast as this drug is, it is nowhere near instantly, and would be likely to give the clone a chance to trigger its self-destruct, so there are others on our team armed with special bean-bag shotguns. These will fire the disabling rounds, hoping for a knock-out punch either before or immediately after the drug carrying darts are fired."
"Those rounds could kill your subjects. You'll be firing for the head to accomplish your goal. What kind of ranges can you expect?"
Garcia nodded.
"It's a risk, but we need to take them out immediately or lose them, so we'll have to chance it. Any serious damage that leaves the clone alive for testing and interrogation later is considered acceptable. The darts and bean-bags can only be reliably fired at ranges up to twenty-five yards, and I believe we'll have to be closer to be successful. That's one reason we'll want so many men ready to act."
"And you'll have a second force with conventional weapons in place as well, I assume."
"Of course."
"So we try it and see what happens," the Colonel said. "I am less optimistic than I was before. Too many unknowns and risks here, and so many in place we are likely to alert the enemy to our presence. When does this all happen?"
"This afternoon, assuming we get the green light to proceed," Major Garcia explained.
Mark looked at the message that had just appeared on his monitor. This wasn't something he would have anticipated, and the timing couldn't be worse. They had hoped to go operational on their trolling plan in just a couple more hours. He read the words Fred had sent again.
We have a problem. Carol Bennit, the hotshot programmer that I'm sometimes at odds with, just escorted a fellow that has to be your old friend Bud Johnson through the facility. She must be a clone, and the presence of Johnson suggests that they might be on to me, or at least suspect that NSA is being used to track them.
I might need to bail. I don't want to have the same fate as the Sully character you forced to help you out. What do I do?
Johnson, Mark thought. He was a catch better than they might have hoped for. Mark and Jessie were convinced that Johnson was a clone that might be more aware of his actions and tuned into the aliens than any other they'd yet seen. If they could get him, it would be far better than what they'd planned. He'd need to alert Chuck Garcia to what might be a last minute change in plans.
Keep a watch as best you can on whether they are showing an interest in you and if you appear safe when Johnson might be leaving. If they are targeting you, use the special phone and get out of the building. We'll have a team there to pick you up. Someone is already in place, just outside the facility perimeter. Maybe they'll be able to get Johnson that way, while rescuing you, although their ability to monitor would be lost.
With luck, they haven't realized what you have been doing. That might give us a chance to set up a move on Johnson.
A moment later, Fred replied.
I don't like this, and you should consider if you want this Johnson, or you want the source of the transmission. You make a move on him, and we might not get any signals to try to triangulate on the source. I'd think the latter was more important. You shouldn't focus on Johnson.
Shit! Fred was right, or maybe he just didn't want any action in his immediate vicinity. Simply taking Johnson down, as tempting as that was, wouldn't get them the data Fred needed. But the other attempt they'd been planning wasn't a sure thing either. Mark thought furiously, and then wrote back.
Maybe we can have both. Rather than go after him directly, what if we let him spot Jessie. He knows her from before and when she met him in New York. He would believe he's going after her rather than someone was making a move on him. He might be inclined to call in the sighting, which could trigger the formation of a team to grab her, especially if he spotted her meeting up with Glen and Steph. That could get you your messages, and if Jessie could lead him to a spot where we have people, we might also be able to get him. It seems a surer thing than hoping the trolling produces results.
Fred's message came back quickly.
You'd have to wait until I have enough data before attempting a grab. That could put Jessie and the others in danger.
Mark knew that if Johnson became a danger, the team would act to protect his friends. He needed to find the Major and explain the possible change in plans.
Watch, without putting yourself at risk, and let me know if it looks like they are leaving, or they are targeting you. I'll have the special phone on me. I'm going to propose this change of plans.
The plan came together quickly, everyone agreeing this might be the better opportunity and they shouldn't let it pass. They could always try the other plan later if Johnson got away or was killed in the attempt to grab him. Jessie was sent off to be positioned where Johnson would likely leave the facility, with Glen and Steph nearby to be ready to casually drop in and meet Jessie for an early dinner. There was a restaurant just over two blocks from the facility they would head for once Johnson spotted Jessie.
"Johnson has to see her, and decide to follow," Garcia warned the team. We want him to call in, and trigger another set of messages that our NSA guy can gather and track. Until we get the go ahead from him, or Jessie and her companions are in danger, we don't move on this Johnson guy."
"If he's calling in a team, it'll be unlikely they will have time to arrive on site before
we have to make our move," one of the team leaders pointed out.
"All the better," Mark said. "We don't need more of the clones. We only want Johnson. If we get him, and the others arrive, we'll have some of our people attempt to follow them back to wherever they go. Might learn something that way, and at the very least we will have identified more clones and where they hide out."
"You will position three teams here," Garcia said, pointing to a projected visual of the area close to the restaurant. There was a large parking lot where they would be able to position three of their vehicles and the associated teams. Three men each on the dart guns and the bean-bag shotguns. Along this length of sidewalk is where we hope to make the hit. But, we have to be flexible in case we haven't gotten the call data."
The usual question and answer session was much abbreviated, as everyone had to get into position. They couldn't be certain how long before Johnson would leave the facility. From the exchanges Mark had with Fred, it seemed there was no interest in him at the moment after all.
Whatever Johnson and Bennit were doing, it took long enough to position their team. When Fred gave them a heads-up that Johnson was leaving, Jessie made certain she was visible near the exit Johnson was leaving through, and focused on being visible and appearing to be heavily involved with a conversation on her phone.
"He's seen her," their spotter announced over the net. Over a block away with some impressive optics, the woman was able to monitor the expression on Johnson's face as he realized who Jessie was.
Hearing the message on her comm link, Jessie turned and without looking toward the NSA facility, starting walking slowly down the block, still on her phone. She didn't need to look. Others were watching for her, and keeping everyone informed across the net.