Crowns and Cabals

by Dina Rae

  “How the hell did you get this? We talked what, a few weeks ago? No wonder you have an arsenal…”

  I interrupted him. “I work at Fogle. Anything with microchip, a log-in, an email, a text, call, payment, hell, anything in the cloud can be found. What I’ve learned about Laurie is this-we don’t stand a chance. This prick lives on a huge lot on the outskirts of town in a fortress. If we somehow get lucky, it’s quite the windfall. His house is like a museum. He probably has every crown ever crafted. I have no clue on how to get past the fence let alone into the house without getting caught. Even if we could rob him, you can forget about getting close enough to kill him. That’s a suicide mission.”

  Raphael walked into the tiny bathroom, shaved and brushed his teeth. He didn’t seem to want privacy and continued our conversation. “My Patriots want him dead. Correction, one of my Patriots wants him dead. Chad, and he’s the religious one. The others are not completely sold on this job. You’re right. It is a suicide mission.”

  “So this would not be an oopsy. Straight up murder. Wow, hasn’t even been a year, Raph, and we’re planning a murder.” He nodded in shame. “Camden Theriault who is Brick’s father heads Fogle’s security. He’s heard through chatter that our CEO doesn’t quite trust Laurie.”

  “Time to unify our Patriots.”

  I nodded. “Why not? Let’s unify. We can’t live like this. It will only get worse. You know how much I used to love my job. I had excellent benefits, an awesome salary, and a fantastic work environment. Everyone wanted to work at Fogle. Things have changed. Now I work at least sixty hours a week, closer to eighty. My salary is in units so I can’t be exact, but I’d estimate that I make a tenth of what I made pre-war. I already told you about the shithole I am forced to live in. Fogle thinks we get down on our knees in gratitude for the free rent. We should be so grateful to be alive, so grateful that everyone put down their bombs. You know what I think? If your Patriot wants the doctor dead, then that’s all that matters. Hell, let’s get his eleven friends as well!”

  Raphael smiled at me and said, “I wish I had the kind of blind loyalty that you have. For the record, Chad believes the doctor killed his grandmother, mother, and sister in his medical experiments. Their genes were of great interest to Laurie many years ago. I don’t know, Jax. But I’m here so give me those papers. I need to study up on the man. This is not going to be easy, even with you at my side.”

  We examined the blueprints of Doctor Laurie’s house. He had neighbors, but each home sat on a huge lot. Each mansion had their own separate gate with a guard and separate security. It was a start, but we did not have the experience for a break-in at this level. The doctor’s estate was huge, at least three acres, and his home was as big as a hotel. His medical lab, not too far from downtown, was guarded by Peacekeepers. Raphael knew some of this, but most of the information was new.

  “I just thought of something. Stephen is taking me to a party tonight.”

  “Where?”

  “To the new Boston Symphony. The building was remodeled to serve as a new governmental building.”

  Raphael shook his head. “I don’t know, Jaxie. You’re playing with fire. What if he found out your true intentions? Maybe you should cancel. You should wait until we join forces and then we can come up with another plan. I was thinking something along the lines of a break-in and stealing all of his valuables. I am still not sold on killing the man. We want to find something incriminating and post it on the Internet, or even give it to talk radio hosts who are sticking their necks out, I don’t know, maybe we could dump millions of pamphlets in public areas to warn others. A high-profile murder is suicide.”

  “We won’t get caught. Think of Will, Brick’s friend, and think of his mother. Think of Jun, your computer hacker. You mentioned he’s missing, right? Think of Aysa. She was undeniably murdered. This might be the only bite at the apple we get. I can protect myself. I’m a black belt, remember? Seriously, I’ve grown stronger, not because I want to, but because I have to. You’re the one who opened up the Doctor Laurie can of worms. Your Patriot is right about him. He’s a part of everything. Maybe he is even the man behind the proverbial curtain. If we could kill him and the other eleven…”

  “Twelve more would come up in their places,” Raphael interrupted.

  “Or maybe not. This could really turn the tide. Don’t you see? America could be brought back to life. The masses are on our side, not their side. I promise not to do anything stupid.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Raphael

  Jaxie’s mania was contagious, but one tiny mistake and we’d be dead. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to die anymore. Harper came to mind. Why? There could be no happily-ever-after. If Jaxie was willing to whore herself out for the cause, I had to be willing to back her.

  Aysa loved her so much. They were sisters and best friends, but Aysa nor anyone ever got too close. Jaxie deserved her position at Fogle, but she also was known to claw her way up the corporate ladder. She thrived on competition and had the ego of a rock star. Her ambition left little room for relationships. Aysa suspected Jaxie was gay, and maybe she was, but I saw her as a lone wolf. Her affair with the doctor concerned me. Maybe she really did know what she was doing. I lacked faith in her, in Chad, in everyone and everything. My grandfather would have been disappointed. I needed to give the same blind devotion to my Patriots as they all gave to me.

  “Alright, Jaxie. But I want to meet your Patriots and come up with a back-up plan before tonight.”

  “Deal. Let me give you a quick tour of the city. I got to go back to work later on.”

  “I hope to hit the lab at some point. There’s more than microscopes and computers inside. My Patriot wants his family’s cells back. He also…it’s stupid,” I said. Maybe I said too much.

  “No, please go on. I am sleeping with the slime-ball. The least you can give me is full disclosure.”

  “He thinks this doctor is some kind of a modern day vampire. Laurie is hiding something big.”

  Jaxie took out an e-cigarette from the side flap of her purse. She inhaled and then blew out some smoke. I smelled the faint cherry scent in the air. Her smoking was a new habit. Finally, she said, “Boy, this keeps on getting weirder and weirder. And I’ve seen some freaky shit over the last few months.”

  I bet you have. Since our sit-down only months ago at the Dallas steakhouse, Jaxie, the brilliant loner, had transformed into a leader, a winner, and a ruthless zealot. Soon I was under her spell. Maybe her new affair was the ticket to ending the New World Order before it mainstreamed itself into our lives.

  I tried to pump myself up. She had done all of the legwork. But George taught me the art of survival, not the art of spying. Jaxie knew little about either. I should have been pounding some common sense into her, but held back.

  We left the hotel. I put on three sweatshirts and my windbreaker. Like Jaxie warned, the air was frigid and the wind cut like a knife. It was still fall, yet all of the trees were bare. I thought Dallas held a gloomy sky. It was eight o’clock in the morning and it looked like early nightfall. Hats, scarves, and coats worked well in looking unrecognizable for the dozen or so drones that buzzed above the city.

  Jaxie directed me into a self-driving cab, and we rode all over Boston. I only saw the city a few times. Aysa and I usually went straight to Brookline to visit Jaxie, bypassing the city altogether. Boston was a charming city filled with American history, but rapidly changing. As Jaxie pointed out, most of the statues, plaques, parks and street signs were replaced, renamed or destroyed. Dallas was doing the same in city renewal as part of a U.N. agenda. My grandfather predicted this decades ago after borders were erased in the name of human rights. History and culture were next. Soon, anyone who couldn’t work or caused some kind of problem would be erased as well. We would have a world of rulers and slaves, just like it was in the days of old. We advanced ourselves to the beginning of time, a full circle.

  We drove past the brick wall and iron g
ates that led to Doctor Laurie’s mansion. There sat an armed guard in the guard house. I couldn’t see anything passed the gate, but cameras were visible all over the place. Just driving down the main road made me nervous. Soon we were back in the heart of the city by the doctor’s medical clinic. Much of the city was patrolled by Peacekeepers, but the clinic was surrounded by two to three times as many soldiers.

  Jaxie manipulated the cab to pull over by a coffee shop. We grabbed some coffees and walked across the street through the park. She mentioned this particular park used to be called Freedom Trail. The path once filled with American markers and monuments looped around the city. Most of the historical memorabilia were ripped out and the name was changed to Peace Park. Plans of new markers were in place that would show the path to peace after World War III.

  Jaxie looked at her phone. “We’re late. My Patriots are waiting for you.”

  We ran across the park to where a four door sedan sat on the corner across the street. Jaxie held the back door open and motioned for me to get in.

  Once we were on the road, Jaxie introduced me to the driver, Camden. Forty minutes later, we sat in the outside beer garden of a restaurant. Sai, Wendy, and Brick were outside, eating a basket of chicken wings. Brick greeted me like long lost family, and Wendy welcomed me like a son. It was the first time in a long time I felt at home. I shivered uncontrollably, wishing they would take this little party inside.

  The sun’s rays never made it through the hazy mist and the temperature continued to drop. Camden opened up his backpack and tossed me a thin coat.

  “It’s as warm as a bulky coat. Thermal technology. Hope it fits over all of those sweatshirts. Here’s a scarf too.”

  I ditched my worthless windbreaker. The coat was snug, but it fit, and as promised, gave me warmth. No one else but us wanted to sit outside. I gratefully tightened my scarf around my neck. Camden discreetly walked the perimeter of the beer garden with one of his sweeping gadgets and nodded as if to confirm it was safe to talk.

  “Ah, one of the last establishments with some privacy,” Camden said. “Wendy is the one who turned us on to the place. But it’s cold. Bad weather has a bright side-it gives us privacy.”

  Jaxie jumped up from the table and said her goodbyes. On her way out, she handed us some menus and kissed my forehead. We ordered coffees to warm us up in the outside beer garden area.

  Brick was the first one to cut through the small talk. “Raphael, why the doctor? Don’t get me wrong, he’s the ultimate target of what we are fighting against, but this seems so random.”

  I downed another coffee and bit into one of the sliders from the appetizer tray that Wendy ordered. I told them about Chad and then added, “There’s more. Chad believes that Doctor Laurie might have figured out what all doctors and scientists want to figure out.” I paused for effect. They all stared at me with their glassy, buzzed eyes waiting. “He believes…no proof mind you…that the doctor has figured out a way to live forever through his family’s rare Hela cells. Like a modern day sci-fi myth on the fountain of youth.”

  The small group erupted into a jovial denial of this so-called theory. Their eyes rolled and their heads shook. Like me, even with everything that had happened in the last few years, this was over the top.

  They never met Chad and barely knew me, yet I defended him. “Hey, I doubted the accusation too, but I’m trying to give Chad the same blind devotion he gives to me. Laugh as you may, but we can’t find his actual birthdate anywhere on the Internet. A public person should have a birthdate. Even his Wikipedia page does not list it, nor does it list the year in which he graduated from med school. One article wrote he was sixty-four. Go ahead, look it up, on a clean computer of course. Chad told me he looked much older fifteen years ago when Chad was just a boy. Simple math alone puts Laurie over seventy. Chad believes he is over eighty, yet he looks to be somewhere around his late thirties or early forties.”

  “Oh c’mon, Raphael,” Wendy said, “with his dough, plastic surgery. The best, you know, the kind the celebs use.”

  “The first thing I thought of as well. But something is off. Jaxie gave me the tour of the city, specifically a tour of the doctor’s haunts. That clinic has more Peacekeepers guarding it than all of downtown. Once you factor in his position within the ad hoc General Assembly along with being a member of the Twelve, you can’t dismiss it. This man has as much if not more power than the top leaders of the world. Maybe there is a way to live forever.”

  Camden lit up a cigarette. I looked at the pack the same way a hungry man looks at a ham sandwich. He offered me one and I gratefully took it. Cigarettes were still legal, but difficult to buy. Something told me that this man didn’t go through the proper channels. Sai also lit one up.

  Camden took a long drag and finally said, “The doctor is definitely not the saint the world props him up to be. His age does bring up questions. I looked him up earlier. Don’t worry. My device is secure. The Boston paper reported that the doctor celebrated his fortieth birthday two months ago. He was out on the town with an amazing brunette on his arm. If he saw Chad’s grandmother fifteen or sixteen years ago, would he even have been out of med school? He’s lying about his age. But why? With his experience and contributions, it does raise a flag.”

  Brick said, “If Jaxie could somehow get inside of his house again, maybe she could find something, maybe he’d say something. She is going to a fancy party with him tonight. Dad put a camera lens on her beaded purse as well as a jeweled hair comb. We also have a wireless mic concealed in her dress. Eyes and ears all night.”

  They continued talking about the party Jaxie would attend. No one seemed the slightest bit worried. This was one confident group of Patriots. Jaxie would attend the party and go home, unscathed, with a mountain of dirt on the doctor that would ruin him for all of eternity. That was all there was to it.

  At that moment I fell in love with them. They were more optimistic, sophisticated, and high-tech than my little rag-tag band. Their loyalty and idealism were pure. In comparison, my Patriots were soiled with self-interest and skepticism. If Jaxie was going deep undercover to spy on the world’s inner circle, we needed more street smarts and survival skills to pull this operation off. Jaxie’s Patriots were too blind to see the gaping holes of their plan. No one dared to mention what would happen is she got caught.

  As they rambled on about how they were going to take down the Twelve, I texted Chad a brief summary of our Operation Laurie plan. He offered his help, and I told him to stay back. Maybe we would have more footage for him to release into the cyber world.

  Finally, I had to break the positive energy flow amongst our table. “I love you all, but there’s some problems with this. For instance, what if Doctor Laurie is onto Jaxie? She will be on his turf with his friends. Your eyes and ears are worthless. We can’t save her. He’s taking her to a private party that none of us will be able to get into.”

  My new friends quit talking for a moment. Sai broke the silence. “We all know that she might die. And we might die too. You’re right. This is too big of a risk. Raphael, call Jaxie and tell her to cancel for the night. She will listen to you.”

  “Maybe I will. But first I want to see your arsenal,” I said.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Jaxie

  Doctor Laurie scheduled a car to pick me up at seven o’clock. I never told him where I lived. Of the two encounters we shared, he picked me up at the Fogle campus both times. He must have had access to the address of anyone he wanted. All of Fogle’s top techies lived in the apartment complex across from the entrance. There were many ways he could have known, yet I cringed because he never asked. The very act was a reminder of his power.

  Two hours were spent primping for the party. Sai came over to help while Raphael hung out with the rest of the Patriots. I needed to look amazing, and also needed to be self-assured that my equipment worked and was concealed. Sai tested it out several times with me, always aware that our apartments were bugged
and someone was listening in.

  Sai blared the TV in the background to check my microphone against the noise. She walked across the street to the park, checking for distance. Everything worked as it was supposed to. We both heard each other perfectly, and she was able to see my surroundings through my purse and my jeweled hair clip.

  My dress was a metallic silver fringed flapper dress. My blonde hair was swept up in a French twist and secured with the jeweled comb. I was told by the doctor that the party had a theme of excess. I immediately thought of The Great Gatsby. My only cocktail dress would fit the party’s theme perfectly.

  “You look like a million bucks, I mean a million units,” Sai said. “Beautiful, like a beauty pageant winner.”

  “I hope he feels the same way,” I said.

  “He’d be blind not to notice. But what about you?” Sai asked. She said no more, always afraid someone might be listening in. I knew what she meant. Sex was one thing, but now I was risking my life in order to gain information.

  “I am excited to be out with such an accomplished, handsome man.” That comment was for any hidden mics that might be in the apartment. I actually meant it. His sudden attraction to me was a gift. I would sleep with him, pretend to adore him, anything he wanted and then some. Women catered to men’s every whim for much less. I wasn’t a virgin and would never find someone to love anyway.

  Raphael would join my Patriots in watching my every move as the night rolled on. I wasn’t sure how that mattered at this moment, but they insisted. A Plan B was in place in case things went amiss. My right ear had a tiny earpiece stuffed inside of the canal. A hair tendril and my large, sparkly earrings made it invisible.

  I turned on the earpiece as seven o’clock neared. Lots of crackle made me flinch. I then heard Raphael.

  “This work?” he said.

  “Yeah.” I pointed to my ear and smiled. Sai was still in the room. “Okay, my date will be here soon. Sai, you need to go. Wish me luck.” We hugged as if it were the last time we’d see each other again. She became my surrogate sister as we got much closer over the last few months.