Project Aurora (Hope Novak Thrillers)

by Daniel Pelfrey

  Zoe, not wanting to escalate the situation further left the restroom. She did not stop as she walked past a confused JR. Instead, she made her way to the door of the restaurant.

  JR saw a seething Katie watching Zoe leave.

  ◆◆◆

  Only it was not Katie watching them leave. Katarzyna had pushed Katie deep into the recesses of their shared mind.

  ◆◆◆

  Unknown to any of them, the sole witness to what transpired between Zoe and Katie in the restroom sent a brief message.

  It read, “need info on Katie Sikora. She will be perfect.”

  EIGHTEEN

  With the eavesdropping equipment still in place at the Lewis residence, it was merely a matter of having operatives in the vicinity to act on gathered information. At first, the technicians monitoring the garage and the apartment did not think it would be much to go on.

  A light reconnaissance would occur on Zoe’s first day in Bloomington, regardless of what transpired. The Cabal did not believe Zoe Mills’ excursion from the Ranch would benefit the group.

  Safeguards needed to be in place to reign in Mills, possibly neutralize her if need be. Though, this time, would be a more permanent and less eloquent solution.

  ◆◆◆

  A shadowy figure, known as Monitor, moved in the intelligence gathering arena, specifically the CIA. Their involvement in matters that curtailed individual rights could never be known. Besides, what the Ranch researchers created in Zoe Mills should not be used for trivial things like corporate espionage.

  Monitor thought the Ranch and its research team needed to be controlled by the United States government directly. It would make what the KGB did during the Cold War with Directorate S look like child’s play.

  Upon hearing of the events that transpired between Mills and this Katie Sikora, the decision was made. Zoe Mills was not made for the program after all. When threatened, she did not retaliate. She possessed morals. What was needed was ruthlessness. Sikora had the moral flexibility and possibly the cruelty required.

  Giving the order to abduct Sikora and initiate her was simple. She would disappear after her shift. The researchers at the Ranch had been careless. The facility had been a part of a government installation at one time. Monitoring their progress and accessing the work was simple.

  ◆◆◆

  Meanwhile, at the back Ranch, Charlie Smith noticed one of his worm viruses activating in an unlikely place, Indianapolis, Indiana. This particular computer worm was embedded into the false files on the genetic research and mental conditioning programs. It would begin a surreptitious download of any computer it was activated on.

  “Shit,” Charlie said under his breath. The false files had shown the Cabal something viable. They hid the full extent of how successful the Ranch had actually been.

  What set Smith off was where and who was accessing the files. A secret United States government program hidden in plain sight in Indianapolis, just an hour from where his friend, Zoe Mills, was conducting her diversionary mission.

  This was not a coincidence. It also proved the government complicit in the actions the Cabal took.

  Realizing they intended to replicate what the Ranch had done, Smith knew a message needed to get through to Zoe. While they falsified the information, the procedure would still be somewhat successful.

  Being scientists, the Ranch researchers did not want to endanger a person with this transformation process. They intended to keep the bulk of their research from being used. Some things should just not be done.

  NINETEEN

  Walking out of the restaurant, Mills knew she was pissed off. She had almost lost her restraint when Katie slapped her.

  That would have been bad, she thought. Mills was not in Bloomington to cause scenes. She needed to get one piece of information from JR Lewis.

  Confirmation he knew nothing about the Cabal. That is what she planned to report back anyway, regardless of what he knew. She would let nothing like what had happened to his father befall him as well. Zoe knew the risks but planned to stay for the long haul if it were necessary.

  Mills also knew the Lewis property was under electronic surveillance, meaning there was no way she could ask him there. It also convinced her she was being followed. That meant if she talked about going anywhere, she could expect to be observed.

  Like today, the two at the next table were there to listen in. It was obvious. But who did they represent, Mills thought. They were better than the Cabal sleeper agents she had been running across.

  JR came out the door just as Mills knew she had no way home without him. He insisted on driving. Mills also realized that she needed to suppress her urge to flirt with him for the short-term.

  Mission first, she thought.

  “Want to talk about it?” JR asked.

  “Not particularly.”

  “Well, come on then, my Jeep is this way,” he said.

  He turned right to walk to the corner and to the back of the building where they parked. Mills followed suit, walking beside JR on the building side.

  As they turned the corner, JR slid his hand into hers. Mills looked down and then back up at JR’s face to see a smug grin. She did not let go. Instead, when they reached the Jeep Gladiator, Mills turned towards him, pulling him closer. She snaked her free hand to his shoulder.

  As she pulled him in, she said, “I’ll give something to grin about.” Mills then kissed him lightly on the cheek. “I like you, JR. But before we get too involved, let’s get to know each other better.”

  “I like that idea.” JR grinned again.

  She revised her earlier thought to; he is the mission.

  ◆◆◆

  Katarzyna felt fortunate. People just thought Katie could be moody. No one except her closest family knew the truth. She could fake being Katie seamlessly.

  Her manager did not find out she slapped a customer in the restroom. Then one of the evening staff called in sick. Needing the extra money, Katarzyna covered the shift when asked. She put on her fake smile and pretended to be nice to everyone.

  She knew Katie had plans, but she did not care. She would hide the extra money from Katie. Katarzyna had done this several times before, and Katie was none the wiser.

  The evening had been busy, but not enough for Katarzyna to put what happened out of her mind. Actually, Zoe had annoyed her. But she also realized Zoe had tried to be friendly, which upset her more. Katarzyna did not want to be friends with Zoe.

  Katarzyna’s emotional outbursts always plagued Katie, though. Looking back on the events, Katie had no reason to slap Zoe or even be angry. Katarzyna did, and she enjoyed slapping Zoe. She also looked forward to those moments of anger. Katarzyna came out when Katie was angered or scared. She saw Katie as weak.

  Katarzyna’s actions caused JR to break-up with Katie. And it was not Zoe’s fault Katie did not get the job at Squire’s. Katarzyna did not see it that way.

  The flash in Zoe’s eyes unsettled Katarzyna when she slapped Zoe. There was surprise, anger, and something else, she thought, maybe it was restraint.

  The late evening rush ebbed earlier than expected, meaning Katarzyna was cut from the shift before closing. She was fine with that. The three extra hours, along with the tips, were always welcome. Counting out the day’s tips and closing her till, Katarzyna then clocked out and headed for the door.

  Walking out to her Toyota Corolla, Katarzyna initially thought nothing of the black Ford Transit van parked next to the driver’s side of her car. She reached into her purse, pulled out her keys, and fobbed the locks. As she approached the side of her car, the passenger door of the van opened.

  A large man slid out of the van. His overall appearance unnerved Katarzyna. He was over a head taller than her with cold eyes that looked past her. Katarzyna glanced over her shoulder, flipping off the safety of the pepper spray on her key chain. A second man appeared from around the van, boxing her in.

  Katarzyna could feel her nerves prickle as the side door
of the van slid back next to her. She made to raise the pepper spray but was grabbed from behind. A dark hood came down over her head, and she felt the prick of a hypodermic needle in her neck.

  A wooziness spread over Katarzyna as the sedative entered her body. She lost the ability to resist, dropping her keys to the ground. She felt herself being shuffled into the van as the drugs took their full effect. Unconsciousness consumed Katie as she realized restraints were put on her wrists and ankles.

  The operator that grabbed her from behind bent down to pick up Katie’s keys. He then opened the door to the Corolla, adjusting the seat to accommodate his height. The first operator re-assumed his place in the Transit van’s passenger seat, radioing in that they had secured the extraction target with no trouble.

  The driver turned the key in the ignition, backing out of the parking space. It took less than a minute for them to collect Katie Sikora and exit the parking lot.

  PART IV

  TWENTY

  Mills and Lewis settled into a comfortable routine. Zoe spent almost as much time at the main house as she did in her apartment. While they did not go into town on dates, they would often share meals or just spend time together.

  She had been serious about getting to know JR better before letting a romantic relationship develop. Mills’s secrets were bound to destroy any bonds that might develop between her and JR Lewis.

  Likewise, Mills was confident that Lewis knew more about his father’s work than he let on. She wanted to cultivate an open relationship with JR. At least, as honest as their secrets allowed.

  Someone in the Cabal was convinced James Lewis had given his son his research notes. Mills would disprove that fact. The fate of James Lewis senior would not befall the son.

  Not on Zoe Mills’s watch.

  ◆◆◆

  Both Zoe and JR knew of Katie’s disappearance. It made the local news. Mills was surprised law enforcement had not come to interview her or Lewis. Him because the two dated, and she because of the events at the restaurant. Katie’s mother had called JR three times, though.

  Mills contacted Charlie Smith at the Ranch to find out more, despite the risk that contact might cause with the Cabal.

  Mills worked full time at the coffee shop and recorded fitness videos to establish her credentials as a fitness instructor. To mitigate the risk, contact was established via an online fitness group with coded messages.

  Mills’s work at the coffee shop provided the opportunity to investigate for herself. Mother Bear’s was located around the corner from Squire’s. The cameras in the pizzeria’s parking lot provided no details of Katie Sikora’s disappearance, though. Charlie Smith said the footage for that day was corrupted or missing.

  Smith’s next report back told Mills while a missing person report was on file, there was no active investigation. It was the subsequent follow-ups that worried Mills.

  Smith also informed Mills that a yet unknown federal entity in the Indianapolis region had accessed the bogus research the Ranch posted on their servers.

  The next report spoke of project KS being subjected to the procedures documented in those bogus reports.

  Mills winced at this. Those documents were based on the earliest methods used in her transition into Zoe. An essential fact they omitted was that the subject had to be willing to accept the mental conditioning. Otherwise, it was a painful process, both physically and mentally. She did not wish that on anyone.

  Her greater fear was the subject of project KS. Thinking of Katie, Mills asked Smith to run a more in-depth search on Katie Sikora.

  TWENTY-ONE

  Katarzyna had them all fooled. Whoever had abducted her did things to her. She felt her body changing. They also made her wear virtual reality goggles with noise-canceling headphones frequently. Whatever they had done drove Katie so deep into her mind that

  Katarzyna did not want to be found out, though. She hid behind a new identity. One that was entirely fictitious. She also knew she had to find a way out of wherever she had been taken.

  Katherine, as she demanded to be called, was annoyed. No one was paying attention to her. Or telling her what was happening. She did not like being ignored.

  Things had been done to her. The pain Katherine had been put through was excruciating.

  Katherine knew she had changed because she had seen her reflection. Just once. After giving her a sports bra and a pair of boy shorts, Katherine was told to get dressed.

  At first, she thought the clothes too big. They were about a half size too small, showing every new curve on her athletic body.

  Katherine remembered liking what she saw.

  She could also remember being Katie. She no longer looked like Katie. Good, she thought.

  Katherine hated Katie.

  Katie was weak and plain and short. She looked more like a teenage boy.

  Katherine was strong and beautiful and tall. Katherine looked like a woman. A very sensual woman.

  * * *

  The only reason Katherine tolerated the virtual reality simulations was because it made her feel good. Every time she would have one, new thoughts would populate her mind.

  Thoughts that matched up with her new body.

  Katherine liked that she was now Katherine instead of Katie. For a time, the people doing whatever to her tried to call her Katie. They were disabused of that notion.

  When presented with a VR simulation she did not like Katherine would throw off the headset. That is until she was strapped to the bed. Even then, the material Katherine did not like would not be retained.

  Or so she thought.

  Presented a Glock 17 and told to strip and reassemble it, Katherine did so. She also knew that the weapon was chambered as a 9x19mm and had various magazine capacities. The magazine with this weapon would hold seventeen. Katherine even knew she liked to fire this weapon.

  Her captors, as she had taken to thinking of them, only smiled.

  Katherine thought if given ammunition, she could have shot each one between the eyes. With the seventeen round magazine and one in the chamber, she would still have fifteen rounds for anyone else in her path.

  ◆◆◆

  The only part of the mental conditioning to take hold involved what she considered fun. Any weapons training or tactical scenarios that were fed into the VR training system, she derisively scoffed as beneath her. The concept of submitting to verbal cues and commands was outright rejected.

  Instead of a compliant yet ruthless femme fatale covert operative, they had created a woman more apt to be self-centered fame and thrill seeker. Put more bluntly by the team leader, she was a stuck-up adrenaline junkie in a pretty package.

  Impossible to work with, Katherine remained in restraints at all times as she tended towards violent outbursts when she felt slighted. Which was often.

  The team tasked to project KS did what they could to achieve results and stressed that this cutting-edge procedure’s critical elements had been omitted in the research. The scientists asked if additional data from the previous experiment existed. When given a negative answer, they reconsidered their approach by analyzing what had worked thus far.

  The apparent conclusion was Katherine only accepted mental conditioning willingly for certain things. Any change outside her acceptance was eschewed.

  Upon learning that Katherine had been chosen due to Zoe Mills’ encounter, the scientists pressed for more details. They concluded the meeting created the drive Katherine displayed towards making herself more attractive. Without a pre-treatment mental work-up, the scientists knew every conclusion they reached could only be supposition.

  ◆◆◆

  The government scientists were baffled by the results from Project Aurora, Subject KS. They suspected the research they had tried to mimic was falsified or critical aspects had been omitted.

  ◆◆◆

  Katarzyna realized early on that feigning rejection of the training she wanted most would get her more of it. The weapons training especially. Katarzyn
a knew the things she would be capable of once she escaped. She had plans to utilize her new skills and appearance to their maximum benefit.

  ◆◆◆

  At CIA headquarters, Monitor read the initial report submitted by the facility handling Project KS.

  He dismissed their misgivings.

  The video footage showed Monitor what he needed to see. The subject, Katherine, was hiding something. There was a deceitful cunning that Monitor recognized in her face.

  TWENTY-TWO

  Charlie Smith worked feverishly for days to get more on Katie Sikora. He had little luck. He had been too literal, only searching for the first name ‘Katie.’ Smith narrowed his search to Bloomington, Indiana, and used a first initial, last name search.

  Finally, a hit.

  No wonder she goes by Katie, thought Smith. Katie Sikora’s legal given name was Katarzyna. Her parents moved to the States when Katie was five.

  Armed with this name, the search nabbed results.

  “Oh, shit,” said Smith as Dr. Calvin Stein entered the room.

  “How often do I need to ask you to refrain from using profanity?”

  “Doc, you better take a look at this.” Smith ignored the admonishment.

  Stein sensed trouble in Smith’s request. He looked at the medical report Smith indicated. A psychiatric evaluation for Katarzyna Sikora dated less than a year ago.

  Diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder. Sikora should never have undergone this procedure.