Project Aurora (Hope Novak Thrillers)

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Project Aurora (Hope Novak Thrillers) Page 7

by Daniel Pelfrey


  Stein knew this could be bad. He read through therapy and medication, Katie could retain decent control. Albeit, she would display emotional flares, a symptom that was expected.

  She had one other personality before being subjected to this procedure. It was not Katherine.

  Stein thought this could be good.

  Katherine, while still insecure, was flawed in other ways. She seemed less likely to succumb to those flaws than Katarzyna was with hers. If Katherine became the dominant personality, she might be strong enough to hold off the one Katie was being treated for.

  Katarzyna.

  From what Stein could gather, Katarzyna lacked any moral or ethical boundaries. She detested Katie and only made appearances when Katie became extremely agitated or scared.

  Katarzyna was also a bully. Not only to others, she would protect Katie, but Katie spoke of how Katarzyna would keep Katie cognizant of how she tormented others. Katie said Katarzyna took great joy in being a bitch.

  Stein read Katarzyna fed off Katie’s insecurities. She would pop up, cause trouble, and leave Katie to deal with the consequences. Two distinctly insecure personalities would be a smorgasbord for Katarzyna.

  The personality of Katherine seemed similar to that of Katarzyna, thought Stein.

  “I think Katarzyna may already be in control. She’s fooling the team working on her. This is definitely more of an ‘oh, fuck’ category, Charlie. Have you been able to get anything on what these hacks have been doing?”

  Smith frowned.

  “Out with it,” said Stein.

  “They’re putting her through a program like what we created for Zoe.”

  “Meaning, Katarzyna is bound to become the dominant personality. She’ll be the ruthless killing machine the Cabal expected Zoe to be,” said Stein.

  “There’s more. They’re using the nanorobots. We left that out in the faked files,” said Smith.

  The decision to break protocol came next. Their own escape plan from the Ranch could be revised on the fly.

  “I need to talk to Zoe. Directly. And whoever else we put in place in Bloomington. We have to get Sikora out of there before Katarzyna is in control. But I have a feeling she has been for some time now.”

  “What about how they got the information on how to do the procedure correctly?” asked Smith.

  “I have an idea on that. And a remedy.”

  TWENTY-THREE

  As an asset of the CIA, even an off-the-books one, Robert Fritz was subject to periodic electronic security checks. The frequency and scope of these randomized precautions were determined by the contact activity level, a cutout maintained with the Company. The regular contacts that Fritz had meant fewer full sweeps of his electronic devices.

  These sweeps were accomplished remotely via a secured connection. Fritz never received a notice if his devices were clean. An innocuous email with a coded message signaled a minor breach or security concern. A specialist sent into the field meant a severe violation of electronic security. Neither of these had ever happened to Fritz, even when Charlie Smith attempted to hack the system.

  Fritz received a coded notice that all his electronic devices had been breached, and a team was in route to scrub the systems clean. He would also be interviewed. The Company wanted to know who had been nosing into their affairs.

  On top of the false information, Fritz had pulled off the servers at the Ranch which he had passed to Monitor, this hurt his reliability standing, both within the Cabal and the Company.

  This would be more than a few questions. These discrepancies would warrant a full inquiry. At stake was Fritz's continued ability to operate as an asset to the Company.

  Fritz thought maybe it was time to vanish. He took his iPhone and wallet from his pockets, leaving the phone on his desk. He then dumped any identification out of his wallet.

  Fritz then opened the secured compartment of his desk. There were several envelope packets prepared in the event he needed to make a fast getaway. Over the years, Fritz established several off-shore accounts to match the various legends the envelope packets contained.

  He decided on the Roger Green packet. After inserting the various identification cards into his wallet, Fritz shredded the envelope. He would grab a burner phone at the Verizon store down the street. A change of clothes would be needed soon as well.

  Robert Fritz rose from behind his desk, walked out of the office, letting his assistant know he would be out for the day.

  New burner phone in hand fifteen minutes later, Fritz attempted to call Brittany Thompson. They had been seeing each other for a few months, and she was away on a modeling job.

  His plan was to meet up with her and disappear. The problem, Thompson's phone went straight to voicemail. Fritz hung up without leaving a message.

  ◆◆◆

  Brittany Thompson had hacked Robert Fritz's electronic devices. She received the encoded email message at the same time Fritz did. Her identity at risk of being burned, Thompson errored on the side of caution.

  There was no modeling job this time. Thompson needed time away from Fritz. He creeped her out. She was currently in Las Vegas. With the number of conventions held in the city, she simply used that as her cover. This also presented Thompson the opportunity to end the charade relationship.

  Thompson turned off her phone. She then pulled the sim card. As she gathered her belongings off the table next to the poolside chaise she had been in, she dumped the phone and sim card into the trash. Thompson then made her way up to her room on the twelfth floor of the Bellagio.

  A quick change of clothes and a reach into the hidden compartment of her one suitcase produced a burner phone and a new identity. Her new legend gave her the name Britney Timmons from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

  A glance at the name and location, along with the need of a new identity, would cause mental conditioning to kick in. Her accent would change to match her new identity.

  Since Thompson could not readily destroy her old paperwork, it went back into the hidden compartment. Working quickly, Thompson wiped down every surface she had touched in the room. She grabbed her bag, took the elevator to the lobby, and walked out the front doors of the hotel. She did not bother to check out.

  As she walked North along the Strip, Thompson called the one programmed number her new phone held. The call connected after two rings.

  "Hi, mom, it's Britney. I'm having a great time, but I'm thinking about coming home." Thompson gave the coded message for being compromised and not able to speak freely. Her voice had assumed a slower cadence. The clipped and perky Australian accent had vanished. Britney Timmons possessed the sultry drawl of an Oklahoma rodeo queen.

  "Perhaps a visit to see your sorority sister Zoe would be better."

  Thompson thought this odd. There had been no plan for a subsequent assignment, let alone going to help Zoe with hers. Thompson answered, "that sounds interesting. I think I will." She hung up and opened the web browser on her phone. Britney Timmons needed a flight to Indianapolis.

  Entering Caesar's Palace, she needed to purchase a few clothing items to match her new legend. She realized her mistake, though, using the opportunity to call an Uber. She did not need clothing with designer labels.

  Western wear would be more appropriate - a pair of Wranglers and boots. Thompson knew the mental adjustment to a new legend occurred in a hurried manner. Still, she already felt awkward in the Gucci skirt and designer heels.

  ◆◆◆

  Charlie Smith almost forgot to use the voice modulator to change his voice. Brittany Thompson had called, saying her cover was compromised. He was not surprised. Robert Fritz had just been tagged for a security audit by the Company on his electronic devices. Seems they had been hacked.

  This was true. Fritz had provided a great deal of information, and once he was no longer useful, Smith activated a hacker bomb. It destroyed the trail of what had been accessed while leaving not-so-subtle traces of a new hack. It would appear as a job that originated in China. A wire t
ransfer from Hong Kong worth two million dollars had processed into Fritz's bank account overnight.

  Robert Fritz was in for a world of hurt, thought Smith. With access to his electronic devices, Smith accessed all of Fritz's off-shore accounts. They had already been closed out. Smith moved the funds to new accounts divided between banks in Switzerland and the Caymans.

  Smith ensured the notices of account closures did not reach Fritz. Next, Smith burned each of the legends Fritz had created. Robert Fritz was stuck as a man without an identity.

  Smith saw the purchase of the burner phone. The Verizon store had cameras hooked up to Wi-Fi. They were easy to hack. Smith let the purchase on a credit card belonging to Roger Green go through. He then closed the account. The man was left with only the cash in his pocket. Smith then lifted the number for the burner phone from the Verizon database.

  Charlie Smith smiled on a job well done. The Company would be on Fritz's trail already. Smith estimated the man had less than an hour of freedom left.

  Now for the fun part, thought Smith. Remembering the voice modulator this time, he placed a call to Roger Green. The caller id would show Brittany Thompson's number.

  Fritz answered on the first ring. He sounded anxious. "Where are you?"

  Through the modulator, Smith said, "Ms. Thompson is fine. You have bigger problems, Mr. Green."

  "Who is this?"

  "We know what you have done. We know all of your aliases. We burned them all. We know about the off-shore accounts. Those are gone too. You are now a man with no identity and no way to escape. Except through us."

  "How?"

  "That is irrelevant. We can help you."

  "What do I need to do?"

  "Walk two blocks south. There will be a black Ford Transit van. The door will open. You will get in."

  "Where will it take me?"

  "You are not in a position to ask questions. See you in ten minutes. The clock is ticking. Law enforcement should be at your location shortly. I suggest you move quickly."

  Smith hung up. Next, he contacted the Transit van.

  "He should be there soon."

  "Understood."

  TWENTY-FOUR

  Monitor saw the incoming reports. One of his most trusted assets, Robert Fritz, had just received a large cash payment from a Chinese source. Fritz's systems had been hacked too. It did not add up.

  The cutout planted as Fritz's new assistant several months ago reported he had fled the office, leaving behind his cell phone. The security team sent in operating under the guise of corporate auditors arrived thirty minutes after Fritz left.

  They could ascertain Fritz abandoned his operating legend and would attempt travel under the name Roger Green. The team had been careful in their search of Fritz's office and the surrounding area. They knew local or federal law enforcement would be brought in based on their findings. A disturbed scene would raise unwanted questions.

  Fritz needed to be brought in for debriefing, Monitor thought. First, he thought of using Project KS. This was the type of work she was created for. Monitor dismissed that idea, though. The additional mental conditioning would take days that Monitor did not have.

  Instead, he picked up the phone, dialed his old friend, the Deputy Director for Counterintelligence of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Michael Greenway, and called in a favor. Monitor explained, without going into full details, that he needed an individual brought in for questioning. Greenway understood the situation.

  The CIA could not operate in the United States in the manner Monitor needed. The FBI would search for Robert Fritz, and when he was found, the Company would sit in and direct the questioning.

  ◆◆◆

  Greenway knew Monitor's request would be trouble. The Internal Revenue Service and Securities Exchange Commission needed to be looped into this. Still, Greenway was not keen on the spin he would use. For the time being, an all-points bulletin would be issued for Robert Fritz and his known aliases. The investigation would be headed by the San Jose field office, and Greenway could distance himself.

  ◆◆◆

  Special Agent in Charge Victoria Christopher knew there was more to Robert Fritz than Deputy Director Greenway let on. Why would counterintelligence be interested in a venture capitalist, she thought.

  The brief Greenway gave her read more like a case for the SEC or IRS. But the Deputy Director forbade Christopher from involving them. This request reeked of political favor. Or even worse, an interagency favor. The kind that comes from the Company.

  Christopher handed this investigation off to Hector Ramirez. This would be a good experience for Ramirez, she thought. The San Jose field office was Ramirez's first posting. He had completed his training at Quantico less than six months ago. Based on the information from the Deputy Director, Christopher saw this as a routine investigation. She would ensure Ramirez was thorough. If anything went sideways, though, Christopher would be in the clear.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  The original plan involved gathering information, Stein thought. Outside forces changed their direction, though. The hack on Fritz's computer and phone showed the depth of the Cabal. It was more dangerous and far-reaching than anyone expected. Then, there was the disappearance of Katie Sikora and what either the Cabal or the CIA has done to her.

  Stein sighed as he pondered his next move. He was a psychiatrist by training. He wanted to help people. But because of the Cabal, he now ran an illegal spy ring. Granted, the purpose was to expose a criminal enterprise and breakaway from the Cabal at the same time.

  He knew none of the staff from the Ranch could go back to their old lives. Most, like Stein, had been declared dead long ago. Then there were the experiments they had been forced to conduct. They were complicit in the criminal activity. The actions we take now are justified, thought Stein. We may not get our old lives back, but we can have new ones.

  But everything changed when Daphne Meyers was delivered to the Ranch. Stein and the others had suspected for years that not all of their work was used with noble intentions.

  Between the resilience she had shown by becoming Zoe Mills and then learning the principal benefactor of their research has been the CIA, Stein's mind had been changed. He knew the Cabal was nothing more than a front for the Company to operate on American soil.

  What drove his next decision, though, was a person in need of help. The kind he had been trained for. He was a doctor. He was supposed to do no harm. And yet, an idea of his was hurting Katie Sikora.

  Stein understood Sikora's dissociative identity would be a dangerous factor in the type of mental conditioning she was enduring. It just might completely break her, he thought. Klein hoped they were not too late to save her.

  There was also how the Company used the research materials to perform the procedure on Sikora. A few options existed, Stein decided to follow the most obvious paths first.

  The first, Fritz had more access to systems at the Ranch than he let on. The second, someone on the inside passed the information along. With Fritz now a known asset to the Company, either was a strong possibility.

  Stein had a suspect for the insider, too, Dr. Roberto Gomez from genetics. The man had been a constant thorn. He was a fraud. Gomez's assistant turned out to be the genius. When Molly Hansen relayed how Gomez stole her research and sexually harassed her, Stein listened.

  Gomez was easy to watch. They needed Fritz, though. Charlie Smith had been brilliant in forcing Fritz to desperation. Fritz would be a guest soon. It was a shame we had to burn Thompson, Stein thought. On the plus side, Mills will get another hand in extracting Sikora.

  Stein steeled his resolve. Someone out there needed help, and he was the most qualified to provide it. He knew Smith had sent a message to Mills with a time for a video chat. This would be the most dangerous move they had made towards their freedom. He also knew they could not leave Katie Sikora to a fate he had a hand in crafting.

  It was the appointed time. Stein sat at his desk. He had reflected on this course
of action and knew it to be right. With a click of the computer mouse, Calvin Stein initiated a Skype call to Zoe Mills. They had much to discuss.

  ◆◆◆

  Mills had been surprised by the encoded text asking for a videoconference with Stein. Her function in their elaborate plan was to run as the distraction. Zoe Mills was created to do the Cabal's dirty work. The operation the Cabal sent her on was where they focused their attention. Mills was window dressing for the actual operation, gather information, including names of Cabal members. Everyone else was to operate in the shadows while Mills worked in the light of day.

  A video chat would not be secure. Things must have changed. It's about Katie, thought Mills, to break protocol made this important. Time difference taken into account, Mills clicked 'accept' for the incoming Skype from Calvin Stein.

  "It's good to see you, Zoe. I see you've cut your hair," said Stein.

  And she had. When Mills arrived in Bloomington, her hair went fully down her back. She loved her long auburn tresses. But. hair that long wasn't practical. A trip to the salon and a donation to a charity that made wigs for cancer patients left Zoe with hair that reached just past her shoulders.

  "Yes, and it's good to see you too, Cal." A memory of being direct in a video conferencing flitted through Mills's mind. That's from another life, she thought.

  "There's been a development on Katie Sikora."

  Mills had been correct. There was something else, though. She could see Stein's apprehension.

  "To contact me, though, what is it?"

  "We know what's happened to her and where she is. You and a team will extract her and bring her to the Ranch."

  "What about my current assignment?"

  "To fully explain, I need to apologize first. I'm sorry."

 

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