by Siegel, Alex
"Looks can be deceiving," Aaron replied. "It's actually a high security fortress."
"You have rooms here?"
"I own it."
She stared at him. "You're shitting me."
"Technically, the Gray Spear Society owns it, but I'm the boss. It's effectively mine." He stopped the van in the middle of the parking lot and stepped out. "You'll drive the rest of the way in. You need to memorize how to get into headquarters safely."
She climbed out the side door and walked around. They were close enough to O'Hare Airport for her to see several airplanes in the sky. She expected this hotel would be a favorite for business travelers.
She sat in the driver's seat which was still warm from Aaron. He went around and took her old spot.
"Follow my instructions precisely," he said. "As we get deeper inside, the security measures become extreme. They're designed to capture or kill intruders. Drive around to the back and go down the ramp."
She believed he was serious.
She found the ramp. It led down to a sliding garage door, which he opened with a clicker. She proceeded into a dark labyrinth of giant pipes and humming machinery. There were several turns she could make but no signs to help her choose a direction.
"Two lefts and then a right," Aaron said. "Go slow but don't stop."
As she drove, she passed mysterious doorways. "It's like a maze down here."
"That's by design."
He directed her through several more turns. She started seeing pipes that looked familiar.
"Are we going in circles?"
"It just seems that way," he said. "See that big wall made of steel on the left? Stop there."
"I've seen twenty walls like that. How do I know which is the right one?"
"You have to memorize the route. Make sure you do. A mistake could be lethal."
She frowned. "You can't just kill intruders. It's against the law."
"Those laws don't apply to us. You have to start addressing me as sir. I'm not going to keep warning you."
"Yes, sir." The word tasted bitter in her mouth. "What if hotel employees come down here?"
"They have maps that show them what areas to stay out of. Most of the basement is fairly safe. It's really just the center section that's dangerous."
"What if they get curious?"
"I have to hope they're not that stupid," Aaron said.
He used his clicker to open the wall. It folded up and slid out of the way automatically. She drove into a small parking lot which contained a good number of vehicles. Some of the larger vans had the names of local companies painted on them. She found a spot for the minivan and parked.
Everybody climbed out including Norbert and Wesley. The air in the basement was warmer and more humid than outside.
"These cars and trucks are ours," Aaron said. "Take one if you need it."
"I can just drive it away?" Tawni said.
"Use common sense. Don't treat them like garbage."
She spotted a low slung, black Corvette that demanded to be driven fast. I'm taking that one first, she thought.
They entered a huge service elevator.
Aaron looked up at the ceiling. "Wave to our security chief. Let him see your face. He won't let the elevator go up until he knows who is inside."
Tawni didn't see a camera but followed the instructions anyway.
"Why are you guys so crazy about security?" she said. "Sir."
"God's enemies are always looking for a weakness to exploit."
He pressed a combination of four buttons at the same time and held them. The elevator began to rise swiftly.
"The bottom twenty floors are for hotel guests. The twenty-second floor is the secret location of headquarters."
"What's on the twenty-first floor?" she said.
"Death," he replied flatly. "It's the last line of defense."
She frowned. These people talked about death a lot.
The elevator doors opened. Everybody walked into a chamber with white walls. Bright white lights made her squint.
A man behind a thick window waved his hand. His narrow eyes stared at her from the darkened room behind the window. His head was so bald it looked shiny.
"Hello." His voice came through overhead speakers. "You must be Tawni. I'm glad to meet you, but I didn't expect it to happen today."
She smiled politely at him. "Who are you?"
"Jack. Chief of security, cashier, and gunsmith. At your service, ma'am."
The walls of the small chamber were made of solid concrete. "This room is like a bunker."
"It's designed to contain a bomb blast," he said.
There was a buzzing noise. Aaron pulled open a heavy door and held it while everybody else walked through. The hallway outside the chamber was gray and long. Norbert and Wesley walked off quickly and left Tawni alone with Aaron.
"Norbert told me something in the coffee shop," she said. "Legionnaires don't get paid?"
Aaron nodded. "Nobody in the Society collects a salary, not even me."
"How do you pay for stuff?"
"Don't worry about that. The Society will provide a home for you. You'll have access to the money you need for things like food and clothes. You'll lead a discreet but very comfortable life."
"I want my own money." She crossed her arms. "I want to control my life, not get taken care of like a little girl. I'm a grown woman."
He glowered at her. "Very shortly, Tawni Williams won't exist anymore. You won't have a bank account, a credit card, a driver's license, or even a social security number. Every official record of your existence will be deleted. How do you want to be paid? You can't deposit a check in your own name."
"You can't just erase me!"
"It may already be done," he said, "and I'm getting very irritated with your disrespectful tone. I already warned you. Don't force me to do something you'll regret."
"Yes, sir," she replied through her teeth. "I still want some money. I'm not a slave."
"If it's that important to you, let's deal with it right now."
She followed him through one of the doorways. They walked into the room that was on the other side of the thick window. Jack sat on a comfortable chair in front of a huge control panel. She had never seen so many video displays at once. She glanced at some of the controls. One button was labeled "phosgene gas release," and she vaguely remembered phosgene was the name of a chemical weapon.
"This is our security control booth," Aaron said. "We also keep the cash in here."
He opened a closet. Tawni looked inside and gasped at tall stacks of bills covering the shelves. There was more money than she had ever seen in her life. He reached for bars of gold bullion on the floor instead.
He picked one up. "Each of these is four hundred ounces. I'm not sure about the current price of gold, but for the sake of argument, let's say a bar is worth half a million dollars. You look pretty strong. How many do you think you can carry?" He handed her the bar.
It was surprisingly heavy. "Uh, four?" she said in an uncertain tone.
He gave her three more bars. She quickly discovered she didn't have the strength for four, but she could handle three if she held the stack with both hands.
"Those are yours to keep," he said. "Are you happy now? Do you feel sufficiently paid?"
She looked down at the bars in her hands. The sudden wealth made her feel giddy. It didn't seem real.
"What should I do with this gold?" she asked.
"You're a grown woman," Aaron said sternly. "It's your problem."
Jack was smirking.
"Can I take it home?" Tawni said.
"You don't have a home," Aaron said. "As I recall, you were sleeping with random men to avoid the police and your enemies."
She frowned. She looked back and forth between Aaron and Jack. Neither man showed any sympathy on their faces.
"It's not fair," she said.
"I'll make a deal with you," Aaron said. "We'll keep your gold here. It will still be yours.
I promise nobody will steal it from you. As you can see, we have plenty to go around. And if you ever need a little cash, just ask Jack. He'll be delighted to help you. We have plenty of that, too."
She didn't have much choice. She reluctantly returned two bars to him but kept one. "I just want to hold it, sir. Can I have a little cash now?"
"Sure." He gave her a bundle of hundred dollar bills. "Come. I'll give you the tour."
He walked her through headquarters which turned out to be much bigger than she had expected. It included a large kitchen, a living room, a common bathroom, a science laboratory, a conference room, guest rooms, and a machine shop. Along the way she met a scientist named Kamal and a mechanic named Nancy. As Tawni walked around, she became more and more impressed with the operation.
The quick tour ended in Aaron's office. There was some furniture, but it appeared most things were still in boxes. Tawni had noticed lots of other boxes in headquarters, some empty and some full.
"Did you just move in?" she said.
"This is our second day in this headquarters," he said. "It's brand new. Sit. This is when you get to ask me questions."
He sat behind a desk made of grayish metal. The thing looked like it weighed a ton. She sat across from him on a comfortable leather chair.
"What's going on really?" she said. "What is the Gray Spear Society?"
"Charles explained it. We fight God's enemies."
"What does that mean, sir?"
He leaned back and studied her for a moment. "Are you religious?"
"No."
"Good. You shouldn't have too many preconceived notions. Let's try a simple analogy. Say the universe is a beautiful golden apple. Ordinary people live in the delicious meat inside. It's a place where everything makes sense and life is sweet. Understand?"
"Yes, sir." She nodded.
"But God isn't in the apple. He created it but that's not where He lives."
"Where is He?"
"Somewhere else." He waved his hands vaguely. "The important point is He has enemies out there with Him. They hate the apple. They're always trying to put worms and fungus in it. They want the apple to rot away."
She raised her eyebrows. "This analogy is starting to sound a little goofy, sir."
"Just stay with me. God created the Gray Spear Society to protect His apple. We kill the worms and the fungus. We stop the rot. To help us be successful, the Lord allows us to break some of the rules that ordinary people must follow. For instance, money is unimportant to us, but that's just a trivial example. Draw your gun and aim it at me."
It was a very strange request, but Tawni wasn't going to complain. She had fantasized about pointing a gun at him since the night at the dock. She took out the MAC-11 that was still under her sweater. She loved how the weapon felt in her hands. She aimed the barrel at Aaron's forehead.
He spat at the gun. Greasy smoke spewed from the places where his yellow spit touched metal. It smelled like burnt toast. The weapon crumbled to pieces in her hands.
"My saliva was a gift from God," he said. "It helps me fight His enemies."
She looked down at the scraps of steel on her lap and on the floor. She had no explanation for what had just happened.
"Do you want to see an even more impressive miracle?" he asked.
"Sure."
He stared at her.
"Yes, sir," she said.
He looked up and yelled. "Jack! Where is Smythe?"
"In the gun range, sir." Jack's voice came through speakers in the ceiling.
"He can hear us?" Tawni said in surprise.
"There are microphones and cameras everywhere around here," Aaron said.
He got up and led her out of the office. They walked to the far end of headquarters. She started to hear muffled gunshots as they approached a steel door. He grabbed yellow plastic ear protection from a hook on the wall, and she did the same.
They went through the door and into a shooting range. There were three lanes, and she estimated the maximum target distance at fifty yards. Smythe was shooting a pistol down the middle lane. He wore jeans, and she appreciated how nice his butt looked in them.
Shelves behind him held a huge assortment of weapons. She could shoot any kind of gun she wanted in here. Cardboard boxes on the floor were full of all types of ammunition.
Smythe put down the gun. "Hello, sir. Welcome, Tawni. I guess the boss expedited your membership. Why are you carrying a gold bar?"
"I'll tell you later," Aaron said. "Our new recruit needs a checkup. Let's make sure nothing is wrong with her internal organs."
"Yes, sir. Tawni, lift up the front of your sweater."
Tawni drew back. "Why?"
"Do it," Aaron said.
She snarled and lifted up her sweater a few inches.
"You're wearing body armor," Smythe said. "Go into the hallway and take it off. I need to touch your skin."
Feeling even more irritated, she stepped out of the gun range. She stripped off her clothes, removed her body armor, and put her clothes back on. This miracle had better be worth it, she thought.
Just when she finished dressing, she heard gunshots. She went into the range and found Aaron shooting at a paper target. He was firing one-handed in a sideways stance. The gun was making an enormous amount of noise. She realized it was a .50 caliber Desert Eagle, and she approved of his choice in weaponry. A real gun for a real man. Despite the brutal recoil, his aim was rock steady.
"I'm ready," Tawni said
"Hold still," Smythe said. "Remain calm. This will look strange, but it's perfectly safe as long as you don't jump around."
She was suddenly concerned. Biting her lip, she lifted the front of her sweater.
He gently put his hand on her belly. "Seriously, don't move at all. Be brave. Ready?"
She nodded uncertainly.
He pushed his hand through her skin. She screeched, and it took all her self-control to stay put. She could actually feel his hand poking around inside her abdomen. It was the strangest and most disturbing experience of her life. She began to shiver.
"You're doing fine, Tawni," Smythe said. "It doesn't hurt, right?"
She clenched her jaw.
He closed his eyes and appeared to concentrate. She could tell from the sensations he was checking her organs one at a time. When he touched her heart, she almost screamed again. It wasn't right at all.
Finally, it was over. He pulled his hand out, and she didn't see any blood on it.
"You're healthy," he said, "but you could use more fiber in your diet. Your intestines are a little backed up."
She pulled her sweater down. She was too upset to speak.
"Let's meet in the conference room in ten minutes," Aaron said.
"Yes, sir," Smythe nodded.
"Come on, Tawni. There are two more people you need to meet."
Tawni numbly followed Aaron out of the shooting range.
"How the fuck did he do that?" she asked in a shaky voice.
"He's a supernatural healer. Another gift from God. If you're broken, he can fix you."
She had to be dreaming. None of this could be real. "Are there any other freaks I should know about?"
"Actually, Wesley is the freakiest of all. What Smythe does to bodies, the boy does to minds. But now he wants to be normal." Aaron spoke the last word with sharp disdain.
"He reaches into your brain?"
"And squeezes out your deepest secrets."
She didn't believe him. Even in a dream, some things didn't make sense.
They walked into a room that had more computers than she had ever seen before. They lined the walls in tall racks. The fan noise reminded her of a jet engine at takeoff. Even more computers were stacked on the floor and waiting to be installed. Oversized ventilation ducts were sucking out the heat and blowing in cool fresh air.
Two identical workstations were in the middle of the room. They looked like something straight from a science fiction movie. All the lines were flowing and organic.
The users looked up from a reclining position at a sprawling bank of computer monitors. Exotic keyboards and mouse pads were suspended in odd locations.
Tawni walked over and looked down at one of the users. She was a thin woman with deeply tanned skin, or maybe that was her natural color. Her long, black hair needed to be brushed out. She wore a white shirt and a red skirt that struck Tawni as childish.
Even though Tawni was standing over her, the woman's attention remained completely focused on her computer monitors. Her slim fingers clattered away on her keyboards at an insane speed.
Aaron gently shook her shoulder. "Leanna. Leanna. Pay attention."
Leanna blinked and looked over. "Oh, hi, Tawni." She smiled. "Welcome. I didn't expect to see you for another few days."
"It was a surprise to me, too." Tawni said.
Tawni checked out the other workstation which was placed in a symmetric orientation. The woman working there was identical to Leanna. Clearly, they were twins. One obvious difference was that the sister had a gorgeous diamond necklace with a huge pendant. It was so big it looked like a hunk of glass.
Tawni followed Aaron's example and gently shook the woman's shoulder until she seemed to wake up.
"Oh! Hi!"
"Who are you?" Tawni said.
"Bethany. What are you doing here? Are you a member already?"
"I guess so. That's an amazing necklace. Is it real?"
Bethany unhooked the necklace from her neck and handed it over. There were hundreds of small diamonds arranged in a grid, but even these were large by Tawni's standards. The pendant was ridiculous.
"It's one of the crown jewels of the Kingdom of Satinia," Bethany said. "The Eye of Satinia."
Tawni held the jewelry up to the light. "It must be worth millions."
"It's priceless. Can I have it back, ma'am? Why are you carrying gold?"
Tawni hesitated before returning the necklace. "I like gold."
"Isn't it heavy?"
In fact, the bar was getting heavy. Carrying it around like a good luck charm was starting to feel silly. "Maybe."
Bethany furrowed her brow.
Aaron came over. "How is the identity erasure going?"
"All done, sir." Bethany said. "Tawni Williams doesn't exist anymore."
"What does that mean?" Tawni said. "I'm still here."
"When you leave this headquarters," Aaron said, "you leave your real name behind. Bethany, she needs a new identity. Just a simple one to get her started."