THE LIGHT WE LOST: a gripping thriller

by Valera Titov

  “Tyson, please get permission from Colombia for a US delegation to visit the Amazon River bank. Tell them that a US citizen drowned in the area a few months back and our country wishes to build a memorial there as a sign of respect.”

  Glory wanted to grin. She listened to the President’s words very carefully and then remembered what her mother had once told her on route to a voting station on election day: ‘Glory, it doesn’t matter who you vote for as there is no such thing as an honest politician’.

  The President ordered Professor Johnson to assist with the mission to the Amazon.

  “Sir, with the greatest respect, a man of my age might be a liability to an archeological team,” said the Professor, who was now well in his sixties in terms of age.

  The President glared at the Professor.

  “Professor, this trip is not quite the same as completing the New York marathon and besides, there will be medical support with the contingent all the way. Please understand that your country and indeed your planet needs your expertise and experience now more than ever.”

  “Yes, Sir, I understand,” said Professor Johnson, realizing that he was not going to be able to convince the President otherwise.

  “Ms Falcon, you will also need to go with on the expedition to the Amazon, as after Mr Kennedy, you probably know more than most about the artefact,” continued the President.

  Like the Professor, Glory tried to work her way out of a trip to Leticia.

  “Sir, I am due to fly to Mars with my twins and I…”

  The President was beginning to lose his patience. He was known to be a leader who didn’t suffer fools easily, not that Glory was one. The US government even used to keep a FBI agent in the office next door and when the President’s voice was heard to have gone up a notch or two, the agent would interrupt the meeting to save the poor visitor from the wrath of the politician.

  “Ms Falcon, I give you my word that Mr Kennedy will not be harmed in any way by the US forces, but I need your word that you will assist in helping the US to get to the artefacts first, before the bad people do,” said the US President, as he sat at his desk with his hands folded.

  “Yes, Sir, I understand and will comply,” replied Glory.

  “Then it is settled,” said John Carmichael III.

  “The US government will make the necessary arrangements. Be assured that the safety of each US citizen on this mission will be considered to be of the utmost importance at all times.”

  “Now if you will excuse me, I need to find out how one hundred plus FBI agents allowed Mr Kennedy to escape from Angel Island,” concluded the President.

  Glory left the office followed by the Professor. She did not know too much about his background as she was a planetology graduate and Adam was the archeology specialist.

  FBI Bureau head Floyd Patterson walked past the duo as he made his way to the President’s office. Like most in this situation, he wasn’t keen on being left alone with the US No 1. He was in deep trouble. His colleagues had let him down. Adam Kennedy had escape from a high security area. If this was possible, then how safe was the life of the President? John Carmichael III had every right to be annoyed.

  Floyd entered the President’s office and the door was shut firmly behind him by the security outside.

  “What the hell happened?” asked the President.

  “Kennedy was our best chance of finding artefacts that could lead to the survival of the human race on Planet Earth and you lost him!”

  Floyd could have argued the point that he wasn’t the one who had actually lost Adam, but the conversation would get him nowhere. The fact remained that Adam Kennedy had gone missing on a high security island.

  The FBI man folded his sunglasses and put them safely away in the inner pocket of his black suit jacket.

  The President stared at Floyd.

  “Understand me and understand me well. Kennedy needs to be found but must not be harmed in any way. If any outsider tries to eliminate Kennedy then take out the outsider. Kennedy is key to the space program and other elements linked to it, do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes, Sir,” replied Floyd.

  Good,” continued the President.

  “Now I need ten of your finest men, if such a thing exists after what happened today with Kennedy, to be a part of the expedition to the Amazon River. The US military will also assist in providing resources. I suspect Kennedy is headed in that direction. I am waiting on the Foreign Secretary to get the green light from Colombia to allow the US to operate in that area.”

  “Ms Falcon and Professor Thompson will be a part of the expedition. Please make sure that your men don’t lose them like they did with Kennedy.”

  The FBI boss seemed to be thriving on the excitement of the expedition. He just needed to pick the right men who would focus on the task and not try and sweet-talk Glory Falcon. It was no secret that Glory was talked about as hot property among the FBI men.

  Back in her room, Glory logged on to the internet via her Tablet mobile device and did a bit of research on various matters, from the background of Professor Thompson, to Leticia and its surroundings.

  She remembered how she had promised Adam that she would go to Mars with the twins as he had said that travelling to the Amazon would be too risky for her to go with him.

  Her mind was so filled with ideas that she hardly had time to consider how Adam had managed to escape from the island, not that it mattered now.

  Then she remembered Adam’s call to a former military friend visa his satellite phone the previous night. It had clearly been more than just a call. It was a signal to his friend to get some FBI men to look the other way. Nobody was going to be hurt. The only way off the island was with a little help and Adam clearly had some insiders playing his game.

  That and the fact that the President had given his assurance that Adam wouldn’t be harmed by US forces, had left Glory with a good feeling.

  The only problem she had now was the matter surrounding the artefact that was back on the island. Adam had seemed determined that it should be taken to Mars, and with her not going but set for a trip to the Amazon instead, this was now a challenge.

  Glory’s eyes flashed like she had just won the lottery. She had come up with a plan. The US government would again be seen as a bunch of palookas when her plan worked!

  Chapter Sixteen

  Dressed like a girl

  Glory Falcon, accompanied by two FBI agents, made her way back from the dining room to her sleeping accommodation. She hadn’t heard from Adam Kennedy since he had given the FBI the slip but didn’t expect to either as the law enforcers were almost certain to be listening in on any phone call that she received or made.

  She bid the FBI men good night and locked her room door. Moments later her Tablet mobile device screen lit up due to an incoming call.

  “Hey, Debbie,” answered Glory, as she greet her university pal, Deborah Summers.

  “Glory, how is life with the rich and famous of the political world?” teased Deborah.

  “How is Adam doing?”

  Glory had to answer the second question extremely carefully as she wasn’t sure who was listening in.

  “Adam has left the island, it seems,” replied Glory.

  “You mean he is off on another archeological mission this time with the FBI agents?” asked Deborah.

  Glory sighed.

  “No, he has clearly decided that it is best to work alone and has given the FBI guys the slip.”

  “You mean he is on the run from the FBI again?” questioned the inquisitive Deborah.

  “It seems that way,” answered Glory.

  Then Deborah Summers got to the reason for her call.

  “Glory, what do you know about some form of artefact that was found in the Amazon and that is linked to a possible threat on Planet Earth by a planet that is heading in our direction?”

  Glory cringed. How did Deborah know about the artefact?

  “Where do you learn of that?�
� she asked her friend.

  “It’s all over CNN news channel,” replied Deborah.

  “The US government is tightlipped about it but the story seems to have been leaked somehow.”

  Glory shook her head. Clearly there is a ‘rat’ in the system. Either somebody inside the President’s circle or else someone at the laboratory where the artefact was sent to for analyzing, has let the story slip to the media.

  “I can’t say too much about it now, but between us it is work in progress,” said Glory.

  Deborah continued with the questions.

  “Are there more artefacts like it that can save the human race? Is that why Adam is on the run as he tries to get to the artefacts before they fall into wrong hands?”

  Glory was about to answer the question when she opened her cupboard to take out a yellow summer dress that she planned on wearing the next day. However, the dress was not where she had thought she had hung it.

  Next, she looked for her favorite high heel shoes. They too were missing. In a flurry, Glory checked her room safe where she stored her passport. The safe was unlocked and empty. Had her room been burgled? Who would do such a thing in a place of security? It could only have been done by the FBI agents, but why would they do that?

  “I will speak to you later, Debbie,” said Glory and ended the call in a state of panic.

  “What should she do next? Should she inform the US President that her room had been burgled? How sure was she that the FBI agents did not carry out the burglary on the orders of the US No 1? What was the burglar looking for in her room and it made no sense why he or she would take her favorite summer dress and high heel shoes. Her clutch-bag which contained her lipstick and face power was also not in the place where she had put it.

  Think, Glory, think, she told herself. Suddenly, it all started to make sense. Adam Kennedy, you genius, she thought.

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Adam Kennedy was in excruciating pain. Glory Falcon’s high heel shoes were not comfortable to wear at all. He had always wondered what it felt like to wear a dress and make up. Now he knew.

  With his hair covered by a wig, Adam Kennedy had become Glory Falcon and he had the passport to prove it.

  When he had been dating Glory, some of his friends had teased him that there was a slight resemblance between the boyfriend and girlfriend and that they could easily have passed for brother and sister.

  Glory Falcon (Adam Kennedy in reality) was busy making his way through the checkpoints at San Francisco International Airport with the FBI and other security personnel none the wiser that America’s most wanted man was right under their noses.

  In pretended to have a cold and a lost voice, he pushed the passport in front of the check-in clerk who didn’t seemed to perturbed about matters.

  “It’s a 12 hour flight from San Francisco via Los Angeles to Bogota, Ma’am,” said the young man behind the counter.

  Ï hope you will enjoy your flight.”

  Adam nodded, grabbed his passport and air-ticket and headed off as quickly as he could on the irritating high heel shoes that he was wearing.

  “Good morning, Ma’am,” remarked an FBI security man as the ‘woman’ passed by.

  Adam nodded and smiled, with his mouth covered by a scarf to avoid spreading germs from his çold’.

  Once seated onboard the jet for the trip to Los Angeles, he knew that he would have to change flights on two more occasions before arriving in Bogota. Then he still had another two hours in the air before he arrived in Leticia. How long could he hold out from the Feds? Adam Kennedy, dressed as Glory Falcon, shook his head and abided by the philosophy of ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’.

  He had one major advantage over the law enforcers. He knew exactly where the other artefacts were and they didn’t. He knew that they wouldn’t try to kill him or else they would never find the treasure. He guessed that he may have a few stalkers along the way. Perhaps some of the FBI agents would find him to be sexy in his ‘Glory Falcon’ look.

  The next few days would turn out to be fun, one way or another.

  “Something to drink, Ma’am?” asked an air hostess.

  He didn’t answer for a moment and then realized that he was supposed to be a woman and shook his head courteously.

  If the US and its law enforcers as well as the Russians were not the ‘third force’ then who was after the artefacts?

  With the plane now a good one hour away from San Francisco international airport, Adam switched on his mini television screen on the back of the seat in front of him and tuned in to the CNN news channel.

  There he saw the news piece that Deborah Summers had informed the real Glory Falcon about.

  He just wishes the plane could fly a bit faster. If the artefacts fell into the wrong hands, the survival of the human race was at serious risk.

  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Back on Angel Island, US President John Carmichael III was losing faith with his FBI Bureau head Floyd Patterson who had just updated the country’s No 1 that there was still no sign of Adam Kennedy.

  “Sir, we are checking all of the airports, bus terminals and sea ports. So far, Adam Kennedy hasn’t been spotted anywhere.”

  The President shook his head in disgust.

  “The US military were able to trace Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden all the way to Pakistan but the FBI can’t track down one man in our very own country,” he muttered.

  Floyd was lost for words.

  “We are doing our very best, Sir,” he eventually said.

  “We have our informers out on the streets but it’s about someone seeing Kennedy and letting us know.”

  Carmichael continued to slam the efforts of the FBI.

  “Come on Patterson, we all know that Kennedy is on his way to the Amazon. How difficult can the task be?”

  Floyd tried to defend his team’s efforts.

  “Sir, not only has nobody seen Kennedy, but none of his credit cards nor his mobile telephone devices been used in the past twelve to twenty four hours.”

  It seemed that the FBI were unaware of the satellite phone that Adam had on him.

  “Somebody must know something,” said a frustrated John Carmichael III as he slammed his hand down on his desk.

  “DO you want me to get Ms Falcon back here for interrogation?” asked the bureau boss.

  “No, we need to look wider than Glory Falcon,” said the President.

  “Maybe you would like another interrogation of Alan Falcon at the space office?” asked Floyd.

  The President shook his head.

  “We can’t keep doing the same old things and expect different results,” he said.

  “Does Kennedy have any brothers or sisters? What about his parents?” asked the President who was clasping at straws in an effort to get answers in a bid to find Adam.

  “Kennedy’s parents died of broken hearts after he declared missing while on the mission in the Amazon,” updated Floyd.

  “We are still running checks on siblings. This guy is no fool.”

  President Carmichael lost his temper.

  “Then he should join the FBI to even things up a bit because it is quite clear that I am sitting with a bunch of fools this side!” he raged.

  Floyd took a slight step back to recover from the President’s outburst.

  “Sir, we have word from Washington D.C. that permission has been granted by the Colombian government for the US team to enter the country in the Amazon area, according to your proposal.”

  Ät last we are getting somewhere,” remarked the President.

  “When does our team leave for the Amazon?”

  Floyd Patterson checked the time on his wrist watch.

  “The air transport from San Francisco will leave in six hours from now, Sir,” he said proudly, as if to show the US No 1 that he was on top of his game, even if there was still no sign of
Adam Kennedy.

  “Good, just whatever you do, do it with a touch of speed,” said the US No 1.

  “Yes, sir,” said the FBI man, who turned and left the office.

  “John Carmichael turned his thoughts to the Russian interest in the project. Was Adam Kennedy playing the US against the Russians to see who would give him the best offer for the artefacts?

  Not that the President was going to offer the archeologist a bribe. Even if he wanted to, he had no clue where to find Adam.

  Then he remembered Glory’s strength on the planetology front. Surely by using a high powered telescope, the beam from between Planet X or some of its debris, through to the artefact could be spotted…

  He summoned Floyd Patterson to have Glory Falcon brought to his office and explained his thoughts to her.

  Glory nodded.

  “”Sir, are you suggesting that I should go and make a turn at the world’s largest telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile? The one where Professor Alejandro Goic used to work before both he and his car went over the cliff?

  The President nodded.

  Ï will arrange the necessary paperwork and security team to accompany you on this trip,” he said.

  “From there I need you to stay in touch with my office and we will relay the necessary communication to the team on the ground at the Amazon.”

  “Yes, Sir,” Glory responded.

  As she left the President’s office, her mind wondered on how she was going to handle the situation.

  -Was she supposed to protect Adam and delay informing the US government of the exact location of the artefacts or was she meant to be a good citizen and provide the information timeously in which case the FBI would close in at speed on Mr Kennedy?

  Glory Falcon, married to Alan Falcon but the mother of Adam’s twins all at the age of just twenty years, had some serious soul searching to do.

  She would soon make newspaper headlines, but the tone of the story was up to her.

  To Glory it was a case of for love of thy heart or for love of thy country?

  Chapter Seventeen