Dark Shadows

by Sibel Hodge

  Professor Gale shook his head at Klein with derision.

  ‘Nothing’s going to stop,’ Hughes told Klein. ‘Do you hear me? Nothing.’

  Klein swallowed as they all stared at him. ‘People are bound to start asking questions soon,’ he said quietly.

  ‘I agree things have been getting a little messy,’ White said from his position against the wall, arms folded casually across his chest. ‘We’ve had to be creative in tidying up a few things. But at the moment, none of the targeted individuals are connectable. You’re worrying too much.’ He stared Klein hard in the eye, wondering if he would need to be reminded that the only way he’d get out of this now was if he was dead himself.

  ‘What about Farzad Nuri? Where is he?’ Dr Beaumont asked, his lips parting, tongue flicking out like a wolf’s, tasting the air for blood.

  ‘Somewhere he’ll never be found,’ White said.

  ‘Okay.’ Hughes laced his fingers together in his lap. Thought about the situation for a few moments.

  The others waited. Gale, Klein, and Beaumont were being paid large amounts of money to wait if necessary. White wasn’t. He had his government job and his paltry government pension to look forward to. He was taking a lot of risks for everyone involved, but no one ever noticed his hard work. Why would they? He was supposed to operate in the dark shadows.

  White’s gaze skimmed Hughes’s suit, his expensive watch, and the office. He thought about the whole setup of the corporations involved that stood to make enormous amounts of money, and the mammoth promised payoffs to politicians that would be doled out. Something like this… well, everyone would want a piece of it, and White wanted to plan for his own endgame. Not for himself—he didn’t have much time left, and it was funny how when it came to the crunch, people started thinking about the past and wanting to make amends. No, his money would be for his daughter. He’d been a shitty dad. He’d hardly been there to see her growing up. Someone and something else had always taken precedence. He wanted to make sure she was comfortable. At least he could do that right for her.

  Eventually, Hughes looked up again. ‘No more tests. No more delays. We’re going ahead with production. We don’t have any more time to waste on the testing phase. Project Shadow isn’t the only agenda here. The remarkable work we’re doing is just one part of a bigger picture.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Klein said, looking round the room to see if anyone else knew what his boss was talking about.

  ‘That’s classified information,’ Hughes said. ‘Your job is to get on with what you’re paid for and do your part.’

  ‘A wise decision.’ Dr Beaumont grinned.

  Klein opened his mouth. Hughes glared at him, challenging him to disagree. Klein glanced down at the conference table and swallowed hard.

  White stepped away from the wall. ‘I’ll let my people know.’ He walked out of the room, wondering just how much more money he’d get if he took Project Shadow to one of the other major players.

  Chapter 37

  Toni

  ‘The PK Marcelina was referring to in her journal is Professor Brian Klein,’ Mitchell said. ‘He’s a research fellow at the Watling Centre, but he’s also working for Regen Logistix.’ He told me all about Klein and his research programmes. ‘Klein was the one Glover called outside of A&E.’

  My skin vibrated with outrage. ‘A professor is involved in all this?’

  ‘Yes. Lee’s discovered that right now, there are hundreds of patent applications, both granted or pending, from various global medical, technical, or scientific corporations, for use in exploring mind control development.’

  ‘If this isn’t brainwashing, then what kind of mind control are we talking about?’

  ‘Some of the patents are for devices or applications that use external equipment—headsets, watches, or a chip on the skin. But some are for implantable medical devices like microchips, which can be the size of a grain of rice. Or nanochips, where they can be as small as a grain of sand.’

  My eyes narrowed, my throat pinched with trepidation, not liking where this was going one bit.

  ‘What these nanochips have in common is monitoring or manipulating human brainwaves, using electromagnetic pulses or radio frequency, remotely, through wireless technology like mobile phone networks. If you can change someone’s brainwaves and manipulate their neurological data, you can change their thoughts, memory, emotions, actions. This is isn’t science fiction. It’s not even science future. It’s happening right now. And six months ago, Regen Logistix applied for a patent for a nanochip that does just that.’

  ‘So you’re saying these nanochips could basically mind hack you?’

  ‘Not just mind hack. Mind hijack. Make you do or believe or think what they want, just from manipulating electromagnetic energy, which is the same energy as brainwaves.’

  A suffocating chill squeezed at my core.

  ‘Regen Logistix’s patent application said the nanochip can be injected into the back of the neck or head area,’ Mitchell said. ‘And what makes this device even more unique is that it harvests the body’s own energy, converting body heat into its own power supply. You’re talking about a tiny, silent weapon with mammoth capabilities to control the human race.’

  I pictured the scene in A&E again, where Marcelina had been moved onto her side when she wasn’t supposed to be, which Glover must’ve done. The small cut on the back of her neck had oozed a little blood onto the pillow, as if it were a fresh wound. At the time, I’d attributed it to her accident. ‘That’s why Glover was at the hospital. He must’ve been trying to retrieve a chip that had been inserted into Marcelina’s neck, because they knew she’d have diagnostic imaging tests due to her head injury, and that it would show up on an MRI. It seems the only reason he’d risk going there.’

  Mitchell nodded. ‘It could easily be removed by a small incision.’

  ‘Wouldn’t the students notice being implanted with a chip?’

  ‘Maybe they thought they were being given a harmless injection—something like a painkiller or muscle relaxant. We think the students were involved in a secret study Klein was carrying out, and when Marcelina was starting to make a connection between her participation in the programme and her symptoms, they wanted her killed.’

  I sat back on the sofa and stared at the floor, the scene of Marcelina’s accident playing in my head yet again. ‘So they manipulated her brain into making her walk in front of an oncoming vehicle.’ I put my plate with the half-eaten pizza slice on the table, having lost my appetite. ‘This is insane!’

  ‘Insane and pure evil. But this wouldn’t be the first time humans have been used as guinea pigs without their knowledge or consent. Mass numbers of soldiers and the general public have been regularly subjected to secret tests of pharmaceuticals, bacteria and viruses, toxic chemicals, and gasses over the years. There are plenty of declassified documents to prove the extent of the twisted experiments they’ve carried out.’

  I blinked rapidly, shaking my head with horror. ‘And just imagine how much this kind of technology would be worth.’

  ‘It would be priceless. Creating easily controlled mass populations, super soldiers, suicide killers? The ultimate Manchurian candidates? There’s a lot at stake for them. Every intelligence or government system in the world would want to get hold of this kind of mass-control, mass-brainwashing technology for nefarious purposes. And the British Government want to be at the forefront of it all. Because whoever gets there first will have terrifyingly incomparable superior world dominance. There are very powerful people who want this to succeed.’

  ‘Do you think they sent Natalie mad, using this nanochip?’

  ‘Most likely. It was either an effect of the chip, or they manipulated her brain so much, it completely buggered her up.’

  ‘And a person diagnosed with so-called schizophrenia will never be believable, will they? It’s a perfect cover for them.’ A shiver danced up my spine. ‘Do you think the university knows what’s going on?’


  ‘I don’t know yet.’

  I rubbed at my forehead, trying to take everything in. ‘It’s just unbelievable.’

  ‘But not at all surprising. We’ve already been living in a world of mass surveillance and mass manipulation for years. This is just a natural evolution of control over the general public, because they’re now finding the old methods aren’t working as well. Social media and the internet has exposed mass corporate and government corruption and conspiracies all over the globe, and people are starting to finally wake up and question the bullshit agendas they’re force-fed by the state-corporate mainstream media, who pass off propaganda and lies as fact.’

  ‘So you’re saying that the Behavioural Modification Operations department have been looking for other ways to do things, preparing for the day when they have to take more drastic measures? And this is what they’ve been working on?’

  ‘Yes.’ He stuffed another piece of pizza in his mouth and chewed quickly. ‘Have you heard of the Internet of Things?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘It’s basically an extension of the existing internet that connects to physical devices, everyday objects, animals, even people, and transfers data over a network. So anything embedded or implanted with a nanochip or RFID spy chip, which is a radio frequency identifying chip, can communicate and interact with other devices over the internet.’ He wiped his fingertips on a napkin and put his plate on the coffee table. ‘Organisations and corporations are using this stuff right now, and RFID chips are hidden in everything—mobile phones, computers, debit and credit cards, ID documents, vehicles, even packaging of products you buy, food, clothing, the list is endless. And all of it can be used remotely to monitor, track, and manipulate you. Even your bloody smart light switches could be spying on you if they have an internet connection!’

  I shook my head and took a swig of beer. ‘Your personal data is the new gold, isn’t it?’

  He nodded. ‘But that’s not all they’re up to. They’re ramming a cashless society down our necks, so cash becomes obsolete, and they can control the money supply. And if you don’t conform, if you’re a troublemaker who questions their official narrative, it’ll be easy to just switch you off the grid so you’re left with nothing—no money, no way of communication, no travel. We’ve become addicted to smart devices through carefully and skilfully planned social engineering so they can exert control over us.’

  I stared at my phone on the table. I wasn’t addicted to it, but I only had to look around at the students and the general public out and about with their heads constantly trained on their screens to know that the majority of people were these days.

  ‘Some technology companies have already implanted their employees with chips that can operate their computers, access buildings, vehicles, vending machines,’ Mitchell said. ‘Of course, they’ll sell it to the public by saying it’s all for your benefit—that it makes life easier for you, that it’s for your own convenience. In the case of nanochips, they’ll say it can help to save your life—that you can store your medical data on it, blah, blah, blah. When really, you’ll be paying for it with your freedom and privacy and personal security.’ A muscle ticked away in his jaw. ‘But although they’re already spying on you inside your home, in your car, while you’re on the move, there’s one area they can’t yet fully control or spy on you yet.’

  It felt like hundreds of spiders scattered across my scalp. ‘Your mind.’

  He tapped the side of his forehead. ‘Exactly. So now they’re going one step further, wanting to actually implant people for the ultimate totalitarian control of your brain, which, as we’ve seen, could quite easily kill you. We’re all just disposable pawns in their arsenal. Slaves for the sociopathic elite who really run the world.’

  The little pizza I’d eaten seemed to curdle in my stomach. ‘There’s a name for it. It’s called predictive programming, where those in control introduce their will slowly, manipulating the public’s opinions to a point where the people accept it freely because it seems like the most natural thing in the world.’

  ‘Predictive murder, more like.’ Mitchell’s nostrils flared. ‘They’re playing God with people’s lives.’

  ‘So what do we do? We need to find some kind of evidence against them, because even though they’ve got a patent for these nanochips, we can’t prove what they’ve been doing with it. All it is at the moment is speculation.’

  ‘Lee’s hacking into Regen Logistix’s databases right now and looking for the evidence.’ He twisted around in his seat and took my hand in his, concern etched all over his face. ‘So I don’t want you doing any more poking around from now on. These are very dangerous people.’

  I nodded. ‘Okay.’

  ‘Promise me? It’s not just your mum who would be devastated if anything happened to you.’ He looked deep into my eyes and held my gaze.

  ‘Yes. Don’t worry. I know.’

  ‘Good.’

  ‘But if Lee does find evidence, what then?’ I asked. ‘What do we do with it?’

  ‘I don’t know. Yet. The only thing I do know is that we can’t take it to the police. The security services would quash any investigation from the start.’ He stood up. ‘I’d better be off. I’ll head to Lee’s now and see how he’s getting on. I’ll keep you updated. You take care of yourself in the meantime.’

  I handed over Marcelina’s phone and laptop for him to give to Lee, but it seemed kind of obsolete now that we knew what we were dealing with.

  After he left, I shut the door behind him and leaned my back against it, sickness swirling in the pit of my stomach. I knew firsthand what evil people were capable of, but when the very people who were supposed to protect the public’s welfare were corrupt, bereft of any kind of morals and ethics, then there was something seriously broken in the world. Something rotten to the core.

  DAY FOUR

  “Being in a minority, even a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.”

  ~ George Orwell

  Chapter 38

  Mr White

  At 3.43 a.m., Nathan White’s mobile phone rang on the bedside table, jerking him awake. He glanced at the screen and saw Glover’s name flash up.

  ‘This had better be urgent,’ White said, his voice thick and croaky. It had taken him hours to get comfortable enough to sleep, and even then, he’d tossed and turned half the night.

  ‘We’ve got a problem,’ Glover said.

  ‘What kind of problem?’ White sat up.

  ‘Klein’s name has come up in a police interview with Farzad Nuri’s friends. The police were asking if Nuri had been involved in his research programmes. They’re on to something.’

  ‘What!’ White swung his legs off the bed.

  ‘And that’s not all. A search was done on the police national computer for one of the vehicles I’ve used.’

  Mr White closed his eyes and sighed. ‘When and by who?’

  ‘Chief Constable Derek Sutherby. Yesterday.’

  ‘You weren’t careful enough,’ White growled. ‘I hope you’ve dumped the car.’

  ‘Of course. They’ve all been single-use vehicles. Either scrapped or dumped somewhere they won’t be found. I don’t understand how they’ve cottoned on to something.’

  ‘Because you made an error somewhere—that’s fucking why.’ Even though White didn’t raise his voice, there was no mistaking the steely tone.

  ‘They can’t connect the car to Regen Logistix, or us, or what’s going on, even if it came onto their radar. And I’m not the only one who’s fucked up here! The police showed Nuri’s friends a still of me from some footage taken by a camera phone in St Peters Street. Even though you arranged for the power cut and surrounding CCTV to be hacked, it wasn’t enough. You’ve got to take responsibility for some of this mess. You’ve been off your game for weeks!’

  ‘Don’t tell me what to do. And, anyway, they won’t
find out who you are. You’re a shadow, remember. Any video evidence of you will be lost.’

  ‘But how did they know about Klein and the programme? Someone must’ve been talking.’

  ‘Who? The students are either dead or too messed up to remember anything.’ White paused for a moment. ‘Unless it’s Klein himself. Maybe his conscience has finally got the better of him and he’s tipped them off.’

  ‘You need to stop the police. How are you—’

  ‘Shut up for a minute. I’m thinking.’ White’s brain raced, wondering exactly how he was going to explain this monumental problem to his superiors. But first things first. The police would have to be shut down. That was the easy bit. The hard bit was making sure it stayed contained. ‘Send me over footage of the police interviews. I want to know exactly what they were asking. And if you hear anything else before I sort this, then let me know.’

  ‘Will do.’

  White hung up and flipped the sheet back, wincing as he took a deep breath. He made his way downstairs in his pyjama bottoms, switched on the lights, booted up his laptop, and groaned as a burning pain spread up his spine. Then he downed some painkillers.

  By the time he sat at his desk, Glover’s email had arrived. He clicked on the first video attachment and watched the interview with Amy Price, then the second interview with Farzad’s friend, Charlie.

  White paused the last video and stared at his screen, eyes narrowed, swivelling in his chair. He was certain it had to be Klein who’d been feeding the police information. How else would they know? It was highly unlikely they’d connected all the dots. The whole purpose of making them all commonly occurring incidents was supposed to work as cover. But White wasn’t too concerned about Klein potentially double-crossing them, because his predatory brain was already working out exactly how to use it to his advantage. White had amassed copies of all the files from Regen Logistix, containing reams of information and data about the nanochip, but he didn’t have Klein’s patient files yet. He needed those for evidence that proved the experiments worked on live subjects, which would bump the price up considerably. Although others had been working on similar technology for years, Regen Logistix had beaten them to developing a final product that actually worked. So White needed to handle things quickly now. The time was ripe for doing the deal he’d been building up to. And then he’d point the finger in Klein’s direction.