by Utley, Todd
“Oh my god, it’s like life styles of the rich and famous act around here,” said Linsey.
Dodge snickered.
“I don’t think it’s much of an act Hun, the man is loaded.” As they were getting out a young man quickly offered to valet the GTO. Dodge reached back in his pocket to retrieve the keys that he had already put away out of habit, he wasn’t used to all this service. He knew John was putting on the Ritz to make it extra fun for Linsey and Amanda and for the benefit of the watchers. Not to mention some good old fashioned showing off.
“Yes, thank you young man. Not a scratch now, she’s special!”
“Yes Sir,” he answered politely. As they went up the walk to the front doors Dodge looked back and was humored. The young valet was trying to idle the car around back but struggling with it. He was used to cars that nearly drove themselves. The GTO had tons of power and a touchy clutch that took some getting used to, but he did finally get it around there.
Amanda and Linsey were already introduced to one another by John at the curb and were yakking up a storm with each other like two old friends while they made their way through the huge mansion that John humbly called a house.
It became somewhat of a mini tour, as they went along stopping several times, to admire expensive works of art that John collected. They made their way to the main patio which could very easily be seen with the right equipment from several different vantage points just off the boundaries of the property.
John picked that spot in order for the watchers to have a clear view of the festivities and have a good chance at getting audio from their evening as well. They wanted the watchers to believe that this group of people was completely oblivious to being watched or being in any danger whatsoever. The better they could sell them on that point, the less they would be watched, and ultimately the more they could continue to research the hackers undetected.
John’s staff did an amazing job at everything including the food which was outstanding. John’s Chef served a special fish entre that they couldn’t even pronounce properly, but words wouldn’t do it justice anyway. They had plenty of the best white wine to go with it and great mood music playing in the background as they ate.
It was a wonderful evening. The weather was perfect and the clear skies allowed for some star gazing. After the meal they talked for a while before the desert was served. Some kind of French pastry with a dark sweet sauce poured all over the top of it. It was delicious and would have probably made them all tired had they not got up to do some dancing.
None of them were exactly ball room dancers but they knew enough to have a good time slow dancing to some classy music. After two sets John cut it on Dodge and Linsey so they switched partners for a dance and that gave Dodge a chance to get to know Amanda better.
She was a very pretty woman and at least ten years younger than John. She had been a professional tennis player as a youth. Having won many titles, she had become quite wealthy from all the endorsement deals. She had also learned to play the piano as a girl and had become quite accomplished as an adult. She promised she would play for them sometime.
Her father introduced her to golf during college and she fell in love with the game. Although not very good at it she still agreed that it would be fun if the four of them played together sometime. She complimented Linsey and said that she was sure that she and Linsey would soon be good friends. John and Linsey were catching up as they danced and talked about Bobby’s recovery from Restoration and also the progress that Alan was making. Linsey told John how much she liked Amanda and what a great couple she and John made.
Off in the distance a man was watching them through the scope of a high powered rifle. It wasn’t a typical sniper rifle that fired bullets but instead something only an assassin of the highest caliber would possess. It was a technology that few people in the world were aware of. It was based on a very old military design of a rail gun. It was an experimental weapon that could accelerate steel projectiles using very powerful synchronized electromagnetic fields. This weapon could be used to kill a person at long range without leaving a mark on the body and without making any sound. The victim would simply fall over dead for no apparent reason. The projectile was carried in a thin steel shell. The contents within the shell were frozen in liquid nitrogen prior to being fired. Based on careful calculations of distance and air temperature the outer shell of the projectile would break away at seventy five feet from the victim and dissipate into very tiny fragments that were nearly impossible to locate. The frozen core of the projectile contained the poison crystals which were shaped as perfect spheres for accuracy of flight for the last seventy-five feet. The spheres would land in the eye or the mouth where they were absorbed instantly. The poison was completely untraceable by investigators. The conclusion of any decent Medical Examiner would be death by natural causes due to heart failure. The victim could be restored if their lifefile wasn’t corrupted, but the man with the gun was working for people who had already taken care of that little detail. He had John Calhoun in his sights and was ready to pull the trigger. He called it in.
“734 to Base. Observing the target participating in what appears to be an outdoor dinner party. They’re entertaining guest, Dodge and Linsey Kerrington.”
“Copy that 734. Do they appear concerned for their safety?”
“Negative Base, they appear festive. They’re slow dancing out in the open to some kind of classic music.”
“Are they outside?”
“Affirmative Base, for more than two hours now, do I take the shot?”
“Negative 734, stand down. Continue to observe, record their activity and return to base.”
“Copy that Base, standing down, observe and return. 734 out.”
He moved his finger away from the trigger and applied the safety. He began to disassemble the weapon carefully returning each piece to the foam lined black case for transport. He thought for sure today he would get kill #27 to add to his record, but it was not to be.
The set ended and they switched back again for one more slow dance. The evening went well and ended with great conversation and some fantastic gourmet coffee prepared by some culinary genius in the kitchen. It was most likely the female Spanish Chef that cooked the rest of the meal. It was getting late and so they said their good nights as Dodge and Linsey made their way out to the car that was waiting by the front entrance. They were completely oblivious to the killer over a mile away that spent the night on top of a tall building observing them. His finger having been taunt on a the trigger, that if pulled, would have ended John Calhoun’s life.
While Dodge and Linsey drove home they had a great talk about Amanda and John and what a dream life those two were living. What a cool thing that a man could start with nothing as John did and make it so big. He was just an average young man that worked hard and worked his way up into the huge success he was today. He was truly living the American Dream. They both realized that they too had made it, now they were going to enjoy the fruits of their labors.
Immortality was here and prosperity had become a reality for them, what a wonderful time to live. They arrived home at 9:45 p.m. and felt more relaxed then they had in a long while. They made their way in and found the kids quietly watching TV in the family room. Thank God the kitchen was all cleaned up, and not burned down as they had humorously feared. They didn’t really want to visit with the kids tonight they had other activities in mind. They stuck their heads in just for a second.
“Hi Kids. We’re going up to bed, see you in the morning.”
“Okay,” they both replied without looking away from the TV.
“Don’t stay up all night.”
“We won’t,” said Sarah.
The kids knew what this type of quick informative conversation meant when their parents came in late after a night out. As Dodge and Linsey made their way up the stairs they heard Bobby snicker and say something in a low voice to Sarah.
Sarah shushed him, and added, “shut up dweeb
, what do you know?”
They couldn’t help but snicker themselves at the kids as they made the top of the stairs. Dodge was feeling debonair so he whisked Linsey right off her feet and carried her into their room. He kicked the door shut with his heel and tossed her onto the bed before beginning to undress. He didn’t want to think about anything else tonight, the long talk could wait. Right now they both had one thing on their minds and that was all that mattered.
Linsey was a regular fire cracker again tonight and Dodge could barely keep up with her. When they finally came up for air it had been over an hour and they were both exhausted, what a night. Dodge remembered a romantic slump about two years ago, but lately the magic was back, must have been something in the air or the water. “Whatever it was, if you could bottle it, you could sell it!”
In the very early hours of the morning, Dodge awoke to his wrist watch alarm vibrating. He put it back on just before he went to sleep as part of his master plan to break the news to Linsey. John slipped him a box of cigars at the party and even announced, “Dodge my old friend, these cigars are for you. I had these imported from Cuba, smoke them carefully and don’t get caught, it might cost you a night in jail.”
After their romp Linsey went to the bathroom to freshen up and change into some comfortable shorts and tee shirt to sleep in. While she was changing Dodge opened the Cigar box and found a note that said, “Cigars are good but there’s more.” Under the first layer of cigars he found a digicard with complete instructions and a small bag of electronic goodies. He viewed the sequence. #1 use the enclosed device to detect bugs #2 the four small disc are scramblers, locate the bugs then peel and stick a scrambler as close as possible to the device. #3 do this in complete silence, any noises you make will be heard. #4 have your talk with your gal, remove each of the scramblers #5 act as normal as possible and have normal conversations in the room there after, any change in behavior or total silence will be a tell that the bugs have been discovered. Call me tomorrow.
He waited until Linsey was sound asleep. He knew she would be horrified once she found out that strangers were listening in on the most intimate parts of their lives but this was the most convincing of all acts that would make the watchers believe that they were still undetected.
Using the electronic sniffer he found in the box, he moved around the room very quietly and carefully. Within seconds he found two listening devices placed in very close proximity of one another. He figured this was for redundancy just in case one failed the second would serve as a backup.
He quietly peeled and stuck a disc near each of the bugs. The tiny blinking led on the disc, switched from red to green, after about two seconds of being placed. Obviously this indicated that the bug’s transmission was locked in on and blocked. Dodge understood that the place was clean and he could talk freely with Linsey.
Linsey Kerrington awoke the next morning to Dodge sitting on her side of the bed with a tray containing coffee cups and all the necessary extras for coffee the way she liked it. She sat up a little.
“Wow? A big check, a night out, dancing, a wild romp, and now coffee in bed, you must be trying for an encore huh?”
An encore of last night had crossed his mind as he watched her sleeping, but now the time had come for the talk, one that would certainly put a damper on their previous euphoric mood.
“Well, sweetheart,” he said with a smile, “I made you your favorite coffee, the kind with the extra chocolate and I toasted you an English muffin. I even hung out the do not disturb sign on the door this morning, but not for our usual reasons, instead I have something very important that I would like to talk to you about.”
“Okay, I’m listening,” said Linsey, as she took I long sip of her coffee. No matter what intro Dodge could have concocted, there was really no way to smooth this situation out in a more palatable way, so he started from the beginning.
He told her about the project he was secretly working on for years. He told her about the huge bonus he would be receiving upon retirement, which now seemed less important because they were already rich. All of this upset her somewhat because he kept it from her for so long, but she understood that he had no choice if he wanted to keep his job.
Then he told her the rest of it. At first she didn’t believe him so he showed her some of the documents. She read some of the details about Ron Simpson and his parents and the childhood doctor.
She realized it was no joke and that it was actually a dangerous situation. He showed her the bugs. There was one just behind the headboard of their bed, and another inside a lampshade next to a small sofa that they sometimes used for reading at night. Linsey put her hands over her mouth and tears began streaming down her face.
“They’re going to kill us! They are, we can’t stop them.”
She was headed toward hysterical when Dodge grabbed her into his arms and held her tight. He kissed her forehead.
“No dear, I won’t let that happen, don’t say that! Listen, John and I are all over this. We have our own plan to take these guys down. Don’t worry these guys don’t know who they’re messing with.”
Linsey calmed down a bit.
“What are you going to do?” She asked, as he wiped the tears from her face?
“Look, John, Dad, and I, are the only ones that are in, and now you. Soon Amanda will know too, if not already.”
“The party last night was fun, but it was also a way to put the watcher’s minds at ease that we’re oblivious to them. This should buy us a good amount of time. I can tell you more details later but for now you must do exactly as I say and you gotta keep your head. We have to be strong for us and for our children. We can all make it out of this alive if we’re smart about it. You and I have been talking now for two hours. The watchers that are listening in on these bugs will believe that after last night we’re simply sleeping in, but we can’t keep radio silence much longer or they’ll get suspicious.”
“What!” Linsey looked confused. “You mean we have to keep those damn things in our bedroom?” Then she put her hands over her mouth again. “Oh my god, we sure gave them an ear full last night! Didn’t we?”
He smiled. “Yeah we sure did, and that’s exactly the kind of normalcy that is so believable. I’m sure there was a couple of yahoos listening somewhere and laughing their butts off because they think they invaded our privacy. It won’t be so funny when they’re looking up the barrel of a swat rifle and getting a knee jammed in their back. I know it’s a lot to ask but we have to act as normal as possible to keep these guys at bay.”
Linsey sat there for a moment hugging her pillow.
“Okay, what do you want me to do?”
“That’s my girl! Well first of all, don’t change anything about your routine, if we stick to it they won’t think suspect anything. Second, they can only hear us they can’t see us so that’s to our advantage. So long as we’re indoors we can use hand signals or pass notes if needed. John already has a plan to intercept the signal from these bugs and send a failing battery message out on its com link channel. First then we’ll disable it and replace the good battery with a dead one. They’ll have to switch to the backup bug and then we’ll do the same thing to it about a week later. They’ll be irritated by this but not suspicious. They’ll need to get back in to replace the bugs and when they do we’ll be ready.”
“John plans to hack the bug’s transmission section to add a secondary harmonic on the carrier frequency that only we can detect. When they retrieve the bugs, they’ll take them back to their workshop. When they do they’ll be unwittingly giving up their position. The hacked bugs will be sending out that extra signal every few seconds. John will have sniffer cells throughout the skyphone network that will triangulate those signals and voila, we’ll have at least one of their locations. Soon we’ll have our watchers watching them.”
Linsey was amazed, she had no idea her husband possessed these skills.
“Okay,” she agreed. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get our fami
ly out of this.”
“Just act normal, take the kids wherever you normally do, go to all the places that you normally would, don’t change anything.
And don’t worry, John and I have a plan that we believe is bullet proof. We’re gonna find these guys and take them down. They should’ve known better than to mess with us, after all we created this thing not them.”
“All right, now I have to bring the bugs back on line and we’re going to pretend like we just woke up, we’ll have a conversation and act normal.”
He went to each bug and removed the little disc near it as quietly as he possibly could. He put them back into the Cigar box and quietly lay back down on the bed.
“Hey, good morning lover,” he said to Linsey.
“Good morning stud,” Linsey said and then put her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
“So how about we get up and take everyone out for breakfast?”
“Well, it’s getting a little late for breakfast, looks like we slept in.”
Dodge nodded at her in approval, “She should have been an actress.”
“All right we’ll call it brunch then.”
“Sounds like a great plan to me,” Linsey said as she stretched. “After last night I didn’t really want to get up and cook anyway.”
They both got up and began getting ready. They had plenty to do today. They were taking the whole family out for brunch and then he and Linsey would be going car shopping. This time it was all about her. She would get her very own sports car, just like she had before they got married.
Less than five miles away in the center of a very old foundry that appeared abandoned a man stood alone before a large computerized console. He was an ambitious man, much like Dodge Kerrington. He too had worked hard to get where he was and he also had dreams and goals that he intended to see through.
Even though he and Dodge had those points in common that was about it, everything else about the two of them was completely different. He was not family man and he didn’t care for anything or anyone other than himself. It seemed as though he was driven to destroy anything in this world that made normal people happy.