by Derek Haines
‘We have the maps they used, but they only marked the lower levels of the system. The plans of the new system incorporated in the Hadron collider are in our possession, so it is a matter of trying to combine the two.’
‘So where do you start from?’
‘The exhaust outlet that they say they exited from next to CERN and Route de Meyrin sir.’
‘That’s a very open area. Won’t it have the danger of being noticed. We don’t want anything of this to get out.’
‘There’s a gas line running through the field where the exhaust shaft is located sir. We plan to create a small gas leak, and close off a secure area in the middle of the field. We can then work under the cover of gas line repairs sir.’
‘And how deep can you probe?’
‘Using fibre optic cable sir, we can go to any depth,’ the agent said, as he handed the president what looked like a small child’s toy about the size of a cigarette packet. ‘It had six small wheels and what looked like four small legs with suction caps.’
‘So what’s this?’
‘It’s the probe sir. There are small cameras on the front, back, sides and top. We can remotely control its movement. In an environment such as aluminium air ducts, it’s ideal as it can easily adhere to the duct and give us high resolution video images.’
‘You said remote control, but also fibre optic cables. So it’s not fully remote controlled.’
‘The vehicle is remote controlled sir. We attach a fibre optic cable for higher resolution. In a duct system it is practical as we can feed any length of cable behind it. The cable is so fine it creates hardly any drag. However it can send images in lower resolution by radio signal if we need, and can also detach the cable if necessary. For instance, if we wanted to leave the vehicle for permanent surveillance or perhaps if the cable became tangled or caught on an obstruction.’
‘Just one more thing. What are your chances of being able to find anything?’
‘If there’s anything there sir, we’ll find it.’
‘And how long?’
‘We’ll have it operating twenty-four hours a day sir.’
‘You didn’t answer my question.’
‘I can only say as soon as possible sir.’
‘Very well. Go ahead. For one week of surveillance only. Report back as soon as you start the operation, and I want daily reports from then on. We’ll review the operation after one week and decide if it’s worth pursuing.’
‘Yes sir.’
‘Thank you gentlemen.’
By the next morning, radio and television were reporting a gas leak in Meyrin overnight, and advising their viewers and listeners that it was already under control, and Route de Meyrin had been re-opened to traffic at five am that morning. A yellow tent structure in the middle of a green field of grass was all the evidence that there was any danger.
Marie heard the news on her radio while she was having breakfast and took no notice of a story about a gas leak in Meyrin. She was too occupied with thinking about Milo, Mary, Jean-Paul and secrets.
Chapter 15 - Unpleasant Truths
‘Milo is making steady progress Marie.’
‘That’s great news. Can I see him?’ Marie asked Dr. Fleury.
‘Of course. Anytime you like. I’ll be at the hospital this afternoon about three to check on them.’
‘All right. I’ll see you there about three.’
‘Good. See you then.’
Marie clicked her phone call off, and went about getting ready for her first day at work in years, without a uniform. She started laughing to herself as she realised how difficult it must be for other women to decide what to wear to work everyday.
Until Milo and Mary were transferred to Bern, Marie only had to make sure she spent time with them each day and perhaps gather some further information that may be useful in investigating their claims. Her main role would commence when and if Milo and Mary were well enough to assist the investigation in a more concrete manner. For her first day out of uniform, she planned to spend four or five hours at the hospital, and then look forward to dinner with Jean-Paul in the evening. As she was deciding what to wear, a meeting in Bern was considering much weightier things.
‘Shall we begin?’ the Swiss president asked his Federal Council. The Federal Council comprised only seven members including the president, whose post was rotated every year among the other councillors. As there seemed to be agreement to begin, he introduced the first item for consideration.
‘Fellow councillors, I recently received disturbing information relating to the possibility of a secret laboratory on, or should I say under Swiss territory. You all have a copy of the file that was obtained from two people claiming to have escaped this facility. I must point out at this stage that nothing has been corroborated, and I’m waiting for further information from our intelligence services. I have approved a covert operation to try to establish its existence.’
‘The location?’ the councillor responsible for defence, Alfred Letsch, asked.
‘Directly under CERN,’ the president replied sternly, and was greeted by silent surprise by the other councillors. ‘Which makes this a very delicate matter.’
‘Is there any indication of who may have been responsible for maintaining the operation of this facility?’ the foreign affairs councillor, Françoise Klausner asked.
‘If there is any truth in the documentation we received, we may be facing the possibility that the US, UK and Russia may be involved.’
‘Under a European nuclear research facility on Swiss soil?’
‘Yes. But we shouldn’t jump to conclusions just yet,’ the president said, trying to keep the discussion on a hypothetical footing for the time being.
‘Well, I must say that UK involvement would be bad enough. But if it turns out that the Americans and Russians have been operating a secret facility on our soil, the ramifications could be extremely dangerous.’ Klausner stated firmly.
‘I agree. The fallout from this, if proven, could lead to any possible number of outcomes. And all bad I would think,’ the justice councillor, Marc Guyer added.
‘Where does it stand at the moment?’ the home affairs councillor, Antoinette Haller asked.
‘I’m hoping to have information from an operation to try and establish if this really exists. A small remote controlled surveillance device is being prepared as we speak to try to traverse an air extraction system that we believe may lead down to this facility. We have plans of the system at its lower levels, which were in the possession of the two people in our custody. These have been compared with the air system of the Hadron collider, which we think is above the possible facility. I have asked to be briefed on the operation within the next seven days. I would recommend that we all consider the possibilities, but defer any discussion on actions until at least I have received this forthcoming briefing.’
‘And if any other information comes to light, or if there’s news from the surveillance before next week?’ the defence councillor, Alfred Letsch asked.
‘This is such a sensitive issue, that if I receive any information that indicates a stronger possibility of its existence, I’ll call an extraordinary meeting of the Federal Council immediately.’
As all councillors were in agreement with this, they moved on to other matters. Little did they know that the president would need to call an urgent extraordinary meeting within forty-eight hours.
Down in Sootere, the disappearance of Michael Fischer and Anne Drayford had not gone unnoticed. Reports of their disappearance were noted, compiled and completed by staff at ARC, and forwarded along the lines they had always followed. They had no way of comprehending that their reports would travel so far that they would end up on desks in Washington, Moscow and London. As the Swiss Federal Council ended their meeting, someone in Washington was picking up the telephone to make two very difficult phone calls. Arranging for measures to be taken to eliminate M41-6779-78-gamma-13.bod and F47-7876-81-beta-15.bod before any worthwhile
or damaging information was gained by anyone. The eliminations would be best completed while the targets were still at HUG in Geneva as it would be much more difficult if the targets were transferred to a secure location.
After an hour of discussing various options, it was agreed that an agent under Russian control, who was already based in Geneva would be given the task. Experienced and knowing Geneva well made the agent the best option available. Moscow would make the arrangements and get the operation underway within hours.
‘Hello Marie.’
‘Oh you look much better Mary. How are you feeling?’
‘I’m fine I think, but I am so worried about Anne. She’s disappeared and I’m so afraid she won’t be coming back.’
‘Have you talked to Dr. Fleury about Anne?’
‘Yes, but he doesn’t seem to know.’
‘All we can do is wait and see Mary. And hope for the best for Anne.’
‘I miss her. She is stronger and smarter than me.’
‘Oh I think you are very courageous and clever Mary. You need to be strong for Milo remember.’
‘I want to see Milo, but the doctor said he was still very sick.’
‘Yes, but Dr. Fleury told me he is making good progress. I’m sure you’ll be able to see him soon.’
‘I hope so Marie. I miss him.’
‘I’ll see what I can do Mary,’ Marie said, and paused for a moment. ‘Mary, I’m trying to find out a little more about Sootere. Do you feel like helping me with a few things?’
‘Like what Marie?’
‘Well, do you remember anything about your job?’
‘Yes of course. I was working in ARC.’
‘ARC?’
‘Alpha Reality Control.’
‘Okay. Right. And what did you do?’
‘I looked after the files. The files of clients.’
‘And what details were in the files?’
‘The erasure and re-imaging dates. Their encephalon, chimeryon or formyon status. Termination dates. That sort of thing.’
‘What are encephalon, chimeryon and formyon?’
‘Oh that’s the status of the mind map. Either in storage or imaginary state, or in a body.’
‘And what are you Mary?’
‘Well, in Sootere, Anne and I were formyon. But something went wrong. Or George did something wrong, because a formyon should only have one mind map. But he found a way to put two minds in a single formyon.’
‘Like Milo and Michael?’
‘Yes.’
‘Were there anymore formyons with two minds?’
‘Only one. But the mistake was discovered and their minds were erased.’
‘How did you know?’
‘Anne knew.’
‘Right. So when you completed the details of these clients, did you ever lose any? What I mean is, did you have any that disappeared?’
‘No never.’
‘So what would happen if a client couldn’t be found?’
‘There was a report to complete. But only in emergencies. I never had to do one.’
‘So do you think someone would have completed one of these reports about you and Milo?’
‘Oh yes. Especially if our tracking eyes couldn’t be found.’
‘Do you know where the reports went?’
‘To a supervisor.’
‘And then?’
‘I don’t know Marie. I’m sorry.’
‘That’s okay Mary. Don’t worry. That’s fine,’ Marie said, and realised Mary was tiring. ‘I’m just going to check on Milo now. I’ll let you have a rest and see you later. Okay?’
‘Oh yes Marie. Please give Milo a hug for me.’
‘Will do Mary. A big hug for sure.’
Milo was still sedated, so Marie checked at the nurse’s station. Milo’s condition was improving and Dr. Fleury would probably decide later in the day if the sedation could be reduced. Marie decided to take a break and have a coffee in the cafeteria, as it was going to be a boring day of just hanging around the hospital and checking on Mary and Milo until Dr. Fleury arrived later in the afternoon. She was glad she had a book to read in her handbag. One of her collection of eleven Agatha Christie novels she had bought recently from a second hand bookshop.
After lunch she went back up to the secure wards with the hope of finding out a little more from Mary. Unluckily, Mary was sleeping, so Marie sat in the waiting area just down the corridor from Mary and Milo’s wards and got back to reading her book. An hour later her eyelids were drooping from reading for too long and her head was nodding as she almost started falling asleep.
‘Noooooooooooooo! Oh my god! Noooooooooo!’ woke Marie from her snooze in an instant. She looked up and saw one of the nurses at the nurse’s station fall to the floor. She ran towards her and instantly saw the gunshot wound to her head. Her assistant was screaming uncontrollably in shock and nurses and orderlies were running in all directions. Marie’s immediate reaction was to attend to the shot nurse, but turned on her heels and ran to check Milo. Drawing her gun as she ran the few meters. She arrived at the door and was shocked to see a man in a balaclava aiming a gun with a silencer at Milo’s head.
‘Drop the gun!’ she shouted, and the man instantly turned his weapon towards Marie. She fired without hesitation hitting him in the chest. As he was falling to the floor of the ward, Marie jumped forward and grabbed the revolver from his hand, throwing it towards the door. The man tried to grab her, but weakened by the shot to his chest, she had little trouble in resisting and stepped back slightly and kept her gun trained on him.
‘Call the police!’ she shouted to no one in particular, and then watched as the man she had shot breathed his last breath. Her gun in her trembling hand was still trained on him, as she froze in shock momentarily. Even when a nurse came running to check Milo, Marie still had her gun aimed at the body and pool of blood on the floor.
Two security guards arrived in what was only mere seconds after the nurse had been shot, to find the carnage. As one attended to the fallen nurse, now surrounded by sobbing and screaming staff, the other went to Marie. He took the gun from Marie’s trembling hand after checking that the body on the floor was dead. He then guided her from the ward and back to the waiting area. He filled a plastic cup with water and handed it to Marie silently. Time seemed to stand still for Marie until the sound of arriving sirens woke her a little from her stupor.
‘Milo. I must check on Milo and Mary,’ she said, with a noticeable tremor in her voice. The security guard tried to reach out to stop her but she was already away. A nurse was in the room with Milo.
‘Is he okay?’
‘Yes,’ the shaken nurse confirmed. Marie then ran to Mary.
‘Oh Mary. Are you all right?’
‘Yes Marie. What happened? People are screaming.’
‘There was a problem Mary. It’s all under control now though. Don’t worry.’
‘And Milo?’
‘He’s okay Mary. Don’t worry.’
‘What happened?’
‘It’s all right now Mary. A man went crazy. It’s all over.’
‘You’re shaking Marie.’
‘It’s okay Mary. Really. I’ll be back to check on you later. All right?’
‘Yes Marie. Yes.’
Marie returned to the waiting area and sat as calmly as she could. She took some deep breaths.
‘Are you all right m’am?’ the security guard asked.
‘Yes. Fine. Thanks, really I’m fine.’
Marie started to calm just a little and then realised what had happened. Someone had wanted to kill Milo and Mary. As there were no security guards posted to the wards of Mary and Milo, it must have seemed like a simple task. It was just sheer luck that she was there, and armed. It was then immediately obvious that someone didn’t want Milo and Mary to talk. Sootere had come to the surface and they wanted their escapees dead.
As police started to flood the area, a man came towards Marie.
‘Barbara. I�
��m Martin. Let’s go.’ Marie hesitated for a second. ‘Now Barbara. Let’s go now.’ Marie rose and followed Martin.
Chapter 16 - Battle Stations
‘I’m sorry to have had to call you all together urgently and so late,’ the Swiss president said, as he addressed his six colleagues of the Federal Council to start their meeting at two am. ‘Just after one thirty this afternoon, an attempt was made to kill one, or perhaps more likely, both of the persons claiming to be from the human experimentation laboratory below CERN. By sheer chance, an armed policewoman was there to garner information from the two persons and was able to prevent the assassination attempt. Unfortunately however, a nurse at HUG was fatally shot during the incident.’
‘And the situation now?’ Alfred Letsch asked.
‘The location has been secured by the secret services and the Geneva Police. An investigation is already underway.’
‘Do you have any information on the assassin?’ Françoise Klausner asked hesitantly.
‘The assassin was shot by the policewoman, and he died at the scene. Preliminary investigations lead us to believe that he was Russian, but we haven’t been able to identify him.’
‘And the two escapees?’
‘They are both still in intensive care but were unscathed by the attack.’
‘They will need to be moved to a more secure location,’ Marc Guyer added.
‘Yes. Measures are being decided on as we speak. Due to their medical condition, it’s not as simple as just finding a secure location for them. The secret services are discussing options with the doctors to see what can be done. The last message I received said that a military base medical facility might be possible. I’ll have more information by morning I believe.’
‘So this is clearly not a secret anymore. Someone knows about the escapees,’ Guyer said, and stated what was on all their minds.
‘I don’t think I need much more information to assume that this facility exists after all,’ Klausner stated and continued. ‘An assassination attempt such as this clearly signals to me that someone wants this information kept secret or at least covered up. I smell trouble ahead.’