by James Somers
Jason missed Sarah. His blood boiled, as he looked over to the distorted image of Wraith. When the new handler introduced himself, it startled the whole team. “I am the senior director of Babylon. You probably know me as Charlie.”
Jason had expected an issue to be made about the team’s failure to get Solomon Gauge, but he hadn’t expected the head-man to handle the debriefing personally. This could only mean trouble.
Charlie questioned Jason first. “Agent Nightstalker, would you care to explain why you failed to terminate both mission objectives?”
“Well, sir, to be honest, we had no idea what we would be dealing with. Gauge is obviously highly trained. He caught us by complete surprise. Had our information been more accurate—”
Charlie cut him off. “Agent Nightstalker, have you never taken out a highly trained individual before?”
“Yes, sir, but—”
“It seems apparent that you simply botched this mission, not to mention getting Agent Wraith captured by the IDF.”
Hatter tried to redirect. “Actually, sir, Wraith was rendered unconscious by Gauge when he tried to engage him.”
“Which became necessary when Agent Nightstalker lost Gauge initially. In fact it was only Agent Wraith’s quick thinking that got us our mole. If I’m not mistaken, the mole was your assigned target. Isn’t that correct, Agent Nightstalker?”
“Yes, sir, but there was also the bus bomb that took place on the street. We were hampered from our initial acquisition by the bomb.”
Charlie shook his head, laughing behind the static screen. “Agent Nightstalker, you seem bent on excuses. It’s quite apparent that you are no longer the man I want leading this team. Only Agent Wraith made a kill and he fixed your fumble by escaping from the IDF without your assistance. He even terminated a long forgotten target in the process.”
Jason fumed silently. The hammer had come down. There was nothing he could do about it. There was no denying that they had lost Gauge, and he was responsible as the team leader. Wraith had done what Charlie said, but Jason still hated him—even more because of Sarah. He wasn’t sure what might have been done differently in the situation, but that didn’t change the fact that they had been outsmarted by their target, or his responsibility in the matter.
Charlie continued, relentlessly laying the blame squarely on Nightstalker’s shoulders. “You also lost the target despite repeated moments of encountering him: the café, the alley, in the Lynwood towers several different times, and finally Gauge escaped you on the roof of the building!”
“Yes, sir.” Jason took the lashing solemnly. He had no excuse.
“Agent Nightstalker, I’m very disappointed in your performance on this mission.” He turned to Wraith. “These are mistakes I hope you will not make, Agent Wraith, as you assume command of this team.”
“What?” Jason had not expected this.
“Sir?” Neither had Wraith, though he was clearly elated.
“That’s correct, gentlemen. Agent Wraith will replace Nightstalker as team leader, effective immediately.”
“Sir, I don’t think—”
“Do you have some problem working under Agent Wraith’s command, Nightstalker?” Charlie cut to the chase.
“Well, sir, there have been problems in the past. Frankly, Agent Wraith is well known for the kind of overkill that could easily lead to international incidents.” Jason hoped reason would win out.
“Honestly, Nightstalker, I think overkill would have been a better idea on this mission, than your fumbling and under-kill.”
“Sir, I’d like to make a formal request for a transfer to another team, in light of this incident.” Jason was determined not to end up under Wraith’s command. He would sooner kill him out of revenge, than follow the man’s orders.
Charlie did not budge. “I’m afraid not. Whatever your personal issues with Agent Wraith might be, that is of no concern to me. You will do your job and follow Commander Wraith’s orders to the letter.”
Never! The thought reverberated in his mind. He couldn’t possibly follow Wraith. The man had killed Sarah, not to mention the fact that he was completely ruthless and bloodthirsty. As far as Jason was concerned that made him extremely dangerous to the team. He had been pushed to the limit, and there was only one decision that he could make now. “Sir, I request to be decommissioned.”
The others might as well have turned to stone. No one even breathed as the statement hung in the air.
Finally, Charlie stirred and spoke. “Are you quite sure that you are willing to leave Babylon, Agent Nightstalker?”
“Sir, under the circumstances, I am very sure.”
“Well, then I expect you to report in forty-eight hours for a mind-wipe to remove any information concerning our organization, before you are retired.”
Hatter pleaded with his eyes and repetitive hand gestures for Jason to reconsider leaving. Even with his actions blurred behind a static screen, Jason still knew what Hatter was trying to convey. He had always been very supportive of Jason’s command.
Jason waved him off. This was what he had been pushed to do, and he wasn’t going to back down from his decision. Thoughts had been swirling in his head over the last few days. Although they were merely half-considered at the time, he was now willing to implement them.
“I’ll report in forty-eight hours, sir.”
“In that case, Agent Nightstalker, you may consider yourself decommissioned. You are all dismissed.”
Jason nodded behind his static screen, and dissolved his link with the virtual debriefing room. His blurred image faded from the room, leaving the others behind with Charlie.
“Gentlemen, in light of this new development, I think it is best that we resume this debriefing at a later time. Agents Mad Hatter and Rogue, you are dismissed for the time being. Commander Wraith will contact you with your next assignment.”
The two agents stood and saluted the blurred image of Charlie then dissolved their links, leaving only Charlie and Wraith in the virtual room.
“Well, that was unexpected.” Wraith removed his static screen. “I never thought he would actually quit Babylon.”
Charlie removed his static screen, leaving Oliver Theed sitting in the chair. “What else could he do? Did you think he would actually serve under your command? You killed the woman he wanted to marry.”
“So you maneuvered him into that decision?”
Oliver stared through steepled fingers. “I hate to lose a good agent, but Nightstalker’s involvement with Sarah Cross has made him an unpredictable liability.”
“Do you think he will actually show up for the mind-wipe?”
“Of course, he won’t. He’ll try to run.”
“And?”
“And you kill him.”
Wraith’s smile made it clear he had been hoping for that.
“Don’t be too happy about it, Wraith. Nightstalker is still one of the best. If I was him, I would expect Babylon to eliminate me.”
Wraith smiled. “Even better. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.”
Jason sat in a plush leather chair in his open living room. He removed his upload headset. He was dressed casually in a pair of elastic plaid pajama pants and a blue t-shirt. An orange sun dropped below the mountains through his broad picture window. Shadows slowly crawled across the living room furniture. Alfred stood across the room from him, watching.
Jason looked at him, exasperated. “Well, Alfred, I’ve quit Babylon.”
“So I heard.”
“I had no choice, Alfred. They placed Wraith in my position as team leader. There’s no way I could’ve served under him.”
“I see.” Alfred lowered his gaze to the floor. “So then, they simply let you quit the organization?”
Jason gave Alfred a thoughtful look. “Do you think they wouldn’t let me decommission?”
“Well—”
“Alfred, your honest opinion?”
“No, sir, they wouldn’t simply let you
decommission.” Jason listened to every calculated word. “Babylon is an organization that cannot afford loose ends. That is precisely what you become when you leave it. All the more, since you have been privy to so much information and have been one of their best operatives. You are too valuable to let go of so easily. The fact that Babylon would allow you to just quit leaves me with one conclusion.”
“They’re going to kill me,” Jason said.
They remained silent for a moment. The sun sank beneath the mountain completely. The automatic illumination brightened outside on the grounds. The artificial lighting cast Jason and Alfred’s forms half in shadow, half in light.
Jason finally broke the silence. “Options?”
“I see two clear options, sir. First, you could attempt to run. Given your training, you might be successful.”
“But I would be looking over my shoulder every moment, waiting for them to catch up to me.”
Alfred continued. “Or you could wait for them and fight.”
“My chances aren’t good there either, are they?”
“Well, sir, you aren’t exactly alone.” Alfred grinned. “And you do have the home-court advantage.”
Jason cocked an eyebrow. “True, my friend.” He pulled himself up out of the chair. “They’ll probably bring more agents with them for a mission like this, and strike soon, maybe even tonight.”
“Almost certainly, sir, and they will likely bring extra firepower, as well.”
Jason nodded then strode across the room, past Alfred. “Come on, old friend. Let’s get this place ready for a surprise party. We want everything to be ready when our friends arrive.”
GAUNTLET
It was four o’ clock in the morning when the team under Wraith’s command, began their approach toward the home of one Jason Night, codename: Nightstalker. Twenty men made their way toward the perimeter wall of the former agent’s estate. It consisted of a palatial three level, contemporary home situated on ten acres of prime real estate in Zurich, Switzerland. Oddly, every light that should have illuminated the grounds was dark.
As Wraith’s voice murmured commands in the ears of the unusually large team, Hatter noticed that his new commander never made mention of the lights. Wraith completely focused on the objective of killing his former boss to the exclusion of the obvious. Hatter paused in his advance as the others continued on unabated at equidistant positions around the perimeter wall of the estate.
Hatter looked at a dark lamppost near him. This is a trap. Nightstalker knows we’re coming, and that idiot, Wraith, is leading us right into it.
The team stopped short of the wall, scanning for the alarm system. It was on. Wraith gave the command. Each agent removed a small silver cylinder from their uniform and activated it. The cylinders took a fraction of a second to locate and adapt to the frequency of the alarm system. Then it was safe to place the cylinders on the wall at each of the agent’s positions. It had the effect of dampening the system to allow a man to scale the wall without triggering the alarm.
The agents all tapped on their perceptor control pads and were instantly rendered invisible—even their body heat signatures were undetectable now. At Wraith’s command, the men scaled the perimeter wall. The alarm system remained silent, as expected. Wraith had pulled Hatter aside, before their mission began, to let him know that any dissension on his part would get him ghosted on the spot.
Babylon had now called Nightstalker a traitor. They provided information indicating that he and the mole, Sarah Cross, had even been planning to get married prior to Jerusalem. Video footage of the two together in a restaurant in Zurich had removed any doubt from the other agents, but Hatter knew that none of it made any sense.
He proceeded over the wall with the others, hoping with all of his heart that his former boss had already had the foresight to flee the country. Disappointment flooded Hatter’s mind as he saw the signal from Nightstalker’s auditory receiver, a blinking red dot, through his CLD’s.
Jason was home, motionless on the second floor. Jason might have removed it and left the receiver behind, he thought. But he knew the receiver wouldn’t produce a signal without power. That power drew from the electrical impulses of the agent’s body.
Through their CLD’s, the agents saw several infrared beams sweeping across the grounds at just below waist height. The team began to cross the huge manicured lawn on their bellies to avoid the beams emanating from several stone planters surrounding the house. Beyond these, a patio area appeared to be clear of warning systems.
After several minutes, crawling up to the perimeter of the patio area surrounding the house, the men cautiously stood again, brandishing their weapons. All of their gun clips were loaded with Acid Rain capsules.
Hatter released the safety on his weapon and gave the house a scrutinizing look. This is too easy. The thought nagged him again and again. He could not see any of the other nineteen agents except for their auditory receiver signatures. This way they could be invisible to everyone else and yet not end up shooting one another.
The other agents moved toward the perimeter of the house, gathering near several obvious entry points. They prepared more sensory nullifying cylinders in order to allow them through any other alarm fields. Hatter looked toward the upper level. He still saw the blinking red dot, indicating Nightstalker’s auditory receiver.
As the other agents gained entrance to the house, Hatter saw the blue dots from their receiver signals pouring into the residence and fanning out. The suspicion that this was a trap simply would not go away. He tapped the control pad on his forearm, switching through several different visual parameters for his contact lens displays.
He paused when he reached the thermal imaging option—something glowed on his body. A heat signature glowed on the front surface of his uniform, but it wasn’t from his own body. Hatter looked back behind him only to find that all of their crawl trails were outlined by the same glowing thermal signature. Looking back to the house, he could easily make out the forms of all nineteen agents, silhouetted by the same thermal trail. They had walked into Nightstalker’s trap!
Slowly, very slowly, Jason rose from the cool water in his Olympic size swimming pool. He was extremely careful to move gradually, so that the water would run off quietly. He only brought his head and capsule gun above the surface. He, too, had enveloped himself in virtual invisibility with perceptor tech and masked his body heat in the cold water.
Jason watched the curious lone agent who had waited outside while the others stormed the house. The agent had been covered in the liquid heat chemical that Jason had sprayed over the lawn earlier. Friction, like that produced by a man scooting his body across the ground, activated the heat-producing quality of the chemical. The lone agent, along with all of the others, had been rendered completely visible under thermal imaging.
In the corner of his CLD visual, Jason noticed that the agent’s identity was given—Mad Hatter. He liked Hatter. No matter what had happened, he didn’t like the thought of having to kill the man.
Jason tapped his finger against the magazine control button on the side of the capsule gun, switching it to the tranquilizer ammunition. He placed an infrared bead on his friend. Hatter’s neck and head were the only exposed portions of his body. Jason fired one round. Hatter quickly slapped the impact point, like someone swatting a horsefly. He fell to the ground. Now you’ll be safe, old friend.
Zeroing in on the other agents, Jason saw that they were following the signal produced by his auditory receiver. The device was now in motion—running through the house as the agents, bathed in liquid heat, took up pursuit. The auditory receiver needed contact with a living organism for power, and that was exactly what Jason had given it.
Jason’s cat now wore the auditory receiver. She ran scared by the intruders who had breached the house. Jason saw all of the agents very clearly, but he remained hidden from them. Time to make his move.
Alfred waited inside the dark house. The agents were tracking his
master’s auditory receiver signal as Snowball the cat fled from the intruders. Alfred listened with auditory sensors that could have heard their cautious footsteps from hundreds of yards away.
Snowball erupted into the living room, bounding fearfully over the sofa then into the kitchen beyond. Ten of the agents followed her into the room, supposing that they were tracking Agent Nightstalker in the dark. Alfred pivoted around the bookcase he was hiding behind, firing capsules into the agents with deadly accuracy.
He avoided the armor, going strictly for head shots. The other agents scrambled for cover, but there really wasn’t much to help them in the living room. Alfred took each of them out. There remained only one agent. Alfred took aim on the man. The agent screamed for help.
A barrage of capsule fire erupted into the room, battering Alfred and the wall around him. He retreated momentarily as more agents entered the living room.
A voice from the kitchen spoke in the dark. “Give it up, Night!” Alfred immediately recognized the voice as Wraith, now leading his master’s former team.
“Oh, and a very funny trick with your cat!” He threw an object into the living room.
It hit the sofa cushion then fell onto the floor. Alfred saw that it was Snowball’s body. Poor Snowball. He had liked the cat. It had spent hours petted on his lap while he accessed information from the World Mind and watched transmissions.
“Did you come here to kill my cat, Wraith?” Jason shouted from the hallway. He fired on more agents. His accuracy wasn’t quite as good as Alfred’s, but his master still managed to take down a few more of the assassins.
Alfred spotted one of Wraith’s team bringing his arm out from the wall, trying to lob a cluster grenade down the hall. Alfred took aim fast, blasting the agent’s hand holding the grenade. It exploded. Shrapnel clusters killed all of the agents nearby and destroyed several adjoining partition walls and a portion of the ceiling.