Now Sandy saw how the march had grown immensely. The throng was so big that it was spanning the whole width of the Bay Bridge from Oakland to San Francisco. Only the ferries below were going anywhere in the immediate future.
The ensuing madness in the Bay Area was just a small world snapshot though, as the Sheep rising had brought something out in the world, and it was incredible to see it come to fruition.
The Sheep had helped the World realize that the U.S., Russia, and China didn’t own the World. The situation in China was especially disturbing right now as word was getting out of a crackdown that was rivaling Tiananmen Square. Military use was in play, yet there were no protests other than peaceful ones, as usual there.
The World was really coming apart. People turned on each other almost immediately. He took a drink of wine and wondered, what would it take to set it all off?
Sandy was sure that once the Sheep rise to their full power that the whole world foundation was going to rumble apart from a massive people earthquake! The TV screen fluctuated once again and he uttered out loud “Uh oh, here we go again.” He called Claire, who was in the kitchen, “Come watch with me Claire, things are getting interesting again.”
The Jesuit Sheep appeared and began speaking,
“Brothers and Sisters of the Earth, as you must know by now, the great change I spoke of previously is in progress. South America has no more telecommunications or military satellites. They’re all gone. The Cleansing Satellite is now moving to the Western Hemisphere. As we have seen around the World, the message is clear, the People want this change.
“Unfortunately the United States’ willingness to openly use nuclear weapons is an act that made us stop and pause. That is not the change we seek. We don’t want this situation to become more of a nuclear catastrophe than it already has been. Although we also used such a weapon, we did it as a ‘one time’ attack on a plague that had the Earth’s youth in a death grip. The U.S. used their bomb simply because they were losing. We really are trying to save the planet, not destroy it. So effective immediately, we have stopped the Killer Sheep Satellite, as I hear it referred to by the media. We’ve put the satellite on a re-entry course that will have it destroyed within a very short time.
Change must come to the world, but how that change comes is now up to you, the people. We’ve led the way, we’ve shown the path, but we cannot do it for you. It’s going to take more than prayer. It’s going to take action. So people of the Earth, we step aside. We have paused as the ‘Harbingers of Change,’ and become the ‘Watchmen.’
“Our resources have been revealed to the World Powers and they have not been diminished. Our Military Machine can be restarted at any time and trust me when I say, we will. So make no mistakes, the new reality is that you are either with us or you are against us. If the latter is your choice, then I pray God accepts you into Heaven. So let this warning be your wake-up-call. People of the Earth, let this be the start of a New World Order, one where God and His Word have meaning, both for individuals and countries. One thing’s for sure, and that is God wants this change. He instructed me and I have carried out his Word. This was the first of many coming Biblical Prophecies unless there is true and immediate change. The message given to me is undeniable, if you don’t make this change happen, then He will!
“This is our last chance to stop the madness that we allowed money to create. We either return to the values that were given to us by God, in both the Old and New Testaments, or we will all pay the heavy price of Damnation, both on Earth and in Eternity. IT IS THE WORD OF GOD! So Religions of the World take heed, we all call upon one god or another, so turn this any way that fits you, but make no mistake about it, this god I speak of is also your God. Atrocities committed in the name of Him are first on the list of things to stop. It’s all there, the Word of God is printed and if you don’t want to read it, then I will give you the short version, ‘Pray daily, be kind to yourself and your neighbors, and respect the Earth.’ It’s that simple.
“You don’t really have a choice people as we’ll still be here and we’ll still be watching. If the Word of God is not played out all over the World immediately, then we’ll be back and we won’t stop until all things you covet are gone! Now go out and make it happen. Return to a more simple life and humble existence and you will return to His graces. Good luck with the change and may peace be with you all.”
* * *
Sarah watched with approval, the people in the Production Department were pretty amazing. Once Matt made them aware of the broadcast booth, everything else was a piece of cake. Hurst, how can anybody not be thinking about that poor kid, never being trained and thrust into this situation; masterfully bringing it down the way he did as if he were a seasoned agent. It shouldn’t surprise me; he’s the man who brought down Beck!
As smart as Sarah was, she didn’t realize how traumatized she was by Beck’s abuse until she’d sought some counseling after he died. Matt freed her from the bonds of a truly evil man, and her feelings of indebtedness were making watching this scene especially excruciating as she now had to observe this hero go through the unthinkable, and she was helpless to aid him.
It was just one of those scenes you wished you never had to see, the ones that make even the veteran cops step outside and weep. It was the call coming to the house and finding Mommy dead and a small child inside saying, “I can’t wake Mommy up.” Matt just wouldn’t let her go, and Sarah had never seen anything so gut wrenching in her life.
The medical team literally had to sedate him to separate them. Sarah couldn’t even imagine the level of coldness Matt had to reach to be able shoot and kill the woman carrying his unborn child.
She looked around. This place was unbelievable. Her team was airing out the fourth sub level now, trying to get to the rooms where the dead Video Soldiers were. What was it Matt referred to them as? Oh yeah, he referred to them as the “Ant Hill,” but did not elaborate further on the moniker.
During his quick debriefing, Matt informed her that they had dogs here as their sentries. He furthered he was in charge of them, but let them go when the action started. Sarah walked over to the fortified window and looked out over the compound. Hurst requested that a roundup be done, as apparently one of the dogs was very important to him.
He said he put a Kevlar vest on him so he should be easy to find. As she looked out she wondered about the significance of having such a huge window in a fortified bunker? Kind of like the old joke about having a screen door on a submarine. From the beginning, very little of this has made sense. Initially, there didn’t seem to be an ulterior motive either, as this Pablo Manuel really thought he was delivering the Word of God.
She drifted back to debriefing Hurst while he was holding the girl, how are they ever going to find the right side of normal for him? He’s going to have a lot to deal with when this all comes to fruition.
If Hurst became known, his potential CIA life was over. So the greatest accidental hero in world history will have to become a historical ambiguity. He will have to try to re-enter society, which will be nearly impossible seeing all of his last two years are classified. Sarah was pretty sure he’d overcome this and choose career, that way he can stay autonomous. I’m definitely going to see Frederick this week as all of this has brought back those Beck thoughts again.
For years she’d hid it and denied it, but that night she and Beck went out and got drunk, Beck date-raped her and her life had never been the same since.
Somehow Beck had gotten into her head and into her self-esteem without her even realizing it. When she woke up in the morning after their drinking binge, it was evident that she’d had sex the night before and although she couldn’t remember, she knew she didn’t consent. Yet I did nothing.
The two of them never talked about it, but he always had that inside look, that sick, smarmy smirk that he had the real story about Sarah Berkman. Frederick figured it out for her and it was like unstopping a drain. For years she couldn’t figure out
why she wasn’t able to garner lasting relationships. She’d always thought it was the job, but what it really turned out to be was the fact she had been violated.
She’d never dealt with it, always pushing the facts under the rug, always coming up with some lame excuse about the alcohol being the culprit. As soon as she’d found her way to the truth through Frederick’s counseling, the horror of what Beck had done to her almost crushed her soul. She was internally sent into a spiral that some people never pull out of.
Of course, just when she was just starting to heal and regain her old confidence, she somehow ends up face-to-face with Beck’s other rape victim. Even though the girl was dead, all of that shame and rage and horror just shot right back through her. So not only was she being torn apart watching the most gut wrenching thing she’d ever seen in Hurst, but she was also being torn apart by having all her own shit come flooding back by seeing Beck’s other victim.
Matt Hurst will one day hear from me how grateful I am that he took that shot. That I never had to testify against that fucking creep! To look across the room and see his deviant face being protected by some low-life lawyer.
Sarah knew that Beck’s defense team would have had that night turned around to where she was the one all over him. That’s the reason she buried it and denied it happened, while continuing to work for the man who raped her. Matt’s bravery in pulling that trigger liberated her in a way she had no clue was coming. Then, when Bob told her that Beck was never the one who was getting his desk, it was going to be her all along, she just about dropped dead from the shock.
Right after promoting him, Bob saw the error of his ways and was slowly planning to undo Beck’s career before he retired. One of those changes was to give Beck’s job to Sarah. But with Beck alive still, that would have been worse than anything for her and only she knew why. She would have felt he was coming for her from that moment on, and knowing what Ken Beck was capable of, it terrified her beyond all reason.
Sarah looked at the activity around the compound and thought back on Hurst’s words about his plan to reverse the rising tide of unrest he saw on the news. His exact words were, “This will stop them in their fucking tracks.” Not too eloquent, but to the point. She, as well as her superiors, believed it would do just that.
What a story this all was: how he survived, what he became part of, and how he was able to convince the one person in the entire CIA who had stuck with him even though a lot of the evidence was to the contrary? It was too bad no one would ever know what happened to Matt Hurst if he chooses career. Talk about a number one best seller!
* * *
She watched his car pull away once more. This time Ray’s visit was sanctioned and Jan shielded the sun from her face as she watched his car move all the way down the block. When she walked back into the house, both Matt’s Mom and Dad were crying. Jon Jon was taking a nap, which was good, as no little boy should have to always keep asking, “Why are you crying, Mommy?”
She couldn’t help it, and she tried to be strong around him, but sometimes he would do something Matt would do, or have a certain look and it was just too much. The three of them hugged for a long time. Finally Sherry sobbed, “I just don’t understand why we can’t see him?”
Ray had told them that his re-entry into society and family would be a slow process. Although he came out physically untouched, he was a real mental wreck right now. Jan noticed how Ray used the right words for the right people. These weren’t people to discuss what clinical disposition he had, as they just wanted what she wanted, their son back.
Jan was brought another surprise. It was a packet. It had two years’ worth of back pay stubs and all his documents for his employment in the Central Intelligence Agency. They had their own money now, she saw, enough to buy a house!
Ray added, “He’s got some decisions to make when he’s healthy enough to make them, including if he’s going to continue working for us or not.” Jan thought, all of this was really nice, but really nothing has changed, he’s still gone, just safer. Ray was reading her mind when he said, “Whatever your old norm was, that’s over.”
Then he did the best thing one soldier could do for another. He let Don know exactly what his son stopped. Even Matt’s own father was in disbelief, “That’s what this was really all about? I figured that the Sheep was just telling people what they wanted to hear.”
Ray said, “He was a real zealot and he would have destroyed the World’s currency and sent everyone over the cliff.” Ray brought them all around and left them in a lot better shape than when he came. Outside, he told Jan the rest, about how Matt survived the last two years.
She knew their life was never going to be the same, but it had never occurred to Jan that Matt had stayed with that woman the whole time. She was under the assumption that what her husband did in Tahoe years ago was something that happened in Survival Mode. Now Ray had brought her the reality that Matt had been with this Vera for two years and killed her and this Pablo Manuel to end this.
Ray was right not to mention this news in front of Don. She looked at the business card Ray gave her, “Frederick Tedesco.” Ray said he was a friend and Special Liaison to the Agency. He insisted she go and talk with him. She walked into Matt’s room, his son sleeping on the bed. It was a mixed blessing type of day. She would have her husband back, and they wouldn’t need to borrow money from her dad to get the house she’d always wanted, guilt tripping Matt about it constantly.
But with severe consternation she worried, am I getting a broken man as well? On the guilt-tripping front, she realized she did a lot of that and vowed to change her ways, but now she was also going to have to forgive his infidelity. Not that it sounded like he had any choice. She wondered, did he truly love this Vera? And started to cry again. It just never ended in her head and she lay down with Jon Jon and cried herself into a fitful nap.
* * *
Vlad ordered the lobster again. He loved lobster. Being deprived so long, one tends to overindulge. He had just eaten yet another fantastic lunch at Chez Mélange, as he was becoming a regular at the beachfront restaurant. After enough large tips to his favorite maître ď, he was always waved to his favorite table upon entry, regardless of the lines.
He looked in the reflection of the window back at himself. His now jet-black hair and newly bronzed body made him almost unrecognizable to his own mother. He’d decided after the bomb that he would not go into hiding. They were going to have their hands full and they would be looking for the old him, not the new Vlad Korzinin.
They would not be hunting the spectacled, muscled, tanned, and dark haired man that looked back at him. Next week the plastic surgeon is going to make it even better. He knew the dangers of being “out,” but living “in” was no better than being a rat in a cage. The French Riviera was an amazing place for the other things he had been denied for so long and he wasn’t in a hurry to leave it.
He walked out to the beach passing two topless girls that said hello in a manner he was getting more and more of nowadays. He laid out his blanket and got out the sunscreen. One had to take this UV thing seriously and tan right, or he won’t live long enough to spend all his money.
He applied it liberally over his body and lay back, soaking in the warm sun. Today seemed to be hotter than yesterday though, although it wasn’t forecasted so. Very suddenly he was uncomfortably warm, flush even. Maybe I should get an umbrella and get out of the noonday sun today? He went to get up but his body wouldn’t respond.
It was that precise moment that he’d realized what was happening. His chest tightened and his breathing became seriously labored to the point he felt like an Anaconda was squeezing him to death. They found me was his terrified thought and three minutes after that, the Anaconda won. The man who betrayed his country had been tracked down and eliminated. A simple hang-up call back home to an old girlfriend had done him in.
The team moved out, video footage of their endeavor had been streamed live to the computer of the man who’d
made it happen. He’ll be another heart attack victim taken too young, thought Thion. He walked into his boss’s office. “It’s done.”
“Good, now we just have nine more to hunt down. How could our predecessors have been so naïve, Thion? How could they think those agents wouldn’t one day either defect or get ideas?”
“Because, Miro, we thought the war inevitable. We were told these people wanted to kill us our whole lives. You yourself believed it until a few short years ago.”
“Yes, Thion, it is true. But now we have this situation and soon they will know. Then we will be faced with what to do.”
“That’s simple, Miro, we will lie. Do not think for a second that your new friendship will survive that revelation. It was an ill-conceived plan, but to reveal it cannot be done. We just need to find the ones still in place and remove them. We then kill the rest before they can sell their bombs or use them.” Thion placed his hand on his leaders shoulder, “If pressed, then we can say they were all thought to have been destroyed as a result of the Arms Limitation Agreement between our two countries.”
Miro thought about that one, “Do you think they would use Wildfire?”
Thion, emphatically answered, “Yes, and there is one more thing we need to talk to them about right away.
“And what might that be, Thion?”
“That the new technology they retrieve from that bunker is shared with their new friends, lest we start a new Cold War.”
“I hadn’t thought of that. I’m sure if we ask in the right way, they’ll give us something. We know the questions to ask.”
“It’s what we don’t know that worries me. Did they just get the upper hand on us, Miro?”
“The whole world landscape is changing fast, Thion. We have much work to do to keep up with where things are going. Remember, we really do need them as much as they need us. If we don’t feel they are being truthful, then a new Cold War will start, but if they are being truthful, it could make the world safer for everyone.”
And the Meek Shall Inherit (Harbinger of Change Book 2) Page 19