by Hylton Smith
“And you have no idea where, geographically, your instructions are coming from?”
Prometheus thought on this and eventually said, “Not specifically, the transmission always carries a central signature but as a forwarded attachment. I have not been able to see any pattern because they correspond to different locations each time. However, I sometimes have to query instructions before executing them because of duplication of personnel codes. It is likely that the replies, if the case in point is urgent, will be sent directly. I will dig into my retained files to see if that produces any pattern.”
Konrad thanked him and said he would check in again from Madrid.
Chapter 21
Manuel and Konrad
As he prepared to leave for Madrid, Manuel asked Butragueno to call by his hotel. He began by saying he hoped that she would respect what he was about to tell her. “I need your help and your understanding in this delicate matter. When Konrad was born my mother agreed to act as if he was her own. She knew the identity of my father’s lover, and also knew about the payoff she had been given by my father to give up her child, without any requirement for future access. This amounted to a very comfortable living for this woman. What my mother didn’t know was that from an early age my father had abused me frequently. I had just about got to the point of telling my mother when he said that if ever anyone found out about ‘our little secret’ he would lose his job, and we would be so poor that Konrad would have to go to an orphanage. It ensured my silence until he switched his attention to Konrad himself. For some reason I can’t explain, I felt worse about my helpless little brother than I had when I was the target. I made the mistake of mentioning the nightmare to my father’s brother, uncle Sebastien, and they had an almighty row one day when mother was out. Sebastien tried to convince my father that he had observed disturbing gestures toward Konrad. He was trying to keep me out of it. Not long after, my uncle lost his job, and I was too young to suspect it was my father’s doing, but he tried to tell me he had talked to father and was satisfied that I was mistaken. The abuse stopped. Konrad and I never discussed it. It has now come full circle and my mother is at the centre of his filthy legacy. I need to trace this woman covertly, because she stands to lose her comfort zone, when his will is read, unless he has provided for her. It would be appreciated if you could try to find her while I help my mother with the various arrangements. I’m really sorry to ask this of you, but at least you now know of some of my father’s disgusting secrets. He was a man of insatiable greed. When I was older and escaped the suffocating family nightmare, I tried to rationalise what had happened to me during that time. It was impossible to place oneself in the mind of a man who obviously had no respect for his wife, took a lover, and at the same time abused his children, all of this being underpinned by a relentless craving for power. I feel that I’m so close to revealing the missing pieces, but I’ll never have closure. Can you do this for me?”
“Of course. What’s her name?”
“Sandrine Benitez.” She hugged him and they parted, with tears streaming down each other’s face.
*
During the meeting between Pierze and Gretz, the latter received a message; his secretary laid it on his desk pad. “Well that is a surprise.” He passed it Pierze. It was a report from the Moon stating – ‘Two new habitats landed. One either side of the second in the series, so all three of those run tangential to the SACRED complex. Mole has not detected any suspicious activity’.
“I’d say it is a very welcome surprise Snr Gretz. I still wonder how many of these habitats they are going to send. The cost must be astronomic. If only they would talk to us, maybe we could even help.”
“In precisely what way would you think we could help?” Gretz always had one eye on the volume of business Orient would generate if they took service from SACRED. Pierze wished he had not made the remark.
“Simply by selling them a launch licence from the elevator. Maybe they could also benefit from your experience with lunar living.”
“An interesting concept Snr. Pierze, but when you say ‘we’ you actually mean my own organisation.”
“Naturally, I only meant we could broker this together, so that they knew we were comfortable with it in principle. You would of course reap the proceeds.” Gretz said he would think on it and suggested they talked about the defence of his realm, not the realm. Pierze explained that he was in the minority which supported government assistance to protect SACRED, and now he had garnered more interest from colleagues, in doing precisely that.
Gretz was completely unmoved. “That may be, but we had to take immediate action. Quite frankly we’re pretty disgusted at our government’s attitude. We took this lame duck off their hands, restored Republic-wide communication to enable banks and other infrastructure to run again, and they thank us by allowing all of that to be put at risk again. I’m afraid your overtures should be described as ‘too little – too late’.”
Pierze was disappointed, but knew Gretz was right. “I am pledging my support for you being compensated in full, for your outlay in protection costs. However, don’t you consider the defence of the elevator exclusively by borderland mercenaries a bit of a risk?” Gretz admitted it was not his decision, but was assured of their absolute commitment to defend the elevator at all costs and against incursion from any source.
Pierze altered the thrust. “I wanted you to know that we have really increased our efforts on getting to the bottom of these deaths which have been linked to protests against your corporation, and indeed have made significant progress.”
“Well that is good to hear, I welcome that news, do you have anything you can tell me right now?”
Pierze calculated his response. “Analysing all of the evidence to date I am personally certain that the agenda of those behind the deaths has a much wider objective than SACRED alone. We are supported in this view by technology which minimises speculation, and I should be able to say more quite soon.”
Gretz challenged this notionally by asking about the carnage caused by the seven handcuffed suicide victims in Northern Iberiana. Pierze shifted in his seat a little. “There is some evidence that they could be known protestors, but at present we have no idea why they would congregate so far from their domicile, to engage in an act of total disregard for the innocent people they have killed by this insane act. We have yet to do detailed tests to see if they fit the newly established profile we have discovered.”
Gretz smiled. “You don’t really have much to tell me do you Snr Pierze? I can’t believe you came all the way here just to tell me this. What is it you want from me?”
“I think we both know a little more than we are willing to disclose at present. It is a pity, but there we are. There is one thing I would like to do if it can be arranged in the not too distant future. I would like to visit the elevator. If you or one of your partners could accompany me it would be much appreciated. This is a request, but of course if necessary I can get a warrant to push this through.”
“Are you truly concerned about these borderland people?” Pierze deflected the word concern by stating that in his job one had to be concerned about everything.
“I am not overly concerned but it does come under national security so it has to be checked off my list. I may have to go to the Moon sometime too, but I am not looking forward to that. That is why I wanted to see you personally and I did hope you would have accepted our belated help in addressing security issues other than straightforward military style defence.”
“I see what you mean.” Gretz became a little more conciliatory. “Let me discuss this with my fellow owners and I’ll get back to you. In the meantime I think it would be more beneficial if Constantin Boniek accompanied you to the elevator. He has been responsible for the recruitment programme and can answer your questions far better than I can.” They shook hands and Pierze departed. He planned to visit the Borderlands next, but this was thwarted by being summoned to me
et the exalted one. He was required to explain why the progress on the protest deaths was so slow, particularly the latest, in Northern Iberiana. When he tried to say they weren’t yet certain that the motorway disaster was orchestrated in the same induced suicide way, he was cut off and told to arrive before the President delivered his address on TV.
*
Manuel arrived at the old family home to find his mother in a beleaguered state. Apart from the recent horror of finding her husband swinging from the main bedroom balcony, she was still not allowed to bury Konrad’s body. When he spoke to her about Antonio’s suicide in more detail she revealed that, primarily because he had been such a senior officer in the government and heading up the security service, there was still some doubt as to whether he really took his own life. This aroused Manuel’s interest as he had never thought of his father being capable of doing something like that. “Were you in the house at the time Mama?”
“No, I came back from visiting my friend Maria; she is in hospital after an operation on a tumour. I was in high spirits as she had been told they had managed to extract the entire offending growth. I had only been away perhaps an hour and a half. The housekeeper had finished her cleaning routine and had stepped out to get fresh vegetables for a late lunch. I got back before she did and as soon as I drove through the security gates I could see that he was....he was, well you know.”
Manuel comforted her. “Take your time. You called the police immediately?”
“Yes. Well not immediately, I was in a state of panic. I tried to contact one of his oldest colleagues in the department as I was all mixed up in my mind. He told me not to do anything until he got here. The housekeeper had returned before he arrived and she helped to calm me down. Bernardo came with another two men. I didn’t know them, but they took photographs and after perhaps half an hour they called the police. Bernardo stayed and the other men left. The police seemed concerned that I had called Bernardo first but accepted my instinct to call a friend was apparently not all that unusual. It was later in the day that they began to ask questions which Bernardo thought were inconsiderate in the circumstances. He was asked to leave the room while they continued with me and the housekeeper. They had a forensics team here very quickly and told me they would have to treat the incident as suspicious, until they could rescind this view, because of lack of evidence. That is when I called you. They took the body and were careful to keep him shaped as they found him. I overheard one of them say the geometry didn’t stack up. It has all become too complicated for me to understand. Perhaps you should talk to Bernardo.” Manuel said he would do that as soon as possible.
*
Butragueno asked Duarte if he was prepared to help in finding Sandrine Benitez. He responded positively but events overtook them. She had sold her story to a prominent Madrid newspaper and now the TV was all over it. She had claimed that her love child had been prised away from her by a combination of threats and financial inducement. The article painted her as a victim of government cover up and announced that corruption could not be ruled out. Benitez said she was distraught when Konrad’s suicide became headline news, but Antonio Salina had prevented her from travelling to see her son’s body, under threat of ‘serious repercussions’. His death had freed her at last after all those years of denial. She was being portrayed as a heroine. It also exposed Manuel’s mother as being complicit with the arrangement, simply by keeping quiet and raising someone else’s son as her own. The newspaper invited challenge to this by declaring Benitez was happy to cooperate with DNA comparison, which would prove her claim. It stopped short of introducing bank statements which would verify the claim of a financial sweetener. This was clearly going to be a serialised attack on the Salina family and the government which employed Antonio. Manuel’s concern in all this was for his mother, and he still worried that what he had told Butragueno might emerge from this witch hunt.
*
On his way to brief Sanchez, Pierze was given an astonishing claim from his technical people. With the guidance from Prometheus they had isolated the microcellular transceivers of Konrad, Rossi and Tirishev. But the even better news was the recovered content. They had decoded instructions to each which fitted with the suspected sequence of suicide and decapitation. In the case of Tirishev, as he was still processing mental patterns through the unit, he was potentially capable of becoming a type of ‘double agent’. They needed to have a means of post-adjustment of the incoming pulse, which he had continued to receive in custody. This could subsequently be further modified when residence of the pulse had been confirmed by the encryption of the sender. The controllers would know he was being held, and when released would likely take steps to terminate or re-indoctrinate him. The adjustment would allow him to articulate the instruction and then resume his normal character, but behave as if he was still ‘under the influence’. This would potentially create a situation whereby Pierze’s men could apprehend the hit-man or the next new target. Pierze could not envisage the senders just ignoring Tirishev if they let him go. This was for the ears of the President only. He had also shifted his position a little on Rojo-Negro Mano. After the Professor’s discourse, and Manuel claiming that Prometheus had hinted that these people were dangerous, it warranted more investigative resource. He was going to use the new discovery to tell the President that his visit to the Borderlands was crucial. He was not diminishing the importance of what had occurred in Northern Iberiana, but rather avoiding heavy government presence in it, while evaluating where the release of Tirishev would take them.
*
Butragueno’s code breakers had news from the paintings. The decrypted messages had a common and a specific content. The specific parts were tailored to individuals to attend clandestine meetings. The common part was in relation to finding the missing scientist. The chronological sequence of the paintings Butragueno recovered had led the resistance to accept that the man’s trail went dead not all that long after they had begun the search. Pierze had always resisted mentioning his name. Despite the probability of him working in a remote and heavily guarded research facility, the resistance had managed to promote general concern about this through Futureworld. This had obviously worried some of the scientist’s co-workers, that they could be next. One of them had eventually broken ranks and spoken with Rossi in the game. He was summarily barred from further participation, indicating that there was an Overlord within SACRED, which they had previously claimed was the case. Rossi was told outside of Futureworld that the research facility was closed and quickly relocated; the informant was then completely lost to the resistance and the search stalled. The one potential breakthrough the decryption team identified was the name of the scientist Anil Singh. Records showed that there was no such person ever employed in Pierze’s former technical department, so the name was false, but they had a start. It was a veritable needle in a haystack search. However, he must have been reported missing, because the informant had revealed that due to the relocation ‘Singh’ had to send his family back to Lisboa, or the surrounding suburbia. The local precinct had reams of missing persons, many of whom were just runaways and homeless individuals. The problem here was that the resistance had been told his wife was from Portuguese roots way back, and the children had Iberian names. There was no breakthrough so the chase stuttered to a dead end. Shortly after this search ended, the induced suicides began. Butragueno had a flash of insight. She thought about this as if she was trying to protect the identity of the missing man. They would probably have threatened the family into withdrawal of any report they may have lodged with the police. It was a long shot, and she asked Duarte to use his employment by Pierze to run a check in Lisboa, for all withdrawals of missing persons for whatever reason, during the period in question. “There is one other thing Maxi, it may be nothing, but Prometheus mentioned something to Manuel in the game. He said that the instructions he received were always authorised with the username ‘Omnia’, it could mean something to someone close to him if he is being h
eld against his will. What do you think?” He thought it was worth a try.
*
Manuel went to see Bernardo. He was not welcomed as a grieving son. This gave him the distinct feeling that his ‘photographers’ may well have been searching for something at the house, something that he would not want the police to see. “Sit down please. How can I help?” Bernardo Cortez was almost a miniature version of homo-sapiens. Barely five feet tall, and by continually employing assists, such as heels and high chairs, he was cruelly portrayed as someone who was always doing the bidding of a ‘higher’ person. In fact that was his remit – to tidy up the mess created by others, the most recent example being Antonio Salina.
“My mother says you were kind enough to come to the house, after she discovered my father hanging from the balcony.”
Bernardo was definitely uneasy. “That is correct.” He then offered an explanation without being asked for one. Manuel decided to change his approach. Bernardo continued. “It is pretty standard procedure when a senior officer of Central Security dies suddenly. We have to ensure that the local police do not accidentally discover highly secret documents.”
“I see. But my father had resigned, surely one of the first things he would have done concurrent with that would be to surrender any sensitive material.”
Bernardo was steadfast. “Yes in normal circumstances, but these were not normal. He resigned from Londonis and only returned to Madrid later. We assumed he would have brought the files in at the earliest opportunity, but when your mother called me, we had to assume he was suffering some kind of mental breakdown. For him to commit suicide he must have been ‘out of control’. Your father would otherwise never have departed from procedure.”
“Did you get what you were looking for?”
“I am not at liberty to discuss that.”
Manuel appeared to accept this. “Yes I see that, yet your associates took photos of certain items.”
“No comment.”