by Reilly, Jim
“All I have is a feeling, but, yes, I think the investigation and attack at my home are connected. Johnny, I want you to go to Chicago and see what you find out. The rest of the team, I need you to monitor all communications for any link to unrest in regards to the anti-enhancement movement, especially old internet protocols.”
Later that night Cameron headed to the local community center in Chicago for a weekly meeting of the Halt Evolution Association. They were a non-violent group opposed to the enhancement of humanity. Their reason for opposition was either personal or religious. Many felt, as Cameron did, that it was unnecessary and, in time humanity, as it is today, could put up a defense. They certainly were opposed to forced enhancement which many in the United Nations, including Cameron’s parents, would want.
Before the guest speaker took the podium, someone sat in the seat next to Cameron in the middle row of five rows of twenty. She asked, “Did I miss anything?”
“No, it’s running a little late,” Cameron told the attractive blond girl who was sharply dressed in a blue business suit.
“Good, I was afraid I’d miss it,” Cherie Burns thought. “Edward Tanner is an excellent anti-enhancement speaker with great ideas about the risk of enhancement on future generations.”
“Yeah, I like his reasoning that enhancement could be the Ancient Visitor’s plan to make humanity into drones. It makes a lot of sense,” he said to the young tax attorney.
Once the speaker began his presentation Cameron started to think to himself about the investigation. It certainly wasn’t about the speaker’s content. Cameron, though, in his heart was anti-enhancement, but he wasn’t hardcore like some of the people in this community center. Even Cherie was a bit too staunch for his liking, but she was the love of his life and if he had to deal with a little extremism, he would as he felt lucky to have her.
Tonight, though, was an opportunity to understand the devoted and see what might trigger someone to take the next step toward extremism. It might be the case that this murder of Mohammad Ishtar had nothing to do with the anti-enhancement movement. So far, however, the evidence was leading toward something to do with the anti-enhancement. Mohammad and Jose Alvarado both had anti-enhancement leanings. Other than that, there didn’t seem to be much of a connection. So he’d have to follow that lead to see where it went.
The other thing on his mind was his captors and what their motivation might be. These people, he thought, have provided a lead and warned him about the intruders. He owed them unless they are playing him. Either way, Cameron needed to get more information.
Cameron comprehensively thought through his case, as he usually did, as the presentation went on.
In the back row were a man and a woman who sat quietly, but they were not paying attention to the speaker. The man leaned over to the woman to say, “We’ll need to get closer to his investigation.”
“If we watch him any closer, we’ll be in his back pocket,” insisted the woman with dark Italian features.
The man with very similar features added, “We can’t afford not to be there when he finds out the truth. It’s imperative we are there.”
Both sat there watching Cameron and Cherie seated a few rows in front listening while the speaker continued his presentation.
Chapter 2
21st Century.
Taylor McGrath got to work, as she did every day for her afternoon shift at the Ultimate Regeneration Center. It was one of the larger privately held human enhancement facilities in the Midwest. The United Nations run enhancement facilities were scattered throughout the world with locations in every major city. They were free for anyone who wanted to go through the process of changing from Homo sapiens to a Super. It took no more than five hours. Unfortunately, it, like all government programs, was filled with bureaucracies. There was endless paperwork and long waits for the chance to have the procedure, sometimes years. What was worse, there was only an eighty-five percent success rate. You could go through the painful procedure and still have it not take.
The privately owned human enhancement facilities on the other hand were highly efficient. The registration took only a few minutes and the procedure was less than an hour. In many cases, there would be just a little discomfort, if any at all. It was a breeze if you could afford it, and that was the catch.
Due to the dissatisfaction with the government run facilities, a whole industry evolved. Entrepreneurs and investors poured time and money into a business that improved the way people were enhanced. They developed new vaccines and redesigned the blue liquid chambers designed by the Ancient Visitors to work better with human biology. Before you knew it, these types of alternate options became the norm, at least for the rich who could afford it.
Because Taylor this early afternoon was running a little late, her car was not able to secure a parking spot close to the enhancement center. She had the car drop her off at the entrance and ordered the car to go find a spot elsewhere. As the car pulled away, she noticed the car stopped a few feet into the road to let two individuals cross the street. One was about five foot ten male with medium build and dark brown hair. The other individual was about six foot four wearing a dark hooded jacket used to conceal his or her face. When Taylor looked back at her car to make sure it responded well to the people in front of it, she caught a glimpse of the tall individual in the reflection of the passenger window, but didn’t think anything about it.
Once Taylor reported to work as an enhancement technician, her supervisor met her at the employee only locker room as she put on her lab coat and her instrumentation. The enhanced woman, Doctor Helen Cerone, chided Taylor. “This is the third time this week you’ve been late and that’s not acceptable. This firm is built on efficiency, and tardiness from its valued employees does not an efficient firm make.”
“Again, I’m sorry Helen. I’m so bogged down with my thesis that I lost track of time at the library. I’ll be done at the end of the month and hopefully it’s accepted. But for now, I’d appreciate your patience.”
Helen put the pressure on Taylor because she had to as her supervisor. In reality, Helen was a mentor for Taylor at the company and had been helping her through the PhD program at St Louis University since she had been through the program herself. As usual, Helen took it easy on the pretty brown haired unpretentious girl. “If you had listened to me last year and had been enhanced, you’d have finished the PhD program in half the time. The enhanced staff members are never late.”
“You know I couldn’t afford both school and enhancement,” she said. “Once I finish school, I’ve planned all along to take advantage of the company discount and finance program. Don’t worry Helen, it’s in the works.”
“I hope so Taylor,” Helen said as she viewed her Visor’s screen for the employee work needs of the day. “We need you to go to the receiving bay to make sure the delivery is accurate. Last time that damn truck shorted us a box of vaccines. You’d think with all the technology around us that something so simple wouldn’t happen but it does. Please go back there and take care of it?”
“Can you please have someone else get to that?” Taylor pleaded. “I have to finish my charts from yesterday’s patients.”
Grinning, Helen responded, “I would have considered it if you’d been on time. Now get along.”
With a resigned look on her face, Taylor exited the employee locker room and passed the patient waiting room heading to the receiving bay of the building. Without thinking, she glanced at the people waiting and smiled. Some smiled back; others were simply lost in their thoughts of the change that was about to happen to them.
Becoming enhanced was not to be taken lightly. It was not just a big change—it was not reversible. If you were like a very small portion of the population, you could reject the change in your mind. Many of these people needed years of therapy to finally accept it. Quite frankly, it was a big step for anyone who made the change. Taylor even noticed a few in the waiting room looking a little nervous as they waited to b
e called in. She even recognized one of the individuals who had cut in front of her car.
Once she arrived at receiving, she opened the back metal door with a voice command and found the standard delivery truck sent from the Ultimate Regeneration Center’s corporate distribution center. She asked the truck, “What do you have for us today?”
The truck immediately responded, “Nine boxes of vaccine, three drums of blue liquid, and four regeneration chamber replacement cables.”
“Okay,” she told the truck. “Please place them in the designated receiving location.”
Instantly the bay lift door in the rear of the track raised fully opened. The material was automatically placed in a container by a robotic arm filling it with the correct order. The container hovered inches off the floor. Once filled, the container left the truck and headed to the designated drop-off spot. Taylor was completing the delivery when she heard screaming from inside the regeneration center, but before she could react, a loud explosion erupted from within the building. The concussion blew Taylor into the truck’s back-bay as the structure crumbled around her.
In a transport going from Chicago to St. Louis, Cameron asked Johnny Ryan, “What have you found out?”
“Reports indicate a privately owned regeneration center in the western part of St. Louis has had its building destroyed. It looks like a total loss and so far no one has come forward to accept responsibility. There is footage of inside the facility, as well as outside. The local police using facial recognition have identified a Lawrence Smith as the suicide bomber. He is seen clearly walking in and, while sweating like a chicken at the slaughter house, it looks like he had an explosive device embedded in his stomach.”
Cameron asked, “What do we know about him? Does he fit the profile as a lone wolf or does he belong to a group?”
Johnny reluctantly continued, “Local police said this walking bomb had no history with authorities and was not known to belong to any subversive groups, except for frequenting ant-enhancement meetings.”
Knowing the anti-enhancement movement personally, Cameron offered firsthand knowledge. “Johnny, as you know, I have the same sentiments toward anti-enhancement, but in all the time I’ve been to the meetings, it’s been nothing but peaceful. Hell, nearly half the planet is anti-enhancement.”
“I know. But all it takes is a couple of knuckleheads to take it one step into the darkness.”
“I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this,” Cameron said. “But if it is indeed where the evidence is leading us, then I may have no choice but to remove myself from this investigation. I’ll inform the Inspector General.”
After Cameron sent his virtual message into the Inspector General’s mail server, Johnny added, “By the way, there was a survivor. Maybe we can interview her before the Inspector General approves your removal.”
Minutes later, the transport got them to a local transport receiving dock and a car ushered them to the scene where local police informed them of what they knew. The police then proceeded to bring them to the survivor.
With a large corridor of the city blocked off due to the investigation, Cameron and Johnny found the survivor sitting on a bench outside of a deserted coffee café. Cameron approached the visibly shaken girl but as he looked at her face he paused for a moment to admire her pretty eyes. Catching himself before it was noticeable, he told her, “I’m UN Inspector Cameron Richards and this is Special Agent John Ryan. Could you please tell us your name for the record?”
Unable to speak right away and needing a moment to take a deep breath, she finally answered, “Taylor. Taylor McGrath.”
Cameron gently asked, “Were you inside the building when the bomb exploded?”
“No, I was in the receiving bay when it went off. I guess the concussion must have blown me in the delivery truck and shielded me from the falling debris. I suppose I’m lucky to be alive.” She paused for a second and looked toward the direction of the explosion. “But Helen and the others--” She couldn’t finish what she was going to say.
After a moment to let her gain her composure, Johnny looked at Taylor. “We have to ask, did you see anything? Here is the image of the perpetrator.” Johnny then posted a virtual image in front of Taylor. “Did you have any contact with this individual?”
“Yes I did, but he didn’t look out of the ordinary. He was nervous, much like many of the patients making the change. I don’t think I witnessed anything specific I could tell you about him. I just walked by him on the way to receiving. That’s all I can tell you.”
Johnny asked, “Was he with anyone or talking to anyone in the waiting area?”
“No,” she replied. “But wait,” she said as she thought about it. “There was someone else. Before I came in the lobby door, I witnessed the man they say is the bomber with someone else as they cut in front of my car as it drove away to the parking garage down the street. But I think I’m mistaken.”
“Why do you think that’s the case?” asked Cameron.
“Well,” she started to explain. “The officers earlier told me the bomber was probably an anti-enhancement fanatic. But I saw him with an enhanced SHS.”
Cameron asked her, “Are you sure?”
Before she could answer, Johnny using his Visor uploaded all cameras with direct views of that road and scanned for Taylor. Once the incident with the car was identified, Johnny had accumulated all the videos and arranged them to be shown as a hologram in front of the three and said, “At every angle we viewed this incident, the companion’s face is blocked by the hood he was wearing. It was as if he avoided the cameras purposely. Taylor, how’d you know he was enhanced?”
“I got a look at his face when I saw his reflection in the passenger side window as the car drove off. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but I’m positive that he was an enhanced.”
Johnny then turned to Cameron and offered, “Your offer to drop the case is a bit premature. You better report the new information while I work on the companion’s description with Taylor.”
Cameron turned away from the two and requested a connection to the Inspector General. This time the Inspector General took the call, “Inspector Richards, what do you have for me?”
“The anti-enhancement angle of our investigation may not be accurate. We have a witness that identified an enhanced with the bomber.”
At that moment Cameron paused to let Inspector General Sanchez acknowledge his information, but there was silence and then he surprised Cameron, “I think we still work the anti-enhancement angle and not mention the connection to the enhanced suspect until you have solid information.”
Usually, Cameron would argue with anyone who had issues with his investigation but Inspector General Edgardo Sanchez had been Cameron’s mentor and the only one in all of the United Nations Security Group to know Cameron’s real identity. Through the academy and at every level of promotion through the ranks, Sanchez had been there to guide Cameron. He did so knowing that Cameron was against moving forward to be enhanced and had sympathies toward the anti-enhancement movement even though the Inspector General was enhanced. Sanchez encouraged enhancement but never pushed Cameron. He always appreciated Sanchez for that even if Cameron thought he was doing it as a favor to his parents.
Cameron also had respect for Sanchez and his military record during and after the Followers of Divinity Conflict. During the conflict, Sanchez was head of a team that frequently went undercover in enemy territory to liberate captured United Nations personnel and was highly decorated for his actions. After the conflict his unit was used to liberate hostages held by some of the Followers of Divinity who refused to lay down their weapons. His last mission ended in tragedy. When returning from a successful hostage rescue, his transport crashed. He was the lone survivor while his team and the hostages perished. After that, Sanchez didn’t go back into the field again. Instead, he moved his career toward the political side of the UN after he got enhanced and slowly moved up the ranks to the position he currently holds. Cam
eron’s own parents used their political power to fully back Sanchez for the position of Inspector General.
Sanchez added, “And maybe we question Edward Tanner. His anti-enhancement rhetoric, I believe, is the seed for discontent within the movement. He’s in St. Louis to give a speech later today. Go see him. See what he knows.”
“I’ll get right on it.”
“By the way, once I heard about the attack, I sent Will Davis to assist you. He should be there now. In the meantime, please keep me informed.”
When he was finished speaking to Sanchez, Cameron went back to Johnny and Taylor who had completed constructing a 3D sketch of the man who was with the bomber. He asked, “How we doing with the sketch?”
Johnny replied, as Taylor was sitting still on the bench sipping coffee a few feet away, “I took the description Taylor gave me and I inputted it into our database. So far, we’re coming up with zilch.”
Out of the corner of Cameron’s eye he saw Taylor suddenly start to squirm sitting on the bench as if she was disturbed about something and she then knocked her coffee over. He was about to check on her as he witnessed her face start to turn white when he was approached from behind.
“The Inspector General said we are looking at another possible anti-enhancement attack,” said the tall and slim Will Davis.
“Possibly,” Cameron told him. “We also are checking on the low to see if an enhanced was involved. The witness on the bench might have spotted one, but there was no match in the database from the description she gave.”
When they turned toward Taylor, she quickly took a deep breath and attempted to look composed when introduced to Will. During Will’s additional questions to Taylor, Cameron and Johnny noticed that she started to sound as if she wasn’t sure if she’d seen an enhanced. Then when Will’s questioning was done, Taylor immediately asked if she could leave.
Cameron, knowing her car couldn’t come back to get her with the streets surrounding the bombed site blocked off for the investigation, offered to drive Taylor to her car while Johnny and Will conferred with the local police.