by Reilly, Jim
“What kind of sleeper agent?”
“Judging by what happened with the recent bombing, maybe it’s something that when triggered, makes people do things they wouldn’t normally do. I guess it puts them in a hypnotic trance and they do what they’re told. It might have been designed so when the Ancient Visitors return, it would be easier to get the population to join their army, but this is all just speculation.”
“That’s interesting because I sensed the bomber in Moscow wasn’t under his own control before I incapacitated him. The other attackers were people with no history of violence, then suddenly prone to violence. This tells me what I suspected already; there are more than just a few independent attackers. There is someone pulling the strings, someone with the technological knowhow to do it.”
Cameron then said good bye to his father and thanked him for his help. He then headed to Grand Central terminal for the next transport to Chicago. As he waited, the vision of the bomber, Ivan Mosgov raced through his mind.
He started to access his Visor screen to order a blood test on Ivan Mosgov when an emergency communication popped up on his screen from John Ryan.
“What’s up Johnny?”
“There’s been an accident in Moscow. A gas leak in the recovery room triggered a fire and Ivan Mosgov’s been killed. A few others were hurt. What’s worse, I’m told by local Moscow police that the body was burnt to a crisp, nothing left but ashes.”
“Johnny, someone is making these people do these despicable deeds and now they’re covering their tracks.”
“They’re going to bury everything. There’ll be no evidence, co-conspirators, and no witnesses.”
“What’d you say, Johnny? No witnesses?”
“That’s right, your little girlfriend’s in harm’s way.”
As he rushed to change transports and his destination, he told him, “Johnny, meet me in St. Louis!”
Cameron made his way to the housing complex where Taylor had listed her address. He had his car drive him around while he scanned for movement. The dark street in the outer suburbs of northern St. Louis was quiet at 11:30 p.m. local time, and Cameron had the car continue to circle the block as he slipped out of the moving vehicle. Hiding behind a parked car, he turned his Visor to night mode in order to see through the darkness. Slowly, he inconspicuously maneuvered toward Taylor’s front door.
Seeing that it was ajar, Cameron undid the clasp on his holster freeing him to pull out his stun gun as he used his scanner to probe the residence. Indicating three living individuals, he cautiously and gradually opened the door.
Soon he heard a voice, “We’ll put her in her car and turn off the safety and aim it into a tree.”
Another, voice could be heard saying, “We first need to find out all she knows then link her to the bombing. It’s already been set up.”
Not waiting for Johnny, Cameron slipped in past the door into the foyer. The small home was lit with lights on in almost every room. The voice, Cameron determined, was possibly in the kitchen area. He hoped that even though he was out numbered, he had the advantage of surprise. To increase that advantage, as he crept toward the kitchen, he held up his stunner and ordered the home, “Lights off!”
Immediately, Cameron put his Visor in night vision mode. He quickly noticed a non-enhanced individual standing to the right of Taylor, who was sitting tied to a chair. Seeing the individual reach for his weapon, Cameron, without hesitation fired at the man hitting him square in the chest. The other individual moved at an exceptional speed out of the kitchen area toward an adjacent dining area. Cameron quickly followed into the room but was met by a tall hooded individual with enhanced features in a firing stance. Then instinctively he ducked out of the way. The weapon discharged and blew a hole in the wall clear to the outside where Cameron had been standing.
Cameron then became extremely alarmed as he realized the enhanced individual fired a banned Ancient Visitor disintegrator. Fearing for his own life, he proceeded more cautiously as he moved into the kitchen to retrieve Taylor. As he untied her, Cameron heard a voice from the front of the home, “United Nations Security, stop what you’re doing and lay face first on the floor. Cameron, are you in there?”
“Johnny, it’s an enhanced with a disintegrator!”
“Oh crap,” he yelled diving for cover as the oak front door of the home disintegrated right where he had stood.
Hearing the disintegrator reload for another shot, Cameron quickly pulled Taylor by the arm out of the kitchen as a portion of the wall separating the kitchen from the hallway disintegrated along with a cabinet and part of the sink. With water spraying in all directions, Cameron whispered into one of the home’s audio receivers, “Lights on. Identify all individuals in the home.”
The home said, “Scanning.”
With options evaporating, the hooded enhanced, with exceptional cheetah-like speed, dashed through the kitchen, while water sprayed in all directions. Cameron kept firing and missing with his stunner. When the intruder approached his incapacitated accomplice, he fired his weapon disintegrating him instantly leaving with a gaping hole in the floor down to a crawlspace under the home. The enhanced individual escaped through the hole in the dining area wall into the darkness.
Looking out the hole in the wall at the backyard area and barely seeing the individual gaining distance, Cameron yelled, “Clear!”
Cautiously moving from room to room in a crouching pose with his weapon brandished, Johnny made his way into the kitchen. He found Cameron tending to a terrified Taylor and saying, “It’s over. You’re fine now.”
In shock, she started to slap him repeatedly as he put his arms around her to hold her until she stopped.
The home reported, “Scanning complete. People on premises are: Taylor McGrath, Cameron Richards, and John Ryan.”
Cameron questioned, “Did you detect who left the premises?”
“One person was gone before detection. The other was William Davis.”
“Oh crap, I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this,” stated a disappointed Johnny while he rubbed the back of his neck. “I was hoping Ms. McGrath here was mistaken.”
“Me too,” said Cameron. “Home? Is there still DNA on premises of William Davis?”
The home replied, “There are confirmed hairs in the hallway.”
After thinking for a moment, Cameron instructed Johnny, “I need you to cover for me for a few days. I need to hide Taylor for the time being. Her life is in danger.”
“Her life is in danger, and so are ours. We are up against an enhanced colleague with similar training who has an illegal disintegrator. When up against a disintegrator, our stunner is like bringing a knife to a nuclear exchange. We hit them with the stunner, they are knocked out for a few minutes and a little sore the next day. We get hit with a disintegrator, there’s no next day.”
“I know, Johnny,” he told him. “That’s why I don’t want this incident reported and I need you to do the DNA confirmation yourself offline. For the time being, no one should know. We need to get to the bottom of this before we take this to the Inspector General. If we expose Will then we may never know the extent of the conspiracy. We can’t let him know that we know of his involvement.”
“He’s an enhanced. Remember, they’re stronger and have more intelligence than we do.”
“I’ve never found them to be more intelligent.”
“Of course you haven’t! You scored the highest grades in Security School history for a non-enhanced. As a matter of fact, that brain of yours scored as high as exceptional enhanced. You probably could have had a career in the science section if you wanted it. But no, you wanted law enforcement.”
“It’s what I wanted to do.”
“It would help me to be enhanced. I’m not that smart and just barely passed the physical requirements for this job. But lucky for me, your heroics in Moscow have had the Babylon Corporation cast a good light on the Security Group. Not only do we have a deep discount compared to the general p
opulation, I’ve now been told our wait has been eliminated and I’m scheduled to have the procedure next week. Maybe then I can be of better help against our enhanced colleague when the time comes.”
Not too thrilled about Johnny’s potential future, Cameron just smiled and said, “Maybe so.”
Johnny looked around Taylor’s house, “What about this mess?”
Cameron spoke to the home, “Engage repair bots.”
After a brief pause, the home replied, “Insufficient funds in homeowner Taylor McGrath’s account.”
“You are authorized to use the needed funds from Cameron Richards.”
Moments later, “Authorized.” Instantly, repair bots were released from the wall compartments and started working while Johnny collected the evidence. Cameron found the shaken Taylor curled up in the corner of her destroyed kitchen and pulled her up by the arm to take her to his car still circling the block.
In the street, they hid in the darkness behind two parked cars until Cameron’s vehicle came near. When it was within twenty feet, he revealed himself and the car came to a stop and the door opened. He put Taylor in the passenger seat and got into the driver’s seat. Without delay he ordered, “Take us to the nearest transport terminal.”
Then he turned to Taylor, “Allow me access to your Visor.”
Confused Taylor said, “Why?”
“I need to temporarily change your identity to get us past the transport system security.”
“Isn’t that illegal?”
“You are correct. But don’t worry; I’ve learned from a few criminals the trick to doing it undetected. We should get where we’re going without much worry.”
“What do you mean: where we’re going?”
Standing in a grass field of an Afghanistan summer, near the Pamir Mountains outside of a tent city, the heat was excruciating. He stood there patiently wiping the sweat off his forehead for the umpteenth time. Taylor, on the other hand, wasn’t as patient. “We are going to melt out here. The St. Louis summer heat can be brutal at times, but it’s nothing like this. Too bad we didn’t bring cooling clothes. Some of that stuff with today’s technology can cool your body twenty degrees.”
“Sorry for the inconvenience, I forgot to pack summer outfits,” said Cameron.
“Don’t be a wise ass,” shot back Taylor smiling at him. “I appreciate you saving my life. Right now, I’d be dead and my family would believe I was involved with the bombing. Those bastards were going to blame it on me. So, thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. In order to keep you safe, I’ve had to make a deal with the devil. With the United Nations Security Group compromised, I’ve had to get creative,” he said as he noticed Taylor go limp in front of him. Before he could react, he felt a pinch in the back of his neck. As he reached for his neck, his arms felt heavy and his mind was unfocused. Then he blacked out.
A massive headache was the first thing he sensed. The next was the cold. Then his eyes focused and he saw he was lying on a cot in a corner of a dimly lit room with no windows. Across he could see another cot with someone lying on it. That person lifted her head, and told him, “It’s about time you’re awake. They told me to drink the water on the small table next to me and the headache would go away. It worked just fine. So go ahead, drink the one they left for you.”
He reached over and took the cup while slowly sitting up. Once he sipped a few times, the pain in his head gradually faded. Now completely in the upright position, he asked, “Taylor, did they speak to you?”
“They said sip the water. That’s it. Where do you think we are? My sense tells me we’re nowhere near that hot grassy field. They must have moved us far.”
“They like to keep their location a secret, so I imagine we are out of Afghanistan.”
“Who are they?”
Before Cameron could answer, the door opened and in came a man. “Welcome Inspector Richards and Guest. Please, follow me. I’m sure you’re hungry. We’ve prepared a nice meal.”
Cameron, recognizing the voice, replied, “Thanks for seeing us, Leonardo.”
“The pleasure is mine Inspector and for you too Ms. McGrath.”
“You’ve turned off my Visor.”
“Please don’t be concerned; we needed to do it as a precaution. We didn’t want the United Nations Security force using it to track you. No worries, we’ll reactivate it as soon as you leave here.”
Taylor spoke up and asked, “Speaking of here; where might that be? Don’t get me wrong, another minute in that heat and I’d have been a melted puddle.”
“In good time you’ll find out,” answered Leonardo. “You can call me Leo.”
“Taylor, you can call me Taylor,” she replied while Cameron looked on.
“Great, now please follow me.”
Cameron and Taylor followed Leonardo through a maze of tunnels. Not old tunnels, but tunnels that were freshly done in the last few years. It was only one hundred feet long with doorways along the way with small compartments housing their people and equipment. At the end of one of the tunnels, was a small hall used as a dining area. In it were two old men, and the woman he met in Moscow.
“Please take a seat,” Leonardo requested. “I like to first introduce my sister--”
Cameron cut him off, “Angelis.”
As she acknowledged him, Leonardo was impressed, “Very good Inspector. Now sitting at the end of the table is my father, Salvatore DeRosa.”
That introduction startled Cameron, and his face lit up in disbelief. Now he wondered what he had gotten himself into because before him was the former head of the Followers of Divinity’s Italian Peninsula Secret Police. Even Taylor knew who he was. The man was known as the Butcher of Italy. He was one of the first to pay the price after the dissolution of the Followers of Divinity. In the aftermath of the conflict, Salvatore, who brought dissenters of Bishop Terapion to justice, was himself brought to justice.
Seeing that Cameron was uncomfortable, the old man with an ashen appearance, grabbed the table to help him stand. It took time for the man who had limited strength to be fully upright. Once up he begged Cameron, “Please give me a chance to explain how we have all come together at this table?”
Cameron was backing away and he bumped into Taylor who grabbed his arm tightly. He said, “You have ten seconds, and then we’re out of here! And I thought you were still locked up.”
“I completely understand your concern that I am here before you. Hell, no one is more surprised than I am. Thirty years ago, I was put on trial for crimes I had done during my time in the Followers of Divinity secret police. They said I was an accessory to murder, holding people without trial, and convicting them without due process. During my reign, people disappeared, were forcibly reprogramed, and, in some cases, tortured.”
“I heard you got life for your crimes,” Taylor stated. “I see you didn’t go for the mind wipe. Then tell us, why are you not rotting in jail someplace?”
“Good question young lady,” Salvatore said. “As you know, I was convicted, easily I might have you. But for me, life didn’t end right there. Yes, it took me a long time to understand my crimes. I thought I was on God’s side in the war, I really did. I thought the things I did were for the betterment of man. I thought I was following the orders of God’s handpicked messenger, Bishop Terapion. I couldn’t understand how I got to that point, deceived like everyone else.”
Cameron snapped, “That’s your excuse? You were deceived?!”
“At the time, yes,” he said looking down. “It wasn’t until a short, round Monsignor at the time changed my life. He convinced me to not do the mind wipe. Why you ask? He said I needed the time to redeem myself. He told me the mind wipe was the easy way out. I thought he was crazy. Especially since he was the main witness against me and the reason for the conviction. He convinced me I needed redemption.”
That was when Cameron recognized the other old man sitting at the table. It was the now Bishop Grazzani, the man who discovered the truth b
ehind Bishop Terapion. It’d been well chronicled in print, social media, documentaries, and in film. He was a well-respected leader in the Church, yet preferred the simple life of a parish priest and shunned the limelight someone else of his fame might enjoy. It was particularly of interest to Cameron for the reason that the Bishop had been a guest at his home when Cameron was a child. He knew of the man, the simple and humble man he was. That this man was here with Salvatore was more shocking than Salvatore not serving time. Still, Cameron felt obliged to acknowledge him, “Bishop Grazzani, my apologies for not recognizing you.”
The now feeble man responded, “It’s quite all right my son. Who recognizes anyone in these dark places?”
“Yes the man who put me in jail, the one who told me to stay there, is the man who saved me,” said a teary eyed Salvatore. “He’s the one I would have put in jail to rot. As it turned out, he was the one who came to see me every day. When friends and family gave up on me, this man believed I was worth redemption. He was persistent and didn’t give up for a second even when I gave up many times. He made me realize I needed to ask forgiveness from those I crossed, as well as forgiving myself. Eventually, I came around, so much so that even the authorities were convinced as well, especially with the Bishop’s endorsement.”
Cameron now leaning over the table toward Salvatore questioned, “That’s well and good, but how did you get here? Are secret organizations your type of work? Are you here to restart the secret police and get back to business as its leader?”