The Quixotic Faction: (Above Top Secret Edition)

by T. D. Kohler

  Abergathy reaches up and touches the monitor. “A meteor that size cannot affect a twenty-two-acre area that is still growing. Everyone is blaming the salt miners.”

  “The gravitational impact of these two elements working together is very powerful.” The professor begins to show a hint of enthusiasm. “You saw that. It took two years after we removed the meteor for all the residual energy from the meteor to dissipate, and the earth started to pull the soil towards it. We learned about the relationship once we started to study the meteor and it began to lose cohesion. It was at this time the sinkhole started to form. There was nothing we could do. We realized the relationship between the minerals…”

  Turning, Kristen interrupts him. “You keep saying we. Who are we?”

  A soft female voice fills the air. “Good morning, Agent Abergathy.”

  Dropping her arms, Kristen staggers around looking for the source. “Who is that? Where are you?”

  “My name is Clarisse.”

  “I named this ship after my sister,” The professor informs her, as he makes a sweeping motion with his arms.

  “This is a ship? What kind of a ship?”

  Seconds later a small portion of the wall opens and Kristen gasps at the view. The sun appears to be rising around the earth.

  “Breathtaking. How is this possible?”

  Clarisse answers, “The American Robert Lazar was correct. The relationship between ununpentium and the radiation of diuranium are able to manipulate gravity and magnetic waves. That allows us to travel vast distances in no time at all, much like the Serbian Nikolas Tesla did in the late eighteen hundred with his plasma experiment when it contacted the electrolytes within his body.

  That is why we thought of using human plasma to help keep the element in its liquid state. It allowed us to mold it to make the hull of this ship. Once we realized the relationship it had with thorium we utilized it along with uranium to try an increase its power.”

  Mesmerized at the scene in front of her, Kristen steps back from the view. “This is all so amazing! Have you tried to travel beyond the solar system?”

  Sitting back down as the window closes back up, the professor taps away at the controls, and the ship, Clarisse, speaks again, “Our relationship with the earth’s magnetic field allows us to move along it like a toy car on a racetrack. It could be possible to use it to slingshot into deep space; however, we do not know how it would affect the field.”

  Kristen places a hand on her forehead. “What’s happening? I am getting light headed.”

  Professor Mildiani rushes to catch her as her knees weaken, and she loses consciousness. Looking at her limp body he tells Clarisse, “We forgot to adjust for the oxygen levels.”

  Allen Acres Bed & Breakfast,

  Pitkin, LA

  July 22, 0349 hours

  It is an oblivious, peaceful night as Admiral Kay stands outside, staring up at the starry night. He tries to recall and recognize the constellations; but the vast number of stars in the night sky, make it challenging. The heat still sweltering, he wipes his forearm across his forehead, and then takes a sip of tea. Shaking the ice in the glass, he feels something shift in the air. Keeping composure, he keeps his eyes on the glass focusing on his peripherals. The deck takes an ever-slight tilt, causing him to straighten his shoulders.

  A deep baritone voice puts his senses on alert. “Good evenin’, Admiral.”

  He turns to acknowledge the greeting. A familiar large hand is reaching out, motioning a sense of calm. “Yu good? We good?”

  Shaking his glass again, he nods. “Special Agent St. Clair.”

  Giving the admiral a questioning look, he says, “You not surprised to see me?”

  “No, you, or rather one of your friends, was seen earlier this evening by a friend of mine. We had to give him something to sleep to calm him down.” The admiral takes another sip of the tea.

  “I presume that would be that limp noodle, the one the Dr. Garrett called Starfish.”

  “Lincoln Stevens is a good man, too smart for his own good sometimes.”

  “He blew up my truck.”

  Nearly spitting up the sip of tea, Admiral Kay looks at the giant standing next to him.

  “Unintentional, I am sure of it.”

  St. Clair grumbles, “Yeah, he said dat.”

  Smiling as he looks up at the giant agent. “You don’t seem surprised to see me either.”

  Walking over to the admiral, St. Clair joins him to look up at the stars. “Wow, a beautiful night . . . I saw the van earlier. By the way, that is an impressive fix on the hole in the side. Dr. Garrett, I presume.”

  “Correct. It seems a little unfair, you know who we are, at least most of us. How about we even up the field?” Smiling, the admiral shifts his weight and looks up at St. Clair.

  St. Clair rubs his mouth and chin; his eyes never leave the night sky. “How do you know that I don’t know all of you?”

  The admiral gives a slight chuckle. “Attention to details. You mentioned my starfish friend, and yet you know my name, and you called Dr. Garrett by his name.”

  Dropping his jaw, St. Clair shakes his head. “I keep getting told dat, to pay more attention to details.” They both share a quiet laugh. “Okay, you win this round, Admiral. My partner is Agent Nomi. I call her Flea.”

  “Wait, she’s your partner, not the statuesque redhead?”

  “Agent Selenia and I have a . . . well a . . . we were catching up when we got to the farmhouse . . .” He shifts his body to face the admiral. “You saw us?”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.” The admiral finishes the tea and shakes the ice.

  “You right, that tea looks real good. Let’s get a refresher and get out of this heat.”

  shaking his glass again, the admiral looks cautiously in the direction of the kitchen, and then tweaks his neck. “Absolutely, and perhaps you can tell me about your military career?”

  “You may need something stronger than just tea for dat,” St. Clair suggests as they laugh as they enter the house.

  As soon as they walk in the kitchen, they see someone rifling through the refrigerator. Backing away from it with his hands full, Harvey uses his foot to close the door. Turning to the counter he sees the admiral and St. Clair. Stumbling back into the refrigerator, he drops a jar of pickles. St. Clair raises a hand, motioning for him to calm down as the admiral is pinching the bridge of his nose, shaking his head.

  “Relax Doctor, this is neutral ground.” St. Clair rubs his jaw. “Although, I still owe ya for earlier, but not here, not now.”

  Walking uneasy, Garrett steps over the broken glass and puts the rest on the counter.

  “Admiral?”

  “It’s alright, Harvey.”

  G Looking them over. “You two were laughing. Tell me that this is not like the Civil War, where the North and the South would meet up the night before. Laugh, share stories, trade coffee for tobacco, and then kill each other the next day.”

  “Easy mon, let’s hope it won’t come to dat. For now, let’s enjoy some tea.” He gives the doctor an honest smile. “And we can laugh and share stories.”

  The familiar, elderly voice appears directly behind the admiral, sending a chill up his spine. “You ain’t supposed to be here.”

  The other two notice the admiral tense up. Garrett steps back reaching for towels, not taking his eyes off of St. Clair. “Are you okay?” Garrett asks.

  Flexing his hands on the counter top, he says, “I’m fine, just had another déjà vu moment.”

  “Oh, I know, I am expecting Lin…” Taking a quick look at the giant agent, Harvey’s eyes darts at a slight movement behind him.

  St. Clair catches the eye shift, and before he can say anything a small figure jumps towards his back. Agent Nomi passes right through him and lands on the counter top.

  Poising herself on her toes and fingers she shifts her eyes back and forth between the admiral and Harvey. She looks back at her partner. “Are we making
friends now?”

  “Puppa Jesus, Flea,” St. Claire exasperates. “Why do you have to keep trying to frighten me? We are simply enjoying an early morning conversation.”

  A voice of a young woman interrupts everyone. “What are y’all doin’ here? You not supposed to be in here!”

  Everyone snaps in the direction of the new voice to see Sheryl standing with her arms crossed. Harvey and the admiral look at each other and smile. “Déjà vu.”

  Sheryl looks down at the floor to see the broken glass and pickles everywhere. “What have you done? Get, get out, you’re not supposed to be in here!”

  Fumbling, Harvey drops to pick up the glass. Nomi smiles and leans over the counter to watch him. Sheryl rushes around the counter, waving her hands to get everyone out of the kitchen. “Get, get, get.” She pauses to give the admiral a stern look before turning to Nomi, who is still smiling down at Harvey struggling to pick up the broken glass.

  The owner swipes her hand at Nomi’s feet only to miss. Nomi, with amazing agility, sweeps her feet under her, leaping and twisting onto a counter next to the refrigerator. Sheryl’s jaw drops, and her eyes opened wide in disbelief.

  Admiral Kay leans in and looks at everyone, then back at Sheryl. “We apologize, we will move on.” He makes eye contact with the agents, motioning them to the exit.

  t. Clair raises his hands, surrendering and smiling he steps back out of the room. “C’mon, Flea, we need to mind her wishes.”

  Nomi slowly lowers herself onto the floor, stepping down next to. He looks out the corner of his eyes to see the slender legs gracefully slide near him.

  Cheryl recovers from her moment of shock to hurry around to Harvey. “Get up, go.”

  “I truly apologize. I was just looking for something to eat,” He apologizes.

  Regaining her composure, Sheryl brushes her dress down. “Breakfast is in two hours.”

  Seeing the admiral standing there watching her, she says, “Shoo, you too.” The owner tries to push him out of the kitchen.

  He smiles. “Yes ma’am. We do apologize again.”

  The elderly voice returns by his side, “She’s a strong woman.”

  Struggling to maintain his smile, he nods and raises his hands to show surrender. Then he turns to join Harvey and the agents outside.

  Sheryl’s voice softens, “Breakfast will be in a couple of hours. I hope to see you there.”

  * * *

  On the back porch, St. Clair walks over to a column and leans his massive size against it, when the admiral steps out to join them. All eyes turn on the admiral as he cautiously looks everyone over. “Am I interrupting?”

  Harvey is pacing with his arms crossed, tapping his chin. “I was just interrogating these two to see if their organization was involved with the resignation of President Nixon.”

  St. Clair and Nomi give each other confused looks, as Nomi starts to laugh.

  He looks at them with mock disbelief. “What? It’s a theory I’ve been working on. Think about every highly-popular president was forced out of office. Lincoln, Kennedy, Nixon, and well someone tried to remove Reagan.”

  Nomi’s eyes dart back and forth, searching her memories. “Oh, what about FDR? Do you think some mysterious organization gave him Polio?”

  “There is always that one exception to every rule.” Harvey looks down, somewhat defeated.

  St. Clair chuckles and waves his hand. “Actually, I was just asking the good doctor here why you three still local and not halfway through Texas by now.”

  The admiral takes a moment to look at his friend. “We’re hoping to locate some new acquaintances.”

  Nomi chimes up, “You talking about Agent Kristen Abergathy.”

  Harvey walks over to mimic St. Clair by leaning against a column, making Nomi smile. “Is she one of yours?” He nods to Nomi.

  “Yes and no,” St. Clair answers as Nomi smiles at Garrett.

  Admiral Kay raises an eyebrow at St. Clair. “That sounds a little cryptic.”

  “Let’s just say, she works for one of our divisions, and we can let it go at that…We too would like meet her and ask a few questions.”

  Harvey shifts his weight and crosses his arms. “Are you sure it is not the other one you are looking for?”

  Nomi shifts her feet and pulls them under her as she sits. Her tone has a bite to it. “Why you protecting him? He murdered someone who is one of us!”

  The admiral raises his hands in attempt to calm the air. “We are not aware of anyone murdering anyone else…Everyone deserves an opportunity to tell their side and defend themselves if necessary.” His eyes land on the smaller agent, watching her as she appears to be getting lost in a memory.

  The tension on the porch is broken as an immense reverberating sound shakes the surrounding area. The agents take refuge on the deck as Harvey and Admiral Kay steady their feet and look at each other.

  “Bumboclaat!” Sitting back up and scrambling to his feet, St. Clair grabs his chest. “What ta hell was dat?”

  “According to the local Army base and Coast Guard out of Port Arthur, that was a sonic boom.” The Admiral smirks. “It is an atmospheric shift or something along those lines. It’s all over my head.”

  St. Clair gives his partner a confused look, as she looks back at him just as confused. “I been around a long time and that ain’t no sonic boom. And I am now thinking that that is what Kristen was tracking to get us down here in the middle of this mess. If we didn’t have another matter to look into we’d be looking into that.”

  The admiral walks over to Harvey, then looks over to St. Clair. “As for other matters, I believe we will take the idea and head west. If we come across Agent Abergathy, I will make sure to tell her you’re looking for her.”

  After a heavy pause, St. Clair gives him a subtle nod. “Admiral,” goes to walk back inside, nudging Nomi. “C’mon, Flea.”

  As soon as the door closes behind them, Garrett punches the admiral in the shoulder. “What was that all about?”

  “Respect, my friend. Now let’s go see if Lincoln is up yet, so we can break the change of plans to him.”

  Bose Lakeside home,

  Jasper, TX

  July 22, 0816 hours

  The sun is approaching unbearable levels as heat vapors are waving off the rooftops in the small suburban section of town. Pools of mirage puddles vanish as a brown Cadillac Deville pulls up to a moderate ranch-style home bordering the local lake.

  Getting out of the car, the stranger looks around to see the dead-end street void of life, he is unable to focus on the homes due to the heat waves. Popping the trunk, he walks around and grabs a series of backpacks in each hand. Giving the street one more look, he heads to the front door.

  There were some packages delivered, blocking the door. Tilting his head trying to read where they came from, he cracks a smile and sets some of the bags down to open the door. “This is interesting.”

  Nudging the door open with his foot the A/C knocks him back a step. Hurrying, he tosses the backpacks just inside the door. One of them lands with a heavy thud, causing him to duck and then smile as he looks back at the bags. Collecting the delivered boxes and feeling the weight, he steps inside and using his hips to shut the door.

  Looking down at the boxes, he grabs just under his beard with one hand and behind his head with the other and a wig and beard come off with a little force and tugging. Underneath the beard are the softer features of a woman as she massages her chin, pulling some remaining glue off of her lower jawline. Setting the disguise down, she takes a knife and opens the boxes.

  Inside the smallest box is a neoprene diving suit. She takes it out, holding it up next to her body; she walks over to a mirror. After admiring herself for a few minutes, she tosses it on the bed and heads back out to the other boxes.

  Opening one of the larger boxes she sets aside an invoice from Lockheed Martin. She unwraps some of the bubble wrap to reveal rubberized circuit boards. On the boards are taped tabs reading
an exaggerated SLOT A and TAB B. Shaking her head she opens another box to unfurl a fiber antenna mesh. Taking out the mesh, an envelope drops to the counter. Walking over to her recliner she falls into it with the letter in one hand and a glass of ice tea in the other.

  She takes a sip as she eyes the envelope. Taking a moment, she looks over at the backpacks stacked just inside the door. Smiling, she forces herself back up to get the heaviest bag and then sits back down. Inside the bag are the gold ingots from the bank. Opening the envelope, she takes another sip and reads the note.

  You did well at the bank in Katy. Glad to see we have chosen the right person for the job. Now someone will be by to pick them up. Until then, enjoy the suit and stay low key.

  Closing her eyes, she lets time pass. The doorbell rings, startling her. Making her way to the door, a FedEx man greets her with another small package. After signing the electronic pad, she closes the door. A ringing is coming from the package. Running into the kitchen, she grabs the knife and tears into the box to find an undescriptive phone. She tentatively taps the green telephone icon and says, “Hello?”

  A strong woman’s voice causes her to pull away from the phone for a second. “We have another job for you.”

  Allen Acres Bed & Breakfast,

  Pitkin, LA

  July 22, 0853 hours

  Back in one of the rooms, Admiral Kay and Harvey examine a map of the Louisiana, Texas. Harvey lets out a loud belch, bringing a fist to cover his mouth just as Lincoln walks out of the bathroom.

  “That’s disgusting, Harvey. Did you get any on you?”

  “No, I did not. But whoever decided that fried chicken goes with waffles was pure genius!”

  Letting out a short laugh, Lincoln looks down at the map. “Why are we looking at a map? We already know where the farmhouse is. I felt the sonic disruption last night, so I know Kristen and Professor Mildiani are back.”