The Phoenix Agenda: A Thriller (A Rossler Foundation Mystery Book 6)

by JC Ryan

  He told everyone to remain where they were, they could injure themselves in the dark, and maybe the lights will come on again soon. If not, he would get a flashlight from the kitchen.

  Three minutes later, the lights went on and the sudden sharp light temporarily blinded everyone. Sam and Susan were standing in the middle of the room and indicated, with their fingers to their lips, to be quiet.

  Sam spoke, “Please listen very carefully to me and your mother, and do exactly as we say. We have to move quickly now. This is all part of a plan to get us out of here and to a safe place. I know it's a shock to you, but you have to trust us. Your mother and I know precisely what is going on. I promise we will tell you what is happening in more detail soon, but for now, let’s just do the important things first. There are two men in the guards' office whom you don't know. Don’t worry, they are our friends. All of the guards are under sedation and won't bother us. They are not dead. Anna and Mandy, can you stay with the children and make sure they don’t see us take the guards out? Jack and Shane, please help me move the guards into one of the bedrooms. Susan, you can start packing - we’ll come and help you soon."

  As Sam finished the orders to everyone, Luke appeared in the doorway and helped them with the guards while being introduced by Sam. He told them the remaining three guards were fast asleep and already tied up in the office.

  Stuart had already loaded the recordings prepared by him and Raj into the surveillance cameras. Then he loaded the computer with the reports that the 'guards' would be sending out every day for the next few days. Next he would remove the GPS tracking devices from the guards' SUV's and connect them to smartphones that would simulate the vehicles returning James’ and Shane’s families to their homes and coming back again.

  Owen and Alison also arrived via the back door soon after and helped them to pack the guards' two SUV's, parked in the double garage with internal access via the kitchen. They left the packing of Owen's 4x4, which was parked at the rental property, for last.

  Twenty minutes after the lights came on, the SUV's pulled out of the garage and took off in different directions. Owen was the driver for Jack and his family, while Alison drove Shane and his family in the second SUV.

  At a large container yard in the industrial area of Boise Valley, there were four forty-foot containers, two of which were empty and two packed with building materials and farm equipment. That was where they were heading. Owen and Alison knew exactly where to go and what to do. When they arrived, they unpacked everything from the vehicles into the containers where the escapees would find everything had been set up to accommodate them all.

  The SUV's were moved into the other two empty containers that were locked and destined for a scrap yard in San Francisco the next day.

  At the Lewises house, Sam, Luke and Stuart double-checked that the guards were still sleeping and tied up properly, while Susan scraped together the last few things. The lights in the front parts of the house went out, and minutes later the four of them left one by one, a few minutes apart, through the back door. They met at the rental house where Luke and the team lived and packed Owen’s vehicle.

  They were at the container yard forty minutes after Owen and Alison. Stuart would join those in the containers for the trip to Mount Ararat while Owen and Alison would be in his 4x4 with Luke, who had turned into Alison's grandmother again. The two trucks that would transport the containers to Mount Ararat would arrive at six the next morning. Owen and Alison would be there to make sure everything was loaded and secured properly, and they would be at Mount Ararat when the trucks arrived and unloaded.

  Tectus

  Raj was eager to see what was on the laptop that Owen brought back from New York. He expected Rube and Sombra would have loaded a message and a few nice applications for him. He was not disappointed.

  He found a hidden file in the registry containing the key to the encoding they'd used. He read the report and smiled as he discovered they were already part of a resistance group, formed even before the New World Order came to power. They called themselves Tectus. Raj had no idea how they came up with that name.

  The Tectus members, all of whom knew about the Rossler Foundation and the work they'd done in the past, were happy to help in any way they could. It seemed they already had more than one hundred members spread across the USA and even a few other countries, counting amongst them some of the top computer hackers in the world. They were always recruiting more members.

  They were able to gain almost unfettered and untraceable access to government networks. They were now sitting on a wealth of information, which they were happy to share with the Rossler Foundation.

  Just to prove that point, they included the latest satellite-tracking program including the launch date, location in space, description and purpose of every operational satellite, public and secret. As if that were not enough, they also included a document with the specifications and launch dates for those satellites planned to be placed into orbit over the next six months.

  The report provided some disturbing information about the chipping program, which apparently had been gaining a lot of momentum lately, something that was not reported in the media. Tectus had their hands on the documents detailing the entire chipping program and strategy. Chipping had already been implemented for criminals, nonconformists, current and former high-ranking officials, existing and former security and law enforcement staff, and many others as part of the first phase. The plan was to speed up the program in the next few weeks with the objective to have everyone on the planet chipped within three years.

  Tectus had an excellent and very secure communications system going, with proxies and free Internet access points. They discovered one of the best ways to communicate electronically was by hacking into the wireless networks and access points of educational facilities where they could remain anonymous amongst tens of thousands of students.

  Their biggest concern was how to avoid chipping or neutralize the chips. They hadn’t been able to get their hands on any of the chips and were quite scared to do so because of the horrible consequences when anyone tampered with them.

  They also reported that they were happy to arrange for the safe delivery of the letters to family members on the outside. They would use the people in the network to make sure those family members would get printed versions of the messages, with instructions to burn them after reading.

  The report ended with the request for another meeting as soon as convenient so that the details of future cooperation and information exchange could be worked out and implemented as early as possible.

  Raj had the satellite tracking system up and running within less than an hour and studied it carefully. There were no surveillance satellites in operation that would be of concern to the inhabitants of the Rabbit Hole. It was frightening, though, to see how many Skywalkers had been launched since the takeover and how many more were being readied for launch. Within three months, every corner of the planet would be covered.

  It was too late

  The great escape was discovered two days later, and the alarm was raised almost at the same time as Sam, Susan and their family received a hero’s welcome when Luke led the group into the Rabbit Hole.

  Luke escorted them to the Robert Cartwright Town Hall where everyone gathered to greet them. They immediately felt welcome as hugs and kisses from people they'd never seen or met before surprised them. It was going to take days to remember all their names, but the most important part was, they were free.

  ***

  The welcome Sam and his family received stood in sharp contrast to the welcome James Gordon got when he walked into the chambers of the Supreme Council in The Berlaymont, the former headquarters of the European Union in Brussels, a day after the alarm was raised in Boise. If he’d had any hopes that the Supreme Council meeting was going to take place in a calm atmosphere, it disappeared with the opening words of the world’s most powerful man.

  “You fuckin’, imbecilic moron! I have a goo
d mind to shoot you right now. I suppose you have some inane excuse or explanation for this, but don’t even try to give it to me! You useless bag of sloppy goose shit!”

  Seven of the fourteen Council members knew John Brideaux and his psychotic temper tantrums and remained absolutely quiet. The rest, who were experiencing it for the first time, were shocked and scared out of their minds and remained silent for that reason.

  “You and that dog-faced bitch over there thought you were smart!” Anastasia Oriov did not look up - she was staring at the glass of water in front of her, sickly as olive green linen.

  “You kept Sam Lewis out of prison for your silly fuckin’ propaganda games! Now you have the former head of the fuckin’ CIA on the loose. Do you have the slightest idea what tornado of swill that guy can stir up?”

  Gordon tried to open his mouth but could not get a word out. “Fuck you Gordon, don’t even try to answer, you pea-brained, dim-witted, clumsy piece of hogwash!

  “Mr. President, please I … I …” was as far as Gordon got before he looked up and found himself staring down the barrel of the gun in Brideaux’s hands.

  “Gordon, shut your yap! Don’t even try to make an excuse! I will shoot you if I hear so much as another squeak from you!” Brideaux shouted at the top of his lungs.

  “You have been in this job for how many weeks now, and you haven’t even got the slightest fuckin’ clue where the Rosslers and my libraries are! You were busy digging snot from your nose and sucking dead cocks while Sam Lewis, one of the most dangerous people in the world, who was placed under your care, walked out of his house with his wife and family as if they were going on a picnic. You hopeless idiot!” he yelled.

  Gordon dared to glance up, only to be faced with someone he could barely recognize. Brideaux’s eyes were red and bulging, his complexion verging on blue-grey, and there was saliva dribbling down his chin.

  Gordon quickly dropped his head and stared at the table like a little boy.

  The staff in the building could not believe what they were hearing. They had never seen or heard anything like this. They knew their boss had a short temper. But they didn’t know it was this bad. He sounded exactly like what he was - a psychotic maniac.

  “Listen up, Gordon; this is your last chance. You will personally fly over to Washington and you will personally stick a chip in the ass of that useless motherfucker, Robert Wilson. Then you will drive him over to the smallest police station in the most dismal ghetto there, where he will, from now on, be doing foot patrol seven days a week for the rest of his life. You can tell him if he so much as sneezes, I will personally push his button.”

  Gordon, who was by now too afraid to speak, just nodded his head in agreement. At least it looked as if he wouldn't be shot – not yet.

  “After that you will get hold of the six guards and make them disappear. Now you disappear from my sight. Bugger off, and go do your job. Report back to this Council in two days!” Brideaux shouted with just a little less volume.

  Not even if he were traveling at the speed of light would Gordon be able to get out of that room and as far away from that crazy man as quickly as he wanted. He was on his mobile to arrange a flight to Washington before he reached the end of the corridor. He was booked on a plane that would leave in less than two hours before he even reached his office. Gordon had just one immediate goal, and that was to get as much distance between him and President John Brideaux as possible, as fast as he humanly could.

  On the flight to Washington he gave some serious thought to the idea of making a run for it and disappearing into some African or South American jungle. He would rather take his chances with some cannibalistic tribe than face the President of the Supreme Council again.

  Gordon made more than hundred percent sure he executed his orders to the T as he believed that would give him a second chance. Two days later he walked back through the doors of the Supreme Council chambers, fully expecting a better reception than before. His mistake was revealed to him when he saw a nurse standing beside the seat to which he was pointed, with a chipping kit in her hand. He felt several cold shivers running down his spine. He should have made the runner when he thought about it a few days ago, and now it was too late.

  The nurse opened his shirt and moved it over his right shoulder. She sterilized the area just below his right collarbone and made a half-inch incision without giving him a local anesthetic, a courtesy afforded even to criminals when they were chipped. She put the chip in place despite Gordon’s screams of pain, put three stitches in the wound, sterilized it again, and put a small self-stick bandage on.

  Finally, she pushed a few buttons on a small electronic device before saying, “Mr. Gordon do you want me to tell you what will happen if you try to take that out?”

  Gordon, who was in agony, just shook his head.

  This chipping procedure was the most gruesome and painful of the two available. They already had a much less invasive process, where the chip would be injected into place within a few seconds. Brideaux had ordered this one, without any anesthetic, as a special treat for Gordon. He wanted him to remember.

  When the procedure was completed, Brideaux said with a wicked smile on his face "Gordon, we have a new assignment for you. These gentlemen will accompany you to your new offices.”

  The two agents had instructions to accompany him to Moscow. From there, he would be taken to one of the orientation camps in Siberia, where he would serve as a guard.

  As President Brideaux saw the backside of Gordon, he turned to Anastasia Oriov and said, "You will be next, bitch. One misstep and you will be scrubbing decks on merchant ships during the day and fucking sailors at night for the rest of your life."

  President Brideaux was a worried man. For the thousandth time he regretted that he hadn’t killed the Rosslers when he had the chance. He didn't mention it to anyone, but he had no doubt that the Rosslers had something to do with Sam Lewis' escape. That combination of Sam Lewis, the Rosslers, and the 10th Cycle Library didn't bode well for him and the new world order.

  Brideaux never slept; at least it seemed to be the case when he called the new head of BOSS, Liu Chen, former chief of Chinese Intelligence. It was three o’clock in the morning when he told Chen to make sure every person on the watch list was chipped within a week, and within two weeks all of their families, including parents, siblings, children and grandchildren.

  Hell would be too nice for them

  The police chief in Boise, whose department had been contacted by neighbors hearing screams coming from the Lewises house, immediately issued an APB and gave it to the radio and TV stations to broadcast.

  The news headlines were “Former Head of CIA and Family Disappeared”. Foul play was suspected because the guards were found drugged and tied up. The police were concerned for the safety of the whole family. People were asked to contact the police if they had any information.

  It was central news for exactly one hour before the police chief appeared on TV again and withdrew the previous statement. He pointed out that it was all a mistake, reporting that the Lewises had been found at a holiday resort not far from Boise – all of them safe and in good health. There was no further mention of the incident and no one ever questioned the report about the guards that were found drugged and tied up. The police chief and the news reporters involved quietly disappeared themselves, never to be heard of again.

  Esther Harper saw the first two news bulletins and told her husband about it while they were out on a walk. “Nigel, what do you make of that?”

  “My guess is that Sam Lewis and his family got away, but the authorities don’t want anyone to know about it. They could never admit that Sam has slipped through their fingers- that would never fit in with their propaganda. I’m afraid that if they recapture him though, he and his entire family will be killed right away. I can promise you, those who made the mistake of publicizing this story will be dead by now.”

  Esther was shocked, “Nigel, that’s horrible! These people ar
e so evil. Hell would be too nice for them.”

  “I’m wondering how Sam managed to pull it off. It wouldn’t have been easy if his circumstances were anything like ours. I would think it would be near impossible without outside help. But then, on the other hand, he went through the ranks from field agent to the head of the CIA. It’s not entirely impossible that he could have pulled it off on his own.” Nigel speculated.

  “Who do you think could have helped them?” Esther wanted to know.

  Nigel had a little smile on his face as the thoughts were racing through his mind. “I’d place my bet on the Rosslers. And, if that is the case, I have new hope for the world and us. Remember what a powerful alliance the Rosslers and Sam formed during the Sword of Cyrus crisis?”

  Take charge of Operation Phoenix

  Sam and his family were astounded by the Rosslerites’ colossal achievements in such a short timeframe, when they got the royal tour of the Rabbit Hole. They were shown the Gallatin Unified School, Gardens of Gallatin, Roy’s lab and Raj’s computer center. There was Rebecca’s clinic, Sinclair’s translation lab, the Nicholas Rossler Library, hot pools, steam electricity generators, sleeping quarters for every family, and meeting rooms. The fly-fishing spot immediately became Sam’s favorite.

  Sam smiled as he turned to Luke and said, “Man, am I happy I accepted your job offer.”

  The following day, the Steering Committee assigned each of them to different departments after the three new kids were welcomed at the Gallatin school. Jack, with his Ph.D. in biochemistry, was immediately assigned to work with Rebecca. His wife Anna, although being a homemaker the last few years to take care of their boys, had a degree in human biology and was also assigned to work with Rebecca. Shane, with his skills as an electronics engineer, was assigned to Ryan’s team, and his wife Mandy, a firmware programmer, was assigned to Raj’s team. Susan was assigned to Martha’s garden society where she found a kindred spirit in their mutual love for gardening.