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

by JC Ryan

  They announced with pride that the Liberty Dollar was the first and only one world currency in human history. Nobody corrected them - the 8th Cycle, more than fifty thousand years ago, also had a one-world currency.

  Immediately after the announcement, the jubilant media was onto it and pointed out that people should mark this day in their calendars. This was the first day they were finally liberated from the oppression of the fat cat bankers and financial institutions. This day would go down in the journals of history as the day when liberty and equality arrived; it was the end of poverty.

  Across the world people were dancing in the streets - their excitement knew no bounds. These frenzied scenes of joy were broadcast on every TV and radio around the world. No one but those immediately involved noticed that the financial world had descended into utter chaos. Stock and money markets had crashed immediately and were shut down within hours, destined never to reopen again.

  By Saturday, people woke up to discover that all paper money was worthless, all coin unacceptable, and they had no money. Banks shut down all their online banking facilities and ATM machines and closed their doors. No financial transactions were possible. Business owners immediately closed all operations and laid off their staff out of fear of falling foul of the new laws. Scores became unemployed overnight.

  By Saturday evening, the media frenzy began to subside as billions of people found themselves jobless and penniless. By late Sunday, there were few joyful individuals in the streets and by Monday morning there were none. Reality had set in for the chipped as well as the unchipped, as they discovered that they were unable to buy or sell anything. They couldn’t buy food, clothing, medicine, gas or any services, and they had no idea when they would be able to again.

  By Monday, the first hungry people appeared on the streets begging for food, and their numbers increased rapidly with every passing day. Soon they became violent in their efforts to survive, and people locked themselves in their homes to stay out of the way of gangs of dangerous and hungry citizens. The doors and windows of banks were broken down, ATM machines were ripped out and smashed open in an attempt to get money, only to find out that the money was worthless, and there was nobody that would sell anything to them or indeed, had anything left to sell.

  Shops were raided and food vanished quickly except in the warehouses, which became the next target. Desperation and hopelessness set in for everyone, chipped and unchipped. The questions on everyone’s lips were, “Where are our liberators? Is this what liberty and equality looks like?”

  Eight days after the announcement, vigilantes ruled the streets and neighborhoods of all cities and towns across the globe, creating violence and looting. Strangely enough, it became apparent that the impoverished parts of the world were much better off than the affluent. Poor people were used to struggling to make ends meet. They were much better prepared to handle hardship than the privileged.

  Law enforcement agencies were inundated, understaffed and overworked. Tens of thousands of new police members would be chipped and deputized; every known security guard plus current and former military personnel were called up for police duty. Yet, despite the rapid growth in their ranks and expansion of the drone fleet, they were still unable to gain control and restore law and order. Killer bots were mowing people down in their thousands every day.

  The drones would quickly sniff out the chipped amongst the offenders and activate the torture bots in their bodies, leaving them in excruciating pain with extreme cramps in their limbs and stomachs. The second time a chipped citizen was identified in the wrong place, the killer bots were activated. Tens of thousands of the chipped also died.

  The media didn’t report any of the misery and chaos. They were forbidden to do so. Of course, they didn’t have to. Everyone out on the streets could see it for themselves, their empty stomachs dictating their feelings and beliefs. The media kept on playing only one tune repeatedly – just look at all the benefits of being chipped: free education, free medical, free phones and internet, a long and healthy life with no debt. By now, there were not many listening to them anymore. What was the use of all of those benefits if you were starving to death? The chip could not save you from starvation.

  The brutal and inhumane police tactics were efficient at keeping the chipped off the streets, but they were the only ones being punished. Most of the unchipped got away unpunished, however, their limited ‘freedom’ came to a swift end when the police equipped the drones with new nanobots aimed at the unchipped. They were just killed indiscriminately and without warning when detected in any undesired location. Those who were able to escape detection by the drones, which many of them managed to do, were still free. The chipped had no such luck; their every move was monitored and punished at the slightest hint that they were not obedient.

  The media was fighting a losing battle; they couldn’t keep the people calm and motivated anymore. Their attempts to persuade everyone how incredible this new financial system was fell on deaf ears. Slowly but surely, they found that growing numbers of formerly devoted supporters of the new regime were going quiet and refused to be interviewed or contribute to the news.

  Nero fiddled while Rome burned. The most fun-filled part for the Supreme Council was when they watched the exclusive daily footage, shot for them by their own camera crews around the world. They laughed and shouted like the barbaric and bloodthirsty crowds of Romans who found great entertainment at the Colosseum during gladiator fights, while helpless victims were torn to pieces by wild animals.

  Only two of the Supreme Council members found no amusement in these daily horror shows of human suffering and despair. The two dissenting members made sure no one noticed their disgust. This is not what they envisaged for the new world. This was not liberty, equality, and fraternity. This was the human race at its lowest point of morality ever. It was barbaric and nauseating. Nevertheless, they remained quiet and veiled their feelings out of a very real fear that, if they objected, they might find themselves out on the streets amongst those participating in the death march.

  “Look at that! Wait, turn it back a few frames, I would like to see that part where the guy’s head is taken off again,” John Brideaux commanded the video operator; he had a ten thousand Liberty dollar bet on the winner. “Shit, it’s thrilling; just look at all that blood.” John Brideaux was having a good time and the council members joined in with their applause as they watched the man’s head rolling away from his jerking, decapitated body.

  The Supreme Council’s special camera crews took great pride in creating daily entertainment for their enthusiastic audience in Brussels.

  They named it after the very popular TV series from a few years ago, depicting a game where teenagers annually battled to the death for the benefit of their towns.

  The camera crews would send out the word into different neighborhoods about a food drop and the location where it would take place – usually at a big stadium that could host many thousands of spectators. A few boxes of tinned food were dropped in the middle of the arena. That was the prize for the winner, food for their neighborhood.

  The boxes were rigged with explosives so that no one would dare to rush in and take them. The explosives would be deactivated only when a clear winner emerged. The groups from each neighborhood would turn up with their nominated gladiators to fight each other for the food. The games would last for hours, and the blood and the dead would cover the arena. People saw and were repulsed, but they attended to support their warriors in the hope of getting some food if their fighters were victorious.

  The Supreme Council watched and enjoyed it; they had no concerns about food, as they indulged in luxurious delicacies, prepared by the world’s master chefs. Champagne, caviar, and exotic feasts were in abundance while they watched the melees and betting on the outcome of each one. The Supreme Council had a second stage of their plan in place, but they didn’t want to activate it too early. They were still enjoying the spectacle and wanted the chaos and suffering to conti
nue for a while longer. They were not satisfied that the level of desperation was high enough for the final part of their plan to be kicked off. They wanted more fear, more desperation and more chaos.

  A small glitch happened on a live show of one of the major TV networks when a Roman Catholic priest agreed to be interviewed. He was briefed and coached in exactly what to say during the interview. However, shortly into the interview he stopped talking, looked straight at the camera and quoted from the Bible, Mark 13 verses 14 to 19:

  “When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong – then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

  Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out.

  Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak.

  How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!

  Pray that this will not take place in winter, because those will be days of distress unequalled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.”

  The interviewer and camera crew were taken by surprise, so it took them a few minutes to realize what was happening and shut the cameras down. By then it was too late. The message had gone out to millions of viewers.

  The priest, camera crew and CEO of the TV station were never heard of again. The TV station almost lost its license.

  It was as if that priest’s message gave some people a bit of hope, an escape from certain death. They started fleeing out of the cities to the countryside and the mountains in droves. They would drive their vehicles until they ran out of gas, abandoned them, and go on foot as far away as they could, many of them only with the clothes on their backs. Thousands upon thousands squatted on farms, in forests, and parks. However, for most of them it ended in death as they still had no food, no shelter, and now also no protection from hungry and vicious gangs roaming the countryside.

  The desperation and hunger drove some people to cannibalism and the rest to suicide; those were the only two choices left. Family massacres became commonplace as people would rip out the chips of their children and spouses and then themselves, so that they could die and be free from the pain.

  On a Friday five weeks after the announcement, the Supreme Council finally gave the thumbs up for the next item on their agenda. They started handing out limited amounts of rations at prepared distribution centers to all the loyal citizens only.

  Loyal citizens were those who were chipped. Some supermarket shelves were stocked with food again, chip scanners were installed, staff was hired, and they were back in business. There were a few conditions though. Only the chipped could buy food, and only the chipped could be hired to work. The food was rationed to as much as one person required to survive for one day, which meant the whole family had to go shopping every day. Anyone caught sharing food with the unchipped would be punished severely.

  At each shop and distribution center, a makeshift implant clinic and staff were ready to service everyone who wanted food. As soon as the chip was activated, the person could join the food line. Cargo planes, trucks, and trains were busy around the clock to move food and supplies to the distribution centers. Queues of people waiting for food and to be chipped stretched for many miles.

  Tectus kept the Rosslerites well informed of what was happening in the world outside the Rabbit Hole. With the preoccupation of the police force and the chipping and food distribution requiring all the attention of the officials, the time was ripe for Operation Pincer.

  Operation Pincer

  On the Saturday morning, forty-three days after the Supreme Council’s announcement, when the butchery reached its climax, it was D-Day minus one. Owen, Alison, Peter, and Kelly landed at Upper Cumberland airport, eighteen miles from Cookeville and less than twenty-two miles from the Harpers’ farm. They were disguised as two couples in their mid-sixties, all wearing sunglasses. The men were wearing wide brimmed hats and the women sunhats and headscarves. They informed the inquisitive supervisor at the airport that they were farmers from Georgia. This was just a short stopover, to experience the serene beauty of the lovely little town of Sparta and surrounding areas in White County. They would be leaving again the next evening.

  Later that night, Rube, Sombra, and three of the Nashville Tectus agents deployed all the necessary equipment. They tested that everything was working correctly and linked the equipment up to the operations center in the Rabbit Hole. Peter met with them afterward and did a final walkthrough. They were all ready.

  The Harpers were informed every step of the way. They knew what to expect and do during the entire operation. On D-Day, Peter did two more walkthroughs with them via the mirror phone on their Sunday morning and afternoon walks. At 10.20 pm, Sam and his operations team were all gathered in the operations center and in communication with Peter and his team. They did one final check to make sure that everything was working smoothly.

  Rube had taken control of the network router inside the house, uploading the video and movement files to the computer connected to the Security Control Center in Washington. He was just waiting for the signal to swing into action. Sombra and two others had the mosquitoes, loaded with Immobilon, deployed and waiting for the signal.

  At 10:30 pm, Sam and his team were satisfied that they were ready and gave Peter the green light. Rube switched the recording mode on all video cameras and microphones off and started feeding the pre-recorded files to the control center in Washington. There was only one person left to look after the entire country. Everyone else who usually operated the center was out in the streets on police duty. The team waited ten minutes to see if any alarm was triggered, and when nothing happened, Rube proceeded and switched off all motion detectors inside and outside the house.

  Sombra and his assistants first neutralized the three agents who were already asleep and then coordinated their attacks on the remaining three. One was in the office reading a book and not paying any attention to the screens and computers as he was supposed to. One was outside on the porch having a smoke, and the third was watching a movie on TV in the family room. The three of them collapsed almost in unison as if they had practiced the move.

  In the Rabbit Hole, everyone was listening and following every move on the farm more than one thousand one hundred nautical miles away. They checked the steps on their lists off as they were completed and reported by the team at ground zero, making sure that nothing was left out.

  The door leading from the Harpers’ bedroom to a verandah was not locked, and when Peter and Kelly walked in at 10:40 pm, the Harpers switched the bed lights on. Rube, Sombra and their three assistants came in through the same door right on the heels of Peter and Kelly and went into the house to tie up and gag the unconscious agents. They then set up the rest of the computer equipment to operate in automatic mode for the next four days.

  “Mr. President and Mrs. Harper, I’m Peter. It’s a pleasure to meet you at last. This is my fiancé, Kelly Edwards, whom I believe you have met before. We have to move quickly, but feel free to ask any questions you might have along the way.”

  “Thank God!” Esther Harper said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

  “Peter and Kelly, I’m overwhelmed, I feel the same as Esther. I think its best if you just tell us what you want us to do and questions can come later.”

  “Mr. President and Mrs. Harper, we first have to remove the chips. Then we'll help you pack your things and get you out of here,” Kelly said as she asked them to lie down on the bed for the procedure.

  Kelly moved over to Esther’s side and Peter attended to Nigel.

  Peter smiled as he explained, “This might hurt a little. Neither Kelly nor I have done this operation before. Rebecca assured us she was confident that we’re competent surgeons after the training she gave us. So please know we are sorry in advance if we cause you any discomfort.”

  “We’re in your hands. Nothing can be worse than carrying that instrument of the devil in our
bodies. Let’s do it,” Esther said.

  Kelly and Peter put on surgical gloves, took out the chip deactivators constructed by Roy and Jack, and held them over the area where the chips were located for a few seconds until the green light showed. Then they injected each of their patients with a local anesthetic. When the injected areas were numb, they took out scalpels, made small incisions and pulled the chips out with sterilized medical pincers, placed them in cylindrical canisters, and then cleaned and dressed the wounds.

  Both Peter and Kelly managed to hide their anxiety very well by making lighthearted comments all the time during the procedure. Not only was this was the first time either of them was required to inject and cut into another human, but it was also the first time that Roy’s deactivation device had been used on a human body. Nigel and Esther didn't say anything, but they were both aware of the fact that they were the first to be unchipped and that there was a risk that things could go wrong.

  Five minutes later, at 10:46 pm, the Harpers were unchipped and thunderous applause broke out in the Rabbit Hole when Peter reported that the Harpers were alive and well. The Harpers hugged both of their rescuers and started packing the few things they wanted to take with them. Peter and Kelly asked the Harpers to excuse them and said they’d meet them again later at the airport. There were a few more things to take care of. Rube and his team would be there shortly to give them a hand and get them to the van waiting about a mile away.

  Rube and the rest of his team removed all traces of their visit, retrieving the spyflies, mosquitoes, and other equipment. Afterward, they went through to where the Harpers were waiting, introduced themselves, and helped them pack and move to the waiting van.

  Peter and Kelly had gone to the unconscious agents, deactivated, and extracted their chips, placing them in cylindrical canisters. After they sterilized and dressed their wounds, they left a personal note for each of them in their hands, along with the canisters containing their chips.