by RM Brewer
“Well, then I have good news for you,” Claire said, holding out a manila file folder. “We just kind of stumbled upon this in the phone records that the Denver office sent over yesterday.”
Jodie turned back toward Claire and stared at the folder, almost reluctant to take it. Disappointment usually followed each time they thought they were onto something. She took the file, set it on her desk and opened it, revealing a stack of cell phone records. “Okay, what am I looking at?”
Claire leaned over the desk and pointed to a highlighted line, showing the details of a phone call. “Flip the page,” she said.
Jodie did as she was instructed. The next page was filled with highlighted entries. She flipped back to the first page and looked at the details, but didn’t recognize the number the calls originated from. “Whose records are these?”
Claire smiled. “Did you ever have the pleasure of meeting Jane McKinley? You know, Walter McKinley’s wife?”
Jodie shook her head. “You’re telling me these are her phone records?”
Claire nodded. “Only some of them. We followed her phone records right after the, uh . . . the incident you were involved in. She made several calls to an unknown number, which we were able to track. It looks like Jane and whoever she’s talking with are constantly changing phones – probably using pre-paids – anyway, they’re up to their sixth phone swap now, but I think we almost have them.”
Jodie let it sink in for a moment. The person they almost had was the former Assistant Director of the FBI, her former supervisor, one of the primary players in implementing Gypsum’s plan that killed hundreds of thousands of people and unleashed major devastation on four continents. “You almost have them? You really said that, didn’t you?”
Claire smiled with what looked like reserved jubilation. “Yes, we’ve been following two people communicating, all starting with a known number for Jane McKinley. It appears, at first, they swapped phones a couple of times each day. But, once you have the starting number in the sequence, it’s not difficult to keep following it. Both phones they’re using now were turned off yesterday, so we’re waiting for them to reinitiate contact. It looks like they’re calling on prime number days. You know one, three, five, seven, nine? They skip a number each week. This week, they’ll skip seven, next, they’ll skip nine. You see the pattern? Then, the timing starts over again. That is if they keep using prime numbers.”
“What day are we on now?” Jodie asked, amazed by what she was hearing.
“Looks like today was day five, so we have four more days to wait after today because this is the week they skip seven,” Claire said. “I need an order for surveillance on both phones so that we can listen in.”
“By all means,” Jodie said. “By the way, fantastic work.”
“Thanks,” Claire said, a broad smile forming on her face. “We’ll get back at it then.” Claire left the office with a bounce in her step.
Jodie almost wanted to stand up and cheer. Her new team was operating at a different pace than what she was used to at the FBI. Besides that, her people worked night and day, seemingly never taking a break. Since becoming an agent, Jodie was used to being in the office in the middle of the night by herself, after all the other agents went home for the evening to their families and dinner dates and television sets. But, she’d yet to experience that with this group. The office ran twenty-four hours each day, every day. She turned to her computer and typed up requisitions for the phone surveillance, thinking it would also be wise to order a few drones to provide video coverage of the McKinleys, once they were located. Completing the request, she clicked on the send button, thinking how odd it was to communicate directly with the President of the United States. Her request came back, approved, within the hour.
The next morning, Jodie gathered her team in the conference room for their call with the President and allowed them to explain how they’d uncovered the McKinley’s trail of phone communications. She knew that direct contact with the President was not only a reward for their hard work but was the most inspirational thing that could happen to an agent. Her team would double down on their commitment to finding McKinley and Renfro. Maybe there was still hope for Mei, too.
Once they found the McKinleys, it was unlikely she'd get any time off for the foreseeable future. So, knowing she’d be back in a couple of days, well ahead of the next call, Jodie left instructions for her team to contact her with their daily reports and if anything of significance occurred. She was on the FBI helicopter by noon, on her way to the airport in Crescent City where she would pick up a rental vehicle. Her trip had started a few hours earlier than she’d anticipated, and Jodie was happy to know she’d have a change of scenery soon.
Later, driving into Mountain City, Jodie decided to stop at the diner to say hi to Debi. She hadn’t seen her since leaving for her new office and wanted to find out if Debi had heard any news of Gypsum. It also would make sense if Chuck had contacted her. After all, he and Debi had been friends since high school and it seemed they would do just about anything for each other. She felt the warmth of Debi’s smile as she stepped inside the diner.
“How’s my favorite waitress?” Jodie asked, embracing Debi.
“Great,” Debi said, enthusiastically. “How’s my favorite FBI agent?”
Jodie smiled and pulled away from Debi. “Also great, now that I’m in the woods again.”
“All that sand gettin’ to you?”
“Something like that,” Jodie said, striding over to a counter seat. Before she could tell Debi what she wanted, a coffee cup appeared in front of her along with a huge pie.
“That’s peach. And, it’s still warm,” Debi said.
“Well, by all means, bring a fork,” Jodie said. “Oh, probably a plate, too, so I don’t look too out of control.”
“You got it,” Debi said, laughing and grabbing the pie before disappearing behind the swinging door to the kitchen.
Looking around the diner, Jodie noticed that some remodeling had been going on. The place looked like someone was making an attempt to update the decor. That’s something new, she thought. Not exactly cosmopolitan, but they’re trying at least.
Moments later, a very generous piece of pie was placed in front of her, and Debi filled her mug with coffee. “Diner’s been doing well, then?” Jodie said through a mouthful of peaches.
“Yeah, business has just about doubled since the earthquake. Lots of people moving up to this area, too, after what happened to San Francisco. The water’s bad there, I guess. Well, it’s bad wherever anything is still standing, I mean. They’re saying it’ll never be right to drink again. All the oil and gas lines, you know. Then, there were all those chemical fires from tankers along the docks. A guy brought in pictures last week. It kind of looks like a floating garbage dump, some of which is on fire.”
A man sitting at the counter laid a bill down and tipped his cap at Debi.
“See you tomorrow, Frank,” Debi said.
“Sure will,” Frank said. “What’s the flavor gonna be?”
“Cook says blackberry,” Debi said.
“Well, I’ll be here early, then,” he said, smiling as he walked out the door.
Debi and Jodie looked after him. “That’s Frank Benton. He’s one of about a couple hundred who moved up to their vacation homes permanently. This town’s changed forever, I think.”
“Maybe that’s okay,” Jodie said, thinking that the influx of new permanent residents just might catapult Mountain City into the twenty-first century. Jodie turned back at Debi and noticed that her hands shook slightly before she thrust them into her apron pockets.
"Are you feeling okay?" Jodie asked.
Debi nodded and averted her eyes. She sighed, an anxious expression suddenly clouding her face. "He made me promise not to tell you."
"He?" Jodie asked. "Are you talking about who I think you are?"
Debi nodded, then leaned over and whispered. “Can you come up to the farm tonight?”
&nbs
p; Jodie was a little confused. “The farm? Oh, you mean your house?”
“Yeah,” Debi said. “There’s somebody I think you need to see.”
Jodie felt a mixture of joy and relief, knowing that Chuck had taken shelter at Debi’s house. “Is he okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, but I think you need to see him for yourself. I wanted to call you when he showed up, but he insisted that you not know about it. Anyway, when I saw Nick last week, he said you'd be coming up soon, so I thought I would wait and decide what to do when you got here.”
Jodie wondered what condition Chuck was in. He’d been through a lot and she wouldn’t be surprised if she saw a mangled mass of metal instead of the Chuck she’d grown to know. “How long has he been with you?”
Debi looked over Jodie’s shoulder and waved at a departing patron. Redirecting her attention, she said, “Only since yesterday. I probably don’t have to tell you that he scared the hell out of me.” Debi looked up as a patron in a booth raised their empty coffee cup. “But, we shouldn’t talk about this here.” Debi waved at the man and grabbed a coffee pot. “I’d better make the rounds.”
Jodie nodded. “Okay. I’ll work on this for a while,” she said, stabbing her fork into a mound of pie. As she sat and thought about Chuck, Jodie felt a sense of foreboding threatening to dampen the levity she’d gained on her trip to Mountain City. She was elated that Chuck was alive but wondered what kind of life he would have in his condition. Plus, until she’d exposed all of the players in Gypsum’s plan, she couldn’t be entirely certain that the framework wasn’t still in existence. Gypsum’s network had a far reach, with links established across the globe. Unless their funding could be completely cut off, Jodie was sure that what remained of the network could continue to thrive. A few hundred million misappropriated dollars later, the entire operation would be up and running again.
Chuck was especially precious to Gypsum now, too, because of what he’d become. He was all that remained of the super-soldier concoction her mother had created and that made him very, very valuable. If Gypsum got wind of his whereabouts, it was likely they would do anything to get him back. They would extract his DNA. Jodie wondered if Gypsum could replicate super-soldiers like Chuck on a massive scale and build an army. An army like that would likely meet with little resistance. She shuddered as she thought about the potential for that happening. She realized she’d better talk with Debi about being very careful with their little secret. Ideally, she would take Chuck into protective custody, but Jodie felt that was out of the question, given how deeply Gypsum had infiltrated the FBI, not to mention governments all over the world. She and Debi would need to protect Chuck on their own, then. Jodie heard a voice, seeming like it was coming from a distance, calling her name. She looked up, realizing Debi had returned and was standing in front of her, coffee pot in hand.
“Where’d you go, hon?” Debi asked, a smile spreading across her face. “You looked like you were worlds away.”
Jodie rubbed her eyes. “I guess you could say that.” She glanced from side to side, seeing that the diner was starting to fill up. “What we were talking about, Debi,” Jodie said, pausing to wait for Debi to come closer. “I know you already understand this, but we have to be very discrete.”
Debi nodded. “Yeah, I know. We’ll talk more about that later, then?”
Jodie nodded, taking the last bite of pie and wiping her mouth. “Now, that was worth coming home for. I’m happy some things didn’t change.” She tossed an ample pile of bills down next to the empty plate and stood slowly, stretching to work a kink out of her back. “I’d better go. My dad’s probably wondering where I am.”
“Saw him this morning,” Debi said. “He’s a bottomless pit when it comes to Red’s pie.”
Jodie laughed, thinking how happy she was that she’d be able to see her father soon. “Like I said, some things never change.” She waved to Debi as she left the diner.
Jodie grabbed her jacket from the back seat of her rental vehicle and slid it on. While it wasn’t exactly cold outside, Mountain City certainly wasn’t the desert and the air held a chill. She breathed in deeply, taking in the aroma of the pines and redwoods lining the street that led into downtown.
Driving to the cabin, Jodie wondered how she’d be able to protect Chuck. It was inevitable in a small town that the news would get out. Sooner or later, everyone would know that Debi was boarding someone in her house. Certainly, Debi wouldn't let the secret out, but would the farmhands be as discreet? Chuck would have to go into hiding and Jodie knew she'd need to find him a place to do that before she went back to her team in the desert.
Approaching the cabin, trees swayed gently in a soft breeze, while dragonflies hovered and careened over the shallows of the lake. It was a placid scene and Jodie breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that her spirits would lift. However, moments later, as she pulled into the driveway, an uncertain, ominous feeling swept over her. It felt so strong she had to will herself to take a breath. Something was amiss, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.
Something moved in the shadows cast by the trees in front of the car and Jodie held her breath. She finally exhaled, seeing her father, headed toward her. For now, she would dismiss her fears, but she knew not to let them go altogether. Something terrible was coming and she felt almost irrational, thinking about it. All of her senses told her it was pursuing her with a relentless passion. Jodie could feel its power the same way she had so many times since Gypsum had come into her life. It was the energy of pure evil and she’d need to be ready for it.
CHAPTER 2
Mei was having a very, very bad dream. She willed herself to wake, but couldn’t pull her mind from the horror she found herself in. She was drowning, over and over, her body held underwater by a force unknown, her lungs filling with an ocean of fluid. Faces passed by her, voices murmured from above, but no one stopped to help. At times, she felt her mind sliding into consciousness like cool water flowing over a smooth streambed, a sensation so fleeting and enveloping that she let it embrace her for the moment she had it. Then, she would let herself glide back to the warm dark place she’d occupied for so many months, only to be confronted with her nightmare once again. Each time she woke, she became a bit more aware of her surroundings, but her descent into deep slumber left her with little opportunity to gain an understanding of where she was. Other than falling in and out of consciousness, she felt little physical sensation, except for a deep ache in her jaw.
The last time she’d woke, she’d directed all of the energy she had into staying awake as long as she could. Ever so slowly, she reached up to touch her face, finding her mouth was covered by something. Then she felt the tube between her teeth and realized it was the source of the pain she was experiencing. With no strength left, she felt herself slip back into blackness.
She recalled this as she was awakened again, this time by voices. Even though she focused on understanding what they were saying, she could only make out a few words.
“ … one’s waking up … stasis for six months … high priority …”
Darkness took over, then a feeling of choking and drowning again. Swallowing was impossible. Mei shivered uncontrollably as the tube was pulled from her mouth. She pushed herself over where she lay and threw up, feeling the acid from her stomach burning her raw throat. An unthinkable amount of liquid spewed from her mouth before she drew in a deep breath. Her throat and lungs ached with each inhalation and she found herself coughing uncontrollably. Finally, when it seemed no more liquid could possibly be expelled from her lungs and her exhaustion was complete, she lay still for a moment.
As she opened her eyes, her vision blurred to the point of near blindness. Mei blinked over and over, trying to focus. A white form moved into view.
“Well, I see you’re awake,” a woman’s voice said. “They should have cleared your lungs. You could have drowned.”
Great to figure that out now, Mei thought. Forcing words from her raw throat, she
managed to whisper, “I can’t see … who are you?”
“I’m a doctor. Your vision is blurred, then?”
Mei coughed, and wrapped her arms around her aching ribs. “Yes, I can’t see anything, except shapes.” Her raspy voice sounded unfamiliar. "What happened to me?”
The doctor didn’t respond and Mei felt a hand on her forearm.
“I’m going to give you something so you can relax. You should sleep for a while. We’ll talk when you wake up,” the doctor said.
“But --|” Mei protested, feeling the sting of a needle before she could stop the doctor. As she felt herself falling asleep, a fleeting memory of a warm encounter flashed through her mind. “Jodie ... where is Jodie?” she tried to say, although none of the words took shape. Blackness returned.
* * *
Fester walked out into the woods behind Jodie’s cabin. He hiked miles each day, trying to clear his head of the simmering anger that clouded his every thought. His parents were gone, killed by a corporation that had no regard for life, and Fester found himself wanting nothing other than revenge. Even though Nick and Christy had taken him in, he felt immersed in a sense of loss so profound it guided his every move.
Fester tried to talk to Noah about how he was feeling, but, the more time he spent with his friend, the more distant he felt. He loved Noah and would do anything for him, but their friendship had changed. He had changed. In fact, everything was different now and he didn’t know why he and Noah couldn't see things the same way anymore. Why was Noah still able to find so much good in people? They were all out for themselves, weren’t they? Just like his father had been. Fester swore as he thought of his father's part in Gypsum's despicable plan.
There was no news of Gypsum lately, but Jodie was coming back today and maybe she’d have information she could share with him. Maybe she even knew something about Chuck. A few months ago, she’d told him Chuck was likely still in existence somewhere. He’d left his badge for her at the diner as proof. Since that time, Fester had been formulating a plan in his mind. He'd pinned his hopes on the idea that he could run away with Chuck and fulfill his duty to avenge his parents’ death. Today, he found his spirits buoyed by the idea that Jodie might share new information about Chuck when she got home.