by Jacob Hammes
As it was, he had enough information to bring criminal charges against those involved and put some serious legal pressure on anyone involved in Lambert Frederickson’s business. He wouldn’t take too kindly to men apprehending and possibly torturing a woman in the apartment he owned.
As for the shipments; Phillip’s skin crawled at what that implied.
“Guys,” David stumbled into the room, startling the police officer as she stood watch. “You almost done?”
“Haven’t figured out where they’re headed yet,” Phillip said, glancing back to his screen. “I’m hoping we can finish up here in an hour or so.”
“Well,” David said, swallowing hard. “I’ll be out in the living room trying not to vomit.”
Phillip kept looking, hoping he could figure out who the man on the other end of the e-mail was. Searching through his own databases turned up nothing either, since the man had created an e-mail on a server in the ‘deep web’. It was a place where criminals and other heathens could go and operate with near impunity. Virtual private networks and other specialized hosting kept everyone on the websites safe and anonymous.
He wasn’t about to give up though. There were pictures of men and women on the yacht before it had embarked on its deadly journey. The port was somewhere unfamiliar, but the brown stucco and terracotta buildings told Phillip it wasn’t the United States. A reverse image search turned up nothing, at first, but he could see things in the background that he knew he could identify, given the right amount of time.
There was even a picture of the kidnapped woman. She was a very pretty young girl with olive skin and dark hair. The huge sunglasses she wore covered most of her face, but her lips were as petite as her skinny legs. She didn’t look as if she could stand up to much torture—Phillip wondered why they were even bothering with her.
She did have those marks on her arms though. If there was a parasite, it resided in her now, he was sure of it. Perhaps that was what all the ‘master’ talk had been about in the e-mail. Suddenly his head lifted and he knew for sure what was going to transpire.
Maybe he had missed it before, but he couldn’t turn away again. That machine was helping whatever it was inside of her take over. Somehow, the machine had to do with both the master and the victim. There was no other reason the woman and that box would be together every single instance they had encountered.
Gregory would want this information as soon as he could get it. He grabbed his phone again and started to text a long message to his boss, but something stopped him after just a few moments.
“Can we help you?” the police officer said from the other room, just near the entrance to the apartment. “There’s a police investigation going on up here—you’re not allowed to be here.”
“Oh so sorry,” a man said in a high voice. “We must be at the wrong apartment. Is this floor twenty-two?”
“Twenty-five,” the officer said. “You should read the sign on the door.”
“So sorry,” the man said. His accent was hardly noticeable, but Phillip heard it. “We will be going now. Sorry to disturb you.”
Something about the man’s accent was familiar. Though he spoke clear English, Phillip was sure it was his second language.
“Spanish,” he murmured. Suddenly Phillip was up, collecting all of his equipment as fast as he could. The police officer had shut the door, but Phillip whispered excitedly nonetheless.
“Those guys were perps,” he said excitedly. “They were part of this whole operation!”
“Who are you talking about,” Stephen said loudly from the bedroom, oblivious to what had just transpired. “I don’t see anyone.”
“Let’s go,” Phillip said more forcefully. “We need to follow those guys. I guarantee they’re going to lead us to where our kidnap victim is.”
David stood up from where he had been sitting. Whoever had come into the room had not seen any of the three UOD agents. The police officer had stopped them at the door, meaning no one else had been spotted.
She looked puzzled, as if she had done something wrong.
“You think those guys were part of this?” she asked softly. “I’ve seen pictures of the guys who lived here and the two men that were here don’t match any of the profiles.”
“Maybe this is bigger than just a few men,” Phillip muttered. “Maybe we’re dealing with some serious professionals here.”
Stephen and David met Phillip in the main room near the door. They were ready to head out in just a few seconds to figure out who the men had been. Without much of a thank you, the police officer was told that they would be back later. She didn’t like that answer, however, and spoke up.
“Listen,” she said, chasing the three men down the hallway toward the elevator. “You’re going to need a way to get through town. Did you guys bring a vehicle?”
The trio looked at one another and shrugged.
“I’ve got an unmarked cruiser and I’d be more than willing to take you guys where you need to go.”
“Does anyone drive in New York?” Phillip asked.
“Not really,” she answered.
“And a police officer following some perpetrators around might give us away,” he went on. “So if they’re driving, yes we will take you up on that ride. If they’re not, can you stay here and watch the apartment?”
“Sounds like a good plan to me,” she said gruffly.
Fortunately, they were able to make it to the ground floor moments after the other two exited the building. From the glass doors, they were able to see that Phillip had been right—they were walking somewhere. He guessed it was for the closest subway station.
“Take my card,” she said, handing David a small piece of paper. “You guys get into a spot, you let me know. I’ll be there as quick as I can.”
David smiled and tucked the card away.
After a brief goodbye and a genuine thank you, they left the vigilant officer behind and headed down the warm New York streets. They weren’t very crowded in this part of the city, but enough people were out and about to keep them concealed. The fact that they had not been seen helped, too, allowing them to move through the open with a little more confidence.
A few streets later and Phillip saw that they had been correct in their assumption. A subway station entrance poked out from the center of a sidewalk. It reminded Phillip of a gateway to another world.
They didn’t mind staying close to the men. In fact, the two hadn’t glanced backwards once. They both had short-cropped black hair and wore tight-fitting t-shirts. Their pants were too tight for Phillip’s style and their shoes were made for track, not for walking. Regardless of what they were wearing, they spoke Spanish distinctly and seemed less than concerned that they had been in a rather precarious position just moments ago.
The subway was much more packed with people than the streets had been. Travelers embarked through every door, trying desperately to find a place to sit on the subway of their choice.
David, Stephen, and Phillip grabbed all-day passes to anywhere in the city before they followed their quarry though the tunnels. Eventually they ended up in front of a subway that took them farther into the downtown area.
Careful not to give themselves away, the trio grabbed a spot on the next subway car over. From there, they could see the two men talking, laughing, and even joking with one another. As train started forward, the man grabbed the rail overhead to steady himself. Through the hair and olive colored skin on his arm, Phillip could see a strange mark.
Either the man had once burned himself with cigars in exactly the same location that their other victims had wounds, or he was connected to this in more ways than one.
He kept his concerns to himself and instead called Gregory.
“We’re following some Spanish folks that just visited the apartment. It’s hard to explain, but we’re going to try and figure out where these guys are going. Maybe they’ll lead us to the next machine.”
“Keep your heads down and don’t do a
nything that has to do with a gun, bullets, high-speed chases or explosions, please,” Gregory answered before hanging up. To Phillip, that meant anything else was fair game. He grinned at the possibilities laid out before him.
The train took them deep into the city of Manhattan. The buildings here were much taller and the streets had the distinct smell of both urine and car exhaust. Phillip had been through enough large cities to expect the smell, as sewage and beggars left their mark wherever they could.
The two men walked casually ahead, unwittingly leading a tail around with them wherever they went. Phillip knew they were getting close to their destination. He could feel it in his bones.
Around one last corner, the two men stopped. Phillip looked up, astounded that they could live in such a building. He figured it was an office building at first, one that belonged to a great deal of rich individuals. But if these two were here, maybe this was the next stage of their operation.
Unfortunately, he was dismayed to see the men were simply buying some New York hot dogs from a rollaway stand. He laughed to himself, amused that they were just starting this chase.
“You guys hungry?” he said playfully. Stephen didn’t look so happy. In fact, he looked as if he were about to rip the heads off the men in front of him.
“I’ll go,” David said. “One each?”
“Two,” Stephen said.
“Four,” Phillip surprised the other two. “What? I’m a growing boy.”
Chapter 21
Amy had changed. She felt different about everything now. The colors in the sky were so bright blue it was almost unnerving. The clouds floating by were the whitest things she had ever seen. Even the black of the pavement was something new. She felt amazing.
She also remembered that her name was not Amy, nor was it Guadalupe like she had been called her entire life. It was a conglomeration of names. She remembered when she was called Paul, and Drake, and Estevan. She had two lives that she was aware of now. One, she had lived for much longer than any normal person could imagine. The other was a simple life that had spanned a mere eighteen years.
Now, she felt high. Like when she had taken ecstasy, everything just seemed better than it had been before. She could feel her tight skin and the muscles beneath like she had never felt them before. She could see with eyes that understood so much more than she did, yet brightened the entire world around her.
She looked at a building and knew how to build it. She could run the wiring through a skyscraper. She looked up at a jet and knew that she had flown many of them. Cars were no mystery, nor were boats, or computers, or televisions… She had built them all.
There was no fear in her now, just Guadalupe and the other one. Her friends, the ones that had helped her adjust to the change, had tried calling her by the names she had once been known by, but she corrected them. The integration of the creature inside of her and Guadalupe meant she was an entirely new being. Amy would do.
She breathed in, truly feeling every single molecule that slipped down her petite throat. It was enticing. Everything was enchanting. This newfound power she wielded would take her far.
“It’s about time we perfected this procedure,” she whispered into Gelda’s ear. They walked freely down the street, drinking in the wonderful colors, sights, sounds, and smells. Even the distant thump of a car stereo system made her excited.
There was something else, too. All around her she felt something she couldn’t explain. It felt like someone shining a warm light on her head that only got warmer the closer she came to any of the others. If she concentrated on Gelda, the spot was very warm in her direction. If she thought about any of them, the effect was the same.
“You’ll be in a better host soon, too,” Amy went on, ignoring the feeling. “Then we can go about our lives until these bodies are old and withered and our collective conscience can find new hosts. We can find ever better hosts!”
“But eventually, we will inhabit the same body,” Gelda said, grabbing Amy’s small arm with excitement. “It will be as you said. We will meld together for eternity.”
“Someday,” Amy said dreamily. “Someday we will perfect the procedure. Then we can experiment as much as we want.”
“For now,” Gelda said, pecking Amy on the cheek. “We need to get you to the island for your last treatment. Then these little hiccups you’ve been experiencing will be gone.”
“Yes…” Something inside Amy was scared. She had experienced a few instances where everything was horrifying. She felt as if she were in bondage, trapped at the bottom of an ocean. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move…the weight of a thousand atmospheres pushed down on her.
Amy knew she needed one more treatment, to get rid of the last of this disconnect. She didn’t know exactly what it would do, as she had never done such a transfer before. The machines were only recently perfected and since then they had proved troublesome. The island, where they housed much of their collection of devices, art work, and prisoners, would be a good ground to test out what this last treatment would do.
Panic flared for a moment, so crippling she felt as if she wanted to flee and fall to the ground all at the same time. The darkness crept in around the edges of her eyes, blurring out the beautiful pictures she had been looking at. The shadows were menacing, her breathing became harsh and quick, and suddenly she couldn’t move.
“We won’t talk about it anymore,” Gelda said, urging the paralyzed Amy on. “Please, we won’t talk about it anymore. Let’s just think of good things. Like you and I being together. Like when we went to the beach that time, so many years ago, and made love beneath the stars.”
Amy felt the darkness slowly receding, yet some of it lingered for a moment. It was like a hand, gripping her conscience so it wouldn’t flee fully into reality.
She cried, but she could walk. The two of the moved down the street, quickly to avoid the prying eyes that looked curiously at them.
“Just hold on until tonight,” Gelda said. “Then you’ll be yourself again.”
Tonight—the night that the consciousness of Guadalupe would be completely pushed from her own body.
Phillip ate quickly. The hot dogs were more of a snack for him than anything. He regularly ate two or three hamburgers, but his genetics were kind to him. Ever the skinny one in high school, Phillip gave up working out long ago, yet on any given day he could outperform many of his peers on physical fitness reviews. The truth was that he just didn’t care what his body looked like beneath the suit and tie which kept it hidden.
David wasn’t so quick to eat. The Relic in the apartment had screwed with his stomach. The one dog he got was done after Phillip scarfed his four down. In fact, when the men stopped eating and started walking again, he had to throw the few bites left in the trash so that they could follow.
The two still had no idea, or simply didn’t care, that they were being followed. They walked down to the nearest subway station without worry, jumped on the first train to come into the station, and headed off away from the greater downtown area. Utilizing the same techniques they had before, they made sure to keep their distance and avoid eye contact. It put them on the next car behind, but they could still see the two clearly.
The subway became more crowded somehow as the two suspects made their way into Manhattan and then through to Carnegie Hill. Nothing here seemed to have any rhyme or reason as men and women shuffled on and off the subway at every stop. Not one to worry about what time of day it was, Phillip did notice that he had to take his sunglasses off when the train made brief passes through the open areas.
It had gotten rather dark outside by the time the five of them disembarked at 96th street near Park Avenue. None of the three agents had any idea what significance that had, as they had never really walked through New York by themselves. The main attractions they had visited were Times Square and the other tourist locations around the city. This area, as built up as the rest of the city seemed, was just another part of the metropolis.
&n
bsp; They walked in the shadows now, easily hiding in the early twilight that had taken hold of the city while they traveled. Though the sun was still out there somewhere, sinking softly beneath the distant horizon, the city buildings created more spaces for the trio to hide.
They followed the men onto a bus that took them farther to the east and tried to find a place to hide when the two disembarked. Fortunately, the city was still rather busy, so they blended into the mingling crowd of night people, trying harder now to keep an eye on the two than to keep themselves hidden.
“Where are we?” David asked, looking around as if he truly was lost.
“New York, I hope,” Phillip answered sarcastically. “That’s about all I can tell you.”
They walked a short distance before realizing they weren’t going to follow the two men any farther. As they crossed a street and turned a corner, they came upon a suddenly quiet area. There were no city buildings, nor were there any walkers. Before them lay a large, quiet river.
Stephen hugged a corner as he watched the two men cross the street. Phillip plucked a cigarette from a pouch he had been hiding and lit it as they waited. For some reason, the two men didn’t seem to mind that there was a river in front of them. They crossed the street and disappeared down a steep slope. Just when Phillip figured he would see someone swimming out into the river, he heard the distinct sound of a boat engine start up.
“Where are these guys going?” Stephen asked, concerned that they had walked themselves into somewhat of a dead end. “I don’t see anything out there that could possibly be of interest to two probable bad guys.”
Phillip flipped his phone out of his pocket. Being a guru in anything technology related, he had spent most of his down time creating applications that would help him in his investigations. Though some of them had turned him a pretty profit, this one was just for him.