CHAPTER TEN
TQB Base, Colorado - USA
Cheryl Lynn walked down the hallway and stopped in front of Patricia’s office door, pausing for a second she finally knocked. Hearing a, ‘come in’ she stepped into the office and closed the door behind her.
Patricia was looking at her as Cheryl Lynn asked, “Do you have a few minutes?”
“Sure,” Patricia waved to one of her chairs, “take a seat. What’s on your mind?”
Cheryl Lynn thought about that question for second as she settled herself in a chair. “I need to ask you something, about why you are part of all of this.” She waved her hand around.
Patricia smiled, it seemed that John’s cousin was finally getting it. She leaned back in her chair and made herself comfortable. “I can do that, what would you like to know?”
“I know this is something that is not supposed to be asked between women, and I apologize for doing it upfront.” Cheryl Lynn squared her shoulders to forge ahead anyway, “How old are you?”
Patricia burst out laughing and had to reach over and grab a tissue to dab at a couple of the tears that were threatening to mess up her makeup after a few moments. “Of all of the questions I thought you might ask, that wasn’t in my top three.” She turned and dropped the tissue into the wastebasket, then looked back to Cheryl Lynn. “Can we say that I am at least 3 to 4 decades older than I look?” Even with the body she now had, Patricia was still a little sensitive about admitting her age. It might take her another good decade or so to get comfortable with how old she was compared with how old she looked. Patricia’s eye’s glinted with humor as she continued, “But I am curious about why that was your first question.”
She replied, “I just had an interesting conversation with Marcus. Because of that conversation I realize there is a short game and a long game going on in the group. It wasn’t until I left Marcus’s office that I realized he looked a lot younger than his actual age. However, I was so caught up with the fact that you and your husband look so young that I didn’t realize that Marcus was looking younger than his age as well. If it wasn’t so far to walk back over there I would go back and demand that he tell me his real age.” She paused for a second and nodded her head quickly, “He owes me that much for pulling that field trip trick and taking Tina into outer space.”
“So what are you are trying to figure out about the short and the long game?”
“I guess I realize that there are certain people that Bethany Anne is supporting to continue this fight beyond a normal lifespan. Then there are those that are part of the group but not part of the longer group. Is this correct?”
“She is being very judicious in modifying people at this time, yes. That has to do with a few reasons, I suspect. Mind you, she doesn’t confide in me. Is this understood?” Patricia made sure that Cheryl Lynn understood before continuing. “’Bethany Anne’s purpose is to support and protect this earth. She doesn’t care about geo or political boundaries. She doesn’t care about the fights going on between countries and groups most of the time. Although, she got a real hair up her ass about the terrorists and I’m not sure that hasn’t or isn’t going to come back and bite her. However, I imagine if they do something off-the-wall and she gets pissed we will have another ‘intervention’ again.” Patricia leaned back in her chair, “So, individuals that have been modified for the ‘longer game’ are showing that they have been focused and understand the real purpose and are completely committed.” She eyed Cheryl Lynn and said it again, “Completely committed. As in, someone reads their mind and confirms they are committed. But, she doesn’t care where they come from.”
Cheryl Lynn nodded her understanding, “But almost everybody I have seen is American, and we are sitting right here on an American base. I’m not trying to argue we shouldn’t be here, I’m just confused. And I am trying to understand the situation. If we have a possible, no expected, alien invasion heading here sometime in the future why haven’t we gotten other governments or even our own government involved?”
Patricia answered, “Bethany Anne comes from a semi-black organization within the government. She has personal observations as well as former high level people. There is unanimous belief that should the government become aware of her, or her company’s capabilities and resources, they would make an effort to nationalize them or in some way coerce her into doing what they want. Bethany Anne is not against the US government. She is fighting for the world. Unfortunately, there are too many years of conflict between us all and most people can’t see past their own nationalism. I understand this concern at some level. I joined the military so that I could get a college education, but I wasn’t a flag-waving, nationalistic supportive individual because it was just a job to me. At the end of my career, I was there because those that I loved and those that I felt were family were there too.”
Cheryl Lynn leaned forward a little, “Then why did you join Bethany Anne and how did you get changed? Is it because, and no offense intended, you are her Dad’s wife?”
Patricia shook her head, “Not even remotely. Bethany Anne would not change me if that was the only reason. She can be very stubborn, and she does get that from her father by the way. Lance requested me as his personal assistant before we became a couple. He made me understand what the challenge was and what I would do before Bethany Anne allowed me the opportunity to be modified myself. In the end I decided that the purpose and effort of Bethany Anne’s fight was one I could and should support. I have pledged, and I made a promise to myself that should something happen to Lance. I will continue on. I will see this until the end. Bethany Anne is now my daughter, maybe she doesn’t see it that way, maybe she does. I really don’t know. We haven’t spoken about it that much. I know it feels awkward to her that I am her stepmom. And that’s okay, I really do understand her feelings. At some level, looking as young as I do makes it easier for us because now I look like her sister, not her mom. Hell, Lance looks like her brother.” She smiled.
“So John is involved because Bethany Anne saved him back in Florida?”
“You know, I wasn’t there. John hasn’t told you about this himself?” Now Patricia was curious, it wasn’t like the John she knew to hide information from those that he cared for. And he certainly cared for his cousin.
Cheryl Lynn exhaled loudly, “Yes, he told me the basic facts but I know my cousin, he’s hiding something from me. It’s bugging me, it’s an itch I need to scratch.”
Patricia finally realized what John was doing, and she had to give him kudos because she didn’t normally expect John to be so subtle. He tended to come across as a ‘John smash’ sort of guy to her. So, Patricia decided to help him. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Certainly, it isn’t like I just didn’t just interrupt your morning to ask my own questions.” Cheryl Lynn said.
“If John told you to believe something, how much weight would you give it?”
She replied without thinking, “All the weight in the world. You have no idea what my cousin means to me. He and I were close when we were young, and obviously we grew apart as we got older but that connection never drifted away. When I opened the door and he was standing there, my world changed.” Her voice broke as she related the story. “My hope, my dreams, my reality became solid again. Living day to day or hour to hour wasn’t a problem because Little John was back. Not only was he back, but he was making sure my kids were going to be safe.” Now, Patricia needed a tissue for herself as she handed one to Cheryl Lynn, they both dealt with the tears rolling down their face. Cheryl Lynn’s deep emotions revealed to Patricia why John was acting the way he was.
Patricia gently asked her, “Which is stronger to you, acting in a certain way because you are relying on John’s belief, or taking action because you know something to be true?”
“Well, obviously the logical choice is what I believe. Even if I put all of the weight in the world on what John believes, it still can’t be stronger than what I know to be true…” Cheryl
Lynn’s eyes open just a touch, letting Patricia know she understood.
Cheryl Lynn sat back in her chair her shoulder slumping a little, a small smile gracing her face. “He’s preparing me, isn’t he?”
“It could be, have you had any interesting conversations other than this one with me?” Patricia asked.
“Well, if you consider that two of the top Wechselbalg happen to come into the cafeteria and have lunch with me at an odd time, then yes.” She thought about her conversation with Marcus and whether or not John could have orchestrated that. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Her cousin had always been incredibly sharp, but most people only saw his size and assumed he wasn’t quick thinking. “You know? I have been worried that I wasn’t up to the minimum standards for staying here. After a conversation with Marcus, I now realize that trying my hardest and believing in the purpose are two of the main requirements. Sure, I could just fake it but I understand that really isn’t a choice here, is it?” Patricia shook her head negatively. “So John has been steering me into actions or meetings with people that help me understand what’s going on. You know, I have wondered why Bethany Anne would take me on as her support person.”
Patricia asked, “You never asked her?”
Cheryl Lynn shook her head, “No, to be honest I was a little concerned she would say it was a temporary position and they were looking for another spot to put me.”
Patricia snorted, “You need to work on your sense of self-assurance. Because if you don’t, I’m afraid you’re going to have it shoved down your throat in a very unpleasant fashion. Bethany Anne is known to get the best out of people and if what is holding you back is a lack of belief in yourself, I shudder to think what she will put you through in order for you to attain it. I highly suggest you figure out how to overcome this problem, young lady.” Patricia smiled in a motherly fashion, a smile that did not fit her young face at all. However, it fit her tone of voice perfectly.
Cheryl Lynn squared her shoulders, smiled a little and stood up. “Do you perhaps know who I should talk to for help with that?”
Patricia’s grin a twinkle in her expression let Cheryl Lynn know that Patricia had already figured out who she should meet next.
Patricia reached over to her phone, “Let me make a phone call to Pete for you, it will almost be like John is helping you himself, trust me.”
Cheryl Lynn asked, “Why would he want to help me? It’s not that I don’t want you to ask him, I just need to understand what I can do in exchange for it.”
Patricia shook her head, “Baby, that price has already been paid for by your cousin.”
Washington DC - USA
Having spent all the time she could at the store, Barb decided to go get dinner at her favorite Chinese restaurant and was now eating chicken fried rice. Unfortunately, she wasn’t sure she had tasted anything in the last hour or so. It was a little bit of a shame, as this was normally her favorite dish. She had about three more hours before she would need to go home or whoever was paying attention to her would suspect something was up. If they were any good, and she had to assume they were, they would have already looked at her electricity usage and know her patterns.
It was a horrible feeling to know that now she was one of the ones being hunted. It felt like she was under a glass dome, with eyes all over the place looking at her. It put a new perspective on what she did every day, and she didn’t really like it very much. Oh, she could get over it when she was looking for terrorists, or suspected terrorists, but if the person was someone less obviously horrible her job would now leave a bad taste in her mouth.
While playing with her rice, she considered who had placed the surveillance equipment in her garage. She presumed that it had to do with her most recent report. So that left either an unknown government agency that she couldn’t track, or the monster squad.
She asked for a refill on her tea, and considered the two choices. She had enough information related to the monster squad to believe that they were, in fact, this ‘TQB Enterprises’. She was never able to figure out what the acronym stood for, she supposed she might get a chance to ask them soon enough. She had been in government long enough to understand there were some good groups, and there were some bad groups. There were some black groups that were trying to do good things by very bad means. Ethics became very murky when you allowed all options on the table to stop terrorism. It could be a pretty broad brush to do some pretty horrific things.
All in the name of security, of course.
However, Barb subscribed to the notion that black government groups were only nice if you happen to be one of the members in the group. And she was certainly not part of any black operations group herself. As she considered how hard she had tried to figure out who this black group was, and giving herself plenty of credit for her skills, it became obvious they were pretty damn dark since she couldn’t find them.
Her report had been good enough to raise eyebrows, but not enough to cover her ass. Now, somebody wanted to know more about her. If it was the monster squad, she suspected that they would either just kill her, or ignore her. Everything she had been able to find suggested they had very specific engagement requirements. In fact, the terrorism operations were outside of their normal parameters, as far she could tell. That suggested new management at the top, or a different set of goals had been put in place.
Soon, she would need to ask for the dinner check and she hadn’t decided on the next place to go yet. She supposed she could go to the nearby Starbucks and enjoy a coffee and maybe a light dessert. She was going to have a hard enough time going to sleep tonight, she didn’t need the caffeine so maybe a Vanilla Bean Frappuccino would be better.
In the end, it came down to a gut feeling that between the two of them, she trusted the mission of the monster squad more than she trusted a black operative government agency who was using her. Her project for them stank to high heaven and she assumed that she was being used as a cutout. Which also ascribed to them an unethical method of doing their jobs.
Screw it, she wasn’t going to the dark operative side. She was going to toss her hat in the ring with this monster squad and see, no hope, she had made the right decision.
Now, she just need to figure out a way to contact them without the black operative group figuring it out. She smiled thinking back to the scene in the movie Men in Black where K explained to J about using the National Enquirer for research purposes.
That gave her a thought. She wondered what would be the equivalent now? The monster squad would be looking for any online research or chatter which might point to them. She knew of quite a few websites which hosted forums related to ‘way out there’ ideas. Often associated with aliens or Bigfoot or even vampires and werewolves. She would open up anonymous usernames on these boards and place comments. If she placed enough of them, it should cause the monster squad to try to figure out who the commenter is and what they knew about them. She would have to leave hints with each individual fake member. Once they found enough of her fake accounts then the hints, taken as a whole, would help figure out who she is. None of the individual fake account users; however, would be enough to finger her.
The one individual she wished existed would have been the government contact. That was probably someone whom she could trust, if he were only real. But her research suggested he was almost 100 years old so that was a long shot.
Decision done, she requested her check, paid and stepped out into the cool evening air. Walking down the street she was able to stop in a small electronics store and pick up three throw away phones with cash. Having tracked enough people herself, she had a clue how to keep off the grid and she was going to use that skill right now.
She would route the phone numbers through online messaging systems. Either way, she doubted she had more than a few days before one of the sides would come for her. Oh, Don would try to protect her if she were to go to him and she appreciated the knowledge that he was trustworthy and he would step up. However, this was beyond him
. She had well and truly stuck her foot in it this time. She smiled to herself, this is what you get when you do too good of a job.
She should have listened to her friends earlier who had told her that getting ahead in government was a no-win proposition.
She decided to head to Starbucks and see if she could pay a few dollars to borrow someone’s laptop for twenty minutes to cruise the web.
Because for damn sure, she wasn’t going to use any of her electronics to leave these messages and while it was doubtful anyone would trace it, they would get nowhere with a non-government civilian and leave them alone. Her? Not so much.
WE WILL BUILD Page 13