“Honor and Blood! Honor and Blood! Honor and Blood!”
46
July 2, 2080
Christchurch, New Zealand
Ralph was nervous. No, that was an understatement, Ralph was a wreck. He was to address the President and most of his cabinet. Colonel Rawlson was okay, Ralph had had dealings with her during the early stages of Operation Achilles. Colonel Thibodaux scared him, and he didn’t know any of the others. He was about to be in the same room as the President! He quietly prayed he would not screw up. He could not sit still, pacing in the anteroom outside the office of the President. He could feel the cold, nervous sweat running down his side from under his arms
“You may come in now,” announced the uniformed steward.
Entering, Ralph was relieved to see the slide presentation on his latest research was running. The efficient crew who supported the president had seen to that well enough.
“Hggmmmhh,” Ralph nervously cleared his throat.
“Mr. President, Colonel Rawlson, Colonel Thibodaux , Colonel…..” Ralph stammered in horror as he realized he didn’t know the names of any of the others. Why hadn’t he left it with “Mr. President and distinguished guests” or something.
“Ralph, it’s okay. Relax, you’ll do fine, just tell the president and the rest of us what you’ve discovered,” said Colonel Rawlson softly.
“Umm okay. It’s like this, the Government can, umm, control the people. What I mean, umm, is their minds. It can control their minds and, umm, make them do stuff. Bad stuff, umm, any stuff. I’m not doing this very well,” Ralph could be seen to visibly gather himself, muttering something too low to be heard by the others.
When he started again he was a different person. Not precisely bold and confident, but he had shed his nervous speech and stopped wringing his hands.
“Beginning some time ago, the Government began implanting people with tiny nano-neuro-transmitters. All newborns and most everyone else as they were seen by a doctor in an area on the outskirts of Chicago. What these NNTs allow is for total control of all but involuntary muscles. When the control device is activated, everyone in range, about two miles, will stop doing anything. They will stand like a zombie and await instructions. This has some limitations. It is difficult to give individual instructions in this case. Imagine everyone within two miles of the transmit tower suddenly stopping whatever they are doing. Car crashes, airplane crashes, people who drown drinking a glass of milk. Then someone has to give orders. There is no ability to isolate certain individuals for orders, as of yet they cannot selectively activate individuals. It’s everyone or no one.
“To date the Chicago area is the only location with the prototype transmitter, and the implants are restricted to northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin…so far.”
“Are you saying the bastards can control the minds of people? I guess what I’m asking,” said the tall graceful woman of Native American descent in the uniform of a Lt Colonel of Marines, “is can they control what the people are thinking, or only what they are doing? I can only imagine being forced to commit some atrocity while fully aware of what I was doing.”
Ralph could see the shiver of dread that thought sent through the entire room. “Unfortunately it’s as bad as you think. The affected people will remain fully aware, just unable to do anything without direction. The people who die in plane and car crashes, even the milk drinkers, would be aware they were dying just unable to prevent it.
“The good news, if there is any good news, is that so far the entire thing is contained in the Chicago facility. All the research, all the hardware, excepting the actual implants, are in that facility. If they get transmitters tested and set up across the globe we’re cooked.
“Imagine for a moment they activate it and send an order as simple as ‘sit down’. The people who are even a half second slow, just showed themselves to be one of us. Follow that up with a universal command to kill anyone who sat slower than you…..
“They are not at universal coverage on the implants yet, but it’s not more than ten years away. The full report on it is in the package you each received, but the high points are total control of everyone in a two mile radius, and the thing is not yet portable. I’m not a military man but I can only imagine what this thing will be like if they ever get it mobile.”
The president spoke for the first time in the meeting. His smooth baritone voice somehow reminding the entire room that they were the people charged with finding an answer.
“Well, I think we all wish to thank you Ralph, for your report, grim though it is. I, for one, am damned glad we have you on our side. Your nation, indeed all of mankind who desire to live free owe you a debt that can never be repaid. I’d like to start repaying that debt by recognizing your contributions. I am therefore conferring upon you the title of Counselor to the President. My door is always open to you.
“The title also comes with a large stipend for research and a staff of four people.
“I’m sure we will require more of that expertise as we decide what can be done.”
“Thank you, Mr. P-president,” Ralph responded, his nervousness back full force. “I don’t know what to say. It’s such an honor.”
“Say you’ll always give me straight answers, and that you will continue to do the excellent work you’ve done to this point.”
“Y-yes Mr. President, of course I will.”
After the scientist had departed, the military people got down to business.
“We have to take out the entire facility,” began Colonel Thibodaux. “An entire assault division of our best troops, we bring the place to the ground.”
“As good as your troops are, there is no way we could get a division all the way to Chicago and mount an assault and you know it,” replied Colonel Rawlson.
“Dammit Vicki, of course I know it,” he replied sarcastically. “I was merely expressing my heartfelt desire.” Blowing out an explosive breath he continued, “It was counterproductive and stupid so let’s talk about what we might actually accomplish.”
“This is obviously a small unit operation,” said Colonel Rawlson. “We need to level that place though. According to the materials Ralph provided, this is currently the only place with the hardware and it’s also such a closely guarded secret that it’s got all of the research. He got the take he did from a satellite feed direct to Fadwah’s office. He piggybacked the signal to get past the encryption, but even then it was all systems capabilities, size and power requirements etc, without the technical information.
“If we can take out the Chicago facility we can set them back years, maybe even destroy the project all together.
“Jean-Paul, we need to be certain there are no other facilities with this stuff. If we take it out and there is a backup we’ve accomplished nothing. We can take out this one, but we have to ensure there are no others. If I were in charge of transferring data this sensitive I’d only do it via hardlines. If that facility is hardwired to another so the data can be shared, we’re in trouble. Getting past the firewalls may not be easy. We’ll need to get Ralph into that place. He’s not a field operative, he will need a team just to keep him safe on the way in and out. I think it’s time Matt went operational.”
“Vicki,” interrupted the president, “are you sure about that?
“The Hunter? Can we trust her in the field? Didn’t you tell me the young man demands she be on his team, that he won’t go operational without her?”
“Yes, Mr. President, I did. I also have a man who can tell beyond any doubt when a person is lying, even to themselves. It’s…one of the talents that have been cropping up. His accuracy is 100% verified. He tells me she is on our side and I believe him.”
“Enough to bet the world on it? Because if we send her with the team that’s exactly what we’re doing. Not to mention the fact that the ‘Team’ is not even truly that yet. If we are to send them, and I think that may be our best plan, then you need to make them a true team first. All of them. T
hat includes my newest Counselor as well. Integrate your young man, the Hunter, our resident computer hacker par excellence, and the rest of the team. When they are ready we’ll review the plan and take this place out. We cannot afford to drag our feet, but let’s do it right. Okay people, let’s be about it.”
It had been decided that Matt and Abbey would be introduced to the team together. Integrating Ralph into the team would not take place for two weeks, but he would be there for the introductions.
Colonels Thibodaux and Rawlson hoped this would allow them time to work through any issues that change brought about. The team had been intact, but for Matt, for a long time now. His loss had seriously sidetracked the plan. In fact, it had pretty much torpedoed the original idea to utilize them. Now, the most highly trained team they had had to go into the field against an objective far harder, and with less preparation or support than was ever imagined.
Additionally, the team leader had just joined them. His abilities to survive and blend in with the rest of the world made his inclusion essential. His insistence on adding the ex-Hunter to the team was a mixed blessing.
Including Abbey was a sure source of tension, yet as good as Matt was at faking being a citizen, she actually was one. Additionally, her BGP credentials remained valid. Nobody wanted to have to use them because no doubt it would trigger a warning to Malone and bring his entire organization down on them, but in a desperate situation it might prove the difference between survival for the team and failure, a failure that spelled doom to freedom everywhere.
The actual introductions had gone smoothly. Colonel Thibodaux had handled it, as the head of Special Operations for the NZMC, the team was his. Colonel Rawlson, as head of Operation Achilles, was to have had operational control of the team, but this new mission took precedence. Since she had the best personal relationship with Matt and the rest of the team she had agreed to work with Colonel Thibodaux on the mission. Achilles was, after all, a special op, just one that had been deemed so important that it got its own operations officer.
After the Colonels had left Matt stood to address the team, “I have read all your files; I’ve seen the vids of you all in action. You are just about the best there is. I know you guys have read what there is about me and may even have heard about some of my experience, but none of you know, deep down, if I really am as good as they say. Then there is Abbey. She was a Hunter. She was the honor graduate in her class.”
Matt could see the slight wince from Abbey as he supplied that piece of information that they did not, could not, know. No one survives BGP training without committing atrocities. To be judged the best at that was not a thing she was proud of and she would just as soon have them never know that little fact. Matt was probably right though, in telling them. Better to get it out there. The psychology was even sound, they already held her former life against her. They would, hopefully, learn to accept her. By showing her in the worst possible light from the beginning, there would be fewer setbacks to their evolving image of her. Start from the bottom and go up. If he tried to paint her as having been a victim, then he lost credibility. If he tried to show she was not as bad as the rest, then they also would tend to disbelieve. After creating the image of the best Hunter of her generation, Matt immediately began to begin the process of chipping away at that image.
“Actually, saying she was the honor grad is a half truth. She was at the top of her class when she completed training. There was a ceremony at which her abilities to root out and destroy gene trash were lauded and praised. Her PDT was fully activated along with her credentials.
“BGP tradition holds that one is not a fully qualified Hunter until they hunt down and destroy their first gene trash. The closer that particular piece of filth is to passing themselves off as a citizen the more highly regarded the kill is.
“On her first assignment Abbey struck gold. She found a criminal who was passing for a citizen, and even had the audacity to attend Government sponsored training seminars for a job he did not have. He was using false identification and somehow bypassing the security features built into a PDT.
“Imagine the kudos at BGP headquarters when she brought this one in. Then to put the icing on the cake she is to help Malone bring down the top spot on the BGP’s most wanted list, Angus himself.
“Her career in the BGP, something she has been raised and even bred to believe in with her whole heart, is now assured. She’ll have her pick of assignments. Anything, anywhere, it’s hers for the asking. I was that ticket to the big time and it would have been so easy for her to take me out. I was defenseless. Since I am standing here with you, and so is she, obviously, she didn’t do it.
“Malone killed Angus, then knocked me out. Before he could kill me too, Abbey knocked him unconscious and spirited me away moments ahead of the BGP uniforms. Together we fought our way across the face of the globe, from Tokyo, to China, through Siberia, across the Bering Straight and down to Colorado. We faced off against more than one Hunter, and lots of gun-toting uniforms, plus five Great Hounds.
“When the rescue team caught up with us in the mountains she chose to be captured by them rather than flee with the BGP agents who still believed her one of them.”
“I’ve seen vids of you all in action. I’ve sparred with and fought beside Abbey. I’d like to start the day getting us all familiar with each other’s abilities. I want no one to have any doubts about anyone else in that regard. We need to learn to trust each other. The first part of that is knowing what the other can do. Learning to trust them to be there and to have your back comes with time. We don’t have a lot of time to build that but we’ll do the best we can.
“Dex, you are the biggest and strongest man I’ve ever met. You move with a grace and fluidity that few can match. I don’t know which of you is the most dangerous yet, but without a doubt you are the most impressive, so how about you and I spar first. We’ll make it a bare-knuckle, blood and bones match.
“Everyone else, I want you to be able to critique us both at the end, so pay attention.”
Moving to the middle of the dojo floor, Matt and Dex faced one another. Blood and bones meant the only rule was combat continued until someone bled or broke a bone. Bare knuckles indicated that they would not start the match with weapons. Either or both of them might resort to a weapon later if it was required to win. Honor here came from victory, nothing else.
Matt decided to wait on Dex to attack. There were advantages to both attack and defense. Attack allowed one more control, but defense kept you more centered, forcing the opponent to reach outside themselves and come at you.
He didn’t have to wait long. Dex launched into his attack, driving stiffened fingers straight towards Matt’s throat. If it connected it could well be fatal, but even if they had never fought before, both knew there was no way that attack would land. It was a probing attack with Dex trying to learn something about Matt by how and how quickly he moved to counter or avoid the strike.
Slipping to the side, Matt delivered a short, quick shot to Dex’s ribs. His fist met muscle layered thickly over bone. It was like punching a wall. Dex didn’t seem to notice the blow, despite the fact that Matt had punched hard.
Whirling around, Dex delivered a spinning back fist that would take a man’s head clean off his shoulders….if it landed. Matt ducked under the fist and from a crouch shot a foot out to connect with Dex’s knee.
Sensing the attack, Dex crouched so that the shot at his knee, which surely would have broken it, instead connected with his thickly muscled thigh.
Driving his doubled fists for Matt’s extended leg, Dex attempted to break the femur. Matt instead rolled the leg, and then his whole body so that the blow which was aimed at the stiffened, extended leg instead impacted on the back of his calf, which instead of being stretched out from his body was limp. It would leave a bruise but nothing more.
Attempting to grab the leg and thus gain control, Dex instead hit the canvas as Matt spun in his grasp, flipping from belly to back and
whipping his free leg around to connect with the side of Dex’s head.
He thought for sure he would be bleeding from the blow and thus the match would be over, but he knew better than to quit until it was called.
Dex managed to retain his grip on Matt’s leg through the fall, so he used his prodigious strength to hurl Matt bodily through the air, where he crashed into the wall and slid to the floor. Both men quickly regained their feet and moved to face one another again.
“You’re even better than I thought,” said Matt.
“You’re even better than they said,” Dex replied.
This time both men moved as one. They even tried the same type of move. Both launched blows at the other’s head. Getting blood to flow from the head or face was easy. Landing the blow against the opponents they faced was not so easy. As he pulled his head out of line of Dex’s fist, Matt abandoned his initial attack and instead dropped to the floor and swept the big man’s feet out from under him. As Dex landed on his back, Matt’s fist impacted with his mouth. Lips split and blood flowed freely.
Matt, now standing, extended a hand and helped Dex to his feet.
“Hank, you’re next. What rules?”
Grinning and strutting, Hank said, “Call uncle. We go until one of us quits, or is unconscious.”
“Hank, be reasonable,” Kitara said. This is a ‘get to know you’ match.”
“New guy wants to lead, he’s gotta beat me, an none of this weenie, ‘blood and bones’ shit. It’ll take more than a split lip or busted arm to get me to quit. “
Turning from Kit, Hank met Matt’s gaze squarely, “Bring it. Let’s see what’s what.”
Matt didn’t say anything. He had suspected it would come to this with at least one of them. He even knew it would be Hank. They were all tough, they all knew that a split lip meant nothing more than he had landed the first solid blow. Dex was not seriously hurt and had the fight been a real one the blood would have meant less than nothing. So now Hank wanted to know the score for real.
The Hunted Page 29