“It’s not that I don’t believe you President Bjarnason,” Albert said, “but numbers don’t lie. Let me reiterate the figures I received from Iceland’s finance minister from last year: salaries for government employees up 20%, jobs in the private sector down 8%, governmental spending up 22%, and overall economic growth index down 1%.”
“But Mr. Rosenberg,” President Bjarnason responded, “the most effective method for reducing debt and preventing a recession is by increasing governmental spending.”
The other two leaders nodded their heads in total approval as if this were sound economic policy.
However, President Bjarnason’s statement was both an offense to the hard-working people in his country and an insult to Albert. It was the type of unaccountable, financial wisdom adopted by far too many of the world’s governments.. Albert fully understood economics and knew that such policies created only excessive waste, while simultaneously strangling any hopes for a prosperous financial future.
“That is why we require your further financial support,” President Fornier insisted. “You must understand. We need to spend more in order to reduce our debts.”
Albert had had enough of this charade. With his legs failing and heart pumping, he slowly walked back to his chair and collapsed down onto the well-padded cushions. He exhaled loudly. Though his mind remained intact, his body could no longer take the strain.
He looked up at all three in disgust.
“I’m sure you are all aware of the stipulations attached to your loans,” he said, knowing fully that the three presidents were not attentive to these details. “To summarize one particular clause: If the interest of the debt accrued by the country becomes larger than the GNP of the preceding year, The New Reality has the right to assume control of your government and all financial institutions.”
“That is but a technicality,” President Fornier stated, waving his hand in the air. “It is not something that is meant to be taken literally.”
President Bjarnason reiterated as if speaking to a senile old kook, “These statements are just mere formalities.”
Albert certainly did not appreciate their condescending demeanor, which made his decision even sweeter.
He pointed out his bony finger and said, “Enough! As of right now I am calling in all the loans to your countries in full. No longer will you or your governments continue their careless ways. Herein, I am assuming full control of Greece, France, and Iceland.”
“You cannot do this to the French people!” President Fornier demanded.
“What about The Disease?” President Vasilios questioned. “Now is not the time for such bold maneuvers. Our countries have been afflicted by this illness and are currently at a significant disadvantage.”
On the contrary. Albert understood that this was an impeccable time to call in the debts. With The Disease causing disarray in most countries around the world, they were all too preoccupied to mount any significant resistance to his takeover.
The Disease had given him the perfect opportunity, and he certainly would not ignore it.
Security guards marched into the room and seized the three presidents.
The same guards who had escorted them from their perspective countries now held them in hand as if they were common thugs. No longer working for France, Iceland, or Greece, these men were now employed by The New Reality.
“During our little discussion here,” Albert said, “I took the liberty of having my staff inform your countries about my takeover.”
“Get your hands off me!” President Fornier shouted.
The guard only held him tighter.
“My first order of business,” Albert said, “is to remove all three of you from office. Your services will no longer be needed.”
“This is an outrage!” shouted President Vasilios.
President Bjarnason agreed, “You will not get away with this!”
Albert smiled to himself as the guards unceremoniously escorted the three men out of the room. It was something that their people should have done years ago.
Albert understood the significance of what he had just done. Today marked the last day of wayward spending and the beginning of The New Reality Empire.
Chapter 14
Alex examined the aerial map of the city on his videre lens. He counted ten men in total assaulting the building. There was no evidence of any backup nor did it appear they had secured a perimeter. Either an amateur conducted this raid, or they clearly underestimated Alex.
Marissa hit William’s shoulder. “Will you turn off that music,” she whispered. “They’re going to hear us.”
William quickly complied. If he could have his life prolonged, even for an extra second, he would oblige.
The soldiers’ voices became louder.
Crack! Crack!
The doors down the hall smashed open. The sound startled them all as they listened to the demolition.
The soldiers ransacked each apartment after their unauthorized entrance. Everything in them was destroyed as they frantically searched for their target.
“What’s the metal pot for?” Marissa asked.
Alex slowly crawled on his knees to the edge of the kitchen. Holding the handle of the pot with one hand and his pocketknife-like device with the other, he peered around the corner into the living room. Just as he feared. The door to the apartment was left ajar, a dead giveaway of their location.
“Alex,” William frantically said as sweat poured from his brow and saturated his dilapidated cap. “I hope that you’re not trying to whip them up a batch of macaroni and cheese to win them over.”
Jonathan fully understood Alex’s concerns. Without warning, he leapt over Alex and ran up against the door. Pushing with the side of his body, he slowly shut it without making the slightest of sounds. The automatic lock set with its closure.
His actions definitely impressed Alex. Jonathan was certainly not the meek gentleman he appeared to be.
Before he scurried back to the kitchen, Alex gave him a quick nod of appreciation.
A few more doors smashed open. Alex had counted twelve apartments on this floor and after the eleventh one had just been entered, he knew they were next.
Placing his device against the back of the pot, he held it up and pointed it to the door. A barely audible hum could be heard resonating from the cooking device, producing a harmonic-type field not obvious to those behind it.
“I’m waiting,” William said impatiently.
“Shush!” Marissa mouthed.
“Hell,” William grumbled, “if Alex isn’t going to do anything practical with that pot, I can at least use it to shatter the window in here so that I can jump out.”
The door to the apartment smashed open and splintered onto the ground in pieces. A few soldiers ran into the room with their guns in hand. Though there was very little to destroy, the men did their best to lay waist to everything there. They began in the living room and proceeded into the bedroom like a mini tornado. They even smashed the windows with the butts of their guns.
“I hope they don’t destroy my comics,” Guri whispered.
“Comics!” William lipped. “We’re about to all die here and you’re worried about your comics. I swear to God if we get out of here alive, I’m going to wipe my ass with every last one of those comic books.”
Marissa turned to them both. “Will you two cut it out. The last thing I want to hear right now is about you wiping yourself.”
“I… I… just… ,” Guri began to sputter.
“Zip it,” Marissa snipped.
SattAr entered the apartment last. He confidently walked into the living room as if a welcomed guest. Wearing his usual green fatigues and beret with the UAA emblem, he looked around the room without saying a word. His men continued to ransack the apartment without disruption.
Alex knelt steadfast as SattAr watched his men reconnoiter the room.
William looked directly at him as his image burned into his head. The cold, calculati
ng eyes, finely trimmed mustache, and air of superiority made it a face not to be forgotten. But why was he not alerting his men?
It did not matter. If these were his last moments, he would not go down without a fight. William grabbed the sole chair in the kitchen. Before he could lift it, Jonathan placed his foot upon the seat.
William looked at him with disbelief. What was this man doing? Did he just want to stand there and get gunned down like a horse with a broken leg?
Jonathan placed two fingers up to his eyes, pointed at SattAr and then shook his head.
William finally understood. Whatever Alex was doing with that metal pot, he must have created an illusion that had fooled all the soldiers. Simple yet effective.
The soldiers came out of the bedroom and shrugged their shoulders. Hoping for a fight, they all looked greatly disappointed. SattAr pointed to the door and barked a few more commands. The men responded and quickly marched out of the room.
SattAr turned and followed his men out the door, totally unaware of how close he was to capturing his prey.
After about a minute of heart-wrenching silence, Alex turned back and looked at William. “What was that about macaroni and cheese?”
“Listen Alex,” he said while wiping sweat from his brow, “I don’t know how you pulled that one off but whatever you did, it worked.”
“Great job,” Marissa agreed. She placed her hand upon his shoulder in a gesture of gratitude. Though subtle, she ran her fingers slightly into his hair.
Alex gave her a hint of a smile. Slightly embarrassed, she pulled her hand to the side.
“How did you know?” Alex asked Jonathan, still whispering.
“I was once an electrical engineer in my former life. And that pot was a dead giveaway.” He waved his hands nonchalantly. “Apply an electrical signal, amplify the response, and create a one -way holographic image. I learned that my first year.”
This is certainly no simpleton, Alex thought. Whatever he’s hiding, I’d like to find out soon.
“So, now what?” William asked.
Alex responded, “I can see them on the roof. They obviously know we’re here but appear to be blindly assaulting the building, searching for us haphazardly.”
“‘Respect your enemies’,” Jonathan quoted. “‘Never underestimate him.’ Sun Tsu.”
“I bet they thought we were just a bunch of science geeks,” William scoffed.
“We’re not out of here yet,” Alex cautioned before anyone felt any further relief. “While the rest of the soldiers are going up to the roof, they left two men on this floor to guard the stairwell.”
Alex set down the metal pot and turned to Guri. “Where’s the climate control panel?”
Guri sheepishly pointed to the wall in the kitchen. A small, rectangular, white box without any decorative accouterments stood where he gestured.
Alex grabbed the box and yanked it from the wall. Underneath was a black electrical board with little green flashes of light frequently racing across it. Alex threw the box on the floor and attached a quarter-sized disk directly onto it.
Before them, a three-dimensional holographic image of an architectural map of the building, detailed with all of its electrical circuitry, suddenly appeared. Thin red lines, representing the wiring, could clearly be seen throughout the blue structure.
“All the doors leading to the stairs,” Alex said aloud, “appear to be magnetically activated.”
Jonathan added, “It looks like an older version of our modern doors. Instead of dematerializing, they simply glide open and closed with the littlest of pressure. You would never know they weigh a few hundred pounds.”
Alex nodded his head and smiled. “Exactly!”
“Does that pocketeer come with an electrical conduit?” Jonathan asked.
Short for pocket and engineer, the pocketeer was the pocketknife-type instrument Alex had used to enter Guri’s apartment. Equipped with a multitude of miniature electrical devices, it was both an engineer’s and modern spy’s best friend.
“One step ahead of you,” Alex said, taking the instrument out of his back pocket and placing it up to the circuit board.
On the holograph the only door exiting to the roof turned red, while the others remained blue in color.
Jonathan inspected the image and then the kitchen wall. Turning to William, he said, “You may use the chair now,” and pointed to a particular spot on the wall.
“With pleasure,” William responded as he grabbed the chair and gleefully impaled one of its legs through the wall, creating a small fist-sized hole.
Jonathan quickly grabbed wires out from the hole and yanked them until he had about ten feet of excess. Taking one of them, he attached it to the pocketeer and stepped away.
Alex twisted the devise along the panel until the door on the roof turned purple. “Got it. That thing’s sealed tighter now than if I welded the whole thing to the frame. Unless they jump or get air support, they’re not coming off that roof any time soon.”
“We’ll also need that bipolar wire,” Alex said.
Jonathan quickly complied and yanked the other wire over to the pocketeer. “You know I don’t approve of this.”
Nor did Alex, but there was no other choice. If the stakes had not been so high, he would consider an alternative. However, millions if not billions of lives depended on their success. There were no other options. He attached the wire to the pocketeer.
Suddenly, a blast rocketed down the hall. They all jumped at the sudden jolt.
The holographic image of the building showed that the door leading to the stairwell on their floor was no longer present. They all surmised what had happened but the question remained: What about the two soldiers?
“Let’s go,” Alex said, placing the pocketeer and quarter-shaped device back into his pocket. Unlike the others, he knew the answer. His videre contacts’ infrared imaging showed that the two men standing next to the door had quickly died as a result of the electromagnetic blast.
Alex led the group into the hallway. The whole area was black and smoldering with pieces of the two soldiers’ bodies strewn throughout the rubble. Thankfully, their escape down the stairs would not be hindered as the rest of the soldiers were on the roof; trapped behind the door that Alex sealed shut.
“Do you think we can find one of their guns?” William gasped, trying not to step on anything organic.
Alex shook his head. “I don’t think there’s anything left to find.”
Alex led them down the stairs to the front door. Just as they arrived, he held out his hand to stop any further progression.
“I can see them on the roof. They’re all looking over the side, ready to shoot anything that moves.”
Alex did not have to say anything more. Just as he finished speaking a stray dog wandered out of an alley next to their building. The poor animal immediately got gunned down the instant he entered the soldiers’ line of sight.
“Let’s send Guri out first,” William untimely joked.
Guri instantly turned white with shock. “I think it’s best,” he stuttered while pointing at Alex, “that we let that man right there decide what to do. He seems to be in charge.”
Alex knew he had to make a decision quickly. It would only be a matter of time before help arrived for the soldiers trapped on the rooftop. However, he had only one option, and it was drastic.
Alex looked Jonathan in the eye, as if asking forgiveness for his next action. Again taking the pocketeer, he jammed it into the door’s control panel. At first the green lights on the panel flickered, but after a few seconds the whole thing glowed red.
The building then began to hum and vibrate synchronously. It was if everything in it had become a musical instrument and produced its own unique sound. The harmony created an eerie rhythm that gave them all a little quiver.
“I’m not familiar with that feature,” Jonathan commented.
“Let’s just say this isn’t your usual pocketeer,” Alex noted. “I made a
few adjustments to it, if you know what I mean.”
The panel in front of them began to smoke as did most of the building’s vents and electrical fixtures. Crackling noises could be heard throughout the structure until finally sparks began shooting randomly out from the walls and the panel in front of them.
“That will just about do it,” Alex said while removing the pocketeer.
Within a minute, the entire building began to catch fire. What started as a few flames became many and soon fire totally surrounded them. The smoke it produced became insufferable. They all placed their shirts over their noses, waiting for Alex to give them the signal to leave.
“When I say go,” Alex shouted from underneath his shirt, “we’re all going to run out of here to our right. There’s a white building with a red roof two streets down. I’ve contacted Tom and he has flown our Stratoskimmer next to it.”
The smoke billowed throughout the lobby until visibility was reduced to about a foot. After checking the satellite view of the building, Alex shouted, “Go!” as loud as he could muster.
They all ran out of the flaming building as quickly as their legs would take them. Though the fresh air brought them relief, the possibility of being shot curtailed any of their contentment. They all felt the same ache in the small of their back. It was as if they were expecting a bullet to enter in that precise spot and pierce their spines.
Fortunately, only a few scattered shots were fired, each missing their mark. No one was injured and the sight of the Stratoskimmer brought them as much joy as a lighthouse would to a sailor caught in a raging storm.
Many considered the ship the most aerodynamic vehicle of its day. With two large cylindrical engines in the rear and a curved tail fin running the length of the oval-shaped ship, it gave the clear impression that it had been built for speed.
A side hatch opened and turned into a set of stairs. Usually slow in its decent, the stairs dropped to the road, creating a loud clanging noise in the process.
Alex stood by the stairs and watched everyone run up them. William, holding Guri by the arm, was the last to pass. As they did, Alex could hear some whimpering coming from Guri about his comic book collection.
The New Reality Page 9