by C. M. Adams
“The milk in the fridge looked questionable,” she said. “I figured I'd just go without. Good morning, by the way.”
He smiled.
..
“You gonna bring your brother to work with you every day?” Agent Kale asked as they walked the tunnels toward R.R.
Birdie glanced to Brian, who walked slightly behind them, then back to Kale. “Brian is currently having writer's block,” she told her. “And I figured we could use a hand still. But if you're opposed-”
“It's fine,” Kale cut her off. “I was merely asking out of curiosity. He's a decent shot, or so he proved yesterday. Unless that was luck.”
“Birdie taught me,” Brian told her. “I'm also not opposed to manual labor, if it's needed. But don't give me busy work. If you need to give me busy work, just send me home. I'm here to help; not out of boredom.”
“Acceptable,” Kale replied after a moment of consideration. “So you're good at training?” she glanced to Birdie.
“I'm good at training what I know how to do,” she replied, straightening her uniform top. “But I've not even completed training here. Why do you ask?”
Kale sighed as they approached the hatch to R.R. “We may have to start recruiting,” she told her. The three of them filed in through the hatch door, and Kale closed and secured it before walking across the small hallway to another one. This door had a console beside it, and Kale pulled her I.D card that hung on a retractable cord on her belt, and swiped it over the device. The red light above the door turned green, and there was a loud clicking sound behind the door. Kale then opened the hatch and made her way inside with the siblings.
“Agent Kale,” Dr. Foster approached from the hall they were walking through.
“Aaron,” she greeted. “Working a double shift?”
“Just got in an hour ago,” he told her. “I was informed you'd be coming in.” He glanced over at Birdie and Brian. “Nice to see you again,” he told them, trying to be friendly, though it was clear by his demeanor that he had urgent news. “Do they have clearance?” he asked Kale.
She arched an eyebrow. “Would they be with me, if they didn't?”
“Right,” he nodded. “We've discovered something,” he told her. “And we have a big problem.”
“Other than the obvious?”
“On top of it,” he replied. “Same problem; bigger consequences.”
“Has something else happened?” she asked as they approached a set of sliding steel doors.
“Eh...not exactly. It's just that we're only now realizing the extent of it,” he explained. The doors opened and Birdie realized that it was an elevator. She hesitantly followed them as they filed into it. “Everyone is in the conference room,” he told them. “We've just been waiting on you, to start.”
“Everyone?”
“Maverick's team, the R.R staff and myself. Well, I'm obviously not in there right now.”
“Obviously,” Kale rose a brow again. Aaron pushed a button and the shaft began moving downward.
Birdie looked at the button pad where Dr. Foster had punched level C1. She noted that there was a button for every letter in the alphabet, and decided that there must be other elevators if these were all followed by the number one. She recalled a building she'd visited during a case when she was with the DEA, that had a similar system.
“I came over here this morning when I was asked to come confirm their findings,” Aaron told them. “I wish I could tell you all I know, but I think it'd be best to hear it all in one place.” The elevator stopped, and mere moments later the doors swished open. “After you,” the doctor moved away from the exit and allowed the others to leave the shaft. He then headed out, himself, and led them toward the conference room.
This hallway was unlike anything else Birdie had seen on the island, and from the way Brian looked around, it was likely he'd never been here before, either. The entire walkway was black. The floor was an endless rubberized grate leading all the way to its end, and the walls on either side of them looked like marble. It was so smooth, Birdie could see her reflection as if it were a mirror. Overhead, were hundreds of small lights, no bigger than a dime around, each. Their placement made Birdie think of the night sky in Dagsboro. And though they were tiny, the hallway was lit very well.
When they reached the end of the walkway, the sliding door at the end swished open, and they entered a large room, similar to the walkway as far as the walls and lighting went. There was nothing lining the walls, as far as pictures or decor. A large, oblong table sat in the middle of the room, and several people were seated around it. One of them, Birdie recognized. Emmett smiled at her once their eyes met. She returned the smile, shortly, before her nerves reminded her that they were here for an important reason that was still unknown to her.
“Amber Farran,” a child's voice came from the far end of the table. Birdie and Brian both looked over to see the young boy as he stood from his chair and walked toward her. He appeared no older than twelve, but the way he was dressed in a navy blue uniform similar to the black ones the Observers wore, the way his hair was styled, and the way he carried himself, it was more likely that he was much older.
“Do you know me?” Birdie asked.
“I do,” he replied as he approached. “We've never met in person, but I know who you are.” Instinctively, she dropped to one knee so that she wasn't towering over him, and extended her hand to greet him. He took it. “My name is Simon.”
“I'm glad to meet you, Sir,” she told him.
There was a small moment where his brow twitched, not having expected the immediate level of respect the woman gave him without knowing exactly who he was. “We've been waiting for you,” he told her. She looked into Simon's eyes, somehow able to sense that there was a wisdom within him that surpassed anyone she'd ever known.
Simon drew his hand away and turned toward the table. “Maverick,” he called, “Your report.”
“Sir,” he nodded as he stood. Maverick looked a bit older than anyone else in the room. Definitely more gruff, as well. He was a head shorter than Dr. Foster, who was still standing a bit to the side of him. He had a beard and mustache that wasn't altogether inappropriate, however not exactly professional enough to be working in that room. His hair was brown and peppered with gray hairs, and he was wearing civilian clothing, topped of with a baseball cap.
“Agent Kale asked me to form a team to investigate into the Defectors' confiscated weapons,” Maverick began. “What we found, was that there was a chemical compound in each round of ammunition,” he hit a button on the console in front of his chair on the table top, illuminating a large holographic screen in the center of the table for all to see. The image showed a picture of one of the unspent rounds dissected during the investigation. “Our resident chemists and medical experts haven't been able to determine the compound,” he continued, “But did a series of trials that indicate its purpose.” He pressed another button on the console, and the screen showed a magnified simulation of Proprietor cells repairing themselves, then another simulation of the same cells exposed to the compound, which stopped the cells from repairing from their damaged state.
“To inhibit regeneration,” Kale surmised.
“Exactly,” Maverick told her. He pushed another button, showing the plane wreckage. “The compound was also found in the wreckage. Everything within the crash radius was effected.”
“Wouldn't that mean that the people killed yesterday are...” Birdie's questions drifted off before she could finish.
“Still dead, yes,” Dr. Foster told her.
“Permanently?” Kale asked, seeming slightly disturbed at the thought.
“We don't know that yet,” Foster replied. “And we're not sure when we'll know. Not unless we can find whoever created the compound.”
“Which means you're down to a handful of agents, Kale,” Maverick said. “Also means you're the new boss.”
“Enough agents to take scouting,” Kale said, trying to remain as
calm as possible.”And I'm capable of taking whatever position is appointed to me.” She looked over at Birdie for a moment, then back to Maverick, then to Simon. “In fact, as my first action I'd like to appoint Agent Farran as my second in command, until further notice.”
“She's got no experience,” Maverick argued, raising a skeptical brow.
“She has more law enforcement experience than any of the agents currently in commission,” Kale retorted. “She just needs to be read in. Completely.”
“Come on,” Maverick gruffly objected. “You've gotta be a ten-year loyal in order to be read in. You know that.”
“I don't see where we have much of a choice under the circumstances,” Kale's head tilted in frustration with the man.
“Enough,” Simon interjected. Kale and Maverick looked to him. “Agent Kale is right. It is necessary.” Maverick clenched his jaw. “Everyone is dismissed. Agent and Mr. Farran may remain.”
“The book nerd gets read in, too?” Maverick asked, incredulously.
“Book nerd?” Brian looked offended.
“Mav, honey,” Emmett said as he stood and gathered his things, “I think you need to loosen the ball cap and go home and have a drink of that fifty year old whiskey you keep bragging so much about.”
“Why don't you shut your cherry trap, Abner,” he scowled back.
“Oh cherry trap! I like that,” he smiled. Maverick growled, picked up his things and stormed out. Emmett glanced over to Birdie as he made his way to the door, himself. “Don't worry, sweetie. Mav's just jealous because he can't go hunting with the big boys. Too much of a trouble maker.” He winked at her and filed out with the rest of the dismissed team.
Once the door closed and the three of them were alone, Simon turned to one of the walls. “I'm sure you've been told about the Regeneration Room and Detention?”
“Yes,” Birdie replied.
“Both are located here. Where we are right now, specifically, is sub-level C, sector one. It's where Detention begins.”
“Where does it end?” Brian asked.
“Sub-level Z,” Simon glanced away from the wall as he told him.
“What exactly is Detention?” Birdie asked. “I know it's sort of like a jail.”
“Yes. For the most part, it is. Let me show you.” Simon looked back at the wall and reached out to press a button. It was then that Birdie realized that what she thought was black marble, was actually more like a two-way mirror. The room's light dimmed down dramatically, as lights began to flicker on the other side of it.
The depth of the room beyond the mirror seemed endless. Brian and Birdie stood there staring in awe as the blue-tinted globes continued to light up. They were at least a few yards away from the room. It took a few moments to realize that each blue-lit globe was actually a liquid-filled capsule, housing a single body.
There were hundreds of them. Maybe thousands, it seemed, as the lights kept flickering on farther and farther down. The room was so deep, they couldn't see to the bottom of it. The pod-like structures wrapped around off the sides, surely continuing past where they could see.
“When a Proprietor chooses to become a Defector, they essentially announce themselves enemies of their own people,” Simon told them. “We do our best to recover and rehabilitate them. But more often than not, they are beyond our help. Because they are so dangerous, there are only two options. Put them behind bars like a normal prison, or do the more humane thing and put them in stasis.”
“Stasis?” Brian questioned. “They're...”
“They're dead,” Birdie finished for him. “They're being kept drowned.”
“They're Proprietors,” Simon reminded them. “If we were to take them out, they would regenerate. Which is more than we can say for what they did to the Observers today. Or the military personnel that died on the plane they blew up.”
Birdie and Brian looked back out at the pods as they considered what Simon told them. Though it seemed a bit cruel, it made sense. The Defectors were murderers. This way might even have been better than they deserved.
Birdie looked thoughtful for a moment before turning back to Simon. “Earlier, you said you'd been waiting for me. What did you mean by that?”
“Just as I said,” he told her. “We'd been expecting this day. The day the Defectors would go to great lengths and strike against us like this. They were waiting for you, too.”
“What does that mean?” she asked. “Why would they be waiting for me?”
“Because their leaders have been preparing them for it. For the day that came to be that both of you were here.”
“Their leaders? What do they have to do with us?” Brian asked. “Why do we matter to them? Who are they?”
Simon turned away from the glass and faced the siblings. “Your parents,” he told them. “Your real parents...”
To be continued...
Teaser from Book Two
“Why do you think our parents deserted the island?” Birdie asked Brian as they sat on the couch in their apartment.
“Probably the same reason as anyone,” he replied.
“You said people were brainwashed by other Defectors. But they're their leaders. They started everything!”
“That's not necessarily true...”
..
“Time for your first hunting trip, Agent Farran,” Kale said as she threw her a set of keys.
“What are these for?”
“How do you think we get off of this island?” she raised a brow.
..
“You're Farran's daughter,” the Defector realized, twitching his arms against the cuffs that bound his wrists. Birdie didn't respond, but simply watched him from where she sat across the bench in the back seat of the truck. “You don't understand. Everything we've done, everything we came back out of the woodwork for was for you and your brother...”
..