by Thom Parsons
“Then you better tell me who your boss is,” Owen said, trying to sound threatening but failing miserably. He was out of energy, and both he and Ethan knew it.
Ethan let out a deep sigh. “You know that I don’t know the answer to that, Owen.”
“Bullshit,” Owen called out quickly and menacingly, his finger still on the trigger of his gun. It was a slow process, but he could feel Ethan getting underneath his skin. The man was answering every question with such a vagueness that it worked its way deep into Owen's soul, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it without losing the only lead he had.
“Not this time,” Ethan answered weakly. “Not this time… I don’t know who they are. That’s just the way that they plan it.”
“Then who else was in that conversation?” Owen demanded, his forceful tone catching Ethan off guard. “Who else is involved in all of this? It couldn’t have been your boss. But… it was Kate wasn’t it? It was her all along? She’s the fourth person?”
Of course it couldn’t be Kate. Owen said to himself, suddenly remembering one of his earlier thoughts. The fourth person has to be male, remember? Ethan mentioned them as a ‘him’ in the memory that we just listened to.
“Ha!” Ethan shouted out forcefully, followed by a short, genuine laugh. “Of course it wasn’t Kate! We only used her to watch you. Oh, and to take Eli out of play. He was getting too close to all of this, you know? But again… not my call.”
Right there and then, Owen got the confirmation on just what he had suspected for the last few days. Eli hadn't abandoned him after all! I knew all along there was something wrong. The two of us had a deal. He may have been a cyber criminal, but he wouldn't have just backed out of a deal like that. Especially when he thought that I had information that could lead to his arrest.
“It’s like a game of chess,” Ethan said, breaking into Owen's trail of thought without even waiting for him to answer. Ethan had suddenly found some hidden energy from within. Slowly but surely he began to get to his feet, speaking as he rose up from the ground. “We’ve been moving all of the pieces into position for so long right under your nose. And you haven’t even figured out who the strongest piece on the board is yet.”
Owen kept his gun close, wary of Ethan and waiting for him to make any sudden moves. The two of them locked eyes, caught up in a mental standoff. “If you don’t tell me what I want to hear. You’ll wind up as a shell of a man. You know that, right?” Owen said threateningly.
“Empty threats,” Ethan said light heartedly, raising both of his arms up to his sides. “I know you too well, Archer.”
“You don’t know shit about me,” Owen spat back at him. Ethan knows nothing. “You don't know anything about what I’ve been through to get to this point. If you don’t tell me the truth, I’m going to start taking every single memory that you hold dear," he continued, suddenly feeling a second wind rising within himself. "Don’t test me any more Ethan. This is the end for me. Who is the fourth person? Give me a name.”
Ethan, completely out of the blue started laughing madly, going from a quiet chuckle to a full blown laugh. “I guess the game is up, isn’t it?” he shouted at Owen with a smile beaming across his face. “Are you sure you want the name?"
"I want his name," Owen said, staring Eli down.
"You know that you can’t undo things after this point, right Owen?"
"I know," he replied, without care for the consequences. All I want is the final piece of the puzzle. "Now give me his name."
"Do you want to know how far this really goes?” Ethan asked, openly mocking Owen. I've really found his button here. I could just keep pressing it and pressing it all day long.
“GIVE ME A NAME!” Owen shouted impatiently as he decided to load another bullet into the chamber of his gun, unwilling to play Ethan's game anymore.
“The fourth person?" Ethan said, looking Owen dead in the eye and finishing his sentence with a smile. “His name is Owen Archer.”
PART SIX: OWEN ARCHER
“Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions destroyed.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
Chapter Eighty One
Date: December 13th 2035
Location: PRoGRaM
“You’re lying,” Owen muttered quietly in shock as he slowly walked forwards, holding his weapon with a tight grip. It took every fibre of his being to keep the gun pointed at the ground and to stop himself from raising and firing it at Ethan. He had heard enough lies, and every word out of the man's mouth was pushing Owen closer and closer to the edge.
“I told you that you wouldn’t want to hear the truth," Ethan replied calmly without breaking eye contact. He casually and inconspicuously tried to take a few steps backwards away from Owen, but Archer wasn't going to let him off that easily. With lightning speed, Owen managed to lash out at him, and grabbed him tightly around the collar with his free hand.
"You're lying," Owen said, repeating himself. He spoke louder than he had before and got right into Ethan's face. In a rage, Owen threw the man backwards, forcing him to fall to the ground. He slid slightly across the wooden floor. "Who's the fourth person?"
“Don’t kid yourself Owen," Ethan said sarcastically. "You must have known that something was wrong about this entire situation all along. It’s like putting a shattered mirror together. You can fix it up as much as you want, but the cracks are still there. You’ve been feeling the cracks in your memories for a while now, but you haven’t done anything about them. Instead, you’ve gone so far out of your way, looking to others for help, and looking inside others for the answers, when all along, you haven’t done the one thing you should have. Look inside yourself.”
"What did you do to Annie?" Owen growled. He could feel himself getting angrier by the second as he listened to Ethan's ramblings.
"Nothing," Ethan replied enthusiastically as he shook his head from where he sat. "But there's something else you need to know, something more important. Something that you need to trust me on."
"More lies?"
"Give me more credit than that Owen?" Ethan pleaded sincerely, climbing back up to his feet. He kept his eyes on Archer, deciding to stay a good distance away from the man. He was angry. And that meant that he was unpredictable.
"But you killed her," Owen said, his voice barely louder than a whisper. His eyes were almost tear filled. All of the emotion had been building up inside him, and Archer was close to his bursting point. "You drove the van into our car and you killed her."
Ethan sighed, the agitation slowly began to show in his face. No matter how hard he was trying, he just couldn't get his point across to Owen. "Look, just listen to me okay?" he said quickly, forcing his way into the conversation. "What I'm trying to tell you will probably save your life. I at least owe you that much for keeping me alive inside PRoGRaM."
"Tell me," Owen demanded, speaking in as few words as possible. He could hear the desperation in Ethan's voice. Something wasn't right.
"Outside, in the real world, things are about to change. Veridian are going to take back control of PRoGRaM, they're about to end their trial with the FBI."
Veridian. Owen realised. I've heard that company name before…
"I only know this because I'm a part of them," Ethan continued. "I work for Veridian, Owen. My boss is a part of Veridian too. You know that I was sent here to kill you. But I've failed. Trust me when I say, they already know this."
How can they possibly know that you've failed?
"And that means that it wont be long until others will be sent in to do the job. This time they won't be as discreet as I was. They will use force. Please listen to me Owen. Get us out of PRoGRaM."
Both men locked eyes. Ethan knew exactly what was in coming his way. "Owen," he said, picking his words, speaking slowly and carefully. "I know what's going to happen next. And I want you to know something."
"Yeah?"
"I don't blame you."
Ow
en didn’t even argue back. He had no more words left to say to the man. Instead, he quickly raised his pistol and fired one well placed shot straight into Ethan's forehead. His head snapped backwards and his body fell limply to the ground with a huge thump as it hit the laminate floor below. In a fit of anger, Owen shouted out and emptied the rest of his ammunition clip into the body of Ethan Darkes. Blood splattered everywhere as every bullet found its place.
The bullets may have ran out, but Owen just couldn't stop himself from pulling the trigger of the now-empty weapon. Click. Click. Click. was all he heard as the onslaught of bullets ended and the trigger of the gun just clicked underneath his finger.
He breathed heavily and dropped the expended weapon to the floor. Owen suddenly noticed that his hands were trembling massively as a huge rush of adrenaline surged through his veins. Blood seeped out from underneath Ethan's mangled corpse, spilling out heavily onto the wooden floor. Owen looked down at what he'd done, realising that he had finally found a way to release the emotions that he'd been building up and holding inside.
“Get me out of here. Now,” Owen said in a serious, yet quiet tone. He was done. It was time to leave. It was time to find out what was going on in the real world.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Chapter Eighty Two
Date: December 13th 2035
Location: Owen's Apartment, New York
The world around him was sucked into oblivion as the real world began to seep back into Owen's field of vision. Consciousness slowly came back to him over the course of the next few minutes. His groggy head and weak body began to slowly heal itself as time passed. PRoGRaM hadn't quite beaten him yet.
Eventually, Owen managed to pull his body upright. Whilst gently cradling his head, he knocked back a few aspirin tablets that someone had kindly laid out on a nearby table to help him on his way.
Eli slowly walked up to him, trying not to startle the man. “Owen?" he asked. "Are you okay?” Nick watched intently from the hub of their operation, stood behind a makeshift desk watching the situation in front of him unfold.
“Eli?” Owen questioned weakly, still trying to find strength. Despite this, the confusion in his tone was evident. “I thought you’d bailed on us?”
“It's a long story," Eli replied, not wanting to get into it. "I’ll explain it all later. Seriously though, are you okay?”
“Nowhere near,” Owen replied quickly without even having to think about the answer. With a hand from Eli, he got up to his feet. All eyes were on him now, including Ethan's. The man was just about semi-conscious on a nearby sofa, but regardless of this, he was still seemingly capable of eyeing Archer up intently.
Owen stumbled slowly, making his way across the room in a zombie like state, heading over to where Ethan lay. Every step he took vibrated through his body, sending pain to every corner of his mind.
“Owen, what are you doing?” Nick asked seriously, only for Owen to ignore him and continue moving forwards. “Owen?” he asked again, louder and more urgently this time, yet still not meriting any sort of a response.
Then, moving faster than he had moved all day, Owen dived forwards at Ethan, closing the last few meters instantly as he reached out and grabbed the man around the collar. Violently, he pulled Ethan from where he lay and threw him down onto the floor. Owen wasted no time and was on top of Ethan in a matter of seconds, throwing forcefully angry punches into the man's chest and face. It was as if he was possessed, but Owen just couldn’t control himself. He killed Annie!
He just couldn't stop. Not even when blood began to pour out from both Ethan’s nose and mouth. Ethan was reaching out trying weakly to stop Owen, but the post-exit effects of PRoGRaM were too overwhelming for him to put up any sort of defence. He desperately reached up and tried to push away at Owen's chest as the man continued his relentless attack. But it was just no use.
Behind him, Owen could faintly hear Eli shouting loudly at him, trying to get him to stop, but his words were falling on deaf ears. He managed to get a few more solid punches in before he felt two pairs of arms wrap around him from behind, pulling him away from Ethan.
Nick and Eli had both intervened. Together, they pulled Owen away from Ethan and held him back, trying to stop him from delivering any more devastating blows to the man. Ethan was clearly damaged enough already. Eventually, he stopped struggling against Nick and Eli hesitantly they let go of him. It didn't stop them from feeling poised on edge and ready to jump back in again to hold Owen back at any second.
“What the fuck is going on?!” he screamed out at Ethan, who was lying fearfully still on the floor with a beaten face. Owen was starting to go out of his mind with anger and confusion, but whilst no longer being held back he took advantage of the situation and managed to deliver one quick, final blow. He lashed out with his heel, stamping at the side of Ethan's head with the underside of his foot, instantly rendering the man unconscious.
Silence filled the room.
Owen turned and walked slowly away, finding a nearby chair and slumping himself down into it. He sat still as he placed his elbows on his knees and gripped at his hair with his blood covered hands. Breathing heavily and feeling out of breath, Owen just stared down at the floor and let the shame of what he had just done wash over him. Before long, he raised his head and looked at both Eli and Nick, finally ready to talk.
"Is it true?" Owen asked. "About Kate?"
Together, the two of them slowly nodded in unison.
"There's more," Nick said, slightly afraid to break the bad news to Owen after seeing what he had done to Ethan. Eli sensed his trepidation and chipped in.
"Someone bugged your apartment," he said as he held out the micro-cameras in his hand. Owen reached out and picked one up, bringing it relatively close to his eyes so that he could inspect it. He glanced up at Eli, wondering silently if there was a silver lining in this cloud. Maybe we could trace them?
"Untraceable," Eli said with a shake of his head, nipping off Owen's question before he asked it. There was no reaction from the man.
Owen simply didn't know how he should be feeling anymore. His world was slowly crumbling down around him, and everything that he thought he knew was being tested. Am I really the fourth person? What else can happen tonight? What about what Ethan said? What about Veridian…
"You both heard what Ethan said?" Owen asked urgently. "About Veridian?"
"Yeah." Nick said. "Maybe he was lying?"
But of course, Ethan wasn't lying.
What was about to happen next proved it.
Chapter Eighty Three
Date: December 13th 2035
Location: Owen’s Apartment, New York
“Everyone, grab everything important. We're leaving now," Owen said, taking charge of the situation as everybody else came around to their senses in seeing that maybe, just maybe, Veridian agents were on their way here right now.
Everybody looked hesitant and unwilling to follow Owen's command. Nobody moved, forcing Owen to make the first step. He made a beeline towards his personal laptop which was sat on the lonely dining table across the room. If I start, then perhaps everyone else will follow. He reasoned, but he only made it a few steps before Eli called out after him.
"No! Wait! Don't touch that!" The man shouted, causing Owen to turn around with a confused look covering his face. "Let me handle that." Eli said as he jogged ahead of Owen towards the laptop. "I have a decryption program running on your computer. I'm trying to figure out who sent you the scrambled video in the first place."
Eli reached the laptop, and began to punch in a sequence of numbers and letters in on the keyboard that looked completely jumbled to Owen, but he didn't say anything. "This way, the decryption still continue to run when we shut the laptop down," Eli explained, but Owen wasn't paying full attention. He was too interested in some sort of commotion going on in the corridor outside.
Heavy boots were coming down the corridor, getting louder with every step. Someone was coming their
way. Eli had completely forgot to mention to Owen that there was no longer a front door on his apartment. They were exposed, and in the end, that was how the enemy managed to enter the room so quickly and efficiently without any sort of warning to its occupants whatsoever.
Nick was the first one to spot them, since Owen and Eli were too distracted with the laptop and the decryption software that was running on it. If it hadn't been for Nick, the two of them would have never survived.
"OWEN!" Nick screamed from across the room as he witnessed three men enter the apartment with millitary-esque precision. They looked like some sort of combination between the US Military and a police force SWAT unit. All three men wore dark helmets that covered the top of their heads, yet they kept their faces fully visible for maximum perception. Their completely black outfits covered them from head to toe, from the combat boots on their feet to the bulletproof vests around their torso's. In their hands they held small, silenced and lethal sub-machine guns.
This isn't some sort of black-ops team. Nick quickly thought before he made a move for cover. This is a genuinely sanctioned assault. Someone out there really does want us all killed.
Both Eli and Owen turned their heads sharply as they heard the panic in Nick's voice. Together, their jaw's collectively dropped as they witnessed the three black-clad men move in for the kill.
Eli made the first move, thinking quickly on his feet. He grabbed Owen by the collar and forcefully pushed the man to the floor behind the nearest kitchen counter, thanking his stars that the two of them had at least some sort of defendable position nearby. Yet before he hit the ground, Owen managed to look over and see that Nick too had managed to turn and hide behind a nearby corner, putting a small slither of cover between himself and their attackers.