by Karl Weber
Deep Dark State
A Annabelle Perkins Thriller: Book 2
Karl W. Weber
Copyright © 2021 by Karl W. Weber
All rights reserved.
No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11
12. Chapter 12
13. Chapter 13
14. Chapter 14
15. Chapter 15
16. Chapter 16
17. Chapter 17
18. Chapter 18
19. Chapter 19
20. Chapter 20
21. Chapter 21
22. Chapter 22
Epilogue
Thanks For Reading
About Author
Chapter 1
People wanting to kill her were everywhere. Bad guys wielding fulling automatic weapons were around every corner. Anna crouch-walked down a narrow alley between two brick buildings with her Lateral Marksman Rifle 14 (LMR14) in hand as she came up a to ninety-degree right-hand turn. She pivoted the weapon’s barrel and action around the corner where two tangos stood together with their backs to her.
The reticle on the rifle’s LCD screen was placed on the head of the bad guy to Anna’s left. She pulled the trigger. Headshot. His buddy noticed and began shifting his weight to turn and face her, but it was too late. He also gained a hole in the middle of his own forehead.
Looking clear ahead Anna straightened her rifle and moved up around the corner. Passing by her latest victims, Anna saw the pathway she was on headed to an open door leading into a catwalk.
Looking down the scope of her rifle, she could see an enemy patrolling on the catwalk with his back to her. He was inside a large wide-open room with another tango on the catwalk on the opposite side, facing the opening Anna needed to go through. She activated the Mirror Light Spectrum (MLS) device on her suit and vanished. While invisible she passed through the doorway, getting a better view of the room. Anna found herself on a third-story platform with tangos patrolling each level of the room and looking diligently.
She drew her .45 ACP caliber pistol that was her Brigham 2031, and was prepared to fight. Two guards patrolled the catwalk below the one she was on.
Anna waited until the guard on the catwalk directly across from her looked away from the guard she was closer to. As soon as he wasn’t looking, Anna raised her pistol and fired. The shot landed perfectly in the back of his head. The pistol was integrally suppressed, so nobody could hear the shot. Anna spun around on her heels and took aim at the next closet target—the guard on the same catwalk on the other side of the room. She took a breath to steady her aim, a much harder shot than the previous one, and pulled the trigger. The shot landed just below the target’s neck followed by him falling to the floor.
“You’re getting rusty,” a deep male voice teased her.
Anna turned around and saw Jack standing behind her wearing the slick black suit she was accustomed to seeing him in. “Oh, come on, like you could’ve done better.”
“Just making an observation,” Jack said followed by a chuckle.
Anna rolled her eyes before she raised her goggles and pulled herself back to reality. She was soon back inside Vigilance HQ.
“What’s going on?” Anna asked as she pulled the sling attached to the plastic practice rifle over her head.
“The president’s advisor just contacted me and said the POTUS wished to have us present at his next cabinet meeting that is to begin shortly. Apparently, it’s about something big.”
Anna rolled her eyes. “We’re a secret government intelligence agency, what isn’t considered big when it comes to us?”
Jack rolled his eyes back at her while cracking a slight smile before returning to his serious face. “Apparently, it has something to do with U.S. intelligence agencies and how they will be affected in the future.”
“Seems a little overdramatic,” Anna said while she stepped off the rubber belt of the training platform and onto the concrete floor. The basement of Vigilance had a nice training room, one of the many perks of utilizing the ten-story office building that used to be a CIA outpost in Baltimore, Maryland.
After Anna and Jack had saved the United Nations and shed light on the CIA corruption, the POTUS, John Huckleberry, was quick to thank the couple by evicting CIA personnel from the building to allow Anna and Jack to quickly set up shop. It served as the headquarters for their new intelligence agency, Vigilance.
Although Vigilance was disguised as a branch of Homeland Security for the sake of confidentiality, the only person it answered to was the president himself. Armed with the Shadow Prerogative granted by the president, Vigilance had authority to act above the law in its clandestine operations as long as it was to preserve America and its freedoms. Vigilance was equipped with some of the most high-tech spy equipment available in the late year of 2048, giving it everything it needed to protect America. That included the VR practice arena Anna never minded using.
It helped her practice stealth movement, aim, and/or take out her frustration on some digital bad guys. She placed the plastic rifle and pistol on the metal table next to the arena.
Jack stepped off the arena platform and joined her on the floor. “We’ve only been set up here for a month.” Jack shrugged. “Maybe this is some type of test for us?”
“We didn’t prove ourselves enough when we saved the UN?” Anna interjected as she unclipped her belt containing the motion sensor that synced with the arena sensors. It made the belt move in the opposite direction that the user walked or ran to keep them in the center of the arena.
“We’re a newly created cell that hasn’t been utilized in the field yet,” Jack remarked. “Maybe it’s a test, maybe it’s not.”
Anna grabbed her dark-black suit jacket that matched the color of her hair and slung it over her long-sleeve, white button-down shirt. It matched the black suit pants she was already wearing. Barefoot, she slipped on the black pumps lying under the chair before looking back up at Jack. “Then let’s not keep them waiting any longer.”
The couple walked out of the training room. Down the black tile hallway, they turned right, approaching the frosted glass doors that led to the command center. The doors slid open revealing all was normal.
About a dozen Vigilance personnel were present with half seated at Command Thread tables on the corners of the round-shaped room. They were tapping away diligently on the LCD surfaces of the tables that served as computers. Meanwhile, the others were mostly walking back and forth in the room with tablets in their hands. Everyone inside the room wore a black suit and appeared to be hard at work.
Almost everyone in the room was young. Very few employed at Vigilance were a day over fifty. Anna and Jack wanted to avoid corruption within the group by bringing in young bright recruits from different agencies. They wanted former members of the CIA, NSA, and FBI who hadn’t been corrupted by the system yet. They were agents that had great talent but were slowly getting nowhere at their former agencies. Anna and Jack took the advantage of the opportunity and poached some of the greatest overlooked talent for their own intelligen
ce agency.
So far, everything was working as well as they could’ve hoped. The command center was operating like a well-oiled machine.
Jack turned right and spoke up. “Allen, is the conference room connected and secure for our meeting with the president and his cabinet?” Jack was referring to Allen Price, Vigilance’s best hacker and master of anything virtual. He was seated in his usual spot with his faced buried in the LCD screen of his Command Thread table that served as his own personal computer and workspace. His workplace was positioned on the far-right side of the room next to the thick steel door that led into the VR conference room.
“I just connected the room to the channel given to us by the White House. Everything is ready once you both sit down inside,” Price responded.
“In that case, let’s get in there,” Anna said while she waved her hand over the sensor mounted on the wall next to the door. The door slid open, and she and Jack stepped inside.
Chapter 2
The room held a conference table that could seat up to eight people with VR goggles sitting on the metal table in front of each chair. Anna and Jack took seats together at the table before slipping on the goggles. They both pressed the red button on the side of the goggles.
At that moment, a bright, horizontal, white light proceeded down their line of vision. It quickly replaced their view of being in a small conference room with a white void where they were seated at a large round black marble conference table on top of the United States Seal.
Nothing beyond the table existed but the color white. Anna and Jack found themselves seated with the president and his cabinet, all of whom turned their attention toward the couple as they phased into the meeting.
“Thank you for joining us under short notice,” President Huckleberry stated while motioning at Anna and Jack, who sat on the opposite side of the table.
“Anytime, Mr. President,” Jack proudly stated before continuing. “We were told the topic of this meeting had something to do with reorganizing U.S. intelligence?”
“That’d be putting it lightly,” said by the deep, grumpy, old voice belonging to Robert Hinkle, the secretary of defense.
“Now that everybody is here, we can start,” Huckleberry stated. “I know this goes without saying, but I must emphasize confidentiality for this situation. What will be done and has to be done for the sake of this country is that the Central Intelligence Agency is gutted, scrapped, and dismantled beyond repair. Nothing short of total disbandment will kill the tumor that has served as the basis for the Deep State to thrive and rule in this country.”
There was nothing but silence at the table for a few solid seconds until Vice President Michael Edwards spoke up. “Sir, are you absolutely sure this is necessary?”
Huckleberry looked over at his VP sitting beside him. “Absolutely. We all knew the CIA’s integrity was in question. But after the UN incident with Tobias Blake, we must take a stand. The CIA cannot be trusted; it is too far gone to be saved. The CIA has been the cornerstone for not only foreign intelligence but intelligence regarding all of national security. Information is power. With that gone it would be a massive strike toward the Deep State. A start toward weeding out the mass corruption that has plagued our nation.”
Huckleberry cleared his throat. “Of course, the proper arrangements will need to be made to create a new foreign intelligence agency to take on the CIA’s several responsibilities and workload. Hopefully, this new agency will stay clean longer than the one it will be replacing.”
“Doing this is going to create huge rifts that could have untold consequences,” Secretary of State Antonio Doyle said.
“Do you think I haven’t thought of that?” Huckleberry questioned. “If there was a more subtle way of doing this, I would love to take the alternative, but there isn’t one. This is a cancer we’re fighting. Leave any trace of it and it’ll grow back instantly.”
Doyle interjected, “What about this new agency? How can you know that it won’t eventually be compromised?”
Huckleberry sighed. “Everything with power attached to it gets compromised at some point. It’s always a question of when rather than if. The day will come when this new agency is compromised. All we can do is set it up with the best safeguards to prevent that from happening. When those safeguards eventually fail, let us hope whoever takes our places does the right thing about it. Corruption can never be vanquished, only held at bay.”
The president’s statement made the atmosphere of the non-existent room fill with nothing but sorrow. It was the cold truth that the few good guys in D.C. always hated remembering.
“Remember the last guy who tried messing with the CIA?” Doyle warned. “You know the guy who is the reason why the president no longer rides in open limos?”
“That’s also why I asked the co-directors of Vigilance to attend this meeting.” Huckleberry along with the rest of his staff turned their gaze towards Anna and Jack. “We need to assume the worst will happen. If there are any leaks, then the lives of anyone with any understanding of the plan could be in danger.”
“Not to mention the election,” Doyle pitched in.
“I’m not worried about that. The worst report I’ve seen is me only having a ten-point lead over Coleman. Although I do agree that any public leak could derail that. If there are any leaks, then if we are asked, we’ll spin the narrative that we were only considering cutting their budget in non-essential programs.”
The entire table nodded in agreement on the fallout plan.
Huckleberry continued. “Right now, my main worry is not about getting re-elected but ensuring everyone’s safety. This process will officially begin this February. I plan to make the CIA’s disbandment to be the main talking point of my first one hundred days. By doing that I hope it’ll take much more than a Lee Harvey Oswald to get rid of me and for the people to just theorize and not act.” Huckleberry turned to look at his VP. “Besides, even if I’m killed, I’m sure President Edwards will have no trouble rallying support to finish what I’d started.”
Edwards looked back at Huckleberry with slight surprise and after a few seconds quietly responded, “Of course, sir.”
The Executive Secretary of Homeland Security Beverly Davis in her soft voice asked the room, “Would any CIA personnel or anyone who it concerned currently have any reason to believe that the president has negative intentions for the agency? Maybe not disbandment but something less extreme like budget cuts, new regulations, et cetera.”
There were a few seconds of silence while everyone at the table took a moment to think.
Huckleberry was first to answer. “I wouldn’t think so. We never even mentioned the CIA in our agenda. I would think for now that I should be off their radar. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t prepare in case they do find out somehow.”
“Which was why you wanted us here.” Anna spoke up. Despite her and Jack both only being twenty-eight, they had just as much professional manner as anyone else in the room.
Huckleberry smiled at the young lady. “Exactly. I want Vigilance along with Homeland to watch over all known CIA assets for any suspicious activity. If anyone at the CIA gets suspicious, then say it was all being done to catch a mole within the agency. I’ll have the CIA Director of Operations Anthony Miller there to back any of you up if necessary. He’s one of the few still at the agency that we know we can trust.” Huckleberry motioned toward Jack. “I assume you attest to that, Mr. Shepard.”
Jack nodded at the president while he answered, “Of course, sir.” He was telling the truth. Miller had played a large part in helping Jack clear Anna’s name after the UN attack.
Huckleberry smiled at the young man’s demeanor. “I knew I could count on you.” He then looked back at everyone else at the table. “Now, onto the next topic at hand.”
After a couple of more hours of discussing other less important topics, the president adjourned the meeting. Everyone reached to the sides of their faces and then one by one vanished out of thei
r seats. Anna and Jack did the same. Both pulled off the headsets, returning to reality. They found themselves back inside the small conference room at Vigilance HQ.
They looked at each other for a moment before Jack asked, “Meet your expectations?”
“I had a feeling this meeting might’ve had something to with the agency in question,” Anna replied. “I just didn’t expect the president would be moving so quickly on having changes made.” Anna then took in her surroundings to remind herself that she and Jack were sitting in what only two months ago was a CIA outpost. “Then again, I guess Huckleberry wasn’t afraid to rid this place of its previous tenants.”
Jack chuckled at her comment. “You can say that again. Kicked them out of here with hardly a moment’s notice. I guess he’s that keen on getting changes made.”
“Do you agree with the president’s plan?” Anna asked.
Jack shrugged. “You tell me. You were the CIA’s honor student of espionage. If anyone should know what’s the best course of action regarding what should happen to the agency, it’s you.”
Anna sighed. “That place helped sculpt the person I am today. Even though I’m no longer directly affiliated with it, seeing the CIA being shut down would feel like losing a piece of myself.”
Jack nodded out of respect to Anna’s statement.
She continued, “But I’m a loyal soldier. I respect our president. Therefore, I respect his decision.”
“Understandable,” Jack said.
“Thanks. Anyway, I guess there’s no reason to ponder over something we have no control over.”
“I agree. Let’s get back to work.” They rose from their chairs and turned to exit the conference room. Jack waved his hand over the sensor on the wall and the thick steel door slid open.
Price looked up at the couple as they exited the room. “While you two were chatting with the president, one of my friends on the dark web contacted me about something he found in Canada that would be of interest to us.”