Resolution

by Douglas E Roff

  “It is.”

  “Then Misti is correct; you have no place among us here. Leave and return to face Adam when he is recovered. It’s better that you leave now.”

  Akira said, “I say she should enter and tell us what she discovers. When Adam returns, he can confirm or deny what Hecate finds. There is no harm in this.”

  Alana said, “We shall wait. Hecate, you may leave for now.”

  Hecate left in silence. Nobody thought it permanent. When Adam returned, perhaps there was another way.

  ***

  The next day Edward summoned Hecate to Derek’s quarters.

  “Hecate, please enter Derek’s mind; search his mind to discover the truth, and his intentions. Tell me what knowledge he possesses; if he speaks the truth or if he lies. If he’s for the Collective, discover that too. But the Libraries are what I wish to know about, and the veracity of his desire to join us.”

  Hecate appeared in half form, shimmering like a rainbow of colors.

  “You are acting alone?”

  “Yes, does that trouble you?”

  “Not in the least. But it will trouble the others, perhaps even your son, when they discover what we’ve done.”

  “I’m sure it will. But that will be then, and this is now. If they don’t like what we’re about to do, that’s too bad. I’ll leave and disown the lot of them; even my son.”

  Derek protested. “Sorry to interrupt you two bigshots, but I have a say in this. My body, my mind. You should wait until Adam says yes. I don’t give you permission to do what you wish just because you wish it. I’m leaving.”

  Edward commanded, “Sit, Nobilus. Hecate can take your knowledge then kill you. I’ll say you attacked me.”

  “Nobody will believe that.”

  “You’ll be just as dead though, won’t you?”

  Hecate entered Derek’s mind, though he resisted and fought back.

  Thirty minutes later she emerged.

  “He speaks the truth. He has ancient knowledge and wants nothing more than for his species to survive and to assist humanity in this war. I informed him there would be no war, that all would now be settled in the contests between Adam, and the brothers Fortizi. He says he can help with that too. I agree with Alana; you have misjudged him. If you wish, I can give him some, but not all the knowledge and abilities he needs to help. He does not wish the ability to transform to his natural state.”

  Edward said she should wait for Adam. In the meantime, did Hecate get the information Edward wanted?

  “I did. But Derek is right. This was a bad idea and it will cause a rift in the teams. We should have waited. Adam will be quite angry with me for what I would have done back in Oregon with Liara. He will be furious we disobeyed both Misti and Alana.”

  Chapter 37

  Following the debacle in Oregon, Enzo, and Paulo thought their leadership authority was in shambles and were doomed to a slow and painful death at the hands of the Collective’s military and the Councils. Their longevity could be measured by the time it took for the Trackers to find them, but after several weeks turned into a month, nothing happened. The Fortizi’s had not left their enclave with their families, and continued their life of ease, and luxury from the top floors of their high-rise condo building overlooking the Pacific.

  The Collective had gained control over various new websites on the dark web, the cloud and in the discoverable internet, and used their old member list to communicate with their people. But since nobody in the Collective worldwide any longer believed in a war against the humans, they were mostly just anxious about what the future held. A large portion of the ordinary transformed Gens, Collective still supported the Fortizi’s; they were ready to go down fighting. Many more Gens thought that the Human meant them no harm; that the passage of time without the Human “outing” their existence was proof enough that it was never the Human’s intention to attack and destroy the Collective. Some simply waited for the other shoe to drop not knowing or understanding what was going to happen to their previously peaceful world. Most of these Gens couldn’t transform anyway; whether consciously or not, they had chosen their permanent form, and that form was human.

  There were the Clans of Eight-one who were not Collective adherents, along with their human partners, and the Wildmen, Gens of the jungles, forests and Plains who wanted nothing to do with the rest of the world, Gens, human or Nobilus. Word had been spread among them, and the word had spread far and near to all Gens, everywhere, that any Gens entering their territory would either remain in natural state forever or would be terminated instantly. The wild Gens wanted nothing to do with humans, transforming Gens, the Eighty-One, Gens politics, mortals or Immortals. Visit their Homelands uninvited, and death would soon be your reward.

  Indigenous humans and unarmed campers and hikers, naturalists, would be left alone as they passed through their lands as had always been allowed. The wild Gens had no issue with their fellow mammals, so long as they didn’t stay. The indigenous humans, few in number in these remote territories, were well aware of the presence wild Gens, but had long ago reached détente if they lived in proximity. They never spoke, but hunted and gathered the same areas, drank water from the same rivers, streams and springs, and often left each other unneeded food, marked in the traditional mammal way.

  They neither loved nor liked each other; they just understood the power of symbiosis in the wild. Nature was cruel and neutral about the survival of any species. On occasion, a Gens, would leave an injured Gens child at a “Healing Rock”; if the humans could help, they would. Rocks stacked in a unique pattern were left in place afterward, the humans believing this was the Gens, method of saying “thanks”.

  The recovery of website communication by the Collective was, therefore, largely a non-event. What was pervasively known was the newly interpreted and deciphered meaning of the Prophecy and the upcoming contests with Enzo and Paulo against the Human. These were all that mattered. This was the news they wanted to know, not bullshit propaganda about Fortizi prowess in hiding away in luxury, directing the deaths of two hundred thousand of the Gens elite military at the hands of the Human. They wanted this war ended peacefully and the Fortizi’s gone. That was the news they wanted to hear.

  The people of the Collective now knew the whole story of the past eighty years, the role of Immortals and what was at stake. Some would accept the outcome, no matter what, just to bring an end to the fear; some want the Human to prevail. The rest simply didn’t care as they had no role in the events to come. Except to wait and pray.

  All was quiet now. The Gens went about their business, and humans, other than the few with the Human, remained oblivious. The transformed Gens community believed the Human when he said he wanted peace and that the war between the humans and both the Collective and the Black Shirts was over. The Black Shirt movement was dead and the followers had joined with the Nobilus and the Human in the new nation. All members of the Collective were welcome; all Gens of the Wildmen were to be left in peace to follow traditional ways.

  ***

  “Hello, my name is John Smith, and I wish to speak to General William B. Techo. Is he available””

  “The young man answering the General’s phone asked, “Is he expecting your call?”

  “No, but if you mention that I have information about Adam St. James, I believe he will take my call.”

  Paulo was put on hold. “Can you please call back in an hour? He can’t speak to you now. But he can then. He’s clearing his schedule.”

  “No. It’s right now or never. He’s trying to arrange to trace this call, so tell him that I am very unhappy that our first interaction was a lie. He can come to the phone now or forget all about it.”

  “Sorry sir, I’ll be right back.”

  Silence, except for background music.

  “General Techo here. Who are you and what do you want? What is your real name; I need to know who I’m dealing with?”

  “First, drop the attitude, General. Your title d
oesn’t impress me nor does your tone inspire fear or respect. I have important information you can use, but if you don’t want it, just say, so. Trace this call, and we’re done. Deal with me honestly, and respectfully, or your part in this process is over.”

  “What have you got? Give me something and we may have a reason to talk.”

  Paulo clicked off and dialed a Congressman he knew was on the oversight committee overseeing the Joint Task Force on Adam St. James, and who had suggested he call the General.

  “How’d it go?”

  “Did not go well. I can release this information to Congress, but I don’t trust the military. I can give you the means to hack into St. James system, and the means, if careful, to entrap him and his closest associates. I cannot guarantee success with the military, and the CIA, and NSA involved; I can guarantee it’s your best chance at any success as a political matter with the House and Senate in charge.”

  “How can you say that?”

  “I’ve used this back channel and it’s been successful. Up to you whether this is important enough to follow through. I think the NSA wants him in chains, as does the Mossad and MI-6. The FBI wants him for the Marcus Thierry disappearance as well as that of his daughter and Bethy Outlander. The NSA wants him for the latter disappearances too. They’re blunt instruments seeking information and revenge. Never going to happen. St. James is too smart, too well hidden and too well familiar with our methods. His tech is well beyond ours and he can dismantle our paltry efforts to catch him or threaten his family. He’s winning and hasn’t even shown all his cards yet.”

  “OK. How do we communicate this information, and how do I vet it?”

  “Up to you.” I’ll deliver what I have, as well as how I think you should use it, so the rest is up to you, and your resources. If you have a better idea, go for it.”

  ***

  “Can you access their server, get into their files?”

  “Well, yes, but this looks like the way Alana McCarthy used to work. That’s a different deal.”

  “Either you are in or not, so which is it Tremblowski?”

  “I’m in the server, but not in their files.”

  “How?”

  “I’m in our server, but where the files are, I have no clue. They’re somewhere else, or maybe here somewhere, but I can’t trace them.”

  “You mean she’s been in our system the whole time, and using us to hide what she’s doing?”

  “Yeah. She probably gets access through an employee login, maybe more than one, to access our internal air gap files, and broadcast it somehow. So, in reality, not air gapped any longer. The rest is accessed on the DL Main. Only way to shut that down is to take it off line. Good luck with that.

  “Can we stop it. Cut off access? Reboot it and change access codes?”

  “Not sure how. McCarthy never said how she got in and we never asked. We just let he do her thing.”

  “Can’t we change passwords or something like that?”

  “Sure, but I’m guessing she’s embedded software to monitor changes to passwords, and other access codes. Retina scans, fingerprints, DNA. We can’t keep her out with her fundamental understanding of the system unless we shut down the DL Main, reboot it and hope these new protocols have any effect; that she or St. James don’t have the keys to the kingdom to override whatever we do, which I doubt. And it’s probably worse.”

  “It could be worse?”

  “She’s probably got a program running that detects detection. By now she knows we’re trying to find her. I think she already told us not to try once before or there’d be consequences.”

  “Shit, I better go see the Director.” His cell vibrated.

  “Yes sir. Right away sir. No sir, it was my idea. No sir I don’t know what I have done. Yes sir, double time.”

  ***

  Alana was on the phone with the Director, the phone on speaker, when the senior officer who should’ve known better entered the room.”

  “Close the door.”

  Alana said, “I thought we spoke about this Brough? Had an understanding? I was pinged five minutes ago. Kelly was snooping around my panties which is a no-no. What are you trying to do?”

  “Alana, you must believe me when I say I knew nothing about this. It was unauthorized and a rogue operation. It will never happen again.”

  “Do you have any idea how many times you told me that when I worked for you? All lies.”

  “Yeah but it’s the truth this time. I really didn’t know.”

  “If Barack was still there, we’d get to the bottom of this quick. But not with your new guy. My inclination is to start killing family members as a lesson to never try this again. But Adam says no. I reminded him of the kill or capture order at the Manor, but he still says no. Remember the orders from you guys to the men on the ground to shoot to kill if you couldn’t capture us. True?”

  “Yes.”

  “Who gave the order?”

  “You know I can’t say.”

  “Which would you like turned off first? Nuclear codes or CENTCOM in Tampa? Or we can start bombing North Korea and Iran. Oh no, even better, let’s destroy Mecca and see what affect that has on US Foreign Policy.”

  “No, No. You can’t do that. Millions might die.”

  “Did you try to kill me? Adam? My colleagues?”

  “Yes, but we were ordered to do our jobs. We didn’t want to.”

  “You’re lying, Director. You had better get MI-6 and the Mossad on the phone right now. I’ll call back in ten. Anyone not on the call will have no military tech or hardware in usable condition. Then we tell the Palestinians that the borders are open. Party in Tel Aviv. Hezbollah is invited.”

  The call started precisely ten minutes later. “The head of MI-6 was gruff, did not believe her threats, and got right to the point.

  “You’re bluffing and I’m calling your bluff.”

  As you wish.

  Great Britain’s entire electrical grid went down. Its nuclear arsenal went dark; all military bases ceased activity.

  “Good luck with that. Try to move a ship and I’ll dissolve it. In fact, move anything and I’ll dissolve it. That includes those beautiful new planes and carriers you have secreted away.”

  “You’ll hang for this, bitch.”

  “Perhaps, but you’ll just die. Long before me.”

  The Director of MI-6 went silent. He was dead, sitting in his chair at his desk, telephone still in hand.

  “I’m not by nature this angry or cruel, as you know Director, but you lied, and lied again. You tried several times to kill me, and Adam, and my colleagues. If I were you, I’d ask Barack and Tony to give Adam a call. Maybe they can forestall his anger. For now, until there is a resolution, you are cut off from the DL Main. Your military is on stand-by, and your nuclear missiles won’t move an inch. Keep trying to come at us, and I’ll destroy everything you have in your military arsenals worldwide.”

  “We’ll be destroyed.”

  “No, you won’t. No armaments are going to work for a week for any nation anywhere. You’re back to bows, and arrows, and spears. Try to circumvent this in any way, and you’re a dead man. I take your threats to me seriously. You aren’t the good guys. Adam says I shouldn’t touch Canada, so long as the current PM is the PM, so if you get in trouble, ask them for help. If you stop screwing them and fucking them over at every opportunity, maybe they’ll help.”

  Silence.

  “You got one week. I’d call Justin first and get him involved. But that’s just me thinking he’s the only one we can trust. Actually, that’s Adam.”

  ***

  Adam stood behind his wife, Alana, quietly. “God, you were really mean.”

  “They tried to kill my hubby. And my sisters. Makes me ornery. And very bad.”

  Chapter 38

  Adam was able to soothe Derek Nobilus’s anger and temper and bring him around to the bigger picture. “When I’m gone, you can take what revenge you will, but afterwards. Once we win,
and the planet safe, then you can settle old scores. For now, we need everyone on board. That includes you too, Derek.”

  Edward and Derek, now having made a tenuous peace, along with Cindy, Rod and Francoise identified the locations of six of the seven Great Libraries of the Gens, and the new location of the Great Library of Alexandria. The Great Library at the Grand Canyon had been secured by locals out of South Dakota using new tech and toxic gas developed by Maria and Agustin in their labs in the City of Light. Gone was their nostalgia for Barrows Bay; each had bright new assistants eager to learn from the famous dynamic Suarez team of inventors/scientists. Their reps had proceeded them, and even though time was a constraint for teaching new acolytes, Agustin still found time in the afternoon to sit with Alana chatting just like at home in Barrows Bay.

  The difference was they now talked about kids, and pregnancies; even Maria was invited to attend as a convert to the new system. They still walked each evening, though the entourage was smaller than at the Manor. Anyone could join in, though the “no work talk” rule was still strictly enforced.

  The attacks on the Libraries were being planned, but if Derek was right, some gas and some lightly armed men would be all that was needed.

  The Great Library of Alexandria in Egypt had been moved to, of all places, Alexandria, Virginia, just fifty miles outside the City Center. The paramilitary types in Paraiso and on standby in South Dakota were unaware the Feds were planning a reception for whoever showed up, though Derek knew nothing of this. All locations of the Libraries had been secretly handed over to the Congressman by Paulo as bait for a trap; the FBI was lying in wait, ready to capture or kill Adam and Alana. That reception and capture would never take place, but securing a close family member would, in theory, net the Feds something valuable for trade, or so they hoped.

  Bitsie Tolan had gamed this out, and saw this as a weakness, and a trap with tasty bait.

  “We’ll need to find another way in or wait until after the fight. Adam, Enzo and Paulo come first, then we go for the Libraries. The issue isn’t who and where the Gens are, it’s how do we kill the brothers Fortizi given all we now know.”