Daze of Reality

by Molly Barrett

  “Who’s to say that she’s working with Stroud? Were you not listening that day when I told you that there’s boatloads of those fucking asshole organizations out there fighting for power. We don’t know who she’s aligned with, John or what purpose her handing off to you conveniently exactly what you want to see would be.” Derek responded.

  “Yeah, yeah like I said nobody is claiming that I bought into her shit yet, and I agree her handing out free shit is a little suspicious as you put it in any environment, especially these days.

  “Well, maybe everything that she gave you is correct, John. Maybe it’s not, we can try to break into their systems, and see what we can find.”

  “So how come you don’t already know? I thought that you’re people were tailing the guy.”

  “Wow John you’re so damn perceptive now aren’t you? I can almost see that fucking pig wheel turning in your head right now.” Derek smiled as he watched John roll his eyes. “See that’s the problem around here, we have some…let’s say less than competent people around here. It appears that the meet with Grayson had laid down thick layers of security, and the guy in charge here had to pull his guys out in a hurry. If our guys get caught taking an interest of any kind in this shit, it could turn really bad really fast. However, the guy in charge should have found a way around Grayson’s bullshit if you ask me. Anyway, they lost the ability to track him for a while after Grayson set up his security measures due to him being the one meeting with Fowler. I didn’t get to take part in any of that or I might have just done my own thing, heh. I kind get myself into trouble going solo when idiots around here make stupid plans and won’t listen to reason you know. Maybe that’s why I don’t always get invited to such exciting events.”

  “Yeah, I can definitely see you as the renegade type. So do you think that Grayson killed Fowler at this meet that they had? I can see Grayson’s people carrying out the District 4 murders and then being behind our District 5 murders as well. Then again maybe they are only guilty of District 4 and someone is fucking with them copying District 4.”

  “Maybe Grayson’s guilty where Fowler is concerned, or maybe it could have happened sometime just before or right after the meet by someone who Grayson told about the meet or who Grayson hired anyway.”

  “Yeah, I hope that your tech people can find something out.”

  “Yeah, I…” Derek stopped as the door opened suddenly, and a tall dark headed man entered the room surrounded by armed men. “Shit, a perfect example of the previous statements of incompetence around here,” he whispered in a low tone to John.

  “And what the hell do you want?” Derek questioned nonchalantly.

  “Mr. Barnes, I’m going to have to interrupt your little session here. I’m afraid that you’re going to have to come with us.”

  “You know that you could have just sent your little fucking messenger.”

  “Both of you.”

  “Heh, no, I, I don’t think so,” Derek scoffed.

  “Now,” the man very impatiently insisted.

  “He’s not ready for any of that.”

  “Are we going to have a problem here, Derek, because I would hate to have to have any delays in stopping to deal with that?” Derek sat defiantly for a moment before popping up suddenly in the man’s direction causing him to retreat backwards several steps while some of the guards tensed a bit. It was obvious that the man seemed afraid of Derek, having more bark than bite. John began to wonder if that was the reasoning behind his little entourage.

  “No, no problem, Daniels,” Derek then stated while staring the man down. Daniels and his guards then moved back towards the doorway.

  “What the hell is this shit?” John then questioned.

  “Not sure yet, but I guess we had better go and find out. Sorry, I tried to get you out of it,” Derek then smirked. “We wouldn’t want any delays now would we?” he then laughed. “Come on.”

  John just shook his head. ‘Great my first real meeting with the psychos at Barnes and Company, my closest ally,” he thought.

  “Form a straight line now boys we wouldn’t want anyone taking a wrong turn and getting lost. It’s a bit dangerous in these hallways if you are found wondering without proper credentials, Lieutenant,” Daniels then added with a smile as they reached the doorway and headed out, eyed by the guards the entire way.

  As the group turned down several hallways and now reached evidently an important door, though one that looked like all of the others, the guards halted them. “This is where you will stop off Mr. Goldman. Once the night’s plans are in place you will be retrieved by Mr. Barnes and he will then be in charge of you once more,” Daniels explained in a commanding voice.

  “You know I’d like to know what’s going on here right now actually,” John then stated.

  Daniels walked over and got up close into John’s face. “I understand that you have some issues of your own, however it appears that you are letting Mr. Barnes’ rather rash behavior towards me influence you as well Lieutenant Goldman. I would advise that you keep your mouth shut at all times while you are in anyone’s presence from this organization excluding Mr. Barnes occasionally perhaps. I do not think that you understand the severity of who you are dealing with. If being locked away in a cage with thrown away keys for weeks at a time just so you can question authority gives you excitement, then I’ll be happy to book you those accommodations. Mr. Barnes can describe to you his many trips to such environments. Now, as I previously stated, this is your stop,” Daniels then stared at John with what now seemed to be evil eyes that John assumed Derek must have become immune to possibly jaded from. To John at this moment however Daniels’ eyes seemed even more psychotic than Derek’s stares and that was a very strong statement of silent observation in his opinion.

  “Sure, whatever,” John found himself responding as he now followed the guards that split off to take him inside of the “waiting room.” Derek simply shook his head, pissed that they were even trying to bring John into anything more elaborate at this early of a stage in his involvement with the organization.

  After traveling a bit further, they stopped in a large conference room. It had tables of the finest wood forming a U shape, and the room itself was the size of two. This was a room that Derek knew all too well since moving up in the ranks, and one he despised. He was in fact always at the bottom as far as rank while present inside the room or at least shared that title. No one under his rank was allowed inside these meetings. His annoyance and irritation stemmed from the fact that the assholes above him very rarely would listen to reason when he tried to point out their shortcomings due to his lowly rank. The very powerful men who often times attended meetings inside these walls considered it a sign of disrespect for someone of the “lower class” to question or correct their plans or ideals. Derek was present in order to understand what would be carried out in the field when he was chosen for assignments. Daniels however ran them based on decisions made by himself and his superiors.

  “Please have a seat now won’t you Mr. Barnes, and remember your place. I’m afraid you’re evening is about to get a bit more interesting shall we say. It appears that the night is young,” Daniels firmly announced as Derek walked in the door. Derek checked his watch and an 11:30 PM time seemed possibly debatable. He guessed that it just depended on what these fuckers wanted from him tonight. Derek sat as apparently a guest speaker moved to take the floor before him; Daniels sat close by as well, closer however to many of the other higher ups that had joined them.

  “As you are well aware of now, Fowler along with Price and Willis, they were all… high level puppets of a Mr. Grayson,” the guest speaker began. “Fowler, Price, and Willis were responsible for dissolving our “Silent Partners” in District 4 when they carried out the murders of our lead partners in that region under the so called serial killings. When the top three in our allied organization fell, Grayson was able to position his own stronghold next door to here. He then began placing many agents into the surroun
ding area as well. That small break was the weakness that has caused our problem, but it didn’t happen overnight.”

  Several men around the room nodded in agreement.

  The important guest continued. “Grayson has been cracking this area for quite some time, and that triple homicide play that he pulled off showed just how strong he has now become in this area. We have been successful however in drawing Grayson out of the shadows by him seeing someone else copy his own devious triple murder plan to take out problem targets, and through the blind assistance of our own helpful law enforcement contact in continuing to challenge all of these “serial murder cases” we have perpetrated. We have succeeded in bringing both Grayson and an Agent Stroud to the surface as they attempt to seek out the guilty party that has mimicked Grayson’s own ploy. We are not the only organization that benefited in the dealings of our silent partners one district over; they had other allies as well that were more in the open. Therefore we do not believe at this time that Grayson’s organization has any thoughts or clues as to this District 5 murder spree being our doing. They have now in fact set up shop in District 5, unaware of our presence or surveillance over their new operations. We must act quickly however with any and all intelligence we can gather. They could return underground at any time. In order to cause maximum damage we need to slice off the head of the snake so to speak, Grayson’s head. His top people such as Stroud will remain important secondary targets as well.

  Derek then watched as a second speaker took over the podium.

  “This crack in our security, let us say is why Watson has been permanently placed here now as a fifth man. Our core partnership has decided to permanently divide the zones of influence up into five areas across the country now instead of four in our fight to push these shadowy bastards out of the way and back on their asses where they belong. We received intelligence that Fowler was carrying that states Grayson will be trying to manipulate the system. He was planning on using Fowler to continue to sneak his own people over the border even after the damn thing closed down. We’re not sure how yet due to the fact that all of the information we have obtained is deeply coded, but we are looking into all possibilities and the possibility that other politicians could have been involved. On Fowler as well was listed what appears to be several border crossings to take place before the vote on of the border closing itself. We have deciphered three of what we think is four. There is only a small window of time before the vote takes place on the border shutting down and the wall going up. We are thinking that this will be the most important people due to their fear of the plan of border crossings after the vote not being a full proof plan.”

  “And were these Pre vote border crossing codes easier to decipher than the other information that you still can’t figure out?” Derek spoke up knowing more than he should, yet being forced to strategically hide that fact. If they found out that he had taken the codes for himself to break, it could be a death sentence for him. He however was “insanely genius”, and had already figured out on his own more than the whole group of code breakers had.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Because I’m just guessing that there is a reason for that. You know, a reason that you were able to work through one part of the code so much faster. They probably put false information in there that would be easier to decipher incase Fowler was caught with actual information in hand.”

  “Our best people have been working on this. The times and places of crossings are easier to decipher because they are shorter.”

  “No, that really doesn’t make any damn sense here most probably, oh sorry. Ah, Sir.”

  “So, you just want us to pass this up, this chance to capture important people?”

  “I would, it sounds like a setup to me. Of course you could always send in a drone, but they will probably spot it and simply shoot it down. Grayson’s pretty up on the technology you know. He’d probably sniff it out pretty damn quick. The thing is if it’s a setup and he captures even one of our people then he is going to figure out who is fucking with him.”

  “Well, as much as I enjoy your little words of advice young man, I suggest that you shut your damn mouth, listen to your orders, and then carry them out. If the shit hits the fan then that’s your problem, you little piece of shit. I’m not passing up on this opportunity simply because you want to be a scared little bitch about it. Now, is that clear?” the older man angrily responded.

  Derek then popped up out of his seat, slammed his chair against the wall, and stormed out of the room. A little while later Daniels found him back in his own lounge area. He gave Derek the mission specifics and told him what he was allowed to share with John. Daniels then told him when to meet for departure for the border, and as a final statement, he made sure that Derek knew his actions would not go unpunished.

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  “So you really took vacations to their little caged hotels?” John questioned.

  “Possibly, once or twice.”

  “Heh, so were any of the accommodations actually better than the others, for future reference of course.”

  “Some.”

  “Some, that sounds like more than once or twice now, Derek.”

  “Did you ever hear the fucking words ‘curiosity killed the damn cat’, John.”

  “Something similar to that,” he smiled. “So why exactly am I being kidnapped for this little mission again?”

  “Why observation of course, if or when these people show…”

  “Wait a minute, wait just a minute; you don’t sound so sure about that happening.”

  Derek simply shook his head. “I don’t fully trust that it will, no. But the reason that they want you there is if some of these people were to get away, they want you to see who they are. They want you to see their faces, and remember them. Shit goes down, there isn’t going to be a lot of time for picture taking. This is your city, John. You see all levels of the criminal element, and we need your help in that. There’s no telling where these kinds of people could pop back up, that is if they actually show up tonight. We are going to need you to keep your eyes open. Like I said we are going off of weak signals that were put into place. I’ve been updated now that they did actually pick up more of Fowler’s encrypted conversations before he died. I just don’t agree with the interpretations of my esteemed fucking colleagues if you know what I mean.”

  “Right, well I wouldn’t be surprised if they popped up in my office building as an FDC Agent. That’s probably more likely than anything else these days,” John commented sarcastically.

  “Well, you will be further back and watching us on television. I’m sure that you’ve been looking forward to the day I get my ass handed to me. You might just get to watch it on the small fucking screen,” Derek then laughed. “You should get a good view of what we are seeing.”

  “Great, so who am I riding with then?” John questioned.

  “Well, it wasn’t easy convincing them you being such a high level asset and all, but I managed to swing getting two of my personal guards in the truck with you. The rest are…company. My two are Ivy and Sebastian. They will take good care of you.”

  “Damn and here I thought that you didn’t share your ladies.”

  “Yeah, I have to loan her out since she was one of the best available. I pulled her back on duty for this assignment. I rotate my people, and she was getting prepared for R and R. You touch her and I might just have to kill you myself.”

  “Right, whatever, hands off of Ivy; I got it,” John laughed. “So do I get a gun, you seem to have a bad feeling about this, and I would kind of feel naked without one. We wouldn’t want Ivy to see me that way now would we; she might get the wrong idea.”

  “Shut up John before you start to piss me off,” Derek laughed as he handed John a handgun and some extra ammo. “Against Daniel’s better judgment so don’t go showing it off I suggest. Ivy will place something with a little more kick behind it under your seat just in case.”

  “Alright,
thanks man.”

  “We had better go, need to head out to the meet area; it’s at the far end of the building. We will be starting departure soon.”

  As John entered into the large gymnasium sized area he had to admit that it was indeed impressive. It looked like something that the military would have. He saw in front of him what appeared to be four black possibly armored vehicles. He was then led into one of the four as Derek walked in the other direction. Wearing his own issued black fatigues, John then climbed up and inside of the large vehicle.

  “Welcome,” came the sexy voice of probably one of the most beautiful and toned women John had ever laid eyes on. She seemed to give him the once over and then a quick wink of the eye.

  “Please have a seat, Goldman. A man then quickly ordered while pointing out a chair in front of a screen surrounded by well an ass load of technical crap as John saw it. He took a seat nonetheless. A few seconds later Ivy had her hand on his back bracing herself as she took the seat next to him. Damn, did it count against him if she was “friendly” towards him.

  “These babies are bullet proof, John. So unless we encounter mortar fire or stinger missiles this evening we should be fine.”

  “Oh, that’s good to know. So are stinger missiles and mortar fire the norm these days?” he smiled.

  “Oh now honey you should know that that kind of juicy gossip is classified,” she then smiled back.

  “But of course.”

  The engines soon started up as the large door rose before them. The vehicles then entered into the night air, almost blending into the darkened landscape surrounding them. Although John had no needle forced on him this time around, Ivy made sure he still had a bag covering his head until they arrived closer to their destination, the supposed night’s border crossing. Two of the vehicles including John’s stopped further back. The other two moved closer in before the men got out and moved forward for an attempted stealthy infiltration closer in to the described location.