Intersect

by M C I Hinchliffe

  "I need to examine the body." She pushed passed the Detective and went to the ambulance where a body covered in a white sheet was being loaded on. "Hold on, F.B.I. I wish to examine the body." Katie flashed her I.D. and the paramedics moved aside. She pulled back the sheet and exposed the face of the corpse. The sight made her step back and hold her mouth. The side of the head was smashed in and blood smeared the face and shoulders. Katie had seen many dead bodies but could never get use to the sight. She fought back the nausea and composed herself, then reached into the top pocket of her designer jacket and removed a fax sheet. Upon the sheet was a picture of a man's face and that face was identical to the blood-smeared one upon the stretcher.

  Katie looked up behind her to see the dark skinned face of the Detective Wilson leering down at her. "Well how about that! She already has a photo of him. You obviously know more than you're letting on. Who is this guy and what does the F.B.I. want with him?"

  "That's confidential."

  "Everything is confidential with you Federal Agents." Wilson was getting sick of Federal Agents treading all over him and pretending to be so high and mighty.

  "Did he have any belongings?"

  "Yes. John, bring over the bag." He gestured to a uniformed officer.

  John brought over a small plastic bag and handed it to Katie.

  "Is this all he had?"

  "I guess he liked to travel light." Said Wilson in an obnoxious tone.

  Katie opened the bag and removed the single contents, being a leather wallet. She opened the wallet and found a drivers licence, a fifty dollar note, a business card and a folded piece of paper. On the business card was written "WILLIAMS INDUSTRIES - SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA", phone number and address. She then opened the piece of paper and found that it was some kind of map. Katie put the card and map in her top pocket and returned the wallet to the bag.

  "You can't take that, it's to be submitted as evidence!" Wilson had enough of this woman.

  "You said yourself that there was no suspicious circumstances."

  "No, but you can't be sure of that until a full coroner's report."

  "Well It’s now in the hands of the F.B.I. So if you want them back, you can apply for them through the proper channels." Katie walked back to her car.

  "Hey Lady....Agent Mitchell - wait!" It was too late, Katie was already getting into her car. "Bloody F.B.I.!"

  ********************

  Katie was twenty eight years old and had been a Federal Agent for three years. It was her father's career for thirty years and had influenced her own life to the degree that she joined herself. She loved to exercise her skill in solving crimes. It was a hobby from when she was a young girl while watching who-done-it shows on television. Katie had been on a missing person's case for the past eighteen months. The number of missing person's had increased tenfold over the past ten years, then one day one of the missing people turned up dead, seven years later. Since then several others had been discovered, but until now Katie had made little progress on the case.

  Katie activated the cellular phone in the car and dialled the number for her superior in the F.B.I. head office where she worked. After a couple of low peeps a voice came through the hands-free mike. "F.B.I. Captain Jones speaking."

  "Captain, its Agent Mitchell. I have a lead on that missing persons case."

  "What have you got?"

  "That stiff I checked out is definitely one of them. He had little on him like the others, but this time we got something. A business card for a company called Williams Industries in Australia and a roughly drawn map that I haven't worked out yet. I would like to follow it up Captain, could you give me the necessary clearance?"

  "Sounds interesting! Okay, I'll arrange a flight for you to Australia as soon as possible. Come back to the office and we'll go over what you've found."

  "I'm on my way." Katie turned off the phone and headed for the city centre.

  ********************

  DATE - APRIL 10TH 1995 TIME 9:50 AM

  LOCATION - SYDNEY AUSTRALIA

  The unique black sports car thundered down the inner city road until it came to a large office block. It turned into the entrance of an underground security car park that echoed its unusual engine noise, then reversed into a parking space marked "reserved". The deep thundering noise of the engine ceased, followed by the driver's door opening vertically. From the low sleek sports car stepped Ryan Williams, now a sophisticated thirty three year old business man. He wore a casual outfit and leather jacket because he rarely stepped into the building that displayed his name as the company was run by an old friend of his.

  Ryan walked to the elevator and pressed the button for "up". After a small wait, the doors opened before him and he entered the empty lift. He pressed the button that was numbered seventeen and the elevator took off to its destination. The elevator doors opened and Ryan stepped out into the busy office. A corridor stretched out before him and a small reception desk lay at his right side. He walked straight ahead towards a large door at the end of the corridor. As he approached the door, a personal assistant seated at a desk to the left side of the door interrupted him.

  "Excuse me sir, can I help you?"

  The personal assistant appeared to be in her late thirties and had long straight black hair and a slender build.

  "Yes, is Charlie in?"

  "Mister Clark is in his office, do you have an appointment?"

  "No, but I think he is expecting me." Ryan proceeded to the door marked ‘General Manager’ and opened it.

  "Sir, Sir, you can't go in there!" The secretary jumped out of her seat and tried to catch the intruder.

  Ryan walked into a large office with a floor to roof window that covered the entire rear wall. In front of the window was a large wooden desk with a rounded, moustached man seated behind it. Two eyes peered over the glasses that aided them and straight at the intruder. The secretary burst in front of Ryan in an act of desperation.

  "I'm sorry Mister Clark, He charged right past me. I tried to stop him but he wouldn't listen!"

  Charlie got out of his chair and walked over to the two new occupants. "Its okay Jenny, let me introduce you to the founder of the corporation - Mister Ryan Williams."

  Jenny's jaw dropped in shock. Then through stammering lips she apologised while her face blushed with embarrassment. "Mister Williams, I'm so sorry. I had no idea it was you. You're much younger than I had imagined."

  "That's okay, it's nice to meet you Jenny."

  They briefly shook hands, then Charlie politely gestured for her to leave by the means of a brief cough.

  "Sorry again." Jenny left the office and closed the door behind her. She immediately went to her desk and picked up the phone. After pressing a few buttons, a voice answered.

  "Accounts, Cathy speaking."

  "Cathy, its Jenny. Guess who just walked in?"

  "Who?"

  "Ryan Williams."

  "No!"

  "Yes and he looks nothing like what we thought either."

  "Do you mean he is even older?!"

  "No! He looks about thirty and totally gorgeous."

  "Really! I wonder if he is married."

  "No. There was no ring on his finger."

  "He is mine, hands off."

  "That's not fair, I saw him first."

  "Is he really that good?"

  "The man is a God!"

  "Tell me when he leaves, I want to check him out for myself."

  "Okay, I'll call you back. Bye." Jenny stared at the office door and wondered what they were talking about. This was the first time in the ten months that she had been working here that Ryan had visited. Whatever it is, it must be important.

  ********************

  "So Charlie what's up?"

  "You know those security breaches that we have been experiencing lately."

  "Yes."

  "Well, we had two yesterday and one already this morning about half an hour ago. They have been totally random so far and we are yet t
o work out a pattern, but the last three came from this very building."

  "Get Mac on the job. He can trace it faster than anyone."

  "Okay." Charlie sat down and was about to talk to his abnormally advanced computer, when the monitor went wild. "They're at it again. I had the tracing program running on my workstation just in case they tried it again. My God, they're in Mac's primary records."

  "Quick, get a fix!"

  "Tracing...." The two stared at the monitor waiting a reply.".....Found them. Fifteenth floor, personal section."

  "Get Mac to shut them out. Meanwhile, I'm going after them." Ryan dashed out of the office in great hast.

  ********************

  Katie Mitchell, alias Katherine Mathews, frantically typed on the computer terminal with the aid of her stolen access codes. The information that she was most interested in was the head of the company - Ryan Williams. So far no reference has ever been made to him, the office record files have no information regarding the company founder apart from his name and position. No address, no life history, nothing. Despite the brick wall that she struck with the company leader, Williams Industries itself was very unusual. From what Katie could determine, raw materials were mined, then processed into construction materials that were shipped off to unknown destinations. The company owned and funded the process from start to finish and money never exchanged hands while no outside connections were ever involved. How the company stayed in business was beyond her. Katie went under cover and managed to get a job with the firm as a secretary in personnel. Through her detective prowess, she obtained a list of passwords from the General Manager's personal computer. Maybe they could shed some light on her case. One thing was for sure, this company had something to do with those missing persons and whatever it was, Katie was determined to find out.

  Katie was in the computer room with the door locked. It was now morning tea time and she had about fifteen minutes before someone would discover her.

  She had gone through nine passwords and found nothing conclusive. This was getting her nowhere! The next code consisted of only one word - INTERSECT. She typed the code into the general records program and waited.

  The scene on the monitor went wild. A strange image appeared of an intricate three dimensional tunnel that gave the effect of fast forward motion. Then a door appeared at the end and she came to a stop before it. A synthesised voice spoke through the computer to her.

  "Passwords required for entry into Intersect."

  Katie whispered to herself, "Jackpot!" She considered the possible access codes and came up with three possible answers. Katie typed in the first - Intersect.

  "Incorrect. Try again."

  Katie typed in the second - Ryan.

  "Incorrect. Try again."

  Katie typed in the third and crossed her fingers in hope - Williams.

  "Welcome to Intersect." Said the synthesised voice.

  The door slid aside and the scene moved forward into a room. At the centre of the room was a three dimensional head that turned towards her and spoke. "I am the Master Access Computer, you have accessed the primary records of Intersect. How may I assist you?"

  The first question on her mind was - What is Intersect? She immediately typed in the question.

  "INTERSECT or INTERnational SECuriTy against hostile aliens, is the organisation for Intersecting and countering any potential alien attack."

  Katie was stunned, what has she stumbled upon? What did this have to do with people disappearing? What the hell was going on?!

  Katie continued cautiously and asked her next question - Who is Ryan Williams?

  "Ryan Williams is the founder of Intersect and is......" The face froze in the middle of the sentence, then a larger face of the same features engulfed the whole screen. It wore an angry expression and spoke in a voice that could not have been generated by the small speaker in the computer. "You are an illegal user, identify yourself or risk termination!"

  Katie jumped out of the seat in fright. The face was physically coming out of the monitor screen. This was impossible! Whatever was happening she wasn't about to stick around and find out. Katie quickly unlocked the door and ran to the stairwell. She scurried down the stairs to the tenth level where she finally came to grips with the situation. Running down fifteen flights of stairs in high heels was a rather stupid idea. She walked calmly through the fire door that accessed the stairwell, went to the elevators and pressed the down button. When she finally caught her breath, the lift door opened before her and she stepped in. The elevator carried one other passenger who was a young woman that she recognised from the sixteenth floor. Katie acted as calmly as possible and pressed the button marked B1 where her car was parked. The woman got off at the fifth floor and Katie had a clear run to the basement. Finally the doors opened on the B1 level and she walked as quickly as possible to her car. She unlocked the door to her black Ford Capri convertible, got in then started the car. The engine turned over then conked out.

  "No, not now!" Katie tried again but the car made the same noise followed by silence. "No, no, no. You start up or you're going straight to the wreckers, you bucket of....." She tried again but the car decided it was going nowhere. Katie slammed her hands on the steering wheel in anger, "Bloody foreign crap, I bet this wouldn't happen with an American made car." She pulled the bonnet leaver then got out of the car, opened the bonnet and stared at the unfamiliar spectacle of the automobile engine. "Why didn't I pay attention in the car maintenance classes?!"

  ********************

  Ryan ran into the computer room and found it unoccupied except for a computer generated face on one of the monitor screens. Ryan recognised the face straight away. "Mac, who was it."

  The transparent face emerged from the screen as a drop of water escapes a tap and floated through the air like a ghost to confront Ryan. "Unable to identify. Possibly staff, but there are no visual records of the non Intersect employees that work for the Williams Company, so I cannot make a visual match to my records. I would have pursued the intruder, but projecting myself is difficult enough without adding significant three dimensional motion to the program."

  "That's okay Mac. Can you check through all possible sources for a visual match. Police, government files, and all other security organisations worldwide. We must find out who they are?"

  "Yes Admiral, I will start on it immediately. Though it may take some time. I can trace a name in seconds, but people change their image regularly and it can make it difficult for my software to identify them."

  "How long?" Ryan expected an answer of a couple of days.

  "Maximum, twenty four hours."

  "Okay, contact me as soon as you find a match."

  "Yes Admiral." The face vaporised into thin air.

  Ryan headed for the elevator and selected the down button. It quickly arrived and the doors opened to let him in. He entered the empty lift and pressed the button marked B1 where his car was parked. As the elevator went down, he pressed a button on his wrist watch and Charlie's face materialised on the round liquid crystal face.

  "Did you catch them?" Charlie asked.

  "No, but Mac saw them. I got him to do a check through all possible sources and see if he could come up with an I.D. Meanwhile, I want you to get a description from Mac and check with the personnel officer to see if he or she is one of our non Intersect staff."

  "Okay, I'll get onto it right away."

  "I'm going back to the Endeavour, there's still a lot of work to be done before the twelfth. See you later."

  "Bye."

  "Bye." He turned off his video watch and waited to arrive at the basement car park.

  The elevator doors opened and Ryan walked over to where his car was parked. As he approached his car, he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Before him was the two longest and most beautifully shaped legs he had ever seen, stretched over a car bonnet. They were attached to a wonderfully curved, well toned buttocks that bobbed up and down as the owner straddled the vehicle's e
ngine. The fabulous spectacle was concealed, only by a short black dress. Ryan's cardiovascular system came to life as the vision drew him towards it. As he approached the siren display he cleared his throat as best as he could. "Can I help you?"

  The woman stood erect from under the bonnet and her eyes went straight to his. Ryan beheld a marvellous vision beauty. She had a face of an angel, with soft, lightly tanned skin. A small, dainty nose. Rose coloured, full lips and stunning, baby blue eyes. From her sweet head came long, wavy blond hair that moved with graceful elegance.

  "Yes, my car has broken down and I have no idea what's wrong."

  Ryan, didn't hear a word she said. He was still lost in the soft, blue lakes of her eyes.

  "Are you all right?"

  Her question broke his trance. "I'm sorry, let me have a look." Ryan examined the engine briefly then went around and tried to start the car. Again it refused to run. At that point, he noticed the reading on the fuel gauge. "I think I have found the problem."

  "What is it?"

  "You’ve out of petrol!"

  "What? You’re kidding!" She stuck her head around to view the dash board and saw that he was telling the truth. "Oh no. I feel like such an idiot."

  "Would you like a lift to the service station?"

  Katie had to get out of the building as soon as possible. The longer she stayed here, the greater the chance of being discovered. "No, but I could use a lift home..." She had to think of some reason for going home. If he took her to the service station, he would want to take her back to her car. The car was on hire under a false name, so it didn't matter if she ever saw it again. An excuse quickly came to mind. "I just remembered that my cat is locked in the house and I have to let her out."