2156

by C M Dancha

  Slice turned and started to walk out of the lab room. When he got to the entrance, he stopped and turned back to the scientists. "Mr. Sweats, you need to be more careful about who you see outside of work." A sinister smile slid across Slice's face and he said, "Oh, by the way, tell your brother M.C. and Grandma LeeLee I said hello." Before Rollie could make any type of response, Slice walked away and faded into the darkness of the hallway.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Spreading Freedom

  Date Hattori was gaining wealth beyond his wildest dreams.

  In less than nine months he established a thriving business selling his cloaking device. Gangsters, revolutionaries and assorted other criminal groups were his primary customers. A considerable number of common folks also contacted Date to buy a cloaking device. How they found out about the device was a mystery. The only theory which made any sense was that average people learned of the device from seedy, lowlife members of society. Date accepted this explanation because he knew every town and village had its gangster element. And everyone in the town knew who the gangsters were and what crimes they excelled at.

  Making the first sale of the cloaking device was difficult and took longer than he expected. At first, he approached several criminal organizations in and around the Asian continent with no luck. Most of these groups wouldn't talk with him because they thought he was either a government informant or simply crazy. Whoever heard of a cloaking device? They knew of only one way to avoid the world government tracking system. That was by surgically removing the kidney with the embedded tracker. They had used this method for decades with moderate success. If the operation wasn't botched by a drunk doctor and the operating room was somewhat sterile, the patient had a 50-50 chance of surviving. The opportunity for a young man or woman to live free of the government's surveillance grid was worth the surgical risk. And the allure of being a rich criminal unknown to the government attracted thousands of willing risk-takers.

  The first customer to try Date's cloaking device was a crime lord by the name of Trang Mau. Mau controlled the criminal activities within a 1200 square-mile region of the central highlands of Vietnam. There was very little which took place in this region he didn't know about and approve. He took a little bit of squeeze from every transaction. It didn't matter if the transaction was criminal, like selling dope or sex girls, or a normal business transaction like selling fruit in the marketplace. Mau got his cut, or the transgressor got something which hurt like hell and he remembered the rest of his life.

  For only thirty-five years old, Trang Mau was a very practical man. He knew that if Date's cloaking device worked it would cost him much less than paying for hundreds of failed surgeries. Besides, Date's device was easy to use and humane which was very appealing to new recruits. Any young person wanting to join a crime family would rather work for Mau than some other crime lord who required the life-threatening surgery.

  There was one last reason Mau decided to test and ultimately buy Date's cloaking devices. Dealing with any member of his crime syndicate who became a problem child was very easy. All he had to do was take the offender's cloaking belt and destroy his phantom tracker sitting in a small container of circulating blood. At that moment, the offender reappeared on the government's monitoring grid. Of course, the government would investigate this reemergence on the grid. Usually, the disciplinary action meant a poverty level existence for the offender. The threat of being taken off Date's cloaking system worked better than any other threat Mau used in the past to control his men and stop defections.

  The news of Trang Mau using Date's device spread like wildfire. Hardly a day went by without some criminal element contacting Date about purchasing his device. The criminals were willing to pay handsomely for the device and Date was more than willing to take their payments. Common folks who did not belong to a crime organization paid what they could afford. In some cases, it was a family heirloom with more sentimental than economic value. At other times, Date accepted foodstuffs or livestock which he returned to the villagers as gifts from an unknown benefactor. On a couple of occasions, he provided a cloaking device without any compensation.

  Payment was never in world credits because this could attract government attention. Authentic samurai swords and battle gear were a preferred payment type. All the samurai antiques went into Date's hidden museum concealed under the hill of boulders behind his farmhouse. His collection grew and before long he had one of the best and most valuable collections of samurai military hardware in the world.

  He also accepted hard goods which he could use or sell on the black market. Everything from kitchen utensils to precious jewels were accepted for cloaking devices. But fraudulent identification items were by far the most valued things he got in exchange for cloaking devices. These items included hundreds of different holographic identifications, eye iris and fingerprint overlays. With these counterfeit items, he could switch identities as easily as changing clothes. And he could roam around the world conducting business without any chance of being stopped and asked to explain his travel.

  With a booming business, he had very little time to tend his fields. He spread the rumor in the village that he was too heartbroken by his wife's death and getting too old to continue farming full time. He then took on two villagers to work his fields and gave them half of the harvest. This was the first time anyone in the village had leased out their fields in a sharecropper business arrangement. The remaining villagers didn't know what to think of this arrangement and waited to see if it worked. It was appealing to the elderly farmers who wanted to retire but didn't have any younger family members to pass their farms on to.

  Date's customer base was growing exponentially, and it was difficult keeping up with the demand. If all he had to do was produce cloaking devices, he might be able to keep up, but other concerns were eating up his valuable time. Vetting potential customers was the most demanding concern. He had to make sure the identity and credentials of new customers were verified. Otherwise, he might sell to a government agent or snitch and end up exposed and prosecuted. He wasn't worried about the financial consequences of being caught as he had stockpiled enough wealth to live lavishly for the rest of his life. But shutting down his operation would have dire consequences for the millions of people who hated the World Council. These were the people Date wanted to support so they could live free of government intervention.

  Date thought back to the limited schooling he had as a young man. The schools were all under the rule of the central government and taught the same propaganda no matter where the school was located. One class was on the evils of capitalism. A comparison between capitalism and an economy created and controlled by the World Council was taught in detail. He remembered the teacher pointing out all the negative things associated with a company making a high-demand product in a free market. These evils included hiring temporary employees to work long hours at slave wages and continually increasing the price of the product until it was beyond the reach of the common man.

  He had no intention of following the capitalistic evils pointed out by that teacher years before. His capitalistic company wasn't going to hire workers because he feared exposure by a loose-lipped employee. And, he wasn't going to raise the price for his cloaking device based on demand. His pricing was based on how much he liked the customer. People who Date thought were respectful and friendly got the best price. Those who were egotistic and rude got the worst prices. It was a simple formula, one which fit well with his understanding of Bushido, the samurai code.

  Having production problems was an on-going thorn in his side. When he couldn't take it any longer, he sat in his museum admiring the beauty and functionality of the samurai military antiques. His problems faded away and he could daydream about becoming a samurai working for a great lord.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  I Don’t Care What You Believe

  "Yeah, who is it?"

  "Mr. Hakala, it's Murphy. I'm sorry to wake you but I think I saw Sed
gewick Slice leave the building. In fact, I'm sure it was him. He turned around at the front door and waved to me before leaving."

  It was 3 a.m. in the morning and Raul wasn't happy about being awakened from a sound sleep. It was rare for him to sleep this long and hard with a collage of dreams running one after another through his head. As much as he would like to remember the dreams, Murphy's surprise announcement took priority and quickly cleared his head.

  "Murphy, run out into the street and look for Slice. If you see him, bring him back into the building. Make up some reason for bringing him back, like he didn't sign out correctly. I'll be there in ten minutes."

  Before Murphy could ask a bunch of useless questions, Raul shut off the communication and ran to the bathroom to relieve himself and get dressed. Damn, he forgot to ask Murphy which direction Slice headed when he left the building. If he had thought quicker, he could have driven in that direction and tried to spot Slice.

  Sedgewick Slice was about a half mile from Phoenvartis when he heard someone running toward him from one direction and a hover vehicle approaching from the other direction. He had just removed his disguise and disposed of the red beard, hair, eyebrows and belly pillow. He turned his coat inside out and walked onto the sidewalk to stand in the public transportation corral. He made a point of standing under a high-intensity lamp. Any passersby would see a slightly built, elderly gentleman with short silver hair and nothing on his face other than glasses.

  As the hover vehicle passed by, the driver gave Slice a once over and then drove on to meet the man running on the sidewalk. They rendezvoused about fifty feet from Slice, spoke for a minute in the street and then drove off together heading back toward Phoenvartis. Slice was somewhat amazed that the security director and Agent Murphy could respond so fast to his surprise appearance and disappearance at the Phoenvartis office building.

  As the hover vehicle faded into the night's blackness, Slice smiled and started to walk toward his next destination. If he could be anywhere now, he wished to be inside the hover vehicle. He'd give anything to eavesdrop on the conversation going on between Raul Hakala and Murphy. If not hilarious, he was sure it would provide a few good laughs.

  "I can't believe that son of a bitch disappeared again into thin air. Where could he have gone? Murphy, are you sure you checked the side streets?"

  Murphy was absorbed with looking out the hover vehicle's windows searching for Slice. He didn't turn around to answer his boss's question. "Yeah, I looked everywhere, the best I could. Being the middle of the night didn't help any. Slow down a little so I can get a good look into these alleys."

  Raul knew the game was over. Slice was gone and slowing down to a crawl wouldn't change that fact.

  "Murphy, tell me exactly what happened tonight."

  This time he looked at his boss to answer. "There's not much to tell. I saw him leave the building and he waved to me. That was the first and only time I saw him."

  "Were you on duty all night?"

  "Yes, Mr. Hakala, I started at 6 p.m. Slice didn't come through the front entrance where I was stationed. If he got into the building during my shift, I don't know how the heck he did it."

  "Is there any possibility he entered the building before you started your shift?

  "It's possible, Mr. Hakala, but I'm sure the agent I relieved at 6 p.m. would have told me and contacted you. After his first visit, everyone was given specific instructions on what to do if this Slice guy showed up again."

  As Raul guided the hovercraft toward Phoenvartis he was formulating a theory about Slice's latest visit. He didn't have any doubt that Slice had been in the building for at least a couple of hours during the evening. Somehow, he got by the entrance guards unnoticed. He could have left the building without being seen but decided to make sure everyone knew he had been there by waving to Murphy. But, why did he want his visit made public? Better yet, what was he doing inside the building?

  "Murphy, has there been anyone working in the building tonight?"

  "Ah, let me think. A couple of people from the training department came in for an hour but they left around 10 p.m. Other than those people, I can't remember any other people working tonight. Oh, wait a minute, the agent I relieved told me that Mr. Sweats and Claude Ekstrom were working in the lab. As far as I know, they are still in the building."

  A thin smile spread across Raul's face. He felt like he had won the world government lottery drawing. How interesting that Rollie and Claude happened to be working in a lab with disabled surveillance systems when Slice showed up. Sedgewick Slice, the sneaky son of a bitch from the World Council who had been digging for something at Phoenvartis. The same Sedgewick Slice who enjoys messing with people's minds and pretends to have special, mystical powers. No, it wasn't a coincidence that Slice picked this night to make his second and probably last appearance at Phoenvartis. Raul was betting Rollie and Claude had something to do with getting Slice into the corporate offices for a late-night meeting. There was only one way to determine if his guess was right or wrong.

  "Murphy, I'm heading upstairs to talk with Rollie and Claude. Don't bother me unless Slice shows up again and wants to ask for forgiveness." Murphy nodded even though he had no idea what Raul's comment meant. Was it a sarcastic remark or was there really a reason why Slice would ask for forgiveness? Then again, what did he do to be forgiven for? His brain was too overtaxed by the evening's events to figure out his boss's remark.

  "Well, well, well, if it isn't the Bobbsey twins. Hard at work boys?" Raul didn't wait for either Rollie or Claude to answer. "You have no idea how good it does my soul to see you two working so hard to fix the ReLife systems. By the way, guys, did Mr. Slice have anything interesting to say?"

  Rollie could feel Claude tense up at the mention of Slice. Thankfully, he kept quiet waiting for Rollie to respond. After Slice's visit, the last thing he needed was a grilling from Raul but there wasn't anything he could do about it. He knew from being around Raul for several years, the best thing to do was answer his questions directly and factually.

  "Yeah, Slice dropped by for a while to find out the status of the ReLife project. To be truthful, Raul, he wasn't very happy with the report we gave him. He gave Claude and me two more weeks to reach a final determination on ReLife. If we can't make it work or give up, he's going to give the project to someone else."

  Raul didn't know whether to believe Rollie or not. He wasn't expecting Rollie to be so forthcoming. The last thing he expected to hear was Slice's criticism of the ReLife project status and the two stumblebums in charge of it. He decided to push a little farther to test Rollie's honesty.

  "Rollie, how the hell did you get Slice past the security checkpoint at the front entrance and then up here?"

  Rollie looked at Raul closely waiting to see if his question was real or a joke of some kind. He could tell by the look on his face he wanted an honest answer. He wasn't screwing around or being sarcastic.

  "Raul, we didn't have anything to do with Slice coming up here this evening. Actually, he was so damn quiet coming into the lab he scared the living crap out of us."

  "Aw, come on Rollie. You are the only two in the entire building working on the most important project the company has now. The monitoring systems are down in the lab thanks to you two. Somehow, Slice walks right by my agent downstairs and then makes a beeline directly to you. Do you expect me to believe he dropped by to say hello to you two? And, it was only a coincidence that you two were here? That's bullshit, Rollie, and you know it. You guys knew Slice was coming tonight and didn't bother to tell anyone else, like me or your boss, Klaus."

  "Raul, I'm not in the mood for this. I don't care what you believe. Claude and I had no idea Slice was coming up here. Do you think we wanted him here? What could he possibly contribute to help us with the ReLife project? As I told you, he gave us two more weeks to get the damn thing done. If not, well, Claude and I are done with ReLife. Now unless you have something important to say or can help us in some way, please
leave. We've got a ton of work to complete.

  The fire in Rollie's eyes and his flushed cheeks told Raul there was a good chance he was telling the truth. Raul was starting to believe that Rollie and Claude were surprised by Slice's appearance just like Murphy in the entrance lobby. He knew there had to be more to the Slice visit than giving Rollie and Claude a two-week ultimatum. During the few hours he spent with Slice, the man never stopped talking. With the two main scientists on the ReLife project, Slice had to have said more than what Rollie claimed. These two were holding back something from their conversation with Slice but now wasn't the best time to flush it out of Rollie. He would have to wait until Rollie was more amenable to his prying.

  It made perfect sense that Slice wanted to talk face-to-face with the ReLife lead scientists. But what was all the cloak and dagger stuff about? Why did the guy show up after normal business hours and move around the building like a Ninja warrior? His stealth tricks were not only weird but very unprofessional. And whoever heard of a dignitary visiting an important ally and snubbing its leader? Klaus was going to be furious that Slice was in Zurich for a couple of days and couldn't find time to at least drop by and say hello. It was obvious he didn't want Klaus's input on the ReLife project. But being so discourteous and disrespectful toward Klaus was over the top. What kind of message did that send to the Phoenvartis employees, vendors and community leaders?

  Slice's lack of professional decorum was the farthest thing from Rollie's mind. If given a choice, Rollie would have jumped at a chance to be snubbed by Slice. His visit added to their workload and put them under an extreme amount of stress by assigning a due date for the project. Even though Slice recommended a couple of solutions to correct the cloning failures, these were unproven theories which would take days or longer to examine. And on top of everything else, Slice dropped a couple of bombshell remarks about Sophia, his brother M.C. and grandmother LeeLee.