Eager to wear something other than a hospital gown, Zoe complied. Hoping to find a closet full of choices, Zoe was disappointed immediately. Only two outfits were in the closet. A white pantsuit with black heels and some workout gear comprised black yoga pants and a low-cut sports top with a pair of cross-trainers.
When considering the pantsuit, Zoe had the buzz in her head, but looking at the workout gear made her feel right. Still, she had an idea. Zoe put on the workout gear, then slipped on the heels and the jacket from the pantsuit, rolling the sleeves to just below her elbows.
Zoe had not looked in a mirror since before arriving. She was satisfied. Except for her hair, and she needed to apply some makeup to finish the look. Initially, Zoe intended for a minimal look and to tidy up her hair. But the buzz was back. She tried to ignore it, but the more Zoe tried, the louder it seemed to be.
Suddenly, it was like her hands had developed their own ideas. When she was finished, the warm feeling took over again. Zoe realizing she liked it when that happened and would work to keep that. Looking back from the full-length mirror was a young woman who looked more like a fashion model than Zoe felt like. The makeup complemented her olive skin tone and vivid auburn hair that flowed around her face and halfway down her back. Liking what she saw, Zoe smiled, though she also was confused. Zoe felt like she was looking at herself for the first time. The buzz in her mind was back as her thoughts drifted to a petite older woman with brunette hair.
Looking back at the mirror, Zoe considered herself again. She realized the voice that told her what to do was probably listening, “some additional wardrobe options would be nice,” she said, seemingly to herself.
In the control room, it impressed the behavioral scientists. Zoe found a third choice on how to dress that they had not considered. Her independent selection ability also proved their theory of needing a platform to anchor the new personality to. After months, Zoe Mills was almost ready for an assignment. The researchers wanted to run the final testing phases to ensure the Cabal’s newest sleeper asset was prepared for her mission.
SEVEN
From his desk at the Ranch, the team leader, Dr. Black, explained the complete personality overwrite of the Cabal’s newest sleeper agent program’s finer points to several people via video conference. None were genuinely interested. They only wanted to know that it worked.
“As far as we can tell, yes. We have just put the first agent into a real-world assignment.”
From a half darkened image, “and the DNA modifications are stable? You’ve said the other volunteers didn’t survive.”
Dr. Black thought, why must they all be so cliched? He knew each person from the sound of their voices. They were all key people in their respective industries and seen often on the news. Answering, he said, “That has never been in question. During the initial mental conditioning, we had some unexpected issues. We theorize it is because she was not a willing participant. The plan is to leave Mills in place for a time to see if she can get the information without having to resort to previous tactics.”
“Why waste an operative that can be moved to the next assignment? And why bother going with a ‘soft touch?’”
Black knew that was one of the cabal members from the financial sector. They wanted results for their investments. Harsh measures were always the best to that crowd, thought Black. We’re here because those tactics got us noticed.
“From what we can tell from the surveillance, JR Lewis knows nothing about what his father was working on. If that’s the case, there’s no sense in making him aware. We know where the flash drive is. But someone needs to talk to him. If he knows nothing, Mills can just leave him be. No sense making something out of nothing.” Black appreciated the members of the social media sector. They wanted to operate under the radar. Like they made him. They forced him into running experiments that would lead to long prison terms if it was not for the number of politicians the Cabal had in their pockets.
The overall plan called for Zoe Mills to be away from the Ranch. It all hinged on Mills.
◆◆◆
Once the video conference was ended, Robert Fritz turned to the three he instructed to stay out of the camera view. “Can you replicate this?”
The first always ready with an answer, “absolutely. We can have all the research materials in no time. Black won’t know we have hacked them.”
“Good. I’d like to move some research to other facilities to begin practical applications.”
“We should be able to be up and running within days,” said the second. This was encouraging, thought Fritz.
“For now, determine where the best locations would be. Try to stay near our prison operations, but do not but this near the SCI facilities. The link between the two should not be obvious or easily found,” said Fritz.
The practical applications Fritz had in mind would provide new victims to the prostitution slave trade, raking in millions of dollars. Fritz liked the idea of sending sex offenders to be sex slaves. It was poetic justice, in his opinion.
Fritz knew his standing in the Cabal was currently tenuous. His moves to tank James Lewis’s story had been successful, but Lewis kept copies of his research. Those notes were still dangerous. Fritz had taken multiple steps to hide the Cabal holdings. Shell companies within shell companies. Fritz thought it all as the ultimate shell game.
EIGHT
The members of the Ranch adored Zoe Mills for her bravery. Much of what they did to create her was experimental, and she willingly did it—all to get out and expose the Cabal. She had told them of the research James Lewis had done into the Safe Communities Initiative. When shown what the Cabal did to Lewis, Zoe Mills cried. She then became more driven.
Wanting to help Mills achieve her goals, the Ranch staff revised the treatment regimen based on the data gathered from Zoe’s initial transformation. From nanorobotics and cybersecurity, Charles Smith and Beth Hansen from genetics devised a new and safer method to perform a physical conversion. Using nanobots to perform physical transformations, they could do the gene splicing and DNA replacement over a more extended period while a person was active in the field. An additional change included the ability to conduct mental conditioning simultaneously with physical transformation.
While Zoe’s training was being completed, Stein and the others were planning to infiltrate various known entities within the Cabal. This would be accomplished by having additional prison inmates have brought to the Ranch to undergo similar treatments like Mills had. The most significant difference was instead of prisoners who were rapists and child molesters. This time, the Ranch staff looked at those who had committed white-collar crimes or other similar offenses.
Those being brought to the Ranch as part of this new contingent of sleeper agents would be given the revised transformation process. It would provide them identities that could place them in known entities within the Cabal. Their functions would be to gather and plant information. Ensuring incriminating evidence would be in place for law enforcement to find.
Stein specifically wanted to plant someone in Robert Fritz’s office. That man had been responsible for much of the Cabal’s illicit activities. Fritz also had a weakness for beautiful women. Mills had initially volunteered. However, Stein pointed out Fritz would know who Mills was. Mills then suggested using a teacher who had been convicted of having improper relations with her with a student. To Zoe, this was poetic justice for the file created on her.
Mills willingly had portions of her memory suppressed to assist in operational security. Any time that was not spent in a lab while at the Ranch would feel like a lost time until they gave the command to reactivate those memories. Stein had explained to Zoe that this could be dangerous to her mental health. However, the entire plan hinged on the Cabal being distracted by the actions Mills was taking.
NINE
Meanwhile, retirement came crashing down when James Lewis felt the effects of what the Cabal had done to him. Deciding to drive home to see his regular
doctor, Lewis took his time. He traveled to the West Coast from Bloomington, Indiana. This was in four months. Lewis plotted a more direct route home, knowing time was essential. It still took him a week. During his drive back to Indiana, he always checked his email twice a day, once in the morning and again in the evening.
Two days out from home, while doing his evening check, before shutting down the computer, Lewis stepped away for a moment. Upon his return, a message was waiting for him. It labeled the sender unknown. He thought to delete it without opening the message, but the subject line caught his attention. It was for a movie Daphne Meyers liked. She made Lewis watch several times. Opening the email, Lewis found a brief note thanking him for his purchase with a receipt as an attachment.
Mr. Lewis,
Please see the attached receipt for ‘Ocean’s Eleven.’ I hope you enjoyed the movie as much as I have.
Zoe Mills
Customer Service
The attachment’s size drew his attention. It was over one hundred megabytes, and it was a zipped file. Lewis downloaded the file to his flash drive but did not open it. Instead, he placed it in the strongbox he installed.
Lewis did not tell JR he was headed home. He would worry, Lewis thought. He scheduled an appointment to see his doctor, though. Lewis became truly worried the day before he got home. He had coughed up blood.
The cancer was aggressive. It started in his stomach, metastasizing to his lungs and intestines within three months. Lewis knew he was in trouble when the oncologist started recommending experimental treatments. Weighing his options, Lewis forwent treatments. He did not want to waste his retirement money on a slim chance of survival when he could help JR start off life in a better financial position.
Without treatment, the doctor gave Lewis five months. He lasted three. It devastated JR. He lost both his parents to cancer in less than six years. He was happy to have the house and the nest egg, but he rather would have his parents.
The last thing James Lewis did was whisper into JR’s ear, telling him of what he suspected was in his strongbox. And because Lewis had become overly suspicious since his retirement, he placed a blank flash drive and a note in the wall safe when he arrived home.
◆◆◆
JR moped for several months after his father passed. Going to work and coming home. Nothing else. His work in the regional bank’s IT security department was slipping, causing JR’s manager to suggest he take some time off. So JR did. Needing something to do, JR cleared out his father’s office over the garage. It was really a full apartment, so JR figured why not rent it out? Not that he needed the money. He just thought a graduate student from the university might like the reasonable rent he intended to charge.
First, though, JR needed to either move the small wall safe or get it opened before posting the ad. Not being in a hurry to rent out the garage apartment, JR could hold off renting until the end of the spring semester, maybe even until the next fall term.
Taking some time off work helped some, JR thought. Cleaning and preparing the garage apartment as a rental kept his mind occupied. JR had returned to work at the bank in much better spirits. He still held off on listing the apartment, though. He wanted the safe moved, or at the very least ensure it was empty before someone moved in. JR knew his father had been cautious with his story research, knowing there may still be secrets hidden in the wall safe.
Before calling a locksmith, JR looked at the safe. It was relatively small, perhaps twelve inches wide by ten inches tall. Probably about that deep, too, JR thought. It had a ten-digit keypad that had worn numbers on it. JR’s thought went to his father and realized this should be reasonably easy. The zero and the enter keys had the most wear, meaning they were the most used. Also, a date is probably the combination. He first tried his parent’s anniversary to no avail. JR then tried 050397, his own birthday. The safe gave him the green light, signaling he had entered the correct combination.
JR found one folded piece of paper and a single USB flash drive. Taking the paper, which he noticed was addressed to him, JR read his father’s instructions. But from his father’s dying words, JR knew this was a fake.
JR,
This contains the research from the last story I was working on. They never published it, probably won’t ever. Any physical notes I had were scanned and saved here. I burned the paper copies. This is the most dangerous story I ever worked on. Daphne disappeared immediately after she told me it wouldn’t run. The police never looked for her, either. She just dropped off the face of the planet. I didn’t push too hard. I was afraid of the players involved. The drive is encrypted. Tell no one you have it and do not access it. Keep it safe. It might be leverage.
Dad
TEN
Zoe was not sure how long she had been in the hospital. The staff had called it that, at least. Now, they told her it was a rehabilitation facility. Of course, Zoe saw a different team of caregivers, but she felt like something was off with the entire situation. She felt the need to attempt mentally mapping where they would take her for treatments, but realized that it made almost no point without knowing the outside world.
It felt wrong, but Zoe suspected everything around her. What she did not know was this was also part of the conditioning the behaviorists subjected her to. She was to be a new type of sleeper. One that was always working the mission and blended into the environment seamlessly. However, Zoe would only take action if it were required. Otherwise, she was just an observer.
The Cabal managed much of their surveillance through social media outlets. Publically, most of those outlets stood against such invasions. In truth, social media’s whole point is to shape American public opinions to be more pliable to what the Cabal wanted. And to monitor those deemed as risks.
That’s where Zoe Mills and the new breed of agents come in. Sometimes, a closer observation is needed. The Cabal, or parts of it, were more aggressive in dealing with those that stirred dissent. The faction that was creating these agents wanted a softer touch to avoid the mistakes of the SCI. A beautiful young woman or respectable young man would go much further to build trust and friendship with those dissenters than known former convicts.
Governmental intelligence agencies would be jealous of Zoe Mills’ abilities. Those that will come after her will possess, trained for the wet work of spies without the years spent preparing agents. The neuroscientists, behaviorists, and geneticists strived to create the perfect agent with Zoe Mills. They thought she would be better than Mossad’s best because of the mental and physical conditioning she now possessed.
Zoe was bored. She became distrustful of the people around her, and the dreams she had were bizarre. Her dreams were actually memories of her former life as Daphne Meyers. While awake, the implanted nanites would cause negative reinforcement buzzing if Zoe thought of her past life. Zoe did not want to experience the buzzing. Fortunately, Daphne’s memories in Zoe’s dreams would not cause the buzz and helped reinforce her suspicions about her predicament. She did not dare tell her counselors. Zoe suspected they knew anyway.
Though there were no clocks anywhere in the facility, she could not shake the feeling she had been losing track of time. While the mental portion of her recovery drove her mental, Zoe enjoyed the physical portions. Rock climbing and yoga were among her favorite activities. Though again, she felt like some were amiss. At times, she swore she could smell gunpowder on her clothes.
Again, Zoe did not know that her rehabilitation was actually the Cabal testing her conditioning. Ensuring the command words she had been conditioned with worked properly. Some activities were conducted openly
All Zoe wanted was to get on with her life. And thanks to JR Lewis opening a safe in Bloomington, Indiana, that would be sooner than even the Cabal planned.
PART III
ELEVEN
Deciding to leave the flash drive and letter in the safe, JR put the letter back and closed the safe, locking it. It was on an interior wall. JR immediately decided to put a false wall up. I
f this was as dangerous as dad says, it’s better left alone, he thought. His thoughts drifted to Daphne Meyers, dad’s editor. They tried dating a few months after JR’s mother passed, and JR liked Daphne. She was good for his dad. But his father was not ready for a relationship after a thirty-year marriage ended.
The Cabal knew James Lewis had given them a copy of his files. They suspected he kept the originals, but they did not know where. JR did not know that a sleeper agent from the Cabal had installed a series of fisheye cameras and microphones in the house, garage, and apartment. They had footage of him opening the safe. Seeing additional footage of JR building out a false half wall and custom desk on the wall verified the existence of another copy of Lewis’ story research.
Knowing JR intended to rent the apartment out, they decided to send Zoe Mills to get the information and find out what JR Lewis knew about his father’s last story. She, or rather Daphne Meyers, was part of the original problem. Besides, an attractive woman, JR’s age, would be the perfect operative to wheedle any information out of him. And if she did the job right, the Cabal might even let her continue the cover they were rapidly putting in place for her. It would be an excellent assignment to work on while establishing her new identity.
◆◆◆
Zoe knew something was different when she woke up to a phone ringing. There had not been phones or clocks in the last place she had been. But now, staring back at her was a digital clock showing the time as 5:01 a.m. That and the phone was still ringing. Zoe picked up the iPhone and said, “Hello, this is Zoe.”
Project Aurora (Hope Novak Thrillers) Page 3
