Mills was confused, but before she could say anything, Stein said, "release, delta mango 712, release."
The headache hit Mills suddenly as memories flooded her mind. That command released a memory block Mills herself insisted on. Time for talking was now limited. Reintegration of memories caused a cognitive reset. Put more succinctly, Zoe Mills would blackout within ten minutes of receiving the retrieval command.
"Thanks for the warning. It must be serious if I need to remember everything."
"It is. Katie suffers from a disassociative identity disorder. You may have met her other personality already."
"When she slapped me?"
"Yes. Katarzyna comes out when Katie is angry or frightened. I think Katie has been locked in her mind with her other self in control. They're giving her the same conditioning program we designed for you. Including the nanorobots," said Stein.
"Wait. I thought false files were loaded on the servers."
"We're looking into that. Fritz is being brought here. We had to burn Thompson. She'll be headed your way. You will know her new legend when you see her. Additionally, the two we had watching your shadows are on the extraction team."
"What aren't you telling me? And who will keep an eye on JR?"
"The details are in the packet Smith is sending now," said Stein. He then ended the Skype.
◆◆◆
Stein had intentionally ended the Skype. What he proposed in the extraction plan could have set Mills off. Time was of the essence. Mills would go through with it. Stein was sure of it.
TWENTY-SIX
Mills felt odd. Her headache had increased in intensity during the Skype session with Stein. She was glad to be in her apartment. Memory reintegration had been done in a limited capacity at the Ranch to familiarize Mills and the others with the effects. In those instances, a day or two had been locked away. While secreted away, that time felt lost and caused a blackout for several seconds when reactivated.
The best explanation came from Charlie Smith. He said it was like a computer that had received an update and needed to be rebooted. Zoe preferred the term cognitive reset. She made her way to the bed in the next room. Her last thought before blacking out was wondering why hadn't Stein given her a better warning.
◆◆◆
JR had just pulled his Jeep into the garage below Zoe's. He shut the engine off and hit the remote for the door as he exited the vehicle. The garage door closed as JR grabbed his messenger bag from the back seat.
He heard the thump of Zoe hitting the floor upstairs. Not hearing footsteps after concerned JR enough that he felt the need to check it out. Exiting the garage, JR climbed the stairs to the deck on the back of the building. It connected the apartment to the second story of the main house.
The interior French doors to Zoe's apartment were open. The sliding screen door was closed but allowed a breeze into the apartment. Zoe must have decided to let some fresh air in, thought JR. The late spring day had been warm. It was pleasant weather for airing out a place. As he approached the door, JR saw Zoe sprawled out on the floor. She appeared to twitch every so often but did not look to be convulsing.
Over the past month, they had become friends. JR hoped they might become more. And while they shared a great deal with each other, JR realized there was something Zoe held back. She seemed to be cautious in their budding relationship. Zoe would put off specific questions about her past. Still, JR knew she'd been in an accident and had trouble remembering anything from before it. Zoe twitching on the floor made JR think the worst.
He entered the apartment and made his way to Zoe. She had not hit her head. At least that's a positive, thought JR. In his concern, he then forgot a vital rule regarding a person knocked out or asleep. Don't touch them. As he gently shook Zoe, her eyes popped open. She tried to sit up, but JR held her down.
In her haze of regaining consciousness, Zoe pushed back at him with her left hand. Simultaneously, her right hand closed into a fist, coming around in a haymaker, landing on JR's left temple.
Hard.
JR saw stars as he fell away from Zoe, breaking his backward fall with his rear end. Zoe lunged towards JR to press home a further attack. JR managed to block her attempt to claw at his eyes. He said, "Zoe, it's me. JR."
A look of recognition crossed Zoe's face. He was relieved she stopped.
"Shit. I'm sorry," said Zoe.
"It's alright. What was that you attacked me with?"
"Krav Maga. Israeli martial art used by their special forces."
JR tried to lighten the mood. He said, "you're full of surprises."
"You have no idea." Zoe avoided looking JR in the eye. He thought she seemed cagey or evasive.
◆◆◆
Mills thought, I need to get JR to leave. It was bad enough he had found her on the floor, but she attacked him as he tried to help. She still felt awful, in more ways than one now. Mills expected to be out longer. The time on the clock told Mills she had only been unconscious for about five minutes. Probably because JR touched me while I was blacked out, she thought.
He was still asking questions. "Are you sure you're alright?" Mills had pulled away from JR. He did not try to assist her further. Instead, he made to get up from the spot where Mills had knocked him entirely to the floor.
"I may lay down for a few minutes." This was a partial lie. Zoe needed an excuse for JR to leave. The unread mission packet, along with the reintegrated memories, weighed heavily on her mind. A few minutes of deep meditation might help, too, she thought.
JR was standing now, offering a hand to Zoe. With a rueful look, he said, "I forgot, shouldn't go touching a person out cold like that. Getting knocked on my ass by my girlfriend because of that is on me."
Mills got a warm feeling deep down. It felt like happiness. He had called her 'his girlfriend.' She liked that but knew that JR would want nothing to do with her once she revealed the truth. Mills took the offered hand, allowing JR Lewis to pull her off the floor. She used her free hand to pull him into an embrace, kissing him on the cheek.
"Thank you. Tell you what, let me lay down for a few minutes. Then, I'll come over to the house, and we'll talk." Zoe lied. She planned to take those few minutes in preparation to leave. Mills needed to do one other thing before she could talk to JR. She just hoped he did not see her slip away.
JR kissed her on the forehead. "Okay," he said, disentangling from Mills.
TWENTY-SEVEN
With JR gone, Zoe could focus. First, she downloaded the packet from Charlie Smith. Once the download was completed, she disabled the Wi-Fi on her tablet. No sense in making it easy for the Cabal, she thought. It was encrypted. Given the material within, Mills was not surprised. She started the decryption process. Seeing it would take several minutes, Mills started a cup of coffee in her Keurig.
While the coffee brewed, Mills went to the closet she had stored her camera equipment cases in. These cases stored more than cameras, though. Within the false linings were additional tools Mills might need for her primary mission. Here, she was looking for her Sig Sauer P320-M18. It was like the M17 the Army recently adopted. The crucial difference was the size. The M17 was a full-size weapon, while the M18 was a compact civilian version. A better fit in a woman's smaller hands than its full-size sibling, but just as reliable.
Mills paired it with the ten-round magazine, grabbing a second for a spare. The P320 was a versatile weapon chambered in the standard NATO 9mm round. Mills also had magazines of seventeen and twenty-one rounds at her disposal. Still, she had trouble hiding the weapon in her shoulder rig. Those would be saved for another time when stealth was not required.
The Sig P238 in Zoe's purse was a good every day, concealed carry weapon. Considered a micro-compact, the P238 could conceivably be carried in a person's pants' pocket. It was chambered as a .380 caliber. The magazine for it was a six-round single-stack. The increased risk Mills knew to exist at present called for a more powerful weapon. She was sure a trip to the 'armory,' a secure
d storage unit in town put in place shortly before her arrival, would also be in order. Mills would make that decision after reading the file Smith sent.
Zoe prepared the P320 she intended to carry now with care. She had been vigilant in its upkeep. It was well oiled and ready to use. She pulled the slide back, locking it, then slipped the magazine into place and released the slide, chambering a round in the process. Next, the Sig was slotted into the holster of her shoulder rig, which she put on. The weapon hung on her left side, and a pouch for the spare magazine was on the right. Mills slipped on a loose jacket to conceal the gun and made her way back to the kitchen for her coffee. Beverage in hand, Zoe next picked up her tablet. The files now decrypted; she could determine her next course of action.
As always, Smith had been brilliant and thorough in his research. Katie Sikora had been taken to Indianapolis, a warehouse fulfillment center of all places. Zoe realized a building with close to a million square feet of space could easily hide a small facility. The average size of a home is about two-thousand square feet, twenty thousand square feet in a structure that size would be negligible, she thought.
The building schematics Smith provided showed the building section where Sikora had been holed up. It had an entryway inside the main warehouse floor and a delivery loading dock. The site was designed to be hidden in plain sight.
It looked like the people working the facility would slip in and out as warehouse workers. The way in, Zoe thought. Clever. Mills and her team would use the Cabal's tricks against them. They would hide in a delivery trailer to access the warehouse and then slip Katie Sikora out the same way.
Smith and Stein suggested using that to travel undetected to the Ranch. Mills dismissed that.
Too uncomfortable.
They could not fly.
Too conspicuous.
She would confer with Thompson when she arrived.
For now, Zoe had a stop she had to make. Then she would come back and talk to JR. It was a conversation she did not look forward to.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Katarzyna questioned the virtual reality simulations. Not vocally, of course. The people holding her refused to talk to her anymore. There was something off with what they expected of her. She also had not been sleeping well.
She had not heard or felt Katie in her head for weeks. Her captors had changed the training regime in the simulations they forced on her. It felt like instead of training her to do things; they were now trying to program her to do those things on command.
Or was it that they wanted to embed a task in her mind that would be triggered by a command? Katarzyna did not know. She knew it felt off. She did not want to do what the latest simulations were conditioning her to do. And Katarzyna could not clearly remember the simulation afterwards.
Then Katie reemerged. But Katie seemed weaker, almost ragged around the edges. Katarzyna enjoyed seeing Katie like this at first. Then she remembered. She was meant to protect Katie. But as Katarzyna flourished and grew stronger, Katie became diminished and weaker.
Her latest dream had Katarzyna sitting at a table in Mother Bear’s across from Katie. The restaurant looked to be closed, as there was no one else present. Katie was telling her they needed to leave. The people holding them were planning something bad.
Katarzyna asked how Katie knew this. Katie replied she had been aware of everything that had happened to them, including the things Katarzyna did not remember.
“How?” asked Katarzyna.
Katie smiled. It looked more like a painful grimace. “I’ve been blocking that from you.”
“What exactly have you been blocking and why?”
“The mission and targets. Also, a message. Help is on the way. A way out. To get away from these people. And I’ve been blocking it because you need protection. The training is designed to bring out your baser inclinations, Katarzyna. To make me weaker. Actually, their aim is to eradicate me, leaving only you.”
“Would that be so bad?”
Again the wane smile. “Katarzyna, we are a package deal. We’ve just never had our proper balance. Without me, you would do everything we’re being programmed to do.
“You’d do it without hesitation or remorse. Do you want that? To be a programmed assassin without a say in who you truly are? I see the plans you have, it’s still my brain we’re sharing.” Tapping her right index finger on her temple. “Those independent thoughts and ideas would cease to exist.”
“You know they test us.” Katarzyna was resigned to her and Katie being a single person with two not so independent personalities. “What happens when I don’t know their mission?”
“Don’t fret. The goon squad thinks your training is going according to their plans. I can intercede when needed. It’s best if you don’t know the details. If you were to go through with their plans, we’d both be lost.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
It annoyed Katarzyna. Actually, it made her angry. A righteous anger that called for retribution and would blaze white-hot until that occurred. Katarzyna’s selfishness had caused her failure to protect Katie. She still despised Katie, but also knew Katie was still there. Their separate identities created a whole. Katarzyna knew the anger she felt would help strengthen Katie until they could get help.
Katarzyna and Katie shared their body and mind. They each had a purpose. And Katie was right, they were out of balance. She would contemplate the dream some more. She had nothing better to do.
◆◆◆
Charlie Smith informed Dr. Stein of the success in hacking into the virtual reality mental conditioning Katie Sikora was being subjected to.
“It took some time, but I was able to connect with Katie. They were training her for an assassination mission,” said Smith.
“Who was the target?” asked Stein.
“Zoe and JR. But, Katie isn’t letting Katarzyna know. It appears Katie has been active this entire time.”
“At least subconsciously. And Charlie, make sure Zoe knows. It wouldn’t do to have her save Katie and then get shot for her trouble.”
“I also noticed Katie’s latest REM pattern resembled Zoe’s when she would communicate with Daphne. Katie’s adrenaline levels seemed to rise too.”
“Perhaps, Katie is trying to put Katarzyna back into her mind. I’ll know more when I can talk to her.”
TWENTY-NINE
I must have left my travel mug in the Jeep, thought JR. He had been waiting for Zoe for about half an hour, and had taken care of things around the house. The incident between them still fresh in his mind.
He tried to help her.
She attacked him.
Zoe had not meant to. She had blacked out. JR knew it was a reflex action, but Zoe had been so incredibly casual about knowing skills taught to Israeli special forces. And the Mossad.
JR looked up Krav Maga as soon as he sat down in the living room. After reading the principles involved, JR knew he had better never piss Zoe off. She could easily kick his ass into the next week.
Or kill him. Though, he did not think she would go that far. JR saw the look on Zoe’s face when she realized who she was clawing at.
JR had made his way back out to the garage. He wanted to wash his travel mug out before using it again. As he reached into the front seat of his Jeep, he heard the garage door opener for Zoe’s stall. He turned to look out the service door’s glass window. JR saw Zoe’s Subaru backing out to turn around. The garage door closed. He saw Zoe’s face as she pulled around. She had not seen him though. Zoe appeared to be deep in thought.
JR decided to follow her. He opened the door to the Jeep and as he slid in; he pushed the remote button for the garage door. While the door rose, JR turned the key, starting the engine. He backed out, turning around quickly, and hitting the remote button again to close the door.
Zoe had already pulled into the street, JR could see she had turned left. South.
Towards Bloomington.
Maybe she was called to work
, JR thought. But that did not ring true to JR. The look on Zoe’s face was troubled, he thought. He followed as Zoe made her way along Indiana 45 as the road wound its way into Bloomington. At the intersection Indiana 45 shared with Indiana 46, Zoe made the left onto 46, which ran South through this part of the city.
JR expected Zoe to make right onto East Third Street, Squire’s was just around the corner from Mother Bear’s. She turned right onto East Third, heading west.
Passing the pizzeria and the side street Squire’s was on, Zoe continued west past campus. East Third became West Third as they traveled. She finally signaled a right turn, and JR thought maybe she had missed her turn and was making her way back to Squire’s.
Then he realized the street Zoe had turned on.
South Waldron Street. JR made the right turn to follow. Zoe was making a left turn now, on to West Fourth. That ended at Rose Hill Cemetery, he thought.
JR’s parents were buried there. Maybe Zoe did not know this. From the corner of West Fourth and South Waldron, JR could see Zoe had stopped.
She did not turn her Subaru around. Instead, Zoe signaled, pulling to the curb at the cemetery. JR saw Zoe get out of her car.
Why would Zoe stop here of all places, thought JR. He circled the block.
Parking behind Zoe’s Subaru, JR looked across the cemetery grounds. Rose Hill was fairly large and relatively flat. There were no other people visiting the grounds and JR saw Zoe easily.
He knew exactly where she was in the cemetery. Zoe was standing at his parents’ gravesite.
JR turned off his Jeep, exited the vehicle, and walked over to Zoe. Her back was to JR, but he could see that Zoe was crying. He was still a good ten feet away when she said, “you didn’t have to drive around the block.”
Project Aurora (Hope Novak Thrillers) Page 8
