“Two shooters. One scientist.”
“Still count it as three targets,” Mills said Timmons, though she felt it was more to herself. They made quick work of it, advancing to to the next door. Again, Mills popped the door open and Timmons slid in the flash-bang.
They entered the smaller room to see Katie Sikora open-palming a man in a lab coat in the nose. Mills heard the crack of cartilage signaling the broken nose. The scientist fell over backwards, out of the fight.
Next, the guard, who had turned towards them, was struck in the back of the head with his own club. Sikora had relieved the guard of his Glock 17, putting one round in his back, between the shoulder blades.
Mills was impressed. Not only had they changed Katie’s appearance, but she had skills. Aurora was not finished though. She leveled the Glock To the scientist’s forehead and looked to see who rescued. Mills saw the surprise in Sikora’s eyes as she realized who had come. She heard Katie ask, “Zoe?”
The scientist tried to speak, and Katie’s face contorted into a feral rage. Sikora said, “you would have me kill my friend.”
The Glock flashed as Katie pulled the trigger.
When Katie looked to Mills again, the rage was gone.
Replaced with relief. “How are we getting out of here?” she asked.
“Good to see you to, Katie,” said Mills, making her way to the back wall. She began placing breaching charges in a pattern to give the greatest effect.
“Katie’s in here, but she’s not driving at the moment.” Sikora tapped her head as she made the comment. Mills knew to be cautious. Her last encounter with Katarzyna had not gone well. Mills thought, and now she has a gun.
Mills realized Sikora must have sensed the tension. She had placed the Glock on the bed. Timmons watched the door. “Rescue one, whatever you have planned, you better do it,” said Vicki.
“Stand clear of the wall.” Mills had the charge trigger in her hand, looked to Sikora, and asked, “care to do the honors, Katarzyna?”
“Hell, yeah.”
FORTY-TWO
This rescue mission is why I’m not cut out for taking out the Cabal, Zoe thought. Her nascent idea of publishing James Lewis’s research seemed more attractive. But Zoe had other problems. The woman next to Katie or Katarzyna depending on which of her personalities were in control was semi-catatonic. She was fine when they exited the blasted out wall to gain access to the loading dock. Zoe, Britney, and Katarzyna had made it into the semi-trailer. Vicki locked them in and joined Kyle in the cab.
Katarzyna had sat on one pallet and had a short convulsing fit. When Zoe tried to get Katarzyna’s attention by saying her name, the woman stared straight ahead.
Zoe tried using the name Katie, but received a one-word answer. “Gone.” A tear rolled down Katarzyna’s cheek.
They had coaxed her from the semi-trailer to the motorcoach easily. Zoe took to the back, placed her on the king-sized bed, and stayed with Katarzyna. Britney told JR to drive West on I-70 and plan for a long drive. The others all took turns driving, and they made good time.
Kat, as Zoe had started to call her, was still silent. Zoe was the only one who could approach her. Dr. Stein had no clue as to the problem. Kat was responsive, just not communicating. Stein said it was a good sign, but without seeing her in person there was little he could do. They could be back at the Ranch in a day and a half.
While Zoe sat with Kat, who had taken to laying her head on Zoe’s lap much like a small child, Zoe thought about the mission. She thought most about how she felt hesitant and how that almost led to a failure.
Zoe also realized she lacked the moral flexibility for field work. The person better suited for that was currently in a checked out mental state. She stroked Kat’s hair absent-mindedly, hoping the woman would snap back.
◆◆◆
The adrenaline wore off as soon as Katarzyna entered the semi-trailer. She did not mind the doors being locked shut because Katarzyna knew she was free. Zoe explained they had a short drive. They would meet up with JR and travel by RV west.
She felt odd.
Katie was rising to the surface of their shared mind, but something was definitely wrong.
Katarzyna sat down as Katie came frantically through. “You’re safe now. It’s your turn to shine,” said Katie.
The convulsion only lasted a few seconds. It started when Katie finished talking. Katarzyna heard Zoe calling to her. When Zoe called her Katie to get her attention, Katarzyna said, “gone.” She could feel a tear on her cheek.
New feelings came to Katarzyna.
She felt different.
More complete.
She realized the rage she felt when the scientist tried to have her kill Zoe was not hers.
It was Katie’s.
That rage did not burn Katie out of existence though. It fused the separate, incomplete personalities, sharing a mind into one stable personality.
Katarzyna.
Only her name was not Katarzyna Sikora. Her mother, no, her aunt had taken her from Poland as a young girl and hid her away in America with a new name.
She had forgotten this.
The woman who raised her had been cruel and abusive over the years. This shall be corrected, she thought.
As the memories flooded back, she felt overwhelmed. She shut down to process the information overload. She realized the knowledge and skills gained from the mental conditioning remained, but the control commands were gone. Katie sacrificed herself to save them both.
She was aware she was on a comfortable bed. Her head was resting in someone’s lap and her hair was being stroked. Zoe, she thought.
Zoe had not left my side.
She is my friend. “Thank you, for getting me out of there, Zoe.” She sat up.
“Kat,” said Zoe.
She winced. “That’s not my name. It’s not Katarzyna or Katie either.”
“What is your name?”
She sighed. “I don’t know. I was abducted and brought to America when I was three. I think I’ll just pick a new one for myself.”
“I hope you pick a good one,” said Zoe.
“I like that. Call me Hope.”
“Hope Sikora?” asked Zoe.
Hope furrowed her brow. “No. Sikora means titmouse or a small, dark person. I don’t look like that anymore.”
And she did not. Project Aurora had transformed Hope. She was now a five-foot-six-inch blonde with an athletic build, light olive skin, and icy gray eyes.
She and Zoe laughed.
“No, you don’t. But, why choose that name?” Zoe shifted the topic. “Hope, what happened to Katie? You said she was gone.”
“I choose it as a reminder, to not give into my darker tendencies. And as for what happened to Katie, I was wrong,” said Hope, “when I shot the scientist. It wasn’t my anger and rage I felt. It was Katie’s. Somehow, it fused our separate identities back together. Though, my temperament and personality are closer to Katarzyna, I think. She could be fairly dark and intense.”
A thoughtful look crossed Zoe’s face. “You looked quite feral for a second when you shot him. Thanks, for not following his command.”
“I followed the command, though. He told me to kill the most dangerous threat in the room. The way he worded it made it easier to circumvent. I decided who was the threat,” said Hope. “But, how did you know he was giving me a command?”
Zoe gave a playful smile and said, “let’s just say we have similar origin stories.”
“That helps explain why you came to get me. But what do you mean?” asked Hope. This has to be good, she thought.
Hope listened as Zoe told her story.
Zoe left nothing out.
She even included the details that led to Hope’s rescue. When she finished, Hope said, “you must finish the story JR’s dad started.”
“But I have to stop the Cabal first. I can’t be out in the field and do that.”
Hope could see the conflict in Zoe’s eyes.
&n
bsp; “Then don’t be in the field. Zoe, you said it yourself, you were uncomfortable in the field. Look at this way, trying to take out the Cabal one at a time would take forever. Write the story. Get it into the public eye. That will go further to advance ending the Cabal than how you’re operating now.”
“But who else can do the field work? Who will chase after the ones that try to hide?”
“I will. I seem to have a certain moral flexibility that you don’t,” said Hope, “plus everyone else that helped you. They’re already doing it. What would be the bigger distraction? You running around drawing attention to yourself. Or, a massive scandal that discredits the people behind the Cabal.”
“I see your point,” said Zoe.
“Good. I have another question, though.” Hope smirked, “when did you and JR get together?”
A blush crept up Zoe’s cheek’s that she could not hide from Hope. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She sounded indignant.
“Please. It’s obvious.”
“It just happened. We were getting closer, but officially it would be two days ago.”
“And there’s your other reason to not be the center of this mess,” said Hope, “he was into you the second he saw you. And, it’s okay. My past with JR.” Hope left the statement unfinished because she could see Zoe understood.
FORTY-THREE
The Ranch was as Zoe remembered it. Only now, there were fewer people staffing the research facility. From the air, it appeared as it was named, a ranch. There was a working ranch at the site.
It was a cover for the underground facility cut into the terrain. A two-track road cut across the landscape to the underground entrance. The entire facility had been built at the height of the Cold War as part of an extended research site near Groom Lake, Nevada.
The government did not directly control the research any longer. That had been farmed out as part of the Minerva Program. Initially, the program funded social media startups with dark money. Those social media apps would collect and disseminate intelligence for the government.
Over the years, the Minerva Program expanded into other areas of big tech, including bio-tech. Project Aurora was an offshoot of the Program that dealt with combining DNA manipulation and mental conditioning.
The researchers of the Ranch did not know the extent of the Cabal’s reach until recently. They had all been taken and held against their will. Dr. Calvin Stein was among the first to take part in the Cabal’s research projects.
The threat of harm to loved ones was a powerful motivator. It took the courage of an unwilling test subject to spark the researchers to action against their captors.
Now, the so-called prodigal daughter had returned. With her, another who had been abducted and changed against her will. Only the new arrival had undergone the transformation under the watch of researchers that belonged to the CIA.
Zoe Mills led to team to rescue Katie Sikora from the CIA’s secret research facility in Indianapolis, Indiana. The team then drove across country in an RV to avoid detection.
The Tiffin motorcoach was large and the Jeep Gladiator JR Lewis pulled behind it increased the overall the length. Fortunately, the underground garage had held several dozen large vehicles. Those were long gone. The United States government abandoned the facility in the waning years of the Cold War.
It was obsolete as a military research location.
The facility’s useful life would end soon. It would be destroyed as the last of those held captive there by the Cabal made for freedom with new identities. This had been a process that was a year in the making, thought Zoe. They had hoped to maintain their secret longer, but the revelation of the CIA as a player changed their timeline sufficiently.
◆◆◆
“I should have recognized the cognitive reset when I saw it,” said Zoe.
She noticed the thoughtful look Dr. Stien had before he spoke. “Think about how many memories Katie, I mean Hope, had suppressed over the years. You had the equivalent of a few weeks. Hope had years with of memories she had hidden away from herself. Not to mention the merging of two personalities.”
Zoe pressed her next question. “And from what Charlie can tell, her training is as extensive as mine?”
“Yes. Hope is probably more suited for fieldwork than you. Her merged personality provides stability that didn’t exist before. Her moral flexibility makes it easier for her. Physically, the two of you are equals.”
She and Stein were discussing this between them. Zoe had a decision to make that would change how everyone in their group operated. She was leaning towards writing the story James Lewis presented to her when she was still Daphne.
Actually, she would add to Lewis’s story.
A call from the grave so-to-speak, as James was dead and Daphne essentially was too. Once she released the story, under a false name of course, she would take on a new role. She would pull back from fieldwork.
Hope would take on that role. If Stein agreed, she was stable enough.
“The way we’re operating isn’t working, Cal. We need to change.”
“But how? None of us are really cut out for all this cloak and dagger stuff.”
“We need a front operation. Something that will allow us to hide in plain sight. And spread out as individual operators,” said Zoe.
Stein took a moment before answering. He removed his glasses and cleaned them. Zoe knew this was for something to do while he thought. “We thought that would invite retaliation quicker. What’s changed your opinion?” he asked.
“Hope. What happened to her. Why it happened. Talking to her about it. Cal, I’m perhaps the only person who can fathom what she’s been through. Also, seeing the lengths that the Cabal goes to hide in plain sight.”
A resigned look crossed Stein’s face. “What kind of front operation do you recommend?”
“A consulting firm,” said Zoe. “That way we’re able to access the right business sectors.”
“And what type of consulting would this firm do?”
“Public relations. Then expand into other areas like internet security and employee relations. Most of the operation would be legitimate.”
“What do you mean by legitimate?”
“Most of the people on the payroll would not know what the true purpose of the company is.” Zoe could tell Stein was almost convinced. “Look at it this way. We could get the intelligence information for our targets because they would provide it willingly. No need to hack and skulk around. Well, less of a need.”
“That would go over well with Charlie. No need to hack,” said Stein.
“Where is Charlie anyway? He went silent during the mission and I’ve not seen him since I’ve been back.”
“Charlie understood what you coming back means better than I do. He had completed with his mental conditioning in secret. He also figured out how to delay its activation until the physical transformation was complete. That’s where he is now,” said Stein. He looked worried as he continued, “I fear we have little time left here.”
“All the reason to move the operation. Would Hope be good to work with us?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. There will still be field work that will need to be completed. Her rescue showed me I don’t have what is needed. Hope does. Cal, this is the best path. As far-reaching as this Cabal is, we need to be more proactive.”
“What’s your suggestion for our guest?”
Zoe smiled. “I have an idea.”
FORTY-FOUR
Robert Fritz woke up not knowing where he was. He tried to move, but could not. Fritz knew he was restrained to a chair. He could feel the hood over his head.
The last thing Fritz remembered was leaving his office. Fritz recalled a Ford Transit van, but nothing else. Fritz did not know what had happened.
There was someone else in the room. Fritz could sense them.
“Hello, Robert. It’s been a long time since we’ve talked face to face.” Fritz knew that voice. I
t was Monitor. “Don’t bother trying to talk, you’ve been sedated. It’s interesting. You disappear off the face of the earth for almost four days and are found in a hotel room in Las Vegas. I wonder what secrets you spilled.”
The hood came off his head, and Fritz was blinded by a spotlight. A standard interrogation tactic, he thought. He would have to prove his loyalty. “How long?” he asked. Fritz’s voice sounded as scratchy as it sounded.
“Four days. But, you know I don’t enjoy repeating myself.”
Fritz knew this. Monitor was exacting in his expectations. “Who held you?”
“I don’t know.” Fritz felt his face twitch. He should know why that happened. “I can’t remember the last four days.”
The twitch again.
“What’s with the facial tick?” asked Monitor. Fritz tried to recall the past several days. He clearly remembered needing to leave the office. But why, he thought. Then he felt the buzzing in his mind.
“Did you reveal any information?”
“I don’t know.”
Again his face twitched. The buzz grew stronger as he concentrated.
For a second, Fritz thought he had been in a lab. He did not know where, but the buzz became excruciating. Fritz realized what the buzz meant. He had been subjected to the mental conditioning tactics used in the Safe Communities Initiative. “Sir, I won’t be able to tell you if I’m compromised.”
“And, why not?”
The buzz grew louder in his head, but Fritz pressed on. “When a person is conditioned in the SCI program, details that are implanted that they should not know will cause a buzzing sensation in the mind.”
“You are experiencing this now?”
“Yes.” The buzzing subsided a bit, and Fritz realized he did not experience a facial tick. “I think the facial tick is another indicator.”
Fritz saw the quizzical look Monitor had on his face. “For what?”
Project Aurora (Hope Novak Thrillers) Page 13
