by Shawn Keys
Jack smirked. “Then his mother will be one more hysterical conspiracy nut accusing the big, bad government for her son’s death. We can handle that.”
Nodding in agreement, Jill added, “Even if the odds fail us and the autopsy hints at unnatural death, then we drag out those stats about CRAGG having a .0001% fatality rate, admit he required a mandatory sterilization for a genetic defect, and Hutchings got unlucky. Case closed.”
“Alright. Though if he gives us any trouble, he’s going to get a bullet instead. We’ll sort out the rest later. Hardest part will be dealing with these hostages and what they saw.”
“Which might take a few bullets as well. We’ll see. We’ve made such a big deal about the unstable nature of Debra Simmons and her underworld friends. Maybe they’ll show up for another round of mayhem.”
Jill nodded. “No matter what, he’s not walking away from this. And once he isn’t around to argue the point, we can handle the fall-out.”
Chapter 15
Kyle glanced around the room. “Everyone ready for this?”
Megan gave him an encouraging smile. “Yes.”
Yvette answered on her heels. “Oui.”
Dazz bobbed her head. “Give them hell, Kyle.”
Laura flashed a devilish grin. “This is going to be fun.”
Danielle sighed. “Not sure about that, but I’m ready.”
They all looked over to the last one in the room.
Longland College’s nurse Lily Perkins was following them as they spoke. She looked like she was trying to understand how the faces she had seen around the community college had managed to gather in this room at the same time to do something so incredibly unstable. “I can’t believe I’m even here.”
Kyle reassured her yet again. “Once this gets going, you’ll see. There’s about to be serious trouble, and people might get hurt.”
“And we’re not calling the police because…”
“Because corrupt FDPC agents are involved, and they probably own the local police. Or the police would arrest us, and the FDPC will waltz into our cells later and ‘suicide’ us.”
Lily shifted her gaze to the others, as if waiting for one of them to slip up and start laughing or call Kyle crazy for all that sort of talk. None of them did. She gave an exasperated sigh. “This is seriously insane! I’m not a trauma nurse!” She focused on Kyle specifically. “And when you said you were going to owe me a third favor, I didn’t expect anything like this! I thought I was going to be sewing up another cut!”
Kyle encouraged her, “None of us are secret agents or spies or anything. But you saw everything we showed you. You know we have to do something.”
Lily exhaled slowly, doing her best to calm herself. “Yes. I mean, if Megan and Yvette are convinced, then I guess I have to be as well.”
Kyle said, “No, you don’t. You need to be convinced for your own reasons. That’s why I asked you over here. I’m going to send this text right in front of you. Whatever they have to say, you’re all going to see it. If what happens then doesn’t convince you, then walk out the door and forget we exist. If it does… well, we’ll get to work. Until you take out that implant in your arm, you can always turn back.”
“When does that have to happen?”
“For the three of you that still have it, we’ll pull them just before we go to find my parents. That way, they have the smallest time possible to respond to you dropping out of the system and realize what that means. We can’t do it any later, or they might see a set of implants approaching their location. It’s at the very edge of town on a small acreage. They’ll be watching the perimeter for any implant getting too close.”
Lily took a deep breath. “Alright. Do what you need to do.”
Smiling at her for holding on this long, Kyle powered on the burner phone the agents had contacted. Confirming there were no new messages, he typed:
Kyle || If you won’t admit who you are, then there’s no reason to mess around ignoring what you’ve done. You’ve been threatening my family and friends for the last two days. You killed Dazz’s parents. Why would I believe a thing you say?
He didn’t know if starting out with an argument was the right way to go, but he needed to vent a little. These people had been hunting him, and this was the first time he was able to confront them without ending up dead.
His text had gone out at precisely 11:15. It wasn’t even 11:20 before a response came:
Mom “Unknown Agent” || In the end, it doesn’t matter what you believe. You simply have no choice. The lives of your family and friends are in your hands. Don’t be selfish. You never cared about children before this. Embrace that. The process doesn’t even hurt. One small injection, and you can take your family home.
Kyle scrubbed at his face. Damned, they are making it tempting. He figured he had the stones to shoot a person, especially for threatening his Mom. But he wasn’t eager to do it. They were laying out a way to get through this without hurting anyone. Better, to do it without risking all the women around him.
Dazz whispered to him as if they were on an open line, “They killed my parents just for getting in the way, Kyle. These swine can’t be trusted. What? Are they going to have you sign an NDA? Promise not to go to the news and tell everyone you were forcefully sterilized? Do they really think I’m going to let this go? I hated my parents, but I’m not letting them get away with gunning them down!”
Her fervent words snapped him out of his uncertainty. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Sorry, Dazz. I was being selfish. I forgot that I’m not the only one who’s been hurt.” He looked at Laura and Danielle. “They might have hurt you two a lot worse if you hadn’t gotten away. You were protecting me, and you nearly paid for it.” He squeezed Dazz’s shoulder. “Even if they mean every word they say, they don’t deserve to get out of this without a fight.”
He raised his phone:
Kyle || What do you want me to do?
Mom “Unknown Agent” || No reason to overcomplicate this. Go to your parents’ place. Wait for us there. That’s all the privacy we’ll need. Once the treatment is done, we’ll bring your parents home.
Kyle || What about my friends here? You’ve ruined Dazz’s life.
Mom “Unknown Agent” || Your friends made their own choices to aid you. They will have to live with those choices. To anyone who matters, you are criminals. But for what it is worth, we won’t pursue them. All of you were foolish to take out your implants. We will put yours in again, Kyle. As for them – they will need to live with what they have done.
Kyle cursed under his breath. “They don’t think I’m going to share this with you all. Look at this garbage. They actually think I’m going to jump on this and leave you all to burn!”
Danielle stroked his arm fondly. “To be fair, some people might.”
“Yeah, well, they’re going to learn the hard way that I’m not who they think I am.” He tapped out a response in anger, stopping often to correct the errors his fury caused him to make:
Kyle || Then I don’t have a choice. I need to slip away. Give me two hours. I’ll be there.
Even typing it felt treacherous.
The response came fast:
Mom “Unknown Agent” || Do not keep us waiting. You can imagine the penalty for trying our patience.
Kyle || No need for threats. I’ll be there.
Kyle dropped the phone and powered it off. “We have a brand new clock.” He looked at Lily. “And there you have it.”
Lily exhaled in amazement. “And you’re saying those are two FDPC agents? They sound like evil movie villains!”
Megan said, “We believe they are being backed by a much larger organization. This isn’t just them. They think they are protected. Invulnerable.”
Yvette added quietly, “And they are believers. They think they are superior to all of us. That makes them very dangerous.”
Lily hung her head, “Honestly shaken. This is so crazy. This has to be a terrible, terri
ble joke.”
Yvette sympathized. “I thought so, at first.”
Laura asked, “Why didn’t you ask for more time? You know, hit them under the cover of darkness?”
Kyle chuckled. “You’re the hunter, Laura. Maybe you could do all that ‘night vision’ and ‘navigating by the moon’ stuff, but we can’t. This might be harder, but at least we can see where we’re going. There were only two agents up on that board at their office. This is a small town. There can’t be that many of them.”
Danielle questioned hopefully, “Perhaps only the two we saw?”
Megan said, “There needs to be more. They kept saying that they would meet you at the house. To not keep them waiting. Both of them are going to show up there. They’ll want to control you, which means two-against-one. But if your parents aren’t there, then they’ll need others to be guarding them.”
Kyle followed her logic. “Right. We wait until they head for my house, then we get in there and nab my parents, Nathan and Riley. We do what we need to do, then get the hell out of there.”
Dazz gave him a flinty stare. “No.”
“What do you mean?”
Dazz smashed one of her tiny fists against her other palm. “They. Killed. My. Parents. Kyle.”
Slowly, he started to nod. “So… we send my parents out to the cars where we can keep them safe. Then we wait for them to come back to the house, ambush them, and make them pay for what they did.”
Dazz bared her teeth. “Now you’re catching on.”
Kyle took a steadying breath. “Alright. First, now’s the time, Ladies. The implants need to come out, and fast. Megan?”
“You know I’m coming with you.”
“Yvette?”
“I am committed. These horrible people need to be dealt with.”
Those two had not really been in question. Kyle looked to Lily. “Well? Convinced?”
The nurse shivered. “I can’t believe this is real. I admit I’m afraid to see how deep this rabbit hole goes. But if you are intent on doing this, then I’m coming. I know you want revenge, but if I can save a life, I will.”
Kyle nodded. “I understand. Really, I do.” He took another breath. “Let’s get on with it. Time to take the fight to them.”
* * *
Claire sat at her desk, staring at the phone.
Dial the number, coward.
Much to her disappointment, it didn’t dial itself and take the matter out of her hands.
Nothing about this call is going to get any easier. Get it over with, coward.
Stubbornly, the phone remained unhelpful.
The door opened, and Stan leaned in. “Late lunch?”
Claire scowled. I haven’t really earned it yet. “Go ahead without me. I need to take care of a thing first. Might take a while.”
“A thing, huh?” Stan shrugged. “Sure. Do what you gotta do. I’ll be at Springers if you change your mind.” He pulled back, letting the door shut on itself and vanished.
Claire returned to glaring at the phone. The agents weren’t in the office, which meant she was alone. In fact, the agents hadn’t been in the office all day. Or yesterday. She wasn’t their keeper or anything, but the files from two days were building up. All Persterim positive, so there was no rush. But it was a remarkable break in protocols that the agents claimed to hold dear.
Stop complaining. This is the chance to make your call without them walking in!
She went back to staring at the phone.
Do it. Do it do it do it do it…
Her hand grabbed the handset off the cradle and brought it to her ear. With rapid-fire button pushes, before she could change her mind, she dialed the number she had looked up earlier.
The ring on the other end sounded twice, then the line connected. “Special Agent Sayers.”
“Umm, oh, hello, wow, you picked up… great.”
“I beg your pardon?” Sayers sounded a little annoyed.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. This has been a long day. My name is Claire Erinson. I’m –”
“– our geneticist from Lionsgate. Of course, I remember you, Doctor. We met at the Division charity ball in Seattle last year, if you recall. Are you going to attend again this October?”
“Ahh, most likely, yes. But that really isn’t the reason I’m calling.”
Sayers had lost any sign of irritation. “I wouldn’t have expected it would be. Just making conversation. I admit I am surprised to hear from you, Doctor. Normal protocol is for the agents to make contact up the chain.”
“It’s them I’m calling about, Ma’am.”
“Ahh.” Sayers let out a troubled sigh. “That’s unfortunate.”
It wasn’t the reaction Claire had been expected. She’d been thinking a stone-wall tactic most likely. Maybe denial or disbelief. “You expected a call?”
Sayers said, “Umm, not really expected. This sort of thing happens after serious incidents. But I’m afraid I’m going to have to transfer you to someone else.”
Claire wondered, “Oh, why?”
“As the Hutchings case continues to drag on following the shooting incident at the Herald farm, I was asked to pass their file over to the Office of Professional Conduct.”
“Is that normal?”
“Normal is for agents to be given 48 hours off after a shooting. We ensure counsellors meet with them to deal with possible trauma. But personnel shortages are restricting us from sending additional agents down to handle the Hutchings case. Once they resolve that, we’ll delay any need for further file closures for a couple days, except in the unlikely event or another negative Persterim file. Until then, the OPC tracks their actions to ensure they are not acting erratically. They are required to report every two hours and to confirm any major actions they intend taking.”
“Why not do that with you?”
Sayers issued a soft laugh. “That’s the subject of a lot of griping at the water cooler, Doctor. Think about police Internal Affairs and how often active-duty police complain about them. Most of it is just talk. The official line is that I might be biased. They’re good agents, so I might be too forgiving. If they were poor agents or I didn’t like them, then I might be hard on them. You get the idea.”
Claire seized on that. Could that be the reason for all this? No conspiracy at all, but rather a psychological break brought on by PTSD or stress? “The OPC will be fair and equitable. Yes, I do understand. I really should talk to them, then.”
Sayers sighed again. “Nothing too serious I hope?”
“I… I don’t know. But I needed to talk to someone and let them know what is going on.”
“Hold on, I’ll transfer you. You’ll be talking to Investigative Agent Andrew Lark.” The line went mute, then shifted into another series of warbling rings.
This time, it took three rings before the line picked up. “IA Lark.”
A little more composed now, Claire said, “Good afternoon. This is Claire Erinson from the Lionsgate FDPC facility. I’ve had a few troubling reports filter into the office regarding the conduct of Agents Lawson and Niles. The FDPC are always the recipients of antagonistic calls and mail from time to time, but this has reached a level that I felt it worth reporting upstream. I called Division, but they told me that the OPC was supervising the two agents already.”
Lark listened patiently, then said, “That is true. As Special Agent… Sayers was it?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Well, as she likely told you, following a lethal incident, if circumstances force an agent to remain active, we watch them for signs of stress. What sort of activity have you heard reported?”
Claire summarized the situation without the use of Kyle Hutchings’s name, making it sound instead like various reports she had pieced together. “Rough handling of two female witnesses. Potential involvement in the death of two other witnesses. Physical injury of a fertile male. And possibly the threatening of innocent civilians with bodily harm. I fear they might be growing a little unstable.” Sh
e didn’t delve into the crazy idea of hidden eugenicists quite yet.
Lark made occasional noises as she spoke, sounding like he was taking notes. “All very serious accusations, and precisely the sort of thing we need to check out. Would you mind if I sent a couple of my team down to discuss this with you further? Take a statement, and then check in with the two agents directly?”
Claire was a little taken aback by the suggestion. “I thought resources were tight, and that no agents could be spared?”
Lark sidestepped her concern. “If everything was normal, that is true. Sayers doesn’t have any spare agents at all. Neither do I. It’s why we’ve been watching from up here at Division. But if there are real problems, then I am going to free up some resources and get this handled. Please be available at your office for the remainder of the afternoon. Tell them what you know, then assist them in any way they ask to resolve this. If the reports on the agents prove exaggerated, then we’ll clear their name quickly. If not, then my people will take them into custody for further investigation. Understand?”
“Thank you, Investigative Agent Lark.”
“Thank you for your honesty and concern, Doctor.” The line went dead.
Claire hung up the phone, feeling a strange mix of relief and uncertainty. They cared! Someone had stepped up and was going to do something.
But… she had been a part of the FDPC for a long time. Once you were part of an organization, you got a feel for the ‘red tape’ that had to be chewed through to handle a problem.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that this had been way too easy.
Chapter 16
The whole group was huddled in the back of Lily’s minivan. Kyle’s Mom’s SUV and Megan’s coupe were parked in an abandoned factory lot a few kilometers away, close enough to be ready without being too close. Megan was at the wheel with Lily in the passenger seat. The others were huddled in the back with all the folding seats down, giving them a wide area to watch in wait.
