by Mike Gomes
“What the hell, Tyler!” barked Falau bouncing around in his seat.
Tyler’s eyes focused his sight on an area examining the field for any deep holes that would be too much for the BMW.
“Just taking a road that is not quite on the map.”
“Not on the map! You’re in a farmer’s field.”
Tyler cut the wheel hard to the right and the back tires slipped as they begged for some salt to dig into. The back side of the BMW fish tailed and then snapped back into alignment straightening out the car.
“You worry too much. That has always been your problem.” said Tyler biting his bottom lip and gripping the steering wheel hard with his hands. “You think I would be driving out here like this on a whim? Obviously the guy who owned the place is cool with this.”
“I am sure he is.” said Falau trying to look cool and composed as the BMW pushed its way through the loose dirt. “Would it be surprising to you if he was holding a shotgun on his front porch right now?”
Two shots rang out through the sky and the tapping of buck shots hit the car giving the sound of hail bouncing off a tin roof.
Tyler shifted his head to the side and back over his shoulder getting a good look at the man on the porch. He had on overalls with a white shirt under them. A baseball cap sat on his head and his face had not been shaved in weeks. A double barrel shotgun that looked older than the man holding it rested in his hands and flipped open at the scope. His hands were busy dropping two more shells into each barrel.
“That’s not Billy!” yelled Tyler pushing down on the gas as hard as he could.
The BMW dug in hard and picked up its pace across the field and headed for a down slope that was impossible to see the far side of.
“Have you got the wrong farm?” asked Falau as another shot rang out from behind them and the tapping of buckshot hit the car again. “You have to be shitting me. You have the wrong farm.”
“People make mistakes. It happens.” snapped Tyler looking back to his friend.
Hitting the edge of the slope the car dropped drastically causing the bottom to hit down hard in the dirt. The two men inside jerked forward only saved from hitting the dashboard by their seatbelts. A wooden split rail fence rested a few hundred yards away and Tyler aimed right for it. Pulling out his cell phone he drove and pulled up a GPS showing exactly where it was.
“No problem just a little off course.” said Tyler dropping the phone into the console between them.
“This is no problem for you?”
Tyler smashed through the fence topping 70 MPH and Falau ducked down. Firing pieces of wood came crashing through the windshield. Picking up speed Tyler got the car fully in the air off another downhill berm and skidded sideways as he approached a creek.
“Do we know where we are yet?” questioned Falau with sarcasm dripping from his voice.
“You bet. Just a hop, skip and a jump from where we need to be.” Tyler smiled as he pushed the car down the side of the creek. “Oh, there it is!”
Tyler cut the wheel hard again and crossed over the creek in a flash. He kept his speed high driving straight for a large rock face that was over 30 feet tall and surrounded by trees and bushes.
“Do we need to climb up that thing or is there an easier way?” asked Falau leaning back in the seat feeling more relaxed without the man shooting at them any longer.
“There is an easier way. It will just take a second.” replied Tyler as he pressed his foot further bringing the car up to 80 MPH and aiming straight for the rock face.
Falau’s eyes widened as they got closer and closer to the rock.
“Hey man, time to slow down. You don’t want to hit the rock.” said Falau calmly.
“Don’t worry.”
The car closed in to within two hundred yards and Tyler kept his eyes staring straight ahead.
“Okay, joke’s over. Slow it down.” said Falau with his voice holding more concern for his friend’s behavior.
“Don’t worry. It’s fine.”
At the one hundred yard mark Tyler pushed harder on the gas getting the BMW to over 100 MPH. The body of the car shook and shimmered with each bump on the rough ground but still ate up the distance between it and the rock.
“Cut the shit, Tyler! This isn’t funny! SLOW DOWN!”
“Don’t worry!” barked Tyler keeping his course true.
The distance evaporated in a flash as Tyler kept the BMW at full speed as he hit the bushes in front of the rock face. Falau pulled himself over the console and covered his head with his hands trying to protect himself in any way from the impact with the rock.
Not breaking his eyes away from directly in front of him, Tyler watched as the bushes passed in front, on top, and to the sides of him. For a split second he emerged from the bushes to see the cave like opening in the rock. The car entered into it and was plunged into total darkness. Tyler kept his foot on the accelerator maintaining his speed and whispering out loud “Faster. Faster or we will never make it.”
In an instant the car snapped. The feeling of driving up a ramp like in a parking garage overcame Falau. His head lifted up amazed that he had not had the impact from the wall. There was nothing but the glowing light of the dashboard in front of him. Outside the car was blackness like he had never seen.
As quick as the feeling of going up came so did the sensation of being weightless.
Tyler let out a scream sounding like a cowboy careering at the rodeo. Falau felt his body pulling out of the seat as the car started to move down. They were jumping over something he was sure of it but with the total darkness it was impossible to say what, and the landing was an unknown.
Falau let his body go loose knowing the impact was coming soon. He knew from his training in the military that having a rigid body was the worst thing you could do on impact. It was why they taught paratroopers to fall and roll when they hit the ground stopping them from jamming their ankles, knees and hips.
The nose of the BMW hit down first but at an angle that did not cause the car to flip over. The impact caused a series of lights to flash on outside the car quickly blinding Falau and having him cover his eyes.
The back of the car dropped to the ground with a crash and the car skidded to a stop with Falau again covering his head with both of his hands.
“Wake up honey. We are home.” said Tyler teasingly to his old friend. Tyler patted the back of Falau and started to laugh.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” asked Falau lifting his head up. “Do you have some strange death wish with cars? Couldn’t we have just got to this place without the crazy Willie Wonka boat ride?”
“Sure but what’s the fun in that?” replied Tyler opening his door and putting one foot out onto the ground. “Besides, now I get to get another new car.”
Falau rolled his eyes as his friend got out of the car. Falau raised his head to see an underground lair that looked like a training ground for the military. He reached for the door handle, pushed it and stepped out of the car. From the best that he could tell Falau felt they were in a basin in the middle of the rock formation but very far underground. He could feel a breeze indicating that there had been fresh air rolling in from the way they came but also a ventilation shaft letting a cross breeze occur and letting any harmful underground gasses out. Along the bottom of the rock walls all the way around were blue backlights that were then matched about ten feet up.
“Welcome to my playground.” said Tyler loudly having his voice echo off the stone walls and come rippling back to him. He pressed a device that looked like a car alarm and a clanking sound rang out and lights took to life around the basin. On all sides were different areas to develop tactical skills and training. The area was wide open and no less than fifty football fields wide in each direction.
Falau turned his head and could see a large hole that he and Tyler had ejected from and crashed to the basin floor.
Tyler walked around the car and placed his arm around his long time friend. “We don�
��t let many people know about this place. You’re on the inside now. Welcome to the training dome.”
Chapter 25
THERE WAS A LACK OF moisture and must in the air that Falau had fully expected to smell due to being underground. He looked to the ground and saw that the soft dirt below his feet gave way first to pea gravel ten yards away and then to a flooring that looked like pavers that people would use to make a patio. The massive cavern was now filled with light and the different areas showed themselves.
One location that was for rock climbing and repelling. The riggings for the activities were obvious with the rope running up to the ledge of the stone face wall above. A shooting range sat on the opposite side of the grounds complete with targets and a short obstacle course for tactical shooting. Behind him were various combat dummies set up for hand to hand combat and directly across from the two men was a large bank of computers. Falau’s guess was they were for obtaining up to date information on the upcoming mission and any variations not yet thought of.
“Nice isn’t it?” said Tyler gently nodding his head up and down. “I am sure you have thousands of questions about why we are here and what it means for you.”
“Ya, you’re right. Thousands sounds right.” replied Falau still letting his eyes scan over the room taking everything in. How the hell did Tyler get this place built. It would take dozens of men and equipment to get the job done he thought.
“The judges and myself see you as a high asset to The System. You have shown results quick and you have an ability to never stop.” said Tyler still looking off to the distance despite Falau turning and looking at him.
“Does that change things?”
“Yes and no.” said Tyler still looking into the distance.
Falau felt a cold chill overcome him. It was unlike Tyler to not look eye to eye. What he was going to say and why they were in the cavern was more consequential than just Tyler showing it to him.
“Okay. Go on and tell me what is different.”
“It’s a bit confusing like The System is in general. The best I can compare it to is you’re now like an agent in an intelligence community where before you were more like a freelance guy that would come to help.”
“I understand, but how are things going to be different for me?” questioned the big man fully turned to his friend and pushing a hard gaze on him.
“It’s like a promotion. You have proven you can lead teams. You can finish missions. You can get the job done no matter what happens.”
“Tyler, cut the shit with the compliments. You don’t drive me to this combat ready hole in the ground just to blow smoke up my ass. Give it to me straight. What, am I going to have to train here for a while?”
Tyler let out a small laugh and turned his head to his friend. “I remember when I was taken here for the first time. I had all the same questions.”
“I never asked but since you brought it up are you saying you were a field man at one time taking on missions?”
“I was.”
“Anything you can talk about?”
“Not really, but they got bigger and better as time went on. Then one day I met with my contact and she took me here and I made the full commitment to The System.”
“What’s the full commitment?”
“Changed my life for the better.” said Tyler turning his body to Falau and giving him a gentle smile. “I would not be the man I am today without that day. There are only twenty five of us total in the world. Taking this step would make you twenty six.”
“So what? I get a code name and a parking spot or something?’ said Falau trying to draw the full story out of Tyler.
“You do get a code name but nothing cool. Your code name would be Z. The twenty sixth letter of the alphabet.”
“Very original. Is that it?”
“No, there is one more thing.”
“Okay. Out with it.”
“The chip.”
“The chip?”
“Yes. Because what we do is so classified and could have massive implications worldwide if anyone found out about it we need a level of security.”
“You guys know every move I make before I make it.” said Falau with his eyebrows turning in at the center and his forehead furrowing. “What kind of chip are you talking about?”
“It is very small less than four millimeters. It would get inserted into your body. You could then be monitored at all times. Your health and vitals assessed at all times. If we saw that you had a spike in heart rate during a mission we could link to the satellite and use the chip to find you instantly and see the situation and if you needed help.”
“You didn’t feel the need for that before. Why now?”
“Because like this Guyana mission the stakes are raised in an international way. If someone in a government were to get hold of one of us and learned what was going on it could turn into an international incident. That’s something we cannot have.”
“How would you stop that? The chip would not help you hear what was being said or give you the ability to stop...” Falau paused and looked Tyler hard in the eyes seeing that his friend knew that he was putting the clues together for the first time. “But you could stop someone with the chip couldn’t you. If it had a self-destruct and was in the right part of the body you could kill the agent instantly.”
“Yes. It could have that effect. As of now that has never had to be used and we have had no situations where there has been a malfunction. It is only used for the areas I outlined before.”
Falau turned away and kicked at the dirt below his foot hard. “Oh bullshit, Tyler! If push comes to shove someone will flip that switch and I will be dead on the ground in a second.”
“Just like they could do to me but I’m still here!”
“You have one in you?”
“Yes, and I have never asked to have it out because there will be no reason to have it out. If I ever get caught and there is no possible way out I hope they trigger the chip and the secrets of the System die with me. The truth is Falau that in all the missions I did there was never a mission that would have put me in a situation where they needed to do that. If I had been captured they could send in a strike team to get me. If you see one mission like that in ten years it would be odd.”
Pushing his hands into the pockets of his jeans the big man looked at the ground and started to pace a short distance back and forth. “What if I say no?”
“You won’t.” said Tyler with a smirk.
“But what if I do? Will you kill me?”
“No need to think about that because you will not say no.” said Tyler walking closer to his friend. “Falau, do you really think that the judges and myself would not be extremely sure that you would say yes before offering this to you? We know that you want to make things right in the world. Your outburst about the people of Guyana was too much but in a way it proved to people how much you care. We know you want to keep doing this.”
“But all my privacy is gone. I become a cyborg for The System.”
“Oh don’t be a drama queen! Like you said before we know everything you do before you do it and has anyone come up to you and told you to stop anything? No. The chip can’t hear you or see what is happening. It is a medical device and a locator, so we can see if something is happening in a time of crisis. Nobody is going to divert a satellite and look in on you because your blood alcohol goes up or your heart rate is up on some one night stand.”
Falau let out at a laugh and kept his eyes to the ground and pushed his toe back and forth in the dirt.”
“I guess you’re right.” said Falau. “Just one more question.”
“Okay, go ahead.”
“Where do you put the chip. There are only a few places it could go to kill me if it had to and most would be a trick to get it there.”
Tyler turned away and lifted one arm to the air pointing to the ceiling. “If you look up at the ceiling for thirty seconds it will be all over.
“Now?”
&
nbsp; “No, when we get to the area where the chip is, over there.”
“Why do I need to look...” Falau stopped in his verbal tracks and his face turned to stone. “My eye! Are you saying that thing will go in my eye. Are you out of your mind?”
“No, not in your eye.” said Tyler trying to sound as convincing and soothing as possible. His voice dropped, and he looked to his friend. “Behind your eye.”
“No fucking way!” said Falau turning away. “Get me the fuck out of here. You’re not putting that thing behind my eye. What the hell do you mean behind. How will you get it behind my eye.”
“Just relax. People always freak out when it comes to eye stuff.”
“Oh really, you think so. Maybe because it is an extremely delicate area and if fucked with could cost you the ability to see!’
“Michael, relax. There isn’t even a surgery. Your eye can move in its socket. I just have you look up and I pull your lower eyelid down just a bit and with a very thin device that is no thicker than a sheet of paper I just push it behind your eye. Then you look back forward and all around until you don’t feel it moving. It just finds a place to nest.”
“That’s all?” said Falau sarcastically. “Oh, well then, sign me up for two.”
“It sounds far worse than it is. I freaked out too, but it was like when I got a vaccination as a kid. The anticipation was much worse than the actual shot itself.”
“Man, this is not easy!” said Falau shaking his head side to side in frustration.
“Trust me. It will be one, two, three and done. Just that fast and then you never have to worry about it again.”
Falau raised his head and looked over to his friend “you know if you’re lying about this I will kick the crap out of you.”
“I know. And I know you can do it.”
“Alright, let’s get this over with!”
Chapter 26
