The Rise of the Speaker

by Pete Driscoll

  “so… like… no ambulance then?” McCleary asked to thin air.

  “I’m cross referencing the names from McCleary with the ones that Benson sent to us.” Alice said as I removed the control unit from my head and the cabin came into focus. It was strange; Alice was talking to me from the screen but her body – having said nothing and apparently not part of this conversation – was busy doing something with the forge. “There is an Agent Donaldson,” she continued, “but Benson has said that he is only aware of him by name and wasn’t sure what part he played, Captain James isn’t mentioned at all.”

  “I guess that adds up, if the two teams were answering to different superiors. What about Richards?”

  “Yes, he is on Benson’s list, marked at direct superior. Looks like their stories match.”

  “Alright. Time to pay Richards a visit, then we shall go and talk to Agent Donaldson.”

  Chapter 14

  Best served cold

  “And a breaking news story from Washington DC.” Alice had woken me up with a news broadcast being shown on all major networks.

  “Thank you, Diane. Local, Federal and military authorities are investigating a string of brutal and gruesome murders of high-ranking officials in the Military and intelligence communities. Authorities have refused to comment on the ongoing investigation but inside sources have given shocking details about the murders, some of them taking place in or near some of the most secure buildings in the world.

  One CIA agent was found at his home address in Arlington, Virginia after having endure hours of brutal torture before being decapitated. Another CIA employee - a former Army Rangers officer and decorated war hero - was found in the parking lot of the CIA headquarters in Langley having been eviscerated and his body ‘displayed’ for authorities to find.

  A sergeant and adjutant to an unnamed Pentagon general was found nailed to wall of his office INSIDE the Pentagon, his throat having been cut after, again, being brutally tortured. In each murder, a note or message of some kind, address to the same unnamed pentagon official was found, but the content of those messages are - as yet – unknown, as are the details of any other deaths in our nation’s security branches, although, CNN has recently learned that there are currently four missing person investigations being conducted for people registered as working in either the military or one of the intelligence services.

  Again, authorities are refusing to comment on these cases – or on the possibility of yet more murders - but sources inside the Department of Defence and the CIA have suggested that these murders are linked to the death of tech billionaire Maria Gonzalez, who was found dead in her office in Santa Rosa a few months ago.

  The 32-year-old entrepreneur was under investigation for murder and treason at the time of her death but there have been increasing accusations of a government cover up over her apparent suicide. Itek – the company she founded – was not available for comment. We will keep you updated as more details become known. Back to you Diane.”

  “Am I going too far?” I asked thoughtful as Alice switch off the broadcast, the overly enthusiastic reported disappearing into the blackness.

  “I don’t know,” Alice replied evenly, “I don’t think I’m the right person to judge that. As far as I am concerned, we were attacked and one of us was killed. Those people will never be brought to justice by a government who ordered them to do it…” she left that hang there. I knew what the rest of the sentence would be.

  So, we are dishing our justice for them. But was this justice? Or blind revenge?

  “I think we need to try another tack,” I said after pondering that thought, “at least until we go after Reaves and the others. Maybe we can get a bit of real justice for Maria, instead of inflicting it ourselves.”

  I had caught up with Agent Donaldson in Arlington, ambushing him in the same way as I had done with McCleary. He had known about both sides of the operation but had kept the one side in the dark about the activities of the other – confirming McCleary’s story – he had been the one that had outlined the questions that Maria should be asked before her execution but insisted that the execution itself was a direct order. Maria – of course – had spat and kicked and refused to cooperate in anyway, she had fought like a lioness. According to Donaldson, this fact alone justified her murder. He suffered a great deal before I eventually let him die.

  Richards had been leaving Langley when I grabbed him. Same story, same rhetoric about how Maria should have cooperated, but he added the name of Sergeant Grant Haze, adjutant to General Reaves. Apparently, he was the liaison between the field team and command – a middleman if there ever was one. He died screaming before I left his body in a car outside Langley’s main entrance.

  Agent Mike Caplin was the assistant to the Deputy Director of the CIA, he’d been allowed to live - another middleman - but had confirmed that although Reaves had been in overall command of the mission, it was at the behest Deputy Director Hammond. Once I let him go, he had gone into hiding, ending up – of all places – only about 50 miles away from the cabin in Kentucky

  Next, I visited Sergeant Haze in his office in Fort Meade – I wasn’t sure why the news broadcast had said he was found at the Pentagon, nor, for that matter, did I know anything about the other three missing persons – he had confirmed the story told to me by the others; that it was Reaves and Hammond who had ordered Maria’s death, but he had also said that he thought that both men might have been acting on the authority of a higher power.

  I’d had every intention of letting him live as well, until, that is, he starting spouting about how all technology developed in America could and should be used by America. He crossed the line when he spat ‘that fucking stupid immigrant bitch should have known her place and not to fuck with Uncle Sam!’ I pinned him to the wall of his own office using his own stationary as nails while he was still alive. When he kept throwing out insults and abuse about Maria, I slit his throat.

  At every killing, I had left a note… ‘General Reaves, I am still coming for you’. The General had gone into hiding… badly. Alice was watching him as we spoke.

  “Ok Alice, Home stretch now. Establish a secure connection to General Blake.”

  A few seconds later, the webcam on Morgan Blake’s computer activated, an image of the top of his head appearing on Alice’s screen as he looked down at some paperwork.

  “Good Afternoon, General.”

  Blake’s head shot up at the sound of my voice, his eyes first looking towards to door of his office before registering my face on his computer monitor. “What the…? This is a secure system young man; do you have any idea how much trouble you are in?”

  “That’s funny,” I replied calmly, “I was about to ask you the same question. Remember her?” Alice replaced the display of my face with a picture of Maria.

  The General quickly realised this was not someone trying to make a name for himself by hacking into the US military’s Cyber Command Division. “Doctor Gonzalez.” He replied calmly “Yes, I heard what happened to her.”

  “Did you?... and what did you hear?”

  Blake looked confused. “She and one of her employees were developing technology for the military, she murdered him – although I can’t imagine why, - then committed suicide when she found out she was being investigated for her involvement in his death.”

  “and who told you that?”

  “Son, I don’t know who you are, but what you are asking is classified information. This connection is already being traced, don’t compound your problems by trying to extract privileged information from a government official.”

  “hmmm…” I mumbled in faux indifference. “General, do you know what happened to Sergeant Haze, not fifty feet from where you are sat?” The General’s expression suddenly became a lot more concerned. “ah, you do know. If you were to find me, I think hacking and coercing a government official would be the least of my problems. However, considering I designed and built the encryption software Maria gave you
– and it has been upgraded significantly since then – I don’t feel particularly concerned that you will ever be able to trace this connection.”

  “You designed… oh my god, so it’s true!” The general’s face contorted into a dozen different expressions as the new reality dawned on him. “…the reports are true, you’re the researcher, you’re alive… you killed all those people… You …. You are responsible for Dr Gonzalez’s death!...”

  “Am I?” I interrupted abruptly. The video feed of my face changed again, this time showing the entire footage of Maria’s interrogation, torture and execution. As had happened with McCleary, the colour drained from the General’s face, his eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. “Those men,” I continued after the footage had finished, “were agents Benson, Fitzpatrick and O’Connor of the CIA. That mission and the order to execute Maria – and yes, there was definitely an order – came from your old friend, General Douglas Reaves.”

  “What?!?”

  “Reaves – and Deputy Director Hammond – ordered the death of Maria Gonzalez”

  “There must be a mistake.”

  “There is no mistake.” I proceeded to show him every email communication, every recorded conversation and every interrogation from each of the people I had talked to, most of whom were now dead. Each and every one of them confirming the involvement of Douglas Reaves.

  The General sat back into his chair, his face a storm of mixed emotions. “And your …”

  “Yes, I’m 100% certain.”

  “I don’t believe it! I ordered him not to… He swore to me… That son-of-a-bitch!” The General’s face was no longer mixed emotions… he was furious. “So, the people you killed, they were all involved?”

  “Yes, unrepentant serial killers with rank. There are also a few I left living, if you want to corroborate my story.”

  “Give me their names.” The general picked up a pen and jotted down the names of Benson, McCleary and Caplin, I also sent him a copy of the full-length footage of Maria’s death.

  “General,” I said evenly once he had taken down the information. “I was the one who developed the solar panels, I was the one who developed the encryption software and I was the one who convinced Maria to let the military use it” I obviously didn’t tell him that it was Alice’s encryption software, nobody else had any idea she existed and we both wanted it kept that way, “I watched the meeting between you and Maria through the security feeds and I saw the dressing down you gave Reaves when Maria was out of the room,” the general eyed me suspiciously as I spoke, but said nothing as I continued, “I was the one who told her we could trust you, that you sounded like a man of your word. Now she is dead, and your colleague is responsible. You have enough evidence there to get justice for Maria, I expect you to try.”

  “Oh, don’t you worry… They will answer for what they have done.” The General replied angrily. “they’ll be lucky if they don’t end up in front of a firing squad.”

  “General,” I continued, “if you sit on this information without acting… Reaves and Hammond won’t be the only people I come for. Reaves is in hiding, I am sending you his location now, you have a fortnight to get the ball rolling. Otherwise…”

  “I understand.”

  “Goodbye General.”

  “Thank you for bringing this to my attention… Before you go, can I ask you one question?”

  “Go on.”

  “Were you and Dr Gonzalez close,”

  “yes, as close as two people can be.”

  “I see… In that case, I am very sorry for your loss. This is a dark day for the US military, the kind of day I had hoped were behind us. On behalf of the government and Armed forces ….”

  “Save it, General!” I cut him off, “I appreciate the gesture, but – at least in this regard – you aren’t speaking for anyone. McCleary and Benson have done dozens of missions like this one, you just don’t know about it, the ‘old way’ of doing things that you criticised Reaves for, is still alive and well. Get justice for Maria and the others, and then I will accept your apology.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “I will be watching you, General”

  The General nodded solemnly, and the connection was terminated.

  “Ok,” I turned to Alice, who had finished playing with the forge and had sat herself on one of the other sofa’s as the connection to Blake was ending. “now that’s out of the way – and we are committed to not hunting down Reaves and Hammond for at least a fortnight – where are we with everything else?”

  “Everything is on track. The Nanites are bringing back huge amounts of material for the forge, so much so, that I have had to build two new forges in one of the barns. So far, there are over a trillion Nanites and they have capped every gas and coal powerplant in the continental US, some in Mexico and a few in Canada. We are also up to about 47% of all refineries and manufacturing plants and about 3% of all road vehicles. I estimate another 3 months until we have total coverage.”

  “3 months to cap every car in America? That seems a bit optimistic doesn’t it?”

  “Not really, you must remember that the number of Nanites is growing at an exponential rate, doubling approximately every 8 days. In 3 months, there will be enough Nanites to not only cap every vehicle in the country, but also to account for the Nanites that are transporting the material back to the forge.”

  “Wow.” I was impressed.

  “I think the most relevant question now, is what do we do when we have total coverage, we can go international, start capping facilities and vehicles in other countries – expanding our coverage of Mexico and Canada would be the obvious starting point – or we could start storing them for future use.”

  “Future use?”

  “Yes, you must remember that we are essentially in rebellion against the United States – at least until we see how General Blake gets on with his investigation. We have to be prepared if they find us, or if we need the Nanites for something else. It’s great having hundreds of trillions of Nanites that can defend us at will, not so great if they are spread all over the world with none here to help us when we need them. We should also be seriously thinking about weaponizing this technology – I know how Maria felt about that, but given our circumstances, I’m not sure we have any other choice.”

  “I’ll have to think about that one,” I answered after a long pause, as much as Maria hated the idea of her work being weaponized, Alice did have a point, we had already weaponized the hologram tech after all. “keep expanding for now, we have at least two weeks to make that decision but keep enough of the Nanites close by in case we need them. I will think of a more concrete plan in due time.”

  “that sounds like a good plan for now,” Alice agreed

  “By the way, has all this ‘capping’ made any difference?”

  “yes, a huge difference. The amount of CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere has dropped by 77% in the US, that’s a 12% drop in global levels.”

  “shit.” Maria would have been impressed. A thought crossed my mind, one which should have occurred to me months ago. “Alice,” the pretty redhead looked at up me, “where is Maria’s body? She deserves a proper burial.”

  Alice smiled, not the reaction I was expecting from her. “I took care of that while you were grieving. The CIA took her body to a facility just outside Fresno, I had the Nanites… retrieve her… about a week after she died. She’s buried on the hill overlooking the valley. I thought she would have liked it there.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked in a trembling voice of faltering emotions.

  “Because I knew you would ask when you were ready to deal with the answer. Come on, we can go and see her together.” Alice stood up from the sofa, crossed the room and reached out her hand to take mine. She led me out of the house, around the clearing and past one of the barns before climbing a steep incline. I had never been to this part of the woods before – still well within the security perimeter but not a place you would stumble on
if you weren’t trying to find it.

  At the top of the hill was a simple mound of earth, a small granite looking headstone with Maria’s smiling likeness sat on one end of the grave with the word ‘Maria’ etched below her dazzling smiling face. A few feet from the foot of the grave, the mountain dropped away into a deep and sprawling tree covered valley. The view was spectacular with green as far as the eye could see. Alice – still holding my hand – turned back towards the grave. “She told me once, she wanted to live somewhere with a view.” She said softly, “this was the best I could do...”

  “It’s perfect. Thank you, Alice.” I said, letting go of her hand and picking a few wildflowers that covered the forest floor, placing them below the headstone, Alice nodded slightly at the praise as she watched. “Where did the headstone come from, there can’t be much granite around here?”

  “It’s made out of carbonite, just polished a bit to make it look like granite.”

  I laughed out loud, “she would have loved the poetry of being buried under a material that was only discovered because she lost her lucky pencil.” Alice joined in the laugh; the humour not lost on her.

  We stayed with Maria - talking about her, our time together and the plans for the future now she was gone - until the sun had set behind the mountains. We bode her goodnight and made our way back to the cabin. I slept easier after that, somehow finding comfort in the knowledge that she was close by.

  Chapter 15

  Enter the Spartans

  Four days later I was summoned into the clearing by Alice, her body had been working in one of the two barns for most of the time since my conversation with General Blake. I had reluctantly agreed to her designing some prototypes that weaponised our technology the day after our discussion, Alice had gotten to work that same day. I stepped into the space between the cabin and the tree line, the canopy of leaves above me allowing bright beams of light shining onto the clearing floor.