He remembered all too well that horrible day. What Dimitrios couldn’t remember was why he had traced the outline of the missing amulet in the secret file Cassia had brought to his attention. The file he told her about. The one she shouldn’t have had access to… He closed his eyes and placed his head on his knees. He rested his fists on top of his head. He wondered if he had already gone mad.
His next thought was of Natalie. What if he was going insane, what would happen to her? Would Wayland forever and always take care of his cherished child? Tears fell from his eyes as he stayed in that position. He scrunched his eyes to try to stem the flow of tears, but they wouldn’t stop. Finally Dimitrios’ thoughts calmed. He would pull himself together for Natalie. No matter what the cost he’d fight the urge of going off the deep end for her and her alone. No one else but his beloved daughter, Natalie, could keep him sane at this point.
Dimitrios slowly regrouped. He wiped his eyes then looked around. He’d have to face his fears and find out from Reiko what had happened to him during that unknown period. With that knowledge, he might potentially have a chance at recovering from this wicked nightmare. The possibility of discovering why he had torturous headaches, why his body ached in strange and inexplicable ways might all have answers if he faced his fears. He could only hope that would be the case.
Dimitrios held Reiko up and stared at the tiny marble-like device as he rubbed it between his fingers examining the very thing that had dared follow him into the abyss of the unexplained. This tiny orb held his fears and his answers. He was about to watch a small part of his life recorded, unaware of by him. He was about to watch his own actions as he thought he might be about to die. He’d now have to face his “weird” actions, as Cassia called them, knowing that he couldn’t tell anyone about his investigation.
Dimitrios questioned why he was now able to refrain from losing Natalie, when on that fateful day he was just about to give her up. On that inauspicious day he had been consumed with discovering answers to impossible questions. What did he know then that he didn’t know now? What made him so sure he knew part of the puzzle? He was now about to find out. It scared Dimitrios to his very core that in order to unlock a part of himself that he couldn’t remember, he had to use this device for answers. What did the wolvezors have to do with the puzzle and recent events? In finding the truth would the exchange be that he would lose his very own sanity? Was he about to find out?
Chapter 62
Joseph walked into the law office. Seymore came from around the corner and held up a piece of paper saying, “This gentleman has called several times this morning for you personally. He says it’s important.” Seymore mumbled as he handed Joseph the paper with the man’s information on it.
Joseph thanked Seymore then went into his office to gather items he needed. He was pressed for time because he wanted to get to the intelligence room to find out how Nxy’s extraction of the Witzenelt Collection was coming along. He stopped and stared at the paper. Seymore had written urgent at the top of the page along with the man’s name and phone number. Joseph sighed. He sat down at his desk, reached for the telephone and dialed the number.
He was just about to hang up when the man answered. When he realized it was Joseph, the man said, “I found the perfect law clerk for you. I put together a file on him. I’ll leave it at your front desk this afternoon. If I were you, I wouldn’t wait too long to jump all over this.” Joseph thanked the man and hung up.
He left instructions for Seymore about notes he’d made on his calendar then headed for the Passageway. Once on the other side, Joseph went straight to the intelligence room. As he walked through the doorway, Joseph noticed that all personnel were involved in their work. He saw his father pacing in the back of the room. Non was manipulating the large information screen. Joseph walked quietly to the back of the room and observed the screen. Since these operations were very delicate, it was imperative for the contact person to have complete control of the environment, silence had to be maintained. During these sensitive maneuvers, there was always the fear that they could lose contact with the individuals performing the extraction.
Non was in charge of the operation on the Hub end. His facial features revealed his intense concentration. He was talking with Nxy. Their conversation was on speaker so Joseph and Donovan could also hear the account. As Joseph studied the information on the screen, Nxy asked Non if the eagle had made it into the nest. Non confirmed that it had.
Once she heard that Joseph had arrived, Nxy gave the orders. “It’s a go people!” With those orders the operation was in progress.
Everything Nxy’s team communicated to the information room was in code. If the authorities picked up their conversation on the government’s high tech scanning equipment, the agents wouldn’t understand what was happening. Nxy’s team often switched radio frequencies during a job. Nxy and Non changed their voices and word code patterns as frequently as Nxy changed her appearance.
Earlier in the week, a team of pawns had installed two devices near the victim’s Passageway. One device being used had just recently been developed. It would allow one of their operatives to unlock and reopen a certain type of Passageway door within a minute, even if the owner completely closed the door and waited for it to seal. This was the device’s debut from their “T” station. The “T” scientist who developed it was absolutely brilliant. He had listened to all of Nxy’s suggestions and implemented many of them. She hoped it would work as planned. A pawn had also placed a tiny camera with a timer in the ceiling above the Passageway door. This would allow anyone looking at the information screen, to view the owner as he went through his Passageway. The timer would give Nxy the ability to check the passing seconds in order to open the door before a minute elapsed.
The operation went like clockwork. Nxy pretended to be using a Passageway near the victim. The victim paid little attention to her. He seemed in a hurry, which was a good sign for them. Non called out the coordinates for the exterior of the residence so the Grunts could be in their positions when Nxy exited the Passageway on the Witzenelt’s side. Then he ordered their Sharp Shooters to get in their positions at strategic locations around the Hub in case there was any trouble from the authorities.
As Non observed the victim walk into his Passageway and saw the door close, he gave Nxy the code word, bluebird. She ran around the corner to the Passageway door and tugged on it. The door made a creaking noise as it opened. The man on the other side was surprised that the door opened after it had sealed. He immediately turned and tried to get to his residence. Reinforcement pawns wearing specialty boots went around Nxy. They caught up with the man just as he stepped to exit the Passageway. One pawn knocked the man to the ground. As the man was being sedated, Nxy hurried through the Passageway.
The wife heard the sounds of her husband falling to the ground and the ensuing scuffle. She came into the room to investigate. Nxy was exiting the Passageway when she saw the wife running for the alarm. As the woman pulled the alarm, Nxy kicked the back of her knees. The wife dropped to the ground. A pawn ran across the room to sedate her as well. Nxy called out the words they hated to hear in the intelligence room, “The blue jay is making a racket”.
Non switched gears. They now had to work faster, more efficiently, if they were going to pull off this score and bring it home. Non ordered the reinforcement pawns to exit through the Passageway and remain on the Hub side in case they were needed later. Non then signaled the Grunts to move in and assist. In a matter of seconds the Grunts had infiltrated the house and began taking orders from Nxy. She was an efficient taskmaster. Anyone who didn’t snap to it was reprimanded severely. She took her job very seriously; the stakes were too high to fail.
Nxy swiftly ransacked the library where the Passageway was located trying to find the vault, keys, a secret compartment, manuals, codes or anything useful. As Nxy worked, she had Non call out to her the time the police were expected to arrive on the scene. They had previously scouted out the amount of time it would t
ake for the police to respond by creating a false burglary on the residence. The one thing Nxy’s team didn’t expect was that an officer who had been patrolling in the area earlier, and an off duty officer heard the call and responded.
It just so happened Nxy was on a roll. She thought exactly like the owners trying to protect their treasures. She had Non transfer her call to the “T” guru’s assistant so she could crack the multiple codes for the victims’ high tech vault. Within seconds she was in the vault and had located the treasure. Nxy double-checked that she had the crystal collection in her hands.
She was certain, just as Non said, “0.”
Nxy left the rest of the treasures in the vault and screamed, “Abandon the nest you stupid birds! The cat is on its way!” Everyone scattered just as the patrol cars and the off duty officer pulled up. The Grunts scattered out the multiple doors of the Witzenelt’s residence to divert the police.
When the authorities in the Hub heard certain words on their scanners, the alarm was sounded alerting the agents in the field. Anjoleah sent her squadron out to investigate any suspicious activity occurring around the Passageway sector.
Non alerted the whole team, by a tone in their earpieces, once the authorities were spotted heading in the direction of the Passageway sector. Their channels of communication were no longer operational for the pawns on the ground at that point. Only if they were stationed within eyesight of another were the members able to communicate with hand signals.
Whenever events like this went wrong, Donovan became extremely nervous. Joseph watched his father biting his thumbnail. His father looked like he was sucking his thumb.
Joseph said to Non, “Have the dove come home.” That was code for having Nxy come back through the Passageway, which was a risky maneuver. Non didn’t believe he should give the order.
Nxy said, “I can make it. Let me try.”
Non said, “Only if you are positive it’s safe.”
Nxy knew she had to proceed with extraordinary caution. It could be perilous for her to carry the Witzenelt Collection through the Hub. She headed to the Passageway. Just as her right foot went through the entrance, a police officer grabbed her jacket. She jerked her body to force him to release the material. Nxy set the collection down and grabbed the officer’s arm to pull him into the Passageway. Non heard the commotion and ordered the reinforcement pawns to return to the residence. Three pawns rushed through the doorway. The attack surprised the officer and he turned to confront the pawns. The adrenaline coursing through the officer’s body gave him so much strength that it was difficult for the three pawns to handle him. They finally sedated him and dragged him through to the Hub side.
Nxy reached down to retrieve the crystal collection. She hurried through the Passageway. Once she reached the Hub, Nxy whispered to Non, “A visitor has arrived. I repeat he's arrived and breathing!”
Donovan leapt to his feet. “He survived? Now what? Have her get back to the compound immediately. Send in the cleaning ‘crew’. Now! Just get her out of there!”
Nxy took off her jacket and wrapped it around the collection. She sedately walked to a shadowed alcove. The pawns were left to deal with the police officer. They dragged the officer back into the Passageway. The cleaning “crew” arrived from the Hub and joined the group in the Passageway. The pawns then left, heading back to the Hub.
The “crew” stripped down the officer in the Passageway and put him in one of the “crew’s” clothes. Then the impostor put on the officer’s clothes. They dragged the sedated officer back to the entrance of the Passageway. Before they stepped into the library with the officer, they gave the man a shot in the neck to erase his memory. Then the “crew” man dressed as the officer waited for an opportunity to complete the plan.
The second “crew” man headed back through the Passageway in order to create a diversion in the Hub so that Nxy could escape her hiding place. Once he entered the Hub side, the “crew” man removed the device that held the Passageway door open and destroyed it. The Passageway sealed itself shut. He picked up the ruined device and placed it in his trouser pocket. He walked away heading toward the steps to the Hub.
Once he reached the ground floor to the Hub, the "crew" man walked for a while then suddenly switched roles and became a distraught man. He began yelling, “I’ve been robbed! Someone help me, please! Get the Passageway authorities!”
That caused attention to be drawn to him as nearby Sojourners tried to figure out what to do to help him. A Sojourner went to find an authority that was around the corner. The authority came immediately on his disk to assist the man.
The Sharp Shooters were in place in case they had to murder the “crew” man if the authorities arrested him or if they had to create a diversion. They waited to see how the scene below would play out. When the authority left his position, Nxy made her escape from the shadowed alcove. She walked nonchalantly down the steps to the Hub floor.
At the Witzenelt's residence when the police investigators stepped out of the library to the kitchen, the “crew” man impersonating the officer dragged the genuine sedated officer through the library and down the hall into a bedroom. The “crew” man dragged the sedated officer into a closet then went back into the library. He then began dismantling the Passageway. Before he could complete the job, the “crew” man was interrupted by a police officer coming into the room.
The officer said to the disguised “crew” man, “Oh, I’m glad you are here. Our reinforcements should arrive any minute. The homeowners are just now becoming conscious. I’m going to interview them while you are continuing your investigation. I’ll try to find out what happened.” The officer left the room leaving the impostor to continue working.
The “crew” man completed the dismantling job, just as he heard an officer in the next room talking to the reinforcements who had arrived on the scene. The officer ordered the new arrivals to search the house.
The imposter could hear the sounds of the search being conducted throughout the house. He waited patiently for a distraction to happen. Soon he heard an officer discover the sedated officer in the bedroom closet. The “crew” man heard shouting for reinforcements as the real officer groggily identified himself as an officer, not a thief.
During the chaos, the impostor hurried to the room where the homeowners were resting. They were sitting on the couch together whispering. He walked up to the couple and asked if he could get them a glass of water.
When they replied no to the offer, the “crew” man put his hand on the husband’s shoulder and said, “You don’t look as if you feel well.” He stuck the man in the shoulder with his ring that administered a memory-erasing drug.
The husband put his hand on his neck and cried out. The “crew” man bent over the husband pretending to be concerned about the man’s health.
As soon as the man’s wife bent forward trying to find out why her husband was in pain, the “crew” man said, “Ma’am, something’s wrong with him. I’m going to get help. We need a doctor.”
The woman nodded and turned her attention back to her husband. The “crew” man reached for her shoulder and stuck her with the same ring. She too winced in pain and tried to reach the burning spot where he had given her the drug. The imposter, playing his part called out, “I need a doctor here! I need a doctor immediately! Something is definitely wrong.” He ran to get help.
The officer in charge cursed under his breath as he and the other officers brushed the “crew” man to the side and ran to the Witzenelt couple to find out what was wrong. They panicked upon seeing that the affluent homeowners were unconscious. An officer immediately radioed in for an ambulance.
The officer in charge called out to the “crew” man, “The ambulance is on its way. Direct them inside to the homeowners when they get here. Then they can also check the fallen officer.” The “crew” man nodded.
He stepped outside and continued to walk down the driveway. The “crew” man noticed a squad car with keys in it. He go
t in, started the engine and drove off down the street. A couple of blocks later he turned off on a side street. He was picked up in a van by the Grunts. They took him across town to a couple’s safe house that lent Non their Passageway as a route to and from Bridgeiro. This couple owed Donovan a big favor and today the debt was paid in full.
By the time the chaos was sorted out at the Witzenelt residence, Nxy had safely crossed the border to the compound. Only after confirmation was received on Nxy’s safe return did Non, Donovan and Joseph breathe sighs of relief.
The police eventually completed their investigation of the robbery. They left the Witzenelt house puzzled by the lack of evidence at the scene.
Anjoleah and her men began wrapping up their investigation in the Passageway sector as well. When the agents returned to headquarters, they were baffled by information heard on their scanners. The intelligence stated that a robbery had taken place at the Witzenelt residence. The officers at the scene of the robbery stated that their investigation had shockingly come to a dead end. There was no evidence discovered at the crime scene that would lead the police to the criminals.
Chapter 63
The mornings around the farm had consisted of the same routine over the summer days. Charles woke, dressed and ate breakfast before going to the office to find Carson. Today was different.
When Charles walked through the office door, Carson smiled. “Today is the first day of school. Are you ready for your junior year?”
Charles shrugged. “I’d rather be here. The summers on the farm are always filled with adventure.”
“I have a feeling your school year will be just as adventurous.”
Charles frowned. “Not in the same way.”
“I’m not so sure about that. Are you ready?”
Charles walked over and picked up his school backpack on the desk. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Return of the Clonsayee Page 32
