Anaïs landed at Wiley Post the next day at 3:30 pm in the same plane she had used on her last meeting with Savannah: a Cessna 182 Skylane.
She went to hangar 9, the outermost of the airport as had been indicated to her, and parked the plane.
She got out of the aircraft and went behind the hangar to take a shortcut to the bar, where she would meet Mark Savannah.
Before she headed down the path, Anaïs stopped to look at the ethereal poppies that sprang up from the very green grass, the sun began to lengthen her shadow and the fresh wind lifted the red petals that seemed unable to resist such force, trembling like lights across the waves on a windy night at sea.
She stopped to watch them moving between the light and the shadows, then she walked along the path with one eye on the sky: she had seen a Savage in the final, and she was sure it was Savannah.
Meeting Mark made Anaïs feel confused: on the one hand, he was a murderer, as well as a burned agent, regardless of whether Reed had killed his father. On the other hand, she knew that Savannah was right, and that the Colonel was hiding something extremely dangerous. As if that wasn’t enough, whenever she found herself face to face with Mark, her sensual and feminine instincts were awoken suddenly and they sent embarrassing messages: Savannah was in fact the most attractive and potentially erotic man she had ever met and this made her feel so damn embarrassed.
While she was sitting at a table in the bar, Anaïs was horrified at the thought that in New York she hadn’t eliminated Savannah because she had watched him making love to Aisha; fortunately, she didn’t continue this analysis because she saw a smiling Mark Savannah coming towards her.
"Good morning Anaïs. How are you? I hope you like them…these are for you," Mark said, placing an amazing bouquet of orange tulips on the table.
Anaïs was very surprised; she hadn’t expected anything on his part, much less a studied and refined bouquet.
"Hey, man...they’re wonderful! Together with orchids they are my favorite flowers. Thanks! Why did you choose the tulips?"
"I think we are quite similar, so I thought we probably have similar tastes. I really like tulips, they are almost edible."
Anaïs chuckled to herself. Here was the self-centered psychiatrist who gave her the flowers, not so much because he was interested in her, but simply because he liked them. She remembered the words Ransley Bain had told her and shook her head.
"What's wrong?" asked Savannah.
"Ransley Bain also gave me some tulips. He said I look like them."
"Did he want to eat you?" Mark said with an ironic tone to provoke her.
"Ho! Ho! Fuck you, Savannah…maybe this is the first time I have said that to you, but it will certainly not be the last!"
"So I was right about Bain..."
"Hell…are you jealous or something?"
"However, I brought you some flowers and you, nothing…I would say… nothing."
At that point Anaïs stood up, and right in his face told him bluntly:
"I’m risking my life by trying to save your ass instead of killing you. I cannot manage this mess just with some flowers, you understand, or don't you give a shit because everything is due to you?"
Mark took her hand and made her sit down again; he knew perfectly well that she was right and that it wasn’t the time for jokes.
"Sit down, please. We're wasting time on an issue that we should not be discussing at all. I know very well the situation I'm putting you in, and I know just as well that saying thanks to you is not enough, but now stop talking and listen to what I have to say."
Meanwhile, the waiter came and while Anaïs calmed down, Mark ordered two cups of tea and two slices of cake.
"So, tell me Mark, what's happening?"
""Brainexe" is a secret military project managed by the CIA and the Pentagon; it’s the same procedure as "Transtem 1.1" but applied only to soldiers who have an RF-ID micro-transponder tag inserted under the skin. They are creating human war machines, and training them not to feel emotions, feelings, or fatigue.
“The point is that at a certain moment, the situation got out of hand at Biosketch Technologies Inc.; there has been an increase in intensity and frequency of brain waves, now stabilized, which led to a considerable increase in aggressiveness in the transplant patients, strange behavior, excessive hunger and sleep reduction with simultaneous excitation of the subjects.
“There have been murders among soldiers and episodes of aggression for all the others. Both projects have the same behavioral similarities and the patients react violently to provocation: they seem hostile towards others and they are more taciturn. They tend to form gangs and tend to exclude those who are not transplants.
“The transplant patients of the "Transtem 1.1" project seem to have achieved a more verbose, sequential and detailed deductive process; most of them will stop reasoning if an irrational and emotional variable is introduced. There are more than 4000 people involved, Anaïs, and Reed is about to export the project abroad. You can imagine the consequences, can't you?
“Reed doesn’t know which way to turn,” continued Savannah, "he put the side effects down to a bad batch of the experimental drug administered to the patients, a drug which is produced by Biosketch Technologies Inc.. This maneuver allowed him to gain time, but they are still far from finding a solution. If they don’t hurry and do something about it, in addition to a leak to the media, other people will die."
"But how do you know all this?" asked Anaïs.
"I have to ask you to trust me for now, I'll tell you later, don’t worry. I also have to trust you, my huntress…not to kill me. Who were the passengers in the Twin Otter the day you landed here?"
"You saw everything! I had three patients, picked up at Alva Regional Airport, who I had to take to Biosketch Technologies Inc."
"They were sedated…why?"
"I don’t know. Green told me that they were transplant patients from Oklahoma, who had to return to the central facilities because of an infection after transplantation."
"Strange, don't you think? Why didn't they treat them in an accredited center in their city, instead of forcing them to be transported by plane? And why were they then sedated, who delivered them to you?"
"I saw a man who arrived together with the ambulances, but I didn’t talk to him. None of the people who traveled by plane ever spoke to anyone during the outward or return trip. I know nothing more."
Then she resumed: "Why did you kill Richard Reed? Couldn’t you have denounced him?"
"Who to, Anaïs? Do you really think I wouldn’t have been burned or even eliminated if anyone had seen the movie? Reed is the number three in the CIA, he’s very close to the leaders of the Defense Ministry, his son killed my father without blinking and there isn't one document attesting to the events of that day.
“I agree on one thing,” added Savannah. “I was an impulsive idiot. I should have thought about it calmly and prepared a well planned operation, but the anger and helplessness that I have always felt since I was a child emerged and overwhelmed me."
"An amateur’s mistake, Mark, with the CV you have, it’s something that continues to amaze me."
“You're right, an amateurish mistake, but now I want to get my life back, and to do that, I must destroy Reed," Savannah cut her short. He felt like a fool every time he thought about the murder of Richard Reed.
"What do you think is the source of the brain wave problem?" asked Anaïs.
"It's not the drugs, the side effect occurs simultaneously in all the transplant patients, except inexplicably a teenage boy; they all have the same behavior. It's more likely that it is due to the chain of production, or the procedures. There must be one or more errors in the procedures that affect the drug in some way, which apparently doesn’t seem to be the main suspect; in fact, even if the drug is administered at different doses, the result doesn’t change."
"But is the composition the same?"
"Who knows, but if it were only that, they would h
ave already resolved the matter.”
“Green set up the production chain,” said Anaïs, “it is the computer system that controls production from beginning to end; the men carry out only quality control. What do you want to do?"
"I definitely want to nail Reed senior on the two projects and then expose the past of Reed Jr., who was also a big drug dealer. You can be sure that the CIA will hide the scandal, will retract the allegations. I’ll finally be free, holding the threat of blackmail in my hand. Obviously, I'll have to watch my back constantly, but this has always been part of every secret agent’s game."
"And why did you choose me, knowing that you are taking a big risk?"
"You are the only one who can enter and exit from Biosketch Technologies Inc., the company is an impregnable fortress. Green is Reed’s dauphin but also one of the strongest hackers in the world, and every day he invents something new to increase data and systems security. Bain is a well-known researcher but he’s also an agent, although not an operative. In short, you are a fantastic passe-partout, as well as very well prepared technically."
"Bain is an agent? But there is no evidence anywhere..."
"Most of the doctors and researchers of the accredited hospitals for the "Transtem 1.1" project are part of the Department of Defense and Bain, coincidentally, is the only one from the CIA."
"And so?"
"I need the access codes to the central system, I see no other alternative. I'd never be able to enter physically without being noticed, and I don’t want Green to become suspicious, when I attempt to break through its firewalls."
"And after that?"
"I’ll have to analyze all the data that may be of interest to me and then I'll decide how to act depending on what I find and in what condition I find it, what do you say? Will you help me?"
"I will," Anaïs agreed.
"Here they are." Savannah put what looked like two small, short nails on the table. "These are two micro-cameras that you can insert above any button, they are sticky and they have a duration of six hours, afterwards they disintegrate without even leaving a halo. They transmit automatically, so I receive the information directly."
"Um, they’re very nice. I've never seen such transparent and self-adhering versions, who produced them?" Anaïs asked, as she placed them carefully in her bag.
"My best friend, I'll tell you about him soon, but this is just the beginning, Anaïs, afterwards we'll have to work together."
"I see, the situation is very complex, but let's try. I'll stay in Dallas tonight and inform Green that I'll be back tomorrow. Green will inform Reed, who won’t be happy at all; in fact, I’m sure that he wants me far away from New Mexico at this time."
"I believe you’re right. All of them will be in fibrillation because they are afraid of leaks and the consequences for Biosketch Technologies Inc. and its management.
“Anaïs be careful,” warned Savannah, “double-cross is very risky and requires extraordinary lucidity. Sorry to ask you this…but I don’t want to endanger you and all of us…how much are you able to stand and resist?"
"What do you mean by ‘all of us?’...You’ll tell me later. I can resist and hold out indefinitely, unless they eliminate me for other reasons. I have no problem double-crossing the CIA. I can split myself in two without feeling guilty and work on parallel tracks. I hate Reed…that should be clear."
"And yet..."
"Forget it, I don’t know how my mother managed her relationship with him, he’s a despicable man, but she remained at his side in the shadows. In fact, he’s still married, after twenty years, inexplicably. Do you remember that I asked to be transferred to Dr. Mayer’s Astrophysics division? I’ll direct his laboratory after I have terminated this Mark Savannah," she said with a wink.
"I think for the time being you are not going to manage that laboratory, and I will stay alive. I’ll bring Reed down, and no one will ever know that you've been an accomplice of a burned agent."
Anaïs stood up, put her bag over her shoulder and left some money on the table to pay for the drinks.
"Talk to you soon, Mark. I’ll send you a message when I position the cameras."
"Be on the lookout, call me for anything."
Anaïs was the first to leave, and without a backward glance, she left the bar and quickly took the path that skirted the hangar to return to her aircraft. This time she had decided not to listen to her instincts and hadn’t kissed Savannah; once again Mark had not shown the slightest interest in her.
She stopped behind hangar 9, which was deserted, to contemplate the poppy field again: the deep red of the flowers contrasted with the most varied shades of green of the grass, a gust of wind ruffled the lawn forming sudden and capricious waves.
Suddenly, Anaïs felt a hand caressing her through her hair, behind her nape; wincing, she spun around. It was Mark Savannah who had caught up with her like a cat without making the slightest noise. She didn’t even have time to say a word before Mark started to kiss her deeply, she felt his soft tongue looking for her while her senses came alive in a riot of colors even though she kept her eyes closed.
Mark began to unbutton her shirt then her pants and Anaïs, who was aware of being outdoors but couldn’t stop him, did the same with him very quickly, while the former British agent was attaching her to the wall of the hangar and lifting her from the ground bringing her astride him.
It was a quick and silent intercourse, but intense and spontaneous, almost wild, punctuated by a pace that left no room to breathe, devoured till the end leaving nothing unfinished.
Mark then pulled away from her and both, stunned by what had happened, recomposed themselves as best as they could, looking each other in the eye.
When their breathing became regular, Mark came closer to Anaïs again and gave her a kiss on the forehead, then he turned on his heel and walked slowly to the Savage.
Mark turned several times to watch her walk away, he still felt her scent on him; for the first time he had kissed a woman on the forehead after intercourse and if it were up to him, he would also have asked her to stay with him, but there was no time.
On the other hand, Anaïs climbed into the Cessna almost in a trance and in order to regain her self-control quickly, she repeated the checklist twice, then she taxied towards the runway without delay.
The wind had strengthened and the poppies were waving like she had a few minutes earlier, that rustic and figurative image made her smile as she quickly took off from the ground.
106
"Jago, keep an eye on Anaïs,” demanded Reed, “you have to work together with her. I don’t want her snooping around... By the way, any news concerning the system audit?"
"The quality department, with the bioengineers’ support, had reduced the time of scaffold production by one day. They are now conducting audits to rule out the possibility this change had a role in raising the brain wave levels."
Reed's cell phone rang and he immediately replied.
“Hello, Michael, how are you? Well, me too. Nothing new for the moment, yes, audit at 360 degree, absolute priority, what? Again? What the fuck, and how did you solve it? Shit, but when you questioned them what did they say?
“Listen to me, if you put them in jail, sooner or later the press will come to know about it. Send them to Chechnya…who cares? There they will have short lives and die as heroes…but yes, for their families, not for them…Let's hope not all of them. Shit... Of course, I'll keep you informed. Now I have to talk to Green and Bain and inform them. See you soon, Michael. Goodbye."
The Colonel hung up and dialed an internal number.
"Ransley? Please run immediately to my office. Green is already here. Well, I’m waiting for you."
Ransley Bain arrived breathless and worried after a couple of minutes and he sat down at the table next to Jago C. Green.
"There's been another serious episode: some “Brainexe" soldiers at the air base in Sigonella, Sicily, Italy."
"In Italy?" said an amazed G
reen.
"Two Seabees of the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion, they tortured and afterwards killed the pilot, co-pilot and three console operators on a P-3 Orion of the patrol squadron...they were provoked on Saturday evening in a bar on the base during leave. There was a fight because of a bet in a rigged poker party, which was then stopped by the arrival of the police.
“The Seabees then waited for sunrise when they picked up, tortured, and killed the victims. Afterwards they abandoned the bodies in front of a sports field. Investigators later arrested them, and after hours of questioning, they confessed to the crime…but just because they were getting bored! Can you believe that?
“Mitchell told me they had to simulate a stall turn with a helicopter in which they had loaded the five bodies. The helicopter disintegrated on falling to the ground and the event was recorded by the National Flight Safety Agency as an accident due to pilot error. There was no other solution."
"And now what are going to do with them?" Bain asked.
"I suggested sending them to Chechnya, they will die in the field there as heroes, and if Chechnya is not enough for them, the Congo awaits them," replied the Colonel.
"The "Transtem 1.1" transplants have a tendency to meet and hold discussions together. They arrange meetings in geographical areas different from where they live, and they begin to be hostile to family members. This has been reported by all the centers, I mean by every accredited center," Bain said.
"And what do the families say?" Green intervened.
"They are detecting the strange, silent and aggressive behavior, and are starting to be concerned about it. We need to intervene in a drastic way to stem the situation," Bain said.
"Ransley, haven't we already introduced the sedative in the treatment of "Transtem 1.1"?" Colonel Reed asked.
"It’s not enough."
"What do you propose? Here the blame is going to fall on us, and the civilian transplants are organizing themselves. I dare say they are creating communities; we’re not able to understand their behavior. It is likely that we’ll also start seeing murder cases among "Transtem 1.1" transplanted subjects. I'm sure of it, and Jago hasn’t finished the audit yet."
Black Hawk Day Rewind: An action packed spy thriller (Mark Savannah Espionage Series Book 1) Page 29
