The Aegis Solution

by John David Krygelski

  He rallied slightly. "I don't know what happened. I was back here. I heard the sounds, the yells. I peeked out my door and saw one of those things grab BQ. One minute he was runnin' and the next he was just dead. Dude, I hid! I didn't help. I didn't do nothing."

  "There wasn't a thing you could have done, Zack." Tillie's voice was gentle.

  "Why did they do this?" Elias asked.

  The young man's eyes drifted up to look at him. "It's because of Frank D. We had made a deal with the Man. It was a pretty good deal, considering. Frank D broke the deal."

  "What deal?"

  "I know it wasn't right, but we didn't have no choice. The Man told us to deliver all the newbies to him, untouched, or he would kill us. All of us."

  Elias said nothing, waiting.

  "Frank D took one of the newbies 'cause he liked her. After he and his partner were done with her, he delivered her to the Man. I guess she told."

  They decided it was past time to move on. Since Tillie's knowledge of the available routes was the most detailed, she assumed the lead. The other two followed. She and Elias had agreed in a whispered conversation that Zack should not be taken to either her living quarters or Elias' base. Wilson's atrium seemed the only logical option. Kreitzmann undoubtedly had men out looking for Elias, and Zack was certainly a target as well, so they took a circuitous route through mechanical chases, raceways and, when necessary, public corridors.

  Finally entering the man-made jungle of Wilson's domain, Tillie shouted, "Wilson! It's me."

  The foliage parted to their left, and Wilson stepped out into the open, carrying his shotgun. He eyed Zack but said nothing as he led them to the shack. Within minutes the teen was asleep on the bed inside, and the three of them were assembled on the porch.

  Tillie did most of the talking as she brought her friend up to speed on all of the latest developments, including her rescue of Elias and the death of all of the residents of ZooCity. She had saved one fact for last.

  "I hate to admit it, Wilson, but you were right."

  The older man squinted at her. "About what, dear?"

  Tillie glanced at Elias and explained, "He didn't come because of my message."

  Wilson's mouth pursed in an expression of concern. "No?"

  "No. They sent someone in here two or three months ago. When he disappeared, they sent Elias."

  "Oh." Wilson looked at Elias, a hint of sadness showing on his face.

  "As much fun as both of you are having, talking about me as if I weren't present, would you mind telling me what it is that Wilson was supposedly right about?"

  Wilson's eyes shifted from Elias to Tillie, who gave a subtle shrug to indicate her answer to his unspoken question. Turning back, Wilson said, "Tillie, although having passed the ripe age of thirty-two a brief while ago, is still quite naive. Although she prefers to act as if she is jaded and cynical, she continues to believe that there is a Santa Claus, an Easter Bunny, a Tooth Fairy, and a government in Washington with noble motives. In my mind the jury is still out on the Tooth Fairy, but I am certain about the latter not being the case."

  "I'm with you on that."

  "I am sure that you are, Mr. Death."

  "Please…."

  "He calls you that for a reason," Tillie broke in.

  Elias looked at both of them and said, "Okay. I would appreciate it if you could dispense with the oblique and tell me what you think."

  "Tillie believed if she sent a message that we needed help, the conscientious guardians of the public would mobilize a team of Navy Seals to charge into Aegis, guns blazing, to save us all. I, on the other hand, have become convinced that our leaders have a quite different fate in mind for all of us."

  Elias leaned forward impatiently. "And that is?"

  A lopsided smile of chagrin on his seasoned face, Wilson replied, "I believe that you have been sent to clean up a mess."

  "Of course I…."

  Holding up his hand to stop Elias, Wilson continued, "I believe that you have been sent to shut Aegis down and eliminate all of its residents."

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Wilson was inside the shack, preparing lunch. Tillie had departed to search for Eric Stone, utilizing her knowledge of the hidden passageways. Zack was still sleeping, and Elias sat alone on the porch, watching and listening vigilantly for any indication that the Zippers had arrived.

  Moments after he heard a soft clatter of dishes and silverware, Elias saw Wilson emerge from inside with two plates of food.

  "I hope that you like ham and cheese omelets."

  "Sounds great."

  Elias moved to the small table and joined Wilson. He had not realized how hungry he was until the aroma of the meal reached his nose. Wasting no time, Elias began to eat. After several bites, he asked, "If you really think I'm here to kill you, why are you feeding me?"

  With a chuckle, Wilson answered, "Why not? Perhaps you will find my omelets so tasty that you'll reconsider."

  Elias gently placed his fork on the table next to his plate. "That's not why I'm here, Wilson."

  The mathematician did not bother to look up, tucking another bite into his mouth before responding. "Either you are here to do precisely that or you are not, and in each case, that is exactly what you would say. I do not endorse the skill of mind reading, as it is being cultivated by Rudy – too much can go wrong, as you noticed – so I am left with my own ability to deduce and decide."

  "And your decision?"

  "Insufficient data at this time."

  Staring at Wilson for a moment, Elias sighed and picked up his fork to resume eating, when Wilson spoke. "For the purpose of conviviality, let's assume for the moment that you are not our executioner."

  "Fair enough."

  "What is your explanation for your boss not knowing that Kreitzmann has been coming and going from Aegis for years?"

  Elias shrugged. "I don't have one. But I'll tell you that I used to sit in his chair and, from what you and Tillie have told me, Kreitzmann has had open access to Aegis for long enough that part of the time was on my watch. And I didn't know about it."

  "Since you've broached the subject, may I ask why you left the job?"

  Suddenly, the omelet tasted sour in his mouth. Elias lowered his fork and sat back in the chair.

  Seeing Elias' reaction, Wilson hurriedly added, "I'm sorry. My question is clearly painful to you, and I have no right to ask."

  "No, you have every right, considering the situation we're all in together."

  Looking away from his meal companion, Elias stared at the dense greenery surrounding them and allowed his eyes to go unfocused.

  "My wife and I were field agents together in the CIA. That's how we met."

  "You did not mention you were married."

  Elias did not respond directly to Wilson's comment. "It was in the days before 9/11, the days before Homeland Security existed. After 9/11, there was a massive push to coordinate the intelligence gathered by the various agencies. Too many things were falling through the cracks because the different agencies each knew a part of the puzzle but they never talked, never compared notes. Homeland Security came into being, and the OCI was established. I was the first director. My wife…Leah was her name…stayed in the field."

  "Those are not the makings for an easy marriage."

  Elias smiled. "We were used to it. The times apart were hard. The times together were so intense, so good. I guess it balanced out. But we were planning on Leah coming in from the field and taking a desk job at OCI."

  His voice dropping to barely above a whisper, Elias said, "We just didn't make the move quickly enough."

  "Oh!"

  "I lost Leah while she was on an assignment in Afghanistan."

  "Elias, I am so sorry."

  Elias kept his eyes on the greenery, allowing his mind to conjure pleasant images of his prior life. "Richard Faulk, the man who took my place, was her immediate supervisor. He's the one who ordered her to infiltrate a Taliban training camp."

&n
bsp; "A woman to infiltrate a Taliban camp?"

  "Actually, it works better than you think it would. As long as the woman follows Sharia law, including keeping herself covered in public, she is nearly invisible. The mentality of the Muslims is that women are less than nothing. They don't take them seriously as a possible threat. And burqas are a great way to conceal weapons and communication gear."

  "Makes sense."

  "And she had a backup. Eric Stone."

  "Eric Stone sounds like an Anglo name. How was he able to fit in with the Taliban?"

  "Eric's father was English, his mother Lebanese. He got the lion's share of his genes from his mother. He looked the part, and he also spoke the language fluently."

  Frustration welling up, Elias stopped himself. "I don't know why I'm referring to Eric in the past tense. I don't know that he's gone."

  "If he's in Kreitzmann's camp, Tillie will find him."

  "I hope so. Leah was also amazing with languages and sounded like an Afghani. She had free rein – could come and go from the training areas, serve food to the Taliban leaders as they met, clean their quarters, everything. All she had to do was listen to their conversations and record them. While cleaning their quarters, she photographed documents, maps, plans, you name it."

  "Impressive."

  Elias smiled ruefully. "Leah was good. Very good."

  "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

  "We ordered a missile strike on the base. Leah and Eric were notified and knew to be out of the area before the strike. Eric made it out. Leah didn't."

  "Why didn't she get out?"

  Wilson watched as Elias' face went through a gradual transformation into an unrestrained mask of rage. Through gritted teeth, Elias explained, "They, the Taliban, knew the strike was coming. Somehow. From what I've been able to put together since it happened, the Taliban leader, Khalid, ordered the evacuation of the camp. But only the key men were told to leave. The women, the children, the elderly, and all of the others he considered to be nonessential were made to stay."

  "Why would he do that?"

  "He knew that we maintained high-altitude aerial surveillance right up to the strike time. He didn't want us to call it off. He wanted us to think, at least initially, that we were successful. Remember, it's as much a war of PR as it is a war of bullets and bombs. He wanted to embarrass us. We would announce the successful bombing of a Taliban camp and then, through Al-Jazeera, he would release videos showing that we had only killed women, children, and old people, news that would inflame the anti-war side in America and the rest of the world."

  "What happened to your wife?"

  "That was icing on the cake for Khalid. Apparently, he not only knew about the impending strike, but her cover was also blown. When the missiles hit their lased targets, Leah was staked spread-eagled on ground zero."

  Wilson was speechless. The horror of the description burned everything else out of his consciousness. All he could see with his mind's eye was the image of Elias' wife staked to the ground, knowing the exact moment the missile would be arriving. He could not even begin to comprehend how she must have felt in those last minutes and seconds.

  Recovering enough to speak, Wilson asked, "Did you ever find out where the leak came from?"

  "No." Elias' mood transformed from furor to despair. His voice became muted. "I left the agency right after it happened. I had to. I couldn't think about any of the other aspects of the job. All I could think about was Leah, Khalid, and the traitor. I've spent every waking minute since that day trying to find the sonofabitch who was responsible for her death."

  "Elias, I cannot begin to express my sympathy. Going through what you've been through is unimaginable to me."

  Elias did not speak. He had long ago run out of appropriate responses to the condolences he received.

  "I don't understand something, though."

  Elias looked back at Wilson. "What's that?"

  "If Eric Stone was able to get out in time, why didn't he call off the strike?"

  "He did."

  Wilson could see the anger returning to Elias' face.

  "Then why did it still happen?"

  "He contacted his immediate superior. It was the supervisor's job to convey the news to the military. Let's simply say that they didn't receive the ‘abort' message in time."

  "His immediate…wouldn't that have been Faulk? The man you said took your place?"

  His voice drenched with bitterness, Elias answered, "One and the same."

  "And he is the man who sent you into Aegis?"

  Elias nodded.

  "Wilson, it's a shame I didn't know you earlier."

  "Why's that?"

  "It occurred to me that your knack for pattern recognition could apply to intelligence work, particularly the process of finding a mole…a traitor…within an organization."

  Wilson leaned forward, resting his elbows to the sides of his half-eaten plate of food. "That would be an avenue I've never traveled, but I believe that you could be right. If we get through our current dilemma intact, I would be happy to take a look at your notes."

  "Oh, we will get out of this. I promise you that."

  "How can you be so sure? You're locked inside a fortress designed to keep everyone in, and you have an army of superhuman beings searching for you."

  "I'm sure because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt I am going to live long enough to hunt down the bastards who killed my wife."

  Wilson fell into silence. He picked up his fork and took a bite of the now cold omelet. Then he set the fork back down and listened to the howling of the wind.

  "When I first saw your atrium, Wilson, I thought you were just a kook who liked jungles."

  "You may be right about the nominative ‘kook,' Elias."

  Elias ignored the comment and continued, "When we spoke and you told me you wanted to surround yourself with complexity, I didn't quite buy it."

  Wilson made no comment as he waited for Elias to finish his point.

  "You filled this place with dense foliage to create an environment where the Zippers can't function effectively."

  It was not a question, but a statement.

  "Very perceptive, Elias. The Zippers, like any other high-speed mechanism, require a relatively clear playing field to function as they were designed. The obstructions force them to either move in short-distance spurts or thunder through the leaves and branches, making as much noise as an elephant charging through the brush. At least that is the theory. It hasn't been tested as a defense against them…yet."

  "The shotgun should prove to be a fairly effective weapon against them, as opposed to a pistol or rifle."

  "That probably is the case."

  "Does Kreitzmann have any other super-soldiers in his bag of tricks?"

  "Not that I'm aware of. Unless of course he's going to send one of his motor-mouths to talk us to death."

  "Motor-mouths?" Elias repeated, cracking a smile. "That sounds like yet another Tillie-ism."

  "She is quite gifted in that regard."

  "That isn't the only area. Taking on the Zippers and rescuing me was no mean feat."

  Wilson nodded. "Mathilda is quite a unique and resourceful individual. I can truthfully say I've never known anyone quite like her."

  "I'm surprised that she is in Aegis."

  "She's been here since it opened, day one."

  "So I've heard. But she didn't mention her reasons for coming in."

  "I would be surprised if she had."

  "She doesn't talk about it?"

  Wilson shook his head. "She has never broached the subject with me, and I've never asked."

  They both heard the loud cowbell, followed a moment later by Tillie shouting, "Wilson, it's me."

  He turned to look at Elias. "It appears that our able friend has returned."

  They could hear Tillie as she quickly pushed through the branches which hung over the pathway, breaking into the clearing, flushed and nearly breathless.

  "I found
him!"

  

  Elias and Tillie were crouched next to a large-sized return air grille. On their way, they had stopped at Tillie's apartment, as she referred to it, to gather up some items they might need. Elias had made a perfunctory attempt to talk her into staying with Wilson, but she would not hear of it. She insisted that he would never find Stone through the maze of passageways without her.

  Now that they were above the room where Stone was being held, Elias tried again. Huddled close to her ear, he whispered, "I'll take it from here."

  Instead of saying anything, she shook her head violently, without ever taking her eyes off the room below. Elias looked down and saw that Stone was sitting on the edge of a bunk, cradling his head in his hands. From their vantage point, and the fact that Stone was not interacting with anyone else, they surmised that he was alone. At least they hoped he was.

  Elias knew that their next move could not be accomplished without making some noise, and he hoped not only that the room was empty, but that there was no audio or video monitoring equipment installed in what seemed to be Stone's holding cell.

  "Well, here goes," Elias muttered to Tillie, gripping the edge of the grille. It lifted out of the track with less of a clatter than he expected. Stone did not even hear it in the quiet room. Lying down on his stomach, Elias lowered his head through the opening, and in a soft voice called, "Eric!"

  The man on the bunk jerked up his head in surprise. Elias saw that it was definitely Stone. At first confused, Stone swiveled his head back and forth, searching around the room for the source of the voice without looking upward.

  Elias repeated, "Eric!"

  This time Stone looked up, stunned to see his friend's head dangling upside down from the ceiling grille, eighteen feet above him.

  "Elias?" Stone's face was a mixture of confusion, fatigue, and despair.

  "We're gonna get you out of here," Elias promised, keeping his voice subdued.

  Stone stood and moved closer to the grille, tilting his head back to look up. "I can't."

  "Of course you can, Eric. We brought a rope and we'll pull you up if we have to."

  "That's not what I mean," Stone said, lifting his right trouser leg and showing an ankle bracelet with a blinking green light. "This thing sounds an alarm if I leave this room."