“Absolutely,” Tiamat said. “There’s only one loose end. And that’s being taken care off as we speak.”
Chapter Thirty-seven
Costa Rica; August 2016
Gamaliel and his team had just gotten into position when he received word that Tiamat’s coup had been successful. Michelle and every angel and demon loyal to her had fled Washington, and Tiamat and her agents now held the executive branch. Soon they’d begin the process of chipping everyone in the U.S. The only weak point in the plan was that Balderhaz was still at large. If anyone could throw a wrench in Tiamat’s plan, it was Balderhaz—which was why Gamaliel and his team of a dozen combat-trained demons were about to abduct Balderhaz and drag him to the Mentaldyne facility in Utah. Tiamat hoped that Balderhaz could be put to work designing weapons for her, but at the very least he’d be negated as a threat.
Gamaliel wasn’t sure what Balderhaz could do to interfere with Tiamat’s plan at this point, but Tiamat wasn’t taking any chances after all the work she’d done to get this far. The only reason she’d suggested the MEOW device in the first place, some two hundred and thirty years earlier, was that she was fairly certain she could come up with a way around it. She was right, but it had taken a bit longer than she’d expected: it wasn’t until the advent of neural implant chips in the early twenty-first century that she’d been able to devise a way to block the MEOW device’s emissions.
Tiamat had founded Mentaldyne in the late 1990s, when the technology was still cutting edge and the original MEOW device was still in place. The destruction of the MEOW device on September 11, 2001 had been a serious setback, and she had been on the verge of shutting down the whole enterprise: there was no point to devising an override for a weapon that no longer functioned. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that the chips had potential for uses far beyond blocking the MEOW emissions.
The chips worked by tapping into the brain stem and sending a neural signal that was essentially the mirror image of the MEOW emissions. Like noise-canceling headphones, the chip counteracted the frequency of the debilitating neural impulses caused by the MEOW device, allowing the chipped angel to function normally within the range of the MEOW device.
But if you can send one sort of neural signal, Tiamat reasoned, you should be able to send others as well. Specifically, you should be able to override the signals sent by the brain to the body, to get the individual to do something they didn’t actually want to do. (Initially the testing of the chips had been on angels, as humans weren’t affected by the MEOW device, but for the mind control feature, Mentaldyne started with mice and worked their way up to dogs, cats and monkeys, and, finally, human beings.) At first the signals sent through the chips were simple motor movement, like “raise your right hand.” The human trials went better than anyone expected: not only could the subject be forced to raise his right hand against his will; the subject was actually convinced that raising his right hand was his idea. Receiving countervailing neural transmissions at the brainstem level was so confusing to the brain that the brain reacted by rationalizing the end result as borne of its own intention. The subject would vehemently insist that although he had originally intended not to raise his hand, he had subsequently changed his mind. No matter what contrary evidence was presented, the subject remained blind to the obvious fact that his mind had been changed for him, vehemently insisting that he had raised his hand of his own volition.
It was a small step from that point to actually inserting intentions and preferences into the subject’s mind. One man, who had a life-long aversion to cantaloupe, was convinced that cantaloupe was now his favorite food in the entire world. He drove directly from the testing facility to a local farmer’s market, where he bought sixty-eight ripe cantaloupes and ate nothing else for the next three weeks. One woman was converted from Judaism to Islam. An Oakland Raiders fan was convinced to root for the 49ers.
With a few hundred of these chips implanted in the skulls of influential individuals, Tiamat could rule the world. The problem, of course, was that the people she most wanted to control—the rich and powerful—were the least likely to submit to having a chip implanted. Mentaldyne had a hard enough time finding vagrants who would go along with it—and succeeded in this only by virtue of cash bribes and blatant lies about what the chips actually did.
But the increased interest in security after 9/11 gave her an idea: she’d have Mentaldyne add a tiny radio transmitter to the chip and market them as tracking devices. Mentaldyne’s first contract was with a supplier of veterinarian supplies, who marketed them as a way of preventing little Fido or Fluffy from running away. Not long after that, some of the more conservative states like Texas and Alabama began implanting them in prisoners. Danton Prowse, who had to work hard to overcome the impression that he had been “soft on crime” when he was governor of Connecticut, gave in to an advisor’s suggestion that he support a nationwide Federal Felon Tracking Program. That advisor, of course, had been a demon—one of Lucifer’s agents whom Tiamat had managed to turn.
So what had started out simply as a means of circumventing the MEOW device had turned into a full-fledged secret mind control program. There were two different types of chips: the ones implanted in angels and the ones implanted in humans. They differed only in the respect that the angel chips included the anti-MEOW feature. Both types of chips had the RFID and the mind control functionality—although Tiamat neglected to mention this to her minions. She insisted that the chips that were being implanted in her demonic underlings were solely for protection against the MEOW device, and that the mind control and tracking functionality had been disabled. Whether any of them actually believed her was a function of how well they knew her.
Gamaliel, for his part, didn’t, but then he pretty much did whatever Tiamat wanted anyway, and if he was going to continue to be her second-in-command, he would need the chip to protect him from the MEOW device. The actual implantation was quick, easy and relatively painless: a technician at Mentaldyne had implanted one in Gamaliel and then instructed him on how to implant the chip in Tiamat’s agents in Washington. You simply held the implantation device—which, oddly, resembled one of those little clicky label makers you can get for three dollars at an office supply store—at the base of the subject’s neck and pulled the trigger. The subject would feel a sensation like a bee sting and that was that: the tiny cilia-like neural conductors would latch onto the subject’s brain stem. Gamaliel had managed to meet with Tiamat and twelve of her other agents in Washington to implant them with chips before returning to Costa Rica. She had many more agents, of course, but they were outside the MEOW zone awaiting further instructions. The plan was for Gamaliel to nab Baldherhaz and then return to Washington to chip the rest of Tiamat’s minions. When that was done, Tiamat would be unstoppable.
Gamaliel gave the signal and the demons moved in, three on each side of Balderhaz’s compound. Tiamat was taking no chances: although there were only three angels inside—Perp, Eddie, and Balderhaz—and none of them were a match for any of Gamaliel’s commandos, she had erred on the side of caution. Each of Gamaliel’s men carried an AK-47, in case their sheer numbers weren’t enough to tilt the odds in their favor.
As the three other groups closed on the sides and back of the compound, respectively, Gamaliel and the two demons flanking him approached the front door. The two demons held back, pointing their rifles at the front of the building, while Gamaliel kicked the door in.
“On your knees!” Gamaliel barked. “Hands in the air!”
But the laboratory area was deserted.
“They’re downstairs,” Gamaliel said. “In the rec area.”
He led his two men into the basement while the others kept an eye on the lab. But downstairs he found only an abandoned ping-pong table. On the table, underneath one of the paddles, was a sheet of paper. Gamaliel picked it up and looked at it. The note read:
HOW DUMB DO YOU THINK I AM?
- MERCURY
Chapter Thirty-eight
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Washington, D.C.; August 2016
The Cadillac pulled into a dark alley and stopped about twenty paces from another car, which had approached from the opposite direction. The driver got out of the car, grabbed a pair of crutches from the trunk, walked to the passenger side, and opened the door. Zion Johnson stepped out, irritably taking the crutches. Eddie had done a half-assed job repairing his knee, fusing the kneecap together but leaving a mass of torn ligaments and scar tissue. It had been enough to get Zion Johnson out of the cornfield, but it was far from healed and the pain was getting worse. After the walking he’d done on it, he’d had to get another cast put on to immobilize the joint. It made walking difficult and driving impossible. For someone who prided himself on self-reliance, that was hard to take.
On top of that ever-present annoyance, Zion Johnson was furious at himself for falling for the spray-painted hair trick, not to mention trusting those Chaos Faction morons to set the bomb off at the right location. It had been a miracle that the bomb hadn’t gone off in the city. He had Mercury to thank for that, he supposed, but he wasn’t disposed to be very complimentary of Mercury right now, given the way Mercury had hoodwinked him. Grudging respect as a worthy adversary was the best he could manage at present.
Zion Johnson limped on the crutches toward the other car as a woman exited the back seat and walked toward him. They met in between the two cars, in the blinding glare of headlights.
“So you’re the one in charge now,” said Zion Johnson.
“I’m just an advisor,” said the woman. “My name is Tiamat.”
“An advisor, huh?” said Zion Johnson. “Who are you advising?”
“Right now?” asked the woman with a smile. “I’m advising you to watch your step, Mr. Johnson. My people tell me you’re the one to go to if I want to get something done. Is that correct?”
“I do what I can to serve my country,” said Zion Johnson.
“Patriotism,” said Tiamat with a barely concealed sneer. “Such an old-fashioned value. Useful, though. Mr. Johnson, your country needs your help with some security arrangements.”
“Where?”
“Grand Rapids, Michigan. I believe you know the place.”
“Was just there, as a matter of fact,” said Zion Johnson. “They had a bit of a terrorism scare recently.”
“Indeed,” said Tiamat. “You’ll be happy to hear that I’ve come up with a plan to prevent anything like that from happening again.”
“To prevent it from happening in Grand Rapids, or from happening anywhere?”
“First Grand Rapids, then everywhere else,” replied Tiamat. “I’m hoping that the plan is such a brilliant success in Grand Rapids that there will be little resistance in the rest of the country.”
“So what is this plan?”
“We call it Project Myrmidon,” said Tiamat. “We’re implanting RFID chips in everyone within the city limits. You enter the city, you get chipped. Once everybody is chipped, a terrorist attack will essentially be impossible, because we’ll be able to track everyone all the time. Tracking algorithms will be used to flag suspicious movements, so we can stop crimes before they ever happen.”
“Interesting,” said Zion Johnson. “And these chips, would they be similar to the ones that are being used on felons and mental patients?”
“Very similar.”
“Implanted at the brain stem,” said Zion Johnson. “Some have postulated that such a chip could theoretically be used to control behavior. Theoretically.”
“Is that right?” asked Tiamat. “Well, I’m sure that capability is years off. And we’ll put safeguards in place to prevent those sorts of abuses from occurring, in any case.”
“Oh, of course,” said Zion Johnson. “Manipulating the behavior of ordinary citizens would be unethical.”
Tiamat smiled wryly. “You’re very perceptive, Mr. Johnson. How would you like to be in charge of Myrmidon?”
Zion Johnson frowned. “Why me?”
“I’ve read your file, Mr. Johnson. You’re a man of discipline. You abhor disorder, crime, and weakness of the will. You’d love more than anything to make the world a better place, but you’re stymied at every turn by corruption and stupidity.”
Zion Johnson didn’t know who put together this file she was talking about, but he’d like to commend them on their accuracy. “So that’s it?” he asked. “I’m a control freak, so you want me in charge?”
Tiamat laughed. “No, it’s what makes you a control freak that I care about. Your affinity for order and your aversion to chaos. I believe you understand what’s at stake here. The world has strayed too far toward chaos, and I need someone who can help me pull it back from the brink. Is that you, Mr. Johnson?”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Zion Johnson, without a second thought.
“Good,” said Tiamat. “Catch the first flight tomorrow to Grand Rapids. Put things in order there, and then we’ll talk about the plan for the rest of the country.” She turned to go, but then stopped. “Oh, and Mr. Johnson,” she said, “when you get there, you will of course get a chip implanted yourself. The leaders have to set the appropriate example.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Zion Johnson again.
“Very good,” said Tiamat, with a smile. “Oh, and you should have that cast taken off.”
Tiamat walked back to the car and got inside. The car backed out of the alley and drove off, leaving Zion Johnson standing alone in the headlights of the Cadillac. His leg had suddenly stopped hurting, and he had no doubt that if he had the cast removed, he’d find it had been completely healed. Just in time for his new assignment. Working for Beings of Indeterminate Origin had its downsides, but you couldn’t beat the medical benefits.
Something was still bothering him though, and it irritated him that he couldn’t seem to pinpoint what it was. He was still upset with himself for the Grand Rapids debacle, but things had turned out OK in the end, and in any case Tiamat either didn’t know or didn’t care what had happened with the bomb. He was still angry with that Mercury character, but that wasn’t it either. He was a little disconcerted that the United States government was apparently now in the hands of a narcissistic megalomaniac, but this was hardly the first time that had happened.
No, what bothered him, he realized, was that he had just been given the assignment that he had been working toward his entire life, and it scared the shit out of him.
Chapter Thirty-nine
Somewhere in Missouri; August 2016
Unfortunately, Mercury seemed to be nearly as dumb as Tiamat and Gamaliel thought he was. While he’d foreseen that they would attempt to abduct Balderhaz, he hadn’t anticipated Tiamat’s scheme to make her agents immune to the effects of the MEOW device. So while Balderhaz, Eddie, and Suzy had escaped, Tiamat remained in control of Washington, D.C. And there didn’t seem to be much any of them could do about it.
They’d regrouped in one of Michelle’s safe houses—a rundown old farmhouse in Missouri. Mercury hadn’t had much choice but to trust Michelle; they needed a place to hide where they could figure out what to do next. Mercury had sent word of what had happened to Perp via Angel Band, and instructed Perp’s group to meet him at the safe house as soon as possible. Mercury, Michelle and Suzy arrived early in the evening, and a few hours later Perp, Balderhaz and Eddie showed up.
“What a dump!” Balderhaz exclaimed as he strolled inside the house. Eddie and Perp followed close behind. Mercury, Suzy and Michelle were sitting in the living room. An ancient TV flickered against one wall, showing the latest news from Grand Rapids and the other cities that were still under martial law.
“I’m less concerned about the décor and more concerned about the company,” said Eddie. Perp nodded in agreement.
Michelle, sitting on an easy chair in a corner of the room, seemed amused at Eddie’s distaste.
“Yeah, I get it,” said Mercury. “Competing plans for world domination make for strange bedfellows. I’m not thrilled about it either, but Tiamat’
s double-cross means we’re stuck with Michelle for the time being.”
“This sorry bunch of rejects isn’t exactly my first choice of allies either, you know,” said Michelle. “This morning I had the President of the United States under my thumb, and now I’m stuck in Podunk, Missouri with the morons who put her in power.”
“We didn’t put her in power!” snapped Suzy. “You did! You’re the one who set up this whole shadow government, and you’re the one who made it necessary to create another…”
“MEOW device,” finished Mercury.
“Yeah, I refuse to use that name,” said Suzy, dropping onto the couch next to Mercury. “It’s idiotic.”
“And in Michelle’s defense,” said Mercury, “it was Lucifer who set up the shadow government. Michelle just took it over. And now the reins have unfortunately passed to Tiamat.”
“Because you gave them to her!” yelled Michelle.
“You tried to nuke Grand Rapids!” yelled Suzy. She nearly jumped off the couch at Michelle, but Mercury held her back.
“OK,” said Eddie. “This is getting us nowhere. We’ve all made some mistakes—”
“Putting another MEOW device in Washington was not a mistake,” Mercury protested. “Michelle forced our hand. We had no way of knowing—”
“You made a deal with Tiamat!” cried Michelle. “What did you think was—”
“Stop!” shouted Eddie. “Enough! From here on out, nobody says anything unless it’s an idea for getting Tiamat out of Washington!”
An eerie quiet fell over the farmhouse. It seemed that no one had any ideas.
“Do we even know how she’s counteracting the MEOW emissions?” asked Perp. “Balderhaz?”
“Eh?” said Balderhaz, who had been transfixed by a pair of dust bunnies blowing across the hardwood floor.
“Any idea why Tiamat’s agents aren’t affected by the MEOW device?” asked Perp.
Mercury Revolts: (Book Four of the Mercury Series) Page 22
