The Sin of Moloch

by Andrew Gordinier

  “Consider it part of your promotion, agent.”

  “Yes, sir.” Christine opened the folder and skimmed the contents quickly, they referenced behavior noted in her reports frequently. The summary was that John would be a wild card and likely to upset the balance of power. It recommended he be sanctioned and removed as soon as possible. Killed. She closed the file.

  “We are at a crossroad agent. Our government has several long-standing agreements, some of them predating the Constitution, about mages. The most important being an agreement with several European governments, and the Russians, about an event like the one we are facing now. It more or less ties our hands in this matter.”

  “Sir?”

  “If infighting among mages takes on global proportions, this agency is tasked with ending that infighting by all means available. We can ill afford these people burning cities to kill each other, it would mean global war, and possibly an end game scenario.”

  “You mean we’re supposed to kill them, all of them?”

  “That is the word of the agreement, almost exactly.”

  “Sir, I… I can’t be a part of this.”

  “Really? You know what a statement like that means, given how much you know and have seen?”

  “If it means I’m about to be ‘sanctioned,’ then I’m gonna call you an asshole to your face till they shoot me.”

  The large man laughed loudly, and a smile spread across his face, softening his features. “Took you long enough!”

  “Are you toying with me?” Christine asked as boldly as she could. In the back of her mind, though she realized that she had settled for a tuna fish sandwich for lunch, it would be her last meal, and she regretted it.

  “I just said that I was promoting you! I’m not about to kill the person I’m grooming to replace me.” The man continued to laugh.

  “What?” Christine decided that she no longer cared about being on a diet, she was gonna enjoy her meals from now on. She clearly had no idea which one would be her last.

  “I said ‘crossroads’ for a reason, agent.” The smile did not fade from his face, and to Christine, it seemed to change his entire persona. “We have a choice here, one that may be unique in history, and I have hoped it would happen on my watch. I was preparing you, in case it didn’t.” He produced a thick file and held it up so that Christine could clearly see her name written across the top, it was stamped in red ink numerous times. Opening the file to a page buried in the back, the man read aloud. “It is clearly seen in Agent Harris’s background and behavior that she is loyal, patriotic, and devoted to the ethical performance of her duties. However, it is the view of this office that the latter quality makes her poorly suited to continue work with this agency. Those ethics would come into conflict with our mandates should it be necessary to enact extreme protocols, possibly on an individual level, but without fail on a large scale level. It is recommended that she be reassigned, and if possible, used for misinformation.” The man closed the folder and looked at Christine quietly.

  “You’ve been planning this? How long?”

  “I arranged your first assignment in Portland. I was upset that it got you shot, but pleased that you could handle dealing with the unusual nature of things.”

  “Portland? I…” Christine could never forget, not because it was her first assignment with the FBI, but because it was the first time she had lost friends in the line of duty. She had survived, barely.

  “I’ve had several candidates over the years, you’ve made it the longest and furthest. Now I need your help.” The man looked at her, and she sensed a strange fatherly nature in him.

  “What can I do, sir?”

  “You are going to help me change the course of history, we are going to stop fearing mages, we’re not gonna kill them. You and I are going to bring them in from the cold, join forces with them.”

  “That violates their laws, it would cause a war.”

  “A war is what we may have on our hands as it is. The only solution, according to our betters, is mass slaughter, and neither of us has the stomach for that.”

  “What do you want me to do, Sir?”

  “Conrad knows this agency, he knows more than you do. Get in touch with him as discretely as possible, tell him that he can count on us when the time comes.”

  “Count on us to do what?”

  “With luck? Nothing, I’m betting on that old goat to find a peaceful solution. If it goes bad, we won’t hurt him or his people. We’re prepared to help them without restriction or question. If it goes really bad, and you had better be praying it doesn’t, there won’t be any place for us to hide.”

  “What about the international situation?”

  “I’m leaving here tonight to meet with my counterparts. I don’t know how I’m gonna do it, but I’m gonna sell Conrad’s merry band of rebels as the best horse to bet on. If they buy it, his rebellion will have global support and recognition. A legitimate mage government, the first since the fall of their ‘golden age.’”

  “Sir, if this doesn't work-“

  “It will be a global disaster, the kind that glows in the dark.” The man dropped Christine’s file into the shredder. Oiled gears cleanly and quickly devoured it before feeding it to the flames. “There are a few others in this agency that I can count on, but you are key to making this happen. Are you with me?”

  “I have one question, sir.”

  “Just one?” He smiled in a broad and friendly way.

  “What is out there that has everyone so scared? What is John going to find?”

  “We don’t know much, but what we know… Makes a Lovecraft story look happy.”

  Chapter 24

  Conrad looked at the giant pitcher of water in the middle of the table, there were tiny beads of condensation on its surface, they seemed almost decorative. There were glasses stacked neatly next to the pitcher, napkins folded neatly and placed in each glass, the hotel's elegant logo on display. No one had touched them. No one dared disturb them. Everyone was that nervous.

  “We need your country to stop flooding the market with cheap oil.” The Prince’s accent was soft and almost undetectable.

  “I don’t have that kind of influence with the US government. Conrad said for the hundredth time.

  “That’s not what we are hearing.” One of the Prince’s advisers said with a thicker accent.

  “I’m sorry that you have been miss informed. But, as I have said, I have no influence over the US government's policies.” Conrad wanted a glass of water.

  “I think that you are deceptive. So long as there is such cheap oil flowing from North America, OPEC must sell theirs at a loss. If you were to help us with this, we would happily back your cause.”

  “Back our cause?” Conrad raised his eyebrows. “Really? The royal family would be willing to allow the mages under it to vote freely and end the feudal system of regents?”

  “We would back your cause. Not join it.” The prince looked down his nose at the table as he spoke.

  “I thought so.” Conrad leaned forward, plucked a napkin, and poured water into the empty glass. “This is not about helping us, is it? It’s an investment. A way to play both sides to the middle. You support us, we fight the western mages, no matter who wins they are too weak to stand alone. You swoop in and take control. Right?”

  “Our long term goals are no different than yours, we want peace.” The adviser said evenly.

  “I doubt that.” Conrad paused to sip the water and enjoyed it. “Unless either of you has something new to add, we’re very done here.”

  “You would be wise to accept our offer of help.” The young prince held out his hands in a gently reassuring way.

  “I knew your uncle, he was a brilliant mage. I’m was sorry to hear he was killed by a censor.” Conrad refilled his water.

  “I do not have an uncle.” The prince's eyes narrowed, and his voice was calm as still water.

  “Of course. Had you had an uncle like that, you and your
family would have been ashamed of him for such dishonorable action. To marry for love, and renounce the family fortune, is one thing. To openly call the royal patriarch into the open as a tyrant, unforgivable.”

  “You should mind your tongue. The young prince said in a voice that proved there was anger in those still waters.

  “Oh, don’t worry, I will. I just thought you might need to be reminded that I’m old enough to know a lot of secrets. That I’m old enough to know where a lot of bodies are buried and who put them there. So don’t play this game like you’re holding all the cards. You called this meeting, so get to the point.” Conrad refilled his glass and waited for the younger man to consider his next move.

  Finally, the younger man spoke. “As you are aware, the world has passed peak oil production.”

  “Yes, a polite way of saying we will run out of oil soon.”

  “Yes.” The prince poured a glass of water. “There is no clear replacement yet, even in terms of materials such as plastics and rubber. The ones available are expensive and time-intensive. A combination of magic and technology would quickly bring results on all fronts.”

  “Your family would have no way to maintain a monopoly.”

  “That is not the only concern. Such a hybrid solution has been developed.” The prince paused to sip his water. “But, the research was destroyed, those involved killed, and the prototypes were stolen. We are unsure who’s orders they were following, we suspect a group of regents in China.”

  “I see, you want us to occupy the European families while you take on rivals elsewhere.”

  “Yes, we would rather have had you operating without that knowledge. But, no one else is close to developing the technology, especially not the North Americans.”

  “I still can’t help you.” Conrad eyed the prince carefully, there was no reason for him to share any of this, so why do so?

  “Yes, you can.”

  “How?”

  “Let us fund your war. We will flood money into the US economy, discreetly, of course. We will also offer access to limited texts in the royal library, some of them predate the golden age.”

  “Tempting, but I have to refuse.”

  “We can even lend you artifacts.”

  “Very tempting.” So this was the real negotiation.

  “We cannot offer to fight by your side, we don’t have enough students or mages.”

  “No, of course not.”

  “Will you let us help you then?” The young prince smiled.

  “There won’t be a war.”

  “It’s inevitable.”

  “Is it now?” Conrad smiled. At least the meeting wasn’t a total waste of time.

  “So, what's the big deal?” Eric sipped his coffee.

  “A lot is going on, a lot that sounds like the kind of thing you are usually involved in.” The young man across from Eric was hardly old enough to drive and looked every bit the part of a clean-cut suburban teen. Eric knew it knew it was an act, as much for comedy as a disguise.

  “What do you usually think I’m involved in?”

  The young man smiled. “Strange, stranger, and the really fracking bizarre. The kind that no one wants to let get out, the kind you always pay well to keep secret.”

  “So talk.” Eric discretely looked around the coffee shop and made sure no one was watching them too closely.

  “Word is getting around in deep dark places that this little conflict over economic sanctions and all that fraking-“

  “Will you just swear!”

  “Naw man, that’s rude. Besides, Battlestar Galactica was awesome!”

  Eric sighed. “So, what are people saying?”

  “That this is about two secret societies. They’re about to fight it out over an ancient prophecy about the end of the world.”

  “You called me all the way out here for a face to face chat, for that?”

  “No, not just that. This hacker chick I was talking to has vanished, and she was working on some crazy program that sounded like some wild cryptography thing. From what she said, it could decode ancient texts and find hidden messages.”

  “You’ve been watching too many movies.”

  “Yeah, you think?” The kid pushed back his blond hair and smiled. “Well, I got a friend with an outstanding pattern recognition program. I got a copy, made some modifications of my own, and ran some stuff through it.”

  “Like what kind of stuff?”

  “The dead sea scrolls, the oldest translations of anything I could find floating on the net.”

  “And?” Eric made a mental calculation on how much this was gonna cost him, and how much money he could get without attracting attention. He briefly regretted being one of the good guys, shallow graves were cheap.

  “I have no idea what it is or means, but I keep finding the same number sets. The crazy thing is this hacker girl was finding the same thing… And, a bunch of physics equations.”

  “How do you think this ties to the crises with the European Union?”

  “I didn’t know at first, but then I got to thinking that this might also predict stock prices and stuff.”

  “Does it?”

  “Don’t know, I haven’t tried it. I mean, I saw the movie Pi, I know how these things work, and I’m not about to have to power drill my head to forget stuff. Besides, some guy is buying up all kinds of old books and things, the kind of stuff I was looking at. The same guy is on a lot of forums asking questions. So I did some digging, and this guy has money, more money than god. It’s all in Swiss accounts and other shadowy places, but it gets stranger. There are like five or six people wiring him money, pretty blatantly. No cryptocurrency, nothing like that. Turns out these people are all attached to really old families and really old money in Europe. Between them, they have ties to every major company in Europe and more than a few governments. The real kicker is that he seems to be asking a lot of questions that the hacker was asking. I think he killed her and stole her data.”

  “Please, tell me you didn’t keep proof of this.” Eric was no longer seeing how expensive this was going to be. But, how dead this kid was about to be.

  “Yeah, this guys name is-“

  “Solomon.”

  “Huh?”

  “I know him, I know him well enough to know he is about two minutes from finding you and killing you.” Eric stood up and pulled out his cell phone and punched a number from memory.

  “Why?”

  “What do you mean why? You idiot, you just crawled into his dirty finances and are trying to connect him to a missing girl. You’re a long way from the truth but too close. Lose your electronics.”

  “What?”

  “Throw them in the trash and come with me.” Eric finally heard a voice at the other end of his phone answer. “Christine? I’ve got a new recruit for you. And, we're gonna need a pick up in a hurry, he’s in trouble.” The kid watched as Eric listened for a moment before hanging up. “Time to go.”

  “Where?”

  “A dark van and a new life working for a government agency with no name, under a boss with no name.”

  “Can I get paid in Bitcoins?” The kid dropped a brand new smartphone into a trash can, then fished out two older ones and tossed them in as well.

  “Shut the frak up, kid.” Eric all but dragged the kid out to the street by his arm.

  Chapter 25

  “We’re out of food.” Yvonne said, holding up the now empty bag that had once held their meager supplies of canned food. Her face was dirty and streaked with tears and sweat. Her once prim and perfect hair was matted and greasy looking, tied tightly back out of her face and wrapped in a bun. Her clothing was dirty and ripped, she looked every bit like she was lost in the jungle to Radha, who supposed she didn’t look much better herself.

  “Three days, that’s more than we thought we were gonna get.” Deanna said quietly. She looked dirty and worn down as well. In places, Radha could see tattoos through the rips in her clothing.

  “How many ta
ttoos do you have?” Radha asked as she examined the dragon on Deanna’s arm from a distance.

  “Huh?”

  “I think food is the more important issue right now.” Yvonne said quietly.

  “It is, but I’ve been wondering about it since I met you, Deanna. How many tattoos do you have?” Radha squatted by a tree to rest, she had learned the hard way not to just sit on the jungle floor.

  “Six. I have six tattoos.”

  “Besides the dragon? What are they?”

  “I have guns from sci-fi shows I like on each thigh.” She put her hands on her upper thighs where a gunslinger might wear holsters. “A Celtic knot over my heart, a fairy with an infinity symbol for a halo on the small of my back-“

  “You have a tramp stamp?” Yvonne said with a laugh.

  “Yeah.” Deanna turned and lifted the back of her shirt, revealing a large colorful, and complicated tattoo. Radha found herself thinking it was beautiful.

  “What’s the last one?” Radha asked.

  “You’ll never see it.” Deanna smiled. “It’s a heart with lilies around it, and in the middle, it says ‘your name here’ on a little scroll.”

  “Where is it?” Radha asked, assuming it was on Deanna’s backside.

  Deanna answered by smiling wickedly and patting the zipper on her pants, just above her crotch. Yvonne promptly burst with spontaneous and unconstrained laughter. Radha felt herself blush as she giggled and laughed.

  “I try to be selective about who gets to see that one.” Deanna explained with a modest smile after the laughter had faded. “My wicked ways are fun, but they won't feed us. At least, not here, in the jungle. A bar on the North Side might be another story.”

  “Rain forest.” Yvonne corrected. “This is technically a rain forest.”

  “That changes everything.” Deanna said as she turned away from Yvonne and rolled her eyes.

  “It won't mean anything if we starve to death out here.” Radha wasn’t hungry yet but suddenly realized she never had really known real hunger and had no desire to.

  “I’ve read that the vast majority of plants are edible.” Deanna prodded a small plant with her knife.