Rain Saga

by Barton, Riley

  His brow furrowed, and he stared at his shoes, weighing the consequences of his words as he worked out his reply.

  He knew that Bridget was definitely unstable. And he knew that one wrong word could very well cause the house-of-cards that was her psyche to come crashing down. Resulting in—who knew what?

  Having at last chosen what he hoped would be the right response, Keith looked up and saw that she had already begun to cry. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her, but it appeared that was exactly what he’d done.

  Cautiously, he said, “It’s not that I don’t like you, Bridget. You’re a beautiful woman with a … great personality.” He cringed inwardly and then looked her squarely in the eye, hoping that what he said next wouldn’t cause her to have a psychotic breakdown. “But I don’t feel that you really know who you are. If that makes sense.”

  She swallowed, her lip began to quiver, and for a moment he considered ending the conversation right then and there. In the end, however, he decided it was better to get things over before they became even more complicated, so he continued.

  “There’s someone really wonderful trapped inside you,” he said, “but until she stops hiding behind this façade you’ve put up, no one will ever have a chance to meet her.”

  She sobbed, making him feel even more terrible.

  “I’m sorry, Bridget. That’s … just how it is.” He said, and then he stepped outside before either of them could say anything else.

  As the door closed behind him, he silently hoped that he had done the right thing. At the very least, he figured that he’d taken care of his stalker problem once and for all. Yet, on the other hand, he found himself feeling … guilty.

  “Mac, call the lieutenant. Tell him I have the final case report ready.”

  “Yes, sir. Right away.”

  Chapter 40

  Manning’s eyes flitted wearily across the monitor displaying the accumulated results of the various debriefing assignments. Doctoring all the data was proving harder than he had originally thought. Already he’d spent the greater part of the evening sequestered in one of the security office’s basement router stations, poring over the classified documents.

  He had made sure that everyone upstairs thought he’d clocked out for the day so he could finish his work without disturbance. As he stared at the screen, his all-purpose device began vibrating in his pocket.

  With his eyes still scanning the data stream, he reached for his headset and tucked it over his ear. “Agent Manning.”

  “Lieutenant, this is Agent Tagawa. I’ve just finished the Chavé interview. Do you want me to send it to you now?”

  “Yeah. Sure. Transmit it to my personal terminal.”

  “Will do. You should be receiving it … now.”

  Manning glanced over at the laptop spliced into the mainframe as Keith’s data file began to download. Once the initial transfer was complete, he typed in a few quick commands and forwarded the data to the main case file, along with all the other records.

  “All right, I’ve got it, Tagawa. Thanks.”

  There was a pause. “Sir—if I may ask—does it look like we’re getting anywhere with this?”

  “You know I don’t have access to the main case file, Tagawa,” Manning lied, glancing up at the holo-screen out of the corner of his eye.

  “I know that, sir. I was just wondering if you’ve come across anything useful in our investigation?”

  Manning sighed and massaged his temple, rising from his chair. Keith Tagawa sure was persistent.

  “Not yet. We really don’t have that much info to go on. But I’m sure once all the pieces come together we’ll—”

  “Lieutenant Manning? What are you doing here?”

  Pulling out his gun, Manning spun to face the speaker and stared into the bewildered face of Agent Rosa Hernandez.

  “Lieutenant?” Keith asked. “Are you there?”

  “Yeah, I’m here. Just another call coming in. I’ll have to get back to you.”

  “Understood, sir. Let me know if anything changes.”

  Manning waited until Keith hung up and then, with a quick wave of his gun, motioned for Rosa to move. He was careful to stay well out of her reach.

  “Keep your hands where I can see them and move over here. Nice and slow.”

  “What are you doing?” she asked accusingly, raising her hands from her side.

  “You first,” he said coldly, leveling his gun.

  “I was going to see why our systems are being so sluggish,” she replied eyeing Manning’s computer screens, “but it looks like I found the problem.”

  “Looks like it.”

  Before she could say any more, he squeezed the trigger. A moment later Agent Hernandez lay dead on the floor.

  Manning pulled Rosa’s sidearm from its holster and placed it in her lifeless hand, then he placed a call to Mr. Edgard.

  “What is it, Manning?”

  “Something’s come up, sir. Agent Hernandez walked in on me. I had to eliminate her.”

  Edgard swore under his breath, “Was that really necessary?”

  “Yes, sir. It was. She’d seen too much.”

  “Well, I trust you know how to clean up your own mess?”

  “Yes, sir,” Manning replied. “Everyone already thinks Swamper agents within Unitech were responsible for what happened to Miss McKelly. When I’m done, it’ll look like Hernandez was just another sleeper agent.”

  “Hmm. Good work.” Edgard said, obviously pleased.

  “Sir, there is a bit of a snag ... ” Manning continued. “Landers is suspicious. I’ve been doing my best to hinder the Agency’s investigation, but there’s still a lot of intel in the mainframe. They’re getting close to figuring out the truth.”

  Edgard was silent for a moment then asked, “Can’t you alter the files?”

  “I have been, sir. But I can only do so much. As long as Landers keeps up this investigation, there’s a chance that someone will eventually put two and two together.”

  “What are you suggesting, Manning?”

  Manning smiled slightly. It was time to make his move.

  “I’m suggesting that you eliminate Chief Landers, sir.”

  “Eliminate the chief of Unitech Security? Are you crazy? That man has been an agent longer than you’ve been alive! Killing him will draw too much attention!”

  “Not if you replace him with a man whose loyalty is to you, sir.”

  “You, you mean?”

  “Just making a suggestion, sir.” Manning said, unplugging his computer from the main terminal. “If you put me in charge of the Agency, I could personally guarantee that no one will be able to touch you. Ever. Think about it.”

  A long pause followed.

  Finally, Edgard spoke. “I trust you’ve already thought up a plan to take care of Landers?”

  “I have. But I’ll need unrestricted access to Alex’s data core to make it work.”

  “You’ll have it. Just answer me this: What exactly is this plan you’ve cooked up?”

  “If we want Landers to take the bait it has to be believable. As such, the fewer people who know about it, the better.”

  “So I take it that means you’re not going to tell me.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Manning, making his way toward the door. “Just be ready. You’ll know what to do when the time is right.”

  “And what if Landers catches on? What then?”

  “Don’t worry, sir. I’ll have insurance. Trust me. Landers won’t be a problem.”

  “For your sake, Agent, you had better be right. Otherwise you’ll be the one who is ‘taken care of’.”

  “I understand, sir.”

  Edgard hung up, and Manning slipped the headset back into his pocket. He cast one more glance at Rosa’s body then left the room, sealing the door behind him.

  His plan was simple: First, he would return to the main floor and report to the handful of night staff that he’d had to shoot Agent Hernandez in self-defense.. They would of c
ourse question him, and he would explain that he’d returned in order to finish filing some last minute reports. His computer terminal had been acting up, so he’d gone down to the router station where he had discovered Rosa tampering with the files. He had attempted to take her into custody and she’d reached for her weapon, forcing him to shoot her.

  He stepped into the elevator, tapping the button that would take him back up to the main office. He would most likely be placed on suspension for a week or two while they sorted through all the evidence. But that was a small price to pay in the long run.

  Soon he would be the head of the Agency. From there he would position himself as close to Edgard as he could, and—after a few years of earning his trust—Manning would eliminate Edgard as well. After he’d secured his position as Edgard’s successor, that is.

  Everything was going according to plan.

  Chapter 41

  Luna gasped and opened her eyes, the memories of her ordeal rushing up through the depths of her mind.

  She groaned.

  Every part of her felt as if it were made of lead. She closed her eyes and breathed in again, her lungs filling easily, painlessly.

  Startled, she opened her eyes. Her lungs had actually filled?

  Her feeling of long-awaited relief was soon overshadowed by her sense of confusion as she realized she was no longer aboard the Second Wind. Instead, she was lying on a bed inside a dimly lit and horribly cluttered room.

  Ignoring her stiff muscles, she forced herself to sit up and waited for the sudden dizziness to subside. She stared intently at the narrow strip of light seeping under and around the room’s lopsided door. Beyond the door she could hear voices, and she strained to catch what was being said.

  “—Sherpa mercenaries? Here?”

  She recognized Mark’s voice right away.

  “I know, right?” the second speaker said with a dry, gravelly laugh. “I didn’t believe it myself until I started intercepting their comm traffic.”

  She heard Mark sigh. “I never thought Edgard would be able to suck so many people into this war. He’s insane. A genius—but insane.”

  “I can’t argue with that. But if he weren’t, then we wouldn’t have this opportunity now, would we? Think about it. For the first time in twenty-something years we actually have a chance to shut it down—”

  “Gentlemen, if I might interrupt,” Ed’s synthetic voice cut in, “I do believe that Subject Luna is at last awake.”

  Realizing that there was no point in eavesdropping any more, Luna stiffly climbed out of bed, walked across the damp, wooden floor, and opened the rickety door.

  The adjoining room was barely larger than the previous chamber, though it was just as cluttered and musty—if not more so.

  The light of a single battery-powered lantern illuminated the room, casting weird shadows on the mold-covered, concrete walls. Besides these, the only furniture she could see were an antique wooden table, two chairs—which were occupied by Mark and a short, balding man—and a battered washer and dryer stuffed into a corner.

  The two men turned to look at her.

  “Luna!” Mark exclaimed. Rising from his seat, he hurried over and pulled her into his arms. “How are you feeling?”

  “Pretty good actually,” she said, pleasantly surprised by the embrace. “How long was I out?”

  Mark stepped back and offered her his chair. “It’s been about four days since … well, since we injected you with the serum. You’ve been in and out of consciousness for most of that time, but I doubt you remember. You were pretty out of it.”

  Four days? Slowly she asked, “Did it work?”

  Mark smiled. “Yeah, it worked.”

  She could barely contain the joy she felt at hearing those words. It had been so long … she hardly remembered what life was like without the Blister Wart disease. But finally she was free.

  “So … what happened to the ship?”

  “The ship? I don’t even know where to begin,” Mark muttered.

  “How about at the beginning?” she offered sarcastically, “That’s always a good place.”

  Mark took a deep breath. “Well, you remember the storm? How I said we could get the Second Wind free if it kept up?”

  She nodded, and he continued. “Well, it did. In fact it got really heavy there toward the end, which helped a lot. Once we were free, we headed for the nearest settlement.”

  “So we’re in a settlement, then?”

  “That is correct, Subject Luna,” Ed replied, the blue light in Mark’s chestplate flashing as he spoke.

  “So what happened to the ship after that?”

  “She got impounded right after you got here,” the other man said, answering before Mark could. “Unitech has imposed an embargo on all non-registered vessels. The whole settlement has been locked down. If you’d gotten here any later, I never would’ve been able to hide you in time. The name’s Paul, by the way,” he said, leaning across the table to extend a surprisingly clean hand to her, “but you can just call me Toad. Most people around here do.”

  She smiled and accepted the handshake. “Toad? Why do they call you Toad?”

  Toad laughed and gestured at his substantial paunch. “Why do you think?”

  She’d forgotten what it was like to laugh without wheezing. The sensation gladdened her more than the joke itself.

  “All right, so that explains what we’re doing here.” she said once her giggling had subsided, “But what’s all this about a war?”

  “Edgard declared war on the Swampers,” Mark replied, seating himself on an upturned bucket. “Apparently, he’s using the conflict to cover up what he did to you while creating a global demand for Unitech war materials at the same time.”

  “Which is a pretty smart idea, if you think about it,” Toad commented, rocking precariously back in his chair.

  “Indeed,” Ed added. “What better way to conceal a crime than to hide it amidst the chaos of war?”

  “I was talking about the money-making bit, Ed.”

  “Ah,” replied the AI, “I have never fully understood humans and their apparent need to accumulate wealth.”

  “Of course not—you’re an AI! You’ve never had to buy anything.”

  “Anyway,” Mark cut in, “Edgard and the other world leaders have sent troops into the swamp to put an end to the ‘Swamper radicals’ responsible for your murder.”

  “Murder? So everyone thinks I’m dead?”

  Mark nodded again.

  “Not that being dead is such a bad thing,” Toad said, fiddling with one of the straps of his yellow, rubberized overalls. “I mean, Mark and I have been dead for—what—eighteen … twenty years? Something like that?”

  “Yeah, something like that,” Mark replied.

  At once overcome by both confusion and curiosity, Luna blurted out, “Twenty years? How exactly do you two know each other?”

  The men glanced at each other.

  “Does she know?”

  “She knows a little,” Mark replied.

  “How much is a little?”

  “She knows who I am. And I told her about my mother.”

  Toad frowned. “So she doesn’t know about that? Right?”

  “I haven’t told her. No.”

  “Will someone please tell me what is going on here?” Luna exclaimed.

  The two men looked at each other a second time.

  Mark leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. “You first.”

  Toad frowned and then begrudgingly shifted his gaze to Luna. “All right. What I’m about to tell you is confidential, okay? That means I don’t want you blabbing it to everybody and their dog. Got it?”

  She nodded, and he continued. “Back in the day, I used to be a programmer. Graduated at the top of my class and all that. Got a job programming AI units at Unitech back before the Cathedral disaster.”

  “So you must have known Jack?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. I knew him. And Mark’s mom, too.”
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  “Yeah, right. If you can call the occasional wave ‘knowing’ someone.” Mark commented dryly.

  Toad shot him a stern look. “Hey! I’m telling the story here! Now where was I? Oh, yeah. Back in the good old days.” He paused and scratched his unshaven chin for a moment before resuming his narrative. “Okay, so I was working for Unitech. And everything was great … Then there was the murder and the Cathedral disaster … and pretty much everything went south from there. But something never sat well with me about what happened to Jack. Didn’t sit well with a lot of other people, too. So, naturally, one thing led to another, and before long we started looking into things for ourselves. Then people started disappearing.”

  He stopped and the expression on his round face became grave. “It was subtle at first. A co-worker would be transferred or promoted, and you wouldn’t think anything of it. But then they’d stop returning your calls—almost like they’d dropped right off the face of the planet. In hindsight, it’s obvious that Edgard was behind it, but we didn’t know that back then. All we knew was that we were most likely on to something. Something big.”

  “So you found the data in Alex’s mainframe, too?” Luna asked.

  “Easily,” he said proudly. “The thing with AI units is you can’t actually delete anything from their memory. All you can do is try to block access to those parts of their data core and hope no one finds a back door. Which I did. Unfortunately Edgard was right behind me. The next thing I knew I was being dumped out in the swamp.”

  “So, let me get this straight. You’re saying that the Swampers are all people Edgard tried to silence?”

  “Not all of them. Some are just people who were too poor to evacuate to the cities. The rest are just your average criminals,” Toad said.

  “So I take it that’s when you two met? After Toad was thrown out here?” Luna asked, looking to Mark for an answer.

  “Well, sort of,” he replied. “I was still a little kid back then. So it took a few years. But, yeah. That’s when we … got acquainted.”

  Toad grinned. “Of course it wasn’t until I met Ed that I figured out you were Jack’s kid.”