The End of the Beginning

by Eichholz, Zachary

“Yes, sir,” grinned William.

  “I told you not to call me that.”

  CHAPTER 52: Breaking Rules

  William slowly opened the door. He flipped on the room’s lights. Both beds were neatly made. There wasn’t a spec of dust on anything. The room was immaculate. Any indication of what had happened appeared to be gone.

  William looked down the walkway. He saw a security camera starring at him about twenty feet to his left on the wall. He ignored it and stepped into the room first. John hovered right behind him.

  “Start looking,” instructed William. “How much blood would you need?”

  “Not much,” said John. “We got some high tech stuff that can do a lot with a little.”

  “Okay, good. Just make sure you put everything back the way you found it.”

  “Yep.”

  William got on his knees over the area where he had tackled Samir. He took out a small LED flashlight from one of his pants pockets and turned it on. After a few passes with the light he saw nothing. He got down on his back and wiggled himself under Sergey’s bed.

  William looked over at John who was also on the floor but under Samir’s bed. He had a UV flashlight.

  “Where’d you get that?” asked William jealously.

  “Every doctor has a backlight flashlight,” replied John with a giddy voice.

  “No, they don’t. And, I thought blood doesn’t fluoresce.”

  “It doesn’t, but other bodily fluids do, fluids that could also tell me whether or not drugs were present in his system.

  “Gross.”

  “I believe the correct word you’re looking for is science,” smirked John. “But, so far, this place has been scrubbed cleaner than a NASA Mars rover.”

  “Uh-huh. Just keep looking would ya. I don’t know when Sergey and his new roommate will be back.”

  William looked along the baseboard, on each bedpost, and amongst the bedframe. Nothing. He combed each wall. He searched the window and its blinds. William moved to the room’s air conditioning vent. As he peered through the vent, he heard John say, “Hmm.”

  “What?” asked William, not turning around.

  “UV light got something.”

  William rushed over to John. “Really?”

  “Yeah. Look.” John pointed to a small vile filled with a white watery liquid. He had pulled it out of a small hollowed out compartment under one of Samir’s wooden bedframe legs. The vile was no bigger than William’s index finger. Under John’s UV flashlight the liquid glowed.

  “What is it?” William asked.

  “I’m not sure,” said John, picking it up. “I don’t think it’s anything that is organic.”

  “Let me see,” gestured William. John gave him the glass vile. William gave it a shake. “We’ll take it and analyze it.”

  “We’re going to take it?” hesitated John. “You know how many rules we’re already breaking!”

  “Yeah,” said William staring at the vile, holding it close to his face.

  “Okay good. I’m glad we’re on the same page. Granted, I’m an occasional rule bender but not a breaker…”

  The two men jumped. Someone had slammed a door somewhere down the hall.

  “Will, lets go,” pleaded John. “There is no blood in this room. ISAF cleaned it all to well.”

  “Yeah, okay. Let’s go.”

  William left the room first. John did a quick sweep to make sure the room looked exactly the same as it did before they had entered it. Satisfied, John turned off the room’s light and shut the door, automatically locking it. William grabbed the handrail and looked out over the courtyard.

  “Damnit,” he whispered.

  He looked down to the ground below, to the spot where Samir had fallen. And then he remembered.

  “I’m an idiot,” he exclaimed.

  “No, come on,” John said, joining him at the railing. “Don’t beat yourself up, Will. Maybe I - ”

  “No. No,” grinned William. “We’re looking in the wrong place Doc. We need to be looking in there.”

  William pointed. John tracked William’s finger to the ground.

  “In there? Oh no.”

  CHAPTER 53: Answers in The Drain

  William lifted the square storm drain grate with a grunt. John shined William’s flashlight down into the shaft below it. A ladder in the shaft led down into a tunnel about ten feet below the courtyard. William wiped his hands on his pants, instantly dirtying them up with the grim and dirt of the grate.

  “In my investigation interview today Hernandez showed me a picture of Samir in his final resting position. His head landed on this storm drain grate. In the picture his head was bleeding, profusely. With any luck, some of his blood dripped down into the tunnel below and it’s still there for us to collect.”

  “It’s possible. You go first,” John motioned cautiously.

  “Baby,” sighed William.

  He lowered himself down the ladder, taking his flashlight down in his mouth. John followed. Down inside the tunnel it was damp and cold and it smelt like it. Lighting was minimal. William and John had to crouch inside of it once they reached the bottom of the shaft. The tunnel had a rectangular shape.

  “This is used to take excess rainwater during storms,” observed John.

  “Yeah, that’s a good thing though,” said William. “It hasn’t rained since the incident. Look around. Most of it should be right here.”

  William directed his flashlight at the base of the ladder. After only a few seconds of illumination he spotted a dry red substance that had pooled in several scattered stains all within inches of each other.

  “Bingo,” smiled William.

  “Ha. Look at that,” stared John. “It looks clean. I can’t believe it.”

  “Bag it and tag it. You have anything to take a sample?”

  John raised an eyebrow. “Will, you kidding me?”

  “Of course,” chuckled William. “I forgot who I was talking too.”

  John removed a small white Velcro medical kit from his left pant leg. He opened it and sprawled it out on the floor. Inside it was a collection of small surgical tools, creams, some medications, syringes, and cotton swabs that could be sealed inside of an attached plastic tube. He took one of these cotton swabs and rubbed it over one of the blood pools, hoping it would lift something.

  “Got it?” asked William.

  “Yup. I think so.”

  John carefully pulled the swab back into the attached plastic tube and sealed it. He took another sample, then sealed it as well.

  “Okay,” he said satisfied. “I can get this analyzed within twenty-four hours of arriving in Alaska.”

  “When do you get there?”

  “Around eighteen hundred hours Alaskan standard time, four hours behind you here on the east coast. So, twenty-two hundred hours here. The dams opening ceremony is the day after tomorrow at o-nine hundred hours so I’ll either get the sample analyzed before or after that.”

  “How long is the ceremony going to last?”

  “A while. It’s celebrating no small feat, Will. The Bering Sea Dam is the largest structure ever built on Earth. Senior heads of all UNIRO facilities and dozens of heads of states will be there. I’ll try my best to get out of there as soon as I can.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Doc.”

  “No problem. What are you going to do in the mean time?”

  William pulled a smirk across his face. “Probably get myself in trouble.”

  CHAPTER 54: Lewis

  “Rescue Officer Nancy Lewis speaking. How may I help you, Captain?”

  “Morning, Rescue Officer. I was wondering if we could speak in person together about something.”

  “Of course, sir, would you like to meet in your office? You still have not been in it.”

  “As much as I would like to let’s meet somewhere else, somewhere more out of the way. I rather not discuss it over the comms but…”

  “Is everything alright, sir?”

  “That's what
you're going to help me find out, Rescue Officer.”

  “So, why are we on the seawall, sir?” asked Nancy, trying to speak over the sound of the forceful breeze.

  “I come here to be alone sometimes, to think, to talk. It’s private, away from the base,” explained William.

  “Why should we be away from it?” Nancy asked, concern growing in her voice.

  “It’s better if we’re out here for this conversation. I’m sure you have heard all about Rescue Officer Samir Mamedov, my team member, and his suicide.”

  “Yes, of course. I’m very sorry about that.”

  “Thank you. It was sudden but…” William grimly looked out to sea, “but something was wrong about it. Do you know anything about the incident?”

  “No, not really, sir. I heard about it pretty quickly but I don't really know any details. What was… wrong, about it, as you say?”

  William leaned over the railing and took a moment to himself as to whether or not to tell Nancy what he believed.

  “Lewis, I think someone is trying to hide something about his suicide. I think Samir was a part of something much bigger than himself and he wanted out. Someone seemed to be controlling him and was under such pressure that…”

  “He jumped…” finished Nancy.

  “Yes, he jumped right in front of me, four stories to concrete.”

  Nancy rested against the railing, staring out over the waves looking to be scrutinizing what she knew. Some spray was making its way up to where they were standing on the wall near the east seagate, making a misty rainbow in the sunlight whenever it brushed up from the breakers.

  “I need your objective help Rescue Officer Lewis,” William pleaded. “Samir said things before he jumped that make me cringe to this day. He wanted my help and I’m going to give it to him. He wanted us to uncover something. Right now, I don’t really have anyone on my side with this. It's me against the brass,” pleaded William.

  “What do you want from me, sir?”

  “Your good with computers, aren’t you?”

  “Was the top of my class, sir,” Nancy boasted. “I help to maintain the base’s automated maintenance and performance systems. I can tell you anything that happens within these walls.”

  “Anything?” William said, raising an eyebrow.

  “Pretty sure,” Nancy shrugged her shoulders. “I helped design some of the bases systems. I can probably break through whatever is running in those fiber optics in no time at all.”

  “No time at all? So, like, what, we talking a few hours or…”

  Nancy shook her head. “A few minutes.”

  William nodded. “Good.” He looked at her and realized her utility was something he could utilize all the time and thought of just the place it would best serve. “In return for doing this, I would like to offer you a position with my team,” he said, touching his squadron patch on his shoulder.

  Nancy covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh, my. Sir, that would be incredible. As much as I like it here on base the field is really where I want to work. A position with your squadron would be a dream.”

  “It's a deal then.”

  CHAPTER 55: Expanding Trust

  Hours later, at a table well to the back of one of the dining halls by a dark window…

  “Terra Nova,” quivered DJ. “Holy shit.”

  “My… My brother…” Sergey whimpered. Amanda put her arm around him.

  “So much for not getting us involved,” sniffed Vinny.

  Amanda waved him a deadpan look.

  “This has now become greater than our squadron. I wouldn’t involve you if I didn’t think your safety and the safety of everyone on this base was in jeopardy,” affirmed William.

  Abeo shook his head. “Sir, where is your evidence of this conspiracy? With all due respect, you are connecting random dots hoping they form a hidden masterpiece.”

  “Well,” said William, gently putting the white murky liquid filled vile him and John had found on the table, “hopefully with this we can start to get some.”

  “What is that?” Gaspard asked.

  “I’m not sure. Colonel Morrison and I found it in Samir’s room. It fluoresces under ultraviolet light. I was hoping that you Fortin, with your background, could tell me.”

  “Me?” gulped Gaspard.

  William nodded. “I know you’re a mechanical engineer by trade but don’t you also have a chemistry background as well? Your personnel file says so.”

  “Just a minor in it, sir.”

  “That will do. I need you to analyze what is in this vile as soon as possible. Can you do it?”

  Gaspard grabbed the vile hesitantly. “Yes, sir. I can.” Shampoo stuck her noise up over the table and sniffed the vile. Amanda quickly brought her back to the floor.

  “And for what you said before, Captain, about Rescue Officer Lewis. Do you trust her, sir?” asked Paul.

  “Yes, I do, Macom. She has come into this objectively. She has had no prior contact with anyone in the investigation and never knew Samir. She hasn't been interviewed and she hasn’t met any of you. She barely even knows me.”

  “So you trust her, even though you barely know her?” asked Abeo.

  “She is smart, she can figure this out,” William said confidently.

  “Why Terra Nova?” whispered Vega.

  “Because…” William took a deep breath. He brought his head down and leaned into the table. “Because of Base Commander Hammond.”

  “What?” gasped Mario, sitting up as he did.

  Vinny ran his hand through his hair. “You think Base Commander Hammond is…”

  “Yes,” asserted William.

  “What did you see?” Vega asked, as if already knowing the answer.

  William told them all about the warehouse, about Toronto, and about the note Samir had slipped him at the ropes course. For a good minute or two after William concluded, his team was silent.

  “Well, Boss,” Simba huffed finally, “I am a firm believer now.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Heather.

  “Something is going on here,” whispered William, “something very dark in a place where darkness should not exist. Rescue Officer Lewis will do her part. Now, I need all of you to do yours. I need your eyes and ears everywhere. I need your smarts. But, most of all, I need your trust.”

  “Si-Si-Sir,” stuttered Seong. William looked over at him biting his lip. “The whole wor-wor-world could be against you, and I, I would st-still trust you.”

  William smiled gratefully.

  “Lead me into battle, Captain,” hailed Vinny.

  “Thank you, sir,” said Sergey, “for giving me the chance to give my brother peace.”

  “I’ve always wanted to be a spy, sir,” grinned Mario. “It’s the biggest chica magnet.”

  “I like killing terrorist,” stated Vega. Everyone looked at her for a moment. “What?” she smirked.

  The whole team agreed something must be done, even Abeo, albeit slightly reluctantly.

  “Fortin, get me that vile analyzed while we wait for Colonel Morrison to do the same with the blood sample we collected to prove Samir was clean. He should be landing soon in…”

  William looked around and noticed everyone was looking behind him. In the dark window in front of him, William saw a reflection materialize. Someone was walking up behind him.

  Amanda caught William’s attention from across the table. She was shifting her eyes back and forth, looking at him and whoever had just arrived. No one at the table looked particularly happy to see this person. William mouthed the words, who is it, to her. As discretely as she could, she mouthed back, Hernandez.

  CHAPTER 56: Tension At The Table

  “My, my, is this the surprise of my day!” shouted Hernandez, clapping his hands together loudly. “Search and Rescue Squadron 3. May you allow this tired soul a warm meal in your presence, amongst friends? Hmm?”

  Shampoo darted under the table to greet Hernandez. Furiously, she started licking the man’s
right forearm.

  “Beautiful dog,” smiled Hernandez, embracing Shampoo with a back rub. “I used to work with one just like her.”

  “Chief,” said William, turning around in his chair.

  “Captain, am I interrupting something?” asked Hernandez.

  William put on an inviting face. “No, sir. But… we were actually just about to leave. My team and I are tired and need to get up early again for more training. Training, training, training,” he chuckled.

  Hernandez looked somewhat annoyed. “Oh, come now amigos. You are all much younger and fitter than me. The night is still very much young!”

  “I’m sorry, sir,” said William, getting up. The rest of his team quickly followed. “Training calls.”

  Hernandez scratched his nose above a flashed smile that showed William the chief did not believe him. “Of course. I wouldn’t want you all failing because of my late night dinner habits. Good luck tomorrow.”

  Everyone made there way past Hernandez and William who stayed, still looking at each other. Each of the team politely said goodbye to the chief. He acknowledged each of them politely back.

  “Rescue Officer Fortin,” said Hernandez, gently grabbing Gaspard’s arm, stopping him.

  Everyone froze. William felt his heart start to race. His body became awash with tension. Gaspard felt even worse. He knew why Hernandez had stopped him. “Sir?”

  “What is that in your hand?” asked Hernandez curiously, pointing to the vile.

  “Oh this, this is just, this is just a shot of an energy drink.”

  “An energy drink?”

  “Yes, sir. It’s my own remedy.”

  Hernandez put out his hand. “May I see it?”

  Gaspard quickly looked at William. William nodded. Gaspard handed the vile off. Hernandez held it up to the light.

  “Interesting.”

  Gaspard bit his lip. He could feel a single bead of sweat falling down his forehead.

  “Well,” said Hernandez after what felt like forever, “maybe next time you can bring enough for everyone, yeah?”

  Hernandez laughed, as did Gaspard but out of nervous relief. William pretended to chuckle. Shampoo waged her tale at Amanda’s feet.