‘That’s because he’s an incompetent motherfucker,’ Nasira said.
Freeman nodded. ‘He deserved what he got.’
Sophia’s anger faded. ‘What do you mean?’
The lines in Freeman’s face seemed to run deeper still. ‘The Melbourne base was compromised. We suspect he leaked something, even if by accident.’ He buried his face in large, rough hands. ‘The more we piece together about what occurred there, the more I realize that he never should have been allowed to run one of our bases.’ He pulled his hands away. ‘That’s our first Shadow Akhana base gone. We can’t afford to lose another.’
‘And everyone inside?’ Sophia asked.
Freeman reached for a crumpled pack of cigarettes. ‘Gone. Blue Berets raided the place. It’s toast. No survivors.’
Sophia’s mouth hung open, her lips dry. She thought of everyone she knew there. She thought of poor Elizabeth, who probably couldn’t even remember her. She would be dead now.
‘It’s my fault,’ she said.
‘No,’ DC said firmly. ‘It’s not.’
‘He’s right.’ Freeman waved his unlit cigarette. ‘You’re our Phoenix, Sophia. You rose from your own ashes.’
‘Two bases,’ Sophia said. ‘Shadow or not. Two bases that have been wiped out because of me.’
‘We had to evacuate, plain and simple,’ Freeman said. ‘And it’s not your fault that Dolph was an egotistical dick.’
‘I seem to bring out the best in people,’ Sophia said.
Freeman smiled as he lit his cigarette. ‘I set up most of the Shadow Akhana bases in Asia. It took a long time but it was worth it. Our research shows there’s a comparatively low number of psychopaths in Asian countries. The UK, Australia, ten, fifteen percent are psychopaths. Here in the Philippines, it’s more like one or two percent. Only good thing I ever did.’
‘Sir, you’ve done much more than that,’ DC said.
Sophia clasped her hands on the table. ‘So you’ve been here the whole time? The founder of the Akhana in exile.’
Freeman laughed. ‘The entire Akhana is in exile now. But yeah, I’ve been here, keeping an eye on the Fifth Column.’
‘Yes,’ Sara said. ‘A very close eye.’
Sophia was interested now. ‘And?’
‘It seems you were onto something,’ Freeman said.
Sara went to stand, but Freeman put his hand on her shoulder and got up himself.
‘I got it,’ he said.
He snatched loose papers from the counter top, brought them to Sophia’s table and opened one out so everyone could see. Chickenhead and Big Dog got up from the next table to peer over shoulders. It was a world map with markings. Sophia looked closely. A few markings were scattered across Europe, and one in Japan, one in Australia, one in Iraq, one in Russia, another in China and two in South America. Nothing in Africa.
‘The construction sites?’ she said. ‘You’ve found more.’
‘Under company name Argus,’ Sara said. ‘But they have only start digging, no building.’
Sophia glanced at Freeman. The lantern’s flame twitched in his eyes.
‘We think it might be part of a project called Seraphim,’ Freeman said. ‘An expansion of sorts.’
‘Seraphim was a long time ago,’ DC said.
Sophia wasn’t sure how much Freeman knew of DC’s history in Project Seraphim, until she saw the two men exchange a knowing look.
‘You look like you’ve heard of it,’ Freeman said. He put another piece of paper on the table.
‘Some light reading,’ Sophia said.
The new map showed just the United States. It had eight question marks. Sophia noticed one marked New York and another marked Miami.
‘These are possible locations of Seraphim facilities in America,’ Freeman said. ‘But they’re not recent, they were built in the early nineties.’
‘How long have you known about this?’ Nasira said. ‘Why wasn’t I told?’
‘Or … anyone?’ Damien said.
‘Project Seraphim’s been resurrected?’ Sophia asked Freeman.
‘No,’ he said. ‘It never stopped. Those facilities were one of the final stages. Denton had his finger in quite a few pies. And his father before him.’
‘So what’s their plan?’ Sophia said. ‘The Fifth Column.’
‘Is Denton still in charge?’ Damien asked.
Freeman and Sara exchanged a glance.
‘Uh, you guys have some catching up to do,’ Freeman said.
He stood and reached for a small black satchel hanging off a nearby chair. From it he produced a slender notebook computer. He opened it and loaded a video, then turned the laptop around so everyone could see.
‘Denton’s changed teams,’ he said.
‘He likes dudes?’ Jay asked.
‘He likes Sophia.’ Freeman pressed play.
The video, downloaded from YouTube, had been recorded on a steady professional camera during a protest. The camera was just high enough to look over the sea of people who wielded smartphones, signs and the occasional boom microphone. Judging by the words on the building in the background, the video had been shot at Liberty Plaza in New York. Standing before them: Denton. Sophia almost didn’t recognize him in a simple gray hoodie and black leather jacket. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
‘When was this—’
‘Shh,’ Freeman said. ‘Listen.’
Denton held the microphone close to his lips and spoke in a deep and measured tone. ‘I used to work for the government.’
The crowd erupted in a chorus of boos.
‘I was in charge of a team, part of a larger structure that has sustained a level of obscurity not even the CIA can manage,’ he said. ‘We have our own intelligence agency. We have our own air force. We have our own navy. We even have our own dedicated space program and satellites.’ He shrugged. ‘Not as many as I would’ve liked, but enough.’
The crowd was deathly silent. The only sound came from the traffic behind Denton. The sea of people before him was probably trying to figure out whether he was insane or actually telling the truth.
‘The operatives under my command wore no uniforms, bore no rank. They didn’t exist,’ he said. ‘One of these operatives was a person you may already be familiar with. The person we blamed for the deaths of four hundred million innocent women. The person we blamed for the greatest act of bioterrorism known to mankind. That person is Sophia.’
Denton paused. Sophia could tell he was reading the crowd. Not a single person shouted a word. They waited in silence, wanting to know more. Sophia wanted to know more.
‘Sophia turned against me, against our government, in an act of treason,’ he said. ‘She realized, just as you have, that she was not fighting for the freedom of our people.’
The crowd began to swell with whistles and cheers.
‘She committed this genocide because we ordered her to,’ Denton said. ‘We deceived her. By the time she realized what she had actually done, it was too late.’
The crowd was deathly silent now. Probably in disbelief, Sophia thought.
‘Under my command, she was not fighting for our liberty, or anyone else’s,’ he said. ‘She was fighting to pull the wool over our eyes. She was fighting to help feed the greed of our government. And one day she decided: no more. It was my job to stop her. And when I found her, I made a decision that I will never regret. I let her go free.’
Denton handed the microphone to someone and stepped out of frame. The crowd erupted into applause so loud that it crackled the video camera’s microphone. The video ended.
‘That was it?’ Jay said.
Freeman nodded. ‘That’s all he said. This happened two days ago.’
‘Do you think he’s for real?’ Benito asked.
‘I doubt it,’ Freeman said. ‘A psychopath can’t exactly grow a conscience.’
‘It’s genetically impossible,’ Sophia added. ‘But he said that for a reason.’
‘So
Sophia’s all over the news now?’ Damien asked.
Freeman shook his head. ‘Surprisingly, no. Or unsurprisingly, depending on how you look at it.’
‘No one’s mentioning her at all?’ Big Dog said.
‘Complete media blackout,’ Freeman said. ‘Nothing on the news. But she’s trending on Twitter.’
‘What’s that?’ Damien said.
‘It’s a dating site,’ Jay said knowingly.
‘They tried to pull the video off YouTube a few times but people kept re-uploading it. Different versions from different cameras. I saved this one because it was the best quality.’
Sara tapped her fingernails on the table. ‘Two million hits in two days. You are famous now.’
‘Shit.’ Sophia pushed away from the table. ‘Do they have a photo of me? Do they know my face?’
Freeman shook his head. ‘Nothing yet. And I hope it stays that way. Otherwise you’ll be stuck here for a very long time.’
Sophia sighed. ‘Better than being trapped in a subway under New York when a hurricane’s about to hit.’
‘Another reason I’m glad we got out when we did,’ Freeman said. ‘Three states are already in a state of emergency because of the riots and protests.’
‘I thought they loved their new President,’ Sophia said.
Freeman nodded. ‘They thought so too.’
Sophia shook her head. This made no sense. ‘So, wait, why is Denton saying this? Why is he even there?’
‘Is he even in the Fifth Column any more?’ Jay said.
‘As much as I hate to admit it,’ Nasira said, ‘Jay has a point. This sounds just like a another psy-op.’
Freeman stubbed his cigarette in an ashtray. ‘Under any other circumstance, I would agree. But this time we think not.’
‘He could totally be leading a double life,’ Nasira said. ‘You can’t rule that shit out.’
‘But the question is,’ Freeman said, ‘if he is out, truly out, was he cast out or did he walk out?’
‘Is there a difference?’ Jay asked.
‘There’s a big difference,’ Freeman said.
Sophia shook her head. ‘The last thing he said to me at the UN headquarters was that he was going to clean this mess up. He meant Cecilia McLoughlin’s mess.’
‘Can someone please explain to me what the fuck’s going on?’ Jay said. ‘What the hell is this Seraphim shit?’
‘Project Seraphim predates Project GATE,’ Freeman said. ‘These Seraphim arrays,’ he pointed to the question marks on the US map, ‘shoot extremely low frequencies into the natural plasma of Earth’s ionosphere. They bounce back to Earth. They can be used to communicate with submarines submerged deep in the ocean, for mineral and water exploration, and modification of weather patterns.’
Sophia shook her head. ‘No, it’s for modifying brain-wave patterns.’
Freeman licked his lips. ‘The other Akhana elders seem to think otherwise.’
‘Well, they’re wrong,’ Sophia said. She sounded more defensive than she would’ve liked.
Freeman shifted his gaze to DC. ‘You seem to agree,’ he said.
DC nodded. ‘She makes a persuasive argument.’
He’d just backed her up again. A girl could get used to that.
Freeman smiled. ‘She’s a persuasive arguer; it’s one of her finer qualities. Sophia, if you have evidence of this, it’s important that I see it.’
Jay was squinting at the map and scratching his head. ‘So, can I have this in English?’
‘Sophia’s saying the Seraphim transmitters—these marks on the map—can influence your emotions,’ DC said.
‘Mind-controlled violence, anyone?’ Sophia said.
‘Maybe that’s why Denton’s acting crazy,’ Jay said.
Damien looked like he’d seen a ghost. ‘The riots,’ he said. ‘They just spring up out of nowhere. Large groups go crazy for no reason.’
‘So how do you explain the weather?’ Freeman folded his arms. ‘The world didn’t end in 2012 so it can’t be the Mayans.’
‘Maybe the world is ending,’ Jay said. ‘Maybe we fucked it.’
‘Maybe it fucked us,’ Damien said.
Nasira pulled the map toward her and glared at Sophia. ‘How long have you known about Seraphim?’
‘A few days,’ Sophia said.
‘And you didn’t tell us?’ Nasira said.
Before she could reply, Chickenhead jumped in.
‘Hold up a second, you think they’re expanding this globally?’ Chickenhead said. ‘Mind control or weather or whatever it is they’re doing?’
‘We can’t confirm that,’ Freeman said. ‘But whatever it is, it isn’t looking good.’
‘These are the construction sites you wanted us to check out, right?’ Jay asked Sophia.
She nodded. ‘That’s what I had in mind.’
Jay took another look at the map and collapsed into his seat. ‘I think I’ll need a drink first.’
Sophia caught Freeman’s gaze.
‘I need to speak with you,’ he said.
She stood. ‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ she told Nasira.
Chapter Fifteen
Freeman walked down the cobblestoned street with long strides, pausing only to sidestep a wandering dog. Sophia had trouble keeping up. Freeman crossed a walkway to a café lit by orange-red paper lanterns and a smear of moonlight from outside. The doors were open. She noticed a small infrared camera nestled in the corner. Standing inside the café, a young woman. She had straight black hair, a razor-sharp fringe and chalk-white skin.
Sophia’s hand moved for the pistol in her jeans, which she’d remembered to grab from the rucksack on the ride up.
‘Sophia!’ Freeman put his hand out.
Sophia let her hand rest on the pistol grip. She didn’t draw, but she was ready.
‘Hello stranger,’ Grace said.
It was her. There was no mistaking it. She hadn’t moved; she was unarmed.
‘You’re … she’s supposed to be … How are you alive?’
A million probabilities ran through Sophia’s mind. None of them added up.
‘Same way Nasira’s alive,’ Grace said.
Sophia kept her hand firmly on her pistol. She was going to keep it there until she figured out what the hell was going on. ‘That means … all of the shocktroopers that were there … how many were there?’
‘Three, including myself,’ Grace said.
‘They were all … jump-started by Jay?’
Grace nodded. ‘He walked out before he realized what he’d done. But only I had the side effect. My programming went a little … strange.’
Freeman stepped away slightly so he wasn’t in the line of fire. ‘She shot the other two. She was the only one who walked out.’
Sophia glanced between Freeman and Grace. ‘And you trust her?’
Freeman nodded. ‘Her programming’s been checked out. Completely scrambled. We followed your guidelines to deprogram her completely. It was actually pretty easy.’ He swallowed. ‘Well, because of your guidelines.’
Sophia let her hand relax, but she kept it over her pistol. ‘You got out,’ she said to Grace.
‘Stole a Speedhawk. Only two left and only one had fuel.’
‘I didn’t see that.’ Sophia frowned. ‘Although, I was trying not to die at the time.’
‘As was I,’ Grace said.
Sophia exhaled slowly and let her hand move slowly from her pistol. She kept the pistol accessible over her shirt. ‘So how did you find us?’
‘New York,’ Grace said.
‘She made contact with me right after you left, actually,’ Freeman said.
‘And you didn’t tell me this?’ Sophia yelled.
‘This is the first time I’ve seen you since then.’
‘Right,’ Sophia said.
Freeman reached for his cigarette pack. ‘Like I said, you have some catching up to do.’
‘No kidding,’ Sophia said. ‘This is … this is craz
y.’ She turned to Grace. ‘We have your killer here, by the way. And your boyfriend.’
‘Ex,’ Grace said.
‘That’s even better,’ Sophia said.
‘This might be a little awkward,’ Grace said.
Jesus, Sophia thought. How am I going to explain this to the group?
Grace clasped her hands behind her back. ‘Freeman,’ she said.
‘Owen’s fine.’
‘I have good news and bad news.’
Freeman scratched his neck. ‘This should be good. You can tell me in front of Sophia.’
‘Good news: I’ve arranged for Dr Heino Schlosser to visit us,’ she said.
Who was Dr Schlosser, Sophia wondered.
Freeman lit a cigarette. ‘Bad news?’
‘He’s coming to Manila. We need to collect him.’
Freeman shrugged. ‘That’s not so bad.’
‘It’s likely he’ll be under surveillance. I’ll have to put together a team.’
‘Why is he under surveillance?’ Sophia asked. ‘Who is this guy?’
‘Sorry,’ Freeman said. ‘I’ll bring you up to speed. Schlosser is retired, but he worked in several Fifth Column projects, including Seraphim.’
Sophia felt a surge of excitement, which she promptly tried to hide. ‘That’s good. He should have plenty to share.’
‘If we can get him out alive,’ Grace said.
***
Damien woke to light pouring in the window. The room was simple, with two single beds and Hello Kitty bedsheets. Jay was curled up in the other bed, sleeping like a baby. Damien threw his pillow at him, then got up to stretch. Barefoot, he padded across the hardwood floor out into the living space they shared with the rest of the team. The washing basin was outside on the balcony, strangely enough. The air was crisp and smelled of pine. He splashed his face and admired the view. Two-story houses dotted the tropical mountainside below, their tin roofs painted in a variety of vivid colors: blue, orange, turquoise and green. Beyond them were more mountains, their peaks parting under the heavens and dipped in dark fog like a chocolate sundae. He’d already decided he liked this place more than the submarine.
He heard Jay grumble behind him. Turning, he saw him rub sleep from his eyes.
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