The Phoenix Agenda: A Thriller (A Rossler Foundation Mystery Book 6)

by JC Ryan

  Back in his apartment, Peter meticulously studied every bit of information he had collected on the trip and started building scenarios in his mind. Based on the information he had, if he had to steal the chips from the warehouse, he could see three options. The first would be to try to slip into the compound and get hold of a box after it was checked out but before it was loaded onto a truck. The second option was to get some help from the inside. The third option was to find a way to do it with a remote controlled device.

  Each of the three options had its own challenges and each of them would require help from someone else. However, that was just half of the information that was required. He still had to gather information about the procedures that were followed at the implant centers. For that purpose, he picked the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital – a seventeen-story tower building with a large outpatient facility, and the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell campus – one of the largest hospitals in America.

  Over the next few days, with the help of the spyflies and some very clever disguises, he managed to find the exact locations where the implants were performed. He was able to record more than five hours of footage of the entire process; from the point where the chips arrived, were unloaded and stored, as well as the precise clinical procedures during the insertion of the chips, through to the activation. He managed to film the arrival of the people at the facilities, the registration process where everyone’s details were recorded on computer systems, the taking of swabs from the inside of their mouths and many close-ups of the activation devices.

  Peter was an emotionally strong person, but what he saw during those five days filled him with revulsion and horror. The brief for his mission contained detailed information about the chips used during the 8th Cycle and the atrocious life that followed for those who received the implants. It also included speculations of the potential capabilities of the modern day chips, but nothing in that brief could prepare him for the sickening scenes he witnessed and recorded during those five days. If he ever had to look at those images again it would be too soon, but he knew he would have no choice. At some stage, he had to.

  The scenes of the people standing in a line like cattle waiting to be killed at a slaughterhouse, oblivious as to what was going to happen to them at the end of that line, would stay with him forever. It was only his realization of a higher and bigger purpose and extreme self-control that prevented him from running into the waiting rooms to save those poor souls from dehumanization. The final straw for him came on the last day when he followed one of the “butchers,” as he called the nurses performing the implants, with a spyfly and ended up in the maternity ward, where he witnessed how she did the rounds and implanted all the babies born the past twenty-four hours.

  When he retrieved the spyflies and left, he took an oath that even if it meant it was the very last thing he did in his life, he would not rest until he had destroyed this evil. When he returned to his apartment, he just could not bring himself to go through the information again. He was driven by the urge to commence the second part of the mission as quickly as humanly possible.

  He had to get in touch with Sam Lewis, and the only way that was possible was to make a trip to Nucla to meet with Owen and Alison. Half an hour and a few telephone calls later everything was arranged. He would fly to Montrose Regional Airport, about ninety miles from Nucla, the next day. Owen and Alison would pick him up, and he’d stay on the farm with them for a few days while they showed him around Montrose County.

  The references

  Roy already had experience with the 10th Cyclers' laser and battery technologies. He had them working flawlessly in his laser cutting tools and with the connection between the Rabbit Hole and Mount Ararat. He just had to study how they used them in their communications. Then, of course, there were those mirrors that fascinated him.

  He knew the 10th Cyclers would have left detailed information about the mirrors in their Library - experience had taught him that they didn’t try to hide information. The purpose of that Library was to pass on everything they knew. It was just a matter of finding the specific information he needed. As suggested by Raj, the focus of most of the translation effort had already shifted to the communications beams and mirrors.

  Roy asked Sinclair to dedicate one of the translators to him for a few days, and over the next few days, the unfortunate Gemma learned what Roy’s definition of a day was. On the afternoon of the second straight day without any sleep, Salome came to Gemma’s rescue when she arrived in the lab and saw her looking like a ghost. She told Gemma to go and get some sleep and told Roy off for not giving the poor girl any rest. Roy didn’t even look up. He most probably didn’t hear a single word and had no idea how much time had passed since Gemma started helping him.

  When Gemma walked back into the lab the next afternoon, after twelve hours of blissful sleep, she could swear that Roy didn’t know she was gone. Neither had he changed his position since she left him. Her suspicions that he had not been out of the lab were reinforced by the fact that he had about fifty new files waiting for her attention.

  “Gemma, I have loaded a few files with untranslated parts. Perhaps we can quickly have a look at them before you continue. I would like to start with that one that I marked ‘Operations Guide’. It seems to contain some very interesting information,” Roy said.

  She opened her laptop, pulled up the files on her screen, and started the translation of the highlighted parts. Roy got very excited when she explained that it was a description of how the mirrors worked, which was, as Ryan suggested, optical corner-cube prisms. Instead of bouncing the beam back to the source, it would reflect or divert it to different locations.

  “Those mirrors were acting as routers, exactly the same as we have on the Internet and computer networks today. I wonder where those mirrors were and how they got them there,” Roy mused.

  Gemma carried on with the translation while Roy continued reading. When she opened a new document he left for her, she noted a range of numbers at the beginning of the page. She'd seen numbers like that in the other documents before, and it piqued her interest. She opened a few of the other pages and found numbers in the same place as the other documents. She wondered if it could be possible that those numbers were a reference to other documents. “Roy, have a look at this. Here it shows numbers. I’ve seen those numbers on other pages as well, and I’ve been wondering if that could be references to related items in other documents. What do you think?”

  Roy came over and looked at what she was explaining to him. “There must be a reason why they used the numbers. I am interested to find out. I would say the simplest way is to do a search for the numbers and see what results are returned.”

  Gemma executed the first search and Roy almost fell off his seat when she yelled, “Bingo! Just look at this. There is a stack of information here. Let me run it through the translator so that we can get an idea of what it says.”

  Roy was standing behind her again, looking over her shoulder, as she pulled up the documents and fed them through the translation software. Quickly it returned a version of about eighty percent of the original in gisted format. There were close to a hundred and fifty different documents. Roy quickly scanned a few of the rough translations and saw all of it related to the mirrors, and he realized that Gemma just made a significant discovery.

  “Gemma, I think you have just revolutionized our search process! Let me get hold of Sinclair and show him this,” Roy said with enthusiasm.

  On the way to Sinclair, Roy stuck his head into the computer lab and asked Raj to join them. Daniel and Sarah, who were both in the translation center when Roy arrived, joined Sinclair. “Okay, Gemma. Show them what you found.” Roy requested.

  Gemma explained to them how she’d seen numbers on many of the documents and wondered what they could be, the search she did and the results she got.

  “Excellent work, Gemma! This is a major breakthrough! This is going to transform and speed up our translation efforts grea
tly,” Sinclair commented, after he studied the documents and numbers. He was obviously elated.

  “Raj, do you think you could automate some of this? Sarah asked. “I wonder if it would be possible to scan documents, find those numbers, and then pull out all related pages. Is that likely?”

  Raj smiled, “Piece of cake, Sarah. I'll ask Stuart to make changes to the query. When we conduct a search, it will scan the documents for those reference numbers, then search for the reference numbers in the database, extract all the related documents, and dump it in one folder.”

  “I think that would be perfect. Sinclair?” Sarah asked.

  “Yep, we can’t ask for more,” Sinclair confirmed.

  “Good work, team. This is the type of advance that will eventually put us ahead of John Brideaux,” Daniel said. His appreciation was evident in the pride of his tone and the big smile that accompanied his words.

  Gemma’s discovery and the improvements to the software made by Stuart certainly made a big difference in the translation process. It was now possible to start indexing and cross-referencing the library, which in turn made it easier to find and study the information. With the improved search method, Roy and the rest of the techies had mountains of information to sort through to learn about the 10th Cyclers’ communication technologies. Their spouses had their hands full to get them to work realistic hours and get enough sleep.

  As all their advice fell on deaf ears, Salome, Sushma and Sarah decided it was time to get Rebecca and Roxanne involved. Between the five of them they introduced a twice-daily Pilates exercise program. They used their charm and influence with their husbands, and persuaded the Steering Committee to make attendance compulsory for everyone, young and old. Understandably, there were a lot of moans and groans from some of the group. The most vocal of them all were the musketeers, who tried to explain that trout fishing was the best exercise any human can get. In fact, according to them, it was the only exercise that humans required. Roxanne was the appointed physical trainer, and she flatly ignored any arguments, demanding that everyone attend.

  On the first morning, all objections vanished when the eighty-nine-year-old Bess Rossler was the first to turn up at the Robert Cartwright Town Hall and did her exercises under the watchful eyes of Roxanne and Cindi. Even the young Nicholas Rossler and Aanya Sankaran were there. That first morning, a lot of rumbling and grumbling was heard, but no one wanted to be put to shame by an eighty-ninety-year-old and two three-year-olds, so they toughed it out. Within a week everyone was enjoying the daily exercise routine and in fact, started looking forward to it.

  I am glad you like Japanese food

  With the pen of silence deployed, Peter, Owen and Alison had the chance to talk openly about their involvement in Project Phoenix and their backgrounds. For the next few hours, the three of them exchanged a wealth of information about the Rossler Foundation, including the discoveries of the 10th and 8th Cycles and the current situation, as well as the Boise operation that evacuated Sam Lewis and his family.

  Peter in turn gave them an overview of his background and his association with Sam Lewis and ended off with a recount of the information about the chips he had been gathering the past two weeks. He explained to them the various options they had for getting their hands on the chips.

  Owen replied, “I can see your need for assistance. Unfortunately, I have no skills or experience in any of the areas where you’ll need help. However, don’t worry, it's not a train wreck. We’ll get you the help you need, but it will take a few days to organize. In the meantime, we’ll show you around our beautiful part of the country.”

  Owen didn’t disclose the location of the Rabbit Hole and the people hiding there. Peter understood the principal of ‘need-to-know’ and didn’t ask about it either.

  The next morning during breakfast, Alison told Peter about their second property close to Big Timber, but didn’t fill him in what the real purpose of the property was. “Owen and I were planning to go up there the day after tomorrow and we were hoping you might like to go with us? We were thinking to drive through Yellowstone and Gallatin National Forest this time.”

  Peter sensed the invitation had something to do with Owen’s promise to get him the help he required, but didn’t mention it. “That sounds great. I’ve been to Yellowstone a few times, but never into Gallatin. It would be wonderful to see that, and maybe get in a little hiking. I’m just a bit concerned I could be overstaying my welcome.”

  Owen and Alison exchanged a secretive smile, before Owen replied, “Nonsense, we’d love to have you to come with us. You could possibly enjoy it so much that you’d want to give up your apartment in Manhattan and move there, once you have seen our place.” Owen replied.

  Over the next two days, Owen and Alison showed Peter around Ouray and Montrose Counties and then made the two-day trip to Big Timber through Yellowstone and Gallatin. The night of their arrival, after Peter went to bed, Owen contacted Daniel via the laser link and gave him an update. Daniel asked that Owen contact him early the next morning, as he first wanted to discuss the situation with Sam, Salome and Luke to find out how they wished to handle it.

  After the call with Owen, Daniel gathered the three of them, laid out the situation, and told them that Peter knew nothing about the location of the Rabbit Hole. If there were any doubt about him, they would have to let him go back without any contact. Sam assured everyone that he trusted Peter with his life and that it would most probably be best if he could spend a few days at the Rabbit Hole. Then they could study the information he had with him and help him build a plan of action. Salome and Luke were happy to follow Sam’s advice. Daniel, Sam and Mark would fetch him the next evening.

  The next morning, Daniel contacted Owen, gave him the feedback from Sam and the others, and told him to expect them in the evening. Owen decided not to tell Peter about the visitors and left it as a surprise. He pulled Alison to the side, told her about it, and asked her to prepare a backpack for Peter with a few essentials while he and Peter went for a walk around the farm.

  Shortly after nine that night, Owen led Daniel, Sam and Mark into the family room, to Peter’s astonishment. He and Sam were thrilled to see each other again - it had been a long time, and there was a lot of catching up to do.

  “Peter, my friend, a few weeks ago I thought I would never see you again.” Sam smiled as he hugged him and stood back to have a good look. “I’m glad you like Japanese food!”

  Owen and Alison just laughed. “You should have seen him in the restaurant that night, Sam. He was going to have dinner all on his own while waiting for someone to drop him a secret message or something. Alison and I had a big struggle to keep him at our table.”

  After the introductions and a glass of whiskey, Alison had dinner ready for them, which was followed by a few strong espressos. By two o’clock the next morning, the four men were prepared to make the trip back to the Rabbit Hole. Peter would visit for three days only, as they agreed it was not wise to let him disappear for too long.

  Peter received a warm welcome, like Sam and his family when they received the royal tour; he was astonished when he saw what this small group has achieved in difficult circumstances.

  Daniel explained to Peter that he was not excused from Pilates. It was compulsory for every living soul in the Rabbit Hole, unless he wanted to cross swords with Roxanne MacArthur, which according to Daniel was not advisable. Naturally, Peter attended. He had the utmost respect for Daniel and his advice.

  After the Pilates session, Peter met with Daniel, Sam, Salome and Luke, giving them an account of his contact with President Harper and his wife. He unfortunately had to confirm their fears that the President and his wife had been chipped. However, he assured them that under the circumstances, the Presidential couple was doing well and the conversations he had with them had the desired effect of encouragement.

  Next, he gave them the details of his reconnaissance trips and the information he was able to collect. He was just about ready to
show them the footage he collected when they heard someone shouting, "We’ve got it! We’ve got it!"

  They all jumped up and Salome was just in time to grab Roy, who was the one making the noise, by his arm and bring him to a standstill. Roy was jabbering something about mirrors and space, but no one could make out what he was saying. Salome started dragging him down the hallway towards his lab. The flabbergasted Peter had no idea what was going on, nor did anyone else, so he just followed the procession.

  The four corners of the earth

  Roy, Ryan and Gemma were working in the lab when Roy all of a sudden jumped up, ran around the table, kissed a startled Gemma on the head, and started screaming, “Eureka! Eureka!" as he ran out of the room into the hallway.

  Within seconds, Raj and his team in the computer center next-door were in Roy’s lab, but he wasn’t there. They only found a wide-eyed Gemma and a baffled Ryan.

  Roy was doing a victory lap through the Rabbit Hole shouting; "We’ve got it! We’ve got it!"

  Raj wanted to know what happened, but all the bewildered Gemma could get out was, “I ... I … don’t know … he kissed me … and started screaming … I … don’t …” Ryan just shrugged; he had no clue what just happened.

  When Salome arrived back at the lab with Roy, the hallways were already crowded with people who were eager to know what was going on.

  Sam grabbed Roy by the shoulders, looked at him, and said in a composed voice, “Calm down son, tell us what’s going on. What do you have? ”

  Roy pointed his shaking finger at the laptop screen and said, “They had four mirrors up in the sky and here are the coordinates. Here are the operating instructions. Here are all the technical details. Here is where they said they left them for us to use. They're still up there and fully functional! They left them for us to use. Can you believe it?”