Mark Midway Box Set: Mark One, Mark Two, Mark Three, and Mark Four

by John Hindmarsh

  Schmidt stood in the center of the room and spoke up. “Children, quiet, please. Good. Welcome. I am Archimedes Schmidt. You can call me Schmidt, everyone does. Today, I want you to settle in, to make yourselves at home. You will live here, probably for a while. There will be other, older, Cerberus people arriving here in a few days. They are soldiers, members of Alpha Company, 145th MP Battalion. If you have any questions or requests, please let me know, or Mark, or Special Agent MayAnn. We plan to add staffing: teachers, trainers, caterers, others, perhaps some who’ll see to your welfare. This will take a few days to organize. There’ll be a settling-in period as we determine how to care for you. Tomorrow, the FBI agents who brought you here will take statements from each of you. Questions?”

  There was an immediate outbreak of conversations containing a mix of excitement and concern. Mark realized Schmidt was totally overwhelmed by a thirty excited children trying to speak at once, and stepped forward.

  “Children,” he said. The hush was immediate. “Don’t overwhelm Schmidt. He needs one question at a time. Anna, Erikk, Nelson, and Martin plus two or three from the new group, can act as your leaders. Work out your questions with them. Cover everything from clothes to books to daily schedules. If there is anything urgent, raise your hand.”

  One of the newcomers raised her hand. “Mark, are you going to keep us together or separate us again?”

  “We plan to keep you together,” said Mark. He had not checked with Schmidt or MayAnn; however, he sensed the children wanted, more than anything, to stay together.

  Another hand went up. Mark nodded at the older boy, also a newcomer. “Mark, are you going to stay here, too?”

  He hadn’t thought about his immediate future. “I—I think so. Schmidt said he wants me to organize your education, both lessons and training activities. That will take some time to achieve.”

  His answer was followed by a sigh of relief from thirty children.

  Another girl raised her hand. Mark nodded his head. “We have a question for Special Agent Freewell. MayAnn, will you stay here, with us?”

  MayAnn thought for a moment and then said, “Some of the Cerberus people have committed crimes, serious crimes, and my job is to bring them to justice. Both Schmidt and I are responsible for this task. However, we’ll be here as often as we can manage. I’ll leave my cell phone number with you and if you ever have a need to talk with me, please call.”

  ***

  Chapter 26

  Dr. White boarded the Citation business jet two and a half hours after the conference call with her fellow executives. The drive to Leesburg Executive Airport had fortunately been traffic-free. She was traveling alone—there had not been enough time to arrange for anyone else to leave. Once she was safe, Dr. White thought, she would contact senior members of her research team and see if she could entice them to visit her in Paraguay. Cerberus already had a research operation in Asunción, the capital of the country; the laboratories had been established as a backup to Cerberus’s US operations.

  A cabin attendant greeted her. “Dr. White, welcome aboard. I’m Janet Li. May I assist you with your carry-ons?”

  The young woman was a stranger to Dr. White; Cerberus had a number of aircraft maintained and crewed by a small company operating out of Leesburg. The Citation was almost new. She thought it had flown no more than a five hundred hours and the interior, designed for executive travel, was in impeccable condition. The aircraft was one of the larger Cessna business jets, a Citation Sovereign, with a range of three thousand miles. It was capable of accommodating nine passengers, so it certainly would be an uncrowded flight.

  The flight attendant tapped on the door to the cockpit and after a moment a pilot appeared, a welcoming smile on his face. “Welcome on board, Dr. White,” he said. “My name is Robert Kuan and I’m your captain for the first stage of your flight. My co-pilot is Arthur Choi. We are completing pre-flight checks and should be departing for Tocumen International Airport, Panama, within thirty minutes. We expect the flight time will be just under eight hours. We’ve arranged a crew change in Panama and the new crew will take you to your final destination. If there’s anything you need, please ask Miss Li. Now relax and enjoy your flight.” The pilot turned and re-entered the cockpit.

  Janet Li settled Dr. White into one of the comfortable forward-facing seats and then offered her a glass of champagne prior to takeoff. “Once we’re in the air, I’ll prepare a meal for you. We have a nice menu, today.” She handed Dr. White a printed card. “Please make your selection and I’ll serve it an hour after takeoff.”

  Dr. White scanned the card, and decided she would have the salmon. She did not feel like the roast lamb or the New York strip. She selected a light salad for her appetizer. Just before takeoff, the cabin attendant brought her another glass of champagne. The takeoff was smooth and Dr. White decided to read her team’s latest research file; the flight would give her an opportunity to catch up on some of the work her colleagues had been doing. She yawned. Flying always seemed to make her tired. Her eyes closed and the folder dropped, unheeded, to the floor.

  The flight attendant was extra careful with the hypodermic. Dr. White did not stir when the needle pierced her skin nor when the fluid was injected. The cabin attendant waited a moment and then removed the needle, wiping her victim’s arm with a swab. She covered the now unconscious body with a blanket, confident Dr. White would not stir for seven or eight hours.

  Janet Li knocked on the cockpit door and spoke in Chinese to the captain when he opened the door. “She’s unconscious.”

  “Good. We are cleared for Reykjavík and it should be a smooth flight. We’ll change crew and refuel there. Keep an eye on our passenger. Let me know if there’s any problem.” Janet Li nodded and the pilot closed his door. She checked Dr. White’s condition and then sat down in one of the passenger seats. It was going to be a long series of flights, first to Iceland and then across Europe to Istanbul, then on to Delhi and finally into China. While the flight crew would change at every stage, she would accompany her patient to Istanbul, when one of her associates would relieve her.

  ~~~

  Schmidt was reading a report from the FBI teams which had been tasked with recovering the second group of children, and then with following up leads to Cerberus. He was disappointed at their partial progress. It had taken the team rescuing the children nearly half a day before they identified the location of the Cerberus Genetic Center; there were layers of subterfuge and false trails that the FBI agents had to overcome. When they raided the offices, they discovered the head of the Center had disappeared from her office earlier in the day. While her name had been confirmed as Dr. White, the team was unable to discover any trace of her in either state or federal government databases. He had arranged for his analysis team to review flights out of airports and so far they had not discovered any leads from airline, DHS or FAA database records. The researchers knew there was a Cerberus-related New York operation, but claimed they had no knowledge of its location. All the addresses discovered so far were accommodation addresses—the kind where, for a fee, someone screwed a brass plate to a wall and forwarded mail received for the name on the plate to another address. Some addresses led to attorneys’ offices, some went overseas, probably to a network of accommodation addresses, others were drop points where couriers picked up mail and carried it to another address, usually unknown to the intermediary.

  He knew he was surrounded by hundreds—perhaps thousands—of Cerberus people, yet he could not find any leads. Their ability to hide themselves, he thought, was damned excellent. In some ways he admired the Cerberus subterfuges while at the same time hating them. He knew there was an organization operating out there, sometimes within the law, and sometimes outside of it. His key prisoner, General Jamieson, had pleaded the 5th and was not talking. Schmidt suspected the general had knowledge that could lead to some if not all the senior people in Cerberus. The general undoubtedly was guilty of a number of crimes, some of which Cerberus
people had no direct involvement in or knowledge of, such as his escapade in Afghanistan. While his illegal activities in Kabul amounted to a private venture, Schmidt suspected the general was a key component for Cerberus’s interaction with the military. He threw the folder of reports and summaries onto the desk.

  The snap of the folder landing and Schmidt’s subsequent curse as its contents slipped onto the floor disturbed MayAnn, who was equally absorbed in Cerberus-related reports.

  “Frustrating?” she commented, almost sympathetically.

  “These people are starting to really annoy me. This Dr. White has disappeared. Maeve and her team can’t find her. Your people are at a dead end. We can’t find the New York office, or the senior people there. I have a trace out for that motor yacht—Hammer—they’ve probably changed its name by now, and its registration.”

  MayAnn commented. “The children have been very helpful. They’re surprisingly mature and very intelligent. When a seemingly six year old child, who I know is only four in real years, lectures me on the differences between DNA and RNA, and double and single stranded molecules, I know I’ve been outclassed. We’ve gathered so many significant details about Cerberus’s genetic engineering processes I think we could start our own laboratory.”

  “Have you told the children how important it is for us to find the Cerberus headquarters?” asked Schmidt.

  “Oh, yes. Now they’re all embarrassed because they don’t have that knowledge. We’ll have to be careful with them; they are very sensitive to nuances, not just in speech but also in body language. Sometimes I think they’re reading my mind.”

  “Alpha Company will be here in a couple of days. Perhaps they’ll have more background information for us.”

  “Hopefully. Pity Jamieson isn’t talking,” said MayAnn.

  “He’s totally withdrawn into a shell. We could offer him full indemnity and I doubt he would accept it. His career is over. As more details surface, I’m sure he’ll sink further into a fugue—I suspect full scale depression will be the result. A pity, really—in his earlier years he had a very good reputation.”

  “You knew him? I thought he was a recent acquaintance?”

  “Oh, no. We were at West Point together. He was a year ahead. He came from a very wealthy family who lost everything in bad investments. He was about thirty at the time. His grandfather was tricked by some very believable criminals. Jamieson senior died soon after. His father had passed away earlier, so our general then was the head of the family. I think that experience is part of what has driven Jamieson. He assumed responsibility to recoup his family’s fortune. I caught him involved in some shady dealings in Iraq, and managed to stop him in his tracks. I think that’s why he—er—formed his dislike of me.”

  “I thought it was more than some kind of professional jealousy. Odd, that even though you were out of the military, he still regarded you as a risk.”

  “Probably thought I could upend his career at the drop of a hat. While I wouldn’t accept any nonsense from him, I had no intention of destroying him. It’s obvious, now, he was more than capable—eventually—of destroying himself. A pity, I suppose.”

  ~~~

  Dr. White struggled to sit up. She was extremely thirsty and had the worst headache. She wondered for a moment where she was. An airport, she thought. Which one? Then she recalled, she was on her way to Paraguay. She must have caught a bug of some kind. She tried to move her arm. Strangely, it was handcuffed to the arm of the wheelchair. She tugged her arm to no avail. Her head fell back onto the hard headrest. She scarcely felt the thump. Almost immediately, she realized there was a nurse standing beside her and she felt the prick of a hypodermic.

  “Water—” she gasped, for the moment ignoring the question raised by the injection.

  “Here,” a soft voice directed after a moment. “Drink this, slowly.”

  She sipped, relishing the cool liquid. She drained the plastic container. She looked up at the nurse. She was Asian; Chinese, she thought, not someone she knew. “Where—where are we?”

  The nurse paused for a moment before replying. “We’re in a transit lounge in Ataturk International Airport, Istanbul. We’re waiting for the new crew.”

  “But—but—we’re supposed to be in Panama,” the doctor protested. She struggled with the blanket, pulling at the handcuffs.

  “Shhh. Don’t struggle. We’re headed in the right direction, now don’t worry.” The attendant straightened the blanket and Dr. White’s eyes closed and her head fell sideways as the new injection took hold.

  ***

  Chapter 27

  Mark and the children watched the arrival of Alpha Company; the soldiers were delivered by four buses accompanied by a number of military trucks, and escorted by FBI agents, and MPs from another company. The unit assembled on the square in front of the three long barracks buildings and Major Dempsey formally relieved the escort of their duties. Schmidt, wearing a very new military uniform, had apparently heard the vehicles and was waiting just outside Building A. Dempsey turned and waited for Schmidt to join him. The general walked over to stand beside the major and the two men exchanged very precise military salutes.

  “Welcome, Major.”

  “Thank you, General.”

  “I have a few words for your company, if you don’t mind?” Dempsey nodded and Schmidt turned towards the waiting company. He raised his voice. “Listen up,” he said. The soldiers quietened. “You are all restricted to base for the next month, or until the FBI agents give you clearance. We know you are Cerberus-engineered. If you have knowledge of Cerberus, you must provide that information to the investigators, with full and complete disclosure. If you fail to do so, the FBI will uncover your failure, and believe me, the penalties will be harsh. Understood?”

  He waited for the response. It was positive, shouted in unison. “Yessir!”

  “Second item. Barracks Building A is now occupied by children. They were rescued by FBI agents from Cerberus. Yes, they too are Cerberus-engineered. You will treat them with utmost care and courtesy. Fail to do this and you will have myself, Major Dempsey, the FBI, and others, to deal with. Understood?”

  The assent was again positive and in unison.

  The major stepped forward as Schmidt stepped back. Dempsey said to his company, “Very good. You will occupy Barracks B and C. Unload your gear. Dismissed.”

  Mark listened to their conversation as the two officers approached.

  “Alpha Company personnel, at least the men and women I brought here, appear to be anxious to talk to the FBI agents. As you know, the men who accompanied Jamieson are under arrest and should be arriving at Quantico as we speak.”

  “Yes, I had an update on their delivery.” Schmidt reached out a hand towards Mark and the small group of older children who were listening. “I’d like you to meet some people. Mark Midway is assisting me, and this is Nelson, Erikk, Anna, Martin, and one or two who—you’ll have to forgive me—I don’t yet know. They’re all wearing name tags. You’ll soon get to know them. People, this is Major Dempsey, who is in charge of the soldiers.”

  There was an exchange of greetings quickly concluded as Schmidt continued. “We’ll give you a detailed briefing on Cerberus later. I suggest you move into your quarters and we’ll set up some meetings. I’m using the children as messengers. I know, most unfair of me, but they want to assist us, so don’t be surprised if one or more deliver notes from me, Mark, or Special Agent Freewell.”

  Late that afternoon Mark attended a meeting with Schmidt, MayAnn and Major Dempsey. Martin also attended, representing the children. Schmidt was in full voice.

  “Dempsey, I need complete co-operation from your Alpha Company. Yes, I know you will. However, I need you to ensure the company is fully aware of the dangers they run if they don’t help us. They must assist our investigations, well beyond their best abilities. I realize at the moment you have only the barest of details, although you may be able to guess some of the missing portions. Yes, we’re all c
oncerned. This concern reaches from the President down. We don’t know how many Cerberus-engineered resources are currently in our military, law enforcement, or other government organizations. While we found Cerberus’s laboratories, their Genetics Center, we haven’t been able to pin down their headquarters. The Cerberus organization is very good at hiding themselves.”

  “Is everyone here Cerberus?” asked Dempsey.

  MayAnn replied, “The children are Cerberus. Martin is one of their leaders. We learned one or two of my FBI agents are, shall we say, ex-Cerberus. Mark is not Cerberus, although he has had personal experiences involving that organization.”

  Mark was pleased the special agent did not dwell on his background.

  Schmidt continued, “We have a month at most to debrief the company. FBI agents will carry out detailed questioning of each soldier. At times we may include children or Mark in those sessions. You’ll understand why as you get to know the team. To ensure our investigation is comprehensive, all the officers including you will be interviewed by FBI agents. Yes—yes, I know, you’re not Cerberus. Doesn’t matter, you still need to be included. We will take blood samples, and so forth, to ensure our investigations are complete, without gaps.”

  “Why are you so confident I’m not one of these Cerberus-engineered people?” The major was intrigued.

  Schmidt laughed. “You were checked and validated when you met the children. They can identify a Cerberus-engineered person within seconds, with 100 percent confidence.”

  “Major, I have twelve agents working here,” MayAnn said. “They’ll complete their interviews of the children by the weekend. I don’t want to bring in additional resources, so my people will begin questioning the military personnel on Monday. In the meantime, please ask if anyone has knowledge of Cerberus management; I’d like those details sooner.”

  “I’ll organize that for you.”