“Yes. I would like that.”
Roman smiled and kissed her lightly on the cheek. They entered the building, and the door silently slid shut behind them.
CHAPTER 34
Two weeks after the banquet at the supreme chancellor’s residence, Roman sat behind his desk, looking over dossiers of potential recruits. During those two weeks, he had kept aware of his surroundings but hadn’t been able to detect anybody following him. Further adding to his caution, his boss and mentor, Colonel Seib, had notified Roman that he was retiring and to be wary of his replacement. Even though Colonel Seib’s retirement was still a few weeks off, he kept his ears open for any sign of political machinations that might affect him. His experience as a police officer on Earth had taught him that. He eyed the corridor outside his office and saw it bustling with activity, much of it taken care of by his two new assistants.
Roman sat back in his chair and activated his video monitor. After a few seconds, an image of Natasha appeared. He stared at it for a few minutes, until he received an incoming call alert.
“Roman,” he answered.
The caller did not appear on screen. “Roman, I am sending you an encrypted file. Follow the directions.”
The call ended abruptly, leaving Roman wondering what it was all about. A few seconds later, another alert went off, indicating that his system had received a file. He got up and closed the door of his office. Sitting back down, he opened the file, which contained video. Major Cruwell’s face appeared. The video appeared to have been taken on a street using a public video feed.
“Johnny, I need you to meet me at the bio park on the southwest corner of Sector Nine. Remember that time we discussed?” The file ended and promptly deleted itself. Roman looked at the blank screen quizzically.
4:45. He had five and a half hours to wait.
He quickly pushed Natasha’s icon on the video monitor. Within a few seconds, she answered.
“Hey, what are you doing?” she asked.
“Listen, I have to work a little late tonight, so I’m going to have to cancel dinner. I’m really sorry, I’ll make it up to you next week.”
“I understand. I know they have you working like an ore miner over there. I’ll just see you tomorrow. Perhaps we can get lunch. If i’m off work that is.”
“Will do. Your boss lets you get away with murder down there.”
He ended the transmission and looked at his watch again.
Roman went back to his apartment after work and changed out of his uniform. He found himself checking his watch every few minutes while he tried to distract himself with video entertainment and news feeds. He headed out a little past 9:45, knowing that the bio park was about a twenty- minute walk. The precinct had issued him a personal vehicle, but he decided an official vehicle might arouse suspicion. Rain continued to fall, causing Roman to draw up his black overcoat as he headed out. The streets were almost devoid of people.
He arrived at the park soaking wet, even though the rain had let up a bit. The bio park contained a few trees and some grass. It was actually covered by a small magnetic shield. The shield not only blocked out the elements, but blocked out the industrial pollution as well. It seamlessly integrated itself into the air. Seeing no one around, Roman walked into the park and sat down on a bench, relieved to be under the shield’s protection from rain.
10:15. That was the appointed time, and no one was in sight.
He no sooner looked up from his watch than Cruwell sat down next to him.
“Right on time; that’s good. Were you followed?”
“I didn’t see anyone.” Roman looked at Cruwell curiously, wondering how he had appeared so suddenly and silently.
“Neither did I. I followed you here,” Cruwell replied.
“What?” Roman asked with surprise. “Sebastian, you are going to have to start telling me what is going on, OK? This cloak and dagger shit is getting a little weird.”
“Relax, Johnny. I will. Look at this.”
Cruwell retrieved a small video monitor from within his coat. “I work in the Intelligence Security Service Bureau. I have a privileged access code, and I saw this footage I think may have some bearing on your future here.”
“You work for the ISSB? I’ve heard of that—very secretive.”
“Actually, I have always worked for them. Not all of the powers that be are on the same team. Anyway, you need to see this footage.”
Cruwell activated the video monitor, which Roman peered at with interest. The video looked like it was taken with a handheld camera. It seemed to be shot inside some kind of research lab. Row after row of medical stasis pods lined each side of a long, white corridor.
“What am I looking for here?”
“Just watch.”
The video continued to roll. Two white-coated scientists came into view, walking down the corridor, checking each pod. The camera filmed the nearest pod and panned through to several others. Inside the pods, human forms appeared to be in some sort of suspended animation.
“What is this, your army or something?” Roman asked. Cruwell didn’t respond, and Roman continued to watch the monitor. Suddenly, he gasped at what he saw.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Upon closer inspection of the pods, Roman could make out the faint outlines of the biker tattoos he had seen on the Reaper. Every form in the pods had the identical markings, all the way down to the track marks on their arms.
“I’m afraid not kidding, Johnny. The alien we brought back from your planet has been cloned hundreds, if not thousands, of times over. How do you think the war ended so fast? What is even more disturbing is the planet on which these things were let loose are out of control. They spread some kind of virus that renders the host into a primitive animalist state.”
“Yes. Before I met up with you guys, there were a couple walking around. I cannot believe Chuikova would let that happen.” Roman sat back on the bench, averting his eyes from the video monitor.
Cruwell closed the video monitor and placed back into his jacket. “Johnny, Johann is not the same person you knew from before.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Cruwell stood up and looked around. “You need to be aware of some things. I will be in contact with you. But there are things you must do right away.”
“What are—”
“Just listen, Johnny,” Cruwell interrupted. “Never go a direct route when we meet. Try to draw out anybody that may be on you. Go into shops and restaurants, dead ends. Things like that. Don’t be predictable. They even have the capabilities to watch you from space. You need to check your office for listening devices. They may already have you tapped.”
“Why are you telling me all of this? I have a low-level job at the Sector Seven police HQ. So they have some clones. Albeit, they’ve neo-Nazi biker clones, but why should I really care, Sebastian? Apparently, these clones helped win the war for you.”
After a heavy sigh and a brief pause, Cruwell continued. “I’m telling you because they will come for you soon.”
“What?” Johnny asked, both confused and astonished. Cruwell hesitated, as he looked up at the night sky through the magnetic shield. “War is coming again, Johnny.”
“And? It seems like you guys like war. Like you’re all mad and pissed off at everything.”
Cruwell continued staring straight up into the night sky. “The war is coming to your home planet.”
Roman’s face went ashen as he realized what Cruwell just told him. “You’re kidding,” was all he could say, but down inside, he knew that Cruwell was dead serious. A twisted realization slowly began to dawn on him. He remembered the supreme chancellor saying that he wanted to learn everything about Earth. Everything that had happened so far was for a reason that could fit into this pattern. They kept tabs on him by giving him a job. Hell, Natasha might even be in on it.
“No, I’m not kidding,” Cruwell said. “Johann is in charge of coming up with an assault plan. Because he is now a marshal, h
e has immense power. Because we have re-absorbed the rest of our small empire, we have a fairly sizable naval force now. The enemy saw the effects of our new weapon and wants no part of it.”
“I can’t believe it. I mean, Earth is kind of a dump anyway, but it’s still home. I have friends and family there. I couldn’t imagine those things running around eating people and destroying everything in their path.”
“Believe it. It’s going to take a while, but preparations have been made. The supreme chancellor wants to extend his reach as far as he can before he dies.”
“What do you want me to do?”
Cruwell turned to face Roman, who was still sitting back on the bench. “You have to be careful, Johnny. They will try to use you for information. If the Auger-Seers are locked onto you, they may even use that girl of yours against you. They are capable of many things, and their sight is far reaching. I’ll be in contact when I can.”
Roman stood up and looked directly into Cruwell’s red, bloodshot eyes that made it appear as though he hadn’t slept in days. “Thanks for telling me. It means a lot.”
Cruwell simply nodded and walked off, leaving Roman alone on the bench, his mind racing at a hundred miles an hour. He thought about his family and friends and what might happen to them. It was too overwhelming. He slowly got up and headed back toward his apartment. Keeping Cruwell’s cautions in mind, he took a detour into a bar that had opened recently. As he entered, he noticed that it was pretty much empty. He sat at the bar and asked the barkeep for the strongest thing he had. Roman smiled with irony as the barkeep poured him Johann’s beverage of choice. He looked for second at the tall glass, filled with murky, rust- colored liquid. He paid the barkeep and took a sip, flinching a little as the liquid burned his throat going down.
Roman pulled the blanket over his head as Natasha raised the sunshade and let the morning sunlight creep in. Roman groaned as he felt the consequences of the previous night are drinking.
“You sound pretty bad there. I’ll put some coffee on for you.”
Roman pushed Morris off of him and sat up in bed, his face buried in his hands. “I don’t remember coming in last night.” He looked up at Natasha. “When did you get here? I didn’t do anything stupid, did I?”
Natasha returned with a cup of coffee and handed it to him. “You asked me to come over. It was late, but you looked bad on the screen, so I came. You were rambling on about your planet being destroyed. It was pretty incoherent before you passed out.”
“I’m really sorry to have put you through that.” He set his coffee down on an adjacent table and lay back down on the bed. Morris jumped up on his stomach and began to purr. Roman stroked the cat behind his ears as Natasha scratched his back. She looked at Roman, staring into those hazel eyes she loved getting lost in.
“Are you OK, Johnny? I’ve never seen you act this way before.”
Roman sighed heavily and peered out of the window, watching the day outside grow brighter. He looked at Natasha and brushed her hair out of her face.
“Yes… Everything is fine.” Roman stroked her hair and smiled. “Everything will be OK.”
CHAPTER 35
Lately, sleep hadn’t come easily for Johnny Roman. He was wide awake, staring at the numerous cracks in the ceiling, when his intercom alarm went off. He grabbed the video screen lying on his nightstand and activated the video monitor switch. A Gestapo-looking figure stood outside his apartment building in the rain. Roman wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not, but the figure’s face was obscured by his trench coat collar turned up and his hat pulled down. Roman threw off his sweat-soaked sheet and sat on the edge of the bed. His bedside clock read 4:23 a.m.
The figure on the video screen spoke, the urgent voice slightly obscured by thunderclaps and the sound of torrential rain.
“I am Colonel Brenneke. I apologize for this disturbance, but I am afraid you will have to come with me.”
The request, and at such an unusual hour, took Roman by surprise. “4:23 in the morning? This can’t wait?” Roman waited for an answer, but the dark figure outside just stood patiently. “What the hell for?” he continued.
“Please comply. I do not wish to use force.”
“Whatever,” Roman muttered. He stood up slowly and stretched. Placing the video screen back on the nightstand, he walked to his front door. The lights came on, activated by his movement. “Dim,” Roman said to the system, and the lights instantly reduced their intensity. He activated the video screen mounted by the door and pushed a green access button that opened the main lobby door. He hit the intercom button. “It’s open.” The figure outside gave no reply but entered the apartment building.
Roman noticed that he was followed by several other figures that had not been visible on the video earlier, arousing his curiosity even further. A few minutes later, the door buzzer rang. Roman activated the door, and it slid quietly to the side. The man who had called himself Colonel Brenneke stood in the doorway. Although he called himself a colonel, his black peaked cap and trench coat showed no military insignia. Roman had a sickening feeling he was dealing with an officer of the ISSB, the same intelligence organization that his friend Sebastian Cruwell worked for. He wondered if he had any friends left anymore. He also wondered why he was asked to let them in when they could simply have bypassed the security grid and entered unannounced.
“May I enter?” the man asked quietly.
Roman looked beyond him to see six other masked and helmeted troopers in the hallway, waiting by the turbo lift, wearing tactical armor with rifles at the ready. They wore matching uniforms, but none of them displayed insignia.
“Is all of this necessary?” Roman asked. “This isn’t a crack house.” The words rolled off of his tongue acidly, but the colonel did not respond. The two men stared silently at each other for a moment. Roman felt his shoulders tense, noticed that the colonel had his right hand inside his trench coat, no doubt fingering a hand cannon.
“Be my guest,” he said, gesturing inside the apartment with his hand. Roman stepped back and walked to the kitchen. The colonel followed him in slowly, looking around the small efficiency apartment as he did. Roman stood behind the kitchen counter and removed a cigarette from a pack on the counter. He had a pistol in a top drawer just in case. The colonel removed his hat and shook it, sending beads of water flying. The remaining troopers did not enter, but Roman could still see them, just outside the door. The colonel replaced his hat on his head, covering his short flattop haircut.
Roman remained silent as the colonel spoke. “I am afraid I do have to take you with me to answer some questions regarding your relationship with your girlfriend.”
Roman placed his hand on the drawer handle. “Do you care to explain why?”
The colonel turned to the doorway and nodded. The tactical troopers entered and immediately spread out. Roman saw one of them remove a pair of hand restraints from his belt. The men did not aim their weapons at him, but they looked ready to do so in an instant.
“I hope you do not try to fight your way out of here, Mr. Roman. We just want to talk. Your girlfriend has ties to a terrorist cell that is under surveillance as we speak. We were hoping we could appeal to your, ah … sense of duty. Please, come with us.”
“I don’t suppose I have any rights here, do I?” he asked the colonel sarcastically. He already knew he had none, especially if the ISSB had business with him. It seemed that they needed something from him; if they didn’t, he would be dead already.
Still, he thought, the situation was not favorable. He might get a shot or two off at the colonel, but he was most likely wearing armor. The troopers had him, though; there were too many of them. Sebastian was right: Nothing was what it seemed anymore. There was no way in hell Natasha was a terrorist. Roman removed his hand from the drawer handle.
“OK. You win. At least let me put some pants on.”
When he turned toward the bedroom, Brenneke’s troopers rushed Roman, taking him to the floor. Within seco
nds he was handcuffed, with a hood placed over his head. He yelled and cursed but was quickly silenced by a shock baton to the head, rendering him unconscious. As two of the troopers dragged Roman out, holding him upright between them, the rest of them followed, with Brenneke in the rear. The entourage quickly boarded the turbo lift, left the building.
“Cigarette?”
Roman slowly came to. The first thing he noticed was a throbbing pain on the back of his skull. The bright desk light shining in his face didn’t help one bit. He noticed that he was handcuffed to metal chair in which he was propped. He didn’t recognize the man sitting on the desk, facing him, although he recognized the black ISSB uniform.
“Yeah. Sure. And maybe you could explain why I’m here.”
“Of course. Your service to our society hasn’t gone unnoticed.” The man unlocked the restraints. Roman rubbed his wrists and took the offered cigarette from a silver holder. After the man lit it, he inhaled deeply, and sat back into the chair. He grimaced as he exhaled, still not quite used to synthetic smokes.
“We need information from you regarding your home planet.”
“Information? All you had to do was ask. What do you want to know, who won the World Series last year, or what?”
The man got up from the desk and walked to a mirror. He dropped his cigarette and put it out under his boot. “I want you to tell me about your planet’s military capabilities, weapons, and space capabilities. These are the subjects I wish to discuss with you.”
Roman looked at the man with disgust. “I thought this had to do with Natasha being a terrorist.” Seeing the blank look on his interrogator’s face, Roman was more confused than ever. Why had Colonel Brenneke told him that story?
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll play your game for a bit. I’ve been asked all that before. I told you, I don’t have those answers. I was a police officer, same as I am here.”
The interrogator turned away from the window and again sat on the desk, opposite Roman. He withdrew another cigarette, lit it, and inhaled. He continued, “Mr. Roman, I know you are lying. You have been under observation for quite some time. If you do not tell me what I need to know, I can make things very difficult for you.”
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