He stopped and looked at Ali, who was intently listening to him.
“So, out of gratitude for meeting Valerio one last time, and all that followed, I made myself a point to make sure that the people around Farlimas don’t put him in too much trouble. Based on what I have seen and heard in the past months, I think too many people are starting to play with fire.”
Tarek stopped for a pause, and Ali was quick to cut in, surprising him.
“So what, grandpa?” Ali said, “Do you think I am a danger for Farlimas? Or is it only Honourable Elder Sergei? Or Honourable Elder Ishimori of Japan? Or how many others? Maybe we are being infiltrated by one of our enemies, the Americans, Eurorussians and Arabs among all, and you are afraid that some of us are putting Farlimas into trouble? If so, please bring your evidence to the Council. Farlimas will be grateful, I tell you.”
Tarek felt cornered, and gave up.
“I have none, Ali,” he conceded, “Just bad impressions, so don’t count on me to bring attention to the matter. That’s also why I…” he looked at Ali again, “..I shared my concerns with you. But I am wrong apparently, maybe because I have seen this play several times in my life.”
“This time is different, grandpa,” Ali tried to persuade him, “There has never been anyone like Farlimas. You will see. And don’t give too much credit, actually, any credit, to Elder Sergei and his theory on the wrath of God.”
Ali stood up, put his pilot uniform back into his backpack, and left. Tarek thought he had been too harsh, his nephew wanted just to celebrate an achievement, and he had turned the conversation into an overview of his faith.
“What should I have said, then?” Tarek thought, “That is all fine and dandy, when I see forces around Farlimas, around his closest aides, that start subtly and then unravel everything? Skepticism is my biggest contribution to this new faith, after all.”
Tarek stood up from his chair and lit a cigarette. He walked to the door, and saw the figure of Ali, who was quickly walking through the arched patio that linked the studio to the main compound building. Suddenly, he remembered the insistence of Helena about the manipulation of the Christmas surveillance files. He knew he had downloaded it from the system himself. However...he went back to the desk, sat back on his chair, and realized that there was something he had not yet checked. He logged into the security system, and went through the audit trails. Just about the same time Louis left, Ali had repeatedly logged into the system, then his activity had stopped until…the beginning of March. He didn’t have to look at the calendar, it was the period when Helena had been there. Tarek selected the surveillance files of those days, then started writing an email.
“Dear Helena,” it began…
Chapter 21
Stretched out on the beach, Erika Fryjansdottir felt that the heat of the sand was passing straight through the towel. She stood up and went bathing to refresh, then she laid back in the sun again. The black, volcanic sand of Salina dried her skin in no time and soon she was feeling hot again. It was barely eleven in the morning, but she had to leave, so she packed her stuff in the beach bag and rushed back to the scooter, jumping over the hot sand. Before turning it on, she checked her smartphone. A text from Helena gave her the directions on where to meet for lunch and a follow up meeting at the Picard’s villa. At least, she was giving up the seaside day for something.
When Erika arrived, Helena and Louis were waiting for her with a person she had never met before. Helena made the introductions.
“Chief Inspector, this is Yaakov Mayer, from Israel. He is one of our most trusted security consultants. Yaakov, this is the Chief Inspector, Erika Fryjansdottir, of the Swedish Criminal Police. She helped us a lot in our case, from all points of view.”
Yaakov shook hands with Erika, then he said, “To be more precise, I live in Jerusalem, wherever that belongs to nowadays,” then he shut up, waiting for her reaction.
“If you feel home there, it belongs to you.” Erika answered promptly, then she a made a mental note to run an extensive search on the new acquaintance.
Louis smiled and looked at Yaakov, who seemed to appreciate the beginning, then Helena invited the guests to the dining room. The conversation over lunch was somehow light-hearted.
“It’s incredible how hot it is here, and it’s still only June,” Erika noted, “How can you resist through the summer?”
“Oh, during the day you have to live on the boat or in the shadows of the house,” Helena replied, “Certainly not on the beach.”
“Unfortunately,” Louis remarked, “the boat is nowadays severely restricted by the house arrest regime.” He then glanced outside the windows, hinting at the guards standing on duty over the terrace.
“Well, they cannot enjoy the shadows,” Erika replied with a grin, “and they must be suffering a lot, being Swedes like me.”
Yaakov laughed loudly, to make sure everybody understood he was appreciating the spirit of the Chief Inspector. Then, just after the ice-cream was served, he told Louis,
“I think we can turn on the privacy mode now, can’t we?”
Louis answered with a wave of his two hands and, in response to the gesture the windows immediately darkened and a small fleet of drones took off from one of the corners of the terrace, surrounding the house, while the Swedish guards and Erika observed the scene as if it was a known ritual.
“Alright,” Yaakov continued, looking at Helena, “You know I had come up with the name of Guil Gursky as one of the potential authors of the MND-2 software customization that was supposed to kill Louis, and possibly also Helena. You also know that the guy died three months ago.”
Erika nodded, as she learned that Yaakov was the undisclosed source that Louis and Helena had mentioned to her a few weeks before.
“It turns out that the man left a widow behind, whom I was able to track down and interview discreetly,” Yaakov continued, “Luckily for us, Guil Gursky never lost the vice of talking too much that cost him his old place in the killer fly program.”
“He was also a damn good bioelectronics drone programmer, so he quickly found a new place at Aviabot, one of the many companies that work for the Israeli Defence Forces, where he stayed for more than thirty years, until just after the war, when he started a job as a freelance software developer in Larnaca, Jewish Republic of Cyprus.” Yaakov was arriving at the core of his story, “The widow told me that he grew a bit more secretive, at least during what he called his ‘contract work time’, except that he would occasionally reveal something whenever his work would make it to the news. This is exactly what happened when Dorian was killed.”
“That is, he told his spouse that he had contributed to the development of the drone?” Erika asked “Do we have any additional evidence beyond the testimony of the widow?”
Erika started pondering the complications of having a foreign testimony in the enquiry. Would the Israeli authorities agree to have her testify in a Swedish tribunal, with the risk of having their secret service or the military exposed to an international enquiry?
“You do not have to worry about the international intricacies,” Yaakov told Erika, as if he had read her mind, “The widow died too, a few days after my interview. A heart attack, apparently, but I already collected all the useful evidence.”
“To get back to the story,” Yaakov continued, “yes, he told his spouse about all he had done in modifying the MND-2 and gave her a copy of all his work, as he felt a bit uneasy about his future. The widow complied, and after his death, she reported the story to the police. When I showed up to talk to her, she thought I was a policeman for a follow up interview, but this never happened. She was found dead in her bed three days after she spoke to me. Through some reliable channel of mine, I checked if the police had opened an enquiry about the revelations of her husband. Nothing at all.”
Yaakov paused, and started a holoprojection about the software coding overseen by Guil.
“This is a quick summary that I was able to put together with the
help of the experts Dinesh has connections to,” Yaakov commented, “I would say it is almost ready for usage in court.”
At the end of the projection, silence fell around the table. It was crystal clear that Louis had had no part in the plot, unfortunately it was even more evident that, for some reason, he and Dorian had mortal enemies deep in the security apparatus of the JRC.
“I guess, even if I am speaking without my lawyer,” Louis said, looking at Erika, “that this is enough to drop the conspiracy charges, but it makes the case for witness protection stronger, doesn’t it?”
Erika sighed. She didn’t like this new twist in the enquiry at all. She had to immediately involve the Foreign ministry and the secret services. They would be all but glad about being drawn in a fight against the Mossad, or parts of it, and God only knew who else.
“I think that’s the least we can do,” she said plainly, “However, before we move forward, I didn’t quite catch the meaning of the last part of the holopresentation, when it talks about the Version 2.0 of the drone, code-named the Whip of God. Is that a reference to the drone that was found on Helena?”
“We told you that Chief Inspector Fryjansdottir is awfully good at her job,” Helena winked at Yaakov, smiling, “She never misses a detail!”
Yaakov stopped the holoprojector and continued.
“It is not. The drone used on Helena, which we recovered intact and reverse-engineered thanks to her intuition and promptness, was exactly of the same type used with Louis,” Yaakov said, “What Guil Gursky was referring to as the ‘Whip of God’ is a completely new version, that actually works in the opposite way.”
“That is?” it was Louis to ask the question this time, baffled.
“Guil wrote code that allows the drone to get bigger by using carbon-based components abundant in the human body and transforming them into the graphene structures needed for additional drone parts,” Yaakov continued, “the team of experts of Dinesh think that Version 2.0, what we know from the last part of his work, was meant to actually do the opposite, take graphene or similar regular carbon structures, and basically dismantle them with a mix of chemical and nanomechanic processes.”
“So a big drone would disassemble itself to become smaller?” Helena asked, “What for? Can’t they just build a smaller drone from the start?”
“We do not know, Helena,” Yaakov replied, “I doubt the drone would shrink itself. I think instead that the new drone is meant to attack carbon structures. Yet I do not understand why, there would not be such a dramatic effect, or at least a much less dramatic one than you can achieve with conventional explosives.”
Yaakov stopped, and silence followed, with a sense of discomfort hovering above all the participants.
“Alright,” Erika cut short, “my takeaway is that we have not yet managed to identify the first threat, that there is a second one looming on the horizon. One step at a time, though.”
“I think this is my copy, which I will take to Stockholm right away,” she grabbed the memory sticks that were on the holoprojector, and then looked at Yaakov, “Would you be available to testify in court? Or do I need to file an international warrant to the Israeli authorities?”
“After what I found out, I don’t think Israel or the JRC are such safe places for me to be, Inspector,” Yaakov answered, “I think I will enjoy some time with my friends here until things get cleared up. Just one thing, don’t try to placing me under house arrest. I would not be very cooperative in that case.”
“Fair enough,” Erika answered, “I will let you know after I have discussed the new developments with the Attorney General back in Sweden.”
She stood up and went towards Helena, kissing her on the cheeks, “Thanks for the invite, Helena and Louis. I hope Hannah is doing well.”
“She is growing up nicely,” Helena answered beaming, while taking Erika to the door, “You didn’t hear her today, because she had her afternoon nap as we were having lunch.”
In the dining room, Yaakov and Louis waited for the door to close.
“Do you think it was a good idea not to disclose the email we received from Tarek?” Yaakov asked, “The inspector is very smart, she might have been able to help us.”
“I think it’s still too early,” Louis replied, “We’d rather disclose it when we have a common understanding, which we lack today.”
“That bastard realized that something went wrong with his plan to kill us, and now he is trying to play a double game,” Helena mood changed instantly as she heard the reference to Tarek, “We have to engineer a trap to get him to Europe, so that he can be arrested.”
“Well, if he is playing a double game, he is putting quite a lot at stake,” Yaakov commented, “For what I could see, all the information he sent about the inner circle of Farlimas is accurate. Add the reference to the Whip of God…can that be a coincidence?”
“Look, Yaakov, there is just one thing that is clear,” Louis said, “regardless of Tarek’s role, your old employer, the Mossad, or at least sectors of it, is cooperating actively with the dark side of the Navibahais, and for some reason we are their enemy.”
“You are right,” Yaakov nodded, “What’s worse, we have no damn idea about how to get out of here, and our only ally is one of the tiniest and most peaceful nations of Europe, well-known for their absolute lack of strength in the dirty game we are framed in.”
“Correct,” Helena closed the argument, “whatever we tell the Swedes, that is not bullet-proof evidence ready to be used in court, it is at best a waste of time, and at worst would put us or other people in danger. We have to move forward counting only on our forces, as it was at the beginning.”
She fell quiet, sighed, and hugged Louis.
Chapter 22
The Ritual had just finished, and the circles of faithfuls around the altar were starting to dissolve, except for the first one, where the Honourable Elders used to attend the ceremony. They waited for Farlimas to leave the altar, then followed him to a side chapel. As the last one entered the room, the door closed. Farlimas waited for them to sit on the cushions laid on the ground, then he stood up and spoke.
“Today was a particularly painful day for us, as we had to accompany our dear friend, Elder Sergei, to the meeting with the Almighty,” he said, then paused and looked around. There were about seventy people in the chapel, all of them staring somewhere on the ground in front of them, with the exception of Tarek, who from time to time looked directly at Farlimas, and Ali, who had not taken his eyes away from the Supreme Leader for a single minute.
“Elder Sergei was tasked with many, important projects for the development of our movement, for the spreading of the New Understanding,” Farlimas continued, “Despite all the grief we are now feeling, I want to make sure that there is no gap in the work that was progressing so well, that there be no room for hesitation.”
The audience fell silent, this time also Tarek and Ali took their sight away from Farlimas, anticipating the announcement.
“I want you all to know that Honourable Elder Ali will take over the functions of Honourable Elder Sergei,” Farlimas said, and the audience responded with that sigh of relief which typically welcomes expected decisions, “and he will be assisted with his new responsibility by Honourable Elder Tarek.”
This time, the audience broke out in murmurs, signaling that this was far more of a surprise. All the eyes turned to Tarek, who did nothing to conceal his own surprise.
“I made this decision because Honourable Elder Tarek made considerable progress in the path to awareness in our faith in the last few months,” Farlimas added, making sure his tone did not sound in any way like a justification, “and the experience he gained in his previous life will help us steer clear of the dangers in this project.”
He then looked at Ali, who was struggling to conceal his own irritation.
“I realized that the task of Honourable Elder Sergei requires more than one head, more than two eyes, more than two ears to be successfully carr
ied out,” Farlimas continued, “I trust the two of you can cooperate effectively.”
He turned his eyes from Ali to Tarek, who immediately bowed. Ali imitated him immediately.
“Alright,” Farlimas said, satisfied, “We can all use some rest now, and enjoy the warmth of the July nights of Ivory Coast.”
The chapel door opened, and the congregation dispersed towards the apartment complex. Only Tarek and Ali stayed, until they were alone with Farlimas.
Farlimas looked at Ali again, who was weighing his words to express his disappointment.
“Don’t tell me you could do it alone,” Farlimas told him, bluntly, “You can’t. Honourable Elder Sergei himself couldn’t do it, and he was way more experienced than you are. That’s why you need the help of your grandfather.”
Farlimas then looked at Tarek, who was still prostrated on the ground, and lifted him upright, pulling him from the shoulders.
“Tarek, just a few months ago I would not give you this responsibility,” Farlimas said, “But I see you going the same way that Valerio went, and your progress in faith is solid. I trust you can manage the ardor and the enthusiasm of your nephew. I need his energy and drive combined with your wisdom to succeed.”
Tarek kissed the hand of Farlimas, then asked
“It’s a great honor, my Leader,” he stated, then looked straight at Farlimas, as eager as a schoolboy, “however, I do not know anything of what Elder Sergei was doing, beyond what he said during the Council gatherings. How can I catch up?”
The Last Enemy - A history of the present future - 1934-2084 Page 47
