Hunting Nora Stone

by Colin Weldon

  “That’s why you are going with him,” Wise said.

  Abigail frowned.

  “Sir?” She tilted her head.

  “You’ll report to me every step of the way, I am telling you that he’s the best man for this and as soon he gets boots on the ground it will all come back to him. For fuck sake Abigail, the woman has killed every tac-team we’ve sent after her. If she gets out in the open and blows the lid off this thing, everything we’ve worked so hard to achieve will be blown up and you and I both know what will happen next,” Wise spoke slowly, trying to impress on her the seriousness of the situation.

  “Sir, I am not a field agent,” Abigail replied.

  Wise tried to control his impatience.

  “You know her, Abigail; you know how she thinks. All we need to do is flush her out and then we’ll let Tarsis do the rest,” he said.

  Wise looked at Abigail, as she seemed to recoil.

  “You’re not seriously thinking of…” she began

  “Thinking of what?” Wise replied. “It’s why the fucking thing exists. Now get your notes in order and report to the briefing room.”

  Abigail stared at him for a beat, then nodded and turned on her heels, leaving Wise alone in the office. He leaned back in his chair and looked out at the sun as it began to rise. The Quarum would be watching him very carefully today. They would be watching all of them.

  Jaguar Briefing Room

  08:00

  “Break this information down succinctly gentlemen,” Director Wise said as he took a breath and reached over to glass of water sitting neatly on the desk. He took a swig and looked directly at Eddie whose head was resting on a closed fist. They made eye contact and Eddie lifted his head and cleared his throat awkwardly.

  “Four days ago, Jaguar Seven breached the last known location of Nora Stone. This is what we found after a retrieval team went in one hour later,” the Director said tapping the display on the desk. Eddie looked up at the carnage that that was splayed all over the screen. Through the river of blood, he could make out an arm here, a leg there. The Director tapped the desk again. Eddie looked on at the images of neatly placed bodies arranged in a circle. There was blood everywhere. He looked closer. Each body was perched exactingly in the centre of the room back to back forming a circle. He then noticed the holes in their chests.

  She removed their hearts,” the Director said.

  There was silence in the room. Eddie glanced around the table at which were seated four others. One of them he did not recognise, not uncommon for top-secret meetings such as this. He was pot bellied and balding, probably in his late fifties. Definitely not a field agent. Probably someone from White House intelligence to keep notes for the President. He didn’t look well, his face was white and pasty. The other three, Eddie knew well. Dr. Abigail Carroll, head of the Jaguar psych division sat opposite him. He had spent a lot of time with her after the incident. She wore dark rimmed glasses, hands gently clasped on her lap, perfectly still, watching the photographs. She had given him a look when he had sat down. An odd look, the kind someone gives when you walk into a room where people have been talking about you behind your back. She had gotten him through some tough times. To his right was Deputy Director of Operations, Julian Miller, who had his shoulder currently pointed away from Eddie. Not that Eddie minded much; he was as asshole, plain and simple. One of those politically motivated bureaucrats who thought that they had created the universe out of their asses. He was a well-built man who looked good for forty-six. While the shine from his bald head was something Eddie found distracting, it was his piercing beady eyes through thin silver framed glasses that bugged him the most. There was no way Eddie was at this meeting because of Miller. He made it abundantly clear that Eddie’s presence was disdainful to him by not even making eye contact when they had first entered. Eddie didn’t care. He would be out soon enough. Away from this world of blood and death and, judging by what he was seeing on the screen behind the director’s head, he needed to get out quick.

  “What the hell is she doing?” said Miller suddenly looking over at Abigail Carroll, whose eyes were fixated on the gruesome scene being played out.

  “Yes well, I should probably add that she has obviously turned psychotic,” Director Wise said looking down at some hand-written notes he was sifting through.

  Eddie remained silent. Wise’s eyes glanced over to him momentarily before returning to his briefing. He tapped the table again and a new image appeared.

  “My god,” whispered Carroll across the table.

  Eddie had to admit that this photo got even his stomach churning. The picture showed a dilapidated dry wall with what looked like human hearts pinned to it. He counted them. There were nine in all, stuck to the wall with lines of blood trickling below the open ventricles. The blood left long streaks like rain on a windshield. Carroll covered her mouth. The pot-bellied man sitting next to her was turning a light shade of green while Miller just stared. Eddie figured he probably got off on this type of stuff.

  “Ok, I think we’ve seen enough,” said Wise, shutting off the images and returning to his seat at the head of the table. The lights in the room rose to normal levels as the small ensemble took a minute to digest what they had seen. Eddie still had no idea what he was doing there. He continued to sit silently.

  “Needless to say the asset is out of containment. Whether this is due to a failure on our part,” he said looking at Miller whose face seemed to turn red suddenly, “or, as I stated earlier, she has simply had a psychotic break. Either way she must be contained.”

  Wise lifted a glass of water from the table and took a sip.

  “So, let’s begin shall we? Initial thoughts?”

  Eddie realised that his current status of being tied to a desk was about to come to an abrupt end so there was only really one question he had to ask. He raised his hand. Director Wise nodded at him.

  “Who the hell is Nora Stone?” said Eddie.

  Eddie had been out of the loop for the last two years following the incident and doing mostly recon work with the orbital satellite network, combat analysis and deployment reports. It was pretty dry stuff but at least he was alive. Jaguar was classified above Top Secret and only a handful of people were even aware of its existence. Even as a recruit he was not made fully aware of who was a member and who was doing what, where and when. Contact with Jaguar was made strictly through covert channels and an asset almost never knew whom their instructions were coming from.

  Director Wise looked at Eddie and tapped the inbuilt computer screen on his desk. A red stripe appeared on the screen over his head requesting a security clearance.

  “What you are about to see is Top Secret. I’m sure I don’t need to remind any of you of the consequences of disclosure?” Wise said.

  There was a hushed silence. Eddie raised his hand again stopping the Director before he entered the code.

  “Hang on sir, due respect, but may I see you in private?”

  Eddie did not want to see what was in that file. He was done. He wanted out. Now. While interrupting a meeting at this level was not a good idea, Eddie didn’t care. This was his life. If it had been anyone else interrupting him, the Director would have exploded. Miller looked at him furiously. He ignored him. Wise smiled briefly and nodded.

  “Could you all give us the room for five minutes please?” Wise said to the table.

  The pot-bellied White House guy seemed delighted at the prospect of getting some air and leapt out of his seat. Miller followed, grumbling something under his breath. Carroll looked at Eddie for a moment with concern. They would clearly need to talk later. The room cleared, leaving Eddie and Wise looking at each other from across the table.

  “Sir, why am I here?” Eddie said.

  The Director sat back in the chair. The screen over his head was still waiting for him to enter his security clearance code. Wise sighed and g
estured at the screen.

  “That’s why,” he said looking at the request for the password.

  “What?” Eddie said not fully understanding.

  “Do you remember the day you were recruited?” Wise asked.

  How could Eddie forget, he was half drowned after his command seal training. He could barely stand but he was still alive. Barely.

  “Yes sir?” Eddie responded.

  “I hand picked you myself. Honestly Eddie, to this day, I know of no better agent. Sure you’ve gone through the shit, who hasn’t, and I know you’re not one hundred per cent, but this thing we’re about to face could threaten the very fabric of society. You joined because you believed in something. Think of the lives you’ve saved through your actions. This won’t be like the last time. You have my assurance on that. You’re here because you’re the best we have. We need you. Shit, I need you,” said Wise.

  Eddie had no time for smoke being blown up his ass. He knew a shake down when he heard one and while he still felt a battlecry in his heart, something about this made the hairs on his neck stand up. Wise had been his mentor. He had saved his life on more than one occasion and deep down he knew that what he had done had been for the larger good. He had made a difference but that difference had come with a price. Nightmares.

  “This is like nothing we’ve ever prepared for. Give me one more mission, then you can do whatever it is you want to do. I’ll cut you loose Eddie, if that’s what you want,” said Wise.

  “What’s the assignment?” said Eddie.

  “I want you to kill her,” said the Director cocking one of his eyebrows calmly.

  Eddie stood up from his seat.

  “Whoa there,” he said, pulling back the sports jacket he was wearing.

  He took a long breath and tried to slow his heart.

  “Sir, we both know I’m nowhere near field ready. I’ve been running a desk for nearly three years. This is not what we agreed when I returned,” Eddie said with a hint of anger in his voice.

  “Circumstances have forced my hand on this one,” Wise said.

  “There must be other field ops available?” Eddie said.

  Wise leaned against the desk and propped one of his legs onto a chair. He let out a quiet sigh and looked at Eddie with an earnest expression. Eddie knew the look well. If there was one thing this Director knew how to do, it was getting people to do whatever the hell he wanted them to do and make them grateful for doing it. He was a master manipulator. He was one of the most charming people that Eddie had ever met, and the most dangerous.

  “I need one more kill from you,” said Wise.

  “Sir, all due respect but what you need is a drone strike on this one,” Eddie replied.

  Wise sighed and glanced out of the window. He reached over, pulled up a file in a brown paper holder and handed it to Eddie.

  “Take a look,” Wise said. “This is no ordinary target.”

  Eddie paused, knowing that if he opened that file he would be committing himself to whatever was inside it.

  “Look inside the file, and once you’re done with this mission I’ll personally sign your discharge papers and you can be on your way. A couple of weeks’ work and you are done, my friend. You have my word,” Wise said.

  Bullshit, thought Eddie.

  It suddenly dawned on Eddie that of course Wise was hiding something. He was hiding generations of secrets upon secrets upon secrets. Eddie was never getting out. Wise would see to that. He was bound to the man for saving his life but as the scorpion said to the fox before he stung him, “it’s in my nature.” Eddie took a breath and gave in. He opened the file. It was only one page with a heading, which read:

  NORA STONE

  In the top right hand corner, there was a small black and white photo of a young woman. She looked like she was in her early twenties. She had long dark hair and a plain but attractive face. Her large dark eyes were framed by a strong jaw line. She looked angry in the photo. Her eyes seemed to pierce into Eddie’s soul. There was a small scar on her right cheek. It seemed to run the length of her jaw. There was a rawness about the way she looked. The thousand yard stare was something Eddie had seen a lot of in his time. She had seen something in her life. Something that had broken her. He read down through the stats.

  Birth date: Unknown, Estimated 1991

  Place of birth: Unknown

  Height: 5ft 8”

  He read on.

  Project Renaissance. TOP SECRET

  Subject initiated: June 3, 2011, Initial tests confirm compatibility. Right and left arms severed at Axilla. Third degree burns to 60% of body. Severe lacerations to mid torso. Secondary Academy prospect #07 to be removed and processed. Phase one memory core wipe followed by initial nano implantation summarily approved and proceeding.

  The text below was blacked out. He looked up at wise.

  “I don’t get it,” Eddie said.

  Wise moved off the table and walked over to the window.

  “That, Eddie, is Nora Stone,” he replied.

  Eddie looked back at the wholly uninformative document.

  “Well that’s not much to go on really now is it?” he said to Wise. “You want me to track down some sort of crippled ghost?”

  Wise did not smile. He looked back at Eddie and gave him a stern look. Eddie raised his hands.

  “What is Academy prospect #07?” he asked, trying to diffuse a growing tension in the air.

  “Sorry Eddie, that one I can’t discuss,” Wise said, turning back to the window, “I’ll give you all I can Eddie, I really will, but you have a photo, you have a name and you have the location where she was last seen alive. The important thing about that document is something you have not mentioned yet.”

  “Nano implantation?” Eddie said.

  He had not a missed a thing and could read between the lines. Jaguar had done something to this woman.

  “Nora Stone was recruited under a new section of black ops warfare. Like you Eddie, she was injured. She was the first to receive the new biometric implants. Both her arms and much of her upper torso and skeletal structure was replaced with bio-mechanical implants. These are not your civilian type of bullshit robotic arms that let you give the middle finger to your snot nosed nephew and make you look cool at comic book conventions. No, these actually work. Very well. Her strength, agility, dexterity, stamina and visual acuity have all been enhanced. She is a super soldier. She was designed to be unstoppable,” Wise said peering out at the crisp afternoon sun.

  “Jesus, Ben,” Eddie said looking back at the black and white photo, “what did you do?”

  Wise turned to Eddie.

  “We obviously failed Eddie and now she needs to go, that’s all, before she starts hurting civilians,” Wise said looking back at the overhead projector.

  Eddie shook his head and sighed. He looked at the dark eyes in the photo and saw something else. She was in pain.

  “I am not an assassin Ben,” he said looking at the photo.

  “You’re a soldier, she’s a grave threat to national security and I want you to kill her,” Wise said,

  Eddie was stunned.

  “She won’t see you coming, and she’s trained not to engage any target that is not an immediate threat,” Wise said.

  “She’ll know I’m a threat if I try to kill her,” said Eddie.

  “Eddie, she’s out of control, she’s making mistakes, you do this for me and I’ll personally sign your discharge papers. You’ll be out. Honorably. I know it’s what you want,” Wise said.

  Eddie felt a knot in his stomach. He fought a sudden flash of memory that rose to the surface of his mind. He was in a cage with the others. Drowning. He closed his eyes and pushed it back to the depths of his memory, where it belonged. One more mission. Then freedom.

  “No choice then?” Eddie finally said looking up.


  “Not anymore, no. Can I bring the others back in now?”

  Eddie nodded. He should have just walked out. There and then. But something in Nora Stone’s eyes told him to stay. Something behind them. Jaguar wanted this woman killed and he was bait. Something to lure her out in the open. Judging by what this woman had done to the strike team the possibility of survival was looking remote. Maybe he had to do it anyway. One more battle. Maybe there was no way to fight what he was anymore. If his mind would not leave him in peace, perhaps he should simply give in to it. Maybe it would stop the sounds of the others screaming at night.

  “One more thing,” said Wise, “I’m sending Dr. Carroll with you.”

  Eddie’s eyes widened.

  “What?” Eddie replied.

  “Sorry, you’ll need a technical field specialist, that I’ll leave up to you but Abigail goes with you. She was in charge of Nora Stone’s psychological evaluation and conditioning programs. She’s on the team,” Wise said.

  “Don’t do this to me Ben, I can’t baby sit. I mean for fuck sake you saw what she did to a full tactical team. You’ve got to be kidding me,” Eddie said.

  “I am not kidding you. She can handle herself. Trust me. She has a history with Stone and right now we need to get inside her head. No better person that Carroll to do that,” Wise responded.

  “Fuck me,” Eddie responded sitting on the table.

  He shook his head and looked back at the overhead projector. It was insane.

  “Ok, Ben,” he said giving up.

  Wise gave him a wide grin.

  “Then, let’s go hunting, my friend.”.

  Office of DR ABIGAIL CARROL

  CIA Jaguar Division

  13:05

  Eddie gave two knocks on the wooden door and waited.

  “Come in,” came Abigail’s voice.

  He took a breath and opened the door. Abigail’s office was more high tech than he had remembered. She had three large overhead screens behind her, although he had never seen them switched on, and her black glass desk was adorned with futuristic-looking models, glass orbs and strangely shaped sculptures that looked like something out of a science fiction movie. Eddie had asked about them during his sessions, but she had always just dismissed them odd little paperweights. He remembered commenting on one that looked like a robotic exoskeleton, like the movie Terminator. She had laughed nervously and said it was a toy. He had not seen it again in her office. She was an oddball. There was no doubt about it. She had, however, helped coax him back from the edge of suicide. His sessions in this room had been twice weekly before they had stopped a little over twelve months ago. He knew every inch of it and it was a place he had hoped never to see again.