by Alex Siegel
Charles had just thrown a Kevlar vest over his normal gray suit. Pistols were in holsters on each hip, but the only weapon in his hand was his silver cane.
He came over to Marina and demanded, "Where are the subjects?"
"They should be here any moment," she said.
Wesley came out of the bus. He was wearing advanced body armor fitted for his small body, and it looked cute. He carried smaller, lighter weapons than the adults, but they were still deadly. Hanley expected the boy was well-trained in their use.
"What happened to Wesley's parents?" Hanley said.
"They were killed," Marina said. "Aaron and I rescued him."
"You just happened to be there?"
"Yes. We were having a perfectly pleasant day until the slaughter began. You could say it was destiny."
"Wesley's parents were former legionnaires," Charles added.
"Former?" Hanley raised his eyebrows and looked at the old man. "I didn't think legionnaires were allowed to quit or to have children."
"They broke the rules, and the Voice of Truth is the result. God's plan isn't usually so evident, but in this case, He clearly intended a certain outcome." Charles furrowed his brow. "I think I'll go on patrol with Atalanta. Guthrum and Yvonne will stay here."
Marina nodded. "Hanley, go with Charles. Your gift will be particularly useful out in the woods."
"Yes, ma'am," Hanley said.
"Let's go." Charles began to march to the east.
For a man who had to be in his late sixties, he moved with surprising agility. His footsteps were perfectly silent, of course, even though the ground was covered with grass and litter. He whistled to get Atalanta's attention, and she ran over.
Even though it was the middle of the night, it wasn't exactly dark. Orange light from the city reflected from mist and haze in the air to create an eerie glow. It was just enough light to let him see where he was going, but he expected it would be darker in the woods. He slipped on his night vision goggles, and the world became bright green.
"I don't think we've been officially introduced," Atalanta said.
Hanley shook her hand, and it was like holding the hand of a statue. Her skin was rock-hard. She was also taller than him, and he wasn't used to looking up at women.
"I'm Hanley."
"Oh," she said, "I heard about you. You were Xavier's patsy."
"That's not a nice way of putting it, but yes."
"So you haven't been in the Society for long."
"Just six months," he said, "but I came in with a lot of combat experience."
"Still, you're a rookie."
"Marina doesn't treat me like one, and I have a gift."
"Oh?" She sounded surprised. "Already?"
"Yes." He smiled proudly. "My hands are super-sensitive microphones. I can hear the heartbeat of a rabbit in that bush." He pointed towards a distant shrub. "A coyote is stalking it."
"Nice. Now be quiet."
They marched into the woods.
* * *
Marina sighed with impatience. Where are Ipo and Katie? She thought.
Yang, Guthrum, and Yvonne were standing guard. Marina hadn't needed to tell her new legionnaire what to do, and she was happy about that. Yang was a veteran soldier who knew how wars were fought.
Wesley was standing beside Marina. He looked up at the sky and said, "This is a nice night."
She wasn't fond of the cool dampness, but she had certainly experienced much worse weather in her life. "I suppose. I know you were in Chicago last May. What have you been doing since then?"
"I've been in Washington, DC, talking to politicians." His voice was as sweet and musical as a symphony orchestra.
"About what?"
"Greed and corruption mostly," he said. "The government is full of it."
"You don't have to be a prophet to know that."
"It's a problem for me. One day, I'll be in charge of the government. Corruption will be my biggest concern."
"Which government?" she said.
"All of them."
"Oh." She paused. "I suppose that's good for the Society. We can work together to protect the world."
"That won't happen, at least not the way you think it will."
"Why not?"
"Because the Gray Spear Society won't exist." Wesley made the statement in a calm, detached manner as if it were a minor point.
Marina stared at him. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Don't worry. It's all part of the plan." He smiled at her. "Of course, if the plan doesn't work, all of us will die. Even if it goes well, there will be many casualties. It's going to be a very exciting winter."
The night suddenly felt a little colder to Marina. She wanted to ask more questions, but she was afraid of the answers.
A green Chevy sedan came down the road towards the reservoir. She wasn't familiar with the car, but Min Ho had told her Ipo had switched vehicles. Nonetheless, Marina drew her gun. The sedan drove straight towards her at a nonthreatening speed.
It parked beside the other vehicles, and Ipo and Katie stepped out. They were still wearing their reporter costumes.
Ipo looked around. "This is a good spot. We'll have to use it again."
Marina walked over and looked into the sedan. A man and a woman were hogtied on the back seat, and they were naked. Marina recognized the witnesses from the news report. Their eyes were wide with fear, and she was glad to see they were awake.
"Let's do this quickly," Marina said. "Wesley, you're on."
Chapter Five
"They've stopped moving, sir," a console operator said. "The Crystal Springs Reservoir."
Vulture walked over and peered at the man's computer screens. There was a detailed satellite photo of a long skinny lake which ran from the northwest to the southeast. A dense urban area was on the right side, and mountains were on the left. A few narrow, twisty roads provided access to the lake. A red crosshairs marked the northwest tip where there was a small beach.
"I want all twelve teams to create a perimeter," Vulture said. "Block the roads. Make sure there is no way to escape. When the men are in position, attack simultaneously from all directions. Hit the enemy hard and fast without warning."
"It will take several minutes to get units over to the west side. That's steep, rugged land."
"Of course, and make sure they move quietly. The last thing we need is to alert the enemy prematurely."
"Yes, sir," the operator said.
* * *
Marina looked down at the witnesses. They were stretched out and tied to heavy iron stakes in the ground. It was a precaution to make sure they didn't touch Wesley during the interrogation. Marina didn't expect to use torture this time, but it didn't hurt to be careful.
Wesley leaned over the woman. She had called herself "Becky," but Marina doubted that was her real name.
"Did you actually see the girl in the grocery store parking lot?" Wesley said.
Becky looked into the boy's eyes. She immediately began to shake as if an electric current was passing through her body. She made soft whimpering noises.
"I asked you a question," he said calmly. "Answer me."
She pulled hard against the taut ropes, and the muscles on her neck stood out. She was having trouble breathing.
Wesley made a sour face. "Something is wrong with her."
"What?" Marina said.
"I don't know exactly. Corruption. Poison in her mind."
"Brainwashing?"
"No." He shook his head. "Much worse, but I can clean it up and find the truth."
She frowned. "How long will that take?"
"Fifteen minutes... I hope. I've never seen anything like this. It's very bad." He bit his lip.
* * *
Hanley placed his feet carefully on the steep, rocky ground. He didn't want to dislodge any stones. Between his night vision goggles and his gift, he had a pretty good idea of what was in front of him, but it was possible a loose stone was covered by dirt.
He didn't though. He was on patrol with a couple of living legends, and he didn't want to make an embarrassing mistake. The honor of his team was at stake. Charles had once been the most powerful man in North America, and Atalanta had been his bodyguard. They had spent decades with one foot in the natural world and one foot in the land of miracles. They were at the far end of the long, dark road that all legionnaires walked.
Hanley heard a noise.
"We're not alone," he whispered.
Atalanta and Charles froze.
"Where?" Atalanta whispered.
Hanley held his palms high in the air and swiveled them like radar dishes. He heard quiet footsteps and the clink of weapons.
"Soldiers to the north." He pointed.
"How many?"
He listened for another moment. "Not sure. Several, moving quickly on foot."
Charles growled. "This is exactly what I was afraid of." He took out his phone and made a call.
Yvonne's voice answered, "Sir?" Hanley's gift allowed him to hear her easily.
"It's starting to look like an ambush. Get Wesley out of here immediately."
There was a brief conversation in the background.
"He won't leave," Yvonne reported. "He needs a few more minutes."
"What?" Charles said. "Pick up the little twit, throw him onto the bus, and go!"
"He's working with the witnesses. Something was done to their minds, and he needs to undo it. He says it's important. You seriously want me to haul him away?"
His face twisted with obvious frustration and anger. "No. Let him finish, but be ready to move on short notice. In the meantime, we'll find out who is out there."
"Yes, sir."
He put his phone away and muttered, "This is exactly the scenario I was worried about. Damn kid. He probably even knew it would happen."
Hanley realized Charles and Wesley didn't have a great relationship, and the reasons were obvious. A highly respected and dignified man like Charles would detest taking orders from a boy, even if the boy was the Voice of Truth. Hanley expected similar situations came up all the time. Charles couldn't do his job properly because the person he was guarding insisted on taking risks.
"Follow me," Charles said.
He marched to the north and was using his gift to make himself invisible, but Hanley could still follow him. Charles seemed to shimmer like a thin layer of oil on water. It took all of Hanley's concentration to stay focused on the former legate. Interestingly, the invisibility worked in the sonic as well as the visual realm. Hanley was having a hard time picking up echoes off of Charles. A normal person wouldn't have seen or heard him at all.
Hanley noticed Atalanta was grinning. He had seen that expression on soldiers before, and it usually meant somebody was about to die.
* * *
"What was that about?" Marina asked.
"We may be ambushed soon," Yvonne said. "Charles and the others are investigating."
"Shit."
Marina took stock of her tactical situation. Ipo and Katie had changed into their advanced body armor and were well armed. With Guthrum, Yvonne, and Yang also standing guard, the group made a respectable little fighting force. Yang was the only one Marina had any reason to doubt.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much cover in the immediate vicinity. The beach was flat, open, and grassy. Wesley was deeply involved in working with the witnesses, and clearly, he wasn't about to leave them behind.
"Wesley," Marina said, "can we put the witnesses on the bus? You can interrogate them on the road."
"No. Bad idea."
"Why?"
"I don't know," Wesley said.
"You know it's a bad idea, but you can't say why."
"Exactly. Our battleground is here."
She gritted her teeth. Pain in the ass. "Move the vehicles to form a barricade around Wesley," she ordered. "Leave the engines running. When we finally go, we'll go quickly."
Ipo and Yvonne hurried to comply.
Marina turned to Katie. "What the hell happened? How were you followed?"
"I don't know, ma'am." Katie shrugged. "We stripped and probed the witnesses just like you ordered."
Marina frowned. Why is everything always so complicated?
* * *
"How much longer?" Vulture asked.
"Another five minutes, sir," a console operator said.
"Any sign of trouble?"
"Not yet, sir."
Vulture nodded and walked over to the tactical communications console. Computer displays showed dense grids of information being updated in real-time. A red button on the front panel was covered with a plastic safety cover. He lifted the cover and held his finger over the button.
The communications operator looked up. He was a pudgy man in his thirties with black hair. Like most other people in the room, he had a red uniform.
"Sir?"
"Pre-arm the termination protocol for all the men involved in the attack," Vulture said.
The operator's eyes widened.
"If the attack goes poorly, we can't allow them to be captured and interrogated, right?"
"Yes, sir." The operator started typing on his computer.
* * *
"About thirty yards directly ahead," Hanley whispered.
The thick brush was tough, dry, and generally thorny. Pushing through it took some strength, and without the protection of his body armor, His skin would be a scratched, bloody mess. He could hardly see where he was going through the leaves and branches.
"OK," Charles whispered. "Stay here. I'll go on alone."
Hanley and Atalanta crouched down. Charles moved on with apparent confidence.
"I'm starting to like your gift," Atalanta whispered.
He smiled. "Thanks. Wait until you see me fight in the dark. Still, yours is more impressive."
"Of course."
Even standing still, her body was in a perfect attack pose. She never seemed to break focus.
"But being invisible is even better," Hanley whispered.
"More than invisible. The enemy actively ignores him even while he's killing them. They refuse to believe he's there. When he was the legate, his nickname was the Ghost of Death."
Hanley heard a gun being fired. The weapon had a suppressor, but his gift allowed him to hear it easily, and the sound was coming from the direction of the enemy.
"They're fighting!" Hanley said urgently. "Come on!"
He surged forward with Atalanta a step behind.
The thick brush fought him every step of the way, but he didn't have far to go. He emerged into a tiny clearing, and there were four bodies on the ground. Charles was standing over them with a smoking pistol in his hand.
"You didn't leave any for interrogation," Atalanta said in a disappointed tone.
"There are plenty more," Charles said. "I heard them talking on the radio to other teams."
Hanley raised his goggles and took a flashlight from his utility belt. He turned on the light but made sure it was pointed down. The four dead men had been shot cleanly through the right eye sockets. Charles had probably been just a few feet away.
A terrifying gift, Hanley thought.
The dead were dressed like soldiers. Radio headsets, goggles, and batteries were integrated into their helmets. They were armed with a variety of weapons, but their main guns were HK 417 rifles. Ironically, Hanley was carrying exactly the same type of weapon.
"These guys are special forces," he said.
"They sounded British," Charles said.
Hanley searched the bodies for identification, but they had none. He wasn't surprised because operators in the field usually wanted to avoid being identified. Hanley was also s
triking out on patches and tattoos when he came across a small tattoo on one man's arm. It read, "W D W" in black letters.
"Who dares wins," he said. "Special Air Service. What the fuck are they doing in California?"
"An excellent question," Charles said, "but one we won't answer right now. There are more, and they're a threat to Wesley. Can you hear them?"
He and Atalanta became very still so Hanley could use his gift. Hanley raised his hands and swiveled his palms around.
He pointed west. "This way."
The three of them ran off.
* * *
"All the teams should be in position," a console operator said.
"Finally," Vulture replied. "Order them to start moving towards the target. Tighten the noose carefully. Make sure there are no gaps."
"Yes, sir."
* * *
"I think I broke through," Wesley said.
Marina ran over. Despite being naked in the chilly air, both witnesses were flushed and sweating. The man's lip was bleeding from being bitten. The woman had pulled against the ropes so hard, her right shoulder was dislocated.
"What's the truth?" Wesley said.
"We live in Los Angeles," the man said in a raspy voice. "We were kidnapped a week ago."
"What do you know about the girl?"
"Nothing," the woman said. "We never saw her."
"Then where did the story you told the reporters come from?" Wesley said.
"The lie was put in our heads. We were convinced it actually happened."
Marina knelt on the soft dirt. "I don't understand."
"He told us." The woman looked at Marina.
"Who did?"
"Brown hair, a handsome face, and a voice that destroys all doubt. He made us think we lived in that house and saw that girl."
"Did he use drugs?" Marina said.
"No. Just his voice."
Wesley stood and looked at Marina. "An enemy who can tell lies so powerful, the victims must believe it's the truth."
"And his men put something up our noses," the man added.
Marina's eyes widened. "Yvonne! Check his sinus cavity!"
