by Siegel, Alex
"Thoughts?" Aaron said.
"I'm disgusted. The U.S. military is supposed to support and defend the President, not try to kill him. He isn't a tin-pot dictator, and this isn't a third-world country. Are you going to call the legate?"
"Soon. Let's see what Perry can dig up first. When Ethel asks questions, I want to have answers."
* * *
Ethel was perched on a high branch like a giant, black bird of prey. She was watching the home of Bernard Templeton through a pair of high-power binoculars.
The billionaire was hosting President Haley and Vice President Darrow on a wooden deck in back. They were sipping drinks and eating roasted fish. The fish looked fresh caught and had probably come from the lakes on the property. The chef was using an open grill which was producing plenty of smoke.
Ethel focused her attention on Haley. He was such a handsome man and not just on the outside. His compassion and wisdom made her feel like an ogre in comparison. He could teach her so much about leadership. She desperately wanted his approval.
It's not fair, she thought. I was given a taste of love, and then it was taken away.
A green light made her turn around. A ball of bubbling mist was floating in the air. Interior flashes were like a thunderstorm in the core of the ball. Occasional bursts of light escaped from the spherical maelstrom.
"You'll get it back," the Lord said. The comforting words entered Ethel's mind directly.
"When?" Ethel whispered.
"Soon. I haven't forsaken you."
She sighed. "Yes, Sir."
The sound of a snapping twig made Ethel look down. Tawni was practicing with her sword in the shadows between the trees. Solid darkness encased the blade like black paint. As it swept through the air, it left broad swaths of smoke behind.
When Ethel had joined the Society, gifts had been rare and special. No legionnaire got one until at least five years of service. It was exceptional for a cell to have more than one member with a gift, and some had none.
Aaron's arrival had turned that timetable on its head. He had received a gift on his very first mission. No other legionnaire in history could make that claim. Since then, many other young legionnaires had also benefited from the Lord's new generosity. Tawni was a perfect example. After only four months of service, she was already quite powerful. Her training was progressing at a supernatural pace. Smythe's astonishing healing ability put him firmly in the top echelon of the Society, and he had waited less than a year.
"Why are you doing this?" Ethel whispered.
"I need a strong army," the Lord replied.
"You have one."
"It must get stronger quickly."
"Because of the twins?" she said.
"Change is coming. My enemies are fearful and desperate. There will be war. The path to the future is a river of blood."
Ethel was shivering. The Almighty didn't make statements like these lightly.
The green mist faded away.
* * *
Aaron walked into his office. "Perry," he said, "do you have anything for me?"
Perry looked up from his workstation. He always struck Aaron as a classic nerd, but perhaps Perry just needed a better haircut and cooler glasses. Aaron decided he would ask Sheryl to give Perry some style tips after the mission was done.
"You were absolutely right, sir," Perry said. "An Air Force surveillance satellite is watching the President. I'm not sure why I ever doubted you."
"You'll know better next time. Who gave the order?"
"I'm having trouble with that part of it. The computer security is tough to beat."
"I thought you had passwords for everything," Aaron said.
"Somebody changed the passwords and didn't tell us. If you want an answer quickly, we'll have to use the big guns." Perry glanced at the door.
"I want an answer now. Come with me."
Perry followed Aaron through headquarters. They entered the science laboratory, where the twins were engaged in yet another experiment.
Kamal was there. He looked at Aaron, blushed, and turned away. Aaron winced. He still had to work out a resolution to that painful situation. Fortunately, the mission provided an excellent excuse to procrastinate.
Bethany and Leanna were staring at a glowing red dot floating in the air. It was hovering above a tangled mess of electronic equipment. The pure red light refracted in the depths of their crystalline eyes.
Nancy stood on the other side of the workbench. She was wearing very dark safety goggles and holding a fire extinguisher.
"Bethany," Aaron said, "I need your help for a minute. Perry can explain."
"We're trying to find out who gave the order to redirect an Air Force satellite," Perry said. "All the information is on my workstation."
Bethany faced Aaron. She didn't speak, and it wasn't clear she had heard the request. The red light reflected from half of her metallic skull.
"Did you hear?" he said.
"Yes, sir," she said in her synthetic voice. "I'm working on it."
"What's taking so long? It seems like a simple request."
"The Air Force is using some interesting, new security protocols which will require analysis. My usual techniques aren't getting through. Leanna, I think we need to use the hammer. This task can't wait."
"I agree," Leanna said. "Initiating."
Aaron was shocked to hear her voice. It had been weeks since Leanna had spoken a word. He had started to wonder if she had forgotten how to talk.
There was a long pause.
"General Arnold Joseph is the man you're after," Bethany said. "We found evidence of direct communication between him and Major Tom Boyd. There is something else. This morning, General Joseph had a Moth-man UAV shipped to Illinois. It seems suspicious."
"What is that?" Aaron said.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we need to get back to our experiment. Perry will do that research for you."
"Of course. Thank you."
Aaron and Perry left the laboratory.
As they walked back to Aaron's office, he said, "What is the hammer?"
"I don't know." Perry shrugged. "But it clearly worked."
* * *
General Joseph was sitting at his plain, wooden desk in his office. He was trying to work through a stack of reports, but he was having a very hard time focusing. He kept thinking about what would happen tonight. The future of the United States of America depended on the success of this operation. The pressure to succeed was almost unbearable.
Frustrated, he stood up and went to the window. His office was on the third floor of the Pentagon, and the window faced the south parking lot. Beyond the lot, traffic flowed in both directions on Interstate 395. Hotels and a shopping mall were on the other side of the highway. The view failed to inspire him, but it was better than staring at reports.
The phone on his desk began to ring. He grabbed the handset.
"Hello?" he said.
"General Joseph? This is General Blanc at Air Force Space Command. I'm calling to give you a heads-up. We just had a major security incident."
"What happened?"
"Put simply," Blanc said, "something steamrolled our entire data infrastructure. We were completely offline for five full seconds."
"What was offline?"
"Every screen in every control center."
"A loss of power?" Joseph said.
"No, it was a massive cyber-attack, but I've never seen anything like it. Simultaneous, world-wide denial of service. Nothing was responding. We were blind and helpless. All the diagnostics are green now. We're back in control of our satellites."
"But we just upgraded all our computer security at considerable expense."
"That's correct," Blanc said. "Maybe we didn't upgrade enough."
A white envelope was shoved under the door of Joseph's office.
"Thanks for calling," he said. "Send more information as it becomes available, please. Obviously, I have a keen interest."
"Will do."
Joseph hung
up the phone and ran over to snatch the envelope. It was made of thick, hard material that looked like cloth impregnated with resin. It was as stiff as a piece of wood. The envelope was warm to the touch.
He fished out the message inside which was covered with strange notation. Some marks looked like mathematics, some were alien symbols, and some were just scribbles. A few English words were mixed in, but they didn't form straight lines. The font type and size varied with each letter like an old-fashioned ransom note.
The message read, "Beware. Ure ennemmees approech. - frend."
Joseph had received these kinds of notes before and had learned to trust them. This one wasn't specific enough to be useful though. What enemies? he thought. How much time do I have? He had to proceed with the operation regardless of the warning.
He dropped the note into the shredder. He went to his liquor cabinet. He desperately needed his daily shot of whiskey to calm his nerves.
* * *
Aaron studied a picture of a Moth-man on Perry's computer monitor. It was an unmanned aircraft with a wingspan of twelve feet. The black color and flattened, faceted shape showed it had been designed for stealth. According to the descriptive text, the plane had an operational range of 100 kilometers and could be launched from almost anywhere. It could be controlled remotely or fly autonomously on a programmed mission. A high-resolution, multi-spectrum video camera allowed the operator to see what was happening even at night.
To Aaron, the most interesting detail was the maximum payload. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to demolish the vacation home of Bernard Templeton and kill all the occupants.
"We need to get the President out of there, sir!" Perry said. "This thing is a flying bomb, and there's no way to stop it. It's practically invisible. If you try to jam the control signal, it just switches to autonomous mode. It's state-of-the-art military hardware."
"Not so fast," Aaron said. "If we pull everybody out, our enemies will just strike another time."
"But we already know General Joseph is responsible. Can't you just call the Washington cell and ask them to grab him? Why are we messing around?"
"I'm sure he's not alone. We need to root out the entire conspiracy and determine their motives. Grabbing Joseph now will drive the rest into hiding."
"Then what do you want to do, sir?" Perry said.
Aaron paced in his office as he tried to come up with an answer. The blank, gray walls made him feel like he was in a prison cell. He really needed some kind of art. A tiny square window wasn't enough.
A plan formed in his mind.
"I have an idea. I want you to build a radio signal detector set to the frequency used by the Moth-man. That should give us a couple minutes of warning."
"There is a big difference between 'should' and 'will,'" Perry said.
"Get to work. We don't have a lot of time."
"Yes, sir."
Aaron walked out of his office. He found Smythe and Norbert working out in the exercise area. Norbert was on his back on a weight bench with hundred-pound weights in each hand. Smythe was kicking a heavy bag.
"Just the gentlemen I wanted to see," Aaron said.
The two legionnaires stopped exercising and paid attention.
Aaron continued, "Buy or steal a full-sized prison bus. Black out all the windows except the ones in front, so only the driver can see. Put basic provisions inside: drinks and snacks. Drive it to the location where the President is staying and meet me there. Dress for battle."
"That's a very strange request, sir," Smythe said.
"I need a secure way to move a lot of people over a long distance, and I don't want them sneaking away in the middle of the trip. Get moving! Your deadline is sunset, and that includes the time required to drive the bus out there."
Smythe and Norbert left.
Aaron took out his phone and called Ethel.
"I hope this is good news," she answered.
"We have the name of our enemy, ma'am," he said, "at least one of them. Arnold Joseph. He's a three-star general in the Air Force. There will be another attack on the President, and I expect it will happen as soon as it gets dark. The weapon will be a remote controlled stealth airplane."
She was quiet for a moment. "I assume you already have a plan."
"I want to let the enemy kill the President, or at least, they'll think they did."
"One of those plans. I'm already giddy in anticipation."
"I'm coming out there as soon as the preparations are complete, ma'am," he said. "I'll give you a full briefing then."
"Good," she said. "If the Air Force is behind this, the Washington team needs to be fully engaged. Call the commander, Neal. Tell him everything."
He was silent.
"Aaron, I'm not accusing you of being incompetent or inadequate. You're crossing territorial boundaries. It makes sense to bring in a commander who already has dozens of high-level contacts inside the Pentagon."
"Yes, ma'am," he said. "I'll do that right now. I think I have his number in my office."
"Bye, and well done, as always."
He ended the call and went back into his office. He kept all his important notes on paper in actual files. They filled old-fashioned, gray cabinets along one wall of his office. It was an antiquated method of record keeping, but he didn't trust electronic media. He knew how easy it was to hack computers. Pieces of paper couldn't be downloaded, tapped, or have a virus.
After a short search, he found his notes on Society phone numbers. He didn't have a number for every cell, but he had the important ones like Washington and New York. The notes were written in his private code just to be safe.
Aaron sat at his desk and punched in Neal's number.
"Hello?" Neal said in a deep, rumbling voice.
"This is Aaron in Chicago. We met at the convention last winter. Do you remember?"
"Of course, I do. The famous slayer of Xavier. Commander of the legendary twins. The legate's most trusted man. I'm honored."
Aaron's face grew warm. "You're embarrassing me."
"I assume you're calling because of the recent activity around the President," Neal said. "Do you know who set off that bomb? We've been speculating."
"I did."
Neal paused. "Interesting."
"The legate ordered me to include you in the mission." Aaron gave a quick summary of the situation.
Neal was silent for a moment before responding. "I know about General Joseph. He's a widely respected officer. Supposedly a man of honor and integrity."
"Except he's trying to kill his Commander in Chief."
"That's deeply troubling. I'll put my people to work immediately."
"Quietly," Aaron said. "We don't know how deep this goes. I don't want to catch a small fish and let the big ones go."
"My thoughts exactly. Speaking of the Air Force, there was an incident about twenty minutes ago. It spooked my computer experts badly. Somebody crushed the entire satellite control network for a short time. Every system was offline including all the secret command bunkers. It was an attack on a scale that we didn't think was possible. If you could ask the twins to look into it, I'd appreciate it."
Aaron smiled. "Actually, I think the twins are the ones responsible. That's how they found out about General Joseph."
"I see. It's a good thing they're on our side."
"Please, keep a close eye on Joseph. Tell me where he goes and who he talks to. I'm expecting the rats to come out of the walls tonight after the attack."
"I won't disappoint you," Neal said. "The President will be safe though? I'm a fan of his work."
"That's my intention. Oh, I need to talk to Wesley. I know he's wandering around your territory these days. Do you know how to reach him?"
"Conveniently, he's in my headquarters right now. He comes and goes as he pleases, and he always seems to be around when I really need him. I'll get him."
Aaron heard voices in the background. He wondered what the Washington headquarters looked like. He had never b
een in a headquarters outside of Chicago. He had visited Marina's temporary headquarters in San Francisco a couple of times, but that didn't really count.
"Hello, Aaron," Wesley said.
When the Voice of Truth spoke, it always sounded like beautiful music. The tonal quality was almost orchestral. It didn't seem possible for a human throat to produce that sound.
"We're still protecting the President," Aaron said. "He isn't out of the woods, yet, but we're making progress."
"Thank you. I know the job is difficult, but he's worth the trouble."
"Who else do I have to protect? The Vice President?"
"No," Wesley said. "His death would be sad, but it won't matter much. He'll die of a stroke soon anyway. Focus your attention on Roy Haley. His life is important."
"I got it," Aaron said. "Ethel fell in love with him, but I'm sure you knew that would happen."
"It's a very good thing. What's happening with the twins' project?"
"It's moving along. They were... transformed since the last time you saw them."
"I know," Wesley said enthusiastically. "I can't wait to see them again. I'm sure they're beautiful."
"I suppose that's true, if you like exotic robot girls. Are you planning on coming back to Chicago anytime soon?" Please say no, Aaron thought.
"Yes! I have to be there when the twins finish the project. The whole thing will be amazing."
"Oh," Aaron said nervously. "In what way?"
"I can't tell you. Destiny gets mad when I talk too much. I wish I didn't have to wait! The final days will be messy, but everything will be so much better afterwards. You won't have to live behind a wall of secrets. You and Marina will be together until the end of time. Oops! Forget I told you that."
Aaron raised his eyebrows. "That's hard to forget."
"I have to go," Wesley said. "Oh, I'm sorry about Kamal. He's a nice guy, but sometimes nice isn't enough. You'll do the right thing. Bye."
The call abruptly ended.
Aaron sighed. Every time he talked to Wesley, he was frightened and confused afterwards. This time was no different. Final days of what? How the hell did he know about Kamal?
* * *
Tawni was holding her sword over her shoulder like a baseball bat. The steel was clad in pitch black shadows. She had gained control of her new ability and was having fun with it now.
