The Desert Lion's True Colours

by Ikechi Hayden

  ‘Huh, is right.’ She replied.

  Leon started to chuckle to himself but openly enough to get Na’talia intrigued with what he thought was so funny. He allowed a few seconds of fake laughter to pass then swung his chair 40 degrees to the left, - stopping directly in front of Na’talia. He looked at her from head to toe and then rested his eyes on her face for a moment before he said, ‘Agent Geddes, I don’t know what you’ve been told, or even what you think you know about what’s going on here, but…’ He paused, cocked his head slightly to the right before saying ‘. . . You don’t know shit - forgive my French.’

  Shaking her head, Na’talia let out a brief sigh and crossed her legs as she rested back into her chair.

  ‘Really?’ she replied.

  ‘Yes really.’ retorted Leon.

  ‘Hmmm, well let’s not talk about what it is you think I don’t know. Why don’t I tell you what I DO know?’

  Nodding slightly Leon replied ‘Yeah that would be a start.’

  ‘Well, I know where your father is… ?’ She paused for a response but Leon gave no reaction.

  Still sitting in her reclined position she said ‘I know how we’re going to get Karim.’

  Far from impressed, Leon rolled his eyes. Na’talia started to get the feeling as if she was losing the battle so she said, ‘I also know your fathers plan from beginning to end.’

  Still Leon gave no reply. Running out of things to say, Na’talia shrugged her shoulders and decided to take Leon’s silence as a chance to rethink her tactics.

  The low hum of the jet engines and the previously unheard sound of the wind flowing over the planes exterior filled the cabin. A few seconds passed before Na’talia broke the airy silence.

  ‘I also know your dad has missed you.’ she said.

  Leon cut her off in mid-sentence. ‘Wait… !’ He grunted. ‘I warn you. I have had a very rough 48hrs. So you need to be very careful with what you say next.’

  Without hesitation she started to reply but her words and the moment was interrupted by the familiar sound of a shower, followed by Jay’s not so familiar singing. He was not in tune, but he was belting out the lyrics as if he had written the song himself. Leon tried hard not to but he could not help letting out a stifled laugh as he heard the words

  ‘“Under my um-brella ella, ella, ah, ah, ah/

  Under my um-brella, ella, ella ah . . .”’

  Leon looked over at Na’talia with a smile. Thanks to Jay the tension had passed and by all accounts she had not yet done anything to cause Leon to doubt her.

  ‘Look, my bad…’ He said. ‘. . . I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. Why don’t we start again?’

  Defences down Na’talia nodded politely. Leon eased himself up from the chair, walked towards the back of the plane and from his bag took out three separate folders and the black leather diary planner.

  As he headed back to the main area which held the four separate chairs he heard Jay shout out, ‘Yo dude!’

  ‘Yo!’ replied Leon.

  ‘Ask that chick if they have an Iron on this piece. You know dude can’t be doing this job looking all wrinkly.’

  Knowing Jay’s request was spoken loud enough for Na’talia to hear and unimpressed with the impression Jay must be making, Leon shook his head and without repeating the question just looked at Na’talia with an expectant expression. To his surprise, she did not seem to take offence to Jay’s “Chick” reference however she did take her time to reply.

  ‘Yes.’ She said calmly. ‘. . . In the cupboard directly opposite the bathroom door, is a fold-out pants steamer and a regular Ironing-board and Iron if he needs it.’

  She had spoken too low for Jay to hear her so Leon walked back to the bathroom, tapped on the door to get Jay’s attention and relayed the message in his own version by simply saying, ‘Yeah, there is.’

  ‘Cool.’ Jay called back.

  Turning away from the shower room door, Leon took a moment to look down at his clothes to inspect the dirt, scuffs and dried blood. He gently touched his face and used his fingers to trace the scars. “Jay needs to hurry up.” he thought.

  Leon then turned his attention to down the aisle, towards Na’talia in her seated position on the right side of the plane. She smiled, twisted from the waist and used her momentum to swivel the chair a full 180' degrees towards the G5’s cockpit. As the back of the chair came into Leon’s view and the profile of Na’talia’s face exited, he was hit with a distant vision, - A vision of her.

  Leon walked up to the side of Na’talia’s chair, looked down and saw her pouring herself a drink, - A Cherry Coca-Cola. She looked up and smiled. Leon was not. Opening one of the folders in his hand he pointed to the picture of his dad sitting in the New-York Cafe. Na’talia looked down at the picture and for a split second Leon saw complete shock run across every muscle of her face. She tried her best to keep her reaction minimal but Leon saw it clearly.

  ‘This is you isn’t it?’ he said,

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Please don’t be smart.’ Leon said with a sigh.

  Pointing to the lady sitting to his father’s opposite left, he said ‘This is you right? The woman my father is talking to, the one with her back to the camera?’

  Gently moving the open folder away from her face, she looked up at Leon and smiled.

  ‘Not bad.’ She said. ‘I’m very impressed. Not because you figured out it’s me in the picture but you actually noticed he was talking to someone else in the room. Bravo.’

  Smiling, she admiringly gave Leon the once-over and then started to clap her hands softly. She stood up, raised her glass and said ‘Congratulations Agent Ferron. You finally managed to figure something out.’ She paused for a moment, licked her lips then said ‘. . . You want a prise?’

  Leon was unsure what to say, think or feel. Her words and actions were full of innuendos however they were bursting at the seams with sarcasm. A few seconds of uneasy silence passed before Jay finally said ‘What is your problem lady? I’m really trying to be cool about all of this but you’re starting to piss me off. If you’re not going to tell me who you really are or why the fuck your even here then don’t say anything. I’ll call the Chief and he’ll tell me what’s up.’

  With that Leon turned away and walked over to the chair he was sitting in and picked up the mobile like phone that was integrated into the armrest.

  ‘What you doing?’ Na’talia asked.

  ‘Are you deaf? I said I’m going to call the Chief.’ replied Leon.

  Na’talia took a step forward then said ‘Nathan - Don’t do that.’

  Leon heard her request and paused, for no reason other than the fact she called him by his real name. Turning towards her, with the phone held out on display he said, ‘Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t?’

  Na’talia took another half a step forward and with her free hand reached for the phone. Leon jerked his hand back just centimetres out of her grasp which caused her to instinctively go for it again. However, this time she missed by inches, leaving her arm fully extended over Leon’s shoulder. He was about to say something when the bathroom door opened. They both looked down towards the back of the plane and saw Jay standing in a cloud of steam.

  ‘What the hell are you two doing?’ He asked.

  Jay had opened the bathroom door and stepped out into the main cabin with one swift fluid motion, leaving no time for Leon or Na’talia to notice or react to how close they were standing to each other. Jay stood at the back of the jet, - in the fading mist, staring at the both of them curiously. Na’talia lowered her arm from its out stretched position. Leon took a sheepish step back. They were all silent. Jay started to slowly walk towards them leaving damp imprints in the carpet. Apart from the white bath towel wrapped around his waist he was not wearing anything else. He c
ould see Na’talia was looking at his body. Not in an erotic way. Sure, his 6'3, 200 pound, wet body was good to look at, but Jay could tell she was more interested in his scars. The dirt and blood had all been washed away, leaving only the work related perks of being an Agent. Jay watched her expression change with every blemish, bullet wound and mark that she saw.

  ‘Battle wounds.’ Jay said finally.

  Na’talia frowned.

  ‘Call them perks of the trade. The girls love em. Makes me look dangerous…’ he started to laugh. ‘Just call me 50 Cent baby.’

  Na’talia shook her head. She was about to say something but Jay cut her off again.

  ‘I don’t want to cock-block what you and my boy got going on here.’

  Na’talia made up her face as if she was offended.

  ‘There isn’t anything going on.’ Leon blurted out.

  Jay scrutinised them both for a moment longer then said, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ He paused, turned to Na’talia and said, ‘Earlier you told the Chief that there were clothes and weapons on this bad boy.’

  She nodded.

  ‘Well, where they at?’ Jay rasped.

  She craned her neck upwards, to indicate the storage space over -head.

  ‘Sweet.’ Jay replied.

  Not paying his partner or Na’talia any more attention he reached up with both hands to open the over-head compartment. To his surprise the door folded down revealing a display of hand-guns, knives, cell phones and several mini voice recorders and cameras.

  ‘Word!’ Jay exclaimed with a smile.

  Turning to the other storage space to the right of it Jay said ‘And behind door number two is…’ he paused. ‘. . . Now that is the shit!’ He said.

  The door folded down like the first but this time clothes were on display. Starting from the left there were six neatly folded, gently stacked pairs of pants. Old Navy Slacks, lined up in staggered layers, showing colours ranging from light Kaki, all the way through to black. Then next to them were an assortment of jeans, all different designers - lined up in the same way as the Khaki pants. Then to the right of them were neatly folded T-Shirts, cardigans and jumpers. Jay noticed another handle above the storage door. Pulling the lever slowly, out came a draw displaying belts from PRADA, watches from Cartier and diamond studded money clips that cost way more than what they could ever hold.

  Turning to Na’talia Jay said, ‘is this all for us, or is this how the CIA be rolling all the time?’

  ‘She isn’t CIA!’ Leon interjected.

  ‘Yes I am.’ Na’talia replied defiantly.

  Leon rolled his eyes and then said ‘Whatever… !’ Then turning to Jay said ‘She ain’t CIA and this G5 doesn’t belong to any Agency…’ He paused, looked back at Na’talia and said, ‘I don’t care who you are, or how you know my father but I’m out. I’m done. This shit right here is frigged up.’

  ‘Whoa, Whoa… !’ Jay exclaimed. ‘. . . She knows your pops too?’

  Leon raised the folder he was holding into Jay’s line of sight. It only took Jay a couple of seconds to figure it out. Surprised he said, ‘Dude? That’s her in the picture?’

  Leon nodded.

  Jay was going to ask another question, but Na’talia beat him to it.

  ‘Ok, Ok.’ She said. ‘You’re right. I have been holding out on you two. But it was just so that I could ascertain how much you already know.’

  ‘Lady… ! Jay proclaimed, ‘. . . Right now it doesn’t look like we know anything. We thought Leon’s old man was dead - he’s not. We were on an undercover case for three years, but that turned out to be a lie and to top it all off the Agency - our own government, wants us dead. So if you’re able to fill in the blanks, I suggest you hurry up and get to talking.’

  Jay was visibly upset. He usually had the ability to turn serious things into a joke but this was different. He was acting on the say so of people he had never met before.

  Leon waived the folders around in his hand and said ‘Well?’

  ‘OK.’ Na’talia replied finally.

  Returning back to her seat, she sat down, swivelled her chair around and stopped directly in between Leon and Jay’s position, with Leon on her right and Jay a little further back to her left. Taking a deep breath she said, ‘You two ready for this?’

  Jay replied, ‘We’ve been up in the air for half an hour. What do you think?’

  She took another deep breath, held it for a moment and then exhaled through her teeth. Then after discreetly fixing the collar of her shirt she said, ‘Well firstly, I do - or should I say I used to work for the CIA. And as for your father, well I guess you could say he’s known ME his whole life.’

  Curiously, Leon asked ‘What does that mean?’

  Na’talia looked at them both for a few seconds each before saying, ‘I think its best I start from the beginning.’

  ‘Yeah, you do that.’ Jay grunted.

  Exasperated, Na’talia looked at Jay and cut her eye at him before saying, ‘Back in the late 1930’s, Theodore Roosevelt executed a secret agreement with Churchill which deed the U.S to English Sovereignty by agreeing to give their Special Operations executive control over US policies. To implement this agreement, Roosevelt sent General Donovan to London for indoctrination before setting up the OSS, or as we like to call it today - The C.I.A! Aside from all the other stuff they say we do, their single goal is to help Camistock break down the psychological strength of an individual and render him helpless to opposition.’

  Oh, not this again… ‘Jay said exasperated. ‘. . . The Chief tried to feed us this stuff earlier.’

  Frowning, Na’talia replied ‘Well, this stuff is information you need to know.’

  Oh, yeah… ‘Jay replied. ‘Well, if its stuff we need. Do you mind speaking English so we can at least understand?’

  ‘Ok…’ Na’talia replied. ‘. . . To desensitise the American public!’ she explained.

  Rubbing his head, Jay sat down in his seat and said ‘I’m sorry, I still don’t get it?’

  Frustrated, Na’talia let out another sigh.

  ‘Ok, put it this way.’ She said. ‘Imagine you, – being the American public, are feeling ill; you’re not sure what the ailment is so you go to the doctor, right?

  Both Leon and Jay nodded in agreement.

  ‘Well, the Doctor is Camistock; the doctor is the White House, the C.I.A., the pentagon but instead of helping you get better your doctor is making you worse by inducing a permanent mental illness.’

  ‘Whoa…’ Jay called out. ‘. . . You expect me to believe that! Even if what you’re saying is for real, how could anything like that stay a secret for so long?’

  With a pitiful smile on her face, Na’talia started to shake her head. Not appreciating her facial expression Jay said ‘Ok then. Answer me this. How have they carried out this brainwashing and more importantly, why?’

  ‘That’s easy,’ Na’talia replied. ‘The ‘Why,’ is because they want to own the earth’s resources. When they have that, they can monopolise and manipulate the world’s money trade…’

  She paused, picked up her glass and took another sip of her drink. She felt as if she had said a lot and her mouth was getting dry. Leon and Jay waited in silence as she gently tilted the glass onto her bottom lip and took another several sips of the cherry coke before placing the glass back onto the top of the mini-fridge. After clearing her throat, she continued ‘. . . In order for them to get all that power they had to achieve Political Correctness. They needed the American public to be predictable.’

  ‘And HOW exactly do they do this?’ Jay enquired.

  ‘Well, that’s not so easy.’ She said.

  ‘They have many different ways. However their most effective was implemented back in the 1950s. At the time English researchers were trying to use microwave weapo
ns on their own public without them knowing. After a few years of trial and error they realised if you used active radio waves with a steady tone, high end output of about 15,000HZ. Then send a message over that at a lower output at around 300HZ to 4000HZ, you could affect the listener on a subliminal level. The process was perfected on war vets on their return from service. To help them forget all the in humanities they had seen. They would encourage them to listen to music with hypnotists voices mixed in.’

  ‘Are you being serious?’ asked Leon curiously.

  ‘Very.’ Na’talia replied. ‘Voice-FM was born. The same concept was used in the visual form via television. The whole process was named Future Shock Therapy. Force feed corrupting information through images and sound to desensitise us on a human level…’ She paused to let out a sigh, and then said, ‘WMCC’s.’

  ‘What you say?’ Jay interjected.

  ‘Weapons of mass crowd control!’ She replied.

  Jay chuckled.

  ‘That’s an amazing story Miss Geddess.’ Leon said coldly.

  But may-be you forgot what the initial question was,’ Leon paused, cleared his throat and then said, ‘What does all of that have to do with us?’

  Na’talia lowered her head. She had hoped Leon was reading through the lines and had joined the dots on his own. Slightly frustrated with the fact that she would have to explain every detail to him, she took another deep breath and said, ‘Over the years, Camistock have been promoting a mixture of messages to the American public; however they all have one thing in common. Fear! Fear of political breakdown, financial and economic crises, fear of religion, and fear of war. The list is endless. Then to top it all off they inculcate the idea that they are the saviour of mankind’s problems.’

  ‘You mean Camistock?’ Leon verified.

  ‘Exactly… !’ Na’talia replied. ‘. . . The only problem is, not everyone is going to buy into it. And a lot of the time it is people, or should I say governments who either do not like the US or have a religious grounding that outweighs their own governmental responsibilities.’ She paused but Leon prompted her to continue. ‘Go on.’ He said.