American Mutant

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “Barf here can’t seem to pick up on the psycho scent,” Nate chuckled. “I guess he’s been hit in the head too many times.”

  “For now, I will go with Barf s decision,” Connor said. “Don’t make me regret it Greg. Now get out of here and get started on what I told you.”

  Haynes handed the notepad back to Connor, and patted Barf one last time before getting out of the Lincoln. Nate and Connor watched him walk down the street for a moment. Nate turned the Lincoln around and headed back to their parking lot. Connor leaned back thoughtfully in his seat.

  “I wonder if this drop business has to do with the Chinese or the CIA,” Connor wondered out loud.

  “If you get your super station hooked up today, I bet you find out,” Nate replied. “You going to go with the IP addresses and launch on in when you get a hit on his message?”

  “Exactly Nate. With 65,000 open ports when a computer goes on line, I will definitely find out who is nosing around and setting us up.”

  “What about firewalls?” Nate pointed out. “You know the Chinese probably have random computer protection and Langley sure as hell does.”

  “Yes,” Connor agreed, “but the Chinese go on-line with their own form of DSL or Cable and stay on. I know their IP addresses from when I stole their money. I also created a program I have been looking forward to trying with the Super Station. It will eat their random program for lunch with the speed I hit them with.”

  “What if it turns out to be the CIA?” Nate asked.

  “We may have to move someone into power there we can manipulate like they keep trying to do to us. What do you think of Greg as the CIA director?”

  Nate’s jaw dropped as he pulled into the parking lot and shut off the engine. “You must be kidding.”

  “Barf likes him and he will never escape my connection with him,” Connor said.

  “You have rounded the mutie bend in the road my friend,” Nate laughed. “With the CIA assets, he can probably take us out with a death ray from one of the satellites.”

  Connor shook his head. “Mr. Haynes gets a bit more complex when you get in past the exterior. He knows right from wrong, and believe it or not, he feels it. More than our connection kept him from being able to set up at that building. Greg wants to do something right. He just doesn’t know how. We are not the girl scouts Nate. With him in charge of the CIA, and Quenton in charge of the NSA, we will rock the world.”

  Nate looked at Connor in a new light. His innate intelligence jumped at the possibilities Connor hinted at. “I will have to stop playing around with you Thomas. I believe you have gone on to a different plain. What about the fact of the President appointing the Director of the CIA?”

  “First off, I will be insulted and saddened if you stop raking me. Secondly, to get to the Presidential Office in this country, you must sell your soul. Even someone honorable owes somebody. We will find out who that somebody is and move on it.”

  Nate stuck his hand out and Connor gripped it with both of his. “I am in Thomas. I will ground you, I will rake you, I will do anything to make this plan of yours work. What about if something happens to you?”

  “That’s why I was so happy when I found you again,” Connor replied. “All bets are off. You close up shop. Sell, or give the boys the business, and take out anyone you feel could corrupt what we have accomplished. No one but me can hold together what I have planned. After you have taken out a few of the loose ends, take Claire and Nate Jr. anywhere you want. You will be a billionaire. One thing about money Nate, it cuts through all opposition.”

  “Just don’t let anything happen to you Captain,” Nate replied. “I do not know how far we can go, but good God Almighty, I want to take the journey as far as we can.”

  “So, you think Greg in position of CIA Director a pretty far fetched idea?” Connor asked.

  “Yea,” Nate replied, “,just like traveling out of body, and phasing through walls. If it can be done, I guess you can do it. Do you really think the CIA may be behind the hit rather than the Chinese?”

  “It may be a little soon for the Chinese to have found out enough about what I did to try and nail me. We cleaned up pretty well on that part. On the other hand, the CIA knows a whole lot about the Center. Quenton was meeting with the Director. I will get some input from him on this, but if we get set up I will trace this down.”

  “Shall we get to work? The boys are probably wondering what the heck we are doing,” Nate said, looking at their business.

  “Yea, we have to get things straightened out before the decorators get in. We may have a hard time getting as much done today as we did yesterday.”

  “Bull,” Nate said in mock anger. “Get your lazy mutant ass in there and get to work.”

  Connor laughed, and the two men exited the Lincoln to begin another

  day.

  Chapter 23 Super Station

  Nate arrived back with his crew from the limousine driving lesson just as Connor finished his last point on their accounting program. Connor’s face lit up as he saw Nate get out of the car, joking with his charges as they walked over. Connor waved for them to follow him into his new living quarters and recreation room. The crew, who had been with Nate, walked around in awe upon seeing the changes. Barf followed everyone around with his tail wagging.

  “Incredible Thomas,” Nate said. “I cannot believe those guys got all of this done in one day.”

  “You know how it works when money is no object Nate,” Connor pointed out. “The people from the Center came and set up our Super Station too. The security company will be in tomorrow to install a complete surveillance system.”

  “You want to go over the rules with everyone yet?” Nate asked.

  “I think we ought to just wait until the security system has been installed,” Connor replied.

  “Have you heard from Greg yet Thomas?”

  “He called and said he had placed the message. I will work on tracing any hits he gets on it later. I told him to hang tight, and we would be in touch.”

  “I want in on this Thomas. I want to see who hits the drop on the Internet. I already called Claire and told her I had to see something through,” Nate said.

  “Although it would not be necessary, I appreciate the company. Wait until you see the program I wrote for this little adventure. It will worm its way to the origin of anyone clicking on Greg’s message and light it like a beacon.”

  “Now you’re writing computer programs too. When the hell do you have the time to learn all this stuff,” Nate asked in exasperation.

  “I would like to say I just absorbed the skill from someone, but I would be a lyin’ mutant then,” Connor laughed. “They let me work with computers even when they were holding me at the Center. Once you get the language down, and you keep up on the changes, all it takes is speed, imagination, and patience. With my speed, I can afford the patience. Wait until you see the program mascot.”

  “I can hardly wait.” Nate looked over at their crew over at the pool table. “It seems you will have a hard time getting these boys to go home.”

  Connor smiled and nodded. “Look at Barf. He thinks he’s one of the boys already.”

  Nate followed Connor’s lead to where the dog sat next to Sammy, quietly watching. Whenever someone made a move to walk around the table, Barf followed them. Henry made a shot, only to be pushed good-naturedly by Jeremiah. They began to argue in fun right in each other’s faces, and before they knew what was happening, they had Barf right in the middle of them, nosing and nipping them back. The boys all howled in laughter at the dog’s antics, as Henry and Jeremiah began to feign a fight. Barf refused to let them get near each other.

  “Hey, Mr. Connor,” Sammy shouted over the laughter. “You didn’t say you were going to get a bouncer in here with the fixed up room.”

  “Looks like he will only allow gaming in the pool room,” Connor agreed. “I guess we better make him the customer complaint manager too.”

  There was a chorus of ye
as to put the Barf on the payroll. Barf, for his part, bounded from one to another of the boys before sitting next to Henry, who was still shooting. Nate walked over, and bent down to stroke Barf for a moment thoughtfully. After a few moments of watching the pool game and petting the dog, Nate sighed and rejoined Connor, who was drinking a Pepsi at the bar. He pulled a root beer from the stocked refrigerator and sat down.

  “You thinking of making this into Boy’s Town or something Father Flannigan?” Nate asked.

  “I do not believe the good Father would approve of my methods,” Connor replied. “How did I get from Evil Mutant Scourge to Father Flannigan anyway?”

  “Don’t forget Terror of Beal Street either Father,” Nate added laughing.

  “I knew I should never have told that story to our big mouth boss. Who decided to entrust her with the secrets of the realm anyway? She can’t keep anything to herself.”

  “I think it must have been the time down in the rat and roach room,” Nate explained. “You softened her up a little too much before having your way with her.”

  “Beetles,” Connor corrected.

  “Huh?”

  “They were Scarab Beetles not roaches,” Connor instructed.

  “Oh, pardon me Father,” Nate replied, “beetles.”

  “If you are ready to watch me,” Connor said, changing the subject. Our super station has been purring in anticipation.”

  “You have to keep the beast running all the time?”

  “Almost,” Connor acknowledged. “It has its low power and heat mode, but it will be better if we keep juice to it.”

  “You don’t plan on calling it Hal or something like that, do you?” Nate asked.

  “I was thinking of something along the line of Attila, because by the time I get through, the East will be in flames. Depending on what I find out tonight, we may have to start a little nearer to home. Shall we?”

  “After you Father,” Nate motioned Connor ahead with a sweeping gesture. He called out to the rest of the crew to lock up when they were done.

  Walking through the door leading into what they called the super station was like walking through a portal into the Twenty Fourth Century. Although housing ten individual stations from which to access the computer, one main station incorporated a flat 25” monitor and fabulously luxurious desk chair. Nate could tell, although it had an ornate mouse and joystick counsel, the system could be voice activated. It came complete with a virtual reality helmet and gloves.

  Connor sat down and his fingers flew over the curved keyboard. Within minutes, with images flashing as fast as the eye could see on the screen, Connor sat back. The screen went blank momentarily, and then a laughing skull cackled through the sound system menacingly. Nate grinned in appreciation as Connor looked back at him over his shoulder.

  “The virus skull from Independence Day, right?”

  “Yep, only with vocals, listen,” Connor said.

  The skull moved over each hit Greg’s message received, and blurted out a reading of the origin with a voice like Long John Silver’s in the movie version of Treasure Island. Nate watched in amazement as the screen skull wormed into each hit, broke it down, and reported back the location with its distinctive voice.

  Nate began to speak, but Connor held up a hand and hit another key. A map of the exact location of each machine, which had accessed Greg’s message, appeared on the screen in a tiered format. As Connor sifted quickly through the hits, he rapidly came to an address he did not have to elaborate on for Nate’s benefit: CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. The Skull program, with another Connor keystroke, gave them the password and identity of the author.

  “Do you ever get tired of being right Thomas?” Nate sighed. “You did say Quenton met with this guy yesterday, right?”

  “According to Karen,” Connor confirmed. “I am sure the meeting probably revealed our little enterprise as the destination for the Super Station. Derek had no reason to suspect the CIA Director of setting up a hit on his main assets. I would bet money our little security guard provided the final call. Shall we hack on into the calls received by our beloved CIA director’s office?”

  “By all means Sherlock.”

  The screens flew by as Nate watched Connor use the super computer to power into the phone records of CIA Director Arthur Cumming’s incoming calls. Connor scanned to the time Nate and he left the Center together. The originator of the call was the Center entrance desk, just as Connor had predicted.

  “You planning on retiring your girlfriend at the desk?” Nate asked.

  “I will let Derek know what happened, and who called in the last detail to set us up,” Connor replied. “We don’t have to get caught up in those loose threads. We won’t be going over there on any regular basis anyway.”

  “Solid,” Nate agreed. “What about the CIA Director?”

  “I am afraid he will be meeting with an unavoidable accident tonight,” Connor said. “I wish I could fix this in another way; but as you pointed out, the political factor will get too pushed out of shape. I will have to call Derek after the deed, and get him working right away on an influence channel into the White House, and the confirmation committees. Getting Greg into the Directorship will take a bit of extortion only Derek knows how to pull off quietly.”

  “Well, you have anymore shockers for me before I take off?” Nate asked.

  “Just a small one Nate,” Connor’s hands hit a few keys, and a bank of screens lit up with the glow of what looked like the front and backseats of all of their limousines. “The boys and I installed these today in the limos. They provide video and audio. When one of our vehicles goes out, our driver will know exactly what goes on. Someone will be doing duty back here watching out for any nefarious development.”

  “Incredible,” Nate stated. “We should see a profit from this in no time, depending on our clientele.”

  “With a well stocked bar and exquisite service, we should accumulate a vast amount of data,” Connor agreed. “We will make sure every foreign office in the District gets a business card, and of course both Houses of Congress. We will expand as it becomes necessary. Do you have a couple of candidates ready for business?”

  “Sammy is a pro Thomas,” Nate informed him. “The closest to him would be Luke. We could send them out anytime.”

  “They got it that fast huh?” Connor asked.

  “You have to remember these boys have been stealing cars and running them,” Nate commented. “With a few pointers, they were doing most all of the basics right. Those two have that special knack for it along with an outgoing demeanor. We can put two of the others in with them if we send them out soon. They can learn on the job, while you and I get some security training into the support group here.”

  “What say we open for business tomorrow then?”

  “We have to get some business first Thomas.”

  “We already logged a bunch of calls today,” Connor told him. “Our ads are still running, and we still get referrals. I tied the phone lines into Attila here. Attila issues a feedback message saying we would be in touch, but to book with someone else if it was an emergency. I will pick out a couple, and get them started tomorrow. The rest of us will hang here and do a bug check on our systems.”

  “Did you tie in the credit card machines with Attila here so we can do instant traces before the boys go out? We can probably prevent a lot of bullshit before they even hit the road,” Nate said.

  “You mean because of the identity stealing getting popular everywhere right now?”

  “You got it,” Nate affirmed. “Even the credit card companies cannot keep up with all the crap going on in forgery and identity theft.”

  “I did tie them into here,” Connor replied, “but I had flat out forgotten about the identity theft angle. I wanted the boys to have an instant check capability off site. I guess we can go inform Sammy and Luke they will finally need their uniforms.”

  When they went back in to the recreation room, the crew was sitting
on the two huge sofas. Barf lay between Jeremiah and Jeffrey. They were all watching a basketball game on the new theatre system. Nate and Connor walked over to watch with them until the commercial break, and then they explained the plan for the morning. The crew listened attentively. When Nate finished explaining, Sammy got up and began cleaning up the area, and putting away pool cues. The rest of them joined him.

  “You guys do not have to run off,” Connor added. “I don’t care if you all hang around and watch the game, just so you call home, and let them know where you are.”

  “We have to get home anyway Mr. Connor,” Sammy said. “We have all been turning things around at home too. It just seems easy now somehow.”

  “No trouble in school?” Nate asked.

  “The word is around Mr. Johnson,” Jeff added. “No one messes with us at school.”

  “Yea, it makes it a lot easier to go to school and do well,” Jeremiah added.

  “How are you guys working that? I mean you come over to work all day. When do you go to class?” Connor asked.

  “Our parents signed us on for the work furlough program. We can work on school subjects on our own time and turn them in at the end of the week,” Jeff explained.

  “In that case, I want you all to bring your books in and do your homework here. Nate and I will give you a hand with it. Our limo business will be working at night mainly pretty soon. If your families do not mind, you can spend extra time here on the computers. I will make sure you guys know how to read, write, and know history, geography, and how to do math without a calculator.” Connor paused at the involuntary groans.

  “You boys have your whole lives ahead of you,” Nate put in. “Nothing makes life more enjoyable than being well read, and therefore well educated. Stop thinking like street thugs, and embrace your opportunities. Thomas and I will not be here to punish and blackmail you bunch into bettering yourselves. You will do it with all your souls, or you will get out and make room for someone who will. You have all done very well so far. Let go of the old life completely, and reach for it all. Hell, we know you all cannot be Einstein, but by God, you can at least know who he was.”