by Fritz Galt
Then the thought he had been trying to suppress resurfaced. What about May? Was she even real, or just part of his new schizophrenic lifestyle?
Seemingly reading his mind, Sullivan said, “Don’t worry. You’ll be seeing her again soon. I’m sure.”
“How did you know what I was thinking?” Brad asked.
“Are you kidding? Sully is our exalted leader,” Cheno exclaimed. “He’s full of surprises. He’s the only reason we could ever stomach working for the bureaucratic stuffed shirts back at HQ. Sully has to deal with them. We don’t.”
“I’m afraid I convinced the top brass that the Chinese were ahead in the race for perfecting ‘psychological warfare,’” Sullivan said. “It was necessary, as competition is the only concept they understand. This work must go forward. And you, my son, are the missing link.”
“Thanks, uh, but the only thing missing for me is my grasp of reality.”
“You wouldn’t be so hard on yourself if you only knew how hard we’ve worked to get this far,” Cheno said. “And how wonderfully we’ve succeeded, thanks to you.”
But Brad saw a frown cross his father’s face. “Unfortunately, with great power comes great responsibility. And it turns out there are some bigger balls bouncing down the lane that require our rather urgent attention, as well as your special abilities.”
Brad sighed. What was it going to be this time? He wasn’t interested if it didn’t involve May.
“What do you know about the crystal called ‘angelite?’” his father asked.
“You mean ‘anhydrite?’ That’s a common mineral made of calcium sulfate.”
“Actually,” Cheno interrupted, “good specimens are extremely rare, and our friends in the new age community like to refer to it as the ‘Angel Stone.’ Reputed to have special powers of healing and telepathic communication. Something that should be right up your alley.”
May was extremely rare. She had special powers of healing. She was his angel.
A cell phone interrupted the conversation. Brad waited for his father or Cheno to answer it. They noticed the blank expression on his face and looked at him quizzically.
“It’s okay,” Brad told them. “I won’t be offended if you answer it.”
“Answer what, Brad?” Sullivan asked.
“Your cell phone…or yours,” he replied, first looking at his father, then at Cheno.
The digital tune it played got irritatingly loud. Simultaneously, objects in the room began to blur. His father and Cheno seemed to be moving in slow motion. The drone of a swarm of bees began to supplant all sounds other than the cell phone.
“He’s going again,” Cheno explained calmly through the din. “Don’t expect it will be for very long.”
“Might as well call the team together,” Sullivan said. “We’ve got a trip to plan. We’re going to Yemen.”
“Yemen?” Brad thought, and made a concerted effort to get up off the bed, but only succeeded in rolling over on his side before he passed out.
“Wake up, silly goose. Answer your phone.”
“Huh? Where the heck…?”
Brad quickly scanned his new location. He was lying on a folding lounge chair. May lay propped up beside him in a chair of her own. They seemed to be alone on a pristine stretch of white sand. Behind them sat a private bungalow with a fantastic ocean view. This was definitely a welcome relief from the violent intensity of the air hangar or the emotional stress of Cheno’s grungy house.
He must have been snoozing in his deck chair next to his beloved May.
“Having a pleasant dream?” she asked sweetly.
But when his cell phone rang the fourth stanza of Star Wars, she poked him less gently in the ribs. “Answer it,” she demanded. “I am tired of hearing the funny song.”
“I got a phone?”
“Earl gave it to you, for a wedding present. Remember? He said he could keep track of you in that way.”
Brad grabbed the device off the table. He fumbled with the mouthpiece, found the Talk button, and placed the tiny device to his ear.
“Make babies!” a voice screamed into the receiver.
“Whoa, that’s loud,” Brad said. “Who in blue blazes is this?”
“Fine hello to give your best man,” Earl chided. “Took ya long enough to answer. What’s the matter? Not sleeping on your honeymoon, are you?”
Yeah, honeymoon. Brad tried to remember. He gazed over at May, who looked like a goddess in her black one-piece suit, American-style Raybans, and sun hat.
“Hello? Come in, Brad. Earth to Brad. I know you’re out there. I can hear you breathing.”
“Oh, sorry. But tell me quick, how’s my old man?”
“Ah, fine. Jade and I spoke with him last night. Boy, he really gets around. Off on some new adventure, I hear.”
Brad breathed a sigh of relief. Even if this was just one version of a possible reality within a dream, he vowed to stay in it as long as possible.
“How’re things in, in…”
“DC?”
“Oh, yeah, DC,” Brad said. “Cool place. Great museums. How’s it going?”
“Hey, I’m chillin’ and learning the city while Jade’s at work. That promotion keeps her pretty busy. She says she doesn’t miss the fieldwork, but I don’t believe her. Anyway, as it’s pretty darn cozy here, I’m thinking of applying for a teaching position at American University while I finish my dissertation. Can’t let the little lady earn all the bread, you know.”
“Actually, I could see you as a kept man.”
“There are worse jobs than male sex slave,” Earl mused.
“Please. You’re harshing my buzz.”
“Is that what I just heard? And here I just thought you were on one of your astral journeys again.”
“If only you knew…”
“You’d have to kill me,” Earl finished for him. “So, when do you start working with your esteemed father-in-law?”
Brad looked down. A copy of the International Herald Tribune that he must have been reading still lay in his lap. It was open to the article “Oldest Human Remains Discovered in China.” The accompanying picture showed Dr. Yu. He looked distinguished, but with a puckish glint in his eye.
Yeah, it was all coming back. Brad was to start work with Dr. Yu and Professor Lu at Peking University. His dream job.
“Brad?”
Brad jumped. “Sorry, man. Was miles away.”
“No charge. Well, as long as I’m not interrupting anything, I’ve got more important things to do. Jade just got home, and I see a couple of shoulders that could use a sensual massage. She says ‘hi’ by the way.”
“Tell her ‘hi’ back, and she has my sympathy.”
“Sure. Oh, gotta run. She’s giving me that ‘come hither’ look.”
“Thanks for spoiling my appetite. Later, dude.”
He folded up the phone and snuggled back in his chair, fond memories of the wedding drive around Beijing coming back to him in gentle waves.
“Remember that car we rented?” he said. “The black Audi?”
“No. We are having mopeds for the island,” she said.
“I’m talking about the one with the flowers.”
“What are you talking? This island has many flowers.”
“Yes,” he sighed blissfully. “And shopping for rings was such a delight.”
“Brad, we bought silk for my new dress.”
He recalled her beautiful wedding dress as they attended their civil ceremony at the municipal building. He had actually been dressed nicely for once.
Earl was there and so was Jade as maid of honor. Dr. Yu presented May’s hand to him while the clerk looked on with star-struck attention.
It was an intimate gathering that consisted only of a few close friends such as President Qian, Premier Yang and all the members of the Central Committee.
How did he get to be such a big shot? He struggled to remember why the old president was still alive.
Then during the happy c
eremony, Earl had produced the ring and Brad had slipped it on May’s finger. It was a lovely constellation of diamonds that formed Orion’s Belt.
Earl had been acting funny every time they talked about the ring and had pulled Brad aside prior to the ceremony. There in the refuge of the men’s room, Earl had pointed to the constellation on the wedding band and asked, “Is she still headed for space?”
“Yes,” he had replied happily. He was glad to talk with anybody about his bride-to-be and proud of her plans for the future.
“Gee, sounds like you can hardly wait for her to go.”
“No! I mean, I’m happy for her because she’s so happy.”
“Want some advice?” his friend had offered.
“No. Most definitely not.”
“Fine, but after she’s had her little ride around the globe and she’s got her feet back on the ground, get her knocked up so fast her head will spin. She’ll thank you for it later.”
“That’s a very enlightened, sexually progressive idea. I think you’ve missed your calling as a marriage counselor.”
In pleasant waves, his memory fast-forwarded to the wedding night high atop the Jianguan Hotel, the tallest building in Beijing.
He had caught May gazing out at the glittering lights of the city.
His eyes had traveled up her relaxed, feminine arms to her slender neck. A light breeze from the open window had played with the flowers in her silky hair.
Her round, dimpled face was turned toward him. An expression of curiosity was written in her tightly knit eyebrows.
God, she was gorgeous. He felt completely comfortable with the image of May’s ancestors being the Adam and Eve of mankind.
Finally, he had put his hands around her tiny waist. And she had not budged, slugged him or run away.
He listened to the waves lap on the shore. Just to make sure that she hadn’t taken off on another adventure designed to draw him into an extended chase halfway around the world, he opened one eye and glanced across at her.
There she lay in her lounge chair. A copy of the Shanghai Youth Daily rested in her hands.
That brought to mind the other perfect part of their honeymoon, when she had shown him a glossy print of his stepfather, Professor Richter, sprawled on his back with a pair of shapely legs around his face and the back of a woman’s head hovering over his crotch. The startled, expression on the professor’s face was priceless.
Brad wished that the photo could be released to the international press. Hmm. Maybe he could pull some strings.
But then in his reverie, he noticed May’s left hand. Hey, no ring! Why wasn’t she wearing it? Had she lost it? Maybe she had taken it off to go swimming.
His eyes shot down to his own ring finger. No ring there, either.
He grabbed her hand to examine it. There wasn’t even a tan line where a ring had once sat. “Oh screw it.”
“What, darling?” she said. “Oh.” She patted his hand reassuringly. “Not right now, dear. That is not the only thing we should do on our honeymoon.”
He closed his eyes, felt the warmth of her presence, and decided to enjoy the blissful moment, dream or not.
Epilogue
Venezuelan President Velázquez and the elder Chinese head of state survived their death by poisoning. The president’s collapse from Jade’s concoction had been necessary to assure Liang that his plot was progressing. The Venezuelan’s distaste for strange food and foreign customs was only reinforced, but he got some amount of satisfaction in the disappointment his abbreviated death must have afforded the hawks in Washington.
Brad and May set up a love nest in Beijing. Brad took on a fellowship at Peking University working closely with the anthropology research department.
May Hua remained a favored near-granddaughter of the President of China, who frequently invited her and Brad to take boats out onto his private lake. When she wasn’t busy training for her upcoming space mission, she accepted.
Her days as a double agent over, Jade Wang felt content to make Earl the central figure in her life. She found him to be her perverted fantasy man because he was so different from her. As she frequently teased him, “You disgust me, but I like it.” They settled down in Washington, where she accepted a job working for the Directorate of Intelligence Operations within the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Professor Richter’s “America First” phenomenon died a sudden death when Dr. Yu’s discovery blazed across the headlines. Richter’s body was never recovered from the river and was presumed destroyed by the explosions.
Chinese engineers managed to restore their hydroelectric facility at Three Gorges within a year. At present, the dam is fully operational, and many readers may never have noticed the events set forth in this book that delayed its opening, for most news about the incident has been suppressed or trivialized.
Only one picture of the day’s events has been released to the world, one that had very little to do with the dam itself. But the Chinese released the photo as a favor to a certain young man whose fortunes had radically turned for the better. If only in this reality.
Book Two
A HERO’S RETURN
Mind Control
Honor the spirits, but keep your distance from them.
—Chinese proverb
Chapter 1
A cool breeze carried the delicate scent of apple blossoms.
It swept through the mountains of China’s north central Shanxi Province where young anthropologist Brad West bent over his work. He paused digging for a moment to catch his breath. The scent revitalized his spirits and reminded him of why he was there. He loved to be back in nature.
“Great looking rock you’ve dug up there,” came the whiny voice of his chum and anthropological colleague, Earl “Skeeter” Skitowsky.
Brad tilted back the brim of his coulee hat and stared up from his knee-deep hole. “It’s a stele.”
Earl grinned. His ponytailed profile blotted out most of the sky.
“Your enthusiasm underwhelms me.” Why had Brad taken his chubby buddy out of Beijing on the expedition anyway? His pal specialized in the more academic aspects of anthropology.
Maybe Brad just wanted to bring his friend down to earth. “As you can see, field work isn’t all fun and games.”
“Miss the days as a field agent?” Earl ribbed.
Brad groaned.
Frankly, Brad was happy to be back in the field doing what he did best: unveiling the signposts that told mankind’s story. He didn’t need to repeat his dark and dangerous past when he had made history instead of merely uncovering it.
Brad had been a resourceful spy, but one who was horribly miscast in the role. The past year had been a kick, but such work was not for him. He was at home in nature, sifting through soil. He was destined to settle down with his Chinese girlfriend May and eventually write his doctoral thesis and become what he was born to be: an anthropologist.
He liked getting his hands dirty, but not with blood.
“Give me a shovel any day.”
Meanwhile in Beijing, a squad of Chinese soldiers snapped to attention, although they faced no commander.
On unspoken orders, they executed an about right face and marched through the abandoned warehouse. At the far end, they halted and turned to their left.
As a group, the soldiers leveled their rifles and took careful aim at a photograph of Nelson Burrows, the President of the United States.
All triggers clicked at once. The resulting blast seemed to tear the air. The bullets struck the exact center of the president’s forehead and formed a single hole.
Dressed in a smart business suit, a handsome Liang Jiaxi stood back and gasped with astonishment.
The unit performed another about face and marched toward him. He faced a phalanx of military machines, not individuals. And he could not read their intentions.
Liang took another step backward and nearly fell off the podium on which he stood. He shot a look over his shoulder at Dr. Yu Zhaoguo, a
small scientist with a thin white beard. The old man sat cross-legged, transmitting telepathic instructions to the soldiers.
The footsteps came to an abrupt halt. The soldiers saluted with the white palms of their gloves turned outward. The scientist had put Liang back in command of the troops.
Liang squared his shoulders and returned the salute. “At ease.” His voice trailed off in the frosty air.
There was no reaction from the soldiers.
He turned to Dr. Yu. “I told them, ‘At ease.’”
Yu hunched his shoulders under multiple layers of sweaters and complied. A moment later, the soldiers stood at ease.
“Thanks, Old Yu.” He surveyed the men before him. “This is incredible. I wonder what would happen if bin Laden got hold of this.”
“He probably has.”
Liang raised an eyebrow. “Interesting.”
It felt like he had just been handed a fat red envelope on Chinese New Year.
“Do you realize what we have at our disposal? You have turned them into robots. You push a button and they comply.”
Yu hefted a handful of bullets over which he had been meditating. “The puppet master can control every gesture of his puppets.”
Liang looked out the door. Beijing’s winter haze seemed to take on a new luster. “Do you know how many concubines I could have?”
“I suppose that’s what really matters to you. My interest lies in the science. If you give me the freedom I need, I can get to the heart of nature, avert natural disasters, solve global warming.”
Liang had no time for scholarly research. He had grown up believing in the power of man to engineer a more perfect world. “I don’t need to get to the heart of nature. All I need is to inject a few humans with this drug and microchip and install myself in office.”
“But you don’t need drugs. And you don’t need to inject your pain devices in their brains.”
