Ever heard of the expression, between a rock and a hard place? It tends to mean that you are faced with at least two unpalatable choices, with no third option as a way of escape.
Doctor Charlene Henshaw who has been kept captive in an artificial universe for over a month since her capture at CERN has been given a stark choice. Watch Celeste, the daughter of the Spirit of Death and former Spirit of Second Chances, and her baby daughter die, or co-operate with her captor in whatever evil scheme he has in mind
+ + +
A dark plane in an unknown artificial universe
Charlene winced as she heard Celeste’s baby daughter scream and as Celeste fruitlessly banged on the wall of her glass cell, trying to break it down to get to her baby daughter as it lay starving and cold in the next cell.
This businessman, as he liked to portray himself, was nothing short of a psychopathic killer in a suit and tie. Charlene recognised him from the case file. His name was Sidney Gerald, although he had at one time been seen as a respectable member of British society. He had even been granted a knighthood for services to British Industry. Before that he had served in the British counter intelligence agency, MI5.
What Charlene had been told, was that in his time Sidney Gerald had ordered his minions to kill on his behalf. This man had even convinced Celeste herself to act as his henchman, although the two individuals he had tricked Celeste into thinking she had killed, had in fact been murdered by others at his behest. He had needed some form of hold over Celeste back then, until she had outlived her usefulness.
His first plan had been to capture the shears of
Atropos, so he could kill anyone anywhere by cutting the thread of their life.
This was of course after he had tricked the Spirit of Death, with Celeste’s help and stolen his own life thread rendering himself immortal
Ultimately Sidney Gerald had been thwarted by members of the Inter Dimensional Entity Control agency special task force, and in a small way, by Celeste herself.
But what was he doing here? The last report was that he, along with the Spirit off Lust, had had his essence scattered across the universe, meaning that for all intents and purposes, he was supposed to be dead!
No wonder Sidney had it in for Celeste and her baby, Celeste had participated in his downfall. Mother and child were here so he could exact his revenge on Celeste for his defeat.
“But you’re going kill them anyway aren’t you, you b*****d” Charlene said slowly and deliberately, “Why should I believe you”
Celeste seemed to hear this exchange and turned to face Charlene. “Doctor Henshaw?” she said with tears in her eyes. “Please, my baby’s dying” Celeste wept
“So you never did bury the hatchet then Doctor Henshaw” Sidney scoffed and pressed some other buttons on a control pad
Suddenly a red vortex started to grow
“Have fun watching little Ashia die followed by Celeste” Sidney retorted, “Maybe I can locate the Sands child in Toronto for when Celeste and her child are dead. Maybe you will be more compliant then”
“No!!” Celeste screamed hysterically
At this Sidney finally acknowledged Celeste’s presence, “I’m sorry my dear” he went on, “But the uncooperative Doctor here really wants to see your baby freeze and you asphyxiate, which is so unfortunate”
Celeste sank to the bottom of the cell, overcome with grief as the screams of her baby became too hard to bare
“What do you want you b*****d” Charlene shouted out
Sidney stopped and grinned, “First of all, doctor” he went on, “Just like you have a title, so do I, and I would be grateful if you used it when addressing me”
“I would have thought they’d stripped you of that knighthood” Charlene spat back
“Au contraire mon cher” Sidney replied, “If they were to have done that, then they would have had to have given a reason to
Debrett’s, which would have been a tad embarrassing for the establishment, but as they thought I was dead anyway, they never bothered, along with a number of things concerning my empire”
“What do you want” Charlene pressed.
“So you are prepared to cooperate and work for me then?” Sidney asked in his smarmy manner
“Like I have a choice?” Charlene retaliated
“Not if you want to keep Celeste and her child alive you don’t” Sidney replied
“What’s the project you want me to do Sir Sidney” Charlene asked with venom
“All in good time my dear Doctor Henshaw” Sidney went on, “But as a sign of good faith on my part” he added in a sarcastic tone. Sidney pressed a few buttons on his remote control device and instantly the partition separating Celeste from her daughter vanished.
Celeste scrambled over and picked up her child, “She’s freezing” Celeste wailed and pulled off her top revealing she had nothing on underneath it and wrapped her top around her daughter before putting her daughter to her right breast to feed it.
“I will go and bring back details of the venture you will be assisting me on later” Sidney told Charlene pointedly, “But I do not need to remind you, that the welfare of Celeste and her daughter are entirely reliant on your full and complete co-operation”
Charlene glowered at Sidney, using an innocent mother and child to further his ends, whatever they were, there were no depths to his depravity it seemed. Even though he looked immaculate in his business suit, he was no better than the thug who would beat up an elderly lady for her meagre pension to get his next fix of drugs. What was worse, Charlene would have to do what he said in order to keep Celeste and her baby daughter alive.
Sidney then turned and walked out through the red vortex, leaving Charlene, and Celeste and her daughter in the artificial universe which held them prisoner.
+ + +
A Hotel in Witicha
Kansas
United States of America
Brigadier General Samuel Peters had just got in to his hotel room from his morning jog when he heard his cell phone go.
Samuel looked at it puzzled, who could be calling him here? Not Mark or Jenny, their number would show up on it, but this one was number withheld.
Samuel rarely gave out this number now, not even to his old boss at Inter Dimensional Entity Control.
A lot of water had flowed under that bridge. His mission to Europe had been the last time he had dealt with her, although he had last spoken with her at the reflecting pool in DC.
Against his better judgement, Samuel answered it.
“Brigadier General Peters” an unfamiliar voice came over the phone
“Who’s asking” Samuel replied curtly
“This is Walter Quentin” the voice on the phone replied.
This name was familiar to Samuel, and it was a name that instinctively made him want to hang up and it took all his self control to resist it.
“What do you want” Samuel asked bluntly, “I’m visiting friends”
“We need you back in DC” Walter replied, “You need to take the first plane from Wichita Mid continental. We’ve made you a reservation”
“No Deal” Samuel spat back, “Your goons made it quite clear three years ago that me and my people were not wanted. Why don’t you get your trained assistant director to do your bidding? I told her after that one of mission to Europe I wasn’t interested in working for the NSA. I mean what has happened to the investigation into Charlene’s abduction? Zip that’s what, why, because someone in the State Department canned that as well, or are you ringing to tell Mark and I that we’re not to go looking for her ourselves”
“Kathryn’s dead” Walter said coldly over the phone
A chill went through Samuel’s spine; something told him that if it had been something like an accident or something simple, the director of the National Security Agency would not have bothered him.
“And Celeste and her daughter have been abducted” Walter added.
“How?” Samuel asked
“Kathryn was killed by a car bomb last night Brigadier General. I was there” Walter went on, “Celeste and her daughter we tricked in to coming to DC by someone posing as the Smiths. Whoever planted that bomb made use of the diversion to take Celeste and her daughter from the bus station. And Get this Brigadier General, one witness reported a red swirling light, looking like a Catherine wheel in mid air. Luckily Metro PD have assumed he was hallucinating as he was one of the local winos”
“But we’ve came across that sight before” Samuel whispered into the phone
“Exactly Brigadier General, that’s why we called you” Walter replied and then corrected himself, “That’s why I called you, only Maddox knows I’m calling you. Now I know what happened to you and Mark, but believe me Brigadier General, I did what I could to protect your people, but I could not be seen to be doing so openly, which I deeply regret. What happened to Mark was out of my hands”
“But I thought you and Homeland Security worked for the same team” Samuel said acidly
“Just get on that plane” Walter ordered.
“Do I bring Mark?” Samuel asked
“Not this time Brigadier General” Walter replied, “I know the Johnston’s have a certain overseas house guest at the moment and we would not want to disturb her”
Again Samuel felt a shiver go down his spine, they had located where he had secreted Sarah Bentley from England, the former minor spirit of luck, now living with Mark and Jenny, and like Jenny also expecting a baby.
“Don’t worry” Walter went on, “I have no intention of passing her details on to Homeland Security, we know she’s harmless”
Samuel pulled the phone away from his mouth and mouthed the words, “just yet” expecting this revelation from Walter to be leverage to bring him back to DC. Samuel thought for a moment and then went back to the phone, “Why don’t you just get the Smiths to investigate this, their competent investigators and they have the tech skills. I’m sure Metro PD could…”
“They were targeted as well” Walter interrupted.
Samuel swore briefly, “Are they dead too?” he asked fearing the worse
“Not this time, their fine and they are now under government witness protection” Walter replied, “But someone sent them a scarf by Federal Express this morning, an identical one to the one Sue-Lim received when she was held by the FBI three years ago”
“That was sent by Sir Sidney Gerald” Samuel said into the phone after swearing briefly.
“Someone was either sending a message or diverting us from Celeste’s abduction” Walter went on, “We’re trying to investigate as best we can any connection to London, but the new administration in England was never read in on IDW01 operations. After the separation of our two worlds, the State Department in its infinite wisdom decided there was no need” Walter continued.
Samuel shook his head, “I need to warn Mark and Jenny”
“You better be quick” Walter responded, “Your flight leaves in three hours” and then he hung up on Samuel
+ + +
Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Washington DC
United States of America
Walter pocketed his phone and looked straight at Jack Maddox, “its done” he told Jack
“What was that business about a red swirling dot?” Jack asked
“There was a British industrialist and former MI5 officer a few years back who had created some kind of artificial universe” Walter explained, “I’m not sure of the technical details Jack, but it was somehow replicated that field that formed IDW01 to create it inside a super computer”
“So what’s that got to do with the sighting of a red dot?” Jack pressed
“When the IDE’s came here using their magical orbs, the vortexes they travelled through were blue, our artificial ones were green”
“And the ones to go to this artificial universe are red?” Jack asked
“You got it Jack” Walter responded, “Whoever has Celeste and her daughter has got hold of that technology. It sounds similar to what grabbed Doctor Henshaw at CERN a month or so ago. It looks like it could have been an inside job from someone in one of the agencies that was supposed to have wound down his operation after that industrialist was finally taken down”
“Well I could try our Cyber Crime division to try and track down any rouge super computers” Jack suggested
“It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack Jack” Walter replied, “And who’s to say that since that original one they haven’t updated the technology, maybe using a network of home computers say, just like some criminals create zombie pc’s to send out spam”
Jack shook his head, Walter was right. Whoever had created this artificial universe thing Walter spoke of, would probably be skilled at hiding the computer power needed to pull that off. Plus there was the possibility, that the computers generating it were outside the United States and thus outside the jurisdiction of the FBI
“Changing the subject Walter” Jack then said, “Do you think our Brigadier General will be on that flight?” he asked
“I doubt it” Walter replied, “He’ll come, but I suspect he will make his own arrangements, especially if we’ve been compromised again, and who could blame him”
“I wish you would let me run this investigation through the agency Walter” Jack then said as he peered out over the lake by the memorial, “we still have a few agents left who were read in on the old IDEC”
“We can’t take the risk Jack” Walter replied, “Whoever snatched Celeste, planted that bomb and sent that scarf had inside information on the IDEC, not to mention like I said the ability to generate an artificial universe. The only other people who could have pulled this off from that industrialist’s former empire are either dead or in jail”
“You suspect a mole in the FBI then?” Jack asked
“It’s nothing personal Jack, I daren’t even trust my open people at this point” Walter answered back, “The mole could just as easily be in the NSA, CIA or Homeland Security, anyone who was redeployed from the old IDEC. Samuel is the only person we can trust and the only person available”
“What about that former technician who married Celeste?” Jack asked, “If we are dealing as you said earlier with a variant of those artificial wormhole devices, wouldn’t it be better if…”
Walter interrupted Jack, “Not a good idea Jack, I know he would never be mixed up in anything like this but from what I heard this morning, Simon Hargreaves is in pieces at the moment, so we can’t trust him either not to mess things up. Jack he would be a loose cannon, which we could do without. It’s best to keep him out of the loop this time”
“This mole you suspect Walter” Jack then asked, “What do you think his motives would be?”
“I have no idea Jack” Walter replied, “Ever since our world was cut off from the Mystical Realms, I thought we were done with of all this”
“Do you think this is related to what happened in England, with regards to those former IDEC UK agents and whoever activated the clean up squads you mentioned?” Jack asked
“It’s looking that way” Walter replied, “But if they are playing around with artificial universes and the means to enter it, then it seems that somehow someone has supplied them with that technology which wasn’t developed until after we took over, ergo we must have a mole”, then after a few seconds added, “And before you get ideas I don’t think it was Sue-Lim either,”
+ + +
G2 Offices
Dublin, Ireland
Gregory O’Doyle followed Kelly McLaughlin as she headed to the cell where the CIA man that Gregory had apprehended had been found shot dead in his holding cell
Kelly turned around and spoke to Gregory, “What do you think you’re doing sir” she asked him point blank, “This is none of your concern now, you’re retired”
“Of course it’s my concern Kelly” Gregory retorted, “Someone murdered a prisoner in your custody, at G2 headquarters. It has to be an inside job, so who can you trust to root out a possible traitor”
“I’m sure we can find someone” Kelly objected
“You don’t like me do you Kelly” Gregory accused
“You’re a relic from the past sir” Kelly replied, “Your old fashioned and a lot of your ways when you were in the special section were anachronistic, and your track record after special section closed was hardly exemplary”
“Because you all wanted me sidelined” Gregory countered, “I served all my working life with G2 with the leprechauns, unable to tell other members of G2 what I did. When the link to the Mystical Realms was severed I became an embarrassment to you because of some bean counters at the
Oireachtas and because my presence reminded you all that you had to rely on our leprechaun guests when the human agents couldn’t get the job done. I was placed in a section that was set up to fail, so you could get rid of me and call it early retirement”
“Well that’s your view of how things were” Kelly retorted
“Look Kelly” Gregory pressed, “I caught that CIA agent tailing two young women who were once from the Mystical Realms, one of them had left it as a baby never to return. Those two young women became fully human and were given sanctuary here, and haven’t put a foot wrong. If we had not had the separation of our two worlds what this Yank did would have made it G2 Special section business”
“Which no longer exists” Kelly interrupted
“Something is up” Gregory insisted, “And you’re too stubborn to see it Miss McLaughlin. Now the Garda are going to want to investigate this, and my guess is that some politician is going to want someone’s head to roll to pacify the yanks, that one of theirs died in our custody”
Kelly glowered at Gregory
“Let me at least see the cell he died in” Gregory asked, “I was in G2 before you were born, I know a few things, even if I am not up to date on what you lot do on those portable devices you have plugged into your ears”
“You are not to touch anything in there” Kelly said slowly, deliberately and with a little venom, “You are to leave the investigations to the current G2 members and internal affairs”
“Fine” Gregory said in equal venom in his voice.
The two made their way to the interrogation room where the CIA officer had been found shot dead and entered the room. There were other members of G2 in the room with the dead body, all in white suits to avoid contaminating evidence.
Gregory sniffed the air; there was something horrifyingly familiar with the smell. “Do you smell that” Gregory asked the people in the room, and for clarification added, “A smell of ozone similar to what you get near one of those electrically powered railways”
“Yeah” one of the other G2 officers confirmed, “I noticed that too”
“Check this room for electromagnetic anomalies of any kind” Gregory ordered, “Like anything suddenly being magnetic, or for static charges”
“Err we give the orders sir” Kelly interrupted
“Word in your shell like outside” Gregory said in an earnest tone to Kelly and then left the interrogation room.
Kelly followed him to a quiet part of the corridor. “What’s this about?” Kelly asked, “Why the tests”
“Because I recognise that smell” Gregory whispered, “It’s the residue left behind when you use one of those old artificial wormhole devices the Brits made to cross to the Mystical Realms”
“But that’s impossible” Kelly objected, “You can’t get to the Mystical Realms either with those generators or the old orbs of dimension jumping”
“Because of the radiation barrier” Gregory interrupted, “I know all that, you don’t have to tell me that Kelly, but I know that smell, and it is created by the vortex of those devices. Someone used one to get to that CIA agent and kill him”
“Assuming” Kelly pressed, “Someone did use one of those devices, “Why?”
“To prevent him talking” Gregory suggested, “Or perhaps to quote from an old Bond film, that was the price of failure”
“Failure?” Kelly questioned
“Yes Kelly” Gregory persisted, “He was following the O’Docherty twins for a reason, and he got caught by me, which means that whoever sent him, and whoever killed him could still be going after those two lasses.”
“Why?” Kelly asked, still sceptical at what this old controller was saying, “As you pointed out, they are fully human now and they have no powers and it has been over three years since at least one of them went to the Mystical Realms”
“I have no idea Kelly” Gregory admitted, “But those two lasses could still be in danger and even if your not I intend to do something about it”
“Like what?” Kelly asked.
Before Gregory could answer a female G2 officer came up to them clutching a piece of paper, “I’m sorry marm” she told them, “But this item of news has come from the US, we were told you and former director O’Doyle ought to know this” she added as she handed over the piece of paper to Kelly
Kelly read the message and looked puzzled, “Who was this Kathryn Cooper?” she asked the G2 officer
“I don’t know marm” the G2 officer replied, “I was told that either you or former director O’Doyle would know her”
“She was head of the American agency that did something similar to my old department” Gregory explained, “She was effectively my opposite number over there. What about her?”
Kelly looked at Gregory, with a look of incomprehension, “They are saying she’s been killed in a car bomb attack in Washington DC”
“Oh My” Gregory said in shock at the news, “Someone
has been targeting those with a connection to that other place we mentioned. Add that to how this CIA agent was murdered and who he was tailing, there has to be a connection, which means Miss McLaughlin, I have to come back. You need me”
Kelly turned to the G2 officer, “You’re dismissed officer Paisley”
The G2 officer took this as an order to leave, so Kelly and Gregory could talk in private, and left
“No sir” Kelly told Gregory, “Your retired sir, let us handle it”
“No way Kelly” Gregory objected, “If they went after her, they probably will be coming after me as well”
“In which case” Kelly interrupted, “We will assign you a protection detail”
“But I have experience relating to the Mystical Realm” Gregory pleaded
“But as the link to that world has been severed” Kelly went on, “I don’t think we will be dealing with fairies and elves you used to manage”
“Leprechauns” Gregory countered
“Whatever” Kelly said dismissively, “The point is that we will be dealing with humans now and that if I need remind you is what the main part of G2 and not special section has always dealt with. We will handle it. If you are concerned about being targeted, like I said we can arrange a protection detail”
“Don’t bother” Gregory said angrily, “I’m still licensed to handle a gun and I have a fair idea what to look out for. I’ll do a better job of protecting myself”
With that Gregory turned and left, heading for the exit.
Kelly glowered as she watched him leave, Then Kelly went back to her own office and picked up a phone to contact one of her trusted G2 officers, to order them to put a tail on Gregory O’Doyle just in case he went rogue”
+ + +
Samuel got out of the taxi and walked through the front door. They had arranged for tickets to be left for him, but if his former boss had been assassinated, collecting them would mark him out, but anyone targeting him would easily spot him. The fact the tickets were from this airport would alert them to where he was.
He was just glad that when he phoned his former right hand man, Mark Johnston, he had got through to him, and not his voicemail. If anyone was coming for him and his family, hopefully he would be ready. The person he felt sorry for was Sarah Bentley, the former minor spirit of luck from England, she would have move to somewhere else in the US, especially if the director of the National Security Agency knew where she was. Even if he had no plans to go after her, the fact he knew raised the question, who else would know?
Samuel had instructed Mark to see to her relocation, and keep it secret, especially from Homeland Security as there seemed to be changes to policy under the new administration regarding minor spirits of virtue. The call for their sterilisation just in case had appalled him. Yet again politicians refusing to listen to experts, just so they could grab headlines, even though the existence of said minor spirits of virtue was still classed as “Ultra Secret”.
With regards to Sarah Bentley, also Samuel could not be sure if the US State Department would not decide to acquiesce to any extradition requests for her from the UK. Samuel had been angry that after he had spirited her out of Switzerland and into the US, they had refused to make clear to the UK authorities that she had been cleared of involvement in the deaths of her brother and a number of police officers. This had been because the new administration in the UK, had never been read in about the Mystical Realms, and to prove Sarah’s innocence would have required this. The State department saw no reason that the UK should be read in about what had happened, even though originally it had been the UK who had led on Inter Dimensional affairs, albeit during the old policy of incarcerate, interrogate and exterminate.
“Colonel Samuel Peters?” a female said behind him
Samuel jumped and then turned around to see a young woman in her mid twenties.
“I can’t believe its It’s you, here in Wichita” she added
“I’m sorry” Samuel said in a state of confusion, “Do I know you?”
“It’s Rachel” she told Samuel, “Sergeant Guthrie’s girl”
Again Samuel could not placer her and still looked confused.
“Sergeant Karl Guthrie, my father, he served with you in Iraq?” the woman said in a questioning tone, “He must have mentioned me?”
Samuel racked his brain, trying to remember that far back. It had seemed several lifetimes ago when they were part of a team sent in to help liberate Iraq from Saddam Husain and seek out his weapons of mass destruction. His recent exploits in dealing with Inter Dimensional World oh one, or the Mystical Realms as some called it, had all but wiped out his memory of what could be termed more simpler times. But he could just about remember a Sergeant Guthrie in the unit he was in.
“I’m sorry” Samuel replied, “That seems a lifetime time ago”
“You mean he never mentioned me?” the woman said with an air of disappointment
“He may have Rachel” Samuel responded, “But a lot of those I served with talked about their families back home, and I’ve been involved in other theatres since then”
“Like Afghanistan and Colombia?” the woman ventured
“And an attachment in England” Samuel added
“You’re right sir” the woman sighed, “I guess dad was kind of private, when they called him a war hero when he got back and offered to give him a welcome back party he turned it down. Dad always said he wasn’t any such thing, he was just out there doing a job like countless others”
“Yeah” Samuel sighed, “There were quite a few of us back then”
“Anyway” the young woman said, changing the subject, “Where are you headed Colonel?” she asked
“It’s Brigadier General actually, I got a promotion before I retired from the corps” Samuel corrected, “I have to return to Washington. Something came up” he added in a non committal manner
“Wow that cool” the young woman went on, “I’m headed to DC to visit my father’s grave at Arlington”
“I’m sorry” Samuel replied a little thrown by the revelation that his former marine buddy was dead, “I didn’t realise he had died” Samuel told her, “How?” he asked
“It was cancer Brigadier General” the young woman answered, “He found he had it after his last tour in Iraq ended in oh five. He died a year later”
Samuel shook his head, “I never knew”
“Yeah” the young woman said sympathetically, Like I said, he was a private man and Dad kept a lot of things to himself”
It was becoming obvious, that what seemed to be a blast from his past, as it were, was going to be on the same flight as him back to DC. He did not want to say anything to say where in DC he was going and why, but something did not seem right, although he could not put his finger on it.
“I’m headed to DC as well” Samuel decided to tell her and predictably she suggested seeing if they could get seats next to one another on the plane.
Samuel agreed, it would help him keep better tabs on her, as something in the back of his mind made him feel suspicious about this young woman claiming to be the daughter of an old colleague from the US Marine Corps.
The two then entered the airport together and Samuel went up to the appropriate desk and collected the ticket that had been reserved for him. He expected that those who had paid for it, assumed he would not be using it, to hide the fact he was coming to DC. Samuel did not want them to work out any of the false names he had been using since he had retired, and what would be the point, they probably knew he was coming; maybe this young woman was here to keep tabs on him. The only reason someone would want him on a specific flight would be to make sure he would be liquidated, should they want to make sure that the plane with him on never landed safely.
But would supposedly his own government really commit cold blooded murder of other innocent citizens?
Such thinking would put him in the same grouping of the so called Nine-Eleven Truth movement, and that seemed an anathema to him
By using the ticket that they had purchased for him, and agreeing to sit with this woman claiming to be Sergeant Guthrie’s daughter he could be seen as walking into a trap, and if that were the case, then the edge he had, was that he knew it was a trap and was ready for them.
At least he hoped he was
+ + +
A dark plane in an unknown artificial universe
Charlene sat on the bed of her glass cell looking at Celeste as an awkward silence fell between them.
Just over three years earlier there had been tension between the two, although it was more one way traffic from Charlene.
Celeste had once worked for the man who kept them prisoner as a sort of enforcer, and it had been Celeste who had delivered to Sue-Lim an enchanted scarf, which caused Sue-Lim to try and hang herself with it. Even though Celeste had ultimately assisted in saving Sue-Lim’s life, Charlene had hated her for what could have been.
It had only been when they were in the alternate timeline where Earth had fallen to the Lord Low Troll’s daughter did Charlene realise that her hatred was really because she had felt guilty at her role in her own mother’s suicide. Charlene, when she was a child had given her mother a scarf as a birthday present, but because her father was abusive towards them both, Charlene’s mother had used it to commit suicide.
Charlene and Celeste, had both been part of the group that were to keep their memories when time had been rolled back by the Lord Low Troll, after he used an artefact. Both of them in this revised timeline, had “kissed and made up” three years earlier. But Charlene returned to her job at CERN whilst Celeste stayed with Simon and his parents in America and eventually married Simon and even had a daughter by him.
Somehow, the two of them lost contact and Charlene had only heard about Celeste second hand, via Sue-Lim.
“Sorry” Charlene spoke up
“Would you have watched her die?” Celeste asked accusingly
“No” Charlene admitted, “I couldn’t”
“That was how it came across to me” Celeste said back to Charlene
“Sorry, it just came out all wrong” Charlene said rather lamely, “I just don’t think any of us will get out of this alive. Not with him”
“You think he’s going to kill us?” Celeste asked
“I wouldn’t put it past him Celeste” Charlene replied, “According to Samuel he cut the life thread of one of his own associates just to demonstrate those shears of Atropos”
“He lied to me when we first met” Celeste admitted, “He said he had plans to make both worlds a better place. He said that he had a way to do that. I asked him what it was, but he said that it would be better if I didn’t know just in case I was captured. He was more of a father to me at the time than my real father seemed”
“He never trusted you did he” Charlene asked
Celeste shook her head and looked down at her baby daughter who was sleeping in her arms, wrapped up in Celeste’s top, and then looked up with tears in her eyes. “After I had outlived my usefulness to him he had me locked up in a place like this”
“I know, and from what I heard” Charlene went on, “that b*****d only trusted humans”
“And I’m not human” Celeste said in completion of what Charlene had not said.
“You are now” Charlene countered, “You have a human soul and you lost your powers”
“Except my ability to heal others” Celeste admitted
“As far as I’m concerned you’re human” Charlene said after a moment’s pause
“I wish the American government saw it that way” Celeste said wistfully, “did you know that when I got pregnant with her they actually said I had to get rid of her”
“They wanted you to have an abortion?” Charlene asked with horror in her voice.
Celeste nodded and then looked down at her daughter, “We had to go on the run just so I could keep my baby”
“But I thought that sort of policy ended with Mr Blue in England?” Charlene asked
“So did we” Celeste replied, “Even Miss Cooper started saying that I should have my first pregnancy terminated, as she put it. She told Simon and I that although she didn’t agree with what they were ordering us to do, if I got rid of my baby, then they could run tests on it which would show it was not a threat to their precious national security if I had children”
“That sounds so unlike her” Charlene asserted, “Giving in like that”
“I’m not lying Doctor Henshaw” Celeste protested, “She even persuaded Simon’s parents that it was best if my first pregnancy was terminated to show their Homeland Security that it was safe for me to have babies. She kept saying to us, how she was certain that once they discovered my aborted baby was human and was harmless, there would be no further objections to me getting pregnant again”
“So what happened?” Charlene pressed.
“They took me for an arranged appointment with an abortion clinic arranged by Miss Cooper, Doctor Henshaw” Celeste went on with her voice breaking with emotion. “His parents waited for Simon to go to work and then they forced me into their car and took me there. It was only because Miss Cooper’s PA Sophie had been asked to make the booking that Simon found out. Sophie told him and she resigned that day. Simon met me at the clinic and rescued me from there. Sophie took us to the airport to get away as far as we could on the first flight out we could get”
“Where did you go?” Charlene asked, still horrified at the tale Celeste was telling. This young woman had held her own against a demon and saved Washington DC, and had indeed saved countless lives in Northern Ireland, and they treated her like this?
“We went to a place on your world called San Francisco and lived there for a few months until Miss Cooper’s new PA Mr Travis tracked us down” Celeste explained
“Ouch” Charlene responded, “That sounds bad”
“He was actually very good Doctor Henshaw” Celeste admitted, “He must have persuaded Miss Cooper that she had been wrong to give in to those who wanted me to get rid of my baby. He even got the Mr Quentin, the head of the agency Simon works for to allow us to stay there until Ashia here was born. Also doctor Henshaw, Mr Quentin had the doctors run some kind of tests on Ashia to show she was just a harmless baby, and he stood up to the people from Homeland Security. Doctor Henshaw, you could not make this up, but even after Mr Quentin proved Ashia was not some kind of threat, they still wanted me and my baby sterilised. I thought when they took us, it was the government come to kill my…”
At this Celeste broke down, and was unable to speak
Charlene shook her head and put her head in her hands and then looked back up at Celeste in her glass cell. It was becoming all to clear to her, that all sides, even nominally hers, were as bad as each other.
When Charlene was a child, like all children she believed that things were black and white, after her mother’s suicide and later it became “shades of grey”, now the way that they had treated Celeste, and from what she had heard from the others, it was more like “Shades of darkness”
+ + + +
Residential area of the marine base at Quantico
Virginia, United States of America
Sue-Lim sighed as she looked round the living room of the house they had been moved to that afternoon at Quantico. By coincidence it was the one that they first stayed in when they came to the US, after the closure of the UK branch of Inter Dimensional Entity Control, and Sue-Lim hated it.
“Why this place Pete” Sue-Lim asked
“I suspect they thought we would like it, since we used to live here” Pete suggested
“But those listening devices they planted Pete, we were violated here” Sue-Lim objected
“I know” Pete answered as he too remembered how this apartment had been bugged by state of the art surveillance devices belonging to the National security Agency, some of which were not even approved for field use. “I’ve still got my old kit Sue-Lim, I’ll sweep it as soon as the base commander has been. Just watch what you say in the mean time”
“As if we had anything to hide Pete” Sue-Lim snapped back
“Sorry love” Pete apologised, “That came out wrong”
“Pete, I think our days with the Metro PD crime lab are numbered” Sue-Lim ventured, “Could you not see how angry Mr Davey was?”
“I know love” Pete agreed as he thought of his supervisor, angry at the FBI and the NSA for taking over the investigations and angry at Pete and Sue-Lim for not levelling with him, even though they could not, due to their former work with the IDEC still being classified.
“I almost wish dad were here Pete” Sue-Lim sighed, “I’m sure he would have straightened things out. I know he would have been thrilled to see our first child”
To Pete this sounded strange coming from Sue-Lim’s mouth, after all, her father, referred by others as Mr Vee had seemingly abandoned her and her mother in England when Sue-Lim was born, although behind the scenes he had claimed he had watched over her as she grew up.
“If we lose our jobs at Metro PD over this” Sue-Lim went on, “I don’t know what we’ll do. It’s bad enough that I’m on maternity. I just wish I could keep going until I dropped”
“And then put it on your back and got back to work like Mr’s Curry in our maths class used to say about women in Africa” Pete finished.
“We need the money Pete” Sue-Lim told him, “It’s expensive living in DC, I mean this little one is going to cost us a fortune” she added pointing to her stomach.
“Our health insurance will cover that Sue-Lim” Pete reassured her
“But what if we lose our jobs Pete?” Sue-Lim countered
“We’ll manage” Pete continued to reassure Sue-Lim, “If all else fails we can do what we should have done three years ago and returned back to England”
“But would they let me in Pete” Sue-Lim countered, “Especially as they decided I’m an American citizen”
“But didn’t your mother become a naturalised Brit?” Pete asked
Sue-Lim shook her head, “She just got indefinite leave to remain. I was never sure if they classed me as British or Vietnamese that was why I was so amazed I ever got to work at the IDEC UK annex in the beginning”
“But your dad got you that job” Pete replied
Sue-Lim just nodded, “He was always pulling strings from behind the scenes. Even down in Miami”
Pete picked up on the Miami reference, where Sue-Lim had once been raped by immigration detention guards out of revenge for the senior guard’s brother who had died in the Vietnam War. Pete did not like Sue-Lim dwelling on that, as that had led her to a nervous breakdown three years previously.
“Yeah” Pete cut in, “He may not have showed it much, but he loved you very much and he would have been thrilled to be a granddad. “I know my parents in England are”
“Any idea if they will let us know if they found anything on that scarf yet?” Sue-Lim then asked, “I can’t believe anyone would do that to me again.”
“I’ll try and find out” Pete replied, “But it won’t be that easy as Vice Admiral Quentin was supposedly retiring from the NSA yesterday and the feds have grabbed jurisdiction”
“Yeah ok, I suppose we better start unpacking then” Sue-Lim said as she headed for the suitcases in the hallway
“Don’t you dare touch them” Pete ordered, “Let me” he added as he pushed past Sue-Lim
Sue-Lim glowered at Pete for a moment, even though she loved him dearly and she was heavily pregnant with their first child, it was sometimes frustrating that he would not let her do anything remotely connected with lifting. It seemed that Pete was more excited about the prospect of becoming a father than she was of becoming a mother.
Just then Sue-Lim’s mobile went, and for a moment a terror went through her. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and nervously looked at it. It said “number withheld”. Nervously she opened the phone and answered it.
“This is the front gate security Mam” the voice on the phone said, “Sorry to call you on this number, but your phone line has not been connected yet, and your visitor gave us this number to let you know they were coming”
“Visitor?” Sue-Lim queried as her blood ran cold.
This was supposed to be a secret location, so who knew where they were?
“Yes Mam” the voice replied, “The Vice Admiral is bringing him across”
“Who is he?” Sue-Lim asked
Pete, now aware that Sue-Lim was on the phone came across. “What’s wrong?” Pete asked
Sue-Lim looked up at Pete and mouthed, “We’ve got a visitor”.
“The Vice admiral said his name was Mr Hargreaves” the voice on the phone said.
“Ok” Sue-Lim said weakly into the phone and hung up. She turned to Pete, “its Simon” she said with an air of incomprehension.
“What’s he doing here” Pete asked with an air of irritation, but before he could say anymore, there was the sound of a car pulling up outside.
Pete motioned for Sue-Lim to stay in the house and went to the front door, expecting the worse, given what had happened already.
Outside getting out of the car were Walter and Simon.
Walter got out of the car first and approached Pete, “I’m sorry to bother you Mr Smith” he apologised, “But Simon arrived this afternoon at Union Station hoping to find his wife and child all by himself. His parents tipped me off. There’s no way we can have him running around DC on his own, and he needs a place to stay”
Pete sighed, “You better bring him in” he told Walter.
Walter returned to the car and spoke to Simon. Simon then got out of the car, looking bewildered and lost.
Pete shook his head in despair, it looked like he and Sue-Lim would obviously have to baby sit him, and perhaps somehow figure out how to find Celeste and her daughter, just to make sure Simon did not cause any more problems and make a bad situation worse.
+ + +
Samuel sauntered through the arrivals hall at Dullos international airport, with the young woman in tow who claimed to be the daughter of one of his former colleagues.
The woman, who called herself Rachel Guthrie, had been very talkative during the flight, which Samuel could tell were nerves about something, adding to his suspicions. A lot about what she had said was supposedly about her father, who Samuel had served with during the second Gulf War, but sometimes she had asked about what he had been doing in Wichita.
Samuel had been careful to deflect the questions, in numerous ways.
Both Samuel and the young woman skirted past baggage reclaim, Samuel had made it a habit to travel light, so all he had could be taken as carryon luggage. It seemed his travel companion had done the same. The only snag was that he could not carry a firearm, although as a retired marine, he was not really supposed to.
In the crowd of others who had come in from the flight, he thought he could see someone who looked like some kind of federal agent, but a moment later they were gone.
“Which hotel are you staying at?” the young woman asked
“I haven’t booked one” Samuel replied, “I usually stay at a friends place when I’m in DC, but I hear they have had to leave town”
“That’s a shame sir” the woman replied, “I know the name of a good hotel in DC. I use it all the time when I visit Arlington. We could even share a cab”
“Yep I bet” Samuel replied
The two of them reached the front door of the airport and the entrance to the main taxi rank. Samuel noticed a magazine, on a news stand. It was talking about some tragedy of how two parents had lost their teenage son.
Finally Samuel remembered his old marine buddy Karl Guthrie and what he could now recall showed that the woman claiming to be his daughter was a definite fraud.
“Now Rachel” Samuel said to the woman, “If that’s your real name, why don’t you tell me who you really are”
“Sir?” the woman responded in surprise
“Come one” don’t give me that, “Whoever you are, you got some things right but you really messed up with doing you home work”
“I don’t understand?” the woman protested.
“Sure you do” Samuel countered, “For one, I remember Karl now and he did talk about his daughter Rachel, a lot, because we had one thing in common. Both our daughters had died when they were children. My daughter Andrea was killed by a DUI and Karl’s daughter died when she was four years old from
Meningitis”
“Oh” the woman responded
Samuel continued, “And Two, my mission in Colombia was long after you said Karl had died, and even if he were alive, assuming that he is dead, he would not have known about it, as that was classified, which means you have to be working for one of the intelligence agencies. So what is it, CIA, FBI, NSA?”
The young woman glowered at him angrily, “They told us you were damn good”
“I don’t know about that, but with all these rookie mistakes, I’m guessing this is your first field assignment” Samuel retaliated, “A more senior agent would not have made such a fundamental error of assuming I would not remember conversations with my fellow marines”
“Well you’re right about one thing sir” The woman replied with unexpected venom and pulled out a badge and showed it to him.
At this two other men with suits and suspicious bulges indicated concealed fire arms emerged from the crowd. They had obviously been sent to meet them, as being undercover this woman would not have been able to take a fire arm on a plane.
“This was my first field assignment” the woman continued, “I’m Special Agent Anne Perkins of the
Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and you’re under arrest Brigadier General”
“On what charge?” Samuel demanded to know as the other NCIS agents gathered around him
“Withholding information about the whereabouts of a wanted terrorist and fugitive with High Treason thrown in, for starters” she replied as Samuel was handcuffed by one of the male NCIS agents, “And possibly the homicide of a federal agent in Paris”
To be continued