There is an old truism that says “Truth Will out” No matter how hard we try to cover up things, sometimes the truth comes out. It is said that the main crime at Watergate, was not the dirty tricks perpetrated against Nixon’s rival as they were all doing to each other, but the conspiracy to cover it up.
Usually it is best to come clean and clear up the mess rather than deal with conspiracies of silence et al.
Sometimes for various reasons this does not seem like an option, like for instance the former members of Inter Dimensional Entity Control unable to talk about their roles and the existence of the Mystical Realms, now inaccessible.
But now that truism we mentioned at the start has come to shock both Pete Smith and Simon Hargreaves as they look for clues to the abduction of Celeste and her baby daughter. It turns out that Pete’s supervisor had a sister who had had visions of the nuclear attack that happened in the alternate timeline when Earth fell to the forces of Brameana, the Lord Low Troll’s estranged daughter
+ + +
A Bus Station in Washington DC
The silence from Pete spoke volumes as his supervisor Iain Davy said in an authoritative tone, “Well does it Pete”
“Pete wasn’t there” Simon spoke up, “I was”
Iain approached Simon, “What do you mean you were there?”
“Simon, that’s classified” Pete said angrily
“Come one he knows” Simon insisted
“Pete” Iain retorted, “There is something you’re not telling me, and if it is connected with the death of my sister, the murder of this NSA employee Kathryn Cooper and this abduction I need to know. You’ve already admitted that you had something to do with parallel universes and that device there has detected residue of some kind of artificial one” he added pointing to the detector Pete was still carrying.
“Sir” Pete pleaded, “This was highly classified, and we were ordered not to talk about it. Sue-Lim and I rarely talk about it between ourselves even nowadays”
“I realise that Pete” Iain replied, “I’m not asking you to sing to the press here, I need you to level with me here. I don’t believe for one moment my sister committed suicide as we came from a Catholic family”
“And Suicide is a mortal sin” Simon interrupted
“Exactly” Iain answered.
Pete gulped, knowing how things went bad for a lot of people at the old Inter Dimensional Entity Control organisation after the worlds were separated, he was now worried that his boss might think he was implicated somehow in the murder of his sister.
Pete shook his head, “Whatever happened to your sister, it wasn’t anything to do with me, Sue-Lim or Simon. We would never be involved in something like that, I swear”
“Well maybe not you” Iain replied, “I know you and Sue-Lim, I don’t believe you ever could be involved in a murder and be able to cover it up, but you’re holding something back. I can tell you know something about what my sister believed”
“Earth was invaded” Simon said nervously
“From one of these parallel dimensions?” Iain asked with a look of incredulity on his face, “So why didn’t we hear about this? This sounds very much like the plot for that film
Men in Black”
“You didn’t hear about it sir” Pete reluctantly went on, “Because time was rolled back to prevent it so it never happened in this current timeline”
“There were only a few of us who remember that timeline” Simon interrupted
“And that’s what you meant when you said you were there?” Iain asked, “You were in that alternate timeline?”
Simon nodded.
“Me, Sue-Lim, and you sir all belong to this time line sir” Pete added, “Simon and Celeste both lived through that invasion and came back as part of a team to prevent it happening”
“Maybe you didn’t succeed” Iain suggested, “If I remember from Discovery Channel, there was the belief that if someone went back they would cause another timeline to branch off from the main time line and follow that. Is that why my sister believed that we had been attacked, she could see the original timeline”
“But we didn’t go back in time” Simon insisted, “We rolled time back and a few of us had our consciousnesses and memories preserved so we could stop Brameana and the Demons”
“Who?” Iain asked, before adding, “No, don’t tell me, I suppose they were the ones who attacked Earth”
“It would take too long to explain sir” Pete told his supervisor, “But I suppose you could say that. As for that idea about a branching timeline, according to Simon Sue-Lim and I apparently survived the invasion, and I’m sure we would have mentioned that possibility when the option of rolling time back was proposed”
“And Doctor Henshaw came back with us too” Simon added.
Iain shook his head, “Was his Kathryn Cooper one of those who came back as well when time was rolled back”
“No” Simon answered bluntly, “She was one of those who was killed in the nuclear attack on Washington”
“So my sister was right all along” Iain said accusingly, “You opened a gateway to another universe and they invaded us”
“It wasn’t like that sir” Pete protested, “They originally opened a gateway to us. We eventually set up a co-operation treaty with the authorities of that world”
“And they reneged on the deal?” Iain inquired further with anger in his tone of voice
“No sir” Pete protested, “There some kind of coup or overthrow of the authorities there that we were dealing with. It was the leaders of this coup that attacked Earth” Pete reluctantly explained, “They stole nuclear weapons and used them against us”
“But why attack Earth?” Iain pressed
“It was part of their strategy to seize power in their own universe using some ancient law from their side” Pete answered, “Like I said it would take too long to explain”
“OK Pete” Iain relented, “But like I said, it means my sister was not crazy and she was right all along”
“Yes sir” Pete admitted, “But I’ve no idea how she was able to know, we all believed that time had been reset and that no branching took place”
Iain looked up at the ceiling and then back at Simon and Pete, “the two people we know of who have been abducted, Celeste and Doctor Henshaw both came back from the future then”
“Yeah” Pete nervously admitted
“Why have they not taken Simon as well?” Iain asked further
“I don’t know Mr Davy” Simon whined, “I just want my wife and baby back”
“Maybe” Iain suggested, “Assuming there is no branching timeline, Celeste and Doctor Henshaw were abducted by those who tried to invade in the original timeline, in order to find out how they were prevented in this time line”
“No” Pete replied, “Those involved were either killed or neutralised”
“As far as you know” Iain replied
“My Celeste took out Brameana in this timeline” Simon insisted
Pete gave a cold hard stare at Simon before turning back to Iain “Believe me sir” Pete insisted, “All the parties that were involved in the invasion were dealt with. Anyway sir” Pete said, trying to change the subject, “The residue points to an artificial universe that that Sir Sidney Gerald used. It may not be connected with the other timeline”
Iain sighed, “So that would mean the murder of my sister is not directly connected with Kathryn’s murder and Celeste’s abduction”
“You taught Sue-Lim and I to follow the evidence as CSIs sir” Pete answered back in a reconciliatory tone, “Even if there is a connection to your sister’s death, the evidence we have on the detector does not point to those who tried to attack Earth. It points to that former industrialist we took down just over three years ago”
“Well that’s probably not much to go on then Pete” Iain replied.
“But I can back track the wormhole” Simon announced
“What do you mean Simon?” Iain asked
“I might be able to open a wormhole to that artificial universe” Simon said excitedly
“But Simon, we would need a generator” Pete said to Simon without thinking
“What kind of generator would that be?” Iain asked
“A device that was developed so we could cross into these alternate universes. We called them wormhole generators but they were really just gateways to other parallel universes” Pete explained
“And I can modify one to connect with that artificial universe”
“We need to try that” Iain told Simon and Pete, “especially as that seems to be our only lead”
“But this is still classified sir and even then we would need to get hold of one” Pete sighed, “And the last one I knew of disappeared two years ago”
“But I can build one” Simon insisted and pulled out a small pen drive, “I have the plans on this”
“Maybe” Iain replied, “But it’s getting late, we’re all getting tired”
“We can’t sleep while they have my wife and child” Simon insisted
“I’m afraid he’s right Simon” Pete said gently, “If we’re going to reconstruct a generator to try and find them, we need to be rested, otherwise we might make mistakes”
“I know a safe place you can stay” Iain went on, “I’ve arranged for Sue-Lim to stay in the hospital overnight”
“What about Homeland Security?” Pete asked, “We were being held under house arrest at Quantico on their orders”
“Leave them to me” Iain replied, “I used to be in the US Air force, remember? I will be reminding them that officially you were meant to be in a safe house for your protection and not held in custody as you had not broken any laws or violated any confidences prior to receiving that scarf.”
“And you think that will work?” Pete asked incredulously, “Ever since nine eleven, your Homeland Security seems to rule the roost as we put it in England”
“I know Pete” Iain agreed, “But knowing where a few metaphorical bodies are buried sometimes helps with these people”
+ + +
A dark plane in an unknown artificial universe
Charlene looked across at the other glass cell where Celeste and her baby daughter were sleeping.
Just then she heard the sound of the wormhole back to the real word forming. She looked around and saw that the red dot was forming outside the glass cells. Obviously Sir Sidney was paying them a visit, as food drops appeared in the cells themselves
Charlene watched in silence as the vortex grew until it was full size, when as expected, out stepped Sir Sidney carrying the black controller box that could delete a whole cell or the air within it.
“I think Doctor Henshaw it is time we started work, don’t you?” Sir Sidney said in his cold callous manner
“Okay” Charlene said in a long drawn out manner, “Will I be working on whatever you want me to work on here, or back in the real world”
“I have been making ready a secure laboratory in my residence” Sir Sidney went on, “Since the last time I used this high technology holding centre, I made various modifications to make it more secure”
Charlene could guess why, “So”, she retorted, “You made it so one of our wormhole generators can’t penetrate it like last time”
Sir Sidney grinned, “Exactly. Any attempt to gate into this artificial universe using a standard wormhole generator will result in a particular nasty feed back effect akin to a mini gamma ray burst. And before you ask, the devices that allow me to travel into this artificial universe are designed exclusively for that purpose. This means that any development of my plan to re-establish a link to the Mystical Realms has to be done in the real world”
This news was devastating. Charlene had partially hoped that someone might find her artificial universe prison and gate in, like her former colleagues from the IDEC along with, The Spirit of Lust and disgraced IDEC UK technician Timothy Zachary had done, all those years ago, to the one that had held The Spirit of Death, two of the fates and the O’Docherty Twins from Ireland.
Charlene had no way to know if anyone had even tried and had been wiped out by the trap that Sir Sidney had now added to this electronic prison. If there was to be any rescue it would have to come in the real world, but somehow she doubted it would ever come, especially as Sir Sidney had kept her for so long to let interest in her wane on the outside world.
“Lets get on with this” Charlene said with a tint of anger in her voice. The thought of helping such a cold blooded killer revolted her, but she had no choice. What had been even more horrendous by this predicament, was that this Sir Sidney Gerald, the main bad guy, was not like the other villains they had gone up against. He was not some spirit of vice or creature with supernatural powers or strength.
Sir Sidney was a human like her, and that made it infinitely worse!
“Yes, lets” Sir Sidney said in a smarmy voice. Then he held up the controller box, “Just to let you know, my finger is on the delete button to eliminate all air in Celeste’s cell. Any funny stuff when I open your cell, and you can watch Celeste and her little brat asphyxiate.
“I told you I will do whatever you asked” Charlene protested.
“I know” Sir Sidney replied, “But if our roles were reversed would you trust you?”
Sir Sidney had a point, if she could, she would like to kick the backside of this pompous old man, but he seemed to hold all the cards, and she could not risk the life of two innocent people. That was what he was counting on.
Just then in front of her on the floor appeared a pair of handcuffs and some leg irons
“Remove your clothes and put those on with your hands cuffed behind your back” Sir Sidney ordered
“What?” Charlene responded hesitantly
“Who do you think would die first with no air, Celeste or her little brat” Sir Sidney said with an angry tone.
Quickly Charlene started pulling off her clothes in order to comply, while Sir Sidney stood impassively watching her.
Then with every last item of clothing removed, she slipped on the leg irons over her ankles and put the handcuffs on with her hands behind her back.
What was this perv’s game?
“Good” Sir Sidney said forcefully, “I prefer to make sure that those who need persuasion to do as they’re told have no hidden items on them. Plus the leg irons and the handcuffs make them less likely to try and run. A little trick I picked up from the Americans when they ran
Abu Ghriab in Baghdad”
Sir Sidney moved his thumb on the controller and a door appeared in her cell
“Out” Sir Sidney ordered
Charlene slowly ventured out of her cell.
Sir Sidney pointed in the direction of the red swirling vortex and Charlene knew exactly what he wanted and entered the vortex.
Sir Sidney pressed another button on his control pad and the clothes Charlene had removed dissolved into nothing. Then he looked at Celeste and her baby, still asleep in their glass cell. For a moment he hesitated with his thumb between the buttons to delete them out of existence, or the button to delete all their air.
“Telling me that you quit like you did” Sir Sidney growled under his breathe, “I would love to see you and your brat gasp for non existent air for your treachery”, but then thought better of it. While Doctor Henshaw had work to do, he still needed Celeste and her baby kept alive as leverage. Once he got what he wanted and was in a position to dispense with Doctor Henshaw, then he would have his vengeance.
Sir Sidney turned around and entered the vortex and was gone.
The red swirling vortex evaporated.
Just then Celeste woke up, “Charlene?” she called out groggily, but got no answer
+ + +
Holyhead Ferry Terminal
North Wales
Gregory stood on the deck as the ferry came into the port, hoping he would be able to spot anyone come to arrest him, assuming they worked out where he was. Gregory just hoped he could at least make it out of the port alive, but to where? He also suspected there would now be a warrant out for his arrest, but the way things at G2 had gone, he suspected that such official niceties would not be gone through with. He would now be treated as a G2 officer gone rouge, something the Irish Secret Service would not like to be broadcast, especially to their counterparts in Britain or worse still, to the Americans.
With what he knew he expected that the orders would be given to shoot him on sight, after all he knew too much, especially about Ireland’s dependence for several years on leprechauns in the G2 Special section, before the worlds were separated and all the leprechauns returned to the Mystical Realms.
The ferry docked
Gregory made his way down to where other bleary eyed travellers were disembarking on this early morning. He had managed to grab some sleep on the ferry, but it had been holed up in the boats restaurant, as being a last minute passenger, he had not been able to rent a cabin.
There was a small crowd of people walking, so Gregory kept his head down and walked amongst them, trying his best to blend in with them as possible, always on the look out for police or G2 officers.
He slipped past the gates to the ferry terminal with no problems and after a short walk he saw the old logo of British Rail on a sign, next to a road sign giving details about a roundabout. Maybe he could catch a train somewhere?
Gregory stared at the sign as he headed towards it, following the crowd of walkers, and then he checked his wallet. He did not have much cash on him. He did not think he would have had to take out a lot anyway, besides what money he had was in Euros and not legal currency in the UK.
He would have to try his credit card and see if that would work, although he suspected his accounts would be frozen and G2 would be able to pinpoint him like a shot.
But maybe not
Gregory had once heard that there was a flaw in the banking system that not many others knew about. When people used their cards, whilst the money was dragged through, ASAP, any issue around stopping them had a lag. He had heard how a Scottish friend of his who obviously banked with a UK bank once visited the US and Canada. Whilst there his friend had no problems getting money out of their account, but on his return to the UK, his account had been stopped because of suspicious activity abroad and so he had had to ring the bank up and describe every transaction in minute detail. His friend had complained to him, that after satisfying the bank it was him who accessed his account, they had told him that if he wanted to go abroad again, he needed to sign up to a premium banking service, which of course was a service he was expected to pay for.
Gregory headed for the railway station and hoped there would be an ATM there, preferably one that charged a withdrawal fee as they were even more problematic with regards to tracking people, and so the fee would be worth it, if it delayed his former colleagues from getting onto him.
Gregory found one just inside the station entrance, but it was a standard link machine, that made a virtue that money withdrawals were free. He would just have to risk it. If the machine swallowed his card, then he would high tail it to the offices of the local press if he could find them, and just hope he could make the journalists believe he was not some kind of raving lunatic.
Gregory placed his bank card in the machine and held his breath.
The machine seemed to stop and just had a sign explaining how it was contacting his bank.
Then after an agonising period of time it asked him for his pin number.
Gregory tapped it in and waited another eternity
The machine seemed to accept it, so Gregory requested cash.
It took it’s time again before asking how much
Gregory thought for a moment, he did not like carrying large amounts of cash on him, but this could be the last time he would be able to use his account as G2 would almost certainly freeze it.
He asked for four hundred pounds
Again the machine wanted to think about it, before going on to dispense the cash.
Gregory grabbed the cash and his bank card and headed for the ticket office. He could see that a train was in and getting ready to leave. It was headed for London. He might as well head for there and then try and see where to go next.
He remembered he had a grown up daughter who was living somewhere in England, maybe once he got to London.
No
Brigadier General Samuel Peters awoke from an uneasy sleep. and checked his watch to see what the time was. The fact that this dirt bag, Sir Sidney Gerald wanted to see him, and possibly gloat, had partially reassured him that this mysterious Mr Ex would not try anything while he slept on the plane, but maybe there were other forces at work.
Samuel had set his watch forward five hours to be on London time and according to the airline tickets, they were supposed to be landing sometime midmorning local time, but an unexpected long delay at Dullos Airport meant that their arrival in London would be delayed, by how much, he was not sure
Samuel noticed that the former corporal Tania McCaskey was still asleep, and that Mr Ex was not in his seat.
Samuel had no idea who this Mr Ex was, homeland security, CIA, NSA or some other member of the intelligence community. The fact like Mr Vee or Mr Double-You, or John as Vice Admiral Walter Quentin had called him, Mr Ex never revealed his true name was also frustrating. This Mr Ex knew all about him and Tania, but he knew nothing about him.
As for Tania, the revelation of her affair with a member of the Drow High council somehow rankled him and almost gave him a feeling of betrayal. What the Sam hill was she doing? At that time their allies the trolls, were dealing with the elves, the sworn enemy of the drow!, Before the then adventurer Graeme Andrews had helped defeat her in some form of artificial universe that had arisen in networked computers where gamers played fantasy role play games online, the drow had even supported the Spirit of Lust when she helped orchestrate the civil war on IDW01 by backing the Arch Orc.
By having an affair with a drow, as Tania had done, if it come to light she could easily have compromised the alliance between the trolls and the US Government. No wonder she had never mentioned it, especially as the drow had formed an alliance with the Soviet Union and then the Russian Federation. Would this news affect any feelings of injustice he had for her on his part? Samuel was not sure, he had to admit that the drow were not totally evil because he remembered back to when they were going up against the Magnus Timor and the Magnus Timor cult. It was an elf who betrayed their own kind and the trolls who he was supposedly working for, while the drow all along were against the Magnus Timor, and that time proved the more trustworthy ally.
But then there was Major Bolak, a drow so loyal to the Drow High Council, that when the Hadreth order of drow wiped out the Drow High Council in a Coup de Tat he had to flee to the humans to claim asylum. Samuel remembered how for a number of months in the alternate timeline Major Bolak lived with them in Grytviken, South Georgia and proved a valued member of their community.
When Major Bolak came back with Samuel as time was rolled back, it was the major who had in this new timeline killed the Drow, Vabalvich of the Hadreth order before he could manipulate Brameana once again, into pursuing her attack on Earth. Major Bolak, Samuel reflected as he looked at the still sleeping Tania, had a form of honour, but then when he partnered up with the long dead Mr Vee, he had shown he was not above sacrificing innocent people to get the job done, something this Mr Double-You openly admitted.
All to perform, what they called “The Duties of the State”
“I see you’re up Brigadier General” the cold tones of Mt Ex came from behind, “I was just on the line to DC to let them know of our progress. When we get off this so called
Red-Eye, as we are running late, our bags will be taken to the Savoy Hotel while we will go directly to our meeting with Sir Sidney’s representatives”
Samuel narrowed his eyes at Mr Ex, according to Mr Double-You, or whoever he was called, he was supposed to be leading this “negotiating” team to regain access to IDW01, yet this Mr Ex was more the power behind the throne. It was clear, even with the threat of sanctions against his friend former Marine Colonel Mark Johnston and his wife Jenny and the former minor spirits of virtue who had fled to Canada, should he not carry out his orders; they still did not trust him.
“Do you want me to wake Miss McCaskey?” Samuel asked
“No” Mr Ex replied in a smarmy voice, “Let her sleep for now. She’s less trouble that way”
“You’re never going to clear her are you” Samuel said with cold anger in his voice
“I’m not sure it’s in our gift Brigadier General” Mr Ex replied, “She did after all bring the army into disrepute by being arrested at JFK in full uniform. Did she really have to be wearing it on a covert mission, just to escort someone, whose humanity is questionable?”
Samuel glowered at Mr Ex, it was clear that he belonged to the faction that did not believe that even after giving up their powers in return for their human souls, that former minor spirits of virtue were human.
“Those children are just as human as you or I” Samuel rebuffed
“Oh come on Brigadier General” Mr Ex objected, “That’s not what the Committee of Other Worlds Affairs concluded”
“Based on what evidence” Samuel countered
“Based on the undeniable fact that one of their parents was not actually human” Mr Ex callously replied, “They may have been human virtues or vices in human form, but they are offspring of beings of immense power, a possible threat in their own right, remember when the British ran the show, that incident with the Spirit of Malice at Heathrow a few years back.”
“Before my time” Samuel cut in
“Be that as it may, but these half breed minors had abilities as well. You yourself documented how they had the ability to affect humans without them being aware they were doing it. You, Tania here and your former marine associate Mr Johnston even had to wear amulets to protect yourself from their mind altering abilities”
“They could not control those powers like the majors could” Samuel retorted
“Precisely” Mr Ex agreed in what seemed yet again a cold manner
“And those children when they realised it gave up those powers the first chance they had” Samuel pressed
“Indeed” Mr Ex replied, “But even so, the committee concluded”
“Without evidence or asking those of us who know them” Samuel interrupted
Mr Ex paused, before resuming, “the committee concluded that there was no guarantee that when they entered adulthood, further offspring from these former minors might not exhibit powers which could be a problem for the wider community. It was considered to be safer if they are all sterilised, and possibly interned. And before you object Brigadier General, this is not the extermination of the old British policy, after sterilisation, they will not be harmed further and will be looked after by dedicated professionals in a humane way”
Samuel shook his head, “You mean treated like criminals for something that was not their fault. As for future offspring, know that Celeste’s child shows that argument is utter hogwash. She has no powers at all.”
“And yet again Brigadier General” Mr Ex went on, “Your closeness to these creatures blind you and make you naïve. Allowing Celeste to have a child like that was reckless in the extreme.”
“I had retired by then” Samuel interrupted, “I was not involved in that. It was an NSA matter”
Mr Ex chose to ignore this intervention, “Besides, Celeste’s case is different, she was a major spirit, and even then, should we ever find Celeste and her child, and should they still be alive, it could be the case that as her child grows, she might manifest some powers that might cause a problem and so she too may have to be interned”
Samuel stared at Mr Ex with contempt. Whoever this committee was, it had never called him or anyone who had experience of working with the minor spirits of virtue, and this Mr Ex was parroting their bigoted uninformed and paranoid conclusions. Samuel knew they were one hundred percent wrong because he had spoken with the trolls and the elves when they were preparing the talismans of permanence. These magical devices had been designed to remove all the powers of minor spirits of virtue and give them their human soul. They were quite clear, once a minor spirit of virtue held one and expressed a desire to be fully human, the talisman would ensure that they were human in everyway, that way they could continue to live with whatever Earthly families they had, without running foul of the prime law of IDW01, never to interfere in the affairs of humans. It had been an arrangement that suited both the Earth authorities and the authorities on IDW01
“Anyway” Mr Ex added, “We’re not here to discuss current policy with regards to dealing with the hybrids, I was going to discuss with our forthcoming meeting in London”
“So what are we giving that scum bag” Samuel answered back, “You said you would discuss that at the hotel, but now you tell me we are not going to there first when we get into London”
“Well some form of immunity from any prosecution for a start I suppose” Mr Ex replied, “Most likely some kind of financial settlement. The important thing is, that we get hold of the technology to access IDW01 and make sure other’s don’t”
Just then there was an announcement over the public address system that they would soon be serving breakfast before the decent to land in London, at which point Tania started to stir from her sleep.
“Morning Miss McCaskey” Mr Ex said to her in his arrogant manner
Tania did not respond.
Samuel looked around to make sure there were no other passengers listening, before quietly speaking to Tania, “So who was this individual you met”
“His name is Jaheel sir” Tania whispered, “His father Golpin is the leader of the council. They’re not evil sir, just misunderstood”
“We’ve dealt with their kind before” Samuel interrupted
“And not exactly trustworthy or reliable” Mr Ex interjected
“No more or less than some of the regimes we have dealt with on our own world” Samuel countered
“Touché Brigadier General” Mr Ex smiled, “I suppose it would be good to have some kind of diplomatic relations to the one race that threw their hand in with the Russians”
“Excuse me” Tania then said, “I need to go to the bathroom”
Samuel then let Tania leave and head down the aisle to the nearest in-flight toilet.
“And you have no idea why Sir Sidney Gerald wants Tania dragged along” Samuel asked
“None” Mr Ex said bluntly, “And as I said earlier, it doesn’t matter. The important thing is that we keep him sweet so we can cut a deal with him”
Mr Ex then paused for a moment and Samuel could tell he was holding something back, but before he could ask, Mr Ex spoke up, “There is a fourth member of our team he requested”
“And you were going to tell me when?” Samuel asked incredulously
“I’m telling you now, as I was only just informed myself when I spoke to DC”
“Who is it?” Samuel asked
“Another former US Marine” Mr Ex replied, “One you may remember, her name is Sandra Phillips. She is already in London and will be meeting us off the plane”
“Why?” Samuel pressed further
“I have no idea, nor do I care” Mr Ex replied, “The important thing is that Sir Sidney asked for you, Tania and Sandra and if it will help us regain access to IDW01 and deny access to our enemies, that is what he gets. Is that clear Brigadier General?”
“Crystal” Samuel replied with venom.
+ + +
A dark plane in an unknown artificial universe
Celeste sat topless on her bed as she was breast feeding her daughter when she looked up and saw a red swirling dot starting to appear in Charlene’s empty cell.
Celeste watched in fascination as it grew larger, until it was a swirling vortex the full height of the cell
Then it pulled away and left the glass cell, leaving behind a naked Charlene, hands cuffed behind her back and her feet in leg irons.
The red swirling vortex was now outside of the cells and out walked Sir Sidney Gerald in his trademark black business suit and tie.
He took out a black control box and pressed a few buttons.
Instantly the leg irons and handcuffs dissolved to nothingness
“There, that wasn’t so bad” Sir Sidney told Charlene in a condescending tone, “We seem to have made excellent progress today. Sorry to cut it short, but I have a business meeting to attend to. Same time tomorrow?”
With that, Sir Sidney started to turn round and head for the red vortex.
“What about my clothes?” Charlene asked
Sir Sidney turned back and smiled an evil, grin, “You gave up your right to clothing here when you asked me to give clothing to Celeste and her little brat over there. Let me make this clear Doctor Henshaw, I will not be told what to do. If you want any clothing, from now on, you can have them back by all means, but it will mean that Celeste and her child will do without” he added with a tone of venom.
Celeste looked at Charlene in horror, and with guilt, Doctor Henshaw was going to suffer and it was her fault..
“Those are my terms” Sir Sidney said with venom, “either you forfeit your clothes Doctor Henshaw, or Celeste and her brat forfeit theirs”
“Fine” Charlene spat back, “I’ll do without”
“As you wish” Sir Sidney replied and entered the vortex, and was gone.
Celeste gently laid Ashia down in her cot has she had finished feeding and then Celeste started to remove the rest of her clothes, so she too was naked, in solidarity with Charlene
“What are you doing?” Charlene asked
“If you have to go naked, so do I” Celeste protested
“I remember back at the IDEC you offered to work naked” Charlene replied
“I know” Celeste replied, “And I should have Charlene, I worked for that man and I had no right to wear clothes, but Miss Cooper ordered me to”
“That ridiculous Celeste” Charlene snapped back, “get dressed, I’m sure that perv is watching and getting a big thrill out of this, and you don’t want to give him the satisfaction, do you?”
Celeste shook her head, “But you lost your clothes because of us”
“And I would do it again Celeste” Charlene replied, “If I have to go naked for the rest of my life, I will, now get dressed. That’s an order”
“Yes Charlene” A crest fallen Celeste replied and reluctantly put her clothes back on.
+ + +
On board the Holyhead to London Train
Gregory stared out of the window as the countryside flashed by, he had no idea what he would do in London or where he could stay. For all he knew, his former colleagues from G2 would be waiting there to take him out.
He even wondered if they knew he had telephoned the adoptive father of the O’Docherty twins at their family farm in County Claire. He had done so using the mobile he had stolen from one of the G2 officers. They had been staking out his house, and he had tricked into to coming into his house where he had used his talisman of Morpheus to put them to sleep, so he could escape.
As Gregory thought about it, he started wondering if he had made matters worse! Would G2 go after Sean and Felicity O’Docherty? Would they arrest Caer and Fidelity on behalf of the Americans? He had no way to find out.
All Gregory knew was that he had apprehended a CIA officer by the name of Kurt Travers, who had been tailing Caer and Fidelity O’Docherty as they went about their part time job as child minders. After that, he had discovered that the person seemingly in charge of G2, one Kelly McLaughlin was very circumspect with regards to the Americans and was hesitant about taking any formal action against this CIA officer. The other thing Gregory knew, what that this CIA officer had subsequently been shot dead in a G2 holding cell and there had been the tell tale smell of ozone that was evidence of an artificial wormhole generator being used.
But how could anyone use such a device when an impenetrable radiation barrier had forever separated the Mystical Realms from Earth.
That was all he knew, apart from the fact that his former colleagues now considered him an embarrassment and probably after the previous night’s actions in Dublin, a rouge agent.
His thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of a cell phone.
It was his wife’s mobile!
How could that happen?
Gregory took out his dead wife’s mobile. It must have switched on when he put it on charge, and after the G2 officers had succumbed to the talisman. It had been a mad scramble to get things repacked before he left.
But even so, it was supposed to be a cheap pay as you go mobile and untraceable
Then he remembered, as their daughter lived in the UK, his wife had insisted at the time on getting one that would work in England,
But who had this number
Maybe it was his daughter, and G2 was trying to get at him through her
Gregory checked to make sure he was not in a designated quiet coach and answered the phone.
“Yeah?” he said into the phone, making sure not to identify himself in case this had been a random wrong number.
“Mr O’Doyle” the sound of a male American accent came through the phone to Gregory’s horror
“You’ve got a nerve” Gregory swore into the phone, “Sending agents after two innocent girls”
“Whoever you are talking about, that was not our agency” the voice on the phone responded.
“It was your CIA officer” Gregory said back with fury in his voice, “And if your complaining about how he died”
“We are not the CIA” The voice on the phone interrupted, “Whatever the CIA have been up to we have no knowledge of, but we do know from sig int that you are in the wind”
The term “Sig int” sent a chill down Gregory’s spine, “There was one other American agency that would use such a term”
Gregory sighed and then, mindful of other passengers on the train he was travelling in, whispered into the phone, “So you claim to be NSA”
“Yep” Came the reply
“So that was how you found this number” Gregory accused the voice on the phone
“It was a long shot Mr O’Doyle” the voice replied, “We tracked it down as soon as we heard chatter that you were in the wind”
“What are you going to do?” Gregory asked, “Send someone after me to kill me like that CIA agent that I captured in Dublin?”
“We do not assassinate anyone” the voice said with irritation, “It’s just that we may have a mutual adversary who is running the show. Our agency has been shut out the loop on this and we were hoping we might be able to work together”
“And why should I help you, after what you did?” Gregory asked angrily
“Mr O’Doyle” the voice on the phone went on, “Whoever is running the show may have been responsible for the death of Kathryn Cooper, I believe she was a friend of yours”
“We met” Gregory admitted
“The people involved who shut us out the loop have forced Brigadier Samuel Peters to go to London. We’re not sure what hold they have over him, but it has to be related to the abduction of a certain former major spirit of virtue and her child, using certain technology that was once developed by a certain British Industrialist”
Gregory was silent for a moment. He knew the references only too well. This major spirit of virtue was Celeste, the daughter of the Spirit of Death, who was the Spirit of Second Chances. She had been tricked by that British industrialist into working for him, but in the end had switched sides and risked her own life to save the people of Belfast, and possible the whole of Ireland when a protestant paramilitary extremist had triggered some really nasty artefact from the Mystical Realms, that this industrialist had given him.
“Sir Sidney Gerald” Gregory growled into the phone, “But he’s dead”
“But somehow, someone has resurrected his empire” the voice on the phone told him
Again Gregory was silent for a moment, before asking, “What do you think I can do”
“We want you to meet someone in London” the voice replied, “Would that be a problem?”
“No” Gregory answered, “Not a problem at all”
+ + +
Head Quarters of Metro PD Forensic Laboratory
Washington DC, United States of America
It was early morning as Simon came into what seemed like a really nice state of the art forensic laboratory and sat at computer and placed the memory stick in it.
Iain and Pete followed him in to the laboratory, they had been talking about what one of the other CSI’s at the hospital had said about Sue-Lim’s night. They had been taking shifts, in case someone from Homeland security had tried to arrest her, and how there had been some kind of stand off with someone from Quantico before hospital staff fended them off.
It was all very worrying that their own homeland security guardians seemed to be treating their own citizens in such a way, when they had been the apparent victims rather than perpetrators.
The three of them were now in a secured part of the forensics section. Iain had given the other CSI’s strict instructions that they were not to be disturbed as they were dealing with highly classified material. There had been an unofficial understanding that should the worse come to the worse, he did not want any of the other CSI’s being investigated by internal affairs, or worse, unspecified federal agencies working for Homeland Security.
After a short while, the computer registered the device and put out a security warning of an unknown device.
Iain then had to input a special password so the network would allow the pen drive to work. It was an IT security policy he explained. Any new USB device had to be approved by him or an approved deputy like Jennifer Carrington.
Simon then tapped out the password of the memory stick, as it was an encrypted Iron Key, and located the relevant files.
“What kind of software do you need to view those files?” Iain asked
“The pen drive has it’s own software” Simon replied, without looking up from the screen.
“Mr Hargreaves we do have a certain IT policy about installing software from outside the department” Iain replied in a mocking tone
Simon looked round at Iain in utter horror, it was clear he had not realised that Iain was using subtle humour. “Sorry Mr Davy” he said apologetically, “I never thought, I better remove my stick”
“No” Iain told him firmly, “I’m sorry; I forgot people with your condition can take things literally”
“I held a job down” Simon told Iain angrily, “I got married, I had a daughter, I’m just like you. I’m not deficient just different”
“Simon” Pete interjected, “The generator”
Simon looked at Iain hesitantly
“It’s OK” Iain replied, “I meant no disrespect Simon, I know you are an intelligent, kind and compassionate man, I was out of line. It’s ok to use that viewer software. In fact I was one of those who devised our IT policy. I trust that your file viewing software would be easy to uninstall afterwards?”
“It doesn’t install on the hard drive” Simon answered, “It runs entirely from the pen drive”
With that Simon started clicking on a number of files, each one bringing up wire frame drawings and lists of components of wormhole generators”
“Simon” Pete asked as he and Iain were dazzled by the intricacies of the design, “Why did you keep all this stuff, you know they can never be used”
“We can use them as transporters like we did from the Bataan’s LCAC” Simon insisted, “Don’t you remember?”
Pete gently put his hand on Simon’s shoulder, “I wasn’t there Simon” Pete said quietly, “That was another me in that other timeline you lived through”
“You were on the USS Bataan?” Iain asked Simon
Simon nodded, “We had to leave because Brameana’s forces were after us. We left on one of their LCAC hovercrafts and I helped rig one of these generators so that it would work as a wormhole to any part on this planet, so we could get off of the LCAC before it sank.”
“You must have seen some horrible things” Iain said quietly
Again Simon nodded as a tear rolled down his cheek, and he found himself unable to speak
“Anyway” Pete interrupted, “The powers that be closed us down and said we were not to get involved with this stuff”
“It’s something we did” Simon objected.
“Getting back to the matter in hand” Iain interrupted back, “I know that signal you detected is our only lead, remind me, how building one of these things will help the investigation”
“We can do what Colonel Mark Johnston did” Simon replied
Iain looked up at Pete quizzically, “Was that from this other timeline?” he asked
Pete shook his head, “No sir that was before that. This Mark Johnston and his now wife had got trapped in yet another one of these parallel worlds, one that thankfully does not have intelligent life on it, only from what Simon told us, primitive creatures and a red giant star that has a tendency to bath the surface of the planet in lethal radiation.”
“I can see why they would want out of there” Iain replied
“Yeah” Pete went on, “They ran into the original technician who invented this generator as an unauthorised black project and what you would call an alien. They kind of worked together to power up an early version of one of these generators”
“And this story helps us how?” Iain asked
“In getting off of that world, they managed to gate into the artificial parallel universe that this Sir Sidney Gerald had had constructed. He was using it as a high tech prison”
“And you want to see if you can gate into this artificial universe in case it is being used as another high tech prison” Iain suggested
“Yes” Simon spoke up, “I can print off a complete list of what we need” he said as he clicked on one of the images.
Immediately the printer in the corner of the room burst into life as it printed out the list of components.
Iain left the group and walked over to the printer and looked at the printout. “This is going to be tricky getting hold of this lot” he warned Simon and Pete.
“Just do what we did” Pete suggested, “Don’t go to just one supplier. We used to use many suppliers, so nobody would know what we were doing
“But he did” Simon asserted
“Who did?” Iain asked
“Sir Sidney Gerald” Simon replied
“I forgot about that” Pete admitted
“Forgot about what?” Iain asked
“This Sir Sidney we were talking about” Pete continued to explain, “He knew about multiple suppliers from his time in MI5, so he used various shell companies to hide the fact he was buying companies that we dealt with. It gave him a picture of our operation”
“This Sir Sidney Gerald sounds like a person not to be crossed” Iain mused
“You still think this was about revenge” Pete asked
“It looks that way” Iain replied.
Simon suddenly got out of his chair and headed for the door.
“You ok Simon” Pete asked as he charged after Simon.
Simon turned around with tears streaming from his eyes, “You’re saying their dead” he accused Pete
“We’ll find them Mr Hargreaves” Iain reassured Simon, “I have a few favours I can pull in. We’ll get this generator of yours built and we will get who ever has been behind this”
+ + +
Euston Station
London, England
It was late in the afternoon as Gregory disembarked the train with the other passengers. He was wary in case the police were given orders to arrest him on some trumped up charge, or possibly members of G2 sent to apprehend him.
Gregory could not spot any tell tale sign of anyone acting under cover. Either they had not managed to trace him to the train he took from Holyhead,
(and surely they must have worked out by now he had left Ireland by ferry!), or they were better now at concealing themselves.
Gregory looked at the various police officers milling around the railway station. None seemed to be paying him any attention and so he headed for the London Underground station..
Gregory went up to an automatic ticket machine and selected the ticket option for an all zones day rover. He wanted to keep anyone following him guessing, in case he was being tracked, which given that the American’s National Security Agency had tracked his dead wife’s mobile seemed prudent
It did seem odd though that one of America’s most secret organisation, even more secret that the CIA, was being shut out of some loop by their own Homeland Security. Clearly there was some kind turf war going on in the US Government and somehow the CIA agent who had tailed the O’Docherty twins was also part of it. The big questions, were, was Kelly McLaughlin aligning G2 with one of the factions involved and could the other faction be trusted?
Gregory passed through the ticket barrier without a problem and headed down to the platform for the south bound Northern Line, via Waterloo, all the while looking to see if anyone was following him.
He could not spot anyone.
They were either very good or nobody was following him
The platform was busy and the indicator boards said that it was ten minutes before the next train.
Ten minutes would seem like an eternity, ample time for a hit that could be made to look like an accident or natural causes. The way things were with G2, and if they had taken sides in the American’s palace coup de tat probably led by the CIA, he would not put it past them.
Was he being played? The thought made him sick that people would do that to him after his loyal service.
Gregory glanced at his phone in case there were any text messages or missed calls, but there were none.
After the agonising wait, the tube train arrived and Gregory got on.
But even here he could not relax. Suppose they were after him, any assassin after him could easily be on the train.
Gregory tried standing, but a young woman with an American accent, in a tan coloured rain coat, who had got on the train just in front of him, offered him the seat, that by rights of being first on would have been hers.
For a moment Gregory hesitated, he was only going three stops, but then he accepted.
No sense in attracting attention
Gregory sat down as the American woman continued to stand with the other passengers.
It made Gregory feel guilty somehow, he was fitter than some men half his age, and this woman had highlighted through her courtesy and respect for elders, the fact that he was getting on.
Train stopped at Goodge Street and the American woman got off the train with a number of other passengers.
The train pulled out of Goodge Street and continued southwards and stopped at Tottenham Court Road.
Gregory continued to stay sat down.
Still other passengers coming and going, not noticing Gregory at all, just how he liked it.
The train started up again and headed for Leicester Square. This was where he was going to change to the Piccadilly line.
The train rattled into the station and Gregory got up off the seat and left the train amongst a crowd of other people, mostly tourists and made his way to the platform for the Piccadilly line.
This time there was not long to wait, and within a minute he was on the west bound train, heading for Heathrow Airport, where he was due to meet up with an old acquaintance from the old days, as directed by the NSA man on the phone. He had been told that they had managed to somehow delay the plane so he could get to the airport just as they landed, how they never explained.
Gregory wondered how he could make is seem like he was meeting up with his old acquaintance by chance and gazed out of the window of the underground train. For a moment Gregory phased out, as he remembered the old days, running the Special Section, dealing with leprechauns, how they helped out in some parts that human agents could not. How they had done their part in preventing the Magnus Timor from destroying their world and the world of the Mystical Realms, small though that part was. He also remembered how his leprechauns had rescued the Troll Clan Chief of the Manjura from a Venezuelan prison after the late Shamus McTuckle had revealed he had been part of a group sent back from the future.
Suddenly Gregory realised that they were no longer riding underground but on the surface, as the late afternoon sunlight streamed into the carriage. Gregory glanced around, it was getting emptier.
Just then a youngish woman sat down beside him, and then he noticed that it had been the same woman he had bumped into at Euston, except she had somehow changed her jacket.
Gregory felt what seemed to be a concealed automatic pistol placed against his torso.
“If you value your life Mr O’Doyle” the American woman whispered, “Don’t look round”
To be continued