The Collective Protocol (11 page)

FOURTEEN

“Are you ready for this?”

“Yes, sir. I’m ready.”

“Brigadier Patel assured me that the music only needs to play for one minute and then we can remove the CD and take shelter somewhere in order to make it seem like we were just victims like everyone else here.”

“Let’s do this, sir,” the major replied and extended his hand across the car’s center console.

The two Canadian Foreign Exchange Officers shook hands and then exited the vehicle to walk towards the installation headquarters building. Colonel Kirk Tragord didn’t have the clearance to know how many phases were ultimately in the Collective Protocol, but he knew that Phase Four was one of the most critical phases of the operation.

He knew the Protocol phases up until his part and watched the news in awe like everyone else. He’d seen demonstrations of the girl’s powers, but when her full power was unleashed, it was nothing short of spectacular. Phase One had been a small demonstration to show the prime minister that they were ready to move on to the next event. Phase Two was the mass control of animals all over the country so they would attack the civilian population and leave them feeling harried and on edge. Phase Three involved the uprising of the nation’s homeless population in the larger cities and the intermittent shut down of the power grid. The news carried stories of roaming gangs of everyday citizens who now exterminated the homeless at every opportunity. The United States was falling into anarchy.

Colonel Tragord had been groomed for years by the Protocol for this very moment. Every officer currently serving as an exchange officer in the U.S. military was a member of the Protocol and today’s operation would cripple the military, leaving the country open for attack. So far, everything was going exactly as they’d been briefed it would. He wondered if his phase was the last before a full-scale invasion or if there were more nefarious deeds to further weaken the Americans before Canada swooped in to save the day.

He took his beret off as he walked inside the foyer of the headquarters. Two young, bored Military Police officers checked his badge and then briefly rifled through his backpack. “You’re good to go, sir,” one of them stated.

He walked a few feet from the desk and waited for the major. They’d both worked here for over a year so they knew the routines—and where they could hide things where the MPs didn’t search. Major Crisp successfully made it through the security checkpoint and glanced at his watch. “It’s 0626, sir,” the major stated.

At 0630, across every installation in the military they played Reveille as they raised the U.S. flag. There’d been no reports from any of the East Coast installations, so he had to assume that they had already initiated the Protocol’s directive. His mission was to infiltrate the base operations center and switch the standard CD that they used with the one that he had. The music will play like normal and no one will ever know the difference. Then, at a pre-designated time, the girl would send out a signal and it would unleash hell across the entire nation.

They walked down the stairs into the basement and swiped into the secure operations area. The Americans had foolishly granted them access to the entire building. They were trusted Allied partners, as such they were privileged to all sorts of information and allowed to come and go from even the most secure parts of the building. Major Crisp turned away from the surveillance camera and pulled the Taser from his waistband in a fluid motion that didn’t interfere with his movement.

The door that controlled access to the Base Operations Center stood slightly ajar. The colonel grasped the handle and pulled it open quickly, expecting a fight. Instead, two soldiers stood there looking at him. “I’ve been waiting,” they both said in unison.

“I’m… I’m terribly sorry, ma’am,” he stammered.

“It’s almost time. You need to hurry.” The soldiers’ dual voices were extremely unnerving and his hand shook as he gestured for the major to proceed.

The younger Canadian pulled a clear CD case from his briefcase and rushed over to the sound system in the corner. The digital clock connected to the system prominently displayed the time as 0629. He jabbed the eject button and swiftly replaced the CD with the one he’d brought in. As the tray closed, the time changed to 0630.

The CD player took a few seconds to read the disk and then Reveille burst out of the speakers and the base’s cannon fired, signaling the start of the day. Outside, the flag detail dutifully raised the nation’s flag and the Stars and Stripes snapped in the wind as it ascended. Speakers all over the installation blared to life, carrying the message that the flag was being raised and the formations saluted in respect for the nation’s colors.

“You were twelve seconds late,” the two soldiers stated. “They have their watches set so they know when to hold their formations. The soldiers will know that something was wrong.”

“It happens all the time, ma’am. No worries. The message was played and we can proceed with Phase Four,” Colonel Tragord replied, trying to avoid making eye contact with the blank faces of the men in front of him.

“Bah, I should rearrange your mind and turn you into a slobbering simpleton. Go, before you are discovered. I still need to wipe the minds of these two before I can leave.”

The soldiers both pointed towards the door and the Canadians turned and rushed from the room.

*****

At noon in Calgary, Paige used the Neuroactuator to send out a massive blast to the amplifiers placed near the thirty military installations that the Protocol had targeted. The message that was hidden in the morning song was a directive to the soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen of the U.S. military.

Paige’s activation order started the clock on the hidden message. They were to stop whatever they were doing and leave their bases for the surrounding communities. In one hour, they were required to kill at a minimum of two civilians and then kill themselves with whatever means available.

The message was the brainchild of Mark Patel. Not only would hundreds of thousands of Americans be murdered, it would decimate the military. Most of their forces would be dead at their own hands and it would pave the way for Phase Five, the removal of all emergency responders.

Canada had a small population and an even smaller military. The entire active Canadian Forces, to include the Royal Canadian Navy, equaled less than three American divisions. If they were going to have a shot in the upcoming war, they had to level the ice in the rink. The only way to do that was to be both specific and indiscriminate in their attacks. They had to specifically wipe out the military and the police while indiscriminately decimating the population.

Colonel Tragord watched in awe from his desk as all the military who’d heard the message this morning filed out of the building in silence. Several of the senior-ranking individuals tried to intervene, but there was no stopping the mass of moving personnel.

The colonel stood in his window and observed as the soldiers got in their vehicles and made a beeline for the front gate. “Damnedest thing I’ve ever seen,” a voice said over his shoulder.

“Hmm?” he said and turned around and then snapped to attention. “Oh, excuse me, sir. I didn’t know it was you.”

“It’s alright, Kirk. Looks like we’re part of only a handful of folks who didn’t just up and leave. What do you think it means?”

“I’ve been thinking about that, sir. Have you called the authorities?”

“That’s the first thing I did. I told the police chief that he had forty-five thousand troops descending on his city. I tried to call the Pentagon, but every number that I called just rang and rang. What is it about the U.S. that’s attracting all of these plagues? Why isn’t any of this affecting your nation just north of us or the Mexicans to the south?”

He’d been trained for these types of questions. “Sir, I think it has something to do with all the homeless people.”

“Say again?”

“Well, what I mean is this. The news said that the homeless people all acted strangely and just began attacking people. Almost like a nest of those damned fire ants that you have down here. Something agitated them and they spread out to find whatever it was and kill it.”

“Hmm… So, you think that some type of hive mentality is implanted in our brains and something sets it off?”

The Canadian exchange officer ducked his head. “Exactly, sir. Obviously, I can’t explain it, but that’s what I’ve been thinking of when the news described the events. Just now, when I watched those people leave with such a single-minded purpose, I thought that it absolutely resembled ants in a colony.”

“Okay, I give you that; it did. But what does it mean? And like I asked before, why aren’t our neighboring countries affected?”

“Well, I’m no conspiracy theorist, but something definitely stinks, sir. Maybe there’s some new strain of foodborne bacteria or even a parasite. I did watch a Discovery Channel show one time on a parasitic fungus that took over ants’ brains and used their bodies to transport the spores around.”

The general smiled and clamped a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure you’re going to tell me to look out for aliens next. Kirk, there’s some type of logical explanation for this; I just don’t know what it is.”

“At this point, I’m not sure that aliens are any crazier a suggestion than anything else. It’s baffling, sir.”

“Where do you think they’re going,” the general said with a nod of his chin towards the soldiers waiting patiently to get off post.

“Again, there’s no telling, sir. They don’t seem to be in any hurry though. Look at them. They’re following the traffic signals, being courteous to one another. It looks like the end of every other duty day on post.”

“Yeah, except its 11 a.m. and I didn’t release anyone for the day,” the general replied flatly.

“Point to you, sir.”

“I’ve got my secretary trying to reach the military police right now. Maybe if we can get the barriers raised, it will terminate this ‘hive mentality’ as you put it.”

A look of alarm passed over the Canadian’s face. He recovered quickly and prayed that the general’s angle beside him didn’t allow him to see it. If they raised the barriers, the plan would be ruined. “Your secretary, sir?”

“Yeah. Colleen wasn’t affected like everyone else, so she’s making frantic phone calls right now.”

The colonel nodded his head in understanding. The general’s secretary hadn’t been on the installation when Reveille played this morning so she didn’t receive the hypnosis. The general obviously didn’t bother to show up for Physical Readiness Training this morning either. He wondered how many of the officers in the building hadn’t been brainwashed by the girl’s message simply because they didn’t’ come to work on time.

Colonel Tragord placed a hand in his pocket like he was prone to do. The Americans hated it because it was against their regulations for a soldier to put their hands in their pockets, but he had a reason for doing so. His hand closed around the hard plastic television remote-shaped object. He glanced into the empty workspace and slipped the Taser out of his pocket.

He’d lost track of what the general was saying. “I’m getting sick of whatever this is,” the post commander stated. “I can’t believe that we can’t find the culprits involved in all of this.”

“I know, sir. It’s almost like they’re hiding in plain sight.”

The Taser buzzed slightly as the Canadian pressed it against the general’s side. Within seconds he was knocked out cold. He wasn’t sure how long he had so he had to risk a call in the clear. He pulled out his cell phone and called Major Crisp.

“Hello!” the officer answered merrily.

“The commanding general’s secretary needs to be stopped now before she gets the gate barriers raised.”

“I’m on it.”

The phone clicked dead and the officer went about his work. He pulled the general behind his desk so a passerby wouldn’t inadvertently see him. Then he opened his bottom drawer and removed a large-capacity bottle of aspirin. Just to be sure that the general didn’t wake up in the middle of his murder, Colonel Tragord pressed the Taser to his neck and shocked him once more.

Next he opened the general’s mouth and poured a handful of pills inside. When a person’s jaw is held shut, the human body reacts to objects in the mouth in the same manner whether they are awake or asleep and he began to swallow involuntarily. Tragord poured some whiskey in the man’s mouth and slammed his jaw shut once again. He took a pull from the bottle to ease his nerves while he waited for the effects of the pills and alcohol to take effect.

It didn’t take long for the general’s body to rebel against the massive dose of aspirin. The first thing that his body tried to do was to puke it out, but the Canadian was prepared for that and held his mouth shut. With nowhere else to go, the fluid was forced down into his trachea and then into his lungs. The post’s commanding general drowned in his own bile.

He hooked his hands under the old man’s arms and dragged him out into the hallway and then down the hall into the bathroom. He congratulated himself for successfully avoiding the leaking vomit coming from the general’s mouth while muscled him into place on a toilet. All that was left to do was dispose of the pill bottle and the evidence would be gone, if anyone ever bothered to investigate the death after the storm that was brewing out in the local community.