The Victor Project (20 page)

     “He would love you,” said William.

     Frank guessed by the types of noises being picked up by the microphone that the two were going to exit the warehouse, but the opening of the door still startled him.  As the three moved quickly toward their vehicles, Frank’s eyes locked on the other man named William.  It was now dusk and given the three-hundred yard distance, it was difficult to see his face. 

     Frank had already made his decision on which of the two vehicles to follow.  If he was to gather more information about their plans, it was going to come from William, whom apparently was the head of the group.  To pick up William’s trail again, he would need to know where he lived.  Once he discovered where the man lived, he would return home and regroup.  Frank suspected that confronting a man like William on a dark night might end up end death, his death and he had never been the heroic type.  That kind of macho shit was for Sherman and his boys.  Regrouping would also give him time to digest the frightening information that had just fallen upon his ears.

     Sherman and Ben had been trying for years to capture the PERFs and within a few days, he leaped from stumbling onto a member, to bagging the lead man.  If he would have only thought to hook the P300 up to a recorder, but that was
Sherman’s thinking not his.  Three weeks ago he would have followed NSA protocol by the book, step one being to head straight for a phone and call in the troops.  Oddly, something inside him was saying that protocol should wait.

     Luckily Val’s vehicle buzzed by him first with William following like a grandmother out for a Sunday drive.  Frank wasn’t crazy about following someone who drove slow.  It had been difficult enough keeping a safe distance at the speed Val drove.  As William passed, Frank let his eyes rise above the dash to get a better look at the man.  The side view of William didn’t offer much, but there seemed to be something familiar about his face. 

<< >>

     “I know it sounds like I’m lying, but I really don’t have the ID with me,” said Rick.

     “I believe you,” said Val.

     “And your boss?” asked Rick.

     “William believes you.  Why do you ask?” answered Val.

     “No big reason.  I just got the feeling that he asked me to step outside because he was disappointed,” said Rick.

     “On the contrary.  He was impressed with you.  He asked you to step outside out of respect,” said Val.

     “Respect?” asked Rick.

     “Yes.  He told me to watch out for you and to make sure you didn’t take any unnecessary risks.  He didn’t want to make you feel belittled,” said Val.

     “Did you tell him you’ve already been looking after me pretty closely?” joked Rick.

     “No, he doesn’t know about us,” said Val.

     “Is that good or bad?” asked Rick.

     “Neither of the two.  It’s just not pertinent at this point in time,” said Val.

     “To him,” said Rick.

     “What?” asked Val.

     “Not pertinent to him, but it’s pertinent to you,” Rick remarked.

     “Yes, it’s pertinent to me,” answered Val.

     “You’ll find a way to get a hold of me?” asked Rick.

     “We will.  But whatever you do, don’t make any contact through regular communication, understand?” said Val.

     “Roger.  When this is over..” Rick began.

     “When this is over the world will be back to the way it is in the history books,” said Val.

     “I was going to say that when this is over, will you go out on the ocean with me?  I’ve always wanted to go out on the ocean,” said Rick.

     “Sure, we’ll go out on the ocean,” Val replied.

<< >>

     William had increased his pace significantly since Frank began his tail.  After twenty-five minutes, the man had executed a significant more number of turns than Frank was comfortable with.  It was now a few minutes passed dusk and Frank wasn’t sure how many times William had looked in his rearview mirror and seen the same pair of headlights matching his route.

     One minute earlier they had entered into a quadrant of suburban housing, which held little other traffic.  Frank made sure he kept his distance as William slowed.  Without warning, the vehicle made a sharp right turn into the driveway of a modest home.  Frank panicked and spun his car just as quickly into a driveway immediately to his right, shutting off the engine as if an innocent neighbor had completed his journey home.   Now he faced both threats of being spotted by William and the stranger who would possibly emerge from the home to question him.

     Casually exiting his vehicle, William glanced over his shoulder and back up the road from where he had came.  For the last few miles, it seemed as if someone had been following him.  He hadn’t been able to make out the model nor the color of the car due the darkness, but a pair of headlights always seemed to be in his rear view mirror.  From where he stood, he could see a fair amount of road leading to his house, but it was void of other vehicles.  Whomever it was must have pulled into one of the driveways in the neighborhood. 

     Continuing on the path toward his front door, William surveyed the Gilbert’s house once again.  The two rocking chairs stood vigil as they had countless times before.  It was quite possible that lately his emotions were nothing more than unwarranted paranoia, he told himself as he slid through the doorway.  Just to be sure, he knelt down by the front window and watched the street for a few moments before turning on the light.

     While fighting to conjure up a story of why he had parked in the particular driveway he now sat in, Frank strained to keep an eye on William, making sure he didn’t backtrack on foot towards him.  The other eye kept watch on the front door of the house waiting for the owner.  After a few minutes it became obvious that William had not pegged him as a tail and he had successfully gotten what he had came for, so he gently slid the vehicle out of the driveway, making a mental reference of where William’s house stood.  Finding a place to hide his car on the next visit would be difficult.

<< >>

     Even though Rick had already made up his mind to help William and Val, he couldn’t stop thinking about the information that had been passed to him.  If what they had told him was the absolute truth and not some bullshit just to get their hands on an ID to hack into the system, he could be dead in a few weeks.  Moreover, the rest of the world could be dead in a few weeks.  Val wouldn’t have let William lie to him about the virus and the project, would she?  He wasn’t above being fooled, but Rick felt a strong emotion between he and Val, an emotion stronger than just friendship.  There was always that possibility that she had slept with him to punctuate the persuasive factor.  It wouldn’t be the first time in history that a woman had used her sexual prowess to change a man’s conviction.  Love or not love, it would take one hell of a story to quickly convince someone to risk their lives for a cause they barely believed in.  What they had told him was just that story.

     Rick regrouped his thoughts and tried to concentrate on the few choices that now lay in front of him.  The best odds he had of living through all of this was if he refused to give them the ID and the story of the virus and evacuation that had been told was a lie.  Given that scenario, he would probably never see Val again or he would at least drive a wedge between them so great that any chance of a relationship would be lost forever.  Moreover he had already given Val his word that he would turn over the ID and password.

     On the other hand, giving them the ID would most likely put his life in great danger at the hands of the NSA and their goon squad.  The result of that scenario would most likely be death.  Last but not least, if there really is a virus and the result of him providing the ID allows the masses to exit the zones and escape from the virus, the odds couldn’t be that great that he would survive.  He was certain that being a card-holding member of William’s team didn’t guarantee any special privilege of living through all this.

<< >>

     During the drive from William’s house, Frank reflected back to what the man had told Rick about the virus that the terrorists were supposedly spreading.  If he was telling the truth and the government hadn’t found a cure, then he and his family would most certainly perish and the thought of the CVD leaving he and his family behind angered him.  But if this were all true, then the U.S. government was leaving millions of families behind without the courtesy of telling them.

     The short trip home didn’t allow Frank much time to gain a mental grasp on William’s speech, much less time for any solutions to surface.  He didn’t realize how late it was until opening the front door of his house and seeing it shrouded in complete darkness.  The illuminated clock in the kitchen read 12:30am.  Throughout the long night of detective work he had forgotten to check in with his wife.  Earlier in the evening, he had called to tell her he would be working late, but forgot to mention he wouldn’t be in the office.  If she had called anytime after three o’clock, he would have a lot of explaining to do.

     From the hallway he could see a light coming from beneath their bedroom door, which meant that Kathy was definitely up, hopefully just doing some late night reading.

     “Hi honey,” she said as Frank entered.

     “Hey babe.  David staying over at his friends tonight?” he asked.

     “That’s tomorrow night.  This is a school night remember?  You’ve been working too hard,” she said.

     “You got that right,” said Frank as he began to undress.

     “This is the latest you’ve worked in months,” she said.

     “I was doing a little covert work on my own,” replied Frank.

     “Covert work?” Kathy inquired.

     “It’s a long story.  Let me ask you something.  Do you think that we are safe in these zones?” asked Frank as he sat on the bed next to her.

     “What do you mean?” replied Kathy.

     “Just what I said.  Do you feel safe?” asked Frank.

     “From criminals, yes.  But then again my husband is some covert agent,” she joked.

     “Very funny.  But what about disease?  Do you feel like we are shielded from all the various plagues that have struck in the past?” asked Frank.

     “Yes, I guess so.  You’re scaring me now,” she replied.

     “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to.  But what if a virus evolved inside one of the zones, would you want to flee and take your chances in the wilderness?” asked Frank.

     “I can’t see how that would happen,” Kathy replied.

     “What if it did?  And it began to sweep through the zone killing everyone.  Would you leave?” asked Frank.

     “Yes, I guess I would.  I would think everyone would.  Why are you asking this?  Do you know something?” asked Kathy.

     “No, no.  I just started thinking about it.  I guess it’s because I’m surrounded by this shit all day,” replied Frank.

     “You would tell me if something like that was happening, you wouldn’t let some top-secret oath keep me in the dark about my family’s safety, would you?” asked Kathy.

     “Yes, I would tell you.  I was just getting carried away,” replied Frank.

     “Remember we have dinner with the Jacobs this Saturday night,” said Kathy.

     “Got it.  What are we bringing?” asked Frank.

     “Wine, and yes I have already bought it,” replied Kathy.

     “You’re too good a wife for me,” said Frank.

     “You’re just figuring that out?” she joked.

     “You ever wondered what it would be like out there?” asked Frank.

     “Out where?” replied Kathy.

     “Outside the zones,” replied Frank.  Living on the side of some mountain or near the ocean or just hopping in a car and driving across the U.S.”

     “I guess like everyone I’ve thought about what it would be like.  Are you just getting carried away again?” she asked.

     “Seems like more and more people are talking about it lately,” Frank lied.

     “Talking about leaving the zones?” she asked.

     “No, just about being free again.  About living like our ancestors, living anywhere you choose,” replied Frank.

     “Maybe the government should open up the cities again,” said Kathy.

     “But the government can’t contain epidemics with everyone spread out.  They can’t protect everyone like they can in a zone,” said Frank playing the devil’s advocate.

     “Who says they’re supposed to protect us?  No one protected
Columbus when he landed here in 1492.  No one protected the settlers when they headed west to California.  And no one could have held them back either.  I almost think we’ve lost that spirit.  Don’t you?” she asked.

     “Yes I do,” he replied.  “I just don’t think the masses rationalize like you and me.”

     “I’d bet you’d be surprised how many people desire what those settlers had.  I think if you opened the gates and gave everyone wagons they would head out with abandon,” she said.

     “Maybe we’ll buy us a wagon one day,” said Frank.

CHAPTER 11

     Rick was still groggy from the relatively sleepless trip back to Zone 3.  Down on the street everyone was fighting the eight o’clock traffic, going about their normal day, expecting normal, but hoping for a bit more.  If William was right, more excitement than they could handle was bearing down on them.  He could only imagine the chaos and panic that would emerge upon hearing of a virus inside one of the zones.  It was a site he cared not to see.

     Remaining inside his apartment all day was going to drive him crazy.  What he needed was a relief from the predicament he had let himself be drawn into.  During the last part of his return he had contemplated talking to his parents about the dilemma.  He was certain that he could count on the two of them for an honest, unbiased opinion, along with discreteness.   After a quick breakfast he would drop by for a long talk, but the first duty of the morning was to check and see if William or Val had contacted him.

     “General, messages,” commanded Rick.

     “You have one message,” replied the computer.

     Rick became somewhat excited as he positioned himself in front of the screen.

     “Display message,” commanded Rick.

     “Electronic message presented,” replied the computer.

     Rick,

     Sorry, but I have to be brief.  I have been working on a space station named C-Orbit for the past two years and have uncovered a plan that our government is about to initiate.  A plan that will evacuate a number of people from earth to this station.  What I don’t know is the reason for the evacuation.  I am getting a strange feeling that it is because some catastrophe has occurred down on earth.  I know we haven’t talked in a while and I’m sorry to drop this on you, but I need your help.  Please find out what you can about this evacuation, if you don’t already know.  Be careful, I think this plan is very top-secret.  Don’t reply, I will contact you somehow soon.  I hope all is well with you.

John McKintrick  

     Rick reread the message three times before falling back onto the couch in shock.  It had been over a year since he had spoken to John.  And even though they had communicated a lot less often since college, he still considered him one of his closest friends.  John was no prankster, he fit the mold of the stereotyped straight-laced engineer to a tee, so the message was definitely not a hoax.  And Rick refused to believe that the message could be part of William’s scam to persuade him to turn over his password.  What was sitting in front of him was either an act of God or an unbelievable stroke of coincidence.  Either way it painted a pretty bleak picture for civilization.

     Given what he had just read, he desperately needed to contact Val or William, but he wasn’t sure if it was worth violating William’s request to refrain from using standard communication links.  He wasn’t scheduled to return to Zone 5 until Friday and that was too long of a wait given that the salvation of mankind was now at risk.  It had already been over twelve hours since the three of them had parted back at the warehouse.  And even though twelve hours seemed adequate to improvise a solution for contacting him, his conscious told him to wait at least four more.  During the wait he would work on a plan of his own to inform them of his news.

<< >>

     By now Frank was getting pretty good at tailing people.  Although his only testament to that fact was that he hadn’t been spotted by any of his targets, at least to the best of his knowledge.  On the flip side, it was quite possible that at this very moment someone in one of the vehicles behind him was hunting him.

     William’s car turned right into a grocery store parking lot, just ahead.  Frank hadn’t really put any plan together for when or how he was going to confront William, but for some reason he had never thought of tailing someone into the grocery store.  He sure as hell never saw it happen in the movies.  Thinking quickly he grabbed a piece of paper and pen from his briefcase and proceeded to write a convincing note.

     Using the bravado of a shopper, Frank paused at the end of each aisle, scanning for the man named William.  Approximately one-third the way down an aisle lined with canned goods he stood, totally unaware of Frank’s snooping.  Before turning down the aisle, Frank took three deep breaths in an attempt to slow his heart rate.  William was engrossed in the study of some food label as Frank drew closer.  Again he took a deep breath to calm his nerves.  With a false act of clumsiness, Frank bumped into William’s cart.

     “Oh, I’m terribly sorry,” said Frank grasping the cart with the same hand that held the note he had written.

     “That’s quite all right,” said William.

     Frank paused for a moment to make eye contact with the man.  As he did, Frank moved his eyes downward toward the note and let it drop into the cart.  Turning slowly, he walked the remainder of the isle and headed for the exit.  That was the closest look he had been able to obtain of William’s face and now more than ever Frank was sure he knew him from somewhere.

     William glanced around the room to see if anyone had witnessed the odd event that had just taken place.  He tried to think what a normal person would do if a total stranger dropped a note into their shopping cart, but things like that just didn’t happen to normal people.  He had never seen the strange man before.  He was certainly not one of his group.  Casually, he reached into his cart and opened the note while pretending to read a the label from a can of soup.  The note was short and to the point.

    
Meet me in the restaurant three doors down.  I mean you no harm, but your life depends upon it.

<< >>

     It seemed like an eternity as Frank waited for William to walk through the door of the restaurant.  While waiting he began to ponder if the words on the note were persuasive enough to lure him.  What he failed to do was place a time on the note of when to meet him.  He hoped that the note itself dictated an urgency.  Frank grabbed the menu from the table to distract his nervous thoughts.  After shifting his menu scan into the salad section, he felt a presence near the table.  He prayed that there wouldn’t be a gun pointing at his face.

     “You requested my presence?” asked William.

     “Yes, have a seat,” said Frank nervously.

     William said nothing as he surveyed the room.

     “There’s no one here, trust me.  I’m not some agent.  My name is Frank Belker.  What I have to say might be a little hard to digest, but bear with me.  I’m not bugged, you can check me.  And we can go to another place if you don’t feel safe here.  But to start off I must say that I know who you are.  I know you are the leader of the PERFs,” said Frank.

     “I don’t know what you are talking about,” said William calmly.

     “OK, that’s what I expected.  Look, one of your people Valarie DeDory works for me.  The other day I saw her copy one of my Traveler’s list and out curiosity, I followed her.  When I saw her meet with Rick Mallory, I became even more curious.  At first I thought they were just fooling around, but just to be sure I got my hands on a listening device and as it so happened the next time I followed her, she met up with you.  The reason I wanted to meet you was to tell you that I heard everything you said last night to Rick, about the project and the terrorists and the virus.

     “Do you have proof of what you speak?” asked William.

     “I don’t need proof!  I’m not trying to arrest you or blackmail you.  Will you just listen to me?” Frank exclaimed.  “A week ago I received a disk in a brown envelope at work.  I read the files on it, but couldn’t put the pieces together.  I mean, none of it made much sense, until what I overheard last night.  There IS a project to evacuate people, to a space station and it is going to happen soon.  I’ve got proof.”

     William remained silent while surveying the room.

     “Look, with the information I’ve got, I could have already turned you in,” said Frank.

     “Then why didn’t you?” asked William.

     “Because, because I want to help.  I’ve got a wife and a child.  I don’t want them to die.  I could care less about your freedom crusade.  I believe that there is a virus coming and I believe that the government is going to bail out on us.  I don’t want to just lye down and die like some cow.  Let me help you,” said Frank.

     “At this moment, I cannot speak to the topics you have brought up.  I hope you understand.  I will be in touch,” said William as he arose from his seat.

     Frank sat puzzled as William quietly walked away from the table.  He practically handed the man the key to the world.  Did he calmly say no thank you or was he just playing it safe for the moment?  Sitting this thing out on the sidelines wasn’t what he had in mind, but now he had no choice in the matter.  Either way he was going to figure out a way to tell his family of the news he had just discovered.

<< >>

     “Well that’s it gentlemen.  Ward, I want copies of those two documents,” said Ben.

     “And we need to run those statements by the D.A.,” added
Sherman.

     “Could you leave us alone,” asked Ben.

     Without hesitating Ward stood and exited the room.  Ben waited to make sure Ward closed the door behind him.

     “What’s the latest update on the hunt?” asked Ben.

     “I think we’re onto something.  We’ve had this guy under close surveillance over the last two weeks.  He was one of our top suspects for a leader of the PERFs.  We knocked off the elderly couple that lived next to him and planted an agent as the new next-door neighbor.  The agent searched his house, but found nothing.  The guy is good, but not good enough,” said Sherman.

     “Did you nail the punk?” asked Ben.

     “Close.  We’ve kept a tail on him twenty-four-seven, bugged his home phone, his car, everything, but got zip.  He chooses his meeting places well.  We lost him a number of times.  But yesterday we came across something interesting,” said Sherman as he pulled some pictures from a large envelop and tossed them onto the desk.

    
Sherman remained silent to see if Ben recognized anyone in the photos.

     “Who are they?” asked Ben laying a specific photograph on the desk.

     “You probably wouldn’t recognize them, but those two work for us,” said Sherman.

     “For us?” Ben exclaimed.

     “Well, they work for the CVD.  The guy on the right is Rick Mallory.  He is one of our Travelers.  The woman on the left is Valarie DeDory.  She is some type of clerk under Frank,” said Sherman.

     “So what’s the audio on this?” asked Ben.

     “That’s the problem, no audio.  Surveillance-Tech say they must have had a jammer in the warehouse,” replied Sherman.

     “You’re pulling my dick,” said Ben.

     “No, we got zilch on them as far as audio,” answered Sherman.

     “We’re supposed to have the finest technology in the whole god damn world and you tell me some two-bit freak show can jam our listening devices?” exclaimed Ben.

     “I don’t know what else to tell you.  S-Tech is working on it,” answered Sherman.

     “You tell those fucks I want audio next time or they’re fired,” said Ben.

     “Any suggestions on what to do next?” asked Sherman.

     “Well, if this guy really is their leader, then he’s infiltrated our system and we’ve got a couple of traitors on are hands.  Worst of all we don’t know what they’ve discovered so far.  No, the worst of it is that we don’t know who else is involved.  This is our one chance to wipe this mess off of our plate.  You have our people stay on them and get audio.  When we find out the final head count of who’s involved we clean house.  Got it?” said Ben.

     “Will do,” answered Sherman.

     “When’s the next time you’ll get info on these monkeys?” asked Ben.

     “I get reports every morning,” said Sherman.

     “Next time you get something, I don’t care what time it is, you and I meet,” said Ben.

     “Will do,” answered Sherman.

<< >>

     “Why do you keep looking around?  You’re making me nervous,” said Val.

     “Is this place safe?” asked Grunt.

     “Yea, it is safe.  Forgive me.  I am somewhat more paranoid then usual,” answered William.

     “So why the emergency meeting?” asked Grunt.

     “Remember the other night when we met at the warehouse?  Well someone followed us,” said William.

     “No way.  I was totally careful,” said Val.

     “Not careful enough,” said William.

     “What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Val.

     “Nothing.  It doesn’t matter now,” answered William.

     “So how do you know this?” asked Grunt.

     “He made contact with me.  And he heard everything we said that night,” said William.

     “What did you guys talk about?” asked Grunt.

     “Our conversation revolved around trying to convince someone from the CVD to give us his ID and password.  We told him everything.  We revealed all details about the terrorists, the virus and the evacuation,” said William.