Authors: Dominick Fencer,Baibin Nighthawk
"Hello Mark, this is David. I need to talk to you…can you come to my house, please?"
"When?" Mark replied, without even greeting him.
"As soon as you can."
"I'll be there in an hour, the time it’ll take to get there."
"Thanks, I'll be waiting for you."
Marshall had spoken in a strange way, toneless and scared and Mark was curious to know what the reason was after their last conversation.
95
David had prepared a cup of coffee, chocolate chip cookies and fresh fruit. He made the former secret agent at home in the sitting room and they began to nibble on the cookies without mentioning the dispute they had had a few hours before.
"Do you know what this is?" Marshall asked showing Mark a postcard.
"When did you receive it?"
"Shortly before leaving the Southwestern County Medical Center. Who the hell is the friend of the Blue Fairy?"
"Davis...fucking Davis! It's always him...it’s not a normal card, it’s encrypted," Mark said amazed.
"Why didn’t he send it to you?"
"Because you're the head of the department and this is ordinary postal mail and wouldn’t attract attention. No one is interested enough to open your mail, and if it were opened they would see a postcard addressed to you and some magazines."
"What are you going to do?"
"I’ll work on it and let you know."
"Mark, I'm sorry about earlier, I seem to be living in a nightmare."
"I’ll demonstrate to you that I'm right, I'm sure this card will give us more information; and as I told you, Davis may be playing cat and mouse, but the real players in this game are me and Reed."
"As soon as you have some news, call me immediately."
After the conversation, Mark pocketed the card, said goodbye to Marshall and headed home.
The first thing he did on entering his apartment was jump in the shower to wash off the stink of fear from his skin; he wanted to erase all traces of the weaknesses that had led him to risk his life for nothing that afternoon.
He was exhausted and lay down on the couch with his hands behind his head; he needed to figure out why he had been distracted at a time that demanded his maximum attention.
‘Anger makes me deaf and blind, it’s time I begin to take control or I risk killing myself like an idiot. I still haven’t defeated my demon and unresolved anger is one of its manifestations I must stop before it annihilates me.’
He took a picture of the card with his smartphone and sent it to Pavel on the secure line.
"QRV Digitrevenant69?" Mark made an attempt, knowing full well that in Sofia it was 4:00 in the morning.
"QRV," Pavel replied.
"You’re still up?"
"I’m binge eating ice cream, watching a romantic movie on TV. I was really moved by the movie, but for the last hour I’ve been moving my bowels in the bathroom. I have a terrible stomach ache, it’s too cold..."
"And how much did you eat? Is it just diarrhea or are you spewing up as well?"
"Luckily only the poop…"
"Drink a coke so you can replenish your fluids and sugar, then if the phenomenon doesn’t fade, see a doctor and get some tests done to check that it’s not food poisoning. How much did you eat? You idiot!"
"Yeah, thanks for the advice, doc…but you rang to ask me something."
"We’ll talk about it tomorrow Pavel…when you're better."
"Look, I've already seen that it’s an encrypted code."
"Faster than lightning, huh? Exactly, when you can, find out what it says."
"I don’t want anything for this one, I enjoy doing it…and then you just gave me your medical opinion."
"Not a big deal as a medical opinion, but thank you my friend. Now you have to try to sleep if you can, otherwise you’ll be pooped tomorrow, too. Goodbye!"
"Goodbye, Mark. Thanks for keeping me company here in the bathroom; I was feeling lonely! Goodnight to you!"
96
The next afternoon, Mark was in his office watching the latest aggregated data of the "Transtem 1.1" project: the effect on the brain waves and their frequency had now stabilized, but the levels remained at the maximum tolerable threshold. While the behavioral data showed the same aggressive response to annoyance and stress; the aggressive side effect hadn’t been resolved at all, in fact, it was even worse.
The patients seemed to be more introverted and analytical, so their reasoning had become sequential and extremely detailed, even pedantic most of the time.
It was evident that Bain was trying to solve the puzzle. Mark wondered if there were other transplant patients like Brad Foster who hadn’t been affected by the phenomenon. The curious thing was that Bain, despite having heard of Foster, had not cared at all, as if he knew it was useless data.
While Mark thought about what he could do to begin his counterattack against Reed, he saw that Pavel was online.
"Digitrevenant69, QRV?"
"QRV."
"Very interesting Mark, the friend of the Blue Fairy, I guess, is Davis."
"That's right, it is him."
"Well, he’s certainly been busy, and I think you're right: he needs you to drag Reed into the mud. What I wonder is how he knew what was happening even before the start of the brain wave problems."
"Good question,” said Mark. “I have asked myself that question, too. I wonder if I'll ever be able to ask him."
"Also this will amaze you my friend: he set up a virtual bank with a virtual safe deposit," Pavel said.
"I don’t understand."
"Three million dollars you can take when you want just by activating a money transfer to a recipient of your choice, using 10 codes that correspond to 10 banks in Dallas."
"But...I don’t have cards to withdraw money," Mark was confused.
"The codes are enough, my friend. Incredible! I’d like to know who set all this up without getting caught. The money comes in and goes out without any trace every time. Magnificent! It’s a kind of safe: you send money to encrypted bank accounts with a double code, so you avoid credit cards…and if you want, you can withdraw cash up to $5000 with just one code."
"Money for the operation! Davis knows well that I have to move."
"And that’s not all, there is the encrypted file you sent…here…you're receiving it now. My goodness!"
"Pavel, this is scary... I'll show it to Marshall immediately, so he’ll finally stop questioning everything I say."
"You have to learn the codes by heart, in three hours they’ll disappear. If you lose the initial code of the virtual safe-deposit box, you’ll never be able to get the money."
"Don’t worry, I'll do it, my memory is trained. Thanks Pavel! Tomorrow I’ll try to contact Anaïs Degann."
"As of tomorrow I’ll be following you like a shadow. You can count on me. See you soon."
Mark dialed David Marshall’s number immediately.
"David? Hello, this is Mark. You absolutely have to see the card you gave me..."
Two minutes later, Mark was in Marshall’s office, showing him the file on his smartphone.
"Why don't you download to my pc so we can see it better?" asked Marshall.
"David, it’s very dangerous. You never know, let’s read it on my secure device. Here is Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, a U.S. Army soldier and one from the Air Force had an altercation with four marines who they attacked and slew.
“They then took a van and went to Bagram and there they slaughtered three other people. The official statement instead reported that it was a Taliban attack. They are transplant soldiers, part of the "Brainexe" project, Marshall. And this is Davis’ message."
"It's monstrous! What else is going to happen?"
"David let me try to stop them,” demanded Mark. “Davis put some money for the operation at my disposal. I won't ask you for anything but I need to be able to manage my time directly and get your approval for the use of the laboratory if necessary."
"Okay, you can count on me,” said David. “I don’t have any choice; besides, these bastards Bain and Harris have been treating me like an idiot and making me feel like a jerk."
"Thanks David. Starting tomorrow I'll be active but you won’t notice anything."
"What will you do with Reed?"
"I honestly don’t know yet."
At home that evening Mark was feeling nervous. He had to contact Anaïs Degann. He knew that as bait he was risking his life, but he also knew that there was no other way to get into the facilities of Biosketch Technologies Inc.. He absolutely needed Anaïs Degann; he simply had to figure out what to say to her so that she would ally with him.
Pavel had connected a reserved and dedicated secure line for telephone communications and had given him a cell phone number: using that number he would call CIA agent Anaïs Degann.
Mark Savannah fell asleep for the umpteenth time on the couch thinking about her sinuous body and the sensual look she had when she got off the plane during the hail storm; Anaïs certainly didn’t have the cold and abstract look of a sniper.
97
Anaïs woke up that morning in a bad mood, she had searched Oklahoma City almost in its entirety for five days and there was no sign of Savannah.
She had met a local CIA informant who had helped her with the research and analysis of the images taken from the cameras installed outside train and subway stations, afterwards with the help of Interpol she had sifted hotels, hospitals, clinics and medical private practices, but had found no trace that could be attributed to Mark Savannah.
Skylinep92 had the feeling that Colonel Reed was hiding something from her and didn’t want her around; in fact, she had wasted her days going around in circles, knowing full well that it was the wrong strategy. In addition, the Colonel had ordered her to go up to Dallas even though she had requested that he allow her to return to H.Q. to re-examine the events in detail and be able to reformulate a plan of action.
She came out of the shower and got dressed slowly, she would have her breakfast and soon after she would be leaving for Dallas; she had decided to depart from Oklahoma City one day early so that even if she couldn't find any clues in a week in Dallas, she would get back to Biosketch Technologies Inc. a little bit earlier to start a re-evaluation. Colonel Reed wouldn't be able to find any more excuses to stop her.
As she was putting on her eye makeup, her cell phone began ringing; it was an unknown number calling her home in Switzerland. Initially, she let it ring but finally, given the insistence of the caller, she answered.
"Hello?"
"Good morning. I would like to speak to Anaïs Degann," said Mark Savannah.
"Speaking, who is this?"
"Mark Savannah."
The phone fell out of Anaïs’ hand and for a moment she stood breathless, then it occurred to her that it could be a joke arranged by that idiot Green and she asked him point blank, "What did you do before going to the station?"
"I washed off the blood that was flowing down your face; I loosened the knots and I left the key in plain sight," Mark said slowly.
In a daze, Anaïs realized she really had Mark Savannah on the phone; and moreover, he remembered very well what he had done in Aisha’s house, how he had left her the chance to leave.
"You’re good. How did you find me…taking into account that you're now wanted by the entire galaxy?"
"I'm simply good, as you just said. I need to talk to you."
"If I meet you, I’ll kill you and this time I'm serious."
"I let you live, Anaïs," Mark said in his deep voice.
Anaïs felt a shiver down her spine when she heard him say her name and this surprised her once again.
"Yeah, and you’ll have to explain why sooner or later..."
"But if I'm not mistaken, you played the voyeur and missed your moment ... I would say I wasn’t the only one to be so forgiving," Mark said.
"Probably, and since you're a psychiatrist, you’ll explain this to me as well."
"Anaïs, you are a great pilot: the landing at the Dallas Air-Park during the storm with the Twin Otter impressed me so much."
"Were you there?" Anaïs asked astonished.
"I was in transit like you, only I arrived earlier, and of course I took off later in the opposite direction to you. You went back to Biosketch Technologies Inc."
"I knew you hadn’t left the US and were moving around Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas."
"‘No one can escape all the cameras of the world’, that’s one of the phrases that’s instilled into you during training. But let’s not waste any more time, I have to talk to you seriously, and we have to meet."
"You’re a murderer, Savannah."
"There are many things you are unaware of and you don’t really know anything about me."
"I’m not taking the bait...forget it. I'll follow you to the end of the earth if necessary, but only to terminate you."
"Then check out this: there’s not only the "Transtem 1.1" project, there is also a parallel project, "Brainexe", commissioned and directed by the CIA and the Pentagon, transplant soldiers forced to undergo superhuman training programs, killing machines ready to be triggered, but something is going wrong and Reed is losing control of both projects. You check on the existence of "Brainexe" and I'm sure afterwards you’ll listen to me, but obviously it wouldn’t be a good idea to talk about it with Reed or his squire Green."
"Does Green know about it?"
"Green is the Colonel’s alter ego. He owes him his salvation from a long jail sentence as a hacker."
"I can’t go back to Biosketch Technologies Inc.. I have strict orders and I’ll never be able to violate a hacker’s computer alone," Skylinep92 said.
"There’s no need for you to go back, the "Transtem 1.1" project quarterly press conference is scheduled for tomorrow, and Bain is holding it in Dallas."
"But how the hell do you know all these things? Ransley Bain?"
"As you know, he’s the scientific director of "Transtem 1.1", but he also follows "Brainexe.""
"He will inform Reed immediately if I ask him about "Brainexe"."
"I’m sure you can invent something, needless to say you mustn’t talk to anyone about this…for your own safety. Now you've got my number, I'll wait for a call from you... Ah! I forgot... I know that the Colonel was your mother’s lover for about twenty years..."
Anaïs hung up, irritated by his arrogance but at the same time impressed by the amount of confidential information Mark Savannah had gathered. In addition, the former British agent had a very sensual voice, and this irritated her even more.
Savannah smiled satisfied, he imagined the beautiful face of Anaïs petrified with astonishment, and he knew perfectly well that he had managed to stimulate the American agent’s curiosity.