Authors: Dominick Fencer,Baibin Nighthawk
Mark began to unbutton her shirt then her pants and Anaïs, who was aware of being outdoors but couldn’t stop him, did the same with him very quickly, while the former British agent was attaching her to the wall of the hangar and lifting her from the ground bringing her astride him.
It was a quick and silent intercourse, but intense and spontaneous, almost wild, punctuated by a pace that left no room to breathe, devoured till the end leaving nothing unfinished.
Mark then pulled away from her and both, stunned by what had happened, recomposed themselves as best as they could, looking each other in the eye.
When their breathing became regular, Mark came closer to Anaïs again and gave her a kiss on the forehead, then he turned on his heel and walked slowly to the Savage.
Mark turned several times to watch her walk away, he still felt her scent on him; for the first time he had kissed a woman on the forehead after intercourse and if it were up to him, he would also have asked her to stay with him, but there was no time.
On the other hand, Anaïs climbed into the Cessna almost in a trance and in order to regain her self-control quickly, she repeated the checklist twice, then she taxied towards the runway without delay.
The wind had strengthened and the poppies were waving like she had a few minutes earlier, that rustic and figurative image made her smile as she quickly took off from the ground.
106
"Jago, keep an eye on Anaïs,” demanded Reed, “you have to work together with her. I don’t want her snooping around... By the way, any news concerning the system audit?"
"The quality department, with the bioengineers’ support, had reduced the time of scaffold production by one day. They are now conducting audits to rule out the possibility this change had a role in raising the brain wave levels."
Reed's cell phone rang and he immediately replied.
“Hello, Michael, how are you? Well, me too. Nothing new for the moment, yes, audit at 360 degree, absolute priority, what? Again? What the fuck, and how did you solve it? Shit, but when you questioned them what did they say?
“Listen to me, if you put them in jail, sooner or later the press will come to know about it. Send them to Chechnya…who cares? There they will have short lives and die as heroes…but yes, for their families, not for them…Let's hope not all of them. Shit... Of course, I'll keep you informed. Now I have to talk to Green and Bain and inform them. See you soon, Michael. Goodbye."
The Colonel hung up and dialed an internal number.
"Ransley? Please run immediately to my office. Green is already here. Well, I’m waiting for you."
Ransley Bain arrived breathless and worried after a couple of minutes and he sat down at the table next to Jago C. Green.
"There's been another serious episode: some “Brainexe" soldiers at the air base in Sigonella, Sicily, Italy."
"In Italy?" said an amazed Green.
"Two Seabees of the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion, they tortured and afterwards killed the pilot, co-pilot and three console operators on a P-3 Orion of the patrol squadron...they were provoked on Saturday evening in a bar on the base during leave. There was a fight because of a bet in a rigged poker party, which was then stopped by the arrival of the police.
“The Seabees then waited for sunrise when they picked up, tortured, and killed the victims. Afterwards they abandoned the bodies in front of a sports field. Investigators later arrested them, and after hours of questioning, they confessed to the crime…but just because they were getting bored! Can you believe that?
“Mitchell told me they had to simulate a stall turn with a helicopter in which they had loaded the five bodies. The helicopter disintegrated on falling to the ground and the event was recorded by the National Flight Safety Agency as an accident due to pilot error. There was no other solution."
"And now what are going to do with them?" Bain asked.
"I suggested sending them to Chechnya, they will die in the field there as heroes, and if Chechnya is not enough for them, the Congo awaits them," replied the Colonel.
"The "Transtem 1.1" transplants have a tendency to meet and hold discussions together. They arrange meetings in geographical areas different from where they live, and they begin to be hostile to family members. This has been reported by all the centers, I mean by every accredited center," Bain said.
"And what do the families say?" Green intervened.
"They are detecting the strange, silent and aggressive behavior, and are starting to be concerned about it. We need to intervene in a drastic way to stem the situation," Bain said.
"Ransley, haven't we already introduced the sedative in the treatment of "Transtem 1.1"?" Colonel Reed asked.
"It’s not enough."
"What do you propose? Here the blame is going to fall on us, and the civilian transplants are organizing themselves. I dare say they are creating communities; we’re not able to understand their behavior. It is likely that we’ll also start seeing murder cases among "Transtem 1.1" transplanted subjects. I'm sure of it, and Jago hasn’t finished the audit yet."
“Colonel, I think the only solution is to find a higher dose molecule in the anxiolytics-hypnotics group and include it in the therapy, directly in the capsules. There’s no problem of antagonism or unpleasant side effects. I don’t think we're going to significantly slow their reflexes, but they are so overexcited I think we needn’t worry about it."
"Ok, choose the molecule and put the purchase department on alert, and make sure that the production will integrate the anxiolytic in the capsules within 5 days from now."
"We won’t be able to do it in five days and be able to deliver after two days, the schedule is too tight," Green replied.
"Pay 5% more on the supply contract and you'll see that you can do it. That’s an order," Reed answered, frowning.
"Okay, I’ll keep you updated, Colonel," Green said while looking at Bain, who, even if nodding, looked puzzled.
"You can go. The meeting is finished, thank you. What a crap situation!"
107
"Good morning, Alan, are you already packing your bags? I'm very glad to see you go, especially after we kept you here one extra week. Now you're fine, so look what I’ve brought back to you!" Savannah said as he held out the BlackBerry to Alan Cox.
"So here it is, finally,” smiled Alan, taking the BlackBerry. “I got used to being without it. I think that now I'll receive too many calls. Thanks, Dr. Stearman. You’ve given meaning to my life."
"Alan, remember to update me on your progress at least twice a week. We have to slowly reduce the drug therapy to zero, and you have to arrange for a visit in two weeks. In the unlikely event you should have a mild relapse, call me immediately, even at night. This is my cell phone the number."
Alan Cox smiled at Savannah, and put the business card in his wallet so as to have it always close at hand, then Mark shook his hand and returned to his office.
"QRV?"
"QRV Digitrevenant69, how are you?"
"Well, thanks, and you?"
"I fucked Anna," Pavel said bluntly.
"You did what?"
"I-f-u-c-k-e-d A-n-n-a," he spelled.
"I can not believe it! You don’t sound…?"
"I was expecting more...."
"But how could you expect more? You've waited years for this event, and now you tell me that you were disappointed, maybe she's a little bit rusty and shy..."
"She doesn't use her mouth the way I like."
"Did you ask her?"
"Yes, of course."
"What did she say?"
"That her palate is too small and tight."
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! I'm sorry my friend, but it's a long time since I laughed so much...but that's terrible! Ha! Ha! You'll see that with a bit of a workout she’ll become a wide mouthed frog. Ah yes!"
"Ha. Ha. Ha! There is nothing to laugh about, Mark; she’s too passive for my taste. Am I expecting too much?"
"Are you asking me for a quick consultation?"
"Of course."
"Not all women love oral sex and Anna probably made love to you without conviction. I mean, there’s never been passion on her part, and I don’t think she’s suddenly fallen in love with you. It just happened. Now you have to figure out if it can work, and if she really wants you."
"That's true, but I think she likes me a lot, otherwise we wouldn’t have been together last night."
"Then give her time to get used to the new situation and teach her. Anna has two young children who she has to leave to be with you, so she’ll live inner conflicts. You must have patience, if it doesn’t go well then it means that your body chemistry is not compatible."
"So, I shouldn't..."
"For the moment, don't force the situation; don't spoil it all for a blow job, even if I might understand you."
"What a terrible tragedy…but let's talk about serious things now: can you give me an update?"
"Anaïs Degann will work with us. She confirmed how my father died. I showed her the video of Reed, told her about "Transtem 1.1" and "Brainexe". So for the moment she has decided not to terminate me.
“I haven’t informed her about you, because I don't fully trust her, but within two days she’ll attempt to discover the access codes to the Biosketch Technologies Inc. system. Pavel, she’s so stunning, and a pilot! Can you believe it?"
"She's really beautiful…Have you fallen in love with this sniper?"
"Who knows," then changing subject Mark continued, "In any case, the cameras will communicate with both our devices, is that right? So we have back up."
"Yes, I prefer to avoid problems. I'll have to process the images; they won’t be sharp, let's hope we can make it work. See you soon, Mark. So for the moment I have to forget about the... I’m going to drown myself in ice cream."
"Oh, come on! Is ice cream enough? That's just weird…talk to you soon, Pavel, bye!"
Mark took the medical records and went to Brad Foster’s room.
"Hey Brad, how’s your day going? Is everything ready? Are you excited?"
"Good morning, Dr. Stearman. I'm excited, it's true. The idea that tomorrow I’ll be back home is scaring me a little bit, and what if the drives suddenly start again when I least expect it?"
"Don’t worry, Brad. I don’t think they will be as strong and oppressive as before. You stopped your drug therapy ten days ago and we haven’t seen any significant effect. In the worst case, if you feel the anxiety is overwhelming and you cannot control it, call me and I'll see you right away. You live near here, don’t you?"
"Yes, a ten-minute walk away."
"So at the beginning you must not be afraid of being by yourself, and you'll see it’ll be easier than you think, and then you can woo all the girls you want, without fixed hours and supervision. In my opinion you're ready to get your life back, Brad, but have you finished all your homework?"
"Goodness Doctor...yes, I've finished it all."
"Well then, I just have to let you go, so it’s goodbye. I won’t be here tomorrow morning, and I don’t like goodbyes, good luck to you. I hope I never see you again, Brad”.
Unexpectedly Brad hugged Mark, receiving a bear hug from Mark in return. Brad just managed to breathe and said, "You’ve been the only one that has been able to understand me and who has helped me, thank you."
Then Brad, without looking in Mark eyes, decided it was time to prepare the last things to pack and headed for the bathroom.
Mark went back to his office and informed Marshall that Cox had been discharged and that Foster would be leaving the hospital the next day, then instinctively he took his smartphone and composed a message addressed to Anaïs Degann: "HRU?"
After a few moments he received a cryptic message back:
"Alone."
Mark replied, "I'm thinking about you".
108
"Anaïs, my pretty flower, you're always a spectacle of pure nature, darling! Any news?" Jago C. Green asked when he saw her entering with her usual fast walking style in his office at Biosketch Technologies Inc.
"Like I said, I saw some files and searched for more details in those related to Richard Reed. We have to make up our mind and figure out if the new material can provide us with additional clues by comparing or adding it to what we already have in our possession.
“Savannah’s definitely still in the United States, and someone is helping him, I’m sure of that."
"How long do you plan to stay here?" asked Jago.
"What a gentleman! I just arrived and you already want to get me out of the way..."
"Stop it, Skylinep92. If you want we can start tomorrow morning at 9:30 am."
"When are you free?"
"Tomorrow from 9:30 am until 12:30 pm, and then from 5:00 pm onwards. I guess you want to talk to the Colonel."
"Yes, indeed, do you think he can receive me tomorrow afternoon?"
"You have a slot at 4:00 pm, my dear, and he’ll be all yours for 45 minutes."
"Um, I can’t wait to see him," Anaïs replied with a grimace.
"Your room is number 105, dinner and breakfast are served in the room, so grab your smartphone and order what you want to eat from the menu of the day. They take orders till 3:30 pm."
"Hey Green, I do what I want, is that clear? I don’t stay locked in the room, and why should I? Have you imposed a curfew? By chance, have you also inaugurated a court-martial?"
"Look, we're at the end of the month and you know that there are specific security procedures because the production chain is being controlled in depth and cleaned up. We’re also carrying out some checks on the system and at this time, let's say...that the central unit is more vulnerable...you're external and you only have some access, so if you want, I’ll join you in your room."
"At the very thought I get boils all over my body, I’d rather order a bowl of soup and spend the evening playing chess with the computer."
"Have you ever beaten the central unit?"
"I've never played against it."
"I play a little but almost always lose but it’s a matter of training. Tomorrow night I’ll challenge you, tonight I'm spending the night at somebody's house…in half an hour I’m going to see Ellen, remember the one I brought on that flight."
"Well then she’s enduring, how’s that possible? Are you giving her drugs so she can stand you?"
"Go away, darling, go. Your room is ready. See you tomorrow, darling."
"Goodbye, Latin lover. Talk to you tomorrow," Anaïs replied laughing and left Green still shaking his head in a sense of denial.
When she arrived at her room, she checked that there were no micro-cameras and bugs installed and then dialed Ransley Bain’s cell phone number.
"Hello Ransley, how are you? This is Anaïs."
"Hello, where are you?"
"I'm at the Central facilities. I thought I’d give you a quick hello, when you are free?"
"Right now, in an hour I have a meeting planned, but if you come now you’ll make me really very happy."
"I don’t have access to your area, could you come and get me in sector B please?"
"Five minutes and I'll be there."
"I’m coming, see you in five minutes."
Anaïs arrived first and Ransley joined her a few minutes later.
"What a surprise, Anaïs! How are you?"
"I'm really fine, thanks, and you? Any news from your genius group?"
"Come into my office, I prefer they don’t see us together, otherwise we’ll have Reed breathing down our necks wanting to know why we have started seeing each other."
"But there are cameras, Ransley..."
“And who wants to watch the recordings if nothing strange attracts attention? It’s gossip that travels faster than light and gives rise to misunderstandings. This corridor and my office are C safety, but from my office I can access A safety areas, those that you cannot cross, and that are controlled in real time."
Bain opened the door of his office and bade Anaïs sit in front of his desk then he took a chair and placed it in front of her.
"How's the "Transtem 1.1" project going?” asked Anaïs. “Green is an IT guy, a great systems analyst and programmer, but he is far from being the visionary of the project..."
"I’ll not deny that I'm worried as the problems have not been resolved."
"But are we talking about the same problems you mentioned when we met?"
"Yes, even if you don’t know the details," replied Bain.
"And what are they? Maybe I can help you since I'm a particle physicist?"
"No, and as you know I cannot talk to you about it, but I can tell you that we’re at a standstill."
Anaïs got up from the chair naturally and went to the window behind Ransley’s desk to look out, but in reality through the reflection in the glass she examined the angles from where the PC keyboard wasn’t covered by hands pounding on the keys.
"I thought you would have a better view from here, Ransley," she said casually.
"Unfortunately, it is the scaffold production unit. Have you finished your assignment?"
"No, it's not even close and I'm at a dead end. I came back to discuss the status of the situation with Green and the Colonel. We should find alternative routes. It's a little bit hot in here don't you think?"
"You’ll have to take off your sweater, for security reasons you cannot open the windows, and the air conditioning is still low."
Anaïs took off her sweater and looking around quizzically, she hung it appropriately on the handle of the window, then she walked around the room pretending to peek and see if there were any photos of Bain's private life around.
"I don’t see any pictures."
"I don’t like to expose my personal life to the public, even if I'm not sure I have a private life."
"Why? The Colonel told me that you are a tombeur des femmes, as we say in my country."
"The Colonel is too kind, I'm just a tombeur de…travail? How do you say work? Is it travail?"
"That's right."
A few seconds later the phone on Ransley’s desk rang: it was Walton I. Reed.
"Hi Colonel, okay, I'll be right there, I can print it, no problem," then he hung up and he looked into Anaïs eyes disheartened.
"Reed has pushed up the meeting, I have to take you back and print a confidential document immediately."
They both stood up and Anaïs left the office, giving a last look at her sweater with the microcameras positioned toward the keyboard; when they arrived in the main corridor, Bain gave her a quick goodbye and made her promise that they would talk again the next day.
Anaïs decided to go find Colonel Reed anticipating the conversation she had in mind, even though she knew he was about to start the meeting.
"Can I come in?" she asked while knocking at the door of Reed’s office, his secretary was in fact out of the office, and therefore she could go in without being stopped.
"I recognize that voice! Come in, Anaïs."
"Good evening, Colonel. How are you?"
"Hello dear, I'm fine, and you? You look good. What brings you here to my office today? The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow."
"Jago is not here and I wondered if you were free to get a head start on some topics."
"Mitchell has postponed a call but in a few minutes I’m meeting with Ransley Bain. However, sit down and tell me about developments."
"Thanks, Colonel, as you know I'm back, because together with Jago and with you we have to revisit the strategy. Savannah has almost certainly not left the country; and if this is so, he definitely has the support of someone and I cannot find him, I thought..."
All of a sudden a stranger burst into the room, and without noticing Anaïs he said, despite the Colonel’s desperate gestures to stop:
"I did it, damn it, Colonel! We made it, here we go! The variant is ready, six genetic modifications...the first ferret is dead as a doornail nine days after infection, the second three days after the death of the first, and the virus was transmitted to it by the first killer ferret...they are all dead!" The man finally became aware of Anaïs and, suddenly embarrassed, he fell silent.
"Anaïs, this is Paul Ward,” said Reed, “the scientific director of the division of biological weapons and counterintelligence. He's talking about H5N1 gender Orthomyxovirus, bird flu so to speak. This is Anaïs Degann, my best agent."
"Good morning," Skylinep92 said and the researcher gave her a nod.
Paul Ward, having heard that the woman was a CIA agent, relaxed and made no attempt to apologize to the Colonel.
"We’re working on a prevention project,” explained Reed, “we’re certain that the Iranians are working on this flu virus for use as a bacteriological weapon. Tell me, Paul, is the virus stable or mutagenic?"
"Stable, yes, we’re testing the effective antiviral molecules; within three weeks we’ll be able to define prevention and treatment."
"Well, you're always the best! I would have preferred to receive the news in a confidential manner, but I have no secrets from Anaïs. Now, if there's nothing urgent, I should finish the conversation with her. Please, wait a moment outside. Bain is coming."
"Certainly, sir. Goodbye, Anaïs," Ward said and turning on his heel and leaving the room.
"What we were talking about?" asked Reed.
"That we need to develop a different strategy because I’m at a standstill. I gathered new information in Langley. What do you think?"
"Savannah can’t have disappeared, and certainly he didn’t leave the United States, so someone is undoubtedly concealing him…um, look, look...speak of the devil and he doth appear…"
"What do you mean by that?" asked Anaïs.
"An alert from Interpol."
The Colonel realized the mistake he had made, if Jago had been in the office he would have immediately examined and then forwarded the information to Anaïs as if it had been sent directly to Skylinep92. In this way they were able to eliminate data that could in any way harm Reed, and so they were able to keep Anaïs’ reactions under control.
"And why didn’t I get the notification?"
"This time they sent it only to me, that's really strange. Here it is. Please take care of it yourself, and check on the information with Jago when he comes back. You'll have to take care of it; I don’t have time for it." And to show that he acted in good faith, Reed theatrically erased the file after he had sent it to Anaïs.
"Okay, Colonel. I'm on it."
"Now I must leave you, we’ll meet with Jago tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 pm and we’ll discuss what to do. Have a good evening, sweetheart."
Anaïs shook hands with the Colonel and returned to her room. It was 6:00 pm and within an hour they would serve dinner, so she decided not to move and began to read the latest news online.
Ransley Bain called her on the phone immediately after the meeting with Reed.
"Anaïs, you left your sweater in my office, when can I bring it back to you?"
Skylinep92 thought it was best to avoid Bain’s courtship and therefore said to him: "What about having lunch together tomorrow? We can go to the canteen and meet there “by chance”. What do you say? I don’t need it for the moment."
"I could bring it to your room now...it’s still early for dinner."
"Ransley, I would avoid giving rise to gossip for our peace of mind, better tomorrow at lunch."
"Okay, you're right," Ransley said, disconsolately. "See you tomorrow at 12:30, queue 6. Have a nice evening."
"Perfect, see you tomorrow, bye."
Skylinep92 felt like a recluse, she couldn’t dine out, the gym was located in an area which required special access that she didn’t have and Jago, who could have resolved everything, wasn’t there.
Anaïs began to examine the information sent by Interpol wrinkling her nose as she remembered the scene with Reed and understood perfectly well that everything that arrived to her by that channel, had already been examined and possibly edited.
She opened the file: it was a series of images captured by the cameras of an airport that had been extracted from a search engine, parameterized on the geographic area of Texas-Oklahoma-New Mexico-Arkansas-Louisiana-Colorado, used by the Questlead service. They had a delay of 48 hours and Interpol had received them most probably a couple of hours earlier.
The shots were of a private airport. In the first picture there was a blurry but recognizable Mark Savannah; then Anaïs’ heart leaped into her throat, in the last picture in the background, near a plane, she saw herself clearly visible against the light and identifiable without the need for subsequent processing.
It was Wiley Post and the photographs dated back to the last time she and Mark had met. Without panicking, Anaïs examined every corner of her room minutely and checked with her detector that the ventilation duct system was free of prying eyes and ears, afterwards she sat down on the bed and logged onto the secure line that Savannah had given her.