A New World: Conspiracy (13 page)

“That’s really something, huh? So, I know
you know the house and barn. You know your team was there. You saw
them making a run for it and you know I’m not fucking around. Now,
take heart. We had a team go in shortly afterward and some of your
team survived. We are caring for them as we speak. They’re not
really up for a cup of tea with you at the moment. However, they
are a little chatty. So, you see, your use to me is fading. Unless
you actually have something to offer, and soon, you’ll just be
taking up space, time, and resources that I don’t want to spare.
I’ll leave you to ponder that for a while,” I say, turning to
leave. “We’ll chat later, mate. Until then, enjoy our
comforts.”

He says nothing more as I leave but hangs
his head in an attempt to get some rest. I know his mind will run
through what he watched and wonder about his fate. I imagine he
will begin bargaining with himself to tell me something if he
believes his teammates are talking. Pride and training will argue
one side, but his exhaustion will argue the other side. We can’t
afford to wait long since we are at a distinct disadvantage.
Whoever is behind this obviously knows us, whereas we know nothing
about them other than they appear to be well organized and
equipped.

“Make sure he doesn’t get any rest,” I tell
the guards as I depart.

Walking from the warehouse, I see Harold
standing near one of the tables set up in the middle of the first
floor. He catches my eye and begins making his way toward me. I am
tired and not close to being in the mood to listen to his ravings,
but I figured he would approach me at some point. To be honest, he
hasn’t spoken of his conspiracy theories since we picked him up
from Mountain Home, for which I’m thankful. We have enough going on
without becoming paranoid about everything. Of course, with what
happened today, I must admit I’m a little more willing to hear what
he has to say. The moment he starts sounding too far out there,
I’ll be done and go to bed. After all, Lynn is back and I really
haven’t had any time with her.

“I know you have a lot going on, and it
didn’t seem like the right time earlier, but can we talk?” he
asks.

“Sure, what’s up?” I say, wanting to keep
this as short as possible.

We meander over to one of the tables and
sit.

“I don’t rightly know how to start this and
you may think I’m crazy, but hear me out. Remember back at Mountain
Home when I said, ‘wait and they’ll find you’?” Harold begins.

“Yeah, I remember that. What exactly do you
mean?”

“Okay, I don’t have the details, but the
story is that someone took a shot at you. So, I’m going to take a
guess and say that you were the target and the one you captured is
a pro,” he answers.

“Correct so far, but that in itself doesn’t
mean anything along the lines of a conspiracy,” I state.

“I don’t mean to sound crass, but I did say
they would reveal themselves to you at some point,” Harold
says.

“And you think this is from some group you
were hinting at?”

“I’m sure of it,” Harold replies, nodding.
“You have become a threat, or rather this place has.”

“What makes you so sure of that?” I ask.

“It’s probably best if I start at the
beginning so you can see the foundation I’m operating from,” he
responds.

“Okay, you have my attention.”

“I used to work for a certain three-letter
organization and was stationed at a remote listening post. By
remote, I don’t mean in a remote part of the world, I mean it was a
small post that was merely a network transitional point. We, well,
keyed into various confidential locations and either listened or
provided secure tunnels for secure transmissions. One day, I
noticed a hit from an unknown IP address. Looking into it, I saw
that whoever it was created a virtual private network into our
system and appeared to be pulling information from some of our
secure channels. Intrigued as to who could do this, seeing as we
weren’t really a known entity, I created a back channel using the
one they created. I created a packet that looked like another piece
of info they were pulling so it wouldn’t be discarded. It allowed
me to peek into their system. I know, probably too much detail, but
I wanted to know who could hack into our system before shutting
them down.

“What I found was interesting, to say the
least. I wasn’t in for long before being found out and booted, but
from what I gathered, it seemed like I stumbled onto, or into, a
covert group that was pieced together from all parts of both our
government and others. In addition, there were several larger
corporations involved. I didn’t get all of the details, but what I
did find scared the hell out of me. I found files that mentioned
global annihilation and for a takeover of resources. At first I
just thought I had stumbled onto some contingency planning group,
but the deeper I went, the more this seemed like an actual plan
being set in motion.”

“How can you be sure it wasn’t some think
tank group coming up with contingencies? They have those everywhere
and come up with the wildest of scenarios,” I ask.

“I thought so at first, but then I found
some emails between heads of corporations and government agencies.
They spoke of plans already in place, of only waiting for the right
moment to begin initiating phases. Now, some that I managed to find
were encrypted and I didn’t have the time to decrypt, nor, to be
honest, did I really want to. Most of the unencrypted ones came
from the CDC itself and provided the most information. Those
mentioned vaccines, death rates, and population control. Attached
were services to be restored and in what order, along with
timelines,” he responds.

“That still sounds like contingency planning
to me,” I say.

“I still thought that might be the case as
well. That is until I found a list of facilities that were being
constructed and statements detailing expenses. This wasn’t just a
contingency, it was actually being funded. I pulled that one from
one of the emails that included the CDC director. Now, I’m as
skeptical as the next person, but then when this shit happened, I
realized I had been looking at an actual plan that was being
initiated.”

“And you found all of this in the supposed
short time you were in? Seems like something like that would take
more time,” I say.

“Well, I might have, um, downloaded some of
the files. When they found me, I was quickly booted. The tunnel
dropped and I never saw it again. I tried to hit the IP address
several times, but it was non-existent,” Harold replies.

“I’m not saying I believe you, but I’m not
saying I don’t either. It’s just that it’s a little hard thinking
about a single group bringing on an event like this. So, you
mentioned the CDC several times. What if I told you I have a hard
drive I picked up from the CDC?” I ask.

Harold chuckles for a moment. “That’s not
something they are going to have on a hard drive, nor really
anywhere on their system. From what I saw, the actual director was
involved and I sincerely doubt he stored anything like that on the
network.”

“And if I say that I have the director’s
hard drive? What—” I begin.

“Wait, what? You seriously have that? I
mean, here…with you?” Harold blurts out, interrupting.

“Yeah, Frank has it,” I answer.

“How did you come by that? Never mind that.
Can I take a look at it?”

“I’ll talk with Frank in the morning and see
that you get it. You’ll make a copy before digging in, right?” I
say.

“Of course,” he replies, the excitement in
his eyes apparent.

I take my leave and trudge wearily upstairs.
It’s been a day that seems like a week. The huge emotional swings
have definitely taken their toll. As much as that is true, I can’t
wait to see Lynn. It still seems so unreal that she’s actually back
but, then again, it seems strange that she was taken in the first
place. Then there is the theory spouted by Harold. I’m beat and
wouldn’t be too upset if I were allowed to sleep for a month.

Lynn is lying on her cot. Her exhaustion is
written all over her. Looking through one open eye, she begins to
rise onto her elbow.

“No need to get up for me. Just lie back,” I
say, removing my boots before collapsing on my own cot. “You know,
if you ever want to talk about it, I’m here.”

“I know, Jack, but I’m okay. Just glad to be
back. Let’s just leave it there. And thanks,” she replies.

“Thanks for what?”

“For coming to get me,” she responds.

“Of course, hon. As if there were any other
possibility.”

“You know, Drescoll is having a hard
time.”

“I bet he is. I can’t imagine what he must
be going through. Is there anything we can do to help?”

“Just be there for him. There’s really
nothing anyone can say or do. It’s something he’ll work through on
his own,” Lynn answers.

“Well, if he needs to take some time…”

“No. That may be the worst thing for him. He
needs to be kept busy.”

“It’s been a hell of a day. I’m just glad
you’re back. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

We both then fall into a coma-like
slumber.

* * * * * *

Morning comes far too quickly. I come out of
a deep, dreamless sleep, feeling almost as tired as when I went to
bed. The events of yesterday slowly creep into my consciousness,
and the vast amount of things to do today propels me into
wakefulness – although wakefulness is a matter of perspective.
Let’s just say the cobwebs become less dense. Lynn stirs beside me
and starts to rise.

“I’ve got the training this morning, you
just rest,” I say.

“Thanks, Jack,” she mumbles before rolling
over and falling back asleep.

Now I know she is exhausted if she will
allow that. She knows my idea of training is walking to the fridge
to grab a frozen Snickers bar. I trudge downstairs to meet with the
other teams and we go through the morning training. Most of the
others also seem tired and not really putting much effort into it
with the exception of Bri who can’t seem to get enough. I shake my
head at her enthusiasm and go through the motions. I must admit, it
feels good to be moving, but so much is weighing on my mind that I
can’t fully enjoy it.

After showering, I see that Lynn and the
others have gathered in our usual meeting location. She looks
stronger today but still carries the gauntness from her ordeal.

“We have a lot to cover.” I settle in.
First, I give them a synopsis of my conversation with Harold.

“Frank, will you see that Harold is set up
with the hard drive?” I say.

“Will do, Jack. Do you think there’s
anything to what he said?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. And even if there
is something to it, that doesn’t mean it’s that group that targeted
us. There are some things that we know, but there’s so much more
that we don’t. Let’s talk about what we do know and go from there.
We know that we were targeted and…” I begin.

“You mean that
you
were targeted. In
my opinion, it’s not us that was targeted but specifically you,”
Frank interrupts. “I think it’s important that we make that
distinction.”

“Okay, that doesn’t change my thinking much,
but you’re right, we need to keep that in mind. Targeting a single
individual is usually because that person or the group they head
represents a direct threat or it’s to send a message. What we are
threatening or what message they want to send is unknown as of yet.
What concerns me is that they knew where to hit us. And not due to
some daily activity that puts us in a certain place at a certain
time. This was something out of the ordinary we planned. That means
one of several things. One, they knew Lynn was there and that we
would eventually show up and staked it out. Two, someone here knew
our plans and notified them, or three, they had the capability to
track us and had a team in the field to act on that intelligence.
Either one doesn’t leave me with warm, fuzzy feelings,” I say.

“I have problems with your second idea.
There were surely better opportunities to get to you if someone
inside were providing information. And if they were staking out a
place, why wouldn’t they stake out the ramp at McChord. It’s a far
more likely that you’d show up there as opposed to a hospital where
night runners are holding Lynn,” Frank comments.

“That leaves us with option three which
means they have the means to track us at any time. That also means
that they have a tremendous amount of intel on us and we have
nothing on them. Like, are they local, or did the team they send
have to travel? That implies a high level of coordination and
organization,” I state.

“What that means is that they have satellite
control,” Frank says. “And that could also be the reason our
satellite communications have failed. They could have shut those
comms down.”

“That means an awful lot of satellites,”
Lynn mentions.

“That it does,” Frank replies. “I think we
have to go with that assumption until we know anything different –
work from the worst case scenario. You know that the comms and
leadership are priority targets when initiating hostilities. And
seeing how they targeted you, that means they have a pretty clear
picture of our leadership.”

“I agree. We are at a distinct disadvantage.
The implications are clear; we are dealing with a professional
organization which brings us back to Harold’s theories. As much as
I hate conspiracy theories, they are out there and with what
happened, the little pieces, while individually not seeming like
much, when put together, they present a much more worrisome and
frightening picture. Have we had any word from Captain Leonard?” I
ask.

“Not since we lost communication with you,”
Frank answers.

“You’ve talked with our prisoner. Did you
learn anything?” Lynn asks.