Origin - Season One (16 page)

Amanda held his gaze for a moment, then looked away. Jesse said something to her that Francis couldn’t hear and stood up. “Show
me
. Mandy can wait here.”

They left her sitting on the bed and Jesse followed Francis outside and around the corner of the cabin. As they walked Francis began to explain what they would need to do.

“There are sensors all the way around this place about twenty yards out. Anything that moves near the cabin will set them off. There are also four cameras in the chimney that cover the whole perimeter and one inside the cabin. If the sensors are triggered, you’ll be able to see what’s out there. You’ll see what I mean because the local wildlife sets them off occasionally. I highly doubt you’ll see people, though. There are hunting parties out here sometimes and I know they’ve been to the cabin before, but it’s rare. Hunting is illegal on this side of the lake. If someone
does
find this place, he or they may be dressed to look like hunters. Don’t be tempted to speak to anyone.”

“What if they come into the cabin?” Jesse said. “We can’t exactly hide in there.”

“No. That’s very true. But you won’t be in the cabin.”

Francis stopped in front of a log pile sitting partially buried in dead leaves. It covered a rectangular area about three feet by five. He knelt down and put his hands beneath the end of the log closest to Jesse.

“Grab the other end of this,” Francis said.

Jesse did.

“Now pull.”

The whole pile moved. The logs were all fixed together and mounted on a door of some kind with hinges at the other end. When the board was level with his chest, Francis asked Jesse to hold it and used a stick to prop the hatch open.

“After you,” Francis said.

A crude wooden ladder led to an earthen floor about six feet down. Jesse looked at Francis doubtfully, then turned and climbed down. He found himself standing in a small room about ten feet square. The walls and ceiling were made of rough boards still covered in bark and dry moss. Francis came down behind him and walked past him into the room. He fumbled with something in the corner and a dim clear bulb in the middle of the ceiling flickered and began to glow. Shelving containing canned goods, bottles of water and packages that looked like boil-in-the-bag meals covered one wall. Against another wall there was a single bed that looked identical to the one in the cabin. There were two wooden crates beneath it. A stack of similar crates was piled from floor to ceiling in the opposite corner. Next to these there was a little table and a stool. Below the table lay a bank of four truck batteries. On it there was a small TV monitor standing on a box that looked a bit like an amplifier in a hi-fi stack system. Both the amp and the screen were encased in green painted metal.

“It’s not the Ritz,” Francis said. “But you can get quite comfy in here.”

“Were you expecting a nuclear war to break out or something?” Jesse asked, looking around the room in wonder.

Francis laughed. “I never know
what
to expect.”

“It looks like one of those underground tunnels the Vietcong used to win the war.”

“This is the alarm panel,” Francis said, pointing to the table. “I’ll show you how to turn it on. The cameras use sensors to switch between standard and night vision. To save power you should leave them off unless you hear the alarm. There’s enough food in here to last two people a month. Those brown packs are Army issue MREs. Over there you’ve got Flameless Ration Heaters. You pour in water and it heats up whatever you want, so no need to light a fire. There are extra blankets in one of those crates if you get cold.”

“Is there any way we can get hold of you if we need to?” Jesse asked.

“I’ll get to that.”

Francis knelt in front of the bed and pulled out one of the crates. He picked up a small machine gun and handed it to Jesse.

“It’s heavy,” Jesse said, turning the weapon around in his hands.

“That’s an MP5 nine millimeter submachine gun. I wish I had time to show you how to use it, but I’ll just have to run you through the basics. You said you had a rifle, what was it?”

“A Winchester Model 70 classic,” Jesse said.

“Nice rifle. The single shot recoil will be slighter on that thing,” Francis said. “But it’s automatic, so it’s progressive. Meaning –”

“I know what it means,” Jesse interrupted, “I played a lot of video games when I was a kid.”

“Good,” Francis said, looking dubious. “So you know you need to compensate by holding it down. Keep it switched to burst fire, which means –”

“Three rounds every time you pull the trigger,” Jesse said.

Francis held up his hands. “Hell, kid. I’ll just leave you to it then. If I’d known video games were so good at churning out fighting men, I wouldn’t have bothered…”

“Wouldn’t have signed up for the Navy SEALs?” Jesse suggested.

“Wouldn’t have bothered saying anything.” Francis corrected.

Francis took something else from the box and held it up. It looked like a combination radio and telephone with a thick rubber antenna folded down on one side.

“This is a satellite phone,” Francis said. “Did you use any of these in your video games?”

Jesse smiled. “No, Master Chief, I didn’t.”

“Okay, it’s simple. You need a clear line of sight, so it won’t work under the tree canopy. If you need to use it go back to the lake. When you turn it on it will automatically begin looking for a satellite. Once it’s found one, the panel turns green and you’re good to go. I’m going to write down a number but it won’t get you straight through to me. Just let it ring a couple of times and end the call. I will call you back as soon as I can.”

Jesse nodded and took the phone. Francis pushed the crate back under the bed and stood. “There’s a spare battery for the phone and three more clips for the MP5 in there. If you pull it out, you’ll also see I’ve got a couple of hand grenades. I strongly suggest you don’t play with them.”

“What? You mean like pull the pin and see what happens?” Jesse said, clearly annoyed at being treated like a child.

Francis gave him a stern look, then pointed at a board lodged between the bed and the wall. “One last thing. Behind that board there is a very narrow tunnel. It runs about thirty yards to the east. At the end there is about four feet of clearance with a metal plate in the top. Give it a good shove and it’ll open. I’m not trying to scare you, but I want to cover every option. You have any questions?”

Jesse thought about it for a moment. “How long will you be gone?”

“I’d say five days. A week at most.”

“And if you don’t come back at all? What then?”

“Seriously kid, I don’t know. I’d most likely be dead and you’d be on your own.”

“So what? Go hunting with a submachine gun? Or maybe we could go fishing in the lake with your hand grenades?”

“The town’s just across the lake. You know where the boat is. Or you could go on foot, but it would be a long walk. As for hunting, there’s plenty of game out here and you’ll find a ten thousand dollar hunting rifle under the floor in the cabin. Practically shoots stuff by itself. But it won’t come to that.”

“How can you be so sure?” Jesse asked.

“Because I’ve been doing this for a long time, and at the risk of sounding arrogant, I’m pretty good at it.”

Jesse began to snigger. A second later he was flat on the floor with one of Francis’s knees on his throat and the blade of a knife pressed against the skin on the back of his neck. Francis bent closer until Jesse could feel his breath on his ear. “Do you know why I resented you calling me a SEAL earlier?” Francis asked.

Jesse tried to say he didn’t, but the knee was pushing down on his windpipe so he shook his head instead.

“Because the four men I killed back in your home town
were
SEALs, or something a lot like them, and frankly, I didn’t rate them very fucking highly.”

Francis stood up and Jesse brought his hands to his neck. Francis held out a hand. “No hard feelings, kid. I was just trying to make a point.”

But Jesse was in no mood for charity. The look on his face was one Francis had seen many times – the look of murder. Jesse rolled over and got to his knees then stood and glanced at the MP5 sitting on the bed.

“You’d get maybe halfway there, maybe only a quarter,” Francis said. There was no menace in the words, just certainty.

“What about later?” Jesse said, his face now turning red. “When your back’s turned?”

Francis felt a little sorry for him. It had been a shitty thing to do, but he needed Jesse to understand that while his life might have been turned upside down yesterday, Francis hadn’t been born then. He thought his chances of doing something about the drive and the people who wanted it back were at least as good as they were bad. He needed Jesse to believe that or the two of them might go nuts out here while he was gone.

“If you’re determined to kill me,” Francis said. “I’m sure you’ll find a way sooner or later. But maybe you’ll give me a chance to try and help you first. I can assure you of one thing, if I don’t come back, it’ll be because I’m already dead. Think of it as a win-win situation, if you like.”

Francis saw Jesse relax a little and deliberately turned his back and walked to the ladder. If the gamble didn’t pay off, the gun wasn’t loaded anyway. But it would make things a little awkward, to say the least. Jesse made no move for the weapon. He followed Francis and looked up at the entrance. “We should get back. Amanda will be getting worried.”

“I was meaning to ask you about that,” Francis said. “Do you think she’ll be okay out here?”

“Are you kidding? She’ll be a lot more okay than me, that’s for sure.”

“She’s a tough one, isn’t she?”

Jesse nodded.

“You’ve known her for a long time then?” Francis said.

“Since second grade.”

“It’s just that I thought you guys were, you know, an item.”

Jesse looked down at the floor and Francis patted him on the arm. “It’s none of my business.”

Jesse suddenly looked defeated. “It’s complicated.”

“It always is,” Francis said and climbed the ladder.

They closed the hatch and returned to the cabin.

“You’ll need to brief Amanda on everything I showed you,” Francis said. “You can leave out the drop-kick and the stand-off though. That’s just between us fellas.”

“I could have kicked your ass,” Jesse said. “I just didn’t want to embarrass you.”

Francis laughed. “Gee, thanks. You’re a real sport.”

They found Amanda asleep on the bed. She had found a candle and fixed it to the middle of the table. Next to it there was an empty can of tinned peaches.

“What did I tell you?” Jesse said. “If you’d left me here, I would’ve been
under
the bed by now.”

“Amazing,” Francis agreed.

“Better go while she’s asleep or you might get another earful on your way out the door,” Jesse said. “I’ll wake her up and we’ll go back to the Batcave when you’re gone.”

“Smart thinking. Let me just get my stuff together.”

Francis put the things he had stacked up by the floorboards into an old canvas bag, then picked up some clothes and began to change by the fireplace. He put on a pair of tattered dark brown corduroy pants and a faded green sweater with the letters
USMC
still just about visible on the front. Then he pulled on a pair of steel-toed boots that would never be mistaken for anything else. Over the sweater he put on a black and white plaid zip-up jacket and topped the look off with a beanie that might or might not have been white at some point in the distant past. When he was done, Francis lifted his arms and posed. “How do I look?”

“Like a bum.”

“Good. The look I’m going for is really more tramp-cum-hitchhiker, but bum will do.”

“Why?” Jesse asked. “Have you run out of quarters or something?”

“Let’s just say I don’t want to attract more attention than I have to.”

“America’s invisible poor?”

“Yeah. Something like that. You all set?”

“We’ll be fine,” Jesse said, sounding a lot more confident than he felt.

Francis picked up the pistol he’d put down on the table, checked the breach and put it in the pocket of his jacket. He put two more clips in the other pocket, then threw his backpack over one shoulder.

“Wish me luck,” Francis said and held out his free hand.

Jesse shook it. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

“I will. Don’t you worry.”

– – –

As soon as Francis was gone, Jesse felt his heart sink. He looked over at Amanda, who was still sleeping the sleep of the dead. He had never been a great believer in divine intervention, but he thought that might soon change. If she hadn’t been here with him, there was no way in hell he’d survive a day without going mad, much less a week. He sat down at the table and watched her sleep for a long time. When the silence was suddenly broken by a piercing shriek from somewhere outside, he stood up and walked to the bed.

Skyline Defense

New York, New York
Wednesday 19 July 2006

0100 EDT

When he returned to his office, Marius was sitting in front of Jack’s desk with a small digital recorder in one hand.

“What’s going on?” Jack asked.

“You were right about Jessops. I put an intercept on Mike Banner’s home phone line. But I think we have a bigger problem.”

“What?”

“It looks like we may have a security breach.”

“What kind of security breach?” Jack asked.

Marius set the recorder down on the desk and pushed play. Jack listened to the conversation between Mike Banner and his wife.

“That’s the first call to his wife in Phoenix,” Marius said. “The second is to a colleague of his in DC named Mitch Rainey.”

Jack felt his stomach tighten as he listened to Mitch detail what he had found out about Bruce Jessops. Then Mitch changed topic in mid-sentence and the call abruptly ended.

Marius stopped the recorder. “I ran back through the recording several times, looking for some sign of a trace. Whatever he used to intercept it, it wasn’t anything the FBI have. He must have had some kind of pulse sensor or signal delay tracking device. It’s the only way he would have been able to pick it up. If he managed to decipher the source values from the readings, he could trace them back to Darkstar.”