Synarchy Book 2: The Ascension (26 page)

“
Nu uh. I’m going to take a
nap. Nobody tell Uncle Christopher.” Lucien stifled a
yawn.

“
I’ll come with you,
Simone.” Vasco stood up. “If I’m going to kill six members of the
Brotherhood, I should make sure my aim is on point.”

§

November 25th, 2012 - 12:22
PM

Alexandria, VA

SVT Think Tank

“
The only video cameras on
their floor are in front of the elevators.”

Olivia sat in the passenger seat of a
van with heavily tinted windows, looking at the SVT Think Tank
building across the street. “That’s very convenient for us. What
time do they leave for lunch?”

“
Between twelve-thirty and
one. They don’t always go out. Sometimes they use the cafeteria. I
hear it’s pretty good,” a SVT agent said.

Olivia looked down at her watch. She
needed the scientists to leave. Their departure would provide her
agents with the right opportunity to get inside their lab. Cleverly
passing it off as a training exercise, she was able to utilize her
SVT office to her own ends. Twenty minutes later, Olivia was
smiling as she watched Robert leading two others out of the
building.

“
One’s missing,” the agent
said, looking down at his portfolio. “Derek Vaughn isn’t with
them.”

Olivia tapped her fingers against her
mouth in thought. She’d have to risk it. Reaching up, she touched
her ear communicating with the two agents she had waiting to follow
the scientists when they left. “Operation Watchtower is a go. And
remember, we’re on a time table. Your success in this assignment
will heavily influence whether or not I determine I need you on
this team.”

“
Roger that, Alpha. We’re
following the targets now.”

Perfect, Olivia thought. She climbed
into the back of the van. In order to make Operation Watchtower a
success, her agents need only swipe one of the team members’ access
cards and bring it to her.

Thirty minutes later, the back of the
van opened, and one of her agents was standing there, dangling Dr.
Shirley McDermott’s access card from his fingers. “Well done.”
Olivia put a red wig on her head and slipped the colored contacts
into her eyes. “Put me in the security system, Ray.”

When one knew how a system was set up,
it wasn’t difficult to hack into it. Five minutes later, Olivia’s
retinal signature replaced Shirley’s. “You are good to go, Alpha,”
the SVT agent said.

“
Good.” Letting herself out
of the van, Olivia slipped her arms into a white lab coat, held the
access card casually in her hand, and walked into the building.
Lunch time saw a decent flow of traffic in and out of the building,
and Olivia took full advantage, merging with a small group of
employees as they walked past the security station as if she were a
part of it. The group got off the elevator on level two. She slid
the card into the slot and pressed the button for the fourth floor.
The panel beeped and a computerized voice said, “Good afternoon
Doctor. Please identify yourself.” Olivia leaned forward so the
retinal scan panel could scan her eye. “Confirmed. Dr. Shirley
McDermott. Welcome back,” the computerized voice said as the
elevator began moving.

“
Alpha, this is Red.” A
voice came through Olivia's earpiece. “I’m in their security
system. There is no one in front of the elevators. You are
clear.”

Even better, Olivia thought. The doors
slid open, and Olivia stepped out cautiously, pausing to listen. It
was quiet. Derek was probably in his office. She walked quickly
past the spiral staircase, toward the empty lab. She pressed
Shirley’s ID card against the security panel and the door slide
open.

It was obvious from the setup inside
the lab that Derek and his team were building something—some sort
of device. Olivia walked to one of the cases, and lifted the
unlocked lid. She didn’t recognize the device inside, but she
guessed it was some sort of weapon. Pulling out her cell phone, she
took a picture. Closing the lid on the case, she opened up three
more. They contained the same strange weapon, but the fourth made
her gasp in surprise. Inside was the mirror image of the crystal
rod that Loki had been carrying, that Enlil had been so happy to
discover.

If she brought the rod to Enlil, then
she could stop jumping through hoops to win his favor. Decision
made, Olivia snapped the case shut and wrapped her fingers around
the handle.

A stern voice sounded behind her:
“Don’t move.”

Olivia went deadly still. Fuck. She
never heard the door open. She did hear the click of the gun being
cocked and probably pointed at her head. “Easy,” Olivia said. “I
work here.”

“
No, you don’t.” The Cadre
tipped his chin down towards his shoulder where his radio was
attached. “We have a sit—”

Olivia whirled around smacked the Cadre
with the case. He released a startled grunt, and Olivia hit him
with the case again, hard against the side of his head. The man hit
the floor, but the case opened and the rod spilled out, clattering
to the floor and rolling halfway across the room as if it was
trying to get away from her.

The radio on the Cadre’s shoulder
echoed out: “Brian, do you copy? We’re coming
downstairs.”

Growling, Olivia kicked the fallen
solider in the stomach, then touched her earpiece. “Red, do you
read me? Set off the fire alarms, now. Hurry.” She jerked her eyes
over to the crystal, just as the Cadre groaned and started coming
out of his daze. She wanted to run over and grab it, but she
couldn’t risk getting caught. She would have to leave it. She
rushed out of the lab room to the sound of heavy footsteps coming
down the spiral staircase, and pulled the gun from her back. She
lifted the weapon and started firing towards the stairs, the
bullets striking metal and sending off sparks, the noise of gunfire
halting the Cadre coming to check on their comrade. Olivia squeezed
the trigger a few more times as she slammed her shoulder into the
stairwell door, pushing through it. Just as she got there, the fire
alarm went off, an insanely loud, annoying noise. She tore off down
the stairs, and people started filing in with her. She hid the gun
back under her lab coat, ducked her head down, and blended in with
the crowd.

Once outside, Olivia broke past the
crowd just as fire trucks screeched to a halt in front of the
building. She was at the van when she heard the shout for her to
stop, and saw the Cadre running towards her.

Smirking, she fired a few rounds in
their direction before she closed the door, snapping at the agent
in the driver’s seat. “What are you waiting for? Go!”

The young man looked startled at the
live gunfire but peeled out, tires squealing. Olivia ripped off her
wig, and climbed into the passenger seat. She patted the man’s arm
comfortingly. “Well done, Agent.”

“
That looked a very real,
ma’am.” The Agent shot Olivia a sideways glance.

Olivia smiled “It’s supposed to. How
else will I determine how well you can react under duress? Take us
back to the office.” She needed to get in touch with
Dominic.

§

November 25, 2012 - 3:33 PM

Alcyone Island

Dion Corporation
Headquarters

“
Someone broke into SVT
Think Tank.”

Vasco sat behind his desk and arched a
sharp brow at Caleb. “Continue.”

“
They didn’t steal anything.
Luckily, one of the Cadre assigned to Robert caught the woman as
she was trying to take the crystal.”

“
Anyone hurt?”

“
No, nothing serious. She
got away, though, and we can’t make out her face on the security
cameras.”

Vasco clucked his tongue thoughtfully.
“All right. I want the whole operation moved to the Compound. Do it
quietly, very quietly.”

“
Yes, Mr. President.” Caleb
turned to leave, but paused. He looked back at Vasco. “Sir, about
the gag order.”

A subtle smile touched Vasco’s mouth.
“I imagine it must get harder every day.”

Caleb matched Vasco’s smile. “Yes, sir,
it does.”

“
Soon, Caleb. A few days
more soon. Let me know once our braniac team is at the
compound.”

Hope and anticipation flared hotly in
Caleb's gut. “Yes, sir.”

§

November 30, 2012 - 9:12 PM

MIEC

The Octopus

“
I was right in my
assumption. The crystal has made ELMINT stronger.”

Alex smiled as he and Enlil
waited for the underwater train to arrive. “That’s good news, my
Lord.”
Fucking Anunnaki
, Alex thought. There had been a two hundred year period the
Anunnaki had left the planet, and put sole control in the hands of
the Brotherhood. The Anunnaki had had matters on their home planet
to attend to, and they wanted to explore the inside of the Moon.
Earth’s moon was a giant space vessel built specifically to monitor
the planet. At some point in the galaxy’s history, it had come
under attack, as visible by the many craters on its surface.
Whatever race had built it had vanished without a trace, but the
technology they left behind was of some curiosity to the
Anunnaki.

On Earth, during the time that the
Anunnaki were gone, seven different alien races came to visit, and
a few attempted to assist humanity in breaking loose of some of its
chains. It was also while the Anunnaki were gone that the
Brotherhood began to disagree with itself on how to handle the
masses. A united core of thirteen split into three separate camps,
and their internal battle lasted for seven decades. When the
Anunnaki returned, humanity was breaking free, the Brotherhood was
losing control, and it seemed the Ascension was finally imminent.
It was because of Enlil’s skill as both a general and a leader that
the attempt was thwarted, and the Brotherhood was put back
together. Those were considered the dark days for the Brotherhood;
several of the elite bluebloods were killed, entire families
removed and replaced with the next waiting to be chosen worthy. It
was because of the Brotherhood’s errors that Enlil had realized
that the Anunnaki needed to be more effective at handling leaks of
information. The public had suddenly known too much, and the only
way to combat that was to give them alternative versions of the
same story from seemingly credible sources. It had gotten to the
point that they needed to control not just conspiracy theorists,
but spiritualists, too.

“
It is. Everything is right
on point.” Enlil stepped into the luxurious train cabin first, and
Alex followed obediently behind him. Underneath the Statue of
Liberty—which was a tribute to Isis, the wife of Enlil who died
during one of The Great Wars—was the entrance to the underwater
tunnel that connected the United States and Australia. It went
straight to the Military Industrial Extra-terrestrial Complex,
classified as a D2, called The Octopus.

The Octopus was one of five M.I.E.C.’s
on Earth. Anunnaki and Zeta scientists worked alongside select,
mind-controlled, and cult conditioned humans. Contrary to
conspiracy theorists’ beliefs, Dulce was no longer a joint
alien/human base. After a group of rebellious Zetas and humans
tried to burn it down, the Brotherhood and Anunnaki Council decided
to keep all such bases underwater. The Octopus had two main
objectives. The first was to perfect the Programmable Life Forms.
Known as PLFs, they were robots with organic parts. The second base
objective was mind control through channeling and false mystical
experiences.

Using an advanced form of HAARP, the
Brotherhood frequently made NSA selected individuals believe they
were channeling some mystical being. The target thought he or she
was communing with angels or benevolent aliens, when in truth, they
were talking to someone in the base who was literally reading a
script. What kind of person was targeted and what information was
fed to them was the responsibility of the Tavistock Institute and
RAND Corporation. History proved how exceptional they were at
it.

Now that martial law had been declared
nearly worldwide, the Brotherhood would need these machines much
less. Alex looked out the window, watching the underwater tunnel
blur by as the high speed train traveled at 1500 mph towards The
Octopus. Alex often marveled at the things human beings were
capable of; especially when he looked at things like the Octopus.
Its design had come from human ingenuity. Alien technology made it
possible. It was a huge dome, with six separate arms extending out
from it, each housing a different function of the base. At this
depth, the sun’s rays didn’t penetrate the ocean, making windows
pointless. The only light that emanated from the dome was a dull
blue glow that pulsed rhythmically from the roof.

“
Tell me, have there been
any improvements in the escalation of violence because of martial
law?” Enlil asked.

Alex shook his head and feigned
annoyance. “No. It’s all gone, surprisingly, very peacefully, and
we don’t understand it. The amount of violent outbreaks has been
extremely low. Even in the camps, people are not combative. They’re
angry, but they’re peaceful, forgiving almost. It’s very
strange.”

Enlil growled. “Damn this ascension. It
won’t happen. I’ll be dead before I let it happen.”