The Break (The Aesir Saga Book 1) (15 page)

              Williams stood watching as the agency workers went about their business. The parking lot that was a little bit ago a battlefield was now teeming with different men all trying to accomplish every job at once. The two female Spartans had already been loaded into their sedation tanks, and they were placing the male into his. The tanks were all the same size, measuring seven feet long, and comprised mostly of glass.

The Aesir were strapped into the tank, and then intravenous ports were put into their arms that connected to ports on the outside of the tank. They used these to pull blood samples or inject nutrients into the Aesir. The light blue fluid on the inside kept the subject in a medically induced coma as well as providing oxygen for the subject when their lungs became filled. To maintain the right amount of oxygen in the fluid, a pump was attached to the top of the tank. This filtered the fluid and re-oxygenated it before returning to the tank. This cycle operated continuously, pulling fluid from the top and replacing it through the vent in the bottom. 

              Williams watched as they finished the prep of the male they had captured, the blue fluid rising in the tank. He turned to see how the cleanup was going with the body that had been crushed by Marcus. He was surprised to see men in white coats collecting large samples of the tissue that remained, placing them into white boxes. Standing over the other men was a short individual wearing a lab coat, running around pointing at different areas on the ground. Williams walked over to the group to find out what was going on. 

As Williams neared the group they seemed to be finishing up, sealing the containers and stacking them on a cart. 

"Excuse me sir, what is going on over here." Williams said when the man in the lab coat turned his direction.

"Oh, hello. We are just collecting samples of the remaining tissue. I just hope there is enough to get a good synthesis." The doctor was Indian, his brown complexion and dark hair were hints, but his accent made it a dead giveaway.

"I don't think we've met. I'm Agent Chris Williams, this was my team's catch." He said, extending his hand. 

              The lab coat man grabbed it and shook it quickly. "Nice to meet you sir, I am Dr. Bejoy Memon. I am the lead scientist here at the facility. I have to say, it is always nice to meet a Trapper who can bring in a big group."

"I'm sorry, what was that name you used?"

"Trapper? It’s what you men do, is it not? You hunt and trap the Aesir for us." Dr. Memon seemed more puzzled that Williams wasn't aware of the name. 

              As the cart rolled past them, Dr. Memon stopped the pusher. "Get these into refrigeration as soon as possible. We need to be working on them once the others are finished being put to bed."

"Yes sir." was the reply as the cart continued on its way toward the warehouse. 

              Dr. Memon turned back to Williams, "Well Agent Williams, there are some people I need to attend to, so if you will excuse me." Without even waiting for a response from Williams the doctor was walking quickly to the warehouse. Williams didn't know what it was, but the doctor had used several terms he didn't know, and now his curiosity was peaked. He had to run, but he was able to catch up just as they were inside the warehouse. 

"Excuse me doctor, I have never seen the Aesir being "put to bed". You wouldn't mind if I accompanied you, would you?"

"Of course not, I wish more trappers were interested in our work." The elevator arrived and both men got on. Williams knew it was only a few floors down to get to the labs. But for now he had the undivided attention of the doctor. 

"Outside you said something about having enough tissue for synthesizing. What is that exactly?"

              Williams’s interest in the doctors’ work seemed to spark his attention greatly. "Well, how much do you know about the Aesir and how they manifest their powers?"

              Williams thought for a moment before he was finally able to give the doctor an answer. "Honestly I don't think I know anything about it doctor."

"Well, welcome to my crash course." Dr. Memon replied, smiling with excitement. 

              The elevator doors opened, Williams following Memon out into the bright white of the lab. Everything was white; the walls, the tables, and the bio suits the staff wore. Huge machines dominated the floor, some were taller than he was and stretched on for ten feet. As Memon walked past the glass wall that divided them, Williams couldn’t help but look at the different things happening. Williams saw the cart of samples that had been collected outside being delivered to different tables, some of the staff already taking needles to the tissue, drawing out whatever it was they needed. 

              As they walked through another door, taking them into a different part of the lab, Dr. Memon began his history lesson. "Roughly twenty years ago the United States was engaged in a never ending war on terror. While you could consider what was happening as winning the war, there was no end or total victory in sight. Around this time, a virus began appearing in different parts of the country. It was not something that had been seen before, and the root cause of it was unknown. The strange thing about it was how it affected people. It turns out that this virus worked on a genetic level. That’s not to say that only certain people got it, anyone who came in contact with an infected person became infected. The survival rate was abysmal."

"So then the virus killed itself off, since most of the infected people died?"

"Hardly. We know now what it did and how, but we have had twenty years to figure that out. Scientists and doctors were dropping dead, people were panicking. At the time no one knew what was making them sick, so there were riots in hospitals, people began hording food and ammunition. Now during this time, we get our first appearance of an Aesir. It turns out that all Aesir have an inert immune system, which came from their rare AB negative blood type. This means that when the virus made its way into their system, the body did not fight it right away. Instead, it becomes part of the body, changing the DNA of the subject, giving them their powers. This is not true for all of them, some die, just like the rest of us, only in a much slower and more painful way."

Dr. Memon came to an office door, his office more specifically, as Williams could see his name on the placard. Memon swiped his ID badge that hung from his lab coat pocket, then pushed the door open, holding it for Williams. The office looked like it had been pulled out of a hospital. Memon's desk sat in the middle of room, two chairs opposite his own. Behind his desk were three bookcases, each no taller than six feet, but their width took up the entire back wall. Williams sat down in one of the chairs as Dr. Memon moved to his own. 

"The government tried to maintain the fight against the virus, while also fighting terrorism abroad. The Aesir that were being developed by the government were this fighting forces, since they had already lived through the virus. It became like the chicken pox, getting it once made you immune, but the number of people dying from it was extraordinary. The mortality rate was forty percent, which in modern medicine is devastating. Later on, after the New

Governmental Council took over, whole cities would be quarantined off, the mortality rate rose to sixty percent. Not all due to the virus of course, but the collateral damage that was happening. So, now I'm sure you’re wondering what that has to do with what we are doing here?"

Williams took a moment before answering. The doctor was the first person to ever tell him something he wasn't at least vaguely aware of. "If the virus alters the Aesir DNA, then we collect them, and bring them to you so you can store them?"

Dr. Memon nodded his head, "Storage is half the job. The other half is what I mentioned topside, the synthesis of the powers. See, with the Aesir having different DNA, we collect blood and take out the part that is different. Since the human genome had been mapped some time ago, this was easy. Find the part that’s different, isolate that part, and boom, powers in a syringe."

              Williams had been relaxed in the chair, his leg folded over the other. When the doctor finished his last sentence, Williams sat up like a bolt. "What!? You can transfer an Aesir's power into someone else?"

Williams’s reaction did nothing to phase the doctor, he continued talking as if giving a class in a university. "Temporality of course. When we isolate the power from the Aesir DNA, we can inject it into the head of less life threatening virus, like the cold. We then inject a subject with the Aesir power virus, which does what any other virus does, and replicates inside the body. As these levels rise, the subject gains the power of the selected Aesir. But much like the cold virus, your immune system begins targeting the Aesir virus. After a few days, the subject no longer has the power, since his immune system has killed the Aesir DNA in his body. The problem that we are having is that once you receive a certain power once, the body rejects it after that, since it is labeled as a foreign body."

              Williams still couldn't wrap his head around what he was hearing. "Does the NGC now about your ability to transfer these powers?"

"Temporarily." Dr. Memon said, using his finger to emphasize the point. 

"Yes, temporarily. But they are aware of it?"

"Of course. They use our Aesir virus for ongoing conflicts abroad."

              Williams stood up, he had to get out of here. The NGC had adopted a stance of isolationism toward the rest of the world. Now Williams was hearing that not only was that incorrect, but they were using Aesir powers as the weapon to do it. Through his actions of trying to protect the people of his country, he was inadvertently harming other people around the world. "I'm sorry doctor, I have to go. I have a meeting I forgot about." He was walking out of the door before Dr. Memon could reply. Williams needed to get down to the NGC. He needed to confront his father about this. 

THIRTY SIX

              After reading the email from Ma'at about a car coming, Gabriel had waited outside on the porch swing. After about an hour, a black sedan turned and headed toward the house. Gabriel got up from the swing, walking out to the road, igniting his hands as the car came to a stop. The car sat idling twenty feet from him. He knew they were here to take him to Ma'at, but Ma'at lied last time about a mission, so why wouldn't he do it here? As the driver door opened Gabriel snapped a fireball, ready with a plan should this go wrong. 

              Out stepped a man in his early forties, his head shaved, but with the stubble of his hair showing its brown color. He had on sunglasses, a brown long sleeve shirt, with the sleeves pulled up to his forearms. His khaki pants looked more tactical than business, especially with the handgun hanging on his right hip. A pair of hiking boots finished off the look of personal security. Neither one moved, they just stood staring at each other, Gabriel with a fireball in his hand, and the man with his hand resting on his pistol.

The stranger was the first to say anything. "Gabriel?"

"Yeah, who are you?"

The man didn't move his hand from his pistol, slowly sliding his right foot back. "My name is Garret. Mr. Thoth sent me to come get you and take you to his house."

              Thoth? Gabriel thought he was waiting for Ma'at to send a car. "I don't know who Mr. Thoth is. I'm waiting for Ma'at."

"Then you're waiting for me."

              Gabriel tilted his head, a puzzled look coming to his face. "You're Ma'at?"

"No, but I work for him, and I am to take you to see Mr. Thoth."

Taking a chance, Gabriel crushed the fireball and extinguished his fire. This seemed to ease Garret, who took his hand off his gun. 

Gabriel started walking to the house when Garret called to him.

"The car is right here."

"I'm going to get my friend, then we can go."

"I was told to pick you up. There was no mention of your friend."

Gabriel stopped when he was on the porch. "Well I'm not leaving him alone. Your boss cost us everyone we know, so I'm going to get him, then we can go. If you don't like that," his arms coming up in a shrug, "then leave." Without even waiting for a response from Garret, Gabriel walked into the house and up to Brock's room. He opened the door to find Brock sitting on the end of the bed. When Gabriel opened the door Brock had raised his head up, making eye contact with Gabriel, but still not talking. 

"Hey man, we're going to see Ma'at. I need you, in case things don't go our way."

              Brock just nodded his head and stood up. When they got back down to the car, Garret was standing in the same spot. 

"Mr. Thoth said it was alright to bring your friend." he said as he opened the back door of the car, allowing Gabriel and Brock to climb in. As Gabriel buckled himself in, Garret was already backing the car up from the drive way. Gabriel watched the farm disappear in the distance as they sped down the road. He wondered if he would see it again, or if this meeting with Ma'at would end up killing him.

              Williams didn't even pack when he got back to the safe house. He was too busy getting everything set for his return to the capital. When he had returned, Kyle was packing up their little command area, pulling items from the board they had used to track the things they knew. 

"What are you doing?" Williams asked when he walked in the door. 

              Kyle set down the stack of papers he had pulled down. "I'm taking everything down. We got them last night. We're going home, aren't we?"

"We got some of them. We didn't get Gabriel, and he’s the whole reason we are here. Besides, three of them got away." Williams crossed his arms, upset by everything that was going on. He knew it was really about what the doctor told him, but he couldn't tell Kyle, he needed to find out how much of this his father knew. 

"One of those three was shot by the cop."

"No, we know he fired his gun, but that doesn’t mean he actually hit anything. Also, we didn't find a body, which means he got away. I'm making a trip back to the capital, but while I'm gone you and Marcus need to keep an eye out for Gabriel. We just took out his support system. He is going to try and run soon. I want Marcus out as much as possible, see if he can find anything or if we can catch him when he runs."

"Hold on, you’re going back to the capital? What’s going on?"

"There are some things I need to take care of, I won’t be gone that long. In the meantime get me some intel about Gabriel." Williams was growing frustrated with the conversation already. 

"So what do you want me to do while you’re gone, just watch the news and wait?"

              That was the last straw for Williams. "How about doing your fucking job. I'm doing mine as the leader of this group. Now you do yours, Intel guy." Williams picked up the stack of paper and photos that had been on the wall and threw them at Kyle. "Get me some fucking intel." Kyle didn't move as the papers flew in different directions. With no reaction from Kyle, Williams walked out of the safe house, heading to his car, and eventually the airport.