Chapter 21

Pov Calla

”This place hasn’t been used since they faked Regan’s death” Mox tells me as he took me to my new hideout.

It’s a corner building in Manhattan that looks to be four stories high, with a steep gabled roof. It’s not as tall as the surrounding buildings but it has more character.

The walls are white with couple support pillars at the buildings front.

“It has fallen into an economical loophole so technically no one owns it and no one can buy it. It is my fourth favorite safehouse and now I give it to your use.” He explains as he shows me through the door.

We arrive in a small hallway that’s filled with stacks of books. The floors are made of grey stone with decorative patterns made of granite. Mox turns on the lights and heads for the narrow stairs to our right.

“It is a library. I’ve kept the book collections updated so you can do some reading while staying here. Its security measures are not as good as in your previous base but it has cameras. The monitors for the cameras are upstairs. I installed the same kind of alarm system we used in DC.” He tells me.

We walk the corridors that are lined with bookshelves filled with books and come to a room with more bookshelves and a wooden table in the middle.

“This neighborhood is very calm. There are few street cams on the road but none of them points to this direction.” He continues with the showcasing.

He walks to bookshelf by the wall and tilts one of the books little.

*creek*

The bookshelf opens like a door, revealing the hidden rooms behind it.

We come to a small room with books stacked on the floor and a table by the wall with few computer screens which he turns on.

The screens are showing video feeds of the library and the street outside.

“Any good escape routes?” I ask him.

“Only one but it is a good one.” He points to a corridor only a half a meter wide and continues:

“That corridor leads to the building next to this. It goes inside it walls leading to the apartment building behind it and comes out there from a hidden doorway. The building next to this is declared as a landmark so you don’t need to worry about them renovating and finding the hidden passage. They are not allowed to take down the walls over there.” He explains the nature of the escape route.

This is all fine with me. I like it more than the previous one. Instead of TV I can read and that is all right with me. There is a TV in here but I prefer the books as they can be more educative.

I have realized that if I want to be more efficient I need to learn more about the world and its societies.

“Any books on penetrating computer systems? It’s bit of a weak subject for me.” I ask him. It’s something I’d like to get better with as my training over the subject has been miniscule.

“Aah, to paraphrase Churchill: ‘Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.’ There should be some over there.” He points to a stack of books by the corner of the room.

“And do you know something called the Caturix?” I decide to ask him. It’s a long shot but still there is a chance.

“You mean the god?” He says. God?

“No? I mean the movement.” I ask.

“It’s an old god from Helvetii, that later was conquered by the Romans and the religion was merged with the Roman beliefs. Can’t say I never heard of any movement that goes by the name. Do you want me to look into it?” He says.

“No. I’ll take care of it.” I answer to him as I made the decision not to involve him in my agendas and if he starts asking questions using its name he might find himself in trouble.

“Okay then. I leave you to get settled in. I’ll start looking for the reporter if I can find him and contact you when and if I do. Give me a few days.” He says to me as he starts heading out.

“Ok, thanks. I’ll see you later.” I say to him.

“Au revoir.” He says as he closes the bookshelf door behind him. I watch from the monitors as he exits the library and hails a cab from the street.

I like his clothes.

Video conference between four parties.

“…and you are saying that it killed all five ground teams you sent after it?” –Black

“Yes. On top of that I think it killed my primary operator as he hasn’t yet reported back.” –Red

“It shouldn’t be that effective. How the hell did Al-Aman train it? And what about the reporter? Any luck finding him?” –Black

“We have a name. Timothy Carter. We haven’t found his hiding place yet but it’s only a matter of time.” –Red

“You better find and kill him or it’s your head on the gallows. How about you Blue? Anything to report?” –Black

“The hit on Jiang Lee is assigned to 5xy after which it will start hunting down 7xx. It should be any day now that the hit is completed.” –Blue

“Good.” –Black

“If we could revisit the matter with subject 7xx, you are right that it shouldn’t be that effective. The way our modifications enhanced it must be extraordinary. We could use her body and blood work to improve our means to create the subjects.” –White

“What do you mean? And do you need it to be alive in order to do that?” –Black

“No. Just its body should do the trick. And I mean that even if it were put through the COT training like the xy subjects it still is very intriguing how it could manage in such an age to survive the ambush and even disappear from us and the police afterwards.” –White

“And you are sure that it has something to do with its modifications?” –Black

“Well, no. We can’t be sure of anything as of yet with the subjects. We only have had sixteen of them and some of them have died before they could be used to compare. The focus group is much too small still, but for the future its body could prove to be useful.” –White

“Very well. We’ll try to get its body after its death. You have always been in charge of the labs so you know best. But don’t disappoint me.” –Black

“I will not.” –White.

Washington DC

Pov detective Simmons

I’m sitting in my office at the department headquarters going through my files about the case. The men captured alive from the crime scene doesn’t seem to know much. They only had orders to kill the suspect.

And the blond man with the suit is still in the hospital in a coma. The explosion really did a number on him. He had a phone on him and we managed to get few numbers from it but they all were for burner phones.

We keep it here in case someone tries to make contact and then we’ll be there to answer.

Linda has been in awfully good mood since she saw the suspect escaping our barricades. Was there something she left out when she told what she knew about her…

She is sitting on the opposite side of my desk with Joshua, going through the same files in case we missed something.

*knock knock*

I see a man that looks to be in his thirties with a short black hair and a casual suit through the glass of my door.

He comes in before waiting for permission and smiles at Linda.

“Good to see you Linda. I heard you had an interesting night.” He says to Linda.

“Hello Brian. You came fast. And yes, to say the least, it was interesting.” Linda says. She seems to know him and that he was coming here.

“This is Brian Delore, our senior analyst. He was sent to help us.” Linda introduces the man to me.

So he’s a senior analyst for the J.A.T.F. That means that he works for the intelligence agency under the J.A.T.F.

“By the way Linda, did you hear the news?” He says

With a questioning gaze Linda asks: “What?”

“They found the Alpha trainer’s family in a cabin in the mountains separating France from Spain. They were all executed.” He says. Does this have something to do with the kidnapping incidence Linda mentioned earlier?

“Damn. What happens to Owel now?” She says. Owel must be this ‘Alpha trainer’ if I understood correctly.

“I’m not sure. General Raven has yet to decide. There is a chance that he is imprisoned or stripped from his rank. But there also is the chance that he remains with the J.A.T.F. and goes back to being active operator as he now has more than enough motive to hunt the perpetrators down.” Brian says.

“The enemies are despicable to stoop so low as to kidnapping and killing children.” Linda says with a grimace.

This is much bigger than I previously thought.

If Calla has left the city the case falls from my jurisdiction to some other precinct. I could go as a consulting detective to help out but I wouldn’t be in charge.

This has me considering the Interpol’s offer again. I’m inclined to accept it now if I could continue investigating this case. That way I won’t be so bound by the territorial rules of the police here in USA.

I have to ask them if that’s okay.

Although I could always ask Linda if there was a chance of me getting a spot in the J.A.T.F.’s ranks. I’m trained by the marine corp so my skillset shouldn’t be a problem

NYC

Pov Calla

It’s starting to be evening as I have finished inventorying and cleaning all my stuff. I also took a closer look at the clothes Mox took me to buy. I did the same as previously, and picked the same clothes the mannequins were wearing, with some additions Mox said to take.

There isn’t a bed in here but a mattress in the next room from the room with the monitors.

I think I should start trying to learn sleeping on soft surfaces…

Though I think it’s going to be difficult. I have never done it before and now that my RPG is left behind I don’t have anything to sleep with.

I could sleep with the sniper but it wouldn’t be the same.

It has less character than the RPG…

I go to the mattress and take the book about the computer systems with me, intending to spend the rest of the evening reading before going to sleep.

…

…

*Yawn*

It really was difficult to sleep on this thing…

It’s a brand new day, the morning sun shines to my windows that are plastered shut with old newspapers and I can hear the morning traffic outside.

If only I had something to do other than wait.

I grab an apple as I start reading the book I started last night. I spend some time reading it when I’m interrupted by the front door opening downstairs.

I get up and ready my pistol.

I walk to the room next to this and take a look at the monitors.

Oh, it’s only Mox. I put the pistol down as I open the hidden door to the rest of the library and go greet him on top of the stairs.

“Dear god Calla, put some clothes on!” He yells to me as soon as he sees me and continues.

“And what’s with all those scars?”

I glance at my body. I’m wearing my underwear so I’m not naked. I wonder what his problem is, it must be the scars. I decide to ignore his question about them as I put on some grey college pants and a black t-shirt.

“Find anything?” I ask him going straight to the point. He wouldn’t come here so early in the morning if he didn’t find anything.

“Not even a ‘good morning’? Fine. I found something. I checked the cheaper motels and the usual hiding spots in the city and found him in a motel. He was scared and thought someone is after him so I moved him to a safer location. Want to go there?” He says what he found.

Good. I don’t like waiting.

“Yeah. Let’s go there now.” I say to him as I take a grey hoodie and put it on.

This is perfect. I’m glad I met Mox and asked him for his help. As I’m thinking that we are heading down the stairs. Once we get to the street there is already a cab waiting for us.

“I knew you wanted to leave immediately.” Mox says to me as we go inside the waiting cab.

Mox tells the address to the driver and the car starts moving.

We don’t talk much on the car ride as I’m busy checking out the city. It’s nicer than Washington because there are more sniper positions available. The buildings are taller and the windows seems to be a bit bigger in general.

Though there are much more people too but I’m starting to get used to the crowds. I bought earplugs yesterday just in case but I’m not sure do I even need them anymore.

The cab stops in front of a rundown residential building with five floors.

We head inside the building and use the stairs to get to the fourth floor where Mox heads for apartment eleven.

*knock-Kno-knock Knock*

Mox rhythmically knocks the door before opening it with his key.

Inside is an empty one room apartment with a bathroom and a kitchen cabinet. There is only a bed and a table with one chair.

A blond curly haired man is sitting on the chair as he turns to look at us. He has eyeglasses and is wearing jeans and a buttoned up grey shirt with a tie loosely hanging on his neck.

“Timothy Carter?” I ask him, verifying his identity.

“Yes. And you are the person who wanted to talk to me? Why should I trust you? I wouldn’t even be here if the little man hadn’t threatened to spread out the location of my previous hiding place.” He says angrily glancing at Mox.

I look at Mox and he only shrugs his shoulders back at me.

“You should trust me because I’m the one with the gun.” I say back at him, taking my pistol to plain view and pointing it towards him from my hip.

“Calla?!” Mox is startled by my action but I don’t want to waste time. I’m not sure if I even want him in the room when I ask my questions but he deserves to be here as he was the one who found the guy.

I didn’t want him involved in this but it’s not like I’m actively trying to involve him. If he wants to get involved after he hears this conversation it’s his choice.

“Who the fuck is this girl!? You said I could trust you!” Timothy yells at Mox when Mox only shrugs his shoulders back, not wanting to start arguing with me about my methods.

“I’m sorry but I don’t want to waste time persuading you to talk. This is simpler. Answer my questions and you get to retain your ability to breathe.” I say to him.

I lower my weapon a bit before continuing:

“You found some facilities in Brooklyn and thought you were followed because it and went to hiding. I want to know how you found the place and where is it.” I state what I want from him.

He goes silent for a moment but I put on an expression that promises death and decay if he doesn’t start talking.

*gulp*

“Alright I’ll talk.” He says to me after audibly swallowing.

“It all started when I began to follow a General Assembly member of the UN. I noticed that he left the headquarters of UN many time at odd hours when I was looking for a story. I smelled a scoop there, and thought he was having an affair or something so one night I tailed him to where he was going.”

At this point he takes a breath and turns his gaze downwards before continuing:

“I followed him to a building in Brooklyn and stalked the place. I stayed in my car and noticed that the same people kept walking the area. At some point I noticed that the people carried weapons under their jackets so I got scared and left the place before they noticed me.”

He raises his head to look towards me.

“Then a couple of days ago when I was walking the street I recognized one of the guys when I left from the office. He was waiting for me. That’s when I went to hiding after circling in the traffic to make sure no one was following me.” He finishes his tale.

“Where the building is and what was the name of the person you followed.” I go to the important part.

“The man’s name is Vinny Cooper and the place was at…” He tells me the address.

Only one more question:

“How many guards did you see?” I ask him.

“Guards? Oh, the guys who kept circling it? I think, maybe six? I’m not sure. What do you intend to do? Are you going to help me?” He says.

So many questions at once…

He saw six guards but there must be more.

And why would I help him?

“I intend to pay them a visit. And no, I’m not going to help you. If they still chase after you when I’m done with the place that’s your problem. But now you must stay here for a few days so they can’t get to you and make you speak about me.” I finish my sentence, raising my gun at the end of it.

I would consider shooting him if Mox wasn’t standing next to me.

“What are you intending to do?” Mox asks me, not mentioning my name as I haven’t mentioned his. We are on the same page about that thing. Although my name ‘Calla’ would probably mean nothing to Caturix.

“I thought you wanted to stay out of this?” I ask him raising my eyebrow.

“Are you kidding? I’m not going with you or anything but I’m still curious. A real life conspiracy involving the UN and god know who else!” He says. Oh, right. He likes stuff like that. In our talks those things must be his favorite subjects…

“I intend to check the place out and probably burn it to the ground if I have the means to do so.” I say to Mox as I’m heading for the door.

The only thing is that I don’t have the means to burn it to the ground. Some explosives would be nice but I have nothing but the six grenades left for my launcher and I doubt that’ll be enough.

“That reminds me, can you get me something that goes boom?” I say to Mox while putting my pistol away and open the door.

Mox follows me as he says:

“I have a supplier for semtex and c4 but I don’t feel comfortable that you use it for blowing up a building. I have only used the stuff for vault doors and such.”

“You don’t have to buy it for me. Just introduce me to the seller.” I say to Mox as we are heading out of the building.

“Fine” He answers, not happy about his part in all this but it just the simplest way to do things now.

We head for the street and take a cab to the seller. I’m going to go there during next night so I have to get everything prepared during the day.

We come to a stop in front of an old warehouse. Mox pays the cabbie and heads for the warehouse.

“Jeff!” He yells once inside and I can hear steps coming from behind the tall racks filled with pallets.

“Mox. Who’s the young miss?” The man with a bushy black beard and bald head asks. He must be near two meters tall and his frame is very big. You can see his muscles from underneath the black sweater he is wearing.

“This is your new customer, Calla. Calla, meet Jeff. Now that my job here is done I’ll be taking my leave.” Mox says as he turns around and heads for the door.

“Hey, are you serious? She can’t be older than fifteen!” Jeff says to Mox but he’s too late as Mox is already outside.

I feel a little sorry for Mox for putting him in this situation…

“He is serious. I need as much c4 as this bag can fit.” I say to him while showing my shoulder bag to him.

“…”

*sigh*

He looks me from head to toe before sighing.

“Fine. Since Mox introduced you. But it’ll cost you.” He says.

I grab few rolls of bills from my bag, and that reminds me that I should check if there is a go bag here in New York as I’ll run out of money if this rate keeps up.

Or I just look for some work. I’m sure there would be some guys willing to hire me for my particular set of skills.

I throw the money to him before asking:

“Is that enough?”

He catches the money before counting it and nods his head after which he heads for the backrooms.

“Wait a sec.” He says.

…

I got my explosives and I hope that they are enough. I’m walking the street that is filled with other warehouses and small factories as there are no cabs in these parts.

While walking I search the name ‘Vinny Cooper’ with my pad that I had in my shoulder bag.

He is a man in his late forties according to his information on the net and he has black hair that is beginning to turn white as he is aging. He has blue eyes and wears eyeglasses.

Before he joined the UN he was a medical doctor and worked with this thing called ‘doctors without borders’. It seems respectable organization by the looks of it and that makes me wonder why he is part of the Caturix.

But it matters not, as I have a bullet with his name on it.

Or a c4.

Depends on the situation.

…

I’m sitting on a cab heading for the library. It isn’t even mid-day yet but I intend to make my final preparations and head for the address. I’ll survey the building during the day and make my move during the night.

“…A member of the China’s central committee was assassinated by a lone shooter in Germany. The shooter is still at large and Germany’s police have yet to comment on the incident…” The reporter of the radio news says but I pay no mind to it as I’m busy preparing myself mentally for tonight.

Who am I kidding, I’m ready to go. I’m just too eager to listen.

I can’t wait for the night and have my much wanted answers and bloodbath.

Vinny Cooper. Doctor Vinny Cooper.

He will be assassinated by a lone shooter also. Soon. I just have to visit the facility first.