A Parting of the Ways - Chapter Three

I’ve checked personally with all of our agents in the field and they all report getting the email I take it you had the same result with the agents we have in house at the moment and all the retired ones?” Sharon asked as she and Vera walked back to her office.

“The same and I can add we have had no luck tracing the source of the email, whoever sent it ran it through a series of mail hubs to scrub out any trace of its original location and our chance to locating the sender, I’m afraid that’s a dead end,” the Head of Intelligence answered.

“So where does that leave us? A security breach for one, but also is this Intel real or is it just an elaborate game to make us act upon it an expose our agents to ambush in some way, ‘Sharon asked.

 “Our political masters from around the globe think it’s a plot to draw us into traps as they know nothing about this and you and I have both been around long enough to tell when someone is lying and I caught none of that from any of them,” Vera confirmed.

“Find out how they got into the system Vera, I will alert all our agents to be even more vigilant than usual but we can’t let ourselves be stopped because of this, my girls know that risks they run, in good and not so good times,” Sharon said as she and Vera parted in the hallway, each going into her own office.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *        

Claire made an appearance in the kitchen of Lady Alice Hamilton’s home once more only this time Mrs. Compton was not around.  The spy moved out and down the hall toward the front of the mansion listening along the way for signs of life in the other main floor rooms.  The distinct sound of a book being dropped on a table and the turning of pages drew her to the Library, this time she entered quickly, not hesitating outside as before.

The door opened and Claire’s eyes found Lady Tara Ashton White carefully scanning the page of leather bound book from the collection of Alice’s, the owner of the book seated in a leather wingback chair doing needlepoint.  Claire took scant notice of her as she passed, her eyes fixed on Tara.

“Claire I was not expecting you…” the voice began but quickly faded as the spy march over to Lady White who had risen from her chair, her body tensing as she watched Claire’s determined stride and her stern face.  Claire stopped in front of the woman and placed the vial with Tara’s name on it on the table then closed her fists until all the coloured had drained from them and she shook violently before a one fist them another rammed against Tara’s front just below her shoulders.  Alice got up in alarm.

“They lied to me and all the others, we’re just pawns, I never wanted to believe it, never, they lied, it’s all a lie,” Claire said as she burst into tears.  Tara quickly enfolded Claire into her arms and pressed her hot face against her shoulder and tried to calm the woman.   Alice moved quickly to join them and was enfolded in the duo Claire finding comfort in the two women one of whom until days ago she consider a traitor and an enemy to all that she had believed.

“Sometimes they say you end up hating the person who reveals the truth to you because it utterly shatters your belief system,” Claire said pulling away from the two and looking at Tara.  “I can assure you this is not one of those times,” she added with a coughing laugh as she ceased her tears and her face started to come back to its normal colour.

“You don’t know how glad and grateful it makes me to hear that, I know we are going to need each other as this thing reveals itself to us,” Lady Tara answered with a worried tone in her voice as she led Claire and Alice to the chesterfield and sat down with Claire, Alice taking a seat in a wingback facing them.

“Tell me what happened at COIL regarding the email?” Tara asked.

“Nothing was mentioned at all to me specifically other than did I get an email like everyone else, I played along of course,” Claire answered.

“So Sharon never suspected or said anything to you?” Tara questioned.

“We had a conversation for a few minutes, but I know she did not suspect me, she trained me I can tell when something is bothering her or she thinks I’m holding back.  No she is totally in the dark, for how long I cannot say, I’m sure has brought resources to bear on getting to the bottom this,” Claire said.

Tara’s expression change to thoughtful worry as Claire could see causing alarm in Alice and then transferring to her.

“You need to tell Sharon right away and Paige as well, they are most likely in very real danger and don’t realise it yet,” Lady Alice said and Tara nodded leaving Claire looking confused.

“Whoever or whatever is behind this now knows that we have discovered their secret and destroyed a portion of their carefully laid plan.  They will now act to cover up any further investigation that may expose them by eliminating the person who can order such as thing, Sharon Sharpe.  Once she’s eliminated she can be replaced, mostly with a person of their choosing, oh the whole think will be made to look like an assassination by DOOM or some other group.  Once that is accomplished the whole thing can be explained away as a DOOM infiltration that happened under the watch of a lax leader, in this case Sharon.  It will be convincing and accepted and they can get their plan back on the rails,” Tara said icily.

Claire looked at Alice who simply nodded a resigned face.

“There’s I’m afraid more Claire.  Since they know I discovered their secret they will assume I would have told someone, someone who I thought had the skills and capabilities and also the resources to carry on if I didn’t make it.  I know you kind of idol worshipped me when we first met, but I never had the chance to tell you that the feeling is mutual.  I would only ever trust you Claire, you have all the skills to succeed, I know that and they would have to assume I would impart my tale to you as they would also know you would have to best chance of winning, except for one thing we both lacked,” Tara said.

“Computer skills!” Claire alarmed.

“Several women in COIL have such skills, Mee Fong is one but again where is the connection to you.  Paige Worthington was your recruit; she naturally has a devotion to you and the requisite talents to aid you and would if asked.  If I can put this simple puzzle together our opponent can just as easily.  The question however remains who is our opponent?”  Lady Tara mused her eyes flashing with the challenge and Claire found hers doing the same.

“Perhaps that is where I can play a small part in this mystery,” Lady Alice Hamilton spoke up after a silence.  “I know a man who has a rather extensive library of books along with other collections of knowledge most of it out of the mainstream consciousness, perhaps he can be of help, I have a feeling all of these intricate plans are not something you start with a short term goal, this strikes me as a long term project,” Alice said.

“Will this man be amenable to helping us given the danger he might find himself in,” Claire asked.

“I don’t think that will worry him too much, he’s for the greater good usually no matter what the cost and can take care of himself, but if you’ll excuse me I will phone to see if that is so and arrange a meeting,” Alice spoke then elegantly left the room.  Claire shrugged her shoulders.

“Funny,” she muttered. “Something about that description sounds freakishly familiar.”

***

The rain pummelled down onto the majestic driveway as it swept up to the gothic looking fountain that dominated the approach to Windthrope Manor. As she bought her Bentley to a halt, Lady Alice Hamilton couldn’t help but admire the architecture of the building. She roused her sleeping companion next to her. Claire’s eyes opened and looked up at something straight out of a Mary Shelley tale.

“How long have I been asleep?” Claire asked as she stretched her arms.

“About an hour – I thought it best to let you sleep.” Lady Alice replied. She reached over into the back of the car and picked up a small package.

“What’s that?”

“Peace offering.” Lady Alice responded. “It never hurts to grease the wheels. The last time I encountered our…host, we parted on somewhat less than pleasant terms.”

“Oh great,” Claire mumbled. “Where are we?”

“Brichester.” Lady Alice answered as she stepped out into the English weather.

“Brichester?” Claire sounded shocked. “You’re joking right?”

“No, why?”

“Oh, nothing,” Claire said as she extricated herself from the Bentley. The two women approached the door, their feet crunching on the gravel beneath them. It was at that point that Claire realised she was being watched.

****

“Gideon,” Jamie’s voice echoed from the main study. “There are two women walking up to the house.”

“Is it Sophie?” The excitement in Marie’s voice was clear to hear. Despite having only known each other for several weeks the two children had become inseparable.

“No,” Jamie replied as the younger girl scampered across the study to look out of the window.

“Oh,” Marie sounded disappointed. “Oooh, is it Yuri?”

“No,” Jamie sounded more exasperated this time. “Look for yourself,” He moved away from the window. Marie quickly took his place. She pressed her nose against the window, watching both of the women approaching the house intensely.

****

As they approached the door Claire moved away to the side of it, so she wouldn’t be immediately noticed. Lady Alice reached out for the door handle – only to find the door opening up for her of its own accord. Momentarily, a man in his mid-thirties was standing in the entrance – and the expression on Gideon Pryke’s face was not a welcoming one.

“Lady Alice Hamilton,” Gideon said. “I’d say it was a pleasure to see you again, however my mother taught me never to…” He was stopped in his tracks as he saw Claire’s face pop around the door frame.

“Holy shit! Claire Baxter! What are you doing here?”

“You said if I was ever in the Severn Valley…” Claire said, recalling the last time they had spoken. “Well here I am.”

“You two know each other?” Lady Alice asked.

“Yeah,” Gideon answered. “From that thing with the boat…” he stalled for a second. “Come in,” He paused for a second as he looked at Lady Alice. “Both of you. I’ll get Mrs Jenkins to sort out something to eat.”

****

Claire found herself at a loss for words as she stood in the library, staring at the books on the shelves. Her fingers glided across them, paused momentarily to pull out certain volumes to look at them in greater detail. Her senses were being overwhelmed by the input, almost to a point of overload.

“How are the nightmares?” The cup of tea he held out for her punctuated Gideon’s question.

“Just as you said, less frequent over time,” Claire replied, taking the cup and saucer from his outstretched hand. She looked around at the décor of the library itself. She noticed the eerily familiar star shaped symbol etched into the walls and the glass. “This is a really impressive collection Gideon,” Claire tried to draw his attention back to the books surrounding them.

“Well, it’s not the Orne Collection,” He answered as he poured a second cup of tea and handed it to Lady Alice. “But it will do for me.”

“Mr Pryke, I know we weren’t on the best of terms last time we spoke…” Lady Alice said. Gideon snorted.

“That’s one way of putting it,” He said. “The other would be that I was perfectly prepared to decapitate you after you tried to kill me.”

“Be that as it may, we need your help.” Lady Alice picked up the package she had taken from her car and handed it to Gideon. “And I hope this goes some way to repairing some broken fences.” Gideon took the package from her and unwrapped it. His stern expression suddenly altered into a strange, rueful smile.

“The Book of Iod…” Gideon looked at the book in his hands for a moment before he started to carefully flick through the pages. “The real thing as well.” He could see Claire trying to look at the book from the corner of his eye – so he passed it across to her. She opened it – to see a mass of symbols and obscure textural references that she didn’t understand. “It’s written in a mixture of Greek and Coptic text by an author called Khut-N’hah with a bit of Latin thrown in for good measure.”

“And I hope that by giving it to you, I’m showing you that I’ve changed,” Lady Alice said. Gideon eyed her with suspicion. “And that you’ll afford me the time to speak.”

“You stole that book from the Huntingdon Library in San Diego seven years ago, killed five security staff and tried to burn down the building with fourteen people still inside,” Gideon countered. “Including me in that number.”

“That was a different life back then…” Lady Alice spoke softly.

“Yeah, so I’ve heard,” Gideon interrupted.

“And in my defence, I wasn’t aware that there were any other people inside when I accidentally started that fire.” Lady Alice added. Gideon snorted.

“Yeah, right.” He replied. “Okay well neither of you came all this way for a social call so what is it that you think I can help you with?”

“That’s the point,” Claire said. “We aren’t sure what we’re dealing with.” She handed the book back to Gideon. “But have you ever heard of something called United Futures?” Gideon laughed.

“United Futures?” both of the women heard the incredulous tone in his voice. “You’re messing about with United Futures? Jesus…” Gideon stopped mid flow and stood up. He put his finger to his lips, indicating that both Claire and Alice should be quiet. Claire rose from her seat, her body tense and ready to act if necessary. Gideon moved over to the bookcase and seemed to be listening for something - anything.

“Okay, Jamie – no running around the secret passages when there are guests in the Library.” Gideon said as he tugged at one particular book. A section of the bookcase rotated away – revealing the innocent looking faces of Jamie and Marie crouched in the dark passage. “Right, out you come.” Gideon admonished them.

“It was Marie’s idea,” Jamie said, sulking. Marie swiftly punched him in the arm.

“You said he wouldn’t know we were here.” She countered. Gideon looked at both of the children.

“Introductions are in order – Claire Baxter, Lady Alice Hamilton; this is Jamie Upton,” Gideon indicated towards the ten year old boy. “And Marie Zorkoczy,” the young girl, who was around two years younger than Jamie, gave her audience a small curtsey. “Now, what have I told you about using the passages that lead to the library?”

“Not to,” Jamie said with the same sullen expression on is face. “Because the Library is off limits to us at the minute.”

“Precisely – until you’re older you aren’t allowed in here without me or Jessica being around,” Gideon opened the regular door that led back into the hallway. “Now, go and see if you can bug Mrs Jenkins.” The two children scampered out of the library and disappeared down one of the halls that led further into the house.

“Nice kids,” Claire said as Gideon closed the door. “Yours?”

“No, I’m just looking after them until someone is brave enough to adopt them,” Gideon said as he walked to a small bookshelf at the far side of the library. “Now, where were we? Oh yes, United Futures!” He said. “I’ll give you guys this – when you upset people you really do pick powerful people to screw about with.”

“You know these people?” Alice asked.

“Not personally,” Gideon said as he looked at the contents for a few moments before pulling a loose-leaf binder out. “But I have colleagues in Japan who have been monitoring them, and they’ve asked me to keep an eye on any operations they might have up and running here in Europe.”

“Japan?” Claire asked. Gideon nodded as he sat back down.

“Okay, let’s begin at the beginning shall we?” He paused for a moment. “United Futures originally began life back in 1883 as a sort of think tank of leading industrialists,” Gideon handed a series of sepia photographs to Alice, then Claire. “They moved their meeting rooms to Massachusetts in 1910, then they were contracted by the US Government to develop vaccinations for troops heading overseas towards the end of the First World War, which was rumoured to be the cause of the outbreak of Spanish Flu.”

“Then they became Westhouse Industries and they were heavily involved in researching new weapons technology during the Second World War. It would also appear that they took a few members of the Japanese unit known as 721 under their wing following the end of hostilities,”

“That explains your Japanese connection then,” Lady Alice surmised as she examined the next batch of papers Gideon handed to her. “Harbouring war criminals is still a crime I understand.”

“Precisely.” He answered. “Then they became United Futures in the sixties, when one of their research projects revolved around developing specialised human growth hormones for military personnel.” Gideon took a look at the last piece of paper in the file. “Some of their current projects include developing cryogenic storage for deep space exploration, human limb replacement programs and something they euphemistically call NewYou ©.” He paused for a moment. “While everyone else is trying to come up with bigger and better weapons, these folks have been looking to advance the gene pool, whether it wants them to or not, to build bigger, stronger and faster soldiers.”

“Unnatural selection.” Lady Alice mused. Gideon nodded.

“My god – the list of directors of this company is a veritable who’s who of the military-industrial complex,” Claire said. Gideon nodded.

“Yeah – all twelve of the directors are listed in the Forbes list each year, covering everything from medical research to arms production, oil distribution to grain production.” Gideon added. “Truly a 21st Century Majestic Twelve.” Alice looked at Gideon after a few minutes silent contemplation.

“What do you think United Futures represents?” She asked.

“Oh, that’s easy,” Gideon replied. “They are the public face of the unseen corporate masters of the world.”

“Hold on, this document here mentions an office of theirs registered in London.” Claire said. Gideon nodded.

“Yeah, about five minutes walk from my office in Metropole House actually.” He said. “Why? What are you planning on doing Claire?”

“I’m thinking that I might pay them a visit.” Gideon shook his head.

“I thought you might say something like that.” He responded. “However, there’s no point going tonight – it will take a good few hours in the car to get there and I’m not in the mood for any skulking around tonight.”

“I can get there on my own and find out…” Claire began to speak – only for Gideon to hold his hand up.

“Have you ever heard of the phrase no means no?” Gideon said, his tone was forceful and left it clear to Claire that the point wasn’t up for discussion. “My house, my turf, my rules. If you want to get into that building then we’ll do it my way, first thing in the morning.”

“And what do we do tonight?” Lady Alice asked.

“Stay here, have dinner, we’ll talk, have a few drinks, have a good time,” Gideon said. “After all, you both look like you could use it.”

****

In the after glow of dinner, Lady Alice found herself drawn to the library – something about it was calling to her. As she stood in the suddenly cold room, she felt the presence behind her before she saw it.

“Lady Alice,” She turned and saw the shadowy shape approaching towards her. It seemed to shift slightly in the wind from the open window before it solidified. She took an involuntary step backwards as the form became clearer and more defined.

“Count Nadasdy,” Lady Alice replied as she took in the figure before her. “It’s been…awhile.”

“Indeed,” Nadasdy responded. “And it’s been awhile since you’ve set foot on your native shore too – tell me, how has the New World been treating you?”

“I see you’re still as astute as always,” Lady Alice countered. “However, I’m surprised to see you in here…” The door to the library opened and Gideon entered. Lady Alice was surprised to see that he seemed to be unsurprised to see the Count standing there.

“Evening Ferencz,” Gideon said as he headed straight for the desk in the room – then for one draw in particular.

“Good evening Gideon,” Nadasdy replied. “I wasn’t aware you had visitors this evening?”

“Oh yeah,” Gideon said as he walked across to the bookshelf located furthest from the door. He plucked a volume from the bookshelf and then preceded to hand it to the Count. “There we go, my copy of We Fade From View by Raymond Franklin– although I’m not too sure what you’ll glean from it. I’ve read it five times. Do I need to introduce you two or do you already know each other?”

“We’re…acquainted,” Lady Alice commented.

“Great, well, in that case I’ll leave you two crazy kids to chat!” Gideon said as he walked out of the library. “Nice to see you Ferencz – keep the book for as long as you need it.”

“Thank you Gideon.” The Count said before returning his attention to Lady Alice. “I must say that you’re looking well.

“Thank you – I could say the same about you,” Lady Alice countered. “So, what have you been up to over the last century or two…”

****

They stood on the roof in the still night air – Gideon holding two bottles in one hand and a hamper in the other. Claire was looking out across the dark surroundings; the only sound in her ears was the pounding of her own heart.

“Here,” Gideon said as he handed her one of the bottles. “Drink this.” Claire looked down at the bottle of beer.

“I really shouldn’t…”

“Jesus, don’t you ever lighten up?” Gideon said. “Seriously, you are so highly strung you’re going to snap if you don’t watch it.” Claire looked at the bottle again, then at Gideon before bringing the bottle up to her lips. “That’s better.”

“So, what’s the story behind this place?” Claire said. Gideon shrugged.

“My wife inherited this place about six months before she died,” Gideon said. “I only found out about it after the funeral.” He took a swig from the beer bottle. “That was about a year ago, and I’ve based myself here ever since.” Claire seemed to struggle with her following words.

“How…”

“…did she die?” Gideon finished the question for her. “Stomach cancer. She’d fought it for eighteen months but in the end there was nothing more anyone could do for her.” He looked over the edge of the parapet, down at the fountain. “After everything we’d been through, I still couldn’t save her.”

“I’m sorry.” Claire said, trying to catch his eye.

“For what?” Gideon countered. “It’s no one’s fault – it’s just one of those things.” Neither of them spoke for several minutes, with Gideon finishing off his bottle of beer and retrieving another one from the hamper.

“It’s so quiet out here,” Claire commented – and Gideon laughed.

“Yeah…” he mused. “Well appearances can be deceptive.” He opened the bottle and took a long drink from it. “It certainly keeps me busy around here; let’s just put it like that. There’s no globe trotting at the minute which I’m grateful for with things the way they are here.”

“Oh yes – the children,” Claire said, seeing a smile break through momentarily on his face. “They seem nice – although I never had you pegged as the paternal sort.”

“Oh, I’m full of surprises,” He said as he winked at Claire. “We…helped Jamie through a difficult patch about six months ago, whereas Marie has only been with us about a month now.”

“She’s quite feisty.” Claire added.

“She should be,” Gideon said. “Especially when you consider that she’s a werewolf.” Claire looked at him.

“What?”

“Marie is a living, breathing lycanthrope.” Gideon said. Claire shook her head. “I shit you not,”

“How…? Does she know?”

“I think she has some inclination, after all, she manifested her alter ego the night she killed the Delta Green agent who murdered her parents.” Gideon looked at the beer bottle in his hand. “Puberty is going to be a bitch with her.”

“Right, back to business,” Claire said before taking another drink. “You told me the last time we met that you didn’t get involved in border skirmishes, as you put it, so why are you so keen to help me with this situation?”

“Look, whatever goes on between you folks at COIL and your Legion of DOOM counterparts, the odds are you aren’t going to trash the planet overnight,” Gideon said. “However, right now, whatever is going on at United Futures happens to intersect with something I’ve been looking into over the last few weeks. So, I could use your help.” Claire almost choked on her beer.

“You need my help?”

“Well, probably more like I could use your muscle.” Gideon said with a smile on his face.

“Oh, thank you.” Claire said. “Now, do I ask the obvious question?”

“Why am I interested?” Gideon countered. Claire failed to suppress the smile on her face. “Two months ago Alan Ogden, the Defence Secretary, approached Sir Donald – my boss – about investigating some rumours he’d heard about United Futures dealing in exotic technology. He thought that they might be circumventing the trade embargo with several Middle Eastern countries – Sir Donald thought it might be a little less…local than that,” Gideon chose his words carefully. “We couldn’t pin anything on them – every transaction was so clean that it squeaked.”

“That sounds implausible,” Claire commented.

“That’s what we thought,” Gideon added. “However, about two weeks ago Sir Donald was summoned to a meeting with Secretary Ogden and was told to stop investigating.”

“What? Just stop?” Gideon nodded in response to her question. “But you didn’t, did you?”

“Of course I didn’t. Officially we stopped, but we just made it more covert.” Gideon took another drink from the beer bottle. “Now, the freaky thing is that Ogden saw Sir Donald on the Thursday – the previous Monday his wife had visited some sort of health spa, ran by…?”

“United Futures?” Claire finished his pregnant pause.

“Bingo!” Gideon said. “You catch on quick you know. Now, conventional thinking is that Mrs Ogden was probably in the employ of United Futures, bought pressure to bear on her husband and that’s why he told Sir Donald to stop investigating.”

“But you don’t think that, do you?” Claire interjected.

“Not in a month of Sunday’s.” Gideon responded. “Because when Sir Donald came back from his meeting with Secretary Ogden that Thursday he said that the Defence Secretary was signing papers with his right hand.”

“What’s significant about that?” Claire asked.

“Alan Ogden is left handed.” Gideon’s answer stopped Claire’s thoughts in her tracks. She looked up at the clear November sky.

“Hey, is that a shooting star?” Gideon looked up to where she was pointing.

“Yep,” There was a resigned tone in his voice.

“What’s wrong – it’s beautiful.” Claire said.

“Shooting stars, comets, meteors and any other kind of astrological phenomenon only mean one thing around here,” Gideon said. “Trouble.” He drained the last of his bottle of beer. “Come on, we should get back inside.”

****

The scream woke Claire. Sitting bolt upright in her bed, she recognised it instantly as that of a child. Pausing only to grab the robe at the foot of the bed she opened the bedroom door and saw a figure moving towards one of the other rooms. As the figure approached the door Claire recognised that it was Gideon. She walked as quietly as she could to the open door and listened.

“It’s okay Jamie, you’re safe.” She heard Gideon’s voice trying to calm down the boy who was nearly hysterical.

“She…she…was singing…singing to…me…” Jamie said between sobs. “Why…why does…she sing to me?”

“Because she can,” Gideon said as he hugged Jamie. “Because when that Brood crawled out of your ear it changed you so that you’d be able to hear Eihort’s song.”

“I don’t wanna hear her!” Jamie’s voice was filled with anger now. “I just want…I just…” he began to break down again. Gideon pulled him away from his body for a minute and looked at him. The man looked into the eyes of the boy before him.

“I can’t make it stop Jamie, I wish I could, but I can’t,” Gideon said, being as honest as possible. “Now close your eyes for a minute – remember what I taught you.” The young boy closed his eyes and began to mumble something. “That’s it, just keep saying that for another minute and she won’t bother you again tonight.” Jamie did as he was told, lying back on the bed as Gideon got up. Claire watched for a moment before tuning away.

Once Gideon was sure that Jamie was finally asleep, he carefully left the room and returned to his own. He closed the door to his room and placed his head against it, closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.

“So, who helps you sleep when you have nightmares?” the question prompted Gideon to open his eyes and look at his bed. The moonlight was streaming through the window and illuminated Claire’s figure in his bed.

“My nightmares are slightly less…vocal than Jamie’s.” Gideon replied. “I thought your room was two doors down from here?”

“It is,” Claire replied. “But I thought you could use the company.”

“Who said I needed company?”

“Me,” Claire answered as she pulled the covers back. “Now quit stalling and get into bed.”

****

As the rain poured down on a grey Tuesday morning, three people stood outside a gleaming construct of steel and glass. They approached the doors that seemed to dominate the face of the property.

“We’re just going to walk up to the front door?” Claire sounded incredulous.

“Dead right.” Gideon answered. “Everyone is still wearing the watches I gave them, right?” The two women nodded, not understanding the significance of the devices yet Gideon had insisted that they wear them.

“But how are we going to get past security? You can’t expect to just fight our way past them?” Claire continued.

“We’re just going to walk right past them while Lady Alice here distracts everyone.” Gideon replied.

 “Again, just how are we going to get past security?” Claire repeated herself.

“Like this.” Gideon said as he grabbed her hand. She felt something akin to a shiver down her spine as he led her through the foyer of the building and towards an elevator at the far side of the entrance. At the same time, Lady Alice approached the reception desk. Addressing the young woman sitting behind it, she made her entrance.

“Good morning,” Lady Alice said. “My name is Lady Alice Hamilton and I’d like to speak to Adam Masters please.”

****

“How the hell did you do that?” Claire asked as the elevator doors opened into a dark corridor.

“Everyone just ignored us.”

“It’s a matter of altering people’s perceptions,” Gideon said as he started to open various doors and looked around inside them. “I didn’t want them to see us, so they didn’t.”

“How?” Claire said. “Look – what are you?”

“Me? I’m just a civil servant doing his job.” Gideon replied. “Oh, and I might know a bit of magic too!”

“Can…can you teach me that?”

“What, so you can use it in your little spying games that you play?” Gideon asked. “No, no I can’t – everything I do like that comes at a price – which is why I need you hear to look out for me, because I’m useless for the next hour or so.”

“So, no lightning blasts from your fingertips then?” Claire said as they reached the last door at the far end of the corridor.

“No,” Gideon answered as he opened the door. “Oh wow – I think we’ve found what we were looking for.

****

Adam Masters sat across from Lady Alice and studied her. He smiled at her – but the smile was cold and unforgiving. He turned slightly in his chair.

“I must say, I didn’t expect you to just walk into my office, especially after you turned down my last invitation.”

“I wouldn’t call an attempted abduction an invitation,” Lady Alice replied.

“Well, you say potato; I say potato – what difference does it make?” Masters replied. “However, I’m glad that you’re here.”

“So am I,” Lady Alice said, getting up from her chair. “Because I’m here to put a stop to whatever it is that you’re planning.”

“Oh, I think you’ll find you’re a little too late for that,” Masters answered. “But, please try your best.”

Lady Alice cleared the desk in one movement, both of her feet landing squarely in Masters’ chest and knocking him to the floor. He managed to get back to his feet quickly enough and swung a punch at Alice. She expertly blocked his attempt to injure her and retained a steely grip on his arm, using it to swing him around into the wall. A flurry of kicks to his torso followed, finished off with a vicious elbow strike to his throat. His legs buckled beneath him as he struggled to breath through his crushed windpipe. Taking no further chances, Lady Alice took hold of his head and twisted it sharply, breaking his neck.

“I’ll see myself out,” She said as his dead body fell to the floor. As she turned to leave she was aware that she had an audience – several other men were standing at the entrance to the office…and each of them resembled Adam Masters. Lady Alice shook her head. “I should have known – a decoy.”

“You might say that.” The lead Adam replied – his voice sounded identical to the dead man by her feet.

“You should commend your surgeon,” Lady Alice replied. “They all look just like you.” Masters laughed.

“They should do,” He said as security personnel began to filter into the room from several hidden entrances. “Because they are me.”

****

“That’s a protein and amino acid string sequencer,” Gideon said as he examined the equipment. “And that’s a mimetic engram transfer device.”

“And those are?” Claire said. There was a pause as Gideon stood upright.

“The basic building blocks of…a cloning machine.” He answered. “Only, we shouldn’t have any of these here.”

“Why not?”

“Well, the sequencer and the engram transfer device are both, well, alien in origin.” Gideon said. “I mean, those are obviously cobbled together to deal with human physiology, but they are still essentially alien technology.”

“And you mean alien as in not of this world, right?” Claire said. Gideon nodded.

“Yeah – it’s Mi-Go technology.” He looked over at her. “They have a mining colony out on Pluto as far as we know and they’ve made a few visits here too…” his voice trailed off as he saw another door at the far end of the lab. “I wonder what’s through the green door over there…”

“What the hell are those?” Claire whispered. Gideon joined her in the annex to the main laboratory. There were two central steel columns that dominated the room. At intervals around these columns were thick metal tubes, each around six feet in length and several feet in diameter. The room hummed with the background noise of two oversized generators that powered them.

“I’ve no idea,” Gideon said as he walked up to the nearest of the tubes. There was a small digital display on the top of it, indicating that the temperature inside was being maintained at a steady thirty seven degrees. “But if I’m not mistaken, these almost look like incubators.”

“But what are they incubating?” Claire asked.

“Let’s take a look shall we.” Gideon replied as he ran his fingers around the edge of the steel tube.

“Everything we found in that lab – all those pieces of kit that have been cannibalised from one source or another – leads me to the inevitable conclusion that NewYou is a fully fledged and workable cloning process.” There was a sudden hissing sound and jets of cold gas discharged from around the edge of the tube. The top third lifted up and pulled away, revealing the contents inside.

“Look familiar to you?” Gideon said. Claire found herself momentarily dumb struck – the face of the figure lying inside the metal tube was that of the security guard they had eluded in order to enter the lower levels of the building. “The engram device converts human brain waves into electronic patterns – they are then transferred through that,” He pointed to the wall of solid state hard drives. “Before being uploaded into the new body – however, while they are in the electrical state you can manipulate them – they are malleable to suggestion.”

“My god – you can control the people you’ve created.” Claire correctly reasoned.

“And you have effective immortality for those who created the process in the first place.” Gideon replied as he opened another tube – revealing a copy of Adam Masters inside. “We need to…”

Vworp! Vworp!

“Did you just set the alarm off?” Claire asked. Gideon shook his head.

“No, I think someone else did.” Gideon said. “I think that’s our cue to leave.”

****

Lady Alice ran down the stairwell as quickly as she could – avoiding confrontation wherever possible but meeting it head on where she had to. Clearing the steps two or three at a time she managed to reach the foyer at around the same time that Gideon and Claire did. They found a welcoming committee waiting for them – guards with guns blocking the exit.

“Claire!” Alice called out as she saw her. “Did…”

“No time to talk,” Gideon interrupted. There was a slow handclap coming from above them.

“Congratulations, you were so close.” Adam Masters said as he stood on the balcony above them. “However, I’m afraid our time together has run out for today.

“Alice and I will try to make you a hole,” Claire whispered to Gideon. “We can take out enough of them in order for you to get this information to someone who can do some good with it.”

“What?” Gideon said. “What is it with you and selfless sacrifices? First the boat now here – have you learned nothing about me?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box. “Okay Masters – I have here in my hand a small compact reactor made from material pulled from the heart of a black hole – I only need to push the button and everything here is reduced to atoms in less than a blink of an eye.”

“You’re bluffing Pryke – I know you, you won’t want to harm any innocent civilians in the process.” Masters laughed. “I’m afraid I simply cannot allow you to leave.”

“Oh, you don’t have a choice.” Gideon replied as he pressed the button.

****

Claire vomited as she came back to her senses. The room around her was cloaked in darkness as her eyes gradually adjusted to the low level of light. As she lifted her head she heard a voice speaking to her.

“There you go, cough it up,” Gideon said as he patted her on the back. “Now drink this.” He handed her a beaker with a grey coloured fluid in it. “You’re electrolytes are all screwed up – one of the side effects of a low level, sub orbital bounce like that.” Claire took the beaker and drank the liquid – and almost immediately regretted doing so quite so quickly.

“Jesus – what was that? And where am I?” She said.

“It’s a prototype teleporter technology we’ve been developing – only works over short periods, but bearing in mind that the office was less than half a mile away I thought it was worth the risk.” Gideon said as the lighting level in the room rose up. Claire could see that there were other people moving around, as well as some indistinct shape at the far end of the room that made her feel distinctly unwell. “You’re in the basement of Metropole house, so you’re safe.”

“So that wasn’t…”

“A bomb? Of course not – like I’d go and sacrifice hundreds of innocent lives!” Gideon smiled at her.

“What’s that?” She said, pointing towards the shape.

“Oh, you don’t want to know.” Gideon said has he helped her to her feet. He guided her towards a flight of stairs. “Let’s just leave it at that’s Ray – the guy that hacked COIL’s computer system when you were trying to find out information on me.” He guided her up the stairs, eventually bringing her out into the foyer of the grand old government building. “Feeling a bit better now?”

“Yes, yes I am.” Claire replied. “Where’s Alice?”

“She’s waiting in the car to take you to the airport.” Gideon escorted her to the revolving door of the building and pushed it, helping her through and back outside into the damp London air once he had given the door a quick kick. “Well Claire, it’s been a blast working with you again.”

“You too Gideon,” Claire said, feeling oddly refreshed now. “And thank you…for last night, despite my reservations; I actually had a nice time relaxing with you.”

“No problem, glad to have been of assistance.” He held out his hand for her to shake it. Claire responded by wrapping her arms around him and kissing him. Gideon seemed slightly surprised by her action but took it in his stride. “You know, a handshake would suffice.” He said as she pulled away from him.

“I have to go, but if you’re ever in the States…” Claire said.

“Oh, trust me, I have an annoying tendency of appearing when you least expect it.” He replied as she walked down the steps and entered the car. He waved them away as the vehicle drove off into the afternoon traffic. Gideon turned and entered Metropole House again, shielding himself from the rain as he did so.