A Parting of the Ways - Chapter Four

‘Three pound fifty for that one governor?’ he said with a smile and a tip of his hat.

The man paid no attention, he was far to engrossed to take notice.

‘The lending library is in the next street but one squire, should your lordship choose so otherwise at the risk of repeating myself, its 3 and fifty for that magazine and welcome to it you are, blimey never thought I’d be rid of that one, had it pegged as a dust collector,’ he said and smiled as the man handed over four pounds.

‘I’d have paid 3 times that, this is almost as good as opening night of a Bond Film in Leicester Square.  I’ve looked everywhere for this edition and I’d almost given up hope of ever finding one and it even has the Billy Bremner insert edition, my favourite player as a lad he was,’ the man said with a smile and an adjustment of his glasses.

‘Well my lucky day isn’t then and here on a Sunday morn, who says the Lord doesn’t work in mysterious ways, he plunks down, what could it be, maybe the one and only Leeds Utd. supporter in all of London right at my news stall, and one with money was well.’

‘I’m a Yorkshireman, born and bred and just here on business, came a day earlier to prepare and lucky for you I did otherwise you’d not have my 3 and 50 in your pocket, besides,’ he said looking up at the neatly clipped row of football magazines.  ‘We’ll both be long retired before you sell either of those two, so no need to disparage my team when you have that hanging about, Sheffield Wednesday and Shrewsbury Town, my god Utd. are pound sterling compared to that lot,’ he smiled a victorious grin and turned to walk away when his hand suddenly caught the edge of the stand.

‘Tube Station?’ the man said as his feet vibrated on the cement for a fraction of a second and only just that before the newsstand man had come out the back of the stall grabbed his hand and began running up the street toward the corner.

‘Just run sir, trust me, fast as you can, up and around the corner we go.’

Still clutching his magazine the man knew something was happening behind him and just like Lot’s wife he had to have a look.  With breaking stride with his new mate he managed a quick turn of his head and was sorry he did, instantly he increased his pace.

What had been a six storied building diagonally across the street from the newsstand was in the process of collapsing straight down upon itself in a silent cave in save the shaking ground he had first felt.  That was frightening enough but advancing on them faster than they were moving was a tsunami of white churning dust rising higher and higher, billowing ever over itself and rushing out the base as it lapped up the ground, then the noise exploded around them.  Glass popped out of adjacent building windows showering the streets in droplets if crystal rainfall.  Then the mad straining cacophony of blasted crumbling concrete mixed with twisted metal rebar, a mixing of nails of blackboard and the wail of a Banshee mixed with car alarms from streets away.  Instinctively hands went up to cover faces, the two men never breaking stride and all the while the advancing storm wave barrelled up behind them.  Their lungs heated and then burned as they both desperately gulped down air.

‘A few more breaths then hold it sir,’ the stall owner said as he looked down at his feet then up at his partner who glanced downward.

The initial wave of smoke and fettered air licked about their feet then closed about the ankles, knees, thighs, torso then neck as they both took a final quaff of air before being swallowed up inside the monstrous wave just as they found the corner and safety.  Both ran down the street several shops before clearing the air enough to take in air, collapsing against a post box in exhaustion.  After a bit of time each straightened up looked at the other and reached out a hand to the others shoulder, an acknowledgement of the help they had been to each other and that both were safe, no words seemed to be needed except.

‘Guess your search for that magazine begins anew, eh?’ the man said.

‘Some things are precious than life itself and worth protecting at all costs,’ the other said as he pulled the periodical from under his sweater a beaming smile on his face.

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‘Building has well planned terrorist attack one day, building is evacuated and sealed for search by government officials who have to wait until engineers give ok that structure is safe to enter no explanation given as to why that procedure was not carried out right away, then said building is imploded two days later on Sunday morning and here we are on Monday with a pile of rubble, no explanation and thankfully no dead bodies to pull from the wreckage, which by early accounts is going to find nothing bigger than a peanut in one piece.  Anyone, feel free to jump in at this point,’ Sharon Sharpe said.

‘Serious government installation, no doubt or quasi government with direct ties inside the Home Office or Defence Services.  I’m thinking rather than risk a leak, what with all the people who would have been involved in a search, they decided to Red Card the entire operation,’ Rod Steel the Head of Men’s Ops at COIL said looking at his counterpart.

‘I concur, but that opens more questions that it answers,’ Vera de la Fuente, Director of Intelligence for COIL said.

‘Such as,’ Sharon asked already having a series of questions herself but wanting other input.  Options came at her from around the table.

‘DOOM front we didn’t know about, another government spy organisation and why didn’t we know or were told about it,’ she said quickly.

‘Those thoughts rolled through my mind as well,’ Rod and Sharon said in unison, both not meaning to do it, a smile crossing both their mouths before Rod picked up the conversation.

I will work on my contacts to find out who and what was going on inside the building, would it be worth our while to insert a few agents into the civilian investigation teams, either power, roads or police to gather further data,’ he asked?

‘A wise move Rod, Vera will see to it,’ Sharon said with a nod to Vera who made a note.  I don’t like not knowing things and I’m not going to let this become the pebble in the shoe scenario for COIL,’ she added.

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‘Its remarkable how tour new boardroom looks exactly like the old one we used to occupy,’ the beautiful woman who was always well tailored said from her spot at the table, he tome biting in its sarcasm as she intended it to be.

‘Yes, even my chair feels the same as my old one,’ the small round man added his dripping tone as well.

The stern looking tall thin man who sat at the head of table ignored the comments as was his want most of the time.  He did however allow himself the annoyance of knowing that they represented interests that the organisation recognized were needed as a whole, even if he didn’t agree.  They were a nuisance and to his mind not even a necessary one, but that was a debate for another time, more pressing matters engaged his mind right now and he brought that top of mind.

‘I already anticipate the answer to this but for the record I’m compelled to ask.  I know nothing of a tangible nature was saved from the building, but what of the intangibles, namely computer records and data backup files, I trust that was saved,’ she said looking straight at the head of the table.

‘All the hard assets were lost, the data back up was initiated but we encounter an error in the receiving of the data,’ the thin man said the words having a distasteful note as he said them.

‘Miss Baxter does get around, you’d think one woman would not be so hard to keep in check, after all you hard head of security are you not,’ the older woman asked the thin man.

‘Let me be pointed about this,’ the beautiful woman said.  ‘What exactly of the entire project do we have left that is recoverable so we can start again?’

‘Nothing, all the records, data, schematics, hard and software gone, all that is left are the two clones that we completed some time ago,’ he said.

‘I will contact one of our subsidiaries right away to see if we can come up with something to re-establish contact with our partners,’ said the small man with the glasses with obvious relish as he liked to be busy and important.

‘Well that is an excellent idea and I do encourage you to proceed with such an endeavour I have already started to do that albeit along a different but I feel more direct path,’ the tall man at the head of the table said allowing a small crease to curl his lip, a look that gave more a picture of predatorily distain with the group than pleasure.

‘I’ve seen that look before, it was not pleasant then and it certainly has not changed is demeanour since then,’ the older woman said.  ‘I can almost surmise what you have done, I hope you haven’t, but knowing you,’ she finished while around the boardroom table eyes flashed in realisation.

‘You need board approval for that!’ the small man shouter in a much larger voice than he’d ever used before.

‘That would be the polite way of saying it and I certainly have no intention of being that nice.  Not only has our operation base been destroyed and all data lost now you have put in jeopardy one of the only assets we have left from this very expensive operation, an asset I will remind you of we had already decided was going to be used in a meticulously laid out plan that took over a year to develop and refine,’ the beautiful woman said her voice icy enough to chill the room.

One by one they all chimed in with vitriol while the tall thin man simply crossed his legs interlaced his fingers and ignored them while keeping an annoying smile on his face as he looked at each of them in turn during their verbal barrage.

‘All your concerns are duly noted, but since I am the chair of this group and given that my past actions and instincts have always proven to be correct in spite of what some around this table consider a more learnered opinion, namely their own, I have enacted this plan which will succeed and which I will now explain to you so that you’ll understand as well.’

‘As we have discussed before COIL always appears to be in our way, either inadvertently or by design, my guess has always been the former, based simply on the fact they have never followed up on any of our activities that they have come across.  I put that down to good camouflage on our part and incompetence on their part in the beginning.  However, starting with the ouster of Richard De Roy from COIL, thanks to the persistence of Miss Baxter and the two department heads for Women’s Ops, the late Catherine Wycliffe and the present Sharon Sharpe.  You will remember if it hadn’t been for our intervention Lady Tara Ashton-White would have discovered our secret a long time ago.  Our action coupled with our then inside connects at the Home Office we would have been discovered a long time ago.  Unfortunately all good things come to an end and Miss Ashton-White escaped and through a very cleaver ruse managed to make everyone thing she’d gone rogue and started her own agency, small and largely inconsequential.  We all know that turned out to be a just a front for her a few loyal friends to work things out,’ he said.

‘Yes, Yes, we are all aware of this but how does this tie into Miss Baxter,’ the older woman said.

‘Miss Baxter was mentored by two people.  Her formal training took place under Sharon Sharpe, but she was an avid student of the missions of Lady Tara, sort of a hero worship.  While it may be said the Sharon gave Claire all the tenacity and skill sets she’d need to be a successful agent Lady Tara, without ever meeting Claire during that time gave her all the other nuanced skills that made her COIL’s best agent.  She however still has the closest bond with Sharon and woman she loves as a mother figure and really the only person we know of she trusts totally and without question.  I don’t think I need to go any farther in the explanation at this point we’re all bright enough to see the path outlined so far I trust?’ he asked looking about the faces.

‘Perhaps that so but I would like a few things qualified or at least explained. What is the intention here with regard to Miss Baxter and how can you be so sure regarding Miss Baxter given that her mission dossier is spotty at best with regard to mission entries,’ the beautiful woman asked.

‘The intention is two fold, to start with the first question.  The first is a capture Miss Baxter, we started this project with the intent of using the best of the best, she is the best and quality always seemed to attract quality.  In essence, once we get started again, Miss Baxter will serve as the cornerstone of the project, beauty brains, drive and determination.  Her inclusion into our circle will expand it exponentially and if I may use another metaphor it will also act as a moth to a flame, she being the flame and other agents being the moths, we can pick and choose the talent we want rather than trying to create it and shape it, that part will be done for us.  Think of it we could have someone with Miss Baxter’s talents influencing and training others from the start, the result, a better creation, with all the knowledge of the first and all the knowledge they acquire along the way, then the process repeats itself with another creation.  I estimate with this plan we can speed up our operational clock by half again as much.’  

‘What makes you think Miss Baxter will go along with this,’ the older woman asked.

‘I’m not really interested in that, she will have no choice and there are ways to ensure that, everyone can be broken and reformed, even her,’ he answered flatly.  ‘As to the second part of your question regarding her mission dossier, it is thin due to several events that occurred while on assignment.  She went missing in the Philippines, was not seen again for a long time, so was consequently out of action for that period and as a result of COIL policy was placed on restrictive duty to ensure she had not been compromised and turned into a double agent, that is were she remains today.  In fact I have reliable intelligence that in fact she has been given the rather demeaning roll of being house mother to COIL’s latest batch of recruits,’ he smiled.

‘That’s excellent but it doesn’t explain the rather sketchy dossier before that.  Given that the rate of agent assignments had to increase during COIL’s shortage of viable female agents before her accident in the Philippines,’ the older woman stated.

‘Actually it does,’ he stated and picked up a piece of paper.  ‘An internal COIL memo, recently obtained from a friendly source.  I will pass it around so you can all verify as to its authenticity, as I’m sure you’ll want to, but for brevity sake I will summarize.  ‘It seems a decision was made during their agent shortage to transition agents in training into active service ahead of schedule, in some cases more than a year ahead.  As you can most likely imagine this resulted in a rather shocking high mortality rate, but was deemed necessary to save the organisation as a whole.  If COIL had used its more experienced agents and over worked them the likelihood was that many of them would have ended up dead, so they made a decision to survive as an entity they had to sacrifice a generation of agents, but time then build again.  That kind of cold blooded thinking is almost worthy of a place at this table, so that is the answer as to why Miss Baxter et el were held in reserve,’ he explained.

‘When can we expect acquisition of Miss Baxter,’ the small man said.

None of the others said anything, the tall thin man smiled.

‘By Wednesday afternoon,’ he answered the smile growing wider.

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 Claire closed the last door and walked down the hall toward the reception station and as always an alert Wendy Schiller.

‘That was fast, don’t tell me their all exceptional students and require nothing of imparted wisdom from you Claire or are they like all new recruits and by now think they know it all, present company excepted on that last part,’ Wendy smirked.

Claire took the ribbing as it was intended and enjoyed the joke which was true to some extent, the part about the know it recruits at least.

They are all really good listeners and the questions they do have are mercifully short and to the point, I think that’s because their so tired, I remember those days, so I can empathise with them.  I think all they wanted to do was go to bed or get me out of there, I don’t think I’m the wonderful mentor they thought I was going to be,’ Claire smiled.

‘Extra assignments not found in the training manuals or daily teachings, oh I remember those from my training days.  I hated them then, but I was sure thankful I had them when I became an agent, they saved my life more than a few times,’ Wendy said.

‘I’m going to get something to eat why don’t you come along and tell me a few of those stories, your shift hasn’t quite ended but I’m won’t tell if you won’t,’ Claire smiled.

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‘Don’t you two ever get tired of studying?’ Lana Duke said to her two roommates Sita Ruperjee and Maria Sanchez.

‘No, its how you learn and besides sometimes you can discover things about something you never set out to,’ Maria answered coolly.

It was no secret among the various trainee’s that tension existed between Lana and her roommates, while others formed bonds, encouraged each other and helped each other along, Lana did none of that with Sita and Maria to the point where some in the class were beginning to give the three a wide birth.  Lana didn’t seem to mind it, in fact she kind of enjoyed it, but Maria and Sita did not.

‘Then I’ll leave you two Petunia Protons to your excitement, I have other things to do,’ Lana said dismissively.

‘Ah before you go we have a conundrum that we can’t figure out, perhaps you can shed some light on the matter,’ Sita said standing up and turning toward Lana who turned around at the question.  ‘Perhaps you can explain why you would have these two rather nasty items, I believe this is a rather lethal Stripstick and this canister contains Glitter Powder.  Maria and I were just wondering how Strippers Guild weapons could end up with a trainee,’ Sita said as she put down the items and smiled.

‘Well I can see my ruse is up and the cat’s out of the bag, unfortunately for you two, this cat has claws and is not afraid to use them.  Pity I shall have to waste my talents on you two, our plan was for several instructors to meet their ends, now I will just have to settle for a light workout and two modesty trainees before I make my escape,’ Lana said as she moved instantly to the attack.

Just as quickly Sita hand the scarf from her Lehenga off her neck and with the most delicate snap the end revolved around Lana’s wrist and cemented in place.  Sita gathered up the slack, tucked and rolled her body forward and under the swinging arm of Lana popping up behind her where she tossed the free end of the scarf back to Maria who promptly joined her end to Lana’s other wrist as Sita gathered in the slack and pulled the trainees arms straight back where she wrapped a few loops of the loose material around the wrists and bond them together.

‘Cha-sah!’ Maria said as she drove a raised knee into Lana’s mound.

The Stripper wincing in pain from the first blow felt her ankles being tied in the silk scarf.

Miss Baxter had you pegged from the start, she asked us to keep a close eye on you,’ Maria said with a smile.

‘She can have the satisfaction of that all she wants and you two can take whatever you want from this, but you waited to long for your glorious moment,’ Lana said in triumph.

‘Oh yes all those reports you were sending out in coded email,’ Sita said.  ‘Funny thing about that, but Maria is quite a math and computer whiz.  You know you really should choose a better password.  All that knowledge ended up going nowhere except of course you’re carelessness actually provide us with a storehouse of intel on your organisation.’

‘And I never thought a nice Indian girl could correspond as a stripper,’ Maria smiled.

‘I did enjoy our conversations Lana and all those IP address, I’m sure we’ll make good use of them,’ Sita added.

Lana shook with fury and grunted in frustration.  ‘COIL will never get me to talk,’ she spat.

‘I’m sure that’s true, but we never mentioned COIL only you have and I think we’ve both heard more than enough from you,’ Sita said with a nod to Maria who drove her knee into Lana’s mound once more while Sita kicked out the back the Strippers legs crashing Lana to the floor prostrate on her stomach.

Maria hooked the back of her heel into Lana’s bounds at her ankles while Sita took care of her wrist.

 They cartwheel toward each other on opposite sides of the Strippers body pulling her up in a U shape to a loud snap before disengaging their heels.

Maria picked up her phone and sent a text message.

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‘Anything the matter Claire?’ Wendy Schiller asked as Claire looked at her cell.

‘No, everything is fine,’ she smiled and closed the phone.  ‘Now you where saying, The Fiji Assignment and don’t leave out a detail.

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I thought this was the day Miss Baxter was to be delivered into our hands?’ the beautiful woman asked sharply.

Before he could answer in his usual dismissive tone several knocks landed on the boardroom door.  All staff knew never to interrupt their meetings.  He glanced about the room his face registering the resignation that as chairman he was not getting up to answer the door for any underlings knocks.  Finally the small man scurried out of his chair and over to the door where whispered voices exchanged a few words and a box that he hurriedly brought to the tall thin man at the head of the table.

 ‘It’s addressed to you, I thought we agreed this location would be kept strictly within this room!’ he said his voice angry and his face red, both very uncharacteristic.

 The tall thin man ignored the comment as he pulled a letter opener from the small drawer attached underneath the table.  He did however let his eyes boring into the small round man for just long enough to watch him turn tail and scurry back to his proper place.

‘What is it?’ the beautiful woman said, she not afraid to speak up.

‘If you will be a little more patient we can all find out together, but I suspect it is our answer from Miss Baxter,’ he said with a note of confidence in his voice and hint of satisfied victory in his voice.

‘It would seem Miss Baxter wants to meet with me,’ he said as he read the note that he kept concealed from the others.

‘What does the note say exactly and why did she send it in a box, what else are you concealing from us,’ the older woman asked in an icy tone.

‘A telephone number and a request for the two of us to meet,’ he said showing them for the first time the hidden message

‘Why is it printed on the back of a playing card?’ the small round man asked.

He tossed the card on the down the middle of the table so they could all see it.

‘The Queen of Hearts?’ several mentioned at once as they looked up at him quizzically.

He pushed the box into the centre of table for all to see the severed head of Sharon Sharpe.

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‘Pants Miss Baxter?’ he said in a questioning voice as a woman stood before him, appearing as if out of nowhere.  ‘That is somewhat out of character for you?’

‘You don’t deserve my legs,’ she answered and sat down next to him.

‘I learned a long time ago that deserve has nothing to do with anything.  One gets what one wants by will and force of nature, a nature one imposes on oneself and others wouldn’t you agree?’

‘I prefer the Newtonian principle, for every action there is an equal or opposite reaction.  In other words I see the world as a balanced scale you see it perpetually tipped in your favour, or perhaps that view is changing given recent current events,’ Claire stated as she watched little children play on the swings and other apparatus across the park lawn.

‘No, yet here we are and the proof of my belief is that you came when I called, you reacted to my action, hence I control you in some small way.  You Miss Baxter, you’re a reactor to situations; you get sent to fix things once they break rather than before they do.  How much more harm are you put in as a result of that and how much easier would it have been to do a little preventative maintenance before hand.  No, you are told what to do and you do it and you do it again and again until you’re one, dead or two, used up to the point of being no more use, then you are discarded and the next young woman takes your place.  And what have you accomplished for all that work and danger, nothing really; the replacement agent merely confirms my hypothesis.  We offer a much more how should I say holistic approach, one that eliminates the need for constant intervention, although not all together nullifies it,’ he said with a toothy smile.

‘Ah we come to the raison d’etere of this meeting, a job offer.  I’ve had them before from many other people and organisations and the answer has always remained a constant no,’ Claire answered.

‘I will admit that is the underlying reason for my being here, but I don’t think a job offer, as you commonly put it, does what I am about to offer you full voice,’ he answered, then continued.  ‘This is merely a pay and positional advancement; this is an opportunity to become a genuine person who shapes what this planet will become.  Governments do what they do and will continue to do so, benignly following the path set by a select few citizens who actually control the levers of power not just in one country or a region of the planet but the entire earth.  No more one against the other, a single cohesive order moving things along and what I am offering you today a place within that group.  Think of it Miss Baxter, you get the make the changes you only can hope to make at COIL, they allow you to get close the prize before pulling it away, we offer you the chance to catch, hold and distribute the prize,’ he explained clinically.

‘I am reminded of the saying regarding absolute power,’ Claire mused.  ‘However, I will not lie and say that thoughts and sometimes wishes likening such a situation have not crossed my mind during my stay at COIL.  Tell me Mr. Finch, have you ever been to the Sahara for any period of time?’ Claire asked looking sideways at his face and seeing in his eyes that he hadn’t been.

‘I spent some time there on a mission travel with a several Bedouin family groups, traders moving from place to place.  One day a fierce sandstorm came up and we had to stop.  Do you know that if you don’t take cover quickly, the winds drive the small granules of sand so fast that they will actually strip the skin from any exposed body part and reduce whatever covering you may be wearing to rags within minutes?  We spent 4 days inside before the storm ended; when we emerged the sand had completely shifted and changed the landscape from what I remembered.  I asked one of the men how we would ever find our way now that the route we had been following was gone?  He answered by telling me the route was still there it just goes in a different direction now, but our destination remains the same, it has not moved.  What you want to do is move the destination, rather than change the way to get there, tell me which is easier?’ Claire said again looking at the children.

‘Both have there challenges, but neither is impossible with the right people,’ he answered.

‘It appears I’m one of those right people, but tell me how long before I cease being one of those people and you’re opening a box containing my head.  Sorry I almost forgot to ask, how did you like my present?’ Claire smiled and looked into his grey eyes with ice cold blue sapphires of her own.  ‘Clone or not she was a wealth of information once persuaded to talk, names, addresses other bits of relevant information.’

‘It received the requisite shock value it intended,’ he answered looking back at her but letting his eyes linger just a little too long giving Claire the opportunity to discern what he didn’t ask.

‘She may have looked and sounded like Sharon, but that’s simply nature over nurture and that’s where the entire enterprise collapsed.  She may have been able to fool people who didn’t know her that well, but I trained with her, as I’m sure you know from reading my dossier, and oh, just a note on that, that is the abridged version of my dossier, in fact more is missing than is actually there and that was always by design, not my design, but a friend of mine who changed the files without anyone knowing, COIL and I suspect even you, would I be correct in that assumption?  Come on do tell, we are sharing secrets here on this lovely day, don’t spoil such a pleasant meeting with protocol,’ Claire’s smooth voice teased as only she could do.

‘You are correct, we had a different theory as to why it was, well I suppose spotty is as good a word as any,’ he answered.

‘Lady Tara is very good with computers, a hidden talent, among many others, but then again she is an excellent spy, so one would suspect hidden talents, uncovering them, now that’s the difficultly, even for me as she had apparently being doing it all along to my dossier.  I’m not even going to ask what hypothesis you were working under it doesn’t matter now,’ she countered and watched a small curl form on the left side of his mouth.  ‘Meantime, Sharon, yes, well, where to begin, bad technique, poor fighting skills, whoever trained her did a piss poor job, please excuse the vulgar vernacular but above all she had no knowledge of us.  I trained with the woman, she’s like my mother, I love her as such and I could tell from the first hug, she wasn’t my Sharon.  After that a few simply causal questions, then I put her on the spot, called her for what she was and took care of her, then returned to sender.  If you have more like her they better be Sharon 2.0 because the Beta version crashed and burned

‘She was our only adult model and as you say since we are sharing secrets, the latest version, fully formed clones that emerge as adults,’ he answered.

‘Progress is slow and costly on the road to building a better mousetrap.  Back to the drawing board literally I suppose after that unfortunate gas explosion levered the building and you not able to get out any of the machines and suffering the doubly frustrating fate of not being able to transmit the data files.  I guess its back to the Petrie dish,’ Claire mused.

‘On the contrary, we, with the help of a certain party by-passed that time consuming baby the child to adolescent to adult time constraint with Sharon, she was the 2.0 version as you mockingly said.  Mr. Finch raised and hand and then continued.  ‘That took time and effort to get there, but like all experiments there was prototype along the way,’ he answered.

Claire looked up to she a little girl, perhaps 5 or 6 running across the grass toward them, she was wearing a pink overalls, blue runners and a white shirt with a Hello Kitty logo on it.  Her hair as slightly past her shoulder and clipped with a beret to hang down the back of her neck.  With every step she took toward them Claire took a step back in time toward her until the two meet face to face at the park bench.

Harrow Finch please say hello to Claire Baxter,’ he said with a bright smile.

‘Hello Miss Baxter, nice to meet you, could you come a push me on the swing, I’m afraid I’m not very good at it by myself,’ she asked in a small cheerful pipey voice.

‘I would love to dear, but can you give me several minutes more with Mr. Finch and then I’ll be right over.  In the meantime, site beside me for a second and I’ll show you a trick for the swings,’ Claire said as the girl sat beside her.  ‘First thing you do is run back a few steps as you sit on the swing, then raise your legs and fly forward keeping your legs straight out as you go,’ Claire explained as she demonstrated by raising her legs and getting Harrow to so the same.  ‘The just as you’re about to go backward you tuck your legs underneath like this and pull back on the chains just a little, then your repeat the whole thing again as you go forward.  Now you show me, forward,’ Claire said.  ‘Now backward, now forward, back, forward, wonderful, you know I bet by the time I get there you’ll be going so well, you fly right over the top in a big circle.  And remember when you want to stop and get off, just hold your legs straight out and you’ll slow down.  Are you ready to go try?’

The girl gave a nod and a familiar smile and was off running toward the swings with all the sped and delight that only a child can convey.

‘It must be a strange feeling sitting beside oneself with only the mirage of time separating you from yourself,’ he smiled evilly.  ‘She is Claire 1.0, we thought so much of you we used your DNA, that is before your destroyed the lab, to create, to use your words our first prototype.  Technically is just turned 5, in reality she is only 2,’ he offered in a voice akin to describing the age of a car.

Claire said nothing is was still trying to come to grips with seeing the little girl, the little girl that was her in every genetic respect.  She didn’t know how to react, so she didn’t, she placed that aside, it served no purpose at the moment except to sidetrack her, she needed to stay on point.

 ‘Do you want to practice the Socratic Method here or do you just want to explain,’ Claire said shaking her head.

‘Extraordinary, isn’t it.  When we first started out this was the best we could do, a toddler, then with better equipment and more intensified effort we were able to produce adults.  That was the breakthrough we had always strove for, no however, given the circumstances of your encounter with our efforts I’m beginning to think, she may be best course of action, playing the long hand, as the Chinese call it,’ he surmised.  ‘You represent the best of COIL operatives Miss Baxter, that’s why we used your DNA first, you should be honoured, but think of the even greater honour you can have if you take all that you’ve learned and impart that knowledge in her.  Tell Miss Baxter, how much better an agent would you be today if you had started at say 8 or 9 to train.  All the advanced one on one education, the best the world could offer, could be that child’s and you could be the one imparting it, to her and to others.  In the strictest sense of the word you would achieve immortality while helping us to achieve our goals,’ he offered.

‘She only looks like me, she is not me, nor should she ever be me, she should be Harrow, not the child, toddler or her, use her name, she is a person,’ Claire said.

‘A mother’s protective voice and instincts,’ he mused with an even more menacing smile.

‘Let’s not quibbled over semantics, the bigger picture is the important thing, I know you see it and something tells me deep inside that you agree with what we do and would like to be a part of it.  All you have to do is say yes,’ Finch said extending his boney hand for her to shake.

‘You seem like an intelligent man, well that goes without saying Mr. Finch.  I think I can say I understand you, your organisation, your offer and what would be my place within it and you wouldn’t be here today and I wouldn’t have accepted your invitation if you weren’t already confident of my answer, even with some of the revelations I’ve told you about with regard to errors on your organisations behalf.  Bringing along Harrow did nothing to sway me, except it did reinforce your organisations resources, something COIL can’t offer me and never will be able to do or have the willingness to do,’ Claire explained.

‘We do see eye to eye after all,’ Finch triumphed a smile creasing his face in victor

‘Let every eye negotiate for itself and trust no agent,’ Claire smiled back, she let that sink in just to the point that the smile disappeared from his face before she continued.  ‘The empty vessel makes the loudest sound that is why you wanted to meet me; I’m your last best hope Mr. Finch.  Organisations like yours begat evil deeds from evil thoughts and you count on us to play by rules that you don’t acknowledge, every step forward for you equates to two back for us, that’s how you play the game and now that’s how I played the game, until I decided to play by your rules  You don’t know me at all sir and in your lack of understanding you have doomed not only yourself but the others of your like who foolishly gave you license to pursue your ego towards me,’ Claire glanced at her watch and smiled as a small low rumbling, like a thunder clap far off in the distance filled the air.

 ‘Your office, the second one, as of now just another pile of rubble, those gas leaks, London is full of old pipes just waiting to break, at least that’s going to be official explanation, a construction crew, just started this afternoon, seems they hit a buried pipe not shown on any map.  Luckily they all escaped and well the building was levelled the fatalities were remarkably small, I think in the order of four well five, you being the fifth.  Oh not to worry Mr. Finch I’m not going to kill you, if I had wanted that I’d have killed you already, but that would deprive me of taking Harrow by the hand and walking away while you sit here and watch us go knowing your time is marked simply by how long it takes others within your organisation to find and kill you.  How do I know that will happen, easy sir, it’s the nature of the beast you work for.  Harrow was a bonus, I had no idea about her, but your arrogance could not let you keep any cards hidden, you had to show me and for that I’m grateful, because I get to steal her away and give her a life you would deny her.  Its true what the Bard said, There are no devils in hell, their here on earth, well in short order another devil will be sent home,’ Claire toned.

‘Are you quite finished Miss Baxter?’ he said with just a fraction of a note of worry in his voice.

‘That’s the first time during our conversation that you’ve not sounded like yourself.  Yes I am, I could tell you all about your dealings with the aliens that you duped the technology out of for the clones, they are a trusting race, always have been, even back in 1947 in Roswell.  I don’t think I have time to explain that adventure of mine to you, but just so you understand, they will not be speaking with you again.  Now I think we’re done, I leave with more than I came and you leave with nothing and in short order even that will be taken away from you.  Goodbye Mr. Finch the pleasure was all mine,’ Claire said as she got up and walked toward the swings.

‘Where is Mr. Finch?’ Harrow asked as Claire knelt beside her.

‘He asked me if I could look after you for a while as he has a business meeting to go to.  I hope you don’t mind?’ Claire smiled.

Harrow smiled back and Claire took the cue.

‘You look very hungry, you’ve be playing very hard, I know a really fun place nearby if you’d like?’ the spy asked.

‘How did you know I was hungry?’ Harrow asked rubbing her tummy.

When I was your age I was always hungry,’ Claire smiled at her younger self as she offered her hand and the girl took it.

Would you like to play a game?’ Harrow said as they walked out of the park.

‘What game do you want to play?’ Claire asked her voice happy.

‘Do you know how to play I Spy?’ Harrow enthused.

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.