Chapter 71 – Faith Without Works
Sunday, August 2, 2308
Von Kalt returned to Stanwood’s Angel City office after being utterly unsuccessful in the canyon. The news stream from Calistan Way played on a wall-mounted display. The reporter’s commentary on the grisly procession of white plastic body bags being pulled from the canyon was thankfully muted.
Stanwood was speaking to President Conway on his desk terminal. “I completely understand Sir.”
“I hope you do, because nephew or not, I can’t protect you from this.”
“Yes, Mister President.”
“This could take down my entire administration. If that happens, I promise you Joseph, you will pay the ultimate price.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“You do that, Joey. You do that.”
The terminal clicked off.
Stanwood grabbed his terillium jacket and with his newest accessory, a silver-handled cane, he limped past Von Kalt.
“What do you need the coat for,” the deputy asked. “It’s the middle of summer.”
Stanwood ignored him, but Von Kalt followed anyhow. “I told you Dunkirk was a mistake,” he muttered, unable to help himself.
“He wasn’t the only one,” Stanwood replied.
Cole let Ashley take the lead as they hiked out of the forest. She headed for a street that ran parallel to her own, but went up the opposite wall of the canyon.
They saw no one as she and Detective Cole walked up the block, soon arriving at their destination. The house was at the apex of the hill, facing the open canyon. Ashley was worried that she wouldn't recognize the structure from the front, but it wasn't difficult.
"I came to get proof," Ashley told him. “This is where it is.”
“Dunkirk was an accident?" Cole asked, confused.
"When I ran into Bobby in the forest, this is where I was coming."
"Who is Bobby again?" Cole asked.
"Bobby Dunkirk, he's the youngest son. I met him in the forest, when I was on my way here."
"And where is here?" Cole asked, looking at the imposing, yet abandoned structure. A layer of soft, fine dirt, blown by the wind, covered the driveway and the walk leading to the door.
"I don't think anyone is here."
"I came back for security footage, and this is where it is," Ash said.
She walked up the driveway. She was surprised Cole didn't object or move to stop her. In fact, he stayed right next to her.
Ash slipped her hand into her pocket and held the device. She waved her other palm in front of the access panel.
The door chirped, depressurized and hissed open.
She hesitated. She hadn’t done anything clever or special. Ashley had no idea why a panel at a house she had never been to before should recognize her. It was possible the Micronix had done it for her, but she didn’t know how.
A car screeched to a landing in the driveway behind them.
Ash and Cole froze as two suited agents exited the car. They both wore mirrored sunglasses.
Seeing Ashley and Cole, the driver gestured for his younger partner to calm down. He surveyed the surroundings and respectfully approached.
"Hello Ashley, I’m Chief Warrant Officer Lee," he spoke to Ash, but then extended his hand to Detective Cole, breaking eye contact with her to look over to him.
"Detective Cole," he said, as they shook.
"How do you know my name?" Ashley asked.
"What are you doing at this house?" Lee asked.
"You're on my father's security team, aren't you?"
Lee nodded and bowed slightly, "At your service."
"It was you that Ross saw," Ashley said. "He thought you were the bad guys staking out my house.”
“Oh, they’re here too. Don’t be fooled.” Lee smiled. “They almost caught when you stopped by your home. It was only because they pulled one team off to replace them with a fresh crew. You hit the only window in months of surveillance. We were all very impressed. Congratulations.”
“What happened to you guys? When they came for my Mom and Dad, why didn't you stop them?"
Lee gestured for them to enter the residence. He followed his partner in and waved at the panel. The door closed behind them.
"They came here about an hour earlier, arrested everyone. They had warrants with our names. There was nothing we could do. We haven't come back to this location, but we've kept them out too. We have lawyers protesting the entire fiasco, everything is frozen until it gets settled in court."
"I need evidence," Ashley said.
Lee waved a hand over the control panel. The sensors recognized his presence and fired up the displays.
Everything was sill operational, feeding real time streams of Ashley's house and street. The four motion sensitive relays were trained on various sections of the property, while the oscillating and static positions displayed focused locations.
Several high-powered rifles and large bore weapons were trained on key positions of her family home. Crosshairs over street level doors, the front, sides and even the landing pad, all covered.
Lee pulled up the date of the attack. He scanned through the footage, slowing as the rooftop landing pad and front lawn filled with black vehicles and federal agents.
"That's them," Ash said.
Lee backed up a few minutes and switched through the focal ranges. He found the infrared and panned through the house. Ash saw her mom coming up to the main floor from downstairs. Even though her figure was represented as light, translated by the heat in her body, Ashley could recognize her mother's walk.
"We've stayed away from the residence since you were taken. We thought you were taken. We've been staking out the neighborhood. Your place and here, waiting for something to break."
The infrared footage revealed a thick-bodied man entering the kitchen from a door on the back of the house. She watched her mother enter the room, and their glowing silhouettes merged as the intruder pounced. They struggled for a few moments and Ashley watched liquid heat began to run down the legs of her mother and the intruder. The white liquid pooled around their feet, spread and faded to a cool purple-blue.
On the monitors, a streak of light rushed into the room and drove the thick shape of the intruder from her mother's from. Ashley recognized his shape; the new, quick moving light was her father. The intruder fled through the same door he'd entered. Ashley watched as her father caught her mother and together, they sunk to the floor. More liquid heat pooled around them and then faded.
Lee panned over to the side of the house, where the intruder was entering an uninterrupted shot. He switched back to full color, and the image snapped into focus, it was Martin Dunkirk; he was covered with blood and grinning.
Lee scanned forward in time; they watched the federal forces assemble on her front lawn. The front doors stood open. Soon soldiers wheeled out someone in a white body bag, presumably the body of Ashley's mom.
Ash watched as her father burst from the house, his hands and shirtfront, covered in blood. The lead agent, the man who was obviously in charge, Director Stanwood drew a pistol and raised it.
Dr. Fox said something to Stanwood, but the agent pulled the trigger, the pistol fired and Ashley's father fell, mortally wounded. Lee rewound the footage and turned up the audio. Microphones, set on the property, played back the words her father said as he came out of the house.
"Joe, you have to help, Ana. Please, Stanwood..."
Then the pistol fired, it sounded so loud it may as well have been in the room. Dr. Fox fell again.
Stanwood motioned for the soldiers to pack up Dr. Fox's body. They rolled it onto a white frosted body bag and carried it to one of the waiting transports.
"We need a copy of this," Cole said.
Lee selected the time range, less than four minutes from start to finish, and exported a clip. He opened a network browser and copied the clip into a dozen mirrored storage accounts. Lee wrote a network address down and handed it to A
sh, who smiled and nodded, "Thank you."
Cole fixed one of the live cameras on a hostile argument between Urich and Von Kalt across the canyon.
“That’s Director Von Kalt.” Ashley said. “He’s trying to kill me.”
From overhead, Captain Anastasia Snow and Chief Warrant Officer Reid watched Ashley and Cole leave the security residence. It had been little trouble to eavesdrop on the conversation.
Captain Snow found herself conflicted with relief at how events were unfolding and furious about having so little influence. It appeared that the only person who wanted Stanwood dead more than her, was her daughter.
The cognitive dissonance caused by her simultaneous joy and revulsion at the recent turn of events prevented her from inserting herself. She couldn’t explain it and didn’t feel compelled to.
Thankfully, Reid didn’t ask for any kind of explanation.
Ashley and Detective Cole reached the police station a little after dark. Once in his office, Cole logged in and had no trouble locating Ashley's brother, Geoff. He was at a juvenile holding facility not far from where he'd been picked up.
Cole filed a request for Geoff, a material witness, to be brought up to his office ASAP. The facility supervisor sent Geoff with a young social worker. Unfortunately, they were sent by way of public shuttle, an hour's ride at least, maybe two if the shuttle had prior scheduled deliveries.
Cole's phone rang. "What's going on?" he asked.
He walked over to the printer and pulled up a sheet of paper from the tray. "Yeah. It's here. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, it says. Material warrant for all persons, property or information pertaining to the ongoing investigation into Sixth Gate Citizen Dr. Andrew Fox, matter of national security, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, there are twelve, numbered and signed."
Cole listened for a moment. Ashley could hear was frantic yelling from the other end of the line.
"What, Dunkirk? Yeah, sure, I'll triple it. Hold on, I'll be right back." Cole set down the receiver and gestured for Ashley to stay put. He rose and left the office.
Ashley found herself immediately bored. She picked up the warrant. There were indeed twelve names and corresponding signatures.
She opened the drawer to Cole's desk. There were two guns, a small revolver and a pistol. Ashley tucked the revolver into her belt and closed the drawer, pulling her shirt over the butt of the weapon.
She leaned over to the terminal and pulled up one of the storage mirrors Lee had given her. Ashley downloaded the surveillance file and opened it. She watched it seven times before the detective returned.
Cole paid no attention to the video clip running on his screen and picked up the phone. "He's in our wing, strapped to a bed. One leg is just destroyed. We've got four guys on him, he's not going anywhere."
A large commotion at the doors to the office distracted Cole from his call. He set down the phone.
The storm at the other end of the line had reached them.