Chapter 5
Most societies are defined by the people within them, forged by memory, action, emotion and the filthy residue of all things that preceded it. As far as philosophy goes, this is as deep as Jack’s thoughts got these days. It wasn’t for want of trying, or love of knowledge, no, it was both a bi-product of the years of substance abuse, and the impossible odds of the deck of cards in his life all falling to the house, and with it, his care beyond the setting sun.
“There is no reason I should care about any of this ‘story’ you are sharing with me. I get that I’m your pet, your servant, for now I might add, but why are you going to such long lengths to explain all of this to me?”
Seek looked Jack over again; was he taking too big of a risk? His fellow clan leaders thought so, apparently this man before him was too loose of a cannon for even Wing’Tan. The roaring debate the previous night was both a testament to the passion within Wing’Tan Leadership, but also the pure aggression with which the Clan had become renowned. It hadn’t ended in bloodshed for many years, however.
Seek knew they needed an upper hand, and a way to forge their mark on the entire country, not just this city. Jack was to be the weapon they would use to get there, he knew it, but he also knew he would have to destroy him eventually.
“Well, Jack, the way I see it, you and I are pretty much the same. You may not feel that way right now, but I know you are battling some very dark inner demons that even your eyes have trouble seeing.”
Seek paused and looked into Jack, to try and see if he was getting through. If he were to hook Jack, he needed commitment, and faith. “We now have almost enough power and persuasion to take control of our own destiny, and no longer follow the whim of the Alphas. They don’t realise this, and we will use that to our full advantage.”
Seek paused again for a sip of his coffee, then continued. “We have not just been running goods, or carrying out errands, we have been making contacts, forging alliances and gaining a foot-hold in the politics of the State. On the outside we are but thugs playing out the part in a play directed by the Alphas. In truth, we are writing the play, and the grand finale will be to our own destiny.”
Seek sat back, observing Jack all the time.
Jack sat up in his bed, flinching as he did. The drugs were good, but he still felt like a sack of crap. “OK, I get that you are confident, but why such an importance on me?”
“Because it is your destiny too, Jack. You have had all that is important taken from you, and been trodden on by the very people who used to salute you on return from your missions. You have been taken from the hero you are and turned into little more than a beggar. All of this, to ensure you would not find the truth of the actions that determined your fate.”
“What the hell are you talking about? I was going to get five years in the brink for striking my superior. I took the discharge.”
Seek interrupted, “They did what, Jack? You found out your boss was screwing your wife. How did you get suspicious? Do you really think it was all dumb luck that you stumbled upon them? You were led along all the way through.”
“No, it was him and her, alone. It was all covered in the affidavits.”
“You were lied to and set up. They knew they couldn’t use you on the inside. It was far easier to get you out, tear you down, then use your desperation for their unsanctioned activities. You were going to be their new weapon.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jack’s voice was almost at a scream, his face red with rage, blood pulsing through his face; he could see the room turn to shades of red and blue as Seek’s hand flashed up, right at the point Jack grabbed it.
“Calm down Jack, I’m not going to strike you. I was reaching for the blinds. I know how your eyes strain when you switch in broad daylight.”
“You’ve got one minute to tell me everything you know, or I’ll take my chances at running, and I’ll go right through you if I have to.” Jack rolled out of bed and dragged himself to his feet far too slowly.
“I’m sure you would try …” The two stood standing, staring at each other, centimetres apart.
After a few more seconds Jack let go and slumped into his seat next to the bed. “How the hell can you be sure that everything that has happened to me in the last two years is a lie?”
“I don’t have all of the answers now Jack, but I have a start. We have friends in various agencies, some less scrupulous than others, that have found bits of information. It appears you have been followed for some time. I know, for example, that you were in New York on a Homeland covert mission to track foreign diplomats that were planning a siege on the new alliance. I know you had x-ray imaging lenses and micro-GPR sensors that could identify a voice through a foot of solid concrete.”
As Seek took pause to have a sip of his drink, he tried to gauge Jack’s reaction to what he had just revealed. He knew Jack wanted to know how he got the info, so decided to voice the Coup de Grace. “I also know that with the resources you had, and the missions you were on, you have information. You may not know what that is right now, but it’s in that noggin of yours somewhere. You, my friend, have been a mule, a carrier. You have something they want, and I personally don’t think it’s in a bottle of whiskey, I think it’s in your head.”
The moment of silence in the room was broken by the sound of a Sling-Shot jet as it took flight from the nearby airport. During that silence, Seek saw the subtle expressions on Jack’s face change, an acknowledgement that the truth of the situation was sinking in, or so he hoped.
Jack spoke through a faint, almost raspy voice. “I’ve always known, I just haven’t wanted to admit it. I’ve been raised as a soldier, to serve my country, to be humble and accept my fate, for whatever it has been determined. You can’t understand what it has been like, to lose a command, and a wife, to the people that made you the man you are.” He paused not knowing whether to let on any possible vulnerability, but decided in that instant he had nothing to lose, and there was nothing the Clan probably didn’t already know about him. “I knew when I was arrested that something was wrong, I knew when my wife refused to see me when I was held for trial something was wrong, and I knew that when I was interviewed in a closed room with the Vice President present something was wrong. By that time I had so little care for my existence that the compounded magnitude of the truth was irrelevant.”
Seek dipped his head ever so slightly in appreciation of the intimacy of Jack’s confessions. “Losing loved ones can do that. You will soon see, Jack, that you are now among brothers. The threats given earlier about our intervention in your life are no different to what anyone in the Clan has once received, a necessity to ensure you understand the end-game of betrayal. We do hope such actions are never tested, and look towards more positive acts.”
Jack paused for a moment, but then spoke with a little more authority in his voice. “Seek, I have built more respect for you in the last day than I have had for any man in a long time. But, do not take that for trust, that will take a lot longer to earn.”
“For us both my friend.”
“I will work with the Clan, but for my own reasons. I do not want fame or fortune, my path is revenge. I will take it when the opportunity arise.”
“Not unless permission is given by the Leadership, not even I dare challenge their authority. You must talk through me to do anything other than what we have previously agreed. Do you understand?”
“Sure, talk to the boss first.”
“Excellent. Now, best we meet some of your brothers and get to work”
Jack followed Seek to where Trina was waiting, sitting on the edge of the desk, the split in her dress showed her smooth skin right to her thigh. His head was throbbing, but for a moment he had forgotten all about it.
“I’ll take you from here, Jack. Let’s go meet the boys, and your new toy.” Jack looked at her quizzically, but only got a glancing smile in return.
As they w
alked down the hall, Jack looked at the surroundings. The walls were lined with various paintings, what looked like Monet or something like that. He only imagined that they were originals, Wing’Tan hardly seemed to be the types to have fake things to impress people. The general décor was quite muted; they seemed to be moving down a long corridor with no doors or windows to speak of. As they neared the end, Trina stopped and placed her hand on Jack’s shoulder.
“Jack, I must tell you something. I have been charged by the Leadership to find a mole in our organisation. They have entrusted me as I am the only one who has been screened as having absolutely no ties to outside activities.”
“So why tell me here?”
“The walls have eyes and ears in this place Jack, and I have been told even Seek is not to know about my activity.”
“What, they think he might be in on it?”
“No, far from it, but he has deep personal relationships with many people here. The Leadership do not want him to lose focus at what is a critical time for the Clan.”
Trina turned to the wall and put the back of her hand to it. A faint red light appeared from within the wall and shone on her hand, another two lights shone into her eyes. When they retracted, the wall moved apart in a similar fashion to an old Star Wars scene, or so Jack thought.
As they walked into the room, the music boomed off the hard concrete walls and floor. The ceiling was covered in bio-lights that made the whole area seem as though they are out in the open, not in some kind of bunker.
“Loach, turn that crap off!” Trina was shouting practically a metre from his ear and he still took a second to turn around and see it was her. He tapped his right knuckle twice and the music stopped. The silence was quite unnerving after the aural onslaught just experienced, but was broken by Trina’s voice.
“Jack, I’d like you to meet the crew. These boys know mechanics, electronics and Biotronics better than anyone you’ll meet. The two over here are Ping and Loach.” She pointed toward two young looking men with street style clothing and more facial rings and studs than he could count. They looked back and gave slight nods, more in acknowledgement of Trina, Jack assumed.
“And this burly lad over here is Tank.” Trina walked toward him with Jack to her side. Tank was all of 6’6” tall, build like a brick crap-house and more body hair than a gorilla.
“Damn, another ex-army pansy I guess, by the look of him,” Tank snarled looking over his shoulder at the other two looking for approval. As they snickered, Jack moved to him.
“Well sasquatch, I think I shot your mother in the jungle at Panagy once, so that must make me your stepfather.”
Both of them started flaring up, and Jack felt his body responding. Seeing Trina shake her head, he turned to walk away. As he did, he caught a bright blue blur coming from his left as he was already moving away from it. He could see Tank’s shoulder over-rotating from the momentum of not connecting, and he quickly pivoted around Tank’s right side to his exposed flank and launched into his ribs with his right knee. As Tank’s right knee dropped, Jack drove his left elbow hard across and connecting with the right side of Tank’s head, sending him straight to the floor.
The other two stood still as Jack spun towards them, then he heard a low, rumbling laugh. He turned back to see Tank getting up rubbing his head.
“Good to see you’re not such a punk, best to sort these things out from the get-go, know what I mean?”
Tank extended his hand, taking Jack’s and giving it a shake that nearly pulled his shoulder from the socket.
“You’re pretty quick with those feet, that will come in useful with the Clan.”
“Thanks, I’m just glad you didn’t want to go for round two!”
“Come and look at your new bike, we’ve made some ‘modifications’ to it.” Tank’s grin was almost as big as his gigantic face.
“If you’ve messed with Betty, you’re in line for an ass-kickin’.”
“Betty?”
“Yeah, as in Black Betty. You know, from one of the greatest songs ever written?” All three of them stood staring blankly, like he was talking in a foreign language.
”Damn kids these days, no respect for the classics,” Jack muttered as he moved towards the crew.
Ping and Loach stepped to the side and gave a bow as Jack looked towards the corner of the room. He saw the Panigale, but not the same bike he remembered. The cowlings were modified in their shape and all made from what looked like Kevlar.
As Jack neared the bike, he noticed the cowlings shimmering. He swung his leg over the rear and sat on the seat, grabbing the right handle. As he did, he felt a tingling feeling shoot through his fingers, into his hand, then dissipate as it went up his arm. It wasn’t painful, but the sudden sensation made him pull his hand away.
“What the heck was that!” Jack looking at his bike, then at the two techies who now shared a grin as big as Tank’s.
“That,” said Ping, “is the Biotronics getting to know you. Outside of the three of us, you’re the only one who can ride the bike. Hell, outside of the lab, it’s only you.”
“What the heck is Biotronics, and why did it give me an electric shock.”
“The bike isn’t controlled by an electronic system anymore, it’s a Biotronics system. Loach and I were designing the system for the UTF before they tried to take control of the project, locking us down in a cell in the process to keep us quiet.”
“Assholes!” Loach added with a fair amount of enthusiasm.
“Aaaanyway, we were working on a new system of signal transfer that didn’t rely on electricity from batteries of some kind to operate radios, water purification systems etcetera. Conventional batteries are bulky, prone to failure. So we did away with the battery altogether and used the human body as well as other energy sources. We have a small electrical current running through us all, but our system was designed to give that a little boost when the user was connected to it.”
“So you’re saying soldiers out there are running around as little Energizer cells right now?”
“The UTF Air Force wing has what is little more than a BETA version of the system, and even then it will take years to catch us. What you are sitting on is the most advanced piece of technology most people will ever see in their lifetime.”
“Bold statement,” Jack stated, looking over at Trina.
“And with good reason,” Trina countered. “These boys are the best of the best, which is why they work for us. Jack, we have all the resources we need to make you a lean, mean, fighting machine. Make no mistake, where you are going has less to do with shifting goods and more to do with power, you are our new mechanism to get us into the most powerful organisations in the world.”
“And all of this by running courier services?”
“Well, you used to run courier services, but let’s face it, both of us know that you’re far beyond the skill and capability of those others scurrying around with booze, drugs and contraband. You’re at the next level now, as far as anyone knows you’re still a runner, but the tasks we will have for you are a little more, shall we say, contentious.”
“Killing people? Not really my game anymore, if that’s what you want.”
“Not at all, but some of our operatives you will meet do, make no mistake about that.”
“I’ve heard stories about Wing’Tan, don’t worry.”
“Good, we understand each other then.”
“Not entirely, how do I explain this bike to the average punter on the street.”
“Just make up a story; you’re good at that aren’t you? Now, I have business to attend. The boys will go over the rest of the features of your new toy, Seek will see you later and get you on the road.”
As Trina left the room Jake was mesmerised by the way she swung her hips casually side-to-side, just enough to remind anyone looking what was under the hood. Jack looked over and saw the three others staring too. Boys will be boys, thought Trin
a, knowing full well she had their attention as she left the room.
“Is it getting warm in here or what?” said Tank as he grabbed his balls in approval of his boss’s latest appearance.
“So any of you boys been there?” said Jack, raising his eyebrow and nodding in the way of the door.
“Don’t let those pretty features fool you,” said Ping. “She’s one of the most ruthless people I’ve met. I once saw her dislocate a man’s shoulder and stick a knife through his forearm just for calling her a bitch in an argument. Happened so fast the poor bugger was on the ground before I even saw her move!”
“Right. Point taken. So about this bike, what else have you got for me?”
The three of them continued for the next half hour describing the features they had added to the Panigale. The cowling was in fact a Kevlar hybrid, but was actually a fully elastic composite that moved as the pressure increased, in effect, as the bike went faster it became more streamlined. At 340 kph, the front end would be a full metre in front of the wheel, shaped like a spear, and reducing wind resistance by seventy percent.
The other features of the bike were more for direct action. There was a dart gun that fired high velocity titanium darts, targeted by the HUD in the visor of the helmet. The helmet also had all the stats of the bike at hand, including approximate distance to target, remaining ammunition, possible collision warning system, and most impressively a newly developed Heads-up Always Live Overlay (HALO). HALO showed illuminated lines of all roads in the current sight on the visor, in effect, allowing the user to ride with no lights on, and have all roads shown as though they were lit up by glowing line-markers.
“That HALO system is going to come in handy I feel, especially when my vision is enhanced.”
“Yeah, we figured you’d be a bit of a night creeper,” added Loach. “You’ll need everything you can get when you’re out, we’ve gone through six runners this year.”
“Six. Kind of a high rate of retirement isn’t it?”
“Who said retirement? Four of them were hit doing jobs, straight out executions by the Reno Clan we reckon.”
“What about the others?”
“Let’s just say they tried to renegotiate the terms of employment with Seek—using a knife. Didn’t end so well for them, they’re still alive, but will be eating through a straw for the rest of their lives.”
The three techies burst out laughing, just as Seek entered the room. “Good, it seems you’re all acquainted. Jack, time to hit the road; Ping will update you via the comms when you get out.”
Seek left the room and the crew unplugged the diagnostic equipment from the bike, handing Jack the helmet. Jack sat on the bike and took a breath as he pulled the helmet down. His world was about to become all shades of messed-up.