I WOKE UP SEVERAL HOURS LATER WITH AN EVEN BIGGER headache than before. As I tried to sit up on the familiar couch on which I lay, a wave of exhaustion the likes of which I had never experienced swept over me.
I was back in 3D, but I had no idea as to how I had returned. The gas Agent Wells had used on me seemed to have affected on my short-term memory, which made it difficult to recall the events of the previous few hours.
“Adam, how are you feeling?” Jason asked as he and Howie quickly came to my aid.
I slowly pulled my pounding head up and glanced around the room. My mouth was so dry that my attempt to respond to Jason resulted in a coughing spell that lasted for almost thirty seconds.
“Just take it easy, buddy. I’ll grab you some water,” Jason offered as he darted away.
“Do you remember anything, Adam?” Howie asked.
I searched my memory for answers, but the pounding headache made it difficult for me to focus.
“My memory is kind of scrambled right now. It’s all there; I just can’t focus because of this headache.”
“Do you remember anything? Anything at all?” Howie asked as Jason returned holding a bottle of water.
“Yeah, I remember getting here before you guys and then something happened. Someone got to me, Howie. They took me.”
“Are you serious?” Jason asked.
“I’m dead serious,” I said while reaching for the bottle of water that he still held in his hands.
“But how? You’ve got the strength of over twenty men! How could anyone have taken you?” Jason asked as he handed me the bottled water.
They both waited for my response as I guzzled the ice cold water.
“There was this gas that they used. A thick, yellow gas that smelled kind of like flowers or something. As soon as I inhaled it I could barely move,” I finally said.
“Was it The Strangers?” Howie questioned.
“Water. I need more water,” I choked out as my mouth became dry once more. It was all slowly coming back to me. The first bottle of water had helped me put some of the pieces of my memory back together, but I needed more. I needed a lot more.
AFTER ABOUT FIFTEEN MINUTES AND THREE GALLONS of water, I was starting to feel a little better. I wasn’t near one-hundred percent, but at least it didn’t feel like I was trapped within that area between life and death anymore.
We were all seated at the conference table on the left side of 3D. Howie and Jason waited for me to speak as I took another gulp from the one-gallon jug of water that I held in my hands.
“He said he was with the government,” I finally said, wiping the spillage from my mouth.
Jason raised an eyebrow and glanced at Howie.
“This place should be off the grid. How would the government know about it?” Howie wondered.
“It’s the government. That’s how. It’s impossible to hide from them completely,” Jason responded.
“What exact agency of the government did these people claim to represent?” Howie asked.
“He didn’t say,” I said, just now realizing that fact.
“Interesting,” Howie replied as he studied me with his eyes. It felt like he was interrogating me, which kind of pissed me off, but I tried to ignore the feeling and continued the conversation.
“Why are you so certain that it’s the government and not The Strangers?” Howie asked.
“They could have killed me at any time with that gas, but they chose to let me go. If they were Strangers, I’m sure I’d be dead right now.”
“What did they want?” Jason asked.
“He said they wanted my help. He wants me to help them go after a terrorist called The Righteous.”
Howie’s eyes ignited with surprise. “Are you serious?! The Righteous?! The Righteous?”
“That’s what he said,” I replied before taking another swig of water.
“Wait a second, who’s The Righteous?” Jason asked.
“He’s only the ultimate enemy of the United States of America,” Howie said before I could reply. “Have you ever wondered why almost every country in the world hates us? It’s because for years he’s been attacking us on every front. In addition to controlling anti-American sentiment across the globe, he also backs nearly every major terrorist state and organization known to man.” Suddenly, Howie’s eyes widened as he looked to me.
“He’s behind The Strangers, isn’t he?!” Howie demanded. His excitement troubled me. He suddenly seemed much more interested in what happened after I was abducted than the fact that I was actually abducted.
“Yes— At least that’s what Agent Wells said,” I replied.
“It all makes perfect sense. Domestic terrorism was the only front left. However, now that The Strangers have gone militant, he’s even managed to hit us at home, and the way that he’s doing it is nothing short of brilliant! After that last attack, The Strangers have actually started to gain support in the eyes of the public; and why not? The basketball team they executed bullied a male cheerleader so relentlessly that it drove him to suicide! As far as the community is concerned, The Strangers aren’t terrorists for killing them; they’re heroes. This is exactly what The Righteous wants. He’s secretly manipulating us into tearing ourselves apart.”
“That’s an interesting theory, but it sounds a little farfetched. I mean, shouldn’t he be at the top of the most wanted lists or something? How is it that I’ve never heard of him?” Jason asked.
“Few have. His existence is considered to be nothing more than a conspiracy theory because that’s exactly the way the government wants it be. They will never go on record and admit that one man, an enemy of the state no less, has the potential to bring this country to its knees.” Howie suddenly turned his excited gaze back to me. “This is big Adam. This is absolutely enormous. Please tell me you said yes!”
“I said no. He didn’t like it, but he let me go anyway,” I said flatly. I could see in his eyes that he thought I had made the wrong decision, but I didn’t give him time to object. “He also said that one of my teammates was a Stranger,” I said firmly.
The room fell dead silent, and they both avoided my intense glare. As I studied Jason and Howie, I realized that they both seemed to be hiding something. How did we get to this point? I thought. How did we get to the point where we couldn’t trust each other? And why did neither of them seem surprised? Initially, I thought Wells was simply blowing smoke, but as I watched them sit there in silence, I was beginning to think otherwise.
“I need to know,” I grumbled as I stood and glanced from Howie to Jason.
“Jason?” I asked as I glared at him.
Jason finally looked me in the eyes. He looked sad, the same way a child would look if he had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. I shook my head in disgust as we stared at each other. My face grew hot as adrenaline entered my system.
“Say it ain’t so, Ace,” I said through gritted teeth. “Say it ain’t so.”
Silence.
“It ain’t so,” Howie muttered as he removed his glasses and buried his head in his hands. An icy chill shot down my spine as I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Howie, what are you saying?” I demanded.
Howie sighed and finally looked up at me. My face formed into a rigid grimace as the guilt in his eyes made me realize the truth. Howie had betrayed us. I loved them both as though they were my brothers, but I would have much rather had to deal with Jason betraying me than Howie.
“How could you?” I growled.
“It’s not what you think, Adam.”
“Howie, you’re a terrorist!” I shouted. “What do you mean it’s not what I think? We’re supposed to be fighting them and here I find out that you’re a member?”
“Adam, I am not a terrorist! I joined the Strangers when I was ten years old, but back then we were just hackers. That was before The Suspect. When he came into the picture three years ago, I quit because I wanted no part of his radical ideology. The Strangers that I was a p
art of did not kill innocent people!”
“You’re lying,” I growled.
“Adam, I’m not lying. You have to believe me-”
“Why should I believe you?!”
“Because you’re my friend, dammit! Because you’re my brother, Adam.”
“My brother’s dead, or have you forgotten that, Howard? And did you forget that your Strangers are responsible for that?” I grumbled.
“Don’t do this, Adam. Don’t push me away because of something I did in the past! I didn’t tell you guys because I knew you’d have a hard time believing me.” Howie paused as if expecting me to respond.
I said nothing as I glared at him in silence. Jason remained seated at the conference table, but I could tell he was keeping an eye on me, preparing to intervene if I made a move for Howie. The more I looked at Howie, the more I realized that he seemed sincere, but I didn’t know what to think.
“What do you expect me to say, Howie? You’ve been working with the enemy. The same people that killed my brother,” I finally muttered.
“He’s not lying, Adam,” Jason said.
I shot a bewildered glare at Jason.
“How would you know? Are you one of them, too?” I demanded, still wondering why he had gotten so quiet.
“Of course not,” Jason shot back as he stood. “I just know that he’s telling the truth about The Strangers starting out as hackers. That’s been all over the news. If Howie joined them before they became militant, I don’t see a problem with that, as long as he’s not active anymore.”
Did I ask you if you had a problem with it? I thought, sarcastically. Instead of responding, I stayed quiet in order to control my temper. It was easy to see that Jason was getting just as wound up as I was, and I didn’t want things to get out of hand. I wasn’t afraid of him. I just didn’t want to have to hurt him, so I forced myself to calm down. The funny thing was, Jason was probably thinking the same thing about me.
Howie took a step toward me. “Adam, I was dead wrong for not telling you guys. I know that now, but me making that mistake doesn’t mean that we don’t still have the same goal. We can stop them, Adam. They still think I’m one of them and we can use that to bring them down.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I had to get the information about the location of Senator Larson’s daughter the old fashioned way. The Stranger’s online security is so sophisticated that there was only one way I could get through it. I visited the outpost we bugged in person in order to access their network and extract the location of April Larson.”
“Please tell me you didn’t do what I think you did, Howie,” Jason said.
“There was no other way, Jason. I had to become active again or at least make them think I was. It’s the only way we can win,” Howie replied.
“So you just dusted off your old Stranger badge and they just welcomed you back with open arms, huh? You don’t think this could get dangerous for you?” I asked. “This isn’t the same group you joined six years ago.”
“I know what I’m getting myself into. Even though they’ve gone militant, they still need people like me. I’m a one of a kind hacker. I’m too valuable to them. They won't let anything happen to me.”
“I don’t like this,” Jason complained.
“Excuse me?” Howie asked, agitated by Jason’s lack of confidence.
“I said, I don’t like it. I just don’t agree with you putting yourself on the line like this, Howie. It’s not safe.”
“I’m not a child, Jason. I can take care of myself!”
“What if they figure it out, Howie? Do you understand that they will kill you if they find out what you’re doing?” Jason scolded.
“I told you, they won’t do anything to hurt me because they need me! Besides, if anything goes wrong, I’ll have you guys there to back me up when we rescue the girl.”
“Wait a second. You’re not talking about another field op are you?” Jason demanded.
“As a matter of fact, I am.”
“Absolutely not! Howie, you are not a field operative! There’s no way I’m signing off on this.”
“How do you suppose we get her then, Ace? You and Reaper just storm the place, two versus a thousand, and hope for the best? This has to be done from the inside, and this is the only way that we can actually get inside.”
“Adam, you have to back me up here,” Jason pleaded as he glanced at me.
I bit my lip as I weighed the options. They both had valid points. Jason was right in that Howie was probably in over his head, but Howie was right about this being the best chance for us to rescue the congressman’s daughter and gather more valuable information on The Suspect’s whereabouts.
“I’m with Howie. I think this gives us the best chance of success,” I finally stated, to Jason’s dismay. Jason sighed and grimaced. He was still completely against the idea, but he remained silent.
“So what’s this grand scheme of yours, Echo? How are we gonna do this?” I asked.
Howie took a seat at the computer near the conference table and displayed several pictures of an old factory on the monitor. The eight-story building was in the middle of a vast lot surrounded by a few shorter buildings.
“This sight is an old industrial property on the outskirts of Atlanta, GA. At first glance it appears abandoned, but just as with the outpost, the real action takes place underground. This is where they’re holding the girl. When I accessed their systems from the communications outpost, I was able to deliver a virus to their network. They think it’s an NSA Trojan, so they’ve contracted me to flush it out. They know I’m the only person that’s not on a government payroll that has the ability to do so. I’m supposed to go to this site three nights from now in order to disable the virus and install some security equipment that I designed.”
A picture of a Stranger wearing a black version of the Stranger mask appeared on the screen.
“This is Bravo. He’s one of the lesser Stranger officers. I’m meeting him at a nearby gas station and then riding with him to the site. The plan is to subdue him and have Reaper take his place and accompany me inside disguised as Bravo.”
“What about me?” Jason asked.
“You’ll be in stealth mode. I did some recon with my aerial drone and found a drainage system that will allow access to the first floor. Once Reaper and I are inside, I’ll locate the girl and relay her location to you. I’ll have full access to the security system, so you should be able to extract her with relative ease once you find her.”
“Seems pretty simple, but what’s the catch?” Jason asked.
“What makes you think there’s a catch?” Howie asked.
“You obviously want the big gun in your hip pocket for a reason,” Jason replied, gesturing toward me.
“There’s a chance that one of their high ranking officers might be present on the night of our operation. His name is Tango; he visits the site quite often, but there’s no distinct pattern as to when he decides to show. He’s the only thing that makes me nervous about this.”
Jason clenched his massive jaw but didn’t reply as a wave of concern washed over his face.
“Who’s Tango and what makes him so special?” I asked.
“He’s a former mercenary that now serves as the right-hand man of The Suspect. Simply put—he’s a human weapon; one that’s killed more people than we can possibly imagine.”
“He’s just one guy,” I said nonchalantly as I studied the pixilated image of Tango on the display. There wasn’t much detail, but I could tell that he had long, dreadlocked hair pulled into a ponytail and he wore a mask that only covered the upper right side of his face. Compared to the rest of The Strangers, I was sure he would stick out like a sore thumb. If he showed his face, I’d know exactly who to target first.
“Adam, don’t get cocky,” Jason warned.
“I’m not getting cocky. I just don’t see one guy being that big of a deal. If he shows up, we’ll stick to the plan, and if s
omething goes awry, I’ll take him out,” I said indifferently.
“If he shows up, you’ll need my help. Don’t try to fight him alone,” Jason replied.
Is that an order? I thought, as my face grew hot and I struggled to suppress my anger. Did he seriously think I needed his help fighting one guy? And who did he think he was ordering around?
“You don’t think I can take him?” I asked.
“He’s right, Adam. It’s not worth the risk. If Tango shows, we may end up having to retreat,” Howie said.
“Yeah, fat chance,” I grumbled. Their lack of confidence was so comical to me that I had to catch myself to keep from laughing. “Are we done? If this is going down in three days, I’ll need to get some rest to let the effects of that gas wear off.”
“Well, there’s still the issue of the government knowing about this place. How do we know that they won’t come after us?” Jason asked.
“We could always relocate, but I’m not sure if that would do us any good. If they found us once, I’m sure they could find us again,” Howie responded. “For now, I actually think we’re in the clear. Otherwise they wouldn’t have let Adam go. They didn’t say anything about shutting us down did they, Adam?”
“No. They just asked me to help them fight The Righteous,” I lied. I didn’t tell them that Wells had demanded that we stop our pursuit of The Strangers because I didn’t want either of them to get cold feet. Now that we finally had a solid lead, I wanted to make sure that we followed up on it at all costs.
“Alright then. We’ll meet again at the same time tomorrow,” Jason said as he looked to me. I nodded in agreement before heading over to the couch.
Jason offered me a ride home, but I told him I was crashing at 3D for the night. So far, they hadn’t noticed that I had been staying at 3D every night since the fight with my mom and I was in no rush to fill them in.
After they left, I emptied my pockets to prepare for bed and felt an odd object with my right hand. I withdrew the object and held it closer to my face to study it.
It was a small white business card with, “AGENT WELLS 555-505-2772,” printed at the top. Under the phone number was a message scribbled in jagged handwriting:
“When you change your mind.”
I thought about ripping it up and throwing it away for a moment, but I decided to hang on to it… just in case.
34. FEAR OR FOCUS