Chapter22: Mission Impossible
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Reg staggered a little. He was having difficulty moving with Ethel on his back. She weighed a lot but gave him a lot of confidence and a mighty fine way of looking down hidden corridors and stairwells. He wasn’t sure if it was his job as armourer or his obsession with flame throwers that made him keep one in the store although he never had found a use for her until now. Everyone else was terrified of her and there was a reason people didn’t like them. One shot and you would go boom boom. He dropped Ethel down as they came out of the emergency exit and rubbed his back where it was hurting. They were on the street right in the centre of town! He had no idea where the stairwell came out before today. Reg quickly pulled his rain Mac out of his bag and concealed his weapons.
“We need to go to St Pancras to meet Max there. Maddy’s not well,” Josh hailed a taxi as he spoke.
“We should all go,” Reg said hurriedly jumping in the taxi as well. “We don’t want to hang around here to get picked off on our own.”
In the cab Josh used his phone straight away. He wanted to find out were Max was and soon found he was still in Nottingham where he had taken Maddy at her request to the portable MRI scanner he had at the health protection agency. Max told them to get on a train to Nottingham where he would pick them up. He asked them to make sure they were not followed by anyone; foreign agents were aware of their presence and they would make a good catch for any superpower. Josh felt like a small kid when he was told to put Ted on as he was the senior agent. Max explained to Ted how good the teenagers were and advised him to let Chloe have some freedom as she was ‘special’ Josh was angry as he heard yet another judgmental term used about his girlfriend. Chloe was worried as she knew Maddy was probably dying because of her increased metabolic rate. Ted watched in amazement as Chloe robbed the cash point of several thousands of pounds and came back with wads of cash.
“What’s all that for?” Ted asked, bemused.
“Tickets, dinner and clothes. I need clothes,” Chloe replied.
“I ain’t paying for no ticket, I nearly died ten minutes ago,” Reg said in disgust.
“Low profile Reg remember! Not been out for while have you?” Ted chided him gently.
So they paid for tickets and then had to flash their fancy badges to get the three carts of weapons and equipment past security. Reg did manage to get in a ‘told you so’. Chloe had bought an assortment of pasties for the train journey from a hot food stall and was steadily munching through them, making everyone hungry. They hadn’t seen her eat in action before. Eventually she gave them food and explained that she was starving as she was using much more brain capacity than they were. They were all extra vigilant and knew they hadn’t been followed but that cameras would be back on and attempting to track them as soon as possible. There was still the matter of MI6 headquarters; how many agents were there who had been infiltrated? If they did it in one facility would they do it at another? They hoped Max would be able to answer their questions. Chloe was worried as she boarded the train. She had expected more of a fight and for them to follow her as they had done before. They hadn’t which meant they must have an alternative target. Janice must have learnt from the simulation and altered her original plan of attack although it would be safe to assume she would still attempt to infiltrate the government and turn them against Chloe, Josh and Max. The journey didn’t take too long, just a couple of hours, and as far as Chloe could tell they weren’t followed. There was no trouble and it seemed almost too easy. The previous simulation had shown that they would be followed and intercepted. Max was waiting at Nottingham for them with an army escort and he clearly wasn’t taking chances. His operation wasn’t low profile either. They were ushered quickly into a noisy truck where they contented themselves by just visually acknowledging each other. Max looked really worried and Chloe feared for Maddy who must be suffering. The journey took only a few minutes. Max had moved the entire operation to a secret location on Tollerton airfield. Security was reasonable and the location had good visibility of the surrounding area. They also had air transport at any point if needed. The airfield wasn’t widely known about by the general population; it was used by rich business men and private flyers. The other reason Max liked this site was that there was a bar and he foresaw that everyone would need a drink before the day was out. As soon as the truck pulled up into a hanger Max led Josh and Chloe to Maddy. Maddy was laid on the bed of the MRI machine which she had set to scan herself
“She trying to go back in,” Chloe said, crying. “But the net will have to be active.”
Max nodded at a technician who quickly linked the scanner to the internet and established a connection. Chloe interfaced with the machine and for several minutes the only noise was the sound of the machine as Maddy passed away. Chloe’s tears of sadness turned to joy quickly though as she began to disengage her connection. “Maddy had made it back into cyberspace.” Chloe smiled. Josh and Max sighed with relief. They too loved Maddy and had been terrified she would die. Chloe jolted suddenly “They’re coming,” she said.
“Who’s coming?” Josh asked, confused.
“There’s a Simpathe in the machine,” Chloe told him quietly.
“Cut the internet, stop the scan,” Max ordered quickly.
Chloe carefully touched the machine, testing to see if the Simpathe was still present. Sparks showered towards her. It was clearly still in there and clearly very strong.
“We’ve got it trapped! Is that internet connection hard wired?” Chloe asked.
“No Miss, its satellite operated,” the technician replied.
“Don’t use it again or they’ll get a fix on our location,” Chloe ordered, “Maddy made it through so we don’t need it on.”
“I’m pleased; I was so worried about her. Will this Simpathe die if we turn the scanner off?” asked Max.
“I would have thought so,” Chloe answered thoughtfully.
“Can we separate the programme from the MRI machine? If I isolate its programme lines I can write a virus to kill it,” Josh said.
“They’re not like me,” Chloe said, “they’re different. You might even be able to lure it out onto a laptop.”
Max answered his phone and spoke for several moments, his face looking serious and worried at the same time. Josh wanted to play so asked the technician for a laptop but he didn’t have one so he asked him instead to keep the machine on but not to let anyone else near it and above all to make sure the internet was never connected to it again. Josh needed to get hold of a laptop as soon as possible. He figured he could find out what made simpathes tick, given a little time.
Max ordered his Sergeant to call everyone in. There were about twenty five people all told in the hanger including Max’s team. When he was sure that everyone was in he ordered that the door be closed and that everyone stowed their weapons.
At last they relaxed and lit smokes if they had them. A porter brought in tea and coffee for everyone.
“I know we have had a hard day but it gets worse,” Max said taking a tea and biscuit.
“As you know we were attacked at Exploratores, but they didn’t stop there. They took out our headquarters and half our operatives in the field around the world,” Max explained.
He kept going, explaining that the cabinet ministers and even the queen had been checked to ensure they weren’t simpathes, using the technology they had developed, but that we needed to check everyone again. The problem was even more wide spread than they first thought when they hadn’t fully listened to what Chloe had told them. They had been asked now to lead an offensive using Chloe and Josh to help them. Agents were flying in from all over the world although it was likely that some of them were Simpathes as Chloe and Josh had been followed or attacked coming from Exploratores originally.
“I’ll need a laptop,” Josh said.
“Make that eight laptops and a file server,” Chloe added.
“What for?”
&nb
sp; “We’ve got one trapped in the MRI and Josh wants to dissect it slowly,” Chloe answered.
“Ok, but I need you, Chloe, to check everyone here first make sure there are no Simpathes present,” Max answered her.
“Ted, Josh and Matthew, cover everyone whilst I check them please” The three took out their pistols at Chloe’s request.
Chloe took Max’s hand and he fell to the floor in pain. As he lay there Chloe ate a biscuit while the rest of the group surged forward, believing she had hurt Max. Ted explained this was a normal procedure but a little painful. Chloe took the pain away from him and slowly worked her way around the room, putting grown men on the floor and smiling a lot whilst she did it. Josh worried sometimes that she had a sadistic side but she said that people were permanently scared of her if she put an unsmiling face on. Chloe suspected one or two of them were infected. The one she was most sure of was the technician who turned the internet on. They must have had a message from someone to detect an MRI machine that quickly. They would be after Maddy but Chloe was confident her friend would soon lose them. She left the ones she suspected until last and the crowd was slowly shrinking as those who had been tested and cleared departed, knowing that there might be a fight soon. Chloe was trying to find out it there was any emotions emanating from her suspects. She had always had a full range of human emotions but the others seemed to have better control if they were used to them. She felt fear, pain and anger, well she hadn’t sensed one; love. She was down to the technician but no sign of fear outside of the normal range of I’m last and I’m going to get shocked. She fell backward thrown back by the sheer strength of the Simpathe. She had found out that the longer Simpathes were away from the net the stronger they became. Josh and Ted raised their guns. Chloe knew this one had been out for a while. None of the others had been stronger than her but he didn’t even flinch, not a muscle. There was no sense of fear or emotion of any description showing on his face. Reg delved into his backpack. Having seen Chloe’s reaction he knew she might be in trouble. Chloe had frozen for a second and it could have cost her life. Reg tazered the technician until he fell to the floor and Chloe took over. He was older than her by several months she found to her surprise.
“Don’t kill him, I want him,” Josh said quickly, putting on gloves and cuffing the technician as quickly as he could.
‘Sorry he was a bit strong. He’s been here three months longer than me,” Chloe apologised.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” Ted said, puzzled.
“The first Simpathes in Britain killed people while transubstantiating into human form. I was here at the same time but he is older than me,” Chloe explained.
“Check out where he was based for the last year. It will give us a lead if they have a headquarters or something,” Ted gave a command.
“There headquarters is on the net Ted. Only Josh has a chance of destroying it,” Chloe said.
The technician was taken away and placed under armed guard. The night was coming in fast and it was already turning dark when Max had returned to the main hanger. He had been on the phone to whoever was the boss now. Chloe had just finished checking the kitchen staff who were all okay.
Chloe was tired again and had a tray of sandwiches brought through by a cowering kitchen porter.
“I need another favour,” Max said, looking meaningfully at Chloe.
“What’s that?” Chloe asked resignedly.
“We have some operatives coming in from abroad with information. I need to know if they are okay,” Max told her.
“Yes sure,” replied Chloe, gulping another sandwich down, She was going to need all her strength.
“The MRI technician was a simpathe so they will know where we are. We should break camp and move quickly, tell no-one were we’re going,” Chloe advised him.
Max nodded. “Ok I’ll have everyone ready to move as soon as possible. We leave in ten minutes” Max announced to the rest of his team.
He gave the order to break camp and meet at a nearby army training base in the north of the county. Josh, Chloe and Max went to East Midlands Airport to check out the arrival of several agents coming in from abroad. They drove cautiously in bomb proof cars and were somewhat overvigilant. They went straight past the security onto the runway and parked up at a hanger.
“Are they what I think they are?” Josh asked as five euro fighters flew in and landed.
“Yes, these agents have had a hard time getting back apparently, but no one trusts them. Agents are turning on other agents all over the world,” Max told him.
Two fighters taxied into the hanger where they stood and Chloe did her thing and checked everyone out. They thought they were all dead for a minute but Chloe wasn’t going to wait until the last minute and put all four men on the floor in an instant. They were still in shock and thought the Simpathes had them.
“Gentlemen, welcome to Nottingham,” Chloe smiled.
“Hi, I’m Max, your contact and your new boss.”
“I’m Robert. I have urgent information that needs processing immediately. I also think I might be bugged but I can’t find anything the embassy should have checked me but didn’t,” Robert replied.
“They could be Simpathes” Max replied.
“No, they thought me and Mark might be though, he was a piloting me as I was being extracted.” Robert replied.
“We were fired on by allied troops,” Mark interrupted.
“First things first,” Max said calmly, “I’ll get a scanner before we take you to base. We have to wait for some others anyway” He called for Marcus to bring his stuff there as soon as he could. This agent wouldn’t come home bugged unless it was really urgent.
“Okay Robert, what was your mission?” Max asked.
Robert hesitated at the sight of everyone crowded around him
“It’s okay, these are all safe people. We can do the intros later when we’ve collected the other agents,” Max reassured him.
“I was to infiltrate an Old Russian compound in Uzbekistan, which I did, no problem. They are experimenting on humans and placing simpathes in them but they are being selective about which simpathes go in,” Robert said.
“Making Simpathes?” Chloe queried.
“Yes. I got photo of the company and the document called first contact, presumably this means contact with the simpathes and is their agenda. I haven’t read it, only photographed it.” Robert continued.
“Ok give me everything you’ve got,” Max took the information from Robert before handing both newcomers pistols.
“We have some choppers coming in and we’ll need to check the pilots and men inside them. They’ll be ours to use as we please,” Max said.
“To use, you sound like they’ve been discarded,” Josh picked up on the strange phrase.
“I’ll tell everyone later,” Max cut the conversation short as the sound of multiple choppers could be heard above them. Within seconds three lynx helicopters landed in front of the hanger. Ten men including three pilots got out. The ensuing fire fight wounded and killed men on both sides. Mark was the first one down, never having seen the sheer speed of a Simpathe in action. Three of the men from the chopper weren’t fighting. They seemed confused as if they didn’t know what to do. Chloe, Josh and Max had all taken one out each but they were at a standoff until Marcus arrived in a jeep with a mounted machine gun on. He ripped through the Simpathes as if there was no tomorrow, which there now wouldn’t be for some at least. The others tossed down their weapons and one of them quoted the Genève convention.
“Okay, everyone who is left alive over here,” Chloe beckoned to the survivors who hadn’t fought to check whether they were infected. There was one Simpathe; the ring leader who had quoted the Genève convention.
“You are not human so the convention doesn’t apply,” Chloe stated.
His sparks whipped across the floor from his hand arcing ten feet to where she stood.
The others raised their guns, ready to shoot.
/> “He’s mine, he is going to answer my questions,” Chloe stopped them before turning her attentions to relieving those who she had left in pain.
“Get them out of here,” Chloe said coldly, “I need some room,”
“You heard the woman; move it,” Max backed up the order.
“Are you coming sir?” Marcus asked.
“What and miss this? Have you seen how scary she is?” Max was astounded
“That’s my girlfriend,” Josh said smiling.
“You’re a sick puppy,” one of the men said to Josh, half in joke but half in awe.
“I heard that,” Chloe shouted angrily, causing the man to pale.
The bystanders quickly scuttled out of the room as the two Simpathe danced the dance of a thousand sparks. They were like two peacocks facing off against one another. Marcus, Josh and Max watched with intrigue. Josh had seen Chloe fight Simpathes before but it was as if she knew this one, it was definitely personal. Maybe she had got a knock at the last one and needed to challenge herself.
They didn’t even touch the sparks met in the middle like two warlords fighting it out.
“You know I’m too strong for you. I am older and more adapted,” the Simpathe said as his sparks edged ever closer to Chloe’s body.
“Your age is your weakness. Your body is deteriorating as it wasn’t taken willingly,” Chloe replied as her sparks pushed even closer to the Simpathes face.
“What’s with the cheesy banter?” Marcus asked.
“I don’t know, she usually just kills them. I think she might know this one,” Josh shrugged.
A spark touched Chloe and she was thrown backwards across the floor.
“I told you, you’re weak,” crowed the Simpathe.
“You chose your body poorly. Men die before women, fact. They have more weakness, fact.” Chloe answered, bouncing an electrostatic charge off the floor. The best of describing what happened next would be to say she earthed his balls. There was a slight burning smell of trousers coupled with a screech of unbearable pain.
“Ok, he’ll talk now and answer all your questions” Chloe laughed. The Simpathe lay on the floor crying. She had realised something about the Simpathes. They were cold and controlling but the longer they spent in human form the easer it was for them to lose that. She needed to talk to Josh. She felt she had learnt something he should know.
“They are going after our parents. I read it in him,” Chloe said somberly.