Involuntary Control (Gray Spear Society) (32 page)

"Ready?" Aaron said.

They nodded.

Everybody went inside. Marble tile covered the floor of the spacious lobby. Aaron went straight to the front desk.

"I'd like two rooms please," he said to the female clerk.

"Sorry, sir," she replied. "We're fully booked."

"But this is a huge hotel."

"We had a rush yesterday. Maybe there's a convention in town. I would recommend trying the President Lincoln down the street. I hear they have nice rooms."

"Thanks," Aaron said.

Instead of leaving, he led his team to some paisley couches in the far corner of the lobby. Everybody sat in positions where they could see the doors.

"What's the plan, sir?" Norbert said.

"Let's just wait here for a bit," Aaron said. "I want to see what kind of people are coming and going. This is a good time to practice reading body language."

"Yes, sir."

"And we might as well talk about rules of engagement."

"These are evil men," Norbert said. "They must be destroyed."

"I've told you before. We're not in the business of cleansing evil from the world. Our jurisdiction is strictly limited to cases of supernatural interference."

Norbert pouted. "Sir, I have to respectfully debate this point. What happened in Lemonseed wasn't just a crime. It was an abomination. Project 708 must be stopped by any means necessary."

"Good and evil are both part of God's plan," Marina explained. "Otherwise, His universe wouldn't contain both. It probably has something to do with free will."

"Regardless," Aaron said, "we were sloppy in Lemonseed. We spilled far too much blood. We bear some responsibility for all the people who were burned alive in that field."

"I don't see that, sir," Norbert said.

"When we don't follow the rules, a price is always paid. We drove the enemy into committing mass murder. Most of those people would still be alive if we hadn't been so intrusive. We won't make the same mistake here. From now on our operations will conform to the highest standards of the Society. We will gather evidence of supernatural interference, and that's all. OK?"

"Yes, sir," everybody responded.

"But what if there is no evidence?" Norbert said.

"I have two answers," Aaron said. "First, we can't do much in that case. At most we might anonymously notify the authorities, and it will be my decision in the end. Nobody else can make that call."

"What's the second answer?"

"I doubt we'll have that problem. God tipped His hand when He gave the twins to us. Clearly, He strongly disapproves of project 708, which means this mission can end only one way, if I'm right."

Marina grinned and her eyes lit up. "Boom."

* * *

"That man is suspicious," Aaron said in a low voice. "Yellow shirt, black pants, black shoes."

"How can you tell, sir?" Norbert said.

"The stance is the giveaway. Pure military. And see how his eyes keep checking the doors? The men with him are protecting his flanks. He's a commander, and those are his troops. Marina, you're on point. Go."

Marina stood and quietly moved towards the door. Aaron admired how well she projected a complete disinterest in her surroundings. She was a master at controlling body language.

"Smythe," Aaron said, "you're her backup. Circle around. Don't lose her."

Smythe silently walked towards a door at the back of the lobby.

"What about me, sir?" Norbert said.

"Create a distraction," Aaron said. "I need them looking the other way."

Aaron stood and jogged towards the door. He timed his angle and speed so he would get ahead of the group of men.

There was a crash on the other side of the room. Norbert stood over broken pieces of glass and a huge puddle of water. Apparently, he had knocked over a pitcher. Everybody in the lobby stopped and turned at once.

Aaron spat at the shoelaces of one of the men in the group. He wore a blue shirt and khaki cargo pants.

When he started to walk again, the shoelaces broke and the shoe came off. He froze. "Sir! My shoe."

"What?" The man in the yellow shirt looked down. "That's strange. Change your shoes and meet us at the restaurant."

"Yes, sir."

Except for the man missing a shoe, the group went out the front door. Marina drifted along behind them.

The man in the blue shirt headed towards the elevator. He carried both his shoes in his hands. Aaron stayed with him.

Norbert gave Aaron a curious look.

Aaron mouthed the words, "Stay here."

Norbert nodded.

Aaron and the man in the blue shirt entered the elevator together. Aaron looked at the shoes with obvious curiosity.

"It just fell apart on me."

"Probably made in China," Aaron said.

"Yeah. Damn chinks. I'll take American craftsmanship every time."

"Amen to that."

They rode the elevator to the tenth floor. When the doors opened, the man in the blue shirt went right and Aaron went left. The hallway was curved. As soon as they couldn't see each other, Aaron made a U-turn and silently followed.

The man in the blue shirt stopped at room 1025. Aaron watched him open the door to see where he kept his keycard. He went into the room. A minute later he came out wearing new sneakers.

Aaron backed up and waited a few seconds. He started forward at just the right time and arrived at the elevator simultaneously.

The man raised his eyebrows. "You again."

"I had to get my car keys," Aaron explained. "I had forgotten them. I guess I took too many sleeping pills last night. I still feel dizzy."

"Hmm." The grunt indicated disapproval.

They got into the elevator together. When it was halfway down, Aaron leaned over to tie his shoe. He swayed and bumped into the other man. There was an awkward moment as they pushed each other. Aaron snatched the keycard.

"Sorry!" Aaron said. "Stupid pills."

"Just let me get out before you try that again."

The elevator door opened, and the man walked swiftly away. Aaron went to Norbert.

"What happened, sir?" Norbert said.

Aaron held up the keycard. "Room 1025."

"Nice!"

They went up to the room together. The keycard worked, but Aaron still opened the door very slowly. He didn't feel any unexpected resistance. He peeked through the crack and didn't see any wires.

They went inside and closed the door.

"Listen," Aaron said, "we're going to search this room thoroughly, but we'll leave it
exactly
as we found it. I want every speck of dust put back in its place. Nobody will realize we were here. Understand?"

"Yes, sir," Norbert said.

Aaron surveyed the hotel room. There were two beds and two sets of luggage.

"What's that smell?" Norbert said.

Aaron sniffed the air. He pointed to a spray can on a desk. "Mosquito repellent. They must be planning on going outside."

He opened a suitcase from the first set of luggage. He didn't remove any clothes, and instead he just lifted them one layer at a time. He swept his hand between the layers to feel for anything interesting. The clothing was for a medium-size man in good shape. There was an even mix of civilian clothes and military uniforms with rank insignia.

"This guy is a captain in the United States Army," he said.

Norbert was working on the other set of luggage. "Same here."

After digging some more, Aaron found a flat wooden box containing medals. It was an impressive collection and included a purple heart. He didn't discover anything else of interest in the luggage. There were no weapons.

He turned his attention to the desk. There was a neat stack of receipts for cab fare, a coffee shop, and laundry service, paid for with personal credit cards.
Bingo!
he thought.

He grabbed his phone and typed Bethany's number.

She answered immediately without any rings. "Hello, sir."

"That was fast," Aaron said.

"We tied our phones into our headsets. Calls go straight through now."

"I like that."

"It's a temporary hack, sir," Bethany said. "Better headsets are being built for us. Then we won't need our old phones at all."

"What about the emergency features? The tracking system?"

"It will all be integrated. The guys in Dallas who are building the headsets are the same guys who make our phones. When we gave them the specifications, they got excited. I think a lot of people in the Society will want these new headsets. They should be very cool. Why did you call, sir?"

"Is Leanna listening?" Aaron said.

"Yes, sir."

He didn't know which girl had responded. He couldn't tell their voices apart.

"I need to know about two captains in the U.S. Army. I have some receipts..." He provided all the information he had.

"Give us a minute, sir," Bethany said.

Aaron watched Norbert continue to search the room. Norbert was trying very hard to be careful, but he still left a wrinkle or two behind in the clothes he touched. Aaron frowned.

"Crap!" Bethany said.

"What's wrong?"

"We just got bit by Pentagon security. We must've touched a trip wire. But don't worry, sir. We shunted the trace. The authorities will think the intrusion came from the Satinian ambassador in New York." She made an odd chuckling noise. "Hold on... we have the data now. Those captains are part of the Advanced Warfighter Conditioning Initiative. It's some kind of top secret training program."

"Hmm." Aaron pondered that information. "Military training and mind control, a natural combination."

"Their mandate is to 'produce soldiers who have the willingness to fight on the high lethality battlefields of the twenty-first century.'"

"In other words, they want grunts who don't mind getting slaughtered." He sighed. "Tell me where Marina is. Use the tracking system in her phone."

"Sir?" Bethany said. "Why don't you just call her?"

"She's tailing some guys, and I don't want her phone to ring. More importantly, don't question my orders like that. It's disrespectful."

"Yes, sir." She sounded contrite. "Marina is near the middle of the 200 block of South 6th Street."

"OK," he said. "Keep digging. Try to find the link between this Army initiative and White Flame Technology."

"We'll try, sir."

He closed his phone and turned to Norbert.

"Military training, sir?" Norbert said.

"The Army wants to use mind control to turn people into fearless killing machines."

"That's awful!"

Aaron shrugged. "It's been the dream of generals since antiquity."

"Soldiers should have a choice."

"Really? Check your history books. Until recently, nearly all soldiers were conscripts. In the United States, the draft ended in 1973, and many countries still have something like it today. So, we're not treading on new ground here. The only difference this time is the generals might've found a solution that works."

"You think project 708 is about creating perfect soldiers?" Norbert said.

"It's a possibility. Let's finish up here. I want to find Marina."

A couple of minutes later, Norbert pulled a clear plastic bag out of a suitcase. It contained many wrinkled brown objects.

"What is this?" he asked. "Dried fruit?"

Aaron leaned in for a close look. "No. Guess again."

"They almost look like..." Norbert's eyes widened. "Human ears!" He dropped the bag.

"Correct," Aaron said calmly.

"What kind of man packs dried ears in his luggage?"

"A man who is proud of his war trophies. Put them back where you found them."

After they finished searching the room, Aaron put the keycard on the desk. He hoped the man in the blue shirt would assume it had just been left behind.

Aaron and Norbert rode the elevator down and left the hotel. Bright, warm sunlight made Aaron squint his eyes.

They found South 6th Street just two blocks away. It was a semi-commercial area with storefronts on both sides of the street. There was a fair amount of pedestrian traffic. Lawyers and politicians in expensive suits stood out from the otherwise casual crowd. The main industry in Springfield was government.

Aaron spotted Marina and Smythe sitting on a bench with their backs to the street. He jogged over and sat beside them. Marina was listening to an ear piece with an intense expression.

"What's going on?" Aaron whispered.

"The group is eating breakfast across the street," Smythe said softly. "We planted a bug on them."

"Shh!" Marina said. "It's hard to hear."

Aaron casually looked over his shoulder and saw a pancake house across the street. Paintings of pancakes covered with whip cream and nuts decorated the windows. He was reminded his own breakfast had happened very early in the morning. He was already hungry for lunch.