Origin - Season Two
Copyright © 2015 Nathaniel Dean James
Nathaniel Dean James is the pen name of author Jonathan Ronnquist, whose right to be identified as the author of this work under that name has been asserted by him in accordance with all relevant copyright laws.
First published in the United Kingdom in 2015 by Millennium Birdhouse Ltd.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored electronically, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior consent of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities between the characters in this book and any real person, living or deceased, or other fictional characters, is purely coincidental. All references to actual persons, places and events appear strictly for the sake of general reference, and are not to be construed as accurate for any other purpose.
All rights reserved.
Kindle Edition
ISBN: 978-0-9928446-4-6
Millennium Birdhouse Ltd
Bognor Regis
West Sussex
PO22 8HN
United Kingdom
Chapter 3:
Jangdan-myeon, North Korea
Chapter 12:
Pyongyang, North Korea
Chapter 15:
Pyongyang, North Korea
Chapter 22:
Pyongyang, North Korea
Chapter 23:
Washington Post Editorial
Chapter 25:
Pyongyang, North Korea
Chapter 30:
Pyongyang, North Korea
Chapter 48:
Washington Post Editorial
Chapter 54:
Tesuque, New Mexico
Chapter 56:
Zurich, Switzerland
Chapter 61:
Zurich, Switzerland
Chapter 62:
Arlington, Virginia
Chapter 66:
Jangdan-myeon, North Korea
Chapter 67:
The Isle of Dragons
Chapter 68:
Zurich, Switzerland
Chapter 73:
Sinuiju, North Korea
Chapter 75:
The Isle of Dragons
Chapter 80:
The Isle of Dragons
Chapter 91:
The Isle of Dragons
Chapter 92:
Pyongyang, North Korea
Chapter 101:
Sunan, North Korea
Chapter 102:
Pyongyang, North Korea
Chapter 103:
Sunan, North Korea
Chapter 107:
38,000 Miles Above the Earth
Chapter 111:
Pyongyang, North Korea
Appendix B: Names, Places and Objects of Significance
Appendix C: An Account from the Origin Files
In cherished memory of Leonard Nimoy
March 1931 – February 2015
By necessity, Origin is a series that cannot be read out of sequence. I would go so far as to say that it is a single work broken into parts for the sake of practicality, but this is not entirely true either. It is perhaps best compared to a television production in which a specific conflict is resolved inside each episode while also carrying the larger story and cast forward. This was in fact how the series was originally conceived, hence Season Two and not Part II. I mention it here only as a warning to anyone who has come across this book that you would do best to begin with the first volume. Origin Season One is available for free from most online eBook retailers.
As in the first book, I have included two appendixes to help readers find their feet, so to speak. The first is a list of characters in alphabetical order and a short description of each. The second is a list of significant names, places and objects. My only advice to those using the lists would be not to let your curiosity get the better of you and run the chance of premature exposure to events best left to their rightful moment. There is also a third appendix, titled
An Account from the Origin Files
. These are intended for readers who would like a greater insight into certain events that are alluded to in the story, but do not form an essential part of it. I will do my best to include these where I think they will be of interest in all subsequent books in the series.
And finally, a quick note on the timeline. As you will no doubt recall from Season One, I include a place/date/time stamp at the beginning of each chapter. The argument
for
these is that the pace of events being what it is, some readers might find them useful. The argument against is that the use of local time zones can create the appearance of discontinuity. My advice would be to use them if you need to, and ignore them if you don’t. In terms of universal time, the book proceeds in chronological order from beginning to end. Thus, where a chapter takes place at great distance from its predecessor, it may look as if we have gone back in time, but this is only an illusion created by the rotation of our humble little planet.
Previously, on Origin…
When we last left our friends, I believe Francis and Richelle were sharing a moment of quiet reflection on the arrival of RP One. For those of you struggling to recall the specifics, I thought it might be only fair if I recounted them here in considerably less detail.
– – –
In the summer of 2006, Francis Moore, having recruited to his cause the very capable Gerald Ross, breaks into the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with an eye to stealing the files of a secret assassination program called Princip. Once a member of Princip himself, Francis has undergone a crisis of conscience in the years since his staged death and intends to use the stolen files to blackmail the CIA into shutting the program down. Technically, at least, the plan succeeds.
But unbeknownst to Francis, the safety deposit box once rented by a front group of the Agency has undergone a change of ownership in the interim. It now belongs to a man named Jack Fielding. Jack just happens to be in the middle of his own double-cross, only he is not attempting to coerce the CIA, but a far more secretive organization by the name of Aurora.
In a desperate effort to recover the hard drive Francis has unwittingly taken from him, Jack turns to his FBI informant to help him find the thief before the Bureau’s own investigator, your friend and mine, Mike Banner. Jack’s efforts to track Francis lead to the small Vermont town of Morisson where they end in spectacular failure, but not before they bring Jack to the attention of Princip’s chief handler, the shadowy Norton Weaver.
Weaver, ignoring strict orders not to interfere, employs two ex-Mossad agents to track Francis down along with the two local residents now in his charge, Jesse and Amanda. Francis flees with them across the border into Canada and leaves them to fend for themselves while he returns to the US in search of answers.
His inquiries eventually lead him to Mike Banner, and the two of them travel to Florida to see Francis’s friend and mentor, Reginald Styles. Things appear to be looking up when news reaches them of the plight of Jesse and Amanda, who have narrowly escaped death at the hands of Norton Weaver’s henchmen.
In the meantime, Mitch Rainey, Mike’s long-time friend and colleague, is kidnapped after stumbling upon Darkstar, a decommissioned satellite still very much in orbit. Mitch is quietly ferried to Aurora, the organization’s secret facility beneath the Isle of Dragons in the Baltic Sea, to play the role of scapegoat at the hands of Brendan Fisher, aka, the Chief.