The Decrypter: Secret of the Lost Manuscript (Calla Cress Techno Thriller Series: Book 1) (55 page)

The sedate man knelt on the floor beside Calla and examined her ankle.  Despite his hands-on approach in assisting her, he was the man in charge. 

His eyes blazed with compassion and concern.  “My name is Vortigern Aspel.  Please lie back,” he instructed.

Allegra gave her a reassuring look.  She obliged.

He examined her swollen ankle and laid a gentle hand on the clotting lesion on her jaw.  His hands felt warm and exuded a faint medicinal aroma of angelica oil.  The gentle massage eased some of the pain. 

“This will give a boost to your immune and nervous system, and will help you maintain mobile joints.  If only we had the rocks.  This would be such a simple procedure.  Quicker recovery.  But, you’ll be fine.”

He rose steadily.  “Calla, you’re the one everyone here has been waiting for.  You alone are the person who can lead what is promised to be the world’s greatest enterprise.”

Calla cast Allegra a questioning look.  “What enterprise?  All I want is to find information on my family and now to help my friends - what’s left of them.”

Vortigern acknowledged the bewilderment.  “Have you not noticed that you are not like others? You possess instincts and knowledge that you don’t understand, nor know from where it stems?”

Calla felt herself shrivel at his comment.  “I’m sure there’re others who follow suit.”

Vortigern rose and paced round her chair.  “I understand.  Have you also seen that when you use these abilities and physical strength, they leave you in such a weak state such as now?”

Calla searched her thoughts. 
How could he know that?

Somehow, she liked this man.  He set her at ease, in a fatherly sort-of way, reminding her so much of her Papa Cress. She slid along the seat setting her back upright.  “I saw a specialist in Paris.  He informed me that I probably have a genetic disorder.  The other probability is that I was exposed to Polonium 210, probably contained in the two carbonados we found.”

Vortigern glared into her emerald eyes. “Hm—”

Why was he so amused?  She narrowed her eyes. “The doctor explained that the Polonium could have aggravated my genetic disorder, and that’s why I have unusual strength followed by unbearable exhaustion, like now.  I read the report myself.”

Vortigern tilted his head, studying her as Allegra approached the chaise longue, her movement barely perceptible.  “Calla, I’ve known you a long time.  I’m sorry I had to leave you when you needed me most, but it was for everyone’s good.”

Allegra glimpsed over to Vortigern.  “Perhaps there’s a simpler way to explain this, Vortigern.  Shouldn’t we start with who Calla really is?”  She glanced into Calla’s brooded eyes.  “And most importantly, why you have memories and dreams that you can’t explain.”

Vortigern asked the two uniformed men to wait outside.  Once they had departed, he drew a seat for himself and Allegra by the chaise longue. 

He took a deep breath.  “Calla Cress, your story started just before the first century.”

* * *

10:50 A.M.

Eva sped back to London, thudding the steering wheel with compulsion at every red light.  “He’s hiding something!”

The highway bustled with London commuters on their way into the bustling metropolis.  She turned on the radio for the traffic news.  Just the usual Friday evening London traffic pickle. 

Her phone rang.  She scrambled to connect it to the in-car, audio system.

“Yeah?”

“It’s Mark.  Mason has canceled his meeting with you for this evening.”

“What?  Why?”

“His secretary said he had to leave town urgently.”

Damn! Mason promised me some more information!
 

This time, she had bargained for the full classified files.  Only a few pieces were missing regarding agent SILVER X3.  Mason was the man to fill these gaps.

“Eva?”

She cursed under her breath.  “Yes?”

Mark’s voice rang with concern.  “She said to tell you that the deal is off.”

Eva slammed the phone down. The day’s investigation had brought her no closer to the answers. 
“Imbécile!”

She had kept her end of the bargain.  Just that morning, after much persuasion, she’d gained her father’s trust and persuaded him to sign Mason’s deal.  That had been a major step.  She’d been a pawn.  Mason had no more use for her.  “
Cochon!
”

Blistering tears blurred her vision as she swerved off to the hard shoulder.  She rammed her palm against the steering wheel.  Ignoring the pain, she lifted her head in determination.  “Time I publish the second part of the story.  Better me than the Guardian!”

She ignored the warning bells. The government, ISTF and even her father would probably not back the story.  Eichel’s notes trickled with sizzling scandal she couldn’t ignore.  The details she didn’t know, she would fabricate. 

What’s the worst that can happen?
 

A lawsuit?

She had a damn good lawyer.

Her brother.

* * *

12:45 P.M.

The Cove

Undisclosed Location, Uganda

“Before we go into that, we need to take care of your wounds.  Follow me.”

Vortigern directed Calla to a section of the establishment that housed several rooms and closed offices.  As they meandered past each shut door, Calla read the various names displayed on each door. 

Analytical Astronomy…Civil Engineering…Military Economics…Practical Comparative Genetics…Practical Custodial Arts…Analytical Historical…Nanotechnology…Artificially Intelligent Business…Popular Clinical Science…
Biomedical Paranatomy…

They stopped at a set of clear-glass, double doors.  “We keep some supplies in here for emergencies.  I may have something to ease some of that pain,” Vortigern said.

They settled into what looked like an infirmary.  Two uniformed women helped her onto a medical examining table. 

Allegra held Calla’s hand while Vortigern strapped her arm and leg bands.  “This is just to keep you steady.  Each one of us reacts differently to medication.”

Calla closed her eyes when she saw the medical instrument Vortigern held in his hand.  “We call this a
Cell fuser
.  You’ll be fine, Calla.  We just need to inject some remedial serum into your muscles to give you strength.”

“What will it do?”

“The composition of your body is so complex that I’m not surprised your Paris doctor found what he thought was Polonium.  You see, that was the closest thing he could probably compare it to.  Your body is made up of so many components modern medicine cannot understand.”

“But why?  Is that what’s harming my body?”

“At present, modern medicine cannot help you.  You need something stronger.”

“What’s this serum?”

Vortigern smiled as he administered the medication.  “Think of it as anabolic steroids, without the side effects.  About a thousand years ago,  some of our people, let’s call them
operatives
for now, began creating medicines when they realized that they needed stronger elements to modern drugs, yet harmless enough to be given to an infant.”

“Operatives?”

“Everything here in the Cove is an attempt to replicate a faultless world through science and technology.  All the ingredients we use come from the Earth.  We just need to be creative and know where to look.”

She didn’t follow, but felt the murky liquid shoot through her veins, soothing her throbbing muscles.  She reclined further and felt her limbs reinvigorate.

“Your muscles were built to sustain impact, go against gravity, and self-defend.  All from the research and technology engineered for generations in rooms like the ones down this corridor.  But they’re not operating at full capacity.”

Calla felt lightheaded.  “I could have told you that.”

They were beginning to communicate on mutual ground. Vortigern withdrew the injection.  “What you need now is to train them.”

Calla thought for a moment.  How was I able to plunge off seventy-two stories unharmed?”

His smile reassured her that she was not eccentric, but she wondered if she would welcome what he would confess next. 

“Calla, several years ago, operatives in our research and development labs engineered a special chip, which runs on energy, much like that contained within the carbonados.  That chip when implanted under skin, reengineers the molecules within the epidermis and your central nervous system.  When your body senses contact against gravity, the chip that acts much like a drug, reverses the
natural
physics of gravity.  So in essence, giving you the ability to stay afloat, or in other words, fly.”

“ISTF has toyed with these kinds of experiments,” she said.

“Our operatives are light years ahead of ISTF in their research and engineering.  They’ve been at it for many centuries.”

Calla stroked her forehead, glancing straight at him as she searched for plausible answers.  “How do you know so much about me?  How did I get this way?  The chip for one.  Was I forcibly injected with random test results?  Was I a lab rat?  That’s not even legal.  Was I born this way?”  Calla could feel the anger welling in her. She had to know.  Though she understood the words he was saying, there were so many missing pieces of logic to their conversation. 

She knew he was telling the truth.  The last several hours had tested her analytical intellect to the core.  “What do my muscles do?”

Vortigern paced around her bed his hands behind his back.  “Anything you want.  And regarding the chip, your father and mother had it injected in their bodies before you were born, so you must have it in your genes.”

Calla gasped in shock.  “Are you saying the chip enabled me to control movement at will?”

Vortigern nodded a knowing smile in agreement.

“Am I the only one with these muscles? These abilities?”

“Some of us have them, and some of us don’t.  It all depends on each one’s mission.  But until we have restored all power to the
operatives
using the carbonados, we remain vulnerable.”

Calla was now fully alert.  She examined Vortigern’s wise eyes as they soothed her emotions.  “Why does Mason Laskfell want the Deveron so badly?  And, how can he be stopped?  He seems to have a telepathic ability that gets everyone around him jumping at his command.”

Vortigern placed gauzes on her wounds and bound them.  “Mason is not what you think he is.  He’s been preparing his strategies all his life.  From what I gather, he’s now well-equipped and allied.”

He unstrapped her hands and feet.  “You reacted fine to the serum.”

Calla threw her legs over the side of the operating table. “Thank God.”

Allegra’s fearful look dwindled.  “Calla, your nature is like that of a warrior, a defender and protector.  It may not seem like it, but Mason has feared you for some time.  You’re the one person he knows can challenge him.  He needs the energy in the carbonados.  However, there’s one power that can defy Mason no matter how big a following he has.”

Calla perched herself on the edge of the table.  “What’s that?”

Vortigern placed another plaster on her arm.  “That’s the one thing that even I don’t know.  But once we have the diamonds. It will be up to you to find out.”

Calla managed a weak nod.  If he hadn’t figured this entire thing out by now, how could she?

Calla felt all the pain leave her body.  She shot up with a spring.

Allegra set an arm around Calla’s shoulders.  “How do you feel?”

“All new again.”

They paced towards the door and an afterthought emerged.  “What happened to my parents, Vortigern?  Did you know them?”

He fell silent for a few moments.  “I don’t know.  We never found out what happened to them the moment they left you at the orphanage.”

Allegra held the door open.  “When your parents dropped you off at the orphanage, we lost all trace of them and the Deveron Manuscript.”

Sensing Allegra’s hesitancy, Calla perceived there was more to tell
.
Vortigern caught up with them and pulled Allegra to one side.  For several minutes, they exchanged hushed words.

Allegra leaned in towards Vortigern, her even voice commanding.  “We need to tell her.”

“What do you need to tell me?” Calla asked as Allegra glanced away.

Vortigern was first to respond.  “Calla, we sent several operatives back to the cliff to look for what’s left of your friends.  They found nothing.  I don’t think your friends made it.”

“There must be something!  Jack fell in the open space above the falls.”

Sympathy swept over Allegra’s face.  “I’m so sorry, Calla.  Regardless of whether we find them or not, you should know that you can’t rely on them any longer.  You can’t be tied to these people and get emotionally entrapped.” Allegra averted Calla’s eyes.  She lowered her face.  “It’s always been this way.”