The Siren Project (11 page)

“If this morning is any indication, these
people know what they’re doing. What about the rest of the intelligence
community?”

“Neutralized. Key people have got to be
keeping a lid on this thing. We don’t know who, and we don’t know if they’re
willing or unwilling. What we do know is that all the usual lines of
communication to all of the publicly known intelligence organizations are
closed.”

“All of them?”

She nodded.

“That’s incredible.”

“You would normally think it’s impossible. But
we’ve been cut off for months now. Quarantined might be a better word.”

Mitch was thoughtful as he struggled to
grasp the implications of the entire intelligence community being neutralized. “So
what’s the purpose of the research? What are they trying to do with it?”

She hesitated. “That's a difficult question
to answer.”

“Why?”

She shook her head, indicating she couldn’t
say more.

“Christa, why is it difficult?”

She looked down, almost a hint of
embarrassment.

Mitch studied her, perplexed, then it hit
him. “You want it? Your people want to get control!”

Her cheeks flushed. “Not for us, not for
our organization, not even for the intelligence community. We want it for the country.”

Mitch looked disgusted. “For the country! We’ve
already got the most powerful country on Earth. How many more God damned
weapons do we need?”

“Mitch, once a technology exists, there’s
no going back. If we don’t get control of it, someone else will.”

“Maybe, but how long will it take? Ten
years? Fifty? Jeez, it’s the birth of nuclear weapons all over again.”

“It’s got the potential to be more powerful
than nuclear weapons. Whoever has this technology will use it, and no one will
ever know.”

“That’s nuts. People always know. We bombed
Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. You think there was any way the whole world wasn’t
going to know about it, even if we wanted to keep it quiet.”

“It’s not a bomb, nothing so crude.”

Mitch calmed himself, silently making up
his mind. “Okay Princess, this is the deal. Either you tell me what the hell
this thing is, or you’re on your own. I mean it. You and Knightly, and all the
eggheads and spooks can go play your cloak and dagger games someplace else, and
me and the boys will disappear. And believe me, you won’t find us.”

“You made a deal.”

“Yes, and it’ll be the first one I’ve ever
broken, unless you can give me a good reason to help you get control of the
world’s next terror weapon.” The look of determination on his face surprised
her. “I’m betting Knightly is banking on us big time, so if I walk, he’s in
shit city.”

Christa hesitated. “Okay, here it is. Doctor
Steinus discovered how to artificially generate what is called an electro
neural pulse. ENP for short. It’s a subtle form of directed energy that can
modify the electrical pathways of the human brain.”

Mitch watched her, waiting for more. When
none came, he looked astonished. “Is that it? No planet killing bomb? No end of
the world apocalypse?”

Christa couldn’t mask her frustration. “I
knew you wouldn’t understand.”

“I understand. Some asshole in Washington
has figured out a way to melt my brain! Hell, I can get that for free, just by watching
television!”

“It’s not about melting your brain. What
happened to Rayborne was a mistake. It’s not supposed to work like that. But
the technology is still so new, as far as we can tell, there's only about a
twenty to thirty percent chance of success. When it fails, that happens.”

“When it fails? Rayborne was as good as
dead! That’s a pretty damn good anti-personnel weapon, but it’s not exactly
Armageddon.”

“It’s not supposed to destroy people’s
brains. It’s about mind control, or will be when it’s perfected. It’s very
complex, and it doesn’t work on everyone. We have no way of knowing who it
works on, and who it doesn’t. But when it fails, you end up like Rayborne, or
you end up dead. So they can’t use it whenever they want, at least not yet. It
would show their hand if lots of people started having brain hemorrhages.”

Mitch sobered. “Mind control? You’re
serious?”

“Brainwashing techniques have been around
for a long time. Whether it was religious brainwashing, like in cults, or brainwashing
prisoners of war, it’s a proven capability. The difference is now, someone is
developing a machine to do it quickly and efficiently. It’s the
industrialization of the process. It will mean brainwashing, or mind control, will
be possible on a massive scale. And in total secret.”

“Mind control,” Mitch said again, pondering
the implications. “Doesn’t really fit with the whole land of the free, home of
the brave crap, does it?”

“No, it doesn’t. The thing is, whoever
controls this technology, can control . . . well, anything on Earth.”

“So I could make my bookie forgive my
debts?” Mitch asked laconically.

Christa locked eyes with Mitch, deadly
serious. “Or we could take control of every terrorist leader on Earth, and have
them spill their guts, tell us every secret there is. Game over! That’s why we
want it.”

“If for a minute, I believe what you say, it’s
tough to imagine someone hijacking all this technology.”

“The Star Wars research was highly
compartmentalized for security reasons. Move a compartment away here, then one
there. Because they were so isolated, no one realized. When our people stumbled
on the missing projects, we initially thought it was just some bureaucratic
mistake. Then several of our people disappeared and one turned up like
Rayborne.”

“They were attempting to seal up the breach
in secrecy?”

“Yes. We sent two more people to follow up
the investigation, and they ended up severely brain damaged also. We had no
idea what they were doing with our people. We thought it was some kind of
punishment, or torture. We sent another investigator, who found nothing, and
returned to us unharmed.”

“They went underground?”

“No, they succeeded with him, and that’s
when things fell apart. We didn’t realize it then, but each time we’d sent
someone to follow up, they used the ENP technology on them. It took a number of
attempts on our people before they succeeded. Now they know everything that
agent knew.”

“Damn!” Mitch clicked his fingers in a
flash of realization. “Knightly said he needed me because he didn’t know who he
could trust. I thought it was BS, but he meant it!”

“Yes, he did.”

“You’ve got plenty of people qualified to
do this job, but they know too much about your organization, whereas I know
nothing. If they got their brains melted and spilled their guts, you’re in
deeper trouble than you are already. Whereas, me and my guys know dick about your
operation. If we get caught, and they melt our brains, who cares. That’s it,
isn’t it? That’s why you guys don’t want to tell us anything.”

Christa nodded. “Yes. I’m sorry, we had no
choice. We can’t use our own people.”

“But you’re their ‘people’. What are you
doing here?”

“I’m sensitive to the effects of this
technology.”

“Yeah, I noticed.”

“No, not like that, not the thing from the
helicopter. When someone has had the electrical pathways in their brain
altered, it affects the free flow of thoughts and feelings a person has. It’s
like when you break your leg, and the doctor uses splints to keep the bone
straight and in position. It’s hard to explain, but I can sense those splints. I’m
like the canary coal miners used to take into mines to smell the air, telling
them it was okay to breath.”

“That’s not a good analogy, Princess. If
there was gas, the canary died.”

“I noticed the ‘splints’ first on our agent
who became controlled. I didn’t realize it at the time, I’d never sensed
anything like that. I just thought he was having emotional problems. But later,
when we knew he had changed sides, that’s when I figured it out. By then, he'd
already done a lot of damage to us.”

“What happened to him?”

“We tried to interrogate him, and study
him, but . . .” She shook her head.

“You killed him?”

“No! He was our friend. It wasn’t his
fault. No, the first chance he got, he committed suicide. We think it was part
of the programming, so we couldn’t find out anything.”

Mitch sat back thoughtfully. “Right, so we
got a bunch of whack-jobs out there with a ray gun that can melt my brain and
my best defense is a spooky ice Princess who belongs on the X-Files with a
ouija board.”

“I’m not spooky!”

“You’re a little spooky. And as I see it,
if they catch you, and zap your brain with their gizmo, you could tell them
plenty, providing you’re not one of the unfortunate seventy five percent who
turns into a cabbage. So that makes you a mighty big security risk. You
shouldn’t be here, and what’s more, if you’re caught, and if you’re a good
candidate for brain melting, you could give away me and my guys.”

Christa shook her head. “It won’t work on
me.”

“You said you can’t tell who’s susceptible.
You could be one of the lucky ones.”

“I have an implant.”

Mitch sat up, eyes wide. “You have a what?”

“An implant. It’s a small device implanted
in the base of my skull, just there.” She touched the back of her head, a few
inches above her neck.

“That’s what you were feeling for before,
after the thing with the helicopter?”

“Yes. I wondered if it'd been damaged, but
it's shielded against radiation. That protected it.”

“Why does it need shielding? In fact, what
the hell is it doing in your head?”

“The implant is shielded because it needs
to withstand the ENP process, so it can determine if the electrical patterning
in my brain becomes abnormal. If it detects abnormalities, it will kill me.”

Mitch was dumbfounded. “You’re off this
mission! As of right now.”

“I know the risks, Mitch. I volunteered for
this assignment. I accepted the implant, knowing what it would mean. For the
implant to kill me, they will have to capture me, then take me to a secure
facility where they can attempt to control me. The chances of that occurring
are pretty low, especially as I’m now packing heat on two coasts.” She smiled as
she patted her purse.

“Does everyone who works for Knightly have
one of those things stuck in their heads?”

“No, only me. It’s a prototype, the first
of its kind. In time, maybe everyone will get one, but so far, I’ve got the
only one we’ve been able to build.”

“So what was the thing that flattened you?”

“It was a directed energy weapon. Judging
by what it did to your phone, it was designed to short out electrical systems. I
haven't seen it before, but it must have come out of the original antimissile program.
It wasn’t an ENP device.”

Mitch had an uncomfortable feeling in the
pit of his stomach. “We’re calling Knightly, and telling him you’re going back.”

Christa shook her head. “No. If you get
anywhere near succeeding, you’re going to need me. That’s why Gus sent me on
this mission.”

Mitch was silent for a long time. “If we
get this ENP technology, then what?”

“Then we eliminate whoever is controlling
this thing. Not a word of it can ever get out.”

“Oh, did I mention I charge extra for
assassinations?”

* * * *

Mitch fed coins into the public
telephone while Christa waited outside the phone booth, keeping a look out. Mouse
answered the telephone almost immediately.

“We made it,” Mitch said. “They’ve probably
traced me already, so assume your location is no longer secure.”

“We’re way ahead of you. We’ve already
emptied the place. I was about to set up a remote relay on the phone when you
rang.”

“Good. Some of these guys are ex-NSA, so be
careful.”

“Ouch,” Mouse said. “We’ll use contact plan
B.”

“Agreed, but stay mobile. These guys are
using technology none of us has ever seen before.”

“I got it on DVD, from the hotel security
cameras. G and I are working the data. It doesn’t look good. We have to assume
they can short out anything electrical.”

“They might try to trace the scrambler, and
some of the other stuff I had to leave in the hotel room, so–”

“Shit!” Mouse declared as the scanner
beside his phone began beeping, warning him of a frequency variation in the
telephone signal. “They just tapped the line.” Mouse said, then hung up.

Mitch spoke to Christa as he fed in more
coins and dialed again. “They’ve found Malibu already. Mouse and Gunter are
abandoning the beach house.”

Christa gave him a worried look as Mathew
Prescott’s machine answered the call.

“Mat, pick up.” Mitch commanded, but there
was no answer. “Mat, those friends of mine in the photos dropped in for a
visit. They probably saw us in the car together, so expect them. Their
conversation is boring, so don’t be around when they arrive. See you later,
buddy.”