Address criticisms to [xazqrten@cox.net]
******************************
Sunday morning in a high security facility somewhere on the North American
continent:
General Sanchez sat at the head of the table in the small conference room.
He looked at Major Brown and the civilian director, Jim Fallon. “What’s this
all about, Major Brown?”
“You attended the change of command of General Wayne, sir. That in itself is
nothing to worry about, but you left the ceremony immediately after having a
very short meeting with General Wayne in the back seat of a limousine. The car
then transported you to the base BOQ where you got a room and weren’t seen
again until very early Saturday morning when you flew out of the civilian side
of the Stockton airport, sir.”
Sanchez looked at Fallon. “Are you going to join in, Jim?”
“I don’t even know what this is about, much less have anything to join in.
Continue, Major Brown. Make your point or points,” said Fallon.
“Are either of you aware that General Wayne took the President and her
husband, Charles Wayne, and Generals Leftcourt and Ames, on a trip to the
whitestar that was in orbit above Stockton? Did either of you know that Charles
Wayne didn’t return with the other members of that little group, sirs?”
“Why didn’t your people stop him, major?” asked Fallon.
“They couldn’t. General Wayne and the others left from the crowd immediately
after her short meeting with General Sanchez. They never had a chance to get
close to him again. I’ve been informed that earlier this morning the whitestar
broke orbit and immediately jumped to hyperspace. We have no idea where it
went.”
“Charles Wayne is no longer on Earth and we have no idea where he is. Is
that the long and short of it, major?”
“I’m afraid it is, General Sanchez. Also, my people tell me that the
President has assigned a security detail to protect General Wayne.”
Fallon looked disturbed. “Is it possible that she somehow became aware of
our plans, Manuel?”
“I don’t see how. Susan had suspicions after she met with Major Brown and
me, but there wasn’t anything for her to learn then. At that time, we didn’t
even have her figure in our plans for her husband.”
“One of our men kept you under surveillance after you went to the BOQ, but
he went to get something to eat during his observation time and subsequently
there is about an hour during which time the BOQ wasn’t under direct
surveillance. Our man obtained the security recordings for that time period.”
Brown hesitated and looked at Sanchez.
“Get on with it, major,” said Sanchez.
“There was nothing in the recordings to show that anyone even came near your
room except…”
“Except what, Major Brown?” asked Fallon.
“At two points, about forty-five minutes apart, the security recordings have
glitches that last for almost a minute and a half each time.”
“What does that prove?” asked Fallon.
“I’m not sure it proves anything, gentlemen. I just think that the timing of
the assignment of General Wayne’s security detail is too damned convenient to
be a coincidence. Somehow, someone got to General Sanchez while he was sacked
out at the BOQ. I’m not buying the two glitches in the building security
monitoring system.”
“He seems to have valid points, Manuel.”
“A bit too damned valid for my liking,” responded Sanchez. After a few
moments, he continued, “What’s on your mind, Major Brown. Remember, we’re
walking on some pretty damned thin ice about now.”
“We accepted that after we handled the ‘Charles Wayne’ problem, we would
have to handle his wife. She wasn’t giving us any choice.”
“How about giving me a rundown on exactly what we’re talking about,”
requested Fallon. “I thought we were going to eliminate Charles Wayne as an
unacceptable security risk.”
“That was the plan, Jim, until we had the talk with General Wayne. She
became aware of what we were planning for her husband. I tried to assure her
that she was mistaken, but she’s a damned telepath. She could hear our
unshielded thoughts without even scanning us. She told us right to our faces
that if anything happened to her husband, she would come gunning for me, Major
Brown, and the whole damned command. She’s in a position to tear us a new
asshole because she has support all the way to the top. We decided to eliminate
her too,” explained Sanchez.
Fallon looked first at Sanchez then at Brown. The expression on his face
fairly screamed that he thought both of the men were crazy for even suggesting
what they were in fact suggesting. “You can’t be serious,” he said just above a
whisper.
No one immediately answered him. Almost a full minute later, Fallon
said, “Both of you are insane. I’ve read the various stories about her, and how
she managed to survive the attack from the Minbari war cruiser. What the hell
did you expect to learn from her at your meeting? Didn’t anyone ever tell you
to stay the hell away from telepaths? Especially if you know something you
don’t want them to learn?”
“We’ve done this before, Jim. Don’t tell me you’re growing scruples.”
“What we did before didn’t involve someone who’s a damned certified hero,
the highest profile telepath in the EA, nor had friends that reach all the way
to the President.”
“Accidents happen all the time, Jim. She’s not immune to them.”
“Do what you think you have to do, Manuel. Just to let you know; I’ll be
putting my affairs in order, because if you fail, we’re all as good as dead.”
“I’ll handle it, General Sanchez,” said Major Brown. “Meeting with her was
my idea. I should’ve let well enough alone.”
******************************
Renaldo Carlucci didn’t look at all like someone of Italian extraction. The
reason for this was explained when one looked at his ancestry. Although Renaldo
had an obviously Italian name, he could count at least eight separate cultural
groups in his linage, which caused him to lack any really distinctive cultural
physical features. Renaldo could walk into any small group of people and
literally disappear. For a man in his line of work this was an invaluable
asset. At forty-five, he was an old man in the assassination business. He had
been working in the business ever since he was eighteen.
Carlucci’s first hit had been something of an accident. A low level hood had
tried to skim money from one of his boss’ endeavors. As a result of this
momentary loss of ‘honor’ and ‘trust’, an open contract had been let for him.
Renaldo hadn’t even been aware of the contract and wouldn’t have known what to
do if he had, but he had the luck of running the man down as he jaywalked from
between two automobiles. Whether that luck could be considered good or bad was
open to question. He was shocked when he was approached by a ‘made man’ and
handed an envelope that contained two thousand credits. Once he understood what
it was all about, Renaldo had an epiphany and found his life’s work. Early in
his ‘career’, Renaldo decided to disappear. In this effort he was exceptionally
successful. He faked his own death and Renaldo Carlucci ceased to exist.
The man born Renaldo Carlucci no longer existed, but the assassin known by
more than a hundred aliases over the years never dealt directly with any of the
people to whom he provided services. The people who employed his services would
not have known him if they met him. That one of the entities to which he
provided services was Earthforce Intelligence while remaining totally anonymous
bore witness to the effectiveness of his efforts.
Renaldo studied his latest offer of employment carefully. Over the years he
had accepted some contracts with reservations - many of these he had
subcontracted out. On a few occasions, this precaution had allowed him to live
to see another sunrise because they had been carefully constructed traps. He
never asked why a particular contract was let. He didn’t care. This time he was
tempted to make an exception. He looked at the target’s picture again. She
looked to be in her middle to late twenties and had very dark brown hair with
deep red highlights. She was beautiful. He knew her from seeing her face on the
various newscasts that he enjoyed watching.
He had reservations about this contract because quite a bit of pertinent
information was left out of the dossier that had been provided with the
employment offer. There was no mention about her being a telepath, nor was
there any mention that she had some of the most powerful friends in the
Interstellar Alliance. She was a high-ranking member of the EA and IA military
organizations and her best friend was the telepath Lyta Alexander. The target
had just been assigned a secret service security detail. Renaldo determined
that if he took this contract and successfully completed it, he would have to
completely disappear from Earth Alliance and Interstellar Alliance space.
Within the confines of space controlled by those political entities he would
never be safe – maybe he wouldn’t be safe anywhere in the known galaxy. He had
a feeling that the IA Rangers would never rest until they exacted their revenge
for her assassination.
He kept thinking about it and, after a while, decided that if he took the
assignment, it would have to be for enough to let him retire for life. If he
was going to kill Lieutenant General Susan Ivanova-Wayne, it was going to cost
Earthforce Intelligence ten million credits. It was time to find out if they
would put up or shut up. With that thought in mind he replied to the offer.
******************************
Major Brown and one of the agency’s internal assassins were looking at
Carlucci’s reply.
“Who does he think he is?” asked Brown’s companion. “We can get two dozen
hit men for less than one tenth of that.”
“I know we can, but not if we want the job done right. We neglected to tell
him some very important details about his target, but that apparently didn’t
keep him from learning about them anyway. He knows he’s finished anywhere in IA
or EA space once he finishes the job, assuming he is a he and not a she. As far
as I know, assassins come in both sexes.”
“Why don’t we agree to his terms and then take him or her out?”
Brown looked at his associate as if he had suddenly donned a dunce cap. “We
have no idea who he or she is. If we do something stupid like trying a double-
cross, some of us could end up very dead.”
“I didn’t know there were degrees of being dead.”
“I don’t have authority to authorize this. I’m going to have to pass it
upstairs.”
******************************
General Sanchez looked across the desk at Major Brown. “You can’t be
serious. Where would we get that kind of untraceable money?”
“The same place we have been getting it for the past decade or so, general.”
Sanchez thought about it and asked, “Do we have those kinds of assets
available?”
Brown smiled, “That and much more, general.”
“Give it to our people first. If they screw it up, then you can pass it off.”
“As you wish, general. I’m going to have them take her out in Atlanta.”
“That doesn’t give them much time to prepare.”
“They’ve been drooling at the prospects of this job, general. They’re more
than ready.”
******************************
Major Brown was meeting with his assassin again. “General Sanchez said to
give your people a shot at it first. You have to take her down in Atlanta.”
“Not a problem, Major Brown. We won’t disappoint you or the general.”
******************************
Renaldo Carlucci looked at the display and wondered what the EA clowns were
trying to do. It had been more than four hours since he had sent his reply to
the EA people and he had not received a reply. He had a feeling that they were
choking on his monetary requirements. He also had a feeling that before Monday
was over and done with he would hear about their efforts on the main news
channels. If that were how things played out, they’d wish they had accepted his
first offer.
******************************
Sunday afternoon at the Stockton Airport:
Susan and Captain Jerry Heigl climbed down from the cockpit of the aircraft.
Susan spoke to Captain Heigl and requested that he set up times for her to use
the simulator to work through in-flight equipment failures. They were
approached by a woman and man dressed in what appeared to be mid-priced
business suits.
The woman spoke, “General Wayne, we need to have a word with you.”
“And you are?” asked Susan.
“My name is Janice Baar and this is my partner, Oliver Ellison. We’re
assigned to head up your security detail, sir.”
Susan looked at Heigl then at Baar and Ellison. “Since when do I have a
security detail? Security details are for politicians and people who have lots
of enemies.”
The agents didn’t immediately respond.
“Who sent you? I want to know who to cripple.”
“My supervisor said the word came down from the President, sir,” replied
Baar.
“Not very damned likely, Agent Baar.”
The woman handed Susan what looked like a regular everyday cell phone. “Just
punch in code 24426 and then transmit, General Wayne.”
Susan followed the woman’s instructions and listened to a ring on the other
end. It wasn’t a normal ringing tone. Susan looked at Baar.
“It’s a class ‘A’ encrypted portable device, general,” responded Baar.
President Luchenko’s voice answered, “Yes?”
Susan was stunned. “President Luchenko?”
Recognizing Susan’s voice, the President said, “General Wayne, I see you’ve
met Agents Baar and Ellison. They’re heading up your security detail. Walter
Egan and Tom Leftcourt said that you wouldn’t care for this arrangement. They
didn’t go into much detail, but since they double-teamed me, I agreed to the
request. You’re one of the highest profile telepaths that Earth has ever had.
As such, you’re a prime target for the ‘Dead Telepath is a Good Telepath’
lunatic fringe group. You may even be in more danger than I am. Don’t blame the
agents. They’re only following orders.”
“Yes, ma’am,” replied Susan.
Susan handed the device back to Baar. “Okay, Ms. Baar. You have a job to do.
Tell me what you want me to do. I’ve never had a security detail assigned to me
before. Now what can you tell me about this DTGT outfit?”
Baar said, “When we get into the car, sir, I’ll give you a file to read. It
has much more information than I can give you. If what little I’ve seen in the
file is genuine, they’re about as dangerous as any of those groups get.”
******************************
In the rear seat of the car on the way to her quarters, Susan opened the
folder that Agent Baar handed her. She looked at the first page. It was an all
text police report. It had reference to several photo identification numbers.
Susan lifted the blank sheet on the left side of the folder. Agents Baar and
Ellison watched to see what her reaction to the first picture would be. Susan
looked at the pictures and never changed her expression.
“Messy,” was her only comment.
“The police departments that first encountered these murders thought they
were isolated revenge killings, General Wayne. It only became known what they
represented a few months ago. It seems that various police departments began to
receive anonymous phone calls about a group that called itself the ‘Dead
Telepath is a Good Telepath’ (DTGT) movement. Since then, the phone calls have
continued. What the police can check out has verified the authenticity of the
callers’ claims. Police records indicate that even before the phone-in
information started that an unknown group identifying itself as the ‘A Dead
Telepath is a Good Telepath’ group claimed the responsibility for some of the
killings. The problem was that none of the local police departments could even
find anyone who had ever heard of the group. It seemed to exist, but no one on
the street had the first shred of information about it. They thought it might
be just one killer trying to throw them off.”
Susan had stopped reading to listen to Agent Baar. She thought about what
she was hearing. “Have there been any explanations or theories as to why these
callers decided to phone the police when they did?”
“Not that I’m aware of, sir,” replied Baar.
“From these reports and photos, the murders started several years ago. Their
beginning seems to just about coincide with the ending of the telepath war.”
Neither Baar nor Ellison replied for a few moments. Then Ellison asked, “Why
would they wait until then to start the killing. These things might have been
going on well before that.”
“I seriously doubt that, Agent Ellison. If any murders like these of
telepaths had happened while Psi Corps was still a viable entity, Alfred Bester
and some other psi cops I’ve met in the past would have torn the planet apart
until they found the guilty parties, and what they would have done as
punishment... Let’s just say it makes the horror shown in these photos look
like a walk in a peaceful park.”
The two agents stared at Susan.
Agent Baar changed the subject. “General Wayne, you need to know that my
people are installing monitoring devices in and around your quarters and in and
around your headquarters building. Since you work out at the base gym and
sometimes eat at the base mess hall, we’re also looking them over.”
“It’s your show Agent Baar. These pictures should be enough to convince even
an ignorant cinder block that the threat is very real. Just try and interfere
with my normal life, if there ever was such a thing, as little as possible.”
Agent Baar, looking a bit puzzled, said, “You seem to be taking all this
rather well, General Wayne. I was led to believe we’d have to drag you along,
with you kicking and screaming all the way.”
“The Secretary of Defense and the CJCS thought it was serious enough to go
to President Luchenko and get her to authorize this effort. I may be
hardheaded, but I’m not terminally stupid. I can easily kill two, maybe even
three or four attackers in hand-to-hand combat – depending upon their expertise
in that arena. You, in your job, are fully aware of the fact that a determined
assassin who has no concern for his own life may be impossible to stop. I have
a job or jobs to do, Agent Baar. You and your people have yours – seeing to it
that I live long enough to do mine.”
Susan returned to reading the police reports and viewing the pictures. To
describe the images as sickening would have been a gross understatement. A few
minutes later, the car pulled into Susan’s driveway. As she exited the vehicle
she saw a workman on the roof of the building.
******************************
Susan sat at the dining room table eating a sandwich, and reading resumes of
people Colonel Mark Pearson had provided. At the other end of the table, Agents
Baar and Ellison ate lunch in silence. Mary entered the room and got Susan’s
attention.
“General Wayne, these people are on travel orders with full per diem. How
should I charge the meals to their home command?”
Both Baar and Ellison looked at Mary. Susan thought about it for a few
moments. “I really don’t know. I suppose same as the mess hall would for the
same meal, breakfast, lunch, supper or brunch as is proper.”
Mary looked at the two agents. “The money would be credited to the mess
hall, even though the food is not from there.”
“We’ve never been in a situation quite like this, General Wayne. I’m sure
that there is something in the Joint Travel Manual that covers it, but I
haven’t a clue what it might be,” responded Baar.
“I’m due to appear in court in a suburb of greater Atlanta, Georgia. Are you
ready to handle that?”
“Yes sir. We have a team there now. They brought a ground vehicle with them.
I assume you’re going to use your shuttle,” responded Baar.
“Yes. I’m flying into Atlanta. They have a municipal airport there. The
trial is going to be held in Griffin, the city where the assault occurred. It’s
just a short drive from greater Atlanta. I’ll be arriving at 0700 hours Atlanta
time. I think that at least one of you should accompany me.”
“I’ll accompany you, General Wayne,” said Baar. “What time do we leave?”
“0100 hours our time. I don’t want complaints about sonic booms, so it’s
going to take us about three hours to make the trip. Besides, we’re in no
hurry.”
Susan took several more bites of food, and then she thoughtfully
asked, “Have either of you ever been involved in a real live shootout. Better
yet, have either of you ever killed anyone?”
Agent Baar replied, “No sir, I’ve never been involved in a shootout, much
less killed anyone.”
Agent Ellison, the older of the two, responded, “When I worked for the
Chicago police force, I was involved in several shootouts, but I can’t swear
than any of my rounds ever actually killed anyone; however, it’s possible.”
“So, the truth is that neither of you have ever actually personally killed
anyone, much less having done so as a preemptive measure.”
Both agents nodded assent at this statement.
“Might I ask what you carry for firearms? All I carry is my denn’bok.”
Agent Ellison drew his weapon, removed the ammunition clip, cleared the
weapon’s chamber and the handed it to Susan. “It’s a nine-millimeter. I use
Teflon coated ‘cop-killer’ armor piercing loads. It’s effective against light
body armor, but useless against military-issue body armor.”
Susan examined the pistol and clip. “Fourteen in the clip and one in the
chamber - nice weapon, but can you bring yourself to shoot first, Agent
Ellison?”
“I don’t know.”
Agent Baar pulled a monstrous pistol from a shoulder holster and after
unloading it, handed it to Susan. “It’s essentially a modified version of an
old design known as a ‘Desert Eagle’. It’s shoots a thirteen-millimeter bullet –
steel jacketed and coated with Teflon. It has an integral muzzle brake and
uses a combination powder load. The barrel is 210 millimeters long. The muzzle
velocity is 850 meters per second. It will punch a hole through both sides of
military body armor and make mush out of the body wearing the armor.”
Susan handled the weapon and smiled. “If you used this thing on Babylon 5,
they’d lock you up and throw away the key. I suppose you have a good reason for
carrying this ‘hand cannon’?”
“We’ve lost some people in shootouts with perps who were wearing body armor.
In two instances, the armor in question was stolen military body armor. The
weapon and load that Ollie carries is the minimum allowed for secret service
agents now.”
“I don’t suppose we could go over to the shooting range and let me try this
thing out. I’ll pay for the ammunition.”
******************************
Susan stood at the ready holding the heavy pistol in the firing position.
She pulled the trigger. Even being ready for the heavy recoil didn’t prevent
her from rocking back on her feet slightly. She was thinking that she had fired
military rifles that didn’t have this much recoil. She had just finished
capping off four clips using Agent Ellison’s nine-millimeter weapon. It seemed
like a popgun compared to the larger caliber pistol. At Susan’s order, the
range operator had obtained a piece of steel 30 centimeters square and eight
millimeters thick. He placed this metal plate on a chair about ten meters from
Susan’s shooting position.
Studying the target carefully, Susan aimed at the center of the plate, which
massed just over twenty kilograms, and fired. Again, she was rocked slightly by
the tremendous recoil. The plate was thrown backward off the chair landing
almost ten meters farther away from Susan’s shooting position.
The range operator retrieved the metal plate and handed it to Susan. Susan
studied the plate. The two-centimeter hole through what had been a smooth
surfaced metal plate impressed her. She watched the expressions on the faces of
Agents Baar and Ellison as they looked at the plate. It was obvious that Agent
Baar had never done more than shoot at paper targets with the weapon she
carried. While Agents Baar and Ellison discussed the metal plate, Susan
reloaded the pistol’s clip. Even as large as the weapon was it only held seven
rounds in its clip.
Susan ran a paper target with the outline of a man’s upper torso printed on
it out to the fifteen-meter mark on the range. Steadying herself, Susan rapid
fired eight rounds into the target. She retrieved the target and looked at her
results. She was very pleased with them.
The range operator used a pencil and protractor and calculated the center of
the pattern that Susan had shot. A circle just over ten centimeters in diameter
neatly enclosed all of the eight bullet holes.
Susan looked at her security agents and said, “I really would like to have
one of these things. Next time a large car cuts me off in traffic, I can kill
it.”
Agents Baar and Ellison traded looks that said they didn’t know if Susan was
kidding or not. The range operator handed Susan the target and said, “You’re
one hell of a shot, General Wayne. Remind me to never get into a shootout with
you.”
They returned to Susan’s quarters and Susan spent the remainder of the day
reviewing resumes and practicing playing the various instruments in her music
room. At 0100 hours Stockton time, she and Agent Baar departed for Atlanta in
her shuttle.
******************************
Susan’s trip to Atlanta, including her car trip to the Griffin courthouse,
was routine. Although Griffin had been incorporated into Atlanta years before,
the state had left the local court operations intact.
There was a small crowd gathered just outside the courtroom. The prosecuting
attorney approached Susan and introduced his two assistants. He noticed that
her collar devices were three stars rather than the one that she had at their
last meeting.
“I see that your hardware is a bit heavier this time out, General Wayne.”
“Yes it is, but you should see what they want me to do for it.”
“Hello, General Wayne. Welcome back to the Griffin district courthouse,”
said Detective Sergeant Hank Lewis. Detective Sergeant Victor Lane, Lewis’
partner, was with him.
“Sergeant Lewis, did you enjoy the remainder of your weekend as I
suggested?” asked Susan with a smile.
“Yes I did, General Wayne. I enjoyed it thoroughly. My wife is still trying
to figure out what caused me to change my family focus.”
“I’m happy I could be of assistance.”
This conversation bewildered Rudy Nash and his assistants. The expressions
on their faces said as much.
Detective Lewis looked at them and explained, “I was caught up in the
investigation of the abduction and assault on General Wayne. She helped me see
the frustration that my fixation on the case was causing my family.”
“Oh?” commented Nash’s assistant, Janey Webb.
Nobody noticed that Susan looked distracted. She had lowered her mental
shields and was listening to the background noise. She thought she heard
someone singing nursery rhymes. She looked around the wide hallway, there were
a fair number of people distributed along its length, but she saw nothing out
of place.
At that time, the courtroom doors were unlocked and the waiting people
entered and seated themselves.
Susan sat in the courtroom and studied the separate defense attorneys. She
noted that Brad Willis wasn’t included in the group. The attorneys were sitting
at different tables, which didn’t surprise Susan, considering that the driver
and the other two would-be abductors had turned states evidence against Matthew
Walsh. She also noted that Walsh was the only defendant present.
Susan was sitting on the gallery side of the handrail that divided the
attorney area from the gallery part of the courtroom and directly behind the
prosecuting attorney’s table. She leaned across the handrail and
asked, “Where’s Brad Willis? I thought he would be representing the Walsh kid.”
Janey Webb turned and said, “He’s in trouble with the state bar association.
His license has been suspended pending a full hearing. The telepath fiasco at
the preliminary trial might have been the last straw for him.”
Susan replied, “Oh!”
“There’s nothing to worry about, General Wayne. His replacement is not
inclined to such things, but he is very good.”
Rudy Nash turned to Webb and said, “General Wayne took Brad Willis apart at
the preliminary hearing. His replacement Jerry Thomas might keep that fact in
mind when he has his go at her.”
Susan was ‘listening’ with her mental walls down. She was trying to sort out
what she was ‘hearing’. She was absolutely sure that she was ‘hearing’ several
people mentally singing nursery rhymes and doing mathematics problems. Charley
had demonstrated how these activities could interfere with a telepath trying to
scan someone even a non-telepath. He had also demonstrated that doing this when
one was in a crowd could allow a telepath who was ‘listening’ to quickly pick
that person out of said crowd. It made the person stand out like he or she was
a beacon.
She began concentrating on the singing and soon separated out the efforts of
six different individuals. There were five people busy doing math problems in
their minds. [What are eleven people doing here that requires them to behave as
if they’re trying to shield their thoughts from a telepath?] It didn’t take her
but a few seconds to come to a conclusion. She wasn’t happy at her evaluation
of the situation. [Crap! The bastards are going to try and kill me here. There
must be several hundred innocent people in the building.]
“Hello, Susan.”
Susan turned and faced her old wingman and his wife. “What brings you to
these proceedings, Wally?”
“You, of course. I want to invite you to lunch if you finish early enough.
There’s a club in Atlanta that some of my friends and I use for business
meetings. The food is quite good.”
Susan thought about it for a moment. “I’d be pleased to accept. Could I
persuade you to leave me a number to reach you then you and Helen to leave the
courthouse now?”
Ivanova had barely finished asking Wally and Helen to leave the courtroom.
Agent Baar asked, “What’s wrong, General? What is the nature of the danger that
you want your friends to leave?”
Susan got up and said, “Follow me.”
Wally, Helen and Agent Baar followed Susan out of the courtroom. Susan
walked about five meters then turned to look at her friends and the
agent. “I’ve been letting my mental barriers down. I’ve detected eleven
different minds either singing nursery rhymes or doing math problems. For your
information, that’s what non-telepaths are trained to do to keep their thoughts
hidden from telepaths. It works up to a point. A high-powered telepath can
break through such barriers relative easily. The main downside is that such a
forced scan usually does permanent damage to the person being scanned.”
“Do you know what they’re up to, General Wayne?” asked Baar.
“No. But, I think it almost has to have something to do with me. I’m a
pretty high-profile telepath, and I have an assigned security team. Why would
there be so many people here trying to hide their thoughts. My instincts tell
me that something is up and I’m definitely not going to like it.”
Helen broke in, “Susan, your instincts have kept Wally alive in more than
one situation. We’ll be waiting for your call. Come on Wally.”
Wallace followed his wife toward the front doors of the building. Susan
looked back at Agent Baar. “Is there any way we can get the local police
interested? I’d damn sure like to have their SWAT team on standby.”
“I can call and ask, General Wayne, but with no more than you have to go on,
I don’t think they are going to give us the time of day.”
“I’m going for a walk around the building. We have a bit over fifteen
minutes before court actually starts. Agent Baar, record your calls.”
“Yes, sir.”
Susan walked down the passageway, keeping her mental barriers down and
visually scanning everyone she saw, hoping to find one of the people trying to
shield their thoughts.
******************************
A man watching Susan took out a cell phone and dialed a number. The person
on the other end of the connection answered asking, “What do you have?”
“The general seems to be taking a walking tour of the courthouse. She just
sent two of her friends out of the building and told her security chief to try
to get the local police to put their SWAT team on what amounts to hot standby.
She explained to her friends and security chief that she has detected at least
eleven people in the building trying to purposefully hide their thoughts from
telepaths. I’d say off-hand that she is aware of the ‘spook’ hit team. I just
wonder why she hasn’t picked up on the twelfth member – unless he isn’t
singing. ”
“He or she may be a telepath. If that were true, he or she wouldn’t need to
hide their thoughts. They’re trained to do it on normal basis, so they wouldn’t
stand out in a crowd.”
“I gotta go, she’s headed upstairs.”
Putting the cell phone in his pocket the man walked quickly after Susan.
******************************
Susan walked down the hallway on the second floor of the building. She could
feel the singing and math problems thoughts much stronger now. As she walked
down the hallway, she noted that some of the thoughts seemed to come from
behind closed doors, as if their owners were in some of the offices there.
Halfway down the hallway, Susan stopped and surveyed everyone she could see. At
the end of the hallway was a woman who was looking out of the window at
whatever was happening in the street below. Susan realized the woman was one of
the ‘singers’.
Susan continued walking down the passageway and stopped in front of the
emergency exit. It was an alarmed door. She studied it for a few moments and
then moved to look out the tall window. The view was of the exterior wall of
the building across the side street. “What a waste of a window, said Susan to
no one in particular.”
“Good observation, General Wayne. I believe that when this building was
built some two hundred years ago, the area overlooked by the window was a
public park,” said a male voice from somewhere behind her.
The woman singing the songs in her head was only a meter away from Susan. It
took all of her control to keep from pulling the pistol she carried from her
handbag and shooting Susan. She silently observed the interaction between the
middle-aged man and Susan.
Turning to see who had spoken to her, Susan saw a non-descript middle-aged
man. “You have me at disadvantage, Mister...,”
“Tyler, General Ivanova, Edward Tyler. I’m the court reporter for ‘The
Atlanta Times’.”
“What can I do for you, Mister Tyler?”
“How about an autograph for my son? He watched your video and now he has a
crush on you.”
The female assassin saw a look of complete confusion cross Susan’s face. “My
what?”
“He has a crush on you, and since I ran into you here, I thought I might get
your autograph for him.”
“I understand about the autograph, but what is this video you’re talking
about?”
“My son watches the music channels. There was a video that showed you
sitting alone in a music room playing some songs. He showed me your video and I
have to admit that I’d never heard of all but one of the songs you played.”
Susan knew immediately what he was talking about – her performance in the
music store. “I didn’t even know that it was made available for public
consumption. That was the first time I’d played any musical instruments or sang
in almost twenty years. It wasn’t even good amateur work.”
By now the female assassin had made the mistake of becoming interested in
what was transpiring between Susan and the reporter. She let her guard down
and stopped singing the songs in her head and broadcast her desire to kill
Susan. Susan didn’t waste a millisecond. She immediately started scanning the
woman, even as she continued discourse with Tyler. The woman never knew that
she had been scanned.
Susan and Tyler walked away from the woman even as Susan continued to scan
her for everything she could learn. She got the entire plan that was to be
implemented by the kill team. She also got images of all the other members and
couldn’t quite accept that the woman had knowledge of who had authorized this
scenario, Major Brown. Susan knew that this required the okay from someone a
lot higher on the food chain than the good major. Her money was on Lieutenant
General Manuel Sanchez.
It took all of her control for the female assassin to not attempt killing
Susan while she had the opportunity. The woman was only a few meters away. She
spoke under her breath and the ear microphone/earphone transmitted her words to
the commander of the kill squad. She was admonished to just keep an eye on
things happening on the second floor of the building.
Susan and Tyler took a short tour of the third and forth floors of the
building, there were only more offices. Susan returned to Courtroom A.
In the meantime, the female assassin had gone back to singing songs in her
head without being aware of the security breach she had just committed.
******************************
Back in the courtroom Agent Baar was telling Susan, “I called the local
police and got hold of a police lieutenant named Ray Davis, but he passed me
off to a Captain Ralph Noland. The captain said that he couldn’t put his team
on standby without authorization from the chief of police.”
“I assume that you explained who you are and why you wanted them on standby.”
“Yes, sir. You can try, but I’m not holding my breath.”
“Did you contact the chief of police?”
“He’s not answering his cell phone. I left a message, sir. ”
“After this place turns into a bloodbath, I’m going to be reminding these
people, through the press, of their lack of forethought. I think I might even
be able to make the chief of police regret turning off his phone.”
Agent Baar grimaced and remained silent. She got up and walked out of the
courtroom. She dialed the number for the chief of police again and once again
received no response. Taking a chance on losing her job if Susan was wrong, she
dialed city hall and asked for the mayor. Even after explaining who she was,
she was shunted to an assistant to the mayor. Agent Baar gave up when it was
apparent that she would not be allowed to talk to the mayor. She had paid
attention to Susan and had recorded her calls. If the sky fell in, there would
be hell to pay for some people in Atlanta.
******************************
It was 0900 hours sharp when Judge Barbara Engles sat down. The jury was
empanelled and Judge Engles called for the reading of the charges against
Matthew Walsh.
As soon as Judge Engles finished reading the charges against Matthew Walsh,
the prosecuting attorney began making his opening statement. The defense
council made his opening statement.
At this time, Judge Engles called both attorneys to the bench and went over
the decision that had been handed down concerning telepath testimony as it
applied to the Walsh trial. After making sure both parties understood the
finding, Susan was called as the first prosecution witness.
This time, Susan’s testimony went uninterrupted by the defense. When it was
Jerry Thomas’ turn, he only asked two questions designed to test Susan’s memory
of details. Her answers satisfied him and her testimony was finished. It was
only 1000 hours.
Susan was admonished by Judge Engles to not leave until the testimony part
of the trial was completed.
Susan didn’t know that Jerry Thomas, after reviewing the evidence and
transcripts of the preliminary trial, had tried to plea bargain with Rudy Nash,
but was rebuffed. Nash had a slam-dunk and he knew it. He wanted the trial in
order to get the decision about Susan’s telepathic testimony into the law
reference books. It would also set up his plan to use parts of this trial’s
evidence and testimonies in the follow-on trials for the murders with which
Matthew Walsh was being charged.
******************************
In the building garage;
There were nine men and three women in the group. Donald Horn looked at them
and said, “If I’m right, Wayne finished giving her testimony about thirty
minutes ago in Courtroom A. I want to hit her there while she’s watching the
trial. The judge won’t let her leave until it goes to the jury. We, Kurt and I,
will storm the courtroom and kill Wayne and as many of the other people in the
room as we can. I want maximum fear and confusion,” said their leader, Jeff
Gore. Bill, Ray, you two hit Courtroom B. I want a lot of bodies. I don’t want
them to be able to determine who our real target was.
“You guys get to shoot up the building. What do you want me to do?” asked
Gabe Saunders.
“You get to stay here and sit in the car. You will keep us informed of
anybody who might screw up our escape. That’s the best use of your psi
abilities. In a pinch, you can confuse any security personnel that we have to
engage down here,” noted Gore. “Any other questions?”
Elizabeth Goode, the woman who had been scanned by Susan, asked, “What about
the people in the offices, traffic court and the hallways?”
“Kill as many of them as you can,” replied Donald Horn. “The more carnage
and terror the less likelihood of anyone getting in our way when we leave.”
“We’ll start our show at 1130 sharp. Joe, you take out the guard manning the
guard station. Make sure you keep him from locking down the building. If he
manages to do that, we’ll have to fight our way out, because when the building
gets locked down, it automatically places an emergency call to police
headquarters. It won’t take their SWAT team more than fifteen minutes to
surround the building and cover all the exits. We want to be gone before they
get here, explained Gore. “Bobby, you plant charges at the garage exits and
wait here for us. You’re going to drive us out of here.”
“The charges are already planted. One push of this button and every garage
door will be blown to hell. All I need is your order. We can use the charges to
discourage pursuers even if we don’t need them to get out,” responded
Robert ‘Bobby’ Bryan.
******************************
Earlier, Agent Baar had informed Susan of her final attempts to reach the
chief of police and the mayor and her failure to do so. Now it was almost 1115
and Susan decided to try and contact them. So far nothing had happened, but she
had a feeling that time was running out. She knew from her scan of the female
assassin that the team’s intention was to kill a large number of people to
cover up the identity of their true target. In listening with her mental
barriers down, she was able to determine that the singers and mathematics
workers had moved somewhere away from her present physical location. What
bothered her is in spite of that they seemed to be located in a cluster
somewhere nearby. The first place she thought of was the underground parking
garage.
Standing up, she motioned for Agent Baar to follow her. As she started to
walk out, Judge Engles stopped her by asking, “are you leaving, General Wayne?”
“No, your honor. I need to make an important call. I need to step outside
the courtroom to do so without interrupting the proceedings.”
“Go ahead.”
******************************
Outside the courtroom, Susan asked Agent Baar, “How many people do you have
here in the building?”
“Besides myself, only three. We didn’t expect to have to fight an army. Our
observations didn’t reveal anything out of the order, general.”
Susan decided to tell Agent Baar what she knew. “When I took my walk
earlier, I was very close to a female member of the hit squad that’s deployed
here.” Susan held up her hand. “I didn’t expect us to have so much trouble
getting the police to cooperate. I scanned her and learned that she has eleven
other associates – one of which is a P-9 telepath. Last, but not least, they’re
going to be wearing military grade body armor. Your people will have to shoot
for the head.”
“What happened to her?”
“She was still sitting where I first saw her when I left the second floor.
Do you have contact with your people?”
Agent Baar spoke quietly, and her expression was one of concern. “I’m not
getting any response, general.”
“Get me that police captain on your phone. We’ve got big problems.”
Agent Baar punched recall and dial on her cell phone then she handed it to
Susan. When Captain Ralph Noland answered, Susan wasted no time on small talk –
she immediately identified herself.
“What can I do for you, general?”
“You can get a SWAT team down here to the Griffin courthouse before the
bloodbath starts and before you blow me off, listen carefully. First, I’m
recording this call; second, I’m a telepath; third, I scanned one of the
assassins; forth, I scanned her and learned that she is a member of a twelve-
man hit squad sent here to take me out; fifth, it seems that they are going to
massacre a bunch of people in order to cover up the fact that I’m their target.
Any questions?”
Captain Noland tried to think his way through what he had just been hit with
and remembered the call he had blown off earlier that morning. “Did you call
earlier today?”
“No. That was my security chief and she recorded that call. I very strongly
suggest that you don’t blow me off, Captain Noland. One other thing, Captain
Noland; the perpetrators are wearing military grade body armor. Either have
your people shoot for the head or equip them with armor piercing ammunition.
Are you going to blow me off?””
“Not at all, general. I have to get the chief’s okay to deploy our SWAT
team.”
“Captain, I don’t care if you have to call the President of the Earth
Alliance; but, if you don’t get that team down here ASAP and I survive – your
career, the careers of the chief and the mayor won’t.”
“Yes, sir!”
******************************
Captain Noland was caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. If
he deployed the SWAT team without the chief’s authorization, his career was
dead and maybe his job. If he didn’t because he couldn’t find the chief, he was
sure that the general he had just spoken to had as much as promised to have his
ass on a platter, cooked and basted with barbecue sauce. He tried to phone the
chief and got an out of service response. He tried the chief’s secretary and
learned that he was at a retreat meeting with the mayor and some other
officials and couldn’t be reached; she said she didn’t have a number to reach
him.
He tried the mayor’s office and was told that the mayor left instructions
that he wasn’t to be bothered for any reason and no he couldn’t have the number
to reach them – even though he explained that not reaching the mayor might well
spell the end of the mayor’s political career.
Kissing his job and career goodbye, Captain Noland put out the call to have
the entire SWAT team deployed to the Griffin courthouse in south-side Atlanta.
Lieutenant Ray Davis listened to the deployment notification and shook his
head in resignation. The EA security broad must have gotten to somebody.
******************************
In the SWAT van, Lieutenant Davis received a videophone briefing from
Noland. What he heard made him very nervous. The perpetrators were wearing
military body armor and were planning a massacre to cover up their real target.
This was going to be a ‘no prisoners taken’ firefight. He felt sick for the
people in the courthouse and wished he and Noland had taken the EA secret
service agent seriously earlier that morning.
******************************
Susan handed the cell phone back to Agent Baar. “I need to know something,
Agent Baar.”
“Yes, sir?”
“I want you to relax and close your eyes.”
“Why?”
“I want to scan you before the shooting starts.”
Baar looked confused then she looked angry. “No. I won’t allow it.”
“As you wish, but when the shooting starts, I want your weapon and extra
clips.”
“No way. I won’t relinquish my firearm to anyone.”
“How many firefights have you ever been in, Agent Baar? How many people have
you killed in a combat situation with them shooting back at you?”
“I’ve never been in a firefight, general, and you already know I’ve never
killed anyone.”
“That’s my point, Agent Baar. In your entire career, you may be involved in
one shootout, if you’re unlucky. Very few agents ever have to pull their
weapons in the line of duty.”
“That’s still no reason for me to give you my weapon.”
“I’ve spent my entire adult life shooting at and killing people and having
people trying their damnedest to shoot and kill me – when they weren’t trying
to blow me up or poison me. For you, there is shooting on the range and then
there is the terrifying act of trying to shoot your way out of a bad situation.
For me, it doesn’t matter; shooting on the range or a full-blown firefight,
it’s all the same - except that during the firefight, the targets are alive and
keep moving around and shoot back at you. I like you, Agent Baar. You’re young,
intelligent and enthusiastic, but face reality; these people are wearing body
armor and are equipped with automatic weapons, and there are eleven of them
left who are planning to kill as many people as they possibly can here in this
building sometime today. I’m a professional killer – a damned good one. When
the shooting starts, you give me your weapon and extra clips; maybe, just
maybe, we’ll live to see the sunset.”
Baar looked Susan in the eyes and saw a coldness that frightened her. She
had never met anyone who could honestly say and prove that they were an
accomplished professional killer, but she had reviewed Susan’s record. “I’ll do
it.”
“Get me that police captain one more time.”
Noland answered his phone. “One more thing, Captain Noland. I’m wearing a
khaki uniform with three stars on each collar. I’ll be using a very large
pistol. Please, ask your men to not shoot me.”
Noland hesitated a moment then asked, “What kind of pistol?”
“It’s a Smith & Wesson Super Auto-Magnum thirteen millimeter with armor
piercing ammunition.”
“I see. I’ll notify Lieutenant Davis. He’s the onsite honcho. If you can,
team up with him.”
“Thank you, Captain Noland.”
“We better get back inside before Judge Engles sends out a search party for
us.”
******************************
In the SWAT van, Lieutenant Davis received the information about Susan being
onsite and heavily armed, looked at his men and said, “Remember, don’t shoot
the chick in the khaki uniform brandishing the hand cannon. She’s on our side.”
“This is going to complicate things, Ray,” said one of his men.
“Maybe not. She’s military and has experience dealing with armed killers.
Just remember, this is not a talk situation. These guys are going to kill
innocent people for the simple purpose of covering up their real target.”
“Who is their real target, or do we know?”
“The woman in the khaki uniform with the hand cannon is their real target.
Just in case there is more than one woman in a khaki uniform and brandishing a
hand cannon, ours is the one with three-star general’s collar devices.”
“Oh!” said several of his men in unison.
******************************
END PART 32
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