CODE X:Episode 1 (5 page)

Jenna orders Simon, “Pull over here. Let’s
see what’s going on. This entire block is blacked out for some
reason.” The van’s police radio bursts to life.

“Attention all cars! All-points bulletin
from the F.B.I. NSA Priority 1. Be on the lookout for Nicholas
Parks, white male, 32 years, 6’1”. Suspect armed and dangerous.
Newest known photo broadcast on your terminals following this
message.”

Parks shoots Jenna a look of disbelief.
“Bullshit! That’s a lie.”

Jenna shoves Parks’ head back. “We believe
you, keep your fucking head down.”

Vicki exits the condo surrounded by
commandos. They usher her over to a government car.

“They’ve got Vicki! What the fuck’s going
on?” Parks can barely hold himself back, so Jenna shoves him
again.

“Simon, park over there. Uncle Sam’s
skunking up the works again,” she declares.

A few LA police brass with shiny medals on
their dress uniforms encircle the car Vicki is led to and an
occupant gets out and holding the door open for her it’s...Dr.
Landau! Parks eyes spew fury. He wants to leap out of the van.
Landau follows behind Vicki as she enters the SUV.

“Landau! He’s behind all this shit.” Again,
he moves to open the door and wants to jump into action.

“Hold it. If they snatch you up, you’re in
the slam for good, isolated. We can’t help. You’re a wanted
man.”

Parks replies, “Follow him.”

“No! You’re hot. Use your head. You were
damn lucky we didn’t lock the doors on our van. We’re in a driving
billboard that shouts, look at us. Here comes the TV people. Why
are they here?”

Parks slams his fist against the van wall so
hard the bam sounds like a rock slammed into it.

Simon and Jenna both jump out of their seats
at the noise.

“Holy shit! Man, you scared the piss out of
me.” Simon finally speaks up.

“One hour ago I was getting dinner ready.
Vicki calls and asks me for help. I’ve been chased for no reason,
had missiles shot at me, thank God the blast knocked me out of the
car and into a deep ditch, or I wouldn’t be here now. I’ve been put
on the most wanted list, and for what?” Parks’ eyes narrow. His jaw
clenches. He means business. Then, he lets out a big breath of air,
and when he breathes in again his chest swells. He sits taller,
stronger, the opposite of what he was moments ago.

He moves his face close to Jenna and stares
her down so hard, it sends a shiver running through her. “I’m not
going to lose her,” he declares with a ring of finality in his
voice.

“Parks, tell me all that you know. Who’s
Landau?”

“He’s the bloodsucker that wanted Vicki to
sign with Alomet, Concannon’s conglomerate. She turned him down
today and now this. It makes sense now.”

“I’ve never heard of him before. Concannon
put all his stock and holdings in a trust, so he’s completely
severed from any dealings with his company. It's against the law
for him to be involved in any way.” Jenna is intrigued and searches
for more answers. “What else can you tell me about Landau?”

“It seems like he runs the medical side of
Alomet here in LA. He has a male nurse named Henry, his right hand
man that’s always with him. He came into his west coast office to
personally recruit Vicki. The reason he showed up here tonight was
to get Vicki, because earlier today she met him to tell him she
changed her mind about taking the job. It makes sense. It all fits
now seeing it happen. But, he behaves like no doctor I’ve ever
known.” Parks shrugs his shoulders.

Jenna concurs. “I’ve never seen a doctor
appear to command a SWAT team before. Parks, I’m going to stick my
neck way out on a limb for you. Simon I’m going to need your help
in research, quietly digging for facts. If we succeed, I’ve got a
feeling you will no longer be a cameraman, but reaping the rewards
as a reporter you desire to become. Can I count on you to keep
quiet?” Jenna leans forward to Simon with anticipation as she does
into the camera she loves.

“Hell yes! It sounds like fun. I’m in,”
Simon grins widely and his eyes turn into saucers of excitement, as
he becomes restless in his seat.

“Great…Parks, I’ll call in all my government
IOU’s for a lead. In the meantime you’ve got to stay free and, do
the footwork to solve this puzzle.”

He holds up a single index finger to Jenna,
“And…number one, get Vicki back.” She shakes her head yes, goal
understood.

“You got someplace we can take you no one
would think to look?”

Parks offers, “I might have a place. Jenna,
you’ve got to go in with me.”

Chapter 13

Alomet Airport

The black sedans pull up to the foot of a
Gulfstream G650 business jet. Landau opens the door and waits for
Vicki to exit. When she steps out in tears, she collapses onto
Landau’s shoulder, burying her head, crying uncontrollably. She
shakes and shudders. He hugs her and pats her on her back.

“There, there my dear. I know it’s hard for
you, but we’ve got to get you somewhere safe. A team is rounding up
your personal belongings at your condo and we’ll have them brought
to you. Here, escort her aboard; I’ll be up in a few minutes.”
Gently, he slides her over to another man. She is helped up the
small jets stairs, also supported by a female flight attendant.

On the tarmac, Landau starts to pace in
short quick steps back and forth.

Henry cowers in front of him with his head
bowed, smiling less, eyes down.

Landau’s eyes dart back and forth while,
deep in thought, he watches Vicki ascends.

At the top, Vicki stops, glances back at
him. Landau snaps to normal, smiles, waves in support to her.

“Henry, do you realize what will happen if
Dr. Collins finds out we lied to her? It will jeopardize the whole
operation. Christ, how could you fuck up the perfect setup?”

“I don’t have an excuse, but it’s contained.
Parks’ background story will be released soon,” Henry answers
softly. “Do you want me to execute the emergency blackout at
...?”

“Yes, yes...spare no resources. Alert all
agencies to treat this as a number one terrorist breech. Parks must
not be allowed to talk to anyone. He must be silenced as soon as
possible. If the police grab him, they’ll give him a lawyer. We
must apprehend him first.”

“Yes, sir.”

“My dear Henry, I have every confidence in
your talents.”

“Yes sir.”

Landau continues his cautionary double
check. “And the headquarters security director will screen out all
news reports on Parks?”

“Yes sir! Even the pilot flying her to
headquarters disabled passenger communications. He’ll play
sanitized broadcasts from our security section. She won’t get a
sniff that he’s still alive.”

“God damnit, Henry! Don’t let anything stand
in our way. She must finish the project.”

Chapter 14

It’s nighttime
now. Inside the TV van traveling down the highway, Jenna takes
charge, as always; it’s her nature. “Simon, pull into that
four-story parking lot. We’ll continue by taxi. Parks hand me that
bag next to you.”

Parks passes a gym bag forward.

Jenna opens it up and pulls out a curly
brunette wig.

Parks moves back into his seat as he
expresses surprise at the wig.

“Don’t look so shocked Parks. My face is
recognized everywhere. A girls got to be able to sometimes move
around without autograph seekers and pointy-loos.” She pulls out a
plain ugly pair of sunglasses, then a god-awful, old light jacket
and puts it on. Then out of the bag comes some worn out old flats
to take the place of her high heels.

Parks, “What the hell is a pointy-loo?”

Simon pipes up. “It’s her play on
looky-loos. She gets folks pointing at her all the time when they
recognize her. They whip out cells and snap pictures. She found a
good way to stay off of these folks social media sites. Gotta say,
nobody recognizes her when she dresses like a dump.”

Jenna finishes everything but the
sunglasses, as she holds them at the ready.

“Parks grab Simon’s hoodie and put it on.
Simon, toss him your big shades. We’ll keep you on the down-low
when we get in the cab. The cabbie will think we’re just some
shlubs needing a ride.”

Parks, Jenna and Simon are on the front
stoop. Simon’s on the phone.

Parks knocks on the front door of a large
ranch house. Jenna and Simon are beside him.

The door opens and there stands Biggins,
with a pistol in her hand at her side. “What the hell do you want?”
Biggins snaps.

Parks raises the shades, “Biggins, it’s me.
I got to talk to you.”

“Parks I want nothing to do with your ass,”
she starts to shut the door.

Jenna raises her glasses to show Biggins her
face. “I’m Jenna Carlson, Chanel 5’s roving reporter. Vicki’s in
trouble.”

Biggins expression turns to worry. She takes
a quick glance around outside her house, then steps aside, “Okay,
get in here.”

In the middle of Biggins living room they’re
all sitting except Parks. She drags a kitchen chair in and moves it
to him. “Set your dirty ass down on this chair. Let me go over the
situation. Okay Parks, see if I got this straight. Vicki’s in
trouble and doesn’t know it. Some government agency wants to make
you fish food, but you don’t know why. And you want to ride to her
rescue. Parks, are you nuts?”

Jenna confirms the sequence, “As hard as it
to believe, it’s true. We were going to cover the story, but were
forced away, ordered to leave the area by the cops. He was hiding
in our truck.”

Parks is pissed, “Just spot me some cash and
let me borrow your car. I’ll find her myself.”

Biggins’ tense body relaxes, “I promised
Vicki I’d never let her down again. I never dreamed it would mean
baby-sitting you.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Then why are you here? You’re a babe, a
mush. Vicki needs me. Unfortunately, you need me, since you’re part
of her life.”

Parks loses his pride, “All right, okay! I
need you damnit! You satisfied?”

Jenna and Simon glance at each other,
shaking their heads ever so slightly and shrugging their
shoulders.

“Is that flower-power child in you dead? Are
you ready to get dead serious,” Biggins demands.

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

“Well looks like the odd couple is getting
married,” Jenna quips.

Biggins eyes snap wide open at the crack and
she steps forward, “Lady, I don’t know your skinny Cosmo ass from
jack squat. I was in four tours of duty in Iraq as the first female
combat leader. My family sacrificed so I could serve my country.
I’m fucking proud of what no other woman accomplished. I was first.
I’ve done my share of killing the enemy, and, what your snooty ass
will never get is the sacrifice of our troops. A lot of my good men
and friends died. A lot were crippled for life,” Biggins moves in
on Jenna with a menacing threat of attack.

Jenna stumbles backward, scared.

“Make no mistake, I’m going to war and I got
to drag that puppy Parks along as my pet. They’re already trying to
kill him, and that means they’re going to try and kill me. I am not
facing good odds. That’s why I ride his weak ass, so we can stay
alive. Got it?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I didn’t
understand. Please accept my apology.” Jenna pleads.

“You can express your apology by helping us
out; be our intel. That way you can crow about being the hero if we
can figure out what’s going on.”

Jenna hands Parks a card, “Here’s my mobile
phone number. Call me in the mornings before nine when I’m still at
home, or after midnight.”

“Girl, what are you doing? You better think
hard, real hard, that from now on your phone, your car, your
computer, your office, your friends, coworkers and everyone and
everything that touches your life will be watched. The government
will have you on cameras, satellites, anything electronic or
mechanical under surveillance. Do not forget what I told you, our
survival is at stake. Hold on a moment while I get you some
real
security.”

Biggins moves to the closet and removes a
back pack, digs into it and removes a phone.

“Here, this is a burner phone. This is our
only means of contact. Time your calls for two minutes, not one
second more. Then hang up the phone and remove the battery, until
our next contact date. I will only contact you. You must never
contact me by this phone. Before we leave, I will go over with you
how to get me a new number in case this one dies.”

“I didn’t realize how deep the security
services reaches into our lives,” Jenna replies.

Simon looks up as he scribbles on paper,
“Thanks Eddie. We’re square. Got it! The station’s satellite down
link number is 555-9881, code 3694.

The TV in the background makes a periodic
squawking sound indicating an interruption for a special news
bulletin.

The news announcer appears, “We interrupt
this program with a special report. The government has issued a
five million dollar reward for the capture of Nicholas Parks, dead
or alive....”

Parks’ picture flashes on the set. They all
freeze - stare at the TV.

“…Parks is wanted for the murder of a
federal agent whose body was found in the trunk of his car…”

The TV footage shows Parks’ burned car being
lifted by a wrecker. A charred arm dangles from the rear trunk.

Simon protests. “I shot that. That’s my
film. There was no body or arm,”

“…The government has listed Parks as a
priority one terrorist. It was discovered he was planning a
terrorist attack against Washington D.C. Stay tuned for further
updates.”

“Why are they doing this to me?” Parks
wonders aloud.

“This is big,” Jenna chimes in.

Parks protests, “Damnit, Biggins! Your
kids...”

“Get this straight mister. Everyone told me
to get abortions so I could pursue my military career. No way. I
don’t believe in them. My whole life in the Army was for missions
like this. A professional always knows the risks. I proved
everybody wrong that I could have a family and fight in combat,
like all soldiers. My kids know how to take care of
themselves.”