Dawn of the Mad (37 page)

“It’s been a while, Sebastian.”

“Indeed it has. Listen, we need to talk.” Cruwell’s hushed voice had a sense of urgency.

Roman nodded quickly. “Sure, whenever you want.”

Cruwell looked around the crowded ballroom. He told his companion, “We’ll just be a moment.” She nodded and took Natasha by the arm and led her off, as if on cue, as Cruwell guided Roman toward a nook in the wall. Natasha looked back over her shoulder at Roman. He nodded and waved, giving Cruwell his attention.

“We need to talk
right now
?” Roman asked.

“Listen, there are a lot of things going on that you are not aware of. I know you think you are working for the good, but be warned.” Cruwell paused, turned, and scanned the crowd once more. “All is not what it seems.”

Roman set his glass on a small table. “What do you mean ‘all is not what it seems?’ Are you OK?”

“Look, Johnny, I won’t talk about it here. There are eyes and ears everywhere. But I need to speak with you. This is just a heads-up. I’ll get in touch with you and set up a meeting, OK?”

“OK.”

Cruwell was about to speak when an attendant approached. “Sirs, your presence is requested upstairs in the supreme chancellor’s study, if you will follow me please.” Roman looked at Cruwell, who nodded and shrugged. They both followed the attendant. Roman spotted Natasha and gave her a small wave to let her know that he was leaving the main ballroom.

Roman trailed behind Cruwell and the attendant as they ascended the staircase to the second level, which was off limits to the guests except by special invitation. They passed through a large passageway coming to a stop before a large door. Two ceremonial guards heavily armed with red plumes sticking out of their helmets stood outside.

“This way, please,” the attendant requested. The guards stepped aside in unison as the attendant pushed upon the door into the chancellor’s study, a massive room that appeared even larger with its furniture all placed near the walls. The supreme chancellor sat behind his large desk, which had the words “blood, honor, loyalty” carved boldly onto its side. Ground Marshal Chuikova and Sergeant Matthias were already seated in large chairs in front of the desk.

The attendant bowed and left the study, closing the door behind him. Chuikova and Matthias stood up and looked at the new visitors.

“My friends,” the supreme chancellor spoke, “please come in.” Roman and Cruwell approached the desk. The supreme chancellor smiled and held up his right hand, acknowledging his new guests. He quickly dropped his left hand below the desk, out of sight.

“Please come in, yes.” The supreme chancellor repeated himself and stood up. He placed his left hand behind his back and walked to the front of the desk. The only insignia was a gold cross bearing a silver eagle on his left breast pocket. Roman, who had never met the supreme chancellor, found himself surprised. The man’s voice seemed a little weak and quavered slightly, very much unlike his presentation at the afternoon’s assembly. Roman supposed that his voice had been altered through the public address system.

“I thank you for coming,” the supreme chancellor said. “You have each played an important part in the conclusion of the war, and I wanted to thank you personally.” He reached over the surface of his desk and picked up two medals by their neck chains. Roman noticed that even though the supreme chancellor held his left hand behind his back, the arm trembled slightly. “Major Cruwell, please accept this medal of bravery for your actions on the blue planet.”

The supreme chancellor placed the medal over Cruwell’s lowered head. It was the same design as the insignia on the chancellor’s jacket. Cruwell shook the supreme chancellor’s hand and stepped back. Roman noticed with keen interest that Chuikova looked coldly at Cruwell, his eyes piercing him like two daggers. The supreme chancellor interrupted Roman’s quick observation.

“I have wanted to meet you for some time, Lieutenant Roman. I have heard a great many things about you and your work helping to rebuild the police force in sector seven. That is a noble task.” the supreme chancellor shook Roman’s hand and continued, “I am especially interested in hearing about your home planet, but for now, I wish to recognize you for your service toward our victory.” Roman lowered his head, and the supreme chancellor placed the second medal around his neck.

“Keep up the good work, and enjoy the rest of the banquet.”

As if on cue, the attendant opened the doors to the study from outside. Cruwell came to attention, executed an about face, and exited. Roman looked at his old friends, but they said nothing. Matthias nodded slightly, but that was it. Shrugging, Roman exited the study and caught up with Cruwell, who was waiting outside. Once they were out of earshot of the guards, Roman asked, “What the hell was that? They totally ignored us.”

“I’ll try to explain later, when we meet again. It’s not safe to talk here. Enjoy the rest of the evening, but be very careful of your surroundings.” He paused, as if considering his words, and asked, “What time do you have?”

Roman looked at his wristwatch. “10:15.”

“Remember that time Johnny, remember.”

Cruwell said nothing more and walked toward the stairs leading back to the ballroom, leaving Roman looking at him curiously. He followed Cruwell, a few steps behind, and they soon found their female companions chatting with a group of half a dozen other women. Natasha immediately noticed Roman’s medal and congratulated him on it.

The two couples enjoyed the rest of the evening together, through the cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing. A few hours later, after the chancellor gave his final speech of the day, the four left with the main crowd of guests. As Roman and Natasha exited the government sector and headed toward the light rail station, Roman found himself looking over his shoulder more than a few times. Cruwell’s words had spooked him.

They boarded the light rail. When it was in motion, Natasha whispered into Roman’s ear, “What are you doing?”

“What do you mean?” The others in the carriage did not seem to notice the sharpness and volume of his response.

“You keep looking around. You seem very tense.”

Roman looked Natasha directly in her eyes. “How do you know all that?”

“Trust me,” she said. “I know.”

“Well, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling something. I can’t explain it now. I don’t know what to think.”

Natasha said nothing more but gripped Roman’s hand tightly. Within moments they arrived at their destination. A short walk brought them to Roman’s apartment building. He retrieved his access card from his pocket and swiped it at the terminal, opening the door to the ground floor. Still holding Natasha’s hand, he said, “Do you want to come up?”

“Yes. I would like that.”

Roman smiled and kissed her lightly on the cheek. They entered the building, and the door silently slid shut behind them.

CHAPTER 34

Two weeks after the banquet at the supreme chancellor’s residence, Roman sat behind his desk, looking over dossiers of potential recruits. During those two weeks, he had kept aware of his surroundings but hadn’t been able to detect anybody following him. Further adding to his caution, his boss and mentor, Colonel Seib, had notified Roman that he was retiring and to be wary of his replacement. Even though Colonel Seib’s retirement was still a few weeks off, he kept his ears open for any sign of political machinations that might affect him. His experience as a police officer on Earth had taught him that. He eyed the corridor outside his office and saw it bustling with activity, much of it taken care of by his two new assistants.

Roman sat back in his chair and activated his video monitor. After a few seconds, an image of Natasha appeared. He stared at it for a few minutes, until he received an incoming call alert.

“Roman,” he answered.

The caller did not appear on screen. “Roman, I am sending you an encrypted file. Follow the directions.”

The call ended abruptly, leaving Roman wondering what it was all about. A few seconds later, another alert went off, indicating that his system had received a file. He got up and closed the door of his office. Sitting back down, he opened the file, which contained video. Major Cruwell’s face appeared. The video appeared to have been taken on a street using a public video feed.

“Johnny, I need you to meet me at the bio park on the southwest corner of Sector Nine. Remember that time we discussed?” The file ended and promptly deleted itself. Roman looked at the blank screen quizzically.

4:45.
He had five and a half hours to wait.

He quickly pushed Natasha’s icon on the video monitor. Within a few seconds, she answered.

“Hey, what are you doing?” she asked.

“Listen, I have to work a little late tonight, so I’m going to have to cancel dinner. I’m really sorry, I’ll make it up to you next week.”

“I understand. I know they have you working like an ore miner over there. I’ll just see you tomorrow. Perhaps we can get lunch. If i’m off work that is.”

“Will do. Your boss lets you get away with murder down there.”

He ended the transmission and looked at his watch again.

Roman went back to his apartment after work and changed out of his uniform. He found himself checking his watch every few minutes while he tried to distract himself with video entertainment and news feeds. He headed out a little past 9:45, knowing that the bio park was about a twenty- minute walk. The precinct had issued him a personal vehicle, but he decided an official vehicle might arouse suspicion. Rain continued to fall, causing Roman to draw up his black overcoat as he headed out. The streets were almost devoid of people.

He arrived at the park soaking wet, even though the rain had let up a bit. The bio park contained a few trees and some grass. It was actually covered by a small magnetic shield. The shield not only blocked out the elements, but blocked out the industrial pollution as well. It seamlessly integrated itself into the air. Seeing no one around, Roman walked into the park and sat down on a bench, relieved to be under the shield’s protection from rain.

10:15
. That was the appointed time, and no one was in sight.

He no sooner looked up from his watch than Cruwell sat down next to him.

“Right on time; that’s good. Were you followed?”

“I didn’t see anyone.” Roman looked at Cruwell curiously, wondering how he had appeared so suddenly and silently.

“Neither did I. I followed you here,” Cruwell replied.

“What?” Roman asked with surprise. “Sebastian, you are going to have to start telling me what is going on, OK? This cloak and dagger shit is getting a little weird.”

“Relax, Johnny. I will. Look at this.”

Cruwell retrieved a small video monitor from within his coat. “I work in the Intelligence Security Service Bureau. I have a privileged access code, and I saw this footage I think may have some bearing on your future here.”

“You work for the ISSB? I’ve heard of that—very secretive.”

“Actually, I have always worked for them. Not all of the powers that be are on the same team. Anyway, you need to see this footage.”

Cruwell activated the video monitor, which Roman peered at with interest. The video looked like it was taken with a handheld camera. It seemed to be shot inside some kind of research lab. Row after row of medical stasis pods lined each side of a long, white corridor.

“What am I looking for here?”

“Just watch.”

The video continued to roll. Two white-coated scientists came into view, walking down the corridor, checking each pod. The camera filmed the nearest pod and panned through to several others. Inside the pods, human forms appeared to be in some sort of suspended animation.

“What is this, your army or something?” Roman asked. Cruwell didn’t respond, and Roman continued to watch the monitor. Suddenly, he gasped at what he saw.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Upon closer inspection of the pods, Roman could make out the faint outlines of the biker tattoos he had seen on the Reaper. Every form in the pods had the identical markings, all the way down to the track marks on their arms.

“I’m afraid not kidding, Johnny. The alien we brought back from your planet has been cloned hundreds, if not thousands, of times over. How do you think the war ended so fast? What is even more disturbing is the planet on which these things were let loose are out of control. They spread some kind of virus that renders the host into a primitive animalist state.”

“Yes. Before I met up with you guys, there were a couple walking around. I cannot believe Chuikova would let that happen.” Roman sat back on the bench, averting his eyes from the video monitor.

Cruwell closed the video monitor and placed back into his jacket. “Johnny, Johann is not the same person you knew from before.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Cruwell stood up and looked around. “You need to be aware of some things. I will be in contact with you. But there are things you must do right away.”

“What are—”

“Just listen, Johnny,” Cruwell interrupted. “Never go a direct route when we meet. Try to draw out anybody that may be on you. Go into shops and restaurants, dead ends. Things like that. Don’t be predictable. They even have the capabilities to watch you from space. You need to check your office for listening devices. They may already have you tapped.”