Oria hit the continue button. The starfighter shuddered and shot through a wormhole into the middle of an enemy fleet of starships with thousands of starfighters. It seemed like the entire display glowed with enemy lasers locked onto their starfighter. Oria was moving the starfighter so fast and firing weapons that it took several seconds for Jack to acclimate to the mind controls. He was amazed. He’d see a target, mentally lock onto it, willed a laser to fire, and the laser destroyed the target. He observed Oria performing the same feat with multiple targets. In several minutes, the battle was over. They destroyed the enemy.
The simulator then popped up a message in its display. “Game Over! Congratulations Admiral, for another victory.”
Jack removed the mind control headset from his head and returned it to its original location. “Ok Oria, now what?”
“Jack, what actions you decide upon next will affect all that you know. I wanted to keep you, Karen, and Bob from compromising yourselves with your responsibilities to the Air Force and the United States. In order to save Earth, I need to work with your military. My goal is to gain an audience with them without triggering a major backlash that would slow down the eventual construction of Earth’s defenses. You’ll have to use your own best judgment. My strategy is to slowly pique their interest and eventually get your top leadership to drive for a meeting with me.”
“I’ll have to think about what you’ve said. I’ll hold off saying anything until I feel confident that it is the right thing to do.”
Jack and Oria climbed out of the simulator into a wildly cheering crowd. Karen managed to squeeze her way up front and congratulate both Jack and Oria.
“Wow, I can’t believe you guys made it all the way to level 10. Jack, you look drenched.”
“I sure am. Oria’s flying tactics have a way of doing that to someone. It was intense.”
“Cool, Bob should be done working out in another half hour. I told him to meet us near the entrance to the pier.”
8 AM: Washington D.C., West Virginia
It took most of the morning for Tom and John to locate and kidnap the two little boys and a lone girl. The little girl had been waiting for her father to pick her up after playing soccer. Her father, a Sr. Engineer for the Executive Office of the President had received several texts about someone attempting to hack through the White House Web site firewall. The text messages delayed him only several minutes, just enough time for Tom to grab the 9-year-old girl and lock her up in his van.
The two little twin boys were sons of the database administrator. They were much easier to catch. John merely drove through their neighborhood and saw the 7-year-old boys playing without adult supervision. John quickly snatched them and tied them up in the back of the van with the young girl. Commander Retilia should be happy.
Retilia and Durinea were pleased to see Tom and John arrive with their hostages. They led the kids into a small detention room in their facility. Durinea paid Tom and John their $500,000 in cash and asked them to standby for another assignment.
The call to the little girl’s father Frank Poist was quick. Retilia instructed him not to call the police, to open a hole in the White House Firewall and to provide him with the administrative password for the White House network. Poist initially hesitated to help. Retilia demanded that Poist tune his television to channel 3. Poist continued to hold the phone while he watched his television. He saw his little girl with a beastly looking creature.
“Frank Poist, do you see your little girl?”
“Yes, please don’t hurt her.”
“Sorry, it’s too late for that. Do you see that creature?”
“Yes, please I beg of you, don’t hurt her.”
“Well, that creature’s hungry. I’m going to let him eat her hand. If you want me to prevent him from eating the rest of her, one painful bite at a time, give me what I want!”
Poist watched in horror as the creature bit his girl’s hand off and ate it. The girl screamed in pain. A masked man entered the room, gave the girl a shot to sedate her, and then proceeded to bandage up her hand.
Retilia smiled, he enjoyed the taste of human flesh. The flesh of young live kids was particularly delicious and considered a delicacy. He spoke into the hidden mike. “Mr. Poist, if you ever want to see your daughter alive again, you’ll grant my request. Otherwise, I’ll have to let that creature eat her other hand, then her feet, and then, well you get the picture?”
“Yes, yes, please don’t hurt her any more. I’ll give you what you want. Just let her go.”
“You know I can’t do that yet. I’ll let her go when I have what I want from your network. Maybe in a day or two you can have your daughter back, and then, only if you behave yourself.”
Poist gave Retilia exactly what he wanted over the phone. Poist felt like a ruined man. He had traded loyalty to his country for his daughter’s life.
Next, Retilia wanted access to the White House Database. He pulled the same stunt with Henry Morton, the father of the twins. Again, as predicted, Retilia gained access to the database.
It didn’t take Retilia and Durinea long to copy the White House Database and everything on the President’s hard drive. They had all the appropriate passwords and a nice hole punched though the White House firewall. Before he finished, Retilia left a Nazi banner on the White House Home Page making it look like a neo-Nazi group was responsible for the attack.
11 AM: Ocean City Maryland
Karen, Jack, and Oria walked silently down the boardwalk towards the pier, each deep in their own thoughts. Jack reflected on his flight with Oria and their conversation. He was debating on just what to pass on to Colonel Henley. He feared passing on this latest information. If the military establishment reacted per Oria’s prediction, it would take months to sort everything out. According to Oria, they didn’t have months. Earth needed to start building a defense now. On the other hand, how did he know that Oria wasn’t setting him up? He could go down in history as a key player in the downfall of Earth. Jack needed to talk to someone.
Oria’s thoughts were bouncing between dreams of Karen, his mission on Earth, and amazement at the crowds of people and shops lining the boardwalk. He saw several young people walking by with all sorts of junk metal, wires, and other objects piercing their bodies. On several occasions, he saw people with metal objects piercing tongues, lips, and other sensitive parts of the human anatomy.
Karen was still reeling from her conversation with Bronson. Prior to catching up with Jack and Oria, Karen called into their operations headquarters and was surprised that they patched her immediately through to General Bronson. Bronson told Karen that Operation Laser Watch had just escalated to a top Presidential Directive. The incident with the
Maryland State Police and the boardwalk shooting had escalated their mission to the top levels in the Pentagon and subsequently the White House. Bronson also informed Karen that foreign espionage groups were now interested in the Oria affair. Karen was the central figure in determining Oria’s identity and purpose.
Bob only waited several minutes before seeing Oria, Jack, and Karen walking towards him. He had an awesome workout and was ready to hit the beach. Bob easily convinced the group to catch a bus and head back to the condo. The group walked north on the boardwalk before turning onto Baltimore Blvd.
As Oria approached the bus stop, he saw a small surf shop on the right. He told the group that he forgot his swimsuit and would like to pick one up. Bob said he needed to pick up another t-shirt so they headed into the shop together leaving Jack and Karen waiting outside.
Jack was about to tell Karen what Oria told him when a van pulled up to the curb next to where they were sitting. Two men jumped out from the back, grabbed Karen, and started to drag her towards the van. Jack jumped up and cold cocked one of the men across the face. His opponent staggered backwards and drew a small gun with a silencer. The next thing Jack knew he was falling backwards with a burning pain in his chest. The world around him was blacking out. He had to survive. At least he had to let Karen know who Oria was. He struggled for several seconds to keep conscious, but the darkness overtook him before he could utter a single word.
Karen screamed as the men continued to pull her towards the open van. She saw Jack drop to the ground and lay motionless in a bloody mess. The man with the gun pointed it at Karen and in a foreign accent demanded that she cooperate. Karen begrudgingly began to comply, when out of nowhere, the armed man flew violently through the air and into the van’s side exploding into a bloody mess. Seconds later, she saw Oria spinning in the air, plant his foot square across the other man’s face causing the man’s head to explode into hundreds of fragments of bloody tissue and bone fragments. The van’s driver watched in horror as his partners turned into mush. He was about to put the van into gear when the driver’s door was yanked open and Bob Jackson grabbed him by the collar and threw him onto the ground. He pulled his gun out only to have Bob plant his foot into his throat. He felt his body freeze up and no longer respond to his desires. In seconds, he was dead.
Bob ran back around the van and saw Oria and Karen bending over Jack’s lifeless body. Karen watched in amazement while Oria methodically moved an electronic device across Jack’s chest. The sound of sirens grew louder as the Ocean City Police approached the scene forcing Oria to stop working on Jack.
Agent Henson had been following Oria the entire time and became witness to Jack’s apparent murder and the death of his assailants. As he approached the gory scene, his thoughts raced between anger at the assailants and amazement at Oria’s display of power and speed. When he finally reached Karen, Henson flashed his Federal credentials.
“Hello, I’m Agent Henson, is there anything I can do to help your friend?”
Karen burst into tears “No, I’m afraid he’s gone.”
Oria put his arm around Karen’s shoulder and tried to comfort her. Bob just sat down and stared at his fallen friend. Even though Bob had lost other friends in active duty, this time was different. Jack was his best friend.
Henson felt a rage roar inside of him as he examined the assailants’ bloody heaps. They were not carrying Id or anything else that would tie them back to any known group, yet Henson suspected the handiwork of the Israeli Massad.
An Ocean City Police car pulled up to the crime scene and two officers jumped out with guns drawn. Henson waved his badge at them and identified himself. The officers seeing Henson and his badge relaxed and returned their guns to their holsters.
Officers Jones spoke first. “What’s going on here? Do we need an ambulance?”
Henson shook his head “No, it’s a little late for that. We have four dead.”
“Agent Henson, this looks like a murder. We can take it from here.”
“I’m afraid not. This is a matter of national security. We need to bring in the FBI. You can help by cordoning off this area.”
The officers were satisfied with Henson’s remarks and started moving the rapidly growing crowd back from the crime scene. As additional police officers arrived, they joined in helping control the crowd.
Henson turned his attention to Karen, Bob, and Oria. “Look, I’ll need to get statements from all of you later. Here’s my card. You better get out of here while you can.”
Bob led Karen and Oria away from the crime scene. They walked a block when Bob stopped them, asked Oria to wait while Karen and he contacted their office. Oria used the time to contact Borella on the Hercules.
Karen placed a call to the operations center using her secure phone. The Operations Commander answered and initially refused Karen’s demand to speak with either Colonel Johnson or General Bronson. When Karen explained that Major Peterson was murdered, they quickly placed her call directly to General Bronson.
“Hello Major Brown, I’m sorry to hear about our loss. I understand that you were close to Major Peterson.”
Sobbing Karen replied “Yes General. Jack and I were good friends. I can’t believe they murdered him. It happened so fast.”
“Murdered?” This wasn’t connected to your brother’s problems, was it?”
“No sir. Marshal Henson thinks it was the Israeli Massad.”
“The Massad! They didn’t waste any time.”
“No sir. There were three men. Two of them tried to throw me into their van. They shot Jack while he was attempting to stop them. They were about to grab me again when Oria and Bob showed up out of nowhere. Bob went around getting the driver and ended up killing him. Oria took out the two men attacking me. He was so fast. He side kicked the man with the gun throwing him into the van while cutting him in half. He then did some sort of spinning kick into the other man’s face decapitating him and causing his head to explode into mush.”
“Interesting.” Bronson replied hiding his emotions. “How come Bob and Oria weren’t with you the entire time?”
“They stopped in a surf shop while Jack and I waited outside.”
“Are you going to be alright?”
Karen didn’t want to show any more weakness to the General and she wanted to continue on the case. “Yes sir. I’m fine.”