The Ascendants: Genesis (3 page)

“Who is he?” Dr. Connors asked.

“No clue, but-” Christine walked back over to her computer and searched her desktop. She located the icon she was looking for and clicked on it. “Running facial recognition now. With any luck, we should have a hit soon.”

Dr. Connors was pleased to hear that. “Tommy, take over for Christine, and tell me as soon as you find something.”

“Roger that sir.”

“Roger that? Tommy, this isn't the military!”

“Yeah I know, but I've always wanted to say that!”

The group shared a laugh. Dr. Connors looked towards Christine and gestured for her to follow him. She looked back at the monitor, double checking to make sure the program ran properly. Satisfied, she left her station and followed Dr. Connors through the hall.

“I saw the look on your face when Tori mentioned the Syndicate. Anything you want to share?”

Christine hesitated. “Nothing concrete, but I've heard mentions of the organization in passing.”

“Really, how come you've never mentioned it to any of us?”

“Because it was nothing more than office talk.”

Dr. Connors raised an eyebrow. “Office talk, you mean you heard of this organization back in your days with the CIA?”

“Yes. Like I said it was mostly just office talk. Anytime there was something that couldn't be explained or something horrible happened that no organization took credit for, people would say it was the Syndicate.”

Dr. Connors sighed. “Well, it's safe to say there's some truth to that office talk, and if it's anything close to what Tori described, we could all be in serious trouble.”

“Agreed, let's see what the program turns up and we'll go from there.”

“What about the other mission? Did you turn up anything on this government agency that's been tracking down Post Humans?”

Christine pressed the power button at the top right corner of her tablet. She swiped left to disable the lock and pulled up a file.

“Right after James, Mia and Cayde left the scene, Agent Hardine dialed a number. I had Tommy run a trace on the number and we got a hit. The man Agent Hardine contacted is Commander James Sullivan. He served in Vietnam and did a tour in Iraq and Afghanistan. I never served under him but I have met him on several occasions. He's a company guy. Falls into command without ever wavering and hardly ever questioning his superiors. He's superb at what he does and his trust is very limited. Approaching him won't be easy.”

Dr. Connors hung his head. “This day seems to be getting more frustrating by the minute.”

Christine smiled. “I said it wouldn't be easy, not impossible.”

“What do you have in mind?” Dr. Connors asked.

Christine swiped through a couple pages on her tablet and pulled up another file. “I had Tommy hack Commander Sullivan's cell phone and activate the phone's GPS. As long as that GPS is on, we can track Commander Sullivan wherever he goes.”

Dr. Connors was impressed. “I knew Tommy was good with electronics and engineering, but I had no idea he could hack into phones like that.”

“He's a genius sir. Tommy can pretty much hack into anything. I'm sure he could hack into the pentagon and the white house too if he wanted.”

Dr. Connors raised his hands. “Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. Hacking into a government agent's property is bad enough.”

Christine smiled. “Just saying.”

Seconds later James popped his head into the hallway where Dr. Connors and Christine conversed. “We got something.”

Dr. Connors and Christine looked at each other and then followed James back to the control center.

“We got a hit?” Dr. Connors asked.

“Yep, don't know how much it'll help, but I've definitely got something.”

Dr. Connors stared at an image displayed on the screen.

“His name is Dorian Granier sir. Not much on file about him. He's thirty-five years old and from Boston, Massachusetts. There hasn't been a job listed for him in the past five years’ sir.”

“Any family?”

Tommy flipped to the next page. “No sir, no family.”

“At least, no family listed,” Christine said. The group turned to face her. “If he's connected to the Syndicate like we suspect, there's a strong chance that aspects of his life would be unknown.”

“Especially if he's high up the chain,” James added.

Cayde had a perplexed expression upon his face. “How could information like that not be available?”

“It's actually relatively easy to conceal information if you know about the finer workings of coding. Take us for example. If anyone pulled up a basic report on any of us, our files would look similar.”

“Really?”

“Yep, one of the first things I do whenever we find someone that needs protection is delete the majority of their files.”

Cayde found himself impressed and bothered at the same time. Even though he was only in his late twenties, he wasn't as knowledgeable with the internet as one would expect.

“All right you two, let's stay on task. So this Dorian Granier, hardly anything on him besides the very basics. Tommy, can you hack into his phone and get a track on his location?” Dr. Connors asked.

Immediately, Tommy shook his head. “I've already tried. There's no number for him listed. Unlike Commander Sullivan, this guy doesn't seem to be in possession of a cell phone.”

Cayde raised his hand. “And what all do we know about this Commander Sullivan fella?”

“He's the leader of the agency you ran into earlier today,” Tommy said.

Cayde rubbed his head and pretended to have a headache. “Too many names and organization being thrown at once. This is quite confusing!”

Christine rolled her eyes. Over the past year she had developed quite the love/hate relationship towards Cayde. James often teased her about her feelings, much to her chagrin. “It's really quite simple. We're dealing with two completely separate organizations with two different agendas. The first organization we ran into is led by a man named Commander Sullivan, who I believe works for the government.”

Tommy paused to let the group process the information. “The second organization who, thanks to Tori, we now know as The Syndicate, seem to have far more sinister intentions.”

“Got it? Good. Now, any idea of how we track down this Dorian Granier character?” Dr. Connors asked.

Cayde raised his hand.

“What?” Dr. Connors asked. He was less than amused with Cayde at that moment.

“I have an idea.”

“What is it? And it better not be anything stupid!” Christine said.

Dr. Connors gave Christine the sort of look a parent gives a child when they want them to mind their manners.

“Send Tori back in there and get Cooper to give us a location.”

“He doesn't know anything else,” Tori said.

Cayde did not believe that for a second. “Of course he does. He might not be high on the food chain within the Syndicate, but he isn't a scrub. He was specifically assigned with the task of making a statement. An organization as disciplined as the Syndicate seems to me wouldn't send some low level goon for such an assignment.”

“He's got a point,” James said.

“Wow, twice in one day someone's said you've got a point. That has to be a record,” Christine said.

Cayde chuckled. “Stop it Christine. You're embarrassing yourself!” Cayde said with a flirtatious smile.

Christine glared at Cayde, which did nothing but amuse him.

“Knock it off you two. I agree with what Cayde said. Cooper has to know something. A contact number, a location, anything that will lead us to Dorian's whereabouts.” Dr. Connors turned to his left to face Tori. “I want you to go back in there and get us a location.”

“I'll try.”

Dr. Connors glanced over to James who nodded in understanding. James followed Tori out of the room.

“Do you need more time to recuperate?” James asked once the two left the control room.

“No, I should be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

Tori stopped in her tracks and thought for a second. “Yeah, I'm okay, I just want to get this over with as quickly as possible.”

Tori opened the door and walked into the containment room. Cooper was on the ground shirtless doing pushups when she arrived. He stood up and stared at the two Ascendants. His initial reaction was to hit on the young woman, but after the pain she caused him earlier, he thought twice about it. “What do you want?”

“I want to know about Dorian Granier.”

Cooper flinched ever so slightly. It was so subtle that Tori didn't even catch it, but James did.

“I don't know anyone by that name.”

“He's lying,” James said.

Tori moved forward and when she did, Cooper moved further away from the door that kept him locked in. Tori smiled slightly and was quite pleased with herself. It was nothing more satisfying to her than seeing a sleazebag like Cooper squirm.

“You can either tell me what you know on your own or I can find out for myself. Either way, I'm going to get the information I need.”

It took all James had within him to hide the way he felt in that moment. He had never been so proud of Tori as he was in that moment.

A worried look appeared on Cooper's face. “I don't know much about him.”

“Tell us what you do know,” Tori said.

Cooper was unsure of what to do. His eyes peered towards James for some sort of reaction, but James stood emotionless with his arms crossed.

“What do you want to know?”

“Whatever you know,” Tori said.

Cooper glanced around nervously. He desperately tried to think of a way to get out of the predicament he found himself in. He tried to disintegrate the containment cell he was in, but the polytechnic adaptive materials kept him caged like a wild animal.

“You don't want to know Dorian Granier. In fact, you should forget that you ever heard the name. He is easily one of the most dangerous men you'll ever meet. Dorian Granier is proficient and extremely unpredictable. He's a professional, a master technician and extremely patient. I'd be willing to bet he's got a file on every single one of you and I guarantee his file is larger than anything you have on him.”

“Is he the leader of the Syndicate?” James asked.

Cooper seemed almost surprised to hear James use the word Syndicate. Then again, he shouldn't have been, considering they used the name Dorian Granier.

“He asked you a question.”

Cooper gave Tori the deadliest of stares. “I get that you're feeling all high and mighty now, but don't think for one second that you're tough.”

Tori did her best not to react.

“I promise you, the only thing keeping me from turning you and your bodyguard over there into a pile of ashes is this containment cell.”

Cooper's threat put Tori back in her place. There was a lump in her throat as she processed what Cooper had said. Until that moment she felt in complete control. The rush she felt using her telepathy on him temporarily blinded her to the fact that Cooper was still extremely dangerous.

A slight smile flashed across Cooper's pale face and for a moment he felt as if he had regained control of the situation.

“Even if the containment field was down, you wouldn't be able to get passed either of us. Nice try with the intimidation factor, but neither of us are impressed,” James said in an attempt to reestablish control.

Cooper's eyes turned back and forth between Tori and James before eventually settling in James direction. “I don't need telepathy to tell me how rattled she is. Like I said, she's nothing more than a little girl trying to play a grown man's game.”

“Mr. Barrett, is Dorian Granier the leader of the Syndicate?” Tori asked. She stood as tall as she could to appear tough, but her small stature and lack of physical training betrayed her attempt.

“None of you understand the depth of my organization. If you truly believe that you Ascendants have what it takes to stop us, you are delusional. You would need an army to compete against us, and even then, it wouldn't be enough!”

James and Tori looked at one another. They both seemed hesitant as how to proceed. From the control room, Dr. Connors monitored the situation.

Dr. Connors was an extremely unique man as he held doctorate's degrees in both medicine and psychology. From monitoring Cooper, Dr. Connors could tell that he was stalling. “Tori, press him. He's hiding something,” Dr. Connors said into her earpiece.

Tori did not respond to Dr. Connors, but she heard his instructions. The conversation was being monitored, and she didn't want Cooper to know.

“Cooper, you and I both know that if you are hiding something, I will find it. I don't want to have to go digging in your head again, but I will. You know I will find the answers to the questions I seek, so please, just tell me and save yourself the headache.”

Cooper stared at the young girl. He paced around the room and contemplated his options. Tori created a telepathic link with James to communicate with him without having to speak out loud.