Authors: Rafael
I
imagine the inventor or his agent enveloping himself in some type of shroud,
net, or blanket to which the feathers attach rendering him either invisible, or
able to project a false image, or both. Knowing only birds have feathers, some
type of contraption attached to the feet would produce the prints we’ve seen.
That begs two questions. How could such a technologically sophisticated
individual not know birds have four toes? And why go to such elaborate and
clumsy lengths? When I can answer both I will submit my final conclusions.”
“Have
you considered it might be a full-sized creature?” Ragnar asked. Miranda
paused.
“I
can’t of course rule it out. But to go from a feather to an autonomous,
full-function, bio-engineered creature represents a leap orders of magnitude
beyond what we know today. No. When faced with two competing theories, I must
give great deference to the simpler explanation, however odd or remarkable it
may be.”
Janesh
reached for the feather. “Can I try a lo-tech approach?”
“Of
course. Be my guest.” Ronan and Duncan needed just three sniffs to set their
tails wagging.
“Hunt.”
Noses to the ground, they made a beeline for the opposite wall. There they
veered at an angle for sixty feet before milling about to and fro trying to
reacquire the scent. They widened the search area, picked it up again by the
near exit, lost it twice more, moved back and forth from where the bodies hung
eight times then made another beeline back to their starting point. At the
wall, they stopped, froze, and stared at it.
“Maybe
they’re confused by the strange location.” Ragnar suggested.
“No.”
Janesh replied. “They’re not confused, I am. Why didn’t they exit the building
to the street or the parking lot? Why are they staring at the wall?” He called
them back, presented the feather, and again bade them hunt. They repeated the
pattern.
Janesh
walked to the wall the dogs stared at with Miranda and Ragnar close behind. He
ran his hands over the surface searching for cracks, fissures, anomalies,
anything that might indicate it hid another purpose or feature. “You wouldn’t
happen to have a mobile x-ray device, would you?” he asked Ragnar.
“No,
but I have something just as good.”
Two
team members needed fifteen minutes to place a transmitter on the wall
surrounded by collectors. In his hands Ragnar held a tablet-sized display. He
pressed the send button. “The transmitter is now sending sonic pulses through
the wall. Anything inside the wall or large density changes will reflect the
sounds back to the collectors and form an image.” Miranda and Janesh looked up
from the device not comprehending the display. “Well?” Ragnar’s tone held
finality.
“Nothing.
It’s just a wall nothing more. Maybe the dogs are confused.”
“No.
The scent trail they followed is as real as you and I. It’s telling us exactly
what happened here. We’re just not understanding it.”
While
a skeptical Ragnar and his team disconnected their equipment, Janesh again
presented the feather to the dogs but this time followed behind as they
tracked. He stopped at one spot marked by large pools of dried blood. “Did you
connect this blotch to a particular victim?”
“Yes.”
Ragnar replied. “The rightmost one.” Janesh walked over for a closer
examination. The man’s tibia, thrust out through a bare leg, made him wince.
“Did you examine this one?” he asked a man putting away his notes. The
technician nodded.
“Any
ideas what caused this?” He shrugged.
“Part
of the break is thrust
up
into the bone. He must have been lying prone
when something struck his foot with enough force to shatter the leg.” He pointed
to a swollen and discolored foot. “It also broke the ankle.”
Janesh
returned to the blood patch, a huntsman tracking clues. He stared at the
blood’s splatter direction. Why had it not sprayed
away
from the blow
instead of pooling? What could cause a scent trail to start and stop, appear
and reappear? He knelt down, palms on his thighs, head bowed. Breathing slowed,
an inner calm seeped in. He stilled his thoughts and walled off noise and
distraction. He descended into his mind, to a place of pure thought, to where
meaning and understanding dwelled. Why had the blood not sprayed? Why did a
scent trail appear and reappear? Everyone stopped to stare at him. A feather
slowly rotated across his mind’s eye.
With
a sudden inhale, Janesh rose in one smooth motion. He circled in place to
survey the ceiling’s rafters. “We must find the equipment. It is key to
understanding what we’re up against. Whatever it is.” He stopped to level his
gaze at Miranda. “It can fly.”
Nicholas
Koh reached for the buzzing communicator. “Yes.” What followed made his
erection disappear. “Just a moment.” Snapped fingers motioned for the two
females to leave. He rose from the couch, put on a robe, and confirmed the
apartment’s electronic shield glowed steady green.
“All
six?”
“Correct.
We heard screams but expected to.”
“What
about the two agents?”
“We
watched them remove eight body bags. I uploaded the photos. You can see the
outlines of corpses within. No one who went in or came out the building matched
the pictures Chen gave us. They must be dead too.”
Nicholas’
instincts ignited. “Hold on.” Things didn’t add up. Some of his best men made
up that crew. They would never have missed any weapons on the two agents. He
pulled up the photos Chen had sent which included two full-body views. No way
had these two muscled his men, not all six. He scrolled down to the body bag
stills. No one in them wore badges or identifiers. Their grimaces made it clear
the bags contained dead weight.
The
next one made him stop. Eyes widened, breathing stopped. He stared. Searched
for a sign he might be mistaken. Found none. Janesh McKenzie stood in the
background. Once again the
Mahān
Śikārī
had entered his life. His eyes narrowed at the
beauty into whose ear his nemesis whispered. What connected them to this?
Nicholas let out a loud breath and ran fingers through his hair. He had to
think this through and didn’t have the time. Slow down, he thought. What’s the
priority?
“Listen
to me carefully before this gets more botched up than it is. If not already,
they’ll soon be grilling Chen. I don’t trust him. There’s no time to wait for
one of our boats. That equipment needs to be on the next ship leaving Tacoma.
If it isn’t, there’ll be nowhere on this planet you can hide. Do you
understand?”
“Fully.”
“Tell
Chen to provide transport and to personally supervise it. Don’t haggle price.
When they deliver the equipment, Larry Chen and his crew must become dead ends.
Any questions?”
“No.”
“Good.
One more thing. The pictures you sent include a red-haired woman. You see it?”
“Yes.”
“A
million dollars if you bring her to me alive and unmarked. I don’t want her to
have so much as a scratch.”
“I
understand.”
“Make
sure that equipment’s on the next ship and send me its name.”
Nicholas
disconnected and stared at the device. He respected Jithu Ong’s slow, steady
rise through the ranks. He still had not replaced Wei or Feng and both men had
often given Ong sensitive assignments, some needing delicate attention, others
a more direct approach. A taciturn temperament and terse speech patterns might
challenge his public ventures but no one had ever questioned his competence.
Nicholas needed this underling to succeed.
At
the bar he poured a shot of blended malt then another before strolling to the
bedroom door. He paused. Had he forgotten anything? Probably, but for now he’d
done enough. The freighter would take at least ten days to cross the Pacific.
He had time, though Janesh McKenzie’s unexpected and unexplained presence
complicated things. It required a considered response. He pushed the door open.
The two females lay naked on the bed. His erection returned.
Conversation
ceased when grim-faced men emerged onto the warehouse’s loading platform. Dead
weight carried between paired agents forced short-step waddles and occasional
grunts. Miranda glanced at Ben and Ragnar. Their set jaws radiated grief and
rage. Both understood any given day might find them inside a body bag on an
idling truck. So had Dawkins and Cross. Their families would never know what,
where, when, or why, only that they’d fallen in service to their country. Small
comfort.
“What’ll
happen to the other six?” Ragnar’s tone had no life or care.
“They’ll
disappear.”
Miranda
went cold. The brutal deaths Cross and Dawkins suffered had enraged her but she
admitted to a quiet satisfaction their tormentors’ lives had also ended in
horror. Did she walk a path Ragnar had already travelled? At its end would she,
like him, be callous toward life, seething with violence, burning for
vengeance? Would she recognize herself? Who would she be?
Miranda
turned to look for Janesh and found him eyeing her. Reflex spun her head away.
She felt flustered he’d caught her searching for him. Why? No matter what he’d
done or who he knew, one truth remained inarguable. The more she tried to push
him away the more he drew her to him. She raised her head and met his gaze.
Lips closed, she smiled. Watch me Janesh, she thought. Watch me close. Don’t
let me lose myself.
From
a trouser pocket her communicator buzzed. Gary Akiyama’s grim image filled the
display. He didn’t wait for their customary exchange. “Are you free to talk?”
“One
moment.” Back turned, she stepped away from the group motioning for Janesh to
follow her. Out of earshot, she held the communicator out to capture both their
faces. “Go ahead, Professor.”
“I
and two colleagues have completed our examination of the feather you sent. It
is an astonishing construct that can both reflect and absorb light. That gives
it the ability to either disappear or cast a false image. Although the feather
represents a tremendous scientific advance, we thought it well within today’s
engineering technology. A sufficient number embedded on an outer garment would
render the person within invisible or to appear where they’re not.
We
then decided to examine it under an electron microscope. The feathers along the
hollow shaft have remarkable properties themselves but at the calamus, the
shaft’s bare end, we made an astounding discovery. On microscopic hooks,
presumably to anchor the shaft within the follicle, we found tissue fragments
that matched the DNA sequences you sent. This feather did not fall off a
garment, clothing, or any material but was embedded within living tissue.”
“Are
we facing an organism entirely bio-engineered?” Miranda asked.
“Interesting
question. If the four known genes comprised its DNA we could state with
certainty whether it was natural or artificial. The presence of a fifth, which
by the way is the basis for the feather’s properties, prevents an easy answer.
To all outward appearances the DNA is natural but no known DNA has five genes.”
“Janesh
believes it can fly.” Gary leaned away to engage someone off camera. After a
minute he returned.
“We
have nothing to contradict that. It is entirely possible. The feather has the
same flight characteristics as any other bird.” Gary stared into the camera
then inhaled. “There is another possibility which the evidence does not
dismiss. However, extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. We don’t
have it.”
“Go
on, Professor.”
“This
creature may be extra-terrestrial.”
The
two stared at the display. Janesh recovered.
“But
it could be engineered.”
“Yes.
A phenomenal achievement but nonetheless entirely possible.”
A
cough turned them around. Ben Wolford had one eye on the display. “Washington
has cleared Cross and Dawkins’ case files. Call logs turned up a Larry Chen in
Honolulu. He heads a moving company, L&C Movers, with a local branch here
in Tacoma. We’ll pick up the trail there.”
“I’ll
be right with you.” Miranda waited, making it clear she wanted to finish the
call in private. Ben looked from one to the other, shrugged, and walked away.
“Professor, we have to leave. Is there anything else?”
“I
can’t say enough about my concerns, Miranda. Perhaps it’s time you returned to
zoology, let the professionals take over.” Respect paused her reply.
“You
know I always finish what I start, Professor. Cross and Dawkins are dead. They
didn’t deserve to die the way they did. If I can help find their killer, I
will. Besides, you sent a knight to protect me.” She looked at Janesh. Her eyes
twinkled. “Even if he is a little off-white.” Akiyama nodded before disconnecting.
“Be
well and good luck, Miranda.” She turned to head for the others. Janesh’s
gentle fingers closed around her arm.
“I
share the Professor’s concerns. Unless I’m mistaken, Larry Chen is already
dead. This wildcard creature can only make an already dangerous situation more
so.”
“I
don’t frighten easily, Janesh.” Frustration played across his face.
“No,
you don’t. You’ve been asking who I am. Okay then. Let’s step into the world
I’ve tried to shield you from and learn who.” He broke away. “Come.” Duncan and
Ronan sprang to either flank. Vehicles began pulling away from the warehouse.
Miranda stared at him then followed.
* * *
Beyond
the windshield, flashing police lights up and down the rural road illuminated
the evening sky. A police inspector had asked Ben to join him at the truck just
ahead swarming with detectives. Miranda and Janesh waited within the idling
utility vehicle. “Don’t be cross with me, Janesh. I know I probably seem like a
naïve, stubborn country bumpkin. It’s just I’ve never quit anything in my life.
I don’t want to say I know you mean well. That’s condescending. I really do
appreciate your concern though. I’m grateful for it. Thank you.”
Behind
her Janesh remained silent. Ben broke away from the throng and returned to
maneuver the vehicle back to the main road. “Larry Chen and six others lay in
the truck. Each had a bullet to the head. Big caliber. Half their heads blown
away. Whoever did it wanted to make certain.” Miranda stared at her hands. They
trembled. Janesh held out little hope.
“Did
they find the science equipment?” Ben shook his head.
“Chen
had a lading manifest copy in a pocket. The police had the Tacoma harbormaster
up on the shortwave. He confirmed the last minute load had proper
authorizations. Tacoma PD will be checking into that but the ship has a four
hour head start. No police boat will reach the ship before it gets to the
territorial limit. A helicopter has no way of forcing a return.”
“We
don’t want to intercept it just yet. We need that equipment. Once it passes US
territorial waters, don’t you gain jurisdiction? Doesn’t the CIA have
connections?”
Through
the rearview, Janesh watched Ben’s face light up. He reached over and pressed a
button on the dashboard. A small screen lit up. “Site Agent Ben Wolford, access
code BX017.”
“Voice
authentication confirmed.”
“Connect
me to Langley operations.” He winked at Janesh. “One Navy destroyer coming up.”