Chapter 20

AFTERMATH

The Syndicate leader had called for a meeting, knowing that the last days events required a discussion. The normal respectful, almost fearful tone at the meeting were no longer present. The delegates were displeased, and the discussions were many and loud.

"We invested a lot of money in this project!" One elderly board member said. "Too much money to see it fail!"

Several others grunted in approval, spurring the man further with his accusations.

"It was up to Ulysses to keep us informed on everything that happens within the World Consultation Building and with the Special Missions Force, but quite obvious the new equipment they were using has slipped you by!"

This was an evident fact, something that it was pointless for Ulysses to deny.

"I don't deny that I was unaware of those weapons." Ulysses replied calmly. "Obviously, both Matt Trakker and his brother has a tendency to skip protocol whenever it fits them. It's not the first time that they went behind the back of their superiors."

He did not feel comfortable to admit that important and vital information had slipped him by. It had happened before, and that time Matt Trakker and his men had cut of an important money trail. He knew that if his information become too unreliable the Leader would relieve him of his duties, and there were no retirement plans in the Syndicate.

The other man sensed that he had found a weakness in Ulysses' defence, and like a predator he seized the opportunity.

"And how do you intend to deal with that?" he pressed.

"It's not up to me to decide, but the most obvious course of action is to put a tail on Trakker. Perhaps even positioning an insider in Young Enterprises in case they goes through them again."

"What about insiders in the Special Missions Force?"

"It will be difficult now." Ulysses confessed. "Trakker has been alerted to the dangers of allowing people he doesn't know inside of the group. He will handpick his crew from now on."

One of the other board members, less interested in placing blame around him had an inquiry about what he felt was of more pressing concern.

"What about the war equipment the army has confiscated? Are there any risk that they will be able to trace them back to us?"

The question was directed to Ulysses or the leader. But one board member with a more military look replied in their place.

"The equipment is right now under tight examination by experts from the army." He told. "It is of course fitted with anti-tamper devices, but this of course doesn't offer a total security. I am positive however that there is nothing that they will find to be able to trace back to us."

While all this had transpired, the leader had been sitting in silence, listening without any real interest until he thought that the frustration had been vented enough. Then he silenced the room with a sharp hissing sound.

"Finished?" He asked with a voice that told everyone present that he would tolerate no more outbursts. "I thought that everyone present in here knew that our Syndicate does not stake everything on one card. Our long-term plans are in no way affected by the safe return of the hostages. True, the success of the Special Missions Force re-established some of the public's faith in the running government, but opinions can change in a blink of an eye."

Most of the present board-members lowered their gaze. Their fear for their leader kept them from questioning him too much. But one younger man with a protruding jaw and grown together eyebrows, the one who looked most like a gangster of everyone present stood up and barked out his displeasure.

"I made a delivery. Where's my money? If I can't get any guarantee that our investments will pay off, I would prefer to withdraw!"

"This is no country club." The leader reminded sharply. "I also want to remind everyone present why you joined: It was the promise of lowered taxes, reduced tolls and the abolishing of all trade barriers. An opportunity for all of you to earn more money than you ever dreamt of. But in order to achieve this you have to support us without reservation. You're in it to the end."

"Surely, if you were to invest one hundred million, you would want some reassurance." The other man tried.

"We're still working after a long-term plan with several disturbances from VENOM. Once VENOM and the Special Missions Force begin to square off in large skirmishes it is bound to be demands from significant quarters for proceedings to put a stop to both groups."

The mentioning of VENOM prompted another issue to be brought up.

"Colonel Wolf is obviously too arrogant for dealing with operations like this. He failed to recognise the threat from the Special Missions Force and allowed them to surprise him!"

The leader was prepared.

"We turned to Wolf for more reasons than his part in the founding of the Special Missions Force." He explained. "He's also in possession of some very important and useful knowledge that can be used for future operations."

He turned towards a secretary that got up from his chair and opened a door to an adjacent room. From that room Colonel Lyman Wolf emerged.

Watched in silence by the board-members, he walked up to the table on the opposite side of the Leader and opened a folder he had carried under his arm.

"Gentlemen. This is Operation Spoilsport." He begun and activated the overhead projector. It projected a photocopy of a top-secret document on the screen on the wall.

"Operation Spoilsport was designed to activate all by itself in case United States lost World War Three and there was nobody left over here. About thirty missiles, randomly held back, not being used in the main conflict. They are being launched one day later by the computer. As the Russians celebrate their victory, our last thirty nukes come sailing, takes them by surprise, wiping them all out and winning World War Three for the good US of A. That's operation Spoilsport."

There was questioning looks from most board-members. They wondered how this information could benefit the Syndicate.

"Present status: Deactivated. All but forgotten to most top ranked personnel." Wolf continued. "Fortunately, I know the location for the computer that controls Operation Spoilsport, and where to obtain the codes required to reprogram them and change their target."

He lowered his voice for dramatic effect.

"I think you can all imagine the reaction if thirty missiles from our own silos will be programmed to strike in our own country. No one knows which missiles that will be used, and no one knows where the computer that controls them are located."

All the present Syndicate members sat themselves more comfortably. Colonel Wolf now had their full attention.

A few weeks later, Matt arrived at the office of Young Enterprises in Greenwood village in Denver, having been asked in by Andy, who had said that he had something special waiting for him.

After being debriefed following the battle in Long Island, things had been quiet. Inquires he had made to H.H.s office regarding the future of the team had been cryptical in their response. He didn't know if the World Unification Alliance intended to continue to run with the program, even though the threat from the Syndicate and VENOM was looming over them.

He knocked on the door to Andy's office and was immediately admitted.

"Hello little brother." Andy greeted him. "Glad you could step by."

"Well, I'm glad for any opportunities to get out of the house." Matt confessed.

"Why? The kids driving you crazy?"

"No." Matt dismissed. "I'm just itching for something to do. So what have you got for me? A new racer? You know that the Southern 500 is coming up shortly."

"Oh, Matt. There are times that you really disappoint me." A voice said. "I thought that you would have matured beyond the simple thrills of racing by now."

Matt turned to see Hugh rising from a chair and walking quickly towards him, laughing at his surprised expression.

"Good to see you again, my boy." He said and embraced him like a son. "I'm sorry that I haven't answered your calls, but we have been very busy."

"There's no need to apologize." Matt said, catching himself just before calling him 'Sir'. "There must have been a lot of meetings, plugging security holes and such."

"You're quite right." Hugh confessed. "Some people in the top of World Unification Alliance foolishly believed that the threat would be gone just because your team dealt with VENOM and saved all the hostages. It took some convincing to get them to continue to finance The Special Missions Force."

"But you did?"

"I can play dirty when I like to." Hugh smiled. "I reminded them that had they listened to me from the beginning, it's quite possible that Colonel Wolf – or 'Miles Mayhem' as he seems to call himself now – would never have been in position to hold the UN-delegates at the Peace building commission hostage in the first place. It was they who insisted on a more military driven contingency program."

"I guess that caused some squirming in the seats."

"Some people were very uncomfortable." Hugh laughed. "Most notably Sir George and Senator Brewster."

"Have you learned anything from the interrogations?" Matt questioned.

"Not much, sadly. They have been unable or unwilling to reveal their base of operation. They stated that they had been flown in directly from their training grounds abroad. Regarding this training ground they claimed that they didn't know the location of it. They just referred to it as the Plantation. From their description we believe that it is located somewhere in Central- or South America."

"What are you saying?" Andy wondered. "Are we dealing with a foreign power?"

"We can't rule it out." He confessed. "It could be a deliberate false lead, but it could also be a fact that there is a political interest behind the Syndicate and VENOM."

"There are possibilities that the Syndicate can gain some of their financial income from agencies for operations abroad." Matt believed. "To me this seem as need of control. A control over outside factors and a hope that this control will mean a guaranty that nothing unforeseen happens. What kind of control does an industrialist require the most?"

"The control to guarantee a steady income." Andy said.

"Precisely. I remembered my social science from the university and the theories presented by Karl Marx. From his studies he concluded that all power originates from the economical foundation in the society. The owners of the means of production are also the ones with the industrial power. They can decide what and how much that are going to be produced, who they will employ, how many and where they will be employed. Their income makes it possible for them to create their own lifestyle, enabling them to buy themselves special privileges. And that is the part I'd like to emphasize. The industrialists want their influence to go even further, so decisions made in the congress and in courts always will benefit their interests. The state will become their executive authority."

"So you believe that our opposition is really the countries industrial elite?"

"You practically spelled it out for me the day you hired me, but we didn't see it." Matt said. "Ever since Helena told me about the difficulties with investigating people like Pratt and Vasquez because they had important friends, I had been asking myself why the nation's industrial elite would front and protect terrorists who wants to take over our country. That answer was given to me by you as well: People with money are only willing to invest once they know that there will be a big profit. The big profit would be less bureaucracy and more economic freedom for more enterprising initiatives. That had to be the common denominator I was looking for; with a government in their favour, there are a large non-taxable profit for them to collect. So the conclusion I reached is that the countries industrial elite is not just financing the Syndicate. They are the Syndicate."

"I don't think that is so farfetched." H.H. confessed. "At the last meeting, when we revealed what the transcripts from the interrogations had told us, a member of the Security Council begun talking about urging the secretary of defense to sanction further operations abroad. Was it just a coincidence or had the Syndicates schemes worked according to plan?"

"I think only time will tell us about that." Matt thought. "Do you have any leads concerning VENOM?"

"Nothing so far." H.H. confessed. "Lisa and her department are trying to listen to all whispers in the underworld that might give us some hints about VENOM's next target. The discovery that VENOM base might be located in Central- or South America complicates matters, because it will be difficult to investigate in their territories without official protests.

But until further notice, our main objective is to keep our nation safe from threats. That includes both internal as well as foreign threats. First of all, we need to secure VENOM's base of operations."

"So the team will continue to be operational?" He assumed it must be, or Hugh wouldn't have come all this way and speak so openly about national secrets.

"Let's go for a ride." H.H. suggested.

They took the elevator down to the garage where Andy's car was parked. With Andy behind the wheel, they took the US-36 past Broomfield and Boulder, where they headed up towards the mountains. After a while, a gas station came into view, and Andy stopped at it.

"I didn't know that there was a service station here." Matt noted.

"No, this is new." Andy replied. "It hasn't even opened yet."

Matt looked around. The station consisted of two gas pumps standing in the open area in front of the convenience store. Mined into the mountain was a garage with a repair shop.

"What is this place anyway?" Matt asked. He didn't understand why Andy and H.H. had driven him all the way out here just to look at a service station.

"This is your new headquarters!" H.H. said

"It's a bit small for our force." Matt dismissed. "The service garage will only fit one or two vehicles."

"Ah, but this is no ordinary service station!" Andy revealed. "It is much more than what you see."

He opened a panel in the wall and pulled a switch. In the next moment, the whole wall slid down into the floor, revealing a huge room in the size of a hangar inside of the mountain.

"Inside here is everything needed to keep the vehicles operating." He said. "I believe that between Bruce, Alex and Buddy you will be more of less self-sustaining and we won't have to involve to many people. Minimising the risk of further sabotage."

They took the stairs down to the sublevels which housed a training facility complete with a gym, mats for martial arts training, a climbing wall, and a swimming pool. At the same level there was also a first aid room.

Going back up to the garage, they took another stair up to the next floor which hosted the command centre, a huge room with computer stations along the wall, a tactical screen and a round conference table which also consisted of hologram emitters enabling the displaying of topographic holographic map with the most recent feed taken by a high-resolution camera broadcasted directly from a satellite.

"Neat." Matt complemented. "I'm sure that Alex and Paul will love to play around here."

He noted a ladder in the wall that led to a hatch in the roof.

"Where does that go?"

"One thing at a time, please." Andy admonished. "Look at the roof above the conference table now."

Matt looked upwards and noted an oval shaped opening in the roof with two heavy sliding panels keeping it shut. As Andy pressed a button at the table, it opened up and a spiderlike arrangement was slowly lowered down over the table. Each arm held one of the masks.

"That is the storage area for the masks." Andy explained. "It's shielded from radiation since the loading of the masks emits some radiation. Continued exposing could be hazardous."

"What about using them?" Matt inquired. "Could that be of any danger?"

"No. The radiation levels in the masks themselves are almost non-existing. It is just the power core that emits radiation, and even that is low levels. We're not taking any risks though."

He walked over to the main computer and punched up a three-dimensional view of the gas station.

"You asked about the ladder. The gas station is only a disguise, so we won't attract any attention to ourselves." He explained. "We hope that the location of the base won't be compromised, but if it does, you can convert the base into a battle station.

A protective bunker wall will slide into place over the repair shop; the front wall of the store will pivot forward releasing a heavy blast shield that becomes an armoured pillbox. An anti-aircraft gun is hidden in the mountain – that is where the ladder goes - and you will find hidden stun guns behind the sign. To top this, the fuel pumps will convert into flame-throwers."

Matt was impressed, but he just had to tease Andy a little.

"What happens if some car pulls up and asks for gas?"

"Then you sell him gas of course!" H.H. replied. "Our cover would get blown rather quickly if we didn't sell gas and took in cars that needed service. I have already been speaking to Buddie Hawks. He will work here during the day hours.

In fact, the entire team has been reassigned over to Colorado. We are providing both them and their families with employments so they can be nearby whenever they are needed."

"Do we have a way of calling them in quickly?" Matt wondered. "Like a group message on the phone?"

Andy reached into a case he had been carrying and handed Matt a wristwatch.

"Once they are needed for a mission, you'll be able to summon them with these. As soon as they receive the signal, they must report at once."

"How will we operate?" Matt questioned as he examined the wristwatch. "Will we still be answering to your department?"

"You will report to me, but I'm not going to hold you in a leach. I assume that there will be times out on the field where you are going to have to make decisions on the spot, and there won't be time to clear them with me. I'm going to trust your judgement on making the right call."

Matt nodded. This was how he would prefer it. There was a lot of responsibility that he would have to deal with, but he knew that if they could keep information to themselves, there was a chance that less would slip out.

But there was one thing that still worried him regarding security issues.

"I'm still worried about one thing. Colonel Wolf knows about our members. What are the risks that he would try to strike at us through our families?"

"You can never know for sure with people like Colonel Wolf and his thugs." H.H. admitted. "While I don't think that Wolf will consider taking family members hostage as a strategical advantage, we will still do whatever we can to keep everyone safe. There are as you know strategies for Protected personal information.

But I must be honest with you; until we can plug the leaks in the organization and uncover Ulysses, we must have faith in that the families are of no interest to the Syndicate or VENOM. Ulysses knows everything we know so if we give them new identities or even go to such measures that we recruit a whole new team, he will know."

"This time I actually believe that Ulysses knowledge is to our advantage." Andy theorised. "Since the Syndicate and VENOM already knows everything about us, they have no need to blackmail or threaten any of us to gain information."

"I pray that you are right." Matt said.

"There is one more thing." H.H. said as they walked through the rest of the interiors which consisted of an office as well as accommodations in case someone had to stay overnight. "We have also acquired an area not far from here which we are flattening out."

"A training field… or perhaps an airfield?" Matt wondered, trying to second guess him.

"An airfield." H.H. confirmed. "You do of course remember the transport we used to fly you over to San Diego?"

"Of course."

"Both the plane, and its pilot will be stationed here so you can be flown over to areas that are far too long to travel by road."

"Great. I really liked Riker. He seemed like a wonderful guy."

"That is good. It is still you who has the final say in the personnel."

As final part of the tour they stepped inside the convenience store which would be filled with groceries, confectionery, tobacco products, magazines and other inventory that was to be expected to keep their cover.

"So, are you ready to go?" H.H. asked once they were back out by the car.

"As soon as you need us." Matt promised.

H.H. handed over a dossier from his briefcase. On the front of the dossier was a logo which consisted of Rhino on the top and a mask – Spectrum – at the bottom. Stamped over the shield was the word MASK.

"That is your team," H.H. said. "The MASK Special Missions Force!"