Chapter 30 Weasels, Wheels and Wills
He knew he had to leave. After Dr. Director called him in and told him she was reassigning him to another case, he knew it would only be a matter of a few days, perhaps a week at most that little Schwarzie stumbled across enough data to finally point out his presence within the Agency. He hated the little Sheisse almost as much as he hated the Untermensch und seine Hündin, but he had to admit that the boy knew his way through cyberspace.
He walked through the base with his normal show of arrogance, while carefully watching the personnel in the corridors for any signs of suspicion towards him. He made his way to the main computer facilities.
How the traitors that started this miscarriage of a country and political system could possibly think "All men are created equal", when anyone with eyes and a brain could look and see that it was patently a lie, was beyond him. Will Du, formerly Wilhelm Dunkel, could look back upon the march of history and see that it wasn't true. 50,000 years ago, in Europe, Africa and Asia, humanity had started off at the same basic technological level of fire, sticks and stones.
Yet Asia, with it vast reaches, enormous population and abundant resources, other then pockets of modernity around places like Beijing, Shanghai, and other cities (all of them using Western influences and ideas, techniques and methods) for the most part, still lived as Third World countries caught in the very height of that flower of the Dark Ages, the Twelfth Century. The way he saw it, this was a direct result of Asia's "Middle Kingdom Syndrome".
The way the Asians thought, there was Heaven above and everyone else below, with the Chinese or Thais or whatever 'Chink' or 'Slope' was over there right in the middle. That meant that the rest of the world was below them.
But that wasn't reality. The Chinese kept trying to rewrite history whenever there was a new Dynasty. 'History started with MY reign' was something they had done time after time. It's kind of hard to pull your self into the "Modern Age" when you kept reinventing the calendar every time there was a regime change and it kept them stuck in an Agrarian society.
About the only exception to that fact was the Japanese and only because they had to rebuild nearly their entire country after the Americans had almost reduced them back to the Stone Age during Der Zweite Weltkrieg.
The Chinese might have stumbled across the manufacture of gunpowder, but after having it for close to 400 years, they barely went beyond simple rockets. It took Europeans, White Europeans to figure out how to use it for Guns!
And Africa, was even more screwed up! Africa only had 15 percent of the world landmass, but FORTY Donnerwetter percent of the world natural resources. Yet 95 percent of those Unter-tieren still lived not even in the Twelfth Century, but in the Stone Age. They couldn't get themselves together enough drag themselves into the Bronze Age without the help of whites. They were so screwed up that he thought instead of trying to disarm them and bringing a useless Peace to the continent, just keep giving them guns and ammunition until they finally killed each other off. He couldn't wait until Dementor was able to launch Operation Melanin.
It was European (and specifically German) minds that were bringing humanity, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the future. German technicians and specialists were sought the world over for their skills in building everything from skyscrapers and research laboratories to hydro electrical dams and nuclear power plants. Not Africans, not Middle Easterners, not Asians, but Germans!
It was German scientists, using German minds and brains that built BOTH the American and Soviet rocket programs that set men on the moon and launched a seven rail cushion bank shot that sent probes to the planets and out of the Solar System. Even the vaulted American 'Manhattan Project' had been led by German minds. They might have been Juden, they were still born and educated in Germany.
It was a term paper for World History to that effect that had brought him to the attention of the professors and administration officials in college. But where those officials had looked on the paper with varying expressions of aversion, embarrassment and even horror, it also led to a meeting with a short man who showed him that finally there were others besides himself that saw the truth. A man who was biding his time for the opportunity to reestablish the system allowed a single country to take on the virtually the entire world and almost win.
And he couldn't wait until Der Fuehrer returned Das Reich to its rightful place,
He already had his escape planned. He had, with the approval of Der Fuehrer, set up a series of safe houses and pre-positioned equipment, money, fuel and vehicles for the day he would have to take his leave of these idiotion and make his way back to Der Vaterland
In his pocket rested a flash drive that contained a series of Trojans, logic bombs, and worm programs designed to do a systematic crash of every GJ server and computer in the Northern Hemisphere. Starting with the main base.
Once installed, all he would have to do would be to type 01091939 into any security terminal, and it would erase every password and P.I.N. in the security data base, except for one that only he knew.
There was still a few items and several files and blueprints that he knew Dementor would want. Starting with the PDVI that was locked in the vault. Nothing showed on his face, but inside he was laughing. Dr. Director, at the advice of her most trusted Agent, had not returned it to those lack of security fools and locked the device away instead.
The only thing he hadn't counted on was her locking in the vault under her own password. To get the device, he would have to wait until he was ready to leave to acquire it. He planned on using the security pad inside the vault to set off the logic bombs and escape once he had PDVI in hand.
In the meantime, he could start the process by installing the viral software and gathering the data, blueprints and less secure equipment Der Fuehrer wanted
**********
When Sagara and Kaname returned from school that day they found Kim, Ron, Wade Shunya and Ayame standing around something waiting in one corner of the garage. It was painted olive-drab green, over 30 feet long, 8 feet wide and over 7 feet tall. It looked like it weighed a couple of tons. It was a huge six wheeled vehicle with slab sides and a front that sloped back boat-like to the undercarriage.
Ron, who was in the garage when it was delivered, kept looking back and forth between the….whatever it was and Sousuke, who was nodding in a self satisfied manner, said, "Uh, Dude, some guys dropped this off for you a while ago.
"I'm glad it has arrived! This will ensure we will be able to attend classes no matter the climatic conditions."
Kim was staring with a raised eyebrow and a puzzled expression and Wade was tapping into his Kimmunicator trying to find a reference to…it.
Kaname had no more idea what it was then anybody else, other then one thing. She knew it was Otaku.
She took a deep breath and asked "Sousuke?"
Sousuke approached the back of the vehicle as he explained. "This is a D-U-K-W, nominally called a Duck. It is a six-wheel drive amphibious truck designed by the United States for service during and after World War II. It is capable of traveling 80 kilometer per hour on land and 10 in the water with a range of more then 350 kilometers on land and 80 in the water." (Speed » 55 and 6.5 MPH Range » 200 and 50 Miles)
He started climbing the back of the Duck talking the whole time. "With this even if the streets are flooded and the bridges are out, we should have no trouble making it to classes."
Kim stared at the Sergeant and said, "Uh, Sagara, uh, you do know the Sloth can fly, Right?"
Sousuke looked chagrined for a second, but rallied well, "Yes, but it doesn't have a pintle mount for additional weapons, such as the M2 machine gun or Mark 19 grenade launcher."
Everyone, except for maybe Ayame could tell that he had forgotten about the Sloth and was trying to cover for the lapse. She asked, "Wait a minute, you mean this thing can drive in the water?!"
Sousuke looked back down at the girl answering, "Yes, it can go directly from land into the water merely by shifting gears. When it was in development, a group of Naval and Marine personnel attended its unveiling. They were very skeptical at first. That is until a call came in that there was a ship caught on a sandbar just off the coast. The Coast Guard stated that they were unable to render assistance and, as a last resort, asked if the Duck would be able to rescue the men onboard before they were lost."
"The designers accepted the mission and launched the Duck into the thirty foot seas that halted the Coast Guards rescue efforts, successfully saving the lives of the men before their ship was broken apart. All hesitation against purchasing the vehicle by the Military halted at that point."
Kim looked at Ron and Wade. You could see the gears turning in her head as she tried to find a way to accept her teammate's Military bent. "So it can be used as a rescue vehicle?"
Sousuke jumped down from the side and said, "Certainly! After the Second World War there were numerous organizations that used it for exactly that purpose."
Kaname grabbed her boyfriend by the upper arm and dragged him towards the stairs. "Never mind, I'm hungry. Let's go eat and hope we never have to use that thing!"
***********
About an hour later, Ron's parents called. They wanted to tell Ron that they had an appointment the following morning. When he asked what it was about, Ron nearly broke down again. They had to go meet with the lawyer handling Roger's estate and hear the reading of his will.
After hanging up the phone, trembling and with a quavering voice, he told his teammates what the call was about. Hearing that Kim instantly grabbed Ron in a massive hug and led him to the couch, drawing him into her embrace, knowing this was going to hit him hard. Shunya and Kaname grabbed Sousuke, Ayame and Wade and excused themselves leaving the two alone for a while.
**********
The following morning, the couple arrived at the lawyer's office in the rumbling Galaxie to see not only Ron's parents, carrying a small duffel bag, but Steve Barkin as well. He was dressed just as somberly as they were with a haggard look on his face. Ron knew just how the man felt. Until he heard how they met he never realized how close Barkin and his uncle were. Ron, Dean and Kim shook hands with him, but Barbara surprised them by pulling him into a tight hug, thanking him for everything he had tried to do for her brother.
Dean said, "Well, let's go."
They entered and announced themselves to the cheerful receptionist who instantly went somber, offering her condolences. She showed them to the office and left them with the lawyer. He introduced himself as Emil Jacob and Dean passed him the bag. Mr. Jacob opened his safe and took out a folder. He pulled a list from the folder and started calling names like roll call in homeroom. Some of the names they didn't know. Some they did.
"Barbara Stoppable?"
She held up her hand.
"Ronald Stoppable?"
"Here, Sir."
"Dean Stoppable?"
"Mister Jacob."
"Captain Steven Barkin?"
"Sir."
"Lieutenant Commander Jacob Bouchard?"
"First Sergeant, James Griffith?"
"Master Chief Petty Officer Michael O'Donnell?"
"Chief Petty Officer David Garner?"
"Miss Kimberly Possible?"
"ME?!"
"Yes, Miss Possible, you."
Hearing that Steve Barkin was supposed to be there was no surprise, but they were shocked to find out that he had been expecting Kim to attend as well.
Sitting there listening to the man talk about everything Roger left behind was trying to say the least. Throughout the ordeal there were no real surprises. Until the end. They started off with him addressing Ron and the Stoppable's exclusively. There were items for others that were located in the house. Personal items, pictures and mementos that were to go the others that were not at the meeting at the time.
Mr. Jacob had addresses for them and asked if the family would bring the items to him for delivery. Knowing none of the Stoppables were not tracking right, Steve asked about making copies of any pictures for the family to keep. Mr. Jacob said there was nothing in the will precluding it and to go ahead.
The rest, along with most jewelry his wife left him, had been left to his sister and brother-in-law. Stocks and Bonds, the house and real estate, including a small lakeside cabin went to Ron.
"To Steven Barkin." hearing his name the big man just looked at the floor, "Steve, if I didn't get the chance to finish it, behind the garage is that old eleven hundred Goldwing. It's yours. Take that trip I didn't get a chance to. You haven't taken a vacation in years and I know you have months of vacation days built up. Emil is going to set up an account for you with 5 grand in it. Use it to fix the bike and go on a road trip. You need the time off anyway."
When Steve looked up, his face was a picture of misery. He opened his mouth to speak a few times, but couldn't get the words out. Finally he was able to say, "I guess I need to plan to put in for some vacation time." Looking at Ron he said, "You turned out pretty good spinning a wrench Stoppable. You help me fix that old bike."
Ron's eyes were shining when he answered. "Be glad too, Mr. B."
Mr. Jacob continued, "To Miss Kimberly Possible." Kim wasn't this nervous facing a room full of henchmen alone. Mr. Jacob read off the paper in front of him, "Kim, I can't tell you how mad I was at you for a while. Just ask Steve, he knows. Ron was hurting and you left him flapping in the breeze."
"But you straightened everything out in the end. So I have a few things for you. First, there's a college fund I'm going to split between you and Ron. I know you received plenty of scholarships so that's not really a problem, but it's always nice to have a 'Rainy Day' account if you need it. Second, Ron told me you've been having a problem on the firing line. So I want you to try something. Emil has it."
Mr. Jacob reached bag Dean had given him, pulled something out and set it on the table in front of her. It was a black nylon holster containing a pistol along with two loaded 15 round magazines. Steve stiffened for a second because he recognized it.
Mr. Jacob continued reading, "It's the sidearm I carried whenever I stepped into the helo. I didn't like the issue Beretta's, so I bought my own and used it instead. It's a Ruger P89 9mm automatic. I bought it back in 91 and fired thousands of rounds through it. She fires just as good today as she did when I bought her."
"It served me well and it's the same pistol I used to teach my wife to shoot. The real saving grace is I never had to fire it in anger. I hope you never have to either, but you never know. Take her to the range and give her try. If you have half the wrist strength I think you do then she should do you right."
Swallowing, she gingerly picked it up and pulled it from the holster. It was black with a few scratches and places where the holster had rubbed the finish. Without thinking, Sagara's training kicked in and she locked the slide to make sure the weapon was clear. Once she was sure, she released the slide and checked the safety. Something was wrong though, it felt off for some reason.
Being a lawyer, Mr. Jacob was an expert on reading people. He knew something was wrong. But Steve Barkin, school administrator, Marine and Combat Veteran and having more than a passing acquaintance with Kimberly Possible, knew what it was. He passed her one of the magazines and told her, "Put the clip in."
She looked at him wide eyed for a second and he said, "Just do it."
She slapped the clip home and everything about the way it felt changed. Now it was balanced in her hand. It wasn't too heavy, but there was no doubt it was there. Steve said, "Dry fire it."
She looked at him again, then turned to Ron who nodded. She pulled the hammer back, released the safety and, pointing it away, squeezed the trigger. There almost no slack and the break was crisp. The pistol might have looked worn, but it acted like it was new. It felt comfortable in her hand. Comfortable. There was a word she never thought she would apply to a firearm in her hand.
She reset the safety, ejected the clip and reholstered it. When she was finished, Mr. Jacob asked, "Do you have a carry permit, Miss Possible?" Still slightly bewildered, looking at the handgun, she shook her head. "Then State law requires you to transport the weapon locked in the trunk until you arrive home. It can be a felony offense otherwise. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Sir."
Ron floored everyone. "I have one, I can carry it for her."
The only jaw that didn't drop was Mr. Jacob's. Even Barkin was shocked. The only one able to talk was Dean, who asked, "Ra Ra Ronald, when did you get a carry permit?"
"Bout a month ago. I just asked Sagara what I needed and he had Dr. B set it up for me."
His fathers jaw worked a few times and he finally said, "I see."
Everyone was staring at Ron when Mr. Jacob said, "Now, there is one other thing for Ronald, but my instructions were for privacy. If you will all please wait in the lobby, he'll join you in a moment." When they were alone, Mr. Jacob reached into the bag again, pulled out a small velvet box and a pure white yarmulke that had delicate silver filigree and placed them in front of Ron and started reading again.
"If Emil is following instructions, you're alone. The last thing is the rings and my yarmulke I wore at my wedding. Your mom got all of the jewelry, except for our wedding rings. I don't know when or who, but sooner or later you'll be standing, waiting for her come down the aisle. And it would do me proud if you would use these on that day."
After first tracing the filigree on the yarmulke, Ron opened the box to see a perfect, crystal clear, one caret diamond engagement ring with a matching band that clasped the diamond when they were worn together. The husband's ring matched the wife's. Ron closed the box and sobbed. It took ten minutes for Ron to compose himself.
Kim knew something happened because he didn't say a word, just handed her the keys, took the Ruger and got in the passenger side. As she drove back to the apartment he kept feeling the pocket of his jacket and looked out the window. She thought to herself, "Thank God tomorrow is Saturday. We can just sit on the couch and veg tomorrow.
After Mr. Jacob led the family out, he just walked back into his office. The secretary knew to hold his calls for at least half an hour. Inside the office, he poured himself a double Scotch. Looking at the amber liquid, just before he slugged the whole thing he said, "God I hate wills."
**********
Saturday. A day of relaxation for most. Not Staff Sergeant Sousuke Sagara. He had finally, after months of waiting, gotten the chance to take the Arbalest to a live fire range. The Commander had gotten him permission to use the ranges at Fort Carson, Colorado. It was the closest place that they could maintain the security and it allowed a variety of terrains let Sagara and Al cut loose. Mithral had even arraigned for a squad of American M6's as an OpFor.
So earlier that day, after kissing Kaname goodbye, he backed into the ARX7's flight pack, activated the ECS system, left the hanger and climbed the side of the mountain. When he reached a ridgeline, Al used the radar and sensitive visual scanners to check for any possible aircraft, be they powered, un-powered or hang gliders.
When the scan was finished and skies clear, Sagara fired up the high bypass fanjets and jumped. Normally the Arm Slave would launch with a catapult, but GJ and Mithral were still installing it into the side of the mountain redoubt of the base. So he was forced to find an alternative launch method because you just don't take off from a standing start with a multi ton Arm Slave without some kind of boost.
He was going to enjoy today.
**********
Three days after the reassignment of Will Du, Wade felt like he was about to pull his hair out. In the week since Roger's funeral he had gathered a lot of data about what happened to the man in his last hour. He knew where he stopped to buy a shake, where his would be captors ambushed him, the route Roger had taken to escape, where Roger had counter-attacked the van with a load of steel, the turnoff where Roger had finally lost the car. He had even found out how much propellant the missile had left when it slammed into the bed of the Ranger! But he hadn't found a solid lead as to who they were or where they came from.
He was about to quit for the night when one of the other techs entered the lab mumbling about military taggants. The technician was one of the multi-service group that had been assigned to the case. Specifically from the BATFE (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives). She passed him a printout, saying, "Look at this Doctor Load. You remember the specs for the taggants we found on the truck?"
"Yea, but we couldn't find a match in the database."
"Wrong, we couldn't find a match in the G.J. database. I thought they looked familiar, but I couldn't remember from where. I finally got fed up and did a global search on the computers back at the Bureau in D.C. Turns out they were part of a shipment of AGMs that were hijacked about three years ago."
"That's not the weird part. The weird part is those AGM's were recovered like a week afterwards. And they were recovered by Global Justice. When GJ recovered them there were a half dozen missing from the shipment. The Agent that led the bust reported recovering nine of the ten cases hijacked."
"But when the terrorists were questioned, they didn't know anything about the missing case."
Wade took the reports and printouts and started looking over them. Something was tickling the back of his mind. He asked, "Who was the Agent in Charge?"
When she said, "Agent Will Du.", Wade nearly passed out from shock. He gathered his wits and started hammering away at his keyboard. He was pulling up files faster then the tech could follow. Now that he had a suspect, he was able to start pulling together bits of data. Like suddenly finding a missing puzzle piece, things started to drop into place. The last thing he found was that the security log showed that Du had checked into the base, but he hadn't checked out. And what was worse, he wasn't showing on any of the security systems.
He saved the data to a memory stick and bolted for the door. If the bases systems were compromised as bad as he thought they were, this wasn't something he could tell Betty over the communications links. The last few months of working out and constantly carrying around 20 plus pounds of weights paying off as he ran through the corridors trying to reach the Administration level.
Just before he stepped onto the elevator, something made him pause. And you couldn't be a super genius without listening to that little voice in the back of your head. Sometimes it led to new inventions or more efficient way of doing something, new programs and new techniques. This time it was screaming at him 'Do NOT to trust anything about the base security systems.'
Speed and the possibility of being stuck on an elevator or slower, having to climb seven flights of stairs, but no possibility of being trapped. Wade turned and headed for the stairs. By the fourth flight of stairs, he was breathing hard, but still going strong. On the sixth, the power went out.
**********
Authors Note:
First: You all have no idea how hard it is to got into the mind of a fanatic. And Will Du is definitely that. It's one reason for the long wait. The other is life itself.
Next: I'm sure some of the readers are wondering how I could even think about classifying the Founding Fathers of the United States as traitors. But the simple fact is that George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, John Hancock and all the rest of the signers of the Declaration of Independence WERE traitors. They were British citizens that took up arms against the lawful government, The Crown. We might call it "The War of Independence" or "The Revolutionary War". But the British called it "The Rebellion". And it was!
There's only one reason that they were not hung like Nathan Hale
They won!
Last: translations for those of you who have no German.
Schwarzie pronounced Sch-varzie literally Black, colloquially take a wild guess.
Sheisse pronounced Shice-a Shit.
Untermensch und seine Hündin. pronounced as spelled. literally Subhuman and his dog. Colloquially Hündin means Bitch.
Wilhelm Dunkel pronounced Vil-helm Dun-kelWilliam Darkness.
Der Zweite Weltkrieg pronounced Der Zveite Velt-kriegLiterally The Second World War.
Donnerwetter pronouncedDonner-vetter Colloquially God-damn
Unter-tieren pronounced as spelled. Sub-Animals below Untermensch
Der Fuehrer The Leader
Das Reich
Der Vaterland The Fatherland (in Russian it's Das Rodinia or The Motherland. Weird people)
Idiotion Idiots
ALSO a cookie to anyone that recognizes Will's code ;P