Chapter 11: The Survivor, The Whisper and the Child of Two Worlds
Press got off the phone with Dwayne Lee after their long conversation. Dwayne was more than just a pilot, he had access to people that Press didn't. He had been a smuggler and interacted with a number of less than savoury types.
One of his contacts in the underworld regularly employed a "Tech Specialist" otherwise known as a hacker in their affairs. After Press had mentioned that Eve was searching for her Daughter and the last person she was known to have been with was a Professor named Bruce Abbot out of Wyoming, Dwayne had made a few calls.
The guy had come back to him after some time, apparently the hacker had also found a few dead ends with regards to Abbot and decided instead that he..or she, would instead offer the only thing they could.
They had found two bright students of Abbots that were studying under him at the time of his disappearance. Dean Whitlock and Matt Hastings. There, the Tech Specialist had run into another dead end. Dean Whitlock looked promising, he had also been associated with Dr Nicholas Turner, who had been implicated in an incident with the experimental tokamak generator at the old Ashland Facility.
However, after he graduated, the last thing the specialist was able to find was a fuel receipt in Washington D.C. charged to Dean Whitlock's account, after that, there was nothing.
Matt Hastings on the other hand, had moved to Rochester, New York, and was now working in the Medical Research field. Hastings and Dean Whitlock also shared a dorm according to University records the specialist had found. It was certainly worth a look.
Eve had just finished an afternoon session with Dan, learning some of the psychic meditations she could use to hone her telepathic ability and also block out whatever was trying to mess with her in her dreams.
"Hay Eve! Wait up!" Press called out from the front steps of the house. She was heading back to the guest house she shared with Álvarez. She turned and jogged up the steps to him "What's up?" she asked. Press noted that she seemed in good spirits, whatever these meditations were, they were working.
"Ok, I just got off the phone with Dwayne, the pilot" Press began "He knows a guy who knows a guy who basically hacks computers for a living". "Ok" Eve said, clearly not sure where this was going. "I asked him if he could have the guy look into Abbot for you" Eve's face lit up slightly "Now, please don't get your hopes up" Press continued "He really didn't find much at all. Only a former student, who might know something and even then, it's a slim chance".
"So what do we do?" Eve asked. Press didn't really have much of a plan for this yet, he had to admit, the chances were so slim that this Hastings knew anything useful "Honestly, I'm not sure" Press said "It's the slimmest lead I've seen. After Abbot disappeared, one of his former students also disappeared after graduation, last place he was traced was Washington, this kid shared a dorm room with him and they were friends apparently" Press watched Eve closely, he could see the wheels turning, after a few moments she finally said "You're right, that's very slim… but if there's even the slimmest chance…".
"I know" Press said "We'll look into it, I'll with Laura and we'll come up with a plan, it might involve splitting up briefly".
Eve looked momentarily confused "Why split up?" she asked. "Well, you know Gamble's coming in later tonight" Press began "He mentioned he also had something, a former project member, and something else we've been looking into. He had some… well some Washington stuff I guess to finish off and he couldn't discuss it on the phone".
"So, looks like we're gonna be busy pretty soon?" Eve said. "Looks that way, I don't know if it's gonna lead you to Abbot, but it might be someone who knew him". "I understand" Eve said, she looked slightly disheartened, and added "Thanks for trying, I knew it would never be easy".
Looking at Eve now, Press found it hard to believe there was a time he was actually afraid of her, specifically of her alien side. Under all that, all she was was just a woman who wanted her daughter back.
She seemed to sense what he was about to say We'll get her back, Eve, and pre-empted it "I know it's all a fools hope, if she is out there, I just hope she's safe".
"Don't forget, Laura and I were still with the project for a few months after you escaped… again… By that time she would have been fully grown, so if the Government had her, we probably would have heard something. So they never found her. Plus, look at all the stuff you survived, if she's anything like you, she'll be fine, probably kicking ass out there somewhere, pretty sure Laura once said that if two of you had a child, the kid would be Unstoppable".
"Yeah" Eve sighed "I was there when she said that, she was explaining my telepathic acuity to those Generals" Eve said softly. Press met her eyes, they were a deep blue grey, and exuded a warmth and kindness, but also a sadness "Well, there you go, Eve, that is something you can hold onto, she's probably just as unstoppable as Laura said".
He put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly and she returned it with a smile "Ok" she finally said "Well, I'd better help Laura with decoding that signal, thanks Press" and made her way inside.
Press could tell that she was distracting herself, for a brief moment as they parted ways, she teetered right on the edge of getting upset, then stopped herself by thinking of something to remain busy. That was good, she clearly had healthy ways of dealing with her internal dilemmas. Eve was finding that strength that Dan had mentioned to him.
Robyn Morgan remembered the first time he had met Arianna Fitch, how all consumingly beautiful and compelling she was, in the face of losing everything he had once been a part of, she was someone he had found who he could follow.
Robyn had been on an assignment to find and eliminate a man who he once called his brother, Robyn Morgan and Connar Braden were both members of Project Morrigan, having entered it at roughly the same age, they had been inseparable.
Connar had earned the moniker "Hooded Crow" while Robyn became known as "The Whirlwind" for his tendency to get in close and use blades.
They had over time, grown apart. Connar was never one for savouring the kill, not like Robyn.
They were both Sighted, and Robyn had, over time, come to love and cherish opening up his emotions and his mind to a dying target, soaking up those last moments of a life lived, the pain, the fading hope, the anguish… beautiful. Connar had no stomach for it, and distanced himself.
Until one day, the head of the project, Roland, the man they simply referred to as Control, had told him something incredibly disturbing. Connar and several other Project members had been approached by "Free Whispers" and were planning to destroy the institute and all within it, in a plan known as The Day Zero Initiative.
The whole thing was being orchestrated by Maya Le Fauconnière "The Carpathian". Who had escaped the Project several years before and disrupted their operations.
He had been sent to Deli, to intercept Connar and Maya as they put their plan into place. Connar had pleaded with him to join them, Robyn pitied how pathetic he had become, softened by Maya's promises of a free life, and a new cause. To become True Whispers, and dedicate themselves to an ancient ideal… it made him sick.
They had fought viciously, he had Connar by the throat and was about to end him, but the gypsy was always a wily one, he had set off Robyn's own Gyro-Jet gauntlet to distract him and then beaten him mercilessly before throwing him out of an eleventh story window into a filthy alley below.
He remembered waking to the vision of Arianna kneeling beside him, removing a pair of sunglasses to reveal those enchanting eyes, and uttering the words "Wake up, Whirlwind, you and I have much to do".
She had dragged him to safety and nursed him back to health, by that time, the Project was destroyed, Roland was dead and the Whispers had vanished to the four corners of the Earth. Robyn however, had dedicated himself to a new cause… the salvation of all humanity… one bullet at a time.
Arianna's home, one of many around the world, was decorated in the modern minimalist style. Robyn looked at the art on the walls as he climbed the wide staircase.
Robyn had been with Arianna before all these Half-Breeds had come along, helping her establish connections in the shadows, and clearing the way for her organisation's growth. Patrick Ross had changed everything.
They referred to themselves as The Brethren, and out loud, so did he, but in the back of his mind, they would always be Half-Breeds. They couldn't even survive without the special Serum she had synthesised for them with the help of a co-opted scientist named Dean Whitlock. Whitlock was under constant guard by a dedicated group of Half-Breeds who moved him around constantly.
He came to a large set of double doors, guarded by two stoic Half-Breeds, a couple of the originals who had found a place in Arianna's Network. Helena and her brother Castor both nodded at Robyn as he passed.
Robyn met Helena's eyes and grinned, she returned it. They had enjoyed one another on occasion. These creatures could be incredibly satisfying when their inner natures were aroused to the surface.
This must have something to do with Eve Robyn thought. Like most, he had seen the video played all over the internet of her little fight, she is alive after all. Part of him felt like asking, but he knew better. First generation Half-Breeds hated Eve.
They blamed Eve for the night their Brood Father, the legendary Patrick Ross was killed and their nest was destroyed. Nevertheless, Arianna needed her. He knew not precisely what, "A Private matter" Arianna had said. However he had heard Arianna refer to Eve as "The Key" once.
Robyn had just returned from the far north, having travelled up there to see if he could pick up Eve's trail and intercept her. All he had found were the bodies of several mercenaries from the military's Operation: Medusa, blood, shell casings and the stench of death.
Eve, and someone else it seemed, had overcome the Mercenaries and wiped them out. He had arrived not too far behind. Had he encountered Eve, it would have been up to him to persuade her to join them, but Burgess was a ham-fisted one and had acted rashly, as a result, Eve had once again managed to slip through their fingers.
Beyond the doors was a wide open balcony overlooking beautiful countryside. An early winter was certainly on the way, but there were built in heaters occupying the space, keeping the temperature very comfortable.
Arianna stood looking out at the view, deep in thought as she often was.
Arianna smirked "Hello Robyn, your time up north was fruitful, I trust?". "Nah, just cold, she's nowhere to be found, I had to get out of there before Burgess's clean up crew moved in, looks like someone got to her, possibly Lennox or.. possibly our mystery interlopers who have been poking around?" Robyn said.
Arianna smiled and poured two glasses of bourbon, handing one to him. "That problem started in New York, Quinn assures me he has it in hand" Arianna began "But I've got my eye on him, he appears rattled by the fact that he wasn't able to resolve it quickly... in the meantime I've got another small job for you". "Small?" Robyn said with a grin "Not too small I trust?".
Arianna smirked "Word has reached me that Senator Dennis Gamble has been sniffing around again, just like he did when he first reached office, I think he's tying to build a case against the original project" she took a sip of Bourbon and continued "I don't need to tell you that an exposed Project Athena is damaging to our purposes". "You want me to take care of him? I haven't done a politician in a while, still, a sitting Senator is a little… high profile isn't it?" Robyn asked.
"No, I have eyes on Gamble in the Capitol building, one of my little birds" Arianna smiled "If he goes too far, it'll be taken care of at that end" she said matter-of-factly while taking a sip.
Arianna savoured the taste on her lips for a moment and continued "It seems, through land deed records, he's dug up the whereabouts of one Thomas Hollander". "Ahh, the scientist from the original project?" Robyn asked "The one who caused problems for us in Mexico".
"Indeed" Arianna said "Between Hollander and Abbot, my old man sure knew how to pick them". As a Sighted person, Robyn could sense emotion, and he sensed a deep well of rage and anguish whenever the subject of the original Project was broached. Anything that evoked thoughts of her father.
Arianna's Father, Xavier Fitch had harvested Arianna's Ovum as a teenager and then used it to mix with the synthesised Alien Genome to create the first Sil. He had left Arianna to languish in an institution, this was after her intellect had been instrumental in decoding a hidden layer of the alien message. One which she now worked to bring to fruition.
She had spoken of it only once, beating on a glass partition as her father walked by, he had placed his hand on the glass, too briefly, and uttered the words "I'm sorry" before turning his back.
"What of Doctor Hollander?" Robyn asked. "Well, I would rather he not speak to any investigators Gamble should choose to send out there". "Understood, I'll leave tonight".
Robyn knew Arianna well enough to ask her the lightest of personal questions, she never gave much up. "Are you alright? It's been … a difficult few months?" he asked.
Arianna took a sip of her bourbon and smiled "While we've have had a number of small setbacks lately, Eve and the Helix Shard being the worst, but Monolith is proceeding as expected. We have redundancies in place" She paused and then added "I'll be travelling to Mauritania tonight, our facility in the desert appears to have gone dark".
"Then let me task one of the Brethren to Hollander and I can come with you?" Robyn said "Watch your back, just like the old days" he offered. "A kind offer, Robyn, but no, I need you to pay a visit to Hollander, shouldn't take long, and then check up on our friend Mr Nolan over at Dugway Proving Grounds, he may have lost the Shard, but we're still getting useful materiel out of Utah. He'll be due to make another delivery to Alaska within the month, I want to make sure it's ready".
They continued enjoying their Bourbon and talking for a while. Arianna had given Robyn a new life, a new purpose and he would never fail her.
It had been a long, tiring journey from Washington. Nothing was easy, sometimes Dennis Gamble got the distinct impression that he was the only one who ever entered government with honest intentions.
While he now represented his home state of Minnesota, he had also been working as much as he could behind the scenes to root out which government officials might be in Arianna Fitch's back pocket.
He only knew of her existence though Laura Baker, but through Laura and Press's subsequent investigations, it was clear that this woman wielded considerable influence. It was foolish to mention her name directly, the woman was a ghost, a very deadly one at that. If she, or any of her associates got wind that he was actively sniffing around, they would likely respond in kind.
Anyone who attempted to go against her organisation directly, either turned up missing or had Accidents. Her network of contacts and intermediaries was extensive, as was her wealth and revenue stream. It was a difficult and dangerous game trying to identify her intermediaries on this level. Try as he might, he had barely scratched the surface in the government itself.
He had, however, been able to develop a network of contacts of his own, at high and low levels. As a former US Air Force Captain, he also had contacts and friends in the Pentagon, some of whom knew of Burgess and the Project.
They were able to go places he couldn't. Still dangerous, but it was proving effective and it generated the occasional lead that he could funnel to Press and he could go and investigate.
That was one of the reasons he was going to meet them now. The other reason, of course, was that he just wanted to see his friends. It had been too long.
Through land and deed records, he had managed to identify a fifteen hundred acre strip of land in a rural mountainous area of Idaho which had been bequeathed to one Thomas Hollander by his late mother.
Dennis couldn't help but think of Patrick. The reason the government hadn't been able to locate him was because he also used a property listed under his Mother's maiden name.
There was only one small cabin on the land according to the deed, and Tom Hollander had been off the grid since abruptly leaving his prominent professorship at the University of California after his niece, Miranda Hollander was abruptly implicated in three murders. He might have something, he might not, but that was up to Press to find out.
Dennis had also been quietly keeping an eye on the activities of Karl Nolan, who was the director of the Dugway Proving Grounds where the original Sil was created. Several months ago, a woman who Dennis had briefly met in Laura's Lab, Victoria "Vikki" Foster, had turned up dead in New York. A messy scene involving two dead journalists, a corrupt detective and two known Russian hitmen.
She had transferred out to Dugway after Eve's escape and then gone missing several months into her new placement at the facility. Dennis had been looking into Nolan ever since they found out that Vikki had been found dead.
Vikki's death in New York, for reasons yet unknown, had been the beginning of a wave of violence across the city which had led to a violent gang war.
What any of that had to do with Arianna or her network, Dennis didn't know, but several days after Vikki died, Sebastian Dankworth, a known mercenary, had also died in a shootout in a club in Brighton Beach, New York.
Before going private, Dankworth was a distinguished operator assigned to a number of high-level duties, his last had been overseeing the security at Monroe Air Force Base. He had been there the night Eve escaped. He had been one of the men who shot at her.
They had been getting updates from Dan's sister Olivia on that front. She was a New York City Detective and, through Dan, she knew the whole story. She had been looking into it and sending what information she could, however it wasn't easy.
The scene of Vikki's death had been confusing, and Dankworth had attempted to attack the Russian "Businessman" who had been strongly implicated in her murder, however, there were no cameras in his club and he had apparently been holding a meeting with several "Fixers" at the time.
His brother had been one of the hitmen who had died with Vikki in that alley, he apparently wanted to know why. When Dankworth attacked the club, the Fixers proved too much for he and his men to handle and they paid the ultimate price. Olivia Smithson had not been able to identify a single one of the Fixers involved, save for the ones that died.
Through a combination of Gamble's sources in the government and Press's sources in the Private Military world, had led directly to their discovery of several different labs, one on the outskirts of St Louis, another in the California Desert, One in a remote town in Texas, as well as several operators linked to the Network, however, they had proven to be fanatically tight lipped.
Press, Laura and Álvarez had managed to shut a few of them down, but they were mainly smaller one's like Forbes McGuire's operation in Mexico. They all knew that there were much larger ones out there. This network had grown so fast and was incredibly stealthy, It was like beating against a monster.
Arianna's network included not just human mercenaries drawn from her under-the-table links to what he estimated to be at least three PMC Firms. There were links to scientists from various countries, government operatives and logistics personnel, but Patrick's Half-Breed Offspring were also in on the action.
They guarded key facilities, assassinated anyone who attempted to break from the organisation. They had even attempted to hunt Press, Laura and Álvarez on a couple of occasions. Dennis found himself hoping that Eve was the gamechanger they'd all been waiting for.
After the events of the Excursion mission, he had been called before two closed hearings, one a senate select committee on national security, and the second was a congressional committee regarding Project Athena.
He had decided right there on that house floor that he would run himself, he needed to get higher if he was going to get to the truth behind what happened to Patrick, Anne, Senator Ross, Melissa, Harry Sampas, Dr. Orinski, and all those women, not to mention what happened to Eve, the Alien Hybrid who had been under experimentation in Laura's Lab, until she had escaped.
She had saved him that night, and he never knew why. But the events of the past couple of months would soon be all too real. For when Dennis reached his Northern Minnesota lodge, he knew who was already there.
Burgess and his men in Operation: Medusa had created a false Identity for Eve under the name Evelyn Greene, an escaped convict with all the legal documentation to match, and shot gunned it across the internet, weeks had gone by with nothing, leading some to believe she was no longer alive… and then all hell broke loose.
Eve, as it turned out, was very much alive, living a quiet and lonely existence somewhere in northern Canada. She lived and travelled off the grid, taking only the bare minimum of what she needed.
When she had innocently attempted to get some food in a park, on her way west, some jock types had recognised her from the internet "Have you seen this Woman" poster attempted to grab her, she had given them a world class beating in front of about half a dozen people with phones… but they were all alive.
Word had reached him through his pentagon contacts that it wasn't pretty on the other side of the fence. Burgess's scheme to flush Eve out of hiding had yielded a result, but now it was backfiring, it had resulted in her getting into an all too public fight that had been caught on multiple cameras and was blowing up online, and now, support for Evelyn Greene was on the rise. Without even knowing who or what she really was.
All the general public knew, was that "Evelyn Greene" was an escaped convict, wanted on Murder and Robbery, but there had already been a significant amount of inquiry about her prison status, Dennis knew that there was a chance someone might discover, sooner or later, that "Evelyn Greene" is a person that doesn't exist.
As for what the general public saw, they saw a group of young, fit men, ganging up on a lone woman in a public park, and when provoked, she ducked their bunches and threw them like ragdolls.
However, Eve had shown her true colours, her restraint, she could have easily killed those boys, and that cop, and she had stayed her hand. Hell… this time next week, she might have her own goddamn folk song he thought.
As a former Air Force Captain, he still had friends in the pentagon, one of them had told him that this incident was not boding well for Burgess "You were tasked with Catching her, not turning her into a goddamn viral sensation"... Dennis chuckled, those were reportedly the words one of the Pentagon Brass had used when Burgess delivered his report. He was now, reportedly, on extremely thin ice.
Burgess had a crew of Hand-Picked Mercs outfitted with the latest gear and air-dropped up north to get her, but they had been decimated, he didn't know that though any of his government contacts, he knew because Press had called him on his way back from investigating one of the Network's Facilities in the Pacific Northwest. Dan Smithson had been instrumental in helping Álvarez locate Eve.
Miraculously, they had convinced her to come back with them. Now lay his challenge, Eve, the enhanced Alien Hybrid he had watched tear a steel reinforced door off its hinges, who had been shot down by fifty men only to get up like nothing happened, who had smashed her way out of an ultra secure facility… right now, she was probably chilling on his damn sofa.
Dennis had to admit, he was slightly nervous, but he'd been receiving updates from Press over the past week, he too had been more than sceptical of the thought of bringing her on board with their efforts, but apparently, he had been surprised by how well she had adjusted.
Besides, once the sighting of her at the Gas station had appeared online, Laura and Álvarez could not be swayed, they were absolutely not going to leave her up there to be captured or killed.
On Eve's second morning at the Lodge, she had identified a former project Scientist named Bruce Abbot as the mystery ambulance driver and given them another lead to follow. He too had done some checking, Abbot had vanished some time after the incident with Patrick.
He put out some word through his contacts, but there was nothing, it was like the man dropped off the face of the Earth.
It wasn't easy for a Senator to get away alone, but Dennis had found a way, a few of his close confidants were former members of Press's Security firm. They had made a public show of denouncing him, but in private, they knew the accusations against him and Laura Baker were bogus.
He had hitched a ride on a private jet back to Minnesota and waived his security detail. Press had been to the airstrip beforehand and left him a car. His journey back from the airstrip to the lodge was uneventful. As he pulled up to the house, Press came out first to greet him as he stepped out of the car.
They clapped hands together and hugged, it had been a long time "Hay man, how you been, how's being a bigtime senator?" Press asked. "Ahh, backstabbing, deal-making, same shit, different day" he chuckled "And how have you been, interesting couple of weeks huh?" Gamble asked "You could say that" Press said, nodding "But you know what… I think this might actually work out just fine".
"Yeah" Gamble said "Gotta listen to Laura, she had good ideas, and as for Consuela, I wouldn't argue with that one… how is Lieutenant Álvarez by the way?" Dennis emphasised his words, raising his eyebrows, giving Press That look. "Oh, don't get your hopes up my man".
"Man, my hopes are always up, you're a lucky man travelling all over with all these fine ladies" Dennis laughed and nudged him. "Yeah well we've got a new member of the team now don't forget" Press said. "Yeah, I remember you mentioned it's been going well, is she ok?".
Press reached the door and pulled it open "Come see for yourself, man" he smiled. Press looked more relaxed than the last few times Dennis had seen him, so things must be going good.
As Dennis walked through the hallway, he was joined by Dan Smithson, they shook hands and brought it in, he was glad to see him again. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits.
Dennis had an Idea that Laura would be using the basement, which he was turning into an entertainment room as her work space, and they would all be down there, Press had come out alone, just in case Gamble had been followed, they had a system.
However, upon making his way through the living room, all three of them were in there. Laura was the first to come over and give him a big hug "Oh come here you! It's been too long" she said as she gave him a tight embrace "Hayy Laura, how you been?" Dennis asked. She let go and smiled "All good".
Dennis turned then to Álvarez "What's happening Consuela, come here bring it in, girl!". Consuela laughed and came over to give him a big hug too "You really are a big teddy bear, you know that, I thought you'd be turning up with another girlfriend?".
"No, not this time" Dennis chuckled "And make you jealous, I would never!" Dennis chuckled again, giving her the seductive eyebrow, it was all in jest, of course, and she knew it. Consuela laughed again "Ah, well there'll be plenty more, good to see you, Dennis" she said.
All that was left was the newcomer, the tall, slender blonde woman standing behind Consuela. She smiled, Dennis noted the slight tilt of her head "Long time no see" he said. Eve nodded "It's weird not seeing you through glass" she said, her tone was more confident than he expected, she then added "I love your place".
Dennis thought he might as well do it, lest she feel left out "Well, come on, bring it in" he said, extending his arms. Eve stepped forward and they hugged.
When they released the hug and he gave her a friendly rub on the shoulder "It really is good to see you again, Eve, especially after that mess up north, glad you made it out of there. You gave us all a scare".
Eve looked down and away "Yeah me too, thanks for taking me in, I know you're risking a lot".
Dennis smiled "It's the least I can do for the girl who saved my ass". It was at that moment Dennis noticed that she made a quick, momentary glance at the picture on the wall, clearly the subject of Patrick, or anything related, wasn't something she enjoyed.
Dennis understood entirely and decided to move on "Hay, why don't we all have something to drink, I've got a few things to tell you guys, a couple of leads, and some news from the land of the Pentagon".
Dennis went into his dining room and grabbed a bottle of whisky and some glasses. "You partake" he asked Eve as he came back into the living room and handed out the glasses.
They all took different positions around his corner sofa. "Oh yeah, she partakes alright" Álvarez smirked and nudged Eve playfully. Eve smirked and nodded. Ok, Dennis thought there's clearly some cool story there, I'll file that away for later. It was also immediately obvious just how comfortable Álvarez was with Eve, they sat close. Press had mentioned that they do almost everything together.
"So what is going on down in Washington?" Press asked, he was the last to have his glass poured before Dennis poured his own. "In a word" Dennis said "Chaos". Laura leaned forward "What do you mean?".
"First of all" Dennis announced "You're all gonna want to raise your glasses to this… our good friend, Burgess, is in seriously deep shit, he's about an ass-hair away from getting a dishonourable discharge over what happened up north" Dennis said and took a sip. "He got chewed out by the pentagon brass?" Press chuckled and looked over at Eve "I think they're pissed about your fight". By way of answer, Eve simply shrugged. "Not to mention losing the team he sent in" Álvarez said "Eve and I introduced foot to ass with those guys!".
"And then some" Dennis continued "That fight you got into in the park up there, way too public for their liking, they're all in cover up save my own ass mode now". Eve looked around and shifted slightly "What does that mean?".
Dennis took another sip "It means you'll still have to be careful, but they're probably gonna scale back the whole "Evelyn Greene Wanted" campaign soon, a few days maybe a week". "That's good" Álvarez said "With a new I.D. you should be able to move around more easily". "Long as you're careful" Laura added.
"Did you find out anything about… Bruce Abbot?" Eve said. Dennis noted that her voice was soft, as if she was holding out a flicker of hope. "Sorry, Eve, no word on him".
Dennis sighed "Not Abbot, but I do have an idea where Dr Tom Hollander might be laying low". Dennis knew that ever since Eve had learned Abbot's name, she'd been eager to start kicking rocks over looking for him, she looked disheartened when he mentioned Hollander, so Dennis decided to add "Hollander would have known Abbot, they worked together on the original Project, I don't want to give you false hope here, but perhaps he can tell us something we don't know".
"Could be a good start" Laura said "Where is he?". "Up in the mountains in Idaho" The reaction wasn't what Dennis was expecting, Álvarez immediately began to laugh. "What? What's funny" Dennis said. "We.. found out this week that Eve's been to Idaho before…" Laura said, shaking her head. Álvarez laughed again "Don't worry, I was a cop in a Cartel territory, I'll do a drug search before we go". Eve shook her head "I'm not gonna live that down, am I Consuela?". "Absolutely not" Álvarez kept laughing.
"Alright you two, I'm sure you'll have plenty to talk about on the trip" Laura said. "Did you find anything else out about Karl Nolan?" Press asked, getting back on track.
"Who's that?" Eve asked. "He's the director of research at the Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah" Dennis said "The place where they created Sil". Eve leaned forward, looking very interested "Sil?".
Laura seemed to realise that there was something important Eve needed to know "Ahh, Yeah… Eve, we asked Dennis to look into Nolan because of Vikki, remember Vikki from the Lab?".
Eve smiled, she clearly did. "Of course I remember Vikki, and Bria. Wait? Are they on our side?".
It went quiet for a moment and the mood became slightly awkward.
It was Laura who broke the silence, she shifted over to Eve's side and placed a palm on her leg, Eve looked curious but not in any way disturbed about this. "Eve, I was going to tell you when the time was right, Vikki was on our side, but she was doing things her own way I think … she died a few months ago".
Eve's eyes dropped and her expression soured significantly, she looked completely shaken by the news. She clearly had fond memories of Vikki Foster. Álvarez took hold of Eve's hand as her Eye's became noticeably red and teary "Oh… Vikki, what happened to her?".
"She was… shot in New York, Eve" Laura said. "Somebody killed her?" Eve said, further shocked. "From the scene, it's clear she was trying to do, what I was trying to do" Laura said.
"You mean she was trying to expose the project?" Eve asked. It was Press who answered her "Yeah, but it looks like she was on the run, from the looks of it, she'd been living on the street, two journalists were killed in the same attack".
"Who did this?" Eve asked, her tone noticeably changed, it was clear her sadness was turning to anger, then she added "And Bria, what about Bria?". Laura put her hands up in a calming gesture "As far as I'm aware, Bria's fine. She lives over in England now last I heard".
At this point, Dan pitched in "Eve, remember I've been telling you about my sister Olivia? Well, she's been working on Vikki's case, we already know who actually killed her, because they were killed right after".
Eve frowned and finally asked "Who were they?". "Two Russians, known hitmen, and a corrupt NYPD Detective" Dennis said. Dennis let that sink in for a moment, then added "But here's the confusing part, someone tore them up good right there at the scene".
"Tore them up?" Eve asked. Laura looked at Press and then back at Eve "We do think that Arianna was involved, the wounds they sustained could have only been inflicted by someone with your level of strength".
"So these men killed Vikki, and then someone like me killed them?" Eve asked, sounding slightly confused. "Right now, we're working on the theory that Arianna sent one of her Half-Breeds to tie up loose ends" Press explained "She's got a few of them that seem to be her inner circle".
"So what about this Nolan guy?" Eve asked, her tone was determined now. Dennis pitched in "I've had my eye on him through some of my contacts and Press's, over the past year he's made three trips to an area near McCarthy, Alaska, there are several isolated areas up there. As far as we can tell, he has no family up there, no friends we've been able to establish, no ties to the area at all". "If he is involved, there could be a Lab or a Facility up there?" Álvarez offered "It could be worth a look?".
"There's also the matter of Mr Hastings" Press said, looking at Eve "Someone needs to go talk to him". Dennis looked around them "Hastings? I'm not familiar?". Press continued "When I drew a blank on Abbot, I had a friend of Dwayne Lee's look into who was enrolled in his class at the time he disappeared, his two best students were these guys by the name of Dean Whitlock. He's also done a disappearing act, and one Matt Hastings. He lives in Rochester New York, works in Medical Research".
"I have an idea" Laura said, leaning forward "We can split the work here". "What are you thinking, Laura" Álvarez asked, taking another drink. "Dan, are you up for a trip to Rochester?" Laura asked. Dan shrugged and smiled "Of course".
Laura took a sip of her drink and leaned in again "Ok, then how about the three of you, Press, Eve, Consuela, you go to Idaho and talk to Hollander, if he's there, find out if he's been approached by Arianna or if he has anything we can use, Dan and I will go talk to this Hastings guy in Rochester, and see if he knows anything about Abbot, Dean Whitlock… or Eve's Daughter".
"Sounds good" Press chipped in "Then we meet back here, compare notes, and then we can look at what's going on in Alaska". "Sounds like a plan" Álvarez said.
Eve smiled, but then Laura locked eyes with her and added "...and Eve… no experimenting with drugs this time" causing a ripple of Laughter among the others.
Seeing that Dennis wasn't in on it, Consuela leaned forward and slapped him on the knee "Sorry Dennis, you don't know this, Eve told us she travelled through Idaho once before, on her way North, while she was there, she found a big bag of drugs and got totally trashed".
Dennis couldn't help but laugh at the thought of it "Oh, that's great Eve, you know I had to do an Anti-Drug campaign right?" That caused them to burst into laughter again. Eve took the joke, shook her head and rolled her eyes "Alright, I promise, if Hollander has a stash of drugs… I'll share".
As they laughed and talked long into the night, Dennis thought of how much of a family they had all become, Eve was a newcomer to their group, but the fact was, she had belonged with them since the beginning.
Two days after Gamble arrived at his Lodge, they had departed on their first "Mission" together. Eve was both exited and a little anxious about leaving Laura, but Laura had adapted to life on the move, she had a number of clean fake ID.s and Eve knew how tough she was.
Laura and Dan were only going to have a conversation after all, with someone who apparently had no involvement, so they were as safe as they could be.
It had been a long drive from Dennis's lodge in Northern Minnesota to Frank Church, Idaho. It brought back many memories for Eve, but the subject of her experimentation with drugs while she was here before hadn't been brought up again.
Although she sensed it wouldn't take much for Consuela or Press to bring it up in jest again. She had to admit, even she looked back on it and found it amusing too.
She did feel a small amount of regret that this being her "first outing" as part of the group and she wasn't with Laura. Still, she had Consuela and Press.
She had sensed his initial trepidation as soon as she met him at the plane when they first brought her back, but he had warmed to her significantly in the short time since.
It had been decided that Laura and Dan would travel to Rochester and have a talk with Hastings, while Press would take Consuela and Eve to have a friendly chat with the good Doctor Tom Hollander, who had been off the grid for a while, living in an isolated cabin in the middle of a fifteen hundred acre piece of land in the middle of nowhere.
There was, of course, the possibility that they might get there and find absolutely nothing. Press had told her that it had happened before, not every lead bore fruit.
The land deed was in his mother's maiden name. Press had told Eve that Patrick had stayed hidden the same way, but Gamble had found it through an investigator who had combed the government departments of real estate and found the property.
Eve was nervous, but also excited, she knew the terrain they would be visiting, the Frank Church area, she had travelled through the region before. Part of her wondered how close she might have come to running into Dr. Hollander when she passed through Idaho.
Eve had switched seats with Consuela several miles back so that Consuela could sleep on the back seat, Eve sat up front with Press for the last leg of the journey. They had driven through the night.
"So, when are you gonna let me drive?" Eve asked. Press Chuckled "I was wondering when you were gonna ask me that. Depends" Press smiled a little as he said it. Eve tilted her head but sensed he was going to bring up how she learned to drive "Depends? On what? Oh you think I only know how to drive like on TV?" Eve pursed her lips and leaned back in her seat.
"Well, there's that… and have you ever actually driven anything apart from that Humvee?" Press gave her a side smile as if to say come on be honest. Eve knew he had her in a box with that one, it had just been a long drive and she wanted to contribute, Consuela and Press had taken turns and never asked her.
"Alright, I haven't…I only drove one more other time since I've been free, I stole a car in ABQ and drove it for about a hundred miles before it ran out of Gas, that was after Mexico" Eve shrugged, but then added "But I didn't get pulled over". Press chuckled "Well, that's something" Press said, and then something seemed to dawn on him "And listen to you with the ABQ, what are you a rapper now?". Eve laughed "No, it's just what I overheard while I was there, I liked it".
"I think we're getting close" Press said, looking up at the forests and mountains ahead. "I like the country here" Eve said "It's so quiet at night".
"UUUgghhh" Álvarez sat up in the back seat and stretched "We there yet?" she groaned. "Oh, rise and shine, morning Glory, yeah, we're almost there, you ready?". "Always" Consuela said then subtly reached around the side of Eve's seat and gave her arm a gentle squeeze, Press didn't see, it was her way of reassuring her It's gonna be fine.
They pulled off onto a dirt road that led several miles up into dense woodland. Eve watched the light flickering between the trees as they moved deeper in.
Eventually, Press pulled off the road and looked at the digital map on his phone, the pin point was two miles further in. They were going in on foot from here. Although it was 4 wheel drive and could easily traverse the terrain, they didn't want to spook Hollander if he was there.
Worse still, if he was in any way involved with Arianna, there was the possibility they might find one of her facilities hidden up here. They had been through all of this on the long drive, but it was only random speculation. Either way, it was best to hid the truck and approach quietly.
Doctor Thomas Hollander swung the Axe own hard and split the wood in two. It was going to be a long, cold winter up here in the mountains and he wanted to be prepared. Ever since Mexico, he had been alone. He missed Miranda so badly it hurt, he would wake up in the morning and savour those few moments when he didn't know she was gone.
The world had become more dangerous now. He had been keeping abreast of the situation beyond this cabin. He did have modern amenities, an internet hotspot, not under his own name though, he had been smart enough to create a false identity before he re-entered the united states.
Hollander had left the original project long before the incident in Los Angeles, but word had reached him of what happened. After that, he wanted nothing more to do with it. Miranda was still young at the time and he had to protect her.
It was, of course, not the first time he had been sought out. A few years ago, an old colleague, Abbot had called him suddenly, very exited and wanting his help with a new, private project involving the alien code. Hollander had shut him down straight away and thought nothing more of it. Then several months later, he had been approached by a young man named Dean Whitlock with a truly horrifying story.
Dean was weighing up an offer to go and work for a man named John Wasach in the government. Dean had come to him late at night, thankfully while Miranda was out, with an amazing and terrifying story. As Hollander listened, it became clear that there were possibly more of the creatures out there.
He had hardly been able to believe it when a wanted poster for the woman he had seen only in an after action report had appeared all over the internet. There was no question about it… Sil Lives.
Somehow. Perhaps she had regenerated herself. He had seen first hand the regenerative powers of the purer strain of creatures.
Miranda had been a more diluted strain, she had never entered a cocoon, he had never shown her alien side, she had no overpowering instinct to reproduce. He knew Sil was on the loose again, somehow, and he knew that, as a member of the original Project, he had to be incredibly careful right now.
He had enough food to last months and had been self-sustaining for even longer. He was prepared, he had escape routes and strategies just in case. He had leared that after Mexico.
He had watched the online campaign for a few weeks since it started Evelyn Greene Wanted - Have you seen this woman wondering what, if anything would come of it.
It must have been a flushing out tactic, to see if anyone bit… they certainly did that, because then, several videos had blown up online, each showing a different angle of a brawl between several large young men and a lone woman in a part in the small town in the Northwest Territories.
The woman was unquestionably Sil, and she had lain the beating of a lifetime on those men. Strangely she hadn't linked them outright, something which, in Los Angeles, she was known for. Perhaps she had changed over time. Still, he wanted nothing to do with any of it.
His phone buzzed with a notification in his pocket. Hollander put the Axe down, wiped his brow and pulled out the phone. His heart rate jumped when he saw the notification was from one of his motion activated cameras. Probably another deer, or possibly a bear again, he thought.
When Hollander clicked on the camera icon and saw a man he recognised a Preston Lennox, the man who had been assigned to hunt Sil, with a lean fit looking Hispanic woman roughly in her 30's approaching from the North abject panic set in. He looked closer, he thought he saw a third person with them. A tall woman with her hood up, he couldn't see her face.
Hollander knew what he had to do, he had to get to the car he had stashed further down the hill, but that meant letting them get in close. He had not been idle while he had been up here, he had weapons and he had taken the time to dig himself an escape route beneath the cabin should something like this occur.
"Eve, why don't you circle around just in case he runs, you've got your phone right?" Press asked. By way of response, Eve reached into her pocket and pulled out the encrypted phone he had given her before they left, she stowed it again. "Ok, if he's cool, I'll call you back".
Eve nodded and made off through the forest with a Cat-like grace, barely making a sound. Press watched her go and in a few moments, she had disappeared. "She's awesome" Álvarez whispered.
"I love the way you two get along" Press said as they made their way up the hill "You really struck things up huh?". "Sometimes you meet people you just click" she said.
Press smiled, he knew, deep down, that there might be more to it, but he wouldn't say anything.
As the cabin came into view, the first first thing that struck Press was that it looked lived in. It was in good upkeep, there was firewood being split, an axe stood in a stump outside with one half split log on the ground. There was even smoke rising from the small chimney, someone was here.
Álvarez stepped forward first. It was a good decision, she had a disarming manner that Press knew he didn't possess.
Consuela was a first rate warrior and someone you wanted standing next to you in a fight, but she was also beautiful and friendly and charming to anyone she met. If Hollander wasn't one for visitors, Consuela stood the best chance of changing his mind.
She stepped up and knocked on the door "Doctor Hollander?" she called out.
There was no reply. Press looked through the window. There was a kettle still steaming.
Worryingly there was a gun rack on the wall with two rifles and an empty space where a third should be.
After several more attempts to get him to answer, Álvarez shrugged. It was at that moment, Press's phone buzzed. He almost chuckled, his first text from Eve simply read "He's running".
It had taken three months of near constant work to dig this tunnel. It opened in a small gorge about three hundred metres from the cabin, from here he could stay in cover all the way down the hill to the car.
It was an old Mazda GLC Station Wagon he had painstakingly restored and stocked with everything he needed should he need to run again. He had it covered under a camo tarp and branches.
He had timed it just right, he grabbed his "Go Bag", a loaded AR15 and gone down the hatch into the tunnel.
He ran flat out through the gorge and excited at the bottom of the hill. Climbing up to where the car was, he began pulling down the branches and finished by grabbing the tarp and pulling it off in one large movement.
He took one last look behind him and saw nobody. However, he was aware of something strange… the forest had gone utterly silent the same way it did when an apex predator was in the area.
He wasn't going to wait around, and he was in no mood to answer questions. He got into the car, turned over the ignition and put his foot on the accelerator…. Nothing...
The engine roared, he was in gear. He tried again… nothing. "What the hell!"
Hollander frantically rolled down the window and twisted himself to look behind. The only thing he saw was the fact that the back wheels had been lifted off the ground.
He momentarily sat back in his seat, exasperated, a great time to be stuck on something . . . but then he noticed something. In the rear view mirror, he saw …. Her!
It was HER! It was SIL… HERE! She had hold of his car from behind with one hand, her immense inhuman strength lifting the back wheels off the ground, preventing it from moving.
In the next moment, something even worse happened, because he had been confused about his lack of movement, and worked the clutch a little too hard, the engine flooded and stalled.
There was a mighty jolt as the woman behind the car let go of the trailer hook and the car bounced on it's rear suspension.
Hollander, now in abject panic, reached to the passenger seat for his AR15, pulling it across himself to aim out the window.
By the time the barrel was out the window, she was right there, she grabbed the barrel and directed it away from herself, a single shot rang out before she wrenched the rifle out out of his grip and casually dropped it a few feet away.
She didn't make any attempt to grab at him, however, Hollander took the opportunity and pushed himself off the driver's seat and went for the passenger side door, facing the thick forest.
He rolled backwards out of the door, and then scrambled to his feet, amazingly she hadn't pounced on him yet.
As he got up, he saw her casually leaning on the roof of the car with both arms. "Hay Doc" She said. Hollander was already out of breath, he turned "Are you really gonna make me chase you through there? We only wanna talk" Sil said.
"I've seen what you do to people" he growled and turned to run. "Fair enough, Doctor, I tell you what, I'll wait here, and I'll give you a ten minute head start… then I'll see you in eleven".
Hollander realised that he had twisted his ankle in the attempt to get out of the car so fast, he wasn't making it far. He turned to face her. "Or we could just go back to your cabin and have a conversation" She said with a slight smile.
Right at that moment, he heard hurried footfalls coming down the hill towards him from the direction of the cabin. It was Lennox and the other woman. Lennox had a gun in hand.
Hollander resigned himself and put up his hands. "Are you alright" The woman said "We heard a shot". Sil shrugged "I'm good".
"If you're gonna kill me, just get it over with!" Hollander demanded. "It's ok Doc, we're just here to talk, just a conversation" Lennox said. "Really? Then why would you bring Sil to my home!" Hollander growled.
He looked back over at Sil who fixed him with a confused stare for a moment before turning to the Hispanic woman "Did he just call me Sil?". "I think he did?" the other woman quipped.
Sil rolled her eyes and looked and gave him a hard look "You know, this whole trend lately of people thinking I'm someone I'm not… it's starting to get old!" She casually strolled around the front of the car and sat on the hood "I got the internet calling me Evelyn Greene, I got that thing calling me "Regent" whatever that means" she said, pointing skywards "Why not throw a little Sil in there for good measure?" she said and folded her arms.
The Hispanic woman actually laughed. Hollander glanced at Sil, then the other Woman and then to Lennox, who stood shaking his head at them both.
"Alright, Doctor Hollander, Introductions all around, first of all, that's not Sil. Her name is Eve". At this, Eve gave him a small wave and added "Just Eve".
Lennox continued "This is Consuela Álvarez formerly with the Mexican Federal Police". "Hi" Álvarez chipped in. "And I'm…" "Preston Lennox, yes I know, I saw the Sil after action report".
"Things have changed a lot, Doc". Hollander looked back at Eve, still casually sitting on the hood of his station wagon "Yes, I think I got that". "We need your help, or anything you might know about the original Project" Álvarez said.
"I'm afraid… I've been out of the loop for…." Hollander began, but Eve cut him off with "What do you know about Arianna Fitch?".
Hollander felt the blood drain from his face…"We'd better go inside" he said.
After they got Hollander back to the cabin, everything calmed down. He made them hot tea and sat down in an arm chair. He didn't have much furniture, apart from a few dining chairs that seemed to have come with his small dining table.
"So they created you after Sil?" Hollander asked. "Yeah" Eve said "For the military, a vulnerability test". "Makes sense the military would try something like that after seeing how deadly Sil was" Hollander said, and then he seemed to realise that he was actually talking to the subject of the test "Sorry" he added.
"Its ok" she said with a wave. "Doc, did you keep any files, samples, fragments of the alien code, anything we can use, the project has been taken underground, we need to expose it".
"I have a few things" Hollander said "I kept them for a rainy day, in case I needed to use them as a bargaining chip, You'll also find some original files in there about Arianna. Fitch kept records".
Hollander came over to Eve and ushered her back, Eve looked down and realised she was standing on a small hatch. Hollander opened it and pulled out a metal case. He put it on the table and opened it.
The case contained several hard drives and a laptop. "That's everything I have, a copy of the Alien Signal data in it's raw form, as well a collection of project notes" Hollander said.
Eve sipped the tea he'd made her and listened "The original project was called Operation: Distant Call and it was hurried into action because Fitch feared that the Russians, Chinese or British might have also picked it up".
"Doctor Hollander, do you know a man named Bruce Abbot?" Eve asked. "I knew him a long time ago, why?" Hollander asked. Eve leaned forward "Have you spoken to him recently?".
Hollander shook his head "The last time I spoke to Bruce Abbot was back when I was a Professor in California" Hollander said "He called me, out of the blue, told me he had something very special, a private project, and he needed some help". "So what happened? Eve asked.
"It wasn't the most lengthy call. When he told me it was related to the Alien Genome sequence, I told him I wanted nothing to do with it" Hollander said "At the time I had my niece, Miranda, I had to protect her from all of that".
"Doc, why did you leave California and come out here? Where is Miranda now?" Álvarez asked. "She's…. gone" Hollander said, lowering his head. Even though she had only just met him, not under the best circumstances, Eve felt compelled in that moment to reach across the table and gently take his hand "I'm sorry" she said "I know what it's like to lose someone". Eve then continued "I had a baby girl, but Bruce Abbot took her, I need to find her" Eve said.
"I'm sorry Eve" Hollander said "I don't know where he is".
All the while, Press had been looking around the Cabin, now he came to sit at the table "So, what can you tell us about Arianna Fitch". Hollander took a deep breath "Xavier's daughter, potently Sighted, full Psychic range, and a genius level intellect the likes of which I've never seen" Hollander said. "You sound like an admirer" Álvarez chipped in.
"In a way I was, I never agreed with the way Fitch treated her, locking her away in that institution, harvesting her Ovum to be the base for Sil". Press reached over and found a photo on a shelf, it was Hollander, and a young blonde woman, they looked happy, she was accepting some kind of award "That's my Miranda" Hollander said. "Your Niece?" Press asked.
Hollander then took in a long deep breath. "I suppose, since the three of you are here, I should tell you what Miranda really was". Hollander got up, made his way over to the armchair in the corner and slumped into it.
Then over the next thirty minutes he laid down the truth about Miranda Hollander. She was not really his niece, he was an only child.
Miranda had been created as a side project between Hollander and Forbes McGuire, but Hollander had become attached to her and decided to raise her as his own. Unlike Eve and Sil, she was a watered down strain, less powerful… but, as he found out years later, it had the unintentional side effect of a stunted lifespan.
He had taken her down to Mexico to find Forbes and together they had managed to save her using a genetic stem cell transplant from a female criminal who had attempted to rob and shoot Hollander.
After that, her abilities had skyrocketed out of her control and it had resulted in her death and the destruction of Forbes' lab.
After hearing it Álvarez abruptly slammed on the table "Hijo de Puta! Do you have any idea what happened to my town!" She got up and marched towards him, but Eve stopped her "The things Forbes created weren't like Eve, they were monsters, do you know how many people they killed!"
Hollander looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders "I'm sorry, I had no Idea" he said. "And that woman you mentioned, I knew her, she was a petty criminal, but you know what, she often did what she did to feed her three kids, her name was Elenore Martinez, and when the rest of Forbes's experiments crawled out of that place and attacked, those kids had NO ONE TO PROTECT THEM!".
"Forbes was doing experiments down there for god-knows how long. I don't know what he was really up to!" Hollander challenged "I only went down there so I could save Miranda, she was dying, and none of it matters now because she's gone".
"It matters to me" Álvarez said "Eve was there too, if she hadn't shown up, that entire town would have died". Eve glanced up and saw Press quickly glance at her and nod. "I found files in the remnants of his Lab, Doctor, I gave them to Laura Baker, she found out that Forbes was working for Arianna Fitch" Eve said.
Press stepped in and ushered Álvarez back "That's not all" Press said "Arianna has labs like that hidden all over the world, she thinks the alien message is the only way forward for humanity, she found something in the hidden layers of of the message, something she's trying to create".
"I already know what it is'' Hollander abruptly said "How do you think Fitch decoded that alien message so fast in the first place?". "What?" Eve said "Are you saying that Arianna decoded the message herself… in her teens?".
"That's exactly what I'm saying" Hollander said "I've never seen an intellect like hers… but the early signs were there, the obsession, the belief that the message was humanity's salvation".
Álvarez took a breath and turned around "So what is it, this hidden layer?". Hollander pointed at the case on the table "It's all detailed in there, but basically, it's the schematic for an Einstein-Rosen B…" CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Before Hollander could finish the sentence the wooden wall exploded behind him as *One, *Two, *Three… *Four, *Five High Calibre .308 Armour piercing rounds came through the wall, through the back of the arm chair and impacted the floor in front of Hollander.
The man leaned back, mouth agape and then slumped forward into Eve's arms. She dragged him out of the chair and onto the floor, his breathing was slow and ragged, he had several large holes in his centre mass. Eve pressed hard but the blood pooled around her hands and spilled over onto the floor.
"No, Doctor… Tom.. No No No… Stay with me!" As Eve fumbled to keep pressure on his wounds, Hollander suddenly reached up and pulled her down so they were face to face "Fff…. Find D.. Dean Ww..Whitlock… He... knew.. your ..D…Daughter….." Hollander let out a long low breath and his eyes glazed over. "No… NO! NO! DOCTOR.. TOM! STAY WITH ME!" Eve screamed. It was too late, Hollander was gone.
Eve looked up at Press and shook her head, eyes full of tears and anger.
"Everyone stay down" Press said as he reached up and plucked a small mirror off of a shelf. He held it up to the nearest window to the side of the house where the bullets have come from.
Eve was close enough to see what Press saw. A figure up on a small ridge of rocks at the side of the house aiming a Diamondback AR10 in their direction.
The figure wore a segmented black jacket and black tactical cargos, military style. He also appeared to have one of the sleek jetpacks on his back, similar to the Mercenaries who came after Eve up north.
Most notably, his black helmet, with eight small red ocular sensors peering out from beneath a hood.
"No… No not him… Fuck!" Press hissed. Eve looked at Press, she had never seen him look like that, a combination of rage and perhaps a little fear.
*One, *Two… *Three, *Four, *Five more shots rang out. Álvarez rolled, avoiding the impacts and Eve threw herself over both of them. Eve's skin had adapted to a range of High Calibre rounds effectively making her resistant, that's not to say it didn't hurt.
"Eve, grab Hollander's rifle" Eve didn't hesitate, she lunged across the room, flat on her stomach as more rounds came in through the walls. Snatched the still loaded AR15 off of the rack and threw it to Press.
She then reached up and grabbed his shotgun and threw it to Álvarez, pulling out a box of shells from the drawer below, she spilled some but slid the box across the floor to Consuela, who ducked beside Hollander's brick fireplace to load the shotgun.
Press took a kneeling position and aimed. Press switched the rifle to Semi Auto and sent several shots back through the window. A moment later he ducked and rolled as more high calibre rounds came through the wall.
Eve knew in that moment, that if this continued, she would lose Press and Consuela, she was not going to let that happen. Eve stood up and took off her jacket "Eve stop, Get down!" Press shouted "No, stay behind me!" she said.
Eve braced herself and took a running leap at the wall. Smashing through the wooden beams and landing in a pile at the side of the cabin. Eve picked herself up and spotted the man on up on the ridge, he was in the process of reloading.
The figure snapped around to look at her, as if he hadn't been expecting that. His reaction was lighting fast, he tossed an M84 Flashbang in her direction, then got up and ran through the woods.
Press and Álvarez ran out of the hole in the wall just as the flashbang went off. It kicked up a pile of leaves but nobody was hurt. "He went that way!" Eve shouted and vaulted the ridge to give chase.
Eve could see him about a hundred yards ahead, he was fast and agile, she was gaining on him. When she got to within around 30 yards, he abruptly turned. Eve spotted some kind of device on his wrist, there was a spark, a muzzle flare, and Eve dove to the ground as about a dozen small, hissing projectiles hit all around her.
They were highly explosive, one of them hit a nearby tree, blowing out a large chunk and causing it to fall. Eve rolled clear at the last possible moment as the large tree smashed to the floor.
Within a second she was up and running again, back on his heels. Then as luck would have it, the man in black ran out of road.
This was mountainous Idaho. The man in black ran out onto a clearing, and at the opposite end of the clearing was a cliff edge and a good six hundred metre cliff with a sheer drop. There was nothing but vast open country for miles around.
The man in black slung his rifle and turned, those eight small red eye sensors in his helmet regarded her coldly, but curiously, there was a slight tilt of his head and he took a casual step forward.
Right at that moment, Press at her side, rifle raised, and Álvarez was at her other side, with Hollander's shotgun. Both rifles trained on the man in black.
Eve focussed on The Other and noticed Press glance down momentarily as her hands and forearms became long, chitinous talons.
"Well, I must say, I wasn't expecting you?" the man in black said. Then he seemed to regard Eve specifically, it was hard to tell with that helmet "And certainly wasn't expecting you, firecracker". His accent was English, quite…not posh, but certainly practised.
"Don't you move.. DON'T YOU FUCKING MOVE! Got you this time Asshole!" Press shouted. Álvarez backed this up "You so much as twitch, you die!".
"Well, isn't this a party?" he said, with a certain flare. "So the three of you are together now? Tell me where's the good Doctor Baker, I don't see her anywhere… trouble in paradise?"
"Shut the fuck up and drop the rifle" Press shouted. The man in black took a step back and actually did drop the rifle "My gift" he said… "This has been wonderful, we should make plans next time, but at the moment I really must dash".
"Look around you, you've got nowhere to go!" Álvarez took a step forward and racked the shotgun.
The man in black then gave a long theatrical bow, looking first at Álvarez "Señorita" then Press "Mr Lennox" and finally to Eve "Mademoiselle, it's been a pleasure". He then spread his arms and leaned back.
Eve dove forward as the man majestically allowed himself to topple off of the cliff face. In the next moment he was gone and Eve had half her body hanging over the edge, just in time to see him engage the thruster on the advanced jump pack on his back and jet away around the side of the ridge.
Eve felt hands around her legs and waist, Álvarez and Press taking hold of her and pulling her back onto the rocks where she stood and dusted herself off.
"¡Mierda! Fuck!...That's it, when we get back, I'm gonna learn to use the one I took from one of those guys up north!" Álvarez shouted, then added "Are you ok?".
Eve checked herself over, and then looked both of them up and down "Yeah" she sighed "You?". Both Press and Álvarez looked at each other and nodded.
"Forget using that thing, Consuela, you're gonna break your neck" Press said. Eve nodded in agreement "Ye of little faith!" Consuela said.
"The way you talked to him, you know that guy?" Eve asked. "Was that him Press?" Álvarez asked. "Him who?" Eve looked at them both. "The Hooded Crow" Press said in a low voice "I thought, I hoped I'd killed him six and a half years ago… clearly not".
"Ahh hell…" A pained expression came over Press's face and he turned to walk back "Come, we gotta take care of Hollander". Eve and Álvarez exchanged a sad look and followed him.
Press placed the final rock over the top of Doctor Thomas Hollander's grave. They had taken good care of him. Without knowing whether Hollander adhered to any faith, they had opted to place a protected picture of Hollander and his beloved Niece, Miranda Hollander as his gravestone.
They had taken care to cover it and place a weight over it so it couldn't be ravaged by weather or time.
"They seemed happy there, and she had no idea she was ever different" Eve said. There was a definite lump in her throat. "Anyone wanna say anything?" Press asked.
Álvarez, being from a small community in Mexico, was raised Catholic, she knelt by the side of the grave and pulled out a small rosary that she kept on her, and proceeded to say a small prayer in Spanish "Concédele, oh Señor, el descanso eterno, y brille para él la luz perpetua. Que las almas de todos los difuntos, por la misericordia de Dios, descansen en paz, amén" Álvarez then crossed herself and stood up, she had tears in her eyes.
"The way he talked about Miranda, everything he did, he did out of love for her… they're together again now" Eve said. "Eve is right" Consuela said, she wiped her eyes and took Eve's arm "All we have in this life are each other… Encuentra tu paz, Amigo".
Eve couldn't stop herself from tearing up anymore "Sil killed a lot of people" Eve began. Press looked up from the other side of the grave "And then she died, her baby died… then Patrick, Anne Sampas… all those woman… Your Journalist in Washington… Miranda… now Hollander… So many lives, and so many more left behind. Where is this going to end?"
Press fixed her with a look, then his look softened and he nodded "It's up to us to find a way to do that" Press then looked up and around. "Come on, it's getting dark, and we've got a long walk back down through that forest".
As they made their way down through the forest. After a while they began to talk again.
"So, was that really him, Press?" Álvarez asked. "Maybe" Press said over his shoulder, he was carrying the rifle he had picked up, plus the rifle the man in black had dropped and the metal case containing Hollander's materiel. They had of course taken the time to thoroughly search his cabin, just on the off chance there was more, but no joy.
"Maybe?" Álvarez repeated after a few moments. "Same helmet, same gear, the accent kinda sounded similar" Press said "but it's hard to tell… I don't remember him being that talkative or having that much… flare you know?" Press walked on a few paces then half turned again "When he bowed like that, spoke like that, in New York he all action, not theatrics".
"Maybe he's changed, we all have" Álvarez offered. "What happened in New York, Press" Eve asked. It was Álvarez who answered "Press fought an assassin, that was before we all met though right?".
Press half turned again "Yeah, Eve would have been in the Lab at the time, Laura and I had a long overdue date that night, she later told be that she was planning to tell me all about you that night too. Instead, she ended up having to sit by my hospital bed while I lay in a medically induced goddamn coma".
"Obviously I never knew, but I do remember that time I think" Eve said "Laura said she was going away for a couple of nights and didn't come back for a week… when she did, she was really upset, I even saw her crying a couple of times in the lab… I tried to ask what was wrong, but she couldn't tell me about it".
"Why couldn't she talk to you about it?" Álvarez asked. "Because, Press is a guy, and there were no guys or talk about guys allowed in the lab". "Every time you mention that goddamn lab, it sounds worse" Álvarez said.
"I don't know…" Press quipped over his shoulder "A whole lab, full of smart, tough woman where no men were ever allowed to go…. They have a name for that… not quite paradise… no wonder Burgess always looked so pissed".
A few moments later, despite the circumstances, Álvarez managed a laugh, followed by Eve and finally Press.
The three of them made their way back down the mountain, their long journey had born fruit, and been soured by tragedy. They try to keep their mood light, but for how long, time would tell….
Ours is a code, a promise written in Silence
-Fear is a powerful impetus, a prison for some, a fortress of comfort for others, but there is no future in it.
-Steel and Fire are not but tools. They may win us the day, but our true strength is in our unity.
-Have courage in the face of ignorance, and your light will outside all darkness.
-By our Blood and with our Steel, we protect our own, whatever the cost.
-Within us, body, soul and mind are one. We are the Sighted. Use your gifts, and your heart, and you will prevail.
-By our deeds, we honour those who came before, and all souls yet to awaken.
-We are the shield, and the sword, we are truth in shadow.
-We are the Whispers… and we do not fear the flames.
These were the tenets she had recited to herself every night before sleep for the past few months. The woman in the Snow had learned that they were written by a woman named Alice Kyteler in the 14th century after she escaped a Witch Trial. There was no official historical record of Kyteler after that, only a secret history, known to a few. They helped her concentrate, gave her something to focus on, a reminder of strength and fortitude against a hostile world. A world to which she had to adapt. Adapting to change was something that the woman in the snow found that she did very well.
Right now she needed to focus, she had been waiting here for a long time but soon, it would be time to make her move.
The shadows of the great mountains lengthened, it was mid afternoon.
A gust of wind whipped through the small patch of trees where she had taken up position and kicked up a wisp of snow from the drift in front of her that floated off down the valley.
The air was frigid and she knew that in a few hours, it would be dark. The Sun set fast here. The nights here were beautiful, with no human habitation for miles and miles, there was no light interference and the stars were breathtaking. Tonight would be clear and cold, but if she wished to enjoy it, she would have to make the next few minutes count.
Over the past few years, the woman in the snow had been through a number of different names, false identities, at first, just to get around without drawing attention, but over the past year and a half, her life had taken a radically different turn, one which she wished to pursue.
Sara stayed low and still, peering out across the slopes. She had been poised in this position for over two hours waiting for her prey, she had taken care to stay upwind, just like she was taught.
From this spot, just inside a small copse of trees and frozen undergrowth, she could smell them, sense them. Like a spider at the centre of her web, she could feel the vibration as the herd of Shau passed through the valley and down the snow covered slope. Within the herd, standing taller than the others, was a large, muscular stag, easily 500-550 pounds, powerful… Exquisite…
Ahead of her, the valley stretched away to the north, white with snow. There were patches of green forest ringed by Snow capped peaks beyond.
The largest of those peaks had many names, and was known the world over as the greatest of them all. Sara was awed by its magnitude and never tired of just staring at it.
On this side of the border it was known as Chomulungma, on the other side it was Sagarmatha. Both names translated to "Goddess, Mother of the World" and "Goddess of the Sky" respectively and people would travel from all over the world to attempt to reach her summit.
This was a place where, wherever one was, it wasn't hard to find a breathtaking view. Sara would often sit and marvel at the beauty of this place, the power of this place, but not now… now was a time for focus, if she wanted to eat tonight.
She breathed in, pulling in a deep lungful of the frigid air, as her bright blue eyes focussed in on her chosen prey.
Snow had fallen and drifted in the time she had been poised here, covering her chitinous, armoured body in over two inches of fresh powder, her tendrils hung limp down her back, her razor claws bared, poised and ready. Patience now… She waited.
Sara ignored the cold and remained focused, the prey were drawing near. They sensed something, the smell of their fear carried on the air. She had been here for just over a year and It wasn't the first time she had ambushed a herd in this valley.
Shau were common in this region, along with other prey, such as Goa, Bharal and occasionally Chiru, she had hunted them all, and more.
Sara focussed on the large Stag travelling with the herd, he had caught a scent and tensed, scanning the slopes. Sara tensed too, it was almost time.
Sara took another deep breath and felt it permeate her lungs, carrying the oxygen to the muscles in her legs, which were tensed and ready… soon… her heartbeat quickened, pumping more blood to her limbs, bringing with it a hormonal surge, a rush that stirred her excitement.
Sara felt ready, but forced down her eagerness. If she went a fraction too early, or too late, the herd could bolt in the wrong direction… The timing needed to be perfect.
She watched the herd draw near, huddled against the cold, soon a storm would be rolling in over the mountains and they would seek shelter in the tree line… perfect, just a little closer…
The herd were crossing the open ground near the mountain pass, in a few moments they would be right where she wanted them to sensed that the herd had caught her scent, the large stag in the centre craned it's neck and sniffed the air, the others moved around him.. and right into the perfect angle… NOW!
An eruption of snow was kicked up in the air as Sara burst from cover, already in a sprint.
The herd bolted instantly, making for the tree line at the bottom of the slope, a distance of just over two miles.
Sara gave chase, her legs pumping taking her in long strides against the thick snow, kicking up large powdered blooms of white in her wake. She gained ground on the bolting herd without much effort, focusing on the large stag.
The herd issued grunts, huffs and bleats as they scrambled to avoid the pursuing predator, it was to no avail.
Sara adjusted her speed, and her angle of approach from side to side, controlling the drive. They had to reach the bottom where they would do over a small rocky outcropping, flat, open ground, that was where she would make her move.
As the herd neared the bottom of the slope, they crossed a small drop, no more than five feet, nothing to them, or for her, it was where she would pounce.
Still focussed on the large stag running ahead of her, she pumped more, feeling her heart go faster, the moment was almost there.
Her chosen prey was before her…
As the large stag bounded from the small outcropping, Sara wasted no time, she ploughed through the drifted snow and put all her effort into her next move.
For the second time, a giant explosion of powdered snow was kicked into the air as Sara pounced, her chitinous body twisted through the air as powdered snow flew in every direction around her.
Spreading her arms wide and extending her claws, she came down on top of the large stag, driving its head and front end down, knocking it off balance, stunning the large animal before leaping clear.
The Large Shou went in one direction, Sara disengaged and leapt clear in the other… Choose, Drive, Isolate, stun…Sara had done her job.
The big animal stumbled and collapsed, sliding on its side unable to recover its stride following the impact. It was still very much alive.
Sara hit the ground in a kneeling posture and whipped her head back around to check the position of her prey as she skidded to a halt, digging her claws into the ground to halt her momentum.
Sara looked up, and rose to her feet. The herd were moving towards the tree line, but the large stag was picking itself up off the ground and shaking off its daze from the fall. She had isolated it, now for the kill.
Sara was now between the large animal and where it needed to go. It seemed the Stag was preparing to defend the fleeing herd, rare behaviour, but it worked to Sara's advantage.
It reared up and scraped its hooves. That's it… come on, this way! Sara thought…
Sara waited for it to charge, holding its gaze. The large Shau lowered its head and charged.
Sara did… nothing…
Sara stood perfectly still, relaxed, letting her arms fall by her side. All she needed to do now was be here, holding it's attention.
With her long Tendrils gently blowing in the wind, and her eyes locked on her approaching prey, glowing with a pale blue bioluminescence. She had positioned herself perfectly, and her chase was over, now for the part of trust, something far more valuable. Forty metres, thirty, twenty…
With only ten metres to go, Sara felt a rush of wind, as something incredibly fast and powerful zipped by her at supersonic velocity. . . Trust
The large stag was struck in the nearside shoulder, a perfect shot. It instantly dropped as the .50 BMG Round stopped it in its tracks.
Its flailing body went face down, gouging through the snow. It almost achieved a full summersault, as its back legs flailed upwards, carried by its own weight and front momentum. It slid to a halt right at Sara's feet, it was only then that Sara heard an immense CRACK, the distant report of the rifle echoing around the valley.
Sara looked down, seeing the corpse of the large Shau twitching in the snow. Blood was beginning to pool around it, she could smell it, the copperish, metallic taste of blood was in the air and stirred her hunger.
Sara forced the feeling down, she would enjoy it soon enough. Soon, other predators would come to try and steal this prize, but they would only get the leftovers.
Sara had learned to call all the animals by their local names, the Chanko Nagpo, Shen, Shau, Dom Gyamuk and others.
Sara glanced over her shoulder and saw something move in the distance, a small patch of inconspicuous undergrowth suddenly rose to its feet as a human being.
Sara drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes, focusing on the change…
The sensation similar to freefall ran through every nerve as her body transformed back into her human form, chitinous armour melting back into smooth skin, tendrils becoming unbonded and falling as locks of light blonde hair.
Sara opened her eyes and dusted herself off. She learned a long time ago to wear loose clothing, especially when she knew she was going to make the Change, her chitinous plates and spikes had torn up more sets of clothes than she cared to think about over the years.
"Nice Shot" she called out to the figure approaching her "Nice control, you are fast!" came the cheerful response, she pulled off her white mask as she drew closer, letting her dark hair fall loose around her shoulders. She was dressed in an improvised white and grey ghillie suit, blending perfectly into the surrounding landscape.
She could make herself disappear into this landscape so completely, that on occasion, it had been challenging for Sara to find her, which had been the objective of several of their "Games" over the past several months.
They weren't really games, they were Sara's training. Sara was learning to hone her abilities to a sharp edge. Previously, she had been using them purely by instinct, but now, she had full control of almost every aspect of them.
Maya Le Fauconnière was one of, if not the most fascinating and captivating humans Sara had ever encountered, a woman of focus, discipline and possessed of an uncompromising iron will that Sara sometimes found intimidating.
Maya was Sighted, rare humans gifted with a potent extrasensory perception, in Maya's case, her abilities were in the empathic and telepathic range with some remote viewing capability.
Her abilities, as well as her deadly skills were honed to a razor sharp edge, making her a hyper lethal individual.
Maya was a Whisper. Sighted individuals taken from all over the world, trained to infiltrate and kill by a government project somewhere in the United Kingdom… That was until they had learned the truth, the true history and purpose of the Whispers.
They had turned on their government masters and wiped them out in a single day of blood, a day they referred to as "Day-Zero". Sara had learned, however, that the government project was merely a footnote. The history of the Whispers was so much more, and stretched back to time immemorial.
Sara had also become fascinated by this, it was a glimpse into a secretive world, to which only a few outsiders were ever permitted to see, and Sara had decided that she no longer wanted to be an outsider, she wanted to belong to something.
Maya had appeared in Sara's life quite literally out of nowhere, just over eighteen months ago. Mow, it was hard to imagine what her life would have been, had Maya not appeared.
Maya was a striking woman with a regal bearing, though she often wore rugged clothing. Jet black hair and brown eyes with numerous Norse and Runic tattoos. She was as enigmatic as she was disciplined. Sara could be lethal when she wanted to be, she was born this way, but Maya had been forged into a Sighted living weapon.
Sara had gotten to know Maya quite well, a privilege afforded a very select few. She spoke with a British accent, but Sara had found out that she was actually born somewhere in Romania, her mother was of French-Norwegian descent and her father was from India.
In certain circles, Maya was known by another name, a moniker The Carpathian, and for years, she had made a living as a "Wetwork Operative". First for the government, and then, later, for herself. But first and foremost, she was a Whisper.
"Well done" Maya said as she approached, casually retracting and locking the barrel of her GM6-LYNX and putting it into her backpack.
"Thanks" Sara said, pulling up her hood. Maya stopped a few feet from Sara and looked back up the valley, seeing the large wake Sara had left in the snow "No really, you controlled the drive very well, perfect coordination".
"I could've taken it you know" Sara said, then added "You could've saved the bullet". "Better this way, I need the practise too" Maya said with a smirk "Besides, those claws of yours would've torn up the hide, and I wouldn't be able to make you a coat". Sara smiled.
Maya pulled out her damascus steel tracker knife and handed it to Sara "Just like I showed you, I'll get some branches and make a carrier. We can carry it back that way". Sara had learned how to expertly gut and skin a number of animals, there was literally nothing that Maya couldn't kill. She knelt by the Shau and began the process.
Maya held the legs up while Sara cut away the lower parts before opening up the belly all the way up through the ribcage and cutting away the diaphragm. "Perfect" Maya said "Couldn't have done it better myself".
Sara finished by cutting the last attached part at the windpipe and dragging everything out. While Sara tied the legs and used the snow to get the blood and detritus off her hands, Maya moved into the tree line and cut some branches. Lashing them together to create a makeshift carrier.
Sara looked at the sky, noticing the shadows on the mountains "We'll lose light soon". "Should be fine" Maya said, looking up "We'll be over the ridge before the sun goes down".
Between the two of them and Sara's immense strength, it didn't take long to get the large Shau tied to Maya's makeshift Carrier. They began their journey back over the valley.
The first few minutes of their trek were silent, until Sara noticed Maya looking at her "You seem happy today" he said, matter of factly. Sara smiled "I've just been looking forward to this, I enjoyed it, and I'm gonna enjoy eating it too". Maya smirked "Me too, we both worked for this one" she said, and then, as if she'd been meaning to broach the subject "Is that all?".
Sara knew of what Maya was asking. For the past couple of months, Sara has been experiencing what she first assumed to be nightmares, but then discovered they were something much worse. They were connections with something beyond her comprehension. It didn't happen every night, but when it did, it was disturbing.
Knowing what she knew about her alien lineage, she could only assume that the presence was the originator of the message that had led to the creation of her Mother, Eve, and her mother's predecessor, the one they called Sil.
It showed her a strange world, a chitinous world beneath a dark, dead star, and immense, twisting, triple helix shaped towers of some sort composed of an ossified, bone-like substance. She only ever heard it say one thing "Sovereign" being whispered on the air.
"I used the techniques you taught me, it hasn't been back" Sara said "But some nights I think I feel it trying… watching me, you know, I'm able to wake myself up before it starts". "That's good Sara, keep centering yourself before you sleep, switch up your technique, that should hold it off for a while" Maya said with a half smile.
"Not forever?" Sara asked. "I fear, that thing, whatever it is, has ways beyond my, or anyone's knowledge, but I've seen your strength, Sara, remember, even if it gets though, it can only manipulate you if you let it".
"Thanks Maya" Sara said, then added "I want no part of it, I get the distinct sense, that if it had its way, all of this would be gone" Sara gestured with her free hand to the vast, and beautiful landscape around them "Every time the dream ended, it was the same. The dark star would send out this wave of… just black, and everything was consumed with this cold, dark… I don't know… I just know I could never be a part of that" Sara said.
Maya thought about this for a moment and then slowly began to smile "Even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise" Maya began to smirk, waiting for Sara's response.
Sara knew, that was a quote from Victor Hugo, and began to smile, knowing what Maya was doing, setting the mood for the long, cold walk back to the Hut they shared, the one they had built together at the foot of the next valley. "Do you hear the people sing? The song of angry men?" Sara began.
Maya continued "It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again!". Then they both began to sing in unison "When the beating of your heart, echoes the beating of the drums. There is a life about to start, when tomorrow comes!"
They continued to sing together as they crossed over the mountain pass, their voices echoing on the wind across the valley, cheerful against the biting cold as they crossed over the high pass and saw the sun setting behind the mountains. Will you join in our crusade? Who will be strong and stand with me? Beyond the barricade, Is there a world you long to see?
Do you hear the people sing?
The song of angry men
It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again
When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start when tomorrow comes…
Tonight, they would share this food they had hunted together, it was going to be a long winter, and they were prepared.
By the time they reached their Hut, the last rays of the sun were disappearing over the mountains and the night sky was clear and filled with a breath-taking array of stars, because there was no light pollution for miles in every direction, the vision of the milky way could be seen clearly.
It was a perfect place, secluded, peaceful, quiet, nestled at the end of the valley between the foot mountains and a medium sized lake. The hut, built from a combination of wood from the nearby forest, and insulated with clay from the lake, had taken only a couple of days to build with Sara's inhuman strength, an experience Sara found invigorating nonetheless. They had done it when they both arrived here ten months ago.
This time of year, the lake was frozen solid enough that one could easily walk across its surface without fear of the ice cracking. This was also the place where Sara did some of her training.
Maya would take her out onto the frozen surface for blade sparring and meditation. Whispers like Maya, who had been through the project, were proficient in several forms of martial arts, as well as tactical training.
They had become proficient in a number of sensory, mental, focus, and movement based meditations, as well as psychic techniques unique to those who were Sighted, the remote-viewing meditation known as Aspicio, named for the latin word to look, observe or behold, it allowed a Whisper to view the world around them in aspect, and also project that sight beyond the limitations of their immediate surroundings, to focus in on a person or place at a distance. Scientists called it Remote Viewing.
The Psychic Meditation known as The Core or Centrum was the one Sara had been focussing on, allowing her better control of her inner-self, her alien side and her primal instincts.
The discipline had also allowed her to discover a number of blocking techniques to stop the intrusive consciousness in her dreams…for now, she knew it was an ongoing process.
Centrum also had other uses, mastery of it, for a human with Psychic talents allowed them conscious control over a range of bodily functions, adrenaline, endorphin, mental processes, even, to a limited degree, blood flow and platelet formation, if one were injured, they could control the bleeding.
Maya had also taught Sara how to properly engage an adversary out on that ice. Sara had learned every kind of strike, parry, counter and faint in a number of disciplines, absorbing everything Maya could teach her, but the lessons weren't just about how to fight, or the physical moves, Sara was much more physically powerful, with abilities way beyond the range of even a sighted human.
The lessons were about control, but not just of the body, control of one's self, of emotion, how to properly channel, not just physical energy, but the rhythm of the mind.
It took another hour for them to preserve the meat and take what they needed for their meal. There were few modern amenities out here, save for the small generator which was used sparingly.
For now, they would boil some into a stew and enjoy the rewards of today's hunt. They had worked in perfect unison. When they had first come here. Sara had a tendency to kill and tear apart prey on the spot.
Maya never showed she was angry, but she expressed a quiet displeasure. Sara remembered the, now rather amusing scene, of Maya looking down at a decimated Shou, shaking her head with a smirk, and saying "Looks like it took on Jack the Ripper and came last… Ok then, "American Werewolf in Tibet", from now on we do this together. I'll show you how to do it clean" and then turned it into an opportunity to learn from a mistake. From then on "Werewolf mode" had become a running joke between them.
Their hunt had come at the end of a five-day long Game, the purpose of which was the art of stealth, survival, tracking, escape and evasion, the basic principle was that of Hide and Seek/Best of Three.
Over a 24 hour period, one of them would hunt the other, if you were caught, you switched. After the 3rd day, Sara had successfully avoided being caught, so they had decided to switch for variety's sake.
There was a time, Sara had found it impossible to find Maya in this wilderness, she would mask her scent, leave false rails, sometimes she would even rig traps, nothing that would harm Sara, usually something that would set off a small firework.
It would simultaneously let Maya know exactly where Sara was, and let Sara know If this was a real explosive, you'd be dead right now, or severely injured. This time, Sara had successfully found Maya twice, and also disabled several of her traps. So on the final day, they had shifted their focus to hunting. Needless to say, they were both looking forward to this meal and a well deserved rest.
Wrapped in furs that they'd previously hunted, they sat together enjoying the night sky in all its wonder. "I'll never get tired of that, I wish I could stay here forever" Sara said "It's peaceful, the world doesn't notice you… and you don't notice it". Maya took a mouthful of stew using a wooden spoon she'd fashioned from some local spruce wood, chewing before she spoke "It would be peaceful, but would it be living? Or just hiding?".
Maya continued "You did well the past few days, you've come along so much, here's a final lesson for the day…. First you couldn't find me, you kept walking into traps, now you can find them, and me, sooner or later the world always catches up".
Sara thought about this, she had been on the move for over five years, first with Jason, then she was alone before meeting Maya. Not a single moment of her time out in the world had been dull, with Maya, she had soaked up more of what the world had to offer, she had also seen some of its more violent and unstable places.
"You think it's better to be out there? I've seen what people do to each other". "It's always been that way, Sara, and always will be, a sad truth, but, if it's within you to do something about it, then you must" Maya seemed to study her for a moment "Is it what goes on in this world that's bothering you, or what's out there?" Maya pointed up to the infinite sky above them.
"I don't know" Sara sighed "I think about it, I think about my Mother, where she came from… what she must've been through, it's horrible… and my Father… I know a lot about him, but knowing about him, and knowing him are two different things".
Maya reached over and squeezed her shoulder, she had a strong grip, reassuring "I'm sure, wherever they are, they're watching over you, Sara" Maya said softly, then added "You'd make them both proud".
"Thanks" Sara smirked, slightly confused "Wherever they are?" Sara let her gaze drift skyward "You really believe in that kind of thing? A life… after life?". Maya moved her spoon around her bowl and found some more meat, she thought about it while she ate "There's not much I wouldn't believe nowadays, I'm sitting here enjoying a well-earned Shou stew with someone who's part Alien after all". Sara laughed.
"But really, do you?" Sara asked. Maya lowered her bowl for a moment and looked up "I respect the power of mind and consciousness, comes with the territory. Death is a void, not unlike space, it's dark, cold, empty, but all around that void, there is distant fire, and we know a mind can reach across that" Maya let that sink in, she was of course referring to the alien consciousness that had been attempting to connect with Sara.
Sara lost herself in thought, processing Maya's words, hoping that when her time eventually came, she would see her mother and father again. "It's more of a hope than anything else" Maya suddenly added "We both have people we'd like to see again" Maya's gaze fell for a moment, while she took another mouthful, then she continued looking up, this time with a small smile, as if lost in a distant memory.
"Ahh, look at us, cheerful pair" Maya added causing Sara to laugh.
Sara found herself thinking too, of Bruce Abbot, and Dean Whitlock. Abbot may have had ulterior motives, but he had ultimately given his life trying to save her, and Dean, he had saved her again, when she knew nobody else would, Sara's memory of her mother was more of a sensory one, she was the first scent she remembered, the first mind she connected with.
She remembered the quick succession of emotions, first there was confusion, then elation, happiness… and then abject fear. She had seen a picture of her mother, Dean had shown her Abbot's files. Eve was beautiful, and she wished she could have known her.
Sara traced a constellation of stars across the sky and saw a tiny light, a shooting star flit across silently, they were a common sight out here with no light pollution. "You see that?" Sara pointed "A bright one". Maya was finishing her last helping "Hmm, in times past, you'd have been able to interpret that as a sign". "A Sign? Of What?" Sara asked, sensing that Maya was about to drop another pearl of wisdom, with her mouth half full, Maya smirked "A sign that I'm right, of course, I usually am".
They stared at each other for a moment, a silent competition to see who was going to smile first, Sara ultimately lost this battle, breaking into laughter, and Maya along with her.
"Well" Maya put down her bowl and stood up with a stretch "I'm off to get some sleep, you should too, you did really well these past few days… Night, Sara". "Night, Maya" Sara said softly, finishing her own bowl.
Sara continued staring at the stars for a while longer before ultimately making her way into the hut and pulling herself into her fur blanket on the floor, taking care not to wake Maya on the other side of the room.
As Sara lay there, waiting for sleep to come, she thought of all the things that had led her here. She thought of Dean again, who had been studying under Abbot, a genius in his own right who had saved her and helped her.
They had spent a lot of time together after the events at the power station, during that time, he had shown Sara all of Abbot's files. Files that told Sara where she came from.
Abbott had information on her Mother and her Father. Her Father was none other than the world famous Patrick Ross, the first man to walk on Mars and the son of US Senator Judson Ross.
While on Mars, he had become infected, or possessed by an alien presence, probably the same one that had attempted to torment her. It had taken him on a rampage when he arrived back home, mating with as many women as he could, sometimes against their will, and producing offspring.
He had bred an army of Half-Breeds, some of whom had also bred, but they were mostly unstable, with only a few being healthy enough to survive, but even they needed to be periodically medicated.
Sara often wondered about her Father and wished she could have met him. From everything she'd read, he seemed like a good man, kind, generous and intelligent.
Her Mother was a woman called Eve. Eve had inherited a bad lot in life, a genetic re-creation of the first Alien Life-Form on Earth, named Sil. The government had created Eve solely for the purpose of finding ways to kill her species. Whenever Sara thought of her mother, it made her sorrowful, Eve was innocent, and what they had done to her was nothing short of monstrous.
She hoped that her mother had found some measure of peace in the end, and it made her more resolved to be the best version of herself.
For that matter, the same was true of her predecessor, Sil. Dean had shown her everything, she knew the whole story.
To know, from the moment you were born, that your purpose in life was to die in an experiment, Sara couldn't imagine a more horrid fate. They had tried to use her Mother to track Patrick, but the experiment had backfired, she had grown more powerful and escaped.
Dean had later told Sara that Abbott had relayed the events of her birth, how Abbott had witnessed a Half-Breed kill her Mother and done nothing to stop it. Abbott had given her food and shelter, but he was a singularly minded man, fixated on leaving his mark on scientific history after being expelled from the original Sil Project.
And then, of course, there was Jason.
Dean had created him by recombining the Half-Breed DNA and Abbott's files to create something new. After all, the Half-Breeds were all half-siblings of Sara's, not that they seemed to care about that fact whenever they attempted to hunt her down and mate with her.
Sara and Dean had agreed, between them, that he would create someone to be her equal, but, to prevent any further bloodshed, he would be sterile. Sara had accepted this, and for a time, silently, so had Jason, however, over time, he had become disheartened and felt inadequate at not being able to give her a child.
They had been pursued by Half-Breeds everywhere, at first, they were rogue, feral, driven only by instinct… and easy to handle. Then, over time, things started to change, they appeared more stable, more disciplined, stronger, it seemed someone behind the scenes had formed them into a more cohesive organisation.
One particularly repulsive Half-Breed by the name of Quinn, had relentlessly pursued them across the entire United States.
Quinn was unique for a Half-Breed, a rarity, naturally stable enough to go for extended periods of time without the need for drugs and serums to keep him healthy, but he was a deeply sadistic and manipulative individual, who, over the course of a number of encounters, had worn down Jason's resolve. Jason had instead opted for a more drastic approach.
They had been cornered by Quinn and several others in California, after giving Sara one final kiss, he had simply said "Be happy… when they come for me, you run!" and then he launched himself into them, ripping, biting and tearing, fighting with everything he had, refusing to give in.
Sara did what he said, she ran, she ran until she could run no more, and for the first time in her life, Sara was alone in the world. No Abbot, No Dean, No Jason.
It was terrifying.
She had done the unthinkable and returned to the campus town where Abbot was a resident Professor in an attempt to seek out Dean. It seemed he had graduated with honours and moved on. After asking around, however, she had only been able to track down his friend, Matt Hastings, who was living in Rochester, New York.
Hastings had been initially shocked and afraid to see her again, but after she told him everything that had happened, he had taken her in for several days. He had told her how, after graduating, Dean had accepted Agent John Wasach's offer to visit him in Washington and then, he had disappeared.
Hastings had also moved on in his life, he had a well paying job in medical research and had been with his girlfriend, Katrina for just over a year. Sara hadn't wanted to impose on them any longer and left. Hastings had given her his number to call in emergencies and some money to help her on her way.
After that, Sara had found herself bouncing around the United States and then free-falling through South America, unable to settle anywhere, moving from place to place, never knowing where she was going or what she'd find when she got there. Eventually, the Half-Breeds found her again.
In particular, one especially tenacious Half-Breed who Sara previously believed was dead, had tracked her down again and again, North Dakota, Texas, Mexico he had dogged her since her days with Dean and Abbot, and he wasn't alone.
Sara had first met him in a hotel after leaving Abbott's house, after rejecting him due to his unstable health, he had followed her back and attacked her in Abbot's basement Lab. Had it not been for Dean's effort and Abbot's sacrifice, the Half-Breed known as Yusuf would have attempted to impregnate her. A prospect Sara couldn't bear to think about.
Sara had left the house after the attack, when she returned, the Half-Breed Yusuf's body was gone, she had believed that Dean had disposed of his body when he took care of Abbot.
She even wondered, in hindsight, if Dean believed she had been the one who got rid of Yusuf. Either way, she thought Yusuf was dead, but he had somehow persisted, held together by a variety of drugs to combat his autoimmune disease.
It seemed he had preferred to go it alone rather than subsist on whatever this Arianna woman and her organisation were offering, but his intentions hadn't changed, and he wasn't alone. There were still Feral Half-Breeds out there, "held together by spit and duct tape" as Maya later put it after hearing the story.
They had found her in Bogata, where she had been staying in a hostel. Sara had barely managed to escape, leaving most of her belongings behind. By the time Sara had made it to Caracas four weeks later, she was begging for change, but that was where they cornered her again, this was also when she first encountered Maya. Sara was a mess after three weeks hiding and running in the forests and dirt roads.
Maya had noticed Sara on the street and bought her food, inviting her to sit with her in a streetside cafe and started to try and find out about her.
That's when Sara had sensed it, they had found her again. She noticed Yusuf waiting across the street, with two others positioning themselves to follow her whichever way she went.
Sara did the only thing she could, relying on her speed and strength, she bolted. Although Sara picked up a strange, powerful Sense from Maya in the telepathic range, she had believed her to just be a random good samaritan, but this was where everything changed.
Yusuf and the other Feral Half-Breeds had chased Sara all the way to the eastern edge of the city, into the Parare Slums. It turned out there were five of them in total. Sara had managed to kill the first one and injure another, but she had been hurt herself.
Impaled on several pieces of Rebar during their fight. She ran up to the third floor and knelt down for a moment to remove the rebar and heal her wounds, this was when Yusuf and the remaining two had managed to corner her in the crumbling building and pinned her to the ground at which point, she had instinctively undergone the change, lashing out with her claws and tendrils, struggling with everything she had.
She screamed, roared and struggled but with their combined strength, it was useless.
Yusuf had clearly established himself as the Alpha of this little pack and he was the one who was going to mate with her. He stood above her and tore off his shirt while the others held her down.
It was then that, without warning, the Half-Breed holding Sara's left side suddenly went limp, releasing her. Sara found herself momentarily frozen, not knowing what to do. The Half-Breed toppled forward and his head, eyes still blinking, rolled free onto Sara's chest.
It was at that point she panicked and began struggling even harder with the other Half-Breed holding her right.
Maya appeared seemingly from nowhere, having followed them into the building.
Upon seeing his friend's severed head roll across the floor, Yusuf jumped up, roaring in frustration, partially changed and lashed out at Maya, who was armed with a pistol and a black, leaf bladed tactical sword.
Yusuf swiped at Maya with a partially transformed arm, but, as if she could predict his movement, she caught his strike with an upstroke of her black blade and severed his arm before plunging the blade into his chest and kicking him in the side of the knee, causing a compound fracture.
With Yusuf temporarily immobilised, Maya then spun around, drawing a HK-45 Tactical and shot the Half-Breed holding Sara five times in the face and eyes at near point blank range. It didn't kill him, but taking several rounds to the face did temporarily blind him, allowing Sara to struggle free. Not knowing what to do, Sara backed up against the wall.
Half-Breeds could regenerate, but much slower than her, and according to Abbot's files, her parents too. Her father had reportedly once attempted suicide by blowing his head off with a shotgun, only for his whole head to regenerate, her mother was also extremely adaptive, as was her predecessor.
However, where it would take them, and herself, seconds to heal a grievous wound, it would take a Half-Breed anywhere from thirty minutes to several hours to do the same, meaning if they were injured severely enough, their system would fail and they would die. Having their heads chopped off would certainly do that.
Yusuf, still clutching the wound in his chest, threw himself back onto the floor, only just avoiding Maya's swipe at his neck and scrabbling away to heal himself. Maya wasted no time, turning her attention to the screaming Half-Breed clutching his face, who had been holding Sara.
She raised the black blade and swiped cleanly through his neck, causing him to co abruptly silent. Sara remembered the surprised look on his wounded face as his head slowly toppled onto the wooden floor, bounced once and came to a stop, staring at her.
Then, the one that Sara had previously managed to injure, the largest of them, had healed itself enough to re-join in the fight, smashing its way up through the floor from the lower story.
Maya waited for him to come at her, then unloaded the rest of her sidearm into him as he charged, then fell back in a submissive roll, simultaneously swiping at his leg with her black blade.
Her strike severed the Half-Breed's left leg at the knee and he crashed to the floor several feet away. Maya rolled away, got to her feet, reached out with her left arm and closed her fist.
On her left arm was some kind of wrist gauntlet containing a device that fired a burst of, what Sara later found out, were an advanced ammunition called Gyro-Jet rounds, they were an update on some older technology from the 60's that had been heavily modified to be highly explosive, as well as some other tactical uses.
The small, highly combustible rounds struck the felled Half-Breed as he was trying to rise and blew him wide open, sending blood and chunks of flesh in every direction. He would never recover from such wounds.
Maya spun around, flicking away her spent magazine and reloading her sidearm. She said two words, "Follow Me and keep your head down". Even in her true skin, Sara wasn't about to argue, she could already hear police Sirens and shouts from angry residents approaching.
Sara focussed on changing back before she exited the building, Maya removed her jacket to cover Sara as her clothes were torn to pieces. As they ran across the street and Maya hijacked a car at gunpoint, putting a bullet through the windshield to give the driver some incentive to move "¡FUERA DEL CARRO! ¡RÁPIDAMENTE!" (OUT OF THE CAR! QUICKLY!) She bellowed.
As Sara got into the car, she glanced back and spotted a shirtless Yusuf, limping across the street in the opposite direction, only pausing to steal a hateful glance at her.
Maya had been staying in Caracas temporarily, laying low after a wetwork contract in nearby Panama. She drove that 1993 Fiat Panda flat out most of the way until the engine finally died on the outskirts of Guayana City, the gateway to the Orinoco Delta.
Once there, they had stayed for a few days in one of Maya's safe houses while she arranged for a pilot to take them to Boa Vista. When Sara asked her "Why did you help me?" Maya's only response was a surprisingly quaint one "Why not? You looked like you needed a friend, that was before all that shit kicked off".
The fact that Sara was in her true skin at the time had not phased Maya in the slightest, perhaps her own extra-sensory abilities had picked up on Sara's alien side in the street when they first met, Sara never knew. Maya wasn't afraid of it, that much was clear.
Maya had questions of her own, Sara had been expecting the most obvious one "So…What are you?" to which Sara had told her everything she knew.
Sara didn't know why she was telling her so much at the time, only later realising that she had just wanted to get it all off her chest, plus, it was a long drive. Sara felt she needed to talk about something. Normally she wouldn't have mentioned her Alien side to a human, especially one she just met, but she'd already seen it.
Sara knew from Abbot's files that what she was, was alien in nature, but beyond that, it was unknown. Sara found it curious and oddly endearing that Maya's reaction, or lack thereof, to discovering that her new travelling companion was part "Alien".
It made Sara think of a woman who had once tried to drive her back to Abbot's house, and then seen her true nature when she sensed a Half-Breed. Upon hearing about it, she had given a simple "Alien eh? Hmm, something new every day" and carried on as normal.
This had been the start of their bond. Sara discovered that Maya had acted that day in accordance with the Whisper Code, what they referred to as the Stone Canon.
Ours is a code, a promise written in Silence
Whispers were all Sighted individuals, and Sighted individuals had suffered from horrific persecution for centuries.
Often being labelled as "Witches", "Demons" and "Spies".
Fear is a powerful impetus, a prison for some, a fortress of comfort for others, but there is no future in it
After Maya and several others had destroyed Project Morrigan, the brutal British Government program to forge Sighted people into assassins, they had sought out the "Free Whispers"... The True Whispers, the ones who existed outside the control of any government, an ancient fellowship who had been able to elude the Institution. Their membership was at a low ebb, suddenly revitalised by the influx of new members, the survivors of Project Morrigan.
Steel and Fire are not but tools. They may win us the day, but our true strength is in our unity.
Maya and the other survivors had then dedicated themselves to the real Whisper Code, to guide them on their new paths in life.
Have courage in the face of ignorance, and your light will outside all darkness
Part of the code required a Whisper to act should they see a Sighted individual in danger even if it led to their own injury or death… Sara wasn't human, but she had powerful telepathic abilities, meaning that Sighted was just a part of what she was, but it was enough. Maya had obviously sensed this, and by Stone Canon, decided to help her, when she saw Sara being pursued, she intervened.
By our Blood and with our Steel, we protect our own, whatever the cost
They had been travelling together ever since, Maya was always on the move. Paris, Vienna, Cairo, but eventually, after Sara expressed a desire to become a Whisper, Maya had completed a contract in Tajikistan which had been extensive, then, needing to lay low, she had picked up and moved them both out here to the mountains. Not all of Maya's contracts involved killing, there was a lot of espionage too, and extracting people who were in danger from one thing or another.
Sara had picked up a few things along the way, distracting a marked man in Paris so Maya could get into his apartment. Planting a bug on a woman in Vienna, then acting as a spotter in Egypt and Tajikistan.
This valley in the Himalayas was roughly two hundred kilometres north of Kathmandu, over the Chinese border in a remote area of the mountains near the Xigazê region of Tibet.
Within us, body, soul and mind are one. We are the Sighted. Use your gifts, and your heart and you will prevail.
It was a place Maya had been before, a place she liked to lay low in solitude, but she had taken it upon herself to teach Sara the ways of the Whispers, and also how to fight, how to survive, and most importantly, take full control of her abilities.
By our deeds, we honour those who came before, and all souls yet to awaken.
As Sara looked out as the last of the Sun's rays disappeared over the mountains, giving way to a clear starry twilight, she thought how lucky she was to see a place like this. How fortunate she had been that Maya was in Caracas that day, but she knew her true test lay ahead.
We are the shield, and the sword, we are truth in shadow… we are the Whispers… and we do not fear the flames.
Whatever the entity that had tried to enter Sara's dreams wanted, she knew it was nothing good, moreover, there were forces gathering somewhere in the world that sought to harness the power within her, but Sara felt it within her… she was ready.
Ready to take a stand against the Half-Breeds and this new organisation that was driving them. Ready to be a part of something greater than herself, and moreover, a family, she would fight for them, and they would fight for her, when this winter was over, Sara would walk out of these mountains a Whisper…