1 ½ hours ago
Inspector Wren Hall was having a
horrendous time. He was easily the best in the business and eventually got the
perpetuators of injustice. But he always took his own time. Here he was working
against time. Conspiracy theorists had already started telling that it was the
Federal Government that had eliminated both Landau and Emanuel due to
difference in issues relating to U.P. What they did not know was that another
important person had also been murdered.
It was Agnew-a man whose exploits in
Physics were unmatched, except maybe for Glazer. He had been killed in his
villa and the butler had been missing ever since. No doubts over who the
suspect was. Adding to the mystery was the fact that there was a state of art
eavesdropping device in the kitchen, possibly used by the butler. Wren had been
contacted by the NSA which confirmed his guess.
Henry, the butler had secretly provided
information regarding Agnew’s activities to the NSA. More than the deaths, what
worried the NSA more was the fact that Henry had not reported for the past two
days. Evidently, they feared that some terrorist organization had a hand in the
issue after learning something which, even the NSA had failed to discover. Wren
feared their intervention might be more of distraction than help. However, they
had asked Wren to investigate and provide them with preliminary details.
It was not the first time the NSA had
contacted him. Hatridge Terrell’s disappearance a week ago was a mystery and
when Wren had learnt that the man worked for Area-51, the NSA contacted him to
tell that Terrell had “stolen classified information and had to be terminated”.
As the question of national security arose, Wren dropped that case and accepted
a large sum of money as an award for “Services to the State”.
What complicated the case even more,
was that both the big heads of UP had talked to Agnew-their last conversation.
There was another concern for him which he could not share with anyone else. It
was barely over 6 hours and everyone expected him to find out where Emanuel
was. The last thing he wanted was the fourth estate to sense about the
scientist and his butler.
“Thank God that man had chosen a villa
in the wild.”
It was the tip from an anonymous
caller, who took care to hide his identity and location that alerted them of
the death. Hall was not sure where he ought to start. That was when another
call came.
“…”
“Sgt. Hall. Who is it?”
“Is this line secure?”
“Yes” Wren was indeed surprised.
“I want to talk to you on the burning
issue of the missing men”
“Men…? Who are you?”
Wren knew that the man would tell in
fancied words that he wished to remain anonymous. But he was in for a surprise.
“Emanuel... Walter Emanuel”
Wren was ready to leave to the deserted
villa in the end of Vettori Line. He had an hours’ time in which he had another
issue to attend to. He knew his visit had to be discrete, what he failed to
notice was that his conversation had been overheard.
***
½ an hour ago
He was
sure his plan had worked. He did not have time to listen to television
reporters to learn his victims’ fate. He had seen the frozen look of terror on
the face of the old man and the other unsuspecting victim who died hearing him
quote Marx
“Bellum omnium contra omnes”
He was not even sure if that commoner
understood Latin. That did not matter. All that was important was he had succeeded,
again. But that was not the end. No sooner had he finished his task, he had to
prepare for his next target’s elimination.
It was
a tricky mission. But he was too good to fail. All he needed to do was make
sure his explosive apparatus escaped detection. That was easy for him, for he
specialized in ‘fireworks’. He took the files which Agnew had neatly arranged
and put them in a briefcase which bore the ‘Agnew symbol’. It was alpha and
omega intertwined and it was extremely popular.
He
then placed his beauty, a small vial with liquid hydrogen inside. It was substantially above its atmospheric boiling point and was
stored partly in liquid form, with a gaseous vapor above the liquid filling the
remainder of the container.
The files were self explanatory. They
were plans which Agnew was trying to sell to Landau. And the sealed letter said
that Agnew hoped the blueprints reached Landau, as promised, before the flight
took off. It was evident that Landau was expecting Agnew’s messenger.
All he had to do was play the messenger of death.
***
20 minutes ago
De Laury felt uncomfortable. He could
have his shot at fame. His Sgt did not like being followed. No Superior did.
But then he had to take a chance.
He decided to pay Vettori Line a visit,
even if it meant he would be dismissed for tapping his senior’s line without
permission.
***
15
minutes ago
It had taken her another two hours to
get Mike back to normal and his usual self.
“Listen. I was about to explain you
certain facts. But you collapsed-first in the bar then in the house. I paid
your bills…”
“No... I paid the bartender…”
“You overran your advance.”
“No…Wait…if that is what you want... I
have money…”
“That is not what I need from you.”
“Then what is it?”
Then he remembered what she had said
before his blackout.
“I think you said you are an alien.”
“From outer space…? Yes. Alien? NO!”
“Explain”
“That is exactly what I have been
trying to do.”
“Please proceed.”
“Promise me you won’t faint again. You
have robbed me almost a day…the day…”
“Promised”
She spoke slowly, as if wanting him to
catch every word she said.
“I am from the future”
Mike was not sure how he had escaped
passing out this time.
***
10 minutes ago
Earlier,
when the caller had asked him if this mission was within his abilities, he
replied
“I BLEVE so, yes I can”
That was how
he had got the idea.
His explosive was, as such, weak and could
fail. He had to make it fail proof. He used Semtex to do the job for him. He
molded around the vial, which now resembled a battery. Now his model was almost
complete. BLEVE (boiling liquid expanded vapor explosion) would initialize the
process before Semtex, with RDX as well as PETN would finish his job. He chose
this mechanism despite its complex nature because it could not be detected by
the devices currently used by the Governments. He was not even sure if this
method had been tried earlier. When the case was opened, the vial would break.
Then it would be complete decimation
due to Semtex. A smile lit up his face in remembrance of a fact he thought he
had forgotten.
He found out that Landau was going to
board his private jet. He had to use the courier service. He approached the
nearest courier office. The owner was a grumpy man in his late forties and he
was the only man who worked in the office.
He had to be careful as he stressed the
importance. He paid well in excess to ensure that the briefcase reached Landau
in time. He also explained him that his package was fragile. He had to choose
this man mainly to avoid detection.
The man reached the airport and said he
had a package for Mr. Landau. Though they initially thought it was a joke, the
‘Agnew symbol’ convinced them that the shabby man indeed meant business. They
decided to check the briefcase. There was nothing the scanners could find apart
from papers. Apparently, they failed to notice the flat 5 mm vial and the
surrounding plastic explosive. They then called an attendant from Landau’s crew
and handed him the brief case.
The
assassin waited outside the airport and saw the grumpy man come out. The
courier guy noticed him and waved. The assassin asked him to come closer. He
obliged. No one heard of the grumpy-forty-something-man, who owned a courier
shop close to the airport, ever after.
Landau
had now been taken care of.
He
finished reminiscing. Now, there was one target he had to eliminate before returning
to routine life. His bank had sufficient money to sustain his life and
ambitions. He had double checked everything before leaving to Vettori Line.
***
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