When Boniek arrived there were another three vehicles queuing to get past the accident area. The local farmer with the flag told him what had happened, but he said aggressively that he needed to push his way through, and got out of the car. As he approached the impact zone he was already remonstrating with those who just appeared to be standing around. “Time may not mean much to you people with your cows and tractors, but some of us have deadlines to meet. This damned recovery vehicle could take hours; surely we can all attempt to manually separate the two trucks, come on let’s at least try.”
As he wandered to the back of the nearest one, the darkness obscured the triangulated shock from the stun guns. He was swiftly hauled into the storage space and hidden under some straw. Hajek said to the local gathering that they weren’t going to wait for the recovery unit until it was pitch black, and would take the risk of reversing both trucks simultaneously. “Both drivers have exchanged insurance details and accept that the crude unhinging may cause further damage.” The locals enjoyed the spectacle as if it were the highlight of the week. The de-crunching was artificially enhanced by deliberate grinding of the gears.
Once free of one another the vehicles went in opposite directions until the small ‘crowd’ had dispersed, then one turned and headed after the lead vehicle. They then returned to pick up Boniek’s car which would be recognised by the security staff on approach. When they reached sight of the valley floor they stopped to allow Boniek to recover. Even though he was groggy he knew that he had fallen for a simple con. It could prove disastrous for him. The only faces he could see were ones he recognised, for different reasons. His morale dropped at Pierze’s smile and hit rock bottom when he caught the predatory glint in Radan Hajek’s eyes.
Pierze ordered a stimulant to be administered to Boniek, he had to be attentive to remember the instructions he was about to receive. Pierze checked his captive’s eyes after a couple of minutes and was happy to proceed. “You may know about Orient’s capture of your Moon base. So listen very carefully. The lunar part of your system is obviously in their hands. In order to prevent misuse of SACRED and the whole Republic going belly-up again, we the government, need to make this end of the system secure. Don’t look so worried, we got this location and its purpose from Bernardo. We have no time to lose or explain things to the security people of this research centre, as we believe Orient’s troops are on standby as I speak. So we must at least lock down the system even if we cannot prevent them from taking over the complex. We have alerted armoured divisions to head them off but they stole a march on us. Our intelligence tells us they have been preparing this for months. They also have the complex in the crosshairs of a nuclear warhead. If we can get in and out before they arrive we can avoid the President of Iberia authorising this facility to be vaporised. Don’t look so shocked, we can’t allow them to take it over intact, and just in case they do, we will destroy their forces along with the research centre. It is a game of high stakes. I hope you are keeping up with me here. Get on your communicator and speak to the entry personnel as we approach. Tell them to let your vehicle and both trucks pass. We would have been in good time if we had not had that damned accident. Do you understand what you have to do?” It was all happening so fast.
“How do we know they took the Moon base so quickly?”
“I will explain later, but in a nutshell the bastards televised the whole sequence from their own base camp, it has been broadcast, where the hell have you been? The entire planet has seen it from their living room. Now make the call.” Boniek told the guards the short version, and his disclosure of not one but two nuclear threats did the rest. The complex began to empty of panic-stricken staff. Pierze had his team at the exit checking for Viktor Lopez. When they found him Pierze took him to one side and explained what had to be done. He told one of his team, plus Radan Hajek, to accompany them to the neurogenic station. The look in Boniek’s eyes began to betray his recognition of being stung for the second time within an hour. They weren’t going to a lockdown terminal. He began to add up the various elements of the game. When they reached the station Lopez was allowed the privilege of taking a sledgehammer to the hardware. Boniek’s dreams started to die in front of his eyes. Pierze and Lopez were reunited at last, they left Hajek and the special operations man as referee for the retribution of Boniek, who pleaded, begged and finally involuntarily deposited excrement in his Armani suit, as he was struck with the first right hand. The next few minutes were brutal, but no more so than when the roles were reversed and three of Boniek’s thugs had almost cost Hajek his life.
*
Pierze made the call to Sanchez. The President then contacted Din Chow Zen, and made the request for the Orient leader to be the first of that rank to receive an invitation to Madrid for over half a century. “Please bring envelope 2 with you and we can open it together. It will hopefully demonstrate that we can overcome problems by working together. I intend, with your agreement, to begin a regulated opening of our border to accommodate some immigration from Orient to help with your overcrowding, if that is what you would like.”
The invitation was accepted.
*
The restaurant was about to close and the waiter was tapping his foot periodically when Manuel’s communicator activated. It was Pierze. “Where are you?”
“In a Londonis restaurant, we are just about to leave, why?” Pierze was still cautious.
“We, who is ‘we’?” Manuel indicated that he was with Butragueno.
“Oh, then I can proceed. I didn’t want to alert anyone that there had ever been a problem with SACRED.”
Manuel’s face brightened. “You are using the past tense; does that mean it’s over?”
“Pretty much Manuel, there will be no Drone Day. The Moon and the research centre are secure and we have Boniek. We have rescued Lopez and Prometheus, and Gretz and Verdasco are safe, so you will be getting paid. However we still have to cut off the head of the snake, so Boniek will be subject to assisting with identifying his cohorts. That task cannot be left in abeyance as we must avoid them going underground and reforming. The sect must be culled. I know you have spoken with Bernardo again, so I would appreciate your presence, and Duarte’s, to get all of this finalised before the visit of Din Chow Zen.”
Manuel was astonished but intrigued at the possible thaw in relations with Orient. “Ok, I will catch the first flight out tomorrow.”
“No you won’t, I have commandeered Boniek’s private aircraft to pick you up from Londonis in four hours. We have no time to lose. I will have breakfast ready by the time you get here.” When Manuel explained all of this to Butragueno and apologised profusely, she took his hand and they walked back to his hotel. When he held her to say goodnight, she resisted and walked toward reception. The look in her eyes convinced him that no words were necessary. During the next two hours she surrendered all of the accumulated passion of the past few weeks. Words were still trapped in their minds; this occasion did not require articulated accompaniment – the cerebral and emotional duet sequestered every note to deliver total harmony. Elle Butragueno was not highly sexually experienced, but this was much more than sex. Manuel on the other hand had always substituted any drift toward relationship by frequent sexual encounters. This was a turning point for both of them. They did not speak about it as she drove him to the airport. Goodbye was not the wrench it had been when she had left Madrid. There was a new purpose in her life, and Manuel had taken the first step to trusting anyone other than Konrad and Senora Salina with his true feelings.
*
When Pierze had a patched-up Boniek back in his office, he made no apology for the plethora of stitches and sticking plasters which characterised his new face. “Surely it is not necessary for me to remind you how these things go. I want names and one way or another I will get them from you or Bernardo. There will be no plea bargaining, the only difference will be in the location of your confinement. There are bad places and hell. Both of you may go to hel
l. However the vacancies at the bad places are limited to one. Would you like to begin?”
“Names for what?” Pierze glared at him and shouted ferociously, unintentionally misting his interviewee with sputum.
“Not a good start Constantin. You know exactly what I mean.”
“It is a genuine question. You must appreciate I have worked with certain people outside of SACRED and I have recruited temporary people to protect that organisation. The two roles are quite different. With SACRED I was in sole charge and have total knowledge – for example the elevator is protected by people who will only acknowledge one master. Like certain canine breeds they are very territorial and extremely faithful. They will wonder where I am. On the other hand the people you seek in both Rojo-Negro Mano and Sidonia are not all known to me, and I wasn’t responsible for either recruiting or directing them.”
Pierze brought in Duarte. “For the recording - I am leaving the room and Maxi Duarte is entering to conduct the next stage of the interview.” Duarte concentrated on Boniek’s last statement.
“If I really understand what you said earlier, I’m supposed to believe you are not the highest authority in this Sidonia organisation. This is in absolute contradiction to our previous information. Would you care to elaborate?”
“I’m assuming you got your previous information from the erstwhile Bernardo?” As this failed to elucidate any response from Duarte he continued. “I will take it that I’m correct in that assertion. I was nowhere near the top of the pyramid. I was in a full time remit with SACRED and that alone would have disqualified me, these civil servants have all the time they need to service Sidonia. I was promised a significant promotion after what you call Drone Day, but even that would have put me at the penultimate level of office. The rules are very strict about that in the brotherhood. I can give you many names but I will not use up this collateral until you have verified what I am saying, otherwise my position is weakened.”
After a further exhausting three hours of relentless questioning Duarte left the office to join Pierze and Manuel, who was greedily devouring a mountainous breakfast. He said, “I’m sorry to disappoint you Ricardo, but I believe him. We have to talk to this Bernardo again to highlight the discrepancies in their accounts and go from there. I would suggest doing this before interviewing them together.”
Pierze agreed but added one further layer. “Let Manuel reconnect with Bernardo alone first, as he thinks he has returned with papers from Uruguay and the Salina apartment in Londonis. We can observe this through the glass to pick up potential contradictions with what he has already ‘confessed’.”
Manuel was briefed to slip in a reference in his father’s papers to future recruitment policy within Sidonia. “I’m sorry I have to ask you this again Bernardo but it is somewhat different to what I understood from our previous talk. It mentions guidelines and rules. One of the rules states that there are caps on levels of office according to qualifications and character, but also definite time commitment. For example, part-time outside employment would disqualify even the best candidate from becoming Director of the sect. This puzzles me because you indicated that Constantin Boniek had already expressed interest in elevation to such a level of distinction, via his secret association with Antonio Salina. How do you explain that?”
Bernardo had been locked away and like the rest of the populous, knew nothing of the capture of Boniek. He pondered what Manuel had said and concluded that this was verification of him having copied his father’s papers. He fell for the deception, this time completely. He decided to twist his story rather than stick to it or change it. “That is true Manuel, but when I indicated that Boniek may be promoted by your father, I am sure I implied that it was dependent on Drone Day being successful. Your father had died, a new leader was required. So I can only assume that Boniek was a candidate to take up full-time status once that was achieved. He was definitely one of the nominees and was confident when we last spoke.” Pierze pulled Manuel out by instructing him through his earpiece.
“Excellent work Manuel, now Duarte will join me with Boniek again. This could be checkmate.”
When this alternate spin was offered to Boniek he laughed out loud. “You don’t get it do you? Who do you think was running this operation for the last few years? I thought you had got past the façade of Antonio Salina. The guy was a puppet. His indiscretions were scandalous and manifold. He was a tolerated liability. It was already in the master plan for him to die unexpectedly. Don’t you see what I am saying?”
Duarte intervened. He asked Pierze to step outside, and they re-joined Manuel. “As I’m the only one who has not directly interviewed Bernardo, or even met him until today, I do see what Boniek is trying to tell us without breaking the cult rules. The only one who breaks the rules is the one who makes them. Bernardo is your man.” It took a few seconds before it clicked then it was obvious. Bernardo was always protesting he merely looked the other way, but knew of details that he should not have. It also occurred to Duarte, that he may have ordered the death of Antonio Salina.
All three of them confronted Bernardo, told him the game was up, and why. They then wheeled in Boniek, who cast an expression of intense disgust at the hypocritical, cowardly individual to whom he had previously given so much respect. Bernardo decided not to utter another word. He wanted legal representation of his own choice. Unknown to the others Boniek had appropriated a knife from his breakfast platter. As they were both being ushered to the cells he sank it up to the hilt as it penetrated Bernardo’s heart. “You deserve a traitor’s death but we don’t always get what we deserve.” Boniek was led away. He accepted his fate and declined to reveal any names.
*
Verdasco and Gretz personally accompanied Prometheus back from the Moon and ensured he would receive substantial compensation and an attractive offer to continue with SACRED under a revised setup, participation in which would be offered to Orient.
*
Manuel resumed his interests in Londonis and Duarte was a constant presence at his son’s academy sessions. He still consulted for Pierze, who always contemplated how first impressions could be wrong, when he watched Duarte leave his office. They may never be friends, but had enormous respect for one another.
*
When Constantin Boniek stood to receive sentence, he was first asked if he had anything to say. He had, at the outset of the trial, decided on defending himself, and then refused to utter a single word during cross-examination. He now spoke for the one and only time. “You have avoided coming under Sidonia rule this time. There will be another time. You don’t have the means to prevent the brotherhood from reforming. In fact your new open relationship with Orient will facilitate this. I am proud of what I tried to achieve with my fellow members. That is why I am happy to have eliminated the pathetic previous leader. I will be revered for this, and I will enjoy it, as your laws prevent you from giving me the death sentence. That is your weakness. I would have embraced it. The neurogenic technology is, like the lunar colony, but a first step toward a new future.”
Part Two: Divine Extinction
Prologue
Osvaldo Martinez had served only four years of his life sentence. He had unofficially changed his name. Following his incarceration in Hell’s Island high security prison, the Iberian government had dramatically increased their vigilance and investment in Central Security activity. The apartheid world of Iberia and Orient had thawed slightly since they had cooperated in bringing down a conspiracy which would have altered life on Earth forever. The narrow escape, literally by a few days, from the penetration of the SACRED communication system, had illustrated their Achilles’ heel, or at least one of them. SACRED was the acronym for the corporation which had provided the salvation of the Iberian Republic, when the internet collapsed in 2016. It consisted of the space elevator, a girdle of gargantuan satellites around the planet, and a lunar distribution point which had been thought to be impregnable. Signal Amplification, Correction,
Revision, Encryption and Distribution were operated through membership and licence of guaranteed secure stations belonging to the corporation. Business organisations such as banks had inbuilt hardware, whereas individuals used booths, which were run by SACRED personnel. All users had to be registered with DNA, facial vectors and retinal scans before they could participate. The input side was based on Earth and covered the first four steps. The Encryption and Distribution were executed from the Moon and were thus supposed to be absolutely secure. It quickly replaced the internet and pretty much decimated the personal computer market.
Such was the confidence given by this remarkable achievement that the internet collapse didn’t cause the anticipated slide to dystopian society. The initial deaths of protesters against this closed ‘big brother’ system were considered to be random. When links were eventually established and proven, the deaths increased almost exponentially. Central Security, with the help of the Londonis police precinct, and an independent investigative reporter, exposed an agenda to systematically control the minds of the population. This was targeted initially at the bottom of society’s pyramid in order to subvert the masses, and then use that momentum to scale the ladder of control to law and order chain of command, and finally government hierarchy. It was the ‘brainchild’ of a right wing cult. Isolation of the neurogenic indoctrination within SACRED, and elimination of the head of the cult had prevented Armageddon this time, however most of the enlisted members were still at large, but not Osvaldo Martinez. He had not disclosed the names of any cult members despite an opportunity to plea bargain for leniency if he cooperated. This effectively meant that the task of running these people to ground had to begin all over again, in order to prevent the cult agenda from re-surfacing.
Ricardo Pierze, head of Central Security of Iberia, wanted to retain as much of the original team which thwarted the plot, as possible. Manuel Salina’s presence was felt to be crucial. Manuel was the elder son of Antonio Salina, who was Pierze’s predecessor and one of the most senior cult members. His exposure had led to his death, and the police suspected he was murdered by the brotherhood, despite it being made to look like suicide. Manuel had despised his father for many reasons. He had moved to Uruguay and worked as an investigative journalist until his younger brother Konrad, one of the key protestors against SACRED, committed suicide. Manuel was then approached by one of the owners of the SACRED organisation, to conduct an investigation into all such previous deaths, alleged to be associated with the very same corporation. This began in Londonis, with his brother’s case, and he teamed up with Maxi Duarte and Elle Butragueno, both from the police precinct. They subsequently persuaded Pierze to work with them, and this unlikely alliance became the instrument of exposing the cult and its agenda of global mind control of the population. Manuel was the lynchpin in the strategy, via the improbable participation in SACRED’s virtual reality programme – Futureworld. Konrad had pleaded with him to adopt his character after his death, to truly convince Manuel that his outrageous claims of manipulation of the mind were not only possible, but actually happening. This became the pivotal breakthrough in the investigation.