Chapter 17 – Unpleasant Truth
Grand Stone Ridge
Ray arrives at George's place and is greeted by his childhood friend personally at the door. They immediately get down to business.
“Gracy should be joining us soon,” Ray says.
“Oh? Then I'll leave the front door unlocked,” George says and invites Ray into his office.
“Here is the chip.”
George wastes no time and transmits the data into the unit at his desk. He stares at it for a moment then types some command. “It should not be hard,” George explains, then continued working on the computer.
Ray sits there and wishes there were something he could do to help. He sees that George uses a keyboard pad to project the layout to. While a physical keyboard is no longer necessary, a keyboard pad similar to a mouse pad is used by people to provide more cushion on the surface that they type on. Some people prefer the retro look and buy the newly made but old technology keyboard, a physical spring keyboard.
“Help yourself to drinks or anything in the kitchen,” George offers.
“I am OK for now.”
A few more minutes and George stops typing. “I think I got it.” They hear the front door open.
“That must be Gracy,” Ray says.
“Doesn't she knock?” George asks, smiling.
“I am sorry she must be anxious to see what we have.”
“And here it is.” The wall behind Ray lights up. It is a video of a video conference between Barb and another person. George shuts the blind on his office to shut off the sunlight from blurring the images on the wall.
“Probably not what you are looking for. Let me forward it a bit.” George says.
And Morris face appears. Gracy walks in and said hi. Ray responds and his focus returns to the wall. After the video ends. Everyone is quiet.
“That is quite a revelation. And they think it is worth taking someone's life for this? I am lost for words,” Ray says and he turns to George.
“Do you know who that person is?”
George hesitates before saying, “It is Morris Stark. One of the most influential men in the world. You might not have seen him or heard of him, but he works for the conglomerate.”
“There's our evidence. Call the police!” Ray exclaims.
“No Ray, you can't,” Gracy speaks up.
“Why not?” Ray turns to Gracy with a puzzled look.
“Because he is our man.” Gracy quickly raises her hand and fires a shot hitting his arm, and three shots into Ray's stomach. Blood flows out of Ray's stomach and he feels dizzy and falls to the floor. The first shot sounds hollow but the two shots that follows are loud.
George just stands there motionless, looking at Ray's motionless body in a pool of blood. Gracy turns her gun on him which changes his facial expression from a blank stare into disbelief. Gracy then drops her gun to her side and starts laughing.
“What the hell? You have the nerve to joke around. Did I not tell you to get rid of him as soon as he got anything on us?”
“Well, are you happy now?”
“No, I am not happy that you let him bring that video into my house. And you brought him here and killed him in my office! And you think I will be grateful?”
“No I did not think you will be grateful. Are you sad to lose your childhood friend?”
“No, anyone who stands in my way deserves to be got rid of permanently.”
“Then you might want to get rid of me soon,” Gracy says, raising her gun and firing at George. But it was not the same bullet and noise as when she fired at Ray. Only quick needles into several parts of George's body. A targeted anaesthesia to paralyze George's legs, hands and his vocal cords. It is remotely similar to local anaesthesia. George loses mobility in his arms and legs as well as his vocal cords and so he collapses into his chair.
Gracy quickly pulls in a trolley and puts Ray in it. She pushes him out and carries him to her car, which has driven itself to the front door just as she opens the door.
“Sorry I have to do this,” Gracy apologizes as her car speeds away. Ray is still paralyzed but he can hear everything.
“George sent me to spy on you. He profiled you and knows the type of woman that you like. George thought I would do anything for money which is how he usually controls people. I played my part knowing it is a great opportunity to get the man's trust. I did not go to the FBI or the police since I know his influence spans worldwide. Who knew that I would have fallen in love with you at the same time.” Gracy looks at her watch.
“George would have seen everything. Like you are able to hear me now. He won't hesitate to kill us now after what we found out. You have seen the real George. I did not think there is a need to shoot you to get it out of George but that have been my plan C. My plan A is to have his righteous son Cole put a bug on his unit. I talked him into it and told him about his dad's extracurricular activities. I know he would be outraged. Since George is very careful and always keeps his office locked, Cole had to find a right time to strike. And Cole found an opportunity today when George got home and seemed to be tired. Not expecting anyone home, he left his unit at his bedroom's desk. Cole got a few minutes to work on and almost got caught when he banged into a table in George's bedroom. I thought once all revelations unfold, you would be convinced that George is not who you think he is. He is not your nice childhood friend. I struggle to think of ways to convince you since you are full of praise for him. You are always so forgiving and tend to miss the dark side of man.” Ray wants to move and scream but can't. Instead, he starts breathing fast as his chest rise up and down in quick succession.
“By the way, don't worry about all the blood. My first shot targeted your arm and is a form of anaesthetic to make you appear dead but able to hear everything. The other three are soft gel bullet that burst on impact spreading blood on your stomach. The electronics in the gun helps create sound of a real gun fire. If we are going to convince George, it has to be believable. Only then can I get him to talk frankly if he thinks you are already dead. Although if I have not arrived, he might have killed you himself.”
Ray starts to come around. He slowly moves his arm and leg and then coughs out loud to test his voice. Ray does not know if he should yell and scream at Gracy. His breathing has not slowed down and he has a pained look. He looks at Gracy and does not know what to make of her. He decides to forgive her and just be glad that at least he still has her. A few minutes ago, he thought two of the person that he trusted the most had betrayed him. It turns out in a way, it is only one.
“I thought I was going to die from heart attack when I heard both of you betraying me.” Ray says sombrely.
“I am sorry. I really am. You did not give me much time to come up with a better plan. I doubt you would have believed me if I just told you right there and then that George is an evil man and you should not go see him.”
Ray feels as weak as if he had not eaten for weeks.
“I have to go back,” Ray says.
“What?!” Gracy sounds surprised.
“I need to see him face to face and find out why he is doing this. This is our chance to play him also,” Ray says, not exactly sure how he could play George. But he knows he has to clear things up and find out about the “why's?”
Gracy is afraid that Ray might insist on staying even after the fact about George is known. That is why she asks him to go ahead so that she can grab some items that might come in handy. She thinks dragging Ray out of there has taken care of that concern.
“I don't think you will ever rest if you don't go back to see George. Oh well.” Gracy sighs and shakes her head then punches a command on the windshield display to drive the car back to George's place.
Chapter 18 – Sympathy for the Devil
Grand Stone Ridge
As Ray walks into the room, George rises from his chair. They both pause like men about to engage in a shootout. Ray hesitates to use the gun Gracy gave him but George do
es not have such hesitation. He shoots a tube with a rubber handle that ejects invisible electricity toward Ray. Ray upon seeing that the button has been pressed, tries to dock but not far enough as the electricity catches him, making him collapse to the floor. Fortunately, the device is set to stun mode by default. It would have taken extra time to switch it to lethal mode. George pulls Ray up and sits him down on the chair. He then proceeds to tie Ray up in the chair using metal chains.
“I am glad you could join me my friend,” George says.
George then proceeds to lock his office door. George goes behind his desk, sit down and turns the desk lamp on. It does not take Ray long to regain consciousness. Upon opening his eyes, he sees a dark room with only a desk lamp, which Ray thinks adds a demonic touch to George's face.
“So where is your lady friend?”
“She has more important business to attend to. On our way back she got a call that the hackers of the world are tearing down your pathetic attempt at world control.”
George starts laughing like a devil. “You think you can stop us? Then I have a pleasant surprise for all of you.”
George stands up and walks toward Ray. “You know what your problem is Ray. You are too trusting. You are too encumbered by compassion, love, empathy. Look at me. I don't give a damn.”
George smiles crookedly with an evil eye as he presses his face close to Ray.
“I appreciate it that you dropped by. Why don't you join me in my crusade. We are of the Aryan descent. Our race is pure. Why do you have to waste your time caring for the wretched creatures of this world. They are retarded and should just have been killed while they were in their mother's womb. Why waste time caring for weaklings who are unable to overcome being abused. Look at us, we are doing pretty well. This is a world of survival of the fittest.”
“You have a twisted perception of what is considered fit for this world,” Ray retorts.
“Really? Let me show you something. Those mobs want a revolution in Saudi and won't yield to our chosen military ruler.” George turns on the projector and turns Ray's chair to face the wall. The video shows violence breaking out. “Look at them, fighting and killing each other. Want to know the cause of that? Simple, I have our man at the Saudi police force dress in plain clothes. They started attacking Shiites and killing them yelling out insulting words for Shiites and praising Sunnis. Soon word spread that Sunnis attacked Shiites and fighting broke out. Do you see how easy it is to manipulate people to hate and kill? This is the world we are living in. Mobs of inferior races wanting a say in the government.”
“As long as there exists hateful evil men like you in power conspiring to sow hate, then yes, the world will be full of hate.”
George reacts with an incredulous and dismissive laugh. “Conspiring? I don't really have to conspire with anyone. Everyone is corruptible. You can corrupt them through wealth, power, ideologies. Promise them richness, make them feel like they belong to a powerful and influential circle, let them stake their position on left or right, thinking they are better than the other. All you need is to control a few men in power and the rest will follow. Even the man in power is not aware of our grander scheme. You think I have Eva Garcia because I believe in a Latina being a president. No, she and the black cardinal are just my tools to get support from the mob who likes to toil about morality. And my slaves like Eva Garcia and Kojo Thulani are happy to play the role, thinking they could become most powerful man and woman on the planet.”
“What makes you so full of hate George? Is it the fact that you were abused? The fact that you were bullied? You always acted so strong but in fact you have all this pent up anger. You have lost compassion and any sense of conscience. You pretend you are strong but you are not.”
“You!” George pointed at Ray. “You are lecturing me about being strong? Did you take care of any of your bullies? No!”
“Neither have you.”
“Hahahahahaha,” George laughs like a man about to go mad. “Actually I did. Remember Kayden?”
“Yes, what happened to him is beyond our control.”
“Hahahahaha. Wrong again! I hated that brat so much I made sure he could no longer torment us. I killed him and cut off his thing to fit with how our abuser often threatened us. I just have to say a few things to make you and Eldon connect it to him. Without my testimony and your continued cowardice, our abusers would still be roaming the street.”
Ray face turns pale.
“You are welcome,” George says.
“How could you!?” Ray says, moving his body violently trying to get out of the metal chains that bind him.
“What?! I was able to kill two birds with one stone. I expect at least some sort of appreciation from you.”
“Even the most vile beast is not as bad as you! What was your role in Eldon's brother's death?”
“Our cyberwarfare room told me about Cedric's cryptic phone call to Eldon before we interrupted his signal. He talked about Eldon's favorite hiding place when he was a kid. Do you remember when we were playing hide and seek at Eldon's place one time?”
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh,” Ray yells so loud it echoes through the room as he violently swings back and forth trying to get out of the chair.
George sighs. “You are a lost cause. The German philospher had it right. We need a a superstate ruled by superhumans from the most evolved race that is ours. That's why I planned the Ordo Tribus XI to create a threat and put fear in people's heart. It was easy to find a few disgruntled Arabs and make them think they were doing it for their slain leader, Osama. After the attack, it was easy to pass the Motherland Defence Initiative to increase control of the internet and control the flow of information. The Patriot Act was merged into the MDI. We could then easily expunge anything or anyone that is not compatible or detrimental to our goal. I coaxed leaders to create a common currency that is traceable. Anyone who opposes us can be readily disposed of or we can make their lives difficult. Guys like Timothy McVeigh and Anders Breivik are the ones who should be hailed as heroes. It is a pity that Nazis continue to be prosecuted in Germany. Look at Japan, the Nazi counterpart there are still worshiped at the shrine by some of their enlightened politicians. And they call them war criminals when they should be hailed. Every now and then you have leaders who think they are righteous. Politicians like President Dean Davis and his son are the ones who need to be eliminated. They are traitors to our race.”
“No! It is you who need to be eliminated!” Ray says staring at George.
“Good luck with that. By the way, we have successfully launched a hostile takeover against the company who holds the patent to the latest quantum computing. Our espionage effort revealed they have perfected the technology. Once we get the technology and keep it out of the public's hand and keep them unaware, we can break all encrypted files, encrypted traffic and passwords within minutes. Imagine what we can do. Just think Ray, if you join us there is nothing that we cannot achieve.”
“Over my dead body.”
“Really? You don't even have to worry about death from now on. Well, with regards to cancer at least. We have obtained the cure for cancer. But we plan to use it for a new spiritual movement. Aeon, the New Era Spiritual Union!” George says, waving his hand, touching an imaginary sign in front of him. “We can get a lot of followers if we start curing people from cancer. A miracle.” George grins with both palms out as in prayer. “We can use amazing new technologies that are not publicly known to create fake miracles to get people to worship us.”
“I would normally say it is never too late to get some help but I am not sure that applies to you.”
George picks out an old binder from his bookshelf. “Here is one of my priced collection. A binder with accounts of a meeting between the Germans around the time of the signing of the treaty to end World War I. It was hosted by a General Erich Hintze. This is the book that led to my enlightenment. Everything makes sense after this. And it gave me the idea to use November 11 2011 and the Ordo Tribux XI
.”
Ray's stomach churns, unable to grasp the magnitude of George's crimes and how someone could be this evil and crazy.
“I tried to make you see the light Ray. We could have used your talent. You see, we have a big experiment on genes and eugenics, more advance than what World War II's Germany was able to accomplish. We had embarked on this eugenics experiment in order to clean our planet of inferior humans and races. We did an experiment in South Africa recently through my firm World Food Inc. It is still a challenge to narrow down DNA for a specific race. It is proving harder that I thought. There are no race genes. I had to stop our experiment when the toxins started to affect our own race.”
“That's because we all belong to the same species. We might have different traits, but we are all of the same species. But you are obviously of a different kind never before seen on earth. Maybe there are likes of you in hell.”
“Hell, heaven, morality are all for the feeble minded. They should all be cleansed. I think Alberta, Canada should not have abolished their eugenics act of mid 1900s. Our world would have been a better place.”
“Bastard! Tell that to the abused child who was deemed a moron after scoring less than 70 on an IQ test and subjected to eugenics. In her adult years she got an IQ score of 89 but her sterilization was already permanent. That is what happens when demented minds like you gain power.”
“I love to see such anger in you. Don't you feel disgusted looking at those races infested with criminals. Those lower races who are stuck in eternal poverty? They are inherently weaker.”
“Maybe they are stuck in poverty because you and your greedy friends continue to plunder their resources for your own profit. You stuck them with corrupt and atrocious politicians who would do your bidding. You enslaved them and discriminated against them and you wonder why they are generally poorer? I can see logic is not your best suit. Or as Professor Roy Merritt has written in his book, you have a binary logic. The world is just black and white for you. Greed and hate blinds you from the sufferings of the world.”
George's office phone starts ringing. He answers on speaker phone. “Chief, check the internet. Someone has posted all your personal logs online!” A voice who sounds like Morris says frantically.
With a panicked look, George goes to his computer and sees all of his personal logs are displayed online in Usenet. He likes to keep tab of everyone to use as blackmail if they should choose to turn their back on him. But he would have never thought that would end up online for everyone to see.
“How?” Then he remembers that he recently left his unit on the bedroom desk thinking he would be out of shower right away. “Cole!” he yells. George’s face looks like he wants to kill someone and he would surely kill his own son without hesitation. “Prepare to activate the kill switch!” George yells the command to Morris. “I will see you soon. Get my jet ready” George then disconnects. George just sits there staring at the windows blinds.
“You know George. I always believed that people's behaviour is affected by their experience in life. I have sympathy for people who are sensitive and easy to resent because they have been bullied. People who are depressed and irritated because they have had one too many traumatic experiences. People who fidget and twitch because unfortunate circumstances might have made them that way. People who are called dorks or are sometimes obnoxious and grouchy because something might be bothering them. People who gossip, are stuck-up, put people down, off-putting, overbearing, or quick to lay blame on others because some untoward incidents might have led them to have a chronic feeling of inadequacy. People who are quick to jump to conclusions and falsely accuse others, for injustice done to them might have caused them to be sceptical and cynical.”
George sits there expressionless.
“I have sympathy for people who are quarrelsome and short tempered for they might have more than their fair share of trying times. People who are called retarded for they are born that way and although they might look and act differently, their hearts are often purer than people who are considered normal.”
George stands up.
“But for murderers like you and your greediness and hatred that cost lives, I can't find an ounce of sympathy because you have committed countless heinous crimes that no one with a hint of humanity left in them is capable of doing. You are insidious and a heartless wretched creature. You talk about rightful power and superiority but you are neither powerful nor superior. Your mind is so inferior that you fail to recognize your stupidity and the abyss that is waiting just few steps ahead of you. That is your rightful home for eternity.”
“I don't need your sympathy. But you are going to need one soon as this house is set to auto destruct. For the remaining seconds of your life I want you to witness the world going down.” George then turns on screen that is cycling through mosaic of various cameras around the world. Above it is a countdown timer. George then proceeds to open the blinds on the window. Sunlight pours in through a window that is surrounded by thick steel.
Suddenly George starts to react like he is being bitten by an invisible insect. There is a sound of a thud as George holds on to his neck. Then another one as he quickly holds his cheek. Then onto his rear and the back of his foot. Then the other side of his cheek with his body moving like he just been slapped. Soon a figure appears and it is Gracy as if she is an apparition slowly appearing with a paddle in her hand. George presses on his watch and something falls from the ceiling followed by a loud bang. Smoke fills the room. Ray feels his chair being bumped as someone runs out of the room. Ray hears the door close and the lock being engaged. It takes a few minutes before the room clears up and Ray can see Gracy getting up.
“We have to get out of here quick,” Gracy states the obvious. She quickly takes out a pipe. It is a pulse laser cutter with safety feature. It fires in succeeding pulses and checks the targeted surface before each millisecond pulse to make sure it is steel and not human flesh. Gracy points at Ray’s chains and it starts cutting one chain per 3 seconds. Gracy slows down at the last chain just to be safe. She quickly removes the chains. The countdown displays reads 5 seconds. Gracy throws a backpack at Ray and he quickly rummages through it. The countdown goes from 3 to 2 then the whole house blows up.
It continue to burn without sign of Ray and Gracy. A few more minutes pass before a dark figure emerges from the fire. The figure is covered in dark cloth with fire burning. As it moves away from the house engulfed in flames, the fire on the dark clothes starts to disperse like it is afraid of the cloth. Then the dark cloth comes off revealing Ray and Gracy inside. Ray has an injury and some blood on his feet and arm. The fire repelling cloth saved both of them. Ray has to cover Gracy from the force of the explosion and both of them dock down and as close to the thick office wall as possible. This has saved both their lives.
Gracy calls up her car and they both hop in.
“Hope I did not take too long. You told me not to come out until you said so and you never asked me to. But when the windows opened and lights poured in, I knew I only had a few seconds left before my invisible shield would reveal me.” Gracy says.
“I can't believe it works. The fact that his office was dark helped I guess. But it is far better than when you first showed it to me during our tour of your company's plant in Buffalo. George did not know what hit him.” Ray and Gracy start laughing. They still have so many things ahead of them. But they allow themselves some laughter after what has been a taxing day.
“I still have a hard time believing that is the real George. I can't believe how easily a man like him can manipulate people in government through greed and power. What if there are more people who conspire to plunder the world for their own gain and advance their twisted agenda?” Ray asks.
“There is no need to fret about a possible conspiracy, it is just wasted energy. We should instead focus our energy on fighting injustices and attempt to water down the century old safeguard of a free society, such as respect for civil liberties and privacy.
As long as we continue to work toward more openness and increase people's input in the government, then it will be harder for anyone with malicious intent to infiltrate our government and divide people into hateful acts. People have to learn not to get manipulated so easily. Wars are often started using false pretense to rile up people into hateful rage.”
“Indeed. And they could kill people who stand up against them but they cannot possibly kill all conscientious and good people in this world. These vile creatures can victimize an unsuspecting and trusting people for a short time, but the moment they start their evil act, their days are numbered.”