"White Rabbit" chapter 4 by TdFmN

[esercito sconfitto]

Colonel Davis breathed a sigh of relief. She knew that if the subsequent conversation went badly, the assassin could change her mind in a heartbeat – less than a heartbeat. But the colonel had passed the first test.

-“All right, Colonel. You said I had “weaknesses” that I myself might not know about. Explain.”

--“Have you ever heard of epilepsy?”

-“That disease that causes convulsions if you see flashing lights? I thought it had been eradicated.”

--“It’s more complicated than that. Epilepsy was the name given to several related neurological disorders that, when triggered, could cause various symptoms including convulsions or seizures. There were various triggers, depending on the form of the disorder. And it has pretty much been eradicated, at least in the American Confederation and other advanced countries, by some of the medical breakthroughs that resulted from the Generation 1 and Generation 2 research – and similar programs in other countries, of course. It wasn’t until Generation 3 that Special Projects started engaging in research that was outlawed by the Nouvelle Paris Treaty on Genetic Manipulation. I told you that the “obedience protocols” programmed into you didn’t work. But there were, separately, “incapacitation protocols” as well, so that anyone who had the means to induce the appropriate stimulus could trigger an incapacitating response. If you and Hannah wouldn’t obey, they had the means to at least render you helpless.”

Sayaka shivered involuntarily. She had faced death before, when something had gone wrong with the mission and even with her superior capabilities she had only just managed to escape. But even in her most desperate fights she had found being on the edge of death exhilarating. This, if true, was scary in a profoundly different way.

-“Are you saying the Special Projects Team had the capability to induce convulsions in me, by applying the right stimulus? Then why…”

--“Why didn’t they do so when you killed them? What you call the Special Projects Team was actually Team 6 of a much larger effort involving both government and industrial elements – I’ve already mentioned Pricom. Though Team 6, especially Dr. Cabot, designed you and Hannah, part of the DNA was provided to them by “higher ups” and Team 6 may have inserted it without knowing its function. From Generation 3 onwards, but especially Generations 5 and 6, the work was highly compartmentalized so that no one, except maybe the Oversight Group itself, had the complete picture.”

-“So how do you know about this?”

--“I said earlier I was given access to “most” of the “Bright Angel” data. The files were redacted but the redaction was – amateurish. I was able to put together a partial picture from bits and pieces. That’s what I do. I believe there are 2, maybe 3 “incapacitation protocols” hidden in your genetic make-up.”

-“How do you know they will work any better than those “obedience protocols did?”

--“I don’t. Are you willing to test one of them? If what I think is going to happen… actually happens, it won’t cause any permanent harm. But it will be – unpleasant.”

-“Tell me more about them, first.”

--“I said the redactions from the relevant files were amateurish. But some were better than others. One of the protocols does indeed involve “flashing lights”. That was the most incompetently redacted file and I was able to piece together enough information to make… a “flashlight”… if you will that, if it works, should paralyze you if you see the beams.”

-“Flashing lights don’t cause me any problems at all.”

--“That’s because you were genetically programmed to be vulnerable only to a very specific visual stimulus; one that you would be extremely likely to encounter accidently but which your “handlers” would know about and could use to subdue you if necessary. The “flashlight” actually consists of two lights, one producing a near-monochromatic orange light at about 500 terahertz, pulsing at about 34 hertz and the other producing an ultraviolet at approximately 1000 terahertz, which you can see though I can’t, pulsing at 68 hertz. I assume the fact that both the frequency and pulse recurrence frequency of the ultraviolet are twice the frequencies for the orange light is related to the triggering mechanism in some way.”

-“And, science lesson aside, if I am exposed to both of these simultaneously I will be incapacitated?’

--“I believe so. Are you willing to try?”

Sayaka nodded, though she was feeling more nervous than she let on. She experienced a shock as the colonel reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a peculiar looking flashlight with two lenses. Dr. Cabot had had a light like that, though she had never turned it on in Sayaka’s presence. So Dr. Cabot at least had known about this vulnerability. But Sayaka had killed her when they were in bed together and the doctor had not had an opportunity to use it. Colonel Davis pointed the light at her and pushed the button…

The first thing the White Rabbit realized was that she was lying on the floor somewhere. Her arms and legs didn’t seem to be working properly. She was scared. Then she noticed a woman in uniform looking down at her with a concerned expression on her face. Who…? Colonel Davis! It was the colonel she had come to kill but who had somehow defeated her! But how…? She remembered! The flashlight! The dizziness followed by oblivion! Slowly her head cleared and her limbs started to respond. Colonel Davis helped her to her feet and… returned Sayaka’s pistol to her???

--“When you started convulsing I was afraid you might fire it accidently.”

-“H… how… how long was I out?”

--“Incapacitation occurred almost instantaneously – less than a second after I turned on the light. You started to recover about 10 or 12 seconds after I turned it off… I probably should have timed it but I presume you don’t particularly want to do that again so we can gather more data.”

Sayaka smiled – weakly.

-“Good guess. OK, you’ve made a believer out of me. How do I defend against it?”

--“I don’t know. Conceivably you could wear glasses that screened out those specific frequencies but let other frequencies through. That way you could still see and function. But it’s not clear whether that is the only combination of frequencies that would affect you. Based on the parts redacted from the file, there may be others.”

-“And you said there are one or maybe two more triggers.”

--“I’m fairly certain there’s some kind of sonic trigger. Some very specific and unusual combination of sounds that would trigger a similar reaction. And there – might – be a genetically induced chemical sensitivity, though that particular file was heavily redacted. But there may be some particular chemical, something you would be very unlikely to encounter unless your handlers exposed you to it. And remember, the people you are going after…”

-“I haven’t yet agreed that I am going after them. First of all, you’ve obviously been telling the truth about some things. But I don’t know whether you were telling the truth about Hannah’s death being deliberate. You could have made that part up to manipulate me. And secondly, you’ve told me enough to scare the hell out of me, and that’s not something I’m used to. Since this “Oversight Group” doesn’t know where I am, maybe I should just let sleeping dogs lie.”

--“But are you sure they don’t know how to find you?”

-“What? If they knew that they would have…”

--“Are you sure?”

Sayaka was silent.

--“You have extraordinary physical abilities, and you do have a certain tactical flair, but operationally you are careless. You leave too many clues without realizing it. I find it hard to believe that the Oversight Group wouldn’t have been able to track you down.”

-“Then why haven’t they?”

--“It’s possible that Dr. Fontaine, that Pricom behavioral psychologist I mentioned earlier, wanted to observe you “in the wild” after your escape – to gather more information about your behavior. She likes doing things like that. If I’m right, and I may not be, your attacking this fort and stealing the “Bright Angel” report might have them – rethinking – that decision.”

Damn!

-“But you’re just speculating.”

--“The speculations started after your last attack. Some things bothered me. You attacked and killed a two-woman patrol, using the uniform and ID from one of them to gain entry to the base. Outside the computer center you killed a captain who had access to that center and used her ID to get in. It was just coincidence that she was the company commander for the two you had killed earlier. You killed the three women on duty in the computer center and stole the “Bright Angel” file, killing your seventh victim, a sentry, as you exited the base. That all fit into a coherent pattern.”

-“And that Lieutenant… uhhh… Sinclair? She didn’t fit the pattern.”

--“Killed by a silenced .22 shot to the back of the head at point blank range. She was a supply officer who ran the Clothing and Individual Equipment Issue Facility. She had nothing to do with your target, nor was she anywhere where she might have plausibly been “collateral damage”. It might have been pure coincidence that she was murdered on the same day. But… I did some checking after her murder. She had a bad gambling problem, a lot of debts. I don’t know how she ever got a security clearance, unless… someone “higher up” was pulling some strings. Someone like General Gayle, IV Corps Commander and the only other member of Oversight Group, besides Dr. Fontaine, whom I can actually identify.”

The colonel gestured toward the nude corpse on the floor.

--“Major Jenkins was my S4. That’s the logistics staff officer in case you’re not familiar with the terminology. Lt. Sinclair was one of her subordinates. Jenkins was also a spy for General Gayle, who hasn’t trusted me ever since I recommended after my “Bright Angel” investigation that the Generations projects, except for Gen-1 and Gen-2 which were both clearly legal, be permanently shut down.”

-“So Jenkins killed Sinclair?”

--“Possibly, but it’s unlikely. I can’t come up with a motive, though that doesn’t prove there wasn’t one. It’s more likely that…”

Sayaka broke into a grin, a rather strained one considering the recent shocks of learning that Hannah’s death might have been a deliberate murder, and that Sayaka herself wasn’t nearly so invincible as she had thought.

-“I just figured something out that has been bothering ME. You knew about my pheromone system and had sex with Major Bitch here before you killed her. That’s why the pheromones aren’t affecting you!”

Was the colonel actually blushing?

--“May I continue? It’s more likely that whoever hired you was blackmailing Sinclair to get information about the base. They also had one of their own assassins infiltrate the base and kill the lieutenant right after the commotion caused by your bombs. The lieutenant wasn’t really “one of them” and they didn’t need her anymore.”

-“I don’t know who hired me. The customer goes through a “fixer” who then selects an agent – like me. The customer doesn’t know the agent’s real identity and the agent doesn’t know the real customer.”

--“That’s unfortunate. Is there a way you can find out? And whether they requested “White Rabbit” specifically?”

DAMN!!!

-“How did you know?”

--“We live in violent times. Skilled “agents”, as you called them, can make a lot of money. A bit more than two years ago. A new and particularly ruthless and efficient mercenary assassin appeared on the scene. Her abilities seemed almost superhuman. No one knew anything about her background but… a few of us had some information to support an educated guess. This deadly assassin, code named “White Rabbit”, started working just a couple of months after SP-G602 slaughtered the Gen-6 team and disappeared.”

…

--“I need hardly add that the Oversight Group has the same information. Are you still so confident they can’t find you?”

…

It seemed to the colonel that the ensuing seconds lasted forever.

-“All right. At least for now, I’m in. What happens next?”

--“One other thing you should know. After your attack last week, I started thinking back about the data I had been given. I wondered why the redaction of the file dealing with the visual portion of your “incapacitation protocols” had been so incompetent and amateurish. Was it really amateurish – or did someone want me to have that information? It's possible that someone – currently unknown – wants Special Projects and the Oversight Group destroyed, and arranged for me to “find” that data two years ago as part of some master plan to manipulate us both.”

…

DAMN!!!

-“So what does happen now?”

--“I assume you have planted explosives with a timer, like you did last time. How much time do we still have?”

Sayaka glanced at the clock on the wall of the colonel’s office.

-“About 53 minutes. Unless disturbed prematurely, the explosives will go off at 10:30 tonight.”

The assassin grinned.

-“That’s 2230, for you military types.”

--“Thank you. I was able to figure that out for myself. It’s enough time. I assume you also still have a charge left, which you intended to use for this office. Leave it with me. I’ll re-dress Major Jenkins and leave her at her desk. The story will be that the terrorists came back to kill me, but by luck I was at the bowling alley when you, or rather they, showed up. They killed everyone else in the office and planted the bomb. It won’t leave enough left of the major for anyone to be able to reconstruct how she really died. And you…”

-“The bowling alley? I wouldn’t have taken you for a bowler.”

--“I’m not. But I often visit the snack bar there when I want a late night snack.”

The colonel shrugged her shoulders.

--“They have a fantastic bacon cheeseburger, a lot better than the burgers at the Officer’s Club, frankly. Now, you need to leave before the bombs go off. I don’t know how many of my soldiers you killed so far tonight, but I am… requesting… that you leave by the same way you came in. Most of them may not be good soldiers, but I would still prefer you not kill any more of them. Most of them…”

She glanced at the major’s body.

--…don’t deserve to be killed.”

Leaving by the way she came in went against Sayaka’s instincts, but she had decided to trust the colonel for the time being. After all, the colonel could easily have killed the assassin when she was immobilized by that damn light.

-“All right. How do we make contact later? For reasons which are none of your business, I may need to kill my “fixer” in the near future. So I’ll have to get in touch with you rather than vice versa.”

--“After this second attack, I’ll doubtless be removed from command. I’m sure General Gayle would like to court martial me. But for months I’ve been sending “memoranda for record”, objecting to some of the procedures she has imposed, both on security grounds and on grounds of their being prejudicial to morale, good order, and discipline. She knows those memoranda would come out in any trial and torpedo her own career. She desperately wants a fourth star, and if those memoranda ever came out she wouldn’t even keep the three she has now. But if she just relieves me of command and transfers me to another location, she’ll be able to keep them quiet. So she’ll…”

-“You could just reveal them yourself, anyway.”

--“No. Absent a formal inquiry, that would be improper.”

Sayaka shook her head in amazement. This colonel had just murdered her own subordinate and was now conspiring with a mercenary assassin to sabotage a program which, though illegal, was supported by her own commander. But exposing the memoranda she had written, and which had been quite prescient, as it turned out, would… be improper?

--“So she’ll send me to some combat zone, to some assignment where I will have a good chance of being killed in action; the Republique de Quebec, perhaps, or garrisoning the Montana Corridor.”

The colonel sighed. She had hoped to leave Lt. Garcia out of this. But it didn’t look like it would be possible.

-“I’ll give you the phone number of a lieutenant who works in this office. In one week’s time, call her. By then I should know where the general is sending me. Tell her you’re an old friend of “Mickey”. That’s a nickname I’ve had since childhood. Don’t be specific about where you knew me from. That would just make it easier for anyone listening in to check up on you. Just say you’re an old friend. I’ll give her instructions for how you can find me. Now, we need a name for you.”

Sayaka grinned.

-“Blanche O’Hare,”

--“No. What are you thinking?”

-“What do you mean?”

--“I said earlier that you’re too careless operationally. “Blanche – a woman’s name derived from the French for “white”. And O’Hare? Hares are one of the three branches of the lagomorph order, along with pikas and rabbits.”

There was exasperation in the colonel’s voice.

--“You can’t do that sort of thing anymore, not against the Oversight Group. You can't be “Blanch O’Hare, or “Bunny Weiss”, or…”

She paused, as if trying to recall the expression.

--“or “Usage Shiroi” either.”

Sayaka wasn’t used to being dressed down like that. But she had to admit the colonel was right.

-“Fine. I’ll be Sa…kura.”

She had almost said “Sayaka” but at the last minute changed her mind. Only Hannah had ever called her “Sayaka”.

--“Sakura; a beautiful name. It means… uhh… cherry blossom, doesn’t it? In a week call this number...”

She handed Sayaka a scrap of paper.

--“… and tell Lt. Garcia you’re an old friend trying to get in touch with me. She’ll know what to do. In the meantime, try to find out who hired you steal Bright Angel and whether they requested “White Rabbit” specifically. Knowing that could be important to planning the next move.”

As Sayaka left the office, the colonel was calmly putting the uniform back on Major Jenkins’ corpse. Sayaka half wished she could stay and… help. She had stripped the uniforms from plenty of bodies in her day. Re-dressing one would be an… interesting… experience. But the colonel would doubtless have objected to Sayaka’s… methods.

-“Hello, Millie? I'm back from St. Louis. There’s something urgent I need to talk to you about!”

---“What is it, Blanche?”

Sayaka winced.

-“Someone is trying to kill me. And it has something to do with that file, “Bright Angel”, that you had me steal from the army base. I need to know who the customer is.”

---“What? Are you sure? Look, Blanche, you know I can’t betray the customer’s confidence like that! I’ll help you in any way I can but…”

-“Someone is gunning for me. And I’m going to find out who – one way or the other.”

The threatening tone was unmistakable, even over the phone. Threatening her own fixer was risky and Sayaka knew it. Even if Millicent Blandings didn’t know Sayaka’s real identity, she could endanger the assassin in other ways; hiring her for a contract and then “leaking” the information to the nominal target. Sayaka would be walking into a trap. But she knew of no other way to get the information.

---“I… I… alright.”

Millicent Blandings was clearly frightened, which was necessary but unfortunate. It might hasten the day Sayaka would need to kill her. And Sayaka didn’t want to be dependent on Colonel Davis as her only information source. Her instincts told her Colonel Davis would play it straight as long as they were still attacking the Oversight Group. But what about afterwards? If they did succeed in destroying that group (and survived), what were the colonel’s intentions for afterwards? Sayaka didn’t know, but she knew she needed an independent source of information. And that meant keeping Millicent alive if at all possible.

---“The customer was a company called Devereux Consultants.”

-“Never heard of them.”

Actually, that wasn’t true. When Sayaka had last checked Millicent’s computer files, she had noticed that Millicent had kept files on other missions that she suspected “White Rabbit” had performed, distinct from the ones Mille had given her. “Devereux Consultants” had been the client in one such mission, which White Rabbit hadn’t performed but Millicent had suspected she might have. It had been an industrial espionage mission against… against Pricom!!!”

---“Annette Devereux used to be the head of a “dirty tricks” unit within Pricom; bribery, blackmail, industrial espionage, that sort of thing. About a year ago, another Pricom executive got a big promotion that Devereux thought was going to her. Devereux quit, and took most of her team with her to form Devereux Consultants. They do the same sort of missions now, for anyone who cares to hire them. There’s been bad blood between Devereux and Pricom ever since. About three months ago Devereux Consultants staged an industrial espionage mission against Pricom. So far as I know, that’s the first time Devereux’s group ever actually sanctioned violence. The agent killed three Pricom Security, a secretary, and two computer techs; and got away clean with… some files. I don’t know what was in them but shortly thereafter they contacted me for the “Bright Angel” theft.

-“Did they request me specifically?”

---“Yes. Yes they did. I thought for a while you might have been the one who carried out the Pricom infiltration. Whoever she was, she was damned good. She killed six people and got away with the files and nobody knew about it for several hours – in a crowded office during work hours.”

A thought occurred to Sayaka.

-“Were they killed with a silenced .22?”

---“Yes! How did you know?”

Bingo!

-“I told you, someone’s trying to kill me, someone who uses a silenced .22. Since it wasn’t me, any ideas who it might have been?”

---“Well, about that time they started contracting with a mercenary outfit called “Pisces”, like the zodiac sign, for corporate security. But I don’t know whether the agent was a Pisces operative or someone else.”

-“What can you tell me about Pisces?”

---“Not much. They’ve been active in Europe for some years, but have never done much on this continent. Maybe Devereux wanted them precisely because no one here knows much about them.”

Another thought occurred to Sayaka.

-“Who was the Pricom executive who got the job that Devereux thought she was going to get?”

---“Someone named Catherine Fontaine. She’s some big expert in behavior modification.”

And Bingo was her name-o!

-“Thanks, Millie. I really appreciate it. I know this was hard for you, betraying their trust. I’m sorry I had to force you like that. I need to hire you now in your capacity as an information broker. Find out everything you can about Devereux, Pisces, and whoever their assassin is. I’ll pay double your usual price!”

That should mollify the greedy information broker for a while!

Two days later, Kathy Takagi returned from “Florida”. Tara, the Confederation Marine Corps veteran who was now Millicent Blanding’s chauffeur and bodyguard, picked her up at the airport. When they arrived at Blanding’s home, which could almost be considered a small mansion – the information broker and fixer made a very good living – Kathy was surprised by the presence of two women, both obviously acting as security and both of whom gave every appearance of being military veterans, she had never seen before. Ordinarily, three other women lived in Blanding’s home; Tara, the chauffeur/bodyguard; Beth, the cook and maid; and Alex, gardener, groundskeeper, and general “handywoman”. They all slept downstairs when Kathy was in town. One or more of them kept Millicent’s bed warm when Kathy was away.

---“Kathy, meet Janet Kolb and Sylvia Baron. They’re members of Tara’s old fire team. I’ve hired them to help with security.”

-“Millicent! Is something wrong? Are you in danger?”

---“No, of course not. I just thought it would be a good idea to increase security, that’s all. I do sometimes have to deal with… unsavory people, you know.”

Sayaka pretended to believe the obvious lie. It was pretty clear that Millicent had taken on extra security as a result of “White Rabbit’s” phone call. Fortunately, the broker gave no sign that she had any hint that Kathy Takagi and “White Rabbit” were the same person. Sayaka had been careful not to leave clues that might lead to that idea. But sooner or later Millicent would realize that Kathy had never once been with her while “White Rabbit” was carrying out a mission. Kathy was away on her photography assignments often enough that it wasn’t obviously suspicious. But now that she had decided she needed to keep Millie alive, at least for a while, to counterbalance the dangerously intelligent colonel, the issue was still worrisome. The germ of an idea was beginning to form in Sayaka’s mind, if she could figure out how to carry it off. The next morning, Sayaka went into town to do some shopping, and called her fixer.

-“Hello, Millie? I'm back from St. Louis. How have you been?”

---“It’s too soon Blanche. It will take me awhile to get the information you want. Devereux plays this game very well. She doesn’t leave easy clues.”

-“I understand. Actually, I was calling to see if you had a job for me.”

---“I do, actually! I hadn’t thought about you because I know you usually like to take a longer break between missions. But if you want it, it’s yours. The target is Danielle Chambers, a mob boss in Youngstown, Ohio. I’ll send you the details in the usual way.”

At the end of the week, Sayaka called the number the colonel had given her. The lieutenant on the other end told her that Colonel Davis had indeed been sent to the Montana Corridor, Fort Billings, to be precise. It was one of the most dangerous assignments in the Confederation Army. The Montana Corridor was the name given to slender lifeline that connected the eastern provinces of the American Confederation to its territories in Alaska, and their oil wells. And Fort Billings was the linchpin for holding the most vulnerable section of the corridor. As such, it was a target of frequent operations by both the Republique de Quebec and the Empire of Texas. The lieutenant, Garcia – that was her name, seemed rather distraught that the colonel was being sent there. But the colonel had several weeks of leave accumulated and didn’t need to report to Billings until November.

Perfect! Sayaka called the number that Lt. Garcia had given her.

-“Mickey! It’s me, Sakura! How long has it been? Do you have time to talk?”

--”Sakura! It’s great to hear from you. Yes, I can talk for a while.”

That was the prearranged signal that the line was clear and they could talk freely.

-“I’ve found out who hired me, and you were right. They did ask specifically for “White Rabbit”. Not only that, but the organization has a history with both Pricom and the “Dr. Fontaine” you mentioned.”

--“Well done, Sakura! Really excellent work,”

Sayaka was surprised and, truth to tell, a little embarrassed at how pleased she felt being praised by the colonel.

-“But I really need you to do me a big favor.”

--“What is it?”

-“I need you to pretend to be me, and assassinate a mob boss in Youngstown, Ohio.”

…

-“By the way… it’s unlikely, but… there’s a chance the thing is a set-up and you’ll be walking into a trap.”

As good as it had felt to be praised by Colonel Davis, the fact that, for once, the colonel was at a complete loss for words felt even better.