Guardian Program Ch. 08

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Guardian Program Ch 08

A novel by R.C.PeterGabriel, all rights reserved.

As one door closed, another opened. This one was in Virginia and was for the office of the CMO, the handler for William Sims of the CIA. Mr. Sims was among the twelve Guardian Program Readers, until two hours prior.

An armed courier handed over an 'Eyes Only' file containing a redacted copy of his program employment contract, his autopsy report, and a DVD.

The Collections Management Officer needed less than thirty minutes to realize he needed to hand carry these files to the office of the CIA's director, Rick Deckard Himself.

"Director Deckard, I am Allen McKinney. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice."

Mr. McKinney, I do hope you have an explanation for this."

"Yes Sir, it involves the Guardian Program."

"Have a seat," was the Director's immediate response, while indicating a small conference table. At the same time, he reached under the edge of his desk and pressed a button, effectively sealing the room and jamming all known wavelengths. Rising, he then joined Mr. McKinney at the table. "What do you have for me?"

"To begin with Sir, I've only looked over a small portion of the information I was given, but knew you needed to be made aware ASAP." He opened the envelope and pulled out its contents. "This contract was on the top of the other documents, so I started reading it first." He slid it in front of the director and aligned it to the other man's perspective.

The Director began turning pages of the ninety-four-page contract. His eyebrows rose slightly as he continued to turn page after page, except for headings, the entire contract seemed to be redacted. "I have read the original, is there a reason for looking at blacked-out pages?"

"Yes Sir, I believe this is an explanation as to why our Guardian Program member has been removed from his post. Page sixty-nine is the only page with usable text, and seems quite pertinent."

The Director flipped to the indicated page. "Sims is dead? He was only confirmed yesterday morning." He mentally questioned the situation but started reading.

Section H 17.3: Penalty for violation of security protocol.

A. Forfeiture of life.

A1. To be carried out immediately, unless the safety of non-Guardian Program personnel would be compromised by the forfeiture of life, excepting if the security protocol violation was indicated in Section H 1.1 thru Section H 1.31: indoctrination of non-guardian Program personnel, in which case forfeiture of life will proceed without concern for non-Guardian Program personnel safety (see Section H 17.8)

A2. In the event, it is indicated, that the safety of non-guardian Program personnel is compromised secondary to the forfeiture of life, said forfeiture will take place immediately upon the safety of non-Guardian Program personnel no longer being compromised by said forfeiture.

B. Forfeiture of all funds granted as remuneration for participation in the Guardian Program within the prior three-hundred sixty-six days, i.e.: one million USD.

B1. In the event, that not all funds are available for return: Forfeiture of company-paid life insurance policy, and or up to and including all personal assets.

C. Return of all program properties.

The Director, having finished reading the short excerpt of the contract slid it aside. "I take it Sims violated security protocol."

"Honestly Sir, I haven't determined that as of yet. One of the reasons I felt you needed to see this information so quickly is the autopsy report." Mr. McKinney slid the report across the table and aligned it as before.

"Please note the time of death. That time is just under two hours from the time I signed for these documents. I of course assumed it to be a fabrication needed for some kind of cover-up, but I kept reading. There is information in the report that could only have been obtained from an autopsy, or from beyond extensive research. For example, information not in his personnel file, like the fact that he broke his wrist at age ten. Sims had told me about it over drinks one night. And, that he had been vaccinated against diseases common to South Africa, but had never been. He was about to visit distant relatives there when he was recruited. He has never been anywhere but the US and Japan."

"Both pieces of information could have been obtained from old medical reports," stated the Director.

"Keep reading. The autopsy includes stomach contents and a complete toxicology report, as well as over fifty negative findings, and several positives for ailments, including 'recently acquired HIV'. A normal autopsy would not have gone into such detail without family or court requests. All of these findings would be too easily confirmed or debunked to be part of a false report. It's as if Smith is sending us a message.

"So, I called Las Vegas PD. Sims's body was found in his car after it had hit a light pole near his program facility. Witnesses and 911 calls put the crash within five minutes of the time of death listed on the autopsy report. Which, is another thing. I've never seen an autopsy for an out-of-hospital death that listed the T.O.D. as an exact time. It has always been a range of time."

"The cause of death is listed as 'dissecting aortic aneurysm'. Did Sims have a history of cardiovascular illness?"

"None and his cholesterol levels have all been noted in the normal range on all of his physicals."

"It lists non-lethal perimortem bruising on his forehead, consistent with striking his head on the steering wheel of a car. How could Smith manage that one?"

"I'm not sure but I believe this will help." McKinney slid the last item from the file over to the Director. "I only watched the first five minutes of this, but quite frankly, it scared the shit out of me."

Deckard's eyes met McKinney's, and when he showed no signs of being embarrassed by the comment, he proceeded. "Well, then I guess we should watch all of it, and see if we can get some answers."

Pressing a button on a console in the center of the table caused a large flat screen to descend from the ceiling near the end of the table. Opening the CD's case, he then placed its contents into the drive on the same console, while Auto-play activated the screen.

The scene opened with Sims asleep on his back, mouth open and snoring softly his right arm out to the side with his hand trapped under the body of the woman sleeping face down next to him. He seemed to be groping her breast, even as he slept. He appeared nude, as did the woman. A sheet covered the lower bodies of both parties.

"Smith put a camera in Sim's bedroom?" asked the Director.

"I thought so too, at first Sir. Just keep watching."

They watched for just under a minute before Sims awoke and promptly pulled his hand out from under the woman before swatting her hard on the ass.

"Hey!" she yelled. "I told you I'm not into that!" while rolling over and exposing her obviously enhanced 36DDDs.

Sims just laughed and rolled out of bed pulling the sheet off his companion as he did. "For a thousand a night, you should be into anything I ask for," he reminded her, as he admired the intricately detailed tattoo of Cupid on her left hip shooting an arrow at her pubic hair, which had been trimmed into the shape of a heart.

"Speaking of which, your night is over," stated the hooker. "Leave the money on the nightstand and get out. I have another client coming in a few hours and I need to change the sheets."

She rolled out of bed, went to the dresser, and retrieved a thong. She turned her back on Sims and started putting it on.

"Smith managed to bug a hooker's room?" asked the Director.

"No." replied McKinney, "Wait for it. The scary part is coming."

Sims admired the view for a few seconds and then turned heading to the bathroom. The Director watched as Sims walked in and started to urinate in the toilet, but then purposely turned and peed down the side of the vanity, soaking the toilet paper and carpet in the process.

McKinney was watching the Director's face as it turned from passive interest to disgust at Sims' behavior. Then the moment of recognition came, the director's eyes went wide, his face went white, and he grabbed the edge of the desk to steady himself. McKinney reached over and hit the pause.

"I stopped watching at this point and came straight to you."

Deckard sat dumbfounded for several minutes, as he stared stunned at the unmoving scene on the screen, then slowly turned his gaze to McKinney and their eyes met. "I have been playing this game for more than a few days now, McKinney. If this is some sort of a joke, it is not funny."

"No Sir, to my knowledge this is not a joke."

"The implications of what is on this disk are beyond imagination. If this is real, Smith has technology ... I can only guess at. The US is at least twenty to a hundred years behind him!"

"I couldn't even guess, Sir." Stated McKinney.

They sat alternately staring at each other and the screen for several minutes, then the Director hit play. "We need to see what else he has to show us."

They watched as Sims exited the bathroom and walked over to the chair where his clothes were piled in a heap. This time neither man was as shocked as the camera angle changed with the motion of Sims, following him like he was a video game character.

The Director reached over to a touchpad and using his finger created a mouse pointer, which he then directed to the bottom corner of the screen. As the pointer moved over a time window, it expanded to a readable size. "Date and time stamp. This is less than an hour before he died." He left the pointer where it was so that they could continue to read it as the video progressed.

Sims started getting dressed while the hooker finished. The two agents watched as she pulled a 9mm Beretta Px4 out of her panty drawer and held it behind her back. She watched Sims' back while he pulled up his pants without putting on his underwear. "You forget something ... John?"

Sims laughed, and slipped his shirt on without buttoning it, then reached down and picked up his underwear. He pulled open the drawer on the nightstand and dropped them in. He didn't bother to close the drawer. "Thought I'd leave you a token of my love," he stated while laughing at his own joke.

"You truly are a pig, John," she informed him, then waited for him to put on his shoes. When he was done and started to stand back up, there was an audible click as she pulled her gun from behind her back and leveled it at Sims. "I was referring to the one thousand dollars you owe me."

Sims turned around as if he had a gun drawn on him several times a day, and calmly stated, "Don't get your panties in a bunch, Sweet Thing." He reached into his front pocket and pulled out a money clip. He removed a sizeable stack of one-hundred-dollar bills and started counting them out and tossing each one onto the middle of the bed as he did. "Better?" he asked as the last bill hit the sheet.

"Yes, now get out," she replied while lowering her gun but didn't put it away and leaned over and began collecting her money.

She should have paid better attention as Sims returned his money clip to his back pocket, instead of the front. His hand came back out with a Walther PPK. She never even heard the shot as a hole opened exactly where the bridge of her nose used to be.

"No one pulls a gun on me bitch," stated Sims as he watched her fall forward and bounce on the bed face first before sliding onto the floor. "You can keep the cash though, Charon might be asking for more than a dollar these days."

He picked up his suit jacket and walked back into the bathroom, where he buttoned his shirt, tucked it in, and put on the jacket. Retrieving his tie from the pocket, he tied a perfect Windsor knot, then used the now-deceased hooker's hairbrush to smooth his hair. Lastly, he moved his gun into the left breast pocket of his jacket.

The perspective of the video continued to follow Sims, as he calmly left the girl's house, changing angles now and then to avoid any other people's faces. Sims strolled down the street for a few houses and got into an Aston Martin DB9. He opened and reached into the center console, retrieved a pair of leather driving gloves, and slipped them on. Then reached back in and pulled out a pair of aviator sunglasses, slipping those on as well.

"He thinks he's Bond or something," stated McKinney. "Hookers, a Walther PPK, an Austin Martin ... Looks like we know what he was spending his million on."

"Bond never paid for a hooker, McKinney, or urinate on a wall for that matter. The girl had him pegged, he was nothing but a pig."

"Good point, Sir."

Sims sped off through the outskirts of Las Vegas until after winding his way past several affluent condominiums, he pulled into the underground parking of the building that housed the Guardian Program's CIA file reading room. He parked in his reserved space and walked the short ten feet to the elevator marked 'private -- penthouse only', used his key, and stepped in. Inside he pressed the up button, and moments later stepped into the twentieth-floor's only apartment. Making his way to the wet bar he poured cognac neat into a highball glass and toasted his view of the strip from five miles away, slammed the drink in one gulp, and sighed. "I'm going to be very happy here," he stated out loud. "But, I guess I should find out what this whole thing is about."

William Sims placed his aviator glasses on the bar but neglected to remove his gloves as he made his way back into the elevator and held the down button in, as he pulled the emergency stop button out. The car descended six floors past the garage level and then slowed to a stop. He stepped into a small well-lit room, with a single door opposite him. Centered in the door slightly above waist height was a keyboard with a small display above it. He stepped across the space and began typing in his password. The moment he began, a duel countdown timer on the display started ticking off the seconds. One started at thirty seconds, the second at two minutes. After typing his password in the third time the door buzzed, and swung open. Stepping through, He noted dim lighting illuminating a twenty-foot corridor, terminating in another door. Sims proceeded down the hall. As he passed the five-foot mark, the illumination increased many times over, leaving him shielding his eyes and squinting. He also heard the door behind him click shut and a computerized voice began speaking.

"Lethal countermeasures have been invoked. You now have twenty seconds to identify yourself." A high-pitched beeping began counting down the remaining seconds.

A panel slid open beside the door at the far side of the corridor but was unseen as Sims shouted "Fuck!" into the air, then turned and lunged for the exit and spent the next several seconds trying to open the sealed door. He then ran to the other end and looked at the panel. Finally, he recognized that it was a palm reader and slipped his hands down on the panel before realizing he was still wearing his driving gloves. A light began moving down the panel and he started to tug his gloves off.

Once the light reached the bottom of the screen the voice stated, "Identification negative. You now have seven seconds to identify. Please reattempt... five, four." Sims managed to yank his last remaining finger from the glove and slapped his hands down on the panel again as the countdown reached two.

Deckard and McKinney watched as the light started to move down the scanner again, but knew it wouldn't be in time. "... One, identification negative."

Sims' eyes flew open and his face contorted in pain, before he looked down at his chest, he fell forward striking his forehead on the edge of the keyboard on his way down.

"Sweet Jesus!" exclaimed McKinney, who then fell silent and gaped along with the Director. The viewpoint shifted slightly two minutes and twenty seconds after Sims hit the floor, allowing the entry door to be seen along with Sims' body.

The door opened and a group of six men could be seen wearing full urban combat gear. Two stood guard, while four proceeded in. The two that lead the way covered the body with automatic assault rifles. One of the remaining men checked for a pulse, while the second took his wallet out of the left breast pocket of his jacket and replaced it with one that looked identical. The second man nodded to the first and they rolled the body over. He then took the money clip out of his back pocket and rolled the body again. The first man reached under Sims' arms and lifted him, seemingly without effort to a semi-standing position. The second man leaned his shoulder into the body's waist as it was draped over him.

The six men and one body moved to the elevator as a unit; two in front, one carrying the body, one covering the body, and two to the rear. The man covering the body touched his throat mic once, the elevator door opened, and the men moved inside as a unit. The elevator rose to the garage level without anyone touching the panel, but the door did not open.

The viewpoint of the video moved through the door into the garage and angled slightly to reveal a couple carrying grocery sacks to the main elevator a few feet away. The viewpoint then moved away from the wall and spun to allow sight of the couple, both elevators and Sims' car, but the doors of both elevators appeared transparent. The commando unit could be seen waiting in the private car, and the public car could be seen descending into position in the other shaft. The door to the public car opened and the couple stepped in.

The moment the door closed on the public car, the private car's door opened of its own accord. The commando unit moved into the garage, again as a singular group, but spread out to cover all angles. The man who had been covering the body opened Sims' car door with his own set of keys and got in, as the remaining men moved to the exit ramp. The driver moved the car to the exit and got out. The body was replaced in the driver seat, the window opened and the door closed. The man who had been carrying the body put the car in gear and walked slowly beside it a few feet then turned the wheel so that the car would make the corner onto the street, and pushed the body's right leg down. The car jumped forward and squealed out of the drive.

The video followed the car as it sideswiped a Buick on the opposite side of the street, which seemed to align Sims' car without slowing it much at all. However, the grade of the street caused the car to veer more and more to the right until a block and a half later, it jumped the curb causing Sims's body to flop forward hitting the head against the steering wheel. A split second later the car hit a light pole at sixty-four miles per hour, causing the airbags to deploy and witnesses to start yelling for help.

The screen went black, except for the notification that security protocol requires the disk to be destroyed completely once removed from its current player or within two hours whichever comes first.

End of Ch 08.

I hope you enjoyed it and all my work.

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