The ARK Pgs. 01-30

"Geez, a 4! no wonder you were running when you hit the door," Seb said, understanding the situation now, but the person who didn't understand was Smithy, his head was going from side to side trying to figure it out, it got the better of him.

"What's a number 4???". Then, almost instantly, with the precision of an elite ice-skating duo, Oli and Aidan turned to Smithy and pulled a number 4 on him simultaneously.

"Geez," said Smith. "Never get that woman angry enough to do a number 4 on you," Seb stated

Back at home later that day, everything was running like a well-oiled machine, which is how Samantha likes it. Sam could see through the kitchen window the men hanging up the last of the decorations, and the boys were cleaning up inside the house while she prepared the last of the food for the Barbeque. Then, finally, Sam saw the boys head out into the backyard to see their father, probably to bug him again about when they would be allowed to build the remote-control planes Seb and Zikmund had bought them and all the extras their father had bought for them also. 'I wonder what you heard that I'm not supposed to know,' she thought to herself with a giggle. 'The boys will make hostage negotiators one day.'

Samantha went into the lounge room to check the boy's cleaning effort. She grabbed the tv remote to switch it off; just before she hit the button, an announcement came on to stay tuned for a live news update from Detroit, USA, about the signing of a peace accord between Somalia and Ethiopia. Samantha was stunned, her finger frozen over the remote. Sam knew Mike and the team had done many missions into this region and said it was like hell on earth. But, frozen as Samantha was, her vocal cords worked just fine. She let out an ear-piercing, "MIIIIIKE!". The three special forces men came bursting in from the back yard, nearly smashing through the plate glass doors, trying to get inside the house at the same time to rescue Samantha from whatever made her scream like that. Home invaders, snake, or maybe a giant rat was in the place, as many possibilities ran through Mike's mind and the relevant action required to save the day in a matter of seconds. As they reached Samantha in the lounge room, she stood there, pointing to the TV.

At first, the men checked the room and surrounding area for trouble, not seeing anything; they focused on what Sam was pointing at, the TV.

"What? Is there an end-of-year sale on?" Zikmund said with a cheeky, wise-ass tone.

"No, that!" Sam replied, pointing at the TV with the remote firmly in hand. The men stood there and listened for ten minutes as they crossed to a live feed in Detroit about a peace accord between two nations that have hated each other for centuries. Quietly taking it in, the fact that a billionaire negotiated it with two robot cats and wants to build a zoo there, what? At the end of the broadcast, Samantha turned off the tv,

Zikmund was the first to say anything. "Great! We won't need to go into that shit hole again",

"How the hell did he pull that off? The UN couldn't get them to budge in the last ten years," Mike asked, confused.

It was Seb's question that made them all feel uneasy "How the hell did we not hear anything about this going down?"

"Good point," Mike replies. "The Colonel said he was coming to the party tonight; he might have some answers," he also added.

"I know this is important to you guys but don't bog down the party with work talk tonight; it is the boy's night," Samantha asked them.

"We won't spoil tonight," Smith assured her.

"Thanks, Zikmund" Samantha leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. The 10-year, special forces, brutal ass soldier went as red as a tomato, blushing; it looked like his head might catch on fire.

"How come I never get kisses on the cheek for being good" Seb sulkily protests.

"Because Zikmund never gets my husband arrested when he goes out!" Samantha said with a grin, knowing Seb hated to be reminded.

"Aw, come on, it wasn't my fault; they started it," Seb protested.

"Don't worry, Seb, I'll get over it ...one day," Samantha cheekily added.

"Come on, let's go start the barbeque, the quests will be arriving soon!... Smith no petrol this time," Mike said

"The boys liked it last time," Smith added; at that, they laughed and headed outside to get ready for the party.

The boys and their friends were having a great time by the amount of screaming in the last hour. Mike was talking to some of his neighbours when he heard another car pull up in front of the house. Everyone was here that was coming, except the Colonel.

Two large boxes walked around the corner of the house with two legs, two arms but no body or head. "This is, as heavy as it looks," a voice cried out. The Colonel was attached to two huge boxes; Mike raced over to lend a hand, and so did Samantha.

"My god Jim! what did you buy them, Tanks?" Samantha queried after feeling the size and weight of the boxes.

"Well, sort of, actually," Jim replied

"OMG, you bought them their own mortars, cool!" Mike yelled in a joking sense of excitement.

"No, but something just as cool," Jim replied. As Samantha was heading to the table to put the presents down, before her arms gave out, Oliver came flying around the corner and nearly took out Jim, his mother, and the gifts in a major collision. He pulled up just in time. One look at the presents his Mum and Dad were holding and said, "Holy shit," with pure joy, that only children can produce on their birthdays and Christmas. Oliver turned around, knowing he had just sworn in front of his mother "Sorry Mum,"

"You're forgiven this time cause it's your birthday," Samantha assured him. Oliver turned and saw Colonel Briggs "Uncle Jim" Oliver raced over to the Colonel, stopped in front of him, gave him a proper salute, stood there holding the salute, waiting, waiting! Finally, Colonel Briggs snapped to attention, returned the salute, then Oliver crashed tackled him with a giant bear hug.

"How's my favourite Godson" Jim enquired,

"Awesome, but my team still hasn't found Aiden; sneaky little Yoda is shooting us, but we can't pick where he's shooting from, and I'm the only one of my team left, I've got to find him," with that Oliver races off to try and find his sneaky little brother's hiding spot. As Mike watches his son race off on the hunt, he notices something out of the corner of his eye on the roof; he could barely see it because of the spotlights hung up around the yard for the party. Mike nudges Jim and points to the roof; Jim squints and holds his hand beside his eye to get a better look. "You're kidding!" Jim inquired, amazed. "Nope," Mike replied. Both men stood there dumbfounded, watching this tiny figure crawl around slowly over the roof under a thermal blanket. You could barely make him out; no wonder his brother couldn't find him. "You have a natural sniper in the family," Briggs says. "Not if his mother sees him up there," Mike replied, laughing.

"You got a moment to talk?" Jim asked

"Work?" Mike enquired

"Yes, best we take it inside as I'm on probation at the moment."

The men walked into Mike's study. "What's up?" Mike asked.

Jim handed him an envelope. "Orders and I did some digging on your patrol problem on your last mission; they were looking for your team ...sort of?" Jim informed him.

"I knew it!... what do you mean sort of?" Mike was confused; he felt like the General, 'you either are or you aren't son,' he thought

"I got onto my contacts in ASIO, who got onto the yanks who got onto a double agent in the area, he passed it on. He said he got it from local sources in the area, but the kicker is, they were searching for Afghani Mountain men coming from the northeast. So that's your cover story! no mention of Australian special forces."

Mike pondered a second on what Jim had said "It makes no sense, the mountain men scenario is a tactical cover for us, no one knows that just you and our team,"

"Exactly, I reviewed your debrief, and I assess that you must have been spotted in your gear by a Russian or Pakistani drone, and they passed it on to Taliban contacts. It's the only thing that makes any sense," Jim offered

"Yeah, maybe!" Mike wasn't sold on the assessment, but it was feasible. Mike holds up the envelope Jim gave him.

"Where are we off to now?",

"Back to Afghanistan chasing up more of the things you got on your last mission," Jim said

"Well, at least we don't have to go to Somalia or Ethiopia anymore; they're all friends now," Mike said in a disbelieving tone.

"You saw that?" Jim asked.

"Yep, we all did," Mike offered.

"Craziest thing, we didn't hear a word about it, not a word, no one did," Jim said warily.

"Well, that's not good." So on that, the men went outside and joined the party. The night was a hit for all, with great food and friends. The boys had a great time, especially opening the presents. Samantha was very proud of the boys they raised. All the boy's friends couldn't contain themselves when they opened Uncle Jim's gifts; it wasn't a mortar, but Jim was right; it was just as fantastic. He had bought the boys a remote-control model tank each, made from light steel, one which they could build with their dad over the rest of his leave.

CHAPTER 6- ARK HUB

The breeze carried the scent of pyracantha and Jasmine trees as it wafts across this small mount. Bee-eater birds hovered around the trees, picking off the abundant fruit. The Greenwood shrew scampers around the base of the trees picking up the leftovers that the Bee Eaters have discarded. This was a time for work and getting the family fed for all the native animals in Bale Mountain this time of year...BUT, twenty meters below this little marsupial, another busy bee works hard at it.

As Doby Heinlinker sat at his terminal, he decided to turn around in his chair and marvel at his good fortune. He was sitting in the HUB, the central core of the Ark. Basically, the brain of the ARK, the HUB was a room the size of half a floor of a high-rise building. A massive video screen was across half of one wall, connecting to any park area or breaking into 12 smaller screens for multiple viewing. There were three terminals in front of the screen, one for himself, his tech partner Lexi Eldridge, and Abayomi Thoyana, the son of Billionaire Aarth Damani. Ab was the second in charge of the company and the central hub contact for all divisions worldwide; it's a considerable responsibility for a young man.

Behind the three consoles was a conference table, with eight seats, for meetings about the Hub and Ark, and sometimes it just pays to sit back away from your screen to get a view of the bigger picture. The Hub was filled with every kind of communication imaginable. Mr. Damani was big into leaving nothing to chance. He said he never wants. "The ARK" to become some series of documentaries about robotic animals that took over Africa. So due to that line of thinking, every possible solution to shut down the park was devised and installed ... well, almost everything, they would eventually find out.

That morning, Doby decided to get started early because he couldn't sleep due to a persisting dream of building a new programme he had been working on. Doby was the ultimate nerd. He lived his whole life in front of a computer screen, writing programmes from a young age, and breezed through college and University with ease ... except for the constant teasing that all nerds and fat boys get at school, but it paid off. Doby received a job offer from Mr. Damani and worked for Art for seven years. He is now head Controller/Programmer of the ARK, which he is proud of. Doby also loves his Pop Culture. Doby wears the latest superhero t-shirts with his custom-made Gym boots and has started his own authentic pop culture collection. He now has more money than he knows how to spend...life is good, he thought.

The door banged open to the Hub to wake Doby from his daydream.

"Morning, asslicker!" a voice booms through the opened door.

"It's Heinlinker, NOT, asslicker Lexi. Why do you have to be so crass every morning?" Doby protested.

"I don't know, Asslicker, it's probably because I wake up horny every morning," Lexi informs him with a cheerful note.

"See what I mean; I don't need to know that," Doby said, embarrassed.

"Oh, come on, Doby, my love, don't tell me you don't wake up with a little woody in the morning,"

"What? NO!" Doby protested.

"I'm sorry, Doby, I didn't mean to embarrass you; here, let me give you a big hug to make up." Lexi moves over to Doby on his office chair gives his head a big hug and a kiss on his forehead. Doby's face is smothered in Lexi's breasts, and Lexi knows it. The low-cut tops she wears always show off her ample 14DD breasts.

"Oh, come on, stop it," Doby protested; even though he liked her perfume, she always smelt like some kind of flower. Doby pushed her back,

"You shouldn't do that; Mr. Damani wouldn't like it," Doby informed while glowing bright red from embarrassment.

"I've never done it to Art. Do you think I should?" Lexi teased.

"No! not if you want to keep your job",

"Maybe I'll get a promotion," Lexi pondered jokingly. "I'm sorry, Doby, I did bring you a gift though" Lexi darted back outside the door and grabbed a couple of items off a table in the next room.

"Ta-Da! your breakfast, my king!" Lexi bowed with her hands out. "Your favourite, crusty bagel with cream cheese and salmon and one jumbo strawberry milkshake,"

Doby felt embarrassed again and started blushing. "Thank you, Lexi, it was very nice of you."

"No sweat for my favourite man." Doby grabbed the food and took a deep breath of the warm bagel.

"Mmmm, almost worth getting your boobs rubbed in my face for," Doby says

"Are you saying your bagel is nicer than my breasts?" Lexi challenged. Now Doby is no man of the world, but he was smart enough to know that there was no safe answer to this question, so he grabs his milkshake, starts sucking, and turns to his console.

If there is such a thing, Lexi, a stunning, fashionable Goth, wears all black clothes black lipstick. Also, a black bra with a torn black top to show off her ample cleavage. Although, since being recruited or snatched by Mr. Damani, she has enough money to buy all the designer clothes she likes, she hasn't changed her style, but all her outfits are from the world's top designers.

Lexi Eldridge considered herself, like Doby, a lucky person. She was approached by an unknown person four years ago to arrange a meeting with someone who had important information about her future wellbeing. Cryptic, to say the least, Lexi worked in the protest group Anonymous as a hacker, a secretive group of world hackers trying to even the playing field against Governments and corporations for the average person. So, many governments were actively chasing their members, so going to a secret meeting with an unknown person while you're in hiding around the world is not usually a great plan of action. But, finally, the intrigue of it all got the better of her, she agreed to the meet and went along that evening at 10 o clock to meet this cryptic person.

Planton Avenue was a nowhere in the world of nowhere, more like an alley than an avenue, dark, creepy, rat-infested from all the unregistered food joints on the street, plus it looked like a great place to get rolled or jabbed or even both. As she was waiting in this alley, behind a pizza joint in Chicago East, she felt vulnerable and stupid for coming; at any moment, FBI cars could come and block off each entrance, and a whole world of hurt would start. She decided that she wasn't going to stay and went to turn to leave when a figure appeared at one end of the alleyway and began to walk towards her. As the person got closer, she could make out this person was wearing a cap and hoody.

"Who are you?" Lexi called out to the figure, no answer.

"What do you want? I have a gun," Lexi challenged. Of course, she didn't have a gun, but she thought that was a dumb move, not to bring one.

"I know you don't, Ms. Eldridge. You are perfectly safe with me".

'I know that voice,' Lexi thought but from where?

"Let me introduce myself, Lexi" the mysterious figure pulled back the hood of his jumper,

"My name is Art Damani."

"You! You're the head of AZTECK industries," Lexi said, astonished,

"That is correct."

"What do you want with me, and what's with the whole hoods and dark alley shit?" Lexi challenged.

"My apologies for the theatrics; even though I have blocked all video surveillance for two blocks, you're too toxic to be around at the moment,"

"Me, why am I toxic?" Lexi queried,

"Because of the group, you're associated with, Anonymous,"

"Hahaha, the hacker group, you think I'm with those losers, you have the wrong lady chum!" Lexi almost pulled off the greatest bluff, she was very convincing, but Art Damani already had all the answers, so he pretended he didn't hear her protest of innocence.

"Lexi, I arranged for us to meet, so I could offer you some information I came across,"

"What information could you have that could help me, the winning lotto numbers?". Art continued again, pretending he hadn't heard her little outburst.

"Someone in your organisation has sold you out... to the FBI, he planted info in your flat, on hidden drives." Art handed her a file with photo evidence; Lexi reluctantly accepted the folder. She felt cold and terrified. She opened it slowly and flicked through the first few pics. Lexi's mood suddenly changed.

"That prick!" the pictures showed her latest ex, talking to the FBI in her flat. "I'll kill him!" Lexi was boiling over for the moment, forgetting her fear.

"I apologise; my plan was to steal the evidence out from your flat before they raided it. But for once, the cybercrime units got off their asses and were efficient. There is also this," Art handed her a micro recorder and earpiece. Lexi quickly grabbed the earpiece, put it in her ear, and hit play; she listened for a couple of minutes as her ex gave the FBI information about her but not the rest of the group. Lexi pulled out the earpiece and handed the recorder back to Art.

"Why are you doing this for me? What do you want out of it?" Lexi enquired, starting to feel drained again.

"I have a proposition to offer you. I estimate the FBI will dig up everything they can find on you and make their initial arrest tomorrow, so we don't have long. Firstly I want you to know I have no interest in Anonymous, just you! I want you to come work for me. I will get you out of the country tonight and have the papers drawn up by a lawyer for you to move your mother to a nursing home of your choice. Yes, I know about your Mum. She will be safe, well cared for, and out of the FBI's reach. I will destroy all the evidence the FBI has on you, including the tapes, and give you a fresh start back on the streets again, or I destroy the tapes and files, you come to work for me, earning more money than you have seen. You are safe, your Mum is safe, and life goes on; what do you think?"

Lexi looked him over, "All this is based on the premise that you can get into the FBI headquarters and computers,"

"Correct," Art answered.

"Buddy, Anonymous hasn't been able to do that yet," Lexi challenged.

"I don't make offers I can't keep; I will do you a deal. I will hide you tonight, then in the morning we will get your Mum, and the pair of you will be out of the country within hours. Then, if I can't pull off what I have said with your files, I will pay for you and your Mum to go to any country in the world with 100 thousand dollars to start a new life together. Do we have a deal, Lexi?"

"Yes, we have a deal!" Lexi offered her hand, she had no choice but to accept his offer, or her life was about to go down the toilet and her mums too.