Future Perfect by Fran Heckrotte

Author:Fran Heckrotte [Heckrotte, Fran]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ! Yes
ISBN: 9781934889763
Publisher: L-Book ePublisher
Published: 2011-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 2

The First Mistake

INWARDLY, COLONEL Cranley was fuming. The woman had called his bluff. She was proving more difficult than he had anticipated. His chief intelligence officer had interrupted the interrogation to tell him that Chantelle was one of the invisible people. No records of her existed in any database, including the foreign ones SU33 had access to. His suspicions were now confirmed. Chantelle was a government agent and probably looking for Solaria also. If another ops department captured Solaria, Special Unit 33 would lose its advantage.

I knew Future Dynamicon's security was crap. After this is all over, I'm going to make sure they lose their contracts and clearance.

"Who do you work for?" Cranley demanded, leaning toward Chantelle threateningly. "What agency?"

"I don't work for any agencies," Chantelle replied calmly.

"That's bullshit! There's no record of you anywhere. Nothing! No one is that anonymous. Only a government has the ability to make people invisible. You're either one of ours or you work for someone else."

"Probably just a computer glitch. As you say, no one is that anonymous," Chantelle said.

Straightening, Colonel Cranley glanced at Jain, who was still unconscious.

"Maybe I'm going about this wrong," he said. "You're obviously well-trained; better than we thought. No civilian is this good." Turning to Isaac, Cranley motioned him out of the room. Saluting, Isaac left. "I had hoped you would be more cooperative, but no matter. There are always other ways to extract information."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Primeris walked into the interrogation room, dressed in dark brown slacks and an orange long-sleeved shirt. Except for a slight narrowing of the eyes, she gave no indication of her surprise at seeing Chantelle and Jain.

"You ignored my recommendation, Colonel Cranley. Bringing these women here was unwise. The librarian is known by too many people. They'll question her disappearance," Primeris said.

"I don't give a fuck who knows her. Since when have we let civilians stop us from doing our job? Besides, you should have had the information by now."

"Only two weeks have passed since I started the surveillance. You should have let me finish my assignment." Turning to Major Simpson, she stared at him for several seconds. When he glanced away, she finally spoke. "You said you were only going to observe them. Did something change or were you lying?"

"Are you questioning my authority, Primeris?"

"No, Major, only your judgment and your word. Your actions are irresponsible and have compromised this mission. Had you been patient, I would have successfully completed the mission without any harm coming to these civilians. Now you have no choice but to terminate them."

Major Simpson stiffened.

"You know, Primeris," Cranley interjected. "If I didn't know you were a machine, I'd swear you were getting soft. The loss of a few civilians is acceptable collateral damage. When we're finished here, report to your AI programmer for a complete evaluation. Your effectiveness as an operative is becoming questionable."

"My effectiveness has been undermined by Major Simpson's incompetence. If he abducted these women outside of Ms. Plaine's residence, someone may have witnessed the event.

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