The doctor looked up from his patient. “His BP is back to normal, but he’s suffering from some kind of mental trauma. Something happened to him out there in the ether and...”He looked down and shrugged before adding,“I’ve been told it happens more often than we know. Personally, I think these out-of-body experiences overwhelm the brain and it gets fried, so to speak.”
“Oh, like the drug doesn’t have anything to do with it?”
That was from the stockier of the two men in suits. He wore a sneer on his face as he, too, looked at the curled-up man on the bed.
“Like I said, I think it’s information overload for the brain.”
“Yeah, you said ‘fried’. Is it truly fried, like some of the others?”
The doctor shook his head.“No, I think he’s going to be fine. He’s coherent, although in shock. He just needs rest. I need to question him again when he’s less emotional, perhaps learn what set it off.”
The other man spoke up.“Perhaps we can try another patient.”He studied the man on the bed thoughtfully.“He has been the most usefulthus far, though, actually able to penetrate through COMCEN’s security net. Most of the others could barely function after five minutes. If we can get him calmed down enough I can ask him about the weapons and Macedonia. It’s crucial we find out whether they’re going to the summit.”
Jed stiffened. Summit? The mention of Macedonia and summit was too coincidental.
“We already have confirmation that the trigger pickup was on schedule, so we don’t really need him around. They aren’t good at locating things, remember?”
“Hades,”Hell interrupted. “I’m guessing that man’s a remote viewer.”
Her wonder and curiosity brushed against his consciousness.“Agreed,”Jed said.“Do you think he’s the one who was spying on us at Center?”After a moment, he added,“Perhaps even the same one who might have run into you during the mission a few days ago?”
“He looks injured and in pain. If he were the one, not only do I want to know how, because my CIA trainers told me it was impossible, but also why he attacked me at COMCEN. What was he after? And why is he hurt anyway? This place’s giving me the creeps. The smell, the vibes, everything feels negative, Hades.”
“I think if we find out what his handlers are after, the rest of the answers will come.”
“Yeah. They mentioned something about a summit in Macedonia. How’s that connected to our last mission in Germany?”
Jed thought about it a moment.“We were seeking out one of the lost weapons on the DC list as part of an experiment to prove your importance to the different departments. This place belongs to the CIA, by the way, so I’m thinking our men here are connected to the moles within the CIA.”The DC list was a top secret document of all the weapons that a CIA director who had been caught recently had sold through the years. Of that list, there was another top priority list of sensitive weapons and high-tech Intel that had to be found ASAP. COMCEN, with their inner links to so many underground weapon dealers, had been given that list.“Remember the missing weapons we were talking about at the meeting earlier? One of the weapons, a unique explosive trigger device, has been changing hands in the black markets. With the help of the SEALs, we’ve traced its move from Asia to Macedonia. The mention of Macedonia and the summit is troubling.”
“Why?”
“Can’t say. We’ll discuss this later. Do you think you can remote view if the universal agreement is changed?”
“What do you mean?”
Jed looked at the scene in the room again, considering their options. The man on the bed let out a soft moan and turned around,still in a semi-fetal position. Helen’s quick intake of breath interrupted his thoughts.
“What is it?”he asked.
“I recognize that dude on the bed. He was in several of the beginning training classes.”
Jed checked out the patient again.“The Super Soldier Spy tests?”he asked, just to make sure. He didn’t recognize the face, so this man couldn’t have lasted too long.“Did he remote view with you?”
“We were divided into different groups. He wasn’t in my group but in the few experiments that we participated in together, he was one of the fastest to finish and I heard his accuracy ratio was pretty high. But he disappeared.”
“Did you ask why?”
“No, not really. We were competing for a job and I just assumed he didn’t pass some test. It wasn’t unusual for the training classes to get smaller and smaller as time went by, Hades.”
Until one was left standing, Jed added to himself. And Elena was probably the least expected to get the coveted Super Soldier Spy funding. It suddenly became very clear that the moles were inside so deep within the CIA they’d view the Super Soldier Spy program, and hence, the winner, as a weapon that was worth selling. He looked at the man on the bed again. And perhaps, they were trying to create their own version.
“Yo, monitor darling, you’ve gone all quiet again. Am I supposed to be twiddling my thumbs while you solve the problem of world hunger here? Are we forgetting the focus thing? You know, that me on you and you on me mantra, babe, or we lose connection?”
Her sarcasm amused him. She was right, of course.
“Touché,”he said.“I was letting myself get distracted.”
“Not you!”
