Chapter 35
Georgetown University School of Medicine, 37th and O Street NW, Washington, DC
October 13, 2010
Cassie began to dash down the hallway adrenaline rushing through her veins, creating a dangerous hormonal cocktail with her fear of her situation. She had not gotten more than a stride and a half away when an electronic warble joined the sound of the NID agents angrily yelling behind her.
Her heartbeat surged higher with fear that the NID were about to use the taser like Aschen pacifying rod or some other alien tech on her when the electronic warble ended. So did the NID agents yelling. Behind her she heard a single thump as something—like a bag of books—hit the floor.
“Please be calm Student Klerk,” the synthesised voice of the campus computer system sounded in the hallway, “your assailants have been relocated to the appropriate law enforcement holding facility and this location secured. Please cease your flight and remain in the hallway for the arrival of security and medical personnel.”
The sound of the voice stunned Cassie into drawing upright and stopping her mad dash attempting to escape. Almost not daring to believe she turned around to an empty hallway with her shoulder bag lying on the tiles in the centre of the hall.
Cassie wobbled and reached out to the nearest wall for support. Vaguely registering the computer’s voice as it advised her to attempt to calm herself as her mind finally recognised the electronic warble. A warble that she’d only heard demonstrated during orientation at the beginning of each semester signifying the activation of the university’s Aschen security system.
“Of course,” Cassie whispered to herself, “the security system.”
As she realised what had happened Cassie gave a short ironic laugh. She had plotted, and aided the successful plot to overthrow the Aschen government, and yet she had been rescued by the Aschen security system that her school had.
Georgetown University School of Medicine was outside the dead zone currently affecting the stargate terminal and White House, which meant that all other Aschen technology, and systems, in the city were operational. Without any Aschen on Earth anymore, it meant all those systems were operating on automatic and no one on Earth legally knew the codes to control them.
Which is what had gotten the NID caught.
They were so used to President Kinsey abusing his position to get an Aschen to access the Aschen sub-core network to give their agents authorisation that they had totally overlooked the necessity of ensuring authorisation of their activities now that there were no Aschen on Earth to access those systems.
Straightening from the wall Cassie retraced her steps back to her shoulder bag and as she picked it up the system’s synthetic voice, which had been speaking the entire time, registered again. Squaring her shoulders Cassie addressed the university’s AI in a shaky voice still, coming down from the adrenaline high, “M-may I call my husband?”
“Mr Klerk shall be notified Student Klerk,” the voice responded. “Security and medical personnel have entered the building and will be with you shortly.”
“Thank you,” Cassie responded politely as she heard the sound of approaching footsteps and shortly the campus police and medics appeared at the end of the hallway swiftly heading towards her. Fisting the material of her shoulder bag Cassie tried to quell her after-shakes as she waited for them to reach her.
. . .
Huddled together in a cubical in the West End’s police department near Georgetown University, Detectives Mike Patterson, Jeff Montague, and Amelia Walden discussed their latest case in low voices. Three voices which were surprisingly gleeful for their hushed tones and given their usual case type.
They however were the officers that had been given the investigative case regarding the eleven NID agents that had threatened, and planned kidnapping of, a senior student of Georgetown University, Cassandra Klerk.
It was all the charges that they could bluntly lay against the eleven NID men that had them the most gleeful. For years the shadowy organisation had operated in their city, and throughout the country, under the protective aegis of the president and there had been nothing they could do as often the police were on the scene long after the NID had departed.
Now however, the situation was much different.
When the eleven NID agents had appeared, transferred by the Georgetown University security system, they had demanded release but resentfully bowed to police requirements of delivering statements given their method of arrival. In those statements, numerous times, had been stated their mission was to ‘arrest’ Cassandra Klerk on grounds that were ‘classified.’
The NID was an intelligence organisation mandated to provide civilian oversight of top secret military operations and had no legal authority to issue arrests let alone actively seize citizens themselves. In fact, their actions under federal law was categorised as kidnapping—which meant most likely by the end of this case they’d be calling in the FBI. Plus they were illegally carrying and concealing restricted weaponry that they were not authorised to possess.
Someone in Kinsey’s administrative had messed up, and messed up big, but they were going to milk the situation for all it was worth—especially considering the current social situation.
“So,” Mike Patterson spoke up, “we’re agreed that after interviewing Mrs Klerk that this kidnapping has to do with her childhood association with the SGC and that it is most likely a retaliatory action taken by the government?”
“Not much else it could be,” Jeff Montague spoke up. “Mrs Klerk didn’t say much about why the NID were after her but giving her extreme nervousness about the topic when asked by Amelia I would surmise those are good investigative points.”
“Think we should arrange for a little bird to tell the media? Maybe stir something up?” Patterson lowered his voice even more. It was bad ethics, but it would ensure, given the circumstances and involvement of the NID, which most people regarded as Kinsey’s own private militia, that this incident was not swept under the governmental rug.
“Nah,” Amelia Walden shook her head with a self-satisfied smile. “I think we should just reassure Mrs Klerk again that we are doing everything in our power to prosecute and then encourage her, upon returning home, to tell the whole story to her husband.”
Patterson arched an eyebrow, recognising that crafty look on Walden’s face. “What do you know?”
“Just that,” Walden said with a sly shrug, “we send Mrs Klerk home to Mr Klerk.”
Montague’s eyes suddenly widened. “Klerk. Of course. She is the wife of the Post reporter for the Truth?”
“Bingo,” Walden said with soft satisfaction. “We simply do our jobs as we always do and let Mrs Klerk confide in her loving husband.”
“Wait,” Montague connected more mental dots. “If she’s the wife of Dominic Klerk, then this ‘arrest’ by the NID could be in relation to her husband’s activities for the Post as well.”
“So you investigate her SGC history,” Walden pointed to Patterson, “you check that angle out,” this time she pointed to Montague, “and I’ll check into how the heck the NID screwed up so delightfully.”
“How come you get the fun stuff?” Patterson complained good-naturedly.
“Because I have seniority,” Walden retorted playfully. “Besides, I think I know what happened already. They probably have access to a locker with Aschen devices like the tasers but while they can get to them, they don’t have the access codes to authorise their use or possession.”
“Like us,” Montague remarked.
“Like us,” Walden agreed, “but all of ours are registered all the time and all we need to get, and are given automatically because of our assignment to cases, is authorisation to use. The devices the agents have are all unregistered which means, probably, that they are those ghost weapons that keep giving us in law enforcement so many problems.”
“Well then,” Patterson leaned back from their little huddle. “Let’s get to it.”
The other two detectives nodded and three dispersed to their tasks.