[Sticks]

Episode III – Domus Separare

House Divided

In times of civil emergency people can do pretty horrendous things, all in the name of national security and paranoia. Even the so called “good guys” are not immune from committing atrocities in the name of public safety and national security In Britain during World War Two citizens of the axis powers, even refugees from Nazi Germany, were interned on the Isle of Mann, and of course today we have Camp X-Ray run by the Americans at Guantanamo Bay.

In 2001 after the attacks on the twin towers on nine eleven, there was a great fear of a backlash against the Muslim community and in the US a pilot refused to allow an Arabic looking man on his flight by the name of Walied Shatter who just happened to be a bone fida secret service agent for G W Bush.

This seems to be happening all over again after the bombing of the main Inter Dimensional Entity Control’s UK base, tasked with dealing with the world in an alternative universe, known as IDW01 or the Mystical Realms.

Colonel Samuel Peters has just managed to get the release of two of his surviving team from a London police station where they had been detained because they would not reveal to the police officer leading the investigation into the bombing, the nature of the work that went on at The Facility. The three of them have all been driven down to an out of the way annexe of the former Facility, by another civilian employee. It is here that a Mr Davies, aide to a member of the Inter Dimensional Entity Control Oversight Committee, has unexpectedly arrived informed them that in light of the bombing, Colonel Samuel Peters and Commander Mark Johnston have been placed under arrest for gross negligence and gross misconduct

Also he is instituting a change in policy, in light of possible involvement in the bombing of entities from the Mystical Realms, all entities from there, including the former minor spirits of virtue, who are just children are to be interned or possibly worse, all of course, you understand for the greater good, in the name of national security

-

Rochester, New Hampshire
United States of America
(Twenty four hours previously)
[img=600x400]http://pics4.city-data.com/cpicc/cfiles16604.jpg[/img]

Susan Sands carefully opened the front door of the house, making sure Rebecca was behind between her and Rosie O’Brian, some special protection agent who appeared to Susan as someone who suffered from dwarfism, (so why with such a disability was she assigned? She had wondered privately not realising that Rosie was really a rare female leprechaun).

For some reason the secret service detail assigned to them were not present.
“Rosie?” Susan said, “Do you know what has happened to the secret service agents?”
“I have not heard a thing Mrs Sands” Rosie replied, “I am usually informed of everything, but as I mentioned earlier I can not even get through to our office in Ireland”
“Mum, I’m Scared” Rebecca uttered, being told that someone out there might try and harm her and possibly her new family had certainly made this former Spirit of Kindness nervous, and both Rosie and Susan had to keep telling Rebecca that this was not her fault.

Susan closed the door, then turned to Rosie, “Can you try and get through to see what is happening, if we don’t go now Rebecca is going to be late for School, but I don’t want to put my daughter at risk”

Rosie pulled out her cell phone and looked at it, “That’s odd Mrs Sands; I can not get a signal”

Susan pulled out her own cell; it too did not seem to be getting a signal, so she tried the main telephone in the house which was a landline.

It was dead

“Rosie, I don’t like this” Susan said
“Neither do I Mrs Sands” Rosie replied
“I feel like a sitting duck” Susan added
Rebecca started to cry, “They’re coming to get me” she wailed.

Susan took out her car keys and remotely switched off the car alarm on her jeep.

“Rosie” Susan said in a commanding voice, “When I open the door, I want you to get over the Jeep and check under it for anything that should not be there, then when you give the all clear, Rebecca will come out to the Jeep, and I will open the driver’s door and help Rebecca into the back”
“Ok Mrs Sands” Rosie replied.

Susan opened the door, and Rosie ran out as fast as she could to the jeep sitting in the drive and looked at the underneath.
“It seems clear to me” She yelled

At this, Susan grabbed Rebecca’s hand and went through the front door, then grabbed the door to pull it shut. The two of them raced to the Jeep and quickly Susan opened the car door on the driver’s side, pulled the seat forward and lifted Rebecca so she could climb into the back of the Jeep.

Rosie somehow managed to get into the front passenger seat and closed the door.

Susan got in the jeep, closed the door, buckled up and started the jeep.

All of the occupants held their breath as the vehicle started, still half expecting it to blow up.

Rebecca was in tears, if being accused by police in New York of a crime she had never heard of, committed in Miami, a place she had never set foot, had been bad enough, having someone trying to kill her was a lot worse.

Susan drove the Jeep into the road, still glancing at her mobile, hoping to get a signal to call her husband Matthew, who had left for work earlier, but no, something or someone was still jamming the signal.

They had driven for about a hundred meters when a large grey van coming the opposite way deliberately turned to block them. Susan tried to reverse, but another grey van came up behind and blocked them that way as well.

They were boxed in.

Suddenly out of the back of the van in front, several men in balaclavas and combat fatigues got out with M16 rifles and pointed them at the Jeep.

Several men did the same with regard to the van behind the jeep.

A man in a helmet and dark sunglasses got out of the passenger side of the van in front and approached the Jeep with a bull horn and then put it to his lips.

“We know about the amulet of protection Miss Sands, if you don’t want your aunt riddled with bullets, take it off and toss it out of the vehicle”

Rebecca was terrified, How did they know?
“I wish I had got one for all of us” Rosie muttered under her breath.
“Don’t do it Rebecca” Susan urged

Then they saw one of the men take from the van in front, what looked like an anti-tank weapon.

“I’m waiting Miss Sands” yelled them man with the bull horn.

Without further thought, Rebecca did as she was told by the man and took off the Amulet of protection, wound the window down and tossed it out of the jeep.

Immediately one of the men from behind came and grabbed it, at the same time, another man came and with a sledge hammer smashed the front passenger side window, showering glass over Rosie, while yet another fired a taser gun at her, thus incapacitating the leprechaun.

The man with the sledge hammer then smashed in the rear passenger window, while yet another man fired a taser gun into Rebecca.

Rebecca felt the pain as the two sharp barbs pierced into her flesh through her school clothes, then she screamed in agony briefly as the current was passed through her as she was incapacitated.

One of the men from the front came and pulled open the drivers side door and pointed his M16 at Susan, and ordered her to switch the engine off.

Susan had no choice but to comply, then she was forced out at gunpoint. As she saw two men come and give both Rosie and Rebecca some kind of injection.

“Why are you doing this?” she yelled, but she was just pushed to the ground and her hands tied behind her back with cable ties.
Only while she was on the ground, did anyone give her an answer, “You are being arrested for harbouring dangerous terrorists under the Patriot Act” said one of the men who had forcefully pinned her to the ground
“What terrorists?” She yelled, but nobody answered her

For a brief moment Susan wondered, if she ever saw him again, what Matthew would think of her now for loosing Rebecca like this. Even though both of them considered Rebecca to be their daughter, especially as they had both legally adopted her as such, she was after all the biological child of Matthew’s dead younger sister.

As Susan continued to lie face down on the ground, she heard the man who had spoke to them by the bull horn, who must be the squad leader, talking on the radio.

“Have you got me Mr Davies” he yelled

Then it sounded to Susan that the person he was after was not available.
“OK” she heard the Squad leader shout, “Get me the chairman, I don’t think we have any other choice”

“McClure, keep those civilians back” the Squad leader then shouted.

“We are not terrorists” Susan insisted to the man holding her down, but all the man did was bring a hand held taser and placed it against Susan’s neck.
“Keep quiet” He growled, and Susan screamed in pain as he briefly fired the current into her body. “Any more sound out of you and you get that again but longer”

All Susan could do was nod her head and try and listen to the squad leader above her as he called in to discuss her fate and that of her daughter and the small lady who had been assigned as her daughter’s body guard.

“Sorry to disturb you Madame Chairman” The Squad leader said into some kind of communication device that Susan could not see, “I tried to reach Mr Davies, but he seems to be out of contact”

inaudible talking on what appeared to be a cell phone

“We are in Rochester New Hampshire and we have made the capture as ordered. I wanted to know if you wanted the IDE and the IDE hybrid interrogated first before we euthanize them, the orders were not clear on that point”

“Euthanize them?” Susan thought, So they were going to kill Rebecca after all, and after what she had been through before Susan and Matthew had took her in to be their own daughter

more inaudible talking on a cell phone
“But Mam we definitely received orders to pick them up, we were told to use overwhelming force and make sure the non human’s were stunned and sedated in accordance with standard pro”
“But I did receive the orders from your committee Mam”

more inaudible talking on the cell phone
“It came from the office of Mr Vee”

more inaudible talking on the cell phone
“Well not Mr Vee himself, it came via by his aide, Mr Davies”

more inaudible talking on the cell phone
“So you were not aware of these orders Mam”

more inaudible talking on the cell phone
“So, do you want us to continue Mam, the IDE and the IDE-Hybrid are both sedated and the my men are ready right now to carry out the euthanization on your command”

more inaudible talking on the cell phone
“You don’t, do you want them brought in for interrogation then?”

more inaudible talking on the cell phone
“Let them go? But mam we were told they were to be considered highly dangerous and possibly in league with

The Squad leader was interrupted by more inaudible talking on the cell phone
“At once?” The Squad leader replied to the voice on the phone, and then chillingly, so it seemed to Susan added, “But we have a slight problem, there is a civilian travelling with them, the aunt of the IDE Hybrid”

”Oh no they are going to kill us all after all” Susan thought as tears streamed down her face

more inaudible talking on the cell phone
“She is in custody, she did not resist arrest so we did not have to take aggressive action and we have her on the ground now, but it would take a while to revive the IDE and the hybrid”

more inaudible talking on the cell phone
“We broke through both windows on the passenger side of the civilian’s vehicle to ensure the IDE and the IDE-Hybrid were”

The Squad leader was again interrupted by more inaudible talking on the cell phone
OK Mam we will do that”

Then Susan heard the squad leader order the men from the van behind to return to it and for that van to withdraw, from the sound of it he was not happy.

Then the squad leader ordered the man keeping her down to get up, and then she felt the squad leader pulling her sleeve up. “Sorry Mam, the squad leader apologised, “but we have to do this, it is a matter of national security”

So this was how it was going to end, she would be injected with poison, so would Rebecca and they would make it look like a car jacking on bad.

Susan felt the prick of the hypodermic needle, and then everything went black.

* * *

The Annexe
Some where in Kent, England
The present

“So” muttered Commander Mark, you are taking the organisation back to the days of Mr Blue.

“Maybe commander, given the involvement of IDE’s in the attack on The Facility, the late Mr Blue appears to have been vindicated and it seems he was right all along.” Mr Davies sneered, then he added, “As I have just mentioned I have already ordered the IDE Hybrid you let go to be dealt with, plus one other to be intercepted by clean up squads, it’s what Mr Blue would have wanted”

Mr Davies then ordered two of the guards, “Take these two away” pointing at the colonel and the commander.

Mr Davies next ordered two men to collect the unconscious body of Hogan O’Brien. One of the two men pulled out a syringe and stuck it into Hogan and injected him. It looked like to Jenny the sedative the retrieval team had once used on her.

The Colonel sat resolute in his chair, “You don’t have the authority Mr Davies., only a committee member or the chairman We are going nowhere”

At this comment, the six men in balaclavas and combat fatigues pointed their guns at the heads of the colonel, the commander, Jenny and Sue-Lim

“Oh, but I insist” Mr Davies replied, “I can take you back under arrest or I can authorise the clean up squad here to do a total liquidation on all of you, it’s your call Colonel”

“How do you expect to get away with this?” The colonel asked, “such a policy shift would have to be passed by The Committee and they would have to hear from me, it’s the policy”

“Well colonel, in times of emergency we do not have time for such niceties” Mr Davies replied, “I will count to two and if you do not submit to arrest then the Clean up squad will be authorised to”

The colonel did not let him finish and slowly stood up, as did Mark. Two guards came and handcuffed the colonel’s and the commander’s hands behind their backs, and then marched them out of the room.

Mr Davies then speaking to the remaining guards, “I think we had better take Miss Green into custody as well”

Jenny shook her head, unable to speak, as they seemed to be going back to the dark days when they had sent a snatch squad to taser girl she knew as sixteen year old Faith, who had turned out to be the Spirit of Fidelity. She had heard how this Mr Blue had stripped her of her clothes, burned them in front of her and beat her black and blue, trying to get information, and all he got out of her was that by the dating system she had been brought up with before her time at Jenny’s coffee shop, she was really only fifteen.

Sue-Lim spoke up, “Mr Davies, sir, I understand you may have jurisdiction over the colonel and the commander, as they are US military personnel, but as Miss Green is a civilian and a British citizen, protocol dictates that she should be taken into custody by MOD police”

Mr Davies then grinned at Sue-Lim, “Sue-Lim, you are absolutely right, I was forgetting my protocol”, then he walked over to the table and picked up the artificial wormhole generator. “Sue-Lim is this complete and self contained?” he asked

“Yes Mr Davies” Sue-Lim replied.

“I sure the Committee will appreciate you did not die in vain” Davies replied.
“What?” Sue-Lim replied, “I don’t understand”

Mr Davies ignored her and turned to the two remaining men in balaclavas, “After we have gone, make sure these two and this place is deep cleaned”
“Yes sir” the man replied.
Mr Davies then turned to Jenny and Sue-Lim, “I’m so sorry you have to end like this, but we need to keep this contained as we have to formulate the counter strike against IDW01”

Just then the two men who had removed Hogan returned.

“Oh yes, is it stowed safely?” Mr Davies asked them.

The men answered in the affirmative.

“That is excellent news men” Mr Davies, “As I mentioned to your colleagues here, the two women and this place needs to be deep cleaned”
“We understand sir” the man replied in an American accent, “What do you want done with the building”

Mr Davies grimaced for a moment, then said, “The problem with these old buildings is that old electrics can lead to so many fires, which in this case claimed the lives of two unknown females”
“They’re bound to suspect arson sir” the man in the balaclava replied
“So we will just blame it on whoever blew up the Facility or possibly hobos, think of something, that’s your job isn’t it?”

Sue-Lim tried to protest, “But sir I did as you said, I made the device”

“And As I said” Mr Davies grinned, “your sacrifice will be duly noted, you may even get a posthumous commendation”
“Why?” Jenny asked
“Let’s just say, you Brits tried to run it on your own and you got caught with your proverbial pants down over that Spirit of Fidelity affair. You got us in, and we tried to run it with you, and you get the building blown up. We are taking the operation back to the US where it should have been in the first place and where we have better resources, and now we have this” Mr Davies held up the artificial wormhole generator, we will be able to complete Mr’s Blues dream of sending through a few tactical nukes and remove the threat from IDW01 once and for all”

Then Mr Davies left the room

The men then took the safety off of their assault rifles and pointed them at Jenny Green and Su-Lim

“But this is cold blooded murder” Sue-Lim objected

“Sorry Mam” the man who had previously spoken said, “But we have our orders”

* * *

An Undisclosed location
Washington DC
United States of America
(sixteen hours previous)

Kathryn came into the room and sat down at the head of the conference table and looked at all the men seated around. There was one empty chair. She was in her late forties and she was not happy.

“I’m sorry to call you in at such short notice” Kathryn told the group, “But I am very disturbed that action was taken in our name without consulting me at least by a certain member of this committee, who I see did not have the grace to attend”

“Excuse me Madame Chairman” a man in his fifties, “But our colleague in question is on the conference phone”

“Oh is he” Kathryn snapped back, and then asked, “Is he live at the moment or on mute”

“It’s on mute at the moment Madame Chairman” the man replied

“Ok” Kathryn replied, “Before I speak to him, you should all be familiar with what has happened in New York and New Hampshire”

All the men around the table all answered in the affirmative

“Good, then we need not waste any more time” Kathryn started and then continued, “Since the time Mr Sepia handed over control to us, we have been dealing with IDEs in I hope a more enlightened way, compared with Mr Blue’s time under British control. Now it seems that one member has decided to take us back to that regime in light of the loss of the IDE control facility in London. I am new to this, since the death of Gregory due to his stroke, but I have to ask, do you agree with the change back to the old more repressive way of handling IDE’s and IDE hybrids that our absent colleague appears to have taken us?”

A man in his seventies at the other end of the table lifted his hand; he was the oldest member of The Committee. “I think I speak for all of us, when I say how appalled I am at Mr Vee’s actions. Many years ago, the CIA were banned from carrying out assassinations, and rightly so. I find it abhorrent that two young American citizens were so targeted”
“I agree” said another man, “From my contact in New York, the IDE hybrid, Mazy Schneider, aka the former Spirit of Caring sustained a serious leg fracture when she fell after being hit by the taser dart gun. I only heard because the commander in charge rang me to authorise her euthanization.”

“You of course said no” the oldest man interjected

“You’re darn right I said no, I will not be responsible for the cold blooded murder of an American citizen on American soil” the man continued, “At the moment she is under sedation, as I was not sure if we had had a policy switch, and if we have, I would like to offer my resignation before anyone orders her termination. I will not have her blood on my hands”

Kathryn coughed, and then asked, “So to reiterate, we do not want to go down the path that our absent colleague has taken us back to the days of Mr Blue?”

Another man spoke, “Madame Chairman, it is like I told the colonel, IDW01 is of great strategic benefit, and as the colonel told us, we should have them as allies. It would be madness to go down that path again, and if we do, I will be tendering my resignation too”

The oldest member then spoke again, “These IDE hybrids as some have been calling them, if anything were victims of other IDE’s and once they are processed as our Irish partners have shown with Mazy, Fidelity and Caer in Ireland, they are not a problem. We monitored Mazy covertly a month after she became fully human and we were able to establish that she indeed was human. Plus my esteemed colleagues, who have made the effort to be present, these former IDE hybrids have an overwhelming desire to be model citizens and wish to have nothing to do with IDW01. So please let’s not persecute them like they were, under that renegade Mr Blue”

The first man who spoke then butted in, “I believe that IDE’s may be behind the bombing in London, so that may have been why Mr Vee has so acted in sending out the Clean up Squads”

“But that’s crazy” another member said, “That would have been like interning every Arab American or every Moslem after nine eleven”

“Even if an IDE did bomb the facility” the oldest member interrupted, “That does not mean that our troll allies are behind it, for all we know there may be another civil war there and this was one side trying to deny the trolls access to the Facility”

“I agree” Kathryn asserted and put her hands up to get everyone to shut up, “We seem to be all agreed, not to terminate the IDEs and the IDE hybrids, or to be more accurate, former spirits of virtue. We are not going down that dark path once more and nobody here at least needs to resign”

The rest of the committee nodded.

“Put me through to Mr Vee” Kathryn ordered.

The first man to speak pressed a switch on the telephone conferencing equipment.

“Are Madame Chairman” came Mr Vee’s voice over the telephone conferencing speakers, “I am so sorry that you were caused such embarrassment”

“Why did you authorise the clean up squads to target the Schneider and the Sands girls Mr Vee” Kathryn asked, with a air of anger in her voice, “Do you realise you have traumatised two young girls and put one in the hospital?”

“I did not authorise this Madame Chairman” Mr Vee replied, “My committee aide exceeded his authority for some reason and authorised them in my name”

“OK - So why are you not here Mr Vee when I summoned you?”

“As it is my aide Madame Chairman, I have decided to see to the matter personally, and as my Aide has gone to England, I was unable to attend your emergency meeting in person. As for the unfortunates back home, may I suggest dosing them with Propranolol before releasing them if you so choose to do so”

Silence then, “Sorry Madame Chairman, but I have to go now, but let me say, in spite of my known reservations in the past, I do support you and the enlightened way we now handle IDE’s and I look forward to apologising in person to the Committee on my return”

Then the line went dead.

“OK” Kathryn said to the committee, “I propose we recall all clean up squads and release all parties taken in by the clean up squads, and reasonable offers of compensation need to be made, if we have to, with a cover story that they were arrested by special anti terrorist officers acting in good faith on a false lead given by an unidentified malicious third party, after sufficient dosing of this Propranolol

At this the room agreed, except for one man who raised his hand, “Should we not just terminate these individuals, and just resolve not to repeat the error in future, as propranolol is not really effective, and ”

“Are you serious?” the oldest member interrupted in a menacing tone

“But we need to maintain secrecy” the man insisted, “and with such action taken, they are hardly likely to keep their mouths shut now, I mean look at the uncle of the Sands child, he is a lawyer”

“And so was I” the oldest member retorted, “They were aware of the existence of the major spirits of virtue and our organisation and kept quiet before. All we need to do is tell them know it was a rouge unit which we have dealt with, which is not a total lie, and I am sure they will not want to raise the matter further”

“But they might” the man went on, “This was a complete fiasco granted, but can we take the risk?”

“So you would have us murder American children on American soil? Or do you want us to ship them to some other place and kill them, is that what you want?”

Another man, the one who had brought up the plight of Mazy chipped in, “Look with regard them taking the matter further or contacting the press or whatever, why don’t we cross that bridge if we come to it. We need to release them now as I am not convinced that these former IDE half breeds are a threat, the intel on both of them indicates they made no mention of their former abilities or identities. And to put it bluntly, you are making an idiot of yourself by even suggesting we terminate American citizens on American Soil and putting us in an Ultra Virus position”

The man who had raised this objection suddenly realised, even if Mr Vee had authorised the cleanup squads they were still out voted on what after all was a bit of paranoia on his part. “Sorry” the man said, “I withdraw that last suggestion and will agree to go along with what you and the majority think fit Madame Chairman”

“OK” Kathryn stated, then the matter is settled, “Make sure Mr Vee put’s in a full report when he gets back and deduct any costs from his department’s budget as it was his aide who caused this mess”

* * *

An isolation cell in an undisclosed location
Somewhere in the United States of America
(Fourteen hours previous)

Susan felt really groggy as she came round and slowly she sat up.

She was in some kind of prison cell. Susan was normally a strong woman, but she burst into tears, she had lost her daughter, even if she was only an adopted daughter, she still felt the loss as if she were her biological mother. Rebecca most probably would be dead, murdered by the state, if she had not been killed by the taser gun, and for what? Because her biological father had been some kind of angel as she saw it, the embodiment of the virtue of friendship in human form?

Susan noticed that all she was wearing now was a white hospital style gown that was open at the back. Why had they taken her clothes. In fact why, when she was certain she over heard the force commander being told to release them was she still confined. Would she even see her husband and son Frank again?

Suddenly the door opened and a large male warder came in wearing a white coat.

“What have you done with my daughter” Susan demanded
“All in Good time Mrs Sands” the warder replied and then produced a taser gun, “I won’t have to use this will I?”

Susan froze, “I won’t be any trouble” she pleaded, “I just want to know is my daughter still alive, what are we accused of, we have never done anything to do with terrorism”

“Then give me your arm” the warder replied and another man came in with a hypodermic syringe.

Susan shook her head in disbelief as she presented her arm. The man with the syringe found the vein and injected Susan with some compound without saying a word.

This was obviously the end, as Susan felt suddenly weak as everything went black.

* * *

Outside the Annexe
Some where in Kent
South East England
(The present)

“I look forward to instructing the prosecutor at your court marshal Colonel” Mr Davies gloated, as he held the door to the unmarked black van of the clean up squad.
“In your dreams” Colonel Samuel Peters retorted.
“You’ve got it wrong Mr Davies” Commander Mark Johnston insisted, “The trolls and the leprechauns are not the enemy here”
“I believe it is you that have got it wrong” Mr Davies replied, “It seems you went native and were just too naïve for this posting. I suppose you were useful when we were alerted to that Columbian drug cartel who were dealing in cocaine with one of those troll clans and we needed them taken out, but to lead a base dealing with the threat from this other world, I think that was a big mistake. One I aim to put right”

Then Mr Davies slammed the door shut.

“And how, Mr Davies my dear boy, do you plan to do that, take command of the section yourself”

Mr Davies jumped back, as he saw the elderly man, wearing a large coat and a fedora hat. He was just finishing off a carton of orange juice with his gloved left hand while the other was in his coat pocket.
The elderly man then handed the empty carton to a member of the clean up squad who had escorted the two marines, to dispose of, and then put his left hand in his coat pocket.
“Sorry sir” Mr Davies immediately replied, “I didn’t expect you to leave Washington”
“Obviously Mr Davies my dear boy, obviously”
“You don’t have to worry sir, there was no need for you to come, I’m handling everything for you” Mr Davies replied.
The elderly man gave a brief sigh, “Davies my Dear boy, it seems that a number of people are upset with me about your actions”
“There only jealous sir, because we had the guts to act when they have acted like headless chickens”
The elderly man tut tutted, then said “Davies my dear boy, there is an old expression, Act in haste, repent at leisure”
“I believe in striking while the iron is hot sir” Mr Davies countered
“I’m afraid there are some that do not share your confidence in your abilities, and they are quite frankly concerned, as am I”
“But you needn’t be Sir, I have the matter well in hand”

The elderly man looked at the van and with his left hand patted the door lightly then asked, “Tell me I see you have got the colonel and the commander in custody in this van, so where are the others, Miss Green and Miss Wang?”
Mr Davies, grinned, “That’s being dealt with sir, the clean up squad should be deep cleaning them right now as we speak. There will not be any loose ends to tie them to us; when the locals find their bodies, they will just be considered tragic victims of the fire I have ordered the clean up squad to set”
“Oh Really, Davies my dear boy, Excuse me while I must make this urgent call” the elderly man said, and then quickly took from his left pocket a small black box like object”

* * *

The Wal-Mart parking lot
Rochester, New Hampshire
United States of America
(Ten hours previously)

Susan awoke with a start. Her car door was being opened. It was her husband Matthew
“Thank the Lord your safe” Matthew told her
“Where are we?” Susan said still feeling weak
“The car park of Wal-Mart, the one on Farmington Road” Matthew replied, “An anonymous call said I would find you and your jeep in this car park, so I got the spare key and Dirk from next door gave me a lift and oh!.”

As Matthew’s flow suddenly ground to a halt, Susan then noticed although she was in the driver’s seat, her shoes and clothes and were still gone as was the gown she had been wearing when she had briefly came to in the cell, leaving her naked. whoever was part of this ultra secret organisation must be really sick to do that Susan thought Instantly Matthew removed his coat and passed it to his wife, so she could put it on while she was still in the car and at least cover her top half.

Susan, as she came more to her senses, suddenly remembered Rosie and Rebecca and turned to look for them, but they were gone. Then Susan noticed that the windows that had been smashed in the raid had been repaired, some small consolation.

“I’m Sorry Matthew” Susan wept, “They took them and killed them” she could only get out, “They must have” she added.

Matthew held his wife in his arms; he still loved her and did not blame her for the loss of Rebecca and Rosie. Who ever did it must have been pretty high powered, just as Rosie had said, from the former regime that had run that place over in England called the Facility which had also been taken out. Maybe he should be thankful that they had spared his wife, but why leave her naked in her car?

Matthew’s cell phone sounded. Matthew wanted to pick it up and throw it in the nearest river; he did not feel like answering it, especially after his wife had been missing for twenty four hours and left like she was, and his daughter was still missing.

It stopped

Then Susan’s mobile phone in her purse rang

This was too weird, especially as Susan usually had it turned off except when she was calling.
“I think you better answer that” Matthew said
Susan retrieved her phone from her purse and flipped it open and put it on speaker phone on the dashboard.

“Greetings Mr and Mrs Sands” came an electronic voice, “We are so glad that Mrs Sands has recovered from her ordeal”
“What have you done with our daughter?” Matthew demanded
“Nothing yet, she is still alive” said the voice, “But first of all, I need to inform you that as you can see we have repaired the damage to your jeep and also we have credited each of your bank accounts with four hundred thousand dollars as ex gratia payments for inconvenience. You can check if you want to”
“We don’t care about the jeep or your money, I want our daughter back” Susan sobbed angrily
“We need to know if you will be talking about what happened to anyone” The electronic voice replied.
”What were they playing at?” Matthew wondered
“It would be decidedly unhealthy if this got out to a wider general circulation” the electronic voice continued.
“What do you want?” Matthew replied, “Why are you doing this?”
“We want your silence about this incident Mr Sands” The electronic voice replied, “One of our operatives over reacted to the news of the bombing in London which resulted in your wife and niece’s detention, and we need to clean up their mess”
“Daughter” Matthew corrected, “We adopted her so she is our daughter”
“And that was very noble of you Mr and Mrs Sands. We rarely have problems with our covert organisation and we would hate to see it brought down due to the actions of an over zealous operative, as we do form a vital role in the interests of national security”
“We don’t care about bringing down any secret organisation” Susan pleaded, “I want my daughter back”
“But what do I tell the police, the neighbours” Matthew asked, “They saw my wife and daughter taken by what they described as federal agents”
“Leave the police to us” The electronic voice replied, “You are to tell everyone that Homeland Security made an arrest in good faith, based on miss-information from an unknown malicious source, and it took until now to verify that the information was bogus”
“They want us to lie?” Susan whispered to Matthew in disbelief.
“We could just tell people someone made a mistake and we would rather not talk about it” Matthew suggested.
“That would be another good idea” said the electronic voice over the cell phone, “So you are going to keep your mouths shut?”
“We don’t want to cause any trouble sir” Matthew replied, “Please just give us back our daughter”
“All in good time” the electronic voice replied
“Ok I promise not to say a word” Susan sniffed, trying to regain her composure.
“And we have your word on that?”
“Yes” Matthew replied, “My father was in the US Air force so I understand the need for national security”
“Very well, Mr and Mrs Sands” the electronic voice droned on, “When was the last time you went to Roger Allen Park?”

Then before either Matthew or Susan could reply the voice added, “Your niece or rather your daughter is getting rather cold” then the phone cut off

Matthew and Susan looked at each other, Rebecca getting cold; did that mean they had killed her after all? As it was the fall the weather was on the turn, but Rebecca had been well wrapped up the day before when they had left, what was going on? Then it occurred to Susan, perhaps she had been dumped naked as well. At least Susan had been dumped in a nice warm jeep. In this weather there was no time to lose.

“Are you up to driving?” Matthew asked
“I’m not sure” Susan replied,
“Move over then” Matthew instructed
“But Matthew your night blindness” Susan objected.
“There is still plenty of light” Matthew reassured her and then pointed out, “plus I don’t think you’re supposed to drive in bare feet”,
“I have a spare pair of shoes I use for the office in the back, I will just get them”
Susan got out of the jeep to go round the back, but found she had not recovered enough, and Matthew had to catch her as she almost collapsed.

Matthew helped his wife to the passenger side and made sure she was safely buckled up, went round to the back and opened the back, located the spare shoes and found his wife’s gym kit so pulled out her track suit bottoms, time was of the essence and has she had his coat, the tracksuit top was not a priority, and then he got into the driving seat and handed them across to Susan. Susan pulled on the track suit bottoms and slipped on the spare shoes while Matthew started up the jeep.

Driving the Jeep was a lot different from his car, as he had automatic transmission and this was a stick shift, but he had insisted on practicing and while not as proficient as his wife, he was able to get the jeep moving as the drove out of the car park and headed for Roger Allen Park, which was known as one of the best ballparks in New England

+

Rebecca was cold, and sore from being pushed out of the van blindfolded with some kind of nylon strap, luckily the vehicle was not moving. She could not move her hands, as they were tied behind her back with plastic cable ties, like when she was attacked some months ago by two guys when she had been forced to try and walk home in the rain and the darkness. Her feet were also tied up with cable ties. She had been gagged with some kind of adhesive tape. She was also naked as for some reason the men who had arrested her had taken her clothes. At least when she had been arrested in New York the police there had not done that. Even when she was made to hand her clothes over at the orphanage run by the New York City Administration of Child Services, they had given her at least minimal clothing to put on. All they had given her was her amulet of protection which they had hung around her neck before pushing her out of the vehicle.

Rebecca felt the cold grass under her as she lay there helpless and shivered in the cold, unable to yell for help. All she knew was that the place where she had got rid of those special powers, special powers she so hated, which could control people, had been destroyed and that someone could be after her. She thought they had caught her, but one of the men had been angry that no sooner had they taken her than they were told they should not have taken, and that they worked for the same people who ran the Facility. It was so confusing, and maybe it was because Rebecca had done something wrong.

In one dark moment she wondered if her new parents, her Uncle Matthew and Aunt Susan, would still want her with all the trouble that had followed her all the way from England where she had been born. She just loved referring to them as Mum and Dad, and how she would hug them and they would hug her, and the thought that it had all been blown away drove her to tears, along with the pain of the cable ties, and the cold.

After a while, Rebecca tried to move and found her self rolling onto some tarmac. A sharp stone caused her pain, so she did her best to roll away, although she was on the point of passing out with the cold.

Suddenly in the distance she could hear someone running across the tarmac towards her. For an instant she thought whoever it was, was coming to finish her off.

But no, she felt the blind fold being pulled off and then the adhesive tape. Rebecca then heard an unfamiliar voice, but in the local accent, told her, “Keep still and I’ll cut these cable ties off miss”
Rebecca blinked and tried to focus her eyes, while the man used a knife to cut her hands free, then slowly she tried to cover herself as best as she could with her hands, with the sensation of pins and needles in them. Next the man cut her feet free.

“What’s you name miss?” the man asked her
Rebecca tried to answer, but she was shivering too violently with the cold to be coherent.

The man next removed his own jacket and put it around Rebecca. It was like a musky tent but at least it was warm as she wrapped it around her. Then she tried to stand, but the man was having none of it.
“You better keep sitting down miss, until I can call nine one-one” the man said, “If the ground is cold, try and make sure you are sitting on the coat.

Rebecca looked up, he looked almost as old as her grandfather, Thomas Sands, and this man even had a moustache, but his face was kind.

“Do you know who did this to you?” the man asked, trying to be kind but at the same time angry at who ever had done this to a vulnerable child.

“No” was all Rebecca could say as she sobbed

Just then Rebecca heard the sound of an approaching car, and the screech of breaks and the squeal of tyres. It was her mother’s red jeep, but it was her father driving while she was in the passenger seat.

“Mum, Dad!” She yelled through her tears, and once more tried to get up. This time the man helped her up, since these seemed to be the child’s parents.

Rebecca was elated at first, but then she felt ashamed and just looked at the ground, still in floods of tears.

Susan leapt out of the car first, as she was recovering from her ordeal, closely followed by Matthew as he made sure the jeep was safely at a stop.

“Rebecca” Susan screeched, “Sweetheart” she added as she ran and hugged her daughter.
“They took all my clothes away” Rebecca said weakly, “I’m sorry Aunt, I mean mum”
Susan just held on to Rebecca tightly, “That’s not your fault do you hear, that’s not your fault, so don’t let me catch you thinking it is, and besides, they took all my clothes away as well and I don’t feel guilty about it. The people that did this were sick and twisted, not like you.” Then Susan lovingly kissed Rebecca on her forehead and whispered, “I so love you Rebecca”
“I love you too mummy” Rebecca wept.
Susan also found herself crying.

Matthew came over and was intercepted by the man who had untied Rebecca, “I found her like that sir, I am one of the grounds keepers and I was preparing one of the fields for a softball match when I heard the sound of some truck come by” the man said, then added, “Is she your daughter?”

“Yes” Matthew told him.
“So that lady” the grounds keeper continued, “Must be your sister” The grounds keeper had obviously picked up on Rebecca’s Freudian slip
“My wife actually” Matthew told him, “Rebecca was my younger sister’s child, but she died last year and as her biological father was dead as well, my wife and I had her brought over from England where she was born and adopted her” he explained further.

Matthew always felt uncomfortable mentioning this in front of Rebecca as he always wanted Rebecca to think of him and Susan as her parents, which they were in law if not biology

“So what was going on?” the grounds keeper asked, “We need to call nine one one?”
“She was abducted yesterday, so the police are aware, we were told she was being dropped off here” Matthew answered
“A kidnapping huh!” The grounds keeper concluded, Matthew did not correct him, as it was easier for him to think that.
“I wish I had seen that van” the grounds keeper said wistfully, “I would have been able to have given a description to the FBI”
“Believe me sir” Matthew told him, “From what I have been told, you were lucky you weren’t here when they made the drop. These guys play hardball”

“But why did they take our, I mean my child’s clothes?” Susan interrupted has she held the weeping Rebecca.
“They are probably just a load of sickos” the grounds keeper replied, “I suspect you better get her checked out at the hospital, in case they”
Matthew interrupted, as he could guess what the conclusion the grounds keeper was jumping to, “I think they probably destroyed them so that they could not reveal any forensic evidence that might lead to them. There was a case in England many years ago where a man stripped naked to kill someone, and then showered because he thought it would hide evidence”

Matthew then went to the back of the jeep and opened the back and took out a blanket. Then he passed it to Susan. “Wrap Rebecca in this” he instructed, “Then we can give this man his coat back”

The grounds keeper held up his hands, “That’s just an old thing, I’ve been meaning to replace for some time, now I have an excuse”
“If you’re sure?” Matthew enquired.
“Matthew” Susan interjected, “We can return it back here later after we get Rebecca home”
“Aren’t you going to the hospital or waiting for the police?” the grounds keeper asked
“The guys who did this were real pros” Matthew told him, “The police were aware, and as you didn’t see the vehicle, there is not a lot for them to find, and I just want to take our daughter home, we can call the family doctor from there if need be”
The grounds keeper then handed Matthew a card, “Just in case you need me as a witness” he explained”
“Thank you” Matthew replied and then herded Susan and Rebecca back to the Jeep.

Susan helped Rebecca into the back and then got in the back beside her, while Matthew drove home.

When they arrived, there to greet them in the driveway was not their son Frank, but Rosie O’Brien. In the roadway Matthew noticed that the car with the secret service agents had returned.

“I’m so sorry this happened to your family Mr Sands” Rosie told Matthew as he got out first, “I understand if you would like to see the back of me sir, but the fact remains, someone did blow up the Facility London and we still do not know who it is so for the future you will still need to be protected”
“And who protects us from our protectors?” Matthew snapped back, then stopped, “I’m sorry, it’s been a bad twenty four hours”
“I understand sir” Rosie told him, “Believe me I understand, we have had our share of as you humans say bad apples as well.”

Susan next climbed out the car and then called Matthew to carry Rebecca to the door, so she would not hurt her bare feet on the gravel driveway. While he was doing that, Susan came round to talk with Rosie.
“Are you alright?” she asked, remembering how Rosie had been first to be shot with the taser gun”
“I’ll live my dear” Rosie replied, “I believe the US government is sending some secret but formal apology to the Irish government, since that is who I am on secondment from”
Rosie and Susan looked on as Matthew lovingly carried Rebecca to the front door. She was still wearing just the groundskeepers coat and was hanging on to Matthew for dear life while Matthew constantly reassured her that they still loved her and that she was safe.
Rosie then turned to Susan, “I have to drop out of sight for a while, now you best give Rebecca a hot bath, a good meal and put her to bed, she needs it the poor thing”
“I suppose you are right Rosie” Susan answered, and then she looked up as Matthew gently put Rebecca down on the doormat in the front porch so he could get the key to open the front door. In one of those bizarre moments when people wonder about trivia, Susan looked at Rebecca’s bare feet, realised unlike her, Rebecca had no spare outdoor shoes and then quietly asked, “If we are not going to go out again today Rosie, I wonder if the school will mind Rebecca attending in bare feet for a few days until we can get her new shoes. They don’t allow them to wear her gym shoes outside the gym

When there was no answer, Susan looked down, and discovered that Rosie was gone. Susan tried to see where she could have gone, but it seemed as if she had vanished into thin air.

Shaking her head, she followed Matthew and Rebecca into the house. Rebecca went straight upstairs to hit the shower and get fresh clothes, while Matthew went to telephone his father Thomas to let him know that Rebecca and Susan had turned up alive after their shock abduction.

Susan went into the living room, where her son Frank was. Frank gave her a big hug, “I’m back Frank” she reassured him, “And so is your sister, but I would let her get dressed before you see her Frank, the people who took us, took our clothes”

Frank let go of his mother and then went to two large packages on the coffee table, “Mom, these were left in the porch by someone” he told his mother, then he showed her a post it note, “This was on one of the packages, but fell off when I picked them up”

Susan looked at the post-it-note, and on it, it said “Was unable to find where other team had left Mrs Sands and the girl, so took packages here to her home address”

Susan then looked at the packages, one had her name and one had Rebecca’s name printed on a label in a non-descript font, so she opened the one with her name. Inside were her clothes sealed in a cellophane bag and brand new shoes, identical to the ones she had been wearing when she had been snatched. Susan opened the cellophane bag and from the smell emanating from it, it smelled like they had gone through some dry cleaning process.

Susan opened the package marked with Rebecca’s name; it too contained Rebecca’s clothing in a cellophane bag which on opening had the same smell of some kind of dry cleaning process. There was also a brand new pair of shoes identical to the ones she had been wearing. Maybe Matthew was right, they had been stripped so their clothes could be processed to remove forensic evidence implicating whoever had grabbed them, but as that could not be done with shoes, and they had merely replaced them. It also seemed that the team returning their clothes after all incriminating evidence had been removed had not communicated with whoever had left her naked in her jeep, which seemed just typical of government run organisations.

Whoever this covert organisation was, even though they had trouble speaking to one another, it seemed a very bad idea to get on the wrong side of them, so as they had agreed to the electronic voice on the telephone, it was probably safest to keep quiet and just tell friends and family that some federal agency had made a mistake, which resulted in them being arrested, it had now been sorted out and they wanted to put the awful experience behind them and get back to being a family, if that was possible.

* * *

Inside the Annexe
Some where in Kent
South East England
The present

Jenny Green looked in terror up at the four armed men who were the members of the clean up squad as they took the safeties off of their guns.
“But we are British citizens” Sue-Lim insisted, “We do not come under the jurisdiction of American clean up squads”
“Sorry mam” the lead squad member replied, “it is nothing personal, now please stand up by the wall, both of you and we will try and make this quick”

Jenny realised that there was no use arguing, this Mr Davies had won, and anyway by rights Jenny should have been killed all those months ago when she had been attacked by a doppelganger assassin. Jenny stood up and walked to the wall of the conference room, as she was told, to face this firing squad.

Sue-Lim hesitated and then went to stand next to Jenny. Before she reached the wall, Sue-Lim turned and said, “If you are expecting investigators to believe we just died in a fire, aren’t the bullet holes going to be a dead giveaway”

“You’re right” the leader replied, “I can give you a choice” he continued as he took out his combat knife, “Do you want your throat’s cut”, then he pulled from his pocket a nylon ribbon, “Or the garrotte”
“I don’t like knives” Jenny found herself mumbling before she could stop herself.
“Ok” replied the squad leader, “The garrotte it is” and the four of them walked over to the two women.

One squad member made sure that Jenny and Sue-Lim’s hands were firmly tied behind their backs with plastic cable ties, and then they were forced to their knees.
“What authority do you have to kill us” Sue-Lim angrily asked, “Even the CIA is banned from assassination”
“The Inter Dimensional Entity Control Oversight Committee is given the authority to use all mean necessary to keep the knowledge of the existence of IDEs secure, which therefore includes the taking of lives if required” the squad leader replied, “and this is a deep cleaning, not an assassination”.

Then two of the squad members, not the leader, stood behind each woman, and looped their nylon ribbons around the front their necks, and then crossed the ribbon ends over at the back of their necks, so each man could get enough force to collapse their windpipes and terminate them, and held them taut, but not yet strangling them.

“Do we need finger on trigger confirmation?” one of the squad asked.

Jenny remembered this term from before, it usually meant a target was in gun sight, the assassin’s finger was on the trigger, and he was getting the final ok to squeeze that trigger. She had heard that expression when she had heard that an assassin from the Facility, on his own initiative had had the five year old adopted daughter of her former boss, Angela Andrews in his sights. Luckily that time the request had been routed to the previous head of The Facility who had the decency to veto the sanction. It had been that incident that had lead to American control.

“No” came the leader’s chilling reply, “We already have this from the Committee’s representative. Now men, on three, I want you to do a steady pull, not a sudden jerking action as that could lead you to pulling a muscle. You also need to hold it tight for about four or five minutes to ensure suffocation” then the squad leader spoke to the two women about to be killed, “Miss Green, Miss Wang, sorry you have to die like this, but this is nothing personal, just orders, as you work for the organisation you must appreciate that”

“Only obeying orders, where have I heard that one before” Sue-Lim remarked

All Jenny could think of, was her family, and how they would never know how or why she died, and tears flowed down her cheeks, “But I won’t talk” Jenny whimpered, “You don’t need to do this”

“I know you would keep quiet, but that’s not the point Mam, we have our orders, you are ordered to be killed” the squad leader replied, trying to sound sympathetic to Jenny’s plight. Then he spoke to the two men with the garrottes in position. “One” said the squad leader

At the back of the room where the other member of the clean up squad stood guard by the door, Jenny heard a burst of sound on the radio

“Two”

Jenny could just make out that the squad member was talking back into the radio

“Three – steady pulling now men”
“STOP, DEEP CLEAN CANCELLED” yelled the squad member at the back of the room.

Jenny felt the ribbon quickly tighten around her neck as the man behind her began pulling on the garrotte with increasing strength and she could no longer breath. Along with her own chocking as she was being strangled to death, she heard that of Sue-Lim as she was being strangled as well.

“STOP – STOP, RELAX THE GARROTTES” the squad leader immediately ordered, then added, “Just don’t release in case we still have a go for their termination, I just need to authenticate this. He may just want to see them die so he can report that he has witnessed their deaths in person”

Suddenly the garrotte was relaxed as the squad leader was still talking, and both Jenny and Sue-Lim could just about breathe again, but it was still there, tight around their necks, only just allowing them to breath, but ready to be used to constricted, should this just be stay of execution, so Mr Davies could come in and get his jollies watching them be executed.

“Here he is” Jenny heard the squad member with the radio say.

Jenny listened as the squad leader spoke to some voice on the radio as he confirmed the other person’s identity and authority to cancel their execution.

“It’s your lucky day Mr Vee has overruled Mr Davies and told us you are both to be allowed to live” the Squad leader told them, then he told the squad members still restraining them with the garrottes, “Release them, and help them up, and pull out”

Immediately, the garrottes were removed from their necks, and the cable ties were cut, and the squad members pulled both Jenny and Sue-Lim to their feet.
“Sorry” said one to Jenny, “This would have been the first time I would have had to take a life and I really was not looking forward to it”
“But you were prepared to do it” Jenny snapped back, trying not to let him see how emotional she felt
“I’m a soldier” the man replied, “It’s what I may be called upon to do”

Sue-Lim just slapped the squad member who has been about to strangle her, around his face

Before the squad member did anything, the squad leader just told him, “Leave it, she’s upset”

As the clean up squad left the room, Jenny looked at Sue-Lim and went and threw her arms around her, and Sue Lim reciprocated.
“I really thought I was going to die” Jenny told her, as tears streamed down her face
“So did I Jenny” Sue-Lim replied and she too started shedding tears


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