[Sticks]

Episode VIII – Forgotten Virtues

Spoiler:

Sometimes what we thought were certainties are not. People we thought would always be with us leave or pass away. When the Princess of Wales was killed in that tunnel in Paris, the shock was total. The disbelief, over whelming.

Sometimes words in these circumstances fail.

With Sarah Bentley, her world fell apart with the murder of her brother in her home village of Tottington, located north of Manchester. She teamed up with her brother’s best friend, Shaun Chapman, who admitted that he had always fancied her, and she had also fancied him from a far. She has even shared two nights of passion with him. Now he lies dead, shot by one of the assassins sent after her who have mounted an armed attack at CERN. The assassin now stands pointing his gun at Sarah’s head and pulling the trigger…

+ + +

For Sarah time seemed to stop as she stared up at the gun pointed at her head, as the assassin was squeezing the trigger to send her to oblivion once and for all

There was a click and then the assassin swore.

The gun had jammed unexpectedly

Sarah continued to look up at him as she knelt by the lifeless body of Shaun, stunned and in shock at the death of the one human being who she loved enough to share her body with. Someone who seemed to be her soul mate

Suddenly two shots rang out from behind her and the assassin standing over her collapsed.

In the distance Sarah heard the sound of someone running up to her from behind, but it seemed as if she was hearing through water and could not make out what was being said. Even if she could have heard, what did it matter? What did anything matter anymore, her Shaun was dead, and he died because he was protecting her. Sarah was also in shock that she was still alive and it was now the assassin lying dead on the floor in front of her.

She was now waiting for another assassin, or indeed the phoney police surgeon or Detective Inspector Halsall to finish her off once and for all.

As she waited for the end one thought briefly went through her head. ”What went wrong with the assassin’s gun?”

Sarah felt her left upper arm being grabbed from behind and a voice shouting at her, breaking through the wall of silence she had retreated into. It was the voice of Doctor Charlene Henshaw, the mysterious Doctor H whose Twitter ID she had seen on her brother’s notepad before he had been murdered.

“Sarah get up” Doctor Henshaw yelled at her, “We’ve got to get you out of here”
All Sarah could focus on was Shaun lying in a pool of blood, “But Shaun!” Sarah sobbed.
“He’s gone” Doctor Henshaw shouted, “Now get up we’re here to try and save you” and pulled then Doctor Henshaw Sarah to her feet.

Sarah heard footsteps coming from the direction the assassin had come. No doubt more assassins to finish the job.

Doctor Henshaw dragged a stunned and frightened Sarah along the corridor. Sarah then noticed that this platinum blonde woman was holding in her other hand some kind of handgun. It had been Doctor Henshaw who had shot dead the assassin.

Were they really on Sarah’s side?

Shots rang out from behind them, only just missing them as they managed to turn a corner. Then they passed Doctor Henshaw’s room and the American man still holding his nine millimetre automatic handgun in one hand and some kind device in the other.

“Charlene” the American man shouted, “Get her to safety and get this powered up” he added handing doctor Henshaw the strange device.

Doctor Henshaw holstered her gun and took the strange device whilst still holding firmly onto Sarah
“Simon’s idea?” Doctor Henshaw questioned
“Yes, just like you did before in the other timeline” the American man shouted back as he was momentarily fired his gun round the corner at who know who.
“Where do you want to go?” Doctor Henshaw hurriedly asked
The American man pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Doctor Henshaw. Sarah could not quite see what was on it, but it looked like a bunch of numbers.
“These are the co-ordinates” the American man yelled and fired more shots at whoever was coming down the corridor, “Now get her the hell out of her” he added
“I’ll take her down to the Atlas detector, it has a secure door” Doctor Henshaw replied as she started leading Sarah round another corner and along the corridor to another exterior door.

Sarah was now totally confused. It was obvious that this Doctor Henshaw and the American man were working together. It also seemed like the American man was in command, but she had thought all along that he was in league with those who had killed her brother. Now it seemed that they were on her side trying to protect her. What was going on?

Then she remembered back to when Derek was shot in front of her. The driver of the black mini who had knocked over that motorcycle assassin. It had not been a normal crash – it had been a deliberate act to save her

Sarah had so many questions, but with people shooting at her, they would have to wait.

Just as they reached the other external door Sarah saw two other men approaching it. Both were wearing black motorcycle helmets and carrying machine pistols.

“S**t” Doctor Henshaw swore and pulled Sarah back the way they came.

Sarah heard a large bang and there seemed to be a blinding flash, followed by gunfire, both from the American man’s pistol and full automatic fire from the assassins.

They reached the corner where the American man was. “I thought I told you to get her to safety” he yelled at Doctor Henshaw
“There’s another clean up squad coming in the other door” Doctor Henshaw retorted, “Can we get through the other way”
“I sent down a flash grenade” the American shouted back, “but that won’t hold them off”

“So this was it”, Sarah thought. The only two exits from this building were blocked by the motor cycle assassins who were closing in on them.

“My office sir” Doctor Henshaw shouted.

“They will be here before the generator is working” the American man shouted back
“Trust me Sam” Doctor Henshaw said with determination, “I have a little souvenir from Karam Tag Chou I never thought I would use up”

Doctor Henshaw pushed Sarah into her office and let go of her while the American man changed the clip on his automatic pistol. The sound of automatic gunfire was getting closer. Sarah wondered how many people were being murdered by these assassins.

“Got it” Doctor Henshaw announced and produced a strange disk of some green crystal. It was inscribed with strange writing Sarah had never seen before.

“A disc of dimension door?” the American man said with surprise as he looked at it.

Sarah had no idea what they were talking about, how could such an insignificant piece of jewellery help them?

Doctor Henshaw whispered, “I just hope this still works” and then chanted something in a language Sarah had never heard before.

The disc in Doctor Henshaw’s hand crumbled to ash, there was a sound of rushing wind and suddenly in front of them a swirling vortex appeared just in front of the wall.

“What the hell is that” Sarah screamed

“Our way out” Doctor Henshaw shouted at Sarah, then turning to the American man, “Are you coming sir”
“Take her” the American man instructed Doctor Henshaw, “Send her to the co-ordinates and if I don’t make it tell her about this” At this the American man tossed over to Doctor Henshaw a strange talisman that Sarah had never seen before.

“What about you sir” Doctor Henshaw asked
“I have to try and deactivate this clean up squad” he yelled, “I just hope whoever reactivated them did not change the finger on trigger stand down codes”

Again this conversation went over Sarah’s head, but she was more worried about the strange swirling vortex in front of her. Was this a new weapon her brother had discovered? Was this vortex the secret that people were being killed for?

Suddenly Doctor Henshaw grabbed Sarah and pushed her through this swirling vortex.

As Sarah fell through what ever it was it seemed like she was going through a swirling tunnel of light, she also noticed that doctor Henshaw was coming through this tunnel with her

Sarah then looked back in the direction she was falling and it looked like another vortex similar to the one she had been pushed through, but this had a light in the middle

Then Sarah tumbled onto a floor as she landed in front of yet another swirling vortex. Doctor Henshaw came out of the vortex but unlike Sarah, she seemed to have the knack of travelling through them and so was able to end up on her feet, still carrying the strange device the American man had given her.

The vortex subsided into nothing and Sarah was alone with this Doctor Henshaw.
For a moment Sarah was stunned, shocked by how she had travelled from an office under siege, to where ever this place was

Doctor Henshaw reached down a hand to Sarah to help her get up. Sarah grabbed it and Doctor Henshaw pulled Sarah to her feet.

For the first time Sarah looked up at where she had landed, and was in awe at the sight that greeted her. She seemed to be at the bottom of some giant cavern looking up at a massive machine that looked like a giant disc on its side with what appeared to be pipes and walkways around it.

Doctor Henshaw let go of Sarah’s hand and Sarah continued to stare up at the massive machine this filled the enormous cavern.

“What is this?” Sarah was only just able to get out.
“Sarah Bentley, Welcome to the Atlas detector for the LHC” Doctor Henshaw replied, “It’s where we collide protons and other things, looking for the Higgs boson”

“Is this why my brother died” Sarah asked accusingly pointing up at the machine, “Or was it that thing we came through, what ever that was”

“Sarah” Doctor Henshaw said firmly, “the Atlas detector here is well documented and publicised all over the world wide web. There’s no big secret about it, you can even take a virtual tour of this facility on the web. As for how we got here, well that was just a dimension door spell” Doctor Henshaw continued “I used a one shot relic I picked up from” Just then Doctor Henshaw stopped, paused and then went on, “I think I better let the Colonel, sorry Brigadier General, explain that one to you. I’m not sure how much we are allowed to tell minor spirits of their true origins”

“What?” Sarah repeated and then thought for a moment, “My brother had your twitter ID written down and someone murdered him, why”

Before Doctor Henshaw could reply there was the same rushing wind as when the vortex formed a few moments ago in doctor Henshaw’s office

Sarah saw Doctor Henshaw shake her head and saying how she did not believe what she was seeing, before turning to Sarah and yelling, “RUN!” and pointing in the direction of some steps up to another level

Sarah turned and ran as best as she could and ran up the metal staircase got to the top and turned left. There was a short tunnel with metal cabinets on the right hand side and red cupboards on the left.

“Get to the main lift” Doctor Henshaw shouted.

Sarah headed down the tunnel at speed passing more cabinets on the left and metal bins on the right, and came to a dark heavy door.

Sarah tried the handle but it seemed stiff.

Doctor Henshaw caught up and opened the door and pushed Sarah through it before going through herself. It was another well lit tunnel and Doctor Henshaw led Sarah through under a blue rectangular archway right up to an old style industrial lift.

Doctor Henshaw hit the lift call button and started repeating, “Come on”, but the lift did not seem to be responding

“What wrong with this thing” Doctor Henshaw said in disbelief as she kept hitting the lift button
“What’s going on?” Sarah demanded to know

“This is the lift to the surface” Doctor Henshaw explained, “It’s beginning to look like they’ve disabled it to trap us down here or something like that”

Then they heard someone opening the heavy door they had come through. Sarah tried the handle of a door next to the lift but it was locked so Doctor Henshaw pulled Sarah over to a wall of a short corridor to the right of the lift so they were not in the line of any fire, and handed Sarah the talisman that the American man had given her. “This is yours” she told Sarah, “You would have had it three and a half years ago if we had been able to find you”. Doctor Henshaw then took out her handgun and cocked it ready for firing.

Sarah took the talisman and put it on. Somebody had definitely been withholding information from her but what?

Doctor Henshaw leaned around the corner and fired her gun in the direction of the Detective inspector and then ducked back behind the wall as they heard the sound of full automatic fire coming back at them

The firing ceased and the voice of Detective Inspector Halsall shouted out “Doctor Henshaw, Throw down your weapons and surrender. You’re not the only one with access to what Mr Reed calls Reversed engineered Eye-Dee-Double-you oh one artefacts, whatever they are. We have you out gunned and we have this entire site under lockdown. If you don’t surrender we are prepared to deep clean the entire complex if we have to”

“So you would kill everybody at CERN then” Doctor Henshaw shouted back
“If National Security demanded it I would kill my own mother Doctor Henshaw” the voice of Detective Inspector shouted, “Now toss out your gun and come out here both of you with your hands up. I’m not a patient man, and if I don’t have you in my custody, when the other clean up crew arrives down here in that lift, well you get the picture Doctor Henshaw”

“S**t” Doctor Henshaw swore again
“I’m going to give myself up” Sarah announced; “Please I don’t want anymore people to die” she sobbed.

“If you do that Sarah, they will either kill you or experiment on you” Doctor Henshaw said to Sarah firmly grabbing her arm.
“But why?” Sarah asked, “What’s going on?”
“All I can tell you” Doctor Henshaw whispered, “Is that your parents were not your biological parents Sarah. You were adopted by them when you were a baby”

Sarah shook her head in disbelief, “No” she repeated

“I’m afraid so” Doctor Henshaw went on, “After your parents had your brother, your adopted mother was told that if she had any more children it would kill her so they adopted you. Obviously they never got to tell you or your brother as he was three at the time and his memory was erased to protect you”
“No! No! Sarah repeated, “I don’t believe it”
“It’s true Sarah, your parents were protecting you” Doctor Henshaw went on, “That’s why they probably never told you or your brother. They wanted you to live a normal life as if you were fully human”

“We’re waiting” Shouted Detective Inspector Halsall, “That other team are on their way down in the lift as we speak”
“Go out there and think of their guns” Doctor Henshaw instructed Sarah
“What do you mean fully human?” Sarah asked
“GO!” Doctor Henshaw said emphatically, ignoring Sarah’s question
“Ok” Sarah replied and crept round the corner to face her initial nemesis, Detective Inspector Halsall with her hands raised.

Beside him stood one of the motorcycle assassins, holding a machine pistol

“So there you are you little piece of S**t” the detective growled, “As far as everyone is concerned your just a gangster moll, a drug dealer who bumped off her own waster junkie brother”
“I never did drugs” Sarah said tearfully, “Neither did Trevor”
“I don’t care” the detective sneered
Sarah took out the memory stick she had been carrying, “Please take this” she offered, “I don’t know what my brother found”
“Not interested love” Halsall sneered and lifted up his gun, “My employer thinks your something. Personally I think you and your brother are scum” Then the detective took on a sarcastic tone “It’s such a pity but I tried to take you alive, but you know how these things go, maybe it was that other clean up squad who took you out, fog of war and all that cr*p. As they say Miss Bentley, these things happen”

Sarah stared at Detective Inspector Halsall’s gun as he pointed it at Sarah’s head and for a moment time went into slow motion.

Detective Inspector Halsall pulled the trigger, but it didn’t fire. Like the assassin’s gun several moments ago, it jammed!

“What the” Halsall said angrily as he instinctively examined his gun to try and un-jam it

Just then two shots rang out from behind her and Detective Inspector Halsall collapsed onto the floor dead.
The other assassin aimed his submachine pistol at Sarah, but his gun jammed as well. Another shot rang out and he too fell down dead.

Sarah turned round and saw Doctor Henshaw holstering her gun and coming towards her.

“What happened?” Sarah asked weakly, “Their guns?”

Doctor Henshaw seemed to ignore her and went straight to the dead assassin and removed something from his body before picking up his machine pistol, next she went to the dead police officer and removed something from his body.
“We need to get their ID so they can’t be identified” Doctor Henshaw told Sarah, “We have to maintain containment”

Sarah wanted to ask this Doctor Henshaw what was going on, but somehow the shock at what she had witnessed somehow stopped her from speaking.

Doctor Henshaw went back to the lift where she had put the strange device retrieved it and came back to Sarah. “You are going to have to trust me Sarah” Doctor Henshaw told Sarah
“What do you mean not fully human?” Sarah squeaked out, but before Doctor Henshaw could answer there was the sound of the lift moving and again

Doctor Henshaw swore. “We have to get out of here” Doctor Henshaw told Sarah as she thrust the strange device into Sarah’s hand. “Carry this” Doctor Henshaw ordered and ushered Sarah away past the dead bodies of the assassin and the detective inspector back to the heavy door.

As they got through the door, Sarah heard the lift door open in the distance and as Doctor Henshaw pulled the door shut, there was the sound of bullets hitting the other side of the door.

Sarah and Doctor Henshaw continued to run back along the short tunnel into the main chamber where the Atlas detector was.

“Over there” Doctor Henshaw screamed and pointed round the corner to another lift Sarah ran along the walkway dodging over hanging wires as Doctor Henshaw followed behind. Sarah reached the lift and pressed the lift button hoping it would be called.

Sarah turned back the way to see Doctor Henshaw following her and firing at the entrance to the side tunnel with the submachine pistol she had taken from the assassin. Somehow the gun was no longer jammed.

Sarah heard the doors of the lift open and she turned back to look at it.

It was empty.

Doctor Henshaw shoved Sarah into the lift hit the button for level four, before turning and releasing another burst of gunfire out of the lift door in the direction of what seemed to be two armed figures in commando uniforms and balaclavas.

As soon as the doors of the lift closed Doctor Henshaw made Sarah get onto the floor of the lift and she did likewise. Next Sarah heard the sounds of bullets hitting the closed lift door, with some penetrating and hitting where she had just been standing.

“After we get out the lift we need to head for the exit from the detector hall” Doctor Henshaw instructed Sarah hurriedly
“Who are they?” Sarah whined, “What did I do?”

“It’s a clean up squad” Doctor Henshaw replied
“A what?” Sarah bleated

“It’s a special black ops unit” Doctor Henshaw explained, “recruited from the cream of Special Forces their job was to ensure certain things don’t leak out and clean up when other black ops go pear shaped”

“What’s a black ops?” Sarah asked, she had briefly heard Trevor once use the term, but had never understood it.

“Highly secret and possibly illegal military operations” Doctor Henshaw gabbled out, “which our governments carry out from time to time”

“So my brother’s murder was done by one of these black-ops” Sarah said in disbelief

“Not an officially sanctioned one” Doctor Henshaw muttered as the door to the lift opened.

Doctor Henshaw then guided Sarah along the catwalks a short distance, passed a diagram of the Atlas detector until they came to what looked like a blue fire door. In the near distance Sarah heard the sound of people climbing up metal stairs, presumably the clean up squad as Doctor Henshaw had termed it.

Sarah still wanted to know why Doctor Henshaw had said she was not fully human, but somehow when you are running for your life; it probably would not be classed as important in the grand scheme of things.

The pair of them went through the blue door into a white tunnel which had wires and fluorescent lights in the middle of the ceiling. They ran along the tunnel and took a sharp right as the tunnel turned ninety degrees.

They passed a red metal gate style door, which Doctor Henshaw slammed shut and they came into what looked like some factory floor, with blue cages containing cylinders on the left and in front a green set of stairs and another white tunnel similar to the one they had just ran through.

Doctor Henshaw held up her arm to stop Sarah just as she reached a red cylinder on the wall that held a fire hose, whilst Doctor Henshaw peeked round the corner.

“Clear” she shouted and dragged Sarah towards and through a black door to a lift door.

Doctor Henshaw pressed a button and again started repeating the words “Come on” as the lift this time started into life.

“Get to the side” Doctor Henshaw instructed Sarah and trained the machine pistol at the lift door.

Sarah moved to one side, so she was not in the immediate arc of fire should the lift be occupied.

The lift doors opened.

It was empty

Doctor Henshaw ushered Sarah into the lift and once again ordered her to get on the floor of it and she hit the button to go to the surface.

The lift doors closed agonisingly slowly, and just as they finally closed Sarah thought she heard the arrival of the clean up squad, but she could not be sure.

The lift door opened and Doctor Henshaw pulled Sarah to her feet and they came across a set of blue double doors. Doctor Henshaw used some white card which she waved near a sensor and the door opened so the two of them went through into what looked like a large shed, with the main door open

There standing in the middle of the floor was the phoney police surgeon, wearing a tweed jacket and a fedora hat accompanied by another man in commando uniform, carrying a submachine gun.

The two men turned around to face Sarah and Doctor Henshaw. The commando tried to raise his weapon, but Doctor Henshaw was quicker on the draw and he fell to the floor dead.

The phoney police surgeon stood there and raised his hands, “I believe you have me at a disadvantage Doctor Henshaw” the phoney police surgeon said in his Etonian accent.

“You” Doctor Henshaw said angrily, “We should have known it was you Mr Reed”

“But, he was the man who got me out of Bury Police Station” Sarah spoke up, “and then he shot a female police officer”
“Yeah, well Sarah, he was once head of Containment Services when the British ran what we called Inter-Dimensional Entity Control from London”

“What was that?” Sarah asked

“So you have not explained everything to Lucy here” the phoney police surgeon said in a matter of fact manner.

“My name’s Sarah, not Lucy” Sarah said with confusion in her voice

The phoney police surgeon for a moment looked surprised, “So you haven’t told her that either”, very remiss of you Doctor Henshaw”
“Told me what” Sarah demanded to know

“It’s simple really” the phoney police surgeon went on, “When you were born, your human mother named you Lucy before she was deep cleaned by my section. But before we got to her, she had had you adopted out and it seems your name was changed. No wonder we could never find you until now, otherwise you would have been deep cleaned then as well”

Sarah shook her head, “I don’t understand. Has my life been one big lie?”

“These are mind games Sarah” Doctor Henshaw told Sarah angrily, “So your parents adopted you, so what? Your life has been no more of a lie than any other child that has been adopted by another family” Then Doctor Henshaw walked towards the police surgeon with her machine pistol raised, “You never did get over the fact that the British had to cede authority to the Americans did you”

“Why did you want to kill me as a baby?” Sarah then asked, “And why did you say human mother. Doctor Henshaw what did you mean I’m not fully human?”

“It was policy back then” the phoney police surgeon replied, again in a chilling matter of fact manner, “All inter dimensional entities and half breeds were to be subject to incarceration, interrogation and extermination. It was a policy that kept us safe. It was a policy that would never have allowed your own mentor Professor Frank Graves from siding with that Magnus Timor cult, or had you forgotten that Doctor Henshaw” he added pointedly

Sarah saw Doctor Henshaw shake her head in disgust, “Don’t throw that at me you b*****d, had I known what my supervisor was doing I would have stopped him earlier than I did”

“It’s all immaterial anyway” the phoney police surgeon went on, “My employer”

“Your employer?” Doctor Henshaw interrupted

“My employer” the phoney police surgeon persisted, “Has plans for you”

Just then from behind them came three men in commando style uniforms armed with Kalashnikov rifles which they pointed at Doctor Henshaw and Sarah

The clean up squad had arrived

“Drop it Doctor” the lead commando of the clean up squad ordered.

“You are out gunned Doctor Henshaw” the phoney police surgeon told her, again with no emotion in his voice, “I suggest you do as he says”

“Why?” Doctor Henshaw challenged, “You’re going to kill us anyway, it’s what scum like you get off on isn’t it”

There was the sound of three guns being made ready to fire.

Doctor Henshaw shook her head and dropped the machine pistol on the floor with a clang.

“And if you would be so kind as to give me your side arm” the phoney police surgeon pressed

Doctor Henshaw glowered at the police surgeon and handed over her hand gun.

“How do you want us to do this sir” one of the commandos asked
“How do you normally execute a deep clean on a target at close quarters like this” the phoney police surgeon
“A number of ways sir” the commando replied “In set ups like this; we can shoot them or use garrottes”
“What would you prefer?” the phoney police surgeon asked
“Garrottes sir” the commando replied, “less blood to clear up and to me it makes it more real sir”
“I see you enjoy killing don’t you” the commando replied

Sarah saw the man nod

“Garrottes it is then” the police surgeon replied, “Guns can be so messy”
“You B******ds” Doctor Henshaw swore

The commandos walked up to Sarah and Doctor Henshaw and forced them to their knees and tied their hands behind their backs with plastic ties.

“It’s nothing personal mam” one of the commandos told Doctor Henshaw
“It never is with you b*****ds” Doctor Henshaw replied

All Sarah could do was cry. All her running had been for nothing. All the people who had been murdered had been for nothing. She would now die at the hands of some one from Special Forces, strangled to death on the orders of the government.

Sarah felt a loop of some material looped around her neck, by the commando behind her.

“Get ready men” one of the commandoes ordered

Sarah felt the garrotte tighten, but not yet enough to choke her. She closed her eyes, ready to have her life extinguished

“On a count of three” the commando continued

“One”

BANG
BANG
BANG

The garrottes fell loose as the three commandos fell down dead.

Sarah looked up. The phoney police surgeon had shot all three remaining members of the clean up squad dead, just as they were about to be executed.

Was this why he had asked them to use garrottes, so they would not be holding their guns

“You murdered your own clean up squad, why?” Doctor Henshaw said accusingly

“My employer had specific instructions, and anyway if you look you your right” the phoney police surgeon said in response, “You will see his change of plan”

As Sarah looked to her right she could see a red dot appear in thin air and move towards them. As it moved it grew in size, until it was a swirling mass of red.

“What the?” Doctor Henshaw began.
“It’s simple Doctor” the phoney police surgeon shouted above the sound of the vortex, “Minor spirits of virtue if you know how, can be quite easy to track and lock onto”

What did he mean minor spirit of virtue

The swirling vortex got closer and closer

“Get to your feet fast and run” Doctor Henshaw whispered to Sarah, “We’ve seen this before”

Sarah spotted that the Phoney police surgeon’s attention was distracted by the vortex.

Sarah decided to take the chance and moved one of her feet forward from how she was kneeling, and got to her feet and started to run as best as she could.

“STOP” Yelled the phoney police surgeon.

Sarah turned around. The phoney police surgeon was pointing a gun right at Sarah. Just then while the phoney police surgeon was distracted, Doctor Henshaw got to her feet and ran into the phoney police surgeon knocking him over.

Sarah noticed that the red swirling vortex coming towards her and tried to shout a warning, but it was too late, the vortex swallowed Doctor Henshaw whole and then a moment later; it was gone.

For a moment Sarah stood there transfixed.

Yet another person who had tried to help her had ended up dead!

The police surgeon rolled over and regained his gun and got to his feet and walked towards Sarah, “You my little lady are now surplus to requirement, now my employer has captured the good doctor” he told Sarah, “Sometimes I think the old ways are best. Incarcerate, Interrogate and best of all”

The phoney police surgeon brought his gun up and pointed it at Sarah’s head and cocked the gun, “exterminate” he said with venom

BANG!!

The phoney police surgeon dropped the gun and then fell forward. Sarah was just able to get out of his way.

In from the main front door came the American man still holding his gun accompanied by two armed men in commando uniforms identical to the clean up squad members that the phoney police surgeon had killed.
“Where’s Doctor Henshaw”?” The American man asked
“Please” Sarah pleaded, “I don’t know. This swirling red whirlpool thing came along and took her”
“Damn” the American swore. He holstered his gun and pulled out a knife and approached Sarah.

Sarah was terrified of this American as he looked angry and looked like her was going to stab her with the knife and so she sank to her knees again pleading for him to not kill her, but instead he just cut the cable tie from her hands, and gently helped her to her feet and asked if she was ok.

Sarah reached into her purse, which by luck she was still carrying and pulled out the memory stick and offered it to the American, “Please, I swear I don’t know what’s on this” she wept, “I have no idea what my brother found”

The American took the memory stick and placed it in his pocket, “Probably nothing that we couldn’t have debunked or discredited” the American replied, “From what we were able to monitor your brother came across files saying that something a lot of people thought was a hoax may not have been. Like most conspiracy theorists your brother probably missed the story by a wide mark.”

“So why did you have him killed” Sarah sobbed, “Why were you trying to kill me? We were only trying to keep our house from being repossessed. We weren’t a threat to anyone”

The American shook his head, “Miss Bentley, it wasn’t us that ordered the hit. Sarah some months ago we got intel, that certain members of a specialist unit”

“Doctor Henshaw said they were some kind of deep clean squad thing” Sarah interrupted briefly

“Yeah ok” the American continued, “Well we got this intel that persons unknown had reactivated a clean up squad for their own purposes. It took us a while to get some form of intercept to monitor what they were doing in a hope of finding out who was pulling their strings. Luckily the ones here that came into the surface still responded to the finger on trigger stand down codes”

Sarah looked down at the dead bodies and in particular the one of the phoney police surgeon.

“Yeah” the American spoke up, “I wish I hadn’t had to shoot him. I don’t think he was the one pulling the strings, but he could have led me to whoever was”

“So what was this big secret” Sarah persisted, “What did my brother find?”

“Like I said” the American went on, “It wasn’t anything he thought he found, as I said we have enough dis-info operatives that would have undermined any so-called secret he found. No, the real big secret, which we don’t believe he found, but was why the clean up squad came to your house, was you”

“Me?” Sarah asked still confused, “I don’t understand” she said in a state of shock, “First Doctor Henshaw said I was adopted, and my name is not Sarah but Lucy”

“Lucy Sanders to be precise” The American interrupted, “After your birth mother Tracy Sanders”

Sarah continued, “Well Doctor Henshaw and this b*****d”, she went on, pointing at the body of the phoney police surgeon, “said I wasn’t even human, like I’m some kind of alien”

Sarah looked up at the American man, and his expression seemed to indicate that he believed this as well.

“You’re mostly human” The American replied after a long pause.
“What?” Sarah repeated in disbelief.

The belief by these people that she was not a human being made her feel that they thought she was some second class citizen if that. Someone to be looked down upon with revulsion and possible killed.

“So does this mean I’m subhuman?” Sarah demanded to know

The American sighed and shook his head, “No Sarah, it doesn’t” then he went on, “Your biological father was what some might call an alien”

Sarah shook her head, “No, your wrong, my father was as human as you are. He was a kind and”
“No Sarah” the American man interrupted, “That was your adoptive father. Your biological father was what we called a major spirit of virtue or the essence of a human virtue that has taken on human form.”
“And my mother?” Sarah asked with disbelief, “was she one of these spirit things too?”
“No Sarah, She was definitely human” The American man continued, “I’m not sure if she even knew your father was not human, a lot of these major spirits of virtue posed as humans and never told their partners”
“So was that why they wanted to kill me?” Sarah asked, “Because I’m some kind of half breed alien freak?”

The American man nodded, “Sarah, you are what we call a minor spirit of virtue, which means you have human DNA as you have a human parent”

“So why am I only partly human then” Sarah objected

“You don’t have a human soul Sarah. That would make you fully human” The American man explained, “instead you have an innate special ability related to the virtue you represent which works at a low grade level. Most minor spirits are rarely able to control them, even if they are aware of them, which most like you aren’t”

Sarah shook her head again. Her brother was in a morgue, somewhere back in England, her soul mate Shaun was lying dead, and they were now denying her humanity. It was getting more than she could get her head around.

“So if I am one of these minor spirits” Sarah asked as she looked up at the American man with tears in her eyes, “what spirit of virtue am I”

“Luck” the American man replied
“What does that mean?” Sarah asked

“Sarah” The American man went on, “You have the ability to affect probability, mostly in your favour”

Sarah turned away from the American and walked a few steps away from him, thinking back to her childhood, she remembered something that made sense and turned back to the American man. “When I was a child” she began, “My brother never liked to play snakes and ladders with me because I always won. In fact we never really played any board games because he accused me of cheating, when I didn’t”

“If you pardon the expression Sarah, you probably affected the dice by altering probability” the American man replied

“And that clean up squad member’s gun in the corridor which jammed just after he killed Shaun” Sarah challenged, her voice cracking with emotion, ”Was that me?”

The American man looked at the ground and then back at Sarah, “That would have been your power, affecting probability so his gun jammed just at the right time”
“Down there” Sarah then said pointing back towards the lift, “Doctor Henshaw got me to think of the guns of the other clean up squad member and that police officer, and they jammed too”

“She probably guessed that would happen” The American man replied

Sarah thought for the moment, as she thought about how her life had been and of the last few days. Was it sheer chance that she had gone into Manchester that night the clean-up squad killed her brother? Was it sheer chance that she had seen Lauren on the streets of Ramsbottom or come to think of it, the fact she got a taxi driver at all? Shaun had said that in coming to CERN from Geneva that getting the public transport to line up just so was lucky. Was that her all along?

But as she thought about it, this ability seemed to be double edged; it had cost so many lives thanks to the relentless clean up squad trying to eliminate her.

Why could she not be normal?

“I don’t want this power” Sarah announced, “Is there anyway I can get rid of it? I don’t want to hurt anyone sir. Even if it means you have to kill me or lock me up” at this she broke down at the thought that she might be a danger to all she knew because of some ability she never asked for or wanted.

The American man came over and held Sarah in his arms, as if her were a father comforting a child. “You can” he whispered. Then he removed the talisman that Sarah was wearing around her neck.

“Hold this in your hand Sarah and wish to be fully human” he instructed as he presented it back to her, “And if that is truly your hearts desire, you will be stripped of your powers, gain your human soul and become fully human”

Sarah took the talisman in her hand and looked at. It looked like something you could buy in one of the New Age shops she had seen in Bury or Manchester.

“Just a word of warning” the American man interrupted, “It will make you pass out for a few moments, but don’t worry, I won’t let you fall”

For a moment Sarah was alarmed at this news. Did she or should she trust this American man? Then she looked into his eyes, in there, she could almost discern pain and loss, just like her, although she had no idea why. Sarah got the feeling, that this man could be trusted, and anyway, he had saved her life on more than one occasion.

Sarah held the talisman firmly in her right hand and said out loud, “I wish to be fully human, I do not want to be some alien spirit thing”

Before she could continue from the talisman a ball of yellow light erupted and then expanded quickly engulfing her.

For a moment a brief wave of panic went over her, but then the base of large yellow ball of light slowly lifted and it became a ring of light which lifted above Sarah, and a feeling of calmness swept over her as she found herself fixated by the sight.

Suddenly the yellow ring fragmented into a ring of yellow stars which dispersed.

A white ball of light the size of a football formed in mid air above her and started to descend towards Sarah.

Suddenly Sarah noticed another white ball of light coming down towards her, but this other ball of light seemed to be the size of a tennis ball.

“Two souls?” Sarah thought she heard the American man say in disbelief

The larger ball stalled in mid air whilst the smaller ball raced down towards her and entered her abdomen. Something like a very mild electric shock quickly played over her whole body and then it was gone.

The larger white ball slowly descended upon Sarah, and then for Sarah everything went black…

+ + +

The Reflecting Pool
Washington DC
United States of America


(One Week later)

A woman in her late forties stood looking across the Reflecting pool as a man in his late fifties with a close cut haircut approached her. Both were wearing thick coats as it was cold that day in Washington.

“Glad you made it back from Europe Samuel” the woman opened with, “Did you have any problems getting Sarah out of Switzerland? I understand the British have an international arrest warrant out for her, not to mention all those CERN employees killed on Swiss soil”
“Well it would have been nice if the current assistant director of the NSA could have arranged for Miss Bentley to be cleared with the British authorities Kathryn”
“You know we can’t do that Samuel” the lady countered, “The new administration in Britain has not been read in to our dealings with IDW01, and since we can not longer go there, nor they come here, there did not seem a lot of point in doing that”
“That’s BS and you know it Kathryn” The man said with mild anger in his voice, “It’s just like three years ago when they closed us down over night citing budget cuts. You rolled over on that one pretty fast Kathryn, was that because your mentor had this NSA job lined up for you?”
“That’s unfair Samuel,” the lady snapped back, “The problem was that as we lost access to IDW01, the joint chiefs did not see any point in us going on, and I’m afraid to say that your account of the other timeline gave our enemies all the ammunition they needed. You were lucky that none of you were arrested as some asked, especially Celeste”
“Short sited if you ask me Kathryn” the man retaliated, “We saved Earth then and Celeste was key to that victory”

“Well it’s all ancient history now Samuel” the woman sighed “Anyway, so how did you get Sarah out of Switzerland?”
“I called in an old favour in the State Department Kathryn” the man replied, “They gave us diplomatic passage, the CERN deaths will be blamed on Al-Qaida”
“Really Samuel, That’s inventive, and I thought you were going to use the wormhole generator you borrowed as a transporter” the woman challenged, “Just like you claimed you did in that alternate timeline”
“Well I had hoped Charlene would have helped set it up” the man sighed, “But whoever was pulling the strings got to her first”

“From your report Samuel” the lady went on, “It sounds very much like whomever it was, is running an artificial parallel universe just like Sir Sidney did three years ago”

“Except he’s long gone” the man countered, “Mark made sure that his empire was broken up and placed in the hands of British and American security agencies, and all notes and specs sent to IDEC headquarters in Washington”
“Are you saying this could have been an inside job Samuel?” the woman asked with some concern
“Well someone must have access to those files since neither of us don’t” the man answered
“Since you and Mark both retired from the Marine corps”
“Like we had a choice Kathryn?” the man asked, “Even Mark’s job at the Pentagon was so people could keep an eye on him, they put him in an impossible position so he was forced out, that’s some thanks that is”

“I’m sorry that it did not quite pan out for Colonel Johnston” the lady said with a determined voice, “Getting back to the matter in hand it looks like we have to wait for them to make the first move if we hope to find out what happened to Charlene” the lady observed.

“Assuming she’s still alive” the man remarked

A number of tourists came up to where they were standing so the lady and the man started to walk around the Reflecting Pool to avoid their conversation being overheard.

“Getting back to the girl, I saw your preliminary report Samuel about that second ball of light during her ensoulment ” the lady went on, “Is it confirmed?” she asked
The man seemed to know exactly what she was thinking, “Yes Kathryn, Sarah is in the early stages of pregnancy”

“And the father?” the lady asked
“Human, the late Shaun Chapman” the man replied, “My guess is that the luck power she had increased the chance of conception beyond normal. She says she and Shaun Chapman only had sex twice”
“Although theoretically Samuel” the lady interrupted, “Once can be enough”

“But not that probable” the man countered
“Touché Samuel” the lady replied, “I trust you are arranging for that to be fixed”

The man stopped and gave a steely gaze at the lady in her forties, “No Kathryn, that’s not gonna happen”
“You can’t seriously expect that we will allow her to keep it” the woman said with a tone of annoyance in her voice.

“I thought you believed in a woman’s right to chose Kathryn” the man said with determination
“I do Samuel?” she asked
“Well as soon as she found out she was pregnant she chose to keep it Kathryn” the man went on, “It’s Shaun Chapman’s child and she wants to keep it as that’s all she has left of him. Kathryn, she’s seen enough death and she just wants to bring a new life into this world. Plus Kathryn, it’s only fair as I was told to use her as bait to try and get hold of whoever was behind the clean-up squad reactivations”
“You didn’t tell her that did you?” the lady asked
“Give me a break Kathryn” the man answered back

The lady shook her head, “But she’s not even eighteen Samuel” the lady protested

“She’s keeping it” the man persisted.

The lady glowered at the man before relenting, “Very well Samuel, although I don’t think it’s a good idea, even for normal people being a single mother is hard”

“Well she will get help Kathryn” the man replied, “I’ve made sure of that”
“I bet you have Samuel, but she’s not Andrea” The lady snapped back

The lady then stopped walking after she realised how she had invoked the name of the man’s long dead daughter, who had been killed by a drunk driver way back in 1998. “Sorry Samuel, that was uncalled for” she apologised, “Ok, so where have you sent her?” the lady asked

“Somewhere safe Kathryn” the man replied
“And you’re not going to let me know where they are?” The lady asked
“With all due respect Kathryn” the man went on, “The less people know the safer she is until we get the dirt-bag who was behind this all and that’s all you need to know. If anyone from Homeland Security asks Kathryn, she’s fully human now, she no longer has any special abilities and she, and her baby do not pose any risk to national security, and if that is not enough for them tell them to speak to me”
“I think they probably will Samuel” the lady responded
“Tell them I’m waiting Kathryn” the man said icily

The lady started walking around the reflecting pool again as more tourists approached where she had been standing. “Samuel, do you think the person who had her brother killed will come after her again?” the lady asked
“I doubt it somehow Kathryn, why would whoever activated that clean-up squad have any interest in her now? She no longer has any abilities and doesn’t know anything about the IDW01, I was careful to avoid mentioning it to her. Her biological father is dead as far as we know”
“Was he one of those executed by the Lord Low Troll?”
“I think he was killed in their civil war” the man answered, “But does it really matter, I think I managed to encourage her to despise him for what he did to her and her biological mother”

“Even so Samuel” the woman went on, “If it was still my call, I would be recommending a termination of that pregnancy. It makes things simpler”
“Well it’s not your call Kathryn” the man said assertively, “I believe she will be a good mother Kathryn, just like Andrea would have done”

The lady cringed, her reference to the man’s dead daughter had hit a nerve, and he was now using it to retaliate. Anyway, maybe he had a point, there were many single moms across the US where the father was long gone, but this mother was once the offspring of an entity from a parallel universe, surely that must make a difference, but she knew that this man could be stubborn, just like her, which was why they had worked well together all those years ago.

The lady turned round to face the man and both stopped walking, “Well I hope you are right Samuel for her sake” the lady replied, “From what I hear she is quite a decent if somewhat naïve girl”
“No more naïve than you or I at her age” the man countered.

The lady sighed, “Well thank yop Samuel for coming out of retirement to do this one off covert assignment. If you are ever at a loose end, we could always do with good agents like you at the NSA”

“Nah” the man replied, “I think most of my time will be taken up as a surrogate grandfather”, with that man turned round and walked away.

The lady waited until he was out of sight and then pulled out her mobile and turned around and started walking. She dialled a number and started walking

The mobile was answered

“Sorry sir” the lady said into the phone, “He didn’t say where the girl is”

Someone responded on the phone

“No sir, I really don’t think she’s a threat to national security.” She said into the phone, “I have experience of former minor spirits of virtue sir, especially with Mazy Schneider and Rebecca Sands. Even your own people have assessed them as minimal risk if that.”

A further reply came over the mobile

“Well if you want to put a tail on the Brigadier General, that of course is your prerogative but I think you are wasting your time, plus I have to point out that whoever you pick has to be damn good. He can spot a tail a mile off.”

A further reply came over the mobile

“Yes sir” the lady replied and closed her phone, shaking her head as she headed for a black sedan that was waiting for her.

+ + +

Somewhere in the American Midwest

Sarah sat in a SUV listening to some local music station as she was being driven to what Brigadier General Samuel Peters had promised would be a new life in America, since returning to her home village of Tottington was no longer an option.

They had told her she could not return home, as she would still be wanted for the death of her brother. The only way out would be to somehow fake her death. Everyone in England would have to believe that she was murdered in some gang shootout in Moss Side, until it was safe to come home. Even then, people from her home village may still hold her responsible.

It seemed so unfair, but it was better than rotting in prison for s crime she did not commit because someone somewhere needed to keep the fact that a government agency hit squad had been hijacked a secret from the British government.

Brigadier General Samuel Peters had promised that they would get her personal effects shipped from her home in Tottington and arrange for all debts to be cleared, but it was not the same.

The SUV was being driven by some secret service person that hardly spoke to Sarah as she sat in the back. All she had been told was that as part of this new life, she would be staying for a while with a family who had experience of former spirits of minor virtues.

The radio station played a track by the pop star Dido. It was “My Lover’s Gone”

Youtube video

The song really hit home on Sarah and tear trickled down her cheek as she remembered her brother and her friends, who had been murdered by the Clean-up squad looking for her

She also thought of Shaun and wished she could have died with him just like in Romeo and Juliet, but no! Sarah would have to be strong, somehow after all someday she would want to tell his son or daughter what a brave kind and decent man their father was.

Sarah rubber her stomach and briefly a small smile crept over her face, she was looking forward to being a mother. Having a baby had to be one of the luckiest things to happen to her, considering all that had happened.

Sarah saw the house she would be staying in, come into view. It was huge. The SUV drove up to it and stopped outside. The driver got out and opened Sarah’s door.

“I’ll get your things mam” the driver told Sarah as she went blinking into the light out of the SUV.

A woman in her late twenties was coming down the path with a young boy of about three, who was following his mother. The woman was also pregnant and almost near to term. Maybe this was why Sarah was coming to stay with them. The one thing they would have in common was babies.

The woman approached Sarah and gave her a big hug, and then to Sarah surprise spoke in a Geordie accent, “Hello Sarah I’m Jenny, Jenny Johnston” she told Sarah, “My husband’s still at work at the moment. It’s going to be great having another Brit to talk to, even if you are a MANU fan”
The little boy waved his hand at Sarah, which for a moment made Sarah smile as she looked forward to being a mother herself. “Hello” Sarah said to the child and waved back

The woman took the little boy’s hand, “This is Jason, our son” she said with pride, and then patted her own stomach, “And this is the next one. Maybe in a year or so time we will try for a third child since Mark and I want a big family”

+ + +

A dark plane in an unknown artificial universe

Charlene Henshaw sat alone in her glass cell. It had everything for her physical needs including an en-suite bathroom. Periodically food would be delivered by a red wormhole.

She had lost track of how long she had been there. She had not been told why she was being detained and by whom

Suddenly just outside the cell she saw the tell tale sign of a red wormhole developing. Someone was coming into this artificial universe she was being held prisoner.

The wormhole grew and became full size.

Charlene saw a man in a suit coming through to speak to her.

As Charlene looked at him, a cold chill went down her spine. She had seen a photograph of this man. He was the nearest she had heard in recent times of evil personified and there was no way he should be here.

“Greetings Doctor Henshaw” the man said to Charlene in a British accent, “Sorry for the delay, but I was busy running my new empire on the QT. I do hope we can come to some accommodation”

Charlene looked straight at this man, “But you’re supposed to be dead” she said with horror

End of Implements of the State

This story arc be continued in
Season Eleven of the Mystical Realms Sagas
Sometime in the New Year

Assuming I get to do Season Eleven