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Episode 129 |
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“When
bad men combine, the good must associate.” Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Cause
of Present Discontents Assif opened the door to his apartment, throwing his
jacket into the computer chair. “Amy!”
he called, rushing into the kitchen. Inside,
he found the young Asian girl in front of a pot of pasta. Assif froze at the sight. “Um, I thought we might go out for dinner,”
he said awkwardly. Amy looked puzzled, her spaghetti sauce-covered finger
in her mouth. Assif walked over to the
counter and took out some of the hard spaghetti strands still in the box,
beginning to break them. “Come on,” he
said again, sounding impulsive as he concentrated. “It’ll be fun.” “Um, okay,” she said, lost, glancing from the pot of
boiling pasta to the chief and back.
She turned fully to him, but found him arranging the pieces of pasta,
spelling out ‘Alex’ on the counter. Assif sat at his computer, staring at the chess
screen. The blonde woman in the corner
winked at him as he watched the littered board of bad, incoherent moves. “Come on, Jin,” he whispered. As he watched, Amy came by, picking up his
empty coffee mug. She looked at it, then
walked away, Assif barely processing her coming by. A moment later, she came
back with the mug full. She placed it down and glanced curiously at the
screen. As she did, on the board, the king stepped out into the
opening. Assif smiled.
“Finally,” he breathed, startling Amy. Alex sat at the computer in the internet café, sipping
from the tiny latte cup. In front of
him, a website of women’s personal ads sat on the screen. He slowly passed through page after page, a
bored expression on his face. He
reached the end of the page and hit to return to the beginning. A new ad had been placed. ‘Middle Eastern practitioner, seeking sparring partners
for spiritual enlightenment. Must enjoy noon-time movies’ Alex smiled. He
clicked off the screen and got up, rushing out. Alex sat in the movie theater, watching as the first of
the trailers began to run. Sitting with
his black trench coat folded over his lap, he kept his hand on the pistol at
his waist. He heard the door at the
rear of the theater open and turned subtly, glancing over his shoulder. Through the narrow beam of light created by the door came
Assif, followed by Jin. The two sat
down behind Alex, neither saying a word.
The trailers passed and the movie began. The credits rolled and as the opening scene
started, Assif leaned forward. “Jin
and I are both being followed,” he whispered just barely over the sound of
the movie. “They know we’re in here,
but I doubt they know about you. I’m
going to leave in a few moments, Jin after that. Stay and finish the movie.” Alex nodded. Assif sat back and Jin sat forward, leaning over the
seats. “I tracked the funding of the
Clan of Caine, as well as everything that happened around Yun Tai, even down
to that damn phone card booth in “I really don’t like where this going,” Alex whispered. “Whoever is behind this,” Jin went on, “is seriously
well-connected, and has been for a long, long time.” Alex turned to him.
“What do you mean?” “I mean, some of these companies are over a hundred
years old, and those companies are still fronts.” Alex stared, amazed. “I’ve been unraveling one giant web of
funding and corporate control. But the
companies that are at the heart of all of this are old, hundred plus years
old, and they’re still not the end of the trail.” “What is?” Jin shrugged. “I
don’t know. I’m at a dead end doing
research this way. I need either to do
the research properly, or I need my computer back at headquarters. Preferably both.” “You’re not the only one,” Alex said as Jin leaned
back. Assif leaned forward this
time. “We need to get back to
headquarters,” Alex said before the chief could speak. “If you can make it in, then…” Assif started. “There’s got to be some way to call off the watchdogs,”
Alex insisted. “Can’t Howitz do
anything?” Assif shook his head. Alex looked forward, frustrated, then
turned back. “If this goes back as far
as it sounds, and goes as high up, then there needs to be some way we can cut
off their system of info, or at least stall them or confuse them.” “Alex, I am open to suggestions,” Assif said. “Can you go to Howitz and ask him to call of the UN
boys?” he asked. “That will cut off
whoever’s monitoring the UN. They’ll
invariably have someone else swoop in on you immediately, probably somebody a
little less polite, but it should give us the time we need.” “To do what?” Assif asked. “Track this back,” Alex said with a motion to Jin. “You’ve heard this stuff. We’re this close to knowing who’s pulling
these strings. If we can figure out
who it is, we can take them down. If
we can figure out why, we can stop them.
But we need headquarters’ resources to do that.” “If headquarters gets compromised,” Assif posed. “If headquarters gets compromised, it won’t matter
anyway,” Alex said. “These guys are
going to find us eventually.” Assif said back, sighing. He looked at Jin, then leaned forward
again. “I’ll see what I can do,” he
said before standing up. He shuffled
passed Jin, heading for the door. Jin watched him go, then leaned forward. “Alex,” he whispered. “I didn’t want to tell Assif this, because
you know how he is, but I’ve tracked some of these businesses through some
conspiracy websites.” In the dark,
Alex rolled his eyes. “The names came
up a lot. Not “I’ve seen a lot of weird things in my time, Jin,” Alex
said, “but I have never once seen anything that would suggest one giant…” “The Brotherhood of the Sun,” Jin interrupted. Alex sighed.
“The Brotherhood of the Sun is, is different. Those guys are, those guys are businessmen
and vigilantes.” “Not according to what I heard,” Jin said. “I’ve read about some big Brotherhood project
in the “That’s great, Jin,” Alex said. He sighed.
“Look, I’m not trying to discount it, but please understand my
skepticism. I’m willing to believe a
lot, but I’m going to need more evidence than a handful of websites.” “Don’t worry,” Jin said, starting to get up. “When we get back to headquarters, I’ll
find the truth, whatever it is.” He
turned and rushed out, leaving Alex alone in the movie theater. |
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