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Cloak and Dagger
Posted By: soulguard<gouldbowman@hotmail.com>
Date: 14 November 2007, 8:11 pm
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Part 1 of 3: Cloak and Dagger
"I've been waiting for you." A man stated from the shadows. A burning cigar outlined his face as he took a long drag on the sweet smelling tobacco. The man pulled the cigar from his lips and blew out the thin smoke. He stepped into the light as a younger man nervously looked around to see if they were alone. "Don't worry, kid. We're alone." The man reassured his business partner.
"One can only be too cautious," the younger man stated as he held up a briefcase. A rumble of thunder filled the night air, as if throwing a sense of caution into an already nerve wracking meeting. The young man took a deep breath as he motioned to give the older man the briefcase.
The older man smiled as he adjusted his full length coat, perhaps in preparation of the upcoming storm. "Put it on the ground and open it."
The young man obliged. He knelt down with the suitcase, keyed in the combination and popped the lock. The case opened with the snap of its locking hinges and the young man spun the case to present the contents to the older man. The older man smiled, reassured that his cargo was indeed present. He placed his cigar back to his lips, opened his lighter and gave the cigar a much needed relighting. A quick puff and he nodded to the young man; content with receiving the goods within the case. The young man closed the case and locked it.
"What's the first three numbers of the combo?" The old man asked.
"One, one, seven." The young man softly stated as he stood and handed the case over.
The old man chuckled. "A bit sentimental, aren't ya?" He laughed as he took the case.
"He's my hero. He should be yours as well." The young man stated as a few drops of rain began to fall.
"Sorry, kid. I don't believe in ghosts." The man stated as he turned away.
The young man questioned, "what do you believe in?"
"Credits." The old man stated as he approached a nearby car. He climbed into the back of the four door vehicle and closed the door.
The old man sat down and closed the door as his cigar smoke began to fill the car. In the back seat with him was another older man; a black man wearing a clean cut suit. The old man gave the man the suitcase and put out his cigar; stowing it away in a metal pocket case.
"Did he give you the first three digits?" The black man questioned.
"Yup. One, one, seven." He laughed.
"Why is that funny?" The black man remarked as he turned the first three digits.
"Kid believes in the Spartan legend. You know, the one that died to save the world."
"I don't find that funny." The black man stated as he opened his personal data pad and retrieved the fourth number. He keyed in the digit that had been given to him by his contact and then opened the case.
Several yards away from the car stood the young man. Rain was now falling heavier and he adjusted his coat to keep the rain from drenching too deep on his clothes underneath. He watched the tinted windows of the car, as it sat motionless on the side of the road. He lowered his head and began to walk away. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his chatter communicator. He dialed a number and the chatter began to ring.
A voice on the other end replied, "hello?"
The young man replied, "just a minute, sir." He then continued to walk as the car with the men exploded in a puff of red and orange. The muffled explosion was nearly silent, but powerful enough to kill anyone within the six feet of the car. The windows split and the frame bobbed from the explosion. The young man then replied, "Mr. Drake and Senator Rimo have been eliminated. Also a possible driver of the vehicle may also have been a casualty."
"Good work. We will make contact with you in ten days." The voice stated as the line clicked off.
The young man dropped his chatter communicator into a nearby trash can and walked away. He pulled his collar closer to his neck as the rain became stronger. It had been another long group of weeks, meeting with alien sympathizers and those that supported the unstable Human and Sangheili alliance. He had been looking to meet with the black man know only as Mr. Drake, but found that it was impossible to get close to him. The only way he could affectively complete his mission was to give Mr. Drake something that he wanted. After a week of talking with Senator Rimo, the old man that favored Sweet Williams cigars, he had found out that Mr. Drake was looking to gather information on ONI Agents that had been sent to Sanghilios to further bring stability to the Human-Sangheili alliance.
"Damn sympathizers!" The young man growled as he thought back to all the pain the elites had caused humanity. "We don't need their help!" He fumed softly to himself.
David never liked the idea of peace. When the war against the Covenant ended, and humanity was free to leave the relative safety of the underground shelters, he immediately answered the call of the UEG and the UNSC. The war had cost humanity a great deal of lives, and more then anything the military and the government needed able bodied men and woman to fill in the void and help rebuild the military structure of leadership.
David easily qualified for the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) because of his degree in Advanced Artificial Intelligence from MIT. And when he found out that there was negotiations being held to establish a peaceful relation with the elites he protested secretly; along with nearly a third of humanities remaining populace. What he didn't expect was the massive Marine support of the initiative. The Marines had fought side by side with the elites during the last stages of the war, especially those that had survived the trip to Halo Installation 00, and had learned a great deal from the elites they worked with during those last days. To think that the elites, a killing force that slaughtered humanity for the better part of twenty-seven years, was now a supported ally was making a lot of humans utterly sick. David was no exception.
David's family lived on Troy, his brother died during the battle on Reach, and his grandfather was one of the United Nation Space Commands (UNSC) ship captains during the first days of the Earth Campaign. His ship was shot down when the Prophet of Regret first broke through the Magnetic Accelerator Cannon (MAC) platform defense web. David never had a chance to say goodbye to any of his family members.
"I was stuck here, on Earth getting my degree from MIT." He had said to the interview committee that existed within his section of ONI. They wanted people they could trust; people who would help humanity understand that they didn't want the elites by their side. "I hate them. I hate them all! If I wasn't on Earth I could have stayed with my brother and joined the Marines!" He wept during his interview. "I could have fought those elite bastards on Reach and made them pay for what they did."
David remembered that interview so vividly. It was the most honest and true he had ever been in his life. He never imagined the group would turn to terrorists' acts, but no one would ever suspect that the actions would come from within ONI. Indeed, he was killing his own people, but these same people refused to listen when they were asked, no, told that they needed to no longer support the peace movement.
They deserved to die.
David walked into his clean and barren apartment. His tiny Welsh Corgi waddled from another room panting happily as he entered.
"Hey Rex." David said as he knelt down and rubbed the dog happily. David took off his coat and hung it on a coat rack on the back of his door so that it would dry. He then walked into the only room that had furniture. On one side of the room was a desk with several data pads and a Personal Computer. On the other side was a couch facing a wall and a fireplace at its side. On the couch sat a woman with a data pad in her hands.
"How did it go?" She asked as Rex returned to her side and then happily jumped into the chair with her. She never pulled down the data pad; reading the days news. She placed a hand to the dogs head as it laid its head on her lap.
"They didn't contact you?" David questioned.
"Why should they? They know we live together." She replied. "Anything I need to know about you, I can get from you."
"They're done." David stated, letting her know that he had indeed killed his targets.
"Good." She stated. She pressed a button on the data pad and the screen changed to the sports section. "Rex is hungry and I forgot to pick up food for him."
"He can eat scraps tonight." David replied as he sat down at his desk.
"It's not healthy for him." She replied, running her finger along Rex's golden head.
David tapped his hand on his desk and the outline of a keyboard appeared. "One night won't hurt him. I'll get his food tomorrow morning after my run." David scanned his email inbox as the woman stood from the couch and walked toward his desk. She was wearing a button down shirt with matching dress pants. Her dark brown hair was tied up and back, and her glasses rested loosely on the tip of her nose. David loved her more then anything.
She was also his boss in ONI Section 2.
"We have a new assignment." She said as she stood behind David. She placed her hands on his shoulder and began to massage them tenderly. "It just came a few hours ago."
"I thought they said ten days?" David scanned his inbox and then noticed the redirected header that indicated an encrypted message. He unlocked the folder with his sixteen digit password, decoded the message with top of the line software and then gasped as he read the first line.
"Target 221- Warning sent - no change - eliminate target 221 - name…." David paused. "Are they nuts?" He stated as he stood from his desk.
"No they aren't." She replied, attempting to calm his nerves. She gently lowered David back to his seat, wrapped her arms around his head and placed her cheek against the side of his head. "We're working together on this one, along with two other teams."
"It'll take more then six people to do this!" David sighed. He read the file one last time, knowing that it was a self degrading document. In ten seconds it would delete itself once it was opened.
"Target 221- Warning sent - no change - eliminate target 221 - name: Sir Terrance Hood." David watched as the file vanished from his screen and then it vanished from his inbox. It was permanently deleted and unrecoverable. He leaned over his desk and sighed heavily as the woman tenderly held him in her arms. They each knew they couldn't talk about their jobs outside of ONI, because there was always the remote chance that they were being bugged or watched. But this, even to David's determination, was insane. "We can't do this, Rachel."
Rachel sighed, "It will be the ultimate proof in what is right and wrong." She pulled away from her lover and walked back to the couch. "This will force them to understand and finally listen."
"This…" David gestured to the deleted file, "will have the world hunting us down like animals!"
"But we'll make our point!" Rachel commented. "I don't like it either, but we knew that each step would take us further up the ladder."
David leaned back in his chair, and rubbed his temples as Rachel stared at him from across the room. Killing Lord Hood was like attempting to assassinate the president of the UEG. No, it was worse then even that. Ever since his group went into action using lethal force, the UNSC had been protecting all major elite sympathizers around the world and off world.
Lord Hood, the military admiral that had led the human forces to victory against the Flood and the Covenant, was never without his guards. And it wasn't as if he needed them. Hood was a skilled marksman, swordsman, and had countless years of military combat training in his head. Not only that, but in his youth he was considered a master of hand to hand combat. His age may have slowed him down, but he was not going to be a push over.
David looked up at Rachel's eyes. She was putting up a good feet of bravo in saying she wanted to take on this target, but now that he was looking at her he could tell she was scared. David's concern wasn't making it easier for her to be strong. David took a breath. "In the morning, setup a meeting with the others, option B location. We'll pull this together and we'll take our time. This one isn't going to be easy."
Rachel nodded and smiled at her lover. She then looked to the couch as Rex moaned in a hungry sigh. "Rex is really hungry."
"He's not the only one." David added as he stood. He powered off his computer and then looked to Rachel. "I don't think we should wait till morning to feed him. Let's go to the store now. We could use the fresh air."
Rachel and David arrived on the lower floor of their apartment building and looked out into the rain filled night. Rachel cupped her arm into David's and smiled lovingly. They needed to get out of the apartment so they could clear their heads. It wasn't everyday that someone told you to assassinate the leader of the worlds military force.
As they approached the glass door leading to the street, Rachel noticed two men standing to the side of the lobby. They were both reading data pads and acting casual. ONI spooks, but she wasn't sure which section. Who ever they were, they were terrible at attempting to blend in. David noticed them as well.
One of the men approached Rachel and David. "David Rawls and Rachel Simpson?"
"Yes?" David stated.
The man nodded to his partner and then flashed a badge. "You two are under arrest."
"What charges?" Rachel stormed.
"Murder, assault, terrorism, assassination," the man stated as he pulled up a side arm up, "pick one."
The man's badge read ONI but it was an older design. All ONI Personal had to change their badges on a monthly, random, rollout which was forced by the central office. These men were obviously not ONI, but she had to be sure. "I want to see both of your badges." She ordered.
The second man obliged by showing his badge as well, it was the same; an older layout which was at least three months old. Rachel acted first. The man never saw her long and toned legs swing, but before he knew what had happened his gun was flipping in the air and his hand was stinging from the kick. David had already subdued the second man with a hidden knife to the throat. His gag and gasps caught the first man off guard.
He looked at Rachel and David with a stare of amazement. "You're not ONI."
Neither David nor Rachel replied. Rachel cupped the man's head from behind, and quickly snapped his neck. They both grabbed a body and dragged them outside. Luckily no one was around to witness their deed. They then hid the bodies in a nearby dumpster.
"Trash gets picked up tomorrow morning." Rachel said.
"Whoever sent them will be expecting them to report in before that." David added. "Let's get Rex's food and get out of here. It's time to move again."
In the three years since the end of the Covenant-Flood War, humanity split. Those who supported the alliance with the elites and those that didn't. The result created a faction known roughly as "The Shield". They operated within ONI, but there was no proof of who belonged to the super secret organization. It was rumored that the group had less then twenty members, but their skills of espionage and intelligence made them fearful. They wanted one thing, the abandonment of all plans to make peace with the alien worlds that split from the Covenant.
The Shield was a self trained group with varying degrees of expertise. And although they believed what they were doing was for the better of human kind, they were simply called murderers, killers, terrorist and, more directly, assassins.
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