ARC 2

Back in the Saddle Again.........

It's been 4 weeks since I got that last message. Those 2 words- Stay Tuned - have kept me going, but I wasn't sure for how much longer until I got the call yesterday. Doyle would be waiting for me at the Woodbridge Mall, around the central atria in the Macy's wing at 9 o'clock. I got there early, but he was there already, sitting at one of the small tables overlooking the atria. Givings was with him.

"Denny! Glad you could make it!" He sounded enthusiastic, as he pushed out the 3rd chair at the table for me. Givings didn't say anything, but she did nod in my direction.

"How's it going? What's up?" I was too anxious to be sociable.

"Well, we've got some good news for you, we think. But first we gotta finish with the original project, so to speak."

I started to question what he was talking about, but he held up his hand.
"Givings has the results, so please let her make her report and then we can get on with things." He turned to Givings. "Fran, if you would..?"

She took a notebook out of a briefcase at her feet, and thumbed through until she'd found what she wanted.

"First, the People Upstairs were pleased with your results. 12 Events in 6 months. They hadn't thought you could do it, originally, but were humoring Doyle. Now, they can see some interesting ways to go with it." She paused, then closed the book.

"That's all? Shouldn't there be at least a 'second'?"
She looked right at me. "Second, is a question, or series of questions. Some things for you to consider."
Doyle said nothing, just indicated with a shrug that I should answer Givings.
"Do you miss the work?"
"Yes." I didn't have to think about it.
"Do you find yourself still looking for new Event situations?"
"Yes. Again." No thinking so far.
"Would you like to continue?"
"Yes."
She stopped, and opened the notebook again. "Did you ever go back to determine if any of your Event subjects might need help? Might still be alive?"
This I thought about. "No. I didn't."
"You took us at our word about the Flasher, and what it would do?"
"Yes."
She looked at Doyle. He nodded, and took over.
"Denny, all of those people are alive." He held up his hand again to stop me. "The Flasher we gave you disrupted the targets' systems, and knocked them out for about a half hour. We know you never went back because we had a team on you at all times - remember the implant? Once you used the Flasher, we'd sweep in disguised as EMT's in an ambulance and pick the"victims" up. We'd treat them, and bring them back to where we'd picked them up. They went on with their lives as if nothing had happened."

We were all quiet for a few minutes. They were waiting for me, and I wasn't sure how to react. The only thing I could think of was...
"Why? Why go through all of this?"
"As a test. We knew you'd do what we asked, but we didn't know how well, and we didn't know if you'd hold together or go to pieces. You did well. Better then we expected." He actually grinned at me.

"Now what? More testing? What more do you want?"

"No. No more testing. The People Upstairs have decided that we should move forward with something more precise. Givings has the details."

Reading from the notebook again. "The People Upstairs have decided to have you do something more specific. They are going to name 3 specific targets and give you 6 months to stage the Events." She reached under the table again, and lifted up a laptop computer.
"We will give you the name of the first target today, if you choose to go forward. This laptop is for you. You will report you progress at least once a month, but preferably every two weeks. You'll have to check your mailbox daily for anything from "James", since the People Upstairs may contact you at any time for an update. Once the first target Event has been staged and confirmed, you'll receive the second name. How or when you stage the Events will be entirely up to you, but you will have only 6 months to complete all 3. Do you understand this? Do you have any questions?"

"I thought this was about reducing the...the drain on our resources, what about that?"
"That was the initial scenario, and to an extent it still applies. At least in the future in will, but now is different. Now the People Upstairs are raising the ante on you. They want to see just how far you're willing to go. How far they can push you. It's their game. They've changed the rules. That's all."

I thought about it, but we all knew that I was going to do it.

"Do the same guarantees exist? Will I be protected if I'm suspected or caught?"

"To an extent. We will continue to monitor LEO traffic and attempt to step in as early as possible to prevent the situation from escalating into an arrest. But there is an element of risk involved."
Doyle spoke. "Same as before, Denny. If I have to, I'll come waltzing in waiving the Patriot Act."
Me - "What the hell is LEO traffic?"
Givings - "LEO is an acronym for Law Enforcement Organizations. We monitor every one that we don't directly control. Anyway, we need to know you answer." Pretty blunt.

Me - "Is this gonna be for real, or will I be shooting blanks again?"
Doyle - "No blanks. This is the real deal. Whatdya say?"
Me - "I'm in." I took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "What happens now?"

Givings slid the laptop towards me, then rose, nodded, and left. Now it was just Doyle and me.

"She doesn't need to be here for this. She already knows this part." He reached into his inside jacket pocket and took out a small cylinder, and an envelope.

"This is the Flasher you'll use now. It's real. It will "deactivate" a subject completely. This one can be used up to 3 times before it needs to recharge. That's 3 shots, then it can't be used for 24 hours. The envelope contains the name of the first target. Givings is notifying the People Upstairs that you accepted, so there'll be some information about the target emailed to you. The laptop will be monitored remotely as far as any Internet research you do or emails you send or receive , but for all intents and purposes it's yours to use any way you want. Questions?"

I couldn't think of any. He shrugged, stood, and said.."OK. We'll be in touch. Good Luck." And walked away.

I opened the envelope. There was one piece of paper inside, and only three words on it. The name of my target. Dr. Grace Forrest.

She was one of the people on my cardiology team.

Interlude.......

It's been 3 weeks since I last heard from them. 3 weeks, and no calls from Doyle. I'd even settle for a call from Givings. I have no idea how Homeland Security wants to proceed, or if those in charge - the so-called People Upstairs - even want to.

I've looked back on the extracted blog entries that I've used here and notice that there's very little personal information included. That was intentional. My personal life continues, but is not - so far - impacted by this situation.

The time period involved covered the holidays, and I spent them, as usual, with family. And, as usual, there's always drama around Christmas when you spend it with family. That was last year. So far this year, my daughter got engaged, and my former father-in-law passed away. Life goes on. That's all you need to know.

I find myself waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop. I drift along, continuing to do the things I've done, and making the drives, running the errands, and shopping as I've done since the transplant and getting the car. But I also find myself on the hunt. I seem to find people who would make for good Events more frequently then I had. Of course, I don't follow through. I mean that I don't check out the area for other people or cars. Just identify a potential subject.

I miss it. I can admit that. And I don't know what's going to happen. It's making me a little crazy.

Or was making me crazy. This morning my cell went off with a text message. I was in the Metuchen library, and my cell was on vibrate.

When I got outside, I checked it out. It was from James. Two words . . .

STAY TUNED.

That was it. And suddenly, I felt better. It was the proverbial great weight lifted from my shoulders. I don't know what will happen, but at least something will. All I have to do now is ..............

STAY TUNED.

The Time Has Come............

It took a while, but Doyle called. We met at the Burger King in the Woodbridge Center Mall. He brought Givings with him.

"Well, Denny Boy, you did it. 12 Events in 6 months. Frankly, I don't think the People Upstairs thought you could do it."
"It's done, though. So what happens next?"
""First, we get back the Flasher. Givings will take charge of it."

I took it from my back pocket and handed it to he. It's such an innocuous looking thing that there was no need to conceal it. Giving took it, puled out a small notebook from somewhere, and made some sort of notation. She put the notebook and the Flasher in her side pocket.

"Anything else?" I wanted this whole thing over.

Nothing like that. The People Upstairs are grateful that you were able to carry out this assignment..I mean complete the project. There's just a few things more that they want you to understand."
"Then get on with it."
"OK. They thank you, I've said that. They want you to know that your family is no longer in danger of whatever it is you thought might happen to them. And they want me to remind you that you're still carrying around the tracer and they haven't decided what to do with it yet."
"What does that mean? Are they gonna leave it, or try to have it removed? For Christ's sake, Its implanted in my heart!"
"Technically, it's implanted in James' heart. You just happen to get it as a transplant. But that's neither here nor thee. What matters is that you still have it, and it belongs to us. The People Upstairs are still deciding how to proceed."

At that point, Givings stood up.

"It was a pleasure working with you." She said. "You did what you were told."

She walked out into the mall. Doyle looked after her for a while then turned to me.

"It's not over, Denny. I don't know what's gonna happen, but I don't think that the People Upstairs are just gonna let it end this way. They still have a hold on you, and they ere pleased with how you handled things."
"What do you mean? What am I supposed to do?"
"I don't know. If I did, I'd tell you. I like you, Denny. You seem like nice guy. If I can help you, I will, but the People Upstairs aren't to be fooled with. I may be part of the Department, but I'm as expendable a the next guy."
"So, you're telling me that I'm stuck? I'm still in it?"
"For now, yeah. You'll just have to wait and see. They may let you go, but that tracker is an expensive piece of equipment. They'll want to do something about that. My advice is o just wait and see."

He stood up and offered me his hand. I stared at him, and didn't take it.

"Good luck, Denny. Somehow, I'll be in touch."

He walked out into the mall, following Givings.

What the hell happens now?

High Noon is 12 O'Clock High....

Yesterday, I was on the hunt. I know that the People Upstairs gave me until the end of the month, but I realized that that would just be dragging it out. Since yesterday, the 18th, would be the end of the 6 month original trial period I decided to go out and try to finish this whole Events thing off.

My intent was to go to the WalMart on Rt.e 27 in Edison, and wait in the parking lot until a likely target should up. I didn't get that far. Following one of my usual routines, I went to the Target on Parsonage Road, where I would just do some browsing. Then I went to the Barnes and Noble across the street which was attached to the Menlo Park Mall. I was browsing through Barnes and Noble when I decided to go into the mall and see what I could get for breakfast in the Food Court.

As went in the direction of the doorway to the mall I noticed that there were a few people sitting around in the Starbuck's area, by the store windows, reading, drinking, and whatever. I had an idea. I strolled back to the magazine racks, and noticed an older gentleman sitting on a bench beside the main entrance. He was in the sunlight, a magazine in his lap, and appeared to be dozing.

I turned, and went out the doorway by the mall, walking around inside for a few minutes. I'd completely forgotten about breakfast. Leaving the mall, I walk up the side of Barnes and Nobles and turned towards the main entrance. The sun was reflecting off the windows, making looking inside difficult.

I stopped short of the main entrance, taking the Flasher from my back pocket, and carrying it in my coat. I haven't tried doing this through a window since my second Event back in September or October of last year. It worked then, so there was no reason that it wouldn't work now. Moving up closer to the window, I could just make out the older gentleman, still sitting as I'd left him. I stopped where I was, turning to face the parking lot, and looked around. I waited for a car or two to pass, and a couple of people to enter the store, but it was pretty early on a weekday, so the traffic wasn't too heavy.

There was no one else around. I pulled the Flasher from my pocket as I was turning, then point, press, Flash, and I turned back to the lot. Heading for my car, I replace the Flasher in my back pocket. Getting in my car, I had no idea if the Event had taken place, but I knew that I was now hungry, so I left and went looking for a Dunkin Donuts. My cell phone went off with my text beep, but I ignored it. I found out later that they'd confirmed my 12th Event.

12 Events in 6 months. I'd met my obligation. It was now up to the People Upstairs.

For Information Call Four 11......

We've had a lot of snow lately. To me it seems like we've had more snow this year then we've had in a while, and personally, I'm sick of it. There was a big storm predicted for a week ago last Saturday, and we got a dusting. Then last Wednesday another "huge" storm was predicted, and we got about 14 inches. Another storm this morning, but not really of any consequence.

Anyway, it's last Wednesday's storm that I'm noting here. The snowed all day Wednesday, so by Thursday morning everyone was out assessing the damage. The roads, I have to say, were incredibly well cleaned. The best I've seen, ever. Unfortunately, this means that those of us who park on the streets have the added bonus of having to dig out from being plowed in. This on top of the 14 inches.

I went out in the morning, like everyone else, and cleaned off the car, which took a while, as you can imagine. But I wasn't going anywhere, because of the plow job. I figured I'd wait, and see how I was feeling in the afternoon. By 3 o'clock, the car in front of me had pulled out, which would've been a good thing, but someone had jumped into the space and was too close to my front grill for me to do anything. I went out anyway to move off some of the plowed snow.

Suddenly, a woman came over. She worked for the dentist across the street, and it was her car in front of me. She offered to move it, and in about 20 minutes or so, I was free! Of course, now I had to find a place I could park now, without getting myself stuck.

I drove around in my small community, and found a place on Melbourne, a small 2 block street that connects Claire to Green. But I noticed something else as well. Everyone else had stopped working on freeing their cars except for an old man just off the corner of Green on Melbourne. I had to drive around the block anyway in order to get to the spot I'd picked out.

I made the 3 corners and approached Melbourne on Green. I took out the Flasher, lowered the window on the driver's side, and signaled for the turn. There was no one around, at least as far as I could see. I figured that the flash would be absorbed in the glare of the sunlight off the snow anyway. I made the turn, he was still there, point, press, Flash, and I moved up the block towards the space. I didn't see him fall, just maneuvered into the space, locked the car, and returned to my apartment.

The confirm came in as I opened the outside door to my building.

10 Cents A Dance.....

I tried doing what Doyle had talked about but it really didn't work. He'd said that just because an Event is supposed to be random doesn't mean that it can't be planned. I took that to mean that I could pick someone - at random - and then identify a routine that they had, and wait for them at a particular point along their route.

I had noticed this old man who ran/jogged along Chain of Hills Road, going from St. George Avenue to Green Street, every morning at around 8:45 or 9:00. It was easy to park along the road, because though it was heavily traveled very few people actually stopped on it. Also, it has the advantage, as Coleridge said of being like Alph "5 miles meandering in a mazy motion". It was full of curves and there were plenty of blind spots where I couldn't be seen. I tried this for a few days, but gave up. Although I probably couldn't be seen, I was the only one parked there. I stood out l like a sore thumb to anyone passing by, and I didn't want to take the chance that I'd be remembered. However....

I believe I mentioned before that I make a library run every week or so, there being several branches in Woodbridge and the surrounding townships that sell books very cheaply. One of these is on Green Street, just to the left as you come out of Chain of Hills Road. I was there yesterday, at around 10:30 in the morning, as part of my routine. My daughter had mentioned a book she was interested in, and since I have the time I told her that I'd look for it. Anyway, by this time of the morning, I'd been to 4 branches already without any luck.

Going in, I noticed that an older woman had parked on the opposite side of the lot, and was making her way slowly towards the entrance. This is a small branch, with a very small parking lot so there wasn't that much distance between the sides. I went in and checked, but they didn't have anything I was looking for, or interested in. As I left, I noticed the older woman at the checkout counter.

Back in my car, I looked around. No one was in sight. It was actually pretty quiet, and this particular branch was sort of out-of-the-way. I started my car, rolled down the passenger window, and waited. It was cold, but it didn't take long.

The old woman came out and made her way to her car, carrying a couple of books. As she got there, I backed out, and took the Flasher from my back pocket. I pulled out in such a way as to block her car from being seen from inside the library - which was not a very likely situation since there were very few people there. I looked around, verifying that there was no one and no car around. I put the car in drive, leaning over. The woman had just opened her car, and was leaning over to put the books in. Point, press, Flash, and I drove out, putting the Flasher on the seat next to me as she slumped part-way into her car. I turned left onto Green, then right onto Chain of Hills. Before I'd turned onto St. George I got the confirmation. 2 left and 2 weeks to do them.

Surprise, Surprise.....

Doyle called on Tuesday. We met yesterday at the Barnes & Noble outside the Menlo Park Mall. He was sitting at a table by the front window off the parking lot, and shot me with a "hand" gun as I crossed from my car. He was having a cup of coffee (I guess) and some sort of danish. He had another cup for me.

"Decaf, just a little milk, and one Equal." He said.
"How'd you know?"
"We monitor you very closely. I told you that. We know a lot about your habits, and different tastes in foods and the like."
"O, OK, so what's this about?"
"I wanted to check in with you, since I missed our last meeting."
Right, you were sick, or so Givings said. How're you feeling?"
"Better, but I'm still a little weak. Don't know if I could run more then 3 miles or so."
"Yeah, right. I'm guessing you wouldn't have any problems."
"Anyway, the People Upstairs had something they wanted me to tell you, and I wanted to see if you had any questions from your meeting with Givings the last time."
"Yeah. I have questions. Givings couldn't answer them, and I doubt you can, too, but I'll ask anyway. What happens when this is all over? Will it matter if I do or don't make the 12?"
"To be honest...I don't know. The People Upstairs never said, and I never asked. I find that it's better not to ask any questions at all. Do what they want and everything runs smoothly. They don't often ask for anything too difficult."
"What do you mean.."too difficult"?"
"Nothing. Don't worry about it. It doesn't apply to you. Besides, there's some good news."
"Oh yeah? What?"
"Remember that I told you that the 6 months began when I first approached you? That was on August 18th, so the end date would be February 18th, right?"
"I'm aware of that. So?"
"That's 3 weeks from today, right?"
"Again, so?"
"Well, you still have 3 more Events to take care of. So, the People Upstairs have decided to give you until the end of February. That gives you another week to 10 days."
"Yippee. I still don't know if I can finish this. It's not so easy in this weather."
"No, but so far you've been treating Random Events as if you can't plan for them."
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, just because it's supposed to be random doesn't mean you can't be ready for it. Lets say that you go to a particular place once a week. Someone would know that, if they'd been watching you. If you were to be the subject of an Event, someone could wait along whatever route you take to get there and, depending on the traffic in the area, stage the Event. Do you understand what I'm saying here?"

I sat there for a moment, thinking. The coffee was probably cold by now. I knew what he was alluding to, and said so.

"Good. Now that you understand, you should never mention to anyone that I told you this. It should look like you figured it out on your own. I've told you of the leeway that the People Upstairs are allowing, so it's time for me to go."

He had finished his danish, and drank the rest of his coffee as he stood up.

"Why did you tell me that?"
"You're carrying around my friends heart, and he deserves to get every break he can. Besides, removing the tracker and getting someone else would be a pain in the ass."

He walked away, and I sat there a while longer. There was a lot to think about, and plan for.