Overture (Earth Song) (18 page)

Mindy
stared blankly at the computer monitors for several minutes while her mind worked. “Maybe getting a solution on this rock is a mistake. If it’s aimed down our throats and we go on the networks announcing it, and then tell them there are these Portals, it’s going to be a disaster of biblical proportions.”

Victor stepped through the Portal and arrived on the other side. Endless grassy fields spread out in all directions and in the distance a sparkling city of gold rose into the sky. His apostles came through behind him, followed by wave after wave of those who'd believed his words of God. To make room for those arriving, he began leading them toward the city.

It
seemed like an immense distance, but as they walked the city loomed close quickly. Just as he’d read in the Bible, it was surrounded by a wall hundreds of feet tall. Coming into view was a vast gate of brilliant white marble. Standing guard at that gate was the Avatar he'd already met. And just as before it looked at him and seemed to be smiling.

He
walked up to the Avatar and smiled. “I have brought my children through. We are ready to enter Heaven.”

A
voice replied directly in his head. “You have indeed arrived in Heaven, but others have come before you. They are the chosen ones now, and they will decide whether to allow you into Heaven or not.”

Victor
stood in shock as the gates opened and a squad of soldiers marched through. They quickly set up a blockade and barred anyone from entering the pearly gates. “This is now US Military Territory,” announced one of the soldiers. “File forward and show your identification before entering the Military District of Heaven.” Victor looked up and could see golden attack choppers and jet fighters circling around the city, intermixed with flights of angels. As he watched, the city slowly began changing from golden to olive drab green, and he woke up screaming.

The
door to his room opened, and Duke was standing there framed in the hall’s light. “Same dream?” he asked.

“
Same dream,” Victor said as he sat up and wiped sweat from his head. Duke had hardly left his side since Detective Harper showed up with the warning of an arrest warrant. “I think either God or His Avatar is trying to speak in my dreams. He’s warning me we need to take the Portal back from the government. It wasn’t sent to them. It was sent to the people; to the faithful!”

“
We’re gathering an army of followers!” said Duke with a big grin. “More and more every day. Talk of the doomsday asteroid is making everyone real spooked. God seems to recruit well, under those situations. I’ve been reading some of those Old Testament stories and God has his faithful do a lot a killing, when he needs them too. Maybe we should get together as many as we can count on and just take it away from them army guys?”

“
Kadru has spent some time watching them and it would be a blood bath. There are a couple hundred soldiers and they keep their eyes open. These aren’t a bunch of lazy security guards we’re talking about.”

“
I know brother, I was in the military. Did a hitch as a Marine in Germany.”

“
I had no idea.”

“
Don’t like to talk about it too much. It was kinda the beginning of where I went wrong. Anyway, I made a lot of connections back then, and made even more since. I could get us some stuff. Stuff that would leave anyone there in no condition to stop us when we moved in.”

“
You talking about bio or chemical weapons, Duke? I don’t think God would approve of that.”

“
Who’s us to say? I mean, look at all those times someone slaughtered thousands on God’s say so, and with just a jawbone of an ass, or shit like that. ‘To stand against God is to be cast out,’ is what it said.”

Victor
nodded his head. “Maybe you have a point, but I think it’s too soon to be considering extreme measures. There might be other ways.”

“
Indeed there might,” said another voice. Kadru stood in the doorway behind Duke. Victor was concerned. Every time he saw her she seemed to be more tired than the last time. She appeared just as alert but now her left eye seemed to droop slightly, as if she were having trouble staying awake. It reminded him a bit of an old street woman he'd known with Bell’s palsy.

“
What do you have?” he asked.

“
I have made contact with someone on the inside. We’ve exchanged e-mails and, whoever it is, they know a lot about the Portal and what is going on.”

“
Are they one of the faithful?”

She
recalled how Sky Watcher described the Portal in scientific terms, what he believed it was, how it might work, and that they were trying to figure out what star system it goes to. “They have a sort of faith, but it is not the same as ours.”

“
Ask them if they will come to the temple to talk. Maybe they can be made to believe, or at least become our allies.”

“
I think they are already our allies in some ways, but we should be conscious that we are not immune to being converted to someone else’s way of seeing the world.”

“
I’m completely confident in what I believe,” said Victor.

“
So am I,” said Duke with complete conviction.

“
I have more news, not really good news though. Your friend, Billy Harper, the cop, sent an e-mail. He says he is under investigation and is being followed. He cannot come here again and is concerned that he may have been followed here.”

“
We need to get out of here, then!” Duke said. Victor looked sad but he shook his head.

“
We are done with this place. Pick two-dozen of the faithful; tell them we are going to move to that mission on 84
th
street for now. They can network with others.” Kadru nodded her head and turned to leave. Duke stayed.

“
Our time is running short, I think we need to act,” his big friend said.

“
Soon, but not for some time. We need to work within the system, continue to build our strength, and bide our time.”

“
Ok,” Duke said and left as well. Something in the manner of the big man made Victor suspicious. He dressed and went to help with the move. Before long the sheer difficulty of the task overwhelmed his concerns and he’d completely forgotten the way Duke had acted. It was late in the afternoon before he noticed both Duke and Gabriel were gone, as were many of the faithful.

“
Do you know where everyone is?” he asked Paul and Mary who were busy packing supplies into a donated moving truck.

“
No idea,” they both told him. He shrugged and went back to work. All afternoon he was haunted by a nagging suspicion that something was going on.

Mindy opened the e-mail with a sense of dread but was quickly rewarded with the answer she'd been hoping for. “Come to us and we will talk about these matters,” Kadru had written earlier that morning. “Victor wishes to meet you, Sky Watcher, to see how we can cooperate to make the Portal to Heaven available to all the people. I would also like to talk about what it is you see in the Portal, and what you believe.”

Mindy
wrote a quick reply saying she would tell Kadru once she made arrangements to travel to New York. She snatched up the laptop that Skinner had given her and headed downtown.

In
the reception office of the FBI, she asked for Special Agent Smith. The man there looked at her strangely before answering. “There is no Special Agent Smith in this field office,” he said simply.

“
Please check the duty log for me,” she asked patiently. The agent looked annoyed but typed in the name anyway. By the look on his face she knew that Skinner had made the arrangements once again.

“
I see now, Ms. Patoy. Would you follow me, please?” They took a different route through the labyrinth of offices this time and arrived at an unmarked door. The agent held it open for her. “Please wait inside.”

Mindy
stepped into the room and the door instantly closed behind her. She spun around and grabbed the handle just a second too late as the lock clicked before she could turn the handle. This wasn’t the plush meeting room she’d found herself in before, just plain white walls, mirrored on one side, a metal table, and two chairs. This was an interrogation room. “What the hell is going on here?!” she yelled through the closed door. Turning around she spotted a camera aimed at her, its red “active” light glowing. “Why am I being detained?” No one answered her call. “God damn it, who is in charge here!” she yelled and kicked over the chair nearest to her. It rebounded off the wall and came to rest at her feet with a loud clatter but no other effect was forthcoming.

Disgusted,
she righted the chair and dropped into it. She placed the computer on the table and opened it up. Using the wireless network card, she tried to get an outside connection. Not surprisingly, there was no response. With a sly grin she activated the networking wizard and had it search for connections. Three wireless networks were operating in range of her computer, all encrypted.

With
a snort Mindy set to work. Breaking a sixteen-bit encryption key was nothing compared to sorting millions of stars for a match. It only took two minutes to get access to one of the three local FBI wireless networks. Five seconds after that the door opened.

“
Okay Ms. Patoy, you can stop that now. We are officially impressed.” She didn’t look up; instead she started looking around the FBI network for the external gateways. While her encryption code-breaker worked, she'd penned a quick mayday e-mail to Leo Skinner. All that remained was a way to send it. “I insist you cease and desist this illegal penetration of a government computer system. It is a felony under USC 19, 125.41 and cause for you to be arrested.”

“
I have been detained with no probable cause and not read my rights, allowed to contact a lawyer, or informed why I am being detained.” Someone on the other side of the one-way glass rapped for attention. The man who had been speaking reached over Mindy’s shoulder and deftly powered off the computer and slid it away from her. Mindy made no attempt to stop him.

“
You are not under arrest at this time, Ms. Patoy, but we do have a few questions.  Not the least of which is what are you doing here today, and who is it you are coming here to communicate with?”

“
I’d have to say that is none of your business on both accounts and insist you both release me and give me back my computer.”

“
This is government property.”

“
It was given to me as a gift on a previous visit.”

“
Really? Who was it that gave you this expensive piece of hardware? That person should be brought up on charges for stealing government property. Or should you be the one charged?”

“
I didn’t get her name. It was a female special agent, black, and she escorted me to the conference room last time I was here.”

“
Did she give you a signed receipt? That would be procedure. While not keeping this black female agent from being brought up on charges, it would at least keep you from being prosecuted as an accomplice.”

“
What do you want of me, Agent Noname, and are you intending to talk to my back the entire time?”

The
man came around to face her and took the chair on the other side of the table. “Bureau Chief Edward Masciler, Ms. Patoy, it is good to meet you. Now, if you would be so good as to inform me who you are here to converse with?”

“
Good to meet you as well, but you can just forget it. Don’t you know this information yourself, or can anyone call up and demand to use secure connections?”

“
Hardly. The request came through ‘unusual’ channels. Unusual but powerful.”

“
Well, I suggest you contact those channels and make your inquiries because I am not telling you anything.”

“
You are forcing me to book you on charges of theft of government property.”

“
That’s fine, give me my call.”

“
I can hold you for up to seventy-two hours without charging you, Ms. Patoy. Considering that you are being less than cooperative, I think it might be the best option.” She narrowed her eyes, trying to decide if he was bluffing. Then she decided she didn’t care. Seventy-two hours from her life would not mean much either way. After that they would have to give her that phone call and she would unleash legal hell on Mr. Masciler.

The
tiny cellular phone hanging on agent Masciler’s belt rang for attention. He stood and moved away from her before answering it. As soon as he’d said hello he became quite animated, his bravado giving way to rage, then to something else. After a moment he hung up and came over to her.

“
Miss Patoy, will you please come with me?”

“
I don't see as I have a choice,” she said and got up to follow him. She was certain to take her “gift” computer with her.