Sociopath: Deceitful Game: Trust is a funny word...

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PROLOGUE

He sipped the hot coffee and looked down at the table, then at outside. He was having a rough day, headache, dizziness. Sometimes his blood pressure goes down, for no reason, then it becomes normal again after he drinks something hot…like coffee.

Now he was here drinking coffee, still not feeling any better. He finished the cup, paid the price then went out of the cafeteria. The air was cool outside, but he felt hot and drowsy anyway. Traffic was less today, he looked at the both sides and started crossing the street.

As soon as he had started something hit him, something big and bulky. Probably a car. It wasn’t in the full speed, because the pain he felt down near the waist to the small of his back, wasn’t anything unbearable. Someone rushed towards him, as he tumbled on to the ground. His eyes were blurry, he knew he was gonna pass out soon. He heard someone say ‘What happened to him? Check if he’s alive, we need to take him to a hospital’

Then someone one came and blocked his view, then went away somewhere again as he lay on the ground. The man said to someone ‘It’s a man, he’s injured’. Then everything went black.

1

CIA Headquarters, Langley

Kandahar. Discovered by Alexander the great, its situated on the west side of the country of Afghanistan, and also is the capital of the Kandahar province.

Now the predator MQ-1 moved through the air keeping a height of nearly one thousand metres from the land. It didn’t come down any more than that. The most it came down was when it dropped down under five hundred feet to get a better view of the city and the vast landscapes even though it was producing decent quality video coverage from one thousand metres.

This predator MQ-1 made minimum noise, as promised by the guys from the general atomics. Which meant that the people down below would not notice the small aircraft flying overhead unless they happen to look at the sky for some reason. Even if they do that they would not see anything that they’d find alarming. They would see a small aircraft which hardly looked any more threatening than a toy airplane. But well, it was bigger than a toy airplane, a lot bigger, but high up in the sky it would look a lot smaller than it actually was, which also worked on their advantage. On USA, Air Force’s advantage. It had a medium altitude with long endurance, unmanned aircraft system. Even though it’s not much big in size, it carried a lot of cameras for observation along with some sensors. Powered by a Rota engine and driven by a propeller it also had a primary satellite link communication suit in it. Generally it could work for fourteen hours straight, roam around in the sky without landing anywhere or stopping after which it would return back to its base with the help of the people from the base.

But anyone below would not notice such details. They would see a white aero plane not much high up in the sky. That would be all.

And that was what it was doing right now. Loitering in the sky over the Kandahar province providing the air force base in Uzbekistan with real time images and videos of the city below and whatever it caught in its cameras, from where it was being controlled. The same video was being transferred to the CIA control room in Virginia, where two security people, along with the director of the CIA, William Jonas, and Deputy Director Jane Madison, watched it. Along with them, who sat there on the other corner of the average sized room was the Secretary of the US Air Force, Bill Reagan, who was a friend of the President himself, and was appointed on his consent.

The other guy, sat there on one of the front chairs just in front of the five large screen monitors fitted to the wall, with wires and switches just below it, attached to the powerful lithium batteries kept inside the room on the other side of the wall.

The images were pretty decent, even though Jonas had some doubt about this concept at first. He stood behind the guy whose name was Ian Robbin, gripping the top of his chair which made the skin around his knuckles, white.

Jane on the other hand was a much stronger woman of late thirties, she would never bother worrying about anything, even when the president was worried about something. She was nearly six foot tall, slender, had just a few wrinkles and lines around her eyes which could be easily hidden with the right amount of makeup. But it seemed like she liked her make-up free face. Her hands were long, blonde hair, which was free flowing most of the time, but when something serious was going on, that was when she bothers tying up her hair, mostly in a bun or a ponytail. She always had a straight poker face, didn’t get angry too often and also knew how to manage a situation, as being the deputy director of CIA, there’s always a complicated situation with something, nearly every other day. And Jonas was not the kind of guy you would want at that time.

Now as they stared at the monitors, they saw the land of Kandahar, in an average quality picture, which would not be more than two-forty pixels in color depth. They could see the river, probably Arghandab River, which runs on the west of the city, as the Predator made its way into the middle of the city. They could see people on the streets, no one looked up once to see the aircraft, everyone was wearing either Khet Partug or Perahan Wa Tunban, even though they couldn’t see their clothes clearly, until the guys controlling the aircraft decided to go down a few feet and get a better view of the land below. But that only made the picture more grainy.

Jonas shrugged, then he turned to Reagan who was at the corner with a ear piece fitted to his right ear. Jonas said to him ‘The quality was better when it was high up’

Reagan instantly sat upright and said to the microphone that was attached to his shirt collar ‘Increase feet by a hundred’

‘Copy that’ came the voice back from Uzbekistan in his microphone.

The land instantly zoomed out as Reagan resumed his gaze at the screen. They could see a wider area but with comparatively less details.

‘This is good’ Jonas murmured to no one in particular.

Madison wasn’t sure what was good. The only thing that was good from this height was that people would not notice the plane from so high up that easily, but from here, they could nearly see everything except the details. The details that were important. They were looking for terrorists, or people who would look like one, which was why, according to her only getting the pictures of the land masses would not suffice. She glanced at Jonas one time, trying to think if she should say something, but then she thought better of it. They would get chance again for a better view. Maybe tonight. When Jonas was not around.

They heard a slight purr in the video, like a lot of dry leaves rustling together, but it wasn’t that. The sound was coming from something else. At first the sound was there, but it was in the background, having not much power to irritate them. Then it grew a little bit more.

Reagan who was a heavy guy like a Navy Seal guy, nearly the height of Madison, but twice her size in breadth. His shirt, which was not a official Air force shirt, or vest, was quite tight, tight enough to suffocate a normal human being. But he was different, he didn’t mind that, even when the swellings in his arms fought hard to rip through the Teri-cotton sleeve when he folded his hands. The shirt was like a second skin of his. But his face was just the opposite. Long V shaped face, cheekbones out, along with the ears which stuck out from his short haired head.

He caught the confusion in Madison’s eyes and said ‘Oh, that’s the sound of the wind’

‘Wind?’ said Madison. She thought of something else, probably.

‘Yeah, the wind is hitting the micro transceivers hard, which is why this sound is being created’

‘Why wasn’t it there at first?

‘The wind is picking up speed, probably’

Madison nodded and resumed her gaze at the screen. Jonas didn’t mind the purr purr noise in the background as long as it didn’t compromise the quality of the video. Which didn’t happen either.

The predator slowed down a little, ducked a sudden eagle which came in its way, letting it passed unharmed, and then it regained composure again, and sent the same quality video. Jonas could totally understand that the people in Uzbekistan was doing a fabulous job with the joysticks. But if they could fit in a better camera which could provide them with a footage that was less pixilated, then it would have been a lot of better. But this was good enough, and they knew that it would only get better from here on. They noticed a group of Pashtun’s move around keeping their heads down, Jonas watched them carefully trying to understand if they were innocent civilians or not. But before he could be sure about that, the predator moved away from that area. From here on the predator kept going to the north-east side, as the plane passed numerous fields, vast fields, which looked like flat, barren, uncultivated lands, but they knew that it was totally cultivated. As a matter of fact these fields were packed with plants that grew grains, dry fruits and foods, or even tobacco, along with pomegranates, grapes and marijuana, which the city is famous for.

Another half an hour went by with nothing interesting happening. The predator was running non-stop for twelve hours now. The people controlling this piece of machine informed Reagan that they would keep flying this plane over the city for another forty minutes maximum after which they would make it return to their base before it ran out of fuel. Reagan said ‘Ok’ to that and continued looking at the screen. He also informed Jonas about it, and Jonas, surprisingly seemed to be overjoyed to hear this. Maybe that was because he was stuck in this room for the last two hours since when he heard that the air craft was in its final lap before it returned to the base. And he wasn’t expecting to find anything so soon anyway. Maybe they would notice something as they kept on doing this every two days in a week, if they were lucky. And they weren’t even totally sure if the people they were hoping to notice was aware of this or not. They could see this plane and feel suspicious about it. It would not be unnatural if they felt that way. And this wasn’t hundred percent legal anyway, as a matter of fact this was a offensive operation that was now being carried out by the Air Force, with the support from CIA and DOD. But they knew that this should not get out of the few buildings it was in, it was all hugely classified.

Jonas yawned and looked at his watch. It was eight in the night. The sky was of course, dark, a dull kind of dark, not so sharp. Maybe there were a few invisible clouds in the sky which made it look that way. The traffic was still in the heavier side, and like New York or Vegas, there would still be people roaming around even in midnight. But there would a lot less people than in the working hours of course. A lot less.

Another half an hour and Jonas would leave and have dinner with his family. In his home. Actually his wife, Kelly asked him to choose a restaurant where they have never ate before. He did choose one only to understand that the he would never reach home in time. Which was when he called home and informed Kelly that she’d have to cancel the dinner plans as he would be late. Kelly let out a disappointed groan but today Jonas succeeded in convincing her that there was a important task that needed to be taken care of, and eventually his wife settled for the ‘dinner in home’ option.

Madison stood where she stood, she had a family as well, one girl, Susan, but no husband, she was divorced. The girl happened to be a big girl of seventeen as she didn’t mind being alone home for long hours, perhaps that was because she didn’t remain home herself, so she could not complain to her mom about why her mom arrived late every other day. She had a lot of friends and that was why Madison had a lot of worries. Susan had a tendency to talk about nearly everything that she heard, with her friends. Which was why Madison remains conscious all the time about what she says, because if she says something important and then Susan hears it and lets it out to outsiders, then there would be serious consequences. But as she was an expert in handling this sort of situations, she never had to face a problem. At least not yet.

‘Look look’ said Robbin as he came to the front, standing up. Jonas also looked up at the screen a little more alarmed than he was. Madison herself was already staring at the screen, so she just looked a little more closely just to make out what actually was Robbin asking them to see. And she knew what, it was clear.

The predator was nearing the Tarnak farm compound and they could see a tall man wearing white robes, walking steadily, keeping his face to the ground, not really alarmed about anything much, moving towards the Tarnak building.

Jonas and everyone in this room was suddenly filled excitement.

‘There, there’ Jonas pointed at the screen, at the white robed man.

‘Who’s that?’ asked Madison, to Robbin, even when she could pretty much guess who it was.

‘Probably Bin Laden’ said Robbin.

2

The white house

Going around the West Wing complex, Deputy Director Madison was the last one to the enter the Oval Office. She thought, if she should knock on the door first, but when she heard voices inside and when she found that the door was half open, she just pushed it completely open, and went in.

As soon as she went in she found the president Gerald Harrison seated on the other end of the desk. Behind the desk there were three large south facing windows, with the fireplace on the opposite end. Madison came in through the northeast side door, which opens onto the main corridor of the West Wing, while the east door opens to the rose garden, the west door leads to the private study as well as the dining room and the northwest door leads to office of the president’s secretary. There were new furniture here, new drapery and a designer carpet which took most of the floor.

‘Jane, take a seat’ said President Harrison and pointed at the empty chair. The remaining chairs were occupied by Vice President George Jefferson, Secretary of the Department of Defence, Charlie Burr.

‘We were waiting for you’ said President Harrison.

‘Mr. President’ said Madison, then she strolled along, came and sat on the chair, that was showed to her. She checked the faces of Jefferson and Burr. Tried to wait and see if they gets up to shake her hand, but they didn’t. And Madison was not too keen on doing so either. As a matter of fact, she had permanent hatred for Jefferson, since he acted rather avariciously during a terrorist attack on the white house.

Jefferson, had the same feeling about Madison but he always tried hard not to make it too personal. He always wore expensive suits, even more expensive than the navy blue suit the president was wearing right now. And he was forty nine, with a attitude which made him look strong, but artificially strong. On the other hand Burr was a faithful man and he knew how to handle a situation as much as Madison, if not more. He was a young man in his early thirties with quite a bit experience in his field, but the district attorney found out that he had great potential to succeed in this line of work, which was why he proposed the thought of making him the head of the DOD to President Harrison, and Harrison agreed. And sure enough Burr was doing a fine job in his position till now.

President Harrison leaned forward and waited for someone to take the lead. He was nearing fifty but showed no sign of stress or anything as such. He had a long face with dents on both his cheeks which increases when he smiles. He was six foot two in height, and was pretty much fit and lean, even when he didn’t have a athletic body. But exercising daily made it up for it. He wore a park avenue tailor made suit with a glossy red tie, along with formal office boots which were shinning as if he just bought it.

‘So Jane, you told me that you have something to say, but allow me to say something first’ said the president with a authentically formal voice, carrying a lot of gravity. And it was a commanding tone.

Madison could totally understand why the president chose to have this meeting in the oval office instead of the situation rooms or anywhere else. Maybe it was because this was not a official briefing about anything, and there was no need to bring all the heads of all the agencies here right now, moreover there was no situation yet.

‘Cody was hugely impressed with the footage we got from the predator last year’ President Harrison came straight to the point without blabbering about anything else. Cody Allen was the white house security chief, and he liked to closely monitor everything that was going on in the white house. ‘So he proposed a fascinating idea’

‘He wants to’ Madison tried to say something but she stopped, thinking that she was interrupting the President but when the President gestured her to continue, she said ‘He wants to equip the predator with missiles and test the missiles in the Nevada testing site creating a clone of the Tarnak Farm’

The president looked impressed. ‘How do you know that Jane?’ was what the President wanted to ask, but Jefferson asked it for him.

Madison still looking at the President and replied ‘Well, Richard also seems to love this idea’

‘From the CTC?’ asked Burr.

‘Yes’ replied Madison.

Richard Johnson was the head of the CIA’s counterterrorism Centre, a guy who took his job seriously, but he also loved to throw a party, or celebrate whenever he got good news.

‘So he knows this as well’ President Harrison said it as a statement.

‘Apparently yes, sir’ said Madison. ‘But I’m not sure where from he heard this information’

‘All right’ the president leaned back again clasping his wrists. ‘So what do you think?’

‘I haven’t given much thought to it, Sir’

‘Well Mr. President, it sounds like a good idea to me’ Jefferson instantly said as the President turned to him.

‘It does?’

‘Yeah, I mean yeah’ said Jefferson excitedly. ‘If we can successfully launch missiles in the target without any other damage, then I don’t see why we can’t use this in the real Afghanistan’

President Harrison nodded. ‘Charlie?’

Burr was a quiet guy. Instead of providing everyone with bullshit theories, he liked doing what he was told, without giving it a second thought. But he still said ‘Yes, that sound good to me’

President nodded again and looked down at the stack of papers kept on the table, waiting to be taken away as soon as he had signed them.

‘Jane’

‘Yes, Mr. President?’ she said instantly.

‘Talk to Jonas’ he said. ‘He has close contact with Cody. Tell him to get more details, and also inform me about - if he thinks it’s a good idea. But right now, it does sounds like a promising idea to me as well, so from my side, I will say go with it. But still talk with Jonas, see if he agrees with us on this’

‘Yes Mr. President’ Madison nodded again.

‘Susan, good?’ the President asked.

‘Yes sir’

This was not the first time President Harrison asked about her family, he does that every other day, at least two times a week. She wasn’t sure if he does that as a part of making conversation, or because he really cared for her family.

‘So I understand you have to say something as well’ said the President.

Madison realized that she came here to say whatever she had to say, before they talked about all this missiles.

‘Yes sir… so we might have another problem’ Madison also liked saying everything in brief and to the point. She thought that describing everything was a wastage of time of hers along with the President’s, even though President Harrison had a lot of patience and he never admitted that time was getting wasted.

‘Okay?’ he said waiting for more. Burr and Jefferson turned to look at her closely as well.

Madison scratched her eyebrow and continued ‘Yes, so my sources from France have informed me about someone there’

‘Who is this someone?’ asked Burr.

‘Someone who seems to be a mafia or something, lives in Paris, and here’s the main thing’ Madison paused and then said ‘My source is pretty confident that this guy is in close contact with the Al- Qaeda’

The President leaned forward again, thinking, while Jefferson asked ‘So he works with the Al- Qaeda?’

‘I am not totally sure about that’ said Madison. ‘But I don’t think that he officially works for the Al- Qaeda’

‘Okay?’ said the President.

‘He probably donates money to some of the terrorist organisation in Iraq and Arabia that are associated with the Al- Qaeda’

‘That still makes him a threat to us’ said Jefferson.

‘And my source also seem to have overheard this man talking with a Arabian man’

‘What were they talking about?’ said Harrison.

‘He is providing the terrorist group, if they are a terrorist group, ten million US dollars’ Madison waited to see everyone’s reaction. But here everyone was professional so there was no particular reaction.

The president still looked at her sensing that there’s more. ‘And?’

‘And there’s a bomb in the making which may or may not enter the United States’

President Harrison bit his lip.

Burr asked ‘What kind of a bomb are we talking about here?’

‘We don’t know such details’ said Madison. ‘But the best guess my source could make was a ten kiloton, hydrogen’

‘That is not any less dangerous’ said Jefferson.

‘Sure it isn’t’

President Harrison remained quiet thinking about it. ‘He is a threat to us that’s for sure. He might or might not be funding the Al- Qaeda, and might or might not make a bomb which might or might not enter the United States’

‘True, sir’ said Madison.

‘What do you think we should do, Mr. President?’ asked Jefferson to Harrison.

The President ignored that and asked Madison ‘If this bomb is in the making, when is it going to enter the country?’ even when he knew that it was a long shot.

‘We don’t know that’ said Madison which sounded a little bit flat.

But the President didn’t expect her to know this either. He understood and nodded. Then he turned to Burr and said ‘Charlie?’ because Burr was the most experienced among everyone here when it came to mafia, terrorists or bombs.

‘This man seems to be dangerous to me, what’s his name by the way?’

‘Thomas Alfanso’ said Madison.

‘Right, so this guy Thomas, may have had a hand in making the bomb. So I would have slept better having him eliminated’

‘And why do you think eliminating him is the best option?’ asked the President.

‘Well, first of all he’s giving away ten million dollars to the Al- Qaeda, so for starters we know he’s a rich man, and he can give more if he wants to, so if we succeed in eliminating him, the Al- Qaeda would have a tough time making this bomb, because they’d need a lot of resources to make this bomb, and they need money for that, which is coming from this man. So if he isn’t there, the Al- Qaeda would have to move on without his help, and this change would not be so easy to adapt to, for them, sir’

‘I’ll have to disagree’ said Vice President Jefferson before the President could have his say. ‘I think the Al- Qaeda army has grown pretty strong over the years, and they have roots in nearly all the middle east countries. Which means ten million dollars doesn’t matter to them much. Even I’m pretty sure that they already have a plan to attack the United States in a disastrous way, so I don’t see how eliminating this guy Thomas would make much of a difference’

‘But we don’t know for sure that its only ten million dollars that he’s paying and not more’ said Burr who doesn’t usually speak so freely in front of the President.

‘True enough’ nodded Madison.

‘So you both are saying that it would be better to eliminate this man?’ asked the President.

Burr kept quiet but Jefferson confidently said ‘That would be about right’

‘Jane’ Harrison turned to her. ‘You think it’s the right thing to do?’

‘I have no comment on this, Sir’

‘All right’ said President Harrison checking everyone’s faces. ‘Here’s what I think, I think eliminating this man right away would not be the best move’ Jefferson looked on eagerly, thinking how could the President not like his plan. ‘Look, if this man really has contact with the Al- Qaeda, then he can be useful to us’

‘How so?’ asked Jefferson.

‘Let me finish first’ said the President a little bit irritated. ‘He can give us some information we need, some information about the money or the bomb or anything that concerns the security of United States, you understand my point?’

‘So, sir’ continued