The Cardinal Rule - Ch 1 - Questions

Book I – Part I

Chapter I – Questions

Between Albany and Manhattan, New York, USA

December 16, 2018 – 0215 Local

         The car came to a halt on the empty street. The engine lurched, rocking the vehicle back and forth. The rain fell in sheets as a man stepped out of the passenger side in a short trench coat and a black hat. Lowering his head to shield his face from the rain, he cursed while clambering around to the front and lifting the hood of the car. The engine sputtered and died, coughing its last breath into the bitter night air. There was another burst of profanity as the man strolled back to the passenger side and climbed inside.

         The door shut with a dull clunk and the “door-open” tone silenced as he turned to the driver and sighed heavily. “Well, this is just great.” His voice was softer than his demeanor would have led someone to believe.  He was calmer now that he was out of the rain. “The engine is shot. Useless piece of shit, this car is.”

         The driver laughed as he lifted a silver flask from the center console and handed it to him “Not a problem, David. We merely have to wait for roadside aid to arrive… Shouldn’t be too long,” he added as his accomplice sipped the cold whiskey.

         David was tall and lanky. His skin was smooth and young, complementing his handsome and kind-looking face. The large hands that gripped the flask were thin with long fingers. His calm, light eyes stared blankly at the wooden dashboard of the 5-series, while the sound of the rain on the windshield created a soundtrack for silence.

         “So,” David said, attempting to start some sort of conversation, “is it true, what I’ve been hearing? The stories trickling down from the upper-echelons, I mean. I hear Brother Adler has seized the rank of Lieutenant in Karlsruhe.”

         The driver nodded slowly as he took the flask. “It is true. Though, how a lower level operative would’ve heard something like that, especially when our area of operations is here in New York, is beyond me.”

         David chuckled. “Are you forgetting that the Anderson name is well-known and respected by the Teachers?” he said quietly, “My brother is a very powerful man in Paris. The Teachers respect his judgment.”

         The driver scowled. “Your brother has worked hard for that respect. You haven’t earned it yet. I like you, David, but don’t think that I’ll respect you because I worked with your brother in Naples two years ago. This isn’t like the fraternity you joined at Yale. You don’t just walk in and say, ‘My brother is important here, and he fucked the most girls during his stint, therefore you have to respect me.’ It doesn’t work that way. This is the greatest fraternity on earth. The notches on your belt are what matter, not the notches on your brother’s.”

         The young man bowed his head. “I apologize, brother,” he whispered, “Please forgive me.”

         “I will accept your apology this time, but do not make the mistake again. The Order has little tolerance for ignorance. Do you not remember the Fifth Law of the Light from your training?”

         “Of course, Daniel. The Fifth Law states that no member shall challenge the status quo for any reason, neither personal nor objective. We are to remain ghosts, and adapt to the world. We are the background; we are the mystery; we are the well-hidden cancer,” David answered quickly as he returned the flask to his companion.

         “So you do remember?” Daniel asked redundantly.

         David was about to climb out of the car once again to check the engine when both he and his companion were startled by the sudden flash of red and blue behind them. Pulling to a slow halt, a Chevy Suburban rolled into the open area behind their black sedan, emergency lights blinking. David swore loudly and looked over at Daniel. “This won’t end well.”

         “Just play it cool,” Daniel reminded his student, “Remember the Fifth Law. Adapt, react, and stay calm. Don’t draw attention to us.”

         Two doors on the SUV swung open and two officers stepped out of the vehicle. They wore crisp grey state police uniforms and black rain jackets with tan hats shielding their faces from the wind and downpour. Slowly approaching the front windows of the BMW, the two officers ignited their Maglite flashlights and began to scan the interior of the car as Daniel slowly rolled down the windows. Leaning in through the driver’s side, the first officer cleared his throat. “What seems to be the problem, gentlemen?”

         “Um, well, we were on our way down I-90 when the engine just kind of died,” Daniel said, giving the steering-wheel a smack, as if annoyed by the vehicle.

         “A bit of an odd time to be out in this weather, isn’t it?” the second officer asked, “It’s nearly two in the morning, and the rain isn’t lightening any time soon. Perhaps you two could enlighten us to your destination?”

         “New York,” David said naturally, “We’re headed to the city, officer. We’ve got a meeting in the morning, and we’re coming from Albany. We were hoping to try and beat the morning traffic, but it’s starting to appear that we probably won’t be able to do that.”

         “No,” the second officer agreed, “it would appear not-“

“We’ve had an anonymous tip that there may be some weapons trafficking going on tonight,” his partner interrupted, shining his light into Daniel’s eyes, “You two gentlemen wouldn’t have any idea about those things, would you?”

         “No sir, officer,” Daniel said matter-of-factly, “We’re investors. We’re heading for a meeting in New York. Nothing wrong with being a businessman, is there? We don’t want any problems, sir.”

         The first officer stared at Daniel for a moment before stepping back from the window and speaking clearly. “Sir, could you and your friend step out of the vehicle, nice and slow… with your hands where we can see them?”

         “On what grounds?” David asked.

         “On grounds of suspicion. We’ve got the right to search any suspicious vehicles and persons in this area due to increased illegal activities. Please step out of the vehicle. Do not make us ask again.”

         Daniel and David both looked at each other before slowly unbuckling themselves and climbing from the car. Their hands were clearly visible as the two officers shined the lights into their eyes. A large officer, muscular and powerful, stepped closer to David and lowered the flashlight slightly before clearing his throat. “I’m going to perform a full-body search, Mister-”

“Anderson.”

“Mr. Anderson, do you have any items of interest on you, or any knives or sharp objects I may harm myself on?”

         “No sir, officer.”

         Nodding, the officer slipped the light into his belt and had David turn and lean over the hood of the car. The officer pushed David and began to frisk him.



Daniel was less willing. “I don’t understand why you need to frisk me! I already answered your questions. This is discrimination. Just because I have a German accent, I must be a criminal?”

         The state police officer glared into his face and gritted his teeth. “Sir, I’m only going to ask you again before force is used. Place your hands on your head and turn around. Please do not make me use force.”

         “David, we don’t need this. Let’s go. We can’t afford to be late,” Daniel stated quietly as he slowly reached for his door-handle.

The officer’s hand grabbed hold of the older man’s wrist and attempted to pin him to the car, but he was surprised by the strength of the man with graying hair.

Staring in the officer’s eyes, Daniel spoke with a new, colder demeanor. “I told you I didn’t want a problem, but now you’ve gone and created one.”

         Pivoting on his left-heel, Daniel pushed his weight into the officer, throwing him off balance before suddenly swinging his other foot under his legs. The policeman hit the pavement hard and in a split second his pistol was in Daniel’s hand, aimed at the second officer, who had reached for his weapon but was now frozen with both David and Daniel holding weapons on him.



David watched as Daniel made his move on the younger officer and he acted fast. Reaching up from the hood of his car, he snapped his frisker’s hand upward, pushing it back toward his forearm and stepped back into him. He staggered off balance and the young man used it to his advantage to pull a suppressed M9 from inside his coat and turn it on the police officer. The two “businessmen” let out a cruel laugh before Daniel turned back to his own threat.

         David heard him from behind as he watched the officer in front of him, “Mr. Policeman, we’ll be on our way now… I’m sorry to say, you won’t… You should have listened to me when I said I didn’t want a problem… Et in terra…” the gunshot rang out as the stretch of highway became the resting place of the young officer.

         David did not give any speech. The officer in front of him began to pull his service weapon from its holster in a final attempt to defend himself, but to no avail. Three dull coughs, like a stack of papers being slapped together, cut the air and the shell casings bounced off the asphalt. Crumbling like a marionette whose strings had been cut, the officer dropped instantly, lifeless. There was no romanticized collapse, a hand to god, nothing… He fell like a stone as two bullets past through his skull, the third through his throat. The sound of a car door opening and a tone dragged David back to reality, back from the adrenaline of his first murder with a pistol.

         Turning back to the BMW he watched as the trunk sprang open and he quickly assisted Daniel in moving the four duffel bags within to the Suburban. After a few minutes, they found themselves on their way down the I-90 through the storm as they listened to chatter on the scanner about assistance headed toward the BMW. It was only a matter of time before their SUV was toxic, and when that happened, they would need to find a better option. But for now, they were safe.

         Relaxing in the passenger seat, David watched the countryside of the state of New York past by the tinted windows as he sipped from the flask. He had never committed such a heinous act as killing a police officer. Though, they may not have had a choice when it came to the police. They would have eventually found their hidden weapons; they would have eventually searched the car and found nearly twenty million dollars’ worth of cocaine in the duffle bags. More than sixty kilograms of the most potent cocaine in the world, that is. Sitting back in the seat of the SUV as it barreled down the freeway at nearly ninety miles an hour, David looked over the weapon in his hand.

         Daniel, however, was much more relaxed with what had just happened. Looking over at the kid, he cleared his throat and spoke quietly, “Are you alright, Dave?”

         David was not sure if he was, but he assured his boss that he was. Causing worry was not something he needed to do. It would cause a change in the current status quo, and break the Fifth Law, something that he was currently having reinforced into his training. He had to adapt. He had to take what had happened, stow it deep down, and understand the collateral as an acceptable loss.

         Acceptable losses.

         That was a term they threw around a lot in the camps in Peru and Colombia. Every death was an acceptable loss if it could be justified as in defense of the Order or yourself. But that was what bothered David the most: “How do you justify a murder?” A former major of Psychology and Law at Yale, David was a man who spent many hours in training trying to understand the Laws of the Light as something that could logically be explained. But justifying murdering the innocent was not something… No. He shook the thought out of his head. Questioning the Laws of Lucius was one of the worst offenses, according to the indoctrination portion of training.

         “Listen, soldier, take that bullshit fear, and stow it. People die. They will die in the field, they will die at the hand of our enemies, at the hand of the law, at the hand of you… People will die. The only difference between murder and just another death, is whether the loss is acceptable. That is our job. Discerning acceptable losses from mindless murder. Calculate. Always think. There is no murder if it is justified. Remember that.”

         The voice still echoed in David’s head. Turning to his partner, he watched him for a moment and wandered what kind of thoughts were running through his mind… Or whether the aged Operator’s mind was as blank as the Indoctrination said it would become with time.

         “A blank mind is the only way you’ll be able to live with yourself… Don’t let the thoughts get to you… Your job is just, just keep that in mind, repeat it to yourself.”

         “My job is just.”

         “What?” Daniel asked quizzically as he casted a glance in David’s direction.

         “Nothing, nothing,” David replied, “wake me when we get there, alright?”

         “Sound’s good… Shouldn’t be too long…”

         Closing his eyes, David waited for the blankness of sleep to take him away. It had been too long since he had been able to sleep.

~~~~~~

         The Suburban had long been left in replace for a small Toyota Corolla, an old car that barely ran, but was enough for them to pull into the garage in Manhattan were they were to meet with their associates. After three hours of sleeping in the car ride, David climbed from the white car, stretching and adjusting his cramped neck. Three men in fine clothes greeted them as the door to the chop-shop closed behind them. Nodding coolly, David and Daniel both removed their coats and hats, revealing expensive shirts and ties with leather holsters around their shoulders.

         Offering his hand naively, David was quickly shot down by the men and resumed his resolute silence. The apparent leader of their contact introduced himself to Daniel directly, his accent clearly that of a Peruvian, “Mr. Ruben, it is nice to see you again… I see that Lieutenant Michaels has you taking a recruit under your wing.”

         “Indeed,” Daniel said, shaking the Peruvian’s hand. David relaxed a little now that he realized that his accomplice knew their contact and that they weren’t in danger. Motioning for them to follow, the tall, tanned, black-haired man began to lead them toward a back office as his two men opened the Toyota and began to pull out the drugs, “So Filipe, I do believe that we’re to receive our pay, and be on our way, or has there been a change to the itinerary?”

         “No changes. We have the money all set and ready to go, Brother. We’ll get it down here, and you can take the Audi out back, it’ll draw less attention. We’ve heard reports of what happened early this morning, which was regrettable, and the Toyota has been listed as missing,” the Filipe replied, “you’re going to want to lie low in Manhattan for a few days before heading back to Albany, they found an image of the two of you on the dash-camera of the Suburban when they found it.”

         “I see…” Daniel mused.

         “Yes, so I suggest hair changes, and new contacts. As well as new IDs and papers. Go on a new alias for now, and try to slip back into the backdrop. We’ll provide safety for a while, if need be,” the Lieutenant interjected before Daniel could continue, “my Teacher has told me the Masters are beginning to feel the heat of the Federal authorities both here, and over in Europe where are operations are more deeply rooted, and they are starting to get a little nervous over moving such large amounts of pure product so openly.”

         “I agree,” Daniel said quickly, “I mean, it isn’t like our product is cut with anything, it’s pure. It’s unrefined. If we were caught with sixty-five kilos of that… And they traced us back to a Lieutenant, or Lucius forbid, a Teacher or Master... It could be all they need to get a full-blown assault on the Order.”          

         “Exactly the upper-echelon’s feelings.”

         The three men entered an excluded office and the door slowly shut behind them. Sitting at a desk, Filipe offered them the two chairs across from him and lifted an iced glass from his calendar and sipped a bit of tequila before sighing, “So I’ve got orders for both of you, passed down from the Master of the region… They are sealed in these envelopes,” he said as he pulled them from his desk and handed to them both respectively, “do not open them until you are on your way. Understood?”

         “Yes, sir,” they both chorused before Filipe stood and lifted a small knapsack and handed it to Daniel and nodded. Accepting the bag of euros, Daniel stood, and he and David left the room without another word. Sitting back at his desk, Filipe rested his face in his hands, “I’m sorry old friend…” he muttered before lifting his phone and tapping a single number. There was a brief tone before he spoke quietly to the man who answered, “Do it…”

         … “If they know we were at the Suburban and are searching for that car, that means we’ll need to definitely switch out our papers soon and change up our game plan before heading back to Albany. It’s too hot right now, so we’ll get a room or something until Monday morning, and then be on our-“ a man interrupted Daniel with a snap from a suppressed weapon and he fell like a stone. David looked up in shock and watched the gunmen before opening his mouth, “Why di-“ a second cough was his answer. Blackness welcomed him.