Spook

Spook
By Andrew M. Dillow

Chapter 1
Biting the Hand that Feeds You

Broderick the one they called the Omega Man was laughing at me. He had one blood soaked hand over the slice in his abdomen, a vain attempt on his part to keep his intestines from falling out into his lap.

“I die knowing you will never leave Razzein. You have doomed yourself to life and death here.”
Broderick said

The laughing was now garbled as the blood began to pour out through the side of his mouth. His head tilted to side as his laughter ended, his eyes now two lifeless orbs mocking me even in his death. I had just killed my client, I had broken every rule that I had fought so hard in my life to abide by, I was now trapped and no matter how much of a piece of crap Broderick may have been by the local laws I would be imprisoned or executed for what I had just done.

I was in this thing deep. People had gotten killed because I had not acted before now but what hurt worse than that was the money I wasn’t going to collect. He’d paid his deposit of course but in the span of the two weeks that I had acted as his personal body guard I’d spent most of that. It would take every remaining cent to get me out of this fly infested, disease ridden, politically corrupt country and that was only if the cards fell my way something that they had not being doing lately. The people that I had just saved had no idea that I had. To them I was still vermin like the corpse on the floor. With only a few local contacts left that I could consider counting on it looked to be a hard if not an impossible chance of getting back to the United States in one piece.

Chapter 2
Making a Murderer

It’s funny now thinking back that this whole mess came about by a compromise of my integrity. Two years ago I made the decision when I left The Organization that I wouldn’t do that any more.

The Organization was the only name that existed for the branch of the government that I worked for. In fact if I were ever captured or arrested I would have been disavowed. I say that because I had seen it happen on more than one occasion to unfortunate associates of The Organization.

Deep cover would not come close to explaining how The Organization worked. Agents could never be traced back to any real location unused warehouses, abandoned homes, and even an occasional crack house were set up or dismantled over night as an acting communication headquarters and as no one ever used a real name there was no way a trace would come up with anything tangible.

Paychecks were paid through a brokerage firm as commission for actual sales to government agencies. The brokerage firm had no real idea that the agents were not legit. The property purchased was then immediately put up for sale through other brokerage firms with commission payments made to other agents in a similar manner. It worked so well because it was so frequently done and as the brokerage firm collected a good chunk of change they were not apt to ask many questions. Agent’s checks were sent in the mail to various PO boxes and the agents themselves never had to report in person to the firm as long as sales continued to be made. Assignments were handed out through a secured chat room and encoded so even if some hacker happened by chance to break in they would have no real idea of the true nature of what they were seeing.

Chapter 3
Building a Resume

The agency employed only extremely fit individuals with the ability to think on their feet while following orders unscrupulously and a record of exterminations under their belt. While I had always been one of those lucky individuals that was blessed with a muscular hard body that required very little work to maintain after two tours in an Army Black Ops branch my full six foot one inch body was a well toned two hundred and ten pound killing machine. Deception was a virtue at times and while I was a well built man God had also blessed me with the traditional surfer guy appearance, steel blue eyes, an angular jaw that never required shaving, and sandy blond hair.

Just before my last term ended, and I had made it clear that I would not be reenlisting this time a full bird coronal had called me in for my debriefing and asked what my plans were for the future. The only plan that I truly had, was to get out and try to find some normality in my life. He explained that once a soldier spends time in black ops there is no such thing as normality. He gave me a card for a brokerage firm and suggested that I start my job search there. When I was called in later for a debriefing and I asked why I was going through this twice no one had any clue of what I was talking about. After doing some research later I found out that the full bird Colonel that I had talked to had died during a mission in Viet Nam which surprised me because he had not appeared ethereal at the time.

Chapter 4
Sign Me Up

I checked out the brokerage firm more for curiosity than the actual need for wanton employment and was told over the phone that with my excellent recommendations that had already been forwarded to them I could go on the payroll immediately and a draw check for my first two months would be sent out to what ever address or PO box I requested. As the amount of my 2 months draw check was more than a year’s salary in the black ops it was a pre drawn conclusion that I would accept the position.

I received a laptop computer and a cell phone express mail the next day, a call came in on the phone 10 minutes after I opened the package the caller was using some type of voice modulation or distortion device. I was told that the circuitry in the phone would fry out minutes after this call and that I would never again be contacted in this way. The caller informed me that I would receive two magazines each week of seeming random variety. I would log into a chat room the following Sunday of each week and the administrator of the chat room would give me two numbers separated by a coma. The fist number would be the page that I should turn the magazine I received first to and the second number would be the page number to turn the second magazine to. As I came to each letter of the alphabet in the first magazine I was to replace that letter for the one located in the numerically same location of the second. If that letter had already been used in the code I was to continue on until I found an unused letter. I was told how to use software already installed on the laptop and put the new code that the magazines generated into it. While in the chat room after this the software would decipher code directed to me so that I would get any actual messages. I was told that I was the only agent with this particular set of magazines and page numbers so there was no way that anyone other than myself could translate code generated to me and on the same token it would be impossible for me to decode any message given to any other agent. In addition to this my laptop was equipped with software that constantly ran in the background and wiped information at the end of each session.

During my first session I was told what my true job description was and given my first assignment. I was to report to a house that was abandoned and arrive by foot at exactly 0300 hours. The basement window would be unlocked, once inside I would pick up a package lying near the center of the basement with credentials necessary for a plane trip that I would be taking in two days.

Chapter 5
Severing Ties

The mission was to destroy data on a computer server located at a specific address near the Czech boarder and to exterminate anyone found at that location. Also inside was a fully modified Glock 29 10mm made of an alloy metal that would not be picked up by airport metal detectors. The Glock came with a silencing device and a full clip of rounds made of the same material as the gun. I was told exactly what to wear and that I could keep the weapon strapped to my back and I would not be searched.

When I reached Czechoslovakia I was lucky enough to find a cab driver that could speak English he drove me to my hotel and mentioned that a good many Czech’s could speak English if I was polite they would do their best. I tipped him too much and he said he would keep it but gave me additional information as to proper tip amounts and told me several restaurants that catered to
American and English and roughly how I should tip. After my informal education the cab driver thanked me continued on his way. I handed my reservation to the clerk at the hotel and went to my room to get some sleep and go over my plans for that night. The office building was within walking distance to the hotel. I knew from the information in my package exactly what time I should enter the building and approximately where I might find people.

When I woke that night I put on my disguise and an overcoat that hid the clothes I wore which were made of tight fitting cotton and designed to be noiseless. When I reached the building I ducked into an alley that was adjacent to it and pulled out the schematics of the security system that I would have to disable before entering. The door was locked with a magnetic lock that was easily fooled by placing two magnets near the mechanism and pulling them in opposite directions. I heard the click as the bolt slid from the door opened it up and walked inside.

A keypad was located just next to the door I had 15 seconds to enter the proper code before the alarm would go off. Many people do not realize that each type of system comes with a master code incase of full power loss this code can be used to reprogram the system. Entering the code when the device is in the secure mode gives the technician an additional 90 seconds to reprogram or in my case alter the program and add a new master access code. After doing this I ended the program session and entered the code I had just programmed in. The light on the pad went from red to green showing that I had just disabled the system.

Through a second set of doors on my right was a small office with one guard who was now facing a computer monitor trying to figure out why his system had just disabled itself and cussing in Czech under his breath. I fired one round into the base of his skull, immediate death.

There would be one more guard patrolling somewhere on this floor and one sitting at a desk on the second floor where the computer was located. I heard the guard two hallways away. He was humming the melody of some song and shuffling his feat as if dancing. This was generally the problem with guards. Their training is very basic, guards are mostly a deterrent in the first place, and the job is monotonous and boring. I waited until the man was heading away from me turned the corner and dispatched this guard the same as the first.

The final guard would also be the biggest problem as his desk faced toward the elevator and the stairs. Unless he was snoozing my only chance would be to surprise him and take him out before he managed to press the panic button that was located under his desk. I walked up the stairs first and put my ear to the door. Not hearing any sound It was difficult to make an assumption so I picked the lock and slowly opened the door just enough to view the corner of the guards desk. His boots were propped up on the table and his legs were crossed. This meant he was either leaning back asleep or perhaps reading something in either case I knew that I would have more than enough time to close the distance between us and fire a shot before he even realized what was going on. Understanding human response time was another facet of my military training. In a prepared condition the human mind could react in less than a second so if you knew you were under attack, you had your gun in hand and were ready to act, you could do so almost immediately, however in an unprepared state your mind must assess the situation, come up with a course of action, concur with the same course of action and then commit to the course of action. In the unprepared state the normal response time was 2 to 5 seconds or more depending on the individual and the level of training. In many training exercises instructors have proven over and over that a well prepared team can defeat even the most skilled warriors who were unknowingly duped into participation.

I pushed the door open ready to react to any of a possible number of scenarios that I had already imprinted in my mind. As I neared the niche in the wall where the guards desk was placed I saw that he had set up a small portable television on the far corner of his desk and had a set of earphones on which all but completely distracted his attention from his job. As his head was turned he failed even to acknowledge my presence. My shot met the guards left temple. Out of instinct I caught the guard’s boots before his chair toppled backwards. I lowered his feet to the ground and pushed his body forward so his head and arms were braced by the desk. This was the only other person supposed to be in the building at the time but if anyone were to view the guard from a distance they would assume he was merely sleeping on the job.

The lock on the chief executive officers door was easier to pick than the door leading to the second floor. His computer was located in a locked wooden compartment under his desk. I simply forced this compartment open as the locking device was in wood which simply splintered giving me full access to the computer. I pulled out the floppy receptacle interface electromagnetic device or FRIED disk from a pouch that was attached to my belt and inserted it into the computers floppy disk drive. I hit the power button on the computer and as instructed flipped the lever on the small box attached to the FRIED disk by a thin electrical cord. Sparks shot out from every opening in the computer as the FRIED disk had just fused every electrical circuit inside it.

I left the building the same way that I had entered and put the overcoat back on just outside the front door. There was no one on the street at this time of night. I managed to get several more hours of sleep in the hotel before waking and getting on another plane to return to the United States.

Chapter 6
To Spooky

I performed my missions flawlessly and without question as any military service person would. I never questioned the motives of the Organization. I believed that I was doing a necessary service for my country. These were things I thought had to be done but that no one wanted to know or hear about. I lived by a code “Protection of freedom and the lives of Americans is worth any sacrifice” it was the same motto of the Blacks Ops team that I was affiliated with in the Army. I wish there was some way in explanation other than this in which I could describe how I felt. I did not see myself as a cruel person. I was in truth a cold blooded killer however I never enjoyed the job. I never tried to evoke the fear of those I terminated; in fact I never gave anyone the opportunity to say anything before I ended their existence and in most cases the victim did not see their end approach.

My last assignment for the organization began differently than most as I was told to meet two other members and form a team. We trained together for several months assigned to a underground CIA training facility located in Panama. We were to have no contact other than for training purposes with anyone and even talk amongst ourselves was to be limited to assignment only. We met with a language instructor for several hours two times a day and learned basic Arabic. We were trained to use several prototype weapons. One of which was a silenced gas powered machine pistol. As the weapon was gas powered there was almost no noise, recoil or smoke signature when the weapon was discharged. The projectiles that the weapon fired had a much smaller dimension than a standard round however the velocity and rate of fire was considerably greater. Each cartridge could hold several hundred rounds because the physical size of each was smaller and there were no casings. The only drawback was a CO2 tank that had to be refilled or replaced every 2000 rounds or so.

The mission involved the training and organizing of a group of so called freedom fighters lead by a now infamous leader in Afghanistan. A ruthless, cold, intelligent man whom our government believed could be controlled and utilized as a tool to meet their needs. After the first week of accelerated training the incident occurred that left no doubt in my mind that our government had far underestimated its ability to control the Afghanistan leader. During a regular training mission one of the smaller less intelligent trainees was having considerable trouble in covertly infiltrating a mobile command center that had been set up. In fact had the training exercise been real this individual more than likely would have caused not only his death or capture but the death or capture of the entire unit. One of my colleagues brought this to the attention of the leader. The leader then called all of his troops to him. They looked at the man with the reverence of as a god or king. All of them bowed down before him on one knee. With our crash course in Arabic I could only get a gist of what was being said but it was something to the effect that Ali (their god) was not pleased with them. That one of their number had disgraced them all. He then pulled out his service revolver and handed to the man who caused the failed training exercise and with out so much as a protest the man placed the weapon to his temple and pulled the trigger. The leader recovered his weapon from the dead mans hand and faced the rest of his troops. “Ali’s faith in your resolve has been restored through the sacrifice of this man. He will receive many great gifts in the next life for his sacrifice. Only through sacrifice will we uplift our people.” With that said he turned and walked briskly away. This incident was reported by me during a briefing with my superiors in which I was told basically to mind my own business. The exact phrase that was used was. “Understanding these people is not a mission requirement. Your orders are to prepare them for a black ops mission. Can you do that?” I said that I could and made my decision to leave the organization as soon as this mission was over.

Life was just as the coronal predicted it would be after I left The Organization. I bounced from job to job never seeming to fit in anywhere. It was not an issue of intelligence because I was very smart. Once one has done what I have done you look at people in a different way. My life up to this point had been a constant adrenaline rush and that rush it seemed was gone now. I met women but each relationship seemed destined to failure.