Caracas, Venezuela.
Scott Foster was lying on the bed in the main room of the house he had rented six months ago in the Altamira urbanization of the Venezuelan capital. He had just woken up and was watching the news of the bombings on the thirty-two-inch television on the cabinet in front of his bed and he thought that everything was getting really dangerous in the world. It was six o'clock in the morning. He seldom thought about the fact that he was in an unknown country so as not to fall into the melancholy caused by being away from his family and his nation, which he served faithfully since joining the army. But this morning was different; he had to think about his country, about the attacks they were doing and the damage they were causing him, and not be there to help. When he began his service he had to fight in Iraq, in the so-called Desert Storm, and see the horrors of war up close. Then he continued fighting in the war against Al Qaeda and contr
Caracas, Venezuela.Scott had arrived at Altamira square for the interview ten minutes early. It was his custom to always arrive at the rendezvous site earlier to review the area and foresee any possible escape route in case of trouble or ambushes if he was discovered. So far he hadn't had any problems, and he hoped that was no exception. Despite the fact his government provided him with sufficient resources to buy a vehicle, he decided not to buy any, and he learned all the public transport routes to move around Caracas without problems. He considered that in a private vehicle they could discover him more easily, since the National Guard and the National Police used to place mobile checkpoints everywhere in order to deprive the unwary of their money under any pretext. He could not take the risk of being stopped in a vehicle and found out he was not the person saying his Colombian passport and identification. Public transport passengers were also subjec
New York, USA.Philip Richmond was going to his office in his Bentley when he got the call. He saw the screen of his cell phone and made a face of annoyance when he saw who it was. He had long admired the fidelis superior Waters, but he did not like at all that he was calling him all the time to find out how things were going. He knew the Council needed to be aware of the actions that were taking place, but not to the point of becoming a real nuisance. Deep down, he was convinced that Waters' interest was not due to pressure from the Council, but to his obsessive knack for controlling everything and everyone. He decided to take the call and inform his annoying superior of the latest news received, which was very good for them, and the actions he had already ordered accordingly.“I was about to call you, fidelis superior, I have very good news that I know the Council will like.”“Get to the point, then,&r
Washington, USA.They were having a hard time getting flights to New York, as airlines were beginning to restrict them due to the possibility of the government disrupting air traffic. They finally got one and managed to board it on time. They were already on their way, traveling economy class and the three of them together in the middle row of seats.“You told me you knew where they would take Joseph and Dr. Hansen,” David asked Mark, with Doris in the middle of the two. “Is it true, or did you just say it so he wouldn't shoot that man?”“It's true,” Mark replied. “The person who hired us, and who now hired these men, has a place prepared for them in Texas. In our office we have all the necessary information and its location.”“And who is that person?”“All we know is that he is a very powerful man, owner of half the world ...”“And
Fort Meade, USA.At NSA headquarters, Nick Rosenthal was about to take his lunch break when he decided to review the intelligence reception programs of US agents around the world. He did it every time he came back from lunch, but that day something told him to check it out before leaving. He opened the first of the programs, called Pegasus, which allowed him to receive text messages, voice, video recordings and photographs from agents destined for countries where these options were possible, even in conditions where their lives and security could sometimes be at risk, finding nine incoming messages, all text, where they explained or gave a summary of the situation in each country related to the recent terrorist attacks and the mobilizations of troops and security forces in each of them. There were no descriptions of the possible perpetrators of the attacks, only summaries of the situation. "Nothing that isn’t known," he thought, and passe
The Vatican, Vatican City State.Cardinals Agnello and Nitti were concerned about the pope's mood; since the Swiss Guard officers notified him that they could not locate Dr. Hansen and the clone boy in Argentina, his demeanor has turned taciturn and pensive. They never imagined the matter would affect them in such a way to the point of worrying them.Benito was locked up in his office all morning after asking not to be disturbed and he didn't go out at noon for lunch, so they decided to go see how he was. They knocked on the door and in a few seconds they opened and entered."I asked not to be disturbed," he said, sitting in the wide armchair with his back to the desk, looking through the large window at part of the vast Vatican gardens. He looked tired. Cardinal Agnello was the first to approach him.“Your Holiness, we are concerned for you,” he said, settling close to him, next to the desk. “You haven&rs
Valencia, Venezuela.Scott had managed to reach the bus terminal located on the outskirts of the city of Valencia and immediately looked for a taxi to take him to a hotel, where he would hide for a day or two waiting for the response from the NSA, which he expected. It means doing the same thing he was doing now: trying to leave the country. The city of Valencia is one of the closest to the capital that also has an international airport, the Arturo Michelena, avoiding using the main one in Caracas in Maiquetía, where security measures would be much stricter in case they were looking for him. In situations like that, the agency never recommended staying in the country, unless it needed more information to corroborate or verify the information sent initially and the agent was not in danger of being discovered, which almost never happened. He thought that at that precise moment all the agency's resources would be aimed at finding the milita
Chihuahuan Desert, Texas, USA.That night at dinner, Karen was concerned about what Hansen had revealed to her, who noticed that she did not take her eyes off Gilbert. It was true that he was not very talkative, but somehow Joseph managed to make him talk to him and feel comfortable with his presence. Sometimes he would look at her for a few seconds and Karen thought he had the same look as her son, but a little more enigmatic and penetrating, and also intimidating, or at least that was the impression he gave her. Perhaps she was conditioned by what she had just learned. She also watched Donna from time to time, wondering how a woman could deal with the fact that she had the antichrist himself for a son, and do nothing. Maybe she didn't know, and if she did, it was her maternal instinct, she told herself, preventing her from suffocating him at night with a pillow or doing something much worse to him. In one of her musings, she even asked how th
Washington, USA.The press conference had not been easy for Collins. They literally peppered him with questions as soon as he stepped onto the press room and, although he expected it, he was not fully prepared to face the suspicion of journalists, and even more so when the only suspects in the attacks were dead. At first, he tried to focus on his government's efforts to end the national emergency due to the attacks, but could not, since one of the journalists asked him for his opinion about what was happening in the Middle East and only said that his diplomatic corps was in talks with several countries to avoid a war in the region, and the whole press conference went there. He expressed surprise at Israel's nuclear weapons and the theft of them, and commented he had offered help to find them.“Do you think they can find them before they are used by those who stole them, as for example, against the USA, hypothetically speaking?&rdqu