Rogue (The End 4)

“Young man, send an instruction to the reapers at Maine. Tell them to head to where Suzanne was reported dead and to find her body. They are to gather as many clues as they can find and report to us. Get back to me immediately they send anything in,” he said.

Mikolas, who was on duty at the information center, had been sleeping when Adrik came in. he jumped up and nodded.

“Yes, sir. I’ll do just that,” he said drowsily as Adrik walked out of the room.

Mikolas’ assistant chuckled as he watched the scene unfold. Mikolas turned and slapped his shoulder.

“Stop laughing and tell me what he said, will you?” he said grumpily.

17th November 2021

7:22 am

Old Port, Portland, Maine.

USA.

Suzanne woke up to the sound of her tab beeping. She had been having nightmares, and so she woke up with a headache. She pulled her phone to herself and turned it on, squinting as the light entered her eyes. The installation had completed during the night. She was glad that it hadn’t been interrupted. Two alerts had come in. She opened the first one.

When she read the contents, she gasped, and tears slipped out of her eyes. Daan was dead. She allowed herself to cry. Somehow, the tears made her feel human again. She had hoped Daan would join her on her mission. Unfortunately, his loyalty had been to his family in Russia. Now, he was never going to see them again.

After crying for some minutes, she wiped her tears and returned to the tab. The organization had left instruction for all agents around Chicago: they were to retrieve Daan’s device from an unknown person. The person had found the device around North Orchard and had turned it on. The organization didn’t want any loose ends.

Suzanne bowed her head. More killings- that was what the Ray of Hope lived for. She was about to go back to sleep when an idea came to her.

She had planned to find a way to get all the activities of the Ray of Hope to the United Nations. So far, she knew of only one computer in the whole of America that was capable of such transmission and would still be functional: the main computer of the Ray of Hope. It was located at a secret facility in New York. The Ray of Hope had been smart enough to build their devices and vehicles with advanced vacuum tube technology so that they couldn’t be affected by an EMP.

She looked at her slim tab and wondered how they had managed to fit a vacuum tube in it. Their technology always amazed her.

While other devices lik

e the tablets handed out to the agents and the computers at all the delivery units were only able to correspond with the main computer and each other, the main computer was able to transmit to other countries. It was how they kept in touch with Russia.

So far, she had achieved the first goal: to get access to the main computer. However, she needed people who could help her. The plan was too big for one person to accomplish. Whoever had been able to turn on Daan’s device probably knew something. If the person had been the one to kill Daan, the person would have the skills to help her.

She ran her hand through her hair. It was a wild card. All her thoughts were just guesses and were probably not correct; however, leaving was better than remaining in Maine. Along the way, she was likely to meet other people who would help her.

She opened the next notification. As she read through the contents, she felt her blood freeze over. The organization had issued instructions to the agents in Maine to find her corpse at that building. The instruction had come in only two hours ago. She looked through the window. The sun had risen well enough to be spotted easily. She couldn’t remain there.

She got up quickly and packed her bag. Rushing outside, she got on her motorcycle and looked around. There was no one around. No one had seen her. She joined the two wires from the ignition of the motorcycle, and the engine roared to life. Getting the bike in gear, she drove off. Chicago was her destination.

As she drove, she began to think about the facility where the main computer was. She knew how difficult it would be to get in. She had been there before; Just some days ago…

13th November 2021

3:10 pm

Staten Island, Richmond County, New York.

USA.

Vivien sat at the bus stop waiting for her ride. Everywhere was cold, making her wish she had worn a lot more.

She forced her attention back to the road. Since the election had been successful, and Alexei had become the new president of America, it was time to move to the next phase of the plan. Harris Bidden was going to be taking her to the headquarters of the organization in America. After he had served as the special adviser to the president on legislative issues, the Ray of Hope had faked his death and that of his family so that he could be in charge of the headquarters. She had never been there before, but she had managed to convince him to let her go when he disclosed to her that he had to be part of a secret meeting with stakeholders from around the world. After Adrik had left in haste for Russia the previous day, she had suspected something important was happening, so she had called Harris and asked what the next phase was. He’d trusted her too much to keep secrets from her. She had taken a flight to New York that day. She couldn’t miss the meeting as it was her only chance to further her plans.

She questioned herself again. Could she accomplish it? Somehow, it felt better for her to just go along with the flow. She couldn’t fight the organization’s ten years old plan with a plan she had fashioned just two weeks ago. She was weak. She’d never win.

She hugged herself as the cold seeped through her clothing to get to her skin. When she returned her gaze to the street, she saw a man walking towards her in the distance. She frowned. Why was he walking alone in the cold? She turned her attention from him and continued to think over her plans. The man came close enough and sat at the far end of the bench. She raised a brow, uncomfortable with his presence. He looked like a hobo.