Brotherhood ~ Chapter 4

Fighting with my PDA, I managed to finish tapping out my reply, encrypted it and then send it off across the internet to AFA High Command.

Seven years later and technology still plagued me, I grumbled to myself.  Where was my geek when I needed him? I thought in aggravation.  Oh, yeah – that’s right.  Kevin was too busy playnig exchange hostage with The Order.  Kept forgetting about that minor detail, was my thought, one with more than a tad bit of a sardonic cant.

Now turning off the annoying device, I stowed it in the pocket of my field jacket and then closed my eyes.  Pinching the bridge of my nose as I did so, I now proceeded to count to ten.

“You know, Collin – if you’d just take the time to learn a Palm, it’d be easier” Eric saw fit to make comment.  “Those Pocket PC’s suck – sir” my Colonel then tacked on for good measure, knowing how I felt about Palm devices.  In my humble opinion, one practically needed to be a techno-geek to figure out those evil pieces of technology.   “Let me guess,” he now wisely forged ahead, “that communiqué was not good news, was it, Commander?” was his thoroughly correct assessment.

More than correct, actually – it was dead-on.  The news was downright awful.

“Is any summons from T.C. for a command performance at AFA High Command ever good news, Jonesy – is it?!” I snapped at Eric who was not only my Colonel but also my Second in command and long time best friend.  That we had both survived the virus that nearly wiped man off the face of God’s Earth was nothing short of a miracle.  And to go one further?  My Third and Captain-Major, Greg, a.k.a. Brains, another survivor, had also been a friend in Pre-Time, and a subordinate as well, just as was the same with Eric.

Kind of made one wonder.  What were the odds on that?  Who knew, but I would wager astronomical since the vaccine against the nasty bug that had nearly wiped out mankind was a near total bust.

So many people dead, so bloody few left.  It got one’s mind to wandering, straying onto ground where it was thoroughly ill advised to tread.

“That’s Elite-General Hastings to you, Commander” my Second laughed in reminder.  Yeah – no familiarity there between me and my CO.  T.C. and I just flat out loathed each other.  Of course, General Hastings had a natural advantage over me.

Being his subordinate, I served as his favorite whipping post.

Looking out the window of the pickup, I watched the sun as it now breached the horizon.  A glorious day in the lower deserts was in the offing – or would have been if not for that communique from General Hastings.

“Can you trust him?” my Colonel now prompted, and I sure the hell knew that he did not mean my CO.  Again anger was quick to rise up within me and so once more I silently counted to ten.  Didn’t help much, but it sure beat blasting Jonesy right off the bat.

“Who?  Aidan?” was my terse supposition.  Now tearing my eyes from the sunrise, I considered Eric at length.  “I can’t believe you are even asking such a thing” I grunted in disgust.  “Would you put your trust in an ex-CIA cutthroat?  You know my history with Aidan, Jonesy – I think at times almost better than I do.  What do you think?”  Eric did not answer right away, instead leaning forward to clasp his hands between his knees, thinking.

“If this was Pre-Time?  Not,” he assured me, “but there’s one hell of a lot more at stake here, Commander – Aidan knows this.  He might be an assassin but he’s not just a mindless killing machine either.”

“Huh – ya think?” was my droll retort but then regretted my terse retort as soon as the words were out.  “Sorry, Eric – don’t mean to take it out on you, but Aidan is overdue.  How long does it take anyway to gentle a spy?” I wanted to know.

“You think that is what this Sierra woman is?” Eric asked, incredulously.  “Really, come on now.  Who would risk the loss of a woman?  Even the Unspoken Order would not go so far.”

“Wanna bet?” I now growled at him as my temper again flared.  “You gotta admit – that would be one damned good advantage as a spy these days” I tried to reason.  “Who could refuse a woman anything, eh?”

“You for one, Collin, most certainly could not – you’re a hundred and ten percent right there, my friend” he was all too quick to agree, but after all, Eric knew me exceedingly well.  “You always did, and still do, think with your dick – scarcity of women notwithstanding, of course.”

“Yes, of course” was my response, one flatly delivered.  “Thanks, Jonesy – I can always count on you, at least, to brighten my day” I mumbled and running a hand over my face I once more I then looked out the window.  What to do?  I had intended to tail Aidan, since I certainly did not trust him, any more than he trusted me – at least when it came to business.

When he had reported back that a woman had been found, that’s when things started to get a bit dicey from there on out.  Her story, as recounted by Aidan, did not fit.  Could she have wandered in the desert for seven years – alone?  Perhaps, but according to Aidan she sure as shit did not look to have been braving the elements for so long a time.

I needed to see for myself; nothing else would do.  My eyes would speak to me Truth, I knew.  It had been a week since Aidan’s last report and I was admittedly more than just a bit apprehensive.  The thought had occurred to me that he might spirit the woman off to The Order, regardless our mutual understanding.

That would put one rather large kink in the scheme of things.  My AFA masters only tolerated me do to my relationship with this Elite-Assassin, and the blood thirsty Arm of the fraternity known as The Brotherhood to which he belonged.  They needed something The Order had – or rather, something they perceived The Order to possess.  And the fact that I had also sworn an Oath to The Brotherhood and its Order, albeit in a distant past?  This made me valuable by association, even if I was AFA down to my very core, probably being the least devoted Member alive of The Brotherhood.

My partnership with Aidan, and my ties to The Order, had bought me a whole host of perks within the AFA.  One in particular kept eluding me, though – one I had been chasing my whole career, Pre-Time and Post-Time alike, but was always just out of my reach.  The rank of General – or in the Post-Time world of the Americas Federated Army, Elite-General.  However, my own CO stood squarely in my way and so as consolation prize my rank of Commander-General had to suffice.

A glorified Colonel was all I was, in essence.

Beggars, though, did not have the luxury of being choosers.

Leaning forward, I now started the truck’s engine.  I would have to leave behind, for the time being, the mystery woman, Aidan and our double-agent work with the Blackguard.  The AFA had just summoned me to High Command so that’s where my Colonel and I were now required to beat one very hasty path.  My Captain-Major would remain behind with the Blackguard – Greg had the ability to collect and analyze data with that amazing mind of his, returning accurate results almost one hundred and ten percent of the time.  He would just have to fill me in upon our return – that was if we should be allowed to return at all.

In silence we drove to the airstrip, a silence which then persisted throughout the duration of our flight.  I was preoccupied by the communique my commanding officer had sent.  The man was not happy.  His message quite clearly conveyed this sense in a mere five words – get your ass here now.  As brief as the General could be on words, I could be equally as long.  Many tight spots I had been able to talk my way out, and I was expecting to have to do no less this time around when reporting to my CO.  The only difference being was that this time I had no clue what bug had crawled up the butt of good ol’ Terrence Cornelius Hastings. Elite-General, AFA.

I was soon to find out, however.

Once having touched down at AFA High Command, I made the beeline expected of me – straight to the General’s office.  His Adjutant told me I would find him waiting in his conference room and so I swallowed hard.  That most likely meant there would be more fire to face than just that coming from my CO.

Dusting off myself before entering, I grunted a laugh at the absurdity of my gesture.  Why was I bothering?  I looked a sight and so what would a little desert dust matter?  I was out of uniform, unshaven and my hair had grown far beyond collar length so that I almost looked like a Member of The Brotherhood – decidedly not the picture of an AFA Commander-General.  However, to be a double-agent for the Blackguard meant looking the part of a rogue.

Try to tell that to the General, however?  Different story there, altogether.

After taking several deep breaths, I knocked and then flung open the door to the conference room, boldly striding through.  Much to my consternation, and requiring me to swiftly rein in myself, I saw that General Hastings was in the company of Supreme-General Karloff.

Ok, Commander – you are now officially toast, was my glum assessment of the situation at hand as I came to a controlled stop.  Time to switch gears – no overt confidence would be tolerated by General Karloff.  That much I did know about this man who was supreme commander in chief of the AFA.

First bowing exceptionally low to the Supreme-General, I then redirected my display of respect to my own CO.  Although not bowing quite as low to General Hastings, I thought it wise to bow lower than usual given his company.  After having surveyed their faces, I switched gears and decided to keep my mouth shut, waiting for them to throw out the first volley.

“New look, Commander?” General Karloff inquired as he now leaned back in his chair.  My radar told me that I had kept them waiting longer than they felt was acceptable.  Would telling them that our pilot had been required to circumvent several rather strong storm cells serve to quell their displeasure?

Absolutely not.

“If I might beg pardon of the Supreme-General – I came directly from the airstrip” I explained away my less than professional appearance.  Standing straight, shoulders drawn back as I clasped my hands behind me, I steeled myself for debriefing.  Or rather a witch hunt, which was my growing suspicion.

“Hmm” was Karloff’s sole response to my weak excuse, eyes drilling into my own but I refused to be cowed.  You’ll be ok, Commander, I tried to calm myself.  Just whatever you do, don’t get confrontational, O’Reilly!  Or even defensive, for that matter.  Whipping post – that is all I was to these men.  Results, results, results – they had a singular, one track mind in that arena.

It was not so simple to obtain results! I now thought in aggravation.  Perhaps they would like to try their hand at maneuvering Aidan, who was The Order’s Head of Assassins.  I’d give them thirty seconds tops with him – if even that.

Aidan loathed the AFA to no end – reviled was another appropriate descriptor there.  He had once told me if he had previously considered that the United States Military couldn’t possibly get any worse, then he in this one instance he had been dead wrong.  Along comes the newly reformed version, the Americas Federated Army.  Aidan had actually said to me that he wasn’t sure if he should snap his own neck or laugh his ass off ‘til Kingdom Come while wrapped in a straightjacket.

Which also pretty much summed up how much respect he held for my rank of Commander-General within this military regime.

It didn’t account for squat – that’s what it added up to.

“Your last report, Commander O’Reilly?” my CO began and so jumping to conclusions I naturally assumed that he hadn’t gotten it.  Or if he had, then deleted it by accident – or intentionally, come to think of it.

“Three days ago, sir” I was quick to respond.  “Would the General care for me to resend it?  Or should I give a personal accounting since I am now present?” were my hopeful suggestions.

“Commander – I did not summon you here to be bored to tears” T.C. informed me in a low voice – one full of danger, most notably.  “Your reports, shall we say, lack substance.  Wordy but they offer little by way of conveying tangible results.”

“If the General will forgive my forwardness, but it takes time to garner results,” I boldly reminded him, “and if I may also recall for the General, The Brotherhood and its Order are all about patience.  They bide their time, they observe, assess – they slumber.”

“Humanity does not have such luxury, Commander” General Karloff then spoke up, telling me something that I knew all too well.  However – although I sought that which they would have me seek, my intent of what to do with said object was the exact opposite of their own.

AFA to the core, did I say?  Yes, I was – but a Christian I was, first and foremost.  What they proposed as a means to greaten humanity’s chances of survival in a world where there were not enough women, one with a scarecely viable breeding population?  It was sheer blasphemy.  Extinction looming or no, I could not, would not, go against the Word of God.  Being raised Irish-Catholic, this had been ingrained into my soul – or rather beaten into it, let’s just put it that way.

But play the game I would, on all fronts, and at all costs, if this in turn would mean that I’d come out ahead.  The hard part was putting my superiors off my scent while still delivering quasi-tangible results – which was the only thing that could possibly appease these powerful men who were driven to succeed.

That I had had my work cut out for me, and from the get-go, was the understatement of the millennium.

“Understood, sir” was all I could say in return.  I did have a bone I could throw them, one that would get them off my backs, but was I willing?  Certainly not.  “My work continues and its urgency is always foremost in my mind, Generals” I assured them.  “However, I am suspect that The Order does not possess that which we seek” I tossed on the table for consideration.

“Is that all you have been able to glean from the Assassin?” T.C. put to me with arid inquiry, as dry and as dusty as the desert itself.  The Assassin was how Aidan was known among his Brethren, after all.

“Aidan is a tough nut to crack, sir” I actually heard myself say – as if my tongue had decided to wholly ignore any and all directives from my brain.  With a grunt, Karloff laughed.

“The man is your brother, for the love of God!” General Karloff now barked, slamming his fist on the top of the conference table.  Sure, Aidan might have been my brother, but he was also my Brother – and the latter took precedence over the former.  At least as far as Aidan and The Order was concerned.

“That does not mean that to me he is an open book – sir!” I shot back for this was indeed Truth.  Aidan and I had been at odds our whole lives – as far back as in the womb.  I no more knew the mind that day of my fraternal twin than I had in Pre-Time.  Before the world had nearly checked out, Aidan had been an assassin for the CIA and if the phrase man of mystery ever fit anyone in this world, then that would have to be my brother, Aidan.

My protest was met with stone silence I was now disheartened to take note.

“Forgive my outburst, sirs” I now apologized as the room grew thick with testosterone.  The precious bone I would have to toss them after all, I thought in dismay – but if I was fortunate, then perhaps I could, after some fashion, turn it to my advantage.

“Making further viable inroads with my brother would require me to abandon the AFA and Reaffirm my Oath with The Brotherhood, which would also mean Reaffirming my Oath to The Order” I offered, trying not to choke on the words for The Order just plain scared the shit out of me.  Those men did not fuck around – not one iota.  And if I was a whipping post now what would I be then, should I once more become Order?  Involuntarily I shuddered at the chilling consideration.  Many times in our shared past my brother had whooped my ass big time, all for the purpose of teaching me lessons he felt I needed to learn, to help me survive, to defend myself on a more elevated plane.

As if he had in advance been trying to train me to become a Member.

Not.  I was no slouch in the physical prowess department, but be on the same level as my brother and his deadly compatriots?  No way – that just wasn’t about to happen.

“I think we understand that my leaving the AFA would put the kibosh on my present assignment” I continued, matter-of-fact.  “I would become but a peon in the midst of The Order’s ranks, a low ranking Member, as it were” I reminded them, although in that moment I felt that’s what I was anyway in the AFA – rank of Commander-General or no.  “There has been a recent turn of events which I think may interest the Generals” I made prediction.  “While on reconnaissance for the Blackguard, Aidan made a very… curious… discovery.”

The Generals both lent me a look of total disinterest, however.

“Please, Commander – regale us” T.C. finally prodded with a nod.  Ok, O’Reilly – toss that bone and see who is first to snatch it up.

“Aidan encountered a woman” I laid out for dissection and now I most certainly did gain their interest.  No more derision forthcoming, it seemed.  Small victories, I mused with an inward grin – but at what cost?  This was the question that truly mattered.

“She was in whose company, Commander?” my CO was now quick to inquire, leaning forward across the table in rapt attention as his inquisitiveness grew by the moment.

“No one, sir – the woman was quite alone and unattended” I explained.

“Was?” Karloff now spoke in inquiry, now trailing the scent.

“My brother has taken up with her” I went on.  “She declares to have lived by herself in the desert – since the Apocalypse” I revealed.  “The woman thought herself to be the sole survivor of humanity – that was, until my brother happened along.”

“How can that possibly be?” my CO wanted to know.  What did I look like?  A crystal ball?

“It would not be impossible” Karloff now countered, having mulled it over for a bit.  “Improbable, but not impossible.”

“No, sir – but to have not heard any aircraft, or vehicles, crossing the desert?  Not to mention men on horseback in droves?” I suggested.  “A hard sell in any market.  A spy she instead might be.  Aidan recounted that the woman does not look to have braved the hostile elements of a desert environment for such a long time.”  This last bit, more than anything, seemed to get really get their attention.  How interesting – eye openers on both sides, then.

“You have not seen for yourself” General Hastings now correctly surmised.

“No, sir” I affirmed, praying that my CO did not ask the next question which I suspected he might.

“Description, at least?” Karloff questioned.  I had no idea – Aidan would not tell me, the bloody prick.

“Time did not permit” I lied through my teeth and then forged ahead, covering my tracks with Truth.  “I was making plans to intercede when I received your summons” I recounted.  “Needless to say we don’t want this woman, spy or no, to fall into the hands of the Blackguard.”

“Nor The Order” Karloff added for me.  “How long since the woman was intercepted?”

“A week ago, sir” I was forced to answer and now their demeanor turned towards one of agitation.

“And the Commander did not see fit to inform us until now?” T.C. coolly inquired.

“Hearsay!” was my staunch defense.  “I needed confirmation, sirs.”

“Commander O’Reilly – are you trying to imply us that your brother would… lie to you?” Karloff carefully put to me his inquiry.  “To what purpose?  Not to mention that Members of The Brotherhood do not lie, especially to their own” he saw fit to remind me.  No – not overtly, at any rate.  Their omissions, however, were every bit as deceitful as was any lie.

Yeah, and as far as being truthful to their own, though, I was a mere Pre-Time initiate – not Post-Time.  Big fucking difference there.  I was looked upon as that proverbial pond scum and I wasn’t even sure I rated that high up the food chain in The Order.  If I did hold a place higher than pond scum, then it was probably something akin to the likes of a bottom feeder.

“I am a Pre-Time Member” I tried to put into perspective for the Generals.  “I have not faced the Trials of this Post-Time era to become a Reaffirmed Member” I stated the facts.  Even if I was ordered by my AFA superiors to take things one step further, to renew my Oath with The Brotherhood and its Order, I was uncertain that I could pass the Brotherhood’s tests, known as the Trials.

Uncertain did I say?  Scratch that – I was convinced that I most certainly would not.

The Order was a rather exclusive club in this Post-Time world.  If a man did not pass the Trials – then he died.  Simple.  Only the best of the best need apply, of course, for The Order would accept no less.

“Perhaps, Commander, you should engage your brother in such discussion?” T.C. posed and I could only hope that I had not turned white.  I had no desire to leave the AFA – Aidan was aware of this and so it would be a hollow conversation should I initiate it.

“If the Generals will permit,” I went on, ignoring my CO’s suggestion, “I would like to return to my fieldwork with the Blackguard.  I will be able to take a side trip to verify my brother’s account.  I do not believe he has told an untruth regarding the woman, but I believe there is also much he is reluctant to reveal.  If he had thought to spirit her off to The Order, then Aidan would not have notified me of his find at all – period.”

“And just why do you think he would clue you into his discovery in the first place?” General Karloff purposefully asked and I could discern that what he was pondering was not the same as the question he voiced.  This revelation deeply disturbed me, although it had no basis in fact – instead only being a hunch.  “If reports are accurate, and your brother intends to make his bid for Grand Head of The Order, then delivering unto The Brotherhood another woman would go a long way to bolstering his intended coup.  Wouldn’t you say?”

“Your words have merit, General, upon this much I can agree” I accepted.  “However, to presume to know the mind of my brother?  Even I would not be so bold as to make that mistake” was my brazen rebuff.

“Well, Commander – I would strongly suggest that you strengthen those bonds with your Elite-Assassin brother” Karloff put to me, but like – why didn’t he just make that an order?  Since when did AFA High Command ever make anything a mere suggestion?  Before I had a chance to further consider this oddity, he now barked at me in command, “Dismissed!”  And without further discussion, I promptly bowed to each General in his turn.  Wasting no time, I sharply spun about on my heel, hurriedly making my exit.

Once the door of the conference room was securely shut behind me, I then afterwards mulled over, and for a long time to come, this decidedly odd meeting and the meaning I was certain that lay therein.

Odd because my superiors had not ripped me up one side and down the other before they had sent me packing.