Chapter 25
Wednesday 6:10 a.m. January 8
The sun was up and Marajo felt a little better as she drove. The surrounding snow covered terrain looked cold and forbidding, and the cloudy gray sky didn’t help reduce the forbidding look of the terrain. But the sunlight did at least give the terrain a feeling of being normal and made the road easy to see.
“How about that long story of how you got involved in this adventure?” Larson asked her as he looked out the window at the cold country and enjoyed the beauty of the countryside and the warmth inside the Highlander.
“I worked for Julian Franks as the general manager of his chain of hardware stories. I worked in the main store in Augusta, Maine,” Marajo began. “Started out in 48 as a common clerk and worked my way up to general manager of the main store in 51.” She smiled as she thought of how proud she was when she was promoted to general manager and continued, “He noticed me in March of 51. Said I was a good worker, and made me the senior supply accountant for all his stores.”
“Supply accountant?” Larson asked sitting next to her in the passenger seat.
“Yeah. Hardware stores carry thousands of different products. Things you can’t always find in some of those big home repair chain stores. Small lock washers, odd size drill bits. The big stores don’t like carrying things like that because they can’t sell them on a regular basis. Hardware stores stock parts that have been around for years. Many people don’t believe it, but modern homes require the same little do dads that homes have required since the sixteenth century.”
“So he recruits you to help destroy the Hidden Society because you were good at ordering the same do dads for modern homes that homes built five hundred years ago needed?” Larson said as more of a question.
“No, because I discovered that two of his suppliers were cheating him,” Marajo said as she drove in a relaxed manner as she looked out the windshield at the approaching storm. “That storm is going to be rough.”
Larson looked at it and asked, “Think we’ll be able to make it?”
“I rebuilt this Highlander to handle such storms, but that doesn’t mean we’ll make it through.”
“Maybe we should pull up and wait till it blows over,” he suggested.
“Don’t have that sort of time,” she replied. “The Society’s killers are probably only a few hours away.”
“Yeah,” Larson said in a serious voice. “By now they’ve probably gone to your house maybe even talked to your neighbors.”
“I hope not,” she said. “My neighbors are nice friendly people. I wouldn’t want them to come to any harm.”
“If what I read on the first flash drive about the Hidden Society is true,” he said. “Your neighbors are safe. The Hidden Society doesn’t like attracting attention, and harming your neighbors would do exactly that.”
Marajo took a deep breath and exhaled as she said, “I sure hope so.”
“So after you expose these two suppliers, he tells you about the Society?” he said, avoiding the subject of the Society killers after them. It was a subject he didn’t like thinking about much less talking about.
“No. It wasn’t until a year later when he asked me to have a working lunch with him in his office. I had suggested ordering supplies from American companies, because shipping was cheaper and saved the stores millions of dollars. He told me he had done some checking on me and learned that I was a reliable, honest person. Then he asked me did I believe in secret societies.” She gave a short laugh after she said that and said, “I thought he was drunk. But I couldn’t smell any liquor on his breath. So I just thought he was kidding. Then he gave me a folder containing stories of events that would occur during the next year, and told me not to show it or mention it to anyone.”
“When I met him, he seemed like a man in a hurry,” Larson said.
“He seemed worried when he gave me that folder. Like he was afraid of something.”
Larson looked at her and asked, “What sort of events were in that folder?”
“The folders contained information about the violent and accidental deaths of twelve politically powerful and socially prominent business men and women around the world. People he said stood in the way of a secret society achieving certain financial and political goals.”
“Did these deaths occur?”
“Exactly as they were listed in the folder. I was amazed.”
“What type of deaths?”
“Accidents. Natural causes. And two murders.”
“The murderers were caught?”
“No. They were found dead. They had committed suicide. In exactly the way that was written in the folder using the weapons mentioned also.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police with the folder?” Larson asked her.
“Julian said I could but it wouldn’t do any good. All the deaths, including the murders, were legally explained. The two killed were former prosecutors who were murdered by a man and a woman they had sent to prison years ago. Their murders were listed by the police as acts of revenge. Just as the information in the folders said they would be listed. All the evidence pointed directly to the murderers committing the murders. There were even eyewitnesses, but Julian said none had anything to do with the Society.”
“And he predicted this a year before they occurred?”
“Yes.”
Larson looked at her face and detected a hint of fear. “Go to the police and all that would have happen is you would have been listed as crazy,” he said.
“Or investigated to see if I was involved in the murders,” she said.
“So what happened next?”
“One day after work in his office, he told me everything about the Hidden Society.”
“Including their future plans?”
“Yes. He said most of the members of the Society were content with the wealth and the power the Society gave them. They were only interested in getting richer and maintaining their power and using the Society’s power and influence to expand and enrich their private businesses, but there was one who wanted more. This person wanted absolute power to control the world and everything and everybody in it without anyone knowing about him. Julian said he wanted to be a living god. And he was ruthless and cruel enough to achieve his goal.”
“Why didn’t Julian notify the other members of the Society? And together with them get rid of him.”
“He said this person’s power had grown too great,” she said. “Any attempt to remove him and he could cause a major disaster, because he had access to military computers in the first world nations that controlled nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Once he’d manage to get complete control over the Hidden Society he was going to take over and do as he wished. But remain invisible to the world.”
“Did Julian tell you who this person was?” Larson asked her as he looked out the window at the rapidly approaching storm.
“Yes, his brother. Derrick Franks.”
Larson grinned and shook his head as he said, “Talk about sibling rivalry. What about their parents? They must have known what Derrick was up and had the power to control him. According to what I read on those drivers Julian gave me they had to be members of the Hidden Society, too.”
“They were, but they were dead.”
“Let me guess,” he said. “They were killed by Derrick.”
“Their mother died of a heart attack. Father died in a car accident.”
“Didn’t get to her medicine in time, and car accidents can be arranged. Especially if you have a lot of money and power like the Society has.”
“Julian said the same thing.”
“So Julian just trusted you?”
“The same way he trusted you.”
“I never met the man until that night on January third.”
“No. But he apparently knew a lot about you, or he wouldn’t have contacted you,” she said. “He probably read a couple of your novels and that paper you wrote for your Master’s Degree and saw something in them that suggested you were a man of honor with a strong sense of right and wrong.”
“So you’re saying he knew I’d answer that letter.”
“The same way he knew I’d agree to fake my death by drowning in July of 56. And then wait patiently for twenty years for someone to show up and help me expose the Hidden Society. Julian was a patient man who studied people carefully. He studied both of us and knew we’d help. Or in your case check out the information on those drives he gave you.”
“He knew I’d look for Paul Duffy and in doing so run into you.”
“Exactly. Julian believed in planning well.”
“When Julian told you this story, he was a leader, wasn’t he?” Larson asked her.
“Yes, he told me he was,” she answered.
“Then why didn’t he stop his brother? He wasn’t a leader, too, was he?”
“No, he didn’t become a leader until after Julian retired,” she said.
“So Julian was in a position where he could have killed his brother to stop him,” Larson said.
“Like I said, by then Derrick had acquired too much power to be simply killed,” she said.
“He could launch missiles using his com-cell,” Larson said.
“Yes, he could.”
“So Julian learns all this stuff about his brother and doesn’t do anything,” he said. “He was some leader, wasn’t he?”
“He couldn’t because while his brother wasn’t a leader, he had a lot of influence with the other two leaders and the Council of Twenty. And if he’d known what Julian knew about him he would have immediately moved to kill Julian,” she said.
“Knowing what type of person his brother was, he starts planning to expose the Society to stop his brother from acquiring absolute power.”
“That’s it,” she said.
“So why doesn’t Derrick Franks use this immense power he possesses to rule the world now? Why be interested in us?”
“Because of us,” she said.
“Us?” he replied. “Hell, Marajo, we’re just two common average everyday people.
What can we do to harm this Derrick Franks guy?”
“I figure Derrick has no intention of creating a dictatorship with him as the known leader of the world. He has no desire to be another Hitler. He just wants the power to eliminate anyone who might challenge his power.”
Larson thought for few seconds before he spoke. “He wants to be in a position to get rid of every intelligent world leader who might ask questions about why certain events happen, but he still needs time to consolidate his power.”
“That’s what I figure,” she said.
“What if we fail?” he asked.
“We can’t,” Marajo replied.
“How the hell do we know they haven’t already found out who we really are and killed our families?”
“They’re not stupid, you know, Larson,” she told him.
“So what does that mean?”
“If they kill our families they’ve nothing to bargain with,” Marajo said. “Derrick won’t move against our families until he has no other choice. Assuming, of course, they know who we are and have our families’ addresses.”
Larson looked at the radio. “Does that work?”
“Yes, why?”
“Because if they know who are and have our families, they’ll let us know over the radio,” he said as he turned it on.
Music came out of the radio.
“I figure by now, Marajo, they’ve tracked me to Westport, and the Duffy Company,” he said as he leaned back in his seat. “And that means they probably know about you, and that you’ve left Westport and that I’m with you.”
She nodded and said nothing.
“We’ve got maybe twenty-four hours before they find out who we really are, and come after us.”
“They’re after us already,” she told him. “Like I said, they’re not stupid. They probably know that my death was faked twenty years ago they know you came to Westport to check out the Duffy Company, and they know now that I’ve gone on a vacation. They know my real identity, but they don’t know yours and that, Larson, may be an asset in our favor.”
“Yeah,” he mumbled as he looked out the window. “They won’t move against your family until they’re positive about my identity. When they are, they’ll contact us over the radio and let us know some way they’ve got our families, or will move against them.”
She didn’t say anything.
“Shit, what a mess I’ve gotten myself into,” he said in a disgusted and frightened voice.
“Don’t give up yet, Larson,” she said. “We’ve still got a little time. Maybe as much as two or three days at the most.”
“We’ve got to make it, Marajo,” he said in a determined voice. He was beginning to feel hatred for the Society.
“Yes.”
“If this Hidden Society is going to kill my family, the least I can do to revenge myself upon them is to expose them to the world.” There was the sound of anger in his voice.
Marajo didn’t say anything.
“It’s time we stopped thinking like frightened running rabbits, and start thinking like two cornered wolves with only one option. Expose the Hidden Society.”
Marajo glanced over at him and said, “I agree.”
They rode in silence for few minutes.
“If they know we’re running,” he said. “I wonder if they know where we’re running to.”
“Maybe,” she said.
Larson looked out the window at the snow covered landscape and quietly thought.
Ten minutes passed before he spoke.
“They know by now I’ve contacted you, and you’ve left Westport. And they know we’re not running away to hide.”
“What are you getting at?”
“I wonder if they know exactly what was in those flash drives Julian gave me?”
“I don’t understand you.”
“If they know your real identity, and they’ve picked up the clumsy trail I’ve left, they know us. Or have a pretty general idea of who are.”
“Go on,” Marajo said.
“With their control over computers and their wealth and power, finding our families would be easy for them once they know who we are. And they probably know we know how powerful they are, and they know we know there’s no place on earth we can hide from them.”
“I agree,” she said as she drove.
“So they must be wondering why we are running?” he said, looking at her.
“They probably know we know where they keep their information.”
“My thoughts, too,” he said. “This Derrick guy or whoever he’s got working for him would be smart enough to know that a story about the Society isn’t worth anything. But knowing where the Society keeps its records would be a threat to them.”
Marajo didn’t say anything.
“So between here and the place in Nevada they’re somewhere in between,” he said.
Marajo glanced at him as she continued driving.
“No,” Larson said, correcting himself. “They know we’re headed for this information center.”
“Why do you think that, Larson?” she asked.
“Because they know Julian gave us information on those drives about this information center, otherwise why give me the drives. Without knowing where and how to get to the Society’s information the drives are useless. And they’re sitting there waiting for us to arrive.”
“They know my real name is Marlene Done, and that there’s no John W. Strong working for an Oakland Electric Company. I changed the name you gave Mr. Duffy. Do you write under your name?”
“No. Under my middle name Jason. L. Jason.”
“That’s good,” she said, thinking she should have found that out on her own. “It’ll take them some time to learn that John W. Strong is Larson Western and that Larson Western is the writer L. Jason. Until they do your family is safe, and I don’t think they’ll move against my family until they’ve identified you.”
Larson looked out the window at the passing snow covered landscape and let his mind wonder the way he did when he was writing and had hit a block.
Marajo glanced over at him. “Got something on your mind, Larson?”
“Yeah,” he said.
“Care to tell me?” she asked.
“We’ve agreed they know we’re heading for this information center they’ve got in Nevada,” he said.
“We’ve agreed to that,” she said.
“They know we’re running and they’re smart enough to know we’re not looking for a place to hide from them,” he mumbled.
“Yes.”
“They’ve got someone out searching for us, Marajo, and they’re all not just sitting at this place in Nevada waiting for us,” he said. “The Society would be smart enough to have two traps set for us in case one failed. They’ve got a double set up waiting for us. One on the road and a trap for us to walk right into at this place in Nevada if we manage to get pass those on the road looking for us.”
“So the ones out searching for us is just the Society being thorough,” she said.
He didn’t see a need to respond to that since she was right.
“That storm is coming fast,” Larson said, looking out the windshield.
“Good,” she said. “I hope it hits Nevada first.”
“How do we get through a damn trap laid by people who are experts at trapping and killing people?” he asked.
“Trust to luck?” Marajo asked him.
“No, that won’t help,” he said. “You hope for luck when you’re gambling, but you
don’t trust to luck. We’ve got to start thinking like a bunch of cold bloody killers.”
“Aren’t we doing that now?” she asked him.
“No. We’ve got to start thinking of where they would set up an ambush for us,” he answered.
“Where could they do that?”
“Damn if I know.”
***