Chapter 17

January 7, 12:40 p. m. Big Sur

Derrick’s com-cell buzzed again. He took it out of his pocket, pressed the caller ID button, saw that it was Karl, and angrily answered it. “Are you stupid, or is this some kind of joke, Karl?”

“It just dawned upon me, Leader,” Karl began in a calm voice though he was mad. “Julian wouldn’t have been able to put enough on that flash drive he gave this mysterious person to ruin the Society, because the drive wouldn’t have contained that much space.”
“Just do like I’ve ordered you!” Derrick screamed at him.

Karl ignored his screaming and calmly said, “The drive would have to contain information on how to access all the Society’s computer records in order to expose us.”               Derrick’s anger faded away in a second. Karl was right. To destroy the Society all the Society’s records would have to be downloaded on the World Internet. The history of the Society alone would be dismissed as no more than some fool’s imagination running wild. No intelligent person would believe such a thing especially the major political and business leaders of the world. But if all the Society’s records were downloaded on the Internet with all their access codes to every business and political organization on the planet along with how it was acquired, then everyone that read the records would believe them. And those with political power would move to destroy the Society as soon as they read what was downloaded on the Internet. There would be no place he or any of the members or soldiers could run and hide.

“So what are you suggesting?” Derrick asked in a normal voice.

“We could search for this mysterious person for months, and by the time we found them it could be too late,” Karl said. “What I’m suggesting is rather than identify this person we must wait for him or her to come to us. That means I must know where the Society keeps its most valuable records.”

Derrick didn’t say anything. All the members and soldiers knew the Society had detailed records of everything it had ever done going back to its beginning, especially the Society’s computer and software experts who had put the Society’s history in its computers. But only the Council of Twenty and the leaders knew where this information was kept, and now that they were dead only he knew where the information was and how to get into the hiding place, and what codes were needed to access the information. He’d intended changing the codes once the person Julian had given the hard drive to was caught and killed, and he had announced he was the sole leader of the Society. Once that was achieved he was going to contact those who watched the place where the information was kept and give them new orders. Every member of the Society would immediately know they couldn’t oppose him even if he had killed the Council of Twenty and the other two leaders because he could destroy them all buy using his com-cell to reveal what they’d done over the years.

“Leader, did you hear me?” Karl asked, knowing he had upset Derrick.

“Yes.”

“I need to know where to lay a trap for this person,” Karl told him.

“What are you suggesting, Karl?” Derrick asked him.

“I need to know where this person would go in order to download information that could destroy the Society,” Karl told him.

“You consider that important?” Derrick asked him.

“Julian would never have given anything to this person without stressing upon them the need to expose the Society as soon as possible, Leader. Julian would have known that would be impossible unless the person could get to where the information was kept, and release it to the world. We don’t have the time to waste looking for this person.”

“Let me think a few moments, Karl,” he said.

Asshole! Karl thought.

A minute passed before Derrick spoke again.

“Go back to your computer, and type, don’t speak, HD Code Apple. No one but you must have this information,” Derrick said.

“Yes, Leader,” Karl said, knowing such knowledge was a death sentence for him.

“You’ll know where to set your trap. Is there anything else?”

“No, Leader,” he said, and turned off his com-cell. So my life has a time limit, he thought as he put his com-cell back into his pants pocket and walked back to the work room. Thinking, but before that occurs we’ve got to find out who we’re looking for. Setting a trap for someone doesn’t mean a damn thing unless you know exactly what the person you’re hunting looks like.

*

Dorothy added HD Code Apple to her com-cell’s memory. She wasn’t worried about anyone discovering it. Her com-cell was safer than Derrick’s, because he didn’t know she had a second com-cell the Society hadn’t given to her. It was a cheap store bought com-cell that was good only for basic computing and making calls which she had recently bought, but it was an easily programmable com-cell whose memory was easily erased if a person pushed the wrong buttons. But she knew he knew she was monitoring every call on Karl’s com-cell. In coming or out going. And she now knew she had no choice but to make sure the plan worked perfectly. Any mistakes on her or her accomplice’s part, and they were both dead. But she and her accomplice now had two advantages, but only she knew about the two advantages and there was no way for her to let her accomplice know about them, at least, not at the moment. Because she didn’t know who her accomplice was or where he or she was.

The most important thing was Derrick didn’t know about them, and now that Karl had suggested laying a trap for whomever Julian gave the flash drive to their area of action was reduced in size. All she and her accomplice would have to do is wait and be very careful, and not kill each other.

Dorothy picked up the empty package the extra com-cell she’d bought a few hours ago from her bed and decided to take a horseback ride in the desert. She liked riding horses because she liked horses. They were the closest thing to a pet she’d ever had. Once she was far enough in the dry countryside, she’d find a place to hide the extra com-cell with its valuable information, and the package it came in.

She couldn’t afford to throw the empty package into one of the four trash cans in her suite. One of the maids might find it, and talk and Lawrence might hear about it and wonder why a guest needed a new com-cell. Lawrence wasn’t much when it came to intelligence, but he wasn’t completely stupid and Dorothy didn’t believe in leaving a trail for someone to follow.

If she found herself in a deadly position where she couldn’t get out, all she had to do was push a button on her regular com-cell and everything on the cheap com-cell would be loaded on the Internet. Even the Society’s computer experts wouldn’t have time to stop the download, because they wouldn’t know about it until it was too late. Derrick’s murder of the Council of Twenty and the other two leaders would be known to the world.

*

Derrick knew the moment he gave the code to Karl to locate the three hiding places of the Society’s information Dorothy would also get it. And that was a shame for two reasons. He’d have to leave his comfortable home in the Big Sur and go to the desert and wait with Dorothy to kill Karl, the soldiers working with him, and this ass Julian had given the information to. And he’d also have to kill Dorothy to make sure she’d never talk. And that was unfortunate because she was such a good, obedient soldier.

As he returned his com-cell to his pant pocket, he wondered who he could replace Dorothy with from among the Society’s soldiers. It had to be someone like Dorothy. So average looking most people didn’t notice them until they spoke to them. It had to be someone, obedient, easily controlled, and completely ruthless.

Decisions, decisions, the price of being the Leader, he thought as he removed his com-cell from his pocket and called Dorothy.

“Yes, sir?” Dorothy answered.

“I’m going to send a map to you with some coordinates,” he said. “Go there and arrange a camper for me to live in. Make it comfortable, and get one for yourself and the two men who’ll be waiting for you at those coordinates.”

“Yes, sir,” she said.

Derrick hung up and called the two men who checked on the Society’s information center in the Simpson Park Mountains.

When the senior man answered, Derrick told him to be waiting outside the center for a woman to contact him along with his assistant.

The man agreed to do as he ordered.

Derrick hung up thinking, all of this inconvenience for me because my stupid brother developed a conscious. 

***