“What is the purpose of your visit, Mr. Sullivan?”
Damon Wade smiled as he heard the name of the false identity Santos had given him.
“Business. Just business.”
The attendant nodded and handed back passport.
“Welcome to Singapore, sir. Taxis outside can take you to your destination. If there aren’t any more questions you are free to leave, and thank you for choosing Singapore Air.”
Damon was about to thank the attendant when she dissolved, reappearing to the next person in line, and asking the same prompted questions.
The proliferation of VI technology appeared to be widespread. Climbing into a taxi, Damon directed the driver to take him to his hotel.
The view from his terrace room was magnificent. The entire cityscape lay before him. Singapore had been able to handle the transition to next-generation technology better than any other developed city. Towering skyscrapers dominated the skyline, able to sustain their position from fear of natural disasters.
Damon’s disguise seemed to have worked, for now. He ordered some food and was in the process of eating when a thought came to mind.
“What if I just left everything behind? Forget the mission and forget why I’m here, just live out the rest of my life in permanent exile…”
He pushed the thought out of his mind. He couldn’t live on the run forever, always watching his back like his team had, and he couldn’t let Faust get away with his plans. All these reasons ran through his head until he remembered the true reason he left the States for Singapore.
Forrester deserved answers.
The food arrived and Damon hungrily devoured it.
As he sat in his chair he toyed with the idea of calling her. Even if the line was tapped, it really didn’t matter at this point. Source Point would continue hounding him until it got what it wanted. At this point, it would find him eventually, dead or alive.
Activating his mobile, Damon glanced out the window. V.i.V., his personal VI, appeared.
“Sir, I must advise against this action. Ms. Forrester’s number is most likely being monitored by Source Point. You pose a significant risk to yourself and to her position by doing so.”
He hit the call button.
“Call it human error then, V.i.V.”
V.i.V. dematerialized as an image of Forrester’s 13-years-old face appeared next to her number.
The phone rang several times, finally giving way to a message machine.
“Hi, this is Karen. I’m either at the office or busy. Leave your number and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
Damon glanced back at V.i.V., who was shaking her head and making a cutting gesture across her neck. Waving her off, he turned back to the call.
“Karen. It’s Damon.”
He paused and shook his head. What am I doing?
“I know you have reservations about talking to me. You probably have a lot of questions. I can’t explain it all, but I never meant to go underground for so long. Everything I did was for the greater good—to protect humanity. My team and I agreed to split and go into hiding for a certain amount of time before resurfacing. But then we got hung up with espionage and treason charges. Faust, that bastard. He convinced the government I had tried to sell Project Antares to other countries. We couldn’t come forward without risking imprisonment, or worse, because Faust would have never let us get away.”
Damon closed his eyes and pressed the phone to his forehead before resuming.
“So, we stayed dead to the world. I thought … I thought that it would be better if you never saw me again. You needed to move on with your life. I was a disgraced, dead scientist. You were moving up the ranks. Time just moved on. I was busy trying to make it in the world. Spent a lot of time in places like São Paulo, Johannesburg, Melbourne and San Salvador. I couldn’t settle down though. Faust and Source Point would track me down inevitably and I’d have to move on.”
He changed his tone and lowered his voice.
“I spent years trying to figure out how to stop Source Point. Karen, you have to understand: David Faust is not the man you think he is. My team and I discovered that 13 years ago. Now there’s only a few of us left. Jensen, Ishibashi and McLaughlin are all dead, Karen. A burglary gone wrong, a car crash and an accidental overdose on prescription meds. Karen, you knew those men. Five years ago I had Source Point on me as well. I survived, but barely. Someone is actively hunting our old team down, and it’s no coincidence that Source Point is on the eve of unveiling their new discounted augmentations and on-site installations. All this technology is coming from somewhere, and I finally know where to look for it. I know where the source is.
He paused and glanced upwards, before looking back down at his mobile.
“I’m going to fix all of this Karen, I swear I will.”
Closing the connection, he ended the message.
Damon sighed and rubbed his eyes. Pulling out his laptop, he opened the document file he had been preparing. Certain precautions had to be taken. Insurance was needed, should he fail.
“Time to go to work.”
Read part eight here.
Read part ten here.
