Black Dawn

Chapters 1-5
Chapters 6-10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19

Chapter 20

The collective of Adam, Maria, Kevin and their newly found ally Joshua are making their way through the third building of the facility, in search of the last remaining hostage, who Joshua claims has information on the grand scheme of things regarding everything that has happened during the rather unusual day. The third building is the biggest one, and is one big giant maze that you can easily get lost in. Kevin and Joshua know their way around, while Adam and Maria are more overwhelmed at the scope of the building.

Kevin's recent behavior has earned him slight distrust from both Maria and Adam. Maria is more suspecting than Adam, since Adam still has a hard time wrapping his head around the idea that Kevin may have been lying to him. He would expect it from anyone else, but never Kevin.

Still, Adam has admitted it to himself that Kevin's actions have been weird. Maria is better than Adam at deciphering body language, and Kevin is definitely lying.

Neither can understand why; Kevin has clearly put his life at risk saving both of them, and they seem to fighting for the same cause.

Kevin is not happy about them aligning themselves with Joshua, who he feels is trouble. He's even less happy about them wasting time looking for the hostage Joshua mentioned. He feels they should be going after Derek, but there's something else to it, as well.

Maria decides to pick Kevin's brain for a little.

"You know, it's weird.. Just before Heenan died, he said the name Simon Silverman. And he clearly looked at me while doing it. As if I was supposed to know something about it."

"What's your point?"

"Nothing much.. It just felt weird. Heenan's eyes told me it was supposed to be significant to me. Are you sure you've never heard that name before?"

"No, never heard of him."

Adam observes the conversation, and sees where Maria is going with it, but would hope for her to not push Kevin too much. They should focus on the task at hand, for now.

"I guess we need to find the hostage. If what Joshua says is true and he knows what's going on here. Right, Joshua?"

"All I know is that there's definitely more going on here. Your brother's not doing this for money, or anything like that."

"No, I didn't think so. He wouldn't do this for money. If he really feels there's a big conspiracy in our government.. well, I can see him thinking he's doing the right thing. That's just - that's just how he is. I can see definitely see that."

Kevin is clearly annoyed at looking for the hostage, but knows this is battle he can't win, and resigns to playing along. He still makes sure his tone of voice is condescending enough to make his feelings on the matter clear.

"Where are we going to look for this guy, then? Any idea, Joshua?"

"I know they needed him for some sort of data analysis. I'm a tech guy mostly, myself, so I heard about it. There's that big computer room in the basement, you know it?"

"Yeah, I know it."

"I guess that's a place to look, right?"

"Guess so."

Earlier, Adam was hoping that Maria would lay off Kevin, but now he gets annoyed himself, and pulls Kevin aside by his arm to give him an ultimatum.

"Hey. I know you want to get this over with, and I know you want to get to Derek, and so do I. Trust me. But this hostage might be our only key of getting to the bottom of this thing. And I want to know what the fuck's really going on here. You can either help us, or not. Your choice. But I'm not listening to that damn childish tone for another second. So, what's it gonna be, Kev?"

Kevin almost wants to call Adam's bluff. Almost.

"Sure. Count me in. Sorry, Joshua. Let's find the guy."

"Good. Now let's find that computer room."

---

Having seemingly run in something that wasn't a part of his calculations, whatever they may be, Simon Silverman is directing traffic on his headphones with someone. He remains calm, even though an unforeseen event - a rarity - has happened to his plans.

"Yes, they are currently on their way to George Pryor. Him talking too much could potentially be a problem. But not to worry, I'll make sure Pryor keeps his mouth shut. For good. He's serves his purpose to us anyway. No need to keep him alive. How are things on your end? Good, just keep me informed every step of the way. Everything until now has been a practice run, and now is when the show really begins. Yes, most certainly. I will be there, in person. I'll just swat a fly first, and we're ready to go."

Silverman closes the connection, and sends a written message to someone.

After the message is sent, Silverman spends a few moments sitting down and visualizing his plan coming together. This plan is a big one, but not a first of its kind for him by a long shot. He's used to controlling some heavy traffic. Used to being in control - even of human lives.

---

In the White House, president Morgan Reynolds has called a meeting at the round table with military leaders, experts and other advisers, discussing the terrorist threat.

They are discussing the dilemma of attacking the terrorists' underground base with heavy fire arms, even though a known hostage is still present in the base.

"Gentlemen. As you all know, the state of Washington is currently under an acute, severe terrorist threat, the most severe since 9/11. The people of Washington are being threatened by a class G nerve agent, an attack capable of killing thousands of civilians within an hour or two, and spreading exponentially. And on top of that, the terrorists are in possession of an EMP bomb capable of pulling the entire east coast offline, the effects of which being disastrous, economic and otherwise. Our freedom and livelihoods are under attack. And worse yet, the attack seems to be coming from our own people. We have now been able to locate the terrorists' base of operations, and an attack on the underground base would be the best course of action to contain the biological threat. However, a hostage, by the name of Maria Miller, is known to be in the base. She is not only a former medic who served in the military, but is also the daughter of former commander Bruce Miller. It is with a heavy heart that I even suggest treating her as - an acceptable loss. But the circumstances are extreme. In the worst case scenario, we would be looking at a biological holocaust. We could attack the base with a land to land missile, and the calculations leave little room for doubt as to whether the explosion would be strong enough to destroy the facility. I would now call for a vote."

---

As the White House looks to prepare their strike, Derek is confident in pulling his plan off, making last minute preparations on his doomsday weapons. There's one final piece of the puzzle missing, however, and that is the mysterious vial of serum that left Derek's hands and ended up in Kevin's possession. That vial is the key to everything Derek has been doing, and without it, his entire plan becomes null and void. And to make sure that doesn't happen, he has called for Mona and Liza.

"My two favourite girls. Now, as luck would have it, Kevin Reese managed to get his hands on the serum the last time he was with us. We have everything ready to bring the government and The Order down to their knees, but I need Reese dead, and I need the serum. So, girls. Logan. Bring me the serum. Adam's on his way here, I know it. I'll take care of my brother. Mr. Reese is your top priority now."

Derek is usually playful with Mona and Liza, but he is more serious now, clearly concentrating on making sure his hard work hasn't been for nothing. The serum is very important to him, and he seems to almost care more for the serum than he does the rest of the plan. Though his mind is also wandering to a conversation he's having in his mind with his brother.

Mona and Liza never refrain from the flirtatious, playful attitude around Derek, however.

"Don't worry, D. We'll make sure Kevin is a good boy. And if he's not.. well, you know what happens to bad boys. Except you, D."

Derek is not having any of it. His demeanor has clearly changed in the last hour or so. Now he means business.

"Just make sure you bring me the serum."

Mona and Liza leave, and Derek motions to Logan that he should go, too. There's no way Kevin manages to escape all three of them. And that should then leave Adam all by himself.

---

A guard is posted at the door to the computer room, and Joshua approaches him with his full guard uniform on.

"Is the hostage still here?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I was sent by Derek to check on something. Also, would you mind taking a look at.."

Joshua pretends to go through his pockets, and distracts the guard enough for Adam to grab from behind to a choke hold, knocking him out.

"I'm sure you can open the door, Joshua?"

"Sure thing."

Joshua runs his key card through the ID panel, and the door opens. Joshua goes in first, to make sure no additional guards are posted, and as the coast is clear, he signals to the rest that it's safe.

The computer room is huge, and has several rooms, all equipped with extremely high tech IT equipment. It's not the equipment they came in to look at, though. Adam carefully calls for the hostage.

"Anyone here?"

Eventually, a man appears from one of the rooms, and Adam instinctively pulls out his weapon.

"Don't shoot!"

The man is well dressed, looks to be in his 40s with a neat hairstyle. He looks like a man of social status and importance. He carries himself like a scared child, however, as he is being pointed by a loaded weapon. Though Adam quickly lowers his weapon as he can tell this is the hostage.

"I'm not here to shoot you. I'm not one of the terrorists. I was told you know what's going on in here. I'm willing to get you out of here, but I need some answers."

"What do you..?"

The man interrupts himself as he takes a closer look at Adam, and recognizes him.

"You."

"Yeah, you know me?"

"It really is you. You're Adam Black, aren't you?"

"That's what some people call me. And you are?"

"My name is George Pryor. I work for the CIA. I know of you."

"Do you know why I'm here?"

George thinks for a second. He does know, but he's not sure how much he's safe to be saying.

"Yes. I do. I do have the answers you seek."

"I'd love to chat over a cup of coffee, but we're running a little low on time. What is going on here? This is more than a simple terrorist incident, isn't it? What's my brother really after? Why all this?"

"I can tell you, but you need to make it worth my while."

Adam quickly aims George with his weapon again.

"Now you listen to me. My brother is threatening to slaughter this entire state with a class G nerve agent, and I'm not going to waste my time playing with some CIA grunt. You're going to tell me what's going on here, right now."

George gets intimidated at the sight of the gun, and realizes that the information he has will keep him alive.

"It's not your brother you're fighting against, Adam."

"Then who?"

"The Order."

"Go on."

"The true rulers of this country. The run everything. From politics to economics. From commercials to the military. No one really knows who they are, everybody gets instructions from middle men. But make no mistake about it: the Order runs this country. They are who your brother is after."

"So, conspiracy theory from a videogame is what you're expecting me to believe, huh?"

"Do you believe in democracy?"

"No."

"Neither do I. And the reason for that is I know it's a sham because I know for a fact that the Order has planned and organized every major election in this country since the 1960s. JFK defied his orders, and.. well, you know what happened to him. You don't actually believe Oswald did it, do you? Adam, you've worked for the government, do you think they work for the good of the people? Do you think they're honest servers of the public?"

"No."

"Of course you don't, you know they're not. I know the Order exists because I've worked for them."

"So, you're a member?"

"No, I'm not a member. The core of the Order consists of six men, which some call the Supreme Guild. Political, military and financial leaders, apparently. I've only taken payouts. 21 years ago I was paid to forge certain documents regarding 9/11. And since then I've kept an eye on things. Every Sunday I've gotten a phone call, in which I've reported things over to them."

"A good ole corrupt official, huh."

"Mighty big words coming from a paid killer, though."

Adam refuses to acknowledge the jab.

"How did you get dragged into all of this, then?"

"Your brother wants to lure the Order out. The biological attack is not the real goal, his real goal is the EMP bomb. He want to pull the Order offline, and the best way to do it is to pull Washington offline. I guess he figured the Order would send one of their agents here to stop him. But no one has showed, except for you, I suppose. But he's also after something else."

George grabs a data stick from the table.

"You've heard of the Perfect Soldier Experiment, haven't you?"

"I know of it."

"This here contains all the data from those experiments. Your brother wants to synthesize the drug that was the result of the experiment. To raise his own perfect army, or something. A revolution against the Post War Era. That's what I've understood. The Order funded the experiments, for what purpose I don't know. And then.."

Kevin decides to make a mockery of what he's hearing.

"You don't really believe this stuff he's spewing? He's just making shit up to get out of here, you know that. He's CIA, you know how they are, they're rats, Adam."

Adam knows Kevin is making a point since the story of an all encompassing shadow government conspiracy is quite a lot for him to take. With that said, a lot of things that have happened don't make any sense, so in a way, this explanation is as good as any. Though there are still a million questions unanswered.

"I don't what to make of any of this, but not a lot of things today have made any sense, Kev."

"I have no reason to lie to you, Adam, I just want to get home to my family. I have a wife and two daughters. They're the reason I took the payouts. Despite what you may feel about me, or the government, the Order is an organization that must exist, and without it, this country would drift into chaos in a heart beat. You need to stop your brother from taking on the Order. A country needs its rulers."

"I'm not taking orders from you, let's make that clear. But I still need to ask you.."

Before Adam can finish his sentence, a wall to the right of them is blown open by a rocket, courtesy of Logan's rocket launcher.

"Mr. Reese has something that belongs to us!"

No one has any time to pay any attention to what Logan said, Adam's first instinct is to make sure Maria is safe has he pulls her away from another rocket.

"I got you!"

In addition to the rocket launcher, Logan is also carrying his machine gun which he fires in rapid succession, forcing everybody to escape from the computer room. Logan is too heavily armed for them to stand a chance against him head on.

The hall next to the computer room has a lower and upper level, and the lower level has metal crates that Adam, George, Kevin and Maria hide behind to come up with a battle plan.

Before such a plan can be comprised, Adam spots a familiar sniper laser, once again pointed at Kevin.

"Kev!"

Adam pushes Kevin out of the way of a sniper for the second time for the day, as the shot misses just barely. Mona and Lize are on the upper level of the hall, in good position. The group manages to separate and is split into two, behind two sets of boxes, with Adam, Maria and Joshua behind one set, and Kevin and George behind another one. Adam tells Kevin to make sue George stays safe, as he's the only one who has answers about what is really going on.

"Kev! Make sure George is safe! It's the snipers, we can handle them. Just make sure George is safe!"

---

The roundtable in the White House has cast their votes.

Nine votes were cast, and the result was six votes in favour of the strike. President Reynolds clearly has a moral dilemma, but respects the vote.

"Prepare the strike. We're bombing the base."

---

Kevin is contemplating for a short moment that feels like an hour.

He is standing behind a crouching George, unarmed and scared for his life. A husband and a father of two. Adam, Maria or Joshua can't see what is happening from where they are hiding.

Kevin goes through a moral dilemma. And regretfully grabs George by the shoulder.

"I'm sorry, George."

George is confused, but he doesn't have time to be confused for long, as Kevin pushes him right into the line of fire.

As George is shot at by both Mona and Liza, who simply shoot at whatever movement they see, Adam sees this and is terrified as the only key to the mystery is being gunned down, with his lifeless body falling to the floor.

"George, NO!"